#i also remember a kid named rock from those days

[gayclubsoap]

one day i'll put the french toast and homemade guac recipes i learned from a friend's mom to use. one day

[slut4satoru-blog]

Parent-Teacher Conference—Toji Fushiguro-Zenin. +18 CONTENT MINORS DNI

*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ

a singledad!Toji fic to fill my empty heart. i’m a slut for toji and i hope you guys are too. making this a 3 part series! please enjoyyyyyyy. 💜

content warnings: f!reader, AFAB, tiny kabedon, height difference, healthy age gap (6 years), trying my best to keep body descriptions to a minimum, hickeys, sex toys, marking, jealousy, slight possessiveness, oral (f!receiving), tiddie sucking <3, fingering, edging, public use of sex toy, pet names, and whatever else might had slipped my mind.

word count: 2.2k

*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ

It’s been a busy 2 weeks with the PT conference being tomorrow. I have 0 time for myself. There’s two places I’m always at, either at school teaching my students or at home grading and preparing student reports. The end of the 10 weeks is always a mess. At least I teach High School, and my kids are so good they help me with the stuff.

There’s always a few students from each class that volunteer to help organize and store papers and that has helped me for sure. Like whenever Nobara, Yuuji and Megumi from my 10th grade class stay after school every Tuesday to help me out. They really are the best and I 100% could not survive without them. Talking about the kids, Megumi is really special. I’ve literally taught him since middle school, and it’s kind of funny because when I first started teaching him he would accidentally call me “mom” sometimes, his cute little face always made me smile. I remember when his mother passed away and I attended the service, it was the first time I saw his dad.

Toji Fushiguro, what a sight to remember. He was one of those people I knew I would never forget about. Year after year, conference after conference Toji and I’s friendship grew closer. Of course, always formal since he is my student’s dad. But there’s always a part of me that dreams of it being more than just that. The way he would slightly touch my hand with his fingers, acting as if nothing happened. Whenever he says “Hello” and puts his hand on my waist as he brings me in for a hug. I swear, one time that man was as hard as a rock and he just acted so normally. His tall, muscular build haunted me in my dreams.

Every single night, I would dream about him ravaging me in different positions. The way he would eat me out, fuck me senseless. I would imagine how he could roughly handle me and just how good he would feel inside of me, leaving me clenching around my fingers as I tried to satiate the need for his cock. However, every single morning I had to remind myself that it would never change. At least that’s what I always thought.

I decided to get up 1 hour earlier and get myself ready. Since today we had no class and I wasn't going to deal with any cooking, I wouldn’t have to wear my go-to chef uniform. Rummaging through my clothes, I decided to wear a simple emerald green and black pants suit, along with some 2 inch closed platforms. Also, I took the opportunity to wear some makeup and style my hair since I rarely got the chance to do so in school.

Once I arrived at the Jujutsu Technical School campus I quickly went up to finish setting up my lab to greet the parents and guardians of my students. For each parent student teacher conference I would have the kids make something for their families so they could snack as they picked up the grades for the quarter and discuss some details with me. They all decided to make some cake pops and they looked adorable. Some are movie themed, others by colors and even by aesthetics. Kids these days, am I right? When I finished everything I decided to sit patiently at my desk and wait for all of the parents to arrive.

Not to my surprise, Toji arrived first. I could sense his presence even with me being against the door. His sultry, silky and sinful voice decided to greet me. “Hey there Ms. _____. It’s been too long since our last encounter.” I turned my seat around to face him, getting startled as he was way closer than I anticipated. His hand went for my arm, sliding one finger over my bare hands. “Hi Sir, it’s a pleasure to see you get here so early. As you know, Gumi’s sweets are at the left corner of the table. You can grab the cake pops he made you and Sumi this time. He worked really hard on them.”

He looked at the table, walked up to it and got his and Tsumiki’s bag and returned to my desk. He shoved the sweets in his pocket and plopped his hands to either side of my desk. Trapping me in to smell his fresh, clean cologne. “I was thinking of doing some experiments. What do you think? Megumi tells me about everything you guys do in this class. And, it gets me thinking. Are you as fun in bed as you are in the classroom? I’m sorry Ms. ____ but I know I’m not the only one that feels this tension.”

He stopped for a second, eyed me up and down. Taking one of his hands and moving it to my chin as he lifted it up to continue his sermon. “I‘ve seen the way you look at me. How your thighs clench whenever I tease you. I’m not blind you know? And you’re not hiding it now either.” He took his eyes off of mine and dragged them across my body. I could feel his intense stare burning through the fabric. Starting a fire in my core that would soon become too hot to control.

“Sir, this isn’t right… Anyone can come up now and see us like this. I work here, I don’t want to risk that for whatever my body feels like. I can deal with it later. This is wrong.” I tried to believe the words that came out of my mouth. We both knew i was lying about it not being right. We were both adults, he was only a few years older than me since he had Megumi at 16. We were only 6 years apart, so it wasn’t inmoral. However, there was something about this being too good to be true. I just couldn’t wrap my head around how things were happening.

“Can we try something? Please? I swear if you say no I won’t bother you after this.” He opened his black suitcase that he always brought to store all the papers us teachers would bring to the parents. Once it was open, he pulled out a weirdly shaped pink toy. I’ve seen this before, it’s called a love sense. He saw the way my eyes lit up to the toy and asked. “I figure you’re familiar with this, right? I promise I’ll behave if you’re a good girl.”

I stood up and walked up to the door. Looking at the empty hallways since the pt conference was 30 minutes away. “Am i really about to do this…?” I whispered to myself as I closed my lab’s room and locked it. I went to Toji, sat on top of my desk and responded. “I’ll allow this… experiment. But you have to promise not to go too far. This is my job, and I’m not willing to lose it because I moaned while talking about bread.” He laughed at my remarks and sighed beautifully, standing between my legs and wrapping me in his arms. I could feel his cinnamony breath near my lips as he spoke. “Don’t worry darling, this thing is nothing compared to what I want to do to you. Consider this preparation for what comes next.”

Without saying more, he leaned in to kiss me almost as if he was afraid of ruining whatever it is that we had these past years. His hands diligently went under my satin shirt, taking it out of the pants to grope my tits. “They’re so soft, I could drown here.” He whispered in your ears as he lifted the shirt up completely to suck on them, leaving cute little markings all along them. “Just wait till you see my ass.” I playfully dared him, ruffling one of my hands through his soft, black hair as i left one of my hands on the desk for support. Throwing my head back as he sucked my nipples with such expertise. It really felt like he was french kissing me there.

“Oh, please don’t stop. This feels so good.” I whined at him as I started feeling new sensations, I had never before felt so sensitive on my breasts. Maybe because of my lack of sex partners. It had been such a bad experience with none of my other flings getting me to orgasm. So frustrating I ended up stopping all together. I could feel his grin across my nipple as he slowly popped it as he let it go. “Time to see that ass babe, can’t wait any longer.”

He flipped me skillfully, carefully pulling down my pants & lingerie that I wore that day. “All wet for me baby? So nice and plump; you keep wrapping me up in your little finger, huh?” He took one of his hands and teasingly slid it across my slit. I shuddered; his cold, big fingers clashing against my hot plump core. He started to play with my arousal, slipping it up and down. Occasionally grazing above my clit as to piss me off. “Toji, please. We have 15 minutes until the parents arrive. Just fuck me already.”

“Fuck you? Oh no baby girl, you’ve got it all wrong. You see…” He stopped talking for a second, and I groaned when I felt his mouth on my clit. Skillfully eating me out like he had 1,000 years of experience. “My plan isn’t to fuck you now.” He planted another kiss on my cunt, tongue skimming all through my folds. “We‘ll talk about that later. ‘Kay sweetheart?”. With that he stopped, removing himself from my needy core and slipped the toy inside of me, filling me up instantly as a moan slipped through my teeth.

“Remember, this is connected to my phone. You better act nice if you want me to be nice.” He grinned like a man-whore and I enjoyed every single of it. He licked my thighs to “clean-up after himself” and then wiped it dry with some tissue I had laying around. After that, he walked to the chair in the back and waited for the classroom/lab to fill up with more parents.

“Hello, thank you all for attending today’s PT Conference. I’m Ms. _____ and as you all probably know by now, I’m your kid’s Culinary Arts elective course teacher….” I roughly explained the next 2 big projects the kids had to make. And how the Culinary Arts elective course was partnering up with the Science program to form a “Food Science” exhibition for the upcoming science fair. It was all going good. Actually, too good. I would eye up Toji every now and then but he was never looking at me, just looking at his phone. Mysteriously the vibrator was off for all of my speech. I was kind of glad, I didn't want to trip on my words or embarrass myself. However, things started to take a turn when parents started to ask to see me after class.

When Mr. Nanami, Yuuji’s foster dad, asked to see me after class. That was the moment I felt the vibration instantly turn on. It was slow, steady motions that started to relieve the tension I had going on. I said my goodbyes to all the parents, and when my lab was almost empty, since Toji refused to leave, Mr. Nanami went up to me. “Hey Ms.____ I was wondering if i could ask you something about Yuuji’s grades. You see, he’s having some trouble with math and since I know this course involves a lot of that i was wondering if you would be willing to tutor him. I would be paying, of course. It could be over at our home or we could meet up at some place of your choosing.”

I gave him a tiny smile, he was always so observant over Yuuji. “Of course! We can work something out. He always works my math out easily, I imagine it’s because I try my best to break everything down before giving it to them. Thanks for your concern on Yuuji. He’s a bright kid, he’s in good hands.” I put my hand on top of his to give him security, and in that instant I felt how the vibrator just jumped in velocity. It was hard, inconsistent and just random and all over the place. I contained myself from yelping and decided to shift in my seat instead. When I looked over at Toji there he was, man-spreading in all of his glory swiping his phone in different directions as he looked intensely at how my hand rested in top of Nanami’s.

Nanami ended the conversation shortly, handing me his business card that contained his contact information so we could set up the meetings and left quickly, not forgetting to wave at Toji at the end of the room. Toji stood up, and waved him a tiny goodbye as he walked towards me. Long, slow steps making small clacks across the marbled floor. He looked at his phone once more and swiped up, leaving the vibrator at the highest speed as I tried to shush the moans that escaped my mouth. Eventually giving in as i sat in my comfy chair.

“I told you I would behave if you were a good girl. But you just had to make me jealous, didn’t you?”

Masterlist

part 2, part 3

[riality-check]

tw for mentions of substance abuse (part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7)

ao3

Steve Harrington has been awake for fifty four hours. With luck, he'll be able to eke out another eighteen. Three days seems to be the sweet spot, even if he only makes it there half the time and, of that half, it only works half the time.

It's better than nothing.

Maybe four days is the sweet spot. Ninety six is close to one hundred, and that seems like a good omen.

Omens don't really matter though. What matters is staying awake.

So, Steve chugs his coffee and walks into the conference room. Coffee isn't enough, not nearly, but it'll do until he gets desperate enough to take something.

He really does try to only take them when he's desperate. It's easier that way, to just do it when he feels like he needs to rather than measuring dosages and remembering times. Hours start to blur around hour forty of being awake.

He walks in, sits down in the chair closest to the door, and is met with a withering glare from Eddie Munson.

Listen. Steve isn't happy about this either, but at least he doesn't look like he stepped in dog shit on the way here. Then again, Steve doesn't have the luxury of ever looking truly unhappy.

Eddie is a rock star. Mean is part of his brand, while mean is the antithesis to Steve's.

Whatever.

"Are you kidding me?" Eddie says, still staring at him, but Steve knows he's not who he's asking.

"He's the best person for the job," Chrissy, Eddie's manager, says.

"We don't need him."

Someone taps Steve's left shoulder. He turns to see Jeff, the lead singer of Corroded Coffin, give him a warm smile.

"Nice to meet you, Steve," he says, and Steve shakes his proffered hand.

"Happy to help," he says, and it's only half a lie.

The drummer and the bassist - Steve would probably be able to remember their names if he wasn't so exhausted - wave their hellos from a few seats away.

"Hi, Steve," Chrissy says.

He takes another swig of his coffee and gives her a little wave in response.

"We don't need a pop singer to write lyrics for us," Eddie says, still not letting this go.

"Yes, you do," Steve says. He sets his coffee cup down on the table and opens the folder he brought with him. "I read through the lyrics of every one of your songs."

"You didn't even listen to them?"

"Would have taken too much time."

That's a lie. Listening, even with the lengthy guitar solos, probably would have taken less time. But Steve needs something to fill the hours when he's supposed to be asleep, and reading, that slow process with its ample, awakening frustration, is the perfect thing.

"You became so much less interesting after your first album," he says. "Every one of your songs talks about the same thing. Conquering evil, killing demons, blah blah blah."

"That's what's in right now," Eddie snaps.

Out of the corner of his eye, Steve catches the drummer and Chrissy make the same motion. They pinch the bridges of their noses, clearly frustrated.

Steve sees why Chrissy wanted to talk to him.

"It is," he concedes. "But I also read the lyrics of every song by the bands with top ten hits. They don't talk about it nearly as much. They sing about other stuff. And they don't use an F major chord in every one of their songs."

"We don't-"

"We kinda do, Eddie," the bassist pipes up. "I'm a little sick of playing F."

Eddie takes a breath. Steve takes the opportunity to take a pill.

He found a way to make it less obvious for people who have something to say about it. Steve will take one from his pocket, yawn, cover his mouth, and swallow it dry. Easy peasy. They don't notice, he doesn't have to deal with people who don't get it making comments.

Except when he does, this time, Eddie narrows his eyes. Like he knows what he's doing.

Steve doesn't like that look.

"Have you read my stuff?" He won't ask if Eddie has listened to any of it. He knows the answer is no, if he keeps bringing up genre like that really means anything.

Eddie doesn't respond. He keeps those narrowed eyes trained on Steve and stays silent.

"Didn't think so," he says, and he slides over the thick stack of papers Robin stapled together for him last night. "Here's everything. Read it. Tell me if you like it. I'm only helping you if you give a shit. This goes two ways, and I don't want to waste my time if you think I'm wasting yours."

Eddie doesn't take the stack, but the drummer, sitting next to him, tugs them closer. "Thanks."

"Let me know tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Jeff says, eyebrows raised.

Steve forgets that most people don't actually take advantage of their twenty four hours.

"End of the week," he says instead, and he relaxes when Jeff does.

The drummer starts flipping through the pages while the bassist looks over his shoulder.

"Need anything else from me?" Steve asks Chrissy.

"I don't think so," she says. "I'll call you back to set up a time for Saturday."

He's amazed by the fact that someone as sweet as her works with someone as pretentious as Eddie.

"Sounds good," he says, and he walks out, trying to ignore the feeling of Eddie's eyes on him as he goes through the door.

It only halfway works.

The pill should kick in soon, within a half hour, maybe shorter because of the coffee. Maybe he'll write something. Maybe he'll work on the piano melody he's been tinkering with for the past week. Maybe he'll read the latest book Robin picked up from the library, something interesting enough to be worth the frustration of the moving letters, something that will still fill the time.

He'll make it to seventy two hours. Then he'll crash because his body is a worthless piece of shit, and he hopes this is the half of the time when he doesn't have any goddamn nightmares.

Maybe he should pop another pill, just in case.

[nell0-0]

Writing requests open?? What about Wind doing something that is SO REMINISCENT OF TUNE that Time and Wars start sweating? Or TIME GOING FULL MASK BEHAVIOUR causing Wars to have flashbacks?

I am very in love with your HW-era art, especially with Mask, by the way 💜

Not sure if this 100% fits the request, but hopefully you like it anyways ^^

Main characters: Wind/Tune & Time/Mask

Wind was biting his tongue. It could be barely seen between his teeth, peeking out the slightest bit. Sitting down on a log as he was, back teetering dangerously back and forth from exhaustion, it was a tad concerning.

Or it would be if Time wasn’t already familiar with such a sight. Legend could keep sending the sailors all the sneaky worried glances he wanted, and Wild could try to cook as many of the sailor’s favorite dishes as he could with the ingredients he had, but none of it would make much of a difference.

The long walks had been hard on the sailor, and that summed up with chasing down the latest batch of black blooded monsters from Twilight’s time, the shift to Sky’s era and the subsequent series of favors they completed for the people of Skyloft (which Wild insisted in calling side-quests, Farore knows why), had been taking a toll. Not only on the sailor, of course, as Four could also be seen on the edge of camp laying on top of his bedroll, completely knocked out for the night.

In short, it wasn’t a surprising sight for Time. Wind biting his tongue, the back and forth rocking and the restless ears, flopping up and down without apparent rhythm. It was one of Tune’s tells regarding deep exhaustion.

For a hero used to adjusting his posture to the rocking of the waves, long hours spent looking at the horizon with nothing in sight, this particular adventure was draining. Then again, it was one of Tune’s tells, not Wind’s. Even though they were the same person, it was only in the way that Mask and Time had once been one in the same. That was probably why the others were concerned.

Casting a quick look in Warrior’s direction, the captain didn’t seem to notice anything odd. Probably not realizing this was something out of the ordinary for Wind, since it was so normal to see from Tune. So, since the captain was out, it was up to Time.

Getting up with creaking knees that made Hyrule snicker, Time walked towards the sailor, dropping to the ground next to the log in which Wind sat.

“Hey.”

Goddesses, Time cringed internally. An accomplished warrior he may be, but casual conversation was not his forte.

“Hey there.”

Then again, not that it mattered if Wind was so out of it to not notice.

The thought of getting Legend’s ice rod to see if Wind’s peeking tongue would stick to the icy orb did cross Time’s mind. The reaction would have been priceless, all wide eyes and betrayed looks. Time could picture it. He was quick to discard it.

After all, a prank like that would lose effectiveness if it was expected. Tune’s reaction had been so memorable he still remembered vividly to this day.

“You want to talk about whatever has you down?”

A grunt. A negative, then. Not that it surprised Time, he had been expecting this kind of response.

Rummaging through his pack, he looked consideringly at some loose parchment, then thought again and grabbed one of his newer journals, with barely a name (which they shared, so it wouldn’t be an issue) and a little log of the last couple of time jumps.

After some time just letting the silence fester, Time asked again, just to get the same negative response. Plan b, then.

In the end, Time passed the journal and some ink to Wind, who looked at them uncomprehending.

“Here, take it.”

Little hands did take the items, peeking tongue retreating to the insides of the mouth as downturned lips showed confusion.

“It helps sometimes, to draw instead of talk. If you’re too tired, or just don’t want to talk, then doodle some.”

“I’m not a little kid.”

The indignation would have been endearing if it wasn’t funny as hell, because he had said those exact same words to Tune all those years ago (or to come. It was a matter of perspective. Time magic was confusing like that).

“I know.” Time patted the cover of the leatherbound journal pointedly. “I use them too, and I’m grown up, aren’t I?”

That got a laugh. A win on Time’s book.

“Grown? More like old.”

With a fond smile, Time messed Wind’s hair, who protested the treatment heavily. And yet, the weight against his hand increased, seeking contact and reassurance, as Time knew it would.

“Here, let me show you some of my doodles.”

And when Wind criticized how badly Time drew everything BUT horses, the man shrugged.

“Take it up with the guy who taught me to draw in the first place if you’re so bothered.”

“And how the hell am I supposed to do that? I probably won’t even met him, ever!”

“Oh, believe me, you will.”

Years later-ago-somewhen, when there was a war that included different time periods, fought over a hero that wasn’t supposed to awaken so soon yet had to, with two displaced kids holding the same sacred title as the captain, a certain sailor had a realization.

He looked down at his hands in horror, then up towards the sky in despair as he yelled.

“Oh my goddesses, I can’t believe that-that-“

Mask pouted scowled, used by now to the antics but no less inconvenienced.

“Are you gonna teach me to draw Epona or not?”

“Shut it, this is your fault in the first place!”

“Sure” Mask shrugged, wanting the dramatics to be over with. The chances of it working were slim, but never zero. At least it would speed it up. Hopefully.

“On my pride as an artist, you will learn how to draw something else other than horses, that I swear!”

Mask sighed. “Okay. But Epona first.”

Mask never ended up learning to draw anything else other than horses during the two years that followed that interaction.

[dawnagustd]

the ironed blacksmith || jjk

The queen has made her list and checked it twice. She’s visiting those who have been naughty, and punishing them in ways that are oh so nice.

- Part of the Unholy Night Series.  

➻ title: the ironed blacksmith  ➻ pairing: blacksmith!jungkook x f!reader  ➻ genre: fantasy | holiday | magic | smut  ➻ word count: 1.4k  ➻ rating: 18+    ➻ warnings: unprotected sex | cum shots/cum play | overstimulation | more fat ass cock !!! | degradation | hard dom!jk | sub!reader | bdsm | sadist!jk | restraints(spreader bar) | degradation/heavy name calling (slut, bitch, whore) | controlled orgasms | pull out method | doggystyle | missionary | rough sex | mentions gagging | pain kink | this bitch is crying again | begging | wrist pinning | spanking | mentions branding | mentions teasing | mentions bullying(back story) | mentions infidelity | a bit of aftercare | we know how we end these so yeah... rip koo’s feelings | I think that’s all      ➻ author’s note: Can y’all believe we’re almost done? Thanks again @taechwitaaah for helping me clean these up. I hope everyone is enjoying themselves. Love you !!

The thing with Jungkook is… 

These bitches are always trying to fix him. And every goddamn time, they end up broken. A pair of Bambi eyes, tattoos, and pouty lips have never gotten your attention. But tonight, you’ll give him a try. 

You found the bitter blacksmith working hard on Christmas Eve while blasting his alternative rock to tune out the cheerful spirits of Heauxville. He answered the door with a scowl but couldn’t resist the urge to blow off some steam.

See, Jeon used to be a tiny kid. Some of the town’s most respected citizens used to bully him around. But those were the old days. 

Now he’s larger, stronger, and a whole lot meaner. He also has a thing for treating the town’s residents like shit, especially the wives of the ones who put him through hell. They allow Jungkook to treat them just as poorly and embarrass their family name. 

He lures them in with those dreamy eyes, and once he’s bent them over a few times, he sends them on their way. They’re ruined, and soon after—divorced and lonely. All that is left for them to do is send their lover boy gifts and hope he reconsiders denying their love.

But Jungkook’s heart is stone-cold. He doesn’t give a fuck about your feelings, darling.

…..

“Fuck! You feel so good, Jungkook.” 

Ever since Jungkook threw you down here, the only thing you’ve been able to see through your blurred vision are the raging flames from the fire. Your watery eyes create a thick film that alters your vision. The rasp in your voice sounds like you’ve been screaming for hours, and it feels like you have. You knew he’d push limits, but you’ve endured a lot more than you bargained for tonight.

You’ve been spanked and branded until your ass turned sore and red. Your cunt has been teased until you cried, and your body has been bent in every possible way. You’ve lost track of time; there’s no telling how long you’ve had your face buried in this rug, your back arched, and your ass in the air.

The straps on the spreader bar dig into your skin, but you haven’t even noticed. You’re too busy trying to remember your own name, and keep your sanity.

“Whore, did I ask you to speak?” 

Jungkook spits venom each time he speaks. You’d be lying if you said his harshness didn’t make your cunt drip. The very first time he addressed you as whore you were a mess. 

“No, but—”

He smacks your ass before you can finish, bringing a fresh wave of tears to your eyes, and arousal to your core.

“Well, shut the fuck up,” he growls in your ear. “…Or I gag you.”

You don’t take his threat lightly. If Jungkook takes away your ability to scream his name, you’ll probably lose your mind. You already can’t move an inch while being restrained in this position. You let out a sob every time his cock enters your guts.

You can understand why one would take being treated like trash; Jungkook is addicting. You can’t get enough, and even though he has a heart of ice, you know he’s loving the way you feel too.

“I told you I’d wipe that smirk right off your face, didn’t I?” he grunts.

You’re trying to hear what he’s saying, but it’s hard to do when you’re this drunk off of cock. 

When the force of his thrusts sends you flying forward, his hands are already in the position to pull you back on his dick. You have zero control of your body in this position. You’re only a couple of holes for him to fuck. And for whatever stupid reason, that makes you proud.

“Answer me, bitch!” 

He slaps your ass to grab your attention. The sting ripples and spreads all over your skin. Your arousal leaks uncontrollably, ruining the surface beneath you.

“Jungkook, please!”

He scoffs and continues to fuck you like he’s got somewhere to be after this.

“Please, what?” he asks. “Use some fucking words. If you know how.”

“I can’t hold it anymore, Jungkook,” you press.

He leans over your body and places his head on top of yours while he continues to wreck you from behind. 

“You’re pathetic.”

“I know,” you whisper. “I’m sorry.”

He frees you from your restraints and flips you over. His eyes are dark and filled with desire. You know he’s about to give you everything he has, and you are more than thankful to accept.

“Keep your eyes on me, and I’ll think about it,” he mutters. 

Jungkook opens your legs, creating space for himself. You try to pull him closer, but he quickly pins your hands above your head. “And don’t fucking touch me either.”

He enters your pussy before you can apologize. It wouldn’t have been sincere anyway. You’re desperate; you’ll say anything right now.

“Fuck!” you gasp.

Jungkook’s cock isn’t just thick. It fills you and still has inches to spare.

“This is the only thing sluts like you are good for… Lying on your back and taking cock.”

You spread your legs wider as if he can go any deeper.

“Use me, then.” 

It’s more of a plea than a request, but Jungkook complies, nevertheless. Your legs wrap around him when his movements quicken. 

Jungkook’s grunts and moans let you know he’s as close to his release as you are.

Your needy voice calling out his name only motivates him to fuck you harder. Your pussy quivers for more and more, and he continues to feed you until you’re satisfied. You’re suddenly overwhelmed with pleasure and Jungkook senses your orgasm rolling in before you can even warn him.

“Come,” he commands.

You want to squeeze your eyes shut, but you remember his instructions and resist the urge. 

“That’s it. Come all over my dick.”

Your mouth opens to scream, but nothing comes out. Your nails dig into your palm as you try to cope with the intensity of the pleasure. The high seems to last for several minutes before you finally come down.

Jungkook waits until you’ve relaxed before he pulls out and jerks his cock until he paints your pussy with his cum, and you prop yourself up on your elbows to watch him smear it all over your abdomen and thighs.

He’s the first to speak after he’s cleaned you up with his shirt.

“You did good, baby. That was hot.”

“Yeah… It was.”

“We should do it again, you know? I don’t know anyone who can take that much.”

Jungkook helps you up. You have to grab onto his biceps to steady your wobbly legs. He finds humor in your stance; it’s the first time you’ve seen him smile. He should do it more often.

“You should know how this goes, Jungkook,” you remind him.

The blacksmith nods, coming to terms with the fact that he’s the one who’s been wrecked this time. You offer him a smile, the best you’re capable of, and prepare to leave.

“Well, goodnight. Enjoy your cookies; they smell delicious.” 

Your eyes gesture toward the freshly baked dozen you brought from Seokjin’s bakery. He’ll receive at least twenty more of them tomorrow morning.

Before you can walk away, a persistent Jungkook grabs your waist and tries to convince you to reconsider.

“Stay?” he suggests. “Have one with me?”

His eyes are so hopeful, so afraid of rejection for the first time since he was a kid. The tables have turned once again, and he hates being on this side. 

You can hear how fast his heart is beating and sense how he’s hanging on by a thin thread. It’d be hard for anyone to turn him down with the kind of expression he’s presenting to you. But unfortunately for him, you aren’t just anyone.

“Now why would I ever do something like that, Jungkook?”

You slip by him and make your way to the front door. The last thing he hears is cackling as you disappear into the night. The sound will forever give Jungkook chills.

He isn’t sure what you’ve done to him, but he doesn’t like the feeling. He wanted to yell at you, but he also wanted to beg you to stay. However, he didn’t do either of those things. Nothing came out.

…Because you left him empty.

“And they say I’m the mean one,” Jungkook thinks to himself.

[deberiaestarescribiendo]

Beg the sea for mercy (Sailor!Joelx Mermaid Reader)

They say the sea has some power over souls. It understands something that lies underneath flesh and bones, and it sings a song that appeals to those who are wounded.

Pairing: Sailor!Joel MillerxMermaid Reader

(The mermaid is described but it is a humanoid creature and for the most the aspects of her described are the more "creature" parts of her than physical description, once she's a human, she is not described except for being curvier and having hair) Joel calls her "girl" and she has her own POV in some parts

Themes and warnings: sea (a little bit of talasophobia I guess), depression, alcohol and drug comsuption, bodily horror, breeding "kink" not to give much away but the mermaid needs Joel for something. Smut but not super detailed, blood and violence.

This came to me a few years ago with Florence+The Machine Mermaids ( final chapter is actually a verse of the song)and watching The Lighthouse. "Future Days" is included here and actually checking the lyrics it fitted perfectly but I know it can be controversial since in the game is a very important between Joel and Ellie.

Also on AO3

They say the sea has some power over souls. It understands something that lies underneath flesh and bones, and it sings a song that appeals to those who are wounded.

Far from the land and the people, its roars and constant changes remind humans that it cannot be controlled. The crashing of the waves and the boat fighting its way over them is like the sound inside his body: the blood running, the heart beating, the bones cracking, soft and constant.

Joel needs those sounds to believe that his heart is still beating, that he is still alive, even if it feels he had died many years ago.

The sea is a welcoming mistress for lost souls. At land, all he did was bury himself in pills and alcohol. He numbed his head so his thoughts would stop being of his daughter last breath, how fast she was breathing, her cries, his shirt wet, warm and sticky over his chest.

I know, baby, I know.

I gotta get you up, babygirl

He remembers getting her corpse up of the ground, and all Joel Miller was, was left in the puddle of her daughter’s blood on the grass. The man that lived after that was dead, a zombie.

Joel found the fact of having to get back to his old life unbearable. How would he be able to do the same things he did when Sarah was alive?

And after trying to kill himself and failing, he ran away. Doing dodgy works here and there, using his rage and muscle for whomever paid the most so he could get enough pills and whisky to pass out every night.

In the dark loop that his life had become, he found Cap. Nobody could tell how old he was or from where that thick accent could come from or even his real name. He called Joel kid which implied an older age, but he couldn’t point out if he was that much older than him.

He told him about his boat and their route to the pacific all the way down and back.

“8 months out, open sea and more money you will make in any other place”.

He got on the Perseus on Sarah’s birthday after swallowing a pill and a bottle of Jack. Cap looked at him up and down:

“Whatever you do after your shift is up to you. But on duty hours you stay sharp, kid”.

He did. Soon enough he didn’t feel his hands shaken and he could sleep almost soundly every night. The sea sang its song, the low hums of the machinery and the gentle waves, and he was rocked like a baby in a crib. He still drank each night. Sergey, part time cook and fisherman, served every meal with a shot of vodka.

“To keep you warm, strong.” He flexed his pale arm under the bright yellow overalls.

The nights at the edge of the world were long, too far away from land, any land, that Joel thought the sun would not rise again. For days he would wake up at 2 A.M and work up until midday, but the nets were coming empty.

“Fucking shit” he muttered after another day of nothing.

“Don’t curse at the sea, son, she will give her share when she’s ready. We just have to keep on begging”. Cap said and patted his back.

They were so far away; the radar never showed any passing ship.

The sky was so bright, Joel saw the Milky way for the first time. That white spur of cosmos full of stars brighter than any artificial light he had never seen before.

The sea was so calm the light drew silver lines over the soft waves, the soft push of them crushed against the boat, when he saw it.

A shadow, barely a head above water. If it weren’t for those silver lines, a glitch on the reflection of the sky above, he wouldn’t have seen it.

And as soon as he stepped closer to the edge, it disappeared.

That night the nets were once again empty. Before they let the machinery rewind them and throw them again, he found it. A perfect seashell, the conch turned on itself in a mix of pink like roses and white as the seafoam.

He grabbed it and put it on his pocket and didn’t get it out until he was on his bunk bed.

Joel touched its coarse exterior, the small waves made of years of the ocean’s erosion. The seashell had an opening on its middle, bright pink and soft to the touch almost like flesh. His calloused fingertips got over the opening tracing from the tip to the end. He could hear the sea coming from it and he fell asleep with it on his hand. Then the dreams started.

He dreamt he was underwater, as deep and black as the universe. His lungs were caving in, the water of the ocean filling him in its cold arms.

That’s when he saw her. His eyes searched for the moonlight that pierced the water on the reflection of her fins. They were silver with a shade of black. In the darkness he could distinguish her shape, long, longer than any animal he had seen. She propelled herself with her tail and pushed the water with her arms. She danced around him ignoring that he was dying, for a moment he thought that maybe that was what she e waited for. She turned and spin almost like she was having fun of his suffering.

In his dream, he reached for her, beg even if words could not come out of his mouth. She came, a cloud of silver and darkness of her hair. She grabbed him from his waist, hard so hard Joel expelled all his oxygen. He screamed but she grabbed his jaw, sharp nails scratching his skin.

She was a vision. Something human and not at the same time. Her eyes were all black, bigger in her head, her skin was cold and soft even if a bit viscous, her lips were pale, and she opened her mouth. Was it a smile? And her teeth where sharp, white as pearls. She sealed her lips to him, and he tasted blood. He fought against her, but she was stronger. Her hand pressed against his nape when he felt her nails scratching his scalp.

He was too tired, too close to hypoxia and then he felt the air, sweet and cold, that she was transferring, under her ears, her gills opened and closed.

She held him, her nails didn’t pierce him anymore but cradle his head, he felt his heart slowing down and then the siren woke him up. It was time for another shift.

The dream came to him every night, and every night he had to get through the agony of dying before he could touch her, each night he fought less and less, until weeks after finding the conch, he submerged himself in the depth of the sea fearlessly, open arms waiting for her to come save him.

“You got your head elsewhere, kid” Joel had read the captain lips, but he signed his cancelling noise headset.

The captain repeated the same sentence until Joel rolled his eyes and he knew he had understood him.

The red light on top of the ceiling and the deep siren alerted them to step out as the boat open its vault to welcome the nets. For weeks they had come empty, but that night the cables were tense teasing that they had a great catch for once.  From the black waters, the bodies of thousands of fish jumped in silver.

Sergey and the captain cheered.

“She blessed us, I told you, kid” “We just need to keep on begging and now we thank her”.

The captain stepped on the nets over the slugs and small conches. He got close to the edge, Joel crossed fast to stop him, but the old man kneeled on the edge, getting a knife from his boot, he slashed his hand and raised to the moon, the blood fell black as if they were tears from the sky above. Joel heard him pray.

Thank you for providing us with such a bounty. We are thankful for your gifts, let us go back safely to shore.

Sergey shook his head and muttered “Crazy”

After all the fish were put on refrigeration, they gathered in the kitchen, the guys from the AM shift too as Captain had granted a day off for everybody. Sergey took the opportunity to cook a special meal and open his best vodka, the one he kept on a locked cabinet. “For special occasions only” he poured the shots and served each man a generous ration of a fish stew.

“Who did you thank back there?” Joel asked, the captain had cured his hand with badges that had an already a faint maroon stain on them.

“The sea, son, who else?” he chuckled.

“You cut your hand for the sea?” Joel raised an eyebrow and pointed to the wounded hand.

“You are new, you will learn. The sea is not made for us to stay and pillage. You have to give something back if you want to be blessed “

“Is some kind of religion or what?

“Don’t be a fool. There are many gods on the land, and none will show their power as the sea does. She will teach you quickly not to bother her or mock her, son”.

“Is a she then, a goddess?”

“Are you mocking me, kid?” the captain through his spoon on his plate and the rest of the men looked at them.

“I’m just curious as to why you will cut your hand”.

The storm arrived two days after. Joel tried to control his fear, his trembling hands when the sea turned grey and the waves covered the ship, again and again they hit higher. They had to get back to shore but the currents were too strong, they kept sending them deeper. There was no signal on the radio or radar. Isolated the days seemed eternal, they were completely covered most of the time, but sometimes, Joel could see the sky opening and the thunderstorm lighted up the stars. At night, for the briefest of time, the air was on fire when the lightnings stroke, he could see the dark waves coming as they hit the ship when it was pitched black.

One of those dark waves swallowed the ship whole eventually. When Joel fell  in the dark waters, the waves made impossible to hear the rest of the men or even to see them in the dark, once he was over one wave, another would drown him. The life jacket made him float up, but he could just take one small breath and the sea would push him down.

He was tired, exhausted in minutes and so He let go. And unlocked his lifejacket.

Let the sea take me. I want to go with my babygirl.

Sarah.

Sarah

He heard her, laughing, saw her killer smile in the stars calling back to him. For once all he remembered was not her dying and he knew it was time.

It wasn’t like in his dreams. The ocean was dark and cold. The currents too strong for him to even know what’s up and down. And soon he let the water in invade him with violence and somehow peace.

He remembered dark eyes glittering in a dark cave. If it wasn’t for the sand he touched and the air he felt, Joel would have sworn he had died and was falling still in the dark pitch of the ocean.

When those eyes approached him, he heard her crawl, creeping her wet and cold body over him. She reached for his chest with long nailed hands, each finger connected to the other by thin skin.

Joel heard his voice break when he tried to scream, but nothing came out but a pathetic whine.

The siren reached his head, those black pools staring at him, her mouth opened with sharp teeth. And then she posed her head on his chest and began singing. It pierced straight to his heart, through skin and bone and then his world in that tiny cave went silent. Only her voice could be heard, not his cries, not his heart or blood still running, not his pain or Sarah’s last breath, just the creature signing.

He woke up when light hit his eyes, bright and white against the clear stone. Sand on his feet and his hands, cold and grounding. He was alive.

“You are awake”.

He turned his head to his feet, scared to find the creature, instead a girl sat next to him. Naked if just for a thin throw she had tighten with a piece of rope. Joel tried to lift his body but his vision blurred and when he tried to speak his throat was dry and hurt.

“Here. Drink”

She kneeled before him and poured water on his lips. Sweet and cold, when the thin dribble stopped, he tried instinctively to raise for more.

“Not so fast”

“Please” he begged, when she raised her hands again, Joel saw she was holding his shell, that one he found on the boat. Its perfect pink spiral holding fresh water to his mouth, it was a dream. Maybe he was indeed drowning still, his braincells dying little by little with the lack of oxygen.

But the sand on his hands, the pain on his limbs felt so real.

“Rest” she pressed her palm on his chest “I bring more water”.

She raised, the white thin cloth hanging around her body, she went inside the cave where he could not see her. Joel tried to raise again this time, slower and surer, his arms finally feeling strong enough to press his palms on the ground. His vision was still blurry, and the light hit him too hard.

He inspected the cave, empty if it wasn’t for the improvised bed he was on, a pile of clothes, fading and harsh for the saltpetre, he found his shirt and pants and his fishing overalls, an another one, an another, an another. All from the Perseus.

“Here” the girl followed his gaze and put his hand on his shoulder “You need to rest”

“Where are the men from my boat?”

“Water” she said, her hand on his chin turning his face to the shell. Joel didn’t know if she wanted him to drink or answering his question. He drank again.

“I need to come home” he said, maybe it was a prayer or a wish, he hadn’t called anything home since his daughter. “I need to call somebody; they must be searching the ship”.

The woman squared her shoulders.

“Nobody is searching”

“Please, you need to help me, I have to come back, they must be looking for me…my family”.

“Sarah?” she kneeled again suddenly less tense.

“What? How?”

“You speak in dreams, call her..cry for her” she spoke softly, tilted her head awaiting a answer.

“My daughter…she…” he couldn’t say, she had been trying for years to tell, my daughter was, Sarah was my daughter, he couldn’t bare speak of her in the pass.

“My brother must be worried, we need to call the coast guards, somebody to bring me back to…”

“Nobody is coming” she pushed him firmly to the bed again, for a moment her eyes grew dark as those he saw in his dreams under water and in this cave after she had saved him.

Joel accepted her care for a day more. She brought her water and fish. The fish still moving and trying to escape its fate until she slapped them against the rock. Hair and body dripping cold water from the sea, the girl gutted the fish for him, tearing away their spine and head and presenting him their still fresh body with bloody nails. She ate one herself but with less pleasantries and bite the half of its body while blood dipped from her chin.

After he could get up by himself the next day when she was gone to get food, Joel made an expedition out of the cave. His hope sank when he saw how small the isle was. A piece of dark rock and steep hills, with thin trees with black roots and dark green leaves. The sea crushed against it violently, its roar was astounding, on the small coast, he found pieces of the ship. He climbed, almost out of breath, to the highest hill he found.

The sky was cloudy, big masses of white dust and wind over that remote corner of the world, and all he could see down was a never-ending sea, no ships, no continent, nothing but water.

He felt the waves crushing his ribs again, his heart. He would never leave this isle, he would never be home, never see his brother and explain so many things. How the world crumbled when Sarah died, how he could not see a future, the person he became, the fear of looking and the mirror and see his soulless eyes. He wanted to come back home, he wanted to be able to call something his home once again.

He felt the rage coming, like bile coming up his gut, and he screamed, he screamed, and he kick the rocks until he was tired.

When he came back to the cave, she was waiting.

She frowned at him, she had already gutted her catch and sat on the clothes of the dead men with dead fish on her hands.

“You need to rest” she repeated.

“This can’t be real” he ignored her

On his way down, Joel had convinced himself he was imagining her, that finally the drugs, the alcohol and the depression combined with a concussion was making her up.

She looked at him and tended her hand “Eat” the fish was blue as dark as the blood that pooled on the siren’s hand.

“Leave me alone” he slapped her hand away. He wanted a whiskey so bad, he wanted to swallow the pills one by one, they probably thought him dead anyway. Tommy must have been informed by now. What was the point.

He hadn’t heard the girl standing and taking the fish back, she cleaned the sand as much as she could and presented it again, this time with a serious look “Eat”

“Leave me the fuck alone!” Joel tried to push her away, but she grabbed him by his throat and smacked him to the pile of the dead men clothes. She was stronger than him, much more. She straddled his lap and pressed her dirty nails on his cheeks.

Her breath was warm and her body cold and wet. He blamed his addictions and completely fucked up brain, that all his thoughts were about her body on top of him. He was aware of her nakedness, of the slump skin of her hips and thighs pressing his hips of how she was barely covered and how he could see her perked nipples under the damped fabric.

“eat” she repeated, and he opened his mouth.

She tore a small part and pushed the meat on his lips, softly, her fingers tasted of salt and blood.

When he had eating enough, she smiled. A beautiful, sweet, almost innocent smile, if not for the blood on her teeth.

“You will get strong soon”

The days fell and came, and he couldn’t move. He didn’t want to face the outside and small world of that minuscule isle.

He cried most of the time, sometimes the tears will just run on his cheeks, sometimes he would loudly sob while the siren was away. She brought him different food: octopus that she shredded with her bare hands, crabs and oysters, she also started bringing shells and showed them to him.

“beautiful” she said presenting another one, and she would look disappointed every time he didn’t react.

And so, she started singing.

She cradled his head on her lap, her sharp nails scratching the greying hairs again and again.

Her voice was soft and deep. Sometimes it was just a hum, other she would vocalise and others she would sing in a language he didn’t understand. Long syllables and soft words. Even if she used unknown words or just sounds, Joel understood. She sang about love and longing, about death and loss. Sometimes he started to cry again in the middle of her song, and she hushed him like a baby. With her voice and her hands, she caressed his wounds and his heart.

In the night, they lay together, and she tangled herself to him. She was soft and warm and smelled like salt and sand. Her heartbeat steady, mouth softly open, features relaxed, if she noticed that sometimes he caressed her leg, from ankle to thigh, the one she tossed over his body, she didn’t say.

Sometimes she turned and grabbed his arm cuddled herself under him, as if he was a blanket over her. She placed his hand between her breasts, her slow and steady breath should have calmed him. But she pushed herself against him, her back against her belly, her hips between his hips.

If she noticed that he was painfully hard, she didn’t say.

Sleep would find him eventually, but that’s when the nightmares started.

“Do not cry, Joel” she kissed the tears running on his cheeks, and she started singing, and he’d cried more. He cried until he was empty and exhausted, until he could fill the sea and drown.

The siren sang every night, and he began to forget why he was crying and that he should think about coming back.

He indeed felt stronger after a while, his body had forgotten the effort of fighting the waves and drowning, his mind nonetheless was tired, lazy, he woke up without any will of getting up, the exterior of the cave was a minuscule and harsh natured place, the cave was warm, the girl fed him, sang and took care of him.

Most times he didn’t want her to move, and he would protest when she said she got to go.

That’s how they kissed the first time.

“Don’t go, I’m not hungry” he begged, hands on her hips, kneeling before her.

“I need the sea” she smiled softly and bent down, her hands on his face like a child, she kissed her frown and then his lips. They were warm, soft, Joel had never felt something so soft as her lips and her skin in years. After so much hardship and pain, then there was her. But she walked out of the cave, leaving him on his knees still marvelling of the kiss. Joel shook all the thoughts that were spiralling on his head and followed her.

The day was covered in white fluffy clouds leaving the waters in a milky blue colour. The girl breathed deeply and took out the cloth that covered her. He watched her as the waters kissed her feet and she giggled. She looked at him just once before running to the depth.

Joel waited and waited; the sun was almost setting. The clouds were the colour of ripe orange, when she came back.

That silver and black tail splashed on the coast, and she let her body be carried with the waves.

For a moment she was limp on the sand, the long tail he remembered, her hands and digits connected with a thin and see-through tissue. He approached her, worried, what if she had died, what if he was left alone in here. The loud noise that invaded his heart and mind years ago when Sarah died, came back, he couldn’t move, not even say a word.

But the siren shrieked, loud and high, her long nails digging in the sand. Her body trembled, her spine curved upwards, like an invisible current went through her, he saw her skin tear from the inside out. Her silver scales breaking, blood covering the sand and the white foam of the waves became a faded pink. From the mess of her skin tearing a human leg came out, her feet stuck on the meaty mess of her former body. She crawled out of the parts of her tail when she cried out again sounding like a wounded animal, Joel had to cover his ears, the skin between her fingers melted, her bones shrinking to a delicate size, her hands pushed upwards, she raised with splatters of her old body still attached to her human skin. Her eyes were still dark and all black pupils. She stepped on wobbly legs towards Joel before collapsing on the ground.

He picked her up from the sand and carried her to the cave.

“Please tell me what to do” Joel whispered, desperate “do not leave me here”.

The siren smiled softly, tired.

“I will stay” she muttered before falling sleep.

Joel waited hours, watching her chest going up and down, checking her pulse. Cleaned her from her fish flesh and blood and cuddled her body when the moon rose white and full in the night.

His eyes were heavy when she started to move in her sleep. Her eyes were now human when she looked at him.

“I thought you were about to die”.

She frowned.

“What happened to you?”

“I need the sea every full moon, I need to be me”.

“Does it hurt?”

She nodded.

“I thought you were to leave me alone” he whispered, eyes closed, and heart opened, the words came out of his lips like a confession. You’re the only thing I got now, I won’t survive without you, why did you kiss me?

She cuddled next to him, he felt her warm body against him and her hand on his cheek, collecting the tears he didn’t know he was crying.

“Joel” he didn’t open his eyes” I’m here”.

When still hid his face, she came closer, search for his face and his eyes until he did. The siren, now girl, was as beautiful as the moon, perfect and warm smile, under him, naked. He felt his cheeks burn in thoughts he should maybe not have. But she closed the distance even more, rose on her elbows to be face to face, lips so close he could feel her breath. “I’m here”

The kiss was innocent as first, as sweet and pure as the one she had given in the morning. But soon he was biting her lips, invading her mouth with his tongue, biting her chin and her neck, her breasts.

He kissed her stomach, reverently caressing her new skin, the human skin she had changed for him, grabbed her hips, the bones she had cracked for him, to walk with him in this forgotten place and he opened her legs and kissed each of her knees before kneeling between them. She let her legs fall on the clothes of the dead men, revelling her sex. Joel kissed and drank from her opening pink lips. The siren sighed, tugged his hair hard and harder the more he kissed and sucked at her, he felt her legs tremble and shake and smiled. He had forgotten the beauty and the taste of the pleasure of a woman, not only a random woman in nameless bar, drunk on pain and whisky. This girl was made for him, was only his, they were alone in the world.

He kissed her blissful face still gasping and heavy breathing. Joel pushed her legs around his hips and penetrate her with a shallow push, held her head in his hands. Mine, mine, he thought the more he felt her cunt pulling him in.

————————————————————————

Mother said they love differently than us, that men take and take until soon they were kings in the land. My sisters that had already passed through this warned me about their fear: “Fear will turn them violent” they said. And so, I tried to make him delicate with me. I sang when he was sad, I hugged his body with mine. I saw how his eyes roam my body and how they shine when I say his name.

How he cried because I hurt, how he awaited on the shore for me. How he touched my new skin and how his hunger started.

But they didn’t tell me about what was going to happen to us, to our bodies. Joel kissed me and at first his beard, coarse on my skin, was all I could think of, but his lips were soft, he bit my lips and it awaken something in me. His hands were not soft either, and this new body is too delicate, this skin too thin and sensitive, I felt my hairs tensing on my arms on my legs and my nape when he kissed my breasts. I felt elated, floating in the air, spiralling so fast when he kissed me between my legs. He pushed me to the feeling when I tried to flee. I tried to get him off me, but my hands wanted to ask for more. Such sweet contradiction.

I felt my legs tremble, my stomach tight, so tight I thought this body was again turning into something new. And then, he let me fall. His eyes were dark when he grabbed my face, pressed his weight over me, I couldn’t move and was so tired and expectant. He pierced my body, and it was harsh and sweet as his kisses. He pushed inside of me, again and again, touched something inside that hurt and made my belly tight again, my legs ache on his hips. His warm breath on my neck, the sand harsh against my back as shark’s skin and I just tried to focus on the white walls of the cave, to centre myself before falling again. I heard him say something over his moans, but I couldn't tell.

He spilled inside me with two finals hard push and fell to the side, one of his hands still on my cheek.

When I rose, I felt tired and my body ached, my thighs were sticky, his sweat and mine, his semen and my blood. I touched my cunt, swollen, sensitive and full of him. My fingers gathered some of my wetness, reddish and warm still from us.

“Oh no” Joel rose immediately when he saw my hand, turned my palm to him. “Oh no, lord, I’m sorry” I didn’t know why he apologise, but he kissed me again, on my shoulders and on my face “I hurt you” he said when I looked at him puzzled. “Does it hurt?” He placed his palm over my sex and I flinched.

“I didn’t think… you have just turned I” his cheeks were red and he brushed his wet hair back “I didn’t mean to hurt you, honey”.

He grabbed my bloody fingers and kissed them. He didn’t care it stained his lips and his face.

I kissed him how he did to me. Open mouth, tasting him with my tongue. He cleaned me softly and threw his shirt over me.

I slept tired, aching, sedated and wanting him more. Joel woke me up with a shell, a purple one, just like I did days ago when he stopped talking.

“It’s for you” he had pierced in the middle and passed a cord of fibre of the black trees of the isle to make a collar. Joel slept beside me that night, covered me with his body, at first, he didn’t move, he didn’t try to do it again. But the moon was clear and round in the sky. I could see the shadows it created on his face, and it was beautiful.

I touched him, his bare chest, golden for the sun, he had scars, the skin whiter and taunt there. He had sparse hair there, thicker on his belly and over his cock. I touched him without knowing how and he sighed, I followed on his legs, strong the muscles under his thighs were evident even if he was asleep. I wished my legs were like that, see what they can do, how fast I could be, how other grounds will feel on my feet. I was mesmerised by him, and I didn’t realise he had woken up.

“Can you walk fast?” I asked.

“Do you mean run?” I nodded. “Well, not like I used to, honey.”

“What is honey?” I wondered

“Honey? It is something sweet, like you” He smiled and let me roam his body, his calves until his feet.

“Why did you save me?” He asked after the silence had filled our cave

I looked at the moon, it was as full as it was the day I saw him. Why him? I don’t know, he found the conch, he was stronger.

“The tides brought me to you” I answered to let it rest, as it was much happenstance as it was fate, his and mine.

“But now, on this isle… why?”

I looked at his dark eyes fixed on mines

“ I wanted to know “

“To know what?”

What would my mother do? My sisters? Did they allow these questions? It was a full moon already, recovering had already taken so much time, and I hadn’t completed the mission

“To know you” it was a almost a lie, a half truth.

“Have you met another man?” I saw the answer he wanted in his eyes.

“No. The other men were dead” I saw his gaze dropping to their clothes

“Did they make it to the isle?”

I shook my head as he did when he refused eating. “They were dead, their bodies floated to the coast I sent them back to the sea”

“Why?”

“They do not serve a purpose here” you and me, we do, I thought. You were barely alive I could save you, you could save me.

He looked at me as if he was trying to dissect me, I know my mother and sister told me that humans need to understand that they ask too many questions and they can hurt anything just trying to understand. I knew Joel could tear me apart. But I wanted to know too.

“How did you learn to speak to me if you haven’t met other people?”

“We learn fast” I said, we need to survive, we do what we can. I’m young and there are so many things I don’t know and my family told me to come here, and I do not know if it’s working.

“You certainly do, honey” his hand touched mine, he intertwined his fingers to mine, his skin was rugged and scarred, mine was too new I could feel the difference texture of his, that spoke of hardship and the life on earth.

He took my hand and kissed my palm. He rubbed it on his cheek, how soft he could be being so harsh and bigger than me. I took his hand and did the same, he kissed me then, much gentler than before, he let me open my mouth to him at my own pace, he let me touch his body and his scars. I found one near his left temple, the only one that he refused my hand “does it hurt still?” I asked and his eyes shone in the dark of our cave

“Yes, it refuses to heal”  

I kissed it softly waiting for him to push me off, but he didn’t. Joel closed his eyes, his skin wrinkled around them, I trailed down to his mouth.

He caressed me with the tip of his fingers, down my back, my thighs and legs as I had done.

“I will teach you how to run if you wish to “

Joel let me discover his body pulling me on top of his, how his muscles flexed, how his skin tasted. I felt him harden under me, and he let me go at my own pace, he just showed me how to touch his sex, how the stickiness I felt was needed for us to joint, how my body tensed and the fever started by rubbing the top of mine, I let him in slowly watching how his eyes closed and his sighed relaxed. Joel put his hands over my hips and softly moved me like the waves. It was slowed this time, I wanted to see every moment, every breath he took, how his eyes grew dark and feverish, his hands were impatient the more I took, I crashed in him and our breaths resonated in our cave, my body tremble but now I knew I was not falling that Joel will catch me and he did. He kissed my temple and my face caressed my back and my hips, I was sweating, shining and it felt like a dream.

“You’re so sweet to me”

Sweet.

“You’re so beautiful, honey”

Beautiful.

I didn’t know what they meant, but I knew he was also sweet and beautiful to me. I didn’t not want this to end.

She slept on top of him for half of the day, her skin was softly covered in sweat and his. He had thrusted his hip to hers for a few more times. She let him grab her hips open her more. He fucked himself deep into her and she watched him, brow furrowed and lips ajar.

“So sweat, such a good girl”

Joel avoid thinking that she wasn’t exactly a girl or she wasn’t at first. All that existed was this cave, the sea and the heaven between her legs.

He was so drunk in her he had pushed her hips to him, a hand to her back to pull her to his chest as he could carved his chest open and let her nest inside. She bit his chest to control her whines as he pushed more and more until he spilled once more, not thinking, not even minding that she had cut his skin. With bloody lips she smiled satisfied.

He had tried to push her to the side or get out of her but she slapped his hands when Joel tried to.

Once the sun was high in the cloudy sky, she woke.

“Hungry?”

“Yes, but let’s find something else than raw fish?”

Joel though about putting back on the warm sweatpants and undershirt he had wore the night of the wreckage but the girl had just got out naked of the cave and he thought it was silly to cover. They walked around the island. Joel found fruits he hadn’t seen before once he explore being so focused on a way out. On the top of the hill he had once climbed he found a tree with long roots that look strong enough to thread.

He created a small bundle with leaves and carried the food he had found.

“We’ll eat and then I teach you how to run”

She made a grimace when she tasted the fruits, Joel would agree they weren’t the best one, he would’ve loved to give her strawberries and grapes, maybe oranges and sweet peaches.

“Fish is better” she said agreeing to eat but still making a disgusted face.

“I agree this is not the best”

Joel wanted to know more about her and also keep living in this fantasy where she was real and he was somehow the happiest he had been in years, Joel has casted the world away but it had kept coming back now the world had finally let him out. But thinking about knowing more about what she was about how she could even exist made all this dream crumble down.

“What’s your name?”

She looked confused.

“Mine is Joel. You must have one”

“I don’t know “

“You don’t know it?”

“I think we don’t have one”

“On how you call…” he left the words roam in his tongue. Were there more of her? Did she have a family?

He looked at the immense sea before him, the shades of blue and white foam kissing his feet. There must have been more.

“You can give me one” she finally said “call me how you like”

“ I will think about it” he agreed “come on up, it’s time to run”

She lighted up, smiling widely.

Joel started walking on the firm sand faster and faster and she followed watching intently his legs when they started lifting the sand as he grew faster. She giggled though she had less control of her legs at this speed.

She tried to keep up to him grinning widely, chest heaving.

“C’mon, are you going to let an old man win?” He joked

She tried to rush but stumbled with the dry algae on the shore. Joel stopped and came back to her worried. But she laughed still, a delicate hand on her chest. 

“Are you okay?”

“I like running” she giggled. Joel thought his heart exploded. It’s been years maybe an eternity, maybe another life or world since he had made somebody else happy. He felt his own smile on his face like dormant muscles waking up, finding new places in him that were dead. 

The air carried the salt from the sea, the scent of it everywhere from the sand to the algae and the trees and her. His girl, all new and made for him, an apparition in the darkness, his savior in so many ways he could not explain. 

Joel thought she had never been more beautiful that in that moment, the sunset shining on the transpiration on her skin, her joyful laugh, from her belly to her lovely teeth. 

What was miles away wasn’t real, this was, his broken life and heart had drowned in the sea.

the mermaid had picked up a corpse of a man, a carcass and she had breathed life into him.

“We will run as much as you want then”

The girl stood and threw herself into him, still smiling and heavy breathing she let him hold her by the waist back to their cave. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joel taught me so many things. Running was the happiest I’ve felt, my body fills with air and it burns my chest, but I feel my legs hitting the ground carrying me farther and farther, and this laugh it comes all the way up and I cannot stop. 

Joel taught me that he likes to eat other things rather than fish. Every thing here taste too much like earth, warm and sticky. The fruits Joel found were sweet, they get stuck on the back of my teeth and its juices stay for hours on my lips, Joel taught me that’s exactly how sweet things are, like honey, like me. It stays with you. 

He is gentler with me now, delicate, he insisted in carrying some of the trees’ leaves, he split them to threads and took the fishes bones to thread them. When is not working on whatever he’s doing, we lay together. 

He talks to me about his life on land, told me he made things, houses.

What are houses?

Like this cave, he answered 

A place to live. 

He told me about Sarah. 

It was an accident, she was just on our yard and then…she was gone. I could not be home anymore. 

I sing when he gets sad or I kiss him. The way he taught me. I open myself to him. 

I’m not afraid of falling anymore, I embrace this body and how sensitive it is, Joel knows every place he needs to touch to make me spiral and he shows me what I can do for him too. 

I kiss his face, his chest, listen to his heart as he falls asleep. And the moon is starting to disappear, I do not have time. 

The most amazing thing he has showed me it’s fire. He collected some black stones that cut the flesh of fish so smoothly and he showed me how smashing them together, heat appeared. He blew air into it and the light emerged. I gasped and he laughed.

No more raw fish, he promised although I don’t know if that’s good.

He took my hand and at first I pushed him away.

Don’t you trust me?

I was brave and I let him guide my hand to it, it was warm, as warm as Joel. I know I understand. 

Joel is fire and I’m water, Joel is the ground where I ran and the sun that hit my skin and I’ve been cold my whole life, the colours here are brown as his eyes and hair, golden as the sun and the embers of the fire he creates, my skin was cold and slippery as a fish until he got me. This body was made for him, in his image and one day I’ll be back to being cold and being water, slippery in his hands.

“Do you like it?” 

We made love in a no longer dark cave. The cold light of the moon mixed with the warm of the fire just as the two of us were joined, I sat on him, hugged his body, him so deep in mine, he grabbed my head and kissed me, blew breath into my lips in words of love I don’t understand but feel.

My sweet sweet girl all mine 

The next morning I felt it.

Joel said that fire was the thing that made humans evolve. It birthed society and power. 

And now I felt it, inside of me, growing fast as we learned to do, to survive. My mission is completed. And mother and sisters warned me, once it is done, I have to get back. 

I let him sleep for a few hours more, wondering how to cut this thread in my new bones and organs that tights me to him. He wakes up, no longer in nightmares but with a smile looking at me. He sees my tears and holds me immediately. His eyes search mine his big hands holding my head searching for the answer to my sorrow. 

What’s wrong my sweet girl?

I cry harder, I wail for my fate, for the ocean and its rules, for my mother and sister and for him. He tries to calm me, rocks me softly as the sea. And then

“If I ever were to lose you

I'd surely lose myself

Everything I have found dear

I've not found by myself

Try and sometimes you'll succeed

To make this man of me

All my stolen missing parts

I've no need for anymore

I believe

And I believe 'cause I can see

Our future days

Days of you and me

Back when I was feeling broken

I focused on a prayer

You came deep as any ocean

Did something out there hear?

All the complexities and games

No one wins, but somehow, they're still played

All the missing crooked hearts

They may die, but in us they live on

His voice is deep as the ocean roars, I feel the air coming out of his lungs and his heart beating.

I stopped crying and he hums in my ear, I feel his smile “better now? You sang to me on the first day, you healed me” 

I said yes, but I lied. I never felt this, just the opposite of being made so full as he has done. I feel empty, a dark and cold pit has opened inside of me as the ones in the sea bottom. 

He tried to let me down and I held to him fiercely. “I’m not going anywhere, just going to finish our bed” 

“Do you know what a bed is?”

I shake my head

“ we are going to sleep somewhere comfortable, soft and not on sand and some dead men clothes. Maybe I can thread enough of this roots and leaves and make clothes, or a blanket. I don’t know if the weather will always be like this here” 

“Do you want to stay here?” I asked

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you want to come back…home?”

He looks puzzled, his eyes wondering around my face.

“I have no home but here, but you “

I hold my breath, push back the tears until my eyes burn. 

Joel doesn’t understand what has come over her. But she holds her body over his while he’s threading and when he lights the fire. He calls her little monkey but she doesn’t know what they are. 

She is kissing him deep as soon as the sun sets, lays on the sand and opens her legs “please Joel” 

He feels his knees cracking, his back is killing him but he lays on top of her, kisses her from her forehead to her breast, bites her soft skin as he did the first day, open her pink lips, drinking his sweet girl until her legs closed around his head trembling. Joel sighed as he was pull inside her.

“So perfect” he praised, his hands roam the body of his savior, of his lifeline. Words of love got stuck on his tongue, not yet forming he kissed her. 

The slumber found him fast as each night since he was stranded in this island, a deep dream of water and peace. 

He woke up when the light of the first rays hit his eyes. He was cold, the weight of her not as usual on top of him, curled under his arm. He touched the bed around him, she was not there. 

He waited, maybe she grew hungry. But she didn’t come back. Joel started pacing around the beach, the footprints of her feet disappeared with the waves and Joel wondered if she had to be back temporarily. But at sunset, she was not there. He screamed and howled at the moon, he then knew she would not be back, Joel knew she cried for that, he was alone again in the dark far away from anybody. He cried for her until the sun came back.

“Please come back” he whispered, he cried and howled. 

Joel waited until the next sunset until he decided that what the bullet couldn’t achieve years ago, the mighty cliff in the island could, he climbed as the lights of day were dimmed, when a white bright light shone in the vast darkness of the sea.

 A ship. 

He ran, his feet bleeding for the climb on naked feet, cuts on his face from the foliage.  He got shore when they were close scanning with lights on the beach.

The survivor of the Perseus 2 was a miracle. Every newspaper, tv news and video on social media talked about it. How Joel Miller, 45 years old, was found almost two months after the wreckage and disappearing of his ship. The coast guards of many countries had already abandoned the search when a similar boat that went through the same route started finding signs of the wreckage like small bread crumbs on the sea till a tiny isle appeared in the middle of nowhere. Despise being labeled inhabitable centuries back, Joel miller survived and was found in great condition. He didn’t speak for days in the ship, he only insisted in getting in the boat after he had returned to the cave where he had been taken refuge, he didn’t let any other man in. He came back with a pink conch and it is the only thing he carry with himself from that experience. He was left in Texas and didn’t give any interview even if every body wanted his testimony.

Tommy miller picked his brother from the port after years of having no news of him. He found out his brother was officially missing once the Perseus didn’t make it to the next port they were expected to. For two months he wondered how he could go on knowing he had never made peace with him. Until the sea opened up and returned his brother. Tommy Miller didn’t say the things he had rehearsed:

Why did you leave me?

Why didn’t you call me?

Tell me where you went

How did you survive?

He just hugged him.

Now he receives a postcard each month and presents for his baby and his wife Maria, his brother goes to Wyoming for holidays and it’s getting use to texting, e-mails and social media.

Tommy hasn’t asked why but his brother decided to live by the sea. On a cliff to an open ocean, build a house with big windows that only look at the deep blue. And what’s weirder, he has boat, and sails, even has gotten back to sea to that remote part of the world from time to time. 

But he’s happy, open and that’s what counts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He is somebody in that little town, he has made a name for himself, he made the bar counter at the pub he goes every night, a bright and big wooden bar that has already some beer stains prove of so many fun nights of the people’s town. He caresses the wood feeling a sense of pride he has not felt in a long time. He gets a pat on the back and warm smiles from his neighbors, Chris and his little brother who needed a new roof, Tess that needed help with her house repairs after her husband left, bill and frank the pub owners that invite him every night even if he was paid generously for the job.

But every night Joel Miller walks by the sea alone, listening to it and sleeps with the windows open to it, wondering if she will be back. Not in flesh as he mostly thinks now she was a vision, a way of coping, he survived by himself, his brain created that perfect creature to save him, to cure his loneliness. But he still wonders if he can conjure her back to life in his dreams. But nothing comes but the sighs and waves of the sea.

Eventually, he almost forgets and gets a little life, a shop where he sells his wood art and guitars, and offers his hands to whoever needs it. Invites Tess from time to time to coffee and takes her to proper dates. Flights to Wyoming and holds his niece, only sometimes he finds himself by the window touching without realizing it that pink shell that it’s almost now just a decorative item.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sometime when he dreams he feels itm the dark fingers of the sea creeping in his lungs, being lost inside the dark mouth of the ocean and a silver ray swimming towards him. A smile full of blood and flesh of fish, a supple body under him, the sand on his feet. Can it be true?

It was a dream that fade away with the last sip of coffee every morning, sometimes he wouldn’t even remember that he dreamed of it again passed a few minutes. Sometimes he finds himself lost looking at the sea, the waves crushing furiously close to his house. Why did he want to live here? Why was he so adamant to leave the sea?

He had lost something he thinks but he cannot quite put a word for it and the shell lays in his hands without noticing he has pick it up. 

Sometimes the sea brings a song with breeze, a murmur so soft and sad, and when he doesn’t realize it he walks up to the beach beside his house. Since Tess moved he doesn't roam around the beach like that that much and he doesn’t hear it often.

“Joel?” he feels Tess hands embracing him from the back

“Hmm?” 

“I asked you where do you find it?” She has the pink shell in her hand, inspecting it

“I…”

He tries hard to remember, the boat, the men that died, the girl, was it a girl? He remembers a laugh, shiny and delicate like tiny bells, he remembers the cold and chewy flesh of the fish still on his tongue and her kiss, the first one when he was dying biting his lips, no, it was not a girl then, it was…that couldn’t be true. He must have lost oxygen after the wreckage, he must have been dehydrated and disoriented on a tiny isle. There was no girl, he was alone.

“Are you alright?” she looks concerned at him and puts the shell on its place where it serves as a reminder of his survival, how did he do it? He dares not say 

“It was a gift” he finally say 

His eyes wonder on the horizon searching for something he does not even have a word for. The old Joel died on that isle, tore his flesh and bone to become something new, when he arrived at this town he was empty now he had a full house of life and love. His eyes become glassy looking at the waves crushing and although he doesn’t remember what he looks for he is thankful for it.

Deep in those waters, oceans away where the light of the sun does not reach, a siren sings a song about the man he met and had to abandon about the miles she swam to try to save him even her mission was already completed, a baby was inside of her that would ensure the future of her species, she had, as mother had told her, just to make sure the conception happened the soul of the man was irrelevant. But she saved him in more ways than she knows in the deep sea. 

Author's note:

This is sooo long I'm sorry, if you've arrived here first of all thank you, I know this is a weird fic but I hope you like it, if you do, please reblog it's the only way this site works.

*Mangata : the glimmering, roadlike reflection of the moonlight in the water.

[puckpocketed]

hello i was tagged by @18minutemajor for WIP Wednesday. it is not Wednesday but i am also not a cop so . here we gooo!!!!!!! tagging my esteemed colleagues (very politely and with no pressure!!!):

@neonfretra @oensible @sorrellegiance @moregraceful @stereax

@wheelsnipecelebrini

@korshrimpski (EDIT: it won’t?? let me tag you. unless these are on separate lines <3)

what's in-progress in your life <3 writing? art? recipe? skill acquisition?

if any crafty people see this - if ANYONE sees this - and would like to join in, feel free and consider yourself tagged <3 (and tag me back so i can see your stuff!!!) link to 18minutemajor's post if yall curious :3 my VERY long wip dump + ramblings under the cut!

its christmas soon and i like to paint gifts for my friends + and i'm finally revisiting my anime/lineart/inking era (here you are K!! my lineart past, present, and future!! <3) so here are some things i've been working on/coming back to/MAY NEVER FINISH: hockey related:

this is juraj slafkovsky and his dinky little middle part which he can absolutely learn to style into something a little less dinky but never does. i am so charmed by him. i imagine he just rocks it because his pretty privilege supersedes dinky middle parts . LMAO!!

here is Sasuke from my Naruto Hockey AU. I am a little stuck on jersey mockups lol. here he is. our haunted little 1OA who is absolutely normal and regular about his captain (LOUD incorrect buzzer):

personal oc art

wanna know some puckpocketed deep lore? i've never been one to make OCs. i was just not a very creative kid tbh. spent all my time drawing sailor moon instead. i still go back to her sometimes because she is one of my favourite shapes in the WORLD!!

in my 20s i took up playing d&d because of the. uh. plague. <3 and got pretty close to having OCs!! those count right? anyway. here is my tavern-wench-turned-wizard!!! i think i painted this 2 years ago? <- put dates on your works guys it saves lives. her name is Mel (short for Melins (pronounced like melons. on account of her knockers. can you tell i never grew out of my 12 yr old booby/cock joke era?) i revisited Mel recently and have started painting her in earnest again!! :3

I briefly dated someone who was very into streetwear and fashion, and I fell down a techwear/gorpcore/cyberpunk rabbit hole for a couple days out of curiosity. i remember literally zero salient info on any of it except the broad strokes of silhouetting and Vibes. what i emerged with, however, was a ?? sorta OC?? im not sure what to call them. they dont rly have a name or gender. I did this little sheet ages ago + the aborted attempt at a portrait later:

Here are my most recent explorations (i have been doing SOOOO much art. <3) which include:

unfinished character sheet + chibi art. I played with their jacket (much more structured/square/tailored thing) and added a lotta random buckles and belts. i took textiles class years ago and have a little experience in garment construction. and i know for a fact this thing does not make any sense. it hurts me to look at a little bit LMAO so i've paused it while i go draft patterns (badly. i was never good at drafting. i think i may have to break out my scrap fabric stash and hand sew a real life mock-up. HELP!)

here is me having fun with them and imagining them as some kind of cyber-fisherman. the best part of every game is the fishing mini-game to me. i love fishing mini-games so much. I made their hair really big because i wanted them to have big unwieldy hair and the vibes told me i should add more movement to the piece aside from the fishing line. I messed with their jacket AGAIN because i can't stop thinking about what kinda jacket they'd wear. gorp-core ? idk. it sure is something!

gifts for my friends :3

back in my weeb era for real YAYYYY!!! up til now i'd been making hockey art using a zero pressure sensitivity pen brush because i simply did NOT want to deal with that. it is and has always been a barrier to me making art that uses line art. <3 easing my way back into it though!

I used to paint gifts for my friends and then get them printed into lil posters and mount them on nice backing :3 i am now ready and back to painting.

Here is my girlbestie's OC. just a rough pose sketch. i think im pretty unsatisfied with the gesture of the head/hand. i wanted to include her gun in some way. i fear i may have to rework the pose entirely <3

For the genshin girlies.. here are some of my friends fave characters.

Yelan - this one i started many holidays ago and put on the backburner because the colouring was wigging me out. you can see where i started rendering stuff + got sidetracked and started on something else (the crystal choker IM LAUGHING @ past me...)

Ayaka - I reaaally like what i did here with the perspective + foreshortening. I don't know if the pose or expression is in-character or not, but i had fun :3 got stunlocked looking at references of genshin weapons so this is where i left off:

if you made it all the way down here hi... <3 ice hockey really cracked the ketchup bottle open for me when it comes to making art again. i love the communities i've found, and i'm inspired by every artist on here every day. thanks for being so cool + have a great day :)

[lionmythflower]

evan rosier headcanons under the cut

Twins w pandora

He has a chinchilla (its name is dusty, barty helped name it)

He's rlly good friends w remus

In a book club w lily, remus,dorcas and regulus

He's Canadian

So he kinda had a very slight American accent

Sleeps and listens to music on long car rides

Knows Canadian French

Asexual

either gay or bi

Poc

has a tattoo of "bcjr" on his neck or shoulder (barty has a matching one of "Rosie")

Would love MARINA and Florence + the Machines

Was probably more of an ABBA fan then a queen fan

lily got him into music like ABBA and Remus got him into music like David Bowie

Would also love Arctic Monkey

Would love makeup

Has those star eyeliner stamps and he absolutely rocks them

Bigender (stole this hc from someone can't remember who at that moment)

probally goes by he/they pronouns

Pandora and Evan steal each other's clothes sm that they don't know who's is who's at this point

So ppl are like " wasn't pandora wearing that the other day?" and evan will be like "idk maybe?" And vise versa

Would love Greek mythology

Has heterochromia and his eyes are blue and green so he's is looking at u like 🔵_🟢 (O_O) (pandora also has eyes like that)

"you have heterophobia in ur eyes" "...you mean heterochromia?" "no" (barty and evan)

i feel like he would be able to play like 3 instruments and would love love love music sm

Has so. Many. Ear. Piercings.

Lace and fishnet gloves

RINGS

Evan, pandora, Dorcas, regulus, and Barty all wear rings and they all js like share rings

Would love fairy tale retellings

100% read song of Achilles and sobbed

His parents are like really that mean js very strict and they don't really give him enough privacy and it's suffocating

Has sensory overloads sometimes and he will just cling to Barty or Pandora bc they both make him feel safe when it's too much

Also has panic attacks

Says things like "I wanna kms" and ppl think he's joking but he's really not

Baggy clothes

layers his clothes a lot

had like three sweatshirts/sweaters that he LOVES

eating disorder (idk which one but he definitely has one)

Constantly has a headache

Is actually rlly su!sidal but he's only told like 2 ppl (probably Pandora and reg or barty)

Either never gets sick or gets sick every month (depends on the year)

Doesn't like talking abt his problems

Will not ask for help unless he has basically given up

Is rlly smart

He's like everything smart but doesn't really care abt math or science

That one kid who's reading and not paying attention the entire class and then gets an A on every test

He's parents don't really care about grades but he does and he gets really stressed abt grades

Would 100% be that person that you wouldn't think would be a feminist and then someone makes a rude comment abt women and he would go off on them

Very pretty

Always cold. Always

Would have loved all the movies that Millie Bobby Brown is in (Enola Holmes, and Damsel mainly)

Would love ppl doing his nails (even though he's good at doing it himself)

doc martins

Would have converse and would draw on them

Has so many books (both barty and evan rant to each other abt the books they read)

Would have adhd but more of the not able to focus side

He's nail polish is almost always chipped bc they pick at it w/o even realizing he's doing it

would have so many bracelets

Hates silence but hates loud noise even more

Had earbuds in 24/7

"Look at the moon! :0" no matter what phase the moon is in (does the same thing w the sky)

Would get sooo happy when ever he was in a place where u can clearly see the stars at night bc "omg look, you can see the stars! Their so pretty!!!"

They're so energetic but also so laid back

Pretty much all or nothing for everything (emotions, activities, relationship etc.)

Really good at drawing

normally types in all lowercase so he doesn't come off as intimating

Evan and pandora probably made fun of the pure blood stereotypes so much

(I've made by point abt this hc a lot but I'mma say it again) : Evan and regulus arguing over the pronouncing of different French words bc Evan is Canadian French and Regulus is European French lol

He's an introvert you can't tell me otherwise

Was almost put into ravenclaw bc he was arguing w the sorting hat and it was like "ok valid points, ur probably a ravenclaw" and then Evan told the hat to go fuck itself and it put him in Slytherin 💀

Definition of a keyboard smash idk how to explain it

Would have loved Pinterest

wow this is really long. I'mma make one of these for Peter later :)

[bangrychannie]

Stray Kids Fic Recs

Hello! Recently I have become a stray kids fan and have fallen into a rabbit hole of fanfiction. Various pairings bc I don't care what the pair is just that it's stray kids related lmao. Added a line break bc there's a lot. Also feel free to rec me skz fics please bc I'm always reading

the book of us; electricity: (Seungjin | 10/10 | 84,966 | teen and up)

HJ @hyunfortunately 5h ;-; i was at the store and this song was playing over the speakers and i tried to remember some lyrics so i could search it up later but i can’t find it this is TRAGIC HJ @hyunfortunately 5h it was in korean and it’s kind of got rock-pop-balladish vibes and the first line of it was “neoneun neo neoneun na” if anyone knows it PLEASE tell me Seungmin doesn’t like to interact with other people on Twitter, but the questions seems almost aimed to him. He hits reply and types, “Try Hi Hello by Day6.” [Seungmin falls for Hyunjin from 2000 miles away. He expected that it would be inconvenient. He didn't expect quite how much Hyunjin would change his life.]

Genuinely one of the best fics I've ever read. It reads like a love letter to high school in the best way possible.

so this is what love is by dwaekinz: (Seungjin | 4/4 | 43,743 | teen and up)

seungmong_22 Hi, Hyunjin! My name is Seungmin. I'm Felix's friend, I hope he's mentioned me before…? Ha. We met online two years ago. I know it's unexpected But I kind of need your help hyuntothejin Me??? After 2 years of online friendship, Seungmin has finally found the time and saved up enough money to visit Felix for his birthday. In order for the surprise to work, he recruits the help of Felix's brother, Hyunjin, and together they spend the next three months forging a plan as well as a friendship of their own— or maybe something more.

So cute and fluffy no notes

Endgame by Raesan (Minsung | 9/9 | 150,840 | Explicit)

Jisung didn’t mean to procrastinate, but he didn’t think that all the clubs would be full in just a week. He sighed, seeing that only one club still had availability. Too bad he didn’t know shit about chess. Or what happens when Jisung, captain of the college soccer team, meets Minho, the number 2 ranked chess player in the country.

This fic is genuinely SO GOOD lol I think about it every day

reply hazy, try again by mrehk (BinChan | 1/1 | 14,951 | Explicit)

Changbin’s calculus tutor is Bang Chan. Smile wide, eyes shining, curly hair wild around his head. He’s got his backpack slung over one arm, those fuck ass chino shorts with a five inch inseam that make Changbin’s mouth water— and, goddamn, he’s wearing a fucking cropped t-shirt. Jisung and Seungmin are going to string Changbin up and have their way with public humiliation when they hear about this. (OR: solving for the derivative of l+o+v+e)

Funny and cute, I love idiots in love and that's what this is

Also mrehk is a fantastic writer so if you like this fic there's way more where that came from

i will protect you (gothic font) by mrehk (Minsung | 1/1 | 16,661 | Explicit)

Seungmin ignores him, smacking the folder onto the desk, flipping it open without looking, sliding it across the surface towards Minho. “It doesn’t matter. This was in the lease. You signed, right—” he taps the bottom corner, Minho’s initials perfectly legible. “Here.” “Excuse me?” Minho leans forward. “Paragraph nineteen subsection C,” Seungmin says, not even looking down as he recites the document word for word. “Lease is not voidable in the case of suspected paranormal activity.” He pounds his finger on the period. Minho laughs. A short, barked thing, completely disbelieving. “You’re kidding me.” “I’m really not,” Seungmin’s face pinches up into the sort of fake, squinted smile someone gives when they’re being an asshole. No remorse. (OR: Minho has ghosts, Jisung hunts ghosts)

Another funny one by mrehk my beloved

one day to fall in love (countless ones to love you) by whatifidbeenthatauthor (Minsung | 1/1 | 22,018 | Mature)

Minho stopped in his tracks. He turned to face Han Jisung. He looked unbothered, still going on about his way. “You didn’t say Hi,” Minho said, forcing the voice to come out of his throat. “You always say hi, hyung.” Jisung turned to look at him, a smile playing on his lips. He looked amused. Minho’s mind wasn’t keeping up. “Today’s different, I guess,” Jisung shrugged. “I went with a variation.” Minho would have found him insufferable, but he didn’t have the mental capacity to process the frustrating sensation that usually accompanied Jisung’s presence. Minho blurted out something that might have him sent to a madhouse. “No. I’ve lived today six times. You- you always say hi, hyung.” He felt crazy. More than usual. Jisung laughed. “What the fuck,” he said, and Minho knew he sounded insane, but could this kid please not be so arrogant? “Me, too. I thought I was the only one,” he continued, and he changed Minho’s life. *** Minho's life is boring, predictable, borderline uneventful. Until he gets stuck in a time loop. And, with him, his friends' friend, Han Jisung, a crazy dude who's only into skating. And whom Minho doesn't necessarily like.

I love time loop/time travel fics if anyone wants a list of specifically those lmk lmao

(never) have your fill of me by lolainslackss (Minsung | 3/3 | 36,028 | Explicit)

“How often can he possibly be having sex that it’s disturbing you this much?” Hyunjin asks, disbelieving. “He has sex, like, every day. And then again at night, sometimes.” Jisung makes a noise of distress. He drags his hands down his face before balling them into fists beneath his chin. “It’s just . . . so distracting, Hyunjin.” “Distracting,” Hyunjin repeats, giving Jisung a meaningful smirk. “Oh, I bet it is.” “Aw,” Jisung whines. “Why’d you have to say it like that?” “Like what?” “Like you think I wish I were the one he were fucking, instead.” “Because you do, don’t you, or are we pretending we both don’t know that?” Hyunjin’s gaze flits over to Minho before it swiftly cuts back to Jisung, all-knowing. “You’d let him do anything to you. Am I wrong?” - In which PhD student Han Jisung unleashes a succubus from a magical book, winds up living with him, and then forms a sex pact with him.

I also have a lot of demon fic recs so lmk

36 Questions That May Lead to Love by bluecalicocat (Minsung | 1/1 | 17,282 | Teen and Up)

generic username @realhanjisung yo my friend wants to be a therapist, can someone pls fake date me so he can practice counseling couples? i have 3 cats @leeknow deal

This fic is so funny

Searching for My Heart in Yours by lk321 (minsung | 5/5 | 36,995 | General)

When Jisung moves to Miroh, a town in the middle of nowhere, all he’s looking for is some peace and quiet. Instead, what he finds is a prickly witch for a neighbor by the name of Minho, who accidentally spills a potion on Jisung and forms a psychic bond between them, opening Jisung to whole new world of magic. As Minho tries to find a cure for their predicament, Jisung finds himself pulled into Minho's lively and magical life. It's not the peace and quiet Jisung was looking for, but as Jisung gets to know the witch through the emotions they're forced to share, Jisung realizes that the answers he’s searching for in life might just lie here in Miroh, in places he least expects.

Feels like a warm hug

the long game by floraii (HyunSung | 1/1 | 16,045 | Teen and Up)

“Anyway,” he continues, voice still sultry, “I’ve been seeing you in class, and I was just wondering—” he moves his hand to curl around a strand of his hair. “Could I get your number?” Han Jisung’s big brown eyes blink again. His gaze darts to his lips, then to his notebook, then up to his eyes. “To study?” “Yeah,” Hyunjin blurts without thinking. What the fuck? Study? What is happening? Why is he agreeing?

Hyunjin has a type. It’s not usually shy boys in his Intro to Statistics class with big round eyes and glasses, but Han Jisung is different.

This fic was so funny I was actually laughing out loud

I have plenty more where that came from! So there will be more recs soon

[aprocessionofthoughts]

Metropolis

ectoberhaunt2023 day 22-portal shenanigans TW- none summary- Danny gets flung int the DCU and decides to become a villain

ao3 ectoberhaunt masterlist part 1 of TCAB

Danny was feeling so done with Clockwork right now. All Danny had said was that he wanted a break from his kingly duties. Clockwork had told him to come to the Long Now. And okay. Danny could admit that he should have been more suspicious or at least cautious. But still! 

Wanting a break was not the same as having Clockwork toss him through a random portal where he’d be able to ‘destress.’ This was the opposite of destressing and Danny would make sure Clockwork knew it when the old clock decided to let him go back.

Danny sighed. He didn’t even know where he was. What was he even supposed to do?

He was in some kind of large city and he remembered Clockwork saying something about superheroes before yeeting Danny through the portal.

What superheroes lived here Danny had no idea, and honestly, he didn’t really care enough to find out. 

Maybe Danny though, since there were already heroes here, Danny could be a villain.

Yes, that was a brilliant idea. Danny grinned, aware that his smile was stretching too wide for his face.

But what to do, what to do.

He obviously didn’t want to be a terrible, no good, very bad villain. He didn’t want to kill people or steal from people who were struggling. So obviously he just had to steal from the rich. 

And how convenient. That was definitely a skyscraper over there.

Danny flew in that direction not caring enough to read the name on the side of the building.

He arrived invisibly and used his intangibility to fly down to the deepest level. The most interesting things were always hidden in the basement. Danny would know. They had a ghost portal in theirs and Vlad had a creepy lab in his.

And ohhh!!!! Those were some shiny rocks. They looked like ectoplasm but solid. He wondered… 

Danny flew forward and grabbed as many as he could carry, stuffing the rest into one of his pocket dimensions. Pocket dimensions were a very nice perk of being the Ancient of Space, if only he had inherited the power of remembering where he put things. Oh well. He’d find them eventually. 

Danny carried out five pieces with him as he flew up through the building. He’d only just gotten outside when someone loudly and sanctimoniously proclaimed, “Halt.”

Danny paused and took in the sight of a man dressed in blue and wearing red underwear over his clothing.

“Dude, you look so cringy.” Was that mean? Oh well. It’s not like Danny would be in this dimension very long.

The man gaped at him and then narrowed his eyes when he saw what Danny was carrying. Then he flew farther backwards.

“Drop the Kryptonite.”

Was that what this was? “Finders keepers.”

“Kid, leave the Kryptonite and we can talk.”

“Why would I want to talk with you?”

The man’s expression hardened and Danny grinned.

“Are they yours?” Danny asked. 

“Listen, it’s extremely dangerous. So, you need to put them down.”

Danny frowned. “These things aren’t dangerous. See?” Danny said and stuck one in his mouth. It tasted kind of tangy but also sweet. It was actually pretty good. He popped the other two into his mouth and the older man gaped at him. 

“What did you do!”

Danny laughed maniacally like all the good villains do. “You will neer get your shiny rocks back.” Danny laughed again before going invisible and flying away, stifling his laughter behind his hands.

This was actually pretty fun. Maybe Clockwork was onto something.

[jazzylovegood]

HAIKYUU HEADCANONS 1

Keiji Akaashi

Thanks to TikTok I learnt that Akaashi is canon to be one weird ass motherfucka, so….

- Definitely talks to himself. He mutters to himself all the time, no matter who he is around or what he is doing. Sometimes it would be on accident, he would be thinking and then just say it out loud.

“Was it the frog or toad that killed him?” -Akaashi

“….What?” -Konoha

“It was definitely the frog, the toad would never.” -Akaashi

- Listens to music you would not expect him to.

”Hey, Akaashi what you listening to? -Bokuto

”Nothing much.” -Akaashi

Bokuto puts his ear up to Akaashi’s headphones and just hears Cluster by fuckin Slipknot.

- Mr. Keiji “I cannot stop cracking my bones” Akaashi

Even in silence he will just randomly decide to crack something. Knee, fingers, hand, toes, head, elbow. He will be cracking it. Helps him concentrate.

- I would like to remind you that Akaashi is everything but shy, he is very blunt and sassy when he is speaking, and he definitely stays that way for everyone. Is not the type to hold back or change his personality when meeting someone new. (Which we saw in the show). Him and Kenma are not the same. There is a difference between chill and shy.

- You know you are one of his close friends when he remembers everything you tell him. Your shoe size, blood type, your favorite food as a kid, your 5th favorite color, even what you named your pet rock in 1st grade. You mention it once to him and he will remember because to him that is what could make him a great friend.

- He actually does write stuff in his notes app. His notes app is his most used app every week. 10 hours at least. He writes EVERY THOUGHT in there. For example, during the day when he thinks about food, he would like to eat for dinner he writes it down. As a reminder. Even though he has amazing memory, he does this to make sure his past self is happy.

- Watches tv in dad pose. Arms are entire crossed or on his hips. He will read the synopsis of the show and say he was not interested in it and then would be standing there watching. As The Gods Will for example.

- Makes eye contact. Wants you to feel heard and he wants to see the changes in your facial expressions (If you are like me, you have A LOT of those). That is why I think he is pulled towards people like Bokuto, loud and genuine people. He is also pulled towards great storytellers, people who use their hands when they are talking and/or voices for people involved. Always have that evidence on lockdown. He would love to see the receipts.

- Wears weird ass shirts. I am talking “a picture of pants on a shirt” type shit. World's greatest grandpa, I am just a girl, and would have shirts with his friend's names on it, in a pun way. “Danny stops! Do not poke your toes!” Get it. Bokuto. Poke your toes (I am kinda sorry).

═══════════════•°•🦉•°•════════════════

TIKTOK MENTIONS

“Sometimes he'll think of a line from a vid he watched a week ago and repeat it for hours.” -four ☆

“Does not smell like anything. not his shampoo, not even sweat, he doesn't have a smell at all.” -monira 💌

“Y’all know those little rubber band bracelets that made shapes? yea, he has a whole collection of them in a jar” -kai 🎸🦕

“If he had any piercings, he would constantly be playing with it touching them” -coors_lightt

Other HEADCANONS: Daichi,

[occasionally-victor]

this one is like ultra rushed, i did it right before a flight to another city (im already back) and im still in a bit of a artblock so yeah

mer au !jaiden + changed !bobby a bit

!jaiden is a harpy (blue jay)

she was actually the one who found !bobby - he was passed out on some rocks and !jaiden happened to fly right by, and she basically decided to take care of him "until his parents find him" (because surely a mer kid is being seeked for right now?). A week passed, !jaiden stole some old raft (because she basically had to live there for a while now, and rocks suck for that, so raft and and a tent will do) and there was still no sight of anyone looking for !bobby (apparently a kid has some amnesia as well, he seems to not remember anything before waking up here). By the time another week passed, !jaiden was already kinda thinking about how to maybe set up a more permanent station here (she's already kinda used to sea and she's fully getting along with a kid, so reasons are here...).

until! one day she does see someone! and it was a mer! basically, in mer settlement (i really need to give it a name) by that time several more dragon mer kids were found. less mer start to go out for search, and the one who do need to go farther because well everything closer is already fully checked. !roier was one of those and that day decided to go out very far away from a city (like, basically other side of sea far away. just in case.). he did eventually found a raft, were apparently another dragon mer kid lived (and also a harpy, who took care of him)

uh basically that's how !ro and !jai met for the first time. they went on to become friends and eventually become a full on co-parents to !bobby. !ro helped !jaiden move a bit closer to mer settlement, and now she lives in basically a floating home made of basically scarps in a middle of a sea (i drew it there, im not explaining how tree ended up there. the blue lantern there is for when storm hits, it would put a protection bubble so the house would be fine). !bobby mostly lives with !jaiden, but often goes to city; !roier doesn't live with the other two, but he goes there almost every day.

so, that bracelet on !jaiden's leg. Time for another mer lore drop: mer, that considered "family" to eachother (basically that are really close to eachother, not necessarily an actual family) can basically feel where the other one. It's more of a subconscious thing, tho mer can "send" signals for "family" to catch in case of something. so, i did established before that mer have generally good relationship with land people. basically, it became a tradition to give to a very close people, who are not mer, a little trinket (usually a wearable), that basically works the same way (and both ways). It's normal for a mer to have atleast a specially enchanted stone prepared for it, if not the trinket itself. ! jaiden's bracelet contains the stones of both !roier and !bobby (they are not actually seen - usually those stones are hidden inside of trinket)

[ranticore]

Chapter 2 - To Be Human

for tdov i'll post my most trans coded character, more trans than any of the others tbh. obviously it's ishmael

---

Forward by the author | Chapter 1

In a bright white room with a single large round window, a young Ishmael sits on a bed. The edge of a rock ridge curves across the view beyond the window. Ishmael looks out through the window at the sheer sides, one hand pressed to the glass so that the light diffuses red through his skin. He is twelve years old and wears a shapeless blue and green garment that does not fit him, pinching tight around his neck but loose across his shoulders. A sipho nymph flies past the window and he turns to follow it.

Voice of Maris: What was that? Did you see it?

Ishmael: Not really. Too fast.

Maris: That was one of those – what are the zoologists calling them again? It’s a different name every time I hear it.

Ishmael: Exosiphonid.

Maris: I think they’re scary. Like giant dragonflies.

Ishmael: Did Surwan see it?

Maris: Who’s Surwan?

Ishmael: This girl in the biology class. She wanted to see an exosiphonid.

Maris: I didn’t know you were in the biology class. Was it good?

Throughout the video, Ishmael does not make eye contact with Maris or the recording device. He appears to hide behind a curtain of hair and hunch in on himself while he is not looking out through the window.

Ishmael: Dan said I could join next semester. I was waiting outside.

Maris: And eavesdropping?

Maris: I think it’s admirable to want to learn. What do you want to learn about? Is there anything that interests you? I’m no biologist, really.

Ishmael: Surwan likes the flying ones, like siphos. Callum wants to learn about leviathans.

Maris: That sounds exciting. Would you like to learn about leviathans too?

Ishmael: Lee doesn’t think they’re real. He said the betas wouldn’t get made if there were monsters in the water.

Maris: I don’t think Lee is a trustworthy source on that, if you want my opinion. Would you like to find out the truth? Imagine if you were the first to see a leviathan, they might name it after you.

——

The video transcribed above is a very typical example of Maris’s early sessions with Ishmael. He appears to resist all of her attempts to get him to submit an original thought, and repeatedly refers to the Human children instead, those who are undergoing a structured education about the zoology of Siren.

Maris’s notes echo my own understanding – that Ishmael struggled to articulate anything beyond a constant wish to be included with the other children, to the point of eavesdropping on classes he was not allowed to attend.

His passing curiosity about the wildlife around the settlement served only as a means to connect with the other children. And he was repeatedly shunned for these attempts, as Callum’s diary later noted. Those children whose likes and ambitions he carefully memorised did not think of him the way he thought of them. In fact, as far as I can tell, they did not think of him at all, because he was not a peer in any real sense.

This video also acknowledges the existence of the beta generation of Sirenians, who largely resembled modern phocids, though smaller and with shorter tails. It is important to state that although modern phocids descend from this beta generation, they do not descend from Ishmael. In fact, nobody descends from Ishmael, despite legends and myths to the contrary. This was stated explicitly several times by both Ishmael as an adult and Dan Loris, but made clear to Ishmael by Maris during these sessions.

“The other children are learning about how to make babies,” Ishmael announced at a session one day. “Dan wouldn’t let me stay. He never lets me stay.”

“You don’t need to know any of that,” Maris said. “You’re different to the other kids, remember? You don’t have a body that makes babies. Honestly, that’s a pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Can we swap?”

Her attempts at reassuring him seemed to fall on deaf ears, because reminders of his differences were often poorly received by Ishmael, or ignored. He paused to think about what she said, wondering how she could envy him when all he wanted in the world was to be like her.

“How do I get one?” he asked.

“A baby?”

“A body that makes them. I asked Dan and he said the betas can do it.”

“Well, yes,” Maris said, now wondering exactly how much it was appropriate to delve into he topic. “You don’t want to be like a beta, though, do you?”

Ishmael visibly shuddered. “No! But I want to be like Callum, can Dan do that? I’m getting better at being upright, so maybe if I practice more I can change.”

Thwarting Ishmael’s one desire was the absolute fact that his genetics were set in stone, and he could not be retroactively made fully Human. These sessions reveal a seam of anxiety, too, over the beta generation. At the time there were twenty of them, living in a separate location where they had access to a test pool.

Repeatedly, during the sessions with Maris, Ishmael brings them up as a potential bad ending for him, the inverse of his great desire to become like the other Humans. Those beta phocids were less Humanoid than Ishmael himself was. He believed that by mimicking the Human children he could become more similar to them, but the opposite could also be true, and the wrong actions might cause him to degenerate into a beta phocid.

Unfortunately for him, his efforts at being ‘upright’ did not result in any permanent bipedalism. When he was fourteen, his unpredictable growth had shifted his proportions away from the more Humanlike ratio he’d been born with. He was finding it more difficult to stand up straight, instead adopting a hunched and arched posture which still left him standing taller than the children of his age whose attention he coveted. The onset of puberty and these shifts in his body were tortuous, and it was a time that lasted until his mid-thirties when he finally reached his adult size and proportions.

But there was an improvement noted by both Dan Loris and Maris – despite repeatedly displaying signs of distress and depression in his sessions with her, he was no longer wordlessly violent, and did not give himself to his rages anymore.

Maris had provided him with the one thing he needed at the time – a safe person to talk to, someone who asked him how he was feeling without taking it as some scientific data point. She reported it all to Dan Loris, of course, but did not tell Ishmael that. He believed that she was his only safe harbour in the entire world.

Maris, in her own notes, says pretty much the same. And she was fond of him, too, revealing a genuine affection towards him alongside a deep abiding worry that she was not doing enough to ease his distress, and that she could have done more. She admits that she was not a trained psychologist, just someone in the settlement who had spare time and some textbooks. Her actual job was as a water quality specialist and she was acutely conscious that she had not the qualifications nor educational background necessary to help Ishmael properly. The settlement had a number of psychologists but they were not associated with the lab and did not volunteer their time.

To pre-empt the same problems with tantrums arising in the beta phocids, Maris was also supposed to spend some time with them, too. But she discovered that, with the exception of one, they were actually rather well-adjusted compared to Ishmael, likely as a result of their group all living together and being able to form a small close-knit community. Ishmael was deprived of this.

And, most importantly, the beta phocids could see themselves reflected in their community and use their bonds as a lens to make sense of themselves. Ishmael lacked this factor, and had no reflections or counterparts that he could use to understand himself. He was isolated by being unique, and by his inability to see the phocids as anything other than strange creatures he was embarrassed to somewhat resemble.

But it’s also patently clear that Maris, and Dan Loris and the other Precursors Ishmael was in contact with didn’t do much to raise Ishmael’s opinion of the beta phocids, as evidenced by the transcript above. Perhaps if they’d thought to assuage his fears by treating the beta phocids as people worthy of dignity and understanding, he might not have feared becoming like them.

The beta phocids, for their part, were born in a similar manner to Ishmael – the same deep dream, the same delayed birth, though their bodies were ten years old by the time they emerged from their dream and took their first breaths. Ishmael had been subject to numerous digestive trials measuring the suitability of his body for life on Siren. It was found that he was somewhat lacking in the production of a digestive chemical called an enzyme which would have allowed him to better deal with the high concentrations of silica present in Siren organisms.

He could eat and digest local plants and animals, but sometimes showed signs of digestive upset. Taking this information, Dan Loris was able to tweak his beta phocids before they were born, cloning and increasing the number of cells in their bodies which could produce the appropriate enzyme. He also took samples of Ishmael’s gut microbiome, which had taken years to properly develop, and implanted those samples within the digestive tracts of the beta phocids.

They were born as a group, though not all at once, allowing for correct monitoring of the newborns during the most tenuous periods. One suffered from the most common cause of death due to delayed birth; they simply never woke up, having rejected the dream at some point over the past several years. They were removed from the amniotic chamber where they passed on, a ten year stillbirth. We might remember the legacy of ‘Ishmael’, our Ishmael who was first born on Siren, but I feel it is only right to remember ‘Charity’, the first Sirenian to die here. They were given then to the assistants of Dan Loris who performed a post mortem examination.

The others suffered no more from the effects of delayed birth than Ishmael himself did. Although their bodies were more divergent from Precursor Humans than Ishmael’s was, at the time of his birth, and the discrepancies between their dream selves and their true selves must have been more jarring, this was offset somewhat by the communal nature of their upbringing. As soon as one was deemed fully awake, aware, and of sufficient health, they were placed in the boarding chamber with the other phocids and an assigned nursery worker. The birthing process took the better part of a year, so that the last born of the delayed-birth phocids was one year ‘younger’ than the rest, despite all technically being the same age.

Cherta, who gave their name to the wandering moon, was the fifth born beta phocid. There is very little to distinguish Cherta from the rest of the group, at this early stage, but I have on file their original description - “‘Cherta’, named for a sponsor of the project who donated three million nua*. Unisex ‘phocid’ of the Beta generation. Born age 10 years and 5 months, in [Year 3]. Melanistic colouring was chosen as protection against solar radiation, but it is expressed in heterogenous patches with a strong dorsal stripe. Length 5’1 nose to tailtip at time of birth and weight 54kg. Unusually violent birth, needed sedation.” In fact, Cherta assaulted Dan Loris’s assistants as they were born, reacting to the event as though it were an invasion of the bedroom of their dream. It was by all accounts an auspicious start compared to the others, and perhaps an indication that Cherta’s experience with the deep dream was not standard.

Cherta had fallen victim to another rare phenomenon of the incubator, referred to by Dan Loris as ‘dream rot’. This occurrence is a result of differences in the receiving brain, rather than the dream machine itself. The brain begins to understand, in some form, that what it is witnessing is not reality, and the structure of the dream begins to unravel.

At the time of Cherta’s delayed birth, the dream had been in the early stages of this process. If allowed to continue for too long, permanent damage to the psyche’s ability to judge reality is the result. Cherta would be haunted by this for the remainder of their life, but it was not severe enough to significantly alter their treatment compared to the other beta phocids.

The violence of their birth began to circulate in anecdotal form, eventually reaching the ears of Ishmael. He was curious – in fact, it was the first time he showed open curiosity about anything other than the opinion of a Human child. He asked Maris if she was going to speak to Cherta too, and she told him that she had spoken to all of the beta phocids, and had given Cherta in particular some extra guidance.

He did not take it well. The realisation that Maris’s time was not solely devoted to his needs was a source of distress, and likely another painful forced grouping with the phocids he feared. He would not participate in Maris’s sessions as he had before, and appeared afterwards to despise Cherta in a way that seemed quite targeted and personal.

Maris was forced to lie – she told Ishmael that she also spoke to the Human children, thus drawing him back under the umbrella of Humankind. In the following sessions, Ishmael revealed that he had greater knowledge of the beta phocids—and Cherta in particular—than anyone had previously guessed.

“Why do they look like that?” Ishmael asked. “They don’t stand up. They’re like animals.”

“They’re adapted to move in the water, like you,” Maris said. Her voice sounded nervous. “This means they had to have short arms and long, streamlined bodies. Like an otter. They’re very graceful in the water.” She had begun to introduce a less dismissive attitude towards the phocids, even praising them at times. Ishmael would tense every time she did.

“I don’t swim,” Ishmael said.

“Well, you’re not here to swim,” Maris said. “You have other things to teach us, so Dan didn’t wanna risk you in the pool.”

Ishmael was quiet for a long time. He rarely changed his facial expression, to the point that Maris often noted that she wondered if he heard her at all, or if his facial muscles had not developed properly.

“I saw Cherta playing with the floating ball at the bottom of the pool. In the water.” Ishmael sounded somewhat disdainful. “Like a child.”

“You’re all the same age,” Maris reminded him. “And I think you’re a child too. What’s wrong with having fun in the pool? Are you jealous?” She was fascinated by Ishmael’s sudden willingness to offer his opinion, particularly as discussion of the Human children never provoked this in him.

But Ishmael didn’t answer that one. At that point, he did not want to admit to any jealousy, and likely did not consciously recognise the feeling as such. Instead, he felt annoyance - he had to spend time in the lab doing work with Dan Loris, providing test feedback, having his organs scanned, letting himself be pawed all over by technicians who did not particularly care for him, only for what data he could provide. He did not endear himself to them, his quiet and obtuse personality proving difficult to grow fond of. But he still knew that it was work, he was producing data, and the phocids were just playing around in a pool all day, as far as he could tell. He was filled with righteous indignation at their laziness, at how easy their lives were, and wished that they knew what it was like to be him, so that they might stop looking so happy any time he peered in through the test pool windows.

I have recovered video footage of this behaviour, too. At odd hours of the day, with no real schedule, Ishmael would approach those windows. They were set in the side of the corridor outside the lab, affording an underwater view to onlookers. Access to the aboveground phocid enclosure was limited, so Ishmael only had the windows. He would walk there—painstakingly upright, though often with a hand on the wall to help support what was increasingly a difficult posture—and then sit on his tail and watch. The beta phocids spent most of their time in the water, as one might imagine. Ishmael would later learn that their lives were not as blissfully relaxing as he first thought, but it is true that they spent a lot of time playing in the pool, as teenagers will do. And he would watch them, until he heard an approaching Human, and quickly retreat.

The windows did not allow the phocids to look out. Cherta was unaware that they were the target of Ishmael’s most intense scrutiny. Despite a somewhat disturbing, moth-eaten childhood dream, Cherta was, on the surface, as lively as the rest of the phocids. They weren’t exactly easygoing, though, preferring to impress upon the others the importance of following rules, and of doing things the right way.

What Ishmael did not realise was that the phocids, as they swam together, built jigsaws and played card games underwater, were providing data too. They showed Dan Loris how their body plan could deal with the aquatic environment as easily as a Human could walk around on land. And so, when Ishmael and the phocids were fifteen, Dan Loris began to build his gamma generation of genetically engineered Humans, those who would be born on Siren without the use of a deep dream, and who could be introduced to the world outside.

Long days and nights spent in the lab occupied almost all of Dan Loris’s time, and his child Callum had nowhere to go after his classes but the lab itself. And with Ishmael and Callum once again forced into close proximity to one another, Ishmael would soon learn one of the most valuable lessons of his childhood.

*’nua’ is a form of currency

[imnotasuperhero]

Look into my eyes (search your soul)

Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Summary: Your love for Wanda could make you go the distance and more, just to see her happy. 

A/N: A day late, but in my defence I had a packed friday, lol. I woke up after a night out with the need to finish this part and post it, so here it is! BEware of any mistake since.. hehe.. I partied all night. Also, blame tumblr for any weird design on the post.

A/N 2: For now, this is planned to be four parts with the chance to growing. So it’s on you, guys. Hope you enjoy this and gets you wanting more (:

If not tomorrow, next weekend part 3 will be out.

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX

Wanda stirred, waking up to an empty bed, before looking over at the sleeping babies beside her.

Her heart couldn't grow bigger at the sight in front of her. Those two little humans were finally in this crazy world, and the fears she could feel start growing at the back of her mind were doing little to help her breathe. She just wanted for you to hurry, to be by her side like you always were.

But all hopes of you being away in search of coffee dissipated when she saw her husband sleeping on the chair at the far end of the room.

'He finally dared to show up,' she sighed to herself.

What would she give for Vision to be more like you. To be present when she needed him, to show how much he cared for her.

A few months till now, she started noticing how Vision would go on longer trips, almost as if escaping their life together. And she would be lying if it didn't hurt her. Part of her still loved him. But a bigger part told her she just missed what they were.

She could only hope he would be present in their children's lives, at least. 

The tone of her phone going off signaled her of a new message and her heart jumped at the thought of you.

Seeing your name on the screen, Wanda smiled brightly as she hurried to open it.

'Good morning, Witchy. How are the twins treating you? Hopefully, they're not too much. How are you?'

'Good morning. They surely love to sleep.. still waiting for them to wake up so I can feed them. I am alright. How are you?'

After a few seconds of her message being unread, she just lowered her phone, basking in the warm feeling burning up inside her. The way you made her feel was something that -secretly- she enjoyed deeply.

Just as her phone went off again, the twins started to cry, demanding her attention. It was at that moment that Wanda made her peace with knowing her kids became before you.

Sitting up in her bed, she tried to wake up Vision. But decided she was better without his help for it was in vain.

Slowly stepping up, she maneuvered both babies in her arms as a grunt escaped her, her whole body begging her not to move. Sitting in bed, she shifted and shifted until she found a comfortable position.

Once she was settled, she placed each boy on each one of her breasts, hissing at the pain that sprouted from the latching.

Holding back her tears, she remembered the words you'd said the day before, as the first feeding happened.

“No no, let me,” You demanded as you quickly stood up from the chair, almost running the short distance to the crying twins’ crib.

Picking Billy up, you carefully placed him in Wanda’s arms. “Here you go, baby,” you spoke softly before you picked Tommy up, cooing at him as you patiently waited for Wanda to find a comfortable position.

“I know, sunshine.” You calmly spoke against the baby’s head as you rocked him softly. “Mommy needs a little more time for two beautiful babies like you need only the best. And you know the good things need time,” you smiled as you checked Wanda, busying herself with his brother before you lowered your voice to a whisper, “But don’t worry, you can always count on me to feed you the goodies.”

“I’ve heard that,” 

Looking up from the fussing baby in your arms, you found Wanda’s eyes staring warmly at you as she tried her best to stay put, waiting for her son with open arms.

Giggling at her words, you kissed Tommy’s head before placing him against his mother’s chest. “I stand by my words,” you whispered before kissing his forehead.

The pain that ran through Wanda’s chest got her in tears. Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply as she bit her lips, trying to stay still.

Looking up at the weight by her side, she couldn’t help the sob that escaped her at seeing you wrapping your arm around her shoulders.

“I know, Wands.” You kissed her head and she just let your body be the one who held her in place. “But this is part of the process, and you have to endure it for your babies,” you coed as you caressed Billy’s head.

“It’s for my babies,” she whispered, gathering the patience it took.

But said patience was running thick as the twins started crying at the lack of breast milk, and Wanda just felt defeated. She wanted her old life back.

Trying in vain to hold her cries, Wanda settled both babies’ heads on her shoulders, rocking them the best she could to try and calm them.

“Ugh. They’re too loud.” Vision grunted as he stood up, walking towards the door leaving Wanda with rage building inside of her.

A few minutes passed by when Vision walked back in with a nurse hot on his heels.

“Good morning, Hon,” the nurse walked to the redhead with a soft smile on her lips. “What’s the problem?” She asked as she quickly checked the charts at the feet of Wanda’s bed.

"I don’t know," Wanda spoke on the verge of more tears running down. "I tried to feed them but they started crying." She looked up at the nurse with hopes she could help her calm her kids.

"I see," The nurse paused as she checked the bag connected to Wanda's hand. "Did it happen yesterday?"

"No." Wanda sighed.

"There's an easy solution for that," the nurse smiled brightly, caressing Wanda's head, and she would lie if she didn't think about her mom at that moment. She should be here with her, guiding her.

"Let me go get some formula, yes? You're not producing much to feed both of them," she explained calmly, making sure Wanda calmed down before she walked away.

She laughed sardonically when Vision started gathering his things. “Are you really leaving now?” The redhead spits out venomously as she tried to calm her crying boys.

“Work is calling, baby. I need to make money to provide for you.” Vision nodded as he picked up the call, walking away for God knows how long, this time. And that action alone was enough to make her cry alongside her babies. The excruciating pain in her chest making it harder and harder to breathe. This was just too much.

But the nurse didn’t take much and as soon as she entered the room, she hurriedly took one of the babies from Wanda and gave her one of the bottles in her hands, calmingly feeding the twin in her arms.

“Where’s the dad?” She asked confused.

Wanda didn’t dare to look up. “He had work to do,” she whispered. Her eyes never leaving Tommy, as he happily sucked from his bottle.

“Is there someone I can call? Doc will be here soon and you might be able to go home today,” the nurse smiled as she rocked softly.

“I-” Wanda paused, thinking of you. Quickly picking up her phone, she paused before dialing your number. “Could you… Could you talk to her?”

And Wanda’s secret prayers were answered when the nurse nodded softly, locking the bottle under her chin so Billy could keep feeding and hurriedly grabbed Wanda’s phone, bringing it to her ear.

“Hi, I’m Wanda’s nurse. N- no, everything is alright,” the nurse giggled something warm. “It’s just her husband had to go away and she might be able to- Oh, okay. Be safe, though.” 

“She’s on her way,” the nurse smiled as she left Wanda’s phone on the table beside her bed.

Truth to your words, you walked through the door in less than 10 minutes.

“Sorry I’m late,” you placed the small gift in your hand on the table beside Wanda’s phone before you quickly kissed her forehead.

“I’ve got him,” you smiled to the nurse as she placed Billy in your arms. “Hi, baby,” you coed as you automatically started to rock him, continuing the nurse’s ministrations on his back.

“Hi,” Wanda spoke softly and frowned when she saw you freeze at her words for a second too long.

“You’re not the only baby, from now on,” you joked.

“You are the only asshole in this room, though.” Wanda couldn’t help the smile at your giggles.

“Touché.”

“Are they strictly to bottles, now?” The worriness in your voice had Wanda concentrating really hard on making Tommy burp, avoiding looking in your way.

“No need to worry, sweety,” the nurse jotted some things down into her notepad before giving you her whole attention. “Wanda just can’t produce enough milk for both of them, so she can either complement her breastfeeding with it or just go for the formula.”

“Ohh, I see.”

Wanda could feel your eyes on her and her whole body burned with shame.

“The doc will be here in a few, though. He’ll talk you guys through it,” the nurse smiled before walking out of the room.

Once you both were alone, Wanda felt the side of the bed shift and the releaving sigh that escaped her when she felt your body against hers had her cheeks heating up.

“How are you holding up?” You asked as you caressed Tommy’s head.

“Not gonna lie. This is a rollercoaster full of downs,” Wanda allowed her body to rest against yours, seeking the comfort she needed.

“Is there anything I can-” 

“Way to go, dude.” You interrupted your previous thought as you faked disgust at the warm feeling on your shoulder. “It’s only right that you love me, but you don’t need to be so explicit about it.” You shifted the baby from one arm to the other as you took your jacket off.

Wanda couldn’t help but laugh at your words. “I told you karma was coming back,”

“Karma is a smelly bitch,” you scrunched your nose as you walked to the baby’s bag, taking some wet wipes to clean your jacket.

Seeing you so harmonically moving with her son in your arms had her heart warming up. And she made sure to thank the Universe or whichever God out there for having a friend like you in her life.

As always, likes, comments and reblogs are highly appreaciated :)

Taglist: @summergeezburr @wandabear @red1culous @inluvwithfictionalwomen @aliherreraaa @kiancorpse @whitewidowsbite @xxxtwilightaxelxxx​ (If you wanna be added, just let me know!)

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x33 - Pump and Gotsu are Shibuya-Type Digimon / Out on the Town

Previously on Digimon Adventure: In the middle of a blistering summer day, DeathMeramon showed up to make things even hotter. Internet contrarianism at its finest. Bet he's also one of those clowns who retools their truck to produce more emissions and trigger Libs. Fortunately, the youth of the nation turned out and voted to throw him off a building so it's all good.

Now we turn our attention to another pair of kids. The recap offers a bit of extra information to set the stage for what's happening.

(Oh fuck me, it's this one. I am not ready. I am not ready.)

Narrator: On the night of the same day they fought DeathMeramon, Yamato escorted his younger brother Takeru to their mother's place and they headed in the direction of Shibuya.

Thit bit of setup doesn't make it into the dub's recap, which simply tells us what happened in the previous episode as usual.

As the episode begins, a CGI readout informs us of the date: It's August 2nd, 1999. The children still have about a month left in their summer vacation.

To put our current location into perspective, here's some of those familiar map markers from last episode. Black circle is Vamdemon's lair at Daiba Park. Green is Shibaura. Blue is Tokyo Tower. We are now one city over from Minato City in Shibuya.

Shibuya is well-known for being, as they say, hip with the youngsters. Imagine if a stereotypical American shopping mall in the 90's with all its associated teenage memes was a city. That's Shibuya. It's like the capitol of youth fashion trends in Tokyo.

So these two Digimon roll up on the roof of a car.

Pumpmon: (excited) This place is even famous in the Digimon World: Shibuya!

The narrator wastes no time going into their rundowns.

Pumpmon is a Perfect-stage Data-type Puppet Digimon. Did you guess Nightmare Soldier? Because he's a Nightmare Soldier. He's kind of a catch-all. Any Nightmare Soldier can evolve into Pumpmon as a Jogress Evolution but no Nightmare Soldier directly evolves into him.

His name is, unsurprisingly, derived from "pumpkin" for his pumpkin head.

Narrator: Pumpmon. A stuffed doll with a pumpkin for a head. His scary but cute appearance is popular with girls. Tonight, he plans to run wild in Shibuya as if it were Halloween. His special attack is Trick-or-Treat.

That little guy next to him is Gotsumon, a Child-stage Data-type Ore Digimon. Gotsumon is a Nature Spirit and the mid-tier evolution for Mochimon. He evolves into a few Digimon you may recognize such as the Monochromon from File Island, Gekomon, and in the 0.5 update, Tailmon - though Tailmon would later receive a more official pre-evolution.

Gotsumon: These are Shibuya-type humans! Narrator: Gotsumon. His body is tough, but he's a cheerful and playfully naughty Digimon. He goes with the flow and was made for Shibuya! He plans to rock out tonight! His special move is Angry Rock. Pumpmon: Something exciting is about to happen! Gotsumon: Let's have fun! Ahahahaha!

Gotsumon and Pumpmon bound off the car roof and disappear into the city.

The dub adds some silence-breaking dialogue to their intro. It also somehow thinks those two are driving the car even though they're clearly on the roof of it.

Gotsumon: Let me drive! You're going the wrong way. Pumpkinmon: How do you know which way to go? You've never been in the real world before. Gotsumon: What's the difference? I've never driven a car before either! Pumpkinmon: Well, it's my first time too! Both: Ahahahahaha!!! Pumpkinmon: Whoa, check 'em out! Uh-huhuhuh Uhuhuhuhuh! Gotsumon: Ew! Pumpkinmon: So these are city people in the real world. They don't look like much fun. Gotsumon: (rundown) Well, Pumpkinmon? You're the right guy to teach them what 'fun' really is. You are, without a doubt, the most rockin' creature to ever have a pumpkin for a head. Remember: Chicks dig evil Digimon. Gotsumon: At least that's what I keep telling myself, anyway. Pumpkinmon: (rundown) Gotsumon, you are the mon! We're going to have such a blast here in the real world; They might even name a building after you: The Gotsumonument, where they keep all the party supplies. Pumpkinmon: 3... 2... 1... LET'S GO!!!

Dub Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon are weirdly judgmental about the Shibuya people's party qualities. Though I will say: "Chicks dig evil Digimon" is a surprisingly pragmatic adaptation of Pumpmon having a "scary but cute appearance that's popular with girls." That's not what they said, but... it's not not what they said either.

While Pumpmon and Gotsumon disappear into Shibuya, we join Yamato and Takeru on their way to say goodbye to one another. The brothers sit in silence while the music of Yamato's harmonica plays in the background.

From the luggage rack, Tsunomon and Patamon discuss their situation for the audience's benefit.

Tsunomon: Yamato and Takeru's parents divorced four years ago. Patamon: So even though they're brothers, Yamato lives with his dad and Takeru lives with his mom, right?

Now that we've laid down that reminder, Takeru checks the time on his Digivice. It's 7:07 PM.

Takeru: It's late. Onii-chan, you should get off at the next stop. Yamato: No. I'm taking you all the way to Sangenjaya. Takeru: It's okay-- Yamato: (firmly) Takeru. Takeru: What? Yamato: Let me do this. Takeru: Okay.

Rip my heart in half, and the episode's only just started.

The purple circle on the map is Sangenjaya. As you can see, it's a bit of a trip from the red circle Odaiba. Depending on your timing, it's about an hour to an hour and a half one-way by train. Takeru's worried because Yamato isn't going to get home until like 9. Which is pretty late for an 11-year-old.

We're about to come up on Shibuya Station, which means another 20 minutes to Sangenjaya. For Yamato, that's another 40 minutes added to the length of his round-trip if he goes all the way.

The dub adds a silence-breaker to this scene that completely kills the tone of the boys sitting in awkward, strained silence.

T.K.: How much longer, Matt!? Matt: Relax, T.K. You're almost home.

I guess T.K.'s getting impatient to split up. Their faces are onscreen for most of the extended silence, so the dub still has to go through with Matt and T.K. sitting there unmoving and not speaking. But the vibe is completely killed by T.K.'s whining.

Tsunomon: Matt and T.K.'s mom and dad aren't together anymore, Patamon. So even though they're brothers, they don't live together. Patamon: So T.K. lives with their mom and Matt lives with their dad? That explains why they try so hard to stay together all the time. (T.K. checks Digivice for the time) T.K.: It's sure late. Matt: Yeah? So? T.K.: The next stop's good enough. Matt: No. I'm gonna take you all the way home, little brother. T.K.: You don't have to. Matt: I know I don't have to but I'm going to, okay? I've got my reasons! T.K.: What reasons? Matt: You're my brother. T.K.: Thanks Matt.

This part's pretty well adapted. Matt uses a lot more words to explain where he's coming from, whereas Yamato captures basically all of that in the four words "Let me do this." But he still gets to the same point.

Things are pretty tense here in the train car. But then Patamon asks a question that's more insensitive than he realizes.

Patamon: Are you upset because you're splitting up (wakareru)? Takeru: Shut up! Yamato: (surprised) Takeru! Patamon: You don't have to yell at me like that! Takeru: Even if it's you, Patamon, you shouldn't talk about us brothers like that! Patamon: Fine! I won't talk anymore! Tsunomon: Patamon!

To understand why Takeru lost his shit all of a sudden, you need to understand the nerve Patamon struck. The word he used, wakareru, means to divide or to separate. He was trying to politely ask if the fact that they're going to go their separate ways soon is what's causing all this tension in the train car.

But it's also the word for divorce. Patamon accidentally brushed on Takeru and Yamato's mutual insecurity, that their parents breaking up has broken them up.

Meanwhile, in the dub:

Patamon: Ahhh, nothing like sweet brotherly love! Tsunomon: That's a Digi-mouthful! Patamon: We like when you guys get mushy! T.K.: Hey, quit it! Matt: Easy, T.K.! Patamon: You don't have to be mean about it. I thought what you guys said was ni-- T.K.: MIND YOUR OWN BEESWAX!!! Why ya listenin' to our conversation anyway!? Patamon: FINE!!! If you don't want me around, I'll leave! Tsunomon: Patamon!

Patamon abruptly starts talking about how cute the boys are, and T.K. gets so embarrassed that he snaps at Patamon about it.

The anime's always been uncomfortable talking about the divorce. So uncomfortable that they initially posed these two as half-brothers but I think we've officially done away with that. But they did bring it up a second ago, so I'm a little surprised they suddenly back down from it here.

Patamon's feelings are so hurt by the argument that he bails as soon as the train doors open.

Patamon: I'm getting off here! Yamato: Patamon!

Yamato and Tsunomon try to chase Patamon, but only get as far as the door. He's gone.

Yamato: Takeru! Patamon flew away! Takeru: (bristling) Who cares.... Tsunomon: The door's about to close! Yamato: (firmly) Takeru....

Right as the doors are about to close, Takeru's anger breaks. At the last possible second, he and Yamato jump out onto the platform of Shibuya Station to go find Patamon.

In the dub:

Patamon: I know when I'm not wanted! Matt: Patamon, don't! (Patamon's gone) Matt: Patamon got off the train, T.K.! Don't you want to go after him? T.K.: Who cares about him!? Tsunomon: I think you care about him. Matt: Don't you? (beat) Tsunomon: T.K.? Matt: Better decide, T.K.; The door's closing! (T.K.'s anger breaks and he jumps off the train with Matt) T.K.: Where'd he go!? Tsunomon: Where are we!?

Again, it's wordier but it hits all the important points. Tsunomon and Matt having to spell out T.K.'s inner turmoil might be a bit over-expository but it doesn't feel intrusive to me. The scene still flows pretty well.

Leaving the station, the brothers hit the streets of Shibuya to find Patamon.

Tsunomon: Where could Patamon have gone? Yamato: This is your fault for yelling at him, Takeru. Takeru: (snaps) I couldn't help it! Yamato: Hey, don't take it out on me.

Takeru stops walking suddenly. His eyes soften.

Takeru: Onii-chan, I'm sorry.... Yamato: You went too far with Patamon. Takeru: I know, it's just.... He wasn't wrong.... Yamato: (gently) I know how you feel. Tsunomon: Let's go look over there!

Tsunomon's doing a pretty terrible job of being a plushy, I gotta say.

The dub, I guess, adds a timeskip as the brothers exit the train station?

T.K.: Seems like we've been walking around for hours.... Tsunomon: Yeah, I'm tired! And I don't even have any feet or legs! Matt: You shouldn't have yelled at him like that, T.K. T.K.: Hey, it's not my fault! Matt: Well, actually, it is. (T.K.'s eyes soften and he stops walking.) T.K.: Oh, I'm really sorry.... Matt: I understand, T.K. I know you didn't mean to hurt his feelings. T.K.: Well, I thought he was making fun of us.... Matt: No way, dude! You know Patamon better than that. Tsunomon: Hey, why don't we try looking over there.

Well. Uh. Glad we got that resolved. T.K. was making mountains out of molehills and he gets that now. Emotional drama: Over.

While Yamato and Takeru search for Patamon, they pass a pachinko parlor. We pan inside, where Pumpmon and Gotsumon are spending their night on the town not gambling.

Pachinko is a pretty huge industry in Japan, proving not-gambling entertainment services. Comparable to a slot machine, pachinko is an easy way to burn through your disposable income by turning a knob and seeing what you get.

The reason I keep saying not gambling like that is because pachinko exploits a legal loophole to dance around Japan's strict gambling laws. Legally, it's simply classified as entertainment. This is because you can't win any money from the machines.

When you play pachinko, what you win from it are balls which are then exchanged for prizes at a nearby prize center. Sort of like an arcade. Those prizes can then be sold to a vendor in exchange for money.

See! It's not gambling! You're winning prizes, not money. And then turning those prizes into money. Not gambling!

So. yeah. These two are basically in a Japanese casino. It's an open secret that pachinko's cheating the system but it's also a pretty major industry, puts a lot of money into taxes, and the law still restricts minors from playing so everyone sorta goes along with it. There's stuff like that in every country.

We join Pumpmon inside as his machine pays out a ton of pachinko balls. Behind him, he has five separate trays filled with balls.

Pumpmon: This is really fun! Gotsumon: Hey, give me some. Pumpmon: Again!? Gotsumon: Don't be selfish! Pumpmon: But I am selfish. Gotsumon: I'll pay you back. Pumpmon: Promise? Gotsumon: Promise.

Before Pumpmon can turn any balls over to Gotsumon, a casino worker finds them.

Worker: You two. You're kids wearing costumes, AREN'T YOU!?!?

He drags them both from the casino and throws them out onto the escalator.

Worker: Next time I see you in here, I'm calling your school!

Once the two Digimon hit the bottom, they get up and yell back at him.

Pumpmon: WE'RE NOT CHILDREN!!! Gotsumon: We're just short! Worker: WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE!?!? Both Digimon: WAUUUUGH!!! (flees)

The funny thing is, he's half-right. Gotsumon is a child.

In the dub:

Pumpkinmon: Haha! Alright, another winner! Gotsumon: So will you give me a few? Pumpkinmon: What, again!? Gotsumon: I'll pay you back, I promise! Pumpkinmon: You'll pay me back with what!? Gotsumon: With what I'm about to win! Pumpkinmon: But you never win. Gotsumon: I'M HOT TONIGHT!!!

I don't think Gotsumon knows what that phrase means. Also, sad that we dropped "But I am selfish."

Nonetheless, pleasantly surprised that they correctly adapted the pachinko parlor as a casino by any other name. This is casino dialogue.

Worker: Hey, you two! You kids just don't get the message! Get out and STAY OUT!!! (Worker throws them out) Worker: If you have to try sneaking in here dressed as cartoon characters, at least get a decent costume! (Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon hit the ground floor) Pumpkinmon: Boy, it's a good thing we were just about to leave! Gotsumon: Or we'd teach you some manners! Worker: WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?!? Pumpkinmon: Uh-oh! Gotsumon: Oh boy! (They flee)

These two are clowns in both versions. I love it.

Fleeing from the casino, the two Digimon run into a young woman, knocking her to the ground.

Gotsumon: IT'S A SHIBUYA-TYPE GIRL!!! Pumpmon: Let's hit on her to celebrate our first night in Shibuya! Gotsumon: What's up, babe? Woman: What do you want!? Gotsumon: Do you know what time it is? Woman: (checks her watch) Hey! Don't come any closer! You two look like rejects from "Kinchan no Kasou Taishou"! Pumpmon: What is that? Gotsumon: I don't get it. Pumpmon: You're dressed funny too!

Pumpmon demonstrates the peculiarities of the woman's attire by yanking her out her nose stud. This proves to be a terrible mistake, as the next we see of them, they're fleeing for their lives while she chases them in a blood fury.

Woman: YOU ASSHOLES!!!

Needless to say, their attempt at hitting on the woman they knocked down did not go well.

The TV show she brings up is a Japanese variety show that's basically a professional talent show. People would come on and do their own skits, then be rated by a panel of judges.

In the dub:

Gotsumon: Whoa! I think you knocked over a monster! Pumpkinmon: Even worse, I think I knocked over a teenager. I've heard about these strange looking creatures. Woman: Hey! It takes one to know one. Gotsumon: Excuse me, do you know what time it is? Pumpkinmon: TIME FOR NEW CLOTHES AHAHAHAHA!!! Woman: Get lost, you creeps! And what's with the costumes!? Aren't you guys a little late for Halloween!? Pumpkinmon: What's Halloween? Gotsumon: I don't think I like these teenage things! Pumpkinmon: Me either. Maybe I can reprogram her if I pull out her safety mechanism. (Pumpkinmon tugs the woman's nose stud, provoking the fury) Woman: COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE MUTANTS!!! THIS 'TEENAGE THING' IS GONNA TEACH YOU SOME MANNERS!!!

It's August, so we're more early for Halloween than late.

Pumpkinmon talks like a grumpy old man in this scene and it's weird. His lines here are generation-gap Boomer Humor, and it feels bizarre coming from what are supposed to be two fun-loving imps having a night on the town.

I mean, he is an Ultimate Digimon so maybe he is a boomer but it doesn't fit the tone.

That said, the payoff in the woman's final line is hilarious. XD

Fleeing the infuriated teenager, Pumpmon and Gotsumon's trajectory brings them down an alley and straight towards Yamato and Takeru.

Tsunomon is not playing. The second he lays eyes on these two coming down the alley, he evolves to Gabumon.

Gabumon: Pumpmon! Gotsumon! Takeru: Do you know these Digimon? Gabumon: I think they work for Vamdemon. Pumpmon: We're being chased by a Shibuya-type girl who's much scarier than Vamdemon-sama! Gotsumon: You should hide too!

The pair grab Gabumon by the arms, dragging him away to a hiding place.

In the dub:

Gabumon: Hold it right there! Why are you two in such a hurry!? T.K.: Do you know these guys? Gabumon: I sure do! They work for Myotismon. Pumpkinmon: You're right! But, right now, we're being chased by something even scarier than Myotismon. Gotsumon: There's a really mad teenage human after us! Come to think of it, you'd better hide too!

Losing the repeated references to these humans as "Shibuya-type" doesn't seem like that big a deal, but it does take a bit of the unique characterization and charm away from Pumpmon and Gotsumon.

While the Digimon take cover, Yamato faces the furious Shibuya-type teenager.

Woman: WHERE THE HELL DID "KINCHAN NO KASOU TAISHOU" GO!?!? Yamato: (points) They went that way. Woman: Thanks! (runs off)

Classic misdirect. Once she's gone, it's time to find out what's going on with these guys.

Gabumon: Did Vamdemon order the two of you to come here and find the Eighth Child? Pumpmon: That's right.

Yamato tenses up at the confirmation. The music takes on an ominous tone as Gabumon and Takeru withdraw to Yamato. Steeling themselves for the--

Pumpmon: But Shibuya is much more fun! (Tension killed instantly) Yamato: (lost) Shibuya is much more fun?

Both: (dramatic pose) We've become Shibuya-type Digimon! Takeru: Shibuya-type Digimon? Gabumon: What is going through your heads? Both: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!

Yamato, Takeru, and Gabumon all exchange weary glances over whatever the hell this is. But when they look back, the Shibuya-type Digimon are gone.

Yamato: WHERE DID THEY GO!?!?

In the dub, the teenager opens this scene with a valid point.

Woman: YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE DRESSED IN THOSE STUPID COSTUMES WHERE ARE THEY!?!? Matt: (points) Uh, they went that way. Woman: THANKS!!! (runs off) (The Digimon come out from hiding) Gabumon: I think I know why you two troublemakers are in the real world. Did Myotismon happen to send you here to find someone? Pumpkinmon: Yeah! That Eighth DigiDestined kid. Matt: Huh! Then you're our enemy! Pumpkinmon: No, we're not! We just want to cruise around the city and have some fun! Matt: Well, we thought you two were evil Digimon. Gotsumon: Evil schmevil! We love it here! In fact, next stop: Hollywood! (dramatic pose) TA-DA!!! T.K.: (flatly) They're not ready for TV. Gabumon: Typical. Everybody wants to be in show business. Both Digimon: Lights! Cameras! And action! (The trio all exchange glances and disgusted noises) Gotsumon: Hey! There's some lights! Pumpkinmon: YEAH!!! (Everyone looks back and they're gone) Matt: What are they doing up there!?

The dub's aversion to quiet moments prevents it from even competing with the original. Also, the nonsequitur about Hollywood is clearly written in there because they had no idea what to do with the Shibuya-type animations they were saddled with.

Now, where did those two get off to?

Gotsumon and Pumpmon jump onto a streetlight, shaking it and scrambling its signals. The ensuing confusion causes a traffic calamity.

Gabumon: YOU TWO!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?

Suddenly, police sirens start up in the distance.

Takeru: Police sirens! Yamato: They'll arrest us if they see this! RUN FOR IT!!!

Yamato, Takeru, and Gabumon cheese it before the bacon patrol can arrive. Gotsumon and Pumpmon consider their options.

Pumpmon: They're running away. Gotsumon: Let's go too. Both: WAIT UP!!! (flee)

Wise decision.

Over in the dub, Matt yells at them as soon as they jump on the streetlight.

Matt: HEY!!! GET DOWN!!! (Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon cause a pileup) Gabumon: That's enough! That's not funny; It's mean! (Police sirens) T.K.: Sirens! Matt: Get down or the police will arrest you! We'd better get out of here, guys; Let's run! (T.K., Matt, and Gabumon flee) Pumpkinmon: Did he just say let's run? Gotsumon: Sure did! Both: WAIT FOR US!!! (flee)

Mostly the same, though Gabumon's gentle admonishment isn't as fun as original Gabumon's furious outburst.

After cheesing it from the cops together, the brothers realize they've misplaced the Shibuya-type Digimon.

Yamato: H-Hey, what happened to Pumpmon and Gotsumon? Takeru: They were keeping up with us a minute ago. Gabumon: Those two are so impulsive... ACK!!!

Gabumon suddenly spots Pumpmon and Gotsumon trying on outfits inside a clothing store through the display window. Pumpmon is rocking a pink dress while Gotsumon's trying on blue shorts and a white shirt.

Brothers: ...those guys.... Pumpmon: I think this dress would look better on you. Gotsumon: I agree!

They swap instantaneously.

Yamato, Takeru, and Gabumon enter the store to confront them.

Yamato: Pumpmon! Gotsumon! Gotsumon: Oh, did you want to dress up too? Pumpmon: PUT THIS ON!!!

Gotsumon and Pumpmon dress Yamato, Takeru, and Gabumon each up in goofy outfits. The camera lingering on each in turn.

Gotsumon & Pumpmon: YOU LOOK GREAT!!!

Right at that moment, Patamon flies past the window.

Takeru: AH! PATAMON!!! Yamato: AFTER HIM!!!

The trio throw off their costumes and frantically exit the store, chasing after the lost Patamon.

Pumpmon: Should we follow them? Gotsumon: Sure!

In the dub, Gabumon takes this as an opportunity to be zen.

Matt: Hey, where are Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon? T.K.: They were right behind us. They must have gotten lost or something. Gabumon: Those two... Even when they're found they're lost. AUGH!!! (Gabumon spots the pair in a storefront window) Matt & T.K.: Man oh man.... Pumpkinmon: I think this one makes me look fat. But what do you think? Gotsumon: Well then, let's switch! (Brothers and Gabumon enter) Matt: You guys need to change your attitude! Gotsumon: You need to change your clothes!

XD "You need to change your clothes" got me.

As the camera pans over each of the dressed up protagonists, Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon get some silence-breakers.

Pumpkinmon: (on Matt) This look says you're not afraid to think big! Gotsumon: (on T.K.) Here's a sporty look! Course, I haven't figured out what sport it is yet. Pumpkinmon: (on Gabumon) And finally something nice and a little teddy. Well, what do you think? (Patamon flies by) T.K.: OH!!! PATAMON!!! Matt: HEY!!! PATAMON, COME BACK!!! (The brothers run out) Pumpkinmon: ...so, should we follow those guys? Gotsumon: And why not?

XD Again, they got me. "I haven't figured out what sport it is yet," was a solid follow-up to the innocuous seeming setup, and the timing on that line was pretty good.

Yamato, Takeru, and Gabumon chase Patamon to a nearby park, but then they lose him.

Takeru: We lost him again.... Yamato: Patamon must still be upset. Gabumon: He's not usually this stubborn.

Suddenly, Pumpmon and Gotsumon show up with ice cream cones.

Pumpmon: Now now, cheer up! Gotsumon: Have faith that you'll find him eventually.... Pumpmon: ...and have some ice cream!

Yamato and Takeru both gasp with alarm when they see what the pair are holding.

Gabumon: Where did you get that ice cream? Both: WE STOLE IT!!!

As if on cue, the ice cream vendor comes running into the park behind them.

Vendor: ICE CREAM THIEVES!!!

So the whole group has to start running once again.

Yamato: Why do we have to run!? Gabumon: She's seen us with them! Gotsumon: Want some ice cream while we're running away? Takeru: GET RID OF IT!!!

Once they've evaded yet another Shibuya-type pursuit, Yamato and Takeru stop to catch their breath.

Pumpmon: (holding out the cones) Want some? Yamato: Not me. Takeru: Me either. Gabumon: ... (Beat) Gabumon: I'll eat. Yamato: HEY!!! GABUMON!!!

XD Yamato's trying so hard to present a unified front here but it's ice cream. I mean, no point letting it go to waste; Damage already done and all that. You can't unpop that cork.

In the dub:

T.K.: Do you see him anywhere, Matt? Matt: No. Looks like we lost him again, T.K. Gabumon: Patamon doesn't usually hold a grudge but he was mad as a bull with a Black Gear.

It's funny to me that they're still bringing up Black Gears. That was more than half the series ago. On the one hand, new viewers are going to have no idea what that's supposed to mean. But from a writing perspective, I kinda like that their initial File Island adventure left a mark on everyone's psyches.

Like they're just waiting for Black Gears to become a thing again.

Pumpkinmon: Hey now, don't look so bummed out! Gotsumon: Yeah! I'm sure you'll find your little flying pig friend somewhere! Pumpkinmon: Maybe some ice cream will cheer you all up, huh? Brothers: !!! Gabumon: You guys don't have any money so how did you get ice cream? Both: WE STOLE IT!!! Vendor: (running into the park) YOU CROOKS!!! COME BACK HERE WITH MY ICE CREAM!!! (Everyone runs) Matt: I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TWO!!! EVERYWHERE YOU GUYS GO, THERE'S TROUBLE!!! THE NEXT TIME YOU TWO GET SOMEONE ANGRY, MAKE SURE THEY CAN'T RUN VERY FAST!!! (Everyone stops to catch their breath) Pumpkinmon: So, want some ice cream? Matt: Not me. T.K.: You stole it! Gabumon: ... Matt: Gabumon won't take it either. Right? Gabumon: Ice cream... Ye-- Brothers: GABUMON!!!

Not sure why Gotsumon knows they're looking for a flying pig; He hasn't laid eyes on Patamon. But they did say Patamon's name so he's probably familiar with the species. That's fine.

The dialogue exchange while everyone's running is replaced with Matt scolding the pair of troublemakers for the entire sequence. Though, funnily, he seems more upset that they got caught than that they stole the ice cream in the first place.

The Gabumon joke at the end is slightly different but still nails the landing.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning from the stormy sky strikes the road in front of them, kicking up a cloud of dust. And then everything stops being funny.

Vamdemon: Pumpmon. Gotsumon. Both: Y-Yes, sir!? Vamdemon: Why are you eating ice cream with the Chosen Children? Both: Y-you see.... Vamdemon: Weren't you supposed to be searching for the Eighth Child? Both: We haven't found them yet! Vamdemon: Then why haven't you taken the Crests from these children!? Both: We were just about to do that! (Pumpmon and Gotsumon turn on Yamato and Takeru) Gabumon: RUN!!!

Gabumon shields Yamato and Takeru with his body and the three of them run for it. Gotsumon and Pumpmon let out adorable little battle cries and give chase.

Over in the dub, Myotismon opens by telling these two what he really thinks.

Myotismon: Losers! Failures! Both: No no! Don't say that! Myotismon: Instead of causing pain and suffering, I find you here eating ice cream! Both: ...well, it is stolen-- Myotismon: I DON'T CARE ABOUT ICE CREAM!!! Have you found the Eighth DigiDestined Child yet? Both: Well, we were about to find him! Myotismon: Redeem yourselves by stealing the Crests from these children OR ELSE!!! Both: No problem, boss! That's just what we were about to do! (Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon turn on Matt and T.K.)

Gabumon doesn't say anything when they run this time. He lets out some scared vocalizing like Matt and T.K. are.

Different openings to the same result. Honestly, both openings have merits. I prefer the first one, because Vamdemon's stonefaced "Why are you eating ice cream with the Chosen Children?" is a beautiful Oh Fuck moment. There is no possible answer they can give to that question that won't incriminate them further.

But also, Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon pointing out to Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain Myotismon that the ice cream does qualify as a crime, only for him to scream "I DON'T CARE ABOUT ICE CREAM!!!" is hilarious. XD

So, in the original, Vamdemon opens the conversation with an impossible-to-defend accusation in what is very much the voice of a boss catching an employee goofing off at work. Meanwhile, in the dub, they get him. They win that verbal joust and he's livid about it. Both versions are so good.

Takeru: Why did they attack us all of a sudden!? Yamato: It can't be helped. They were working for Vamdemon from the start! Gabumon: But I can't bring myself to fight those two!

Pumpmon and Gotsumon are troublemakers, but there's no malice in it. They've sort of become the kids' friends, in an odd way.

In the dub:

T.K.: Can you believe those two turning on us!? Matt: And I thought Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon only wanted to have fun, not fight! Gabumon: I suppose they'd rather fight us than fight Myotismon.

Gabumon's line in the original is an expression of his own personal feelings towards Gotsumon and Pumpmon. He's asserting his growing fondness for the pair. In the dub, he explains their motive for the betrayal, which we saw for ourselves half a minute ago, so it's not as interesting.

Cut to Patamon hunkering down on top of a streetlight. He's finally run out of angry and is starting to have post-fury regrets.

Patamon: I left in the heat of the moment, but I wonder what Takeru's doing now?

Down below, he overhears a pair of girls in school uniforms chatting.

Girl 1: Yeah, if you want to meet up with someone, it should be in front of Hachikou's statue. Girl 2: Hachikou's statue is the best place to meet up! Patamon: Hachikou's statue....

Patamon takes to the air again, his mind set on a destination.

For context, Hachikou was a dog whose owner brought him to Shibuya. His owner would take the train to work, and every day Hachikou would wait at Shibuya Station for his owner to return.

His owner died one day from a medical complication at work, and never came home to Hachikou. From then on, every day for the next ten years, Hachikou would come to Shibuya Station and wait, unaware that his owner would never return. He kept this up until the day he died.

(Yeah, that Futurama episode that made you cry is based on a real event that happened in Japan.)

In his memory, a statue of Hachikou was erected outside the station. He's been immortalized in movies, anime, and video games. There's even an annual memorial in his honor.

So. Y'know. Lot of cultural significance to using Hachikou's statue as a place to meet up with people. Which isn't going to translate into the dub very well.

Patamon: I just can't stay mad at T.K. anymore. Besides, I really miss him! Girl 1: So I told Rebecca and Sarah to just find us at the park later. That'll work. It's like... It's so easy to find somebody at the park! Girl 2: Yeah! It's totally easy to find somebody there! Patamon: Oh, in the park!

(sigh) They could have at least used the statue as a landmark. Even if kids don't understand the cultural significance, that's fine. Neither does Patamon. Someone said "Hey, Hachikou's statue is a great place to meet!" and that's all the context he has. It's fine if that's all the context the audience has.

"The park"? This is a metropolitan city. Which park?

While Patamon's heading to Hachikou's statue, Yamato and Takeru find themselves cornered by the formerly friendly Gotsumon and Pumpmon.

As they round a corner, they see Pumpmon ahead, cutting off their exit.

Yamato: AUGH!!! Takeru: PUMPMON!!! Pumpmon: This is as far as you go! Gabumon: He cut us off from the front. Yamato: Get behind me, Takeru.

Gripping Takeru by the shoulders, Yamato moves him back towards the rear. Unfortunately, it's not safe from that side either, as Gotsumon brings up the rear.

Takeru: (spots Gotsumon) Ah! Yamato: (turns) Gotsumon! Gotsumon: This is as far as you go.

I like the symmetrical taunting from Pumpmon and Gotsumon as their trap is sprung. These two are such a double-act, even as the enemy.

The pair backs Yamato, Takeru, and Gabumon into a vacant lot. Nowhere to run now.

In the dub:

T.K.: Hey, how'd you do that!? Pumpkinmon: Aren't I amazing!? Gabumon: Well, you might make a nice pie. Matt: Come on! Let's turn around! (moves T.K. behind him) T.K.: Whuh!? Gotsumon: (approaches from the rear) Hehe, I don't think so! Matt: We're surrounded! Gotsumon: Sorry we have to do this to you guys, but orders are orders. You understand.

"You might make a nice pie." Holy shit, shots fired. Gabumon threatens to eat Pumpkinmon.

Matt's also given a tone-shifting silence-breaker when Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon back them into the lot.

Matt: Alright, if it's a fight you want, LET'S DO IT!!!

This is one of those lines the dub likes to use when the kids are in extreme peril to make it seem like it's not so dire.

With their backs against the wall of the lot, Yamato, Takeru, and Gabumon prepare to have to defend themselves. Pumpmon and Gotsumon slowly advance on the Children with determination and menace in their eyes. Then, at last, Pumpmon--

Pumpmon: I quit. Gotsumon: Ugh, me too! Pumpmon: Playing around in Shibuya is way more fun than fighting the Chosen Children! Gotsumon: Yeah yeah! Come hang out with us! Group: Huh!?

Yamato, Takeru, and Gabumon have tonal whiplash over how this night has gone. But the tension's been deflated, our new friends are still our friends, and--

A bolt of lightning suddenly strikes nearby.

Pumpmon: V-VAMDEMON'S COMING!!! Gotsumon: Go hide!

Things may have de-escalated with these two, but there's still the big guy lurking around. It's not safe to be out in Tokyo at night.

In the dub:

Pumpkinmon: Uhh, I quit. Gotsumon: Yeah, me too. Group: Huh? Pumpkinmon: Why should we fight? Somebody always gets hurt. Besides, it's way more fun just hanging out and cruising around the city! Gotsumon: That's for sure! Hey, why don't you guys hang out with us? Group: Huh!? (Lightning bolt strikes nearby) Pumpkinmon: Whoa, Myotismon's coming! Gotsumon: You should all hide!

It's worded a little different but mostly the same. I like Pumpkinmon's new point about how violence sucks, actually. Like. Unless you're Son Goku, on a scale of 1 to Fun it's a 0.

Takeru, Yamato, and Gabumon all hide while Pumpmon and Gotsumon go out to confront their boss.

It does not go well.

Vamdemon: Where are the Chosen Children? Pumpmon: Unfortunately, they got away from us. Gotsumon: We almost had 'em! Vamdemon: You LIARS!!! I have no further use for you. NIGHT RAID!!!

Pumpmon and Gotsumon's deception confirms Vamdemon's suspicions, provoking a rare break from his typically cool demeanor.

We're going to see in a moment that he does know where the Yamato, Takeru, and Gabumon are. It's too late to hide. He's giving Pumpmon and Gotsumon an opportunity to tell him and prove that they haven't deserted their posts. A test that they fail.

In the dub:

Myotismon: Where are the DigiDestined!? Pumpkinmon: Uh, they were here just a second ago! They must have got away! Gotsumon: Yeah! You can't believe how fast they are! But we almost had 'em, boss. Myotismon: Yes. I can imagine. You had your chance; Now I'm condemning you to my dungeon in the Digi-World! GRISLY WING!!!

...yeah, we'll. Uh. We'll talk about Myotismon's dungeon in the Digi-World in a moment.

The acting for Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon is so good in this scene. They do a fantastic job selling these claims as pathetic excuses from dipshit minions.

There is, however, a bit of a narrative shift here. Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon are lying to protect their friends in both versions. However, in the original, Vamdemon sees through their lies and attacks them for betraying his side. Myotismon is just executing them for failure. This was their opportunity to "redeem themselves" for not finding the Eighth Child, and they bungled it.

Well. Shit. Vamdemon's on the attack, as his bats swarm Pumpmon and Gotsumon. Nothing to lose now; Go for the Hail Mary.

Pumpmon fires off his Trick or Treat, conjuring a colossal pumpkin above Vamdemon and dropping it. The Night Raid bats quickly return from their attack, moving into defense and catching the pumpkin. They ravenously devour Pumpmon's best move.

While his bats are distracted, Gotsumon tries to blindside Vamdemon with his Angry Rock attack. But. Like. It's a rock being thrown by a Child-stage Digimon, and Vamdemon's Perfect. He telekinetically stops the rock with a sharp gaze, then shatters it in midair.

The dub calls these moves Pumpkinmon Power and Rock Fist Attack respectively.

Once the bats have finished eating Pumpmon's pumpkin, they go back on the attack. Pumpmon and Gotsumon have nothing left to defend themselves.

Vamdemon's Night Raid descends upon Pumpmon and Gotsumon once more. They both let out the most bloodcurdling screams, and we pan away to Yamato, Takeru, and Gabumon in a nearby alley.

Gabumon: Pumpmon! Takeru: Gotsumon!

Yamato throws himself around Takeru and pulls him away, using his own body to break Takeru's line of sight.

Yamato: Don't watch, Takeru!

The axe from Pumpmon's head and one of Gotsumon's rocks clatter to the ground. Then they dissolve into pixel dust. The incorrigible pranksters are dead. Vamdemon takes a step forward, his boot landing where these parts of the prankster pair had dissolved, as if crushing their bodies underfoot.

There is no change in the dub. Even their bloodcurdling screams as they die are retained. This is because the dub already changed the context of this scene a moment ago. This is where "My dungeon in the Digi-World" comes in.

They pre-emptively altered the context of Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon's disintegration so they could present the death scene in all its gory detail, unhindered by the need to appease the censors. They went to the dungeon, so it's fine for them to die screaming while Matt yells at T.K. not to watch.

...honestly, clever. Points to the dub for managing to make the censors happy and preserve the emotional punch of this scene. Though if you're hoping for a follow-up episode where we spring them from Myotismon's dungeon, I... Uh... I have some bad news.

(Now that I think about it, his entire castle and the mountain it's situated on got obliterated the day after he left. He doesn't know about that. So... I guess they're fine. Dub Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon popped into existence in a vacant lot in the Digital World, then ran merrily off into the woods. The joke was on Myotismon in the end.)

With the deserters disposed of, Vamdemon next advances on the alley where Yamato, Takeru, and Gabumon are hidden away.

Vamdemon: The three of you are next. Yamato: (voice breaking) They were good people.... Gabumon: Yamato.... Yamato: YOU HAD NO REASON TO KILL THEM!!!

To understand how big a deal this eruption from Yamato is, you need to understand something. Much like children's media in the U.S., children's media in Japan generally frowns on the word kurosu, meaning "to kill". It's considered vulgar and inappropriate for young audiences.

Like western children's cartoons, Children's anime will generally favor other terminology. "Defeat him. Destroy him. Take him down."

Yamato here uses the word. We are not pulling any linguistic punches. This motherfucker murdered Pumpmon and Gotsumon.

Gabumon evolves into Garurumon, slamming Vamdemon against the wall of the storefront across the road. He gets a hit in, but Vamdemon easily punches him away.

Garurumon keeps up the assault while Yamato shakes with fury.

Yamato: Those guys... It may only have been for a little while... (voice breaks) But they were our friends! GARURUMON!!!

Vamdemon catches Garurumon in his Bloody Stream, whipping him away and tossing him at a building. Just then, Yamato's grief activates his Crest, pushing Garurumon into Super-Evolution.

In the dub, Myotismon is cruelly dismissive of Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon.

Myotismon: (Advancing on the alleyway) Well, that wasn't very difficult. Now it's your turn. Matt: (voice breaking) Those two... They were really trying to save us. Gabumon: You're right! Matt: Rrrrgh! And you just condemned them for no reason at all!

The dub does not have the nerve to say kurosu here. Though they have dropped in some "kill" words in the past. I think this is contextually too dark for them.

Garurumon attacks Myotismon, and Matt's speech here is:

Matt: Go get him. He should pay for what he did to those two! Those guys just wanted to be our friends! GARURUMON!!!

Tonal shift. Yamato's speech is a furious eulogy centered on Pumpmon and Gotsumon, while Matt's is a vindictive battle cry against Myotismon. As usual, the Americans are more comfortable in the realm of aggression than emotional sincerity, which often gets put on display with Yamato/Matt specifically.

WereGarurumon catches himself, landing on his hind legs on the building and then springing back at Vamdemon. Kicking off the most public Digimon fight we've had yet right here in the streets of youth culture center Shibuya.

We cut briefly to Patamon resting in a tree at Shibuya Station above the statue of Hachikou.

Patamon: Aww... Those girls said that if I wait here, I'd find Takeru...

In the dub:

Patamon: Aww... Those girls said the park was the place to find someone, but where's T.K.?

The spirit of Hachikou is strong today, however, and Patamon will be reunited with Takeru. The sound of screaming alerts him to something happening nearby. He looks up in time to see glowing signs on distant buildings destroyed by WereGarurumon and Vamdemon's fight.

(We aren't retreating this time; Yamato's out for blood. Also, fun fact: I'm sure I brought this up before but WereGarurumon himself is a Nightmare Soldier.)

The public below look on in horror as werewolf and vampire duke it out in Shibuya. WereGarurumon dodges away from a stabbing Bloody Stream and counters with Kaiser Nail. His claws form an X-shaped projectile that slams Vamdemon back through the wall of one of the neighboring buildings.

Startled humans inside leap to their feet as the fighting progresses indoors. WereGarurumon jumps in through the hole, but Vamdemon's back on his feet. A Night Raid hits WereGarurumon dead-on; The bats lifting him through the air and crashing him through a neon sign.

Though the fight started off promising, the neon sign costs WereGarurumon dearly. Vamdemon now has the upper hand. Before WereGarurumon can recover and get back to his feet, Vamdemon lashes him with Bloody Stream.

The fight has completely turned. Vamdemon has the unassailable advantage now. WereGarurumon finally makes it back to his feet, holding his stomach, badly hurt. Only to take another Bloody Stream to the face and knock him back down.

Yamato and Takeru watch in horror while Vamdemon lifts WereGarurumon into the air on his Bloody Stream whips, shocking or burning or doing something to him. WereGarurumon screams in agony.

While the violence unfolds, Takeru isn't even thinking about it. He's buried in his guilt.

Takeru: (thinking) If I hadn't gotten so mad, Patamon wouldn't have left us. We never would have met Pumpmon and Gotsumon in Shibuya. And Pumpmon and Gotsumon... wouldn't have been killed by Vamdemon!

Holy shit, that is a lot to lay on the shoulders of an 8-year-old. Takeru believes his mistakes got Pumpmon and Gotsumon killed. He's... he's not right but he's not wrong either.

I love that he calls out Vamdemon as the killer. That's vital perspective that people struggling with guilt don't always have. Vamdemon killed them, not Takeru. He is not to blame. It's good that he recognizes that.

But the chain of events that led to their deaths did begin with him exploding on the train. He's not to blame, but he's still going to be telling his therapist about this when he's forty.

In the dub:

T.K.: (thinking) WereGarurumon's in big trouble and it's all my fault! If I hadn't been so mean, Patamon would still be with us and we would never have met Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon! And if those poor guys had never met up with us, they wouldn't be stuck where they are now! Ohhhhh....

Good effort. Doesn't land quite as strongly, but that's mainly because there's only so hard they can go on T.K.'s trauma when Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon are simply in a dungeon cell somewhere. They still put in as much effort as they can to sell this.

Takeru's grief and trauma and fear is so overwhelming at this point that it all comes crashing in together, pushing him over the edge for the second first time. Patamon SHINKAAAAAA!!!

FINALLY, a full 19 episodes following his death and reincarnation, Angemon is back in play. Patamon doesn't even know what's happening when the surge of Takeru's emotions hit him all at once and bring him into the fight.

Angemon soars over the onlookers in the streets below and straight on into battle. Vamdemon notices him at the last second, swerving out of the way of Angemon's swing - but the attack still goes through. Angemon's staff crashes through the whips of Vamdemon's Bloody Stream, breaking the bonds that are holding WereGarurumon down.

Angemon's intervention buys WereGarurumon a moment to finally catch his breath and get back up.

WereGarurumon: Angemon!? Angemon: Are you okay, WereGarurumon? WereGarurumon: Uh, sort of? Takeru: Angemon! Yamato: Takeru's feelings reached Patamon!

It's great that Angemon is back in the fight, but WereGarurumon's still hurting. We're not out of the woods yet.

Though the dub ratchets up the positivity.

WereGarurumon: Angemon.... Angemon: Are you alright, WereGarurumon? WereGarurumon: Yes. Thanks to you, I am. T.K.: Angemon rules! Matt: Well, I guess we don't have to look for Patamon anymore!

Matt, is that the most pressing matter right now? Dracula is still right there.

WereGarurumon gets his second wind while Angemon stares down Vamdemon.

Vamdemon: So you're the one who possesses holy powers. WereGarurumon: Let's go, Angemon. Angemon: Right.

In the dub, Myotismon is weirdly dismissive of Angemon?

Myotismon: Hmph. Angemon. They must be desperate if they sent you! WereGarurumon: Angemon, shall we take him? Angemon: Let's go!

Uh, Angemon is kind of a big deal? I mean, he's still only Adult-stage; He'd get wrecked in a straight fight. But Myotismon is talking about him like he's the team bottom-feeder.

Angemon doesn't even respond to Vamdemon. He and WereGarurumon go straight on the attack as soon as WereGarurumon's recovered.

Angemon goes high, raising his staff for an overhead swing, while WereGarurumon goes low. WereGarurumon feints with a spin kick. Just as planned, Vamdemon dodges upwards to evade, coming straight into Angemon's attack range. He's forced to raise his arm to block the follow-up from Angemon.

With Vamdemon momentarily pinned down in melee with Angemon, WereGarurumon rebounds off the building that was behind him and comes in for his real attack. He throws himself up into the fray, coming straight up at Vamdemon's defenseless back.

And then I guess we ran out of time and budget because a big blue light blob conceals the entire rest of this fight.

Vamdemon retreats, attempting to save face with a parting taunt and his weird robotic monotone laugh.

Vamdemon: I'll finish this fight later. Ah Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

So fucking creepy every time he does that. He laughs like a Text-to-Speech generator with a reverb played over it

Myotismon continues to have a much less Uncanny Valley laugh.

Myotismon: It's time I take my leave; We will fight again! HuhuHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Myotismon has a villain laugh and Vamdemon has this eldritch thing masquerading as mirth.

Now that the fight is over, WereGarurumon and Angemon revert to Gabumon and Patamon. (Not Tsunomon? Odd.) Yamato and Takeru race over to check on their Partners.

Yamato lifts Gabumon into his arms as much as he can.

Yamato: Gabumon....

He looks concerned, but Takeru is distraught, with tears in his eyes. Considering what happened to Patamon last time he evolved, you can understand why he's freaking out.

Takeru: Patamon!? Are you.... Patamon: Yeah. I'm okay, Takeru. Takeru: T_T I'm sorry for getting mad.... Patamon: Don't cry, Takeru.

Of course, Takeru's fears are misplaced. The reason Angemon died last time was because he channeled the full holy might of all seven Digivices through his body at once. It was that desperation play that killed him.

But Takeru has had a fucking hell of a night and he can be forgiven for thinking he was about to cap it off by watching Patamon die again.

In the dub:

Matt: I hope they're alright! T.K.: Me too! (Both boys grab their Digimon Partners) Matt: Gabumon? T.K.: Ohhh... Patamon! Are you okay? Patamon: Yes. I'm alright now, T.K. T.K.: I'm sorry, Patamon. I'm sorry I got mad. Patamon: Don't cry, T.K. It's alright.

There's some extra dialogue leading into it but it's otherwise the same.

Yamato and Takeru walk back through Shibuya with their Partners, headed for the station. Along the way, they can't help but see the ghosts of the memories they made tonight, with two friends who paid a tragic price for it.

They were Shibuya-type Digimon to the very end.

Takeru: Onii-chan, over there....

Takeru points out the storefront where Pumpmon and Gotsumon dressed up, and the memories flow in from there. Thirty seconds of silent flashbacks while a mournful piano melody plays in the background.

Yamato: (quietly) ...let's go home. Takeru: Yeah.

As the boys leave, a pair of shooting stars twinkle by overhead. A parting symbol of the lives that were lost tonight.

The dub tries to keep things light and upbeat, which really doesn't work for this scene.

T.K.: Hey, look in that window! That's where those crazy Digimon tried on all the clothes, remember?

Due to the dub's aversion to silence, the flashbacks contain voice lines from Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon, of the various things they said in those scenes.

T.K.: Aww, they were funny. Matt: I know what you mean, T.K. I miss them too.

Yeah, you can't lighthearted a scene about grief. T.K.'s lines end up underselling the severity of what's happening in this scene. Though I guess that's to be expected since Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon went somewhere else.

While Yamato finally takes Takeru back to Shibuya Station to drop him off, we turn our attention back to Odaiba.

The camera pans across the Rainbow Bridge, passing over Daiba Park where Vamdemon's base is located.

Narrator: The children saw the cruelty Vamdemon is capable of with their own eyes.

Then we cut to the Yagami home from outside. Hikari is in her room doing homework. The camera slowly pans up to reveal Tailmon on the roof. Watching.

(What she is watching, I have no idea. All she can see from her vantage is the balcony of the apartment above Hikari's.)

Narrator: Soon they would realize that this was only the prologue to the great battles ahead. Once the Eighth Child discovers their destiny, the flames of battle will flare in an instant and devour everything.

Then we close on a shot of Hikari's Digivice lying in a nest made from stolen hangers. Because crows.

Narrator: There's not long now until that time arrives.

Since the dub has no narrator, Matt takes the mic and uses it to spell out the Moral of the Episode.

Matt (V.O.): I guess we shouldn't take our friends for granted! T.K. nearly lost Patamon's friendship and who knows if we'll ever see Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon again! (Shift to the Yagami home) Matt (V.O.): But one thing's for sure; I know Myotismon isn't through with us yet! His henchmen are out there right now searching for the Eighth DigiDestined! Gatomon: (thinking) You may be sweet, little Kari, but next time I will get my claws into you. Narrator: Will Kari survive her next encounter with Gatomon, Myotismon's most loyal servant? Find out on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.

Oh fuck me, I guess we DO have a narrator all of a sudden.

Remember, kids: Treasure the friends that you have. Because you never know when Dracula will murder them lock them in a dungeon.

The dub still doesn't quite understand what's going through Tailmon's head right now. She wasn't thwarted in her attempt to kill Hikari; She ran away because Hikari makes her feel feelings that are freaking her out.

She's fence-riding. Trying to monitor Hikari because she's pretty sure Hikari is the Eighth Child, but using "We don't know FOR SURE" as an excuse not to take further action.

But the dub's still playing Gatomon as super determined to kill Kari, but struggling to find an opportunity. Even though she had a perfectly good opportunity that she fled from.

Assessment: Fuck me, this episode. Hahahahaha hi shit is dark today. Between this and Angemon's first outing, Takeru will be in therapy until he's ninety.

This episode's a bit of a cheater. Like, it's kinda bullshit that Tsunomon can go straight to WereGarurumon in the same night he recovers to Gabumon after how much time was spent building up the drawbacks of Super-Evolution - and then revert back to Gabumon instead of Tsunomon.

I'm not sure if this is going to be the new standard going forward. The Digimon do get stronger over the course of the series; It was a plot point on File Island that practice made them better at being able to evolve to Adult-stage more frequently and consistently. So it may be that we're getting better at Super Evolution too. We'll see if this sticks. But it's still weird that he can hit Perfect in an episode he starts out in Baby.

Of course, Pumpmon and Gotsumon tore my heart in half like I knew they would. And Takeru, just... Just... Takeru. It's not exactly the episode from Fullmetal Alchemist (both versions, you know the one) but it's brutal nonetheless.

The dub... This is another one of those episodes where they were screwed from the outset. The censors were never going to let them do this episode justice. It's dark as shit. They didn't want to deal with angry parents calling because their children are screaming and crying over a pumpkin boy.

But for what they'd be allowed to do, they did a better job with it than I expected. It's still a pale imitation of the original, but there's more definition to that imitation than I thought I was going to see. A C for the overall product but an A for effort.

[eclipsewxtch]

What type of style do the boys have? Like in any fic (I.e: Kill of the night, Ballad of Finney blake, heck even bruised knuckles!)

What’s their aesthetic? The jewelry they wear(if they wear it)? Do they have the same style in every fic or is a different? (Like would Bruce wear a more elegant aesthetic in Ballad of Finney Blake because he’s a model and a more casual aesthetic in Kill of the night because he’s a agent who likes his clothing loose for when he fights?)

different aesthetics for fics like can’t remember to forget you (they’re kids in the 70s they don’t have a lot of access to the GOOD stuff), meet me in the woods tonight (fantasy set in the 1500s) yknow the ones that aren’t modern era

in certain fics like Ballad/Kill of the Night like all modern era their aesthetics don’t change.

• finney — street wear: never gonna catch him without his sneakers u r OUT of ur mind😭 loves a cropped leather jacket and baggy, long cargo pants. wears an abundance of necklaces. i would love to say light academia but ik in my heart or hearts he is a street wear boy 4eva.

• bruce — soft boy aesthetic bc he REALLY loves the pastels and straight leg jean/pants moment. he, of course, wears flamboyant and glittery party clothes or high fashion but in his casual downtime? catch him in a soft brown sweater some straight legged baggy pants and a knitted brown and green flower bag. OR that weird space-core aesthetic. has a shit ton of blue and galaxy shirts, silver jewelry, metallic makeup, glitter—loves that whole look. was a space kid and hasn’t grown out of it (finney loves him BAD)

• robin — skater boy; loves a good baggy cargo shorts moment!! graphic tees AND converse?? u have never seen him move so fast in a zoomiez it’s like he’s a whole nother man fr😭

• vance — grunge!! get this man a long sleeved cardigan, a leather jacket and some ripped denim!! wear those combat boots that are held together by duck tape and a dream!

• billy — this mf BOUNCES AROUND LIKE A MAD MAN when it comes to aesthetics. he wears whatever he is in the mood for, but most often it’s GLAM ROCK (SOMEONE TOLD ME IN THE COMMENTS WHAT THE NAME WAS! THANK YOU AMITY UR A REAL ONE). and it’s very flamboyant and gay. i love him. also he’s in every shade of pink known to man-kind. like lestat.

• griffin — whatever u can call that dark/grunge coquette style. the one that gives vampire rock star. loves a black and red outfit from infinity to infinity. dark shades ONLY but he has been known to enjoy an occasional bright colored swirl of colors. has a bunch of black and silver jewelry but has joked at length he can’t wear it for too long or he’ll start to burn. watched scooby doo and the witch’s ghost, fell in LOVE with thorn, has not let her style, or the others’, go.

for the part in KOTN they keep their agent aesthetic and normal aesthetic separate.

the only real exception to this is don’t come back for me. bruce, griffin, finney dress more feminine than i usually have them dress in my fics like outside of those cheerleading uniforms.

• bruce — y2k (both feminine and masc). loves a good sheer top and low waist jean moment. does NOT subscribe to the bad makeup practices back then tho. he refuses to, actually. u will never ever ever catch him without some lip gloss on and gold jewelry.

• finney — light academia—witch-like, even. partly because it’s really funny and also he likes soft sweaters. plus he gets to jump between the pants and the skirt options at his leisure, made funnier by the fact he has magic. has got that quick-change down to a science. has been spotted around campus wearing three different outfits since the day first began.

• griffin — grunge. get this man some smudged eyeliner, deep lipstick, some dark reds, and forest greens stat!!! vintage band tees? always locked and loaded. a good skirt moment? ugh. will never catch him without his favorite black corduroy jacket or those super long plaid shirt that totally didn’t belong to billy wdym? that he wears tied around his waist or he ACTUALLY wears or a long strip he ripped off at the bottom as a bracelet.

• billy — dark academia. get this man some dark colors and some glasses stat!!! (billy in glasses at the library like he’s fucking spencer reid? griffin almost lost his shit) and he actually owns a fucking watch/stop watch on a golden chain.

• vance — punk boy style. he has all the punk values (amen!) but sometimes he does wear a more casual look.

• robin — he doesn’t get out much aside from cat form but when he does? 90s style. and i’m talking 90s california: sleeveless graphic t-shirts, converse, ripped jeans, the works.