#i LOVE his cut dialoug

[sanjisblackasswife]

Thinking about how OPLASanji is a more closeted pervert than an open one. (Part 1)

IHadTo.

Blk Fem Reader x OPLA Sanji

CW: Sanji has tattoos(🌚), Suggestive, Kissing, Touchy Touchy Sanji, ….please read his dialouge in his voice. No smut BUT next time will be filthy smut<_< just setting up the plot here okaayyy i havent wrote in a while.

“So fucking pretty..”

“You say ‘sum Sanji?”

“Nothing, madam.”

Sanji was relentless. Him so new to the crew you and him managed to get pretty close quite quickly. It’s been a few weeks now and Zoro has pointed out about 15 times already how touchy and —in his words “Freaky” he is towards you.

“Either you’re that dense or just as perverted as him because how can you not feel his dick against your ass when you both are—“

“Zoro.” Nami cut him off with a stern tone, you blink at them both on the deck. “Enough, okay.”

“Somebody had to say it,” Zoro took a sip of his drink, settling back down on the chair, “It’s been constant dry foreplay from you both and it’s annoying—“

“…Sorry.” You murmur, not really sure how to answer to him, he looks at you, scoffing. “I don’t think sanji is intentionally being like that he just—“

“Well he is. A blind man can see how he fucks you with his eyes.”

Slightly confused as to why Zoro would even think Sanji is a pervert. He isn’t. He can’t be??

He’s so sweet, and charming, you can’t deny he was one of the few men you met that have caught your attention; his dimples exposing themselves when you make him smile, his pretty delicate hands that grabs ahold of yours when he kisses your knuckles, his pretty jewlery, and when he speaks in your ear, that fucking accent of his—-

…maybe him being a pervert wasn’t too bad.

I mean, he wasn’t hurting you nor ever made you uncomfortable? You both are adults.

And adults have needs.

And if two adults have attraction for one another then…well…it shouldn’t matter much?

You shook off what Zoro said and headed back to the kitchen, maybe he was just teasing you again.

But if he wasn’t…you could possibly make use of this new information.

——-

“Y/n, my love, how are you babe? Thirsty?” Sanji smiles at you, already preppping for dinner you grin warmly back at him and take a seat at the table, his eyes follow your figure, trailing down to your waist, and glued to your ass until you sat down.

For a moment you were quiet, not responding yet to his question, but admiring Sanji’s hands, how quickly he can chop food, how pretty his fingers are, you nearly nip at your lip when you notice him roll up his sleeves and see—-

“Oh!” Your eyes widen mindlessly, you walk towards the large kitchen island and lean over, “You have tattoos?”

How could have you not notice? it’s been almost a month being together and you never peeped? He had a half sleeve done and honestly it looked so..

“You like?” Sanji’s chuckle makes you break out of your daze. “I got my first one when i was 16. And then well, it became a slight addiction.”

You stare back at his forearm again, the pretty art marked on his skin, noticing the veins complimenting it made you nip at your lip again. He smiles, your pretty round eyes watching him as he cooked, but again.

Sanji’s eyes wondered.

You were in a trance at his tattoos, trying to count and see every detail of them you didn’t even notice your breast spilling out of your low cutted tank top onto the counter.

Your pretty brown chest, literally shining from a mixture of a bit of sweat and lotion you put on earlier with your small gold necklace dangling in between your clevage, Sanji tries to tear his eyes away, but he can’t help it.

You’re so fucking gorgeous. He seen you and Nami and he was already infactuated with you both, but you seemed to be more open to entertaining his flirtatious advances than Nami so he started to fall for you a bit more.

Hugging him at Arlong Park really got him going, your breast pressed against his, the way you kissed his cheek, and you were just so happy to see him he almost felt his pants get tight from that alone.

He wanted you bad it was almost admirable and pathetic.

“I have more tattoos. Y’know if you ever wanna see ‘em.” He teased, knowing damn well he was serious.

“Hmmmm.” You walk around the counter to face his side, finger tracing the rim of the counter top. “Well maybe….where are the others?”

“I have one on side, one on my shoulder, on my back—“

“Your back?” Your eyes lit up. “Can I see?”

Sanji started to stammer, “I— um… Really? You sure?…..okay just…give me a moment.”

You giggle at his urgency to clean up his mess, putting the roast in the oven he walks towards the kitchen door and locks it, his mind running a mile a minute he turns to face you to see you happliy sitting on the counter smiling, “C’mon lemme see! I love back tattoos!”

Sanji exhales, unbuttoning his shirt he feels your gaze, once his shirt is fallen to the ground he turns, you nearly gasped seeing the huge tattoo on his spine.

His very pretty spine.

“woah.” Sanji hears your footsteps approach him, he hisses slightly at your touch, you did always have a habit of touching when not asked. “It’s so pretty.”

Your hands start to move around the outline of the art, also noticing the small scars and bruises he has gotten in past fights. You lightly touch one, and he immediately turns around, causing you to jump, “Oh. Sorry.”

“No, it’s alright. You like them?”

“Mmhm…” you land your hand on his shoulder tattoo, not even taking note to how closer sanji approached you.

You both stare at each other for a moment, it was only 2 seconds but it felt like an eternity until Sanji decided to close the gap between you both.

His lips were so soft against yours you couldn’t hold in any moan you had released, you felt his hand cup your cheek, moving you backwards onto the counter, the kisses started to get more intense the more access you allowed him into your mouth.

Nothing but the sounds of water crashing, usopp and Luffy outside playing and heavy breathing filled the kitchen. Sanji just couldnt help himself—-

His mind was fuzzy, he knew in the back of his mind he shouldn’t have been so bold with his actions but to feel your body weight against his,

a slap or two was worth it, but it never came.

Sliding his tongue inside your mouth he pushes his leg in between yours, you really don’t know why you haven’t stopped him yet, maybe it’s the way he so easily picked you up by your ass and sat you on the counter, or maybe it’s how his hands are squeezing your breast, but you knew eventually you had to—-

“Okay!” You pulled off, both of you trying to catch your breath, “Wait…I….Sanji…”

He stared at you like a lost dog, damn near ready to get scolded with his pink puffy lips, you giggled. Holding his cheek, “I’m..sorry.”

You knew he shouldn’t have been sorry, he only did what you allowed him, and luckily he was a great kisser so it wasn’t anything you technically regret doing.

“Sorry for what?…I liked it.” You took his hand and teased, “Unexpected, but…I like it.”

You brush his hair back, going in for a slower and deeper kiss, your felt his cold palms rub the sides your your bare thighs, pulling you closer so you can throw your arms over his shoulder.

You nor him haven’t had this kind of touch from another person in a long time, and you both were clearly attracted to each other …so…why not bite the bullet?

“Let’s go to my room, Sanji…”

[adventuringblind]

Cutting Tensions

Daniel Ricciardo x Reader x Max Verstappen x Lando Norris

Dialouge prompt: "The deal was that if I won, you'd all have your way with me."

Genre: SMUT

Summary: Reader wins a bet and spicy things ensue

Warnings: Filthy, PinV sex, implied anal, oral, fingering, thigh riding, degradation, praise, under negotiated BDSM, dom/sub,

Notes: I'm back from the dead! Finished my bachelor's degree today and move on to my masters in January! How do we celebrate? Smut. This is filthy and part of my 1000 follower event. Requests will close at the beginning of January. If you'd like to participate, click on the link :)

Masterlist

Minors DNI please

She's more observant than the boys give her credit for. They aren't being subtle or even smooth, for that matter.

Daniel flirts openly with her every chance he gets. Max is always trying to spend time with her both inside and outside the paddock. Lando is very handsy at the most inconvenient times. While they are busy oggling at her, they have failed to notice the longing looks that pass between the three of them. She's getting sick of it, really. Macho men who are fighting over her don't have the balls to admit they are also trying to show off to each other.

She's hit the breaking point and has decided to do something about it. And, if everything goes according to plan, they will have a lovely night and hopefully some realization of feelings while they're at it.

She'd managed to place the car on pole for the race tomorrow. Her odds of actually turning it into a win look good so far. She takes her phone out and sends a quick message to the boys.

'If any of you three win tomorrow, I'll spend the night with you. But if I win the you three take me at the same time. Deal?'

A course of enthusiastic replies cause her phone to explode. They really are the most oblivious boys she knows at times.

Just as she'd hoped, she stands on the top step of the podium. Drenched in champaign with adrenaline coursing through her veins. Max is a step below looking at her knowingly.

The anticipation builds over the course of debriefs and media work. The interviews take hours and she want to throw the microphone at the journalists who constantly ask her about being a female in formula 1. The same question they have asked over the entire course of her career.

She runs into the three boys looking at each other awkwardly. Max flashes the keys to his car and she feels her shoulders intense knowing escape is near.

"Your hotel room I'm assuming?" Daniel throes her a playful smile.

"Well, unlike the three of you, I'm pretty sure I cleaned before I left." She throws as they walk towards Max's car.

The rest of the trip back is filled with playful and teasing Comments. Daniel is the least petrified of the three boys and even leaves a few lingering touches along her thighs.

They toss their stuff into random corners of the room. It's not like it's massive, but she knows they'll find a way to make it work. Unless they decided to stare at her all night instead of doing anything.

She faces them and huffs. Daniel looking a little more amused then the other two at it.

"The deal was-" She puts her hands on her hips. "-That if I won, you'd all have your way with me."

Daniel finally takes the initiative and slams his lips onto hers. It's wet and hot. She can't help but moan into his mouth at the sensation. His fingers hook into the belt loop of her jeans to pull her closer. "You mean like this, darlin?" She just moans back in agreement.

Daniel pulls back, leaving her to whine in anticipation. He yanks on Max's wrist to pull him into the mix. The Dutch looks both helpless and surprised, and his lips land on Daniel's. The Australian slides Max into his place. He looks sufficiently warmed up now and in his element.

He places kisses everywhere along her neck and jaw line. His hands wrestle with her clothes until she's exposed and the feeling of the duvet is beneath her; flush against her skin.

She feels small beneath him. Max's hands groping at her like she'll fly away. Her hips already blossoming with dark marks.

His lips leave her for a second as he throws his shirt off. Her hands fly to belt around his waist. It's messy, but he's left in his boxers eventually.

On the other side of the bed, Lando was clueless. Despite his show of confidence, he was prepared for it to either be just him or not at all. Not to say that he doubted her skills. No, he doubts himself. Didn't mentally prepare for this outcome.

Daniel takes the initiative with him just like he'd done Max. Daniel curls his fingers around Lando's waist and hesitantly leans closer. It's enough that Lando has time to back out if he wants, but he doesn't. He hates admitting it; that he wants this desperately. He also just wants to be good, and that usually comes with experience. Something he doesn't have in this scenario.

His thoughts come to a screeching halt when Daniel's lips land on his. It's much softer than he'd seen with the other two.

It lasts for a measly minute until Lando's body is being manhandled onto the bed. Litgerally thrown onto it like he weighs nothing more than a sack of potatoes. He doesn't do any of the work aside from lay there in sheer cluelessness.

Everyone if fumbling out of their clothes. It's frantic and animalistic now, but he's definitely turned on at the sight of it. Yeah... this is definitely what he wanted.

She is going to explode. Max's tongue has found her ripples, and his hands are pressed into her back to keep her close. His thigh sits between her legs up against her core. She grinds her lower half against Max's skin. Her moans come out as high-pitched whine as the stimulates become too much.

Max releases his tongue from her and takes over, moving her hips for her. "You like that baby? You're leaking all over my thigh, so you must."

She's about to hit that point when Max throws her off him. He loses his boxers in record time and slips on one of the many condoms sitting on the bedside table.

Her and Lando lay in opposite directions. Enough for her to land her lips on his and her hands to make contact with his skin. The Brit is whining loudly at something. The beginnings of tears prick at his eyes. Daniel is running hands up and down Lando's sides, occasionally brusing against her own.

It feels like seconds of peace before Max is slamming into her. He throws her leg over his shoulder and hits the same place every time. Hips snaping so hard the sound echoes in the room. Her hands immediately find some kind of hold on his arms. Behind her, Daniel is praising both of them. "You two look so good. Look at how she's falling apart underneath you, Maxy."

Lando's cries and incoherent babbling are also increasing. It's messy and the heat of the room is already causing her skin to become slick with sweat.

"Can you two manage coming at the same time? Can you do that for us?" She's pretty sure she could come undone any second now. Max's pace hasn't faltered. If he continues, she's going to combust.

Max is whispering praises in her ear. Landos hand grips whatever it can of her body. Frantic moans and flailing limbs come with crashes of endorphins. It's blissful. Max draws it out until he finishes and collapses on top of her.

There is no reprieve for her and Lando. Daniel is a puppet master and both of them are merely on strings being moved to his will.

She ends up on top of him. Neither she nor Lando move. Their skin is plastered together as she buries her nose in the crook of his neck.

Daniel is moving her up and down in rough motions. His grip is changing in strength every few seconds as Max is somewhere out of sight sucking off the Australian.

He's directing Lando on where he wants the Brits hands on her. Eventually coming to the point he isn't holding onto her at all. It's Lando guiding her body. His hips buck into her, but it isn't like Max. Lando tries different things. Enough to startle her into a second orgasm when he begins to hammer up into her relentlessly. He has her begging for it this time.

Daniel and Max find both them at the top of the bed. They whisper things at them. Max is praising on one side while Daniel degrads on the other.

She is putty in their hands. Molded to their will. Swimming in the bliss of their attention.

"My turn." Daniel growls at her. He moves them all again. Her body is swiftly turned to where she can clearly see Daniel's eyes wide with something primal. "Need your mouth baby. Are you okay with that? Can I fuck your throat?" She responds by simply throwing her mouth open and sticking out her tongue. "Dirty."

The smirk on his lips disappears as his cock slides down the back of her throat. She can helpless to do anything except let her mouth be used.

Max is back between her thighs. This time with a tongue on her clit and three fingers moving inside her in such a way that she sees white. Occasionally she hears Max pull away to praise Lando who is out of her sight. Whatever he's doing is working as Max's movments begin to randomly falter.

Daniel is wiping away the stray tears that are sliding down her cheeks. She's coughing and gagging but the ecstasy is to overpowering for her to think to much about it. "Such a good girl." He coos after a particularly nasty cough.

He warns her about five seconds before he finishes. On last slam into her mouth and he's spilling into her throat. Far enough back that it hardly touches her tongue.

He holds her there as Max brings her over the edge again. His hands pin her wrists as she frantically tries to pull him closer or push him away, she's not sure which is happening.

She's still riding the high, Daniel barely out of her mouth when Lando pops back onto the bed sputtering and wiping his mouth. "That - was amazing." His chest falls heavily as he regains his breath.

Her body won't move. It's exhausted. Every last ounce of energy spent. Everything feels sticky. Lingering electric pulses stem from the soft touchs of Daniel and Max.

"You did so good, loves." Plural, meaning with her and Lando. She's curious what she'd missed while wrapped up in her own pleasure.

"Cuddles?" Lando squeaks.

There are a few chuckles and a denial. "Bath and water first."

It's much softer then she'd anticipated. Max and Daniel don't get in the bath with her and Lando, but the sit on the edge and keep them company. Just chatting like this is a normal Sunday nightm

The bed is really to small for four people, but they make it work. They fall asleep tangled together. Limbs tossed in all sorts of directions and phones still on silent.

She wakes up first and orders breakfast. Foods that she knows are trainer approved across the board.

She's lost in her own thoughts. So much so that she doesn't notice the three boys beginning to wake. Not until a set of arms wraps around her waist.

"How long did you know for?" Asks Daniel from right behind her. The other two boys still wrapped in each other but eyeing her intently.

"A year now."

Lando sits upright "You set us up?!"

"The way I see it, we all got a good fuck out of this and feeling have come to light." She shrugs.

"So-" Max sounds unsure of himself. The anxiety seeping through just the tiniest bit. "-Are we going to keep doing this?"

"I was thinking a proper date might be next up." Lando nods in agreement at her proposal.

Daniel's gein is magnificent. He scans the three of them, pondering what to say next. "Alright, a date it is then."

[aquamarinebling]

little isat x pjsk au comic!!! a bit unserious, but i had to draw this once the idea popped up…

in this au, Siffrin’s fondness for puns is replaced with Rui’s love of theater direction. he doesn’t express his more abstract ideas much, preferring to “keep everyone happy” and remain palatable by creating more normal concepts, but I think sometimes they slip out.

dialouge under the cut (bc my handwriting isn’t the best)

Rui: >Tsukasa.

Tsukasa: “Oh, Rui! Finally up?”

Rui: “Mh. What are you doing?”

Tsukasa: “Checking out the favor tree! It’s so tall, it must be ANCIENT to be so big.”

Rui: | Say, that tree would make a good stage…

> With enough force, maybe we could use the branches to launch you over the sun?

Both: . . .

Rui: [WHAT.]

Tsukasa: Is that so?

[sea-creature-tournaments]

Propaganda below cut

Marina Ida:

incredibly talented, loves her squid wife, possesses autism swag off the charts. those are the main points, i think

She slays and i love her

awesome octopus lesbian with machinery and stuff as her special interest

Cute hacker

She was a child soldier. She's a defector. She's gay. Like so gay. She's a hacker. She created a virtual reality to un-brainwash people. What can't she do?

autistic octopus world star who likes to ramble about excavators and kiss her squid wife on the lips everyday super smart; was enlisted in the military at the age of 6 and graduated elementary school at 9, skipped a ton of grades. can build weapons of mass destruction with ease. created a vr world in nothing but unity. helped both save and almost end the world on seperate occasions autistic; known to go on hours long rambles about excavators + other heavy machinery and music theory stuff. cant drink orange juice with pulp or eat mayo because of the texture. rarely ever seen without her headphones. stims by moving the tips of her hair (arms) gay; described as a "maiden in love" on the japanese splatoon base site. version of love used is specifically for romantic love. wrote and illustrated an entire yuri manga about her squid bandmate. her laptop wallpaper is a picture of pearl "What!? Acht, come on! You can't seriously be hitting on Pearl in front of..." <--- actual piece of dialouge.

Professer inkling:

he's awesome and has a little library and is an expert at tentacle wrestling. APPARENTLY he's a DnD girlie. look at this delightful fella and his monocle and bow tie. old man octo sweep <3

He literally founded the Octonauts what more do you want? He's a hero. an icon.

He's some old man octopus with a bow tie and a monocle. hello?? coolest man alive alert

[deathpressmonogatari]

I had this massive rant last night but I'm just so unhappy with Shadow of The Erdtree. You can feel so much got cut or butchered for the final product and it hurts. The dlc is beautiful, the journey and locations are magical, it's such a good experience. But the story is so flat, so weak.

The lore is interesting. Everything we learn about Marika gives us so much. We know about her, why she did the things they did. Her people. Why she reacted to her omen children the way we did. We learn about the fingers and the absence of the greater will and how that has led to our twisted world, with Metyr reaching out to the nothingness. And that's where it ends.

I've been very critical of Miquella's handling in the dlc, I don't like how someone so important is relegated to like 4 voice lines and zero reason as to why we want to oppose him and join his order; like in his cut ending. He deserves way more screentime and integration into our journey.

Messmer I love, but he doesn't get to do anything? He's a boss, he's the firstborn, and he unleashed his mother's fury on the hornsent. And you kill him and that's that. How does he feel about his siblings? He interacted with Miquella, because how else does Miquella get to Enir-Ilim? He needs Messmer to give him access. Why did they cut that dialouge. I assumed Miquella told him about the shattering. How does Messmer feel about his mother's choice? Her imprisonment? How does he feel about Radahn, clearly positive since he lets all that shit happen. But Messmer deserved more and to say more words

Romina not getting any dialouge in the final cut is bad enough. But no cutscene?? She's clearly very important and she doesn't give us anything. It's so annoying, she is the boss that stands between us and the sealing tree and she's treatrd like fodder and not someone who is clearly VERY important to the story and likely Malenia.

I love St. Trina but it felt like she was forgotten, her lines were so interesting but her quest doesn't progress anything? She talks to us and gives us her view on what Miquella's doing which is great but god I think she deserved more

I've put a shit ton of time into DLCs for DS1, DS3 & BB and I will die on the hill that they were all done better than SoTE. It felt like they wanted to be vague for the sake of being vague to the point of it being less of a mystery to solve and more of a "oh, okay. Guess that's that." If this is meant to be the final content drop for ER (I hope not) then I really don't know what it was meant to achieve. I suppose it did educate us on Marika and the GW and then that's it.

I've seen a lot of takes that we should accept the story they gave us and it's entitled to want something different, but I feel if you're someone, like myself, who puts hours and hours of time into these games and you're used to really good stories and lore being told only for the next big dlc to basically fumble that for our epic Radahn moment is not great. And I am within my right to criticise that, as is anyone else. And if you're a massive fan of the story good for you, I'm not telling you you're wrong. This is MY opinion.

Also we should've had a Messmer consort ending ;)

[fyodoro]

𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞 - 𝐑𝐞𝐨 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐠𝐞

-> Reo could have anything and everything he wants, some more replaceable than other. But why would he want to replace something (or rather someone) that's irreplaceable? (1k words)

-> CW) Reo's parents are really shitty here, gaslighting, cursing, ummm reo shows a brief sign of crazy but it's nothing compared to the toothbrush scene, kinda dialouge heavy, kissing lol

This is more Reo-centric tbh. I've never seen a fic that included how his parents would feel about a relationship with someone that wasn't mega rich, and wanted to experiment with that idea a bit.

Also, this was a scrap from the event I'm working on. I didn't wanna put it to waste so here it is.

“Reo, sweetie… we love you dearly, you know that?”

Reo merely stared at what was in front of him, his parents. It was hard to tell whether he was pissed, upset, or unbothered. But anyone who knew the young man would tell you exactly what that look on his face meant.

He’s pissed.

“But we think you need to reconsider this… decision of yours.” His father finished. The purple haired woman next to him nodded firmly at her husband’s words. “As much as we love you, we also need to keep the Mikage Corporation in mind. And that… person of yours… how do I put this?”

“They aren’t good enough for you or the family.” Reo’s father said what his mother was too scared to say. 

In short, you didn’t match their qualifications for Reo’s “future partner.”

“I’m sure they’re a joy to be around, really. But they don’t come from a wealthy family. One of the most important things to look for in a lover is a family-”

“So this isn’t about me, this is about the company? Whatever happened to ‘loving me dearly?’” Reo cut his father off, not wanting to hear another word out of him.

“We do love you, sweetheart. That’s why we want what’s best for you. And who you want to bring into the family isn’t worthy of accompanying you, let alone becoming a Mikage.” His mother’s tone was so sweet it was almost sickening. What was the point in acting so nice while spouting the cruelest words? 

Reo’s brows furrowed harshly. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to call them out on their bullshit, or punch them. The latter was most preferable. 

“You two don’t know a thing about (Name), so just shut up. Whatever I choose to do with my life is none of your business.” Reo spat.

His father opened his mouth to rebuttal, but Reo ran off before he could get a word out. As much as he wanted to chase after him and drill the meaning of being a “heir” into his head, a hand on a shoulder held him in place.

“Don’t.” Mrs. Mikage started, gazing at seemingly nothing. “He’ll understand sooner or later, just have some faith in him.”

Reo wanted nothing more than to kiss you passionately right in front of his parents. He knew it’d piss them off further, and that’s exactly why he wanted to do it. Why does he have to be the only one pissed off in this situation? His parents have to be worried, and you…

“So… does that mean we have to break up?” 

And you have to be guilty.

“No. We aren’t breaking up, I promise.” Reo reassured. He hated how you felt like this mess was your fault, because it wasn’t. It was his parent’s fault.

It was like they had a checklist for Reo’s potential lovers. Are they wealthy? Are their parents also CEO’s? Or at least work in higher ranks for a big company? Are they attractive (in their eyes)? If they didn’t fill out every box, they were shunned out of Reo’s life.

You weren’t like his previous partners, not in the slightest. For one, he’s with you because he loves you, and not because he’s bored. That’s a great place to start. 

“They’re assholes, that’s all there is to it. They don’t care about anything outside of their stupid company.” Reo’s words were as bitter as coffee. By this point, you weren’t sure if he was comforting you or himself. Perhaps a mix of both?

“If they don’t want me around… does that mean we’re gonna have to keep this a secret?” You looked at him curiously, wondering how this will work out without getting under his parent’s skin even more.

Reo grinned. “Who said we’ll have to keep this a secret?”

“By that… you mean…?”

“I mean… I think I’m gonna have to start bringing you around my place even more.”

His words stunned you. Just how would that help his situation? The boy stood there, grinning like an idiot, as if this was the best idea ever. 

“Think about it! If you were always around, they’d have no choice but to warm up to you. And if they even try to belittle you, then I'll-”

You cut him off. “Okay- I get it. You can calm down now.”

“My bad…”

His plan was irrational to no end. His parents were perfectly capable of cutting you out of Reo’s life if they really wanted to, even he knew that. But no matter what route he takes, risks will always be apparent. Of course, Reo wanted to take the route that’d corner his parents. Was he sure it’d work? Nope. 

But he was okay with taking chances to keep you a part of his life.

“You know I’m doing this because I love you, right?” Your ears perked up at this, already figuring that was the case to begin with. “I don’t want you to think I’m doing this just to piss off my parents.” He finished.

“Even if that was your reason, I still wouldn’t mind.” You stated. It baffled Reo, that you were so willing to go along with whatever you wanted. It reminded him...

“Have I ever told you?”

“Told me what?”

“I’ve had a lot of things in my life, but I think you’re the best of them all. Well- minus the fact that you’re a person, not a thing. But you get my point.” He affirmed with a wide, gentle grin. 

You pulled him in for a sweet kiss, which Reo gladly accepted. 

In that moment, Reo could only think of how much better you were than anyone else his parents would prefer.

He could kiss you back and feel sincere about it. And he could pull you closer not because it was what his body wanted, but because it was what he wanted.

You were the best thing that’s ever been Reo’s.

Well, minus Nagi. But you still came before him.

[pitifulbaby]

Cold December Night

summary: Christmas is suppose to be the happiest time of the year, but how do you break the chain from the last sad ones?

pairings: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

warnings: angsty, and then fluffy, eddie and you have shared trauma, i guess fix it fic? honestly its sad but i promise it ends really really sweet! there isn't a lot of dialouge, i've never seen snow so if anything i wrote isn't correct you can sue me, eddie has big feelings, talks of depression, a hint of suggestive nature- blink and you would miss it, no use of y/n

a/n: once again i have literally been writing this, or trying to write this for like a year.. anyways i am glad i got this finished though! if you celebrate Christmas i hope you have a wonderful day, and even if you don't i hope tomorrow is amazing like you. 4.4k words.

stranger things masterlist

Hawkins, Indiana was a special place. Perhaps not in the greatest ways, but it sure was special. It was December 5th, 1988. Days were shorter and colder, clothes were longer and provided more warmth than the clothing you would wear during the scorching summer months. Physical wounds from 86’ were healed and turned into scars that were hard to explain.

1986 wasn’t a good year. The year started fine, you worked at a local grocery store- sure it didn’t pay much, but there were only so many job options in Hawkins. Trying to make enough money til Eddie graduated. You had graduated in 94’ the same year he was suppose to be graduating as well, but luck wasn’t on his side. You hadn’t known what you wanted to do after high school. Eighteen was still so young to decide on what you wanted to do for the rest of your life.

So you decided to take a gap year during 95’ to give yourself a year to figure out what you wanted to do for college- or even if you wanted to go. Getting a job to make ends meet.

Then like a repeat of the year before, Eddie was held back. You promised him if he graduated in 86’ that where you went to college- or if you went to college, you would take him with you if he wanted, but only if he graduated.

The two of you started dating when you were both 16. Young lovers turned out to be soulmates. You two shared a bond that was unbreakable and perhaps to others a little odd- but that was just because you both were a little weird.

Then suddenly 1986 happened. Eddie’s drug deal turned to watching Chrissy Cuningham be possessed and killed right before his eyes- the blame of her unexplainable death placed onto the metalhead. You got a call from Wayne in the early hours of the morning, him asking if you knew where Eddie was- worry evident in his voice as he told you what he came home to find, and what he didn’t find.

It was strange opening the door to Dustin Henderson, him and his odd gaggle of friends taking you with them to find Eddie.

Everything else happened so fast and yet seemed so slow. Finding Eddie, having to learn about the Upside Down which was this other dimension that lived under Hawkins. Everything in the Upside Down was the exact same as it was in the normal version of Hawkins- well, other than the monsters crawling around and who else knows what lurked in the corners no one knew about yet.

March 27th was probably the worst day of your life yet. Going into the upside down to defeat Vecna, a thing of nightmares- a strange, terrifying, whatever he was. He was the type of thing you would tell to scare people, a creature you would use in a make believe story told over a campfire at night to try and one up someone else’s story and scare the living daylights out of them.

Things seemed fine on your end, you and Dustin back in the right side of Hawkins before Eddie had to do what he thought was right, cutting the makeshift rope and ceasing you from getting to him, sacrificing himself to the demobats.

Watching him cut the bedsheet rope, his eyes trained on yours as he told you he loved you before he was gone. After that your body was on autopilot. Pushing a chair towards the gaping hole in the ceiling, getting a running start before tumbling through the upside down- hurting your ankle pretty bad but the adrenaline masked the pain that you should’ve felt.

Running out the door and towards the direction of swarming bats that circled Eddie and feasted on the male. And suddenly the bats dropped dead around him.

Holding his body close to yours as he bled out wasn’t a memory you wanted to keep, but it was one that wouldn’t ever go away. He tried to say his goodbyes, but you shot them down. Promised you would get him out of there no matter what.

And with a lot of trouble you managed to get him out of the upside down.

The rest of that night was a blur.

Vecna was defeated, his body disintegrating into the upside down that started to crumble and break as you and the others escaped. Once through to Hawkins the gate to the other side closed and sealed as if nothing happened.

Which was a lie.

Max was rushed to the hospital, she barely escaped death- but not without issues that would follow her for the rest of her life. They managed to reset her bones, and her vision wasn’t fully gone but it wasn’t great at all. She was considered legally blind, but with thick rimmed glasses she could still see. But things would still have a small blur to them.

During Vecna’s encounter with Max, Jason attacked Lucas. Threatening the boy and beating him as Lucas tried to save Max.

After the police and ambulance showed up to take Max away to the hospital, all the blame of the lives taken by Vecna were placed onto Jason. Though it wasn’t his fault, the evidence somehow seemed to fall onto him. The charges that were going to be placed on Eddie were switched to Jason and he was arrested for the murder of Chrissy, Patrick and Fred and attempted murder of Max.

Even if some of the things didn’t fully make sense on it being Jason’s fault, he was connected to Patrick and Chrissy. Found at the scene of Patrick's murder and Max’s attempt. Which was enough evidence for the police.

Taking Eddie to the hospital was also something you found awful. When questioned about what happened you put the blame on being attacked by a man and his dog. A man trying to make things right as he thought Eddie was the reason for it all and used his dog as an attack dog. No one questioned otherwise. No one questioned the odd marks that didn’t align with a dog bite or knife.

You came out alive with a fractured ankle and wrist.

Eddie came out alive with scars, a near death experience and one nipple.

But you two came out with shared trauma and separation anxiety.

Nothing from the upside down reared its head, no signs anything would come back had shown and that’s how things would hopefully stay. After the events that occurred, the trailer the two Munsons lived in was unlivable. Sure it could be restored, but neither Eddie nor Wayne felt comfortable in the house that was once a home. So all the unbroken things inside the trailer were moved out and the building was torn down. 

No one would want to buy the trailer, plus it would be more expensive to remodel it than it was to completely tear it down. So, down went the Munson trailer.

Wayne moved into a small townhouse close to the plant he worked at, the neighborhood was new and quiet which was perfect for the elder Munson and his odd work schedule. Plus it was rather cheap, about the same as it was to live in the trailer- give or take a few. 

Before this all happened you had been living on your own, much like Steve you had absent, rich, parents. But yours were more loving than his- as harsh as it is. Though your parents had moved out of state when you were a fresh face eighteen year old, they knew how much you loved Hawkins. And since you spent most of your life without them there to coddle you, they had no issue with you living alone. But they did kindly help you on and off with the bills. 

So since you were on your own, just you in the small home, it didn’t take much convincing to get Eddie to move in with you. As much as he loves his uncle, he felt like he was old enough to be on his own- albeit with you, but truthfully at this point you and Eddie were seemingly one person. 

The government had given you both a decent amount of hush money for the terrifying horrors experienced. And though money was nice, it wouldn’t heal the traumatic hell you and Eddie went through.

Physically you were both healed, though sometimes the wrist you had fractured would tingle- a pins and needles type feeling if you leaned on it. Eddie’s scars would itch, worse in the colder months and would often be applying lots of lotion. It took a while for him to let you see the scars, for him to let you help apply and creams to soothe the deep marks. He told you he could do it himself, reapply the dressings, that it was no issue. 

But the soft cries you heard from him when he was locked in the bathroom told you otherwise.

After a while he opened up, more tears were shed as he showed you what was left of his body, he told you he wouldn’t be mad if you didn’t love him anymore after seeing him. After that you made him lay on the bed and pressed kisses to each and every inch of him, told him no matter what you would always love him, no matter his looks- you loved him for him, not his body. 

It took a while for Eddie to become more comfortable again in his body, and he still had a long way to go. But he was just starting to be able to look in the mirror and not get upset, not be angry at what he saw. 

The only people he let see without a shirt was you and Wayne, but of course his Uncle didn’t live with him anymore so he didn’t see his nephew shirtless as much as he did when they lived together. Eddie Munson was a furnace and because of that he preferred to sleep without a shirt. But, that changed after the upside down. He didn’t like the way the sheets or comforter would rub against the scars. So you two were still on the hunt for bedding that wasn’t aggravating. 

Back to now, things were somewhat calm. Christmas was weeks away, and you were excited to celebrate it. The last two years the holidays were hard. 

Christmas 86’ felt like it never happened, Eddie spent the day sleeping. His wounds were still healing from the dreadful day in March. You didn’t blame the metalhead for sleeping, truthfully that year leading into the next he spent most of his days bedridden. It took a while for Eddie’s spark for anything to come back, and you were there each step of the way to help him. Wayne that year, no matter how hard he tried to fight it, was set to work on Christmas Day. It didn’t snow that year, but it poured a frigid rain, a fog set over the town, bringing a gloomy atmosphere. 

Christmas 87’ much like the year before was very mellow. Eddie didn’t really want to do anything big. So that year Christmas was spent between you and the two Munsons. The younger munson claimed he didn’t want anything or need anything that year, and the elder munson was all the same. But of course that didn’t stop you from getting them both something small. The day was spent like every other day, the two men played poker, a six pack was split between you three. Dinner was take out from some hole in the wall restaurant that was open on Christmas. No decorations in sight, it didn’t snow that year either.

But this year, Christmas 88’ was the year things seemed nearly normal again. Sure things would never be the same, but it was pretty damn close. The light was back in Eddie’s eyes, his hands didn’t shake when he tried to play the guitar, his humor was back and consisted of joking about what happened on the 27th of March. Which in turn usually ended up with him getting a gentle smack to his shoulder as he cackled. 

Eddie decided every holiday this year must be celebrated to the most extreme- which was a contrast from the last two years. Though his main holiday priorities were Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Never did you think you would be celebrating st. patricks day to the extreme but, that's what this year was. The year to try and get back to being okay. 

The morning came, soft light seeping through the small, thin gap between the middle where the curtains met. With fluttering eyes you slowly woke up, focus starting to come back as you blinked a few times. Moving your hands to your face to rub the sleep from your eyes. The small movements from you caused a groan to be heard from the left of you. Eddie was asleep, laying on his stomach with one arm draped over you and the other hidden underneath his pillow. His lips were ever so parted, a gentle pout gracing his features. He was completely and utterly knocked out.

Before 86’ Eddie could sleep like a log, a bomb could go off in the next room and he wouldn’t be none the wiser. Then after March, for a few months, he could barely sleep- which soon turned into him sleeping his days away as a depressed state took over him. Which in turn caused him to be a very light sleeper. But as the months went by, mentally and physically he was healing, he was slowly going back to his heavy sleeping days, which you didn’t mind. You’d rather it take a bit to get him awake than him not sleep or wake up at the drop of a pin.

Your eyes landed on the sleeping boy, his once sharp features soft, letting him look at peace. With a gentle hand you tuck a lock of his wild dark hair behind his ear. Which in turn causes him to nuzzle his face more so into the pillow. A deep chill was casted over the room, colder than it was when you went into bed last night. Turning your head you look toward the alarm clock on the bedside table, reading the bright red numbers. 10:32.

It was a little later than you had been waking up, but after the wild night you had with Eddie last night, sleeping longer was most welcome. 

Slowly and carefully you managed to wiggle yourself out of the metalhead's hold, putting a pillow in your place in Eddie’s arms. You hate to admit that it was rather difficult to get out of bed, not because you didn’t want to get up ( though very true. ) But you were sore, legs having a small wobble to them as you wandered to the bathroom. Stumbling a bit once. 

After your trip to the bathroom you were pulling on one of Eddie’s oversized sweaters. A dark material with a skull adorning the front of it. It clashed wildly with your fuzzy pink gingham bottoms, but you didn’t care. After stuffing your feet into a pair of slippers, you were checking to make sure Eddie was still asleep. Pulling the blankets up higher on him before venturing off into the living room. The only noise heard was the shuffling of your feet and the overworking heater. You kneeled on the couch, knees against the cushions as you leaned over to grab the curtains, pulling them open before pulling the blinds.

Outside was- as cliche as it sounds, a winter wonderland. Upon the once dying grass from the cold was now a sheet of stark white snow. As the town of Hawkins slept, snow fell. It started off as a small flurry before coming down harder further into the night. But the fall had stopped and in its wake was sparkling snow. It was a decent amount of the stuff, you could see the neighborhood kids all bundled up and playing in the first snow of the season. 

It didn’t take you long to quickly make a batch of hot chocolate, tearing open the small pouch of powdered chocolate and dumping the contents into some warm milk. Stirring the mixture into a mug. With the mug in hand, a fluffy jacket over the sweater you wore and feet shoved into a pair of Eddie’s much too big for you boots, you ventured off to the small porch.

Outside atop the porch was of course an outdoor couch with a small end table on the right of it. You held the mug between the palms of your hands to try and help warm yourself, pulling your legs up close to your chest with your back against the armrest- seated sideways. 

You let your gaze wander, taking in everything your eyes could see. Your neighbor to the left was currently shoveling the snow off his driveway while his elder mother stood bundled up in the doorway, watching her son intently. 

The neighbors to your right were currently putting up Christmas decorations, a middle aged couple trying to put the momma deer and her baby in the right place while their twin daughters stood back- telling them which way to turn the decorations. 

All in all it was a heartwarming sight, though not enough to help warm you, but still sweet to watch. You watched as the kids across the street were in an intense snowball battle with a few of the other neighborhood kids. It was just now you realized how family oriented the small subdivision truly was. 

The sound of the door creaking open broke you from the people watching zone you were in, tilting your head to the side to see the man of your dreams, Eddie. His face was swollen with sleep, hair a mess. He was dressed warmly, you could see a small hint of a sweater under his own thick jacket, his plaid sleep pants traded in for a thicker pair of sweatpants. His plush bottom lip turned into a small pout as he stared at you. 

“You stole my boots.” Sleep was laced in his voice, and if you listened hard enough you could hear the faintest of a southern drawl in his words from the years of being around his father and then Wayne. The two older men both had thick southern accents. The male soon stepped out onto the porch, adorning another pair of his boots that were almost exact to the ones you wore.

“I didn’t steal them, just borrowed them.” You responded to him, it was at this moment you noticed the buffalo plaid blanket he held in his hand. He soon was seated next to you, gently taking the mug from you- but not before of course he took a sip of the cocoa. He placed the mug on the table before he was grabbing your legs and pulling you close. He rested your legs over his lap, wrapping an arm around your waist as he pulled you to his chest, placing the blanket over your lap. 

“I was gonna ‘borrow’ your boots but I didn’t think the pink would go with my outfit.” Eddie said with a small chuckle, reaching forward to gently push a few strands of your hair out of your face. “Why didn’t you wake me up? Better yet, why didn’t you stay in bed with me?” He asked, his words a little slurred as he spoke low, almost as if he were sharing a secret with you. 

With a purse of your lips you shrugged gently, head turned to look at him. “You looked so peaceful, and I was gonna come back to bed but then I saw the snow and was called out here.” Your gaze trailed to look at his mouth before flickering back up to his eyes. 

“Called out here? What are you, an arctic fox?” His question was said as he gently shook you, his eyes going wide as he leaned in closer to your face. “And so what if I am? At least I’m not a worm, I wouldn’t survive these conditions.” Was your response to him, your hand coming up to gently smooth out his untamed curls.

“I would still love you if you were a worm,” Eddie replied to you, taking your hand away from his hair and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “Luckily I’m not a worm, because I wouldn’t have you there with me to give me kisses.” 

The two of you spoke with hushed voices, words quiet- almost as if you were both afraid to ruin the moment you shared, though you knew nothing would ruin it, at least nothing you two could do.

“If you were a worm I would also be a worm, I would never let you be a worm alone.” He said like it was a promise, and you know it was. A smile creeps up your face, causing you to laugh at the serious demeanor in his features. “I would give you worm kisses!” He adds, the serious resolve crumbling as he smiles brightly at you. “Worm doesn’t seem like a word anymore- how did we even get to the topic of them anyway?” You had interrupted yourself, brows furrowing in as Eddie shrugged his shoulders at you.

You watched as his eyes wandered out to the scenery in front of you both, “I didn’t think it was gonna snow this year.” He finally spoke after a few moments of silence from either of you, “It hasn’t snowed since,” Eddie’s eyes squinted in thought, trying to remember the last time it snowed. 

“What was it? January of 86’?” The male questions, more so asking himself rather than you. “The news didn’t say anything about any snow, I think it kinda just happened.” As you spoke you shivered, trying to huddle closer to Eddie. “I hope it lasts, or at least snows again on Christmas.” He spoke with a certain type of wonder that you haven’t seen from him since before that fateful day. “We could always put some snow in some buckets and then keep them in the freezer incase it doesn’t snow on Christmas.” 

You spoke to Eddie, never letting your eyes falter from him. One of your favorite past times has always been looking at him, he was beautiful inside and out. He was a very expressive man and you enjoyed seeing every little expression. For the smallest twitch under his eyes to the wide smile with the deep dimples.

The words you spoke caused Eddie to laugh, brows pulling in as his gaze turned back to you. That wonder he showed to the snow somehow becoming more present as his dark eyes locked in on you. “That means we would have to take out the frozen pizzas and the ice cream to make room for the snow. You know I can't live without my sweet, sweet frozen rocky road.” His right hand pressed against his chest, no rings in sight. “You know you concern me for the fact you still eat ice cream and popsicles even when it's below freezing outside.” 

He simply shrugs at your words, “I am a man of great taste.” Was his only response. You rest your head against his shoulder, snuggling against him. A shiver runs down your spine once again as a gust of cold wind blows, rustling through the trees and causing snowflakes to flutter off the once green leaves. “You cold?” Eddie questions, trying to pull you closer as he hikes the blanket up higher on you.

“No, I'm super sweaty.” You reply, your words a joke though spoken seriously. You can’t see it but Eddie rolls his eyes at your words, gently pinching your side which causes you to squeal. Not in any pain, more so in surprise of his cold fingers that he slipped up your shirt. “Why don’t we go inside and make some new hot chocolate? I’m afraid yours might have turned into a nice cold glass of chocolate milk rather than what it was.” You can feel Eddie turning his head to the glass as he spoke, taking note of the drink. 

“That sounds like a plan.” You replied soon after, reluctantly getting off his lap, holding tight to the blanket. Eddie follows suit, but before either of you can walk inside you are grabbing his arm, turning towards him with a bright smile. His brows furrow at you with a tilt of his head, waiting for you to speak. 

“I love you.” Your words are simple and true, causing your lover to smile bright as he leans in to press a sweet kiss to your lips. “I love you too.” He replies after pulling away from the kiss, taking your hand and leading you both inside- not before of course grabbing the mug from the table.

Christmas 88’ was much, much different from all the past years of the holiday. You both wore the cliche matching pajamas- the cheesiest pair that was affordable. The morning was meant for you both, the small bundle of gifts exchanged as well as kisses that tasted like peppermint and chocolate. Wayne came over around mid afternoon, bearing a few gifts for you both- and he of course was given some as well. Though he complained over and over again that it was too much, but you know he enjoyed them and it would all be used. For Christmas dinner Steve and Robin came over.Steve having been spending the holiday with Robin so he wasn’t alone- you had told them they were both welcome much earlier in the day, but they had a tradition to continue which you were told was a day of odd food combinations and movie after movie. Dustin popped over at some point, though he didn’t stay for long. It was a day full of love and cheer, lots of food and presents. 

It snowed that Christmas, the first white Christmas in a few years. And as you and Eddie stood outside admiring the bad decorations you both put up, he was soon kneeling on one knee, a small box in hand with a ring nestled inside with the most important question on his lips.

[vixendoesstuff]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

ALRIGHT, SO-

Final part of this convoluted saga I came up with at like, 3 am one day. Last time we were left on a cliffhanger (because I'm evil like that) but now y'all (the maybe 4 people who's paying attention to this AU) get to see what happens next.

Let's just get right into it!

So, the quartet (Poppy, Cooper, Branch and Hickory), after hearing who had beamed them up into the giant UFO, was equally shocked and overjoyed, mostly on Poppy and Cooper's part. Immediately Cooper got up and started asking questions, like how is this possible, how Prince D. looked just like him, and if he's his twin, that means he's also royalty, and such things. It was here when King Quincy and Queen Essence entered the fray, which just excites Cooper further.

The two parents are obviously overjoyed at finally seeing their long lost son. They were kinda miffed at Prince D. for using the bubble without their supervision, but seeing who he had beamed, they let it slide for now.

The same stuff then happened as it is in the movie, with some dialouge changes, like Cooper telling the Funk Family how he got with the Pop Trolls as an egg. They noticed Branch in the group, and was pleasently surprised how a Techno Troll is with the Pop Trolls, since they're an isolated bunch. Branch said that he doesn't really know what made his egg be with the Pop Trolls, just that his adoptive family found him one day and took him in. The Funk Family then tells him the brief history of the Techno Trolls since they can kinda tell he's clueless and they felt bad. Then the history of the Strings came along.

Same thing there, explaining how every tribe once lived in harmony until Pop got greedy and stole all the strings, so everybody else took back their strings and ran, living in isolation from eachother ever since.

Cooper and Branch is clearly disturbed. Maybe because of their respective tribe of origin before they settled in Pop Village they feel more unsettled by the news, but they felt horrified by the implication nonetheless. Poppy even more so, desperate to prove that the Pop Trolls are not like that anymore, look at Cooper and Branch! They're fine! (Enter worried side eyes from the two). Then everything goes as it is in the movie, the Funk Family softly rejecting her offer to combine their music together, and Rock invading and everyone preparing for battle, with Cooper deciding to stay behind to help his family by bubbling everyone to safety back to the ground below.

The same argument Branch and Poppy has happens, with a little change in the dialouge. It's something along the lines of Poppy not listening to others when they offer advice that might work in her favour, and instead goes off to do her own thing; about how she doesn't listen when her way does more harm than good; about how, in a way, she's doing the same thing Barb is doing. The two split off, with Branch having the intention of going back to Pop Village to warn the others. It may not be his tribe of origin, but it is his home for all his life, and he'd protect it in whatever way he can.

We cut to Poppy sulking to herself before being spotted by Hickory, who manages to find her. Same dialouge happens, with Poppy revealing the string to him, Dickory splitting from Hickory's... behind and revealing their true identities as Bounty Hunters, and squabbling with her for possession of the string. In here, perhaps due to talking with Cooper and Branch, who are different genre Trolls but holds love for Pop, empowered his hidden desire to see harmony between different genres and tribes, and decided to fight back against his partner (brother? Brother). Of course, this doesn't go unpunished by Barb, who suddenly appears with her lackeys and apprehended both Poppy and Hickory, saying that this is what they deserve for trying to delay her plans (she lets Dickory go, but not without a warning to control his brother). Poppy claimed she'll stop her, but Barb revealed that she has invaded Pop Village and destroyed most things there, so all Poppy can do is sit tight and watch the show.

Turning back to Branch, when he finished his 2014's sad boy song, he then got ambushed by the K-Pop gang and the Reggaeton Trolls, who demands the location of Queen Poppy. Obviously he refuses 'cause while he still has beef with her, she's the most important person in his life, so you bet he'll try to protect her at all costs. The dance off still commences the same way (you have to admit, dancing with fins for legs is hella impressive), with thw two groups complimenting eachother on their dances before interrogating Branch again.

The convo here is changed slightly because I wanna see Branch and the two Bounty Hunter groups to interact some more 'cause their dynamic is interesting. Basically it's the lines of,

"Why does Barb decides which music is safe to listen to? All music is worth listening to. Liking different genres doesn't matter."

"Ugh, what do you know, Techno Troll? You don't know how it feels to be regarded as lesser for liking a different music."

"[Pop Troll profanity], I'm literally a living example of that, who do you think I've been living with all my life? And besides, who's to say Barb won't turn tail on her side of the deal and destroy you, too?"

With the power of persuasion, he managed to stop the two groups from continuing their plans and starts a temporary truce between them. His first initial plan was to get back to Pop Village to confirm everyone's safety and maybe stop Barb from destroying it. But Chaz (the guy that made him trip balls) suddenly appeared and steps in their conversation to say that Barb has gained all the strings and is making her way to Volcano Rock City, home of the Rock Trolls. This completely changes the course of his plan, but Branch is determined to follow through.

So he, the K-Pop gang, the Reggaeton Trolls and Chaz (who only came along for the thrill of it) all decide to work together to stop Barb from achieving whatever it is she's planned to use the strings for. They found the sentient hot air balloon Branch had ridden before chillin' in the outskirts of Lonesome Flats, and hopped in to make an impromptu trip to Volcano Rock City.

The scene with Poppy and Barb chatting is the same because other than it being a first face to face convo with the two, it changes nothing in the long run.

We go to the scene where Barb does a wardrobe change and presents the other tribe leaders to put her Power Chord thing to the test, to make everyone Skillet enjoyers. But before she could fire at Poppy (who she chose as the first target), a book came flying at her face. She looked up, only to see a Techno Troll along with the rest of the Bounty Hunters she hired coming in flying from a hot air balloon. (He also said the same catchphrase, "I guess a comprehensive manual does come in handy!") This shocked her since she made sure every Techno Troll was accounted for when she first invaded Techno Reef. So what the heck is this guy doing here?!

The other leaders was surprised and concerned by his arrival, but none of them rivaled the feeling of shock and horror coming from Poppy, and Trollex respectively.

Before they could think any further, and before Barb can even do anything, Branch suddenly leaps from the balloon straight down to where Barb is. And, in the most simplest term I can use, he Falcon Punched her. In the face. The guy's not afraid to play dirty.

Soon enough the two of them got into a nasty brawl, with both giving everything they got to beat the other. One is trying to take the guitar away, and one is trying to keep the guitar from the other. Million pairs of eyes is watching them play it out on stage.

While everyone else was shocked and frozen in place, Poppy began working to get her cage door open while she's distraced. Just as she's about halfway through that the victor of the scuffle is decided. While most of the Rock Trolls on the front seat were too stunned to protect their Queen, a few managed to step in and hold Branch in place. Barb waste no time using the Power Chord on him, to Poppy and the leaders' horror.

When the stone cracked and revealed Branch as a rock zombie, new colours, clothing and all, something in Trollex snapped.

It seems there's a pattern with Techno Trolls being violent when pushed to the brink, as when Barb had finished transforming Quincy and Essence and moved to him and Trollzart, no joke, he flew from his platform, and speeds straight onto Barb to give her a good beatdown like his subject the other Techno Troll did. It sorta worked, since Barb soon fell from her cable straight to the crowd below (man Trollex packs a punch). Before the Rock Trolls in the crowd could get any ideas, Trollex took the guitar from her hands and threw it back on stage, where it's out of her reach for now. He would've followed suit, if Barb hadn't got a good grip on Trollex's fins and dragged him down to her.

But it seems that Trollex's little distraction worked against her favour, as Poppy managed to get out of her cage amidst the scuffle and dashes straight to the guitar, but not before being blocked by rock zombie Branch (I got a design in mind for him, just wait and see winky face). She's horrified at seeing her best friend boyfriend being like this, but she's determined to make things right, to make sure Barb doesn't fall to the wrong path any further and hurt many more innocent Trolls. She does her speech on how everything being the same is hella boring (character development!) and how she can't force someone to be the same as her because differences do matter.

Then she proceeds to smash the guitar to bits, and the strings followed suit.

Suddenly the entire city turned grey, with no colours in sight. The zombified Trolls (ie Branch, Quincy, Essence and Trollzart, who Barb managed to hit when Trollex one punched her) were turned back to normal. But that's not really important when everyone's turned Grey with the loss of the strings.

But the same scene in the movie happened here also, with them singing by themselves bringing their colours and music back. Nothing much changed in that regard.

Branch and Poppy reunited with a hug and Poppy then went full on her apologies, saying that she's sorry for being dismissive on his suggestions and that she should've listened to him more, that her desire to be a good Queen overshadowed what she actually needed to be one; patience and a willingness to listen. Before she could go overboard, Branch stopped her. And then said on how he's also sorry for how angry he got at her, and that he knew she has only done the things she did out of a genuine desire to do good. They finished with another hug, and the infamous dialouge,

"Branch... I love being different."

"And I love you, Queen Poppy."

[Cue the Snack Pack handing eachother money in the background].

After they did that high-five that makes glitter appear out of nowhere, the two are then approached by the Troll of the hour; King Trollex. For the first time in his life, Branch gets to see the tribe he originated from, the tribe he was born to. And Trollex gets to see the Techno Troll born from the egg that was lost to him all those years ago, grew up into a strong and independent soul.

The atmosphere was tense, with no one speaking a word for a while. Branch and Trollex continued to stare at eachother, taking the other in full detail. Poppy was starting to get nervous and decides to cut in, but not before Trollex pulled Branch into a tight hug, fins and all. Branch is justifiably freaked out and froze, but he then heard the words spoken from the Techno Troll monarch,

"I know I mean nothing to you. That you value and love Pop more than Techno, for they are your entire world. And I get it. I respect it. I'd offer you to come home with me, but I know that's useless. But, if you're willing, I'd like for us to get to know eachother, regardless of differences. I failed you then, but please, let me make up for it now. I want to know your trials, your tribulations. Your achievements. Perhaps not as king and subject, but... as friends."

Branch, despite freaking out about the close contact with his king this stranger he just met 30 seconds ago, felt oddly... relieved. And lighter than he was for a long time. Make no mistake, for all that Trollex is supposed to be to him, he's a stranger in his eyes. A person he'll instinctively distance at first. But then again,

What is a stranger if not a person to befriend?

WOO! WE DID IT! WE MANAGED TO REACH THE END, LET'S GO!!

Man, the amount of rewriting I did to make this as coherent as possible is staggering. But I'm glad I persevered, since now the World Tour saga of this AU is finally finished! While yeah, Branch doesn't get to hang around his tribe as much here, but that's what Trollstopia will be about! Oh boy, can't wait to get to that.

But in all cases, thank you for the maybe 6 people now that's been following me through with this, I hope you enjoy what I have to offer. Do not be fooled, for I have much, much more to offer for this AU. Until then, take care!

Band Together awaits :)

[eos70]

"I knew that telling Irving was... not my finest moment, but I thought if I helped him break his phylactery he could possibly get out of this... I didn't think I'd drive him to the very blood magic he'd been accused of."

A piece based on the mage origin of my girl Kess! I just finished origins and i kinda want to do a slew of these!

Context for the text dump below the cut.

So in my mage origin one playthrough while getting every dialouge I could, I accidentally gave Jowan away to Irving when Irving dropped enough information to get you to give the information and it became the version of the mage origin I fell in love with the drama of it. I felt so bad but in a good writing way. It gave me turmoil I cannot ever fathom and it felt in character for Kess to do.

[oceansprompts]

Best of Daredevil: Cutting Edge

quotes taken from the Marvel novel, Daredevil: The Cutting Edge (1999) by Madeleine E. Robins // adjust pronouns and lines as needed.

Can I bring you a cup of coffee? I'm already on number seven or eight… I forget which.

Wouldn't you like a chance to go, I don't know, live on a beach somewhere, drinking rum punch or something?

I'd rather go to hell, I love this. This is what I do.

Don't look at me that way; I'm not the one who drank a dozen cups of coffee a day and never got any exercise.

Not bad for a skinny blind kid from Hell's Kitchen.

Not as flashy as Spider-Man, maybe, but not too shabby.

What is this guy, a zombie?

You moron, he's not the perp!

Okay, Mr. Off-the-Rack, what else did you leave behind?

It's okay, you've been very brave.

It was a kind lie, kindly meant.

Don't ever let me lose you.

Pleading "blind man walked into the door" again, your honor.

Yaaaay for the good guy!

So, he was the wall you ran into?

Triumph and hell, all at once. I wish you could have seen it.

How about dinner tonight? In a real restaurant. Like grownups.

Off to Rykers. Another day in Fun City.

Have fun storming the castle!

Maybe I should get Seeing Eye cat?

Well, of the two, I guess the brain's more important.

Doesn't it seem a little too tidy? The pink ribbons and all?

A problem? My dear, I trust you implicitly.

Who put this guy in a position where he can talk to the public?

Not me, I'm naturally suspicious.

Tooth extraction would be more fun than what I'm writing.

I can't smell anything, my food tastes funny…

I'm wasting away to a shadow of my former self.

Two-bit mouthpieces! He actually said that? Who writes his dialouge?

Why not just wave a big, huge red flag that says something suspicious here?

I will be the soul of discretion.

Try not to break any of your well-informed friends too badly loking for information, okay?

Right, everytime you come in to chat, I wind up doing renovations. New plate glass, new tables, new ribcage…

Are you just a discipline problem in the making, or do you have something useful to contribute?

Anyone got anything they want to share with the class?

Naughty, naughty.

No breakage, this time. They're learning.

A little judicious flattery can work wonders.

You're all flipping wild cards. That's part of your charm.

I don't like lawyers!

Call any hour of the day or night.

Don't throw the card away, I'll know.

Okay, hero, play brave, competent, [disabled] person.

Oh, I already do, but make me love him more.

He sounds like the kind of guy who pulled the wings off butterflies and tortured puppy dogs.

Basically, your overprivileged sociopath.

I wasn't always the polished gem you see now.

He has the business ethics of a piranha.

Judiciously applied, the business ethics of a piranha can be very useful.

Make it good, boyo.

If you like it hot, but I gotta say, man, you oughtta use a little caution.

I'm touched by your concern, but I promise you I'm well armed.

Well, the only thing to do with a bully and a coward is face him straight on!

Now it's time for bed, close your weary eyes and dream of me.

You're a darling, but I'm too tired to argue about it.

This is where I'm going to die.

You have great bone structure.

Well, look. The neighborhood avenger. Come on, you wanna play?

Spread the word, sweetheart.

I couldn't... fight him...

You stayed alive, you did the right thing.

Bullies... never give in to... bullies.

You did good, remember that.

Oh my, really bad night.

I don't deserve you.

You roll in here looking like someone shot your dog, so I figure I can be self-absorbed and ill-tempered some other morning.

Listen, sweetheart, whatever you did, it's not your fault.

If anyone's to blame, it' me.

I find I'm old-fashioned enough to prefer talking to a live human being.

Lies. All lies.

I don't think they're ever leaving. I think they like it here.

It's air conditioned, the coffee's free, they get to point and laugh at the poor people trying to work.

Nothing more than crushing piles of work. The usual. What's up?

You'll have to make this the "For Dummies" version.

Heartbreaking. You expect setbacks, but we were so close!

I mean, it worked ⸺ it just had this damned baggage with it.

Well, I'm over it. Grieved, moved on.

So you think because she's a babe that she's capable of planning murder?

Ow! Be careful! You don't know your own strength!

If I were afraid of you, would I be sitting here?

Thank you so much, I really look forard to proving I'm not the monster I'm sure I seemed the other day.

Reduces me to a screaming hormonal pulp?

Don't you think you ought to relax a little?

You really don't like being challenged at all, do you?

I have to do something, and this is what I can do.

My point is, I love you, and I don't want to have to bring you flowers at St. Clare's.

Be careful. That shiner is just beginning to fade; you don't need another, and I do need you. Okay?

Once again, it's all the fault of the guy in the tights, jeez.

It's as tired as I am.

Okay, genius, what now?

What are you gonna do, kill me?

Come on, I'm doing the best I can.

Stay alive, [name]. I'm here.

What are you, Iron Man?

Look, I'm going to close my eyes and rest for a while, don't let anything exciting happen while I'm out, okay?

Are you sure you're supposed to be scolding me in your weakened condition?

I was just trying to distract you from telling me you were right about it.

I hadn't planned on scolding you about that until you were strong enough to fight back.

You say the absolutely perfect thing sometimes. You really do.

I never know whether you're as clumsy as you seem, or just playing a very, very crafty part. Well, you're not dead yet.

That the way you treat all your dates?

Cosmic irony: man with no sympathy has a heart that beats sympathetically.

Hey... I'm one of the good guys, right?

Look at me. I look like... the Hulk's baby sister. And it's going to get worse.

I'm not stupid. I played a risky game and I lost. I lost it big and I'm going to wind up a monster.

Tell me about the colors.

Tell me what you hear.

Anyone here ever ask you what the most beautiful word in the English language is, you can tell'em: home.

Hey you, having a good time?

With you? Always.

We could rent a movie, then curl up on the couch together and ignore it.

That sounds good. We could even forget the movie.

Even better, I love you a lot.

That is what keeps me going.

[arsoooooonmun]

The Last Time.

An Abby Anderson "The Last Time" by Taylor Swift inspired one-shot AU

Reader is in her mid 20's, but this doesn't have any mature scenes.

Avoided the use of Y/N.

Abby might be OOC in some dialouges.

There are no specific features of the reader because this is just pure angst. :))

hehe grammar might not be oh-so-good bear with me plz 😘🤞

enjoy . (i cried while writing this)

AUTHORS NOTE: Hi! I know I just ghosted the very first work of mine (SHOT), but I had a huge reason for it: I am busy. (I actually got lazy and was mentally unready for the amount of notes that the social media au I posted got. I also was burned out from those types of au, so.... have this. A one-shot.)

Abby didn't notice it at first. She thought it was all normal. Burn-outs are normal in a relationship, aren't they?

Sure, the relationship was rocky at first because Abby told you in the first place that she wasn't ready for commitment, but she told you, "I'll do my best for you."

Now, you just feel like gaslighting your way out of this place because you are so suffocated in the room that was once a home for you, but now, you wish nothing but to leave.

She never told you that within that phrase, you had to sacrifice yourself too.

Three years had passed ever since you two were official. The first two years were fun, laughing while looking at the sunset — staring at her freckles when she smiled so hard while talking about your memories together.

And now they're all going just to be memories.

It's a Friday night, and Abby was supposed to be free. Abby was a neurosurgeon, and yes, the work is hard, but aren't you working hard too while also making the time for her?

And god forbid, but you hoped she didn't forget that it's your fourth year together. You wished that she didn't forget your anniversary again.

You called her and texted her again and again, but nothing. Three hours and it's now 2am, your anniversary has now passed.

Your tears were flowing and clenched hard on your shirt. It was a simple request, you decorated the whole place, and you asked her to come home early since she is off at work at 9 pm.

You weren't that hard to please, a bouquet of flowers, a box of chocolates — heck even a simple letter will make you understand her.

Still nothing.

And now Abby just opened the door.

Looking at her walk, she was drunk.

She forgot it again.

Abby didn't even notice you sitting on the couch.

"Oh, I don't know you are still awake." Abby told you once she noticed you. Your hurt crushed with the thought that she didn't even tell you why she was late and drunk.

"Abby, do you even know what time it is?" With all your remaining patience and love, you hid your disappointment and tried to understand.

"Sorry, me and my workmates decided to drink. It's just a fun refreshment." Abby looked around and noticed the balloons scattered on the floor.

"Why are there balloons? Did anyone even think of cleaning up? Were your friends here?"

Your eyes widen and tears started streaming down your face again.

"It's our fucking anniversary, Anderson." Your words were filled with anger. It was heart-wrenching, you wanted to puke right then and there, is Abby even your girlfriend anymore?

Does she even love you anymore?

It seems like cold water has washed over Abby, and she looked at you with wide eyes.

"Oh my god, I am sorry, darling —" You cut her off before she had the chance to continue her apology with the same reasons again.

You sighed loud enough and looked down. "I am done, Abby."

"I am done with us. Let's break up."

Abby's face froze all over, you couldn't see it and you shouldn't because you know deep inside you'll take your words back but then, you'll hurt yourself all over again.

And you were honestly tired.

"I can't bear the thought that you can just say sorry and then hurt me all over again. God fucking dammit Abby, this isn't even the first time you forgot an occasion about us. You fucking forgot my birthday last year and this year. And you know what? I forgave you because you were working that day. But do you also know that all of your birthdays were as special as mine for me? I took a day off to celebrate your birthday on that place you wished so badly to visit, and you remember what you did? You fucking yelled at me telling me you can't just take a day out of your work and even scolded me for using MY money. MY hard work earned money to make YOU happy." You cried your heart out, and the tone of your voice was filled with pure anger.

"You told me you never asked for that much, then what do you think what love is?" Your voice cracked and you clenched your fists.

"Do you even know how painful it was that you can never love me the same way as I love you, but have you even thought of doing something for me?" Abby's hands were now shaking, thinking what to do.

She never saw you this way. Abby never wished to see you and hurt you this way.

But she did, and she knew nothing could ever fix this, and that slapped her into the reality that she never deserved the love that you gave her.

The warm hugs that washed all her problems away, and your smiles that made her think of what life was all about.

Abby will lose it — she lost it the moment she entered the room without thinking of how important you were to her.

An apology will never fix this.

All that can fix this is letting you decide what will happen between you two. Abby knew she'll be left alone in this cold apartment you both called home before.

Frustration and guilt filled Abby's body. She lost you, and she didn't know what to do with herself. She didn't know which move to take while you were in front of her, you were not even looking at her way and waiting for her response.

Does Abby even deserve to tear up? Knowing she was the reason why the both of you are in this situation right now. Why did she lose the person that she needed the most?

How can she ever live with this memory of you crying because of her? And losing herself and you in the process?

"I—" You couldn't look at Abby, who finally spoke. Abby immediately clenched her hands on her chest, and tears were pouring all over her freckles and cheeks that you once kissed.

"Is that.. is that what you want?" You swallowed, and it finally kicked in that this was real. Abby is in front of you and was asking if breaking up was what you wanted. "Is that what you need?" Your heart crushed even more, thinking that Abby was probably loathing herself from the thought that you needed to go away from her to heal.

But it is — it is what you need.

"Yes." One word, one word that once made you and Abby smile. That one word that made you both official is also the reason why the formed sweet memories turned them into dust.

Abby felt her whole world collapsing. You don't need her anymore. She can't watch you while having fun, running towards the sun while on the beach, singing songs wholeheartedly on a random roadtrip, and she could never kiss those lips of yours that made her feel special.

She can't ask for your hand, can't hold you close, and can never make you love her all over again.

Nothing can reach the pain that is creeping inside both of your hearts.

"Okay." That was all Abby could say despite all of the words that were running on her mind.

"If that's what you want — what you need. Then, I'll give it." You felt so weak, so vulnerable, and Abby knew you hated that.

"I know my apologies wouldn't ever fix the pain I gave you. Your courage of telling me that was enough to make me think of how long you were enduring this." Abby sighed deep and was stopping herself from kneeling, begging you to come back because she knew you won't be able to hold back from holding her no matter how painful it was for you.

She never had the chance to take back whatever she had done, never able to make you feel the way you made her feel, and that is what will ghost her for the rest of her life reminiscing you.

"I love you. I really do, and I am sorry I wasn't able to show it because of how stubborn I was thinking you would understand with all of my work, and you did. And I fucking wish you didn't."

"You sacrificed a lot of things for me, and I — I can't even remember to celebrate your birthday and our anniversary." You finally looked at Abby, and she was crying. She was shaking her head, and you saw her trying her best to let out all of her frustrations.

"You deserve better. It sucks because it's true, and I wasn't able to be the best for you because all I thought was me. I was selfish. You weren't, and god, I hope someone will love you — " Abby was hating herself with the thought of someone loving you better than she ever did. All she hoped before was to be someone you can rely yourself to and now she is hoping you will never meet someone like her again.

"I hope that someday, someone will love you how you deserved to be love because that was what you did to me, and it hurts that I never made you feel that way." You sat down the couch, processing all of her words, and you cried. You both cried hard — knowing that she was right.

"I am so glad that I met you and to show how much I love you,"

Abby looked into your eyes.

"You can let go of us now."

[adventuringblind]

Breathe For Me

LandOscar x Reader

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Angst

Dialouge: "It's okay, you can rest. We've got you. Just Breathe."

Summary: Marks on your soulmates skin appear on yours. Oscar and Lando hope they find whoever it is before they run out of time.

Warnings: SELF-HARM, Alcohol, scars, blood, panic attacks,

Notes: This is Part of my 1000 follower event. Feel free to click the link and throw me a request!

Masterlist

It's not every day you meet your soulmate. It's certainly not rare, but it also isn't an everyday event and is supposed to only happen once. If you're Lando Norris, then you get to go through it twice.

Originally he thought only one. I mean, maybe his souldmate is just clumsy. That is not the case however, because Lando has more scars, cuts, bumps, and bruises then anyone else he knows. He would be fine with it if he wasn't on national television all the time.

Max and Charles were lucky and found each other in Karting. Max had a bruise on his face from his dad and showed up to the race with it still getting darker. Charles had one to match. Now they're happily in love and the public doesn't now (is what they tell themselves).

So Lando finds himself stuck in between a soulmate who bruises every occasionally and on who gets scrapes nearly every day. He feels for whoever the first is because Lando is clumsy and is always running into things. Between himself and whoever the latter is, he probably is already exasperated.

Aside from his family, Carlos is the first person to notice. He double checks nothing is happening in Lando's own life that is causing all the marks. He assures happily that he's clumsy and the two soul mates certainly don't help.

Lando has heard of people carving names and addresses into their arms to find their destined partner. He lets it happen naturally. It's supposed destiny and who is he to rush it?

Daniel admits to an extreme worry of Lando. The older driver kept a close eye on him and Lando has to reassure him non-stop that he's clumsy, but it's not that bad.

He soon realizes that it's not the bruises Daniel is worried about, it's the scars. When his sweatshirt sleeves roll up the red lines are visible. It's something he's gotten used to over the past couple of years, but he dosen't think about it when he's not being filmed.

They cover a good amount of space on his body. Biceps, collarbone, thighs, stomach, and shins. It wasn't that bad until 2021 when it got significantly worse. It's stressing him out if he's being honest with himself.

He's is pieces when Daniel tells him he's losing his seat. No other driver lined up yet. Another teammate gone.

Daniel reassures him that Oscar looks like he'll make a good teammate. Lando is skeptical. Oscar is younger and a rookie.

The first time he meets Oscar is at the MTC. They shake hands, two sets of sleeves role up and Lando can't help but stare.

They match. Their wrists are completely identical.

They don't talk about it until a while later after spending the off season getting to know each other. They determined in Febuary they would be really close friends. It obviously escalated and now Charlotte keeps tell him to make it less obvious.

He's nit afraid to say he's weak for Oscar. A calm in his storm of emotions. The one person who can get him to actually rationalize his anxious thoughts.

In 2023, three rookies came to the grid. One of them being a female driver for alphatauri and a good friend of Oscar's. She then consequently became a friend of Lando's.

Which would be so terrible if Lando didn't know for a fact she's hiding something. She's shy and closed off to everybody unless it's him or Oscar. Mostly because he's forced his way under her skin.

"There is something about her, Osc. I can feel it in my bones."

"Are you sure it's not the cup of milk you downed getting to your head?"

"Rude!"

Oddly enough, it's max who approaches them about her later. He'd gotten to know her through media things and race weekends and often asked Lando about her or vice versa.

He pulls Oscar and him aside early one morning in the paddock. Oscar is still half asleep and Lando doesn't know what's happened until Max slides their sleeves up.

The ones they decided to wear to the cameras didn't pick up the fresh scar close to their elbow on their forearms. Completely identical to each other.

"You said you have another soulmate right?"

"Yes?"

"I think I might know who it is."

This is how Lando and Oscar find themselves in front of her hotel room door after the race. A DNF that wasn't her fault had ended her race early. Max had been about to go get her himself, but Lando and Oscar had said they would. If Max is right then they have a higher chance of getting through to the female driver.

Max sent them with the key card he has to her room. The one he forced her to give after he found her last night with a blade in her hand.

They knock out of curtosey first. No answer, as expected, but at least they tried. Maybe She’s asleep? Lando knows that’s probably not the case but he really doesn’t want to and see what is most likely happening. If the sting on his thigh says anything, it’s definitely not sleep.

Oscar keys the door open and hesitantly steps inside. Lando follows right on his heels. The lights are off and he would probably think it was empty if it weren’t for the visible blob of blankets in the corner that’s sobbing violently. to close to hyperventilation for Lando’s liking. He takes immediate action and pulls her out of the blankets.

Immediately, he keeps her body from curling in on itself so her chest is open and can get air easier. Oscar manages to find a lamp switch. She’s a wreck. So incredibly broken that Lando doesn’t know where to start.

“Breathe.” Is all he can come up with. "It's okay, you can rest. We've got you. Just Breathe."

Somehow he coax’s her to sleep. Him and Oscar combined manage to get her to bed, wrestle her shoes off, and bandage what they could see without removing clothing.

Oscar practically forces Lando into the be with her and he takes the floor. He’d said he’d take the floor with him, but Oscar claimed that Lando is the lighter sleeper and would know if she moved at all. Curse his soulmate and his logical thinking.

She manages to sleep until five in the morning. This time she just cries and huddles closer into Lando.

“I’m sorry you have to see me in such a state… I didn’t know you were stopping by.”

Lando maneuvers then int a sitting position. He then takes a pillow and throw it at his lover on the floor. Oscar stirs and groans.

“Must you.”

“Yes, It’s funny.”

Oscar makes his way up onto the bed and looks immediately like he’s going to fall asleep. Lando consequently throws another pillow at him.

“You should know something…” Lando starts. He doesn’t finish because the word are not doing what he needs them to. They jumble on his head and he can’t figure out where to start.

He’s entirely to grateful for Oscars presence. “Max thinks that the three of us are soulmates.”

Lando was thinking it would be like the first. Realization followed by smiles and laughs. This is not that. Instead it’s panic. She defends into the depths of her mind as she studies the match scars, even revealing her own identical one.

The pain, embarrassment and shame are written all over her features. She’s mumbling through some kind of an apology.

“Breathe.” He repeats. He says it over and over again until it’s all her own mind can hear.

Oscar looks gutted and lost. He’d helped Lando through many panic attacks, but this is completely different.

“I didn’t think I would ever find you. The doctors had tried to cut me off because it was a mistake since there were two. They said I wasn’t supposed to have one.”

Are the two boys shocked? A tad. Why would a doctor do that?

Lando doesn’t get time to ask as she pulls out a bottle of medication from the drawer in the nightstand. It’s stuff he’s heard of, but never actually seen. “This has been suppressed to sever the connection, but it hasn’t worked. They said to take it in higher doses at smaller intervals until it stops.”

She pops open the lid and pours a couple into her hands. Thank goodness for quick reflexes because Lando goes to get the ones in her hands, and Oscar goes for the bottle. She's too focused on Lando to notice the Aussie who manages to swipe it from her.

"Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Didn't feel relevant."

"But this is incredibly dangerous! I've heard most people who do it end up -" Oh. It dawns on him why she's doing this to herself. The connection between them was already rough for her. She had been trying to 'fix' it like her doctors said. Had been told her entire life that the people who are fated to lover her unconditionally won't because she is nothing to them.

"How long have you been taking the meds?" Oscar's voice is so careful. The Brit would love to swoon, but it feels impolite at the moment.

"Years. They've tried everything. Put me on different kinds and change the dosage."

"Thirteen?" Lando whisper asks. His voice was barely audible. The small nod from the female confirms it. That's when the first scars arrived.

Lando places his hands on either side of her teary face. "You are not a mistake. You have never been a mistake. We've been aching for you. Scared maybe one day there wouldn't be any more marks and the implications of it. I've wanted nothing more than to tell you for years that you are loved and wanted."

He didn't even notice his own tears. Everything is just so overwhelming at the moment. They came so unexpectedly that it almost startled him. Screw Oscar and his ability to be amazing emotional support. The hand on Lando's knee is the only thing keeping him grounded.

They don't let her go until Max comes to get her. She's flying to do some filming with him. Neither of the males want to let her go, so they don’t. They end up flying with her since McLaren hasn’t filled their schedules.

But then they don’t leave. They spend every moment possible reminding her she is loved. That they want her. That nothing between them is a mistake.

Soon the scars start to fade.

But have no fear, Lando is clumsy enough to make up for it.

[sleepyhead-poll]

ROUND 1C, MATCH 8 OUT OF 16!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Siffrin:

Him being sleepy is not a big part of his (short) game and doesn't come up a ton, but I feel is refenced enough by his companions to qualify him as Sleepy. (I got all these within the first 10 minutes of the game, which is really all that I remember being stated in game, besides him asking a god for rest before fighting the bbeg, which could be interpreted as a sleepy thing?) Also he nods off when you skip dialouge?? Doesn't get more sleepy than that

Snoozing Carpenter:

Has at least two legs and at most six hundred.

Part of a little crew of magical alchemists all specialising in a different kind. Sets up the ship (post-tragic crash smack dab in the middle of nowhere) to convert it into something more homely for them and their crewmates, and uses a kind of magic dedicated to creation - turns the sky to night around the ark in this case, but said type is capable of all sorts of surreal manifestations. Introduced in the event I joined Sky in. I love them. Eepy friend

[goji-pilled]

MK-S: I had a thought about the DLC. You have pointed out to me that Ranni is basically a foil to Miquella, and I’ve come to be more conscious of how so; Miquella compels affection from his followers, While Ranni is truly loved by hers. Miquella will forcibly take control, while Ranni will effectively sever the means of deities controlling the mortal world.

But here’s the thought I wanted to mention; It’s interesting how we see Miquella with four arms when he appears, just like Ranni’s puppet body. It makes me ponder the significance of what it means to have four arms? Is it an aspect of divinity? And if so, how did Ranni know about it in advance? As far as I know, she has never been to the Shadow Realm, but given how Rellana went there, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for her to have learned something about it.

Another possible thought is how she apparently modeled the doll after the snow witch who taught her ice sorceries; Did this witch also have four arms? If so, could that have been Marika, planting the seeds to her own downfall? Just who was this snow witch anyways? We may never know. But just something to think about.

Good day to you.

// shadow of the erdtree spoilers

/

/

i remember someone on twitter saying that its possible that ranni and miquella having four arms may be a refrence to some sort of deity or the concept of divinty/godhood in some kind of religion? idk how much truth there is to that claim but i think it sounds logical enough as is.

what is interessting though is miquella's cut dialouge from the phase 2 transition cutscene where he said something very similiar to this part from ranni's age of stars ending (just with his age of abundance as he called it there), which implies that making this type of vow is like. legit needed to ascend to godhood and establish one's order in the world of elden ring.

and he also pulls very similiar lines to ranni's "a thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the moon" and "let us go together (my dear consort eternal)" after a succesful grab attack

as for the snow witch... man i sure as fuck wish we had more lore on that, another character to add to the list of "i wish the dlc expanded a little on you" lol

[pineappleciders]

Y’know how you did a South Park request of Kyle and Kenny finding out you self-harm? Can you do that again, but with Butters and Tweek instead?

A/N: yeah!! i love doing requests like this. this is platonic btw,, tweeks part is a lot longer mostly because theres more dialouge!

TRIGGER WARNING: blood, self-harm, relapse, blades

BUTTERS and TWEEK reacting to reader self-harming

sitting in your bed, you were doing your usual routine.

swipe, stop the bleeding, move on. it was a ritual that brought you comfort. something that was always the same. something you could always return to.

you barely have any time to react as someone twists open the knob of your door and opens it, knocking on their way in.

"hey, Y/N! you gotta come see what- oh jesus!"

his tone switches up and he steps back in shock at the sight of you bleeding.

his first instinct is to look away and walk out, apologizing. but he doesn't, he can't! you're hurt, and you need his help!

he cautiously steps closer to you. "jeez, are you okay Y/N? you're hurt pretty bad.." he looks at the cuts on your arm, automatically assuming it was not intentional.

you cover it up and hide further into your bed. "no, i'm alright. thanks though."

he lingers for a moment, playing with his hands, before shouting "i'll be right back!" and running out.

he comes back with a box of hello-kitty themed band-aids, and sits next to you on the bed. he sees the blade, he sees the bloody towel, but he doesn't say anything.

he gently takes your arm and places the band-aids over your wounds, strategically as to hold them close. "there! ooh, you probably need some ointment, hold on!"

as he gets up to go get it, you stop him. he looks at you quizzically, and he's a little shocked at the tears in your eyes and your sad face.

"h-hey, what's wrong? does it hurt? i bet it does, i can get some-" you sniffle and cut him off. "no, i just wanted to say thank you."

he tilts his head a bit. "well, of course! i'd do anything for my best buddy!" he does his silly little smile.

it fades as his eyes trail downwards. "hey, Y/N?" "hm?" "why did you do that? did you mean to?"

it hits you that butters hasn't had any experience with self-harm and doesn't know what it is.

"we-well... uh... yeah. it's.. it's like a coping mechanism. i dunno how to explain it.."

"coping? cope with what?"

you sigh in exasperation. you wish he didn't ask. "erm.. like my mental state and stress and stuff. it's not good, i know, but it's the only thing that helps." you look away in embarrassment.

he has a little frown on his face. "well i don't want you doing that, Y/N! it's not safe!" he takes one of your hands in his. butters always knew how to be corny.

"i know it's rough, but i'm here for you bud! sometimes.. sometimes i wanna do that too. like when i get yelled at and i just wanna hit myself cuz it's all too much. but.. but we shouldn't! it's dangerous."

"anytime you wanna do that, you tell me and we can color, OK?" butters doesn't treat it like it's a sensitive subject. he's honest, and he's genuine.

you lightly smile. "okay. thanks, butters."

he goofily smiles again. "now lemme go get the ointment!"

you shut the door and slide down the wall of the bathroom. the floor was probably gross, but you could care less right now.

you're having a panic attack again. in a coffee shop.

it happens often when you're ordering food, and you rushed to the bathroom when all of the red flags started showing. you needed to relieve this pressure, and quickly.

taking out your 'cutting bag', you hold the blade in your finger, and start slitting. each cut is wobbly and painful. you're shaking.

you let yourself bleed. usually you stop it as soon as you cut, holding toilet paper or a towel to it, but you just wanted to bleed. you've been so exhausted lately.

a bit passes and you're about to get up to start cleaning up, but a loud knock pounds on the bathroom door.

"h-hey, Y/N! what's taking so long, are you okay?" tweeks voice cracks from the other side of the door, and your heart drops.

"er, yeah i'm okay! just finishing up!" you're still catching your breath, freezing in place as to not make a sound.

"are you sure? you ran in there pretty fast, did the coffee give you diarrhea? ACK!"

you stifle a laugh at the random comment. "heh, uh, no i'm fine. just.. really had to pee."

a moment of silence passes.

you nearly piss your pants when the doorknob moves and unlocks. scrambling to stand and cover yourself, you hold your bag close as he opens the door.

"dude! a little privacy!" you shout, backing up once he shuts the door behind him. you keep forgetting his family owns the place and has the bathroom keys.

"aha! so you weren't peeing! you're holding everyone up, we only have..." he trails off when he looks down, seeing a small splotch of red liquid on the floor.

"is.. is that.. BLOOD?" his voice freaks out, and you put your hand over his mouth to shut him up. "ssshhhhush!!!"

you uncover his mouth, and he takes a deep breath to calm himself.

"why is there blood on the floor."

you awkwardly chuckle. "uh... haha. i'm... on my period??" you grin, trying to crack a joke.

he deadpans and looks at you, expecting a real answer.

you sigh. "okay, um, promise not to tell anyone."

he does a motion mimicking zipping his mouth and throwing the key away, eager to hear what on earth you've been in here so long for.

you were about to tell him, but you backed out last-second. "i, uh, cut my finger." you blurt it out, averting your eyes.

he's vibrating a little, and he twitches.

"you don't want me telling anyone you cut your finger?"

"..yeah."

"...."

"...."

"do you need a band-aid?"

"..yeahh." you say that, hoping he'll leave to get one. giving you a chance to escape.

he pulls one out of his pocket, but you aren't really shocked. you're sure he has tons of little mishaps with all the violent movements he makes.

"show me." he unpeels the band-aid and holds it out to you, waiting for your finger to place it on.

you know you're fucked at this point.

"i can put it on myself."

"show me it." he tries to be stern, but you can't take him seriously with his wobbly voice.

you snatch the band-aid from him and turn to the side, playing with your finger. "i don't need help."

he huffs in frustration. "alright, what the hells the matter with you? are you okay? like, actually?" he has a lot of worry in his voice.

you feel tears pricking at your eyes. this is kind of a weird and funny situation, but it didn't start like that. "yeah... i'm fine."

his eyes are full of concern, and his eyes dart around before landing on your arm.

"...can i see your arm?"

"what?"

"i said can i see your arm?"

fuck. you're busted now for sure. how did he know?

you lift up the sleeve of the shirt you didn't cut. "the other one," he says.

and so, you hesitated, but you lift up the other one, revealing your freshly cut wounds that are still seeping blood. he gasps and covers his own mouth, as if to keep himself from screaming.

"ssshh, i know, i know. it's fine." you go to roll your sleeve back down, but he grabs it and holds it up, inspecting your cuts. "jesus christ! give me that band-aid," you give him the one in your hand and he places it over your cut to hold the skin together.

you can't help but notice his attempts at keeping his hands calm and slow, despite the incredible urge to shake like crazy. his fingers are rough and vibrating, but he tries to be calm near your injuries.

he gives up trying to get the band-aids on your skin and rushes out, coming back quickly with a first-aid kit. he unboxes it and treats your wounds with ointment, cleaning them and bandaging them with gauze.

"yeah, it hurts, i know. you'll be okay."

he does it all with an incredible sense of urgency and speed, but he purposefully doesn't speak or start tweeking out for your sake. the last thing he wants to do is stress you out.

he cleans you up and rolls your sleeve back down, and holds his forehead, sighing. you start to feel really terrible for making him deal with you.

tweek suddenly engulfs you in a hug. it's warm, maybe not so comfortable as he's very clearly on edge, but it's warm and nice. you slowly wrap your arms around him, and he lets go.

tweek wants to show more.. affection?? he wants to show that he cares but he doesn't know how.

"listen, uh.. i-i know it's really hard. i've been through stuff like this and.. i just want you to know i'm here for you, dude. like, i care and stuff, and ACK! i don't want to see you hurting!" his voice cracks and speeds up at the end, and he's twitching a lot.

you almost smile at his attempt to make you feel better. it's obvious he cares, even if he can't express it well. it makes you happy knowing he cares.

"yeah, thanks tweek." you wipe your eyes and grab his hand.

"can we just.. pretend this never happened? like please don't tell my parents. or anyone." you ask, cleaning yourself up.

"y-yeah, 'course. but you can talk to me, o-okay?" he grabs toilet paper and wipes the blood off the floor, throwing it in the trash.

you slightly smile. "yeah, i got it. thanks, again."

[popculturebuffet]

Supermay!: President Luthor Review (Comission by WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people and welcome back to SUPERMAY, a month long celebration of all things superman.

Today we spotlight one of the greatest villians of all time. Not even going to undersell it I LOVE Lex Luthor, in large thanks to Clancy Brown's performance as the man the myth the legend in Superman the Animated Series and Justice League. Wether he's a super scientest, a super buisness man or some combo of the three, Lex is a fascinating character.

Lex is a perfect mirror to clark: Clark had two loving wonderful parents, Luthor's were abusive. Clark has incredible power, but uses it to help people, while Luthor has incredible intellgence but uses it to crush others under his heel metaphorically or quite literally depending on the day. Clark is empathetic and belivies in everyone, while Lex belivies in no one but himself. They don't just come into conflict because Luthor is a terrible person.. they come into conflict because it's hard for these two to coexist: Superman wants Luthor held acountable and as a rich white man in america, that's a tall order, and Luthor simply can't STAND that all these people love Superman and not him.

So that lead's us to today's comic, an intresting chapter in Lex's history borne ENTIRELY out of that egocentric spite: In 2000 Lex Luthor ran for president.. and he WON. Most of you are likely aware this happened as it's been adapted a few times, the movie superman/batman: public enemies adapting the end of his presdiency, Justice League Unlimited featuring him doing said campaign (if JUST to piss superman off/further his evil plans), and Smallville has that happen somewhere.

It's an iconic storyline.. that's sadly undercollected. Yeah today's review covers trade released after an even less subtle evil billionare won the presdiency.. and the probelm is Luthor's campaign was less a storyline and more a big status quo change. As such this collection covers a handful of stories, dosen't really feel like an actual storyline, and only covers up till just after Lex is elected.

There IS a decent reason as this trade was likely reconfigured from the original trade released around the time the storyline happened, and the year after this they began reprinting the era these stories come from in "Superman: The City of Tommorow"... which stopped after two volumes. DC.. isn't great at collecting it's own history, though marvel's only a smidge ahead thanks to their Epic Collection line. They have a bad tendency to stop halfway through and this was a casuality.

Still this trade does at least provide a peak into the election of lex luthor, why he ran, who his running mate was, and how Clark took his greatest enemy WINNING. So join me under the cut for all that and more!

Our first of many stories, and pieces of stories, is The Why. And it's easily my faviorite collected here as it's simple yet brilliant. It's a story with no dialouge till the final panel, with muted colors around, that follows a day in the life of Lex Luthor.. and how no matter what he does or where he goes he can't escape superman: He sees him on a news, at newstands, an employee having a superman action figure (who he naturally gestures his assitant to fire), even a tatoo on a woman he was going to flirt with and maybe unsatisfygly do sex with. I mean lex CAN be hot but let's face it: there is no way in hells someone that egocentric is not selfish in bed.

So we get to the final page.. where he sees a headline with superman and gets an idea. A wonderful awful idea

It's a true masterpiece and while some would say "would luthor REALLY be so petty as to run for president just to spite superman", I say "Early into this post crisis version of the character the man spent billions of dollars and had a woman kidnapped to find out his secret identity and later created a temporary cure to Lois Lane's mother's terminal illness just so she'd date him". Pre-Crisis he was sore superman made him bald and dedicated his life to destroying him. Lex Luthor is a petty bitch and always has been.

This brilliant story was by Greg Rucka, who if you haven't heard of him, you rmissing out. Rucka has done a ton of work at DC with the two standouts to me being his sadly short lived run on Wonder Woman, redefening the character, givnig her her own lex luthor and really just killing it. THen eh did it AGAIN for rebirth. The other is his run on Catwoman, which took Frank Miller's edgelord riffic Year One retcon of Catwoman having been a sex worker.. and recontexualizes it, making Selina's rough background part of her and making her a champion for sex workers and others who simply dont' have one, taking what was meant as stupid fanservice and giving it depth and weight. What i'ms aying is he's really awesome so it's not a shock some of the best stories here are him.

So we then go to part of a story called Adversaries, by JM Demattis, one half of the masterful team behind Justice League International. As Superman is having his morning meditation and thinking "golly gee nothing could ruin this gorgeous day"... Lex Luthor announces he's running for president.

Now you may be asking "Jake how in the flying fuck is lex luthor running for president. " And while 2000's superman is one of the gaps in my comics knowledge I know enough about the time period to know what's going on here and thus why Lex has a shot, with the various storeis themselves filling in a gap or two.

Okay so a while back, Lex Luthor was dying. This was the famous "Kryptonite gave him cancer" story, which I know thanks to the Justice League cartoon. Like the cartoon he eventually escaped it, but rather than Braniac curing it he found another way out: Cloning.

Yes folks Lex Luthor cloned himself, and then pretended to be his own illgitamte child for a while. I mostly know about THIS because I did read the death of superman, reign of the supermen and return of superman all of which happen while Lex is pretending to be his own son and also romancing supergirl who was a shapeshifted alien blob who trusted him for something at the time rather than a teenage girl, which still dosen't make it less creepy as it's still lex luthor grinding up against a member of superman's family. He's also the reason she didn't intervene in said death, telling her to back off clearly hoping superman would die. Granted he ALWAYS hopes superman will die this time he just happened to be correct.

The clone eventually degraded, Luthor blew up metropolis, and he made a deal with the demon neron for a new body. He later pinned all his crimes on a "failed clone" and thus was scott free for any overt supervillany. So as far as anyone knows Luthor's record is clean.

Helping this are two factors: one is that while Luthor was shady as fuck, like most buisnessmen in the 80's and 90's he didn't go around announcing it or hoping he can get courts to ignore his crimes and put them down to "politics". He kept his hands clean like any shady billionare so superman could stop his nonsense, but couldn't really stop HIM, with superman the animated series keeping with this line of thought.

The other is that any shady stuff left tha tcould be dug up.. was erased. See something very weird I haven't read the storyline for happened right before this: at the dawn of the millnieum, braniac attacked and converted metropolis into a literal city of tommorow, a futurestic city packed with fancy tech, robots and other stuff. Braniac was beat but Luthor barganed with him: His baby daughter for the knowledge of how to work all this. Thus Lex was able to make everything run well and had the popular vote.

Finally we have the climax of the year long Batman epic No Man's Land, a story that like president luthor has been adapted a few times because it's that good an idea. Now what it was was a bit nuts.. after a massive earthquake and a plauge, the goverment, backed by some shady folks hoping to profit off the situation, decided Gotham just.. wasn't part of america anymore.

Yeah they just.. set up guards so no one got in or out, and it was declared a no man's land, hence the title. Many evacuated but some coudln't and some like Batman, the GCPD and most of Batman's partners stayed behind to try and save the city. It introduced Cassandra Cain Batgirl, and was where Nightwing and Oracle finally hooked up.

The important part to this is towards the end, as the goverment was finally shamed into doing the right thing Luthor stepped up to help rebuild the city. Naturally this being Lex Luthor he can't do a nice thing unless it either benefits him or pisses off superman somehow, and so he tried to steal the city out from under it's citizens, foiled naturally by batman. So while Batman stopped his shit, the public at large just sees this as a huge humanitarian boost and a bane against the incumbent who you know, signed off on no mans land in the first place. Granted any presidency would struggle after electing to abandon a city and let the joker sort it out, but Luthor being the guy who went in and cleaned up the mess only makes it worse.

It's also here I want to stop and point out the obvious parallel: Lex Luthor is a buisnessman, with a reputation for putting his names on things, having heavy ties to one of america's big cities, flaunting his wealth and being pettily vengful at everyone who so much as sneezed at him wrong. As much as I don't want to talk about him, we really can't talk about this arc anymore without talking about Donald Trump.

Luthor getting elected got comparisons to Trump, to the point they threw in the story Luthor the Unauthroized Biography in here despite having happened long before this arc , simply so they could use this cover

The thing is though while the two have SOME similarities, Luthor's campaign was done long before Trumps.. and thus Luthor presents himself as an actual human being instead of some shouty sack of skin and hair plugs who dosen't understand how anything works. Luthor may be evil.. but part of what makes him an intresting villian is the presentation: Luthor wants to be seen as a good man, to be praised. His reputation and power is everything. Thus luthor packages two evil schemes as him trying to help people, packages everything he does carefully.

Trump DOES have a carefully cultivated brand.. but also has zero filter. He never has. He flat out admitted a few months ago he'll be a dictator on day one.. and day 1001 but he didn't say that part, but he sure is thinking it. Trump is a bafoon who got into office preying on people's need for some sort of economic upturn, pandering to racists and other anti-change bigots, and getting a loyal army of fellow dumbasses to back him and whatever he does, to the point his loyalists held the senate hostage and that he's been able to use them to get away with formenting an insurrection. Would lex luthor storm the captial? yes. Would he do it in a way that couldn't possibly be linked to him? Yes.

Again i'm not saying Lex is a good person: he gave his daughter to an alien robot man. Lex Luthor is a monster. I'm saying that he dosen't really resemble trump.. because he's a FUNCTIONAL monster. Part of why this arc works is that you can see WHY lex can sell america on this as he uses a mostly pristine image. Trump had a combination of luck and racisim. Luthor actually worked at it.

Anyways one of Superman's foes The Adversary, a guy I know nothing about and whose unrelated to the trickster god from marvel far as I know, kidnaps luthor, superman rescues him.. and superman is all too happy to give him a haughty "your welcome" after luthor is a dick about it saying his people could've handled the giant flying man as strong as superman.

Our next story is another Greg Rucka banger, The Most Suitable person and is another tie to Batman. Lex knows he can't keep his company and since he gave away his only children to use as a puppet king, he instead courts the best woman for the job: Talia, daughter of Batman superfoe Ra's Al Ghul. It's an intresting pull and makes sense: He could have his right hand woman mercy run it.... but he needs her at his side for his evil schemes and it'd still look like he was running it. He needs someone he can trust to run it and not take it from him, but also not make it less evil.

Talia at the time was on the outs from her dad and not really in a mood to accept given the centruies old head of a large terrioist group kinda wants her dead. Lex naturally takes her no.. by having a bunch of mercnaries pretending to be her dad's men. It IS left ambigious if it was really them.. but like Talia I fully think Lex set this up and despite his refusals he WOULD blow up a building and get 17 mercs killed just to get what he wants. She agrees to here him out if only because it's clear he won't take no for an answer... and there's no telling what he'd do for an encore.

Next is the great debate, a fun short story and another likely backup. This time it's from my boy Peter David, writer of X-Factor over at marvel, and Young Justice and Supergirl here at dc among a LOT more. It's a fun three pager where Luthor has a nightmare of a debate.. with two face.

Next is some forward movement with the concept, the american way by Jeph Loeb, who'd not only write superman for the luthor presidency as a whole, but would also write it's end with Public Enemies.

Lois and Clark get an ugly suprise that morning: Luthor's picked his running mate..and it's Clark's childhod friend Pete Ross, a former senator and clear pick to get the vote of midwesteners. And living in the mid west I can tell you this ploy probably woudl've worked.

Clark heads down there to find out what the hell and after LUthor exploits his sudden apperance for press, Clark asks pete what the fuck. Pete explains he's given up on dreaming: he wants to be a winner dammit and Luthor is going to win.

Clark confides in his parents, with Pa not knowing what the hell got into Pete.. I mean he was apparently always a moron but my god. Clark considers talking to his wife Lana, Clark's childhood sweetheart, and Ma tells him he should but that she's suffered enough and he shoudlnt' write a piece against pete.. even though pete did this dumbass thing himself and it's clark's job as a reporter, not to mention pete FLAT OUT ADMITTED he's only doing this because he wants to win.

Lois goes to work where Perry, SHOCKINGLY isn't happy. Also she ignores Jimmy, expect that to be a theme here. At any rate, Perry is pissed, but Lois is more concerned about a ticking time bomb: she agreed to kill any one story luthor asked and is afraid the bill will come due. This.. dosen't come up strangely. I THINK it plays into the arc, but I can't be sure as it's missing here.

Superman decides to deal with his own issues with this whole situation the way he does.. by battling a giant monster in the atlantic. He wins.. but finds a bigger problem, Aquaman, whose still in his angry phase but is ANGRIER than even usual: turns out it's Lexcorp that's been causing creatures like the giant monster thing to go nuts, and he's going to do something about it even as Clark TRIES To get him to calm the hell down. Thankfully this isn't bad character writing as there's a reason for Arthur being mopeier than usaul.

For now Clark swoops into an event for Lex, but before he can talk to Lana, Aquaman shows up with a giant net to kidnap lex luthor

Superman naturally goes after him only to find THE ARMIES OF ATLANTIS led by former aqualad and current tempest garth, who orders superman to stand down or he'll flood the city

Garth is the key indicator somethin'gs up: arthur does have a tendency to be a grumpus in this era, him doing this isn't SUPER out of character.. but declaring war and Garth participating in it and activating a giant wave machine? Something's fucked.

Superman may be faster than a speeding bullet.. but he isn't fast enough to stop garth.

Thankfully he gets some help from the boys YOUNG JUSTICE IS HERE! Specifically the comics version, which I love dearly and which is nothing like what got on screen. Nothing against the cartoon, Weisman did a great job, it's just based more on the teen titans with bits of greg's own ideas. Young Justice is more like the teen titans cartoon , which was intended to be a YJ adaptation but they coudln't get the rights to some of the cast.

The lineup for this crossover is the core of the team: Robin (Tim Drake), Superboy (conner king) Impulse, and Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandmark), along with their mentor and advisor and babysitter my boy red Tornado. Clark is.. less than enthused, but takes the help as they hit the streets. Naturally things don't go on too long before robin and cassie get eaten by that big thing from earlier.

This is on purpose though: Tim revs up the super cycle, had cord attached to it and superboy and later superman PULLL PULLL while he revs up, allowing them to pull the thing back into the ocean. Superman sincerly compliments them, which is nice: clark may be mildly frustrated with them.. but he's still superman. He's not a dick and as weird as the plan was, it worked. He quickly saves lois , as he do then goes to rescue Luthor.

This being Luthor though.. he spins it in his favor. He claims he had no idea the braniac tech he was using was turning sea life mad.. including the atlantians, explaning why Arthur done did a war crime, and vows to actually fix it, spinning this pr disaster into a win.

Then he gets another PR win.. the hard way. He gets shot. The culprit is Jenny Hubbard, a minor character I had to look up, a waitress he once offered a million dollars to spend a month with him... then left long before she could accept the offer, it being a cruel prank he does to fuck with people. Naturally the media spins it as her being delusional... it also uses the same shot for an entire page but i'll only show you 4 panels

Also for some reason they didn't think to not have a shot wher eluthor looks like a preist getting down instead of having just taken a bullet... he smiles in his hotel room. It's as if he planned it.

The next story is another Loeb story, and another backup, tales from the Bizzaro World. Batman shows up and he's understandably nettled: As I mentioned, and learned from this story, the braniac 13 thing wiped Luthor's records. That means there's no dirt to dig up, the planets records also wiped and Batman wants to know if Clark personally has anything.

Clark dosen't.. but is pissed Bruce would even ask, pointing out this isn't the usual try to take down luthor thing: their talking about a political canditate running for office and this isn't something they should be doing.

I see both points: Luthor should be stopped and Batman is right ot question the american people's judgement when they let no man's land happen. But Clark is right: he can't just suddenly DECIDE who can be president or can't. He's not king superman. He put away the pope hat ages ago. He can vote, he can use his power at the planet to TRY and stop this.. but they can't just start deciding who runs america. Even if the people choose wrong they should be allowed to choose. Granted i've now seen how bad the people choosing wrong can go.. but the whole point of elections is to prevent a dictator ship, just like this one and likely others after it given the way the republican party is going. If someone else is sinking canditates ;using their billions and connections and bat skills, that's not freedom and clark is aware of it.

We move on to election night as everyone prepares.. and we get a really nice moment with Clark and Jonn

A reminder the leauge isn't thrilled about this either. More on that in a minute

In the office Pete White considers two headlines: Luthor Loooses.. or Luthor wins.

We then get Triumph Over Tragedy, a heavily doctored detaling of luthor's past, leaving out that he killed his dad, that the evil clone was him, etc. It's a neat piece that goes over his history and shows just how mnuch he's buried..a nd he buries it again as he asks cat to cut out the piece. This ending is chilling.. especially now as we have full channels like fox news dedicated to telling blatant lies and propping up people like luthor.

We then get the results as Jimmy is assigned to do a story on where they were when they heard about his announcment.. only for him to be interuppted. Perry announces, comparing it to other disasters.. that luthor has won. They have to press on because shit is going to get bad.. but they ahve to. While the Luthor trump comparssions don't really work for the most part.. this part hits as it's the reality most of us faced that day: that someone truly bad won.

Next up is another greg rucka story. Batman shows up , wanting the kryptonite ring. Luthor can have it or the presdency. Luthor says nah he can have both.. and shows just how bad things are now. While he said in the cartoon "you know how much power i'd have to give up to be president" this shows how much he GAINS: every wet works orginzation in the us now responds to him and he threatens batman: come after him again and he can track him and his allies 24/7 and he will. Bruce says he'll be back.. but it's an empty threat. Luthor.. has once again won. It's a great shor tlittle story, showing WHY Batman was so afraid of this and how even Superman's equal... can't lay a finger on him. Luthor.. has won.

We get a jeph loeb short story next: have you heard the news. it's a fun short three pager as Superman goes into an absolute RAGE on saturn's moon. He's.. not happy and luthor can see that. I also would like to take a minute to praise Ed McGuinnes, who did the art on Jeph Loeb's story. He has this nice bombastic cartoony style i REALLY love and it's always a pleasure to see him when he pops up and we'll be seeing him again when we cover public enemies at some point.

Next is the confrontation with Lana. Turns out part of Superman's understandable bafflement is that he kidnapped her like I mentioned.. and she never told pete as she couldn't without compromising clark's identity and admits they have NOTHING on luthor and that maybe pete will make it better and her marriage has to be mor eimportant. In other words.. it's all justifications: while Lana COULD have told Pete what happened and it's on her to not trust her husband enough. Clark would've let her. The truth is she just didn't want to and cries as she hopes he won't be president. Unsuprisingly this marriage did not last.

We get one final piece of election night: Superman storming in.. and admitting defeat

I love this image as it just convey's both how little clark wants to do this.. and how much he has to. To show america he won't undercut the president even if that president has cameras on saturn just to see if superman has a venting session.

Next up is a snippet of an issue, where Luthor has his big innaugration parade. He even hired an old friend to help celebrate

Trust. It's interuppted by some protesters from the Suicide Slum, a poorer area of Metropolis that got left behind by the Braniac updgrades to the rest of the city. Luthor dances a little sidestep saying he's not in charge of Lexcorp, he'll look into this, bullshit bullshit.

Clark and Lois go to talk to John Henry Irons, aka Steel aka Lana's next better husband. Then we cut off but we'll be seeing my boy here soon

For now we have my other faviorite story in this collection, a very close second to our first: Help.

Help is set at christmas and follows Clark as he talks with the other members of the Justice League about the shit that just went down, clearly stressed to hell given the people he protets and tries to inspire.. just willingly choose an egomaniac with a shady history to be their new leader. We also get a murder's row of artists for each vingette, written again by Jeph Loeb.

The first is the Martian Manhunter.. and Plastic Man as he was the only member of the expanded league from Morrison's run to stick around because he's awesome. Fun fact; Ben Schwartz has apparently campaigned to play him. James Gunn.. get.. get on that buddy.

Jonn is TRYING to help Clark relax but he can't because he's a boinger. And again a sociopath is in the white house. Clark wonders if he shoudl've done more to stop this.. but Jonn helps put it into perspective: Clark is integrated into this world a bit better than Jonn is, something he envies... especiallys ince what happened made no sense. But he assures clark the second Lex does something illegal, he's there... which also feels like his way of assuring his friend he did the right thing. We also get a sweet moment as plastic man makes him smile. Clark gives the two a gift: rubber bands fo rplastic man, choco's, jonn's faviorite oreo stand in, for .. well guess. It's a fun runner as I love the idea Clark gives his friends each a cheesy gag gift.

Next up is aquaman, by rob liefeld, which is shockingly passable. Clark and Arthur both look pissed off and dead at the same time but at least their spines are in tact. Arthur is actaully on lex's side since he's the first world leader to both promise trade with atlantis and offer commuincation and while Clark admits those are probably lies, Arthur warns they better not be, implying Luthor would be kinda stupid to do anything. Arthur then gets his gift a snowglobe and cracks the closest thing he can to a smile.

Next is a talk with green lantern drawn by Mike Wirnego, who i'm less familiar with but whose art looks sensational and expressive here. Granted anything is expressive after Rob Liefield but still, it's good stuff.

The League's green lantern is Kyle Rayner, imaginative boy and 90's guy. So naturally his stance is Luthor is crooked.. but so was the last guy and so will likely be the next guy. Things really don't change. Kyle still votes though as he has to hope things will be better. It shows Kyles' character off well: he's flip and easy to crack a joke.. but he's an optimsit at heart. His stance here is honestly mine: the system is broken, our vote only pivots thing slightly in elections where a known criminal and tyranical narcsist isn't running.. but it's worth voting just to TRY and make things better. There's no reason not to vote even if sometimes it's the lesser of two evils. Kyle's gift is ring polish, which he cracks up about.

Next up is Wally West, the flash by art motherfucking adams, an artistic legend and a genius at the pen. Truly fantastic stuff as always. Wally is picking up some chcoclates linda wanted, last minute of course since when your the fastest man alive you can do that cliche without coming off like a douche. Also when you have undiagnosed ADHD. Wally's stance is voting early and often, as that's the american way and admits he'd drag luthor out if Clark asked.. but he won't ask that because that's not the american way. The American way is putting your faith in something and hoping it works out. Wally gets tube socks for some reason.

Next is Diana, Wonder Woman and it's by Ian Churchill who i'm less familiar with.. but i'ts not drawn great. Diana also has large fake nails for some reason. It's this weird tendency i've noticed: artists tend to give long painted nails to women even if it didn't fit the character back in the 80's through the 2000's. I don't mind it if It fits and I could see diana doing it for a fancy occasion or fun, but not for a sparring session.

Diana dosen't care about the electoin and while she probably did vote she's more worried Clark is slipping and has already let Luthor win mentally. He hasn't but it's good of her to worry. She does have a valid suggestion that comes off as more in character though: take some time off. Granted i'ts written as "as a woman and as your only friend whose a woman " which just tells you a 2000's man wrote this. He gives her a tiny mjonr, which I again don't get but gets him a hug. Awww.

We end on Batman whose still pissed at Clark, rubbing the whole "letting humans have free will thing' in his face and saying when the time is right we will take down luthor. In other words prime bat dick behavior, not suprising for the era wher Batman was extra dickish at times.

So Clark takes the advice of a friend who didn't want him to interfere with free choice and takes a few days off in kandor with lois, content for now to accep tthe situation

We then get World without Superman by Mark Schultz... and this story is just..

The IDEA for the story is good: Around christmas time we see Clark depressed that Luthor won. Granted it dosen't jibe well with the previous story: Luthor won, but clark at least tried to take some time away from. I can still allow it though thanks to personal experince. Like with Perry's line before CLark depressedly watching the tv as Luthor makes good, butters up to the league and geninely seems to have america's approval hits harder after the 2016 election. Anyone on the left.. was left dismayed and shocked this actually happened, that this openly racist, sexist, homphobic pile of hair and spray tan won. I can sympathize with Clark having GENUINELY belivied in the people.. and them having let him down. I can buy that Superman, one of the most hopeful and hope inspiring characters in all of fiction.. could be laid low by this.

So the followup, Lori Lee of the time traveling Linear Men who i'd only vaugely heard of before this, shows up because things are going VERY bad thanks to decisions clark makes soon, that he quits being superman and gives up.. and the world goes to hell as a result. This idea.. is brilliant. While the it's a wonderful life riff is common, I like merging it with the future segment of a christmas carol here.

The problem is that they go WAY too far in this distoypian future to the point that it defies logic and sense. A good bad future has to have some sort of logic to it. To use an X-Men example because I got x-men on the brain now and always, Days of Future Past was effective because it was so simple how things went wrong: a mutant killed an anti-mutant senator, that ramped up anti mutant tensions, and things slowly escalated to the regestration act and the sentinel program going public. It took TIME for the world to go to hell in a realistic fashion.

This story does try to do that, it's 15 years later, Lexcorp runs the world. A large part of this is due to Our Worlds at War, a massive crossover and interstellar war that happened next year. During that war a powerful being named impereix decided to unmake reality due to a percieved imperfection in the cosmos and given his drones were incredibly powerful and if defeated detonated like nuclear bombs it took ALL of earth's superheroes as a united front, along with a few villians of course, to fight it back. Luthor proved his presidential chops by directing the conflict. The idea that this war goes badly without supes is a good one.

The problem is it dosen't really make sense with the storyline next year or even objectviely: Luthor apparently spent through a bunch of heroes with costly battle strategies.. but while Clark being gone DOES impact the superhero community severely and his clear replacement, Wonder Woman, was also gone, replaced by her mom, they still have the rest of the league, and if they coudln't inspire hope, there's the justice society of america, who the whole superhero community looks up to and who have vetran clout. Sure Lex could TRY and send them on a suicide run and did send them on a risky mission in the actual war, but the fact of the matter is it'd be a bit hard to both overtalk and cover up the deaths of world war II vetrans. Heroes who as far as I can tell have a unviersally good reputation. It's also overlooking the younger generation like DIck Grayson or Wally West, both of whom have enough collections across the various dc heroes to rally them.. and rally tem against luthor if he went to far.

Even putting that aside.. the second step, putting in laws to fuck with all them, is more plausable.. but the fact their ALL gone but batman and co by this point dosen't make any sense to me. Only one league member wasn't against luthor's election on some level, Arthur, and even his terms were VERY conditional. Luthor would have to do a lot of state sec killing to get the heroes down to a point where they couldn't just overthrow him and while he has the b13 tech, the heroes have geniuses like Oracle, Steel, and Batman on their side to help reverse engineer things. I also don't think bruce would remotely wait to go commando on Luthor and is smart enough. I'm not saying batman's a god : many a weak story has made batman a gary stu by forgetting he's a flawed man.. but he CAN beat lex luthor even with the world against him and wouldn't let Luthor get this far.

With days of future past the X-Men are a bunch of average people, with only charles having any political pull at the time. Batman.. is a billionaire. Wonder Woman and Aquaman both rep whole nations. Kyle and Wally while average joes are both gods. The only reason the justice league didn't say, remove Luthor the second he got elected.. is he was rightfully elected and they respect that. Even Batman, as pissy as he's been, knows better than to do that. But if things got bad enough they would and would let america hopefully pick someone better. Even if they ended up jailed.. they'd expose luthor if it killed them. Maybe i'm just an optimist, maybe the world would beat them all down.. but i've read enough dc comics of all kinds to know these characters.. don't give up and would fight their hardest for a better world even if it killed them. So it feels reductive to say superman being gone instantly means their all fucked. It'd mean they'd be more depressed, might go to darker places without clark, and some MIGHT give up.. but I can't imagine everyone giving up because superman decided.

And yes folks.. THAT'S what they went with. Superman just GAVE UP ON earth. I could buy Clark giving up on being superman if pushed enough: the world is full of heroes and as seen with the later storyline up up and away, which I hope to cover one day and might save for the next supermay, the dcu.. didn't burn down because he was gone a year after being depowered. He can still do good as Clark Kent. I can't buy Clark being SO fed up he'd leave. Retire maybe, and even then that's hard to buy.. but it's PLAUSABLE. Superman abandning his parents, wife and friends to fend for themselves and NEVER coming back is ludcirious, especially since the imperix war ended up spreading wide enough hat there's no way he wouldn't speed back to help. Darkseid pitched in for fucks sake: you think he'd let Superman sit out a war he had to humble himself to get help for? No. Darkseid is. Darkseid would be PISSED superman gave up and demand he come help or he'll kill his ass. I get the writer probably didn't have all the pieces, but said pieces really hurt htis series longetivity

What also hurts it is the present day part: Lois, Jimy and Perry try one last hail mary to save journalism.. and fail, as Luthor saw it coming a mile away and has his personal hit squad kill them. and some tigers. I don't buy Lois being this dump or thinking cozying up to luthor would remotely work. He took satstifaction in Lois, Jimmy and Perry joining his propoganda.. but he never forgot.

We also get another insult with that.. see some heroes.. sold out to luthor.. and who they choose...

Yeah normally on this blog I try to be positive. I will point out when a work is bad or not great.. but I try to be constructive. Explain why it is or at least thrown in a joke. I try to avoid nerd raging.. but my GOD does the choice of having Plastic Man, Booster Gold and Huntress honk me off. Part of it is i'm a big fan of the latter two thanks to JLI and Birds of Prey, respectively. So I admit to a little bias. That being said, said bias is from having actually read the characters apperances and not just picked who would make a good edgy shocking luthor justice league out of a hat.

I get WHY each one was picked: Plastic Man comes off a tad shady and entirely unserious, Booster is both not all that serious and was introduced as a willing corprate shill: he had standards but DID it for the fame and to escape his criminal past and once bought an island with justice league money, while Helena often clashed with the bat fam at the time due to her more violent methods and bruce being a tad dickish.

The problem is NONE OF THIS MEANS THEY'D SIGN UP WITH LUTHOR. Plastic Man is loosey goosey.. but he's not so loosey goosey he'd agree to work for luthor to opress people. Booster sold out.. but he both grew past that and already fueded with Luthor in his solo: he knows he can't trust him and if he's going to make money, he'll do it on his own and if things are going THIS bad he'd either go back to fix them.. or just go back entirely to avoid this crap if the's that cynical. He also wouldn't blow up a building full of people under any circumstances that aren't accidental, and even the latter is a bit much for Booster. he may be a fuckup.. but he's not a "murder a bunch of people fuckup" and is a good guy, i'ts just buried under layers of self intrest.

Finally Helena.. has a super strong sense of justice: she DID start her career killing and went after the mob because they murdered her family. She'll do things Batman won't , or at least would at this point in her career.. but I can't remotely buy her selling out to luthor and not trying to put a bolt in his head, even if he is the law. She went outside of the law in the first place, why would she trust it enough to work under lex? This feels like the writer picked three characters he thought might do it and didn't bother to think thorugh how their fans would feel, which happens a LOT and always feels cheap and has only gotten worse since booster and helena got furhter fleshing out in the later 2000's that makes this somehow dumber.

Our last few stories cover his actual swearing in and right after and i'm going to rapid fire them as they aren't BAD stories, but mostly either small one offs clearly designed to set something up later.

The first is the actual innugaration which is a full story.. but I simply don't have much to say about it. It's by the same guy who did the previous dumbassery, but he does a good job here. I'ts innaguration day and Steel and his niece and future steel herself Natsha plan a protest. They even run into some othe rheroes: Pat Duggan, formerly Stripsey sidekick to the star spangled kid.

His daughter courtney, bitter about having to move when her mom married pat and being a bit of a brat at the time found the equipment and became a costumed hero just to piss him off. Pat used some powered armor he was making to become S.T.R.I.P.E. to keep an eye on her. That's where we are here, with Courtney and Pat having bonded but still not being on the same page a lot of the time. This would soon change as Courntey realized her bio dad was a piece of shit, and accepted pat as her dad, becoming Stargirl and taking up that legacy.

For now though their just at the inagguration because history and all that, but naturally superhero stuff breaks out as Steel's protest was leaked to team luthor. HIs bodyguards mercy and hope attack, but with an assitn from Courtney Steel wins the day.. and asks how they knew. He figures out itw as a setup.. just in time for someone else.

A supervillian attacks, having been created by the same circumstances that John Henry and co were protesting: luthor's devistation of the suicide slum. Naturally superman sweeps in as he planned not to attend, a silent protest but WAS nearbye just in case. He, Steel, Stargirl and Stripsey win of course, and Luthor also wins of course, getting a photo op with superman as "you wouldn't deny your president would you". A masterful dick move sir.

The next one is cleaning up a loose end, courtsey of Karl Kessel, long time superman writer and superboy co-creator and writer.. the connor kent one. Luthor was actually married once to the Contessa, an immortal buisness woman he secretley married who is the mother of his child and once took over his company. Luthor blows her up with missles as you'd expect.

The last two are setups for later... that i'm baffled are in here. The first one I get a little. Cerce, wondy's arch enemy I mentioned (one of them anyway, she has a few contenders) waltzes up planning a partnership but Luthor shoots her down and is naturally a dick abou tit. Some shady man offers her his help and.. that's about it. It's a decent story showing that Luthor's old criminal buddies aren't getting any free rides by this administration, it just baffles me it's in here. You could've used the pages to finish one of the other stories from earlier or put in a story from his adminstration. We also get one setting up his bumbling assitant Mercy is bitter about. That's.. really it. That's how it ends.

So overall this trade.. was a bit better on the second go round. The first act, while pieced together, does tell a cohesive story.. they just felt for osme reason the need to include the innguration and some other stories to pad it out at the end. It would've been better to end at luthor becoming president, maybe at the justice league story dealing with it. We really didn't NEED the terrible future story or the innaguration and tales. The rest tells a good story of how luthor GOT here, how he won, and how Clark feels about it. Throw in the unathorized biography and it would've been enough. Still if you have a few bucks the trade IS worth picking up, and did the best it could with the space it had. IT's an intresting look at an intresting storyline and has some real gems: like I said "The Why" and "Help" are really great stories and worth the price of the trade alone. Thanks for reading

Next time: We get super serial as we look into "The Clan of the Firey Cross"