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link4eva · 3 years ago

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Kiro’s Mind’s Quest: Infatuation Play Translation Part 2 [CN]

Hey! Here’s Part 2 of Infatuation Play. Here is Part 1 if you haven’t read it yet.

Enjoy~ 💛

*Spoilers for future content below!*

[Chapter 4]

MC: It seems I’ve put too much salt in the seasoning….

MC: If it’s salty…. add more water!

Kiro: Haha.

Kiro was amused by what I said, and he shook off a piece of beef and tasted it.

Kiro: Good to eat!

Kiro also gave me a piece, the evening light leaked in from the window, reflecting a small layer of fluff on his face.

In the steam, the spicy and delicious smell seemed to dispel the previously unremarkable smell in the house.

I took a sip of soda and brought up the topic from before. *Changed some wording*

MC: By the way, in addition to encountering the big challenge of an actor’s career, filming NG….

MC: Is there anything else that left an impression on you?

Kiro looked down and thought about it seriously.

Kiro: Does scaring a crying kid count?

MC: Of course!

Kiro smiled when he saw the eagerness on my face to hear the story.

Kiro: This scene is also related to entering the character state.

Kiro: In order to maintain this state, I kept myself bored in the hotel room for a long time….

Kiro: Probably because of my routine, no one reminded me.

Kiro: Later, I didn’t know the exact time anymore. When I came out, I felt that I had been in the dark for a long time.

Kiro: I realized that I was a bit too immersed, so I went to buy a bottle of soda to take a break.

Kiro: Then I met a kid in the crew…. I didn’t do anything, he just saw me and then cried.

Kiro’s voice was very low, and the hot pot gurgled.

I think of Kiro’s immersive performance on the screen, and then I dig a little deeper into what he said just now-- *Changed some wording*

It was as if he had a bitter fruit in his heart, and he desperately wanted to hide it from me. The more bitter it was, the stronger the taste.

In the end, the fruit still found its way into my heart.

I sniffed and couldn’t help joking.

MC: From another perspective, that kid got to watch a scene for free.

Kiro raised his eyes, and I continued with a smile.

MC: I want to watch the exclusive performance of the big star Kiro too!

MC: Thinking about it this way, I feel a little jealous.

I took his hand and his fingertips quivered slightly.

Kiro: Don’t you think I’m not doing well enough? As a professional actor, I shouldn’t be in this situation.

I shook my head.

MC: Remember, you asked me before if there was anything interesting about this business trip.

MC: In fact, in the city where I was on business, there would be lively gatherings at night on the street next to the hotel.

MC: Looking down from the balcony, there are clusters of lights, and everyone sits on the steps and chats casually.

MC: When I saw it, I was thinking, “I must bring Kiro here next time. He will love the sparkling cider here.”

I looked at Kiro brightly. He seemed to be imagining the scene I described with slight waves in his eyes.

MC: I want to share with you all the good and bad, brilliant and lonely times.

MC: You can be imperfect, you can have lonely and dark moments because I will be with you.

MC: We share each other’s lives. No matter what life it is, as long as we experience it together, it is enough.

Those blue eyes staring at me seemed to be lit by some kind of warm light for a moment, filled with soft emotions.

I paused and asked him softly.

MC: I remember that every time you acted in a play, you would bid farewell to them at the end.

MC: You said that you were lucky to participate in a period of their lives and experienced their emotions.

MC: So in the end, you have to bid farewell to the partners you have been working with….

MC: Looking forward to another time and space, they will continue their lives.

MC: Did you say goodbye this time?

Kiro looked at me and suddenly reached out and wiped the oil stains on my lips.

The boiling of the hot pot sounded and there seemed to be some fragments of emotions in his eyes that had melted silently.

He paused, turned his head and raised the bear cup on the table. He raised it in the air, the emotions in his eyes were clear and calm.

Kiro: Americano is still too bitter, I prefer to drink soda.

Kiro: The hot pot made by Miss Chips is delicious. As long as you are with her, even the little things like walking your dog to the supermarket are worth remembering.

His gaze flickered over the neatly coded script on the sofa, and there was a sense of relief in his voice.

Kiro: What you didn’t find, I did.

Kiro: In the time and space I don’t know, you will definitely find what you want, and come back to shine on the stage again.

Kiro: Now, it’s time to say goodbye to you.

The starry sky is gentle, and the steam from the hot pot rises, almost like a response. The wind blows the curtains and the room is full of starlight. *Changed some wording*

We are both covered.

(Cut to the living room)

MC: What’s going on with Cello lately? She seems to be more irritable.

MC: Not only did she knock over the sunflower vase in the living room, but also bit her tail….

I pet Cello who was being held in Kiro’s arms and spoke tentatively.

It is said that the mood of pets will be influenced by the owner. Is Cello….?

Kiro looked away with a guilty conscience.

Kiro: Maybe it’s because the season makes everyone more irritable.

Kiro: [coughs] Just leave her be, save the sunflower first.

He found a new vase in the cabinet and handed it to me. I trimmed the sunflower’s branched and leaves that had been bitten by Cello.

Kiro sat cross-legged across from me and stared at me without blinking. I was a little embarrassed to be stared at.

MC: What are you looking at?

Kiro tilted his head at me and his blond hair swayed slightly. It was obviously a naughty action, but the smile in his eyes was very gentle.

Kiro: Of course I was looking at Miss Chips.

Kiro: Looking at your actions, expressions, the flower in your hand, and….

Kiro’s tone was stretched out and I followed his gaze to see the light-coloured hairband on the side of my head.

The soft end of the hairband slid down my neck and onto my skin.

MC: KI-RO!

I blushed for a moment and when I was hurriedly trying to retie my hairband, my hand was suddenly grabbed.

I looked up and under the frivolity of the sun, I didn’t know when Kiro got so close to me that I could see the creases on his lips.

His gaze fell on the end of my hair. He tucked the hairband lightly and winked at me.

Kiro: Miss Chips, let me help you.

Without waiting for my answer, he took a strand of my hair and maneuvered his hands dexterously, rubbing my earlobes with his fingertips which caused a burst of scorching heat.

The hairband is like a streamer that can be held in his hand, and he is the creator of beauty.

The mood is changing silently at this moment as we stay so close. *Changed some wording*

No matter how difficult the moments we encounter are, they will definitely be healed in the accompanying time.

After a while, Kiro held my face and looked at it with satisfaction.

Kiro: That’s it.

I reached up to touch the hairband and couldn’t help but smile. *Changed some wording*

MC: You even tied a small bow!

Kiro: Of course, this is the exclusive mark of Kiro.

Kiro picked up the end of the hairband and looked down at me tenderly. His blue eyes were like a vast and boundless sea and I willingly indulged in it.

(Cut to morning)

The morning light was in the room and the sound of the phone vibrating awakened me from my sleep. I picked up the phone and pressed the answer button.

MC: Kiki? What’s wrong?

Kiki: Boss, the project you flew abroad to talk about has passed!

Kiki: Anna received the letter of intent last night, and the person in charge there said that he hoped the date of the contract signing could be confirmed today.

Kiki: Where are you now? Come and visit the company!

MC: Okay, I’ll be there.

I hung up and turned my head, Kiro’s sleeping face came into view.

He seems to be having a good sleep and his lips are slightly upturned, he looks particularly meek. *Changed some wording*

MC: ….

It looks like he is still a little sick. *Changed some wording*

The lack of sleep made my brain work a little slow, so I shook my head in an attempt to wake myself up a bit.

Just as I was hesitating whether to go, Kiro woke up with a hint of sleepiness in his eyes. He was startled when he saw my neatly dressed look.

Kiro: [cute sleepy voice] Is something happening at the company?

(If you pick “No”)

Seeing Kiro’s still pale cheeks, I shook my head and smiled at him.

MC: Nothing, I was just talking to Kiki.

But Kiro looked at me and suddenly smiled.

Kiro: Miss Chips, you should go do more important things first.

Kiro: I will wait here for you to come back.

Seeing him look at me quietly, I nodded gently.

(If you pick “yes”)

I was conflicted for a moment and then nodded honestly.

MC: There is a little situation that needs to be dealt with, but….

Before I finished speaking, I saw Kiro stretch out lazily with a slight smile in his tone.

Kiro: I will wait for your return.

He looked no different from what I was familiar with. I hesitated for a moment and finally nodded gently.

[Memory Silhouette]

MC: Hahahahahaha! This episode is so funny!

I laughed so much that my cheeks hurt and I had to lean against Kiro’s arms. He opened his arms and caged me in them.

Kiro: Is the way I eat mustard so funny?

I lifted my head and looked at him as he asked me.

The sun was shining on us warmly through the French windows, Kiro’s milk fragrance also wrapped around the tip of my nose. I couldn’t help but squeeze his cheek with my hand.

MC: No, but I like it.

MC: Didn’t someone say that if there is a person who can keep you smiling, then he must be an important presence in your life.

MC: You make me laugh without even thinking about it, your existence turns cloudy days into sunny ones. *Changed some wording*

As if he had accepted my theory, Kiro no longer struggled with his expression about the variety show, so he clicked the button to continue playing.

Kiro: Okay, I agree with Miss Chips.

This variety show has Kiro as a guest appearance. When he participated in the show, he had not yet joined the cast to make a movie. The show was as bright as a little sun.

In the space between the advertisements, I quickly glanced sideways at the person next to me.

Over the past few days, I can feel his gradual relaxation.

It’s not that I’m always vigilant, telling myself that I have to be happy in front of him, but because when I’m with him, I can relax and smile.

I liked this relaxed and soft Kiro.

MC: But speaking of it, in this variety show, I see you in a way that I don’t usually see.

MC: Planting seedlings, bargaining with the owner of a small shop, and making mosquitos nests by yourself.

MC: So Kiro turned out to be a secret master of life?

MC: So when I was making homemade cranberry cupcakes, a certain superstar asked me to teach him how to beat the egg yolks?

After being questioned, Kiro gave a cheeky “um”.

Kiro: That’s because, in the cast, I need to play the image of SuperHero. This is my job.

Kiro: But in front of Miss Chips, I can be willful and not so perfect, can’t I? *Changed some wording*

He looked at me with a smile in his eyes, like an afternoon orange soda full of refreshing taste.

MC: You said that…. I can’t refute it.

Although I said that, I couldn’t help but laugh.

MC: But two people mixing the egg yolk batter together is always more interesting than doing it alone.

There was constant laughter on screen. I looked at Kiro who was always smiling on the screen and couldn’t help but lean into his arms.

His chin rested on my shoulder from behind and his warm breath brushed my neck.

It’s always a good time to need each other and be together. *Changed some wording*

MC: Next time, teach me how to make a mosquito net.

MC: Maybe in the future when we go on a trip, it will be useful.

Kiro: Okay, let’s make a big and beautiful mosquito net.

MC: Huh? Why does it have to be so big?

Kiro: It can be used as an open-air tent. If you watch the stars at night, you don’t have to worry about being bitten by bugs.

I couldn’t help being amused by Kiro’s serious tone.

MC: Okay, let’s do it together.

Time is moving slowly and quietly, walking forward with a lazy pace. The lazy rest is close to the not-so-perfect Kiro.

Put together a cupcake with a honey-flavoured centre. *Changed some wording*

[Chapter 5]

When I had walked halfway towards the company, I decided to pull out my phone and call Kiki.

MC: Kiki, there are some things on my end that I can’t get away from. You can help me with the people from the other company and change the meeting to a virtual one.

MC: The contract has been sorted out, I will send it to them later. You are responsible for monitoring the online meeting.

Kiki: Mhhm, okay. Sounds good, boss.

After temporarily solving the company’s problems, I returned to Kiro’s house.

In order to avoid disturbing Kiro, who might still be asleep, I opened the door very quietly.

But when I entered through the door, I saw Kiro sitting cross-legged on the floor with his back facing me.

Kiro: Cello, don’t move.

A cat’s tail came out from his side, swinging back and forth uncomfortably, but was caught by Kiro in the next second.

Kiro: A few days ago, I didn’t play with you, which made you unhappy with me.

He was talking to himself, then sighed slightly.

Kiro: From now on I will play with you every day, but you are not allowed to bite your tail.

Kiro: If you bite your tail bald again, I will confiscate your dried fish!

Hearing what he said, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Kiro turned around when he heard the sound and when I saw Cello resting in his arms, I opened my eyes wide.

MC: You made a small flower for her bald spot.

A small flower made of pink wool is tied around Cello’s tail, which was probably taken from Kiro’s clothes. It covered most of the bald spot.

Kiro: Miss Chips, why are you back so soon?

Kiro was a little taken back, but because of my presence, there was an unconcealed smile in his eyes.

As I walked to Kiro’s side, I creased my eyes and opened my mouth.

MC: Because the witty Miss Chips changed the meeting to an online one, if it is synchronized with the time abroad, it will not start until the evening.

Kiro touched his chin thoughtfully.

Kiro: In other words, before the meeting, you still have a lot of time alone with me.

MC: You can think of it like that.

Suddenly I saw the familiar sly smile in his eyes. I was stunned for a second as I realized something and then took a step back cautiously.

Kiro smiled innocently and brilliantly.

Kiro: Miss Chips can’t run away, you came back to me by “getting caught” by my net. *Changed some wording*

In the next second, he hugged my waist and his presence hit me overwhelmingly.

Cello jumped to the ground, licked her paws, and curiously tilted her head to look at everything in front of her.

Kiro led me to the sofa where I sat in his arms, my heartbeat still a little fast.

Kiro chuckled.

Kiro: Why does Miss Chips look like as if I’m going to do something bad?

His palm touched my bare back, arousing a shudder.

He looked down at me, but there was nothing else in his eyes other than like.

I think of his unusual moments these past few days and my heart can’t help but feel moved.

The next second, I reached out and hooked my arms around Kiro’s neck. Kiro looked at me in a daze.

MC: Kiro, all the things that happen to you, I want to be the first person to share them with you.

I paused.

MC: Just as happiness and sadness are all the flavours of life we must experience;

MC: I want to be together in those bleak moments that must be experienced.

MC: Because--friction generates heat.

MC: So next time if you feel empty, let me stay with you.

MC: Let me fill your time.

Kiro’s eyes seemed to have a small sparkle of light in them after hearing my words.

After a while, I was pulled by Kiro and fell back into his arms.

Following his movements, my bag fell to the ground and a clear sound rang out. Kiro turned his head and glanced, leaning over and picking up a lipstick.

I reached out to take the lipstick, but Kiro grabbed my wrist.

He looked at me and suddenly put some on his lips slowly.

In the small and charming space, all his movements seemed to be slow and carefully planned, which made me suddenly think of the fragments I saw in the lens.

Kiro: While eating hot pot, Miss Chips said that she regretted not being able to see my exclusive performance.

He paused for a moment and gave a grin.

Kiro: Well now you can.

He raised his hand and the hot red in his palm brushed my hair and then letting it fall onto my back, bringing the smell of spices.

It’s like a light kiss.

I stiffened for a moment, only to feel that the spot touched by him was burning like fire, making me want to get closer.

MC: Kiro….

I muttered Kiro’s name softly. As if receiving some kind of response, he suddenly took my hand.

Then he lowered his head slightly and pressed his warm lips to my wrist.

Kiro: I’m here.

There was a warm touch from his skin and Kiro’s lips were still pressed against my wrist, but he lifted his eyes to look at me.

I blushed suddenly and wanted to lower my head and look away. The next second, I was firmly grasped with his other hand.

He held my hand and guided my fingertips past his lips.

His look was seductive, like a fairy falling into the world, unknowingly attracting me.

But perhaps, he knew it.

Kiro: Now I am sure that you have filled the most precious time in my world.

His blue eyes are as gentle as the sea and there is only a small me inside of them.

He looked at me and got closer, hot breath fell on the side of my neck accompanied by a soft voice.

Kiro: In fact, there have always been many temptations and difficulties on the way to becoming an actor.

Kiro: It’s a small boat called “Kiro”, sailing on the waves of the world. He often encounters danger, gets injured, and breaks.

The soft touch lingers from the side of my neck to my earlobe, and the breathy whispers fall on my ears very affectionately.

Kiro: But this one person, she found the boat on the boundless sea and repaired his damages.

Kiro: She then stayed on the boat and sailed the world with him to see glaciers and lakes.

Kiro: This person is called Miss Chips, and she is-- the beacon that guides me through the world.

His voice is like falling petals; quiet and soft with the ultimate sincerity. *Changed some wording*

Kiro: In the play, Kiro’s emotions belong to the stage.

Kiro: But Kiro outside the play, his world, everything about him belongs to you.

The scorching temperature left my neck and he looked at me earnestly with undisguised emotions in his eyes, like the surging ocean tides.

I couldn’t help but hug his neck back.

MC: Kiro, you made me the best Miss Chips in the world.

MC: Let’s go to farther places together, see glacial lakes, and sail the world together….

MC: Nothing can make me leave your side.

The sunflower grows enthusiastically and his golden hair is soft and brilliant. The world is flourishing and beautiful, just like himself.

If I were Kiro’s beacon for sailing the world, then let me be that tower that illuminates him.

Because-- he is also the most indispensable part of my world.

End

#mlqc #mlqc spoilers #mr love queens choice #mr love #mr love game #mr love dream date #mldd #mr love kiro #mlqc kiro #mldd kiro #周棋洛 #date translation #IM SO PROUD OF MC!!

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doctenwho · 4 years ago

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Alec’s Emergency Contact

Welcome back! I loved this prompt! It was so cute and I really got carried away writing! I believe I stuck to the main idea, but there’s a lot of fluff in here too, and Alec having a bit of personality because he’s with someone he loves (like with Daisy).

Hopefully I got his character right, since I’ve not posted anything Broadchurch yet, and sometimes it takes me a couple tries to get a character right. A couple small spoilers for season 1 along the way, but nothing too big, I don’t think. Anyways, I hope you like it as much as I liked writing it!

Warnings: None, I don’t think.

Word Count: 3,722

Summary: Read the prompt :)

(Gif doesn’t belong to me, credit to creator!)

Alec Hardy did not remember a whole lot before he went down. He and Miller were chasing whomever had Danny Latimer’s cellphone, and then, well, he got a bit overexerted? Ran out of steam? Lost his footing?

Alright fine, he nearly died. He worked his heart too hard, and he collapsed on the job. Not only that, he collapsed in front of Miller. Damn Miller. How was he supposed to hide it from her now? He’d done so well at hiding his heart arrhythmia from everyone in Broadchurch, but now Ellie knows, and if Ellie knows, it won’t be long until everyone knows. Especially if it’s something regarding his wellbeing.

Bloody small towns.

It wasn’t intentional, that much he knew. He really hadn’t been meaning to work himself to the bone just yet, not when there was still so much to be doing for the case. He’d be no use to the case if he were dead, and then no one would get justice and Danny’s killer would walk free, despite his unforgivable deed.

But he also couldn’t just stop because his heart decided it didn’t want to endure the difficulties of being a Detective Inspector. He had promises to keep, to the families of the victims, to the victims themselves—and to himself.

He’d told himself he’d get justice for Danny and his family if it was the last thing he did, which might just be what it comes down to. He’d told himself the same thing about the Sandbrook case, but he’d be damned if another case took a sour turn like Sandbrook had.

He would get justice for these children. For the three misfortunate kids (and teenager), and the families to lose them far too soon. He owed them that much.

Hardy had blinked his eyes open, only to shut them just as fast. The light streamed into the room, bright and white, and almost blinding. He was reclined in the bed, covered by a blanket and propped up on a pillow or two.

He was no stranger to hospital rooms, in Sandbrook and in Broadchurch, and with this stupid heart arrhythmia, he was sure this wouldn’t be the last time either.

Even if he did try to stay out of stressful situations, and give his heart breaks, it was only getting worse. He’d need the peacemaker to really aid in his wellbeing. But he couldn’t commit to an operation when he was so close to cracking the Danny Latimer case and getting the boy the justice he deserved.

The room was quiet, a soft beeping of a heart monitor announcing his heart beats, which had thankfully steadied. It wasn’t erratic, or beating out of his chest as it had been during the chase. Small victories he supposed.

Hardy turned a bit onto his side to look around the room, studying the monitor and it’s reading, as well as the IV drip in his hand. He huffed a quiet breath at the medical equipment before turning on to his other side and almost dropping back onto his back in hazy surprise at hearing an irritated voice huff a rather annoyed, “well, look who’s back in the land of the living.” which was followed by his eyes landing on a very familiar, annoyed, face.

“(Y/N),” Hardy breathed out, trying to prop himself up on his elbows to get a better look at his boyfriend who should currently be home, hours away from Broadchurch, “what... what are you doing here? Why are you in Broadchurch?”

“Well,” you clicked your tongue, arms crossed across your chest, “as it turns out, when a loved one is literally dying, the hospital tends to contact your emergency contact.”

“I wasn’t dying,” Hardy tried to wave it off, rolling his eyes at his boyfriend. He couldn’t help the tug of guilt in his chest though, which in turn, made his heart skip a noticeable beat on the heart monitor. He glanced slowly at the machine, before looking back to his frustrated boyfriend.

“No, you really were,” (Y/N) frowned, eyes locked on the machine to just give a warning beep, before you were casting your look back on your hospitalized boyfriend, “they told me you were dying.”

“They... they’re not allowed to tell you that.” Alec huffed, pulling himself up. You stood to adjust his pillows so he could sit up a bit more, and Alec didn’t seem bothered by you doing so.

He wasn’t the fondest of being cared for, but honestly, you didn’t really care about that right now. Not when he looked so pitiful tucked away in a hospital bed after almost dying while chasing a supposed murderer.

You’d heard the whole story form his new partner, who’d just stepped out to get the two of you coffee, just before Alec finally woke up.

You really needed the coffee since you’d driven almost all night to sit by Alec’s bedside until he woke up so you could scold him properly.

Ellie clearly had the same idea, since she’d also been up all night with him, and it almost made you smile. Or, it would’ve if Alec hadn’t been in the Intensive Care Unit at your arrival.

He’d been moved to a regular room shortly after when his heart steadied out, and you couldn’t be more thankful you could sit with him here.

It was the worst feeling to have a loved one be so close to dying and not be able to see them—or hold their hand, which you hadn’t put down when you’d finally gotten a hold of. At least until Alec showed signs of waking, then you remembered you were cross with him.

Ellie had been a lovely woman, charming and pleasant since you’d met her in the waiting room. You really weren’t sure how she had managed to put up with Alec, but then again, everyone always wondered how you could do the same thing.

You’d heard bits and pieces of Ellie Miller from Alec over the phone, but you knew very little. He didn’t share every detail, but he was always happy to rant and grumble about things that annoyed him about people and work, and even Broadchurch as a whole.

She was a good partner for him if she could manage to put up with him, and you’d expressed how thankful you were that she’d been there for Alec. You couldn’t even imagine if he’d had an arrhythmia when he was by himself.

“They’re supposed to tell me everything that puts you in the hospital, Alec. Anytime you’re admitted, I should be the first person to know. Just like you’d like to know if I were admitted into the hospital, wouldn’t you?” Alec looked down to his lap, which was confirmation enough.

You rolled your eyes at the man in the bed, annoyed but fond all the same. You wanted to reach for his hand again, now that he was conscious and would squeeze your hand back like he always did, but you were still angry at him, “in fact, I’m a bit pissed off I wasn’t contacted when you fell in the restroom in your hotel room just after you got here. And even if they didn’t tell me, you should’ve rung me. You can’t keep these things a secret from me, not when it’s your health we’re talking about.”

“Hey, that one wasn’t my fault,” Alec frowned. “I was just as surprised as you were, I’m sure. It wasn’t a secret, I just... I don’t want to worry you.”

“I know,” you sighed, leaning back in the chair tiredly, “we’ll still talk about it later. And it’s my job to be worried about you. I only agreed to you coming here alone because you promised to look after yourself if I wasn’t here with you. I know how you feel about small towns and the gossip associated, but I’m not going to stand back and watch you work yourself into an early grave because you don’t want people talking about us.”

“It’s not that I don’t want them talking about us,” he stressed the word, “it’s that I don’t want you being hassled by newspapers for information about cases—and I certainly don’t want them focusing on us when there’s been a child murdered. Not everyone’ll be accepting of us—especially here with all the local chatter and that bloody Broadchurch Echo newspaper.”

He paused for a beat before lifting his attention and giving you a soft glare, “and I’ve been looking after myself,” Alec muttered, offended by the observation. “And if I haven’t, Millhur has been. She brings me tea, and... chips. I’m fine.”

“Of course,” you sniped, “it sure looks like you’ve been watching over yourself, Love.” You gestured easily along the length of Alec, curled up in a hospital bed. The man returned a look of irritation, but it didn’t bother you. “Honestly, you’d probably be far worse off if Ellie hadn’t been keeping an eye on you, which thankfully she has been watching out for your sorry arse.”

“Ellie,” the man wrinkled his nose, narrowing his eyes at your tense figure, “since when have you been buddy-buddy with Millhur?”

“Since the two of us sat up all night together waiting for a certain hospitalized spoon to come to.”

Once again Alec looked offended. Spoon wasn’t exactly an endearing nickname, but you were still upset with him. He was probably just upset that you finally met the Miller he talked almost fondly about, in his grouchy Alec way whenever the two of you spoke on the phone.

You took a breath, exhaling slowly before launching yourself into another round of telling him off, which he clearly needed to hear, “I just can’t understand why you’d throw yourself into a situation you knew you were in no shape to be handling. Your heart is weak, Alec. You can’t be stressing, or overexerting yourself. You need to be careful, and chasing after a murder in the dead of night is certainly not careful.”

“I was doing my job,” Alec let his head fall back against the pillows propping him up. “I was doing what I’m getting paid to do. I’m doing what’s morally right for the families of the children who were murdered.”

“I know that,” you promised, “but, you’re not the only detective the world, Alec,” you tried to keep yourself from exclaiming, “you may be one of the best, but you’re not the only one. And you certainly won’t be any help when you’re six feet under because you ignored your own needs, and your body’s pleas for you to stop and take it easy for once!”

Alec’s lips curled up into a scowl, but he looked a bit more guilty that he really looked mad. You hated making him feel guilty for helping others, and being a truly amazing detective by bringing in bad guys, but you’d much rather this look guilty than, be attending his funeral because he ignored every word of advice ever given to him.

It didn’t matter who said it, whether it be you, a doctor, a specialist, Daisy, or even his ex-wife, once he put his mind to something, there was nothing anyone could say to make him stop and reconsider. But you’d known that since way back when, when the two of you had started dating.

“You seriously almost died, Alec.” You sighed, looking down at the floor, “do you know how awful it is to get a call like that in the early hours of the morning? Someone phoning you to tell you that your boyfriend had been rushed to hospital after collapsing at work?”

“I know,” he whispered, reaching a hand out, barely hanging over the edge of the bed, “I know, Love, and I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to. But I couldn’t let him get away; I can’t do that to Danny. This case will not end the same way it did for Pippa and Lisa. I won’t let it—I can’t let it.”

You’d been following the case via news articles and police statements. You were proud of Alec for what he did for a living, despite fearing that it would eventually be the death of him. He really did so much for the victims and their families, more than anyone could know. He always worked so hard to bring in offenders, especially murderers.

You also knew the details of the Sandbrook case—you knew everything because he’d told you. You probably knew more than most of the officers at Sandbrook, because you believed him wholeheartedly. He was a good, kindhearted man. Just a bit tough on the outside.

“You can’t help anyone if you’re dead,” you reminded with a sigh, reaching across the gap between his bed and your chair to finally take his hand into your own. It was brutal, but it was the truth. You just hoped it would sink in for Alec.

Alec squeezed your hand just like you were silently praying he would. It was comforting, quieting your raging emotions if only for a moment. He was okay, he’d survived and he was here talking to you.

“I hope I’m not stressing you out,” you whispered as you scooted your chair a bit closer to the bed so you weren’t reaching quite as far. “That would be counterproductive.”

“Nah,” he shook his head, giving you a small smile and bringing your hand to his mouth so he could press a kiss to the back of your hand which was still held tightly in his, “you’ve just been telling me what I needed to hear from someone other than myself. I know all this, but I can’t just stop. Health aside, there’s a family—three families—who have lost their children.”

“But what if I lose you?” you couldn’t help but ask, “or if Daisy loses her father? And what about Ellie? I’m quite sure she’s grown a bit fond of you as well, though I’m not sure how that happened,” you teased lightly. It was just to ease the tension a bit. The man gave you a small, sad smile, before he was looking up to the ceiling thoughtfully.

“Alright, alright,” he sighed, “I’ll try to be a bit more careful. For Daisy and you... and, well, I suppose for Millhur too. But I will not stop. We’re so close to catching Danny’s killer. I don’t care what anyone has to say, that bastard will not get away with this.”

“You’ll get the sick bastard who did this,” you told him, because it was what he needed to hear. “You and Ellie. The two of you will catch this guy. I know you will, because that’s what you do.”

You paused for a second before turning towards him and frowning, “but for the love of God, don’t kill yourself trying, y’hear?”

“I hear,” Alec laughed. “I’m alright now,” he assured, pulling your hand halfheartedly towards himself. You huffed a small laugh, standing up so you could sit on the side of the bed against the headboard like he was silently requesting you do. Alec smiled at you, shifting closer so he could tuck his head into your side. “I’ll be alright. I’ll be alright, and I’ll catch the bastard to kill Danny Latimer.”

“I expect nothing less,” you snorted, trailing your fingers through his hair now that he was within reach and apparently seeking affection, “now you need to relax for a while if you expect me to let you return to work as fast as I know you’re going to want me too.”

“I should get back today-”

“Absolutely not. You just don’t know when to quit, do you?” you muttered in fond disbelief, “tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. And you’re going to be sticking around Ellie, or so help me, I’ll kill you myself.”

“Yes, fine,” Alec rolled his eyes, “tomorrow, and I’ll stick close to Millhur. Happy then?”

“Immensely,” you deadpanned before grinning at the man cuddled into your side. “I’m just glad you’re alright.”

----

To say Ellie was surprised to find out that her boss had such a pleasant boyfriend was a bit of an understatement. She probably shouldn’t have been so surprised at the knowledge that he wasn’t as lonely and miserable in the dating department as she’d thought, since he’d not said a word about himself since arriving.

He’d only told her about his daughter when Joe had prompted him into it when Hardy had come around their house for dinner. Hell, he’d not even bothered to tell her he had severe heart arrhythmia.

That wasn’t something someone should keep from their friend.

He really could’ve died, and she was fully prepared to lay into him for keeping that secret the moment he woke up, when (Y/N) had rushed in the doors demanding to know how he was.

Like the polite person she was, Ellie had introduced herself to the mystery man pleading to see her boss, only to find out the jerk had this secret boyfriend he hadn’t bothered mentioning.

She knew bare minimum of his ex-wife, so it was a bit of a surprise that he had a boyfriend, not that she minded. He could be into anyone he fancied and nothing could change what she thought of him. He’d always be Hardy, a bit of a prick, but one of the best people she’d ever known.

They’d gotten around to talking, waiting into the late hours of the morning before Hardy was moved from Intensive Care and into a regular room, where the two of them were allowed to sit with him.

Ellie thought it was adorable how (Y/N) pushed his chair up right close to the bed and held her boss’ hand. It was strange to see Hardy like this, to see him have someone who clearly loved and cared for him, holding his hand and sitting without moving for hours.

She was happy he had someone. She’d never say it out loud, and never to Hardy, but she knew he was too good to be alone. That it wasn’t right that a man like Hardy would be single, even though he was a bit of an odd guy.

(Y/N) seemed like a lovely guy. Doting and caring. He told her stories that she was sure Hardy would’ve lost his mind if he knew she knew them, but (Y/N) didn’t seem bothered at the fact, and instead only shot fond looks at Hardy as he retold the stories.

He didn’t tell her much about Hardy in general—like his daughter or ex, or even mention his illness or anything along the lines, but he had ample stories and fond memories of the two of them he was happy to share.

Ellie could barely even imagine her Hardy—the Hardy in the bed to be the man in (Y/N)’s stories. But it was adorable and heartwarming all the same. It made her happy that Hardy had someone like (Y/N).

And it made he even happier that (Y/N) was scolding Hardy like she wanted too as well. Not that she meant to eavesdrop outside the door, but it really doesn’t take more than ten minutes to get coffee from the cafeteria in the hospital.

They were the cutest thing, and she’d be sure to tease Hardy a bunch about his adorable boyfriend when he was feeling better. And she definitely would because it wasn’t every day that an important person from Hardy’s life makes an appearance.

When the talking inside the room died down to an occasional mumble, Ellie finally rapped her knuckles twice without managing to spill any coffee as a warning before pushing it open with her elbow, two to-go cups of barely warmer than lukewarm coffee in her hands.

“’ello, Sir,” she grinned, containing the ‘aw’ sitting on the tip of her tongue as she took in her boss cuddled into his boyfriend, “feeling better?”

“I’m fine,” he waved her off with a scowl that was all too familiar at this point. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen the man without a scowl if she were honest.

He didn’t bother moving away from his boyfriend though, as she feared he would’ve done since he was Hardy, and that alone warmed her heart.

“Well, don’t the two of you look all cozy,” she couldn’t resist teasing. She stepped into the room, handing the second cup of coffee to (Y/N). He took the cup gratefully, grinning widely at the comment before taking a sip of his coffee and leaning back against the pillows.

“Sod off, Millhur,” the man reclined in the bed sighed. He even sounded tired, but she resisted the urge to frown. Frowning wouldn’t help anyone.

“Of course, Sir.”

“You make her call you sir?” (Y/N) looked down at Hardy with a teasing smile, “why can’t she call you Alec?”

“I don’t like Alec,” Hardy groaned turning his head to bury his face in (Y/N)’s shirt, “never liked Alec, you know that. Don’t like it when you call me Alec either, but can’t very well stop you now can I?”

“I can call you Sir too, if you’d like?”

“Right, I should go then,” Ellie retreated, a bit awkward that (Y/N) was actually teasing her boss. No one she knew (besides herself to a way lesser degree) would ever even think about teasing Alec Hardy.

Plus, she really didn’t want to see where this teasing ended, not if it could possibly ruin her ever calling Hardy sir again. There were so few names she could actually call him, and she really didn’t want Sir to be ruined for her. “I’ll see you back at work, Sir. In a day or two.”

“A day,” Hardy replied easily. Ellie nodded, not bothering to try and get the man to stay in the hospital any longer. Not when she already knew it was a lost cause, especially if (Y/N) hadn’t been successful, “oh and Millhur?”

Ellie paused, looking back into the room to see he boss’ eyes on her, “if we can keep this between us for now? Not that it’s a secret, just--”

“Of course,” Ellie agreed instantly, “it’s yours to share when you do. I won’t say anything. Even though there’s really nothing to share.”

“Thank you.”

“You... just feel better, alright? We’ve got a killer to catch and I can’t do that without you.”

<><><><>

Thanks so much for the prompt, and for reading! Feel free to send another ask if this wasn’t what you were looking for, but hopefully it is!

Also, let me know if I messed up anywhere with male reader pronouns, I read through a couple times, but they might’ve slipped past me!

#alec hardy #alec hardy x reader #alec hardy x male reader #ellie miller #broadchurch #reader insert #writing prompt #male reader

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bilbobagginsomebabez · 2 years ago

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i’ve been thinking about this all damn day for no good reason. I don’t know what it is about engineers/programmers/stem-heads but y’all seem to exclusively start from a position of “can I?” instead of “should I?”

like an obvious example is search algorithms and social media reinforcing confirmation bias to an insane degree. it was clearly possible to make search algorithms that use your previous interactions online to curate your results. it was also a terrible idea, and several disciplines within the humanities were ready and willing to communicate that! at the time and currently! but stem disciplines don’t respect the “soft sciences” and are often outright disinterested in questions about the social ramifications of their creations. there was a whole movement about humanities illiteracy in stem fields because of the whole 'social media disinformation threatening democracy' thing [which mostly seems to have become STEAM initiatives- science, yada yada ART mathematics. which love the energy but sociology is not art and is the discipline stem fields need targeted exposure to.] I know you guys Do Not like that question but it is extremely important to ask! another example from another stem field is genetic research into what causes autism. most autistic people i know are of the opinion you literally should not even try to figure that out until we have more complete autism acceptance and can be confident they won't be medically wiped out as a result of the research. which is a real concern for people with autism considering the biggest US national charity about it (AutismSpeaks) literally advocates for that exact medical genocide. which lots of autistic people vehemently disagree with for a LOT of fucking reasons!

the amount that humans enjoy a task has no bearing on how easy it is to automate, but it DOES have bearing on which tasks you should even try to automate. like you are a human using your brain and your time and your energy to make a thing for other people to use. it does not exist for its own sake and it doesn't exist in a vacuum. if nobody ever looks at it or uses it but you, that feels bad. you are inventors, you're engineers, you're creators, you're tingsmiths, tinkering around with the materials available and dreaming of how they can be used by other people. a part of the joy of creation is the joy in its use. don't lie to me and say you're satisfied that your time and energy and brain power went towards a thing gathering dust and cobwebs. it is vitally important that you create things you are joyful to see used. other people are integral to why you're doing the thing, you have no reason to do it otherwise. you literally cannot convince me you'd actually be joyful to see your invention used to hurt others. so YES you also have to take into account WHAT other people will do with the thing.

my specific disciplines are american lit and global strategic studies and it feels just incredibly fucking bad to be dealing with something that attacks both at once-- both the labor power of an artist class and our fucking stories!--and have some weirdly superior techy person go "I am tired of explaining it was simply incredibly easy to do and all the stuff people ask for(need?) is harder." like okay have you considered not creating the torment nexus even if it's super easy for you? i assume its equally as easy if not easier to NOT create a torment nexus. then you might even put all that unused torment nexus energy towards a Doesn'tSuck nexus of any variety. that's totally an option. and if you're unsure of how to identify torment nexuses, teamwork makes the dream work baby! we're incredibly lucky to have a myriad of established fields who are dedicated to asking that question every day and have lots of valuable insights and knowledge to add. like. consider this. people have been telling stories to exchange meaning since we developed language. and we've been talking about that meaning equally as long! like folklore often contains extremely pertinent warnings about the literal environmental dangers of the region. like religious folklore from cameroon about disturbing a goddess' sacred waters or risking death was actually about a scientifically proven and extremely dangerous chemical process where the waters retained carbon monoxide and released it in huge deathly bursts when disturbed! (Lake Nyos look it up it's fucking crazy 1200 people died overnight.)

like if you'd asked me (someone who got a degree about stories), if you should let an AI generator who can't even understand language make stories about people, i would have told you absolutely the fuck not don't do it for nearly countless reasons. SO MANY REASONS. like stories are a part of how we interact with the living world-- we literally narrativize our own fucking lives to make sense of them! everybody's got a story for a reason! and if you give That Actually Very Important Human Job to generative prediction software that doesn't actually even understand human language, you're not just creating a new labor exploitation machine (wish i didn't have to tell you don't do that), you're also stagnating an extremely important generative meaning-making process to the shit people have published or already said publicly online in 2023. the world will keep changing and people will keep being born after 2023 and there's all sorts of experiences people are keeping secret right the fuck now. all that lost, ignored. replaced with reiterations of what's come before. post after post after post and PSA after PSA about the importance of representation and how stories impact people--oh my god to the point this site literally has PROBLEMS telling the difference between fiction and reality-- and you're surprised that limiting our storytelling capabilities/career options to things people posted on the internet about until 2023 is Not A Good Idea? eric andre why would anyone do this shooting.jpg.

you're fucking with stuff very close to the nature of humanity and your baby ass 40-year-old field is still in its teenage phase where you think you've got the whole future of humanity in your hands and your hands alone--so powerful nothing can displace your influence. as if refusing to acknowledge The Way People Act or the people who study and doing whatever random shit is easiest to accomplish with your techy tools at hand is a winning strategy for shaping the future rather than monkeys throwing shit at a wall and calling it technological progress. MY discipline includes first-hand accounts of 40,000 year old geological phenomena through the PEAK OF HUMANITY oral history and storytelling traditions of aboriginal australians. MY field includes every morality tale you were told in sunday school. MY field includes the uplifting stories politicians tell you to win your votes, why they're uplifting to you, and why they might not be uplifting elsewhere. MY field includes every narrative idea any person ever told to another person to communicate an idea or belief. MY field includes the bulk of the development of your goddamn society and all the experiences of those who reside within it.

All Your Ideas Come From Sci-Fi For A Fucking Reason.

stories are a lifeblood of humanity. and it's often very easy to to extremely fucked up shit. the fucked up shit being easy doesn't unfuck it

when will i stop seeing posts of the genre "ah! you were supposed to automate away the BAD jobs, not the FUN CREATIVE ones! why not simply just [solve like 8 incredibly hard open problems in robotics] instead of [LLM thing]!"

like. sorry i apparently have to be the one to break this to you but the amount humans enjoy a task has basically zero correlation with how difficult it is to automate

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mimiri22-6 · 4 years ago

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I JUST FOUND OUT BEE AND PUPPYCAT HAD A SECOND SEASON! GUESS WHAT I JUST FINISHED WATCHING!

Oh my fucking god holy shit, my guys! This show. This fucking show. Where do I even start! First off

SPOILERS!!!!!!

YOU DO NOT WANT TO WALK INTO THIS SEASON, THIS SHOW, WITH SPOILERS! DO NOT FUCKING LOOK, THIS IS 1000% SPOILER TERRITORY!!!

So I will be taking the extra step of taking my laptop out, and continuing this on there(and after I wake up because it's 4am and I regret absolutely NONE of this whatsoever because, guys, I love this show with everything I have left to my being, I swear, I will die for a third season)

Warning: This is a long one.

OKOKOKOK! I know I know! It’s been uh...A Month since I first posted this! BUT I am Here Now and Ready!!! I am less than 10 seconds into the first episode of season 2 and I am already So Ready to relive this!!(Dream SMP has Nothing on this show, God I Love This Show Far Too Much!!!!!!)

...First ten minutes...I have So Much I want to say...Just-just a lot of love...

okokokokokokokokokok!!!!!! I think I know how I’m going to do this now! One bullet for each episode! Let’s see if I stick with it.

Gentle Touch

In the first episode we already get a big game changer for Bee and her development. Bee becoming more responsible as a favor for Deckard. He asks her to take care of his family while he’s at cooking school and we already see her doing this. Going out to the ocean with Weasley, going out of her comfort zone for people she’s practically family to, which is why we got the beginning flashback, once again going out of her comfort zone to stop Puppycat from punching kittens, And Finally, coming out from her nap cupboard to face Howl and help pay for bills by eating ugly food.

Little Fingers

Ooh, this one has foreshadowing dream sequence. I would say more about it if it had more significance, but it’s really just what happens to Bee in the last ep. This episode brings more of Bee being responsible, trying to take her phone away from Puppycat so he stops making bad purchases. This episode made me realize what Puppycat’s role is this season, the child. Or something among those lines. He’s the same as he was last season, but it seems/is a bit more exaggerated because Bee isn’t doing the same things anymore. She’s started to care about consequences. And speaking about consequences, Toast announces she’s pregnant while confirming that she’s been staying...in Cass’s room(?)...weird, but ok, and by Tim pointing and Merlin’s reaction, it’s Merlin’s...but also everyone else seemed like they thought they were the culprit and I don’t want to think about the implications of that....MOVING ON-OH WAIT, And Cardamon’s mom is spouting magic tears that messes with the plants, so there’s that.

Snow and Violets

I’m going to be honest, I’m not 100% sure what to put here and I’m loosing steam. (I’ve been awake since 3 am...) But I think I can put something. The situation with Mr. Cup is the definition of being haunted by your past. The guilt and regret of cheating in the past has made him lose his motivation to give it his all in racing because, what’s the point? Motivation and not caring was his norm, so he just stuck with it. Until Bee, and now he can be a rainbow and sleep with less guilt and regret on his conscience. The thing with the island rapidly changing could be one of three things. Something to do with the ship that Is the island, a metaphor for change, or something really cool the creators just wanted.

Day off Work

Not Too much to note for this ep overall. Puppycat totally did do the ‘wrecking the house in search for the owner’ thing dogs do. Finally, a dog trait! Every time I see Cardamon now I just get sad cause he’s 7, and should Not be doing landlord stuff. Bee showing worry about how Cardamon’s mom is still asleep and being worried about Cardamon himself, I’m just glad someone’s noticing. I keep forgetting that some people haven’t watched the pilot so they don’t know about Puppycat being a Space Outlaw, so when he found all his stuff under the apartment I was less surprised and more excited. The two last things I want to say is I think it’s interesting/cool/intriguing how the Wizard family just takes every weird thing either in stride, unquestioningly, or ignorance. Just trying to pretend it didn’t happen so they don’t have to deal with it(other than Crispin, but he’s coming up). And the last thing I just want to bring to light is CARDAMON BEING SO CUTE IN THE LAST SCENE! JUST BEING A CHILD! AND LAUGHING WITH HIS DOG! ON A FUNNY CHAIR! I LOVE HIM YOUR HONOR AND I WILL PROTECT THAT SMILE WITH MY WHOLE BEING!!!

My Favorite

Note, Pretty Patrick is also The Mayor. Alright. It’s definitely been a few months and you can see the relationship between Howl and Bee has gotten better, not that it was too bad to begin with, just a bit less peeved on Howl’s end. The theme of Bee being responsible is brought into play again with the train station scene. Telling Puppycat to not hit and the way Puppycat was acting around Patrick. All little kid stuff. Which also kind of clashes with what I thought was Puppycat being older than Bee by a lot, I’m honestly slowly getting more and more confused exactly how I should perceive Puppycat. THE FIRST REAL LOOK AT THE HAND GUYS! I’m still not sure what their deals are, but they have a corpse on their hands and that is already the biggest red flag. I have a guess as to what/who they are in relation to Puppycat and, by acquaintance, Bee, but I could be wrong, but I also can’t think of any other people they may be. I’ll bring it back up either the next time we see them or at the end.

Did You Remember

Grampa Puppycat cares about his granddaughter a whole lot. Don’t @ me, their dynamic is more confusing than a moving maze...Now this episode, ooh boy, it feels like a lot, but in a minimal way? First off, Cardamon finally breaks down about the stress of being a 7 year old landlord and Bee takes care of him for the day. Big Sis Bee For The Win! DON’T @ ME I MAKE UP MY OWN FAMILY DYNAMICS!!! Kind of continuing from the first sentence, Puppycat and Bee love each other(I Stand By Platonically For Them) so much already, for them it’s been a little over a year considering Puppycat fell into Bee’s life before her last birthday and now they’re celebrating another one. And I must admit, I can not for the life of me figure out wtf the deal is with the tears. They have little shapes of recent events in them and they make plants weird/straight up just make life! Like, What Even Is That?! Also, Cardamon finally gets a good sleep.

Bird Friend

Ok, so we got more ship pieces, a most likely reason as to why Puppycat was Like That in the last few episodes of season 1 and has been goopy every now and again in this season. Apparently eating things he shouldn’t eat make him Extremely off model and goopy. More hands! But not the rest of them this time around. I wonder if Sticky’s hunt for all the birds has any significance other than showing us another piece. Puppycat breaking down and spilling a few secrets after stress eating off the floor and Bee immediately saying no to someone else telling her what’s wrong with Puppycat and letting him come to her first instead of forcing him is always such a good lesson to have. Also, Cass is into weirdly shaped shiny things.

Two Clown Noses

Ah, it’s this one. The one that Really throws a wrench into the Bee/Deckard ship. THEY’RE BOTH SO CUTE! I CAN’T CHOOSE!!! This entire episode is just Crispin and Bee hanging out with the added angst of the beginning ‘story’. This world is full of such amazingly crazy characters and Crispin’s backstory is one of those crazier ones. Bee and him Lived Together and Know Each Other, he knows she’s a robot! My only question is, what happened that they broke up? WAIT- DID THEY EVEN BREAK UP?! It would be weird if they weren’t because they were living together and then they decide to live separate again would make no sense. I think I just jumped to the weirdest conclusion...Anyway! How would Puppycat get sick? I feel like that was just another thing they added to create different dynamics. The beginning birthday thing and the conclusion felt so real even though the cause was something so out there that I feel like only animated shows like this could pass, but also I feel like someone out there has done something similar, so what do I know. Yeah, not much else about this episode, it was mostly just Bee/Crispin stuff and character stuff. Gosh they’re so cute...but so is Bee/Deckard. Being a multishipper is hard...

Funny Lying

RIGHT! THEY’RE CALLED THE WARLOCKS! THAT’S THE TITLE I WAS FORGETTING! Tim knows everyone’s secrets, comes with the perk of having a lot of time and not talking much, you observe everyone else while they think you’re doing something else. I know from experience. Eavesdropping is a specialty of mine. SHIT THIS IS THE ONE WHERE CASS GETS THE MESSAGE DISSING HER FOR FALLING FOR TOAST FROM A COWORKER! I caught those vibes during the first season, but then the first half of this season came along and I was forced to drop those vibes in favor of cannon because TOAST WAS PREGOS WITH ONE OF CASS’S BROTHER’S KIDS! I’m good at catching gay vibes in fictional worlds, but I’m shit in the real world, just like everything else. And the thing is, we don’t get Any kind of explanation/closure for the entire rest of the season! We see Toast totally shocked reaction, probably moments before she was going to sneak attack Cass, but froze upon seeing that text. AND WE GET NOTHING ABOUT THAT FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON! Anyway, that was only like 2 minutes into the ep, this is taking forever. We got more Bee being responsible for Cardamon and getting rid of the tears, but the biggest part of this episode is undoubtedly Puppycat’s scenes. We got him sinking to the bottom of the ocean and getting cradled by flowers created by the tears next to the ship. We find out he was bullied and ridiculed in school as a kid and his best friend(idk what else they would be counted as), Violet, convinced him to leave their planet after they accidently summon their ship, leaving Puppycat’s mother behind. seeing how he cried about leaving her she seems to have been a great caretaker and he loved her immensely. We get the scene of Bee’s dad as a baby/Very young child on a mission, giving a presentation, and finding the candy to be a source of energy by cracking it open. Making me think, ‘Is that Bee’s fuel source? If it is, how would not taking full doses for two years effect her?’ because in the first season she splits the candy in half to share with Puppycat and in this season she didn’t eat the candy at all. Makes me even more worried for the future knowing what state she’s in when this season ends. With the last flower fever dream/memory it seems that the princess that he fell in love with was the one to make the final move to turning him into a ‘monster.’ Don’t worry tho, Bee saved him from the bottom of the ocean

Golden Eyes

(I’m getting more and more tired as this goes one. I started doing this at around 12 this morning and now it’s nearing 6 pm. I’m loosing it!) We got another birthday and it’s Howl’s this time, though it’s not really his episode. The fish are attracted to the wish crystals for some reason and one eats a bit of it to be ‘human’ for a day. I love how the fish hated being a human and Weasley didn’t even notice it was a date. I don’t know if it was or not, but ending on that was funny. We got the return of the major douche from the season 1 finally and a mention of Moully.

Why Don’t You Help Me?

(I took a break between episodes, aka I went tf to sleep, because I was falling asleep at the table and not really processing everything enough for what I’m trying to do) Ok, so this is a day in the life of Cardamon episode with supposed parelles to the Warlocks. We start with the red one stuck and the others unwilling to help...and then they start drawing Puppycat’s face on the 5th one’s corpse and these guys just do not care that it’s a dead body that they supposedly killed themselves. In short, they have all my fear because they are uncaring about body counts. Cardamon still goes to school on top of being a self proclaimed landlord and gets made fun of for being responsible and tattling at every chance he gets. Something I just noticed too is, at first I just assumed he was finally getting tired after being an adult in a child’s body for who knows how long, but now I’m thinking if he’s supposed to be asleep with Violet, his mom, then the reason for him being so tired is being awake too long. It could most likely be both, too. Just like Cardamon, I have no idea what all the tears mean. In the most recent one was see Moully as the charm in the center. What’s the pattern with these? Again we see Bee being responsible and taking care of Cardamon, making sure he gets home safe, tucking him in, and pulling an all night favor so he can sleep and get to school in the morning. Speaking of that, I can’t say I like Cardamon’s teachers all that much. I could rant about them, but this is already long and they’re not worth it. My only real question is, why the hell are their clothes so ragged and dirty? Do they not know how to bathe? Just, WTF? (either that or they’re Really not trying to hide their *ahem* activities from the kids, which just makes me want to punch sense into them or something)

Now I’m Really Alone

MOULLY!!!! Sorry, I just love him a lot. From what I can put together, he’s some kind of gift giving being. Giving wishes, exchanging good deeds and quick favors for other good deeds and favors. Just being Really nice and wanting to help everyone he comes across. This episode makes me see so much in common between Bee and Moully. They both want to help even when they don’t know how. Making messes and finding ways clean up those messes out of guilt and the feeling of obligation. They both have lost things they need to pick up and the knowledge that they have all the time in the world because they’ve both been alive for so long. It keeps getting hinted, but now kind of confirmed, that the Wizard’s know Bee is Weird because they haven’t seen her age. Hell, seeing how she interacts with Cardamon she could have even baby sat them. So all the Wizard’s know she’s Weird and, supposedly, only Crispin knew she was a robot. That was until Deckard found out in the season 1 finally. Once again bringing up the point of people in the Wizard family finding something out and ignoring it and hiding it. In the season 1 finally, Tim asked Cass if Deckard wasn’t depressed anymore, practically saying that Deckard has some form of depression. Depression being a mental illness that runs in families, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that some other members of the family have similar problems. One of the things I remember depression doing is the person will see a problem and ignore it. Something that many people in this show do with the weirdness around them and the emotional states/situations of the other people in the show. This season is about finally seeing the thing you’ve been ignoring and doing something about it. And that’s what Bee’s been doing this season, taking charge and finally getting her junk out of the ocean and getting REALLY far out of her comfort zone. She HATES water and the ocean, but she’s diving in to take back what’s hers and cleaning up a mess. There’s A Lot to analyze with this episode, the similarities of Moully’s and Bee’s situations and personalities, Puppycat being the responsible one again for the long run of things, the tears and how the wish crystals work, and the state of multiple character’s minds. Ignorance is bliss until it isn’t.

I Won’t Leave You Alone

Ok, SO MANY NOTES! Which makes sense seeing how it’s the last episode. First off, THOSE WARLOCK BASTDARDS VIOLATED MOULLY AND IF THEY WERE REAL I WOULD THROTLE THEM TILL THEIR HEADS POPPED OFF!!! I am a very protective person when it comes to things I care about. And I’m going to say it here and now incase something comes up of it, Cooking Prince gives be Colorful Vibes, if you know what I mean. You don’t follow someone home and bother them when they don’t want to be bothered unless you’re Into into them. That’s all I’m saying and if nothing comes of it, I will drop it. I’m barely hanging onto it to begin with. So, last episode we watched one of three hands punching the other hands to let Moully go, and in this episode it’s confirmed that the day Moully was pulled through the void, the 5th warlock died. My theory with that is, the 5th one was against getting Puppycat in some way and retaliated by fighting them off of Moully and then the others retaliated by killing them in some way. And the tears in this episode didn’t give life to the corpse, but grew new life over top of it, the tears can’t bring the dead back. The ship gets put back together and we see Puppycat being pretty selfish again, bringing the ship online while Bee gets scooped trying to help Moully. He indirectly helped, but only after he got what he wanted. Cooking Prince, an outsider, brings up how everything going on on the island is Weird and Cass celebrates someone acknowledging it. Once again, bringing back the ‘ignorance is bliss until it’s not’ thing going on around here. Cardamon does more childish things this episode, making a wish and crying in his mother’s arms. He got to finally let go of his responsibilities and let it out until he passed out, and now he gets to sleep again. Moully and Bee are out of commission and the Wizard’s+Cooking Prince stay one the island/ship to be with Bee even though they are mostly confused about EVERYTHING going on rn. Bee has multiple Bees now while she’s out, and so, they go looking for Bee’s dad. I have a feeling he has at least some white hairs by now.

I remember watching this season for the first time. I remember I definitely cried at multiple points, but I can’t exactly remember what points now. I didn’t cry this time, I was too busy taking everything in and trying to put what little pieces I could find together. The first season was to get us used to this world and get comfortable for a chill ride, but then it smacks you in the face with something much bigger at the very end. This season was to make you pay more attention and to question your surroundings. It was also about the first steps to taking charge of your life. If Bee didn’t do all the responsible things she did this season, the warlocks would have probably gotten Puppycat while the island went to shambles. Actions have consequences and that’s what this was about. I believe next season is why ‘Lazy in Space’ was the title. The characters are going to be in space, looking for Bee’s dad, and will acknowledge all the weird things going on while developing, excuse the pun, in out of this world ways.

I can’t wait for season 3.

#bee and puppycat #this show is fucking amazing #it is worth the loss of sleep time and work #bee and puppycat spoilers #season 2 spoilers #bee and puppycat season 2 #bee and puppycat season 2 spoilers #now I usually tag every character that I mention but that would be imposable at this point #show review #season review #I love this show lots #it deserves all the love it can get #(I'll rb with the link I used but I'll only tag it minimally just incase)

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redvoid-40 · 4 years ago

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In the woods there grew a tree - part 5

Hey guys! I’m back with a new - and more exciting, if I do say so myself - chapter! However, I do wonder if anyone is actually reading this? =.=

Previous chapter / Next chapter

Angor Rot was anxious.

As her father, he always worried whenever Charo went out on her own, always glanced at the cavern’s entrance multiple times in an hour, hoping to see the child return home and then sighing in disappointment when it was not so. But today he felt something beyond that; he couldn’t explain why, but he felt scared.

A troll was telling him something about a gnomes infestation in her house, but Angor Rot was barely listening to it. His head was on Charo, and how long she was taking to come back from the forest. He really should’ve gone with her.

The troll in front of Angor seemed to be ready to rant on forever, but a flash of movement on the cavern’s entrance, followed by a desperate caw, made her go silent as the entire village turned towards it. Corvell was there, flying agitatedly and cawing without pause as his blue eyes ran over the village, looking for his creator.

Angor Rot felt despair knock the breath out of him as he ran to the golem. “Corvell, what happened? Where’s Charo?”

The words had barely left Angor and someone else entered the village. It was Grekyl, or at least most of him. The large troll was short on one arm, but before Angor could worry about tha,t his eyes fell on his remaining limb, and on the unconscious child it was carrying.

“Charo!” Angor Rot reached out with both hands to pull the child to him. His little girl was pale and cold to the touch, unresponsive no matter how loudly he called her name.

“She used too much magic, and the snow soaked her clothes.” Grekyl explained hurriedly. “She needs heat.”

Yellow eyes rose to the large troll and in them there was a ferocity so intense and so violent that Grekyl took a step back from his leader.

“I’ll deal with you later.” Angor Rot promised before sprinting back to his house with Charo in his arms, barking orders to his people. Feed the fire, bring dry blankets, heat something for her to drink!

The trolls rushed to obey and in a matter of moments Angor had rid Charo of her wet clothes and wrapped her in warm blankets, holding her tight in his arms as he stood as close to the fire in their hearth as possible. Corvell stood on his shoulder, letting out miserable chirps as he stared down at the unmoving girl. In a matter of seconds, trolls approached their leader, feeding more wood to the fire and bringing a steaming cup of goat milk - something they had watched their leader feed the human so many times before, when she was a baby - to make the girl swallow it to warm her insides. Many minutes passed, and despite all of their efforts, the girl remained unmoving.

Angor shut his eyes and shook, lowering his forehead to Charo’s and whispering prayers to the Spirits. You gave her to me. You can’t take her away now. She’s too young, too bright, too full of life for you to take her. Please, don’t take her. She’s a child, my child, and I love her. I can’t bear to lose her like this.

“Angor Rot!” A troll exclaimed somewhere behind him, but he didn’t move. “Angor, you’re glowing!”

Yellow eyes shot open and Angor’s vision was tinted blue with the strong glow coming from his core stone. The soft curves on Charo’s face had the same colour, but after a moment, Angor noticed her lips were regaining some of their healthy, cherry tone. And, in that glorious moment, the girl slowly opened her eyes.

“D-Dad?”

Corvell cawed in excitement as he took to the air, flying circles above them. The surrounding trolls joined in, cheering loudly, clapping and hugging each other in celebration. Only Angor Rot remained without words, overwhelmed by the sheer relief of seeing Charo open her eyes.

“Where am I?” She asked, voice barely a whisper.

Angor Rot smiled, hugging Charo tightly to himself.

“You’re home, little one.”

---

A few hours later found the girl hunched over rabbit stew with potatoes, carrots and shallots, slurping it down with fervour as Grekyl explained to Angor Rot what had happened. Charo made her own inputs here and there, reassuring her father that all the troll said was true and that he had not hurt her. Once Charo finished eating, an indescribable exhaustion hit her and she asked to be excused to rest.

“Of course, little one. Go to bed.” Angor spoke, smiling softly as he ruffled her hair one last time before she took off to her bedroom. When he turned back to Grekyl, his smile was gone and his eyes were vicious. “What were you doing in the woods, Grekyl?”

Grekyl shuffled and lowered his eyes to the ground. “I did not harm the girl. She confirmed-”

“She confirmed that Gunmar’s changeling attacked you both, but that still doesn’t explain what you were doing there, with her.” Angor Rot snarled, advancing towards the troll. Grekyl was larger than him, but still he cowered before the barely contained hostility in his leader’s eyes. “Were you following her? Waiting for your chance to escalate your petty assaults? To turn your bullying into something more, maybe make it look like an accident?”

“I was… watching.”

“For what.”

“For the moment she’d show her true colours. Waiting for proof that she was just another selfish and power-hungry fleshbag, ready to turn on us and hand us over to the humans at a moment’s notice.” Grekyl spoke, clenching his one fist by his side, eyes still downcast. “But she humbled me. When the changeling showed her nature, her first words to me were ‘What now, Grekyl? We can’t let her find the village.’ Her first thought was to keep the village safe from Gunmar’s spy, and then she… she saved my life. She pushed herself to exhaustion to save me from the sun, knowing that it could mean her death in return. If the changeling hadn’t come back to taunt me, if she hadn’t put herself at arm’s reach from me I wouldn’t have been able to end her life. And if the clouds hadn’t returned, I wouldn’t have been able to bring her here. She could’ve died by Gunmar’s hand or even from the cold and still… Still...”

When Grekyl raised his eyes back to his leader, they were filled with shame.

“I was a fool, Angor Rot. All these years I was a foolish troll, unable to see past his own pride. I should’ve accepted the child the moment you brought her to us. You’re our leader, who has always looked out for this village and kept us safe. I’m sorry I doubted you, and I’m sorry I brought the girl so much pain.” Grekyl dropped to a knee in front of Angor Rot, his one hand closed in a fist over his chest. “This I vow to you: for as long as I draw breath I’ll protect Charo and treat her as the heir she is to you, our leader. Gunmar may yet come for her, but no matter what he throws at us, I’ll not let him harm the girl.”

Angor Rot sighed, suddenly too tired for doubt and distrust. Grekyl had always been a thorn in his side, but despite all his petty acts of rebellion against him and Charo, he was always loyal to their village. His mistakes came from a place of concern and misgivings, not from cruelty and malice.

“I’ll accept your oath.” Angor spoke, laying a hand on the troll’s shoulder. “Now, on your feet. There’s much work to be done, and I’ll need your help.”

---

Angor Rot had resisted it as far as he could, but there was no way around it anymore; he had to teach Charo how to fight. Using magic to stun the eventual wild animal was no longer enough and, despite being more prone to the magical arts than most trolls, Angor Rot had long run out of magic tricks to teach the girl. The golem totems she sculpted and her protective wards had long surpassed his own, both in duration and resilience, and there was only so much guidance he could give in helping her improve her own magical affinity to rocks and earth. In the end, no matter how much he tried, Angor Rot was no Master Wizard.

But there was something else he could teach the girl. Something he did well.

And that was how to strike down a foe with just one blow.

---

“You must move faster, Charo.” Angor Rot spoke, voice devoid of the usual warmth he showed the girl. “You cannot give the Gumm-Gumms the chance to as much as scrape you.”

Deep inside their cavern, troll and human found themselves inside a large chamber which had gone unused by the village’s trolls to this day. To this day no troll had found the Hearthstone yet, but there were many pieces of it spread throughout the forest and many more inside the cavern they now inhabited. Such glowing stones were all around the wide chamber, illuminating it with gentle lights; not at all suitable to the harsh activities taking place.

Charo struggled to catch her breath as she rubbed the sweat off her eyes. Her familiar stood perched at the edge of the chamber, cawing in distress every time Angor knocked her down, wanting so much to defend his wizard but forbidden from doing so.

“Sorry, dad.” The girl wheezed out. “I’ll do better this time.”

Watching Charo ready herself for another round made Angor Rot clench his jaw and fists in anguish. It tore him up inside to push Charo to such extremes. She should’ve been playing in the woods, safe and sound, giggling freely at the world around her, but instead she was stuck with him inside a deep cave, so tired and bruised, and willing to accept more.

Forgive me, Charo. If only I was strong enough to protect you, if only I had more power…

Not for the first time, Angor Rot swallowed his impotence and regrets and pushed his shoulders back, ready to carry his world over them the best way he could.

“Alright, little one. Show me.”

---

The next four seasons passed them by with no attacks from Gunmar, who, from what Angor Rot had learned, had met his equal in a human king named Arthur, and his wizard Merlin.

Still, Angor Rot took Charo to their training grounds almost every day, pushing her to new levels of physical strength. He knew her human strength put her at a great disadvantage against trolls like Gunmar, but if he could make her agile enough, dextrous enough, she would never need to rely on brute force to defend herself. One precise blow from a Creeper Sun’s dagger would be enough to ensure she walked out victorious and unharmed.

During those four seasons, Grekyl made good on his oath to Angor Rot. On days the troll leader was busy with his other obligations, he was the one who trained with Charo. It was good for her, for it let her practice against a different fighting style. It was also good for Angor, for it let him take a break from the anguish that stabbed him every time his blows collided against her.

Despite her gruesome training regimen, Charo still found plenty of smiles within herself to grace Angor and all others in the village. As soon as she stepped out of the training grounds she was the cheery, warm girl they were all used to. It made all trolls wonder how a small human like her could take so much and act like all was well.

But Angor knew her better than any troll, so he saw beyond those cheerful faces she made. He saw how her eyes didn’t shine with excitement anymore, how her smiles became tight-lipped and brief, how her giggles barely reached his ears nowadays. Still, he’d rather have her tired but safe, than see her body hanging from Gunmar’s blade.

---

It was the beginning of Spring, one of the rare days that Angor Rot didn’t tell Charo to train. The girl was exhausted and it showed, so he thought it would be a better idea if she took the night off from training.

“Charo, you may rest today.” Angor spoke as he gently combed his fingers through the girl’s hair. “Later tonight I’m going out to set wards, if you want to come with me.”

For one wonderful moment, all the exhaustion left the girl’s face as a big smile pulled on her lips. “I do!”

Angor smiled. “Alright, but only if you sleep first.”

---

Charo slept through the entire afternoon, waking up just in time to eat some bread and fruits before following Angor out of the village with Corvell close behind. She was smiling as usual, chatting excitedly with him, and if anyone were to look at her now, they’d never guess how gruesome of a training regimen she endured for the last year. But only because they wouldn’t notice how she tensed at every little sound in the surrounding woods. It was heart-wrenching, even more because he was the one doing that to her.

“Charo,” Angor called, pulling the girl to a standstill and dropping to a knee in front of her. His yellow eyes bore into her wide ones as he laid large, comforting hands on her shoulders. Carvell took his favourite spot on top of the girl’s head. “I’m sorry.”

The girl furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “What? Why?”

“I’m asking so much of you, pushing you hard to become stronger in such a short time… It’s not fair to you, I know that. But I only do that because I want you to be safe. Gunmar-”

“I know, dad.” Charo spoke, laying a soft hand on his cheek. “It’s not that. And I like training with you and Grekyl. It’s tiring, of course, but it’s a lot of fun too!”

“Don’t lie to protect my feelings, little one.” Angor Rot admonished.

“I’m not!”

“Charo, I’m your father. Your smiles can fool others into believing nothing is wrong, but I can see how tired you really are. And I know I’m to blame for it.” The little girl lowered her eyes to the ground and mumbled some words under her breath that did not quite reach Angor’s ears. “What was that? Tell me, Charo.”

“It’s not that. I just… I haven’t been sleeping very well.” Charo admitted, raising her eyes back to him. His own widened at how her lips trembled and tears threatened to streak down her cheeks. “I’ve been having nightmares on and off ever since that woman attacked Grekyl and I. That woman- I mean, that changeling’s red eyes keep appearing in my dreams and when I wake up, it’s like she’s in my room with me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Angor asked, hands holding tighter on her shoulders. Every trembling word that left the girl was like a stab to his heart. “Charo, how could you keep that from me?”

“I didn’t want to worry you even more.” She answered. “I can see how anxious you are too, dad. You have so much to worry about: training me, keeping the village safe, keeping tabs on Gunmar and the human lord, and now the changelings too... You never take a moment for yourself anymore. I didn’t want to add something else, let alone something as silly as bad dreams.”

Angor sighed. “Don’t you ever do that again, Charo. I’m your father. Worrying over you is what I’m supposed to do.”

“But, dad-”

“Don’t you ‘but, dad’ me. Promise me, little one. Promise me you’ll tell me whenever there is something bothering you.” The girl pouted, averting her eyes once more. “Charo....”

“I promise.” She said at last. “But only if you let me help set the magical wards! I don’t remember the last time I really used my magic!”

Angor Rot chuckled, pulling the girl in a hug.

“Alright, but just a couple. You are supposed to rest, remember?”

---

After talking with Charo, Angor Rot felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Nightmares was something he could help with; his magic wasn’t as strong as hers, but he knew how to weave a strong dream-catcher that could prove helpful. He could help ease her anxieties, and that was all the troll could ask for.

But his relief was short-lived.

Charo had been excited about using her magic properly again. For more than an entire year she had focused solely on combat-training, and she missed the sensation of magic flowing through her hands. Even Angor was eager about it, for he had missed the sensations of Charo’s warm magic around him as well.

“Here is a good place.” The troll stated, gesturing to a wide oak tree in front of them. “Go on.”

Charo smiled widely, reaching to the magic within her and pulling it to her hands. Corvell, feeling the shift in energy, took flight from her head and settled on his creator’s shoulder. The familiar was uncharacteristically quiet and when Angor turned to face him, he seemed nervous.

Charo’s magic flowed out of her fingertips and into the tree-bark, but it was not what either of them expected. It was weak and slow, completely unsteady. Not at all like the previous spells she used to cast. The girl noticed it and doubled down on her efforts, but when at last she had concentrated enough magic to shape her spell the ward was feeble, not enough to last for more than an hour or two, let alone a few days.

She dispersed the spell with a huff.

“I guess I’m out of practice.” Charo said sadly, not looking at Angor or Corvell. “Sorry, dad.” Corvell chirped gently as he flew towards her, and she wasted no time into grabbing her familiar and hugging it tightly to herself.

The troll smiled reassuringly and walked to her so he could ruffle her hair. “It happens. You’re not at your best, little one.”

Charo shook her head. “I’ll start practicing again.”

Angor looked down at her, and this time Charo didn’t even try to hide her frustration. Not being able to use her magic really got to her, more than any nightmare or bruise.

Without a word, Angor Rot hooked his hand under her arms and lifted her high in the air.

“Dad!” Charo yelled, startled as her father put her over his shoulders. Corvell cawed loudly and beaked his head. “What are you doing?” Angor chuckled, adjusting her on his shoulders as he swatted the familiar away. When he didn’t answer, the girl sighed, letting her body relax as she laid her weight on the back of his head and horns.

When she was younger, Charo used to ask him all the time to carry her around like that, raising her little hands in the air and opening and closing her little fists in a “pick me up” sign. Angor didn’t quite remember when or why he stopped perching her on his shoulders. Sure, she had grown taller and heavier, but it was nothing compared to his size. She’d always be his little one.

And yet so much has changed. Angor thought, feeling a deep sadness in his heart. And it’ll change so much more.

Yellow eyes glanced furtively at the failed ward.

---

“Grekyl, may I have words with you?”

The large troll looked at his leader. Angor Rot looked exhausted, more than he had ever seen him.

“Of course, Angor Rot. What can I do for you?”

The troll leader sighed and sat down on a nearby rock. “You’ve been training a lot with Charo lately. What do you make of her progress?”

“She’s doing much better than I ever thought possible.” Grekyl answered. “She’s fast and smart, stronger than most trolls I know. With the Creeper Sun’s dagger you gave her, she could pose an actual threat to any troll that dares to attack her.” The troll stopped for a moment. “But you know that. What is it you really want to know, Angor Rot?”

“I worry I’m taking the wrong approach with Charo.” Angor spoke heavily. “Last night she tried to cast a ward and couldn’t do it properly. Her magic has always been remarkably strong, stronger than mine. But she has barely used it in the last year, and she’s losing practice. Losing her touch with it even.”

Grekyl frowned, thinking over Angor’s words. “May I speak frankly, Angor Rot?”

“Please.”

“Charo is growing into a very skilled warrior. I have no doubt she could hold her own in a fight with any troll. But she’s still human, and it may not be enough if Gunmar sends his men after her. What could set her apart and make her truly outstanding is her magic. If you’re wondering the best way to make her strong - strong enough that Gunmar cannot touch her - I believe her magic is the best bet.”

Angor Rot buried his face in his hands. He remained still and silent for long moments, so long that Grekyl thought he was being dismissed. The troll was about to walk away when Angor’s words stopped him.

“I agree with you, Grekyl.”

Grekyl frowned. There was more that his leader wanted to say. “You agree with me… But?”

“But I’m not strong enough to teach her how to use her magic.” Angor Rot admitted. “Which means, someone else will have to do it.”

And for that, I must let her go.

#angor rot #tales of arcadia #wizards #trollhunters #toa #charo #honestly the movie can't come out soon enough #i'm running out of things to watch on netflix #help

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lewa358 · 4 years ago

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Game Retrospective: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Note: this post contains vague spoilers.

Screw it, I love horror games now.

I was always a bit of a coward growing up. I remember refusing to watch the first Harry Potter flick because the three-headed doggo in the trailer scared me too much. But I’m much older now, and with that age came maturity--at least, enough maturity to slap on a VR headset t creep through a dilapidated old house filled with people and monsters that want to do god knows what to me.

So I’ve beaten this. My second RE game after 4 (third if you count Leon A as beating REmake 2), though I played quite a bit of the first Revelations before the final boss decided to be obnoxious, and that shitty version of RE1. But that doesn’t really go into how brave I’ve become, at least when it comes to experiencing horror media.

See, most RE games are silly nonsense. Gory, dark, and powerfully atmospheric, sure—but also remorselessly goofy. Be it the hokey FMVs and voice acting of the first game, Claire’s silly outfit in the third, the demon Napoleon Bonaparte in the fourth, or the gonzo action gameplay and frenetic pacing of Revelations, this franchise has only rarely be truly horrifying. Don’t misunderstand: these games can absolutely be scary as hell when they want to. But the tone of the series as a whole has veered more towards the silly than the scary, especially after 4.

Which is why 7 felt so radically different. Damn near all of the earlier games’ inherent goofiness suddenly vanished, and instead we have a story of a guy trapped in a house with insane, seemingly cannibalistic freaks that refuse to die. The rooms ooze with grotesque detail, and the story is told in cutscenes that are as serious and polished in their animation and delivery as any western game. The whole thing is in first-person as well!

The gameplay is a nice change as well. What I really liked about RE2’s remake is that, in terms of level design, it felt halfway between an adventure game and a Metroidvania. You had to explore and backtrack across a cramped, claustrophobic environment to collect items that are used in other rooms to solve puzzles and explore more of the environment. Unlike an adventure game, these “puzzles” are usually relatively simple, but unlike a Metroidvania, the items rarely granted you extra abilities. And unlike in either genre, you had to carefully manage inventory space, ensuring that you had enough room for both key items and gameplay stuff like ammunition, weapons, and healing items.

And there’s also the enemies. Strong, brutal enemies, but the most reliable way to kill them is to use your incredibly limited ammunition, so simply running from them is a legitimate strategy.

I like that general design, and it’s here in RE7—mostly.

See, RE7 barely has normal enemies. For the first 6-ish hours of the game, your only opponents (with like 2 exceptions) are the Bakers--fully fleshed-out NPCs who are either completely unkillable or tied to a boss fight. This honestly works very well—it ensures that the enemies you fight are genuinely intimidating. That first house is horribly creepy, with fantastic detail crammed everywhere, and quite a lot of fiendishly creative tricks played on our woeful protagonist.

But after a while the game gleefully reconstructs the previous games’ approach, and honestly I liked that too. The game is great at both slow-paced, spooky exploration and relatively linear gunslinging, so I welcomed the change, especially given how hard the first half of the game was, and how satisfying the guns were to fire. And those boss fights are brilliant! Chainsaw duel! Running a guy over with a car in his own garage! Whatever the hell Jack was, with the upside-down head!

Now all this is great on a flat screen…but in VR, it’s a completely different beast. Being able to look around the Baker mansion and its related areas by moving your actual neck, and seeing it all in stereoscopic 3D, is wonderfully and disturbingly immersive. Being able to aim by looking at enemies is also a blast. It fully confirmed that VR is my favorite way to play games like this…even if the implementation here is drowning in caveats:

The resolution and other graphical capabilities of PSVR are extremely limited. This isn’t a problem in graphically simple games like SUPERHOT VR or games designed from the ground up for the platform like Astro Bot (which is still my favorite VR game)—but in a game as intricately detailed as RE7, you run into a lot of problems. All the character models look janky, with jagged edges and other limited details. Still incredibly immersive, but the issues are there.

As mentioned, you aim with your neck (or, in other words, moving the headset) rather than pointing a controller. The former is fine, but the latter would be much more immersive, and allow me to shoot without looking at these hideous beasts. There is, of course, no support for the Move or Aim controllers. Playing with the standard PS4 controller works perfectly fine, and aiming with my neck is definitely better than aiming with the control stick (or, dare I say it, a mouse), but it’s an odd choice that few VR games make.

Many times, the game switches from in-engine cinematics to pre-rendered ones. The former work in VR…but the latter do not. This is intended to be a subtle switch, but it’s jarringly obvious in VR, since it suddenly goes from a full immersive environment to a flat screen. This has the effect of lessening the impact of some twists and scripted sequences, especially in the final boss fight.

Despite how seriously the game takes itself, I was never truly horrified like I was with, say, SOMA. The game never really dives into any deep, thematically resonant territory—at least, not themes so simplistic, or maybe just subtle, that I dismissed them outright. It’s just Spooky House With Kooky Killers, The Game. There’s nothing really wrong with that, but I honestly feel like it should be more. The game is so damn good at being a Spooky House game, and does it so artfully, that I feel that something deeper should be easy for the game’s writers.

Like, what is there? Parental abandonment? You can’t really claim that’s a theme when the “parent” is an evil creator and manager of B.O.W.s and the “child” is an explicitly insane eldritch abomination. Those things completely ruin any chance of the story working as an allegory.

But still a great game besides that.

Game notes:

Developer/Publisher: Capcom

Time to beat: about 10 hours

Got Ending 1, normal difficulty, playing mostly in VR

Header image from the game’s Steam page; other images are screenshots from the game’s PC “Beginning Hour” Demo (and thus are not representative of how the game looked when I played it, especially in VR).

#gaming #video game #game retrospective #Resident Evil #Biohazard #Resident Evil 7 #RE7

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inkedsoldier · 5 years ago

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AMOR VINCIT OMNIA - Chapter Five

A/N: Here it is – chapter five of the AMOR VINCIT OMNIA series! Do you still have some tissues within reach? Let’s continue where we ended in chapter four. I hope you enjoy & please let me know what you think about the series so far! Thanks for all the support!

Y/N = Your name.

Y/F/N = Your first name.

Y/L/N = Your last name.

Characters: Sam Drake, Nathan Drake, Y/N.

Warnings: angst, and a tiny bit of a naked Sam.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

Masterlist

Chapter Five

Scar Tissue

Finally, the day he so long waited for is here; the person he loved, his soulmate, was only a few steps away. Fifteen years he had to wait to wrap his arms around you and kiss those soft lips again. He was as nervous as ever to approach you. When Sam is just inches away you stand up and gaze at him, soaking in the warmth of his eyes. This is what you dreamt of, just the two of you, finally together again. After a moment you raise your hand to his face and let the tears fall. Before you can draw in the air you need you melt down into his form. You feel his strong physique and the heart that beats within. Sam’s hands fold around your body, drawing you in closer. He can feel your body shake, crying for the missed time you will never get back. He cups your face and wipes the tears away with his calloused thumbs, before he leaves a soft kiss on your lips. You want to speak, but the words don’t want to leave your mouth. With each touch more tears roll down and Sam makes the decision to kiss you again, to make your whole world fall away. It was slow and gentle, comforting in ways that words would never be. “Don’t go… not again,” you manage to say with a croaked voice. Sam’s mouth turns into a soft smile and nods once before folding you in his arms again and you lay your head on his chest.

The sun rose, filling the sky with shades of orange and pink, when you make your way back to Nate. The first thing you do when you arrive back in the office is give Nate a comforting hug. You still don’t know what to say as you roll your chair towards his desk, but there was a lot to talk about. “I must say, you two are unbelievable,” Sam chuckled when he sat down in the chair opposite of Nathan’s. “My little brother here told me you had stumbled upon multiple archaeological gold mines… and somehow every time managed to walk away… with nothing.” You smile and Nate answers, “Yeah, well, it’s the story of my life, I guess. But you know, I managed to grab a few trinkets here and there. Paid of the car, the house, engagement ring�� Engagement ring. I’m married. I can’t believe - Elena, from the stories… that’s my wife. You got to come meet her. Tonight, dinner. At my place. Y/N already promised Lena to come; I can tell her all about you. Shit, we need to tell her all about you.” Sam uncomfortably stands up, “Nathan… I’m in a lot of trouble here.” You are confused by his reply, “What? What are you talking about? What kind of trouble?” Sam clearly didn’t know how to start; you could see it on his face. “Does the name Hector Alcazar ring a bell with you?” “Yes, he is the drug lord. The butcher of Panama, right?” you respond. “Mm-hmm. It’s a funny story, but um… for the last year he was my cell mate. So, this is how I got out of prison…”

You couldn’t believe your ears. Memories of the first time you went looking for Avery’s treasure spooked through your head when Sam spoke about the deal he had made with Alcazar. Avery’s treasure in exchange for his life. “This is bad,” Nate mutters. “No, we just pick up the trail where we left off and…” Sam started. “Wait, trail? Sam, there is no trail. After Rafe, Y/N and I escaped Panama, Rafe took his parents’ fortune and bought up all the land around the cathedral of Saint Dismas. We combed that place for weeks. Avery’s treasure is not there,” Nate told him. “Not that that’s stopped Rafe. Moron’s been digging for years. Still hasn’t turned up squat,” you spoke just hard enough for the brothers to hear. “Not really surprised,” Sam said. “What does that mean?” Nate answered. “Well I just, you know, happened to do a little digging of my own… And uh… Bet you Rafe doesn’t have this. It’s really amazing what you can find on the internet these days.” Sam shows you and Nate a picture of the Saint Dismas cross. “It’s just the Saint Dismas cross,” Nate spoke with a confused look. “Oh, is it? Because the one we found was broken. And hollow. Remember?” Sam smirked. “Holy crap, it’s still intact. Avery made more than one cross.” Nate replied while looking at the picture again. “So, whatever’s missing from the one in Panama…” Sam said. “…is probably still inside this one,” you finished. “Well, all right. Where is it?” Nate asked. “Oh, this exquisite piece is going up for auction in three days at the Rossi Estate.”

The idea that you had to start looking for the treasure again made you anxious. It took everything from you fifteen years ago; Sam, and your unborn child. The possibility that the clue was probably hidden in a second cross made it a bit easier to swallow. Nate was trying to come up with another idea to save Sam’s life, but there was not enough time left to look for a way out of this mess; the only way to get this cross in your hands was by stealing it during the black market auction at the Rossi Estate. You had to get back into the game as a thief. There was nobody else to trust with this kind of matter. Nate decided to go back home to tell Elena that you were going away for a little while to work on the Malaysia job, and to pack the equipment he needed; the younger Drake had to make his wife believe that you both took on the job after all. You also had to pack your bags for the job and the days of travel ahead. You left your motorcycle at the office so Nate could drive you and Sam to your place; Nate couldn’t just show up with a brother he never mentioned. Going home with Sam was strange. Never in a million years would you have thought this could ever happen. Of course, there were times that you and Nate still believed that there was a possibility that he was still alive, but while looking for him every question came back with a negative answer. Everything confirmed that Sam was dead.

Walking to the front porch you hold the key in the palm of your hand. Followed by Sam you think of all the things you want to say to him. Before you unlock the door, you turn around to meet his hazel eyes, “I waited for you to jump off that cliff and come home to me.” His head whipped up at the sound of your voice, “Y/N, I… I don’t know what to say.” Getting inside, you shut the door behind you with a soft click. “Why didn’t you try to reach out to us? You could’ve sent a letter, or something,” you say as you walk into the kitchen area. “I tried. I asked a guard who did some favours for me to mail a letter – to Nate’s P.O. box, but the warden saw it and he busted me up pretty bad. I never saw the guard again.” “I’m so sorry,” you respond visibly shocked. “How did you survive this mess? Nate saw you get shot and…” Sam pulls up his shirt and shows the scars on his stomach, “Yes, he did. Right… there… The doctors – doctors – they patched me up, and they tossed me right back into the cell.” You stepped closer and gently brushed over the scars, feeling the scar tissue of the exit wounds with your fingers. Shaking your head, you pull Sam’s shirt down again. “I really need to start packing before Nate comes to pick us up,” you state as you kick off your leather boots. “If you want to, you can take a shower before we leave. I still got some of your old clothes upstairs.” Sam didn’t know how to respond to that. Why did you hold on to his clothes for so many years? “I know… it’s stupid. But they still smelled like you. I missed you, Sam. I really missed you. Eventually me and Nate stopped talking about you, because the hurt was too much.”

It didn’t take you a long time to finish up packing - you always kept a bag prepared, just in case. The black backpack had seen better days. You took it with you on so many adventures; everything you needed safe inside. You also filled another bag with clothes, shoes and some other stuff you needed the next couple of days. Sam took your advice and went into the shower to freshen up before the hours of travel ahead of you. There were some essentials you needed from the bathroom, so you knocked softly on the door. “Do you mind if I come in really quick?” you asked. Yes, you had seen each other naked, but the whole situation made you rethink everything. “No, it’s okay,” Sam answered. He was still in the shower when you entered the steam filled room. Your lips parted as you inhaled deeply. The water sprayed softly on his hair, as the stream made its way down along his back and thighs. He obviously kept his physique while in prison. You snap out of your daze when you hear the doorbell ring. Rapidly you grab what you need and sprint downstairs to open the door.

“Hey, you ready?” Nate asked when you opened the door. “Almost. Sam’s in the shower, and I just finished packing my stuff. Did you get the plane tickets?” you replied with a small smile on your face. “Yeah, Sully got us three a plane ticket to Rome with a short layover in London. A rental car will be ready for us when we arrive,” he explained as he sat down on the couch. “Sully?” you said with a confused look. “I thought we could use all the help we can get, and he knows the people running the auction.” You hadn’t seen Victor Sullivan in a long time, but he was always there when you needed him. He patched you up when you got shot, or stabbed, and he loved Nate as a son. He is family.

Tag list:@kiara-arts @wintermuteway

#sam drake x reader #Samuel drake x reader #sam drake #nate drake #Nathan drake x reader #uncharted #series #uncharted 4 #naughty dog #videogame #fanfiction #reader insert #y/n #Nathan drake #imagine

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yourdeepestfathoms · 5 years ago

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Children of The Gods

This is a gift for my amazing friend @lesbabe6, who is also the creator of this AU! Sorry it took so long to write, babes, but I hope you like it!!

Also, note: I know jackshit about Greek mythology and the personality of the gods/goddesses, so please don’t kill me if I got their characterizations wrong. I didn’t go through That Phase, so I’m going off of what I was told and the limited research I did.

That being said, enjoy the Six demigod AU!

[Tour!verse]

———————

Pale slivers of sunlight bleed in through the high window at the center of the church hall, casting shadows that reach like long black needles across the floor. There, beneath the rays, Aragon kneels in front of the altar. In the light, she truly feels divine, clean, holy- the way God intended her to be. However, that feeling is snatched away the moment she steps out of the soothing, warm glow.

No matter how much she prayed, she would never be a child of God, as the Lord was not her creator. Nay, the blood that flowed through her veins was not like the people she was desperate to be kin with.

From behind, there is a loud beating of wings and the fluttering of feathers. Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Nemesis, goddess of revenge, squares her shoulders, but does not turn around.

“Still bowing in these musty buildings I see,” Says her mother, “My child, your wishes for complete mortality are foolish. When will you realize how blessed you are?”

“This is ANYTHING but a bless-” Aragon stopped, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, “I did not call you to fight. I need your help.”

“Oh?” Nemesis quirks a brow. She folds her white wings neatly against her back, intrigued enough to stay. “And what might that be?”

“I want to get back at the whore who ruined my marriage.” Aragon states. Her tone is bitter and the anger flickering in her eyes amuses her mother. “I want that bastard to suffer the way she’s made me suffer. That is what I request, mother.”

Nemesis hums, thoroughly entertained by the offer. She taps her chin, gliding over to her demi-spawn, who she gazes down on with sharp eyes.

“An interesting proposition.” She says, “You are quite upset, yes?”

“Yes.” Aragon nods.

“Then I shall do it.” Nemesis says, noting how Aragon perks slightly at her agreement. “However,” She halts her daughter’s upcoming celebration, “You know my conditions.”

“An eye for an eye,” Aragon murmurs. Her body tenses. “You’re holding me to that? Even though I’m your daughter?”

“Of course,” Nemesis says, “They’re my rules.”

“I am NOT giving you one of my eyes!”

“I never said it had to be an eye,” Nemesis points out, “I just need something in return for helping you.” She opens her wings, “Or you could always do it yourself. You are a demigod. Use that clever brain of yours, child.”

“The extent of my powers is in no comparison to yours!” Aragon says, desperation oozing into her voice, “Please, mother, you-” She sets a hand on the small bump on her stomach. “You can take my child.”

For a moment, what looks like shock flits across Nemesis’ face before she calms her features. However, her feathers remain moderately ruffled.

“Your...baby?”

Aragon takes a deep breath.

“Yes.”

Nemesis is silent for a long moment.

“If that’s what you truly offer,” She says, “then you have a deal.”

With a wave of her mother’s hand, a sharp pain struck Aragon in the stomach, causing her to gasp and stagger. Nemesis leapt forward and steadies her daughter, who is clutching tightly at her midsection.

“Is it…”

“It has been done.”

——————

“Are you scared?’

Hermes has never been the most fearsome of gods, what with those strange little wings he wears and him being one of the youngest, so Anne wasn’t too worried about facing him in her prison cell in the tower.

“Not exactly.” Answers the daughter of the merchant and herald god.

“You brought it upon yourself,” Hermes chides, as if his child didn’t already know, “I mean- using your powers to run around and sleep with other men before you could get caught!”

“I really am your daughter.” Anne smirked.

Hermes’ crossed arms tense over his chest. Then, he clicks his tongue, shook his head, and laughed.

“That you are.” He says, “However, I am unable to do anything about your current predicament. Your fate is now set in the stone.”

“So this is really it?”

“I’m afraid so.” Hermes frowns, “For now, at least.”

Anne raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Soon, child. Soon.”

——————

Being the daughter of the god of healing, medicine, music, and poetry, Jane was always very confident in her healing powers. She remembers once how she fixed the broken leg of a small fawn when she was just a little girl, earning a pleased hum from not only her father, but also her father’s twin sister.

Since then, helping others has always been at the top of Jane Seymour’s mind. Discreetly, she would mend the scraped knees of fallen children, regenerate the worst of a wounded soldier’s injuries, soothe the burns on a servant’s hand after they accidentally touched the hot metal of a steaming kettle.

That being said, she wasn’t really that scared of her pregnancy. Yes, she heard about the mortality rates of child birth, but she had faith in her powers. She was constantly using the magic on her baby to keep them healthy inside of her womb, and she could always heal herself if something went wrong. The fear was quelled.

And yet...

The birth was painful. More painful than Joan had been expecting. She was so focused on pushing and breathing that she barely had any chances to use her magic to keep her health stable. And when an opportunity did come about, she either filtered the healing sensation into the baby she was worried for or used it to fix the hand of the poor, young lady in waiting she was grasping onto so tightly the bones may have broken.

Hours passed. Then days. Even after the baby is born- a beautiful, bouncing boy named Edward- Jane struggles between the lines of life and death. If she isn't unconscious, then she’s struggling to breathe over the pain or begging to see her son. Her pleading requests are always shut down.

Her magic is but a faint flicker within her. She has tried to mend any damaged flesh (the nurses were saying her vagina badly tore down to her rectum) but the power is either very weak or not working at all.

The latter seemed more likely.

“Am I dying?”

At first, it seemed like Jane is talking to no one, as the only person in the room with her is the young lady in waiting she had been clinging to while giving birth, who was asleep in a chair in the corner of the room.

But then a beam of sun cut through the thick grey storm clouds outside, bathing the bedroom in the glow. A man appears before her very eyes.

“I'm afraid so, my dear,” Apollo frowns, “You overused your magic on your son. Keeping him alive and safe.”

“Is be okay?” Jane asks, “Is he-”

“He's fine, sweeting,” Apollo soothes her. He crosses over to the bed and takes one of her frail hands, using the other to stroke back her sweaty bangs. “Perfectly healthy.”

Jane nodded weakly. A fresh wave of pain hits her and she screwed her eyes shut.

“Can I hold him?” She wheezes out, “My son... Please...please let me hold Edward once...”

Apollo frowned. He gently strokes his thumb over her knuckles.”

“I'm sorry, my sweet. I can't do that.” He says.

“But-”

“Rest... Rest...”

——————

“What you have done is quite foolish.”

Cleves laughed and splatters of blood come out of her mouth. She looks up at her father, Mars, and grinned, despite the gash in her stomach.

“You are my father.” She says.

“That I am,” Mars says, “But you have ruined your mortal vessel. You're going to die.”

Cleves grunted and tried to push herself up into a sitting position, but is halted by the pain. Mars presses her back down into the damp grass, his hands surprisingly gentle.

“Do you hate me, father?” Asked the dying woman.

Mars pursed his lips and brushed Cleves' blood-spattered cheek with a tender finger. For a moment, he almost doesn’t seem like the god of war.

“I could never hate such a great warrior,” He says, “You have made me very proud, Anna. And now, you die an honored death.”

Cleves smiled up at her father. She feels him ease the sword clenched tightly in her fingers out of her hand and she breathes a shuddering, but relieved breath.

“I'm glad.” She whispers. Her eyelids grow heavy.

“One day, you will raise your sword again.” She hears Mars say. His voice is fading out. “But now is not the time.”

——————

Katherine opens her hand and watches a small rainbow weave and flow around her fingers. Watching the colors sparkle and flit around in the air became one of the only things that bring her comfort ever since she was wed to the king.

Well, there was one other things...

“Is this what you wanted for me?”

Iris, goddess of rainbows, appears in a veil of colorful sparkles. Her beautiful features are creased with worry as she crosses over and kneels beside her young daughter.

“I’ve always imagined you being royalty,” She says, “But this treatment you get? Never.”

Katherine sniffles softly. “Wh-why is this happening to me? I-I...”

“I know not.” Iris replies sadly.

She went to stand up, but Katherine clings tightly to her hand and her heart melts for her child. She pulls the girl into her lap and placed a soft kiss to the top of her head.

“When you grow up,” She began, knowing stories usually cheered Katherine up, “You will be a beautiful young woman. Powerful, too.”

“Will I still have my powers?” Katherine asks.

“Well, of course, silly girl,” Iris chuckles, cuddling the girl closer and pressing a loving kiss to her cheek, making her giggle. “You powers will be even more amazing than they are now. You will even be able to shoot beams of light!”

“Woah!” Katherine lit up, her eyes glowing with wonder, “Really?”

“Really.” Iris confirms with a nod, “You will be so strong, my darling. The most amazing demigod the world has ever seen.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

A year later, Katherine believes she was lied to when she is executed. But little did she know...

—————

“As much as I love your passion for my art, all this work you’re doing cannot be good for the baby.”

Cathy perked up at the sound of the voice and twists around to see her mother standing there. She can’t help but smile a little.

“I’m free from Henry,” She says, “I’m going to write.” Her small smile twists up into a smirk, “You worry over me?”

Athena, goddess of wisdom, seems a little ruffled. “Of course,” She says, “I worry over you and the child.”

Cathy set one hand on her six-month-pregnant bump, chuckling lightly. Her mother crosses over and gently touches her belly, feeling the life flutter within her womb.

“What an energetic little one,” She muses.

“They love to kick me in the ribs,” Cathy laughs lightly, “Tell me: Will they have god blood?”

“I am unsure,” Athena admits. She sets her palm flat against the top of Cathy’s stomach, feeling a kick against her hand. “They may. But not half like you are. Less.”

Cathy nodded and turned back to her writing, but Athena grabs her shoulders.

“Ah-ah.” Athena tuts, “To bed with you.”

“But- Mother!”

“Come on,” Athena hauls Cathy to her feet and began guiding her to her bed, “You need to rest. You may continue tomorrow.”

Cathy huffed, but a small smile tugs on her lips as she climbs into bed. She gazes up at her mother, who is watching over her closely.

“You don’t have to stay.”

“I need to make sure you don’t get up and go work whenever I leave.” Athena says, thinking one step ahead. “Just rest, my dear.”

With another small huff, Cathy closes her eyes and began to drift off. She feels her mother gently touch her belly and mutter something, then disappeared.

Thomas lays down beside her.

——————

Hermes watches his youngest child pace about her rooms with a pitiful look settled on his features. His worry ran deep- the girl has barely been sleeping ever since her sister was put in jail and tears seemed to be constantly flowing from her eyes.

“Can't you do something?!” Maggie suddenly exploded, startling Hermes slightly. He calms himself quickly.

“I'm sorry, Margaret,” He says sadly, “There is nothing to be done.”

“But- but you're a god !” Maggie cries, “You should you- should be able to do something! You can save her!”

“I cannot,” Hermes says, “I cannot interfere. She brought this upon herself.”

“Don't say that.” Maggie snarls, stalking up to her father, “Henry wasn’t treating her right! She had every right to do what she did!”

Hermes held a hand up. “You must calm yourself, little one.”

Maggie took a step back and sniffled. Fresh tears filled her eyes, making Hermes’ heart clench for his young daughter.

“I don’t wanna lose her,” Maggie whimpered, pressing into her father’s arms and sobbing into his chest, “I-I need her!”

“I know, little one, I know.” Hermes murmurs, stroking his daughter's hair to try and comfort her, “I don't want to lose your sister, either.”

Maggie shoved Hermes away, her eyes alight with rage and anguish.

“You are a GOD! You- you could save her! You could get someone else to save her! What- what about Hades?!”

“Absolutely not.” Hermes says instantly. He sighed sadly and gave Maggie a sympathetic look. “My child, I'm sorry. I cannot do anything for her. Your sister's soul now lies in Hades’ hands.“

Maggie stares at him in shock before gritting her teeth.

“You're useless.” She seethed before running out.

——————

Joan’s legs burned as she ran through London, spurred forward by the shouting of guards behind her. Their weapons were out, primed for her blood. It was only fair, they thought, since she had killed their queen.

It was a horrifying revelation. Sure, she had a problem with properly regulating her body temperature and the chill she naturally gave off, but had she really been so cold she froze Lady Jane Seymour to freeze to death?

“Run, little snow fox!” Her father cries in her ears, “Don't let them get you!”

Joan ran faster, desperate to get away. Behind her, the clack of a metal contraption cracks loudly- agony explodes in Joan’s right arm.

She howls in pain. She stumbles, falling down to one knee, scraping it against the cold asphalt, but it’s nowhere near as bad as the crossbow bolt sticking out of her arm.

A hoard of guards round the corner. Their swords and spears are up. Joan could already imagine her hot blood dripping from the gleaming blade.

She doesn’t want to die.

Joan thrust her hand out and a freezing ray of frost shoots out from her palm. The ice spreads across the ground and large, sharp icicles rise up to impale several guards through the stomachs and suspend their bodies in the air. Those who didn’t die scream in shock, rage, fear.

One man passes through the frozen spikes and rushed Joan with his sword raised, but he’s too slow. A chunk of ice nails straight through his throat.

People- not just guards, now- screech in terror. They cry in horror about the beast before them, the monster that was slaughtering them all like pigs.

That makes Joan freeze. She looks around and was sick with the fact that the ice has spread and menacing icicles gut people who weren’t even going after her.

She was killing innocents.

The spikes continue to grow at her output of distressed emotions that filter into her magic. She tries to get them to stop, but the frost doesn't listen. One woman cries out for God to save them all.

Her body is ripped by two icicles.

“Snow fox!” Her father yells, but Joan can't move. Scalding tears drip down her cold cheeks and she doesn't even realize it.

A daring soldier rushes at her. She doesn’t move. She craves the end of his blade.

But before her throat could be cut, a man lands in front of her in a freezing whirlwind that startles the guard away. A blizzard rages with just a mere beat of the mysterious man's huge purple wings.

Boreas, god of the north wind, now stands before them all.

Joan stares up at her father with tears in her eyes. He looks back at her pitifully before calling off the ice growing through the streets. The bodies they were lanced in the air fall to the floor into pools of blood and guts.

Boreas speaks no words to the terrified mortals. All he does is save them from the frost, then grabbed his daughter and flew away.

——————

The smell of ash hung heavy in the air. A grey haze leaks out of the mouth of the cave, whorls of smoke wreathing around the trees and twisting into the sky. Amidst all the heat, Maria wipes her brow, but sweat continued to stream down her face regardless of the action.

“Very good,” Hephaestus, god of the forge, hums, watching his daughter create a great, gleaming broadsword in the smith he conjured up in the cave. “Give it a bit more heat.”

Maria nods. After grinding her teeth to make friction in her mouth, she breathes out a bright golden plume of fire onto the blade. She watches the metal glow orange, then brought her hammer onto it, shaping the weapon into perfection.

“Wonderful!” Hephaestus cries, his deep, loud voice booming through the cavern. He plucks up the sword, not affected by the heat of the hot steel, and holds it up to his eyes, admiring it. “This is perfect, my girl!”

“Thank you, father,” Maria says, puffing out her chest in pride. Thin lines of smoke wind out from her nostrils when she breathes out. She laughs when the god ruffles the top of her unruly, ashy hair with one of his large hands. “And thank you for this. For taking time out of your ‘godly duties’ to come do this.”

Hephaestus chuckled deeply. “Anything for my only daughter.”

Maria smiles and then turned back to the forge.

“So, what’s next?”

——————

The deal Hecate and Aphrodite made was surprising to many gods, as they were the last two they expected to get together. However, Aphrodite was not one to back down, so she obliged to Hecate’s proposition. A mere two months later, the goddess of love and the goddess of magic had their hard work paid off.

“It’s a girl.” Aphrodite whispers. In her arms she cradled the newborn goddess- an absolutely tiny little girl with tufts of white hair and dark, gleaming eyes whenever they opened. “She’s got my looks.” Aphrodite adds with a chuckle.

Hecate snorts. She carefully lifts the small bundle that was her new daughter and her twin snakes slither down her shoulders to observe the little thing.

“Great magic runs in her blood.” She says proudly, “What a magnificent goddess she will be.”

Aphrodite takes the baby back, rocking her gently.

“Don’t get too attached.” Hecate reminds.

Aphrodite sighs. “I know.” She pauses, “We’ll have to send her to the mortal world soon, won’t we?”

“That was the plan,” Hecate says. “Name her, at least.”

Aphrodite gazes down at her daughter, who opens her dark eyes with an adorable little yawn. One of her tiny hands grabs onto her mother’s and she giggles softly.

“Elizabeth.”

——————

It’s over five hundred years later when the earth of London shifts with supernatural power.

England’s demigods rise from the Underworld once again.

And, among them, a young goddess who has long forgotten her power awakens from her deep slumber.

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doktorpeace · 5 years ago

Note

🖊 please introduce us to Erato, I know they're in a masks campaign but I have no idea what else

Oh, gosh, I feel like I talk about them too much as is but I can’t say I’m not glad to have the excuse. This is gonna be really long cause tbh I’m just gonna dump like, a bunch of their lore lmao.

Erato is my Masks: A New Generation character in a campaign being played alongside @twerkyvulture (As Amanda ‘Megafauna’ Ghorbani, The Transformed) @draayder (as Josephine ‘Rattlesnake’ Short, The Reformed) @spitblaze (as Les ‘Void’ Hawking, The Doomed) @heedra (as Enid ‘Frag Beetle’ Day, The Scion) and @skarchomp (as Parker ‘Cobalt’ Andrews, The Legacy) with @dykeceratops as our GM. The current arc features @mechanicalriddle as Zoe, The Nova as a guest member. Here’s a group shot done by @tredlocity. Clockwise from the top left: Cobalt in blue, Erato in the track suit, Les in the cloak, Zoe with the mismatched eyes, Enid’s the big robot, Amanda’s got the scales and claws, and Josephine’s got the mask and tonfa.

To get back to Erato specifically though they’re an Anti Metahuman/Metahuman Suppression Weapon created by the in universe tech group Wright Industries, founded by Ingrid Day, Enid’s mom. They’re generally stronger, faster, and more durable than humans and can copy the superpowers of others for 5-10 minutes by touching them thanks to what is basically a meta-stem cell transplant interacting with other parts of their systems. (Also, I 100% swear to god that I did not consider ‘Robot Hero Who Copies The Powers Of Others’ is literally fucking Mega Man despite loving Mega Man a ton until after I had hashed out the concept with my GM’s assistance. Only once Abby said ‘oh like mega man’ I was like ‘wait, shit’.) I’ll tell you some about them as a person before unloading their history onto you, lol. Being an android built for combat and kept in an underground research lab, kept on a rigid schedule, constantly taking tests, physical, mental, written, oral, ethical, etc. etc. etc. and under constant supervision Erato lacked for real interactive experience before the campaign started only really ever getting to takl with authority figures and their sisters. They were very passive and observational, owing in part to their power set requiring a lot of adaptation to make the most of. They’re naive and very bad at exercising discretion in decision making, sometimes they overstep boundaries when talking with people without meaning to, and they’re really emotional! They have trouble dealing with strong emotions cause they haven’t managed to discover coping mechanisms that work well for them, they tend to get angry kind of easily and need time to blow off steam. But they’re also very genuine, honest, and well meaning. They are almost never mean, rude, or snippy, they do their best to do well by others, and have a strong sense of justice paired with a deep distrust and dislike of the current legal system in universe. This is in part due to the conditions of their creation (and in part because the intent behind it was kind of right!) and in part due to Enid’s life being threatened by a representative of the state while they and their teammates were in jail after being arrested following a huge brawl with an anti-methuman terrorist group. They’re also very willing to put forth the effort to improve as a person and to mend relationship wounds, almost always apologizing first to Enid when they fight and genuinely trying to work in advice and feedback they get from others, which they often get from Les and Parker. They’re also relatively educated, from the tests of their creators, from home and public schooling, from personal research, but that doesn’t undo their naivety. They also just straight up lack some very basic and/or common sense knowledge. Like, they don’t know what a bear is. Why would you teach a battle android working in a densely populated, extremely built up city about wild animals? All in all they’re kind of inexperienced and immature and make mistakes a lot but they’re (usually) very willing to admit their mistakes and to try and improve and get better. They genuinely and truly want what’s best for others and are learning to value them self as much as their teammates. They’ve also taken it upon them self to start doing humanitarian work in their free time over the summer. In a fight Erato is adaptive and quick witted but tends to put themself in more danger than is necessary. They also sometimes use more extreme force than the others believe is called for, but after the first time they did they and Parker had a real heart to heart about it, Les helped Erato learn and practice some coping, centering, behaviors they could do even under pressure and Erato did their best to adapt. That said they Fucking Hate The Keeper So God Damned Much Because Of How Much Suffering He’s Caused Their Friends And How Much Danger He Presents And Would Kill Him With No Remorse. So they don’t intend to apologize for ripping his arms off whatsoever. They and their sisters, collectively known as The Muse Units, were made to work as a group and as a proof of concept that atomized units could replace traditional police for use against metahuman criminals and to slowly phase out The Registry, the legal department which handles general metahuman based laws. If successful the units could be mass produced and improved upon, rapidly replacing current, error prone, law enforcement. At the time of their development, between late 1999 for blueprint drafting and until mid 2002 when the project was shut down, they were the cutting edge for AI development aided in no small part by Ingrid’s technokinetic powers allowing her to make advancements few others could. (As a note Erato’s body was finished being built in early 2001 but their unique personhood didn’t really come to fruition until February 18th, 2002, so that’s what I consider their ‘birthday’.) Ultimately, however, while a few of the Muses excelled some did not perform to expectations, the project fell behind schedule, investors lost interest, and a minor scandal involving a casualty happened, resulting in the project being shut down. The Muses were placed in indefinite storage, the data gained from their short existence used on other projects such and some of the tech advancements used to inform future decisions by the company. And it would have stayed that way, if not for the fact that in 2018 Ingrid Day was revealed to be The Locust in a conflict where Enid tried to defend her against a militia group who had been hired to take her down, being shot and presumably killed in the process. As The Locust she had been terrorizing Boston for over a decade trying to take it over and being involved in the deaths of over 70 people. (Which irl btw would make her like, the 8th most prolific confirmed serial killer of all time, Yikes!) Wright Industries, desperately needing to prove their hard stance against metahuman criminals and needing a PR stunt to deflect from their connection to their former CEO re-awakened Erato. They weren’t the most powerful or best performing of the Muses, but they were above average, obedient, and had an easy enough to monitor and control power set with little risk for property damage to boot, the perfect choice. Erato then took to the streets of Boston acting basically as a vigilante, following orders, stopping minor crimes, and sometimes working alongside the police. They attracted the attention of The Viceroy, a semi-retired 56 year old hero who never registered in spite of it being compulsory legally. They both have the ability to copy the powers of others, though he can just by sight, and he has body elasticity too. These make him durable and extremely adaptable, add to that his detective skills and he’s something of a local Boston legend. He took them in as his Protégé. Though they remained distant for quite some time with Erato still coming and going between his place and Wright Industries, having promised not to reveal his assistance to the doctors who Erato reported their work to. It was this way for about a year and a half before the campaign started and Erato began living with Viceroy full time, no longer wanting to go back to Wright Industries as they began to think more independently and consider what they wanted for them self more. During this time Erato had chance encounters with each of the other characters a few times as they also did minor vigilante work, peaking with a villain who is a member of Superhuman, an extremist pro-metahuman group, attacked the school that Josephine, Les, and Amanda all attend. After that incident Erato was prompted by Viceroy to contact each of these other young potential heroes to form a team, The Upstarts. Additionally during this time Viceroy took in Enid who had been abandoned by her biological father and had been getting bounced around foster care. Over time the three of them have become kind of a weird family, living in a warehouse full of cats with a couple of bedrooms grafted on and an ultra secret basement lair underneath full of advanced stuff Viceroy makes. Though Erato and Enid have definitely had their ups and down, more recently in the story (and we’ve been doing this campaign for well over a year now) they’ve been putting in serious effort to better their relationship and be good adoptive siblings to one another. I love their relationship a lot, they’re good kids.

That gets us up to the start of the campaign but hoo boy, I’ve been writing for like, an hour now. Since then Erato’s helped take down a nazi-aligned terrorist organization, they’ve got a boyfriend in their teammate, Les, and they’ve made friends outside of their core group of teammates. They’ve also enrolled in school doing well on some classes and poorly in others, namely learning how to Code and Woodworking. Currently they’re at a sleep away summer camp for superpowered kids called Camp Justice, about 10 miles outside of Boston. They really, really hate it there. Constant supervision, being made to do tests, things scheduled out against their will, inability to leave the area? Yeah that certainly reminds them of something. The difference between it and school, which does share these features, is they wanted to go to school. They very much Did Not want to go to camp. As a result they’re finally going to have to start facing the trauma they’ve got from their origin and also actually tell the others other than Les and Amanda about their sisters. Whiiiiich...Enid saw one of them disassembled and showed off in parts at a school science fair display set up by Wright Industries to gauge interest in students. And she hasn’t mentioned this to Erato...for 4 months Uh Oh! Lastly, here’s my tag I use mostly for art I make of them, it includes some texts posts and picrew dumps too though, lol. Feel free to look!

#cubecubed #erato #masks

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 4 years ago

Text

HGPC 17 - 21 | Koi to Producer 2 - 6 | Appare 5 - 8 | Fugou Keiji 4 - 6

...only just realised I was missing some tags. They should be there now or soon.

HGPC 17

Why do I get the feeling the Sawaizumi family will be held hostage one day…? (Maybe I’m just being negative?)

The episode title mentions Chiyu by name, so I wonder why the translation didn’t…

Customer service! You can’t get away from it, even in COVID times…! (Impressive!)

Hmm…you can actually read part of the booking for the Smiths in the book if you know the kanji.

I thought the Smiths would speak in English, but they actually speak in fluent Japanese if the word “susume” was any indication.

Ah, Sukoyaka sweet buns! (from the other episode about the festival)

HGPC 18

Don’t burn down your house with scented candles, kids!

Also remember to use your knees when lifting heavy boxes! (<- says a charity store volunteer, who does this stuff on the regular)

These days the mascots usually have a human form. I wonder if this is implying that particular direction…? (I woke up today and was craving a certain oneshot I’d read during my scanlation days…if it is, it would fill that niche nicely.)

I wonder if the kids will recognise this Ashita no Joe parody…?

HGPC 19

“…since you were young?”

Oh! Element of Wind again!

Koi to Producer 2

This almost feels like Victor is assigning a school project to Protag-chan…it’s a bit sad, really.

It’s nice they let Protag-chan have a personality.

It’s fine if you can’t read the katakana, but Gavin’s name is Haku in Japanese, so it throws out the immersion somewhat…also, I know I shouldn’t be complaining – I’m the target audience here – but do these guys look kinda similar or what…? (partially kidding)

High school sweethearts, huh? “Childhood friends” is my favourite angle of a romantic relationship, but it gets so overused by harems it comes around to being boring…!

I-Is this Stand My Heroes…?! (LOL…?)

Can we not with 1st person cam…?

As cute and dorky as this stuff gets…how does Gavin never get found?! Does nobody ever look up in this city?!? (I thought Evolvers were meant to be a secret…?)

GPS tracker? That’s no better than large corporations using your location data…Isn’t that creepy…?

Hold on, when did she get his phone number? You would assume it was before this entire chase after the boy happened, but still…?

LOL, the English on the board.

This anime is gonna cause me some frustration, but it gives the good stuff in roughly equal measure. It seems to omit the fact you interact via phone with your bois for intimacy (in the game).

Koi to Producer 3

LOL, that’s so clearly Gavin…

By googling, you find out Uptown and Queens are in New York.

Ohmygosh! Did the creators know I love the trope where only people with superpowers can move in certain circumstances?!

Uh…his name is Kira in Japanese? Did someone read the katakana wrong?

Pictured: Depressed bishonen eating bad pudding. (…That joke sounds better in my head. I forgot what meme I was meant to be parodying there, but I had a meme in mind.)

Lemme guess…this man (I dunno if it’s one of the previous bishies with an identical face or a new one) is looking for MC-chan. *sigh* Update: Yep, just Victor again. To be honest, I don’t like anyone who calls harsh words “their sign of love” – love should be honest and upfront. That’s how it becomes heartmelting.

Koi to Producer 4

Okay, in order, it seems to be hexadecimals, Javascript (you can tell from the “const”), some kind of profiles which are apparently for human lab rats (which seem to have some kind of nonsense filler text), a DNA model and DNA bases (ACGT).

The text on the screen says something along the lines of this being an official broadcast of this man’s arrest and this man was a genetic researcher. Obviously, if I wanted to put more attention into what it meant, I would, but I won’t sweat the details this time (because it doesn’t seem to impact the plot).

The guy’s name is Minor because minor key (geddit?)…that’s my guess.

I started playing the game due to this anime, if you didn’t know, and I unlocked an expert in ch. 2. I thought he was Minor, but turns out his name is Spine (an older man).

The diary, true to form, contains details about either one case or several cases, two involving children. The bottom of the 1st page says “if it’s fake, I’ll laugh”.

Hey, I once told Crunchyroll I wanted an anime about hacking (so is this a dream come true? I reveal all in the next sentence!). Hackers don’t congregate like this…they’d be too conspicuous, even with the secret hideout!

The code in the top left appears to be…C? I think? (Note they declare “unsigned int”.)

Kiro sometimes reminds me of Masayoshi (SamFlam)…it puts a derpy smile on my face.

*blah blah blah I’m Key* - Wuh…? F*** you, Kiro!!! (There is such a thing as piling too much cool stuff on to a character, y’know – I’m guilty of it in my own writing.)

3684 isn’t a very safe password (says someone who once aspired to be in cybersecurity).

What bugs me is that Simon is a perfectly fine name…it’s just a bit boring. Kiro/Kira I get (a bit), but Lucien/Simon…? *shrugs*

Ohh! Based MAPPA! Thank you for making this adaption look great!

Koi to Producer 5

Oh, I got an SR in the game recently and it has a line like, “Only a fool stays up all night to do others’ work. Victor talks like that a lot…

The sign so obviously says “Renka”, meaning “love flower”. “Loveland” really is a step down from that…

Where’s Gavin’s guest badge…?

“Happiness Noodle Store”…?

“…the end of our first year…”

If this weren’t a Chinese work by origin (or Japanese work by translation), I’m sure Protag-chan would have gone after Gavin, despite being told the contrary.

Kanya = Minor. I’ll take a note of that.

One of the books behind Minor says “Gale Start”…hmm…

That GPS tracker is still unintentionally creepy, IMHO.

Koi to Producer 6

…oh. (dejected) Probably a beach episode or something.

What the actual heck was going on with Lucien…? It’s like he was having a tiny stroke there…

Lucien’s power is listed as “???” in the game. I thought he was an aura-reader when he said “show me your colour”, but that shield thing he did means he might just have various psychic powers…? *shrugs* We’ll find out eventually.

Running in heels is hard…

LOL, that’s so clearly recreating a CG from one of the cards.

This is the 2nd time this has gone pseudo-isekai. As much as I like to joke about it…I fully expect someone to be sent to another world at this point.

I couldn’t possibly see Victor on any kind of game show, come to think of it.

Appare 5

This guy’s middle name is “Rich”! That’s silly!

A boombox from the 19th century…makes sense, somehow.

I only just (?) realised Al has a tiny tie on his usual outfit.

Back to the beginning already…just start!

Appare 6

…I just realised Appare mouths “I got it!” in the OP.

Al Lion (sic…?)

Isn’t Sofia in that train…? Update: She might have been, she might not. Hard to tell when they don’t confirm.

This series seriously could’ve done with a dub…Even with weird hokey Hetalia accents, it would be good stuff.

These bunches of people at designated points…reminds me of the book I was reading while in Japan. The Long Walk by Stephen King (part of a compilation). It still gives me shivers down my spine when I remember it.

This “leave in the middle of the night” thing reminds me of the Amazing Race.

“Valley of Despair” is made-up, but Death Valley exists. It’s one of the hottest places on earth, hence the name.

LOL, Kosame scores himself one (1) prarie dog and two (2) Hototos.

I thought Appare was being inconsiderate at first…but he’s being considerate, in his own way.

Oh! I didn’t realise, but Saito Soma is Al.

Appare 7

“It’s not one plus one, but one times one!” – LOL.

Hybrid engine? In the 1900s? Hmm…

LOL, I think Al just did a hadouken.

This stuff’s like an animated Galaxy Brain meme! It’s amazing!

I managed to successfully predict – without watching ahead – Appare would catch himself with his traps.

Kosame with his hair down…is rare. Not exactly attractive because we have to care about the racers rather than lust after them (and the artstyle actually prevents me from doing so, because it’s deliberately quite cartoony), but it’s rare.

Appare is surprisingly childish…that’s what makes him more than a Sheldon Cooper, I think.

The spelling of the place is actually “Ely”, if Google-sensei is any indication. C’mon, subbers! You’re American (most likely)! Can’t you put in the legwork (or the Google-fu) to discover what place in Nevada this is?!

Subbers make characters say “shit” a lot in this show, hmm? (contemplative)

Now this evil guy here *points to screen*…that’s hair I like.

Appare 8

I just love this OP…don’t you?

I like how the steam/gas boat/car has Chinese numerals on its dial.

Kosame means “small rain”, so “heavy rain” is obviously to contrast that.

The Hototo joke never gets old.

I thought I just saw someone leave the saloon…

Nice hair + terrible face = bad equation.

I can almost imagine the wee-oo-wee-oo-ooooooo…wah-wah-wahhh…(You know the one sound snippet, right? The one theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - or whatever movie it is – that maybe involves a tumbleweed rolling across the screen, and then a huge shootout? If you don’t know it, play a sample on this Wikipedia page!) playing in the background.

It’s convenient the prarie dog didn’t appear when Hototo (old) had his revenge spree.

I noticed there’s a bit of a mark under Kosame’s left eye…it suggests that he’s been crying (or maybe it shows tiredness from the race…?), but it’s not that noticeable.

So that’s the real Gil…and tose were his henchmen that threatened to hang everyone bar Kosame. Got it.

(notes to self) So, for charting a course with Appare Ranman!, it’s Los Angeles -> Death Valley -> Ely -> Denver -> ??? -> New York. Got it.

Fugou Keiji 4

“Daisuke-sama” isn’t “Lord Daisuke”, it would be “Sir Daisuke”, I think…but “lord” has a proper translation in Japanese.

The truck has a Shinagawa licence plate. Anime really does like Shinagawa, huh? (Based on ID: INVADED and this.)

I think it’ll be interesting to see Kambe handle this without HEUSC.

The board for Sanchome (which is equivalent to a suburb…or a county, I guess?) has posters saying stuff like “take your dog poop home” and “let’s protect the environment!” (technically, it says “let’s protect the region/area!”, but that doesn’t translate right. There’s even a flea market. Still, those posters don’t have any big hints…not that I know of so far.

I kind of forgot that dude was the gardener for Kambe’s house…er, mansion.

I noticed a poster in the kouban says haru (spring) on it. That’s probably the same one that Haru’s name is signified by, assuming that’s not in combo with another character or few.

Oh great…the sister is an overbearing one.

Ahh…he doesn’t like natto. So that’s the problem. Daisuke is childish (like Appare)…Note I don’t like natto either, but I wouldn’t run away from home (or similar) because I was fed natto.

I noticed Kambe uses shinseki (which doesn’t refer to close family). “Relative” is a correct translation of that word, I just wanted to check that word was the right one for the context.

There’s a green tea bottle by the sink…I don’t think I’d mistake that shade of green for anything else.

LOL, I didn’t think we’d actually get to see Kambe with his hair “down”, so to speak. It’s…an interesting look, for sure.

Oh my gosh! It cost him (Haru) $15!!! (LOL, cheapskate…says the cheapskate…*suddenly droops and stops laughing*) Update: Sorry about the sudden downer there. I was having what the kids these days call a “woke moment”…at least, I think that’s how they use that term.

…I’d watch that crime drama. It’s funny.

Just realised Kato has an older model of phone than Kambe does.

This episode was kinda like a Tokyo Sonata kind of thing, huh? The sensational in the middle of the not-so-sensational…”sensational” for this show, anyway.

Those kids look like the ones from Erased.

*lightbulb goes off in brain* What if the dog went to Kambe’s…?

Can Suzue actually hear HEUSC while Kambe is using it…? $2.46 though…that is cheap, in comparison to the ham.

This was the cheapest episode so far (about $550)…probably because it was an insight into Kato’s life, more than Kambe’s.

Fugou Keiji 5

The flag seems to be based on Cameroon’s (which is in Africa, not America) and the “Arita Kinen” seems to refer to Arima Kinen, meaning this episode is set around Christmas-ish. Credit goes to Kambe Zaibatsu on this show.

I-It’s a Humvee!

Polyadoll (sic)…?

The Poliador guy speaks perfect Japanese…(?)

The star! It’s a key thingy!

I thought Kamei was the 1st Division dude with the reddish hair. Turns out it was the blonde…? Update: Redhead is Hoshino.

Ummmmmm…he was reading porn…? Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh…okayyyyyyyyyyyyy…

…oh, the costs for Kambe’s tuxedo are on there. So’s the cost for repairing the bike Suzue rode.

Fugou Keiji 6

I never knew there were so many money proverbs to be used as episode titles…

What is Kambe doing with his hands…? He’s not even using the computer.

Imura seems to use a Windows 10 with Cortana on the taskbar.

HGPC 20

What’s with all the Naruto running this episode…?

HGPC 21

(no notes, sorry!)

#simulcast commentary #healin' good precure #fugou keiji: balance unlimited #millionaire detective #Koi to Producer: EVOL x LOVE #mr love queen's choice #Appare Ranman!#Chesarka watches AR #Chesarka watches HGPC #Chesarka watches Koi to Producer #Chesarka watches Fugou Keiji

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readbeneaththelines · 5 years ago

Text

Captured Moments Pt. 1

A/N: You are an artist given the chance to work with BigHit Ent. as their Creative Art Director. Getting to spend time with BTS, you form a friendship with them. But With Namjoon, could it grow into something more?

Characters: Namjoon x Artist!Reader

Warnings: The Fluffiest Fluff, and soft Namjoon

Word Count: 4149 (The first one is always the longest for me LOL)

Thank you to the amazing @kingsuckjin for being an awesome person and being a beautiful beta! You rock you sexy thing you!

credit to the original owner of this gif

The dream job, the one that you have worked towards all your life. The artistic creator for one of the biggest Kpop groups in the world. You would have the opportunity to share your love of art, use your creative freedom, and hang out with seven of the most beautiful men you had ever seen.

You had, since you could ever remember, always had an art implement in your hands. Whether it be a crayon, pencil, or paintbrush, you were always drawing and coloring, everything. That left the world your canvas, including the white walls of your house, much to the dismay of your parents. Of course they encouraged you, just not using the walls, to create and dream. You were talented enough to earn a full ride to the college of your dreams, Seoul National University. You spent the next 5 years studying your ass off, improving, growing, finding your niche in the art world. Your final year of graduate school, the Dean of the Arts College, Moon Joo, came to you. “Y/N, I have had brought to my attention a position for an artistic creator. It would involve set designing, artistic creativity, and working one on one with clients. I have watched you for the past five years, and I see in you a great potential. I would like to ask you to apply for the position.” You eyes grew wide as you listened to the praises of Dean Moon, excitement building at the prospect of finally having the chance to prove yourself to the world. “Yes sir! I am honored that you considered me for the position. What will I need to prepare?” He smiled at you, his caring demeanor showing throw his usually tough exterior. “I have already taken the incentive and sent your portfolio over to the company. If you gain the position, you should be hearing something from them within the week.

A week? Your heart pounded, a slight twinge of anxiety settling in your brain. You possible future rested on your portfolio. Would it express who you were? Was it enough to give them insight to the passion that filled every fiber of your being? Taking a deep breath, you thanked the Dean and hurried down the corridor to your private studio. Fumbling for your cellphone, you pulled it from the bottom of your bag, hit call on your parents number.

“Hello?” a sleepy voice answered. “Shit! Sorry dad. I wasn’t thinking, I really didn’t mean to wake you.” you rushed your words, excited to share the news. “Is everything okay, sweetie?” his voice full of worry. “Yes! Yes dad, everything is great. I will call you later, when you are both up, I have something good to tell you.” You could hear your dad waking your mother. “It’s okay, hun, we’re up now. So what is this big news that you forgot the time difference?” You took a deep breath as he put the call on speakerphone. “I have been recommended by Dean Moon for a possible artistic creator for a company here in Seoul! He sent my portfolio over to them and I should hear something within the week!” You couldn’t contain the giggles that erupted as you told your parents. “This may be my big break!” You heard your mom in the background, laughing at your giddy excitement. “Congratulations sweetheart. We can’t wait to hear that you got the position. Now, we are going back to sleep, but we will call you later. We love you, and we are so happy for you Y/N.”

“Thanks, mom! Yes, get back to sleep, i’ll talk to you later, love you both.” You hung up, putting your phone on your desk. Picking up the charcoal pencil, you took a long stare at the blank canvas before putting the pencil to work, the image in your mind flowing seamlessly through your fingers. Two hours later, you had the outline created, a face of a small girl, smiling as she herself was drawing a picture. Scooting your stool back, you dusted yourself off, pleased with what you were seeing. Looking at the time, you hurriedly put your supplies away and headed to your next class.

The next week had you always on your toes, every phone call making your heart race and jumping to grab it. Four days, nine hours and thirty-six minutes after your talk with Dean Moon, you received the call you had been anticipating.

“Hello? Y/N Y/L/N speaking.” you were worried about the tone of worry in your voice, but it was quickly replaced with pure joy.

“”Yes, Miss Y/N, this is Bang Si-Hyuk, with BigHit Entertainment. I am calling in reference to your portfolio that was submitted for the position of artistic creator. I would like to extend an invitation to interview with myself and the board in person.”

BigHit Entertainment? Did you hear him correctly? Surely, this isn’t The BigHit of BTS. You almost forgot that ‘Hitman’ Bang was on the other end of the call. “Yes sir! Thank you sir. Just tell me the when and where, and I will be there.” You were given one day to prepare for the interview that would possibly change your life forever. One Day. Twenty. Four. Hours.

Thanking him profusely, you hung up, collapsing onto your small couch. You suddenly sat upright, your mind racing with everything you had to do to prepare.

“Chae! I need you!” you screamed out from your room. Your roommate came running, a panicked look in her eyes “Are you-” she stopped mid-step when she saw your huge grin. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again! I thought something serious had happened!” She stormed over to you, smacking you on the arm. “But something serious did happen. I have an interview with Bang Si-hyuk, of BigHit Entertainment.” The name falling off your tongue had you reeling like a schoolgirl inside. “No! Are you for real, Y/N? What the hell?” Chae plopped down beside you on the edge of your bed. “Remember me telling you that Dean Moon sent my portfolio for a position? It was sent to him. He wants an in person interview tomorrow. Tomorrow! I have nothing to wear, I don’t have anything prepared in case he wants to see some of my other work.” Chae grabbed your hands, the contact easing the panic rising in you. “I’ll help you get things together, all of your stuff is amazing, so anything would impress the pants off of him. As far as clothes, you can borrow something from my closet. I have the perfect outfit for you.” Jumping up, she scurried down the short hallway, coming back five minutes later with a few outfits in hand.

She did have the cutest clothes. Where you always wore things thats were covered in paint or charcoal dust, she had skirts, dresses, outfits that looked classy yet refined. You settled on the flowy, purple , floor length skirt and a soft, cotton cap sleeved off-white top. It suited your carefree style and you felt like the beautiful young woman you were deep inside. Sitting at your two seater dining table, you searched through your photos of your artwork. Black and whites, colored, sepia tinted pictures covered the small area. You opted for the piece you had done your first year, a piece that was a sculpture you did for a summer art show, and lastly the piece you had been working on the past week. The smiling girl drawing, the younger you. You gently placed the photos in a binder, then placed everything in your bag. That evening, you, Chae, and a few friends had a celebratory dinner. By ten p.m. you were nestled in your bed, jittery and excited about tomorrow morning.

Your phone's alarm went off at five in the morning. Stretching, you reached over to turn it off. Jolting upright, you swung your feet over the side of the bed, slipping your feet into your favorite slippers. Passing down the hall, you headed for the kitchen and the already brewing coffee. Pouring a steaming cup of brew, you made your way to the bathroom. You showered, brushed your teeth, and set about getting ready. You could hardly contain yourself as you too one last look in the mirror.

"You'll knock'em dead, Y/N, with both your talent and your looks" Char said sleepily from your doorway. " You really think so?" You asked nervously. Coming up behind you, Char started fixing your hair as she smiled at you in the mirror. " I don't think so, I know so." Taking both your shoulders, she turned you to face her. " You are talented beyond words, you're beautiful, and smart. They would be lucky to have someone as amazing as you on their staff." You hugged your best friend, giving her a genuine grin. "Thank you Chae. You always know how to pick me up." With a hug goodbye, you walked outside your apartment to catch a cab. Twenty minutes later, you were pulling up in front of BigHit studios. Taking a deep, calming breath, you stepped out and paid the driver. Bag in hand, and a confident smile on your face, you headed inside. You showered your ID to the lady at the front desk, nodding when she confirmed your appointment.

"Please have a seat, Miss Y/N, Mr. Bang will be out in a minute." Just as your were about to sit down, you heard your name being called. You straightened yourself, taking long strides to greet the man who had called for you.

" Good morning Mr. Bang, it's very nice to meet you." You took his hand, gripping his just firmly enough to hopefully exude confidence. " Yes, welcome miss Y/N. Please, follow me. We are all looking forward to meeting you." His voice was kind and pleasant, his smile relaxing you instantly. You stepped into the board room, coming face to face with several board members, and them. Seven handsome friendly faces were smiling in your direction. Everyone rose to their feet and bowed in greeting. You bowed in return to each one as they said their name. “Please have a seat, we are very excited to finally meet you. After seeing your portfolio, we are pleased to finally meet the person behind all that talent. You could feel your cheeks burning as you blushed at their compliment.

“Thank you very much. I am honored for this opportunity to meet with you all. I hope that I am able to prove myself and my work effectively.” A round of nods of ‘yes’ filled the room as you took your seat at the head of the table.

“I was very impressed by your portfolio. You have such talent, and to think that you are still in your final year at SNU. I have only seen this kind of talent before from seasoned artists. You should be very pleased with what you have accomplished already.” one of the board members spoke up. “Yes Ma’am, thank you. I have always had a heart for art, ever since I could remember. I was always creating, drawing, sculpting, even as a young child. Creating beauty, creating emotion through art is in my heart and soul. I can only hope that I can touch someone on a personal level with what I create.” The woman nodded in understanding.

Bang Si-hyuk spoke up, garnering your attention to your left. “Have you brought any more of your works with you, by chance?” You nodded, pulling the binder from your bag. Opening it in front of you, several of the board members stood and came up behind you.Only the seven men sayed in their seats, talking amongst themselves. An older gentleman picked up the folio, carrying to the young men who were sitting on the opposite end of the conference table. The others took their seats as another took a stand behind his chair.

“Miss, allow me to explain what we are looking for. We are searching for someone who has the ability to take a verbalized concept and turn it into something that would express the ideas of BTS. Each of the members have a certain concept they want to have visualized by people. We want someone who will be versatile enough to incorporate each unique style and vision of each member and give something that is, for lack of a better word, ethereal. From what we have seen of your work, we believe that you are the only one that fits this ideal. Of course, your work here will be credited for your education, and we will allow you personal time to finish your studies as needed. For compensation, we will offer you along with your salary, anything you may require to earn your Master’s Degree.”

You were sure you were only imagining what they were saying and offering you. Creative freedom, a salary plus education requirements. This had to be too good to be true. “Y/N, we would like to extend you an offer in the position of Artistic Creator of BigHit Entertainment.” All you were capable of doing in response was nod while your jaw hung slightly agape. A soft chuckle from across the room brought you to your senses. “Yes! I mean, I would like to gladly accept the offer. Thank you so much, and you will not regret hiring me.” You stood as the board members came to shake your hand. You bowed politely to each one, thanking them personally for the offer. At last it was just you, Bang Si-hyuk ,and the seven members of the infamous BTS group left in the large meeting room.

One by one, each member, from youngest to oldest, stood and made their way to you. You bowed deeply, only to be interrupted with a clearing of someone’s throat. “Ma’am, there is no need to be that formal with us.” You looked up, only to see Hoseok smiling broadly with his signature grin. “So-sorry. . I just never met anyone famous before. Your face heated as you thought of how ridiculous your comment was. “It’s okay, we’re just like anyone else, normal and goofy.” Taehyung quipped, baring that adorable boxy grin of his. “Thank you. I look forward to working with you all. I hope I can meet your expectations. Namjoon spoke up, his english precise and clear. “If what you have to offer is as spectacular as what we have seen in your portfolio, there is no doubt that you will surpass our expectations. He took your hand, shaking in gently as you just stared in his eyes. Those eyes held a kindness that was beyond his age. He smiled softly at you before stepping aside for the rest of them to talk with you.

“Alright boys, let’s give her some room. We have some things to finalize, and you all have choreo to get to.” with a wave of his hand, he shooed them from the room, taking a seat next to you. “They are really excited to start working with you. Don’t let them give you any worry, you will get along nicely with them.” You gave your first genuine smile, then set about settling your contract. The salary would be more than enough to let you live comfortably. You were offered a personal studio with which to work in, and a small private apartment close to the studios. Over an hour later, you were signing your name on the bottom line of a packet that seemed thicker than any dictionary you had ever seen. Thanking Bang Si-hyuk, you shook his hand, then let him lead you out of the meeting room.

“Jisoo, would you please give Miss Y/N a tour of the facilities? Show here where she will be working and if you could please, call for a ride to take her to her new apartment.” Jisoo bowed “Yes sir, right away.” Smiling at you, she came from around her station, “Please follow me.” she motioned for you to follow her. She gave a full tour, the cafe, the studio, the practice rooms, and the main offices. “This is where you will bespending most of your time.” she motioned as she led you into a spacious art studio. Anything and everything you could ever want or need was in this space. “This is my space? I have this all to myself?” She gave a pleasant smile before answering. “Yes, Miss. If you find you need anything, please let me know and I will get it for you by the end of the day.”

As the tour concluded, you were led outside where a car and driver were waiting for you. “Mr. Hyun will be taking you to your new apartment. When you are finished there, he will bring you back here for lunch. Please come to me when you arrive and I will show you where we will be eating.” Thanking her, you situated yourself in the back seat, letting your head fall against the headrest as the events of this morning came rushing over you. The apartment was just ten minutes from the studio, and easy walk if you had to. He led you upstairs, handing you your new keys to your new place. Stepping inside , you took a deep breath. It was larger than your current place, furniture already in place. It had a cozy relaxing feel to it. Soft muted colors and oversized couch and chairs. You walked from room to room, taking mental notes of what you would need to bring with you.

Once you had a good look around, you met back with the driver. You were back at BigHit, and the driver opened your door. You could see a small throng of girls standing on the corner, their heads darting in your direction as you exited the car and were walked inside. “They really do have no privacy, do they?” you asked Mr. Hyun, who only shook his head for an answer. You met back up with Jisoo, and she walked with you to the cafe, a large buffet set up in the back.

“Ahh! Leave some for the others! You can’t hog all the pork!” Jin was pushing Taehyung aside, trying to steal the tongs from his hands. Jungkook was laughing about something Hoseok had said. When you entered, all heads turned in your direction. “Yes! The artist extraordinaire has arrived!.” Jimin came up to you, bowing slightly before giving you his heart-eyed smile. “Please, come on and join us. We just got started, hopefully there is still enough for you to enjoy.” You thanked him politely, letting him take the lead. He handed you a plate, then started to pile your dish with everything present. By the time he was done, your plate was stacked high and heavy. “Thank you Jimin.” you said, your voice small and shy.

As if reading your thoughts, Hoseok stepped between you and Jimin. “Don’t be shy, Miss Y/N, we don’t bite. Come, have a seat with us, we were just discussing your artwork.” He put his arm around your shoulder, Jimin shrugging as he grinned. “You’ll get used to him, he is a very hands on person.” Hoseok guided you to their table, introducing you to the others gathered around. You greeted them all respectfully, shaking hands and bowing as needed. “So, tell us what you’re thinking. I’m sure this is all overwhelming right now.” Looking to your right, you saw Yoongi waiting for you to take a seat. You sat down quickly, taking the offered cup of water from Jungkook. His bunny smile had you at ease immediately. “Thank you, Jungkook. Ahh, yes, it is a bit overwhelming, but I am excited to get right to work. I can’t wait to hear all of your thoughts on what you want to portray to the public. Hopefully I can give your thoughts and ideas justice.”

“From what I saw, you have nothing to worry about. Your artwork is truly amazing. Looking through your folio, I was quite excited to get to meet the person who put so much passion into what they produced. You have a raw talent, Miss Y/N. I am sure you will give our ideas more than just justice. I think it will appear as if you were inside our minds.” Namjoon’s voice made the others go silent. When he spoke, it was with authority and kindness. Everyone hung on each word, as if he was delivering an important address. “Thank you for the encouragement, Namjoon. A please, you all can drop the Miss part. I am younger than you, and it makes me feel a bit uncomfortable at the formality. That is, unless you prefer.”

“Y/N it is then. But, only on the instance that you drop formalities also.” Jin chimed in. “Yes sir. I mean, okay.” Everyone, including yourself laughed at your statement. The meal was spent in pleasant chatter. You learned about the basics of BigHit, what daily life was like within these walls. Before you knew it, all plates were empty and you were fully sated. “Alright people, back to it, we have a lot to get caught up on. Y/N, if you wouldn’t mind, please come with me. We have a few things to finalize and then you are free for the day.” You rose from your seat, saying goodbyes as you left. “I believe you will flow with those here effortlessly. I just wanted to get your schedule for the next few weeks set up then you are free to go.” He led you to his office, which was almost bigger than your living room, dining room, and kitchen combined. You sat down in a soft leather settee, sinking deep as you lowered yourself.

“May I ask a question?” He nodded a go ahead as he searched through his computer. “I was curious, I know you would expect me to start immediately, and I am ready to work. But, may have a day to gather my things from my place and say goodbyes before tomorrow?”

“Of course, Y/N. I was planning on sending some help to your place to help you move, if that is okay. I would like to have you starting yesterday, but if you need time, how about Monday morning, say seven a.m. sharp?” You readily accepted his offer, thanking him for the ample amount of time. Shortly, your schedule was set, and he walked you to the front door, holding his hand out. “I look forward to working with you, I cannot wait to see what talent you bring to BigHit. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get busy, this place almost runs itself, but I am needed here and there.” You shook his hand then bowed deeply, thanking him again for everything. You walked to the bus stop, you mind running crazy with everything that had just transpired over the first half of the day. You have to remind yourself that you couldn’t call you parents yet, but your body was buzzing with joy. Taking your phone from your bag, you called Chae.

“I got the job!” you screamed, making several heads turn in your direction. “Oh my! I am so happy for you Y/N! We are definitely celebrating tonight. Drinks are on me. See you later, and congrats again.” You hung up, your smile beaming and reaching from ear to ear so much your face hurt, but you couldn’t stop. That night, before the party began, you called your parents. Their joy and happiness was evident, and you thanked them for allowing you to follow your dream. “I am so blessed to have parents like you. Thank you for allowing me to be who I want to be, for giving me the courage to follow my heart. All I am, is because of you and dad. Thank you mom. I love you to the moon and beyond.”

“We love you too, baby. I am happy for you and this new journey you are about to go on. May it be everything you have wanted. Once you get settled, your dad and I want to come for a visit, if you have time.” You hung up, happy tears blurring your eyes. You spent the rest of the night, and well into the early morning hours telling your friends what happened that day. You and Chae cried about you having to leave her, but you promised her she could come visit as soon as she was allowed. When all was said and done, you sat on your favorite lounge chair, glass of wine in hand and thought about what your mom had said. You were starting a new journey, and hopefully it would lead you to all you ever dreamed about.

“Hello? Y/N Y/L/N speaking.” you were worried about the tone of worry in your voice, but it was quickly replaced with pure joy.

Thanking him profusely, you hung up, collapsing onto your small couch. You suddenly sat upright, your mind racing with everything you had to do to prepare.

@min-shookga-yoongi @beautifulseoulliar @agustd-suga-yoongii @astronomyturtle @aspaceformyself @dreamyoongi @holy-yoong i@trashkazuya @maxinaptak @micky1518 @rosiemilas @karri570

@seoulsunshineandstories @kwonnansi @xjamlessparkx @berryjam17

@kingsuckjin

#bts namjoon #namjoon x reader #namjoon fluff #namjooning #namjoon

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themadamelibrarian · 5 years ago

Text

Calm My Eager Heart - Part 7 of Loving Heart

Written By: @themadamelibrarian & @lucibae-is-dancing-in-hell Rating: Explicit Relationships: Gabriel/Lucifer/Sam Winchester Additional Tags: Bottom!Sam, Shaving, Rimming, Grace Touching, Sensitive feelings, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Bottom!Gabriel, top!Lucifer Summary: Sam decides that he's ready to try something new with his archangels

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Tagging: @copperseraphim @thenanahunter @lucibae-is-dancing-in-hell @idabbleincrazy @truxblooded

LINK TO AO3

The condensation from a hot shower slid down the slick surface of the mirror as Sam stared at his reflection, razor poised over his cheek.. He’d been thinking about it for weeks… no months. ‘Had it really been that long?’ He mused to himself as he dragged the blade over his skin, scraping the new growth of whiskers off his face. Bottoming. The word alone didn’t make him cringe, but the act was still worrisome to him. Not that he didn’t trust Gabriel and Lucifer, it was that he didn’t trust the act itself. He knew it could be pleasurable to be penetrated, the two of them assured him of that... repeatedly. If fact, it was one reason he’d tried to put the past behind him and try again. Twenty years was a long time to avoid something, and it was said that people's’ tastes change over the years. That’s why he was holed up in the bathroom, taking the longest shower of his life. He wanted to make sure he was clean and ready for the two resident Archangels.

So caught up in his thoughts, he hadn’t realized he’d shaved most of his face until there was a loud knock on the bathroom door he’d locked and the razor slid wrong, cutting him on the chin. Hissing in pain, he grabbed a towel and dabbed at the cut, trying to stem the flow of blood.

“Samshine!! What the hell are you doing in there? You’ve been in there for nearly two hours.” Gabriel called through the door. “Luci want’s to know if you’ve fallen down a drain or something.”

“I ASKED IF HE DROWNED.” Lucifer shouted from the nest.

“Drain... drowned.. Same thing.” Gabriel shouted back. “Come on, Sam.. don’t make me smite the door.”

“I’m fine, Gabe. I’ll be out soon.” Sam called out as he glared at the cut in the mirror. This wasn’t how he wanted to look when he presented himself to Gabriel and Lucifer. “Just shaving.”

“What the hell are you shaving that takes two hours?” Gabriel asked as he leaned on the door.

Sam looked guiltily down at his nether regions which were smooth and free of hair. “Gabriel.. please. Just give me a few more minutes.” The hunter pleaded.

The angel huffed as he pushed away from the door. “Fine, but if Luci’ tries to eat the last of the caramel popcorn, I’m not stopping him.”

“I don’t even eat the caramel popcorn!” Lucifer protested. “I’m not that apeish!”

Sam could hear the two of them volley little comments back and forth as Gabriel retreated to the bedroom. Left alone, Sam finished his shave and a few minutes later left the steamed up bathroom wearing a black silk robe that had been a gift from the angels and his hair slicked back from his shower.. He made his way to the bedroom and stood in the doorway, willing the butterflies in his stomach to die a quick and fiery death.

Lucifer looked up from Tale of Two Cities and grinned, whistling lowly. “My, my, Sam, you look delicious. ” he purred.

“Thank you.” Sam said with a shy smile as he pulled his robe a little tighter around him.

Gabriel came up behind him and gave Sam’s ass a small pat as he passed by to start clearing the nest of the books and papers he’d been reading. “And you smell nice, too. Did you use that new shaving balm you got for your birthday?”

“I did.” Sam answered simply as he continued to stand there, looking as bashful as a virgin on their wedding night.

Lucifer got up off the bed languidly, setting his book aside and cocking his head. “Sam, you’re looking shy.” he hummed, standing in front of Sam, kissing his neck. “Mmm, I love the smell of your body wash.”

“I..I’m..not shy.” Sam stuttered slightly as he tilted his head back a bit.

“Mmm, then what word should I use, Sam?” Lucifer whispered. “Bashful? Virginal?” He kissed his pulse again.

The taller man let out a sigh as his eyes drifted shut. “Nervous.”

“Nervous? Why?” The archangel murmured, resting his hands on Sam’s hips gently. The former Prince of Darkness was wearing his customary pair of low riding sweatpants and no shirt, and he gently pressed into Sam.

“I..I want to try something and I’m not sure how to..It’s kinda hard for me to ask.” Sam explained as he pulled his hands out of the robe pockets and placed them gently on Lucifer’s forearms.

Lucifer smiled gently and nosed his jawline. “Well, what do you want to try?” He asked softly.

Sam swallowed hard enough to make his adam’s apple visibly bob. “I want..I want to bottom.” He whispered so low he doubted he was heard.

Lucifer heard and he blinked, but all he did was press a kiss to Sam’s throat. “We can do that, baby.” he whispered. “You know we’ll take care of you. Make it good for you.”

The hunter nodded and was about to say more when Gabriel bounced into the middle of the nest, oblivious to the conversation between Lucifer and Sam. “I put my stuff away. Can we watch trashy TV now?”

Sam took a deep breath and looked toward Gabriel. “No tv tonight.”

“Why not?” Gabriel asked, confusion written on his face.

“Because..I’ll lose my nerve if I start watching TV.” Sam explained as he drew back from Lucifer’s arms and approached the nest.

“Nerve for what?” Gabriel got up from the bed and met Sam halfway. “What’s wrong, Sam?”

Lucifer followed behind Sam and pressed up behind him. “So you’re saying you want to do this now?” He whispered softly.

“Do what?” Gabriel asked, feeling a bit left out of the conversation.

Sam nodded. “If you two would be okay with it.”

Lucifer made eye contact with his brother. “Our beloved human would like to try bottoming.” he explained softly, running soothing hands up and down Sam’s sides.

Gabriel’s eyes grew wide as the information sank in, his eyes darting from Lucifer to Sam. “Really, Samshine?” He asked as a smile bloomed on his face.

“Yes.” Sam said as he started to work the tie of his robe open. “It’s why I was so long in the shower. I wanted…” he blushed and looked towards the floor.

Lucifer rested his chin on Sam’s shoulder and kissed his cheek. “Did you want to be clean and fresh and smooth for us?” He whispered softly into Sam’s ear, helping him untie his robe.

“Something like that.” Sam admitted bashfully as he remembered other places he’d shaved that night.

Gabriel smoothed a finger over Sam’s cheek and frowned briefly at the cut on his chin before healing it with a slight touch of grace. “There. No more nasty cuts to mar that skin of yours.” The angel balanced on his toes to kiss the newly healed skin. “And don’t worry about a thing. Heylel and I will take good care of you.”

Lucifer nodded and kissed down Sam’s neck. “Very good care of you.” he confirmed softly, delving his hands inside of Sam’s robe to run his hands along the heated skin of his torso.

Gabriel took advantage of Lucifer’s hands opening the robe and kissed along Sam’s exposed chest. The kisses were soft and loving while his hands finished untying the belt.

Sam sighed and relaxed into their soft touches. His hand seeking out the soft tendrils of Gabriel’s hair. Sam smiled as he carded his fingers through the angel’s tresses. “Your hair’s getting to be almost as long as mine.”

Lucifer chuckled and kissed along Sam’s jaw, giving a soft nip here and there as his hands slowly opened the robe. “I don’t know how you two can have long hair,” he murmured.

“It gives something to hold on to.” Sam said as he tilted his head back to rest on Lucifer’s shoulder.

Gabriel pulled away from Sam’s chest to push the robe off the hunter's shoulders and stopped dead in his tracks as he caught sight of Sam’s hairless state. “Oh my…” he whispered, a large smile forming on his face. “Luci, you should see what our Samshine has done to himself.”

“What?” Lucifer murmured. He moved from behind Sam and looked down at his human’s crotch. “Oh. . . Fucking hell, Sam.”

“You don’t like it?” Sam blushed as he tried to close his robe. “I just thought it’d feel nice.”

“I love it,” Lucifer declared, kneeling down and starting to nuzzle along Sam’s hipbone. “It makes you look so much bigger. . . No wonder we had a bashful little human on our hands.” He nipped.

Gabriel kneeled beside his brother and kissed Sam’s stomach, just below the navel. “You have nothing to be bashful about, my beautiful human.”

Lucifer nodded and nipped his way towards Sam’s now hairless groin. “You’re gorgeous , Samuel.” he murmured. “I could worship you all day and all night.”

Sam’s hands clenched at his side as he let out a whimper. His cock slowly filling at their soft touches and loving words, his earlier nervousness melting away moment by moment.

Nudging Lucifer’s knee with his hand, Gabriel’s eyes flick to Sam’s cock as he licked his bottom lip. “Want to share?”

“Of course,” Lucifer purred. “Mind taking the head? I’ll take his balls.”

“Divide and conquer. I like it.” Gabriel took Sam into his hand and gently pumped his hand a few times. “Want that, Sam? Want Luci’ and me to go down on you at the same time?”

“Yeess.” Sam hissed as his head rolled back on his shoulders, his hands coming to rest on each of their shoulders.

Lucifer smiled and ducked his head down, nosing down the center of Sam’s sac before gently sucking a ball into his mouth.

Gabriel followed Lucifer’s lead and kissed the tip of Sam’s cock, his tongue swirling around the head before he wrapped his lips around the spongy flesh and suckled as he looked up at Sam through his eyelashes.

Lucifer moaned and sucked lightly on the fleshy bit in his mouth. His hands had reached up and lightly scratched Sam's inner thighs.

“Oh..sonofa..” Sam burst out as he dropped his eyes down to watch them. “Just a li-little more, Gabe.”

Winking up at the human, Gabriel obliged, opening his mouth wide to take the hardened cock as deeply as he could without dislodging Lucifer from his spot. The sound of Sam moaning above him had Gabriel replying in kind as he started to bob up and down.

Lucifer continued to suck Sam's soft but nearly tight sac switching over to the other still scratching his inner thighs.

Pulling off with a slurp, Gabriel taps Lucifer on the shoulder. “Ever kissed someone with a cock between you?”

Lucifer shook his head before pulling off Sam's balls with a loud smack of his lips.

Gabriel crooked his finger at his brother as he turned his head so that one side of Sam’s cock was exposed to him while Gabriel licked and sucked at the tip.

Lucifer smiled and crawled over so he could seal his lips around Sam's cock and kissed Gabriel with a soft moan.

Sam groaned as their mouths moved over him and against each other. “You two are going to be the death of me someday.”

Humming into the kiss, Gabriel’s hand slithers its way up Sam’s stomach, gently scratching over his abs drawing out a subtle hiss of pleasure from the man.

Lucifer groaned and ran his tongue lightly on Gabriel’s bottom lip and the sensitive underside of Sam’s cock as he reached over to begin undoing Gabriel’s sweats.

Sam felt like he was teetering dangerously close to the edge, the combined sensations of their mouths and Gabriel’s hands were too much. “Gotta stop..don’t want to come yet.” He panted but made no effort to move away from them.

Lucifer slowly pulled off, licking his lips. “Who do you wanna top ya?” He asked, looking up at Sam with a hungry look.

Gabriel pulled back and kissed Sam’s hip, his hands stroking over Sam’s thighs and sides.

“I’m not sure.” Sam said as he held the back of Gabriel’s head with one hand and the other reaching out to stroke Lucifer’s cheek. “I know this is something special and I don’t want to hurt one of you by choosing the other.”

Lucifer nuzzled Sam’s hand and looked over at Gabriel, his eyes asking Gabriel if he wanted to.

Gabriel smiled “I don’t mind if you do, Heylel. I’ll make sure this lovely cock doesn’t get lonely.”

Lucifer leaned around Sam’s cock and kissed his brother sweetly. “Thank you.” he whispered.

The fingers on the back of Gabriel’s head wound in his hair, tugging gently while the two angel’s kissed. The sight of them together never failed to take Sam’s breath away and it helped a great deal at keeping him from worrying too much about what was to come. “How do you want me?”

Lucifer looked up at Sam as he broke away from the kiss with Gabriel. “On your back.” he murmured. “Want me to rim you to start prepping you?”

“Yes, please.” Sam sighed with want.

Gabriel stood up and guided Sam to the nest with a tug of his hand. “Good idea. I know how much you love our tongues on you. You’ll tell us if you want to stop at anytime, right?”

Sam stopped to consider Gabriel’s words and nodded in agreement as he laid down. “I promise.” He said quietly.

Lucifer stood up and removed his sweatpants before crawling up onto the bed and settling between Sam’s legs. Spreading them to reveal his hole, he licks a broad stripe, flicking his tongue happily.

Gasping at the first touch of Lucifer’s tongue, Sam lifted his legs so that they bent against his chest, opening himself wider for the angel to do as he wanted.

Gabriel peeled off his clothing and slid into the bed, pressing himself against Sam’s side, pressing open mouthed kisses from the bend of his shoulder to the underside of his jaw. “That’s it, Sam. Open up..let Heylel lick that tight little hole of yours. Open you up until you’re soft and wet.”

Lucifer groaned at his brother’s description and began licking Sam open slowly and deliberately with his tongue, enjoying the taste of his boyfriend underneath of him. One day, he thought to his brother with a smirk and a deft move of his tongue, I’m going to have the two of you rut against each other’s cocks while I lick both of you open.

Gabriel moaned against Sam’s skin, his hips thrusting against Sam creating a delicious amount of friction and pressure against his aching cock. “Heylel has a filthy mind, Sam.”

“What did he say?” Sam panted as he pushed down on Lucifer’s tongue, silently begging for more.

“He said that someday he’s going to have us rubbing our cocks together while he uses that wicked tongue on us.” Gabriel murmured into Sam’s ear. “He’d probably keep licking us until we came all over each other.”

Sam moaned loud and throaty, grabbing Gabriel’s hair and pulling him into a kiss that was all tongue and may have been a bit too sloppy but at the moment he didn’t care at all about finesse. All he cared about was swallowing the needy little whines the smaller angel was giving him.

Lucifer flicked his eyes up and moaned at the scene, still licking Sam open happily. Snapping one bottle of the many bottles of lube closer to him, he drizzled some on his fingers and warmed it up before pressing a gentle finger alongside his tongue, not pressing into it just yet.

Pulling back from the kiss, Sam looked down at Lucifer, biting his bottom lip he rolls his hips once more, pushing himself against Lucifer’s finger. Turning back to Gabriel who’d moved on to kissing up Sam’s bent knee. “I like Lucifer’s idea, but what I want, Gabriel, is you underneath me, squirming on my dick while he’s buried in me.”

Lucifer groaned and pressed his finger in gently, his eyes trained on Sam’s face as he does so. I like that, he thought at Sam. I’d really like that.

“First things first.” Sam said with a wince at the new type of intrusion.

“You okay, Sammy?” Gabriel asked as he ran a hand down the back of his thigh. Sam nodded and exhaled slowly to relax.

Lucifer waited until Sam started to relax before he began gently pumping his finger, still licking and sucking on Sam’s hole.

Sam let out a surprised little grunt followed by a moan, his eyes drooping half closed. “Oh...damn...hnng..that’s good.”

Lucifer smiled and kept going, his finger getting more firm in its thrusts as he begins kissing around Sam’s hole.

Reduced to soft sounds of pleasure, Sam’s hand started to drift down to his cock but it was intercepted by Gabriel. “No you don’t, big boy. That’s my job, remember?” The angel said with a grin as he took Sam firmly in hand, simply holding his cock without stroking.

“Please, Gabe.” Sam pleaded as he thrust up into the still hand.

Lucifer slid his middle finger into Sam’s hole, starting to kiss along his inner thigh now. “Now, now, Sam,” he murmured. “Be patient.”

“Yea, Sam. Be patient. Think of how good it’ll be with Lucifer’s nice, long cock inside you.” Gabriel whispered to Sam as he removed his hand and stroked over the human’s stomach. “Stretching you and filling you so sweet. He feels so good when you come around him.”

Sam’s throating moans fill the room as his thighs begin to quake from holding them up for so long.

Lucifer added his third finger when he deemed Sam ready, scissoring him open and seeking out his prostate like a missile.

The stretch of Lucifer’s third finger burned slightly and it showed on Sam’s face. Gabriel kissed him soft and whispered. “Want to stop?”

“No..Just..” he panted until Lucifer’s finger grazed over his prostate. With the press on the bundle of nerves, Sam’s vision goes a bit blurry as he cries out in pleasure. “Fuck...fuck..right there, do it again.”

Lucifer chuckled softly and did it again, lightly, not wanting to have Sam cum too early. “Doesn’t that feel so good?” He purred lowly.

“So good.” Sam moaned, his hips canting against Lucifer’s hand in time with the angel’s thrusts.

Gabriel snagged the bottle of lube it’s spot beside Lucifer and spread some over his fingers and started working them into his own hole. “You’re close, Samshine. Gonna have Luci filling you up..and then I want you filling me.”

Lucifer swore and looked up at Sam. “You think you’re ready for me?” He asked softly.

Sam looked down at Lucifer and nodded. “But..can I..can I ride you?”

Lucifer’s breath hitched and he nodded. “Yes.” he confirmed. He slowly pulled his fingers out of Sam’s loosened hole and rolled over onto his back, loosely stroking himself as he waited.

Picking up the bottle of lube, Sam liberally poured it over Lucifer’s cock and hand, making sure there was enough to ease the way, unlike his past experiences. When he was satisfied with the amount, he straddled Lucifer’s hips and braced his hands on the angel’s chest, pausing with his opening barely pressed against Lucifer’s tip. “Ready?”

Lucifer placed his hands on Sam’s hips, looking up at Sam encouragingly. “Yes.”

Taking a deep breath, Sam slowly lowered himself down Lucifer’s cock. His breath shuddering as each inch is swallowed within him until he’s fully seated in the angel’s lap. “Heylel..” He groaned as he held perfectly still.

Lucifer rubbed his thumbs in soothing circles on Sam’s hips, gasping and moaning as Sam slid on until he bottomed out. “Fuck, baby, you’re so tight.” he breathed. “You feel so good, how do you feel?”

“Good..different...and full.” Sam said as he gave an experimental roll of his hips, dragging a groan from him. “So much better than before.”

Lucifer swore as Sam rolled his hips and he laid his head down. “I’m glad.” he moaned, still rubbing circles on Sam’s jutting hipbones. “Take as much time as you need.”

“You’re doing good, Sam. So good.” Gabriel said as he laid beside them, with three fingers pressed deep inside himself as his free hand languidly stroked over his shaft.

With each thrust down onto Lucifer’s cock, Sam’s confidence grew along with his pleasure until he was bouncing in the angel’s lap as he moaned and cried out. “Heylel...fuck me...oh... please...more.”

With such a wonderful begging sound falling from Sam’s lips, Lucifer didn’t hesitate to oblige. Curling his hands around Sam’s hips, he began slamming Sam down onto his cock as his hips rocked up in a powerful thrust. “Like this, Sam? You wanna be fucked?” He growled softly.

“Yes.” Sam all but growled as he dropped to his forearms and buried his face in Lucifer’s neck, rocking into Lucifer in time with the angel’s thrusts. “Come in me...want to feel it…”

Lucifer groaned and began fucking up and into Sam harder, his arms curling tightly around Sam’s back to keep him pinned. “So hot and wet and tight, baby, love feeling you on my cock. . . wanna eat you out one day, after I’ve made a filthy mess of you. . .” he whispered in his ear, sucking on the lobe lightly.

Insinuating a hand between them, Sam gripped his cock tight with short, hard strokes, bringing him quickly towards his end. He pressed his open mouth against Lucifer’s shoulder as his inner muscles twitched and fluttered around Lucifer’s length, not quite there but very close.

“Don’t cum yet,” Lucifer breathed, reaching his peak very quickly but also not tipping over quite yet. “Wanna see you fuck Gabriel hard enough to nearly break the bed.” His long fingers ran themselves through Sam’s hair.

Gabriel and Sam moaned in tandem at Lucifer’s words. Sam quickly squeezed the base of his cock to stave of the orgasm he was about have. “Then come, Heylel. So you can watch it run out of me as I fuck our Messenger.”

Lucifer lasted three more thrusts after Sam said those words, and he groaned as he came hard into Sam, hips spasming erratically as he buried his face into the crook of Sam’s neck.

Sam slowed as he worked Lucifer through to the very end, kissing up the side of his neck. “Did that feel good, Heylel?”

“So good, baby.” Lucifer shivered, tilting his head up and out of the way for Sam to continue his exploration. “Oh so very good.”

Grinning, Sam goes to dismount when Gabriel stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t pull him out of you. Keep Luci’s cock right where it is.”

Sam looked at Gabriel in confusion. “Wha?”

“Trust me. This’ll be fun and you don’t have to do anything. Just kick back and relax.” Gabriel guided the hunter backwards until he was laid out with his head pointed towards Lucifer’s feet but held up by his elbows. “Comfy, boys?”

“Very.” Lucifer confirmed, curious as to what his brother had planned as he lazily propped himself up on his elbows.

Sam nodded as he squirmed on Lucifer’s lap.

Gabriel grinned and threw his leg over Sam’s waist, slowly lowering himself onto the hunter’s cock with a low throaty moan. “You have no idea how hard it was not to come watching you two.”

“So you liked watching Lucifer fucking me?” Sam asked through his own moans.

“Very much.” Gabriel wasted no time before he was moving his hips in loose circles, punching out small whimpers and sighs. “Now I’m going to make you come with him still inside you.”

“Fuckin’ hell, Gabe.” Lucifer moaned. “And what’s gonna happen when I get hard again, which you know will happen?”

“If he can’t take it. I will.” Gabriel said with a smile shot over his shoulder at his brother.

“Sweet Jesus.” Sam groaned as he rocked between them. The combined sensation of being filled and ridden overloading his senses. He could already feel that tingling tightness building in his balls.

“He’s not here right now.” Gabriel groaned as he stroked himself. His hand sliding quickly over his shaft and twisting when he reached the head. His hips moving faster and faster as he impaled himself on Sam’s cock.

Lucifer swore and sat up more, aiming a precise smack onto Gabriel’s rear when he was up further on Sam’s cock. “No talking about family in bed, or referencing where they aren’t.” He groaned.

The smack to Gabriel’s ass set off a chain reaction that neither he or Sam were expecting. The impact of Lucifer’s hand caused Gabriel to involuntarily clench around Sam who was already hanging off the edge of his end. The added pressure around his cock had Sam gripping the sheets in both fists as he unravelled with a shout. A warm wash of come flooding Gabriel as Sam clenched and spasmed around Lucifer’s semi-hard cock. This in turn pushed Gabriel to the edge and with a few strokes of his hand he was painting Sam’s chest and stomach in thick ropes of come as he shouted his pleasure to the ceiling.

Lucifer groaned as he watched both of them fall apart. He sat up the rest of the way, wrapping Gabriel in his arms as he did so, his cock finishing hardening as he shifted the angle inside Sam. “Fucking hell, that was hot.” he breathed.

Gabriel hummed in satisfaction. His head dipping back to rest on Lucifer’s shoulder. “How hot, Heylel?

“Very hot. Exceedingly.” Lucifer kissed the side of his head. “Ten out of ten would do that again.” He rolled his hips up and into Sam. “Now, I’m still in need of a second release. How’s it gonna happen?”

“I can’t..” Sam grunted from his place on the bed. “Little tender at the moment.”

Gabriel lifted himself from Sam’s lap and bent down to gently kiss him. “You rest, Samshine. I’ll take care of our Heylel.”

With a weak grip to the back of Gabriel’s head, Sam returned the kiss, keeping it light and sweet.

Satisfied with the show of affection, Gabriel withdrew from Sam’s embrace and turned to Lucifer with a smirk. “Still want some?” He said as he backed off the nest, intending on teasing his brother a bit.

Lucifer groaned and slowly slid out of Sam, his cock hard like he hadn’t just came about fifteen minutes before. “I’ll take care of you once I fuck our Messenger into infinity.” he promised him, leaning down for a sweet kiss and pulling away. “I’m going to pound so hard into you, Gabriel, you won’t be able to sit on that pretty rear for weeks.” He growled as he slid off the bed towards his brother.

“Promises, promises.” Gabriel grinned, his wings snapping open and lazily undulating around him in a clear taunt to the other angel.

Lucifer’s own wings snapped out, high and dominating and ready to pin Gabriel’s to the nearest surface. “Oh it is a promise, and it will be a reality.”

Gabriel smirked. “Oh really now? You know your pretty wing display isn’t gonna make me bare my neck and submit. Gotta try harder than that, big brother.” He slowly began backing up towards the door.

Lucifer chuckled and quickly pinned Gabriel to the wall, diverting him from the door. Using his wings to hold Gabriel’s to the wall, he growled as he scented his brother’s neck. “Like that?” He breathed, starting to hitch Gabriel’s legs around his waist.

“It’s a start.” Gabriel grunted as he pushed against Lucifer’s hold. “But still not going to roll over just because you happened to catch me.”

Lucifer pushed back, using his Vessel’s natural strength as well as his own angel fueled to make sure Gabriel stayed pinned as he finished wrapping his legs up around his waist. He bit down on the tendon between his neck and shoulder.

“Fuck!” Gabriel cried out, his legs tightening around Lucifer, drawing them tighter together as Gabriel’s hands scrambled to grip his brother’s shoulders. “Cheater.”

“Not cheating.” Lucifer chuckled against his skin, positioning his cock right over Gabriel’s hole. “Besides, you love it when I do this.”

Sam rolled onto his side, propping his head on his hand. “He’s right you know.” He says to Gabriel with a slight smile.

“No comments from the peanut gallery.” Gabriel said as he grabbed a handful of Lucifer’s hair, pulling his head back sharply to look him in the eye. “You have work to do, brother mine.”

“Mmm, do I?” Lucifer taunted playfully, his eyes twinkling. “I prefer to see this as leisure.”

“Whatever gets you going.” Gabriel rumbled as he nipped at Lucifer’s chin. “But if you don’t get inside me soon, you’ll have to be satisfied by your own hand.”

Lucifer grinned and slid deep into Gabriel with one hard thrust. “You mean like this?” He asked innocently.

“YES!” Gabriel cried out at the sudden intrusion, his fingers sliding over Lucifer’s shoulder blades until they caught at the base of his wings.

Lucifer groaned happily and began thrusting in and out of Gabriel hard and fast.

“Yes..Heylel...give it to me.” Gabriel groaned, one hand disengaging from Lucifer’s wing and wrapping around his rapidly swelling cock. “You like the feel of Sam’s come on your cock, don’t you.”

“Oh fuck yes,” Lucifer groaned louder, grabbing Gabriel’s wrist and keeping it up by his head. “By my cock, only. ” he growled, his hips pistoning harder than he ever dared to do to Sam that night. “Like the way it leaks out of you, trails down my cock. Love the way you squirm and writhe, so open and wet.”

Gabriel mewled at the feel of Lucifer relentlessly pounding into him. The rough movements shoving his back against the wall, adding a delightful amount of pressure on his oil glands. “Gonna add to it, Heylel? Make a mess of me like you did Sam?”

“You know it,” Lucifer growled, fucking him now with angelic strength, coloring Gabriel’s shoulders with marks of his own, claiming him. His free hand trailed down and began circling Gabriel’s stretched rim. “You gonna make a mess, Gabriel? You gonna cum all over us?”

All Gabriel can do is nod, his voice cracking from his incoherent shouts. His body tensing and relaxing in preparation of his end. The pressure building deep inside him but needing something more. “Gra..grace..t-touch..it..me...” He panted.

“Need a little touch of Grace?” Lucifer breathed against his skin, using his Grace to form a hand that slid messily over Gabriel’s cock, just the way he liked it. “Like that?”

Gabriel pulled a hand free from Lucifer’s grip and placed it over his heart. “Almost.” He breathed out as his eyes met Lucifer’s. With a touch as light as a summer breeze, Gabriel strokes the core of Lucifer’s grace with his own. Joining them in a way that was far more intimate. Gabriel’s physical and mental pleasure spinning around, combining with Lucifer’s until he couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended. “Heylel.” He whispered, his eyes starting to glow fiercely as his end quickly washed over him.

Lucifer shuddered, his own eyes glowing as his Grace reached out and wrapped itself around Gabriel’s, shivering and gasping as his end fast approached. “Gabriel,” he whispered back, almost whimpering into his neck as he fucked him.

“Sam..close..your eyes.” Gabriel warned as he unraveled in Lucifer’s arms. His grace seeping from his vessel, filling the room up in fiery golden light as he came thick and hot between them.

Lucifer echoed the warning as he unraveled himself, adding his own ice blue Grace light as he came deep into his younger brother, grabbing onto him physically.

Gabriel closed his eyes as his grace retreated back into his body, giving Lucifer’s a loving caress in parting. His breathing harsh as his heart raced inside his chest. “Gotta do that again sometime.”

“Agreed.” Lucifer panted, holding his brother close as he tried to regain his senses. His Grace had never been touched like that before, not so intimately, and he staggered over to the bed to collapse on it.

Gabriel keeps a tight hold of Lucifer until they're safely back in the nest. “Are you okay?” He asked his brother softly as he disentangled from him.

“Yeah, I think,” Lucifer breathed, laying down as spread out as he could. “Just. . . I’ve. . . I’ve never been touched like that.”

“Did you like it?” Gabriel asked as Sam curled against his side.

“What did you do? All I saw was the room light up.” Sam asked from his spot.

“It’s. . . it’s a type of Grace bonding,” Lucifer rasped, curling into the two of them. “It’s the most intimate touch an angel can give another. Only. . .” he groaned and nuzzled into Gabriel’s shoulder. “Only those who are very close, almost to a mating stage, can do it. Or real profound devotion.”

“Oh.” Sam said simply, growing very quiet afterwards.

“And there goes my mental Grease soundtrack.” Gabriel said with a grin as he turned his attention to Sam. “What about you, Samshine? How do you feel?”

“I’m good.” Sam laid his head on Gabriel’s chest. For the first time being acutely reminded that these two beings could have a connection with each other that he’d never be able to share.

Lucifer rested his head on Gabriel’s chest, opposite of Sam. He leaned in and brushed a gentle kiss on his nose. “Hey. I know what you’re thinking.” he said softly, reaching over to rest his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “And just so you know, whenever you’re ready, we can do that to you too. It won’t be as mind blowing or anything, but it will leave a mark on your soul.”

“That sounds..uncomfortable.” Sam said, his tone unsure as he wondered if his soul was too damaged or tainted to be of any great pleasure to touch.

Lucifer raised a brow, sensing Sam’s thoughts. “Do I have to show you what I see? What we see?” He asked quietly, trying to tug his boyfriend closer through his brother. “Because we will.”

“Lucifer, stop.” Sam said as he pulled away. He didn’t usually mind Lucifer or Gabriel peeking into his mind but tonight he felt raw and vulnerable like never before. He could rationalize that it was because he’d given himself over to them in a way he hadn’t given himself to anyone before but it still didn’t stop the feelings welling up inside. “Just..stop reading me. Okay?”

Lucifer fell silent and nodded, understanding before he, too, pulled away from Gabriel and rolled onto his other side.

“Oh for Father’s sake.” Gabriel huffed. “Would you two...is this what it’s going to be like every time we do anything outside the box of normal for us? Everyone clamming up and pulling away?”

“Sam and I are both in a raw state of mind.” Lucifer snipped.

“I get that, Luci’.” Gabriel said as he pulled Sam close with an arm wrapped around his waist. “But turning away like that won’t help. So come here and cuddle me properly so I can cuddle you both.”

Lucifer sighed and rolled over before nestling around his brother, burying his face into the back of his neck and settling a dusty rose wing over the three of them, trying to calm down his racing heart and mind.

“I’m sorry.” Sam sighed as he ran his fingers over the sparse hairs on Gabriel’s chest. As soon as Lucifer had turned his back, he felt a pang of regret for snapping the way he had. “I didn’t mean to hurt you Luc’.”

“You didn’t hurt me.” Lucifer murmured into Gabriel’s neck. “I shouldn’t have been reading you; it was a raw night for you.”

“Not to mention a tad rude.” Gabriel added as he tickled Lucifer’s side. “But let’s try to focus on the good. Sam, did you enjoy it?”

Sam thought for a moment before smiling with a slight blush. “I did. Felt amazingly good.”

“There we go.” Gabriel dropped a kiss to the top of his head. “And did you enjoy what we did, Heylel?”

Lucifer nodded mutely and buried his face further into Gabriel’s neck. “Yeah.” he murmured.

“Did you enjoy being Sam’s first?” Gabriel murmured to him.

Lucifer nodded and nosed his neck. “Yeah.” he murmured back.

“My first?” Sam asked with a chuckle. “I’m hardly virginal.”

“You were in a way, Sam.” Gabriel explained as he kissed Lucifer’s forehead.

Sam sat up on his elbow to look at the younger angel with a quizzical expression. “How?”

Lucifer sighed softly and cuddled into his brother more, still trying to get himself calm enough to talk coherently beyond monosyllabic words.

“You’d never known the pleasure of it. In my book that ranks you right up there with someone who’s never been touched.” Gabriel smiled at Sam, his hand going to the back of the hunter’s head to gently stroke his hair.

Lucifer hesitantly reached his hand out to rest on top of Sam’s, keeping the gesture light and tentative.

Sam cracked a smile as he looked at Lucifer. “I think Gabriel’s rubbing off on me. Now all I can think about is that Madonna song.”

Lucifer gave a soft smile and poked his head out so Sam could see it. He was in one of his “shy” phases, meaning every touch and smile was soft and gentle, and he really didn’t speak much.

Gabriel chuckled as he started to hum ‘Like a Virgin.’

“I swear to all that you hold dear, Gabriel. You get me singing that and I will duct tape your wings to the headboard.” Sam said with a poke to the younger angel’s side.

Lucifer giggled at the mental image before hiding into Gabriel’s shoulder. He personally hated his shy phases but had grown to accept them, because, in a way, it helped him relax and not have to worry about anything. Not unlike his “little” space, but while he enjoyed being “little”, he tolerated being shy.

“How about ‘Like a Prayer’?” Gabriel says with a smirk and starts to sing softly “When you call my name it's like a little prayer-I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there…”

Sam groaned in protest and buried his face under Lucifer’s wing. “Don’t...not after the tooth thing.”

Lucifer groaned at his brother’s singing before slapping a hand over Gabriel’s mouth. “No,” he whispered. “No singing Madonna. The Angel of Music forbids it”

Gabriel snickered from behind Lucifer’s hand, stopping his singing as requested. He waited until his friends, his lovers, his reasons for caring about this world fell into a comfortable silence, then whispered. “I hear you call my name and it feels like home.”

Lucifer smiled and nuzzled a little bit. Propping himself up, he leaned over and brushed his lips over Sam’s forehead in a form of a silent apology for making Sam feel even more raw earlier, and for reading his feelings. That he didn’t mean to do it, but when one of his lovers is hurting, it’s instinctive, but he’ll control it in the future.

Sam accepts the kiss and the apology. When they part, he takes Lucifer’s hand and twines their fingers together, laying their joined hands over Gabriel’s heart. “Thank you for tonight. It means a great deal to me.”

Lucifer smiled and squeezed his hand. “Thank you for tonight, as well,” he said softly. “It was a treasured gift.”

Gabriel opened his mouth to add to the conversation when there was a loud pounding on their bedroom door followed by Dean’s irritated voice filtering through the wood. “I don’t know what the hell you three are doing in there with each other but go the fuck to sleep and stop screeching like banshees in heat or I’ll turn the hose on you. Two hours is long enough to keep people awake this time of night.”

Lucifer rolled his eyes and looked over at the door. “Dean, honestly, we are grown men in our mid thirties on up,” he said patiently. “I’m fairly certain being balls deep inside your baby brother is every reason for screaming.” He said everything with a perfectly bland facial expression, not even a twinkle in his eye. “Now, please, go bugger my baby brother so we can get some sleep.”

Sam and Gabriel looked at Lucifer with eyes wide in surprise. This had been the most he’d said since they laid down. Dean on the other hand, smacked the door one last time before he was heard grumbling as he walked away.

Gabriel was the first to burst into giggles, quickly followed by Sam.

Lucifer blushed and buried his face into Gabriel’s shoulder. “M Sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize. That was beautiful.” Gabriel laughed as he hugged his brother tight. “It was probably more effective than me actually showing him a banshee in heat.“

“Thank god for that.” Sam snorted.

Lucifer nodded in agreement and settled down. Frowning, he crawled over Gabriel and nestled himself in his “rightful” place in the middle. “How can I protect the both of you if I’m not in between you two?” He asked as he settled down in between them.

Sam looked knowingly at Gabriel and rearranged himself around the elder angel. “Good thing you remembered then.”

“Very good thing.” Gabriel agreed as he curled up against Lucifer. His eyes drifting shut as he let out a contented sigh. His final thought while slipping off to sleep. ‘And it feels like home.’

#Madamelibrarian writing with friends #Supernatural #Fanfiction #spn fanfic #Gabriel/Lucifer/Sam Winchester #sabrifer #sabriel #Samifer

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emuftw · 6 years ago

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Dreamboy Livestream loadown

So surprisingly no one on here is talking about the recent live stream that took place on instagram. Here are some of the key points we got from the live stream about the show for all those who might of missed it!

(disclaimer!: This live stream is now well over a week ago and I was catching up on it on my way to work the morning after it happened as in UK time so some bits might be wrong/incorrect but for the most part I “think” its all right, please message me if any of this is wrong!

-The origin of Dreamboy came about when Co-Creator Dane was actually house sitting for his friend (more on this in a moment). Originally he was working on another project ,but a number of ideas came to him whilst in Cleveland. Once back, he approached Ellie (Co-Creator) with the guilty confession of not written anything for his actual project but aload of ideas which later became dream boy,

-Dreamboy wasn’t worked on straight away as they were inbetween projects but once they did they had a fixed time to work on this ((I belive there is more to this but apologies I was traveling at this point in time so I missed this bit))

- Season 1 of the podcast will be finishing around episode 8 or 9 (can’t remember exact Number). Whilst there is no clear future of what will come next of the podcast, it is strongly suggested that there will be a continuation in some way.

-Not so much Dreamboy but Ellie also worked on another Nightvale Production “The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air) “ which I thought was neat but that’s my bias kicking in.

-A Dreamboy album is in the works but no formal release date as of yet. There was also talk of a patreon being set up but again, no official date of this. For now we are just being encouraged to talk about the podcast as much as possible

- In most cases the podcast is script written first with music being composed after the initial recording, however there are times where this is reversed, with either new ideas being added in at the recording or during the composition of it.

-The podcast, whilst working up to an event, is written pretty much in live time meaning the creators don’t plan ahead which allows there to be flexibility with working with the fans. Whilst there are some ideas set at stone and covered, other factors can be more flexible. The best example of this is the character Carol, who was originally brought in as a device to allow an event happen between Dane and Luke. Carol’s popularity amongst the fans is something that neither creator expected, but are excited about as they love Carol as much as we do. Because of this, it is hinted that we may see more of her as the show continues.

-The reason in the podcast Dane friend is away from her house for six weeks in based on a real life experience with creator-Dane. In real life, Dane actually went to Cleveland to house sit for his friend, who was actually helping her friend who was going to give birth on a boat and asked him to watch her house. It was not confirmed, however, is this is what this is the reason why Dreamboy-Dane is watching his friend’s house.

- Whilst not a lot was talked about what actually came about of that summer, early on Luke wasn’t actually a character but rather an idea based on a dad joke. Dane thought it would be funny having a kink account being called trod-on-snow .

-Lots of the characters have inspirations from people both the creators know, but they are not based on one singular person. Instead characters are rather made up of the ideas and experiences which come from people and interactions they have

- Jenifer is a leo and hates people who lie/shit talks to her and puts her down. Apparently Jennifer really likes carol as she tell her the truth and how it is and doesn’t mess her around.

- There is a big debate as to who is the biggest “memer” of the group. Initially it is suggested that Luke is, however, it is later agreed that Dan Roddlestein is in fact the biggest memer, or is the walking meme as you can send him chain mail and he will guarantee pass it on the massage and post it social media as he is so genuine he believes these chain mail and doesn’t want anyone to have bad luck

-AND MY BOI DAN RODDLESTEIN HAD A LOT BEING TALKED ABOUT!! From Dan being reviled to being a pagan witch and polygamous lover as “hearts are stretchy” (yes I want this on a shirt!) and he has a lot of love to go around to him also living in his mother’s basement.

-There was talk of a Dan Roddlestein holiday show taking place twice a year. There was an idea of having a Christmas show in July so that the creators got to see more of Dan but frankly in the live steam when Ellie suggested this Dane actually looked terrified at the idea of having a Christmas show in July

Other key points which came from the live stream included what would everyone be a smoothie, how do you explain to your mum what Dreamboy is whilst preparing her for the horniness, suggestions of merch which included discussions in the chat about a music box or vinyl (I vote vinyl) as well as a chance to meet the rest of the production team!

This is all I have for now but if the Dreamboy team does another live stream I will probably do another one of these!

#Dreamboy #Dream boy #podcast #WTNV #night vale presents #dane terry #orbiting human circus #listen #livestream #dreamkittens #an army of kittens #nightvale #luke #dane #jennifer #lgbt+#lgbt #gay #lesbian

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kingofthewilderwest · 6 years ago

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Deponia Doomsday and Meta: Responding to Gripers in Game?

I haven’t finished Deponia Doomsday and I don’t know spoilers. However, I can already say: the fourth game’s opening is fucking brilliant. So brilliant that apparently I have to write this longass analysis nobody asked for. XD

I love when game creators subtly go meta. In-game they might respond to fans’ criticism or make teasing jokes about previous parts of franchise gameplay. For instance, the first Mass Effect had a terrible driving system with the M35 Mako. That gets referenced in ME 3 when Vega and Cortez argue about what vehicles drive best. ME 1 had frustrating elevator travel with awkward conversations, which Garrus jokes about in ME 3′s Citadel DLC. ME 3 dialogue lovingly pokes fun at imperfect parts of the first game, all while embracing it as part of the universe.

Then I got to Deponia Doomsday. Doomsday’s introduction feels like a hysterical middle finger at people who didn’t appreciate the third game’s ending.

And goodness did that ending bother some people.

Which isn’t surprising, I suppose. Killing the main character in your story can upset some fans. I feel sad about this because I believe this was *THE* right ending for the story. That’s not the focus of this analysis, but in short: Rufus getting a perfect ending in paradise would have felt contrived and unrealistic given the rest of the story’s atmosphere... not to mention... can you imagine Rufus settling down and chilling... with what he’s like? Rufus was a character never meant to have a perfect ending, and there’s far more heart, emotion, and power in a death. After ALL this time being an insensitive megalomaniac... Rufus does a purely selfless act... an act which ends up being his last. Damn. That’s cool. I cried. It’s a brilliant, perfectly chosen ending. It made me love these games more.

Obviously, this ending didn’t please everyone. I’m sure Daedalic Entertainment noticed that.

I suspect - but haven’t confirmed - that for those who enjoyed the series, they:

Tried to find in-story loopholes, etc. in the ending, and thereby argue a way wherein Rufus wasn’t dead.

Tried to pester Daedalic into making a fourth game... despite the fact that Deponia was CLEARLY envisioned as a trilogy from the first game’s release. And despite the fact that it’s hard to make a sequel when your protagonist’s dead.

Enter: Deponia Doomsday.

I was leery of this concept. I could tell Doomsday was working with time travel, alternate universes, and the like... bringing us into an AU where Rufus isn’t dead. I feared Doomsday would retcon what was THE most potent and heartfelt point of the entire series. You can’t bring Rufus back to life! You can’t erase his sacrifice! That would take away all the power of the moment retroactively! It’s a shame when stories do that, undercutting what was once great moments... simply to pull a story beyond when it should have ended, and make more money. Deponia was meant to end at three with Rufus’ death... as much as I’m someone who always enjoys more content from my fandoms, this seemed like shaky and unsatisfying ground to tread.

The opening to Doomsday has entirely assuaged my fears. I shouldn’t have worried about retconning great storytelling points... because if anyone knew that the ending of Goodbye Deponia (#3) was The Right Ending... it was Daedalic themselves.

Repeatedly in Doomsday’s opening, the writers pound in the point that Rufus is DEAD and that’s FINAL. They WILL NOT retcon what happened in Goodbye Deponia and they WILL NOT sacrifice the integrity of the story they’ve written.

They get this point across in many ways, but the two most prominent are Goal’s introductory speech and the first Huzzah song.

Goal reflects over what transpired in games one through three:

The end was never our creation. It was there, all this time. All we did was tempt it - the same way a surfer tempts fate, or tempts a shark by trying to outswim it. A for effort.

We crafted spears against beasts, built walls against spears. Ladders against walls and towers against ladders. After that, we built boats, ramparts, chimneys, shaving-foam-pie catapults, and when all our trash threatened to swallow even our highest spires, we built... a spaceship. Powered by nothing less than the destruction of our own planet.

The preparations took decades. What was meant to be an ark became our home. My home. Elysium. None of us ever thought there were thousands of clueless survivors down in that trash. Our bastion of hope became a herald of doom for Deponia.

Fortunately, the tables turned. One of those clueless people foiled the plan. He saved Deponia and all who were left behind. And he saved me. By falling for me... literally.

The end.

Oh? You don’t like this ending? Still hoping for something more upbeat? Well... it’s like I said. Endings and sharks: don’t tempt them.

Though... I got to admit... even after all this time I keep asking myself: If I was able to turn back time, what would I change? What would be the better ending? Or do I just want it to never end?

There’s so much to appreciate about the opening.

First, it’s a rhetorically well-crafted speech, where even the oddest earlier lines of dialogue come around again (ex: tempting sharks) to focus on one point: the end is the end, even if Goal might want to imagine otherwise.

Second, the speech provides a nice recap for the first three games.

Third, it’s the perfect set-up for what Doomsday is about: an alternate timeline than the main trilogy. From a writing perspective, Goal’s monologue gives game players an introduction into the concept of what Doomsday explores. Even without knowing anything about how other fans might have reacted, this addresses to every player what’s important about Deponia’s story: Rufus’ death was a concrete irreversible end, but we can still explore an alternate timeline of “what if.” It solidifies the ending of Goodbye Deponia, makes it clear there’s no retconning the emotions and events of Rufus’ death, while at the same time opening doors to another adventure with our idiotic anti-hero.

That’s damn meta already. But considering that maybe the writers were aware of fans’ mixed reactions to the third game’s ending, this speech could also be a way to address the controversy.

Goal’s speech might be from her perspective, thinking humanity’s poor actions trashing their planet led to the inevitable conundrum she’s in today. However, the ideas of tempting fate and unavoidable endings are also applicable to game playing fans who wished for a different trilogy conclusion.

It’s not just that Goal sees the ending as inevitable. It’s that the writers, from the storytelling standpoint, see the ending as inevitable, too. “It was there, all this time,” Goal says, and they say, too. Rufus’ story was intentionally, unwaveringly written to end like this; the entire series was structured to build to this end, from its foreshadowing to its tone to what makes sense for effective plot arcs. There might have been some “tempting fate” on the writers’ part by what they chose to include... but ultimately... this had to be the ending for the story to work.

Tempting fate would be trying to goad the writers into a different ending... but trying to make something different could make things worse, no? Careful what you wish for, anyone? Endings and sharks: don’t tempt them.

And then, right in her speech, Goal asks, “Oh? You don’t like this ending? Still hoping for something more upbeat?” It’s like she read peoples’ Steam reviews on Goodbye Deponia’s “disappointing” conclusion. And when she goes on to muse about what she might have changed, she wonders if it’s that she wants it “to never end” - as though fans just want to have more and more and more Deponia games, not a trilogy with a definite, uncontinuable brick-wall end.

As if that weren’t enough to drill the point home, we have the opening tune, too. Every single lyric is meta as fuck.

You old amaurotic pinhead! Act like this thing is not dead, and didn’t Run into a brick wall at full tilt already Let me help you fill that gap in memory Living in the waste Was not to your taste But soon you will gaze Truth straight in the face: That all rivers run eventually to the sea

At this stage it’s evident: There will be no happy end Suck it up, princess! No one cares for your tears! It’s over! I’ve no damns to give For second thoughts that you’re stuck with: Looking for loopholes and wondering “what it?”

This again serves multiple purposes!

The singer has always been the in-game “narrator” of Rufus’ life: he chronicles the past of when their fathers “dwelt in a world filled with rubbish and stink.” He mentions historians, lost records, and the like, so we know that, for the bard, Rufus is a historic figure. The bard’s reason for singing the song? The person he lives with is throwing a fit “about dirty dishes congesting the sink” or other minor household slovenliness; the bard’s trying to deflect his fault in not cleaning the house by talking about when things were worse on a planet of literal trash. It’s trying to guilt his house-sharing listener into being appreciative they live in a more clean environment than the Deponians did. So when the bard tells his listener in the fourth game that they’re an “old amaurotic pinhead” who “act[s] like this thing is not dead,” it’s probably because he’s still being harangued, despite the fact that he “close[d] [his] case; there’s nothing left to say” and went “off now for reals” (got kicked out of the house?). Purely from the perspective of the bard, he’s frustrated that this old dispute is still being brought up - it’s beating a dead horse for which he’s got “no [more] damns to give.”

This also is a good moment of foreshadowing. Again, I haven’t played Doomsday to the end yet, but I’d drink Rufus’ espresso ingredient-per-ingredient if something terrible didn’t happen. In the image above, that looks like Elysium crashed. Rufus talks about how he had a dream where all his friends died. We see old!Rufus destroy the planet with him still on it. I’ve seen fan reviews claim that “Thought 3 was bad emotionally? 4 said ‘hold my beer’.” McChronicle freaks out that he alters the timeline wherein Rufus saves the planet, suggesting we’re now on a timeline where that might not happen. Deponia Doomsday sure as hell ain’t gonna to have some optimal, squishy ending. And this song here foreshadows that: “At this stage it’s evident there will be no happy end.” This game’s story is doomed from the start. And: “Soon you will gaze truth straight in the face: that all rivers run eventually to the sea.” It’s an idea that, you can go into AU territory all you like, you can want something else than the trilogy’s conclusion, it’s INEVITABLE that all alternates will lead to the same, bad-ending sea. The theme of inevitability and tempting fate strikes again.

So there’s all that.

But the bard, more than ever, sounds like he’s talking to game players. The lyrics make the most sense if you hear it as him addressing you.

Gripers in particular.

Every. Single. Line. Sounds. Like. He’s. Addressing. Controversy. About. The. End. Of. Deponia. 3.

You old amaurotic pinhead! Act like this thing is not dead, and didn’t run into a brick wall at full tilt already. As in, all the people who tried to act like Rufus wasn’t dead. These people couldn’t accept that the ending ran into a brick wall: that all the painful horrors happened, and that the ending cannot be budged.

Living in the waste was not to your taste, but soon you will gaze truth straight in the face: that all rivers run eventually to the sea. Dissatisfied players wanted a different conclusion. The bard’s telling them an alternate path wouldn’t have made them any more satisfied.

At this stage it’s evident: there will be no happy end. The ending of Deponia 3 and start of 4 have made it clear Deponia isn’t a story with a happy ending. To deny that would be futile: it’s clear from what everyone’s played that this is how the story’s supposed to go.

Suck it up, princess! No one cares for your tears! It’s over! I’ve no damns to give for second thoughts that you’re stuck with: looking for loopholes and wondering “what it?” Fans can complain all they want. Fans can try to reinterpret the ending to try to explain how Rufus could have survived. But the creators know the truth: the trilogy’s over. It’s ended. It’s sad. Not accepting that means you’re not accepting the reality of the story!

I mean. Holy crap. It literally sounds like Daedalic told gripers, “Suck it up, princess! No one cares for your tears! It’s over! I’ve no damns to give.” IN GAME. Wow.

In fact, the fact that Doomsday exists at all is an interesting response: in some ways, the premise of the fourth game seems to be a “Careful what you wish for” phenomenon. That “if you guys reeeeeaaaalllly want something else and keep begging for something else, you’re tempting fate and you’re going to get an ending that’s even WORSE.” Similar to how Llamas With Hats became increasingly depressing as the creator was pestered to continue the series beyond what it was due, so also is the response here: you’ll get more content, but it won’t be the happy alternative that you wanted.

I don’t want to say that the creators are lashing out against people who didn’t like the ending. I think it’s just as tongue-in-cheek as everything else in the Deponia series: written with a little edge for humorous effect. They’re not addressing grumblers to be rude, but instead to be clear: they’re not changing the ending, and they’re not apologetic about what they wrote here.

Deponia Doomsday isn’t made with salt... the creators have come up with another story that’s a fun and worthy addition to the universe. They’re not making another game JUST as a response, but because they came up with something worth telling. However, given as they might have heard lots of complaints, or people trying to explain-away to a happier ending, or people begging for a fourth game... I would not be surprised if they’re intentionally addressing these things intentionally by inserting them in-game.

Now, this whole shpeel that I’ve looked at doesn’t have to be an intended addressal to grumblers. It can also be read as meta addressing any generic game playing fan who might have felt emotionally battered at the trilogy’s conclusion. It’s a simple acknowledgement that the third game’s ending would be reason to make someone emotional. It’s not something that’s attacking criticism, but something that’s discussing the nature of the story itself. Everything in Goal’s speech and the bard’s lyrics fit this bill. It doesn’t have to be the case that it’s any addressal to fandom reaction.

Still... to me it sorta feels like a response to gripers is in there. Not as the sole intention, but as part of it? I’m not saying this is an addressal to grumblers, but that it very well could be.

I suspect that this game’s introduction was written with an intent to handle all of the above I’ve talked about.

Nevertheless. Whether it’s one meta or the other, it’s a brilliant use of meta in Doomsday’s opening. It’s brilliant if it’s just talking about the in-game course Deponia’s led, and how that might make players sad. It’s brilliant if it’s actually meant as a meta response to mixed reviews.

Love it.

Repeatedly, at the start of Doomsday, the writers get across EXACTLY this point: that the ending of #3 c-a-n-n-o-t be reversed. This has two brilliant effects:

It allows the story to explore an AU without retconning the emotions of the first game.

AND. As I said, it’s a middle finger at anyone who might not have liked this ending. It’s not a rude middle finger - it won’t turn away fans or anything - and it’s 100% in the game series’ character. But it’s a way that hits the point HOME that Rufus DIED and that is FINAL.

So for me, as someone who adores what the trilogy did, I couldn’t be more stoked at this meta start. It’s hammered, over and over and over, that the conclusion is what it is. It gives me a new adventure to explore without fearing a plot-irreverent, money-grabbing retcon. It’s amusing, it’s meta, it’s multi-faceted, it’s well-conceived.

Yeah. I shouldn’t have worried about the fourth game’s content at all.

#long post #non-dragons #Deponia Doomsday #Deponia #Goodbye Deponia #Deponia spoilers #Rufus #analysis #my analysis #as always... who knows if my qualified thesis came off as well as is in my head

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