#if she ends up having a boss fight ima let her beat me up on principle

[hauntingwriteblr]

arlecchino one chance ma'am please just one

[gingerstorm101]

Healing

“I got a GPS signal, Headly and Bruins are at Tom’s Junkyard.” Kasie says over the phone hastily. Gibbs thanks her and McGee hangs up the phone as Gibbs speeds up.

“What is the plan Gibbs?” Ziva asks, leaning forward in the middle seat so her head was between the boss and senior field agent.

Gibbs is quiet as he thinks of a plan, it wasn’t until Torres’ “Boss?” comment that he finally says something.

“Bishop and I will go around to the west, McGee and Torres will go around to the east. I trust that if you go by yourself, you can take the south without getting caught?”

Ziva scoffs. “Oh please, you know me better than that.”

McGee is about to say something when his boss cuts him off. “Just don’t get yourself captured Ziver.” No one notices the pain in his eyes, but she knew it was there.

***

“They’re still there.” Kasie says with an update 30 minutes later. The team gathers around the trunk to pull on their bullet proof vests when Ellie notices a problem.

“Gibbs, there’s only four vests in here, one of us is going to be without protection.” Gibbs sighs, handing his vest over to Ziva.

“Here, take it.”

Ziva gives him a questioning look. “No Gibbs, keep it. I have worked without one for years and not been killed. I will be fine. You need it more than I do.”

The team stares at the confrontation between the father and daughter, but they choose not to say anything.

“Please Gibbs.” Ziva asks one last time, pushing the vest into his chest. “I can’t lose you too.”

He gives her a look, one that screams that she better be careful with herself. One that says he can’t lose her again. Neither one loses eye contact with the other, each vowing that they will not die today. And with that, everyone gets ready.

When Gibbs makes the signal, the team leaves the car, drawing their guns, and splitting up.

Ziva ducks down low and makes her way to the back of the yard. She sees the two men they are looking for, along with three other men with them. This was the team that’s been tracking her down ever since she got onto American soil again, trying to out her to her enemies that could decide to go after her. It was time she was going to end them so she could be free. So her value to them would be useless.

Into the earwig, she tells the team, “I count five of them.”

“Expect them to be carrying.” Gibbs’ voice says over the ear piece.

Taking one last look, not spotting any more, she slowly makes her way to the back. She only has to sit with her gun drawn for a moment when she heard Gibbs shout from the other side of the clearing. “NCIS, put your hands up!” On cue, Ziva charges towards the clearing, her gun trained on the largest man of the bunch.

One of the men spots her and starts yelling. “It’s her! She’s here!” Ziva instantly aims her gun at him and the man pulls out his own gun, but before he has a chance to shoot, she double taps his heart. Before the body hits the floor, the four men pull out their guns.

The fire fight starts.

She swerves through the commotion, just missing each of the outsourced surveillance team for the splinter terrorist group. These were the last of the people who could give away her location, who would sell her out to any group in the world. This was it. This was the end of any connection to Sahar, even after months of her being dead. Ziva can finally live her life again.

A shot goes off to her left and she feels sudden burning but ignores it. She turns to where the sound came from, spotting a young man hidden behind some old tires. She aims and gives off one shot, shooting him between the eyes, killing him.

Behind her, a man charges, his hands covered in blood. “ZIVA!” Ellie shouts, firing her gun at the large man. She spins on her heels till her gun was trained on his chest. He continues to charge for her, not slowing with each bullet digging into his back. Shocked that he’s not faltering, she hesitates. It takes her a blink of an eye to bring her back to the moment, with only a meter in front of her, she shoots him in the chest and he finally falls. Only, he lands on top of her. Ziva yells out, dropping her gun beside her, staring into the cold dead eyes of the large henchman.

“ZIVA!” Gibbs yells to her once the gun shots stop. She turns her head, her vision blurring, to see Gibbs and McGee running to her. She pushes the man off her body, grunting as the burning in her stomach intensifies. “Ziva!” He yells again, helping to pull the body off of her. She takes a large gasp of air as she gets free.

Together, the two agents help her to her feet, wavering she leans on McGee for support. “Are you okay?” He asks. She nods, glancing over at the body behind her.

Gibbs cups her cheek, looking down at her bloody clothes. “Is this all his blood?”

She nods again, glancing over at Ellie and Torres, both whom were walking her way with their guns in their holsters. “Yes, Gibbs.” She confirms even though she has a strong sense that she was going to throw up any second now. She gulps down that feeling, placing her hand on her stomach, and winces in pain.

McGee looks down at her when she flinches, watching her hand as she pulls it back. “There can’t be that much fresh blood of his on you.” He says, but she can hardly hear him. He was faint, Gibbs’ face in front of her was becoming harder to see.

She barely makes out the words “I made a mistake” before she falls unconscious into McGee’s arms.

***

She throws herself into a sitting position with a gasp, finally able to breathe again, and thankfully, the burning pain was gone. She looks around her, no longer was she in the clearing at the junkyard, but she was at her childhood bedroom. The same one Tony met her in over six years before.

“Ziva, ahuvati, aren't you going to come out and say hello?”

Ziva’s heart stops at the voice. One she hasn’t heard in nearly two decades. “Ima?” Slowly she lifts herself from the bed and makes her way to the door of her childhood bedroom. She peeks into the living room, her eyes widen at the sight. Before her was her mother, years younger than when she last saw her, kneeling before a three year old Ziva with a bundle in her arms.

The young girl looks down at the tiny white blanket, curiosity in her eyes. “Ima, who is it?”

Her mother laughs softly. “Oh ahuvati, this is Ima’s baby.”

“From Ima’s tummy?”

“Ken ahuvati.” She tells the young one. “Her name is Tali, and she is your baby sister.”

Stepping closer, Ziva watches her younger self play a hand on the baby’s clothed head. “Tali…”

“Can you make me a promise, Ziva?” Rivka asks her daughter.

“Ken Ima.”

“Promise me that you’ll protect your sister, you’ll protect Tali, for as long as you can?”

“Ken Ima,I will protect Tali forever and ever.”

Ziva watches from her bedroom, her heart beating rapidly from her hiding spot.

“Breaks your heart, doesn’t it, sister?”

Ziva reaches from her gun, only to find she doesn’t have it, and turns around to find the last person she was expecting to see. “Tali?” The teenager smiles at her from her bed, her legs crossed up on the covers. “Wha- what are you doing here?”

Her little sister smiles at her, rocking back and forth. “Why I have come to see you, of course!” Ziva looks her sister over, the innocent little girl she was before she died was present on her face. No cuts, no gashes, no lifeless eyes. It was the sister she remembers, the Tali she loves.

“Am… Am I dead?” She gulps, looking over her shoulder to find her mother has disappeared.

Tali doesn’t answer her question, instead she unfolds her legs and walks over to her, her eyes soften. “You grew up, dear Ziva.” Ziva lifts her hand to reach for her face, but hesitates. The young girl takes a step forward, lifting Ziva’s hand with her own, and places it on her cheek. “I’m here.” She whispers. “I’m really here.”

“I miss you, every day.”

She smiles, looking up into her eyes. “I have been watching over you, saw your accomplishments, your angst, your happiness. Your daughter. In which, I got to say, quite honoured to have my name carried on.”

“You do not mind?” She whispers, feeling her throat starting to catch.

Tali places her hand on her sister’s cheek, stroking it. “Not at all.” Ziva presses her head to her sister’s, missing this closeness that the two of them shared, the secrets they never kept from one another. “I have watched Tali her whole life. She is happy with her Abba, but she still misses her Ima.” Suddenly Tali lets out a laugh, shaking her head. “I still cannot believe you are an Ima!” Ziva feels her eyes start to well up. “Last time I saw you, you were getting ready to go on a mission for our own Abba.”

The tear runs down her cheek. “I lost you that day. Our father still wanted to see if I could go undercover. Instead…” Ziva’s eyes harden at the memory. “Instead I went after the people who murdered you. I vowed to avenge your death. As I vow I will protect my daughter.”

“And you have.” Tali whispers, wiping away the tears. “You have protected your daughter from the harms of evil.”

“But I have failed.” Fresh tears well up in Ziva’s eyes. “I have died. I will never see my daughter again.”

‘Ima!’

“No you have not, dear Ziva.”

“Ima!”

“Tali?”

Her sister takes her hand into hers, holding it up to her chest. “Mazal tov laakhoto hayeqarah.”

“Ima!”

“Tali!” Ziva says with a gasp.

The grasp of Tali’s hand on hers, she holds on tight. “Ziva?” Suddenly she’s aware of where she was. No longer was she in her childhood bedroom with her baby sister. But she was in a hospital room. She looks over to the one beside her, staring deep into green eyes. Her mouth moves to say something, but suddenly it’s too dry. “You’re awake.”

Her eyes wide, she watches as he brings her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles. Finally, she's able to get a single word out.

“Tony?”

He smiles. “It’s good to see you.” She looks him over, noticing how much he’s aged in the years they’ve been apart. Watching her family from a distance keeps her from noticing small details as such.

She works on wetting her mouth, glancing over to see a glass of water beside him. Without saying a word, he parts a hand from hers and gives it to her, letting her drink it through the straw.

“Tony, what are you doing here?” She whispers weakly.

He touches her cheek with one hand and holds her hand against his cheek with the other. “I guess I couldn’t live without you.” His words echo in her mind, taking her back to that unforgettable day all those years ago. “I didn’t think you were dead. I had that feeling, not to mention the clues. I never saw you, but I never gave up hope.”

Ziva raises her fingers, brushing her fingers against his lips. “Tony, I am sorry. I-I-“

“I should be angry with you. I want to yell at you, ask you how you could keep my own daughter from me. But seeing now, knowing that you have been kept from your own daughter. Our daughter. I couldn’t yell at you for that. We’ve both been kept apart from her, and from each other.”

“Tony…” She feels the tears well up in his eyes. “I am so sorry.”

He opens his mouth to say something when the door opens to the private room. Breaking eye contact, the two look over to the nurse that walks into the room. “Ms. David, it’s good to see you awake dear.” Tony drops her hand on the bed and takes a step back to let the nurse see to his friend.

The nurse closes the curtain and checks all her vitals before pulling her blanket back. Tony takes the queue. “I, I’ll just step out…” He says, pointing to the doorway. Neither one say a thing as he leaves the room.

Still drugged, Ziva watches him leave before her eyes were averted to the nurse as she lifts her gown, only to show the bandage on her stomach where she was shot. “You were very lucky Ms. David, the doctors were able to stitch you up nice and good.”

“I should have been quicker.” Ziva mumbles, looking down at the bloody bandage. The nurse works on placing a fresh one on, cleaning her up. “I could have lost everything today because of it.”

“But you were not alone, Miss. You had someone looking out for you.”

Ziva catches her eye. “I did.”

The nurse leaves a few minutes later and Tony walks in. “I talked to the boss, he agreed to let us talk. A real talk, Ziva.” He walks over and sits at her hip, careful to not pull on the sheets covering her stomach.

“Where is Tali?” Ziva asks after many moments of silence.

Tony smirks. “I was wondering when that question was going to come up. She’s with Palmer and Victoria. Our girls are about the same age, so whenever we come to DC, the girls have a sleepover.” Ziva’s heart swells. “Do you want to see a picture of her?” She opens her mouth to say something, but second guesses herself and closes her mouth and nods.

She didn’t expect him to have the photos open so quickly, she would even suspect that he already had them open, ready to show her.

“Here.” He says softly, holding the phone up to her. Before her eyes was her not-so-little girl. Her throat hitched when she saw her outfit. “I put her into ballet when she was showing interest in dancing.” He let out a short laugh. “She would take me to the piano and just say ‘muziqah’, so I’d just… play whatever song came to mind. Tali would just sing and dance.” He looks down at the picture. “I thought of you, and what you wanted to do before your training… So I did it, I put her in classes.” He turns her head to look at her. “And she loves every minute of it. This photo was taken after her first recital.”

Ziva smiles up at him. “You are a wonderful father, Tony.”

“Half the time I don’t know what I’m doing. I just go with the flow and try not to do what my own father did.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a worn piece of paper that has some dried blood on it. “Gibbs’ pulled this out of your pocket before the ambulance arrived at the scene. I noticed someone in the background.” He gave her the look. “You couldn’t keep away.”

“No I couldn’t. I have thousands of these photos. All of them with you and Tali in the background in Paris.”

“Why didn’t you say ‘hi’?”

“I was being watched… Hunted. I couldn’t put your life into jeopardy. I kept you in the dark, and I didn’t want to hurt Tali’s feeling all over again by leaving. It was hard enough the first time.”

“They are gone now.”

She reaches out for him, taking forearm in her grasp. “Yes they are.”

“And?”

“And I can come home�� If you’ll have me?”

He leans forward, placing his hand on her cheek, stroking her lips. She raises her hand from his arm and places it on his chest. He rests his forehead on hers and whispers. “Do you promise you’re done running?” She closes her eyes, raising her hand to his cheek.

“Yes.”

“Then, please, come home with me.”

[everbrilliantheartbreaker]

(shows up a week late with Starbucks and Psycho Pass season 3 episode 2 thoughts) //spoilers for eps. 2 and 3 ahead//

Tenma being all surprised and excited about him owning a house in Arata’s example I’m emotional but I suppose he would be. they might have a job and lower level police authority but they’re still prisoners with a life sentence for crimes they never actually committed, with, from the few Enforcers’ rooms we’ve seen in the series, not a ton of their own belongings. I’m sure the idea of owning his own house sounds amazing to Tenma (it’s literally just a hypothetical situation but he gets so offended when Arata says hypothetical him sold it hkhskghs)

fact that there are still yakuza gangs around leaves me with so many questions and episode 3 touches on some of them a little more but no actually 3 didn’t clear anything up I still have a lot of questions so in 3 it’s revealed that the abandoned zones were left in existence on purpose to make it easier to monitor those more likely to commit a crime, because majority of them would self collect in areas that promised more freedom from Sibyl’s eyes but I’m kind of amazed that the yakuza is literally chopping people up and selling the body parts on the black market and Sibyl is just letting it slide?? that bypasses “likely to commit” with a flying leap lmaoo is it because they’re in an abandoned zone where there’s no reception for Sybil’s scanners so maybe Sibyl doesn’t know what they’re up to?? in that case that’s. kind of defeating the purpose of the abandoned zones but when Arata’s explaining this we see police drones positioned outside the borders so??? either Sibyl can monitor the people in the abandoned zones through the drones or there’s no reception > hence the Dominators not working in episode 2 and Sibyl can’t monitor the people living there OR Sibyl knows the yakuza were murdering people and selling their body parts and didn’t do anything about it which is it (how long have there still been yakuza in this Japan? Irie looks around the same age as Akane and Ginoza so that + things we find out about his past imply that this gang, at least, has been around a while which would mean they’ve been around since Akane was very young which means Sibyl’s “perfect” Japan we hear so much about in s1 and 2 was really not that perfect which THEN begs the question how the yakuza managed to evade all the public Hue scanners before the abandoned zones were created aaaaaaaaaaa the more I think about it the more questions I end up with what is the truthhh) (there’s still a black market in New Japan???)

I am fairly convinced that Irie only half told Kei about Numakura because it was his job and that the other half was purely to get Kei in trouble

yakuza member: u can’t enforce sht in this neighborhood Kei: lmao hold my beer and watch this

- I just enjoy watching Kei kick ass in general and the scenes of Arata parkouring across the city with the relay line were honestly kind of lovely, but the two interspersed with each other is a particular kind of staging aesthetic/technique I just really like

so far s3 seems a lot less gory and in-your-face violent compared to 1 and 2. more of the intellectual, detective work-centered side. in 6 episodes’ worth of time we’ve only seen like two people get Enforced and the side violence - Tojo falling several stories to the pavement below, Yonehara’s dismembered body, etc. - is all framed so you can’t actually see much of it, as opposed to 1 and 2 and their showing a woman getting beat to death with a hammer and dismembered bodies being made into public art pieces and all that fun stuff 

highly ironic and poetic that the mafia boss who chopped people up ended up in bloody pieces himself all over the same room his victims did

they’ve already gotten themselves into a fair amount of minor trouble with outside complaints in general and Shimotsuki in more specific but Kei and Arata are going to get themselves in some serious trouble one of these days. unlike say, Akane or Kogami, people who joined because it was the best place for them according to Sibyl or maybe because they wanted to make a difference, Kei and Arata joined Public Safety Bureau for their own personal reasons. they are here first and foremost to achieve their own personal goals and are blatantly willing to ignore procedure and disobey orders to pursue said goals. honestly at the time that Mika told them to stop pursuing Sasagawa and come back to base - literally telling them that she had the rest handled, it wasn’t strongly implied, if at all, that she was letting him go - I don’t think they had any reason to think all that was connected to their own personal mission. they went rogue without even stopping to consider that Mika already had a plan for dealing with Sasagawa or letting her explain anything. for better or worse they pretty much do whatever they want and one of these episodes it’s gonna catch up with them big time

...that being said, the two of them being so on the same wavelength that they both hung up on Mika at the same time and were both like aww what a shame...such poor cell signal in this place... was so funny Tenma looked so horrified kshgkjdfg

in Irie and Tenma’s defense, Kei didn’t say how long they were supposed to stand by. a solid 20 seconds counts, right?

...when I said, “if anything happens to Kei and Arata I’m going to kill everyone in this show and then myself”, I didn’t expect “anything” to be Kei getting his ass kicked by Ginoza LMAO

on that note, GINOZA

and Kogami????? Ima be real I haven’t actually seen the movie yet so if there was foreshadowing or an actual scene of him coming back I did not know it and therefore was super surprised to see him also he and Arata just kind of standing there watching each other while Ginoza and Kei scuffle right next to them was highly amusing

Ima be real part two up until now I really did not care for Kogami and actually really disliked him and honestly I don’t clearly remember why at this point but after this episode I’m neutral leaning towards very mild like towards him

Ginoza vs. Kei + Irie and Tenma vs. Kogami is one of those fight scenes that’s actually kind of stupid/unnecessary if u stop and think about it too long and could’ve been easily avoided in 4 seconds if everyone used their common sense and communicated (and followed orders (to return to base) Kei and Arata (and to stand by, Irie and Tenma) but instead is put in as a small dose of fan service for fans who wanna see their faves in a brawl (I’m not complaining at all I was quite entertained) (kind of love that Kogami still carries an actual gun)

Sugo!

honestly scene on the plane where all the other passengers turn out to be holos and vanish revealing the detectives concealed among them was really cool it’s like in cop shows when it turns out a bunch of the people chilling in the background of a restaurant or street are all plainclothes cops and the bad guy was surrounded the whole time

Sasagawa: u can’t prove anything!!! Frederica: tbh my dude idgaf 

Ginoza smiling and waving at Hinakawa before they left MY HEART 

I only caught this while rewatching the ep. and making this post but...the parallels between Kogami and Arata as unorthodox Inspectors more interested in being “detectives” and both chasing their own personal villains and conspiracies that may or may not exist...good stuff

love how much more relaxed and happier Ginoza seems nowadays love how Mika still snipes at him but it’s from a less spiteful place, love that she accidentally admits she thinks he’s a capable officer and how he teases her about it, love that they’re at a place now where they can talk normally 

(love that line at the end of their conversation: “Have you seen Akane?” “There’s no need to. I know what I should be doing for her.”)

Arata still pretending that the call dropped, instead of that they hung up on their boss khfgkdf

(when Mika tells them if they want to stay Inspectors, they need to follow orders and the will of the system...is she referring to whatever happened to Akane?)

Akane and Hinakawa still keep in contact my hearttt

[rookthorne]

Okay so, first off, Kathie. What is this?

tension ;)

WHAT IS IT

I am ready for my heart to be healed, it needs it after last week.

And because of that, I am currently holding a huge mug of hot chocolate - I’ll send you the bill 😉

so I’m gonna preemptively say instead of a P.S. that my reaction is gonna be under the cut because by now you know that I am ✨extra✨ and I let my passion get in the way of my sense of restraint. 😌

Where was Natasha? Where were you?

yes where is she!!!

“Think we oughta be fine, boss. The girl’s out of it and her side of the carriage flew past the rest. Plus, we got the gang back there keepin’ em company.” 

IMA BEAT THEIR ASS FOR THIS

“Funny,” he laughed, dry and sickening. “You call us ‘simply mercenaries’ but you find yourself helpless under our hands.” The boss kicked off of his horse, his wrinkled face puckered in distaste. “Royals are really nothing but pawns—empty husks to move around for benefit. And you, my dear princess, will benefit me greatly.” 

BACK THE FUCK UP

I have never wanted to beat someone up SO BAD

Because you didn’t have much, but you’d be damned if you died the same way you lived—compliant and meek. You’d be damned if you allowed yourself to be whisked away to another hell.  

Damn straight!! Fight back!! BUCKY NEEDS YOU! 😩

As if your thoughts were spoken aloud, a disruption in the foliage kept frozen hands glued to your newly bound wrists. A heartbeat of restless horses and an unforgiving breeze, and then it wasn’t silent anymore. There was an enraged scream filling the space instead. 

Natasha. 

YES NAT Y E S

She slid beneath their uncoordinated arms, aiming for their knees and catching your eye for long enough to make sure you were conscious as you laid still on the ground. When she confirmed that much, she was up again, and angry. 

Her voice alone was a threat as she growled, “You will pay for this with far worse than your lives.” 

I got G O O S E B U M P S

“Let her go and you live.” Hardly a request, not with his sword drawn and his eyes aflame with rage. 

oh my god I can’t take this

To be a royal was to sacrifice everything—love, family, yourself. It felt as if the only thing you could offer was the latter, and so you did. 

N O NO NO 🥺

Each word felt like fire in lungs; to give up your freedom was a fate worse than death, but you’d do much more to protect those you loved. You’d live a thousand lives in which a comfort so new and serene were to find you, only to have it ripped from your grasp with a shameless harshness if it meant their safety. Because to know that warmth and to watch it ice over like a summer turned to an immediate winter, to know seasons and to fear the impending cold… an eternal ice paled in comparison. And you had known both. 

NO WHERE IS BUCKY, KATHIE 🥺😭

The boss hummed, his smile a brand on your skin. “Oh, how I love to hear you beg.” 

“I expect I will enjoy quite the same out of you.” 

HABDBXIWNBEEI MY GOD

OH MY GOD

(jus’ sayin’, this line of dialogue is so fucking BADASS)

You could almost see the plan between your friends’ narrowed eyes: get you into Bucky’s arms, and then all hell would break loose. Still vastly outnumbered, but with the royals safe.

If they’re not alive at the end of this chapter I will riot

I can only take so much angst

“You mock my court’s abilities, put hands on my bride… I don’t care if you are the only source of information left on this earth. There is no reality in which I would allow you to take another breath.” 

I think I just fell more in love with him

“My beautiful girl.” The same voice. “Come back.” 

Dark hair was wild behind a strong face, billowing out and wisping with the wind. But it did little to compete with the blue hues skimming worried traces across your face. Like the currents of the sea Bucky had offered to you, those blues pulled you in, their softness and vibrance not lost, even after so much anger had been held within them, so much fear. 

Kathie I can’t-

You brushed past his touch and rested your forehead to his shoulder, a wave of exhaustion sweeping through you. He placed his hand on your back, wide and comforting and everything you were about to have torn from you just a moment ago. 

It had been hours, and Bucky hadn’t made a single trip into your room. You didn’t notice at first, with how many people were bustling in and out, but it was painfully obvious now that you were left alone with your thoughts. Just yesterday you were wishing him away, and now, you wanted nothing more than his voice at your door. 

🥺🥺🥺

His lips parted. A tree groaned from the gardens, and then, “I did not want to bother you. I did not mistake your earlier relief for forgiveness.” 

oh my god and just for that I want to forgive him of everything

“Would it not be easier—“ you began, raising a shoulder in a small sort of defeat. “—to simply play our parts? Perhaps this mess was proof that people like us aren’t meant to reach for more. Perhaps… you would be happier pursuing women that come with less pressure.” 

okay no my heart is breaking

like it’s been cleaved

honey, no 🥺

You didn’t want things to be easy, you wanted Bucky. You wanted to hold him and for him to kiss you, even when doors were shut. You wanted the love people said your parents had, the kind that stole your breath and promised warmth, even on the coldest days. You wanted the impossible, perhaps more than anything you had ever wanted in your life. 

KATHIE 😭😭😭

Bucky paused at the silver lining your eyes, reaching up to brush his hand along your cheek. “I also want to spend the rest of my life apologizing for the pain I caused you. When you came here I promised you a lifetime of happiness. I failed you. But if you allow it, I promise, you will never feel that way again. I will never let those who threaten your joy into this castle again.” 

You shook your head, the prince’s fingers gliding past your bandaged head and along your hairline. “My happiness does not come before treaties—before kingdoms,” you argued. 

“Your happiness,” he whispered, his thumb gently passing over your trembling lip. “Is what brings mine.” 

I am going to find the idiot that is cutting onions somewhere around me and slap the SHIT OUTTA THEM

Your next breath was nervous and shaky, and Bucky’s eyes widened as you rolled up to your toes. Your hands slid from his wrists to rest on his chest, the trembling in your fingers obvious against his wrinkled tunic. But you ignored it, instead feeling the warmth of the prince’s own hands as they covered yours with steady palms. 

On par with the evening, you didn’t get to finish your question. You didn’t get to finish because, instead, your words were lost in Bucky’s lips. And in his breath and his hands and the way he groaned against you.  

There were no thoughts demeaning you for not knowing how to kiss, no cruel voices demanding that you stop. There was only Bucky and this kiss that belonged to you. 

And you would worry and stress and fear, but for now, you let Bucky kiss you. 

GET IT GIRL GET IT

HOLY SUGAR HONEY ICED TEA this is now my favourite chapter you have healed my heart and soul and now I can’t stop crying from happiness

There is no words to describe how this chapter made me feel, except for the screaming Kermit. I am now gonna make YOU a lifetime supply of hot chocolate - because I’m finishing mine with the biggest grin on my face.

A Correspondence of Obligation - Six

Pairing: Prince!Bucky x Princess!Reader (Royal AU)

Summary: Obedience, duty, pristine smiles—raised as the princess of an oppressive kingdom, you knew nothing else. Your father signed your life away at the ripe age of five, black ink bleeding into a contract between nations, fate cemented with the flick of a quill. So when the time came to fulfill the promises you were too young to make, you expected much of the same in the land of Brookshire. But Prince James had other plans, as did the enemies looming outside the castle walls.

Word count: 5.7k

Warnings: Angst, cannon-level violence, injury, tension ;)

a/n: Writing this chapter was so fun (even though action is my weakness)!! Let me know what you think! Thank you for reading ♡♡

Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist

~~

The world didn’t make sense.

Turned on its axis, flipped and then aching, nothing made sense in the scene around you other than the way the trees swayed in front of a fading sun. Only it shouldn’t be fading, not yet—not when it was so clearly overhead with no clouds to hinder its path. So then, the trees and the sun didn’t make much sense either. 

Keep reading

[doubleddenden]

I finally beat Dragon Quest XI for the true ending. About 102 hours at the end. No I did not complete all the subquests but I did complete all the story stuff. The final trial boss is harder than the final boss boss!

Anyway 8/10, gonna keep my review mostly spoiler free:

Story: an epic that blends fairy tales with traditional jrpg tales, filled with twists and turns that leave you intrigued and wanting more. It's not totally perfect, a couple of plot holes and kind of some weird elements to the story I felt weren't necessary or somewhat repeated in a LOT of games (world tree, chosen one, sword of light, etc). But it is an amazing adventure regardless.

Gameplay: as far as the gameplay goes, it's a stereotypical JRPG turn based system. DQ is like one of the grand daddies of ALL JRPGs, so its understandable. The interface is easy to learn for fights and you explore the world more freely with running and jumping, sailing, and other tricks. Its classic stuff. The exception is the modern grid tree for skills you can learn, which honestly changes characters completely after a certain point. Erik went from being one of my weakest to being the Boss Killer by the end, and the hero went from dying a lot to killing the most enemies the fastest. In addition to the main quest there's also TONS of side quests, so explore explore. You kind of have to tinker a bit, but it's all a fun experience.

Music: the score is amazing and sounds super majestic, but it can repeat a bit. It's kind of hard to buy a "sacred song" when you've heard it a couple of times already, not to mention the towns sounding mostly similar. Kind of a similar issue with 8, but it is beautiful regardless.

Graphics and Design: Ima be real with you: beautiful af, eye popping af, realistic af, but I feel like some of the Toriyama charm is lost amidst all the realism. It definitely looks like an unreal engine game, which is good at a surface level but kind of lacking in the originality area. What Toriyama aspects show up are recognizable to dragons, certain characters' designs, certain architecture and more, though a lot of it looks eerily similar to Dragon Ball designs (ie the Serpent enemies that look just like Shenron). That being said, what originality it has is great and it honestly feels like a world I could comfortably live in. The towns are all beautiful and vibrant and huge and alive, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see influence not just from a European medieval stand point but from Asian, Pacific, Italian, Spanish, and more in the stylization. Tldr it's good

Voice acting: admittedly, a lot of European based voicing sounds a bit out of place to me in a lot of JRPG games (Xenoblade Chronicles 2 anyone?), but after getting a bit used to it all, it works great. Some accents feel a TAD forced (the haiku speaking people feel a tad stereotypical?), but I'm actually able to enjoy it. Rab took a little getting used to, but now he's got one of my favorite voices of any auld tiemer I've 'eard. I would prefer if the hero was completely silent, tbh, especially as a child and ESPECIALLY as an adult in a fight because it doesn't quite sound... right. But you know? It's pretty good considering. Way better than 8's.

The characters: to keep it short, very loveable and relatable to a certain extent to be honest the designs are mostly spot on, save for the hero's very meek hair and appearance and Veronica, who is a loli and I despise lolis. That being said, for the roles played by each, you gain respect for them and learn there's a lot more to meet the eye. A loveable rogue and best bro til the end, a girl stricken with a child like appearance that doesn't let it get her down and has HUGE impact on the story, a bit more reserved but loveable actual adult twin that learns to toughen up as she goes and becomes so charming and powerful, a flamboyant performer that I originally thought was going to be a gay stereotype... and kind of is? But it works out so loveable and charmingly that he's now one of my favorite characters. An old and cheery man with a pep for life and a smile for ages with a sad, sad past that made me cry, a warrior woman with an impressive sense of duty and power behind her, but also having a bit of a sad past and a charming sense of humor... honestly I could go on and on but A. Spoilers and B. I'd be here all day.

Anyway if 11 sounds like an imposing number, don't worry about it and hop in. It's basically one of the best points to jump in if you want to play a Dragon Quest game. I'd say go for it.

So yeah, 8/10, please buy this so we can get more dragon quest games.

[lavendertownsghost]

The Adventure Zone Episode 55 live reactions because why not

I have no life and am bad at typing

everything is a clue

aww Magnus

god the idea of the creepy mannequin freaks me out

oh its prince dickhead sucks for him

shit she lost both her eyes dam

poor Taako

poor Magnus

jfc Merle

bounus sounds bad

of course it’s not optional

of course he takes an arm

remember to be happy as you fucking die

welp just tease them with escape

HEAL YOU NEED TO FIX TAAKO

Magnus there is no winning this you should know

wait did the Directer betray him

SHIT IT’S THE DIRECTOR

FUCK

i trusted her why would she leave him

aw poor head

fuck it’s gona be Merle who take the hit based off the summary

taako why don’t you realize you have Death on speed dial

this truesight really switched things up

life is a game and we are all players

oh shit it’s gone be leach life

at least they get to chose

SHIT MERLE

dam Taako had a really low hit point ceiling

so Taako and Merle are around 30 and Magnus is at about 70

STOP ARGUING STOP FEEDING THEM

i still don’t know if i want to trust this red robe

fuck the wheel

at least the red robe isn’t a person

STOP BEING MORBID YOU’RE FEEDING THEM

god Griffin being happy scares me

wait losing a fight usually ends in death

oh ok that’s no so bad? oh shit

you go Magnus

FUCK

ok be happy

fuck are they gona erase their memories

ARE THEY GONA TAKE HIS KIDS

SHIT DAM MERLE

instantly takes the penalty i love him

god dam six

aww his acrobatics that he never uses, such a shame

at least it’s not a minus

dam Magnush rushes in

Magnus rushes is times two

STOP BEING HAPPY GRIFFEN

DON’T TAKE AWAY JULIA

ok that’s not that bad, he hasn't tried to track him down anyway

shit this music is gona make me cry

dam Magnus 0.o

well at least Merle never wins a fight

dam that was fast Merle

STOP BEING NEGATIVE

no not my boy

shit he’s vain, he won’t want to age

i mean it’s hard to draw Taako ugly so

Taako you’re lovely on the inside, you don’t need beauty

normal isn’t bad

but to Taako that’s a lot

Taako isn’t a good person good point

instant spell slot god i love you Taako

please let one of them remember Kravitz

souffle time

he’s gona trust i know it

good boy Magnus

yay it’s a normal round

god i hate puppets

please let this be a boss rush

oh ok dragon time

oh it’s trying to find their past fights

wait if they have to fight crystal Kravitz they might be fucked

MAGIC BRIAN TIME

i mean they kicked his ass twice, so

AW YEAH BOSS RUSH

SHIT THEY MIGHT HAVE TO FIGHT KRAVITZ THEN

at least they might remember that they should try and get a hold of him

oh no if they have to fight Slone ima cry

~commercial break~

sick jams i can’t wait to listen to this OST

aw no Magic Brian voice

well that’s creepy af

well that was fast

wait things just wont attack him then, he has the most health out of all of you

dam how low is Taako’s ac

wow that would have killed him

ok that was actually good planing on Merle and Magnus’ parts

oh nooo they have to fight Gundren

WAIT THEY NEVER ACTUALLY BEAT GUNDREN HOW THEY GONA DO THIS

red robe you better have something up your sleeve that’s useful

if this is all the bell, that’s a really powerful relic

jfc Taako with the eldritch horror spells

of course there are tenticals why not

yeah Merle with the angel

so if Magnus doesn't have magic, how was he a red robe?

shit Merle’s divinity is messed up, is Pan dead

sometimes there’s math in DnD

aw they all get fucked

jfc Cam

Taako has like 10 health left again

oh ok it’s only one boss per round, they don’t need to actually kill them

woo go Cam!

god dam i really hope they remember Kravitz can help when they fight fake-him