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moonieandi · 4 months ago

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snapshots | stanley pines x f!reader

summary: a quick look through concerning the early months of your life “married” to stanley pines

warnings (TW): swearing

tags: fluff, early relationship described, vague-pining

notes: this is probably just for me… but if anyone enjoys it then ill endeavor to continue it in some fashion. No note beyond that i just really really really like stanley.

edit 8/27/24: hello! below i have linked my new masterlist of parts concerning this one-shot turned series. thank you, and enjoy!

word count: 2.3k

| masterlist | part ii |

His earliest memories of her are hastily intertwined with the abrupt disappearance of his estranged brother.

There is a sudden break in his memory, between following Ford to the crumbling shack’s basement, to returning upstairs without him, and eventually opening the door to her very hazarded face.

Her head had been engulfed by a too-big hat, hair matted and stringily stuck to her flushed face, thanks to the bitter winds that racked northern Oregon that winter. She had hauled ass from the “middle-of-nowhere” bus stop to in-town, to the shack. Miles, he had presumed, and her wet socks had solidified the fact.

If he had known she would appear at the shack's front entrance not even a week after Ford had disappeared before his very eyes, then he would count himself lucky for the forewarning, because she made in through the front door like a tidal wave.

He eventually welcomed the intrusion, of course, but it took not even 10 minutes for his hackles to rise after she implored at the whereabouts of his long-gone brother. Unfortunately for Stanley, she never once bought the practiced lie that he was Stanford. A lie that he only had the courage to voice now, but it fell weak on her ears. Of course, she had known poindexter… and of course, she had no inkling of Stanley’s own existence. Stanford had never spoken of his no-good brother then. Another nail in the coffin, next to the nails Stanley had put there himself.

She spoke only in bursts as if it pained her. Voice dry from the winter air.

“Where is he?” She frantically waved a pressed paper around, previously having been folded up in her pocket. “He asked for me, so where is he? Where is that idiot?”

“Look hun, I have no idea what you're talking about.” Hands dragging through his too-long hair. “I’m him, he’s me, now what did I send ya again?” He moves to reach for the paper, but she crumbles it in her mittened hands, clutching it like a lifeline.

His lie is weak, but he could do without the intrusion after the long week of attempting to compile his brother's ramblings in that god-forsaken journal.

He didn’t even know her name for fucks sake.

This was never the fault point in his lie to her though. Because she knew instinctually that he was not Ford, and that was all that mattered conclusively to her in the end. They shared features, that was something she could not easily deny. The same curve of their jawlines, the same texture of hair, the same set eyes, but she knew simply by the way he talked that this was not her former colleague.

Her colleague was not nearly as broad-chested as the man in front of her. Not as sure-footed as the man in front of her, and despite them both sharing obvious features, wasn’t as striking as the figure painted in front of her.

Unfortunately for her predicament, the man in front of her made her nervous, suddenly. Whether it was the sudden realization that she had entered this random man’s home, or that she was entranced by the way the distant kitchen light lit his features. She was unsure.

Looking back at the paper, and then again at his large outstretched hand, she admitted defeat to her curiosity surrounding him. She would need a cup of coffee.

Sighing, she brought the paper back to its original place in her pocket. Taking off her hat, her shoulders began to droop. She had walked miles, and she would get an explanation from him no matter what.

“Do… do you have any coffee?”

Movement in the shack was constant.

He was used to the usual up and down the basement stairs nowadays, and the usual venture from room to room also.

The woman had a habit of nesting. Much like his own mother.

She constantly had to move things, change around Ford’s shitty sci-fi bullshit, and rearrange cupboards. The first month she took to doing it he figured it was her way of simply coping with the reality of their shitty situation, but after the third month, he changed his toon.

My god was she short, but oddly fucking mighty.

It was on the third month he had caught her rearranging the livingroom finally. It had been the most intimidating room in the shack, thanks to the mud-soaked 80’s carpet, and the mysterious tanks that Ford just had to store upstairs for some reason.

Luckily in their cohabitation, they both agreed that Ford’s stuff all needed to be moved from out of site. Not really for them per se, but more so so they could both catalog all his bullshit. Cataloging was something she insisted on, so he got very used to random sticky notes with her small handwriting. He would admit that his knees began to ache not too many weeks ago from the constant movement of Ford’s shit to the basement, but he more or less refused to let her assist in the move when it came to walking down the very steep flight of stairs.

He didn’t want her to fall, okay?

He didn’t want anything to happen really, in regards to her. He tried to separate genuine feelings when it came to her presence in general. So when they eventually parted ways, it wouldn’t feel like another nail.

But she had to goddamn move everything in this house, and he got the distinct feeling she didn’t enjoy the fact that none of it was really theirs to move. She had insisted though, one night, that it was important that they made themselves comfortable.

“I’ll take the goddamn fall for this, mmk Stanley?” A slight upturned smirk on her lips. “Ford can yell at me all he likes, but if we are stuck here for some time let's not live like he’s just around the corner.”

Despite his constant bickering about her and the stairs though, he found her upstairs one evening, attempting to move the long three-person couch from one of the rooms to the downstairs living room.

She blushed, caught red-handed. “Okay okay, but this would be better downstairs in front of the T.V., no?”

He tisked, hands on his hips. “And ya’ just couldn’t wait, huh.”

She laughed while he reached for the other end, cursing under his breath. “Can’t leave you alone for a minute.”

The couch did make it downstairs, but not without some cursing, teamwork, and some pinched fingers when taking it around the bend to the top of the stairs. Stanley leading in front, holding the majority of the weight the entire way. Not that he would tell her that.

The couch made a home in front of the tiny box T.V. that they had, and they both enjoyed the comfort it brang. The shag carpet wasn’t as comfy to sit on as the couch.

They both sat with a grunt, after adjusting the long couch.

“Ah, now this I could get used to.” He flung himself onto the couch, closest to the back door.

Popping down, she made her home on the other end. “Mhmmm. Good plan, good decision, go team!” Her hand extended out for a fist bump from him.

His hand dwarfed her own as he met her in the middle.

She was smart, he realized, too smart for the likes of him.

She was quick as a whip for sure, with knowledge of a hodge-podge of things, and half the time she talked when they were both downstairs he didn’t have a clue what she was saying. He hated it down here at times, her rambling reminding him of his faintly forgotten childhood. She was so different in the basement. She was so different from when she was upstairs. Like she turned it on and off.

She herself knew that Stanely probably didn’t understand most of what Ford had been doing, but at times she felt she understood even less so. So she spoke it to him, to fill some void when they were down there. The void being Ford, of course, the bridge between the two.

She couldn’t help but get the inkling that Stanley did not think fondly of the basement, whether it was due to her ramblings, or because this was essentially his brother's coffin, she didn’t wish to ask. It was the one thing she hadn’t bothered to voice yet.

He had been assisting with moving the portal's original structure all week. She needed the area cleared, to properly reassemble the shape of the portal and then lift it to its original place on the basement wall. The pulley mechanism was hastily drawn out somewhere in the control room, but she also needed a proper understanding of the material's weight and durability to calculate the simple engineering equation.

Of course, she attempted to do this without looking up from her scribbles.

Stanley’s movement around the basement set her on edge. The sweat-soaked tank top, the curly messy hair, the broadness of his chest, the god-damn grunting as he moved material around.

I mean, okay, she had asked him to do this specifically, but she… was beginning to forget why exactly she had. She had also offered assistance, too, which he shrugged off like he had the furniture.

Right, yes the weight she needed the weight.

“Umm Stanley, have you been able to find in the journal what kind of material this is?”

He grunted, metal falling to the wayside as he turned to her. “Nah Doc, couldn’t find shit.” He lifted his tanktop end, dabbing at his forehead. “But I can tell you one thing, ain’t like anything I’ve seen before.”

“Hmmm. You are right, this is almost too heavy to be normal steel, and it seems Ford didn’t exactly weld these pieces together. There’s no evidence of tig welding traditionally used.”

He moved closer, his hand on his hip, the other extended.

“Lemme check the diagram again, he leaves weird shit in the ledgers all the fucking time.”

His hand grazing her own, she passes over the journal.

He flips to the part of the portal page they have access to, his fingers meeting his tongue as he flicks from page to page. Contemplatively, his hand rests on his chin, and the entirety of the book rests in his own hand.

Leaning over like that, he takes her breath for a moment.

“See here.” He grabs her forearm, pulling her back in front of the journal still in his grasp. “He writes this cryptic message in the ledgers around the drawing, but it cuts off because we only got one part of this bullshit.”

She sighs deeply, her hand running through her hair multiple times.

“Fucking hell Ford goddamn it.” She quickly rethinks, hands waving to push Stanley back a bit. So she can breathe again. “I’m sorry, really, I just mean-”

His laugh is low and shakes his shoulders until his head falls forward, his hand meeting her own on his chest.

Breath gone, again.

“Doc, ain’t no way we gonna get this done unless we curse him out from time to time.” His hand engulfs hers, making her form a fist he brings it to his head, knocking his temple. “I curse him too from time to time, but usually up here.”

“Stanley, I really am sorry. I just-” A sigh, a shake of her shoulders. “I wanna know what the hell he was thinking, Stanley, I wanna understand I really do, but I don’t know what’s next. I don’t know what to do.”

Three months of rearranging upstairs combined with the two additive months spent in the basement had drained her, and he knew it.

She was different down here, changed. That’s why he fucking hated it down here. Because it upset her like this. She was too pale down here, too weary, and too goddamn self-conscious.

The thing that had plagued him for so long, the inadequacy he felt all his life when compared to his other half, was seeping into her subconscious. Ford wasn’t even fucking here, and he had somehow made her feel less than. He had been working all his life to feel equal to him, but that was his own cross to bear, and his own nail to hammer. Not hers.

He didn’t think much of letting go of her hand, in favor of grabbing her chin. Tears made trails down her dirty round cheeks, eyes wide. He thinks she stole his breath for a minute.

“Now listen here Doc, you ain’t gotta do this alone. I never wanted you to do this fucking alone, that’s not why I told you everything.” He takes a step forward. “I told you everything because I know we can figure this out.”

She sniffles, moving closer, leaning into the warmth of his hand. Her own curled up into his dirty tank top, journal forgotten on the floor in favor of comfort.

“It’s gonna take some time.” She mutters under her breath, only answered by the laugh in his chest.

“Don’t I fucking know it Doc.” A pause. “But… I mean at least we got each other, right?”

A smile blooms on her face, her heart slowing under the struggling reassurance Stanley was attempting to bring.

“Mmm, yeah.” Sniffling, and nodding. “Ya, I have you Stanley.”

“And I you, Doc.”

He steps closer, encasing her in his large arms, her head making a home in his shoulder. He was warm, she noted, and strong under her withering confidence.

His hand reaches up, knocking on her temple. “You can’t be calling me Stanley while we are upstairs, I hope ya know.”

She nods in his chest. Only down here can he be Stanley to her now, even in her mind.

#gravity falls #gravity falls fanfiction #gravity falls imagine #stanley pines #stanley pines x reader #grunkle stan #stan pines #stan pines x reader

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xuchiya · 3 months ago

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"Lean on Me" || choi san || one-shot

| genre: non!idol ateez. fluff. slice of life | mentions: teasing. fainting. jewelry gift. | This is literally my high school delusions. My old school is literally an 'old school' school like no phones and computers, being in a relationship is not allowed, and big ass windows as our source of fans--- i mean we do have electric fans and ceiling fans but with the weather and a very old, close to dying, e-fans? We really have to depend on the wind from our windows. Anyways, this list is basically a true experience. My personal favorite? Song Mingi's.

It was one of those lazy afternoons nearing the end of the school year. Normally, students were allowed to skip the last few days before summer break, but ever since the head of the high school department conducted an inspection, that freedom was gone. Now, everyone had to stay and use the remaining days to complete any missing requirements.

You were among those students, just a few subjects away from being done. You had been absent the previous week due to a health check-up, and as a result, you missed a few assignments and notes. The classroom was a mess—desks were scattered or arranged in odd shapes, some forming semi-circles where students were busy compiling assignments. Others had stacked chairs into strange structures, a testament to their boredom. Most of the faculty were either preoccupied with grading or caught up in the frenzy of graduation preparations for the seniors. The classroom felt emptier than usual, with many of your classmates still absent despite the new rules, or hanging out in other classrooms.

You were sprawled out on the floor, a book in hand to pass the time. Chaewon had her head comfortably resting on your lap, while Jongho had placed his nearly empty backpack on your leg and drifted into a deep sleep. Both of them often used you as a human pillow, their steady breathing filling the quiet space around you.

There were usually four of you together, but one of your friends was currently out practicing for the opening flag ceremony at the graduation. You understood that San had to fulfill his duties as the next student council officer, so you had prepared some clean clothes and extra food for him.

As you flipped to the next chapter of your book, you barely noticed the classroom door creak open until Choi San stepped in. He was the fourth member of your small group, and the most active when it came to extracurricular activities.

You glanced up from your book and took notice of his presence. His usual lively demeanor was dimmed by exhaustion, his face flushed and his hair slightly damp from sweat. He had just returned from practicing for the graduation flag ceremony, and it was obvious how much effort he had put into it.

San's eyes scanned the room and landed on you. A slight frown creased his forehead as he saw Jongho and Chaewon monopolizing your attention. Without a second thought, he walked over, reaching down to gently but firmly pull Jongho and Chaewon away one by one.

“Ehh~ Sannie!” Chaewon whined.

“Yah, hyung!” Jongho protested, but San's determination won out, and soon enough, you were freed from their grip. You chuckled as the two of them huffed and, resigned to their fate, leaned on each other instead.

You reached into your bag and handed San the extra clothes and towel you had prepared for him earlier. He smiled at the thoughtful gesture, his heart fluttering as he thanked you softly. Turning his back to you, he removed his sweat-soaked shirt. Your eyes widened in surprise, and you quickly hid behind your book, though you couldn’t resist peeking over the top. You caught a glimpse of his muscles flexing as he slipped into the fresh shirt, your heart racing despite yourself.

When he turned back around, you were quick to pretend you were still reading. San let out a tired sigh and plopped down beside you, his usual politeness momentarily forgotten. This time, instead of asking for permission as he normally would, he simply leaned against your shoulder, too exhausted to bother with formalities. You felt the warmth of his skin against yours, and although you were used to being leaned on by your friends, something about San was different. His presence was soothing, yet his closeness made your heart flutter.

“Sorry,” he mumbled after a moment, his voice muffled against your shoulder. “I’m just so tired.”

You smiled softly, shifting slightly to make him more comfortable. "It’s okay, Sannie-ah. Rest up." You gently draped the towel over his head, letting him relax further. His breathing slowed, and you could feel the tension leaving his body as he settled into a deep, peaceful rest.

As the classroom quieted around you, you realized that these moments—when the world seemed to slow down and it was just the two of you—were the ones you cherished the most.

Closing the book and placing it on your lap, you look down on San’s relaxed figure before you place your head on top of his as you slowly find yourself in a short bliss of nap.

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itsscromp · 1 year ago

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I have a cute idea! Insomniac Peter and Miles with a Reader who's 15 (so like the age most spiders start their crime fighting) and because their so new to fighting they're a ball of sunshine, but unfortunately bad at smack talk? Like they'll be fighting someone and the criminal will give a hurtful insult and they'll just be all 'yeah? Well you're dumb! 😡'

Peter parker and Miles Morales x reader

Definitely didn't look up youtube video compilations of all their quips for fun of it after you made this request >D lol, also apologies for the delay. Word count:660

Being the Spider-Hero was the most rewarding and challenging experience you had ever faced in your 15 years of being on this planet. But your mentors Peter and Miles helped you learn and master your powers in no time at all. But the one thing that they didn't help you with... was smack talk.

It was one of the things that made Peter and Miles who they were and roll with the punches. Like today when they have gotten a tip-off of a potential hunter base. The three of you then swung into action.

"Morning fella's, who's ready for there fresh cup of bodily harm ??" Peter called out to them.

"Don't let the spiders escape !!" One hunter shouted and the fight began.

"Is really the best time to do smack talk ??" You told peter as you fought your group of hunters.

"It's pretty much a part of the job !!" You could tell he was smiling under his mask.

Miles was blaring out his own smack talk as well.

"If you guys tried this at a real job, you wouldn't need to be hunters"

You were so baffled but amazed at the same time how they could be able to do this and maintain focus into the fights.

When one hunter was facing you, you prepared for yours...

"You really think, That an incompetent child playing dress up can stop me ??!!" He readied his swords.

"Oh yeah... well... Your just dumb !!" You blurted out as the hunter then lunged at you.

Peter and Miles heard your quip and couldn't help but slightly cringe at that, You really needed some help with your quips and smack talk. So once you were done with dealing with the hunters, Peter and Miles then guided you to a nearby building and then took off their masks.

"What's wrong ??, did I not do good ??" You asked slightly concerned as you took off your mask.

"No no not at all, You did amazing y/n, Your training has paid off. It's just... Your smack talk maaaaay need some work." Peter told you.

"Oh... that..." You looked down embarrassingly.

"Hey It's ok" He smiled softly as he wrapped his arm around you. "Like anything Miles and I will help you."

"Yeah, Look sometimes I still have trouble with my smack talk even if I've done this for nearly a year" Miles pitched in.

"Ok... thank you guys" You smiled.

So over the next week, they began to help you with your smack talk, Slow and steadily they helped you go over different situations and picked perfect moments to bring it out

"Hey... I'm gonna put some dirt in your eye..., Is that good ??" You asked.

"Close... but you really gotta feel the passion and motivation when it comes with it." Miles helped you.

So even when you went home, you practised in the mirror your smack talk and got better and better over time, even coming up with some original lines of your own.

Until one day you were ready to show the two your amazing new quips and puns. You found another hunter base and one of the hunters recognised you and growled.

"After all this time, your still just an ignorant child" He snarled at you.

You smirked under your mask as he said that.

"True, but that's just apart of my charm isn't it ??"

Peter and Miles were surprised and happy when they heard that. Your practice really paid off. And as you continued to fight the hunters, you showed off your new vocabularies.

"You and the other spiders will be crushed by Kraven's hands !!!"

"Awww you can't fool me Mr gruff exterior I know ya love me, and I love ya too !!"

Peter and Miles were so proud of you, once they finished the fight, they congratulated you on graduating into a full Spider-Hero now !!, You couldn't be more proud of yourself.

Taglist: @callofdudes @fun-k-board

#platonic #reader insert #insomniac spider man #insomniac games peter parker #insomniac games #Insomniac games miles morales #insomniac miles morales #insomniac peter parker #peter parker x reader #miles morales x reader #Miles Morales #peter parker #Spider-man x reader

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my-head-is-an-animal · 1 year ago

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The Climb

Summary: You're a scientist, an engineer to be exact. Called to a meeting you had no real right to be at, Optimus Prime takes an exclusive interest in you, but you can't help but ask yourself at every turn, Why?

Rating: 18+ 🌹🩸🍆

Story Masterlist

Chapter 3

The next few days were spent resting and recovering from a hard day. I was a little dehydrated, but it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be dealt with by the doctors on base. Theo and I spent the time trying to compile a list of suitable candidates that had volunteered for the mission. It was important that we not consider anyone who did not think the climb was possible.

We spent nearly a week interviewing candidates, testing their endurance and getting to know each and every one of them, but the nagging feeling that none of them truly believed they could do it was starting to make me think that the plan really would fail. Theo was starting to think the same thing, and it looked as if we were running out of hope on all fronts.

I took a walk out to the training grounds one evening as the sun began to set. I looked up at the climbing wall and thought on how difficult I found it to scale. The person we were looking for would have to be able to climb more than two hundred times that in record pace. Maybe what I was asking really was impossible.

‘Ready for another climb, Dr Jane Harding?’ The voice of Optimus Prime boomed from behind where I was standing. How I didn’t notice his menacing shadow, was beyond me.

‘Optimus Prime.’ I chuckled, awkwardly, having not seen him since the day I first climbed the wall with Lennox. ‘You can call me Dr Harding, you know, or just Jane is fine… I was just… well, I was just thinking about what I’m asking someone to do.’ I confessed.

‘Do you no longer believe it possible?’ He almost seemed disappointed in the question.

‘No, I do.’ I nodded. ‘I just… I don’t think anyone else really does.’ I sighed, watching Optimus kneel down to listen to me. ‘Theo and I have interviewed and tested soldiers and athletes, even scientists who were fit enough to complete the tests, their scores were good, and they each showed the potential to make the climb.’

‘Yet, you would not ask them to take on this mission?’

I shook my head. ‘No, I wouldn’t.’

‘And why is that?’ He leaned closer. I could see that same complexity that held my attention the very first time I’d seen him. Those blue eyes that, to most, displayed only a mechanical miracle, but to me, contained such brilliant life.

‘Because they all say they believe it’s possible, but none of them have the faith that they can do it.’

‘Mmm.’ Optimus mused, turning to see the sunlight for a moment before turning back. ‘And what about you?’

I frowned. ‘What about me?’

‘Do you have faith that you could make the climb?’

I thought for a moment, my first answer was that I wasn’t a soldier, but that wasn’t the question. If I trained for six months to make that climb, if I pushed myself the same way I pushed myself through that training session, to make it to the top of the wall, then there was nothing stopping me from doing anything I wanted.

‘Your silence suggests more than you may think.’ Optimus gave the hint of a smile. ‘I cannot ask you to complete this mission, but I know that should you choose to take it on, your world’s chances of survival, would skyrocket.’

I felt that same pang of nervousness and fear fill my chest. ‘I’ve never done anything like this before.’

‘I witnessed your training session with Lennox and his men,’ Optimus argued gently. ‘You could have given up any time, you were given every opportunity to quit, yet, you continued, knowing you might fail, knowing your body would feel the consequences of such a challenge and you went on until the end. You did so in the hopes that if you could see the same internal determination in your volunteers, then they would be a suitable candidate for this mission, but you have drawn the conclusion that none are mentally capable.’

I felt my jaw clench with doubt. ‘I don’t know if I’m physically capable of this.’

‘You told me that this mission would be mind over matter,’ he said, firmly. ‘If you truly believe in your heart that this is possible for one human being to complete, then it is up to you to prove it, Dr Harding.’

I thought about what he was saying and realised he was right, I couldn’t ask anyone to do this, not unless I was willing to do it myself. Six months suddenly seemed like no time at all, but I had no choice.

‘Fate waits for no one.’ Optimus continued. ‘But it rarely calls upon those who are not ready. If you believe you can do this, then you have my faith also, and I would not go into battle with any other. Do you accept the challenge?’

I swallowed nervously. I had always heard he was a great leader, someone you’d die for on a moment’s notice and now I knew why.

‘I accept.’ I said, simply.

‘You are a brave soul, one I would gladly give my life for. I will keep the enemy distracted for as long as you need to complete your mission in the knowledge that you will succeed regardless of cost.’ I felt my whole being ignite. ‘It will be an honour to serve with you, Dr Harding.’

‘And you, Optimus Prime.’ I nodded, knowing that this would be one of the hardest things I would ever do with my life, but someone had to do it.

If you liked this, please consider supporting me ☕ thanks for reading!

#optimus prime x reader #optimus prime x ofc #transformers #optimus prime fic #optimus prime

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capypub · 1 year ago

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Without Warning - Mafia!Joel Miller Scene 8

Mafia!Joel Miller x OFC

Rating: T (violence, blood, language, a sprinkle of angst)

MDNI. 18+ content.

Summary: Joel's girl get's taken...

Masterlist

Another week passed, she was radio silent. Joel stood in the basement of his home, bloody knuckles repeatedly punching the face of another one of those idiots who had tried to steal from him. He felt the symptoms of withdrawal set in pretty early without her in his life, the longing and sadness shifting into headaches and constant aggravation.

The man was pleading for his life through the gurgles of blood and cries of pain echoing in the dimly lit room. Tommy stood by the nearby table, his face unreadable as he watched his older brother “work.”

“Where’s it at?” Joel demanded, pausing his assault, shoving a map of the city in the man’s bloody, broken face.

He groaned, his head rolling forward, soft whimpers mixed with his labored breathing.

Grabbing him by his hair, Joel yanked the man’s head back, snarling in his face as he forced the man to meet his eyes.

“Point on this map where you fuckers took my shit,” he demanded, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a switchblade.

“I d-don’t know, man, ” he moaned, his voice slurred and muffled by his broken jaw.

“You want to end up like your little friend, there?! Huh?!” Joel questioned, pointing to the side where another man currently hung by a chain attached to the ceiling, one end secured around his wrists, barely breathing, his body bruised and beaten as he swayed like a carcass in a meat locker.

“P-please don’t, come on m-man, we didn’t…didn’t know it was your stuff,” the man tied to the chair begged, beginning to cry as he looked at the nearly-dead accomplice, trying desperately to pull at his restraints.

“Oh, you didn’t know?” Joel sneered, flicking the blade open and driving it right into the man’s thigh, “Fuckin’ tell me where you dropped it off or we’re going to keep this game goin’ for a long, long time, kid,” he growled, extracting the knife, hearing the man scream’s echoeing around him.

“Joel, enough,” Tommy tried to insist from his place near the table where Joel had laid out the contents of his toolbox, a special case for his most extreme methods of torture, compiled from his military training mixed with real-life experience.

“Shut the fuck up!” he snapped over his shoulder before dragging the bloody end of his knife across the man’s throat, tracing his jugular, but not drawing blood…yet.

They went at this for another hour. Joel took his time with this one, avoiding major arteries and hitting major nerves, extracting the most pain.

“Joel,” Tommy said again, a little louder this time.

“What?” he snapped, turning around, his knife currently lodged in the man’s forearm as he turned to glare in annoyance at his brother.

“Your phone’s ringin’, I think you might wanna answer it,” he said, giving him a knowing look.

With an agitated huff, Joel gave his current victim one last look before walking over to the table, using a wet rag to wipe his bloody hands. Tommy held his phone out, still vibrating in his hand. Snatching it from the man, Joel looked at the screen, his expression falling as he read the name, the familiar picture stirring an ache in his chest. It was late, too late for her to still be awake, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to hear her voice.

“Hey,” he said softly, immediately hearing her sniffling, “Everything okay, darlin’?” he asked gently, unsure of how to navigate talking to her after a week of no communication.

“J-Joel?” she asked, her breath sounding labored, her voice shaky and weak.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, alarms going off in his head at how she sounded.

“I…I don’t know where I am,” she said, her voice breaking into a sob.

“Baby, baby…hey! Talk to me, what’s goin’ on?” he asked desperately, completely ignoring the curious looks of the men around him, Tommy’s concern evident on his face as he listened to his brother’s desperate pleas.

There was a shuffle over the line and then he heard her scream. The sharp sound like a bullet to the stomach as he listened to the faint whimper that followed.

“Got you a cute one, haven’t you, Miller?” a man’s voice muttered on the line, a sickening feeling sinking in Joel’s stomach as he recognized the tone, “Pretty when she cries, you know that?” the man continued to taunt him.

“You fuckin’ touch her, I’ll kill you,” Joel snarled, “Don’t fuck with me, David,” he added coldly.

“It’s only fair, Joel,” David said, too calm on the line as Indi continued to whimper and cry in the background, “You’ve been fuckin’ with my business for far too long, ‘bout time I pay you back…”

“Fuckin’ with your business?” Joel snapped in disbelief, “You steal $1.3 million dollars worth of cocaine from me and have the balls to say I’m screwin’ with you?! I’ll kill you just for that!” he continued, slamming his fist against the nearby wall.

“You threatening me, Joel? When I got your pretty little lady tied up all nicely in front of me?” he reminded him, a sickening satisfaction in his voice that made Joel’s blood run cold.

“You’re a dead man, David,” Joel warned.

“Yeah, yeah, Big, Bad Miller’s gonna come ‘round and lodge a bullet in my head, I’ve heard that crap already,” he chuckled darkly.

“You know the rumors are true and you still touch what’s mine? Must have a death wish,” he growled, listening hard for any sounds of Indi, but it seems David had left the room where she was being held.

“Not like you made it hard, she was out in the open, sweet little thing was ready for the taking…” he said, “Tell you what, Joel, I’m feelin’ good today, I’ll give you your little fucktoy back, but I’m gonna need somethin’ in return.”

“You’re in no position to bargain with me, David, you’ve got more than a bullet waitin’ for you as soon as I find you,” he said, resisting the urge to squeeze the phone in his hand, potentially breaking it and severing the only connection he had to Indi at the moment.

“You’re so full of shit, Joel,” David scoffed, “You want the bitch or not?” he asked.

The way he spoke about her had Joel seeing red. He didn’t care what David wanted or why he decided to take Indi, all he knew was that the man had insulted her enough to earn a very slow and extremely painful death.

“Where is she?” he demanded, holding back his anger long enough to get the information he needed.

“Safe…well, mostly safe, for now,” David taunted him with a chuckle, “Don’t know for how long though, my boys have been eyein’ her since she got here…you know how these kids get sometimes around a pretty girl, no self-control…” he chuckled darkly.

Joel was ready to tear his head off his body and smash it in with a bat, his teeth grinding as he listened to David’s words.

“How ‘bout this? I send you a location, you go there in let’s say…two hours and maybe your girl will be there?”

“I’ll skin you alive if you do anything to her,” Joel threatened.

“Just remember how easy it was for me to snatch her up, I can easily get to her again…Two hours, Joel,” David said flatly before hanging up.

He released a feral growl, feeling the sides of his phone begin to crack and dent from how tightly he’d been holding it. Tommy approached him slowly, still with a bit of a limp but no crutches.

“We’ll get ‘er back, Joel, don’t you worry,” he tried to soothe his brother.

“I’m not worried,” Joel snarled, pushing past his brother, grabbing the gun on the table, “I’m fuckin’ pissed, Tommy.”

With that, he stepped over to the man still bleeding and breathing harshly in the chair. He’d been silent the entire time, most likely passed out at some point. Without blinking, Joel cocked the gun and fired a single shot into the man’s skull, the force causing the chair to tip over, his body collapsing lifelessly on the ground in a puddle of blood, sweat, and piss. Approaching the other prisoner still hanging from the chains, Joel did the exact same thing, firing a single bullet into the man’s head, watching the blood trickle down his neck and body until he began to drip on the floor.

“Get this trash out of here, drop it off in front of the closest MC where David’s boys hang out, let’em know what to expect when I find ‘em…” he growled darkly, going towards the stairs without a second glance, taking the stairs two at a time as he hurried up to his office, dialing Tess’s number.

He would deal with the guilt and shame simmering in his chest later, after he had Indi back. He blamed himself for her getting caught up in David’s stupid game, but he would burn the entire world down to make sure she was alive and safe. Nothing else mattered to him at this moment. Screw the drugs, screw the guns, screw his empire. He was going to get his girl back and make anyone who’d hurt her suffer fates worse than death…

“Tess, get everyone together at the Bison,” he said into the receiver when she picked up, “I mean everyone…it’s about time I nip this shit in the bud.”

He didn’t even bother to explain further or hear her response, storming into his office and firing up his computer. For the next hour, he called in as many favors as he could, assessing his weapon supplies and organizing his plan. Tommy came in shortly after he got off the phone with one of his guys in San Antonio.

“Got a location, got our best tracker workin’ on it too,” he said, standing confidently on the other side of the desk.

“What tracker?” Joel asked with a scowl, they didn’t have trackers in the group.

The door opened again and a familiar mop of blonde hair strided in. The tension in Joel’s shoulders easing slightly at the familiar face.

“Hey, old man, heard you were lookin’ for someone,” she said, coming into the office with her hands stuffed in the pockets of her jacket.

“Ellie…what the hell are you doin’ here, kid?”

She went around his desk to stand beside him, using her foot to push his office chair to the side. He was too caught off guard to try and argue with her, staring in bewilderment at the teenager who started messing with his computer.

“Ellie’s been working on her hackin’ skills, did you know that?” Tommy explained with a shrug, “Kid’s good, could be a big help in findin’...” he hesitated on her name, seeing the fire in Joel’s eyes flicker at the mention.

“Heard you got a girlfriend? When were you gonna tell me?” Ellie asked, her eyes never leaving the screen as she began to type erratically.

“Could ask you the same thing…” Joel muttered, watching the blush creep on her cheeks, the familiar scowl on her lips bringing him a small sense of comfort.

They didn’t say much after that. Joel watched Ellie access street cameras and parking garage footage with ease, unable to keep up as she flicked from screen to screen, searching for something methodically. She made a satisfied noise, enlarging the video and turning the screen in his direction.

“That’s her, right?” she asked, pointing to a figure on the screen.

He recognized the scene, it was Indi’s favorite coffee shop. The timestamp read 9:38AM with today’s date. Seeing her again after so long caused that ache in his chest to emerge, the feeling sinking into his stomach as he longed for her. Even on the crappy, low-quality camera, she was stunning, an absolute dream.

“Y-yeah, that’s her,” he murmured, a lump in his throat as he watched her.

“She’s pretty,” Ellie commented, fast-forwarding the footage another hour, “Look, right there,” she exclaimed, pausing the video to show a man in dark clothes approaching Indi, trailing her from a few feet behind.

“See if you can get his face,” Joel insisted, leaning forward, squinting at the screen.

Ellie adjusted the video, inching forward a few seconds. “Is that…?”

“Yeah,” Joel growled, “that’s David…”

Scene 9

#joel miller #joel miller imagine #joel miller x reader #joel miller au #mafia!joel miller #joel miller x ofc #last of us au #joel miller fanfic #joel miller angst

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coffeebanana · 1 year ago

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Hello hello! I had the pleasure of remixing things we never said by @jennagrinsoverml for the @mlsquaredance event!! The original is such delicious PRPR and if you haven't already, you should all check it out immediately!!

You can read the remix on Ao3 or under the cut. It's Ladynoir flavoured oh-shit-we-lost-our-single-shared-brain-cell-what-do-we-do-now?!

...

All About You

Summary:

Chat Noir was enjoying a perfectly pleasant rooftop picnic/movie night/oh-so-platonic date with Ladybug—until she decided to question his feelings out of nowhere. (What does she mean, when he used to be in love with her?!) It turns out they have some things to talk about.

...

“Remember when you used to think you were in love with me?”

The question barely registers at first—and it’s not because the movie projecting from Ladybug’s yo-yo onto a nearby chimney is that good. In fact, Chat Noir doesn’t even know the protagonist’s name.

All of his attention is taken up by Ladybug. By the way she sits in his lap and giggles at the film.

(Well, she was giggling. Now he realizes she’s been silent for a suspiciously long time, and he’s a little worried it’s because she noticed him sniffing her hair.

In retrospect, he’s probably had enough wine.)

He carefully sets aside the plastic cup they’ve been sharing—they’ve learned the hard way that thin-stemmed wine glasses and rooftops don’t mix—and forces his mind to properly compile the beautiful sounds that spilled from her mouth.

Somehow they make even less sense once he’s managed to decipher them.

“When I used to what?”

She scoffs. “So you’re going to pretend you didn’t used to profess your love for me three times a week?”

An icy feeling trickles through him—one he can’t quite name, but definitely doesn’t want to contemplate. He wants her to go back to watching the movie. Maybe he’ll even pay attention this time.

But when he glances back at the chimney, the credits are already flickering.

“I never said that,” he mumbles uselessly.

Ladybug gives an indignant Hmph! and starts struggling to escape from his lap. He helps her stand—hands easily steadying her thighs when she wobbles.

(She always forgets that the wine goes right to her head.

But he always remembers. He’s always there to catch her.)

After years of loving Ladybug loudly, Chat has learned the hard way—a few too many times—that he’d only lose her if he kept on like that. He’s learned to love her quietly—to be the one she depends on, to accept whatever she gives.

It’s worth it, so long as he gets to keep her in his life.

But pretend is a rather cruel word to explain the way he’s forced to constantly to shove his feelings aside every time they’re together. The way he has to ignore how his heart speeds up every time their eyes lock or their hands brush or he just remembers she exists.

“You’re not being fair,” he says. “Just because the way I feel is…inconvenient to you doesn’t make it any less real.”

Her back is turned as she kneels down to clean up their snacks—rather forcefully slapping the lid back on the spinach dip she brought—but he can hear her breath hitch. “I know that! Don’t you think I know that?!”

“Well, then—” He breaks off, wondering why he’s yelling. “Good,” he finishes lamely. “I guess we’re on the same page.”

“I guess we are,” she huffs, which only confuses him more.

(Never mind pages. He’s not even sure they’re in the same book.)

Chat climbs to his feet, dragging the blanket they’d been sitting on with him. He whips the quilt angrily in the wind, like maybe while he’s shaking off the crumbs he can also shake off how much this hurts.

It doesn’t help. If anything, the lump in his throat only grows larger as he watches Ladybug shove containers haphazardly into the picnic basket that had been so carefully arranged when she’d shown up. The fabric inside is dotted with pink hearts—which are now getting slammed around nearly as much as his heart—and it’s that tiny detail that reminds him of everything he has to lose.

(It took years to get to know Ladybug half as well as he wants to. No matter how in sync they are in battle or how well they complete each other’s jokes, Chat’s always been all too aware of the things she can’t—no, that she won’t—tell him. Surely in a city of two million, he won’t figure out who she is by learning what she studies in school.

But the hearts that line her picnic basket? Those are a memory of something she has shared with him—after laughing herself silly over his story of a recent wardrobe malfunction.

“You don’t know how to sew on a button?” she’d asked after finally catching her breath. He’d shaken his head, and she’d gone back to laughing some more.

The next time they met for patrol, she taught him how to thread a needle. He learned to stitch buttons onto scraps of fabric, poking his needle through tiny pink hearts.)

Chat takes a deep breath. No matter what she thinks, Ladybug means the world to him—and he’s fairly sure she always will. So he ignores the suffocating anger that bubbles in his chest, and he fights back the tears as he carefully aligns two corners of the blanket.

Two more folds and he’s calm enough to speak. “Ladybug…”

She ignores him, squeezing a bag of chips so hard that the bottom pops open. Its contents spill onto the roof, ready to be crushed like Chat’s spirits.

“Ladybug,” he tries again. “Please. At least tell me what I did wrong.”

That makes her feeze, fingers grazing the edge of the plastic cup he’d set aside before. It tumbles over, wine spilling across the rooftop. Her hand curls angrily around a stack of napkins. “Nothing,” she snaps. “You haven’t done a thing.”

“Well, then—”

“At all! Even after months of all this.” She waves an arm around wildly—at the disaster of wine-soaked chips and the overflowing picnic basket. “I don’t know how more obvious I could have been, and nothing.”

“And you’re…mad at me for that?”

Ladybug responds with a growl—or maybe a screech—of frustration. “No. No, I’m not mad.”

Chat knows better than to point out that her tone belies her words.

He still has no idea what she’s talking about, though he’s starting to get the sense that maybe it has something to do with how frequently they’ve been hanging out these past few months—usually at her suggestion. Perhaps she’s frustrated he hasn’t taken more initiative in helping to organize their hangouts? He’d assumed she enjoyed taking the lead—she always seemed excited to hear his opinion on all of her ideas—but it must be lots of work.

“Do you want me to bring the food next time?” he asks, kneeling down behind her. He contemplates setting a hand on her shoulder, but decides on clutching the blanket to his chest instead. “Is that it?”

Ladybug whirls around, her eyes narrowed in a way that makes him shrink back. But when they lock eyes, her entire face wilts. “You really don’t know, do you?” Her lower lip trembles. “You just don’t think of me that way at all anymore, so…it never occurred to you, what I was trying to do.”

“I guess…not? But I’d really like to understand.” He sends a hesitant smile her way. It doesn’t seem to land.

She sits back on her heels, staring at her fingers as she tugs on them. “God, I’m so stupid.”

Chat feels a twinge in his chest. “Hey, no. Don’t say that.”

“But it’s true!”

“No.” He barely notices when the blanket slips from his arms; he’s already moving to sit beside her. “Never.”

She shakes her head adamantly, hiding her face in her hands. When Chat sneaks an arm around her shoulder and pulls her closer, she resists at first. But he gives another gentle tug and she all but melts into his side. He rubs her back slowly as she lets out a sob.

Her cries tug on his heartstrings, but some part of him can only feel relief—that she doesn’t hate him, and that she’s back in his arms. He leans his cheek atop her head, relishing the way her arms tighten around his waist.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you,” she sniffles eventually.

He bites his tongue before a reflexive “it’s okay” can slip out. Instead, he keeps on rubbing her back, stomach swooping when she relaxes further against him.

“I wasn’t even mad at you, I was just—I’m so mad at myself. Because it took me too long to realize what I wanted. How I felt. So, of course you’d moved on by then. And—”

Moved on?!

“—it’s really not your fault! You never did anything to lead me on or anything.”

Chat is starting to feel a little led on. There’s no way her words mean what he wants them to.

“I mean, you don’t even call me your lady anymore!”

He…doesn’t? He knows he cut back at some point—he’s never wanted her to feel uncomfortable—but he never intended to stop.

“I’ve been so completely delusional.”

“Ladybu—I mean, my lady, I think there may have been a misunder—”

“And now you’re going to hate me, and I’ll never get you to fall back in love with me, and Shadow Moth will win, and I’ll die alone, and…”

She keeps rambling on, but Chat’s lost the ability to follow. Maybe because his heart skipped a few beats too many.

He notices when she stops talking though—mostly because she pulls away and fixes him with her wide, worried, beautiful eyes.

“Chaton? Please say something.”

His mouth flops open and closed a few times—not unlike a fish—until he finally remembers how to make sounds. “I…can’t fall back in love with you.”

“O-oh.” She turns away, wiping her eyes. “I understand.”

“Hold on. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that—”

“No, no, no. It’s fine, really.”

She tries to stand, and Chat’s heart plummets. How can he have screwed things up again?

But this time, it seems like the universe is on his side.

(She always forgets that the wine goes right to her head.

He’s always there to catch her.)

This time, instead of steadying her, he pulls her back into his lap. Her head falls back against his shoulder with a dejected squeak.

“I’m sorry,” she whimpers.

Heart racing, he trails his hands down her arms. “I’m not.” A giddy smile sneaks onto his face. “You want me to be in love with you.”

She groans. “Look, you don’t have to make fun of me.”

A short laugh slips from his lips. He can’t help it. “That’s the last thing I’d want to do right now.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Seriously! My lady, I…” He takes a deep breath, resisting the urge to run his fingers through her hair. But he can’t think of a good reason as to why he should hold back, so he catches the ribbon on her ponytail and carefully picks at the knot. “The only reason I can’t fall back in love with you is that I never stopped loving you to begin with.”

She whips around to stare at him, hair falling loose around her shoulders. “B-but you changed! You stopped flirting when we started having date—I mean, completely platonic hangouts."

“Well, I didn’t want you to think our friendship wasn’t enough for me. Just spending more time with you meant so much, and…I was afraid I’d mess that up. In the past, I was always too much for you, so…”

Chat’s not sure which of them moves first, but suddenly their fingers lace together.

“You were never too much,” she says. “I just… I wasn’t ready.”

“And now…you are?”

“Now…” She hums softly and leans closer; her breath lands hot on his chin.

It would be so easy—just a slight tilt of his head—to have everything he’s ever wanted. She’s already closing her eyes, ready to answer his question with her lips instead of her words. Except…

“Wasn’t there some other guy?”

Chat wants to pinch himself as soon as the words slip out. Why would he bring that up now? Why tempt fate when he might finally have a chance?

But if this is finally happening, he needs to know it’s real.

Ladybug leans away. “I did. And maybe, in some ways, I still do. I mean, he’s still my friend and all, so—wait! No, this isn’t how I practiced this at all. This has nothing to do with Ad—him. It’s about you.” She pokes him in the chest, a shy smile creeping across her cheeks as her eyes drifted up to meet his. “It’s all about you.”

The breathy way those words tumble out do something to his insides. He’s tempted to ask her to repeat them, but he still has enough functioning brain cells to bite his tongue. Barely.

“What’s all about me?” he asks instead—which really isn’t much better.

Her head dips down, and he thinks he’s ruined the moment until her hand starts sliding slowly up his chest. “Everything. All the time.” She shakes her head. “I don’t know! One day…I just realized you’re the first person I think about when I wake up. And you’re the person I wish I could have beside me when I fall asleep. And—”

He cuts her off with a kiss. It’s on her temple, the only spot he can reach from this angle, but it’s enough to render her speechless. Her head snaps up. Their eyes meet. And Chat has only a split second to appreciate the freckles dotting her cheeks before he’s wondering how her lip gloss can taste like chocolate. And then he’s not wondering anything at all.

There’s no room for questions when she’s the answer to everything.

“Wow,” she whispers when they finally pull apart. Then she claps a hand over her mouth like she’s horrified she said that out loud.

Chat feels giddy. He feels stupid.

Later, he’ll blame the lack of oxygen for his next words.

“Hey,” he whispers. “Remember when you used to think I wasn’t in love with you?”

Ladybug smacks him on the shoulder. Then she kisses him again.

...

Thanks for reading!! 💜

#miraculous square dance 2023 #coffeebanana fics #miraculous ladybug #ladynoir #miscommunication trope #mutual pining #long post

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accirax · 8 months ago

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Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round 6)

And, we're back! I'm so glad that the leaking issue didn't wind up making the team have to delay their episode releases, both for their sake and ours. I've been highly anticipating this teaser release, and look forward to cracking into the next round of Power Rankings.

In case you didn't see my last power ranking for Episode 5, the Power Ranking Format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. There will be spoilers for last week's episode (obviously) and its power ranking, so make sure to read that first if you don't want to be spoiled on how I ranked our last boot. If you want more clarification on the rules, that first post will help you out as well. Furthermore, I'm going to be spoiling the preview for next episode, so if you want to go in TOTALLY blind, save this for later. Let's go!

Recap - Connor's Elimination

Current Point Total: 9 acquired/14 possible

'Cause now we have lore! >:D

Well, turns out that my assessment that the Season 2 cast was safe turned out to not be true. At least Connor was my second lowest positioned of the S2 characters, and my bad vibes about the Yellow Tribe were on point... Yeah, that's some copium right there. Seems this whole predicting business might be harder than I thought. Genuinely, though, I'm glad that Connor was at least in the better half of the contestants ranked (barely).

While I'm a little disappointed that Connor didn't make it farther this time around-- I think his placement was nearly identical to how he did in S2-- he wasn't particularly one of my favorite characters, so the loss didn't hurt me that deeply. Instead, he was an understandable sacrifice in terms of making the villains out to be more of a threat, much like what I theorized for Grett. Lesson learned that sometimes the most obvious boot from a tribe simply will be the boot.

Trailer Analysis

Looking back on the last power ranking, I feel like I could have done a lot better if I'd been paying more attention to what we were shown in the preview beyond the song snippet. So, combined with the fact that I'm just really excited to figure out what's going on next episode, I decided that this time around I'd take a closer look. I've never been a fan of analyzing a trailer so closely that you basically spoil the entire story before it happens, but, I don't think that'll happen here...? Depending on how accurate I am, maybe this section will suddenly disappear next time. Who knows.

So, a compilation of relevant things that I think will happen next episode:

Connor and Trevor will have a conversation. While I doubt that this will have anything to do with the elimination order, it is interesting. I'm guessing that Connor will give Trevor some sort of advice regarding his feelings for Derek? Or, even if it can't be counted as advice (given the L he took with Riya), Connor could at least relate. I don't think this is foretelling that Connor will reenter the competition now, though.

Somebody set up a trap to catch a squirrel. My guess is Tom, as a continuation to the drama between Gabby and the others over killing and eating animals. (Aiden confirms in Episode 5 that catching the chicken was "Tom's trap.") However, it could also be something related to Jensen and/or Trevor and Derek, if they started trying to kill the forest animals again.

Yul will take more orders from Emily to make Grett happy. This means that this is an ongoing plotline.

Tess and Ally will reunite at some point. Interesting.

Tom and Jake are definitely going to fight. Given that Tom looks surprised in one screenshot and regretful in the other, I think he's going to realize how much his relationship with Aiden has been hurting Jake.

The challenge will be contestants pushing balls of yarn(?) down towards other teams' arches, trying to score a goal, while other members of the teams try to block them. All teams appear to have arches and people pushing balls. This is definitely another challenge taken from Survivor, I think possibly Gabon...? I'm pretty sure that, in real life, they had to stop doing this challenge because it injured people too much, but that's the beauty of animation!

At least Yul and Aiden will be knocked down, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. Does that mean they gave it their all to stop a ball, or that the ball trampled their attempts to stop it...? Focusing on the second screenshot, though, the Cyan team is stopping yellow and magenta balls at the same time. Assuming the contestants have any say in where they aim, I wonder if the Yellow (Grett) and Magenta (Ashley, possibly Fiore?) teams will align to target Cyan because they have five members. That could be an in-universe reason to keep the teams even with a Cyan elimination, despite Cyan being pretty physically fit.

"Sure, princess. Whatever floats your boat~!"

Given Fiore's placement in both of these screenshots, it seems like one image must happen right before the other, so Fiore is probably addressing Jake. She sounds really confident and mocking... for some reason? Not saying that's out of character for Fiore, but did something happen to make that confidence warranted as opposed to her anger at being on the bottom? Here are my two guesses: 1) Fiore, Ashley, and Ally have made a girls' alliance, so Fiore is dismissive towards Jake because she knows he's on the bottom. 2) More likely, this might have something to do with Tom and Jake's fight. Jake ran in to urgently tell Fiore something, which could be about a development in Tom and Jake's relationship. Fiore doesn't care, so she gets sassy. I'm honestly kind of confused by this, but we'll see what happens.

Those are all of the scenes from the trailer that I thought were important/I was actually able to get something of value out of. Onto the main event: the actual Power Ranking!

Power Ranking

#1: Jake

Other than... being a S1 character, I guess? There really isn't anything that makes me think that Jake would be headed home this week. He's entrenched in drama, he seems to have the numbers on his tribe, and I don't even think that Magenta is going to tribal. To me, it's so clear cut that I don't have much to say. If he does go home, I'll be very surprised.

#2: Alec

Woah, check out that jump! From 12th to 2nd. Adventure Camp Dan wishes he could've had that when moving to Disventure Camp.

Now that Alec has survived one Yellow vote-- which turned out to be Connor-- I think he's pretty safe. The idea of Riya, Yul, and Grett suddenly now turning around and all working together to eliminate their leader feels laughable, given how dysfunctional the three of them are. Like, could Alec really lose that much social capital in the span of one episode, in a challenge he'll presumably be good at...? I'm kind of anticipating a merge at 12 (Episode 7), so I'm hoping this would confirm that Alec makes the merge.

#3: Ashley

Speaking of making the merge, I honestly think that Ashley will be there. After exploring some more of DC's behind the scenes content (the charity livestream they held 4 months ago and Silly Billy's S1 cast interviews), I've come to learn that the DC cast really likes Ashley... for some reason.

Look, it's not like I hate the gal! I just don't see her as the standout, heroic and hilarious character that a bunch of the voice actors seem to. Because I held this opinion, I was unaware of the possibility that Ashley was brought back because she was some huge fan favorite that everyone wanted to see done to justice. If that's the case, I have a hard time seeing the DC writers eliminating her as a premerger again.

I don't think Magenta is going to tribal, and I think that Fiore or Ally would be more natural boots than Ashley would be anyways. Congrats on ranking this high even though you're currently being hunted for sport, S1 girl. I still don't think you're going to win overall, but you'll probably make it through the day.

#4: Yul

Another big jump! Yul's new position is aided by two major factors. The first is that he's one of only two S2 boys left in the game, after James, Hunter, and Connor were eliminated (side note: I did NOT notice that the game only started with three boys from S1. I wonder what level of safety that grants them. Why did they bring back every S1 girl except Lill. That's so many.)

The second is that the plotline between him and Emily is clearly continuing to have relevance. Perhaps I'm relying too much on the rule of threes, but it would be strange, in my opinion, to have Yul lean on Emily for assistance more than once, but still only twice. Perhaps Emily's character was largely designed to assist a major Yul plotline, after all.

He also doesn't seem to have suffered too greatly from that stage light falling on his foot last episode, which bodes well for his odds. Unfortunately, it seems like the viewing public is going to be subjected to Yul for a little while longer (/lh).

#5: Aiden

Woohoo, the other surviving S2 boy. I honestly wanted to put him higher, but the fact that I'm really feeling like Cyan is headed for tribal couldn't let me justify higher than 5th place.

And, there are genuine reasons why I think he could go home now. If that conversation between Tom and Jake ends in them reconciling, the writers might not want Aiden around anymore to continue being a barrier between them. (And, now that the music episode has passed, they don't need to keep him around for his pipes, either ;).) It's been long enough now since Lake's elimination that I don't think Aiden's elimination would feel super weird. He's had a bit of a chance to play for himself, so if his fate now becomes to hang out in a cool hotel with his boyfriend and bestie for a couple of weeks, it wouldn't seem so bad.

...But I still think Aiden isn't going home, dammit! Knowing DC, I doubt Tom and Jake would make up so early unless one of them was going home, not Aiden. They love the drama. Tom and Jake's relationship is more likely to get worse before it gets better. Not to mention, I still find the "James returns" theory very compelling. Although the Cyan girls have plenty of reasons to eliminate Aiden, I still don't really think they would.

#6: Ally

Is it just me, or would Ally's elimination feel... really random right now? Like, how would it happen, and what narrative point would it serve? The show has very deliberately shown Ally bonding with each and every member of her team. She's had multiple one-on-one conversations with Ashley cementing their friendship, she grew closer to Jake by relating to him through song, and was always the one to defend Fiore from Hunter's attacks. All three of them have reasons to like her and want to work with her, so why would they let her go?

However, Ally doesn't cement a higher placement because I do think there are ways that they could swing her elimination. It's possible that the writers only established relationships between Ashley, Jake, and Ally so that there'll be high stakes and tension between which teammate Ashley and Jake will pair with if Magenta does go to another vote. For Ally to go home, they would have to choose to side with Fiore, but that's not totally unreasonable given how they voted last time.

The fact that Ally and Tess seem to reunite in this episode is also troubling. We have the dangling plot thread from last episode that Ally is worried that she and Hunter won't be able to spend that much time apart (which she believes is good for them) before they have to reexamine their relationship. If that fear turns out to be true, I could see that giving Ally an opportunity to quickly get some advice and closure from Tess would allow her to head to the Losers' Motel with a plan of how to handle Hunter in the future.

I still don't think that Ally or Magenta has anything to fear with tribal, though.

#7: Tess

A definite downgrade from last week, but still not that terrible. A lot of Tess' new placement is that, as I keep reiterating, I think Cyan is very likely to go to tribal, so it's hard to justify putting anyone on Cyan too high.

Having the opportunity to reconnect with Ally is also potentially bad for Tess, although probably less problematic for Tess than for Ally. If the writers were like, "well, Tess got one conversation with Hunter and one with Ally, now she's out!", that would be kind of silly, imo. But, still, that chat will eliminate the sort of "immunity" from getting booted that I gave Tess previously.

It's also not like there's no reason for the Cyans to take out Tess here. The swing vote is usually a fairly protected position, as both alliances should be looking to her for aid. But, if neither side finds her trustworthy enough, they could unite to take her out. I can definitely see a potential character arc of Tess' indecision taking her out from the game. If she can truly never make up her mind about whether to trust Ellie or not, everyone could unite to take out their unreliable teammate and save their own asses.

However, from a narrative perspective, this would further postpone the conflict between Ellie and Aiden, which could be kind of anticlimactic. It would also throw away Tess' character over a trait that wasn't even particularly pronounced in her original appearance. Then again, we saw what the writers did to Hunter, so we can't be too sure that Tess isn't headed in a similar direction.

#8: Grett

Much like Alec, I'm a bit less worried about Grett in this episode after we had the Yellow elimination last episode. She's also picking up points from (presumably) being involved in the ongoing Yul and Emily plotline, which could give her some plot armor moving forward.

If Yellow is headed to a vote, I don't really see why Alec and Riya would choose to eliminate Grett over Yul. Riya really dislikes Yul, he's still possibly injured, and Alec has a history of working with Grett, even if it ended on kind of bad terms.

Why put her so far below Yul, then? Well, first of all, Grett is a meta-threatened S1 girl, while Yul is a meta-protected S2 boy. Secondly, I do still think that Yul will probably be the cause of Grett's elimination at some point down the line, even if it's not this episode. Perhaps I should make an overall theory post talking about some of my thoughts on potential endings someday. And, third, I actually did think of one reason why Alec and Riya would choose to keep Yul over Grett... kind of. If Emily wanted to keep Yul in the show for whatever reasons, she could use the earpiece to instruct Yul on clever, strategic things to say that could also convince Alec and Riya that he turned over a new leaf. Basically, it's possible that Emily could girlboss her way into keeping Yul in the game, rather than Yul staying in due to his own merits.

There are other S1 girls (and others) that I believe to be in a spicier position now than Grett, though, so she lands at #8.

#9: Fiore

With Fiore, we enter the realm of players that I seriously believe could be in danger of elimination this episode. Yes, despite my claims that I think Fiore could be the winner, I do think that, if Magenta goes to tribal this episode, Fiore would be the boot. I just don't think Magenta really is going to tribal; ha ha!

It's really that whole, "whatever you say, princess~" that has me worried for Fiore. I'm concerned that, after getting a taste of power with the Hunter boot going her way, Fiore has become overconfident in thinking that Ally is definitely the next boot and that she will make the merge, whenever it is. (Basically, Fiore would think that Ally's presence gives her enough of a buffer that she thinks the merge is essentially secured.) If she goes back to demeaning Jake and Ashley, they could easily choose to turn on her and protect their newfound friendships with Ally instead. Fiore's status as a S1 girl isn't helping that read.

Again, I feel like all of the current Magenta team members are probably going to make the merge at this point, so Fiore should be safe. However, as (in my opinion) the most likely Magenta boot, Fiore winds up at #9 in case of emergency.

#10: Gabby

Thinking back on it, other than being a S1 girl, my reasoning behind Gabby's elimination wasn't that strong.

Or, maybe it was, before Ellie absorbed even more of the villainous energy last episode with her comments about torturing Jake. With comments like that, it becomes even harder to believe that Tom and Aiden would choose to target Gabby instead of Ellie. The farther Gabby makes it into All Stars, the less of an excuse there is for her to be eliminated with very little focus beforehand.

Still, I think Cyan is in trouble, blah blah blah. If some sort of twist does occur that gives Ellie individual immunity amidst her team-- and I don't think that would be a totem, as Ellie using a totem on herself and inadvertently sending Gabby home would basically require her to make her totem publicly known before the vote-- then they could target Gabby instead.

It is harder to predict DC than Survivor because DC has more of a penchant for pulling random shit out of nowhere, like that vote in S1 where Gabby just straight up obliterated Ashley. I wonder if that relationship will reemerge later in All Stars... Gabby would probably need to be around for it to happen, so, clearly, she should stay in.

#11: Tom

When I was drafting out my initial thoughts for this list, I originally put Tom really high. Like, top 3 high. But, the more I thought about it, the more I started to feel like Tom could be on the chopping block this episode.

For starters, the love triangle. I said last episode that, because Tom is the central leg between Jake and Aiden, he wouldn't be at risk of elimination. Well... I take those words back, sort of.

Let's look at it this way: if you eliminated any one of Jake, Aiden, or Tom, what would happen? If you eliminate Jake, Aiden and Tom are left. That's pretty boring, because then they could just be friends without any particularly strong (or at least personally motivated) opposition. If you eliminate Aiden, Jake and Tom are left. That's definitely better, because Jake and Tom could simply continue the will-they-won't-they plotline on their own, but you'd still lose Aiden as an obstacle without Jake having any hand in it.

If you eliminate Tom, Jake and Aiden are left. In my opinion, this is by far the spiciest option. Jake would probably be super mad at Aiden for not doing enough to protect Tom from getting voted out, leading to Aiden being justifiably angry that Jake has been so aggressive towards him despite Aiden not wanting Tom to go home, either. I think that having Tom's two "love interests" left to fight each other without him actually being there is the most interesting way in which one corner of the triangle could be eliminated.

But that's all about why Tom "should" be eliminated; what about why he would get eliminated? There are a couple of possibilities here, too. First of all, that argument between Jake and Tom in the preview, which ended with Tom pretty clearly being remorseful about what he did. If Tom gets super demoralized about screwing things up with Jake, it could cause him to be seen as a liability. Or, in an extreme case, Tom could feel so guilty about his and Aiden's kiss that he would ask the girls to target him instead of Aiden.

Alternatively (or even additionally), we also saw that squirrel trap in the trailer, which I said could be hinting at further conflict between Tom and Gabby over the team's diet. If Gabby got really fed up with Tom's carnivore side, she could ask Ellie if they could target Tom instead of Aiden, which Ellie might agree to.

Despite all this, I can also totally understand why the writers would want to keep Tom around. After his kiss with Aiden, his visibility and importance seem higher than ever. If James does return to the competition later, having him chat with Tom would be... interesting, even given James not caring that his boyfriend was stage-kissing another man. And, Tom potentially has a winner plot set up, given that the writers found it important enough to tell us what Tom would do with the prize. With Cyan likely going to tribal, however, the possibility of a surprise Tom boot felt more viable than ever. I'm not putting him in last place, but if Tom does wind up going home, I'm gonna feel pretty smart.

#12: Riya

Much like Fiore, Riya is here as my safety net for who I think would go home if Yellow does wind up going to tribal instead of Cyan. However, I feel like a third Yellow tribal is, on the whole, more likely than a third Magenta tribal, so Riya gets kicked all the way down here.

Without Connor as a shield, Riya is in a much worse position. Yul already dislikes Riya in general, but that only increased after she caused the light to fall on him, and would only increase more if he ever learns that Riya was the one to fire that stray vote at him. Grett would probably work with Yul, which is already 50% of the votes against her.

Alec is definitely Riya's best lifeline, and it could work out in her favor. After all, if Alec continues working with Grett and Yul, if they go to tribal again, the couple would most likely vote him out. However, I think it's really a question of how much longer Alec thinks he has before the merge.

Here's my logic: if Alec thinks there's still a long time until the merge, then, yes, it would be better to work with Riya to have a chance to eliminate Grett or Yul. That's because, the more team challenges there are, the greater opportunity Yellow has to lose again, and the greater possibility that Grett and Yul vote him out.

However, if Alec thinks that the merge is soon, it's better to vote out Riya. If Alec and Riya managed to eliminate, let's say, Yul, then Alec is essentially losing two members of his villains alliance-- one due to Yul's elimination, and one due to Grett presumably withdrawing. Alec has already burned her once before.

That would cause the villains alliance to go into the merge with a maximum of only four members: Alec, Riya, Fiore, and Ellie. The other teams have already been primed to believe that the villains are a huge threat, and with such small numbers, they would be very easily eradicated. Even beyond others, Fiore and Ellie might also be mad at Alec for him dragging them onto his sinking ship of a plan, and try to desert as well. My point is, sticking with Riya could go really badly for Alec.

So, combining that doomsday scenario with me at least thinking that the merge probably will be soon, and the fact that Alec choosing to side with Riya would only put them at a 50:50, NOT a majority, and I can totally see why Alec would choose to vote for Riya.

And, that's not even taking into account Riya's poor behavior! The Yellow Team did lose the singing challenge due to Riya's influence, and they suffered during the diving challenge due to her fear of the depths, too. She's a challenge liability. She was also shown hogging the shower, and is now sunbathing during camp life, proving that she's not a team player. She has way too much confidence in her "power position," as she put it last episode, for where her game actually is. If it's not Cyan that goes to tribal, I can totally see the threads coming together to lead to a Riya elimination.

#13: Ellie

It's just simple math for me at this point. I think that Cyan is almost certainly going to tribal next episode + I think Ellie is by far the most likely boot for Cyan's next tribal = I think Ellie is really, really likely to be the next boot. She's even a S1 girl.

My argument is pretty much the exact same things I said last episode, except now they're even worse. The screenshots from the challenge now make me think that Cyan will go to tribal next episode, as opposed to my confusion about why Cyan would lose a music challenge. We also saw that Ellie has begun to prioritize suffering over strategy, which both increases the odds that people like Tess would want to take her out and decreases the odds that she'd be able to pull off an intellectual move to save herself.

I'll honestly be pretty surprised if Ellie doesn't go home next episode... but, hey, I was surprised by Connor's boot last episode, too! If Ellie does manage to survive another episode, I wonder if I'll have to start reconsidering putting her so close to the bottom. Part of it would depend on how she survives, of course.

The only way to know for sure is to actually watch the episode myself, so, see y'all on Thursday! Thanks for reading!

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peleksstuff · 2 years ago

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Unravel

Jason Todd x journalist!reader

One

I sat nervously in front of my computer, staring at the blank page before me. I had been given the biggest assignment of my journalism career, and I needed to figure out where to start. My boss had told me to "start small," but that seemed like such vague advice.

"Come on, you can do this," I muttered to myself, taking a deep breath. I had been tasked with writing an exposé on the corruption within Gotham City's police department, a topic that was both daunting and dangerous. But I couldn't let my nerves get the best of me. This was my chance to make a name for myself.

I sipped my coffee and opened a new document on my computer. Maybe my boss was right. Starting small was the key. I began typing out a list of potential sources - officers who had been fired or demoted for speaking out against their superiors, whistleblowers who had risked everything to bring corruption to light.

As I wrote, my nerves began to fade, replaced by a growing sense of determination. I could do this. I would do this.

I spent the next few hours compiling a list of potential leads and drafting a rough outline for my article. It wasn't perfect, but it was a start. I knew I had a long road ahead of me, but I was ready to take the first step.

I saved my work and shut my laptop, feeling a sense of satisfaction. Starting small was the best advice my boss could have given me. It helped me break down a daunting task into manageable pieces, and I felt more confident in tackling this assignment.

As I left the coffee shop and stepped out onto the bustling streets of Gotham, I couldn't help but wonder what else starting small could help me accomplish. Maybe even something as big as taking down the corruption within the police department. But for now, I was content with taking things one step at a time.

I was lost in my thoughts as I walked down the busy streets of Gotham City, still reeling from the overwhelming task ahead of me. As I turned a corner, I nearly bumped into someone walking in the opposite direction.

"Whoa, sorry about that," I said, looking up to see a tall, muscular man standing before me. He had striking green eyes and a strong jawline, but there was a hardness to his features that made me uneasy.

"No problem," he said, his voice rough and low. "Be more careful next time."

I nodded, feeling embarrassed. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Thank you," I said, trying to be polite.

"That was not a compliment," he replied, his tone cold and dismissive. I was taken aback by his harsh response and felt a sudden urge to defend myself.

"I didn't mean anything by it," I said, feeling defensive. "I just meant that I appreciate you not getting angry with me for nearly running into you."

He looked at me for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then he nodded, his demeanor softening slightly. "Fair enough," he said. "Just watch where you're going next time."

With that, he turned and walked away.

I finally reached Kay’s place, my friend's apartment, a small but cozy space in the heart of Gotham. She was a police officer, and I knew she would have valuable insights into the corruption I was investigating.

As I knocked on the door, I couldn't help but feel nervous. What if she didn't want to talk about the corruption? What if she thought I was overstepping my bounds as a journalist? But I shook those thoughts off and reminded myself I had a job to do.

"Hey, come on in!" she called from inside.

I stepped inside and was immediately greeted by the sound of a news anchor's voice coming from the TV.

"... news, the Red Hood has struck again, taking down a group of armed robbers in the downtown area. This marks the third time this week that the Red Hood has intervened in criminal activity, leaving many citizens wondering who this masked vigilante is."

My friend muted the TV as I took a seat on her couch. "Hey, what's up?" she asked, eyeing me curiously.

"I'm working on a piece about corruption within the police department," I said, getting straight to the point.

She raised an eyebrow. "That's a pretty big topic. What do you need from me?"

"I was hoping you could give me some insight into how the department handles internal affairs," I said, pulling out my notebook.

She hesitated for a moment, clearly weighing her words. "Look, I can give you some basic information, but you know I can't tell you anything that's not public knowledge. And you should be careful - this stuff can be dangerous to dig into."

"I know," I said, feeling a flicker of fear. "But I have to do this. The corruption is hurting innocent people."

We talked for a while longer, discussing the intricacies of police investigations and the challenges of rooting out corruption. But my mind kept reverting to the news report about the Red Hood. Who was he, and what was his connection to the city's crime problem?

"Have you ever seen the Red Hood?" I asked suddenly, unable to contain my curiosity.

My friend shook her head. "No, but I've heard plenty about him. He's a real enigma."

We talked for a while longer about the Red Hood and the various theories about his identity. My friend was skeptical about the idea of a vigilante taking justice into his own hands. Still, I couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for someone who was willing to fight for what was right, even if it meant breaking the law.

Two

#jason todd x reader #jason todd imagine #jason todd #red hood x y/n #red hood x reader #red hood imagine #red hood fanfiction #batfam #gotham #jason todd fic

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cleolinda · 1 year ago

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Weekend links

My posts

Took a bit of a break this week, although I did draft some Spooky Season stuff. Also, writing this post last week made me realize that I needed to buy a bluetooth shower speaker, so now I'm waiting on that to charge up.

Speaking of Spooky Season, I kicked it off by watching someone else watch scary shorts on YouTube (I need my hand held) (I'm compiling a playlist of the short films themselves to post). At which point I asked people to weigh in on what media scares them. I mean "so scary I nearly had to turn it off" scary, if you have any suggestions.

Not scary (yet): When you’re a fan of the character based on you but you didn’t actually finish the movie

Reblogs of interest

Strikes: I agree with the theory that streaming/studios have dug in their heels so hard on the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes because they don't want to reveal massive systemic fraud. Here's how very little money they're fighting over, while they're willing to splash out on crisis PR.

Not strikes: Tumblr putting a scary clown on your dash is not Crossing the Picket Line.

Oh look, it's Autistic Burnout, the reason I disappeared for a few years there!

The raccoons of self care

"Humans have finally managed to land on Mars, only to find a locked safe buried in the Martian soil. The key is apparently on Earth, but no one knows where."

Video

A primer on handshake slaps and daps for anyone who might need it

The sacred texts

oh wow, this shop has everything my heart desires!

Look at all the fucks I don't give. Look at them, Anakin

Personal tags of the week

It felt like a real #bats kind of week. Also, a really good Wet Beast Wednesday.

#weekend links #odds and ends #linkspam

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teleiapotami · 1 year ago

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NaLu Week Day 5

Prompt: Gifts

Summary: Natsu has never hidden anything from Lucy before, so why does he keep dodging her questions all of a sudden? And why does he seem to be avoiding her?

@allaboutnalu @thenaluarchive

Natsu wasn’t a man known for his discretion. He was quite proud of his reputation as an outspoken “open-book” type. So when he began to dodge questions and hide things, Lucy noticed. While weird habits and behaviors were not uncommon to her partner, his dismissal of her curiosity was.

Every so often, she would notice him squatting in the middle of the road, his fingers poking around in the dirt. When she would call out to him, he waved her off or ran to catch up. Once, she found him knee-deep in a river along the town they were working in, bent over with his arm shoved into the water. That time, he had jumped when she called out to him like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t be. When he climbed out of the river, she thought she saw him slip something into his pocket, but the motion was so fast, she couldn’t be sure.

These strange occurrences went on for months, on nearly all of the jobs they took together. Once, she woke up in the middle of the night while they were camping. A weird sound kept her from falling back asleep, so she stumbled out of the tent to look around. Sitting beside the dying embers of the campfire was Natsu, blowing a thin, consistent stream of fire down into his hands. There was something in them that was glowing from the heat, but as soon as he heard her coming he stopped and hid his hands. There were other times that he would vanish from camp randomly. Whenever she would think to look for him, Happy would volunteer to go get him. It was weird, but not so unreasonable that she worried. Happy generally knew where Natsu was, and the pair of them were well known to be weirdos as it was, so she would let it go and move on with her day.

The strangest occurrence happened when Lucy was walking home from the guildhall one day, and Natsu came out of one of the stores just ahead of her. She called out to him, and he grinned. “Hey Lucy, what’s up? On your way home?” She nodded and looked up at the storefront. To her surprise, it was a jewelry store.

“What on earth could you need at a jewelry store Natsu? Jewelry doesn’t exactly seem your style, and I’m not sure it would really suit you,” she told him. He gave her a pouty look that made her giggle.

“Not that it’s any of your business nosy, but I broke something, and they fixed it for me, that’s all.” She nodded again. That made more sense than him shopping for anything, even as a gift for someone else. Natsu was certainly sentimental, but he had never been the gift-giving type. In fact, she couldn’t think of a single instance where she had observed him giving or receiving a present, even during the holidays.

She probably would have forgotten all about those strange little moments, if it hadn’t been for the other changes. She barely noticed at first, but all of a sudden Natsu and Happy were showing up in her apartment less and less. It didn’t stand out to her until she came out of the bathroom once, having heard something in her kitchen, swearing she was going to skin them for raiding her fridge. But it had just been a very drunk Cana, searching for booze, and an exasperated Lisanna, trying to keep her from wrecking things. She had been a bit disappointed that it wasn’t Natsu, but even more so to realize that none of her friends had any concept of boundaries.

The invasion made her think back to the last time her partner had shown up in her home unexpectedly. Had it been so long? Once she tried to put a date on it, she realized that it must have been almost a month, if not a little more. It startled her that it had taken this long for her to notice. Compiling a list of his weird behaviors, plus the unexplained absence from her apartment, Lucy tried to make sense of it but came up blank. When she asked Natsu about it, he just told her he had been working on something at his house, and not to worry.

“If you miss me all that much, I’m sure I can make some time to break in for ya Luce!” He grinned widely at her.

“No way!! I’m sorry I mentioned it!”

Even though she loved her privacy, there was certainly something missing from her home without the noisy, warm, messy, comfortable atmosphere that Natsu and Happy brought with them. She wondered how much longer he would be tied up in whatever he was working on, but dismissed the thought, just like all the others. Natsu was far too open to be hiding anything serious from her.

A few days later, Natsu snuck up behind Lucy at the guild and placed his hands on the table on either side of her, planting his chin on her shoulder. “Heya Lucy!” She tilted her head to bonk against his lightly.

“Oh, hi. Are you done with your…..uh….whatever that was?” She felt her skin tingle slightly where his chest pressed against her back and became acutely aware of the way the guild was beginning to quiet down to watch their interaction. Again.

“Mmhmm.” He murmured, his chest vibrating against her back. “Come with me. I wanna show you what I was doing.” He stood up and held out his hand.

Lucy stood up and took it, glancing around the room. “Sure, anything to get away from these gossips!” She followed him from the hall and out into the bright sunshine. To her surprise, he didn’t let go of her hand when they exited the building. They walked together along the river to her apartment. Without warning Natsu leaped up through her window, leaving her behind. She huffed and took the proper way around, climbing up the stairs and letting herself in.

He was sitting on her bed holding a pink wooden box on his lap. He patted the bed beside him with a grin. She quirked a brow and moved to sit beside him. He was being unusually quiet and strangely cryptic. She pulled her legs up underneath her as she sat facing him. “So….what’s up?” He just grinned even bigger and offered her the box.

She took it and set it on the bed between them to open it. The box was lined with a dark blue pillow with a bracelet set on the center of it. Lucy gaped at the piece, studying it. “You made this?” she whispered.

“I did. For you,” he said proudly. She wanted to look up at him, to say something to express her curiosity, but she was too focused on the bracelet. A delicate silver chain held ten stone charms of various shapes and colors. The stones had glossy finishes that caught the light and made them shimmer. As she studied them, she felt a chill run up her spine. Each of the stones had one of her zodiac key symbols carved into it. The largest, shaped like a heart, bore Aquarius’s sign. The delicate silver clasp had the final charm, a tiny crystal Fairy Tail emblem, dangling from a chain a few links longer than the stones.

As her silence dragged on, Natsu shifted anxiously. “Do you like it?” he asked, hesitantly. Lucy let out a soft sigh.

“Natsu, it’s amazing! You really made this? How? Why?” she tore her eyes away from the gift to look at him.

“I did! I melted the stones until they were in the shape I wanted, and then I polished them to make ‘em shiny. I know you like sparkly stuff. I got the chain and the emblem from the jeweler, but I put it all together myself. Oh, and I carved the symbols in myself too.” He grinned so proudly that she couldn’t help but giggle.

“But why?”

“What d’you mean why? Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day you put Fairy Tail back together, did you forget? I wanted to give you something to let you know how special you are to the guild….and me. I love you, Luce. That’s why.”

Lucy stared at him, baffled. She had forgotten. Could it really have been so long already? But more importantly, had she just heard him right? “You love me? Like…..guild love, or….” she flushed, unable to finish.

He rolled his eyes and tucked his chin into his scarf. “Gah, c’mon Lucy, love love. Like…..I dunno, I just don’t ever wanna be without you, and…..erm…..” he cut his eyes to the side, “I wanna spend my life making yours perfect and stuff” he mumbled.

She couldn’t be sure, because he was hiding his face in his scarf, but she was pretty sure he was blushing under there. Gently, she closed the box and set it on her nightstand. Then she launched across the bed, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. He gave a strangled yelp and caught her, flopping back on the bed with her in his arms.

“Thank you thank you thank you Natsu. I love you too,” she squealed, burying her face into his neck.

He chuckled and sat them up. He gave her a mischievous smile that made her heart skip a beat. “Aren’t you going to give me anything in return?” She frowned slightly and chewed on her lip.

“But….I don’t have anything…” she said, concerned by the way he was starting to grin.

“That’s okay. I’ll just take you as my gift then. Forever.” Lucy flushed and squealed as he rolled them over, so he was pinning her. Looking up at him, Lucy had the strongest sense that she would be spending quite a bit of time trapped beneath him in the future. He stole her breath away with a kiss, and she wasn’t sure if he had taken her as his gift, or just given her another one.

#naluweek2023 #fairy tail #fairy tail nalu #natsu dragneel #fairy tail fanfic #lucy heartfilia #natsu x lucy #ao3 fanfic #ao3 #archive of our own #creative writing #nalu fairytail #nalu #fairy tail natsu #nalu fanfiction

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the-mercurial-star-o-vesper · 10 days ago

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TRANSFORMERS: ONE

So...

Because of the popularity of this film that I kept seeing on my dash, over the course of weeks, I looked into it. I liked what I saw.

The slow degredtation of my mental defenses over the course of fan art and fan theory, wormed its way into my head slowly... then bursted, giving power to a thing that had for so many months, dried...

My legendary alt-mode: HYPERFIXATIOTRON.

Which meant looking up everything Transformers ever, and that's an awful lot of content (considering its 40 years).

I went the old fashioned route too, to watch the original Gen 1 Cartoon. I dived into ancient antediluvian history, from before the dinosaurs, when titans walked the earth and the gods were yet to be born... the 1980s.

And through the million years it took to get back to the 2020s, I looked up a lot. From theories, analysis, general ideas, eccetra eccetra.

So Ironically, I ended up getting insanely knowledgable (like the fragging geek I am), already have my years of analysis skills at ready, got my favorite character on the line (nobody would be shocked to who it is--Give you a hint, he's a Screamer).

And I am more than pumped to actually watch the film...

(spoilers below)

... and it turns out, I was overqualified and over prepared.

This film attracted me by its art. I loved the animations, the designs, the way the transformations happened, the sheer environments and scales...

And the character concepts! Love the idea of Prime and Megs being at the same job, being best friends with obvious character quirks. Pax is hyper goal fixated, Dee has dark humor and just sorta wants to live in the present. I get both sides too, I understand the motivations.

Bee? Funniest guy on screen.

And I love that Elita kept her take charge attitude.

( No romance plot, thank fraggin' Primus. )

( ... Well it might actually be a breakup bro-mance? Either way, its non traditional and i love it).

And the virtues behind it, the idea of message it tries to hold, its a good message and there are some good nuanced and thoughtful implications.

Plus, as a new fan nerd who spends most of their time just looking shit up anyway, I do love spotting all the references, background casts and more.

... But now for the (Decepti)Cons.

Because in such irony, By becoming a fan of TF, due to seeing the fandom of this film... I ended up, uh, realizing that the film has some pretty mortal flaws.

Go figure--you stumble across the thing, the thing inspires you to do things, and then you come back to the thing, and it falls under the weight of all the wrong.

... wow my journey into Transformers is just like the film plot...

Dat's kinda cringe.

One). Its too fast, too packed

In fact, its continued the lovely recent trend of films and shows, of utterly destroying its pacing and packing WAY too much stuff in. Now its not nearly as bad as some of the comparisons I can make... But a fail is still a fail.

Its a Show that's trying to be a Film. Its got all this world, this message, these characters, and its trying to fit it all in all at once, and it doesn't work.

It's ultimately rushed. Period. That's not gonna be an argument, if I have to pull an 20 something-minute episode of the OG transformers cartoon and point out why it has better pacing, or why the BAY FILMS have better pacing, then it has failed the test.

A film does not need to be one continuously long Tiktok Compilation.

Action is hard to keep up with akin to the first Venom film.

Our main characters, the boys, Megs and Primer, for being the main characters, they sure don't explain themselves very well. Its not clear how they reached certain conclusions beyond "the FILM NEEDS IT HERE BECAUSE TRADITION".

We don't see why Megs goes immediately down hill, there's an impression of vengeance, but it kinda disconnects. We don't see him as having a temper or prone to violence, just kinda making dark jokes, but he's still helping people. Self-centered, but with good reason.

Worse, Primer's is actually just as bad, if not worse. While we do see he has his long term goals and care of people in general, there's this odd disconnect. He's not really seen interacting with anyone else to warrant the kind of welcome-with-arms he got near the climax. Not in this story about systematic cynicism.

( Maybe it was done for the VA's impression of old Optimus Prime.)

There's implications of values and attitudes, but eh... its kinda drowned out by the sheer packed nature of the film trying to be a top 5 youtube compilation, and by the sheera mount of characters doing a lot of talking but not a lot of saying anything.

( The literal only time the film slowed down to explain itself like a normal film, was when Starscream came on screen. That was it! And then the action picked up and the pacing was ruined for the rest of the film. Not even Alpha Trion had Starscream's Scene pacing. )

I've already had enough with the Rush Time Story stuff that keeps popping up. If I catch it, I will fail it vibe check immediately.

If the directors and screen writers try to justify their work like this--I will no longer trust their capability of making films or media in general.

RECOMMENDATION Because deconstructive criticism is easy and all too common online, I will also add improvements. No point in destroying something if you don't know how to improve on it later.

"Make it a 5 episode series". Explore the environments, allow the characters to breath, get arcs going.

TWO). Bad Character Placement

Now I know Transformers loves to redo its stuff every show, every game, every comic. And that's okay, that's fine. Its a Hasbro thing, gods knows MLP does the same deal. Its all backed by Toy marketing.

But, unlike MLP, there are consistent character archetypes in TF.

And TF:One well... it has an interesting idea, with both good calls and very bad calls.

I like TF:One's Bumblebee... but that Dude ain't as old as Megs and Primer, sorry. He's the kid's bot, the sidekick, always has been, so this films' implication means his placement is... well, not a great one.

RECOMMENDATION: Why not replace with Dion, or y'know, Ultra Magnus, who explicitly is intertwined Optimus' history? Y'know, the actually BADASSATRON.

Elita is actually in Ironsides' place. Drill Sergeant, long history with Optimus, same deal. Which in this case, isn't a bad thing for this continuity. Elita has a long TF history of kinda written screwy or being screwed over (Its that historic Hasbro "THERE CAN'T BE GIRLS IN TRANSFORMERS"). ... Which makes it really weird that Ironsides actually does appear in the film.

RECOMMENDATION: If you're gonna replace Ironsides, actually replace him. Or maybe just fuse the two characters together for this contiuity-- Ironside Elita sounds fucking AWESOME.

Starscream has never been older then Megs. Look, just, no. The dude probably inspired Papyrus Undertale, and this film wants to tell me that he's actually the former head of TF's version of the local Brotherhood of Steel.

The guy was a fucking Scientist, and when he wasn't a scientist, he was being Blue from Pokemon Gen 1--Arrogant enough to either want to hug him or deck him in the face, either way, its gonna be a fun game.

RECOMMENDATION: How bout we have Starscream as the fifth member of the main cast, as a counterweight between Elita and "Bee", and to act as parallel to Primer (just as Elita acts as parallel to Megs... or at least, is supposedly supposed to be). Let him be the lil kid, or at least, the grumpy nerdy teenager.

And the character they meet instead, is actually a surviving Prime leading the High Guard. Saves on pacing.

Why are Shockwave and Soundwave there? Their attitudes in this film, are more befitting of Skywarp and Thundercracker.

RECOMMENDATION: Return to Source Material.

RECOMMENDATION 2: Never use popularity and familiarity as a reason to throw a character in the wrong place. Understand the materials present first, before you knit a mess instead of a quilt.

THREE). Messages require Communication

Yes, the idea of putting Primer and Megs as starting in the same place is brilliant.

Yes, the criticism of a enforced class and caste system is merrited.

... But you kinda have to discuss it first, rather than making a lot of quips.

Characters are just that, they're objects. In order to sustain your message, your characters Have to talk, beyond the quippy one liners, so that the Audience can keep track.

Subtly only works when the scene isn't Subtle. Example; Watching a character sneaking around, isn't subtle --because if you did it in real life, you'd look stupid-- but the story makes it subtle by portraying them sneaking around, having quiet music, and using sneaking motions. It works in visual fiction, because it is Visual and Theatrical.

The film is too packed to have Visual Theatrics beyond the 'THEY DID THE THING". Oh some stuff here and there works, but the rest of the film is still there and the pacing is still bad.

FOUR). No breathing room.

This is specifically against American Media, because it is the Worst Offender--but you gotta stop trying to pack every scene with everything imaginable, its STRESSING.

Its Detressing, its anxiety inducing, its confusing, and yeah, the Rush feels good the first time, but it makes unwatchable the second time.

Slow it down, allow quiet moments, let the characters talk, let us see the Environments and hear the music.

Overclocked and Jam packed is NOT GOOD FOR YOUR BRAIN. This is what BRAIN ROT IS. It destroys your patience and your focus.

And i gotta tell ya, as someone from the late 90s early 00s TV generation--TV and Films did not used to do this shit, or if they did, they were considered BAD.

You want peak? Look at a Ghibli Film. You want other examples that aren't akin to godmoding? Star Wars New Hope. Last Unicorn, Watership Down, the fucking YELLOW SUBMARINE--which is literally just a film long music video that inspired music videos, and it was still awesome-- Shrek. Toy Story.

The Steven Universe Movie. Secret of Nimh. Ghost in the Shell.

There are beyond a Myriad of films to follow, to know what good pacing and good breathing space and clear communication, looks like. Decades of examples.

And this ain't it.

And there's no reason for it.

CONCLUSION:

I guess I prefer the fan hype over the real deal, and seeing clips over watching the film, because... this ain't a film, this is a TV show draft that got its 1st season canceled at the last minute and they complied what they could.

Still though, the art, animation, voice acting, and concept is good.

#transformers #transformers one #analysis #speculation #criticism

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drafthearse · 11 months ago

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KATZ WRAPPED 2023

spotify wrapped is fine and all but i have calculated some stats and rankings of my own, many pertaining to my sick and twisted list of albums to get through during the year.

overall, i crossed 429 albums off my list in 2023.

some of these were albums i had listened to in full years ago, but wanted to revisit because i had a feeling i'd enjoy them more (ex: in keeping secrets of silent earth: 3, year zero). many were albums where i was familiar with one or even a handful of tracks off them, but had never actually listened to them in full (ex: magma, living in darkness). but probably the majority of albums on the list, i had never heard at all (ex: angelfish, spanking machine). the math brings me out to 8.25 albums per week!

i added 779 new tracks to my music library this year, which is the most music i have ever added in a year. the first track i added in 2023 was "Diet Pill" by L7, and the last was "Double Decker" by Skating Polly.

my overall artists of the year were Sleater-Kinney, Jimmy Eat World, and Bad Religion.

i got to see Bad Religion live in 2023!

i also saw Backyard Superheroes, Joker's Republic, Save Ferris, HXLT, Death From Above 1979, Sunsetter, Cam Kahin, Anyway Gang, Tim Kasher, Sparta, Koyo, Thursday, '68, Thrice, The Upstart Crows, and Speed of Light! and i took terrible photos, as always!

my favorite artists that i really discovered this year from the list were Mary Timony, Bayside, and PJ Harvey!

my overall favorite track from the year was "Denise" by Fountains of Wayne!

my favorite track that i only discovered in 2023 was. also "Denise" by Fountains of Wayne

my overall favorite albums of the year were Coral Fang by the Distillers, Still Searching by Senses Fail, The Artist In The Ambulance by Thrice, and Futures by Jimmy Eat World.

relatedly, i got so fucking jumpscared while watching Pushing Daisies.

my favorite albums discovered in 2023 were Ghost Notes by Veruca Salt, Billy Talent II by Billy Talent, Becoming Something Else by Sugarcoma, and Sweet Weaponry by Cruiserweight.

my LEAST favorite albums discovered on the list were Tomorrow Is Nearly Yesterday, And Everyday Is Stupid by Crywank, The Silver Scream by Ice Nine Kills, Song and Legend by Sex Gang Children, and Lobes by We Are Scientists.

in total, i spent about 1163.5 hours listening to music in 2023, about 3 hours a day. this is lower than previous years, probably because i spent a bit more time listening to podcasts than usual. when i worked at a reptile and insect-focused pet shop, i would listen to Behind the Bastards for almost the entire workday.

in 2023, i created three new playlists to organize my music:

CONTROL is how i imagine Jax and Jim's hypothetical band might sound.

one two is a recommendation playlist for people who want music that sounds somewhat like The Mad Gear and Missile Kid by My Chemical Romance

fake emo is a massive compilation of songs that i consider to be Emo; not too much emotional hardcore, not too much pop punk. hopefully falling somewhere in between. emo purists please do not make fun of me.

thank you for reading. and now i shall begin the process of compiling the list for 2024.

#the list 2023

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canmom · 2 years ago

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Animation Night 156 - THREE YEARS

I did it.

Happy birthday Animation Night, my weird little baby. You are now three years old.

Three years ago, I was watching the Japan Animator Expo. I was blown away and charmed and overwhelmed. So I was like, I have to make people experience Me! Me! Me! for themselves. And while I’m at it, everyone needs to absorb Aeon Flux. What if I were to... stream some cool weird animations on Twitch instead of my usual videogames?

Well, that was a hit!

So I did another week, pulling in package films like Robot Carnival. At some point I decided to try screening entire movies. My friends helped me research films I’d never heard of, and compiled two wonderful lists of animated music videos. At some point we switched from mostly short films to mostly movies. Runtimes got more and more ambitious. The writeups got stupidly elaborate. Every week I’d nerd out and research some new director or studio or subject.

Before I knew it, I was celebrating a whole year of that. And then another! And now, what do you know, it’s three. We have covered a truly startling cross-section of animated films from across space and time.

At this point it feels like if I missed a week, I’d die or something.

(You might be thinking, hold on, I thought you said the anniversary was next week? Well, I did a maths oops. I was trying to take into account the difference between ‘52 weeks’ and ‘365 days’ and I screwed up! No, 156 is the closest week to the anniversary. Except... actually all the previous anniversaries were actually celebrated a week early, since I was counting from a notional ‘Animation Night 0′. But uh... having established that tradition I’m not gonna break it.)

So, let’s go over a few highlights from the last year, as has become traditional. But what are we watching tonight? Well, previously we marked the occasion by rewatching some of my faves from the early days, like Aeon Flux, Tekkonkinkreet or Dahufa. This time, the spotlight is going back to the Japan Animator Expo, which was a thing that Hideaki Anno’s Studio Khara organised, pulling in an incredibly varied collection of short films from all sorts of different studios - a chance for some of the greatest animators to cut loose and make some concepts that would be too weird or elaborate to make normally. More on that in a bit!

So. The last year. The first week AN 105, we took a look at old school Imaishi at his most stylish in Dead Leaves, and a strange Japanese-French angle on LA in Mutafukaz. Fun movies, a promising start.

But the next week, I lost my friend Fall. It still makes no fucking sense, and it won’t ever. On Animation Night 106, I used this ritual to remember her by showing Haibane Renmei, an anime deeply important to her. It proved to be exactly what I needed to see at that time - one of the most truthful depictions of grief. I still miss Fall. I wish I could talk to her about everything that’s happened in the last year. (I’ve done my best to learn Japanese in part to honour her love of languages, but now I’m at the point I can somewhat hold a conversation, it hurts that I can’t actually talk to her in ‘her language’.)

The next few weeks, I kept this up despite everything. We visited the ingeniously grotesque ‘gekimation’ of Ujicha (AN108), visited Mamoru Hosoda twice to more or less charming effect (AN107, AN 113), recreated Studio Ghibli’s one-two punch of 1988 (AN 111), and had a look at some absolutely unique directors like Bill Plympton and Joann Sfar (AN 112, AN 114). I got to show @mogsk‘s original fansub of a film of Croatian animator Milan Blažeković (AN 116). On AN 117 I wrote another love letter to independent/web animation.

Short films would continue to have a presence all throughout - AN109 we checked out the latest Love Death and Robots and nearly every CalArts film of the year, and AN135 we did the same with a fantastic selection of Gobelins films as well as some unique animators like Poul Robertson and Pulpe. AN 141 took us out to China, with the glorious return of Shanghai Animation Film Studio, and the brilliant Mee’s Forest by Busifan of Dahufa fame, now with a fresh translation by the writers of Animation Obsessive.

On AN 119, I wrote a post about Richard Williams and The Thief and the Cobbler, telling the story of Williams’ lifelong project to try to live up to his ideal of Disney’s Nine Old Men, no matter the cost. That proved to be one of my post popular posts of the whole year and it’s definitely one of the bits of writing I’m happiest with.

The next week on AN 120 I was in America! We saw something just as technically ambitious in another way: Richard Linklater taking Bob Sabiston’s ‘rotoshop’ software and a great deal of animator sweat to portray the world of dreams, and then Philip K Dick’s tragic scifi version of his experiences at edge of society, caught between exploitative cops and the effects of heavy drug use. It’s a unique style, and an effective one. Another American week took us into the archives of Liquid Television, the incubator of Aeon Flux and Beavis and Butthead, to see what else they had in their vault (AN 121).

On AN 122, we had a look at The Hakkenden, an incredibly ambitious and varied OVA... if one that’s now mostly remembered only by sakuga fans. AN 125 took a look at the rest of Peter Chung’s career besides Aeon Flux, notably the delightfully strange Alexander Senki, which we’d revisit to finish a few weeks later, but also some of his franchise work like Riddick and Tomb Raider.

AN 127 took us to see the three adaptations of the works of ‘Project Itoh’, Hideo Kojima’s best friend and purveyor of sharp near-future scifi. Itoh died tragically young; these posthumous adaptations by three different studios each have a very distinctive style and are powerful films in their own right.

Halloweens are when we go and take a look at horror animation - they’re always memorable. On AN 129 we got to see more of the work of Ujicha, and dive into the baroque, slimy hellish dreamworld of Phil Tippett’s thirty-year magnum opus Mad God.

On AN 130, I got to have another headscratch at the old question of ‘what the hell is up with Hayao Miyazaki’, comparing his old film Porco Rosso against the most recent The Wind Rises, which both approach the tension between his pacifism and his love of old warplanes.

On AN 136 I took another leaf through Animation Obsessive to collate their writing on the Zagreb School into a film night. This unique group of animators put a unique spin on the UPA style, breaking all the supposed rules of animation timing.

Back in the day I wrote a monstrously long post about samurai to introduce an animation night on jidaigeki, Japanese historical stories. AN 137 returned to that subject, with three very different but all excellent films by Production I.G. and Toei.

AN138 was a chance to compare Pinocchios old and new, with del Toro’s new stop-motion interpretation making a hell of a splash. The new one was undeniably beautiful, but could its story hold together..?

On Animation Night 139, I had a look at the mighty realist animator and occasional director Hiroyuki Okiura. Okiura was one of Production I.G.’s secret weapons, renowned for his contributions to films like Ghost in the Shell, but we had a look at some of his more obscure works like Run, Melos. The next week (AN 140) I followed this up with a deep dive into Oshii’s ‘Kerberos Saga’, trying to figure out what Anpo man Mamoru Oshii was doing with all that nazi power armour. Of all the films in that sprawling story, Okiura’s Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade was certainly the most impactful and coherent, but Oshii’s bizarre pixilation film Tatsuguishi-Retsuden was a historical oddity I was glad to discover despite the wonky translation.

On Animation Night 143, I finally gave the Lupin III franchise its due. We took a look at some of the wonkier entries in the long history of Lupin, such as The Mystery of Mamo in which Lupin goes up against a weird blue immortal guy, and the recent attempt to reboot it in C.G. And we had another look at Takashi Koike’s dark, heightened take on Lupin, which is always... an experience.

The next week on AN144, I continued my efforts to get into Gundam by taking a look at Sunrise Studio 1′s overwhelming film duology Gundam Thunderbolt. Jazz and space battles, a nonstop orgy of robot violence, it was a ride.

On Animation Night 146, we commemorated Leiji Matsumoto, one of the most influential artists in the history of sci-fi anime, creator of such immortal characters as Captain Harlock. It was a chance to take a look at his whole career, even the early WWII comics, where we saw his fixation with the figure of a reluctant soldier on the wrong side. The next week (AN147) we saw the time that Daft Punk collaborated with Matsumoto and Toei to make a movie for their album - and some weeks later on AN152 we’d return to Captain Harlock again, with Shinji Aramaki’s odd CG interpretation.

Animation Night 148 was a long overdue return to the world of Korean animation, with a fascinating set of angles, from viciously dark drama to rural nostalgia to... kinda like yugioh? AN149 took things historical, looking at Toei’s adaptations of mythological stories from the earliest days of anime - which hold up really quite well.

Then on Animation Night 150 came the long-awaited day where I got to show everyone Masaaki Yuasa’s incredible film Inu-Oh. A blind monk and a cursed boy join together to tell the stories of the fallen in medieval glam rock. It’s such an expression of the joy of what animation can be, and honestly one of my favourite films, and I’m really glad everyone seemed to enjoy it as well.

After all that, were we running out of steam? Not at all! Animation Night 151 saw the release of Lackadaisy, showing that webcomic dorks on Discord can make animation to rival any big studio; Bani-Chan’s beautiful film for Toby Fox and Itoki Hana, and most of all, Studio Ponoc’s Modest Heroes, the effort of a bunch of former Ghibli staff to bring something new to anime. The third film Invisible, featuring the unbelievably sophisticated animation of Akihiko Yamashita, has to be seen to be believed.

And that almost brings us up to now! Animation Night 153-154 took us into a dive of an early work by the master of chuunibyō, Kinoko Nasu, with year-spanning nonlinear story of wizards and traumagirls and murder - as envisioned by the madly ambitious early Ufotable. And last week, I wrote a monster of a post covering the story of Kunihiko Ikuhara for AN 155 - the man launched from Sailor Moon to create such uniquely powerful works as Utena, Penguindrum, and Sarazanmai. Thanks for reading that, it means a lot that so many people did!

So... phew. Hell of a year.

I wasn’t sure I’d be able to bring new material every week for a third year running. I’m kind of amazed that I did - and it’s not like this is the dregs, we’re still finding things that amaze and delight. But that said, I am kinda running out of stuff to show. Animation Night will continue, but I’m going to start introducing more reruns - which I hope isn’t a bad thing because a whole lot of you joined quite recently so it will probably be new to you!

And with that in mind, it’s time to go watch one of the very first things I ever showed on this film night: The Japan Animator Expo.

If I was to write a full writeup on the Animator Expo, it would take so long that we’d have no time to actually watch the films. So with that in mind, here’s the short version.

So. Hideaki Anno (AN: if u don't know who she is get da hell out of here!) left the hot organisational mess that was Gainax to run his own studio Khara, their primary mission being to create the four-movie Rebuild of Evangelion series (see: AN 18, AN 66). But this mammoth project was not their only undertaking. In 2014, Anno and Khara organised a series of short films for the Tokyo International Film Festival, designed as a showcase of both new and old animators. The series was called the 日本アニメ（ーター）見本市 Nihon Anime(etā) Mihonichi or Japan Animator Expo. Each week, a new short would be released on the web.

The shorts vary incredibly wildly. Some of them are incredible technical flexes by some of the most experienced in the business; others rougher work by independent animators. Some tie in to existing franchises (mainly Eva), or function as pilots for later works; others are standalone. Some are music videos, some are short films, some blur the lines. Some use a relatively standard anime style, some are CG, some have a unique design aesthetic. It’s an incredibly varied and cool collection.

^a brief clip from the psychic bomb that is Me! Me! Me!

I will write up a full breakdown of every film in the animator expo and what’s interesting about who made each one at a later date. Tonight let’s just watch the thing - it’s not short! So Animation Night 156 will begin pretty much right now; movies will begin in 10-20 minutes once people are in so please get over to twitch.tv/canmom and watch for as long as you like! ^^

See you there!

#animation night

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darkmermaidao3 · 10 months ago

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Clarity Chapter Five (Bonten Sanzu)

Minors do not interact (18+ fic)

Warnings: Not very many things going on this chapter, we've got profanity, sexual thoughts, manipulation if you squint really hard, unprofessionalism.

Words in blue are text/email

Doctor Ikeda,

I was so very happy to get such a quick response from you and I apologize for not getting back to you sooner, the holiday has put me significantly behind on a number of things, I’m sure you’re going through something similar at your clinic. I can’t express how thankful I am that you agreed to work alongside me for this case, it’s quite the tough one and I truly believe that with our combined efforts, we should manage to find some answers and come to conclusions about it by putting our heads together. I’ve attached copies of all the information relevant to the case, some of it is repetitive as they’re from the various doctors that had a go at it before us. I have pages worth of notes I’ve compiled concerning my thoughts about it and once you’ve done the same, I would love to get together with you to discuss them. I know of a wonderful restaurant in Ebisu where we could-

“Could you be any more insufferable?” the woman muttered to herself, irritation in her voice; she rubbed at her temples, willing the approaching headache to go away, Shimizu had put it in motion with this ridiculous email and she already knew that playing nice with him was going to be a trying time for her.

Yuki wasn’t so sure what she would rather deal with at this point nor which side of him was any less of a pain, his over-the-top fake politeness or his argumentative and demeaning attitude. It was obvious just how hard he was trying to pull the wool over her eyes, but she wasn’t an idiot. He’d only reached out to her because he couldn’t solve this case himself, he didn’t want to admit defeat, so he’d rather team up with her and get partial shared credit than none at all; she was sure his family had something to do with it, the Shimizu’s had never once given up on a case and he was expected to do whatever it took to keep that record going strong. Regardless of how unbearable being around the man would be, especially considering she’d chosen to do so of her own freewill, she’d have to suck it up because saving a life was far more important than her ego. As great as the money was, she hadn’t become a doctor for a high pay day, watching her grandmother wither away to nothing had been the start of it all. The doctors hadn’t had the answers, they hadn’t been capable of doing anything for her except managing her pain and when she finally passed on after years of torment, the white-headed woman started working on her thesis about that disease; she was going to find the answers one day.

Moving on, she needed to save all those files he’d sent over before she replied to his irritating email, make physical copies of them after, and get to work on studying them at her earliest convenience. She already had so much on her plate and more only continued adding to it since she’d gotten herself caught up in too much at once, she didn’t know how she was going to manage. She had this current situation with the shared case, she’d had to push back her visit to the orphanage so now she had to find another day soon this month where she’d be capable of going, she had to make time to continue her research and work on her thesis so she could (hopefully) have it done by the next conference like she’d been trying to do for years, she’d spent the whole of today on phone call after phone call as she rescheduled every single one of her appointments for the rest of the week herself since she’d closed the clinic, so much for a vacation.

‘…coffee.’

Not only had that new coffee brewer for the staff room come in right on schedule but she’d ordered one to keep in her office with hopes that it would keep her from being interrupted nearly as often, she felt like she’d made a mistake though seeing as now she was drinking coffee practically the whole day to keep herself awake with how exhausted she was; she was going to wind up with a caffeine high before the end of it all. There was so much that she needed to see to, and she couldn’t give any of those things her entire focus or all of her attention as it were, they may have been priorities but none of them were at the tiptop of the list; that spot was taken.

‘Don’t look, you’re being a creep.’

Yuki bit into her lower lip, rolling it between her teeth with thoughts of why it was best that she did not look for a little while longer, she couldn’t continue on like this and had to find a way to stop the slightly obsessive behavior so she could actually get things done. There was absolutely no reason for her to behave this way, she had to focus on the things that mattered and although her patient certainly did matter more so than anything else going on right now, it wasn’t an excuse to hover around him. He needed to continue resting without her distracting him, the incisions were healing and showing no signs of infection, it was looking like he was almost in a good place where she’d be able to stop the morphine and swap it out for a painkiller in the form of a pill. She had plenty of those in stock and she’d certainly be sending him on his way with a prescription once he was at a place where he could leave, that was the goal after all, to get him healed up so he could go back to his regular life. He wouldn’t be staying at her clinic forever and she had to come to terms with the reality that she’d more than likely never see him again, she had to be okay with it because there was honestly zero reason why she should be antsy about it. Yes, she would naturally worry because she did so towards all her patients but with him…

‘It’s different.’

As cliché as it sounded, it was different with him, and the young doctor was aware that it made her seem desperate but what else was she supposed to think after he’d touched her in what was very obviously meant to be an intimate way? She bit harder into her lip at the memory of his hand brushing strands of white from her eyes, his featherlight touch ghosting along her cheek, his aquamarine pools hadn’t pulled away from her once during that time and her heart was readying itself to give out simply from that alone. The female needed to remind herself that he hadn’t been sober since before she had to perform surgery, morphine was a strong opiate and half the time, people didn’t remember much of anything with how floaty it made their head feel, disrupting their cognitive function and the like. There wasn’t much of a chance that he’d remembered doing so considering he hadn’t made attempts to do it again, she couldn’t answer why he’d done so to begin with taking into account that he still hadn’t spoken a word to her, and it’d been days since he'd first woken up after the procedure; he was high with how strong that stuff was and she couldn’t take anything he did in that state as being meaningful.

‘There’s no reason for this.’

There wasn’t one, as a medical professional, she was supposed to have been maintaining said professionalism this entire time and instead, she was doing things that were entirely leftfield from her normal, she almost didn’t know who she was. She couldn’t count the number of times she’d gotten lost in her head daydreaming about him when she was supposed to be focusing on her work, she’d embarrassed herself probably well over a hundred times when he’d catch her gazing at him and during the moments that he’d be staring at her, it’d take everything she had not to shift around because of the sticky sin pooling in her panties. As beautiful as he was, that wasn’t an excuse to lose her wits, she was a doctor and she’d already seen her fair share of attractive men, so she should’ve had no problem keeping herself held together.

‘But they weren’t him.’

Her lavender orbs flicked away from her laptop at the thought and flittered in the direction of the hospital bed, trying to be as subtle as possible when they locked onto the pink-haired man, the tension in her body melting away at the sight. He was still sleeping, as he’d been for a couple hours now since she’d given him that last dose of morphine so she needed to keep her butt parked in this chair until he came to on his own, rest was the most important part, and it was almost as though he could sense her presence during the moments that she approached him when he was asleep. She didn’t need to compulsively check his vitals anymore once an hour as she’d done before, he was entirely stable now and she couldn’t continue to disturb him as she’d wound up doing more than a few times since she couldn’t seem to keep her distance. The internal struggle had only gotten worse since he’d touched her and she’d never been intimately touched by a man, he’d caressed her cheek as though she was as fragile as glass and would shatter under his touch. Her emotions were in a frenzy during the moment, her pulse racing and heart pounding so hard that it was a wonder that he didn’t hear it, she couldn’t recall what had been going on in her head as she’d practically blanked simply out of how flustered she felt.

The woman couldn’t count the number of times her friends had pestered her about dating over the years since she’d become an adult, even before then when she was a teenager, but they hadn’t been nearly as adamant about it since there weren’t very many teenagers on campus at university. Kaori had been so defensive that most men hadn’t been willing to even attempt to approach her and as much as she still backed her up when Choyo and Akari started on her about it, even she would make comments about how there wasn’t anything wrong with casual dating. Akari was a social butterfly and friends with an abundance of people, she’d made so many attempts to introduce her to someone she felt would be good for her and as much as Yuki appreciated the thought, she’d always been more focused on her career. Choyo was always starting the argument that she didn’t have to be in a serious relationship to date, there was no reason why she shouldn’t go out once a week or so, how nice it was to get to know someone, and her career shouldn’t have impeded on her social life. As right as all her friends were, dating was something she had zero experience in and didn’t know the first thing about, she wouldn’t know what to talk about or what to do; she’d been a frazzled mess when her cheek was touched so how was she supposed to get through a kiss, let alone sex?

Just the thought alone was enough to cause her face to flush and thighs squeeze together, the silent embarrassment of what his intense stare did to her, the way his aquamarine pools would zero in on her and watch every move she made, studying everything about her. She was anxious every time she noticed his unrelenting gaze and trying to ignore the ever-present arousal was a challenge, thoughts swimming with scenarios that she’d gotten lost in a multitude of times. Her pulse would race at the thought of him being close enough that his lips would brush hers, her heart would pound at the idea of his hands slipping under her dress, her face would burn over the imaginings of him between her legs…which only continued to get worse the longer she was around her PATIENT!

‘Stop it!’

It was too late, her face had to of resembled a tomato from how hot it felt and ignoring the warmth that had settled in her panties was impossible, she didn’t know how she was going to manage to get through the next few days without losing the battle against her raging hormones. There were too many factors at play, outside of the fact that she was a virgin, he was beautiful to the point that her brain quite literally turned to mush just from looking at him for too long, her dream guy didn’t even compare to how gorgeous this man was. She’d never felt so bashful in all her life and although she was managing to push her shyness off to the side to attend to her duties as a doctor in order to give him the best care, it wasn’t letting up nor fading away as the days went by. It was as though the longer they were around one another, the worse it would get, and it didn’t help anything that when she wasn’t looking at him, she could feel his eyes burning holes through her. At first, she’d been sure it was out of wariness considering he’d not only tried to shoot her in the beginning but had almost strangled her to the point of passing out, it’d become clear though that he’d moved passed feeling distrustful of her.

His stare wasn’t out of keeping his guard up or even curiosity, he was looking at her in the very way that she was looking at him, obviously imagining the same things that she herself was with how his gaze continued raking over every inch of her and because he was on a powerful opiate, she couldn’t take it with anything but a grain of salt. He was impaired, his mind nowhere near where hers was since she was sober and it was doubtful that he’d be looking at her the same way once he was off the morphine, even more doubtful was that he’d remember the last several days which undoubtedly meant that she needed to pull herself together. She had to get him off the morphine and onto another painkiller that he could take with him when he left her clinic, maybe some muscle relaxers to take as needed, anti-inflammatories for the swelling; her mindset had to be one of a medical professional. Her train of thought hadn’t been anything close to what it should’ve been, and she’d already internally scolded herself on an infinite loop for the graphic images that continued floating in her head, she had to remind herself that the feelings she was having towards a patient was unacceptable.

What was worse, the woman didn’t know what she would even do if he wasn’t at a solid point by the time Monday rolled around, she couldn’t put off opening the clinic any longer than that because not only did her staff need their hours, her other patients certainly needed her. Her life couldn’t be on pause simply because of one person and she shouldn’t have even considered doing what she had; she should’ve gotten an ambulance transport as soon as he was stable after surgery, she should’ve called the police because even if she didn’t tell them about him trying to shoot her, he’d been shot, and the authorities would’ve needed to follow up on that. She’d made a huge mistake that she couldn’t correct with how much time had passed and getting in contact with the authorities now wouldn’t have done anything except make things a mess for her; her patient had silently made it clear he didn’t want to go to a hospital, and she didn’t want to imagine how infuriated he’d be if she made attempts to get him to one. If he wasn’t in a place where he was healed up enough to resume his daily life by Sunday evening at the latest, she’d have to figure something out, no one could know about him or what had happened last Friday, lest things become even more complicated than they already were.

A weary sigh left her in complete frustration with herself as she entered the medication room to grab a dose of morphine, she’d gotten herself into quite the huge mess and it was only getting better by the day; she didn’t know what she was going to do. She hadn’t been home in nine days now, she was sure that her cat was almost out of food and desperately needed his litter changed out, she’d thrown on her last clean dress yesterday, she’d practically cleaned out the cupboards and fridge of the breakroom, and she so badly wanted a shower. The young doctor knew that she’d run herself completely ragged by now since she was at a point of wanting to be home but there wasn’t anything that she could do about it, she couldn’t leave her patient unattended, even just popping out for an hour wasn’t plausible since she couldn’t trust him on his own. He’d come far already, he hadn’t needed fluids for a while, she’d taken him off the heart rate monitor as well, he still had the IV solely for the morphine injections and that was about to come out no later than tomorrow, all she was really doing now was managing his pain and waiting for the stitches to dissolve, that was still days away though.

‘Maybe I could…no, don’t be stupid.’

Not only was it unprofessional but it most certainly wouldn’t send a good message to him, taking a patient to her house was out of the realm of being socially acceptable, not to mention she didn’t even know his name or a thing about him aside from his blood type. It was the furthest thing from being smart, it was highly unsafe as well, but could she even make that argument considering she’d been alone with a complete stranger since Friday? He hadn’t made a violent move against her since she made her intentions known that she wanted to help him, he’d developed some form of trust towards her since he wasn’t trying to deter her from checking his vitals and such, he may have not spoken to her yet but that hadn’t been bothersome to her. This could also be the best move that she could make, if he wasn’t at a place where she felt confident that he could manage on his own, then being tucked away at her house would keep her staff from finding out about him and it’d be more comfortable for the both of them; she was sure he wanted a shower just as much as she did and she could cook a real meal for once…or order takeout.

‘Am I really doing this?’

Yuki didn’t know how she could even ask that, especially considering she’d already grabbed a few bottles worth of the medications she’d need for the upcoming days and for her patient to have when he left her, already having doctored all the records so no one would know they were missing from the medication room; there was no backing out and the only way was forward.

‘It’s just a few days, just like how it’s been here.’

Her hands were entirely full as she reentered her office, it almost sounded like she was starting a Mariachi band where the primary instrument was maracas with how many pill bottles were being shaken with each of her steps, keeping as secure of a hold as she could on the syringe of morphine while she dumped the contents onto her desk with a heavy sigh of relief. She’d get them tucked away into her purse and after her patient woke up then they could be on their way so long as he was comfortable with doing so, she couldn’t give him this last dose until after they made it, otherwise he’d be deadweight and there was zero chance she could move him should that happen. The woman eased her laptop shut before grabbing her purse off the hook, opening it up and tossing one bottle after another into it, the front pocket was the safest place for the opiate. She closed up the main pocket and zipped open the front one, making to tuck the syringe in, pausing her movements when she felt the warm hand pressing against her hip from behind her.

‘Breathe, you have to breathe.’

The white-headed woman warily turned to look back over her shoulder, her heart fluttering no sooner did lavender meet aquamarine, she hadn’t known he was awake upon her return but then again, she’d been so focused getting things packed to keep herself from hovering. She was pleased that he wasn’t struggling to keep himself held upright, he’d walked around a little yesterday after she’d pushed him to do so, his expression had been the furthest thing from happy with her since she’d refused to give him morphine until then. As dilated as his pupils still were, the usual impassive expression he directed at her was nonexistent, his lips pressed into a thin line and hinting at displeasure; she noticed he always did so when he was in pain, but it shouldn’t have been wearing off yet. Her lips parted to speak but she didn’t manage a single word when his hand tightened around her hip just enough that he could guide her to turn to face him, warmth building on her cheeks when it registered that she was sandwiched between him and her desk, hardly a foot of space separating them.

‘Get it together.’

She was struggling to remember how to breathe at the light squeeze of his hand, her eyes darting away from his shyly, trying to gather herself enough that she could find the right words. Her heart could’ve given out right there over the light push against her hip that had her lower back bumping the desk and his fingers hooked under her chin, urging her to meet his unrelenting stare.

‘Breathe, breathe, breathe.’

She didn’t know how she was even managing to think with how intense his gaze was this time around, she hadn’t expected whatsoever for him to get so close to her, his face had hovered so close that if she stood up on her toes then it’d be just enough that she could-

‘No, stop it!’

“I-I um…w-we’re…I mean…” the woman hesitated, trying her utmost best to steady her voice; her mouth felt thick with spit over just how deeply he was studying her, his piercing eyes leaving hers only to drop to her lips.

‘Breathe, fuck, shit.’

“W-we’re going to go-go to my house f-for a few days.” She stammered, her tone anxious; it seemed that had been the last thing he’d expected to hear, his gaze darting back to hers no sooner did she have the words out. “I-I mean…it-it’s just a precaution, in case y-you need more time. I have to reopen Monday and um…I need to feed my cat.”

‘Get it together, come on.’

“I-is that…okay?” she continued, her voice filled with worry; she wished she knew what this man was thinking, his expression hadn’t faltered whatsoever aside from swapping back to his usual neutral look and he hadn’t shown a single sign of discomfort, a simple head movement would satisfy her at this point. “I-if you’re not comfortable with that, I-I can always-”

She sealed her lips when his hand gave her hip a gentle squeeze, the pink on her cheeks darkening a shade and breaking away from his stare was impossible, not only hadn’t he released her chin, but she could’ve sworn he was hovering closer to her; he was. Strands of pink were slipping over his shoulders as he leaned closer to her, almost pressed right up against her and she’d entirely forgotten how to breathe when she felt his warm breath ghost over her lips, she didn’t know how she’d keep herself in line if he got any closer to her. He was breathtakingly beautiful and out of everything she’d admired about him, as nerve-wracking as being under his gaze was, his eyes had to be her favorite thing about him; he looked at her as though he was trying to see straight into the depths of her soul, it was no wonder she blanked practically every time she was on the receiving end of his stare.

‘So pretty.’

“Are you always so shy, Doctor?”

Yuki wasn’t sure what was more prevalent in the moment, her heart threatening to give out or the blush overtaking her face as she stared up at him in a combination of dumbfounded and total awe, her eyes as wide as saucers. He’d just spoken to her, after four days, he’d finally said something to her and the sound of his voice had done more to her than she’d ever expected, her panties were soaked. Her face was flushing furiously over the question, this man had the audacity not to speak to her for FOUR days and the first words out of his mouth were meant to tease her, she’d never felt so flustered in all her life. She was reeling in shock from just how unexpected it was, so much so that she was grasping at straws with hopes to figure out what to even say in response and she could’ve swallowed her tongue when his thumb brushed across her lips, his head just barely cocking to the side to observe her from another angle.

‘Breathe, you have to breathe!’

“I-I…umm…it-it’s just…” she responded, stumbling over her words despite how hard she was trying to pull herself together; she’d certainly made a complete fool of herself and would continue to do so unless she could reel herself in. “Y-you haven’t…”

This man had to of known the effect he had on her, between the knowing look in his eyes and the small smirk that formed on his lips from her babbling, he was already fully aware of what he did to her, she could almost feel the confidence pouring off him as his aquamarine pools held her lavender ones.

“I’m sorry, what was that; Doctor?” he pressed, his voice the definition of teasing; her face was on fire in embarrassment, her thighs shifting closer together absentmindedly in response. “Am I making you nervous?”

“N-no.” she managed timidly; the pink-haired man didn’t look convinced whatsoever, the smirk on his lips widening as he released her chin, placing his hand flat against the wood of the desk and essentially caging her in. “You-you’re still healing, you shouldn’t-”

“I can’t feel shit right now, Doctor.” He interrupted; the woman felt a shiver move through her when his hand slid away from her hip to the curve of her waist, she was positive her panties were ruined from how wet she was, and he was so close that even just a subtle shift in her weight would have him pressed up against her. “If we’re going, we should now before it wears off.”

As confused as she felt over just how much composure he had, she didn’t bother questioning it, it’d been the same when he’d been bleeding out and refusing to ask for assistance, his expression hadn’t faltered then, and it wasn’t faltering now despite that he was still impaired. Although the high wasn’t nearly what it would be had she just given him a fresh dose, his brain was still floaty, and he’d been able to express that it was still strong enough in his system that he couldn’t feel any pain. He was right about needing to get going before it wore off, she may be able to get him off the morphine starting tomorrow but he’d still need pain medication for the upcoming days, he’d been shot twelve times after all. She’d hoped he’d be in a good spot come Monday, figuring he’d want to get back to his regular life but now she found herself hoping that it’d take a little while longer just so she could get more time with him since he’d finally chosen to speak to her; she couldn’t imagine just how antsy she’d feel being at work for ten hours rather than looking after him should that be the case. She nodded in reply rather than the alternative of trying to force out words that she knew she’d struggle with, his aquamarine pools taking her in for a brief moment before he took a step back from her and she somehow managed to resist the urge to whine in protest when his hand left her waist; the upcoming days were going to be a rough time for her.

Had they not been so pressed for time, she certainly would’ve struggled to keep herself held together numerous times over the course forty minutes, everything from leaving the clinic to the drive to her house would’ve been a time and a half, and the only thing that saved her was keeping herself in that professional headspace paired with her patient keeping his hands to himself. Every bit of that composure was threatening to shatter no sooner did she lock the door behind them, her lip rolling between her teeth when his gaze found her form for what had to of been the thousandth time since he’d woken up Saturday night, she was unsure just what to do now that they were tucked away in her home. She’d never had a man over before, the last one having ever been in the house was her grandfather and he’d passed away when she’d been hardly six, she’d never imagined just how out of place she’d feel in her own home simply from a visitor. She just had to stick with what she’d been thinking about before he’d unexpectedly woken up, she could get him settled, take care of everything for her cat before she ordered some takeout for dinner, start some laundry for herself and her guest (her grandmother had never had the heart to throw out anything belonging to her grandfather and she knew for a fact any of it would fit, she’d have to return the clothes she’d found for him at the clinic on Monday), showers for both of them, get him settled into the guest room and she could finally pass out after she gave him that last dose of morphine.

‘Have to keep it together for just a little while.’

The sound of patters was enough to settle her down and pull her out of her head, her gaze pulling from his while she knelt down just enough that she could nuzzle her nose against her sweet boy’s; she was sure that her cat was furious over how long she’d been gone, she usually didn’t leave him for longer than five days and it’d put her behind on her usual routine with him. He certainly needed brushed, he was constantly shedding, and she’d find black fur quite literally all over her house every day.

“I know, you’re hungry, aren’t you?” the woman murmured, her voice apologetic; Kuro was undoubtedly upset with her, meowing and much more talkative than usual, nuzzling his head everywhere that he could reach while she turned her attention back to the man. “I um, I’m going to feed him, and I’ll order some takeout for us…is that alright?”

Yuki didn’t know why she was even asking; this was her house to begin with, so she didn’t need to ask for permission to do anything here, she must’ve still just been frazzled over how much had happened today that she hadn’t anticipated and was struggling to ground herself. Pink was streaking over her cheeks all over again as he looked at her in the same way he had been for days, giving her a short nod in reply without saying a word, she hoped they weren’t back to not being on speaking terms but pressing him wasn’t in her best interest; her cat was going to lose his mind if she didn’t feed him right now. She pulled her eyes from his bashfully, ducking her head while she scampered down the hallway towards the kitchen with her sweet boy at her heels, the heavier footsteps filling the silence by the time she’d turned the corner and she exhaled a slow breath, trying to calm her nerves with reminders that everything would be as it’d been at the clinic, the only difference being the location. It took less than three minutes for her to refill the automatic feeder, Kuro immediately buried his face in the bowl with enthusiasm while she got fresh water for him, keeping her ears open for the pink-haired man. She could hear his footsteps as he wandered around her house, the morphine seemed to still be managing his pain, so it gave her the chance to get some things done while he explored.

Laundry started, takeout ordered, fresh sheets on the bed in the guest room, her things tucked away in her bedroom along with all those pills and that last dose, she’d have to remove the IV tonight, so she gathered up everything she’d need for that and set it off to the side until later; there wasn’t much else she could do until laundry was finished or dinner arrived. She breathed a deep sigh, turning her phone off and placing it on charge for the night, her fingers pinching open the claw-clip and freeing the rest of her white locks, brushing the shorter strands away from her eyes. She needed a game plan for the upcoming days, to figure out what she was going to do for when she had to go back to work if he wasn’t ready because although she was entirely fine with him staying at her house, she would worry herself half to death since she wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on him for ten hours at a time. If she wasn’t the sole doctor at her clinic then shortening her days wouldn’t be questionable, her nurse practitioners could do quite a bit to help lighten the load on the days she absolutely had to leave early but she tried not to do that often, hiring another doctor on was an option she could consider but she felt it would be suspicious to some degree since she’d taken a ”vacation” completely out of the blue.

‘There’s nothing I can do that wouldn’t raise questions.’

There wasn’t and she’d already done so much already that had been the biggest curveball ever thrown at her, doctoring the inventory so no one would know that high class medications had been essentially stolen, she’d performed a surgery without contacting anyone afterwards, she’d cleaned up the evidence of what her staff would see as a break-in, she’d kept a total stranger in her clinic for days, only to take him to her house to hide his existence. She’d have to go into work Monday early enough that she could hide all the evidence of another person and what she’d done, clean everything out from her office, get everything back in her make-shift hospital room and lock up the door until she had the time to actually put things back the way they’d been beforehand. The young doctor was doing things that she’d never dreamed of and as optimistic as she wanted to be that things would continue on as they had after her patient was on his way, she wasn’t naïve enough to believe that as truth. Things would never go back to how they’d been before Friday unless she wound up with amnesia and had the event completely wiped from her brain, she may not have known how it was going to affect her life moving forward, but it undoubtedly would.

Regardless, Yuki knew that she’d done the right thing, she wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if she hadn’t, she’d gone into the medical field to save lives and that’s what she’d done. She’d saved someone’s life and with the precautions she’d taken, no one would know aside from her and her pink-haired patient, she didn’t need nor want recognition for doing what she felt was right. She was worrying herself for nothing, this wouldn’t drastically affect her life in any way shape or form, she was just overanalyzing things. Once they parted ways, it’d be like it never happened, she’d go back to what she’d been doing and he’d go back to his life, they’d never see each other again, and that was that. The occasional thought about one another was the extent of it, maybe see one another on the street in passing but even that was slim chances with how crowded of a place Tokyo was.

The white-headed woman paused from pulling the last box from the delivery bag when she felt the warm hand press against the curve of her waist, her cheeks flushing as she looked back over her shoulder, lavender meeting aquamarine.

‘Just a few days.’

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