#i still do help charge the bomb. to be clear

[splattershotpro]

the thing that gets me with the whole "booyah back" discourse is when people who use weapons with booyah bombs don't booyah back. it's the hypocrisy, you expect me to help charge your booyah bomb when you can't even press the button once back to me at the beginning of the match.

[sophswritingthings]

explosive - hazel callahan 

pairing: hazel callahan x forfem!cheerleader!reader

warning(s): no warnings, actually! it’s just really fluffy <3 swearing, tho!

tropes: fluff, friends to lovers, sort of canon compliant, first kiss

summary: hazel’s had a crush on you forever. and it really comes to a boiling point when you and the girls go to tp and egg jeff's house. and when she, y'know, set offs a bomb.

a/n: was hazel knowing how to make a bomb hot…….. or was that just me?

word count: 1,144 words / 6,176 characters

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

hazel was watching you from afar; her eyes trailing up and down your figure. your cute, graphic tee to your lazy comfy sweatpants; which, she only knew your wore when you wanted to get messy. since, you only ever wore them during your art class. 

“hazel, your fucking staring her down,” pj glared at the girl beside her. “you're such a stalker.”

“I— i am not!” hazel hissed back, “I’m… gonna go work on that bomb now.”

meanwhile, you were sort of watching her too. the way her eyes creased together into somewhat of an angry look; but you didn’t think you'd ever seen hazel callahan truly angry. 

that was besides the point.

you thought she was adorable, to which, she was. 

and those thoughts were now dragging you toward jeff's car, where hazel was slipped under. her marked up convers were hanging out from the top of the car.

“hey, hazel.”

the car almost jerked up, and you heard a “fuck” from under the car. you couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight, though you did wonder if she was okay. 

“you okay, hazel? I didn’t mean to spook you. probably should have thought about that before I came up on someone under a car, huh?” you chuckle in response.

“I-it’s fine,” she says from under the car, her voice choked up. she was nervous, and her face was best red—glad that it was hidden under the body of the car. 

“you sure?” you cock your head, bending down to be sat on your knees. “that sounded kinda painful.”

hazel hums a little, “mm-hm!” in a response. she slides out from under the car for a moment. she wanted to see your beautiful face, even if hers was currently covered in soot and ash.

and even if it was beat red.

than a loud, shrill beep sounded from under the car.

“um, hazel, is that something we should be concerned about——“

out of instinct, she grasps your hand tight. she pulls herself to her feet, as well as you, and begins to charge for their “getaway” car. she slides into the backseat, pulling you in beside her.

after a few seconds, you feel her hand still clasped around yours. It made your heart beat a million miles a minute, her rough, coarse hands rubbing against yours. In comparison, yours were small and soft. holding a hand like hazel's felt…

… nice.

a few moments later, you feel those same hands covering your ears, pulling your head close to the crook of her neck. instead of covering her own ears, she covered yours, as if you didn’t have the hands to do so.

she was so cute. so thoughtful…

you two were, as of now, in the car alone. despite the damn bomb going off; the girls still hadn’t hopped back in the car, hadn’t driven away.

that left you alone with a hot girl you had a crush on. 

and you were pretty sure she liked you, too.

“so,” you gently nudge your knee against hazel’s. “how the hell do you know how to make a bomb?” you scoff, glancing at her with a playful expression.

“Its… not that hard,” she laughs, looking bashful as ever. “not like I’m some child genius.”

“still impressive,” you nudge your knee against her's again, causing her to look up at you, “learn that in robotics, or somethin’?”

she shrugs, “um, the mechanics of the it, sure,” hazel clears her throat. “rest online…”

“it’s.. it’s. yeah, it’s cool.” you smile softly. you gaze at her, maybe for a moment too long, your eyes locked together. “hazel… I… um—“

your words are cut off. 

the rest of the girls slide into the car. 

two more slide into the back, isabel and brittany. they pressed the two girls closer together, your thigh pressed gently against hazel’s. it made you blush, sure, but—it felt good. It felt… right.

you and hazel glance at each other, laughing softly. it’s a knowing laugh. you know what you were going to say; and you hoped you'd get the chance to finish it later. It was hazel's car that they were driving in, after all. they'd have to drop isabel and brittany off, drop pj off, let josie drive herself home than—

—it would be just you two.

twenty minutes of driving later and it’s just the two of you. you’ve moved into the drivers and passengers seat, the only sound between you two for a moment is the sound of the heater in hazel’s car rumbling to keep you warm in the cold weather.

“.. I have a feeling you knew what I was gonna say.. don’t you?” you chuckle, your cheeks bright red as you gaze out the windshield in front of you.

“.. I-I could guess,” hazel murmurs, her fingers tapping against the leather steering wheel. “because I kind wanted to say it, too.”

you pause. you had a feeling that it was reciprocated, but god to hear it out loud…

“well, than..” you whisper, “good to know.”

hazel chuckles, “yeah.. that’s pretty good to know.”

you laugh right back, realizing how stupid your words actually sounded.

you grab your purse as the car comes to a stop outside your large house. you open the passengers door, stepping outside the car.

and, unsurprisingly, hazel has followed you.

“so,” your eyes trail up her body, landing on her beautiful blue eyes. “could I say it’s pretty evident that i’d really like to kiss you right now?”

“you.. could say that.” hazel murmured, resting a hand on your cheek. she began to lean down, considering your height difference. her lips where inches from yours. “can I—“

before she gets to finish her question, you gently press your lips against hers. they’re warm; and taste almost like a hint of vanilla lipgloss. 

It was good. It was all so good. It felt like your insides were exploding, from the idea. your stomach squirming, your hands twitching on the back of hazel’s neck—which, you were sure she could feel.

when you pulled back, you took in a little gasp of air.

“a date, than?” you prompt, smiling. “how does tomorrow sound?”

“tomorrow?” her eyes light up at the thought. she didn’t think you’d wanna go on a date with her that soon. “sounds perfect. I—I’ll come and pick you up?”

“amazing,” you nod your head, giving her a smile and a wave over your shoulder as you walk toward your house. 

she watched as you slipped inside, leaning against her car with her arms folded. the idea that such an amazing girl would like… her? the loser masc lesbian is who nobody talked to?

the idea was foreign to her.

yet here you were, kissing her and asking her on a date. 

it was all so… amazing, to her.

she couldn’t wait. not one second.

[geekgirles]

Aurora's Claim: a Chapter 3 Analysis

Okay, so I read the chapter and, as expected, I'm fuming. However, it does give me the perfect chance to mention how, no matter what the Osamodas said, it still doesn't contradict my thoughts on Armand and Aurora's relationship and her lack of agency outside her father's thrall. Thoughts I discussed in length here.

On the contrary, I'd say it actually proves my suspicions right. So let's dive in, shall we? (Spoilers for the chapter under the cut).

First of all, I still don't trust a word that leaves Aurora's mouth, so I refuse to believe Armand knew about the pregnancy and told her to flee until we get more tangible evidence. After all, what good would it have done? If the Sadida and Eliatrope fell, the rest of the world would follow soon. And even if he did, I maintain that he didn't want her to rule his kingdom alone, because he still told Amalia it was up to her to take up the mantle.

(I finally got to take that screenshot)

But see? Not once did Armand mention Aurora or tell Amalia to please help her rule or anything like that. He didn't even take advantage of those precious few seconds he had left to let his sister in on such major news, to tell her she was gonna be an aunt. Nothing. He instead makes it pretty clear his sister is the Sadidas' next queen, not his wife. Which I'm convinced is because he knew all along his in-laws couldn't be trusted.

See, not even after these frames did Armand mention Aurora's supposed state or what it would mean for the kingdom. Not even then did he think she should ascend to the throne if he wasn't there by her side. Armand never wanted Aurora to rule on her own, child or no child.

Again, because he most likely suspected what the Osamodas would try as soon as they got the chance. Their people might have been joined by marriage, but they were never allies.

Which is something that is immediately proven as soon as Aurora reveals she's pregnant. Her family has no intention of honouring Sadida traditions. They don't even mention the very real possibility that the child might end up being an Osamodas and, therefore, unfit to rule the tree people inhabiting the World of Twelve, in which case I'd say her claim on the throne would be void.

No, as soon as they arrive and drop the bomb, Aurora makes it clear she has no intention of allowing Amalia anywhere near power. Just like she makes it clear she is nothing but her father's pawn, seeing as in no point in time she intends to part from him, even if she were to ascend to the throne.

And the Osamodas intentions of controlling Sadida politics become crytal clear from that point forward. Because Aurora never tries to include Amalia in any of this, despite her being the last Sheran Sharm and, thefore, having received training on how to rule (as seen in season 2 when she was busy with her duties and kept sending Yugo and Ad to help) or sharing the strongest connection to the Tree of Life. You know, the very same thing Aurora and her child would be in charge of guarding with their lives should she become queen? With that in mind, it would only make sense to keep Amalia close in order to help her rule.

But what does Aurora do instead?

She insists her father will help her until the baby is born, and from that point onwards, he will still be around to raise the kid. In other words, that child has been doomed to become the Osamodas King's puppet even before they're even born! They intend to raise the next Sadida ruler to have their people's best interests in mind, not the Sadidas'.

And where does Amalia fit in all this?

She doesn't, because Aurora's very last line about how Amalia should do what she does best and travel the world could not be any more of an abvious way to tell her she doesn't want her anywhere near the kingdom, where she could get in the way of her family's scheming.

Before I finish this rant, I feel morally obligated to point out the sheer disrespect everyone seems to feel for Amalia. Yes, she's always been very free-spirited and spent long periods of time away, but if it weren't for her, her people and the World of Twelve would have died three times over (not counting the Nécromes attack because that was during the only time she remained in her kingdom).

Amalia's adventures have allowed her to grow and mature in ways no other ruler has had to go through. It's thanks to her and her friends that her kingdom and the rest of the world are still standing. And no one knows of the sacrifices required to save the world like she does.

She couldn't be there when her father died because she was saving the world from Oropo, for fuck's sake!

But sure, the Osamodas can keep calling her selfish and spoiled. After all, it takes one to know one. Because let's not forget how Aurora being pregnant or not is still no excuse for her father not sending help, meaning they're still very much a bunch of cowards and traitors insteads of the martyrs they're trying to present themselves as.

Literally the only way I can ever see myself coming to like Aurora is if she actually matured and developed beyond being her father's pawn and turned against him, realising Amalia is indeed the rightful ruler.

Until then, I'm going to be cheering for Amalia to wipe the floor with her.

@cocogum @vinillain @onyichii I hope you don't mind another analysis on the same topic.

[spoiled-fawn]

Lust by Nature {Part 4}

Masterlist, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Read on ao3

Pairing: Captain John Price x fem!Reader

MDNI: 18+!

Warnings for this chapter: Drugging, hinted non-con but just a hair

Summary: He’d been used to the small messages telling him to make you simmer down, something not uncommon in the scope of you being, well, you.

A/N: There are a few POV Shifts and time skips in here, denoted by the "---". Work has been kicking my butt so sorry this is late. I hope ye enjoy

A week later finds the team on the last stage of the op at a cell-tower outpost, and you’re fucking exhausted. It's horrible. Starving and beyond irritable. You’d compare it to the boys after it's been too long to have a cigarette or stiff drink, but even then some of them could be drama queens surprising to the rulers of hell.

The mission had gone tits up by the middle of the objective, a high chance of needing to evacuate and determine if it was even salvageable. Sweeping north on a downward mountain slope gave you a wide berth to the others as they moved in by the north, coordinating the ambush. Soap and Gaz sandwich you in the spread of bodies, trailing to the right of Ghost and Price. By the time the road gave way to the tower in a pit of land, the team had been spotted.

“Just get in and take the tower. Soap-”

“On it.” He's already loading his GLM, calling out at the ready with every fire. Soap may be a little shit through and through, but he certainly is a mastermind. His sense of knowing where the explosives land by the mark- he’s damn good. And he damn well manages to aim a ring of flying shrapnel rain on the hostels from the launched HE’s.

Of course, a problem always arises.

It took 30 minutes longer than expected to clear the line of fire, a constant suppression needed. Price's voice growled that the bomb needed to be planted now; Soaps rushing in and calling for Gaz to follow.

But something makes your hand snap out to grab Gaz by the bitch handle on the back of his vest, keeping him rooted for treeline suppression.

“Wait-” Gaz’s yelp is overshadowed by Price’s enraged barking in your ear.

“Saint, get your ass back to the peak!”

“Already gone, Captain. Watch that line.” You answer, panting. Sprinting down after Soap before matching his position at the base of the tall signal tower.

“Capt’ gonnae hae yer heid, bonnie.” He scoffs as he sets the charges. It's 3 minutes to be set with the detonator in hand. Your eyes steady on the horizon towards the others. “Time to blow, Princess.”

“Say less.” You laugh, letting him lead you up the hill and towards the forest; The moment his arm snags around your waist you know its time to leave. Fast.

“Say the line, love.”

“Fire!” The detonator clicks just before the resonating sound of the explosion makes you both stagger.

His grip is solid around your waist, ignoring the sound of metal creaking from the force.

Call it natural curiosity, you can't help but look back to watch it fall.

It’s a good thing you did.

The steel creaks as it crumples down, the metal falling in sharp and jutting angles as its bones bend and break. The heavy drums atop the fixture force the beams down faster- practically above you already.

You yank Soap to the right to get away. You pull just enough to roll twice before stopping, laying on his chest. The tower makes impact where you just were, the sharp screech of metal overbearing on your senses as the steel splits apart.

“Johnny! Do you copy?” Ghost’s concern bleeds through your earpiece, wincing as the high-pitched grating is contrasted with the deep timber yelling in your ear.

“Good, L.T. See yae’s soon.” Soap’s already hauling you up, wasting no time preparing you to run.

You know you're injured when you make it to the rally point.

You smelt it far earlier than you felt it; A deep gash lacing your side. It could have been a chunk of metal that managed to scrape by, but you have a good feeling it came from rolling on the ground with who knows what laying on the ground.

It’s still warm, the dark metallic scent making your clothes hang heavier on your left side. Now that you’ve slowed, the stinging bite of cold and pain laces your nerves. Teeth chattering, you haven't spoken in minutes. It’s unnatural.

The dark conceals you, just as you always let it. Their human senses are dulled significantly compared to yours but it won’t be long until someone notices. You bank on the fact you can tend to yourself before then.

The armored vehicle is hidden among high bushes and dense trees. The back doors swing open when you’re a pace away, no words mentioned as Soap slings himself in first by the pull of Ghost’s arm.

You’re queued to enter, mind racing with how not to make it obvious you’re as badly cut up as a cheater’s tires. Ghost makes you freeze.

“Johnny? You hurt?”

You can only watch the pair stare at each other before looking between their hands. A tense silence fabricates the moment as you’re lifted in by both Gaz and Price, biting your tongue you think you sever the muscle from having to hold back a shout of pain.

“-’s nae mah blood.” The Scotsman spills out, the vehicle already moving as the driver begins to speed out of the woods.

Four sets of eyes turn to you. Heavy with how deep they rake their eyes over you, inch by inch and then again for each limb. It’s Price who finds it first.

“Fuck…” His curse is a taut hiss, his palm pulling away from your hip, under the slash. Stained red.

“Shit- We gotta go.” Pulling you closer, trying to get your gear sorted off. Gaz is already rattling off an alert for possible Medevac, the feeling of your tac vest making your lungs expand with a deep breath.

Human. You feel entirely too human from the feeling of the pain, the touch of hands that want to care for you, and the weight of the irises focused on you. It’s been so long since you felt this way.

Meanwhile, Price kneels on the vehicle's floor, between your legs, as he lies you down. “When the hell did this happen?” He hisses sharply, eyeing Soap with a sharp glare briefly.

As the vehicle rolls, you can only make sense of Price’s hands touching all over your body, stilling when he feels the cooling warmth of your blood. Ghost hands the Captain your small med-pack from your vest, readying to grab his own and offer the gauze.

“Not too long ago.” You breathe.

“How bad?” Comes Gaz’s voice. You catch the sight of his eyes looking at you with his hand on his earpiece. You can’t lock onto his eyes, the vehicle swaying too much. Looking around, you realize you can’t catch anyone's gaze and hold it. Oh.

“Halfway to back the way she came. Fuckin bleedin all over.”

“Saint, hey- Kin ye bade awake for us, love?” Soap’s voice does just the opposite, finding it comforting in the accent you find so fun. “Shit- Shouid we gi’ ‘er a stim?”

Their brains wrack collectively, judging the blood loss based on your colored clothes and stained skin. It gets a bit darker, and you wonder why the driver turned off the headlights- did he find a road? Are you out of the woods?

“It’s cold…” Your voice breaks them from their first aid on you.

You don’t see the panic in your eyes as yours close.

Waking up, you almost bit a medic’s hand off.

Wild and afraid. It was sudden and the place was seemingly so new that it triggered your fight or flight. You did not want them anywhere close and for far too long than you deemed necessary. Insistent on them leaving you to heal on your own even if you’re sucked dry of any magic at this point. Snapping your teeth like a wild animal when one medic tried taking your shirt off to get to the gouge on your side, before snarling as two were tag teaming you to keep you down.

Something about their hands not feeling warm enough, not having the smell of tobacco leaves stained into their skin to leave a trail of smoke. Yet there was something lurking in the air. Something different; You knew the scent was familiar, it felt like it belonged in the medical ward yet it shouldn’t be here near you. It screamed danger, something clawing and scratching at your mind to remember.

The scent trails around the room like the smell of burnt clover, making your stomach want to recoil and throw up its acid with the lack of any substance in it.

The lab.

Neurons fire off, and your hackles are raised. Literally. Hissing and ignoring the medics around you, yowling like a damned animal in pain when you realize what you’re smelling. Stuck in fear, now grappling with the sheets as your hands grab onto the bed rails, shaking the bed as you shift in short and shaky bursts.

---

Sometimes Price’s office felt like a sanctuary, while others felt like his jail cell.

Head down, furiously scribbling the series of events onto paper to work on this bible-long after action report. A sheet of blank paper sits to the side, your full name atop it.

God, he has it in his head to be so fucking pissed at you. For the dream, for disobeying orders, for getting hurt. He knows it’s irrational to be upset about your injuries, but it’s something he’s never been able to squash with the others.

His head’s in his ass and he’s acting like a fucking boy.

Even Soap had earned a scolding from Price, taking it in stride and breaking the berating with a smirk. He knew. Johnny knew, Ghost knew, and even fucking Gaz knew that you were getting underneath Price’s skin. Something no woman had ever done besides his mother long ago.

His cell rings, not his personal but rather his flip phone used for work. The one that means business or trouble. The number’s unsaved, none of them are. But he’s been called by this one enough times to know who it is.

“Laswell.”

“Captain. I’ve got news, now a good time?”

“Of course. ’S goin’ on?” Leaning back, he takes this call as a saving grace to rest his eyes. There’s shuffling on the other end of the line, sounding like she’s standing up to walk somewhere. He presumes it’s towards a window. Dramatic woman.

“We’ve gotten word that there's some unrest back in-”

His listening stops when the phone begins buzzing against his ear. “Laswell. I’ve been expecting this call, can I catch you in a moment?”

A scoff is his answer before he answers the incoming. “This is Price.”

“Need you in Med, stat. Saint’s going-”

“On it.” Snapping his phone shut his steps already thunder out of his office. He’d been used to the comments from others, asking him to make you simmer down. Something not uncommon in the scope of you being, well, you.

He can hear the commotion at the end of the hall as soon as he’s in the small brick building. Opening the door in a flurry, he finds you wide-eyed, backed into the bed. A second sweep of the room makes him realize you’re not protecting yourself from the medics. No, you’re protecting yourself from something outside the room.

“Saint.” He catches your attention with a growl. “Care to tell me why the medics said you need to leave the infirmary before you make one of the staff go to inpatient?”

“It's wrong. Doesn’t smell right.” Your eyes stay wide, seemingly frozen. He’s never seen you act this way. “Don’t take me back, I don’t want to go back.”

Take you back? To the mission, to the facility? He deems it a nightmare from having been so fatigued you slept for almost a full day.

“You need to settle down, and behave.” A promised threat, entirely wrong from what you need right now.

“I have to leave. Just let me heal myself, please-” You croak, being sure to restrain your voice for only him to hear.

A hand captures your jaw as the other holds your shoulder, keeping you still as he leans in.

“You need to stay and get checked out. You were hurt, sweetheart.” He can see the submission war in your eyes from just the pet name alone. Fuck. Just from a sweet little name and he’s gotten you to sag by a fraction? He’s realizing just how much you need this medical visit.

Before he can say another word, your eyes shift to the right.

---

That’s when you see him through the door window. A man dressed in square glasses and a white coat. Dr. Deidrick.

This man knows you well, as you know him. He was a constant in the lab, overseeing all testing. Many scars on your body were because of him, always measuring your magic with pricks and prods of the knife while you were in the lab. Botched stitches just to see how your body would heal, testing against substances and powders, even marks on your wrists from tight restraints.

Locked in a stare-down, Price brings you out of it. “What’s wrong?”

He follows your stare, finding the man glaring at you. When his eyes slice to Price, he nods before entering. Price’s eyes scan over the man's form; He’s around his 40s but looks like he lives in an underground tunnel system. His eyes are unnaturally yellow, his skin beyond fair and dry. His hair is gray and flicks of white - John can’t be entirely sure if this man is either human, a hybrid, or fucking weird.

“Everything okay in here?” His tone tries to sound lighthearted, joking. “She having a little fit?” The clicks of his dress shoes tick louder than the monitors attached to you.

“And you are?” Your Captain asks, dropping his hold from your jaw.

“My apologies,” He laughs, “Dr. Deidrick. I came to visit once I heard our demon was wounded.”

The blatant possessiveness in the phrasing alone ticks off Price, bristling as he squeezes your hand by a fraction. “So, you’re from the facility?”

“I was her previous caretaker in medical for the last several years.” The doctor’s attention shifts to the chart at the end of your bed. “Hope you don’t mind that I'm in to check on her. Just a simple evaluation and report.” Deidricks eyes scan the page from top to bottom, flipping to the back as he moves closer to your side.

“How are you feeling, Devil?”

“Hello, Dr. Deidrick.” Voice soft and polite. Don’t misbehave. You’ve learned this lesson with him.

“Hello. Now, how are you feeling?” He repeats, eyes moving from the paper to you with a weighted look.

“I’m fine. Sore. Tender. I told them I could heal on my own.”

"Mm..." Dedrick as he places the clipboard down, grabbing a pair of gloves. "And you believe that you can do so right now?" His voice calm and civil. That's one thing you’ve always hated. Even in the cruelest moments when studying creatures and hybrids alike, he had the calmest voice as they cried in pain.

“I’ve dealt with worse.” You can't help but let anger flare as the answer comes with a sharp bite. “You should know that.”

Dedrick's expression changes for the first time. Eyebrows raising, his jaw tightens as he stops moving for a moment. First strike.

"It doesn't mean that you should." A first stab of anger bleeds through his voice. "Your injuries are serious. If you’re fighting the medical staff here, you’ll be treated appropriately."

“The medics already cleaned and sutured it. There’s nothing more to do.” Denial is your least favorite tactic, it never won.

Deidrick knows you haven't revealed your history, or his presence would have been eviscerated already. The facility trained you well, speaking on every bad thing that would happen if you spilled their secrets in raising you.

“I determine that for you, not you.” He retorts, gaze shifting to Price. “I’ll have to examine the wound and evaluate her. Just to be sure there are no outliers that might have been missed.” There isn't room for argument here, seeing as Price is a Captain and not a fucking doctor. Deidrick is convincing and always has been.

“Well, I can be in the room with her. That an issue?”

The most Deidrick can mask is a forced grin, narrowing his eyes at Price. “While I understand your concern, Captain, I’ll need to ensure your safety and have you step out of the room during this.”

A choked sound emits from the back of your throat. You could cry at witnessing your pain start to happen again. Right where you began to feel safe; attached to Price.

Deidrick glares at Price, challenging him. Your hand on Price’s hand squeezes again, bringing both sets of male eyes onto the action.

“Captain, please-” Your beg dies in your throat when a sharp ringtone starts.

“Shit- I have to take this.” Price digs into his pants forcibly, confirming the caller with a look. “Be right back.”

“No… No, please.” Begging now, your hands on his arm try to anchor him. “Don’t go.” The wild look in your eyes makes him stiffen, caught between two choices.

“I’ll be right back. Be good.” The faint squeeze of your hand registers in tandem with him leaning down to place a reassuring kiss on your head. Before you can beg again, he’s out the door.

---

“Laswell.” He speaks a bit more reserved in the open space. Moving into the hallway, watching a few medics idle on their computers.

“Said you were gonna call me back, John. Got worried your old mind forgot about me.” A small scoff out of courtesy for the woman's harsh humor, yet he doesn’t respond. “Anyway, got a nice vacation for your team. You’re headed out to-”

“Do you happen to know if any personnel relating to Saint can be on base?” Cutting off Laswell usually ends with a sharp reprimand, but John’s mind is elsewhere. Worried.

“Not without warning and an established confirmation of visitation. It’s the normal protocol for off-site visitors to that level. Why?”

He chews on his cheek, nodding at the validation. His eyes flit between the door to your exam room, to the window, and then settling on a whiteboard with various patient names.

“’S a doctor with her right now. Say’s he found out she was wounded and came to check on her.” He pauses, trailing back to look at the door. “She was wounded three days ago for fuck sake. How’d he get in here?”

Silence responds before paper rules and she’s typing on her keyboard. “There was no agreement or discernment of their medical staff being on base. Only the executives and her previous commander. He shouldn’t be there nor even have access.”

It only confirms Price’s simmering anxiety, eyes stuck on the scratched and worn wood of the exam room’s door.

“What did you say his name was?”

“Dr. Deidrick. Said he’d examine-” The words die in a sharp crumble on his tongue when he hears his name screamed.

“Was that-”

“Send the boys my way, I’m dealing with it.” Hanging up, his body already shoulders the door a second later. But it doesn’t budge.

Looking through the door’s window, he meets your wet and wild stare; Brows arched, your body trying to scurry off the bed yet you’re not even moving due to now glaring restraints that contrast your skin.

“Somebody get this door open, right fucking now!” His bellow echos down the hallway, sending a startling panic around the staff as he continues to try and shove the door down.

“Price hurry!” Your howling meets his ears and it could bring him to his knees, hearing an angel weep.

His thoughts rattle in his head: I should have listened, I should have stayed, I should be in there.

I should have protected her.

He can see Deidrick at the counter, holding up a small brown vial and extracting its contents into a syringe. Only after he deems it filled, pushing the air bubble out, does he look to Price. “It’s just to settle her down, all standard.”

He wants to murder this man. Rip each artery from his body to hang up as vines growing onto the wall. He wants nothing more than to soothe your crying face in his arms away from the torture that's happening in front of him.

“Where the fuck is the key!” He shouts again, sparing a glance towards the staff as five of them look in drawers around the main pod of their stations.

Movement from the room demands his attention, watching every step as a second he can’t prevent the needle from meeting your skin.

---

“They already know, just fucking run while you can.” Your guttural voice is almost unrecognizable, an unworldly timbre deepening it. Eyes only set on Deidrick, you shake your restraints with violent shakes.

“This is your exam. There’s no harm in that.” He chastises. “Look at how weak you are. Have they not been taking care of you?” His croon makes your stomach flip. “I’ll give you what you need, little demon.” the coldness of his hand dawns upon your face, grabbing roughly on your jaw to pull you towards him.

“You’ll settle down and be a good girl for me, yeah? Just like old times.”

“I’m going to mutilate you over and over again in hell.”

He laughs, a genuine smile lighting his face. “The sweetest promise of eternity, devil.”

Moving back after giving your jaw a painful squeeze, his bony fingers bring the needle up to the light. He double-checks the syringe before gripping the meat of your bicep. “Dont. Move.”

You don’t hear any of the commotion outside, thus, when the metal door slams open, you jump.

Right into the fucking needle.

A shocked cry leaves you, eyes stuck watching half of the dose go into your arm.

It would have been more, save for the body that immediately pulls him and the needle away from you, both clattering to the ground.

“I’ll put you six feet under the goddamn ground.” Price spits before he throws a punch and squarely hits Deidrick in the face.

Then again. And again. And Again.

You’re stuck watching his arm swing heavily until warm hands find your wrist on the opposite side of the commotion. Warm brown eyes meet you, his smile calming.

“Hi, sweetheart. Let’s get you out of here, okay?” Gaz’s hands work quickly on undoing the restraints, letting the sounds of the fighting echo in the room while more footsteps come from the hallway.

Ghost and Soap enter the doorway, taking a quick survey before getting to Price and doing something that makes Price shout in an anguished yell. Gaz cradles you into his neck, cutting off your view. The rough blanket from the bed joins his hold and hides your body. He hushes you when you break into a sob down the hall.

“Not gonna leave you. You’re safe now sweetheart.” Vaguely registering his lips on your head, your eyes dim into a barely open gaze while the world moves too fast around you.

And for a second time, your world goes dark.

---

The sound of a god-forsaken soccer football game playing on the TV makes you stir.

It feels like you were drowned and only saved by the worn-out couch you’re laid on. Muscles stiff, your drowsiness making your hands grope at the soft fabrics. A small prick on the back of your hand makes you groan, and your other hand paws at the intrusion.

“Hey now, none of that.” A hand halts you from touching the intrusion, it takes a solid moment to realize it Gaz. “You’ve got an IV in you, need to keep that in for a bit longer.”

The world comes back into view, the yellow overhead lights far too bright for comfort. “Garrick?” His name slurs on your unused tongue. You manage to blink and look around before finding your head in his lap.

“Good morning, Princess. How’ya feelin?”

Like you got run over by a train.

“Like I got run over by a train.” Now dressed in a pair of sweats and a shirt that you don’t recognize, you’re laid under a fuzzy blanket from your room. “You get me dressed?”

You can’t see a blush pull to his cheeks, but his gaze averting to the side tells you everything.

“Medics came in and uh… I just went and got your clothes.” Probably saw something either in your room or while they were undressing you. “Does your side hurt right now?”

It does. The constant stinging radiates into a dull thrumming up your left ribs. The dressing feels bulky, and the lack of motion worsens the feeling. Your arm, the one that took the injection, feels the soreness from the deltoid, hurting when it contracts.

“‘M okay.” You lie so sweetly to him. While Gaz usually has enough snark to serve his entire country, his eyes look at you softly.

He holds the qualities of a leader, and possibly be concerning at his young age. But seeing how close he is to Price, even witnessing their relationship as a pseudo father and son, he’s learned fast. Maybe to lighten the Captain's load. Or, maybe he won’t fully take Price’s place until the gentleness withers away into hate and paranoia till he barks and bites at the pull of a leash. You hope he’ll get sick of it and decide to have a family, leaving this life behind when he feels his hands have turned far too dirty.

He gazes at the TV, flickering over the colorful screen. “Remember anything?”

You’d rather not. Had you still been in a sterile environment, you’d have woken in a panic just as before.

“Yes. The… yes.”Your lungs ache when you empty them of air. “I remember kicking in the bed, the needle, then Price’s face before you were there.” You miss the look of worry on his face when the game on TV catches your attention. “Where are the others?’

“Price and Soap dealing with the brass. Ghost was here a second ago but will be right back.” Gaz’s head tilts back to check the IV bag attached to you. “You’re just about finished. You’ll be free in a bit.”

His hand holds yours for a moment, checking on the catheter on the back of your hand. “Supposed to put in another after, but you’ll drink your water, yea?” His voice sleek and murmured close to your ear.

“ I will. Thank you.” Agreeing and thankful for him allowing you a bit of freedom soon, you move to stand.

“Stay down, Saint.”

Ghost enters the common room dressed in baggy sweats and a T-shirt, a black gator mask hides the lower half of his face. He makes his way to a spot on the couch adjacent to you and Gaz.

“Stitches are barely holding from earlier. Not allowed to be moving like that.”

Beside you, Gaz clears his throat. “Ah, actually.” He starts, voice now holding trepidation. “You mind taking over for a bit, Lieutenant? Haven’t eaten and need to piss.”

A mix of a laugh and worry crosses your mind as you realize Gaz’s been here the whole time with you.

“Oh god, get up.” You laugh before dimming your humor when it pulls at your side. Once Gaz is up and speed walking away, you turn to your Lieutenant who is already staring at you.

“How long was I out?”

Surprisingly, he scoots beside you, his arm draping on the back of the couch. “Bout two hours.”

The difference between Gaz and Ghost is definitely in size, but the latter's body is firm and demands that you accommodate his presence compared to Gaz’s body molding to you. You’re still blinking slowly, staring at him as your mind whirrs like a rusted fan.

“Didn’t know you had blond hair.”

Ghost is pretty, not even in his own way, he is just simply pretty. Brown eyes contrast the lightness of his hair, some spots missing where scars trail over his scalp. His forehead scars from stitches done too messily, wrinkles from years of surviving, and a few freckles decorate the bridge of his nose. There’s a distinct scar over his left eyelid, a group of eyelashes being gone where the scar ends.

“You wouldn’t ‘ave known.” His chest puffs up, and he laughs, before watching the game.

“That… doctor. He wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near base.” He starts, and you can’t decide if he’s trying to solve the mystery or tell you the ending solution.

“He did things to you, didn’t he?”

The question makes you nauseous, stomach-lurching for him to know the truth before spreading it to the others. You wonder if you’d throw up stomach acid if nothing at all.

“I…” Shit. You’ve barely spoken to this man and now he wants you to trauma share?

Something tells you this should have been expected.

“Don’t want to talk about it.”

Ghost is Price’s top man, quite literally second in command. He’d have no qualms with feeding him your answers. It coats your throat in shame, silencing any sort of vulnerability.

He sighs, watching the TV as a commotion from a team scoring stealing his attention.

“Fucking skunk lied his way through, altered some ID, and got into medical. They say he was watching over your file and once he saw your name ping in as medevac, he was acting as your attending and case manager.”

It really should send more of a chill down your back than the small amount it does, rather, a sluggish feeling of time combats your beating heart. You’ve been through horrible things. Having eyes watching you should have stopped phasing you a long ago, but it’s changed now. There was a sense of security here- a growing permanence that began to safeguard you from the reality outside. It shows how easily it can crumble.

“Did he say anything?” You push out.

“Didn’t speak to ‘im.” He answers.

The conversation drops, and you both turn toward the football game. You find a place for your face to rest on his shoulder. He doesn’t react, the only time is when the visiting team comes close to scoring his knee bounces in anticipation.

“Did you ever play any sports?”

His knee settles before responding. “Hockey. Short time, but ‘s fun.”

“Took you for a rugby kinda guy.”

“Nah, that's more Price and Johnny’s style.” A soft grin twitches the corners of your mouth at the mental image. “Sometimes they’ll play when we’re together on leave.”

“Never been on leave before.” You hum as your eyes open slowly. You don’t remember closing them.

He shifts when your head lolls forward, his hand moving you to get comfortable.

“I’m sure you can ask Capt’ to fix that.” A soft scratch of your scalp leads you to settle down, and when you keep breathing in the smell of him, you fall asleep.

---

“... lost it by a point. Bloody coach looks like a muppet.”

“Won’t be able to show his face for the next year. Damn idjit.”

The voice sends enough of a spark to take you out of your REM cycle, now taking stock of where you’re at. From the smell of it, you’re on the couch but now lay on it instead of a body. There's a few more steps of shuffling before it stills.

“How’s she?”

The warmth next to you grunts, shifting to leave. “Fell back asleep once Gaz left ‘er with me.” The new set of footsteps have a distinct gait, trying to be silent but failing with the TV no longer being on. “How’d your side go?”

“Almost got me on excessive force.” The croaky voice makes your mind wake up more, realizing its Price. “Had half a mind to knock the brass out hearing that. Made sure they saw the vials and needles he snuck in.”

“Was he going to do anyth-”

“No.” Price cuts Ghost off immediately, something lying in the tautness of his voice. “I don’t know. I don’t want to know, else I’ll fuckin’ kill ‘im.”

Exhaustion fogs your mind’s control of your body, fighting it to the point where it feels like you have to unstick yourself from the couch. You pull on your muscles enough that Price notices.

“Hey, pretty girl. Can you hear me?”

The groan that leaves you is enough of a signal. A hand pets your hair while another adjusts the blanket on you. Footsteps elsewhere fade, signaling Ghost’s departure and you open your eyes as Price squats down in front of you.

“There she is.” He coo’s softly. Part of you wants to cry at how good his attention feels. “Still tired?”

“Mhh.” Croaking with a dry throat, now somewhat regretting not staying up to drink your water like you’d promised Gaz. “Where were you?”

Blue eyes leave the depths of your red ones, tracing over your face to your neck, down to your body, and how you lay on your uninjured side. “Taking care of business. Nothing to worry about.”

His hand starts to rub over your shoulder, making you flinch. It’s like you're made of glass the way he looks and touches you, the same man who pushes you down and yells for you to get back up. The difference makes you want to scream at him while crying for him to hold you.

“Did I mess up?”

The whites of his eyes show a bit more when he widens them- his eyes scanning your face.

“No… No, sweetheart. You did not mess up.” In a moment, he moves to his knees, crowding you onto the couch while bringing your face closer to his. “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have left you in there. Should have fuckin’ listened to you.”

In a twisted sense, the couch seems like his pew, and you are the body he weeps over. Wrapped in a blanket is a far-off notion from any white to be buried in, but your open eyes just feel so tired and dulled from the last few hours. Rightfully so. His hands cup your face like they would hold a bible open, finding scripture in the details of your skin.

Price doesn’t cry. How much would it take to make him? Has he had a family? Did he lose someone he loved because of his work? Did he have a tragic backstory that granted him an almost immortal sense of luck?

There’s certainly no angel on his shoulder because you’d have killed it on the first day.

“You didn’t know.” Starting hoarsely, swallowing the saliva in your mouth. “I didn’t want you to know.”

There's dissatisfaction from hearing your answer, a pull at the corners of his mouth. “I need to know, Saint. I have to know, because that’s not happenin’ again.” Leaning down to press his chapped lips to your forehead. “I’m sorry.”

The feeling of his hair in your hands is surprisingly soft, almost as surprising when you realize you’re bringing him in to kiss you.

It’s soft, languid, and enticing. His lips part yours, leading you to taste the tobacco you tried days ago. His mustache and beard scratch your face, prickling your skin in an added sense to make your nerves come alive. Dragging you closer with an arm wrapped behind your back, his tongue teases yours before diving in deeper.

“While this is sickeningly romantic,”

The voice makes you gasp like a whore in her lover's shared bed, the drawl sardonic enough to know it is exactly not that.

It’s so much worse.

“I prefer a different type of scene.”

The woman stands against the doorway, arms crossed while she surveys the room. Dressed in black pants and a turtleneck, her blue eyes light up with the black overcoat that shields her from the coldness of desert nights.

“Laswell-” Price backpedals, separating himself from you enough to sit up straight from his place on the floor. Stuttering, he glances at you before back to her, a blush fading into existence on his aged skin. “I- uh. What are you doing here?’

Kate Laswell smirks; She’s cocky through and through, and seemingly will have enough blackmail from catching her prestigious ally making out with his supernatural subordinate.

“After the shit show got up the ladder, I decided to make a quick trip to check in. And, you never called me back, Captain.” Now it’s starting to seem like a lover's quarrel.

Feeling out of place, you don't move until Price takes a moment to clear his throat. “Well, I’m assuming it’s more serious than a phone call let it out to be.” Standing his hand brushes your shoulder before he crosses his arms. Laswell watches, moving forward a bit. She gives a subtle nod in greeting.

“Pleasure to meet you, Saint. Sorry to interrupt.” Absolutely no shame eludes from this woman. “A base just got accredited for their first hybrid operator. Similar to our situation with Saint.” She takes a moment to look over you, briefly checking out the remainder of the IV bag on its stand. “Need you to go teach didactics for our friends.”

“And which friends are you speaking of this time.” Price grunts.

She pauses, a flicker of her lips turning upwards if only for a moment.

“You’ll be headed back to Las Almas.”

As if watching a dramatic TV show, your eyes flit back to take in his reaction. With the sigh he lets out, you know that he’ll never catch a break.

“You’ll be headed back to Las Almas.”

As if watching a dramatic TV show, your eyes flit back to take in his reaction. If you had the energy, you’d feel bad for Price’s stress levels. With the sigh he lets out, you know that he can never catch a break.

[randomfoggytiger]

Curated: Baroness Blixen's Car Conversations

I know for a fact these aren't all her car convo fics-- but one can only do one's best~.

@baronessblixen‘s (Ao3) 

Bruises (Tumblr)

“I can’t go any faster,” he replies absent-mindedly, his fingers still drumming without rhythm.

“That’s not what I was - are you all right, Mulder?”

“Yeah,” he answers too quickly. “Why wouldn’t I be? Are- are you? Are you all right, Scully?” This is the first time he’s glancing over at her. His eyes, like everything else about him, are restless. They land on her wrists, linger for a second too long to be an accident.

Post One Breath Mulder is paranoid over bruises on Scully's wrists.

39 - scully

"What about the others?" Up until now, she's forgotten about the search party that she and Mulder are a part of. So often it's just the two of them; it's easy to forget that there are other people.

"I don't care about them," he says matter-of-factly.

Scully twists her ankle in a forest; and Mulder insists on carrying her back to the car.

#20 MSR for the angst prompt thing :)/Prompts & Drabbles - Chapter 22

“You’re not asking. I’m offering. Staying with your mom sounds wonderful. She can make you that soup again. What was it?” Steadying her, he gently leads her out of the office. He knows she’s going to fall asleep as soon as he puts her in the car.  

“Carrot soup.” Her voice sounds almost dreamy, the corners of her mouth lifting into a weak smile.

Cancer arc Mulder pressures Scully to let him take care of her.

Let's Talk About This (Not) Part II (Tumblr) and Let’s Talk About This (Not) Part III

Post Small Potatoes Mulder and Scully finally have a conversation about their feelings (and more) on the way back from prison.

Demons

“I’m a medical doctor,” Scully says to the police officer in charge, “I’ll take care of him.” Mulder lets himself be maneuvered by her. As Scully gently tips his head to help him into the car, she feels her own head start to throb. She hasn’t had time to think of herself in hours. She hasn’t been drinking enough water and she can’t remember when she last ate. They will need to figure something out. First she’ll need to make sure Mulder is safe, though, away from here, and his demons. Looking at him through the car window, his glance empty, she knows she can’t save him. Not from that.

Post Demons Scully's reflections.

21 for the date fic prompts. Please! :)

"It’s a good movie – a classic," Mulder goes on when she remains quiet, “We’ve been on the road quite a lot these last few weeks despite our current assignment,” he almost spits the last word, “and I thought we could take a break. I know you wanted to get out of the car,” he chuckles, turning his face towards the huge screen, “but maybe being in the car like this, maybe…” Mulder clears his throat and regards her; his expression is hard to read in the semi-darkness now, “It’s as close to a normal life as I can muster right now, Scully. Sothis,” he gestures vaguely, “can be whatever you want it to be.”

Post Dreamland II Mulder takes Scully to a drive-in movie theater.

Fictober 2020 - Chapter 27 (Tumblr)

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” She looks up briefly and adjusts her glasses. He likes when she wears them.

“That noise.” He’s grinning but Scully is unfazed, her nose buried in the file.

Dating-- Scully lets off a stink bomb, and Mulder evens the playing field.

This is a momentous moment: my oldest prompt!

Impatient (Ao3)

"Scully?" His voice gets louder, sounds impatient.  

"I'm here." She mumbles into her pillow before she turns her head to look at the time: 4.42 am. Oh, Mulder, why.

Post Millennium Mulder, driven by urgency, pops up at Scully's apartment... despite her strict orders to the contrary.

Mulder Breaks The Rules (Tumblr)

“I can’t do it. They say it might be two weeks, or a month – maybe more. Knowing our luck, Scully, this quarantine is going to be a whole year. I couldn’t – I can’t – take that chance.”

“What chance?” She parrots.

“That this,” he gestures wildly between them, “ends before it even had a chance to start...." 

AU-- Post Millennium Mulder breaks quarantine to drive over to Scully.

A Reassuring Touch (Tumblr)

“I’ll be there as soon as I can, Scully.”

“Mulder, you don’t have to-”

“I want to, Scully. I want to be there.” He listens to her breathe once more, as if to reassure himself that she, too, is real, and then he hangs up.

Post Three Words Scully calls in the early hours of the morning, afraid that it had all been a dream.

"Look at me- just breath, okay"

“Mulder.” Scully sounds of out of breath as she looks at him. There’s a soft sheen of sweat on her forehead that he wants to touch. She swats his hand away. “We need to go, now.”

Right. Even though she’s in labor, even though she’s waddling, Scully is in charge.

AU-- Essence Scully is having her baby right. now. And Mulder is trying to figure out how to navigate the situation with he, his partner, Doggett, and Reyes all crammed in one car.

With You By My Side - Chapter 1 (Tumblr)

“Hm,” Mulder grinned in relief, feeling Scully’s eyes on him, “This is kinda like before, isn’t it? Us driving through the night to some place in the middle of nowhere?” Scully stared down at the piece of paper, a scribbled note, and wondered when she’d next see Agent Doggett. If there was going to be a next time. Would it ever stop?

“Georgia,” Mulder mumbled absent-mindedly, “has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

AU-- Essence Scully insists that Mulder make an escape with her.

Driving Lessons - Chapter 1 (Tumblr)

He, unlike Scully, is not used to this. Not only does he have to make sure he’s packed everything he needs, no, he has to make sure this child – their son – is well taken care of in the few days they’ll be gone. This is the first out of town case since Will came to stay with them and for some reason all the responsibility lies with him this time. Scully should have figured this was a bad idea.

“But… I don’t know how to drive.” Will, a tall, lanky boy with reddish brown hair, Scully’s eyes and nose, stares up at him, shyly. 

AU-- Revival William, who now lives with his parents, learns to drive from none other than Mulder.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[samkerrworshipper]

This is ungodly long and I’m so sorry in advance 😭 I’m also ridiculous late sending you this, but I still thought you deserved to hear it.

I was initially a little hesitant about reading “beautiful girl”, just because I’m not really a Leah/Jordan reader usually, but I adore your works so I figured I would give it a try!

RIGHT from the first three paragraphs of the first part, I already was ready to cry. I knew this was going to seriously test my emotions in the best way (and I did end up being correct!)

“Babies learnt to self soothe by being left to cry, teenagers learnt to self soothe through pain” like nope I can’t deal, you absolutely knocked it out of the park with that 😭

R’s whole thought process in the first chapter is equal parts heartbreaking and fascinating at the same time. The way you chronically the descent into a deeper addiction is SO well done, having her go from getting high at night to doing it during the day, and how that all spirals within the span of just a few paragraphs needs to be STUDIED!

“Hoping the patting [of the towel] would somehow strip the pain that was painted across your skin, it didn’t” from part two my LORDDD. The whole conversation between r and Jordan in that part is genuinely so heartbreaking. It’s clear that Jordan still loves her daughter, but everything has just fallen apart to the point where it doesn’t feel like it can be fixed. R being unable to see Jordan’s care because of the fact that she’s completely fallen through the cracks, on top of having this huge mental spiral is perfect into continuing to introduce the reader into the story.

Leah finding out about the weed in part three, and r’s kinda trying to deny but not really had my interest piqued. As though she kind of wants Leah to find out about it, a cry for help, even if she’s not admitting it to herself in the narrative SO fascinating. How you write addiction is so raw and poignant because you don’t shy away from the difficult shit, you simply leave it to fester further and further and the story is so charged and has so much more emotion because of it.

“It took you back to a time when you’d made Leah check under your bed everynight for the monsters under your bed, now though she was looking for the monsters in your head, the monsters that had turned her little perfect girl into whatever you were now” I WAS GAGGED I don’t even have words I…like I truly don’t know what to say other than I’m obsessed with these one liners you’re dropping like bombs throughout the story!

Listening to so long London during part four was quite possibly too much for me to bear? And then I listened to it as I read the rest and I was like what if I’m just ready to end it all? Right now?

Maya’s relationship with r is incredibly twisted and convoluted especially in part four, really showcasing this idea of love even in the worst forms. The way that she completely invalidates r’s fears and pressures her while r still manages to cling to this idea that Maya does love her is so artfully constructed. Its clear Maya is so deeply engrossed in all of this her entire perspective on life is flipped around (including her perception of love), and it’s both incredibly sad for her personally while still very dangerous for r. The theme of love in this is so strong and I was continually intrigued as I read to see how you choose to discuss love, both overall and from r’s perspective specifically.

I DONT THINK I CAN EVER SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS ABOUT PART FOUR ISTG 😭 The speech r gives to Leah and Jordan over the phone? The whole praise aspect of it that r has been craving for SO long, and the explanation about how the breakup was the catalyst for all of this? The TOY analogy at the end? Jesus fucking Christ what a knife to the heart.

Also I’m sorry I shouldn’t have laughed at “miss dump and run awakens” but the thought of a nurse actually saying that to a first time patient had me choking on my water 😭

The beginning of part five is so aching, the way r is still trying to run, has worked herself down to feeling nothing but panic and fear?And then Leah and Jordan come in and they just want her to be okay and are so worried about her? But still the fact that r feels as though she has to perform in order to be worthy of this love absolutely broke me. As I said before, your portrayal of addiction is amazing and so easily digestible, despite how heavy the topic is.

“Love to you, was a privilege, not something that everyone had extra of” 😀😀😀😀

The moment of shift in the conversation r has with Leah toward the end of part 5 is pulled off PERFECTLY, the dialogue between them back and forth is genuinely done so well. Your ability to write this mix of dialogue interspersed with r’s thoughts is executed masterfully, and leaves the story feeling whole and complete in the best way possible, even as you drag our hearts through unimaginable pain (it’s just too good not to read though 😫)

Part six is just…so fucking healing. Genuinely, again with the interspersing of dialogue with what has been happening the two month break is complete perfection. Even in just a single chapter you show this immense progress, the stopping of poor habits and thoughts and the shift toward something healthier, but still raw and real. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, but it’s progress above all else.

The call back throughout the story of “beautiful girl” and really just the use of the word “beautiful” is a perfect motif, and every single time I saw it used I was like “YES!” because you knew exactly where to put it! This awesome balance of not adding it in there too much, but allowing it to ground the story when necessary.

Anyways��this is ridiculously long and I’m so sorry, but I couldn’t find it in me to delete any of it! Even if I’m a little late I wanted to be sure to let you know that I’m a big, big fan, and I wanted to thank you so much for writing it! Absolutely fabulous work as per usual for you 🩵

AHHH THIS MADE ME SO HAPPY

you’ve read like every part of my mind lol

i still have so much love for that series, it was my whole heart and soul for like two weeks and literally all i thought about and if i could i would write a hundred parts to it

this has actually made my day so much better and you are the sweetest and i love you and oh my gosh

[turtletaubwrites]

Take Me With You

Chapter 20: Monster

THIS FIC CONTAINS DARK CONTENT. 18+ ONLY. MDNI. HEED THE TAGS.

Pairing: Buggy the Clown x Fem!Reader

Chapter Summary: The Straw Hats battle for Nami's home, and Buggy gets his body back. You make a choice.

Word Count: 2496

Take Me With You: Masterlist

Ao3 Link

Author's Note: Non-Con is not described, but the Reader murders their unnamed abuser with Buggy's help. Reader experiences a lot of feelings of hatred and trauma. Buggy is a villain in this story, except for how caring he is toward the reader. This romance is dark y'all, with a bunch of violence and angst mixed in with their sweet love. Please heed the tags, and DO NOT read if any of these themes may be triggering for you.

Rating/Warnings: Explicit Sexual Content, 18+ ONLY, MDNI, AFAB!Reader, She/Her Pronouns for Reader, Reader-Insert, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, SA/Non-Con occurred in the past - not described during story, reader murders the abuser with Buggy's help, Reader has symptoms of trauma and dissociation, torturing and murdering an unnamed abuser, Knife Throwing, Buggy understands consent except when it comes to his captive audience of course, Consent, Knifeplay, Eventual Smut, Praise Kink, Angst, Inappropriate Use of Akuma no Mi | Devil Fruit Powers, Smut, Dark Romance, Slow Burn, Fluff and Smut, Possessive Behavior, Possessive Sex, Rough Sex, Penis In Vagina Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Comeplay, Aftercare, Throat Fucking, Cunnilingus, Hair Pulling, Biting, Overstimulation, Orgasm Delay, Comeshot, Anal Play, Alcohol, Bisexuality, Accidental Exhibitionism, Face-Sitting, Choking, Dom Buggy

| masterlist | about me | rules | ao3 |

As the group charged down to the village, the sun rose onto a new day, smoke still curling into the sky.

Nami shared enough with the group to clear her name. She’d done everything to protect and free her village. She’d suffered and let them hate her since she was a child, all to keep them safe. Guilt sat in your stomach for having compared your deeds to hers.

She was fighting for her village. I dropped bombs on my village. I didn’t care who died. 

The town got closer, and Nami tapped on your shoulder. You jolted and Zoro glared, but you gave him a thumbs up before slowing to the back of the group alongside her.

“I’m so sorry I hurt you, Y/N.”

Nami’s hushed words, and her pleading eyes made your throat tight.

“It’s okay, Nami-“

“It’s not okay. I hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you. I’m so sorry.”

The shame in her voice made you want to tell her the truth. The truth that you tried to kill her, that you’ve lied about everything. I’m the monster here.

But you couldn’t tell her. You were hyper aware of the weight of Buggy’s head at your side. You needed to keep doing everything you could to get his body back. You wouldn’t betray him again.

You gave her a bittersweet smile knowing that in another life you could have been true friends, maybe more. 

“I forgive you, Nami.”

She smiled and reached for your hand, like she had so many times before. You squeezed it twice, and let it go. 

You let her go. 

~

Standing in the wreckage of Cocoyasi Village, your blood felt like lead in your body, weighing you down as you smelled the ashes of Nami’s home.

“Arlong did this? Why?” 

Sanji’s question twisted your stomach. I did this. I set off the cannon that destroyed Orange Town.

“To punish the villagers. And to punish me.”

Nami’s voice pierced through you, and you helped Usopp put out the small fires that were left just to keep yourself from sobbing.

You thought of Buggy, of how he’d saved you, how he made you feel. You wanted him back desperately, you wanted to be done with all of this. You chewed on the inside of your lip so much you tasted a small tang of metal. 

Villagers surrounded you, and begged for Nami’s forgiveness. 

You remembered your town. No one there helped you. No one there begged for forgiveness. Not until you had that man strapped to the wheel, his hands crushed by Buggy’s daggers. 

You felt a bit of hate for the people you’d left behind return to your gut. Those people didn’t deserve forgiveness. They let me suffer. Ridiculed me when I told the truth. Called me a liar, and a whore for what was done to me. Turned away from me, ignoring my pain. All because I begged for them to help me. 

You watched Nami forgive her people, and you felt this was different. The scarred man looked at her, and you saw true shame and remorse in his eyes.

“Then it's our turn to sacrifice. We're done living in fear. We're gonna march on Arlong Park. If those fishmen want a fight…”

“That's not a fight. That's a massacre. You will all be killed.”

Nami pleaded with her people not to throw their lives away. The villagers refused to back down, refused to let Arlong continue. Tears welled up, and you blinked at the sky to fight them down. 

These people are different. They deserve forgiveness.

You turned toward Luffy, his words ringing out, comforting and motivating everyone who heard him.

“This is our fight. Right, guys?”

“Finally, I get to cut something.”

Zoro’s words brought the weight of the fight back to you, then Usopp voiced your concerns.

“But how are we gonna beat Arlong? We saw what he did at Baratie.” 

Zoro and Usopp sniped at each other, Zoro declaring that every creature has a weakness.

Luffy’s voice answered, his presence almost vibrating through the air with his rage, his determination. His sheer belief in himself.

“I'll know it when I see it. And when I do, I won't hesitate.”

~

You stayed behind the group, rethinking your choice to be here as Luffy kicked the gate to Arlong Park open.

Grabbing one of Usopp’s smoke bombs from your dress’ now heavy pockets, you watched the Strawhats move into fighting stances. 

Meek had served you well, but you were so close to being Vicious again, you could taste it. 

A school of fishmen came charging forward, yelling and taunting. Hot adrenaline filled your body. You’d never seen a battle this large or intense before. You nodded even though he couldn’t see you as Buggy told you to be careful. 

You wanted to look for Buggy’s body, but the hoard was too much. 

Sanji and Zoro took down one after another, while Nami and Luffy jumped onto some artful boulders, and headed to the massive building. Part of you ached that you couldn’t go with her, but you came back to the moment and let her go. 

Usopp ran off, an angry fishman hot on his trail. 

You stayed back and watched the waiter and the swordsman work, almost flying around the decorative pond and its stone steps. 

As the crowd of fishmen came toward them, you started pelting them in the face with smoke before they got to the pond, leaving them near blinded while they were hit with the heavy kicks and slashes the boys dished out. 

The Strawhat boys kept bitching at each other, clearly competing. Wanting to yell at them to pay attention, you realized that their competition seemed to help them focus. 

Until you landed a particularly good hit, the smoke bomb hitting a fishman in the back of the throat as he yelled insults toward the cook. The fishman choked, doubling over while he clutched at his neck. Sanji’s foot flew straight up, higher than his own head, before slamming down on the choking enemy, smashing his face into the concrete. 

Sanji turned toward you with a smile, his hands outstretched.

“Great shot, Y/N!”

You shook your head at him as Zoro slashed through a fishman who’d nearly had his webbed fingers at Sanji’s throat. 

“Keep your eyes on the battle, you dumbass cook!”

“I thought I was just a waiter.”

“Shut up, and quit flirting. She hates you anyway.”

You bit your lip to keep from laughing, while Buggy laughed hysterically from the bag at your side. Sanji’s dejected look only paused him for a moment, before his kicks flew out with more force. He practically floated over the pond as he shot toward his next target. 

You all kept fighting, and your pockets were getting lighter. But the fishmen’s numbers were dwindling, and you let yourself be hopeful. You’d realized that you had accepted death so you wouldn’t be as anxious, and it had worked. Now the hope of living through this felt good, but still unsteady.

Sanji and Zoro kept up their feud, until Zoro started faltering. The imposing wound from Mihawk still clearly affecting him. 

Sanji gave him shit for it, and you almost laughed when he told Zoro to quit screwing around because Luffy needs them. Uh oh, don’t get between Luffy and his guard dog! 

“You don't know what Luffy needs.” 

“I know he needs my cooking.”

“Putting two slices of bread together?”

You couldn’t help but laugh then, especially when Buggy’s head started wiggling in the bag next to you. You stood between the boys as Buggy taunted them, trying to stay stoic.

“Someone's feeling threatened.”

“Shut up,” they yelled in unison.

“Then get me back to my body! We're close. I can feel my toes. Trust me. I can help you guys win this thing.”

You struggled with the bag, Zoro reaching to help as he threatened him. 

“I swear, clown, if you screw us over…”

Buggy groaned as his head fell to the ground, then your mouth fell open as it flew to one of Arlong Park’s stalls. Your Captain’s body was strung up like a toy prize, and you bit your lip as you watched him separate his limbs to get out of the restraints.  

“God! Yes! Yes! Yes!”

You ran then, no thoughts in your mind except for the need to feel his arms around you.

“Buggy!”

You squealed his name as he ran toward you too, catching you as you launched yourself at him, wrapping your legs around him. You kissed like it was air, and you would both die without it. You pulled back, touching and looking at his face, and you couldn’t remember feeling this much joy. Buggy dove into your neck, kissing and smelling you before looking into your eyes again.

“Oh! Oh, you’re so much better than I even remembered.”

You grinned at him, cheeks almost hurting.

Buggy let you slide down his body, and you almost laughed again when you turned. Sanji and Zoro’s faces were more shocked than you’d ever seen them, mouths gaping like the fishmen they’d been fighting. 

Buggy kneeled on the ground in front of you, and the look in his eyes made you shiver. You saw that the boys were stuck, like they couldn’t force their eyes away. 

Buggy pushed up your skirt until he pulled out your dagger, and his secret stash of greasepaint. You took the dagger from him to rip a slit into the stupid dress, revealing your harness for easier access. 

Zoro looked like his blood was boiling with how red his face was, and Sanji looked like he was lost, and almost drooling. 

You closed your eyes and hummed as Buggy dragged his fingers across your face, tracing simple blue daggers across your eyes and cheeks. He wrapped his stained fingers into the hair at the back of your neck and kissed you hard, smearing more of his red paint on your lips. 

“Hey, so, um... We’re gonna get out of here.”

Buggy stuffed the makeup tin in his pocket before flipping the boys off with both hands and reaching for you.

“Hey!”

Zoro’s angry yell made you turn, and you realized you’d miss him. 

Then you saw a fishman creeping up behind the still stunned Strawhats, and you pulled your dagger back.

“What the fuck,” Zoro yelled as both of their eyes went wide, and they ducked away from your dagger. 

The fishman hit the ground, your favorite dagger in his eye. 

“Will you grab that for me, Captain?”

Buggy smiled, sending his hand to grab the dagger. He flicked the blood, but wiped the remainder on Sanji’s sleeve as he called it back. 

This felt bittersweet, but also so fucking satisfying. 

“Sorry, kiddos. I'd love to make things right, but it's time for me and my Vicious Dagger to exit stage left.”

Buggy helped you run along, carrying you over the pond with his floating arms, and you turned to look back. 

Sanji looked like you’d killed his puppy. 

Zoro looked angry, but you could tell it was more at himself. You gave him a wave as you heard him mutter his goodbye. 

“Fսcking clowns.”

~

Buggy carried you, avoiding the continued fights that were still causing chaos in the area. You stroked his face, almost crying at the feel of his body holding yours.

“Please, Buggy, I need to feel you. Please.”

“We’re not out of the woods yet, dollface.”

“Then fuck me against a tree, Captain. I need to feel you, that you’re with me.”

“Fuck.”

Buggy growled, then tore through the forest, and put your back against a tree.

He didn’t press against you, didn’t kiss you. He just held your shoulders, and looked at you for a minute. You reached for him.

“Buggy, I-”

“Wait, Vicious, please.”

“Of course.”

Your brows furrowed, feeling sick with concern, and you didn’t know why.

“I need you to be honest with your Captain.”

You smirked at the memory of him saying that to you in the tub, and he let out a sigh. He shook his head, and you tried to breathe as he continued.

“I need you to be honest with yourself, Y/N.”

Buggy’s eyes looked heavy, loving, but sad. Your stomach clenched.

“I know you love me, sweetheart. But my life isn’t for everyone.”

Your fingers gripped into his shoulders, nausea and fear bubbling in you. 

“I need you to think about what your dream is. What life you want.”

“But, Bug-”

“Please, Vicious. I love you. I want you to be happy. Even if that means leaving you here with those idiots.”

His insult was soft as his eyes melted into yours. You knew he was serious. He would let you go. 

And you knew the Strawhats would forgive you, even after that display. They would forgive you, and you could be one of them. Be a different kind of pirate. 

The thoughts of guilt over what you’d done swirled in your mind. The last few days had put you through a whirlwind of pain and emotions. He’s giving me a choice. 

Buggy’s lovely eyes weren’t pleading. He looked soft, waiting, but you saw him clench his jaw as he swallowed. 

Buggy. Buggy had always given you a choice. Buggy showed you what life with him would take. And you’d fallen on your knees, vowing to destroy the world for him. 

For your love. Your Captain. Your King. 

The man who made you feel safe and powerful, who taught you how to be Vicious and protect yourself. So you’d never be helpless again. He took you out of a hellish life, and helped you take revenge.

The man who makes you laugh. Who treats you like a goddess. Who makes you feel more fucking pleasure than you’d ever though possible. Your body craves him, even when he’s right there with you.

You remembered the bombs and cannons you'd dropped, the daggers you'd thrown. If you went back to the Strawhats, you would feel that. They would forgive you, but you didn’t know what the point of it all was without Buggy. 

Then you felt yourself there, one more time. Diving, letting yourself fall into the deep end.

I’d do anything, give anything, to be Buggy’s Vicious Dagger. To be with this man, this perfect, beautiful man. I’ll be his monster. Buggy is worth all the blood on my hands.

Tears streamed down your cheeks, and you watched Buggy’s face fall. His eyes closed tight before he started to pull away. 

“I’m yours, Buggy!”

He froze, and you reached for his hand. 

“I want to be with you, Captain. No matter what.”

You squeezed his hand twice and pulled him toward you, knowing that you’d never let him go. 

“I love you, Buggy. Always.”

Buggy choked out a sob, before he cradled your head in his hands. 

“I love you forever, Vicious. You're fucking mine.” 

Likes, comments, and reblogs bring me much ✨dopamine✨ thank you so much!

a/n: That's enough angst, let's get to the smut! 🤭🤡

Chapter 21

Operation Olive Branch has compiled a working spreadsheet of ways to help families fleeing from the genocide in Palestine. If you enjoyed this fic, and are able, please click the link to find a list of GoFundMe's, as well as other ways to help.

| masterlist | about me | rules | ao3 |

[whisker-biscuit]

SlyFox Day 2: Snow

Sly huffed a silent sigh of relief as he placed the last of the explosive charges at the base of the last vampire crypt. The Panda King had gone off ahead at his insistence that he could finish this by himself – a fact they were both happy about – and watching the older man clear away the last of the active undead mantises with fireworks and flame before he took his leave was something the raccoon would never be able to get used to.

And it had nothing to do with vampires.

He set the timer for the detonation and retreated to a safe distance on higher ground to watch the upcoming explosion. The crypt was right at the bottom of a hill of snow that looked a breeze away from toppling into a miniature avalanche, and Sly was admittedly a little excited to see it. He was taking every chance at levity he could cling to while at this stupid palace, with its stupid owner, and the stupid decision Bentley had made to trust the goddamn Panda King.

So caught up he was in his momentary bitterness that he nearly missed the bob a familiar flashlight as Inspector Fox rounded the corner. Sly had only a few seconds to be surprised at her presence and wonder what lead had brought her up this far before she shined her light on the literal time-bomb of a crypt and that surprise turned to alarm.

There was no time to think. There was barely time to act. The thief launched himself off of his perch straight for her, hoping against hope to knock them both out of the blast radius. She was just starting to turn around at the sound of him when he slammed into her, sending them both tumbling, but before either could do anything else there was a BOOM that shook the ground and deafened his senses –

And then the world went white.

Sly woke up with a groan that quickly turned into chattering teeth. His entire body felt stiff and frozen from head to toe, and his head was still ringing from the aftermath of the explosion. When he tried to sit up, his vision swam so badly that it nearly made him pass out again.

“Oh. You’re awake.”

The sound of Carmelita’s voice broke through the fog in his senses and brought him right back to the present. He locked his jaw to stop his loud shivering and looked over towards the direction she’d spoken from. Sure enough, she was sitting just out of reach, holding her arm close to her chest and glaring daggers at him.

His heart jumped to his throat at the sight. “Are you hurt?”

“I am, no thanks to you,” she snapped, making him wince. “What the hell were you doing up here?!”

“Blowing up vampires.” The truth fell off his tongue easily, and not just because it often did around her. It was better to be honest when it came to pinning terrible crimes on terrible criminals.

“Uh huh.” Inspector Fox looked less skeptical of the idea of vampires and more skeptical of the idea of him playing vampire hunter. “And does ‘blowing up vampires’ involve this?”

She glanced around meaningfully, and Sly finally registered the rest of their environment. They were trapped in a narrow air pocket surrounded on all sides by snow, so cramped that there wasn’t enough room to stand or even get more than a few feet away from each other. The raccoon sucked in a worried breath through his teeth.

“Don’t try to break through it,” she warned him before he could even think of it. “I already tried, and the whole thing nearly came down on top of us. There’s no telling how much snow is above us right now, and I don’t want to risk suffocation if it falls.”

The thief swallowed. His whole body was shivering, now. “How long was I out?”

“Only a few minutes. I think you got hit in the head with a piece of whatever you were blowing up.” When he gave a meaningful, scrutinous look towards her cradled hand, she shook her head. “Happened when we were rolling after you tackled me. Feels more like a sprain than a break.”

Sly couldn’t help the way he visibly relaxed at that. Carmelita watched him like a hawk.

“Have you called your mercenary friends to tell them what happened?”

“No. My radio got lost somewhere in the avalanche.” This time, instead of glaring at him with obvious blame, she simply closed her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. “Just my luck, huh? You’re finally trapped right in front of me with nowhere to go, and I can’t even call for backup.”

“Maybe not, but I can.”

Her eyes snapped open when he pulled out his binocucom, but she didn’t say a word as he started calling Bentley. The line rung for less than a heartbeat before the turtle answered.

“Sly! Where are you? Did you take down the last crypt?”

“Sure did, Bentley, but there were some, uh…complications.”

He pulled up the visual aid and did a slow scan across the tiny space, including Inspector Fox’s scowling face, then flipped it back around towards him. His best friend let out a string of words that were very complicated but probably very vulgar. Sly could tell he was in for a hell of a lecture about this later.

“Give us ten minutes max and we’ll get you out of there. Both of you,” he amended when Sly raised an eyebrow. “Just don’t do anything stupid until then, and leave your binocucom on so we can find you.”

“Roger that.”

The raccoon put the device back in his leg pouch and wrapped his arms around his knees, suddenly all too aware of the bitter cold making him shiver. Ten minutes was a long time to wait in the snow when you were only wearing a sweater-shirt and boots more built for stealth than snow.

As if sensing his thoughts, Carmelita let out an irritated huff and patted the ground beside her. Sly didn’t move an inch.

“You, uh…you sure?” He asked.

“I’m only offering because you’ll freeze to death before your gang shows up,” she said pointedly, shifting her weight to very obviously hide the way she was also shaking. “You can’t be brought to justice if you’re dead.”

A smile finally crossed the thief’s lips. “Of course, not. We wouldn’t want me to escape the consequences of my actions with such a pathetic way to go.”

“Exactly.” The word was hissed with as much conviction as possible, but he could still see the faint flicker of her own smile before it was quickly buried under indifference. “Now get over here before I change my mind.”

He did so.

“If you ever tell anyone about this, Ringtail…” she threatened as they huddled together, arms wrapped around each other.

Sly smothered his grin, partly because he knew she wasn’t bluffing and partly because her tail was curling around his seemingly without her conscious knowledge.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Inspector.”

And he meant every word.

[f1ghtsoftly]

All The Women’s News You Missed This Week

10/7/24-10/14/24

A South Korean Novelist takes home the Nobel Prize in Literature, Trump, and Harris vie for women voters. Women around the world continue to organize and fight male violence most notably this week accross South Africa, in Kolkata, and rural France. 

Want this sent to your email? Subscribe here

US Election:

Trump to join Fox News town hall with only women in audience

Obama’s callout to Black men touches a nerve among Democrats. Is election-year misogyny at play?

Abortion has passed inflation as the top election issue for women under 30, survey finds

Women’s Health and Reproductive Rights:

‘I found out I had cervical cancer while I was pregnant’

‘The View’ abortion ad signals wider effort to use an FCC regulation to spread a message

Moreno’s abortion comment rattles debate in expensive Senate race in Republican-leaning Ohio

Texas man drops case against 3 women for helping his ex-wife get abortion pills

Transgender/Gender Critical:

A kitchen staffed by trans women is a refuge for Mexico City’s LGBTQ+ community

‘Saboteurs’ release thousands of crickets at gender-critical group LGB Alliance's London event

Colorado court ducks deciding if baker could refuse to make LGBTQ-themed cake

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs and vetoes LGBTQ+ legislation

Florida mom of trans student sues school district, claiming retaliation and violation of rights

Women In The News:

The stats and shoes behind Chepngetich's amazing marathon world record

New Zealand ship didn’t sink because its captain was a woman, the ‘appalled’ defense minister says

American equal pay icon Lilly Ledbetter dies aged 86

Lupita Nyong'o speaks of family ordeal and condemns 'chilling' Kenya crackdown

'My employers locked me in the house and left when the bombings started'

How South Korea's 'real-life mermaids' made Malala want to learn to swim

Marine Le Pen hits back in EU funds misuse trial

Ukrainian journalist, 27, who chronicled Russian occupation dies in prison

Mothers seek justice for minors detained in Venezuelan election aftermath

Male Violence Against Women:

NY prosecutors want to combine Harvey Weinstein’s criminal cases into a single trial

Jury finds ex-member of rock band Mr. Bungle guilty of killing his girlfriend

Dad told police he killed Sara Sharif, court hears

Chris Brown concert shines spotlight on violence against women in South Africa

YouTuber Yung Filly charged with raping woman in Australia

Interpol asks public to help crack murdered women cold cases

Accused men confronted with abuse videos in French mass rape trial

Madeleine McCann suspect cleared of rape charges in separate trial

Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial set for May

OnlyFans user pleads guilty in child pornography case

Arts and Culture:

South Korea's Han Kang wins Nobel Literature Prize

Art becomes outrage: Kolkata festival confronts crime against female doctor

K-pop star to testify on music industry bullying

Muni Long believes ‘Revenge’ is a dish best served with success

Riley Keough felt a duty to finish Lisa Marie Presley’s book on Elvis, grief, addiction and love

Music Review: Charli XCX’s ‘Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat’ remixes, ranked

Music Review: ‘Sex Education’ star Dua Saleh’s debut, ‘I Should Call Them’ is arty, experimental pop

Rekha at 70: Bollywood's timeless icon

Tributes paid to author's 'empathy and respect'

Experience artist Es Devlin's powerful new work

Disclaimer review: Cate Blanchett gives an 'increasingly frenzied' performance in this 'engrossing' revenge thriller

'I was told Mr Loverman was too niche for TV'

As always, this is global and domestic news from a US perspective covering feminist issues and women in the news more generally. As of right now, I do not cover Women’s Sports. Published each Monday afternoon.

[sirowsky-stories]

The Flowers Always Know

Chapter 8 - The Job

Description: Learning what Anita had planned for you wasn't at all helping your fragile state of mind. Marcus was, though.

**Beware! Author chooses NOT to display warnings on the individual chapters of this story. Read at your own risk!**

Rating: Mature 18+ONLY Word Count: 3490 (1691 words added) Masterlist (this story)

   Well, if you did have any expectations about what the job might be, you couldn’t have been more wrong.    Anita had left you alone in what would be your very own office, to think about whether or not you wanted to sign up for it, and honestly, you’d never been more nervous.    You’d been pacing around the relatively large space for a good hour, muttering to yourself and twisting your own thoughts into a veritable hornets-nest, until you didn’t even know what you were thinking about anymore.

   What parallel to this situation could have possibly brought your mind to fucking shoelaces? And exactly how much of the past hour had you spent comparing the advantages and disadvantages between round and flat ones?    A knock on the door woke you from your attempt at unravelling the nest, and you were physically relieved to find Marcus on the other side when you opened it.

   Once it had become clear to you that this anxiousness you were experiencing was only going to escalate no matter how many breathing exercises you tried, you’d decided to text him. Sending him just your location and a plea for him to hurry.    If you’d even attempted a phone call, you would likely only have ended up screaming incoherently at him, or possibly just sobbed like a child. Both options were feeling increasingly likely to happen either way, if you were honest.

   He noted your frantic expression when he stepped inside, but he didn’t comment on it, possibly for fear of setting off a bomb of emotions, which was admittedly not at all a ridiculous notion.    You wanted to thank him for arriving within a few minutes of receiving your message, but like him, you also feared that if you opened your mouth, the bomb would go off.    He attempted a humorous approach instead, which unfortunately didn’t work either.

   “Sooo… the job involves your own office, hm? Colour me intrigued,” he hummed, taking a little turn around the room with his hands clasped behind his back.

   You wanted to answer him with something coherent, something explanatory, but the moment you opened your mouth and sucked in a breath, panic was all that came out.

   “Marcus, I am freaking out!!” you all but shrieked, unable to control yourself at all, alternating between tugging at your blouse and nervously rubbing your sweaty palms down the sides of your jeans to try and dry them.

   “Whoa, hey… Easy, hermosa. What’s going on?” he beckoned, sounding honey smooth, but it wasn’t nearly enough to ease your racing thoughts down the slightest.

   You returned to pacing, still frantically trying to make your hands do something, as if it could somehow release a bit of the tension from your frame. But you must’ve looked absolutely crazy.

   “She wants me… Me… to be in charge of the ENTIRE Creative Division!” you spewed, not even looking at him to gauge his reaction, because you were too busy trying not to asphyxiate yourself through hyperventilation. “Which would mean I’d be in charge of everything from approving or even developing new action-figures, toys and games, to overseeing the school material for superpowered children.    It would mean being responsible for several smaller departments, handling budgets and lawyers and-… Oh my god… he press!?”

   You could feel your pulse skyrocketing and suddenly you really were struggling to breathe.

   “I… I can’t do this… Marcus, I can’t! It’s too much, too big… I’d never be able to handle it,” you panted, no longer pacing but twisting and turning on the spot, clawing at your collar even though it was already loose.

   But then a flare of anger found its way to the forefront of your emotional turmoil, and you were immediately spurred back into motion, gesticulating even wilder now.

   “And she knows it too! I swear she’s doing this just to fuck with me… What other reason could she possibly have, to offer someone completely inexperienced and untested such an advanced position?    You’re right, she is horrid!”

   Somewhere in the back of your head a small warning light was going off, yelling something about how you weren’t sure if certain offices in this building might be bugged, and if so, by the very same person you were cussing out right now.    But you couldn’t see that little blinking light behind all the blaring neon signs made up of your anger and fear.

   “Okay, please just stop moving for a second,” Marcus implored, and you wanted to, but your body felt like it was boiling and freezing at the same time.

   You felt like you were a freight-train, needing several kilometres of stopping-distance once you’d reached top speed. And you had no idea how to even operate the brakes.    Marcus had to grab your shoulders and physically stop you, and you still kept trying to tread on the spot.

   “Look at me, querida,” he beckoned, and while your eyes were darting all over the place, at his urging you managed to force them to stop on his beautiful face, and it made it slightly easier to breathe. “You survived the impossible. You did that.    Sure, there were doctors and nurses helping you fight, but all they did was keep your heart beating. The rest was all you.    You are the strongest and bravest person I know, and I truly believe that there is nothing you can’t do.”

   “But… I had you to lean on,” you protested, not really because you thought he was wrong, but simply because you were overwhelmed, and you wanted someone to tell you what to do so you wouldn’t have to think on your own anymore.

   “Well, I’m not going anywhere,” he countered with a nonchalant twitch in his shoulders. “And what in the world makes you think you’d have to do this alone?    Besides me, there are literally hundreds of people in this building that wouldn’t hesitate to help you if you asked. It’s kind of what we do here, remember?”

   You sighed and bowed your head a bit, feeling defeated by the fact that he wasn’t taking over your burdens and letting you escape from taking responsibility for yourself. Even though you knew he was absolutely right in just being supportive and encouraging.

   “Not two hours ago, I stood in your office telling you that I didn’t want to be a manager, and now that’s exactly what she’s asking me to be,” you lamented, the lack of movement forcing your body to settle down and the adrenaline to ebb out, leaving only deeply rooted fears and angst behind. “Every inch of me is telling me to just run out of here, and not even consider it, because this is not who I am.    I’m not a career-woman, I’m not ambitious like that. I don’t want fame or more money, I just wanna go to work every day and know that it makes me happy.”

   You looked into his eyes again, searching for some kind of positivity or at least softness, to shield your fragile nerves from the harshness of reality and responsibility. But instead, you were met by an uneasy sadness, the origin of which you couldn’t understand.    That is, until he spoke.

   “If that’s how you feel, then… why are you still here?” he asked, and he sounded so frail suddenly, as if one word from you could send him shattering into a thousand pieces.

   He’d always seemed so solid to you. So steadfast and reliable. And now he was crumbling, because of something that was happening to you.    For the first time since you found out what the job was, your body stopped trying to crawl out of its own skin, and you felt your shoulders slump with failure and shame as you realized what your words must sound like from his perspective.

   “Because of you, Marcus,” you hurried to explain, needing him to know just how important he’d already become to you. “Because the idea of coming to work every day and see you, talk to you, be a real part of your life, in any capacity, makes me absolutely light-headed with joy.”

   Damned it, why were your eyes watering? You needed to see his face clearly to know how he was reacting to this, and whether you should back off or press on.    But your heart was open and its contents already pouring out, so in truth, there was no stopping it regardless.

   “Even though I’m terrified of this job and all the repercussions it could have, there’s also a giant and treacherously fearless part of me which keeps telling me that none of it matters if I can just see you.”

   It ended up being a bigger statement than you’d intended, and now you were suddenly terrified you’d said too much.    You studied his face carefully as he stared back at you, but he looked… indecipherable. There was no way to tell if what you saw in his face was joy or sadness, or maybe incredulity. It could be all of the above.

   But whatever it was, you only saw it for maybe two seconds. After that, he was abruptly too close for you to make out anything other than the sensation of his lips on yours, instantly making you forget about everything else.    This time, his kiss wasn’t tender or soft, but demanding. Craving. As if something had unlocked within him and was trying to suck you in and lock you up so you could never leave him. Even his physical reaction seemed to confirm it, holding you so tightly to him you couldn’t have escaped his grip if you’d tried.

   Like before, your body reacted without your permission, or giving any advance warning, heating and quivering with the pleasure of feeling him pressing his entire body against yours.    You felt your hands find their way to his waist and immediately pulled his shirt out of his suit pants to go exploring on the warm skin of his torso, which he seemed to like immensely. Feeling your hot skin against his drew a deep growl from him, sending tendrils of excitement through your blood.

   He let his own hands slip underneath your shirt, but since he was clearly reluctant to allow any space between you, he settled for just stroking and caressing the taut skin of your back and occasionally squeezing the softer curves of your love-handles.    It wasn’t until your knees were actually starting to cave in from the oxygen-depravation caused by your uncontrollable panting, that he finally pulled away. His own breathing was equally laboured, and you were mildly smug about that.    At least you weren’t the only one losing control.

   “Damn… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to push,” he apologized as soon as he could speak, which threw you for a moment.

   But then you realized he was referring to your earlier reaction and how much it had scared you, and you could see how it would worry him.    This time had felt different, though. Maybe because it hadn’t been you who’d instigated this one. Or maybe just because you’d gotten over the shock of the first time now, so it felt less overpowering.    Whatever the reason, you were only happy in that moment.

   “I would say this felt more like being pulled…” you winked, shifting your arms up to wrap around his neck. “But either way, I enjoyed it. A lot, in case it wasn’t obvious.”

   “It did seem like it,” he chuckled, before turning serious again. “I just wanna be clear about the fact that I’m seriously not in any hurry. Yes, I obviously like you and I want to explore this further, but only on equal terms.    And as far as the job’s concerned, I don’t care if you take it, I’ll make sure you get to see me every day anyway, if that’s what you want.”

   You pulled back just a fraction, so you could look into his eyes without having to cross yours, and you were pleased to feel his grip around your waist unchanged even as you leaned your shoulders back.

   “I didn’t dare to believe you might be into me like this,” you admitted. “I told myself it was just about the recovery, and you were simply being the kind and helpful person you are. That you’d probably do the same for anyone who needed you.    Because why the hell would superhuman Team Leader Marcus fucking Moreno ever look twice at little old me, if not for the supervillain crossing my path.”

   “No, hermosa,” he immediately rejected your perspective. “It was never just about trying to set things right for you.”

   “I know. Somewhere in my heart, I always knew it was more than that. It’s just that I’m used to being passed over, or not even being noticed, and then you come into my life with this incredible intensity and emotional availability, and I couldn’t believe it was all for me.    To be honest, part of me still doesn’t.”

   “Yeah, I remember,” he surprised you by saying, and when you raised a questioning brow at him, he elaborated. “Do you still feel like our care of you was exaggerated?”

   You ducked your head then, not wanting to answer, which was of course also an answer.

   “Mm-hm, that’s what I thought,” he sighed. “Tell me what it’s gonna take for you to believe me when I say you’re worth every effort? Not because you’re special or more important than anyone else, but simply because you exist.”

   “I don’t know,” you admitted, raising your head enough that he could see your face, although not meeting his eyes yet. “I’m just such a mess right now. So much has happened in such a short time, and it still keeps on going. Like I’m on a treadmill and someone keeps increasing the speed, waiting for me to fall so they can laugh at me.    And maybe I’m dead wrong about everything, but I have never been cared for by anyone. I’ve always had to take care of myself and I’m proud of the fact that I always have.”

   “Yeah, I kinda guessed as much. And you should be,” Marcus softly commented when you paused to breathe, and this time, you did look up and meet his eyes.

   “I really don’t know if I can do this. But I think the reason it scares me so much is that a part of me really wants to try, you know? While another part of me is so sure I’ll fail that it just makes me wanna forget about the whole thing.    And then in the middle of all that, there’s you, and everything I feel about you, mucking it all up and making it impossible for me to know if I want the job because of you or because of the challenge.”

   “Hm. That’s a lot going on in just one little head,” he agreed with a mildly concerned crease between his brows, but he wasn’t trying to be funny.

   “Too fucking much…” you nodded, and then tried to bring a little humour into it yourself, just to take an ounce of weight out of the conversation. “Regardless of the size of the head.”

   It did work, making him smile again, but he was still concerned for you.

   “Ay, querida. Tell me what you need from me to help you make this decision?”

   You looked down on your own hands, which had settled on his chest at some point, and you fiddled with the buttons on his shirt while you tried to think.    What did you need?

   However, Mrs. Moreno had apparently decided to be the one to help you with that, as she, yet again, barged into the room unannounced, with that uncanny timing of hers.    Giving no indication she was even surprised to see her son’s arms around you, or your ruffled clothes, she simply stepped around the two of you, calmly looking at the desk and the chairs as though she was surveying the place.

   This seemed to you to be extremely odd behaviour, but Marcus looked only annoyed, so he clearly knew exactly what she was up to. He didn’t even bother loosening his hold on you, and just patiently waited for his mother to explain herself, as if they were engaged in a match of who could stay quiet the longest.    It took a while, and you wondered if you should interject, but something told you to just stay out of it.

   “Well?” she finally caved, after like five minutes of aimlessly trudging about.

   But it wasn’t her son she was addressing. She turned to look at you as she uttered the single syllable, and all at once, you knew exactly what she was referring to.

   “Am I wasting my time on you, or not? Because I told you; I don’t have time for intermissions,” she bluntly stated, letting her cane come to rest between her feet while she placed both hands over the head of it.

   Marcus’ arms tightened around you, as though he was trying to protect you from having to answer. But you did.    She could’ve offered you more time to think about it, but it wouldn’t have made the decision any easier to make. And you were fairly certain she knew this, which might mean she was actually trying to help you. Although it seemed unlikely.    You pushed away from her son, who reluctantly let go of you, and turned to face her.

   “Okay. I’ll take the job, but I’m not making you any kind of promises.    You know my resumé, which means you know damned well I’ll most likely fail, which for all I know, might be exactly what you’re hoping for.    But whatever angle you’re working, you better believe me when I tell you that this is not a game. You might be enjoying this, but it’s my reputation and credibility which gets ruined if I can’t cut it, so stop treating me like some stray dog you took home to try and domesticate.    I’m not your god damned pet.”

   You didn’t say it loudly, or angrily, just potently. And she smiled in return, which actually managed to make you feel better, somehow. Like you’d been officially initiated into the Kingdom of Mamá Moreno.    Now you just had to prove your worth. Which… shouldn’t be that difficult, right?    She swung her cane to the side and started walking, and it looked like she would leave without any further comment.

   “You’re welcome, hijo,” she smugly grinned at her son just as she passed him on her way out of the room.

   “For what?!” Marcus almost barked at her. “Stressing her so badly you nearly gave her a fucking heart-attack?”

   “No, mi amor. For showing you her heart,” Anita countered, impressively calmly, but her son apparently didn’t buy a word of it.

   “How would you know anything about her heart? You haven’t spared a thought to her or given her the light of day in four months,” he challenged, but she just left, looking for all the world like nothing at all significant had happened.

   Meanwhile, your nerves went straight back to fraying, and while Marcus was still shaking his head and staring after his mother in disbelief as the door closed behind her, your pulse had already hit the roof again, and you were literally seeing stars.    Your knees actually did finally give out, and you slowly drooped to the floor, panting, but with no amount of pleasure this time.

   It was a slow and silent kind of panic now. Something building from deep within you, freezing more than it burned, turning you abnormally still as it locked your body up, piece by piece.    Your breathing was the only thing giving away what was happening, and once he heard it, he forgot all about his mother and hurried towards you.

   “Sweetheart, what is it?” he asked as he crouched beside you.

   You wanted to answer him, but your jaw was locked up with the rest of you, so you closed your eyes and tried to think about happy places and peaceful moments, and it gradually brought some warmth back into your blood.    He seemed to understand you needed a minute and used his hands to rub soothing circles on your back and shoulders while he waited, and then just held you until you started being able to move again.

   “…Creative Department Manager,” you whispered, tasting the words for the first time, and they were just as daunting as you’d expected them to be. “Fuck me,” you added, just trying to release some tension from your brain.

   But from the corner of your eye, you could see him trying to resist smiling at your words, clearly relaxed now that he knew you weren’t going to need to visit the med-section.

   “Quite happily, hermosa,” he grinned, just barely able to keep from giggling. “But maybe not on the floor of your new office, on your first day.”

[antifreelancer]

Atlas' Salmon Run Tips!

- Learn how to Squid Roll. It's so important in the midst of battle, especially at higher ranks. It will give you a shield as you roll, so Salmonids can't hit you! It will also refill your ink tank faster, both in Salmon Run and Turf/Ranked.

[ OOC note: If you've forgotten how, press B at the same time as pulling your joystick in the opposite direction of where you were going before to Squid Roll. Hold B on an inked wall to Squid Surge upwards. This also gives you armor! ]

- Know your weapon. You need to learn what each weapon can do in terms of Salmon Run to make the best use of it. For example, the Explosher's shots can act as bombs, and can take down Flyfish baskets. However, it can't take down Maws.

I will be happy to answer any questions about any weapon! Just shoot me an ask, and I'll help!

- Use your bombs. Spit them out wherever you can. Instead of jumping into a horde, throw a bomb in. They'll do all the work for you. Toss them along the ground for a Maws instead of throwing them, it makes them go less far.

[ OOC note: Aim down! Make your bomb skitter along the ground instead of tossing it, sort of like a curling bomb! You can get them exactly where you want them this way. ]

- Keep your turf! It's essential to have good space to work in, so keep the ground inked. Otherwise, you're bound to get overwhelmed really quickly.

- [ OOC tip: Don't use Y to reposition your camera backwards. Use motion controls, and if you can't, turn up your stick sensitivity. Using Y will only disorient you. This will take some practice! Trust me! Be patient :) ]

- Please listen to your teammates. If they're shouting This Way at you repeatedly, it's probably for a reason. Also, be nice and Booyah back, why don'tcha?

- Don't get cocky if you have a Grizzco weapon. They do make it easier, but you're still fighting for your life out there.

The Splatana can take down unprepared Steelheads, Drizzlers, and front-facing Scrappers with its charged swipe. However: it's very slow, so make sure you have room to charge safely before you try! And try not to charge into the water.

The Slosher is the same as the Splatana, but you can do all that from the back lines. Also, it can take down Flyfish with a shot to the center!

The Dualies have very little range. Always remember that. They are very good at lesser clearing, but keep an eye on your ink and your location in respect to the water. Too many people dodge roll right into the water.

The Blaster is simple: point and shoot. This is one of the only Grizzco weapons that doesn't particularly have a strategy, and is fairly well balanced. It can't do anything special, but it is a heavy DPS weapon.

The Stringer is a backliner. It can take down Steelhead bombs with one shot, and the explosives are fairly decent at lesser clearage. It's also very good for Cohozuna. I'll admit, this isn't my area of expertise, so I can't tell you much more than that 😅

The Charger is really, really good for Horrorboros. That's about the only time I recommend spamming it, despite its quick charge speed. It has terrible ink consumption, and it's best to use it like any other charger in most cases. Great for Mothership, though!

The Brella is an inker. Keep the area clear for your teammates at all times! Keeping turf is one of the most important things in Salmon Run. Don't go head on into a mob of Chum like the Blaster, you won't make it.

The Roller is a car. Run them over. (Don't try and roll over Scrappers, though. That'll just bounce you back.) Don't flick unless absolutely necessary. If you must, a single vertical flick can take down a charging Steelhead, but you have to start your flick before it starts charging or you'll miss your chance.

- Most of all, have patience. I know I'm not one to talk on this, but if you get frustrated, clock out! You won't do good work if you're worried about your rank constantly or you're getting really angry at the freelancers.

[ OOC note: Take breaks! Don't get yourself super stressed over this game, okay? You can always put it down and come back later. It's a game, make sure you're having fun! ]

This isn't everything I could say, but it's a good start, I think. Once again, if you have any questions, let me know! I'll answer as best as I can. Atlas out!

[systemrestart]

Took me a while, but I've finally finished writing my thoughts on all 22 Touhou games I've played!!!

I tried to keep it brief but uhhhhhhh it ended up being insanely long anyways ;; Whoops. Maybe someday I'll be able to make full-on video reviews for each of them, there was a Lot I glazed over and a lot that's hard to describe without footage.

But regardless, here it is, my thoughts on Touhou 1-19, plus 9.5, 12.5, and 18.5! (Warning that this may be incomprehensible to a non-bullet hell player 😅)

[TOUHOU 1: HIGHLY RESPONSIVE TO PRAYERS]

The obvious black sheep of the family, HRtP isn't a bullet hell shooter, it's an arkanoid-style breakout game. But even so, I LOVE it. HRtP is very precious to me. It's definitely Hard, VERY hard, and the stage layouts can be a little unfair in places lol, but the controls are tight and responsive, and it's incredibly satisfying to improve.

Or even just to play purely for fun! For a decade, I honestly didn't expect to ever 1cc it, I just enjoyed playing casually, and HRtP is very friendly to that approach, with infinite continues, the ability to max out your starting lives, and a shorter time to complete than the other games. It's almost 30 years old now, but if you like breakout style games or old arcade, I still think it's worth a try! Maybe someone else out there will come to love it as much as I do

[TOUHOU 2: STORY OF EASTERN WONDERLAND]

Touhou's first proper shmup/bullet hell, and it is unquestionably the roughest in the series ;; That's not to say it's bad, just that it's aged a little poorly.

I try not to hold future QoL stuff against the older games, but man, not having a focus option, or health bars for the bosses, is Painful. This game also has some of the worst visibility issues in the series (like, bullets being the same color as the background, with no outline), and also an awful glitch that hurts gameplay (dying SHIFTS YOUR HITBOX. considering that knowing where your hitbox is is VITAL to survival……. yikes), so yeah, I understand why it's not fondly remembered.

But it has its charms!! There's the infamous (gay) conversation in Stage 2, this is the only game in which Genji (Reimu's pet turtle who helps her fly in the PC-98 games) speaks, I think the low cap on lives+easy score 1-ups is an interesting combo, AND this game introduced Marisa!!! Even if her design is very different now

I don't play this one much. If I were to rank all the games this one would probably be second lowest. But it's an okay time and you can still get some tense battles!!

[TOUHOU 3: PHANTASMAGORIA OF DIMENSIONAL DREAM]

The first VS shooter of the series!

Basically the idea is that you clear waves of enemies to both send bullets/attacks at your enemy, and charge your gauge to send even more powerful attacks, or even a boss. First to lose all their health loses the round.

The VS shooters are very chaotic, and the enemy AI can absolutely be unfair ;; But the high energy back-and-forth of a match is extremely thrilling!! I also really adore the final boss of this game, Yumemi Okazaki……. a human college professor from the real world, who came to Gensokyo to try and capture someone to prove magic is real to her school…… and she fights with, science? I find her super charming and fun, one of my favorite final boss characters

Now that I've played other VS shooters, including the game that apparently inspired this one, I can say that PoDD is very rudimentary. But sometimes you don't need a lot of fancy bells and whistles to have fun! Now if only it didn't require button mashing, I would play it more often……..

[TOUHOU 4: LOTUS LAND STORY]

LLS was my favorite Touhou game for a long, long, long time.

A big reason it was a favorite is because it's one of the most beginner friendly games by far. No cap on lives (plus 1-ups are granted by score, one of the easier systems), a free bomb after every stage, you can increase your starting lives significantly, there's a "slowmode" option to help you train, most of the patterns are either exploitable or designed around having no visible hitbox…… etc. It was first game I beat on Hard, way back when I was a teenager and could normally only play Easy mode. That's still a precious memory.

LLS also has one of the best overall soundtracks in the entire series. The fun, dream-like Lotus Love, into the tense and foreboding Sleeping Terror, into the calm anticipation of Dream Land, into an explosive heartpounding finale with Faint Dream ~ Inanimate Dream………. absolutely killer.

LLS has aged a little, it doesn't have much of the "flashy", colorful danmaku Touhou is known for. And despite being GENERALLY pretty easy there are a couple insanely difficult patterns that aren't balanced well. Aside from that, it's a little Too easy for me now (at least on Hard and below), but, I still play it regularly just for fun, and will always have a very special place in my heart for it.

(plus, side note, LLS was the introduction of the Stage 4 gimmick, where something is unique about the 4th Stage, boss, or both. I love Stage 4 gimmicks and miss them dearly in the newer games,,)

[TOUHOU 5: MYSTIC SQUARE]

God I love MS. I love MS so much. Probably my second favorite in the series at time of writing.

MS truly is the Greatest Hits of the PC-98 era. Mima and Yuuka come back as playable characters, the danmaku patterns are fun and unique (so much so that ZUN reused a few of them in future games!!!), it has most of the QoL features LLS had besides the free bombs, it introduced one of my favorite characters (Alice), and this is one of the few games where I actually find the faster characters easier/more fun to play as!! Both due to the bullet patterns themselves and because the 1-up system (point item collection) is especially suited for fast characters.

MS is much harder than LLS, but a lot easier than some of the later Touhou games, so it's a great middle ground in terms of difficulty. I only have 2 major critisicms; 1) while the 1-up system and patterns make fast characters more rewarding, there isn't good balance for the other options, so if you wanna play Yuuka you're kind of screwed. And 2) Stage 4. I actually love the Stage 4 gimmick (dual boss that's followed by a solo fight after you take one of them down), but Lord. Stage 4 has two awful glitches that can happen to you, and bullets that are the exact same color as the background. ZUN why

Besides that though, I think MS just naturally caters to my preferred playstyle (chaotically weaving and dancing through bullet spam), so it's a top tier entry for me :)

[TOUHOU 6: EMBODIMENT OF SCARLET DEVIL]

If MS isn't my 2nd favorite in the series, this one is.

I will say this. EoSD has Aged. Imo, it's aged more than MS has. Being ZUN's first Windows game it's a little rough around the edges; muddy graphics, rough soundfonts, heavier reliance on RNG and bullet spam over intricate patterns, and it's missing certain QoL features that it Feels like it should have (like, the PC-98 games were missing stuff, but those games felt like they were built around the limitations, EoSD has a lot of areas where it FEELS like it was designed with future QoL in mind, but it's just….. missing). It also sucks that EoSD is one of only 2 games that locks you out of the final stage if you play on Easy (LLS is the other one),,

But. EoSD is still beloved for a reason. One of the most solid soundtracks in the series, a fun Stage 4 gimmick (different spellcards for different shot types), score-based 1-up system, the introduction of the Point of Collection line, some Iconic boss battles, etc. AND, one of those weaknesses is actually kind of a Strength for me, because again, my preferred play style is well suited to bullet spam!! Stages 5 and 6 are SO fun for me, even though they're commonly cited as things people DISLIKE about EoSD.

EoSD is definitely unpolished, but it's still one of my top favorites, both for its general strengths and for how it caters well to me personally lol.

[TOUHOU 7: PERFECT CHERRY BLOSSOM]

PCB is my current favorite!!

Of all Touhou games, I feel PCB strikes a perfect balance between being accessible, but also still having challenges for those that want it. The patterns are really a step up from EoSD; with the introduction of a visible hitbox, ZUN could make them both more dense and more complex/unique, but they're designed to still be easily understandable. Other QoL features were added that also help a lot (like the enemy tracker, spellcard indicators on the healthbar, success/fail counters, you can save practice mode replays, etc). There's also good variety in the playable characters, each has their own advantages and disadvantages, and one of the best shot types in the entire series is here (SakuyaA lol).

I feel like just saying that doesn't express my love though, there's truly nothing like weaving through a dense maze of beautiful bullets, and PCB is one of THE best for that feeling. I also love this game's 'special feature'; the cherry borders. Not only are they fantastic for survival and training (the border acting as a shield allows you to try new things and take risks where you otherwise wouldn't/couldn't), you can also utilize them in various way; break them on purpose at optimal points to maximize score, keep them as long as possible to milk graze points, use them to clear difficult patterns and stage sections……. it's just a great system that adds depth without overwhelming the player!!

And of course, I must mention something unique to this game; the Phantasm stage! PCB is the only game that has this. It's basically just a 'hard mode' version of the Extra stage, but, the patterns are both exciting to face and gorgeous to look at, the boss herself is genuinely Iconic, and her theme may be even more so.

PCB is pretty much the full package, and is also my recommendation to new players starting out, 100%.

[TOUHOU 8: IMPERISHABLE NIGHT]

This is the last of Touhou's "holy trio", so to speak, alongside EoSD and PCB. There's not much I can point to that's "wrong" with it, or "worse" than the other two, but idk, I don't feel as positively towards IN. I do still really enjoy it though!

There's a lot of great things about IN; the introduction of Spell Practice, there's two different final stages/bosses, the really cool concept for the playable characters/shot-types (character fight in teams, and once you beat both Finals with all teams you can play as each character individually, for a total of 12(!!!) shot-types), the Stage 4 gimmick is a callback to LLS (you fight Reimu or Marisa depending on your character!!), and of course there's some great bullet patterns in there (Keine and Marisa are standouts to me).

There's a LOT of content, more than most Touhou games, which is great!! But there's definitely some aspects that don't feel well polished, which brings it down a bit. The 'special feature' of this game, the Youkai gauge, is not only insanely confusing and complicated, and it's also not fun OR worthwhile to engage with,,, Maybe if I was a hardcore scorer I'd find some value in it, but…… eh. At least it's not obtrusive or anything. Then there's the solo shot-types….. while it's cool they're there, I don't know if ZUN playtested the solo Humans ;; They are very clearly not designed with solo play in mind and if you like to clear ALL shot-types like I do, this can make it an arduous experience to get through all 12

I think it's mostly these things, plus me feeling kind of neutral on the soundtrack and cast, that make IN not stand out, despite all the content. Still a great game, I play it a lot, just not as often as some other entries.

[TOUHOU 9: PHANTASMAGORIA OF FLOWER VIEW]

The 2nd VS shooter in the series!

Mostly the same exciting, chaotic gameplay as the first one PoDD, though with a few key difference. You can now use Focus, which also ties into a new mechanic, the 'scope', which allows you to freeze falling spirits (helps with setting up combos and crowd control) when they touch it. And, using your spell/special attack gauge causes a 'wave' to ripple out and clear bullets around you. I think overall these are excellent addition and that add fun strategy to gameplay.

However, I'm not great at keeping track of combos or purposefully placing spirits during the constant barrage of bullets,,, And some of the character's scopes are……. not fun to utilize. There's also the same problem I had with PoDD, how rapidly pressing the shoot button hurts my hand over time, and while PoFV actually has an alternate control scheme, that alternative FORCES you into focus mode as you shoot. I want to be able to not think super hard about when and where I shoot, so I can focus on dodging, but this just makes the problem Worse because it hampers my movement ;;

I do like the bullet clearing wave though! Plus, this game introduced one of my favorite characters, Aya, AND brought back Yuuka from the PC-98 era!! It's not a bad game and I've had fun with it. I'm just not crazy about the Touhou VS shooters overall. If I wanna play a VS shooter I'd rather pick something like Twinkle Star Sprites.

[TOUHOU 9.5: SHOOT THE BULLET]

This is the first of the 'photo' games, and I have a soft spot for this one. It can be extremely rewarding to clear a difficult scene, and the whole photography thing is a SUPER interesting take on bullet hell. The one thing that sucks is that there's little incentive to go back to scenes once you've managed to clear them. But I guess that's not the point, it's to slowly conquer the challenges each level throws at you and clear as many as you can.

Very solid game, something you can chip away at over time, if you like bullet hell and like interesting challenges give it a try!!

[TOUHOU 10: MOUTAIN OF FAITH]

MoF is the start of a new era. It's pretty stripped back in terms of gameplay because ZUN wanted to focus on making a basic, polished shmup, and he certainly achieved that. The new engine feel smooth as butter, the graphics and sound are crisp, and the bullet patterns and stages are solid. Some of the core gameplay mechanics have been changed though, and it's a little mixed.

For instance, the bombs have been changed in 2 key ways; there are no longer unique bombs for each shot-type, and using a bomb costs you some of your Power instead of an item. Not having unique bombs takes away an element in picking your shot-type, but I don't mind the bomb itself since it's both effective and powerful. Losing Power can be frustrating, and you can end up in a horrible loop if you lose too much at once, but, MOST of the time I find MoF is very generous with Power, and that combined with not being restricted to bomb items can actually be a really sweet deal.

Most of the other changes are similarly mixed, but ultimately I think they work well together! There's only 1 thing I have major critism of, and that's the removal of practice and accessibility features. There's no more extra starting lives from here on out, which I understand, but it does make me sad, as extra lives allows new players to see more of the game (and allows old players to relax on just-for-fun runs). He also removed Spell Practice, which sucks :( But, by far the most egregious change, is that using a continue starts you over from the beginning of a stage….. and just seeing a stage is NOT enough to unlock it in Practice Mode. This is a HUGE hit to the game's accessibility for new or unskilled players, not even allowing them to practice the stage they're stuck on, or prepare for anything beyond it. If you die on a stage so much you have to continue, what the hell made ZUN think starting the whole stage over with almost no lives would help??

Thankfully, I don't need that accessibility much anymore, and there IS a fanmade practice patch out there. MoF is definitely among my top favorite games of the series, it's just a great basic shmup and great start to the new era. Also shoutout to my favorite final boss theme, Venerable Ancient Battlefield ~ Suwa Foughten Field. Loved it so much as a kid that I would mod it into other games LMAO

[TOUHOU 11: SUBTERRANEAN ANIMISM]

SA is considered the 2nd hardest game in the series, and there is good reason for that. Beyond the patterns and stages just generally being pretty difficult, the lives, bombs, and continues system are very punishing in this entry.

The continue system is exactly the same as MoF, which is to say, brutal and unforgiving. Bombs are also tied to power like in MoF, but unlike MoF, Power only goes up to 4.00 instead of 5.00 (with MarisaA as an exception) meaning less bombs overall and leading to the same issues there were in MoF. And, you don't earn full lives, you need 5 life pieces to gain a full extra life, and the one and ONLY way to earn life pieces? Is through clearing boss attacks without bombing or getting hit. There is not even a SINGLE free live in the entire game, you must earn every single one with flawless performance.

This leads to a scenrio where, high skilled players are rewarded with lives they don't need, and less experienced players are basically walled from even practicing. All this, combined with two other factors (some of the weirdest/most difficult to utilize shot-types in the series, and the fact that the actual bombs either suck ass or are also difficult to utilize well), makes SA one of the most "unfriendly" games in all of Touhou project. If not THE most unfriendly.

I have a lot of criticisms of this, and even now I can't say I feel "comfortable" playing through SA. But, (most of) the unique shot-types CAN be rewarding, once you learn how to wield them, and this game has some of the most exciting and challenging bosses. So many fun spellcards……… Satori and Okuu are standouts. Satori's gimmick is also really cool, where her spellcards change based off your shot-type, nearly all of them being alternate version of past spellcards in the series. And of course, this game's cast is absolutely iconic, pairing well with one of the best overall soundtracks in the entire series.

SA is one of those games where I have a lot of fun with it and think it's stellar in terms of music, cast, and bullet patterns, but certain systems and mechanics prevent me from recommending it whole-heartedly to others. There's just a lot of frustrations with it. But it's still fairly high up in my rankings, and there's some value to having a game focused on Skill and skill alone, rather than other gimmicks or resources management or whatnot.

[TOUHOU 12: UNDEFINED FANTASTIC OBJECT]

UFO was the first Touhou game I got to see the release for. It's one of my happiest memories, so my feelings towards UFO may be very biased. Just a warning lol

UFO's "gimmick", the UFOs, is how you engage with basically any other system in the game; you MUST engage with the UFOs if you're going for anything other than a NMNB clear. And ho boy is the UFO system contentious. Not without reason, either. Mid-Bosses and Bosses destroy summoned UFOs which is frustrating, it's super easy to make a mistake with gathering the small UFOs and ruin your combo, if there's small UFOs you don't want on screen they basically act as bouncing projectiles you need to dodge ON TOP of the actual bullets……. etc.

However, while I share a few of those frustrations (damn UFO destroying bosses…..), I find the UFO system to lead to a good combination of routing and room for improvisation. You can memorize when and where certain colored UFOs will drop and plan ahead for them, and if you miss what you need or make a mistake you can still think on the fly and re-route mid playthrough. It's also fun that you can specialize your routing and gameplay towards a specific goal, like stocking tons of bombs to skip difficult stage sections/spellcards, or optimzing for score, or stockpiling lives.

The overall difficulty of the stages and patterns is decently high in UFO (this game is often ranked 3rd hardest in the series), but it can be somewhat mitigated with good planning and resource management. And I personally find a lot of these stages and bosses a Blast to play! Helped again by, of course, having one of the best overall sountracks in the series…. imo at least. The UFO cast is also my personal favorite, AND they get some of ZUN's cutest sprites/artwork :)

The only other real criticism I have is that it shares it's Continue system with MoF and SA. Thank god this is the last game that forces you backwards for continuing ;;;;

While the UFO system has it's downsides, UFO is just a really fantastic entry into the series and a personal favorite of mine. We'll see how I feel once I start tackling the higher difficulties seriously though…… lol.

[TOUHOU 12.5: DOUBLE SPOILER]

Basically the sequel to Shoot the Bullet. There is very little difference, just a new set of characters and cards to face. I personally find this one a LOT harder than StB, and I don't enjoy it quite as much, but it's still a solid game I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed StB.

(EDIT TO ADD: Sometime after I wrote this part, I found an old blog entry from when I was 13, and apparently ZUN explicitly stated DS was meant to be much harder than StB. So, there ya go?)

[TOUHOU 13: TEN DESIRES]

The key phrase for this game overall, imo, is RESOURCE STRANGLEHOLD.

TD is far and beyond the most punishing game in the series, both in terms of resources and the Spirit Gauge/Trance mechanic. The requirement for the amount of pink spirits you need in order to earn an extra Life is brutal right from the start, at 8, and every time you earn a new life this requirement goes up. This doesn't reset when you die, or even when you CONTINUE. That would be brutal enough, but even with OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE, literally no mistakes and perfect utilization of Trance, you earn less lives in this game than in any other. Speaking of pulling of a perfect performance, good fucking luck, because the spirits you need to gather stay right where you killed the enemy, disappearing Quickly, so you have to either have your Trance meter full and ready, or you need to risk your precious few lives to dash up to the top of the screen, in the middle of an absolute clusterfuck of bullets, just for a FRACTION of an extra life.

And of course, there's the real kicker; getting hit causes your entire Trance meter to be used up, and it takes a quite a bit to refill it, especially because again, spirits Do Not Fall the way items do, you have to seriously risk your life for them.

Basically, TD is a very, VERY routing-heavy game, and if you make even ONE mistake it can cause your entire playthrough to unravel. It's super frustrating. There are only 2 saving graces here….. 1) you at least get to keep any extra bombs you had in stock after you die, and 2) TD has some of the easiest boss fights in Touhou. I actually find the spellcards super fun, so by sort of-kind of routing the stages and doing well against the bosses, I was able to find some joy in TD. But that is obviously in spite of the mechanics, not because of them ;;

I will say, though, that it's interesting to have a game designed to make you "boss graze", ie stay dangerously close to the boss and move around them to catch spirits. Interesting concept and it helps train you on a high-level skill.

TD was my least favorite Touhou game for a long, long time. I've softened on it a bit, fun bullet patterns are fun no matter what, but goddamn. This one's ROUGH. And sadly, the OST is pretty middling for me, though it DOES have a few standouts (Desire Drive, Youkai Shrine Back Road, Small Desire's Starry Night Sky)!!

[TOUHOU 14: DOUBLE DEALING CHARACTER]

Ah. DDC. My nemesis.

I actually don't mind this game's special mechanic; using the point of collection line to earn life and bomb pieces. I actually think it's fun and rewarding, though that could just be because I already go to the PoC line as much as possible anyways lol. No, my problem is not with the mechanic, or the life and bomb pieces. This game commits the most fatal of all sins in bullet hell; the bullet patterns are Not Fun.

So many of the patterns in the this game have 'gimmicky' movements, sometimes bordering on Random, and this is often used in combination with one of my greatest weaknesses, bullets coming at you from both above and below, at the same time. This makes them an absolute nightmare to read. There's also a ton of a bullets that are either oddly shaped with confusing hitboxes, or made huge which also makes their hitboxes confusing. And unfortunately, the stages and bosses that don't suffer from this generally have pretty bland forgettable patterns. I can't think of a single attack in DDC I would describe as "fun", and that's unheard of in the rest of the series.

Worse yet, the shot-types themselves……. half of them are 'gimmicky', kind of like SA shot-types were, but the SA shot-types had special extra mechanics that could be mastered and were rewarding to utilize, if uncomfortable to get used to. These shot-types are just plain Uncomfortable, or are underwhleming ;; MarisaB has a bomb that makes it possible to milk life and bomb pieces like crazy and basically cheese the whole game, but that's not fun either :( I wanna be able to PLAY the game and enjoy it…… but I can't.

And the final nail in the coffin…… DDC also happens to have my least favorite soundtrack and, imo, a very bland and unmemorable cast. I feel so sad saying that because I think there's some unique youkai here, but MOST OF their designs don't stick out/are pretty plain, and they feel very disconnected from Gensokyo at large. Maybe if I saw them in print materials I'd feel different, but as it stands…… :/

I want to say some nice things though, so here's what I've got. Wakasagihime has a great design (it's just…. y'know, she's a Stage 1 boss, so there's not much of her. Super sad considering I desperately wanted a mermaid Youkai). Raiko also has a cool design, AND she has the best theme in the game. Uhh…… the PoC line mechanic giving you an extra life piece instead of a bomb if you collect enough point items is a good feature that rewards smart planning and risk management. The Stage 2 boss has lasers you can avoid by staying completely still which is hilarious.

I…. think that's it. Let me say for the record, I'm open to changing my mind!! I softened on TD as I got better, found things I could enjoy in it despite my issues, so that could happen someday with DDC. It's just right now, nearly everything about DDC bounces me right off it, so it's the only Touhou I genuinely don't enjoy playing,, Hopefully someday that will change……

[TOUHOU 15: LEGACY OF LUNATIC KINGDOM]

LoLK is a bit of an odd ball, for sure. While you can play it like a regular Touhou game (using "Legacy" mode), the main mode of LoLK is "PointDevice", which plays very differently. It's focused on "perfection", and very precise movement and dodging, making you retry to same sections and attacks over and over again til you do them right.

You also earn Life pieces (Legacy) and Bomb pieces (PointDevice) via grazing, which requires you to risk your life getting super close to the bullets. All that, in combination with very dense and overwhleming bullet patterns, makes LoLK the hardest Touhou game by a long shot. Especially in Legacy mode, where you can't just retry over and over.

I honestly don't care for PointDevice much, especially because if there's a section/attack you CANNOT pass no matter how hard you try, and you've already used all your bombs, you're kind of fucked and Have to restart the entire thing ;; But, I still find Legacy mode fun, and as someone who loves to graze when I can, being rewarded for it feels good, AND allows for some really creative and interesting patterns/routing. On the higher difficulties, there's way more bullets to milk for graze, too. On one hand it's a little frustrating that it's HARDER to earn resources on Easy and Normal, but on the other hand you can argue that the extra resources help balance the insane pattern difficulty of Hard and Lunatic.

I'm not good enough to beat LoLK on Normal yet (it's the last one left for me), but I still think it's a pretty solid game overall, and I like to replay certain stages (2, 3, 5, and 6) on Easy just for fun.

[TOUHOU 16: HIDDEN STAR IN FOUR SEASONS]

Wasn't a huge fan of this one at first, but I've warmed up to it! Mostly

While this is not the first game with bullet erasers, it is the first to feature them so prominently, aside from maybe PoFV. It comes in the form of the Release system, which basically allows you to massively power down your shot type in exchange for clearing bullets (how much you power down and how many bullets are erased/for how long depends on your sub weapon choice). I think the way it can be utilized both for survival and for scoring is pretty cool. It can also be really broken if you know exactly where to use them, adding another element to routing and memorization. But it can also be handy during my casual play…… if you remember it exists. lol. I admit that I struggle to use any C key function properly ;; But that's a personal issue

The shot types are definitely interesting in this game. Instead of the standard fare, you pick a character (who always has the same shot) and then pick a "sub weapon" based on one of the other character's shots (or you can pick your own to make it stronger). This results in there being a whopping SIXTEEN COMBINATIONS, each with slightly varying properties. Lord. While I think I prefer having a smaller pool of unique and optimized shot types, this is a neat concept, if a bit overwhelming if you're like me and want to clear EVERY combination ;; But still, it allows you to sort of customize to what you're most comfortable with, or what will help you the most (for example, the Cirno/Summer sub weapon gives you short releases you can use repeatedly, but the weapon itself sucks ass as a tradeoff. So pairing it with a faster/more powerful character balances things a bit!), which is pretty cool.

My major complaints about this game are the 2 difficulty spikes; the Stage 5 bosses, and Okina's final spellcard(s). The Stage 5 bosses use the dreaded "random and erratic" bullet behaviour I hated so much in DDC, though thankfully only for SOME attacks. They're still a big spike compared to the rest of the game, even compared to Okina's fight……. until the end. Okina's final cards are super cool in concept, stripping you of your sub weapon and forcing you to just Dodge Or Die…….. but in practice it is PAINFUL, especially since it's the last obstacle before victory. She even has a bomb shield………. wtf. Brutal. All 4 variants are bad, but the Summer version is by far the worst, in my opinion one of the hardest final spellcards in the entire series.

There's also the extra stage, which is mostly spent dodging stuff coming from behind you (my nightmare), but that's more of a skill issue on my part ;; Overall, while the cast is very disconnected and don't leave a strong impression, the music is pretty damn good, the stages are fun, and the mechanics are interesting, even if they're a bit shakey and abusable. Not a top favorite but I like HSiFS :)

[TOUHOU 17: WILY BEAST AND WEAKEST CREATURE]

This game has a similar special mechanic to UFO, but I think it's a little better implemented here.

There are no "shot types" as it were; your choices are whether to power up your unfocused attacks, your focused attacks, or your bombs. This kinda makes it hard to have a preference, as each attack is better at different points in the game, so it's really up to you what's more important. I kind of like this, even though I still prefer variety, it means I can use other characters more freely.

I also like this version of the 'collect stuff on screen' mechanic, there's more leeway for mistakes (you can still activate "Roaring/Hyper" mode without having a perfect collection of matching spirits) AND the benefits are better (it protects you from hits while active, just like the cherry borders in PCB!! and you get either a massive boost to damage or a bullet eraser)! Like with UFO though, there is risk with chasing the Spirits all over the field, and it can lead to some frustrating deaths and distractions. But that's just part of what you have to manage, I think it's a fun system overall :)

What is Not Fun is an issue that actually started back in TD, but I haven't mentioned it yet, because WBaWC has it the Absolute Worst; VISIBILITY ISSUES. Your own shot, ESPECIALLY in Roaring/Hyper mode, can become so dense and flashy that it is near impossible to read the bullet patterns. Or see the bullets At All. Which is, yknow, a problem in a bullet hell game. On top of that, the whole game is tinted red, and full of red bullets, which is sick as hell on paper, but in practice makes a huge portion of the game become slurry to the eyes. And the Enemy tracker, which had its text removed back in TD, is more a problem in this game than in any other because the color of the tracker matches the color of the window border, so you may as well not even have it.

There's also a major problem in the Stage 5 boss (and in one final boss spellcard), with the stupid statues that are summoned……. I already don't like these kinds of "familiars", they''re always a pain no matter what, but WBaWC takes it to another level, as they soak up so much damage that very few of the shot types can kill them before you get body slammed or completely overwhelmed.

WBaWC is really fun and cool and has some great music and designs, but it feels…… almost like ZUN didn't fully playtest it before release. An issue that is going to persist into the final entries………. but it's still enjoyable overall, at least.

[TOUHOU 18: UNCONNECTED MARKETEERS]

I have a lot of fondness for it, but MAN is this game unbalanced lol

There's the obvious, which is the card system. I think the card system is a cool idea and can be fun to play around with, it's exciting when you get exactly the card you wanted, but there are certain cards/combinations that can kind of break the game, and it can be BRUTAL if you get nothing but trash cards on your run, and there are a Lot of 'trash cards'. And once you figure out your favorite card combo it's likely you'll never mess with anything else. Not strictly a bad thing, just a thing.

But then there's the real kicker…… Marisa. People are 100% right when they say this game is "anti-Marisa". I've tried not to mention the shot types I dislike (like most Youmu and Sakuyas), because that's a very personal/skill based issue, but here, the way this game is designed feels actively Hostile towards Marisa. It's hard to describe, but both bosses and stages are set up to have you fly all over the screen, or move off the sides a lot, and her range is EXTREMELY narrow………. AND both the shots and her bombs have been massively nerfed??? She's no longer the most powerful character, so there isn't even a trade off for picking the harder option. Seriously why the hell did ZUN nerf her AND make almost the entire game hostile to straight-forward shots?????

Well, whatever the reason, it makes her PAINFUL to play as. But, if you play as one of the fun shot types……. this game is pretty fun!! The first half a Little plain with it's boss patterns but the second half is a blast!!! If MAYBE a bit unfair (Megumu…….) ;; And the OST is fantastic all the way through. Plus, I just love the characters that were introduced, especially the 'masterminds', Megumu, Tsukasa, and Chimata. Very fun additions to the world of Gensokyo, I really hope we get to learn more about Megumu as the Crow Tengu chief.

If you're looking consistent play, look elsewhere, but for a fun time with light luck based elements this is a great game (if you don't play Marisa. Or Sakuya. lol)

[TOUHOU 18.5: 100TH BLACK MARKET]

Now this is an unique one! You go through stages that are split into semi-randomized sections, and along the way you gather money to buy cards. Bullet money buys cards during a run, and regular money lets you buy cards out of a shop so you can equip them from the start. So it's like….. a rouge-like shooter? Kinda?

I personally had fun with this. It's a little simple, and it can get repetitive, but it was nice because if I didn't have much time but wanted to mess around with bullet hell, I could boot this up and play a couple rounds to gather money for cards!!

Once you buy all the cards and earn all the achievements there's no reason to ever come back, which is sad, but idk, I had a good time milking bullets for money and slowly filling my collections. It shares some of the randomness issues with UM and is a little half-baked but I would still recommend giving it a shot, especially because it gives Marisa her time to shine after getting shafted in UM!

[TOUHOU 19: UNFINISHED DREAM OF ALL LIVING GHOSTS]

The final one so far!! I'll be honest, I've beaten it 21 times now I STILL don't understand how most of the mechanics work. Things just Happen and I either dodge or die. But what I can speak on is the downright bizarre balancing issues and the plethora of missing features.

The difficulty and balancing is wack. The vast majority of the characters feel underpowered already, and to top that off, only a small number of characters have bullet-clearing abilities, which is an absolutely MASSIVE advantage in this game, meaning that some characters are just objectively better than others. The story routes each character takes can also vary wildly in difficulty, making some paths a breeze and others nearly impossible even for the best players in the world.

But the most concerning thing for me is the missing features. No score? No "clear" achievement or signifier for different difficulty levels?? NO REPLAYS????? I can deal with the lack of score since I'm not a score player (yet), but having no indication or reward for 1ccing, and having no way to save or share your run without recording every single play session………. god. Idk, maybe it's silly, but that stuff is VERY important to me :( I'm still so sad about it, and it makes anything you achieve in the game feel….. hallow.

That being said, it's not all bad!! I love the new characters and their designs, there's some really interesting experimentation going on in the OST, I think the 'shield' mechanic adds a fun layer to gameplay (trying to make sure you're ready to restore the shield if it breaks while also trying to send over attacks and dodge)…… and I mean, dodging bullets is dodging bullets, so it's gonna be fun at least some of the time!!

Honestly, I just wish ZUN has balanced it more carefully, gave other characters more power or bullet-erasers, had more people play test it………. and of course, I wish it had replays and a way to track 1cc's :(((

--

And that's it! If you read any of that, thank you, I know it was long ;;;;; But I had fun, I'm glad I got to talk a lot about my favorite game series :^)

[arizonaraine]

Sorting Hat Chats: Jumanji (2017)

I still remember the first time I saw this movie-- I went in with super low expectations and LOVED it. It's regularly quoted in my household. "Oh, you have allergies, Spencer? I'm missing the top two feet of my body!" So, without further ado...

Spencer is a Badger primary. He was devastated when his childhood best friend, Fridge, backed away from him in search of a cooler crowd. But he doesn't let that stop him from doing Fridge's homework in hopes that he'll win a place in his life again. He's an affable, sweet young man, who notices people who typically fly under the radar-- like Martha. In Jumanji, his primary concern is keeping the group together and alive. He's non-confrontational (until he has to be) and tries to find ways to break bad news gently ("that's not how I would have put it..." he says after Fridge drops the bomb on Alex). He builds people up by talking about their strengths. He has a very clear Bird secondary-- he's the guy who plays video games. "That's literally the main thing that I do." He strategizes rather than charges and sees his physical strength as Dr. Bravestone as a skill, narrating the steps to himself ("uppercut!").

Fridge starts off as a self-centered Snake primary. He traded Spencer in for a cooler crowd to boost his own social status and is primarily concerned with his own football career-- not the impact that cheating will have on his or Spencer's lives. It's not until he gets to Jumanji that he starts to look outside himself. He seems to take special care of Bethany-- urging her to get up when she's fallen down, trusting her when she tells him the cake is bread (oops...), etc. It takes him and Spencer some time to work out their grievances, but once he's in, he's in, and Fridge helps to build up his courage in a moment when he needs in the most. Fridge is definitely a Lion secondary, he's the guy who's always shouting and making his displeasure known, who picks fights with Spencer, but who also charges in to save the day ("Zoology, bit***!")

Bethany begins the film as a myopic Badger primary, whose definition of "people" is pretty limited. She has the best growth arc of the movie, IMO. She cares a lot about what other people think of her, works hard to look perfect and appeal to her boyfriend, and tries to charm her teacher to get out of detention. She shares parts of her life with Martha and is offended when Martha acts "judgy," but accepts her influence and grows. In a conversation with Alex, she says something to the effect of, "sometimes, you get so caught up in your own stuff that you forget other people have stuff too..." She also gives up one of her lives for Alex, so he can get home too! She tells him, "you're our missing piece--" bringing him into the group. In the second movie, she's been off on a humanitarian trip, is so excited to get the group back together, and starts a cheerleader-style chant before wading into battle. The flirting lessons for Martha?? Badger, badger, badger. Her strength is in connecting with and encouraging others-- a Badger secondary.

Martha is kind of hard to read, but I see her as a Bird primary. She's a little black-and-white in how she views the world-- "gym class is not going to get me into Princeton!"-- and has ambitious goals that are largely focused on external things. She sees Bethany as fitting into the "hot, popular girl" mold and it takes her some time to see past that to the real person. She, like Spencer, is a Bird secondary. She's very systematic in how she approaches things, takes the skills that her character (Ruby Roundhouse) has very literally, and applies what she's learned to other people and situations ("Alex, if I can fight those guys, you can fly that helicopter!").

Bonus! Alex is a Snake primary, Bird secondary. He thinks a lot about his parents and says that he's a drummer, "just like my dad." Though he likes the rest of the group, he has a special bond with Bethany. He offers his life for hers, and when that doesn't work, he charges at the big bad guy to rescue her. When he sees them all again after getting out of Jumanji, Bethany is the first one he recognizes (he still calls Martha "Ruby Roundhouse"-- did he forget her name, or was he teasing? IDK). He names a daughter after Bethany, the girl who saved his life. His Bird secondary has burned after being trapped in the game for so long, he doesn't trust himself and his skills anymore and has been living in limbo.

TL;DR:

Spencer: Badger Primary, Bird Secondary

Fridge: Snake Primary, Lion Secondary

Bethany: Badger Primary, Badger Secondary

Martha: Bird Primary, Bird Secondary

Alex: Snake Primary, Bird Secondary

[simp999]

A New Home Ch. 22

Various! Splatoon Manga x Skilled! Isekai'd! Reader

Wc: 1.4k

Back to the Start! Previous Next

While making a private battle for your team and the S4, you begin to wonder what you could possibly do to win against Emperor. Rage alone won’t carry you through the match, but it’ll definitely help.

The S4 have already spawned with their purple ink, and your team with orange.

Leo speeds off to the centre, Aloha doing the same. 

‘There isn’t much I can do. If Edging Jr.’s more agile than Aloha, then I can’t risk him facing Tasha.’

The two of them duke it out in the centre, Leo using the stage to his advantage and going behind the walls for cover. 

‘Leo wouldn’t stand a chance in a one-on-one, against him. He ties up almost evenly with 'Loha.’ 

You look over at Milo, who seems to be charging up his splatling, getting ready to aim at Army.

‘-and even having Milo spray and pray with his splatling isn’t enough. And that’s just one player.’ 

‘N-pacer wouldn’t be in Leo or Milo’s range, so it’d be charger vs. charger. But Emperor would want to take care of that quickly.’

Milo opens fire, and Army hides behind a nearby wall. Once Milo’s out of charge, Army comes out thinking he’s safe. Unaware that you were waiting. You jump Army, and splat him.

‘None of this will ever work against team Monarch! How could we possibly- no, no. I’m thinking of this all wrong. I’m thinking way too logically.’ 

Leo and Aloha have both taken lots of damage, and Leo looks much more tired than Aloha. He never did have good stamina.

‘We need to be unpredictable.’ 

Skull and Tasha have taken their respective spots, Tasha being a little closer to the center than Skull.

Mask slowly swims by, not showing any ripples in the ink. But he leaves a trail, and that’s what gets him splatted by you.

‘Use our specialties to our advantage.’

Leo backs away from his one-on-one to recover, and Aloha taunts him.

‘Stop working individually.’

Aloha doesn’t have time for another remark before Tasha splats him with no hesitation.

‘Work as a family.’

A moment of realization later, you shout out to your teammates while backing off and inking a few spots they missed.

“I’m sorry for lashing out at you guys earlier. Our best bet is to cover each other at all times!”

“Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?!”

“Do it better!”

“Alright, boss!”

Mask realizes that it’s useless to be sneaky around you, so he attempts to attack from above, followed by a burst bomb. You pretend to be unaware that he’s there, dodging at the last second, only to let your back face him and dash off. ‘An easy target,’ he thinks. Before he can send another bomb your way, he’s hit with double the firepower from behind. 

“You didn’t really think our boss was that stupid, did ya?”

Milo makes his way closer to the center after you and Leo give him some easy inked ground to run on. After being splatted again, Army’s facing Milo. Milo keeps his distance, which annoys Army to no end. Milo isn’t landing any shots, though. Army smirks when he notices this, trying to close the distance. You won’t allow it, not with the way Milo was obviously giving you a clear path to surprise-attack Army. Milo moves in again to try and attack Aloha, forgetting that Skull was just barely in range. A quick tap of Skull’s trigger has Milo down, and Tasha fires right back milliseconds after, despite not having enough range to hit Skull. Aloha looks at the wasted ink.

“Hah! I thought you never mis-”

“SURPRISE!”

Aloha’s all bark and no bite, especially when his so-called #1 fan manages to take down his leader. Tasha made Leo a path straight to Skull because no, she never misses.

“Good job, Leo!”

“Booyah!”

You shake your head while looking at the S4’s results of the match. They’re strong individually for sure, but it’s useless if they don’t work together. Nobody up to this point has come close to their strength against you, but it’s still too easy. They still refuse to work together. Just about every splat that your team landed on them was because of a surprise attack, or because they were too preoccupied with another teammate.

“First off,” You vaguely gesture at Army, Aloha, and Mask, “Start super jumping to Skull. You were spending half your time making it back to center stage, only to be splatted again. Time wasted.” Aloha pretends to check his ‘nails’, still not wanting to work with the S4. Army slaps his hand down, and forces him to focus on you.

“Also, one of you stay back when Skull gets splatted. Tasha uses Milo as an anchor when she’s down in our practices. You do the same. I suggest Mask since he likes staying back and inking anyways.” You hear a groan come from Mask. you glare at him.

“Or you could just leave right now and never get any stronger. Your choice.” 

Mask straightens up just a bit, and tightens his grip on his roller. He doesn’t care what others think of him, but the more people that he can force into hopelessness, the better. If training means he’ll see stronger, and more players lose their will to battle again, then so be it.

“Alright, let’s do it again!”

“Alreadyyy?” Leo drags out his word like a kid being told that it’s time to get off their gaming console.

“You’re lucky you got a break at all. I don’t plan on stopping between every match.”

And so, the next few hours were filled with nothing but battles. Even Tasha’s aim was getting a little lazy, and that’s when your forced everyone into a break, which didn't take much convincing. You wordlessly helped Tasha stretch her arms while Aloha and Leo groan in exaggerated agony. Even Skull’s panting from how much you’re making him change positions during battle. Not that you’re not struggling too. You quietly do some breathing exercises to reset your system and trick it into thinking it can take all this. Milo refuses to complain, knowing that this is all for the best, but he’s sweating buckets. Two minutes into your break, and you think Mask is either dead or fell asleep insanely quickly. His chest is rising and falling quickly, so you assume he’s just resting.

“Training isn’t,-” Army huffs, catching his breath, “Isn’t efficient if we can’t do our best.” he takes another second to recuperate, “Any more than this and it will only harm us.”

You close your eyes in thought for a moment, slumping against the wall to your right and agreeing with him. No point in hurting anybody.

You slowly walk toward the entrance of Deca Tower, and only Tasha and Milo follow.

“Come on lazybones, I’m buying everyone dessert.” Leo and Aloha jump up at that, fighting about who’s going to get a bigger Sundae. Skull swiftly walks over, and you think that’s the fastest he’s walked in a few hours. Army points out that having dessert is not the best thing to consume after training.

“If you want to go eat some grass, go. You all deserve it, at the very least.”

You almost make it out of Deca Tower, but you notice someone missing from the group. You drag yourself back over to the possibly dead cyan squid, who’s laying on his back, on the floor. You very gently nudge his arm with your foot.

“Hey. We’re getting dessert.”

You nudge it again.

“I dooon’t caaaare. Just let me dieee.”

You nod in understanding. Mood.

You bend down right next to him, so only he can hear.

“I’ll buy you the limited edition copy of Squidracer.”

He already had other, older versions of the game, and that’s what he wasted his money from Salmon Run on. A limited edition is supposed to release tomorrow, but he doesn’t have nearly enough to pay it off, and there’s no doubt all of the copies will be gone in a matter of minutes.

He picks his head up off the ground to look at you in bewilderment. You must be joking, right? That thing’s like- 8, 000, 000 coins. Just what are you made of?

“For real. All I ask is that you try to keep up, and get stronger so that we can have a real, fun battle one day.”

He lightly nods, and you offer him your hand, forgetting that he’s not a fan of physical contact. Which means you don’t think twice about how he used your help to get up off the ground. A big step for him that you didn’t even notice. 

Even if he wiped his hand on his purple camo LS roughly to try to get rid of that unfamiliar touch.

You really do believe in every one of them, huh? You even believe that the least motivated of them has a chance at getting better.   

Next Part

June.5.23

[barbex]

Happy Friday!! How about ❝  i’m not gonna pretend anymore.  i’m still fucked up from it all and i don’t know when it gets better.  ❞ from the emotionally charged sentence starters? For a pairing of your choice?

Thank you for the prompt! For @dadrunkwriting, a bit of pre-dorianders.

---

"What's he doing?"

"I don't know, he just stands there." Both men are scrubbing and peeling potatoes for the communal kitchen of Skyhold, while they keep glaring at the prisoner holding his face towards the sun. "Maybe he just likes sunlight."

"Don't get much of sunlight down in the dungeon."

"Not sure about letting him run around out here." The man throws the potato in a tub of water and picks another from the basket. "That Kirkwall mage blew up a whole chantry."

The other man scoffs. "He's ain't hiding bombs under them robes."

"How would you know?"

"Shut up. The Commander wouldn't let him out here without checking."

Dorian lets his attention wander from the potato peelers to the mage and Commander in question. Cullen sits on a pile of planks, frowning at a paper in his hand. Dorian saunters over and clears his throat to draw his attention.

"What do you want, Dorian?" Cullen's voice carries the familiar tension of a blaring headache. 

"Bad day, my dear Commander?"

"No."

The Kirkwall mage, Anders, steps out of the sun, closer to Cullen and him. He wipes a strain of hair from his face. The magic suppressing wristbands glitter for a second as the light hits them. "He has a headache and he doesn't want to see a healer for it."

The frown on Cullen's forehead seems to grow with every second. "I'm not letting you have your magic to heal me."

Dorian lets a purple drop of light run over the back of his hand. "Yes, yes, magic, so dangerous." 

Anders giggles. A delightful sound that causes a smile to spread on Dorian's face, without his allowance. 

"I don't need magic to set your neck," Anders says with a shrug.

Cullen looks up, wincing at the movement. "My neck?" 

"You can't even turn your head right." Anders gestures at Cullen's posture. "Probably a pinched nerve at the back of your head and at your lower back. You're practically listing to the side. But what do I know, I'm just a healer."

"And you don't need magic to fix it?" For once, Cullen doesn't even frown.

"We just need a bench or something for you to lie down on. And I need Dorian too."

Dorian raises an eyebrow at Anders. "Many people think they need me, but I'm not so generous with my attention."

"Pff," Cullen snorts. "As if attention isn't the only thing of interest for you." 

"Gentlemen," Anders says before they can snipe at each other. "I see a bench in the shade there, it would be perfect for this. Shall we?"

After some huffing, just for show, Dorian finds himself at the end of the bench, holding Cullen's ankle. "I have you known, my speciality is decidedly not healing."

Anders chuckles. "I'm aware. I assure you, we have no need for your speciality. At least I hope."

"What?" Cullen, flat on his stomach on the bench, struggles to get up.

"A joke, Commander," Anders says. "Relax." He shakes his head with a smile, blond hair brushing over the edges of his lips. When he leans forward, his hair swings like a curtain, hiding his eyes. He places his fingers on Cullen's back, the wristbands jingling, and feels along his spine through his shirt. Then he stops and presses hard. Cullen groans as Anders moves along his spine. "Now, pull on his leg, hard." 

"If my parents could see me now," Dorian grumbles as he pulls.

A strange sound comes from Cullen and Anders lifts his hands. "There, you can stop pulling now."

Dorian shakes out his hands, a bit more dramatic than necessary. Anders grins at him as he helps Cullen to sit up and places his fingers at the back of Cullen's neck. "Turn your head, slowly."

There is a sound like gnashing teeth, loud enough for Dorian to hear, and Anders drops his hands. "There. Slow movements for the next half hour. Frankly, you should rest, but I doubt you're the kind of person who knows how to do that."

"How about you take a rest in your office," Dorian says. "And I will watch over Anders. I even promise to check his robes for explosives."

Cullen rolls his eyes. "No need for that. Just make sure that he stays inside these walls and doesn't have access to magic. And some people do not think favourably of him, so be careful where you're taking him." Cullen leaves with a nod, walking straight and easily, almost a swing in his steps.

"You've changed that man's life," Dorian says. But when he looks back at Anders, he doesn't see the expected smile on his face. "Are you alright?"

Anders lets out a bitter laugh. "No, I'm not alright. I had an exceptional amount of shit days, recently. I’m still fucked up from it all, and I don’t know when it'll get better."

Dorian thinks for a moment. "Come with me, I want to show you something." He walks towards the side of the castle that holds the camps of the Redcliffe mages. A few new barracks have been built since the last time he was here. The layout of this city inside the castle keeps changing, but Dorian soon finds the tent he is looking for. 

"Merribella, are you there?" he calls outside of the tent flap.

"Is it that damn Altus again?" comes from the inside.

Dorian turns to Anders. "One of the few who actually remembers that it's Altus, not Magister." He shoves the tent flap to the side. "My dear, I have someone with me I'd like you to meet."

A large woman with a child on her arm and a face that shows the traces of long, harsh years, stands in the middle of her tent and frowns at him. "I'm not dealing with another tevinter peacock."

"He is most definitely not a peacock, tevinter or other." Dorian steps aside and gestures for Anders to come in. "This is my reluctant friend Merribella and this —" he steps to the side, "— is Anders of Kirkwall."

Merribella stares at Anders, her mouth hanging open, until her expression slowly turns into a smile. "Anders, the rebel mage."

Anders fidgets with his hands. "I'm not sure..."

"Not everyone hates you, you know?" Dorian says.

Merribella's eyes snap to him and understanding dawns on her face. She lifts the baby in her arm to show it to Anders. "This is my grandson." She looks at Anders. "His name is Anders. He is a free child of a mage and will grow up with his family."

Dorian will never admit how many tears he shed this afternoon, but the kohl around his eyes is unsalvageable by the time he brings Anders back to the castle.

"Thank you," Anders says quietly. 

"Don't mention it." Dorian sighs. "I'm serious. Don't mention this to anybody, I have a reputation to uphold." 

"Of course," Anders says and faster than Dorian can react, he presses a kiss to Dorian's cheek. "You're still beautiful, by the way," he whispers near Dorian's ear. 

A guard takes Anders back to his cell. He looks over his shoulder at Dorian, smiling, glowing like a ray of sun, before the door closes behind him. For a long while, Dorian stands rooted to the spot.

"So," he says to himself. "This is that, then." His heart has no right to jump in his chest like this. No right at all.

[teecupangel]

I'm new to Unity but I'm having a hard time earning those sync points. Every time I do co-op missions I get my ass kicked.

Hello, nonny!

I hope you’re enjoying AC Unity :)

Just in case anyone is wondering: it is possible to finish the main story of AC Unity without those sync points.

And it is possible to bulk up Arno enough to take down any enemies too in open combat but I’m stealth-focused so these tips would be for a stealthier approach.

(This is easiest if you do this after finishing the main game tbh but I suppose it’s possible to do it earlier, just… gonna be hard)

So, first of all, focus on getting these skills:

Disguise ← this is the best skill for a stealth-heavy Arno

Master Locksmith (Master needs you to clear Sequence 9 though and, yeah, the earlier Locksmith skills would work too, some sync points are easier to access via unlocking locked doors)

Optional (if you have points left): the tools and upgrades in the ranged skill tree would give you more option

Second thing:

Here’s an IGN article with maps to where those Sync Points are for the Coop missions that have them.

General Tips while looking for sync points:

You still keep the sync points even if you have to restart the coop mission because you failed an objective so what you can do is get the sync points first before actually doing the objectives.

Disguises are the best way to walk around restricted areas without getting aggro’ed. As long as you have an NPC that is allowed to be there in your sight, you can use them as your disguise. NOTE: Disguise disappears if you jump or climb (and I think run? Don’t remember about the last one) and it has a time limit. Before time is up, go to a safe room or hide, wait for it to charge back up then pick your next disguise.

Phantom shots will be seen even if you are hiding in a crowd (especially if you aim first) but berserk shots are the best way to cause a distraction while thinning the enemy numbers.

Low profile assassinations end faster than high profile assassinations.

Once the sync point appears on your minimap, it will appear on the map menu and you can mark it if you’re having problems finding it.

Get the best equipment and weapons as soon as possible. Either wait to get paid like a capitalist trust fund baby OR do the “It Belongs In A Museum” trick XD

If you want to fuck everyone up but don’t want to finish the story and don’t mind getting spoiled (well, if you know how Élise ends up, that’s… the main spoiler XD), you can access the Dead King DLC without finishing the main game and travel to it using the carriage near the cafe. From there, just finish the prologue until you have access to the entire DLC area and finish Suger's Legacy sidequest to get the best weapon in the game, a one-handed sword that freaking blinds your enemies at random. XD (as far as I know, Dead King DLC is free as an “I’m sorry for the horrific glitches Unity had at launch” gift from Ubisoft) You can return to the main game by using the carriage.

Other than that…

Uuuhhh…

Here’s my equipment to give you an idea of a stealth-focused Arno:

Haha, I’m kidding. I just use the Altaïr outfit because his real outfit is… BEHOLD!

This man should not be able to hide in a crowd XD

Anyway…

I mostly min-max’ed him to be pure stealth BUT the Suger Sword saves me whenever I screw up XD

I focus on lengthening the duration and range of Eagle Vision as someone thought it would be a good idea to give it a cool down (ʘдʘ╬). Eagle Vision would let you keep track of the possible enemies you can use as Disguise and generally just let you plan ahead.

Mostly for the Disguise radius and duration but the detection rate is also a plus if the Disguise is at cooldown.

I just went with what would give Arno more stealth XD

This gives additional berserk blades which is nice.

The most important one is the lockpicks because I suck at timing in the lockpicking minigame. More tools (especially smoke bombs and medicines) are always nice.

I hope this helps and, I guess, my final suggestion would be… I think some people are still playing AC Unity so you can probably find a coop player if you’re really having problems with it and don't mind playing online. I know I managed to get, like, one or two strangers in coop 2 years ago XD