#didn't plan to post the second one but i liked how “alive” lines feel so i decided why not

[aleespace-art]

Heyyy! Could you please draw TDL x TCO? Plesss 🥺

[fanficimagery]

The Lost Girl

You just wanted to travel and forget all about the drama you left behind. You didn't expect to fall in with four boys who would become another family. Maybe more.

[Part One of Three]

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm- I'm alive? Surprise! I'm still in a bit of a pickle with where I want part two to go, but I figured if I post this now then I can't back out and delete it. I need your help, but I'll ask at the bottom so I won't spoil this.

Words: 7.9K

Santa Carla is the total opposite of Mystic Falls and you couldn't have loved it here more if you tried. You grew up with pageants and balls and trying to stay at the top of the popularity totem pole, but you secretly loathed every second of it. Not to mention your sister was a beacon for the supernatural, attracting vampires like no one's business, which eventually led to you getting caught in the crossfire and being turned at the ripe age of twenty.

Stefan Salvatore did his best to teach you how to feed and control your blood lust, but his techniques just weren't cutting it for you. So Damon took over, leading Bonnie, Matt, Elena, Jeremy, and Tyler deeming you untrustworthy. You don't know why they disliked your friendship with Damon so much, but their wariness of you only grew when you eventually befriended the Original Vampires that once sought to kill you, your family, and friends.

The last straw was when everyone started fighting over a cure for vampirism. They all thought there was enough of the cure to go around for all those who wanted it, but nope. There was only a single dose, and both Elena and Rebekah wanted it. So when you saw the lines being drawn, you packed a couple of bags and left to see the world.

The only person who knew of your travel plans were, surprisingly, Elijah and Klaus. Elijah was sad to see you go, especially since you were one of the only ones who he could trust, but Klaus was all for you seeing the world and experiencing life as you should have. You were more than content compelling your way through the trip, but the Mikaelson's were having none of that and gave you a card to use since they amassed a ridiculous amount of money over the years.

After deleting all social media, with the exception of a traveling Instagram account that was newly made, you bought a new phone and only gave your new number to Elijah and Klaus. You traveled abroad first, touring the most beautiful cities, museums, and seeing every landmark you could. You kept the Mikaelson brothers in the loop about everything that they sometimes surprised you by showing up for a week before flying back home.

For a year you saw all you could and then headed back to the States. You wanted nothing to do with Mystic Falls, Virginia, so you settled in California. Santa Carla was the most nitty gritty town you'd ever seen, and it was the last place anyone in your family would expect for you to stay in.

It was perfect.

With a new hotel having been built in Santa Carla, you compelled yourself one of the suites indefinitely. You didn't want to purchase a house in case you needed to up and leave, and having a housekeeper stop by weekly was perfect.

You stood out amongst the locals of Santa Carla, it seeming like everyone walking around either had some crazy hairstyle, hair color, or numerous piercings. And then there was you, skin untouched and the only piercings you had being those in your ears.

So after a week of settling in and compelling those who needed compelling, you finally decided to hit the infamous boardwalk.

The boardwalk, for some reason, feels like you've stepped into the past. Could be because of the music playing or the way everyone dressed, but you know you didn't actually slip into the past given the cell phones in people's hands or air pods in people's ears. The bells, whistles, and flashing lights make you giddy, taking you back to a time when you were excited as a child to be attending the annual fair Mystic Falls put on, but the attendees were the total opposites of those you'd find in Mystic Falls.

The employees in charge of the various game booths attempt to entice you to play, but you rather spend your cash at the crafts section of the boardwalk. There was no use in paying for a rigged game that made sure you lost ninety percent of the time when you could buy handmade crafts and help support someone's living.

After buying some handmade jewelry and a couple of shirts, you decide to eat. There's a Chinese place that smells marvelous as you stroll by, so you turn back around and enter the establishment. And then almost as soon as you're seated, a waitress comes by to take your drink order. You quickly skim the menu as she gets your drink, then order a bowl of Hot and Sour soup, a plate of Chicken LoMein, two egg rolls, and a pan of fried dumplings. The waitress seems impressed, and you merely laugh it off before sipping your Coke.

As you wait for your food, you grab a napkin and start ripping it apart piece by piece as you stare out the window you'd chosen to sit by. People pass by, uncaring for what's going on in the small restaurant, but then there are two boys that you just so happen to clash gazes with. Both fit with the eighties aesthetic- one with wildly tamed blonde hair that only a true rocker could pull off and the other with a dirty blonde, curly mullet. Both hairstyles are wildly out of place, even if they're trying to make a comeback now, but fortunately for the boys they can pull it off.

"Hey, chika, you want some company?" The blonde with the teased hair shouts so you can hear him through the window.

Holding back a wince at his loud volume, you shake your head. "Maybe next time!"

"Aw. Come on, babe. You're breaking my heart!" He pouts, even as his friend smirks behind his fist.

You shrug, grinning, but are saved from having to interact any further when the waitress appears with your food. As the food is set in front of you and you thank her, you glance at the boys one last time while giving them a wink before digging in.

You casually devour your food bit by bit, asking for a refill on your Coke only once. Then when you've had your fill, you ask for your leftovers to be boxed up. And as you walk outside, you hand said leftovers to a couple of teens digging through a trash can.

Walking around, you soak in the night time atmosphere. The sweat from the humans and the oil used to deep fry all sorts of food is rather distracting from the ocean scented air wafting in, but none of it is as distracting as the copper smell you pick up on one particular gust of wind. There doesn't seem to be any panic-induced mayhem on the boardwalk, so you figure someone must have cut themselves and is getting bandaged up.

A diner further down the boardwalk advertises milkshakes on its main window, and suddenly a strawberry milkshake sounds superb. So after making a quick trip inside to secure yourself a milkshake, you're back on the boardwalk once again.

No one has bothered you the entire time, but the moment you perch yourself on the railing to sip and people watch, one confident individual saunters towards you. It hardly takes you two seconds to realize this individual is in his teens obviously thinking you're a teen as well. But given you were twenty when you were turned and have spent a few years undead, you're so not interested in whatever this boy has to offer.

Before the individual can open his mouth, you hold a hand up to stall him and shake your head. "Stop right there. Not interested."

The boy's expression drops into shock before quickly morphing back into his too confident persona. "Aw, come on, girl. You look like you're in need of some fun."

"I am, but you need to be at least this tall-" you say while holding your free hand at least a foot above his head, "-for me to ride that ride."

There's a snort to your right, but you ignore it, even ignoring the presence that jumps onto the railing next to you before sliding their arm around your shoulder. "Sorry, kid. Maybe the next girl you hit on won't have a height requirement."

There's even more laughter and the boy rethinks his approach before scoffing and leaving. You grin, wrapping your lips around the straw of your milkshake and turning your head to your new companions. "Blondies one and two," you muse. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Just thought we'd play knight in shining armor," blondie one says. "I'm Paul. My friend is Marko."

"YN.."

Paul practically vibrates with energy. "So do I meet your height requirements?"

You laugh, uncaring when he steals your milkshake to sip from. "You may meet the height requirement, but I don't go for blondes. Sorry."

"Aw, chika, you wound me!" He feigns his hurt, holding a hand to his heart as you take your milkshake back. Marko can only laugh, shoving at his friend's shoulder when he leans a little too far his way. Once he corrects himself, he doesn't remove himself from your side. "So what's a pretty girl like you doing here all alone? Waiting for friends? Family?"

"Ugh, no." Your nose wrinkles. "Too much family drama for my tastes so I've been traveling the world for a little over a year now. Santa Carla seems like the least likely of places my family would think to look for me, so I'm staying as long as I can."

Marko seems interested as he leans around Paul to ask, "What's been your favorite place so far?"

"Tromsø, Norway," you reply.

"Why?"

"Because ever since I was a little girl, I've been obsessed with the aurora borealis. It's the best place to view it."

"Cool."

"Where are you staying?" Paul asks. "Maybe we can have a party one of these nights."

"Doubtful. I'm staying in a hotel suite and I have a feeling partying with you would lead to my place being trashed. No thanks."

Marko smirks. "Smart girl."

You grin and sip your milkshake as Marko comes around to lean against the railing on your other side. They ask some more about the places you've been, and you don't know what comes over you that you feel comfortable enough with these two to regale them with your tales of travel. In return, Marko and Paul tell you about themselves and their two other brothers. They tell you that they're all not originally from Santa Carla, but ended up finding each other throughout the years and made their own family unit in town.

Then just as you hop down to throw away your empty cup, the crowd seems to part as two individuals approach. Another blondie with a mullet and a brunette whose hair is almost as wild as Paul's. You can't tear your eyes from the brunette who is all too comfortable going shirtless with nothing but a weathered leather jacket hanging off his frame and some snug fitting jeans.

"Oh, I see how it is." Paul muses in your ear. "You like 'em dark haired."

You throw your elbow back, tearing your gaze away from the brunette in front of you to smirk over your shoulder at Paul when he grunts. Marko snickers at his brother's misfortune. "YN, this is David and Dwayne."

Both the new blondie and brunette nod at you, and you flash them back a faint smile. You're quick to toss your trash, then head back to your new friends. "Well, it was nice meeting you boys, but I should get going."

"Aw, come on, girlie. Hang for a bit more," Paul pleads, but you shake your head.

"Maybe next time."

"Will there actually be a next time or are you gently letting us down?" Marko wonders.

Your eyes roll. "We've only just met and you're already clingy?" You tut at him. Marko gapes and you wink at him. "Yes, there will be a next time. At least there will be if we cross paths again."

"We'll take that," Paul says. He slings an arm around Marko and smiles. "See you around, girlie."

The next afternoon, you decide to have some fun in the sun. You spend the early afternoon in your room, ordering room service and having a nice steak and fry lunch. While eating, you post a few pictures you snapped of the boardwalk nightlife, ferris wheel, and carousel all lit up. Then afterwards, you dress in a bikini before pulling on a pair of jeans shorts and a tank top. Only after slipping your feet into a pair of flip-flops do you pack a backpack with a beach towel, your phone, sunglasses, and some cash before taking your leave.

You're surprised to find that the beach isn't packed, so you pick a spot on the beach to lay out your towel and backpack. You spend a bit of time searching for sand dollars and shells, then go swimming in the ocean. Afterwards, you lay out on your towel with your sunglasses shielding your eyes. You doze on and off, and then just as the sun is setting you start to get up.

Shaking off your beach towel, you get rid of all the sand before folding it and shoving it into your backpack with your clothes. Then heading over to the beach showers, you rinse off all the sand and ocean water, and let yourself dry in the lingering sun rays before slipping your shorts back on.

In the middle of choosing what to eat, you hear catcalls and wolf whistles. You try to ignore it, hoping they're directed to someone else, but nope. They're directed at you. However, when you turn to glare and give the boys a piece of your mind, you find Paul and Marko beaming at you with their other brothers Dwayne and David just watching on.

Your glare vanishes and you roll your eyes as you slowly untense. "Do you guys have nothing better to do than check out girls on the boardwalk?"

"Nope." Paul hops off his bike and practically skips towards you. "What are you doing?"

"Heading to dinner. I spent most of the day on the beach so I'm starving."

"Ohhhh. What are we having?"

"I'm having pizza and wings. If you want to tag along, you buy your own."

"Done." He turns around and shouts, "Come on, boys. We're getting pizza!"

You shake your head and greet Marko when he approaches, smiling at the other two who have yet to speak up. Paul takes the lead and you walk side by side with Marko. The pizza place isn't far and you all head inside. You place your order first- a medium Hawaiian and a side order of boneless honey bbq wings. You accept your number tag after paying and then wait for your new friends to order as well. Then once they've got their own number tag, Paul leads the way to a large booth meant for a large group at the back.

Paul and Marko slide into opposite sides of the booth, and it only takes you a second to scoot in next to Marko before placing your bag at your feet. Paul gasps and you chuckle. "What? Marko seems less likely to continuously elbow me as I try to eat."

"That's cold, girl."

You wink at Paul and are surprised when Dwayne scoots in on your other side. David settles in next to Paul and his ice blue eyes practically pierce you. "So what's a girl like you doing out here all alone?"

"You mean Paul didn't tell you?"

"I'm asking you."

The coolness of his voice makes you arch an eyebrow at him, but Paul's snickering keeps you at ease. So in the end, you shrug. "My siblings and I weren't seeing eye to eye for a while. I had some money put away to take a trip out of the States, but my new found family wasn't having any of that and gave me access to their money. I've traveled for a year before coming back, staying in a place furthest from my hometown."

"Parents?"

"Dead." Paul's smile falters and you kick him under the table. "None of that. It's been a while. It's fine."

"How did it happen?" Marko asks.

You face him briefly before saying, "My sister had a fight with her boyfriend and asked our parents to pick her up from a party. They did, but on the way back home my dad somehow lost control of the car and drove off a bridge. A bystander found them, but by the time he dove under water, my dad made the bystander get my sister out first. My parents ended up drowning."

"Do you have plans on returning?"

"Eventually." Just then a waitress stops by to deliver your drinks. You grin as Paul immediately starts flirting, sipping your Coke as the waitress blushes and stutters before leaving. "These poor Santa Carla girls have no idea how to handle you, do they?"

"Not a clue."

As Marko and Paul laugh, you shake your head rather fondly. You don't know what it is about this group that makes you feel at ease with them, but you're glad to have some people to talk to while you're in town. Another group enters the establishment, a little unruly as they find themselves a table. One of them catches your gaze and you grimace when you notice him leering at you.

Feeling a little exposed, you reach for your bag under the table and pull free your tank top. You quickly pull it on and then free your phone while waiting for your food, not paying much attention to Dwayne who's shifting in his seat next to you. You do, however, notice when something is dropped on your shoulders and realize Dwayne has given up his jacket.

You freeze and quickly glance up at Dwayne, taking a moment to stare at all the bronze skin now on display, but his glare is directed at the table of troublemakers who are snickering among each other. "Uhh.."

"Just wear it."

"Okay."

Those are the first three words Dwayne has spoken to you and you absolutely do not shiver at the sound of his voice. Paul, Marko, and even David sense something else and you flip them off after slipping your arms through the sleeves of Dwayne's jacket. Then just as you go to sip on your drink, your phone starts ringing with a video call.

Big Bad Wolf, complete with a wolf emoji, is stamped across the top of your phone above a picture of a smirking Klaus. "Uhh, do you guys mind if I accept this?"

"Go ahead, girlie."

You accept the call, keeping it so that only you're on screen. "What do you want?"

"Is that any way to talk to me, love?" You roll your eyes, grinning, and Klaus chuckles. "What are you doing?"

"Uhh, I'm out to dinner with some new friends," you say.

"You've already made friends?"

"Mhm. Look." You turn so Marko is in frame. "This is Marko." Marko grins and nods. Then you flip the camera and catch Paul. "This is Paul and David is next to him, but David is glaring at me. I'm pretty sure he'd kill me if I put him on camera."

Klaus chuckles. "Fair enough."

"And then this.." You glance at Dwayne, but he merely arches an eyebrow at you. You grin and turn the camera on him. "This is Dwayne."

A split second later and then, "No."

"W-What?" You splutter. Paul and Marko choke on a laugh, and finally both David and Dwayne smirk. "What do you mean no?"

"Elijah!"

Your eyes widen. "Why are you calling 'lijah? Don't call 'lijah!"

Elijah appears next to Klaus and you groan. "Go on, sweetheart. Put your friend on."

"Marko? Or Paul?"

"Don't play dumb."

You grumble and put Dwayne on camera. "Absolutely not," Elijah says.

"You guys are embarrassing," you grumble. "He's literally only said three words to me."

"Mhm. And whose jacket are you wearing?" Klaus asks.

You pout. "I hate you." Just then you catch sight of two waitresses coming with your pizza. "Oh, look. Food's here! I'll talk to you gentlemen later."

"YN-"

"I'm fine, Klaus. I'm okay and I'm happy. I promise."

"Well okay then. Call me back when you get to your room."

"Will do, big bad wolf. Talk to you later."

You end the call just as a pizza is being placed in front of Paul and Marko, then yours is placed in front of you, and then another is placed in front of David and Dwayne. You're handed your boneless wings, and you happily wiggle in your seat. You're starving!

After you take your first bite of the sweet Hawaiian pizza, David asks, "So was that your boyfriend?"

"Ew. No." Your nose wrinkles and you quickly swallow your bite of food. "Klaus and Elijah are like my older brothers. They're the two who are funding my whole trip."

"They sound fancy with those posh accents of theirs," Paul muses.

"They are fancy," you admit. "They host balls and everything. I seriously hated wearing those dresses with a poofy skirt. They're so uncomfortable to sit in."

"No way!" Paul laughs.

"Mhm. Look."

As you eat some more of your food one-handed, you open the photos app on your phone and seek out the album from all the parties you attended. You hand your phone over to Paul, and Marko actually leans across the table to get a glimpse of the life you left behind.

As the two of them swipe picture after picture, laughing, you eat in peace. You even crack a grin when Dwayne picks off your tray of boneless wings, chuckling when he tells you it's payment for wearing his jacket. You end up having to tell the boys who is who every time they ask and deny any romantic relationship accusations when a picture of you dancing with Damon pops up. You admit he was a good friend up until his feelings for your sister clouded his judgment and you'd had enough of their drama.

Dinner proceeds uninterrupted, but it's when you get up to leave that the table of troublemakers from earlier causes an issue. With Dwayne's jacket returned to him, you follow the group as David leads the way out. You've just passed the table of leering individuals when a loud smack! resonates in the room and a brief stinging pain blossoms on your butt. You freeze, your new friends freeze, and then you're whirling around to glare at the culprit. You slowly look at the smug individual as his friends cackle like morons.

Anger flaring, your hand whips out and grasps the guy by the back of the neck. You slam his head down onto the table, causing him to grunt and his friends to fall quiet. You lean down so your mouth is next to his ear and grit out, "Touch me again and I'll rip your fucking throat out." You put pressure on his neck, causing the table to groan under the weight of the pressure. "With my teeth," you hiss. Pushing off the too quiet guy and facing your new friends once more, you shrug. "What?"

David, Dwayne, Marko, and Paul just stare at you before chuckling.

"You're scary, girl. I like it."

With a roll of your eyes, you step forward and push past Paul. "Come on. Show me what Santa Carla has to offer."

Over the course of a week, you hang out with who the locals have dubbed the Lost Boys. Paul and Marko treat you like a long lost best friend, Dwayne has taken to hovering over your shoulder, and David is pretty indifferent to your presence although he will stand up for you if need be. Your senses tell you there's something off about the boys, but you don't realize what it is until you scent the coppery fragrance of blood coming off of them one night they're late to meet you.

If they're vampires, they must be vampires who don't know who the Mikaelsons are because none of them recognized the family in your pictures. But you don't call them out, nor do you hint about yourself, at least not until you're walking on the beach one night and your senses are assaulted with the scent of a lot of blood and screams off in the distance.

Glancing around, you notice the boardwalk is empty and shutting down. The beach where you're at is empty as well, and as you speed towards the sound of terror, your suspicions are proven correct about the Lost Boys.

They're unlike any vampires you've seen, more brutal in their feeding than even the Big Bad Hybrid himself. Their vampire visages showcase a true monster, but for some reason it doesn't bother you as it probably should. They're sinking their fangs into necks, shoulders, torsos, and even skulls, laughing all the while their victims scream in horror.

In their feeding frenzy, they don't notice you standing just on the outskirts of the firelight. Limbs are ripped from bodies before being tossed into the fire, blood spraying carelessly across the sand. But the moment the frenzy dies down, you can't help but make an entrance.

Slowly clapping, you smirk as all four vampires freeze and turn towards you as you walk into the light. David snarls, his monstrous face still on display as Paul and Marko quickly change their features. Their expressions are a bit crestfallen as you continue to find amusement in this situation, so you walk towards Dwayne who has gone stoic. "I get the bloodlust, but do you guys have to be such messy eaters? Gross." You wrinkle your nose as you kick an arm into the raging fire.

"W-What?" Paul splutters.

Looking back at Dwayne, you reach over and run a finger through the blood staining his chest. Then popping that same finger into your mouth, you wrap your tongue around your finger and savor the fresh blood now coating your tongue. You feel the veins beneath your eyes slither to the surface and your fangs elongate in your mouth. Then meeting Dwayne's gaze, you flash him a fangy grin. "I prefer to compel, eat, and release, but you do you I guess."

"Holy shit. You- you're a vampire?!"

Meeting Marko's stunned expression, you wink.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," David says.

"Sure." You meet his now ice-blue gaze. "But only after you clean up after yourselves. This," you say while gesturing to their dismembered victims, "is sloppy."

You watch as David oversees the cleanup of their little section of the beach, burning the bodies and kicking sand over the spilled blood. Afterwards, they all take a dip in the ocean to cleanse themselves of their meal.

On the way to their bikes which are parked just a bit down the beach, Paul asks, "So how old are you?"

"Which age are you referring to? The age I was when I was turned or how many years I've been a vampire?"

"Both."

"I was turned at twenty," you say, "and I've been a vampire for less than five years."

"No shit? How were you introduced to this world?"

"That.. is a very long story. Why don't we get someplace where I can actually tell it?"

As their bikes get nearer, you hiss at Paul when he pushes you in Dwayne's direction. Almost as if it was expected of you to ride with Dwayne, he settles on the seat of his bike before offering you a hand so you can situate yourself behind him.

Hanging on loosely, you enjoy the ride and take amusement in the sudden turns and jumps they take to try and startle you. But instead of being shaken, you merely laugh and pinch Dwayne's side when you're jostled too much.

The drive to the cliffs that you know to be Hudson's Bluff, overlooking the disgruntled sea, is rather short. You have a moment to glance down a rickety, wooden staircase before the group is driving down them one by one. You're jostled even more as the bike is driven over various rocks and through a gaping hole in the fence that's meant to keep trespassers out. They drive into a cave where the bikes are then parked, and you climb off to follow Paul down a very humid path.

Swiping cobwebs, vines, and roots out of the way, you're then led into a cavernous room. There are shafts of moonlight lighting up the space, and then Paul and Marko fire up barrels all around the space. The place is trashed, but you quickly realize it's not a normal cave. There's a sofa, chairs, and a broken water fountain. There's what appears to be a long counter- or was it a desk?- and a tattered portrait hanging behind it.

"What is this place?" You ask as you glance around in wonder. They obviously made it their own- seashells and broken CDs hanging from every place available, as well as hundreds of melted candles over every surface. You even spot a mattress, pillows, and blankets hidden behind some type of gauzy material.

"This was the hottest resort back in the day," David drawls. "Too bad they built it on a fault line though. When the big one hit San Francisco in 1906, this place took a header down into the ground when it split open. It's been our home ever since."

"Nice." You plop down on a couch, sighing as you stare at each boy. "So what do you wanna know?"

"Everything." David takes a seat on a wheelchair, staring right at you. "Start from the beginning."

"Fair enough. I was born and raised in Mystic Falls, Virginia to parents who ran their own business. I didn't want for anything and ended up being a letdown when I wasn't into pageants as my mother hoped I would be."

"Did your parents even die by drowning?" Marko asks.

"Yes. That was true," you tell him. "After their death, my aunt Jenna took in me, Elena, and Jeremy. Both my siblings grieved differently, but when the new school year started, my sister did a complete turnaround when Stefan Salvatore entered the picture."

"Why do I get the feeling this Salvatore dude is a major player in your story?" Paul asks.

"Because he is. Unbeknownst to any of us, Stefan Salvatore was vampire number one. He was drawn to Mystic Falls all because of my sister Elena."

"Why your sister?" Dwayne asks, startling you. He rarely spoke up, but when he did, you couldn't help but be drawn to him.

"Do you guys know what a doppelganger is?" At their nods, you explain. "Elena was the latest human doppelganger. The previous doppelganger, Katherine, toyed with two brothers back in 1864. The Salvatore brothers, to be exact."

"Shit." Paul giggles. "Talk about a vampire novella."

"Anyway, Katherine toyed with Damon's feelings and made him fall in love with her. When she tried the same with Stefan, he resisted so she compelled him to love her. And then when it came to light that there were many vampires in town, every vampire was rounded up, vervained, and anyone who associated with them were killed. As it just so happens, the Salvatore brothers' father found out his sons were romantically linked with Katherine, so he shot them. Unfortunately for him, Katherine had been feeding the boys her blood, so when they were killed, they didn't stay dead for long.

"Fast forward to the present time and both Salvatores are now salivating for the newest doppelganger. Only this time, Stefan has fallen in love with Elena without any compulsion, and so has Damon. Katherine's apparently been keeping tabs on the brothers and she's not happy that Elena has the love of the brothers."

David makes a motion with his hand to hurry you along. "How did you turn?"

"Katherine has made it her mission to make Elena's life a living hell, so what better way than to kill one of her best friends and older sister?"

Paul gapes. "You're joking."

"Nope. The crazy bitch fed me her blood before snapping my neck, then smothered Caroline who happened to have Damon's blood in her system. When we woke up in transition and fed on human blood to complete the transition, half of our friends turned on us. We had to rely on Damon and Stefan to teach us to control our bloodlust, but things were never the same. And to top it all off, learning to become a vampire was the least of our worries."

"What's more important than knowing you've died and have to kill people to survive?"

"How about that one of the Original vampires- who is over a thousand years old, by the way- needs the blood of a human doppelganger to break the curse on him, so he decides it's his turn to make your family's life hell as well?"

"Oh shit. What curse?" Paul asks.

You slowly smirk. "Niklaus Mikaelson is not just one of the original vampires, but he's the one and only original hybrid. He's half vampire, half wolf, and one of the most lethal individuals that still walks this earth."

The boys fall silent, but then Marko speaks up.

"Hold on. The dude funding your trip around the world is the same person who made your life a living hell?"

"Yep," you muse. "We were at each other's throats for the longest time, then his sister killed my sister which turned her into a vampire as well, and there was just a shit load more drama with doppelgangers, witches, werewolves, and hybrids." You shrug. "Elijah was never truly terrible, so I spoke more with him first, but then Klaus really took the brother role to heart. The Mikaelsons have kind of adopted me, and my siblings and friends didn't take too kindly to that. So, to avoid all the drama, I left. And now here I am."

For the rest of the late night and early morning, you answer all questions you can. Paul and Marko are interested to see the differences between you and them, but David and Dwayne are more interested in learning about the Original vampires and their unique differences. Their biggest hangup, however, is that the sun has no effect on you like it does them. Sure you both will catch on fire, but it doesn't pull you to sleep the day away like it does them. You're a bit jealous that they can fly, but you're so much faster than any of them.

The moment David mentions the impending sunrise is your cue to go, so you bid farewell to your friends before winking at Paul and disappearing before they can even blink.

For the next couple of days, you keep yourself busy by running some errands for Klaus. You meet with vampires and piss off a couple of werewolf packs, but all in all the work gets done. You hadn't been able to keep in touch with the Lost Boys, so Paul and Marko whoop in cheer when they spot you.

"Well if it isn't Miss Mystic Falls," Paul muses. "Where the hell have you been, chika?"

"Sorry. Sorry!" You lean against the railing in between the group, grimacing. "I had a few things to do and since you're all allergic to modern technology, I couldn't text or call."

"Anything we need to know about?" David wonders.

Normally you'd say no, but Santa Carla is his territory and you don't want any bad blood with him. "Not really. I had a few things to pick up for Klaus and a few messages to deliver to some werewolf packs up North."

David frowns. "There are packs nearby?"

"The closest one is fifty miles out, but they're all pretty scared of Klaus and what he can do so they stay in line. If there's anything to worry about, it's any lone wolves who decide to take shelter in the woods around Hudson's Bluff and don't give a flying fuck about the Original Hybrid."

"Pft. We can take on a rogue werewolf if need be," Paul says.

"You say that now, but you won't be saying much when you get bitten by one. Remember, werewolf bites are lethal to us vampires." Paul's smugness dims. "Now who's good to eat around here? I didn't have time to grab some blood bags from the hospital."

"Stay away from the Surf Nazis," Dwayne says.

"Surf Nazis? What the hell kind of name is that?" Your nose wrinkles in distaste.

"A name that they've had since the eighties," Marko says. "It just stuck because they're still a bunch of racist and bigoted pricks."

"Fair enough. So, if I can't eat them, who can I eat?"

All four boys readily scan the crowd, excited at the prospect of picking your dinner.

"Do you have a preference? Male or female?" David asks.

"No junkies and I'm good with either male or female."

After mere seconds, David already has his pick. "On your three. Group of guys keep glancing this way. I'm pretty sure they're not checking Marko out."

You subtly glance at them and figure any one of them is good enough. "Alright. Since you guys are intimidating as fuck, you're gonna say goodbye and go do your own thing. Whoever approaches me first is dinner."

"Boo. You're no fun." Paul's the first hop off his bike, giving you a side hug. "We'll be watching from the roof."

"Of course you will." You roll your eyes, laughing.

Marko winks at you as he follows after Paul, David nods at you, but it's Dwayne who makes you arch an eyebrow at him as he glares at the group of guys before leaving. You chuckle at the oddness of it all before shaking it off and then pulling out your phone to kill some time.

It doesn't take long at all for someone to approach you and you easily fall into the role of the lone human girl way too easily. You chat for a bit and find out he's in fact in college, on break for a week and just looking for some fun. You tell him you're taking a gap year, just passing through Santa Carla and was hoping for some fun as well. His lecherous grin lets him know you have him on the hook.

"Wanna take a ride on the ferris wheel?" He asks.

"I'll do you one better. I say we visit an alley away from prying eyes without giving any ride operators an eye full."

"Oh, fuck yes."

Smirking in triumph, you hop off the railing and grab up the guy's hand. You briefly meet his friends' gaze before winking at them, leading their friend off to what they think is going to be a very good time. For you it will be, but for him? Not so much.

Once at an alley that doesn't have much traffic passing by either end, you lure the guy inside. In the middle of the alley, you turn so your back is against the wall and let him grab you by the hips. But as you cradle his face before he kisses you, you meet his gaze and say, "Don't scream. Don't fight. This will be painless."

The guy goes quiet, and you let your face change before his very eyes. He tenses, but he stays stock still without uttering a peep. Then reaching around to grasp the hair at the back of his head, you angle his head so you can sink your fangs into his neck. You drink and drink, satiating your thirst while listening for the first skip of his heart. When you've had enough, you clean his neck wound of any blood and then prick your tongue with a fang to smear your own blood on the bite wound. It heals after a minute, and you pull back to meet his gaze once more.

"When you get back to your friends, you're gonna be smug but also a little bit let down. Admit I'm the greatest kisser you've ever had, but before we could get to any of the good stuff, we were interrupted by a homeless couple."

"We were interrupted by a homeless couple," he parrots back.

"Good boy. Now to make things more believable..." You slowly smirk before pulling him close, capturing his lips with your own.

The guy is shaken out of his compulsion and his arms wrap low around your waist to pull you even closer to him. You kiss him roughly to make sure his lips appear swollen and even muss his hair up. But the moment you reach under his shirt and rake your nails across his back, causing him to groan, you hear someone drop down beside you.

One second, you're enjoying a kiss and the next your victim is shoved away from you. Dwayne practically puts himself between you and your meal as he snarls, "Get. Lost."

The other individuals drop down into the alley, and you meet three amused expressions. Paul and Marko are snickering quietly whereas David is smirking at his dark-haired brother.

"You alright there, Dwayne?"

Dwayne turns, expression unimpressed at David's question. Instead of answering him, he turns his stare on you. "What?" You feign innocence. "I had to sell it. His friends needed to believe I brought him in here for anything other than feeding."

"Whatever. Next time, just kill the guy."

As Dwayne stalks off, you smile at his back. The moment he disappears, you ask, "Was that- was that jealousy?"

"Yep." Paul skips to you, draping an arm around your shoulders. "Dwayne's always been possessive, but it's been a long time since he took real interest in someone."

"This is going to be fun," Marko muses.

You roll your eyes and sigh but can't help but agree.

Over the course of another few days, it's now very obvious that Dwayne's hovering wasn't just because you were a female. He most definitely knows you can take care of yourself, yet he's still there, but now he's openly snarling when someone looks at you a little too long. To placate him, you only ride with him and pull him into the V of your thighs when you're sitting on the railing. He starts tensing up the moment you all people watch for your next meal and other guys stare back, but the tension drops from his shoulders when you hop onto the railing, pull him into the V of your thighs, and hug him from behind.

Nothing intimate happens between you and Dwayne, but it becomes an unspoken rule among the small coven that you're off limits.

Everything seems to be going well until you meet the boys on the boardwalk one night and David looks livid.

Your smile instantly vanishes. "What's wrong?"

"The woods smell like fuckin' dog," he seethes.

Immediately your gaze snaps towards the sky and your heart sinks. "It's a full moon."

"We know. We're gonna try and kill this wolf for stepping into our territory and pissin' all over the place."

"What?" Your voice is lethally quiet as you meet David's gaze. "You have to be joking. One bite- hell, even one nip!- is a death sentence."

"We'll be fine. We just thought we'd let you know."

As they turn to mount their bikes, you swear. "Goddammit. Wait for me. You're not doing this alone."

You climb onto the back of Dwayne's bike, wrapping your arms around his waist as you glare at the others for their idiotic choices. They're quite solemn as they drive to the woods, and you keep your eyes peeled for the werewolf in question. As they come to a stop, you climb off and glance around the eerily quiet woods.

"So do you have any tips on tracking a werewolf?" Paul muses.

You gulp. "It's a full moon and this wolf most likely claimed these woods as theirs. It'll be hunting us."

The boys chuckle and start walking, combing the woods for any sight of the wolf. It isn't long until a twig snaps- a twig that neither you nor the boys have stepped on. You all freeze.

"Showtime?" Marko wonders.

You sigh. "Be prepared to run. Werewolves can match a vampire's speed on the nights of a full moon."

"We'll be alright."

Almost as soon as the words leave Marko's mouth, the werewolf rushes in. It takes down Paul by his knees, standing on his back and snarling. Before he can snap his jaws, you rush over and kick the werewolf to send it flying.

"What the fuck was that?!" Paul incredulously asks as he hurriedly climbs back to his feet.

"A werewolf," you deadpan. "Keep your guard up. It'll come back."

For a few minutes, it seems like the werewolf is toying with all of you. It keeps knocking down the boys, snarling before disappearing. You've kicked it off your friends three times by now, but the second you hear a howl in the distance, you and the boys freeze.

"There's a second one?" You ask. David shrugs and you bite your tongue to keep from giving him a verbal lashing. "It was stupid to do this on the night of a full moon. We need to leave right now, and I'll do my best to sniff out the werewolves tomorrow so we can handle them when they're in their human forms."

"How much harder can two werewolves be?"

"Pretty fuckin' hard, David. I know you're a badass and all, but we need to do this another night."

Before David can answer, Dwayne shouts. You whirl around, eyes widening at seeing a werewolf pinning him to the ground with its sharp teeth inches from his face. Without thinking, you fly at the wolf, tackling it off of him. You and the wolf scramble for the upper hand and you hiss when there's a pain in your shoulder.

Eventually, you manage to pin the wolf to the ground by its neck and shove your hand into its chest cavity to yank out its heart. With the wolf dead, you toss the heart aside. "Now will you listen to me? This was such a stupid fucking idea." The boys remain quiet, staring at her.

Actually, they're staring at your shoulder.

"What?"

Dwayne steps forward, carefully reaching for your arm and pulling you a step towards him. You frown, but then hiss when he moves the neckline of your shirt off your shoulder. "You're bit."

Your heart falls into your stomach and you quickly glance at the shoulder that you now realize is burning. Your eyes fill with tears. "O-Oh."

"Oh? Oh?!" Dwayne nearly shouts. "Werewolf bites are lethal, remember? How could you be so goddamn stupid?!"

Your bottom lip trembles. "I'm well aware of that, Dwayne. I was the one who told you to hunt the werewolf another night, remember?" You sigh and pull your hand free from his grasp. You take a moment to collect your thoughts before admitting, "There's a cure. Only a select few know and the cure is hard to get your hands on unless you're on friendly terms with those who have access to it. It's not my secret to divulge, so I was compelled to not say anything unless it was an emergency."

"What is it?" Dwayne asks. "We'll get it."

"You can't. But I can," you admit. "Let's just get to the cave. I have a phone call to make."

So, for part two, do we want the Mystic Falls gang to follow Klaus to Santa Carla or do we want the Santa Carla gang to visit Mystic Falls?

[tamtuliko]

Tyme, dear, revenger Tyme.

As we are heading to the end, we must talk about Tyme. Now that we saw the real timeline and have a prove how messed and fucked up Great is, we must take a look in Tyme's life.

Look, I'm not saying that Great is a bad person, he is not, he is broken, neglected, lost child who has problems with his emotions, he is rich kid whose family members are assholes and his choice of friends need to be questioned, but again Rich, spoiled kids are sticking together right? Title is rich, spoiled, wicked as well, killed his classmate, locked his girlfriend, and I don't think that it's his first time, as well as Great's. They have done many bad things, but remember what Tyme said: depends on how rich you are, you can get away even with murdering someone, even if it was an accident. So, no, guys, Great is not good or bad, Great is a tragic child.

But I want to talk about Tyme. Let's see what we have:

•dead perents

•grandmother with whom he has strong bond

•Girlfriend - ex, but they've been together pretty long, right? She said Tyme had changed in the last two years.

•friend - s.

My wild guess is that, two years ago, before the real-time line, Tyme found out how his parents were killed, finding the diary his mother wrote. We have seen pictures of him and his mother, alive, innocent, and happy. I think even after his parents' death, he and his grandmother were happy. The old lady did say that she wanted to see Happy Tyme again, that he was happy before. Even if they didn't have money, they still had each other, Tyme was getting his doctor degree, he had a strong relationship with a beautiful girl and had friends. So Tyme was happy, he was not alone. Until he finds the diary and all the hell breaks. I guess he started his search and planned the revenge. With this, he lost interest in other things. His happiness was lost, and his whole life became an idea of revenge.

This is the Tyme me meet. We have not seen happy, carefree, having girlfriend Tyme. We see anger, no emotional strings, cold Tyme, the one who has no interest in his girlfriend, she broke up, and he was standing drinking coffee.

I mean, look at him ,he gives no fuck.

And then an opportunity, a golden one appears in front of him, kind of God itself send him gift. BTW this is the gift:

Fucked up son of his enemy. And the whole plan was born in his pretty head. Let's seduce, fuck him, film it and put it out on porn site. Tyme, darling you said you did your search about Great, tf you thought he would care about anything. Here is Tymes first mistake. He doesn't get Great at all. He doesn't know how wicked this kid was. But he learned.

And Tyme went and forgot all human side of himself. Went straight to Great and seduce him (btw his pick-up lines in every timeline are garbage, dude seriously🤣)

So they fucked, and the way it was shown, we can see that even it is for revenge, they both very much enjoy it. If Tyme didn't enjoy it, he wouldn't be caressing Great's body. It's a simple anatomy. If you don't like or feel anything towards someone, you won't get a turn-on. What we saw is that both of them are turned on beyond belief. They fuck (not make love, like Great's timeline). Tyme filmed it and here, he had second thoughts about posting it. We see how he is fighting to himself and the morals he once had. But then he sees the photograph, bright, alive, happy, and he goes with his revenge.

And here he miscalculated another thing again, Great, who he thought, will never appear in front of him appears and chases after him, like lost puppy/kitten , he is.

See Tyme ignored Great with not answering him, but Great, the brat he is goes after him. I guess that D was good, but he is intrigued. Someone was able to stand up his father. Even his mom, Korn they obey his father, but we've got Tyme who did something crazy and Great is interested. Again, it doesn't make him a good person. So they go on dinner, and here Tyme sees it, understands it: he was wrong about Great. Look at his face:

The disbelief in his eyes. He is like wtf kid.

Tyme, with all his glory plan, understands the small mistake: Great can't be controlled, can't be used, because he doesn't care. And he understands the tragedy of this child, because he is child, he was brave to come and find Tyme, when he was told to go home if he doesn't want to eat in cheap place, he didn't, he said that he will eat, he cant even eat spicy food and yet, just to be near Tyme, to have more time with him, Great choose to eat it. This is a child who doesn't want to be left alone, who is lonely and doesn't know how to be a normal human being, cause around him there are no people with morals.

And Tyme does what Tyme can do, leaves Great, cause he can't be responsible for Great, he can't deal with Great, for Great it is a game, for Tyme it is revenge and his life on line. Nans life, his grandmother's life. For Great: just a game, where he will enjoy a good fuck and make his dads life miserable, but the same the cure of his loneliness.

So Tyme leaves. Without looking back.

See, Tyme is not a good person, but again, he is not bad either. Tyme is also a very tragic character, a person who couldn't move on. He is supposed to be a doctor, saving life, and must have morals. Yet we have a doctor, with not many emotions, trying to be a doctor for money, and not happy at all. The irony, right? He must be saving life's, instead he is losing one's.

Tyme is tragic because he can't save Nan, and he does blame himself, but all anger he takes out on Great. And yes, Great could've saved Nan, but he is a coward and didn't, but Great saved Tyme. Because he is genuinely interested in Tyme, he is emotionally connected (onesided) with him. So he couldn't stand Tymes' death. We saw that he had no problems with other people dying. He developed feelings, and Tyme might be bad with plans, but I think he knows about Greats one-sided interest in him (not love).

Here is one thing I liked in Tyme, instead of using that one-sided interest, he did one right thing, showed Great his own cowardence. Told him how weak he is. They said awful things to each other. Great telling Tyme to go die, Tyme telling Great that he deserves to go to hell.

See, they are not good at all, but they are not bad either.

The society they live in is garbage. And they are tragic characters who could've saved each other. Instead, they will be the end of each other.

I don't know what can be more tragic than this.

Two souls, trying their hard to live, but....

Well, they are gonna die, there is no doubt. I just hope they can find their ways to each other, forgive each other. In the end, we are all humans. We can learn on our own mistakes. And try and live our life without regrets. There might be no second chance.

We are still going to see Tymes regrets, his and Greats cardiac arrest is going same time, so they are gonna meet again, they are going to have their own 4 minutes, and one of them will be saved and another will die, or both of them will be dying moving to another life. My brain is on 🔥.

My bet is on Tymes' death. He did see door opening and light. Typical afterlife entrance. But again, this drama is not a typical one, so two more weeks...

P.S

They are giving me butterflies 🦋

[boykingsw]

sweetest devotion

for @tawaifeddiediaz , inspired by this post. ily

The storm goes on for days. Pounding rain against the windows keeps Buck awake far later than he should be, considering his state. He blinks in the darkness and tries to find the sound therapeutic, but in truth, the incessant noise does nothing more than encourage the headache already festering behind his eyelids. 

His phone chimes with a message on the bedside table. In the brief instant of light it provides, Buck welcomes the distraction. 

Hen: Just wanted to check in and see how you're doing. Hope Nurse Eddie is taking good care of you :)

Buck laughs quietly and types out a reply. 

pretty sure he passed out on the couch a while ago. mind if I call you?

Hen: Go for it.

The dial tone sounds twice before she picks up, sounding like she's already refraining from scolding him for not taking better care of his health. 

"Hey there," she says. "What are you doing up so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he deflects, halfheartedly. 

Hen hums. "That would be a fair question if one of us hadn't been hospitalized a few days ago. You're supposed to be resting."

Buck sighs. Touché. 

"What's keeping you up?" she asks, more gently.

"Just...can't sleep. This stupid storm won't let up."

"Ah. Yeah, Karen and I are still hoping the basement won't flood this time. Pretty sure half of everything we owned grew mould last year," Hen jokes. Buck chuckles. After a moment of silence on the line, she prods him again. "Is that...the only thing bothering you?"

Buck hesitates.

It isn't, of course. But he had yet to figure out how to broach the subject in the flurry of activity that had suddenly surrounded him. Medics trying to keep him awake and doctors trying to keep him alive, his sister tearing up and fussing over him the second he opened his eyes, Bobby filling a Tupperware container with homemade soup and sending it with him when he was discharged. Eddie taking a right turn instead of a left on the way home from the hospital with a scoff, because, "You think I'm letting you go home alone?"

Everyone just seemed glad he was okay. Nobody had said much else. Buck hadn't asked. 

But-

"Did you guys think I was dead?"

Hen is quiet for a second, thrown by his sudden frankness. Buck waits, his breath feeling strangely tight in his chest. "I mean, we hoped you weren't, but-" she sighs. "It looked pretty bad, Buck. Worse than the times before."

He hadn't really thought any less, but it shakes him a bit to hear her admit something more than the usual, "You gave us a real scare there, Buckaroo." Maybe because it actually makes it feel real. Makes the ache that lingers settle in deeper. He lays there, in bed in a house that isn't his but welcomes him as if he belongs in it all the same—where his face is in the pictures on the wall and his old t-shirts are in the washing machine and his best friend sleeps lightly in the living room, listening for any signs of pain so that he can help to ease it—and the the feeling becomes a reminder of everything he nearly lost. 

"So then why-" He swallows, pushing away a sudden wave of emotion that he can't quite define. Grief? Anger? "Why would Bobby send Eddie up there after me? Wasn't there a- a better way to-?"

Hen cuts him off with a dry laugh. "No one sent him, Buck," she says. "He was up there before the rest of us could think to move." 

Buck blinks. 

"Well- why didn't anyone stop him? Come up with a better plan? I mean-"

"Do you really think we could've stopped him?" Hen asks.

Buck finds he doesn't actually know the answer. 

In wake of his silence, she rephrases the question. "If the roles were reversed, would anyone have been able to stop you?"

Buck's head begins to spin. Because no, of course not. It wouldn't matter if the whole world was screaming at him to stop—if Eddie was the one hanging from the top of that ladder, Buck would do anything to bring him back down to earth. Just like he's done before. But that's because–

Well, it's because of a feeling that settled itself in his chest long before he was able to give it a name. 

"Buck?" Hen's voice comes through the phone, but it sounds a bit farther away to him now. "You still there?" 

"I-" he starts. Stops. His mind is running in circles and he can't quite catch up. 

More softly, Hen asks, "Didn't you know he'd do the same?" 

And-

"No," he breathes. "I don't think I did."

Yet suddenly it seems like it’s been there, in the photos and the laundry and there in the next room, on that couch, this whole time. In the arguments and the anger and the long, hard conversations, too. The big things and the small—he'd just never looked close enough to see it. 

"Listen Hen, I think I'd better-"

"Yeah, you better.” He hears her smile through the phone. “Goodnight, Buck."

"Goodnight," he says. "And uh- thanks. For the talk."

"Anytime," she says, and hangs up.

On his slow but steady journey from the bedroom down the hallway, he follows the gently flickering light of the television and tries to figure out what, exactly, he plans to say in order to unravel his tangled mess of a brain and present it as something comprehensible. When he finds Eddie, however (not sleeping like he'd thought, but watching one of those made-for-TV romance movies that he's always claimed to hate) the first thing that comes out of his mouth is–

"You're an idiot."

Eddie turns to look at him, wide-eyed and startled and a little bit concerned. "Buck? What are you-?" He stands, blinking the sleepiness out of his eyes, and steps halfheartedly into the space between them, as if worried he might have to catch Buck if he spontaneously keels over in the doorway. "Is everything okay?"

"And a hypocrite too," Buck adds, disregarding the question. 

Now, Eddie just looks confused. "Am I?"

"You're supposed to be the sensible one,” he says, pointing his finger in the way that his mother had always told him was bad manners. “You're supposed to stay on the ground and stay safe while I pull the stupid stunts. That's how it works. That's how it's always worked." 

Confusion washes away, replaced by recognition. "Buck-"

"What were you thinking?" There's a distraught edge to his voice, he knows it, and knows Eddie hears it. Still, he makes no effort to hide it. He thinks there might not be much point to that anymore, anyway. 

"Someone had to go and get you." Eddie shrugs, guarded. "I guess I was just the fastest." 

"Eddie."

"Buck." He says, eyebrows raised.

"Why did you do it?"

"What, was I supposed to just leave you hanging up there?"

"Why did you do it, Eddie?" Buck repeats, and a layer of Eddie's expression slips away. 

He shakes his head. "I don't really know what you want me to say." 

"I would do the same for you. You know I'd do the same for you. I've done the same for you, more than once," he rambles, gaze fixed on Eddie's—searching, imploring. "And I know why I do it." He swallows the lump of apprehension in his throat. "It's the same reason every time, Eddie." 

He watches as another layer slips; crack after crack in Eddie's façade. Realization dawns—Buck sees it the moment it happens. Something flutters in his chest as the expression spreads across Eddie's face. 

"So I want to know why you did it," he says. 

Eddie's gaze softens. Carefully, nervously, he offers the truth. 

"Same reason as you, I think." 

He smiles, a slight thing. Buck does too. And for that one, brief moment, before either of them says another word, the storm seems to quiet; the rain slows, ever so slightly, to give them some small amount of reprieve.

It doesn't last, of course. But once Buck breathes out a 'thank god' and finally closes the distance between them, he can't seem to find it in himself to care.

[aeviiteernal]

Omg can you do a Myers (or maybe even Demogorgon if you write for him lol) with a Surviver who is basically IMPOSSIBLE to catch? Like their looping skills are insane and if he ends up getting them he cant feel good abt it bc all gens have been done in that done or everyone escaped😭

i love looping the killer for 5 gens <3 also sorry for not posting for a bit, been focused on my personal life and trying to hit a higher killer rank for the reset. but, i am still here AND alive !

Michael Myers

When Michael saw you in his trial, he knew it was going to be a tough one. After all, word from the other killers (and some matches himself) always groaned and complained how you could run them until everything was done.

He wanted to be the first one to finally kill you.

Thankfully for him, where the Entity had sent everyone was Midwich. Granted he brought the offering and was running scratch mirror but we won't talk about it..

Deciding to go into the trial with a plan: he wanted to lure you out through your teammates and pursue you immediately.

After downing half your team, Michael waits patiently for you to slip out and make your appearance...

To be expected, you finally made your grand appearance and Michael made his first move towards you.

You were trying to quickly patch up Nea, knowing for a fact it was a stealth killer as you heard no terror radius. That only solidified when a knife swept your back, making a deep cut. A yelp scream from your lips, forcing you to stop healing and start your chase.

With you injured, Michael thought he could easily down. Well... He was wrong.

You took him everywhere you could, going to different loops, winning his mind games--even him falling for yours--you tried your damn best to keep him distracted as the others did gens.

One, two, three... Michael lost track as his bloodlust intensified, only wanting to catch you. At this rate he would be incapable of salvaging this trial if he left now. So his only goal was to get you.

You made a mistake, a fatal one which pretty much landed you directly in his arms as he ripped you off the pallet.

For as silent as he can be, you could hear a frustrated exhale come from his mask as he went to throw you on a hook.

At least you know you wasted his time and made him resent you...

The Demogorgon

My sweet, sweet, demo...

An apex creature, causing quite a bit of trouble amongst survivors with its ability to track down anyone injured.

Of course, nothing that you couldn't handle.

Your team had a rather rough start, you were on Coal Tower and some of your team had been hooked which left you to be the only one that was never hooked once.

Neither was any gens done, so it was an anonymous agreement to have you distract the beast.

Not that you can complain, it was preferred you take chase anyways.

You walked through the blue realm, searching to find it. Thankfully it didn't take long as you stepped into direction line of sight of it.

And so the chase begins, not wanting to let your team down and to at least give them some hope.

Running around, you narrowly dodge its shreds, baiting them out by faking a vault and letting it smack against it.

Even if you got hit during chase, it never deterred you. You wanted to run for a million dollars.

As gens popped, the more the chase got intense. You were getting tired, and you know the Demogorgon was just as frustrated and tired. How could a human like you give it so much trouble?!

Eventually you were smacked to the ground and took to a hook. As soon as you were placed on it, the sound of the exit gates powering alerted the killer.

Although you may not be able to tell, you certainly did demotivate the demon as it ran off to go and get the rest of your team and try to get a second kill.

[108garys]

Daughter

For Erin's 26th birthday I have written a corruption fic aka "what if Du'met just adopted her?"

Warnings/types of content are: blood, asthma/breathing problems, survivors guilt, canon typical violence, detainment, selective mutisim, complicity guilt, sole survivor Erin, highly understandable moral corruption, Du'met is obsessed(platonic), general post canon psychological fallout, nightmares, takes place from canon to present, 3000+ words(putting my tag list at the bottom because tumblr is being weird and only letting me tag a few users at a time)

It all started with an asthma attack and a pack of cigarettes…

Charlie had been inconsiderate, had blamed her and when she by chance learned how precarious their financial situation was she had to wonder… When was he going tell them that they were screwed? Was she going to show up to work one day to learn she had no job?

But he'd made new business cards…He expected to pull through.

When he'd said all those things at dinner Erin had to wonder through her second asthma attack of the day if Charlie meant to pull through with the rest of the team and when she was locked away with HIM, having a third attack and he extended his hand, offering to return breath to her lungs… She took it. Horrified, she felt she would die with burning lungs and a strange man's knife a hair away… Pressed between death and a wall for eternity within seconds of uneasy breathing…

And then he was gone.

And when the rest discussed their exit plan, Charlie didn't… He expected to pull through. But how? How could he be so dismissive? How could he be so certain?

Who could blame her when she was gifted an answer? Of course Charlie was going to make it, he had a plan… It made too much sense. He didn't care that she couldn't breathe, didn't care that their jobs- No! Lives, were on the line… He'd just keep blowing smoke and he'd be famous one day and all it would cost was problems, they had a deal! He was complicit.

She thought she was smarter than this…

When she saw him again, she layed into him, layed out all her stupid circumstantial evidence and Mark agreed to leave him to what he deserves… What she thought he deserved.

Mark never made it to the top of the lighthouse, no signal was ever sent and the others…

She tried to flee until she saw him. Charlie. Dead. Because of her… Because of her naivety, because she thought she knew better. She stood on the cliffs edge. Her perceptions shattered, Charlie at the bottom carved up with the word "complicit" scrawled across his chest in messy strokes of a cruel blade… She had wholeheartedly believed he was… What she had been manipulated into being-

She jolted forward! startled as a strong hand came to rest on her shoulder. She tried to get away but with a long drop before her and a blade at her back. Pressed again to death himself, she stumbled. Rushing over the edge. Closer to Charlie. Closer to-

…the end?

The sudden stop came far sooner than expected. One foot just barely planted on the edge. She stared into Charlie's eyes, frozen in place, breath picking up, cold fear chilling her to the bone and hot pain as cruel fingers dig into her wrist. Over the icy wind and the hammering of her heart, she was again breathing with him. Speechless, like him… Guilty like him. Erin began to cry, overwhelmed by all that had happened. That she was had so easily fallen into his hands. She screamed and cried and tried to get away… She couldn't take this, she begged to be let go, figuratively and literally. She didn't care, not when she thought she would join Charlie, not when Du'met's arm wraps around her middle and not when she was pulled back from the edge. When he let go she fell to her knees. Despondent. They're all dead. If she didn't feel so justified, if she looked at the evidence more closely! Maybe they could have been united… Maybe they'd still be-

Alive. For the first time something lit up in Granthem Du'met's eyes as he brushed a hair out of her face. She couldn't stop crying, he wiped away tears even as more streamed uncontrollably down her face. She stared into his eyes, her face carefully held by that monster. Like she was made of glass. Like it would be that easy…

Her recollection becomes vague after that. Exhaustion catching up to her… She remembers the soft warmth of the sun, feeling weightless as her limbs dangled limply. Breathing… Always breathing, his? Hers? She wasn't certain…

__

…she found herself in the darkness… Out of time and half recollected memories… She wanders blind, groping for anything to help guide her… Listening… Always listening, for what? Him? The others? Anything to grant her relief from this nightmare. Rain taps rhythmically off slick stones in winding ways, she follows the wall in this void. Listening to the sound of sharp breaths… She feels the weight of something in hand, cool to the touch, metalic… She's calm… Confident as she follows the noise. Is this how he feels? Pursuing his prey, knife in hand, with no fear-

She stops at the sound of a twig snaping under foot. Soaked to the skin she stands in the rain. Listening… Until another small sound catches her attention. She follows, quiet, small and unseen… Creeping in the darkness until she falls apon him. Taking him by surprise, fighting and winning in the drenched darkness. Blood diluted in the rain. Lightning strikes as she looks down to see-

Charlie. Just as he had been. Dead eyes staring up in shock. His mouth stuffed with bloody scripts as his words scream through her. All the things he'd said as he was abandoned to his fate. She pulls the knife from the last letter of the word. Complicit. Crossing that T with trembling hands-

__

Erin sits bolt upright in bed. Heart pounding as the image of Charlie's broken body fades from her minds eye. She breathes deeply, taking in her surroundings. Heart sinking at the familiar trimmings of Du'met's castle.

The room was larger and more nicely furnished than the one she'd initially checked into. She slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed, boots hitting the floorboards, she was wearing the same clothes, thank god. Her inhaler on the bedside table, under it a folded up piece of paper… She steadies herself, unaware of how long she slept but painfully aware of how long it'd been since she ate. Carefully taking the note as if the paper itself could harm her and slowly unfolding it… It took all her strength not to break down as she reads just two words, flanked by suspiciously red hearts in his familiar handwriting.

[<3 WELCOME HOME <3]

He intends to keep her here. She sinks to the floor, knees to her chest, back up against the bed. She was going to die here sooner or later and it'd be entirely on his timetable… She let the note slip from her fingers as she wraps her arms around her legs, burying her face and sobbing, she didn't even care that he was undoubtedly watching… She caught her own reflection in the full length mirror. Pathetic. Her eyes red, hair dishevelled, clothes stained from mud and grass, tears and rain. Tights torn and knees scraped up… There she sits a half drowned rat… The prize in his game of cat and mouse. teary eyes locked on herself in the fetal position… Everyone is dead… She is dead… If she fights, he wins… If she gives up, he wins…

For the 185th time.

She slowly rises to her feet, wiping her face with with her sleeve, coming away with smudged make up. She stands in front of the mirror… Is he behind the glass? Eyes peering through her reflection… Dirty palms flat on the smooth surface, she leans closer, trying to hear him. Imaging him bursting through and taking her life, just like that…She puts her head to the glass, eyes shut as she takes a moment before stepping back to search the room…

One door must be the exit. Secured tightly. Windows barred, a slight breeze moves the translucent white curtains… A clear view of the lighthouse framed as pretty as a picture through immovable metal… He must take joy in this, taunting her with a room with a view of her failed salvation… Her clothes folded neatly in the draws. She hates the thought of him going through her things. Another door leads to a small bathroom. Another note reads.

[NO CAMERAS INSIDE]

She has no choice but to take his word for it, not that it makes a difference at this point. Erin gathers clothes, taking a chair from the room to secure the bathroom door. It brought a sense of safety, if nothing else… Near searing water pours over her aching body, as if it could ever be hot enough to burn away what she allows herself to forget in this moment. Submerged in sickly sweet steam, taking small comfort in her nakedness.

Skin bare… forced to trust, just this little bit, in her most vulnerable state.

As she dressed in fresh clothes she heard the familiar sound of the walls sliding in the hall. To her disbelief the main door of her room was wide open. He wants her to follow whatever path he's layed before her but would it lead to death? Another of his tests? Cautiously she crept into the hallway… It led straight to another room, set up with a table and chairs, appetising food set out for her and she couldn't take it anymore. Throwing caution to the wind she took a seat, desperate to fill her empty stomach, so much so that she hadn't even seen the way he stood at the the far end of the room…

…watching like he always does…

She jumped up as he approached but he points to her chair, the message clear. Sit. So she did as he sat across from her… She avoided eye contact, noticing how blunt her cutlery was. As if she was a damn child. After a moment too long of awkward silence he nudges the plate towards her to encourage her to continue eating. She looks up at him as he stares unblinking. Should she speak? Could she even? Could he? No words were exchanged as she slowly continued her meal, attempting to hide how much she enjoyed it.

When she finished her plate he stood, collecting it and petting her hair before she could react, leaving through one of this many hidden passages. She tries to process what just happened, taking a more thorough look around, pulling every book from the shelves as if she'd be lucky enough to find some secret way out. She kicked the wall he'd left through, letting out her frustration as much as attempting to force her way out, checked the furniture, between cushions, under rugs. She saw the outline of a trap door, covering it back up and avoiding the rug altogether.

After tiring herself out destroying the room she put everything back, who knows how he'd react if he came back to the place turned upside down… Reluctantly, she takes a book and returns to her room.

__

Her life continued like this. Eat, sleep, shower, read, occasionally she heard others screaming beyond the walls of her small apartment. He sits with her at meals, occasionally he eats too, mostly he just watches her. After a time a new hall opens to a walled garden, too tall and sheer to scale, a new addition to her enclosure for surely he saw her as some sort of pet. Deep down she had expected worse, beyond death and disfigurement… Her fears of being torn to shreds by a strange man… But he wasn't a stranger, not anymore… Her fear receding as he becomes part of her routine.

Her hair was growing out, he had slowly added to the previously empty wardrobe. Her mother would shine with pride to see her dressed in the styling of Victorian era India. Perfectly fit to the aesthetic of her surroundings and yet obvious effort had been taken to tailor it to her… The perfect doll in his playhouse. Autonomy traded for a comfortable life in a gilded cage…

She still sees the others in her nightmares. Guilt gnaws at her. She betrays them everyday day that she lives in his house… She writes her thoughts. He allows her that much. The outside world moves on without her and here she is, locked in her tower, no fair lady in shining armour coming for her… The only one who mattered died within these walls…

She sits as he brushes her hair. Resigning herself to her new normal as he gives her a haircut and she notices to her suprise that she feels no fear, not even as the scissors brush past her ears. She can't bring herself to pretend it's a trick… He intends to keep her here for as long as she lives and he intends for her to live… She lifts her eyes to his reflection and watches him as he focuses on his task. His eyes lacked any malice towards her… Why was he doing this to her? Why her?

She begins to tear up as he catches her gaze. Letting out a low mumble, mask not quite obscuring the expression she's learned to associate with concern… He sets down the scissors, a sign that this trust is mutual. He goes to place his hands on her shoulders but hesitates, letting out a sigh before continuing his work. She blinks away her tears and waits for it to be over… Thinking of her garden… Of the roses that grow there… Of the lonely lighthouse. Unlit… Of this breathing… Familiar as her own…

This is her life now.

__

One night she was startled awake. Glass raining across the floor as her mirror shatters. She gets out of bed as a frantic man steps through the new opening. His red hair plastered to his skin with sweat, white shirt stained red, sleeve torn and eyes searching for an out. Harsh red light silhouettes him, framed in the terror she buried deep.

He's barely coherent as he takes her hand, in the other he carries a mirror shard. He goes through the door as the lights flicker on. Her heart pounding as fear engulfs her. Her breath short as this stranger pulls her along. Is she afraid of him? This man who is just another innocent victim lured to his death… She knows Du'met must be close… The wall slides in place. Cutting off the entrance to the garden… They enter the other room, the man stopping in the centre, looking around wildly. Before seem to suddenly realize that she was sleeping peacefully during all this, as his friends were slaughtered, as he was hunted. A darkness crosses his face as recognition dawns on him… He sees that even the gown she slept in was authentic… That she was part of the castle. She tries to pull away as his grip tightens on her hand. He raises the shard as he opens his mouth to question, only to turn as Du'met enters. Bloody axe in hand. Erin is frozen as the man holds the shard to her throat, in an attempt to gain leverage in his situation. She begins to hyperventilate, feeling the sharp glass against her skin, nails digging into her flesh, the soft rug under her feet. Du'met notices the beginnings of her asthma attack, slowly placing the axe on the table… Holding his hands up placatingly as he edges along the wall. The man shifts further away… Du'met shifts his hand along the wallpaper, something clicked under hand and suddenly the rug was ripped was pulled from under her-

The man fell through the trap door. Grasping at her. Scratching up her arms. Draging her down before Du'met catches her. Pulling her back from the hole and wrapping her tightly in his embrace before carrying her back down the hall, taking her inhaler from the draw… As her breathing returns to normal something shifts in her understanding… He attends to her cuts and scratches, sweeps up the glass and she knows... Things are going to change.

__

He leads her through the castle, beckoning her to follow. Down to his control room. So much had changed since she'd been here last. He begins showing her how to change the cameras, how to move the walls and activate the traps. At her confusion he writes:

[YOU WILL NEVER FEEL SAFE UNLESS YOU LEARN]

He wants her to participate? To be complicit? At her shock he adds:

[YOU WILL BE READY, WHEN THE TIME COMES]

She nods, swearing she saw a smile beneath his mask…

And so she begins to learn, first the mechanical functions of the castle and later he shows her other things… Of chemicals and wires, flesh and bone… Desensitising her… And she feels it again, that feeling from a half recollected dream… The confidence that comes with becoming dangerous…

__

She finds herself in darkness… Much like the day they met… Wandering blind, she feels the familiar weight in her hand, the cool metal calming… She understands now. She stays still as she listens… A mechanical whir as animatronics move around her in the dark, plastic, flesh, it made no difference… She moved deftly through them, steps light as she listens for what she's looking for and then there it was. The creaking of a floorboard. Proof that she wasn't alone. She keeps her breathe low and even as she listens… A sharp inhale at the touch of a mannequin… The rapid breathing of prey… The joy of knowing that she no longer relates.

Closing in they never see her coming, another set of gropping hands among densely packed room. Until she pulls the man to the ground. Not wasting the element of surprise before pinning him beneath her weight. Driving the knife into his chest before he has a to process, to turn the tables on her. Blood pours over her hands as she pulls out the knife. Killing her fear, over and over until the man stops moving and the blade is too slick to hold, metalic taste in her mouth, blood splattered across her face as the lights flicker to life.

She smiles up at Du'met, approaching in his slow methodical way, eyes lit up like a proud parent. He offers a hand and she takes it. She has passed the test… Looking only momentarily apon the redheaded man, kept for this purpose. He turns her face to him, holding it between his hands like long ago, wiping blood instead of tears. Holding her close, her head on his shoulder, an absence of fear in this gruesome scene. Blood soaking through her clothes…

__

Today would be perfect. Granthem had never been in the position to have children of his own, never cared to. But now he understood the appeal. As He checked over the details. His effort has payed off, he was no longer alone... Months of planing, delicate lines just so… Erin comes down the main staircase, the vision of perfection that he cultivated… Leading her to the dining room. Brightly coloured streamers, decorations in gold on this very special day. Her eyes light up in surprise that he'd done all this for her birthday. He watched with pride as she unwraps a very special gift, a golden mask that reflects her standing in the world… What she means to him. He watches as, she puts it on… Satisfied. his masterpiece is complete… He'd raised his daughter well.

__

@kassiekole22 @delurkr @blubary @ctrvpani @separatebswithbs

@marigoidz @unhingedlesbear @qusok @kindheartedgummybears

@mybrainrotforreal @tinynightmarewoman @xpugsleyx @aydeenchan

[theheirofthesharingan]

Thanks for that! I got my questions answered. But do you think treatment towards Sasuke was necessary? The part where he uses Tsukuyomi on him or the second time where he attacks him brutally and uses the same genjutsu again. It seems quite redundant, I think he didn't had to be so violent towards him. A large part of my doubts on Itachi raised through this post--

https://www.quora.com/Did-Itachi-really-love-Sasuke/answer/Indra-Nakari?ch=10&oid=178954935&share=ebfcccb7&srid=hjHWv1&target_type=answer

The writer's critisms on Itachi seemed fairly accurate. I want to know your thoughts on the post.

You're welcome. :)

When it comes to the fictional characters, I try to think outside of my personal feelings. Because a character's thoughts/feelings/motivations are determined by what they go through and their personal experiences. And theirs and my experiences are vastly different. If we haven't been into this character's shoes we can't accurately measure their actions which are the direct result of their emotions.

It's obvious people will judge characters based on their own feelings and experiences, but imo, there needs to be a fine line where you stop seeing yourself in fictional characters and judge them for who they are rather than how you want them to be. To me, it seems like the irl circumstances when you're telling someone your story and how you messed up, and someone who hasn't lived your life, suddenly pops up with the countless scenarios of could haves and should haves. Hindsight and not living through one's hell aren't very different, but are repeatedly applied.

It's the same with Itachi. No. I don't think torturing Sasuke was necessary or even the massacre was the answer to solve the political conflict in the village or joining a criminals' gang was necessary. However, it boils down to why did he think it was necessary. And that's more important than why any of us feel.

Here, we are talking about the child-soldiers and their psyche that gets damaged from a very young age. All kids — be it Itachi, Obito, Sasuke, or Nagato (mentioning the ones who went 'rogue') — have lost their loved ones and were changed by it.

I wrote a piece here talking about how Itachi's psychology influenced his actions throughout the story.

For the second time, while he was in the village, he was there to make sure Sasuke was safe/alive. He did not go out looking for Sasuke, but Sasuke, upon finding out Itachi was back, came to look for him. Now, Itachi expected to see hatred for him in Sasuke's eyes. He expected Sasuke to be more critical of him. But the way Sasuke reacted to his presence (jealousy because Itachi paid more attention to Naruto instead of him) told him Sauske didn't hate him enough. He was also there as a spy, working for both the Akatsuki and the Village. He needed to make sure neither of the sides suspected his loyalty was with the village and not the bad guys. If he'd let either of the sides know, imo, it could result in a major disaster. Konoha was home to the nine tailed beast and if the Akatsuki got their hands on it, it couldn't be anything good. The whole reason the Akatsuki refrained from attacking the village was because of him.

Objectively, yes, his treatment towards Sasuke was horrible, but from his perspective it was necessary. Because he ended up achieving certain goals.

With Sasuke's state as it was, Danzo wouldn't suspect Itachi had told him anything.

Sasuke 'hated' him more.

He'd also warned the village about the Akatsuki's plans, which with them wanting to kidnap Naruto, clearly did not bode well. It was after this Jiraiya took Naruto's training more seriously.

The most important thing for him was to keep up his cover or Sasuke's life would be in danger.

So, while to us what Itachi did was cruel, from his perspective it was necessary to do so for Sasuke's survival. Also, it's my own theory that what hurt Sauske the most wasn't the Tsukuyomi or witnessing the deaths of his parents on loop, but the fact that Itachi had done it. That he could be so cruel.

Coming to the second part of your question from the Quora link, I've read this response before when I was still struggling with my feelings about Itachi about certain things. And something seemed to be missing from this write up. What the person here has spoken are raw facts, but they significantly skip the emotional context behind Itachi's actions.

For example, if you're familiar with LotR, a large part of the fandom is overtly critical of Frodo's actions and hates him. According to them, 'He complained all the time. He only succeeded because he had Sam by his side. He couldn't have done anything without Sam. He failed in his mission. All he did was whine and complain while others did hard jobs.'

The people who say this are speaking complete facts but without any context attached to these words. They're the ones who project their personal feelings on fictional characters and fictional situations, which are harder than the ones we live in. I see a similar pattern in Itachi's criticism as well. And the answer you shared is the perfect example of that.

The writer uses a proper context to explain why Sauske was going to destroy the village, why Naruto understood Sauske, but that context somehow goes amiss when talking about Itachi.

Itachi was a kid who saw death when he wasn't prepared for it. Kids being brought to the war happened around the times Hashirama and Madara were kids. But Itachi was brought to see the reality of the Shinobi world when he was too little to comprehend the gravity of what he was witnessing. This is what changed him forever. Despite having his parents by his side, he raised himself. He was left alone in his formative years, entrusted with with responsibility that grown ups should have been handling, not a kid. And then, both his clan as well as the government placed the heavy burden of the world on his shoulders. The Uchiha did so unwittingly and the village knew what it was doing.

People expect him to be normal about it and make sound decisions that synchronize with their morals and feelings? It's not possible. It doesn't make his wrong decisions right, but it explains why he made those wrong decisions. Itachi lived in a terribly hopeless world and saw all the ugliness in its fullest glory. He knew wars and deaths. He was an Anbu. He knew even an entire clan couldn't fight against a system. Taking lives traumatized him too. Killing his own parents was more painful for him than most people give him a credit for.

So, expecting Itachi to function like a normal teen and then as a 21-year-old, while he never lived a single moment of his life he wasn't traumatized is wrong. He lived fearing death of the person he loved the most and wanted to stop it. His methods were terrible and he ended up hurting Sauske the most, but it wasn't done out of malice. If he believed there was better future for Sasuke and some hope for him, he might have acted much more differently. He might have trusted Naruto way before.

The criticism of the Edo Itachi is along the same lines but quite baseless this time. Itachi can talk to/about Naruto freely because he has no emotional connection towards him. He can't do that with Sasuke because he loves Sasuke too much.

People expect Itachi to burst into tears and seek Sasuke's forgiveness (a scene I would have loved to see myself), but they forget how damaged Itachi is to be able to express himself. He was a Shinobi who did things that required him to kill his own feelings. He isn't used to expressing himself. He stopped himself from expressing his feelings when he fought his final battle against Sasuke and gave in only in the end.

He wasn't running away from Sasuke because he didn't understand Sasuke's feelings, but because he understood them too much. It was his last ditch effort to make his brother continue to hate him, not knowing Sasuke had already believed the truth. From Itachi's POV, what did Tobi and Danzo's words mean if he doesn't confess them himself? He knew he was dead. He knew he couldn't stay back anymore, so talking to Sasuke and leaving him again, making him go through the pain of losing Itachi again... He didn't want that. If he really was more interested in Sasuke not chasing him, he would have done something stronger than summoning his crows to keep Sauske behind. Itachi didn't want Sasuke to kill people on his name or seek justice for him or tell anyone his truth. He wanted Sasuke to be known as the hero and respected for killing him (an S-rank criminal). He wanted Sauske to believe he could go back to his home and to his friends.

The reason he wouldn't spend more time with Sasuke and repeatedly said he was entrusting him with Naruto, was because Itachi didn't feel entitled to Sasuke's love, forgiveness, affection, and time. I can't stress on this enough. He didn't think he deserved any of this because he'd hurt him too much. Him hurting Sasuke previously was done out of sheer necessity (in his mind it was necessary) and he didn't want Sasuke to ever forgive him. He didn't expect this when he died for the first time and definitely not the second time. To him, Naruto was a better brother to Sasuke than Itachi was.

It's how he lived and this is how he wanted to die. But he confessed his feelings in the end, because he knew Sasuke deserved the truth. He also knew what he'd done to his litte brother, did not deserve forgiveness. He was okay with being hated by Sauske even now. He wanted Sauske to direct this love towards people who loved him and wouldn't hurt him (Naruto, here).

Also, the last word he uses to express his love is aishiteru, a Japanese word that means I love you, but is rarely used in the Japanese culture. It's to express the purest, kindest, highest, and most profound form of love.

Sasuke isn't being blind towards Itachi's flaws. If Itachi was alive, Sasuke would have been more critical of him. But when his brother is dead, he can't do it. He loved Itachi the most and unlike a lot of his fans, Sasuke, who was also a Shinobi, understood Itachi's perspective.

So, to conclude this, I agree Itachi hurt Sasuke a lot and there's no justification for that, but from his side, it was essential because he hadn't ever been able to hope for something better. He'd seen an entire clan being wiped out for wanting to change the system, and he himself had caused their destruction.

Both Itachi and Sasuke's feelings are totally justified. Itachi's love and guilt drove him to do all he did, and he is allowed to feel guilty. He is allowed to feel hopeless when literally no one ever supported him. Sasuke understood it. He was the only person in the world who saw Itachi as a human with feelings.

I can understand both of their point of views without having to hate or blame them when they both were the worst victims of the system. Itachi never even realized he was a victim and Sasuke has to live with its knowledge.

It became quite long. But here it is. This is my interpretation of Itachi and his actions. I don't see them as justified/unjustified because morals aren't that simple in their world. Seeing Naruto world from our world's perspective is quite tricky and everyone will become an unforgivable monster if we did.

[andreabandrea]

HELLO, just wanted to let you know that me and a friend of mine liked your critique essay on UTY so much that we spent the good part of an hour quoting it and discussing it back and forth. it was that special kind of catharsis you only get seeing someone point out the same flaws you saw. sorry for the long ask, but i wanted to share a few of our observations on the character writing.

hard agree about the original characters not leaving a huge impression. as a fellow enjoyer of morally grey women i especially share your disappointment with ceroba. and while her (and chijin's) portrayal in the story brushing past their horrible actions is problematic like you said, i think the underlying issue is more structural.

you know that trope of the Male Hero with Dead Wife Backstory? the only way i can describe my impression of the ketsukane storyline is if they'd swapped the roles of who died in that trope, and STILL managed to give the male character more agency in the story than his alive wife. i mean what... is Ceroba's role in the story aside from acting as a postmortem extension of Chujin's. Who IS Ceroba by herself when she isn't being defined by her role as Wife and Mother. The main sign that this was overlooked, imo, is how it's taken for granted that Ceroba even takes up Chujin's will at all. I mean, she's a housewife who grew up as a farmer. Why on earth would she have the necessary expertise to even attempt something like that? Either 1) Chujin already did everything for her (which, once again, sure doesn't give her own actions much of any bearing on the plot) or it's just taken for granted that she would. Because Ceroba's character is Good Wife, and a good wife would fulfill her husband's last will. No need to question that.

In addition, it's like the writing didn't want to commit to her delusions and little character development. She feels that her daughter is alive and thinks she can save her—wait no that was a lie—wait it wasn't. The moment she's defeated she goes "Agh, what was I thinking!" out loud (which is already a questionable writing choice imo but i digress), and recognizes that sacrificing Clover for her plans is horrible... and then 5 seconds later Clover chooses to sacrifice themself to break the barrier and whoops nevermind she's suddenly the one getting the others onboard with the idea... wait. didn't she say she was making the serum because the humans would've only slaughtered them again if they broke the barrier? oh wait wasn't that also chujin again? whoops.

It's not a matter of things being contradictory—grief can be just that, which I'm assuming is what the story wanted to drive at—it's a about it being inconsistent. And the result is that she just rings hollow to me.

(post being referenced)

this is such a good analysis of why the Ceroba plotline doesn't quite work, and I'm so glad you shared it! you're right. it is super disappointing that her entire role is just to be an extension of her husband's character, and we don't know who she is outside of "the good wife" and mother.

regarding grief and inconsistency-- I think that stories ultimately need to be held to a higher standard than real life. Real life, obviously, doesn't follow a three-act plot structure and things can and do happen for no reason, and sometimes there is no closure, and so on. But everything in fiction is expected to be there for a reason-- this is why "Chekov's gun" exists. Ceroba's inconsistent feelings about sacrificing Clover or Kanako's current status could be seen as indicative of grief, but it also makes for a poor story.

I feel like the "Kanako is alive still maybe in Alphys's lab" plotline may have been dropped because this can't really be answered in a meaningful way and still line up with canon Undertale. Kanako can't be alive and fallen down because we don't see her in the True Lab in Undertale, but she also can't be an amalgamate because we don't see her in any of the amalgamates (because, you know, she doesn't exist in canon Undertale). I guess you could say she's in a Memoryhead or something? It's an interesting idea to show the grief of one of the families who sent a loved one to Alphys's determination experiment, but the way Ceroba flip flops back and forth and then ultimately stops talking about it feels unfulfilling.

I would have liked to have seen any sort of resolution that doesn't require a direct answer about Kanako-- maybe Ceroba feeling unworthy of facing Kanako again after what she did, at least not yet. Or Ceroba accepting that Kanako is likely dead and she was clinging to the belief that Kanako could be alive out of her own grief, and putting ultimately faith in Alphys rather than charging further into science that she doesn't- and doesn't want to- understand.

I think Ceroba's lack of agency is especially reflected in her alleged friendship with Martlet. Sure, Martlet worked with Chujin, so we can reasonably believe that Martlet came to know his wife. But to my memory, we don't see them talk (outside of the true pacifist route finale, I suppose. We know that Ceroba releases Martlet from prison finally, but do you think she did that because they're friends or because someone had to reasonably let Martlet go eventually?). What's their relationship based on besides Chujin? Do you think they would have a bond going forward after the end of UTY? What are Ceroba's interests besides being a wife and a mom-- do you think Martlet would introduce her to making puzzles? Do you think they ever explored each others b

I think it could be argued that she has agency because she chose to experiment on Kanako when Chujin asked her not to, but I would argue in return that it's barely her own decision-- he left her no other way to really complete his work except to involve Kanako. How many other boss monsters are there? If we believe that this random guy could be a boss monster, then I suppose there could be more just out there, but that idea isn't explored-- and if there were more out there, then her decision to involve Kanako in the experiments only feels more foolhardy.

The inconsistency aspect is a great point, and I wish I had included that in my original post, haha. The problem isn't just that we don't get time to process Ceroba's plot and character development (supposedly-- I also think the "oh, what have I done?" aspect feels sudden and unsatisfying) after her boss fight, it's that she immediately changes her stance afterward. So, why did we have this fight to begin with? I remember when Clover was sacrificing their soul, I had this reaction like, "wait, they're really just going to hand it to her specifically after all that?" Lmao.

This is minor and very subjective, but another reason I like the "Asgore lost his wife and son" plot but don't like the "Ceroba lost her husband and daughter" plot as much (besides the whole Asriel & Chara storyline being much more impactful and related to Undertale's main plot than the Chujin & Kanako storyline) is that divorce is inherently just a million times funnier than a dead spouse. Toriel didn't die, she straight up left Asgore for a 3'4" short king she met through knock-knock jokes and then tells Asgore to go fuck himself in the pacifist ending. She's allowed to have agency and be someone outside of the (ex-)wife and the mom. It's awesome, and Ceroba's characterization (or lack thereof) feels like a step backwards in comparison.

Thank you again for sending this ask!

[hrtnsolofytube]

Time for a ☎ Scam Likely Song Breakdown ☎

Today is Unsweetened Lemonade by Amélie Farren in regards to Daniel Jacobi from Wolf 359

Warning for brief mentions of sui//cide and death!

Let's get this started under the cut!

Starting off strong with the first verse of the song. We all know Jacobi is a very volatile person. Consider the fact that onstead of dealing with his grief, betrayal, and other emotions, he went ahead and threatened to blow the entire ship up if the target of his emotions wasn't shot dead in front of him. Knowing that, it's not hard to believe he's always been this stubborn and volatile with his feelings. Even if he doesn't like confrontation, he'll start and finish what he has to in order to get through whatever he's feeling at the time.

These two go hand in hand as pre and post Wolf 359. From what we know about his childhood, he faced a lot of scrutiny under his father. It wouldn't be hard to believe that he didnt think he'd make it past 12 — or maybe even didn't want to. That's a hard age to be dealing with the kind of emotional abuse he likely faced from a dad who had a specific ideal of how he wanted his kid to be — especially one who wanted him in the military. From my experience, that can end in a lot of pushing for physical elements that one might not be able to handle at a young age.

The second verse there is very post, him realizing he's stuck alive while everyone he cared for is gone. The way its said in the song is very flippant, especially with the usage of the words 'I guess' as if it wasn't what was planned, but it's what he has to deal with now.

This... Does give me very Kepcobi vibes, sorry to anyone here who dislikes them. You can move to the next verse if you want! But it definitely makes me think of how Jacobi felt for Kepler. Especially towards the end — he had lost all trust for the man, how could ever want him to have his heart after that? The whole 'its pathetic how you think youre being smart' makes me think of how Kepler definitely thought he was. Thought he was playing it slick by being on the enemy side. He let his ego overpower him, control him, and for that he was already as good as dead to Jacobi. The worthless parents/stupid kids part can be in regards to himself. I personally doubt he knew that much of Kepler's past, and even then we don't know much expect for what's hinted at in his playlist. Jacobi probably faults his parents for his own stupidity in giving his whole life to one person, one thing. Just like his father gave himself — his body, his soul — to the military, Jacobi did the same with Kepler and the SI-5.

Another two that go hand in hand! The first chorus I see as him after being given the offer to join the SI-5 and realizing it's his last chance. He doesn't really have anywhere else to turn for work — he'd do anything at this point. Everything he thought he was meant for had crumbled beneath him and left a gaping hole where it had previously stood. An air of grievance and lack of purpose.

The second gives me after the events of 61. He's never been so out of control in his life. He'd do anything to get that control back, even if for a bit. His entire life has been a lie up to this point, and now he's going home without the two people who made everything truly worth it. He doesnt know what he'll do with himself — lifewise, jobwise. He's lost, out of control, and grieving. The last line definitely makes me think of Maxwell, Kepler, and his job itself — everything he'll ever love. He feels like that's it now. It's all decayed, all gone. What else does he have to love?

That's all for now!! Join me next time for another ☎ Scam Likely Song Breakdown ☎

[natolesims]

SIMS TAG

@memoirsofasim tagged me ages ago! Thank you so much :')) I'll tag @reality-refuge @pink-chevalier @lizillasimming @rillabrooke @pixel-bloom @falsetochild and @queeniecook! Feel free to ignore, you know ittt

What’s your favourite sims death? 

Drowning. It's classic ;)

Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

Maxis match! I do like how cool alpha looks on renders and CAS edits, but since I'm an avid player I have a hard time looking at super realistic stuff in the rest of the mm world features and sims.

Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? 

Nah. If I picture them being worried about their image/health, I try to make them lose weight or become fit with in-game features (mods included).

Do you use move objects? 

Yup!

Favorite mod?

UI cheats!

First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? 

Seasons

Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? 

Like the second one, hehe.

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? 

Most of my story sims have a special spot in my wrinkly heart because I play with them so often and I become attached, but some of my special favourites are Yellow, Grumpy, Wes, Maleficent (still not seen), Annie and Plum.

Have you made a simself? 

Yup, but I've never really played with it. I don't know, not my thing I guess.

What sim traits do you give yourself? 

Paranoid (I'm always worrying about my entire existence), glutton, clumsy, creative, loves outdoors, loves animals, socially awkward.

Which is your favorite EA hair color? Brown, tbh.

Favorite EA hair? 

The short bob that was recently added in a sims delivery! The one with it's roots dyed.

Favorite life stage? 

Toddlerhood (?). They're soft and squishy and cute and-

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? I actually enjoy both a lot! I'm not a great builder, but since I learnt a thing or two I'm more than happy to make builds/houses that fit my gameplay better!

Are you a CC creator?

Uuuhhh I've done a few conversions, poses and recolors, but no. I consider fully myself a storyteller

Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? 

I've never been a friend squad kind of person but I do have some mutuals I consider as friends!

What’s your favorite game? 

TS4 (please don't shoot me)

Do you have any sims merch?

Ño, but I'm opening a crochet ETSY shop soon and I plan to make some, huehuehue

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

Nooo, I'm shy. Maybe I'll give it a try as soon as I move out on my own.

How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing?

I think I kind of managed to beat the same face syndrome most of my sims had the first years I played the game (I didn't join simblr then), and I definitely found a pair of skins and details that I use consistenly on my simmies, so they look less wonky. Since I also embraced MM CC and vanilla items, most of them look more in sync with the game visuals.

What’s your Origin ID?

Rubispinus

Who’s your favorite CC creator? 

Pyxis, simmandy, sentate, and littlebowbub. Of course there are tons more, but they are the first in line and I hoard everything they create, hehe.

How long have you had a simblr? 

Since late 2020 

How do you edit your pictures? 

My GShade preset does almost all the work, honestly. For story posts, I plop the pics in a PS template I made and add the captions, and for the gameplay posts I also have another templates that fit my other format. I add some text, stickers or overlays, run topaz clean and boom. I use ezgif.com for the gifs :D

What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? 

Something medieval or pirate related, or some other occults like fairies and zombies. Honestly I'll take anything that'll add gameplay features. (I would also like a pack refresh for the mermaids, they suuuuck)

What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? 

It's a tie between jungle adventure and paranormal stuff!

[emmamountebanks]

Okay, I GOT to ask: what are your Brinivybank headcanons? Like whats the full story behind these besties suffering together? And how angsty does this get? I need to know cuz you put this triplet in my head and I'm obsessed

omg

ive thrown up so much baloney about them over the months so some stuff i say may be lowkey rehashing but oh well! these are my babies!!

i ended up writing more than intended so it's put under a cut

i can already just kind of picture dylan meshing well naturally with both emma and max over the summer (in the event max made it ofc). emma and max would take a bit more time to even interact with each other but the second emma makes a dumb joke and max responds with something dumb back, it's clicked.

since max was originally listed in his bio as class clown before dylan's intro video gave him it, they're already on the same level. supermassive didn't let skyler and miles interact because they would've been too powerful together. the three of them would be just dumb shenanigan snark fests and everyone hates to love them. they are the perfect goofball menaces to compliment their partners, and they love terrorizing them together.

as far as the actual canon events though, i always just like to believe max and emma meet post-surviving that night. they have to. emma snatched his clothes and got his ugly wolf mug on her phone, she needs to make fun of him for it. and with biting/trying to bite her i can just see him being like "whoops my bad i didn't eat before the moon came up". u know she wants to be mad but with his lil hoodie and awkward dumb joke she can't be mad.

i needed just more of emma and dylan, too. they love being annoying!! they want to break into cabins and be gay do crimes!! the most i get for any sort of bonding is if abi's died and dylan recaps the story to her. she opens up in front of him and kaitlyn! she's letting her real emotions out for once and lets her stage presence drop! and then they just never interact again. what the hell!

but post-game! they have a great support system going. they all share almost the same fear, of not being good enough or trying to act like someone they're not because that's what makes people happy. dylan and emma put on a show since they think that's what the people want. max hated upsetting laura since he didn't tell her about college. he wasn't falling in line with the plan of what she wanted them to be anymore. none of them want to make anyone sad. they just want to have fun, tell jokes, be silly, and stay afloat.

after all the werewolf trauma, it's rough for them to bounce back to their normal selves, but i think they'd feed on each others energy and remember its okay to still smile. having everyone else alive and around definitely helps speed up the healing process too.

i also imagine if laura and ryan don't come back, dylan remembers max's name and her story of leaving him there. he and emma go together bc emma wants to know who the hell the bitch was that tried to eat her - and its just some goofball that's wearing a cropped pink hoodie. her desire to throw hands is instantly gone because he looks just so sad waiting for laura at the dock and he's like "who are u guys.. wheres my girl"

my favorite kind of angst for them is the run i just did where they were my only three survivors, and infected each other. i personally feel like there's a strong bond that forms between werewolves after infection - so now that their love interests are dead, they rely on each other 10x more for support. cuz no one is going to understand it like they do. cuz max is the reason emma bit dylan and now they're just stuck with it. they don't know the source of the curse, and no one is around to tell them anymore.

alone but together. every month, they dread the night that reminds them and forces them to be the cause of everything they've lost. they met up right after, realized what happened, and realize that it's just them. emma gets their numbers, they have a little group chat to keep each other sane. then when it's a full moon, they meet up to be together and accounted for, and lock themselves away.

another full moon later, they get a place to stay and move in with each other. it's easier and more comforting this way, and it's easier for them to keep their humor when it's in one safe space.

but the survivors guilt eats at them for a while. max is sad that he couldn't have done anything to help laura, that she died trying to help him. emma is sad she wasn't there for abi, that the last time she saw her she kissed abi's crush. dylan is sad that ryan went off and never came back, and he'll never know if something more could've happened.

while it takes a long time to heal, they eventually slowly come to terms with their fates. but they'll still never be okay.

maybe there's an off chance they can get chris to help, since he'd have to live for them to stay infected. but with the rest of the hacketts dead, chris is just as helpless as them on the night of an actual full moon. who could even cure them at this point?

[liskantope]

Happy Winter Sostice everyone!

On past solstices I've often posted "Happy Solstice!" and mentioned something about how one day I would find a way to attend some sort of Secular Solstice event with rationalists. Well, now that I live in reasonable driving distance from New York, it's finally happened, the weekend before last (evening of the 10th). While the experience was anticlimactic in some ways, I still think it's worth recounting at least for myself to look back on if for no one else.

The event took place in a theater in a dense part of NYC and driving there was... a mistake. This wound up overshadowing the event itself both in terms of time/energy and (almost) in terms of giving me a memorable experience and feeling of accomplishment -- given how doubtful it was at one time in my life that I was ever going to be a competent driver given some of my neurological difficulties, every additional intense driving scenario that I've managed to get through with flying colors over the past three years since I got my second car and first began to do city driving feels like a serious victory.

Long story short, I forgot to figure in parking to my timetable for arriving at the event and, although I got to the correct street at around the start of the event, finding a parking garage that wasn't full and/or going to cost me over $50 was a challenge, one which involved 5-7-point turns each time I needed to change course, with each "point" of the turn accompanied by waiting for a sequence of pedestrians or cyclists to pass in front of and behind me. In the end I found a garage that would take my car for two hours for a charge of $30, which I've heard since then is quite a bargain for parking in NYC. I rushed into the theater around 20 minutes late, but they were only just getting started, by singing "We'll Meet Again", followed by "Still Alive", so maybe they figured that others would have vehicle/transportation issues as well.

I stayed near the back and eventually spoke to the people sitting near me but only them, apart from during the intermission when I walked around and introduced myself to a few more people. My real prospect of socializing and getting to know these rationalists was the afterparty, which I knew would take place at a different location in New Jersey shortly after the main event. (There was also going to be an un-conference the next day, but I didn't want to deal with lodging and a full weekend out of town and planned to instead drive back home very late after the afterparty.) As it turned out, my experience of the afterparty never happened, again because of my car being involved. I knew I had to check it out of the parking garage before the two hours were up, and I was able to make the lengthy drive into the afterparty location, driving under the Hudson to do so (there's something that always feels very momentous and exciting about crossing the Hudson for me), but parking anywhere reasonably near it proved to be completely impossible: the only parking garage I could locate anywhere near it turned out to no longer exist, and meanwhile, circling over and over waiting for street parking to open (you really have to be there and ready to act the moment someone else leaves a street spot) wasn't getting me anywhere (in more senses than one), and meanwhile I was tired and very hungry, having still not managed to get dinner. I finally had to admit defeat, embracing the silver lining that I would only be driving home a little uncomfortably late instead of during the wee hours of the morning. So, in the end that was at least five hours of driving for an event that lasted less than two hours for me. Next time (like if I decide to attend the next solstice event in June), I'm definitely traveling by train.

Despite coming away feeling disappointed that I didn't get more out of all the trouble I went to, there's something enjoyable in basking in the freedom I have in my life now, even when I've generally preferred the idea of being more tied down by this age: I can very spontaneously decide to drive over two hours away for just an evening with total strangers and pay $65 to do so ($30 for the parking and $35 for a ticket to the event) and not have to worry terribly much about the possibility of needing to pay more if anything goes wrong. That's a level of freedom tons of people I know have never really had, that I might not have forever and may one day be looking back upon nostalgically.

Anyway, the actual event.

Complemented with the afterparty or a chance to really get to mingle with the crowd, I think it may have been a fantastic experience. As it happened, I found it an inspiring and very intriguing experience with the potential to be much more if I weren't such an outsider and if I'd had the chance to properly mingle. The crowd of people, to start with, were in some sense the first roomful of self-identifying (aspiring) rationalists I've ever met in meatspace, or at least I think to a greater extent than those I've met at SSC/ACX meetups (those crowds are united in having some medium-to-strong interest in Scott Alexander's writing, but this is distinct from being fully acquainted with or part of the rationalist community). And... I don't quite know the right words to articulate this, but... they looked and presented and behaved exactly like I always imagined a group of rationalists to come across: in terms of age (from 20's to early 40's but hardly anyone looked older than that) and degree of unconventional presentation (moderate, nothing really flashy, but many somewhat unconventional but looking very comfortable in their own skin, a great deal of variety in styles). Since I didn't do much direct interaction with them, I can't speak much to their personal mannerisms, but my general impression of that was very similar. Overall I'd feel quite comfortable socializing in a group like that.

There was no program posted anywhere that I could find (nor has there been, since), and I really didn't know much of what to expect. I had seen video footage of a Secular Solstice in the Bay Area a few years ago, which suggested that most of the event would be songs interspersed with readings, which was exactly what this event turned out to be. The readings were of parts of essays written by various prominent members of the rationalist community (one was by Scott Alexander but I didn't remember it). I believe the only person who came onto the stage to read their own writing was Zvi Mowshowitz, a name I vaguely knew as I've seen some of his articles pop up from time to time show up in my Wordpress reading feed. Apart from Zvi, I didn't encounter any figures I was familiar with (it occurred to me that Aella might be there, as I believe she lives in the area and does some socializing with the rationalist community, but I didn't notice any sign of her).

But what the event was really about was music, and that was by far the most impressive aspect of it. There was a full band on stage as well as the guy running the event and a couple of other organizers who took turns leading the singing. Some songs, like the first two plus at least one Beatles song ("Here Comes the Sun"), are fairly well known, but what really impressed me was how many songs were written by rationalist community members themselves, and they were good! As in, really good. Both in the poetry of their lyrics and in their musicality. Their general messages and turns of phrase were calibrated at just the right balance of being cerebral and beautifully moving (many about the wonders of technological progress, but also a lot of the content was about groping toward societal progress and a culture based on love and togetherness). I would love a list of the songs and where to find lyrics and recordings of them and so on, but again, nothing in the way of a program seems to be posted anywhere. Lyrics flashed on a big screen; audience participation was of course highly encouraged and really enjoyable for me. Altogether the musical aspect made me compare this experience very favorably to my recent (since 2019) experiences with Unitarian Universalist services: although my very favorite aspect of my "new" UU congregation that I had an ongoing but rocky relationship with was the amazing quality of the music at their services, I found this Solstice event a more spiritually gripping experience than probably any UU service I've ever been to. This is despite the vibe at UU being more overtly about spirituality, and being very touchy-feely (to use a term I'm not super fond of, but after someone suggested it to me it's hard for me to think of something that better describes the more recent UU vibe). Nobody at Solstice appeared to crying or in the thralls of profound emotions or anything transcendent exactly, but everyone appeared to be very earnest and serious (though having fun in the lighter parts) and compared to 2019-and-later UU, I felt a stronger sense of emotionally vibing with a community; this is despite also knowing I was a pretty big outsider who didn't actually know a single person in the room.

As a side note, whoever put the program together did an excellent job of setting it up to convey the sensation of going through a very long night but seeing the dawn ahead, which is only what's most appropriate for celebrating the winter solstice (and at an event taking place well after sunset). I like to imagine the summer solstice version having quite a different feel and hope I might get to find out in six months.

Overall, interesting and promising. Hard to say, but maybe I'll be back in June.

[sos-gonetolake]

In honor of S2 showing up on Netflix on my country, here's the novel-length rant I wrote in the subreddit that then got removed by the mods

I will vent actually because, I really didn't like it. The present storylines were lazy to me, idk.

- This season introduced adult Van. Adult Van did absolutely fuckall, I really enjoy Lauren Ambrose and she had some cool lines (Jeff didn't come through on the phone sex thing) but Van did nothing of note in the adult timeline. They took what? 5? episodes to draw Taissa to her, and Taissa didn't move an inch forward because of it. Still sleepwalking, still with her wife in a coma and her kid with the grandma, no mention of the job she spent all S1 vying for. nothing. Tai and Van reunited, kissed, and were background characters. That's a waste of two fantastic actors and core survivors for fuck's sake. Literally, what was Taissa's storyline this season? the adult timeline spans only like one or max two weeks too, that hurt its chances from the get go.

- The crime, we wrapped S1 with dead adam and dead jessica. All 4 core survivors implicated. We spend season 2 seeing only Shauna deal with it, the other three are completely unbothered with their respective share of the crime, makes sense for misty. This season however ends with a new dude (Walter) finding a magical way to make BOTH crimes just go away with a little blackmail, in ONE episode. OFF-SCREEN. He monologues his solve. We don't see him plan or execute him, involve Misty who is an actual important character for both crimes, nothing. Extra #3 solves the two crime cliff-hangers from the first season. Dark Tai went to Jessica's house and (somehow) walked in and out with files, and left her assistant's car with the window open by the highway after and the show never acknowledges that?

- Kevyn, oof. Ok, kill him, he's a bit irrelevant I suppose. But you poison the man with what I guess is untraceable, but shove him in a trunk and shoot him there post mortem, and the plan is that pornstache doesn't yap? Walter's finger prints are on the gun, I'm sure they can determine he was shot after he died, there's now blood in his trunk... it just seems like SUCH a sloppy plan, but I feel the show wanted me to think Walter was so clever for it. I suppose We shall see how everything develops in S3, they might just say it was dumb as hell and now they're in even more trouble.

- Lottie and the teenager in the cult. What was the point of that girl? If they wanted to humanize Nat... did they need to? Did any of us feel like Nat needed a teenage girlie to be nice to? seems like bloating the cast without thinking it through. The time spent on her should have been spent on Adult Lottie. What do we really know of her? She was taking meds and stopped and is having hallucinations. She runs a successful wellness center cult though so she was fine on meds, seemed like a fast turnover into we should make a sacrifice actually. Like with Van, more time should have been spent in fleshing out Lottie. I feel like Adult Lottie's storyline was simply plot contrivances to get them in one place to kill Nat and keep the wilderness myth alive. It sounds nitpicky even to me, but she doesn't feel like a character in the present? just a plot device? idk.

- Jeff, never change bby

- Shauna and Misty, were actually doing things and serving monologues. Good for them. Shauna looks so pained all the time, it's insane to me she might get off free because of fucking Walter. Two seasons resulting in not much if that's the case? But at least she has a weird compelling thing going on with Callie.

- About the 96 storyline... I will handwave it all because they're literally starving. Travis biting into a heart, raw. Lottie resigning as president and electing Nat of all people as successor and them all going with it when she hasn't been praying at all lmao. No one else acknowledging Krystal's death for more than 30 seconds, or asking about coach Ben. Them letting Shauna beat Lottie at all. Them letting Javi stay quiet about his whereabouts after that one scene. Them never sitting down to really ponder how the symbol in the trees forms a symbol in the maps, and how Taissa just knows where they are in her sleep, after Van blurted out Tai knew where Javi was. Just a bunch of choices and slightly unfinished storylines that were weird, but they were starving and maybe slightly chemically poisoned so it's fine.

- The music was too intrusive, don't use super famous songs with unrelated lyrics playing loudly over every two scenes. I get we're doing 90s nostalgia but it actively distracts me sometimes. The VHS effect to transition scenes is... a choice, a too-quirky one maybe. The slowmo in the season finale was... bad. The entire sequence of Shauna jogging away with the others on tow, capped off with Callie shooting Lot and the other girl showing up, ending with Nat's slow mo "Misty, stooooop" and the needle stabbing.... it was so poorly shot? They just did not look to be moving fast enough guns were needed or Nat couldn't have side stepped misty, or literally tripped her a little. It was a goofy-ass death scene. For one of the most important characters. And lord, the plane? why not the same plane? A modern plane? that's a choice, the lightning in that scene and the little tremor? also a choice. Seeing kid javi, kid nat, kid lot, and not the dude whose death has been a big question mark since ep one and who she has the most history with? a loud ass choice, what does it scream? idk and I don't think we're gonna find out because I guess they also wrapped Travis' death with that explanation Lottie gave in like Ep3.

So yeah, I kinda hated it. I think it was a steep drop in quality and a lot of the writing was wasted on things we're now being told aren't quite important (teenager in the cult, crime outcomes, nat's self discovery that didn't even finish before she was killed,) and a lot of questions and unsolved stuff sat basically on a shelf on was handwaved with a few lines (Tai's sleep and personal life mess, javi's friend, lot's gap between Switzerland and now that even Misty didn't find info about, Travis' last day, Van's random cancer that wasn't even shared by the group and I guess was now healed by the power of murder)

I did like how they handled Shauna's pregnancy, and the first hunt. The acting remains superb, the super sudden adult Lottie transformation into this trembling girl in the finale was so so good. And teen Nat has been amazing at looking worried and broken, as has teen Van at looking straight up psychotic and pro murder lmao. Teen misty girl, you're the one. Destroyed the black box (whether it would have led to a rescue can be debated but her intention was clear), led to Krystal's death, and now gaslit Lottie into co-signing the hunts. They need to know all these things. She's a fucking menace. And adult misty? shit.

Sorry for the rant lmao. See you all in a year or two.

[skelezomperman]

Revising A Tale of Star-Crossed Knights - Chapters 18 and 19

Link to Chapter 18: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39015690/chapters/105269472

Link to Chapter 19: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39015690/chapters/105690093

These chapters are grouped together because they both cover the time period from Erinys' death up until the beginning of Thracia 776. And not so coincidentially, these are the most filler chapters of Part 3. The rest of Part 3 is nonstop because it covers basically the entirety of the second half of Genealogy in the span of 7 chapters. There wasn't really much I changed with these chapters, though I considered cutting the scene where Asbel gets Grafcalibur at the beginning of Chapter 19. I believe I did cut a scene in Chapter 18 with Finn and Nanna because I thought it served no real purpose other than to just give Finn an appearance...it flows better to have that chapter focus only on the Silessean kids.

Honestly I do find that I don't really like that C19 tries to have the three main characters (Finn/Ced/Fee) all have their plots develop at the same time, but I didn't feel like trying to rewrite the chapters so that they would all be segregated. It's a bit messy that they get split up between each other, but at least it doesn't last too long until Ced and Finn reunite.

Original A/N for Chapter 18:

Welcome to the beginning of Part III! The long night of Jugdral is beginning to end as the seeds of rebellion are sowed across the continent.

I decided that this chapter would mostly focus on Ced. Ced has the journey to go to Northern Thracia for the first time in search of his father. Fee tries to dissuade him but Arthur (!) convinces her to let Ced go. I like the Arthur-Fee friendship and it's something I really want to develop over the rest of Part III.

The rest of the journey is just...a journey. Ced rediscovers his ancestral homeland and that's great, but the big point here is Lewyn's encounter with Ced. It's the big reveal to the audience that Lewyn is still alive. Lewyn points out to Ced how foolish the plan is and he redirects him to go join the Magi. Ced is so awed that he follows Lewyn's requests even though he had previously been stubbornly locked onto finding Finn and he *should* have a lot of questions for Lewyn.

The last part is mostly about tying up some ends as to integrating with the broader plot of Jugdral - re-introducing Asbel and introducing Karin especially. And giving Finn a little scene too because I don't think he needed to be completely excluded from this chapter.

Chapter 19 will correspond to the beginning of FE5 and FE4, so see you then.

Miscellaneous notes: Paola's death is a scene I had conceived of before starting this chapter. There's no deeper meaning other than the pegasus being broken-hearted now that her owner is dead. "Lady Regent" - just made up stuff, although if you recall in an earlier chapter Lewyn did not become "King" until his coronation. Needed to explain away Ced being allowed to leave Silesse. Project Naga calls the C-rank light tome just "Light" like in the Tellius games. I personally dislike that so I stuck to the "Lightning" name used in every other FE game. For a moment I thought about having an encounter between Lene and Ced in Dahna but I didn't wish to bloat the chapter. I was having difficulties getting started on this chapter anyway. I don't plan on Julia and Ced becoming close friends, though she'll probably be friends with Fee. The "because you just told me" line is ripped off from Sonic Adventure 2. That's kind of cringe but that's alright. Lewyn not sleeping is actually inspired by a comic by Jadesnapart which you can find here: https://jadesnapart.tumblr.com/post/157387711668/boy-do-i-love-julia-and-her-weird-dad-is-he-ok

Original A/N for Chapter 19:

Originally I was going to condense the entirety of the first half of Thracia 776 into one chapter. But I realized that there's just so much content that I can't really do that.

There's three different plotlines here, all of which have are tangentially linked in some way. The first, the one that is front and center, is Ced's journey with the Magi. Ced still has the goal of wanting to find his father in the back of his head but working with the Magi has become his top goal. We see a bit of his new friendship with Asbel, then we have the conversation with Asbel when he sends off Asbel to find Leif, and we also see some insight into his thinking. He deliberately puts off trying to meet Finn.

Then there's Finn's journey. Finn covers the first events of Thracia 776 that we see in the game. He's worried about Leif taking charge and being insistent on fighting the Empire head-on, but he has to acquiesce to Leif since Leif is the lord and Finn is the servant. Finn faces feelings of regret to leave Leif (and Nanna/Mareeta) in Munster but he comes to terms with the fact that he couldn't have done more.

Finally we have Fee. Fee, worried for Ced, decides to go set out to look for him. She's initially hesitant to do that when a full year hasn't passed but then the news of Seliph's rebellion reaches her. In the original game Fee goes by herself with Arthur, but in this story I have Hermina, Hawke, and Karin accompany her. Originally in the planning stages for the story I envisioned Hawke going with Ced but I realized that the story would flow better if Ced was on his own. For this chapter I also initially wanted Karin to travel and meet Ced like she does in Thracia 776 but I decided mid-chapter to not do that - it wouldn't make much sense for a squire to travel all the way to Leonster on her own and I honestly forgot to integrate her into the scene that corresponds to FE5 Chapter 4.

About the length of the chapter, I wanted the chapter to actually end with Finn reuniting with Leif and Nanna (i.e., FE5 Chapter 7) and Seliph meeting Fee and friends (i.e., FE4 Chapter 6). But I target chapters being in the 3k-5k words ballpark and this one was well over that length so that's going to get pushed to Chapter 20. Instead, I indulged myself by making a scene introducing Altena. That interaction (as well as a couple in the next chapter) is borrowed from a previous story I wrote, Divine Wind, Earth Lance - but the plotlines in that one will have to get changed since that is based on Ced being Lewyn's son.

Miscellaneous notes: Clonfert - I literally just pulled up Ireland in Google Maps and picked a name that I thought was nice. I was lazy. The villa to the south of Munster that Finn wants to visit is Dryas'. Am I foreshadowing a relationship between Arthur and Fee? Find out later... I initially wrote the name of the fort as Fort Kelves like in an earlier translation of FE5. I honestly do not care for calling it Fort Kerberos but I generally try to stick to what the newest fanslations say, so I stuck with Project Exile's name. Tina mention...I might try to sneak her into a later chapter, not sure. "His Thracian Majesty" is Travant's style to emphasize that Travant claims the entirety of Thracia, not just the South.

Feel free to kudos/comment as always and see you next week :)

[rchardgrayson]

This isn't like a dig at the anon who said the Ric arc was worse than Taylor or anything but I'd just like to expand a tiny bit,

There are some absolute balls-to-the-walls nuts things in the Ric arc that are, imo, mostly bad. (Spoilers ahead if you have not read) but whilst Dick/Ric is adamtly refusing to go back to his previous life (and you definitely sympathise with him) there's a bunch of cops (plus one firefighter I think?) who all put on Nightwing suits and try to fight crime and Ric sorta helps them out/joins them so they don't get themselves killed which I'm not even a huge fan of but there's character motivation and conflict going on there that is interesting. I really like Bea, who's introduced as a civilian love interest which surprised me because I really did not like Shawn when I first read her (though maybe I'd like her more if I did a reread) because she's a genuinely kind and interesting character with goals and motivations. There's also wild shit involving the court of owls which underpins the whole amnesia thing in general (they like stole his memories and kept them bla bla) which was a bit bleh - could've been done better and then the Joker thing which was unspeakable sjhdjdjjdjd but like all in all when I read it through a second time I was like okay? I can pick out the good from bad y'know?

Then it gets worse (imo) when Dick gets his memories back, he literally says he still likes/loves Bea and wants to see it work and then literally next issue that plan is instantly changed and he tells Bea the feelings didn't remain and she gets dropped from existence. It's such an obvious shift that was done to make way for Taylors run because Taylor very clearly wanted nothing to do with her. Another obvious shift is how, post-memory return, Dick initially says he's not ready to be Nightwing again yet and then next second Bruce has forced his hand and he is. This is all to bring it in line with where Taylor wants the comic to go but it's done so quickly I feel like I've got whiplash.

Queue Taylor and his run instantly feels so disconnected with where it was before. I understand each writer wants to bring something new and may struggle picking up from whatever place the previous writer left off but it feels so disjointed that it's jarring. And not in a good way. There's less 'wild' shit that goes on in Taylors run which should be a good thing right? Except...it more feels like there's no wild stuff because there's just...nothing happening at all sjhdjdjjd. Melinda Zucco being his secret sister is so dumb because imo she's already a compelling character as a daughter of Zucco who's mayor and seemingly under Blockbusters thumb but actually good...like there's plenty of conflict there without the dumb 'actually John Grayson is her dad' shit...like watch her be forgotten by not only Taylor but by DC in general.

And speaking of Taylor and forgetting things, there's so little movement in each issue that I, as a reader, have forgotten what the current plot even is. All I remember is the dumb billionaire plotline which is just one of Taylors liberal faux-progressive takes that reads 'actually good billionaires are fine'🙄. I'm aware he's not the one who brought Dick back to Blüdhaven or reintroduced Blockbuster but Taylors writing reads like Chuck Dixon + Devin Grayson fanfic. He's that meme from into the spiderverse where Miles looks up at Peter B like his teacher. He said himself he's inspired by Devin's era but his stuff doesn't just read as inspiration...it's literally copy+paste and idek how they're gonna work around preboot being declared canon again with Blockbuster alive and right there if they're even gonna address it at all.

Listen, Taylor is no Morrison, or Miller, he's not so wildly bad in those ways which is why he's largely slipping away with it but his writing is mediocre, lackluster and reads like he copied Chuck Dixon's homework in class. His portrayal of Babs is just downright offensive (and the art too) which he does have some control over unlike how some people claim he's powerless because the team on the Batgirls book have literally spoken about how they've fought for the meagre representation that they have. His d/ckb@bs writing is a disservice to both their characters and with each issue it becomes increasingly clear that he doesn't even want to portray Dick (the literal main character) as a capable character whatsoever and just continuously has everyone else fix his problems for him while he writes him like an unassuming idiot (I can sure see the Devin influence here jshdhdh)

So yeah, years down the line, Taylors Nightwing run probably isn't going to jump out compared to some others as the worst (so far any way) but it for sure isn't because it's good but because it's lazy. Also it's made a lot worse by problems in his other comics (being totally ignorant concerning school shootings in his superman run) and how he sucks his own cock on twitter and expects everyone to praise him like he just wrote the most progressive™️ thing yet

[vdlest]

The Roommate

Characters:

TFATWS!Bucky Barnes x Neighbor!Reader

Summary:

Bucky Barnes as your neighbor is a good thing, especially when you need company. You two instantly became friends ever since he heard you listening to classic songs, and that you prefer "old but classic" stuff. To make the long story short, you fell for him, but when you confessed your feelings for him, he avoided you. And you thought that's how your beautiful start would end.

Warning:

Fluff

This is why you sometimes hate Sundays, you have nothing to do, and you're bored as fuck.

There's nothing to watch on Netflix, you have no new books to read, and no new episode of a podcast to listen to. So at the moment, you are just lying on your bed, staring blankly at your room's ceiling.

If only you're still living with your ex-roommate, Ana, the two of you must've talking gossips and having conversations about life nonstop. But she's not here since she moved to a different State last week already for a new job opportunity. She didn't want to leave you but she can't say no to a job opportunity, and you can't keep her from achieving her dream as well. So here you are, hoping that your next roommate will be just like Ana.

You were about to grab the remote control of your television inside your room when your phone vibrated, signaling that you have a text message.

Hey, I saw your post on the internet and that you're looking for a roommate. I'm interested and hoping we could meet today somewhere so we could discuss it.

You frowned a bit when you noticed that the sender of the message didn't mention any name nor introduce himself/herself.

Just when you're about to reply to this text, you received another message from the same number.

I'm Sam by the way.

Now that this sender finally introduced himself/herself, your confusion vanished, and decided to meet with this potential roommate of yours. Although you're still not quite sure whether this Sam is a guy or a girl, nonetheless, that's not important. What's important for you is that he or she is not a bad person and a heartbreaker.

You agreed to meet with your potential roommate in a nearby coffee shop in an hour. So you got up and went your way to your shower to prepare for this unexpected meeting.

The moment you entered the coffee shop you and your potential roommate agreed to meet on, you grab your phone and dialed the number of the person you're meeting, Sam.

Well, at least, you're not gonna die out of boredom. ───────────────────❥

"Hello?" you began when you heard that Sam already accepted your call, "This is Y/N. I'm already here in the coffee shop. Can you like raise your hand so I could see you?" you asked.

You roam your eyes around as you wait for Sam to answer in the other line.

"I'm right behind you," a familiar voice spoke on the other line.

Your heart skipped a beat when you heard that familiar voice.

You slowly turn around and see for yourself if your hunch is right about that familiar voice.

Hell, you are right.

It was him. It was Bucky.

It was the man you fell for.

Your eyes met his blue eyes when you face him. He was still holding his phone to his hear when you two face each other.

Seeing him now made you remember how you told him that you like him and that you're starting to fall for him already, and at the same time, you remembered how he walked out of your apartment and broke your heart into pieces. He left without any words. He just left and avoided you from then on.

Well, not until this day came.

"What the hell are you doing here?" you asked him straight on his face as you end your call with your supposed to be a potential roommate and put your phone inside your bag, "And what kind of sick joke this is?"

Bucky took a deep breath as he moves a step closer to you, "You have every right to be mad at me, and I won't question it. I've been a jerk, an asshole, I get it. But I was hoping you'd listen to me," he said.

You scoffed, "Listen to you? Listen to the guy who walked out on me on the night that I confessed my feelings? That's a bit absurd, don't you think?" you sarcastically smiled at him as you ask him. You shook your head, "This is going nowhere. So long, old friend."

You were about to walk past him when he gently grabbed your wrist to stop you from walking away from him.

"Please, Y/N. I'm begging you," he made you face him again, "I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't mean to avoid you as much as I didn't mean to love you."

Love you? He loves you?

He nodded, "Y/N, that night you told me that you like me and that you are actually falling for me, I was the happiest man alive. But that happiness faded away the moment I remembered who I am, and who I was. Instantly, I realized that you don't know me that well for you to love me that easily," he explained.

"Let's say you really do love me and that there's still I need to know about you," you pull back your hand away from him and crossed your arms in front of your chest, "Why tell me now? Why confess to me right now?"

"Because I fucking love you damn much already," he answered back immediately. He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes for a second before he started talking again, "I tried my best to forget you, to forget what I feel for you but it's fucking too impossible. So I thought that if I'd let you know who I really am, who I was, I'll leave you the choice whether you still want to be with me or not."

You can't believe that this is happening right now.

A month ago, you realized that you don't have every time in the world to take your time to confess your feelings for Bucky, so you did confess to him. However, he broke your heart. And now here you are, you are very tempted to kiss him right now but you fought the urge to since you are curious about who he really is.

Bucky extended his hand towards you, "Come with me."

You took a glance at his hand before you look at him again, "I don't know, Bucky," you looked down and shook your head, "You already broke my heart and I don't think I have enough trust in you to come with you."

He chuckled, "You have a swiss knife on your bag, you have a pepper spray, if I do something vile to you, use it. I won't fight it," he assured.

Despite the heartbreak he gave you, you won't deny the fact that he's still charming to you. So yes, you ended up saying yes and coming with him.

➽──────────────────❥

"What the hell are we doing in the Smithsonian museum, Bucky?" you ask him as you both walk inside the museum.

It was a long drive from NYC to DC. You fell asleep the whole time you two were on the road. You wanted to ask him why does he have to take you to DC, but you were too tired to give a damn. So you let him take you to the place that will show you who he really is.

But you never thought you'd end up here in the Smithsonian Museum.

He didn't answer you, instead, he leads the two of you inside the exhibit made for the legacy of Captain America, Steve Rogers.

You chuckle and shook your head as you both walk inside the exhibit, "If we're planning to steal Cap's shield, I hate to break it to you but there's a new Captain America already," you joked.

"Yeah, I know," he casually answered, "I know him."

Your brows furrowed as you look at him, "The former Captain America or the new one?" you asked him, not sure if he's kidding or not.

"Both of them," he sighed and stopped walking. He faces you, "Before we proceed," he grabbed your hand and sighed again, "I want you to know that I love you, I really do. I also want you to know that I'm sorry for breaking your heart, for hurting you, but there's a lot of reason why I had to do it."

Your heart melted the moment he told you that he loves you. It wasn't the first time, but it feels like it. You wanted to tell him that it doesn't matter who he was and who he is because, for you, love is love. It doesn't give a damn about anyone's real identity. But you two have come a long way to back out now.

"Ready?" he asked you.

You nodded, "Yeah. I'm ready."

You and Bucky walked a few seconds more, but your body froze the moment you saw his picture inside Captain America's exhibit. He was beside Captain Steve Rogers.

"Battle tested, Captain America and his Howling Commandos quickly earned their stripes. Their mission, taking down HYDRA, the Nazi rogue science division."

"Bucky?" you murmured when your eyes landed on the picture of the guy standing next to you. You took a glance at Bucky and he was just looking at you and what your reaction will be. You look over Bucky's shoulder and saw a portrait of him plastered in a glass. You automatically walked there and check it for yourself.

"Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steven Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country."

There's both so much and too much to see in this exhibit, not the Captain America part, but the part where you realize that your neighbor, the guy you fell for is actually not the man you thought he is.

Beside Bucky's glass mosaic, you saw a video presented near it. It was Bucky and Captain Rogers.

"You weren't really kidding when you said that you knew the former Captain America," you said when you saw Bucky on your peripheral, looking at you, watching you.

"He's my best friend, and even he's gone already, he still is," he said.

You and Bucky walked around the exhibit more. He also showed you around Captain America's exhibit and even showed you the uniform he wore during his Howling Commando days.

You have no idea what to think or feel at the moment, but one thing's for sure, your love for him didn't fade away even if you knew who he really is and who he was, not even after he told you that he was the infamous Winter Soldier. You still feel the same for him and you have no idea why. Maybe because love is love.

After you two went ou the Smithsonian Museum, you two walked around the National Mall.

"Why did you think that showing me these would change my mind about you?" you asked him, breaking the silence between the two of you.

"Because I--"

You cut him off, "Because you assassinated people in the past?" you stopped from walking and faced him, "Or because you are a hundred and six years old man?"

"Y/N, you know---"

You cut him off again, "No, I don't know, Bucky. So tell me," you chuckled and shook your head, "Does these things supposed to change my mind? My heart? What I fucking feel for you? Well, sorry it didn't! Because even after I found out that you are Cap's best friend, that you were one of his Howling Commandos, that you were the Winter Soldier, and that you are an Avenger, I still feel the same way for you, I still see you as the guy I fell in love with, I still see you as my neighbor who likes Marvin Gaye so much that he listens to it through night and day, I still see you as Bucky Barnes," you told him.

The whole time you two were walking around the museum up to this scenic place in DC, you have nothing in mind aside from the fact that you were actually fascinated about who he really is.

Finding out that he's an avenger, that he's making this world a better place and saving it from going chaotic made you love him even more. Even the fact that he's a hundred and six years old man doesn't bother you at all and doesn't change how you see him.

"And if those things you showed and told me why you broke my heart, then I must tell you," you wiped your tears away, "You just wasted your time because it didn't change the fact that I love you. You told me that you're giving me the choice whether I still want to be with you or not, and I made my choice now, Bucky," you walked closer to him and held his right cheek, "I want to be with you."

Bucky held your hand that was on his cheek, and your eyes landed on his gloved hand because now you know why he was always wearing a leather jacket and covering his hand with gloves.

So you grabbed his hand and slowly remove the glove he was wearing, when you look at him, he was surprised by what you did.

"This is the hand that I will always hold onto, the hand that I will always choose to hold," you smiled at him.

You finally felt his vibranium hand on your cheek as he wipes your tears away, "I'm sorry if I had to hurt you that way. I'm sorry for breaking your heart, but I'm already here and I will not leave you," he pulled you closer to him and kissed your forehead, "I got you now and there's nothing else I could ask for," he pulled you again and this time it was the tip of your nose he chose to kiss, "I love you," he said before he finally claims your lips with his.

His lips dance with yours, and with every sway, you felt his longing, his love, and care for you. As cliche as it sounds, it was truly like your love for each other. It was pure and true.

"Who's Sam by the way?" you asked him after you two kissed, "Wait, Sam Wilson as in the Falcon?"

He nodded, "Yeah, the new Captain America. I asked him if I could use his name because I know you won't answer my calls," he said and sighed, "Anyway, you might have to take down your post about looking for a roommate."

You frowned, "And why is that?" you asked him.

"Because I'll be moving in with you," he revealed, which made your eyes widened in surprise, "Only if you want to of course."

You chuckle as you nodded, "I would love that."

"Just to be sure, you're my girlfriend now, right?" he asked you.

"For a hundred and six years old man, you're the most slow-moving one," you joked and run your fingers through his hair as he wrapped his arms around you, "I'm yours and you're mine, Bucky Barnes."

-v.dl