#its especially noticable when lea confronts him

[buttercatrho]

something something shizukas expressions never facing up like leas does shows how the events she had to experience and live under changed her to be a more closed and defensive person even when expressing emotions that should portray superiority (eg smug) something something

[gay-dorito-dust]

Can you do one where reader is turned into a cat? Mabey reader are scared when first turned runing from the team reader worked with that day roaming the compaund mjaung trying to find someone from the main group and nuada finds reader.

The first one was so good!!

Somehow, someway you had found yourself having be turned into a cat.

No actually you did know but it didn’t take until after freaking out at the change in well…everything to realise that this was most likely the result of a spell you’ve been hit with on a prior mission. You didn’t think much of it at first, thinking that it was merely a fluke answer that the spell wouldn’t have affect if the witch was dead, one to awaken the next day -after experiencing some sort of side effects- as a fucking cat.

Guess the spell wasn’t a fluke at all and it didn’t matter whether or not the witch was dead either as you found yourself hiding away from the likes of Abe, Nuala, Hellboy, Liz and Nuada, especially Nuada. You didn’t want the elven prince that you found insanely beautiful and attractive to see you in which a state that would be really embarrassing. Besides you were pretty certain you couldn’t communicate to anyone of your condition and decided to clumsily climb your dresser, picking up a picture of yourself with the group just incase someone wonders about the stray kitten that roamed the complex, or worse mistake you for one of Hellboy’s many, many, MANY cats.

Which had leas you to where you were now, hiding behind corners and or on high shelves from agents and Manning alike before scampering off from one room to the next room, all in hopes of finding anyone capable of knowing what to do about your condition. So far you had no luck as it seemed as though all of your friends had left the compound for one reason or another, which was weird because you were certain that there was no mission to attend to, but you carried on by padding down the hallway as your eyes were constantly on the look out.

However it seemed as though you weren’t as vigilant as you believed you were being as a door swung open in your face, causing you to jolt and make a noise of distress as Liz and Hellboy looked down at you in confusion.

‘You didn’t let the cats out again did you red?’ Liz asked.

. ‘No, not since the last time.’ Hellboy scratched the back of his head as he tried to remember whether he did or didn’t.

Liz sighed. ‘If Manning sees them he’ll think it’s your doing- wait is that a picture in its mouth?’ She then noticed as she kneels down to your height to take a closer look, but before she could, you noticed Nuada from afar and immediately ran away but dropped your picture in the process as you heard Liz and Hellboy call after you.

‘Wait!’ -Liz

‘Come back little kitty!’ - Hellboy.

Nuada -having seen the whole thing- picked up the photo and saw it was one of the first mission he has went on since his imprisonment months ago. Something of which he found odd as if his memory served him well, the only person who had taken this picture was you. So why was it in the jaws of a cat because Nuada was certain you didn’t own any pets like Hellboy did, this didn’t add up to the elven prince who decided to confront Liz and Hellboy with it.

‘Oh hey princy, whatcha got there.’ Hellboy said the moment he saw Nuada out of the corner of his eye.

‘A picture, I assume it’s the picture that the cat had in its mouth.’ Nuada passes the photo to Liz who looked at it with furrowed brows. ‘This is y/n’s picture,’ she noted as she looked between Nuada and Hellboy, ‘why did the cat have their picture?’ She adds.

‘They don’t have pets that we’re unaware of.’ Nuada inquirers the pair who shared a look before looking at him.

‘Y/n doesn’t have pets to come of it and if that’s not the case, then I guess it has to do something with the last mission we went on.’ Hellboy says as the memories of how odd you were being afterwards began to surface to the forefront of his mind, and Liz seemed to realise what her partner was going on about but Nuada was feeling an arrange of things.

‘What happened to them.’ The elven prince said with furrowed brows, having become slightly protective of you as of recently, so hearing that something had happened to you while he was away on his own mission had him on edge.

‘Oh yeah. If I remember they got hit by a spell, at first nothing happened so we assumed it’s because the caster was dead, but it seems as though it was only a slow acting spell rather then a fast acting one as later on they began to become sick of sorts and excused themself to go to bed.’ Hellboy recounted to the prince.

‘May I have that picture?’ Nuada asked as he opened his hand towards Liz, who put the photo in his palm without hesitation.

‘What do you plan to do spearhead?’ Hellboy asked with a raised brow.

‘Going after y/n and seeing what we can do to undo the spell.’ Was all Nauda said as he strides down the hall and towards the library where he’d know you’d most likely be when in times of uncertainty or was scared. This was probably because he has told you once that if you were ever in doubt or worried about something, was to go to the library and wait for him there. So what does the elven prince see first when entering the library?

Your cat self resting in front of the fire and ironically it was the same place you were always found by Nuada, which only gave him confidence that you had been turned into a cat and he wasn’t engaging in conversation was a stray feline that somehow got inside.

‘Y/n?’ Nuada asked and your ears perk up, followed by your head as you looked over at the prince and let out a curious meow, almost as though you were trying to say his name in return as he came closer to you. God you hated how it was him who found you first, or rather tracked you down because you always keep forgetting that this man had exceptional tracking skills, which was expected of a man of his abilities and longevity.

‘It’s okay, it’s only me.’ Nuada reassured as he knelt down in front of you, opening his hand out towards for you to sniff freely to asses his character, smiling softly to himself when you pushed your head into his hand and purring gently when he curled his fingers under your chin. This was heaven for you as you practically stretched yourself across Nuada’s lap, closing your eyes as a calming, protective feeling draped over you as you allowed Nuada to hold you in his arms, cradling you to his chest.

‘Nothing will get you while you’re in this form my beloved.’ He promised as he kissed your little furry head, meaning every single bit of his words as he felt this overwhelming need to keep you safe and secure until you return to normal. Nothing and nobody was going to stop him from doing so as he consulted some books about spells in hopes of getting some answers for your condition.

Nuada was more than determined to get you back as much as the next person, something his sister tended to tease him about was his soft spot with you and while he was adamant to accept it, and yet he couldn’t help but accept this as fact he’ll have to live with until he gains the confidence to do something about it.

‘Meow?’ You pawed at the page Nuada was currently on, hoping for answers to be written out before him because you didn’t like the idea of being a cat forever, while it might have some perks, you were still eager to get back to normal however you could.

Nuada smiled as he scratched under your chin again, causing you to purr and push yourself into his touch, liking the way he handles you gently yet firmly it was quite intoxicating. ‘Soon my heart, have patience but until then I shall keep you company, is that okay?’ He asks you and you felt sheepish but decided to show your gratitude towards him by licking his hand. The elven prince the kisses your furry head, lingering there before pulling away. ‘Thank you dearest for putting your trust in me.’ He whispered.

You only meowed in thanks. You’d love to show your thanks when you get back to normal, a date should suffice shouldn’t it?

[fablefrogg]

Why Having Will Byers Standing Up for El From Her Bullies Doesn't Make Sense (From a Character/Narrative Standpoint)

First off, I truly think that if Will had stood up for her, he would have also been targeted and bullied. Look at what happened when the teacher jumped in to help El. That didn't solve anything; it only made the bullies more infuriated to the point that they came up with an elaborate plan to humiliate El at a public place (and with a lot of people that went along with this plan like the DJ).

I'm not saying that standing up to your bullies is ultimately pointless and that you should keep your head down in the hopes of them stopping because they very likely won't.

But we have to take into account Will's character. He has dealt with bullying for most of his life (and for his sexuality which could end in the very real possibility of him being hate-crimed since this was the 80s). On top of that, he has trauma from having to survive in the Upside Down and from being possessed one of its creatures, resulting in him indirectly killing the military soldiers in S2 when he is used as a spy. It's understandable why he wants to keep his head down.

El also seems to be in denial about the situation, considering that she lied to Mike about Angela being her friend, denied Will's claims when he points this out, and then tells Angela (even after the milkshake debacle) to tell Mike that they're actually friends.

Will isn't a fighter like Mike. He helps El in his own way by consoling her even though she pushes him away, knowing that she needs verbal reassurance (a possible parallel to El needing Mike to verbally say that he loves her), and offers to help her put her project back together. We must also remember that the one time he tried standing up for himself was to the Mind Flayer in S2 and he ended up getting possessed (while it was inevitable, it shows that standing up for oneself = negative results in Will's mind).

I don't personally believe that by not standing up for her, he has some hidden resentment against El because she's with the person he loves. Will has been on El's side the whole time; he just does it subtly. He lies to the police that what El did was an accident, he paces back and forth while ranting to Mike that Hawkins wouldn't be standing without her, forcefully tells the receptionist at the juvenile center that they're her family ergo let them see her, and even gets noticeably angry at Mike, the person he's in love with, for his distasteful comment at El at the dinner table.

I acknowledge that it would be super interesting to see a darker side to Will, but I don't think this is it. In S2, when he encounters the baby Demogorgon in the bathroom, he has good reason to kill it considering his trauma from the Upside Down. Instead, he reassures the Demogorgon, saying that he won't hurt it. If Will can offer empathy to a literal monster that comes from a source of trauma, there is no way in hell that he would hurt El, even if he did harbor feelings of resentment.

From a narrative standpoint, I'd say El being bullied is necessary to her arc and that Will stepping in would reduce the impact of that arc and her development. Her being bullied is a trigger event to her physical assault on Angela, confronting her with the one of the conflicts she's been internally fighting: she believes that she's a monster even without her abilities. It also serves as a catalyst and a parallel when she remembers the similar bullying she's experienced in the lab. Because Will didn't interfere, it makes El's development from coming out the other side the more powerful.

Additionally, Will supporting El in other ways other than standing up to the main source of her bullying makes sense with his own arc. Since the Duffers have said he will be vital in S5, that tells me that he needs to learn to stand up to fight, especially when they're faced against the Big Bad. He has to learn to stop hiding (even though that's what he does best) and learn to stand up not just for other people, but for himself, and once he accomplishes this, he'll come out confident and wiser.

[movienotesbyzawmer]

August 30: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

(previous notes: Mission: Impossible III)

I bet the powers that be at the Mission: Impossible movie factory didn't lose any sleep over the stupid colon in the title that screws everything up. I mean, just look at that up there with the colon after my date, then the colon in the middle of the OG title, and then it's like, well, you can do whatever you want with punctuation but we're adding a subtitle after it now and you just have to deal with it. On posters and stuff it's just "Mission: Impossible" and then underneath those words they put "Ghost Protocol" so they don't have to deal with it. What a mess. I tell you it is a damn mess is what it is.

Anyway, we have arrived at the M:I movie that, more than any of the others, just really hit the spot for me when I saw it upon its original release. I saw it at the end of a frustrating and tiring work day and it was exactly what the doctor ordered. At some point in the middle I realized that I was enjoying it thoroughly without having to tolerate the kinds of flaws that were apparently part and parcel of this kind of movie. Maybe there were flaws that I just wasn't registering. We'll soon see.

Continuing the tradition of making very hip choices for the directing duties, here we have the live-action directorial debut of Brad Bird, who started off directing episodes of The Simpsons before moving on to no less than The Iron Giant and The Incredibles. Dude had two Oscars on his mantle by the time he showed up for this. Press play already!

Um Sweet Christ those opening shots look gook in 4K like HOO boy

Whoa, neat opening where Sawyer from Lost is chased off the top of a building in Budapest but his jacket deploys an air mattress right as he almost-hits, but then he's shot by Lea Seydoux in an alley, rat-a-tat-tat with the action here, like what is up

Simon Pegg is back, and he's being tricksy with the tech in a prison! He's opening cell doors and the prisoners are surprised and delighted with that twist! He plays them a jazz standard on the intercom and Ethan Hunt suavely emerges from one of the cells. Fun silly things ensue involving Ethan's rebellious and confident independent strategy and a small riot that seems kind of like a bar fight.

He has made a pal in the joint and he's breaking him out. Some kind of cool tech creates a really sweet vortex-y hole in the floor and they are swooped up by their helpers, it's fun.

We're introduced to Paula Patton who is a new team member, and then the credits roll, and they are spirited in a way that recalls the first movie, also showing real scenes from later in the movie.

Flashback to the thing that was happening with Sawyer shows how that botched operation, something about a file and a courier, got Sawyer killed because lots of bad guys were all over the place there. AR contact lens technology figures prominently, and that is a good idea (plus we totally might have those soon, right?).

0:18:16 - Once again we begin the movie without the leading lady from the previous one, but we're starting to get an explanation here. Or just a tease of one I guess.

And quickly we get a sneaky-style self-destructing message that sets up that Ethan has to disguise himself as a specific Russian and sneak into the actual Kremlin. This movie 100% gets what a Mission: Impossible movie is supposed to be.

This time, they aren't using fancy masks or voice shifter things, just costumes and a fake mustache. They comment about that in the dialogue but don't explain why.

0:24:52 - Dialogue mixed SO QUIET here I have no idea what SP just said. It seems like you're supposed to have heard it.

But that is quickly forgotten when they use the coolest spy gadget of them all - a screen that is placed in a corridor that makes the guy at the other end of the corridor think it’s the corridor, but it's a screen and SP & Ethan are hiding behind it and it is super super neato I love it

Then just when it's cool that that is going well, it's suddenly cool how NOT well it's going because someone is spying on their spycraft! The thing they were going to heist isn't there, and someone deliberately makes their comms thing be heard by the bad guys!

And THEN we see something we really didn't think we'd see and it is kind of mind blowing - Ethan escapes from the Kremlin with a very smooth quick-change of his disguise that we see him do in all one shot… but then the Kremlin totally explodes and it explodes all over Ethan as he's running away! It looks amazing!

Right after that there is some fun with subtitles - Ethan is in the hospital all damaged and concussed and stuff, and the news is talking about the obvious big story, and the subtitles are in Russian. At first I was like, "hey is my home theater tech busted?" but no, the subtitles become gradually more in English as Ethan starts to come out of it. Then we see with subtitles that Ethan is reading lips about the police people that want to be bad guys to Ethan.

After Ethan escapes, we shift to a wholesome-looking Russian family we haven't seen before. The scene is a nice little piece of drama about how the dad sees the Kremlin news and wants to get the family out of there, and very quickly that goes south and thugs have them all at gunpoint, it's nicely done

Ethan is being extracted by two new characters played by accomplished, Oscar-nominated actors Tom Wilkinson and Jeremy Renner… the conversation is dire and I don't want to type during it gahhh gah gah gah I am watching because holy shit this goes south too! TW informs Ethan that the DoD is going to frame him for blowing up the Kremlin and his only choice is to escape. He's telling him HOW to escape in a funny way, but they are attacked and it's visually very interesting and TW is headshot and they are in the water and it is such bad news for Ethan and his new colleague played by Mr. Renner, I probably typoed a lot during that because it was so hard to look away.

So Ethan is on the hook for the terrorist attack of the century and he's being chased by a little battalion of thugs who just shot that important spy boss, and he's in Russia. It is very not good for Ethan.

He's with JR and JR is playing a different character for him. He's a bookish analyst guy who feels very out of place in action-land.

We're learning about the main bad guy, Hendricks, who was the guy that screwed everything up in the Kremlin. He's a super-smart theoretical physicist or something who has big, well-thought-out ideas about destroying the world with nukes, and he took nuke codes from the Kremlin. So things are just really really hairy and it's effective storytelling is what I'm saying.

Also effective is that they met up with SP and PP on a neat secret train car thing that is well appointed with spy gear

And VERY VERY EFFECTIVE is what happens next, which is a series of establishing shots of Dubai which KILL ON MY TV. I am glad I have a 4K panel, kids. This begins what I recall as being an extended sequence of sweet-ass suspense. Ethan has to break into a server room by climbing the outside of the 130th floor of the Burj Khalifa using glove-gadget tech that will hopefully work. There is at least some actual Tom Cruise clinging to the side of that building. It's so cool looking. And to make matters worse, a dust storm approaches! Or should I say "to make matters even cooler looking". Yes I should. Please read that part.

Paula Patton's character seems underdeveloped so far, especially compared to her teammates Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner.

Jeez you guys, if you like suspenseful action scenes about barely surviving climbing a skyscraper this movie is for you.

1:05:34 - In the middle of a tense conversation we see that they were using the maskmaker but it wasn't working. They just don't want us to have mask fun in this movie. They hate mask fun. Why does Brad Bird hate mask fun.

Oh then this scene which is neat - bad guys are meeting with LS… but Ethan and JR are taking their place, and PP is taking LS's place for the real bad guys one floor down. The movie explains it better than me, but it is pretty exciting, the two meetings happening at the same time with opposite trickery.

Hah, SP does a sweet fake-hand trick to get the diamonds from the bad guys so he can get them to Ethan and JN, and JN is doing the thing where he uses the contact lens tech… gosh why are you even reading this, just watch the movie. I really like the tricksy espionage.

It all falls apart because LS spots the contact lens in JR's eye. The plot is moving along in a way that, I'm once again noticing, would normally require more half-assed-ness. It's just a solid spy plot. Which probably makes these notes more boring. Poor you.

LS dies by getting kicked out of the open window of the Burj Khalifa with a brewing sandstorm in the background! Neat looking!

And then a thing where Ethan is in a thick dust cloud and he's tracking the important paper thing with his tracker device, and it starts moving quickly at him and we realize just as it's too late that it's in a car that's gonna run him over! Then that mechanic gets used in a car chase in a dust storm, which we don't see very often outside a Mad Max movie, and that climaxes in a really cool looking collision, followed by the reveal that one of the nuclear code bad guys was Hendricks in a supermask. So we DO like mask fun after all! Except why do we care that it was Hendricks?

A scene where JR is confronted for maybe being a double-crosser has a beautifully choreographed gun-get-grabbity-grab thing that was probably super fun for the actors.

1:27:05 - JR tells a story that at first we think is that family we saw briefly almost scramming, but no, he's talking about Ethan, and what seems to be a story about Ethan's wife (Julia from the last movie) getting killed in Croatia, and Ethan killing six Serbians for revenge, and that's why he was in prison in the beginning? It's still a little mysterious and kind of complicated. It doesn't quite fit with what we think we know.

Dubai imagery is pretty. I have been to Dubai. I am standing by for your marriage proposals now.

I didn't really follow how we got to this point, but Ethan went for a walk and met with some underworld Dubai person and made a deal the ended up with a huge cache of spy gear and a private plane to India. I went to India like right after Dubai. I have my own car and a job kind of so you might need to calm your hormones at this point.

A probing exchange with PP establishes that indeed Ethan's story is that he killed the men who killed his wife. Doesn't really seem legit, though. There's more to the story, clearly.

One of the tech things they play with on the plane is the most magic-seeming one. It is a suit that looks like tight chain-mail, and it floats over a cart, like a magic carpet that you wear.

We're introduced to Brij Nath, whose name I had to look up so I could tell you how it is spelled. He has an access code that they need, which seems like they just kind of simplified the situation, and he's one of those only-kinda-bad bad guys that's really just a pawn, for our heroes as well as for these storytellers.

The wearable magic carpet gadget is fun and funny! SP has to remote control JR wearing the floaty-suit and JR is trying not to freak out too badly, and maybe on purpose it recalls the scene from the first movie where Tom Cruise hovers parallel to the floor.

Hendricks is now in a secret room in the place where they all are, and he has a bad-guy briefcase computer and orders some subordinates to do something with a virus, and I don't actually understand what's really happening but am I to believe that Ethan et al are thwarting literal nuclear terrorism here in Mumbai? Right here at this pleasant party at the palace of an only kinda-bad bad guy?

1:48:30 - Ha, the climax of the wearable magic carpet thing involves JR barely surviving by doing an acrobatic stunt that seems oddly intuitive and satisfying. You'll just have to watch the movie to know what I mean.

The spy-tech car they have is rad.

They fail to prevent the launch of a nuclear missile! We see it come out of the sub and start missiling toward its destination which we have learned is California! Hendricks mutters things about how that should get the ball rolling making world powers hate each other and nuke each other and may there be peace on Earth, he also, yes, says that.

A chase on foot has Ethan and Hendricks suddenly brawling on an exotically elegant robotic parking ramp. Platforms move around mechanically and transfer unmanned cars to different areas, and it is against that video gamey backdrop that Ethan and Hendricks struggle to get that sinister suitcase which is all bouncing around that environment. Unexpectedly, Ethan's hope of grabbing it is thwarted by Hendricks suicide-jumping down several stories! We see it! He definitely does that! Ethan drives a car off a thing to follow him, plummeting down hood-first, and the airbag saves him! He gets the briefcase and barely saves the day in time!

Again a denouement making it very clear that everything is really shockingly okay and tidied up. Even the thing with Ethan revenge-killing Serbians and the thing with his wife is cleaned way up, but with an elegance and sweetness that elevates this movie above the others. She's not dead after all, just fake-dead for her protection. And they're only where they are in Seattle so he can glimpse her lovingly across a marina.

So! I feel strongly that this is the best Mission: Impossible movie! It is an extraordinarily deftly-constructed spy thriller! It's got all the funnest types of things that are in the other movies, and other fun spy thrillers, but with so much less garbage! They did a great job and they should be proud.

[nadziejastar]

I’m glad the creators want to emphasize thatCloud’s “badass, silent dude” personality was just a fake persona he created. I think a lot of fans had the misconception that was his true personality all along.

Warning: FVII Spoilers

Nomura: “While Cloud may look this way, he was a dork. I believe those of you who played the the original would understand what I mean by saying he’s a dorky character.”

I totally agree. I think a lot of people aren’t good at picking up subtle characterization, especially since the original game didn’t have advanced cutscenes or voice acting. Cloud always seemed like a dork to me after I learned he really had dissociative identity disorder and his whole SOLDIER thing was just a persona--an alter. Barret knew it, and made fun of him. So many people complained that Cloud was OOC in Advent Children and I remember feeling confused because I really didn’t think he was? He was depressed, but it seemed realistic after everything he’d been through.

“In severe cases of mental splitting when the extreme pain drives that person into disassociation, at the moment the person disassociates from their body, the soul-psyche manifest coping mechanisms to survive. To disassociate from the painful trauma felt in the body, the soul and mind will split into sub personalities, or create alternate identities. These are called alters.”

While we’re on the topic of Cloud’s fake badass silent persona, the way Tifa repairs Cloud’s fractured mind in FFVII always reminded me of the power of waking in KH. I’m sure FFVII was the precursor to this idea. Cloud developed his badass persona when he watched Zack get murdered right in front of him. He dissociated and took on a tough guy alter in order to cope.

Sora turned around. Empty husks? Is he saying they’re going to break them with sorrow and put another heart into them…? Or did they already do it?

“Translation—they were gonna turn all the members into Xehanort.”

“Make more Xehanorts?” You’re hollowing out people’s hearts to put Xehanort’s inside them?!

In order to turn people into Xehanorts, they had to break the person’s psyche with pain. That way, the Xehanort “alter” can take over the body. I’m sure that’s what the mind control experiments were about.

You could say Cloud’s heart was in the Realm of Sleep, like Ventus’s was when he first met Terra and Aqua. He was unable to talk and he was not really aware of his surroundings. Cloud’s mind was in pieces and Tifa had to “dive” inside his psyche to repair him and restore him to completeness.

KH3′s tagline was “face your fears”. When I write my KH3 rewrite fic, I wanna give each of the Seven Guardians one of these segments to fully explore their fractured psyche. A time for them to face their insecurities and fears, and actually show them being healed. That’s THE biggest thing I think KH3 was missing. Before waking up, each character needed a Tifa to help them piece themselves together. Riku got swallowed by the Demon Tower in the beginning. I think the Demon Tower was supposed to be something that causes you to be trapped in your worst nightmare. Then he’d have to face his fears with the help of Mickey. His “other self”. He’d have to confront all his insecurities and his guilt over feeling like it was his fault Destiny Island got destroyed.

Mickey got swallowed by the Demon Tower later on. Then he had to deal with his guilt over feeling like he failed Aqua and left her to rot in the Dark Realm. I think the Dark Aqua boss fight was probably originally supposed to be part of Mickey’s nightmare that Riku was trying to wake him from. All the things she said sounded like a reflection of Mickey’s worst fears. And that darkness bubble thing looked like the same thing Sora was trapped in at the end of KH3D, when he was in the nightmare.

I think ALL the main characters, including Sora, were supposed to get a segment like that to give their arcs closure. Sora would have to dive into the abyss at the beach (the KH equivalent of the Lifestream that Cloud fell into). That beach is basically the collective unconscious. All of Sora’s sleeping memories (of Castle Oblivion/Namine, Roxas, and Xion) would have to be confronted. And after that, he’d have to help Aqua face her worst feelings, which was that she failed to save Ven and Terra.

The whole opening of 0.2 foreshadowed the part where Sora would wake Aqua up. Sora didn’t really connect with her heart in KH3 or help her face her fears, though. The whole saving Aqua thing felt so rushed. I think higher ups at either Square or Disney thought that a AAA game like KH3 shouldn’t “waste” so much time with exploring the characters’ psyches and the story needed to move at a faster pace. But we missed out on so much.

I’m sure Ven was supposed to face his fears of feeling like he failed Terra. Lea would have to face his fear that he abandoned Isa for his new best friends and forgot all about him. He’d have a lot of guilt over that and he’d have to face a Nightmare Saix which would be the manifestation of all his worst fears. Honestly, I’m sure the FFVII Remake will do a better job demonstrating the power of waking than KH3. Which is sad.

Back to Cloud. In Crisis Core, you see a shy insecure kid who can’t even face Tifa. That’s the real Cloud. The part of himself he can’t accept.

Cloud never even really wanted to be a SOLDIER for its own sake.

He just wanted to accomplish something. He was lonely and depressed and thought a man was “supposed to be” a soldier. He just wanted to be noticed by Tifa. And Tifa didn’t know this. She genuinely thought Cloud was just a typical boy who wanted to leave home so he could fight in the war.

She took care of him during his time of weakness. And the whole point of FFVII was that Cloud was “weak”. I liked that he wasn’t the generic badass hero who simply “won” the girl by being strong and cool. And it made me like Tifa, too. At first, she wanted her and Cloud to fulfill the stereotypical heterosexual relationship roles. She told Cloud that when she was in trouble, her hero would come rescue her. Then Tifa got to know the real Cloud.

He loved her. But he wasn’t really that heroic. Even his mom thought he needed a girlfriend that would take care of him. But Tifa accepted him anyways, even when he didn’t live up to her knight in shining armor fantasy. She got her relationship with him, with all its flaws. She was HIS hero, actually. I liked that because FFVII was really the first game I ever played where the main couple had what I thought was genuine intimacy instead of simply the girl being the “prize”. And I LOVE FFVII. After he is pieced back together, Cloud acts completely differently. He isn’t cocky or cool. He seemed humble, quiet, and not so much a natural “leader” type.

Zack was the badass everyone thought Cloud was. He took care of Cloud after they were experimented on and Cloud was broken. I cannot help but think that Lea and Isa’s past was originally similar to theirs after being experimented on. Crisis Core was an inspiration for me in imagining their past. Lea is similar to Zack. Cheerful, confident, resilient, and heroic. Very compassionate, too. The way he talked to Cloud even when he was “broken” was very sweet. And I think Isa was similar to Cloud who is more sensitive, vulnerable, and needy. Cloud mentally fractured after watching Zack die in front of him. I wanted to write something similar with Lea and Isa. Isa mentally shatters because he witnessed Lea lose his heart. :)

[unlockthelore]

Lost In You

Hiei elects to utilize the Reikai’s generous offer and free himself from Sarayashiki’s confines, with a quick stop on the way. From the fic Fluent on Ao3. For more updates, follow the fluent yyh tag on this blog. 

In the aftermath of the tournament and their return to their ‘normal lives’, Hiei couldn’t make heads or tails of all his gains and losses. Yukina’s decision to remain in Ningenkai under the care of Genkai provided a steady means of seeing her, although seeking her out was difficult with his restrictions and the secret between them. Kuwabara claimed to want to visit her often, and thankfully, his schooling and human needs prevented that headache. Yusuke insisted on growing stronger, but Toguro’s death and Genkai’s demise along with her revival, had shaken something inside of him.

A part Hiei wasn’t sure would heal with a few days rest.

Then there was Kurama and the wounds left on his psyche, still weeping even as the ones on his body healed. Nightmares plagued him just as often as Yusuke or Kuwabara, and more than once, Hiei watched over them as they talked, sneaking out of their respective homes to sit in parks or wander empty streets in search of solace.

Confronting Kurama on his nightly exploits were silly. If playing games and talking to the louder pair brought him comfort then so be it. Even still, there were other ways Kurama sought peace.

Hiei hardly minded Kurama’s touchiness during the tournament, and the need for contact seemed to wax and wane. Memories of Karasu’s covetous hands hindered his desire to be held, and Hiei resolved to wait patiently, allowing him a space in his arms when he desired. Still, he rescinded Reikai insistence on the crow being offered a fair trial. His presence in this world aside, what he’d done to Kurama was inexcusable and the Dragon yearned to render him to nothingness.

Alas, rules and laws prohibited what Hiei considered as justice.

For as much as he seemed to gain from the tournament — the Dragon’s power, symbiosis with the Mortal Flame, Yukina’s constant presence, respect for his teammates — he lost that much more.

“It’s so sweet…!” A loud chipper tone cried, lurching him from his thoughts with a grimace. Cutting a visceral glare at the blue-haired ferry girl floating beside him, Hiei wondered how she could be so cheerful at a time like this.“A little sibling bonding time, oh, Yuusuke is going to love hearing about this.”

Hiei’s eyes widened and flicked downward. While he was blatantly aware no one on the streets around them could see or hear her, their meeting was carried out on a rooftop further and higher from the city’s main roads. It was blissfully quiet aside from her chattering and the idea that his peace would be broken by loose lips irked his nerves.

“Botan,” Hiei prefaced, attempting to keep his voice as even as possible, fingers curled into tight fists trembling against the inner lining of his cloak pockets. “Tell him anything — no — tell any of them, and I’ll…”

Admittedly, Hiei wasn’t sure what he would do. A distant voice in the back of his mind that sounded all too much like Kurama told him it would be a violation of his parole. Still, there were some things that should be excused. His hand trembled, scarlet-orange flames beginning to emerge from the depths. Pink eyes widened as Botan lifted her hands, seemingly unapologetic, with the cat-like smile curling the corners of her lips.

“Calm down, calm down, I know it’s a sensitive matter and part of your wish from the Tournament,” she turned her hands outward, shoulders hunching when Hiei scowled. “So it’s Reikai-sensitive information.”

The slight waver and falter to her smile came with a bit of distance put between them as she floated over the heads of unsuspecting humans milling about below.

Hiei snorted, quelling the flames licking at his wrists as he turned his gaze skyward. Glaring disdainfully at the clear blue sky, sun beating down and assaulting his eyes with its light. “Considering how inept Reikai intel is, was that supposed to comfort me?”

He hardly felt fazed when she gasped and floated closer to him, shouting in his face. “A thank you would be nice!”

Shooting a glare at her, pink met crimson and he was almost impressed by the sharpness of her eyes. Almost, but not quite. Tipping his chin downward, he sighed audibly and rolled his shoulders back, feeling the stiffness in holding his posture for so long.

“When does the probationary period start?”

Botan’s nose wrinkled and she puffed her cheek, seeming to want to argue more but second-guessing it as she reached into the folds of her kimono to pull out a small grey book. Hiei almost wanted to see what was written in it, especially with how much she scribbled in it constantly while observing their battles. But as soon as she flipped to the necessary page and read, it was snapped shut then tucked away.

“In the next thirty minutes,” she said in a huff, turning her head away.

“Hm.”

Thirty minutes. It was longer than he wanted but the potential of being able to see Yukina was worth it. For now, there were other matters he had to attend to.

“So remember, you have to stay within at least one hundred yards of Genkai’s property and alert her when you are lea—” Botan opened her eyes and glanced back to where Hiei had been standing, finding an empty spot, and a black blur darting across the rooftops. “Oi!”

                                             幽☆遊☆白書            

Dropping down on the sill of Kurama’s bedroom window, Hiei peered through the glass at the red headed figure spilling over books atop his desk. A faint golden glow cast deep shadows across familiar features, doing little to hide the natural beauty he possessed or the tiredness in his eyes. Reaching for the side panel, Hiei gave it a tug, surprised when it didn’t give way. After another tug, he heard a metallic clink and stared in surprise at where the window’s latch was lowered.

It was locked.

Shock kept him still for a second. Long enough for Kurama to notice a presence outside his window, rising in a slight hurry — never panic, because Kurama didn’t panic — coming to Hiei’s aid. The window unlatched and opened in one quick flourish allowing Hiei to see Kurama unfettered by glass between them.

“Hiei,” Kurama said in a soft, airy tone, snapping him out of his stupor. How stupid, he could have melted the damn thing but that would’ve only made matters worse. “I thought you would be on your way to Genkai’s by now.”

“Thirty minutes.”

Hiei wasn’t sure why that was the only thing that came out his mouth. Or the strange sense of panic when he noticed the window had been locked. Climbing inside and closing it behind him, he glared at the latch, unwilling to tear his gaze away until he heard the creak of Kurama’s desk chair. Looking back at the fox, sagging slightly with his hands resting at his stomach, Hiei felt guilty.

Kurama’s reason for locking the window might not have been to keep him out but to protect himself.

“You don’t have to cut your time short with Yukina for my sake,” Kurama said, his smile achingly soft and understanding, turning Hiei’s stomach.

He knew Kurama would never ask him to stay. Never expect him to choose him over something else. It was the humanity within him. Youko weren’t nearly as kind or selfless but Kurama could be when the mood fit him. The question crossed Hiei’s mind just as easily as he strode to Kurama’s side.

If the option arose — would he have been able to pick between Kurama and Yukina?

Would that even be a choice he’d be able to make without some semblance of regret? Slipping his arms around Kurama’s shoulders, Hiei felt him stiffen. It wasn’t wise to trap a fox but this wasn’t to keep him contained. Kurama must have realized as much, forcing his muscles to loosen. A warm hand set upon Hiei’s back as Kurama buried his face against his shoulder.

“... I have thirty minutes before I can leave to see her,” Hiei clarified, squeezing Kurama when he heard the breathy sigh. Be selfish, he quietly urged. Ask me to stay. But Kurama said nothing, only holding him tighter.

“When will you be back?”

Hiei was grateful his face was buried against his shoulder. If Kurama had seen the surprise, the concern, the relief — it would open a wealth of questions Hiei wasn’t ready to answer. Yet one thing was clear. Kurama never asked him when he was going to return.

He simply did. The window was open. They reconciled and parted ways with only the knowledge of soon.

And yet, Kurama seemed to want to expect him.

Burying his fingers in silky crimson hair, Hiei held him a bit tighter, eliciting a gasp that he wanted to hear again.

“Nightfall.”

The nightmares would come again but Hiei would return and hold him through them all. For as long as Kurama wanted. A light press, flutter of warm plush lips, startled Hiei from his thoughts. He barely noticed his muffler being removed or when Kurama kissed the sensitive column of his neck, starting down with unhurried kisses loosening with precision.

“Thirty minutes,” he muttered, a throaty growl questioning and sticking half-hearted protests to the back of Hiei’s throat. He’d heard that voice before. Kurama’s old voice, and when he glanced down, golden slipped through green. “Thats what you said?”

Hiei nodded slowly, both unsurprised and startled when Kurama stood, lifting him up effortlessly. He knew he was strong but after the tournament, his strength only seemed to grow. Sinking into the bed as he was laid down, Kurama’s body covering his own, red hair shielded him from the world as the fox captured his lips and ensnared him for a bit longer.

[angelbabylu]

Man or Beast // LH

pairing: witch!oc x vampire!luke

word count: 7.5k

warnings: smut, fluff, magical stuff, angst if you squint 

notes: so last week i posted something wicked, an introduction to this universe where 5sos are vampires. as stated in my note for that fic, the idea comes from this book series. whereas that fic dealt with a lot of witch lore, this will deal with vampire lore. basically digging into luke’s family and backstory and such. this has the barest of allusions to dracula. i hope you enjoy! 

title: from this dracula quote: “[S]omething dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone and bent over it. What it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell.”

Part 1: Something Wicked

-- 

The first year in front of her had turned bright red in embarrassment. They were in the greenhouse discussing the life cycle of plants and how magic could be used to speed up that process. Margo, the TA for this freshman herbology class, had grown quite used to her students being intimidated by her. Especially those like the young witch in front of her who’s magic had gone haywire and caused several plants in the vicinity to die. The good news was that Margo was somewhat of a prodigy when it came to herbology. It was one of the few things she could do without incantations.

She ran her hands over the flowering plants as she spoke to the girl. “Like with all magic, it is about manipulating something on a molecular level. With raw power, all you have to do is send your magic into the universe and manipulate it to do your bidding. Like creating water.” Margo whispered a quick spell that had an orb of water forming between her fingertips. She tossed it into the air, and it disappeared into steam.

“Or,” Margo continued, “telekinesis.” After a wink from Margo, the large, round, wire-rimmed glasses that the first year wore wiggled up and down on her face.

“The water and your glasses are both inanimate objects, so I only had to worry about manipulating them to my own will. With plants, you can’t just shove energy at it and hope for the best as they have a will of their own. Listen to the plant and learn what it wants. If you just try to bend it to your will, it will resist, which could lead to. . . ” Margo trailed off.

The young witch had already experienced the consequences of such actions. “This takes a level of practiced magical manipulation.” As if in a show of agreement, the plants began to come back alive around her, sprouting flowers as red as the witch’s face had turned earlier.

Margo was so engulfed in trying to teach her young student how to control horticultural magic, she didn’t notice the slight prickling in her thumb.

She missed the whispering and giggling too. It was not until the young witch interrupted her with a small, yet constrained smile and said, shyly, “Miss Crowley, I think your boyfriend is here,” that she looked up and out towards the doorway. Sure enough, leaning against the door frame to the greenhouse was Luke, arms crossed, a smile on his face.

Margo pursed her lips in mild annoyance, hands coming to rest on her hips. Luke knew that when he showed up to her lectures, it distracted the class. Most vampires didn’t hang out with the Horticultural Magic students–they tended to prefer biological sciences, history, literature, and other such pursuits. And, vampires were also the least prevalent of the magical beings. Chances were many of the first years had never seen a vampire before meeting Luke.

Some of the bolder witches had already made their way over to him, taking his attention away from Margo.

“I suppose class is over?” asked the young witch Margo had been helping. She looked at her students whose focus was no longer on the plants in front of them, but on the tall, looming vampire in the doorway.

“I suppose,” Margo said solemnly.

She went to the front of the greenhouse and called out for attention. “Class dismissed. Please remember that I expect all of you to be able to draw the life cycle of an angiosperm by next Tuesday! There will be a quiz.”

As always, there was a collective groan throughout the room. Margo ignored it as she went to about packing her things. Luke stayed at the door for a couple of seconds saying goodbye to the few students that were friendly with him before walking over to her. When she had rammed all that could fit in the small laptop bag, she slung it over her shoulder, picking up the spellbook and the biology textbook she couldn’t quite fit.

Reaching out, Luke stole the books and a kiss. “Good afternoon, mon cœur,” he said, his native language rolling smoothly off his tongue. “I take it you had a good class.”

Margo refused to smile at him, no matter how charming he was.

When she didn’t return his smile, he turned indignant. “What did I do?” He asked, voice raising an octave.

“Half my class is like in love with you. Every time you show up, they forget I exist.”

Luke laughed at her revelation, placing one arm around her and ushering her out of the greenhouse. “Half your class is in love with you,” he shot back. “That girl you were talking to when I walked in? She has such a huge crush on you, I could hear her heart hammering from halfway down the hall.”

“What?” Margo’s mouth hung open. “No way. Poor thing. It’s too bad for her that I don’t date my students.”

“And that you’re dating me,” Luke reminded, squeezing her shoulder possessively.

Margo laughed; she had known that would get a reaction out of him.

They walked in relative silence, basking in the golden hue of the late afternoon sun. Glancing up at Luke, she watched as the light brushed against his angular features, causing the contours of his face to seem more prominent. She remembered the days she thought vampires would burn in the sunlight. Turns out that, while they preferred nighttime, the sun did little more than irritate their sensitive eyes. Growing up in her small town in Massachusetts, she didn’t have much contact with other supernatural creatures that weren’t witches. It was part of the reason she loved the University of the Arcana as much as she did. The different kinds of people she got to meet were refreshing.

Luke’s Tesla was parked a few feet outside the Horticultural Sciences Complex. The research lab where he mapped the vampire genome and studied evolutionary biology was just a few blocks from Margo’s greenhouse. Their evening routine used to include enjoying a leisurely 5-minute stroll from said greenhouse to the biology complexes. Recently, however, that had not been the case.  

“Why’s your car here?” She asked, despite already knowing the answer.

“I went to a few theology seminars today,” Luke said in response.

Along with being an evolutionary biologist, Luke was getting a degree in the history of theism, and, when he was feeling particularly nostalgic, he also attended classes on Romantic-era literature. The thing about vampires was that they had all the time in the world, so getting two or three degrees at once was nothing to them. It didn’t escape her notice, however, that he had been attending these classes more frequently.

Margo tramped down her budding need for confrontation and asked instead, “Do we have any plans for tonight?” In the privacy of Luke’s car, she kicked off her trainers and took her hair from its top knot. Saying goodbye to the day, she relaxed back into to cool leather of the interior, facing Luke only once her legs were tucked firmly underneath her.

Splitting his attention expertly between her and the road, Luke asked, “Would the house be mad if I stole you away for one more night?”

Her house, or rather the Gamma Nu Sorority House, had a habit of misbehaving when it was feeling cheated. Once, a few weeks before, she had spent 6 blissful days sleeping on Luke’s memory foam mattress only to return home to find her room missing. After hours of begging and cajoling, there was still no sign of her scratched up wooden door. Finally, it had taken her promising not to spend more than three days at a time at Luke’s for the house to re-materialize the room in its former spot.

“We’ve got one more day,” Margo informed him, thinking about their Game of Thrones marathon that had lasted two nights in a row. “I can’t watch Game of Thrones tonight though. Your girl’s gotta study.”

“I could cook while you study?” Luke suggested. “Then, we can do dinner and go to bed early.”

“Good food and an early bedtime?” Margo released an exaggerated moan. “Talk dirty to me.”

:: ::

It was 9 PM when Luke entered the study that, over months of dating, had become more hers than his. He was holding a pasta dish, two glasses of wine, and some freshly baked bread. Margo was more excited to see the food than she was to see him.

Luke’s diet consisted mostly of blood, animal’s or hers, and wine. Since becoming a vampire, he had lost his taste for human food, but not his love of the culinary arts. Dating her gave him an excuse to get back into the kitchen where he liked to get experimental with his dishes.

She closed the potions textbook in front of her and held her hand out for the plate as soon as he got close enough. “Carbs!” she cried happily. “You do love me.”

He chuckled and kissed her before handing her the plate. Leaning against the edge of the desk, he watched intently as she took the first bite.

“Any good?” Luke’s culinary inventions didn’t often leave her wanting, and this time was no different. The fork had no sooner left her mouth than she was groaning.

Laughing, Luke said, “I’ll take that as an affirmative.” Perched on the desk, he sipped wine casually and gave her a moment to savor her food. Then, he asked, “How’s potions going?”

“It’s kicking my ass,” was her grumble of a reply. “There are hundreds of potion bases, and I have to memorize them all by next Friday.”

“Do you want me to quiz you while you eat?” He was already reaching for the book she had set aside earlier.

Grabbing his hand, Margo stopped him. “If I see or hear anything about potions for the next 12 hours I might actually die.”

“At least we haven’t resorted to dramatics,” he retorted dryly. After he studied her for a minute, then announced, “Alright, finish eating and meet me in the bathroom.”

Reluctance must have shown on her face because he exclaimed, “Oh my god, just do it!” Then, he disappeared through the office door.

Fifteen minutes later, Margo left the study for the bathroom, which she found with its door slightly ajar, soothing piano music drifting out. She pushed inside to reveal a prepared bath and a few candles burning, tossing soft light off the porcelain of the tub. A small speaker sat on the counter, the source of the sounds that had drawn her in earlier. Luke was noticeably absent.

He appeared behind her in the next second, a couple of large towels in hand. “Ah, there you are.” He said nonchalantly, as if unaware of how romantic this simple gesture was in her eyes. He had seen how strung out she was and had known exactly what she needed. “C’mon, get in the tub.”

Margo was eager to follow his order, but first, she leaned over the stack of towels to press a chaste kiss to Luke’s lips. “You’re getting in with me, right?” She asked while unbuttoning the powder blue shirt she’d been wearing for over 14 hours then.

“If you want me to.”

Margo scoffed, then moved to unclasp her bra. Next went her pants and underwear. While wrapping her hair up into a bun atop her head, she slunk into the tub. She didn’t recline against the porcelain back just yet, leaving space for Luke. He was still standing by the doorway where he had been intently watching her movements.

“You coming?” She asked impatiently.

Those words snapped him out of whatever reverie her naked form had pulled him into. Shaking his head, he deposited the towels next to the tub, then undressed and slotted himself behind her. She relaxed, at last, leaning against the broad span of his chest.

“Thank you so much for doing this for me,” she whispered. Luke’s response was to place three small kisses on the route from her shoulder to her neck. She melted even further into his arms. “Who are we listening to?”

Luke, being as old as he was, preferred classical music to her top 40 pop. Having only taken a recorder class in elementary school, Margo knowledge of music was limited. Luke was determined to change that. Every chance he got, he played his favorite songs for her.

“Chopin,” was his answer, mouth still grazing the skin of her throat. “Nocturne Number 2 in E-Flat Major.”

“Did you know him?” She couldn’t help the slight hitch in her voice when he nibbled gently on the skin of her throat.

“We may have met once or twice.” In Luke terms, that was a yes. In 1795, the vampire who sired him had been wealthy with connections all around the globe. This meant that, for the first hundred years after his rebirth, Luke easily became acquaintances with any one of interest. As little as Margo knew about history, she enjoyed hearing the stories of past historical figures.

But tonight, Luke wasn’t interested in telling her a story. “Luke,” she whined as his bites got rougher, and his hand trailed down past her belly button.

“Is that a ‘Luke, please continue’ or a ‘Luke, stop.’” He asked, pausing all motions.

“It’s an ‘I can’t promise I won’t fall asleep immediately after I come,’” she retorted. A yawn slipped from her in that exact moment as if to prove her point.

“That’s okay.” This time he bit her ear. “You coming is all that matters anyhow.”

Unhindered, his hand slipped between her thighs. It started out gentle, with two fingers pushing against her clit. Almost reluctantly, she pushed her hips up to greet them. Then, as he started to explore her folds a bit more, she ground up against him in earnest. The hand that wasn’t toying with her folds squeezed gently on her breast and toyed with her nipple. She gripped his bicep in response.

Then, he slipped one finger inside her, sinusoidally dipping in and out, setting her whole body alight.

He another added another. Margo’s hips ground against him as she searched for more leverage. When he touched something inside her that filled her with ecstasy and the ravenous need for more, she cried out, and threw one leg over the side of the tub, displacing water in the process.

“Oh, fuck. Oh, God. Luke.” The cries of pleasure rang out throughout the room.

Luke began to finger her in earnest then, index and middle finger slipping in and out of her. He kissed up and down her neck until he was taken by the heat of the moment too. The hand that had been toying with her nipples slid down to her stomach, holding her flush against him as he rocked up against her. His dick was obviously hard between their slick bodies.

It wasn’t until he growled, low and guttural, that she realized just how far gone he was. He rearranged her, so she was seated fully on his lap, dick now positioned between her cheeks. All the tiredness was swept from her mind as she ground down against it.

Then, raising off his lap a bit and reaching back, she wrapped a hand around him. It was an awkward angle, but she made it work. Pumping him a few times made his hips go wild as he bucked uncontrollably.

She said, “I’m gonna–“

The words didn’t quite get out, lost in the haze of lust that made it impossible to think straight. Margo lined herself up with him and sank down. They weren’t going to last very long. The water in the bathtub continued to splash to the floors as one of Luke’s arms wrapped around her body, holding her slave to his motions. He had her pressed up against his chest, fucking up into her and toying with her clit. It was slippery and messy, and Luke had to reposition himself a few times, but neither made any attempts to stave off their lust so they could move to a bed. 

Chopin could barely be heard over his growls, her cries of pleasure, and the distinct sound of water sloshing over the edges of the tub. His lips continued their path up and down her neck, bites deeper than before. They were painful, but in a way that made her toes curl.

She knew what he wanted before he said anything. “Please, can I–” He began, but cut himself off and threw his head back, fighting an instinct.

They weren’t face to face, and with the way they were moving, inches from orgasm, neither would want to take a moment to reposition. So, he would have to bite her neck. It was of no consequence to her; it was nothing she couldn’t hide without makeup.

Without really thinking about, Margo responded to his silent plea. “Yes,” she gasped out. “God, yes.”

The next second, she felt the sharp pain of the skin of her neck being pierced, followed immediately by intense euphoria. She buried one hand in his hair, holding him there; the other went down to encourage his motions as he continued to rub against her clit. They came, one right after the other, their hips stuttering to a halt.

“Fuck,” Luke grunted when he pulled away from her neck, head falling against the plaster wall behind them with a thud. As always, it took him a few minutes to get his wits about him after drinking her blood. Margo took that time to pull off of him and catch her breath.

Later, when they were both tucked underneath Luke’s black silk sheets, Luke ran his fingers gently over the deep teeth marks on her neck. Another lore Luke had taught her: Vampires didn’t have retractable fangs, but their teeth were more than sharp enough to pierce skin.

She had marks, like the ones now on her neck, almost ingrained in the skin of her chest. That is where he most often drank from her, as was the vampiric custom when it came to lovers.

“I shouldn’t have done this.” He said, fingers still tracing the indents of his teeth.

Margo couldn’t figure out why he sounded so pained. The healing properties of his saliva would ensure it didn’t leave a mark. Unless he bit her there again, after a day or two of covering it with makeup, neither of them would remember it even existed.

“It’s fine. No one’s going to see it.” Margo insisted.

Luke didn’t respond.

Margo fell asleep with his thumb still tracing the outline of the marks.

:: ::

She woke up to a sharp prickling in her thumb. Shooting to a seated position, she looked at her hands, disoriented and confused by the sudden onslaught of pain. Luke, who had been awake in bed next to her, sat up as well.

“Are you okay?” he asked, voice noticeably laden with worry.

Margo shook her head.

“Something is looking for me.” She tried to shake the drowsiness from her mind. Her senses were dulled by it. Whenever a powerful creature came looking for her, a small prickling would alert her to their intent. But this was more powerful than anything she had ever experienced before.

“Three somethings,” she continued as she began to make sense of what she was feeling. “They’re big, and they’re powerful. Unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.”

She saw the exact moment understanding dawned on Luke. He sniffed the air once, then muttered, “Shit.” He was out of bed and at the door to the room in a blink.

“What’s happening?” She asked frantically, trying to figure out what she might have missed. There was some information Luke’s supernatural senses had picked up that hers could not provide. In moments like these, she envied how he was preternaturally attuned to his senses. 

“If I asked you to stay in the room, would you?” He asked.

But, she was already getting out of bed and slipping into her slippers and his robe. Even rushing through these motions, she was no match for vampire speeds. By the time reached the front door, Luke was standing there blocking the way of three large, imposing vampires she had never seen before.

They were all dressed in all black. One stood in front of all the rest, his dyed red hair slicked back. He wore a t-shirt tucked into jeans with a leather jacket thrown over it. Margo could see he wore two rings on each hand and his nails were painted black. The man on the left looked much more laid back. His black jeans were distressed, and he wore an ACDC t-shirt. While Luke traded jabs in French with the frontman, this one simply stood back with an easy smile on his face. Finally, there was the man with a slightly deeper skin tone than the others leaning against the door frame. His arms were crossed and the fabric of the plain black t-shirt he wore struggled to cover the entirety of his bicep. If this was some kind of vampire shakedown, he was definitely the muscle.

The frontman noticed her first. He scoffed in disgust and began gesturing to her as they spoke. The other two remained relatively quiet but did spare her a few wary glances. What little French she knew was unhelpful, as they spoke too fast for her to catch any words.

She attempted patience first, trying not to look too indignant as they conversed about her as if she wasn’t there. But that was one of her pet peeves, and, to her displeasure, the conversation did not seem to be letting up any time soon.

Next, she tried speaking up, but not even Luke turned his head at her, “Excuse me.” If anything, they seemed to talk louder. She began reciting the spell before she could think better of it.

Their mouths snapped shut the next instant, and all was quiet for a moment. When they realized something magical was preventing them from speaking, all eyes turned to her. Luke’s baby blues looked more frustrated than she had ever seen them. She released him from the spell.

“What’s going on?” She asked, now that his attention was back on her.

For a moment, he glanced between her and the three men standing at the door. Then, he said, “Let’s go inside.”

:: ::

Ashton, Michael, and Calum.

Those were their names, respectively.

It wasn’t a vampire shakedown; it was a family reunion. They relocated into the uncomfortable chairs Luke had purchased for his dining room in hopes of dissuading guests from overstaying their welcome. It was still relatively early in the morning, so Margo made herself tea. The other four vampires had wine.

She knew a bit about Luke’s brothers from the stories about France and the French revolution that Luke liked to tell. From what she knew, Ashton was the leader of their little clan. He was the one who had sired Luke in the first place. It explained why at some angles they looked similar, when he replaced all the blood in Luke’s body with his own, some of Luke’s features changed.

Ashton had an assuming presence that seemed almost too large for Luke’s dining room. Were Margo more mild-mannered, she might have retreated to the background to let the vampires talk. But that was not her.

“You don’t like witches?” Margo presumed aloud once she was seated across the table from Ashton with her tea. She still hadn’t made sense of the argument at the door. Her witches senses did not lie, they had shown up at Luke’s looking for her. When they found her, it obviously became a point of contention.

Ashton scoffed with a hint of condescension. “Please. We are not prejudiced.”

“Do not scoff at me,” Margo shot back. “Not when you refuse to tell me why you’re here. Looking for me might I add.”

The one in the distressed jeans, Michael, grinned at her and whistled low. “Oh, she’s feisty. Finally, someone that’s a match for Ashton.”

Ashton did not dignify that with a response. Instead, to Margo, he bared his teeth and hissed, “This is not about you, it is about Luke. You need to stay out of it.”

“Well, come on now, Ashton.” Calum, like Luke, had decided to remain standing while the other two vampires sat. Well, Michael lounged, and Ashton perched as if poised to jump off the edge of his seat. From his position behind Ashton, Calum placed a large hand on his shoulder. “It’s a little about her. Luke should decide if he wants to tell her or not.”

At that, every eye turned to look at Luke. He was looming over Margo protectively, but not in a way that suggested he expected his family members to attack. He was obviously not afraid for her safety. It was rather like he wanted her out of the conversation more than anything else.

For what seemed like a full minute, Margo believed Luke wouldn’t share this secret. She feared that months of sharing everything with each other had culminated to this one moment, this one Big Thing that she wasn’t allowed to know.

Thankfully, he sighed and sunk into a seat next to her. “My brothers think you and I have mated.”

Admittedly, Margo’s knowledge of vampire mating was basal. She knew, of course, that Luke had every intention of mating her. You’re it for me, he had told her a few months before. It had terrified her, but she couldn’t deny that her feelings for him, their feelings for each other, ran deep. To her knowledge, however, they hadn’t taken that step yet. Even if they had, she wasn’t sure that was something they needed to discuss with his brothers.

“Forgive me if I’m wrong,” Margo began slowly, keeping her eyes leveled with Ashton’s. “But isn’t whether or not we’ve mated between the two of us?”

“No,” Ashton replied with a bitter chuckle. “No matter what you and my idealistic brother like to think. This is a matter for a clan. Luke cannot handle taking his mate by himself.”

Seeing the look of confusion on Margo’s face, Michael took pity on her and began to explain. “Luke is still very young. He has only witnessed one vampire mating in his lifetime, and even then he wasn’t privy to our procedures. Mating when you aren’t familiar with the methods–well that could have dangerous consequences.”

Michael’s eyes drifted pointedly towards her neck where Luke’s bite marks from the previous night were on full display. With the excitement of the morning, she had forgotten to cover them. She slapped a hand over them; then, her color deepened in embarrassment.

She turned to Luke, expecting him to respond, but he was lost somewhere deep in his own thoughts. When he didn’t, she spoke for him. “It was an accident,” She insisted, even though she had a feeling she didn’t quite understand the repercussions of Luke biting her neck.

Michael leaned forward, voice dripping with a dangerous edge. “When it comes to predators, darling, one small accident is all it takes to kill you.”

Finally, Luke spoke, words coming out in a snarl. “I would never kill her.” Shock and anger registered on his face. He was obviously taken aback by Michael’s suggestion.

“Not purposely,” Michael amended. “But your carelessness could get her killed nonetheless.”

“It’s a good thing then that Margo and I aren’t mating.” Luke snarled. He was out of his chair in an instant, glaring down at his brothers.

“Luke–“ this time it was Calum popping in with an argument.

Luke cut him off. “I’m fine, Calum. Now, if you guys want to do something other than have this conversation while you’re in town, let me know. If not, I’ll see the next time I’m at home.”

Michael threw his hands up in frustration. “This is what you get for siring a vampire amid the French Revolution, Ashton,” he grumbled. But he made no more protest as he walked towards the door.

Calum turned to follow him.

Ashton was the last to leave. “I just want you to be safe,” he said, eyeing Margo. What she had mistaken for disgust earlier was now clearly weariness and reluctance. It was as if he wanted to trust her, but was afraid to.

Luke gripped her shoulder and squeezed. “I am more than capable of taking care of myself. As is Margo.”

They held eye contact for a minute, having a silent conversation Margo couldn’t follow. Finally, Ashton conceded and followed his brothers out of the house.

:: ::

It happened in herbology.

That morning, Margo had woken up in her own bed feeling a little dizzy and disoriented. These spells had been happening more frequently, but she chalked it up to stress and dismissed it. She should have told Luke, but he was prone to worrying over the smallest of things. Plus, it had only been a week and a half since his brothers had shown up at his door unannounced, and, no matter how “good” he claimed to be doing, she could still see something bothered him.

So, she didn’t think twice about chugging her weight in tea and going to work. The dizziness plagued her throughout the day. Two hours into her three-hour herbology lab, she was standing in front of the class explaining how gymnosperms grew and reproduced. It was imperative for her students to understand plant life on a cellular level if they were ever to successfully manipulate plant growth.

The funny thing was - she felt it coming on. She felt herself grow dizzier and heard her words begin to slur. She chose to fight through it. Then, one minute she was talking about fertilization and pollen cones, the next, her feet give way below her, and the world went dark.

. . . . . .

When she opened her eyes the first time, the world was hazy. She clearly made out an IV drip bag and an oddly familiar man standing at the edge of her bed. His arms were crossed, and he looked like he was there as some sort of protection detail. Margo had the distinct feeling he was there for her. Whether it was to protect her from someone or to protect someone from her, she did not know.

“Hey. Look who’s awake,” came an oddly chipper voice from somewhere outside of her line of sight. Margo almost turned to search for it, but there was a pressure on her left hand. She turned to that instead.

Luke. He was staring at her with worry in his baby blues, gripping her hand tightly.

“What,” she opened her mouth to ask what had happened. Then, a cool hand she knew had to be vampiric brushed her curls from her face and shushed her.

“Try to sleep if you can,” it said. “We'll explain everything later.”

She knew that voice, much like she knew the man standing at the edge of her bed. Before she could search her mind for their identity, something pulled her under, and the world went black again.

. . . . . .

The next time she came to, the man was still at her bedside, arms crossed, watching her intently. Her brain felt less foggy this time, and she instantly recognized the man as, “Calum.”

With the tiniest of motions, Calum quirked his lips upwards in the ghost of a smirk. She wondered if he was comfortable standing ramrod straight like that. He looked like he hadn’t moved since she last opened her eyes.

It took him snickering for her to realize she had said that last thought aloud. “I like this position.” He said. “I’ve got clear eyes on everything in the room.”

“Not the door,” Margo pointed out obviously, gesturing to the large door looming behind him. That was what it took for Margo to realize that, despite the drip IV, she was not in a hospital room. This was someone’s house.

Calum shrugged. “That’s what Mikey’s for.”

She noticed Michael then, sitting in a loveseat underneath a large window. It was nighttime, and heavy blackout curtains were pushed aside to reveal what looked like deep woods. He had a Nintendo DS in his hand and was obviously more focused on the game than the other two people in the room.

“Don’t let Calum fool you,” he said, fingers still moving furiously on the buttons of the game. “I do not give a rats ass about security and espionage. At least, not as much Calum and Ashton do.”

He said all this without ever looking up from the small device in her hand.

“Espionage?” She croaked out.

Michael nodded, blissfully unaware of Calum’s glare. “Calum’s the family spy.”

Margo eyed Calum. When she had first seen him, she had believed him to be the muscle of the group. The way he exuded danger made Michael’s words seem less like a joke–as if Calum really was some vampire spy. She didn’t have time to think on this, however, because the dark mahogany door swung open to reveal Luke with Ashton flanking him.

Luke rushed immediately to her side. She didn’t miss how haggard he looked. Briefly, she wondered how long she had been in this bed. However long that was had obviously taken a toll on Luke. Vampires, as far as she knew, did not get tired, but there were unmistakable bags under his eyes, and his pale skin seemed lighter under the harsh overhead lights. She reached out to him, and he knelt at her bedside and slotted his hand into hers.

“How’re you feeling?” he asked as his thumb gently rubbed circles on the back of her hand.

“I could ask you the same thing.” She tried to shit up, but a palm came to rest on her shoulder, stopping her. “Don’t try to do too much too quickly,” Ashton warned, gently pushing her back down.

She obeyed, hoping that it would make them more agreeable with what she was about to ask next. The question had been on her mind since she awoke the first time. She had to know, “What happened?”

She remembered feeling dizzy in her herbology class, but not much else.

Furtive glances were exchanged around the room as everyone, even Michael, turned their attention to Luke. Luke’s focus was on her. He looked as if those were the last words he’d wanted to hear from her. The longer everyone took to acknowledge her question, the more she wondered if she should have waited. Perhaps this was something Luke was uncomfortable talking about around his brothers.

She slipped her hand out of his so she could brush his hair out of his face.

“It’s okay.” Despite how weak her voice was, she tried to convey all the love she had for him in those two words. Whatever it was, they would work through it.

He leaned into her palm. “You tell her Calum,” He eventually said, shifting all attention to the 6 ft vampire looming over her.

Calum uncrossed his arms and braced them against the foot of the bed. Dark brown eyes told her the story would be emotionally exhausting.

“I came to UoA a month ago to visit Luke.”

Margo’s brow furrowed. She hadn’t heard anything about this visit.

“He didn’t know I was coming. I got into town then tracked his scent.”

“It’s a kink of his,” Michael interrupted with an easy grin. He had abandoned his DS in favor of paying attention to the story. With everyone in the room on the wrong side of somber, she welcomed his quips. “He likes to pop up out of nowhere and scare the holy hell out of people.”

Calum ignored him and continued on. “I followed his scent straight to the Gamma Nu house. When I got there, I assumed that perhaps he was just inside with some witch. We’re all aware of Luke’s. . .”

He trailed off as if afraid of offending her, and she laughed. “Propensity to be a hoe?” She finished for him. When she had first met Luke, he was slipping out of her housemate's room with no shirt on. She was no stranger to his promiscuous behavior.

Calum smiled, amused at her choice of words. “Propensity to be a hoe yes. But, when I listened in, he didn’t seem to be anywhere inside. Instead, I found you. You were sitting at your desk buried in some book about potions and muttering to yourself. I watched you for hours trying to figure out how Luke’s scent was so intermingled with yours. I couldn’t find where your scent ended, and his began. I knew, of course, but I didn’t want to accept it. I didn’t think Luke would be stupid enough to take a mate without contacting one of us first.”

At that, he shot a look at Luke. Luke grimaced, ashamed. Margo ran her hand through his hair again in a gesture of assurance, then looked to Calum to continue.

Ashton did instead. He was still at her shoulder, looking down at her as he spoke, “Margo, what do you know about vampire mating?”

“I know that it’s instigated with a mark, like the one on my chest.” The hand that was not in Luke’s hair came up to rest on her chest, touching the mark through her shirt. “That’s the physical aspect of it. There is a mental and emotional aspect to it as well.” Margo trailed off. She didn’t know much about said mental and emotional aspects. She figured Luke would explain those to her when they decided to take the next step.

Michael spoke next, now at the edge of his seat. She remembered Luke’s mention of his bond with someone named Crystal. Perhaps he was their resident expert on bonding. “This is how a bond works. If a vampire has the intention of mating someone, and that person has the intention of accepting said bond, when he bites that person, he’ll be able to feel the bond form from inside him. If he lets it, the bond will wash over both parties like a wave. Then, it is up to the bitten to accept the bond. This act deepens the mental and emotional connection of a couple. In rare instances, the couple will be compatible enough to hear each other's thoughts and feel each other’s emotions. Even when they aren’t as compatible, these bonds are nearly impossible to break. That’s why bonds can never be between strangers and can never be nonconsensual. It’s kind of like your magic in the way that it senses what both parties want, and creates that for them.”

“Luke,” Calum picked up, “has wanted to mate you for a very long time now. And judging by the way his biology is behaving, I’m guessing you wanted to mate him as well. Yet, every time he bit you and that bond began forming, he would suppress it.”

Margo glanced over to Luke, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes.

“Which ended up confusing his biology.” Calum continued. “Driving him to want to be near you, to be in you, to bite you, to complete the bond by any means necessary. It’s why he was drinking from you every time you had sex. It’s why you fainted. He took too much blood too quickly, and your system couldn’t handle it. Instances like this are rare, and usually lead to obsessive behavior on the part of the vampire.”

“But Luke wasn’t obsessive,” Margo pointed out. She had dated wizards more obsessive than him.

“Not where you could see,” Calum said.

Luke dropped his forehead to the bed, perhaps to avoid feeling the eyes on him. He was ashamed of whatever Calum had to say next.

“I followed you both for days before calling in Ashton and Michael as reinforcement. On the nights you spent apart, Luke spent them standing outside your window. He started making up theology classes because he didn’t want you to know he had spent your entire TA period sitting in a car outside of the greenhouse, straining to hear your heartbeat. Worst of all, he stopped hunting and started getting all his blood from you.”

“What?” Margo croaked out. Luke looked up then, and she couldn’t miss the welling of tears in his eyes.

“I didn’t want to worry you,” He said solemnly. “We have only been dating for what, almost a  year now? It is way too early for us to mate. I was hoping that if I ignored it, maybe it would go away.”

“The bond can be suppressed, Luke. But not as long as you keep drinking from her.” Ashton grumbled. Then, with a pointed look at Margo, he added, “If that’s what you want.”

“It is,” Luke answered for her. “She’s young. She hasn’t even finished her degree yet. I can’t just shackle her to me forever.”

“Let her speak, Luke,” Calum ordered.

With every eye on Margo, she wasn’t sure what to say. Luke was the love of her life, and she wanted more than anything to be mated to him. She tried to tell herself that it didn’t make a difference if it happened that moment or in a year when she had her degree.

You are but mortal woman. Time is now to be dreaded - since once he put that mark upon your throat.

She bitterly remembered the words of Bram Stoker. Time moved differently for her and Luke, she had always known that. Where she wanted to rush, he took his time. This was no different.

She tried to remind herself that, as Luke said, it was forever. Repeated exposure to his venom through a mating mark would expose her to super-powered vampiric proteins, probiotics, and antibodies that would stop her aging and make her impossible to kill. She wouldn’t be a vampire per se, but something else. A hybrid between what she was now and what he was. These were rare, she knew, as vampires and witches were not used to coming together for more than politics and sex. Perhaps an extra year of normalcy was what it would take to give Luke the peace of mind about changing her.

“It’s fine,” she finally said. “We can wait.”

She brought her hand down to where Luke’s rested on the bed and squeezed gently. “What about Luke, though? What’s going to happen if we don’t bond?”

“Nothing,” responded Calum with an easy shrug. “So long as he starts hunting again and stops drinking from you.”

“Like forever?” Margo asked, then blush at how dejected she sounded.

Michael laughed, but said, “Until he’s ready to mate you, yeah.”

That made her stomach sink. It was fine. As much as she liked the biting, she could go a year without it. “Is that going to be hard for you?” She relayed the question to Luke this time.

“It’s fine. The boys will take me hunting. It will help.”

“How long are you guys staying?” As she asked this question, Margo took note of how the air in the room lightened. Ashton left her side to stand by Michael’s loveseat under the window, Michael picked up his game, and Calum’s shoulders relaxed just a little. (She was beginning to think that relaxed shoulders were all she would get from him.)

Ashton answered her question, still staring out into the darkness outside the window. “Not sure. I’ve accepted a position teaching classic Greek literature, so quite a while I think.”

“What?” Margo asked, surprised. Ashton didn’t look like the scholarly type. “Are you qualified to teach that?”

Ashton scoffed in response. “I sure hope so. I was there.”

Margo’s mouth dropped. “Wait, how old-”

Luke cut her off. “Don’t ask a vampire how old they are, babe. They’re not fond of that.”

Margo gave Luke a look that let him know she would definitely be asking that question again, but she would at least do Ashton the courtesy of asking at a later date.

She was almost all caught up now, but there was one question still on her mind.

“Where am I?”

All four vampires laughed.

“Oh!” exclaimed Calum, remembering that he left out that little detail. “It’s our house. It’s in the woods behind UoA. Hospitals kind of cause sensory overload for vampires, so when you fainted, health services allowed Ashton to bring you here.”

“What, just like that?” asked Margo, confused.

“Well, Ashton has a medical degree, so it’s not like you weren’t in good hands.”

Of course. Vampires were fond of their multiple degrees.

“So y’all thought ‘lemme buy a house, so we don’t have to go to a hospital.”

Calum snickered at that, but Ashton was the one who answered. “I’ve owned this house for years. Since a little after the school was built. I thought it would be nice to have if I ever decided to come and get another degree. For all intents and purposes, it belongs to the clan now.”

“It belongs to you too,” Michael added. “You’re family now, whether you like it or not.”

Margo matched his grin. Raised in a household that was always just her and her mother, she dreamed of having a big family. As far as family went, Calum, Ashton, and Michael seemed more than perfect.

--

end notes: i can’t believe how obsessed i am with this series lmao! i’ve already started writing part 3!! anyway, i hope you like cal, mikey & ashton in this one. let me know what you think! 

tag list: @5sosnsfw / @bloodmoonashton / @lukescaboose / @5sex-of-summa / @deviantnines / @halcyonnhood / @gh0st-0f-y0u-95 / @aspiringwildfire / @cal-pal-cuddles / @sweetcherrymike / @hereforlukescruff / @softforcal / @ohhmuke / @fratcalum / @calumamongmen / @ashtonandcalslefthand / @asht0ns-world / @colorful-queen-of-the-roses / @heavenlydrarry / @slowlyelectronictragedy / @myemptywallets / @pagesuponstpages / @fallfrxmgrace / @thefireisgone / @michaelorwhat / @dammitbands / @sugarcoated-pain / @sublimehood / @cal-puddies / @singt0mecalum / @irwinkitten / @myloverboyash / @pinkbubbles-and-bigtroubles

[wolfie-rood]

Failure is Not an Option - Vaati x Reader ONESHOT

Wow, this was long as fuck. I really love Vaati, can ya tell? To be honest, this was a bit on the fluffy side, which might be a little out of character for our lovely mage. The reason for that is I wrote this in the same mindset as one of my OC's who is Vaati's closest attendant and friend (Though, their relationship is purely platonic). Her and Vaati get along better than milk and cereal, so they are pretty damn fluffy when nobody else is around. So, I mean, sorry for all the fluff this is my excuse??

Nahhh I'm never sorry for sweet fluffy Vaati!

-----

Limping down the dim candlelit hallway, you swore angrily under your breath. "That son of a bitch... Where is he?" In the far corners of your mind, you could sense a dark aura coming from Vaati's study at the end of the hall, so you picked up the pace to confront him. Then you slammed the door open with rage burning in your eyes. "Hey, asshole!" You yelled, gaining the attention of the sorcerer across the room.

Vaati sighed and looked up from his book. He took notice of your large burn marks and blood-covered figure but said nothing about it. "What now?" He asked with a bored expression. Obviously, he wasn't too happy about being interrupted so late at night.

"'What now'? Your fucking Wizzrobe buddies are getting on my last nerves!" You screamed in response. You could still hear their cackling in the distance "I just killed one of those fuckers, so don't blame me when they all end up dead by the end of the week!"

The wind mage's newly appointed (and extremely irritating) servants were starting to get violent, and even he could see that. Still, they were highly advanced in magic and it wasn't exactly easy getting them to the palace in the first place. Vaati was well aware of how much trouble they were for you, but he also knew they could be useful to him. He was hoping the benefits outweighed the consequences and that his efforts weren't just a waste of time. It was certainly starting to look that way, though. Especially after you barged in with multiple wounds and blood-stained clothes.

But even after seeing his faithful attendant in such disarray, he refused to admit he was wrong. "If you truly hate them that much, just avoid them," Vaati said dismissively. "Nobody told you to watch over them."

"Because nobody had to! They destroy everything in their path and then they think it's funny! When your palace goes up in smoke, you'll only have yourself to blame." You growled. With that, you left the room; slamming the door on your way out.

When you woke the next morning, you took your time fixing the bandages around your stomach and repatch your arm. Then, you downed a red potion just in case. Your wounds weren't as bad as they looked, but they could easily get infected if you didn't take care of them. You were immortal, not invincible. Once you were done taking care of your injuries and changing into clean clothes, you left the bedroom to start your morning.

In the large dining room, only two seats at the table were set for breakfast. A ghost of a smile crossed your lips when you realized Vaati had woken before you. Usually, you were the first to wake up and make something to eat, but it seems your master had you beat that day. "Enjoy sleeping in?"

You turned around to see Vaati carrying two plates of food from the kitchen. "I've actually been up for a while now." Then you gestured to your bandaged arm. "I had to fix these before I did anything else."

The mage walked past you to the table, subtly eyeing your injuries with a hint of guilt. Before you could notice, he turned away and placed your food on the table. You quickly sat down and started eating as Vaati just sat across from you. You were a bit surprised he could even cook since you've only ever eaten food made by you, but you weren't disappointed.

The room was quiet besides the tinking of silverware against the plates. You and Vaati usually enjoyed each other's company, even if neither of you talked (of course, the mage would never admit it out loud because of his deafening pride). But right now, it was almost an awkward silence. After your outburst last night, you were finding it difficult to start a conversation.

Usually, if someone were to even question Vaati's motives, they'd be killed on the spot. But the sorcerer was quite fond of you and would find it unfortunate if you were to die. At that thought, Vaati looked up at you only to find you were already staring at him intently. Great, now it's even more awkward...

Before you could figure out something to talk about, Vaati cleared his throat and decided to speak up first. "How are they? Your wounds, I mean."

"Oh, I'll live." You replied casually. Then you smirked. "You should see the other guy."

Vaati grinned slyly in response. "I did and I must say, it wasn't your best work."

"Oh, bullshit!" You accused with a laugh. You welcomed the happy feeling that drowned out the emotions from last night.

He shook his head with a devious smile. His crimson eyes narrowed at you. "Remember the poor guy from Labrynna?"

"Oooooh, that was the one that got messy. He should've never called for help..." You cringed, remembering just how much blood there was. "How about the chick from Holodrum? That was pretty bad, too."

Vaati chuckled slightly to himself. "That was a fun one."

You laughed and nodded in agreement. "We really should get out more. All the entertainment is out there."

"We'll do something soon. I know how you get when I keep you inside for too long. You're already starting to get... excited."

You leaned back in your chair and crossed your arms. "What, did the dead Wizzrobe by the palace entrance give it away?"

"It might've been a small hint."

The two of you went back and forth for most of the morning. It was nice to just forget about your differences for a few hours. You and Vaati were extremely close, and you only fought on rare occasions. To put it simply, you were his right-hand man willing to take an arrow for him. You really would do anything for him, to be honest. It was certainly a... complicated relationship you two had.

At some point during your conversation - long after the two of you finished eating - you heard a loud crash on the other side of the castle. Now, you were both on full alert. Vaati was the first to leave the dining room, you followed close behind.

Just outside the library was a huge mess of books littered throughout the hall. Some were even ripped up a bit. Pages were hanging on the walls like party banners. In the center of all the chaos was a single shattered vase. What didn't surprise you one bit was the sight of all the Wizzrobes sitting around the mess, giggling like children.

You shook your head, giving Vaati the "I fucking told you so" look. He scoffed at you and went ahead to confront his "servants". "What do you think you're doing?" He said in such a quiet voice, it almost scared even you.

One of the ice Wizzrobes spoke up with a laugh. "Kehahah! We're just having some fun!" It exclaimed, like having some fun was a valid excuse for emptying out the library. "Though if we're pinning blame on anyone, it was the summoner! Kehahahahah!!!"

"I don't care who did it!" He boomed with suppressed rage in his eyes. "Clean it! Now!" Before he could let his anger get the best of him, he vanished with a gust of wind.

As soon as Vaati was out of sight, the Wizzrobes looked at you expectantly. "Well? You heard him! Snap to it! Kehahahaha!!"

"Funny, but I think no." You turned away with an eye roll and began to leave. There was no point in trying to reason with them. It was better to just walk away.

You didn't get very far though, as a fire Wizzrobe thought it would be funny to burn you with its fireball spell. You weren't amused in the slightest, but the others thought it was absolutely hilarious.

You rubbed your burnt arm while giving the fire Wizzrobe your killer glare. "So that's how it's gonna be? Fine." Holding out your hand, a dark rapier appeared for you to grasp with confidence. "I'll play."

At first, you were fighting well on your own, especially against a large group of advanced magic users. A couple of the ice Wizzrobes collapsed onto the ground, dead. It was a good start, but the burns and frostbite, as well as the blood dripping down your arms, was becoming a concern.

That's when the tables turned and a fire Wizzrobe blasted you to the ground. At that point, you really couldn't tell whose spells were whose. All you knew was that it was so painful you could hardly breathe. You wanted to scream. You wanted to cry out in agony, but you knew better. Showing any negative emotion would give them the satisfaction, and you refused to let them have it. Plus, if Vaati heard you, you might as well just throw yourself off the Palace's edge. He could not see you in such a weak position, you wouldn't allow yourself to be a failure in front of him.

Still, you had no way of defending yourself, so all you could do was endure the pain until they gave up. Your vision slowly became blurred around the edges and your body felt numb. All the while, they laughed like there was no tomorrow.

Then it all... stopped.

The pain had ended, and the cackling had stopped. Your eyes cleared up just enough to see a purple cape drag in front of you.

"I think we're done here." He growled. "Leave now."

The Wizzrobes sighed and shrugged at each other. "Kehaha! Whatever you say, my lord!" The ice Wizzrobe exclaimed, its voice dripping with sarcasm. With that, they all disappeared together.

As soon as they were gone, you sighed in relief and relaxed your pained muscles on the ground. You took in a deep breath and tried to focus on anything but the scorching pain across your body. You could feel blood dripping down your neck, but you were too relieved to care. They're finally gone...

Vaati stared at you for a moment, his red eyes filled with regret. Hesitantly, he slid his arm under your knees and back, lifting you from the ground. You leaned your head on his chest as he carried you through the castle. Neither of you spoke while he took you into the bathroom. A trail of blood was made by your scarlet liquid that dripped from your arm, but Vaati didn't seem to care about the mess.

The mage carried you into a simplistic bathroom and gently put you down on the edge of the tub. Then, he removed his cape to keep it out of the way. The water started running behind you, but you couldn't really pay attention to anything. All you could feel was the shattering defeat in your heart. You got beaten half to death and your master had to save you... how pathetic.

Instead of feeling the crushing failure, you decided to feel... nothing. You let your mind drift away completely. That way, you could somehow be at peace with yourself. You hid any sort of feeling or emotion in your metaphorical boat of solitude. There, they would be shot on sight; never to bother you again.

The small part of your mind that wasn't dead was screaming at you to pay attention. Probably because the mage in front of you was quickly stripping you of your bloodied clothes. He wasted no time taking everything off and tossing it to the side. Though, Vaati wasn't exactly worried about your indecency. In fact, it was the last thing on his mind when he picked you back up to place you in the filled tub.

Slowly, he ran his hands through your hair, washing out some of the dried blood. Your locks were clumped together because of the dark red liquid, but you only stared ahead at the wall. You felt almost lifeless, you didn't even wince when his fingers grazed over one of your burns. It was so hard for you to accept the events of today. The two of you understood that you were a servant to Vaati before anything else, so failing in front of your master was such a sickening feeling that you could hardly breathe. A part of you wished you had been killed by the Wizzrobes. It would be much easier than having to deal with the wrath of your master.

As Vaati washed the blood out of your hair, all he could think about was the strange feeling in his chest. It was hard to find a way of describing it, but the word guilt kept coming up in his mind. He knew you were beating yourself up over the failure, but Vaati was more worried about you. He really did care about you, even if he had a strange way of showing it. He was standoffish and too proud for his own good, but he always had time for you.

"Turn around." He said in a surprisingly soft voice. You did as he said and turned to face him. He raised his hands up and started rubbing the blood off your face. You stared at him, but your gaze was so far off into space it was like you weren't even there. Vaati did his best to ignore it, but your pity party was starting to get on his nerves. He sighed irritatingly and stood up. "Finish up here. I'll find you something to wear."

Vaati grabbed his cape on the way out the door, and you were left alone. You let water drain, but you didn't move. You sat in silence with your knees pulled into your chest. Your mind wasn't working properly, and all you could think of was how much you hated yourself at that moment. There was so much self-hate in the corner of your mind that it consumed you.

"(Name)," Vaati called once he returned. "Get up."

You didn't even move an inch. Vaati glared at you even though he knew he wasn't mad. It was just difficult for him to show how he truly felt. He went up to the tub and took your hand. Slowly, you got off the floor and stepped out of the empty bath.

"Get dressed, (Name)." He commanded lightly. You didn't respond but instead just grabbed your clothes and began putting them on. Once you were done, you stared at him almost expectantly, but your eyes were completely devoid of any emotion. He noticed how unsteady your legs were, so he decided to pick you up again. He carried you back to your room without a word.

Shutting the door with his foot, he sat you down on your bed, handing you a bottle of red potion. You turned away from it, you didn't deserve it. It was your fault you were in the situation so you would live with your wounds and scars the way you wanted.

"Take it, (Name)." He commanded a little harsher than he intended. "Take it before I shove it down your throat."

Finally, you grasped the bottle and downed the drink, cringing slightly at the taste. As soon as your wounds started to heal and Vaati knew you'd be fine, you felt a sharp pain across your face. Glancing up, you caught Vaati rubbing the back of his hand, which was now turning red. "Stop that right now!" He yelled, finally fed up with you. "I will not have you sulking around anymore! Stop feeling sorry for yourself, that's an order!"

You stared at him in shock, not really sure how to feel. "I-I... um." Your mouth kept opening to say something, but your mind was still completely barren. Though, Vaati was smart enough to know what he was doing. It was hard to hate yourself when you were so taken aback by his sudden anger.

Vaati looked around with an annoyed expression before crouching in front of you. Even though he sat right in front of you, he hid his eyes with his hair. It was as though he was... ashamed. "I... I need you to stop. As my attendant, you are supposed to give me advice on how I should do things. When you warned me about the Wizzrobes, I... I should've listened to you."

You watched with wide eyes as his hand came up to caress your cheek. "What happened today was my fault, so stop moping already." Vaati finally looked at you with a playful smirk. "You've done worse than this, so just move on."

You wiped a few stray tears away and frowned. "I have not." You muttered like a child.

"Oh, so I guess you forgot the time you set me on fire."

With a small giggle, you rolled your eyes. "I won't apologize for that because it was hilarious."

"Of course it was..." He grumbled.

You smiled at his reaction, and you were actually starting to feel better. Even after what happened earlier, you could still be happy. "Hey, Vaati?" You asked, and he hummed questioningly. "Thank you."

"... Well, someone has to watch over you." He sighed and stood up. "Days like this make me wish it wasn't me... Come on, let's go wreak havoc somewhere."

You hopped up with joy. "Yay!"

You followed behind the Vaati with a large grin spread across your face, the mage hiding a smile of his own. Finally, you could breathe your silent sigh of relief.

[thousandmovieproject]

One of the major themes in Bret Easton Ellis’s fiction is the risk of caring about somebody and the way that our loyalty to a toxic person (usually a relative or childhood friend, somebody with whom the bonds are too deep to negotiate) can destroy us. I remember somebody on reddit saying “you don’t have to set yourself on fire to warm the people around you” and that’s exactly what Ellis’s characters do. Especially the women.

All of his narrators are tormented by how beholden they are to somebody who doesn’t deserve their affection; and increasingly, as Ellis gets older, we see, more poignantly, the inverse: our narrator is the recipient of a love he doesn’t deserve.

December 2016 saw Ellis’s directorial debut in a feature called The Deleted, released in serialized form on a streaming service called Filmsquare. I’m noticing as I watch it that there’s a copy of Less Than Zero, Ellis’s literary debut, on somebody’s nightstand, and that it’s Ellis’s voice off-camera in an interrogation scene (a little nod to De Palma). I’m always excited to spot these things. Easter eggs thrown in for a viewer who’s familiar with his work. Gifts for a fan.

I’ve told the story of how I discovered Ellis’s work so many times in conversation that I’d rather not get into it right now except to point out that I was fourteen and I wanted to be a writer and I’d never read a sentence so long as the one that opens American Psycho. Or Rules of Attraction. Or Glamorama. And so, being eager and young and impressionable, his work cast a spell that it might not have cast if I’d discovered it ten or five or maybe two years later.

My affection for Ellis’s work has so much to do with my high school years that I don’t know whether to trust that affection, like whether I can share it with people, or is it too personal, too circumstantial. The story of how I grew up, and how my sensibilities took shape, is, in part, the story of how I interpreted Ellis’s stories. My idea of the authorial entity Bret Easton Ellis (which probably bears little resemblance to the actual man) honestly feels like an imaginary friend from those years. It isn’t that this author figure can do no wrong in my eyes. It’s more like I’m just always in his corner when it comes to the assessment of his work, pleased to see that he’s keeping busy, interested in what he makes and rooting for him to succeed.

Bret Easton Ellis’s directorial debut shows promise and it’s enjoyable but, again, I’m not sure I’d recommend it to anybody because while the pacing is just as swift and smart as it is in his novels, and the nudity’s great, I think the camera (which otherwise glides with smooth and constant motion through almost every scene) gets too stagnant when he films dialogue, flat shots of not-great actors trading lines in the same dour and agitated tones, and I think that the whole movie might actually be undone by the very awful acting. But is that the director’s fault? There’s an argument to be made that a great director can fashion a great performance out of a stone, that they can take the Hitchcock approach and treat the cast like cattle and tell the story through the camera and the editing alone; but I think it’s more reasonable to say that, however great the director, a film is only as good as its weakest link.

Or is that me being an apologist because I’m such a fan of Ellis?

I’ve read each of his six novels more than once. I’ve read the most recent one, Imperial Bedrooms, four times. Ellis is obsessed with the image of youth and beauty, and he films it in The Deleted with earnest appreciation (longing?), but I think his best work comes about when he drifts away from youth and addresses, instead, the concerns of ageing. Glamorama, published in ’99, is his Big Difficult Novel and I like it a lot, think that it’s maybe his peak effort as a Writer’s Writer, but I prefer his two later books, Lunar Park and Imperial Bedrooms, wherein his narrators grow, along with Ellis, into their forties and fifties. There’s heartbreak in these two books that I find really powerful. The endings are moving.

I recommended Lunar Park to a friend named Lea and she told me it was one of the best novels she’d ever read and so I recommended it to another friend named Liz and she got halfway through before telling me she’ll never take my recommendation on anything again.

My affection for Ellis’s work and persona poses three issues, as I see it

I don’t think I appreciate his work as it really is. When I don’t enjoy something he’s done, like The Deleted, I go through it a second time, telling myself that I’m just trying to give Ellis the benefit of the doubt, look for something I might enjoy, when really I’m trying to find a way to argue myself into believing it’s objectively worthwhile. I’m looking for a validation of my loyalty to this artist.

I’ll check out anything he releases. If Ellis releases a $90 coffee table book with nothing but his Twitter feed embossed on glossy pages, I’ll buy it. I’ll hate myself while doing it, but I’ll do it, and I’ll read the thing closely.

The readily apparent issues of extreme violence, which is often sexual — behavior that I obviously don’t endorse but do think is artfully rendered in his work. Liking his work requires stating openly that you can see beauty in violence.

Are these problems, from a critic’s perspective?

I met Bret Easton Ellis at a cocktail thing in South Beach a couple years ago and since people were for some reason leaving him to himself on the balcony I went and talked to him about his podcast, told him I’d read all his novels several times over, tried to showcase my admiration without being weird. Probably failed. Anyway. I was resisting the urge to tell him how great it all is, how much it’s influenced me, and that it’s all genius. All of it genius genius genius.

When, in reality, if you give me a drink and sit me down and ask me about it I’ll probably tell you that, yes I love them, but Rules of Attraction is a bit of a mess, and Glamorama crawls up its own ass at times, and I’ll get pretty scathing about The Deleted.

I got drunk at the open bar and bought another copy of Imperial Bedrooms so that I could have something for him to sign. He autographed it and we got a picture together and I left.

He’s really friendly.

I sometimes pay money to enjoy, and seriously consider, the work of bad people. (Not saying Ellis is one of those people, but just go with me for a minute.) I then get anxious, though, at the backlash that might come of giving serious consideration to the work of somebody who’s considered a bad person.

Is it a moral failure of the critic that she should focus on the work itself and ignore the crimes of the artist? Is it possible to really appreciate a work of art if you have strong feelings of hate or anger toward the artist?

How about strong feelings of affection, nostalgia, warmth?

When I was 21 I went to a Leonard Cohen concert, got there super early, hung out at the bar by myself, looking around, and then sat in the concert hall by myself, looking around, and eventually I realized that I was the youngest person in sight. Also probably the most excited. Most of the people around me looked like they could take it or leave it. Texting during the show, talking.

This happens, I’m told. You get older, accumulate responsibilities, there’s so much going on in your mind and life at any given moment that it’s just hard to be as transported by art as you used to be.

Whenever Ellis releases something, I get excited. Count down the days til I can buy it. I’m 26, and it’s something I’d like to hold onto.

An avid moviegoer who likes to talk seriously about movies is compelled toward the medium, most likely, out of a love for it, a love that predates and underscores their critical faculties. In my more forgiving moments I embrace the fact that all criticism is a manifestation of love for the medium and thus (inherent to anything love-based) it’s flawed. It can make you strangely angry when a movie disappoints and weirdly exalted when it succeeds. You can end up pulling punches or coming down way too hard.

Is a critic stripped of her legitimacy, then, when biases show up? Should a writer recuse herself from heavy discourse about a certain artist if her fondness for that person runs too deep to be reconciled with a purely critical approach?

I’ll tell you flat out that you probably won’t like The Deleted, because I’m coming to terms with its faults and learning to assess it as a movie as opposed to Bret Ellis’s Directorial Debut, but I’d have a harder time telling you whether to read Imperial Bedrooms or Lunar Park. It’s one of those situations where I can’t really give you a critical verdict so much as tell you how I feel about it.

I have a hard time talking critically about Ellis, and about Quentin Tarantino and Henry Miller and Martin Scorsese, but it’s a healthy challenge, it’s constructive, prompts me to confront things about myself and my biases and why I like the things that I like. They’re artists who became such influences at such formative ages, looking at them critically is like rating your friend’s appearance.

What’s skill got to do with good company?

On Bret Easton Ellis & Liking Things One of the major themes in Bret Easton Ellis's fiction is the risk of caring about somebody and the way that our loyalty to a toxic person (usually a relative or childhood friend, somebody with whom the bonds are too deep to negotiate) can destroy us.

[nadziejastar]

It's sad that they're trying to make Lea and Isa's duo into a trio by adding Skuld because Skuld is so underdeveloped that she barely counts as a character. All she does is hang out with Ephemer and neglect her friendship with Player. Maybe if she actually did things I'd be able to muster up some excitement over the idea of her becoming friends with my two favorite characters, but with the current situation she could be replaced with a cardboard cutout and no one would notice any difference.

Yes, thank you! This is a huge reason KH3 was such a letdown for me. I’ve heard people say that fans just got themselves too hyped up and their expectations were unrealistic. Nope, that’s not the case with me nor do I think that was the reason for most of the disappointment within the fandom. I wasn’t even overly hyped. KH3 just didn’t accomplish what it was supposed to. But more than anything, the characters were NOT treated with respect. That was my biggest disappointment.

Before KH3 came out, I was actually excited about KH4 and beyond because of the fact that we now have a pretty large group of main characters and they have so much potential. We wouldn’t have to focus on just Sora, Donald, and Goofy anymore. There are so many characters to develop and they all have solid personalities. We have the Destiny Island trio, the Wayfinder trio, the Disney Castle crew, and Lea and Isa. 

I have an attachment to all of them based on all the previous games and all the years they’ve been developed. I wanted to see them interact with each other once Xehanort was defeated and everyone was rescued. Not get dumped in favor of new characters. Of all the characters Lea and Isa could form a relationship with, Skuld is the WORST choice. There are sooo many more interesting characters to focus on. Lea and Isa could grow close to Sora, Riku, Kairi, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Donald, Goofy, or Mickey! Yet, they’re getting shoved aside for Union X characters that you need to play a mobile game to be familiar with. Skuld wasn’t even included in the Back Cover movie. Even if you played all the KH remasters, you still won’t know who she is!

I’ve actually seen all the cutscenes for Union X and I agree with you wholeheartedly. The characters were inoffensive, but they all had the personality of a wet paper bag. Nomura said Kingdom Hearts X, as it was originally called, was not supposed to have a heavy focus on story. Nothing I saw gave me the impression that characters like Skuld or Ephemer were meant to be anything more than mobile game characters. They were there for the player’s avatar to interact with, to give him/her a voice, since he/she is silent. But they are ancient history and should have perished during the Keyblade War. 

Ehpemer comes from the world ephemeral, meaning “lasting a very short time”. The three Norns are the Goddesses of fate in Norse mythology and are described as deciding the fates of people. Their names are Urd “What Once Was” (Old Norse “Urðr”), Verdandi “What Is Coming into Being” (Old Norse “Verðandi”) and Skuld “What Shall Be” (Old Norse “Skuld”).

My point is that these characters seem more suited as background characters. They are part of the mythology and history of the Keyblade War. They are not on par with the established characters and are not suitable to be the new protagonists. Now they are being teased as the main focus for the upcoming plot arc. I think this was a big mistake on Nomura’s part. Hardly anyone is going to be excited for them. I’m certainly not. I feel like there is very little to look forward to anymore.

You’re right. Skuld has no personality. And to add insult to injury, since she’s Subject X now, Lea and Isa had everything stripped from them in order to prop her up. Skuld isn’t interesting enough to be introduced on her own, so she has to ride on the coattails of Lea and Isa and the human experimentation subplot. This is such bullshit. New characters should NOT come at the expense of old ones. Lea needed a sad backstory as a test subject, and he needed his friendship with Isa to be properly developed so his fight at the Keyblade Graveyard felt emotionally engaging (which it didn’t).

Isa needed to be Subject X to redeem him. Saïx didn’t have much of a “personality”. This was the whole point. He was never likable the way Axel was. He was rude, condescending, cold, and vicious. According to Axel, he showed no human emotion besides sneers and snide remarks. But he was Norted, for crying out loud! Saïx was not meant to be one of the protagonists. Isa was!! They threw away two amazing characters for this flat underdeveloped Union X one. Very foolish and shortsighted. it’s definitely gonna bite them in the ass.

Lea and Isa were always meant to be a duo. For some fans, it seems like only trios are valid, but that’s not true. SRK are Sky, Land, Sea. TAV are Earth, Water, Wind. Well, Lea and Isa are Sun and Moon—complementary opposites. I’ve heard people say that Skuld would be “Stars”. Well, I think Terra, Aqua, and Ven were meant to be the stars. Skuld is redundant and not needed to “complete” Lea and Isa. 

Even in canon, she is a stranger to them. They spoke to her a few times in the shadows and couldn’t even see her face. She had amnesia. They literally knew nothing about her and weren’t sure if she even existed after a while, yet now their whole backstory revolves around her. She doesn’t complement them at all or make them more interesting. She detracts from them.

On the other hand, Isa definitely complemented Lea and made him a more interesting character. That’s why I liked him. He provided Lea with someone to humanize him and to give him a poignant backstory. He gave Lea a goal while becoming a Keyblade wielder. And Isa’s chemistry with Lea was adorable. Isa was sarcastic and brought out a different side of Lea than Roxas and Xion did. They also had an actual history together. They went to school together, ate ice cream, and also played with a dog. Probably played fetch with the frisbee (aww).

Lea was closer to Isa than anyone else—period. I was much, MUCH more excited to see Lea and Isa’s past and their friendship get developed than the potential relationship they have with Skuld get teased. No, I’m not excited for them to be a trio and I’m not excited for Skuld to get in the way of Lea and Isa’s friendship and make it all about her. She seemed like she fit in better with Ephemer anyways. Also, I think Lea and Isa have waaaaay more personality than Skuld. They are both colorful characters with a lot of charm. She can’t hold a candle to them.

Leo Traits

Leo is the fifth sign of the zodiac and has the Sun as its ruling celestial body. Bold, intelligent, warm, and courageous, Leo star sign is a natural leader of the Zodiac. Leo is an adventurer, seeking to balance an intense life of social obligations and travel with plenty of downtime to relax and luxuriate. 

A Leo is a typical outgoing and jovial kind of person. He has a big friend circle and likes to boss around. Appreciation and admiration are the two important things for getting close to a lion’s heart. He likes to be flattered and pampered.

Skuld just doesn’t fit in with Lea and Isa’s theme. They are Sun/Moon opposites. She’s a third wheel. In KH2, Axel didn’t have a lot of development. He was clever and cocky, but we didn’t know a lot about him, especially as a human. When they decided to flesh him out, they definitely decided to make him a typical Sun personality. I thought Lea was surprisingly cheery and positive.

Caring

At their best, the courageous Leo is strong, and has an amazing, protective attitude towards their friends. They care very deeply for those close to them.

He cares very much for his friends.

Optimistic

Leo is an optimist who is able to see the silver lining to life. They are optimists who are always able to find the positive side of any situation, and they prefer to revel in the good than dwell over the bad.

Even though Axel could be quite pessimistic, Lea was a natural optimist.

Kind

They are always willing to help out a loved one in need, and they will go to great lengths to make sure that those they care about most are happy. Leos have a compassionate heart, and they tend to be extremely kind and generous creatures.

He was always willing to help stray puppies.

Loyal

If there’s one thing that you can say about Leo with certainty, it’s that they are some of the most loyal people that you will ever meet. Leo is the bravest sign in the Zodiac, often doing whatever they are required to do despite being scared or in danger.

He is amazingly loyal. He always wanted to bring his friends back, no matter what. Even when he thought Isa tried to kill him.

Straightforwardness

Mincing words is not in the nature of a Leo. They speak their mind and like to express their thoughts clearly. Frankness is therefore, one of the biggest strengths of Leos. It is because of their straightforwardness that they are able to confront opinions and thoughts, they do not approve of, directly. This is also one of the reasons why they get things done fast.

He is very straightforward. He lied a lot to Roxas and kept secrets, but that wasn’t who he really was.

Faithful Partners and Good Friends

Leos are romantic and passionate lovers. They are faithful partners and exhibit extreme sensitivity  while in a relationship. This is also the reason why they are vulnerable to getting hurt. Thus, Leos need to find someone whom they can trust before they shower their love and kindness on that person. 

One of the special traits found in Leos is helping friends in need. Lending emotional support to friends in difficult times is a rare quality found in these people. It enables them to make lifelong friends. Behind all the aggression, ego and other domineering personality traits of a Leo lies a sensitive heart which cares for the dear ones. Leos take pride in protecting their close ones and would do so with all the energy and wit they possess. It is observed that the bossy exterior of Leos often eclipses their sensitive nature.

He is a wonderful friend, but has a deeper side, more sensitive side. All very accurate. 

Arrogance

At times, their dominance and confidence can be seen more like arrogance and conceit. Leo individuals ooze with confidence. They think that if they are the first to arrive at some conclusion, then they are right.

Lea was arrogant in a playful way. Like when he challenged Ventus to a fight. Axel was like that, too.

Inflexibility

They’re inflexible for other people, but they’re also inflexible for themselves. When they’ve made a commitment to something, they’re going to stick with it, regardless of how much they hate it.

Basically, Lea did whatever he wanted. Even Saïx said this about him.

Laziness

Though full of ambition and enthusiasm, Leo has to admit to a lazy streak and, given the opportunity, will take the easy way out, especially when a situation offers little fun or glory.

He likes to have fun.

Pride

This sign is represented by a lion, and as such, Leos are born with all of the pride and glory of the maned creature.

Oh yes, he is very proud.

Domineering

Leos have a hard time learning when to stop ruling and start listening. For this reason, Leos are extremely domineering and tend to overpower those around them.

Lea was the accelerator and Isa was the brake. Lea never listened to Isa, though.

Impatience

Impatience is one of the negative traits exhibited by a Leo. This trait of Leos get reflected in their habit to get things done fast. Impatience may lead to development of anxiety and restlessness in these individuals.

Axel never liked waiting around.

Jealousy

Leos may exhibit a possessive nature. This trait is closely related to the jealousy they exhibit. In fact, they are jealous because of their possessive nature.

Saïx was very jealous. But Lea probably had a side like that as well. He would not like it if Isa alienated him.

Cancer Traits

Cancer, the fourth sun sign of the Zodiac, has water as its element, is feminine, and is ruled by the Moon. This sign is represented by crabs, and similar to their nature, these people can be the sweetest and most sympathetic people at one moment, and turn into the most cranky and irritable ones the next.

Even though Isa was an NPC, he was not just “Lea’s friend”. He was certainly far more deserving of character development than ANY Union X character, that’s for sure. Isa seemed like he was more of a feminine archetype. Therefore, he is unlike any other male character in the series. I thought he was very refreshing and unique. He brought something new to the table. Also, based on the way Saïx acted, Isa was not just a cardboard cutout, either. He had interesting flaws to provide him with depth. Evidence suggests he was a typical Moon personality.

Moody

Cancer individuals are also known to have a moody attitude, especially whenever they are jealous. Normally protective and courageous, Cancer signed people could become very brooding and moody if they feel that their emotional needs are not being met. Cancer is all about needing emotional security and trust in a relationship, like all of us of course. But they take it to another level.

If a Cancer feels as though he can’t trust you or if he’s just an insecure guy in general, then his possessive and jealous side is going to come out in a major way. He’ll make snide comments about what you’re wearing and ask you questions about what you’re doing and who you’re with that can rival the time of being a teenager under your parents’ roof.

Man, dos this sound like Saïx or what? He was insanely jealous. While I think Saïx was a totally different personality from Isa, I still think he reflected much of Isa’s personality in him, due to having his memories and captured heart. In the novel, when Roxas was upset he pushed the wrong button, Axel said he knew what it felt like to have something be wrong and not know the reason. Based on the way Saïx acted, Isa sounded very emotionally needy towards Lea. I definitely think he’d be jealous if Lea didn’t spend enough time with him. He might be passive aggressive about it, too.

Unpredictable

Cancer, being a water sign, is very emotional and sensitive. They are very touchy, and can get hurt at the slightest provocation. It is this sensitivity, which makes them hide in their own shell, away from the world, to protect themselves from getting hurt. When they retreat into this shell, and refuse to talk to anybody, people may find them to be moody and unpredictable.

It doesn’t take much for them to go from friendly and outgoing, to totally introverted as a way of protecting themselves. And it can prove quite confusing and unpredictable to the people in their lives. Cancer needs a strong partner who can deal with his various sides and complexity. You never know what will trigger his moods and his evasiveness and his habit of being indirect makes you question if you ever really knew him.

Saïx could also be surprisingly moody and oversensitive once he began to awaken a heart. Axel had no idea why he suddenly started berating Xion and calling her a failure all the time. He wouls walk on eggshells to avoid upsetting him. It was probably easy to push the wrong buttons with Isa and he might not tell Lea what was bothering him right away. In the novel, Axel tried to get Saïx to open up to him by putting his hand on his shoulder, but Saïx brushed it away. This upset Axel and made him think how different things were between them. This said a lot about their relationship as humans. Lea had to put effort to get Isa to open up, but Isa was receptive to it.

Negative

Cancer people are ruled by the Moon, which is ever-changing, and thus they can have moods that can grow dark and darker. It’s common for people with this zodiac sign to struggle with low self-esteem and hold a lifelong grudge against someone. They are someone who sees the glass as half empty rather than half full.

Another trait being their lack of trust in people, they tend to have a negative outlook of life. They become prone to depression, and are unable to enjoy life. They can get hurt at the drop of a hat, and rarely express their resentment and anger.

I think this was why Isa felt like a burden on Lea and was down on himself a lot. Isa needed Lea to be the upbeat optimist for him. Isa was probably snarky and nitpicky with Lea, but in a more playful way. He was the brake, while Lea was the accelerator. This is also a dynamic unique to Lea and Isa. Axel had to be the mature and responsible mentor figure with Roxas and Xion. But with Isa, he was more playful and mischievous. Isa would scold Lea, but Lea never would listen.

Clingy

Cancer is a sign of fertile imagination and deep emotional needs. Cancer individuals are sometimes over-imaginative, which can get them in trouble. They will obsess over the situation until they have all of their answers.

Cancerians are very possessive about their relationships. They can be very clingy, and try to hold on to relationships, even after they have ended it. In relationships, they give much more and expect very little in return. Being emotional and sensitive, they are very easily influenced by their loved ones.

Yep. This is exactly how I think Isa was with Lea. Isa was very attached and gave his whole heart to Lea.

Suspicious

The empathetic crab is inclined to protect themselves. They only trust when they feel safe within relationships, often resorting to their inner world when they do not feel trustful or safe. He needs his moods and anxieties to be understood and if they’re not then he will retreat to his shell and come back out when he feels safe.

Definitely sounds like Isa. He was shy and couldn’t open up to just anybody.

Cancer Traits

Cancer star sign, the fourth sign of the zodiac is all about home. They are a nurturing and maternal sign. These people love their home and family more than anything else in this world. Cancerians are blessed with strong intuitive and psychic powers that help them judge people well. These people tend to be hard on the outside and soft inside. But they also have a tougher side to their personality.

So, Saïx exhibited all of the typical Cancer flaws. So, it stands to reason that Isa would also exhibit Cancer’s positive attributes, too.

Intuitive

Cancerians are known to be psychic, and can almost guess things before they actually happen. This comes from their highly developed observational powers. They can truly understand human behavior, and rarely forget things. All these make them highly intuitive and psychic.

This is a side of Isa we definitely never saw in Saïx. His scar is on his third eye chakra, which is the center of psychic awareness. It’s why he couldn’t see Xion or understand why Axel acted the way he did. It’s sad actually. A big part of his personality was shut down.

Kind

Emotional strength and intuition will always define Cancer’s top strengths and traits. This is emotional, but kind-hearted and compassionate personality type that makes for an outstanding friend.

I’m sure Isa was very kind and a wonderful friend, which is why Axel was so desperate to have a “best friend” to fill the void.

Emotive

Cancers are known for their traits like loyalty, their emotional depth, and their parenting instincts. Cancer individuals are emotional and intense; they are also extremely intuitive and compassionate. People belonging to this zodiac sign are highly emotional. Just like the crab that represents them, they are hard from outside, but very soft and mushy from within.

Isa scolded Lea a lot, but only because he cared. He was compassionate and selfless, like the Moon Rabbit. If there’s anything KH3 got right about Isa, it’s that he’d try to comfort an imprisoned girl and want to help her.

Faithful

Cancer is the most concerned with a secure and faithful relationship. Cancer individual loves home and family and is not happy unless they have deep emotional ties. Cancer is usually very nurturing and tends to take good care of everyone they care about.

Isa was serious when he said he’d never forget Lea. I definitely think Isa was the one who first gave Lea the WINNER stick, too.

Loving

Cancer individuals are very loving and caring. As the most sensitive sign of the zodiac, a Cancer does everything with love in mind and in the heart. Because of this, they are the most tender lovers.

Yes, I do think Lea and Isa were envisioned as a couple. Isa loved Lea. His Bunnymoon weapon has a rocket being launched by a heart. Lea also loved Isa, and this is why Axel was so depressed whenever he thought about how different Saïx was compared to Isa. Axel desperately missed feeling loved by someone. They had an extraordinarily interesting relationship. I don’t think Skuld adds anything except getting in the way and watering down their bond.

[nadziejastar]

Isa-- A quiet and cool-headed youth. Though he does come out of his shell when talking to his best friend Lea, toward others he is distant and untalkative.

Oh, I absolutely think he was. A quiet boy who is always alone, has no friends, and doesn’t smile much? Of course Lea would be drawn to him. Given their personalities, I can definitely picture Lea viewing Isa as a stray puppy at first and being the one to approach him. And after that, Isa started following him around like a lost puppy. Then they became best friends.

“You have your own mission, Roxas,” Saïx told him before Xion could answer.

“I can’t trade with Xigbar or something?”

“What an extraordinarily childish notion. Do you need Axel to walk you everywhere now?”

And I think Saïx had quite the inferiority complex over his past. It’s definitely hinted that the icing on the cake started with Lea and Isa long before it involved Roxas and Xion. Roxas was acting like a zombie following Axel mindlessly, then he surprised Axel by acting more alert. And Xion was mindlessly following Roxas around, then she spoke normally and saved him by using the Keyblade. This surprised him so he took her out as a reward.

Xigbar, standing and watching their exchange with his arms folded, opened his mouth. “You’ve been working really well lately haven’t you, Poppet.”

“…Thank you,” Xion replied in a small voice.

“Thank you? Why do you have to say thanks?

“Well, you were praising me, weren’t you? Was I wrong?”

“Haha… Yeah, I guess you could see it like that.” He pressed his hand to his mouth and snickered.

“Did I say something funny?”

“No, no. You’re fine.”

Xion looked up at Xigbar, anxiously. Beside them, Saïx didn’t show any notable reaction. He just watched.

Xion insisted on tagging along on the day she collapsed again. She was more interested in spending time with her friends and getting ice cream later. She passed out and Axel blamed himself because he was supposed to look out for her.

Long ago—I remember, I didn’t hate fighting. Saïx flung his claymore at Roxas.

And so, Saïx remembered things from a long long time ago.

It might have been the same for Isa. He might have liked fighting, but only with Lea. 

“So, Saïx, what am I doing to—? Oh, boy. Awfully early for such a bad mood, don’t you think?” Saïx had whirled to face him with a rather pronounced scowl.

“…Nobodies do not have ‘moods’ to be ruined,” he said at length.

“Well, sure, technically…”

“It’s just that the failure was functioning better than expected until recently.”

I think Isa was probably careless one day and Lea got hurt while protecting him. Axel was angry remembering that. And Saïx has a complex about being a useless failure.

If I’m trying to get away from Saïx—from the organization itself—what am I doing here? The truth struck home—Nobodies had no place where they belonged.

“Now what do I do…?” he muttered, his face still upturned to the distant moon. A heart. Maybe the answer was closer than he thought. Suddenly he felt something brush his leg.

“Wh—whoa!” Axel jumped. It was a big yellow dog.

This scene from the manga takes place on Day 117 ~Secrets~. This is the day Axel was asked to work with Xion and observe her, then she talked about her memories. In the novel, it was hinted that Axel remembered praising Isa while he was praising Xion. Presumably that’s where the icing on the cake tradition started. In the manga, they referenced Axel’s memories of the past in a different way. Pluto showed up. 

“Hey, what’re you doing here?”

The dog looked up at him, tail wagging wildly.

“Are you all alone?” As if in reply, the dog made a single tiny bark.

“Look, I don’t have time to play.” Axel gave it a pat on the head and began walking away between the buildings.

Xion really liked him and wanted to bring him home. Axel was annoyed that she was getting too attached to him, because Saïx would never allow her to keep him. Although Isa might have seemed like the “cold” one and Lea the “nice” one during the scene with Ventus, I doubt that was the whole truth.

“Hey, don’t follow me, okay?” He turned and shook a warning finger in front of the dog’s nose. It barked again. The animal almost seemed to understand him.

“Get off me already!” Axel shouted as he tried to stand, but this left him open to a slobbery attack from the front. 

“Ugh! Quit it…!” Eventually Axel noticed Kairi watching this exchange with mild astonishment and finally shoved Pluto away. Sand covered his black cloak, red hair, and face.

It was probably framed that way on purpose so that when we saw Isa’s real personality, it would have been more of a twist. The manga characterization is often more humorous and not meant to be canon per se. But that doesn’t mean it’s arbitrary or that it isn’t meant to be true to the characters in some way. 

“Look, I gotta go.” Axel opened up a dark rift in space and plunged into the blackness. The dog tilted its head again and plopped down in front of the closing portal as if to wait for him. 

And Saïx actually DOES let Xion keep Pluto because Isa was fond of dogs. Sure, Saïx letting Xion have a pet is out of character. But the purpose of the scene with Pluto was to tell you something important about Isa and what type of person he was compared to Saïx.

All of it disgusted him. Saïx looked up at the skyscrapers, tracking Axel’s presence. 

He remembered what the witch Naminé had said. Axel seemed lonely. The man himself had denied it, but she was absolutely right. Axel was lonely. He’d lost Roxas. Lonely. Didn’t that mean he had a heart? How had he gained one? Why only him?

Axel was amazed and happy that Saïx still had some memories from the good old days. The manga probably didn’t mention that Isa liked dogs for no reason. Anyways, Axel’s happiness didn’t last. Saïx brushed him off and told him that he had to go back to Castle Oblivion soon, then went back to being his usual cold self.

Saïx’s searching gaze fell on a yellow dog, and he paused. The dog turned to him with a full-throated bark. He scowled, crinkling the scarred skin between his eyebrows, and lifted his hand to open a Corridor of Darkness behind the dog. If something was in his way, he would just get rid of it. 

The next day is the vacation and Saïx told Axel that he was getting too attached to Roxas and Xion. It’s very similar to the way Axel told Xion that she was getting too attached to the stray doggy. When Axel reacted sarcastically, Saïx told Axel that he changed. Axel looked sad, and almost like he was smirking at the irony.

“She doesn’t need you anymore.” Saïx smiled, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes. That was the world’s most obvious lie, Sora thought.

Axel said Saïx had changed and looked up at the heart-shaped moon. The scene is also made to look just like the scene where Sora confronted Saïx after Kairi escaped with Pluto. Saïx said she didn’t need him anymore. This made me think: they created the situation with Pluto to emphasize that when Saïx and Axel said the other had changed, it was specifically referring to getting attached. What Saïx said about Axel was probably very true, especially after he became a Nobody. But it was probably not limited to him as Nobody, either.

The two of them seemed to be enjoying themselves. Ven was just a tad jealous. “Already?” Ven asked, a little lonely.

He turned around. “I’ll see ya when I see ya. After all, we’re friends now. Get it memorized.”

“Okay, Lea.” Ven nodded with a smile. He hadn’t thought he would make friends here of all places.

If you think about it, who is more likely to become easily attached to others? A sociable extrovert who interacts with every person they meet? Or a quiet introvert who only opens up with one person? Definitely the introvert. Lea was very warm and quick to help other people, but he probably didn’t get attached to the stray puppies he picked up very often. He was probably just happy creating memories with new people (or animals). He seemed satisfied to play with Ventus for a few minutes, then move on. He’d see him whenever. Ven was the one who didn’t want him to leave, because he was lonely without Terra and Aqua. Then their situations became reversed.

“Sora and Riku are best friends.” Axel’s eyes crinkled as he remembered his own best friend—the only friend he’d ever had, in fact.

“If your best friend goes away, you’re sad, and if you get to be with them, you’re happy,” Naminé added. “Isn’t that how it is, Axel?”

“…That’s about the size of it.” Axel nodded and sat down on the remaining empty sofa, staring at the sea-salt ice cream he held.

Axel was very friendly, but he was also cool and detached. Roxas laughed at him when he they’d never be apart as long as they remembered each other. And in the manga, he was embarrassed when Roxas called him his “best friend” out loud. But over time, he became desperately lonely and needy. It was a core aspect of his character. No one was called “lonely” more times than Axel. And he became VERY attached and clingy with Roxas and Xion, which was unusual behavior for him. 

“What?” The irritated furrow between his brows deepened.

“You seemed lonely,” Naminé repeated, raising her eyes.

“Lonely? Me, a Nobody, lonely? That doesn’t even make sense!”

And I just loved how in the KH2 novel, Axel was simultaneously trying to avoid both Pluto AND Saïx, who always showed up at exact the same time. It was like escaping the two of them was...the same thing, in a way. Not only Saïx’s stalking, either. Axel’s stalking of Kairi was parallel to Pluto’s stalking of Kairi, too. When Axel was trying to see Roxas again, he was acting like an abandoned stray puppy. Ironically, Axel was so clingy with Roxas because he felt abandoned by Isa. He missed how emotionally attached Isa was to him and was very desperate for his affections once more. Then he transferred that neediness onto Roxas. But as a human, it probably wasn’t Lea who got overly attached.

As he watched Ven go on his way, Isa commented to Lea in a frosty tone, “What is it with you and picking up stray puppies?”

Lea just shrugged. “I want everybody I meet to remember me. Inside people’s memories, I can live forever.”

“I know I won’t forget you. Believe me, I try all the time,” Isa replied with a bit of humor in his tone.

It was probably Isa. That’s probably why he kept his distance from most people. I bet this was a pretty important aspect of their characters. Saïx was always utterly cold and detached towards everyone. But deep down, Isa was nothing but an abandoned puppy. He was being sarcastic in BBS. But in KH2, that was exactly what was going on. He wanted nothing more than to forget Axel and tried ALL the time. But he couldn’t. And that was probably the main reason they included so many more Pluto scenes. The real stray puppies were Isa AND Lea.

Axel had seen Pluto jump fearlessly into a portal to the Corridors of Darkness. And Kairi had done the same. This was no time to hesitate, then.

He gave Pluto a good hug and pressed his cheek against his fur. “Okay, let’s go.” Pluto woofed in reply. Axel got to his feet and headed deeper into the bowels of the castle.

After reading the novels and the manga, I think Isa might have been talking literally about an incident with stray puppies. It would have been funny if the dogs were actually Disney characters like Lady and the Tramp. Isa was the one who wanted to keep them, but then they got adopted. Ironically Lea was the one who was chiding him for becoming too attached. And that’s why he sounded annoyed with Lea picking up another stray puppy.