#gency related so

[nitewrighter]

Hello (there is a prompt at the end of this I promise)

I had a dream about Gency and it reminded me of you bc I used to love love LOVE Gency (still do!) and your fics are so well written and I am so sad that Blizzard fucked up overwatch (and it’s lore kinda?) over the last couple years :(

Also the way they removed a bunch of Gency interactions and are kinda like..changing their relationship dynamic? And the line in the biography story mode thing about how mercy was genjis cyberneticist?? even though she previously was never mentioned to like… do that stuff and that kinda reframes how they interacted pre-fall and its a minor thing but it really just grinds my gears :(

(I pretend it is not canon because i know overwatch better that the current OW2 writers 👍)

And pushing more Pharah/Mercy stuff after literal YEARS of gradual Gency buildup in OW1?

and also the way some Gency artists literally don’t feel SAFE to post their ship art (of a ship that actually has a decent amount of support and is based in canon, mind you) on Twitter.. but that’s more a Twitter thing than anything

i wanted to be into this games lore so bad and i used to have such a good handle on it and now every so often i get this huge wave of nostalgia when i look back over fics from years ago and get sentimental and mad over what was and what could have been (just in general) if blizzard didn’t fuck it up :(

admittedly I haven’t examined what’s going on in the lore of the game too much over the last couple months, so if they revived it somehow or Mr. Developer looked us in the eye and said “Gency is real” then throw this whole thing out the window 😭

Anyways there was a really cool plot to the dream and i was gonna give you a prompt so you could write something akin to it if you ever wanted but I now forgot the plot ☹️ but I love your writing and i hope even in your creative, non-overwatch-related endeavors, all goes well

hmmm but here’s a prompt idea (I don’t know if this would actually be in line with the canon for your overwatch prompts now, it’s more of a what-if):

what if Genji and Mercy crossed paths after the fall of overwatch? Before they started sending each other letters, before the recall, by pure coincidence—maybe before or while Genji was under Zenyatta’s teaching—either way, he isn’t at peace with himself yet. Would Genji try to hide his identity? Would he feel like he isn’t good enough to face her? Or guilty after she goes, missing a one-in-a-million opportunity to connect with her again? Or maybe they do talk, but are obscured and don’t know who the other is until too late? Or maybe they fully know who the other is—what do they say? What do they do? I am super interested to read your take on this prompt if you ever want to write something akin to this!

I am going to. binge all your Gency fics now. Goodbye

First of all... WOW! Thank you for taking the time to write all this! And also thank you for reading my gency stuff. I still love them too, for all my disillusionment with Overwatch and its overall storytelling. I definitely share your sentiments with regards to the fact that the revolving door of writers has basically lead to Overwatch no longer giving a shit about continuity and actual storytelling and just defaulting to what they think will suck the dicks of fanon in the most satisfactory manner. And it's not just writing Gency out of existence either--it's about erasing the tragedy of Widowmaker and the complexity of Reinhardt. It's about reducing Gabriel to a shitty radicalized cop. It's about bringing in characters who make no sense chronologically and have fuck all to do with anything and honestly just heighten the truth of the "stereotype+fetish" joke of Overwatch character design (Yes, I'm talking about Kiriko and Illari). It's about bringing in Mauga 4 years late and acting like they're the cleverest damn people in the world for doing it. It's about expending an absurd amount of narrative and advertisement funding and energy on fucking ASHE of all members of the cast.

Okay--okay--I'm calming myself down.

With regards to your prompt, I'm just going to say, I played the general timeline out between Genji and Mercy the way it played out with very specific reasons. The truth was, as far as character development goes, for all of his love of Mercy (as far as my fic continuity goes) Genji simply wasn't in the mental or emotional space to have a healthy relationship with *anyone,* let alone Mercy. And that's also why I have him mentioning hooking up with Cassidy during his time in Blackwatch in the broad general fic continuity, because it's this very fucked up emotional period for both of them and they have this *very strong link* for a time but as they progress to healthier mindsets they both sort of outgrow each other. Genji moves on to Angela and Cassidy moves on to Hanzo and that's *good* because that indicates they've both grown into their own respective people past being in a really painful codependent state.

The *whole point* was Genji getting away from Overwatch, hallucinating Mercy at his lowest point, and realizing *he* needs to be the person to get himself out of his most fucked up mental corners, and then meeting Zenyatta so that he can develop the right mental tools for that. I'm realizing this is a very western interpretation of this, but then again Overwatch slotted in Robot Jesus with Aurora so fuck it, but if I had to break it down into a solid narrative, it's a Divine Comedy where Genji is Dante, Zenyatta is Virgil, and Mercy is Beatrice. You can have your idealized love and your most beloved mentor, but ultimately YOU have to claw YOUR OWN way out of hell.

If he met with Mercy or made contact with Mercy at any point before Zurich exploded in my fic continuity, that wouldn't give catharsis for ANYONE. The only position they would be in, would be for angst wank. And like, YEAH, I *can* write Gency angst wank that doesn't actually go anywhere and doesn't contribute anything to the characters beyond making them feel sad, but honestly I'd rather write my Anarky-Assassinated-President-Lex-Luthor fic. That's a nice fatty mutton bone I can chew on.

[suitetarts]

9 people you want to know better tag!

tagged by @queenofcarrotflowers-s (xoxo)

tagging: @fireheartedpup @tavs-brainworm @elderscrollpdf @jfk-blown-away-blog @angelumcaedis @skull-kicker @ferindencadash @rodatirhaalo (sorry if you've already done it. anyone else who wants to, tag meee)

Three ships I enjoy: durgestarion (bg3), farcielle (dunmeshi), and gency (ow/ow2)

First ship: i honestly dont know. probably something hp related but i'm gonna hope for kimron (kim possible) 💀

Last song: daft pretty boys by bad suns

Last movie: twisters (2024). i've seen it twice, i'm addicted to its redneck je ne sais quois

Currently reading: 😳 nothin ... i have a whole shelf of unloved books i'm so sorry

Currently watching: i recently finished frieren and i was a bit disappointed after hearing all the hype tbh. back to my usual youtube essays. i need to catch up on house of the dragon

Currently eating: gas station hot dog 🤘 QT fans rise

Currently craving: mcallister's green goddess cobb salad, please come back to me my beloved. the children miss you

[tseneipgam]

"seconds seemed to last an eternity, and in that time | realised that by watching the man jump over the rail. ings without conveying this fact to my ex-husband, I had demonstrated an extraordinary separation from him. It was a separation more complete than I would have thought it was possible to have from another human being. I realised that it was possible to have power over him, something that has never even occurred to me in all the time I have known him. In a way it was the man who gave me that gift of realisation, and perhaps it is only my upbringing that allows me to see death itself as a gift. I was taught not to mourn when things die. I was taught that when things die they give strength and substance back to the world. They enable our survival, as well as giving space for what is new. For the same reason I have always believed that my ex-husband will never die, she said, because he lacks the basic generosity to do so.""

"a different kind of silence is emerging. Everyone wants to forget what happened, or perhaps they are just unable to remember. So this silence is a sort of obliv- ion, like the skin re-forming over a wound, where what happened doesn't matter any more. My wife and I have sometimes talked about this, he said, and occasionally even argued about it. There was a time when I suspected that she too would have preferred to forget about the past, because only then could other things start to mat- ter. Only then could it seem important to write poetry. If she's like most poets, Mauro said, she suspects that what she does is entirely useless, not because it's a luxury but in the sense that a spider's web hanging in the cor- ner of a room is useless. Everyone ignores the spider's web, which nonetheless required enormous persistence and patience to make and yet can be brushed away in an instant without anyone noticing. No one notices poetry, he said, but when they find it and look closely at it they see something marvellous, like the spider's web. The spider's web has nothing to do with history or politics or oppression, he said, it exists in a different reality from those things and is obviously much weaker and more fragile than they are. It is more linked to survival than to power or violence - it survives in spite of them. It can be brushed away and all that work wasted, but then the work starts again, in another corner of the room."

"We lived in our bodies as in a constant state of emer- gency. We wore them out trying to either satisfy or exhaust them. We never succeeded in losing ourselves in sleep or pleasure. We were vigilant and wakeful. We always knew what time it was. We were forever trying to fill or close some gap and it gradually became clear that she was the origin of it, of this unbreachable distance within ourselves; perhaps it was in fact the gap between her body and ours that tormented us. We had considered neither language nor silence in relation to this gap. They were irrelevant to it, did not belong to it. In fact they belonged to her: she used them both as instruments of terror. The death of her body promised their liberation. It was strange to consider that, while the gap in our bodies would remain unresolved, we might avail ourselves of language and silence."

[withbriefthanksgiving]

ID: photo of text from a physical book. Text reads:

Don't get me wrong: I appreciate that our quasi-universal desire for kinship mediates a desire for care, no more no less. It is not our collective desire for care that I am criticizing; it is the insufficiency of the vehicle we have at our disposal for that desire's realization. Without wading into the weeds of anthropological debates around definition of kinship—or, for that matter, anthropological debates about whether it is important to define kinship—I submit that kinship, at least right now, is always a reference to something that is imagined to be inerasable; to "nature." Perhaps one day it will be fit for purpose again, who knows? Perhaps because the concept of nature has itself been turned inside out. But right now, even when it is conceptualized as practice-based (as it is in many Indigenous cosmologies), kinship functions as a linguistic appeal to something non-contingent that can ground a relation. And I am asking: can we suspend that fantasy of something non-contingent? Can we let go of it?

The kinship-value, despite its potentially radical aspiration to encompass the whole world and all the beings in it, is functionally unusable, I think. It is, in the current moment, just a cute frontispiece over the family. When you drill down into it, blood being thicker than water is always and perhaps inevitably kin-talk's central referent and underlying metaphor. Thus, I submit, taking family abolitionism seriously requires a serious and concerted effort to loosen, unseat, and unlearn the thought, practice, and language of "kinship." It is a simple argument, and one others before me have expressed more pithily: "It is the belief that kinship, love and having nice things to eat are naturally and inevitably bound up together that makes it hard to imagine a world in which 'family' plays little part". These, as you may know already, are the words of Michele Barrett and Mary McIntosh, whose tremendous answer to the question "What would you put in the place of the family?" was, simply: "Nothing."

If we hold hands, we can certainly be brave enough to step into the abundance that will be the nothingness that comes after the family.

No thanks, right? Don't we all have enough contin-gency going on, as it is, in the maw of the care crisis that is capitalism? Surely the last thing we want to do is ask our loved ones to embrace even more contingency! I have no doubt about it: so acute is our care scarcity, the only way we really know how to offer security to one another right now is by pretending that our love is non-contingent. When I say to you that you are "family," or that I think of you as "kin," I am saying "I love you, I care for you, I insure you, I hold you, I see you"—yes—and/but I am underlining this by using a metaphor that means I have no real choice about the matter. I am giving you a guarantee (we are kin) tethered to a metaphysical plane. And this feels good! At least, it is supposed to feel good. But obviously, an uncomradely hierarchy is baked right into this entire thought structure. Real kin will always be realer.

We can talk about extending kinship to the whole world all we want. If kinship were truly something we valued as made, not given, we wouldn't have to specify the word "chosen" (as in: "chosen kinship" or "chosen family") when we are talking about kinship that isn't imaginable as governmentally ratified (marriage or guardianship based), genetic, or bloodborne.

End of ID.

excerpts from Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation by Sophie Lewis

[hxt-pants]

I drew Genji with his baby! (A thought I had. It’s not canon or anything! ((I wish.)))

[chandeloor]

god the storm rising mission really WAS fucking boring

[sulahasbackpain]

I haven’t posted anything Overwatch/Gency related in a long time but LIKE LOOK AT THEMMMM AHHHH

The official Overwatch twitter posted this and omg look at Mercy and Genji they look so good hsjsjsj

[acrimsoncurse]

Partner Search!

I am back searching for some rather specific pairings that are hard to come by. I've finished some shows and have some extra time so lets get to it!

A little bit about me, I’ve been writing for over 10 years and consider myself a lit roleplay but don’t let that scare you away as it’s not an end all be all for me as quality is better than quantity. I prefer to write on discord since I receive the notifications but I don’t mind discussing other places! I prefer if my partner was 18+ as I’m 23. I do prefer to talk OOC and get to know my partner more as well as plot/discuss HC’s!! My timezone is PST. I am a full time student so it might take me a moment to respond to you.

If you don’t get a response back just @ me on discord! Totally okay and appreciated but please respect the fact that I may take a bit of time to reply, I am not ignoring you, I do have a life outside of the internet and that gets in the way quite a bit and I lose track far too often and feel terrible for not noticing.

➢Star Wars -Damerey/JediPilot / Poe x Rey -Reylo -Anything involving Obi-Wan!!! -Obikin -Anything involving Ahsoka!! -RebelCaptain -WinterWidow -Kylux -GingerPilot -DarkPilot -Rey x Jessika Pava ➢Marvel -MoonScarab / Steve x Layla / Marc x Layla -Bucky x Yelena -Logyn -Fandroki / Dashing Frost -Sylki -Valkyrie x Sylvie -Romanogers -Spideycat (I am not interested in this solely being a smut filled rp. Genuinely looking to develop a story.) -Peter x Gwen / Spidergwen -Miles x Gwen

➢Overwatch -Gency -McAshe -BunnyRibbit -Moicy -MercyKill -Mercy76 -Tracemaker ➢Misc -Hades x Persephone -Patrochilles / Achillies x Patroclus -Thanatos x Zagreus -Stancy - Eddie x Chrissy -Literally anything D&D related -Jude x Carden - Miraith / Mirage x Wraith -OC x OC (can be discussed) -OC x Canon (can be discussed)

I have a handful of ideas I've been wanting to do for some of these parings especially enemies to lovers or soulmate tropes and some angsty stuff!

If any of these catch your interest shoot me a dm on Discord Crimsoncurse#5997 ! As well as there's a bit more info on my carrd https://crimsonrpinfo.carrd.co plus there is also a list of other pairings I may be interested to take on. Don't see one? Just ask!

This is just a feeler post and doesn't invalidate any rps I have going on at the moment! If I have by chance missed you please @ me! I don't always see the notification!

[collapsedsquid]

The phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal giant Pfiz­er, whose Covid-19 vac­cine with Ger­man part­ner BioN­Tech was approved Decem­ber 11 for emer­gency use in the Unit­ed States, has emerged as a vocal oppo­nent of a glob­al effort to ensure poor coun­tries are able to access the vac­cine. In Octo­ber, India and South Africa put for­ward a pro­pos­al that the World Trade Orga­ni­za­tion (WTO) pause enforce­ment of patents for Covid-19 treat­ments, under the organization’s intel­lec��tu­al prop­er­ty agree­ment, ​“Trade-Relat­ed Aspects of Intel­lec­tu­al Prop­er­ty Rights,” or TRIPS. Now sup­port­ed by near­ly 100 coun­tries, the pro­pos­al would allow for the more afford­able pro­duc­tion of gener­ic treat­ments dur­ing the dura­tion of the pan­dem­ic. As wealthy coun­tries hoard vac­cine stocks, and one study warns a quar­ter of the world’s pop­u­la­tion won’t get the vac­cine until 2022, the pro­pos­al — if approved — could poten­tial­ly save count­less lives in the Glob­al South.

I don’t even get this decision, just seems like a wise business decision for Pfizer and Moderna to just suspend their patent on this unilaterally, accept that vaccines are a loss leader, avoid bad publicity and the risk of setting legal precedent on this and everything is owned by blackrock, so you’re helping your shareholders anyways.

My paranoid mind is wondering if this is some attempt to maintain a lock on mRNA injection technology for future other treatments

[danwhobrowses]

Valentines 2020: A Celebration of My Ships

So it’s valentine’s day again, and...yeah it’s not too great when you’re single is it? Considering that I’ve already gone through a tub of ice cream...

But, it doesn’t mean I’m a cynic, quite the opposite. Most of my fandoms involves a ship in some shape or form, hell I shipped before I even knew what shipping was, so I’m gonna talk about some of them...the ones that still make me happy and didn’t crash and burn in heartbreaking and frankly insulting fashion (looking at you Homestuck ¬_¬), gotta mention that these are not all the ships I ship, they’re just some of the ones I’m quite consistently high on

New Entries So with new fandoms come new ships...as is the usual formula anyway, though my pattern of watching things is usually with some delay, I only watched Rurouni Kenshin and started My Hero Academia in 2019, I still hold off on Attack on Titan and My Hero Season 4 because if I get in, I get IN. So these fandoms may not be new, but they are new to me Steven Universe is very new to me, I’ve been aware of how good it is and their concepts like Fusion. I like it, particularly Lapis Lazuli I really relate to her, but ship wise the two I really like are the obvious ones; Steven x Connie and Ruby x Sapphire (Garnet)

Garnet is badass and chill at the same time, but when she unfuses we see the stuff that makes me smile, the pda between Ruby and Sapphire is adorable, the little pecks and whatnot softens me up like no man’s business. Steven and Connie also have the mushy dynamic with both of them deeply into each other but still being strong individuals. The love for each other is equally platonic as it is romantic as they gel together, both being strong willed in different ways. The laughter probably gets me the most with both of them, the genuine laughter is so sweet and so realistic it’s hard not to love. My Hero Academia seems to be our next wave of shonen anime and for good reason, it does high notes so well and the cast of characters are vibrant and exciting. I haven’t hit Season 4 yet since I’m waiting till it’s all done to binge so I may be a little behind on some stuff (sadly it’s hard to avoid spoilers, I know about Infinity and Unbreakable). While I do like Deku x Uraraka, Tetsutetsu x Kendo and Eraserjoke but the two that I find most enjoyable are Todomomo and Kamijirou

(artist nonoko135 btw, bit tough to find a single image with both ships) Fairly popular ships in their own right, Todomomo doesn’t get many hints but they are sweet, naive rich kids with their own confidence issues, it also feels like they look out for each other especially after the final exam they did together. With Kamijirou though it’s probably one I favour if I had to choose between the two, simply because it’s a dynamic I really like; she busts on him so hard to mask her enjoyment of his company and he takes it because he feels at ease around her, the best part is when Kaminari goes 0 volts, he makes her laugh and that’s kinda big for Jirou given how self-conscious and stoic she can be. Rurouni Kenshin was always on my list, I have often heard about the Swordsman with a blade that cuts no-one. The anime is a bit up and down, after Shishio it’s just filler, but as documented in my Redemption Arc post it is at its core a great story of redemption for the main character, and the driving force for Kenshin’s redemption is his love for Kaoru

While Sano and Megumi have a unique dynamic hinted to be romantic at times, nothing can really beat Kenshin and Kaoru, she literally became Kenshin’s conscience, a representation of his hope to be a good man away from the shadow of Battousai the Manslayer. It may be your traditional romance of the two wanting to be by each other’s side in danger but it works so well given the kind of danger Kenshin is often in. Kaoru still strives to protect herself and aid Kenshin in a way that doesn’t make her continuously wonder about being a burden and Kenshin does everything in his power to keep Kaoru from pain, physical and emotional, even if it meant leaving to keep her safe. The main part of what makes this lovely is the fact that not only did Kaoru’s influence make Kenshin value his own life once more but after continual torment in his past she still saw him as the person he wanted to be, and welcomed in a new home, a new family he was able to live a life he never imagined he could deserve. The Regulars Our Regulars are the ships I still consistently ship, they’re not very old but they’re still pretty great and they still stand the test of time. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has quite a few ships over its 6 (coming up 7) season lifespan, being the longest surviving MCU tv series and one of the most consistently great shows MCU offered - especially Season 4, some of the best TV was on Season 4. But while Philinda is close, Mack and Yoyo or even Piper and Davis (don’t, I don’t care if you believe she’s a lesbian with the hots for May these are my ships) there is one one ship in Shield you can all rally behind, Fitzsimmons

Even when canon it is a consistent emotional rollercoaster. One of those ships where the writers know you love it and decide to put you through as much pain and emotional torment as humanely possible. But you endure it, because these two smart kids are worth it. They have sweet moments, badass moments, emotional moments and even though they get brought apart time and time again, they still find each other, the universe cannot stop them - and it better end happily for them come next season. Overwatch was a phenomenon when it came out a few years ago, Blizzard may have caused it to have some heavily bad rep but I still look forward to its sequel coming out. Given its large roster and most of the characters’ sexuality and relationship status up in the air, it leaves a lot of room for shipping. I do still love Anahardt, Mercy76 kinda falling due to 76 being gay but I like Gency too, my rarepairs include McPharah and Symmzo but my favourite is actually Meihem.

Now I know, Mei’s only voice lines towards Junkrat are cold, they have differing views in terms of omnics and...due process of the law. But there’s a lot they do have in common; both are quite intelligent engineers having made their weapons by hand, both endured trauma and both love their puns. But even the stuff that make them different can compliment one another. You don’t have to like it, but I do, I enjoy the dynamic of Jamison being so head over heels that he embarrasses himself to try and get Mei’s attention, while Mei softens to the fact that his very nature is warped by his lawless upbringing and that deep down he is an exciting and in his own way sweet guy.  Back to anime, because what else do I do with my day, getting into One Piece was always going to be a long effort, keeping tabs on the Manga does make it easier and I’ve been able to catch up quickly. Ships are shaky territory with One Piece because Oda does make a point of not having romance happen a lot, not to existing living characters at least. But I still have the ones I like; Shanks x Makino, Sabo x Koala, Franky x Robin, Sanji x Pudding, Rebecca x Koby, the list goes on, but my favourite has to be Zoro x Tashigi

May not be up there with the ‘big ships’ of One Piece but I do enjoy them the most. Individually the two are characters I have deep interest in; Zoro is well Roronoa Fucking Zoro, santoryu swordsman extraordinaire, master of nothing happening and will cut you 8 ways to Sunday, but Tashigi is a character I like because she also tries, unlike Zoro she isn’t blessed with 2 years training with Mihawk and she’s at constant arms with this self doubt that as a Woman she won’t be as strong (and probably whoever of influence to her made her believe such a thing), people may get on her back for never winning a fight but she fights strong people without a second thought. But back to the pairing, they have an interesting dynamic; two very similar people on different sides of the law, I don’t think Tashigi continues to chase him simply because he refused to cut her in their fight and I don’t think it’s just her former resemblance to Kuina that gets Zoro so riled up about her, I mean Zoro is usually so chill to side characters to the point where he’s ready to throw down but with Tashigi, it’s different, they bicker but he also came to her aid. I still continue to hope that Tashigi shows in Wano for more Zoro interaction, and to prove herself to fans and to Zoro that she is strong and capable. One of my favourite anime of all time is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, a combination of laughter, tears and deep philosophical character journeys in a 20th century world with the alchemy fantasy element drawn from actual legit alchemical sources. It just hits all the right notes for me, and ships hit right too; I love most of the ships from EdWin, AlMay and LingFan, but like Fitzsimmons there is one ship that stands above even the main characters, Royai.

Mustang and Hawkeye right from the bat have that connection that needs no dancing around, they care for each other but they work together. Like the rest of the ships they banter, argue but always have each other’s backs, to the point that they go into an insane rage at even the threat of the other being hurt. I don’t think anyone can not ship these two, that’s how strong their chemistry is, even if they can’t officially label it as a relationship because of their jobs it’s that line in the sand that everyone knows it, because it’s impossible to ignore. The Old Guard So we get to the oldest ships in my catalogue, the fact that they could stand the test of time is for a long time what shaped me as a shipper. I still ship these to this day so I ship them pretty hardcore Comics is probably the hardest place to ship something, because different writers will try different pairings at the drop of a hat. Even consistent pairings like Spiderman and Mary Jane, Batman and Catwoman, Beat Boy and Raven, Superman and Lois and more can end up being split in favour of Cindy Moon (I do love Silk), Wonder Woman and others. But I can’t ignore the fact that I’ve always loved Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon

I may’ve liked Teen Titans, but I was never on Team Starfire, it’s fine if you are but to me I have always been in with Dick and Babs. Not only do they have excellent banter but they gel well on and off of crime fighting, no matter how many times DC break them apart (like seriously, how many times do you have to try Bruce and Barbara until you realise that it creeps people out?) they always find each other again someway down the line, they are one of DC’s best couples and while they may never get a definitive ending because of the nature of comics, I still love that there’s a relationship of two strong individuals who can stand as equals and continue to keep their charm and wit after years of being together. When I was young, decades ago as it pains me to type, Digimon was the prime competitor against Pokémon’s tidal wave. Its anime had an awesome opening, more characters with some deeper themes and a quicker pacing. While many could quickly connect to Tai or Matt for their leaderlike attitude or Joe and Izzy for their intelligence or Mimi and Sora for their determination, I gravitated towards TK, a child who had room to grow and the greatest of potential, so when the Dark Masters came in we saw one of my oldest ships take form, Takari

TK and Kari’s pairing was popular that it managed to carry on into Adventure 02 and we got plenty of lovely moments in TRI (though they shorthanded both by having Ophanimon quickly fused and Seraphimon - one of the strongest Digimon - digivolve as backup in a Sora episode). 02′s epilogue is of course a sore spot we can hope Kizuna retcons because these two have been through thick and thin and their bond is clear. Even as they reach their late teens and TK has become master of hats and joined Matt’s band, they still hang out, banter and tease but they still are comfortable to hold each other’s hand and be vulnerable with one another too. Digimon may’ve been a contender, but Pokémon was still the clear winner, even to this day it is one of the most popular franchises in the world. The anime may be an up and down slope (current series seems a tad boring, 10 episodes before Ash caught a Pokémon, plus I don’t like that Ash won in Alola and now thinks he doesn’t have to try) but you can never take away the nostalgia, or the ships. I’ve shipped many in Pokémon in various media; Mallow x Lillie and Jessie x James in the anime, Ruby x Sapphire in the Manga, Looker x Anabel in the games (with Emma being their adoptive daughter dammit Looker you could’ve taken her with) among others and from Pokémon comes the oldest ship I’ve ever shipped, Pokéshipping

Before I even knew what Shipping was I shipped this, Misty may also be mostly the reason for my attraction to redheads but that’s neither here nor there. People may not like it, may prefer some of the softer spoken female (or male) companions Ash has had or feel they’ve grown out of it, but not me. I loved Misty’s feistiness and determination but also the fact that she could reign Ash in (sometimes) to make him think things through, as much as Misty was a companion to Ash she was a rival, a teacher and a supporter of his goal, but she also had her own goals which she fought for as well. They may bicker but they have also had tender moments as well and even with Misty’s return in the excellent Sun and Moon episodes they had their chemistry is palpable. To me, Ash and Misty were kindred spirits and the feeling has never changed since. So with another year of Valentine’s Day going the way it usually does, I’d like a moment to thank these ships, and all my other ships I didn’t have the space to mention, for being something that brings out happiness and a soft joy deep within my being, and for all the fanartists and fanfic writers that bring that love to life Happy Valentine’s Day

[alyssabean]

I did it ya’ll! I finally finished my Gency fic! It’s taken 2 years and 83 K words, but I did it! I’ve never finished anything of this magnitude before ( I always quit everything) so I’m tooting my own horn a bit. 

The story was originally given the Temporary title “The Angel and the Sparrow”, but I’ve since updated it to “To Cage a Sparrow” I’ve already got the first chapter of the Second Part/series underway!

If any of you feel like chatting about anything Gency/McMercy/McHanzo Overwatch related please shoot me a message!

[nitewrighter]

Hey there :) I'm feeling a bit under the weather recently, can i request some Gency fluff ? Take care !

47. “You’re not alone. You never were.”

I was browsing through my main fic work on AO3 and I realized the shift from Ana’s funeral to Genji getting his new prosthetics is a bit jarring. And I always like writing their late night conversations :). Consider this fic a semi-follow-up to my Legacy: Aftermath fic.

-----

“So she just walked right up and---” Genji punched his open palm. his prosthetic not quite making that ‘smack’ sound but close enough. It was a quieter night than usual.  The memorial had only been two days ago, but everyone was still murmuring about the punch. 

“That’s what I heard from McCree,” said Mercy with a shrug, taking a seat in front of her monitor.

“The Strike Commander?” Genji repeated incredulously before scoffing and looking off, “We really need tighter security.”

“Well, to be fair, I don’t think anyone expected it,” said Mercy, “The day was about creating space for grieving and... I suppose... that was her grieving.” Mercy sighed, staring down into her coffee cup. “It was her mother...”

“I suppose if Jack knew her well enough to let her get that close,” Genji mused.

“All of the original strike team knew Fareeha,” said Mercy, “When I first visited Overwatch during my med school years, she was about 12 and they were all treating her like a favorite niece, but by the time I joined Overwatch, she and Ana were barely talking. I didn’t look too deeply into it because, well, Ana was my superior and it wasn’t appropriate.”

“Why join Egyptian Special forces over Overwatch?” Genji swirled his own coffee in his mug, “I mean if she was going to go into armed forces no matter what... Do you think she was afraid Ana might give her special treatment?”

“Ana never gave me that impression,” said Mercy, “And I don’t think now’s exactly the time to ask Fareeha about it, either.”

“Mm,” Genji glanced off, “Legacy’s rough.”

“Legacy?” Mercy glanced up from typing through an email.

“Well...” Genji gestured vaguely, “Having a parent who has such an impact on not just your world, but tons of other people, it... it does something to your head. They’re never 100% your parent. And you’re not 100% yourself--you’re an extension of them. And when they’re gone everyone talks to you, but you’re only a reflection of them. I--” he made a dismissive wave of his hand, “I’m probably rambling.”

Mercy was leaning her elbow over the back of her chair, giving him a quiet, contemplative look. Not pitying, but concerned. “It’s fine,” the words left her half a beat too late and the thought “oh I really shouldn’t have said that much.” burned in Genji’s mind. He cleared his throat and sipped his coffee.

“So...how are you holding up?” said Genji, quickly trying to shift the focus of the conversation back to Ana and the memorial.

“I’m getting more used to it,” said Mercy, resuming typing at her monitor, “But... between her, Lacroix and Liao, it just... I don’t like the path it’s putting us on.”

“What do you mean?” said Genji.

“Well--With Liao, we had the sense that we were taking post-Omnic Crisis reconstruction in the right direction--we had someone who understood omnics, someone willing to act as a bridge between human and Omnic. But now she’s gone and what are we doing to ease human-omnic relations? Hardly anything!” said Mercy, “And you knew LaCroix. You know how vital he was to Blackwatch.”

“...I don’t think Blackwatch will ever get off suspension without him,” said Genji, glancing down.

“Exactly,” said Mercy, “His background in intelligence gave Blackwatch legitimacy, allowed for easier negotiations with other agencies, but the second LaCroix was out of the picture...”

“Reyes shoots Antonio in the face,” said Genji, “And I would again like to stress that--”

“That you were just a bystander?” said Mercy, wryly arching an eyebrow as her fingers tapped away at the keyboard.

“He said mission parameters had shifted,” said Genji, folding his arms. His shoulders slumped a little, “In any case, I’m on the bench now so...”

“So it brings us back to Ana,” said Mercy, the clacks of her typing slowed to silence, “A soldier, yes, but... she was the balancer. She was the voice of reason. Without her, Jack and Gabriel...” she trailed off and caught herself, “Not that I don’t think Sojourn’s perfectly capable in command, I do, but between losing Ana and everyone and that Ecopoint disaster down in Antarctica....all the people that made this organization feel like... something more than just uniforms and guns... they’re disappearing.” Mercy set her elbow on the desk and leaned her forehead against her knuckles with exhaustion. She felt a hand on her shoulder and perked up, looking up at Genji standing next to her.

“You’re still here,” said Genji.

Mercy scoffed and smiled a little. “Yes, where would Overwatch be without Mercy? They need someone to put on the posters---”

“Not Mercy, Angela Ziegler,” said Genji, “I mean... yes, I trusted Ana and LaCroix and Liao, too but... for me, you were the first. I only gave the rest of them a chance because you trusted them.” 

Mercy was staring directly at him again with those patient, curious gray-blue eyes, and ‘oh I definitely shouldn’t have said that much’ flashed in Genji’s mind before he quickly withdrew his hand from her shoulder and itched at his cybernetic jawline awkwardly.

“It um... It does mean a lot to me that you’re here, too,” said Mercy.

“Really?” said Genji, “I... I wouldn’t really say I’m like Liao or Ana, though.”

“No but...having someone who’s willing to listen, someone who’s willing to see me as more than just the doctor on the posters...” Mercy trailed off and then sat up a little, trying to compose herself, “I know Blackwatch being suspended has been hard on you, but having you here makes me feel like I’m not just... pumping my work out to a faceless organization. You make Overwatch feel a lot more human.”

“More human?” Genji gave an unconscious glance down to his prosthetic hand.

“Mm-hmm,” Mercy smiled, then suddenly perked up and started feverishly typing at her monitor, “Oh! There was something I meant to show you!”

“What?”

“I was going to show it to you a few days ago, but then... all this happened and...I forgot about it and when I remembered it there was all the memorial and administrative things to deal with and--anyway,” she cleared her throat and opened a file on her monitor. Genji tilted his head as several image files of sketches and diagrams opened on the screen. 

“Is that... what is that?” said Genji.

“Well... they’re concepts for upgrading your prosthetics,” said Mercy, “Lighter, more protected...”

“No loose wires?” said Genji glancing at her.

“No leg blades, either,” said Mercy, “Before this was mostly me and some cyberneticists tossing some ideas around on implementing more state of the art prosthetic technology for combat, and with how extensive your prosthetics already were we just sort of... defaulted to our notes on you for their theoretical application--well it started out with hypotheticals, but now with the organization as shaken up as it is...” Mercy fidgeted with her hands, “I... may have asked some cyberneticists what, hypothetically, your prosthetics on an Overwatch strike team might look like.”

“...you think I might join the strike team,” said Genji, “As in Tracer’s strike team.”

As in your strike team, he thought and he could have sworn he felt his heart slam itself against his ribs. He wouldn’t just be getting out of Zurich, but getting out of Zurich with Angela--No, keep your head, Genji. Don’t get your hopes up. Stay realistic. 

“You’re a good agent, Genji, and I mean it when I say I want you on my team,” he remembered Tracer’s words back in the stairwell and that little flare of hope burned in his chest. Could that happen? Was that possible?

“With Reinhardt retiring and Torbjörn going off field missions in protest and Sojourn having to take up more of Ana’s duties... the list of specialized operatives is pretty short,” said Mercy, “So...what do you think?”

“I’d love to be on your team,” Genji said on reflex.

Mercy chuckled a little, “Well that’s good to know, but I was asking about this,” she pointed to the monitor.

“Oh” said Genji, tracing his fingers along the holographic monitor to rotate a three dimensional model of the armored figure, “It’s...uh... shiny.”

“Shiny...good?” said Mercy.

“Shiny bad for a ninja,” said Genji with a smirk. 

“It’s only in the helmet and pecs!” said Mercy, more defensive than he expected over the design.

“Why do I need chrome-plastered pecs?” said Genji, a laugh shaking his voice.

“Well--your missions with Overwatch wouldn’t be like Blackwatch. It wouldn’t be all about sneaking around. This armor and prosthetics are all about making the most of your agility. It’s just... adding a bit more form to function, really.”

“Form and function...” Genji repeated, turning the model around. He looked at the posterior of his potential armor and shot a knowing, cat-like look at Mercy.

“It’s--it’s not as if it’s any worse than your Blackwatch prosthetics!” said Mercy, stiffly, reddening and glancing off, “In fact, they’re unequivocally better. More movement, better shock-absorption, they wouldn’t need as frequent maintenance...”

“Ah, but then I’d have fewer excuses to come see you,” said Genji. The corners of Mercy’s mouth twisted up in a ‘Don’t you dare’ grin as she scoffed. He smiled, looking back at the rougher sketches of the armored figure in action. They must have been taking notes from all of his footage with the training bots. “I do like them,” he said, “I might have some modifications for it myself in mind.”

“Like I said, this is all hypothetical,” said Mercy, pushing her hair back, “But well... so long as we don’t know when you’re going back to the field...You know, it’s just something to think about.”

“Honestly, with everything going on, it’s kind of nice being given something to think about that isn’t...well...”

“Being terrified that Overwatch is collapsing beneath us?” Mercy tilted her head.

Genji snorted. “Yes. That.”

“It’s all we can do to just... be practical,” said Mercy, “Look out for each other. Like she looked out for all of us.”

Genji nodded. 

“I should have asked--but I started rambling--How are you holding up?” said Mercy.

Genji leaned against the desk and sipped his coffee. “Honestly... I’m just hoping it sinks in for me because for me it’s like... what’s the term Tracer uses? Coin drop?”

“Penny drops,” said Mercy, “So for you it’s still like...”

“It’s like she’s not gone, even though I know she is gone, and I feel like an ass because everyone around me is sobbing their eyes out and I’m kind of standing around uselessly wondering when it’s going to hit me.” He felt at the back of his neck, “The prosthetics wouldn’t... have an affect on me like that, would they?”

“Hmm, no, you’re definitely emotional,” said Mercy on reflex, before she caught herself and put a hand over her mouth, “I mean--I mean I know you feel things--not that you’re irrational or---What I’m saying is, no grief is exactly the same.”

A huffing chuckle fell out of Genji. “Good to know, Doctor Ziegler.”

Mercy smiled and sipped her coffee.

[ebaeschnbliah]

M O N S T E R S   I N C

________________________________________________________________

... and it’s stunning similarities with Sherlock BBC

MONSTERS, INC  is a computer-animated comedy from 2001, produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. A modern fairytale, so to speak. I stumbled across this movie by accident while researching the ‘221b door’ tag on my blog and found an old tweet from Arwel Wyn Jones (x) posted during the filming of Series Four.  Watching the movie turned out to be quite the eye-opener.  :)

It’s not so much the plot of that movie but rather certain images which remind me strongly of Sherlock BBC. A lot of images, to be precise, but also some dialogues and one distinct voice. Watching MONSTERS, INC really left me speechless at times.

Related posts:  The Monsters are loose  (initially I’d chosen to name this post ‘Monsters Inc’ but that was before I watched the movie)   Overlaps    Playing with skulls (soon)   Laughs or Screams, additional informations

The ‘monster post’  is waiting below the cut for the fearless  ….  :))))

For anyone who hasn’t seen the movie:  MONSTERS, INC mostly plays in Monstropolis, a city in a parallel universe. The only places where the monster- and the human-world can connect, are the closet doors in children’s beedrooms. Here skilled monsters - the ‘scarers’ - appear at night to harvest the screams of terrified kids. Just like in the human world, the majority of the monsters aren’t evil, nor mean they any harm to the children. Monsters are actually more scared of human kids than the kids are of them. The harvested screams are badly needed because they provide the energy which is necessary to power the monster’s world. And because children are constantly becoming less easily scared, the screams decrase more and more, which means that an energie krisis threatens.

Initially the storyline for MONSTERS, INC  had been a different one though:

Pete Docter's (director and writer) original idea revolved around a 30-year old man dealing with monsters, which he drew in a book as a child, coming back to bother him as an adult. Each monster represented a fear he had and conquering those fears caused the monsters to eventually disappear.  (X) 

The logo of MONSTERS, INC,  the powerstation where screams are harvested to light the Monster’s world, combines the symbol of the eye and the letter M. I simply can’t help unsee a certain similarity with the logo for TheGameIsNow. That’s quite thought provoking, to say the least. 

The two leading characters in the monster world are scarer James P. "Sulley" Sullivan and his best friend and roommate Mike Wazowski, who is also his assistant at work. A big blue, fluffy guy wearing horns and a short, one-eyed, green guy who prefers to sit in a green egg-chair …. a bit similar to the one from the stagnight scene inTSOT.

Sulley holds the top position among all the scarers of Monstropolis. With military-like training Mike takes care that his friend stays in best form. 

Hey! Less talk, more pain, marshmallow boy! Feel the burn! You call yourself a monster?

The most successful scarers are celebrated like stars. Everyone knows them. They can’t go anywhere without being recognized and asked for autographs. And when they enter their company it looks like a hero parade. 

Future scarers have to undergo a special training in a high-tec simulation room. Here they are taught everything of importance, including the art of scaring children most efficiently in order to get the perfect scream. 

Listen to the lady in front of the surveillance screens who teaches screaming (at 01.40) …. but beware … she sounds an awful lot like Eurus Holmes ….

And this is the big boss, the chairman of MONSTERS, INC … Mr. Waternoose. He is very proud of his job, which has been passed down through his family for three generations. He acts as Sulley’s mentor and holds great faith in him as a scarer. Additionally …. he reminds me very much of Mycroft in TAB.

The monsters believe that harvesting screams is enormously dangerous, because children are deemed to be toxic, that their touch could kill them. Agents of a special task force - the Child Detection Agency - are on constant alert to neutralize any contamination with objects belonging to the human world. 

As soon as anything suspicious has been detected, the ‘big bad bouncy red alert’  goes off, cameras zoom in and then CDA agents enter right through the skylights to take care of the problem. Like AGRA in Tiblisi , really! I couldn’t help a yelp watching this little scene below ….

And then ..... shaved by AGRA … sorry, by CDA, of course ….  :))))

The day comes, however, when the unimaginable happens and a human child enters the monster world. And Sulley, the most famous scarer of all, is almost scared to death. I’m really tempted to call this an ‘Eurus-efffect’ ...

Thankfully, Sulley also has a heart of pure gold. He overcomes his fear - a little bit - and takes the human child home. His partner Mike is definitely not amused but helps anyway. Courageously, the friends prepare for the worst case scenario ...

Sulley, the Viking, with shield and horned helm and Mike, who seems to have ransacked the kitchen Cabinet instead. The little ‘killer-girl’ though is completely unimpressed ...

The evening starts rather chaotic, which results in some remarkable accidents …   I guess I know now where the idea of shoving a big pack of cigarettes into Sherlock’s mouth comes from …. and maybe Sherlock’s spraying attack on the CIA agent in ASIB as well.

Finally the situation calms down. Sulley beginns to supect that human kids might not be toxic after all. The little girl has a real crush on the fluffy, blue monster. She believes Sulley is a big cat and starts calling him ‘Kitty’. Looks like ‘killer girl’ is a cat lover. :)  Against Mike’s advice, Sulley decides to give the girl a name as well. He settles for ‘Boo’ because she likes nothing more than to scare him.

And Boo likes to draw …. Spoiler: Boo doesn’t burn down the house.

Eventually Boo gets tired. A trace of goodies (not breadcrumbs) leads the little girl to bed.

By the way: The book based on the film gives Boo's "real" name as Mary Gibbs, the name of her voice actress. (x)

The architecture of Mike’s and Sulley’s flat … the wide arch in the living room and in Sulley’s bedroom (Mike’s bedroom is never shown) … instantly reminded me of the very similar structure chosen for the 221b Baker Street livingroom set in PILOT.

What would any fairytale be without a good old-fashioned villain. In this case it’s a villain who looks suspiciously like a Chinese dragon. And naturally, where there is a dragon there needs to be a dragon slayer as well.   

Randall, the dragon-like monster is one of the most wicked characters in Monstropolis. He works as scarer but holds only the second place on the company’s success-list behind Sulley. Randall’s envy is huge. He is driven by his desire to displace his opponent from the top of the list. One can safely say that ‘murderous jealousy’ is a good description of Randall’s motivation. But his plan to capture the all-time scare record, only scratches the surface of his sinister agenda. 

But before it comes to the ‘slaying’, the nasty reptile tries to torture Mike, to find out where the missing human child is hiding. 

Randall:  SAY HELLO TO THE SCREAM EXTRACTOR!   (Jim in TAB:  Well, say hello to the virus.)

This is what Randall has created in a secret lab to prevent the looming energy crisis of his world … a machine to harvest the screams of children by force and not through the acting skills of trained scarers. Mike’s unimpressed answer to this realisation: 

Mike:  WELL, SOMEBODY'S CERTAINLY BEEN A BUSY BEE    (Mycroft in TEH:  You have been busy, haven’t you? Quite the busy little bee.) 

That’s not a joke ��� and the way down to the secret lab looks strikingly familiar as well ...

Needless to say that Sulley arrives just in time to rescue his friend … but that’s not the end of the story and also not the end of similarities with Sherlock BBC. 

Some nice little images in-between:  a fish mobile from Boo’s bedroom in which Sulley gets tangled up in, a toy train, a toy ship and a toy plane from the high-tech simulation room. Rater similar items can be detected in Sherlock BBC as well (TST, MHR and TFP). Especially the plane reminds me of the one Eurus’ plays with near the brook.

More familiar images:  

the prominent display of the letter M - often in combination with an eye 

a precious littel thing ... Boo, who wears pink underneath her disguise as monster, hides in a bin

a rather ‘big G’ painted on a wall

And there are eyes wherever one looks ...

Even contact lenses can be found ...

Mike’s love interest is a lady with hissing snakes for hairs, who works as receptionist in their company …. 

At one point the hero’s life is threatened by a deep fall, caused by his opponent, Randall, the nasty ‘dragon’. 

Seeing Sulley’s life threatened, Boo overcomes her fear of the reptile-like monster. She attacks him violently. This gives Sulley the time he needs to get out of the critical situation. 

And WOW!!! What changeable creature this villain is ……. even Jim ‘I’m so changeable’ Moriarty would be inmpressed. 

Randall’s exceptional talent for any kind of masquerade is also demonstrated in a little scene involving a portrait of the company’s chairman, Mr. Waternoose.   

The face of a chairman, covered by something related to a dragon … this reminds me instantly of TBB and Sir William, the former chairman of the bank, whose face had been covered with the yellow spray-paint, applied by a member of the Yellow Dragon Circus. 

To their dismay, Sulley and Mike discover that Randall isn’t just a jealous colleague. What is far worse, the changeable villain doesn’t work alone. His partner in cirme turns out to be none other than Mr. Waternoose, the big boss of the company. The two of them intend to use Boo for their experiments with the scream extractor, while Sulley and Mike get banished from Monstropolis and are sent into exile .. to the Himalayas. No return expected. 

There is no plane involved as in Sherlock’s case, but strictly speaking, the way in which the ‘sending into exile’ happens, can indeed be seen as a variation of ‘flyihg’ … 

Snow falls at the place where they land, somewhere in the Himalayan mountains.

While the Himalayas, more precisely Tibet, is closely connected to Sherlock’s hiatus after Reichenbach, the falling snow can also be found in TAB, the place Sherlock finds himself in, as a result of his ‘going into exile’ at the end of HLV … London in the winter 1895. 

And it doesn’t take long before the dark shadow of a scary creature falls over them … a seemingly monstrous creature which is covered all over in ‘bridal white’ fur  ….

May I introduce you to ….  Yeti, the ABOMINABLE snowman!

"ABOMINABLE"!  CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?  DO I LOOK ABOMINABLE TO YOU?  WHY CAN'T THEY CALL ME THE ADORABLE SNOWMAN OR...OR THE AGREEABLE SNOWMAN, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD?  I'M A NICE GUY. 

He is really a very nice guy and helps Sulley and Mike to get back where they came from and where they are badly needed by Boo. Randall is not amused but this time it is him who looses the game.

Yeti’s nickname was inspired by the Abominable Snowman from the 1964 animated special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (X).  Knowing this, one could view that bridal-white character also as a sort of Christmas connection. :))))

And have I mentioned those horns?

Some more lovely images:  a shot from the inside out of a small box (without a severed head in it though), no fire-extinguisher but it looks like one, silhouettes behind glass, safety helmets (X) and ... flickering screens ….

At the story’s finale, the simulation room from the beginning - a bedroom on a stage with a ‘fake’ victim lying in it and with a moving wall - I’m not kidding - becomes the ‘confession room’ for the main culprit. And of course, every word of his confession gets recorded. Somehow this reminds me strongly of another scene … another film … what was it again? It’s on the tip of my tongue ….

It turns out that chairman Waternoose had already been under close observation by CDA undercover agent 001 - code name Roz (not AMO). An elderly, quite steely lady, who turns out to be his superior. Waternoose gets arrested and Sulley becomes the new chairman of MONSTERS, INC.

Now the time has come for Boo to return to the human world. Sulley takes the little girl back through the closet door into her room, where they part after a big good-bye hug. 

Then the closet door which leads to her bedroom gets shredded, to prevent any future contact. But Boo’s short visit to the monster world had a huge impact. It proved that a child's laugh has ten times the power of a child's scream. The energy crisis of Monstropolis is solved. From now on laughter is harvested instead of screams and the power generated this way, is enormous. Mike turns out to be best harvester for laughs ever. 

Because Mike knows how much Sulley misses the little human girl, he collects and secretly reassembles the pieces of Boo's shredded door so that it can be activated again. 

The End

The song "If I Didn't Have You" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Mike: ♪ But I must admit it. Big guy, you always come through. I wouldn't have nothin' if I didn't have you. ♪ Mike and Sulley: ♪ You and me together. That's how it always should be. One without the other don't mean nothin' to me. Nothin' to me. ♪

Sulley: ♪ I don't have to say it. 'Cause we both know it's true.♪ Both: ♪ I wouldn't have nothin' if I didn't have... I wouldn't have nothin' if I didn't have... I wouldn't have nothin' if I didn't have you. ♪ Mike: ♪ You! You! A-E-I-O... That means you. Yeah. ♪

And doesn’t this almost sound like …. ‘just the two of us against the rest of the world’? 

Hopefully you enjoyed the rather long ride. I can highly recommend this movie to anyone. It’s so much more fun watching it with ones own eyes than just reading a summary. This said, I leave you now to your own deductions. Thanks for reading that far. :)

August, 2019

[genjispeaks]

Gency hcs??

// Random assortment of Gency headcanons (not necessarily related to rp):

Although there’s always been tension between them, nothing happened until Genji had already found Zenyatta and stayed with the Shambali; at this point, their letters to each other took a more intimate tone, if still not outright romantic. Before this point, Genji was much too broken to have the capacity for a relationship, having had his image of self, his confidence and his literal, actual body shattered into pieces. For Angela, her morals and responsibility as Genji’s primary caretaker and doctor would have never allowed her to act on the attraction she felt to him on a personal level. I still see it highly unlikely they didn’t simultaneously feel this attraction - this is two very attractive young people of the same age being confined to the same space for months on end, with matching personalities and taste in humour. Let’s be real here, they bonded, and the thought would have crossed their minds; “if we’d met under different circumstances”, “if we’d met before”, and “if you’d ever feel the same for me despite what I am”.

Similarly, at the point where Genji would feel more at ease with himself and have the capacity for commitment and connecting again, and where Angela would no longer be in such an extreme position of power over him, they would likely both feel that it’s too late for it now, that the conditions that ruled over them before had essentially outlived their capacity to move from a platonic to a romantic relationship, possibly even that they’re both too old for that now, each having their own mission and priorities elsewhere. Accepting that they do have the chance to build a future together despite their different standings in life would take some time and thinking and reconciliation, leading to a slow burn start to their relationship.

They balance each other out, and hold the keys to each other’s comfort. Angela understands better than anyone (spare for Zenyatta, perhaps) what keeps Genji awake at night; similarly, Genji can be the only thing that grounds her back to reality when she can’t sleep and her thoughts are racing. They ground each other. They uplift one another, they support one another, and can each see the light for the other when the other cannot.

They’re often long distance due to their respective roles in life; Angela moves frequently from one crisis to another around the globe, and Genji has his own path that takes him from one mission to another, often dealing with circumstances that force him to stay underground and out of reach. Due to the nature of their relationship, they both take this for granted, and cherish the time they do get to spend together while considering the primary state of their relationship to be nonphysical; they send letters, emails, pictures, and call each other often, and can sometimes have a hard time closing the gap when they do meet. They’ve never quite learned how to be physical with one another, so even though they both have a longing to be near, to hold hands, to kiss, it always takes a while for either to be able to initiate anything more than an in-depth conversation when they do meet.

[chisie12]

Gency Week Day 4: Morning Glory/Affection

A little late for Day 4 but I do hope you enjoy! 

Just some notes: Meine Maus is German for 'My mouse', a small term of endearment. Jungspunde (if you've seen it in Dance of Silver) just means 'youngster' These might also be spelled wrong. My fav German is currently asleep. So mistakes are on me.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19071907/chapters/45535678

Day 4: Desire and Desiderium

The last week's event with the daffodils had been successful. The limited time food and drinks were quite a hit with the customers. Upon opening the cafe, she picked up the mail in the mailbox on the way, dropped them onto the counter and begun the early setup. She worked silently and efficiently, not a single word of complaint escaping. She was happy to be able to put her back into this, to the point she hummed a small tune. The melodious sound echoed in the empty cafe and unbeknownst to her, a shadow was watching her the whole time. But he never showed himself, at least not until a little later.

Dawn had just broken when she finished putting the chairs down and a cheerful voice broke the comfortable silence.

“Good morning, Angela!”

“A very good morning to you too, Mei,” the blonde grinned and they started cooperating on getting the cafe ready. Angela entered the kitchen, preparing the ingredients that needed to be used that day as Mei checked on the machines that they would use for the drinks.

“Last week was really fun!” Mei giggled, bending over the counter on the tip of her toes. With a flick of her finger, the switch to the coffee machine was turned on. “We should hold another event like that again!”

“I agree!” Angela’s laughter drifted out from the open kitchen door.

“Have you seen the posts online?”

“No?”

That’s when Angela suddenly found herself — after finding her phone and opening the social media applications — grinning at the comments she read online.

“Homemade Swiss chocolates. Definitely not for children unless you want to put them to sleep!” A user posted a picture of chocolate drops finely presented on a porcelain plate. Each chocolate was different, some were spherical, some dome-shaped and white one was heart-shaped. By its side, fresh, cut strawberries decorated them, a chocolate drizzle lightly covering the juicy redness.

A commenter responded below the picture: “Oh my God. Did she draw the angel around the chocolates?”

Because right on the other side of the fruits, an angel in dark chocolate was drawn embracing the alcoholic sweetness.

“Yes, she did!”

Users, especially young teenagers, who found out of the event the week after were feeling utter regret. How did they not find out about this café sooner? And those flowers around the cafe! Warm lighting! Perfect Instantgram photos!

Pride swelled up within the blonde café owner. Her hard work had paid off! Those angels were not easy to draw, especially when 60% of her customers requested it and only she knew how. She scrolled down further on the social media results of the café’s social media tag, upon which she spotted the handiwork of Mei herself.

“Mei! Come look at this!” She yelled out to Mei who was busy concocting another iced drink in the kitchen. The Chinese girl popped her head out as Angela brought the phone over to her.

“Oh, I haven’t seen this!” Mei exclaimed and she read out loud, "Mei's ice cream rolls! Made on the spot! Do you feel your mouth watering now?”

In the picture was the image of cookies and cream ice cream rolls placed in a glass sundae cup held up by beautifully manicured nails, with similar flavoured Pocky sticks further adorning the creamy sweetness.

"You were at Mercy's Apothecary?! Why didn't you bring me!” A user commented with a series of angry emojis.

The two of them giggled at some comments that followed after, feeling immensely proud after such a hectic week. They took a quick breather, simply reading post after post, comment after comment, until one caught their eyes.

“I heard that their menu was designed a little after some of the fallen Overwatch team members. Do you think that’s true?"

“I remember the names Hellfire Shots and Sleep Special in the night drinks menu. Are they some?”

“Their Rum Punch was named ‘It’s High Noon’, I believe.”

“I ate some sandwiches named Grillmaster 77. And I think the Lemon Syrup Tea was called Mountain D.Va? Isn’t D.Va the Korean eSports celebrity who was in the army before joining Overwatch?”

"Do you think she was part of them?”

"She does look a lot like the blonde doctor that used to be on the field!"

Angela’s face contorted into confusion. What were the users saying? She had come up with those names on the fly. Overwatch? She didn’t know anyone from that organisation. The closest person she knew to an agent was Jack, and Genji (Jesse and Lena too), but even he wasn’t from Overwatch. At least, she didn't think so. And she definitely wasn't.

“Angela?”

The blonde woman shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. They’re just speculations. I don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Mei looked on worriedly. “Al…right. If you say so.” She turned back into the kitchen, but not without taking a second glance back. Angela’s eyebrows were furrowed into a deep confusion, teeth gnawing at her bottom lip. Her fingers clenched at the phone before she clicked it off.

Speculations? They're not speculations at all.

‘Why would Angela be confused? What was wrong with their comments?’ Mei sighed inwardly before grabbing the drink she just made and coming back out.

“Here.”

Angela looked up from her thoughts. “Thank you,” she said upon receiving the iced tea.

Mei took the other seat beside Angela behind the counter.

Angela then picked up the letters and looked through them. “There’s one addressed to you.”

“That’s weird? I didn’t set the cafe’s address for anything.” Mei took the letter with a frown as she sipped on her green tea frappuccino. She flipped the letter over. "There's no sender either."

Angela hummed as she opened each letter, the majority being bills that she had to pay. At one letter however, was an enveloped exactly identical to Mei's, down to the font used on the front. Mei originally brushed the letter away, her attention directed more at her phone, but when Angela looked over to compare their envelopes, even she couldn't help but be curious. Tacitly, they simultaneously tore their respective envelope open and picked out the paper folded within.

"Dear Angela, I am pleased to invite you and your Overwatch teammates to attend a specially organised masquerade dinner celebrating your good deeds. The event will take place on the 13th next Friday at Lumiere Hotel. We will also be graced with the appearance of a special guest joining us that evening," Angela muttered under her breath. Below the body were details of the event printed in elegant cursive text.

Feeling a presence peer at her letter, Angela looked up with a quirked eyebrow at Mei. "Oh, it is the same too!"

Huh? Same too? What did she mean by 'too'?

Seeing the inquisitive, baffled expression on Angela's face, Mei was beginning to be convinced that something was wrong with Angela, otherwise why else would she be rough with Genji?; wouldn't react upon seeing Junkrat or Roadhog except for confused silence; upon treating her like merely a colleague when they've shared late nights discussing the effects of climate and weather in relation to cybernetics; upon receiving the overly friendly smile you receive when you weren't good friends yet.

But they were. And have been for years — ever since she joined Overwatch after being thawed out.

"I received the same invitation," Mei waved her letter.

"Overwatch?" Angela tested the words on her tongue, so foreign yet why did it feel so familiar at the same time. She'd felt it before, just only a little over four months ago, when she saw his face wrapped around that scarf, the faint scars carved into his skin. It was… just like the time she did with Genji. Her face furrowed into confusion. Wait, if Mei received one too then wasn't she from Overwatch too?

"Yeah, Overwatch," Mei parroted without missing a beat before Angela could question. She contemplated whether to continue or not, to inform Angela that they've gone out into the field together way back when Overwatch still stood tall and proud, but something tugged at her not to say and to not intrude into the matters of others, yet… "Angela, were —"

"G'day, snowflake!" Junkrat slammed the cafe doors open. The maniacal grin dancing on his lips stretched wider when his eyes found their target sitting together with Angela. "How ya doin'!" He bounded over to the women as Roadhog lowered his head to enter the just-tad-too-short doors.

Mei waved Angela to remain sitting while she stood up to attend to their new regular customers. "Good morning, Jamie. What's your order today?"

Junkrat chuckled under his breath and, for the first time Mei saw him, he straightened his spine and leaned back. His hips were pushed forward, thumbs hooked in his pockets and she found herself flicking her gaze onto his remaining fingers. "You."

"Alright! I'll get that —  wait, what?" She had subconsciously jabbered on in routine when his order finally clicked in her mind. "M-Me?"

"Yes, 'flake. You." The slightly crazed man grinned while he watched her reaction, having caught her gaze. "What say you? You, me, on a date?"

Was it just her or was the cafe heating up? Junkrat watched, satisfied at the deep flush her fair cheeks were sporting. Her pink lips parted, only to have her teeth nibble at her bottom lip. The seconds felt like minutes and everything slowed down in that very moment; Angela watched with curiosity deeming proud for a feline, Junkrat puffing out his chest with the pride of a lion, and Mei, poor flabbergasted, confused Mei, simply pinched and played with her fingers. Was he playing a joke on her? If he was, it was such a sick joke! But as she lifted her eyes to glance at him, the shred of sincerity shining in his eyes caused her to flinch. Was it real? It really seemed so real. Should she accept?

‘I mean like, it wouldn’t hurt to right? Maybe? Argh! I don’t know!’ Mei felt as though animated tears streaming down her distraught face as she wished she was holed up in a corner to her thoughts.

This was just too sudden! This wasn’t the Jamie — Junkrat — that she knew! Where did that crazy, maniacal laughing, bubble tea loving pyromaniac go! She’d rather face his usual babble of explosions and threats of blowing this building, that building, or even the park if he could just because some dog peed on his leg (and no, clearly not on the fleshy leg).

As the time ticked by, Junkrat’s confident smile twitched at the corner. It shouldn’t be taking that long to decide would it? Or did she not find him attractive enough? That what? She preferred those stick thing, unreliable Asian men better (with of course, excluding that cyborg ninja Genji and archer Hanzo. Those two could give me one hell of a run if they tried, he scoffed)?

“Uh…”

His ears perked up at the soft voice, just like the little tweet of a nightingale and his eyes sparkled with anticipation. Really, just what could go wrong, right?

Everything, of course.

The door, for the second time that day, opened with the lightest of push, but it was that small creak that sounded especially deafening in the tense silence. In stepped a tall, muscular blond man whose blue eyes first beamed at spotting Angela behind the counter, before falling onto a nervous Mei and a threatening Junkrat.

“You — What are you doing to Mei?” Jack stepped towards Junkrat with a level glare. “You wouldn’t happen to be threatening a waitress, would you?”

“Fuck off, cunt. I was just asking her a question!” Junkrat returned the glare with one of his own. “Fucking ruined the moment!”

Jack ignored his cussing, turning to Mei instead. Gesturing at the angry pyromaniac with a flick of his chin, he asked, “Is that true?”

“U-Uh, yeah. He was,” Mei heaved a mental sigh of relief at seeing a familiar face walk through the door. Oh gosh, she couldn’t even begin imagining what she’d do if unacquainted customers came by!

Jack was about to continue questioning her when a gentle voice cut him off. “It’s alright, Jack. He really wasn’t threatening her.”

At Angela’s reassurance did the agent relax his guard and walk up to the second cashier, to which she stood up to man. He observed her grinning countenance, scanning for any abnormalities, but he found none. ‘So, the letter hasn’t arrived?’ His mind floated towards the ninja that appeared moments before he entered, frowning at the memory. 'Did she see him too?'

Angela paid no heed to his stare and continued gracing him with her smile. “Good morning. You’re not normally in this early, or this often.”

Concluding that it really hasn’t arrived and haven't seen the cyborg ninja, he returned her grin and shook his head. “I just miss you that’s all. I was wondering if you’re free later today after work as I got a day off.”

“Sure, I don’t have anything planned. What did you want to do?” she responded almost immediately.

“Just perhaps a walk in the park? Thought we could both do with a nice change in pace,” he suggested.

“Sounds good to me.”

Junkrat seethed at the side, scowling darkly at the scene and faced Mei again. She half feared that he was going to ask her out again and forced herself to keep smiling. If he asked, she’d reply! If not, then… well. She wasn’t sure?

“Just give me the breakfast set. Roadie will have the same but with more sausages.” Instead, he grumbled under his breath while glaring at the till.

Somehow, just somehow, Mei was disappointed. Was she only worth that much to him? Was it really a joke after all? She carefully took his payment and gave him his order number before quickly entering the kitchen to prepare the meal. Simple dishes like this, she could do, but anything that required more skills, they were normally sent to the kitchen staff on hand or Angela to complete. However just for this meal, just this one, even if she’d deny it in front of others, she wanted to at least make that crazy man his breakfast. Juicy, ripened tomatoes were sliced in half before being lightly seasoned with salt and pepper with a drizzle of olive oil before being baked in the oven. On the frying pan was a couple of thick striped bacon and sausages sizzling away that she flipped over before checking on the simmering pot of water. With a dash of vinegar, she then stirred to create a whirlpool before carefully cracking a fresh large egg into it. She watched in anticipation as the egg whites swirled and danced around the yolk, like a butterfly’s wings cocooning itself.

It didn’t take long to finish the meal. The tomatoes came out first and then poached eggs, and she neatly plated them on a warm porcelain plate. A garden salad was placed on the side with a lemon balsamic tang before the bacon and sausages was put on. She repeated the same on another plate but with added sausages. Once content with everything, she brought out the plates, one in each hand and sauntered towards the table. This time, confidence was oozing out of her every pore and it showed, as Junkrat’s attention was suddenly shifted towards her as he caught her from the corner of his eye. His eyes were locked onto the delicious upward tug of her lips before blinking at the glint in her eyes so bright behind the glasses. He visibly gulped the lump in his throat when he watched her curves dance towards him with mouth-watering meals in her possession.

“Here you go. A breakfast special made especially for you.” The plates lightly thudded on the wooden table and Junkrat was stunned at the smile that she gave him.

He gulped again, somehow noticing that the distance between them was rather short. He could feel the heat that radiated off her body and even when she pulled her hands back to her side, they were made deliberately slow and elegant as she turned to fully face him. “So,” she whispered breathily. Goosebumps tickled his skin when her cold fingertips graced his warm ones gripping the armrest. “Is the date still on?”

“W-Wha?” Incoherent words tumbled off his tongue. What was his Snowflake saying?

Mei grinned cheekily at his response and the confidence building within allowed her to lean forward just by a few inches, enough so that the words rolling off her lips would tickle his ear. “The date. The date you wanted to take me on. When will you take me out?”

The warm breath, so unlike her cold fingertips, caressed his ear and he shivered at the intensity of it all. The words repeated in his mind over and over again, before his mind finally processed it and he felt his lips tug at the corner. His shock vanished like a drop of water in the desert and he returned her gesture, sheer satisfaction blooming at the pinkness that slowly crept upon her cheeks. Leaning on his arm, he closed into her face, the smug smirk playing off his lips. “Oh, babe. We can have a date tonight if you want. Or even right here, right now.” Then, with his free hand, Junkrat lightly traced his thumb over her parted lips with a quick, fluid motion. “Of course, if you rather not, my flames are hot as fuck like the Australian sun and it’ll definitely keep you warm at night.

It was like the kettle going off when the last of his breathy words kissed her lips. Mei’s face flushed entirely red where it rivalled the juiciest ripened red apples, feeling extremely hot to the point she believed steam was about to rise. Just what, why, how, what?

With his smirk widening, Junkrat leaned back and winked. “I’ll see you tonight then, Snowflake.”

With a blink of her eyes, Mei managed to compose herself before smiling sweetly at him. “Okay!”

When Mei walked away, cheeks still a little red and a little flustered, but her steps had a bounce to them. Angela grinned upon seeing that and couldn’t help her eyes wandering over to Jack who was seated by the window, eating his sandwich and reading the news. She too, was pretty eager for tonight.

“Oh, good morning Ana!” Mei chirped when an elderly lady appeared by the door. Her skin was tanned and white hair braided neatly, but unlike normal women, one of her eyes were hidden behind an eyepatch.

“Good morning. I brought the new batch of flowers for this week,” Ana smiled as she held up the pots of morning glory. The royal purples were a beautiful contrast from their dark leaves and a fresh scent immediately wafted around the cafe. “I have the rest in my car.”

Angela beamed at the morning glory. They were absolutely beautiful! And they seemed to have just bloomed as well. Gratefully taking the heavy pot from Ana’s hands, she proceeded to set it down near the door, close enough to be by the entrance but not enough to get destroyed when the door opened (courtesy of a particular fellow).

While Ana turned around to get the other pots, a burly man standing at easily over 2 metres was blocking the doorway. In his thick arms were two large pots of morning glory, the trellises covered with buds in full bloom. “Ana, Meine Maus. You left your car door open.”

Ana grinned lopsidedly at the man. Steps filled with elegance and a deathly vibe, she walked up towards the man and lifted her hand to gently caress his cheek on her tiptoes. The short hairs of his beard tickled her calloused palm. “Why wouldn’t I, my love? I could easily spot you from a mile away.”

Reinhardt, the big old burly man chuckled lovingly at the smaller woman before him. Her head was lowered as she lifted her one eye to blink innocently up at him. “And besides, you wouldn’t let anyone steal a defenceless old woman’s car, would you?”

Her whisper was only audible for him to hear and he couldn’t help guffawing at the bashful, defenceless look she was putting on. Her? Defenceless? Hah! She could easily send someone to meet their father in Heaven if she wanted to!

“And besides, who would steal the car when someone like you was already stealing flower pots out of it?”

His laughter bellowed louder in the cafe. Nimbly, he pecked her on the forehead, the adoration so clear in his gaze. “Oh, Meine Maus. I’m just helping you carry these heavy things.” He knew full well that she could easily handle these pots herself too with all the years having been in the field with her sniper rifle, and gods, that gun was not light to begin with. “I even finished training the Jungspunde as fast as I could, just so I could see you.”

Ana smiled and stepped aside to allow Reinhardt entry, mouthing him a silent ‘thank you’ before turning to Angela. “Tell him where you’d like them.”

She warmed at the scene before her, feeling rather wistful from it all. When would she be able to experience something like that? A simple, comfortable relationship with nothing else that was more important. A sigh slipped from her lips before she stepped forward to instruct Reinhardt on the positioning of the plants. A few customers arrived when the cafe was being transformed into a mini garden once more whom Mei attended to as Angela handled the decorations. It was bittersweet, watching the old couple. Sweet, simple ministrations of small pecks, rubbing of her cheek on his bicep, and unburdened laughter that was so addictive that the others couldn’t help but join in too.

“Thank you.”

Ana and Reinhardt looked up from their seats to smile at Angela who brought a plate of food and a tray of refreshments. Setting the sandwiches down with the drinks, she thanked the couple once more.

“It’s our pleasure, Angie. You’re doing really well with the cafe.” Ana commented, her words tinged with pride.

“It’s a team effort,” Angela responded bashfully. And that was true. Without Jack’s assistance in forming the cafe, she would have then never built the cafe up to the standard that she wanted; He was the one who found Ana the florist, and not long after she posted job positions, Mei came (with a few other staff of course, but the Chinese woman was the most memorable one out of the lot) with her refreshing iced drinks. When she faced the couple again, there was something that nagged at her mind, itching at her to ask: “How do you make it work?” She knew Reinhardt was somewhere in the military; the guy had to be with that kind of body!

“You mean relationships?” Ana asked back and she nodded. When the old woman turned to look at Reinhardt, she caught his silent, endearing gaze as he nibbled on his sandwich and her lungs burst out into giggles. “They’re work, Angie. Definitely not 50/50. Some days when I get up, I feel like only giving 10% of my effort and my love here will have to step up to give 90% that day.”

“But there’s 100% love,” Reinhardt finished for her as he handed her the cup to drink. “It’s really hard to put it into words because it can’t really be measured. Sometimes you just gotta feel for it.”

“But how would you know who?”

“Someone who feels like home,” Ana grinned, taking Reinhardt’s hand into hers. “It’s not about the excitement or the things you share in common. Sometimes, it’s really just someone that makes you feel comfortable, someone that you can go home to and relax without a worry.”

“Without a worry, huh…”

“How come, Angie? Is there someone on your mind?” Ana questioned, leaning back as she daintily picked up her cup and sipped her tea. She truly did wonder, just who might have Angela ended up with? She watched the pondering woman closely, feeling slightly odd at the sight. The blonde cafe owner before her was nothing like the doctor she knew back in Overwatch, like something… had changed. It wasn’t such a major, drastic change no. Just something subtle, something you wouldn’t have been able to grasp if you weren’t attentive enough.

Angela hummed as she hugged the tray closer to her chest. At first, her eyes darted towards Jack, her questioning gaze staring at his back. Would he be the one? Sure, they’ve shared laughter and smiles before, but that’s all there was. It was like there was never a rainy day between them and honestly, that was nice. She felt happy with him and rather free, yet simultaneously, there were times where she had to constantly put that smile on — even if she didn’t want to. Putting away her fatigue, her stress for the day, just so she could smile for him… was that really what she wanted? Yes, she was smiling. Yes, they laughed together. And he'd helped her with a new beginning. But it was just so tiring…

Ana caught onto the direction of her gaze, and so did Reinhardt. They both shared a glance, untold conversations silently weaving through the air.

"I haven't seen Genji in awhile. How is he doing?"

Angela was snapped out of her reverie at the man's question. Genji… huh. "I haven't seen him in awhile. I guess he must be busy."

Reinhardt let out a sound of acknowledgment. "I suppose he is. But shouldn't you check up on him? To make sure he's working fine?"

She was startled. "Huh? What do you mean?"

This time it was Reinhardt who was surprised. "Am I wrong? Don't you regularly perform checks on him? To make sure the cybernetic parts of his body are operating at optimum levels, or something?" He paused, holding her gaze with his quirked eyebrow. "Am… I not right? These things are just too confusing!"

"I - I…"

At a loss for words, the cafe owner flinched back a small step. Everything in her was a mess lately. She hadn't believed Genji the first time he told her she was a doctor, that she was in Overwatch, but then the letter came. Inviting her. And then, now this.

Was this why they all gave her weird expressions when they first met? When Mei came for an interview and she appeared all cheerful, only to be shocked and confused, before the same smile was brought back, although albeit forced. Angela honestly always thought that the icy woman was just someone who wore her heart on her sleeve while still being capable of maintaining a professional attitude; the ability to create the iced drinks were just icing on the cake. And when Angela first met Ana, the older woman had instantly treated her with warmth, giving off the vibe of a loving grandmother who desperately wanted to give hugs and cookies. Yet, when Angela kept that professional distance and introduced herself, Ana, similarly like Mei, had given her an expression full of confusion.

As though they were supposed to adjust be acquainted.

But she… couldn't remember.

Remember.

It's always her memory. Something was definitely missing. Something related to Overwatch. Something she should have known but couldn't. Something… argh! What was it? If only she could —

The door to the cafe opened and the first wave of breakfast customers came rushing in to get their daily coffee and food. Dropping the topic right there, Angela quickly returned to her position with an apology and helped Mei attend to the customers.

"Something's not right… with Angie."

"I agree, Meine Maus. It's like she can't remember us."

"But it's only been a little under five years since the disbandment of Overwatch."

The couple had only gotten in touch with Angela from time to time before she opened the cafe. That was simply life. You'd get busy and things start to pile up. You'd focus on one task before moving onto the next, or even, you'd just sit and laze there, waiting for the time to pass for the exact reason that things were starting to pile up, like pile up.

"I don't know, my love. It's not as simple as that…" And pursed her lips while her motherly sixth sense was tingling. Something. Was terribly wrong.

Angela busied herself with the customers, plastering on the usual smile as the wave kept coming for breakfast or early lunches. She'd pass Jack occasionally with a plate of food or with a tray of drinks, and though she wished she could forget about what the old couple has mentioned, her mind constantly strayed away. Would he be the one? Was he the one I feel like home? She glanced at Jack as she walked towards the table behind him before quickly lowering her lashes. The image of his smiling side profile flitted into her mind, chin in palm and a warm mug in the other. He watched the people by the sidewalk pass by the cafe while the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. A lovely day indeed.

After serving the drinks, she too, looked out the window. 'It's been sunny for awhile,' she noted mentally. 'I wonder when will it rain?'

Her footsteps immediately paused and her nose wrinkled.

If every day was a sunny day, who would not wish for rain?

His words, crisp and clear, rang in her mind. It was already muddled with thoughts, a total mess of a mindscape like messy clothes strewn carelessly around the room, but his words remained bolded and strong. Her lips subconsciously twitched upward.

True. We all need a rainy day once in awhile.

And when the day had come and gone, the sun finishing its cycle to allow space the moon to bask in its glory, Angela stood outside her cafe with her face towards the fiery sky. Hues of orange and yellow painted the clouds a passionate colour, with a visible of violet and pink. She released a deep sigh, letting it all out and the gentle breeze blew, caressing her cheek and danced with her hair. It's been 17 weeks since she opened the cafe, 17 weeks since her new beginning, and two weeks since she saw him. Was he doing well? Was he eating well? Did those scars hurt?

"Have fun!" Mei called out from inside the cafe. Junkrat was waiting on her inside, fingers drumming impatiently on the armrest as he balanced the car on its two back legs.

"Thanks for closing up!" Angela smiled. There was still 30 minutes to closing, but Mei had offered to close up, giving the owner the short break from the Monday Mayhem. They hadn't expected it to be so busy, but after the first wave came, they never stopped.

Jack waved bye to Mei after a warning glance at Junkrat to come stand beside Angela. "You cold?" He asked when he saw her crossed arms.

Smiling sweetly, she shook her head. "Not really. I'm fine."

Although he acknowledged her words, he still removed his coat and gingerly wrapped it around her shoulders. An indescribable feeling washed over her, the emotions bubbling up to her throat. He was sweet, such a gentleman, and he was strong and loyal. But why did she feel like there was something that she could never cross? Something held her back, an invisible threshold her heart refused to jump across.

"Come, let's go to the park nearby."

However, just as he uttered those words, the darkening sky lost its passionate hue as dark clouds immediately converged above the city. Lightning flashed before their eyes as the winds picked up speed, with barely three seconds later as the thunder clapped, the sound rumbling and shocking her nerves.

Instantly, like a tear in the sky, it started pouring. Angela stood beneath the eaves of her cafe, watching the grey faded curtain of the rain fall before her. The chill pervaded her senses, yet the feeling was refreshing, a nice calm in the chaos of her heart.

"Shit. I'll go borrow an umbrella." Jack turned back into the cafe.

Angela hummed nonchalantly, her attention still on the pitter-pattering of rain. Her fingers, still on her cross arms, twitched, as though something was missing — something that had normally done before. A sad smile flitted onto her lips the more she thought about it. The empty slate of memories that she had of year before her awakening in the hospital, that wide gap, was beginning to get on her nerves. The doctors said that with time, her memories should resurface. Nothing was wrong with her that was extremely detrimental, everything was functioning alright. At least, that's what the doctors said.

Were they right?

She began to seethe at the doubt that arose. What was the truth? What was the lie?

"Ahh, there aren't any umbrellas in the cafe," Jack groaned as he returned to her side. "Why isn't there one? Sigh… what would you like to do?" He felt dejected at the weather, inwardly cursing the bad timing to have it rain. After so long of finally getting a day off just to spend it with her, it rained. It. Just. Had. To. Rain. Fuck.

Angela didn't even spare him a glance, too lost in her thoughts when she suddenly cried out in pain at the sharp stab to her brain. It pulsed and burned, like a knife was carving in her skull. A faint, blurry memory was resurfacing, the scene dark, but she felt a sense of comfort. A phantom warmth crept on her cheek, like a gentle caress of the wind, but the calloused touch brought shivers down her spine. She closed her eyes and relished in the memory, as blurry as it may be.

Murmured whispers began to echo.

“Oh, it’s raining.”

“Mmm, it would seem like it is.”

“If I recall, it was raining when I found you too.”

“Yeah, it was raining just like this at that time.”

“I’m glad that I did though.”

“Huh?”

“It allowed me to meet you.”

The close intimacy of those words brought upon a wave of desire and anguish in her heart. The man’s voice was familiar, too familiar in fact and the same instinctual feeling she felt weeks ago — buried long ago — resurfaced.

She tried to calm her breathing, the pain now throbbing a dull ache. By her side, Jack was worried and anxious, but his words fell on deaf ears. She couldn’t hear a word he uttered, nor could she hear Mei’s.

“Then I propose we have a date in the rain.”

“In the rain? Then I’ll just have to bring an umbrella.” The her in the memories giggled, giggled, at the prospect of walking in the rain.

There came the phantom caress once again, causing her heart to burn with renewed fervor.

“Two lovers in the rain have no need for an umbrella.”

His name, barely audible in the rain, was murmured under her breath, a soft kiss of desiderium that warmed and at the same time, anguished her within.

The large hands that held onto her arm and patted her back brought her out of her senses, and cruelly back to reality. She snapped her head towards a worried Jack and she stared into his eyes so blue that mirrored her countenance. Did he know?

'Did Jack know anything of me in Overwatch?' She thought. 'If he did, why wouldn't he tell me?'

An uneasy feeling rose up his throat at the blank, level stare that she gave him. Did she recover her memories?

The doctors said that with time, her memories should resurface, but it was Jack that told her, "It's alright if you don't remember. Each day is a new beginning."

What were his intentions then? She believed him like a baby depended on its mother when it first opened its eyes. He was there by her bed when she woke up, there when she felt lost at everything, there when every new thing popped up. But now —

Just how much shit could she have avoided if she knew his intentions from the start?

"Angie…?" He tested the waters warily, a sense of danger sparking off in his mind. An angry woman was after all, more dangerous than any sniper bullet.

The unreadable expression on her beautiful countenance disappeared with the blink of an eye as the same smile he was used to appeared. "Oh, I'm sorry. I blanked out."

He heaved a mental sigh of relief. Outwardly, he returned her smile. "You were in pain just now. Did your head hurt?"

"Yeah, but it's fine now."

And now, for the actual worry. "Did you recover your memories?"

Angela closed her eyes as she shook her head, using that moment of darkness to hide the sharp glint in her gaze. Memories? Yeah, she recovered just the slightest bit of them, but it doesn't look like he wanted her to. However, she easily lied through her smile, "No. I didn't. I think I'm just cold. I want to go home. Sorry about this."

Jack patted her head and she forcefully repressed the urge to flinch. "You don't have to apologise." I do. "I'll send you home."

She wanted to refuse him, to go alone and sit with her thoughts, but seeing the eagerness in his eyes made it sizzle away. "Sure."

And as they ran across the streets, jacket or hands covering their heads, a lone shadow appeared by the cafe door. In his hand was a brown paper bag. For the first time in two weeks, he wasn't in his cyborg suit. He didn't shiver at the cold, feeling a hollow space in his heart. For two weeks, he held back in seeing her. For two weeks, he worked hard to finish the thing in the bag. For two weeks… he tried to swim against the raging waves of his mind, that she didn't intentionally forget who he was, that she didn't intend to leave him, to hurt him like this.

Yet, when I tumbled and turned in my thoughts, I always came to the same conclusion: It's sad when the person that gave me the best memories, becomes a memory.

"Genji! You're here." Mei greeted me despite Junkrat's scowls and grumbles. "Do you want something to drink?"

I shook my head, looking around the cafe for any signs of Angela. Water dripped from my hair, wet clothes clinging to my body and the scent of morning glory entered my senses. Affection, I vaguely remembered its meaning. Mei caught onto my gaze and asked, "Are you looking for Angela? She just left with Jack before you arrived."

I gave her a bitter smile. Jack. Jack Morrison again. He stopped me from entering this morning when I gathered enough courage to see her as the cafe opened, and when I heard his words, I swallowed the acid in my throat and resolutely walked away. The dragon in my blood stirred, the unaccepting fury bubbling.

"What are you doing here, Genji?"

"Commander," I had curtly replied with the same brown bag in hand. Tugging my scarf higher, I continued. "I'm here to see Angela."

Jack shook his head, arms crossed on his chest as he leaned his weight on a foot. "You're just going to hurt her when she sees you."

"Why?" I narrowed my eyes, the dark irises flashing a dangerous red and Jack tensed his muscles in retaliation.

Instead of replying, Jack shook his head and shifted the topic. "You know. It was amazing how you two have been friends for so long. She talked about you all the time."

My ears perked up. "She did?"

"Yeah, I have to say, I have no idea how you didn't fall in love with her yet." My heart ached at the bitter memory of months ago. "Lucky for me though."

And I swore, I was about to pummel him for the smug grin he graced me with. Had he thought I hadn't felt that? That they were together? That I had missed out on my only chance just because of a damn mission?

"Did you have to fucking tell me that?" I growled at him. "Then go, go to her."

And I had then turned around, my back to the cafe, to her, and walked away, and it was with that, that I missed Jack's agonised expression, muttering incoherent words under his breath.

"I wish I could. She hasn't even agreed to date me."

Turning my attention back to Mei, I ignored Junkrat by the side and handed her the bag. "Could I leave this bag here with you?"

"What's in it?"

My face twitched into a smile. "Nothing much."

Mei narrowed her eyes in jest. "Really? It's not something I need to be afraid of, right?"

I shook my head but Junkrat had been faster, grabbing the paper bag from my grip before she could lay a finger on it. "No! If it's fucking dangerous, cunt. You're not leaving it here with her."

I rolled my eyes at the pyromaniac. "It's a lot less dangerous than you."

"Damn right it should be!" He proudly exclaimed.

Mei laughed at his antics, taking the bag away from him. "I'll keep this safe. How have you been?"

I could sense the hidden worry in her tone and I chuckled sadly. "As good as I can be. Jesse and Lena are helping me through this ordeal."

Mei hummed in agreement. "That's good. Angela is a little different though."

I scoffed lightly. "Of course. She's lost her memories. Doesn't remember a single thing."

Mei gasped. "Seriously? Aiya, no wonder she found it weird when she got the letter. Did you get it too?"

I raised an eyebrow. "That dinner invitation?" At her nod, I replied, "Yeah. I did."

"Hey, hey. What letter! Why am I not invited to something Snowflake is invited to?" Junkrat grumbled with a scowl.

Mei rolled her eyes. "Cause you're not part of Overwatch."

Junkrat narrowed his eyes at her. "You aren't anymore too!"

I turned my head away from their public display of affection and bid them farewell. Stepping outside the cafe, I watched the heavy rain fall from the clouds. It was raining just like that night many years ago, and just like that one memory I've shared with her.

If I could, I'd take her out on a date on the rain. Her hand in mine as we walk amidst the rainy curtains. Grace her with a rose and surprise her with a box of Swiss chocolates. She'd hum a tune, that's for sure, and we'd dance to it. Freely, like birds uncaged. Not a care in the world as it's just us. Just us two, living in the rain.

Closing my eyes, I allowed the rain to fall on my face in the night. No, no tears in the rain. A cleansing of my broken heart. To allow the pain to slowly wash away with the rain, leaving me nothing but an empty hollowness in my chest. It hurt. Hurt too much.

Yet, I also knew, knew that the pain will never really go away. No one would really ever forget the pain of losing someone once loved. I'd pretend to move on and act like it didn't happen before everyone else, just because it's what to be expected.

Rubbing at my cheeks, I gulped the heavy lump lodged in my throat and fought the burning sensations in my eyes.

'If I did anything right in my life, it was when I gave my heart to you.'

[root-doctor-ryan-blog]

A Shamanic “Curing”* Using Kundalini Mantra

So this blog will need to go back in time, and it will.  Over the next few days I will be taking you back to how it all began - this journey of mine into African shamanism. 

But, before I do, I need to share an experience I had just recently with a client.  It is with his permission that I feel ethically permitted to share with you what I am about to... my first experience with using Kundalini Yoga mantras, in conjunction with the little knowledge I have gained so far in traditional healing - and the astounding results it had.

I have been seeing my client (let’s call him “Martin”) for several weeks now.  My weekly appointments with him are in capacity as a meditation teacher, hypnotherapist and life coach.  Up until now I have been prescribing multi-layered approaches, and working alongside my client’s doctors.  They take care of his physical health, and I look after his mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. 

My prescriptions range from the simple “Granny-would-have-known-this” remedies, to more complex meditative approaches.  Thus far Martin has been including the following regimen into his daily lifestyle as best he can (in conjunction with medical & nutritional advice from registered professionals):

walking barefoot outside on the earth

sunbathing in direct morning & evening light

blessing his water & food before drinking it - asking that they go into his body, and help strengthen and heal his cells

ensuring his room is cleaned daily by the house-keeper, windows open, and light enters in.  No healing can occur in a ‘sick room’ - the room must feel like a healing temple

visualizing himself doing regular Sun Salutations (his body isn’t strong enough yet for physical yoga practice)

daily gratitude, positive visualization, meditation, breathing exercises, and several other therapeutic aids.  

Today I did a gentle meditation with my client, which turned into a simple ceremony. 

1. Firstly, I lit a white candle (for Great Spirit/God/Divine) and asked Martin to pray from his heart. He is a deeply spiritual man, so he seemed to enjoy this (this is integrative healing - and the spirit is often ignored).  I also lit a yellow candle to honour the ancestors, guides, and angels. 

2.  As Martin was chanting the WAHEGURU mantra (relaxing on his bed), I was moved to rub my hands vigorously and then massage his feet, angles, and knees to stimulate blood flow.  

3.  The mantra that came out of my mouth was the PAVAN PAVAN mantra - which is used to stimulate the flow of prana/life force energy.  None of this was  planned.  Very intuitive.

4. When I got to his knees, my client shot up, his entire upper body lifted from the bed, eyes open and out of his mouth came a primal scream!  I initially thought I had perhaps hurt him due to his sensitive nervous system.  His face turned black (!!) and looked like a gaunt and deathly thin.  It looked as if he was expelling something from deep within (I couldn’t help but think of all the exorcism movies I had watched growing up).  Then, his body dropped back on the bed, and I placed my hands on his shoulders and just kept saying “It’s gone. It’s over. The worst is done. All is well now. You are healed” - these simple affirmative statements were all my mouth could say, and as he sobbed with relief, I knew the words would sink into the subconscious as hypnotic suggestions. 

5. I lit imphepho (what we in South Africa use similar to the Native American usage of sage) to clear the room, opened the windows wide, and moved the candles to the windows.  My client asked me to offer a blessing, which I did, and asked the angels to cleanse the space, and protect it (and him), going forward. I use the AD GURAY NAMEH / MANGALA CHARAN mantra when I do protective songs around a home or room. 

I am an academic. I have several qualifications in cognitive psychology, neuro-behavioural studies, and other fields of mental health.  I am also a yogi and a shaman.  For me, it does not matter if something is seen as “real” or “placebo” - it it works, it works.  Ancient Mystics were the doctors of the soul.  As a yogi, I understand how movement, breath, and sound stimulate physiological responses.  I also know how important belief is in the healing process. 

What happened with my client was not my intended session - but my practice must be Spirit-led in order for Divine Intelligence to flow through me into my patient.  Although I am comfortable in such a process, I had never personally experienced something as intense as that primal scream and release of whatever-it-was-that-had-to-go!  

When I left, I played RAKHE RAKHAN HAR all the way down the mountain.  This is our yogic protection and “cutting away the negativity” mantra, and it like a fierce body guard.  I felt urged to go and swim in the sea, to wash off any residue from the session.  I called a few colleagues in fields of medicine, yoga, and of course my sangoma teacher, and enjoyed their varied insights. 

This seems to be the beginning of a beautiful integration of the tools I carry in my tool kit.  I don’t want to live segmented - yoga here, traditional healing there, hypnosis here, life coaching there. It must be integrated. This is a part of my path.  

Thokoza. Sat Nam.

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*DISCLAIMER: This blog provides general information and dis­cus­sion about traditional medicine, health, healing, faith healing, folk remedies and related subjects.  The words and other content provided in this blog, and in any linked mate­ri­als, are not intended (and should not be construed) as med­ical advice. If the reader or any other per­son has a med­ical con­cern, he or she should con­sult with an appropriately-licensed physi­cian or other health care worker.  Never disre­gard pro­fes­sional med­ical advice or delay in seek­ing it because of something you have read on this blog or in any linked materials. If you think you may have a med­ical emer­gency, call your doc­tor or local hospital immediately.The views expressed on this blog and web­site have no rela­tion to those of any academic, hospital, practice or other insti­tu­tion with which the authors may be affiliated.  The author of this blog is NOT a licensed medical professional, and he takes no responsibility for any reader who chooses to act contrary to the legitimate medical advice given by a licenses professional.