#in the next couple months maybe i’ll get the second part of the remake… not this month tho

[quietlyblooms]

my coworker is just letting me infodump about f.f7 and i’m living :’ )))

[quirklessidiot]

Title: filthy rich [3/3]  Pairing: millionaire!sakusa kiyoomi x y/n [filthy capitalist au] Genre: mystery, major angst ahead, thriller, mafia!au-ish

Synopsis: Just run, Y/N. Don’t look back.

Warnings: dark and yandere themes, toxic relationships, mentions of violence, shady business, class differences, mentions of rape, smoll breeding kink, unwanted pregnancy, mentions of abortion, and sakusa being a manipulative bastard 

Notes: 

Im disappering again for a week or two so as a parting gift, here ya go, im starting a bokuto fanfic soon and posting the reboot of notice me soon too hnnng thanks for the wait guys uwu

A sorta realistic take on a yandere is harder than it looks kssjdn omg anyways here yall go the long awaited last chapter of filthy rich. I’m not sure if I should put like a one shot sequel but so far im marking this series completed. Thanks for sticking by!

previous || series masterlist || blood son [sequel;one shot]

You run your hands through your hair and shut your eyes tight, the quietness and stillness of your shared apartment was something to bask on before you put on a fake mask of happiness. It had been exactly two months since you found out about the birth control switch and the medaide agenda. 

In the span of those two months, you had grown more observant towards your boyfriend’s actions and you knew that it wouldn’t be anytime soon until he actually notices that you were onto him. 

You let out a shaky breath as you recollected some weird things you’ve seem to have noticed, how his brows would furrow when he’d receive a call indicating that something was up and it was serious or how you visited your ex-boss one time a week or so ago along with Kenjiro since you wanted to see how he was doing.

“...Well, he just didn’t come home and sold the place. Apparently he was in a rush to move or something because of family matters so I didn’t exactly see him.” the neighbor gossiped to you two.

“Y/N?”

You jump on your spot as you hear that dreadfully familiar voice.

“Hey,” You greet, walking up to him, you decide to do your usual hug but stop when you notice a small red stain on his necktie, the tie is dark blue and although it wasn’t obvious from afar, it definitely was up close. Your brows are furrowed together, this time in pure curiosity, “Did you get hurt? It’s unlike you to get messy.”

You notice the quick shift of attitude in his eyes, you were seemingly getting good at observing his emotions these days and it looked like he panicked for a second there.

Odd.

“A friend of mine had gotten hurt a while ago, you remember Atsumu Miya?”

A vivid image of a blonde man crossed your mind, he was another conglomerate friend of your boyfriend, another person to be weary of to add to the list, “Oh, is he alright?” you asked, trying to keep it casual as you untie his tie for him as usual.

“Yes. He’s awfully clumsy. You don’t need to worry.”

“Oh…” You mumbled, “by the way, I visited my ex-chief.”

“Ex-chief?”

“Mhm.” you hummed, “You know, my boss from before? Me and a few co-workers decided to visit him since he was a really good boss. Turns out he just left without telling anyone, poor man.”

“Sounds unpleasant. Did you know why he quit?”

“No.” You shrugged as you take the tie out and place it on the side, “He suddenly just quit his job and moved, neighbors said it was also because of family matters. It’s kinda weird because as far as we knew, he didn’t have a family.”

“Would you like me to look into it?”

You almost stiffen when he slithers his arms on your waist but you didn’t want to give away any suspicion, “No. I don’t want to pry. Hopefully he’s enjoying his retirement.” You sighed, turning towards him with a tight smile, “Now what would you like for dinner? I was thinking Mediterranean? I need to lose some weight since I’ve been feeling bloated for a while.”

He leans in for a soft kiss on your temple, “Mediterranean would be fine. Would you like anything else? We could order more.” he hummed, his lips slowly started to dangerously hover on top of yours.

“No, it’s fine.” You give him a quick peck and wiggle your way out of his arms, your stomach doesn’t feel well these days. Whenever you were near Sakusa you had the urge to throw up your innards despite having an empty stomach.

You don’t notice the dangerous gaze on your behind as you pick up the phone for your take-out.

Sakusa hasn’t felt you in a long time and it’s driving him insane, he wants to feel your heat, your body, and everything in between. He wants to fill you up and see you pregnant with his children. He wants everyone in the world to know you were his and his only.

Yet he can’t do that.

You’ve ignored his affections these past few weeks and it had been driving him insane to the point where he had to ask one of his men to put an eye on you to see if you had been cheating on him or seeing someone else.

Yet you hadn’t.

Your routine was the same old one and Sakusa is digging his nails deeply into his skin in his office one day with his tie uncharacteristically untied. Miya Atsumu sits across him, taking a sip from his flask, “Ya look like shit.” the blonde points out.

“Fuck off, Miya.”

“Heard from your cousin that you’re not getting laid by your girl these days.”

“You better be thankful that you’ve got men behind you or I’d be shooting your fucking brains out for saying that.” Sakusa spats, his dark gaze pointedly looking at the blonde across him.

“You should just find someone else then and not yer prude of a-”

“Keep telling me ideas like that and maybe I might just shoot you and chop your body up until it looks fuckin’ unrecognizable.”

Atsumu raises his hands up, signaling that he was giving up, “Gee, omi-omi. I was just giving my advise. It’s so easy to drop her.”

“I don’t want to drop what’s mine.”

“You’ve got issues.” He chuckles, “Haven’t you been switching out her pills and fucking her raw for the last couple of months? I bet yer ass you got her pregnant on that before but ya just don’t know it. Getting her pregnant would definitely secure her spot in her life. Woman’s nuthin’ without ya.”

“She’s...she’s not showing…”

“When was the last time ya two went at it?”

“Two months ago.”

“Ya poor boy.” Atsumu sighs, shaking his head, “Ya sure you don’t want to take a break from being a loyal boyfriend for one night? i bet Y/N wouldn’t notice.”

“And no one would notice if you fucking disappeared. I’ll make sure of it, now get out.”

You may not have been the sharpest tool on the shed but you know that someone’s been tailing you these past few days, you’re not stupid. You could only come to the conclusion that it was Sakusa who was doing such things but you couldn’t get why.

Something just didn’t make sense. It felt like you were missing an important piece in the puzzle, med-aide and the switch of your pills and now a hidden tail?

You furrow your brows together in deep thought  as you sat down next to a teenage boy on his phone, you decided to take the bus today to the grocery store, surprisingly the one tailing you wasn’t around today.

Your eyes slowly shift towards the boy’s phone, it seemed like he was playing a video game.

An otome game, to be exact.

You felt your lips twitch up, you remembered those games a lot growing up. The graphics seem to have massively improved now by the looks of it, “...That looks interesting.” You tell the teenage boy who turns to you in surprise.

“Oh, thanks.” the blonde replied quietly.

“Is that a new otome game?”

“Kind of.” He blinks, his gaze returning back to the screen,  “It’s sort of a remake of the yandere simulator from back then.”

You feel your shoulders tense up.

“A yandere?”

“Yeah.” The blonde nods, “The girl’s awfully creepy in the game, she stalks him, does things to get him. The player has to catch her in the act and evade her at the same time.”

“Oh…” You blink, “I-uh, this is weird… but what’s a yandere again?’

“It’s someone obsessively in love with you. They’ll do anything to have you stay by them.” He says, pushing on a button but suddenly the screen turns red and you feel shivers run down your spine as you hear him curse and the words ‘you’re caught’ appear on the screen.

“W-what happened to your character?”

“He died. Nothing much.” he mumbles, “If the Yandere knows they can’t have you, they’ll kill you.”

You immediately went pale as soon as you heard that. Maybe, just maybe you were being paranoid. He wouldn’t go to that extent, would he?

“How did your character escape the yandere in the game?” 

“Well, I haven’t finished the game yet but based on some anime’s and manga’s I've usually read. They either killed to get away or they moved so far away where they wouldn’t be seen so I think the creator might have the same ending.” The blonde said, he slowly looked to your side, “You’re looking awfully pale, ma’am. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, j-just remembered a horrible game I played back when I was your age.” You gulped in, “Nightmares, you know? The yandere tried to get my character pregnant and tried to get in her way of moving out of the country.”

“Sounds like a very realistic one.”  He mumbles, “What did your character do?”

“I wasn’t able to finish it.” you whispered, loud enough for him to only hear, “I couldn’t really find a way out.”

“The developers of the game must’ve made it hard for you. Maybe your character should’ve ran away,” he advised, “Or better yet, you should’ve killed him.”

“I-well, I don't think there were options like that.”

“Well if I were you and there was no option for killing, I’d run. Far, far away. Change my identity and all that.” he exits the game and stuffs the phone back in his pocket, you get a good look of his cat-like eyes and immediately feel a shiver on your spine with the next words he say, “I mean its a game but you wouldn’t wanna loose and get your character killed, right?”

“R-right.”

The teenage boy hops down without even saying goodbye and you have a scary realization that you can’t break it off like you originally had planned. You needed to run, run far as you can and get lost.

The words that the teenage boy says echoes in your head for the next few days, from that point on, realization dawns upon you that, nothing is certain now. You couldn’t trust anyone, you couldn’t let friends and family be involved in this. Sakusa Kiyoomi is a powerful man so you needed to be careful with how you were going to disappear.

You continue to act nonchalant and the same as you try to lay out your plan but you knew that you had only a week or so to complete this for it to successfully work.

Sakusa Kiyoomi wonders what he should do to save the relationship, he’s tried everything in the book that he could think of but you remained the same. Was this the end of the relationship? For real?

He could never stomach the idea of having you leave him.

It’s eerie that day, something felt different when he came home to an empty apartment. It looked the same yet something felt very, very different. Apparently the apartment guards said you were here since your car hadn’t left the driveway and they hadn’t seen you go out.

He checks out your side of the closet, your clothes remain there untouched and your toiletries were there too. He scans the fridge for your notes but nothing is stuck there. He suddenly feels like something cold was dumped on him.

It couldn’t be, right?

Right?

He runs to every room, checking every nook and cranny and when he finally reaches the last room which was the bathroom, nothing is there.

Everything was in its place except you.

Where were you?

Your bank account remains untouched, your wallet and phone was left in the apartment. It was as if you were returning home, the very least. Komori tells him to calm down, saying that they’re letting the best people find you around the city, they don’t rule out that someone might’ve had the audacity to touch you.

Whoever took you would be given hell to pay, that’s for sure. Was it the triad? Kkangpae’s? Or opposing yakuza’s? Oh, they’ll definitely have their heads on the platter if they tried to harm a single hair on your head.

Sakusa doesn’t even hesitate to notify the police about you already despite the memorandum that twenty-four hours is needed to consider a person missing, it's nothing a little money can fix.

“I hope we find her soon.” Your aunt sighed, “I’ve notified her parents about it. It’s definitely weird that she’d leave all her valuables behind.”

Hinata and Natsu sit there next to their mom, completely sad and worried, “I’ve hired the best people for it already, obaasan. We’ll find Y/N.” Sakusa replies yet his thoughts are in a complete frenzy now.

And find you they did.

No stone was left unturned. He made sure of it. Yet after a month of relentless searching. Nothing came up, it seemed like you had just vanished and Sakusa Kiyoomi had turned the whole underground world upside down for you but nothing came up.

Some say that you disappeared and ran away but that was immediately ruled out, no security cameras saw you in and out during that day and it would be impossible for you to just leave without security cameras on you. The guard had exclaimed that despite the blackout that day, the generators only took a few minutes to power up so they’d definitely catch you on camera in case you ever exited the building (along with the guards since they knew exactly what you looked liked) plus the clothes and such were still there, left untouched.

Some said you died, it was definitely impossible for you to just vanish without a single trace after all since everyone was looking for you.

Yet no one dared to say it in front of the boss, not if they valued their life.

The billionaire had dried out his connections to find you. What good was it to be the most powerful and richest man in the country if he couldn’t find you? Life had no meaning now, you were gone. It felt like a part of him was ceasing to function.

Sakusa Kiyoomi was a dead man walking now.

Unknown to the whole world, you’re in a small town with little to no signal. Your hair is chopped unevenly and your skin is darker from the repeated exposure under the sun, your life is simple and mundane now yet you’re happy.

For the first time in months, you actually felt free.

You shut your eyes tight, the events that transpired this past few months replayed  in your head. Your escape was definitely done as carefully as you can and you didn’t even know if you’d succeed since you weren’t a master in that sort of thing.

You recalled that it was a week before you ran away, a few days after you met that kid in the bus. Someone from the electric company had come to inform you that there was a scheduled black out in the city that day during the afternoon and you felt something bubble up in you. That was the day you’d put your plan into motion.

You knew that the longer you delayed your plan, the harder it would be to escape.

You had a few minutes to actually put your plan to work. The camera’s on the hallways would cease to function for a few minutes according to the guard downstairs as he did a protocol on the building (apparently the generators were quick). So that morning after Sakusa left, you placed only a few clothes and the stash of money you had been carefully hiding in a garbage bag and chopped your hair short in an uneven manner. Burning all the remaining hair on the fireplace and the black hair color that you use with it. The maid uniform that you stole on your floor and a fake name plate that you made was on and you were good to go.

The minute the black out started, you took the garbage bag and walked out. Taking the stairway used by the caretakers, you made sure to just look down and never directly up at the camera’s pretending to work.

When you finally made it out of your building. You let out a stiff sigh and put down the bag, it was only the beginning. If you thought the same way as Sakusa Kiyoomi, you could only imagine that you needed to be more careful from this point on.

You take the newly bought duffel bag that you strategically hid behind some boxes. Thankfully when you had placed it yesterday afternoon, it hadn’t been touched. 

You put on a pair of shorts and a baggy shirt with cheap shades and stuffed the maid uniform in the duffel bag along with your belongings in the garbage bag. You take the other route that led to the busy streets. It was easy to look like a tourist and seemingly blend in the crowd, from that point on, you only had one destination in mind.

When you were younger, you vividly remember an acquaintance telling you about this small town outside of Tokyo where her grandparents were from. It was only an hour away via plane and when you went down another few hours via bus yet if you took the bus route all in all, it would take a few days.

Since it was far, only a few busses actually went there and since you had to leave within the day, you decided to just take the bus nearest to that town and take another bus when you arrived there.

The plan smooth-sailed from that point on.

Except for one minor detail.

You open your eyes and look down at your now small bump. The monster who almost had you trapped left a parting gift, you grip your garden hoe tightly.

A big part of you wanted to kill it.

Yet every time you try to, you hesitate.

The moment you arrived here, you had to pretend to be a weary and poor widow. You just didn’t expect to be a weary and poor expecting widow. You let out an uncharted sigh at the thought, it was hard enough to be alone here with little to no money. 

This child had the demon’s blood in it.

Yes, you may have gone free from his cage but in truth with his seed growing in your stomach day by day, you started to feel quite the opposite.

taglist [thanks for your support ilyasm skkss im so sorry for updating late too :(]

@maraudusk ;; @iamnotobsessed  ;;  @ssuna ;; @weebartistinc ;; @aomineavenue ;; @tsukkismamagucci ;; @onlyshinji ;; @ichiraku-verse ;; @watevermelon ;; @victoriasee ;;  @caramelcandescence ;; @n-nara ;; @bloody-bella ;; @ricefarmerkita​ ;; @paripedia ;; @srhlsx ;; @craftyfawns ;; @kepchups ;; @soggycardboardd ;;  @vinnieluv ;; @dinablossom ;; @yourstruly-01 ;; @shinhiromi ;; @dinablossom ;; @kneecotinee ;;  @vicassa ;; @ahoeforshouto ;; @benimarus-main-mop​ ;; @atsunakaashi​ ;; @myaaa-xoxoxox​ ;;  @newfriendjen​​ ;; @usedcoupon​

@kn0xiousnight  

[can’t tag you guys uwu just make sure ur tags are open :<]

[jay4firefic]

Hi! I’ve been reading through your Buckeride fics and I know this isn’t on your prompt list but I can’t get the idea of long-distance Kelly and 118!Buck where Buck sends him postcards like he used to do with Maddie. Like imagine a post card with a pic of Buck and the first baby he delivers, or Buck mastering a complex Bobby recipe or screenshots of a daring rescue. And Kelly peppering his locker with all of these.

So this is definitely not what you requested, but it's where my weird little brain took me. 1200 words, Buck x Kelly. Buck copes with losing Kelly by hiking across the country. Kelly copes with losing Buck by reading his postcards and sending replies in the form of books. Fair warning, I haven't read all of the books mentioned in this but I'll get around to them eventually.

The first time Buck drops a postcard in the mail to Chicago is a generic shot of the desert, picked up for 60 cents in a tourist trap not far from the head of the trail. Buck prints the address of Firehouse 51 carefully onto the back of the card and spends the rest of the night agonizing over what to write on the rest. In the end he scrawls a messy 2,653 miles to go, wish me luck, and drops it into the mailbox outside of his motel without a return address - he doesn’t have one.

The second is a black-and-white reproduction of Ansel Adams’ Monolith, the Face of Half Dome tucked inside the front cover of the artist’s biography and shipped together in a package from the same post office where Kidd mailed his latest resupply. Yosemite was too fucking crowded. Ansel Adams Wilderness was beautiful though. Did you know he did a whole series on Manzanar, the Japanese internment camp? He was an interesting dude. Hang onto this book for me if you can, please.

His next care package contains a book - Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience - and even though he hasn’t factored an extra book into his pack weight, he tucks it into his bag along with everything else. When he cracks it open in the fading light of a high altitude sunset he nearly chokes on a mouthful of trail mix. There, on the inside cover, is a note in Kelly’s neat-but-cramped handwriting, just like in every other book he’s ever gifted to Buck. Why do you always pick the most fucking depressing topics to take an interest in? Tell Kidd where I should ship the other 3 books about internment camps when you get off the trail, I’m never going to reread them.

Buck closes his eyes and tips his head up to the sky, staring at the wash of red and orange the sunset paints behind his eyelids until the sting that threatens tears fades away. By then it’s nearly dark - too dark to read, but not too dark to thumb through the pages to find the ones that are dog eared, the passages with stars next to them, the notes in the margins careful never to overlap with the text or images. He doesn’t open it again for almost a week, spends another few days reading it slowly, savoring the notes in the margins and writing his own in return. It’s the continuation of a silent conversation they’ve been having since the first time Kelly picked up one of Buck’s dog-eared, highlighted, scribbled-in books off of the nightstand and returned it to him with three questions and an opinion Buck absolutely had to argue with scrawled inside the back cover.

Except this time...this time Buck can’t read his commentary aloud to Kelly at the end of the day, or ask him to expand on one of the thoughts jotted down at the bottom corner of a page. This time he can’t talk to Kelly at all.

Instead he takes a selfie with the PCT mid point sign and then backtracks to hitchhike into town. He celebrates with a motel room, a shower, and a night in an honest to god bed. Pancakes at the local diner taste like heaven in the morning, he calls Kidd from a curbside bench with a beautiful view of the mountains, and he’s in too good a mood to question it when his feet lead him down the street and into a shop advertising printing.

He has two copies of his selfie printed. One goes into an envelope addressed to 51, alongside a postcard of Mt. Lassen thanking Cindy for the cookies and Mouch for the hockey themed wool socks in his latest resupply. The second he addresses to his old Kelly’s apartment. Thanks for the book. I think I’m going to visit Manzanar after I finish the trail - it’s only a few hours from LA. Maybe I’ll climb Whitney while I’m out there. Hey, did you know Lassen and Shasta are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire? The volcanic landscapes out here are awesome.

Buck almost doesn’t put the second envelope in the mail. He almost puts the book in a box and sends it to Stella instead. But in the end he mails the card, tucks the book deep into his bag where it will sit undisturbed but impossibly heavy with emotion for most of the next two months, and hitchhikes back to the trailhead.

By the time he makes his first stop in Oregon there’s another package: food, socks, a newspaper clipping of Truck 81 saving a little girl and her dog from an overturned car, and a book. Surviving the Stone Wind, clearly purchased used, the cover fraying at the corners and the spine cracked. Inside, beneath a faded note indicating it was once a gift for someone else, Kelly has written Don’t get killed by a volcano. That would be a stupid ass way for a firefighter to go out.

Buck sends a picture of himself from central Oregon tucked inside the cover of the book when he returns it, his handwriting a barely legible scribble beneath Kelly’s sharp letters. At least if I die in an eruption it’ll be quick. I’ve been thinking - there’s a lot of time to think out here - about how we would survive if the Yellowstone Supervolcano ever erupts. The answer is that we probably won’t, but if we did, living through the endless winter afterwards sounds pretty nasty. You know how I hate to be cold.

I bought more hand warmers for the emergency kit, Kelly replies, weeks later, from between the pages of a book about Yellowstone. But I think you’re right. I’d rather go in the explosion.

Buck has another hiker take a picture of him on the Bridge of the Gods, smack in the center of the Columbia river, and scrawls on the back of two copies before sending them off in the mail. The Columbia used to have the largest Salmon run on Earth. I never realized how much we’ve fucked up the environment before spending all this time out in the middle of nowhere. Not that the trail is even the middle of nowhere - thousands of people walk every part of it every year. I wonder what it all looked like before we colonized the West.

The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River gets to Buck when he’s a couple of hundred miles into Washington. He flips the cover open eagerly, touches his fingers to the only form of communication he’s had with the love of his life in months. Seems like people have been changing the environment out there since long before white colonizers showed up. They just made it a lot worse. This isn’t going to be one of your “if I had a time machine” obsessions again, is it?

If I had a time machine I’d only go back 10 months, Buck writes inside of the cover. He shoves the book deep inside of his pack, beside the first, and mails back a generic postcard of the Cascades instead.

[bruh--wtf]

A Message

Thomas x Reader

Summary: The reader goes through the Maze trials with a message, but she has no idea who it's from. That is until he enters the maze. And he helps them get out.

Main Masterlist

Part 1

Next

Maze Runner Masterlist

Warning: I am well aware that this is not how the books or the movie painted the backstory. But it fits better, so we're just going to go with it, okay?

You were in your room with the guys. Newt, Minho, Alby, Chuck, and Gally. You'd been in a room with them for a couple years. Since you were taken when you were ten. Now, fifteen, you all were like family to eachother.

You were hanging off your bunk, upside down with your hair hanging down. Newt slept below you and Minho slept in the top bunk across from yours, above Alby. Gally slept on a bottom bunk with Chuck above him. The kid had become the little brother of the group. All of you were protective over the boy.

While upside down you and Minho were tossing a ball back and forth. It was something that one of the guy's friends had snuck into your room.

When the door started to open and Minho had just tossed the ball, you tried to grab it but also slipped off the bed in the process. Newt stood and slipped his arms under yours in the process to catch you. Your legs hit the ground hard and you winced a little and threw the ball at Minho. He caught it quickly and hid it under his pillow.

You straightened up, and Newt let go of you. A boy and girl who looked around your age came into the room. They both had brown hair, but the boy's was darker. He was quite handsome, actually.

"Hey, Thomas," Chuck says. Minho pulls the ball back out and throws it at your head. You manage to catch it and throw it right back, just as harsh, if not harsher. The boy, Thomas smiled slightly but it quickly disappeared.

"What's wrong?" Alby asked, standing up. The girl took in a breath and looked around the group.

"They're between two of you to go into the Maze first," she says. You snap your eyes to hers.

"The maze? I thought that wasn't supposed to happen yet," you say. The girl looks you over, but nods.

"We're not even supposed to be telling you this," she says pointedly to the boy beside her. He looked a little annoyed, but didn't even glance at her.

"How do you know this?" You ask. The girl and the boy both look at you.

"Uh, we overheard," the girl says. You raise an eyebrow, not believing her at all.

"Do you know who?" Newt asks. Thomas looked at him, glancing at you.

"Yeah. They can't decide between Alby and Y/N," he says. You exchange a look with Alby. He looked a little freaked. You looked down, in thought.

"Can one of us choose for them?" You ask. The guys all look at you.

"Y/N, I know where your mind is going. Don't be stupid," Newt says. You roll your eyes and look at Thomas.

"Can one of us volunteer?" You clarify to the boy. He seems a little surprised and glances at the girl beside him.

"I mean, I guess. But why would you want to?" He asks. You swallow, biting the tip of your tongue in thought. You shift on your feet a little bit.

"One of us has to go in there first, we're all going in eventually," you say. The girl nods and turns towards you a little bit.

"Yes, but you'll be in there alone. For a month. And you won't remember anything," she says. You blink, and after a second you shrug. That, uh, was a little new. You'd heard rumors about the mind wiping but it being confirmed is kind of scary.

"I'd rather it be me than one of these idiots," you say. The girl takes a step towards you.

"You guys would really do that for eachother?" She asks. You roll your eyes.

"Where do I sign up?" You ask in reply. The guys all look at eachother, exchanging worried looks but you just smirked.

"You could request to see Chancellor Paige," the girl says. You nod and gesture towards the door.

"This is me, requesting," you say. The girl exchanged a look with Thomas and you rolled your eyes. "Where do I find her?"

"Don't be stupid, Y/N," Gally says. I scowl at him.

"It's me or Alby. I'm making it easier on them. Trust me, letting them struggle went through my mind. But I'd rather me be in there alone than one of you," you said. Alby steps forward.

"We should talk about this. What if you make a stupid decision in the maze?" He asks. You shrug.

"Then you guys will be there after me. And you'll forget I ever existed. You'll move on," you say. He looks annoyed, his nostrils flaring. But before he could respond, the door opens. The same guard steps in and then the Chancellor. You raise an eyebrow. She looks at Thomas and the girl.

"Thomas, Teresa," she says. You roll your eyes. The two take steps towards her, falling behind her. She then looks at you and Alby. She opens her mouth but you cut her off.

"I want to go into the maze first," you say. Alby grabs your arm and tries to pull you back but you shrug him off. "Seems like a better option at this point." She raises an eyebrow at you, keeping eye contact.

"That's why we're here. We've decided. It's a good thing you want to be first. You're going in, in a few weeks," she says. You stare at her. She nods at the boys and then turns to leave the room. You were frozen in your spot. Newt grabbed your arm, turning you to face him.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" He asks. You shrug him off but your throat had went dry.

A couple days later, you were walking in a hallways when Thomas walked by. He looked a little confused when he saw you but grabbed your arm to stop you. You raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed.

"How are you feeling?" He asks. You were a little caught off guard by the question. Thomas was friends with the guys but you had never met him before last week.

"Like I want a book," you say. He gives you a confused look and you shift on your feet. "I loved to read before all of this. Will I even remember how to read?" I ask, laughing a little and looking down.

"Yeah, you will. You just won't have your memories," he says. You chewed on the inside of your lip and nodded, lifting your head back up to look at him.

"I won't remember the guys," you say. He nods. "Then I guess we'll just have to remake our memories in the maze." He smiles slightly. "Hey, I, uh, I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor. The guys said you were cool, so..."

"Yeah, yeah, what is it?" He asks. You meet his eyes and let out a breath.

"I was wondering if you could try to find out something about someone. I just need to know if they're okay," you say. He studies you for a second before nodding. "It's my little brother. He probably doesn't even remember me he was only two when we were taken. But... he's the only reason I'm still alive. And I need to know if he's okay." Your voice cracked a little, and you looked down shaking your head. "I'm sorry, if you can't-"

"I'll see what I can find out. What's his name?" He asks. You look up.

"Uh, Jack. His names Jack," you tell him. He nods, and gives you a small smile.

"I'll try and figure something out," he says. You give him a watery smile and wipe your nose, looking away again.

"Thank you," you say. He nods.

"Yeah, of course," he says. He studies you for a second. "You're nervous, aren't you?" He asks. You sigh and shake out the jitters in your hands.

"Yeah, I guess. The idea of having no idea where I am. Or getting lost in the maze. Having nothing to live for and purposefully-"

"That's not going to happen," he says. You scoff and cross your arms.

"How do you know? 'Cause the last one seems pretty much like a me thing," you say. He gives me a 'be serious' look.

"I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you," he says. You straighten up, looking him over.

"Why? You barely know me," you say. He smiles and shrugs.

"I like what I know," he says. A smile creeped onto your face.

"Thomas!" Someone calls from the end of the hall. You look over to see Teresa. She looked at you briefly before gesturing for Thomas to come with her.

"I'll find out what I can about your brother," he says, taking a few steps away from you. You watch as he leaves, a little bit in shock.

Two more days past before Thomas came by the room again. When he did you stood up from where you were sitting with Chuck. He looked at you.

"Can I talk to you?" He asks. You nod, following him out into the hallway. He crossed his arms and looked at you. You leaned against the wall, waiting for him to say something. "I found your brother," he says. You straighten up. "He's young, so he won't be put into a maze for a while. And when he does... it's going to be yours." You stared at him for a minute.

"He... he's in our group? How have I not seen him? Why haven't I seen him?" You ask, pushing off the wall.

"Like I said, he's young-"

"Yeah, young! He's nine! He's being raised in this! Is he in our building? Can I see him?" You ask. He puts his hands on your shouldrrs to calm you down. You stare at Thomas with wide eyes.

"It'd be hard to make that happen, but I can try. Until then," he reaches around and pulls something out of the little bag he had brought with him. You knit your brows together. He looked around a little and handed you what he grabbed.

When you looked at it you saw a book. The Lord of the Flies. You chuckled a little looking down at it. But the little laugh turned into a few tears falling. You gave Thomas a watery smile.

"You got me a book?" You ask, laughing a little. He smiled a little and nodded.

"Yeah. It's super old, but it's one they wouldn't miss," he says. You wipe your cheeks, looking down at it.

"Why do you keep doing nice things for me? Is it pity? Because I really don't-"

"No! I told you, I like what I know," he says. You smiled at him and without thinking you hugged him. He hesitated for a second before hugging you back. Your lips touched his clothed shoulder, and after a minute you pulled away.

"Sucks I'm gonna forget about this is in a week," you say, holding up the book a little. He shrugs.

"Maybe." You raised an eyebrow but he just opened the door. "I've got some things to do." You eye him suspiciously for a minute before going back into the room, him leaving.

Tomorrow was the day. You were going into the maze. And you were freaking out. The guys were all sulking. Even Gally. You hop off your bed and catch the ball as Minho tosses it at the ceiling, playing catch with himself. He looks at you, frowning.

You toss it up, and catch it, pointing a finger and waving it around at all of them. "That's it! You guys aren't allowed to be upset. Your last memory with me isn't going to be boring and sad! Sure, I won't remember it, but who knows how long you guys will! Now, stop being boring! Now!" You say, tossing the ball to Alby.

"It should be me," he says. You groan, playfully slapping the side of his head.

"Doesn't matter. Whether I volunteered or not, I got chosen. So it really shouldn't be you."

"What if something happens to you?" Chuck asks. You roll your eyes, grabbing the ball back from Alby and tossing it to Chuck, who catches it a little messily. He was nine.

"Nothing is happening to me! One of these bozos is following me in a month! What's a month? I can survive a month, don't you think." They were all still frowning. "Oh, c'mon put a little faith in me!"

"We do have faith in you! But you without memories is a different story," Newt says, standing up. He puts his hand out towards Chuck who tosses him the ball. "If we have to watch something bad happen to you, we'll be the ones who really get hurt." You sigh and grab the ball as he lightly tosses it to you. He turns and sits back down on his bed.

The door opens and Thomas reveals himself. You knit your brows together, and walk over to him. He gestures to the bed.

"Do you still have the book?" He asks. You nod, grabbing it from under my pillow and handing it to him. He smiles, putting it in his bag quickly. "We have to go. Quickly." He says. Your eyes widen and every guy in the room stands up quickly. "She's not going into the maze yet," Thomas clarifies. A breath of relief is sounded throughout the room. "But I still need you to come with me." You were confused, but followed him regardless.

After walking for a little bit, Thomas started to look around a little bit more. He looked kind of sketchy and you laughed.

"What are you doing?" You ask. He grabs your hand, making you match pace with him as he speeds up a little bit. "Thomas! What-" you stop when you see a child's drawing on a wall. You knit your brows in confusion but then the realization hits you and you stare at Thomas in shock.

He was taking you to see your brother.

[writing-mlm]

Date night

request: tooth rotting fluff, something a lil risky/ if you catch my drift or literally anything (accept angst)

warnings: cursing and smut don't mind canon, there are canonical inaccuracies in this 

"Are those swim trunks?" You covered your mouth to hide the chuckle trying to escape at the sight of Mako's nightwear. The green and white boxers nearly touched his knees and were so wide you almost didn't recognize them.

    "Harhar," Your boyfriend rolled his eyes before turning to face you, his face instantly lights up a bright red. It was morning so it was easy to see the blush on his pale face, not to mention his eyes instantly darted around your body and settled on the door behind you. "Shouldn't you be heading to the arena?" He stammered, taking a step back when you took one forward.

"I dunno if you can tell, but I need to get dressed," You tugged at the knot keeping the towel around your hips. Not that he saw, he was too busy looking away from you despite having seen you naked the night before. Sometimes you dreaded the fact that the self-proclaimed Team Avatar had split nearly a year ago but you learned to cherish the newly found time you could spend with him now. You even had time to move in together, although you had separate rooms. 

"Right," He cleared his throat, going to leave the room when you closed the curtains to your room. "I'll be in my room, if you need me," Letting out a hum you dropped your towel on your desk on your way to the closet while he left the room. As soon as he left, you let out a sigh and ran your hand over the marks he left last night, a grin spreading across your face all the while. 

Even if you loved teasing him outside of sex, you couldn't deny the fact that you were a major bottom. You loved it when he left marks or when he held you close as he degraded you. It was also fun to see him do a complete 180° when you weren't being intimate. 

"We're still on for tonight right?" You asked him in the kitchen as he made breakfast. It was date night but it was also the last match of the season and your team was counting on you since your replacement was less than ideal.

    "Of course," He nodded, moving over to the fridge to grab another egg, his lips catching your own on his way back. "Lin gave me the night off so I'll be able to watch your game," It was rare for him to watch games with his schedule, you both worked at the same times for the most part so it allowed more time together away from work. Though, he'd managed to catch the radio broadcast of the tournament and congratulate or console you.

    "Amazing, maybe I could get a good luck kiss," You grinned, wrapping your arms around his torso, your head resting on top of his while he flipped the eggs into an omelet. Mako hummed, his hips swaying with yours to the music faintly playing from outside 

"And when you win…" He trailed, subtly curving his body into yours. "You can take charge tonight," Kneading his sides, you shifted your head to his neck and pressed a slow kiss to it. His smell mixed with the food filled your nose as you pressed another kiss to his neck, that time it caused a slight moan from Mako. 

    "The eggs are burning," You whispered into his ear before walking away, the smell of slightly burnt eggs leaving your reach. All the while Mako grumbled about distractions. Going over to the fridge, you grabbed a jug of orange juice and poured it into the two cups set at the table. 

"Hope you like burnt eggs because I'm not remaking them," He called over his shoulder, sliding the eggs onto two plates making you laugh.

   "I've eaten literal trash, I'm sure slightly burnt eggs isn't going to be a bother, my love," When you lived with Korra, she often dared you to eat trash and you hardly ever said no. Not because you were afraid to, no, you did it because you didn't want to back down from a dare.

After breakfast, you checked the time and decided to head to the arena to get in a couple of hours of practice while Mako was at work. Even though you had a certain distaste for the prince, with his not so subtle flirting with your boyfriend.

"I love you," You whispered against his lips, your fingers playing with his baby hairs on his neck that he forgot to gel up again.

    "I love you more," He pecked your lips, hesitant to leave but the honk of the car outside pulled him away. Dropping your hands from his hair, you grabbed the keys to his moped and tossed it towards him before grabbing your own set. It was a Christmas gift from Asami around two years ago when you both were dating- when you thought you liked girls.

Like Mako, until you realized your feelings for each other you both thought you were straight. That the feeling Asami (and Korra) gave you both was romantic rather than the familial/platonic that you were actually feeling. It took Asami pointing it out during an event for Korra for you to notice that you had a crush on Mako. It also took another five months for you to ask him out, which didn't go as planned due to the fact that he passed out since you decided to do it in the middle of a fight.

It wasn't one of your brightest moments. 

°°°

"On the left side are the Fire Ferrets!" The announcer yelled into the microphone as you and your team waved at the fans in the stadium. When Mako, Korra, and Bolin gave up pro-bending you decided to take over and brought on a fire bender named Anika and an earth bender named Genji. Anika was a recent addition to the team after the previous fire bender moved and she was way better, in your opinion at least. Genji was still wary of her. 

"And on the right, we have the Red Sand Rabaroos!" The all-girls team waved as you stepped off of the platform and stepped to the left while Anika took the front and Genji went to the right. You tried to spot Mako in the crowd but so many people were standing up and blocking people that it made it nearly impossible so you turned your attention back to the match.

At some point into the first round, you managed to knock Adi, their team's firebender, into the water advancing your team into their territory. With that bit of confidence, you jumped up and used your right leg to swing the water in the direction of Ula, their earth bender just as Anika finished sending a fire shot towards her stomach. The two hits sent her back a zone while Genji got hit in his side by a disc.

In most games, you ignored the announcers play by play since it took you out of the game and it helped a lot during final games but as he called time, you got hit by a disc. The pieces of rock shattered and got inside your helmet, one of them managed to scratch your cheek. 

"Yellow card to Ula just as the first round finishes!" The announcer yelled as you took your helmet off and dusted your face off. "First round goes to the Fire Ferrets!" Letting out a relieved sigh, you let your shoulders slump and walked over to the extended platform with the rest of your team. 

"You good?" Anika asked back in your little room in the area, a small patch of water on your check cleaned the small cut. There were smaller parts of rock inside it so you needed to get it out before you healed it.

   "Yeah," You nodded, moving your fingers to start to clean it, the water glowing a light blue as the familiar tingle rushed over your face. "Just a small cut," Dropping the water back into the bucket, you fixed your hair back and stood up, Anika following you up.

    "Are you-" She tried to speak but was cut off.

"Is it too late for a good luck kiss?" Mako asked from the entrance of the room, his hand on his hip and head tilted to the side.

   "Maybe I need two since you're late," You teased meeting the distance and pulled him close. He placed his hands on your face and rubbed your cheeks while you played with the end of his shirt.

   "Seems reasonable," He grinned as the both of you kissed twice, the second one longer than the first.

"Sorry I'm late, I got caught up with Prince Wu, he wouldn't let me leave until he found a new set of pajamas," He apologized, his hands slowly drifting to your shoulders. "I got in just as the match started, though," Unwrapping your arms from him, you were pulled away by the sound of the cabinet slamming closed. 

"Hey, Mako!" Genji greeted, walking over from outside the room, and shook his hand. "Nice of you to make it, (y/n) was pouting the whole time we were training. Going on about missing you," Gasping, you smacked his arm with the back of your hand and crossed your arms. 

   "Don't act like you weren't complaining about the fact that you had to go against Adi," You recalled, chuckling when he struggled to say something back. 

"I didn't know you had a boyfriend," Anika drifted off, her eyes moving from Mako to you. 

   "Oh, yeah," You nodded, hooking your arm around Mako's shoulder. "Anika, this is my wonderful boyfriend, Mako. He used to be the leader of the Fire Ferrets until he started working with the cops and then he came back and now he's working with Prince Wu," You trailed and the sour look on your face quickly went away before Mako had a chance to see and point it out.

"You make it sound bad," Mako laughed but stopped when the announcer said the next round was about to begin. "I'll see you after you guys win, nice meeting you Anika!" He gave a wave to the others and pressed a quick kiss to your cheek before leaving the room. 

The rest of the tournament went by relatively easy, your team ended up winning with a K.O. from Anika.

"You wanna grab a bite?" Genji asked you, Anika and Mako, on your way out of the arena, his hand running through his hair that was still damp from when he fell off of the platform in the second round. "Same place," It wasn't unusual for you to go and get a victory dinner with the team, it was slowly becoming a tradition. 

   "It's date night," You shook your head as Mako slowly eased his hand into your grip. "next time, though. See you!" Parting ways with the two, you looked over at Mako and gently pulled on his arm to get his attention.

"How about we head home and have some fun…" You trailed off, your eyes shifting from his to your hands as you rubbed the back of his hand. "Maybe we can finally put that rope to use," A while back Mako had gotten some rope that he wanted to use in the bedroom but up until now all of your chances to use them had been a spur of the moment and the idea wasn't even in either of your minds.

   "We better hurry then!" He agreed with a clearing of his throat, his grip tightened around your hand when he saw your moped knowing it would only be so long before you'd be home.

°°°

"Fuck!" You moaned as your face pressed against the white sheets of Mako's bed, unable to hold yourself up due to the fact that your arms were tied behind your back. The rope that held them also held your legs up, spreading you to be in the perfect position for Mako as he rammed himself inside of you. "Harder- ah- please!" Gripping the red robe as you felt Mako angle himself higher, your eyes squeezed shut with anticipation, and the drool that was pooling on the sheets only got bigger.

   "You're so fucking hot like this, (y/n)," He whispered out, his hands coming down to get you off of the bed. His left hand was holding you by your stomach and the other was around your neck, the tips of his fingers pressed gently to the sides of your neck. "Look at you, so eager and ready for me," 

With your back to his chest, you were able to finally see him, his eyes were on the mirror beside the door that gave him the full view he was otherwise unable to see. Your legs were between his, your fingers just brushed the base of his dick that was twitching inside of you. You could feel your own twitch with every accidental thrust that came when he was admiring your body.

"Mako," You whined, dropping your head forward as you tried to bounce yourself on him. "Please, fuck me, please," Stretching your fingers as far as you could, you managed to loosely wrap them around his cock, the base was damp with lube but it wasn't as much as the rest of the shaft since he never bottomed out. His thrusts were always too fast for him to do so.

   "Is that what my prince wants?" He asked coyly, his lips ghosting over the shell of your ear as his hand that was previously around your neck trailed down to your neglected dick. "Hmm? Want me to press that handsome face of yours against the bed and have you screaming my name until you can't speak?" Nodding, you closed your eyes as he gave you a few pumps before you gasped at the feeling of his dick bottoming out.

"God, I love you," He kissed the sides of your neck before he pushed you back down to the bed and resumed his pounding. "Come on, darling, moan for me!" With an arch of your back, you called out his name, your eyes closing as you tried your best to push yourself back on him but with both of his hands keeping you in place you couldn't move.

"Don't stop! Please-" You were cut off by another moan as he gripped your hair, giving it a tug to pick your head up enough so that you could see the mirror.

   "Look at how hot you look, baby," He rasped, his eyes trailing from your ass to the mirror to meet your eyes. "Fuck, yes, keep looking at me," As much as you tried to keep your eyes on him, you found it getting increasingly harder with the tears welling up in your eyes from the pleasure. 

"Why're you crying?" He asked, his pace slowing down in case he was going too far and his hand dropped from your head but you shook your head and started moving your hips to bounce on him making him chuckle.

   "Feels good, keep going," You mumbled, trying to lift your head without his help but he went right back to what he was doing and leaned down. His lips grazed your back, they were slightly chapped but felt good nonetheless.

    "You're ethereal," He grunted, his pace getting slower and his thrust getting sloppy. "If I saw a picture of you I'd think you weren't real," Smiling at the compliments, your eyes closed again as you felt the knot in your stomach that had been there for a good couple of seconds start to unravel.

"I'm cumming," You panted out, your dick bobbing as you came on his sheets while it took him a bit longer. But it wasn't long before he was painting your insides white, the few twitches he gave along with it nearly tipped you over again. 

     "We should do this more often," He grinned while undoing the rope with a single tug at a certain loop, your arms and legs fell down without a moments notice and you collapsed onto the bed. "Poor baby," He cooed as you laughed and rolled over, cum now dripping out of you and smeared on your chest.

"I love you, too," You said, hooking your arms around his neck and gave him a tired smile. "But I'm so close to passing out," Mako only hummed and hooked his arms around you before he picked you up.

   "Go ahead, I'll clean you up," Nodding, you laid your head on his shoulder and closed your eyes, letting the sleep that had washed over you pull you under while Mako took you to the bathroom.

[ruewrites]

bestie can we get some solodeus angst

The Next Step

AO3

WBT

Ship: Solomon/Asmo

Word Count: 3081

Warnings: None

A/N: Hey Anon! So I struggled with this request for a bit. So I decided to write a little oneshot for WBT. I hope you like it and I hope this may be what you had in mind for some angst (with a happy ending)!

“So do you wanna do something this week? We could go check out that movie  we thought might be bad. Frankenzilla’s Aquatic Monstrocity Two?” he tried to make his voice sound as tempting as possible. The semester was coming to a close  and Asmo missed his boyfriend. It felt like he hadn’t seen him outside of the one class they had together and even then their only greeting was a quick kiss before running to the next place. 

Sure they had coffee trips still, but both of them were too exhausted to usually say much and then classes interrupted any other time they might have. 

Solomon sighed on the other end of the line. The soft tapping of his keyboard reached Asmo on the other end of the line. Was it another application or course work this time? Perhaps he was responding to another email from the staff at one of the schools he applied to. There were many options, and each one twisted a knot in his stomach.

“I can’t tonight. I’m overloaded right now. You know, assignments destined to kill me and all. If not the assignments, the applications.” Despite the chuckle tinting his voice, Asmo could hear how tired Solomon was.  He could practically picture the piles of empty or lukewarm coffee cups surrounding him. It was a familiar sight, and one that Asmo would often see when trying to coax him to bed to relax and get some sleep. That was another thing Asmo had been missing: cuddling. The way Solomon’s arms would wrap around his waist, or when Asmo would commandeer Solomon’s chest as his own personal pillow. 

Quality time was something Asmo desperately needed, especially before the next step came… And graduation was rapidly approaching.

“Well, we don’t have to see the movie!” Asmo’s voice was coming out quickly, and he hated it.

“Asmo-”

“We can go walk in the park-”

“I really ca-”

“Or we could go to our favorite cafe! The one off campus. Wouldn't it be-”

“Asmodeus.” 

Asmo’s words died on his tongue. Solomon snapped at him. Solomon never snapped at him. Not once in the entire year they’d been together as a couple. When they were younger maybe, but not in their more recent history. It made Asmo sick to his stomach.

 A small whimper left his throat and his fingers gripped his phone a little tighter. 

“Fuck,” Asmo swore he heard Solomon slump back onto the couch, “Asmo, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. Asmodeus I-”

“It’s fine,” Asmo was fighting back tears, “It’s fine really-”

“No. No it’s not I shouldn’t talk to you like that, sleep deprived or not. I know you Asmodeus, I know it’s not just fine,” Solomon finally let exhaustion overtake him, his voice was dripping with it, “And I really am sorry, I can’t hang out right now. I want to, I really really do. Honest.”

“It’s fine,” the words came out softer this time before silence stretched over the line. 

Solomon was the first one to break it, “I love you and I miss you.”

“I love you too.” Asmo was just barely keeping himself together, and he had no doubt that Solomon knew this. Solomon knew him too well.

“I’ll make it up to you as soon as I can. I promise. I love you, so very much Asmodeus. Goodnight, I’ll see you in class tomorrow if I’m still alive.”

Asmo didn’t even crack a smile at Solomon’s attempt at a joke when he heard the familiar click signaling the end of their call.

They were seniors. They didn’t have much left. What was the next step?

At the news that Mammon could pull some strings to get Asmo some sort of job in the fashion world, he’d been elated. He’d talked about it days upon days on ends with Solomon, and Solomon had been so happy for him. Meanwhile Solomon had been pacing back and forth, waiting for some sort of response from a master’s program. He’d said he’d be happy getting into any school, lucky even, but Asmo knew him. Solomon had his favorite, his ambitious Solomon aimed for the stars and Asmo had no doubt in his mind that he’d end up right where he wanted to be.

But that scared him.

It made him feel terrible. He should be supportive of and happy for Solomon, yet something was holding him back. At this rate, they would only have the summer together, and that wasn’t enough time. The summer would fly by before Asmo knew it and then he’d maybe have to help Solomon move into some fancy dorm somewhere far away from him and his love. 

At one point he’d been excited about the next step in his life, but now graduation just seemed like a looming storm overhead.

His mind was wandering and he couldn’t stop it.

He’d had breakups over less. Expecting Solomon to stay with him after they graduated was selfish, and yet he dared to hope for it. The best he could hope for was that Solomon asked for a break. Was it any better? No. But at least Asmo would have the illusion of hope. People broke up with Asmo over him deciding to dress down or for being too clingy. Then again, he knew he’d dated shallow people in the past and Solomon wasn’t shallow.

But it was still selfish for him to want what he did.

But a part of him didn’t care.

Asmo wasn’t stupid. He knew Solomon was the best he’d ever had. He was attentive, remembered when Asmo said little things, made him feel good in more ways than one, and was nothing short of wonderful. There was no way Asmo was going to let himself lose him and yet-

“He’s going to break up with me.”

“You don’t know that.”

One of the cats of the cafe rubbed against his side. Perhaps she could feel his sorrow. Asmo had just finished sobbing in his room before texting Satan. His pillow had become completely damp with tears and his eyes were red and puffy and looked as if they were made out of glass. Satan could keep his thoughts level and talk Asmo out of whatever negativity currently plagued his thoughts.

“But he hasn’t been spending time with me! Our normal hang out times have been completely run over!” Asmo sniffled, half-heartedly bringing his tea closer to his lips, “This is how breaking up normally starts.”

Satan shook his head, “You really think he went to all that work to get with you only to break up with you? Didn’t he get a tattoo to represent your relationship or something like that when the two of you had barely been dating for a month?”

“Three months. He wanted to get it a month in, but it took me three months to the day of our anniversary to finish the sketch.” Asmo’s fingertips lightly traced the rim of the cup, eyes fixed on his reflection inside. He’d wanted that tattoo to be perfect. So many scrapped ideas had flown around in his head before he was finally happy with one, that and he’d been nervous about Solomon getting a tattoo dedicated to them. They’d gone to every appointment together. Asmo said he wanted to make sure the art was good, what he meant was that he wanted to make sure Solomon didn’t change his mind. 

Had it really all been for nothing?

Suddenly his phone buzzed.

💖Honey Dearest💖: Hey

💖Honey Dearest💖: Look I feel really bad

💖Honey Dearest💖: And I’m very sorry

💖Honey Dearest💖: Incredibly sorry

💖Honey Dearest💖: You deserve so much Asmo, and my time for you has been taken up by other things

💖Honey Dearest💖: But I’ll have free time this weekend and I can make reservations for us

💖Honey Dearest💖: I need to talk to you about something

💖Honey Dearest💖: Something that’s been on my mind

Asmo’s heart stopped. With shaking hands he shot up, startling the poor kitty next to him. He shoved his phone into Satan’s face, “See? See??? He wants to talk so he can let me down easy! Oh I’m going to lose him!”

“Asmo hush. You’re startling the cats,” Satan’s brow furrowed as he looked over the text messages, “He’s not saying anything about breaking up with you. It actually seems like he’s putting effort in to see you.”

“You don’t know that! I’ve been here before. I know this isn’t good I- I-”

Oh he was the definition of a mess right now.

“And you don’t know that he’s going to break up with you. You’re not the only one who’s  dated people Asmo,” Satan pushed the phone back into his hands and went to pick the forgotten, luckily unspilled, cup up. “Send him a text and at least hear him out. I think you're reading too much into this.” 

Asmo had drowned Satan out. He vaguely saw him go behind the counter to start remaking his drink again, but other than that Asmo didn’t process a thing. 

Keeping Solomon was his main goal. He needed to figure out how to convince him that they were good for each other, that they could make this work. If he did leave him, Asmo knew that was it. He knew Solomon was the best he could get, and he wasn’t about to lose his chance at a happy future.

After texting Solomon an agreement to the meetup and deciding on a place, the rest of Asmo’s days leading up to the weekend were consumed with worry. In the end he’d made a list of reasons as to why they should stay together and how they could make everything work. If he was being honest with himself, he knew this list was more for him. He wanted to remember his reasons for when the time came. The last thing he wanted was to be left blubbering in public.

He’d made himself up nice. If Solomon was planning to break up with him, he wanted to assure he looked fine as hell and make him second guess the decision. It’d been a while since he’d done himself up this well, maybe he should do it more often. He used to do this all the time with partners because he wanted to make sure they loved him. But Solomon had loved him so matter what. He loved looking at Asmo first thing in the morning before he did himself up and when he was still in one of Solomon’s shirts. 

Asmo had never felt this comfortable in a relationship before. He’d never felt so safe before.

…

He was going to miss that so much…

The feeling of being safe.

Being wanted.

Being adored.

Despite his worries, the whistle that left Solomon’s lips sent a blush to his cheeks. 

“You really look nice.”

Solomon’s hair was slicked back the way Asmo liked it. Why did he also have to put effort into his appearance? Asmo felt even more anxious now, looking at him in the doorway. Solomon was the only one who’d ever made his heart flip like this. It had been impossible to calm himself all the way over  to the restaurant.

Solomon had always been good at picking up when something was off, and Asmo had to wonder what he was thinking. Then again, even though Asmo was being uncharacteristically quiet, Solomon seemed uncharacteristically chatty. Asmo knew he could get that way about things he enjoyed, but this wasn’t one of those moments. Instead Solomon was tripping over his words as he discussed… nothing really. The sinking feeling in his stomach continued as they took their food and left once again to a little secluded place in the park. Solomon has suggested it, he mentioned that it might be best if they could be alone for a bit.

It didn’t make Asmo feel better.

Eating didn’t really seem possible. Instead, Asmo was pushing the food around inside his box. He’d take a bite eventually, as soon as he was sure it’d go down alright. 

“I heard back from the program I applied to,” Solomon started, “I got in.”

“Oh? I’m so happy for you! Solomon that’s wonderful!” Asmo hoped his cheeriness didn’t sound forced.

Are you going to leave? 

“Yeah! It’s a huge relief. One less thing I have to worry about.” Solomon went silent now. The inches between them felt like miles to Asmo. He should feel happier for him. His boyfriend’s dreams were coming true, he knew Solomon had wanted this program more than anything. Why couldn’t he be happy for him?

The soft shutting of Solomon’s to go box brought Asmo’s attention back. Their shoulders brushed and Solomon kept the contact.

“I’m happy I can have this with you,” he murmured, “I know I haven’t been around much this half of the semester, and I do mean it when I say I’m sorry about that. You deserve only good things Asmodeus. You do.”

Asmo stiffened.

“The past year has been nothing but amazing, you’ve been nothing but amazing.”

He was tripping over his words. He’d heard this phrasing before.

“I mean every moment I’ve known you has been a pleasure, but having you close like this, it’s been… wonderful.”

Now. He should say it now. Say how he’d give up an easy in to his dream and follow Solomon wherever he went if it meant they could stay together. The past year had been a dream and Asmo wasn’t ready to wake up and let go yet. He’d go to the ends of the world for Solomon, he’d give up his life for him. The future seemed so blank without Solomon, and Asmo was scared to enter it without him.

“So, what do you say Asmodeus Morningstar? Do you want to take the next step together?” 

Wait.

What?

“Will you marry me?”

Asmo hadn’t realized his eyes were closed. Kneeling in front of him, with the most gorgeous ring Asmo had ever seen, was Solomon. He looked so hopeful yet nervous. There was only one thing Asmo knew, and that was that he wasn’t a pretty crier.

Through blurry eyes he watched as panic overtook his boyfriend as he scrambled to stand up, “Hey hey hey. It’s okay.  We don’t have to-”

Asmo wanted to say something more, wanted to say something profound and loving to Solomon. Instead what came out was unintelligible blubbering for his boyfriend to decipher.

“What do I mean by that?” Solomon asked, “Well I don’t want to force you to marry me. I just thought it would be nice to ask before graduation, and I know I haven’t been able to see you and-”

As Asmo wiped the tears from his eyes, Solomon took in a breath and slowly let it out, “I love you, and even if I couldn’t see you I’ve had a lot of time to think about this.”

Asmo wrapped his arms around Solomon’s neck as he sniffled, and for the first time since their last talk on the phone he found himself smiling. This isn’t what he thought their proposal would look like at all. “I’d like to get married.”

“You would?”

“Yes,” looking into Solomon’s eyes and Asmo almost choked on his words again, “Yes.”

Kissing Solomon had always been a heavenly experience, but Asmo couldn’t help but laugh as his fiance left his lips to cover every inch of his skin in love. Asmo also didn’t miss the way his hands shook when he put that ring on his finger. 

After all of his anxieties, this was definitely a breath of fresh air.

Although, he wouldn’t be telling Satan about how right he’d been.

***

“You suuuuure we can’t get a house?”

“Asmo we won’t be living there forever, we can rent out an apartment and then go house shopping.”

“Mmh, I still like the idea of having a house.”

Asmo sat in between his fiance’s legs, Solomon’s chin resting on his shoulder as the two of them looked over their options. There were a few nice places between Solomon’s grad school and where Asmo would have to drive for his new employer. He’d made sure Mammon knew where the school was so he had a radius to look at. Luckily, Mammon seemed to know a guy. 

This whole situation had been lucky. Asmo wanted to follow Solomon so badly, talking on the phone or video chatting simply just wouldn’t be enough! Solomon’s only condition had been if Asmo could also pursue his dreams as well. No way was he going to let him  not take an opportunity if something was offered to him! 

But it worked out, it always did. It always would one way or another.

“One day we’ll get a nice house, make it all our own,” Solomon mouthed against his neck, “As soon as we get married.”

Giggles left Asmo’s mouth as Solomon’s mouthing turned into tiny butterfly kisses, “I’d like that. But now that you mention it, we never got to celebrate our engagement did we?” 

Solomon paused and looked up at Asmo with a quirked brow. “Celebrate?” his arms tightened around Asmo’s waist, “What did you have in mind?”

Oh Asmo loved that wicked smirk.

“I wanna ceeelebraaate,” he giggled, leaning further into Solomon’s chest.

“I heard you, but that doesn’t tell me what you want.”

Asmo was about to go further when Simeon cleared his throat. He stared at the couple from the archway leading to the kitchen, “Mindful. Someone will be arriving home soon. Don’t make me banish you from the living room.”

“Ah, sorry Simeon, don’t worry, we’ll be mindful.”

“You better, I already have to think about looking for a new roommate because of  you.”

The tone between them was playful, they’d become relatively good friends since Solomon started living there from what Asmo could see. 

“I’m sure I could help,” Asmo chirped, “Maybe one of my brothers or someone else we know might be interested.”

“Thank you Asmodeus, I appreciate that. Now behave, both of you.”

When Simeon disappeared, Solomon leaned close to Asmo’s ear, “We’ll celebrate as soon as we move into the new apartment.”

“Oooh I like that! I guess that means we should pick one out then yes?”

“Oh my smart fiance is very incredibly right.”

Solomon leaned in for a kiss and Asmo gladly obliged. 

While the future was still uncertain to a point, they had each other, and they’d be taking their next steps together.

[loreweaver-universe]

And that’s...the show.

What a clever way to get Lake off the train.  On multiple levels!  Not only was it clever in-character, but her escape came from her accepting her nature at long last--which was what would have brought her own number down to zero.  That’s such an excellent way to end her journey--truly, she was the same as a passenger the whole time.

That was a good finale.  Not the action-packed ending that season 1 got, but it didn’t need to be, really.  It was different from Tulip’s journey in ways where a bigger action sequence than what we got wouldn’t have been appropriate.  In fact, the fight with Sieve feels kind of like an afterthought--it wasn’t obviously, it tied off an important loose end and gave Alan Dracula something to do in the final two episodes, but it didn’t really feel like a proper focus of the episode.

Showing off One-One’s weird blue-and-orange morality system was really cool.  Watching him actually get trapped in logic loops was fascinating, and I think he was used VERY well here.

Alan Dracula was a fun sideshow character, but often felt like he was just there for the animators and writers to play around with, rather than an essential part of the team like Atticus and One-One were in season 1.

Jesse was a good deuteragonist!  Shut up, Tumblr spellcheck, that’s a word.  Jesse’s journey was simple--come to terms with the fact that he and his friends were bullies, and it was very deftly done.  The fact that the train reorders its cars and constructs them for individual passengers’ journeys makes it interesting that his final obstacle was confronting the Apex--the train even works other passengers into its plans.  Which, ironically, makes the Apex more denizen than passenger.  Anyways, Jesse’s journey was simple and well-handled, which is good because he wasn’t actually who the story was about.

That would be Lake.  Mirror Tulip.  Horseradish, as I’ve been tagging her since season 1.  The Chrome Car was my second-favorite episode of season 1, due to excellent character drama, excellent horror, and excellent writing all around.  I remember wishing very much that Lake had joined Tulip on her journey--clearly, the people writing the show wanted to keep telling her story, too, because we got a whole season of it.  Lake’s journey of self-discovery and self-actualization was a really fascinating one.  Watching her slowly come out of her prickly shell until she was finally ready to accept herself for who she was was an excellent journey.  I really do think it’s SUCH good writing that she basically got her own number down to zero right when she got One-One to let her off the train.

Mace and Sieve turned out to be excellent villains, as well--Mace more than Sieve, really, but Mace got more focus and had more presence, and rightfully so.  My favorite episode of the season focuses on him and Tulip, after all.  What an excellent bastard.

All in all, a good season, but not quite as strong as the first one.  That’s not a low bar to fail, though.  Excellent work all around, and I’m delighted with the ending.

The final episode just wasn’t as strong an ending as season one’s though, and wasn’t the best episode in season 2 by a couple places.  The Tape Car was creepier and focused on horror, which I liked a lot, and The Wasteland was just fantastic.  It also has to compete with some VERY strong episodes in season 1--which, again, is not a low bar to fail.  All in all, I’d place The Number Car at my new #3 for season 2, between The Lucky Cat Car (which was very funny, but didn’t have the emotional or dramatic stuff The Number Car did) and The Tape Car (which I’ve already covered), as well as my new #7 overall, between The Lucky Cat Car and The Cat’s Car, which did drama and horror VERY well.

That’s it for Infinity Train, at least until we maybe get a third season!  In a couple days, I’m going to make a post on my Patreon asking for show suggestions for what to replace Infinity Train with in the main slots, and then we’ll have the poll to replace it a few days after that.  I’ll keep you posted as to what the results of that are!  In the meantime, up next is going to be this month’s Patron Picks--as usual, I’ll be doing Paranoia Agent, Baccano, and then A Place Further Than the Universe.  After that, we’ll be getting back to She-Ra for a solid while--I’ll be starting Season 2, so stay tuned for that!

Streamwise, I streamed the first part of my blind playthrough of Transistor yesterday (which you can view here) and will be starting what I think will be the rest of the game shortly.  If you want to tune into that live, head on over to my Twitch channel and give me a follow!  That should be happening within the hour.

As always, thank you all for tuning in, and thank you very much to the 62 patrons who make it possible for me to do this for a living!  I’ll see you next time!

IN OTHER NEWS:

I recently completed my blind playthrough of Transistor!  You can see the full playlist of those streams by clicking here!

I recently completed my playthrough of Final Fantasy VII Remake!  You can see the full playlist of those streams by clicking here!

I recently completed my playthrough of the second story campaign in Fire Emblem: Three Houses!   You can view all the streams of the Golden Deer and Black Eagles routes I have done by clicking here!

If you’d like to help me pay my rent, buy me some food, or help with my bills and medicine, please use my direct donation link!  If you’d like to support me per liveblog completed every month, please pledge to my Patreon! Becoming a patron not only allows you to vote on what shows I do whenever I choose a new one, but also grants access to the community Minecraft server to $5 patrons or higher!

You should also go pledge to Gio’s Patreon–our Discord server maintenance tech, creator of Rubybot, and community Minecraft server overlord deserves far more than I can afford to pledge to him by myself.

If you’d like more of me and my content:

My Episode Lists master page, where you can find every show and liveblog I’ve done!

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It’s your kindness and support that lets me do this stuff, and I wouldn’t be where I am without all of you to do it for.  Thank you all so much for your support, and for tuning in every episode!

OTHER PEOPLE YOU MAY ENJOY:

I may have been one of the earlier Steven Universe liveblogs, but a whole community of livebloggers has sprung up over the last five years!   I linked to a bunch individually for a few wrap-ups, but honestly, this end-slate is already eight billion miles long, so I’m just gonna link to my links page.  Click here if you want recommendations of other livebloggers, or other neat people, or webcomics and podcasts that I recommend.

[theladyfromplanetx]

Dear Lawrence Kasdan So, You Say You Love Han Solo

Dear Lawrence,

I hear there’s a bit of a kerfuffle going on about the Han Solo movie you’re EPing and have co-written with your son. I wish I could tell you I was sorry to hear that, but in all honesty I’ve been hoping for the last few years that someone would kill this project with fire and then nuke it from space for good measure. Sure, most of the reason that large chunks of the nerd world have responded to the very idea of this film is that a lots of people, including me, think it’s a fool’s errand for any actor other than Harrison Ford to strap on Han Solo’s DL-44 blaster. But ever since the release of The Force Awakens, I’ve had a second reason for saying:

to this venture.

I kind of hate to say it, Lawrence, but it’s not me: It’s you.

You see, the The Force Awakens did something to me that even The Star Wars Holiday Special, painfully delivered prequel lines about sand, and the very existence of Jar Jar Binks couldn’t do: The Force Awakens made me regret that Star Wars is still a thing.

It made me regret that children were being introduced to something that used to be innocent and good-hearted by a film that shows that the end game of youthful heroism is failure and running away (and that Han should have stuck to his initial demand of $10,000 all in advance in A New Hope).

It made me angry that nobody among the-powers-that-be looked at it, took a deep breath and said “wait a minute. In shadow-rebooting A New Hope, do we really need to make two of the biggest characters in film history pathetic runaway losers and the other a heartless automaton who would kill her son on (not a)Death Star unless hapless sucker Han showed up to do her bidding and die trying to bring him home…even though that request made not a lick of sense given that the Force-sensitive parent who could actually have had an influence was the bidding mother would have just blown Kylo clear out of the sky had Han not shown up to (1) solve her problem by getting yet another (not a)Death Star shield down and (2) die?“

It made me rue how far we’ve fallen as a critical thinkers when we can be hoodwinked so easily that we spend a couple of billion at the movie theatre on a film that’s dressed up to look and feel like Star Wars, but is utterly life- and hope-denying at its core and presents a kind of nihilism that we’d probably reject as an audience if the words STAR WARS weren’t plastered on it.

Oh, also, the story doesn’t really make any sense.

As you can see, eighteen months later, I can still get a bit aggrieved by all this. However, to quote one of the most egregiously jaw-dropping placeholder lines in The Force Awakens, that is “a story for another day.” (Sorry, Lawrence and JJ, but in a past life, which I call the late 1990s, I went to film school and put in my time in the screenwriting trenches as well. You know and I know that line right there would have gotten you laughed out of an on-line screenwriting class at an unaccredited diploma mill.)

The story for today is that I’m not really keen on the idea of you touching the character of Han Solo again, both because of TFA and because of whatever happened to upend the Solo standalone’s directors. The weight of the evidence coming from the usual suspects (aka unnamed sources) is that the disagreements over the tone of the film and the character of Solo became so vast that somebody had to go. Lord/Miller, as I’ve read in the millions of lines of digital type about this and to which I’m now adding, saw the film and the character as funny, while you insisted that Solo was not funny, but was selfish and sarcastic. Other descriptors of Solo that have been thrown around and attributed to you re: Solo are “narcissistic,” “uncaring,” “out for himself,” and “mean.”

Oh, and you’ve also been quoted as saying you “love Han Solo.”

And therein lies the problem.

Now no one wants a Han Solo movie…hm. I could just stop there for a lot of the fandom, but I’ll proceed.

No one wants a Han Solo movie in which Solo keeps trying to get Chewie to pull his finger, but I’d like to propose, Larry, that perhaps Lord/Miller weren’t the only problem here, because it seems that you actually don’t love the same character that the audience loved in the Original Trilogy. You love the darker version of the character that was tossed around in story conferences and in early drafts and you love the darker story that Lucas toyed with, but decided against using (thank the Makers) in Return of the Jedi. You love the Han Solo that Lucas and Leigh Brackett introduced as the “before” Han at the beginning of A New Hope, but not the “after” he became by the end of that film and the “after-after” he became by the end of ROTJ. Now that Lucas and his lighter view of the Star Wars universe are no longer on the scene, it feels like you’re trying to retcon Han Solo to win a battle you fought and lost long ago and in the process create a smuggler whose heart isn’t actually made of gold anymore.

I know that’s not a very nice thing for me to say, but I can’t help but say it, given how you and JJ had your way with the character in TFA, because he certainly wasn’t the character we left at the end of ROTJ. Nor, I should note, is he the character that we met in Bloodline, the Disney/Lucasfilm novel released after TFA and set five years before it, in which Han and Leia are still happily married and Han is pretty much an identifiable older version of ROTJ Han. TFA Han was an awkward mash-up of a script portraying an aged version of the character we met at the beginning of A New Hope and an actor playing hard against the script to show us a broken man wandering the galaxy and trying to make it work.

That impetus — to remake a beloved hero in a less heroic image — is kind of ugly in any context, despite all the folks who will insist “BUT IT’S REAL” as if real had anything to do with a franchise that for forty years has appealed to the little, innocent part of us that still wants to believe in Santa. It’s particularly a problem when applied to the character of Solo and the role that character plays for Star Wars.

Solo’s not the kid who, twenty minutes into the Original Trilogy, decides he wants to be a Jedi and spends the next five hours and forty minutes of film becoming just that. He’s not the character with royal roots who has been fighting for the good guys since before the first film started and continues to do so until the trilogies end.

He’s the character who has to find his better angels, who has to change in order to become the hero/man/boyfriend/partner/friend he decides he wants to be. He’s a guy who has to overcome his natural instincts for self-preservation. He needs to learn to say “I’m sorry.” He’s snarky, FUNNY, and sometimes grudgingly follows the conscience he’d rather not have in order to do the right thing. He’s not always really convinced about the whole “religion” thing, he’s had some rough times, he’s done some rotten things, and he likes money.

It’s no big mystery why Solo is a fan favorite. It’s Harrison Ford, yes, but its also because Solo is as much like all of us as someone can be in a universe with hyperdrives, lightsabers, and Wookiees. He gives the Star Wars universe some identifiable grounding — and HUMOR. (If you don’t believe me, see: prequels.)

And by the end of Return of the Jedi, Solo became the person we’d all like to believe we are or can be— the one whose better angels have won out and given him a real shot at a happily ever after.

Oh, right, that didn’t happen. Well, it did for 30 plus years, and then it didn’t. Thanks, Larry. Always good to remind myself of Han Solo’s utterly pointless death scene in TFA, a death that many of us steeled ourselves against because we were pretty sure it was coming. It was gutting, though, not because it happened, but because it came at the top of act three of a film that had already stripped the character of his OT arc and also because the death was utterly devoid of heroic meaning or salvific result, given that all it did in the context of the film was turn Darth Emo into Darth Lyle Menendez and make Leia sit down and look somewhat upset.

But it can’t just be a pointlessly sad death of a character who, for all the talking up JJ did about cool rogue Han Solo, wasn’t played that way and didn’t come off that way, right? We all know that when you take down an iconic character like that, you do it with the endgame all planned out. You know exactly how that death — of a parent who rouses himself from his brokenness and ennui to risk his life for son he believes is likely already beyond his reach because the woman he loves has asked him to — will reverberate across the sequel trilogy and, ultimately, we’ll see that Solo’s final act WAS heroic. In fact, it was Kenobi-like. Aslan-like. Christ-like. You gave Solo the ultimate 180-degree arc, didn’t you? He died to save his kid, he died so everybody else could live, and you know it, right, Larry? You’ve got this whole thing mapped out, right, bud? I mean, c’mon, you love Han Solo, so you wouldn’t strip the character of his growth, throw him down an endless shaft (holy cow, dude, you literally shafted him!), and walk away to write another movie about him NOT being a hero, would you?

Oh.

Maybe you did.

So…you’re telling me that it’s possible Han’s final act was utterly futile, solely a device to tell us Darth Emo is really, really evil ? I think we already knew that, given the platypus mask, Vader lust, and the blowing up of a solar system. But, hey, thanks for getting people in our already messed-up world to argue that patricide can be justified; what’s been missing from our pop culture crap stew for the last decade is Star Wars fans arguing that the vastly immoral may be moral because they identify with the patricidal emo character whom they want to end up with the Mary Sue whose mind he attacked in the TFA version of a rape scene. I’ll never know how you avoided feminist outrage there, but count your lucky stars that feminists were so happy to have a female (not)Luke Skywalker in Star Wars that they overlooked that.

So now you move onto the Han Solo film, wherein, after meeting loser, regressed, lost, runaway and dead Han in TFA, we’re going to meet selfish, sarcastic, mean, narcissistic, and out for himself but not funny Han.

Can’t wait. By which I mean I could have happily waited forever, because I wasn’t waiting. I WASN’T WAITING, LARRY.

I get it, though. I’ve seen most of your work. You’re a serious filmmaker — you went from Larry to Lawrence. The Big Chill, Grand Canyon, Accidental Tourist, Mumford. I’ve seen ’em all. God help me, I even saw Dreamcatcher…but that’s a story for another day. What I know from those films is that when you’re calling the shots, nothing is black and white. Everything is a shade of gray.

What I also know is that those films are not made for the part of us that still wants to believe in Santa and that gray is not a good color for Star Wars. Star Wars became the cultural touchstone it is precisely because it jumped into a very gray period in our history, with gas lines and Soviets and malaise, with a black-and-white, good versus evil morality that made everyone just a little bit happier when they left the theatre. You didn’t question if the heroes were heroes or the villains were villains. In its own goofball way, Star Wars — with its complete faith in the power of hope — was countercultural.

Now? The new Star Wars took one look around at our current culture and instead of being countercultural, happily jumped right into the morass and is swimming around in the sludge of relativism. Heroes become failures and run away. Evil characters are given some sort of justification for being evil. Rebels fighting against the Empire are portrayed as assassins instead of people fighting a monstrous evil. The Resistance is some kind of non-governmental paramilitary group. Luke Skywalker thinks the Jedi must end. Oh, and the last two films you’ve written focus on a less noble version of the character you claim to love.

Star Wars is starting to look like a reflection of the worst of us as adults and as a society, instead of a goofy, lovable, out-of-this-galaxy inspiration to kids (and the kid in everyone) to be the best version of themselves.

Hey, I’m sure everyone at Lucasfilm is just fine with this, because these films, despite their shaky worldview, are also printing money, but, Larry, consider that maybe Wonder Woman has proven that there’s still a huge audience for naivete, goodness, and hope. Since you now have Ron Howard, who’s specialized in empathetic leads even in complex films over the years, can you maybe jettison the gray and try to create just one more time not the Han Solo that you love, but the Han Solo that is a combination of you, George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Harrison Ford, and Leigh Brackett?

That’s the Han — the funny, snarky, constantly-irked one who talked a good game about being out for himself but somehow never was when the chips were down — that the audience has loved for forty years, because, in the end, CS Lewis was as right about this as he was about most things:

Oh, and if you could de-age Harrison Ford so he could play the role, that’d be great too…kthxbai.

Best,

Annie

Written in 2017 by Anne Michaela.

[8stepsoffthebeatenpath]

Extraordinary You Thoughts Ep 1-8 feat. Differences From the Webtoon

Okay, so first things first... I AM LOVING THIS SHOW SO FREAKING MUCH! I love absolutely everything about it! The characters are amazing, Dan Oh is so much fun, I can’t get enough of her. Haru is so beautiful and cute and ahhh. Kyung is such a jerk but he wears it so well??? Plus, knowing he really doesn’t have much choice in the matter helps. Ju Da and Nam Ju’s story is actually so much fun BECAUSE they’re in a Boys Over Flowers remake but our mains are aware of how dumb it is so it’s actually very enjoyable!

I am actually looking forward to watching this one every week, it’s given me my much-needed drama obsession for the next couple of months or so.

It’s VERY different from the webtoon, but I think it kind of works (for me) because of that? Like, I keep looking forward to figuring out what those changes mean. I am excited to see where they lead! But I do want to talk about them for a sec. 

A short disclaimer: when I talk about the “comic” I am actually talking about “Secrets” - the original comic from which Dan Oh comes and lives inside. It’s a romance comic that has its own plot and all the characters of the webtoon are part of it.

When I talk about the webtoon, I am talking about the actual webtoon that you can read, in which Dan Oh is a self-aware comic character trying to change her fate as an extra. 

SPOILERS FOR THE WEBTOON!!

The Set-Up

In the Drama they went for a more “Boys Over Flowers”-esque type of story, with three hot friends who are the highlight of their rich kids' high school, and the one poor girl who transferred in and has the guts to stand up to the leader of them. It has scenes like girls ganging up on her to bully her, the leader saying “don’t touch what’s mine” and being all contrary, the special F4 A3 club room/space that makes you wonder about this school funding and if this is really where it should be going and more familiar hits.

And you know what? I totally get it! It’s a cognetive shortcut. We don’t need anyone to explain to us what’s going on in the Comic Plot because we’ve all been there and done that before, allowing the drama to focus on Dan Oh and her reactions to everything around her. Plus, it allows for some very fun commentary from Dan Oh that proves dramas have come a long way and now recognize how exceptionally dumb and cringy much of what we see in them is. 

I do wonder if they are going to incorporate their original backstories somehow, the same as they are doing with Baek Kyung, because the comic is still named Secrets, and that was a very big part of why. 

Basically, In the Webtoon, you still have three hot friends, but they don’t have their own special area and all of those things. Many of the BOF scenes are not part of this setup. Instead, Ju Da, the main character of the Comic “Secrets” is actually a childhood friend of the comic’s second male lead, Do Hwa. As a child, she went through a horrific experience, which Do Hwa is aware of. She has PTSD and selective amnesia, which means she gets panic attacks from loud sounds and glass shards but has never actually dealt with her trauma because she can’t remember it. She transferred to their school with Nam Joo’s help after her grandmother’s death and has a contract with him that has to do with his secret. They also share a childhood connection. Their relationship is different and more complex than what it is in the drama (so far). Therefore, their interactions are of a different nature than they are in the drama.

Part of what is so great about the webtoon is that it deals with really difficult subjects. The drama so far looks so fluffy and fun in comparison, that I can’t help but wonder how these elements would be incorporated, if at all.

Dan Oh & her Family Life

Webtoon Dan Oh is a much more reserved character than Drama Dan Oh. She is not innocent sweet in her “comic version”, and she is not energetic say-what-comes-to-her-mind in her self aware version, either. She is cool, both in a “she’s so cool!” meaning and “wow, she doesn’t show many emotions” type of way. 

Her parents care mostly about money, and actually, don’t pay her much attention. They use her about the same way Baek Kyung’s asshole dad uses him. They are both alive and in the picture, too.

And, most importantly, she is terminally ill from the get-go and she finds that out in her “character concept” from the comic. So, her actions are in part directed by the unfairness of knowing that the author probably doesn’t even mean for her to survive until the end of the comic. Her story is full of emotions, heartbreak, and hope, and it’s really touching. But she does it all more subtly and quietly than Drama Dan Oh. 

Webtoon Dan Oh is also very much an extra. At least as far as the main comic story is concerned. Yes, she obviously has her scenes with Baek Kyung that give her some more story and relevancy, but in most of the scenes she appears in with regards to Ju Da and Num Joo’s story, she is a one-liner character if at all. She often wonders why the author brought her all the way to the scene just for this. 

Drama Dan Oh is very different, and, look, I ain’t complaining. Drama Dan Oh is all I said Webtoon Dan Oh is not, and that makes sense. In a Webtoon, we have free access to the character's thoughts. Even if she is not as expressive, we know her true thoughts and feelings and so we don’t need that extra energy. A drama doesn’t have that luxury--if we spent all the drama just hearing her thoughts without her really emoting, I don’t think we’d be all that interested. And Drama Dan Oh is so much fun. She is what makes it breezy and funny and refreshing. But that also means her story, so far, is not as poignant and painful. That’s not to say we won’t get there--but for now, it’s lighter and more fun.

As for her family, Drama Dan Oh has a father who would die for her and a loving mother who has already passed away. I kind of feel like thanking the script-writer of the drama for giving Dan Oh something. In the Webtoon, it felt very unfair that the comic writer thought to saddle her not only with a terminal illness and a jerk of a fiance who hates her but also with a greedy, money-hungry family. C’mon, give a girl a break!

Drama Dan Oh is not really an extra, is she? I mean, in the drama, she feels much more like a side character, especially as they made her the “love bridge”, as she calls it, between Ju Da and Nam Joo. It means that she actually appears in many scenes related to Nam Joo and Ju Da. I get that because you do want to give your main character more screen time, but at the same time, it’s a bit weird that she’s considered an extra in this world? 

Haru

boy do I have things to say about this one. Because they gave him so much to do in this? Not that I mind, of course. Haru is beautiful and I am here for him to grace my screen for as long as he possibly can, but it does make me wonder where they are going with it.

In The Webtoon, Haru’s role within Secret really is a nameless extra. He has nothing specific to do, no role in Secret’s story whatsoever. He barely appears on stage and when he does it’s background. His relationship with Dan Oh is so bittersweet because it is filled with waiting and lounging--waiting for scenes in which they both exist, so they can sneak off and be together while the script is running around them. They communicate any way they can, looking forward to the quiet moments they can spend together, alone, away from the cold hand of the author. He only becomes active when it becomes dangerous for Dan Oh, and even then, he needs the help of a main character,  Baek Kyung, to be able to do something.

The drama is taking a different approach, which actually makes me wonder if the Drama is combining Haru with Dried Squid Fairy from the webtoon, what with the questions about flowers and secret places he shouldn’t know about, the cautious way he approaches Dan Oh, and the allusion to historical places. 

Drama Haru actually has a talent that differentiates him--he can draw, and really really well. He appears to have been self-aware long before Dan Oh, which doesn’t necessarily contradict the webtoon, but the fact he appears to have been following her--from afar--for quite a while, is. And why? 

the biggest, most groundbreaking difference... Drama Haru actually appears on stage! With Dan Oh! And Baek Kyung! He is literally becoming a part of Dan Oh’s comic book plot. That... that doesn’t happen in the webtoon! For Baek Kyung to get angry at Haru and Dan Oh for having fun together, and for other people to remember it, is actually extraordinary when you look at it in the context of the webtoon. It means that in this version, things really are changing, and changing drastically. Is Haru actually going to be a love rival for Baek Kyung, not just in the Shadows, but on Stage as well? 

While I don’t mind that idea at all, it changes everything. Like, for real. It changes the idea of fighting your destiny and carving your own, against impossible challenges. It changes the tone and nature of his and Dan Oh’s relationship. It changes the type of heartbreaking scenes we can expect. 

Much excitement, very confuse!

Portals 

in the drama, they exist. 

.

.

.

.

Okay, fine, I’ll write a couple more sentences about them, yeesh. 

Okay, so, what does this mean? Do these portals indicate people can maybe LEAVE this comic book world? If you do, do you go to another comic, or might you actually come out in the Real World? What do these imply, and what can we do with them? I am excited to find out!

Dried Squid Fairy

possibly the dumbest character name to ever appear in a drama, but what can you do.

A little bummed he doesn’t have a bunny companion like in the webtoon, but it’s not like that bunny made sense in the webtoon context, either, so I’m not surprised.

A little bummed he doesn’t have long blond hair, because it was so funny when he pointed out how that hair made NO SENSE for a cafeteria worker. 

I feel like his backstory might have been given to Haru, which is a bit of a bummer. In the Webtoon, he is actually a character from a different comic--a historical one--in which he originally became self-aware to disastrous results. The author loves him so much that she/he has given him more than “one life” in his/her comics, much to his aggravation.

I get the feeling they just want a break, really. 

[invaderdoom78]

Fright Twilight (the dumbest title) part 5

Part 5 of @julielilac gif set 

So I found out that Chris Sarandon and I are from the same state and in honor of that I figured I’d write him into this with a what if scenario where og Peter Vincent didn’t have his mirror prop on him when Amy and Evil Ed asked him to help convince Charlie that Jerry wasn’t a vampire and never saw that he had no reflection, therefore the two never teamed up. On a side note how cool would it have been if his camo character had been turned into a vampire when Colin Ferrall bit him and when the climax happen he’s mixed in with everyone else remake Jerry turned.

The next day Charley came back to Peters home with a folder of all of the information he’d managed to gather on the Iowa vampire, which was of the police reports on the bodies of men and women along with a report some kid had made stating that his neighbor was the one responsible for their deaths, claiming he was a vampire, and the missing person reports for the kid that made the vampire report, his girlfriend, and best friend. Stepping into the house Charley saw that the inside was even more of a mess than it had been the previous day, nothing, aside from the glass cup that had been thrown against the wall, was broken, but some things had been knocked over, though it didn’t look like it was because of a fight the clutter seemed to deliberate. “Peter?” Charley called out into the house, looking down at the broken glass “Yeah, yeah” Peter said, walking out of the bathroom, looking like he hadn’t slept at all last night, eyes red, puffy, and dead inside, and even though he reeked of alcohol he was holding himself like he was completely sober “I’m here” “There’s broken glass on your floor” Charley said, pointing at the glass “I dropped it last night” Peter said, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and pointer finger “Anything else happen?” “Not really” Peter said, noticing the folder Charley was holding “what’s that?” “Stuff about the Iowa vampire” Charley said holding out the folder “who’s name is also apparently Jerry” “Huh” Peter said, taking the file along with a seat on his couch so he could flip through the papers “well, Jerry is a very inconspicuous name” “I guess” Charley said, taking a seat as well “I did gave my friend Ed a pretty hard time when he told me who was responsible for killing Amy” “Yeah” Peter said, looking over the missing persons reports “I never would’ve guessed that a Jerry was the one that killed my parents” “Is this everything you could find about this guy?” Peter asked setting down the folder “did you look up his address and see if it’s still occupied?” “Yes and no” Charley said, watching Peter get up so he could grab his laptop “Let’s see what we can find out” Peter said booting it up “what’s the address?” pulling the folder closer he flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for, typing it into the search engine “looks like the house was abandoned a few months after his neighbor disappeared so Iowa’s a dead end” “Maybe you’ll find something with one of the missing person names?” Charley suggested “Already on it” Peter said, picking one of the three names on the missing persons report, getting a hit on one of them for a house that was recently brought up in West Virginia “there’s no picture, but the first and last names for Edward match so I’d say it’s worth looking into” he jotted down the houses address and state A few days later they found themselves driving across the Ohio River, making their way up and down a bunch of hills and around about a bajillion turns until they came upon the sparsely populated and forested area that the house had been built on. “Who ever paved these fuckin’ roads must’ve been drunk off their asses” Peter grumbled to himself as he pulled onto a road that was surrounded by trees The houses along the road were sparse and far between, sizable enough to easily fit at least four vampires along with their victims. Close to the end of the street was a house that, from the outside, looked as if it might have been abandoned, especially considering that some of the windows were deliberately blacked out, but there was a jeep parked out front and it looked like the grass had recently been mowed and raked of fallen leaves. “Are you sure you’re alright, Peter?” Charley asked as he noticed the dead look behind Peters eyes was still very present “Yeah” Peter said, parking the car a ways away from the house, finding a spot where they could hide it from view of the road “I’m fine” “Are you sure?” Charley asked, glancing over at Peter “‘cause you seem pretty distracted” “I said I was fine!” Peter snapped “Alright, jeez” “Just get the shit out of the trunk” Peter said, stepping out of the car and slamming the door shut “Oh boy” Charley sighed exasperatedly, getting out of the car as well Opening the trunk Charley grabbed both of their duffle bags tossing Peters to the older man as he pulled his crossbow out from his and loaded an arrow into it. “So how do you want to do this?” Charley asked “I’ll take the basement and you see if you can get to the second floor if not, then focus on the first and we can converge to search the second together” Peter said, loading up his shotgun “Alright” Charley said, disappearing into the tree so he could sneak his way around to the back of the house With his shotgun now loaded and Charley out of sight Peter pulled his flask out of his duffle bag and brought it up to his lips, only putting it away once it was almost empty. Cocking the gun he also made his way into the trees as well, though he kept closer to the road than Charley was. When he got to the house he quickly spotted a storm door along its side that he could use to get into the basement. Thankfully it didn’t have a lock on it, so getting in would be no problem. Walking down the steps Peter saw that the basement was full of the type of clutter you get when you’ve just moved into a new house, but despite that he could still see movement a couple feet away. Slipping away from the steps he crept towards the movement and spotted Jane sitting on the ground, scooting away from another vampire that was stabbing at the air in front of her with a large kitchen knife. Despite the fact that the knife shouldn’t have been able to do any actual damage to her, she was still holding up her arms to cover her head because watching a knife coming at your face was not a fun thing to watch. Taking aim Peter shot at the spiky haired vampire, hitting him in the back of the shoulder, forcing him to scurry away and take shelter in the clutter of the basement. Running up to Jane Peter saw the cut on her forearm, deep enough that it reached straight down to the bone, an almost black colored blood seeping out of the wound. “Shit” Peter said, getting on his knees so he could get a better look at the cut “he must’ve soaked the blade in holy water, you aren’t healing yourself. Fuck!” straightening his spine, he quickly pulled off his trench coat and ripped off one of the sleeves, using it to dress the wound, hoping that the pressure would stop the blood flow “where’s your brother?” “I’m not sure” Jane started, looking away embarrassed “I fell through a weak spot in the floor and we got separated” “Alright” Peter said, putting his trench coat back on “come on let’s go find him” Taking hold of Jane's hand, which she surprisingly had no objection to, they ventured further into the basement carefully scanning over the coffins and other clutter that littered the room keeping a careful look out for anything. When they got to the stairs, Peter was about to take the lead up them when a vampire with light brown hair jumped out at them from the shadows and pouncing on him, knocking the hunter to the ground. “Fuck!” Peter grunted, pushing his shotgun up against her neck to keep the vampire's elongated mouth and fangs away from his neck “get off of me, you dumb bitch” he used the butt of the shotgun to knock her off of and away from him Unfortunately for Peter, her recovery time was much quicker than his and she was back up on her feet before he could even sit up. Thankfully for him, though, Jane had decided to give him a hand and used her ability on the other vampire as she collapsed back onto the ground and the agony of being lit aflame, minus the actual fire, spread across her nervous system. Finally getting to his feet Peter grabbed one of the stakes on his belt, about to stab it into the vampire's heart when someone knocked over a stack of wooden boxes onto the vampire hunter and Jane, giving the other vampire a chance to escape. “Shit” Peter said, kicking the boxes away “are you alright?” “Yeah” Jane said also kicking away some boxes “Here” Peter said, handing Jane a revolver he had strapped to his ankle as a backup for encase his shot gun failed “it won’t do much but you can at least stall them for a bit. Maybe you can even blind them if you get some lucky enough shots off” “How do I use it?” Jane asked, looking over the weapon “First, grip it with both hands” Peter said taking both of her hands and placing them in the proper positions “keep your arms straight out and then cock it by pulling this back with your thumb” he pointed at the hammer “look down the barrel and through the site and then pull the trigger once you’ve found your target” “Got it” Jane said, looking genuinely excited about the prospect of shooting someone Taking Janes hand again Peter brought her up to the main floor of the house just as Charley ran down from the second, stopping in his tracks when he spotted Jane; who was peeking out from behind Peter, looking at him with such unadulterated murderous hate that Charley found himself more than terrifying, especially considering it was coming from this tiny twelve year old girl. “Have you found anyone?” Peter asked Charley “I think there’re, like, walkways behind the walls” Charley said, not taking his eyes off Jane “‘cause I’ve been hearing people walking around and talking, but I haven’t seen anyone” “Well, crawl spaces behind the wall would explain how those two in the basement got away so quickly” Peter said as Alec rounded a corner “Jane!” Alec exclaimed, running over to his sister “have you seen Dimitri or Felix?” “No. You got separated too?” Jane asked “Kinda, we ran into this guy and they stayed behind to take care of him, but I don’t know how well that fight will go since he’s a ghoul or something else like that” Alec shrugged “What a nice surprise” a vampire that was older than the ones in the basement said, appearing at the top of the steps “I wasn’t expecting visitors” he noticed the Volturi symbols the twins wore around their necks and seemed to hesitate “to what do I owe this honor”“We had received a copy of the report your neighbor had made about you back in Iowa” Jane said “Ah, yes. Amy. Edward come out” Jerry called out into the house “we have guests” the two vampires from the basement stepped out of the living area “what would you like to know?”“What have you done about your neighbor?”“Well, I had given Charley the opportunity to forget about me, but he refused, so when he got his friends involved I had no choice but to turn all three of them” “And what happened to Charlie?” Jane asked“He seemed to have a difficult time adjusting to being one of our kind so my roommate Billy had to dispose of him, and who are these two?” he motioned to Peter and Charlie, taking careful stock of their weapons “They are not associated with us” Jane said There was a tense moment that seemed to last for hours and it was only broken when Ed grabbed an empty cardboard box and chucked it at Peters head. Then all hell seemed to break loose as he began his wolf transformation. Returning Peters favor from earlier Jane held up the revolver and used it to shoot out the large stained glass window at the top of the stairway, creating enough holes for the entire pane to fall away so the sun’s light could filter through. Alec decided to lend a hand as well using his ability on Ed, the numbing ability mixed with the mid-transformation shape shift left him disoriented and no longer aware of his surroundings as he thrashed his way directly into the beam of sunlight. Amy was taken out almost as easily by Charley with a lucky shot directly through her heart with a holy water tipped arrow as she attempted to tackle him to the ground, leaving Jerry as the only one left. Wanting to get away from the sun as quickly as possible Jerry turned into a monstrous looking bat and tried to fly away, only to have Charley jump up and tackle him to the ground. However, the bat was able to quickly overpower him and roll them so that he was on top, biting at the young hunter so he could get away. Unfortunately, he only had enough time to block the attack with his arms. “Ow!” Charley exclaimed, ripping his arm out of Jerrys bat mouth “the fucker bit me!” Grabbing one of the antique lamps Peter whacked bat Jerry in the side of the head with it, knocking him back far enough for his face to be forced into the beams of sunlight. Letting out an inhuman shriek Jerry began to thrash violently until he was able to get away from the hunters, as Charley had grabbed hold of his neck to keep him in place, and make his escape for the basement. Following the vampire down a floor and over to the only closed casket Charley grabbed a hammer and used it to smash out every window he could find down there to allow the afternoon sun to filter in as Peter got to work figuring out how to break the lock on the coffin. Having lost patience with his attempt at picking the lock Peter grab a crowbar and jammed it into the crack of the caskets opening, using the weight of his body as he pushed down on the bar. Fortunately, this was enough to break the lock and have the top swing open as Peter collapsed to the ground. Even though the basement was full of natural light the coffin had been strategically placed so that even with all of the light none of it was touching him. Glancing at each other both Peter and Charley ran to the back of the casket and shoved it over so Jerry tumbled out of it, directly into the sun, his body bursting into green flames. Running back up to the main floor Peter grabbed Jane and Alec and got them out of the building as the green flames of Jerry’s burning corpse began spreading to the rest of the house.

[atypicalkataangist]

Swan Song

Type: Oneshot [Fluff/Angst?]

Summary: Aang comes home late on his birthday

Word count: 2721

Author’s note: Hey guys! I hope you’re doing well (if any of you are still active). I’m actually not sure what I’m doing here... I’ve left this fandom months ago. I still love Kataang and most of the fans and creators celebrating them, but as it always happens with me and ships, after a while i get bored with them, and this is what happened to me after an intense year of shipping. Maybe I’ll return some day (perhaps the live action remake will be able to reignate my love for this ship if it’s been portrayed properly? Time will tell). Until then I’ll remain inactive when it comes to posting, although I’ll still be using tumblr. I don’t just want to make a blank note where I say that you’ll probably never hear of me again, so I decided to end it on a high note, posting one story that I had written almost half a year ago and completely forgot about it. And I must say that I was pretty baffled when I read it earlier this day, because I’m actually pretty happy with most of it. There was supposed to be a smutty ending, but I never got to finish it. Although I think it works that way as well. I hope you’ll find some joy in it! It’s just as cheesy as most of my previous work xD

Special thanks go out to those people who really supported and helped me during my time of activity. People like @kristallioness​ who included me in some of her favourite writer’s lists (for which I still feel incredibly honoured!) and of course the only person I would consider a real friend on this platform, @azulamakesmeblank​. It’s been nothing but a pleasure getting to know you over the last few months, and I hope we’ll stay in touch! But I got no real doubts there :)

Anyway, i promised a story, right? Here you go. Maybe I’ll be back one day, who knows? Until then, keep shipping and enjoy Kataang as much as you can! Signing off (for now) - atypicalkataangist/ Phil

It was almost midnight when he finally set foot on air temple island again. On the one hand he felt incredibly relieved that he made it back on time, on the other hand he regretted that he didn't make it back sooner. He knew she was waiting for him... at least He hoped though.

Today was his birthday, and she always loved to prepare sweet surprises for him. He was always telling her not to make such a big fuzz about a day like any other, but a part of him really loved her sweet, thoughtful gestures and surprises on his birthday, hoping they would never end.

He had been out working since sunrise, attending important meetings, planning festivities, talking and giving his advice to important people. Usually he liked his job, helping and advising people, taking responsibility for the safety and freedom of the many souls in republic city and beyond. But today was different.

Today he had just wanted to spend time with his wife, even more so since he had been very busy for the last weeks, spending almost no time with her at home anymore, and it made him feel very bad. She didn't deserve that. He loved her more than anything else in the entire world, he would give his own life for hers in a heartbeat. One or two years ago, when they got married, he never got tired of telling her how he felt about her, but now... He remained silent, and due to his work, he didn't even have much time to spend with her, and when he was at home, he was meditating most of the time.

He really missed her... When was the last time the two of them went on a vacation together? When was the last time they went out on a date like they used to do? Heck, when was the last time they had the nightlong, earth-shattering, sweat secreting, simply incredible kind of sex like they used to have? They were still having sex sometimes, but due to him being tired all the time and her not really being in the mood anymore, it was not at all what it used to be. They had been married for only two years now, not twenty! He wasn't ready to give up on his marriage yet like many married couples did after a few years. He would never give up on her for that matter.

He landed Appa in front of his cave at the northern coast of the island. The shed they had erected for him after building their home on the island had never been his prefered resting spot; He quickly found the spacious cave beneath the Avatar's home more comfortable and whenever said Avatar would go look for his bison the next morning after parking him into the shed, he would find him snooze peacefully in the cave, so by now he just let him sleep in the cave directly. With a pat on the bison's huge nose he wished him a good night, earning a tired grunt from the huge beast.

The Avatar slowly made his way up the stairs he once bent into the cliff himself, wandering around the island in the cool night air. His thoughts were by his wife, they always were. Hopefully she was still awake... Though no light in their home seemed to be lit.

With a soft creaking sound of the door, he entered their home, greeted by absolute silence and a faint glow whose source seemed to come from around the Corner of their living area on the opposite side of the hallway.

He slowly made his way to their living area, hoping to find his wife sitting, or maybe, if he truly came too late, sleeping on the couch, waiting for him. His hopes were disappointed though, she was not sitting there. Next to the lit candle on their short table however laid a piece of paper, with his name written on top in the beautiful, distinctive hand writing of his wife.

The sight of this made him nervous. He wouldn't be the first man left by his wife with only a short letter left behind. But she wouldn't do that, would she?

He picked up the letter, his nervousness causing him to jitter slightly. He unfolded the piece of paper and began to read.

"Hey, Sweetie. I hope you are reading this while this is still your birthday. In that case: Happy Birthday, my love. Although I would prefer to tell you in person... but I'm afraid you have to find me first. I've hidden a few letters around our home. The last one will lead you to me, hopefully still on time for your birthday. I promise I'll stay awake for you in my hiding place - I don't want the same thing as last year to happen. The first hint for the next letter and where to find me, is that I might be with a friend of yours. I'm sure you can figure it out.

All my love, Katara."

After scanning the lines two or three times with his eyes he folded the piece of paper again and put it back on the table, relieved that she has not run off and was indeed waiting for him. But why did she have to make a game out of it? He didn't have much of a choice, so he had to play her game.

He didn't need to think too much about where to find the second letter. They were completely alone on their Island, all his friends either living in republic city, or somewhere in the other nations. She had written that she hid the letters around their home, so it had to be one friend who lived with them on the island. And his only friend who shared his home with them apart from Appa was...

"Momo!", He called gladly upon entering the lemur's living area in the attic of the air temple's tower. "Buddy, I've missed you!" The lemur, who had been rolled up on a pillow before his friend entered, screached upon seeing him again, jumping at him and climbing up his head, his tail coiled around the Avatar's throat, tickling him with his fur. He petted the animal, who seemed to enjoy his master's attention, with a few loving strokes, before noticing a piece of paper rolled up next to the pillow on which Momo had been sleeping.

With his lemur still sitting on the top of his head, he rolled out the Letter after lighting a nearby candle with his firebending, allowing him to read what she had written. His heart began to beat harder as he began to read.

"Hi Aang, Congratulations for finding the second letter! It wasn't too hard, was it? I hope you used the opportunity to say hello to Momo again. It's weird, I haven't seen you play with him for months now... but I hope you were as happy to spend some time with him again as he was with you. He loves you. And you love him. If he could talk, he might ask why you don't have time for him anymore. And when you would say that you are really busy, giving your best to provide for your family and making the world a better place everyday, he would smile and he would tell you that it is okay. That you should keep doing what you're doing because it's what makes you happy.

It would hurt him, because he loves you. And your passion for helping people in need would only make him love you even more. But the more you would be away, helping people, the more he would love you and the more he would miss you.

Search for the third letter at the only place that is all yours.

I miss you, Aang.

Katara"

His stomach began to twist as he read the second half of the letter, his hand was shaking and his heart was pounding in his chest. Of course he realized what she tried to say. He felt anger. Anger and disappointment in himself. She wrote down how she felt. She wrote down explicitly that she felt neglected. And she had every reason to feel that way! Why did he do that to her? Did he get so much used to her looking out for him that he took her for granted? Is that what he had become already? A neglectful husband who leaves his wife alone everyday?

"I need to fix this..." He thought after carefully calming himself down again, blinking away a tear in his eye, "I need to tell her that she means everything to me."

He needed to find her first, though. The next letter was supposed to be at the only place on the island that was all his. That one was a bit harder... He couldn't think of one specific place. They shared the whole island, with no real 'private areas' for each one of them. The only place he could think of, was his meditation pavillon on the edge of the small cliff at the east side of the island. Although it was not per se only his place, he always went there just by himself to have some time alone, meditating.

He ran down to the entrance, across the yard in front of the house, passed the empty shed, and went along the small gravel path to the pavillon on the east side of the island. Coming closer, he already saw another piece of paper attached to one of the wooden columns of the pavillon drifting in the wind.

He took one deep breath before lighting another fire in his hand, beginning to read. Could it become even worse than before?

"My love,

sorry, I tricked a bit on that one. I know that we share this Island and that of course this isn't your exclusive place. The only one would probably be the spirit world, but... you see why it would be hard for me to leave a message there, right? So this was probably the next best thing.

It's weird. It's weird, that I feel jealous for a few wooden beams on a stone floor at the edge of the cliff. When I wake up and you're not lying next to me, the first thing I'm checking by having a look out of the window, is if you're meditating, and most of the time, you are.

Aang, I'm worried for you. It's not just that I wish that we could spend more time together, like we used to... You changed so much in such a short time. I don't mean that as a reproach, sweetie... I'm just wondering if you are okay. I'm worried when you remain silent, and I'm worried to see you seclude yourself more and more.

If you have something on your mind, Aang, please, for the love of spirits, talk to me, sweetie. Please. I am your wife. I have to know if something's not right... i promised not too long ago to forever be at your side, whatever may happen. So please, Aang. If you still love me, let me in. I beg you.

Come find the last letter at our bedroom. There is one final thing I have to tell you, and it'll either be our saving grace or the ending of our story. I'm really not sure anymore.

I only know that whatever will happen, I will always love you.

Katara"

His legs were shaking and he could barely hold up all the pain and anger that bubbled up in his chest. He had   to stop reading and start over again and again, to finally reach the end of the letter. He needed to see her. He needed to apologize. He needed to take her in his arms. He needed her to support him.

He made his way back to the house, up the stairs, to their bedroom. there was a single piece of paper lying on their empty bed, with only two ligns written on it. He held his breath, lit one small fire in his hand. He needed to find her now.

"Look out of the window. We are waiting for you."

Before his brain had realized what happened, he had already checked the window and ran down the stairs. Did he think of start breathing again? He had no idea. His heart was racing, his stomach twisted even more, and his legs felt numb, though he couldn't stop running as fast as he could.

It felt like hours until he had finally reached her in the shed. He had seen a dim light glowing in the window of the shed all of the sudden as he looked out the window, so she had to be here.

When he entered, He was greeted by the glow of dozens of lit candles placed amongst mountains of hay that didn't seem to have an end in the back of the shed.

She sat on the exact opposite side on a roll of hay, her hands resting on her lap. She wore a light blue, quite simple, but beautiful nightgown, her long brown hair was open and combed behind her ear. She looked up into his eyes when she heard him enter. She smiled lovingly and got up, while he ran into her direction with a destined expression on his face.

"Aang.", she whispered, just as he reached her, raising her hand and resting it on his warm, sweaty cheek. "You're here."

He was shaking as he tried to lay his hands on his wife's neck to hold her.

"Katara...", he groaned, all the emotion inside of him, everything she had revealed him about herself about to break out any second now.  "You... you... are pregnant?", he half asked, half stated while tearing up, causing her eyes to become wet as well.

She nodded carefully at first, then more decisively, still unsure what think of his overwhelmed expression. "Y...yes, sweetie. I'm pregnant." Tears began to roll down her cheek. "We...we're going to be parents, Aang..."

He breathed out for what felt like the first time in ten minutes, causing all of his emotions to flush out as well.

And then he grinned, grinned and laughed while tears of joy as well as tears of guilt for his absence in the past shot out his eyes. None of them could say another word before he took her in his arms and kissed her. He put all of himself into the kiss, all his pain, his guilt, as well as his boundless love for his wife and his unborn child. His legs gave in and he fell on his knees, taking her with him. They didn't stop the kiss. None of them could have if he or she had wanted to. They didn't kiss like man and wife in that Moment. The didn't even kiss like two lovers. They kissed like two souls who needed each other to survive. They both wanted to say so many things, but everything and so much more was said in that exact moment. They both felt that they needed each other.

After what felt like hours, their lips loosened, but their grip around each others back did not. They kept crying as they held their opposite firmly in their arms.

"I'm sorry", he sniveled, his face buried in her hair, "So, so sorry for keeping you out, Katara."

"I know.", she whispered into his ear, pressing herself against him. "It's okay, Aang. Now it's okay."

"I love you, Katara. I love you more than anything else. Now, more than ever, you are the most important thing of my life. I'm so scared, Katara...  just so scared... and you are the only thing that can help me. I need you..."

She had seen him emotional many times up until now, but this was something new. It felt like he opened up his body, let go of all restraint and showed her his deepest, most intimate self, the very essence of his soul.

She kept him in his embrace, letting him feel that she was there for him, whispering calming, loving things into his ear. "I'm there for you.", she kept saying.

„I’m here for you.“

[gaymer-hag-stan]

My Top Five Video Game Franchises

I wasn't planning on sharing this but it turned out good so I decided I will!

5. SoulCalibur

I'm a big fighting video game fan! I'm nowhere near being a pro though I can beat most of my friends in many different fighters. SoulCalibur is one of the games I played with an old friend during summer while at the countryside when we were kids. His uncle would occasionally come over at his grandpatrents' house and bring his Dreamcast with him and he had SoulCalibur with it! I also had the PlayStation 2 demos of SoulCalibur II and III. When I still had a Wii and a PSP I got SoulCalibur Legends and Broken Destiny for each console respectively and while none were particularly spectacular games I had hours of fun playing both and I was happy knowing I finally own two SoulCalibur games! I couldn't afford a PlayStation 3 yet and by then PlayStation 2 games were really hard to find in Greece. My main character is Ivy. Ivy is infamous for being a very striking example of female video game characters who are grossly oversexualised and while it never had any effect on me whatsoever I realised while growing up why it is an issue. Despite that, I believe that you can enjoy and appreciate characters despite their portrayal but at the same time I can understand people who want a better representaion of female characters and I support them in that endeavour. I tend to always appreciate video game characters on a deeper level, or at least I try, while playing a game and I think that even fighting video game characters can have more substance than what meets the eye, and Ivy is no exception, especially considering how SoulCalibur has really deep background stories and lores for all its characters. My favourite game is SoulCalibur III. I love its character and stage design, music, everything. I really miss this game.

4. Dead or Alive

Another game I started playing as a kid during the summer at the countryside with my cousins, I think you'll come accross this concept in almost all of the games I'll be mentioning 'cause you basically can't do anything in Greece in the summer during noon because it's too hot to go outside until the sun starts to set so gaming was our favourite pasttime after returning from the beach and while waiting to go out later in the day. My cousins and a friend had DOA 2: Dead or Alive 2 for the PlayStation 2. Since me, my friend and my cousins were four people but didn't have that many controllers we each played story mode in turns trying to unlock more costumes for our favourite characters. My main is Helena Douglas. Again, the entire female cast is grossly oversexualised but a lot of them are close to my heart. The first game I owned was, for better or worse, Dead or Alive Xtreme Paradise for the PSP, one of the side games that features only the girls in a tropical island basically playing beah voleyball, and... being sexy... The game is a mess but the voleyball part is actually really fun and trying to collect all the swimsuits for all the girls was strangely addictive! The series came back from the grave back in 2012 and I finally got to play a mainline Dead or Alive game again as it had been an Xbox exclusive from 2001 to 2006 and there were no new main games after that. The second update to DOA5, Last Round in particular is really fun and I've spent hours upon hours playing. Definitely my favourite in the series and one of my favourite games overall.

3. Tekken

Again, a fighting series and yet again, one I played with my cousins and friends during summer at the countryside xD ! Tekken 5 was one of the games all of us owned and played the most so it's also my favourite and among my favourite games overall, definitely my favourite fighting game. My main is Nina Williams and along with Lara Croft I think they're my ultimate favourite female video game characters. They have a very similar demeanour and character design though Nina's costumes lean a lot more on the sexy side than Lara's ever did and she is a lot colder than Lara is but both were among the things that helped me realize how very gay I am. I think that any other fellow male Greek gamers or gamers from more conservative countries in general are very familiar with the concept that "playing with girls is gay", a sentiment I haven't really seen fly around in more open-minded societies. In any case, at some point I realised that I actually was gay all along so all these people were right and there was nothing wrong with it. So in that regard Lara and Nina are kinda my main heroines. I even got her own action-adventure spin-off game. The game itself is... mediocre, but I loved it because it was all about Nina! It kind of had a Tomb Raider meets James Bond feel to it. A friend of my dad's gave me a couple of games as a gift at some point and one of them was Tekken Tag Tournament that had all those classic characters that were either dead or a thousand years old in Tekken 5 featured while they were still in their prime so we also had a lot of fun with that game during summer. In 2009, I still couldn't afford a PS3 so I asked my mum for a PSP and Tekken 6 was included with it, spent countless hours with it and eventually got it again when I got a PS3 along with Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

2. Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy is a series I absolutely hated until I somehow didn't anymore... I tried a Final Fantasy X demo as a kid and I was extremely put off by the turn-based combat system. It was something no other games had at the time, none of the games I had played anyway, and it felt really weird and unintresting to me. so I decided that I will hate it forever and ever... Until 2015. By then I had just started university and I was kind of depressed because I really hated what I was studying and felt very trapped. For some reason that still puzzles me until today I decided that I wanted to try out Final Fantasy again. I made a little internet search and found out Final Fanatsy XIII was the most recent entry (side note: I hadn't upgraded to PS4 yet). I rented it from the video store and spent a week staying home playing it instead of going to uni... I understand now that it wasn't the most sensible option but it was honestly a break I really needed in order to truly realize that I should seek out other options if I'm not happy with my studies, and I did. After XIII I got VII for the PS3 and last March my friends got me XV for my birthday. A couple months ago I went on a "shopping spree" and got VII, VIII, IX, XII and X / X-2 for the PS4 and I am currently waiting for my copy of the FFVII Remake to arrive. Final Fantasy is probably the series that has made me cry the most and also inspired me a lot. It's also the only one that has ever come close to replacing Tomb Raider as my favourite series. Lastly, Final Fantasy XIII along with Resident Evil 6 and Tomb Raider: Legend are my "holy trinity" of video games people love to hate but I personally adore xD I'm not sure I can pick a favourite as I've enjoyed all of the ones I've played but maybe X? Though I'm feeling the VII Remake might surpass it.

1. Tomb Raider

Again, the summer story, you know the drill. I remember first playing Legend's demo and then while I was staying at my cousins' at their home in a town which is near the countryside we usually spent our summers, our uncle would have us go pick up games to rent at the video store after returning from the beach. We kept on renting Legend and trying to beat it. We only ever got up to the waterwheel puzzle in Ghana... If you have no prior experience with Tomb Raider (and you're literally nine!) Legend can actually be very challenging! Next year I got Anniversary, which was the first Tomb Raider game I ever owned and then got Legend. At some point during one of our video store raids my cousin decided to rent Angel of Darkness instead of Legend so we also got to experience that. It's probably his favourite. On my playthrough I got up to the point where you see Kurtis running off with his bike and then I think I got stuck in the sewers and didn't really know what to do next! I haven't been able to get my hands on it ever since. After the summer I converted a bunch of my classmates into Tomb Raider fans. Two of them had a good PC and that was the first time I ever got to play Chronicles. I got Underworld in 2008 but it was just the crappy PS2 version. I own all main and Lara Croft games except AoD. Lara Croft has been my favourite video game character for about as long as I've been playing video games. She is very special to me for reasons I already explained with Nina and it's very very hard to imagine how my life would be without her. I'm truly thankful for her and Tomb Raider. Legend will forever be my favourite and possibly favourite game ever.

[wigshewrote]

The only reason that I’ve ever owned any sort of gaming console was to play the Pokemon games. Any other game that I played on those systems was likely to fill time between Pokemon games. Now, I can sink a decent amount of time into a Pokemon game, but once I defeat the Elite Four and complete the post game story, there’s really not much to keep me hooked and that game ends up collecting dust after a couple of weeks. 

I very rarely get a reason to keep playing that game, that’s why my number one hope for all new games is a substantial post-game. The ideal post-game in my mind is something like Gen 2 and their remakes. We got two whole regions to explore! It’s like a I got two games in one! But even that can only keep me entertained for so long before it gets set aside as I get ready for the next game. 

Enter Sword and Shield. A divisive entry into the Pokemon series to say the least. I looked forward to these games just for being new content--even though they also lacked some previous content. My main hope, as always, was some in depth post game. 

When the game was released, I was blown away before I even got to the post game. The Wild Area by itself gave me so much content to enjoy AND it gave me something I didn’t realize I wanted from a Pokemon game--a movable camera. It was odd, but I found myself plowing through the story so I could unlock new parts of the Wild Area and spend hours at a time there. 

When I finally got to the actually post game it was... fine. It was kooky and interesting but overall just fine. The characters introduced in the postgame made it stand out, but it felt far more linear than your usual Pokemon game main quest. You would think that’d I be disappointed in Sword and Shield for this post game, however, the Wild Area has been a nice stand-in to keep me coming back for a bit longer. All of these different promoted raid have been enough to keep me interested this long. They had a promoted raid event that made four hard to obtain Pokemon forms easier to get. A weeks later, they added another hard to get Pokemon form to that roster. During the December holidays they ran a third promoted event, and a fourth promoted event during New Years. I can’t say there’s a lot that’s new but at least something to keep this game from gather dust too soon.

Even with changing promoted raids, the game as is wouldn’t keep my attention much longer--though long enough to keep it satisfying. Before the release, though, I was already hoping for DLC. I don’t play many other console games but it always felt like the big games on consoles always got DLC! Skyrim and Fallout, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, even Mario Odyssey and the Mario and Rabbids games got DLC. So maybe Pokemon would too! Maybe right when I got bored with the games, they’d give me something to look forward to a few months later. Hot dang did they deliver! I’m barely ready to put the game down and Game Freak just said, “Don’t worry! More is on their way!”

This isn’t “buy a new cartridge to play a game that 95% like the previous game with 5% new content.” This is $30 for two new areas with a staggered release. That right there addressed my main concern about buying games--that eventually I’ll put it down and won’t pick it up again. Pokemon just delayed that aspect by almost a whole year. I can see me finally getting tuckered out by what’s in Sword and Shield by March, but when summer comes around I’m going to be stoked to play it again because of the DLC released in June. When will I put it down next? Who knows? Because the second part of the DLC is coming sometime this Fall and who knows when I’ll put it down again after that.

Unfortunately, there are grumps again, and I don’t get it. Did those other games get complaints for introducing DLC? Is it because it was announced so close to the games’ release? There are complaints that these aspects should have been included in the original release and that there are old Pokemon being added behind a paywall, but I just don’t get these complaints. I understand that not every Pokemon player plays the games for the same reason I do, but don’t we all want a reason to keep playing? If the Isles of Armor and Crowned Tundra was included in the initial release, then I certainly would be done with them by now. I logged 250+ hours into the games as is, 45 of that was to complete the main story. Even if there were included in the original release, wouldn’t you want something new to do at some point? I’m glad to have staggered release of gameplay to keep the game in my hands. 

As for the Pokemon behind a “paywall,” I’m just unimpressed by that argument. Sure, the easiest way to get these Pokemon is by getting the DLC, the second easiest probably getting a Pokemon Home subscription, and at the worst, trade for them! I mean, boy howdy, I feel like Pokemon was fairly upfront about that fact. Once each wave of the DLC is available, the Pokemon reintroduced in that wave will be available to obtain without the DLC. Each game has their own amount of unobtainable Pokemon, that can eventually be obtained through trading. It wasn’t the best but it was manageable. If these Pokemon are considered behind a paywall, then version exclusives should be considered behind a paywall too!

Old Pokemon being added in waves has me excited for a different reason though. Think about the implications of competitive Pokemon! In an older Pokemon generation, the meta would likely remain stagnant until the release of the next game. There might be some minor shake-ups no and again with the release of mythical Pokemon and suddenly available hidden abilities, but would hardly see the amount of change that Magic: the Gathering might see over the course of a year. Magic releases four sets a year. Their meta gets to adjust that frequently. Releasing Pokemon in waves is incredible. Dragapults and Galarian Darmanitans are running rampant. Will a returning Pokemon in June come in and decimate those two from the meta? What will the meta look like in the fall when Crowned Tundra comes out. This is what Pokemon needed to spice up their competitive scene! Especially right after they introduced so many aspects in Sword and Shield to make entering the competitive scene much less daunting.

We can’t even start preparing for the next competitive scene! Sure we can guess what will return--we already know of a few making a comeback--but we also know there’s going to plenty of new Pokemon and forms as well! Sure Blissey is returning, an OU favorite as a Special Wall, but will a new Pokemon or Galarian form change that? Who knows! What’s going to fall out of OU? What’s going to barely stay in that tier? Could a Pokemon already in game rise to OU as an unexpected check to one yet to be added? There’s so much to anticipate here! So much can change between now and then.

All of this is to say, what is there not be excited for? Does DLC typically invoke such ire? Isn’t it nice to have a game that will get you to keep picking it up and playing without it getting tedious? I admit that there’s an amount of content that a game should have initially before introducing DLC. But for another $30, isn’t it nice to have something to keep me playing throughout the year?

[fallintosanity]

all the ffvii-remake news lately is inspiring me to work more on this fic

noctis would be happier about this whole situation if he was doing the ~mysterious~ thing on purpose

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9

Cloud snapped awake to the sound of his alarm. For a split second he was completely disoriented - he knew he shouldn't have been sleeping, but it wasn't until his eyes opened and he saw Sephiroth across the room that he remembered why.

Panic shot through him. He’d fallen asleep with Sephiroth in the room. Sephiroth, who had nearly killed him, who had destroyed Nibelheim and killed Aeris—

I’m still here. Therefore, I’ve done none of that.

Slowly the panic receded. Slowly Cloud remembered he was in the past, that Jenova and Hojo were gone and Sephiroth wasn't insane. In fact, he’d apparently been sleeping himself - he was slumped bonelessly against the desk, eyes closed, that stupid long hair hanging messily around his face. As Cloud's alarm continued to beep, he blinked blearily, rubbing a hand over his face as he yawned. Just like the last time he’d done this, he met Cloud's eyes, inclined his head, and swept wordlessly from the room.

Cloud stared after him. He still couldn't believe he’d fallen asleep with Sephiroth in the room. He’d been tired, sure, but not the desperate kind of exhausted that could force a man to sleep even under dangerous circumstances. Yet he’d slept - and as best he could recall, slept nightmare-free.

Sephiroth’s voice echoed in his memory: If I can prevent you from reliving it in your nightmares…

Gaia, was that what had happened? Was it enough to know Sephiroth was right there, not somewhere out in the world murdering people, but right here sleeping in Cloud's room? …Not that that was much of a reassurance. Sephiroth had demonstrated quite thoroughly in the past - future? - that little things like buildings weren't enough to stop him. Still. If Sephiroth was here, Cloud could keep an eye on him. Could intervene the moment he suspected something was wrong.

Maybe he could work with that.

His hand lifted to rub at the center of his chest, where the ghost of Masamune still made his skin itch. Or maybe he’d kill the man next time he barged in here without permission.

* * *

Cloud showered, dressed, and headed down to the Briefing Room to wait for Noctis. When twenty minutes had passed and Noctis still hadn't arrived, Cloud pulled out his PHS to send him a message, only to find that Noctis had sent him one late last night: Only one class on Tuesday. Gonna fill quota all at once. See you then.

Well, then. Noctis must have figured out what Cloud had when he'd first joined ShinRa: the mission system would just keep routing you missions no matter how many you did in a day. The missions Noctis had been doing so far were laughably easy; if he cut out the travel time to and from headquarters for each one, he could easily handle five in a day.

Still, it meant Cloud had nothing to do, yet again. He wandered out of the Briefing Room up toward the First Class break room. If Sephiroth was back, Genesis would be, too, and Cloud wanted to ask him about Noctis’s uncanny casting speed with artificial materia. He was nearly there when voices caught his ear.

“—barely acknowledges me. He won't listen long enough for me to ask. And I have no right to ask him anything, anyway.”

Angeal. Talking about Cloud, from the sound of it. Cloud stopped in the hall outside the break room door, listening.

“It's not as though you'd be asking him anything special,” Genesis said, in a tone that suggested he was rolling his eyes. “He wants to learn Mister Mystery Caelum’s secrets as much as the rest of us.”

“If you're so curious,” Angeal retorted, “you ask him.”

Cloud sighed and stepped around the door into the break room. “Ask me what?”

Genesis and Angeal looked up in surprise, plus the usual flash of guilt that crossed Angeal’s face whenever he saw Cloud. They were sitting together on the couch, but Genesis stood as Cloud entered and spread his arms wide in greeting.

“Cloud!” Genesis said. “We were just talking about our newest mystery recruit. Angeal was telling me how skilled Noctis is with a blade. He’s completely unfazed by anything Angeal can throw at him in the Thirds’ sparring classes.”

“He's a good fighter,” Cloud agreed cautiously. “What do you want?”

Angeal spoke up finally. “He's holding back. I’ve tried pushing him, but he can keep up with me easily enough that I can't get a reaction out of him.”

“But he's never seen you fight, Cloud,” Genesis jumped in, finger stabbing dramatically in Cloud's direction. “Most importantly, he’s never seen your marvellous sword in action.”

Cloud got it abruptly. “You want me to try to surprise him.”

“Exactly!” Genesis grinned. “If we can get him to react on instinct, we can find out what he's holding back.”

“Risky,” Cloud said.

Genesis snorted. “For you? Please.”

“For anyone else in the room,” Cloud corrected. “If we don't know what he's capable of, we don't know how dangerous he might be.”

“I’ll be there,” Angeal said. “If it looks like someone might get hurt, I’ll step in.”

Cloud's thoughts flickered to his first and only sparring match with Sephiroth, months ago out in the wastes. Angeal had made the same offer then, and the injury he’d gotten when he’d stepped in was what had started his degradation and led everyone down the path that resulted in Cloud and Kunsel spending months being tortured in Hojo’s lab and Cloud very nearly falling into Jenova’s trap. From the look of guilt and shame that flashed across Angeal’s face, he remembered it, too.

Genesis, however, either didn’t remember or - more likely - didn’t care. He slung an arm around Cloud’s shoulders. “Excellent! The sparring class is in the Training Room in an hour. We’ll see you there.” Then he let go, disappearing through the door with a casual wave.

Despite everything, Cloud found himself trading a startled look with Angeal.

“He has that effect on people,” Angeal said dryly.

Cloud just snorted.

* * *

An hour later, Cloud stepped into the Training Room to find Angeal presiding over a couple dozen Third Class SOLDIERs doing warm-up stretches. Genesis was there too, leaning against the wall reading Loveless and occasionally calling out a correction to a Third’s stretching form. A curious murmur ran through the class when they spotted Cloud.

“We have a guest today,” Angeal said, cutting through the whispers. “I’m sure most of you are familiar with Commander Strife. He’s joining us to see how well you’re doing.”

Another ripple of voices ricocheted around the room, excited and nervous, and Cloud tried not to look embarrassed. He knew he had a reputation among the other SOLDIERs as the man who could fight the legendary Sephiroth to a draw, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

Angeal clapped his hands sharply, drawing the class’s attention. “Line up against the wall, please. Oske, you’re up first.”

A nervous young Third stepped out into the middle of the room. Angeal caught Cloud’s eye; Cloud nodded slightly. They didn’t want to look like they were singling out Noctis. Cloud could take on a few rookie Thirds in a vanilla fight first. He stood across from Oske, drew his sword, and inclined his head, letting the kid have the first strike.

The match didn’t take long. Oske wasn’t bad, but he was slow and nervous enough about fighting Cloud that he tripped over his own feet. The next couple of fights weren’t any more interesting. After so much time fighting Sephiroth and the Remnants, not to mention the deadly-fast mako mutants and monsters he’d encountered in the course of running deliveries, sparring the Thirds was like fighting in molasses. Cloud did his best to be nice, not wanting to humiliate any of the kids, but none of the matches lasted more than a minute or two.

Then Angeal called on Noctis.

Noctis looked bored as he climbed to his feet and joined Cloud in the middle of the room, rolling his shoulders absently. But his grey eyes were sharp behind his bangs as he drew his broadsword and settled into a fighting stance. “Missed me that much, huh?” he teased. “Couldn’t wait for tomorrow when we’ll be out doing hunts again?”

Cloud shrugged. “You seemed bored out there. Figured I’d give you something more interesting than pests to fight.”  

Noctis grinned, his face lighting up in a way that made him look much younger. “More interesting, huh? We’ll see about that.” He darted forward suddenly, broadsword slashing low.

Cloud leaped over the slash and Noctis both, landing lightly behind him and spinning to swing First Tsurugi at Noctis’s head. But Noctis was already moving, hopping backward just enough to clear the swing and lunging forward again immediately. Cloud had to drop and roll to avoid the attack, unable to reverse First Tsurugi’s momentum fast enough to block. Noctis followed right on his heels, sword coming in high, and Cloud barely managed to swing his own sword around to catch the strike.

They traded a few more blows, feeling each other out, but it was obvious this wasn’t going to be an easy match like the others. Cloud had known Noctis was fast and agile, but beyond that, Noctis clearly knew how to fight against a Buster-style weapon, staying close and using the momentum of the heavy blade to his advantage.

Well, the whole reason Cloud was here was to surprise him. He let Noctis get close once more, deliberately leaving himself open to a swipe at his back - then, at the last second, split his sword and used the second, hollow blade to catch Noctis’s attack.

Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth had all been caught flat-footed when Cloud had split his sword against them. Noctis barely blinked, already sliding away from the low sweep of Cloud’s right-hand blade even as he twisted his own sword around the hollow blade. Cloud let him knock the hollow blade out of his hand, flipping the release on one of the smaller side blades, intending to split the sword again and come at Noctis’s unprotected back.

But to his surprise, Noctis caught the hollow blade in his own left hand and flung his broadsword at Cloud like a spear, so fast it seemed almost to leave a trail of glittering sparks behind it. Cloud dodged, rolling to the side and coming up with the base blade in his right hand and the side blade in his left, but Noctis was already lunging at him with the hollow blade.

Cloud caught the strike and retaliated, but Noctis twisted out of the way with the same agility he’d shown out on missions. The move let him sweep low across the floor where his broadsword had landed and he came up with a blade of his own in each hand. They fought like that for a few seconds, dual blades whirling and flashing, Noctis keeping up with Cloud’s speed as though it was nothing.

And not just that. Cloud saw, now, what Angeal had meant about Noctis holding back. Several times he saw Noctis shift his weight, change the angle of his blade, as though about to make a move before switching last-second to something else. Those moments were Noctis’s weakest, as though he was deliberately forcing himself to make poor moves instead of whatever his first instinct was. Cloud tried again to switch things up, to act fast or unexpectedly, but nothing he did fazed Noctis in the slightest.

In fact, Cloud was the one being repeatedly caught off-guard, simply because Noctis didn’t fight with any conventional style Cloud knew. He liked to throw his swords, which seemed to be related to whatever he was holding back because it was clearly an inefficient move, but he was good enough at it that it was still effective. He was as ambidextrous as Cloud, and had an annoying tendency to pick up any of the six pieces of First Tsurugi Cloud left behind to wield for a few seconds before throwing it. And he was acrobatic, leaping and darting around Cloud in a way that reminded him of Yuffie.

Wanting to buy himself a moment of breathing room to come up with a plan, Cloud began warming up his Bolt materia. The Training Room was big enough that if he was careful, he could target the center of the space without risking the Thirds lining the walls. He’d blind himself for a second with the blast so close, but hopefully the light would stun Noctis for longer.

He slashed First Tsurugi in a sweeping low arc to drive Noctis back, openly telegraphing the big upward swing he was about to do as a distraction, and cast Bolt. Lightning roared through the middle of the room, blinding bright, and Cloud swung his sword up to shield his eyes. For a second he thought he felt some kind of resistance on it, almost a push, but Noctis had been ten feet away—

The lighting faded. The center of the room was empty, Noctis nowhere to be seen.

Cloud spun wildly, searching, only half-aware of the startled reactions of the Thirds as they, too, realized Noctis had vanished. Movement overhead caught Cloud’s eye, and he looked up just in time to see Noctis dropping onto him from above, sword pointed down—

black coat and silver blade falling, Cloud runs but he’s not fast enough, never fast enough and the blade slides through her chest and she falls limp

He was moving before he even realized it, split swords flashing as he dove at Noctis. Noctis’s grey eyes went wide with surprise and he fell backward under Cloud’s onslaught—

“All right, that’s enough!”

Angeal’s voice.

Cloud blinked. Training Room, not the temple. Blue Third Class uniform, not a black coat. Grey eyes instead of green, black hair instead of silver.

He backed off, disengaging from Noctis’s blade and nodding to end the match. Noctis lifted his own sword in a salute. “Good match,” he said, then dropped to sit on the floor with the other Thirds, one hand absently rubbing his lower back. He seemed barely out of breath.

Cloud nodded again, trying to get his racing heart under control. He went to lean on the wall beside Genesis, dimly aware of Angeal instructing a pair of Thirds to start a new match. Genesis watched him carefully, but Cloud waved him off. “I’m fine,” he said. Genesis could get awfully mother-chocobo when he got worried, and this was nothing. Just an old memory.

Genesis studied him for another moment, but finally shrugged. “Impressive match,” he said quietly, under the sound of the Thirds battling. “Quite the unexpected move at the end.”

“What did he do?” Cloud asked. “I didn’t see anything until he came down on top of me.”

“He dodged into your Bolt instead of away from it,” Genesis said. Awe colored his voice, remarkable since very few things impressed Genesis. “Came through the front of it, jumped off your upswing, and landed on the wall of all places.” He tilted his head toward a spot some twenty feet up the wall behind where Cloud had been standing; squinting, Cloud could just make out the narrow gouge in the wall where Noctis must have jammed his sword to hold on.

“Huh,” Cloud murmured. He’d felt the kick off his blade, but hadn’t realized at the time what it was. “Impressive.”

“Very,” Genesis agreed.

A startled yell from the center of the room cut off their conversation: one of the Thirds had swept the legs out from beneath the other and ended the match with a sword point to the throat. Angeal dismissed them and called up the next pair. Forty-five minutes and several matches later, the class ended, the Thirds filing out in pairs and groups, chatting excitedly amongst themselves. Several of them surrounded Noctis, congratulating him on his fight with Cloud; Noctis just ducked his head bashfully and grinned.

Finally the room was empty except for Cloud, Genesis, and Angeal. Genesis said, “That was informative.”

Angeal shook his head. “He was still holding back. I saw it.”

“We did learn something, though,” Cloud pointed out. “When I joined SOLDIER, I sparred Kunsel. He could barely keep up with me. Noctis kept up just fine.” Even in those last few seconds when Cloud had lost control, Noctis had been surprised - but hadn’t faltered. Had successfully defended himself even in the face of Cloud’s fury.

“True,” Angeal admitted.

“And he didn’t react at all to your sword,” Genesis said, sounding disappointed. “Are you sure he’s never seen you use it?”

Cloud shrugged. He couldn’t think of anywhere Noctis might have seen him fight previously, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t happened.

“Come to think of it,” Angeal said slowly, “even before you split your sword, he had no trouble at all. He’s clearly had extensive practice fighting someone wielding a weapon that size.”

“Has he fought Zack at all?” Genesis asked.

Angeal shook his head. “Not that I know of.” He reached back to touch the hilt of his own, standard-issue ShinRa broadsword. “And I’ve only sparred him with this.”

“Cloud is the only other person who uses a sword like that, though,” Genesis said. “Where would Noctis have gotten such training?”

“Good question,” Angeal said, “I suspect we’ve only added to the mystery. Whoever and whatever Noctis is, whatever he’s capable of…”

Genesis shuddered. “I’m beginning to dread finding out.”

[mutually-screaming]

for death and he

Fandom: Homestuck

AU: Godstuck, but with more cults

Chapter(s): 1/??

Ship/Pairing: Dirk/Lil Hal

Summary: Hal needs to feed to survive at this point in his everlasting life. Being a god isn’t easy, especially not when you have virtually no followers. But he’s not god now. He’s a leech. And he needs Dirk to be his host if he wants to survive any longer as a god.

Author Note: Chapter one! I hope you all enjoy! I will be posting this on Archive of Our Own as well, and links will be provided once I do so! I hope you enjoy!

This party sucked.

It wasn't the fact that the party itself was bad, but the suckyness of the party predominately came from Dirk himself. Things that he used to enjoy, like this shitty party, felt like they were slowly getting crappier and crappier over time. Whether it was boredom or how they always seemed to go the same, he couldn't quite tell. But it sucked to Dirk. Everyone else was having a good time, and part of him was jealous of them for that, but he felt like it sucked.

But of course it sucked for Dirk. Dirk Strider, forever sitting on the couch, making boring idle conversation, waiting to get himself drunk. Dirk Strider, always embarrassing himself when he gets drunk. Dirk Strider, waking up in the morning with a shitty hangover and a will in his mind that he was never drinking again. Parties weren't awful, but he just couldn't get why he wasn't enjoying them anymore.

Maybe because of the monotony of his actions at these parties, or maybe he was becoming more of a homebody. The latter option made the most sense to him right off the bat. He was spending more time at home, but he blamed that mostly on school and how it was so vigorously kicking his ass at the moment.

The blonde took a sip of probably one of the grossest IPA's he's ever drank before setting the bottle down and deciding he was done with it. It was almost full.

Music played, people were dancing, the air was hot and humid with their sweat. It was kinda gross. Deciding he needed a break, he shoved his way out of the living room and into the back yard, greeted by a cold yet refreshing gust of night air as he stumbled upon what seemed to be a beer pong tournament? Except all frat-dudes involved seemed way too fucked up. Amber eyes scoped the scene before settling upon three mostly empty tequila bottles on the floor. Ah. Tequila pong.

Considering the last time he decided to play the one way alcohol poisoning game of Tequila pong, he decided against it. Nope. Never again.

Reasoning being, nobody wanted to watch him try to jump from the roof and into the neighbor's pool and fail again. That entire incident ended with a broken wrist and a written apology.

But see? He used to think this was fun. Now he was bored, tired, and couldn't wait to put on his pajamas and fuzzy socks when he got home.

He needed to find Roxy.

Turning around to head back inside, he struggled through the living room and made his way towards the kitchen, only to run into a very frazzled looking Jane dealing with a very stoned freshman he didn't recognize.

"Hey, where's Roxy?" Dirk asked, grabbing some paper towels and handing them to Jane as she tried desperately to clean up a green mess that the freshman seemed to have spilled. The freshman seemed cool with it. Hell, Dirk wasn't even sure if the freshman noticed that he had spilled half of whatever the fuck that green stuff was all over the front of him. He was blazed as fuck.

"Last place I saw her was in the garage getting more drinks, but that couldn't have been more than twenty minutes ago," Jane replied, gratefully taking the paper towels and using them to sop up the green mess. "By the way," the brunette huffed, straightening up and dumping the dirty trash into the bin, "This is Gamzee, he's the foreign exchange student I've been mentoring."

"How's it been, brother? Long time no see," Gamzee grins, his voice deep and laced with an accent he didn't recognize. The stoner reached over and clapped a large hand on Dirk's back, possibly getting some of that goop on his shirt.

Dirk has never met this kid in his life.

"Uh...it's been good," Dirk says slowly, taking a step away from Gamzee as he turned back to Jane, "Look, if you get the chance to talk to Roxy, let her know I'm headed home. Glad for the invite though, that was cool of her. Don't think this kind of stuff is my thing anymore though." Hm. Maybe a little too much information for now. He didn't want to offend Roxy for inviting him to these, he knew she genuinely enjoyed them and that he used to too. But might as well be honest, right?

"Oh, uhm, alright," Jane replied, seeming a little taken aback by Dirk's bluntness. "I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Dirk nodded, briefly eyeing Gamzee warily before making his way out of the party. Part of him kinda felt bad for the guy. He seemed stoned out of his mind. But hey, at least even he was having a good time.

The party had been hosted at a nearby fraternity house that was only about three blocks from the school, making it only about a twenty-ish minute walk back to his dorms, which wasn't too bad. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he quickly sent a text to Roxy, just in case Jane didn't get the chance to relay the message.

headed home. thanks for the invite.

Dirk knew Roxy worried about him sometimes. Especially these past few months since his particularly messy breakup with his ex. But that was a story for another day.

It didn't take long for him to reach his dorm, quickly changing out of his plain jeans and t-shirt and into his beloved fuzzy socks, sweatpants and hoodie. It was a cold night and he might as well get comfortable for the night.

Flopping onto the bed, he couldn't help but lie there for a second. The room was completely quiet, other than the gentle hum of the heater running and the soft thump of his heart beating. Glancing at his clock on his desk, it was only ten forty-five. It wasn't even that late. But why did he feel so fucking tired? He lied still on his bed for as long as he could manage, legs dangling over the side as he shifted and shoved his face into his pillow, only to immediately sit up in distaste as a red line formed across his face from his shades.

Right. He was wearing those.

Dirk took them off and set them on his desk next to his bed before getting settled in. Snuggled in a thick duvet, laptop in his lap, he grabbed his glasses off of his desk. Trading comfort over style, he guessed. It was a miracle he could get those wack-ass shades as prescription, but he was from Hollywood and wasn't about to read too deep into this and you shouldn't either.

Was he tired? Yes. But it was more like the slightly sleepy that led into boredom that led into him browsing the internet for a couple of hours.

An hour and a half later, Dirk found himself falling down the rabbit hole of food network youtube videos on how to make gourmet gushers when an unfamiliar notification popped up. It was from Pesterchum, what was essentially a remake of the now outdated Skype, but he didn't recognize the message that appeared.

autoResponder [AR] began pestering timaeusTestified [TT]

AR: Hey. Ever wondered what ascension is like?

The name autoResponder immediately made Dirk think this was a bot messaging him. But that didn't make sense. The only way someone could message him would be if he gave them his username himself, but he couldn't remember giving anyone his username recently. He honestly didn't even use Pesterchum that much lately anyways because of how busy he's been with school. This totally had to be a bot. But it hadn't sent him any weird links yet or offered to show him boobs. Or maybe it was a hacker trying to give his laptop a virus. But he could handle that. Maybe it would be fun to fuck with this guy. If he was going to try to send him a virus he would well deserve it.

Just as he started to type a response back, he got another message.

AR: Ever wondered what happens after death?

Dirk's fingers hesitated. Now this was starting to sound a little more religious-y. But it gave more of the vibe of those signs you drive by on road trips. The ones paid for by Biblethumpers who had nothing better to do but shove god in every aspect of life, including road trips apparently.

Another message.

AR: Ever wondered what happens when everything becomes void, Dirk?

Dirk closed his laptop.

[dailyaudiobible]

09/30/2019 DAB Transcript

Isaiah 60:1-62:5, Philippians 1:27-2:18, Psalms 72:1-20, Proverbs 24:11-12

Today is the 30th day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible and welcome to the end of the month. We’re here to close down another month and that this is the ninth month of the year. So, well done. Nine months together every day, which makes this the 273rd day of the year. So, we’ve taken a lot of steps together. We’ve covered a lot of ground together and we have one more quarter, right? So, one more stretch to go. I am kinda getting ahead of ourselves though. We’re still here. This is September 30th and we haven't finished the month yet. So, let's dive in. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Isaiah chapter 60 verse 1 through 62 verse 5 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, like we talked about when we began Philippians this is a letter that Paul wrote while he was incarcerated. And this is a capital…this is a capital case, right? So, what’s hanging in the balance here is Paul's life and eventually the outcome of the trial would be the end of his life. So, that should add a certain amount, you know, like a little bit of weightiness to the words that we read that Paul wrote while he was imprisoned. So, in our reading today his words encouraged humility, a humble posture toward each other as fellow citizens of heaven. And as he's prone to do, he gave of us a picture of what our lives should be shaped. So, let’s just…let's review that. I'm quoting here. “My dear friends, just as you’ve always obeyed, so now not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to His good purpose. So, do everything without grumbling and arguing so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.” And let’s just pause there for a second because that's cool. “We shine like stars in the world?” So, I guess if you ever dreamed of being a star, this is how you actually do it. So, Paul says, “among whom you shine like stars in the world by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast of the day of Christ that I didn't run or labor for nothing, but even if I am poured out as a drink offering”,  and Paul’s talking about his potential execution here, “so even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith. I’m glad and I rejoice with you.” Okay. So, Paul, you know, there's lots of lists and character traits to avoid and to stay away from and to embrace and to become in the writings of Paul. So, this isn’t particularly unique. And the idea that we should suffer long, right, be long-suffering and patient with our fellow human beings, this isn't particularly new concept. We were taught…I was taught the golden rule from childhood and the idea that we should live a clean, upright kind of life and avoid darkness and the muck and mire of life. That's not revolutionary thought either. But the thing is, Paul's writing these kinds of lists as like…I don't…like life encouragement…like life tips or like biblical life hacks. Paul was convinced throughout his ministry that this is all going somewhere and that ultimately where we are headed is into our full and complete restoration that would remake us into the image of Jesus our Savior and offer us a place alongside Jesus as joint heirs with Jesus as additional sons and daughters of the most high God, along with Jesus. This is Paul's view of where this is all going and what Christ actually means. This is the good news. And when you think about it in terms like we just said, it is staggering, right? It’s a big monumental shift in the world. So, much bigger than just a list of characteristics or behavioral traits that we should try to live into, right? Behavior modification wasn't Paul's objective. Behavior imitation was Paul's point, right? You can't be Christlike if you’re not like Christ. So, in telling us to live a life that's worthy of our salvation Paul was telling us to imitate and live our lives like Jesus did. And that brings us to one of the best known passages, one that maybe offers the most concise view of Jesus or of Paul's Christology than any other…any of his other letters. Paul says…and he’s saying this about Jesus, “who existing in the form of God did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead, He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a servant taking on the likeness of humanity and when He had come as a man, He humbled himself by being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Okay. So, for Paul, a man who had lost his freedom and was awaiting trial before an Emperor would decide whether he would live or die, Paul's convictions here would have mattered greatly to him and these words would have made Paul's chains take on a totally different context to his readers. So, rather than like invalidating the gospel, invalidating Paul, and, you know, sending him into a dungeon where he would disappear from history, Paul was actually walking the path of Jesus, right? Paul was following the same course. These same things happened to Jesus and ended in his death. So, as Paul is considering becoming Christlike himself, we see that he is, in a most iteral way, walking in the footsteps of Jesus here. And, so, for Paul instead of being hopeless about the fact that he’d been thrown into prison and the Emperor could have him killed, Paul realized this is what imitating Christ looks like. But, why would why would he put himself in this position? Like, why would any of the early believers be willing to imitate a person when what you're gonna to imitate is incarceration and execution? Like, who imitates somebody and tries to imitate them all the way to their death? Paul answers why he’s doing this. He said, “for this reason, God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.” This is Paul's view and he embraced it to the point that…that leaving the body, like leaving the human life behind would be preferable because it would be immediate and full restoration in the presence of the Savior, which is far, far, far better than being chained up in a dungeon and wondering whether you're gonna have your head chopped off today or not and be nailed to a cross and hang there for hours in agony until you die. So, it's important that we understand that this is Paul's…this is Paul's cosmic view of what God is doing in the world. And Paul was thoroughly convinced that Jesus is Lord of it all. And, so, knowing Paul's view of Jesus Lordship helps us understand how we must imitate Christ in our earthly lives. We’re to imitate Christ because we’re being made into his image, which means we’re becoming as he is, which is the center of the gospel and mind boggling to say the least. But this is what we hope and as believers in Jesus

Prayer:

Father, we’ve covered some territory here and, You know, try to dissect it, in part theologically, and it can get tedious but the fundamental truth here is that we are being transformed. As we believe and as we walk with You, we are being renewed or remade. And any time that we turn toward the darkness and walk in that direction we are literally interrupting that process, which is walking away from You but it’s also walking away from who we were created to be. And, so, help us to see it in those terms today and every day. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it's where you find out what's going on around here on this last day of the month of September. So, I guess what's going on is we’re getting ready to launch into a new month and with this new month are some surprises. So, I’ll look forward to that over the next couple of days. But the website is the place to go to stay connected on…well…every day

So, the Prayer Wall lives at dailyaudiobible.com and that is a great place to go and pray and a great place to go and ask for prayer. We’re a community, brothers and sister shouldering each other's burdens as we move through life together and experience the rhythm of the Scriptures together. So, stay connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There's a link on the homepage. Thank you. I thank you for your partnership with all my heart. Thank you for your partnership. We wouldn't be here. That’s a fact. We wouldn't be here if we weren’t in this together. And thank God that we are. So, there's a link on the homepage. If you're using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always we have a prayer request a comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey there Annette Allison, this is Matthew Fouts from Fairhope Alabama, I’m calling to comment on your…you put a comment on my Facebook thing about I need a Daily Audio Bible sticker on my new work helmet, and I agree with you. I’ve been thinking about that a lot. I don’t know where I can find a sticker that says Daily Audio Bible but if anybody knows let me know. Anyhow, the reason I’m calling is I was prompted by your comment Annette to testify about how good God is. Jesus is awesome. We all know that, right. Well, when I moved out here to Fairhope Alabama from Southern Illinois, I had this dream I guess or hope that I would listen to the Daily Audio Bible as I would drive across the Mobile Bay Bridge on the way to work. And when I arrived down here that didn’t pan out immediately. So, after about three years of living and Fairhope that’s come to…come to pass and now I get to listen to the Daily Audio Bible as I drive across the Mobile Bay Bridge. And the neat thing…another neat thing about Mobile Bay is it’s actually originally called the Bay of the Holy Spirit. And there’s actually…a man investigated it and they put a plaque and they call Mobile Bay the Bay of the Holy Spirit. So, I get to drive across the Bay of the Holy Spirit listening to the Bible and praying. And, so, God is good. And sometimes we gotta wait for the things we hope for and it’s…it’s great to encourage one another as we wait. The best is yet to come. I believe that. Jesus is gonna come back one of these days and it’s going to be awesome.

Hi my name is Larry I’m calling from Florida and I wish to give prayer to the woman from the UK who called a little bit ago about a problem she had at work that a mistake that she made created a 500,000 pound loss to her company. And she sounded desperate and I wanted to lift her up in prayer to give her compassion and to make sure depression does not set in. And I ask the DABbers to lift her up and to pray for her bosses to make…to treat her with compassion and to make sure everything is okay. And then also I just want to…I want to give a shout out to and I want to give prayer to all the DABbers and all the listeners in Europe, you know, where the powers of secularism are trying to drive the spiritual life in the church out of not only public life but private life as well. So, I want to pray for all the Christians in Europe who are trying to live a godly life in the face of, you know, pressures of a secular society. And I also want to give prayer to England and the UK in particular as they come to grips in dealing with a pending __ initiative and to pray for the leaders and to pray for their economy that as the __ approaches that things go as smoothly as possible. And, so, to lift the nation and make sure that that things go as smoothly as possible. And I know it’s causing a lot of problems in England. So…so if you’re out there, people of Britain, we’re praying from you. And specifically for that lady with the problem with work in the mistake she made. It’ll be okay. Thank you and God bless everybody. Bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is standing firm in South Carolina. I am headed home and thinking about you guys and most of all thinking about talking to the Lord. As I’ve always said, I love this community. I love this new feature where you can just hit record and just start talking. Very simple, very easy. I love it. Good idea. Wonderful idea. Want to continue to pray, honestly what’s been on my heart, for all the men out there. Married men love your wives like Christ loves the church. I know there’s a lot that goes on. Your tongue is a powerful device, men. Watch your tongue, watch your words. Guard your heart, guard your wife’s heart. Be careful what you say. It’s easy to get out of hand especially when you’re in the flesh. Let the Holy Spirit guide you in everything you do. It’s just been on my heart because it’s just so easy to get out of whack and let your flesh take over and then you realize, “man, why did I say that, that is so damaging.” So, it doesn’t matter what the other party does, you as a man have to first obey God and second love your wife like Christ loved the church. So, just do that men and you’ll be fine. Let the Holy Spirit guide you in Christ name. I love you all. Have a good day. Bye-bye.

Good morning family it’s Bridget from New York City. I haven’t even listened to today’s…today’s Friday, September 27th. Today’s actually my grandma’s birthday. She’s four now. This would be the second birthday she celebrates without her dad. And I’m not even…I’m going to be honest, like I’m not calling because of that. I’m actually calling because I have such a heavy spirit of intercession on me to pray for anybody that is in despair, anybody that is hurting, anybody that feels like hopeless or struggles with doubt. You know, the cross has the final word. God loves us so much that He created a way for us to come back to Him because, believe it or not we do, right? We go astray as human beings. We do that even as parents from our loved ones. We just turn our back sometimes. But God loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us and I just want to share that. If anybody is struggling today, the cross has the final word. If you’re hurting, if you’re fighting something, the cross has the final word. I just pray that you understand the depth of the love that God had for you, that the cross has the final word. Evil can fight it’s darkest fight but the cross has the final word. Understand, the cross of Jesus, the love, His blood, everything that He did for us has the final word. So, as the enemy comes and the enemy tries to harm you and hurt you and overwhelm you and take over your mind, remember this, Jesus has the final word. The cross has the final word. God bless you family. I love you all so much. God bless you. Bye.