#her role in the story going down the way it did meant her importance was suddenly iconised and could no longer be denied

[muiitoloko]

Unscripted Love

Summary: At a wedding, actors Alan and You pretend to be a couple, but a heartfelt confession transforms their charade into true love. In a moment of unscripted passion, they discover their feelings have always been real, leading to a new beginning.

Pairing: Alan Rickman × Fem! Reader

Warnings: None.

Author's Notes: I absolutely loved this idea and had so much fun writing about it! Thank you for the inspiration. I hope everyone enjoys the story as much as I did! 😊

Request from @eccentricchick here.

First, Second and Third part here.

Also read on Ao3

Alan drummed his fingers on his thigh as he sat in the backseat of the car, his gaze drifting between the entrance of the film set and the conversation with his driver. He spoke softly, exchanging pleasantries and casual remarks, but his mind was clearly elsewhere. He always felt this way when he was about to see you—his heart seemed to beat a little faster, a warmth spreading through his chest.

"She's taking her time today," Alan mused, a hint of amusement in his baritone voice.

The driver, a seasoned professional who had driven Alan for years, chuckled softly. "Must be an important conversation, sir."

Alan nodded, his thoughts wandering back to you. He'd never told you how he felt, never confessed that he was in love with you. The fear of losing your friendship, the worry that you might not feel the same way, kept him silent. So, he settled for the role of "Best Friend," cherishing every moment he could spend with you, even if it meant hiding his true feelings.

Finally, you emerged from the set, your expression a mix of relief and mild frustration. Alan watched as you approached the car, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Just seeing you had this effect on him, making everything seem a little brighter.

You opened the car door and slipped inside, an apologetic smile on your face. "I'm so sorry for the delay, Alan. The director just wouldn't stop talking."

Alan shook his head, a reassuring smile on his face. "No need to apologize. Directors do tend to get carried away, don't they?"

You laughed softly, your tension easing as you greeted Alan's driver. "Hello, Tom. How have you been?"

Tom nodded politely, his eyes crinkling with a smile. "Very well, miss. Thank you. Ready to head off?"

You nodded, settling back into the seat. "Yes, please. Let's get out of here."

As the car pulled away from the set, you turned to Alan, a grateful smile on your face. "Thanks for waiting. I know it must have been boring just sitting here."

Alan shrugged, his eyes twinkling with a hint of mischief. "Not at all. Tom and I were having a riveting discussion about the best places to get a proper cup of tea."

You chuckled, rolling your eyes playfully. "I'm sure you were."

The conversation flowed easily between you as the car made its way through the city. You shared stories from your day, the ups and downs of filming, and Alan listened with rapt attention, interjecting with his clever and slightly sarcastic remarks that never failed to make you laugh.

"So, how's 'A Little Chaos' coming along?" you asked, your curiosity piqued.

Alan sighed, a mock-exasperated expression on his face. "Oh, you know, the usual chaos. I swear, directing is like herding cats sometimes. But it's coming together. I'm quite proud of it."

You smiled, your eyes shining with admiration. "I can't wait to see it. I'm sure it's going to be amazing."

Alan's heart swelled at your praise, though he kept his tone light. "Well, if it's terrible, you can always blame it on my questionable taste in scripts."

You laughed, shaking your head. "Somehow, I doubt that will be necessary."

The car ride continued, filled with easy conversation and shared laughter. Despite the chaos of your respective film sets, being in each other's company brought a sense of calm and comfort. Alan cherished these moments, even if he couldn't express how much you truly meant to him.

As the car continued its journey, your cell phone rang with a message notification. You picked it up absently, your attention shifting from the conversation with Alan to the screen. Alan glanced at your phone and casually remarked, "You know, I still haven't figured out how to use these new technologies at all. I'm convinced they're designed to make me feel old."

You smiled softly at his comment, but as your eyes scanned the message, your expression changed. Alan noticed the shift, his own smile faltering as concern crept into his eyes. "Is everything alright?" he asked gently.

Forcing a smile, you nodded. "Yes, it's fine." you replied, quickly putting your phone back in your bag.

Alan nodded, accepting your answer, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. You grew unusually quiet for the rest of the trip, your responses reduced to short, polite phrases. Alan refrained from pressing you, giving you the space you seemed to need.

A few minutes later, the car came to a stop in front of the restaurant. You both stepped out, and Alan led the way inside to the table he had reserved. As you settled into your seats, Alan began to fill the silence with stories from the set of "A Little Chaos."

"The garden scenes are coming along beautifully," he said, his voice warm with enthusiasm. "We had to deal with some unexpected rain, but I think it actually added to the authenticity. Nature's little gift, I suppose."

You nodded, your smile faint but polite. "That sounds wonderful, Alan. I can't wait to see it."

Alan continued, trying to engage you with his usual charm and wit. "You should have seen Stanley Tucci trying to keep his wig on in the wind. It was like watching a man wrestle with a particularly determined squirrel."

You chuckled softly, but the laughter didn't quite reach your eyes. Alan's concern deepened, though he kept his tone light. "I swear, the wig nearly took off and started a new life somewhere in the countryside. Stanley was ready to let it go."

You nodded again, your responses polite but lacking the usual spark. Alan could see that your mind was elsewhere, but he respected your need for space and continued to share anecdotes from the set, hoping to lift your spirits.

As the waiter came to take your order, Alan glanced at you, his eyes filled with quiet concern. "What do you feel like having tonight? Maybe something indulgent to cheer you up?"

You offered a small smile, your voice soft as you placed your order. "I think I'll just have the grilled salmon, please."

Alan nodded and placed his own order, then turned his attention back to you. "So, any exciting projects coming up?" he asked, trying to draw you out of your quietness.

You hesitated for a moment before replying, "Nothing too exciting. Just a few scripts I'm looking at. It's been a bit slow lately."

Alan nodded thoughtfully, sensing there was more to your mood than you were letting on. "Well, sometimes a bit of downtime is just what we need. Gives us a chance to recharge."

You nodded, appreciating his understanding but still unable to fully shake the weight that had settled over you since reading the message. The rest of the dinner passed in a similar fashion, with Alan sharing stories and making light-hearted jokes, while you did your best to engage, though your heart wasn't fully in it.

As dessert arrived, Alan reached across the table, his hand gently covering yours. "You know, I'm always here if you need to talk. About anything."

You looked up, meeting his eyes, and saw the genuine concern and care there. For a moment, you felt the urge to confide in him, to share the burden that was weighing you down. But you held back, not wanting to ruin the evening.

"Thank you, Alan," you said softly, squeezing his hand. "I appreciate it. Really."

Alan smiled warmly, his touch reassuring. "Anytime, love. Anytime."

The two of you continued eating your dessert in relative silence. Alan, sensing the need for a bit of mischief to lighten the mood, reached over and stole a piece of your dessert, a playful grin on his face. Normally, this would elicit a laugh or a playful smack on his hand, but tonight, you didn't react at all. Instead, you continued to poke at your dessert absentmindedly.

Alan's concern deepened. He set his own dessert aside, leaning forward with a serious expression. "Alright, love, enough of this. What's really going on? This isn't like you."

You sighed, still poking at your dessert, before replying softly, "It's nothing, Alan. Really."

But Alan wasn't having it. He reached out, gently placing a hand over yours. "Please, [Your Name]. Talk to me. Whatever it is, you don't have to carry it alone."

Your resolve crumbled under his earnest gaze, and you finally relented. "It's... it's Michael."

Alan's expression darkened at the mention of your ex-boyfriend's name. He'd never liked Michael, especially after discovering how the man had cheated on you. Alan had tolerated him for your sake, but his dislike was palpable. "What did he do now?" Alan asked, his voice laced with anger and concern.

You took a deep breath, pulling out your cell phone and showing him the message. "He texted me. He's getting married and... he's inviting me to the wedding."

Alan's eyes scanned the message, his jaw tightening with each word. "How does this idiot have the courage to do that?" he muttered, barely containing his anger.

"That's not the worst part," you said, your voice trembling. "The woman he's marrying... it's the same woman he cheated on me with."

Alan's grip on your hand tightened, his anger bubbling just beneath the surface. "That bastard," he growled. "He doesn't deserve a moment of your time or thought. How dare he?"

You nodded, tears welling up in your eyes. "I know. But it still hurts. I thought I was over it, but this... it just brought everything back."

Alan moved his chair closer to yours, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you into a comforting embrace. "Listen to me, [Your Name]," he said softly, his voice filled with warmth and reassurance. "You don't owe him anything. You deserve so much better than him and his pathetic attempts at validation."

You leaned into his embrace, feeling the warmth and comfort of his presence. "I know you're right, Alan. It's just... hard to see it that way right now."

Alan kissed the top of your head, his touch gentle and soothing. "Take your time, love. But remember, you have people who care about you, who want to see you happy. And I'm one of them."

You smiled through your tears, grateful for his unwavering support. "Thank you, Alan. I don't know what I'd do without you."

He pulled back slightly, looking into your eyes with a serious yet gentle expression. "You'll never have to find out. I'm here for you, always."

As the waiter came to clear the table, Alan gave him a polite nod before turning his attention back to you. "Let's get out of here," he suggested. "How about we take a walk? Clear our heads a bit."

You nodded, appreciating the suggestion. "That sounds nice."

Alan settled the bill, and the two of you stepped out into the cool evening air. As you walked side by side, Alan kept a protective arm around you, his presence a comforting anchor in the midst of your emotional turmoil.

The city lights twinkled around you, the sounds of the bustling streets providing a soothing backdrop as you walked in silence for a while. Finally, Alan broke the silence, his tone lighter, trying to lift your spirits. "You know, if I ever meet this Michael fellow again, I might just have to give him a piece of my mind. Or perhaps a piece of my fist."

You chuckled softly, the image of Alan confronting Michael oddly comforting. "I wouldn't want you to get into trouble on my account."

Alan smirked, a playful glint in his eye. "Oh, I wouldn't get into trouble. I'd just give him a very stern talking-to. Maybe with a few choice words from Shakespeare."

You laughed, feeling a bit of the weight lift from your shoulders. "I'd pay to see that."

Alan's expression softened as he looked at you, his eyes full of affection. However, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted some paparazzi lurking nearby. He quickly removed his arm from around you and put his hands in his pockets, not wanting to create any scandal in the media. You and Alan were already often mistaken for a couple, and you had previously commented on how frustrating you found it. Alan didn't want to feed the media's gossip any further.

The two of you continued walking side by side, the city lights casting a warm glow around you. The air was cool and refreshing, helping to clear your mind. After a few moments, Alan turned to you, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You know," he began, his voice measured and calm, "I read in Michael's message that he said you could bring a date to the wedding."

You nodded, not entirely sure where he was going with this. "Yeah, he did. But I don't think I'd want to go alone anyway."

Alan's eyes sparkled with a hint of mischief as he continued, "What if you... took me as your date? We could... pretend to be a couple, like in those cheesy movies. Show Michael that you're better off without him."

His words took you by surprise, and you stopped in your tracks, turning to face him. "Alan, I don't know if that would work," you said hesitantly. "It's not as simple as it sounds."

Alan paused, considering his words carefully before speaking again. "Think about it, [Your Name]. We're both actors. We've played a couple dozens of times. Pretending to be a couple at Michael's wedding will be like... stealing sweets from children."

You chuckled at his analogy but remained uncertain. "I get that, but what if it backfires? What if people see through it?"

Alan's expression was resolute as he looked into your eyes. "We'll be convincing. We've always had great chemistry on screen. Besides, this is a chance to show Michael what he lost. And more importantly... to remind you of your worth."

You took a deep breath, weighing the pros and cons of Alan's suggestion. It was true that you and Alan had always had a natural rapport, both on and off screen. Pretending to be a couple might not be as difficult as you feared. And having Alan by your side would undoubtedly make the experience more bearable.

"Alright," you said finally, a small smile playing on your lips. "Let's do it. Let's show Michael what he's missing."

Alan's face lit up with a genuine smile, his eyes twinkling with delight. "That's the spirit," he said warmly. "We'll make it a night to remember."

As you continued your walk, the weight of Michael's message seemed to lift, replaced by a newfound sense of determination and excitement. With Alan by your side, you felt ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead, including your ex's wedding.

The next few days were a whirlwind of preparation. You and Alan discussed your plan in detail, rehearsing your "couple" act to ensure it would be as convincing as possible. You coordinated your outfits, planned your arrival, and even rehearsed a few affectionate gestures and inside jokes to make your performance seamless.

On the day of the wedding, you felt a mix of nerves and excitement. Alan arrived at your apartment, looking dapper in a tailored suit that accentuated his distinguished features. He gave you an approving once-over as you stepped out in your elegant dress, his eyes filled with admiration.

"You look stunning," he said softly, his voice carrying a hint of awe.

You blushed, feeling a rush of warmth at his compliment. "Thank you, Alan. You don't look too bad yourself."

He offered you his arm, a playful glint in his eyes. "Shall we, my dear?"

You nodded, slipping your arm through his as you both headed to the car. The drive to the wedding venue was filled with light-hearted banter, helping to ease your nerves. Alan's presence was a calming influence, and you felt more confident with each passing moment.

As you arrived at the venue, you took a deep breath, steeling yourself for the challenge ahead. Alan squeezed your hand reassuringly, his eyes filled with unwavering support.

"Remember," he said gently, "we're in this together. Just follow my lead, and everything will be fine."

You nodded, feeling a surge of gratitude for his unwavering support. "Thank you, Alan. I couldn't do this without you."

With a shared look of determination, you both stepped out of the car and made your way to the entrance. The moment you walked in, heads turned, and whispers filled the air. You could feel the curious gazes of the guests, but with Alan by your side, you felt a newfound confidence.

As you made your way through the crowd, you spotted Michael across the room, his expression one of shock and confusion as he saw you with Alan. You took a deep breath, your resolve strengthening. This was your moment to show him that you had moved on, that you were better off without him.

Alan leaned in, his voice a soft murmur in your ear. "Ready to make a grand entrance?"

You nodded, your heart pounding with anticipation. "Let's do this."

With Alan's arm securely around your waist, you approached Michael, your smile confident and poised. "Michael," you greeted him, your voice steady. "Congratulations on your wedding."

Michael's eyes lit up with a mixture of emotions, but he quickly composed himself, a polite smile forming on his lips. "Thank you, [Your Name]," he said, his voice carefully controlled. "I appreciate it. And Alan, it's good to see you."

Alan's expression was one of polite indifference, reminiscent of one of his on-screen villain roles. His intense gaze seemed to pierce through Michael as he greeted him with a curt nod, his arm remaining firmly around your waist. "Michael," Alan acknowledged, his tone cold and measured.

You could feel the tension between them, and you leaned into Alan for support, your heart racing with a mixture of nerves and excitement. Michael seemed a bit flustered by Alan's presence, his composure slipping slightly. "If you'll excuse me," Michael said, his voice a bit strained. "I need to greet the other guests."

Suppressing a laugh, you watched as Michael hurried away, clearly rattled by the encounter. Alan's grip on you tightened slightly, a subtle gesture of reassurance. "Well, that went better than expected," Alan murmured, his voice laced with amusement.

You smiled up at him, grateful for his unwavering support. "Thank you, Alan. I couldn't have done this without you."

Before Alan could respond, a group of wedding guests approached, their eyes wide with excitement as they recognized both you and Alan. Among them were several younger women who seemed particularly starstruck by Alan.

"Oh my gosh, it's Professor Snape!" one of them exclaimed, her voice filled with awe.

Alan chuckled softly, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Yes, well, I'm afraid Professor Snape isn't quite as charming as I am in real life," he said, his tone subtly self-deprecating.

The women giggled, clearly delighted by his response. "We loved you in Harry Potter," one of them gushed. "You're such an amazing actor!"

Alan gave them a gracious smile, his baritone voice warm and inviting. "Thank you, ladies. I'm glad you enjoyed the films. They were quite a remarkable experience."

As the fans continued to gush over Alan, you couldn't help but feel a pang of admiration for him. He was so effortlessly charming and kind, making each person feel special with his attention. It was no wonder you had a little crush on him; it was hard not to be captivated by his presence.

One of the women turned to you, her eyes shining with excitement. "And you're so lucky to work with him! What's it like?"

You smiled, glancing at Alan with affection. "It's incredible. Alan is not only a brilliant actor but also a wonderful friend. I'm very fortunate to have him in my life."

Alan's eyes softened at your words, and he gave you a gentle squeeze. "The feeling is mutual, [Your Name]."

The conversation continued with more fans approaching, eager to meet both of you. Alan handled the attention with his usual grace, making everyone feel at ease with his witty remarks and genuine interest. You couldn't help but admire how effortlessly he navigated the situation, his presence a calming influence amidst the excitement.

As the night wore on, you found yourself more and more drawn to Alan, his charm and kindness only deepening your feelings for him. The way he looked out for you, the way he supported you without hesitation—it all made you realize just how special he was to you.

Finally, when the wedding ceremony began and everyone took their seats, you and Alan settled in the back, observing the proceedings. The ambiance was serene, the air filled with the soft murmur of guests and the gentle strains of classical music. You found yourself stealing glances at Michael, your thoughts a mixture of lingering pain and newfound strength.

Alan, sensing your tension, gently took your hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. His presence was a comforting anchor, and you felt a wave of gratitude wash over you. Leaning closer, Alan whispered in your ear, his breath warm against your skin, "Do you remember that movie we made together where our characters got married at the end?"

You turned to look at him, a small smile tugging at your lips. "I remember," you replied softly. "You were quite charming in that tuxedo. Definitely sexy."

Alan's eyes twinkled with amusement as he looked at you, but your next words came out before you could stop them. "No wonder I missed the scene on purpose just to kiss you more times."

Realizing what you had just confessed, you froze, your cheeks flushing with embarrassment. Alan's expression shifted from amusement to something deeper, but before he could respond, the entrance of the bride saved you from further awkwardness.

Everyone stood, including you and Alan. As the bride made her way down the aisle, Alan leaned in once more, his voice a hushed murmur in your ear. "Did you really mess up that scene on purpose just to kiss me more times?"

Your heart raced as you quietly hissed back, "Be silent, Alan. The bride is entering."

Alan obeyed, but you could feel his amused gaze on you, the heat of his presence almost tangible. The ceremony continued, and you found it increasingly difficult to focus on the proceedings with Alan's question lingering in your mind. The truth was, you had indeed missed those scenes intentionally, unable to resist the allure of his kisses, the way his touch made your pulse quicken.

As the ceremony progressed, you felt Alan's hand gently squeeze yours again, his thumb brushing over your knuckles in a soothing gesture. It was a silent promise, a reminder that he was there for you, regardless of the complicated feelings now simmering between you.

As the judge performed the ceremony, his voice a solemn backdrop to the picturesque garden setting, Alan leaned in once more, his breath warm against your ear. "You didn't answer my question, [Your Name]."

You ignored him, your gaze sweeping across the beautiful garden where the wedding was taking place. The fragrant blooms and lush greenery created an almost ethereal atmosphere, but your mind was too preoccupied to fully appreciate it. The ceremony continued, the judge's words blending into the background as you tried to steady your racing heart.

"Do you, Michael, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, as long as you both shall live?"

Michael's voice, firm and confident, cut through your thoughts. "I do."

Just then, you felt Alan's hand gently rest on your knee, a gesture so intimate and unexpected that you couldn't help but turn your attention to him. Your eyes met, and you were a little surprised to see how close your faces were to each other. Alan's hazel eyes, sometimes shifting from brown to green with the changing light, held you captive, their depths revealing an intensity that took your breath away.

"And do you, Jennifer, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, as long as you both shall live?"

Jennifer's soft, clear voice responded, "I do."

But you could no longer focus on Michael's wedding. You only had eyes for Alan, mesmerized by his gaze. His presence was magnetic, and you found yourself drawn to him in a way you hadn't fully acknowledged until now.

The judge continued reciting the ceremony, his words a distant murmur as Alan leaned closer, his voice a low, intimate whisper. "I've been in love with you for some time now, [Your Name]. And I would love to try something with you if you want to."

His confession caught you by surprise, and you felt your heart skip a beat. The ceremony, the guests, the entire world seemed to fade away, leaving only the two of you in that moment. Alan's words echoed in your mind, their sincerity and vulnerability leaving you speechless.

"In the presence of these witnesses, and by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Applause erupted around you as Michael and Jennifer shared their first kiss as a married couple, but you barely registered it. Alan's eyes searched yours, his expression earnest and hopeful.

"Alan," you whispered, your voice trembling with emotion. "I... I didn't know you felt that way."

Alan's hand tightened on your knee, his thumb brushing over your skin in a soothing gesture. "I've wanted to tell you for so long, but I was afraid of losing what we have. But seeing you here, so beautiful and strong, I couldn't keep it to myself any longer."

Tears welled up in your eyes as you realized the depth of his feelings, feelings you had always hoped for but never dared to believe were reciprocated. "I... I feel the same way, Alan," you admitted, your voice barely above a whisper. "I've been in love with you too."

A slow, radiant smile spread across Alan's face, his eyes lighting up with a joy that mirrored your own. "Then let's not waste any more time," he murmured, his voice thick with emotion. "Let's make this work. You and me."

Before you could respond, Alan leaned in, his lips capturing yours in a gentle, yet passionate kiss. The world around you seemed to fade away entirely, leaving only the warmth and tenderness of his embrace. His lips were soft and inviting, and you found yourself melting into the kiss, your hands coming up to rest against his chest.

The kiss deepened, filled with the promise of a new beginning, a future where you and Alan would no longer have to hide your feelings. It was a moment of pure, unfiltered emotion, and you knew that from this day forward, everything would change.

Unbeknownst to either of you, a fan in the crowd had discreetly taken out their phone and was filming the two of you, capturing the intimate moment as it unfolded. The camera caught the way Alan's hand gently cradled your face, the way your fingers tangled in his hair, and the undeniable connection between you.

As the kiss finally broke, leaving you both breathless and smiling, Alan rested his forehead against yours, his eyes filled with love and determination. "I love you, [Your Name]," he whispered, his voice a promise.

"I love you too, Alan," you replied, your heart swelling with happiness.

The fan, realizing they had captured something truly special, quickly put away their phone, eager to share the video with the world. Little did you and Alan know, your love story was about to become the talk of the town, a beautiful testament to the power of love and the magic of unexpected moments.

[tevanbegins]

This is a long rant to shoot down mad BoB theories insisting that Tommy is a villain / secret spy in cahoots with Gerrard / plot device / temporary LI. The show's writers are mature adults who surely wouldn't go so out of the way to villainize a queer character? To the extent that he'd fool all the main characters into thinking he was a good guy and great for Buck for an entire season, and then start revealing his true colors in the next season? To make a beautiful storyline about queer joy blow up into flames with such a major negative plot twist? All so that Eddie can suddenly realise he is gay and he and Buck can get together? I seriously don't think a 60 year old showrunner would allow such childish nonsense to happen on his show.

I'm not saying queer characters can't play dark / negative roles — Eva's character is an example from this very show itself. But the writers always told us that she is a bad influence on Hen's life right from the start, never got us attached to her by depicting her as a great person in the beginning and then revealing later that she is bad. If Tommy was meant to be horrible for Buck, the narrative would clearly tell us that from the start the way they did with Eva and Hen. The writers cannot be so insensitive as to give the LGBTQ+ community such significant mlm representation with Buck and Tommy, first making us fall in love with their romance and then humiliating us (as well as Buck) by completely destroying Tommy's character — all to serve the end purpose of making a fanon ship go canon? That might happen in B*ddie fanfics written by teenagers, but it can't happen on a show being written for a sensible, mature audience by grown-ass career TV writers!!!

B*ddie would have happened a long time ago if the writers wanted to make it canon. They are not going to do it now, definitely not by making Tommy the scapegoat in that awful mess, just so the toxic portion of the fandom can be appeased over the rest of the audiences who appreciate the show for its thoughtful and sensitive storytelling.

Why is maligning Tommy even necessary to make B*ddie canon? Like Eddie and Buck have seen each other dating one woman after another through the seasons but only Tommy being the bad guy will suddenly lead to a feelings realisation arc? Why didn't it happen before, or why couldn't it happen without reintroducing Tommy if B*ddie canon was always the end plan? Probably because the writers aren't interested in going there at all, and Tommy is genuinely being written as a long-term LI for Buck?

Backing this argument is the fact that most of the conversations had by the other characters after Buck's coming out have not been explicitly about him now identifying as bisexual, but more about him being involved with Tommy. If Tommy was being written as a plot device or a short-term LI, I don't think the other characters (including Eddie, mind you) would be hyping him up during these conversations. The writers would have probably framed the conversations on the lines of, "Oh wow Buck you realised you're bisexual? Congratulations!" instead of "OMG you and Tommy? Tell us more / We love him for you and approve of you two together!" They wouldn't take the efforts they've been taking to make Tommy a pivotal subject of these conversations if he was just a plot device as the BoBs believe. And if he was supposed to be a villain, the other characters would have told Buck to find someone better if they thought Tommy's vibes were off. Not all of them can be foolish to not see through Tommy if he was truly as bad as BoBs say he is (especially not Bobby.) Yes, Buck's bisexuality is valid regardless of who he dates or even if he doesn't, but the fact the characters talk so positively about both him + Tommy during these convos clearly implies this is an important love story blended into the coming out arc.

If B*ddie canon was in the works, JLH and Kenny Choi wouldn't have said on their IG lives that it's not going to happen, Ryan Guzman wouldn't be referring to Eddie as heterosexual, etc. So, we cannot let the BoB comments get into our heads because they are not the ones writing the show. I think we can expect a lot better from Tim & Co. than them giving in to the delusional fantasies BoBs want to see being manifested. Wanted to say this piece because I am fed up of seeing the BoB conspiracy theories all over and don't want to give them the power to steal our joy. That's all for now!

___

[littlekiara96]

Hey, Penacony spoilers ahead for up to the end of 2.3. THEORY AHEAD. (kinda crack, kinda not, I'm talking about Gallagher)

Y'know, it's funny how Gallagher, a History Fictionologist, told like 1 lie.

And then, Mr. Reca, a Memokeeper, told some guy "Love the unknown" once.

Like, guys, switch places, please. That would make more sense.

I remember when I found inconsistencies with how people treated Gallagher; one of two Bloodhounds "recognising" him, another Bloodhound going "Who?" and then the receptionist at the Family's mansion acting as if he's some important person who's rarely sought out by people?

I swear, this still makes no sense... unless......

And Reca is sometimes a well-known director. Sometimes a self-proclaimed one.

Chabro and Aideen? Love the guy. Nobodies? Who does this dude think he is.

But hey. You know what makes me go "What the HELL is going on here"?

I have two questions.

Why "Mr. Reca"? And not Mr. Reca?

How the hell does this guy know about Gallagher AND HIS DEATH.

Okay, so I guess this Reca is indeed a Memokeeper who uses camera and film to record (rec - Reca) stuff and retell stories. He should be the same Memokeeper Black Swan mentions at the Studios.

And I suspect this censored movie to be his work.

Hey, remember who did so much to make sure that some people's names and true stories would be restored?

Yeah, funny coincidences.

And then, nobody remembers Gallagher, ironically. Except us, Nameless.

And except Reca, SOMEHOW. (Aideen. Gallagher is the guy thanked BEFORE YOUR OWN BRAND, DID YOU EVEN WATCH THE MOVIE.)

But ultimately, Aideen is right. Gallagher wasn't made to be remembered.

Sorry, I mean, "Gallagher the History Fictionologist" isn't meant to be remembered.

We know "Gallagher" is fake. And I'm not just talking about his appearance; ALL OF HIM is fictional. He is a character, a role. And like any role... there has to be an actor playing the part. The person who came up with "Gallagher". The person who is still there once the character isn't needed anymore.

The person we didn't see when "Gallagher" disappeared off-screen.

And I guess that person would also be the real Gallagher... The one who was so loyal to Mikhail.

Or... was he all that loyal to Mikhail?

There's something so fickle about calling an unshakable loyalty "imaginary". I know it's meant positively here, but it's so easy to turn this upside-down...

I mean, the purpose of "Gallagher" was to fulfill one promise to Mikhail. And once that has been done... the real Gallagher could do whatever, afterwards. He's free of his role as "Gallagher" the History Fictionologist... who did the exact opposite of what a Fictionologist would do...... by restoring the truth of the past.........

Gallagher is the worst at his job, isn't he. Almost like he should be a Memokeeper, instead.

Anyway. I have a technical question.

Where did Reca get the memory segments to recreate Firefly for the Scorchsand Venue movie?

I see two possibilities:

Got them from someone else (Aideen, other witnesses, maybe from the surroundings themselves?)

Himself

In the first case, it makes sense, I have no further question.

In the second case, though... When did Reca meet Firefly? Did he need to actually meet her or would just seeing her from afar suffice? Depending on the answers to those questions, things might get complicated.

Okay, it's time I stopped beating around the bush. I've been drawing mirrored parallels between "Gallagher" and "Mr. Reca" from the very start of this post. You're probably guessing what my point is by now.

But first... Remember Sleepie? a.k.a. Dormancy?

Poor thing came to Scorchsand searching for Gallagher...

But there was no trace of him there anymore since... before Sleepie arrived... Right?

And there's no way Gallagher would still be around... Right?

... why would you say that if you know your whole being will disappear once you're done with your final task...

i mean, it's not like there was yet another Hound statue in Dreamflux Reef, next to the three epitaphs of the Nameless, right?! Grmbl...

Remember when Himeko said "In the end, we still failed to figure out his true identity, or if he was even a "living person"? Because I SURE REMEMBER.

Anyway, we don't know where Reca was when Sleepie arrived at Scorchsand, but-

I think it's safe to say that they interracted to some extent.

BUT that's in fact still not what made me go "WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL IS GOING ON HERE???!!"

Remember how the movie started?

With the phrase: "Even now, the world is still filled with characters that we've played."

The hell do you mean by that, Reca.

And it ended with the phrase: "We will keep playing our roles, drunken and foolish in the moment, playing at life but never thinking to celebrate it." Then the credits roll.

Heyyyy, I know someone else who talks about celebrating life. And used bits of other people's lives to create a whole new "character". Kinda like how you can pick pieces of different stories to make a whole new story. Or movie, for that matter.

And hey... Reca told us "My lens is upon you… Don't let me down. And more importantly, don't let the audience down."

You know who told us we had interesting life stories? YEAH.

Hey. Let's go back to Brina. The receptionist.

You know how we could easily explain this?

If the real Gallagher's full name was Gallagher Reca.

Or maybe "Mr. Reca" is just yet another pseudonym. I mean, why would he credit himself as "Mr. Reca" and not Reca. That's fishy.

ANYWAY, this theory has been on my mind for maybe 4 months now, so I'm glad I've finally manage to write all of my thoughts down.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I think part of the trouble with reading ML as a magical girl team is that it’s really written to be Marinette as the Lone Hero.

Sticking with Winx Club as an example (which I absolutely loved), even though Bloom was clearly the main character, the other girls got focus and attention and their own narratives unrelated to Bloom’s. Alya doesn’t have that; nearly the entirety of her scenes and focus are still for or related to Marinette’s story, which the writers have outright told us is always meant to come first.

As such, I think the more solid reading of ML is that it’s a poorly written superhero romcom that pretends to be a magical girl team, but only ends up offering crumbs. It’s why we’re shown the extra Miraculous and given a “core four/five,” only for it to be revealed that the new holders aren’t actually permanent team members. A decision I remember thinking at the time made absolutely no sense, but now in hindsight can be perfectly explained by how doing so would necessitate that attention/focus be taken from Marinette, which ML absolutely refuses to do.

In fact, I’d wager that’s the actual reason Chat Noir has a crush on Ladybug before Adrien falls for Marinette: it keeps his attention even as a hero focused on her. There’s plenty of salters who love to deride him for not focusing enough on the “job” and making LB pick up his “slack,” but that fits the show’s intentions perfectly. Chat can’t be written to (as) capable if LB is to shine. Hence why we had the whole Catwalker argument being nonsensically centered around “perfection.” 😭

(Post with the Winx club example for context.)

You're absolutely right. Miraculous is trying to be a loan hero show (or perhaps a serious hero and silly sidekick show) where Marinette is the only important character outside of the villains, a magical girl team show where female friendships are the most important relationships in the show, and a heterosexual rom-com all at the same time which leads to a ton of nonsense choices because those are three genres that really don't mix!

While I never outright said it, the post about rom-coms vs magical girl team shows was spawned by the fandom conflict over Alya's writing in the later seasons. I wanted to take a moment to point out why she keeps being given the roles that people expect Chat Noir to get and why both sides of that fandom conflict have very valid feelings given the way that the show is being written, so I didn't talk about the lone hero thing since that doesn't really play a part in Alya and Adrien's fight for narrative importance. If we're looking at Miraculous as a whole though, then it's 100% a piece of the puzzle when you're trying to figure out where the writing went wrong.

I've mentioned a couple of times that they're putting way too much on Marinette's shoulders. The main reason that I feel that way is because they also decided to give her a full team of heroes to work with which is deeply confusing. If they really wanted to go the Marinette-is-the-only-real-hero route, then we should have never gotten any additional heroes beyond Ladybug and Chat Noir. Keep Chat Noir as the comedy sidekick and let Ladybug use all of the other miraculous as powerups without ever handing them out.

After all, when it comes down to their actual role in the narrative, most of the team feels like nothing more than a powerup since they basically just do whatever Ladybug tells them to do. Outside of Viperion and Bunnyx, there's no reason why Ladybug can't just dual, triple, or quadruple wield. This is extra true because they took the time to tell us that Marinette is able to wield more miraculous than most people and then... never really did anything with that. Why have a line like this one from Kwamibuster if you're never going to have Marinette do more than the occasional dual wield?

Master Fu: No Miraculous owner in all of history has ever been mentally and physically strong enough to use that many Miraculous at the same time. Wayzz: Marinette truly is special, Master.

Switching from a team back to a duo would also fix the awkwardness of Adrien's writing as that really wasn't a problem back in season one. The hero who does all the cool stuff and their wacky comedy sidekick who keeps things fun is a classic setup for a reason!

[formercarylshipper]

Norman once said about Daryl, “he wears his heart on his sleeve and he means what he says, and if he falls in love, he’s going to fall in love forever”. This spinoff has proved that’s false. Or more likely, it confirms that the “i love you” between Daryl and Carol was indeed platonic. He loves her but he’s not IN love with her. Because if Daryl was in love with Carol, then he wouldn’t have developed feelings for Isabelle and he certainly wouldn’t have kissed her or started planning a future with her.

I just feel like everyone tried so hard to sell a Caryl story and made sure that they took advantage of Carylers hopefulness to tease us something that we couldn’t believe might FINALLY happen. They started using TWDCaryl as a hashtag and all of the actors and EP’s (yes, including Melissa) spread just enough “hints” and content to keep us hanging on. We naively thought that the lack of mention of Isabelle meant that she wouldn’t be a concern because it was a Caryl story and if she had any importance, then she would have more mention.We had absolutely no idea what was coming our way. What we were actually getting. No one except the anti’s thought it would be what it ended up being.

Then Zabel opened his mouth and made his thoughts about Caryl perfectly clear. Then Norman did (plus he low key hates Carylers I think?) and Melissa said that she never knows what to say when people tell her that they want Carol and Daryl together romantically and that she likes them the way they are. And then AMC doubled down on the whole BFF thing. The signs were there. People started pulling away but some stayed hopeful.

Then the whole season got released. And clips were posted of Isabelle’s actual importance to the story. She (and Laurent) is the bulk of Daryl’s storyline. His developing feelings for her, their kiss, planning their future together, her death and then Daryl’s mourning at the loss for the remainder of the season (and into S3 apparently). Then Laurent becomes his primary concern. Carol plays ZERO role in Daryl’s world until she shows up and even then, she’s there to support him through his man pain.

Now we’re here with 2 episodes left and while some Carylers are still here for the ride, many more are not watching S2 and now with Isabelle’s death, the Darabelle/ABC shippers are pissed off and threatening not to watch. It just feels like a series of bad decisions. I know we still have S3 but who is gonna still be around to watch it?

[linka-from-captain-planet]

Florrickology, Part 1: The Thong That Launched 1000 Headcanons

My favorite thing to do as a background character fan is to co-opt things that were definitely not meant to be characterization by making them characterization.

Thus, I have looked way deeper than intended into every possible pixel, moment, and mention of my beloved Counsellor Florrick and developed the exciting new field of Florrickology to report my findings.

Obviously the first place I'm going is this fucking dress and how I use it to infer upon her the two sexiest characteristics a woman can have:

Unflinching vanity and a deep-seated, yet subtle, insanity.

This dress is more than a bit of an enigma because... why?

It really stands out because, while Larian gives players plenty of opportunities to sexualize their avatar and their companions, they don't really sexualize NPCs. Most women, like men, are dressed very modestly. Outfits that female NPCs wear are even often much more unisex than the equivalent outfits available to player characters (e.g. tunics that male PCs can wear may turn into tits-out dirndls on female PCs for no apparent reason, but female NPCs wearing the same outfit get a tunic). The only characters who are sexualized are presented as Sexy Characters, like Abdirak or Sorn Orlith or Orin or even Mystra and Mamzell Amira, who also wear this dress.

Mostly.

Florrick, despite being beautiful, a two-time damsel in distress, and a certified MILF, is not presented as a Sexy Character. She's presented as a no-nonsense, somewhat domineering, loyal-and-virtuous-to-a-fault fed. This is the only description of her in the game files (see img description), highlighting these bare-bones characteristics:

So... why? For this character whose appearance truly doesn't matter beyond being eye-catching enough to communicate her importance to the story, who has no even vaguely flirtatious dialogue and no implied sexuality or romance (even with the man she spends the entire game chasing!), and not even a weird torture porn moment which she has ample opportunities... why dress her like this? Why emphasize her body over any other similarly-prominent NPC like, say, Alfira?

My assumption would be that they did it to soften her to the average Redditmod McGamerbro because the story really is better if incels don't kill her for being "bossy"... if they didn't also code her as a middle-aged black woman and give her a custom face sculpt with a prominent nose, large jaw, and non-Western features, all famously accepted with no problematic reaction from this demographic whom Larian doesn't not cater to. In fact, as the #1 Florrickposter in the universe, I often see people say in tags and comments that they didn't even notice how revealing her dress is while playing the game. While racism is definitely at play (plus misogyny, rendering this middle-aged black-coded woman invisible, whereas a younger and white man in the same role would be ALL OVER THIS DAMN PLACE), it also speaks to just how discordant her outfit and explicit characterization are.

Now, this outfit does make a little sense on a glance and I think that's a big part of why it flies under the radar as well: she's important and presumably wealthy, so of course she wears this very posh and expensive-looking dress. She's a wizard (a fact everyone manages to glean on a glance, despite it never being stated and basically never being relevant), so of course she's wearing something obnoxious and purple. From the waist up, it actually looks like a pretty reasonable outfit for a person of her DnD class, social class, and occupation.

It's from the waist down where it gets out of hand.

But first, this isn't even Florrick's original outfit or face (which I'll talk about in another post), or the first iteration of her current outfit. Originally, she wore the ostentatious yet modest feathered peacock dress that eventually ended up on Lucretious (and took the thicc waist with it RIP). According to my research, there was a reason for this: it was too baller for Waukeen's Rest and kept causing crashes, so they had to put her in a less graphically-demanding outfit.

The original peacock dress sent the necessary "I am an important quest giver, engage with me" message, so why not just remove the cowl that was causing the issues? But instead, they changed her outfit entirely, keeping it eye-catching and posh (suitable for a big-city government official), but randomly making it super revealing (strange, for a big-city government official). Further, Florrick got a major va-va-voom upgrade between Sexy Dress v1 and final release, with a new dress model that makes it clearer that the front and back panels are sheer, subtly showing even more skin, and which unsubtly emphasizes her hips and breasts.

Based on extensive academic research using mods, I determined that the dress is what conveys the extra curviness (see img description in the left-most pic) vs her having a custom body sculpt (weak). Further, when viewed from behind, the dress pads out her ass, also making it look bigger and rounder than the standard body type 1 (see img description in the right-most pic).

What's more, if you look closely at the waist seam of the final version of her sexy dress, it looks like they went so far as to skew it to make her hips stand out even more when she takes the cocked-hip stance (which she seems to only stand in) and perhaps draw even more attention to her thong sticking out. Notice how the waist seam is even and straight across in Sexy Dress V1 above, but Final Florrick has it like 2 inches higher on her right, without fabric bunching to explain the different seam lengths. You can also see how the dress subtly pops out farther than her actual hips (and from the side view, over her lower stomach), giving her the impression of curves the standard body type doesn't have. They were very intentional with it.

Shockingly, I don't actually have much to say about her exposed thong in and of itself (it is what it is) except that I think it actually makes the outfit look substantially skimpier because it draws attention to just how high those hip slits are, compared to leaving the area blank so eyes gloss over it (even if that would imply she runs around commando all game). It's a small detail that drives home the overall design.

All this is to say, since this dress is only worn by 4 people* with Florrick being the first you see and by far has the most screen time, and it isn't lootable, it seems this outfit was developed intentionally and specifically to emphasize her body to make her look sexier.

*Florrick, Mamzell Amira (slightly different lower half), a random patriar at Gortash's inauguration named Lady Alia Durinbold, and Mystra

So, this takes us back to the question of 'why'. Why spend all this time and these resources fine-tuning this dress to make it as sexy and flattering as possible? Why put it on a character who has literally no reason to wear such a thing? Why put this dress which is nothing but nonsense on a character who's pretty much only characterized as being no-nonsense??

And this is also where the real tinfoil hattery comes in, as I doubt Larian really meant anything by it aside from creating a hot NPC for players with good taste to enjoy across all 3 acts.

But that's not what this nuclear caliber simp post is about; it's about overthinking shit because I love her and she is a main character to ME.

So, whatever Larian's intention, there's only 1 in-universe reason why Florrick wears this outfit:

She woke up that day in Waukeen's Rest, in the middle of nowhere a full tenday from the city, on her way back from literal hell to deal with yet another crisis, and decided to put it on. And continued to do so every day thereafter.

It's logical that she can't change right after being rescued since the inn is burning down presumably with her luggage in it, but why did she choose that outfit in the first place, considering she was travelling? She's been travelling for months; it can't have been her only clothing. Did she not have a Fist uniform? A pair of leggings? She runs right off after she's done talking; does she hike all the way in and out of the shadow-cursed lands in a thong and flat macrame boots? It doesn't even have any indication of cinches or buttons despite having all the logical seams and it's clearly tailored to fit her bananas hourglass figure, like there's no way she can just pull it on or step into it, so does she have to expend her valuable magic to wear it? Does she take the time to sew herself into it every day instead of sucking it up and wearing *barf* pants??? There are plenty of people around in Act 2 that could and would give her something more practical to wear, even if she did have a good reason to wear her original dress that day in Waukeen's Rest. Yet, she continues to wake up every day and put that outfit on. Even after returning home.

(In my head, the video game convention of every character only having 1 outfit is shorthand for what their "typical" outfit is, and they "really" have a wardrobe of similar clothing. So when I say she wears that outfit every day, I mean she has a couple of similarly-bonkers dresses in her bag and chooses to wear one every day vs something more practical).

So the simp's question isn't what Larian is saying about her by dressing like this, but what she's saying about herself by choosing to dress like this.

Clothing is self-expression. Look at the many analyses of the main characters' outfits. Larian may or may not have really meant anything by giving Florrick this outfit, but just as Astarion's careful mending of his shirt necessarily says something about him and his personality in the universe he lives in, so does Florrick's decision to wear flashy, revealing clothing.

It almost makes no sense... until you think about one of Florrick's explicitly-demonstrated characteristics:

Confidence. Over confidence. Hubris, even.

I'll have more to say about Desiré "Fuck It, We Ball" Florrick and her personality in another florrickology post, but the long and short of it is that this woman is not afraid of shit and sashays into every situation fully confident in her ability to charm or steamroll it to her liking. "She is used to getting her way", indeed. Her epilogue letter betrays a bit of self-doubt, but it seems to have been brought on by her perceived failures in relation to the player character's successes, so likely not her ordinary attitude. Whereas this seems to be her ordinary clothing, since she took it with her to Elturel and back for no apparent reason and chooses to wear it for no apparent reason.

She has nothing to gain from it, no one important to impress at least until returning to the city in Act 3. Otherwise, she's in bumfuck nowhere with her boss-friend and lackeys, or cursed!bumfuck nowhere with her lackeys and a bunch of vigilantes planning a war. While I wouldn't doubt that she has or might be willing to use her beauty and sex appeal to meet her goals (TadpUlder does, curiously, call her a "black widow"; is his tadpole capitalizing on stereotypes--could it be slut shaming her??, or is it referencing things that the shreds of Ulder's mind know she's done?), ultimately, there can't be a tactical explanation because there's nobody more powerful than her around 90% of the time.

She also doesn't flirt with anyone and nobody flirts with her (philistines). She has no mentioned spouse or lovers, nor any implied sexuality at all. The closest we get is Mizora saying "she misses the Duke" after Florrick's ambush in Act 3, the only time anyone implies she's on a crusade to find him because of romantic feelings and not duty, loyalty, and friendship... which means Mizora is probably just talking out her ass and belittling people, as she does.

So, combine self-confidence with the decision to constantly wear a sexy dress that shows off her body for no practical reason, and what do you get?

Balls-to-the-wall, unapologetic vanity.

(If it wasn't clear, when I call women "vain" I think they are objectively correct and this is a compliment of the highest order.)

Sure, maybe wearing this kind of outfit boosts her confidence and that helps deal with this unprecedented crisis and possibly the first self-doubt she's ever experienced, but this is evidently her usual clothing and she isn't usually dealing with those things.

So, she wears this intricate and revealing dress mostly she likes it and how she looks in it. This means she likes that it's revealing. She likes showing skin to literally no end except her own enjoyment.

Notice she doesn't really do her hair (it's shiny and neat, but not really styled) or bother with makeup (she lost the EA smoky eye in favor of a quick swipe of eyeliner). One may think that perhaps she isn't as confident in her facial beauty since she does have unique features, so she calls attention to her body instead, but she's so devoid of modesty that I can't help but assume she simply looks in the mirror in the morning, thinks "no notes" (correct) and moves on to pouring herself into her favorite skimpy dress. She's proud of her natural beauty, and she's not about to cover it all up with goop or fabric!! She never mentions it and nobody who knows her does; she's not trying to stunt on anyone or even attract other hot people.

She's in it purely for the love of the sport and, sexiest of all, herself. This woman doesn't think she's the sexiest creature in any given room, she knows it.

And she knows that being hot doesn't affect her ability to do her job and protect the city she loves. She doesn't have to cover herself up, doll up her hair and makeup, slap on like 400 pettiskirts, etc, to be taken seriously. It's possibly even giving 'malicious compliance'. She commands so much respect that even horny gamers don't notice her entire ass is one breeze away from being out.

The deep-seated, yet subtle insanity part has pretty much already been covered; maybe in her day-to-day life of attending meetings and walking all over everyone in Wyrm's Rock, it's not so impractical, but it's a completely insane thing to wear in any sort of crisis or outdoor adventure. That this woman is willing to risk chafing or being cold (womankind's public enemy #1 and #2) simply for the drip is delightfully nutty. There is not a single moment she appears in this game where this outfit would be reasonable.

She presents herself as a stalwart, serious, determined woman, but then squeezes into a dress so tight and precarious that it knocks off her Fleet of Foot speed boost, for literally no reason aside from being vain and lowkey kind of crazy.

Good for her!

[invested-in-your-future]

Having just started to rewatch Arcane S1, one of the things that I like about it is how it lays out its premise and follows through on it.

In episode 1, Benzo tells Vander that the young people want to write their own stories, and won't be held back by the caution of elders, even well-meant. At the end of the same episode, Vi promises Powder that one day the city will know their names.

And the rest of the season follows through on that, both through Vi and Jinx driving the story in spite of Silco's efforts to stop or control them, but also Cait's refusal to take dismissal lying down, and Jayce continually pushing against Heimerdinger. They drive the story and won't let themselves be held back. (It felt, in many ways, like a better-executed version of what RWBY volume 6 was trying to do).

Which is why the most disappointing aspect of S2, personally, is the way that aspect got lost, as the story became dictated by the hexcore, by Ambessa, by outside forces compelling the protagonists to react instead of driving events the way they had before.

Yeah, one of my biggest issues with S2 is that it offloads every major resolution to an outside plot device.

Vander resolves the sisters' feud. The Magic Robogod subplot resolves the Viktor and Jayce subplot for them AND the class divide (LOL). The child plot device resolves Jinx's role (without even starting it). The random traitor girl resolves Caitlyn's position.

Now, don't get me wrong—reacting is an important aspect of character writing (and character building)—outside stimuli are usually how characters change and develop.

The issue is that Arcane S2 is not interested in having characters react.

Viktor's struggle with his humanity could have been fascinating, but he just shifts between his S1 self, a messiah, robot god, and plot device man in an instant, sometimes within the same episode. Vi and Jinx's feud gets resolved via the Vander subplot, but do we get Vi's characterization and screen time dedicated to her processing what happened? No. Likewise, Vi's "I don't care" would have hit harder had she been allowed to react to Caitlyn going full dictator and struggle against it throughout the season—Caitlyn being even a bit remorseful would hit differently for her if we had seen that struggle where Vi is happy to have her back now.

The show posits those plot devices as "resolutions" but doesn't actually use them at all beyond that—it's as if writers are content with having "closed off a plotline" rather than portraying its effects on the characters or HOW they change.

They created all those new out-of-nowhere subplots and plot devices, and then characters aren't really allowed to react or change due to them—because the plot devices are there to close plot threads rather than characterization.

The annoying part is that Arcane S1 gave all the tools needed to tell the same story but through the lens of the key characters' journey.

Season 1 ended with the inciting incident that every character in the cast could be reacting to throughout Season Two.

Jayce's push against Heimerdinger could shift into Jayce's push against Viktor as the city pushes for more aggressive use of Arcane in "handling the unrest."

Vi and Jinx confronting each other was already set up perfectly—it didn't need a death retcon MacGuffin to solve. By just playing out the character conflict here to its conclusion, Vi and Jinx WOULD have ended up in similar positions they did.

The show didn't need Vander, Black Rose, Noxous, or Magic Robo Gods to convey the cycle of violence, resolve the ongoing civil war between the two cities, or address the destructive nature of unrestricted use of arcane/technology.

They could have done that already and not wasted precious final season screentime introducing all the additional subplots.

And that would have led to a proper, worthy follow-up to Season One's greatness.

[unreal-unearthed]

https://www.tumblr.com/bangelism/762929927623507968 when did they prove it? /gen not looking for trouble lol 🙏

reference for everyone: post being referred to read "i sleep so well knowing buffy and angel are canon soulmates."

sure! i can go into a into a lot of evidence as to why i think this, but i’ll just point out some of the key things that stand out to me. (fair warning, i can ramble about them for a long time so... apologies...)

first of all, i think it's important to establish what a soulmate is. i understand everyone may have their own perspective on what this means, but to me, a soulmate is a deep mutual love (romantic or platonic) and thus, an intense connection between two souls. soulmates understand and accept each other, help each other grow, support one another, and of course, love each other.

so using that as a reference, here is why i believe buffy and angel are soulmates, and how the shows canon supports that:

1] their lives mirror each other. even when they're apart, buffy and angel's stories continue to mirror and parallel one another. a great example of this is connor and dawn. both buffy and angel had these (different) roles of caregiver thrust onto them unexpectedly, but find themselves in these new roles they've been given. angel as a single dad, buffy as a sister and dawn's primary caregiver after joyce passes; both go through ups and downs in this journey, but the audience sees they wouldn't trade it for the world. then, they lose them through a portal, both fall to the ground instantly and shortly or immediately after fall into a catatonic state. this is not the only example of their lives mirroring each other, but i think it's one of the more profound, easy to see ones, that changes their lives and perspectives forever.

(screenshot of a beautiful gifset by @charmedslayer)

2] the continual references to one another throughout the series. buffy and angel often reference how much their relationship meant to each other, post breakup, either through actual words or actions/subtle references. a very important buffy quote outlines this really well: “i loved him more than i will ever love anything in this life.” to me this shows this is a relationship more important than any other, one they cannot simply just "move on" from. it changed them fundamentally, and has stuck with them no matter what.

3] they help each other grow. without buffy, angel would have never gotten out of that alleyway. that is just fact. buffy gave angel a purpose. even when they are apart, even when she is dead, it is keeping that purpose she gave him alive that animates him. they both made each other stronger and better people. this is seen all throughout their relationship and beyond; from the little pep talks they give each other, the way they train and fight side by side, the way they give purpose to each others missions.

screenshot of a gifset that shows this perfectly by @buffysummers

4] their emotional connection. whilst in a relationship, we see angel being buffy's emotional confidant on numerous occasions and vice versa. they give each other new perspective (also another example of how they help each other grow), like in 'ted' (btvs 2x11). angel is the only person in that episode to listen to buffy's complaints, acknowledge them, but then gently offer her a different perspective; maybe her mother is simply, lonely. even post breakup, in 'forever' (btvs 5x17), angel is the one person she fully confides in about her grief. they are able to be fully vulnerable with one another, both emotionally and physically. protecting each other in both ways and fighting many both physical and mental battles “shoulder to shoulder" even when they're apart.

5] they accept one another. 'what's my line' (2x9-10) shows this the best, as well as expands on how they can be fully vulnerable with each other. first emotionally - angel listens to and acknowledges buffy's frustrations about career week, and supports her through that (feelings that are dismissed by everyone else around her), encouraging her to talk about her feelings. then, in accepting both her 'slayer' and 'buffy' persona as one, asks her on an ice-skating date to learn more about the buffy he never knew, accepting even the parts of her people might disregard. then, we see buffy accept both aspects of angel; his vampiric and human side, when she kisses his vampire face and is one of the only people throughout the shows canon that accepts these two sides of angel, represented by his 'true' face. then physically - when buffy is worried about her safety she goes to angel's apartment, curls up in his bed, just a space that reminds her of him is enough to make her feel safer. and then angel is rescued by her at the end of the episode. she cradles him in her arms, and we see him clearly and physically relax in her embrace.

—

i fear i could go on, and on, and then on a little more. but that's just a little taste of my perspective on why i believe the canon supports the idea that buffy and angel are soulmates. …let alone all the shared dreams, countless parallels (even more meta ones like how their theme songs reflect each other) and then the love they have for each other which is stated time and time again.

[ilikekidsshows]

Miraculous WAS a good cartoon, right? There were the seeds and setups for something pretty special there, before it went off the rails (and claimed that those were the real rails all along, metaphor falling apart, whatever). Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir was compelling enough that we still put our minds to talking about it long after new episodes cease to hold any appeal for us.

Are there other stories you used to like that turned out super disappointing, but some blorbo or plot line still won’t let go? Would you say there’s a factor that determines whether or not you stay motivated to make fanworks for a disappointing story?

---

Miraculous was never a flawless show, but its flaws used to be a lot more understated, like, a whole lot. The thing about Miraculous is that the Miraculouses give us a really good story engine, there’s a good balance between school drama and superhero action, and we have a large cast of colorful characters. There’s something for everyone’s tastes. Miraculous was designed with a wide range of appeal on purpose and it worked. The early seasons also leaned into these strengths.

A big factor in this are the Akumas. We used to get a different Akuma in almost every single episode, with the entire episode plot revolving around the Akuma victim’s troubles and life. This format is very similar to the original Sailor Moon anime, where Usagi would meet an acquaintance or stranger who’d be targeted by the villains to absorb their energy or turn them into a monster. The Akuma victims getting such high billing also meant that having the classmates get targeted was a really easy way to showcase them.

The focus on resolving personal problems and misunderstandings also meant that the show had something to say about relationships. So many of the show’s problems are caused by miscommunication, especially for Marinette herself, that it functioned as a central theme for the series. With the inclusion of the Marigami arc, where Marinette learns to look past her personal wants to see Kagami as more than an obstacle for her happiness, and episodes like ‘Party Crasher’, where Nino and Marinette both realize they went overboard for Adrien, Marinette was clearly learning to be more considerate and aware of others. This was a very relatable, consistent and solid theme that made the show easy to get into.

But, like, these weaknesses in the writing team didn't come out of nowhere, hence why a lot of the problems were there from the beginning, like inconsistency. The difficulty the writers have seems to be in concluding stories and arcs. It often seems that the team knows how stories usually end, but they don't know why they end like that, so they just try to “subvert” the common conclusions because they might think, like many TV writers these days, that being clever is more important than being consistent.

‘Reflekdoll’ is such a good microcosm of how the writers have a hard time with completing stories, since everything alway comes down to ‘Reflekdoll'. Usually the power swap episode starts with the heroes not appreciating each other or their powers enough and ends with them learning to appreciate each other more, but, in ‘Reflekdoll’, the episode starts with Cat Noir saying he has the easy job and Ladybug calling him a jokester, and then the episode ends with Cat Noir “admitting” that he didn’t realize how much work being Ladybug is and Marinette "learning" that Cat Noir really is nothing but a clown that she never has to worry about, meaning they actually learned nothing, because the episode snaps its internal consistency in half in order to finish off with dialogue that reaffirms their female protagonist. In addition, Adrien actually learns that he isn't fit for important roles. Season five has concluded and they both still believe these things, despite us getting a redo with a more “proper” take on a power swap, so it wasn't that ‘Reflekdoll’ was a one-off parody of “what did we learn today?” episodes like The Owl House’s ‘Once Upon a Swap’ where the lesson is meant to be bad. It's just messy writing.

Part of the problem, I feel, is that all that potential and setup and successful episodes like Heroes Day made Miraculous so popular that the writers got too cocky and started including more stuff that they couldn’t actually write consistently or well. They thought the audience would consider anything they wrote good or they thought they had to reach higher levels of “hype” by including shiny new ideas to keep things from getting “repetitive”, like they phrased it in the London Special. All previous character arcs get dropped. Instead it’s all about creating moments that will trend on social media, either in terms of “twists” or romance scenes. So that was where they put their focus, on romance scenes and creating “surprising” twists and “subverting expectations”.

Another aspect of this cockiness is that seasons 4 and 5 are too ambitious for the writing crew’s skill level or writing style. The Miraculous crew, as I said, is good at writing isolated scenes and sometimes whole isolated episodes, when the episode is so simple that they don’t end up accidentally contradicting themselves by forgetting what they wrote for the beginning. This means that seasons 1-3 being mostly episodic with some recurring plot threads played to their strengths, but part of the hype for the retool was changing Miraculous to be more serialized, where the episodes have a proper viewing order, which is why Astruc was asking people not to watch episodes out of order when they kept being dropped whenever.

Yet, once again, most of the actual development in seasons 4-5 happens in the premiere and finale, just like in the more episodic seasons. The thing about a continuous plot is that you need to actually have a continuous plot that moves along every few episodes at least instead of the characters spending fifteen episodes faffing about before anything important happens again, basically just having a different status quo for one season, or having a single other plot-important episode in the middle of the season to fake having continuous plot progression, but that actually is just two status quos (like S5 being split into “Marinette tries to move on from Adrien” and “Adrinette are dating” status quos). In addition, several details get changed as the episodes progress, making what little continuity there is contradictory. The Miraculous crew can’t write a continuous plot because they can’t keep their details consistent.

The London Special gives us a lot of evidence that this is what’s going on. It’s almost as meta as ‘Simpleman’, with Alix making comments about getting a working formula but then needing to change things up to keep things interesting. She is literally describing how to write an episodic, formulaic cartoon, which Miraculous isn’t supposed to be anymore. Miraculous is being hyped up as a continuous story, but it’s being written like an episodic one, where character development takes forever to stick, if it ever does, and plot threads get dropped as soon as a newer, shinier idea comes along.

This is the thing with Astruc constantly defending people being confused over his writing with: “You’re thinking too complicated” or “Keep it simple”: he’s a simple writing guy. Give him a premise and a status quo and he’ll keep it going for several seasons. But he can’t deliver a more complex story or concept in a way that the audience can just instantly pick up on, which makes his favorite defense so silly, because the one making things needlessly complicated and shitting the bed because he can’t handle what he tried to tackle is Astruc himself. “The love interest is actually a human-shaped remote control robot made with a magical artifact and the remote control is his parents’ wedding bands, meaning Adrien was only not going to be controlled by them after they were dead or they decided to give the rings up, but this human and children’s rights violation isn’t supposed to make Gabriel and Emilie the villains but sympathetic characters instead while Adrien’s suffering isn’t supposed to be a concern” is not simple in my opinion, but maybe I’m the weird one for thinking that. Maybe I’m the weird one for thinking that the main villain of 5 seasons and 131 episodes getting to destroy the world is a villain victory, too. I should just “keep it simple” and consider it Marinette’s victory instead because the characters were smiling in the end (sarcasm).

Usually, when a show ends up flopping for me, there's a clear change in the show that just lets me go: “none of that happened, the show ended here”, like TMNT 2003 with Fast Forward and Back to the Sewers seasons. After the jump to the future, the plots became uninspired and the characterization became flatter. The show had already wrapped up its storylines before the retool, so I can just pretend the retool never happened and easily enjoy the original TMNT as the best Turtles cartoon that it is.

I think the problem with Miraculous in comparison to other shows that ended up flopping for me, is that Miraculous' problems make the good parts of the show retroactively unenjoyable to me. Adrien is a remote control robot that will never be truly freed, so his struggle for self-expression and freedom in the previous seasons becomes a Shaggy Dog story that could never have had a happy ending. Similarly, the love square scenes are hard to enjoy because Marinette’s flaws are vindicated instead of learned from. Nothing the pre-retool show sets up is delivered on, and when it is delivered on, it’s the worst possible way things could go because the writers wanted to “subvert expectations” or “keep things simple”. The post-retool show dooms the pre-retool characters, because the starting signs of that doom are already there, in all the character arcs they end up dropping. Miraculous doesn’t bother with concluding anything it sets up, it just moves on to the next shiny idea. You aren’t given anything satisfying to be content with before the show drops the ball.

I think a similar experience for me that didn’t ruin my love of fanworks was My Hero Academia. It was another new take on superheroes, but it also ends up delivering on basically nothing it sets up. Horikoshi is just throwing ideas around and dropping them just as quickly and neither the characters nor the world end up changing that much, despite the narrative screaming at us that change is needed. But those dropped ideas are really interesting, there’s a bunch of pretty neat story arcs at the start of the series, I am absolutely obsessed with Toshinori, and none of my other favorite characters are treated too poorly by the narrative in any egregious way other than a lack of screen time (singular scenes for the girls are crimes, though) so, like, I can still very much enjoy fanfics and comics and art that gives the spotlight to those ignored characters and fixes my other grievances.

Basically, it’s a question of whether or not the things that made you stop loving the show made it harder to still love the things you used to love about the show. If you can just say: “the story stops before that happens/the character starts acting like that”, then it’s easier to enjoy the fandom. Also, like, if the bad thing that happens is directed at your top favorite character or relationship, the one thing you tune in to see, then it’s going to make you too mad to just ignore or forget about.

Adrien was the number one thing about Miraculous that I loved above all else. So when most of these awful creative decisions made it harder to enjoy him, I had to ask myself: “What am I willing to put up with?” and the answer was: “Not this sentinonsense!”

[knoepfl]

“Through the Looking Glass”

Characters:

Jervis Tetch (Mad Hatter) – A deranged and lonely man obsessed with Alice in Wonderland, using mind control to twist others into playing roles in his delusions.

Reader (You) – A new obsession for Jervis. He sees you as his perfect "Alice" and will do anything to keep you by his side.

Trigger Warnings:

Obsession and mental manipulation

Kidnapping and mind control themes

Unreliable perception of reality

Masterlist

Words: 1063

The narrow streets of Gotham were shrouded in a thick mist, moonlight filtering weakly through the haze. You knew it was dangerous to wander alone at night, but something had compelled you to move through the darkness, as if pulled by invisible strings.

And then, you’d found him—or maybe he’d found you.

You woke up in a room draped with tattered silk and moth-eaten velvet, the air heavy with the scent of stale tea and dusty books. A single flickering lamp cast uneven shadows across the mismatched furniture, giving everything a distorted, dreamlike quality.

“Ah, my dear!” a familiar, singsong voice echoed from the doorway. “You’ve finally arrived. The long wait is over—at last, Alice is home.”

You blinked groggily, disoriented, your head pounding as you tried to sit up. Across the room stood a slender man dressed in a patchwork suit, his wide-brimmed top hat tilted at a jaunty angle. His pale face stretched into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“W-Where am I?” you whispered, glancing around.

Jervis Tetch clasped his hands together, a delighted laugh bubbling from his lips. “Where you’re supposed to be, my dear—right here, with me! The Mad Hatter and his Alice, just as it’s meant to be. Isn’t it wonderful?”

You frowned, rubbing your temples, trying to piece together how you ended up here. You remembered… nothing. Just foggy images—his voice, warm and inviting, guiding you through the night. And now you were here, wherever here was.

“Let me go,” you said, heart racing. “I don’t belong here.”

Jervis’s smile faltered for only a second before snapping back into place, though the cheer in his eyes flickered with something far more dangerous. “No, no, no, my dear… you mustn’t say such silly things. Of course you belong here—you’re my Alice. And every Alice needs her Wonderland!”

He stepped closer, movements light and graceful, as though he were gliding through a dream. “The real world is so… dreadful, don’t you think? But here, oh… here, we can play and dance and drink tea forever.”

You tried to stand, but your legs wobbled beneath you. Jervis caught you before you could collapse, his hands strangely gentle. “Careful now,” he cooed, “you’ve had quite the journey. You must rest, my dear. There’s so much to do, so much to see—but first, you must adjust.”

His words sent a chill down your spine. “What did you do to me?”

Jervis tilted his head, as if pondering the question. “I only gave you what you needed. A way out, a way here. You see, the world is cruel, my sweet Alice. It breaks hearts, crushes dreams…” His voice dropped into a hushed whisper. “But not in Wonderland. Not here with me.”

You pulled back from him, your pulse thundering in your ears. “I’m not Alice. I don’t even know who you are!”

The corner of his mouth twitched, his expression twisting into something equal parts disappointment and frustration. “Ah, my dear… You’ve forgotten, haven’t you? But that’s quite all right. Memory can be such a troublesome thing. In time, it will come back.”

He crouched before you, tilting his head like a curious child. “You see, everyone needs a story, my dear. A role to play. And yours… oh, yours is the most important of all. You are Alice, and I—” He gave a grand, sweeping bow. “—am your humble Mad Hatter.”

Your heart pounded in your chest, every instinct screaming at you to run, but your limbs refused to obey. A strange, hazy warmth clouded your mind, as though a part of you were slipping deeper into his web with every passing second.

“Don’t fight it,” he whispered, his voice soft and hypnotic. “The more you resist, the more it hurts. Just let go… and fall through the looking glass.”

Jervis took your hand gently, guiding you toward a small, cluttered table set with chipped porcelain cups and mismatched saucers. The teapot in the center let off a trail of steam, filling the room with the scent of chamomile and madness.

“Sit, sit!” he urged, practically vibrating with excitement. “We must have tea—oh, yes! A very merry un-birthday to you!”

You sank into the chair without meaning to, as though your body responded to his commands without your permission.

He poured tea with a flourish, eyes gleaming with manic joy. “Ah, isn’t this perfect? Just as it should be. No more lonely nights. No more searching. We’re together now, and we’ll never be apart.”

You stared into the swirling tea, mind racing as you tried to break free of the strange fog dulling your thoughts. “Please… let me go.”

Jervis paused, teapot still in hand, his expression darkening like a sudden storm. “Let you go?” His voice was soft, almost hurt. Then, slowly, it twisted into a low, bitter laugh. “Oh, Alice… You still don’t understand, do you? You’re already gone.”

He reached out, tracing a finger along the rim of your cup. “There is no escape from Wonderland, my dear. No way out, no way back. This is where you belong. With me.”

His hand drifted to your cheek, caressing it with unsettling tenderness. “We’ll be so happy here. I’ll keep you safe, my sweet Alice. No one will ever hurt you again.”

Tears stung your eyes as you fought against the haze, struggling to remember who you were before this nightmare began. But the memories were slippery, fading like smoke through your fingers.

Jervis’s gaze softened, and for a brief, haunting moment, you saw something vulnerable in his eyes—something desperate and broken, clinging to the only fantasy that gave his fractured mind meaning.

“Don’t cry, my dear,” he whispered, leaning closer. “You’re home now. And I’ll take care of you… always.”

His voice was a lullaby, drawing you deeper into the dream. The room seemed to spin, the edges of reality unraveling like threads pulled from a tapestry.

“You’ll see,” he murmured, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead. “In time, you’ll forget all about that dreadful world. And then, my dear Alice…” His lips curled into a soft, dreamy smile. “We’ll be together, forever and ever.”

And as the world faded around you, slipping into a haze of tea parties and riddles, you realized—maybe you were already too far gone to wake up.

Because in his Wonderland, the Mad Hatter always got his Alice...

[666writingcafe]

Hi Anna, can I ask for a make you own Order?

Lucifer - I want you in the most sinful way possible.

Order #5

"I want you in the most sinful way possible." Lucifer

Author's Note: This takes place after the student council play "With Me" in season two. After receiving glowing reviews, MC gets invited to join RAD's Improv Club. At first, they were unsure about joining due to their heavy course-load, but eventually they were convinced to just attend one meeting and see what they thought of it before fully committing to it. This is the story of that meeting.

Even as I stand in front of the auditorium door, there's a part of me that feels like turning around and heading back to the House. Researching the group revealed that they've received a lot of awards and accolades for their performances in their relatively short tenure, and I'm just not sure if I'll be able to perform to that kind of standard.

However, I did make a promise, and I'm not one to go back on my word, so after taking a deep breath, I push the auditorium door open.

"MC!" Before I can fully process what's happening, I'm suddenly caught up in a bear hug. "I'm so glad you could make it! Cheshi said that you seemed hesitant when you accepted her invitation, so I wasn't sure if you were coming."

"I didn't know you were involved in this," I reply once Asmo lets go of me and allows me to breathe.

"Well, of course I'm involved! A lot of the skills I've learned here have helped in so many ways in day-to-day life!"

"But you still suck at active listening!" someone hollers from a distance. Asmo whips his head around and quips,

"At least I'm getting better at it! Your friend Roian over there has been involved for the last fifty odd years, and he still interrupts people to this day!" Asmo focuses his attention back on me and tells me to ignore whoever yelled as he guides me closer to the stage.

There's about fifteen people either on or near the stage. Most of them are strangers, although there's a couple of people I recognize from my classes. Cheshi is standing towards the front of the stage, appeared to be engaged in conversation with...

No way.

"He does this too?" I whisper to Asmo.

"It was sort of a happy accident," he answers. "Lucifer likes to attend at least one meeting of whatever extracurricular activity we engage in to make sure that we're not up to any mischief, but then Cheshi called on him to perform a bit, and he was really good at it. Since then, he's kind of...stuck around." Cheshi's eyes momentarily meet with mine before clapping her hands together, getting everyone's attention.

"Alright, now that everyone is here, we can begin," she states. "We have a potential new member with us today. MC, would you mind joining me on stage?" Is it just my imagination, or did Lucifer tense up when she said my name?

Once I'm standing next to her, Cheshi continues,

"It is customary for prospective members to take part of an initiation game we like to call 'Dummy'. Basically, you will play the role of a puppet, and we the puppeteers. Of course, consent is important, so if at any point you feel uncomfortable with a command given to you, simply say "no", and the game ends. Do you understand?" All eyes are on me.

"Yes." I wish I didn't sound so nervous. Some of these guys look like they're ready to pounce on me. I'm sure they can smell my fear and are salivating from it.

Cheshi smiles at me before focusing on the other members.

"Now, I know it's been a while since the last 'Dummy', so let me just remind everyone that magic of any kind is prohibited, especially speechcraft. This is meant to be a safe space for all who enter, and anyone has the freedom to withdraw consent at any time. The experience is enjoyable only if all parties involved are having fun."

"Sounds like sex." My words cause a couple people to whoop loudly.

"Oh, I like them," someone else states.

"Settle down, everyone," Cheshi kindly orders. Once she has their attention again, she looks over at me again.

"One last thing before we begin, MC: are you okay with people physically repositioning you as they see fit?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Allow me to demonstrate. Koballin, give me a command."

"Do jumping jacks!" Cheshi does what she is told. After a few seconds, someone yells "freeze" before hopping on stage and moving her arms down to make her appear like she's giving someone a hug.

"Move like a ballerina," the demon tells her as he steps away from her. A few more seconds, and Cheshi resumes her former position next to me.

"I mean, as long as I can stop the game at any time, I suppose it would be alright," I tell her. More whooping. This time, Cheshi chuckles, allowing them to settle down at their own rate.

"With that in mind, are you ready to begin?"

~~~

I'm a little surprised that I've lasted as long as I have. For one, this little game is a lot more physically demanding than I was expecting, and there were times where I thought I was going to run out of breath. However, the group seems pretty in tune with my body language, and they know when to pull back--and to push things a bit further.

I also wasn't expecting to have quite this much fun doing this. After all the stress I've been under, it's been nice to not have to think as much for a change. I can just submit to whatever commands are being given to me without worrying about getting hurt or damaging something in the process.

I suspect Asmo knew about this side of me already, given the power he has from being the Avatar of Lust, but judging from the looks I keep catching on Lucifer's face, I feel like this is the first time he's really seen it in action. I mean, he knows that I do try to follow the rules and do what I'm told to the best of my ability, but never to this degree before now.

Coincidentally, he's the only one that hasn't said a word through this entire game, and we've been at it for over a half-hour. Is he unsure what to do with me, or is he waiting for the right opportunity to make his move?

As it turns out, it's the latter, for when I'm in the middle of doing sit-ups, he quietly but firmly tells me to freeze as soon as I'm upright. I can feel my heart beating faster as he hoists himself up on the stage and walks over to me. He leans over so that he's at eye-level with me, and there's something almost predatory about his gaze.

"Stand up, MC." My knees almost buckle beneath me when I do so. His fingers brush against my jawline, and it's almost like he's memorizing the contours of my face. He brings his other hand up and cups my face, forcing me to maintain eye contact with him. Murmurs quickly arise from the others, and I can't blame them. What is he thinking?

"Kneel."

A simple command. Not too difficult. Yet, somehow, my body is frozen in place, not responding to my brain's desperate pleas.

"MC?"

"MC, are you alright?"

"You don't have to continue if you're uncomfortable," Cheshi chimes in. I appreciate the group's concern for my well-being. However, this sudden bout of nerves isn't from discomfort. The expression on Asmo's face tells me that he's figured out why I'm reacting this way. Thankfully, he keeps his mouth shut. I don't know what I'd do if these people I've just met knew the truth.

"MC." My attention is immediately drawn back to Lucifer. The way he says my name sends a shiver down my spine. It sounds so commanding, so dominant, so...

"MC." He says it again, and the tension leaves my body, leaving behind a pleasant, relaxed state. Slowly, I kneel in front of him.

"Look up at me." I tilt my head up, my eyes meeting his.

"Good lamb." I feel my face heat up at the compliment. I hear someone quietly comment on my blush, but they sound so far away that they don't even matter. I find myself eagerly awaiting Lucifer's next command.

He gently grips my chin, ensuring that I continue gazing up at him. Not that I would have looked away, but I guess he doesn't want to take any chances.

"I want you in the most sinful way possible," he whispers. He's not using any magic--Cheshi would have called him out otherwise--and yet his words seem to have a hypnotic effect on me. All I can think about is the man in front of me and how much I want him.

"I'll have you begging for release," he continues. "I'll make sure that the only thing on your mind is me."

He releases his grip on my chin, allowing his hand to drift to the back of my head, and runs his fingers through my hair. I'm so close to him now, and all I can focus on is the way he smells.

The way his eyes seem to burn into my soul.

The way his lips look dangerously tempting.

"And afterwards, I'll give you all the love and attention you deserve."

"Get a room!" someone yells, causing the moment between us to abruptly end. Cheshi announces the end of the game, and I nearly trip over my own feet as I bolt out of the auditorium and towards the nearest restroom to compose myself.

It's possible that Lucifer was quoting lines from some Devildom play I've never heard of, and if he was, then he did a marvelous job at making them his own.

"He wasn't faking it." Cheshi's voice startles me, making me jump slightly.

"I apologize," she tells me. "I didn't mean to scare you. I was merely checking on you, and I saw doubt written all over your face. I want to reassure you that his words are genuine." Cheshi places a hand on my shoulder.

"I wasn't too sure about you when you first arrived here in the Devildom for the exchange program, especially when you were making pacts in quick succession to one another. I was like, 'great, another Solomon', but you've proven me wrong." She pauses again.

"I've known Lucifer for a long time, and he's normally quite the hardass, but he softens up whenever you're in the room. He even smiles sometimes, and not the one he uses to scare people into submission. He adores you, MC. Don't you ever forget it." She pats my shoulder and smiles.

"I'm going to let you finish composing yourself, but just to let you know, Lucifer's waiting for you outside. I'm not a betting demon, but I'd reckon he'd like to continue what he started on stage today, but in a much more private setting, if you catch my drift."

Taglist: @lost-in-time-wanderer, @fuzztacular, @dianedancer18, @sweetbrier2908, @flare-love, @completelyshatteredbrokenmschf, @thunderlightning351, @l3v1chan, @anxious-chick, @5mary5, @expressionless-fr, @tenkobitch, @budbuddnbuddy

[redux-iterum]

Charred Legacy: Chapter One

(AO3 counterpart here.)

All things considered, it was a nice night.

Fireheart was half-rolled onto his back, front paws tucked into his upturned chest while his rear end remained on its side. His tail tapped absentmindedly on the still-warm sand as he gazed up at the stars. The weather had loosened up, mercifully keeping the sky clear and even warming the air a little. It was still somewhat chilled, but the ground had softened from muddy slop to dense soil—still retaining a bit of moisture, but not enough to stick to a traveling cat’s paws—and the frost had barely made an appearance before shying away and melting again into dew.

Thank the Three for small miracles, Fireheart thought as his eyes lazily drifted from star to star. They know we needed it.

Caught up in the beauty of the sky and the grainy comfort of the sand, he was only somewhat registering cats talking around him. Faint squeals drifted out of the nursery’s entrance and his ear twitched at what he thought (hoped, really) was Goldenflower gently chiding the kits inside. Frostfur’s litter was already out, but in the past month they had calmed down considerably and come to prefer talking with the one cat in the apprentice’s den who would soon be a warrior, Swiftpaw, as he regaled them with stories of the territory and all the strange creatures they would see there.

Fireheart twisted his head back and to the side a bit—yes, there they were, listening to the black tom recounting his experience going to the Mother on the far side of the territories.

“And I know she looks scary,” he was saying, “but that’s kind of the point, I think. It makes you respect her even more. You just have to be brave and go into her mouth, trusting her. And Yellowfang will be there to guide you, so you’ll find your way.”

The sole molly of the litter, fluffy ginger-patched Brightkit, spoke up now. “I won’t be scared. The Mother wouldn’t hurt us—we’re her favorites.”

Thornkit, dark and golden-brown, frowned at her. “Still gotta be ‘spectful.”

Fireheart’s mouth twitched into a brief grimace in sympathy as the tom’s ears went back in embarrassment at the end of his sentence. Thornkit still slurred and stumbled over his words, even with as much as Frostfur had worked with him on speaking clearly, and he had been speaking shorter and shorter sentences recently, and at a much lower volume. His siblings understood him just fine, save one.

That one, the deaf little white tom directly in front of Swiftpaw, was Snowkit. His bright blue eyes, wide and vibrant, were fixed on Swiftpaw’s mouth as the apprentice said, “Yeah, it’s important to be quiet on the walk in and during the ceremony. Just wait until Yellowfang speaks to you.”

Brackenkit, a thinner and lighter version of Thornkit, tilted his head. “Will Cinderpaw be there?”

“She was when I went.” Swiftpaw’s eyes lifted upwards as he squinted a bit. “I mean, we did ours together, so that’s why, but I think she’d have to go anyway.” He turned to look at his dark grey sister as she limped out from the ferns by the meeting stump. “Hey, Cinderpaw! Are you going to be with these kits when they do their pilgrimage?”

Cinderpaw beamed with a hacking scoff very similar to her mentor’s. “Obviously! I have to learn how to do it myself, and there’s no way I’m missing out on Brighty getting blessed.” She swept her tail, crooked at the tip, in the direction of the toms. “And you guys, of course.”

Brackenkit seemed to take no offense. “I bet my blessing will be from Rokhar.”

Fireheart purred, rolling slowly onto his side. Of all the three gods, the Tiger was the one he understood the least. Then again, it seemed like everyone outside of the seer role had some trouble grasping exactly what Rokhar was all about. The first seer of Fireheart’s life in ThunderClan, Spottedleaf, had described him as being “in-between” and “all-encompassing”. Even after more than a year of being a Clan cat, Fireheart still had no idea what that meant.

“Why Rokhar?” Swiftpaw asked, sounding amused. “Because he’s the cool—?“

“Because he’s the cool one!” Brackenkit said, exactly in tandem with the apprentice. At another frown from Thornkit, he added, “I mean, they’re all cool, but Rokhar’s the coolest.”

Cinderpaw limped up to the little gathering of the young, her bad leg crumpled up towards her belly. “Knowing your dad, he’s probably telling Horoa right now to bless all of you with a Lion’s touch.”

While the kits all started babbling to each other about whether that was true or not, Fireheart’s heart clenched at the mention of Lionface. He had been the deputy of ThunderClan after Redtail, another first for Fireheart when he had joined the Clan from life as a house cat. Both of them had been great toms, Redtail kind and friendly and Lionface majestic and confident (even if he and Fireheart had clashed here and there). Both of them were gone, and both of them had been…

Fireheart’s claws sank into the sand. He eyed Cinderpaw’s crippled leg.

It had been around a month since the trial that shattered the Clan’s collective heart. No one had spoken of it after it happened, and even the mere implication of something that would link back to that night was hushed or ignored. Fireheart couldn’t stand this thing Clan cats had with refusing to acknowledge bad cats or the things they’d done; it didn’t help anyone feel better, it just made things awkward and sad. Supposedly, the spirits of these bad cats could come back if spoken about or named and haunt the territories, but as far as Fireheart had seen, the only thing they haunted was his dreams.

What he’d give to talk about this with Goldenflower.

But she was in the nursery now, and she needed peace and quiet to raise his adoptive siblings until they were big enough to come out and explore camp. Being forbidden from visiting, Fireheart just had to rely on news shared by Brindleface or Frostfur—mostly Brindleface, as Frostfur had left the nursery early to give the crowded den some room and now only came to check on her nearly-grown kits. Brindleface had been incredibly nervous and sensitive when she was stuck in the den, but now that she had been able to leave her kits for walks here and there…

“Fireheart! There you are!”

The ginger tom blinked and got to his feet, shaking off what sand had clung to his fur. The beautiful grey tortoiseshell in question had just climbed up and out of the nursery, her pale green eyes shining as Fireheart approached her.

“I have a surprise for you,” she said when he was close enough. “Well, two surprises.”

Fireheart perked up. “Really? Are they about Cloudkit?”

“They are.” Brindleface’s fluffy tail curled at the delight that must have immediately brightened up Fireheart’s face. “I’m sorry you couldn’t have come seen him before, but that makes this a little more interesting.”

Cloudkit had been adopted into the Clan, the same as his uncle. Fireheart had been given the kit by his frantic sister, Rosy, and ThunderClan took him in with only a bit of reluctance. The two of them did not look similar—Fireheart was skinny and shorthaired and Cloudkit was a ball of white fluff—and with the automatic distance of Fireheart not being able to visit to see his nephew and bond with him, he could only hope that they wouldn’t be so different that they could not find common ground besides being outsiders at birth, especially since Fireheart had promised to mentor Cloudkit once he became an apprentice.

“What is it, then?” he asked, trying not to sound overly-eager.

“Well, for one…” Brindleface turned and poked her head into the nursery. “Babies, do you want to come out now?”

Indistinct squeaks of excitement immediately followed this, and Brindleface purred before turning back to Fireheart, saying, “That’s the first surprise. They’re ready to meet you.”

Fireheart’s fur flared out and he beamed. “I can see him now!”

Brindleface nodded, her whiskers twitching. “And the second…”

She gestured with her paw just in time for the first kits to scramble out of the den: both grey with broken tabby markings, similar in every way except for the molly being both more delicate in the face and fluffier than her brother. They completely ignored Fireheart and bumbled out into the center of camp. Who followed them was—

Not the kit Fireheart had brought in.

This kit was fluffy and round, sure, but ginger covered his ears and nose and was steadily claiming his tail. His fur was quite long and puffed out, even if he was a bit small; if it weren’t for the unusual color, he would fit perfectly in with the rest of ThunderClan. By the way his deep blue eyes blinked owlishly at Fireheart, he was just as surprised at the reunion.

“Cloudkit,” Brindleface said with another paw-gesture, “this is your uncle, Fireheart. Remember how we talked about him?”

“Ohhh,” Cloudkit said loudly. He looked Fireheart up and down before announcing, “You’re short.”

“Cloudkit!” Brindleface scolded. “That’s rude.”

Fireheart chuffed and bent his head to meet his nephew’s eye-level. “And you’re pudgy.”

Cloudkit squinted at Fireheart. “What’s ‘pudgy’?”

“Fat!” Cinderpaw called from across the clearing.

Cloudkit squawked and slowly and clumsily swatted a paw in the direction of Fireheart’s nose. “’Mnot pudgy! You’re pudgy!”

Brindleface stared at the little tom in baffled embarrassment, but Fireheart pretended to be struck and rubbed his nose like it’d been scratched.

“Don’t beat me up, please,” he said, poorly hiding his amusement. “I’m sorry, you’re not.”

Cloudkit nodded in satisfaction—then, to Fireheart’s surprise, he toddled right up to his uncle and bumped their noses together. Him being so small, it didn’t hurt, but it was more of a punch than usual.

“Hi, uncle,” Cloudkit said, pulling back.

Fireheart’s whiskers twitched. “Hi, nephew.”

“That’s better.” Brindleface stepped forward to lick Cloudkit’s ear. “Are you ready to meet your Clanmates now?”

The little puffball nearly jumped in place and waddled off after his siblings, who were currently interrupting the discussion between Frostfur’s litter and Swiftpaw. Fireheart watched him go, amazed at the strength of the flame of affection in his chest, even when he hadn’t seen the kit since he’d come to the Clan.

“How did his fur get like that?” He turned to Brindleface now. “He was white when I brought him in.”

Brindleface rolled a shoulder. “Kittypet blood, I’m guessing. I’ve never seen anything like that in the territories. I thought he was sick at first, but he’s been perfectly happy and healthy this whole time.” She gave Fireheart a cheeky squint. “Both of you stick out now.”

Fireheart sighed a chuff. “At least he’ll be warm this winter.”

Brindleface nodded. Then her eyes flicked to the side and narrowed a fraction before she walked off after her litter. Fireheart’s gaze followed where she’d looked.

Darkstripe. Of course. He was glaring at the now-wandering Cloudkit.

Fireheart contained another, much heavier sigh. Since the trial, the dark tabby had hardly said more than one word to anyone, and they had to speak to him first. Fireheart hadn’t dared start a conversation with him—Darkstripe had never liked him to begin with, but since the end result of the trial was largely on Fireheart’s shoulders, the hatred in Darkstripe’s eyes burned Fireheart’s back whenever the two had to cross paths. He’d done his best to give the older warrior space, which was difficult when they shared a den.

Anticipating the glare to turn on him, Fireheart prepared to look away and find something else to engage with. He was saved by the camp entrance rustling to reveal the pale brown tortoiseshell Speckletail leading a patrol in. As her followers trotted to the prey-pile, she approached Darkstripe and said something to him Fireheart didn’t catch. Darkstripe didn’t respond beyond a twitch of his lip, getting to his feet and stalking out of camp. Speckletail watched him go, huffed and shook her head before joining the rest of the patrol.

After the loss of the prior deputy—the one that trial had been all about—Speckletail had been selected to replace him. She hadn’t been the expected choice, but she had accepted the role and immediately went about keeping the Clan busy and organized for the first month of her tenure. Fireheart suspected that this was a tactical decision; giving everyone something to do kept them from stewing in their own thoughts over the events of the past fall. Things had finally slowed down, with the warmer weather gifting the Clan with more prey than Fireheart had been told showed up in the end seasons. This was one of the first nights in quite a while that Fireheart had gotten to stay home and just enjoy the peace of camp.

“Good evening,” he said to Speckletail as she walked past him with a woodrat.

She nodded to him, putting down her prey for a moment. “Any word while I was gone?”

Fireheart shook his head, ears going back sadly. “I haven’t spoken to her since a few days ago.”

Speckletail sighed through her nose. Her eyes were tired. “I’ll talk with her once I’ve eaten.” She picked up her prey again and continued on her way, sitting down with Willowpelt on the far side of camp.

Fireheart’s eyes drifted to the wall of briar that surrounded the sandy clearing. Though he couldn’t see it, his gaze landed on the area where the leader’s den was situated on the outside.

Where Bluestar was undoubtedly sleeping.

The trial and the near-murder preceding it had hurt everyone, but it had broken something in the Clan’s leader. Only a few days after the deputy’s execution, Bluestar had become a rare sight. She now walked alone in the forest or holed up in her den, only coming out to order patrols or respond to something Speckletail asked her about. It had been part of the quiet conversation for some time now, but no one dared to broach the topic to Bluestar—even Fireheart, her former apprentice, or Whitecloud, her nephew.

It wasn’t fair, Fireheart wanted to shout to the stars. Of all the cats suffering, why did their leader have to struggle the hardest? The pain and suspicion and fear clouded her eyes and silenced her voice. It had been her throat the deputy’s teeth nearly crushed, her friends and Clanmates he crippled and murdered to get to her. Now, whenever she looked at her charges, it seemed like she was gauging their intentions, how well they could be trusted. Even Fireheart had been under scrutiny more than once.

She really would benefit from being able to talk about this whole thing…

“Cloudkit, please!”

Fireheart blinked and was back in camp. He turned his head to see his nephew marching for the fallen log that was the elder’s den. The elders were already out—lanky and grey One-eye, dark brown Halftail, and black-and-white Patchpelt—but they were talking among themselves, completely unaware of the kit making his way towards them, his siblings trailing behind with curious looks on their faces. Brindleface was padding after them, calling for Cloudkit.

“Let them be—” she started, but Cloudkit broke into a clumsy imitation of a run and continued on. Just as he reached Patchpelt, he tried to slow down, only succeeding in crashing right into the elder and stumbling backwards, plopping into a sitting position.

Patchpelt coughed (as he had been lately) in surprise and looked round to see the kit. His faded eyes brightened. “Well, now! I don’t remember this one.”

“I’m Cloudkit.” The furball blinked up at him. “My sister is Aspenkit and my brother is Ashkit.”

Halftail tilted his head, eyes narrowed analytically.

“You’ve got some ginger on your face, little ant,” croaked One-eye, peering with her single eye at the kit. “Or you’ve been playing in the sand.”

“No, he’s supposed to look like that.” Brindleface hurried up to them. “I’m sorry he disturbed you.”

“You know we love being disturbed,” Patchpelt said fondly, looking at the grey kits as they approached. “Ah, and this must be Ashkit and Aspenkit.”

The tom kit nodded firmly, standing as tall as he could, while the molly lowered her nose and shyly regarded the ground. Cloudkit, meanwhile, was meeting One-eye’s gaze, looking completely unbothered by the marred face that every kit and new apprentice was a little taken aback by. Fireheart noted with pride that he didn’t broach the topic of One-eye’s accident, only chirping, “You’re tall.”

One-eye chortled. “And old, on top of that. Do you know what my name is?”

Cloudkit shook his head.

“I’m One-eye, unsurprisingly.” The pale molly nodded to her denmates. “That’s Halftail and Patchpelt. Can you guess which is which?”

“Um…” Cloudkit scrunched up his little face before answering slowly. “Patchpelt’s got patches, and Halftail’s brown, right?”

“Very good.” Patchpelt purred. “We have easy names to remember.”

Cloudkit brightened up and wagged his short little tail. “I did it!”

“Yes, you did it,” Brindleface said, touching her nose to her adopted son’s head, adding to the elders, “I can distract him if he starts to bother you.”

“Oh, he’s not a bother at all.” One-eye tilted her head comically at Cloudkit, who trilled in response. “I haven’t had a kit not flinch at my face since I became an elder.”

Fireheart watched on as Cloudkit made his way around to Halftail, who eyed him suspiciously but said nothing. An anxiety he didn’t know was in his stomach settled at the warm looks on the elders’ faces when Cloudkit loudly announced, “Fireheart’s my uncle!” and puffed out his little chest.

He’s bold, Fireheart thought affectionately, watching his nephew respond to Patchpelt’s kindly questions about life in the nursery. Rosy, whether or not you get to see him again, I know you’ll be proud.

[thesorcerersapprenticeu]

Chapter 2: Welcome to the Playground (1)

Finally, the story really gets going! The break-in into the Academy apartment and the way there, at the same time a little background knowledge and some lore.

---

5 years have passed.

And you have adapted.

Adapted...

Kind of weird, your parents always said that only people born in the city below could survive there. The air is far denser than up in Piltover and the whole town is a huge pile of garbage.

But that was all true. You could feel the difference almost every night. Your lungs often felt like they were going to collapse, on the verge of just giving up and accepting your fate. In the event that you did manage to fall asleep, you always tasted it in the morning... The blood at the corner of your mouth. It was a sign that you didn't belong here.

But you stayed.

Because of him...Vander. You remember like it was yesterday when he asked you. In the middle of this calamity caused by the Enforcers. All the fire, smoke and death that was on the bridge. But when you think back, you realize that one thing is still very clear in your mind.

[ "Hey Kid...Do you believe in the Impossible?" ]

You had changed since that day. You've grown a little, but you're still below average. You haven't really gotten any stronger; a toddler probably had more strength in their arms than you. You preferred to bury your nose in books, read a lot and started drawing. Vander had lots of books in the cellar, you used to spend the whole day looking at them at the beginning.

And you spent the rest of the time with the others. The "others" were your new siblings. Powder, Vi, Mylo and Claggor. They were all incredibly different: Powder was like you, small, shy and clumsy. Vi was the complete opposite, she was taller than both of you, she was tough, cocky, and hot-headed which meant she often got into fights. They were the two girls on the bridge, Vander had taken them right in with you.

Mylo was... Well, the born thief. Confident, always showing off and someone who had no problem standing up for himself, unlike you. However, he often provoked arguments with Vi, in such matters you usually hid under the covers. He always had an incredibly big mouth and picked fights with everyone. Then there was Claggor, he remained very calm in every situation and often tried to talk to you.

However, your character has changed a little. You didn't like to talk much anymore, mostly because of the fear that you would say something wrong. The only person you talked to a lot was Powder, she always told you about her family in the beginning...though her parents were killed by Enforcers on the bridge. She didn't talk often either, but she shared a lot of traits with you, her imagination for most things was really on another level. She sometimes cut your hair when it got too long and hung in front of your eyes like a shield from this world. She was there for you, just as you were there for her.

Vi had often spoken to you, well, rather nagged and teased you. She always told you to eat more, work out and beat her high score on that stupid boxing machine. Most of the time you listened to her, sometimes you even tried to change things, which ultimately didn't help and sometimes made you hide. But despite everything, you looked up to her like a role model, no matter what, you could talk to Vi about anything.

Mylo was worse. When Vi teased you, he always went one better. He had a new nickname for you or for Powder almost every day, which he always liked to show off to the whole group like it was some kind of experiment.  Whether it was your height, your strength or the fact that you preferred to read books instead of messing up, he always put you down for it.

Claggor was in the middle of everything. He always said you were smart because you read so many books. Even in front of Mylo and Vi, he often said that physical strength wasn't everything, but that brains were the most important weapon. It was easy for him to say, he was the broadest of the group and also the one who always had a plan. But he also enjoyed connecting with animals when you were sitting in bed reading a bed. You often had to listen to things like "You look like a dog with its ears in front of its eyes right now" or "Sit wider on the couch Y/N, you look like a scared kitten right now".

But although you always enjoyed being alone, you liked doing things in a group. Even if you hardly talked and rather listened while they made up some plan or talked about the people in the Undercity.

And when you were alone, somewhere hidden from the filthiness of this world... You always looked in the magic book you took from home. Even if you didn't understand the language, the contents only built your imagination and made you hope that you would be able to do magic one day.

But the flow of things will always lead to calamity.

---

"We're almost there"

There you were, hanging on the edge of the huge wall that was before your eyes. You were at the very back, Vi at the very front and Powder only slightly above you. You followed her path, otherwise you probably wouldn't make it up. Claggor was next to you, also far back, but only so that he could catch you in case you fell.

"Aw Man" That was Mylo, holding on to a pair of pipes on the far left and not climbing any further. He prefers to make comments about your climbing, that he thinks it's weird that you can climb at all, or why you come along at all and don't just read a book at home or something.

Vi was the first to reach the roof. You could no longer see her, but you were almost there anyway. You see the blue hair disappear before your eyes, she had reached the roof right after Vi and you were still climbing. Your arms already hurt, your own body weight wasn't really much, but you don't have much strength in your arms anyway.

"Hey, Powder. Come take a look"

You have to swing your feet over the edge of the roof, you would never manage to pull yourself up with your arms alone. You also have to be careful not to slip, because if you fall quickly, Claggor might not catch you after all. But now that you've reached the top, your foot slips off the roof. You're about to make a sound, but you don't get the chance.

Claggor had put an arm on your waist, saving you from falling and giving you a push that brought you to the roof. With that, you stood behind Powder, who slowly walked up to Vi and stopped next to her. You actually wanted to look behind you, at Claggor and Mylo. But you were tied up, in the way Powder's blue hair made small movements in the wind, but at the same time got held in place with her collection of small metal hair clips. Then you felt yourself getting a little warmer, even out here in the wind that blew past you.

"Stop staring or you'll start drooling" Mylo walked past you, jabbed you in the ribs with one arm and kept walking.

Asshole

You run after him, feeling numb in your arms and legs from climbing. One look at Mylo and he's grinning at you like you've messed up in some way. Claggor is already walking behind you with heavy steps and you just look ahead.

"Wow"

You inwardly agree with Powder, the view was...Wow. The city could be seen in its full splendor from up here. All the different buildings with all their different colors and construction. Small alleyways that all looked nice and clean, rooftops with no one hanging around and chimneys with smoke coming out of them.

And all roads lead to the kingdom in the end.

"Its nice getting above it all, huh?"

It was a rhetorical question. You'd grown up here for the most part, and whether you wanted to say it or not, you liked Piltover more than the Undercity. The reason why was right under your nose.

The air is normal, unlike in the lower city. Not dirty or thick like any chemicals.

I missed this air.

Then the roof starts to shake slightly. You were startled, but the sight took away your fear. It was a blimp flying over your heads. White sides, huge sails above and behind for gliding and a direct flight path to the giant kingdom. The thought of being in one of those things, at such a height, gives you a sick feeling in your stomach.

"One day, im gonna ride one of those things"

If Powder did that, you would do it too.

You think about what it would be like. She sits on the pilot's seat and you next to her, giving her directions for steering, how you would try to land together. Your mind slowly gets caught up in this scenario, but it's not because of your fear of heights, or the fact that the only way to fly it would be to steal it. It's because you would be doing it together.

Just you and Powder.

"And one day, im gonna shot one of 'em down"

You wouldn't even hit the thing if it stood still.

Mylo stands forward, in front of you all. He raises his arm and forms a pistol with his right hand, aims it at the blimp and pretends to shoot. Before he can finally make a shooting sound, VI steps forward and lightly knocks his arm out of the way.

"Vi are you sure about this?" Claggor starts to look around in panic, a glance to the other rooftops that are becoming our path to our destination. Another look down, at Piltover's paths that were filled with people. "Look if we get caught-

"We're not gonna get caught. We'll be in and out before anyone notices." With that, she jumps down onto the low roof that connects us.

Where are we even going?

That strange feeling spreads through your stomach again. As if you were waiting for the enforcers to show up in one of the alleyways in the Undercity. As if you were half asleep and woke up with a fall in the Traun.

Vi runs on, ahead on the roof. Then you're all at the end of the roof at once, with a big gap and a height that makes the feeling in your stomach even worse. You're already mentally preparing yourself for Vi's words, if you have to cross the gap here, it means you'll embarrass yourself in front of everyone again.

"Alright everybody, follow me. Just don't look down." With that she slides off the roof, holds on to one of the small terraces and places her legs on the metal grating. Then she jumps so far that she lands on the next roof, which is directly opposite the one you are standing on. She lands with a thump, turns towards you and has a daring grin on her face.

I'll never get that right.

Your eyes look at the situation. Not only would a fall here be insanely dangerous, there are people and enforcers down there. It's not everyday that a child falls off a roof here in Piltover.

Crack

Mylo cracks his hands in front of his face, which was his cue to say "Watch and learn". Mylo does it just like her, but a little clumsily. He tries to show off a little as he jumps, unlike Vi he waits a second and then jumps as high as he can over to her. This brings Mylo and Vi face to face on the roof.

Before he can turn around and show you that filthy grin, Claggor lands next to him. He is crouched, and to show that it was no problem for him, he has one of the cupcakes that were displayed on the terrace in his mouth. A little dust even flies up on the other roof from the impact, causing Mylo to hold his right arm in front of his face so that none of it hits him.

Now her eyes land on you and Powder. You both look into the abyss in front of you, one slip and you'd end up there. Powder is already raising her head again, looking at her sister. However, you can feel everything around you blurring. Your hands have started to sweat and your heart is beating so fast that you can already hear it in your ears.

"Called it. This is on you Vi"

Shut up.

Vi starts groaning loudly, turning her gaze to you and looking like a sister who has to take care of babysitting. Claggor sees her look and steps forward a little.

"I'll get them"

This brings a reaction, Vi turns to him and holds out an arm. She stops him and turns her gaze to Powder.

"Hey, look at me."

While you are still looking down into the abyss, Powder turns to Vi. With a nervous look and eyes that seem to have no destination, she listens to her.

"Powder, what did i tell you?"

Powder looks straight ahead, no longer merely at the others, but rather at the sky. Her hair flies up slightly and she starts talking.

"That...I'm ready."

This is exactly what Vi apparently wanted to hear, as she takes a loud step forward and looks at Powder with fire in her eyes.

"That's right! So?"

That was a nasty trap, an incitement of the worst kind. If Powder overestimates himself and falls off, then what?

With that, you look over at them. They are standing there, already waiting, but you don't pay any attention to them. You look at her, Powder. She takes a deep breath and starts sliding straight down the roof. Your eyes follow her form as she balances herself on the metal gate and then... jumps.

You don't know what it was, with everyone else it didn't come, but when Powder jumped you were suddenly worried.

She landed perfectly on the edge of the roof, as if she had practiced it before. But then she is pulled back slightly by the wind, or maybe she is standing on something wet and has slipped. It doesn't matter, after all Vi is standing right next to her and holding her tight.

You were the last one.

Vi looks over Powder's hair and immediately meets your gaze. Your knees felt like they were about to give out, no, you're pretty sure they're about to give out. What doesn't make it any better is being last in the order. Claggor is already taking a step forward, but still looks at you with a message behind his eyes: a challenge. Mylo has that look on his face, raised eyebrows, arms stretched wide and a slouch.

You read his look, if you had to guess, you'd guess "If she makes it, you can do it too Dude". The second choice would be "Don't embarrass yourself in front of her". Maybe you should go for the second one?

And then you see them. Those dark blue eyes that were full of fear just a moment ago but are now trying to encourage someone like you.

That's stupid, I'm not jumping over there.

And then you meet the final gaze. Pure blue eyes that stare at you with intensity. If Mylo's and Claggor's gaze was a challenge, this is a declaration of war. As a bigger sister figure, this was now a test. There was always a connection between the group, apart from you. That was because you either preferred to be alone or only with Powder, or just didn't fit in because you weren't born in the Undercity.

But this was the moment. Right now you had the chance to show that you were worth it. If you could cast spells right now, you would wish for an invisible bridge in the air on which you could walk calmly.

But in your body it seems impossible, if you had to bet based on data you would be under Powder in body strength. Your knowledge from most books won't help you in this situation, this was pure instinct. You're in a really bad position, both mentally and physically...

[ "Do you Believe in the Impossible?" ]

Your body moves automatically as these words reach your mind.

Was it crazy? Yes.

Was it fatal? Yes.

Do you not care? No.

You are proving something here, the impossible.

Something that nobody believed in, something that didn't exist, something that was closer to zero than to infinity.

Time passes in slow motion, you are literally floating in the air, above all the people hanging around down there in Piltover. Nobody is looking up, but the glances of the others meet your floating figure. Worry, fear, pride and enthusiasm.

The moment feels like an eternity, your brain rewinds and lets you see it in your mind's eye. You didn't go to the terrace and jump from there like the others...you just ran forward and jumped off the edge of the roof. But it was brilliant, because your body is weak and you wouldn't have been able to jump off the metal railing, you needed energy. Energy that comes from movement, energy that gives your body a temporary boost.

You are brought back down to earth with a hard thumb. You landed on the other roof, where the others were standing. You were in front of them, pulled together with your legs bent as if you were going to jump again.

"Wow"

"What a show-off"

"Cool jump Y/N!"

You did it... Somehow. Your body acted automatically, did the impossible. The impossible does exist, you just need a way to show it to the world.

But you rejoiced a little too soon.

You landed at the same point as Powder, on the wet edge of the roof.

Shit

It happened so suddenly, gravity caught up with you and you slipped off the roof. Not being able to get your useless, too-short legs to the edge was bad.

You fell

It was slow, the vision in front of your eyes was getting worse and the only thing you could see were the silhouettes. Even if it was only a second or two, your brain was running at full speed at that moment: the impossible is an exchange, an exchange that no one can influence.

But then you felt it, your salvation.

Vi reacted faster than you would have thought possible, as you hung down with your body, your eyes were locked on her as she stood over you, giving you a confident look.

At first you didn't realize it, too much adrenaline was affecting your senses and the fear of falling off the roof was far too great. But when you feel this gentle, warm hand on your right arm, you realize it.

That Vi wasn't the only one holding you, Powder was holding your right arm.

Powder's eyes met yours directly, her gaze was...enthralled. It was as if she had seen you just float through the air and land perfectly at her feet. It felt like a cliché scene from one of Vander's books.

"Now pull him up or the Enforcers will see him" Mylo interrupted your seconds long eye contact with Powder, she looked at Vi and with a tug you were suddenly standing next to them on the roof.

"Th-Thanks" You stutter, your heart still pounding like crazy and you felt like you were going to puke. You stood up straight, as far as your trembling knees would allow and your lungs would let you breathe.

"Good jump But You're so Light, are you really eating enough Y/N?" It was Vi, standing next to you she looked at you again. You can't really tell if it was meant in jest or seriousness, ignoring it and pretending you didn't hear it is probably the best choice for now.

You no longer pay attention to the others, and so you all keep walking. Slow steps on the roofs while you are lost in thought.

Have I really just made this leap? Why did I follow like that? Did my movement really generate so much energy? And why was Powder's hand so warm...

Vi stops, just like your thoughts.

"What if Vander finds out we're all the way up here?" It sounded like Concern, of course, getting caught committing a crime here in Piltover usually ended up in jail, or worse. Besides, Vander would probably be disappointed if he found out what we were doing here, and you don't really know yourself.

"Look around you. You think anyone topside's going hungry? Besides, this is exactly the sort of job Vander would have pulled when he was our age" Vi speaks too confidently, it felt like this wasn't going to end well sooner or later. But despite your bad gut feeling, you take a step forward and come to a realization.

We are on one of the Academy buildings. We can never do anything here, we have to go back, and fast.

Vi makes a loud step, walks around the corner and looks down onto the balcony of the building. Then she stands back up, turns to you as a group and starts talking.

"I'm going. Are you with me or not?"

You turn to Claggor, he just gives you a weird look, turns to Mylo and gets a shrug in response. He starts sighing loudly and starts talking.

"Vander's gonna kill us"

Vi just looks at him, not really with any emotion but more of a challenge. You know exactly what that look means.

Only if we screw up, she will now say that: one hundred percent.

"Yeah, only if we screw up. So don't screw up"

I hate being right.

She swings down from the corner, straight onto the roof. While she's still looking around, you continue to the corner to follow her, your gaze landing on Powder instead of the streets of Piltover. You don't realize that Mylo is already downstairs saying something to Vi, and you don't notice the group of weirdly dressed guys standing against a wall a few streets away.

"Come Y/N" Claggor, already standing in front of you, goes down. While you and Powder are still at the top, he's already climbing down onto the balcony and holding his hands out towards you. Having no choice, you bend down and get as close to the edge as you can so he can grab you with his arms and put you on the balcony. Powder has, you don't know how, somehow managed to do it herself.

Mylo was already at the door with his strange tool for picking locks. Claggor stands at the edge of the balcony and looks down at the streets with a tense expression. Since you grew up here for the most part, you can already guess what he's going to say.

"There's a ton of enforcers down there"

We're in Piltover, they're everywhere.

"That means we're in the right place," Vi seemed a little nervous, despite her confident stance. Probably because Mylo was still sitting on the door lock with his tongue out and couldn't get it open.

"You gonna get that door open anytime soon?"

Please don't kick the door open, Vi.

"Working on it"

Mylo turns his tool back, takes another look at the lock and starts waving it around wildly again.

"Seeing as I'm the Only one who knows how to Pick Locks, I suggest-

He didn't get any further with his statement, he reacted quickly to the foot that spread out in his view and opened the door with a bang.

I hate being right so much.

Vi wastes no time, she goes straight in and you follow her. While Mylo is still crouching in front of the now broken door.

This apartment was...weird. There were things everywhere, papers, inventions you hadn't seen before and various formulas painted on a large blackboard. While you're still looking around, Vi goes ahead and puts a large bag in the middle of the room.

"You know, Claggor, for once you're right. We are definitely not supposed to be here." Mylo has finally come in, probably still slightly injured because Vi kicked the door open, but with a clear mind. After all, he rubs his hands together like a fly and goes to one of the tables in the room. He picks up a few strange pieces of metal, looks at them and walks to the center of the room, where he simply throws them into his pocket.

Claggor opens other boxes, takes out the parts and throws them all into the bag. Your eyes follow Powder, who was standing by a shelf, you move closer. She was trying to reach a bronze horse that was quite high up, neither you nor she could reach it, so you looked at what was on the lower levels of the shelf. Actually, there were only books, but you felt so weird just staring at Powder.

"Oh yeah? What about this?" It was Mylo, with some weird device in his hand. Two pincer-like arms on the end that had opened and closed with each press of the button Mylo was Pushing every Second. You turned to Powder, she turned to you, and with an aggrieved look on your face, you turned in sync to Mylo.

"That's a nose hair trimmer"

ugh, does he always have to touch everything?

Mylo simply throws the small device back onto the table behind him, turns back to the table and takes the papers from a bump. There was a device lying there, a triangular device that looked quite precious.

"Uh, Guys?"

There was something about this device, something that triggered that feeling in you again. This anxious feeling, as if you were falling. What exactly was that?

Mylo pushes his hand through the air and just grabs that blue crystal, not a good idea as he immediately pulls his hand back as if he had just been electrocuted.

"Just leave it guys, come on"

Even though Vi said so, you don't. There was something strange about this device, was it the glow? Was it the fact that this crystal moved minimally? What exactly was it?

Your thoughts are interrupted when you feel a warm, tender hand on yours. You turn directly to your left and once again meet those dark blue eyes that had a special place in your mind. It was Powder.

"Come"

She pulls you along like a small child being pulled away from its mother in the playground. But before you leave the room completely and enter the hallway, you hear Mylo's voice from behind.

"Look, our favorite couple is going on a trip"

You didn't want to hear it, but when you heard Vi's answer, you did.

"Shut up, Mylo"

So, there you were, a study, at least that's what it looked like. It was even more disorganized than the big room from before, books, paper documents, glass containers and metal pieces for building were really everywhere. There was something in every corner of the room.

The person who lives here really needs to tidy up.

There was a bed against a wall that was directly connected to a window. At the same time, there was an instrument lying angled next to it, it looked quite new, it probably hadn't been used once.

Powder lets go of your hand, the warmth on your face and out of your palm disappearing. She looks around, glancing at every corner of the room until they land on the table. There were two sandwiches, apparently freshly made and untouched. Just as you look, you hear a-

"Woo-hoo!" With that, she drops some book on the floor. Even though you were hungry and there were perfectly two sandwiches for both of you, your eyes landed on the book she dropped.

It looked like your magic book.

Powder suddenly stood in front of you, sandwiches in her hands and red paint on her cheeks. She holds her left arm out to you, apparently wanting you to take one of them. You take it, but don't bite into it like she does, instead keeping your eyes on the book. You bend down and pick it up. It was closed and the material on the outside felt exactly like that of your magic book.

What the?

Experimentally white, you open the first page, while Powder opens a box a few meters away at the table and looks inside. Your eyes open as if by magic, on the very first page was a drawing, underneath was text...hieroglyphics.

They were the same signs as in your Magic book.

But it wasn't that directly that shocked you, rather the drawing above the text.

It was a corpse divided into nine parts. There were only four words underneath:

The Holy Wizards Corpse.

---

-Holy Wizards Corpse? Why does Jayce have a drawing like this in one of his records? -What nine parts of the corpse? - You really managed to just jump over the roof, not bad! - But what's that weird feeling in your stomach that comes up when you see those blue crystals? - Why is Mylo so annoying? Well, this was just a list of some of my thoughts while writing. Thanks for reading this chapter! Please leave your opinion in a comment!

[hanaruri-tunes]

Degrading Leviathan (Levi x reader)

I am BACK from my uni exams, and I’m pretty sure I passed them all so please applause this genius over here. (Or don’t. That’s fine too :')

Anyway, as promised this is supposed to be the part 2 to the humiliating Leviathan fic, but it is smut so I’m pretty sure you can also read it without any prior knowledge of the other one fuehdhd Plot is not really important here after all.

⚠️ Also, if this wasn’t already obvious -> MDNI please!

If you want to read it though, here’s the first part. (Hopefully the link works.)

If you want to jump right into this one, here’s a quick summary of part 1 (or a quick reminder for those who did read it): Basically our MC here is pretty sadistic, she found some of her "belongings" in Levi’s room and understood that he was obviously using it to touch himself, she acts like she’s disgusted and disappointed in him, then makes him do some "stuff" for her so she’ll forgive him. And all the while, she’s mocking him (Levi’s into that, of course.) It ends with her revealing that she was acting and Levi is reassured (but still turned on. Yep.)

This is the direct continuation of that! Here are the warnings: praise, degradation, two dicks, a bit of petplay (dog Levi), raw, bj, usage of tail, overstimulation (and if I forgot some stuff don’t hesitate to tell me!)

MC/ Y/N is cisfemale in this one like the first part!

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Now that the charade was over, Levi kept hanging onto you as you two were making out. This might have lasted either 5 minutes or half an hour, you're not quite sure. Slowly regaining your senses, Leviathan had naturally calmed down and turned back into his usual form and casual attire… though his dicks were still hanging out of his pants. You laughed.

"Isn't it about time you put those things away?"

Leviathan chuckled nervously.

"Oh… But I-I thought we weren't done?"

…

Huh?

"Well uh, aren't you tired? You came quite a lot… Not to mention from both of them so…"

He looked into your eyes, a pitiful air hanging around him while still holding into his wish firmly.

"No… I can finally kiss you, and touch you freely and even…"

He looked down to your skirt, under which he knows how wet you had gotten after the make-out session you just had despite the fact that you had just climaxed earlier from his tongue.

"Anyway! What I'm trying to say is- I can still go on for way longer. Probably more than you think. If anything, once is quite literally nothing now that I have you. I've dreamed of this for so long♡"

You take a pause to ponder it. It’s not like you couldn’t take him but you still wondered how you should go about this since, well, he has two of them. Plus you wanted to keep things interesting and that box you had found earlier with his "filthy" belongings had some interesting costumes. You stood up, making Levi worried that you might leave only to see him cheer back up when he understood where you’re heading towards.

"You’ve got a lot of slutty outfits in there, huh?"

You take some dog ears and a tail out of it.

"Are they meant for me or for you?"

Leviathan grins at your pick, excited and eager. He reaches deeper into the box, knowing exactly the placement of each object. He could probably navigate in it even with a blindfold on. Not so shockingly, he pulls out a collar and a leash out of it.

"Whichever is fine ehe. I even got a leash to go with it so um, y'know. We can use it right away i-if you want."

Clearly, although he had said that whichever was fine, his eyes were telling another story. Anyone could’ve seen that what he truly wanted was to wear it and get ordered around by you. Not like it was hard for you to do so might as well. You gently put the ears on him.

"Try barking?"

"Woof!♡"

"Cute. You’re the dog then."

His smile widens, happy that you picked the role for him and chose the one he wanted. It takes barely a minute for him to take his clothes off, now he’s only left with the costume and his boxers that clearly outline his cocks. You take a hold of the leash, pulling him as you walk back towards the seat where both of you were making out earlier. He follows you on his hands and knees, already nailing the role. You sit while he stays on the floor.

"Sit."

He sits.

"Look down."

He looks down.

"Paw?"

He puts his hand on yours.

"Good boyyy! So smart."

You scratch him under the chin as if he’s really just a pet.

"W-woofff…♡"

He brings his face to your legs, lovingly rubbing his head and cheek against them. Both of his dicks are already hard and leaking for you, even through the boxers it’s so apparent, it’s almost embarrassing how turned on he got from being treated like an animal. Not like he minds, if that gets you to mock him he’ll take it. Actually, he’ll take anything from you, be it praise or insults.

"Aww is baby all excited to play with me? You wanna feel good inside your owner?"

He nods against your thighs, helplessly craving your touch. Babying himself up to make you feel sorry for his poor state.

"...Alright. Stand up Levia-chan, I’ll suck you off and stroke you for a minute. If you manage to hold it in, I'll let both of them inside me."

He perks up. Had the ears and tail been real, his ears would have perked up as well and the tail would be wagging. He stands up, finally speaking like a human being. That is, if we ignore the drooling and the leash you’re still holding onto.

"N-No way?! Ha… ahhh… Sorry. I’ve gotta calm down. O-Okay. One minute. One minute, you can do this Leviathan."

He mutters to himself, psyching himself up while you’re pulling half down his boxers, taking his upper dick into your mouth and stroking the lower one through his boxers with your free hand, the one that’s not holding the leash.

He keeps his eyes tightly shut, probably realizing that if he opens them and sees your cute face sucking on his gross cock he’ll ejaculate immediately. He breathes heavily and repeats "IcandothisIcandothisoneminutejustoneminutegodplease". You retain your smile, but he’s just so cute. You count up to 60 in your head, it probably wasn’t super accurate but you’re proud of his restraint regardless.

Once you stop, he slowly calms himself down and starts breathing normally again.

"D-did I make it??"

"Yeah. Despite being such a slutty dog, good job hah."

He grins at your mocking tone, enjoying it. Then he opens his eyes, his gaze goes straight to your open legs. As soon as he had calmed down, he got excited again, seeing you ready to take him fully in. He comes closer, his hard cocks hovering over your slippery pussy and ass.

His eyes go a bit crazy for a second, as if he’s in a frenzy, or hypnotized.

"Ahh… Ahh… fuck. Fuck fuck. Really? I can put both of them in?"

You chuckle at how nervous and eager he is.

"Knock yourself out."

He starts to laugh softly, exhilarated.

"Hah. Haha… Oh my god. I’ve always dreamed of shoving my disgusting cocks into your cute and pretty pussy. I’m such a lucky fucking bastard."

He firmly grabs your waist, frankly you’ve never seen him being so sure of something. He slides them in slowly, both in each hole. You squirm and whimper under his unbreakable gaze on your whole being. Your holes gladly taking him in, your soft body, your cute facial expressions as you’re feeling better and better as he’s pushing himself in, he watches all of it so closely that it almost makes you shy.

"S-Stop staring so closely you dirty mutt."

"Y-Yeah. You’re right, I’m a dirty dog~ Please abuse me with your words some more…"

Geez, this guy has a problem… A problem that you find unbearably hot and cute.

He pounds into your holes, holding your legs up from the back of your knees, pushing them upwards, near your face. All the while you’re still holding onto the leash that is strapped on his collar.

"Come on. Please please please… I’m begging Y/N! Just a little bit."

He’s already enjoying himself so much inside you yet he wants even more, he sure is spoiled. But well, you want to see him go even crazier over you. So you do as he wants.

"You absolute gross fuck. You’re more of a pig than a dog you know? I’ve never seen anyone make such an elated face while fucking someone. You should just get over with it and serve me as a sextoy."

He submerges himself in your fake disgusted face, grinning as you’re completely disrespecting him as a human being, or, well, a demonic being. Then he happily glues his body against yours, his lips near your ears as he begs for more insulting words.

"More please, embarrass me more."

Your mind is already wandering off from getting fucked so good. It’s getting harder to think as both of his dicks are pleasuring your insides, making you pump out so much of your juices, more than you ever have. Yet you somehow manage to answer his needs.

"Y-You… You’re just a gross little fuck- A lame creepy otaku with two dicks who gets off on his crush’s insulting words. You s-sure are good at acting cute and pure while all you really are is a masochistic whore- Mmh!"

You can’t see his face but you can feel him smiling and drooling against your neck and shoulders. Suddenly, the air around him turns dark as he takes on his demon form. Completely lost in his lust and pleasure.

He sticks the tip of his scaly tail into your mouth, making you unable to degrade him any further and his pace quickens. He pounds into you harder and faster, his cocks getting ready to unload themselves into your pretty holes.

"A-And yet you’re so kind that you’re letting a lame, gross and disgusting fuck like me pump both of his dicks into you and you’re wholeheartedly sucking on his monstruous tail. Aaaaahh…~ You’re so nice Y/N, I’ll be your toy all you want! Iloveyousomuch.♡ Iloveyou Iloveyou Iloveyou-"

Your mind completely goes blank thanks to all of your holes being filled by his dicks and tail, at this point, fucking him is like fucking 3 guys at the same time. And as you lose yourself, he does so as well. Emptying himself inside you, grinding on you over and over as he keeps cumming for a solid 20 to 30 seconds, you never even thought it was possible for someone to ejaculate for so long… Well he is a beast and a demon.

When he pulls out, his juices flow out of you for a while, maybe even longer than it took for him to cum since his loads have been mingled in with yours inside of you. He hurries over to his phone, taking pictures of you completely fucked out so he can use them later… Well, hopefully he won’t have to, since from now on you’ll always call for him when you need to use his dicks, right?

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Done! As usual please don’t hesitate to leave comments or some tags (or messages in my askbox if you’re shy!) This is tumblr, I can assure you no one will make fun of you or judge you, we’re all chilling in our trash here 🫰

[katzenklavierr]

Short Review of Sonic Movie 3

Sonic Movie 3 met my expectations pretty exactly: it's a fun action movie for kids that takes inspiration from the video games while making adjustments to meet its own internal lore, just like the first two. So I can't really say I was disappointed by it, but it didn't really blow me away either. I think I liked the second one a little bit better.

If you're a Sonic fan who liked the other two, you will probably enjoy it. If you're a Sonic fan who disliked the other two because they're not faithful adaptations, you will feel the same about this one.

Rest is under the cut for those who wish to go in blind.

Let's get the negatives out of the way first.

I only really have one major complaint and it's that there is way too much Eggman in this movie, to the point where it feels like he has more screentime than Sonic does, let alone all four of the animal characters. I don't even mind stripping Gerald of his moral nuance and making him the big bad (although never mentioning Maria's illness makes his motivations really unclear), but like. Jim Carry's Eggman (now twofold) is better in small doses. At least he died at the end I guess (but if they do another death fakeout for him I'm going to be so annoyed). I feel like the themes they were exploring with him might've been better suited for Shadow so that he'd be a stronger foil to Sonic, which they did a little bit but again. Way more focus was given to Eggman.

The pacing is also really bad. Like, worse than the other two movies. Most scenes don't have any time to breathe before we're jumping to the next thing. Only a few emotional beats are allowed to actually linger long enough to sink in. I get that this is Sonic and we gotta go fast and all, but it feels like this movie being about 20 minutes longer or cutting out some of the Eggman shenanigans to make room for other characters would've benefited it.

They really struggled to find a reason for Sonic's human family to be involved or give them stuff to do. They're important for Sonic's arc, and Tom getting hurt by Shadow is meant to parallel Maria, but they just kind of failed to be relevant in any other way. I didn't really feel it this was as big of a problem in the first two movies. Maybe this film is just suffering from not knowing how to adequately juggle an ensemble cast.

I was a bit worried that they were going to take the story beats from Sonic Adventure 2 and turn it into pro-military propaganda, which thankfully didn't happen. They didn't really address any of the military criticism directly, and Maria's death was explicitly accidental rather than an act of callousness, though I think it was a smart move to have them shut down Gerald's research and imprison him only to build the WMD themselves using his plans and show that they were only interested in keeping it in their own hands. Other than being an inconvenience to Sonic and friends, though, they don't really act as a significant antagonist but rather just a third party in the matter. Again, better than turning them into a force for good, though.

Now for the stuff I did like.

Keanu Reeves killed it as Shadow. He's done other VA work in the past, which I think helps, but he has the exact right timbre for him and just enough emotion to sell the role.

Shadow's relationship with Maria is shown really effectively, and I like that Maria gets to have more of a personality than she really does in the games (though I have not yet played Shadow Generations so I can't speak to her portrayal there). I wish they had explored the tension between Shadow feeling like a monster a bit more, though, as well as my aforementioned gripe that they removed Maria being terminally ill from the story (which I feel is important to her character and her relationship with Shadow).

The fight scenes and action sequences more generally were really cool. I loved both Sonic v. Shadow fights, especially the first one with Shadow on his motorcycle and Sonic on foot zooming through traffic.

Special effects and CGI were also well done and felt very grounded. All of the characters look so soft and I want to pet them so bad. I love the glitter effect when Sonic and Shadow go super, too.

While the scene itself felt a little forced, I did enjoy the chao garden restaurant. I want to eat a chao bao.

I completely called BOTH characters in the post-credits reveal. My thought process was that if they didn't put Amy in the 4th movie (which you know they are going to be making) it would be a crime against me personally and generally a bad move to put in another male character before her, and if they're bringing in Amy it makes sense to bring in Metal as the new threat, especially since they concluded Shadow's SA2 arc in this movie and (supposedly) killed off the Eggmen. I look forward to hearing more about it.

I think I'm still kind of in awe that I live in a world where my favourite blue hedgehog not only gets a big screen appearance, but a whole film series -- one that doesn't suck and is actually successful, even! I feel like the cultural attitude towards Sonic has shifted much more favourably and the films are getting more people interested in the franchise as a whole. In the threatre I was at, there were other adult fans there seeing it with their kids, it was very cool. So even if I have my gripes with them as a life-long fan, I feel they are definitely a net positive and I am glad they exist.

[anzynai]

Idiot

Tsukasa & Nene (Project Sekai)

a/n: @thatonetickleblog PAYTON IT WAS REALLY HARD KEEPING IT A SECRET FROM YOU, BUT GUESS WHOS UR SQUEALING SANTA! i was really happy that i got you, especially we have similar interests and i originally planned to get this done for christmas but things came up… anyways, i kinda struggled characterizing nene so sorry if she’s ooc, BUT I HOPE U ENJOY PAYTON ILYSM

summary: when nene and tsukasa are left alone to practice for a show, things end up turning in a way neither of them expected.

word count: 1.2k

——

Nene stood awkwardly as Tsukasa prattled on and on about their next show. He was clearly and very vocal about his excitement. Of course, she was excited too, but… did he have to be. so loud?!

The two were at Tsukasa’s house. Rui realized he forgot an important prop and went to go get it, Emu deciding to tag along. This left Nene and Tsukasa all alone, which Nene didn’t mind, but she wasn’t used to dealing with the other’s seemingly infinite amount of energy.

“So what do you think, Nene?!” Tsukasa shouted, after a few minutes. Nene flinched at being addressed all of a sudden.

“It’s.. an idea, alright..” She started, but trailed off. “But…”

“But..?” This caught Tsukasa’s attention as he slowed down his movements, intent on listening to her completely.

“I think if we reveal who the culprit was at the end… it might leave the audience feeling unsatisfied? It kinda.. takes out the magical feel to it…” She mumbled, feeling shy. “I-I mean, it’s a good idea but the kind of story we are acting feels like an open ending would fit better.”

Tsukasa was silent for a few moments and Nene wondered if he didn’t like what he said.

“Hah!” Tsukasa yelled out, suddenly, hitting his fist to his palm. “You’re right, Nene!”

Tsukasa pulled out a pencil and began marking on the script. Nene, on the other hand, watched. She didn’t respond to his words, but she could feel happiness swelling up in her chest. She was afraid he wouldn’t like her changing the script, but she forgot what kind of person Tsukasa was.

“There we go! How’s that?” Tsukasa exclaimed, handing her the script. She read over it and skimmed through the notes, before giving an approving nod.

“It’s good.” She said, giving it back to the other.

“Great! Let’s practice!”

“N-now?! Shouldn’t we wait until Emu and Rui come back?” She asked, though she stood up anyway.

“We’ll practice when they are here too, but no harm in getting a head start!” Tsukasa explained, standing alongside her. He stretched his arms up for a moment, but pointed at a certain scene. “Let’s start here!”

“Okay..”

——

And so, they practiced. Since Tsukasa was the star of the show this time, that meant there were more scenes were Nene wasn’t as present or kinda just… stood there awkwardly. She didn’t mind, though. She didn’t want a lead spot like Tsukasa, anyway. Still, the role she was in, as the main character’s magical fairy guide, was a bit more out there than her previous roles.

“Hi-yah!” Tsukasa shouted, thrusting his palm out to the side and…

“Ow!” Nene gasped, holding her nose.

“Nene! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that!” Tsukasa all but lept at her, concern painted on his face.

“You..” Nene said, voice a bit nasally from covering her nose.

“How can I make it up to you?!”

“You idiot!” Nene let her impulses get the best of her as she pounced on Tsukasa, feeling a sudden desire for payback. She wasn’t exactly sure what fo do, thouugh, until she landed on top of him. Tsukasa, clearly not prepared for this uncharacteristic action, toppled over, landing on the sofa. A small squeal slipped from his mouth and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why. Nene looked down, her hands gripping each side of Tsukasa’s ribs.

“NenEHEHEHE?!” He blurted, but was interrupted by his own laughter. Nene didn’t really know exactly what she was doing, but now that she started, she felt she couldn’t stop.

“You need to be more careful wifh your actions.” She pouted, annoyed, but kneaded her small hands into the other’s sides.

“Whahahat ahahahare y-you dohohohoing?!” Tsukasa screeched, shocked and embarrassed. Nene felt embarrassed too, but she pushed that feeling away.

“Payback..” She said, simply, not trusting herself to say any more. It was hard to admit, but Tsukasa actually.. looked quite cute like this. She was used to his boastful smiles and laughter, but this.. felt more genuine, like a side of Tsukasa she rarely got to see.

“Pahahahay bahahack?! I sahahahaid I wahahahas s-sohohorry!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have been so reckless!” Nene spat, pinching in between each of the bones in his ribs. His ribs seemed like a sensitive area, but they couldn’t ellicit anything more than giggles and Nene had the urge to incite laughter out of the blond.

Instead, she began squeezing at his sides, light and barely there, but enough for yet another squeal to pass Tsukasa’s lips.

“NOHOHOHO N-nohohot thEHehere!”

Oh. This seemed like a good spot. Nene decided to linger there for a couple seconds, testingly trying different areas of his sides, different pressures, anything to see what gave her the most reactions.

“You’re so sensitive. It’s fitting for you…” She muttered, pressing at his sides like they were buttons on a controller.

“W-whAHAHAt is thAHAHAHAt s-sUHPOSehehed tohoho mean?!” Tsukasa cackled. “Just pihick sohohomewhere else!”

“If you say so.” And so, somewhere else became his stomach, including his belly button. She scribbled over his ticklish skin, though she could tell the clothing he was wearing offered some protection, but still drove him mad nonetheless.

“EhEHEHEHEh..!” Tsukasa shrieked, giggling and laughing. He seemed to squirm a lot, but didn’t put up much of a fight. Nene decided to store that in her mind for later, but then she thought about how stupid it would be to do that, so she erased it from her mind. (She would still remember.)

“Everywhere is just so.. sensitive, isn’t it?” Tsukasa blushed at that. It was true. Tsukasa was one of the most ticklish people she knew, even among her troupe, which were embarrassingly ticklish themselves. She was sure it was her and Tsukasa who held the record. Though, it was only Rui who knew about this fact compared to everyone being aware of Tsukasa’s ticklishness, through the fours’ countless tickle fights. Nene usually stayed out of those, though.

“Stohohohop..!” Tsukasa mumbled, through his laughter, holding his hands up to his face.

“…” Nene dipped her finger into his bellybutton. At least, as far as it could go through his clothes, and vibrated her fingers.

“AHHHAHHAAHA!”” Tsukasa laughed and laughed and Nene smiled along with him, resisting the urge to laugh to show him just how much she was enjoying this. But, she could indulge herself in a smile at the very least, she thought to herself.

“Ah, looks like you two had fun without us, huh?” Rui’s smirk could be heard in his voice and just like a cat, Nene jumped from her current position to almost all across on the other side of the room, her blush matching Tsukasa’s for being caught. Tsukasa stayed where he was, residual giggles leaving his mouth.

“Nene, you tickled Tsukasa?! No fair!” Emu pouted, though she seemed happy that they seemed to have a good time.

“Shut up..” Nene muttered, quietly, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, she got me pretty good…” Tsukasa sighed, the laughter and tingles finally leaving his system.

“I wanna tickle Tsukasa too!” Emu exclaimed, wiggling her fingers. Tsukasa only responded with a gulp.

“It has been a while, hasn’t it?” Rui pondered, almost as if he was feeling nostalgic.

“It’s only been two days!” Tsukasa squawked, panic and anticipation in his face, but before he could say any more, Emu was already tickling him, Rui following shortly after.

Idiots, Nene thought, as she smiled and decided to join in.