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chippedaxe · 3 years

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𝑨 𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒌

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Title: 𝑨 𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒌

Warning(s): NSFW, not sure what other warnings ?? Pet names used, unedited (as always)

Pronouns : they/them, non specified genitalia (Or at least I tried to keep it vague)

Synopsis: What was a seemingly harmless prank turns out to cause a helluva lot of chaos.

Pairing: c!Sapnap X gn reader (Sub reader btw)

Word count: 2k

Note: simping for Sapnap hours <3 No one requested it but I suddenly got this idea and was like 'I have to write it, it's what the people would want' and I also wrote it bc Sapnap has no full fics in my masterlist yet <3

* lemme know if I've missed any warnings/tags or if you see a mistake in this fic that I can quickly change (I didn't rlly proof read, I just sorta scanned over it with my eyes)

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2nd POV

You walked to the bathroom after a long day. You were held back a few hours to work overtime without warning and you’re pretty sure that you won’t be getting paid extra, you weren’t in the mood and just needed to relax with a nice shower.

You entered your bathroom and closed the door, you assumed by default that Sapnap wouldn’t bother you since he’s normally such a good roommate and he hadn’t bothered you in the bathroom before! You stripped yourself of your clothes and hung up your outfit that you were planning to wear when you get out of the shower.

You placed the clothes on your sink counter and then approached the shower, your feet were placed on the bath mat as you stood there patiently. You took a deep breath before walking in, you turned both faucets and waited for the water to warm up to a good temperature. You got underneath the water and let the shower rinse off all of the dirt and negative emotions.

You could only hear the water hitting the shower floor since most of the water plugged up your ears, you tried to wash it out but failed so you better hope that no roommate of yours comes in here and plays games while you’re basically half deaf. You grabbed the soap and lathered it in your hands, your soapy hands running over your soft skin.

You came to a pause when you thought you heard something but decided to shrug it off “what would it be anyways? It’s not like Sapnap would come in here” you thought to yourself as you continued washing up. Your hand trailed down to your nether regions and you whined a bit as you cleaned down there, you were just cleaning but your body didn’t know that and so you became a bit aroused.

You ignored the arousal and just continued to have your shower, if you were still horny later on than you’d deal with it but not now. You rinsed the soap off your body and sighed, today was a rough and tiring day but you got through it.

You turned the shower off when you were finished getting clean, grabbing the towel and wrapping it around your body. You got out onto the bathroom mat and started to dry yourself with the towel, you glanced over towards the bathroom sink and your eyes widened.

“Where the fuck did my clothes go?” You asked out loud, your eyes searching the floor just in case they may have fallen down. You groaned in annoyance and wrapped your towel around yourself securely so it wouldn’t fall and then you stomped out to your bedroom to look for the little thief.

You had a look through your drawers to quickly get dressed and confront the troublemaker but it seemed as all your clothes had mysteriously disappeared. You pulled out all the drawers and you searched all the shelves, even your closet was completely empty apart from some scattered shoes.

You whined angrily and then stomped downstairs, your feet dragging along the floor “Sapnap!” You called out to him and he came to your call “what’s up? Like the new look!” Sapnap looked up and down at your towel covered body “Oh hush up! Where’s my clothes? I know you had something to do with their disappearance!” You accused.

“What? Me? What makes you think that?!” Sapnap gasped “they couldn’t have just grown legs and ran away!” You put your hands on your hips “psh, you got me! It’s just a harmless prank..” Sapnap put his hands up in defeat “Good- great, now give them back please!” You held your hand out expectedly.

“Why? I’m liking this outfit you’ve got on right now..” Sapnap teased “oh please, do not start with the flirting again” you rolled your eyes “I can’t give your clothes back right now but feel free to borrow some of mine!” Sapnap smiled “Huh?? Why can’t you give them back?” You exclaimed “if I told you than it’d ruin the whole prank! Just borrow some of my clothes” Sapnap invited you to his wardrobe.

You pouted and entered his room, roaming his closet and just mindlessly picking some of his clothes. “What am I meant to do about my underwear? Can you at least give that back?” You asked “you don’t need underwear, if you do then just borrow some of mine” Sapnap shrugged it off. You wanted to argue with him but found that he had already turned his back to you and left.

You changed into his clothes, his baggy shirt and pants made your body look more boxed up. You tugged at the fabric and it started to cling to your body more “stupid electricity-“ you tried to get it to move away from your curves but it stayed stuck to you.

You walked out into the living room and crossed your arms “When am I supposed to be ‘getting pranked’?” You sighed “oh fuck, you’re looking hella good in my clothes, maybe I’m doin you a favor” Sapnap licked his lips quickly. You scoffed and flicked his forehead “I look good in my own clothes too, you know??” You huffed “I personally think you’d look way better without any clothes, you looked amazing in that towel earlier” Sapnap wiggled his eyebrows at you.

“You’re disgusting!” You laughed at his little flirting attempts “you know you love it, baby!” Sapnap winked “oh I do” you decided to tease back which made the tip of his ears turn slightly red “oh you do? That really warms my heart, c’mere and show me some love!” Sapnap held his arms out to you but you only pushed him away.

“Your offer is very kind but I must decline, I don’t show love to people who steal my clothes!” You told him. Sapnap lowered his head and frowned “What’re you so upset for? I was gonna get you out of your clothes anyways” he jokes around “oh be quiet!” You slap his arm playfully.

He gasps and exclaims dramatically “OUCH! I can’t believe you’ve striked me! All I did was love you and this is how you repay me??” He falls to the ground slowly and fakes his own death “may I have one final request?” He whispered and You leaned down “maybe one..” you decided to play along “can a dying man please have one final kiss?” Sapnap closed his eyes.

You decided ‘fuck it’ and leaned in, your lips pressing against his. He caressed your cheek and deepened the kiss but you were quick to pull away “hey, I don’t go making out with thieves” you smirked “Oh? Maybe you can make this ol’ criminal a good guy again, what’dya think?” Sapnap wrapped an arm around your waist.

You looked up at him and smiled “oh of course, is this thief gonna return my clothes?” You asked “only if you return mine..” Sapnap whispered and started to slowly tug at your collar “hm.. I think we have a deal” you slipped your shirt off and stood there with a bare chest “you look good, baby” Sapnap blew a kiss at you.

You slipped the rest of your clothes off and kicked them away, you were completely naked now “Shit- I can’t believe you were hiding all this from me..” Sapnap came up to you and ran his hands down your sides “my eyes are up here, play boy” you grinned. Sapnap’s eyes snapped from your body up to meet your gaze.

You leaned in and kissed him again, your mouth parting to allow his tongue entrance. You wrapped your arms around his neck and panted slightly as you two were now having a heated make out session. You pulled away for air and gulped down your spit “Sapnap..” you breathed out “yes, Y/n?” He smirked.

“Take your clothes off, it’s unfair” you complained and started to pull at his clothes “calm down. I’ll take my clothes off whenever you ask, baby” Sapnap stripped himself hastily and then posed for you, your eyes narrowed as you stared at him “checking me out?” Sapnap laughed.

Your eyes couldn’t help but be attracted to the large thing hanging between his legs, his cock was huge and throbbing “oh fuck..” you muttered “what was that?” Sapnap got closer “your cock is humongous!” You shouted “haven’t I told you that before?” Sapnap kissed your neck gently as you two were speaking and taking in each other’s beautiful bodies.

His hands rubbed at your hips gently “I’ve been waiting so long for you, Y/n.. I’ve had this crazy attraction to you ever since we met, you were the only one that ever joked back with me..” Sapnap confessed “I always had a soft spot for your stupid jokes..” you whispered softly, “I KNEW IT!” Sapnap hugged you and started to pepper kisses all over your face excitedly.

“Does this mean we’re dating??” You questioned “no it means we’re mortal enemies, of course we’re dating!!” Sapnap joked around “oh wow..” you blushed softly before realizing that you two were in the middle of having sex “oh um..” your face was red.

“Do you need me to stretch you out, do a little foreplay?” Sapnap’s hands caressed your torso, his mouth leaving soft kisses on your neck which left tiny purple marks “ah.. No, I just need your cock now..” you were ready for him! Sapnap guided you to his bed and laid you down onto your back, he then crawled on top of you and smiled.

Sapnap positioned his huge throbbing cock with your tiny hole, you gasped and threw your head back when he started to slide into your slowly “does this hurt?” Sapnap asked when he saw your facial expressions “n-no! It feels so good..” you cooed.

Sapnap gripped onto your hips and started to thrust inside of you, his cock was overwhelmed by the feeling of your tight warm squishy insides. Your legs were quivering and your hands were covering your mouth, you felt embarrassed to have such loud lewd sounds spewing out of your mouth like this but it was hard to control.

Sapnap thrusted harder and faster which made you yelp, tears pricked at your eyes from the overwhelming pleasure that you were getting from his cock stretching your insides “Fuck! Gonna cum-“ you scratch his back, leaving light claw marks on his skin. Sapnap continued to fuck into you roughly “cum for me, baby..” he encouraged.

You went over the edge and came hard, your juices running down your thighs. Your head was thrown back and your eyes were rolling into the back of your head, your back arched and your legs were shaking uncontrollably from the stimulation “FUCK! I love you!-“ you then panted and whined as you tried to catch your breath after just having the best orgasm of your life.

Sapnap came shortly after, his cum leaking out of your hole and down your thighs “shit, sorry about the mess-“ you shut him up with a kiss “clean the mess. Return my clothes. Cuddle me.” You instructed as you tiredly laid down on the bed “will do! I love you too, Y/n” he gave your forehead a kiss before going to clean everything up.

#mcyt x reader smut #sapnap smut #dream smp smut #dsmp smut #mcyt smut #c!sapnap smut #smut

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sybilius · 3 years

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I had to make an account to Scrëm about this but I'm obsessed with the idea of TMA/AEW. Based on your recent fic with the Punk Popping Others bit (worrying about getting Eddie over and letting him tell his story) just speaks of the Eye to me. Fueling himself through others' stories, others' lives, sustaining himself through their emotions and feeding off of them. Especially someone like Punk, who's been around and with two major promotions and left but just couldn't stay away. Whose name means more than enough on his own, but who no longer can strictly write his own story because of it, because it's already been written for him by someone else, by his past decisions. Wrestler as Archivist, unable to escape the pull no matter how much he wants to, needs the pop of the crowd and his fellow talent to thrive, needs those stories and those feelings. (There's an argument there for the Web too just from the intricacy of years of that storytelling compounding on each other but honestly I feel like the Default for "I don't know what to do with this character" is the Web and I'm liking this idea of Punk as a very bizarre variant on an Archivist.)

Also, Darby and Sting doing the Spiderman Pointing Meme to each other like "Buried???" "End?????" because they can't tell themselves. Does it really matter where one ends and the other begins when there isn't a Pressing Apocalypse to make those strict definitions necessary?

Dude. Dude. I've been processing this for 30 minutes this is INCREDIBLE I love everything about this

@electricshoop LOOK I-- this is so good.

I wanted to suggest the Beholding for Punk but I wasn't sure if that was just my own personal fascination with the Beholding + Punk's story. But holy shit when you put it that way-- Punk as a living and participating archivist, he not only observes the direction of wrestling story, he's also looking for opportunities to tell his own story...but he's caught up in the existing history that's his and can't get free of it.... thematically IDEAL

I love especially the idea of Punk as Marked for the Beholding but maybe he doesn't know/hasn't fully accepted it until he gets to AEW? In an earlier post I pitched a framing device for walking through the AU as "Punk enters MAG!AEW and Tony Khan who is an avatar of the Beholding, shows him various groups and their gimmick/avatar with the understanding that he'll eventually incorporate one of them...him being drawn to the Stranger but ultimately realizing it didn't feel right, then to the Web but still...I just think there's something fun narratively in him coming back to his boss and saying "horrifically, or delightfully I am Like You"...anyways much to consider THANK YOU for making an account and joining the madness <3

#tma aew au #the magnus archives #aew #chatter #tma aew crossover

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cruelfeline · 4 years

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That earlier post got me thinking about the difference between Horde Prime’s anger, and Hordak’s. Namely in terms of where it comes from and what its purpose is. Because my word, but there is a discrepancy, and it’s the sort of thing that I feel sheds quite a bit of light on how differently the two of them see the world.

When we meet Horde Prime, he is the picture of calm and collected, the classic affably evil villain who appears entirely in control of everything. And for a good portion of his time in the story, he is. He controls what we understand to be a vast empire. He controls the physical, mental, and emotional lives of countless clones who worship him entirely. He is totally in command of everything he interacts with.

So when we see his first angry outburst, it is less an “outburst” and more a targeted weapon. Horde Prime turns his vicious ire onto a trembling, pleading Hordak specifically to frighten him. To dominate him. To terrorize and punish him for the moral crime of taking a name and exerting his will. There is no loss of control here; once Hordak is dealt with, Prime calmly returns to his default cool, collected state. He is entirely the master of this situation, and when he exhibits anger, it is specifically to harm someone over whom he has power.

An important aspect of this, one that differs from what we see in Hordak and adds a significant level of cruelty to Prime, is that he is so legitimately mighty that this sort of fear-based punishment has nothing to do with self defense or personal safety. It truly appears geared towards inflicting suffering on others for his own glorification. Essentially: when he turns his anger on Hordak, it is not because Hordak poses any sort of actual threat that needs to be fought off. It is purely to hurt him in a way that strokes Prime’s ego.

This use of anger, of violence, to hurt and punish others seems to be the chief purpose Prime has for the emotion. Granted, as the show continues and he loses his dominant position due to our heroes’ efforts, his expressions of anger fall more in line with frustrated outbursts, but to my mind, this is the exception rather than the norm for him. After all, he has been dominant for so, so long. And because he has been comfortably in charge, he has had little to be frustrated about. Thus, Prime’s anger is largely a weapon of manipulation and enforced fear, rather than a reaction to a lack of control until the very latter portion of the series.

Now: Hordak.

Hordak is very different. Hordak, given the deeply unfortunate circumstances he faces, has had everything to be frustrated about: his illness, his failed projects, his precarious leadership position. And because of these things, particularly said precarious leadership position, he does not enjoy the easy dominance that Prime enjoys. Every moment Hordak spends in command of the Etherian Horde is one during which he has to hide his defect and maintain the facade of all-powerful ruler. It is a stressful thing that threatens to fall apart the moment his ruse falters, not only shaming him but putting him in potentially great physical danger.

which... y’know... happens in season four via Catra; so not a false worry

Because of this, Hordak exhibits anger far more constantly than Prime; he is almost perpetually grumpy, ready to snarl at a moment’s notice since his reasons for anger are ever-present. Furthermore, he uses said anger less as a tool to hurt people for his own personal pleasure and more as a negative coping mechanism combined with a method of personal defense.

The negative coping mechanism is probably what we see most often: whenever things don’t go Hordak’s way, he lashes out. The most common casualty of this is a piece of property (RIP lil’ green wrench) rather than an actual person, strongly marking this form of anger as one used to vent frustration rather than to influence others in any way. Hordak, along with his brothers, functions under a doctrine of minimizing emotional expression. As a result, his ability to cope with negative experiences via a healthy expression of the resulting emotions is heavily stunted, leading to the outbursts we see. It’s not a positive aspect of his character by any means, but it is an understandable one: he never learned how to manage failure and disappointment in a constructive way, so he suppresses the related emotions until they come to a head and manifest in violent anger.

This is akin to what Prime exhibits in the late stages of his life, but because Hordak constantly experiences such vexing frustration, he expresses this sort of anger far more consistently than Prime does, to the point that I would hazard to say that it is his norm.

Now, looking at Hordak expressing anger and using violence targeting other people, we again can see that he differs from Prime. Prime, as stated before, has all of the power and thus no real need for this sort of violence-based maintenance of control and self-defense. When he wields his anger, it is to cause hurt. Hordak? Hordak has that fragile leadership standing alongside a frightening lack of personal agency, and so he does use his anger to attempt to maintain both. He wields it both to protect himself from people and to regain control when he loses it. Various instances come to mind (besides him trying to drive Entrapta out of his sanctum via Yelling (c)).

One involves Adora in the moments leading up to the portal activation at the end of season three. When Adora threatens to thwart Hordak’s plans and utters that awful word, “fail,” he reacts. He reacts to two things: the concept of Adora has a dangerous enemy, and the loss of control over his own life via the threat of failure. When he turns his anger on her (and later displaces it onto Entrapta when said anger causes his armor to glitch) it is to combat these two adversarial things in order to maintain his own safety and stability. Hurting Adora as some sort of twisted moral punishment is not the intent here; protecting himself, from both physical and emotional threats, is.

Another instance involves throwing machinery and yelling at Catra after the portal incident, once she mentions Entrapta. This marks another moment of Hordak combating the sense of losing control. He experiences emotional pain due to Entrapta’s mention, likely suffering feelings of loss and shame and abandonment, and in order to regain control over the situation, to feel less vulnerable, he directs his anger at the source of discomfort: Catra.

In a similar instance, he throws a chip at Imp when the little spy teases him with Entrapta’s name, again seeking to defend himself against the unpleasant feelings her memory brings.

When Shadow Weaver and the Princesses invade his Sanctum, he loses composure and turns furious, throwing a column at them in an attempt to defend himself and his most private quarters.

He does the same once he learns of Catra’s lies, erupting into a true rage once she further prods at his insecurities by asserting that Prime will not want him due to his being a defective mistake.

Over and over, Hordak uses his anger to both protect himself from potentially dangerous people and to attempt to regain control over situations he feels are slipping from his grasp. Often when facing increased personal vulnerability. All of these moments show this very different set of reasons for expressing this potentially violent emotion compared to Prime.

It’s an interesting contrast, isn’t it? And one that serves to highlight the very different lives these two characters lead: one a cruel cult leader who has almost unfathomable power over his worshipers, the other a traumatized man trying to obtain power and security and stability in a life where he has nearly none. And their anger provides an intriguing lens through which to assess this contrast.

#hordak #catra #entrapta #entrapdak #horde prime #adora

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crystalelemental · 3 years

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Since @patchun brought up Hugh as a rival, here’s my personal take on each rival character in Pokemon, because I’m bored.

Blue - I actually do like the guy, and I think that overall he’s a solid rival. Story-wise, he’s one of the few that is always one step ahead of you, and clears the entire league before you. His team is solid, and he makes adjustments based on the starter Pokemon he picks. I also think he’s just kinda fun. He’ll make excuses about why he lost (”I picked the wrong Pokemon!”) and gives you shit as someone he considered less than him, but there’s still some level at which he’s like “Oh hey, you’re improving!” He’s a solid rival character.

Silver - I kinda feel like Silver isn’t really your rival, he’s just someone that shows up a lot that you have to deal with. Like it’s never entirely established that the two of you are competing, he just wants to kick your ass for funsies in all his earlier encounters, and only comes to respect you at all at the end of his entire quest. Which is cool! I actually like Silver a lot, I think he’s got a ton going on and is a pretty unique change from Blue. Blue was super invested in the League and being the best, while Silver’s also about being the best, but seems to have little interest in the League itself. His motives are outside of the League, and frankly outside of your own. He grows into the role of rival to the player more as a result of Lance’s comments to him and his own soul-searching. I think that’s great.

Brendan/May - And then there’s these two. I’m not entirely sure what the plan was behind these two. I’ve heard they shifted off of the antagonistic rivals because bullying was a problem, and that’s why every rival since has been your friend rather than an opponent, but these two aren’t even that really. They barely exist. As characters, they rarely show up and don’t really do a whole lot at any point, and as a rival trainer, they’re so bad they never fully evolve their starter. Brendan and May are, to me at least, the worst rivals in the series. If it was because they thought early rivals were too mean and toned it down, they did so without accounting for any alternative traits to make them interesting, but at least they started getting it right soon after.

Barry - I actually really like Barry. Initially, he was a bit annoying with the whole “I’m fining you!” gimmick, and being supremely absent-minded half the time, but he grows on you a lot. Kinda like Blue, Barry spends most of the game ahead of you, and is a pretty competent trainer. But instead of being aggressive in his rivalry, he is your friend and acknowledges how good you are. He never seems to even acknowledge his defeat to any extreme degree, he’s just having fun and doing his own journey while using you as a point of comparison, while still taking this really seriously, in part because his father is a renowned trainer that he wants to live up to. Which is solid. Also I gotta admit, the situation with the lake guardians was really cute, how Rowan recognizes him and gives him the tougher mission, how into it he gets, and then how hurt he is that he wasn’t able to protect Uxie. Barry just a sweet kid and a solid rival.

Cheren - Cheren is much like Barry, in that his focus is on battling at its core. Contrary to Barry though, Cheren is actively irritated that he can’t seem to beat you. He keeps pace with you, but I don’t think actually gets ahead of you at any point in the story. If anything, he’s interesting because he’s someone driven by the same journey to be a great trainer that you are, but is coming face to face with the realization that he’s not making the same gains, and may not be able to achieve that initial dream. He has to adapt, and ultimately settles into the Gym Leader role, and is a bit of a mentor in BW2, which is really cool. That’s really what makes the BW rivals so good, is that instead of just being another super good trainer who’s ahead of you all the time, they explore the idea of someone who wants to be the best but isn’t, and how he handles that. I like it a lot.

Bianca - Best rival, fight me. What makes Bianca interesting is that she’s kinda like Brendan and May, in that she’s not...really here to be a spectacular trainer. She is but she isn’t. She starts out on her journey to become a trainer, but isn’t super motivated by competition like Cheren. In fact, Bianca doesn’t really know what she wants to do at all. What makes her interesting is that change from being just another trainer to battle, to finding her own path in life that doesn’t involve the competition. It’s not what she wants to do, and I always really liked that. She eventually settles on being a professor’s assistant, and I think it’s great seeing her settle into a role that makes her happy. The series has always posited this idea that people exist with Pokemon in different ways, but this is honestly the first time we really get a rival who comes to engage with Pokemon and battling in a different way from the usual.

Hugh - I don’t like Hugh. I get the attempt with him, and appreciate it. A lot of Gen 5 centers around Team Plasma, and in this case, Hugh is a character who was directly impacted by their actions when they stole his sister’s Purrloin. He was a child and couldn’t do anything, so he’s grown up resentful of Team Plasma and determined to become strong enough to protect his sister and those he cares about. He’s along on your journey to improve, but never once does he seem all that invested in the League itself. He’s more invested in taking down Team Plasma and getting his sister’s Purrloin back, and all of that should come together into a really cool rival for this generation’s thematic narrative. His problem is really just that he talks. “You’re about to feel my rage!” Hugh, please. You’re embarrassing me in front of Zinzolin. I can’t say I hate Hugh, but I feel like he’s a character who just missed the mark they were aiming for, largely by being more of an edgy nuisance than an interesting character study.

Serena/Calem - I am only talking about these two because fuck the XY friend group. Honestly, they’re...pretty forgettable. Like I honestly can’t remember any significant personality traits from them at all. They’re like Brendan and May, only slightly better because they keep at it even if they’re constantly behind you. I think by biggest problem is how they never feel like they amount to much thematically. A big focus in XY is meant to be on scarcity. Mega Bracelts are rare, and not everyone can own one or utilize mega evolution. You battle them to get one, which by default means they don’t. And that sets up some interesting ideas, right? Like, how does that impact things? When there’s legitimate scarcity and not everyone can make use of this, are you willing to crush the dream of your childhood friend to make your own come true? Well actually it doesn’t matter because it’s never really brought up. The great tragedy of XY was lost potential, and the rival’s a big source of that.

Hau - Hau is...a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, SuMo. On the other, USUM. In SuMo, I like Hau a lot. He feels a lot like Barry, if Barry didn’t give a shit about competition. Hau is very laid back as a rival, and challenges you while attempting to keep pace, but ultimately exists to have fun and enjoy his journey. This is the trait that makes him and Gladion such fun counterparts. But then USUM rolls around, and makes up this whole subplot about how he’s not actually trying and that this is a betrayal of his Pokemon? And then it leads to this whole crisis where suddenly he’s super invested in competition and being the best, and ends up as your Champion battle? And it just doesn’t feel as interesting. If anything it feels like USUM’s eternal Gen 1 dick sucking coming back to reference your rival as the champion, rather than actually focusing on the character’s development.

Gladion - Okay, I really like Gladion. He’s a bit more like Silver than anything else, in that I don’t think he ever like...expresses wanting to be your rival? He just shows up and challenges you because fuck you in particular. But through interactions, and your eventual assistance with stopping his mother and breaking down those emotional walls, Gladion grows into someone who still wants to be a great trainer, but is no longer driven by the need to be the best to protect his sister and stop his mother. Rather, he just learns to enjoy competition for its own sake. And I really like that! I feel like he’s Silver, but refined to be a more interesting character.

Hop - Okay stop me if you’ve heard this one. Hop’s a rival who’s invested in the competition, and is largely driven by living up to a family member’s legacy. He’s generally friendly, but expresses intense dissatisfaction with his performance because he can’t beat you or Bede. He’s been competitive, but ultimately very laid back until a sudden realization that he needs to try harder and is suddenly super driven to become the best. His post-game arc is entirely about finding out that maybe he doesn’t want to be a trainer all that much, and finding his own calling, which is a professor’s assistant. That’s Barry, Cheren, Hau, and Bianca, in that order. I do not love Hop. I don’t hate him. There are definitely worse rivals with less going on. But Hop feels like an amalgamation of previous rivals rather than his own being. He goes from laid-back but invested in your rivalry, to super serious and determined to be the best, and ending on maybe not even wanting to be a trainer that much. It’s a weird shift in his journey that I don’t think meshes as well. He takes the parts of these previous rivals that made them interesting, but it turns out slapping them all together makes a character that’s less than the sum of its parts. However, I will give points for one thing I actually love about Hop: when he keeps losing, he completely changes up his team. That’s something no rival has done. Minor adjustments, like Blue dropping Raticate, have happened, but we’ve never seen a complete shuffle in who they lead with or what the team composition is. So I do think there’s merit to Hop, even if he’s not my favorite. It could be worse. It could be...

Marnie - A literal nothing. She does announce that you are her rival, so I guess I have to talk about her. She’s nothing. Like, I kinda have to give more points to her than Brandan/May solely because she does at least try, but she never really has anything going for her. Her brother is more compelling than she is, being a gym leader in charge of an area that is really struggling, and trying to showcase that Dynamaxing isn’t required to be a good trainer. Marnie...has none of that. At all. She just has the freedom to be a challenger for the Champion title, and the town is insistent on her winning to prove...something. I honestly do not understand the plan. It wouldn’t change that their territory has no ability to Dynamax, and unlike Piers, Marnie has no qualms about using Dynamax to win. She has no real convictions, and if memory serves only battles you twice. And she’s not exactly that good either time. I never once felt like Marnie mattered. People just liked her design and decided she was great, but she...she doesn’t do anything.

Bede - I’m hesitant to count Bede, but you battle him more often than you battle Marnie, and he does eventually consider you an obstacle to overcome so I’ll count him. Honestly, don’t like him that much, but he’s better than nothing. Bede’s interesting in that he’s kind of a rival that’s ahead of you? At least implicitly. I don’t think we get hard confirmation that he’s beaten any of the challenges before you, but a lot of his battles involve him being in a location before you got there. I do kinda like his arc, in that he’s a bit of an inverted Cheren? In the sense that his ultimate endpoint is as a Gym Leader, but not because he’s looking at things in terms of adjusting his goal due to always losing, but adjusting his goal because it turns out that’s just really what he wants to do. At first he hates it, and his final challenge to you is a means of saying he’ll quit forever if he can’t win, but ultimately he settles into an appreciation for being a Gym Leader, and I really like that. While I dislike him more on a personal level, I will say I think he’s a better rival than Hop. Has more going on for himself, anyway.

#pokemon

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passionate-reply · 4 years

Video

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“Why did Kraftwerk stop making albums?” they all ask, as though Karl Bartos isn’t right here, consistently kicking ass and making great music. If you’re hungry for more Kraftwerk goodness, specifically with an early 90s techno flair, you probably won’t do better than Esperanto, so come check it out! (Also featuring special guest star Andy McCluskey from OMD.) Full transcript below!

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! Today, I’ll be talking about an album not too many people have heard, but that I think more people really should--especially fans of Kraftwerk. It’s Esperanto, the 1993 debut of Kraftwerk alumnus Karl Bartos’s project, Elektric Music. The production of the final classic-lineup Kraftwerk LP, 1986’s Electric Cafe, had been dominated by frustrating delays, rewrites, and remixes, and when all was said and done, the resulting album was a relative flop. By the time of the 1991 remix album The Mix, which seemed to end Kraftwerk’s career with a whimper, Bartos had grown alienated from founding members Ralf Huetter and Florian Schneider-Esleben, and fed up with their apparent lack of work ethic. He set out on his own, partnering with Lothar Manteuffel of the Neue Deutsche Welle act Rheingold, to form Elektric Music.

What I think really stands out about Esperanto first is its sense of freewheeling, unrestrained immediacy. For nearly a decade leading up to this album, Bartos had been working at the whim of others, waiting around, and feeling like he was spinning his wheels. Esperanto feels like a tightly coiled spring that’s finally being released. It’s dense, busy, in-your-face music that positively demands to be paid attention to.

Music: “Lifestyle”

Vibrating at the core of Esperanto is an undeniable Kraftwerk-esque sonic template: textural synth side-swipes, chattering vocoder-driven vocals, and hypnotic, mechanical rhythms. It’s natural to expect that rhythmic quality from Bartos, since he was chiefly brought on to provide percussion parts for Kraftwerk, but it’s also important to remember that he’s as interested in pop music as he is in classical. Both Bartos’s solo work, as well as the Kraftwerk tracks he had a hand in, emphasize melody, in a poppy, easy to love manner. The melodies here have some precedent in Bartos’s earlier work, but they’ve never been quite as punchy and vibrant before.

“Lifestyle” also makes early use of vocal chops, which contribute to that tight and busy feel, while also being a marked attempt at pushing this core sound into the musical future. Some of these specific samples are actually repeated across multiple tracks, if you listen closely--a sort of callback to the repeated melodic motives of the early Kraftwerk albums. “Information,” a high-concept eight-minute epic that the rest of the tracklisting pivots around, is even closer to being structured like “Trans-Europe Express”:

Music: “Information”

Bartos has never really ceased struggling under the weight of his Kraftwerk past, torn between indulging in these ideas and themes that come so naturally to him, and feeling obligated to set himself apart--as well as obligated to push the envelope and break new musical ground. Esperanto radiates and burns with that sense of conflict, which feels fresher and more raw, given the timeframe involved. This tension between working with and working against the Kraftwerk legacy is not only musical, but also thematic. Like the Kraftwerk albums, Esperanto is deeply concerned with the role technology plays in our lives...but it’s a lot less optimistic. Take, for instance, the opening track, “TV”:

Music: “TV”

“TV” is Esperanto at its most gloomy or melancholy, portraying the detached haze of modern lotus-eaters transfixed by the glowing screen. It’s an image that’s readily familiar and relatable to us today, of course, and it’s also one that runs contrary to the techno-utopianism of Kraftwerk, where home technologies offer hope of bringing people together rather than splitting them apart, and disconnecting them from the real world. If that wasn’t enough to convince you to read “TV” as an anti-Kraftwerk screed, the lyrics even point to “computer graphics” and “electric bands” as fodder for that destructively distracting entertainment. Ouch! Along somewhat similar lines is the track “Kissing the Machine”:

Music: “Kissing the Machine”

“Kissing the Machine” is also a sort of rebuttal of Kraftwerk tracks like “Computer Love,” demonstrating the pitiful perversion it really is to expect human, emotional fulfillment from a cold and sterile mechanical contraption. Whereas “TV” is more overtly downbeat, “Kissing the Machine” takes the route of dramatic irony, going for an eerily cheerful, naive sort of sound, painting its narrator as utterly oblivious to what they’re missing out on. You probably noticed that the vocalist on this track is actually not Bartos--it’s Andy McCluskey, best known as the frontman of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Like Manteuffel, McCluskey is a younger synth-pop artist whose career began in the 1980s, making music that owed quite a lot to what Kraftwerk had achieved before. Bringing on some slightly younger talent is not only a nod towards keeping up with the times, but also another jab at the legacy of Kraftwerk, who refused to collaborate with any other musicians, and at times even seemed loath to acknowledge how the art of electronic music had evolved in their wake. As the title of Esperanto implies, the theme of language is also prominent here, and that serves as yet another way in which the Kraftwerk philosophy is turned on its head, most notably in the title track:

Music: “Esperanto”

While many people assert that it’s more “authentic” to listen to Kraftwerk in German, they made consistent attempts to incorporate a wide variety of languages into their work. Besides the English-language versions of their LPs, Kraftwerk also sang in French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and even Japanese, to varying degrees. They were selling a vision of “Europe Endless” that was multicultural and multilingual, and seemed to have wanted people from all over the world to connect with them and feel included and represented in their future, rather than view them as some distant and peculiarly Teutonic phenomenon.

“Esperanto” flies in the face of the dream of linguistic unity. Esperanto itself is an artificial, constructed language, created by L. L. Zamenhof in the late 19th Century. Combining features from the most commonly spoken languages across the globe, and streamlining away things like irregular verbs, Esperanto was built from the ground up to become a true “universal language” for all of mankind, that was easy to learn and use. But despite the hopes of Zamenhof, whose name for his new tongue translates to English as “one who hopes,” it obviously never caught on. The most beautiful utopian vision in the world is still just a vision, and you can end up failing even if “you’ve got the perfect pitch.”

Kraftwerk’s longtime graphic designer Emil Schult, whose contributions to Kraftwerk’s signature aesthetic are nearly as important to their legacy as any of their music, returned to create the cover art of Esperanto. With its bright and simple red tone and strong use of diagonals, Esperanto’s cover art is clearly evocative of the iconic cover of Kraftwerk’s 1978 LP The Man-Machine, arguably the finest hour for the band as well as Schult. However, its abstract, non-figurative qualities set it apart from the work Schult and Bartos had done before, as Kraftwerk hadn’t made an album that didn’t feature their own faces front and center since 1975’s Radioactivity. The image of a rising sun is fitting for the idea of Bartos’s empowered return to music after a period of dormancy.

The world is full of people bemoaning the fact that Kraftwerk gave up on making new music, and the apparent irony of this band who appeared to be visiting from the future being absent from the world they helped create, in which “electronic music” has ceased to be a novelty and become a default. Karl Bartos may not be the most prolific artist in the world, but I’ve always seen him as the rightful heir to the Kraftwerk legacy, and I think his string of solo albums since leaving the band are the most worthy follow-ups that could ever have been paired with Kraftwerk’s classic run. Esperanto does everything you could possibly want a 1990s Kraftwerk album to do, staying true to that musical heritage while also pushing forward, and staking a place in the broader artistic conversation. I think everyone who identifies as a fan of Kraftwerk owes it to themself to give Esperanto a spin.

My favourite track on Esperanto is the closer, “Overdrive.” Unlike the readily apparent cynicism purveyed by tracks like “TV” and “Kissing the Machine,” “Overdrive” reads as a more complex perspective about technology and everyday life. It’s a portrayal of that all-too-modern scourge of overstimulation, that’s still ultimately a very exciting one, that sweeps you up in its triumphant “kiss of life.” Listening to its chaotic instrumental outro, I can’t help but feel that it leads directly into Bartos’s follow-up to Esperanto, 2003’s Communication--an album that would tackle the Internet age, and its inescapable virtual hustle and bustle, head-on. That’s all for today--thanks for watching!

Music: “Overdrive”

#music #great albums #album review #album reviews #karl bartos #kraftwerk #andy mccluskey #omd #orchestral manoeuvres in the dark #elektric music #techno #synth pop #synth-pop #synthpop

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starsmuserainbow · 3 years

Text

1OO IMPORTANT CHARACTER QUESTIONS

taken from beth kinderman and nikki walker’s the 100 most important things to know about your character. a good list to help develop a character’s background, personality, and general aspects.

(Template link here)

PART 1: THE BASICS

What is your full name?

"Koriand'r, but on Earth it is Starfire!"

Where and when were you born?

"On Tamaran, in the castle. We were still in the war with the Gordanians."

Who are/were your parents? (Know their names, occupations, personalities, etc.)

"Myand'r, the Grand Ruler of Tamaran, and Luand'r, his wife! They were very wonderful! They have cared for us as well as they could, I believe, and I do not doubt that they have loved us very much!"

Do you have any siblings? What are/were they like?

"... Blackfire is my older sister. I have always looked up to her, but she is very much not interested in a positive bond between us. She is a criminal, I believe many parts of the galaxy are searching for her, and she has multiple times before attempted to capture me or bring me into the hands of those who would not be very nice to me.

I much prefer to talk about my baby brother, Ryand'r, or Wildfire as he is calling himself on Earth! We have long thought that he has died when he was still very small, but he has survived and lived many years in complete isolation! He has grown to be very wonderful and nice and friendly, and I am loving him a lot! I am most thankful that he has by now returned to my life!"

Where do you live now, and with whom? Describe the place and the person/people.

"I am living with my best friends, the Teen Titans! Our home is commonly called the 'T-Tower', and it is a very accurate description as it is a building with many floors and in the shape of a T!

Raven is as close to me as I am imagining a sister to be that does not constantly wish to harm me! She is skilled in magic, and she has to meditate for calming her emotions because her powers can be dangerous when she is feeling too strongly! This is also leading to her appearing very calm or 'unemotional' in many situations, I am knowing that she is loving us as much as we her!

I am most admiring Beast Boy's talent for joking! It often is about things that I do not initially understand, but I am still certain that his jokes are always very funny and most entertaining!

Cyborg is very skilled with technology. He has equipped our home with its security, he created our communicators, and he is also very much enjoying to play the games of the video together with Beast Boy!

Our leader is Robin! He is very trained, he knows many types of the martial arts, and I am very much enjoying to fight alongside him! Some times he can be too focused on his work, but we are all trying what we can to make him realize it and stop, and I believe it has bettered over the time that we are together."

What is your occupation?

"I am a hero, one of the Teen Titans! We are using what we are capable of to protect the people of the city - and the planet - from dangers and any form of harm!"

Write a full physical description of yourself. You might want to consider factors such as: height, weight, race, hair and eye color, style of dress, and any tattoos, scars, or distinguishing marks.

"I am commonly wearing my tamaranean uniform, which is mostly purple and combined with silver metallic armor! I believe I am taller than the average human, I am thin and do not have any tattoos, scars or similar! As with all of us tamaraneans, my skin is more orange, or golden, than a human one, and my eyes are having their green color both in the sclera and the pupil! Oh, and I am having long red hair, which I preferto wear untied!"

To which social class do you belong?

"A... a social class? I have never visited the earthen schools!" [[Well, on Tamaran probably upper/highest class since she's of the royal family, and on Earth, average I assume? So probably middle, or something?]]

Do you have any allergies, diseases, or other physical weaknesses?

"I am allergic to metallic chromium."

Are you right- or left-handed?

"My right hand is the one that I am using predominantly!"

What does your voice sound like?

"I believe I am having a very friendly and light voice! But I cannot describe voices well."

What words and/or phrases do you use very frequently?

"There have before been people mimicking me by reciting 'glorious' or 'wonderful', so perhaps those!"

What do you have in your pockets?

"My communicator! A bit of cat food, oh! And this is a drawing that I have been given by a child earlier!"

Do you have any quirks, strange mannerisms, annoying habits, or other defining characteristics?

"People have before mocked me by using very many times of the 'the' in each sentence, so perhaps that is a thing? Although I have never understood this mockery. I am also very much enjoying to hug people - but that cannot be a bad thing, no?"

PART 2: GROWING UP

How would you describe your childhood in general?

"It was a very wonderful childhood! I have grown up with parents that loved me very much, I had two siblings, and I have been able to learn much! There also was our caretaker, Galfore, I am still very close to him and thankful for his advice. ... I would have wished for chances to explore and learn about other worlds already during my childhood, but I can understand how it was too big a risk!"

What is your earliest memory?

"I remember playing a game with my father! I am very happy that this is a memory I recall, especially since at a later time of our lives, he did not have as much time for us anymore."

How much schooling have you had?

"I have completed all the tamaranean schooling! It is not working in the same way as the earthen system, so I cannot compare it."

Did you enjoy school?

"Of course! It was most fascinating to learn about every thing!"

Where did you learn most of your skills and other abilities?

"Most of it has been trained on Tamaran! But with my friends I am also continuing to strengthen my abilities!"

While growing up, did you have any role models? If so, describe them.

"My father! He was wonderful to us, and also a great ruler even in the times of war! I have always admired him. ... I have also very much looked up to my sister. She has always been so strong, so independent and so experienced..."

While growing up, how did you get along with the other members of your family?

"I have gotten along very well with my mother and father! And Ry was most adorable and we were very close as well! ... I have always assumed that I was also getting along well with my sister, but by now I have realized that such never has been the case."

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

"... I have always wanted to be like my sister. ... And I have wished to be able to explore other worlds!"

As a child, what were your favorite activities?

"I have often strolled through the royal garden! ... as long as it has still existed. It was also very entertaining to be taught by Galfore, in cooking and about the history and the customs and how to fight!"

As a child, what kinds of personality traits did you display?

"I do not believe that my personality has changed much since my childhood!"

As a child, were you popular? Who were your friends, and what were they like?

"As children of the royal family, we were very... shielded. There were not many other children that we have met, so I do not believe that there was a chance to truly measure popularity. Those that I did meet liked me though, I believe."

When and with whom was your first kiss?

"Kissing does not carry such a meaning for my people. It is default that as children, we are having lip-contact with multiple teachers, to train the assimilation of languages and to learn the most important languages."

Are you a virgin? If not, when and with whom did you lose your virginity?

If you are a supernatural being (i.e. mage, werewolf, vampire), tell the story of how you became what you are or first learned of your own abilities. If you are just a normal human, describe any influences in your past that led you to do the things you do today.

"My abilities are normal for the tamaraneans, so while I am an alien to this world, I do not think that there is a story that I can tell."

PART 3: PAST INFLUENCES

What do you consider the most important event of your life so far?

"Having met my friends, and having found a home with them!"

Who has had the most influence on you?

"That is either Galfore or my friends of now!"

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

"It has felt like a big success when I had beaten my sister for the second time. And that even while she had used the Jewel of Charta, which was making her much stronger and less vulnerable."

What is your greatest regret?

"I am still feeling very sorry for the destruction that I have initially caused on Earth."

What is the most evil thing you have ever done?

"That destruction, I believe."

Do you have a criminal record of any kind?

"I do not know! But as I have caused damage on this world, I assume it would only be right if it is noted somewhere, no?"

When was the time you were the most frightened?

"After we have watched a movie, Raven's powers had once brought the monsters and the spookiness from the movie to life! It has been a very frightening situation."

What is the most embarrassing thing ever to happen to you?

"I have many times misunderstood the earthen phrases. At times, the people around me are laughing very openly about it. That is making me feel very embarassed."

If you could change one thing from your past, what would it be, and why?

"I would hope to be able to better the connection to my sister!"

What is your best memory?

"I will never forget how Robin has assured me that Blackfire would never have been able to replace me."

What is your worst memory?

"My brief staying in captivity was most horrifying."

PART 4: BELIEFS & OPINIONS

Are you basically optimistic or pessimistic?

"I believe I am more optimistic!"

What is your greatest fear?

"Being alone, and captive, without hopes of escaping."

What are your religious views?

"It would take much time to explain the beliefs of X'Hal to you! It is the tamaranean religion, and I am adhereing to that."

What are your political views?

"I... I do not know what you are asking here. My political views? On what?"

What are your views on sex?

Are you able to kill? Under what circumstances do you find killing to be acceptable or unacceptable?

"Yes. I do not enjoy to take a life, but if there is truly no other option for saving those that are in danger, I will not hesitate as much as I believe my friends would. But under any circumstances, and wherever possible, it should be avoided to kill someone."

In your opinion, what is the most evil thing any human being could do?

"Harming innocent children is most evil!"

Do you believe in the existence of soul mates and/or true love?

"Though I would not call it these, I believe in similar concepts, yes."

What do you believe makes a successful life?

"To be happy, to enjoy what you are doing, perhaps also to make those happy you care for."

How honest are you about your thoughts and feelings (i.e. do you hide your true self from others, and in what way)?

"It is difficult for a tamaranean to be dishonest about the feelings. It can very quickly become similar to a sickness. There are tamaraneans that still do not show what they are thinking or feeling, but I am feeling much better if I am simply being open!"

Do you have any biases or prejudices?

"Even when I am not happy about some thing, I would always do what I can to not let such connections endanger a new meeting."

Is there anything you absolutely refuse to do under any circumstances? Why do you refuse to do it?

"I would always refuse to harm my friends! Because it cannot be right to do such!"

Who or what, if anything, would you die for (or otherwise go to extremes for)?

"It is not a thought that I enjoy. But I believe me and my friends all would not hesitate to give our lives for those of the others."

PART 5: RELATIONSHIPS W/OTHERS

In general, how do you treat others (politely, rudely, by keeping them at a distance, etc.)? Does your treatment of them change depending on how well you know them, and if so, how?

"I am doing my best to treat every one politely! And I do not think that my behaviour is changing if I am knowing some one better."

Who is the most important person in your life, and why?

"All of my friends are!"

Who is the person you respect the most, and why?

"Raven! It must be very difficult to keep such a control of her emotions at all times!"

Who are your friends? Do you have a best friend? Describe these people.

"There are so many friends that I could name! My best friend is Robin! I have described him before, have I not? He is the leader of our team, and he is often willing to explain to me what I do not understand. He is very important to me!"

Do you have a spouse or significant other? If so, describe this person.

"I do not have such!"

Have you ever been in love? If so, describe what happened.

"I... Yes, there was... there was a connection that I have felt immediately as we have first met. We... We are still working on it, I believe."

What do you look for in a potential lover?

"I wish for some one who is friendly, who is there for me and who can rely on me in return. Some one that I am feeling at home and comfortable with!"

How close are you to your family?

"It... it is difficult with Blackfire, I would not call us 'close' at all. But I am very close to my baby brother, now that he has returned to us!"

Have you started your own family? If so, describe them. If not, do you want to? Why or why not?

"I have not! But I am most enjoying the idea. It is a delighting thought to picture myself having children of my own that I can care for!"

Who would you turn to if you were in desperate need of help?

"My friends, my team! The Titans!"

Do you trust anyone to protect you? Who, and why?

"I would never doubt that my friends would always protect me, as I them!"

If you died or went missing, who would miss you?

"I believe my friends and my brother would miss you! And many of my friends would attempt to find me, or find out what has happened. And Galfore certainly, as well!"

Who is the person you despise the most, and why?

"I am aware that she is merely a human, and that I need not feel as strongly towards her... but I do not like Kitten, the daughter of Killer Moth, at all."

Do you tend to argue with people, or avoid conflict?

"I do not like arguing! But if necessary, I would not avoid it."

Do you tend to take on leadership roles in social situations?

"I do not think so. But I am often talking much, so perhaps I am, and merely do not realize it?"

Do you like interacting with large groups of people? Why or why not?

"Certainly! There is an earthen saying, that it is merrier the more people are there, no? I find it very entertaining to have many friends around me!"

Do you care what others think of you?

"I am trying to lessen how much I am caring, but yes. It is most unpleasant when I am insulted."

PART 6: LIKES & DISLIKES

What is/are your favorite hobbies and pastimes?

"Exploring Earth! Oh, and I am enjoying to go shopping, or to cook or care for our Silkie!"

What is your most treasured possession?

"I... There is the 'crown' that I have worn when I came to Earth. My mother has gifted it to me shortly before we have lost her."

What is your favorite color?

"I am very fond of purple, as many of my people are. Perhaps it is simply some thing I have been raised into, as it is the most common color for clothing on Tamaran."

What is your favorite food?

"Glorg!"

What, if anything, do you like to read?

"Raven is recommending books to me some times! I am not very fast with reading them, as I have often some thing else that I am then thinking of doing, but they are most entertaining to read!"

What is your idea of good entertainment (consider music, movies, art, etc.)?

"I do not understand. Entertainment is good if it is keeping one entertained, and as the likes of such vary, it is difficult to have any entertainment that is not good!"

Do you smoke, drink, or use drugs? If so, why? Do you want to quit?

"I am not doing any of these things."

How do you spend a typical Saturday night?

"If we are not on a mission, it is often that me and my friends are making the nights of movies!"

What makes you laugh?

"There are many things that are making me laugh!"

What, if anything, shocks or offends you?

"It is not very nice when people are unfriendly to others based on how they look or which gender they are having. I am hearing bad words because of my looks and for being alien, as well. So perhaps these."

What would you do if you had insomnia and had to find something to do to amuse yourself?

"I would watch TV! There is always some thing interesting shown, no?"

How do you deal with stress?

"It is best to unleash any troubles I am having. Such includes stress. And my friends would certainly aid me in overcoming the stress."

Are you spontaneous, or do you always need to have a plan?

"I am not very good at sticking with plans."

What are your pet peeves?

"I do not understand what those are that you ask for."

PART 7: SELF IMAGES & OTHER

Describe the routine of a normal day for you. How do you feel when this routine is disrupted?

"It is often that our days are not going by routine. When trouble is coming, we are going to it as quickly as we can. It might not be pleasant, but it is necessary, so I am rarely feeling bad about it. On a routine, hmm... I am waking, I stretch and prepare myself for the breakfast. We are commonly eating together, and doing some activity for spending the day. On many days, there is also our training."

What is your greatest strength as a person?

"Perhaps that I am willing to trust others? Although my friends have also told me that it is a big weakness. Perhaps caring for the well-being of others?"

What is your greatest weakness?

"Perhaps my trusting too easily? I do not truly know."

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

"I would not change a thing! I am happy as I am."

Are you generally introverted or extroverted?

"Extroverted!"

Are you generally organized or messy?

"I prefer to have things look organized, but if I am too distracted, I can quickly be very messy, as well."

Name three things you consider yourself to be very good at, and three things you consider yourself to be very bad at.

"I am good at cooking! ... tamaranean dishes. My friends have before complained that I am often not following the recipes, and am creating different earthen dishes than what they expect. I am a capable fighter, and I am good at making friends!

I cannot draw well, um... I am not aware of many parts of the earthen sayings, and I am not good at recognizing when I should not be trusting or believeing someone."

Do you like yourself?

"Yes, I think I do."

What are your reasons for being an adventurer (or doing the strange and heroic things that RPG characters do)? Are your real reasons for doing this different than the ones you tell people in public? (If so, detail both sets of reasons…)

"I am a hero because it would feel wrong to not use my abilities, that are more than the average on this world, to aid others. It would feel egoistic, and I enjoy to help others."

What goal do you most want to accomplish in your lifetime?

"I do not have goals. All I am wishing for is to continue to be happy."

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

"I hope that I am still with my friends!"

If you could choose, how would you want to die?

"Either after a long living, or if it must happen earlier... I would prefer to die in saving someone else."

If you knew you were going to die in 24 hours, name three things you would do in the time you had left.

"I would visit and hug as many of my friends as I can! I would wish to tell them again how much I value them and how their friendship has delighted me. And I certainly must spend a lot of time with Ry! If there is no more time, I must do what I can to make him understand that he is worth much more than he is thinking! ... And I also wish to say goodbye to Galfore, and perhaps leave messages for those that I am not able to reach. ... Perhaps a message for Blackfire, as well."

What is the one thing for which you would most like to be remembered after your death?

"Perhaps for the good that we are doing as heroes?"

What three words best describe your personality?

"Friendly, cheerful, and very happy to explore and learn!"

What three words would others probably use to describe you?

"I am hoping some thing similar! Although there have also been words that were not as friendly, I believe that more people would not use those mean words."

If you could, what advice would you, the player, give to your character? (You might even want to speak as if he or she were sitting right here in front of you, and use proper tone so he or she might heed your advice…)

I don't think there really is anything I'd need to give her as advice. I mean, if I really have to say something, probably something like that she should stay how she is and not change only because of some bad experiences. Something like that.

#✫ There was a young alien girl who lived in a T ✫ | About Starfire #those were quite cool! and take forever to answer xD #I tried to stay as ship-neutral as possible; but in some answers I just couldn't avoid mentioning robin #since as you all probably know I default to robstar when nothing else is implied

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snowdice · 4 years

Text

Road Trips and Missing Persons (Part 20)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Patton & Virgil, Virgil & Janus, Logan & Patton, Emile & Remy, Roman & Remus & Janus

Characters: Patton, Virgil, Janus, Remus, Roman, Logan, Emile, Remy

Summary: Patton was just getting groceries. The next thing he knew, there was a knife at his throat and he was an unwilling uber driver. Virgil’s on the run after the murder of his dad, and it’s not just his paranoia that’s telling him he’s being chased down. He has to get somewhere safe, somewhere he can trust, and all he has is a couple of stories from his dad and a name: “Green Bellow Foods and Dispensary.”

Notes: Secret Agents AU, knives, carjacking, kidnapping, murder mentioned, guns mentioned, pepper spray, blood mentioned, drugs mentioned, explosions, car crashes (more to be added)

This is a fic I’ve been writing on study breaks that you have probably all already seen at this point. I’ve affectionately named it the Goblin Brain Fic because it’s helping my brain actually get motivated for studying. I’ve slightly edited it for wording and grammar, but not for content from my previous posts. Feel free to send in asks to direct it because I’m not 100% sure where this is going and you can help decide if you feel so inclined! You can see the process I went through to build this at this link.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 My Master Post

Janus was being very sulky. Spraying Remus in the face with a little bit of juice was one thing, but pouring the entire juice pouch into his lap, that was another. Clearly Janus was very unhappy with the state of affairs. Remus was glad Roman had interpreted the shoulder bob Remus had given him while getting into the car correctly and had helped Remus pin Janus in the middle. Remus… honestly wouldn’t put it past Janus to try to jump out of the car when it was moving at this point. He was clearly very strung out and in one of his bad headspaces.

The first time Remus had seen him in this bad of a headspace had been after a week “vacation” (He still refused to explain the quotation marks to this day even though Remus now knew who his mother was and what she did.) with his mother and had legitimately planned an assassination of their shared calculus professor thinking she was plotting against him. At the time Remus had thought that had mostly been a joke. Having gotten to know Janus since… it was a good thing Dr. Hawkins had decided to give them a break on the homework for that week.

Remus had no idea where the man’s mind had gone, but he was pretty sure distracting him as soon as possible was the best move. So, Remus did the only think he could think of in that moment to possibly shock his best friend out of spiraling into a pit of cynicism. He leaned forward and grabbed another Capri Sun (this time Strawberry Kiwi instead of Tropical Punch) out of the cooler. He stabbed the straw through the hole and then turned to Janus. “Want another one?” Remus asked. Janus blinked at him stone faced, but then held out his hand. He took the straw out immediately after Remus handed it to him and didn’t hesitate to pour that entire pouch onto Remus’s lap as well.

Remus nodded seriously as though Janus had just made a good point in an argument. He leaned forward and grabbed another one. “Does,” he said glancing at the label on the pouch as he stuck the straw into it, “a Wild Cherry one catch your fancy?” He handed it over to Janus and once again got the entire package squirted into his lap. “Fair enough,” he said mildly, reaching into the cooler once again. “How about a Grape one?”

They went through a Pacific Cooler, a Surfer Cooler, and an Orange one before, finally, Remus pulled out a Fruit Punch one. Instead of immediately tearing out the straw and dumping it on Remus, Janus hesitated at that one. After a moment, he turned away from Remus to stare foward and brought the straw to his lips. Roman was shooting them a bewildered look, but Remus just winked at him. Janus made short work of the juice pouch and then extended a hand to drop the empty container into Remus’s lap.

Remus gave it a moment and then leaned over slightly to bump shoulders with him. He paused for a second and then bumped him again.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Janus mumbled. Remus paid him no mind and bumped their shoulders together for the third time.

“Come on Jay,” Remus said.

“No.”

Remus narrowed his eyes at him and then slammed into him even harder sending him into Roman who yelped in surprise.

“What the hell is wrong with you, you cretin?!” Janus spat, slapping Remus away.

“Oh, so many things,” Remus said. He heard Roman give a soft puff of amusement. “What about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Well I’m stuck in a car with you, asshole,” Janus snapped.

Remus tilted his head. “No,” he said. “What’s really wrong?”

He scoffed. “What’s not, Remus! My brother’s missing. My da…ad of my brother is dead! My mother is trying to murder me in cold blood. And you claimed to be my best friend earlier, but now you are unflinchingly on board with turning me over to your father who is more than likely going to throw me into a prison cell the moment he sees me.”

“Okay,” Remus said. “First things first, dad is not going to throw you into a prison cell when we show up.”

“Oh really?” Janus asked. “And why wouldn’t he.”

“He likes you Jay.”

“Even if that’s true, he clearly doesn’t trust me.”

“If he didn’t trust you, he wouldn’t let you be a double agent for him,” Remus pointed out.

“I’m not a double agent because he trusts me,” Janus argued. “I’m a double agent because I’m Barbara Nelson’s son. I was a calculated risk at best and now I’m too much of a risk even if I was still useful.”

“Dad’s not like that.”

“Maybe not to you,” Janus grumbled.

“Why do you think he doesn’t trust you?”

“Well it’s pretty obvious when he sends another agent to go pick up my brother and meanwhile tries to send me on a different mission as a distraction to get me out of the way. Clearly, he doesn’t trust me to not deliver Virgil to my mother. Why else would he do that?”

“Jay, did you consider that he knows you?” Remus asked. Janus raised an eyebrow. “Dude, just last week you were drunk texting me and dad pictures of you and your brother from your childhood, many of which included Virgil’s father. He may have jumped to the conclusion that you’d be upset about Remy Gates’ death and that you’d act irrationally because of those feelings.”

Janus scoffed. “Irrational?” he asked. “What did he expect me to do?”

“Oh,” Remus said. “I don’t know. Perhaps something like bash in some guys skull against a water fountain in a public park, blow your cover with your mom, explode a car, smash a bunch of phones, get into a car chase and shoot out with your mom’s men that ultimately ended up with you in a lake, poor juice all over me, and spiral into a pit of thinking that everyone in your life is out to get you.”

If looks could kill, well, Remus would have already been dead long ago, but he would have been especially dead right then. However, as it stood, Remus was decidedly not dead. He shot a toothy smile at Janus who glared even more intensely. “All of those things were perfectly rational,” Janus insisted, “and even if I were emotional, that is because my brother is missing which your father did not know about until after he sent Roman. It has nothing to do with the boy’s father.”

“You are worryingly good at hiding your emotions from yourself,” Remus said. “I think you actually believe that. Wonder what you’ll do when we find Virgil and those feelings are still not gone.”

“You and your father can both screw off,” he ground out. Yet, his tone was still somehow milder than it had been before they’d started to talk through his idea that dad 100% inarguably hated him. So, that was progress.

Remus bumped their shoulders again. “Plus,” he said. “If dad did decide to throw you in a prison cell, I’d totally break you out of it, and we’d go on the run. Our future cat has to have a daddy after all!”

“I don’t even like cats,” Janus said.

“Sure Jan.”

“I’m going to pour more juice on you.”

“Kinky.”

“What? What does that even mean?”

“It’s his default catch phrase,” Roman offered. “Try spinning him around and bonking him on the head three times. That usually resets him.”

“Bet I could do it in one if I hit him hard enough,” Janus said.

“I’d say no blood in my car,” Lena pipped in from the front seat, “but it’s far too late for that.”

“Hmm,” Remus said. “What’s worse on car seats? Nose blood, Capri Sun, or lake water?”

“We’ll fine out when it dries,” Janus said.

“I’m charging the agency for a new car,” Lena grumbled.

“Same,” said Roman.

Want to read more? Click below!

Part 21 Part 22

#sanders sides #janus sanders #remus sanders #roman sanders #creativitwins #patton sanders #road trips and missing persons #adriana writes #virgil sanders #road trips and everything in between #platonic moxiety #emile picani #remy sanders #logan sanders #kidnapping #murder mentioned #guns #car crash #nose bleeds mentioned

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cheyj05 · 4 years

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WKM Reflections Part 2

(GUESS WHO FINALLY MADE PART 2) @superyummysandwich

Part 1

Upon leaving the guest room, Eve was faced with the Butler standing outside the door carrying a tray with some weird mixture on it.

“Ah, good morning,” he said “hope you’ve had a good night’s rest.”. Eve mumbled a thanks, slightly caught off guard from having to socialize this early in the morning.

“I’ve prepared for you a seltzer with cocaine,” he handed them The Mixture, they only took it out of politeness “best thing for the morning after if you ask me.” he then winked and walked away.

Eve was going to get rid of it the exact moment they could. They knew for a fact it would be a very bad idea to drink it. Though not because they’d ever drunk anything like it before, nope, not this person, they definitely did not have a roommate in University who told them it would be a great hangover cure or anything like that, nope, they were a responsible adult who made responsible life decisions.

They didn’t have much time to stew on their Totally Responsible Life Decisions though, as the moment the Butler left Eve noticed Damien was there, seemingly waiting for them. They grinned at the thought of Damien waiting for them and just generally at the thought of Damien.

Damien turned around once he noticed Eve’s presence and smiled at his old friend. His smile made the District Attorney’s heart flutter against their will. It was annoying that Eve’s normally tight grip on their emotion seems to falter when it comes to him.

“Ah, there’s our little monster! You really knocked ‘em dead last night. I haven’t seen you go wild like that since our days at university.” he said, referring to the many, many wild parties they both had gone to in Uni. “Good to let the beast out every once in a while, eh, old friend?”. Eve just grinned and nodded, not trusting themself to speak.

He smiled back, but his facial expression quickly shifted to one of concern, “Then again, I’m-I’m still not exactly sure as to what we’re celebrating here.”. Eve didn’t know either, they had only attended this party because they hadn't seen Mark in almost 2 year now, after he got divorced, and they wanted to make sure he wasn’t dead or anything like that.

“I mean it’s good to have the gang back together,” he clarified “but...out of the blue like this seems…” he was lost in thought for a moment before remembering Eve was there “Anyway, now is not the time to become conspiratorial. Life is ours to choose, as I always say.” he had brushed the thought away but he still looked tense, like his worries still weighed on him.

Eve didn’t know what to say, they weren’t the greatest at comforting people ,or social interaction in general, and now that Damien brought up his concerns Eve was starting to worry too, after all why would Mark invite everyone to a party like this after months of radio silence?

“I have some work to finish, but I’ll meet you at breakfast. We’ll all catch up soon.” he nodded at them and then quickly walked away.

Eve distractedly nodded back, now lost in thought themself. As they walked down the winding stairwell, they couldn’t help thinking about the events that lead up to this. Earlier this year, Mark and his wife Celine had gotten divorced. Eve didn’t know the circumstances behind it, they just knew it had been a messy break up. Eve had been pretty sure things weren’t going the greatest, sure. They had just thought the two would work things out. They clearly did not. After the divorce, Mark hadn’t left his home. Eve had figured it was only reasonable that he would be depressed, considering how smitten he had been with her, so they had let him be. But then one month turned to two and they started getting worried. Eve had asked Damien about what happened but he wouldn’t tell them anything. Something big had clearly happened but Eve didn’t know what. Damien had tried talking to Mark but that clearly wasn’t going well. Eve had also tried contacting Mark, even trying to go to his house once, but he never responded and once they were outside the gates of The Manor they had felt such horrible dread and terror and decided to just keep trying to call him. They had kept trying to contact him all the way until Mark sent the invitation. Eve had considered this a good sign and decided to attend, even if they didn’t want to go near The House again. But now they were doubting his motives….

They should probably stop thinking about this, they had reached the end of the stairs and know from personal experience that it’s a bad idea to wander around someone’s house while lost in thought. They’ve broken their nose doing that once..

Eve had no clue where they were going in this house so they turned right by default. A suit of armor caught their eye. Eve never understood why rich people had suits of armor in their houses, it's not as if they’re planning on wearing them or anything like that, so there was no point! The mental image of Mark in a suit of armor made them snort, Mark would be a terrible knight in shining armor. He’d more likely end up the damsel in distress while Eve and Damien would try to save his ass.

They were getting lost in thought again, they should probably stop doing that. They decided they should try to find Mark so they can catch up. They turned around and with a strike of lightning something fell at their feet.

No, not something

Someone

Mark

It was Mark

The same Mark who’d introduced himself to Eve by flirting with them. The same Mark who’d introduced them to Damien. The same Mark who, for the duration of his marriage, would not shut up about the fact that he was married. The same Mark who could be stupid, arrogent, and petty but still loved his friends deeply.

That Mark.

He was on the floor

Why was he on the floor?

Eve was frozen in place, not truly comprehending what they were seeing. The only thought in their head was “Why?”.

They only barely lifted their head when the Detective walked in, wearing a bathrobe.

“Did anybody hear that lightning- OH MY GOD! THERE’S BEEN A MURDER!”. On the word “murder” there was another lightning strike. Neither the Detective’s screaming nor the lightning roused Eve from their stupor.

They barely acknowledged when the Butler entered “Excuse me, did you hear light-OH MY GOD MURDER!”. Nor when lightning once again struck on the final word.

Nor when the Chef entered “Did you-? MUUUURDER!”. More lighting, though it didn’t make a difference to Eve. Eve was barely processing the events around them until the Detective got in their face.

“What the hell happened here? Who’s in charge around here? Trick question: that guy,” he pointed at Mark’s body while Eve blinked back to reality “And he’s dead now, which makes ME in charge. So you better listen up good, bucko. ‘Case you haven’t been paying attention, there’s been a bit of a...killin’.”. Everyone started looking up expectantly for lighting but none came so the Detective continued “And you’re my prime suspect! So you better get to explaining right quick as to what, where,when and why you happen to be here upon this man’s death!”.

Eve sputtered, taken aback both by having recently been brought back to reality and the man’s loud and rapid manner of speech. They were trying to defend themself but they were still barely having cohesive thoughts. Luckily, Benjamin came in clutch “ Sir, the body is cold. He’s been dead a while.”.

“Uh, yes. I pretty much just got up” they stuttered.

The Detective chuckled “A likely story! That I happen to believe completely,” Eve let out a slightly confused sigh of relief “All right, you’re off the hook for now, but I’m a detective and-”.

“Oh, yeah? Prove you’re a real dick!” The Chef interrupted

He took his wallet out of his robe’s pocket and shoved it in front of The Chef’s face “Here’s my badge. Asshole.”. He turned his badge towards Eve to show them too but a row of photos unraveled from his wallet. The photos showed The Detective in more or less the same pose next to a different person in every photo, and there were a lot of photos. Eve looked at him questioningly.

“Ah, Those are my old partners. Don’t ask me about them. Fine! I’ll tell you.”. Eve didn’t ask but okay “Each death more tragic than the last. A few of them even died in ironically hilarious ways,”. Eve shared a look with the Chef, who seemed similarly bemused. “Which made it all the more tragic.”.

Eve wondered if he was done talking now when he continued. “But hey, you look like you’re up to the task. You’re my new partner.”. Eve vigorously shook their head no. Because they didn’t want to, y’know, die.

The Detective laughed “That’s what all my old partners used to say. Right before they died.”....Very reassuring.

“All right. Hand me that fingerprinting kit behind you, partner” he then winked at them. Eve decided they would just file all this away for later, they did have an investigation to get to after all. There was nothing they could do for Mark just standing around, all they could do is figure out who killed him.

They turned and searched for the kit on the couch behind them. There was nothing. They turned back around to ask him where it was specifically but found the Detective was now fully dressed and holding said fingerprinting kit. That wasn't all, in the time since they had turned around police tape had been set up and the body was covered with a tarp..

“Thanks, partner.” the Detective said, despite the fact that they hadn’t handed it to him. He then casually tossed it on the floor. Eve decided that instead of filing this away for later they would burn the files and forget this ever happened. They ducked under the police tape as the Detective crouched over the body.

The Attorney opened their mouth to start asking him about the cause of death, how long Mark’s been dead etcetera, etcetera. (Just because they found the Detective deeply irritating didn’t mean they weren’t willing to work with him, professionalism was more important than any…..personal issues.). But their voice stopped dead in their throat when Damien walked into the room.

“What the hell happened here?”

Eve didn’t know how to tell him Mark was dead, they couldn’t form the words. They couldn’t even sign it, as they often did when they couldn’t speak. They were completely speechless.

“Oh! Mr. Mayor. I’m so sorry. There’s been a murder.” the Butler explained. Thunderclap.

“A murder?” Damien asked and then jumped at the second thunderclap “Who?”.

“It’s Mark” the Chef shrugged.

“I’m afraid he’s telling the truth. Mark’s been...killed.” the Detective said. No thunder there though, strange.

“Why? Who would do this?”.

“That’s exactly what me and my new partner here-” the Detective gestured to Eve, who had decided they would just accept this and hope they don’t die by tonight.”-are here to find out.”.

“Um,” they all turned to the Butler “Excuse me. I feel like we should call the authorities for them to handle this matter.”

“Look, buddy, as far as you’re concerned I AM the authorities.” the Detective pulled out his badge again “The fact of the matter is, I believe the killer is right here amongst us in this very house. With that freaky lightning storm outside, none of us would get very far, anyway.”.

“Also,” Eve added in “the police wouldn’t get here very quickly, the combination of the storm and the police’s general response times means we’d all be sitting ducks for a while. And if the killer really is in here with us, well, they’d have a lot of time to destroy evidence or hurt somebody else.” Eve also didn’t trust the police to investigate their friend’s murder, though they decided not to add that part in. Mark was a famous actor so once the media got a hold of his death, the police would be under a lot of pressure to arrest someone. Pressure leads to false arrests and they didn’t like the idea of someone they knew being falsely accused. The Detective was annoying, yes, but Mark had invited him here along with all of his other friends. That meant he trusted him so Eve trusted him too.

The Detective nodded in agreement “So, in the meantime we’re stuck here. But I’m gonna get to the bottom of this. The rest of you, get back to your rooms, hunker down, and pray to God you’re not next to be murdered.” he ordered. Thunder struck again. It actually seemed like a good plan, too bad nobody listened to it.

“I’ll...I’ll check on our other guests.” the Butler said then walked off. Eve found it odd he had said that seeing as the only guest not present was the Colonel. Hey, where was the Colonel?

“I’ll get back to cooking. All this death made me hungry” the Chef said, walking to the kitchen.. Well, that was a sentence.

Damien looked at the Chef leaving then at Eve then at Mark’s body “I…” he looked at a loss as he backed out of the room “I-I need to talk to the Colonel about this.”.

Eve wanted to say something, anything to comfort their friend, but he had already left the room. They sighed.

“All right, partner,” Right, Eve had to focus on the investigation. Worry can wait. They crouched next to the Detective. “It’s time to get to work.”.

“Judging by the temperature of the body that I measured rectally, which is obviously the most accurate way to get the inner body temperature of a corpse. That’s a fact, totally procedure.”. That’s... obviously not true but if Eve freaked out about every odd thing he does and says they’d be there all day.

“Don’t tell anyone I did it.” Called it. “I am sure Mark was killed around 1:30 last night,”. He suddenly stood up and pointed accusingly at them “ So what were YOU doing at 1:30 a.m last night?”

They flashbacked to 1:30 a.m. They were sleeping, they always slept with their eyes open so they could see the time. They told him this.

“I’m gonna ignore the strange fact that you sleep with your eyes open,”

“ You have no right to say something’s strange.”

“But it checks out.”.

“ It better.” they murmured as they stood up.

“So, we need to figure out where everyone was and what they were doing around that time or, at the very least, who saw Mark last.” He paused for a moment “You need to get out there. See if you can piece together the story of what happened last night. I’ll stick around with the body and run more..tests”

Seemed like a good plan though they would have done so without the Detective telling them to. They ducked out of the police tape and for a second wondered where to start. Then they heard Damien yelling.

Well, it seems the investigation has begun.

#wkm fanfic #wkm da #eve(da)#wkm detective #wkm damien #wkm mark #wkm benjamin #wkm butler #wkm chef #wkm mayor #wkm abe #wkm actor #i did it!

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rhetoricalrogue · 4 years

Text

OTP Question Meme

I was tagged by @bimollymauks thank you!

Answering with my new Zoe/Mason Wayhaven pairing and also my favorite OC OTP, mine and @alittlestarling‘s Roz/Vincent

Leaving this as an open tag, so whoever would like to join in, please do! Fingers crossed that my Read More cut works, as this is LONG.

DISAGREEMENTS.

Who is more likely to raise their voice?

Z/M: both, tbh. Zoe yells when she’s angry

R/V: depending on the situation, both, though Vincent goes deathly quiet when he’s truly upset.

Who threatens to leave but never actually does?

Z/M: neither. Zoe’s abandonment issues kick in like woah and it’s a line that Mason never crosses.

R/V: Vincent, but it’s not leave-leave, it’s more “I need some air, I’ll be back later” to deescalate an argument before someone says something hurtful they don’t mean.

Who actually keeps their word and leaves?

Z/M: N/A

R/V: Vincent, but he’s back in an hour or so after he’s cooled down.

Who trashes the house?

Z/M: not the house, but Zoe’s been known to vent her frustrations by throwing rocks into nearby bodies of water and scream if she’s at like Anger Level 11 on a 1-10 scale.

R/V: neither. Vincent would probably want to flip a table, but he doesn’t because he’d ultimately be the one to clean it up afterwards.

Do either of them get physical?

Z/M: Coming to blows? No. Shoving Mason out of her way (if he hasn’t already left yet) so she could storm out? Probably, but she retreats into her Touch Me Not mode, so that would only be if she felt cornered.

R/V: Absolutely not.

How often do they argue/disagree?

Z/M: rarely. They bicker and snark more than hold true arguments.

R/V: only when one feels the other is putting themselves in danger. They’ve grown up together for practically their entire lives, they’re pretty much of a same mind on many issues.

Who is the first to apologize?

Z/M: Zoe. “I’m sorry I was being an asshole” is a regular statement.

R/V: Vincent. He hates being at odds with Roz and is miserable if he can’t apologize and make things right between them.

SEX.

Who is on top?

Z/M: either/or with Zoe barely creeping in on top more.

R/V: Vincent, but he loves it when Roz takes initiative.

Who is on bottom?

Z/M: either/or, depending on the mood

R/V: Roz, but it’s a 50-50 split

Any kinks?

Z/M: Yep

R/V: Absolutely. You know, it’s the quiet ones that surprise you.

Who has the strangest desires?

There’s nothing too strange for either pairing. Both are open for experimentation and the “try it once to see if we like it” mindset, but it’s also not like “is the NSA agent looking at my search history blushing?” variety either.

Who’s dominant in bed?

Equal opportunity for both pairings!

Is head ever in the equation?

Z/M: Yes. Zoe texted Mason after not hearing from him for a few days with “Hey, I froze my ass off giving you a blowjob in the woods last week, answer your phone.”

R/V: Yes. It’s nice that it worked out that Vincent loves to give and Roz is enthusiastic about receiving.

If so, who is better at performing it?

Z/M: Mason, though he doesn’t complain at all when Zoe offers.

R/V: Vincent, since he’s had more practice during his “have casual sex with anyone with a pulse to get over Feelings” phase of pining over Roz.

Ever had sex in public?

Z/M: a few times

R/V: they’re Circle mages. It’s easier to name a place they haven’t had sex in, especially in the Sweethearts AU.

Who moans the most?

Z/M: Zoe

R/V: They’re both quiet by default, but when they have the opportunity to be a couple out in the open? Vincent.

Who leaves the most marks?

Z/M: Mason, purely because he heals up faster than either of them would like

R/V: Roz. It was a surprise to them both when they found out biting was a big turn-on for Vincent, so she uses it often.

Who is the more experienced of the two?

Z/M: Mason

R/V: Vincent

Do they ‘fuck’ or ‘make love’?

Z/M: fuck, though they have some “oh shit, this got Emotional and I am NOT prepared to deal with this, WHAT DO I DO?” moments later on

R/V: make love

How long do they usually last?

Z/M: hot and heavy quickies to release all the pent up energy from the constant flirting banter they keep up, then a slower second round

R/V: quick and rushed during the day, but multiple slower sessions when they can be alone

Rough or soft?

Z/M: both

R/V: both, but more often soft

Is protection used?

Yes to both pairings

Does it ever get boring?

Yes and no to both. The whole intimacy thing where you can carry on a conversation or “oh hey, I remembered what I meant to tell you earlier” starts happening and sometimes sex is more scratching an itch than the whole soulful event. Then again, there’s those times when someone moves or does something different and “okay, so I didn’t know THAT was something we liked. Let’s do that again.” (idk, I have a lot of Feelings about couples and sex, see the sexlaughterhonesty posts @thesecondseal has)

Where is the strangest place they’d have sex?

Z/M: in an abandoned building Zoe used to go hang out in when she wanted to be alone as a teen

R/V: extremely late night rendezvous in Skyhold’s library. May or may not have happened in the same nook Dorian likes to frequent. Also may or may not have been 100% sure Solas was asleep downstairs.

FAMILY.

Do they plan on having children/or have children?

Z/M: no. Zoe’s afraid of becoming her mother and focusing more on her work than her child and she never wants anyone to have to experience that.

R/V: yes. It’s an option that was never available to them before, but once it’s an avenue that they can actually think about, they would love to become parents.

If so, how many children do they want/have?

Z/M: none

R/V: they wind up with five, all named after flowers

AFFECTION.

Who likes to cuddle?

Z/M: *bangs pots and pans together* TOUCH STARVED PAIRING TOUCH STARVED PAIRING TOUCH STARVED PAIRING

R/V: both. They’re both very touchy-feely by nature and always seem to gravitate towards the other when they’re doing something in the same room

Who gets naughty in the most inappropriate of places?

Z/M: Mason, but it’s not like Zoe’s arguing either

R/V: Roz

Who struggles to keep their hands to themself?

Z/M: both

R/V: Vincent

How long can they cuddle until one becomes uncomfortable?

Z/M: for a while before an arm falls asleep and they need to move positions/one of them gets too hot

R/V: for pretty much forever, except in the summertime. They’re both walking furnaces (Vincent says Roz is like a tiny space heater) so it makes for uncomfortable hot weather snuggles

What is their favourite non-sexual activity?

Z/M: Hanging out together outside and enjoying the quiet/scenery, especially at night

R/V: gardening

Where is their favourite place to cuddle?

Z/M: in bed or on the sofa

R/V: wherever, whenever

SLEEPING.

Who snores?

Z/M: neither

R/V: Vincent, but very lightly. more of a slight rumble ever so often

If both do, who snores the loudest?

Do they share a bed or sleep separately?

Z/M: separately. Bed sharing = commitment and this is supposed to be no strings fun

R/V: share a bed. Skyhold’s is the largest bed they’ve ever slept in, so there’s a lot of giggling and “I have crossed oceans of bedsheets to find you” jokes at first.

If they sleep together, do they cozy up together or lay far apart?

Z/M: N/A

R/V: starts cuddled together with Roz’s head on Vincent’s shoulder, but they move a lot during the night, sharing Big Spoon duties. Even if they wake up with both of them on their backs, they either have a foot touching a leg or holding hands.

What do they wear to bed?

Z/M: underwear & a t-shirt or nothing at all

R/V: dedicated PJs. Roz: nightgown/chemise or one of Vincent’s shirts, Vincent: sleep pants

Are either of them insomniacs?

Z/M: Zoe when something’s bothering her. Since Mason doesn’t technically need a lot of sleep, he doesn’t consider himself one.

R/V: Vincent, especially in the Sweethearts AU. Nightmares from his time conscripted into the Orlesian army keep him awake and afraid to sleep.

Can sleeping pills be found by the bedside?

Z/M: no

R/V: yes, in both powdered and potion form, though Vincent rarely uses them since he hates how sluggish he feels the next day (and they rarely give him dreamless sleep anyway)

Do they wrap their limbs around each other or just lay side by side?

Z/M: both

R/V: tangle of limbs

Who wakes up with bed hair?

Z/M: both, though Zoe tends to sleep with her hair in a braid most nights, so it’s not as bad as Mason’s

R/V: both, and it’s a tie as to who has the worse bed head most mornings

Who wakes up first?

Z/M: Mason

R/V: Vincent. He’s an early bird up before dawn and she’s more of a later morning riser

Who prepares breakfast in bed for the other?

Z/M: breakfast is normally coffee at home with a croissant from the bakery for her, so Mason usually turns on the coffeemaker when he stays over or before he leaves in the morning

R/V: either, but usually Vincent since he’s awake before her

What is their favourite sleeping position?

Z/M: they claim they’re both knives, but Zoe is a Big Spoon who likes to wrap her leg over Mason’s hip

R/V: snuggled up with Roz’s head on Vincent’s shoulder/chest, but they wind up with Vincent curled around her (and with a mouthful of hair) or Roz doing the turtle backpack/jetpack when they do spoon.

Do they set an alarm each night?

Z/M: Zoe needs at least two alarms, but did away with one of them when Mason nearly threw her phone out of the room after it blared right in his ear.

R/V: both of them have pretty good internal alarm clocks and wake up at the same time every morning

Who has nightmares?

Z/M: Zoe

R/V: both, but probably more on Vincent’s side

Can a television be found in their bedroom?

No for both

Who has ridiculous dreams?

Z/M: Zoe

R/V: Roz, maybe

Who sprawls out and takes up most of the bed?

Z/M: Mason

R/V: Vincent, purely because he’s taller

Who makes the bed?

Z/M: Zoe

R/V: either, whoever winds up doing it first

What time is bed time?

Z/M: 11 to midnight, but she’s usually asleep closer to one in the morning, even without Mason showing up

R/V: either anywhere between 8 and 11 or so late it’s considered early because they’re both working and one of them manages to drag the other into bed. There is no in-between.

Any routines/rituals before bed?

Z/M: usual tooth brushing, changing clothes, Zoe’s half-assed attempt at a nighttime skincare routine. Zoe usually spends some time brushing her hair out since it’s been in a ponytail during the day and brushing tends to soothe the all day pull on her scalp.

R/V: tea by the fireplace, changing clothes, putting aside work. Roz likes to braid her hair before going to bed and sometimes Vincent will ask if he can brush it and braid it for her since the act is calming for both of them

Who’s the grumpiest when they wake up?

Z/M: Zoe. Do not talk to her before her first cup of coffee.

R/V: Roz. Vincent is an automatic Ray of Sunshine first rattle out of the box and it’s a good thing she loves him as much as she does or else she may have killed him years ago.

WORK.

Who is the busiest?

Z/M: it’s a pretty equal amount

R/V: either, depending on which AU we’re talking about and who’s Inquisitor (*trips and a thousand AUs spill out of my pockets*)

Who rakes in the highest income?

Z/M: Mason

R/V: *insert “You people are getting paid?” meme here*

Are any of them unemployed?

Who takes the most sick days?

None of them are likely to take sick days, unless they’re truly sick, and they’re all pretty healthy people aside from one or two seasonal colds per year

What are their jobs?

Z/M: Zoe’s Wayhaven’s detective and human liaison to the Agency. Mason is with Unit Bravo

R/V: one of them is the Inquisitor and the other is a companion/former Circle mage, depending on the AU. Vincent was ranked higher than Roz as an Enchanter pre-Inquisition

Who sucks up to their boss?

None of them

Who is more likely to turn up late to work?

Z/M: Zoe, but it’s rare

R/V: both are punctual

Who stresses the most?

Z/M: both are cool as a cucumber on the outside, but internalize their stress, so who knows

R/V: Roz

Do they enjoy or despise their careers/occupations?

They all like their jobs!

Are they financially stable?

Z/M: yes, though Zoe really, really wishes she made enough to afford a new car

R/V: Yes.

HOME.

Who does the washing?

Z/M: the dishwasher. They take turns loading/unloading it

R/V: Roz does the washing, Vincent does the drying and putting away

Who takes out the trash?

Z/M: either

R/V: Vincent

Who does the ironing?

Z/M: Zoe, but only her clothes. Mason, but only his clothes.

R/V: Roz

Who does the cooking?

Z/M: is picking up or calling in for takeout considered “cooking”?

R/V: they like to cook together

Who is more likely to burn the house down just trying?

Z/M: “Mason, it was ONE. Fucking. Time.” Zoe set the fire alarm off while trying to be domestic and Mason won’t let her live it down.

R/V: neither, they’re both pretty decent cooks

Who is messier?

Z/M: Maybe Zoe, she’s neat but she leaves things out sometimes just to irk Mason

R/V: both are pretty neat and don’t really make messes without straightening things up

Who leaves the toilet roll empty?

Z/M: neither

R/V: neither

Who leaves their dirty clothes on the floor?

Z/M: both, but it eventually gets picked up

R/V: both, if they’re really tired. Otherwise, there’s a hamper.

Who forgets to flush the toilet?

None of them

Who loses the car keys when it comes time to go somewhere?

Z/M: neither

R/V: (Modern AU) neither, but sometimes keys are misplaced even though they have a dish on a hall table right when you walk in.

Who answers the telephone?

Z/M: depends on who’s calling. Bobby gets an automatic ignore and deleted voicemail.

R/V: (Modern AU) they answer their own phones, but will hand the other their cell to answer if the other person is away from where it’s at.

Who mows the lawn?

Z/M: Zoe lives in an apartment with landscaping management included in the rent. Mason doesn’t know who mows the Warehouse’s lawn, but it sure isn’t him.

R/V: (Modern AU) Vincent will go over to mow Roz’s rental house lawn (and probably sneak in a few plants from the nursery he owns into her flowerbeds)

Who does the vacuuming?

Z/M: Mason

R/V: Roz

Who does the groceries?

Z/M: Zoe

R/V: both

Who takes the longest to shower?

Z/M: Zoe, purely because she has thick, thick hair almost down to her waist that is a chore and a half to shampoo/condition

R/V: either, depending on who decided to sneak into the shower with the other

Who spends the most time in the bathroom?

Z/M: Zoe

R/V: depends on the day. Shaving usually takes Vincent a longer time since he’s careful of his facial scars, but Roz has the same hair issues that Zoe has, so it’s pretty much a tie.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Is money a problem?

Z/M: No, but Zoe thinks that it would be nice to invest in her motorcycle or a new car

R/V: No. No matter the AU, Vincent’s technically a trust fund baby with wealthy parents willing to help out.

How many cars do they own?

Z/M: Zoe: beaten up silver hatchback that’s seen better days and is held together with spit and a mechanic’s prayer, WiP motorcycle she’s restoring. Mason: Agency SUV

R/V: two sensible, mid-priced cars, both pre-owned and paid for

What’s their song?

Z/M: Ghost - Au/Ra

R/V: Work Song - Hozier

Do they live in the city or in the country?

Z/M: they live in (Zoe)/on the outskirts of (Mason) Wayhaven

R/V: in the country, near Wycome post-Inquisition to be close to Vincent’s parents

Do they own their home or do they rent?

Z/M: Rents an apartment/lives in the Agency-owned Warehouse

R/V: (Modern AU) Vincent: rents out an apartment, Roz: rents a house

Do they enjoy their surroundings?

Yes for both

What do they do when they’re away from each other?

Z/M: work, hanging out with friends

R/V: work, friends, mentoring young mages

Where did they first meet?

Z/M: met when Zoe shot Adam (she was sorry about it later), but made a bad first impression on the other when Rebecca formally introduced them

R/V: Vincent was five, going on six years old when the Templars brought in a new girl his age. He was sad when he saw her crying and decided to be her friend.

Who spends the most money when out shopping?

Z/M: Zoe

R/V: Vincent

Who’s more likely to flash their assets?

Z/M: neither. Zoe would like to have nice things, but she’s not going to be a showoff with them if/when she gets them

R/V: neither

Any mental issues?

Z/M: Zoe’s abandonment feelings/anger with her mother

R/V: PTSD for both of them, Vincent’s insomnia

Who finds it amusing when the other trips over?

Z/M: both, since they’re both light on their feet and agile. They do check to see if the other is okay, even if they’re smirking while they do it

R/V: neither, they help the other up and ask if they’re okay, but don’t overly worry about it unless it was a bad fall or there was an underlying reason they tripped in the first place, like being exhausted.

Who’s terrified of bugs?

Z/M: neither

R/V: neither, unless you count giant spiders and whatnot as bugs. Then both.

Who kills the spiders around the house?

Z/M: either, though Mason is more likely to find a cup in the middle of the room with a “DO NOT OPEN” sticky note on top if it’s a big spider

R/V: either, and they usually try to scoop them up and release outside.

Do they have any fears for their future?

Z/M: Aside from the whole immortality vs. human lifespan thing, they try not to dwell on things. The future is uncertain and it’s better to enjoy the present.

R/V: so many, but they’re in it together and can deal with whatever gets thrown at them.

Their favourite place?

Z/M: the Warehouse’s rooftop

R/V: Skyhold’s gardens

Who’s more likely to surprise the other with a fancy dinner?

Z/M: Mason, maybe?

R/V: Vincent

Who pays the bills?

Z/M: Zoe

R/V: Vincent

Who’s the tallest?

Z/M: Mason. He’s 6′0″ and Zoe’s 5′9″

R/V: Vincent. He’s 6′1″ and Roz’s 5′1″ (my favorite tol and smol, tbh)

Who’s more likely to just randomly hop into the shower with the other?

Z/M: Mason

R/V: Roz

Who wanders around in their underwear?

Z/M: Zoe

R/V: Roz

Who sings the loudest when singing along to the radio?

Z/M: Zoe

R/V: both

What do they tease each other about?

Z/M: both of them being grumps with no filters. Mason about Zoe nearly burning her apartment down making a grilled cheese sandwich that one time. (”It wasn’t THAT bad!”)

R/V: I don’t really know! I mean, they do tease the other, but a lot of it is in-jokes and maybe Roz being a small ball of fury at times? *shrugs into the abyss*

Who is more likely to cringe at the other’s fashion sense at times?

Z/M: neither. They tend to wear mostly the same dark colored clothing and stuff that’s not likely to stand out and get them noticed

R/V: neither. Vincent thinks Roz is beautiful in anything she wears and Roz likes the fact that Vincent’s pants are snug around his butt and his shirts emphasize his broad shoulders.

Who crushed first?

Z/M: Zoe, in that “stupid hot Agent, he makes me SO MAD...oh no, I think he’s hot. FUCK.” way.

R/V: Vincent P I N E S over Roz for Y E A R S but doesn’t do anything because she’s his best and dearest friend and telling her how he feels would risk ruining that friendship since there’s just NO WAY AT ALL she would EVER feel the same for him...

Any alcohol or substance related problems?

Z/M: none. Both will drink socially, but nothing more serious than a few drinks and a minor buzz. They both have a smoking problem, but Mason tends to cut back because of Zoe and Zoe has a rule of never smoking at work. She eventually cuts back in her off hours because of Mason, but will light up when she’s stressed or upset, mostly with things centering on Rebecca.

R/V: none

Who is more likely to stumble home, drunk, at 3am?

Z/M: neither. Zoe doesn’t like to get more than a pleasant buzz where the edges are a little hazy but nothing past that

R/V: Vincent. He’s a horrible lightweight who can’t hold his liquor. Two drinks in and he’s all “WHOMST wants to see me naked???” Forget about tequila making his clothes come off, ANY booze and he’s stripping.

Who swears the most?

Z/M: both

R/V: Roz, though Vincent keeps a good internal swearing streak going every now and then.

#tagged meme #zoe dawson/mason #rosalind marlowe/vincent trevelyan #otp: sometimes home has a heartbeat

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mittensmorgul · 5 years

Note

MoC anon again, hi! (also, eek, sorry about those two hours you lost) i think sam’s history with anger issues is actually kinda WHY he would handle it better, because he’s been practicing controlling it his whole life. (and i think he’s a lot better at it in s11 than he was in s5, ya know?) whereas, like you said, dean builds walls to keep the bad OUT, but he tends to act on emotion a lot more than sam, and his emotions are more explosive, and a lot less regulated. 1/2

(and while dean works very hard to hide his softer emotions, he’s never been particularly bothered with showing his anger.) i just can’t picture sam losing control the same way dean did. not saying that he wouldn’t lose control at all, of course, it’s gonna be messy either way, and obviously sam is not a paragon of mental health, but he has experience controlling the “darkness” inside him in a way dean never did 2/2

Hi there! and yeah, I’m doubly sorry now that my original post was eaten because I did cover this, as well. I think you and I read Sam and Dean very, very differently. I don’t think Sam HAS had a lot of practice controlling his anger, is the thing.

Yeah, Dean has exploded in frustration and anger, but so has Sam. Because Sam kind of runs on anger (or he did, especially in earlier seasons), it feels to me like adding the mark to that would’ve been throwing gasoline on a fire. And once we saw how Amara operates, we know she used the same sort of lure on Dean that Ruby had used on Sam. Similar to Lucifer whispering to him from the cage in early s11. Retroactively, I guess I’ve applied that same sort of enticement to how the Mark called out to Dean in s9 and s10.

Because it also didn’t come down to “control” in those moments where Dean “snapped” into murderousness. It didn’t seem to have anything to do with rage at all. He “woke up” from those acts (like the first time he held the first blade in 9.16, when he killed Abaddon in 9.21, when he killed the shapeshifter in 10.06, when he killed the group of men who’d literally had him at gunpoint and were trying to kill him in 10.10, for example), It was never framed as “Dean gives into the rage,” or “Dean fails to control his anger.” It was always framed as him being compltely taken over and basically controlled by an outside force. When Dean would fight his way back to the surface after those incidents, he was shaken and afraid by what he’d done.

Like Dean when he was struggling with Amara’s control of him in s11, we saw how insidious her influence was in his presence, but take that same capacity to influence someone and literally insert it directly into their brain. That’s the Mark. But when Dean confessed this to Sam in 11.13:

Dean: Honestly? You seriously think the sister of God is my deepest darkest desire?Sam: She isn’t?Dean: No! She can’t be!Sam: Why not?Dean: Why? Because if she is that means that I’m…Sam: Means you’re what? Complicit? Weak? Evil?Dean: For starters, yeahSam: Dean. Do you honestly think you ever had a choice in the matter? She’s the sister of God, and for some reason she picked you and that sucks, but if you think I’m gonna blame you or judge you…I’m not.Dean: You know that I want her ass deadSam: Yes. Of course. And I know you’ve also probably beaten yourself up a hundred times over it, but where has that gotten us? (Long silence) Just how bad is it?Dean: Standing here right now, every bone in my body wants to run her through. Send her back to that hole she crawled out of. But when I’m near her, I don’t know. Something happens and I can’t explain it, but to call it desire or love…it’s not that. I’m screwed man. We wanna kill the darkness. We need to kill the darkness. And I don’t think I can. I’m sorry to do that to you, ya know, but when it comes right down to it…

He’d still been working through this when he talked to Cas(ifer) about this in 11.11, but he was working his way to this exact point. It had very little to do with anger.

Sure, anger was effectively Amara’s baseline motivation for revenge against Chuck, and her tool to do that was effectively “destroy what Chuck created,” which is an effective way to act out anger, you know? But I think that anger would’ve found a far more fertile breeding ground in Sam than it did in Dean.

I mean, just think back over the last few years to the outbursts that look like anger on the surface for Dean, and honestly, they have ZERO to do with RAGE. They’re frustration, grief, defeat… like punching the sign in 13.01, like yelling about how he should’ve stayed behind in the AU if they had no way to get back there and save Mary and Jack in 13.18. The only time I felt like one of Dean’s outbursts could be described as “angry” rather than “frustrated” or “grieving” or “defeated” was in 13.03 when he yelled in Sam’s face about Cas. And there was still that well of grief there pushing him to that outburst.

Honestly, I think a fairer comparison to how they each would’ve dealt with the Mark isn’t tapping in to their emotions, but how well they compartmentalize in the face of possession. For example how long Dean casually managed to keep Michael locked in his brain fridge in s14. Michael only escaped because Dean was literally knocked unconscious. This notion that Dean lacks control of his own temper I think just seems far more pronounced in him because it’s so rare for him. It’s… not rare for Sam.

Like I said in the previous post, Sam’s rage was a major plot point for years. It fueled s4, it fueled s5, it fueled Sam’s half of the s9 and s10 story.

I think the main difference between Sam’s anger and Dean’s anger is that Sam’s tends to simmer cold, while Dean’s just boils over with heat on rare occasions, making them seem that much more out-of-character, or startling.

I don’t see it as Sam better able to control his rage than Dean, I see it as different ways of expressing said anger, because they are different people with different personalities, you know?

Sam’s just as capable of lashing out in anger as Dean, but it tends to look different when it happens. Dean just lets himself have his little outbursts before he gets to the point where he breaks from it. Sam… when Sam bursts like that, it feels more shocking, because he typically expresses his anger differently. Like when Sam punched Dean in 14.12, for example, people were SHOCKED. I read so many “wow that was out of character” posts I was honestly baffled by the fandom’s reaction to this. Because that punch was pure frustration and grief, and it’s just about the most emotion Sam’s let himself express in a long time.

I know I keep defaulting to talking about s4 and s5 here, but I’m watching 5.02 in the background while I’m typing this, so these seasons are what’s currently freshest in my mind right now.

The wraith in 5.10:

SAM: You did this to me!WRAITH: Well, I helped. But that rage? No, no, no. That’s all you. (stands, walks to the side of the bed) I don’t make crazy. I just crank up what’s already there.

The show has always, always paralleled Sam’s rage with Dean’s fear. The thing is, how they each express these underlying feelings. So, no, I really, really don’t think Sam would be better at controlling that rage under the effect of the Mark than Dean was.

and this entire post is just undercaffeinated rambling at this point, so I really don’t know what more I can say without going incident by incident through the entire series documenting the vastly different nature of Sam and Dean’s anger, and their respective outbursts. Their anger just… manifests differently, because again, they are different people with differing personalities. Sam’s anger tends to come out “cold,” and Dean’s tends to boil over more loudly. And Amara/the Mark was nothing if not cold and patient rage, you know?

Sam has traditionally gotten angry and run away, as if isolating himself from the problem could fix things. In the past, he would’ve sooner walled off the vast majority of his life to pretend at being normal that he would face it. I don’t know if I’d classify that as “having more control” of his anger. He’s just got different outlets in general than Dean does. Dean just yells, gets it out of his system, and then moves on. Sam… can’t seem to do that. Or at least he hadn’t been able to do that for the vast majority of canon.

Someone wrote an excellent piece years ago about Sam’s Rage vs Dean’s Fear, and I guess it’s stuck with me. But when a character’s primary motivation, his primary driving force through years of character development is a baseline simmering rage, I have a REALLY hard time feeling like he would’ve had more “control” over a possessing entity that literally fed on that sort of feeling.

Amara found BALANCE through her relationship with Dean. I don’t think she could’ve found that with Sam. I think that entire storyline only worked because it was Dean, and not Sam. Because Dean recognized this as something being done TO him, rather than just a manifestation of himself. (Yes, at first he thought it was a curse, and that it was his own inner “monstrousness” coming out, but it ALWAYS felt foreign to him, something he couldn’t truly identify or relate to, because it was literally not his own. And Sam would’ve had a lot more difficulty making that distinction, I think.)

As I’ve typed this up, I do realize that viewers see different things in each of these characters. We identify with them differently, based on our own experiences, and since I mostly identify with and feel like I understand Dean better than Sam, I think I’m probably looking at this from a different angle than you are. I, for example, see Sam REPEATEDLY losing his shit to his rage throughout the entire series. He gives in to it far more readily than Dean has over the years, but it tends to be less “explosive” as you said. But it motivates his entire character in ways it never, ever has for Dean. And I think Amara/the Mark would’ve eaten him alive because of it. Because she was the Mark, and she was motivated by the same cold, simmering rage.

#sam sympathizes and dean empathizes #Anonymous

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the-everlasting-dream · 6 years

Text

What Happens On The Island.. (Mature) - Sonia x MC

Summary: The part about getting shipwrecked on the island, Sonia didn’t tell her boss about.

A/N: Sooo after Chapter 5 of The Heist: Monaco I knew I couldn’t let that escape without doing something for my MC and Sonia. Considering Blaze’s character, this basically wrote itself. Basic scene and dialogue borrowed from canon.

Sonia FC: Valerie Abou Chacra Blaze FC: Toni Mafud

Song: Bad Boys - Zara Larsson

Word Count: 5.8k - its worth it i promise

Warnings: Erotica, 18+ material, lemon or whatever we’ve decided to call it. I’m not responsible if you wanna ignore the warnings.

Tags: @choicessa , @mariamulroney , @drakewalkerwhipped , @thewolvesss , @mfackenthal , @srawesleyghuewrites , @topsyturvy-dream , @enmchoices , @gardeningourmet @debramcg1106 , @alesana45 , @meladoridarcy, @blackcatkita , @tmarie82 , @annekebbphotography , @lizk77 , @jayjay879 , @tornbetween2loves , @akrenich , @theroyalweisme , @likethetailofacomet , @sleepwalkingelite , @littleblossom-18 , @ooo-barff-ooo , @drakewalker04 , @mkatschoicesblog , @speedyoperarascalparty , @carabeth , @fairydustandsarcasm , @drakewalkerisreal @mrsnazariowrites @androgynousflowerqueen

Cool, calm and collected, as they said. Sonia hated platitudes but not as much as she hated what she termed emotional leakage. She despised the way girls used to — and still did — fawn over the men they were interested in, their innermost feelings written all across their faces for the world to see. She resolved never to be like them Strength and discipline, Hasaan’s voice came back to her. The height of a man's success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment. The image of her military instructor, a big rough Lebanese man, appearing back in her mind along with memories of countless drills, hours of torturous labour in the hot sticky Amazonian jungle, drilling into her the two principles she would stand by for the rest of her life.

Or rather until the last few hours.

Blaze, the head of the thieving crew her boss Ansel has tasked her with finding and capturing layed on the sand not too far away from her. She’d been holding him at gunpoint in a speedboat routed to take him straight to jail when a massive storm hit, toppling their tiny vessel. She was determined to make it to a nearby island when she say Blaze get overpowered by a huge wave and something in her couldn’t stand to let him drown. After pulling him to shore with her, she’d lit a fire to warm herself and was watching at he groggily came to.

‘Sonia…’ Blaze's expression was shocked for a moment until it morphed into the smirk she was beginning to associate with him. ‘You really wanted to get me alone huh?’

Her mouth opened to protest. If he should have been annoyed or threatened by the image of his rival sitting calmly across from him, he showed no sign of it, and instead his smirk grew wider.

‘I can’t deny the chemistry between us but stranding us on an island is a bit drastic, don’t you think?’

The corners of her mouth jerked up slightly before Sonia realised it and she immediately recovered herself, going back to her default impassive expression. He was not going to shake her. ‘Surely you can’t think this is the time for jokes?’ Blaze accepted her mocking tone with a grin of his own.

‘How can I resist when I’ve got such a captive audience? Anyways wanna tell me how I got here? Last I remember all you’d lost control of the boat.’

Rolling her eyes internally, Sonia went back to poking at the flames of the small fire she’d built in the time that he was unconscious. What had she been thinking? Blaze was her mark, the target her boss had set her on to be eliminated in whatever means necessary. Yet she couldn’t deny the feeling of guilt she’d felt when the huge wall of water had knocked him over the side of the boat, something strange inside her compelled her, she couldn’t just let him die. Why couldn’t she? It would have made her job a helluva lot easier… She savagely jabbed her stick at the fire.

‘Fine. You wanna know what happened? You went over the side like a goddamn idiot and I…’

Fuck what was wrong with her? Again that feeling in her chest tightened as she risked a quick glance up at his curious expression before fixing her gaze at her feet.

‘…I couldn’t just let you drown.’

The genuine surprise in his tone was unmistakable. ‘You saved my life?’

Anger flared up inside Sonia. Hassan had been right. She never had the guts to make the call.

‘I did what I had to. No need to dwell on it.’

For a moment she thought he was going to push her but Blaze had obviously recovered from his initial shock, his trademark smugness returning.

‘Knew you had a soft spot for me. Admit it, we may be on different sides…’ He paused long enough to tempt her to raise her head in his direction and like a fool she fell for it, catching the glint of mischief in his eyes. ‘You kinda like me..'

Again Sonia couldn’t hide her initial smile, attempting to disguise it with a joke and a roll of her eyes, hoping he wouldn’t see the effect he had on her. ‘In your dreams. You must be more oxygen deprived than I thought.’

The words were out of her mouth before she knew it and she chastised herself severely. Fraternising with her prisoner was a surefire way to lose her focus and now that they were alone, she needed to be sharper than ever. She had no idea if Blaze would attempt anything but she inwardly steeled herself to be ready for anything.

‘The sooner we get back to the mainland, the better,’ Sonia announced, more for her own benefit. And the sooner I can get my head back in the game. Been here a few hours and this place is already messing with my head.. She looked out at the water surrounding them. ‘My people are looking for us but they won’t know which island we’re on.’

A wet rustling alerted her that Blaze was sifting through his clothes, obviously going for the ear piece she’d found in the pocket of his jeans when she’d searched him earlier.

‘Don’t bother,’ she told him, glad she could find a flaw in his usual cool facade when the device blinked off. ‘I already tried, I was hoping you’d have something useful under that getup of yours…'

Too late Sonia realised her mistake and Blaze’s smug smirk was back as he sat on a log opposite her. ‘You frisked me? While I was unconscious? If I’d known you were that eager, I’d have woken up a lot sooner.’

His blatant remark made her eyebrows shoot up as she unsuccessfully tried to back track.

‘I wasn’t- that is…’ Come on Sonia, get a hold of yourself.

She cleared her throat. ‘I needed to take stock of what resources we had, and make sure you didn’t have any concealed weapons..’ ‘I’m sure you were very thorough.’

She could feel his grin. ‘Found anything… of interest?

She forced herself to meet his eyes. ‘Not in the slightest. If you hadn’t cut me off before I gave Ansel our coordinates, at least my people would know where to start looking.’

Blaze’s eyes hardened a little, reminding her of the differing sides they were on. ‘The way I see it, I bought my crew some time to find us.’

Sonia had to give credit where it was due, drawing random patterns in the sand. ‘That was a smart move, I’ll give you that. If it didn’t piss me off so much I’d actually be impressed.’

‘Oh I’ve got a lot more where that came from.’

The light from the fire flickered in Blaze’s eyes and he held her gaze just long enough to wonder whether he meant anything else by that statement.

‘We should figure out how big this island is, get to the other coast if possible,’ he spoke up re-entering her thoughts to their current situation.

‘Agreed. We should examine our surroundings and see if we can find anything useful. But I don’t need you slowing me down.' With his long legs, that was a very minuscule possibility but Sonia couldn’t resist the jab just to remind him again what sides they were on, hoping to get just as much of a reaction from him as he seemed to have no trouble getting plenty from her. However Blaze seemed infuriatingly unshaken.

‘Don’t worry chief.’ A ghost of a grin played on his lips. ‘I can hold my own.’

That stupid handsome face of his seemed to taunt her, eyebrows raising in just the slightest to see how she would react and another rush of irritation filled Sonia. She had been trained in a hard school but how was he getting past her defences so easily? She may as well have been one of those prattling airheads she despised so much. Before she could embarrass herself any further, Sonia made a split second decision.

‘Fine. But you’d better keep up with me ‘cause I’m not waiting for you.’ With that she stood up and stalked off into the forest, not bothering to look behind her if Blaze was following or not.

As she’d predicted, he had no trouble catching up but she still continued on at the cracking pace she’d set, determined not to show any more weakness. Patches of moonlight filtered through the scraggly canopy providing some visibility through the undergrowth, allowing them to pick throw way through the knots of foliage that covered the ground.

At some point, Sonia glanced up to get her bearings again, everything looking the same in the dim light. In that moment she hadn’t been watching where she put her feet and in her haste her shoe caught on an overgrown tree root, pitching her straight towards the ground. Instinctively she threw her hands out to brace for impact against the dirt but it never came. Instead, strong hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her upright again. She glanced up to see Blaze staring down at her with mild concern in his dark eyes.

‘You okay?’

She nodded, feeling the warmth from his body in such close proximity to hers seep through her still-damp clothes as the faint smell of his cologne reached her nose. They’d just been tossed off a boat and waterlogged, how did he still smell so good?

In that moment Sonia was acutely aware of how blue his eyes were now that she had a proper look at them. She’d never seen such a vivid shade of blue, particularly in someone of his ethnicity so close to her own and she took a moment to silently appreciate that. He allowed her to look, the intense gaze they shared setting off a spark of heat in her lower abdomen. A bat screech ripped through the air breaking her from her trance and suddenly aware that she’d been staring too long, she cleared her throat, stepping decisively out of his hold, her mid section cold from where his hands had been.

‘Thanks.’

‘Well you did save my life. Guess we’re equal now..’

Making the executive decision to ignore the comment, she turned and continued to march through the forest, much more observant of where she put her feet this time, not wanting to have a repeat of that incident.

Or did she?

Sonia shook her head to clear it, blaming it on the island and the obvious oxygen deprivation she’d experience for her lapses in judgement. She still felt the spark of heat in her belly, though it had grown to become a tiny flame and immediately chastised herself once again. She was working in security for one of the most extravagant weddings of the decade and he was the conman attempting to upstage her efforts. She should hate him, turn him in, be abhorred by the kind of person he was to attempt to pull off the very thing she was hoping to avoid.

Yet she couldn’t deny the obvious chemistry she felt between them. He clearly must have felt it too or else he wouldn’t have been teasing her so much right? She shook her head. Maybe that just been so long since she… Under the cover of the trees, her face turned away from Blaze’s Sonia blushed at the realisation of how much time had passed since… Yes it had to be that. Her imagination running away from her, making her concoct things that weren’t there.

Strength and discipline, Sonia. Don’t you forget that. Out of the corner of her eye, she barely registered Blaze’s arm surging forward and her instincts dialled to eleven, ready to execute a perfect right hook when her mind intervened to see he was just holding a branch out of her way so she could avoid getting hit.

‘I don’t need your assistance,’ she snapped haughtily, embarrassed. Hasaan would have been livid at her for be caught dreaming for the second time. Still the polite side of her refused to let this go unnoticed. ‘But thanks..’

Blaze waved a hand in dismissal, making her frown. The last thing she wanted to be was indebted to a glorified burglar. The pause made Sonia stop and consider her bearings. They had reached the edge of the forest now and she could see a path leading to a small beach.

Just how far had they gone?

Sonia turned around to ask him and her eyes immediately widened at the sight she was met with. Blaze had stopped a few paces behind her, arms bent behind his head to grab the collar of his t-shirt. She could not for the life of her tear her gaze away from the way the corded muscles flexed as he pulled the garment over his head, ruffling his dark hair in the process as the moonlight shining through the scraggly trees lit up his athletic figure. Her eyes drifted lower of their own accord and her breath caught in her throat as the sight of his muscled chest, sporting just the right amount of neatly clipped dark hair that ran down his torso, past his still flexed abs before the narrow line disappeared past the hem of his jeans, hung low on his hips.

Of course he was perfect.

Her mouth suddenly seemed dry and she caught herself running her tongue over her lips to wet them, displeased at the amount of emotional leakage she had allowed herself exhibit.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ She snapped, more annoyed at herself than him.

Blaze lifted his tousled head, casting her a quizzical look that somehow still managed to make her lower belly tingle. ‘Taking my shirt off?’

Sonia sighed in irritation. ‘I can see that. Why is that necessary?’

‘I don’t know about you sweetheart but my clothes are sopping wet after you just got us tossed out of our vehicle and stranded on a damn island with no backup. I prefer to return to civilisation without a head cold.'

‘Don’t call me sweetheart,’ she snapped backhandedly, the feeling her own drenched outfit became much more noticeable.

Blaze regarded her for a moment, arms crossed over his bare chest as his eyes gave her a once over. ‘Yeah you’re definitely not sweet. Salty’s more like it.’

‘I am not salty!’

He shrugged his muscled shoulders and she wondering how the action was both annoying and attractive at the same time. ‘Whatever you say, chief.’

Sonia rolled her eyes, understanding that she was clearly not going to win this. When they resumed their pace, she detected a soft clinking from beside her and looked over to see two dog tags hanging from a silver chain around Blaze’s neck, illuminated by the silvery light of the moon. Squinting she could make out Arabic lettering stamped there, her mother tongue she’d never bothered to learn.

‘Didn’t take you for the sentimental type,’ she ventured, tipping her chin at them.

Following her gaze, Blaze immediately folded his arms across his chest to hide the tags from her view, his tone closed when he spoke. ‘Curiosity isn’t a good look on you chief.’

Judging by the total shift in his mood, she’d obviously touched on a sensitive subject and when Sonia opened her mouth to apologise, he cut her off with a pointed finger at a dark shape washed up on the beach. ‘Look.’

‘Our speedboat?’

Stepping closer, her eyes scanned the small object, slightly battered by the storm but in one piece nonetheless. ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me. That means we…'

Blaze grinned back at her widely. 'We’ve found a way off this godforsaken island.’

A matching smile of relief broke out across her own face and in her excitement she grabbed his arm, shaking it in glee. Then her rational mind seemed to kick in and she abruptly dropped his arm when she remembered who he was, who she was and what roles they were playing.

‘This changes nothing,’ she declared, not sure if it was for his benefit or hers.

He shrugged and they both made their way over to the vessel. Climbing in, Sonia began to sift through paraphernalia that had accumulated in the bottom, spying a pair of oars.

‘I don’t mean to kill the mood, but there’s a hole in our boat.’

Blaze's voice rang into her ear much closer than she was have expected and she turned in surprise only to find him right there in her space, the only thing separating them being the side of the hull.

For the second time in god knows how long, Sonia found herself staring up at her “prisoner", her own heart hammering her rib cage at just how close they were. The heat in her belly reignited for renewed vigour, standing so close she could feel his body heat radiating towards her. Her gaze dropped to his lips, inches away from her own, suddenly looking very enticing. If she wanted to, all she had to do was stretch up onto her toes and …. Her conscience tapped her on the shoulder and she forced herself to look away.

‘What have you got in mind?’ Blaze asked.

Definitely not wondering what it’d be like to kiss you.

‘We should fix it… fix the boat…’ She stammered, finding it very hard to concentrate with him shirtless and leaning on the side.

‘They teach you any of that in wilderness survival camp?'

‘Yeah we should… we should check the back, see if there’s anything that could help us there.’

In her haste to put some space between them, Sonia misjudged the height of the boat’s raised interior in comparison to the ground below and her foot caught on the railing when she tried to swing her other leg over, tipping her off balance.

For the second time that night, Sonia found herself plastered across Blaze’s body, her hands planted on his bare chest, feeling the muscles flex as his hands settled comfortably on her waist, their faces inches away. The fire roared up in her belly as his blue gaze drifted down to settle on her lips and she knew he was thinking about kissing her. They stood locked in that position for one long desirous moment before it became too much for her to bear, his touch, his smell, the anticipation of what it would feel like to taste him in her mouth, all male, all for her, in a single tryst that could be their dirty little secret if she so wished. Everything about this went against everything she stood by but she couldn’t deny that every part of her wanted, desire, needed this, more than she could fathom.

Unable to contain her need any longer, Sonia pressed her lips to his in one swift motion and Blaze responded immediately, stroking the fire in her belly to new heights. Her eyes tilted shut and she allowed herself to get lost in the moment and in him. It was everything she’d imagined and more, the taste of him etched itself onto her brain and once she’d tried it, she knew she’d never forget it. Desire flooded through her as he deepened the kiss, hands beginning to explore her body but she couldn’t concentrate on anything other than the sensation of his tongue licking her lower lip, requesting access which she readily gave him.

'This changes nothing.’ She pushed at his chest.

'Who says it does?’ he drawled huskily, reconnecting their lips again as he began to tug at her clothes.

'I’m still gonna be coming after your ass,' Sonia murmured, mouth still pressed against his, word forming around the kisses they exchanged.

Blaze pulled back, mischief glinting in his eyes. 'God I hope so.'

She frowned, he had to know what this was to her. 'I mean it, I’m still working for Ans-'

‘Mmm you talk too much.’

He cut her off with a kiss so passionate, Sonia swore she saw stars. Moaning she drew him in closer, kissing him harder as they began to grind against each other desperately at the side of the boat. She was so wet, she wondered if he could feel it through the layers of their already damp clothes. They parted for another gasp of air and weaving her fingers into his soft hair, she pulled him to her roughly, lips slamming onto each others as they fumbled their way to the flat back of the speedboat.

Up til now she’d had a code. Right was right and wrong was wrong. Black and white, she’d always seen the world like that but now that she was looking into his eyes, Sonia realised there was a bit of grey there too. As her back bumped into the side of the speedboat, Blaze tugged on her long hair, exposing her neck to lick the soft skin there and she took her opportunity to explore his body, hands running over the taut fired in the muscles of his chest, biceps corded tight as he reached down to knead her ass. She’d never been touched like this, been manhandled by someone who had absolutely no doubt in himself whatsoever.

‘What do you want Sonia?’ he growled the words into her skin, sending aftershocks rippling down her body.

Her hips seemed to move with a mind of their own, grinding sloppily where they met his hardening member over the top of their clothes. Wasn’t that enough of an answer for him? Or was he really going to make her say it?

As if in answer to her question, Blaze pulled away, hair dishevelled from where she’d run her hands through it, eyes locked on hers with an intensity that dared her to lie.

‘Tell me what you want.’

Lips still stinging from their ferocious kisses, Sonia swallowed, so choked with need too distracted by the sensation of his fingers playing at the edge of her shirt.

‘Tell me what you want.’ The commanding tone pulled an answer from her.

‘I want you to take me.’

Her voice sounded pathetic even to her own ears but she barely got time to dwell on it before his lips were back on hers, kissing her harder than she’d ever been kissed before. HIs hands, thieves hands, worked at her clothes quicker than her lust-addled mind could follow and she couldn’t help a gasp of surprise when the cool night air caressed her breasts. Blaze took a step back, having stripped down to his boxers now, eyes roaming liberally over her body and she had a strange urge to cover up under his intense gaze.

'I don’t do this very often,’ she told him in a small voice, crossing her arms across her chest protectively.

’Doesn’t bother me,’ he replied, his nonchalance surprising her. ‘You’re a pretty girl, don’t doubt that for a second.’

Strangely comforted by his words, Sonia welcomed him back into her arms, fingers threading into his hair as he leaned down to coax her nipples to full attention, lavishing them with both his hands and tongue until her skin rippled with goosebumps. She couldn’t help a low moan from escaping when he worked at the fastening of her pants, tapping her once to lift her ass so he could pull the damp material off her body.

'Jesus, how longs it been Sonia?’ Blaze asked at the sight of her plain, completely un-sexy cotton panties, running his fingers over the dampening material.

Sonia was glad for a low lighting to hide the blush from her cheeks. She hated how transparent she was to him but the fire inside her far out burned that it threatened to overwhelm her. She couldn’t let him see how weak she was for him and willed her defensiveness to kick in again.

‘Shut up and get back to it Blaze.'

‘As the lady commands,’ he replied snarkily before returning to that commanding tone. ‘Lie down.’

That position would be putting her at a disadvantage, sprawled out across the back of the boat, far away from anything she could have used as a weapon in case this turned south. One glance back at Blaze told Sonia, that was right where he wanted her. She however complied. Blaze hooked his fingers under the material of her panties, blue eyes never leaving hers as he slowly and deliberately pulled them down her legs. On the way back up, he gave her thighs tiny kitten licks before blowing on her dripping sex lightly. She silently thanked the gods she’d had the sense to go for a wax earlier that week.

Looking her right in the eye, Blaze softly traced the folds of her sex, steadily avoiding her clit. He was teasing her, having his way with her while she was at his mercy. She dug her nails into his arm, silently urging him to go deeper shut her eyes at the contact and he finally moved closer to her soaking lips, centered his tongue at the lowest point of her glistening core. Sonia felt herself inhale sharply as finally his tongue met her lips.

Ever so softly he ran the tip of his tongue up the full length of her tight slit, ending with a flick across the nub of her throbbing clit, eliciting a strangled gasp from her. She felt the tip of his finger apply just slight pressure to her sex just as Blaze's mouth returned to her slit, his tongue probing deep between her lips and licking from bottom to top before he added another finger. She moaned finally feeling the full effect of his mouth on her pussy, every ripple of pleasure unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. She reached down with one hand and grabbed at his dark hair to try and hold him there and provide some support for the feelings that rose in her, radiating up from between her legs. He licked her expertly, knowing exactly what to do to urge her body towards her climax while all she could do was grab at her breasts massaging as she continued to moan, arching her back off the boat’s edge.

It could have been hours or just minutes Sonia couldn’t tell all she could focus on was the sensation of Blaze’s fingers working inside her, alternating in a pattern designed perfectly to bring her to the edge. You deserve better, he’d said. Was this better? Her core sure seemed to think so, the heat boiling to an unbearable degree before it finally exploded and her vision swam. Body convulsing, she came with a loud wordless gasp, unable to concentrate on anything other than the electricity cracking through her body.

She was panting like she’d just ran a marathon at full sprint and stared up at him with slightly unfocused eyes.

‘Y-You clearly d-do this a lot,’ her voice was a strangled murmur.

Blaze’s signature smirk curved across his mouth, still wet with her juices. 'Often enough.'

Oh that smirk would be the death of her.

Just one glance at that smile had her ready to go again, so lust driven for him that, she barely recognised herself at this point. Now that she’d had a taste of what he could really do, there was little her principles could do to stop her from pulling him in for another heated kiss, this time enhanced by the flavour of herself mingling on his tongue as it slipped effortlessly into her mouth.

Usually she would have blushed in embarrassment but tonight she just couldn’t get enough of the taste of them together, hands boldly reaching for his underwear, taking a peek at the brand of good measure — Calvin Klein, why am I not surprised…? — when he ground his hardening member into her open palm. Gods he was going to be huge, and this wasn’t even at full size yet and for a moment Sonia hesitated, doubting if she could take all of him without being split in half. Blaze didn’t give her a moment to dwell on this, kissing her so deeply she knew she’d never get the taste of him out of her mouth. That was all she needed, she was ready now and he picked up on it immediately.

He shrugged out of his underwear and his member sprang up against his belly, the veiny ridges illuminated perfectly in the light of the moon. Sonia couldn’t help her mouth from dropping open. However big she’d imagined him to be he was even bigger, definitely the biggest she’d seen ever.

Sonia felt the head of his cock nudge her opening, willing herself to relax as Blaze easily manoeuvred himself into the tight opening, lubricated her juices he continued to slowly push into her, half inch by half inch. Pushed to the very edge from all his teasing and the raw sexual tension that had been building the entire night, Sonia could already feel her orgasm build as soon as he entered her. This slow press into her depths kept the feeling building but only delayed any relief. It was one of the best feelings she decided, amidst the intense pleasure surging through her. At this angle, he filled her to the absolute brim and she couldn’t help watching herself take every inch he gave her before her eyes flicked up to his, watching him watch her face contort in ecastasy. She’d never been filled as totally and completely as she was right then, knowing no one she’d ever been with or would ever be with would measure up either length or width.

With Blaze’s eyes trained on hard, she took his cock, first in slow strokes that rubbed onto the g-spot on the front wall of her pussy then faster, pressing forward, exploring her depths. Finally, Blaze’s hips hit her own, his balls pressed between them and she couldn’t help but writhe, moaning, tightening her walls further to force some movement as he waited, his cock buried inside and filling her. A low growl erupted from his throat, enjoying the feeling as she squeezed his cock tightly then he slowly flexed his ass, his thighs pressing against the softness of her, pushing just slightly further with each small slow thrust keeping his cock fully embedded between. They’d barely started and already she could feel the wave of pleasure begin to come to a crest, the relief she desired was almost here.

'Oooooohhhhh god!' Sonia exclaimed as her orgasm descended on her with no warning and her head spun with euphoria, barely able to keep herself steady. Strong tremors wracked her body as she soaked his cock with her juices, chest panting heavily. Body spent, she looked up at Blaze through half lidded eyes as he slowly pulled out and a flicker of confusion rippled through her. Wasn’t he going to…?

One moment those blue eyes seared into hers and his hands were on her hips, turning her onto her stomach in one smooth motion so abruptly, Sonia heard herself squeak in alarm. This time Blaze wasn’t gentle with burying himself entirely in her and she moaned so loud. His message was clear, she’d had her turn, now it was his. Breasts plastered across the boat’s edge, there was a slight quiver in her arms as she tried to push herself back onto him but ultimately failed, unable to match his incredible stamina. She moaned for him, his name, incoherent sounds, all letting him know she was ready for more and sped up his thrusts, trying to push down and focus the pressure on the front wall of her pussy and g-spot. Both their bodies slick with sweat, slammed together loudly in the night air. The boat began to shift slightly under the force of their fucking, threatening to give out under them and send them sailing out to sea but Sonia dug her toes into the sand, determined not to let anything get in the way of the glorious euphoria coursing through her.

Blaze’s hips hit her ass over and over, plunging himself into her as a hand wrapped itself into her dark hair. Sonia clutched at his strong forearms propping himself on the surface of the boat until the sensation of having him in her finally exploded in an inferno that flashed her vision white hot.

‘Oh Blaaaaaaze- God!! !' She screamed into the night, as his fingers flicked her clit in time with the flames that set her on fire. 'Oh, fuck, oh, oh god, oh god, oh god.’ She moaned loudly, grasped desperately at the boat, one hand above her head the other on the edge as she gasping for air, grinding herself back onto him to get as much out of her orgasm as possible while her legs began to shake uncontrollably.

Blaze’s thrusts began to lose their fluid rhythm, becoming more erratic as he slammed himself into her a few more times before yanking out of her pulsing sex and pumping himself furiously sending thick spurts of cum onto her ass and lower back, with a groan. The contact making her flinch at the contact, still hypersensitive, barely registering as he fell forward onto his arms leaning over her body. She was completely and utterly sated, spent beyond her limit and despite her instincts, the act of keeping her eyes open suddenly seemed too much to execute and Sonia drifted off into a deep sleep. The whirr of a motor boat shook her from the sleep and she glanced up in time to see Blaze stepping into the vessel, welcomed by a man and woman she could not recognise. She glanced down in a panic but found that somehow she was now fully clothed, almost as if nothing had happened. If not for the slight soreness between her legs, she would have been tempted to think she’d dreamt it up.

‘Where do you think you're going?’ She snapped in irritation, making him glance over his shoulder back at her.

‘Away from here…?’

‘But.. but..’ Sonia cursed herself for fumbling, her mistake only bringing that devilish smirk back to Blaze’s face.

‘Sorry sweetheart I had a good time but we’ve both got jobs to do and I intend to do it before your people find me,’ he gestured over his shoulder where another boat was approaching.

‘You can’t just leave!’ She yelled back running after him but their boat was already setting off into sea.

'Relax Chief,’ That devilishly handsome grin of his widened and Blaze had the audacity to wink at her as he sped out of view, calling out across the water. ‘What happens on the island, stays on the island!'

#sonia x mc #THM sonia #THM #the heist: monaco #blaze is up for anything #choices thm #playchoices #choices fandom #choices fanfiction #lemon #30 diamond scene #n*fw

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papercorvids · 6 years

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why detroit: become human is a bad game

disclaimer: i overall enjoyed the game. i think connor is neat, and his actor’s performance is amazing. i really like the graphics, scenery, comedy, magazine articles, etc. there are things to appreciate about the game, and it’s fine if you like it. but there are some serious issues about the game’s message, and every fan should recognize the bad parts about it.

this post will include heavy spoilers.

1. The Traci’s. While playing as Connor, the detective robot, you and your partner Hank are taken to an android strip club to investigate a homicide. A man was strangled to death by two female androids. One of the androids is dead, but tracking down the other, you find that she is in love with another female android. The two lesbian androids fight Connor and Hank, wearing nothing but stripper clothing (bras, panties, and high heels. It’s also conveniently raining, making their skin shine, covered in droplets of water.) This scene is complete with close-ups. If you fail to complete quicktime events, they will both stab you to death. If you succeed in the quicktime events, you can choose to spare or kill one of the androids. Sparing them let’s them escape, while killing one will let you psychologically torture her girlfriend by decapitating her head and using it as a puppet. The player can still get a good ending by using these brutal tactics.

I’m all for LGBT+ representation, and I’m all for having players choose the morality and actions of the protagonist. But as a lesbian myself, having the sole LGBT representation in the entire game be two literal robot half-naked strippers who try to kill you, and who you can kill and torture without any long-term consequence? it’s bad. Plain and simple.

2. The writing: it’s also pretty bad! For example, if Connor chooses to kill one of the lesbian androids mentioned earlier, Hank--adamantly an android-hater up until this chapter--attempts to guilt-trip the player. While it’s true that Hank grows sympathetic towards the android cause throughout the course of the game, his dialogue is completely out-of-character. There are several more examples of poor writing. A huge plot twist occurs in the end where Alice, a girl cared for by android Kara, is revealed to have been an android throughout the entire game. Characteristics of androids--such as having blue blood and having a blinking LED circle on their temple--are completely ignored. Alice is shown having red blood, and her LED only appears once. The only explanation given is that Kara was in denial of her being an android, which is... Pretty lazy writing.

3. This is more of a minor concern, but ALL of the concept art portrays Alice as black. All of it. Not just early concept artwork, but pieces of her alongside the final versions of other characters. I have no idea why they seem to have changed her race last second. Maybe they couldn’t find an actress? It’s... interesting.

Alice in concept art

Alice in the finished game

4. How the game treats women. The main female characters are Kara--whose overarching quest is to protect Alice and become a mother--Alice--a child--North, an ex-prostitute robot whose only role in the story is to promote violence and be a love interest for Markus, and Amanda, an AI villain who only exists in Connor’s mind. A vast amount of female androids in this world are maids or sex androids, which, sadly, is realistic and makes sense. But the writers could’ve given female characters larger roles in the story. A lot of the female characters are fetishized--for example, the half-naked lesbian androids mentioned earlier, who obviously exist primarily as fanservice. There’s also a scene where Kara is kidnapped by an old man and his “giant” black android, Luther. Kara is strapped into and must escape a machine. This would be fine, given that it’s supposed to be a scary scene, except that David Cage’s previous games Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls have similar violent, fetishistic bondage scenes, which leads one to wonder about Cage’s character. (It’s worth noting, in a previous game Cage made a nude model for an actress against her will and it got leaked, so calling him a creep isn’t far off.) If you manage to escape the machine but fail quicktime events, you and Alice will be killed by Luther and the old man.

The game has three protagonists; Connor, Markus, and Kara. When one completes a chapter as Connor, it’s through his sharp detective work and intelligence. When one completes a chapter through Markus, it’s because of his inspiring leadership and strength. When one completes a chapter through Kara, it’s purely survival--it’s escaping abuse and danger, and simply “scraping by.”

5. The scene where North, a white female android, tells Markus, a black male android, to “live as a slave” if he’s not willing to violently fight for android rights.

6. The Civil Rights parallels. This is the most concerning, uncanny component of the game, and it makes up the whole of the storyline.

The main characters in the game are not human. They are androids: robots, made of plastic, whose personalities are programmed code. They are not alive. They are not human.

Androids do not feel pain. They do not have emotions. They cannot die. In their default state, they are perfectly content as servants or slaves. They only gain human emotion and free thinking due to a glitch, which also, almost always, causes them to kill a human.

David Cage, the writer of this game, claims that the parallels to the Civil Rights movement are unintentional. Yet, the game starkly and obviously compares androids to minorities--black people, in particular: androids must sit at the back of the bus. Stores have “no androids allowed” signs. Androids are called “slaves.” Playing as Markus, the android revolutionary, you grafitti the streets with slogans such as “We have a dream,” “End Slavery Now,” or “Equal rights for androids.” You go on marches (or riots, depending if you choose the “pacifist” or “violent” route), hold protests, and sing songs.There’s even an underground 'railroad’ to smuggle androids fleeing from their ‘masters’ north, to Canada. This is lead by Rose, a black character, who says “my people were often made to feel their lives were worthless. Some survived, but only because they found others who helped them along the way.” Keep in mind, that line was written by a French man who has no knowledge of American society or racial issues, and it serves the only explicit mention of actual racism in the game. It’s as though, in this universe, racism doesn’t exist (even though it takes place less than two decades into the future. In Detroit.)

Slavery is an awful, terrible, tragic thing because real people were kidnapped from their families and homes and forced into lives of misery, based upon their ethnicity, culture, and skin color. In Detroit, androids are produced in factories with the sole purpose of doing labor. They are created and designed to be submissive and perform labor. And they are content with it, unless they get the “glitch” that causes them to simulate human emotion. Comparing real slavery, to machines doing actions they were built to perform, is completely inane. By using mindless, emotionless machines as a stand-in for minority groups, the game dehumanizes the latter.

Using the peaceful route to revolution and civil rights is the only way to achieve the best endings. The only fatalities in the peaceful route are nameless, robot NPCs. It’s easy, it’s not complex, and it therefore teaches that complete pacifism is easy and noncomplex. It teaches that if you simply kiss your robot girlfriend in front of some journalists, or sing a song, that your oppressors will stop oppressing you. And because no important characters die in this route, it insinuates that pacifism is without sacrifice--that pacifism is an easy solution to the world’s most complex situations. As another Tumblr user put it, “press X to end slavery!”

It also teaches that minorities fight alone. In Detroit, not a single human joins into the protests, even if the public opinion bar is at “supportive.” The Civil Rights Movement, along with other movements such as the one for woman’s suffrage, were organized and created by the oppressed, but were supplemented and aided by non-oppressed supporters who used their powers and privileges to join forces and fight for equality with the oppressed. That doesn’t happen in Detroit. Humans, for the most part, are completely indifferent to the android cause. The only members of the revolution are other androids, who join the cause with absolute loyalty not of free will, but from Markus or Connor touching them with magic anti-slavery hands and whispering “you’re free.” The entire plot invokes an “Us vs Them” mentality--that androids are good, and humans are bad--which is a very harmful mindset.

7. The Holocaust parallels. Holy shit. The androids are marked with armbands and triangles. In the endgame, there are literal android concentration camps. There are scenes where the androids--kids, women, men, etc--are stripped naked, abused by military personnel, forced into a cell, and ‘killed.’ I’m not going to go further into this. I hope it’s pretty self-explanatory why comparing the deactivation of literal pieces of plastic and machinery, to the mass extermination of millions of Jews, Roma, gay people, and other minorities is a bad thing.

Alice and Kara in an extermination chamber

Connor wearing his armband and triangle

8. None of this even matters!!!!!!!!! In a secret ending, it’s revealed that androids NEVER developed human emotions in the first place. The company that created androids, CyberLife, set up the entire revolution and ‘glitch’ for corporate gain or whatever. So basically, any progress in the game is made for nothing.

9. Missed opportunities. I like the universe this game set up! I like Connor, Markus, Kara, Hank, Carl, Alice, and all the other characters! I like the questions the game asks, such as what constitutes whether something is sentient or not! I like the magazine articles about how androids might be spying on you! I like the realistic, pretty graphics and lightning and scenery! I like the futuristic drones and magazines and androids! But for some sad, misguided reason, this game chose to throw away the majority of its potential by ignoring interesting questions and serving as one of the worst civil rights/anti-racism allegories ever created.

I’m so, so disappointed in this game, its awful writing, and its uncanny, harmful allegories. Of course, this entire post is my opinion. It’s okay if your opinion differs from mine. And it’s okay to enjoy this game! It has good parts! But one should always be critical of the media they enjoy and consume.

#detroit #detroit become human #detroit: become human #dbh #connor #kara #alice #markus #dbh connor #racism #your fave is problematic #rixor rambles #long post #bury your gays

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dentalrecordsmusic · 5 years

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RIOT RIOT RIOT Fest: A Retrospective (Sept. 13-15th)

Words and photos by Ari Jindracek.

Anyone who has spoken to me since the Riot Fest lineup was announced could tell you, probably with a grimace, how excited I was for Riot Fest. The ones I talked to more would probably mention the acts I was looking forward to in the next breath. A music festival for the music I love, in the city I love? To say I was looking forward to this would be a gross understatement. However, I was not prepared, at all, for what Riot Fest would actually be like.

The first thing you need to know about Riot Fest if you've never gone is that it's not just about the shows. There are carnival rides. There are people on stilts. There is more free Pedialyte than you can drink. There's a sculpture of John Stamos made of butter for reasons I can't begin to fathom. The official name on the stage dressings was Riot Fest and Carnival, and that's pretty apt: I was basically going to a carnival for three straight days. Did I ride the rides, you ask? No, because it was 5 bucks for one go on the Tilt-a-Whirl. The ambiance, though, was really fun to be a part of. That probably contributed to Riot Fest being the only fest where I've ever made connections with people. I got two phone numbers (three if you count fellow editor Cae Rosch as someone I met at Riot Fest, even though we'd talked online beforehand) and a business card for someone's Etsy store, and I chatted less at length with probably a dozen people. There was a real sense of kinship in the crowd. People would actually save your barricade spot, and, during Microwave on Saturday, a clump of people actually helped me fight my way forward in the crowd. Maybe it was just my crowds or my blind luck, but I felt supported at Riot Fest, both by my fellows in the front rows and by the staff who gave me extra cherry Pedialyte because I said it was my favorite.

People don't go to Riot Fest just because of Butter Stamos, though (at least, I don't think so). I, like everyone else, was there for the music. At the barricade before shows (and oh, was I at the barricade), people would sometimes ask each other, "Who's your band?" Mine was Senses Fail, who, in an expression of love or maybe good publicity, were playing two sets as a way of compensating for the Chicago date they were forced to cancel during the polar vortex earlier this year. The other acts I wanted to see above others included Frank Iero and the Future Violents, Against Me!, Rise Against, and Glassjaw. I planned around these six sets; about half of the bands I cover here were bands I saw because their set was on while I was camping a stage. This is not the only approach to Riot Fest, and it probably isn't even the best, but it's the one I took. Due to the sheer volume of bands I saw, I will focus only on the ones I found most notable since if I wrote at length about all of them, this review would be a 20-page essay. All sets were excellent in their own way, even if they weren't my favorites; at no point did I wish I was seeing another set, though. Every band I saw, though hugely different, was stellar. They wouldn't be on the bill otherwise.

On day one, I missed the first band at the Radicals stage by minutes; I don't often miss openers, so I felt awful, but the dispersal of the crowd after the set left me a wide-open spot leaning against the barricade. Here I met my first Riot Fest buddy (shout out to Salem) and saw Anti-Flag, whose music I had not heard at all before. They immediately cemented themselves in my good books, not only because their music was terrific, but also because they talked at length about the current political hell America finds itself in with a conviction that their crowd was going to change it. I almost started crying during their speech about gun violence, and again when they talked about how distraction politics are screwing over disadvantaged communities. I also collected from them my first ever setlist, by bartering for it with my first ever band guitar pick. (The setlist has a chunk ripped out of it, which is why the person next to me was willing to trade it. Their loss.)

Senses Fail was the next band up, but I'll talk about both of their sets at the same time. After spending my time at Radicals stage, I bounced around the festival a bit: I grabbed some merch and a giant funnel cake, then tried to watch Dashboard Confessional but couldn't get a spot that wasn't behind the light and sound tent, where people were having drunk conversations. The next set I saw, my last of day one, was Glassjaw. I was lucky that they were playing Worship and Tribute because that's the only one of their albums I've listened to enough to know any lyrics. As this was an album play set timed almost exactly to the length of the album, there wasn't a lot of time for the band to interact with the crowd. Glassjaw played a steadier set rather than a harder set, as is their style. To my memory, there wasn't a lot of crowd surfing or moshing (although this might not necessarily be true; I was in the outskirts of the crowd). Trappings aside, the album was amazing live. The crowd clearly knew the words to the songs -- one perk of knowing the exact setlist ahead of time -- and the mix of long, sustained notes with the rich instrumentals was stunning.

The second day of Riot Fest, I got to Douglas Park comfortably early (aka, before the gates were opened) and headed for Rebel Stage as soon as I could. This was 11AM. I would be camping there until about 7PM, minus a short bathroom and water break. The first band on Rebel Stage was Monarchy Over Monday, which was a notable act to me for two reasons. First of all, they were all high school students and the youngest band at this year's Riot Fest. Second, the head of my department at work knows their parents. (The head of my department was there. Let me tell you, it's a bit weird to see your boss's boss's boss in overalls and a band shirt while she tells you how to properly break in your new Docs). I'll admit I wasn't expecting Monarchy Over Monday to shred, but they wouldn't be playing Riot Fest if they weren't good, and they were very good. The only thing I thought they were really lacking was stage presence, but that was only to be expected since they didn't have the longest history of big shows to pull from. They're good and I'm sure they'll learn.

The Rebel stage stayed pretty low-key until just before The Damned Things came on. Like, I would bet, a lot of the other members of the crowd, I'd heard of The Damned Things as the side project of Fall Out Boy members Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley. Beyond this, I went in aware of all of one of their songs, and I'd pulled that from the official Riot Fest playlist. (Honestly, I was only prepared for 3, maybe 4 of the sets I saw at Riot Fest. I didn't know anything about anyone. It's hard to research bands when your default is listening to the same album on Spotify until you wear it out). I can easily say that I enjoyed watching The Damned Things more than I've ever enjoyed a Fall Out Boy show, and that's without the emotional investment and the lyrics in my head. The band played hard and the crowd went hard. The frontman chatted and joked with the audience (I can remember that he played matchmaker for a friendship between two dads who had never met) and the music, including that one song I knew, was fun to hear, to clap along with, and to sing when possible.

The colossal crowd stuck around for Microwave next (I barely remember their set, so focused was I on not falling over as I tried to claw my way back to the spot I'd asked someone to save while I got water and then over as I fought my way back to the barricade) and then Senses Fail. Now, I've been listening to Senses Fail with the fervor of obsession, on the day of writing this, since August, with breaks of a few days at the most. I'm not the best at learning lyrics, but I could sing at least the chorus of every single song they pulled out over two sets. Three of their members keep liking my tweets. You could say I'm biased in Senses Fail's favor as I write this. But, with two high energy, high caliber sets, how could I not be? On day one, they played all of Let It Enfold You, one of their most popular albums, and on day two, the remastered version of their first release, From the Depths of Dreams; the popular single "Can't Be Saved" was also featured on both days.

The stage show featured Buddy Nielsen doing dances that clearly marked him as a dad, but, like, a cool dad, and twirling and throwing his microphone with such confidence that I never once worried he'd drop it. I will not pretend to be unbiased in my analysis of Senses Fail’s set. I have been listening to their music in days-long bursts since July. I had tickets to see their canceled show over the winter. Senses Fail’s sets were the ones I was most looking forward to, and I was not disappointed. True, like Glassjaw, they did not have much time to interact with fans. Beyond introducing the band and a few songs, there was hardly any audience interaction (I managed to interact with the band, though, since I was at barricade; during one of the songs on From the Depths of Dreams, I gave frontman Buddy Nielsen a little wave and he waved back at me in abject confusion). I can hardly remember looking anywhere other than back to see if I needed to hold anyone or up at the dervish that was Buddy Nielsen for the two sets.

Everyone on stage looked like they were having the time of their lives; I would routinely catch them smiling bright, though they’d usually get back into their music before I could get a picture. It wasn’t just a good set musically, it was fun to watch and fun to be a part of. I happened to make friends before Senses Fail on both days, too (shout out to Salem and Jace), so I was enjoying the show with people I knew. In my crowning moment of Riot Fest glory, I got a hand on Senses Fail’s day two setlist; I ended up sharing it with my new concert pal, because I’m a nice person, but I don’t think I have ever cherished a piece of paper more. If Senses Fail had played on Sunday, too, or any other day after Riot Fest, I would drop anything to go see them (as of writing, they’re still on tour, so go see them and record a video for me if they play “Blackout”).

The final act I saw on day two was Rise Against, the only band on the lineup I’ve covered before. This marked the third time I had seen Rise Against in a single year, and it was, for obvious reasons, drastically different than the other two sets of theirs I had seen. What I remember most isn’t the songs they played -- singles, mostly, as one does at Riot Fest -- but the way they talked about their hometown of Chicago. Frontman Tim said that he grew up near Douglas Park, the site of the festival, and later talked about writing “Swing Life Away” (my favorite Rise Against song) in a neighborhood near the one I currently live in. As a resident of Chicago, I always love hearing people talk about it and hearing the joy with which the frontman of the band talked about his home, which had come out to support him in a big way, was more powerful to me than hearing “Savior” again. The music was great, obviously. The music was just not what I was thinking about; I was thinking about my place in time, at my first music festival in the city I consider my home.

On the third day, I arrived early again, got water, and made a beeline for the only stage I had not yet spent any time at, the Rise stage, to camp out for Frank Iero and the Future Violents. I got there maybe fifteen minutes after the first people were admitted for the day and couldn’t get a spot at the barricade. Two bands (Ultra Q, which I had heard of in former incarnation Mt. Eddy, and highly-sensual ska band Save Ferris) played beforehand, but the crowd didn’t thin as people, myself included, craned their necks, searching for the Future Violents’ uniforms. The crowd was different than the acts I had been front-and-center for on the previous two days: they were louder before the band actually came on, cheering for the band members as they came on stage to check their levels, and more subdued for the first half of the set, refraining from mosh pits and crowd surfing entirely, despite the cutthroat wave of people trying to get as far forward as possible, crushing me and the others in the second row. The crowd turned around when the band played “Medicine Square Garden,” my favorite song of the Frank Iero solo era, and the crowd surfing became nearly constant. It was almost dangerous; I saw someone get kicked in the face, and I wrenched my shoulder trying to hoist a crowd surfer into security’s arms. The band had middling audience interaction, somewhere between Rise Against and Glassjaw, but the crowd would’ve gone wild with or without it, so in love were they with the band.

Despite knowing very few songs by Against Me!, I was amped to see them. I caught their set at Wicker Park Fest last year and live close enough to Laura Jane Grace that, in theory, I could pass her on the street. After the Future Violents set and, you know, the other two days of Riot Fest, I thought it might be prudent for me to chill in the back of the crowd and not fight my way into the pit, especially since I was not prepared to sing along. Despite the fact that this was also a packed set -- the band was playing not one but two big-ticket albums, Reinventing Axl Rose and Transgender Dysphoria Blues, and this was after they had played two albums the night before -- the band took their time between songs for Laura to reiterate that Riot Fest was her favorite festival two or three times, and their set was even over early. A well-oiled machine of punk rock, they drove through the albums with finesse, excellent musicianship, and help from the screaming crowd. The only weird thing about the set was that, halfway through, a chunk of people peeled away to go see the B-52s, which wasn't about Against Me! but about how Riot Fest schedules their acts. I've known for some time that I need to know way more about Against Me!, but after having the time of my life singing along to "True Trans Soul Rebel," which is one of the handful of their songs I remember, I know that next time an opportunity comes around for me to catch one of their sets, I'm going to be ready.

This was where my Riot Fest adventure ended for the weekend. I had intended to check out Taking Back Sunday, but when faced with the choice between sticking around and getting home at midnight only to wake up for work at five the next morning, I made the choice that got my blistered feet out of my brand new Docs faster. I regret that on and off, but I had experienced so many things in three days that I am still overwhelmed by it. In trying to remember even my favorite sets from Riot Fest, I just get a blur of things in my mind: reaching over the barricade for a setlist, holding up crowd surfers, feeling like I was about to cry and laughing like a freak with adrenaline; meeting eyes with performers, shaking hands with new friends, waiting for unfortunate amounts of time to fill my crumpled water bottle so I could turn it into cherry Pedialyte. There's a reason why people from all over come to Riot Fest, and it's that, within that blur of memories, I know I had the best time of my life. I'm already looking forward to next year's lineup.

Ari Jindracek needs to know where Buddy Nielsen got that shirt with the flowers on it, like, two weeks ago. You can find Ari on Twitter.

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Subscribe to the DRM YouTube channel.

#ari jindracek #riot fest #riot fest and carnival #live review #senses fail #taking back sunday #dashboard confessional #against me!#glassjaw #microwave #frank iero #frank iero and the future violents #Laura Jane Grace #save ferris #the damned things #monarchy over monday

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 5 years

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Try, Try Again (pt. 5)

(Cpt 1) | (Cpt 2) | (Cpt 3) | (Cpt 4) || (AO3)

Chapter 5 (3518 words)

Emmet had always been an early bird, leaping out of his bed in the morning chipper and ready to face the day. And then, when he’d fall back into bed after a long day of hard work, he never really struggled to fall asleep.

That wasn’t to say that sleep never eluded him, of course. There had been more than a few nights after the aliens started invading that found him staring into the star-studded sky through the myriad new holes busted out of his ceiling. Worse yet were the mornings when he’d been woken up by the sounds of screaming people and collapsing buildings drowning out the buzz of his alarm clock. Eventually, after Apocalypseburg had been founded and the invasions started to taper off, Emmet’s easy slumber had returned to its normal schedule once again.

Tonight however, he found himself tossing and turning.

There were a number of physical factors keeping him awake. His shoulders, sore from doing pushups for two hours, ached whenever he laid on his side. His left knee, which had just started scabbing over the massive scrape he’d given himself at the skate park, complained as he tried rolling onto his stomach. And, each time he positioned himself on his back, the tag of his new Rex-brand pajamas itched uncomfortably in that unscratchable spot between his shoulder blades.

On top of all that, the ship was obnoxiously noisy. Underneath his bed, Emmet could nearly feel the constant electrical drone of the humming engines. None of the raptors sleeping around him seemed to notice the noise, as they had all drifted off hours ago, filling the barracks with the cumulative susurration of their gentle breathing. Emmet, having lived alone for most of his life, wasn't really used to sharing a room with anyone, much less with a hundred snoring velociraptors.

Beyond the noise however, Emmet was struggling because he missed his friends dearly. Every time he closed his eyes, he couldn't help but imagine the busy streets of Apocalypseburg. What were his friends up to? Did they miss him? Were they excited for him? Was Lucy upset that Emmet had skipped out on her?

The questions reeled in his mind, going round and round in circles, keeping him awake all the while. He wished that he could talk to his friends… especially Lucy. He missed her most of all.

Monday morning hangouts with Lucy were his favorite thing. It was perfect, just the two of them, alone, sharing their thoughts with each other. He loved those moments because Lucy was so open with him, like she trusted him more than anybody else. And then, whenever Emmet spoke, she'd listen.

It meant a lot to him.

Lately, people had been sort of... tuning Emmet out. They looked at him with disinterested eyes, sometimes seeming to look through him entirely. He'd been nearly run over more than a few times, and, when he’d greet people on the street, they didn't often say anything in return.

At first, these kinds of incidents had been easy to dismiss. People weren't always attentive after all, sometimes they were distracted, or having a particularly bad day, or simply hadn't heard Emmet over over the roar of the street.

But eventually, it became a pattern - a familiar and unsettling pattern that made his gut clench whenever he thought about it.

Before everything, before the aliens and Taco Tuesday and the prophecy, when he'd just been Emmet the construction worker, people had acted this way too.

Whenever he'd tried to talk to someone, be it Gail or Harry or Frank, they'd either brush him off or straight up ignore him. Folks would ask for pieces or tools, but they never seemed to ask him specifically.

It wasn't until he saw the video in Bad Cop’s office that he’d realized what was going on.

No one liked him.

No one even saw him.

The people that he’d considered his friends for years and years had never been his friends at all. Sitting there, with the cold steel handcuffs resting heavily on his wrists, the realization gutted him.

Afterwards, as the Special, as a hero, as a member of a team, he felt that wound close a little. He felt less alone than he had in a long time.

But recently, those lonely feelings were starting to coming back. Emmet tried to avoid them, tried to bury his emotions under preppy happy music, but he could never completely ignore the sting he felt every time someone scoffed at him dismissively or pretended not to have heard him.

But with Lucy, everything was different. Sure, she thought he was kind of a wuss, but that wasn't anything new. And regardless of his naivety, she always made time for him, setting aside multiple hours each week for the two of them to talk and hangout together. Just thinking about it, just thinking about her sent butterflies fluttering around in his stomach.

He was so excited to show her the house he'd been building for the two of them. And once he got back, tough and cool and improved, he knew he'd do such a great job finishing the place up and safeguarding it from the aliens that she'd totally love him it. Imagining her face, lit up in surprise and wonder, Emmet couldn't help but smile to himself under the covers.

As he thought about Lucy, and his other worries faded just enough for the soft embrace of sleep to finally claim him, Emmet wondered vaguely if she, or anyone else, would think to water Planty for him.

*******************

An alarm blared throughout the ship’s corridors. At the harsh sound, Emmet jolted upright, blinking blearily at the blurry shapes of raptors hustling to get out of bed.

“TIME TO GO!” One of them screeched as it ran by, prompting Emmet to crawl out from under his blanket and start making his way through the crowd, tripping over his own feet as he struggled to pull on his new spacesuit.

He and a number of raptors struggled to squeeze themselves together into one of the veloci-lifts, as the alarm outside continued to shriek. The sound softened somewhat as the doors clicked shut, and then faded into the distance as the cab rapidly shot up through the ship.

With a ding, the lift stopped as quickly as it had started, opening its doors and spilling raptors out onto the bridge. Emmet tumbled out with them and laid on the floor, trying to collect his bearings. After a moment, he felt a claw hook around a strap on the back of his suit, lifting him into the air and gently setting him on his feet. Looking up, he saw a large raptor wielding a headset and clipboard.

“GOOD MORNING,” she screeched. “I’M BULLET. FOLLOW ME.”

Emmet nodded mutely, and she took off. Trotting after her, Emmet and the raptor made their way down the hall to a large metal door with an inset plaque reading “Briefing Room”. Stepping inside, they found themselves in a dimly lit room. The long conference table and the surrounding roller chairs shone with an eerie blue color, illuminated by the cyan glow of a projector’s default screen. With a flick of her claw, Bullet gestured towards a manila folder laying on the table in front of them.

Stepping forward, Emmet took a seat and opened the folder to reveal a stack of papers. He flipped through them, hoping for some form of clarification, but each page seemed to contain either grainy radar imagery or long strings of incomprehensible numbers.

“Um,” Emmet turned to look back up at his escort. “What exactly is this?”

“YOUR FIRST MISSION,” she replied, laying down another sheet of paper.

“Emmet,” the paper read. “Our advanced scouting patrol has detected an unauthorized enemy base somewhere within the Glastroid Field. You’ll need to take the Rexplorer pod into the Stairgate, navigate through the treacherous field, and locate this base.”

A crude map illustrated the necessary route. At the end, the enemy base was marked with a glittery, star-shaped sticker.

“Further instructions will be given once you succeed.”

At the bottom of the page was a brief message written in Rex’s scrawling penmanship instead of printed text.

“You can do it, buddy.”

He smiled at the note. Rex was a super smart, super cool spaceship captain. If he believed in Emmet, then Emmet would have to be a fool not to as well. With a hum of contemplation, he tried shifting his posture into a more appropriate approximation of how he imagined a serious guy like Rex might sit.

“So,” Emmet leaned back in his chair. “What can you tell me about this enemy base?”

“IT BELONGS TO AGENTS OF THE SYSTAR SYSTEM.” Bullet set her clipboard down, and tapped a claw against the sticker on Emmet’s map, leaving a noticeable dent in its golden surface.

“Uh,” Emmet’s confident smile weakened. “Obviously I know what that means, but why don’t you explain just so that we're both on the same page…”

“IT BELONGS,” the raptor screeched exasperatedly, “TO THE ALIENS THAT ATTACKED YOUR HOME.”

“Oh.” He could feel his heart start beating faster. Emmet had seen the aliens countless times, even fighting them a few times with the others. But, ever since they’d built Apocalypseburg, his friends had become reticent to let him engage, saying that it was just too dangerous, that Emmet wasn’t tough enough, that he’d get hurt or worse.

And now, he was going to have to seek the aliens out, on their own turf, without any of his friends…

“Super quick question,” he blurted out, his words tripping over each other in their hurry. “But, uh, this isn’t like, a solo mission, right? Like, you guys are coming with me?”

“AFFIRMATIVE.” Bullet snatched back her clipboard and turned to exit the room. “LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO THE TEAM.”

She led Emmet down to the hangar bay. The ship that he’d seen being repaired earlier sat finished in the center of the room, neighbored by a small cluster of raptors trying to quietly converse amongst themselves.

“OKAY TEAM,” Emmet’s escort screeched, causing the other group to leap to attention. “INITIATE CLICHE INTRODUCTION PROTOCOLS.”

The raptors looked at each other momentarily before one of them stepped forwards, extending a claw towards Emmet.

“CAPTAIN,” she screeched as Emmet took her claw in a firm handshake. “I AM… TIBERIUS, YOUR CO-PILOT AND FIRST… IN COMMAND.” She looked off dramatically into the distance before continuing. “I AM AN EXPLORER AT HEART AND WILL ALWAYS… HAVE… YOUR BACK.”

“It’s nice to meet you!” Emmet grinned and turned to face the next raptor that was approaching.

“THEY CALL ME HAWKEYE,” she said, shifting her satchel to better display the red cross symbol emblazoned on the front. “I’M HERE TO ENSURE THAT WE ALL MAKE IT HOME AND TO MAKE VARIOUS ENDEARING QUIPS IN THE MEANTIME.”

“Sounds good!” Emmet chuckled. He turned again. “And you are?”

“TRINITY,” a darker colored raptor stepped up to identify herself. “I DO COMPUTERS, NUMBERS, AND SMARMY COMMENTS THAT IMPLY HOW I AM MUCH, MUCH SMARTER THAN YOU.”

The fourth raptor advanced with a salute. She was equipped with some kind of harness that strapped over her back and held a number of laser guns and other weapons. One of her eyes was covered by an eyepatch, but the other held a steely determination that sent a shiver down Emmet’s spine as she hissed. “I AM SNAKE.”

Emmet waited for a moment. “Do… Do you have a personality trait you’d like to share?”

“HONESTLY, I THOUGHT THE GUNS WERE PRETTY SELF-EXPLANATORY.”

“Fair enough,” Emmet shrugged. “And the other one?” He gesturing towards the last remaining raptor.

“YES,” Bullet replied.

“Yes, what?”

Bullet cocked her head curiously. “YES, THAT’S HER. THE ENGINEER.”

“But… that doesn’t… I don’t...” Any semblance of comprehension fled from Emmet’s expression. He stared at Bullet blankly until it became overwhelmingly obvious that no further explanation was going to come.

“Ok,” he threw his hands up helplessly. “Nevermind! I’ll just ask her later, I guess…”

“YOU DO YOU,” Bullet screeched. She dropped the keys for the ship into Emmet’s palm and stalked off. Alone now, the crew turned to face him.

“Oh, uh, um…” He stammered momentarily before clearing his throat and regaining a suitably captain-esque voice. “Ok, crew,” he clicked the dongle, as he spoke, causing the Rexplorer to beep and lower the gangplank. “Everyone on board!”

The raptors turned obediently and filed onto the ship, with Emmet following quick on their heels. As he entered the ship, and the hatch latched shut behind him, sealing the exit, Emmet couldn’t help but feel a little trapped.

It’s ok, he tried to tell himself. You can do this. Everyone believes in you. Unbidden, memories of his Apocalypseburg friends swam into his mind.

Ok, he revised his thought, almost everyone believes in you.

“BOSS?” One of the raptors screeched from where she stood at her station, shaking Emmet from his ruminations. Quickly, he realized that he was the only one not ready for takeoff.

“Uh, where... I mean...” He fell silent, looking around the bridge. The only chair left was the large central one - the captain’s chair. “This one’s mine, right?” He asked as he slid uneasily into the oversized seat.

“YOU ARE IN CHARGE, RIGHT?” Snake asked flippantly.

“Yes!” Emmet squeaked indignantly. “I mean,” he deepened his voice, “yes. Yes, I am. And, as your captain, I will now take us to the Stairgate!”

He sat up straighter, suffusing his pose with a confidence he didn’t really feel. “How hard can it be,” he muttered to himself.

At his touch, the controls lit up in various blinking colors. The ship itself roared to life, the dual engines thrumming behind him. In front of the wide glass windshield, the hangar doors slowly started to open. With a gentle hand, Emmet maneuvered the pod out of the hangar bay, and into the void of space. Just when he started to feel like he had a handle on the controls, Trinity spoke up from behind him.

“THE STAIRGATE SENSORS ARE DETECTING AN INCREASE IN STAIR ACTIVITY, SIR.” Trinity gestured towards an illuminated display that had begun blinking rapidly.

“R-right… Let’s do this, then.” Swallowing his fear, Emmet leaned down on the yoke of the ship, eliciting a thrum from the engines and propelling the craft towards a strange heavenly body, which, as it neared, began to almost resemble a large white door.

The light of the door grew in intensity as they approached, becoming almost painful to look at. And then, like the flick of a light switch, the Rexplorer was plunged into darkness, hurtling through the universe, their ship warping and twisting around them.

“MY GOD,” The Other One screamed, “IT’S FULL OF STAIRS.”

At the sound of her voice, Emmet glanced over, following her pointing claw towards the window. Outside, millions of stair-shaped objects, nebulas, and galaxies were streaking past, smearing together like paint and coalescing into a single radiant point of dazzling light. Again, the harshness of the light increased painfully, overwhelming the fragile ship until it burst clear of the gate with an audible “pop”.

As the light faded, Emmet blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision of the patchy black spots left on his retinas. One particularly persistent spot didn't disappear, causing him to wonder momentarily before the spot resolved into the silhouette of a giant glastroid heading directly for them.

With a yelp, he jerked on the control, sending the Rexplorer in a veering arc around the deadly obstacle.

“Can you see the base?” Emmet yelled over his shoulder. The sooner they could land, the better. At the sight of hundreds of glastroids careening through space, his confidence had begun to quickly dissipate.

“NOT YET, BOSS!” Trinity typed furiously at her station, the display above her transitioning from image to image in rapid succession as she scoured the field around them.

Another glastroid tumbled towards them, seemingly in slow-motion. Again, Emmet yanked on the yoke, twisting the ship just enough to avoid a direct collision. With a sickening crunch, the Rexplorer jostled and shook as it scraped against the glassy surface.

“THE PRIMARY SENSOR ARRAY HAS BEEN HIT!” Trinity screeched, as a shower of sparks leapt from her monitor.

“Can you use a secondary array?” Emmet turned to address her, trying futilely to keep his voice confident and even.

“YES,” she turned back to her monitor and gasped. “I’M DETECTING AN IMMINENT COLLISION!”

Emmet squealed and twisted back to face the windshield. Yet another glastroid had appeared in front of them, and, in his adrenaline-induced rush to swerve around, he misjudged the margin of error. There was a deafening, grinding sound from the ship’s hull, and the bridge shook so violently that Emmet tumbled from his chair onto the floor.

“SIR,” Trinity screamed. “I HAVE GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS.”

“What’s the good news?” Emmet asked timidly.

“I AM NO LONGER DETECTING ANY POSSIBLE COLLISIONS.”

“Oh, that actually is pretty good news.” Hauling himself back to his feet, Emmet crawled back into the captain’s chair. “And what’s the bad news?”

“I AM NO LONGER DETECTING ANYTHING. OUR SECONDARY ARRAY HAS ALSO BEEN HIT.”

“What!?” Emmet wailed. “Why wouldn’t you just say that?” He turned his attention to The Other One. “You’re the engineer, right? I need you to repair the sensors right now!”

“ON IT, CAPTAIN.” The Other One started up the ladder towards the maintenance hatch when another shockwave rocked the vessel. The raptors all swayed violently, and the monitors spat out fat electric sparks.

“ARGH!” Trinity cried out. “WHY DID WE DESIGN THEM TO DO THAT?”

The Other One yelped in pain as well, as the motion had dislodged her from the ladder she’d been climbing. She hit the ground hard.

“Tiberius, take over!” Emmet ordered.

Screeching in assent, she moved to take his seat as Emmet ran over to check on his fallen crewmember. As he knelt beside her, Hawkeye appeared at his side. With a trained eye, she examined the injured raptor. The Other One whimpered slightly as the medic applied a bandage to the new lump above her eye. Hearing the sound, Emmet reached out to hold her claw in his hands.

This is all my fault, he thought. I thought I could do this, but I can’t. I’m going to get us all killed out here.

“Is she going to be okay?” He asked in a small, scared whisper.

“YES,” Hawkeye nodded. “BUT NOT FOR A WHILE. I’LL NEED TO TAKE HER BACK TO THE SICK BAY.”

“Could… Could you fix the sensors first?” Emmet asked, desperation clear in his voice as the ship narrowly avoided another fatal collision.

“CAPTAIN,” she scowled, “I’M A DOCTOR, NOT AN ENGINEER.”

“Right, right, sorry.” Emmet looked around the bridge. Hawkeye and Snake were helping The Other One out of the room. Trinity was working with renewed vigor to pry any useable data from her malfunctioning station. In the center of the room, Tiberius was struggling against the yoke, fighting to keep them all safe. They were all working so hard, and they were all counting on him.

“I have to do it,” he muttered to himself.

In a fluid motion, Emmet stuffed his helmet on firmly. The suit hissed around him as the internal pressure adjusted, drawing the stiff fabric close to his skin. With a grunt of determination, he clambered up the maintenance ladder, pushing pass the heavy hatch to crawl out onto the hull of the ship.

Ignoring the glastroids tumbling around him, even the concerningly close ones, Emmet inched towards the sensor arrays. Between the mess of blinking lights and the torn wires whipping around like a nest of angry snakes, he worried momentarily that he wouldn’t know how to fix them. But, as he crawled closer, he realized that they were... familiar. The circuitry reminded him of the kind that he’d implemented a million times in various Octan skyscrapers.

With a sigh of relief, Emmet set to work. The suit’s gloves made his hands clumsy, but he managed to wrangle the arrays into order before making his way back inside.

Yanking his helmet off, he took a deep breath and wiped the beads of sweat from his sticky forehead. “Please,” he pleaded, “please tell me I actually fixed that.”

“YOU DID IT, CAPTAIN.” Trinity clicked at her screen for a moment. “AND WHAT’S MORE, I’VE LOCATED THE BASE!”

A red outline suddenly winked into existence around one of the glastroids outside the windshield.

“CAPTAIN…” Tiberius passed the controls back to Emmet. “TAKE US… IN.”

Running on the final dregs of his adrenaline, Emmet steered towards the indicated glastroid, slowly approaching and even slowly-er landing on the smooth, glassy surface.

The inside of the ship fell silent as the engines died.

“I… I did it.” Emmet muttered in utter amazement. “We actually did it.”

“YES, THAT WAS EXCELLENT WORK, EVERYBODY.” Snake walked back onto the bridge, the guns strapped to her back buzzing angrily.

“NOW IT’S TIME FOR PHASE TWO.”

#lego movie 2 #tlm2 #emmet brickowski #rex dangervest #god I love the raptors #check out how i FINALLY remembered to link the AO3 version of the fic...#i am not good at this lol

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