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thatsamericano · 3 years ago

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Magnus and the Football Team in this Fic

So, I am thinking of beefing up the presence of Magnus (human Denmark) in this fic, because I picture him as Alfred’s closest friend on the football team, so he’d eat lunch with Alfred and his other friends and do things with him occasionally the way his other friends do. In my head, Magnus was this huge, tall freshman playing another sport in the spring of his freshman year, and the football coach saw him and was like “okay, this kid could make an amazing defensive tackler.” He starts trying to recruit him, and Magnus is like “That’s very flattering, dude, but I just moved here from Denmark and don’t know anything about American football.” He plays on the JV level the next fall after doing a lot of intensive training, likes it, and is good enough to make it onto the varsity squad in his junior year. Right now, he’s a senior and one year older than Alfred.

The reason Alfred and Magnus became friends is that they’re both outsiders on the team. Magnus is from another country and really likes American football now that he’s started playing it, but he wasn’t into it his entire life the way most of the guys on the team are. Alfred was into football his whole life and is a very good player (he’s the head quarterback in his junior year after the previous guy graduated), but he’s also a huge frickin’ math and science nerd. I might not get into Magnus’s sexuality in the story, because it doesn’t really matter, but Alfred is clearly not interested in the cheerleaders or popular girls most of the guys on the team are, so it’s generally assumed he’s gay and just not out yet. Some guys on the team might be a little homophobic, but they don’t actively say anything to Magnus (if he is into guys) or Alfred, and only a couple would ever get weird about stuff like showering or changing in front of them. For most of the team, they don’t have an issue with their sexuality, but it’s another way Alfred (and/or Magnus) might not fit in with them. Most of the team are friendly to Alfred and Magnus during practices and games, respect their skills on the football field, and will invite them along to all team hangouts like the one some guy named Bryan was talking about in the story before the asshole OC revealed he was going on a date with Savino that night. But Alfred and Magnus are not someone these guys would choose to hang out with socially or have lunch with.

About the asshole OC: Dylan is openly gay, and that might gross out some of the guys on the team, but he’s also the coach’s son, so he’ll get suckups trying to be his friend just because of that and get more leeway from the guys who are kind of homophobic because of who he is. He’s basically a stereotypical asshole football player from a high school movie, except that he’s gay. He treats the guys he hooks up with like shit (and is predatory in that he generally goes after naive freshman when he’s a senior and makes it seem like he’s super into them but then ghosts them and hooks up with someone new within a week), bullies less popular students for the hell of it, and tries to con “nerds” like Kiku (who he might have tried to do this with because he is smart, quiet, and Japanese, and this dude might be low-key racist too) into doing his schoolwork and cheats when he takes tests so he won’t get scholastic probation. He also takes credit for whenever the football team does well like he “won the game” all by himself and is quick to blame other people when they lose. A lot of people on the team, including Alfred and Magnus, don’t like him because he’s a jerk to them and an all-around asshole to other people. They also resent how the coach, teachers, and the principal let Dylan get away his BS because of who he is and don’t like the way he’s presenting a bad, stereotypical image of a football player to the entire school (especially the nicer guys, like Alfred and Magnus, who are actually friends with the so-called nerds and losers he bullies).

How I see Magnus factoring into the Romerica plot: Right at the beginning of December in his sophomore year, just before Alfred started to figure out he was into Savino in a non-friendship way, Savino showed up in the stands at a football game wearing some replica jersey with Alfred’s number that the school sells. Alfred got so distracted by seeing Vinny in “his jersey” that he just stood there with the football like a dumbass and let himself get tackled instead of completing the play he was supposed to. The coach called a timeout and yelled at Alfred to “get his head in the game,” and he was really ticked off because this was their last game of the season and Alfred was filling in for the first-string quarterback who had gotten injured. Magnus was on the sidelines because he’s a defensive player, so he got a pretty good view of why Alfred was distracted. At this point, he’s known Alfred since the first football practice of the year, when Alfred was like, “I saw you on JV last year and you were really good. I’m glad you made it onto varsity this year.” They chatted a little, Magnus may have mentioned something about being from Denmark and not fitting in super well with people on the JV football team because of that, and Alfred is like “Come hang out with me and my friends at lunch then, ‘cause you’ll fit right in. There’s a couple Europeans there and a guy from Japan.” They start eating lunch together and hanging out outside of school occasionally, and then Savino starts eating lunch with them shortly afterwards (because Alfred had to pester him into it since he met Savino by accidentally hitting him with his locker, so Savino really didn’t like Alfred based on that first meeting). Magnus just assumed Alfred was being friendly to Savino like he’d been friendly to him, because apparently Al is just super nice and welcoming to people from other countries. But then after the jersey incident, he thinks Alfred has a crush, and his suspicion is confirmed once Alfred starts acting weird around Savino as he’s figuring out his feelings. He doesn’t say anything to him about it, because Alfred and Magnus have a more casual “bro” friendship than he does with Tolys and Kiku, and they wouldn’t talk about their deeper emotions with each other like Alfred might with Kiku or Tolys since he’s known them for much longer. Magnus also doesn’t say anything when he sees Alfred pining while Savino is dating Emma, but he does feel bad for him. When Alfred tells him Savino is his new stepbrother, he might be complaining about something else related to this (like his dads shacking up with this other dude all of a sudden). Magnus is like, “Damn, bro, that sucks,” but he’s thinking what really sucks is that Alfred is now stepbrothers with a guy he’s been super into for at least seven months.

Magnus might say something to Alfred about his feelings prior to where I am now, and it will be in October when Alfred is acting crazy jealous over Savino going on a date with the asshole OC. He was there in the locker room when Alfred referred to Savino as “my Vinny” and silently trying to console him/keep him from attacking Dylan when he was talking about Savino in a crude, very sexualized way and taunting Alfred for being jealous. (Dylan didn’t know for sure, but he may have picked up on something, and Dylan is such a jerk that he wants to antagonize Alfred any way he can, and this would clearly work even if Savino is just his very close friend.) Magnus had to pull Alfred off Dylan when Dylan made him snap and break Magnus’s hold by using the word “Fredo” on him mockingly, which is Savino’s and his family’s nickname for Alfred that always makes Alfred happy when he hears it. Magnus tells him to let it go and that Dylan’s not worth it, because he doesn’t want his friend to get in trouble for beating the crap out of the coach’s son, which is what Alfred clearly wanted to do. Alfred waits until Dylan’s gone to finish changing and wants to immediately confront Vinny at home about going out with this guy Alfred and Magnus have both complained about occasionally at lunch because he’s such an asshole and they hate having to deal with him all the time and play nice with him because he’s the coach’s son. Before he leaves, Magnus catches up to Alfred and is like, “Bro, I’m sympathetic to the fact you’re in love with Vinny and he’s going out on a date with a total shithead, but try not to go nuts on him when you get home.” (He might want to ride to Alfred’s house with him to help reiterate the point that Dylan is bad news to Savino and keep him calm, but it would change things too much if Magnus heard the “at least he wants me” line, so I’ll say that he has some thing he needs to do after football practice and can’t go with Alfred.) Alfred is shocked he knows and starts to panic like he always does, and Magnus explains how he knows and reassures Alfred that he doesn’t care about the stepbrother thing because Alfred is his friend and because he knows that Alfred liked Savino for months before he found out that Savino and his family were going to move into Alfred’s house. The conversation is pretty short, since Magnus has some urgent thing to get to, but he warns Alfred one last time to not go nuts on Vinny. (Which he does, just like he did in what I’ve already written.)

Magnus will have a presence during the lunch scenes, and his most important role in those scenes will be during the lunch right before Savino goes out with the asshole OC and Alfred and Savino are sniping at each other over it. He’ll look at Alfred like “dude, I told you not to go nuts on him” and help reiterate how Dylan is an asshole and Savino shouldn’t go out with him (maybe stealing some dialogue that was originally Alfred’s). I also picture him maybe looking concerned after Savino storms out of the cafeteria but letting Tolys console Alfred since Tolys obviously knows what’s going on. He might skip the football team party to hang out with Alfred the night Savino goes out with Dylan, because he knows his friend has got to be feeling like shit, and he’ll be in the room trying to console Alfred before Savino gets home and explains that he didn’t have sex with Dylan and that Dylan was such a jerk he won’t be going out with him again. When Savino explains what happens on the date, he’ll be like, “Vinny, why were you going out with that dude anyway? You knew he was a piece of shit who would want to fuck you as soon as he was done seeing a movie.” Savino says some BS about not wanting to be a single loser, but Magnus didn’t have much of an idea of his feelings prior to this because he was closer to Alfred through football. He starts to think that maybe Savino likes Alfred too, because something is not adding up about the fact that Savino randomly went out with this asshole both he and Alfred have complained about yet is acting disappointed with the fact that Dylan acted in a very predictable way. He doesn’t say anything to Alfred about his suspicion because he doesn’t want to get his friend’s hopes up if he’s wrong. He does tease Alfred when Savino wears his bomber jacket to a game in November and he’s looking up at the stands all starry-eyed, and it’s a short comment because they have to go out and play a game. After Romerica get together, Magnus can sense that something happened between them because they act goofier around each other than they were before, and he’s glad Savino liked Alfred too and that they’re together now. But he doesn’t say anything to them, because they haven’t publicly announced it yet and seem to be under the delusion that their friends who eat lunch with them have no clue what’s going on.

The day after Christmas, Alfred calls up his friends from school to chat with them and so he can thank them for the small presents they’ve exchanged with each other near the end of the school year but agreed not to open until Christmas Day. (I’ll be adding this in as a small mention before they go on the trip.) Alfred has been busier than usual with his Roman holiday, so he hasn’t kept in touch with his school friends like he normally would, and since he’s not dating them he didn’t make an effort to regularly Skype with them the way Matthew does with Katya. Since Santa Stefano in Italy is traditionally a day for people to go visit their friends after a huge family holiday, Alfred might be at Nonno Vargas’s house (to have a conversation with him about Romerica that I’d planned for a long time to occur right after Christmas), and people are just going in and out and doing whatever they feel like. (Some people might stop by a church to give a charitable donation, which is also a tradition on this day.) Alfred calls up Magnus to thank him for his present, which was a Lego space-related model kit (because I think it’s funny if Magnus likes Legos since they’re from Denmark, and he knows how Alfred likes space-related model kits a ton and won’t think he’s too “mature” for a simpler one that may technically be designed for younger people but Magnus could afford to get for a friend from school.) They chat a little, Magnus asks if he got any other space related stuff for Christmas, and Alfred starts rhapsodizing about the telescope from Savino and going into details Magnus may not be able to get (because I’m thinking he has a scientific interest too, because of the famous Danish scientist Niels Bohr, but it’s not space specifically). Magnus interrupts his friend to go, “Hey, Al? I didn’t want to say anything in front of other people since you were trying to keep it a secret, but I’m really happy for you that you got with Vinny sometime after Thanksgiving.” Alfred is surprised Magnus knew, but it’s not angsty since he knows Magnus would be okay with it (like Tolys, who also mentioned Alfred’s feelings before Romerica got together). Magnus explains how they were acting really sappy with each other at lunch in late November/early December to the point he thinks Feliciano’s boyfriend Ludwig might know what’s going on even though he knows Alfred and Savino peripherally through his boyfriend and isn’t close to either of them. But nobody cares, and it’s all cool. Alfred might tell him some vague things about his dads getting suspicious and freaking out over a hickey Savino had during Christmas Eve dinner, but he doesn’t get emotional or go into the level of detail he would with Katya, Kiku, or Tolys since he and Magnus are friends, but not the kind of friends who get into deep, emotional conversations with each other. Magnus is like, “It sucks you had to deal with that. If you guys ever need a break from your parents, you can always come chill at my place. You know how huge my house is.” I’m thinking one of Magnus’s parents is a Danish architect, and he lives in a nice, very large contemporary Scandinavian home and maybe some/all of the Nordics Magnus knows from somewhere other than school (because I don’t want to worry about adding them to Alfred’s friendship group) are there when Romerica runs away and goes to his house on New Year’s Day. If the other Nordics find out about Romerica being stepbrothers in a romantic relationship who had to run away from home when their parents found out, they might think it’s a little weird but not say anything because Romerica are Magnus’s friends and they don’t want to piss him off (and the other Nordics are just not confrontational like this). Eduard might show up after Romerica start to get comfortable because he’s going to visit his best friend/possible boyfriend Timo, and when they see him Romerica are very tense around him because his initial reaction to them is the reason why they didn’t even consider going to Tolys’s house. If he’s there, Eduard gets to explain that he’ll probably always be uncomfortable with the idea of them because of his family situation, but that he didn’t say anything to anyone after Tolys told him not to and gets that it’s not creepy the way Tolys and him hooking up would be. He won’t give them crap about it anymore if he sees them around school or if they’re at Tolys’s house visiting their friend, and he was never so much of a dick that he would be mean to people who just ran away from home. Because Eduard is uncomfortable around them, he might go hang out with Timo somewhere else while Romerica is around.

#this got long as hell but i really need to flesh out magnus more #realistically alfred would have at least one friend from his sports team i think #i don't want to invent too many ocs so i came up with this explanation for why a danish kid is playing american football #it's pretty much off screen except if magnus vaguely references he wasn't into football before the coach recruited him #and even that initial convo with alfred would take place off screen since it has nothing to do with romerica #so if it's in the story it's a reference of a reference lol #also i do want to redeem eduard a little because he's not an asshole just a guy who is uncomfortable with step sibling romances #and it's because of his stepbro he thinks of as his bro #tolys is uncomfortable with step sibling relationships in general but not romerica because he is their friends #and because he witnessed all the pining and understands the circumstances better than eduard did when he was like that's weird man #romerica stepbros au #tw stepcest #hetalia #hws denmark #hws estonia #romerica #hws america #hws romano #hws south italy #aph america #aph romano #aph south italy #aph denmark #aph estonia #fic spoilers #my writing #original post

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yzafre · 3 years ago

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when we stood on the skyline (there was no turning back)

AO3

Sora is born into a world where your heart has wings.

Unique to the person, tuned to their soul, the wing-shaped embodiment of your being sprouts from your back in a shimmer of lights.

Sora loved his Mom’s wings, a pale brown with white undersides that appear in a spiral of green. They were super soft, and she’d use them to shield him from the rain or even the sun on particularly hot days. Sometimes, she’d give him her dropped feathers to play with. He’d carry them around in his pockets to pull out while waiting in line at the store, carefully separating and smoothing out the barbs.

He couldn’t wait for his wings to come in. One evening he spent hours focused, trying to replicate the bright flash he’d seen others use to pull out their wings. For all his efforts he got nothing, not even the barest burst of sparks like Riku sometimes showed when he got excited.

“A person’s wings aren’t quite strong enough to spread on their own,” Sora’s mother consoled him later as she tucked him into bed, “We all need a little bit of help, the wind beneath our wings to hold us up. That’s what your Flight is for.”

“Like you, and Uncle Dylas, and Auntie Emi?” Sora asked.

“That’s right. And once we bonded, that's when I manifested my wings.”

Uncle Dylas lived three houses down in a house that was smaller, but had a giant tree and a truly spectacular tree-house out back that he and Riku played in after Uncle picked them up from school. He made perfect cookies, taught them all the card games there were, and sometimes snuck them dessert before dinner.

Auntie Emi didn’t really have a home, at least that Sora had seen, or maybe her home was their home, or maybe Uncle Dylas’s, whichever she preferred on any given day. He couldn’t figure anything else out since that’s the only place he’d ever seen her sleep.

She also left a lot, though she’d always make it home in time for the big holidays and Mom and Uncle Dylas’s birthday every year. Mom said she had a big job that took her all over the world, and Auntie did bring home really cool gifts whenever she came back every few months. Once she even got him a pocketknife with a big, bold pattern – which was so cool because not even Riku had gotten a knife yet – but Mom took it away and said he could have it back in a couple years.

All of that to say that Mom and Uncle and Auntie were pretty much the coolest people ever, and always seemed to know what each other was thinking, and got to be around each other basically whenever they wanted. If that’s what being part of a Flight was like, then that seemed pretty cool. He’d certainly like to see Riku whenever he wanted.

More than anything, though, Sora just really wanted his wings.

“When will I get my Flight?” he whined.

“Give it time,” his mother laughed, “You’ll meet plenty of people, and when you’re older you’ll find the right ones.”

“Of course we’ll be in a Flight together,” Riku said when Sora brought it up, “Who else is going to make sure you’re okay?”

“Hey! Who says I won’t be looking after you?”

“Anyways,” Riku continued over his protests, louder than before, “We’ll just have to find our third, and then we’ll bond.”

“Yeah! But, Mom says it can take a long time to find your people. She didn’t meet Uncle and Auntie until she was twenty.”

The two grimaced at each other, because that was forever to wait.

“You’ve got a point,” Riku said, “And we already know pretty much everyone on the island. It’s not like we can take just anyone. We’ll have to wait until we can go over to the big island ourselves, at least.”

“Yeah. What do you think they’ll be like?” Sora mused, and their conversation turned to guessing at all the qualities of their future partner.

Their answer came in the dark of the night, in the form of a falling star.

Kairi entered their life between one day and the next, blown in with the tides.

It’s Tidus that introduced her to them, helping her off the boat and onto the beaches of their play-island. She was quiet, watching everyone with foggy eyes and hovering on the edge of their games. She answered Selphie’s questions and smiled faintly at the boys’ competitions and flinched if you approached too fast.

Sora thought she was nice. Riku, he could tell, pretty much wrote her off by the time the second week was over.

It was during the third week, as they were arguing over how to retrieve the ball Sora and Selpie had gotten wedged up between a hut and a particularly large branch, that things changed.

Riku was insisting he could retrieve it himself. He had recently managed to pull out his ghost-wings, glowing spectral shadows of the wings he’d someday have. Like all ghost wings, they could only be pulled out for a few seconds at a time, but he decreed they could give him enough of a boost to help out. He was explaining how he could shimmy up the corner, one side on the hut and one on the cliff, when Kairi cut in.

“Don’t be silly, all you’re going to do is break your neck.”

They all turned to her in surprise to find her frowning up at Riku with her hands propped on her hips. She seemed to waver for a second and then –

Sora watched as a light seemed to flicker on behind her eyes, like a new lightbulb slipping into place, chasing away all the fog keeping her trapped. Rather than giving in, she tilted her chin up and firmed her stance.

“Alright then,” Riku scoffed, “How would you do it?”

Ten minutes later Kairi stood smugly over her spoils as Riku eyed her with grudging respect. From that day on, everything was different.

Kairi fit between Riku and Sora in a way Tidus and Wakka and Selphie never quite managed.

Riku liked that she could keep up when they ran races and got Sora to stop napping. He said she’s cooler than Sora ever was, and smarter too. Sora figured she must be, because Riku listened to her when she told him his plans to supply food for their raft by building in a mini mushroom shed were stupid.

(Later, Sora thanked her profusely for this, because no matter what Riku said mushrooms were slimy and gross, and if he had to live off them he’d die. Kairi giggled and told him he’s also very silly, but she still supported him on the mushroom front, so that’s okay.)

Sora liked being around Kairi because she was warm. She was bright, too, not quite like the sun, but in a way that said everything’s going to be alright, and you never had to be scared of the dark because the light would still be there, even then.

“Like if the sun was a nightlight,” Sora explained to Riku.

“What,” said Riku, from where he’d been drawing raft plans in the sand. After a moment he rolled his eyes, dismissing the remark as more of Sora’s nonsense, and went back to his sketch.

“She is pretty cool, though,” Riku agreed later, “Maybe - maybe she could be our third.”

It didn’t take long for the three of them to agree that they definitely wanted to be a Flight together. When Sora got home, he immediately asked him Mom how they could make it happen.

“Ceremony?” his Mom questioned, turning away from the papers in front of her.

“Like, if you get married there’s a ceremony, right?” Sora asked, “So what about when you become a Flight?”

“Oh! Oh, well, no, there’s nothing like that. A reception later, sometimes, but no ceremony. Why do you ask?”

“We’ve decided we’re gonna be a Flight together – me, and Riku, and Kairi. Now we’ve just gotta make it happen!”

“Oh,” she blinked down at him, spinning in her chair to face him, “Well, like I said, there’s no ceremony. It’s just something that… happens, when you’re ready. Besides, no one bonds at your age. You need time to grow up and find the right people.”

“But why wouldn’t it be Riku and Kairi?” Sora pouted up at her, “They’re my best friends! I’ll never find anyone better than them.”

“It’s not quite that simple, I’m afraid. I met a lot of people I thought were the right ones before I met your Aunt and Uncle.”

“Well, how did you know they were right, then?”

“I suppose it’s like how I knew I was going to marry your father,” his Mom mused, “Only… more. You turn and look one day and realize this is it for you.”

“But I know I want them now, so we should be bonding, right?”

“Perhaps ‘know’ isn’t quite the right word,” she corrected thoughtfully, “It’s more like ‘understanding’. You understand how they’re already a part of you, and the act of understanding makes it real, and suddenly they can’t not be a part of you anymore.”

“What? They become a part of you, but they’re already a part of you? I don’t get it,” Sora grumbles, pouting down at his plate.

“You’ll understand when you’re older.”

#kh #kingdom hearts #sora #riku #kairi #fanfiction #wingfic #wrap your wings AU #Yza writes a thing #I've been working on this for months #so excited to finally begin posting

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misskikuwrites · 5 years ago

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Sickly Sweet

Dylas/Frey (Rune Factory 4)

Valentine's Day meant nothing to Dylas. Nothing more than overexcited women, a day full of sweets and sugar.

At least, that's all it had meant to Dylas until a certain someone had wormed their way into his heart. Instead of seeking out solitude, a quiet place to fish and pass the time, Dylas found himself pacing. Shifting between fishing spots in town. Ears perked and craning and twitching to catch a hint of her voice. A trickle of heat not from the glaring sun curled hotly on his cheeks. Not for the first time that day, a fish scurried off with his bait.

He'd caught no more than a glimpse of Frey the entire morning and his body was already aflame.

Not that he was expecting anything.

Definitely not anything from her.

The first Valentine's Day Dylas had spent in Selphia had been inconsequential and quickly forgotten. A day of festivities and excitement he had passed up for quiet, serene solitude. Things had changed much over the span of a year.

The energetic girl who'd refused to leave him alone had now become an irreplaceable figure in his life. A friend. Someone he trusted. Someone who would smile at him without a second thought, who wouldn't judge him for his scars, his wounds, his past. Someone who had taken his heart long ago.

Dylas was busy trying to push those thoughts from his mind, trying to hook another portion of bait onto his line, when movement caught his eyes. His heart skipped. The bait slipped from his fingers, plinking into the crystal clear water and disappearing with a flurry of fish and ripples. He froze, halfway between crouching and standing. Frey smiled at him, carrying a handful of cookies wrapped in a fancy, semi-opaque cloth and tied with a neat bow.

Valentine's Day cookies.

"Hey, Dylas!" Frey greeted him, his heart singing with delight at the soft cadence of her voice. "Caught anything?"

"N-Not yet." He stole his eyes away from her dazzling smile before it rendered him completely and utterly speechless. She stole the wind from his sails with a simple smile. His heart flopping as though she'd knocked his feet out from under him, as though she'd reeled him in like a fish, leaving him out to dry on the hard ground. Unable to think or breathe. Baking in the warmth of her smile.

"That's unusual," she noted with an adorable tilt of her head. "Maybe the fish are a bit spooked for some reason?"

Spooked from the scowl he'd worn earlier in an attempt to focus on anything else but her distance laughter.

"Maybe…"

Treacherous heat burned his cheeks. He glanced at her again, at the cookies in her hand, and his stomach churned involuntarily. Sweets. The one thing he couldn't handle. He swallowed thickly, tasting acidic bile in the back of his throat.

Frey curled the cookies into her hands, holding them behind her quickly. Took a sharp step back. "Oh, well that's… a shame…"

Her smile was gone. A flash of panic, a flicker of emotions Dylas couldn't read washing over her face as she straightened. She didn't meet his eyes.

"Anyway, I've got to go. See you later!" Frey said hurriedly. She dashed away before Dylas could respond, before he could read any further into the hard line of her jaw or the tremble of her hands.

She was gone, leaving Dylas' heart to drop into his stomach.

The cookies weren't for him.

Dylas caught nothing the whole day. His mind wandered and wandered, running off without him as he spent the whole day at a secluded lake, his line dangling absently in the water long after the bait had been nibbled off. His heavy, dejected sighs filled the silence. Mortified grunts at how stupidly hopeful he had been. A heavy weight settled on his shoulders, his heart, making it difficult to move and impossible to care.

He trudged back to town later in the evening. He turned to head back home when he stared straight at the castle, his mind filling with her. A painful vice clamped his heart and Dylas whirled and trudged towards the lake instead. His legs powered him onward with long, quick strides, blocking out the murmurings of excitement in the air around him with a scowl.

The silence around the lake wrapped him in a cold blanket of fresh air. Dylas breathed a harsh sigh, seeking a spot on the lake shore to settle down, when a quiet, fractured sob met his ears. He startled, snapping his attention to a figure curled up on the ground in the shade beneath a tree. Legs drawn up to their chest, head buried in their knees. Long hair pouring down their back in delicate pigtails.

Frey.

It was Frey, her body curled into itself, small and fragile and tight. Her shoulders quivered with almost silent sobs, stolen gasps that filtered through the quiet evening air. A handful of broken cookies lay in the dirt beside her.

The fishing rod dropped from Dylas' fingers. He moved before he could think, before the next heavy beat of his heart, and was by her side in an instant. She flinched at the sound of his footsteps crunching in the sand. Didn't raise her head. Her arms drew tighter around her legs and Dylas stilled, his hand hovering inches from her shoulder as he knelt beside her.

"Frey…?"

Slowly, she lifted her head from her knees at his voice, her eyes wet with tears, swollen and red. The skin on her knees was raw and darkened with dirt. She dusted the sand, the flakes of dirt and dried blood off her knees as if Dylas wasn't there. She gazed off ahead of them, vacant and impassive. A shadow over her eyes.

Dylas' heart sunk. He looked at the fractured cookies in the sand, the crumbled cloth and ribbon discarded beside them.

She'd been rejected.

"I'm… sorry…" Dylas said quietly. Swallowed tightly when she flinched again, forcing down the lump in his throat. "I don't know what to say in circumstances like this but… whoever it was, they made a mistake in hurting you like this."

Frey turned her head to face him, her cheek resting on her knees. A question, confusion, washed over her eyes.

Dylas' cheeks burned hotly under her inquisitive gaze. "Y-You were rejected, right…? Someone didn't accept your cookies… that- that can't be easy to deal with."

She blinked at him, the remains of her tears fading.

"I'm sure there's other people who would accept your cookies," Dylas continued, the words pouring out like water from a broken dam. "Other people who… who care about you as well…"

Frey straightened. Dylas' breath caught sharply in his throat. He stared down at the cookies, unable to meet her eyes.

"Dylas… you were the one who rejected my cookies, though."

Dylas gawked at her. Mouth dropping open in a thunderclap of confusion. "What?"

She frowned, mirroring his confusion. "They were for you. I was going to give them to you but…" She glanced away. "You looked so disgusted when you saw them, I couldn't…"

"They were… for me…?" He couldn't breathe. Couldn't speak with his heart jammed high in his throat, a surge of heat shooting through his veins as his mind whirled.

Frey nodded slowly. His gaze fell to the broken cookies. Discarded and soiled. Dylas grabbed a fragment of a cookie and shoved it in his mouth without a thought.

"Wait, Dylas!" Frey cried. "Th-That's been on the ground!"

He winced at the crunch of sand, the sickly sweet buttery cookie melting on his tongue with the taste of dirt. He smouldered in suffocating heat, covering his mouth with the back of his hand as he chewed and crunched through the cookie. She watched him with wide eyes.

Dylas swallowed forcibly. "It's… not bad. Pretty good, actually, when you get past the layer of sand."

Frey's mouth twitched in a sympathetic, yet confused, smile. "You didn't have to eat it…"

"You… you said it was for me. So…."

She nodded. "I thought you didn't want them. The way you looked at them earlier… I thought you were disgusted at the thought of receiving cookies from me…"

"What?! No, I would never-! I… I would be…" He couldn't meet her eyes. Struggled to hold her gaze, his eyes flicking back and forth between her and the lake, the trees, the darkening sky. "I would be… happy to receive cookies from you…"

"Then why did you look so grossed out this morning?"

Dylas swallowed again, trying to remove the last grains of sand off his teeth and tongue. "I… don't like sweet things. I can't stand anything sweet like that."

"Oh, but you just…?" She motioned to the cookies, raising an eyebrow.

"Th-That was because you made them for me! I wasn't going to reject anything from you…"

"Oh."

Dylas couldn't breathe as a warm silence descended over them. His chest felt too tight. His lungs, his heart, fluttering with dizzying heat as his mind scrambled for something to say.

"Can I try again?" Frey said finally, breaking the silence. "If it's alright with it being a day late…?"

Dylas looked at her, took in the gentle, bashful smile she gave him. "What…?"

"Let me try again. I'll change up the recipe, make it less sweet for you. If you'll accept it?"

"Y-Yeah." Dylas nodded slowly, stiffly. Unable to think past the disbelief that this was actually happening.

"I know cookies are the tradition here but… how about a carrot cake? Would that be alright?"

He nodded again. Speechless and breathless. Warm despite the cool breeze coasting by. Her smile was warm like the sun.

Frey collected the broken cookies into the cloth, scrunching it up in her hand. "Then, I'll come by the restaurant after closing. I'm sure to have perfected it by then!"

"O-Okay." He stood when she did, his lungs emptying as she smiled.

Perhaps Valentine's Day wasn't too bad after all.

#freylas #dylas #frey #rf4 #rune factory 4

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benisasoftboi · 5 years ago

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Gushing time.

Rune Factory 4 Special arrived a day early, so my entire day has been consumed in nostalgia. The original Rune Factory 4 was the first video game I ever bought on release day - I remember saving up all my money and making my mum drive me to like three different shops trying to find one that had it. I was already a fan of the franchise - before then, Rune Factory 3 had been my favourite video game, across the board. Aside from a playthrough of the first game last year, I haven’t played a Rune Factory game in a long time, certainly not RF4. But just starting up the game and hearing the music again, it was like it was suddenly seven years ago. Running around Selphia and seeing all the characters again - I love JRPGs, have played a lot of them, and I can think of very few that have characters that have stuck with me this long. And the aesthetics - the best thing about the Rune Factory franchise has always been the aesthetics, the music, the scenic and character design, just the general world. It’s a beautifully whimsical balance of urban and fantasy, and it’s the only JRPG world I think I’ve ever come across that I would genuinely want to live in. Rune Factory may no longer be my favourite game franchise - but I don’t think there has ever been another series that has felt so much like home to me.

Here’s a very long selection of personal highlights from the art book (by which I mean photos of the art followed by my rambling opinions):

Yeah, see, here’s the thing - Rune Factory 1 is not a good game. I could write an entire essay on why it’s bad (I actually started and got pretty damn far before realising no one’s interested in my two thousand word review of a game that came out over a decade ago - the short version is ‘Misty Bloom-fucking-Cave’. Anyone who’s played RF1 knows exactly what I mean). Don’t get me wrong, it has good qualities - excellent boss fights, for one, and also, as with the rest of the franchise, it is aesthetically wonderful. But ultimately, it feels less like playing a video game, and more like playing a proof of concept for a game. Which I guess it kind of was - and I can’t hate it because we wouldn’t have the rest of the series without it.

But it literally ends with a dragon spewing plant breath on a tank to make a turnip grow out of the gun. ‘Profound’, my arse.

It’s Raguna! The “master sowrdsman!” (that is not a typo on my part that is a direct quote from the ending of Rune Factory 1 this game’s script had so many issues-). And Mist! My favourite of the ‘canon’ love interests!

Best girl! When I was a kid, my favourite love interest in RF1 was Rosetta. As an adult, it is Tabatha. I don’t know what it is about her that I find so likeable (she’s as lacking in personality as any other RF1 character), but... idk, I just like her a lot.

Camus’s big ambition is to leave town like even once. He will never achieve it

Fun fact about Melody is that she’s extremely depressed, a fact that comes up once in an optional side quest and is never addressed again. It’s incredibly dark for an RF game

Fun fact about Lukas is that he sucks (he’s one of those ‘obsessed with talking about how hot all the girls are’ characters, an archetype that thankfully doesn’t show up again in these games). But also, interestingly enough, thanks to one of RF1′s many, many script errors, if you marry Rosetta (the girl Lukas is the most obsessed with), he’s supposed to express disappointment that he lost her to Raguna - but instead, he implies that he’s disappointed to have lost Raguna to her. The translators typoed their way into giving him a sexuality change. Which is honestly kind of amazing.

LOOK AT THIS SLIME THIS IS SUCH A COOL SLIME LITERALLY EVERY OTHER JPRG SLIME GO HOME DRAGON QUEST GET FUCKED (jk I like Dragon Quest a lot and its slimes are cool too). Wish you could see in-game that this is what they’re meant to be like.

I just generally love the monster designs, they’re really charming

Rune Factory 2! The RF game with the most weirdly mundane protagonist name (Kyle. In the main four games of this franchise we’ve got Raguna, Micah, Lest, Frey... and Kyle). The two generations thing was actually very cool, but when they say ‘each chapter captures a different lifestyle’, what they really mean is ‘the first half is a weak Harvest Moon I’m sorry, STORY OF SEASONS game, and the second half is a pretty good Rune Factory game’

lookit this little fuck

Yue Yue Yue! I love Yue so much, she’s great. She’s kind of like a much chiller version of Anna from Fire Emblem.

It’s really cool that we got to see grown up Cecilia (she was in RF1). I have this silly headcanon that if Kyle doesn’t marry Mana, Nicholas (her friend in 1) comes to visit Cecilia one day in the hazy-post game future, and meets Mana, and they get together. While Yue is my favourite, I do genuinely like Mana a lot, and I just want her to find love, I guess.

Here’s original Barrett! There’s a reason he was popular enough to make a reappearance (well, aside from the whole grumpy pretty boy thing he’s got going on) - he was a great character in this game. His and Dorothy’s relationship is also definitely the most compelling of the rival romances. Bonus Max, who also has a little shout-out in RF4 (check the diary in what will become Dylas’s bedroom at the start of the game)

Ray is male, but apparently he was originally going to be a female character, as he has an unused portrait in a wedding dress. My friend and I agree that this makes him a Trans Icon

Monster designs remain excellent. Especially the goblins

Skipping over Frontier (and also Oceans later), as I never got to play it growing up due to not having a console, and still haven’t got around to it - might try this summer. Except I do need to point out that these guys should be memes. I don’t know in what way. But they should.

Rune Factory 3! My first RF game. The transformation thing was very cool, even if it was basically useless outside the main story. My friend and I spent hours mucking about in the WiFi dungeon. I loved the desert settlement and all of the dungeon designs in general, and man, RF3 is just great. I hope it gets a remake one day.

Raven Raven Raven! I LOVE Raven (as do most). Her story with Micah is the first time I can remember getting genuinely invested in a video game romance. I’m so glad she cameos in RF4. I love her. She’s wonderful.

I have an odd fondness for Marian. When I was about twelve, I decided to do a playthrough where I deliberately romanced the least popular bachelorette. After poking around on forums, I determined that character to be Marian, and did a run with her. And... I actually came to really like her. I find her endearing. I get that people find her annoying and don’t like her... unethical medical practices, but doing that run has still made me a pretty protective of her. It’s been a long time since I played RF3, so maybe I’d change my mind if I replayed now, but currently, as far as I’m concerned, Marian’s a good’un.

I think I also used to low key ship her with Collette lol

Pia’s official art has always been super weird to me because it’s so not what her character is like in-game. She’s a ditzy airhead. This makes her look so serious

RAINBOW! Another character whose art makes them look way more serious than they actually are. Daria is great and would be a meme if this game was more popular. I think she’s also implied to be a relative of Margaret.

I’ve always been super confused about what Kuruna’s skirt is meant to be. Is it fur? Is it part of her shirt? Is it even a skirt at all?

Check it out, it’s the guy everyone would ship Micah with if this game was more popular

I want Zaid to make a reappearance and interact with Doug. Pretty sure it’s canon that they’re from the same clan? Think it would be very interesting.

RF3 definitely had the coolest farm. Also, still love the desert settlement.

This is from Oceans, so I have no context, but it’s just so cool that I had to share

Rune Factory 4. Culmination of the series is right - when I was playing it for the first time, I remember being blown away by just how much it is a true love letter to the franchise. I have never come across another game series that so consistently grew and improved from entry to entry. RF4 was a perfect ending.

Not that I’m complaining about getting RF5. Quite the opposite.

But if it had been the end (as we all thought it was until about a year ago), well, like I say. Perfect.

Well. Aside from soda can nipples. Can’t believe they didn’t fix those. Though in some ways, that would have made me sad too

Dolce has such a cool design, in both human and monster form. I’ve always kind of crack-shipped her with Margaret, for no real reason at all

Vishnal! I love Vishnal. Vishnal is pure as heck. Marrying him this time around.

Doug! My choice from last time around. Another character who looks more serious in his official art than he is in-game (well... most of the time)

And then there’s Dylas, who looks much happier here than he does most of the time. Kind of looks like he and Doug swapped bodies, actually. There’s a fanfic prompt for you.

Their ship name is Dyldo. I love them

Leon is nostalgic for me mostly because my friend and I used to get into a lot of arguments about whether or not he’s the hottest character in the game. She maintains that he is, because muscles. I maintain that muscles aren’t actually that attractive. It is a rift that divides us to this day

(He looks oddly... younger in this art though? Weird)

Sechs Empire is such an unfortunate name. Seriously. How rushed was RF1′s localisation team? All those script errors, and then this (the Sechs were the antagonists in the first game, and were only referenced in passing in the rest until RF4 - so it was a bit of a ‘sins of the father’ situation by then).

Seriously, try saying ‘Sechs Emperor’ out loud and tell me you can take this man seriously

I??? Love??? Them???

I??? LOVE??? THEM???

Still confused as to why Kiel, Xiao Pai, Arthur and Margaret are on the cover now. Don’t get me wrong, I like them, but... Amber, Dylas, Dolce and Leon made way more sense? Even the Archival Cover makes more sense (Vishnal, Clorica, Forte), as those three are all kind of Lest/Frey’s servants (well, Forte for the whole town, but still). Of those first four, all but Arthur basically lift right out of the game with little-to-no impact on the story

NO HAT TABATHA NO HAT TABATHA

I’ve always really loved this Raven picture

And I am thankful for you <3

#rune factory #rune factory 4 #rune factory 4 special #rf4 #rf4s #rf4srelease #i love these games <3

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msbeccieboo · 6 years ago

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Arrow 7x19 Brain Dump

I didn’t really dig this episode to be honest (see what I did there?! Such lolz 😂). It wasn’t that it was bad, it was just misplaced within the season, and maybe also it just seemed to fall a bit flat after last week? Meh…perfectly watchable though, and I love one John Thomas Diggle, so it was great to see him take centre(ish) stage again!

John Diggle

Oh Diggle…I love Diggle…I miss Diggle…yay to all the Diggle! We finally got to meet another relative of John’s after 34627 years, and it was no other that Winston from Ghostbusters! Dig and Oliver approach General Roy Stewart, who turns out to be Dig’s estranged stepfather, for intel on a flash drive from the Ninth Circle. That he was Dig’s stepdad is news to both Oliver and Felicity, which I think was a real shame; in all these years spent together he’d never mentioned his parents?

Anyway, plot happens, and Dig and the General are kidnapped by Dante, which gave the men an opportunity to work together and to demonstrate the love and the respect they have for each other, which was just lovely! Never in my life did I imagine I’d see Duncan MacLeod electrocuting Winston from Ghostbusters 😂!

The backstory with Dig and his stepfather was actually really poignant. Where Dig had believed the General to be at fault for his father’s death, then promptly swooping into his mother’s and their lives, he actually had been protecting Dig’s father’s legacy for all these years. The General hid the fact that Bio-Papa Dig actually died due to his own negligence, also causing the death of two other Marines, but had allowed Dig and Andy to believe the worst about himself, keeping their father’s memory a brave and heroic one. This is what being a parent is, and Dig is finally able to see him for the good man, and strong father-figure he really was for all these years. The general tells Dig “Every child deserves to believe that his father is a hero, and believing it, you became one.” This is the legacy he has left for John. I did get a bit choked up at this, especially John’s line “If I’m a hero, it’s all because of you, Sir”...my John Diggle heart 😭😭!!

Continued under the cut

David is such a wonderful actor, and if this episode did anything at all, it was showcase this. He gave an interview saying that the story with his Stepfather continues from here…so will we see Winston again? I hope so! Or this may just mean the continued theme of non-blood family i.e. Dig’s eventual adoption of Connor.

There were some sweet moments between Oliver and Dig, with Dig opening up about his step-father and real father. Oliver was there for him, as both a sympathetic ear, and to give some advice. It’s nice to be reminded, and shown, that Oliver and Dig will always have each others’ backs (Dig’s personality transplant in 7a notwithstanding).

However…where was my Delicity??? There was ample opportunity, just wasted…Felicity was right there, she discovered the truth about Dig’s father! Delicity for the taking!! But no 😡 Where was Dyla??? For fucks sake, we have a Diggle-centric episode and Lyla doesn’t’ even get a look-in? Barely a name drop? Or JJ (in the present)?? COME ON PEOPLE!!

My main gripe with the episode was, we could and should have had this storyline for Dig at any other point in this season, or at any point with in the entire series. Imagine this going off in S4 when Dig was also dealing with learning of Andy’s true past as well, or S5 when he was dealing with his guilt over Andy’s death and coming out of the Army again! The story wasn’t fitting for the final run of episodes of the last full season of the show, and also squeezing in end-of-season plot points to Dig’s hard-earned solo storyline was a disservice to his character; he deserved a true standalone episode with no distractions. Also, where the hell was the spartan logo in the credits??? RUDE!

Felicity

Although not as explicitly as last week, Felicity was still a focal point in this episode, hurtling her story towards the end of the season, for Emily’s final episodes 😭😭. I loved seeing badass Felicity (since always😉), pulling a gun on the random Irish Ninth Circle dude! She was so brave, if not a bit reckless, but this is the hero Felicity Smoak has grown into over the past 7 years, and I love her all the more for it! Alena brandishing a keyboard was a hilarious bonus!

Perhaps Felicity’s most heroic act in the episode is destroying her ‘legacy’, Archer (who she refers to as ‘her’…so adorable!!), in order to stop the Ninth Circle from using it to target anyone else. She has a bit of a eureka!moment, when she realises just how dangerous her creation could be in the wrong hands, despite her best intentions for creating it.

Source: smoakmonster

I loved her drawing a parallel between herself and her father (although unfairly, I believe), knowing that in the future she literally pretends to the whole world that she becomes The Calculator, again in the pursuit of saving the city. In the face of this, she says she still wants to leave something behind that is from Felicity Smoak, not Overwatch. My love for this character knows no bounds!

So by the end of the episode we realise that Archer won’t be the basis for Smoak Tech. Seeing Felicity talking Smoak Tech business with Alena was awesome, and I can’t wait to find out what she creates to launch her company, as we know how successful it becomes in the future! I also loved seeing Alena’s faith and encouragement of Felicity.

Source: arrowdaily

Ah Alena…I knew this was too good to be true! Despite her clear love and faith in Felicity, it looks like Alena is not ready to give up on Archer, and will likely rebuild (albeit with good intentions, I still believe). But it looks like Alena will be the one responsible for the Archer program ultimately ending up back in the hands of the bad guys, be it the Ninth Circle, or ultimately Galaxy One. Felicity is undeterred by losing Archer, and knows she has more to give, to create in this world, as she simply says about her legacy “I guess I’ll just have to build a new one” 😍😍

Bonus:

All of Felicity’s helmet-talk in this episode made me giggle! (I’m immature, ok!!)

“John’s helmet just came back online”, and “Madame Helmet” in the flash forwards 😂😂😂

Olicity

The Olicity moments were definitely far more subtle in this episode, as they arguably should be in a Diggle centric episode, but I still would have liked mooooore...I’m a greedy Olicity whore, sue me 😂😂

We got some little hand holding moments, which will just never not make me swoon 😍

Along with the Felicity-patented chest rub 😍

Source: lucyyh 💗

Finishing each other’s sentences 😍

Source: 1-crazy-dreamer 💗

Then just Olicity being a badass vigilante team, saving John, and hacking/breaking into classified government sites 😍

Source: smoakmonster

I would have liked to see more of Oliver’s reaction to Felicity and Alena’s attack; he showed such restraint when checking she’s ok!!

Flash Forwards

I am a big fan of the flash forwards, and I loved them in this episode!! Still missing my boy William though…please come back soon!! The plot was pushed forwards, we got some nice character backstory for Connor, and some quality SmoaknHawke moments. Nice to see the writers can still do some things concisely and effectively!

We opened with Felicity working on the Galaxy One Helmet that Laurel gave to Mia last episode. I adore that despite the many changes to Felicity in the future, she still exclaims “frack”!! In order to get data from the helmet, Mia and Connor need to go in search of a power module. This leads them to the Deathstroke Gang (!!!), where their leader, JJ, is referenced!! JJ DIGGLE GUYS!!!! I can’t believe he ended up one of the bad guys…baby Sara would never!!

Connor opens up to Mia about JJ being his adoptive brother, and former best friend 😭, though they have lost touch ever since JJ went dark after becoming overwhelmed with the expectations he felt pushed on him by Dig and Lyla….whaaaaat???! I can’t wait to meet future Dyla and JJ! I’m so into this family drama already haha!! I loved seeing this talk, and mutual understanding between Mia and Connor, I ship them so hard already! I also liked seeing the softer side of Mia again, she definitely has a gooey centre like her parents…just buried deep 😂

As they are chased out by JJ’s goons we get an epic almost-kiss that had me squealing KISS HER!!!!!

At the end of the episode, Felicity finally discovers that the helmet is one of many that are all interconnected and running the weaponised version of Archer. As they come to realise the implications of this we see the army of Galaxy One soldiers lining up, super chilling! I love where this story is heading, and look forward to seeing these parts of the episode every week!

Oliver/Emiko/Ninth Circle

While Oliver’s love and faith in his family is generally one of his most endearing qualities, Oliver….honey….give it up, Emiko is EVIL. I am so utterly bored of Emiko now. She is a waste of screen time, an unnecessary distraction for Oliver and a drain on my patience 😡

Oliver tells Emiko that Dante killed her mother, that he misled her, that he doesn’t care about her, but that Oliver still does. Oh Oliver 😭😭

By the end of the episode Emiko decides to kill Dante (bye then!), and continue her path as head of the Ninth Circle, now that they are in possession of the experimental bioweapon. So that’s another villain offed this season. Beth and Steven said pre/early S7 in interviews that there wouldn’t necessarily be a big bad this year, which I guess is what they’re going for by killing every attempt at one. Emiko certainly isn’t big bad material herself. The writers seem to be using this season to wrap up Felicity’s story, launch the flash forwards, and set up season 8 (and possibly the crossover?). But in trying to do all of this they are sacrificing this season’s storylines, which is annoying me slightly. At this point in the season we normally have an idea of the trajectory of the final few episodes, but it’s still not really clear. Given that this is the final season for Arrow as we know it, this is super frustrating.

Hmm, for a bit of a meh episode, this still got long…oops!

Thank you to all the wonderful gif makers, as always. You guys rock!! 💗💗

#Arrow #Arrow 7x19 #Arrow season 7 #Olicity #John Diggle #beccie's brain

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cogentranting · 6 years ago

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Arrow Season 2 Highlights

As part of my countdown to the season 7 premiere, here are my picks for the best and most memorable parts of season 2. Though not one of my favorite seasons overall, it has some of the absolute best moments of the series.

Top 5 Episodes

Keep Your Enemies Closer 2x06- Frankly, I just love whenever the show does anything to do with Russia or the Bratva. This one breaks formula a bit, which is fun. It’s got the reveal that Diggle and Lyla were married and has nice Dyla stuff in it, along with some of the earliest signs of Oliver having romantic feelings for Felicity. It also has strong Diggle character work, not just with Lyla, but also with Deadshot. It has Anatoly, who is a favorite of mine. And it has Oliver threatening people in Russian.

State V. Queen 2x07- This episode has Arrow’s most interesting courtroom scenes until season 6. Moira gets to shine, and her relationship with both Thea and Oliver is important. Thea gets some nice character work. The vigilante story line plays out in a less conventional way with Felicity getting to a take action a bit. Laurel and Oliver’s relationship is put through some interesting tests. Oliver’s priorities are explored and he’s dealing with a lot emotionally. Seth Gabel is back as the Count. And, of course, there is a very important scene for Oliver and Felicity’s relationship.

Three Ghosts 2x09- Barry Allen gets thrown into the world of vigilante justice and gets a look at the real Oliver. And really Barry’s presence and the lighter moments he brings are great when sprinkled through a more serious and a bit sad episode. Anytime Oliver hallucinates, I have a good time. His scenes with Shado are sad and lovely. The Slade hallucinations serve as a great tease of what’s to come. We get to see our beloved Tommy and he delivers what comes to be his defining line (even though he never actually said it...). Roy has an interesting arc. And we see the tragic death of Shado, followed by (in two senses) the birth of Deathstroke. One of the best episodes of the show.

The Promise 2x15- the action in the flashbacks drives this episode and its such a fun spy-style adventure, with Oliver, Slade and Sara trying to break on to the Amazo, all while Slade is slowly losing himself and while Oliver and Sara lie to him. It’s also where we see the relationship between Oliver and Slade fracture and it’s immediately reflected in the fantastic present day story line that sees Slade reappear in Oliver’s life. The tension in the present scenes keeps you fully engaged even as most of what happens is just small talk with Moira and Thea. But you can feel Oliver’s fear and anger and the subtle menace Slade brings.

Seeing Red 2x20- It’s a great exploration of Thea and Roy. It has good character moments for Sara as she tries to come to terms with the darkness in her. The scene in the tower where Sara and Oliver confront Roy is a great one. William is teased for the first time. But we all know that this episode is one of the all time greats for 1 reason: Moira. Her flashbacks with Oliver. The ways she reaches out to Thea. Her reveal that she knows Oliver is the Arrow and that she’s proud. And of course, her death scene. It’s a great swan song for one of the Arrowverse’s best characters.

*Upon reviewing my entries in the other sections, it appears I also really like 2x04, so consider it an honorable mention*

Top 5 Fights

Arrow v Bronze Tiger 2x02- to be perfectly honest, I was struggling to come up with a fifth specific fight scene from this season that stands out for the fight itself. Without just listing every time Slade does anything. But this is a fun fight. Bronze Tiger is a nice villain of the week and with this scene they had a fun situation where it wasn’t so much a direct fight as Arrow just being unable to find Tiger and it gives this impression of being hunted which fits Bronze Tiger’s vibe nicely.

Arrow and Canary v The Mayor 2x04- This fight is one of the first times (if not the first time) we see Canary and Arrow fight together and at the time that prospect was very exciting. In fact it was probably the first real superhero team up fight in the Arrowverse, unless you count Huntress in season 1 (or if I’m forgetting something). But the real reason it stands out to me, is the fact that at one point Arrow and Canary drop their weapons, Arrow picks up the bow-staff, Canary grabs the bow, and they continue on like nothings happened. And it’s awesome.

Arrow V Nyssa 2x13- Nyssa’s first major fight on the show (maybe first ever?) is also probably her best. It really goes out of its way to show how skilled she is and to make her into someone who rivals Oliver. Some fun acrobatics and clever moves make it fun to watch. And I just love Nyssa.

Team Arrow v Deathstroke bunker fight 2x19- It’s like the first thing in the episode so it catches you off guard. It’s quick, it’s brutal and it’s terrifying how easily Deathstroke fends off all of Team Arrow in their own hideout.

Arrow/Oliver V. Deathstroke/Slade Dual fight 2x23- The twin fights are so nicely juxtaposed. It depicts the relationship so well. It’s nice to finally see these two go head to head on an even playing field. And the contrast of Oliver chosing to kill Slade in the past, versus sparing him in the present is such a great moment.

10 (+ a few) Great Scenes/Moments

Not a top 10 because I’m sure I’ve forgotten some. But 10 that I really like. Plus honorable mentions.

Oliver kills a man to save Shado 2x01- In flashbacks, Oliver tries to save Shado from an attack, loses control and beats a man to death with a rock, ending up with blood all over his hands. This is only the second person Oliver has deliberately killed but already he’s turning into something else. Even hardened warriors like Slade and Shado look a little wary. It’s an important step in Oliver’s characterization-- if killing Fyers was a step toward heroics, this is a step toward being a monster. It also leads to a nice demonstration of the found family aspect of this trio.

“It means strength” 2x04- we meet Anatoly and Oliver pulls a bullet out of his own stomach. It always stands out to me as one of the defining moments of Oliver’s experiences on the island, and really its a testament to his strength, like Anatoly said. And it is the foundation of the friendship that he and Oliver form.

“Five years where nothing good happened” 2x04- Oliver reveals that Sara is alive to Diggle and Felicity and they begin questioning him, leading to this line. It showcases Amell’s acting talent. It shows Oliver’s emotional vulnerability and gives a little glimpse at why he’s so closed off all the time. It’s also a good moment for Diggle and Felicity, even though the focus isn’t on them. You can see their doubt and frustration as they realize how little they know about this man that they’ve thrown in with.

“There was no choice to make” 2x07- Not actually the scene that this quote is from (though that is a great one) but the one that precedes it-- Oliver saves Felicity from the Count by shooting his three times in the chest. With prejudice. Because nothing is going to stand in the way of Oliver protecting Felicity. It’s a defining moment of early Olicity and it’s so. so. good.

Roy finds out Oliver’s identity 2x12- I just love secret identity reveals. I particularly love the shock on the faces of people (like Roy) who didn’t think Oliver was capable of being the Arrow. It also transitions the uneasy training dynamic Roy and the Arrow have into the actual mentorship role that Oliver takes on. And it’s always nice when someone takes a moment to love and appreciate Oliver, the way Roy does in thanking Oliver for saving him at the end of the scene.

“I am done chasing after you” 2x14- Oliver and Laurel’s fight after the Lance family dinner. I think the acting in this scene is top notch. The emotions are raw and real. And I thinking it is a defining character moment for both of them. It’s where they finally stop chasing after who they used to be and are finally able to break free from the toxic relationship they’ve had. I define this as the moment these two break up, even though they weren’t dating. From here they could have rebuilt something better romantically, but instead they moved forward. And only after this break were they able to build a friendship.

Slade in Queen Mansion 2x15- The relationship between Oliver and Slade is one of the most important of the show. And this demonstrates one aspect of that perfectly. The tension in the scenes, with Oliver unable to do anything to stop it, and Slade toying with him. And especially the moment when Oliver is so desperate that he tries to kill Slade with an icepick in his own living room, with his mother and sister right next door.

“Can you imagine what it’s like to be him?” 2x19- Quentin gives Laurel a speech about why he doesn’t want to know who the Arrow is talking about how he can’t imagine what it’s like to be the “man under the hood”. It’s a great look at Quentin’s perspective, and a nice outside analysis of how hard it is to be Oliver, which everyone needs reminder of every once in a while. It’s a lovely little scene and it results in Oliver getting a much needed hug later in the episodes.

Moira’s death 2x20- Moira’s death scene is powerful, and emotional and a testimony to her character. Her bravery, the brutality of the scene, and Oliver’s utter desperation and devastation make it easily one of the best Arrowverse death scenes.

“You are not alone and I believe in you” 2x23 (I think. could be 22)- Another defining early Olicity moment. It’s a nice character moment for Felicity, it’s a nice shared moment between the two of them. It’s the belief that Oliver needs at that moment.

Meet Barry Allen 2x08- Meeting Barry changed the Arrowverse and gave us the definitive Flash portrayal.

“What’d you say” Please” 2x06- Oliver threatening the guy in Russian and then shrugging it off to flirt with Felicity is just so great.

Moira tells Laurel and Quentin about Sara’s death 2x13- It’s the first time we get a glimpse of what it was like for the families when they thought Oliver and Sara were dead and it’s such an emotional scene.

#arrow #arrow season 2 #arrow season highlights #again if you didn't see the first list #within each list they're in chronological order- not ranked #if you're wondering about my note at the top #i usually rank season 2 as my fourth of fifth favorite season #not because it doesn't have great moments #but because of a few elements I'm not fond of and just because of how much I love the odd seasons

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jbuffyangel · 7 years ago

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Truth and Lies: Arrow 6x18 Review (Fundamentals)

I love Vertigo. We get the best Olicity episodes out of this drug and "Fundamentals" did NOT disappoint. Angsty Arrow driven mad by his own internal demons and the love of his life fighting through the darkness to reach the light within him?

If you are wondering why this review is delayed it's because I've been watching "Fundamentals” on a loop. And binging Westworld, but that's not my fault. @callistawolf told me to watch it. But really also watching "Fundamentals" on a loop. There’s so much to unpack that this took me three days to write and another full day to gif.

I am prepared to say 6x18 might be my favorite episode of the season. I think I liked it better than the wedding AND the wedding RECEPTION. I know I know. That's crazy talk, but that's what Vertigo does man. EMBRACE THE INSANITY BECAUSE IT IS AWESOME.

Let's dig in...

Olicity

I'm not really sure how to divide this review into sections primarily because it's just a mass of Oliver losing his shiznit, punctuated with extremely excellent scenes with Felicity. So we're rolling fast and loose on the headings. Cool? Cool.

I like angst. No, that's not right. I LOVE ANGST. You really can't survive seven years of watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer live, in your formative teenage years, and not come out with the ability to embrace the pain. But I don't enjoy angst that's just angst for angst's sake. (Yeah that's a sentence. I think.) I want angst with purpose. I want it to move the characters somewhere or at the very least reveal truths. Maybe they are truths we already know and simply need confirmed once and awhile. Maybe they are truths we didn't even know existed. Regardless, if angst has a point then I'm in.

Some may disagree with me regarding the angst in "Fundamentals." It may feel like ground we've already covered, and I can certainly understand why some may have that opinion. I have a differing one, however. I feel 6x18 unearthed some new truths regarding Oliver Queen and his journey this season that I have not previously considered.

Source: @olivergifs

The opening is familiar, but new. The Arrow is back! It's been so long since we've seen Oliver as the Arrow that the action felt fresh. Immediately there was a different vibe compared to all the other action scenes we've seen over the past three years. It is dark, brutally violent and fast. And extremely hot.

The Arrow moves like a shadow and creates a visceral reaction of fear. That piece is familiar. The skill set of the Arrow and the Green Arrow remain the same, but their tactics are not. The Green Arrow works within a team. He is quick, but deliberate. Strategic, but adaptable. He is threatening, but instills a sense of calm. The Green Arrow doesn't shy from the light the same way the Arrow does. Both masks serve justice, but one instills hope while the other instills fear. We are supposed to notice a difference between these two personas, which is why "Fundamentals" opens fast and hard with the violence of the Arrow. It's to remind us of Oliver Queen's evolution and how far he's come. What drives and fuels the Arrow is something the Green Arrow does not have:

Rage.

Oliver has opened up his heart over the last six years. He rediscovered brotherhood and friendship. Oliver fell in love and became a father. The anger created by the injustice all around him and his five years of trauma is no longer burning him up inside. Oliver faced the worst parts of himself, and by doing so, the anger gave way to something else. Something more hopeful. The Green Arrow fights injustice just like the Arrow, but the tactic is not merely to beat it down. The Green Arrow wants to build upon the ashes of injustice. Oliver also recognizes the mask is not the only avenue in which he can be of service to Star City. He finally realized the man behind the mask can also have an impact.

Or at least... that's what Oliver tried to do. As usual our hero fails as much as he succeeds, but real change does not come without failure. The problem is Oliver does not understand where he went wrong. Team Arrow has fallen apart. Rene and Dinah betrayed him. Curtis turned his back on Oliver. And John Diggle, his brother, left him.

"You've become a better man, but a worse leader."

John's words are haunting Oliver because he doesn't understand them. How can he be a better man, the man John always asked him to be, and a worse leader?

Listen, I am 100% on Team Oliver with this one. That's straight up bonkers and Diggle doesn't have Vertigo as an excuse. We're also supposed to wonder what in the blazing hell happened to Oliver that he's wearing the Arrow suit, going full rage-a-thon, and walking into what is obviously a suicide mission (even for him).

*Drugs, drugs, druggidy, drugs* Oh sorry. We're supposed to be pretending we don't know why Oliver is cuckoo for cocoa puffs right now. My bad.

Source: felicityssoliver

So, we're flashing back to ten hours earlier. Now it's really important to remember we are supposed to be confused with the timeline. Both the police captain and the DA have accused Oliver of firing them to impede the Green Arrow investigation . Unfortunately, Oliver just fired them because they admitted to being Diaz's lackeys and not because he has actual proof. I think. Last week's episode was so many levels of screwy I kind of stopped paying attention to some of the details. Anywho, Oliver begs his genius wife to get some rock solid evidence against them so he can hold onto his day job. Also, avoiding prison would be neat.

The SCPD security monitors go white noise at exactly 10:13 every night, so Felicity rapidly deduces Diaz is monitoring his lackeys at that time. Oliver agrees and wouldn't you know that's prime Green Arrow time! Felicity immediately tells Oliver he can't go in there alone because suicide, but he's too jazzed about ending all his Diaz problems to listen.

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

Felicity, bless her heart, decides to play marriage counselor one more time and parent traps Oliver and Diggle into meeting into the bunker. Yes, she actually uses the words "parent trap" and it's awesome. I love one cupcake. Also, the original Parent Trap with Hayley Mills will always be the superior version. Come fight me.

It's a disaster. Both Oliver and Diggle are still extremely pissed off at each other, which is fair. This was one horrid fight. Diggle informs Oliver he's considering taking a job at A.R.G.U.S. and Oliver offers a solid burn in return:

“Last time you needed something from A.R.G.U.S., you had to steal it.”

I, once again, am on Team Oliver on this one. I don't mind the snippiness and think it's fairly warranted. If John is looking to find a purpose beyond Oliver Queen and live outside his shadow (and he is - even if he can't admit it yet), then I fail to see how A.R.G.U.S. is any different. Diggle needs a purpose of his own. As much as I will love seeing a Dyla team up, I don't think it really solves John's problem all that much. A.R.G.U.S. is Lyla's purpose. It always has been. I'm not saying John can't find purpose with his wife and her employer. He certainly can, but a lot of John's argument against Oliver was about striking out on his OWN. This isn't exactly an independent venture. So, I understand why Oliver may see some hypocrisy on the wall.

Diggle: Oliver, you keep up that attitude man you are gonna end up all alone.

Oliver: I've listened to your advice for the last six years. I think I've earned a reprieve.

Oliver has taken, what I feel, is a lot of unnecessary shit from everyone and quite frankly it's way more entertaining to see him swinging back than simply taking it. Felicity is disappointed her little make up session didn't end with bromance hugs and kisses, but Diggle is not surprised. He essentially tells Felicity Oliver is stubborn, alienates people with his attitude, and likes to be alone - and nobody knows that better than her.

It's an irritating comment and not a fair one. If that was all true than Oliver would have never married Felicity in the first place. Diggle keeps throwing ALL of Oliver's past mistakes in his face (and now Felicity's) to continue making his argument as to why Oliver is a crappy leader. Again, Diggle's beef and his snarky comments would have made so much more sense in SEASON THREE.

The real goal of the comment is to make Felicity worry Oliver will ice her out next, which is as about as mean as John Diggle gets. However, it's primarily intended to make us worry about the status of their marriage. I RAISED YOU BETTER THOUGH.

Oliver has a meeting with Councilmen Kullens who tells him he can't fire the very people who are investigating him. That looks really bad. Oliver insists the two are working for Diaz.

Kullens: From what I understand, Ricardo Diaz is a second rate drug dealer who was released from prison on a technicality.

He got the second rate part right. Kullens cannot fathom how a two bit hood like Diaz could possibly coerce city officials like the DA and police captain and oh my god it's even more stupid when I type it. Can we put an arrow in this guy? He bugs me. Kullens informs Oliver impeachment proceedings begin that afternoon and he'll have a chance to please his case then, which means Oliver is on the clock and needs to get some evidence FAST.

Oliver races home to check in with Felicity and take William to his science fair. The kid cloned cabbage. Yes, CLONED.

This is one character we never want to have a dark spiral on Arrow. Use your powers for good William. That's all I'm saying son.

On top of being a child genius, William is also extremely OCD about time. So, when Oliver comes in late his son is extra anxious to get going. This is my child in TV form. She puts her winter coat and snow pants on 20 minutes before she leaves for the bus, stands in the kitchen watching TV, so she's in direct eye line to clock because GOD FORBID she's a micro second late.

Unfortunately, the evidence Felicity compiles against Diaz is only something a police department to get their hands on or... the Green Arrow.

Oliver drops to that lower octave which increases the hot by several levels.

Felicity tries to joke her way out of it by telling Oliver to inform the council he's married to a super hacker and HUBBY IS NOT AMUSED. It's one thing for him to get imprisoned, but he cannot joke about it happening to Felicity. Ugh. I love him.

Unfortunately, Oliver's adorableness is short lived. He rapidly spirals into an asshole. Felicity tries to explain that she tried to set up a believable trail for the evidence but that she ran out of time.

Oliver: You ran out of time because you're focusing on making John and I reconcile instead of doing your job!

HIT THE DECKS. HUBBY IS ABOUT TO BLOW! I think my husband values his life to much to ever say something like to me, but he's been at this a little bit longer than Oliver. Give him a decade. He'll learn.

Felicity is WTF and rightfully so. They segue into arguing about whether or not Felicity is on Oliver's side.

(She is you big, angry tree trunk).

William chooses this exact moment to interrupt their argument by reminding his father that they are running late. When my parent's fought I found the nearest exit. Read the room kid.

Oliver blows. Big time. He yells at William while simultaneously destroying the science fair project. Ah man, that was cloned cabbage dude. That would have made an interesting salad.

Cue awkward silence and horrified looks from Felicity and William. I am so uncomfortable. This feels voyeuristic. *She says while having zero issues watching Olicity sex scenes on a loop.*

Source: @olivergifs

Oliver tries to apologize to William, who storms out, and explain to Felicity it was an accident but she tells him to get the fuck out. I added the fuck because that was the tone and if we were on cable it would have absolutely been there.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

MAMA BEAR MODE ACTIVATED.

Nobody messes with the cub. Not even Dad. Honestly, the addition of William was one of my big worries for Season 6 because I questioned how Arrow would integrate the child into the story lines. But William has become one of my favorite parts of the season, particularly when it comes to his relationship with Felicity. Felicity becoming the world's best step mother is not remotely surprising, but it doesn't lessen the joy watching it develop on screen. William has come to depend on her just as much as Oliver. Maybe even more because they bond frequently over their genius level IQs.

Sometimes you need to tell your child "Not right now" in a stern voice. Sometimes raising your voice is required. Sometimes you blow a fuse as a parent. We are, after all, only human and humans are imperfect. Parents make mistakes. Oliver raising his voice to William didn't bother me too much. Although, I think he could have directed a little more tough love when his son wandered off from the bunker into the field and almost got himself blown up. Screaming over being late to the science fair was a gross overreaction. A stern "take a number buddy" would have sufficed just fine. And yeah, sometimes you have to tell a kid twice because he’s a kid.

What bothered me was the violence of Oliver's reaction. The way he whirled around at William, breaking the science fair project as he did, wasn't simply frustration. It was rage. We haven't seen this level of rage from Oliver in an extremely long time. Even in his fight with Diggle, he tempered his anger and fought defensively during the brawl.

Oliver has a temper. It's a fact of his personality. Nearly every person in Oliver's life has been on the receiving end of it at one point or another - including Felicity. However, Oliver has directed a violent reaction to those who can physically take him on - Diggle, Roy, Rene and Dinah.

Oliver has always been calculated, even to a certain extent controlled, as to who he responds physically to in anger. He has NEVER reacted violently against those he views as physically defenseless against him.

His physical altercation with Thea was defensive even though Thea can kick his ass. He never took Laurel on even after she became BC and I know there were times he just wanted to lay her flat on her ass. The only real exception was when he confronted Moira as the Green Arrow, but she shot him so we see how that went.

There is only one time I can recall Oliver using his body in a physically threatening way against Felicity. Although, there was so much sexual tension I often wonder if he just used the moment to get up in her bubble and enjoy a little physical proximity. Regardless, there's a reason the first time Oliver Queen got in Felicity's Smoak's face was the last time. SHE was the one who put HIM down hard. Strength doesn't have to equate to the physical kind. Felicity Smoak is Oliver's match in every way. She puts his alpha male ass in its place every time he's ever tried to pull this nonsense with her, which is why it only happened once. Any time after was often in defense of others. Felicity always makes Oliver back down.

But this moment is different. The hair trigger rage we often saw in the early seasons of Arrow has returned and Oliver directed it at his son, a defenseless child. There's no excuse for it. Yet, Felicity's reaction is no different than the one we saw in 1x15.

She steps from behind the counter and defensively approaches Oliver with so much speed and protectiveness over William he is the one who immediately backs away.

Source: mingrose

The movement immediately forces Oliver to turn his attention away from William and direct it to Felicity. It's essentially Felicity putting her body between William and Oliver. That said, she always uses her anger and strength to deescalate the situation. Felicity essentially puts Oliver in a time out by kicking him out of the apartment and rightfully so.

So, obviously we are supposed to be asking what the hell is wrong with Oliver? Diggle's words are supposed to haunt us. Perhaps Oliver hasn't changed after all.

Oliver descends to his bunker of solitude. He's obsessively watching the video feed of white noise on a loop, so he's in a super healthy space.

The scrambling of the video and the white noise in between is symbolic for what's happening in Oliver's mind. He's on a loop of white noise that he can't figure his way out of.

There's a knock at the bunker door and this should have immediately tipped everyone off to something being amiss. Why would Felicity knock? When Oliver turns around she just appears. Out of nowhere she's standing behind him. He's startled and Felicity wonders why. Oliver tries to explain what he heard, but can't. The knock had a pounding, distant, echoing sound to it. Like someone trying to open a tightly shut door closed long ago. It's the sound of Oliver's past beating it's way open. He just doesn't know it yet.

Felicity has her arms tightly crossed and keeps her distance from Oliver. He immediately tries to explain what happened, but again he can't because Oliver doesn't understand it himself. He doesn't know why he lost it on William other than things are beginning to pile up.

That's as far as he gets. Felicity coldly and resolutely tells Oliver they should take some space. Oliver is heartbreakingly confused until he looks down at Felicity's crossed arms and realizes she took her ring off.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

The devastation rapidly begins to overtake his confusion, but even then this has to be a joke right?

Oliver almost laughs until he realizes it’s not. Then he becomes helpless as his world begins to crumble.

Source: @olivergifs

Felicity tells Oliver he crossed a line with William. A line he should never cross.

Felicity asking Oliver for a separation sounds like a protective measure for William, but it still doesn't make sense. It's a 180 degree turn. It's too fast. Too abrupt. If you are still harboring PTSD from the Olicity break up in Season 4, and particularly if you read cast interviews previewing the episode, it's understandable why this scene would be extremely alarming. For some, I am sure it was confirmation of a deeply rooted fear Arrow is going to divorce Olicity soon after they married them. This is just another stop in the never ending "will they/won't they" ride.

But there is something in Felicity's speech to Oliver that should have tipped you off something else was going on.

No matter how disappointed or angry Felicity is with Oliver this is simply not something she would ever say under any circumstance. Felicity never believed, not even for a second, that Oliver was the violent, rage filled, monster he tried to portray himself as and believed himself to be. And that's the key right there. This is something OLIVER would say.

William discovering the monster within is a deep rooted fear of Oliver's - not Felicity’s. She never believed the monster existed.

When Felicity looks at Oliver all she has ever seen is a man with a deeply good heart. Felicity always saw the light within Oliver, even when he could not see it himself. Especially when Oliver couldn't see it.

Felicity has admitted she fell in love with Oliver the first moment she met him because of what she saw. Her love is rooted in that belief.

That's not to say Felicity's belief in Oliver's goodness has not been challenged over the years. Particularly when Oliver was doing everything he could to make Felicity believe the monster was real and he was beyond change. Yet, time and again she saw through the facade of darkness to the truth - the light within.

Oliver has "killed" Felicity via LOA gas and shattered their life together with a lie that seemed almost impossible to forgive. I'm not saying yelling at William and shattering cloned cabbage wasn't bad, but I wouldn't rank it in the top ten worst things Oliver Queen has ever done. Let's remember she fell in love with him when he had a penchant for breaking necks. All I'm saying is, Felicity has a high threshold for Oliver Queen darkness.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

So, surgically cutting the cord on their marriage like this feels offs. Extremely off. It is Oliver who fears William will learn of his father's darker side. Not Felicity. Felicity confirming Oliver's worst fear, that he is truly a monster, doesn't sound like her voice. It sounds like Oliver's voice.

Now would be a real good time to remember Diaz and BS maniacally laughing over their last vile of Vertigo at the end of last week's episode. Although, I will give Arrow kudos. They did their level best to fool everyone with the way they cut this episode together.

Source: @olivergifs

The knocking returns after a heart to heart with Lance. This time it is louder and more insistent. Oliver cannot ignore it. Instinctively he picks up a gun, walks to the elevator doors as they open

Source: leraswift13

and there stands Adrian Chase.

Prommy is back to play mind games! TIME FOR SOME CRAZY!!!!

Oliver doesn't understand how Adrian can still be alive because, ya know, bullet to the brain. Adrian's response is basically, "It's Arrow man.. Didn't you fall off a mountain once? Nobody ever really dies."

Now, I know Oliver is trippin on the light fantastic, but that's some solid logic under Vertigo. I give him credit. Prometheus still scares the ever loving crap out of me and the ensuing battle with Oliver is more exciting than all the villains combined this season. I miss you Josh Seggara. Please come back.

Oliver holds Adrian in the same neck hold in 5x23. He dares Oliver to do it and once again we see the moral struggle tearing Oliver apart. He fights the urge once more, but then Adrian reminds him that his mercy cost the mother of his child her life. Oliver snaps when Adrian threatens William and Felicity once again. He snaps his neck.

Source: @olivergifs

Sparing Adrian's life was a moment of triumph for Oliver in Season 5. It was proof to Oliver that he was not the man Adrian Chase accused him of being. He knew the threat Adrian posed, but taking his life would simply be confirmation Oliver was a monster. Killing Adrian Chase would be proving him right.

If Oliver killed Adrian the island would have exploded and everyone, including Oliver, would have died. His mercy didn't stop Adrian from killing himself and ultimately killing Samantha, but that choice was Adrian's. Not Oliver's. There was no avenue Oliver could choose that would not result in the spilling of innocent blood. It is why Adrian Chase is so diabolically evil. Yet, Oliver still harbors guilt over Samantha. Particularly since Diggle used her death as a knife to twist in his back. He still believes there's a way he could have saved everyone, which is the curse of being a hero. The God Complex is often more crippling than any villain.

If you didn't figure out Oliver is hallucinating by the time Adrian pops up alive again, then I can't help you my friend. But if it helps Oliver figures it out and tells everybody what's going on.

Source: @olivergifs

Hallucinating Adrian Chase is the pitch perfect choice to show the manifestation of Oliver's fears. Refresher course - this is what Vertigo does. It really makes you wonder why anyone willing takes this drug if all you get from the high is seeing your deepest fears become real. Can't say that's a party favor I'd be interested in partaking in.

Oliver Queen essentially created Prometheus, so therefore Adrian Chase represented Oliver's darker half. Prometheus is what Oliver could have become if he never met John Diggle and Felicity Smoak. He was Arrow's most effective villain because he was a living confirmation of everything Oliver feared he was.

I give you The Adrian Chase As Oliver Queen's Inner Voice highlights:

Adrian: I always was the one person who saw you for the murderer you are. What are you doing? Oh you are running a blood test. you think you've been dosed with something. You know there is another explanation. A more likely one in my considered opinion. You're finally going crazy. It's completely understandable, Ollie. You've lost everything, even the people I couldn't manage to take from you. I really like this Ricardo Diaz. If he didn't exist I'd have to think of him myself. He's going about this exactly right. Don't hurt the people that you love. Just get them all to abandon you. It's actually the easiest thing in the world. I told you this Ollie. I told you this man! Everything you touch dies. What you're going through right now, losing your team, your wife, the impeachment, all of it is happening just like I told you it would. And nothing in that blood test is gonna change that.

Adrian: It's tough to say you're in a good place when your oldest friend leaves you high and dry.

Oliver: John made his choice.

Adrian: And deep down you know he's right. You've changed Oliver. Sure, maybe you are a better Oliver Queen. A happier Oliver Queen. But it has sure made you a worse hero. You have a wife, son, you're the mayor - all of which yes may be going away, but still it's a fair assumption. You are stretched too thin buddy. Maybe you've gotten so good at being Oliver Queen that the Green Arrow's mission is suffering. You may be happier, but the people that you love - they're not.

Yes, I typed that all out because every line is gold.

Source: dctvgifs

It's very difficult to watch Oliver's brain beat the shit out of him so effectively. Stay strong my son!

In a nice reverse from 3x01, Oliver and the Arrow come face to face once again. Only it's not Oliver Queen who is the villain. It's the Arrow.

For those wondering haven't we déjà'd this vu already, the answer is yes. But the point is to show the flip. Oliver isn't afraid of being Oliver Queen anymore. His fear has shifted into something else entirely. Oliver is afraid being Oliver Queen isn't enough.

He's become everything John and Felicity believed he could be. Oliver has embraced his humanity and in doing so has become a better friend, lover and father. He is actively trying to save the city during the day and in the night. Oliver is trying to be everything to everyone all the time. And yet everything is falling apart. Oliver is still losing everyone he loves. He is still all alone.

It's one thing to be afraid of embracing his humanity. It's another for Oliver to realize even when he does he still falls short. The city is still in shambles, people he loves still die, his team betrayed him, his best friend, wife and son left him and Star City is intent on taking not only his job, but his freedom. And it all happened when Oliver was being the very best version of himself.

Oliver compartmentalized himself because he feared if he merged the two personas then all that would remain is a monster.

It took a very long time,

and facing the absolute worst in himself, to realize there is a good man

under the mask.

However, now Oliver has combined those two personas and yet nothing is getting better. Trying to be everything to everyone and yet still not feeling like enough is crushing.

It's almost more comforting to believe he hasn't changed at all - that Oliver can understand. If Oliver Queen "the hero" is simply a facade, and the monster who fails and alienates everyone while leaving a trail of bodies in his wake still remains, then this all makes sense. As much as it terrifies Oliver, he can understand why everyone has finally left him.

Oliver chose to stop hiding from love.

It is the bond that tethers him to his humanity and what allows the light to break through all the pain, loss and trauma. He has chosen to love with everything he has, and to his horror, it's not enough. His love for his city is not enough.

Source: @olivergifs

His love for his team is not enough.

His love for his brother is not enough.

His love for his son is not enough.

His love for his wife is not enough.

Source: feilcityqueen

This is a different ballgame. It's not a repeat of Season 4. Oliver tried being his best self and FAILED.

Season 6 he succeeded, but it did not create any different result.

It's a confirmation of his worst fear. Any version of Oliver Queen is alienating. Any version of Oliver Queen is a failure.

Oliver always had the mask to blame. He always had the monster to hide behind as the reason why everything he touches he destroys.

But that's gone now.

He conquered his demons.

So, all he's left with is Oliver Queen, but he is incapable of building anything.

He will never be the man he wants to be, the man Oliver promised his father he would be, because that man still falls spectacularly short. That's almost a fate worse than death for Oliver. We've asked Oliver to try for six years. He did. He failed. So now what?

Source: @olivergifs

The only conclusion Oliver can come to is... he was right all along. The monster and the man are one in the same. Oliver will never escape the darkness because he is darkness. Whatever light he has is ultimately powerless to overshadow it.

So, suffice it to say Oliver is spiraling down the insanity hole. The drug is taking a stronger hold on him. He can no longer distinguish the lies from the truth. If he was right all along then the only option is to shut Oliver Queen down again. He lost sight of the mission and losing everything even as Oliver Queen proves to him that the mission is all that matters. He has become the mask and only the mask. The only way he can truly serve it is the way he originally intended. Alone and as the Arrow - the conduit for the darkness within.

If you think Oliver is off his rocker then you'd be right. HE'S ON VERTIGO. He's supposed to be off his rocker. None of this is right. Our boy is so many levels of wrong it'd take me another six years to explain all of them.

Oliver decides this is still a really excellent time to make decisions that will absolutely impact his ability to live as a free man.

Oliver hands over the evidence because it's the only card he has to play to stop the impeachment.

AND QUENTIN LET’S HIM! For the love of God man don't hand Oliver the bullet and help him load the gun! Tackle him. HE IS HIGH AS A KITE. This is not the time we allow Oliver to make decisions. This is the time we tie him to a chair!

Then, Adrian/Oliver convinces himself to go after Diaz.

Adrian: The only way to prove you are the hero you say that you are and keep being mayor is to take down Diaz tonight.

The way Chase uses his finger as a gun to Oliver's head when he says, "I'm in here" sends chills down my spine. It's a striking parallel to the last image we saw of Prometheus.

Adrian always believed Oliver would be the hand causing his own destruction and we are alarmingly close to him being right. Even closer than we were in Season 5.

Source: oliverxfelicity

Felicity and William return from the science fair and her purse starts beeping. Felicity has a GPS on Oliver's bow because that's the smart thing to do when he's fighting crime every night. So the newbies can pass me with their royal indignation. Don't want to get dead? Then get okay with trackers dipshits!

Enough of this hallucination bullshit. Let's get down to what is REAL and TRUE.

Felicity calls Quentin after Oliver doesn't pick up his cell and he fills her in on what's really going on.

Quentin: He said you kicked him out.

Felicity: No, I didn't. I would never!

For all those worried Arrow will eventually take another Season 4 route with Olicity, it’s time to let it go.

Arrow is not interested in will they/won't they with Olicity anymore. Admittedly, they drove that arc into the ground, but THIS episode is about the shift not only in Oliver and Felicity's relationship, but in the way Arrow views it.

Yes, they are going to have angst. Yes, they are going to face problems. Yes, they are going to fight. But none of this will break them apart. Their love is Arrow's anchor. It is what holds this show steady.

The pattern is the same Every. Single. Year. We get snip its of Olicity scenes punctuated by big episodes. 6x18 is a big episode with a big purpose. Arrow played on the audience's fears and insecurities with the promo and cast interviews, because they are Oliver's fears and insecurities too. The show is giving Oliver and the audience one last scare (because it's a television show and that's what television shows do), but now it's time to get down to business. Now it's time to deal in truth.

Oliver and Felicity are married. There are no more break ups. This is forever. PERIOD. Oliver will never leave Felicity and Felicity will never leave Oliver.

FUNDAMENTAL DEFINITION:

adjective

1. serving as, or being an essential part of, a foundation or basis; basic; underlying: fundamental principles; the fundamental structure.

2. of, relating to, or affecting the foundation or basis: a fundamental revision.

3. being an original or primary source: a fundamental idea.

noun

5. a basic principle, rule, law, or the like, that serves as the ground work of a system; essential part: to master the fundamentals of a trade.

There is a double meaning to the episode title. Yes, Oliver is returning to what he believes were the core “fundamentals” of the mission. However, Arrow is outright stating that the solidity of Olicity’s relationship is also a fundamental of the show.

Still don't believe it? Well, then buckle up because Arrow is going to show you how true it is with what can only be called FANFICTION COME TO LIFE.

William, bless his pure soul, eavesdrops on Felicity's call and is all in on mission "Save Dad."

Source: dctvgifs

He hands Felicity a pair of running shoes and holy mother of freaking crap I've never seen the show make this much sense! Felicity is wearing practical shoes in the field y'all!!!!!!!!!

Quentin does his best to stop the beast, but he's no match for Oliver on a regular day. Oliver high on Vertigo and reverting back to the Arrow? Umm... no chance Quentin. Oliver knocks him out cold. A for effort though bud.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

Felicity channeling her inner B*rry All*n to save her batcrap crazy husband is a big mood.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

Felicity saying she's going to save her husband is an even bigger mood. And Felicity saying the word husband is hotter than Oliver saying wife. I don't know why.

This is not the first time Arrow has used Felicity to break through Oliver's delusion,

but is the first time they've used such a direct approach. What follows is probably one of my all time favorite Olicity scenes - and that's saying something after being on the air for six years.

Source: feilcityqueen

Everything swimming in Oliver's mind is lies, so Felicity has to use the truth to break through. At first she tries using William because he used to be a hindrance to Oliver's willingness to sacrifice himself. However, even in the haze of crazy Oliver knows if he dies then William still has Felicity. He will never be alone. Typically, this should be a comforting line, and while it remains a beautiful commentary on the bond Felicity and William have formed, it is utterly terrifying to hear Oliver so willfully discard his own necessity in his son's life. And that's because of the lies in his mind. His love for his son is not enough. He is a monster. He is a failure. William will be better off.

So, Felicity uses another truth. It's the one she finally confessed to Oliver the day she asked him to marry her. The day all Oliver's dreams came true. Losing Oliver is Felicity's worst fear realized. Would he willingly do that to her? Will Oliver abandon her again?

Oliver believes he can't abandon what he doesn't have. Felicity left him first. Another hallucination Felicity can only combat with what is real.

Felicity calls Oliver baby. It's canon.

I really wish I could sew worth a damn because I'd embroider "I'm glue, baby" on a pillow. Also, be prepared for me to abuse that gif in asks. Fair warning.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

Oliver hears her voice and the truth in her words. He desperately wants to believe she is real, but he is so terribly lost. Oliver cannot see what is real with his mind. So, Felicity tells him to feel with his heart instead.

From the moment Felicity Smoak entered Oliver's life she found a way to not only touch his heart,

but to break it wide open.

Felicity has found Oliver every moment he's been lost.

Vertigo is not a challenge for Felicity Smoak.

She found her way through Oliver's darkness and showed him the light within.

He hears her words, feels the certainty of her love against his chest,

and Oliver knows who he is again.

Felicity's truth is the very beat of Oliver's heart.

Oliver reaches for Felicity's hand, holds her close, and lets the light guide him through the dark. Just like they've done before.

Just like they will always do.

Light can travel without end. It is infinite and so are Oliver and Felicity.

The relief Oliver feels is overwhelming and he smiles. Just like that the Arrow fades and Oliver Queen returns.

Diaz gets impatient and decides to attack,

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

which means we get an old school Olicity stunt.

I am super chill about it.

Felicity offers Oliver a Vertigo cure all based off of her hard core partying days of the past.

My kingdom to see Goth Felicity Smoak at a rave... high.

Quentin commends the bad assness that is Felicity Smoak while he recovers from his absolute trouncing.

All it takes is Felicity calling Oliver her man and he becomes a friggin rainbow. He is putty in her hands.

Source: @oliverfelicitygifs

I cannot even believe we are getting these lines.

There is so much eye sex in their trip down memory lane that I am convinced they took the Arrow suit home for their own special kind of spin.

Source: @oliverfelicitygifs

You know Felicity has fantasized, so I think it's high time they make it a reality.

Oliver's high on crazy has given way to clarity.

This is worrying given everything we've heard his brain say over the last hour. He's not completely throwing the baby out with the bath water. He remains committed to being a husband and father. He’d like to remain mayor, but finds out he's going to be impeached. Still, Oliver believes in the good he can do as the Green Arrow. However, he is reverting back to doing things alone.

Source: dctvgifs

Felicity stresses what a colossally bad idea this is back at the apartment, but Oliver is determined to separate his worlds again.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

Lord, boy. It took us five bloody years to get you to this spot, one fight with Diggle and some bad crack, and we're right back to Compartmentalization Oliver.

Oliver regresses in some way every single season. It's always a mistake and it always reveals some greater lesson Oliver has to learn. Comparatively speaking, this is fairly late in the season for Oliver to be regressing which in and of itself shows some character growth. It probably means we'll be dealing with the consequences of this choice into the beginning of Season 7.

So, where do I think this road leading? The fundamental and inescapable truth is compartmentalization does not work. Oliver was on the right track merging his two selves. Quentin is right. Oliver is a better man, but everyone's reaction to it (fueled by their own issues) is throwing him off. He will fail even as Oliver Queen and the Green Arrow, but that doesn't mean the path is wrong.

This road Oliver is about to travel alone is only going to lead to more problems. The season trajectory is pretty clearly moving from Oliver united with those he loves to Oliver separated from those he loves. My guess is prison. But I don't believe Oliver is the character who needs to change the most. My hope is watching Oliver travel this road alone, and still fighting to be the hero he is, will trigger change in the supporting characters. A fallen hero could stop all their childish nonsense and make everyone realize they have to stop blaming Oliver for everything and take responsibility for their own lives. I include Oliver in this as well. For better or worse, Oliver holds himself responsible for EVERYONE. And that's what he has to learn. Oliver is enough, but he cannot be everything.

Source: olivergifs

Quentin and Oliver

Quentin Lance is firmly wearing his Team Oliver hat this episode and it's a welcomed reprieve from his usual crazy pants talk. I guess since Oliver is going insane Quentin had to sober up - mentally speaking.

The scenes between Oliver and Lance are some of their best all year if not the duration of the show.

Source: @olivergifs

Oliver is still a young man trying to make his way through the world. The fact that he's also an orphan seems magnified now that Thea and Diggle have left him. Captain Lance, bless his soul, steps up into the father figure role Oliver desperately needs right now.

Oliver tells Lance Diggle quit the team and blames Oliver for its disintegration. Lance is quick to defend Oliver, who to his credit, does remind Quentin he's not there to witness Oliver's leadership style.

Source: @olivergifs

STANDING. FUCKING. OVATION.

A supporting character is talking sense y'all!

And it's LANCE. Did not see that coming given his trajectory this season. He's spot on. What Oliver has wanted more than anything from Quentin Lance is his respect and he has it. Oliver earned it with six years of hard work and NOBODY gets to take that away from him. Not even John Diggle.

Oliver calls Lance to give him the evidence that clears him of impeachment but incriminates him as the Green Arrow. Quentin asks what Oliver is going to do and he answers helplessly, "I don't know." He tearfully tells Lance that Felicity wants a separation and that he lost his temper with William. Oliver is as lost, alone and heartbroken as we've ever seen him. Quentin accurately points out that losing his shiznit on William is more of a night on the couch punishment and a separation is extreme. Ummm.... YEAH.

But Oliver simply believes Felicity has left him like everyone else. UGH.

Source: @olivergifs

This might be one of the most heartbreaking lines Oliver Queen has ever spoken

and again shows how much he's grown. The old Oliver would simply shut down and solider on. The fact that he's allowing himself to feel this pain and question where everything went wrong shows Oliver embracing his humanity rather than hide from it.

Quentin has probably the best answer and gives the most insight into what is going on with all the people in Oliver's life - particularly John Diggle.

Source: clevercloudpoetry

Can I get an amen?

This is as close as Arrow has come to confirming my suspicions about John Diggle. Oliver becoming a better man means he doesn't need John in the same way. That's incredibly painful for Diggle and would certainly cause him to question his life and purpose.

I am the youngest of three girls. My parents sold my childhood home when I graduated from high school and moved away to college. My father was anxious to move out of our increasingly violent area, but my mother had other motivations. She told me the house made her sad. Every where she looked was another memory of raising her babies and now we were all moved out. We didn't need her in the same way anymore and it hurt. My mother needed a fresh start - a new purpose. The new house was really good for her and allowed her to shift into the new phase of life with my father more easily.

Oliver has grown up and moved away to college for lack of a better word. Everywhere John Diggle looks on Team Arrow is another memory and a stark reminder that he's no longer needed in the same way he once was. He's looking for a fresh start and a new purpose. John needs something beyond raising Oliver Queen the same way my mother needed something beyond raising her children. Unfortunately, Diggle hasn't dug deep into any of this yet. Instead of some self reflection, John has relied on an old standby to explain his rudderless direction - it is all Oliver Queen's fault. John believes this is a stagnancy in Oliver's growth, and not his own, when in fact the direct opposite is true.

What has not changed is the power of Diggle's words and the impact they have on Oliver. He acknowledges what Quentin says might be true, but also fears Diggle may be right - that he hasn't changed at all. Quentin delivers another humdinger of a line:

"Come on. I don't buy that. From what you've told me about John and Curtis and all those guys - they've got their own issues alright? They're just putting them on you."

Hello Quentin Lance. I have missed you.

Source: @oliverfelicitygifs

Oliver's voice breaks when he asks Quentin about Felicity, but Lance is unwavering. He adamantly reassures Oliver that Felicity loves him and this will all blow over eventually. He just needs to stay the course and Quentin will be by his side. Robert and Moira Queen could not have done any better and I have never loved Quentin Lance more than in this moment.

While this speech gives me all the feels it also fills me with dreaded certainty. Lance is reminiscing about the past. He's admiring how far Oliver has come and is basically the perfect father figure. These signs tend to point to full character evolution. We are on episode 18. This means one thing:

Quentin Lance is going to die.

Just mentally prepare okay? His character arc has circled the drain all season with this "BS is my daughter" crazy. Now he's done a 180 by embracing sanity and offering wise and sage advice for Oliver. You know who else offered sage advice to Oliver just before their deaths?

Sara.

L*urel.

Sageyness is one of the seven signs of impending death on Arrow. Particularly when it comes to Lances. Prepare your souls.

Oliver and L*urel

Speaking of L*urel, we are paid a visit from Oliver's departed ex when he hallucinates his way back into the Queen Mansion (I miss the mansion y'all). There is L*urel,

Source: supercanaries

wearing her Red Coat of Pain.

Since Oliver's deepest fears often equate to his deepest guilt then seeing L*urel at her most innocent, before she knew about Oliver's cheating and the consequences for all parties involved that it unleashed, is not surprising.

Source: katie-mcgraths

In some ways, Oliver kept L*urel frozen in this time even when she was alive. The image of who Oliver saw L*urel as, eternally innocent and broken by his deceit, never quite matched up to the woman we saw on screen. Particularly when Arrow went above and beyond to show L*urel was anything but innocent.

Sara: Do you remember when you spilled that beer on me at Tommy’s party? Well, I wasn’t even supposed to go. But I snuck out out of the house because I knew you were gonna be there. And I had this embarassing crush on you. And, Laurel she knew it. And that’s why the party got broken up by the cops. She tipped off our dad. Then I was grounded for a month and the next thing I knew... you and Laurel were together.

Oliver: You think she did all of that on purpose?

Sara: Not everybody is what they seem.

L*urel was not broken by Oliver's deceit, but by her own anger.

What's important to remember is this isn't Adrian's voice we're hearing. This is Oliver. So everything Adrian is saying is what OLIVER believes.

How he really feels about L*urel becoming the BC is not a pretty picture.

Adrian: My question is why did you let her become the Bl*ck C*n*ry in the first place? She's a lawyer. What, after a couple self defense classes and a few sparring sessions you think she's ready to go handle thugs and killers?

I mean... he's not wrong.

It's refreshing to actually HEAR Arrow admit to the unbelievability of L*urel's training. Yeah yeah, I know she trained with a boxer/vigilante for a couple episodes. Somehow that's supposed to equate to the years Oliver spent training with martial arts experts, an ASIS agent, a highly skilled and lethal Russian mob organization, and an elite member of the League of Assassins. Or the years Sara trained with the League of Assassins. At least they gave Thea six months of intensive training with Malcolm Merlyn, who was also trained by the LOA.

Oh that's right. She trained with Nyssa too. For three episodes (that we saw). L*urel was barely able to stop a knife attack in 3x21 (after supposedly training with Nyssa for several weeks) and then suddenly she's taking several armed LOA members down in 3x22. But you bet, totally believable arc. Made total sense.

Oliver harbors serious guilt over L*urel's death and this hallucination is simply a manifestation of that. There are truths, but also a hefty dose of lies.

Source: supercanaries

The primarily lie being Oliver believing he could have stopped L*urel from becoming BC, or is responsible for the life she chose, or her death in any way. The truth is Oliver wasn't supportive of LL becoming BC and he did everything he could to stop her.

In fact he told L*urel, to her face, he thought she was a liability, a loose cannon in the field, and was going to get herself killed one day.

And he was fucking right.

Oliver begrudgingly accepted her decision, but that was primarily because Diggle and Felicity illogically had L*urel’s back.

JOHN DIGGLE IS A SPECIAL FORCES SOLIDER AND HE SIGNED OFF ON LL IN THE FIELD WITH NO TRAINING AT ALL. AGAIN, MAKES TOTAL SENSE SHOW.

Quite frankly, Oliver had bigger fish to fry in Season 3 and he had to move on.

After L*urel resurrected Sara in Season 4, who then tried to kill Thea and put her in the hospital, she threw another "it's all about me" bitch fit

and Oliver folded.

He helped get Sara's soul back and all of their issues were swept under the rug.

Then Arrow killed L*urel.

So, listen buddy. Sure, L*urel eventually worked her way to capable, but to be frank you had very little to do with it and THAT'S where the guilt comes from. The sparring sessions you speak of only took place a few episodes before she died. This is Oliver's God Complex rearing his ugly head again. Maybe if he trained L*urel more (or at all), maybe if he protected her better in the field, maybe if he found a way to keep her out of the field entirely - then she would be still be alive.

Nope. Sorry fella. None of that would have worked, because L*urel was L*urel and she was gonna do what she damn well pleased. Never mind the fact that Damien Darhk magically froze the team and they were all essentially defenseless when he killed her, but that's just details. Oliver thinking he is somehow responsible for her death in any way takes away from the legitimate heroism L*urel earned.

He understood that in Season 4, but he's pretty high right now. So, I'll give him a pass this time.

Legit question though. If you are a LL fan - why are you still watching Arrow?

I am curious, because I have never seen a show so willingly shade their own creation at every turn like Arrow does with LL. They flat out called her BC arc a bunch of illogical nonsense.

I appreciate the brutal honesty from the show, but it's a zing that packs some punch. After six years of this aren't y'all tired? A few interspersed scenes of Bl*ck S*ren should as hell wouldn't keep me around.

Straight Thoughts

I've never felt so spiritually connected to Felicity Smoak in all my life. Source: felicitysmoakgifs

I appreciated that Arrow used a flashback during Oliver's hallucination with Rene to show his injury was not remotely Oliver's fault. I like when my show talks sense.

Oliver's hallucination of the newbies was the most accurate. They are petty babies in real life too.

Adrian's scar on his temple from the bullet wound is unnerving.

Don't ever kill Raisa again, show. My heart can't take it. Not even when it's fake.

"I always wondered why nobody just does that. Kill you straight." Diaz needs to watch Season 3. See how that option goes. Source: dctvgifs

"Not a great track record when it comes to hiring DA's though." Of all of Adrian Chases' lines are fab, but this is my fave.

This evil cupcake. Source: olivergifs

"He's buying us expensive gifts if he knows what's good for him." Felicity wifes like I wife.

I love this kid. Source: olivergifs

Arrow wisely previewed an Olicity kiss for the all villain ep this week.

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me. 6x18 gifs credited.

#arrow #olicity #arrow 6x18 #oliver queen #felicity smoak #arrow reviews #quentin lance #arrow spoilers #anti laurel lance #anti black canary #anti lauriver #arrow season 6 #season 6 episode review #season 6 episode reviews

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darkgreiga · 6 years ago

Text

Wishes, Dreams, and Memories Chapter 24

Fandom: Rune Factory 4 Rating: T (to be safe) Genre(s): Adventure, Hurt/Comfort Characters: Lest, Dolce, Pico, Amber, Dylas, Leon, Frey, Arthur, Margaret, Forte Summary: She had a wish to see him again. He had a dream of her last moments. They had their memories of having only each other. The amnesiac Earthmate never knew that by bringing his best friend back wouldn’t make his daily life go back to normal. Nor did he know she was the key to his and his ancestors’ past. Chapters: list Navigation: <<prev | next>> Author’s notes: Sorry for another late update! Here’s the new chapter!

Chapter 24 – Unexpected

“Achoo!” The sneeze coming from the hazel-haired Earthmate echoed throughout the snow-covered forest.

“Are you okay Lest?” Frey asked worriedly, “Do you bring any thicker clothes? Or do you have any warmer armor equipped?”

“No, I’m fine,” Lest rubbed his hands in order to warm himself a bit more, but noticed that his sister wasn’t wearing any thicker clothes and she didn’t look like she was bothered by the weather, “Your clothes don’t look like they’re any thicker than mine, so how come that you don’t look too bothered by the cold?”

“Huh? Well, it’s…” As the green-haired Earthmate looked around nervously, an idea suddenly came into her mind, “Military training! Yeah, that’s it! My training makes me more resistant to the cold!”

“The young lady is correct,” A voice came from behind the bushes as an armored man walked towards them, “Sechs soldiers are trained to be able to withstand the extreme weather, from this cold weather to the burning hot summer. That kind of weather resistance training is just the beginning, sadly…”

“I hear you, Kane,” Frey commented sympathetically with Lest watching them curiously.

“Is it that cold here?” The ghost girl popped in the middle of the three, “I don’t feel anything at all, to be honest.”

Lest could feel that Pico was expecting to be struck down with the comment saying that she shouldn’t be able to feel cold as a ghost, which was something he often heard coming from a certain Guardian. Her being missing had left a hole within Lest and Pico, who were Dolce’s closest people other than her adoptive parents. A trade offered by the Sechs would allow them to get their Guardian friends back, but both Lest and Frey had to come for the in exchange.

“Hey uh… Lest, right?” Kane called out to Lest, “If you’re worried about your wife, let me say that I can ensure that she, along with the rest of the Guardians, are safe and sound. It may sound like an empty promise, but I know that the current Sechs won’t be as traitorous as you knew before.”

Lest saw the honesty and trust from the soldier’s eyes and gave him a nod, “Okay, I’ll trust you. Now let’s get going.”

“Right,” Kane replied with a nod before he started walking away, “It’s this way.”

The Earthmates and Pico followed Kane through the forest which seemed to have the same scenery no matter how long they had walked. Years had passed since Lest came into the area when he was trying to recover the stolen rune spheres and the scenery of the Sechs’ territory had changed completely. They hadn’t come across any monsters or any other soldiers, making the area almost like it had been completely abandoned. It felt like it was completely void of life until the suddenly rustling coming from the snow-covered bushes from their side.

Kane responded by having his hand ready on his sword hilt as he looked around the small clearing they were in. Seeing the soldier’s response, Lest and Frey had their weapons ready as well with Pico looking around for any signs of danger. Frey suddenly stepped to the side and quickly spun her spear, reflecting an incoming arrow from the side.

“Everyone, spread out!” Kane yelled out and the four of them quickly moved in different direction as a big boulder landed hard on the spot where they used to be.

Once the dust had cleared, an army of Sechs soldier had already been waiting in front of them. The archers behind the armored soldier began raining the group with arrows, which was easily blown away with Lest’s wind magic and Frey’s spinning spear. Kane charged towards the soldiers, hitting the soldiers with his sheathed sword before elbowing them out of the way.

“Pico, stay behind us!” Lest called out to the ghost girl, who shook her head in disagreement.

“I’m fighting too! I’m doing this to find Dolly!” Pico flew ahead of them, making the soldiers swing their swords all over the place as she kept on teleporting to dodge the incoming swords.

“We’ll have to clean these guys fast,” Frey took out her hammer, “We’re running out of time here.”

Lest nodded in agreement, “Yeah,” Lest got his dual blades ready, “We need an opening to get through them.”

Nodding at each other, Lest and Frey charged toward the incoming soldiers. Lest dodged a sword aimed at his head before he brought down the blade on his left to the back of the soldier. The attack landed hard as the soldier fell down to the ground, but another had come as a backup towards him. Lest had his back completely turned to the incoming soldier, but another one had collided with him just in time before Lest could get hit.

The flying soldier had come from Frey’s side of the field, which had produced soldiers flying towards many different directions. The soldiers who could get close enough to her would either get elbowed hard on the gut or a punch in the face, leaving her almost completely untouchable. Another hammer user from behind as she was sending the others flying everywhere, knocking her towards Lest.

Lest was pushed back as he was blocking an attack from a soldier, completely unaware that his sister was flying towards him. They both collided and were sent towards a dead tree, landing on the cold snowy surface. As Lest was knocked out cold under her, Frey tried pushing herself up and got ready for another round of fighting, unaware of the weak ground beneath both of them.

Pico had teleported out of the field and towards the Earthmates as she noticed what happened to them, “Lest! Frey!”

“I’m going to be fine!” Frey brushed off the snow from her clothes, “Take care of Lest while… huh?”

Cracking sounds could be heard from the area they were in, loud enough for Kane to notice it. Kane quickly turned to the soldier he locked swords with and swung it hard enough for the soldier to be thrown to the side before he quickly ran to their side, “Lest! Frey! Watch out!” It was too late for Kane as the ground beneath Lest and Frey collapsed and the two Earthmates fell into the deep dark hole.

“… st… Lest… Lest!”

Frey desperately called out to her brother, but was relieved when Lest slowly moved his body around. The male Earthmate could feel pain on his head as he sat up, still unaware of the unfamiliar surroundings. Lest kept holding his head as he opened his eyes to see that the surrounding area was bright.

He raised his head and saw a blurry pond of light in the distance, “Where… is this?”

“Are you two okay!?” Pico suddenly popped out in front of them, surprising Frey enough for her to cling to Lest.

“Y-Yes, I think…” Frey was still in shock before turning to Lest, who was slightly choked by the grip she had on him, “Sorry!”

Lest let out a loud sigh as Frey let him go, “Yeah, that’s okay…”

“Now that’s aside…” Pico turned around to look at what seemed to be a pond of light from the distance, “What is this place anyway?”

“Somewhere underground, that’s for sure… wait,” Frey suddenly took off towards the pond, prompting Lest and Pico to run after her.

“Wait up!” Lest called out before he stopped beside Frey, right in front of the pond of light.

Frey was looking at the pond in shock and the pond was actually bigger than it was seen from the spot where they fell. It was bigger than the Dragon Lake back in Selphia, but the lake wasn’t filled with water. Runeys were flying around and from the lake before they went through the ceiling of the unknown cave the three of them were in.

“So this is it… the rune lake…” Frey spoke up in awe, surprising the other two.

“Rune lake… so you mean…”

“Yes,” Frey nodded, “This is the place we’re supposed to find and protect.”

Pico flew on top of the lake and looked down, “It’s warm… and yet I usually can’t feel it…”

Frey looked down at the lake, “The amount of runes is still low, but it’s still at a safe level.”

“Tell me,” Lest spoke up, “Why are we supposed to protect this place? And from what should it be protected?”

“Because,” Frey extended her hand to touch a runey before it turned into a small ball of light, “this is where pure runes are from. Runes free from evil souls, but also very sensitive to that kind of corruption. Pure rune energy is the strongest form of rune energy, which is enough to turn a regular human being into… an Earthmate.”

“So that’s why…”

“Yes, but not just a regular human being can become an Earthmate,” Frey continued, “Only the person with the purest heart to do good deeds can become one.”

“What if it’s someone who wants power? What would happen then?” Lest asked.

Frey could feel a slight ache in her heart, even though Lest was referring to another person. Letting him know the answer should have been fine, but things would turn out bad for her should he know about her past, “I… don’t know…”

“I see…” Lest replied calmly.

Lest, having completely forgotten about his past, was still confused of his supposed responsibility as an Earthmate. He was in awe with what he had seen, but he couldn’t feel any special connection with the lake. He assumed that he either had never been to that place or he simply never knew about the rune lake. He looked around for a possible exit to the surface as the hole they came from was too high up and luckily found a path leading out of the place.

“Frey,” Lest spoke up, “While it’s good to know that we’ve found the place you wanted to find, I think we should leave this place for now.”

“I know what you mean,” Frey replied, but she was still looking at the lake, “Can you two leave me here for a short moment?”

“Okay, if that’s what you need,” Lest turned to Pico, who was still hovering above the lake in awe, “Come on, Pico.”

Lest and Pico left for the exit while Frey stayed behind and closed her eyes. The floating runeys responded to her action as they flew around faster and seemed like they were pouring out of the lake. The female Earthmate suddenly felt a sharp pain in her hands and the pain led her to open her eyes which gave her a horrifying sight.

Her hands were turning invisible as she felt the pain in her hands, as if her hands were being pulled out of her arms forcefully. She held her hands together while holding down the pain as a part of her arms had started turning invisible as well, ‘Not now… Please, not now! Just… a while longer…’

The pain on Frey’s hands and arms slowly faded as they turned visible once more, making the Earthmate sigh in relief. Frey noticed that the runeys were back to normal, flying around the area in a normal pace. Frey held her necklace firmly before walking away and towards the spot where Lest and Pico had been waiting for her.

“Are you sure we’re not going deeper?” Pico asked as she followed the two Earthmates in front of her, “It’s just getting darker and darker.”

“I hope not…” Lest replied tiredly, “It feels like we’ve been walking for hours now…”

“No, I think we’re going somewhere else,” Frey spoke up, getting the attention of the other two, “This might be our only way of getting out of here, but I can feel that this isn’t going to be a pleasant journey out of this place. I can feel that the rune energy flowing around this place is corrupted.”

“If the runes are corrupted, I think we’re close to the very people we’re supposed to see,” Lest responded, “I just hope that Dolly and the others are there and unharmed.”

“Yeah…” Pico nodded with a frown on her face, before she noticed some light coming from the front, “Huh? Are we almost at the exit?”

“I think we’re almost there!” Lest took off along with Frey and Pico, finding themselves inside a building made of stone walls.

“This doesn’t look like an exit…” Pico commented.

Frey looked around cautiously before she put her hammer beside her, “On your guards, you two. I sense that we’re not alone here.”

Lest looked around on guard as he held on to his dual blades, before noticing the silhouette of a monster behind him. He turned around and pointed his swords, but all he saw was a black spiky thorn coming out from the ground, covered with colorful flowers. As he had his back turned against the unfamiliar guest, he was tackled into the ground before he had the chance to react.

Lest quickly turned around and the shape of the silhouette became clearer to him as it left into hiding, “I know… I know that form!”

#rune factory 4 #rf4 #fanfiction #fanfic #adventure #hurt/comfort #rf4 lest #rf4 frey #rf4 pico #original character

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intrepidmare · 8 years ago

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My observations watching 🎯 Arrow 5x20 "Underneath"

Note: I so freaking loved this episode!!! I've seen it literally like 10 times already. It has an issue or 2 that bothers me, but I ignore that and enjoy the rest. I was too excited last night to write any of my scene-by-scene reactions, and reviews with a more general approach are better, so I decided to continue to do them this way. I can't guarantee that this would organize as could be, 'cause I'm still too hyped about it, anyway... Let's get started and get ready for a long review!

Olicity in the present day:

OMG! I love that they were forced to confront their issues! AT LAST!! It makes you wonder if Prometheus a shipper too hehehehe. Despite of everything he’s done, we have to thank him one thing at least. Anyhow, it's been way too long for Oliver and Felicity to have the talk. Altho, I'd have like them to fight even more, like Dyla did. Yelling at each other, really yelling and letting everything out (well Felicity yelled a bit --I loved she telling 'I told you so' to Oliver).

I wish sometimes that Oliver stopped being so stubborn!! He knows by now that all he needs to do is what his wifey tells him. Why he even tries to go against that?! Let's hope this new scar reminds him that for the rest of his life. Putting aside my desires to strangle him for that, poor baby!! After that fall, ouch ouch, ouch. You could see how bad he was injured since the beginning, touching his back, limping, and sitting down every time he could. No good signs. That man has the will and strength of a thousand men, 'cause even being in so bad shape, he managed to carry Felicity on his back down the tunnel and then up the to the surface. Not only that! He pulled her up when almost fell. I almost laugh at Felicity when she told him to let her go. Yeah, riiiiiight! Like if that would ever happen. Please, it's ridiculous to think that he would! Oliver would chop his own head off first!

Funny side note: Oliver always complaining about the pain when Felicity is treating him; any other time he take it without flinching, with her... not so much. though he had all the right to complain this time. it was a really big and bad boo-boo

Okay now to the angsty part. God, the scene of Oliver confessing to Felicity broke my heart in a zillion of pieces. I'm not okay after that. All I wanted was to hug my baby!! And I gotta say that once more, Stephen made a spectacular performance there. Honestly, his acting in this season has been off the charts. I'm impressed the delicate changes in his speech as the scene progressed. You can notice how he was losing strength as he went on. Not like typically actors do that in one sec they're speaking normally and the next they're unconscious.

Can we talk about how Felicity was against Oliver's chest with her hand over his heart like making sure that was still beating? I'm-- I'm not ok.

And Felicity's speech didn't help me either. So much feels!! Gosh how I missed those Olicity moments. I hope that now we'll get more and more of them.

Do you know what else I loved? The way that Felicity injected the adrenaline into Oliver. No thinking, no hesitation. She did what she needed to do. Our badass cupcake has come a loooooooooong way from not liking blood and afraid of needles to stitching Oliver like a pro and stabbing a needle into his heart.

Olicity in the flashbacks:

Oh so much heart eyes, flirting, touching, salmon ladder, sex!! YESS!!! And *sighs* hard truths. I think that the reason they made so lit at the beginning was to have a more painful effect at the end. I should complain about the sex not being so hot as in 3x20 but I kinda expected that it would be this way so it didn't crush my expectations, but it's olicity sex so YAYYY!! WOOHOO!! (another side note: I won't see the sparring mat the same EVER AGAIN!)

The fallout... well, it was as painful as I thought it was gonna be. I prepared myself for that so...

Altho, that doesn't explain how they got from that to how they were in 5x01. I guess I need to add that the things that don't make sense (I'm talking about that below) However, both Felicity and Oliver said hard truths to each other. And It was nice to see later on that for once Felicity apologized for walking away. That was necessary. Because their problems are not only Oliver’s fault. Felicity also shares part of the blame.

OTA:

OMG!! I LOVED that scene when Dig goes down to meet Felicity and Oliver halfway. The best!!!

Dyla:

I'm sooooooo glad they're working on their issues and got on track. I gotta say that even it isn't okay that Lyla kept things from Diggle or stole Curtis' t-spheres, she was absolutely right in calling him a hypocrite, cuz yeah, he was... a bit. I mean is okay when Oliver and the team sent Slade and others to Lian Yu Supermax or to work in the Suicide Squad (without trial), but is not okay that she has black op sites to hold her prisoners? And she also was right when she told him that John has Oliver's back not matter what he does, but when it comes to her, his WIFE, he doesn't do the same. Fortunately, Dig is much evolved and mature (and MUCH less stubborn) that someone else we know, so he apologized soon enough.

Curtis:

After this episode, I've forgiven him for ALL the annoying things he had said and will continue saying. I have to! We have to thank him for his little set-up that pushes Oliver and Felicity to have sex! I know that the end was painful but Curtis managed to orchestrate what we've been wanting to see for over a year now.

Adrian and William:

Yeah, I knew that would happen in the moment when Adrian showed Oliver the picture back on 5x17. And seriously?!! After all that's happened, nobody has taught William not to speak with strangers?!!!

Something good that could come out of this is Oliver realizing that keeping his son away doesn't protect him from harm!! in fact, makes him more vulnerable.

Things that don't make sense:

Felicity's wheelchair conveniently in the bunker. Last time we saw that chair was in the loft, how it got to the Arrow cave and why?

I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering why Felicity was so cheerful in the Flashback (I choose to think that she was faking it, you know smiling on the outside and dying on the inside) 'Cause what the hell happened with Heavenrock guilt and all that?

Curtis turning lights on when there's daylight? I mean I get it if it had been AFTER realizing the elevator didn't work, but first? like.. why?

Oliver hitting his head (several times) during the fall and not getting a concussion. I know he's hard-headed, but Arrow writers downplayed his injuries as usual. Of course he had more than enough with the hole in his back, but still!

Post-sex talk doesn't explain Olicity attitude in 5x01

Oh! And somebody needs to tell me which lipstick brand Felicity uses, ‘cause after all that smooching and lovemaking, her lips were perfectly glossed (as the rest of her make-up)

Memorable lines:

"What's next for my favorite power couple?" --Curtis

"You know what he can't change? "What?" "That way he looks at you" --Curtis & Felicity

"My math is probably right, but what if it's wrong?" "Are you still Felicity Smoak?" "Yeah" "Your math is always right" --Felicity & Oliver (Oh gosh, he killed me with that!!)

"I believe in you" --Oliver to Felicity

"Hang on tight.... Not that tight. Not that tight" --Oliver (That made me laugh)

"It's not about not trusting you. I always trust you. I don't trust myself." --Oliver.

"I've always appreciated you doing the salmon ladder but never as much as in this moment." --Felicity

"I'm not going anywhere." --Oliver

@felicity-said--yes // @emmaamelia95 // @coal000 // @miriam1779 // @muslimsmoak // @acheaptrickandacheesyoneline // @wanderingmmries // @laurabelle2930 // @hope-for-olicity // @nalla-madness // @vaelisamaza // @cris101071 // @oliverfel4 // @mel-loves-all // @imusuallyobsessed // @smkkbert // @almondblossomme // @djeniiscorner // @mtb1002 // @tdgal1 // @pjcmfalcon // @missafairy // @emarasmoak // @felicityollies // @marytagus // @lalawo1 // @scu11y22 // @bitchwhwifi // @wherethereissmoak // @jaspertown //

#my observations watching #arrow #arrow 5x20 #underneath #review #tv show: arrow #Arrow season 5 #season 5 #spoilers #arrow spoilers #Olicity #Felicity Smoak #Oliver Queen #my babies #olicity sex

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tumblunni · 8 years ago

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Oh mannnn Rune Factory why are you so good at making friendships feel so genuine with fictional characters Like, it legit is good therapy when you’re lonely! It just leaves you with this contented feeling. And they somehow managed to achieve it through doing like basically nothing?? Its so good because they leave the options open for you to form your own fanficcy thoughts! There is SO MUCH of that! The characters’s AI wandering around the town doing random stuff and occasionally bumping into each other and having a short emoticon conversation like in the sims. That’s just so weirdly theraputic to watch, its like watching an aquarium?? And so many fanfic ideas when the ‘conversation’ is something interesting with an interesting combination of characters. What would happen if Porcoline flirted with Leon! What exactly was forte doing carrying that melon? SO MANY IDEAS!! And then like... i DO wish that you could do more stuff with the characters when you’re paired up, but its still really cute and friendshippy to just be paired up while doing everything, even the characters never aknowledge it or join in. You can imagine what would happen if they did, cos they have such well-developed personalities! It feels like having a fun afternoon with two of your friends doing [insert thing here], and then when you pair up with just one character you kinda somehow feel its a bit more intimate and wanna impress them?? like, I know now that characters dont gain any friendship points for fighting together even though fighting together is the one thing they actually can do together. But I still just HAVE to go find my two faves and fight together with them! Every time! Whether its a plot event or exploring together or collecting items together! porcoline, help me go pick mushrooms, u is the chef~! It would be so cool if they got given passive skills that had bonuses to certain things and levelled up as their friendship increases!! Like Porcoline actually does increase the probability of food items dropping from monsters. And just AAAAAA why do I have to go grab a character and pair up before I do work, even when I know the game doesnt aknowledge anything thats happening with gameplay. You give me the opportunity to put anyone in my party when their schedule is free, and even if there is ABSOLUTELY NO BOON TO THIS CTION I still wanna sit outside arthur’s office like a lovesick puppy waiting to give him his morning packed lunch and then take him with me to till the farm and craft eyeglasses. And I wanna take Dylas to go fishing!! I was so lucky once that I arrived at the beach when his Daily Randomized Action actually was fishing, and I could pretend we were fishing together with friendship~! He doesnt fish too when he’s in your party when you fish :P And then the only actual interaction that they do have is sometimes giving you gifts when you talk to them, same as when you talk to them when theyre sitting as static npcs in their house. But AGAIN it just makes me fanfic and roleplay that me and this character are having a fun day doing [action] and then what silly antics would occur if they gave me [randomized present] at this moment! And sometimes the choice of dialogue and present clashes hilariously, and sometimes it works so well to make it extra heartwarming! like Porcoline gave me a present on HIS OWN BIRTHDAY! i came along and gave him is present and he gave me one back, its like NOOOOO U R TOO NICE THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS!! And i know it was just randomized chance but it was so in-character that it made me smile! Also I know that any extra presents you give them after the first present don’t make any difference to your friendship points, but I felt so bad that I didn’t have anything Doug likes for his birthday so I gave him like five neutral gifts. And AGAIN the game doesnt actually aknowledge when you give someone a weapon you’ve fully built up to level 10 but I always feel so happy doing that with my main weapon when i gain a new one, i have to give it to someone else who could use it. Porco had my super strong gale edge that I won from the first harvest competition and used for half the game, and its so neat that they actually do use the weapon you give them! WE STRONGE DUAL BLADE BUDDIES BEING STRONGE! (tho then I managed to craft the leek blades that are super good for porco so now he’s got those) And BTW its so funny cute that Porcoline has a self-healing ‘spell’ that’s literally just him eating a sandwich mid-battle. As far as I know he’s the only npc who can mimic the player’s item-using animation, nobody has an actual inventory when theyre travelling with you. Oh and Clorica can do the same but different! She can mimic the player’s sleeping action and fall asleep on the ground to recover her HP. I love in-character npc-only variants of skills, thats such a cute idea! Tho I kinda wish I could hack them onto my character to replace the default Cure, lol! Oh and AAAAA I like.. skipped the entirety of Fall?? I hit 8 hearts with Arthur at the beginning and didn’t realise that the game glitches out and won’t let you confess if the character is part of a Town Event. Arthur had one dialogue line in Forte’s quest to ride an elephant, so he didnt show up when he asked to meet me and I thought I’d been stood up but then he acted like I’D stood him up?? And he was stuck in a dialogue loop of ‘I have something to tell you now- I CANT TALK RIGHT NOW’ and then when the town event ws over he was mad at me and wouldnt accept a second confession until he hit 9 hearts. So I literally did nothing every day for a month but hang with arthur and hug him and give him gifts, blazing through to 9 hearts at ridiculous stubborn speed! i felt so bad that all the other characters are sad you havent talked to them in 15 days :P But I was happy that I finally got a second chance to confess PRECISELY on the 1st of Winter, and we had heartwarming cuddles in the freshly fallen snow. And then i was too tired from staying up all night romancing a fictional taxkeeper so I saved the game and passed out. OH, but not until after I added Arthur to my party and just skipped around the snowy town with him for ten minutes! I gave him an umbrella and pretended the two characters were having a romantic walk underneath it. I AM SO ON THE SHIPPING TRAIN, MY GUYS! I cant believe I came here for the two monster boys and got attatched to mr normal nerdman prince before I even had a chance to see either of their events :P I wanted to maybe try seeing all the relationship events with all the batchelors but I just felt so guilty like I was cheating on arthur, cos he was the one I picked first... Man, i shoulda saved picking a boyfriend til the endgame and then made three savefiles to see them all :P BUT I AM STILL HAPPY WITH ARTHUR!!! soft man, walking hug nerd in a snuggie my character’s dream boy When a game can provoke such attatchment to the love interests in a completely asexual player then u kno u done rite NOBODY IS SEXY BUT EVERYBODY IS SOMEONE I WANNA SEE SMILING Let me resolve your plotline arthur I want you to have a happy marriage You can hug all my pet monsters and i’ll make you turnip stew every morning and AAAAAA I love learning what everyone loves, i love that arthur is one of the ones with many different fave presents. He likes turnips and new spectacles and cute fluffy things! And Dylas likes fish and carrots and milk he has THREE FAVOURITE FOODS, what a cutie!! And Dolce likes tea and sweets and hot chocolate aka THE PERFECT FUSION OF BOTH. And also she’s started liking medicine and doctor-related gifts after being adopted by the cute doctor couple, its so sweet she’s aspiring to be like them!! And porcoline eats literally all my cooking crafting successes and I wouldnt have it any other way!! and AAAA you can give people HATS and they WEAR YOUR HATS so you can see arthur actually change glasses when you give him new ones and porco wears ribbons on his hat that already exists and these two have been my party for LIKE FOREVER and I love them and i totally headcanon arthur seeing porcoline like a dad since they started working together! He has sad dialogues about how he had a bad relationship with the king and how he was raised entirely by servants, so porcoline reminds him of that. And cute stories like how when he was working late at night he walked outside his door and there was a mysterious homecooked meal out of nowhere. yeah porcoline TOTALLY made a midnight snack and just forgot not to eat it, suuuuure! porco is always trying to trick him into taking care of himself, its so damn sweet!! And you get similar dialogues from everyone else working at the restaurant and just GAHHH forever headcanoning arthur and dylas as Official Adopted Members Of The De Saint-Coquille Noble Bloodline. I wish they had more interactions together tho, even if they arent like brothers its odd that two people working together each day dont talk much about each other. BUT SERIOUSLY porco is like.. he adopted a friggin horse monster and THE PRINCE OF THE COUNTRY. Sorry king u messed up dadding, he is mine now. Also: the wild wilderness of a monster temple is no place for a young boy. U come gain some employment as a well-paid waiter and also my son! I ain’t care that you’re slightly a unicorn! THEYRE ALL JUST SUCH NICE PEOPLE AAA I wanna be like ‘plz let me marry your son’ to porcoline, i wanna join the fam as a daughter in law. I’m not REMOTELY interested in being the princess, I just wanna be a new member of the restaurant peoples!! Aaaaa I cant stop rambling about how much i love this game and these characters!! And I;ve only even really started befriending this small chunk of the characters, who knows if I’ll get even more rambley about the others!!!! I just love love love that you can put them in your party at any time and drag them along to do everything and PRETEND WE ARE HAVING FAMILY BONDING ACTIVITIES BECAUSE I ADORE YOU ALL

#bunni plays rf4 #im addicted dear lordy #also i legit did not know that there's a different chubby guy with the same weird art style in every rune factory game #and this really is a noble legacy that's been around since the beginning of the series!#cant wait to get attatched to porcoline's infinate half-identical cousins when i play the older games #the one female de saint coquille noble is SO CUTE TWO #*too #somehow the same weird art style doesnt look as scary on her?? she just looks like the world's sweetest grandma #but then again the whole rest of the family are the world's sweetest dads even if they look like lovecraftian horror beats #seriously porcoline's mouth is WIDER THAN HIS HEAD

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msbeccieboo · 6 years ago

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Arrow 7x08 brain dump

It wasn’t that bad!!

So like many I was a liiiittle bit disappointed this week. I really tried to recalibrate my expectations, but I think I was so pumped by the surprise fabulousness of last week and then the buzz online (so naive I know) of the advanced reviews for this week. I was also doubly excited as it was the first time I was watching it via live stream (wow...all the adverts) rather than waking up super early to stream it the following morning (I’m in the UK). I just think that we could've spent more time on the personal life of THE MAIN CHARACTER(S) after he had been in prison for half a year, but hey, live and learn. Luckily I have ZERO hopes for the crossover so next week should be fine haha!

However, I have slept on it, seen everyone else freak out, and decided it could have been way worse, we got some quality Olicity fluff/angst content and Felicity is still the driving force of the storylines this year in both timelines so PositiveOutlook!Beccie is here!

So the episode...we didn’t get our shower shenanigans scene...*pouty face* (my review last week got flagged cos I wrote the ‘explicit’ s*x word twice, so all naughtiness shall hereby be referred to as shenanigans, until I get bored of typing shenanigans). HOWEVER, the feelings of PTSD we got from Oliver in that scene, and throughout the episode, were great, and something I hope we continue to see and actually be acknowledged. Oh yeah, and we got the FLUFFIEST SCENE TO EVER FLUFF!! The zip!! The mirror!! The rubbing of the wedding ring!! The RECITAL OF THEIR WEDDING VOWS!!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! Ahhh and then some bed shenanigans 😉😉 (which could have been a bit longer, really Beth, come on!!).

Source: oliverxfelicity

We all have Felicity, we all have!! We have been starved and we just want some good foooood!!

Then there was the gala, with allusions to Oliver’s first meal *cough Felicity*, a smidge of Laurel side-eye (always fun), and a classic forever-rebloggable gif from Mrs Smoak-Queen:

Unfortunately the gala also came with NTA. Rene bitching that they didn’t get an event thrown for them when ‘they’ caught Diaz...err excuse me now, who caught Diaz?? At least it makes a change from Curtis being the whiner of the episode!

Then we see the shit hit the fan with the break-in and Felicity’s reaction to it, or rather, Oliver’s reaction to Felicity’s reaction to it haha! Oliver’s cry of “Felicity” before diving across the room to protect her (yes I swooned), was swiftly followed up with Badass!Felicity pulling a gun and shooting the intruder, like a boss!

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

Oliver is shocked and mad that she has a gun....huh? Why? She’s protecting herself and her family in their own home, not, say, seeking out criminals and inflicting bodily harm on them willy nilly like some kind of....vigilante???! How many times have we seen her knock a villain out before, except this time Oliver sees the anger, rage even, in her, and THAT is what could harm her, that is where his fear lies and that is what he is really concerned about. This is followed up with a rather delicious Olicity angst scene, which may I add, WE ALL HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR. We all wanted to see Felicity lose her shit over what Oliver did and show him how she has had to change because of it. The sad part was seeing the way Felicity sees her ‘old self’ as weak. The important thing to see here is that this is how Felicity is feeling because of what she’s been through the past few months, not what the writers, or Oliver think. Oliver's look of incredulity when she said that was a thing of beauty. Girl you have never been weak, you are just scared and angry, and this is something that Felicity will come to accept over the season, I am sure. Again, Olicity are walking in each others shoes, and Oliver will need to be her light this time and show her another way to channel these feelings than do something that she may regret later.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

Their conversation continued at the end of the episode, which is where people are freaking out I think. I’m not worried. I found it annoying that they effectively ended Season 7a at this point of their discussion, but Olicity are not splitting up!! The red pen mention... “I love you more than a human being should love another human being” *my heart*...then the notion that they are growing apart/moving in different directions, but Oliver is there asking how do they get back on the same page again. Oliver will not let Felicity walk away again....Felicity won’t walk away again...they are acknowledging that they have changed/grown independently and will just need to learn to grow back together again cos they are endgame!!!!

Oh and Emiko Queen is the new GA, and Oliver’s half sister...I am SHOCKED (I’m not shocked). I did have a giggle that the charred remains of the Queen mansion were still stood there as full-mansion-sized charred remains ~5 years after said-charring 😂😂

Future timeline

So, on first appearances it seems that Maya is not our Olicity baby...apparently William doesn’t recognise her. One of the first things I did think when we actually saw her interacting with William et al was how reminiscent of a young Thea she was...the only alternative option I will accept for her is that she is Thea's and Roy's...especially as Roy wasn't with them to meet her. But her and William....totally had that ‘we have a secret’ eye-contact thing going on. The season theme is legacy, why go to the trouble of casting a relatively well-known actress and hyping her up weeks and weeks before her first appearance for her to not fit into that theme in a major way? Girl is a Smoak/Queen or a Queen/Harper or I’m out!

Also, it seems that they are trying to make us think that Oliver is dead in the future too....hmm ok then, Oliver and Felicity are dead and before she died Felicity was also evil and wanted to level the Glades...

(I think this is the first time I’ve actually used this gif! Yay!)

Things I wasn’t keen on...

Dyla...I think I need to watch their scenes back cos I zoned out a bit there...why are they seeing Lizard boy?? Actually I DON’T F-ING CARE BE GONE ALREADY DIAZ!!!

When is Oliver gonna find out that Dig has been next to useless the last 6 months? Cos there is no hint of him having the slightest clue...this would also help him to understand Felicity’s position better.

The Max Fuller storyline was just essentially to show Oliver working for the SCPD and using a different route of justice, so why did they need to spend sooo much time on it?

My main gripe with the episode wasn’t the way the Olicity angst was dealt with necessarily, but rather the lack of time dedicated to it. I also think that the episode requires a re-watch as soon as I get home to fully digest and make sense of it. Sometime recently I seem to recall @jbuffyangel saying something along the lines of, if you have to re-watch the episode straight away to understand it, it's kind of a crappy episode. I would somewhat agree in this case, but we did get some goodies in there...I think I will enjoy this episode better when the season has finished and I can binge-watch. That’s how I watched nearly the first 4 seasons of Arrow and those are some of my favourites (I didn’t even mind Ray upon binging!).

#arrow spoilers #arrow 7x08 #olicity #beccie's brain #arrow season 7

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darkgreiga · 7 years ago

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Wishes, Dreams, and Memories Chapter 13

Fandom: Rune Factory 4 Rating: T (to be safe) Genre(s): Adventure, Hurt/Comfort Characters: Lest, Dolce, Amber, Dylas, Leon, Frey, Arthur Summary: She had a wish to see him again. He had a dream of her last moments. They had their memories of having only each other. The amnesiac Earthmate never knew that by bringing his best friend back wouldn’t make his daily life go back to normal. Nor did he know she was the key to his and his ancestors’ past. Chapters: list Navigation: <<prev | next>> Author’s notes: Lest’s past is slowly being uncovered and the chapter has a few mentions for the Tales fandom.

Chapter 13 – Our Past

Some rustling sounds were heard coming from the guest bathroom before the hazel-haired Earthmate came out. Dolce, who had started unpacking the extra clothes for their stay had noticed that her husband had emerged from the bathroom and put away the clothes she was holding before turning to the direction where Lest had come from.

Lest was wearing a black tailcoat suit with white patterns on the chest. The suit’s long sleeves were folded at end to reveal the red and white stripes underneath, along with two white lines on each sleeve. Small parts of the white Lest was wearing were hidden by the suit’s long sleeves. A thin red cloth held an empty sword sheath across his back and was secured by the black belt around his waist. A pair of black boots reaching up to his knees covered the white pants he was wearing.

“This set is surprisingly my size,” Lest took a few steps forward and tried moving his arms around, “But the boots aren’t flexible enough for me to run in and the suit is a little too thick for me to move my arms freely.”

“Of course they aren’t. It’s not like it’s made for running and exercising, genius,” Dolce commented flatly.

Pico let out a laugh, “But Dolly thinks it looks good on you.”

A slight blush appeared on both of their faces before Lest gave his wife a smile, “Thanks Dolly.”

“You’re… welcome…” Dolce replied nervously, “Aren’t you going to change back now? I need to try mine too.”

“Oh, right,” Lest took off his gloves and put them in the empty box on the bed, “I’ll be right back-”

A knock on the door was heard before a familiar feminine voice was heard from the other side, “Hey, can I come in?”

“Sure, come on in Frey,” The door opened to reveal the green-haired young woman.

Frey looked at his brother and gave him a smile, “Hey, that looks great on you! You look like a nobleman already!”

Lest let out a laugh before rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, “Come on, we’re not actually nobles, are we?”

The smile on Frey’s face faded for a moment, but Lest noticed the slight changes on the green-haired woman, “What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s okay,” The frown slowly lifted into a smile, “So, shall we start the tour of this castle?”

“Let me change back to my regular clothes first,” Lest let out a laugh, “I’m not used to wearing this kind of stuff.”

“Okay, I’ll be waiting for you two outside,” Frey gave Lest a slight bow, “Your majesty.”

Lest let out an annoyed sigh as he saw Frey running and laughing towards the door, “Geez…”

“It’s hard to believe that Frey is actually Lest’s older twin,” Pico commented, getting Lest’s attention back.

“True,” Dolce nodded in agreement and smiled before turning to Lest, “Sweetie, you should go with her. Pico and I will stay here.”

“Wait, you’re not coming?” Lest questioned his wife’s sudden decision.

“You and Frey have a lot of catching up, don’t you?” Dolce asked with a smile, “Maybe this will help you recover part of your memory.”

“I see,” Lest gave a slight nod and smiled, “Okay, I’ll get changed and go with her.”

Dolce saw as Lest left to the bathroom once more, but was aware of the grinning ghost hovering beside her, “What?”

“You can say it, Dolly,” Pico turned to Dolce with a sly grin, “You just can’t stand watching him being friendly to other girls, correct? Even if that someone is his own sister, you know that you wanted to come along just to make sure there’s nothing between them, correct?”

A shocked look accompanied with a slight blush came to her face before she took out one of her talisman, “That’s enough.”

A few rooms away from the pained ghost and her friend, the young blond prince was still in the audience room with the king and his butler. The king was reading the scroll he was holding before he rolled it back and handed it over to the butler standing next to him. Arthur looked at his father as his butler took the scroll and left the audience room.

“The royal research team will do what they can to decipher that text,” The king spoke up, breaking the silence in the room, “Has there been any reports of oddities in Selphia?”

“No, Father,” Arthur replied firmly, “I shall send a report if there is something unusual once I return to Selphia tomorrow.”

“Very well,” The king rose from his throne and walked down the set of stairs, stopping in front of Arthur to give him a pat on his shoulder, “I shall be relying on you, my son.”

There was silence in the room for a moment as the king walked away before Arthur nodded slightly and whispered, “Yes, Father…”

At the halls outside the room, the twins were taking a walk while Lest learned more about the past he had forgotten. Little did he notice, his sister was telling him more about her life with him rather than the life he had forgotten or their other family members. On the other hand, Lest also told Frey what had happened since he lost his memories, meeting Ventuswill, and eventually got married and invited to the party.

“I see…” Frey nodded in understanding, “It’s been rough without me, hasn’t it?”

“At first, yes…” Lest replied with a nod, “But the people in Selphia all helped me without even knowing who I am or where I’m from.”

“Selphia seems like a nice place,” Frey commented with a smile, “I’ve heard about it from Arthur on his rare visits, but I’ve never been there.”

“You can come and visit any time,” Lest responded with a smile before the smile slowly turned into a frown, “Say… you did mention that our mother had passed on when we were kids, right?” Lest turned to Frey with a sad look on his face, “What happened to her? And what about our father? Where is he now?”

Frey stopped in her tracks with a frown on her face, which made Lest stop walking as well. Frey took a deep breath and turned to Lest with a frown on her face, “I really wish that you wouldn’t ask about him, but I know that you deserve to know,” Frey put her hands on Lest’s shoulder, slightly gripping them, while looking at him with a serious look, “Especially because you have actually met him in person.”

“I’ve met him…?” Lest looked at Frey questioningly, “But who is he?”

Frey closed her eyes as her hands slipped away from Lest’s shoulder before turning away from her brother. The female Earthmate reopened her eyes as she distracted herself by looking at the garden plants, but the anger on her eyes was something that Lest couldn’t simply ignore. She felt a pat on her shoulder and took a deep breath to calm herself down, “That man… the man who bore a great grudge against us Earthmates… he was the cause of her death…”

Lest didn’t need to hear the name of his father, especially if what Frey had said just then was true, “Stop… I… I don’t want to hear it…”

“Sadly it’s true, Lest…” Frey took Lest’s hand off from her shoulder and held it with both of her hands as she turned towards his brother with teary eyes, “I can’t forget it… I can never forget that nightmare!”

-Flashback-

Clanging sounds of metal armor was heard throughout the halls made of pure gold and silver, heading towards the huge red metal doors at the end of the halls. A light blue-haired man slammed his fists to his throne’s arm rests, surprising the guards standing at each side of the throne. Through the strands of his long hair, the soldiers could see the glaring eyes looking at them.

“Kill them all! All servants, mistresses, soldiers alike must be clean from those accursed Earthmates!” Another slam on the arm rests had surprised the soldiers in the throne room, “Find that brown-haired Earthmate alive and kill the rest! This is our vengeance against those who foil my plans!”

“Yes sir!” The soldiers marched out of the room with their weapons swinging in the air.

A few meters away, a woman with long green hair was running while holding the hands of two five-year old children whose hair color was similar to the woman. The three would occasionally stop at the forks with the older woman looking around before taking one of the paths which would be safe for them to pass. Another fork came into view and the three stopped behind one of the walls, looking around for any signs of danger.

“Mom, I’m scared…” One of the children, a boy, pulled on the woman’s clothes while sniffling.

“It’s okay, Lest,” The woman knelt down and gave the boy a comforting hug while rubbing his back, “Everything is going to be okay…”

“Mommy!” The other child, a girl pulled the woman’s clothes in panic, “Metal people are coming!”

The woman noticed the clanging sounds which had got louder and louder, “We have to hurry,” The woman got back to her feet and picked the boy up before offering a hand to the girl, “Hold my hand, Frey.”

The girl did as told as the three of them ran into one of the pathways, only to be stopped by a group of soldiers with their spears pointed forward. The woman turned to the side, protecting the boy from the possible assault from the soldiers as the girl hugged her mother’s leg in fear. One of the soldiers stepped closer with his spear, making the woman step back.

“Lady Sara! Your and your children’s escape ends here!” The soldier extended his hand and let his spear point at the woman’s neck.

“I shall not surrender my children!” The woman, Sara, put the boy down and stood in front of the two children with her arms spread, “They are our future and I shall never hand their lives to the likes of you or Ethelberd!”

The soldier in front saw the unwavering resolve of a mother protecting her children and put his spear back to his side, “Soldiers, ready your weapons!”

The woman, Sara, quickly took the hands of her children and ran to the opposite side of the soldiers, with the soldiers chasing them while carrying swords and spears. The three of them ran through the maze of hallways with the sounds of clanging metal tailing behind them, pushing through the servants who had blocked their way of escape.

“Lady Sara, this way!” A female servant waved her hands while standing in front of a big black door, getting the attention of the running triplet.

Panting, the three came into a stop in front of the servant before Sara let out a tired smile, “Thank you…”

“I will never forget your kindness towards my family, milady,” The servant smiled back before she pushed the door open, “I have broken the window for you and the children to escape. My sister will be waiting for you outside.”

“Yes, please be-AH!” An arrow landed on her left shoulder before she turned around and saw that the marching soldiers had almost reached them.

“Mommy! Mommy, are you okay?” The boy cried out, seeing the red liquid had stained his mother’s pure white clothes.

“Please be okay, Mommy!” The girl was looking at the pained mother in worry.

“Lady Sara, please hold on!” The servant looked at the end of the arrow and gasped in surprise as she saw black liquid dripping from the end, “P-Poison?!”

“Please… take the children…” Sara whispered weakly, “This… is deadly poison… I… cannot survive… for long…”

“Y-Yes… milady…” The servant saw as the woman slowly dropped to her knees weakly and saw the approaching soldiers before she pushed the children into the room.

The two children fell onto the carpet-covered floor and saw their mother’s weak smile as she was lying on the floor while the door was being forced shut from the outside. The boy was about to reach for the door in tears, only to be pulled by the girl.

“No Lest! The metal people will take us too!” The girl pulled her brother’s arm as he struggled before forcing him into a hug.

“But Frey… Mommy is out there! Mommy is hurt!” The boy kept on whining as he struggled to break free from his sister’s hug, although the boy knew himself that his hope of seeing his mother was a waste.

-End of Flashback-

The two Earthmates stood in silence before tears started falling from Frey’s face. Lest looked at Frey sadly before giving her a comforting hug. The male Earthmate patted his crying sister, although the sadness he felt wasn’t the same as his sister felt. He never remembered how sad it was to remember how their mother had died as he was only told the feeling instead of feeling it himself.

Frey slowly pulled away from the hug and wiped her tears, “Hey, Lest?”

“What is it?” Lest asked calmly.

“There’s one more thing that I want to return to you,” Frey spoke up in a whisper before taking out a small black fish-like figure from her pocket, “Here’s our family heirloom from our mother’s side.”

Lest took the figure, which had a thin string hanging on it, “What is this?”

“Mom said it’s a charm to protect relations of the bearers,” Frey took out a similar charm, but it was white in color, “This is a koi fish, a type of fish that’s native to our grandmother’s homeland at the East.”

“A koi fish…” Lest put the charm on his palm and ran a finger on it.

Frey slowly nodded, “It’s supposed to connect families, siblings… and even couples…”

“I… see…” Lest took his charm and put it in his pocket before looking at the charm Frey was wearing, “So the charm is to protect us as siblings?”

“Yeah,” Frey nodded and smiled sadly, “Although you don’t have the charm with you, I think they’re uniting us back together.”

“I guess they did,” Lest returned the smile, “Should we resume the tour?”

“Okay, let me show you the audience room and the dining hall next!” Frey replied with a nod before they continued with their walk.

Back in Dolce’s and Lest’s guestroom, Dolce had just finished changing and came out of the bathroom. Her slow walking had brought a laugh to her ghost friend, who was hovering above the bed.

“This… this too revealing…”

#rune factory 4 #rf4 #fanfiction #fanfic #adventure #hurt/comfort #rf4 lest #rf4 dolce #rf4 frey #rf4 arthur #original character #rf4 lest x dolce

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darkgreiga · 7 years ago

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Wishes, Dreams, and Memories Chapter 15

Fandom: Rune Factory 4 Rating: T (to be safe) Genre(s): Adventure, Hurt/Comfort Characters: Lest, Dolce, Pico, Amber, Dylas, Leon, Frey, Arthur, Margaret, Forte Summary: She had a wish to see him again. He had a dream of her last moments. They had their memories of having only each other. The amnesiac Earthmate never knew that by bringing his best friend back wouldn’t make his daily life go back to normal. Nor did he know she was the key to his and his ancestors’ past. Chapters: list Navigation: <<prev | next>> Author’s notes: The action scene at the end is basically a compilation of what kendo matches usually like, but it’s not entirely the same as the actual matches. For now, I’ve got nothing else to add about that part.

Chapter 15 – Corrupted

It was pitch black all around him. The hazel-haired Earthmate opened his eyes and looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. Tall leafless trees were the only ones he could see on his left, right and front along with the cloudy night sky above him. He took some steps away from his initial spot and the sound of dried leaves being crushed was the only sound he could hear. He walked as he called out for his friends, but he was surprised that no voice came out. It was as if he couldn’t talk at all.

The atmosphere of the forest of dead trees was starting to make him more uneasy and he quickened his walking pace straight forward. He didn’t know where he was or how he got there in the first place, but he felt that something was wrong in the area. The air was fresh, the forest was quiet, but he couldn’t feel any signs of life coming from the forest at all. He couldn’t feel any signs of rune energy flowing like he used to and the thickening fog was making him feel worse.

Lest stopped in his tracks in the middle of the foggy forest and looked around at his barely visible surroundings. After all those years of battling monsters, his senses were telling him that something was there with him within the foggy area. He stood still as he was trying to pinpoint the other presence as the sound of footsteps was getting louder and louder.

A low growl came from behind him suddenly, making the Earthmate turn around instinctively to look straight at a pair of glowing red eyes. Lest quickly reached for his sword sheath, but it wasn’t on its place. He was completely armless with something or someone trying to attack him in a bad environment. The red glow suddenly disappeared from his sight, which had Lest slightly lower his guard, only to be welcomed by a box-like shape shoved against his stomach.

The impact had knocked Lest towards the tree behind him, but the presence quickly left the area before Lest could have a chance to counter. Lest got back to his feet to be greeted by the blowing wind with the scent of flowers. The scent became stronger as a strong wind blew past him, knocking him several feet back.

Lest had held on to a tree before he could fall from the sudden wind, but he could still hear footsteps getting louder and louder. He turned to hide behind the tree and hoped to see who or what was approaching him at high speed, but the fog had limited his vision down to only a few meters in front of him. He could hear the sound of a screeching horse before the tree he had used to hide broke and he was sent flying from his attacker’s sudden impact.

The Earthmate landed hard on the sea of dried leaves into a small clearing with a single narrow path created by his attacker as broken tree trunks were all over the place. Lest could feel a slight pain coming from his legs as he slowly rose to his feet while looking at the pathway in front of him. The fog had slightly cleared out as some light from the moon had shone on the small clearing, but Lest could only make out blurry silhouettes of his previous attackers.

His attention shifted when a familiar cry was heard. It was the familiar pained roar of his best friend, and the silhouette of her had slowly shown itself to Lest along with the silhouettes of Lest’s previous attackers. Much to his horror, his previous attackers had some familiar shapes which he had never forgotten. It was a silhouette of a butterfly flying around as if it was dancing around the struggling dragon, a silhouette of a horse ramming the dragon’s body, and a silhouette of a coffin box flying near the dragon with a faint red color between the two silhouettes.

Lest knew that he had to run and save his friend once more, but his legs had betrayed him as he couldn’t move them at all. The pained roar had cut through all the quietness in the forest, but Lest couldn’t even move to do anything to help her. He forced himself to move, but stopped as he felt another presence from behind him. He had braced himself for any other attacks which might come, only to be greeted by a soft object falling on his head.

The object fell to Lest’s feet and he saw that a wooly doll was the object which had hit his head. He looked up at the sky and saw more dolls falling on top of him, but all of the dolls were harmless towards him. When the raining dolls had stopped, a tall shadow was cast over him and made Lest turn to look at the source of the shadow. He suddenly felt something grabbing his chest as he turned around, making him unable to take a good look at his attacker.

Lest only caught a glimpse and the only things he could see were the glowing red eyes and the hat he used to seeing daily.

The Earthmate opened his eyes and sat up on the bed quickly while panting, only to realize that everything he had experienced was just a nightmare. He breathed a sigh of relief before noticing and extra weight on his pajamas. A hand was clinging onto his top, coming from his still sleeping wife beside him. He let out a small smile as he watched Dolce’s sleeping figure with Pico on the other side of the bed.

Lest gently held her hand to his chest before stroking the female Guardian’s long wavy hair as he watched her peaceful sleep. The exhaustion from the night’s events had kept her from being awakened by Lest’s sudden movement and he decided that he shouldn’t be waking her up over midnight for his own problems. He laid back on the bed while still holding her hand and drifted back to sleep, completely unaware that his wife had already been awakened earlier. Dolce kept her own position and let Lest hold her hand before going back to sleep with a contented smile on her face.

It was an hour past midnight. The castle was quiet as the guests had either left the kingdom or rested in the guestrooms. The sound of footsteps echoed in the empty halls before the door leading towards the king’s audience chamber opened up and shed some light into the empty halls. The king was sitting on his throne along with Arthur by his side, waiting for the person to approach them with a polite bow.

“Please forgive me for having you present at this hour, Miss Frey,” The king spoke up.

“It is fine, Your Majesty,” Frey looked up at the king with a smile, “I’m grateful for all the things you have done for me in the past and I’m offering my service in order to repay your kindness.”

The king nodded slightly and returned her smile, “Very well,” The king turned to the blond young man beside him, “Arthur, would you please inform Miss Frey of the latest status in Selphia?”

“Certainly, Father,” Arthur turned his eyes from his father and towards the pieces of paper he had been holding before fixing his glasses, “The head of our kingdom’s guard division had sent a report earlier tonight, as I had informed you before during the party. Some of the scouts he had sent reported that dark fog had started forming around four different areas. Those areas are-”

“If I have to guess…” Frey suddenly spoke up, cutting off Arthur’s explanation as his attention turned to her, “They are areas around Yokmir Forest, Water Ruins, Obsidian Mansion, and Leon Karnak, aren’t they?”

Arthur looked back at the report he was holding and nodded, “Yes, those are the areas with rune spots. It seems like the corruption is slowly spreading around Selphia.”

“I see…” Frey turned her attention away from Arthur and looked up at the king, “Your Majesty, if I may-”

“I cannot allow you to go,” The king’s stern voice had silenced the Earthmate, “Given your condition and your abilities as an Earthmate, you are most likely to fall victim to the corrupted runes.”

“Given… her condition?” Arthur turned to his father in confusion, “Father, is Frey currently ill?”

The king didn’t turn to look at the blond merchant and kept looking at Frey, who had lowered her head. The whole room went silent for a moment until Frey went down to her knees, bowing down completely to the king, “I beg of you, Your Majesty…” Frey looked up at the two men with teary eyes, “I can’t… I don’t want to let him get hurt…” Frey’s head fell back to her hands, bowing at the king once more, “It’s my mother’s final wish for me to take care of Lest in her place… I know now I have the strength to keep that promise!”

The king looked down in silence before suddenly rising from his throne, much to Arthur’s surprise, “Father? Is there… is there something between you and Frey in the past?”

“Arthur,” The king spoke up quietly, but it was loud enough for Arthur to hear, “You might not have understood it. A mother truly cares for her children, just like how theirs care for them,” The king turned to look at his son, “I cannot change how you view your mother, however. When the time comes, you will learn how your mother truly feels for you, her son.”

Arthur looked at his father quietly before turning to head for the door, passing through the still-bowing Earthmate, “I shall head for my room to think.”

The blond merchant left the audience chamber before the king went down to Frey’s level as she had slowly risen to her feet. Her eyes still showed the same determination as when she asked for her mission a few minutes before. The king let out a nod and smiled, “I assume that you are aware of the risks and are still determined to complete the mission.”

Frey let out a nod, “Yes, I will complete this mission in place of my former subordinates within the intelligence division in order to atone for my previous failure. That failure is the start of everything happening in Selphia and it is my duty to end it.”

“Yes,” The king nodded in agreement, “You may consider this mission your last mission I give you, the head of the kingdom’s intelligence division.”

Frey saluted confidently, “Yes, sir!”

It was the fourth day of fall and the weather had cooled down enough after the hot summer weather. The restaurant in Selphia hadn’t opened for the day just yet, but the restaurant’s chef famous for eating his customer’s orders had already been busy in the kitchen. The plump chef had paced back and forth between the stoves and the kitchen counter while carrying some cooked dishes, but not without having a bite or two on the dishes.

A finished apple pie was set down on the counter beside a plate of cookies, but the chef’s hand found itself trying to take one of the cookies before it was prevented by having the whole plate taken away just in time, “Hold it! These are for today’s contest, remember?”

The chef let out a disappointed sigh, “But I’m hungry…” As if it was done subconsciously, his hand found itself once again at the apple pie, but the man quickly snagged the plate away and let himself fall in his attempt on saving the food, “Dylas! Are you okay?!”

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” Dylas slowly got up and took the plates with him as he walked towards the kitchen, “I’ll help with the cooking today so it’ll be done faster,” Dylas stopped in his tracks and set the plates at a safe distance from Porcoline’s reach as he looked at him, “Didn’t Margaret say that she’s going to help out as well?”

“Oh, yes!” Porcoline grabbed a bar of chocolate from his pocket and started nibbling on it, “Meg should be here to help delivering the food to the plaza.”

The kitchen door suddenly slammed open, surprising the two men in the room, “I’m sorry I’m late!” The female elf noticed the blue-haired figure standing in front of the counter filled with various cooked food, “Dylas? Are you helping out today too?”

“Well, sort of,” Dylas shortly replied before he snagged another plate before Porcoline could get it, “I have to keep an eye on him in case he eats anything that’s to be served in today’s contest.”

Margaret put her hands on her hips as she let out a sigh, “Porco! You can’t eat the food before the festival started!” The elf turned to look at Dylas, “But are you sure you can help out today? You look a little pale.”

“Huh? D-Do I?” Dylas asked nervously, “No, I’m fine. You should start delivering the food before Porcoline devour everything.”

“You’re not fine, Dylas,” Margaret scolded sternly before she dragged him away from the counter and out of the kitchen, “I’ll keep an eye on Porco so you can get some rest, okay?”

Dylas stood in silence for a moment as Margaret went back into the kitchen, only to hear her scolding the chef once more for eating the dishes. Dylas let out a slight chuckle before pulling a chair for him to sit on, “Fine, I’ll leave him to you.”

Hours had passed and the contest had finally started. The townsfolk had gathered in the plaza with the competing contestants sitting in front of long tables with some fruits and dishes on it. Margaret and Dylas were standing by the table with the rest of the fruits and dishes for when the contestants asked for more. Volkanon acted as both the judge and the commentator, though his latter job couldn’t be performed better with the loud crowd cheering in the background. A very full Forte was walking around the area to make sure the contest went smoothly as she claimed, though she was walking around as she had eaten too much during her participation.

The stack of plates piled up quickly on Porcoline’s side while the other contestants had started falling from the massive amount of food they had. The attention of the crowd was fixed on the final two contestants still eating, which were Porcoline and Doug. Doug’s stack was less than half of Porcoline’s, but his determination had earned the crowd’s attention. As the crowd’s attention was fixed on the contest, nobody had noticed that a single person had emerged from the crowd while walking unsteadily.

Dylas had passed the next plate to Doug and was about to return for more dishes, but a single out-of-place figure behind Porcoline had caught his attention. The figure put his hand on his sword hilt, ready to unsheathe his sword, but the Guardian was fast enough to run towards the other side of the table, “Porcoline! Look out!”

The chef stopped eating and turned to the source of the voice, completely unaware of the situation. Dylas quickly ran towards the plump chef and pushed him off his seat, leaving himself open for any possible attack. He braced himself as the sword was raised above the figure’s head, but the sword was blocked in time before it could hit its intended target.

Forte held her sword tightly before twisting it, exposing the attacker for more attacks and letting him fall helplessly. The knight turned to Dylas, who was still standing on his spot in shock, “I’ll take care of this! Get everyone to safety!”

“R-Right! Sorry!” Dylas helped Porcoline back to his feet before turning to the rest of the crowd watching the whole scene, “Stay out of the plaza! It’s not safe to be hanging around here!”

Forte watched cautiously as the crowd made their way out of the plaza and into the castle before turning back to her opponent. The figure was wearing armor just like she was, but the different style of armor enabled her to recognize that the attacker wasn’t a soldier from the Kingdom of Norad. As the man was slowly trying to get up, Forte pointed her sword at his throat, “State your business in Selphia, soldier!”

“Business…” The man’s stance was wobbly as if he was drunk, but his hand never let go of his sword as he raised it against her single-handedly, “Business here… ya say…?” The wobbly stance suddenly shifted into a much refined one as he held his sword with both of his hands. The man looked at the dragon knight with a pair of glowing red eyes before a dark aura covered his whole body, “To destroy… YOU!”

The soldier charged quickly with his sword pointed forward, but Forte managed to move to her left and had her shield up in defense. She charged in to counter, but the soldier had quickly turned around and clashed her sword with his own. Forte tried moving her sword left and right to find an opening, but their swords kept locked together making her take a big step backwards to find a better opening to strike.

The soldier charged in once more, leaving their swords locked together again. The soldier pushed their locked swords to the side and left Forte out in the open, but she was quick enough to recover and raised her shield on her arm to block the incoming attack. Realizing his attack had failed, the soldier kicked Forte angrily on her stomach, knocking her to the ground. She wasn’t given time to recover as the soldier had pinned her down with his sword down on Forte’s raised shield.

Using every ounce of strength she could gather, Forte pushed to soldier to the side and gave her some time to get back to her feet. After all those relentless attacks from him, the dragon knight was panting in exhaustion as she raised her sword once more. As the soldier was trying to stand up, Forte quickly charged in to strike with her sword. The impact had pushed the soldier back as he walked backwards while trying to keep himself from falling.

Forte gave him another push, which put him in an unbalanced position, before rushing toward him and landed a single slash across his armored abdomen. A single scar was left on the armor, but much to her surprise, more dark aura came pouring out from the scar, which was deep enough to hurt his skin. The soldier let out a loud groaning sound before putting both of his hands on his head.

“S… Stop… no…” The soldier whispered between his pained groans before slowly bringing himself to look at the knight with his eyes, which were no longer glowing, “Hit… hit… me…”

The soldier dropped his sword, leaving the knight to look at him in confusion, “Huh?” Forte lowered her sword in confusion, “What… what do you mean?”

“… can’t… hold it…” The soldier let out another pained groan before his eyes glowed in red once more as he looked at her, “Try and stop me, knight! I am better than the likes of you!”

The soldier picked up his fallen sword to charge at her once more, but Forte quickly moved out of the way. The soldier passed by her and still had his back turned to her, leaving his back exposed to Forte’s sword. A slight, hesitant swing of her sword left a slight scar on the back, but not enough to actually wound him. He pushed himself back to his feet and quickly turned to Forte along with a swing of his sword, but his sword met with hers for a moment as she had pushed the sword to the opposite side.

The push had given her enough momentum to spin her body along with her sword for almost a full circle. Forte put both her hands much closer to her sword’s crossguard, leaving the end of the hilt exposed as she raised her sword to her opponent’s eye level. She brought the blunt side of her sword to the soldier’s helmet hard enough to cause a dent as he felt to her feet.

Forte stood still for a moment, but saw that the soldier had barely moved from the spot where he fell. She cautiously walked to face the soldier, who was trying to reach for her in his shaky arm. She knelt down and saw that the dark aura surrounding him had slowly vanished as he looked at her with his normal eyes.

“I’ll get some help for you,” Forte stood up and was about to leave the scene when the soldier suddenly grabbed her foot, “H-Huh?”

“H-Help… him…”

#rune factory 4 #rf4 #fanfiction #fanfic #adventure #hurt/comfort #rf4 lest #rf4 dolce #rf4 amber #rf4 dylas #rf4 leon #rf4 frey #rf4 arthur #rf4 margaret #rf4 forte #rf4 pico #original character #rf4 lest x dolce

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