#i'm glad there were options to talk him down from this nonsense

[warlordfelwinter]

i love how fucking hard gale swings in exactly the opposite direction once he realizes mystra was toying with him like not only does he not care about her forgiveness anymore but he's like "wait actually FUCK mystra and EVERY OTHER GOD. I SHOULD BE A GOD."

[leviathanswingman]

Killing Me Softly (with his song): Chapter 5

Pairing: DiaLuci, SoloDeus is mentioned for like half a sentence

Words: 5182

Chapters: 5/? Chapters 1 2 3 4

ao3

The sound of hurried steps filled the hallway as Leviathan hurried towards the music room. He arrived feeling completely out of breath, his hands pressed flat against his thighs as he leaned forward to catch his breath. His eyes shifted from one side to the other as he made sure he wasn't being followed before opening the door. Considering the state Lucifer had been in, he doubted he would have followed so shortly after, but one could never be too sure with the ever-so-thorough oldest brother. 

As he opened the door, he almost ran into Barbatos, who was standing nearby with a slightly vexed expression on his face.

“Leviathan,” he greeted. “Although I am glad you have still made it to our meeting, did I not state clearly that everyone was to arrive on time? You are late.”

Levi scratched the back of his head. “Well, I was right on track until I-”

“For now, it should not matter. Please take a seat,” Barbatos said while ushering him towards his seat. 

The rest of his brothers were already there, seated on several chairs that were arranged in a half-circle. He swallowed his words and mumbled a quick apology. He plopped down on the empty chair next to Mammon, who immediately chose to invade his personal space. “What took you so long,” he hissed as he leaned in close. Leviathan pushed his face away with the palm of his hand.

“None of your business. Get out of my face!”

“Hey, I didn’t even do anything- Mits off!”

“You started it!”

“Uh, no, I didn’t?!”

“You so did!”

They started to push and pull at each other but before it could escalate the doors opened once again, stilling their squabbling. All heads turned towards the door when Diavolo entered, his expression searching. “Barbatos?” he asked. “There you are. You requested to meet me here?”

“Lord Diavolo, I wish you a good morning,” Barbatos greeted as soon as he caught sight of the demon prince. “I hope you've slept well?”

A sheepish expression ran across Diavolo's face and he cleared his throat. “I have, thank you.”

“I asked Little D No.2 to redirect you here. I'm satisfied to see everything worked out as expected.”

Diavolo nodded a quick greeting to the brothers. “Thank you for receiving me so warmly, but may I ask what I am here for? Please explain yourself.”

Barbatos locked eyes with Asmodeus briefly, waiting for his nod of approval.

“Young Master, there is a certain issue that has been on everyone's minds. I have taken Asmodeus aside to discuss the matter. We have concluded that it is imperative to talk to you as well. If you need to put a word to it, then please consider this an intervention.”

The brothers nodded solemnly as they had already been briefed. 

Diavolo crossed his arms in front of his chest and tilted his head. “An intervention, you say? Well, who is it for? You should have told me beforehand, I would have prepared.”

Satan’s green-eyed stare was intense as he eyed the demon prince from head to toe. “You have got to be kidding me,“ he murmured as he turned around to Yuuta, whose chair was pulled so close to his that their thighs were touching. “There's no way he's this oblivious.” He shook his head in disbelief and Yuuta shrugged his shoulders in defeat. “Yes way. Don't say I didn't tell you so.” 

Barbatos shushed them with a quick hand movement as he approached Diavolo.

“I have already attempted to speak about this with both concerning parties. Seeing how it did nothing but fan the flames of obtuseness, I took the liberty to schedule today's meeting.” Barbatos folded his hands behind his back as he looked at Diavolo. “My Lord, I apologize, but my hand has been forced. Although I dislike meddling when it truly isn't necessary, there were no other options left to pursue. For both your and Lucifer's sake, I am asking you to lend us an ear since neither of you seems reasonable enough to put an end to this nonsense.“

Diavolo listened intently, his eyes slightly widened in the face of Barbatos’s unfiltered frankness. “Of course, I will hear you out. Still, I will have to admit that I do not understand what exactly this intervention is supposed to be about. Did I unknowingly act so out of bounds that it would warrant one? And how does this concern Lucifer?“

Belphegor, leaning against Beelzebub's shoulder, yawned, then tutted his tongue. “You really woke me up for this?” A deep sigh left his lips as he leaned forward. His eyes were still heavy with sleep. “It's about the obvious boner you have for Lucifer-“ he drawled lazily, yet his voice was loud enough for the whole room to hear.

Diavolo gripped his chest in outrage. “Pardon me?”

Quickly Beel slapped his hand over Belphegor’s mouth. “Belphie, come on now.”

Belphegor pulled his brother's hand away from his mouth. “What? I was just saying what we’ve all been thinking.“

Satan threw him a bothered look. “Who is we? Don't make me think about something like that.”

Asmodeus smiled as he watched his younger brothers, yet the corners of his mouth were too unstable to hold up a happy expression. “Belphie is right, I couldn't have said it better myself.”

Mammon smacked the back of Asmo's head. “Oi, stop playing around! What the hell are you blabbering on about?“

“Ow! Why did you hit me?! I didn't even do anything! We're all worried here but that's no reason to hit me! You could've ruined my beautiful hair! What is wrong with you, you brute?!“

“I'll show you what’s wro-”

Yuuta stuck his hand between their bodies to keep the situation from escalating. “Guys, focus. Now is not the time. Let's get this over with before Lucifer catches wind of what's going on. As much as I hate to say it, we're here to help him and time is running out.”

Diavolo watched their conversation with curious eyes. “Correct me if I am making baseless assumptions, but is it possible that this is about Lucifer’s illness?“ he asked calmly. 

Suddenly, all eyes were back on him.

Asmo's head snapped back to Barbatos. “You were right, he really does know!“ he exclaimed loudly. “I cannot believe it.” 

“Indeed, he is aware. You all noticed we have been sheltering Lucifer due to his unexpected sickness, yes? I talked to him while the Young Master was still asleep beside him.“

Asmodeus slapped a hand over his mouth and let out a high-pitched squeal. “Asleep? Next to him?! So they were in the same bed?! That is brand-new information! I cannot believe you've kept this tea to yourself until now!”

Mammon leaned back against his chair and let out a barking laugh. “Ha! We're talking about Lucifer here, he would never-”

“No, it's true,” Satan cut in calmly. “I can attest to that, I saw them.”

Diavolo's eyes widened in surprise. “You did? I was unaware of that.”

“Perhaps you should lock your door when you choose to sleep then.” Satan threw in, his tone clipped. “Because I saw you both. In bed,” he paused for effect. “Sleeping.”

“You saw them doing what?!” Mammon’s voice rose considerably and his cheeks reddened. He ran one hand through his hair, then thought about it before averting his gaze abashedly. “No need to tell us all of that. Didn't think Lord Diavolo had it in him though. I mean, to get to Lucifer of all people, you gotta have some serious game.“

Diavolo raised his hands in defense. “Please do not misunderstand.”

“What is there to misunderstand?!” Asmodeus cut in. “You shared a bed?! Shouldn't everything be solved then? Oh, I'm so rel-” 

“Your thoughts are wandering astray, Asmodeus. Please believe me when I say I would never dishonor Lucifer’s boundaries like that. I am aware of the implications my actions carry, but I get the feeling that there's a considerable misunderstanding here. I am indeed aware of his illness. But how could I not be? I was with him when he suddenly collapsed. Can you truly blame me for being worried beyond common sense? I carried him to my private chambers and made sure his needs were tended to.“

Levi's eyes shot up and he twiddled with the zipper of his hoodie before he made a decision and stood up. Quickly, he approached Diavolo.

“Uhm, so about that. Before I got here I actually ran into him.” Leviathan knotted 

his hands together and fiddled with his fingers. “I didn't want to believe it at first, but he isn't just down with a cold. He has Hanahaki, doesn't he?”

A collective murmur ran through the room. Satan and Asmo exchanged glances.

Diavolo’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “How did you find out?” he asked quietly. 

“I accidentally caught him right after he threw up a boatload of petals. He made me promise not to tell.” Leviathan turned ghastly white, his hand shooting up to cover his mouth as if that could take the words back again. “And now I did tell. I shouldn’t have said that, right? I’m doomed, oh, I’m so done for! My poor collection… I can already see it being burnt to a crisp… rest in pieces my darlings…”

“Leviathan, focus. Please, tell us all you know.”

“All I know? Well, actually, I watched a lot of anime about Hanahaki, so I guess you could say I'm somewhat of an expert on the topic. Lord Diavolo, you were with Lucifer when it happened? Are you sure about that? I mean are you 100- no, are you 1000% positive?“ he urged, his voice picking up in both pace and volume. 

Mammon shook his head. “What do you mean 'are you sure'? How can you not be sure about something like that?”

“I'm asking if he was the only one there when it happened, moron!” Levi now mustered Diavolo with a rare intensity. “No matter what I've read or watched about Hanahaki, the person present during most of the attacks generally also turned out to be the cause of the disease,” he muttered and leaned a bit closer toward Diavolo. “It doesn't seem too impossible if you think about it, right?” 

Mammon stood up, pacing back and forth before plopping down on his chair again, bent over with his forearms resting on his thighs, his expression contemplative. 

“Are you saying what I think you are? It's Lucifer we're talking about here! Lucifer! I mean I can't even wrap my head around the idea of him having lovey-dovey feelings for anyone to begin with! But if it's Lord Diavolo…”

“Precisely. It doesn't sound as impossible anymore. Which is why this is currently the only plausible conclusion, right Barbatos?” Satan questioned.

“Yes. All other possibilities are nigh impossible. I believe it would be best if we stopped beating around the bush.”

“What are you trying to imply?” Diavolo’s voice rang through the room as he quickly walked over to his butler. “You truly believe I could be the cause of his illness?”

With that, Beel abandoned his place by Belphegor’s side to walk over to Diavolo and place his hands on his shoulders, gently pushing him down onto an empty chair. “Maybe it's better if you sit down for this.”

Diavolo didn't protest and allowed himself to be pushed down, interlocking his hands as he let one elbow rest on the armrest, his expression deep in thought. For a moment, he was quiet before he turned back around to Barbatos.

“I see your concern,” he started, “but I am not the solution you seek. I want to help Lucifer just as much as all of you do, but even I can't just save him simply by desiring it. My devotion cannot suffice when he won't even tell me who caused his illness.” His eyes darkened considerably as he redirected his gaze to the ground. “No matter how desperately I want to.”

“Why haven’t you asked him?” Asmodeus asked in a small voice. 

“Asked him what exactly?”

“Why haven’t you asked him if you're the cause? It's not like he can lie to you,” Asmodeus replied, his voice taking on a hopeful lilt. “Maybe you could-”

Diavolo shook his head. “I cannot force him to open his heart to me. Although it is true that he cannot lie to me, we have known each other for many years. Lucifer knows how to work his way around the issue.”

“But he wouldn’t do that, right?”

“Naturally he would. Lucifer has his secrets, and he has every right to protect them, especially from me.” Desperation was starting to bitter his words. “I cannot force him to talk to me.”

Barbatos’s sigh was almost imperceptible. “Let us return to the topic at hand. Young Master, we have eliminated every other choice. There is no other demon Lucifer would even think about considering as his romantic equal. I found out about his disease even before you did. It was the night of our return to RAD, right after he welcomed us back.” As he continued to talk he slowly paced throughout the room. “Have you forgotten how strangely he behaved? The way he suddenly disappeared? His behavior struck me as odd, so I followed him and caught him in the middle of a severe attack. He lost consciousness and I was forced to bring him to his chambers. Once he was awake again, I confronted him. Although I will not reveal what exactly it was that he told me, I can say as much. I was very blunt with him and he did not deny any of my accusations. I urged him to confess, but he vehemently refused to do so.”

Diavolo sighed as he rubbed his temples. “I do not understand why he told you but refused so adamantly when I inquired. Why didn't he say anything? If I hadn't caught him that day, I would still be none the wiser.”

“Maybe that was the plan all along,” Yuuta interjected. “He didn't tell you because it would ruin everything.”

Now Asmodeus chimed in as well. “I also tried to give him advice, but he really didn't take it all that well. Point taken, I overdid it a teensy little bit and teased him a bit too much, but now that I think of it, he didn't correct any of my assumptions either, right Yuuta?”

Yuuta let out a breathy laugh as he mentally retraced their conversation in Lucifer's study. “That's a mild way of putting it. He manhandled you and yelled at us to mind our own business. But you're right, he didn't deny squat.”

Asmodeus sighed as he threw his arms around Yuuta. “And I thought he and Lord Diavolo would have already talked it out by now! Lord Diavolo, after you asked little old me to call Lucifer to distract him I was so sure that everything would be alright and we'd soon have another power couple at RAD! Solomon and I are in dire need of competition! Oh, what are we gonna do?” he sulked and Yuuta petted his head. 

Levi quickly sprung up. “When I saw him in the bathroom he seemed really frustrated, I mean he did punch a hole through the stall, and it really…”

“He did what now?!”

“...reminded me of 'My heart keeps racing whenever I look at you but we are childhood friends who are cursed to stay five feet apart from each other so I couldn't possibly love you', which is a-”

Voices kept overlapping until the room was filled with a crescendo of chaos. Diavolo still sat on the chair Beel had pushed him into, troubled as the demon brothers came up with instance after instance, irrefutable pieces of evidence filling his ears one after the other.

Yuuta threw a quick gaze at Barbatos. “Was this really a good idea? I can barely hear my own thoughts.”

For the shortest of moments, Barbatos was wondering the same thing. After all, Lucifer had been this secretive to preserve his privacy and keep his brothers out of the loop. The doubt subsided as soon as he remembered their plan.

“Do not fret, everything is going according to plan,” he replied.

As Lucifer's brothers were still busy talking over one another, Barbatos made eye contact with Diavolo. “My Lord, where is your mind?”

Finally, Diavolo lifted his head and faced Barbatos, the expression on his face unreadable. After a short moment, he sighed and ran his hands over his thighs in an agitated fashion. He stood up. 

“Everybody, quiet down!” he exclaimed, pouring the slightest bit of magic into his words. The brothers stopped squabbling straight away, shaking under the sudden onset of magic in the air. 

Diavolo mustered them one after the other. “I have always been aware of Lucifer’s feelings for me. The feelings in question are ones of gratefulness, of devotion. I have known so for a long time.”

“But-” Levi was quickly shushed by Barbatos.

Diavolo continued. “The feelings he possesses and the feelings I harbor; at first glance, they may seem similar, but they are intricately different at their core. I respect your brother, which is why I am content with the trust and loyalty he grants me. He is quite clear about his boundaries and I refuse to overstep them.” He stopped in his tracks and turned around to Lucifer's brothers again. “ I see your concern and your points do have their validity, which is why I am still humoring you. After all, we have the same goal in mind. We all want to see Lucifer return to full health.” He clenched his fists. “Still, I am certainly not the culprit you are looking for. But I will find them and have them take responsibility.” Diavolo unclenched his fists and let out a deep breath. “I expect you all to cease coming up with these conspiracies regarding Lucifer and me. Now leave me alone, I need to think.”

When everyone except for Barbatos and Diavolo had left the room, Diavolo put his hand on Barbatos’s shoulder and pulled on the fabric to catch his attention.

Despite himself, Barbatos felt his heart ache for his Master’s anguish. “Forgive me for the approach I had to take. How can I help, My Lord?”

“How much time do we have left to sort this out?” Diavolo asked and Barbatos watched him attentively. He hadn't seen Diavolo this unsettled in a long time. For a moment, Barbatos was reminded of that lonely child again, of the boy who used to pull at his sleeve and watch him with hopeful eyes. 

He nodded solemnly. “Three days at most. I would recommend you talk to him after the celebration as he will make sure to remain quite busy until the end. Three days is the only realistic assessment I can offer. I have always been frank with you, Young Master. He will not make it to day four.”

Diavolo let go of Barbatos' sleeve and straightened his posture, the shaking of his hands obvious as he straightened his coat. “Thank you for your honesty. I am glad I can always count on you. Allow me to collect my thoughts now, I need some time to myself. I will be heading out first.”

“Of course, My Lord.”

Diavolo left the House of Lamentation to return to the Demon Lord’s Castle. He barely took note of his surroundings as his mind was in a state of unrest. A few lower demons quickly bowed as he passed them, but he paid them no mind. Memories of Lucifer were flooding his mind, unwavering and unforgiving, followed by a wave of unbridled panic that he couldn’t suppress anymore.

He remembered the first time they met. The first time those carmine eyes had met his, he had felt an undeniable pull towards the angel who was standing opposite him with a calculating expression sullying his strikingly handsome features. He had been quite different back then, clad in white, blue, and gold, with his ebony hair cascading down his back to where the most magnificent wings Diavolo had ever set eyes upon were gently swaying in the breeze, the plumes so soft-looking he wished he had the right to simply reach out and touch them.

Barbatos had made their introductions and when Diavolo extended his hand, Lucifer had looked down at him from under his lashes, his eyes sharp and terribly striking, and turned his nose up at him, refusing to shake it.

No one had ever dared to act so uncouth with him, and Diavolo felt amusement and fascination pulling at his heartstrings. This angel had quite the mouth on him!

Even after their first meeting, he couldn't help but call him down to the Devildom time and time again. To converse, to exchange, to play chess together. Diavolo never shied away from finding new excuses and Lucifer never shied away from calling him out on it, but he still came whenever he was asked to. Then, unexpectedly, their meetings were interrupted by months of startling silence. Finally, word reached him that Lucifer had started to openly rebel against his father. 

The next time they met was after his fall from heaven. With the Demon King’s approval and Barbatos by his side, he had gathered Lucifer’s beaten body up, the air heavy with the scent of fresh blood and burnt feathers, the looming shadows of a demon not quite ready to hatch yet nearby. They had picked up all the angry pieces, had offered Lucifer a deal he would be unable to refuse. It was a deal Lucifer had taken with such fury and passion, a deal he had made with such pride.

Under Lucifer's bitter gaze, Diavolo had accepted the fact that in the future, this would most certainly cause him trouble.

Nights spent bent over paperwork together, all the vacations they had went on to keep Lucifer from overworking his tired shoulders, being the only one allowed to see the fallen angel in a state of semi-undress, perhaps he'd taken it all for granted. 

Now, against all odds, Lucifer was the one far more troubled than he'd ever thought possible. 

No matter what it would take, no matter what he would have to give up, Diavolo was committed to do whatever the situation required.

He would never be willing to give up on Lucifer.

Even though they had just been ushered out of the music room, the demon brothers and Yuuta didn't part ways straight away. Truthfully, the whole situation still felt too raw, too uncertain. They all stood silent in front of the closed door, unsure of what to do next. There was an uneasy ambiance in the air as they looked at each other, stupefied.

“What just happened?“ Beel finally asked, breaking the silence.

“We got the confirmation we needed that Lucifer has gotten himself Hanahaki and is too stubborn to do something about it, that's what happened,“ Yuuta answered as he stretched his shoulders. “A whole meeting just to clarify that was a bit unnecessary, don't you think so too? I feel like we're running in circles here. Didn't most of us already know?“

“Well, I definitely didn't!“ Mammon exclaimed.

“That's because you’re stupidly obtuse,“ Asmodeus shot back.

“Oi!“

“Stop bullying him, Asmo,“ Beel murmured as he shot a quick smile at Mammon. “Lucifer probably didn't want us to worry. We all know he’s always been this way. Also, it's not like there's much to worry about. He hasn't been sick for that long.“

Belphegor was leaning against the wall as he pulled out his phone and yawned. He thumbed through a few Apps before pulling up the Devilpedia page on Hanahaki. “It says here that most cases start getting bad after a month or two. Why waste our time worrying now?“

All of a sudden, Satan made a shushing sound and pointed at the door. Confused, the others redirected their attention towards it. Yuuta tilted his head in silent question as Satan moved closer towards it and put his ear against the heavy wood.

“Wha-“

“SHHH!“ Satan threw his siblings a dirty look before he turned back to the door. Several moments of silence later, Satan quickly jumped away from the door, just in time to avoid getting hit.

Diavolo was leaving the room in a rush, so lost in thought that he didn't even acknowledge the demons right in front of his nose. Briskly, he pushed past them and made his way down the hallway.

“What was that about? Couldn’t even say bye?” Mammon asked. 

Satan turned back around to Yuuta and his siblings. “I have a bad feeling that something is up. First, let's find a place where we can have some privacy. Standing here won't solve anything.“

Neither of the brothers knew what Satan was talking about, but upon seeing the earnest look on his face, they chose to follow with almost no complaints. They knew it was serious when Satan abandoned all his rebellious disdain for Lucifer in favor of gaining an understanding of the situation at hand.

“Why do we always have to end up in my room?“ Yuuta groaned as he let himself fall onto the bed, which had somehow turned into the only empty space left in the cramped room. “Seven people are really pushing it, don't you think?“

“It'll have to do. Now stop complaining and listen. All of you.“ Satan was sitting on one of the chairs, one leg crossed over the other as he leaned forward. “Right from the beginning something has felt off.“

Beel, who sat cross-legged on the floor, raised his hand and waited until Satan nodded toward him. “What do you mean something felt off?“

“Allow me to clarify. The information I have gathered doesn't add up with what has just been presented to us. It makes no sense. Allegedly, Lucifer has had Hanahaki for not much longer than a few weeks. However, his physical state betrays that assumption. When I tried to confront him, I accidentally entered the room while Lucifer and Diavolo were fast asleep together.“

“Which I don't even want to think about,” Belphie threw in before he threw himself onto the bed as well, yawning. Yuuta threw him an intense side glance but remained in place. 

“Fair, but not the point right now. What are you getting at, Satan?” he asked carefully.

Satan uncrossed his legs and fixed his brothers with an intense stare. “Out of curiosity, I approached them. I didn't think much of it before, but now the pieces are finally starting to fall into place. Just now, Diavolo told us that he helped Lucifer through a bad Hanahaki attack. It would be safe to assume that the attack in question happened before I went to see them. Strangely enough, there were no petals on the bed when I was in there.”

“What do you mean there were no petals?” Asmodeus asked. “Satan, I saw them before, so why-”

Satan lifted his hand. “You didn’t let me finish. I didn’t see any petals, but full buds lying in a puddle of blood instead.”

Levi's head shot up as he stared at his little brother with a shocked expression on his face. “That can't be true! He shouldn't be this far along! Isn't that way too quickly?!”

“I have been thinking the same thing, which is why I decided to eavesdrop just now. And believe me, I heard something quite peculiar.” Satan stood up and ran his hand across his forehead, pushing his bangs out of his face. “Barbatos told Lord Diavolo that Lucifer has only three days left.”

Everyone looked at Satan in startled silence. For a moment, no one knew what to say. The air was stuffy with panic, the promise of loss a freshly opened wound. 

“Oh no. No, no, no. Hell no!” Levi exclaimed as realization dawned upon him. “When I saw him in the bathroom the toilet was also filled with both petals and full flowers. Is this why? This can't be it! This shouldn't be it! Why is it moving so fast?!” His head whipped around to Satan. “Why is it moving so fast?! I mean sure, he always insists on  being the best at everything, but that doesn’t mean he-”

“The Devilpedia page also mentions that there are rare cases where the disease proceeds faster than usual,” Belphie mumbled from his spot on the bed. “But there’s no way that’s what’s happening, right? Apparently in the worst case recorded the victim died in the span of a month.”

The cramped room quickly filled back up with panicked chatter.

“A- a month?!” Levi sat down on the bed between Belphie and Yuuta as he put his head in his hands in desperation. “This can’t be happening, what are we going to do without Lucifer?!”

Asmodeus shook his head. His eyes were round and wet, his fingers shaky. Quickly, he wrapped his arms around his middle section and held himself tight. “Why does he have to insist on being so stubborn? It’s such a Lucifer thing to deny love like that. I told him so!” For a moment, he allowed his mind to wander. Then, reality set in. “He will never confess. He won't confess because it's Lord Diavolo he would have to do the confessing to.”

He ran over to Satan and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him back and forth. “You know he won't do it. Lucifer is too proud to open up and potentially jeopardize his relationship with Lord Diavolo. We have to help them!”

Satan grabbed Asmodeus's hands and pulled them off his shoulders. “If there’s one person who’s skilled at meddling in his affairs, then that would be me. Although I love to see him suffer, this is not how he's supposed to go down. I want to be personally responsible for his downfall. So I can't allow this to happen.”

“You don’t have to justify yourself, you know?” Yuuta threw in from the bed. Satan bolted towards him, ready to throw hands, but stopped when Yuuta raised one finger. “But I have to agree. He needs a good kick in the ass to get things going. He'll hate every second of it, so we’re gonna have to be real careful he won't find out.”

“We have to find a way,” Beel mumbled, his expression worried and his body tense.

“We will find a way,” Mammon and Satan said in unison, followed by a second of stunned silence. Mammon pulled a face. “Gross. Let’s never do that again.”

Satan nodded his head. “Seconded.”

“Let me think about it. I'll text you the details once I've come up with a sound plan,” he eventually concluded, a determined expression on his face as he motioned for someone to hand him a pen and paper. He waved with one hand as he began to scribble down note after note.

They were going to find a way, they simply had to.

[popculturebuffet]

Next up for Cartoon Network era of shows, who is your favorite character from each of the early 2010s Check It renaissance era shows you've seen like: Regular Show, Sym Bionic Titan, Robotomy, The Problem Solverz, The Amazing World of Gumball, Secret Mountain Fort Awesome, Ben 10 Omniverse, Uncle Grandpa, Steven Universe, and Clarence?

Regular Show: CJ... besides being cute she's a fun character and was a good match for Mordecai.. then he fucking blew it in an incident i've never quite gotten over and will cover at some point if anyone's intrested, though till I do Sarcastic Chorus has covered mordecai fumbling the ball well. Overall the show itself is great, aside from season 6. The Romance Stuff can be drawn out when your not talking about Rigleen, but it's got great comedy, good batshit insanity and ends on a high note. It's an all time classic and like adventure time left a mark on animation. It's succesor close enough was even better and go seek it out since it's hard to find offically because warner bros fucking blows.

Sym Bionic Titan: Octus, brian poshen's best role and one of the best designs i've seen. The show itself was treated oh so shittily and i'ts nice Gennendy now has more of a blank check over at cartoon network (Still need to watch more of Unicorn: Warriors Eternal) as they owe him after canceling this. Still a good show and I hope he can continue it someday.

The Problem Solverz: no faviorites, didn't like this one. Almost forgot to include it. Next.

Robotmy: Don't really have a faviorite character but I did last this one. Like Titan deserved better and that's a bit of a theme at times during this era: some shows got the runs they deserved, others died fast

Gumball; Penny. I liked her first design and her unshelled one was a nice twist. She also serves as a nice contrast to her boyfriends nonsense and i'm glad they pulled the trigger on that fast. Carie is a close second. As for this show I honestly need to see more as I simply lost touch when I stopped having cable and didn't catch up on streaming. But it's an excellent show. While I hated it's sticking to the status quo, in hindsight it dosen't: both the boys get girlfriends in stand out episodes, their grandma gets married, richard's dad comes back, change does happen it's just more on the simpsons scale of "it's gradual". I"m happy it's coming back and to see a movie eventually.

Secret Mountain Fort Awesome: I got nothing. I didn't really watch this one, wasn't intrested, what I saw wasn't good. Next.

Ben 10 Omniverse: Rook Mothefucking Blonko. For all the ups and down with the series, he was a worthy partner to ben, a fun character and a nice contrast being the more reserved by the book badass normal to Ben's empowered moron. One of the series best additions, bring him back whenever it returns. Have child him adventure with ben I don't care. As for the show as a whole.. it's a fucking mess. It has some really good stuff like the initial arc, Blox (My faviorite transformation of this era), and some good one off episodes... but also a lot of wacky nonsense. The show tried to restroe some of the og continuity the alien era ignored, which is good on paper but in practice left the franchise a spiraling mess, brought back some characters without properly reintroducing them (Though bringing lucy back was a good move and she was fantastic), and had a ton of ships for ben but settled on the worst option, making him a harem protaganist for no real reason. Some arcs were good, some eps were good, a lot of it is garbage, and the design work is excellent. It's not horrible but it is a hot mess of a show and a weird note to end the og continuity on.

Uncle Grandpa: Pizza Steve. This show was alright: Id idn't like it at first but it grew on me a little, though I just kinda drifted from it. As batshit insane as the idea was, I did like the steven universe crossover as it somehow worked and has some of the best pearl moments series wide. Otherwise the series is alright and probably worth another look.

Steven Universe: Garnet. The series has a LOT of great characters (Pearl and Greg are close seconds and thirds), but Garnet is a throughly intresting character, a kind leader and a good mom to steven with one of the most badass musical numbers in all of animation. Pearl again is a very close second being a nicely flawed character. The series as a whole.. is one of my faviorite cartoons of all time if not my faviorite. It's one I need to rewatch: beautifully animated, paced decently (Far from perfectly but looking at the bigger picture now it's over, not nearly as bad as it's rep was. It spaced out story moments with life just happening). The cast is memorable and charming as hell, the fight scenes some of the best in western animatoin and animation period, and the finale while rushed due to rebecca having to take a seasons worth of finale material and compress it into a few extra episodes she had to beg cartoon network for, is utterly satisfying. Steven Unvierse Future: While this one is a bit later might as well get it out of the way. I love this one. I get why some don't, it's divisive, to me it feels like a valid deconstruction of Steven's trauma, an epilogue that shows what having this savior complex thrust on him, this need to fix grown adults, would do to the poor boy and ends with him finding his own life. It's bleak as hell in places, but it ends on a note of hope and humanity that makes the jouney worht it.

Clarence: Sumo whose some classic tom kenny and usually pretty fun. A weird note to end on as while Steven Universe, like adventure time before, changed animation, where as CN kinda buried Clarence after it's creator's public breakdown and like Gumball I lost touch eventually. That being said.. Clarence is excellent. The crew rebounded well, the characters are charming and it's a nice slice of life show. I wish Jeff was less of a jerk, but otherwise it's a really fun show with a really kind protagonist.

[queen-scribbles]

*crawls out of the woodwork* hi hi! Just wanted to say your vesper x kurt fics are amazing and thank you for sharing content. Have been back to this Fandom in the year of our lord 2024 lol. And I just wanted to scream about the de vespe DLC with a kurt fan and....

*swoons*

It's everything I hope for and more!! Would love to hear about your initial thoughts especially the dialog with kurt!

HI! Always nice to meet another Kurt fan! :D You're very welcome for sharing content, thank you for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed them bc I do love writing about them.

OH LORD, the de Vespe DLC, I was excited for more content when that came out and it delivered. Especially for Kurt and his romance, holy cow. (In other words I WOULD LOVE TO TALK ABOUT IT THANKS FOR GIVING ME AN EXCUSE) I have multiple posts from various playthroughs in my Greedfall gaming tag about the Kurt stuff, from how protective and supportive he is, to him being all "Don't believe the nonsense in Aurelia's files on us" when his is just that he cares too much about the recruits and is too loyal to be bribed and I'm just like. Dude. I knew these things already. Neither one is nonsense, sorry I know you're actually a gigantic softie, in my defense you DIDN'T HIDE IT VERY WELL but his romance dialogue

HOLY

SHIT

I also have several posts joking about Kurt's VA owing me compensation for emotional damage with how well he does a lot of personal quest/romance scenes, but the KURT ROMANCE DIALOGUE IN THE DLC OH MY GODDDDDD. OH MY GOD. I have a save right before that conversation and I redid it about five times on the initial run, at least three on each replay, and will occasionally load that save JUST TO HEAR IT AGAIN bc it's so GOOD. He worries about you but knows you can handle yourself, no what's bugging him(and I love that DS is so gentle about the "you know you can talk to me right?") is the arranged marriage thing bc OFC you deserve "better"(/eyeroll) and he's being all doubting his worth again and YOU CAN ASK HIM TO MARRY YOU (THE WAY I WHOOPED first time through, seeing that option) before your uncle can go arranging anything and HIS VOICE. That quiet little "do you really mean what you just said?" is permanently etched into my brain partly bc I've heard eighteen times but whatever. He can't believe it, he has to be dreaming, and then you confirm and his only hesitation is worrying what will happen to you(bc he doesn't matter, he's an insignificant mercenary and Kurt buddy you MATTER TO HER we gotta work on that). And I gotta say that I love your response boiling down to "what's my uncle gonna do about it, he's halfway around the world and he needs me here😎" BAD.ASS. And once he's sure you're sure he's 100% in favor and you exchange I love yous and I melted into an extremely happy puddle.

(I did write a Ves/Kurt wedding fic and it's one of the most breathlessly joyful pieces I've made in my life, both of them were practically vibrating they were so happy)

[magicalqueennightmare]

Sins & Amends Chapter 26

(Gif by @ banditthewriter)

Billy Russo x Female Reader (60 part story)

This follows pre- the punisher into the storyline of daredevil, punisher season 1 and beyond

This is NOT Canon Billy. This is decent human being Billy left with bad options over worse decisions

This was also posted to A03 under: WaywardGaPeach. That account and this one is the only place you'll see me post this. If you see it on any other platform/account know it's not me.

Chapter Summary/Warnings: Frank adjusts to life as "Pete" while Karen gets assigned to interview a certain up and coming CEO

Weeks passed and whether you liked it or not time marched forward. You had to once again pick up the pieces and reform your version of normal.

Frank was living across the city and now going by the name Pete. You managed to see him face to face a couple times a month and most of those times was when he showed up after one of Curtis' meetings. You weren't ignorant to the fact of why Curtis always knew when Frank would be showing up.

He always avoided around the first of the month and last of the month which was when Billy would drop off a check to Curtis to help with rental of the building and other expenses that came along with the programs that were offered to the vets. You made sure to stay away those times as well. You missed seeing some of the familiar faces you'd come to know but you were glad that despite everything else Billy had at least chosen to not turn his back on Curt.

You hated seeing Frank so infrequently but he kept in contact with you as much as he could. You knew the way his head worked good enough to know that whatever happened in Kandahar was still haunting him especially after Schoonover all but confirming that the massacre at the carousel was connected. You also knew that he would come to you with it in time. He had to make that step, you couldn't force him.

You and Karen had grown closer than you already were. She reminded you of Maria in a lot of ways, not that anyone would ever replace her. Karen was her own woman as well. She was smart, opinionated, proven time and again to be brave and unwilling to back down when it came to doing what was right or uncovering a truth. You wouldn't hesitate to call her one of your best friends and she fit right in with Curtis, Alice and Kenzie seamlessly. 

Foggy was now working at the same law firm as his off again/ on again girlfriend Marci and Matt had went into working solo. They were talking more often and you had hope that New York had not seen the last of Nelson & Murdock. Trust once broken needed time to heal but they'd been friends too long and cared about each other too much to simply walk away.

A part of you simply hoped that everyone could just find peace. Something you all so desperately needed.

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

You were coming off a twenty four hour shift and wanted nothing more than to go home, shower and sleep until time to go back in. The calls had been back and back and while some of them were nonsense like the man that was constipated or comical like the frat boy who managed to get his head stuck between the railings of the stairs, most of them had been actual emergencies.

You trudged into the door of your apartment and dropped your bag on the floor. You bent to take your boots off and your phone started ringing. You stared at it for a few moments before finally deciding to answer. You smiled when you realized it was Karen "Hey Kare. What's up?"

You could practically see the nervous smile playing across her face from her tone of voice "Well um can I come by? I know you just got off but I've got coffee and blueberry muffins!" "Uh oh" you laughed and when she made a confused sound you clarified "Last time you bribed me you needed me to get you out of dinner with Ellison and his wife so what's going on?"

She chuckled nervously "you know what? I'm getting out the cab downstairs so we can talk in  five minutes. Bye!" Before you could say goodbye she hung up so you reached back to unlatch your door before continuing to remove your boots.

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

You were sitting at your kitchen table with your head leaned over on your arms by the time Karen's blonde hair peeked around the corner. "Hey sweetie!" She greeted holding a coffee out. You sat up and took it cautiously "So we diving in head first or wading in the shallow end?" You asked once she was sitting across from you and offering a muffin out.

She nodded then smiled "I've got assigned a big article" "Awesome. I'm proud of you. What's that got to do with the weirdness?" "It's interviewing the CEO of the most successful up and coming private security business on the east coast" she explained.

You slowly sat the muffin back down on the table "Oh" "Yeah oh. Look I'll tell Ellison to find someone else if you don't want me to" just the fact that she'd offer to refuse made you smile but your hangups shouldn't affect her job. "No, I don't want you to do that. I mean he is going good with Anvil and it's offered a lot of vets a second chance. It's not bad to put a spotlight on that and I'm sure he enjoys basking in it as well. It's apparently what he's always wanted" 

She studied you for a moment, no doubt searching for any uncertainty on your face so you tried to keep it as neutral as possible. "Ok. I'll tell Ellison I'll do it" you nodded then took another sip of your coffee "Are you still up for movie night with me and Alice this weekend? Kenz is going out of town to a conference so it'll just be us till she gets back" "Of course" she replied with a grin before going into her usual line of questions as to how your shift had been.

The rest of the week went by in pretty much a blur. Between back to back shifts, helping Curtis with the soup kitchen on Wednesday and your Thursday meeting with Kenzie it was the weekend before you realized it which also meant two glorious days off for you and Alice.

Friday morning Karen texted you around nine thirty to let you know she was dropping by Anvil for the interview and wondering if you wanted to meet for a late lunch. You texted back a confirmation on a late lunch then rolled back over willing yourself to catch a little more sleep.

The line of interview requests was getting annoying at this point. There was only so many times Billy could sit in front of a reporter, slap on a fake smile and answer the same exact questions he already had a dozen times.

The most recent request came from The Bulletin and if he was being honest the only reason he had accepted was because it was the only paper in New York that had even attempted to paint Frank as anything short of a monster.

The appointment was scheduled for ten and at nine fifty eight on the dot there was a knock at his office door. He stood and straightened his tie as he walked across the floor. He was expecting the same run of the mill middle aged, balding man to be on the other side but instead there was a blonde woman that was around your age with a hesitant smile.

She held out her hand before he could even ask "Mr Russo? I'm Karen Page with the bulletin" the way she held herself seemed almost familiar to the point it took Billy a split second to respond "Nice to meet you and please just call me Billy"

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

The questions Karen asked were different from the other papers. She stayed poised with her pen over her notepad and every time he gave an answer that would've had any other reporter beaming she instead would come back with an even more in depth question. There was an edge to the way she asked that almost had him questioning the possibility of her having been a former conquest from his not so savory dating days.

The reasoning behind her hostility was answered towards the end of the interview "The name Anvil. I've read a lot of your other interviews to prep for this one, didn't want to repeat questions and I've never seen it asked. Where did the name come from?"

He felt a smile pull at the corner of his lips as the memory of you laying across his chest as you proposed the name flashed through his mind "Honestly Miss Page I wouldn't be here today without the person who chose the name Anvil for this company" her jaw visibly tensed while she wrote down what he'd said and for a second he thought that would be the end of the questions but when she glanced back up there was a small flicker of annoyance that passed over her blue eyes. "That person must have been very important to you. Are they still in your life?" 

Any trace of a smile left his face when he thought back to the last time he'd held you in his arms, the night he truly lost any chance of a future with you. "Sadly no. She and I separated a while back" Karen scoffed loudly which caused him to raise an eyebrow "Is something wrong Miss Page?" She shook her head and started to gather her things "Not at all Mr Russo"

She walked halfway across his office then stopped and turned around "You know I was going to keep my mouth shut but I've never been really good at that. So if you cared about her so much and speak of her in terms like sadly no we separated why did you ever break her heart not once but twice?" Before he could respond she said "You know what? Nevermind. My editor will email you a copy of my article before it's printed. Have a good day"

He stared at the open door for only god knows how long. Every memory of you flooded through his head. How the hell did you know one of The Bulletin's top reporters? Her question of "why did you ever break her heart not once but twice?" Was still ringing through his mind when his phone ringing drew him out his own thoughts. He made a mental note to ask Curtis later that night about Karen Page then turned his attention back to business.

When you walked into the restaurant Karen had told you to meet her at around two you spotted her sitting at a table in the back. She smiled when she glanced up and spotted you so you worked your way over.

"Hey Karen" you greeted with a smile as you sat down across from her and asked the waitress for a lemonade before she handed you a menu and disappeared. 

Karen you noticed was being uncharacteristically quiet so you bumped her foot with your own under the table. "Miss Page do you want to share with the class?"

She finally met your eyes and it was like the dam she'd been holding back decided to burst all at once "The interview went fine but I could not sit there and listen to his bullshit a moment longer! I asked him about the name Anvil because while I'm a professional and while I know we didn't even know each other then I know he messed with your head pretty bad so I was just curious as to what he'd say" 

You could feel how big your eyes had gotten during her rant so you simply asked "Well what did he say?" "That he wouldn't be where he was without the person who named Anvil and he acted like he was upset that the two of you had ended although he's the one who broke your heart twice so I kind of snapped at him...please don't be mad"  whether it was the fact that Karen closer resembled a puppy that had been scolded at the moment or how funny you found the mental image of Billy just sitting there a bit confused while this woman he'd never met went off on him you hadn't even thought to be mad at Karen. 

"Of course I'm not mad at you. I just hope he didn't say anything to Ellison" you replied and she shook her head "No actually he thanked Ellison for the interview and said it went smoothly" you bit out a laugh "Must have been too embarrassed to say anything" she shrugged shyly before a smile slipped onto her face and pretty soon both of you were laughing.

When the article about Billy and Anvil came out the following monday you couldn't help yourself so you bought an issue of The Bulletin on your way to work.  Karen and Alice had both ended up staying at your place from friday night all the way to sunday afternoon. Teenager you would've been in heaven from the adult version of a two day long slumber party but it was actually cleansing. You felt better than you had in a long time.

You walked into the bays at the station house and greeted Evans and Rogers who were washing the trucks. "Feel free to hit my rig up next" you teased with a smile. Alice was standing at the counter pouring herself a glass of orange juice when you walked through the common area and held a second glass out to you. "Good morning partner" "Morning dear" you greeted as the two of you wandered into the locker room area so you could store your stuff.

You sat on the bench in front of your locker and let your eyes skim the article. It was like all of Karen's pieces, well written and informative but not boring to read. She ended it by saying "Whoever gave Mr Russo the name Anvil and the drive to open this company deserves a pat on the back as well" Alice was leaned across your shoulder reading along and giggled at the end "I think Karen would've called him an asshole in the article if she could've"

You cut your eyes back at her and she held up her hands defensively "I know, I know. We can't hate him just because he didn't want you but he could've given you a valid reason either time or you know what? He could've stayed away from you after the funeral but he didn't" you shook your head but a smile had worked it's way onto your face "You'd take my side against Chief Alice so it's not saying a lot you still wanting to slap him" 

She shrugged and sat down next to you "Or we could get you back into the dating world like Karen not so subtly suggested. I mean babe it's been plenty long enough. You need to get back out in the world. You don't have to fall in love but you could have a little fun! You're still young and you're fucking gorgeous" you rolled your eyes and was about to remind her just how long it'd been since she had to deal with the dating world but an alarm went out for a structure fire that needed ambulance as well so the entire station house went into action.

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

As you were pulling out onto the road she winked at you and said "Saved by the bell from discussions of your lack of a dating life" 

You loved Alice but you just weren't really interested in dating. Hell you hadn't been with anyone but Billy in years. Not to mention finding someone who understood not only your personality, job, the fact that your friends who were your only family came before anyone else and your own personal baggage of trauma wouldn't exactly be easy to find. There was also the matter that you couldn't see your heart ever getting over Billy.

@intothesoul

@weallhaveadestiny

[consumeronionbulletin]

Call It Love (2023)

When is a revenge story not a revenge story? When you Call It Love instead!

This show could have turned into a trainwreck at several points. Instead, it managed to surprise and (occasionally) delight. While I had some quibbles with the ending, I think it's good to focus the show's strengths.

What Worked

The characters are what made the show. Even when the plot meandered a bit, and the pacing slowed down, the characters pulled you through. Because they were relatable and interesting. Even when they made questionable choices, they were always the choices you might have wanted to make in the situation, even if you knew better.

That comes through in the first few episodes where the FL crashes her estranged father's funeral and makes a scene just to try and get some kind of revenge. And the ML takes money from his estranged mother even though he knows he shouldn't. And the entire family just decides to leave their home of twenty years rather than calling a dang lawyer to figure this out. And let's not even talk about the ex-girlfriend who decides to try and patch things up with her old flame by secretly moving in next door...

What Didn't Work

The last three or four episodes just didn't have enough story going on. And so the audience ended up watching the characters walk artistically through the streets of their neighborhood while we waited for them to do the thing we all know they're going to do. I would honestly rather they have showed the characters discussing and reacting to finding the will—or just talking at all—instead of padding each episode with 10 minutes of walking. I also got annoyed with the way they dragged the main love story out in the last two episodes. I can understand needing space to figure out some of the messed up stuff going on, but there was no reason for them to (spoilers) need to take an entire year off to figure this stuff out! I think the writers just had the last scene in mind and pushed the ending towards it instead of justifying it.

Lastly, Disney FFS get some real subtitles, I'm glad they have close captioning (in English no less), but they need an option that cuts out the [Dongjin smacks his lips] nonsense. Was it a push to make people listen to the dubs instead? Are they just too cheap to pay someone to do both? Who knows. Also, I think the translators did an okay job, but there were times when I was like "that's not what they really said, was it?" and I don't even know much Korean.

The Performances

The writing on this show is a little sparse. The writers chose to make people talk like real people most of the time, which means that so much of the characterization is on the actors and their delivery. And they did a good job across the board.

Kim Young-kwang as Han Dong-jin. Dong-jin is a very private, internalizing person and it would easy for an actor to play him too stiff and stoic. Kim Young-kwang did a very good job of letting people see inside what he was thinking and feeling mostly through subtle gestures and changes in tone. He wasn't magnetic like alot of other leads, but he still had a way of bringing people in and quietly getting their attention. At least he did for me, though maybe there were other people who got bored and stopped watching after a few episodes!

Lee Sung-kyung as Shim Woo-joo. Woo-joo was another quiet person, though she's someone who is quietly angry at the world and sometimes has no filter. She did a great job portraying this through most of the series. I think she had trouble with some of the softer scenes towards the end of the series. I haven't seen her in other shows, so I can't tell if it was a direction problem or if she just didn't know how to portray someone who is loose and comfortable, but there were several scenes when it felt like I was watching a statue. I'll still enjoy watching her next project, whenever that comes out.

Sung Joon as Yoon-jun. This was a case where the second lead couple was more fun to watch than the first lead, and Sung Joon's performance was a big reason why. When the show was at its most melodramatic, Yoon-jun just took it in stride and kept it all grounded. I especially enjoyed the way he and the second lead Kim Ye-won played off their slow moving friends-to-lovers arc, but the friendship with Shim Woo-joo was also nice, and I loved to see that kind of non-romantic friendship portrayed in a show.

Kim Ye-won as Shim Hye-seong. I enjoyed her role in Suspicious Partner even though the show annoyed me overall. She was a much more relatable character here. I looked forward to her scenes because you could never tell what Hye-seong was going to do. The character was interesting and multi-faceted and Kim Ye-won did a good job bringing that through.

Nam Gi-ae as Ma Hee-ja (aka the "Evil Mom"). I've seen her in a number of similar roles and this isn't too different from her character in Encounter (for example), but I feel like she got it right this time, where she was too over-the-top in others. I think the writing helped, but ultimately it's her performance. She did an excellent job portraying a believable type of narcissist. She was completely shameless and selfish when she needed to be, and also weak and pathetic when she needed to be. Sometimes she was only in the show for a few minutes, but it felt like a long time because she was so intense and interesting. Great job playing a terrible person.

Kim Hee-jung as Kim Hyun-Joo (aka the "Good Mom"). I saw her briefly in Start-up and her role there wasn't very memorable, but she did a great job here. The main characters all spent the first eight episodes or more threatening to call her in when they felt Woo-joo was out of line, and when Hyun-joo finally showed up you could see why they were all intimidated! A strong presence and definitely one of my favorite characters on the show.

Jang Sung-Bum as Sim Ji-Gu. I really liked the character. The long suffering younger son with two older sisters is kind of a comic staple in these dramas, but he still managed to make the role fun and interesting rather than cliche. He also did a good job with the musical interludes, though that was another part of the show that felt a little indulgent. Still a fun actor to watch.

Ahn Hee-yeon (aka Hani) as Kang Min-yeong. In a different show, the "clingy ex-girlfriend" character could be a second antagonist, but the problem is that she's pretty great and everyone likes her! That's what happens when you cast a k-pop singer and just let her be charming! Hee-yeon wasn't a show stopper, but she did a good job with the role she was given, and I liked where the writers took her character. It was nice to see a story where sometimes decent people end up making terrible decisions (for reasons that make sense), and it's how you move forward that matters. There really wasn't much for the actor to do in the last 4 episodes, but it was nice to have her around for most of the show.

Jun Suk-Ho as Choi Sun-Woo (aka "Lazy Boss"). I enjoyed this character and the actor was obviously having alot of fun with the role. It was nice to see the character go from being part of the problem at the start of the series, to being a strong and supportive character by the end. I also liked his friendship (though maybe more?) with Min-yeong and how that changed over the series as well.

Kim Mi-Hwa as Sim Woo's Aunt. They didn't even give her a name! Just a fun comic character that I would have liked to see more of. The actor did a good job giving a personality to someone whose role in the show was mostly to deliver important news to the main characters.

Everyone else. They actually did a good job making the corporate backstabbing interesting. The actors playing CEO Shin, Cha Young-min, and all the minions were suitably slimy. The other office workers had memorable moments even when they kind of blended together. I even thought the other colorful characters (like the new "Bad Boyfriend with a Gambling Problem" and "Boyfriend's gambling buddy") were fun to watch. With a few exceptions, this was a show that treated its minor characters well.

TL;DR:

The overall message of the show, that revenge is ultimately empty and you need justice and reconciliation to move forward is nice. There were times when the show was a little slow and indulgent, but the characters and their stories always brought me back for more. Overall, an enjoyable drama.

[semimedieval]

what if we had a sleepover and all four of us, were girls

with the YEARS' WORTH OF CHUJI AND OBSIDIAN DATE out of the way, let's move forward to another bite sized portion of cute story. specifically, chuji walks into the room and – this is very cute – flops onto the bed and goes "tell charlie thanks for me!" to quartz. she's dropped the act! she got her kiss! they both wanted to go on that damn date!

quartz is inexplicably no longer off the shits excited because she raises her eyebrows and goes "You had fun?" I guess it's weird to be like "tell me EVERYTHING! :D" about somebody's date with your brother, but just earlier that was absolutely the energy she was giving. Chuji gives a very edited highlight reel of the date. Someone (Obsidian) please take this girl on some better dates so that she raises her standard.

"Immense. The view was nice, the talk... And the walk... Oh, Quartz! We finally kissed when it was a happy mood!" She had a giggling fit

Slightly into the territory of 'kind of OOC for chuji' but by that I mean 'kind of ooc for my chuji' or even 'kind of ooc for mari.' Anything goes with Augustine's Chuji, as we know.

Quartz tells Chuji she's glad, and Spark.... man.

"Does that mean Tozi is up for grabs?" She whispered to herself slightly smiling. "I heard that," Chuji smiled. Quartz glanced at her, slightly confused. She felt sorry for Spark, who had two boys after her and loved someone unavailable.

Honestly i kind of love this as an inspiration point for Spark's Flaws. He is not even back from the dead yet and bestie is already planning their wedding. Quartz has the good sense to term him 'unavailable', which is to say 'either in love with Chuji or, more relevantly, dead.' Either way, the undercurrents of lesbian jealousy start coming and they don't stop coming.

It's unclear whether Tozi (to Jack's chagrin) is privy to the conversation or whether he's just thinking about his options independently (maybe he peeked in at Obsidian and Chuji having one functional date and decided it was over for him?) but either way, we get a peek into his narration. Below, Jack goes "Omg! You're sure you want him to like her? Maybe he's best for Chuji. It's your choice Tozi," which – given that we just established that Chuji/Obsidian was endgame, a fact that was never really under question because it is no fun to roleplay being in love with your own character – just feels kind of mean. Anyway, here's what Tozi's thinking:

Tozi had a thought forming in his mind. 'Spark waaaas adorable.' Tozi rolled over with his mind infested with thoughts 'I've known Chuji for forever.. But it's better that she's with Obsidian.. He thought of spark nicely'

So... that's all cleared up, kind of. God I'm excited to write Tallin-Relevant Drama. While he contemplates these matters, the girls have some banter in which it is revealed that Obsidian 'cleared out' Quartz's shoes (man) and it's revealed in another nonsensical Anime Stalker move that Charlie knows Spark's measurements. Augustine meant for a dress but this was after a discussion of shoes, which would have implied that Charlie was a foot guy. In my heart he is. Anyway that's all both boring and creepy.

There's a silly little side conversation where Obsidian hangs out with Rim. Having regained all of his Jackass Points from turning temporarily sweet, he dunks on the restaurant and completely fails to mention having such a nice time with his girlfriend that he was forced to sit down on the ground and smile at the sky. Maybe this is dude bonding to him. Anyway, Rim invites him to go rock climbing, and I inform Scratch user 3CheesyPotatoes that "There's no such power as metal." The Tomb Mold show I went to this summer would beg to differ.

Quartz and Spark have their first conversation in a hot minute!! There is also a side story where, inspired by reading Tamora Pierce all summer and thinking George Cooper is hot, I introduce Lorcan The Gentleman Thief and he hangs out with Ky in Charlie's butterfly garden and sounds off to her about being aromantic because I had just learned what aromantic people were and thought it was a fun trait for a character. However Lorcan doesn't really matter at all so I am not going to dwell on him. Meanwhile, the sleepover:

Quartz jumped up and down on her bed with excitement. Tomorrow, Tozi, Tozi in flesh and blood, would be back with them. Spark stared at her. "Quartz? What the heck is going on in your head?" "Just excited!" she grinned.

Then they look (oh, god) at a Book Written All About The Extranei, which was – I will remind you – one of the worst storytelling choices we made all role play. Rim invites Lupus and Obsidian for a boy's night out, which is kind of cute. Lupus says "It's nice to talk to guys for once," which is not cute at all. Spark turns to page 69 to read about everyone's crushes.

Quartz waited in anticipation, then blushed as she looked forward. The page listed her crushes on every single boy in the group, barring James and Rim. (and Obsidian XD)

Whoever wrote the book did a shitty job, because Quartz definitely has a crush on both Rim and Spark. I can't believe I tried to incorporate this into 2.0. Also, if you are barring James, Rim, and Obsidian, that leaves... Lupus, Leo, and Tozi? That is three people. I'm trying to make Quartz sound boy crazy here, but that is three people. Oh, there's Alan pre-retcon I guess? Even though she never made any indications about that and seemed actively distressed by the idea? Spark "turns to her friend, slightly horrified" as if she has a leg to stand on as someone who liked Leo, Tozi, Charlie, and (by admission to Quartz, though said revelation made no sense) Obsidian? Fuck this plotline, and fuck the writer of this book, who seems to claim Quartz likes every person in this damn group except the two people she does like.

Augustine reminds us all that Obsidian and Chuji went on a date, and that Tozi – despite claims to the contrary – is not that cool about it. Awesome dynamic. Normal relationship to have with your best friend.

Chuji blabed about her date some more. "he he. He was sooooo cute!" Tozi gagged

Spark puts the book away, saying "I think that's enough horrors for one night," a sentiment I agree with completely. So does Quartz. Lorcan and Ky do Edgy Thief Dialogue and then Jack remembers that Spark is single while Ky isn't, so it makes more sense for Spark to be doing dialogue with the hot new boy in town. Lorcan describes Quartz as a "giggling blonde" and then we get this – 

Quartz giggled again. "Nice to meet you, Lorcan." Lorcan looked at her. "Don't even consider it," he said warningly.

Which is a very very normal and non-condescending exchange to have with a woman who was nice to you for two seconds while greeting you. Of course, the narrative sanctions it:

"Ah, heroes, I know the type. Lemme guess, you're saving someone" "In a way," Quartz replied vaguely, still staring at Lorcan's green eyes. "I said, lay it off. Aromantic will always be," he informed Quartz. "People just don't interest me like that, and you're no exception."

WOW, sound off i guess! Arophobia was a very serious problem in indikum, I hear. Then Lorcan calls them a "magical girl team with no boys on it", which is just..... a staple of the magical girl genre? There aren't usually boys! Tuxedo Mask doesn't count! If you're going to declare "I WATCH ANIME NOW" to the group, Katia, you could at least get it right!

In response, Spark announces that they were busy trying and failing to pass the Bechdel Test until he came along:

"The boys are rock climbing or something. Us girls, WERE supposed to be having a sleepover." Spark retorted.

Then they head back upstairs, having written Lorcan off on a loss. Spark is like "Idk if we have time for a sleepover :(" and Chuji is like "we need coffee!" It's all very utilitarian "nepeta and meulin make onion rings together" variety dialogue (deep cut reference). Jack asks "(Guys, should Spark like Lorcan Tozi or no one?)" because "this character is aromantic!" is A Serious Foray Into Representation when you're one kind of 12 year old and a Fun Anime Quirk To Be Overcome if you're another kind. Depends on what corners of the Internet you've spent your summer on, you know? I note that Lorcan doesn't have a crush on anyone and "will stay that way"; Augustine says "lorcan is like 18 gurl. Tozi is like cutie galore!" Sound off.

The gang makes coffee and has a pillow fight, which Tozi interferes in. Quartz responds to being hit with a pillow with "Aaah! Monoceros!!" which is meant to be comedic but is kind of, like, fair. She also expresses her dislike of pillow fights.

Then there's this mess:

"He uses these petals that can cause some really bad sneezing. But their so soft! So he stuffs them in! Don't have a pillow fight! The pillows as well are exremly delicate!" Tozi screamed through the door "EEE!" screamed Quartz and jumped onto the bed. Spark took her sword and slashed out a section in the pillow. In a flurry of feathers and honks, a flailing goose flew out. "AND YES! The petals do contain living things!" "I see he also puts geese in them!" "It makes them softer!" Charlie protested, as he watched them from afar.

Completely incomprehensible, everypony, no notes. This slapstick nonsense goes on a while, until – 

Tozi still had a look of anger on his face "If you have anything else in here I will personaly escort my friends to a hotel." "In that case..." Charlie grabbed several items out of the room and rushed away, somehow managing to give Spark a kiss on the cheek.

MESSAGE TO ALL FIFTEEN YEAR OLD GIRLS: DO NOT ACCEPT FREE LODGING FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE OBSESSED WITH YOU. ANIME ISN'T REAL AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT ISN'T FUNNY. Meanwhile, Tozi continues to be a complete buzzkill:

"Thanks, Tozi," said Quartz. "If not for you, we'd have been sneezing our heads off." Tozi then glowered at the others "DID'NT I SAY NOT TO HAVE A PILLOW FIGHT?" he yelled

I give og rp Obsidian a lot of shit for being kind of an asshole but in all fairness Tozi is too. Lupus is really Most Decent Guy in the group by process of elimination.

The sleepover winds down. Twelve years ago, I make the call to timeskip to morning; here and now, I try (TRY!!!) to make the call to get some actual work done for real.

Pretty consistently, the more people there are writing at a time and the more concurrent and weirdly overlapping scenes are going on, the worse and less comprehensible this narrative gets. Much to consider! Next time, beach episode part 1/???? (there will be many parts)

[jellyfishright]

At A Distance, Spring Is Green -BL Version (Yeo Jun x Nam Soo Hyun)-Chapter 12 : Just live in the moment.And don't die

Soo Hyun accepted the form from Miss Seol.

He looked at the caption : Drop Out Form.

"Soo Hyun. Is everything alright with you?" Miss Seol asked.

"Yes." he replied.

"How about you get through this semester and take some time off?" she said 

He looked at her. "Will this be processed right away?" he asked.

"After filling out the form you need to talk to Professor Park and get his approval." she replied. 

Soo Hyun nodded. "Okay." before leaving.

"Oh. It's that rich junior of Soo Hyun's" Koo Hyun was glad to finally see someone he knew.

"Oh. Hello. We meet again." Jun greeted Soo Hyun's brother.

"Hi. Have you seen Soo Hyun?' he asked. "His class ends around this time but he wouldn't let me come so I didn't tell him I'm coming."

"I'm pretty sure he's at work." Jun replied.

"You mean the one at the school cafeteria?"

Jun nodded. "Yes.Come on. I'll walk you there."

With Koo Hyun's assent, they set off.

When they arrived, they saw Soo Hyun putting items away. Koo Hyun smiled when he saw his brother and trotted away in the direction he headed off to.

Yeo Jun watched him go, pouting slightly. Soo Hyun would probably have lunch with his brother, without him.

Soo Hyun was packing his books for his next class in his backpack when Koo Hyun darkened the doorway of the room he'd been staying in.

"You were living here?" he asked.

"What are you doing here?" Soo Hyun replied.

Koo Hyun's eyes scanned the room slowly. "So it's true."

"Let's go." Soo Hyun attempted to lead him away

"I quit studying for the police academy." Koo Hyun announced. "I came to tell you that."

"What are you talking about?"

"I have to make money." Koo Hyun replied "I can't see you have such a hard time anymore."

Soo Hyun sighed. "Koo Hyun---Do you really think that's helping me?"

"How can I just sit and study, when I know you're living like this?"

"Pull yourself together!" Soo Hyun shouted. "I don't care about my education.Making a living comes first for me.And I'll take responsibility for you and mom.So stop spewing nonsense and get out of here."

Koo Hyun looked at his brother with teary eyes  before he left.

Soo Hyun sighed, the rims of his eyes reddening. There was no other option for him. This was his only way.

Yeo Jun was still standing in the cafeteria when Koo Hyun reappeared wearing a distraught expression.

"Hey--" he tried to stop him as he blew by, with his head down.

"I'm sorry." Koo Hyun apologized without stopping.

"Can we talk?" Yeo Jun held on to him.

Soo Hyun was sitting in the empty classroom when he received a text message from his uncle.

[Koo Hyun transferred the money for your mother's surgery. I'll make sure she gets the treatment she needs.I'm sorry I couldn't be of help. I cannot thank you enough.]

Soo Hyun's already fragile heart, sank a depth lower.No one needed to tell him, he knew exactly what had happened.

With a heavy heart, he dialled his brother's number.

"Koo Hyun. Where did you get the money for mom's surgery?"

[I borrowed it from a friend.You're not the only one with a rich friend.]

"Rich friend. Who?"

[He's my friend]

"Did you...meet Jun?" Soo Hyun was hesitant to ask. There was a moment of silence on the other line. "You didn't right?"  Koo Hyun's continued silence was all the confirmation he needed. Without another word, he hung up.

Scrolling in his logs, he looked for Yeo Jun's number. He was about to dial but stayed his hand. He was tired. Infinitely tired of everything. He retrieved the drop out form from his backpack and filled it in. This would be his next step.

"Can I tell you a story about myself?" Professor Park asked Soo Hyun as they sat down for a meal. Soo Hyun had spotted him in the hallway just to turn in his form for approval. Professor Park had in turn, invited him to a meal, so here they were.

"Sure, go ahead." Soo Hyun replied.

"When I was in school, I took a leave of absence three times. I couldn't pay the tuition.I didn't want to tell anyone and I would have rather died than owe someone."

Soo Hyun nodded. "I see."

"But" Professor Park went on "There was this one guy who would always call me and buy me a meal.And I was able to get through those hard times because of those meals."

Soo Hyun looked at him "It's painful for me to receive help when I can't return the favour."

Professor Park smiled at him "Soo Hyun. Things will change.Even if it seems like it never will.I thought I was all alone but that was all in my head.Open your heart, ask for help, don't reject it and stay strong.If you go through all that hardship, you will eventually have more than enough time to return the favour." Professor Park picked up his chopsticks. "Call me anytime. I'll buy you a meal."

"Thank you Professor." Soo Hyun felt overwhelmed.

After they parted ways Soo Hyun thought once more of Yeo Jun. Retrieving his phone, he looked at his name and dialled.

"I need to talk to you Jun."

"Are you the one who gave Koo Hyun the money for my mom's surgery?" Soo Hyun asked Jun as they stood by the river, gazing over the water in the night.

"Are you mad at me?" Jun asked, not looking at Soo Hyun.

"Thanks for your help,but don't do that again." Soo Hyun replied "If I need money, I'll do whatever it takes to get it." he sighed. "I keep letting you see me at my worst."

"You've seen my anxious too." Jun pointed out

"Why do we keep letting each other see the things we want to hide from others?" Soo Hyun finally looked at Jun

Jun sighed. "Right?"

"Do you know what's really miserable?" Soo Hyun asked . Jun looked at him. "Being so broke that you can't protect those who are dear to you."

"Some have nothing to protect even if they have the money to do it." Jun replied. "I'm more pitiful thank you right?"

"Is this a competition?"

"well then...Let's talk about something more cheerful." He looked at the scenery. "It's nice here."

"Will my misery ever end?" Soo Hyun asked.

"I'm not too sure." Jun replied "But I think it does come to an end eventually."

They both sighed.

"Is your mother in serious condition?" Jun asked

"She hurt her back working when she was young and it's been torturing her all her life."

"I hope the surgery goes well." Jun expressed. "You seem to have a good relationship with your mother and your brother as well." He paused "My mom says she hates me. She calls me a hypocrite"

"What about you?" Soo Hyun asked. "Do you also think that?"

"Isn't that why you didn't like me at first?" Jun countered 

"You are not a sly hypocrite." Soo Hyun replied as they began walking back side by side.

"What?" Jun was surprised by Soo Hyun's response.

"The things your mom says about you, they're not true." he looked into Yeo Jun's eyes. "It's just her twisted opinion of you.If someone ever says awful things to you, it means that person is hurting inside.Do not take it to heart, even if it's something your parents said."

Jun was still stunned by Soo Hyun's words. "I'll get going." Soo Hyun bid him goodbye.

"Soo-Hyun." he called after him.

Soo Hyun stopped walking and turned around.

 "You actually turned around." Yeo Jun smiled tenderly at Soo Hyun. "Get home safely."

"Jun." Soo Hyun looked at him. "I never hated you."  With that, he turned and left.

Yeo Jun made the rest of the journey back to his apartment alone. After Soo Hyun left, he reflected on his life this far and the words he'd heard time again that had pierced his heart.

No one in that house misses you or wants you there

You have no family

That's right. He had no family but for the first time, he felt like he shouldn't be sad anymore.He smiled at the thought.

The next day

Again he was dozing off. As he sat beside So-Bin for their lecture, Yeo Jun watched Soo Hyun's head for the millionth time. Since the beginning of the class his eyes had barely stayed opened.

When he reached out to touch him, So-Bin stayed his head and shook her head.

"Soo Hyun. Why do you keep dozing off these days?" Jun asked as the last of his peers filed out of the room after class.

"I have another part time job now, so I'm a bit tired."

"Soo Hyun. You can take my notes." So-Bin extended her book to him.

Soo Hyun accepted it gratefully with a smile. "Thanks. I'll give you the list of previous exam questions next time."

"Are you alright?" a stunned Jun asked Soo Hyun.

"What?" Soo Hyun looked at him.

"This is weird. This is so unlike him." He looked at So-Bin. "Why is he smiling?"

So-Bin smiled in turn. "Why? It's nice to see."

"Well, this is not the Nam Soo Hyun I'm used to."

Soo Hyun looked a little awkward. 

"Soo Hyun, I'll buy you a meal to celebrate this positive change."

"No thanks--" Soo Hyun replied.

Jun was disappointed "Right. You're still the same."

"Right. I wonder if there 's another way." So-Bin asked.

Soo Hyun raised his hand  tentatively. "Let me.. I want to treat you guys."

So-Bin and Yeo Jun exchanged surprised looks.

"Yes. Let me buy you lunch."

The other two agreed.

"We could have gone to a nice place." Soo Hyun said as he sat the table with his friends.  "I may not have the chance to treat you again." 

"You sure will." Yeo Jun smiled. "This is only the beginning. I'll mooch off of you." 

Soo Hyun looked at him and shook his head, smiling a little.

"Oh Mi-Ju." they heard so-Bin give out.

Soo Hyun and Yeo Jun looked.Standing a few paces away, with her tray was So-Bin's roommate, Mi-Ju.

She walked over and took the only empty seat at the table, the one beside Soo Hyun.

"Hello." she greeted Soo Hyun with a sweet smile.

Soo Hyun nodded politely.

"You know she can draw very well right?" So-Bin opened the conversation after Mi-Ju had taken her seat

"Gosh.Stop it." Mi-Ju blushed.

"Show him your profile photo." So-Bin encouraged.

Without hesitation, Mi-Ju retrieved her phone and showed Soo Hyun a portrait.

"Isn't she a genius?" So-Bin asked as Mi-Ju showed the picture around.

Soo Hyun nodded. "Yes. You're good."

"It's a portrait." Mi-Ju said proudly.

"Oh." Yeo Jun looked at it. "Is that me?"

Soo Hyun smiled. Jun looked at him. "What? Did you just scoff at me? What was funny? It looks just like me."

"No it doesn't." So-Bin replied. She was right. Anyone could see there was no resemblance between what Mi-Ju drew and Yeo Jun.It actually bore a slight resemblance to Soo Hyun. Jun remembered the way she'd looked at him at his birthday party.

"What?" Jun looked around, playing dumb "What's will all this awkwardness?"

"Soo Hyun. Can you spare me a moment later?" Mi-Ju turned to Soo Hyun.

Yeo Jun looked suspiciously from one to the other. What did she want to talk to him about?

"It's such a nice day isn't it?" Mi-Ju spoke to Soo Hyun after they'd left the others.

"Did you want to talk to me about something?" he asked.

She took a deep breath. "I like you."

"I'm sorry." Soo Hyun replied. 

"Are you rejecting me? In just three seconds? Tell me the reason atleast."

"Any guy would like you." Soo Hyun replied.

"But why not you?" she asked "I just need you. You're all I need."

Soo Hyun looked at her. "I'm..I'm sorry." was all he could say as he turned to walk away.

"No. I'm sorry for liking you without your permission." Mi-Ju called after him. Soo Hyun slowed his steps but didn't turn around. Not even when he heard her voice breaking. "I wish you weren't so hot because I can't make you mine." She was crying now "I shouldn't have said anything.I should have kept it to myself." 

He finally turned to look at her but there was nothing he could say. For her he had no feelings.

Soo-Bin and Yeo Jun were sitting on the benches by the river hanging out.

"What's with your friend?" he asked casually.

"Who?"

"The one from lunch today."

"Oh. Mi-Ju."

Yeo Jun nodded. "Mn." He tried to keep his tone light. "Does she...like Soo Hyun?"

Soo-Bin nodded. "I think so." she leaned in closer. "I think she wanted to confess to him."

The words caused Yeo Jun to frown. He knew it. Realizing his expression was a little sour, Soo-Bin looked at him. "What?"

Jun shrugged. "Nothing." he lied as he opened his backpack.

"What's that?" Soo-Bin's eye caught the notebook floating around in Jun's bag.

"Oh. This?" he held it up. "It's Soo Hyun's death note." he told her. "I saw your name in it too."

Soo-Bin grabbed it. "Let me see."

Jun attempted to retrieve it. "it's like his secret ledger."

Soo-Bin flipped it open.

It's all over now. Those were the first words that caught Yeo Jun's eyes the minute she opened the book.

"May 12? That's today." Soo-Bin said.

It's all over now. Yeo Jun turned the words over in his head. He grabbed the book from Soo-Bin.

A text alert came in.

[Nam Soo Hyun sent you 1 million Won]

Jun's heart froze.

"What is it?" Soo-Bin asked.

"Nothing." he lied.

His mind was already recalling past conversations with Soo Hyun.

I suppose you say that often, without knowing what it's really like to want to die.

I guess it's because my life sucks

You'd never be able to understand.

A very dark and frightening thought blossomed inside Yeo Jun's heart and mind.

"Hey. I've got to go somewhere." he told Soo-Bin "I'll talk to you later."

Not waiting for a reply, Jun darted off into the night, dialling Nam soo Hyun's  number as he went.

He ran as fast as his legs could take him, his mind desperately trying to think of where he might go or where he might be.

First he ran to the park, to that spot by the river. Empty.

His heart soared when he saw a figure Soo Hyun's height in the same type of plaid shirt he often wore.

"Soo Hyun." he grabbed him by the shoulder. His face fell when the person turned around. "I'm sorry." he apologized to the stranger. His heart anxious once more.

He ran from place to place. Calling time and again, going out of his mind with worry.Finally, he gave up. 

Yeo Jun hung his head dejectedly as he walked back to his apartment. He was almost at the entrance when he looked up ahead and stopped in his tracks.

It was him.

"Soo Hyun" He ran up to him and pulled him into a hug, relief washing over him in waves. "Why did you turn off your phone? I looked for you everywhere."

"I'm sorry." Soo Hyun replied, his voice barely a whisper as Yeo Jun held him in his arms.

"What's wrong?" Yeo Jun asked when he broke their embrace.

Soo Hyun hung his head. 

Jun looked at him. He was carrying all his bags. "I should go." Soo Hyun said.

"Soo Hyun." Jun stopped him. "How about we turn my lie into reality?" he asked.Soo Hyun turned slowly and looked at him. "Let's live together." Both their hearts began to beat more rapidly. "Do you not want to?" Jun asked when Soo Hyun was still silent.

"I'm sorry." Soo Hyun began, his voice low. Jun's heart sank. "For not being able to say no." Soo Hyun added. "But I promise you.."

"Don't think about the future---" Yeo Jun cut him off. "Just live in the moment." He paused, his eyes glassy with tears as he looked at Soo Hyun. "And don't die."

Soo Hyun's eyes were also moist as he simply nodded at Yeo Jun.

[fireemblems24]

Azure Moon Ch 20 Reactions

Hi everyone, spoilers below for Fire Emblem Three Houses AM route up till Ch 20 and all the other routes roughly the same spot.

Pre-Battle

Time to take Fort Merceus. If I remember right, I get to fight the Death Knight . . . again. Still feels better than fighting with that guy. Same like last chapter saving Claude felt so much better than killing him in CF.

Ah, it's so nice to hear Dimitri's voice again.

"Perhaps a head-on siege was a foolish plan, after all." LAMO I love how wonky battle strategy is in most stories compared to real life. A head-on siege is actually smart. The nonsense about disguising soldiers and relying on tricks isn't how things really went most of the time.

There's instances of tricks working throughout history (one of my favorite was how a Chinese General sent out dancing girls to distract his enemy and it WORKED), but that means your whole plan hinged on a trick working and most of the time when an army used a trick it's because that was their ONLY choice.

Just remember this folks. Good army commanders aren't the one who know the most tricks, it's the ones who win (or the one who can keep their army together even when they keep losing like George Washington for the longest time). Don't listen to the movies.

Also, bows were soooooo much more effective than swords. Our penchant for giving every hero a sword actually has classist roots since it was the weapon of the rich because it cost a lot to make and time to properly learn unlike a spear or arrows.

Sorry, but it always annoys me whenever I see stuff like this misrepresented, and I like to rant about it.

See, there we go, Gilbert for the win. "I don't think the Death Knight would've fallen for any tricks." Well, aside from why on earth we still fear this guy aside, bravo for not hinging success or failure based on some wonky trick.

And now Gilbert's talking about supplies. I could KISS this man right now. And now reinforcements. Thank you, Gilbert 😭

Oh, man, I get the option to flirt with Dimitri, I'm taking the "Will you save me if I'm in trouble?"

Aw, Mercie, you're better off without him. Dimitri's letting her step away too, if she wants. But best girl (one of them) isn't about to run away like the champ she is.

Battle

Do we ever learn why the Death Knight is so obsessed with Byleth?

LAMO Dimitri's like "wow, I know why this fortress is known for being impregnable," says he after busting through the front door on day 1. There's a joke somewhere here about Dimitri's incredibly potent dick.

I wanted Mercie to attack the Death Knight, but she couldn't take the hit. So Byleth one-shot him with a crit lol. Byleth wouldn't have killed if she didn't crit, and then Mercie would've gotten her chance, but alas it wasn't meant to be.

Poor Mercie deserves a better older brother.

Dimitri MVP. This is my surprised face.

Post-Battle

Poor Mercie is an angel and has nothing to be sorry or. I like that she gets this scene though. I feel like every member of the Blue Lions got their own mini-arc.

Time to take down the Empire, aw yeah.

Which means I'm coming up on the last monastery visit for BL. For all the routes really. This has been such a long journey. I have no idea what I'll do with my free time after this lol. The DLC I guess. and then more Azure Moon!

I'll wait and see how the other routes wrap up, but I feel this game has a high replay value, but I don't know if I can bring myself to play a route where Dimitri dies again.

Dimitri's such a workaholic. I can't relate.

Good! The Kingdom is all united now. Glad Sylvain is speaking well of his father. It makes Margrave Gautier seem like a more fleshed-out person and not just an excuse for Sylvain angst. (as much as I love some good angst)

Oh, so some Faerghus nobles were behind Duscur. I thought it was those lame mole men? Having corrupt nobility behind is sooooo much more interesting.

Hey, I just noticed. No light bombs in this route. Cause we actually just killed the Death Knight.

"I only did what I believed was right." Says the prisoner. Seems like it's the theme of Three Houses as a whole summed up there. Pending on your perspective, what's "right" and "wrong" look very different.

Ohhhh so Patricia wasn't supposed to be harmed at all, and Dimitri was supposed to die too. Makes it seem like she really did set that up. If she really was involved, what an awful, selfish, sad excuse for a person that would condemn so many people to brutal deaths just because she missed her daughter. I sincerely hope there's more to her than "oh, I miss Edelgard. I'll hand my husband and other child over to burn to death so I can please my own desires."

What do you all think of Patricia? Is she a pathetic sad waste of air or an enigma we'll never find out or a poor hapless victim in a plot she didn't understand or mostly an innocent? What's your headcannons?

I'd really like the believe she never intended for Lambert or especially Dimitri to get hurt, because I want Dimitri to have a mother figure that loved him and not one that sent him into a meat grinder because she redefined playing favorites (which would be ironic given Edelgard never mentions her whereas she obviously had a huge impact on Dimitri). I'd also prefer a character a bit more complex than evil step-mother. We have enough of those, thanks.

It sounds like she's just an evil useless windbag according to Gilbert though.

What were Lambert's radical ways?

I see why Edelgard and Dimitri will never both exist in the same world. Dimitri's always appalled when people in charge involve soldiers and especially citizens in their personal quests for justice, but Edelgard thinks that justice is worth getting all those people killed for (and is actively doing just that).

I have to ask, though, how is Edelgard any different from the people who committed the Tragedy of Duscur? They both believe their cause was right and don't care how many others die in their quest to see their own vision through to the end.

I'm sure people would say "but Edelgard is fighting for a good cause, they didn't, they caused genocide too!"

Did they? Do we know what Lambert's causes were? Maybe he wanted to strengthen the church's influence or crests and Klienman and co were against that, which would make them the exact same as Edelgard. Also, I believe they're referring only to the attack on Lambert and co, not the persecution of Duscur people that came after. That was a product of war and chaos. Who's to say Edelgard's actions won't begin a massacre of anyone who worships Sothis? Or further violence she didn't directly begin? Impersliam and blaming the world's ills on a single religious group of people tend to cause chain-reaction violence.

That's ultimately why I think she's morally incorrect. She's blinded by her own vision and has no control over what might happen because of it or how others might see it. She sees her cause as just, but you can be sure the farmers who fields she robbed to feed her soldiers (no, not personally, but there's no way that didn't happen) could give less of a hoot about her grand vision seen from the height of her golden throne, unable to even see what anyone else thinks or believes.

Note though, part of what I like about her is how unbending she is. Just because I think someone is wrong doesn't mean I dislike them as a character.

Man, the writers are so mean to Dimitri. Edelgard gets to fra-la-la through a field with Byleth with little to no conflict or loss on her part and Claude gets to joke around with Hilda about dressing up as Edelgard to sneak in a fortress while Dimitri learns his mother sent him to a slaughter house because she loved her other child better. Yikes. That's also why it's the best route. Fight me.

Good for Dimitri moving on though, and not lingering on what Patricia might or might not have done. I noticed he left her out this time when listing people who died though lol.

Yes, Dimitri, talking to Edelgard is a fool's errand. That would require her to do things she's not very good at - listening, understanding someone else's POV, and compromise. Pretty sure you need to die for her to stop or else you're too big of a threat to her rule.

Still. So glad he's trying to use diplomacy to end this war rather than weapons. I think this is the first time in FE history a leader has tried meeting with the enemy and not just killing them (oh, wait, Erikia did that too with Lyon, didn't go well. Guess I have a type lol).

Is it weird to feel proud of a fictional character? Lol. Dimitri moving on past Patricia to focus on what he still has and value those he knows that love and support him is just 👌

OMG I love this route. I'm going to miss it so much once it's over.

[doyelikehaggis]

Rowing the Rarepair Rowboat: Carenzo | Caroline Forbes x Enzo St. John (The Vampire Diaries)

"Thinking of jumping down and trying to walk across it?" Enzo asks from Caroline's right, sitting beside her on the stairwell. His tone is light, joking, one that she hadn't quite realized she'd missed all these months they've spent apart. 

She sniffs, sucking in a deep breath that only makes her chest hurt, and lifts her head up. She keeps her eyes straight ahead, staring at the buildings stretching out in front of her as far as she can see before the snow makes it impossible. 

"The thought crossed my mind," she admits, cracking a slight smile. "With vamp speed, we could probably get to the airport just in time. Compel a pilot if the flight's cancelled." She looks at him, blinking once or twice to see him better as she pulls a teasing look, nudging his shoulder. "Or we could just get you to fly it, Captain Lorenzo."

Enzo chuckles at the emphasis she puts on his name. It eases a little bit of the twisting in her stomach, her smile a little more genuine as she watches him duck his head for a moment.

"I actually didn't go by my right name back then," he tells her, and she raises her eyebrows, but he shakes it off. His eyes and his smile turns sad as he gazes at her. "I'm sorry about all of this, Caroline. I know you wanted to be on that flight."

She did. She needed to be on it. Lizzie and Josie are counting on her. Were counting on her, and now she's probably going to have to let them down. Again. She had told herself she would be there, especially after everything that's happened with them lately. 

"It just wasn't supposed to be like this," she says, shaking her head. "I was only supposed to be gone a few months. I wasn't—wasn't supposed to miss Christmas, or their birthday, or—"

She clamps her mouth shut, her throat aching like it's made of sandpaper.

"I just wanted to be there."

There are only so many holidays she's going to get with them. Even without the merge, she was always going to outlive them, and she's hated the thought since the day they were born. But it's so much worse now. 

"They have six years left," she says quietly, her voice shaking and her chin wobbling. "And I am running out of options. I just—I just wanted to be there, you know? For one day, at least. To see their faces light up. To watch them just be happy, without having to worry about any of this, to just—to just be there with them, as a family, and I—I just wish I had my mom because I am so lost and I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

She breaks down completely, sobs racking her body in a matter of seconds. Enzo's quick to pull her in, his arms wrapping around her as she closes her eyes against the tears and all of it. It's too much, too overwhelming. Everything hurts too much and she hates it, and why does this keep happening? Why can't something just go the way it was supposed to, why can't she be allowed to be happy?

"It's alright," Enzo murmurs into her hair, one hand stroking her back, her face buried in his chest and hands clinging to him. His voice cracks ever so slightly, and he tries to clear it. "Let it all out, sweetheart. I'm not going anywhere."

She can't begin to express how much relief the last part brings her, even if it fills her with so much dread as well. Everyone who promises they aren't leaving her finds a way in the end. Even the immortal ones. She just hugs him tighter, letting herself believe it for this one moment, because she needs this. She needs him.

They just sit there. She doesn't know for how long, but Enzo never once stops talking to her, his voice soft and soothing. Slowly, the bubbling of pain and guilt and too many other things that are tearing her apart from the inside starts to ease until it's a gentle simmering. Her sobs turn to sniffles, the tears eventually dry, the shaking in her body turns to shivers. 

Enzo pauses, and she can't see him but she can feel his chin move from her head and assumes he's looking at her. "Cold?" he asks her with concern in his voice.

Caroline huffs out a soft laugh that holds the smallest fragment of humour. "Freezing. So much for vampires being immune to everything."

Enzo chuckles along with her, one of his hands moving to her arm, rubbing through her thin coat. She curls in closer to him.

"We still function as humans," he reminds her. "Even we're not immune to frostbite. Immune to dying from it, yes, but getting all of the symptoms of it where our hands go numb and can't move? Unfortunately, no. Probably not the best idea to be sitting outside in the coldest weather of the century."

Caroline hums her agreement. Her throat is still aching, rubbing raw every time she talks. 

"Here."

She feels Enzo move again and pulls back slightly to look at him. Her eyebrows furrow in confusion as he produces a scarf seemingly out of nowhere.

"When you came up here, I was going to follow you but figured you'd end up on the balcony in our room," he explains as he winds it around her neck, adjusting it to wrap it around and back down. "But then I remembered the key, and I saw the door coming out here open. You've always had a thing for being outside when you're upset."

Despite all of the crumbled, broken pieces inside of her, she smiles a little. He pauses, checking to make sure the scarf looks okay. She just gazes at him as he gently moves a few strands of her hair until he pulls his hand back. Alarm rises in her as he begins slipping his arm out of his own jacket.

"What are you doing?" she asks him as he takes it off. 

"You need it more than I do," he simply says. 

Caroline starts to protest, but he's already wrapping it around her shoulders, seemingly unfazed that he's now sitting in the middle of a snowstorm in nothing thicker than a flimsy long-sleeved t-shirt. 

"But you just said—"

"Darling, I meant you're not immune to the cold," he cuts her off, shaking his head. He has a faint smile as he adjusts the jacket, pulling it closed around her. "I've endured much worse than a chill. Trust me, I'm perfectly fine. I can barely feel it anymore."

Caroline's heart sinks. It always does when she knows he's referencing his past in Augustine but trying to veer around actually saying it. She watches his face as he continues playing with the jacket, and then the scarf, making sure they're both just right enough to keep her warm. 

"I'm glad you're here," she tells him softly, making his hand falter and his eyes move back up to hers. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You would get through this," he says, completely serious and sincere. His hand is still hovering next to her, a few strands of hair between his fingers. "You would be upset, but you would pull yourself together, and you would find a way to get on that plane. Even if it meant you had to march right through this snow and demand that the plane takes off otherwise you'll fly it yourself if you have to."

Caroline can't help but laugh softly at his exaggerated tone, his intentions clearly to make her do just that as his eyes sparkle with a flicker of happiness. She knows he's right, of course. It would feel so much harder if she was here all alone, stranded with little hope of getting home, but she wouldn't stop trying to find a way to make it happen.

She sighs, wiping her eyes, feeling the dried tracks on her cheeks. "Well, it's a good thing you're here then, because putting me in control of a plane definitely wouldn't get us home."

"Nonsense," Enzo says, grinning, wrapping an arm back around her shoulders. "You'd make a damn good pilot. With some supervision."

"Oh, high praise from an ex-captain," she jokes, then pauses. "It is ex-captain, right?"

Enzo nods. "Yes. That whole part of my life is in the past."

Caroline just nods back as he shifts to lean against the wall behind him, pulling her closer. She settles against his side, tucked under his arm, her head on his shoulder. There's no hope of the snow stopping any time soon, and by the looks of it, they don't have much of a reason to be in any rush anymore. 

A beat passes, silence falling over them like the snow blankets the ground. She listens to the beating of his heart as her own finally slows back to an even pace, the anger and frustration and guilt seeping out of her, leaving her nothing but exhausted. 

"Can I at least ask what your alias was?" she asks softly, her curiosity poking at her as she looks up at him with a slight raise of her eyebrows. 

Enzo glances at her, then smiles.

"Michael Quinn," he answers with a strange raise in his accent, slipping from the gruff, charming British one she's used to, to a slightly softer American one.

He gives a laugh at her obvious surprise and confusion, and his voice goes back to normal.

"I adopted a completely different identity back then. Faked an accent, pretended to be American. It was easier to blend in."

"That makes sense," Caroline agrees, but can't quite wrap her head around the idea of an American Enzo, even if just for an act. 

"I started off a pilot in '42, because of World War One," he continues, to her surprise. "By '52, I was made a Captain of the US Air Force. I ended up working with the government. Shocker, I know."

Caroline's definitely thrown, that's for sure. "I thought you weren't allowed to talk about this?" she questions. 

"Well, considering all of the people I worked with back then are more than likely dead now, I think I'm safe," Enzo says, shrugging. 

Caroline nods slowly. His logic makes sense. And if he thinks it's safe to talk about then who is she to argue? It's not as if she wouldn't like to know more about this secret part of his past.

"So, the government?" she asks, twisting around in his arms and resting her chin on his shoulder. "What, did they have some shady secrets? Oh, did it involve alien conspiracies? Please, Captain Quinn, tell me this story has aliens."

Enzo laughs, and it makes her feel a little more at home for a brief moment. This storm will pass, she thinks. In all senses.

She'll call Alaric, somehow, and let him know what's going on if he hasn't already been filled in. They'll work something out. She will find a way back to Mystic Falls, even if she does have to compel someone to fly them home.

[poppo911]

D-Day Jitters (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2: To the bride

Word count: 3k-ish

Also on FFN

Chapter 1 | Chapter 3

"How's Major—uh, Riza—doing, anyway?"

"I… don't know. I hope she's doing better than me. She always did."

"…you don't know?"

Nobody is in their correct mind on their wedding day—she reminded herself over and over, like a mantra chanted inside those sacred temples of her mind.

Rebecca Catalina had always had the honour to be one of the very few people who had seen the notoriously stoic Riza Hawkeye in her ups and downs. She had been there (much to her amusement) during Riza's extremely rare hangovers. She had always been the one stroking her blonde hair, patting her on the back while she wept silently into her shoulder. Heck, Rebecca even managed to handle her best friend after she came back from the nightmare called Ishval (though she rather kept that particular memory at bay.)

But not this. Never this. And it was driving the brunette crazy.

Which was exactly why she was there, one hand on her hip while fiddling a mascara with the other.

"Rebecca," she said sternly.

Inhale. Exhale. Keep your composure. "No. And you can keep glaring at me like that for the next one hour because, you know what, my answer would always be the same; hell no. Yeah, go fight me."

Riza wanted to pull her hair in frustration, but doing so will utterly destroy her hairdo those stylists had worked on for hours. Covering her face with her hands, and the make up Rebecca nearly finished would be at stake. Thus she opted to curl her fingers into clenches in an agonizingly slow motion.

"You can not strip a sniper of their firearms!"

"Sorry, Major—scratch-that—Miss Hawkeye, but you are stripped of your right to handle any kind of firearms when you resigned from the military five weeks ago."

"But I still retain my gun certification!"

"Then I'm revoking it!" Rebecca retorted, the words I'm-so-done-with-this plastered on her expression, "Well, at least for now. And don't give me your lame but-I-have-to-watch-his-back-from-dangers angsty bullshit. You reviewed the goddamn security algorithm yourself. Just so you know, the budget allocation for today's security system is at least twice bigger than the total amount of money we spent for your grandpop's entire inauguration ceremony. So, no. Gun certification or not, you're not bringing anything beneath your gown."

Her face fell, shoulders slumped in defeat. Rebecca was afraid she was going to cry uncharacteristically, but honestly, better now than after she applied the mascara. Smeared make-up, she can touch it up in a few minutes. But smeared mascara? Catalina was willing to delay the entire procession instead should that happened.

Sighing, she made her way to sit beside the former officer. As silly as it was, if there was anything Riza would seek comfort in everytime her anxiety decided to make an appearance, it would be her guns and whatever came with them. Rebecca couldn't blame her for that—she had seen how her best friend clinged into her sniper rifle as if her entire life depended on it (in a more serious notion, it really did.) She had even considered to let her carry just one to the altar, for everything seemed to much for her friend (and for her, too, frankly speaking) to handle. Dammit, I almost had let her, she internally confessed.

But Rebecca Catalina was experienced in breaking many rules—more than enough for her to know not to break this one.

"C'mon, Ri," Rebecca softly called out to her, poking her arm in a playful manner. "You're just nervous. You can do this, okay?"

"It's just… wrong. I feel as naked as a newborn," she mumbled.

"Oh, you absolutely will, Dear. Tonight after everything's wrapped up. And that flame boy of yours would be more than pleased."

"Rebecca!"

"Yeah, sorry, sorry," chuckling, she snaked an arm around her waist, "I mean, the sexual tension between you two is sometimes too palpable I can't help but to bring it up now that it's not really illegal anymore! Say, are you sure you guys had never fucked before?"

Riza looked at her in dismay.

"Even if I did—which I did not, anyway, not while I was working under his command—" not while I was working under his command, the ambiguous context that came with it didn't go unnoticed, "—I wouldn't narrate them the way you did yours, Beck."

"Hey, what's wrong with that?"

"You don't know," Hawkeye made an audible sigh, "you don't know how hard it was for me to look at Jean in the eyes everytime I talk to him during work hours when you guys first started dating. He thought I was mad at him or something."

"How could—oh… No. No way, you naughty, naughty Rizzie,"

"As if it was my fault. Your description was way too graphic, for your information."

Rebecca bursted into laughter.

"Yeah, yeah. But I succeeded, didn't I?"

"At what?"

"Making a nervous bride forgetting her wedding day nerves, perhaps?"

Her lips curled into a small smile as Rebecca hummed in approval beside her.

But Riza quickly shook her head as the somber mood started crawling back in, "I don't know if this was really for me, Beck. Even if it was… I don't even know if I can pull it off,"

"You? Can not pull it off? Ex-fucking-cuse me, but have you seen this?" Rebecca stood up and moved to stand behind her friend's sitting figure, turning her to face the full length mirror on one side of the wall. "See? If this was not for you, you wouldn't had spent the past months wearing yourself out preparing for this moment…"

She was quite a sight, really. And Rebecca didn't say that merely because she was a supportive best friend who would say anything to relieve her anxiety. A bun wrap decorated with pearl beadings held her silky blonde hair in a messy updo. The brocade hugged her curves perfectly, with intricate floral embroideries around her waist. Downwards were fabrics layered into a ball gown. Big brown eyes, and plump, red-tinted lips—that Mustang guy sure was a lucky bastard, she pondered.

Though she did take pride on her make up work (Rebecca had been the one dolling Riza up in nearly all occasions requiring such attires—like hell she was going to let someone else doing it for her big day,) she admitted, it was the bride herself contributed the biggest to make her looked radiant.

The brunette looked at her perplexed eyes reflected in the mirror, all the way down to her neckline, her ball gown, heels, trains, then back to her face—"Riza Mustang, the First Lady of Amestris, and, despite the strict upbringing I know you will apply, still a no less good mother to her children, and—oh,"

Rebecca decided, then, that she didn't want smeared make up as much as she didn't want smeared mascara.

Careful not to destroy anything—except her make up, sadly, for it was already in a dire need for a touch up—she pulled her friend in a tight embrace. Suddenly it was just like the old times—her face on her shoulder, hand patting her back in silence. I'm sorry. Please. You're okay. I'm sorry.

If she was being honest, Rebecca preferred to deal with Riza throwing tantrums or giving her icy glares that could freeze furnace. She hated being in this position when her seemingly-impassive friend clearly showed her distress, yet told her nothing.

She knew what made her upset, but at the same time, she did not. She understood how she might felt, but she also couldn't relate.

Just like this one.

Riza's place had always been in that one spot casted aside where nobody could notice her. Whether it was on a watch tower with her scope, or two steps behind Mustang's back, she worked best from where she couldn't be seen. Then all of a sudden, she was shoved into the center of attention. She was expected to be there with him in the spotlight, instead of lurking in the shadows he casted.

Too sudden. And certainly too many eyes are watching.

A sane Riza Hawkeye would had handled it just fine, a goddamn rational she was. Maybe with several adjustments at best, Rebecca corrected herself. Yet she knew, the Riza Hawkeye who had spent the past few months preparing for something this big mostly by herself (damn the Fuhrer and his presidential duties) is far from a sane Riza Hawkeye.

Yeah, let alone the one being covered nation-wide with thousands of guests—arranging a wedding itself was already a hassle, if her friends' testimonies were to be trusted. In hindsight, they were.

Rebecca had been occupied by her own job in the office that she only managed to keep tabs on her and offered her suggestions via phonecall frequently—and even that was enough for her to recognize the extent of Riza's distress. Catalina was glad her commanding officer compelled to her… request, when she asked for a two-weeks leave. God knew she was willing to break yet another rule should that snobbish superior officer of hers did otherwise because Lord, I'm not gonna leave this poor girl alone any longer.

She understood.

But she didn't. Both at the same time.

So she just sat there, trying her best to offer her friend some comfort. Riza had rarely been the one to talk her problems through—not with her, at least, she begrudgingly admitted—and Rebecca knew, under this condition, the only thing that could soothe her was a good night sleep in amiable silence. And by the following morning, she would be back to the reasonable, no-nonsense Riza Hawkeye.

The problem? They had to be ready in less than an hour. So a good night sleep was off the options.

Rebecca was cursing her helplessness in silence when the door clicked open.

A rather bulky woman with long, curly black hair appeared from the threshold, making her way to where they were sitting at in a deliberate gait. She was wearing burgundy dress inside a furry coat, she noticed, flashy necklace decorated her neck down to her chest. Rebecca was about to deem her outfit too eccentric—even by her standard—for a formal ceremony (which already spoke volumes, really) if she hadn't been busy being intimidated by said woman's presence. This middle-aged lady was not from the military, that was for sure—but why does she look strangely familiar?

"Am I interrupting something here?"

Riza's shoulders tensed up for a second as she recognized the voice. "No, Madame Christmas," she answered, her hands frantically searching and grabbing for anything she can wipe her tears off with. (Rebecca noticed she considered using her own wedding gown for that. It was a fortune she didn't.)

Hold a sec… that Madame Christmas?!

The woman's voice was raspy when she called out, "Rebecca Catalina, is it? The bridesmaid?"

She nodded.

"Let me handle her," she continued, "you go get that—" pointing at her bare, make-up-stained shoulder, "—thing fixed."

"I—right away, ma'am," taking a good look at the bride's recently messy face, she corrected, "uh, actually, I'm sorry but… it seems that I have to redo this one first,"

If she was any less dignified, the Madame would have snorted.

"And by 'her', I was also referring to that. It's alright. Those girls had to learn to do their nightly make up from someone, after all."

Rebecca paused for a moment, considering what to do next before she stood up from her seat in a swift motion. She gripped Riza's shoulders to give her a semblance of reassurance. Their eyes locked—it was as though hers were saying I will see you later and good luck with this combined.

She left the room after hovering around the door threshold for a little longer than what was necessary.

Madame Christmas collected everything she required to do her face at the other side of the room in silence. It wasn't long before she was already seated in front of her, a whole box of cosmetics in her hands.

If she dared to describe it, Riza thought, she would say it was really… awkward.

Yes, they had met each others from time to time for years already. Be it arranging a coup d'etat or a wedding, the Madame had been a great help. But Roy had always been there—frankly speaking, it was more like Roy and his mother, and then she was there in the background, giving her occasional remarks. This woman had already had her respect for quite a long time. Riza knew her very well.

But apparently, still not well enough for her to become comfortable facing the Madame one-on-one.

"Spill,"

The word came rather unexpectedly—well, not that anything was within expectation, as far as the Madame was concerned. Riza only managed to give her a confused blink in response.

"I didn't work as an information broker for nothing. Now is the chance for you to tell me what troubles you and let it all out, before I decided to point them out one by one."

Madame Christmas continued to do the younger woman's face as she waited for her to speak her mind out.

Wipe this part off. Several strokes of brush here.

Seconds turned into minutes, yet her face remained impassive—funny, really, with those trails of tears on her cheeks—a perfect mask to cover whatever turmoil existed beneath. Christmas quietly sighed; Roy wasn't exaggerating anything when he told her that his (former) adjutant was very, very private, keeping her thoughts and feelings close to her chest.

Chris Mustang finally decided to give in before minutes turned into hours.

"My son is very fond of you, you know,"

She did.

"Whenever he came home for a short break during his alchemy apprenticeship, his stories mostly consisted of my master's daughter this and my master's daughter that… and he did that for years. I knew you like your tea with two spoonful of sugar and no milk years before we actually met."

The words tugged the corners of her lips upwards.

"Even in his academy days, he still liked to recount the letters his master's daughter sent him in his writings. Not once, not twice… quite frequent, in fact. But his master's daughter suddenly vanished into thin air when he was shipped off to war." She paused for a while, scrutinizing her face to the tiniest details, "…I will drop this subject here. Neither of us would like to talk about that now.

"My point is, whether it was his master's daughter, or Elizabeth, or Captain Hawkeye—you two have been together for a long time. As bothersome as it is, this whole marriage ordeal shouldn't bring any difference."

In her mind, Riza was mulling those words over. But for not too long—eventually she found herself lost in her own train of thoughts. Why is she here now? Did Roy send her? Or was it Mrs. Gracia? She wasn't sure of what to say next—

As if she was stung by a wasp, Christmas suddenly drew herself away from her, her eyes narrowed. Much to Hawkeye's bewilderment.

"My Roy-boy can stand there dumbfounded, thinking that his bride had left him at the altar because I am not letting you go if my whole speech just now actually turned into a monologue. I don't really talk much—show me some courtesy for my efforts."

It took every attempts she had to keep her brown eyes fixed on the Madame's.

"I'm sorry, Madame. I didn't want to make your job any harder by talking and moving my face," she finally reasoned.

"Still not a good enough excuse. Try again."

"I—"

Madame Christmas' gaze was unfazed.

Riza swallowed a lump she didn't know had been forming behind her throat. Her eyes frantically searched for anything, anything except the Madame's eyes, to look at, like a chameleon with a den of snakes preying on it nearby. It was when her survival instinct kicked in (was it due to a fight-or-flight response?)—

Don't move. Stare at a fixated point. Breathe deeply three times. Something the military taught to the new recruits to keep their fear under control.

Accordingly, she did as such, and thank God and whatever good up there, it worked.

"I… I'm sorry. This isn't me. People told me it's just the cold-feet but…" she cleared her throat before her sentence turned into nonsensical ramblings, "it's not the wedding per se… but the changes that follow. I don't think I'm ready for it. I can't help but to keep second-guessing myself."

The woman looked at her in an unreadable way. She continued to do her job as she quietly spoke, "Like I said, Riza. Despite everything, nothing much will change. And you knew what you're into when you both made this decision,"

"I know, Madame," the sensible Riza will kick herself later for interrupting the Madame, "we know the consequences. It's just… unnerving, to put it that way. The change. I've been a soldier for years. I've been hiding behind his back, watching it, for as far as I can remember.

"But today onwards, there will be only ceremonial duties shoved onto my plate. Organizing and attending official ceremonies, charitable works, campaigns—he's already used to doing public services, and suddenly people expect me to be there with him. Or to be there on my own. It's overwhelming."

There. She said it.

(Just then, Riza understood how Madame Christmas managed to maintain her business for tens of years.)

She nodded in understanding.

"I see," came her reply, "Amestris is a rather conservative country. It was a wonder your grandfather managed to get through without having one," Chrismas paused and smudged the corner of the eyeshadows using her finger, "looking at Mrs. Bradley, and the one before her several years prior, it can't be helped that the people perceipt their First Lad—"

"Don't say those words," Riza cut in. "…please," she added, as an afterthought.

The elder woman quirked her brow. So that was why, she assumed, but compelled to her wish nonetheless.

"Change is indeed frightening," she voiced after a while, "but we never know what lies ahead. Change is not always bad. The biggest thing that altered my life abruptly happened more than thirty years ago after learning about my brother's, and his wife's, unfortunate demise."

Riza thought she knew where their conversation pointed to. But she also thought it would be wiser not to say anything.

"I took the toddler they left behind under my care. In retrospect, it was nowhere near any propriety—I had been running a small hostess bar by that time. Not an exactly fitting environment to raise a kid, obviously. But we adjusted. It wasn't easy, I remind you, but I accepted the way it changed my life. You know him, and you know how he was—is a pain in the arse to deal with.

"But it was altogether the best decision I ever made—Amestris wouldn't have their incumbent Fuhrer if I did not,"

Using her fingers, Madame Christmas lifted Riza's chin and turned it slightly to the left-and-right, admiring her work for a moment before she went on.

"You look like you still got something to say. Spill it out. We don't have much time left."

Hawkeye prided herself on her ability to hide most of her thoughts, but she swore, this woman in front of her secretly possessed a psychic ability.

"I—" she paused as the Madame smeared more lipstick, "Just something every brides thinks of when they are doubting themselves. I… I don't know if I really can make him happy—"

Christmas pressed the powder puff on her cheek with a little more force than what was necessary.

"Happiness is something you have to work on. Both of you have to actively make the efforts. Don't make my boy's job harder with that negative attitude of yours."

Putting everything back to the box, she dusted her hands clean in a satisfied manner. "There. It's all done."

Riza turned to face the mirror and she admitted, the Madame wasn't lying when she said something about teaching those girls to do their make up.

She was about to open her mouth, thanking the madame, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning back, Madame Christmas was looking straight at her—yet, strangely, it didn't feel as intimidating as she thought it was.

"I've never been good with emotions, but do you feel better?"

More than better, she wanted to voice. As someone who preferred to internalize her problems and feelings a lot, she didn't know how talking them through could actually make her relieved. She felt like a heavy load she wasn't aware was there had been lifted from her shoulders, a figurative stone chained onto her leg, weighing her down, suddenly became nonexistent.

A glowing smile graced her lips as she finally said, "I do, Madame. Thank you very much. I owe you this—along with everything I can't mention one by one."

"Take good care of my son and we're even," she replied in a-matter-of-factly while standing up from her seat, "I think it's time. Your grandfather had been waiting for quite a while."

The retired general came out from behind the then-closed door, walking in with a smile plastered on his old face.

"Not too long ago, Chris. Captain Catalina wouldn't let me in until she was sure you're done already," how insubordinate of her, he murmured.

Christmas shrugged, "just make sure you do this right," she said. A brief seconds passed before the woman decided to make her way out, "I will be on one of the benches,"

Grumman merely shook his head. Same old, same old. "Now this is weird… handing off my granddaughter to a man who's been with her way longer than I even know her." She threw him an apologetic smile.

"Let's go, shall we?" He called out, offering his hand to his only remaining bloodline.

"Yes, Sir." Riza accepted his hand in a proper stance. Just like the rules instructed.

She couldn't see it as they were walking out of the room, down to the hallway, but from his voice—disheartened, with a tinge of disappointment he tried to conceal—Riza knew the elderly man holding her hand was already making a face.

"I told you to call me just Grandpa, Riza. I'm even retired now—no excuse left for you to keep calling me that."

Change is not always bad.

Riza let out a small smile and shook her head,

"One step at a time… Grandfather."

Do you guys know how hard it was to write Madame Christmas? Well, I didn't, until I re-read and re-write this chapter a million of times, yet I still feel I can't do her character justice. Sorry. I'm sorry sobs. Please do tell me where I went wrong DX

"I hope she's doing better than me. She always did." Newsflash Roy-boy, she was not, and that's the irony of this chap lol. I hope Riza wasn't too OOC here, but if she was, uh, may I use that 'nobody is in their correct mind on their wedding day' excuse?

Yes, I still tagged this fic as incomplete, just you wait… *winks* and if I ever posted any third chapter at all, maybe that one will be the last.

Thank you for reading! :D

[bunny-wk-fanfic]

hey I saw your requests are open, I'm sorry to bother you if they are not rip. But if they are, could you do a Apollo (greek mythology)x Kagome or a sequel of Lucifer(Spn)x Kagome one? thank you ^^

Decided to go with Apollo on this one, hope you enjoy it!

She wasn’t sure how she came to be where she was, she figured it had to do with the collective energy in the Shikon, fighting Naraku, and perhaps the Well, but somehow, Kagome found herself in ancient Greece. As in, the sort of ancient that was often on display in a museum, learned in textbooks in a classroom, or from documentaries. Yet, she was lucky enough to get to live through ancient history. Again!

Strolling through the streets, it was easy to see that there was a festival of some kind going on, but of course, her ancient Greek was rusty. Better said was non-existent. But, that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy the festivities. At current, she was nibbling on some sort of flatbread, not the tastiest, but beggars can’t picky. And she did not want to start in the fashion.

It was obvious that she couldn’t walk around in her old clothing, talking about culture shock right there. And since this was a different country, there was no telling how a different culture would react to not only her strange physical appearance, but her clothing wouldn’t help either. So she wore what she thought she recalled the merchant called a chiton, it was simplistic, a little flowy for her tastes, but allowed for free movement.

“Are you here for the festival?” a strange voice spoke up, drawing her attention away from the group of cheerful children.

Blinking blue eyes, she took in the male before her. His olive complexion seemed to glow in the sun, his hair a golden halo, while his eyes flickered between golden hazel, blue, and green. It was hard to tell if it was a trick of the light, or if he had all colors in his eyes.

Shaking off the odd feeling that suddenly washed over her, Kagome shook her head with a smile. “Ah, sadly, no. Just passing through.” her hand was quick to reach up and hold down her hair when a gust of wind blew through, no need to whip the male in the face with her hair.

“Ah.” he gave a nod of his head, apparently disappointed with her reply. “May I ask, what that song was just now?”

Blinking, Kagome furrowed her brows wondering what he was talking about. “Song?”

He instantly began to hum a tune, one Kagome hadn’t even realized that she had done the same thing earlier. It was almost eerie that he wasn’t in the least off key for any part.

“Oh, it’s a song from my home. Something children used to sing.” she didn’t bother bringing up it was a creepy song that the children that lived at the base of Mt. Hakurei. It had a way of getting stuck in her head because it of how simple the song was.

“Your home?” his gaze wandered over the villagers before settling on her once again. “Where exactly is your home?”

Blue eyes lowered as a distant smile lifted her cheeks. “Far… far, far away from here. To the east. So much so, it’s referred to as ‘The land of the rising sun’.”

“Interesting.” his tone seemed odd at that comment, drawing Kagome’s immediate attention.

Her brows furrowed as she took half a step away from the male, and his rising aura. It took everything in her not to flinch when he raised a hand to tuck some errant stray strands of her hair back behind her ear, his hand lingering rather than pulling away.

“Is…” she swallowed thickly, feeling like she had just been cornered by… she didn’t know what yet, but they were obviously more powerful than she had initially thought. “Is there something… wrong?”

“It was your light that drew me in.” his hand trailed down her neck, fingers tracing along her collarbone. “How brightly it shines, unlike any other mortal I’ve crossed paths with.”

Kagome was instantly on alert, instincts ready for a fight or flight response. It was one thing to be in the presence of someone more powerful than her, but to be outright called a mortal meant there were only so many options for what he could possibly be. Swallowing thickly, she attempted to take half a step back. “You’re a god.”

His smile was bright, impossibly so, his tanned skin glowing as his wreath crown seemed to flourish and bloom. “That I am, the god Apollo!”

Kagome whimpered, now understanding. While not one of her gods, she still sensed his godly status. As such, she was a priestess and being in the presence of a god, regardless of them being from a different pantheon, left her feeling… odd. Still, Mama raised her right, manners included. She had begun to bow in respect to him when his hands gripped her shoulders.

“No!” his voice was strong, smile bright as he righted her back to standing her full height, which was nothing compared to him. “One such as you should not bow to me!”

“…” her gaze shifted to the side. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally managed to speak up. “…but… I thought… gods wanted people to bow to them?” something about lower beings prostrating themselves before gods gave them energy or something similar from something she heard or read. It was a belief back in Japan, that it was the peoples’ energy that gave the gods their powers, she wasn’t sure if that was universal.

She was confused and ready to move on as she fought with herself to do as a holy person was supposed to a worship him. It was not a fun situation and she was sure she could feel a headache coming on.

“True, but one that shines as brightly as you…” a hand rose to cup her cheek, his touch warm against her skin. “No. You should stand at my side.”

Blinking, Kagome was once again floored. “Is… Is this some sort of marriage proposal?” she prayed it wasn’t, she lost count of how many of those she had received.

He hummed, caressing her hair as he stepped closer. “I never thought of having a wife before, I have had many lovers… but I do believe having a wife would be wonderful, and you are rather exquisite.”

Chuckling nervously, Kagome took half a step back. “As… um, as honored as I am to hear you say such… I uh… that is to say… I don’t think I deserve… such a, uh… gift?” she had no idea what exactly to say. Was there a way to turn down a god that didn’t involve death or divine intervention? There was no telling how he would react to rejection, especially from a human, regardless of her differences from the normal people of the village they were currently in.

He blinked a few times, his smile returning. “So modesty!” he cooed even pressing a kiss to her brow. “You are deserving of the place at my side…” he trailed off as he once again caressed her hair.

Another nervous laugh escaped her, was she going to be blunt and brutally honest? It was such a high risk to her health though… She was about to say something again in terms of turning him down, in simpler terms, when a new voice interrupted her before she could even start.

“Ah, Miss! So Glad you’re still here!” a man was approaching them, a young boy at his side carrying a largely wrapped bundle in his arms. “I- We wanted to give you proper thanks for saving my son.”

Kagome smiled as she shook her head, turning her attention to the two completely. “I was just glad I was in the right place at the right time.” she crouched down to get the boy’s height. “Next time you want to join the others, bring a fallen branch about your size. It’ll help keep you afloat until you know how to swim.” she patted his head with a smile, it grew at his blush and his attempt to hide behind the bundle he was carrying.

“As kind as it is of you to say such, we still feel it is only proper to give you our thanks.” he nudged his son forward. “Go on, give her your gift.”

The boy stumbled forward, arms thrust out as he attempted to keep he gave away from her. “Th-thank you, for saving me.”

Kagome accepted the bundle with a smile, pulling the cover back as she stood back up. She paused at the bow and quiver of arrows that laid within. “Oh!” her gaze instantly flicked up to the father. “This is too much!” she could see the quality was rather, well, expensive.

“Nonsense. For saving the life of my son, there is no price too high to pay.” his gaze turned to Apollo when he moved to stand next to Kagome, not seeing him for the god he was. “She breathed life back into my son after he fell in the water.”

Apollo eyed her once again, once again eyes full of appraising light as he stared down at her. Swallowing thickly, she threw the father and son another smile as she gave her thanks for their generous gift. “Again, thank you.”

The father gave a nod of his head, a parting farewell with hopes of seeing her later during the festival as they finally parted. Kagome pursed her lips when she was once again left alone with Apollo, Kagome felt the awkwardness returned, for her at least. “Well… this was… interesting, but I feel I must be going along now.”

“Go? Where are you planning on going?” he was quick to follow in step with her, watching her swing the bow and quiver over her shoulders with a practiced ease that spoke of her familiarity with the weapon.

“I did say I was passing through. My home is to the ease, so that’s where I’m going.” she was trying to maintain a polite manner, picking up speed was something she was trying to fight from doing. Didn’t want to come off as rude.

“Oh, but you could stay a while!” he was suddenly before her in a graceful move. “It would be my honor to truly get to know you.”

Pausing, Kagome eyed the god, wondering and weighing his words. “I can leave whenever I want, should I decide to stay?” her lips pursed when he nodded his head. “And you won’t try to force or trick me into being your lover or wife?” he was a little more hesitant, but finally agreed. “Then I wouldn’t mind extending my stay in your land.”

The smile he gave her had her giving him one in return. What was another new adventure? Besides, she had a god to play tour guide for her, she was looking forward to the next little while.