#it seems like so much more happened in these episodes than the first group | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

satxoru · 10 months ago

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You were always the quiet one in the friend group. You would try to make your voice heard, but your friends just didn't ever hear you nor believed in you or considered your feelings whenever they did anything.

You always tried to fit in with them in any way, maybe they'll start noticing you right? it even came to the point where you change your opinion so you could be just like your friends.

but they never really noticed you, never considered your feelings in anything, even if it's about an important situation or not.

one day your friends brought universities up in a conversation, which is great because you've been thinking about universities for a while so you took it as a chance to voice out your thoughts.

You have always loved drawing and photography. You were thinking about taking either arts & design or photography in college, but you weren't sure which one to choose. You were leaning more towards photography because you loved taking pictures of nature and you felt like it was something you really had a passion for.

but you weren't sure if you should pursue this or not. You wanted some advice on what to do, and you made the mistake of asking your friends for advice, because they did everything other than advice or encourage you.

"i was thinking either arts & design college or photography college."

one of your friends scoffed "are you even good at either of them to consider these universities?" your friend said.

"oh, i never knew you were thinking of going to college considering you'd most likely fail the admission test" another friend added which had the rest of the friend group hollering in laughter.

as if the first comment didn't already hurt you enough, your friends just had to bring up the fact that they thought you'd fail the admission test, which was something you were always scared of.

You felt completely humiliated and your confidence started to crumble even further as they kept laughing and mocking you.

You tried to laugh off the hurt that you felt when your friends mocked you, but it was clear to everyone that you were upset. one of your friends noticed this and said, "don't be so dramatic, we're just joking around." this only made you feel more hurt and embarrassed, and you quickly tried to hide your tears.

You slowly started to doubt yourself and your abilities. Your friends' behavior towards you started to take a toll on you and you started falling into a depressive episode.

later that night, you were having a hard time falling asleep. You were overthinking everything that happened at school, doubting yourself and your abilities, and you kept thinking about why everyone else seemed better than you and why you couldn't do anything right. You kept beating yourself up about it and it was too much for you to handle, you broke down in tears and cried yourself to sleep that night.

It was the same cycle again the next day in school. Your friends kept making fun of you, but you weren't aware that a specific person with blue eyes was watching you for the past two weeks, dying to go protect you from your cruel friends.

later after school, you and your friends went to the park even though you were very heavy-hearted that day and didn't have the energy to socialise with them, you didn't give up on trying to fit in with your friends.

they ended up coming across a dog. everyone was squealing about how cute the dog was, but you kept your distance because you were scared of dogs since one had bitten you before. you tried to tell your friends this, but they dismissed your feelings and told you that you're just being dramatic, which hurt you even more.

"god why are you so dramatic, its just a dog it won't bite." a friend snarled at you.

"i literally told you guys before that I've been bitten by a dog before, that's why im scared of them and you know it!" you complained.

"how were we supposed to know when you never told us." another friend added.

"i did tell you guys but you never listened to me." you sighed out, having no energy to argue back.

the next day at school, Satoru noticed how exhausted and down you were. he was concerned for you and wanted to help.

he started a conversation with you to distract you from sitting with your friends and give you some time to yourself.

"hey, can i sit next to you?" Satoru asked which he got a slight hum of approval in response. You and Satoru knew each other, but you didn't know each other to the point where you would start a conversation which confused you a little, but you didn't complain, you love company as long as no one is making fun of you.

You were doodling in your notebook midway through class when Satoru noticed and took it as a chance to start another conversation.

"..i've noticed how hard you've been working on your drawings in art class and I think they're really cool" he complimented.

"really? you mean that?"

"yeah, I really do, you have a lot of talent and I think it's amazing how you're always challenging yourself."

his words made you smile, "thanks, Gojo. That means a lot to me."

Satoru could tell that he had put a smile on her face and he was glad he had.“Satoru.” He corrected you to which you tilted your head in confusion. he smiled at your expression.

“call me Satoru.”

two months have gone by and You and Satoru have grown very close, you're basically attached at the hip now and you have gotten so close to each other that Satoru is the best friend you have always asked for; he is always standing up for you and encouraging you, and slowly you've gotten the strength to believe in yourself and are becoming better and better in what you do.

he even helps you by being your photography companion, posing for you and doing silly faces to make you laugh and giggle, which leads you to have lot of pictures of Satoru in your gallery. and as his friendship with you grew, you became more distant from your friends, even though they never really asked about you, nothing really changed in your absence, so things were still the same as usual.

but, there was this weird feeling that you weren't quite sure of, you didn't want to think too much about it in case you ended up convincing yourself of it

You liked Satoru, but weren't sure of your feelings and kept denying it by saying it was because he was your first guy friend or the first person who ever believed in you, but you sometimes share some moments together that would leave you blushing, and you weren't sure if he shared the same feelings as you, or if he was just being friendly.

like that one time you were at the park walking together when suddenly Satoru randomly blurted out "you know, I just realized how nice it is to walk with you, being around you is just so peaceful."

You blushed slightly and couldn't help but smile. You were starting to realize how comfortable you felt around him and you couldn't stop thinking about that interaction for the rest of the day.

or that one time when you were in the school hallways heading to class, and bumped into Satoru. you both said apologies at the same time and laughed it off. but it was then that you realized how close to you Satoru was and how strong his cologne smelled, you blushed a bit and couldn't help but notice how handsome he was.You both continued on your way, but the interaction had left you blushing.

and today in class you were talking to each other when suddenly Satoru leaned in close to your ear and whispered "you know, you're so cute when you talk about what you love." You blushed and ducked your head low, giggling.

You couldn't help but blush from the compliment and you were starting to realize that you might have feelings for Satoru.

a few weeks later and you finally mustered up the courage to confess to Satoru, at the thought of him you got a text from him telling you to meet him in the park because he has a surprise for you, as you were reading the message you got your hopes up maybe he'll confess.

As you arrived, you spotted Satoru sitting with another girl, and your heart sank but didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"hey Satoru" you said as you were approaching them, he looked up at you and smiled, although it was clear that he was quite comfortable with the other girl, you didn't forget to give a slight smile to the pretty girl although jealousy was all you felt.

"who's this?" you asked politely, and as Satoru introduces his girlfriend. Your heart sank.

seeing him introduce his girlfriend with a big grin made you glad he was happy but you can't deny the pain you're feeling right now, though you tried your best to hide your feelings, That's what you've been doing all along. You started a conversation with his new girlfriend.

"omg I'm so happy for you two, congratulations!" You say in a happy tone hoping Satoru won't notice your change of mood, but as he knows you too well, he definitely noticed. He decided to act clueless for now but he would talk about it later.

a while goes by with them and you had to make up an excuse to go home because the pain in your chest was unbearable. Later at night you got a text from Satoru reading "hey, are you okay?" followed by another message "i noticed how upset you were today with us— did something happen?"

"yeah I'm okay, i just needed to go home cuz i remember something important to do"

You sent the text hoping to change the subject.

"im not stupid"

"be honest with me, what happened"

you both went back and forth, with Satoru asking if you were sure you wanted to tell him what was bothering you, and you finally building up the courage to ask him to come over.

"But promise me nothing will change between us when I tell you," you added.

Satoru agreed to your condition, and came over to your house.

when you opened the door for satoru, you couldn't help but get a little teary eyed. Satoru noticed the worry written all over your face, and he didn't hesitate to hug you when he saw tears in your eyes.

he closed the door behind him and held you tightly and comforted you. letting you on his shoulder, he took you to sit on the couch and get more comfortable. you were overwhelmed with emotions, but you were appreciative of how Satoru was taking care of you in this moment. you felt safe in his arms.

"you wanna tell me what happened?" he slowly asked. your voice cracked as you tried to talk to him which gave him a signal that you weren't calm enough to talk right now. "hey its okay, take your time, im not pressuring you." he whispered in your ear while trying his best to calm you down.

he held you closer, not letting go and continuing to hold you close; he didn't want you to feel unsafe or uncared for, he wanted you to take your time and be ready to share what was bothering you when you were ready to do so.

You tried to stay calm, but you could feel your heart racing and your emotions overwhelming you.Satoru was looking at you curiously, and you knew that you had to tell him what was bothering you.

after a deep breath, you went on "I have to be honest with you, I've liked you for a while now, but when I arrived at the park today, you were with another girl and I realized that you had a girlfriend. It was hard for me to hide my disappointment and heartbreak." You said all in one breath which left Satoru silent for a while trying to understand what you just said.

the silence scared you, it was eating you alive and you couldn't help but start to overthink, "does he hate me now?" "is he disgusted of me?" "is he gonna leave me?" "i dont want him to cut me off."

all those thoughts came rushing all at once, you were gonna let go of the hug but he pulled you closer to himself and started talking.

"you know, i used to like you back then." his sudden statement confused you, you needed more clarification.

"no, i used to love you, but i realized you weren't in the right state to be in a relationship, and you weren't looking for a relationship and i didn't wanna get it into your head"

"i didn't wanna pressure you into anything but at the same time I've been waiting for too long. it was hurting me so bad"

"i was glad and upset that i was starting to move on from you, and now that you told me, im disappointed." Satoru isn't sure what he's disappointed by, but the thought of them nearly becoming something ached the both of them.

maybe Satoru should've waited a while longer? maybe you were just late trying to figure out your feelings? either way time was up and there was no going back, and of course Satoru won't leave his new girlfriend, he loves her still.

but he knew deep in his heart that he could never love someone else the way he loved you.

"but.. in the future if im able to fall in love again, i hope its you." he added

"in the future, if you ever find yourself in the position to love again, fall in love with me." you could barely form a sentence.

"i wish you well for you and your girlfriend, but if anything happened that separates the two of you, just know that ill always be waiting for you Satoru."

"you cant waste your life waiting for me" he caressed your hair.

"i know but i love you too much to let you go.”

#gojo fluff #gojo x reader #gojo angst #gojo jjk #gojo satoru #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader #satoru x reader #gojo imagine #gojo fic #gojo drabbles

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kimarii-00 · 11 months ago

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Regrets and Punishments (2)

❥Summary: Armando knows he made a mistake. He knew when he decided that his mother was more important than his girlfriend. But he planned to return to her, he really did. He never could’ve anticipated being gone for as long as he was. Seeing her face again was like getting shot: You get that adrenaline rush, yet the pain ends up biting you in the ass later on. Especially when he discovers what, or dare I say, who he also left behind all that time ago.

❥Warnings: Slow burn, kidnapping, language, guns/shooting, blood, violence, suggestive scenes (?), eventual happy ending

❥Word Count: 4.8k (2k words more than the last one ;))

❥Part 2/2

PART 1

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AN: I did not expect all the support for the first part, thank you guys!! I hope this last part was worth all the hype! Enjoy!!

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“(Name),” Kelly begins, “I’m so sorry I–”

“What the hell do they even want with her? She’s a fucking child. Four! Four fucking years old,” As angry as you were right now, you couldn’t stop the tears from flowing, “I can’t… What if they hurt my baby?”

“They’re probably going to use her as some sort of backup in case their plan with Mike’s wife goes south…”

In all honesty, you think you had a hunch on why they took Demi. Because he’s her father… They must’ve done their research…

You’re surprised Armando hasn’t pressed you more by now about Demi. He must’ve had questions because last time he checked, you didn’t have a kid, so from his perspective, in the years he was gone you either must’ve hooked up with some guy and had his kid, or the passionate night you two shared before he left must’ve really paid off…

“(Name) I swear, we’re not going to let anything happen to Demi,” Kelly said in an attempt to sooth your motherly insticts. You felt nausious but you appreciated that you weren’t in this alone. Kelly had always been there for you, especially when the father of your child left and you found out you were pregnant with his kid a week later. She was there for you when nobody was. She had helped you through depressive episodes so you wouldn’t stress yourself and end up hurting the baby, she was there for you when you went into labor and had to be rushed to the hospital. She was there when the loud cries filled the room when the doctors popped Demi out of you.

Thinking of this only made you angrier, because it was wrong that you had to rely so much on your best friend instead of the man that was supposed to be Demi’s father, and now, because of his involvements with these people, your daughter has been taken. She has nothing to do with this.

You wipe your face, trying to get the tears to stop falling but they just wouldn’t. Out of the corner of your eye, you catch Armando looking at you with an expression that you can’t read but when he notices that you’ve seen his antics, he averts his attention elsewhere. You can’t help but think that he wants to say something to you, but you can’t bring yourself to care in this moment.

As much as you’d like to deny it, deep down you still have feelings for that man. But there are many reasons as to why you can’t just happily jump back into his arms and ask him to take you back.

Right now, you have more than yourself to worry about. You have Demi, and if you were going to get with a man, she deserves to have someone that will care and love her and right now, you aren’t sure that man could be Armando.

You aren’t paying much attention to the group as they talk about a plan to get the hostages back, you aren’t in your right mind and it seems everybody notices that. All you can think about is your little girl.

Mike looks at his son, and even though they don’t have the deepest relationship, he can tell that the boy is worried for you. He still isn’t entirely sure what you and him are to each other, but he can definitely tell that seeing you as broken as you are now is breaking something in Armando himself. He makes his way to Armando’s side and slightly nudges his side to get his attention.

“Go talk to her,” he says, gesturing to the grieving woman, “You two clearly have things to discuss, you better get it out of the way before we start making moves.”

“She doesn’t want to talk to me,” Armando grumbles, his eyes wandering to your person for what felt like the hundreth time in the last ten minutes.

“You never know until you try–”

“I did try, she told me to get the hell away from her.”

“Listen man, I don’t know what your relationship is with her, but what I do know is that if you don’t talk to her now, you might not get another chance to.”

Armando takes in his fathers words, contemplating his options and realizing that he really only has two: Not talk to you and then potentially die before he gets the chance to, or two, talk to you know and list the weight thats been on his chest ever since he saw you walk through that front door.

He decides that he would probably come to regret picking the latter, but his feet are gliding him toward where you sat with Kelly before he could find some excuse as to why he should wait until later to have this inevitable conversation.

You don’t seem to notice him until he’s standing before you, yet you don’t lift your head. Kelly does, however, and gives him a certain look that read, “If you hurt her more than she’s already hurting, I swear I’ll kill you”. He nodded to her, and she hesitantly nodded back. She rubbed your back in a comforting way one last time before standing up and walking toward the rest of the group. Armando took her place next to you.

He doesn’t say a word. Neither do you. It’s a mix of awkward and comfortable silence between you two before you break it by suddenly speaking up.

“She’s yours,” You say without warning. You decided that you’d rip the band-aid off and quell any thoughts about you hooking up with some other guy that he might’ve had, “Her name is Demi. She’s four… She’s yours.”

“...I had a feeling,” He starts, “I’m sorry.”

You don’t say anything and wait for him to expand. You wait for his to say anything to help you understand why he left you. Why he abandoned you and your unborn child. But he says nothing.

You sigh, “Why’d you do it?” You sounded tired. You didn’t want to argue. You just wanted him to help you understand his decision all those years ago.

“I got caught up in some shit. Fucked with the wrong people.”

“Yeah no shit,” You spit out.

Silence overtakes you both once again.

“You didn’t even leave a text,” You say quietly, “Y’know I waited for you. I waited, and waited, and waited, and then waited some more, yet you never came home. Never.”

Up until this point your head had been in your hands, trying to soothe your pounding headache, but now your gaze laid on his face, making direct eye contact. You let him see your stinging red eyes from all the crying you’ve been doing.

“I didn’t want to involve you in my shit. I didn’t want you to end up hurt because of me–” He begins, but you don’t take any of that bullshit.

“Yeah? Well I’m involved now, and guess who’s paying the fucking price? My– our child.”

This shuts him up. He doesn’t have anything to say to that, other than, “I’m sorry.”

You scoff. Is that all he can offer you? After all he’s put you through?

“Was it even real?” You ask on a whim.

“What?” He questions.

“Us. Was it real? Since you found it so easy to just up and leave some random day?”

“You think that shit was easy?” He snaps, “I loved you– I love you so much, so how the hell could you say that me leaving you was fuckin’ easy?”

You flinched at the correction from loved to love, “You sure as hell made it seem that way.”

He startled you by grabbing your shoulders tightly. He turned you so you looked at him fully, eye contact as intense as ever.

“I had to damn near fight myself to not turn back and run into your arms again after I left you. I thought about you every fuckin’ day that I wasn’t around you. If I could go back, I swear I would’ve told my mother to fuck off if it meant that I could stay with you… with our child. But at the time I was a fucking idiot and I thought–” He had to stop his rambling for a moment to take a breath. You stared at him with wide eyes, he was never one to go on tangents like this, and you made no effort to stop him. “I thought that leaving was the best decision for you, for us, at the time and I planned on coming back. I really did. But everytime I even thought it was okay to return more shit kept happening and I just– I didn’t want you involved.”

You let him trail on with his words as you found comfort in his somewhat desperate hold in your shoulders.

“I never meant to hurt you the way I did.” Armando concluded.

You avert your eyes down slightly, breaking the eye contact but he puts his finger under your chin to lift it back up. He doesn’t want you avoiding this conversation.

He isn’t sure what possessed him to lean down, shortening the distance between the two of you until there was nothing but a pocket of air seperating his lips from yours, but as he’s about to take the final step, you pull away slowly.

“I-I’m sorry, I just…” You begin, unsure of what excuse your about to pull, “I can’t.” You say, deciding not to beat around the bush.

He nods in understanding, yet you immediately recognize the hurt in his eyes.

You pull away from his hands on your shoulders and he makes no move to stop you. You take a deep breath in, like you want to say something else before you part ways, but ultimately decide against it.

You say nothing as you walk back to the group, leaving him standing motionless behind you.

“As far as they know, Lockwood is on his way with a plane to move the hostages to Cuba,” Mike spoke, going over the plan once more. Today was the day you took action to rescue the people that were kidnapped. Mike’s wife, the girl that was with her at the time– Callie, and…Demi. God… I swear if they did something to her… “The second they get close to the plane with the hostages, it’s quick kills. Neutralize all threats. These motherfuckers killed a lot of good cops. They have my wife, they have Callie, and they have (Name)’s daughter.” You lowered your eyes at the aknowledgement.

“They attacked our families. We not losing today.” He concludes, and everyone nods their head.

You were partnered with the tech team in the van, watching the situation from drone footage. You wanted to be on the front lines to get rid of every fucker who thought taking your daughter was a good idea, but you were stuck inside of the van until extra help was needed.

You hear the helicopter pilot through your comms device in your ear, “I got one looking out the front door, right side, I got one sniper on the roof of building two.”

“T those up,” Rita says, who ended up joining the cause after realizing the man she was dating was with the enemy. You quickly code in a few commands for the drone to follow and before long you have eyes on the two mentioned. “Everybody keep moving. What are those?”

She points to the objects presented in the live map of the area, and you answer, “Gaters.”

“I thought it was an abandoned theater park?”

“Abandoned by humans,” Kelly jumps in while loading her gun.

You manage to find the parks webpage from when it was open and discover that the main attraction was an albano aligator named “Duke”. It was sixteen feet long, and there are stories about him still being there to this day.

“Well fuck that…” You mutter.

You watch from the drone as the main team lands in the water as planned, getting into position.

“Armando’s at his QTH,” Dorn confirms, letting everyone know that he’s in position. You swallow the lump in your throat.

Lockwood steps out of the helicopter and walks on the dock, waiting for them to bring out the hostages. You hold your breath and watch closely.

“Hostages are coming out now,” Dorn says. Your eyes dart across the screen, looking for your daughter in particular before spotting her in the arms of a muscular man. They walked behind the other two that were kidnapped and you can barely contain yourself when you take in the terrified look on your four year olds’ face.

“Fuck…” You choke out under your breath. Kelly hears this and rubs circles into your back for comfort. You put your hands over your mouth in a prayer like position and keep watching through the drones.

“Everybody stay calm,” Rita says.

The plan was for Mike to take out their leader as soon as he had the chance to, which was why he was on the front lines, yet when you notice no movement from his end, you begin to become worried that something has gone wrong.

“Mike?” Rita blurts, “Mike do you have the shot?”

“Negative, I do not have a shot, I do not have a shot,” he says into the comms device. Your eyebrows furrow as you look from a perspective of a drone that flew near where the helicopter had landed, and you conclude that from where Mike was posted, he should’ve had a clear shot.

A moment goes by and the kidnappers walk with the hostages, but just a little ways before they reach Lockwood, they stop on the bridge.

“They stopped, why’d they stop?” Dorn hurridly says. The drone is able to catch the sight of something slowly moving through the water and you conclude that it’s what they are looking at as well, you watch as their leader follows whatever is moving and your heart sinks when you realize what the thing in the water is moving towards.

“Armando–” You start, but he seems to have noticed it as well.

“Shit.” He says.

One man signals for the soldiers around him to start a search, suddenly becoming suspicious of where the thing in the water was going, and who it may be targeting. “Armando they’re closing in on you.” Dorn states.

“Do they see him?” Rita asks.

“I don’t know.”

Rita takes the time that they are distracted to pressure Mike, surely he has a shot now, right? “Mike, now! Your chance is now, they can see him, they know we’re here!”

“I don’t have it, negative, negative.”

“You’ve got to take the fucking shot,” Armando mumbles out, keeping his eye on the thing slowly advancing toward him in the water, and the person that was getting dangerously close to his hiding spot above.

You watch as all hell breaks loose when Armando shoots the man who semed to have spotted him, and he falls into the water only to be finished off by the thing in the water, now identified to be the ledgendary sixteen foot long gator. You don’t think you’ve ever been as scared as you had been the moment you realize they know they’ve been set up, and they start taking the hostages back into the building. Your daughter begins to cry and it breaks your heart.

“Engage!” Rita shouts through the comms, “Kelly, get us there.”

You leave your chair and move to the front of the van along with Kelly as she steps on the gas. You take the time to reload your own gun, and slip a knife in your boot for emergencies.

By the time the four of you have arrived, the fight has moved inside. Rita orders you three to go inside and she states that she’ll go after Lockwood and you don’t have to be told twice before you’re rushing in there. You hear Kelly shouting your name behind you, trying to get you to slow down as you leave them in the dust, but all you can hear is the blood rushing in your ears, desperate to find your daughter. You arrive just in time to see the man who was holding onto your daughter walk up a flight of stairs and you waste no time following after, shooting whoever was in your way.

The path splits into three once you reach the top and you pick a random path, slowly walking into the room.

You make sure the room is clear, making sure there is no one in it before you turn around, only to be smacked in the face with the butt of a gun. You stumble and fall, and make eye contact with the man who took you by surprise. You see him aiming at you, but with no intention to die before you find your daughter, you regain your balance and sweep his leg and quickly make your way on top of him. You snatch the knife out of your boot and put it to his neck, “Where is the child?” You hiss out, “I swear I’ll fucking kill you, where is she?” You barked when he took too long to answer for your liking.

“I don’t know what your talking about–” You decide you don’t have time for this bullshit, and jab him in the stomach with the knife. He lets out a cry of pain and he finds the cool metal of the knife back on the skin of his neck with a noticable change of pressure this time around. He was sure it would cut into the skin at any moment, “Okay, okay! Last I heard she was on the top floor.”

“Fuck,” You say, realizing that there were more floors than you realized. You don’t say another word before puncturing the side of his neck, quickly ending him. You get up, ready to leave the room but you’re grabbed from behind and choked. You grip the arm that wraps around your neck and stab your already bloodied knife into it, releasing yourself from the headlock. Even though the man who’d attacked you had been stabbed he was relentless. He ran at you again, landing a punch into your stomach and you got a few hits in yourself. You smash his head against a wall which either kills or knocks him out, and you can’t bring yourself to care as you see more men rush into the room.

You dance around them, getting in hits and taking some as well and you whip out your gun. You wanted to preserve bullets but you were getting overwhelemed by the amount of people that were flowing into the room. You shoot a few with amazing accuracy.

You hear a grunt behind you and before you can turn around, you are hit in the head with the butt of another gun again. You groan, the pain of your injuries starting to show through the adrenaline and the man behind you grabs you by your hair and pulls you up before wraping his own arm around your neck. You close one eye in pain and watch as one man walks to you, aiming his gun.

Before he can shoot, there is another shot that interrupts their plan and it ends up hitting the man behind you. Now free from his hold, you make use of the distraction and kick the man in front of you in the gut, causing him to double over. You knee him in the face and snatch his gun, shooting him in the face.

You look at your savior, and your eyes widen as you realize who it was. Armando…

“You good?” He asks. You nod, and he joins you at your side to finish off the remaining of the enemy, but before any of you can make a move, a helicopter comes smashing through the window, instantly killing two of the guys. You’re right in the path of the helicopter, and you see out of the corner of your eye Armando running towards you. He grabs onto you and you both fly out of the way. He manuvers both of your bodies until he’s the one to take most of the impact once you land.

Once all the chaos settles, you both stand up. You look at him, his hands still embracing you protectively, “Are you okay?”

You don’t answer him and continue to stare into his eyes. Those eyes you’ve known for so long. You don’t know what could’ve possessed you to do this, but you feel as if it’s the only thing you could do in the moment. With haste, you push your lips against his.

You can feel his surprise in your sudden action. You bring your hands up and grip his vest for stability and you feel the moment where he begins to reciprocate. Your mouths move together in a practiced motion and you wonder how he’s still such a good kisser after all these years.

The kiss quickly becomes heated, hurried. He slips his tongue into your mouth and you let him, moving the muscles together, competing for dominance. You groan into his mouth.

He then begins to walk forward, and you walk backwards slowly until your back makes contact with the wall behind you and he cages you in, his lips never leaving yours. Tongue never unlocking with your own. One hand is connected to the wall and the other to your hip as he brings you impossibly closer. You bask in the moment.

You break the kiss first, needing air, and his lips search for yours again instantly when you do. Your mind begins to cloud, but you remember why you’re here in the first place. You need to find your daughter. Even knowing this, you find it hard to pull away from the sensation that is his lips against your own, but somehow you find it in you to put your hands on his chest and gently push him away. He looks down at you in question.

“Can…can we continue… after I find my daughter?” You breathe heavily, still breathless from the passionate moment you shared.

“Yeah… okay. I’m coming with you.” Your eyes shot up at him at the statement. You nod at him and he hesitantly releases you from his hold. Desperate to rid yourself of the tension left in your lower area due to the kiss, you walk away, recalling what the man said about another floor.

Armando follows closely behind you.

You eventually find the staircase that would lead you to the top floor, and of course, awaiting you were more of the enemy. With Armando by your side, you make quick work of them and once all that were left were bodies, you begin to search the room. It was the only room on the top floor, so unless that guy was lying to you, Demi must be here.

So where the hell is she?

There is no sign of her being here. You check behind boxes, inside cabinets, everywhere. Your breathing quickly grows rapid as you realize that your daughter is nowhere in sight. If she’s not here, then where the hell could she be? The rest of your team was in the lower areas on the building, and if one of them found her, surely they would’ve announced it over the comms, right? So where the hell is your daughter?

You feel a hand on your back, “Hey, hey, you’re fine. We’ll find her, okay?” Armando says.

You realize you can’t waste time, so you nod and recollect yourself. But that doesn’t change the fact that you have no clue where she could be if not here.

“Look,” Armando states once your breathing had slowed, he points to the left where there seemed to be a door to a balcony of sorts.

You take a deep breath and follow him, as he already started making his way toward it.

He kicks open the door, gun aimed at the figure that stood at the edge of the balcony and your heart dropped. In front of you stood your little girl, and a man that took his place on the ledge of what had to be a long ass drop. You feared the worst and your gun shoot in your hands.

“Put the guns down!” The man demanded, “Right now or I promise you I’ll jump, and take her ass with me!” He says. He emphasizes his words by gripping your daughter tighter and holding his gun to her head, then back at the two of you.

Your daughter is bawling her eyes out. You aren’t even sure if he noticed that you were there for her. She was scared out of your mind. “Demi–”

“Shut up, and put your fucking guns down!” The man demanded. You listen this time, which prompted Armando to do the same. You cursed to yourself, realizing what little power you have in this situation. “I want you two to slowly walk back out that door.”

“We can’t do that,” Armando states, his hands rising in the air after he dropped his gun to show he’s not a threat.

“Fucking do it!” The man boasted. You aren’t sure what your options are, if there were any. You look to Armando, and he seems to sense your eyes on the back of his head.

He then looks at you a certain way, and mouths to you, “Trust me.”

Your eyes widen and you let out a yelp in surprise when Armando takes off running toward the man and your daughter. This takes the man by surprise too, before he makes no effort to pull the trigger and only seems to panick at the incoming threat. He doesn’t get a chance to retaliate before Armando uses his shoulder and back to swiftly steal your daughter from the mans grip, all the while using force to push him off of the balcony.

You watch as Armando sinks to his knees with your daughter, gently combing her hair with his fingers and whispering in her ear words of comfort. She grips onto him tightly and cries into his police vest. It takes you a moment to realize that she is safe. Something about Armando holding your daughter in his arms and caring for her makes you realize and think about some things that you haven’t thought to think about before, but you put that all of the back burner in favor of finally holding Demi in your arms again.

“Baby…” You whisper, almost in disbelief that she really is safe and sound. Demi registers your voice in her little head and whips it around to face you.

“Mama!!” She cries, she leaves Armando’s hold and you drop to your knees to give her the biggest, tightest hug you can. You sniffle and pull her head into your neck.

“Are you okay Mimi? Let me look at you…” You say, pulling away from her to check her from any kind of injury. She shakes her head, you take in the sight of her red eyes from all the crying she’s been doing.

“Mama is hurt…” She mumbles. You move your hand to the various areas that Demi points at and notice that you are indeed hurt in many areas, but you don’t care. Not right now.

“I am… But it’s okay, mama’s strong, just like you baby. God, I love you so much,” You say, planting a long, wet kiss on her forehead and hug her again tightly.

“I love you too, mama,” Demi says into your neck. You look at Armando as you hug Demi, and you mouth a quick “Thank you.” He nods to you, watching the interaction.

The moment is interrupted by Mike on the comms, “Armando, come in Armando.”

“What’s up?” Armando replies.

“You need to get out of here, Judy’s here and is looking for you. Take the boat and get the hell out of here.”

Armando hesitates, looking at you and your daughter… his daughter. Whatever he’s contemplating seems like he’s making a hard decision in his mind, but luckily for him, you’ve already made up yours.

“We’ll come with you.” You state.

“What? No–”

“It wasn’t a question.”

Silence overtakes you, but you don’t let it linger for too long, “Don’t push us away again.”

This looks to have convinced him, as he takes a deep breath and nods. “Okay.”

You don’t know how the future will go for you three. You dread the predestined talk with your daughter that you’re going to have to have with her to tell her that this man is really her father, but all you know is that as your walking through that building, your daughter being carried by him and her hooked onto her neck for safety and comfort, you feel as if you have good things coming.

And so you let yourself crack a genuine smile, one that you felt hasn’t shown itself since the night that he left you.

And he reciprocates the same one. One you haven’t seen in years, and one you’re sure to see in many more to come.

TAGLIST: (if you didn’t get tagged, it’s probably due to settings!)

@dasaniswrlddd @thedarkworldofhananerea @taylormcguire282 @timebomb1101 @5arlan7 @desiiiisworld @babygurl030 @lovelyme22 @Leavemealing @lewispool @yeahnohoneybye @velocitynyoom @maybepersuasivetom @deadpool15

#armando aretas x reader #armando aretas #armando aretas x you #bad boys #bad boys ride or die #kimarii-00

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burr-ell · 1 month ago

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My biggest problem with campaign 3 as someone who fell off around episode 80 is that none of the characters seem to want anything. None of them really have a goal they're working towards nor do they have any strong opinions about the MAIN PLOT of the campaign.

To be honest, the first thing I thought of when I read this ask was the C3 defenders who have been insisting that so much criticism of the finale comes from people who dropped off a while ago and therefore wouldn't know. But what you're saying here points to the actual problem behind why the final episodes of the campaign were such a mess. If it's episode 80 of 121 and there's only a perfunctory sense of motivation from the characters? That's a problem, and it's going to make it nearly impossible for the finale to stick the landing. To quote @wardensantoineandevka, it's an Act 2 problem, not an Act 3 problem.

I've heard more than once that "nuh-uh, Bell's Hells does have motivation, it's called altruism", and I'm going to take a detour to explain why that's not enough. If you've followed me long enough to know the deep lore, you know I used to be a fan of Voltron: Legendary Defender, whose final seasons were notoriously disastrous. Many fans hated it (for different reasons), while general audiences mainly thought it was mid. Deeper research into the production history nets inconsistent results; a lot of unsourced rumors and "common knowledge" got spread around Twitter and Tumblr about why the show fell off the rails so hard, and it's difficult to parse what feels true from what actually happened.

What I do know, however, is what I actually saw in the show, where the main cast feels as if their motivation to be there is "we're the protagonists". There's very little development of emotional connection between the characters beyond a surface level, and the characters don't have a personal investment in what they're doing. (And no, "they're just altruists" is not sufficient motivation. The altruism, like the characters, is pretend.) They're there because they got to the giant robots first. So at the end of the show, where they've escalated the stakes to "the whole MULTIVERSE is going to be destroyed", it lacks weight because none of the work has been done throughout the show to make it feel like that matters to the characters. Act 1 was promising if a bit shaky, but Act 2 is a mess, and it turned Act 3 into sludge.

To bring it back to better stories: why is it Vox Machina dealing with the Chroma Conclave? Because it's the right thing to do and because their city and home that they had invested themselves in got suddenly and violently attacked, and by a group associated with a dragon they previously killed, and they picked up more reasons along the way. Why is it the Mighty Nein dealing with Cognouza? Because it's the right thing to do and because the major player involved was piloting the body of their friend who died in an incredibly traumatic and game-changing moment, and they picked up more reasons along the way.

Why is it the Hells dealing with Ruidus? Because it's the right thing to do and...because Imogen had moon dreams and Orym's family was killed and everyone else is sort of there. Why is it Team Voltron dealing with the multiverse problem? Because it's the right thing to do and...because they're the ones with the giant robot. More than one person has described the vibe as "we met during freshman orientation and talking to anyone else would be scary".

The Hells are not played with the level of intentionality that this plot requires—but ultimately, as many people have pointed out, most of the burden of this falls not on the players but on Matt. Being so hands-off during character creation meant that he allowed the cast to make characters better suited to a completely different story than what he wanted, and was either unable or unwilling to pivot to accommodate. ("Pulpier and deadlier" is getting passed around and dunked on for a reason.) The cast was mainly trying to thread the needle of playing true to their characters while also trying to meet the needs of Matt's story when he was frequently keeping them in the dark about what he wanted for the sake of surprising them.

When the big setpiece moment of episode 51 came and went, the campaign became so focused on getting everybody through plot points that the only conversations they had were the seemingly endless circular god debates that went nowhere. It's not really a "nuanced morally gray story" as its defenders claim; it's the DM seeing the party go in a direction and then throwing something else at them to "complicate" things in a way that either gets forgotten about entirely (Hearthdell) or just grinds the story to a screeching halt for no payoff (Feywild trust exercises). These problems are most noticeable in the final arcs (particularly with the Arch Heart appearance—not giving Abu any direction and just letting him improv was a very poor decision), but the feeling that Bell's Hells are just a ping-pong ball bouncing from fetch quest to vaguely-related fetch quest, rather than active agents in their own story, was present well before that.

Campaign 3 probably won't be remembered as bad. At the end of the day, I think it's just mid. And honestly? That might be worse.

#cr discourse #cr meta #asks #long post

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anim-ttrpgs · 6 months ago

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A big part of Eureka is splitting the party. Normally games are loathe to do this because of the potential to bore players while they passively watch others play the game. I'm curious how you deal with this when you run Eureka. Sending players away seems like it could make it either better or worse. Like if it's at a home, people can go hang out by the snack table and drink and chat, but that doesn't work as well at, say, a game store. I'm curious how people felt about having to leave the game several times.

While the risk of boring the players or putting too much stress on the GM is a real concern, the addage of "don't split the party" actually originated in the TSR D&D era, where splitting the party made them weak and vulnerable to all sorts of situations that would be less of a problem for a full strength party, However, for a game like Eureka that produces more conventional narratives (everyone take note that I did not say that Eureka produces more narrative or is "more focused on narrative", just more conventional narratives) and has more of a focus on intrigue and horror, the party splitting up to cover more ground and collect more clues in the limited time they have to solve the mystery, but also making each one of them more vulnerable if something happens, is an actual trade-off that can improve the gameplay and story.

First of all, besides it just being really entertaining, I really recommend you listen to the Tiny Table Actual Play of Eureka. It has some really good examples of splitting the party and sending players away that are executed really well, and also some good discussion of it in the post-mortem episode and the interview.

I’m going to answer the ask directly from my own gameplay experience, but I really really urge anyone who has played Eureka to comment with their own experiences with splitting the party and sending players away.

Alright, so, obviously how long players are willing to wait their turn is group-dependent, but with our own group, we’ve actually kinda had the opposite problem from players getting bored. Instead, Narrator and the players whose characters are currently in the spotlight start to worry that they’re selfishly hogging too much session time, and try to rush the scene along (to its great detriment), when in reality the players who were sitting out were happy to keep waiting. Realizing this led to us altering the advice regarding splitting the party in the rulebook, and actually recommending the Narrator go a little longer before switching to the other characters.

I personally am happy to wait up to like 90 minutes if my character is out of the scene, because I have faith in my group and also in Eureka that the payoff for waiting will be that much greater, seeing the characters relay what they have learned while they were apart in dialogue rather than the player just saying “My investigator tells them everything that happened.” It really heightens the tension, lets the characters shine, and can even really help with solving the mystery, because having the events and evidence recounted out loud can help with making connections that might have gone over people’s heads the first time.

Of course like the rulebook says, it also comes to the judgement of the play group as a whole, and should definitely be discussed beforehand basically as part of session zero, and even mid-session if it needs to be. (Communicate your preferences to your play group!!!!!) There’s plenty of scenes and situations where having the other players leave the room instead of sitting and watching would add nothing at all to the experience.

Now I want to hear other people’s opinions. If you have played Eureka and had a party split where some players left the room or otherwise excused themselves, how did it go?

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markantonys · 28 days ago

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handful of 3x07 thoughts! today was the one day a quarter i had to work in the office instead of from home, so i had to hurry out the door after finishing the episode without getting to jot anything down and thus i've probably forgotten a lot of details, plus i never have all that much to say about battle episodes or perrin storyline besides "nice, i liked it", so a good chunk of this post is spent looking ahead to potential downstream effects of changes.

full book spoilers!

first, quick notes on the episode itself:

i was SO thrilled to see bode and eldrin get an even bigger role this week. they're swiftly becoming two of my favorite minor characters and i really hope we can continue to see them in future seasons! although i'm going to have to keep mentally retconning and changing the age gap between them and mat haha mat's been Vaguely 20s the whole time and meanwhile the sisters' actresses were teeny little kids in s1, then preteens in s3, and will probably be like 16-18 by the time s4 gets filmed (if it does and if they appear in it, fingers crossed!)

following off of this, as a newly-minted bode & eldrin lover and a longtime galad hater, i am so delighted that they got to steal his beat of killing valda to avenge their mom. suck it, galad!

i need my cauthon sibling reunion in s4 so bad!!!!!! alanna is set up to take them somewhere, but not the white tower, so potentially they could peel off from perrin's story group and wind up joining mat's in s4. i pray to the light that it will be so!

i am astonished that maksim survived. all season i was like "i guess i can accept them spending what feels to me like a disproportionate amount of time on solo maksim-alanna scenes that only serve them (unlike their s1&2 scenes which also always served main characters like lan at the same time) since they are probably building up to maksim's death and showing why that pushes alanna over the edge" but no! now i'm left feeling like it was all a waste of time. but hey, maksim could still die in a future season and make the s3 stuff feel retroactively more useful; maybe they're just saving his death to happen right before the Rand Bonding to act as alanna's trigger. i hope for that route, because if alanna non-con bonds rand while maksim is still alive, i'm sure maksim would deeply disapprove of this decision and then we'd have to spend even more time on him and their relationship showing the fallout (when the primary focus of this story beat should be rand and how HE is affected; yes, theoretically it's interesting for alanna to have a surviving warder who reacts to the situation instead of it only being her and rand reacting, but i just don't think that's the best use of time what with how limited we are)

honestly i feel like that's my only criticism of the episode, that maksim has overstayed his welcome for me this season and that's now worsened by him surviving into s4 haha but otherwise i was happy with everything else in the episode!

i loved perrin and faile's scenes!!!! after seeing the trailers, i was surprised (and disappointed/hesitant) that their relationship seemed to be a faster burn than i'd expected, but it turns out that 2 brief kisses and some flirting are the extent of the romance for s3. so we're still in really early territory between them with a lot more room to grow and to deepen the relationship, which i like!

and i really really like that laila and perrin's grief & trauma from her death are being consistently addressed and respected within the budding new relationship, rather than being hastily swept under the rug as many shows would do. their little tiff over perrin being overprotective of faile because of his laila trauma and her pushing back was perfect and was exactly what i expected the long-term effects of the laila change to be. great character work! people talk a lot of shit about "perrin's fridged wife has been a completely useless change" which is kind of insane considering how much attention the show has paid to the long-term effects of this on perrin and how much care they've treated this angle of his emotional arc with. if you don't like the change, fine, but to say it's been pointless and hasn't affected anything is nonsense!

then the whole "stay behind me" "stop trying to protect-" "kill the ones i miss" exchange WOOOOOO one of the most romantic moments in the entire show to date!!!

speaking of romance (lmao) perrin and dain's dynamic continues to compel me. it's so tasty!!! very excited that it will continue next season!

the tuatha'an were used very well in this episode! it was really nice to have such a strong thematic link between this storyline and rand's, but this time with a kinder ending note by aram being warmly welcomed into a new community after being rejected by his old one like lewin was. the possibility for aram to return again is there if they want it since he'll be hanging around the two rivers, but his story was given closure and thus this can easily work as the last time we see him if they choose not to bring him back (i believe the actor has gotten a lot more well-known since the time of s1, and being able to schedule in in-demand actors for small occasional guest roles is very tricky, as we saw this season with the absence of tam)

perrin asking fain why (as ingtar advised him in s2) and ending the battle by choosing to stop fighting (as ila advised him in s1) was just so wonderful. we love full-circle moments! and perrin ending a battle by choosing to stop fighting and then agreeing to be taken captive because he'd given his word that he would, it's a beautiful illustration of who perrin is and what makes him stand out from some other more standard fantasy hero character types. perrin has always been one of the characters i'm least interested in, but the show and particularly this episode has made his character gel for me and made me feel like i Get what he's all about more effectively than the books ever did. as i like to say, in the books he's my least favorite EF5 but in the show he's my fifth favorite EF5. i was really impressed by this episode showing the culmination of some very consistent and cohesive character work across all 3 seasons!

and this is exactly why s1 and s2 are so important. s3 couldn't have soared if the prior seasons hadn't built its wings. big character moments in s3 wouldn't have hit nearly so hard if we hadn't had all the smaller "boring" character moments that built up to them in previous seasons. put some respect on s1 and 2's names!!

and finally, loial. i was distraught!!!!! i'm not much of a crier, but i was sobbing! this was probably the hardest i've ever cried while watching wotshow (though the 2x06 ending sequence and 2x08 hopper's death+hornblowing scene are close seconds) and it was only 9am and i had to immediately wipe my tears and change into work clothes and head out the door djkfjghj i was being so brave about it!

but i 100% understand why they made this choice and i think it's a good one. loial is a fan-favorite whose death will hit viewers (and his fellow characters) very hard, but he also is not plot-essential and so can be removed from the story early without it affecting anything long-term. so that's a lethal combination that makes him the perfect candidate for a show death (and we do have to be a LOT more merciless with deaths in the show because a glut of characters is a much bigger problem for TV than it is for books, as rafe mentioned in the after-episode chat). but he will be dearly, dearly missed!!!!!

(sidenote: the whole fakeout death discourse is driving me insane! "this show loves fakeout deaths, loial's obviously not actually dead" "loial's obviously not actually dead and that pisses me off because once again the show is being cheap with a fakeout death" guys. guys. if you have an ounce of media literacy, it's usually pretty obvious which deaths are real and which are "fake", and loial's death is clearly real because so much fanfare was given to it. the lengthy scene, the slow motion, the emotional music, the other characters grieving him, his book left behind, his voiceover at the end of the episode: yeah, he's gone. they would not be Doing This Much if he wasn't. especially because the show's so-called ~fakeout deaths~ have pretty much always been just "other characters think they're dead but the audience knows they aren't" or "a character went down with no fanfare during an action scene and viewers wrongly assumed they were dead despite this not being shown and then accused the show of pulling cheap tricks when they turned out to not be dead after the show never tried to make us think they were dead" or "a character is gravely injured but then gets healed within minutes because it's well-established this is a world where magic can instantly heal anyone back from the brink of death as long as a magic-user is nearby". an ACTUAL fakeout death would be moiraine going out with grand fanfare and being mourned by the other characters for many books before it's revealed she's actually alive, or mat and aviendha being straight-up unambiguously dead but then coming back to life because rand unraveled time to undo their deaths (and just watch, if/when the show does these things, readers are still going to complain about The Show Doing Too Many Fakeout Deaths lmao as if RJ wasn't the king of fakeout deaths!). all this being said, i do agree that the amount of times alanna got skewered this season only to survive stretches credibility djfkgjh i wouldn't call those fakeout deaths though, just plot armor.)

okay, now moving on to musings on how the future of the story might be affected by some of the changes we saw in 3x07!

fain has escaped. this is not a change haha but book!fain does so little of true value after the two rivers arc that i'd been expecting him to die. so him living is a surprise to me because i'm not sure what they might do with him in the future! i saw people point out that since there's an absolute fuckton of random darkfriends throughout the books, fain could be a good way to sub in for a lot of those story beats where necessary by being Our Main (Non-Channeling) Darkfriend. curious to see if he will remain a Perrin Antagonist or if he will branch out to torment mat (again) and/or rand like he does in the books. i would think that rand receiving the shadar logoth wound first in this version means there's no need for him to ever cross paths with fain, but you never know.

and what about lord luc? is he going to emerge as a major antagonist in s4, or will he turn out to be an s3-only character that was dropped in as an easter egg for readers but whose long-term role will be cut or given to someone else? if the former, they did not set up ANYTHING for him, he probably had about 2 lines the whole time and 95% of viewers will have no memory of him by s4. but maybe they had a little bit more planned for him in s3 and it just didn't fit, so they decided, why not, we'll have him here in the background for the hell of it and dive into him properly next season. i expect that tigraine's backstory might come out next season since it was teased this season but there won't be time to get into it fully, so next season would be a good time to enlarge luc's role if they do indeed plan to do so.

perrin is now dain's captive (sexy). this feels like a similar type of change as combining "perrin killed a whitecloak to avenge hopper" + "dain thinks perrin killed his dad but he didn't really" = "perrin killed dain's dad to avenge hopper". now we have "perrin offered to give himself up to the whitecloaks after the two rivers battle but didn't actually do it" + "perrin gives himself up to the whitecloaks for a trial much later on" = "perrin gives himself up to the whitecloaks for a trial after the two rivers battle". just a very smart choice of beat combination, and it gives perrin something to do during his TFOH absence!

i can think of a couple scenarios here for perrin's story path:

in s4, his captivity is a partial-season storyline, and in the back half of the season he joins up with rand and participates in dumai's wells in 4x08. in s5, he sets out on a mission on rand's behalf and faile gets kidnapped (and/or perrin and mat both go to fight the seanchan campaign with their armies, and faile gets kidnapped by the seanchan while mat winds up having to kidnap tuon for whatever reason).

in s4, perrin's captivity is a full-season storyline. dumai's wells isn't until 5x08 and perrin does something else for the earlier chunk of s5 (perhaps a time to get masema out of the way?). faile's kidnapping is s6.

i've seen a few people speculate that this upcoming storyline will be faile rescuing kidnapped perrin as a full replacement for perrin rescuing kidnapped faile, but i'd say that faile being surprise-kidnapped is different enough from perrin voluntarily giving himself up that they could remain two different storylines (time permitting). after all, i don't think that faile really CAN rescue perrin from the current situation; i would tentatively argue that since he voluntarily put himself in this situation as a way to own up to his responsibility for bornhald's death, the only way he can get out of said situation is something diplomatic like being tried and found innocent, or dain forgiving him and letting him go. faile jailbreaking perrin, while fun to see, wouldn't make thematic sense as the resolution (and perrin might refuse to be rescued anyway Because Honor).

quick note that s4 feels like a good time to bring in the wolf dream; if perrin will be spending some time locked up and unable to get up to much in the real world, that makes it the perfect time to start exploring the wolf dream while he's asleep in his (maybe metaphorical, maybe literal) jail cell.

going back to the trial idea, could we see perrin's captivity storyline move into caemlyn and cross paths with morgase and/or galad? in a scenario where dumai's wells isn't until s5, then i would hazard a guess that the caemlyn battle would be the s4 finale instead, and if perrin was already there for his trial, then he can be involved in that and be connected with rand in time for s5 (though, again, i'd be hard-pressed to think of what perrin could do for the first 3 blocks of s5, since i really feel that dumai's wells has to be block 4 of whatever season it appears in. maybe wolf dream stuff could slot in here if there isn't time for it in s4.)

another possibility is that perrin gets caught up in a surprise seanchan attack sometime in s4, the way morgase did while she was in whitecloak captivity in the books. then he would have a reason to seek out rand in s5 (in time for dumai's wells): delivering the news that the seanchan have returned.

circling back to galad and morgase. valda's death has big implications here! firstly, it makes it more likely than ever that morgase will be killed for real by rahvin (which i and many of us had already long thought the show would do). it also, maybe, takes some of the weight and teeth out of galad's whitecloak storyline, if he can't be positioned as being as big and radical of a reformer since he doesn't have valda to bounce off of as an example of the worst of the organization, particularly since dain seems sooooooomewhat primed to begin rethinking some whitecloak stuff through his interactions with perrin next season. if valda is dead and dain begins taking on the Conflicted Whitecloak role (which is still a big if at this point), what's left for galad to do over there? i don't know and i don't care because i hate galad dfjkghj

and on that wholesome note, i will end the post here!

#wot #wot book spoilers #wot show spoilers

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lotte22324 · 9 months ago

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A Night Out

Summary: This is inspired by Episode 4x9 "Pick-Up“. You guys know what I'm talking about, the one where they are trying to catch a pick-up artist who murders his victims and where that iconic bar scene happens with Spencer and the bartender, with the magic and all :) You are a part of the BAU and are assigned to the same club as Morgan and Reid, to find out if anyone knows the unsub. But Reid‘s miserable attempts at making conversation make you everything but focused on the task at hand. Leading to a confession and also a lil kiss (yk I am a sucker for a first kiss scenario!).

This is just basically fluffy all through, a bit of hurt/comfort :) This is for all the girlies who have kind of low self-esteem cause lets be honest, we all doubt ourselves once in a while. Also, this is most definitely not how in-ear monitoring works, honest to god, this just worked for the plot. So bare with me for potential technical inaccuracies :) TW.: Y/N is self-deprecating

You had flown into Atlanta two days ago, now you were sitting in the precinct with your team in front of a very poorly looking suspect picture.

„No one's gonna recognize this guy,“ you said helplessly.

„If you know him, then you’ll recognize him“ Rossi reassured you but you were still not very convinced.

„No matter, Morgan, Reid and y/l/n, go to Club 'Aqua‘ as normal agents, ask around, if anyone has seen anything important and warn people!“ said Hotch. "Emily, you already know what you have to do, as Morgen already so graciously pointed out earlier, the Pick-Up Artist is attracted to you“.

You felt a little sting after that comment. Even though you didn’t want to be found attractive by that arrogant narcissist, you still felt bad about not being seen the same way as Emily. Ohhh, this was so stupid, why did you care about that? Well, you were still living in a man‘s world where the opinion of men was apparently worth more than of others. It made you feel shame and guilt to think like that but you couldn’t help yourself, you wanted to get noticed by men as well, mostly just one man…but that didn’t matter right now. You glanced over to the man that had been haunting your nights and caught him staring back at you. He offered you an awkward smile but let his head fall as soon as you returned the smile. So that you both didn't notice the blush creeping up both your cheeks.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Later that evening, you were all at the club, Emily and Jordan looking pretty at their table, while you, Morgan and Reid were questioning and warning visitors. Everyone was wearing a mic and earplugs. You were connected with one another over the in-ear monitoring radio, so you heard what the others were saying as long as you stayed on their frequency. It was kinda distracting but in a dangerous situation, it could save lives.

Having set the in-ear device on Emilys mic, you heard her and Jordan make fun of the pick-up artist you encountered earlier today. The female club-goers (and also a few male attendees) were eyeing him up and down. You were not convinced how the learned “charme skills” would work on anyone. Who would find a man attractive that belittled you so much? The weird trick with the "the camera really adds 10 pounds, doesn't it?“ just seemed douchey and would be an instant turn-off for you. You liked a gentleman, one that didn’t make you feel worth less than him, one with intelligence and maybe a bit of awkwardness. Who doesn’t like an awkward genius, you know?

Switching through the channels on your in-ear monitoring radio (totally not looking for Spencer's voice), you finally heard his rambling. Your favorite awkward genius was in the middle of explaining the situation to a group of women. After describing the man to them and showing a picture, he started rambling on about the dangers of night clubs: "When you think about the nature of serial crimes, it's amazing that there aren’t more predators in Night Clubs! I mean the excessive amounts of alcohol, countless opportunities for date rape drugs, not to mention surprisingly risky behaviour being persued. Alright, so who wants a flyer?“

Subtle, Spencer. Based on his confused look that you caught on his face, after looking for him in the crowd, nobody wanted one. Someone should have really taught him some social skills before letting him out to a club. You stifled a laugh after that interaction you just witnessed and continued on your path, asking around if anyone knew the unsub. After a few fruitless conversations, you found your way to Morgan and Reid to find out if they had gotten anything useful.

"So, how’s it going?“ asked Morgan, looking at you and Reid. But before you could give an answer, Spencer already started talking: "not good, I gave the profile to one woman, she asked if I was the unsub. How are you guys doing?“

Your brain stopped for a second, so did your feet. What did Spencer just say? You busted out laughing after his comment, just to get some weird side glances from other people around you.

"Why are you laughing?“ Spencer asked.

"I don’t know, maybe because your attempts at speaking with pretty women are hilarious?“ you pushed out while holding your belly from laughing too hard. That right there was comedy gold and Spencer didn’t even realize it. Instead, he turned red as a tomato, with a hint of hurt in his eyes and turned away from you, just to meet Morgan's amused look.

"So, how many phone numbers did you get?“ Spencer asked him.

"None, I'm working a case!“ Both you and Spencer raised your eyebrows in knowing suspicion, not believing a single word that left his lips.

"Fine, I’ve got four numbers offered but I didn’t take none!“ Morgan defended himself. You start laughing again. This time Morgan shot you a scolding look and you caught yourself again.

"Alright, lemme school you real quick. What you have to do with these ladies, just take control over the conversation. When you’re talking, what makes you feel like an expert?“

„Uhh, statistics!“

You couldn’t believe his answer. Statistics? For real? Spencer knew so little about striking up a conversation and you were still falling for him, head over heels. Well, he didn’t know that, but still, how did you fall for this man again? At the thought of him talking with an attractive woman in a club about statistics, out of all the topics he could have picked, you lost it again. You started laughing loudly and excused yourself as soon as you saw Morgan's annoyed look. Holding your laugh in, you stepped outside the club as fast as you could. As soon as you were outside, you laughed even more.

"You are aware that we can all hear you, y/n?“ said Emily, suddenly standing next to you outside and you slowly stopped.

You turned off your mic in response and took out your ear piece, not feeling the need to listen to more of Derek's “flirting lessons” for Spencer.

"I‘m sorry, it was just so fucking funny what Reid said“ you smirked, Emily smirking back.

"I know, I could barely keep my laughs to myself“ she confessed.

"He really doesn’t understand how normal conversations work, not to mention flirting“ you replied instantly.

"And he’s still got you wrapped around his finger“ she answered dryly, looking at you with an amused look.

"No, he doesn’t!“

"Suuureee, you do understand that even though I promised not to profile you all, I still subconsciously do. I see you stumbling over your words when he asks specifically you a question, I see your flustered face when he looks up from his desk just to look at you, I see your little reaching for his hand whenever something horrible happens. And that all concludes to just one outcome: you, my love, have a big fat crush on our Doctor.“ Emily deduced with a satisfying look on her face. She deduced it completely correctly, obviously, but you were still trying to deny it all.

"Yeeeahhh, sureee, you got me all figured out, Spencer isn’t even my type, Em!“ you answered a little too quickly, with not enough confidence to fool anyone, especially not a fellow profiler.

Emily's skeptical look, followed by an even more skeptical sound, made you look away from her and fumble with your bag.

Wait. You looked over to Prentiss' ear, her hair tucked behind it. You saw the wire entangled in her hair, she was still wearing her hidden mic and ear device. Oh no, no, no. Everybody who was on her in-ear monitoring radio just heard her little speech about your peculiar behavior around Reid. Hotchner definitely heard it since he was monitoring us. Reid might have heard that you had a crush on him. Not just a little, but a big, fat crush! Emily saw your panicked look and realized her own mistake too late.

"Fuck, I didn’t mean to-" she took her ear piece out.

Hurt and panicky, you cut her off, not allowing her to finish her probably half-assed apology: "you just told Hotchner that I like Spencer; you might have even told him. How am I supposed to look at them ever again?“ you asked frantically, turning red, holding your head in your hands the second that you do so.

"Guys! We might not have gotten any new leads but Spencer got a girls number, he actually flirted with a real woman!“ Morgan bursted out the club's door, smiling brightly and padding Reid proudly on his shoulder. Jordan was following them, clutching her arms, not knowing how cold it would be outside. Spencer walked behind Morgan, looking a little more accomplished than usual. Maybe they didn’t hear Emily's profile? Maybe they were too hyped up about Spencer's flirting abilities.

"Yeah, I,I used magic! And she actually liked it.“ Spencer added coyly, a blush emblazoned on his cheeks. You felt a sting in your heart. Of course, she liked the magic, Spencer was extremely charming when he was talking about the things he liked or did the things he was good at. He had shown you multiple magic tricks already which always made your heart flutter. But now, thinking of magic, your stomach turned. You weren’t the only one being charmed by magic Spencer. Of course you weren’t. You flashed him a smile but couldn't mask the hurt that was shining through your eyes.Him being so excited about another person made you sad. You felt Emily's sorry-look on you and shivered due to the low temperature. Nonetheless, you could not drive in a car with Spencer now. To be honest, you wanted to be as far away as possible from him.

"Uhm, I think, i‘m gonna walk to the hotel, I need to clear my head a little“ you said hastily, starting to walk in the right direction. Everyone looked confused but no one dared to question your choice. It was gonna be a nice 30 minute walk where you could get yourself together before having to face the others again. You might catch a cold but it was worth it.

"I’ll come with! You shouldn’t be walking the streets alone at night and I also, uhm, still need to get my steps in!“ Spencer hustled over to your side and started to walk with you. Great, amazing, this was exactly what you needed. You slumped your shoulders and pulled your lips into a thin line.

"Fine“ you answered, quickening your pace, not caring if Reid could keep up. He was the one that you wanted to get away from and now he was walking right beside you. For the next 30 minutes. You could curl up and die at the thought of that.

After walking a few minutes in silence, you started to slow down, admitting defeat that you wouldn’t get rid of him. His breathing slowed down, looking grateful, he never was the sportiest out of all of you.

"Sooo, what’s her name?“ you asked, uninterested.

"Whose name?“ Spencer seemed confused.

"The girl whose number you got?“

"Well, technically, I don’t have her number but she has mine and I told her that she could call me…. I don’t know her name either.“ Spencer answered honestly.

"It doesn’t matter, I am not interested in her anyways, I just wanted to know if Morgan‘s theory of controlling the conversation would be true. And, I guess, he was right. I was in my comfort zone, doing something I liked and she instantly felt attracted to that confidence“ he confessed.

You didn’t answer him, what should you say to that? Yeaaahhh, I like your confidence too! Whenever you do magic, I also find that super attractive. Oh and by the way, do you wanna go out with me instead of her? And also, when she calls, do you wanna casually give me the phone to tell her that he’s in a happy relationship and that she should back the fuck off? No. You would never say that and also, the other woman has done nothing wrong. Why are you so angry with her? He flirted with her, she simply flirted back, as one does. Being mad at her is senseless, it's better to be mad at Spencer and yourself. I mean, who were you kidding? Spencer Reid would never fall for you, you are so deep in the friendzone, he probably does not even see you as a real woman.

"Did you get any numbers offered to you in the club?“ Spencer asked, pulling you out of your self-pitying thoughts.

"No, I don’t usually get numbers just handed out to me“ you answered sarcastically but truthfully.

"Why not?“ Spencer furrowed his eyebrows.

"Cause, I don’t usually get hit on, you know. People need to get to know me before asking me out, my looks alone simply don’t cut it.“ you admitted, shrugging your shoulders. You turned around the next street corner, blinded by the suddenly very bright street lamps but kept on walking. Spencer grabbed your wrist and made you stop in an instant.

You turned your head irritated: "What is it?“

"That can’t be true.“

"What can’t be true?“ you asked, still irritated by his grip around your arm but not taking any action against it.

"That people don’t ask you out all the time just when they see you. You’re, You’re beautiful.“

Your face turned a crimson red color and you looked down onto the pavement.

"Well thank you, Doctor Reid, but you might be the only one who thinks so…“ you said out loud, without thinking about it first. You shook off his hand and kept on walking, wanting to leave this conversation behind you.

"Come on, we do wanna get back at some point, ay?“ you asked him, a smile playing on your lips. Spencer's shocked look turns into a smile as soon as he sees yours.

"Okay, but just for the record, I am very sure that everyone thinks that you are beautiful, inside and out!“ Spencer reassured his view but you didn't believe him, as always when someone complimented you.

Walking side by side, you finally decided to change the topic and asked about the last book he read. Instantly, his eyes shined bright and he started rambling on about this book that you’ve never heard about. Although his mouth and his right hand were moving enthusiastically, his hand closest to you stayed on his side. In the next ten minutes, he inched closer and closer to you., at least it seemed like it. With every millimeter that he won, you didn't back away. You wanted him to get closer, god, if you had the choice, he would be as close as humanly possible at all times to you. You let your hands fall out of your coat pockets, dangerously close to his. They graze lightly. He kept on talking about the main character and his complicated love interest. Your hands graze again. You tried to keep calm, listen to his explanation of the story. They touch again, this time longer. You instinctively held out your pinky, your body yearning for his touch. It touched the back of his hand, slowly making its way down. Spencer mirrored your movement, your pinkies finally interlocking. You held your breath, fearing that any change would destroy this fragile image. Both of you kept on walking, he kept on talking.

"Y/n? Are you even listening?“ Spencer asked hesitantly, his voice a little shakier than usual.

"Yeah, sure I am! You were talking about Flavio and his little girlfriend, uhm, Adriana?“ you answered him, completely aware that you were, in fact, not listening to him.

"Arianne. It almost seems like you just wanted to get me talking, so you wouldn’t have to,“ his jawline tensed up but he didn't let go of your pinky.

"I-I, that might have been my plan.“ you defeatedly answered him. But before he could answer you back, you were standing in front of the hotel.

"There you guys are, finally, I was already afraid that you got lost!“ Morgan said, pushing himself off of the car he was leaning on. You let go in an instant of Spencer's pinky and took a step to the side, not realizing how close you were standing.

"Yeah no, our doctor over here is just not the fastest, even though he has such long legs!“ you laughed, Morgan flashing you a signature smile.

"Come on, let's get some sleep, tomorrow will probably be a long day again.“ Morgan yawned and started walking towards the entrance of the hotel. Both, you and Reid, followed him and started to walk up to your rooms. Stepping into the elevator, Morgan had to get to the third floor, you and Reid to the fifth. As soon as the elevator dinged on the third, Morgan waved tiredly and wished you both a good night. The ride up was quiet but the tension between you two seemed to thicken. You stepped out of the elevator awkwardly, Spencer following you sheepishly.

"I have to go to the right,“ he said, looking down onto his hands.

"Oh, I have to go left“ you answered, the disappointment in your voice clear, you never were the best at keeping your emotions hidden.

Spencer looked up at you, opening and closing his mouth, as if he wanted to say something but didn’t know how. You gave him a smile: "alright, good night then.“

You turned around and started walking towards your room when a sentence dropped from Spencer's lips that made you stop in your tracks.

"Was Emily right?“

You turned around to find him walking towards you, in the opposite direction of his room. You gulped. Your eyes shifted panicky, trying to find the right answer to that question. You could simply lie, say that she was wrong, profilers do get things wrong sometimes.

But you felt yourself opening your mouth: "yes, Spencer, she was right.“ you looked down onto the floor, your stomach full with knots.

"But that doesn’t have to change anything between us, you know, I know you don’t like me like that and I will get over this, easily!“ you blabbered. Yeeeeahhhh, sureee, that is gonna be super easy. You don’t believe your own words, knowing the feelings that you have for this man. It’s like nothing you ever felt before, it feels like whenever he looks at you, the world stops for a second. But he doesn’t need to know that, as far as he is concerned, it's just a little work crush.

"What if I don’t want you to get over it?“

The world actually stopped or at least it felt like it again. You drew your eyes up and met his gaze. He looked completely serious, he was not fucking with you right now?

"What do you mean, Spencer?“ you asked hesitantly.

"Well, y/n, as Emily put it so nicely: I have a big, fat crush on you too.“ Spencer timidly smiled at you, ears turning red, stepping closer.

"Or why would you think that I was trying to hold your hand the whole damn way here?“ he confessed, holding his hand out to yours. You followed his movement and took his hand, this time with more clear intention, and interlocked your fingers together. You couldn't fight the smile creeping up your face, neither could he. His other hand moved up and hesitantly touched your cheek. Your eyes shifted up and down, from his brown eyes to his pink lips. He fully stared at your mouth, not concealing his clear want at all, making you chuckle slightly.

"What’s so funny?“ he asked, his voice quiet and distracted.

"You can’t stop staring, can you?“ you blushed, surprised by the boldness of your claim.

"Nope.“

And that’s all it took for you to lean over and place your lips on his. For Spencer, it felt like the world was stopping. It was a shy kiss but you both slowly found a rhythm. Your hands found their way to his neck, his hands fell down and started pulling you closer by your hips. After a few moments, you had to stop, trying to catch your breath. The stupid smiles that painted both of your faces made both of you laugh.

"You know, y/n, I can never stop staring. Whenever I ask you a question, whenever you look up from your desk and especially whenever you hold my hand.“ Spencer confessed, his smile and his words making you blush, for the 100th time tonight. Instead of answering, you simply pulled him into a tight embrace that he happily reciprocated. You sighed heavily, the tension of today falling off, feeling safe in his arms.

#criminal minds #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #dr spencer reid #hurt/comfort #fluff #spencer reid hurt/comfort #matthew gray gubler #spencer reid x fem!reader #spencer reid x self insert #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid fanfiction #criminal minds fanfiction

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digiflora · 1 month ago

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SUMMER LOVIN' ◟⊹ 𖧧. ָ࣪ ◝. EPISODE⁰²

Ꮺ prev. masterlist. next. Ꮺ

TONIGHT ON LOVE ISLAND...

your first few hours in the villa had been enjoyable- mostly spent getting to know your counterpart in the first coupling up of the season, alhaitham. you found yourself missing the brief warmth of his greeting and fleeting embrace, with him resolving himself to the role of prim and proper gentleman when talking with you. after all the couples had finished getting their close up shots, he had let go of your waist with a mumbled apology, maintaining a respectful distance between the two of you like his life depended on it.

after the collective sigh of relief once the go ahead was given to explore the villa and pretty much amuse yourselves until the first evening, he did stay rather close to you, admittedly. first there was a great huddle, of everyone getting to know everyone before breaking off into smaller groups, and you noticed that though he did talk to the other islanders, he never strayed too far from you. how cute. as the numbers dwindled, you decided to take some more initiative, pointing at the beanbags strategically placed near the poolside.

"would you like to sit there for a bit?"

"sure." a man of few words, and each one spoken felt like a treat. it's with slightly shaky legs that you do sit down, silently reprimanding yourself for having such a physical reaction to a guy that you've just met, for christ's sake.

but you couldn't help it- not with the way his eyes never leave yours as you speak, how he seemingly listens to every word you say and always has something thoughtful to add to it as you tell him about yourself, and with some slight coaxing get him to tell you about himself too.

how he's a court stenographer, and he's quite content with his job as it pays the bills without demanding too much of him. you had joked then, about how he gets all the hottest legal gossip before anyone else does, and with a ghost of a smile on his face he remarked there was nothing juicy about writing all about the details of crime all day.

he wasn't quite an open book, but you liked that about him. and you had worried that he would be boring, so to speak, but moments of his dry humour poked through, enough to keep you hooked and think to yourself that you really were glad that you had decided to step forwards.

the conversation didn't dwindle, even when the pair of you seemingly ran out of topics. he seemed much more comfortable with listening as you tell him all about your life back at home, your friends who you love to bits, how you insist that waffles taste better than pancakes despite them being made from the very same things (he had ultimately conceded that you did, in fact, have a valid point).

a couple of hours had shot past before you knew it, and as you stood up to go socialise with other people, you left alhaitham with the comforting feeling of knowing him better now- more than just an attractive face and sounding good on paper. the two of you got along quite well, and though you were still too shy to initiate a hug goodbye, you felt convinced that when the moment was right for it to happen, it wouldn't be awkward in the slightest.

you found hu tao and ganyu already seated together on one of the many sofas dotted around the villa, the latter spotting you and waving you over.

"heyyyy, what's happening over here?" you grin as you take a seat, getting comfy on the plush cushions that put your couch at home to shame.

"oh nothing much, just talking about our couples." hu tao nods over to ganyu, who hummed into her drink, a somewhat troubled expression on her face.

"yikes, i'm guessing it's not going well for you?"

the blue-haired woman sighed, her dejection seeming rather out of place for such beautiful surroundings.

"i try not to make absolute assumptions based off of first impressions, but... well... he's, um..."

"-he's a twat, is what ganyu's too nice to say." the former gasps at hu tao's bluntness, though her admission only makes you hum in agreement.

"even from when he first introduced himself it felt like you could smell how sleazy he was. you're a trooper for coupling up with him, honestly."

ganyu's shoulders relax at your agreement, and suddenly she seems a lot less reserved.

"we sat and talked for ages and he didn't ask a single thing about me once. he just went on and on and on about how he drives a nice car and he has such a nice life and that i'm lucky to be coupled up with him- ugh he made my skin crawl!"

you can't help but wince at ganyu's candor, your expression mirrored by hu tao.

"i can't lie, my own couple isn't everything i chalked it up to be either."

"with tighnari, right?" she hums in affirmation.

"yeah, he's nice and all, but i feel like he's... too nice? if that makes sense." you and ganyu both hum.

"i get what you mean- i hate it when a guy's like, too nice. it feels like he hasn't got a personality. i was kinda worried alhaitham would be like that, but i'm glad that he isn't. he's definitely more on the reserved side, though, but that's fine. i get the impression that he's a bit of an introvert."

"yeah, i got the impression too. he seemed kind of shy when everyone was coupling up."

"with tighnari though, i don't know- he seemed cool? i thought he looked kind of cheeky-" hu tao giggles at that- "-but i can see how he could also just be the nice type."

"yeah, when i was talking to him earlier, i tried cracking this joke with him when he was talking about going on a date, but it just didn't land at all, he took it so seriously. and if i have to be, like, explaining myself every time words leave my life then i think i'm just going to get very tired of him very quickly to be honest."

"i mean... it's early days, isn't it?" ganyu pipes up. "maybe don't write him off quite yet, get to know him a bit more, he might surprise you."

"or he might turn out to be another ayato." ganyu shudders at that.

"trust me, he could never be on ayato's level." you giggle into your drink, watching from the corner of your eye as jean and rosaria approach where you three are sat.

"room for two more?" you all shuffle up to make space, all five of you managing to squeeze on.

"so, how's everyone's couples going?" the question is posed by jean, gazing expectantly for everyone's answers. there's a brief retelling of everyone's experiences- you feel almost guilty when admitting that things are going well with alhaitham after listening to hu tao and ganyu- though you feel soothed by rosaria being quick to chip in about being in the same boat as you regarding kaeya.

"you know, i actually know him from back in mondstadt."

variations of disbelief and intrigue ring out, and rosaria smiles, seemingly eager to discuss their history.

"so you know how i'm a bartender, right? well, turns out that he's been to the bar that i work at, and then he was telling me this whole story about how he was trying to impress me and thought i was hot, and..." rosaria trails off, letting the slightest of smiles grace her features as she picks at the fabric of the couch.

"you're blushing talking about him, it's like you're in looooove," hu tao teases the woman, who scoffs at such an accusation.

"oh please, he probably uses that line on everyone. but, well, i wouldn't mind seeing where things go with him." rosaria grins at the thought, the rest of the girls oohing and aahing at the exciting revelation.

jean relays her own experiences, somewhere in between ganyu's absolute distaste for her partner, but not quite in the midst of rosaria's satisfaction.

"xiao is.... not my type, i don't think. considering that we got paired up randomly at the end, it checks out. i think i prefer the more gentlemanly type, and xiao is, well...." jean's silence speaks volumes, the silence saying much more than words could have.

the conversation morphed to one of the villa, of what everyone thought was coming up. of when they thought the first bombshells would arrive- then to what people would wear for tonight's celebration.

"i mean, it's the first night, gotta wear something hot to celebrate, y'know?" rosaria smirks as she says this, and hu tal hums in agreement.

"oh, for sure. i'm so ready to take this bikini off and wear some actual clothes."

the conversation carried on as you all made your way back inside the villa to do exactly that, and you managed a glimpse of alhaitham before disappearing into the dressing room. your eyes lock from his seat alongside the other guys, his impassive face seemingly a touch more emotive as you send him a sweet smile before being swept away by the girls.

you all hmm and hahh at each other's clothing, helping everyone pick out their outfits for the night. you got into your regular routine of getting ready, spending the few hours before the production crew wanted everyone back outside the villa to make sure that you looked flawless.

once everyone was in a suitable stage of dolled up, you all headed out to meet the rest of the islanders for the first official 'party' of the season. based off of what you could recall from watching previous seasons of the show, it was never anything too special, and the thought of being in a slowmo montage of your own to be plastered across tv screens made you shudder.

nonetheless, you chatted with everyone, mostly able to ignore the large cameras circling the group like hawks. hu tao whips out her love island-issued phone, the two of you taking a quick selfie together alongside your drinks, everyone else quick to chime in for more photos. and then there's one of everyone, bodies crowded in against each other to fit everyone in frame. and you get a little rush of satisfaction as you manage to position yourself next to alhaitham, the brief skin contact from the moment keeping you going.

it feels like you've barely started the night before the production crew are now ushering everyone to take a seat around the fireput and start up a game of never have i ever.

it starts off tentative, questions of kisses and relationships being administered to break up the ice a bit more. the first eyebrow raise of a question is posed by rosaria, a challenging look on her face as she declares "never have i ever cheated while in a relationship."

you see alhaitham remain unmoving after she says this, a quick sigh of relief leaving you. you weren't particularly expecting anyone to drink to this, though ayato's eager sip has you failing to hide your surprise.

"really? you'd cheat on someone?"

"if i had to take a sip for each time i did it, i would be absolutely plastered right now, let me tell you that." ayato seems almost proud of this fact, and you feel another pang of sympathy for ganyu, internally making a wish then and there that when the first bombshell arrives that it's a guy that can sweep her off her feet and away from the living embodiment of slime.

tighnari is up next to pose a question, his deceptively innkcent face ultimately deciding on "never have i ever had a threesome." ayato drinks again, and you really want to roll your eyes at this, but he's joined this time by not only kaeya, but rosaria too. your shock diverts to her this round, though she merely smirks, setting her drink back down on the small table in front of her.

"i never kiss and tell."

"alright, i'll go next. never have i ever had sex in public." jean maintains the emerging sexual theme, her challenging eyes lingering on ayato's sip (ugh), with rosaria taking another sip too, and after a brief pause you can't help but bring the drink to your lips too.

"y/n!" hu tao gasps, a look of mock scandal across her features. "you absolute minx!"

you snort into your drink at that, quickly composing yourself, albeit the warmth in your cheeks when you realise that alhaitham is eyeing you intently, as are the rest of the islanders, expectant of an explanation."

"oh, you know how it is. it was with my ex boyfriend, we were at a club together, went into the toilets. i left the cubicle first then he joined me later." there's whoops at your admission, and you don't miss the growing interest in ayato's eyes as he seems to appraise you in a new light, as well as xiao's slight smirk of approval. you can't quite bear to look in alhaitham's direction, the fear of what you would see triumphing over your morbid curiosity.

a cheery little ding rings out before hu tao can keep the game of never have i ever going, and she does an excited little gasp before scrabbling for her phone. "i think that was me!"

you lean over to get a view of her phone screen as she opens her message, and sure enough, there's the very first production crew text of the season.

your wish for ganyu just might have come true after all.

"wait, oh my god, does that mean-" as if it was an answer to hu tao's half-finished question, you hear a voice ring out from behind the fire pit, back at the entrance of the villa.

"hey girlies!"

gia's notes ㌐ ₀₂ yayyy more smau!! i think that helps with the whole omniscient issue, so i can also write from reader perspective without skipping out on all the different relationship dynamics!! :D because lord knows that there's a LOT.

taglist ㌐ ₀₂ @arraxthatsonjah @nebsisdead @voasprofile @bunnychiffon @dainsleif-when-playable (let me know if you would like to be added!)

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lais-a-ramos · 2 months ago

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so, on lottie killing that guy by axing him in the head

a) first of all, it's important to highlight that many academic reports, including one from 2015 by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) from King's College London , show that people with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression or personality disorder of a severity requiring intensive service contact are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators.

the report says that people with severe mental illnesses were "five times more likely to be victims of assault, and three times more likely to be victims of household crime and criminal damage than the control group after taking into account differences in their demographics and social circumstances".

and, in this other report by the American Psychology Asssociation in 20, it's also addressed how "when people with serious mental illness commit violent or aggressive acts, other factors besides the illness itself are often at play, says Kimberly Brown, PhD, ABPP, an associate professor of clinical psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and host of an APA 2020 convention workshop on the topic."

same article also mentions that when people with severe mental illnesses commit acts of violence, "in many cases it is intertwined with other issues such as co-occurring substance use, adverse childhood experiences, and environmental factors."

the APA article also says that

"One of the most striking findings from the original MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study is an environmental one: When the team compared discharged psychiatric patients without substance use disorder with people from their same neighborhoods, their rates of violence were about the same, says Paul Appelbaum, MD, Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine, and Law at Columbia University and a site principal investigator on the MacArthur Study. In other words, when neighborhoods are unsafe, poor, and high in crime, violence is an equally likely outcome whether a person has a mental illness or not."

the last line is very interesting for analysing lottie's actions in the show and descent to violence, because the focus on the social and environmental reasons allows us to understand that the trauma of the crash and the stuff the yellowjackets went through is very significant in this turn to violence and that lottie's atrocities are not so different than the atrocities of the other girls.

this is not in any way an attempt to, say, excuse lottie's behavior or try to absolve her from her crimes, don't get me wrong.

lottie did commit atrocities, like the one in doomcoming for example, and has shown signs of impulsive behavior and violence when she's in an altered consciousness state.

HOWEVER, it's also important to get the facts straight and look for information in trusted sources so that we can know how to separate representations of schizophrenia in fiction from the realities that people who live with this mental illness face in real life.

now,

b) onto the scene itself, one thing that is very interesting is that the way courtney played her seems much more frantic and less regal now.

lottie seems way less imposing and more unsteady, perhaps even vulnerable, than in doomcoming, for example.

that is a very interesting choice in terms of both writing and acting, because it seems to indicate that now, instead of trying to use lottie's mental illness to tease some type of demonic possession like it happened in episodes 1x09 and 1x10, the focus has shifted more towards showing lottie's mental unravelling, making her reactions closer to the ones of adult lottie in the season 2 finale during the re-enactment of the hunt than to how she reacted in doomcoming and the day after.

and, as of episode 3x07, lottie also seems to be losing a bit of the influence she has on the group, because as of now she doesn't even have the trust of ppl who used to follow her -- travis and akilah are acting behind her back and cooperating with kodiak to try to find a way out, mari is back again at bullying her now that they seemingly lost their chances of rescue etc

this makes her further down the line of possible antler queen candidates, because she seems much more focused towards herself and her own mind than in the group

i personally try to take this with a grain of salt, because so far the representation of lottie's schizophrenia in yellowjackets has been pretty much a mixed bag, with as much lows as it has highs

the way that the showrunners changed her in season 2 from the super villain they teased in the season 1 finale to a tragic woman and her fruitless attempts of not breaking down again and not reaching her lowest point was definetely one of the biggest highs in terms of offering a nuanced portrayal of schizophrenia without either infantilizing lottie or painting her as a villain.

on the other hand, the way that they insist in putting lottie's illness at the centre of the "supernatural vs psychological" debate has put lottie constantly in the position of being more of a plot device that changes according to what the narrative wants to show in that debate rather than a character with feelings (we know very little, for example, on how lottie feels about the casual discriminative remarks her father used to give about her schizophrenia).

the way the big question about lottie's illness is whether or not the wilderness is real or just a product of her psychosis ends up bordering on the ableistic and sanist stereotype of accusing people with severe mental illnesses, particularly schizophrenia, of demonic possession and, therefore, invalidating their existence.

as a person who is a fan of fantasy and horror and likes the supernatural theory, but, also, has a close family member with schizophrenia, for example, it would have been much better if they went with the trope that people with mental illnesses are more sensitive to supernatural and magical influences, because, while still problematic and a stereotype, it's definetely way less accusatory and gives more room for treating people with severe mental illnesses as complex and valid human beings instead of demonizing them.

however, it seems like the showrunners and writers might be trying to show lottie slowly spiralling until she ends up catatonic like we saw her in the season post-rescue flashback rather than a mastermind villain or "puppet master" as many people accuse her of being ever since season 1, specially now that it seems like people are more and more doing things and even practicing the rituals without lottie's command -- e.g. shauna being the one to propose them to cannibalize ben in a ritual, as her first act as the new leader.

and that might be the start of the scapegoating that we see from the other yellowjackets in adult timeline, and explain adult van saying the line "we did this to her" when the adults were discussing how to deal with lottie's mental health crisis

i'm still pretty much in the "i'll believe when i see it" mode when it comes to the representation of schizophrenia in the show, but this episode opened the doors for some interesting plotlines for lottie's dynamic with the group.

we gotta wait and see if the showrunners and writers entered those doors or preferred to stick with old harmful portrayals of schizophrenia in media, though.

#yellowjackets #lottie matthews #lottie mathews #yellowjackets season 3 #yellowjackets spoilers #yellowjackets 3x07 #yellowjackets meta #mental illness representation #schizophrenia representation #representation in media

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uravitypng · 7 months ago

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𝐈 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊 𝐓𝐎𝐎 𝐌𝐔𝐂𝐇: 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄

pairing: denki kaminari x reader, (hanta sero x reader)

word count: 6.6k

content warnings/things in part five: not a lot in this chapter! some inappropriate thoughts and daydreams, reader kind of has self esteem issues but it's mainly fuelled by the paparazzi, reader wears a bikini, petnames (babydoll, pretty girl, princess->used playfully), jealous denki, maybe jealous hanta (if you squint really really hard??), mineta (ewww), written with a chubby reader in mind/// minors do not interact (in later chapters there will be more smut and more explicit content!!)

a/n: chapter five is finally out!! sorry it took so long but it's finally out and boy is it longer than previous chapters. i really really really hope you enjoy this part, i've loved writing it! i was meant to finish it last week but i've been binging romance animes lmao.

summary: it's terrible when you're in love with your best friend. it's terrible that he's in love with someone else.

<< previous | next >> | masterlist / polls for this chapter: 1 & 2

"I can't believe our agencies are letting us go to the beach! Out of all the ways they could deal with the current situation they choose this!" You say excitedly and beam as you walk a little ahead of everyone but they can still all hear you.

"Yeah it's like that typical anime beach episode." Denki runs up over to you grinning. As denki runs up to you he trips over on the sand before catching himself, you bite you lip to stifle a laugh and process what Denki just said.

"Did you just compare what's happening to a beach episode right now Denks?"

"She's right Kaminari, this may seem like a relaxing day but we're here for a reason. If those League of Villain copycat group show up here like we suspect then we need to be ready." Todoroki 'reminds' you all and you have to resist the urge to roll your eyes. You weren't referring to the mission when you said that Denki, you were just stating that beach episodes are different to real life beach trips.

A couple of heroes with you seem so suspicious, shifting their eyes around the surrounding area. Plus you don't understand the choice of bringing along Todoroki and Bakugo, they're to recognisable and well known, even if the villains did show up they wouldn't stay for long after noticing who's here too.

You have a gut feeling this mission will come up with nothing. This whole time will be a wild goose chase leading you here with zero results. You've told them just as much, 'when have I ever been wrong about this kind of stuff guys? this whole mission to the beach will be useless we should focus on other things, find out where they really are.'

It's so frustrating that they don't believe you... Well most of them... All of them to be honest but they can't voice that out loud. Everyone whose hair is currently blowing in the wind and sand beneath their feet knows you very well and trust your instincts but they can't just ignore this lead they've been given. Katsuki expects you have a second quirk that allows you foresight, he especially trusts your intuition.

Denki stretches, groaning in pleasure while you quickly turn your head away from him and try to drown out the noise.

"Well I for one think we can relax, I have it on good authority" he grins at you before continuing, "that nothing will happen today. We might as well relax. This reminds me of our extended three day weekend holiday our class went to on the last week before leaving school."

All of the UA, Class A, alumni heroes that are present reminiscence on your time together. Bittersweet feelings flood your emotions as you think about how much you miss seeing them so often, yet glad and blessed with the time you did get to share with them back when you were all teenagers.

"Or when we went to Nabu island in our first year," Ochako adds.

"I didn't like that at all. Not only did villains attack but on top of that every single hour of every day people on the island was calling into the hero centre wanting us to do something, no matter how trivial." Minata replies, his voice more apparent with age, mostly losing the lisp he had.

"That's not the reason why and you know it. Every other day you were being perverted to random girls on the island." Hanta doesn't try to hide his annoyed tone from everyone. He's never concealed his disapproval of Minata's actions and that was originally one of the first things that drew you to strike up a conversation and friendship with him.

"Can we just sit down and make snide comments in a minute?" You ask, holding onto a large cooler with both hands and a couple heavy bags slung over your shoulder.

Ochako hums in agreement and pulls the massive beach towel from under her arm and places it down.

You hear Mineta mumble, "how are you a hero?" as he sees you strain to hold the icebox and it becomes so quiet but even though it's mumbled it sounds like the loudest anyone has spoken since you got to the beach.

Your quirk isn't suited to strength, everyone knows that. Your quirk isn't like Midoriya's or Kiri's or Sato's. It doesn't mean you aren't strong though, your quirk is very strong. Struggling to hold a box full of ice cubes and cold drinks plus two bulky bags for over an hour doesn't make you weak.

He's so hypocritical... he wouldn't even be able to lift it up and get it off the ground.

You're a hero for a reason, you know how brilliant you are but hearing that bothered you and distressed you for a reason and coming from Mineta it's even stranger that it effected you, he's made plenty of jabs towards you before but the way he said it irked you, especially because he said it in front of so many other heroes.

Before you can even defend yourself and before anyone else can, Denki does. Mina was about to speak, Hanta was about to, Katsuki took a deep breath in to start yelling and making tiny explosions in the centre of his palms but Denki beat them all to it, he even beat you to it. "What the fuck does that mean?" You stand in shock and your eyes widen at how much rage is in his voice, almost hostile. You've never heard him speak like that before. It doesn't only shock you but everyone else is taken aback.

Denki was so distracted and enraged by what Mineta said he didn't even notice his own tone, all he could think about was 'how dare he say that about you.'

Mineta started stuttering a response about how it was a joke and he didn't mean it. That snapped you out of you stupor and you pull on Denki's sleeve. "Denki, what are you doing?"

His eyes snap up to look at you and his body relaxes, "I- I no one should speak to you like that 'doll," he murmurs gently but you still hear him, all of you do.

A small smile slips on your face and you grip his sleeve tighter. "Thank you Denki," you tell him sincerely. He turned bright pink and you miss it instead whipping your head round to face Minata and pointing a finger out in the air, "listen here small fry, don't speak to me like that again. Who beat you all the times in training? Oh yeah, it was me." You tell him sternly and firmly, not leaving room for any hollow argument.

Katsuki smirks when you call him 'small fry' and wonders how many other nicknames he's made that you use.

Mina claps her hands together after you said your peace and had shut Mineta up, "right, let's get this towel down so I can start sunbathing," she grins. She sees from the corner of her eye that Todoroki is about to say something again about how they need to stay completely focused so before he can say anything Mina adds on, "just kidding," mumbling "kinda" under her breath.

One second Mina's fully clothed and the next second she's only in her bikini laying face down with her face to the side pouting at you and Ochako, "can someone put sunscreen on me? I don't want to burn."

"I'll do it!" Mineta replies automatically, just when you thought he wouldn't say anything else perverted today.

"The fuck you will!" Katsuki yells and you can almost hear the threat of explosions coming from his palms. He stays silent after that and doesn't say anything else, he leers over all the girls but in silence this time.

Everyone relaxes and starts up idle chatter and it was worth it carrying all those heavy things when you finally get to open up a cold drink, refreshing you. Ochako lathers Mina's body in sunscreen claiming that she doesn't want her to burn. You pat next to you and set your eyes on Todoroki, "come sit down Todoroki, you look really shady just standing around."

His lip quirks up in a rare small smile and accepts your offer. "You're right, we're heroes, we're ready to fight and apprehend a villain at the drop of a hat."

You giggle, "that's the spirit."

Due to the sweltering heat everyone has shredded layers, apart from you and Hanta. Even Todoroki has taken off his shirt and is currently annoying Katsuki while most of the heroes are playing beach volleyball. You're boiling and you can feel a few drops of sweat running down your neck but you don't get changed- you can't.

Underneath your clothes you're wearing a bikini but you feel too self conscious to get rid of your clothes, even though your hair is sticking to your face and your skin feels tacky and kind of gross. In your head you curse out those paparazzi from the gala a couple months ago who made you feel insecure as the photos taken of everyone started circulating online.

You gaze up at Hanta, squinting as the sun hits you eyes. Noticing this, Hanta moves the parasol to the side so it covers your eyes from the light. Now in the shade, Hanta grins "better?"

You make a noise of confirmation and nod your head, "thanks Hanta."

Hanta tells you that you're welcome while he lifts up his top starting at the top of his body, near his neck, his voice muffled under the top making you giggle. Your brain catches up with the situation too late as you watch his midriff exposed and the rest of his top half soon after. You swallow your saliva and time seems to slow down as you check him out. His hero costume is skin tight so it's not hard to imagine how he looks under his clothes. It wouldn't be fair to actually compare the two of what you envisioned to reality because after seeing him topless, wow reality is that much better you'd thought.

You wish those thoughts didn't rush though your mind but alas they do, 'my subconscious didn't do Hanta enough justice in my dream.' His arms are particularly muscular, which makes sense with his quirk and you wonder how much he can lift up with all that upper arm strength. There's a large pink scar on his shoulder that you've never seen before and you speculate silently how he got it.

One minute you were admiring his physique and the next you were nearly jumping out of your own skin as Hanta takes off his shorts and you feel the need to bury your head in your hands. You see his thick thighs and you have no control as all you can hear in your head is him calling you 'pretty girl' over and over again.

You're incredibly embarrassed by thinking about your sex dream. You try to avert your gaze away from him but beforehand Hanta can feel your watching eyes on him and spins his body around making eye contact with you, grinning wide and winking. You fiddle the hem of you top, suddenly shy that you've been caught and Hanta flops down next to you, still grinning. "Like what you see princess?" He asks teasingly, emphasising 'princess.'

"O-oh, shut up," you roll your eyes at him. Hanta chuckles and reaches over to the cooler and gets himself a drink. You elbow him on the shoulder, "idiot," and burst out in a fit of laughing and Hanta joins in.

"What's with the shirt?" Hanta asks gesturing to what you're wearing.

You feign ignorance, pretending you don't know what he's talking about. "Huh?"

"You must be hot in that."

"I'm okay," you say and you hope he doesn't notice that you're lying.

"I can see sweat trickle down your forehead, don't get me wrong you're still hot, just now in every sense."

You feel a combination of scoffing at his playful flirting and wrapping your arms around yourself shy and embarrassed but Hanta doesn't let you get too in your head and grabs an unopened drink and places it on your cheek, making you yelp and interrupting your thoughts. "Any better?" He moves the can up onto your forehead. "Why don't you want to get changed pretty girl?"

You stay silent and Hanta waits for you to speak patiently. "What I'm wearing underneath exposes more than normal."

"You've worn swimming costumes and bikini sets in public before, has anything changed. Is it a bad day today?"

Your heart warms when he asks if you had a bad day. "Not a bad day as such but there's been photos of everyone circulating after the charity gala a little while ago and the dress doesn't look as good as I thought it did. Because we're in public I'm kind of wary if someone takes photos and like I said it's more revealing than other ones I have... I regret choosing this one to wear today, it's not very flattering."

"I'll be the judge of that pretty girl." he grins lazily and you huff at his behaviour. You were intending to condone his reaction after you've just been so sincere about how you're truly feeling, especially since Hanta is typically more considerate than that but you should know not to jump to conclusions because after a pause he starts speaking again.

"In all seriousness you looked beautiful that night and I saw photos of everyone all over my twitter feed the day after and it didn't change my mind about how you looked that night. If people take pictures then they take pictures, we're here on a mission," you wince at the reminder that this is a mission but he gives you a reassuring smile, "a pointless mission with your perfect intuition but a mission all the same. You shouldn't sacrifice the relief of cooling down and if your swimming costume is revealing then that's okay, Mina is practically naked," you giggle and he smiles wide. "All of us are hot so anyone who sees us should be lucky,"

There's a cross between a chuckle and a raised eyebrow as you ask him, "even Mineta?" The immediate hard reply of 'no' makes you laugh again. "Haven't you always preached body positivity and acceptance for all?" You tease.

"If he wasn't such a pervert than my answer would be different," Hanta's says simply and you don't know if he's unaware of the affect that had on you. Hanta never once treated anyone different if they didn't fit societal norms, even when other people would, he didn't. Both him and Kiri were like that, it's probably why you always respected them so much.

Hanta's words did convince you to pull off your clothes, you were boiling but you finally shed off your clothes, grimacing as the top sticks to you. Hanta's resting his face in the palm of his hand, looking at you with hooded eyes that makes you feel almost bashful. You can tell his gaze isn't one of leering so you don't mind it so much.

You're completely free of clothes now and feeling a lot better now but you're still sticky, planning to go for a swim in a bit.

"I knew it," Hanta smirks and you look at him confused. "You look beautiful in that pretty girl, pink and white suits you."

"Oh please Hanta, sweat is trickling down my back and clinging to my eyebrow and cupid's brow. I can practically taste it," you disagree with him.

Hanta chuckles deeply, "you're still beautiful."

You tut and grab the sun-lotion from one of the bags, wanting to hide your face for a second. "Who first?" You grin at each other.

"Whoever you want."

"Okay, turn around to face me." He does what he's told, beforehand downing the rest of his drink and sitting so close that your knees are nearly touching his back as you sit on your heels. Opening the cap and squirting some in your hand, you begin to place you hands on his back. Hanta jumps slightly and you ask if he's okay, he responds that he is but it was colder than he expected, you apologise but laugh louder than the apology you give at that answer.

You rub your hands over him, making sure you don't miss any spots not wanting him to burn and have to take a deep breath as you feel his defined shoulder muscles under your palms. You lift his hair up slightly that's covering his neck and make sure it's covering his neck too. Half of you is thinking about how you're very physically close to Hanta and you've never done anything like this before but a louder voice is disagreeing, you both are very touchy-feely, you fall asleep on him and spar together all the time and when watching films in groups you'll share blankets, so is this really different?

'He's kissed me too, so this isn't a big deal...'

You don't pay much mind when you start to press your hand over the places that he can reach. You don't think as you rub cream on his arms and get up and face him, sitting back down as you make eye contact and give him a small smile. He doesn't say anything and neither do you. You put sunscreen on his chest and marvel about how built he feels, you carefully pick up his arms and make certain you cover every inch of him. You squeeze more sunscreen on your hands and close the lid before gently swiping along his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. You see the genuine smile that adorns his face and that snaps you out of your stupor, you momentarily stop putting the lotion on him, freezing, before starting again, although this time a bit more bashfully and not being able to make eye contact with him, instead just looking at the rest of his face.

"Think I'm nearly covered. Next it's you, yeah?" He says softly and you hum confirmation.

At the same time Denki's breathing deeply, trying to catch his breath after overdoing it while playing volleyball and he lets everyone know he's going back to get a drink and he's missing the next match out. He runs up, not noticing until he got close how your hands are running along Sero's body and how you're too close for comfort, it's looks far too intimate, too sensual. Denki clenches his teeth so hard it's a wonder they don't shatter.

"What's this?" Denki asked you both, forcing a smile on his face. You're surprised by his sudden appearance and feel almost guilty, you're really not sure why though.

Kaminari chooses to ignore the exasperated sigh that comes from Sero and gazes at you. You take your hands off Hanta and place them in your lap, "helping each other with putting on sunscreen. Have you already put yours on?"

"Uh. Yeah?"

You scrunch up your face not believing that and give him a pointed look, crossing your arms and it gives both Denki and Hanta everything in them to not look down as you unknowingly push your breasts up higher as you cross your arms. "I don't believe you."

"I did! Just.. Probably not the most thoroughly." He admits sheepishly and you cross your arms.

"Hey Sero, come join our team! We're a player down," Mina hollers to him, not asking you, knowing that you wouldn't want to play. Hanta goes slightly rigid at the request, he doesn't want to leave, he's supposed to put sunscreen on you in a minute and being around you one on one was wonderful, your soft touch on his cheeks and how you delicately moved his hair out of the way.

Little does he know you're in the same situation, although Denki's here now you don't want Hanta to go, you want him to jokingly make more flirty comments and call you pretty girl again. Even though you know he isn't serious about it and even though you know he does it with everyone it still makes you feel good.

Denki sits down very close to you and has a drink before saying, "You should go Sero, a lot of them won't let it go about an unbalanced team. They'll either have won unfairly with an extra player or lost unfairly because they were a player down."

Hanta sighs again before sitting up, "yeah you're right, I don't think I can handle another repeat of similar situation with Bakugou beating Todoroki at the sports festival." You chuckle and he leaves.

You want to ask Denki if he likes your swimming costume but you can't get the words out so instead you ask him, "Hanta was going to put sun-lotion on me but he left, can you do it instead? Just my back and stuff," you ask him. "The places I can't reach," you clarify. You really don't want to get burnt and hopefully if Denki's only touching quickly from behind you won't get too flustered and if you slightly do he won't see. You're definitely not strangers to physical affection with Denki but you are strangers when it involves so little clothes.

"I... uh-"

You interrupt him, taking his pause and lack of answer as reluctance and you don't want to force him to do something he doesn't want to do. You try and ignore the voice in your head that's asking a million questions about why, what's so bad about it. "Don't worry about it Denks I'll just put my top back on," picking up your top and turning it the right way round. 'Ah it was really nice to cool down for awhile.'

Denki grabs onto your top before you can put it back on. "No!" He rushes out and lets go of your top. Levelling his voice back to normal he says, "no, don't do that, you'll get too hot. Let me just move behind you." You give a tiny nod and hum. "Can you pass me the bottle babydoll?"

"Oh yeah," you open your hand and lay the sunscreen bottle in it so he can take it, his fingertips brush against your palm as he takes the bottle from you and you feel him shuffle behind you. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah! All good!" He hopes you don't hear the strain in his voice as he tries to sound okay and squeezes some cream out. "Okay it's going to be cold now," he warns you, "although it might just be refreshing," he adds. He talks so close to you, you can feel his breath on your shoulder blade and for a second there you thought he was going to kiss it by the way he lingered after he spoke but he pulled away and you told yourself about how ridiculous that idea was.

Denki pulls back and repeats that he's going to start now. He's right when he's said it would be cold but also when he said it would be refreshing. However you underestimated thinking Denki touching you wouldn't impact you. What you didn't realise is Denki was doing worse of than you were and you don't hear his swallowing over your own thoughts. Your soft body melds in between his nervous fingers as he makes gentle large circular motions on your skin.

You fight back a shiver as he touches your sides and goes all the way up to your shoulders. "Do you want to lay down?"

"Huh?!" You say a little louder than necessary. Denki is taking so much care with you, more than you thought and it's making you try to force down all the butterflies that are trying to flutter in your stomach. With every minute that passes with his gentle touch, the more heat rises to your cheeks and the more bashful you become. You don't know if you'll be able to handle much more of this.

"You asked me to help you with the places you can't reach." He reminds you and you wince. You didn't ask Hanta to lay down but now the man you love is asking you to and that means he'll be touching you more. Half of you is almost happy about this but the other half is thinking back to how Denki was silent when first asked and why was he silent, it would of been so much easier if Hanta didn't have to leave but you do what he says and lie down on your front, your head turned to the side watching everyone play volleyball in the distance.

You jump as Denki touches you again, still with care. You start to ball up your fists and your cheeks get hotter and hotter, especially when he touches your thighs. You were about to break the silence between you both when he touches your plush thighs but he quickly moves on, quicker than when he's touching other parts of your body.

Simultaneously Denki sucks in teeth and squeezes his eyes shut when he touches your thighs, he almost regrets asking you to lie down. He doesn't stay on your thighs long and goes over to your hips, you feel like his hand itches a bit to close to the string of your bikini bottoms but you dismiss it as he quickly moves his hand away again.

"All done," he says quietly but deeply as he retracts his hands from you.

"What?" You ask. It's not your fault you're distracted it's his, if Denki's going to hover around certain parts of your body he's to blame for any daydreams. It's not your fault if you imagine Denki lowering your bikini bottoms and untying the strings of your bikini top while he actually does place kisses on your shoulder blade, all along down your spine reaching the place he normally keeps his hand when you get too panicky and overwhelmed at events. Holding onto your hips and leaving bites and marks all over your body, letting small sparks go from his fingertips in your inner thighs making you moan-

"I said I'm all done now," you nearly squeak as you're interrupted from your daydream again and swiftly move to get up, Denki holding out his hand for you to take to help you up and turn you back round so you're facing each other again. "Do you want me to do your front?"

You shake your head rapidly and reply, "it's okay I can do it." Your eyes narrow as you see how red his cheeks are, "I know you said you didn't put sunscreen on properly but come on Denks at least put it on your face," you condemn.

"I did!" Denki rebuttals but you don't believe him for one second as you see his face and you tell him just as much.

"I don't trust you, if you've put sunscreen on your face why are you so red?"

"I must not have put it on properly, I should have had someone do it for me. Even though it's the front of my body I should have been more careful with applying." He hopes you don't call him out on his lie and his wording, you don't. After you don't he pushes a bit more, "Sero won't have the same problem because you made sure he was completely covered... I don't want you to burn."

You weigh the pros and cons and in the end the pros outweigh the cons. On one hand you'd prefer not to have anymore dirty inappropriate imagery of Denki but you don't want to get burnt, you're going on a blind date in a few days from now and you don't want them to see you with peeling skin and burning, angry, crimson hot streaks from wherever the sunscreen didn't cover.

"I'll take you up on that, if you still don't mind."

"I offered didn't I?" He smiles at you kindly and gestures for to lie on your back.

"Do I have to lie down Denki?" You ask a bit wary about any more daydreams you might have.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, it's your decision. I think it would make the most sense though."

You're not entirely sure about his logic behind that answer but you trust him and if it makes the most sense then you're sure you'll be able to survive a couple more minutes.

"Great!" Denki says a bit to enthusiastically and he's not deaf to how strange it must sound with how quick his attitude towards this situation seems to have changed.

Lying on your back you suppress the urge to cover your face with a sun hat to hide from him and from this position. The sight you're seeing takes your breath away. You're often reminded about how attractive Denki is, and at random times of the day too, like right now. His pretty golden eyes are reflecting against the sun at this angle, making you get lost in them. Denki unintentionally flexes as he reaches over you to pick something up you don't see and it's only natural that your eyes drift to his well-earned muscles from hero work, his lean body shining with sweat and his blonde hair is falling down his face. You don't even think about it before reaching up and running your hands through his hair and away from his face so you can see his whole face more clearly. A tender smile that you return appears on his face and you swear his face looks redder than before.

What he was reaching before becomes into your view and you see it's his black headband to push back his hair, he didn't think it was necessary earlier but now he's more confident in his movements and in his mind getting his hair completely out of his face so he can see you properly is the best way to go to make sure you're completely covered from the sun and he tells you just as much, although leaving out the part of him being previously not confident and being nervous about it, because you would ask 'why?'

He pushes his hair back with his headband and continues to rub lotion in circles on your skin, this time on the front of your body.

Denki's hand stops and even though you can't see what he's looking at you just know. "Denki?" You say quietly.

He's jolted from his thoughts at your voice and rests his whole hand gently on your rib where a faded jagged scar decorates your skin. His hand is now no longer covered in any cream after rubbing the remaining sunscreen left over in his hand and was currently just gently stroking your scar after hearing your voice.

Subconsciously he's moved his other hand to your hip and normally you would be more flustered than you are by this gesture but the way he's holding you clues you in that all he's thinking about is how you got that scar and he's holding you for comfort- his own comfort.

The first year of hero work out of UA you encountered a villain that got the better of you. You were too slow or maybe she was too fast but either way you ended up with her arm slicing into you. Realising too late that her quirk allows her to form rough, sharp, knife-like shapes in her forearms, cutting deep into your skin as the quirk then secretes poison after making contact with your blood after the slash.

You don't remember much after that just everything fading to black and waking up, lying in a hospital bed, with Denki by your side, looking like he hasn't slept in days as he tells you that Sero found you and luckily he did find you because you lost a lot of blood but more urgently the poison had entered your blood stream and destroying your body from the inside, luckily you were treated when you did.

That wasn't the only time getting injured while working but it's the one that seemed to scare Denki the most, from your point of view that's what it looked like at least. You surmised a long time ago that that incident was more serious than everyone told you.

"Denki, I'm okay now." You assure him softly.

"Yeah," he says so quietly that it's almost silent.

Trying to cheer him up but also sharing your honest feelings about the matter you admit to him, "plus I think it's kind of cool y'know? It's almost like we're matching now. It reminds me of a lightning bolt."

Denki's eyes snap up to look at you, and squeezes your hip subtly for a second before letting go. His mouth opens and it looks like he's about to say something before closing it.

"You're right babydoll," he doesn't say anything for a second before adding, "I promise you won't get hurt like that again," he tapers off at the end and it becomes more of a mutter.

You giggle because how's he going to do that? You're a hero, just like him and his protectiveness of you makes you giggly and giddy because what is he going to do, wrap you up in bubble wrap?

Denki brightens up as he hears you laugh and smirks, uncapping the lid of bottle again and finishing the rest of his assigned role. He surprises even himself as he lifts up the strap of your bikini top a bit to put sunscreen under it, he's not sure what he'll say if you question it but you're too busy biting the inside of your cheek because 'that was intimate, he was basically undressing me'. You know that's not entirely accurate but he was still moving your clothes, and your bikini top no less!

Luckily for your own sanity the only other noteworthy thing that happened was when Denki applied the cream to your neck unlike how he's been doing the whole time beforehand. Instead of making circular motions he was wrapping his hand around your whole neck all at once and rubbing it in all in one go. You can only imagine how rapid your pulse was beating and it's astonishing that Denki didn't say anything. You think at that moment you exploded and couldn't help but wonder about how his hands seemed very confident and comfortable around someone's neck...

Lifting yourself up, Denki stands at the same time and holds out his hand for you to hold onto, "wanna go swimming?"

"I'd love to," while taking his hand you answer.

As soon as you stand up the voices from your friends get closer and you watch as they make their way over to you. You hear Mina exclaim, "Ahh, I love your bikini! It really suits you. Where did you get it from?" You heart warms when you hear the compliment, knowing that not just Hanta likes it but Mina does too.

Even though you haven't been playing volleyball like some of the others you're still equally hungry having been sweating all day and only having a light breakfast so your plans to go swimming gets delayed as everyone sits down and gets ready to eat lunch. Bakugou starts laying out food prepared by him, not trusting some random person at his agency to do it or anyone else going on the mission, people like Todoroki are notoriously bad when it comes to anything involving or similar to cooking. Denki grabs a couple of sandwiches for the both of you, and you can't help but scrunch up your nose at his choice, having a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich is completely normal but the amount of mayonnaise he adds to it is not. He's kind enough to grab your favourite though so you don't verbalise your slight disgust (this time at least) and happily eat lunch with everyone else, listening as Katsuki brags about how he scored the most in the volleyball.

After finishing your sandwiches Denki picks up a watermelon slice from the platter and holds it near your mouth, "say ahhh" you automatically open your mouth humming 'ahhh' not even thinking about it. Denki feeds you the watermelon as you take a bite of it.

"Want to go swimming now?"

"Sure."

" 'Kay." Denki then speaks louder so everyone else can hear him, "we're gonna go swimming."

Then a swarm of replies of people saying 'okay' and Kiri saying, "see you in a bit, i'm going to go swimming after finishing up eating".

Taking the already inflated doughnut with you, you leave and get to the sea line, yelping as the cold water moves and touches your legs. Denki chuckles and you scowl at him. He sprints into the water and sighs as it cools him down, gingerly you walk into the water, reaching him and a cross between a sigh and a shiver escapes you.

Denki takes the doughnut ring from your grasp and places it over your head onto your waist, pulling the side, with you in it, further into the water while you float along with him, you halfheartedly complain but he grins at you while you pout.

"Cooler now than you were earlier in the day 'doll?"

"Yeah," you smile softly.

"I'm glad," Denki replies back.

As you get farther from the tide Denki stops and spins the float that's holding you around a couple times, before stopping and holding the inflatable with his two hands on either side and grins as you. "Remember when we were like fifteenth and we went to the beach together, you ended up burying me in sand, I still have nightmares about it," Denki says solemnly, jokingly.

You giggle uncontrollable at the memory remembering it like yesterday. "It's your fault, I mean who falls asleep while eating an ice cream at the beach. It was only natural for me to lay you down and bury you. Plus, it was payback!"

"Payback for what may I ask?" He knows what you'll say.

You gasp in fake horror of him forgetting, "you knocked down my sandcastle when we were little! We went to the beach together for the summer, both of our families, and I begged you to make a sandcastle with me but you didn't want to, you ran off and made a new friend for the day and while you were running back from the sea with him you ran into my sandcastle and knocked it over! It was traumatic!"

"I don't remember that, are you sure?" Denki smirks and you slash him. He starts spinning you around again, this time rapidly and continuously, you squeal and get dizzy. You try and splash him more as you both laugh. He halts spinning you and you make eye contact, "please forgive six year old me, it's not like he brought you a coke and an ice cream and let you decide what film to watch that night when you stayed at mine to make up for it or anything." He teases you with a grin and you think about how you'd like to stay in this moment forever, this perfect moment, his arms brushing against your body as he holds onto the float, the grinning and laughter you share, the memories and the now, just the two of you.

You're thankful you were right about the mission.

tag list: @st4r-girl-official @xnorthstar3x @cherribxio @stabbygabyy @boreaswrites @skylardarling (i don't remember if you wanted me to tag you, sorry but you sent me an ask about i talk too much so i thought i'd tag you) @kelly-fushiguro345 ♡♡

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butterflydm · 2 months ago

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Wheel of Time 3x01 - to race the shadow

This will probably be messier than normal since it was a livestream, but here we go.

Okay, first we have the cold open, which we've seen already, but it's still great.

Are Verin and Adelas the oldest Sisters in the Tower?

Maksim also is the one who guesses that there are likely more Darkfriends among the Aes Sedai.

Maksim and Ivhon do kill at least two of the Black Ajah Sisters, I believe, and almost kill Liandrin, so all the people going "what's even the point of Warders?" There you go.

So Joiya and the other Yellow were sent to nab Siuan for Liandrin (and Lanfear by extension). But Moiraine saves Siuan.

It looks like Alanna-Maksim-Ihvon had a three-way bond! Foreshadowing for the future, maybe? Maksim seemed to feel the loss of Ihvon in his head just like Alanna did.

I think I counted six dead (or not moving) Sitters among the debris.

Love all the talk of prophecy and Callandor, and Mat spouting the Old Tongue (Mat DOES need healing of some kind but not because of the dagger!).

At the start of the episode, our babies all want to stay together (well, I think Perrin is already thinking of going home, but the other four are all planning to stick together) but events show them they need to split up.

Mat basically says "Come play with me!" to Rand and Perrin here, very cute.

And the Maidens are following Rand around to protect him as the prospective Car'a'carn. Great dynamic for Rand & Avi at the start of their relationship. "You are a wetlander through and through." And her disappointment that he's not want she expected. Elayne puts a lot of emotional energy in this episode to try to get Rand & Aviendha to get along and be on the same page as each other.

While the boys chat, Egwene talks to Nynaeve and Elayne about Rand. We learn that Egwene is having a hard time dealing with physical touch right now (understandable) and she's having flashbacks every night.

During the chat with the boys, we learn that Rand and Egwene have not talked in depth about their relationship. They're sharing a room but not being physically intimate.

We get the note that the only people Aviendha smiles at are Elayne and Perrin (they did a good job building up to Avilayne's hookup before they part ways).

Rand tells Perrin & Mat about "Selene" but not that she was Lanfear.

We see Perrin, Rand, and Mat playing snakes and foxes together. Perrin tells Rand that he trusts Rand to make the right choice and Rand picks up from that that Perrin is planning on leaving and going back home.

Lanfear meeting secretly with Moiraine and Lan. Her calling Ishy "a gentle soul with big dreams." And she makes a deal with Lanfear that she'll look the other way while Lanfear tries to drive Rand's friends away from him and Rand to heading towards Tear (so Rand standing up to Moiraine in this episode is also him standing up to Lanfear by extension, though he doesn't know it). Lanfear blames "his friends" for holding him back, and the only thing she likes about Moiraine is her ruthlessness.

Lan doesn't like them going along with Lanfear's plan: "She betrayed them [the Forsaken], she'll betray us too."

Siuan shows up during the girltalk and kicks Elayne out after reminding her that she better go back to the Tower in the morning to avoid a diplomatic incident. So Elayne knows she only has one night of freedom before she's back to training.

Rand told the group about what Siuan did to him: communication!

Egwene making her Accepted Test what she demands to "go back" to the White Tower was a good way of getting Egwene's Test to happen without taking up too much time.

Elayne sends a message to her mom and to "a Tairen lady" (and that one she explicitly tells Rand later is about trying to ease the way for him when he goes to Tear).

We get another Avilayne moment and Elayne gives Avi advice about Rand -- tells her to give him a chance and let him prove himself.

Rand listens to Loial about prophecy, figuring that he might want an army before he goes to Tear, and then Elayne comes in. I liked their talk a lot. It's this talk with Elayne that gets Rand to decide to go to the Waste, because she explains the benefits of it to him (and also basically tells HIM to give AVI a chance, the same way she did with Aviendha earlier). She makes him smile and touches his arm. It's all we're going to get but it's probably as good as we can get considering that Randgwene are still together.

"Andor will always be a friend to the Dragon Reborn. And so will I."

Egwene's Test being so short makes me think that we actually do maybe have a chance of seeing Elayne's before she leaves the Tower this season.

Also: Rand was definitely very far off his rocker in that Test.

Rand and Moiraine's confrontation is very good -- he doesn't say yet what he plans to do next, but I bet Elayne's advice is ringing in his ears. He misses home and wishes he could return with Perrin, but knows that Moiraine is right that he can't ever go there.

Lan going and getting his dad's sword, talking about the dangers of the Forsaken coming for all of them, not just Rand. We also got taught about power-wrought swords.

Elayne doing a drinking game for the people who aren't currently hooking up. Mat drinks to "seeing double and staying single."

Avilayne hook up here, knowing that they're going to separate in the morning. I think they set that up pretty well as something they were both into and they'd like to do it again, but nothing got established between the two of them as a relationship. Given that they are the ones who are single and in the same place, this works narratively, I think. I'm hoping we won't get too many of those people who are just like "throw the whole man out" when it comes to Rand getting involved, but I will brace myself lol.

Randgwene here feel pretty parallel to their scenes back in 1x01 and 1x07.

We learn more about what Mat is going through. Especially there's the "dying, over and over again." Nynaeve promises to help Mat, and so that's our reason for Mat staying in the Tower. Nynaeve needs to stay so that she can learn how to channel reliably, and Mat stays so that Nynaeve can help him.

So, Lanfear's 'bubble of evil' - there's the axe, where Bain or Chiad almost dies and is saved by Loial (I'll figure them out eventually lol), and so they have their own toh to that will take them to the Two Rivers, since Loial is going to give Perrin the shortcut through the Ways (I assume).

Mat got hypnotized by the cards (of the Heroes), it looks like. But Nynaeve got attacked by a Gray Man sent by Moghedien, so we had two Forsaken involved that night.

Now Rand's actual face (as the Rand from his Testing) is in Egwene's nightmares too.

I mean, at least Avilayne got a peaceful night.

I'm glad that everyone blames the Forsaken and not Rand. (I mean, Rand blames himself, but no one else blames him)

I like how angry Lan gets throughout this. We're seeing now a harder type of conflict for him -- his loyalty to Moiraine and to Nynaeve are coming into conflict.

And so now they split up (very sad about this, though I understand why) but reluctantly. Rand clasping Mat's shoulder there for a moment.

Lan gives his mother's ring to Nynaeve, letting her know that he understands why she needs to stay at the Tower.

Mat gives Rand his portrait, lol.

Avilayne's goodbye makes it pretty clear that it was a good night together and they'd like to see each other again if the pattern allows, but they didn't start a relationship that night

"Remember who you are, Rand al'Thor." Aw, Nynaeve's goodbye to Rand is very sweet. And one last joke between Mat & Rand before they part ways.

Aviendha looks very surprised that Rand is going against Moiraine and deciding to go to the Waste instead! I'd love to see them both referencing Elayne's advice to them as they potentially get along better, but even if they don't explicitly mention it, it's there in the background. Elayne pushed Aviendha to go easier Rand, pushing Rand not to be antagonist towards Aviendha, and pushed Rand to go after the Aiel prophecy before going to Tear. So that all made me pretty happy.

And we end on a check up on Moggy! She tortures a Whitecloak into being a Gray Man, I think. I wonder if she's going to be revealed as the creator of the Trollocs in this version, and she's merged with Aginor's background there.

#wot #wheel of time #wot on prime #wot s3 spoilers #wheel of time s3 spoilers #wot 3x01 spoilers #wot book spoilers #the fires of heaven #now to read other people's reactions #avirandlyane #butterfly watches wot #oh!#winter's heart #implied spoiler

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