#i need to hop on streams more but I don't want spoilers!

[the-canary-cursing-you]

i sit by my window for days, pondering, thinking, when will zedaph come home with the new episode? and he brings the most ridiculous inconvenient time-consuming idea ever.

and i watch and applaud him every time 🫡

[cerastes]

You enjoy Tekken a lot, is there any reason you don't stream your Ranked games? Asking out of genuine curiosity.

The first half of the answer is that I play Ranked in short bursts. I'll do 3-5 opponents (rematch or not) and then hit Practice Mode or do something else. I don't really do these long Ranked grind sessions. I think they are detrimental to me. It's how I enjoy the game. I can go for hours if I'm playing a friend, but for Ranked, I enter a different head space, and I really don't feel like entertaining a crowd (chat) or interacting with others while I'm playing Ranked because I play seriously there. I like focusing and playing my heart out without feeling the need or want to talk to anyone at all.

Which leads to the other half of the answer: Competitive/Ranked Fighting Game Dreamer.

If you've been to my streams and if I may say so myself, I can laugh at myself just fine. I don't take being blasted by chat bad, in fact, I go along with it. I died to gravity in Soulsborne after first try beating a notoriously difficult boss? Yeah, that's funny. I hype up a cool trick I wanna do and then fuck it up? Yeah, mockery is the natural result. I'm a good sport about these things, and like to use them as springboards for either an immediate laugh or for the next bit. I'm like that with all games and activities in general.

Except fighting games if I'm at the arcade or in a competitive/ranked setting.

Ranked Dreamer has something to prove, basically, because Ranked Dreamer enjoys and respects competitive/ranked gaming, and the thrill and learning that comes with it. Ranked Dreamer is not really about what I previously mentioned. It's not that I go Mr. Hyde or anything and rage; I have a lot of fun and I'm in a good mood the vast majority of the time! But Ranked Dreamer is raised-in-the-arcade-scene Dreamer, that expects people that cast any sort of judgement to know what they are talking about or shut the hell up, and the vast majority of my usual chat doesn't play or watch fighting games. I did a bit of Ranked on stream after my sets with LC when we played, and when I was downloading an opponent (and thus, getting hit a lot) after beating them and rematching, someone said something to the effect of "well now he's getting his ass kicked wwwwwww", which made me immediately want to say "don't you know anything, you reprobate, shut up", which... Is no way to treat anyone! In the moment, it's a natural thing to say, because that's just how it is when people that take something seriously (not even in a pro way, just seriously) will want to say to someone that's obviously a tourist that doesn't know anything about the scene if they start having opinions... But you think about it rationally after the fact, and it's like... No, dude, even then, don't mistreat people, lmao.

So basically, I don't want to mistreat people in the heat of the moment and regret insulting someone who was just having fun in chat and treating it as if it was another one of my mishaps. It's literally a me thing.

A lot of my good Tekken matches (that being matches I feel like I learned something or enjoyed) look like this:

Spoiler alert, but I get ragdolled the first two rounds badly. And that's because I don't know the King-Lili match-up. When you face a match-up you don't know, you have two options: Try and throw your flowcharts and strings and hope it works, OR you can try and download the opponent. You see what works, what doesn't, their habits, and their behavior in offense and defense. You experiment, and test. This involves a lot of getting hit and losing health or even rounds. But you learn a lot more and it helps you grow as a player, it's better in the long run. After those first two rounds, I gather this:

They duck on reaction when I approach -> To deal with King's dangerous grab game -> Use mids to beat crouch.

They literally only flowchart -> They always use the low after the cartwheel -> Launch it with hop kick (well, knee in King's case).

They are impulsive and will want their turn back -> Their wake-up game is aggressive -> oki with d,b3 counter into Leg Lock or backstep/properly spaced d,b3 counter into Leg Lock, depending on frame advantage and distance from downed Lili after knockdown.

It's Lili -> They'll start using Funny Shit on round start -> backstep, deal with it, punish it.

They are bad at breaking Figure Four Leg Lock -> Keep using Figure Four Leg Lock, it works.

And then I start absolutely booty blasting Lili. That's what downloading is! But non-fighting game players don't know that, so they'll see me get blasted (while I'm trying to learn) or rematching an opponent I lost to and then lose again (to learn the match-up more) and start making those comments that, while they'd usually either get a joke on retaliation or simply get ignored if they are not funny enough, will make Ranked Dreamer want to tell them to shut up and reflect on how ignorant they are if they can't even tell that I'm trying to download/learn here, obviously, are your eyes closed or are you just clinically unfunny and one of those "I just like spreading chaos lol" types. Which will then be something I regret because I feel bad when I actually insult people, especially over games.

So, it's just a me thing, but here it is explained in case you wanted a bit more elaboration.

[omletteflipper]

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not - Volo x Reader

New blorbo just dropped. This takes place after the postgame + (barely) established relationship. Spoilers for PLA post-post-game.

~~★~~★~~★~~

You lazed about the Ancient Retreat after Volo went on yet another long walk alone. After his defeat and your odd reconciliation, nothing had ever been quite "normal".

He had always been distant, in the literal sense, but when you were together he lavished you with attention. "Is that weird?" you thought. "Everything is weird now. How am I supposed to know how Volo is normally? He was never normal to me."

You paced around the small cottage as your thoughts continue to spiral. "Is he plotting something else? How would I know it if he does? Am I crying? Oh- this is a trap this is a trick this is all just one steaming pile of-"

Your thoughts stop abruptly as you caught yourself from pacing into a wall. This is no place for a breakdown. You needed somewhere peaceful and open to clear your head. Luckily, during your travels, you had stumbled upon just the spot.

You arrived in a forgotten valley of the Crimson Mirelands, bursting with flowers and foliage. Wild Petilil peacefully hopped about the carpet of blooms. The humid air dulled your senses and calmed your nerves. Almost.

After an eternity of questions swirling around your head, you laid your head back and stared up at the clouded sky. You had no answers and no idea how to solve this "insecurity". Is it really an insecurity if it already happened before?

Before you had time to ponder that new question, you heard footsteps cracking against the path above you.

"Hello down there!" A familiar voice called.

You groan and flop over, hoping the flowers would hide you and Volo would just turn around and go home. Alas, you hear the crunch of flower stems draw closer and you tentatively raise your head to meet his gaze.

"You don't happen to be allergic to flowers, are you? Your face is a little red and puf-"

"I was crying."

"Oh."

"Scratch that, I'm still crying." You hastily move an arm to cover your face.

Volo moves to put his arm around you but you shrug it off. His characteristic grin drops to a look of worry.

You take a shuddering breath and begin, "Look Volo, there's just- so much that I don't know about you. We had been "friends" for a while and I thought I knew all about you. After the whole-" you gesture vaugely. "-yeah, I'm just, having trouble trusting you again."

"You're right." Volo sighed and absentmindedly plucked a flower. "After being "Friendly Merchant Volo" for so long, I'm not really sure who I truly am either. That's why I take so many walks alone. It helps me sort myself out."

"Could you tell me what you learned?" You asked.

"I came to realize that my search for answers wasn't just about the mysteries and the secrets of the world. I wanted Arceus to notice me, confirmation that I was "special". And when I didn't get it-"

"You tried to kill me," you finished, tears unhelpfully streaming down your face.

Volo let out a wry chuckle. "I wanted to hurt Arceus. Not you, not Jubilife Village, not anyone. I suppose in hindsight doing that without any collateral damage would be... rather difficult."

"But what if something else makes you feel that angry? What if I'm collateral damage again?"

Volo reached towards you again before restraining himself. "Dearest, I know better than to devote myself to anyone who doesn't deserve me."

You can only manage to stifle a sob before collapsing into the flowers again. "Wh-" you try desperately between hitched breaths to get out the words. "What if I don't deserve you? What if you stop liking me? What if you never liked me?"

Volo placed his hand on your shoulder but you stubbornly shrugged it off. Stung, he took a deep breath and started, "As a researcher, my least favorite part of the process was assumptions: guessing answers I would never know. Arceus never spoke to me. He- it never listened to me. It was nothing more than a silent god floating in an uncaring void. What i once revered as intentional challenge turned out to be just- nothing."

You brave a look to Volo's eyes and notice his pupils dilate, the cold silver fading to a warm gray. "You never force me to assume anything. That fact that you listen, that you genuinely care and that you not only tell me that, but show me that is and will always be enough."

"Oh." Is all you could think to say.

The two of you sat in silence, the words turning over in your minds. This explanation felt so undeniably real. Your figure relaxed as you realized that Volo wasn't planning on betraying you anytime soon.

"Hey, um- may I touch you now?" Volo asked.

You smiled and with red puffy eyes, you tearfully pulled each other into an embrace. Volo kisses you softly under each eye, cradling you in his strong grasp. You nuzzled your face into his neck and breathe deeply for the first time in weeks. He's yours. He's forever and completely yours.

[heyhoeudoin]

CHILDHOOD SWEETHEARTS

"You finally found me."

pairing: monkey d. luffy x reader

words: 2k

genre/s: fluff, comfort?

warning/s: she/her (sorry), swearing?, manga spoilers; wano arc, takes place before timeskip; after sunny-go, then takes place during wano

synopsis: ever since luffy have been gifted a den den mushi, he's been in contact with someone he once lost

masterlist

a/n: sorry it's been a while. things have been hard, and writing under these circumstances are stressful. also school is starting soon, so things will be even busier. hopefully y'all will enjoy this one though!

one day when the crew was out gathering their needed things, luffy is left along on the ship to guard, and surprisingly, he agreed to do so. nami was reluctant in leaving him alone, but he reassured her by saying: "it's fine! i won't leave, i don't feel like it today."

others have noticed his unusual quiet demeanor today, and decided maybe it's best if he's got some alone time.

luffy sat on the head of sunny, just thinking about the past.

today was the day you disappeared from his life all those years ago. someone he grew up with, and learned to love with. then suddenly, you left, or rather disappeared. no trails or signs of you were left, as if you didn't exist in the first place.

getting reminded that you're gone makes him sad, because he longs for the day to meet you again.

because he loves you.

as he watched the moon rise, a crow landed in front of him.

strange.

a sudden feeling of familiarity washed over him as he stared at the crow in front of him.

opening up his palms, luffy slowly moved his hands towards the crow in which the crow hops onto his open hands. a soft smile appearing onto his face as he watched the crow snuggle upon his hands. "you're an interesting one, aren't ya?" he let out fits of giggles, but that's when it happened.

the crow opened it's beak then dark clouds started spewing out, swirling on the palm of luffy's hands.

he recognized these clouds.

"...y/n?"

he whispered out with a strained voice. after all, you're the user of the cloud-cloud fruit. however, instead of the person he longs to see, there lies a customized den den mushi. luffy hurriedly caught the the den den mushi as the crow flew onto his straw hat, and nestled there.

then it started ringing.

luffy picked it up with hopes to hear your voice.

"...luffy?"

you called out to him with a shaky voice. after all, it took you forever to even contact the outside world.

"y/n!" luffy exclaimed with tears running down his face, "i miss you! where—where are you? i'll come get you right now!" he shouted into the snail.

you also had tears streaming down your face as you held the den den mushi tighter. "luffy! i—" you hesitated, "i'm safe, you have nothing to worry about. you'll find me some day." then you changed the subject, "i heard about enies lobby! you're a full-fledge pirate now, huh?"

it worked because luffy started talking to you all about his new friends, and how much he appreciate and love them.

you can't let luffy get worried over you during his rise as a pirate. besides, he'll find you eventually.

hopefully.

"you should totally meet them, y/n!" luffy said all excitedly. you, however, thought differently.

"i can't." you said in a series tone, "you can't let anyone else talk to me, or know about me. i'll be your little secret, luffy, so promise me this."

luffy didn't get what you mean, but he wants to respect your wishes so he obliged. "okay, y/n!" that's when he heard his crew. in a panic, he almost dropped the den den mushi. "y/n," he whispered, "my nakama is here, so i have to go. i can call you again, right?"

"of course! call me whenever, and i'll pick up always."

and that's how it's always been.

on random ocasions, luffy runs into a room, and locks himself in there, not allowing anyone to come in. every time he does, he always leaves the room more cheery than usual.

the battle of wano has finished with luffy winning, and freeing wano from it's shackles. luffy, and zoro have finally woken up after two weeks.

yamato asked for the straw hat pirates to follow her, well whoever is present from the crew (luffy, zoro, nami, sanji, chopper, and brook). they lead the group to where the sacred cave is.

"yamabro," luffy whined, "where are we? are we there yet?" then asked.

they ignored him.

"i've been here the longest, and so far only i know about this place." yamato says as she opened a secret entrance within the cave. "remember those banners of a 'moon god'?" to which most nodded (luffy and zoro could care less).

during their time in wano, banners of a deity called 'moon princess', which is wano's god, are plastered around the country. of course robin took her time in learning about the said deity.

luffy looked confused.

"wano has two deities: 'okuchi no makami' and 'moon princess' or rather, 'moon god'. people from wano have the tendencies to pray to the moon to have a clear night, and a peaceful sleep." brook explained.

yamato nods, "yes, something like that. while i was held captive here, i accidentally ate the inu-inu fruit model: okuchi no makami." she points to the entrance, "then that's when i noticed this." the group then started making their way to the bottom of the new entrance. "apparently, she's been trapped here, and only—"

"then let's go save her!" then luffy sprinted down.

"wait— luffy!"

as the group reach the bottom, luffy is stood in front of a reinforced door with a hand on his straw hat. his crew noticed the serious look he's giving the door.

yamato placed a hand on top of luffy's shoulder, "there's only one way to open that door," they say looking at the hole in the middle of the door. "and i don't know what or where it is. i've searched this island a lot."

the shape of the keyhole...

that's when luffy felt movement on top of his head, so he took his hat off.

then a crow popped up.

"what are you a magician?!"

the crow then pecked luffy's hand that held his straw hat multiple times then flew over to where the keyhole is, and started squawking at it.

"hey luffy, he's telling you to put your hat in there." chopper pointed out.

...looks like a certain hat from the bottom side.

the captain said nothing, but walked over to the door and gently placed his hat into the shaped keyhole. the door started opening, and inside showed a small-sized room.

"this place looks like a bedroom." zoro commented to which sanji scoffs at. "more like a jail cell." then the two started fighting.

brook then noticed the thing in the middle, "yohohoho!~ that's a coffin." he pointed out, "i may be all bones, but i am very much alive!"

the crow flew over to the top of the coffin, and started pecking at it. luffy followed the crow, and looked over the coffin to see that the top is made out of glass...

"woah, those are black clouds, but they don't seem to look like thunder clouds." nami commented, looking over.

luffy's eyes widen as he recognized these clouds again.

yamato then ran over to luffy holding a customized den den mushi. "look luffy, it looks like you!" they said with a grin.

the coffin/capsule opened up as the dark clouds spew from it, and unto the floor.

his breath hitched.

a figure raised from the now open coffin. she stretched her body as she just woken up from a slumber. then she felt arms wrapping around her.

"y/n!"

a voice she could not believe that she's hearing right next to her, called out to her. quickly turning to the voice with tears brimming her eyes.

"luffy!"

the two are finally reunited.

luffy have not once left your side at all since finding you inside of that cave. an arm always swirled around you, so that he can always know where you are.

it's cute.

although before any celebrating or questioning happens, you asked to take a dip in the hot springs because you care about your hygiene, and want to relax a bit before anything.

but then luffy...

"luffy you have to let her take a bath!" nami scolded, "hygiene is very important to women." she added, but luffy shook his head. "no!" he whined, "i'm not leaving y/n! i'll take a bath with her!" he boldly announced which caught the attention of brook, and sanji.

"luffy!/-san!"

they both exclaimed with sanji running over, and trying to pull him off of you. "you can't just ask a lady to bathe with her! especially y/n-sama!" they turned to you expecting that you'd react bashfully to the point of hitting luffy, and calling him a pervert.

instead you shook your head as a chuckle slip pass your lips. "alright, let's go luffy." you smiled which shocked his crew. "it's alright everyone, luffy and i used to take baths together. besides, you really think luffy is capable of doing something to me?" you asked with a hand on your lip, and a knowing look.

they nodded along, realizing that their captain is indeed a dumbass.

luffy screamed in joy and ran towards the hot springs, "yahoo! a bath with y/n!" he says dragging you with him. "luffy! careful now!" you called as you let out a giggle.

sanji, and brook stared in envy. nami bonked the two on their heads upon seeing the look.

after taking a proper bath with luffy, the two of you walked out the same; an arm swirled around your waist with luffy clinging unto you like a koala, but the only thing different is that you walked out with multiple hickeys across your neck an entirely new outfit provided by yamato.

now comes the questioning.

you all sat together to have a banquet! and of course luffy is still next to you, but this time without an arm swirled around you since there's meat in front of him.

"so y/n," nami started, "how exactly did you get yourself in there?" she asked which you expected her to. "well, long story." you nervously chuckled, "apparently, the fruit i ate; cloud-cloud no mi, isn't actually the cloud-cloud no mi. i was kidnapped by kaido's men because i apparently ate the hito-hito no mi model: moon god, mene. the last user died protecting wano from kaido as such he knew the existence of the power. that was when he found out that the government had actually changed it's name to the cloud-cloud no mi, and also found out that i ate it. thus why he kidnapped me, and tried everything to make me join his crew, but i resisted. that's when i made that cave, and only luffy's straw hat could get me out."

luffy turned to you with that side eye that his crewmates saw, 'he's not buying that at all.'

"but y/n," nami called you, "couldn't you have escaped? since you have that devil fruit?" she asked, but you shook your head. "i tried to, and that was when i got in touch with luffy for the first time in years." confused by the sudden claim, the crew turned to luffy who's now hugging you from behind.

"ah," he noticed the stares then pulls out a den den mushi from his hat, "crow gave me y/n's den den mushi, but she told me not to tell you guys so yeah."

they turned back to you, "when i heard luffy again, i thought that maybe i shouldn't escape. maybe i should just wait for him because i knew that he'll get to wano some how then a smile will be on my face once again." you say with a fond smile as you clutch your hand in front of your chest.

zoro then pointed to you two, "okay wait, what exactly is your relationship with him?" he asked the question.

you, and luffy glanced at each other then let out a knowing giggle/chuckle. you turned to zoro with an amused smile, "we're lovers."

they all fell on the floor one piece style, "WHAT?!" meanwhile sanji started spitting hieroglyphics (image in mind that one time during post-enies lobby). luffy started laughing at them which made sanji point at him, "prove it!"

luffy tilted his head a bit, confused on the sudden request. he then turned to you, and raised a hand to your cheek. he slowly leaned in taking your lips into his.

masterlist a/n: this is so bad; first half was good then the last part went to a direction i did not know what to do with.

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Legend of Vox Machina: The Terror of Tal'dorei Part 1/Part 2 (1x01/02)

I've decided to break this sucker up, reviewing the two-part premiere and then moving on to episode three in a separate review.

Let's just start by screaming: OH MY GOD IT'S FINALLY HERE!!! Also, if anyone actually bothers to read this and you are not familiar with the stream, warning for some spoilers as to characterization and future relationships developing between various members of the party. And then let's dive right into my thoughts!

Cons:

While ultimately I am very, very pleased with what I've seen of the show so far, as is tradition I will start off with my personal gripes.

My biggest complaint? Well, the humor, honestly. It's odd, because I think the first couple of scenes of the first episode had a lot of weaknesses that then mostly disappeared from the second half, and from the second episode entirely. The show was front-loaded with so much adult humor that felt to me almost... self-conscious? Like the show was posturing a bit too hard, trying to set its tone so you wouldn't mistake it for a kid's cartoon. And that's all well and good, but for me it felt a bit jarring. In the first ten minutes of the first episode, we get plenty of swearing and the gruesome deaths of the generic opening adventuring party... fine. But we also get Keyleth throwing up directly into someone's mouth, which is disgusting, we get a shot of Scanlan's balls, we get Scanlan peeing directly onto a man's legs... I don't know. Does anyone else think some of this stuff was a little try-hard? For me, the moments of comedy that did work were a lot more subtle and character-driven, and I'll talk about that later.

As far as larger missteps, honestly? Scanlan's intro song was a mistake and shouldn't have been there. I think Scanlan's other musical interludes work really well, they stick out as being tonally inconsistent with the rest of the music in the show but in a good way, they make him shine and they certainly haven't toned Scanlan down to make him more palatable to a general audience, which I am all in favor of. But the one moment that stood out to me was him breaking into a rap to introduce himself during the intro song at the palace. That... was cringey to me and not in the way I think the episode intended. I was wincing while it was happening. I couldn't help but think that a better joke would have been if he'd introduced all the other characters very briefly and then just started bloviating about himself, going on and on and on until someone interrupted him and brought his focus back. Same joke, but without the jarring hip hop moment.

There were one or two more awkward moments in the animation. The dragon looked really cool in some spots, but I think they were using a 3-D model at certain times that didn't gel quite right with the 2-D character animation? I know absolutely nothing about this, but I was picking up some strangeness. Could be a budget thing. It wasn't anywhere near bad, it just was distracting enough to the eye that I thought I'd mention it.

There was also just the stuff that was unpleasant to look at with my eyeballs, like the animation of Keyleth throwing up on like three separate occasions, all this brown sludge everywhere. No thanks. Also, I really liked the stuff with Gilmore and Vax (more on that later) but there was this weird moment right at the start of the scene where he came forward to hug him and Vax just... didn't hug him back at all? It unintentionally read that Vax was uncomfortable with Gilmore touching him, which was not the vibe that the rest of the scene had at all, so I thought it was a weird choice that Vax's hand didn't come up to wrap around Gilmore in that moment. Am I nitpicking? Yes. But it's Shaun Gilmore, what do you want from me?

Let's talk about the supporting characters. It's not necessarily a big issue, as I'm sure we'll be getting more of them later, but Allura and Kima sure didn't have personalities here, did they? It makes sense in a two-part opener that needs to establish seven leads, make sure you know who key side characters are (particularly General Krieg and Sovereign Uriel Tal'Dorei), etc. I'm not going to dock points because Kima and Allura didn't get a bunch of attention, but I just wanted to note that in a show that looks very standard-fantasy-fare but then has a lot more going on underneath the surface, Allura and Kima felt like the most standard-fantasy-fare of all, with nothing much to set them apart.

I want to add one more thing to the "cons" section here before I commence with the gushing, but really it's not so much a complaint as it is a question. There are seven main characters in this sucker. And in this two-part opener, there are several important secondary characters that need to get their due. In order to introduce everyone, you kind of have to strip them down and show a few key aspects of who they are, get the audience on board and help them to tell everyone apart. So there's bound to be some flattening/simplification. I was really impressed overall with how quickly everyone was established: Vax is a bisexual disaster, he's also sneaky and cool-but-not-too-cool. Percy is aloof and superior. Grog is a loveable dumbass but you don't want to get on his bad side. Keyleth is insecure about her magic. Pike is the moral center, the cleric going through a crisis of faith, doubting her relationship with her god.

But wait a minute. For those who watched the original campaign, did you catch that last part? Keyleth is insecure, and Pike is the moral center? Um... Keyleth is Vox Machina's moral center, their conscience, the one who is constantly questioning what they're doing and their impact on the world around them. When Pike says that stuff at the beginning where she wonders if they should try doing some good, after they get kicked out of the bar, I found myself narrowing my eyes. Like, hey, isn't that Keyleth's line? Similarly, Keyleth then wonders why the group is even staying together, what their purpose was... I found myself thinking, hey, shouldn't that be Pike's line? Pike is the one who has this convenient metaphor in the form of a godly talisman around her neck, that links her to a god and intermittently helps her in times of need, and lets her down in other key moments. Shouldn't she be the one doubting purpose, while Keyleth is the one trying to steer the group's values?

The reason I bring this up here, when we have so little to go on, is that I would hate for Pike to get Keyleth's trait of "the group's moral center". I think it flattens both Keyleth and Pike in uncomfortable ways. Kiki is so much more than just insecure about her own abilities and her own place in the world. And Pike is so much more than the kind, sweet healer who always wants to do what's best. Again, as I said, this isn't a complaint about what we've seen so far, necessarily, but more of a questioning, a worry about how this is going to manifest as we keep the show going. There's so much setup in these first episodes, and I was bound to notice a few simplifications and shortcuts that didn't quite land for me.

Pros:

Oh boy, you guys. I'm just so entirely thrilled that this show exists, and even if it was FAR less impressive than it turned out to be, I'd still be so happy that it all happened. And let me tell you... I am pretty damn impressed overall!

As I said above, really my least favorite aspects of the show were front-loaded into the first ten minutes. Maybe that doesn't bode well for trying to get new viewers hooked, but for someone like me who was always going to stick around to see everything, it meant that I got to be slightly worried for a few minutes that it wasn't going to click, and then increasingly impressed with everything that happened after. I was smiling through so many moments of this show, and I want to start with the bar fight at the start, because despite my issues with some of the humor and tone setting, discussed above, I also think this bar fight set up one of the coolest aspects of the show for me thus far, and one that is an added element that didn't happen as much during the stream. That being: the character arc of Vox Machina as a collective.

Let me explain. In the stream, this party had years of home games, not to mention the entire Underdark and Slayer's Take arcs to establish their team dynamics. By the time Percy is dropping his backstory lore, Vox Machina are pretty dang ride or die for each other, and we've already seen them working out most of the kinks in their dynamics. Sure, a roll of the dice or pressure during combat can still make for mistakes and chaos, but within the logic of the story, they're in many ways a well-oiled machine leading into the Briarwood arc.

Here, in the animated series, we have something only subtly different, but in my opinion, importantly different. In the first episode, the bar fight shows that these people know each other incredibly well, are going to go hard for one another without a second thought... but also they're not necessarily all on the same page. In that fight, we see examples of suave teamwork. We see Vax making the quip about "giving me a hand," then ducking out of the way without even looking so Grog can take a swing and chop the man's hand off. We have Vax stealing the money and tossing it to Vex. Vex summoning Trinket. All moments that show that this isn't their first rodeo. BUT, we also have... Vex tripping over Pike. Grog "saving" Percy and crushing him under his enemy. These little moments do so much in setting up a character arc for them as a collective. Their fight against Brimscythe was a uniting moment where we got to see them all use their special abilities and contribute to the kill, bringing them into further cohesion, but we're seeing them as a group still working out the kinks in terms of who they are to one another, and how they can best serve the collective. I think that's so important, to have them be an established group of friends and still have some growing to do.

I'm going to try and do a bit of rapid-fire commentary on each of our leads really quick, picking out some favorite details.

Grog: I love that he got to do his rage, that we got Travis Saying The Thing, and that shot of him standing in front of Brimscythe's corpse completely drenched in blood was one of my favorite visual images in this opening story. I also like the little moments with Pike, from saving her during the first dragon encounter by pulling her out of the way, to giving her a lift when they're walking back into the village. They've really established a bond between these two with very little need for words.

Pike: We get to see her saving Scanlan like a bad-ass in episode two, we see her sincere desire to help but also the ways in which she might not always be able to. Her failure to save the boy after Brimscythe destroyed the village was really touching and you could tell how crushed she was to have failed. But she's also such a bad-ass, I loved the "Light him up, Vex" moment in that second fight, the way she and Vex got to do a cool combo hit there with the arrows. Loved seeing her use her holy magic as a shield, a weapon, and a force of healing. Love that she went as rough and rowdy during the bar fight as any of them. Honestly, what I can say most about Pike is that I just love that she's here. Ashley's frequent absence from campaign one makes Pike's presence shine all the brighter for me now. I can't wait to see how they adapt certain Pike moments for the show. Also... oddly charmed by how they're doing the Scanlan/Pike stuff? In the original stream, I'd say Sam's over-insistent pursuit of Pike at the table is perhaps one of the things that holds up less well, just simply because it edges towards a situation where Pike says no and Scanlan keeps hitting on her anyway. Here, we get something slightly toned down from that, where we see Scanlan proudly flirting with everything that moves, but with Pike he catches her as she collapses and blushes when he realizes the intimacy of the moment... there's clearly a bit of a spark there, and I even like the idea that Scanlan feels something for Pike that is at this moment not quite reciprocated. There could be a lot of fun stuff with the two of them moving forward.

Scanlan: I've got to say, I'm so pleased they haven't sanded down Scanlan to be more palatable to a new audience. Scanlan is bawdy and ridiculous and over the top, and when I watched the stream, I remember writing him off early on as "oh, he's the comic relief." I thought Sam was very funny, but to me it didn't seem like he had the same heart and connection as most of the other players. Which, of course, is what made it so fucking powerful when Scanlan's development really took off. I can see how it could hit just as hard in animated form, and I'm excited to see that come to life. With the exception of the rapping moment I mentioned earlier, I loved all of Scanlan's musical moments, especially that first one when he's seducing the barkeep's daughter. So funny, so Sam Riegel. But of course what works about Scanlan is that he's all bluster, and that really is who he is, the libertine and bawdy jokester of the group... but he's also the guy who sees devastation in front of him and quietly announces to the group that they're going to kill a dragon. I loved him plucking at his lute strings as Vax looks down stricken at the dead body of a child. That quiet chill of determination, even though you can still hear his fear underneath. Masterful bit of voice acting from Sam in that moment.

Vex: I love the way Vex is being classified as a bit of the de facto team leader in these early episodes! There's a bit of tension with Scanlan over who's going to give the orders/come up with ideas, but ultimately Vex is rational and intelligent, and everyone falls in line with her automatically. It makes so much sense for her character. I'll always be pleased whenever I see twin characters that aren't carbon copies of each other, or comedically diametrically opposed. Vex and Vax are quite similar, but they have their own shit going on, and you can see the ways in which everyone defers to Vex even without drawing too much attention to it. I particularly love the moment when Vex is talking about her dragon-spidey-sense picking up something weird when talking to the council, and Vax and Percy both pretty immediately say they should give up the whole job, all based on Vex's bad feelings and discomfort. Yes, I love it on the level of "Vax and Percy are the two people in this world who love Vex the most", but I also love it on the level of her intuition being respected. Vex is a favorite of mine, and in the fandom it has been oft-noted that she has less "main character" time during the campaign than some of the others. So slotting her into this role works extremely well for me. It all comes to a head when she has the idea of how to get Brimscythe in the final fight, and that idea is to play to everyone's strengths: let Scanlan do a trick, use Percy's gun and Keyleth's magic and Vax's dexterity and Grog's brute strength. Vex-as-leader, Vex-as-strategist, is really working for me, and I hope we see it develop more as we go on.

Percy: Obviously I'll be talking much more about Percy in my episode three review, but I was so impressed by how in this opening story, they captured the... essence of early-campaign Percival. One of the reasons that the Briarwood arc slaps So Hard is that Taliesin spent the earliest parts of the stream in the back seat. He was the snobby sophisticate, always looking down his nose at the others, he had some funny one-liners, but he was quiet. So when this dude comes forward with "SYLAS" and "your soul is forfeit" etc., it fucking owns. In these first two episodes, I really felt that vibe from Percy. He had some funny lines, I loved the "fulcrum/fuck room" joke, I loved his obvious glee at the prospect of respectability, but appropriately he felt slightly more one-note than some of the others. He's going to have his chance to shine this season, and I love that these first episodes play his characterization close to the chest. (The moment when he, or rather Scanlan's illusion, called Vax "peasant" was a highlight of the whole show for me so far... fucking stellar stuff, this is the type of comedy that works for me.)

Keyleth: As I said above, I'm the most worried that Keyleth's characterization is going to be flattened from what Marisha gave us on the stream. That said, Marisha is killing it with this performance, imbuing Keyleth with so much of that tender naiveté mixed with intense power that we love about her. The moment when she uses her considerable magical ability to call lightning on a blue dragon with lightning powers was the perfect synthesis of her insecurity. She's so strong, she's so good at magic, but she breaks under pressure and she often does the wrong thing at the wrong time, when she's trying to help. Of course, then she turns around and saves them all from being crushed to death in a rocks fall, everyone dies moment, proving that she can come through when it counts, and when she's not overthinking things. I loved the small hints of Vax/Keyleth, there's such a soft sweetness to his obvious regard for her, and I'm going to die seeing it all play out over again.

Vax: Vax was probably the character I was the most afraid they'd get wrong. He's the rogue, he's cool, and he needs to be cool, we need to see him suavely bantering with the asshole in the bar, we need to see him run through a rock slide and jump on a dragon and cut it open, we need to see him wink at Gilmore and give as good as he gets... but we also need to see him be a fucking doofus and disaster. Drinking ale in the middle of a bar fight, getting so distracted flirting with Gilmore that he forgets important dragon facts until Percy reminds him (another highlight of the episodes for me). And he also needs to be sweet and gentle with kids, giving a silver piece to a little boy, calling out for Pike and begging for help as he watches that boy die. He needs to be all of those things, and in my opinion, these opening episodes nailed that for him. If campaign one as a whole has a main character, it's Vax'ildan, just in terms of the fate-touched thing, and if we get to see the whole arc of his character play out in animated form, he's going to be the one who makes me cry my eyes out. The fact that they seemed to get him so right from the jump has me BEYOND thrilled for what's next.

Taking a break from talking story, I want to dive into some technical aspects.

The music is so far really, really working for me. Scanlan's songs are a joy, but the soundtrack as a whole sets an amazing tone. Appropriately epic but not too extreme, it captures the somewhat frantic energy of the battle sequences, highlights the bad-ass moments and also emphasizes the flubs where our characters make mistakes or are in real peril. I can't wait to hear more of what the music can do for the story moving forward.

The voice acting. Just... obviously I knew they were going to knock it out of the park, but I was surprised by how not distracted I was by the cast doing these voices! I wasn't hearing Sam and Marisha and Liam etc., I really was hearing Scanlan and Keyleth and all the rest. Some favorite line deliveries include Liam's plea to Pike to save the dying kid, Scanlan's line about killing a dragon, Percy's "we hid and it flew away" moment, Pike telling Keyleth that they're all alive because of her, Vax's "finesse" moment with the lockpicking, and so many more. To extend it out, obviously we'll get to Matt Mercer's meatiest role of the season come next episode, but it was a delight��to hear him out and about in the world. It was a lovely Where's Waldo both in terms of background character design, and Matt's voice. And the fact that he gets to be Trinket is SO thrilling to me!!

David Tennant was fantastic as Krieg. The fact that after the prologue, the first line of actual dialogue in the whole show is world-famous actor David Tennant yelling "fuck!" just put a big smile on my face. They let him be Scottish, and over the top and dramatic, and evil and sinister and funny and just... yeah. I loved it. Kima and Allura didn't have a ton to do yet, as I mentioned, but I think both of their voices sound great. Uriel had a couple of fun moments, I loved when he hired Vox Machina mostly because he liked the bear. He's got a certain irreverence to him while still maintaining the gravitas of a ruler.

And Gilmore! Man, I loved the performance of Gilmore, I loved the whole scene with Pike as a third wheel constantly rolling her eyes at the flirting... I think the voice acting and the writing of this scene really highlighted the vibe between Vax and Gilmore so much. It's playful flirting, but you can tell there's a charge of real affection between them, too. The Easter eggs were fun, Gilmore's disappointed squeak when he saw how little they were going to pay him, Pike appearing to remind them of her continued presence... I loved it all. I hope we get to see him a ton in the Chroma Conclave arc, but this was a fantastic intro for his character.

The animation... yeah, I mean, I know nothing about the art of animation, but I think the show looks pretty dang cool. It has this very '80s cartoon vibe, I love that it's 2D animated for the most part, I think the character designs really work... I remember seeing promo materials and being a little uncertain about some of the designs, but it's already really grown on me. I especially love Percy and Keyleth, they look so right to me. And the twins. And really everyone. The fight sequences are pretty impressive, with all sorts of creativity and movement, you can tell they had something of a decent budget to work with, especially when you're talking about a TV show originally crowdfunded and based on a fucking D&D livestream... honestly, sometimes I can't believe any of this actually happened in real life, that I'm sitting here having seen a Critical Role animated series... god, life is strange and sometimes wonderful.

Ahem. I've talked on probably long enough, although I'm sure I'll think of more I want to say after I've posted this. I wrote the bulk of this review before I'd seen episode three, but I have seen it now and I had to hold off on adding a lot more of my thoughts so I can save it for a separate review. Which will hopefully be less rambling than this one, but no promises. Let's just say that after watching these first two episodes, I was reasonably pleased with what I'd seen. The simple fact of this show's existence means I would have probably loved it even if it had been rather rough around the edges, and in fact I feel like the first two episodes were broadly pretty strong. Without preexisting love for the characters and story, I'm not sure I would have been over the top hyped for it or anything, but I probably would have had a decent time.

And then I saw episode three, and...

Hold onto your hats, everyone.

My rating for the two-part opener of The Legend of Vox Machina is...

8/10

[freaky-writer-writes]

TBHK x reader | Mitsuba headcanons

Character: Mitsuba Sousuke

Fandom: TBHK

Pronouns: They/them // Gender neutral

Warnings: Mentions of death, slight angst (?), manga spoilers

A/N: I recently rewatched TBHK with my friendo because I finished reading the last chapter and cannot wait for the next chapter/season 2 eek /pos. Anyways I’m like really obsessed with Mitsuba? He’s a precious bby like sjdhbe. I’m gay for him Istg /hj.

Summary: What dating Mitsuba Sousuke would be like, and how did you handle his death, and confessing!!

• Ah yes

• Here we go with the angst~

• I would say that you and Mitsuba were really close, and still are!

• He would let you hold his camera and sometimes take pictures ACKDH

• You’re the only person he’s actually being nice to and not going full attack/tsundere mode

• Of course, he does that sometimes but you know that he don’t mean it

• Actually, you think it’s quite cute!

• Literally everytime you flirt with him, he would try to insult you and be a fucking tsundere aaa

.........

......

• He seemed like a very nice guy the first time you met him

• He’s the one who asked you to be friends (of course)

• When both of you slowly got closer and closer, he slowly also showed his real self

• Aka bullying you, insulting, etc.

• Though you knew why

• He have told you before why he has to act more nicely

• You thought it was understandable, and quite sad

• So whenever he insulted you, you really didn’t get too much thought into it

• Then the winter came

• Oh boy

// Manga spoilers starts here, and angst!! //

• It was his mother’s birthday

• When he told you at school, you wanted him to give her some flowers you bought for her

• You and his mother were actually close, despite you being his only (possibly?) first best friend

“Sure, I’m also gonna make curry, she loves it.. Maybe I can put the flowers in a vase on the table for decoration, thanks, (Y/N).”

“Of course! You know how to make curry right? You don’t need my help?”

“I’ve made curry before, I don’t need help, it’s gonna be fine.”

�� That was the biggest cap ever

• Anyways

• I actually cried at that chapter-

• You were in call with him when he was making curry

• It seemed like he did fine

• You just had to remind him of a few things

• “Where’s the potato’s?”

• “Agh, crap I forgot them. Should I go out to buy some? The grocery store is not that far away.”

• “It’s fine without it, there’s no need. Besides, it’s cold outside and dark.”

• “It’s her birthday, I have to do it. I’ll call you back when I get home”

• “No, wait-“

• Before you knew it, it all ended

• You believed in him, maybe he would be fine

• Right?

• Though, you never received a call from him after that

• But when his mother called you, telling you about the news, you broke down

• You were devastated, and sad and frustrated

• Only if you could have done better

• Only if you were there to stop him instead of just telling him through a stupid call

• “You dumb dumb, everything just for the stupid potato’s...”

//Manga spoilers and angst end!!//

............

.......

• After a few months has passed, there was a new rumor going around saying a voice of a boy would grab your hands by the entrance of the school asking “Do you remember me?”

• You didn’t really think much about it, considering being rumors spreading around the school like everyday

• But when you arrived at the school enterance to place your shoes, there it was

• You saw a shadowy figure grabbing your arm and saying the following words: “Hey, do you remember me?”

• You were panicking, you shut the locker up and pushed the figure away from you (just pretend you can touch Mitsuba even though he’s a ghost JAHDBE)

• Then you saw a slightly tall boy, pink hair, feminine look, with a school uniform

• “The hell?!..” You realized who it was, you walked slowly towards the boy to get a closer look

• “M...Mitsuba?!” You said in relief and jumped on top of him, so happy to see him

• “Hey!! I get it I’m a cute little ghost but that doesn’t give you permission to touch me, you pervert!”

• “It really is you! Dear god, aren’t you dead?!!” Not caring about what he said, you looked at him in the eyes with tears of happiness streaming down your cheeks

• “I am dead, idiot. Can you get off me now? You’re going to make my clothes wet.” He exclaimed, rudely

• You nodded as you wiped off your tears

• After everything got settled and explained, you thought it was nice to have your best friend back

• You loved him a lot, he was so dear to your heart

• By loved him, you still do

• You both hanged out a lot again

• He would sometimes join your classes and keep you entertained or just insult you for whatever god knows

• Though you liked that he would be with you

• It was nice being with your ghost friend again

• You were so goddamn happy Istg

• Anyhow, after a few months, you decided to confess

• It was dumb asking someone like him out, besides, he’s a ghost

• You knew it would never work, considering him being a ghost

• But it would never hurt to try though, right?

• But little did you know, Mitsuba actually also has a crush on you

• He's just.... Not the type to show it correctly kind of-

• You notice that he blush a lot whenever he's around you, but didn't really give in too much thought to it

• He never had the urge to confess unlike you, he was too scared and nervous

• He got so suprised and happy when you asked him though, but he of course still acted like a tsundere

• You met him in the usual place, the rooftop after school

• Both just chatted and chilling iykyk

When you suddenly go "Hey.. Uhm... Mitsuba? I was meaning to tell you something."

"What is it now, (Y/N)?"

"I don't know how to put it but... I like you, like a lot."

"Of course you do, I mean who wouldn't like an adorable cute ghost like me?"

"No- I'm serious. I like LIKE you."

*A moment of silence then he started harassing you about it for a moment*

"Hah. Anyways, that's... Very unfortunate. Yeah, yeah... I like you too I guess, it's nothing much.."

• Your heart go brrr

• Anyways, you got so happy and started hopping around and hugging him

• "H-Hey!! Just because I said that doesn't mean you can touch me, you pervert!"

• You know he likes it depending on the facial expression ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

• Overall, you both are the cutest couple!!!

• No one really knew about it except Yashiro, Kou and Hanako (Of course)

• I mean, no one could really understand except them-

• Yashiro be like "All these ghosts, and I still can't get a boo-"

• AHAHS ANYWAYS

• Y'all would probably wait a little for kisses until you both get comfortable

• BUT when you do kiss, it's so cute and wholesome

• They're pretty short, wouldn't go THAT far

• Short but passionate if you're feeling up to it though hehehsjbe

• It's pretty much just a peck on the lips, although you COULD get into a make out session but that's rare-

• He would act like a tsundere after kisses

• "Hahaha!!! I know you just fell in love with me because of my cuteness, and now you just want to attack me like this! You big pervert!"

• But he adores the kisses on the inside

• It warms his heart

• ALSO YOU GUYS CUDDLE LIKE A LOT

• Literally wherever no one can see both of you

• Just cuddle

• He's the smol spoon obviously

• He likes being held by you even though he's not good at showing it

• He's the big spoon though if you're feeling down or something like that

• He doesn't mind being the big one either, it just kinda fits him more yk?

• Anyways,, I will probably make a part 2 of this because this is getting WAY too long ^^;

[fijiangecko]

When the Sun Rises in the West

Prologue

A/N: AHHH IT'S HERE!! I'm so excited to finally share this! I'm planning on posting chapters every couple days so I make you all wait for it 😉 this whole series was entirely based off of this playlist, and every chapter will have a theme. This one isn't super edited but I actually love this series. Heavily based off of GoT (locations and dergons) but no spoilers. This story doesn't use the same plot or same characters.

C/N = City Name

Word Count: 1,700+

The barren wasteland of Essos was home to many people for the past several centuries. From dry deserts to scattered mountain ranges, the people couldn't have been happier to be alive and not in Westeros, dealing with the war of the iron throne. Blood shed, tears, agony and resentment are what wars left behind, not the virtues of peace and prosperity they promised. You, for one, would never want to experience anything like it. As heiress to a city newfound within the last century, your heart is only filled with love for your people. Never in your life would you wish to put a sword in a child's hand and tell them to fight for your honor, and not their own.

There's a reason your people haven't had to fight yet. Both the natural defenses that C/N holds and the ferociousness of native animals. C/N lies in a valley between several mountains. It is deep enough to have its own water supply, and no sane ruler would have his army climb over such steep mountain tops. Plus, they've only heard rumors about you, but no one would dare see if they were true.

The people of C/N love your family and care for you deeply, wishing you good health and even better prosperity. Children walk with you through the streets as you treat them to exotic fruits and pleasantries. The adults are thankful to all gods that they have found this Oasis, this sanctuary of peace and happiness. After trekking across the Red Waste and the Dothraki Sea they found a home for both themselves and their families. They smile as you walk by, greeting you and presenting you with their wares. Oftentimes, they will want you to take it for free - a gift, but you refuse every time. You live with the head family, there's no need for you to get freebies. Everyone lives in simple splendor with their everyday lives; content at the opportunity to have an easy life until they die.

"Y/N!" You snap out of a memory where you're dancing around a great pyre to an ancient song with the town elders. It was the celebration of your fifteenth birthday, an important day in a young person's life as they graduate from childhood to adulthood. "You know you have to leave soon, right?" Your mother walks around the grand table to you, and tests her hand on top of yours. She smiles sweetly as she waits for a response.

"I know, I just don't want too." Your eyes travel downwards at the new memory. Your birthday was in two months, and the 22nd birthday through your family lineage meant marriage. Although you wouldn't be taking over C/N anytime soon due to Fathers good health, there's still a need to have good trade relationships with other cities across the nation. You know that they wouldn't force you into a relationship, as their parents didn't, but let something grow naturally with one of the children of other head families. Out of so many there was bound to be one that caught your favor… or so they hoped. 

"It'll be okay pumpkin, we didn't want to send you away for so many months, but Masaru's son is the only person in the world that is like you. There has to be a bond there we don't know about." In the past few months, head families have traveled to meet you and hope that they can tie the knot with you. They were all turned away, due to a couple big factors. 1) they were too young, 2) they had a stick up their ass, 3) they didn't give a shit about what happened to the citizens of their towns and would profit off of their tragedy and 4) there were allegations of slave trade among them. True or not, you would not stand to put a price on human life. If there were allegations, then that means someone connected to them was either in or around the trades themselves. It was sickening to think about. As far as you know, the Bakugou bloodline doesn't have any affiliations with slave traders, their son is your age, if not a little older and cared about his people in an odd way. 

"Why am I going for so long? I'm going to miss my 22nd celebration…"

"Well, the Bakugou's haven't been sending us a lot of materials lately, so you're not only there for personal interest but diplomatically. We need these materials for more homes. Those children you live are becoming adults, but we don't have the means to help them." She squeezes your hand. "You can help them. Missing your celebration will suck, I know, but we'll have it as soon as you get back. Plus we'll need to talk about who's going to marry who."

Anxiety bubbles in your chest, but you pop it with a calming smile. "I know. I don't like any of the other candidates, but if the rumors about the younger Bakugou are true than I shouldn't have to worry. If we are the only two in the world that are this way, isn't that a sign from gods old and new?"

"That's the spirit Y/N. We'll finish packing your stuff. Go finish saying your goodbyes." Your mother smiles sweetly and give you a tight hug before letting you go. The rest of the night you reminisce with old friends. You all talk about old shenanigans and pranks you used it pull on older people, but now you're the older people having pranks pulled on them. It is a great night of food and friends with a light dusting of sadness topped off with tears. You were gonna miss everyone, but you must do what they need you to do. They weren't crying because they were acted for you, more like they didn't want you to leave. 

At first you misinterpreted their tears, "Guys, I'm gonna be okay! I'll have Rhaegal and Viserion with me."

"No Y/N, we don't want you to go!" Mina cries from across the tavern table. The tears were appreciated, and broke your heart.

"I'll be back before you know it. Maybe I'll even have some eye candy at my side." Everyone laughs and you take the rest of the night to enjoy their company. You wouldn't have been able to sleep anyways, so this was a pleasant alternative.

The morning sun is bright when your eyes crack open. They hurt for a couple seconds, but it passes as your body adjusts to new circumstances. The sun itself is only cresting over the mountain tops, creating a golden glow around everything the light touches. That's when it hits you - this is last sunrise you'll be seeing for who knows how long. If all goes well diplomatically, then you'll be able to return home within a month, but if conflicts arise… you try not to put much thought into it and just watch the hues of peach and orange dance across the sky.

Softly, someone places a hand on your shoulder breaking your stream of thoughtlessness. "It's time to go." Your mother spoke quietly, as though cooing a newborn. Her velvet voice helps calm you even further. It'll only be for a little while. I don't even have to focus on Masaru's son if I don't want too. "C'mon, let's go grab Rhaegal and Viserion."

Walking towards the edge of town, a cart with all of your things lies ahead on the path, waiting to be pulled by 2 horses and their carriage master, Kota. He smiles at you, and you back to him. You can't help but wonder how such a sweet stable boy would want in Mereen, but maybe he just wanted to take Clyde and Grumm out for a walk after being cooped up for so long. You and your mother walk around the base of one of the surrounding mountains to a cave entrance. It's too dark to see inside, but you know the two are there; waiting to be set free since the last incident.

"Ñuhyz zaldrīzesse." Screeching bounced off of the cavern walls, the cacophony animalistic gurgles and grunts echo both out and further into the tunnels. An orange flame lights up the room suddenly, and the scale from the beasts glisten in the fire light. Large cuffs are wrapped around their necks that have chains bolted into the mountain walls. "Ñuha riñar, Rhaegal se Viserion. Iksan vaoreznuni." You walk over to the chains and unlatch them. Their large bodies tower over your own, but you can feel that they mean no harm. Rhaegal nuzzles his chin on the top of your head, as if saying "I know". His green scales shine Viserion bellows out another flame. Altogether, you exit the cave.

"They don't seem agitated." Your mother stands back quite a ways; she knows that they would never harm her but they are very large creatures.

"No, they learned their lesson." You run a hand over Viserion's cream colored scales, looking into his golden eyes. "Daēz." Upon the last sound leaving your lips, the spread their massive wings and take off, spurring dust clouds at their feet.

"Hopefully the Bakugou boy is as caring as you are." She laughs as you both walk to the wagon. Kota stares at the beasts in the sky, marvelling at them as they sore and howl.

"If he's the only other person in this world who has one, then he better be taking care of it as if it were his child."

"There is a reason they call you Muña Zaldrīzoti, my dear." You both laugh for a second and you look up at her.

"I'm going to miss you." You take her hands in your own, and squeeze them. She reciprocates it by releasing your hands and going for a hug.

"You'll do great. I know it and so does your father." She squeezes her arms before releasing. "Now go off and do amazing things." Tears prick the corners of you eyes, but you hold them back as best you can. With one last glance at your smiling mother, you hop on the carriage next to Koda and start on your journey to Mereen.

~

Ñuhyz zaldrīzesse - My dragons

Ñuha riñar - My children

Iksan vaoreznuni - I'm sorry

Daēz - Be Free

Muña Zaldrīzoti - Mother of Dragons

[arielchristine16]

Klance drabble made with only watching s8ep1 but saw spoilers

A couple years after Allura’s sacrifice, the team got together for some much needed bonding time: dinner. They talked about their lives. How Lance’s farm was going. Keith relief efforts. Hunks cooking. However, Shiro stayed quiet, something he doesn’t really do. Keith could see that his mind was elsewhere, yet his eyes kept staring at Lance. Lance never caught Shiro staring. Lance’s eyes were sunken in, not shining as brightly as they once did. His smiles and laughs seemed force. Nobody notices, well actually, everyone did. They just didn’t say anything. Shiro caught Keith staring at him and nodded his head. Keith didn't know what that meant but he trusted Shiro. 

 After dinner, they were saying their goodbyes and Hunk and Pidge left first, knowing what was coming and not wanting to a part of it. Keith was staying at Shiro’s place for a bit before going back to the Marmora. As Lance was leaving, Keith said a quick goodbye and retired to the guest bedroom near the front of the house. Lance placed his hand on the door handle as Shiro caught his arm. “Lance, can I talk to you for a minute?”

 “Sure?” Lance was confused, looking at the guest room to his left. Keith had situated himself behind the door, listening in on the conversation that was about to happen. 

 Shiro guided Lance to the little bench he had on the right side of the door. “How are you doing?” 

 “...Fine.” Lance avoided eye contact. 

 “Lance...Really, how are you doing?” asked Shiro as he rested his hand on Lance’s shoulder.

 “It sucks. It really suck, ya know?” Lance started saying, wrapping his arms around himself, “I don't know what I’m doing...I miss her.” 

 Keith slowly closed his eyes. He could hear perfectly and it still hurt, hearing the sadness and loneliness in Lance’s voice. To Keith, it seemed like they forgot he was there, right across the hall. 

 “We all miss her. But I know how you feel. Mourning over someone you love,” Shiro looked up to the ceiling. “It’s hard, but you will move on. Maybe not now, but eventually. I couldn’t mourn Adam properly during the war. But now I have and I’ve found someone who has helped me. I know Adam would want me to be happy. Plus, I think he would approve of him.” Shiro had Lance’s full attention. “You need to talk to someone. I can help only so much. But you have to get everything out. Cherish her memories. Remember the happy ones. Remember that she loves you and wants you to be happy. You are already keeping her legacy and her message.” 

 It was at that moment that Lance broke. The tears were not stopping. Shiro was crying as well, though not as hard as Lance was. His sobs hurts Keith's heart and he could feel the tears streaming down his face. 

 After about five minutes worth of crying, Lance wiped his eyes and said, “Thanks, Shiro. I think I needed that.” 

 “It’s no problem, Lance.” 

 “I should probably get going now.” 

 Lance started to get up when Shrio asked, “Why don't you have breakfast with me, Curtis, and Keith tomorrow?” 

 Lance gave a small smile and answered, “That sounds great.” 

 “See ya here tomorrow at 9?” 

 “Ya. Bye, Shiro.” Right before Lance closed the door behind him he yelled out, “Bye, Keith.” 

 Keith, who was still sitting behind the guest bedrooms door, suddenly swunt it open right as Lance left. He ran to the door and opened it to yell, “See you tomorrow, sharpshooter! Don't’ be late!” 

 Lance glanced behind his left shoulder and shot Keith a grin. Lance then hopped in his rover and zoomed off. 

 Keith turned around to Shiro standing behind him. “You both knew I was listening.” 

 “I think you both needed to hear what I had to say.” Shiro turned around and walked towards the stairs to head to his bedroom. Before taking the first step, Shiro asked, “You love him, right?” 

 “Yeah, I do.”

 “You’re welcome.” 

 “For what?” 

 “You’ll see. Goodnight Keith.” Shiro stalked up the stairs and closed his door. 

Keith didn't understand Shiro that night. It wasn’t until a year later, when Keith and Lance were sitting in Lance’s garden talking and laughing, that Keith understood. Keith grabbed Lance’s hand. He didn’t pull away, only looked into Keith’s eyes and smiled. Lance’s eyes shined brightly and they showed Keith what he already knew. Lance had something he wanted to say.

 “Allura loved us all. We were her family. We made her happy. I know she’s happy when we are happy, when I’m happy. I wasn’t happy for a long time. But I’m happy now. I’m happy with you , Keith. The person who has helped me through so much. Who i realized was there for me all along. Who was my best friend. I know Allura is happy that I have a best friend like you. I know Allura is happy that I’m happy with you. Happy that I want to be more than just best friends with you. Are you making Allura happy. Keith?” Lance has tears in his eyes as he looked to keith for an answer. 

 Keith happily obliged. “ Yes, i am making Allura happy cause I’m happy being with you. I love you, Lance.” Keith placed his hand that wasn't holding Lance’s on his left cheek. His thumb barely touching the Altean mark under his eye. Keith closed his eyes and moved towards Lance. Chaste lips met chast lips. 

They both pulled back and looked into each other’s eyes. Keith was smiling. Lance was smiling. Allura was smiling at both of them. 

 I may try to make this into an actual fic but right now im waiting to get my ao3 account