#kinda makes sense of him to find people and just throwing them out to fame

[braemjeorn]

despa x oc thoughts because i feel like it and i need other notifs than pronbots following me

[has very slight connection to my fic sky caverns but underline the slight]

i feel like if despa was going to get entangled in a romance its going to be pygmalion/my fair lady style.

teru who was well travelled, yet hadn't visited meifu

knocked on despa's and basically went for my friends sake, since im going to be her sort of lady-in-waiting i need a crash course in meifu culture, history and language.

heaven forbid i am ignorant of those with my friend's new station as queen

he held out his open palm

she handed him an agreement scroll of her proposed time and day, also the payment offer

its like a revenge of the first time they met and he stares at her and her open palm

"have you been away too long from courtly setting, prince despa? a lady does not handle money directly. especially a princess."

(teru primly said, as she visited a man's house with no chaperone but a horse)

"i respect your intelligence, and i'm willing to pay for your trouble to adjust it to my time."

the most begrudging acceptance of training despa ever gave

it should have been on his terms than hers

internally, he'd like to strangle her in impatience whenever they argue but the amount of sun-gems and freshwater pearls she listed as payment does tankerings to his brain and pockets

she thought him silly and wasted too many breaths on exasperated sighs while he lectured

he tried to call in sick one time - his wrinkles appeared

she treathened to reduce the payment (less amount of pearls would be more tolerable but diamonds!? really now!?)

or play jumpropes with his pearls

"oh fine! you blasted woman!"

"there's my handsome teacher!"

"handso—?"

"can we learn about the sewers today?"

"...what is it about you women and sewers!?"

teru drags him outside and everywhere for practical education

despa grumbles through their entire walk

and yet...

[he let her play with the feathers of his sun hat and be distracted with the gleaming, ruby red of her hair under sunlight as they walked through the field

hardly aware how she admired (and approve of) his side profile and brows while he was deep in book browsing]

but of course they'd fight over tea again later that day

because teru abhores whipped cream and despa could not stand foul words against his shortcake

"says the person who drowns their muffins in jams!"

"at least jam made up its mind in solidity!"

[georgevilliers]

What are they saying about Nicholas? Is it bad? I don't wanna get on twitter to find out D:

I'll be real with you, most of the negative stuff I've seen is coming from Harry Styles fans that are mad at The Idea of You for various reasons that I could get into but I don't even really want to bring specific negative comments from twitter onto tumblr. (And listen I was a 1D fan from 2012 until they broke up so like, I was in the trenches, and frankly his stans, especially the ones who ship Larry, have always been really extra and I feel exhausted by the thought of having to engage with them and their so-called "logic" again just because my current fave is tangentially associated with him right now!)

Also I think I'm just feeling melancholic over everything because I really want the best for his career but more exposure is always going to lead to more opinions, good and bad, and I just wish there was some way he could have the good career without the added opinions from people!!! I think it's hard for me, as someone who reads, listens to, and watches every interview he does, to then turn around and see someone online throw out baseless opinions about his character, or what he said, or what he did etc etc when they're likely basing all of that opinion on only one thing. Or perhaps they're coming at him from a place of wanting to dislike him for whatever their personal reasons are, and so they willfully misrepresent or misunderstand. It's especially hard as I know he has spoken about his fears of being misunderstood multiple times and now I am witnessing it happening in real time.

I really don't want to be a bummer especially as this is a really really exciting time for his career and it honestly feels like he has the whole world at his feet and I'm excited to see what projects he will be doing moving forward! I am full of both excitement and a bit of melancholy and that's ok, I am simply parasocialing a little too close to the sun lol.

Honestly, there are always going to be good and bad experiences on every platform that you can engage in fandom. I have probably 100 people on tumblr blocked to protect my fan experience lmao! And there's lots of people on twitter who I think are really funny and fun stans of Nick's! I just think on twitter there's a lot all at once and it's easier to see opinions from people who aren't actual fans of his, if that makes sense.

Although I will share one comment that made me laugh, which was someone on twitter complaining about how they keep seeing the same few actors in every single movie and Nick was listed along with names like Timothee Chalamet and others and it made me kinda laugh because Timothee rose to fame in 2017 with Call Me By Your Name and has been working steadily ever since so yeah I kinda understand the Timothee fatigue. But in 2017 Nick was still a struggling actor working side jobs and hadn't yet had a "big break". He quite literally has only started becoming well known in 2023, so if this person is already sick of him, they have a lot more coming their way 💀

[kitkatt0430]

Favorite things about TotK so far

The Yiga Clan continuing to be Team Rocket style villains. They've turned it up to 11 now and are impersonating talking cuccos and pretending to have a 'regal friend who definitely needs blonde men to go ridiculously out of their way to help her'. They are trying so hard to catch Link like a Pikachu and are entirely incompetent at it.

Link being the in-universe version of Tony Hawk. People who know him recognize him but everyone else is just like 'hey, you're named Link and kinda match the description of a famous swordsman by that name, isn't that a funny coincidence?' and Link seems to be going 'yeah, weird, happens all the time'. Which he probably appreciates since he doesn't seem the type to enjoy fame.

My horsies from Breath of the Wild are available for me to check out of the stables like an inter-library lone.

Building stuff with both the fuse and the ultrahand abilities. I can make ridiculous weapons and bizarre contraptions. But I really need a bigger battery capacity for some of my vehicle plans. (I'll get there)

The reintroduction of the Sages. I've only scratched the surface of that, but it does seem that the Sages are back in some capacity and possibly calling out to their successors.

The Fire Temple. It's in the depths, the creepy new underground opened up for the exploration, and it's got several levels to cover. It's a mine cart maze and I'm enjoying figuring it. I've got 3 of 5 gongs rung and need to make more depths specific recovery items before I head back down to finish it up. It's still not as complicated as pre-BotW dungeons, but it does capture the feel of a Zelda dungeon better than the BotW's fire dungeon so I'm pretty pleased.

Speaking of the depths, they are creepy in a fun and fascinating way. I've already found the Fire Temple and the remains of the old Eldin mines (and a bunch of statues). What else is hiding in the dark? Cannot wait to find out

Those guys hanging out at the goron region's stable who most likely misheard Zelda say 'independence' as 'in underpants' and are now running around in their underwear. They're hilarious.

The caretaker robots who have developed fun personalities in the thousands of years they've been active and alone. Some are helpful, others snooty, some sarcastic...

Purah continuing to be a complete nerd. My aro headcanons for her abound. She's cannibalized the Shiekah tech into her Purah towers, Purah Pads, and various other tech. While, yeah, it bugs me that we're not seeing the remains of the old shrines and towers from BotW, it makes sense that the only remaining tech that's important is what Purah (and Robbie) have reinvented so that's all we see of it. And the towers Purah made are clearly made up of relocated towers from BotW, so there is that. (and having the old shrines hanging around with all the new shrines might've gotten confusing, I suppose...)

The new item system that allows for attaching things to arrows or throwing them in place of weapons. Was it easier to just pick an arrow type in BotW? Well... yes. But it's so much more fun to attach stuff to arrows and shoot them.

My new journalist Rito friend who watches Link fight the Yiga and knows Link is searching for Zelda, but still lands firmly in the 'could not identify Tony Hawk on site' crowd.

The Great Fairies + Malanya have moved locations and are now demanding things other than money to open up their giant flower buds and help. The world has gotten scarier, money alone ain't gonna cut it compared to food and music.

[itsallyscorner]

Could you do something where the reader is a marvel actor but crashes a panel that Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan are doing (kinda like Tom Holland did that one time) but the sofa is small so the reader is squished in between them and has to share their mics when asked questions something like that. It can be platonic but they are really close or the reader has a little thing going on with Seb but is really close with Mackie. I hope that made sense!

Oooo this request is so cute! Thank you for the request lovely, hope you like it!💜

a/n: This imagine is HEAVY on the dialogue because I wanted to include some fun questions from the fans and what not, anyway here’s the imagine:) 

💌.

Stackie Sandwich

You watched from backstage as Anthony showed off his thighs to the crowd, you know, the usual. You were currently at ACE Comic Con along with Anthony and Sebastian. You always enjoyed going to these kind of things. Meeting and getting to interact with the fans was always fun, it reminded you of why you did these movies and how thankful you were to have such lovely, supportive fans.

Currently you and the crew backstage were trying to find a way to sneak you onto the stage without interrupting a question.

Anthony sat back down on the small couch as Sebastian laughed at his friend’s antics.

“I’m telling y’all, you wanna have thighs like these, you gotta do leg day. Don’t skip leg day.” Anthony tells the crowd as he nudges Sebastian. You chuckle from backstage as Kevin Smith, the monitor of the panel continues.

“So I know we were supposed to be joined by (y/n) (y/l/n), where is she?” He asked the men.

“Probably on a coffee run.” Sebastian answered immediately shaking his head with an eye roll. The crowd reacts with quiet giggles.

“I swear that woman cannot function without her coffee.” Anthony remarked.

“I’ve known her for years and lemme tell you it’s like her body is going through some kind of error. We were on set for a movie we did together and I was talking to her.” Anthony started as he leaned forward.

“Now I didn’t know she didn’t have her coffee yet. I’ve been talking for like 10 minutes and the whole time she was sleeping. And when she began to like wake up and talk, it was like she was a sloth.” Anthony shared as he proceeded to act like a sloth saying “Error 404” really slow.

You turned to the stage hand and said “I’m going now, he just called me a sloth.”

The man laughed and handed you a mic from the side. Before walking out you say into the mic, “I know you ain’t talking about me, Mackie.” You walk out to the stage and the crowd cheers loudly. Mackie throws his head back as he laughs.

“Hey everyone!” You greet the crowd, waving at all of them. You approached the guys with your arms up in a “fight me” manner, it was mostly for Anthony. You greet Kevin and move to Sebastian, purposely skipping Anthony.

“Hey, dragostea.” Seb greeted you as he wraps his arms around your body. You giggled as you wrapped your arms around his neck and hide your face in between his neck and shoulder.

When you pull away you turn to Anthony who looked offended. You send him a playful smile and smack his arm before jumping on him and wrapping your arms around him. He lets out his boisterous laugh and hugs you back. In the process you drop your mic on the stage causing you to cringe.

You guys settle onto the small couch. You sat in between Anthony and Seb, fairly squished in the middle by the two buff men. Their legs took up too much space on the couch, leaving no room for your own legs. The crowd laughed at your face as you tried to make yourself comfortable in the tight space.

You went to speak into your mic but it didn’t register. Looks like you broke the mic.

“Look at you, haven’t been up here for a minute and you already broke something.” Anthony tisked playfully. Sebastian poked you with his mic and handed it to you. You thanked him with a smile. 

“I’ll pay for that! Just send me the bill.” You yell towards the back. You look at Anthony and raise your brow at him.

“You need to pipe down, son. You’ve been coming at me all morning long.” You acknowledged pointing a finger at him. The crowd laughs along with Seb. Anthony nods as he stifles his laughs to himself.

“(Y/n), thank you for joining us, how are you?” Kevin asks you.

“I’m doing great! I’m so excited to be here and meet all of you! I saw so many of you guys dressed up, and you all look absolutely amazing! I also saw a dog on my way here!” You answered bubbly.

“What kind of dog?” Sebastian asked pulling your hand with the mic towards him.

“A golden retriever and omg he was dressed as Cap!” You squealed.

“I hope that dog is here because I want to meet them and just smother them with hugs.” You add as you motion to the audience.

“Sebastian said you were running late because you were on a coffee run, is that true?” Kevin asks as Sebastian scrunches his nose. 

“I mean he’s not completely wrong. I got coffee before I got here. But the traffic on the way here was really bad.”

“She’s lying, she spent a good half hour at Starbucks sippin’ on her coffee while inhaling the smell of Starbucks like an addict.” Anthony jokingly jabs at her. You were used to the playful jabs from Mackie, it was how you guys were. Knowing each other for years, you guys formed a brother/sister relationship.

“Alright then! So, we’ve got a line forming for the questions! How about we start?” Kevin continued as he motioned to the crowd.

🕓 Time Skip

It’s half an hour into the panel and you guys have been asked so many questions already. Some about your characters, the relationships off screen, and some new projects. Thankfully the crowd was very nice and respectful to you all, no one asked anything rude or made offensive comments.

The laughs were just dying down after Mackie told another one of his jokes. A teenage girl dressed as your character came up to the mic.

“Hi, my name is Maddie and my question is for (y/n)!” She waved at you with a grin.

“Hi, hun! You look beautiful by the way, I love your costume!” You complimented her, taking Anthony’s mic. She thanks you and continues.

“I—, I’m sorry you’re just so small compared to Anthony and Seb on that couch. You’re so cute!” The audience laughs along with the two men next to you.

You huff and squish your way out between Anthony and Sebastian’s bodies, “In my defense it’s a really small couch! And these guys are so beefy they take up all the space on here!”

“It’s a Stackie sandwich with a side of (y/n)!!” Mackie enthusiastically announced making the crowd go crazy.

Sebastian moved further into the corner of the couch making more space for you. He even moved his arm to rest on top of the couch’s backrest. You could hear some fans point it out and squeal. You thank him by patting his leg as his arm lingered behind you.

“So my question is, how is it like to be around such tall people? Because I’m short as well and I have to always look up at everyone.” Maddie says into the mic.

“That’s exactly how it is! Sometimes I get concerned if I’ll mess up my back because I have to look up at everyone!” You say into Sebastian’s mic, which he voluntarily held up for you.

“We carry her around a lot on set.” Seb chimes from beside you.

“Yeah like a sack of potatoes.” Anthony adds.

You pull on Seb’s arm to talk into the mic, “They also tease me a lot, but it’s all in good fun.”

—•

“Hey guys! I’m Jess and my question is for Anthony! So you and (y/n) have worked on multiple projects together. How was it like to be in Marvel with each other and act along side each other?”

You giggled at the question, turning to Anthony, “How’s it like to work with me, huh?”

“I mean, honestly, it’s always an honor to work with (y/n). I’m glad that I know someone like her in this business, she’s one of the most genuinely nice people you’ll ever meet. And I respect her for that because sometimes it’s hard to not get blinded by the fame and just become a dick, or a diva in your case.” Anthony answered as he threw an arm around you.

“Aww thanks, Mac.” You smile and lean on his shoulder.

“And to add onto that. Our characters in the movie are pretty close as well, so when Anthony and I have scenes together, it doesn’t even feel like acting. It’s always a great time on set when he’s around.” You finished off.

—•

“Hi, I’m Elena and my question is for Sebastian!”

“This is our last question for the panel, so make it good!” Kevin interjects.

“Go ahead, sweetheart.” Sebastian says to the fan.

“Bucky and (y/c/n) have really good chemistry with each other in the movies and the relationship doesn’t feel forced onto the fans. I wanted to know if any of the chemistry on screen is real offscreen?” Elena asked with a cheeky grin. You remained quiet as you felt Anthony nudge you with his knee.

Sebastian longingly stared at you for a moment before answering, “Well it’s not hard to act like you’re in love with (y/n), because everyone on set loves her. She unapologetically herself and I think that’s what makes it so easy to have chemistry with her, it just felt natural with her, you know?”

“To answer your question, Elena. They’ve been on a few dates already.” Anthony blurted out causing the audience to erupt. You looked at him with your mouth agape from your position on Sebastian. You were currently leaning into his side while your arm rested on his thigh.

“You weren’t supposed to say that.” Sebastian uttered as he moved his arm to wrap around your shoulders. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t have feelings for Seb. You guys definitely had chemistry offscreen and everyone knew about it.

“Hey! All I’m implying is that y’all need to both stop beating around the bush and make it official Anthony defended himself.

“Fine!”

“(Y/n), how do you feel about dinner tonight?” Sebastian asked you.

“Sounds good.” You smile at him.

“Great, we have some things to discuss.” He playfully teased the crowd.

“FEELINGS!” Anthony yelled over Sebastian.

Kevin laughed as he ended the panel, “On that note! Our panel has come to an end, thank you everyone for showing up and for your questions! Thank you Anthony, (y/n), and Sebastian for coming here we really appreciate it!”

You guys thank the crowd again and take a group picture with the audience. Anthony leaves the stage first followed by you and Seb. Sebastian helps you down the stairs and keeps a hand on your back.

“Wait, are we actually going to dinner?” You asked looking up at him.

“Yeah, I told you, we’ve got some stuff to talk about.” He winks as he leads you guys to the green room.

dragostea - love

[palidoozy-art]

The more I think about your recent post about the changes you made to Strahd, the more I wonder about those changes you made to the others mentioned (Rahadin, Van Richten, Ireena, etc). I'd absolutely love to hear what adjustments you made as you already shared some stellar ideas already. Like the Tome? -Chef kiss- Amazing.

Oh mannn I do love talking about my campaign. I changed a lot with them. Again, weirdly enough, I think Strahd wound up being the most like his original incarnation. I could talk forever about the changes I made so I'll try to be brief haha. IT STILL WON'T BE BRIEF.

Obvious CoS spoilers below

IREENA - I thought it was weird that the picture they gave her makes her look like such a badass, and then the module just kind of writes her as a damsel in distress to either get kidnapped or pulled into water or dumped somewhere. To me, she's like, the second most important character in CoS -- and the book literally gives you less direction to roleplay her than her brother. Furthermore, reading her ending actually legit made me mad.

So I said fuck all that. Ireena in my game was a 19-year old girl who grew and developed over the course of the campaign. Several of my players actually said they thought of her as "the main character," just because she experienced a lot of character growth and development, going from a sheltered meek teenager to someone who can fight and assert herself. The biggest change I made to her though was that I very specifically did not just want her to be "Tatyana with memory loss." Ireena is a unique individual who happens to be partially made out of Tatyana's soul. While she shares many similarities with Tatyana, they're separate people, and part of what Ireena has to grapple with is how to live up to that. She's in the post-campaign because of that distinction -- while Sergei offered her to join him, she declined, because she wants to experience life past her twenties. I didn't get to play it out because we were kind of rushing towards the end, but I honestly envisioned a scene where she talks to the portrait of Tatyana, apologizing to her because she knows she's being selfish remaining alive.

This also brings up a unique problem in the post campaign. If Ireena dies, she ceases to exist and may not be able to be resurrected. When her soul leaves her body, it's Tatyana's again. Ireena very much wants to live. Tatyana doesn't. A resurrection has to be made with the consent of the soul, and if Tatyana declines, Ireena's just... gone. Forever.

Related: because I wasn't sure what my players would ask, and Rahadin would absolutely know this information -- there have been 18 incarnations of Tatyana, including the original. I actually have a timeline of when they were all born and how they died. The curse manifests in that they always die or are killed before their 25th birthday. If Strahd attempts to marry them, they lose their minds and throw themselves off of the same balcony the original Tatyana jumped off of during the ceremony. Strahd can never have Tatyana. Vampyr will ensure of that.

But yeah, essentially: Ireena gained actual class levels; she wasn't just Tatyana with memory loss; she traveled with the party for 90% of the campaign and wasn't just a macguffin to be kidnapped/take to places; and I removed any of the "Sergei takes her into water/the sky and you never see her again" endings because I absolutely hated those.

VAN RICHTEN - Van Richten I tweaked a lot from his original incarnation. First, I started him off as Lawful Neutral. No, game, I know you tell me he's Lawful Good, but I'm gonna have to disagree with you that "training a racist tiger to genocide an ethnic camp" falls under the spectrum of Lawful Good. Second, I changed him from cleric to artificer (alchemist). I somehow just got the impression the dude was a godless man, and so he felt more fitting to be a man of science rather than a man of the church. Third, since I wasn't sure the other dread domains were ever going to be brought into 5e I moved him out of Darkon and into another world from the outside.

His backstory was also tied more into Strahd and the campaign in general, as well as the Dark Powers. About 30 years ago, he went into the mists with his own adventuring party (that included Escher) to try to rescue his kidnapped son, Erasmus. He found his son half-turned and begging him for death. Killing him, Van Richten hunted down the Vistani woman (Ezmerelda's mother) who sold the man, and in a rage strangled her to death. This gave him a curse. Ezmerelda witnessed it happen.

He went on a warpath against vampire spawn and vistani alike, until Strahd proposed a deal to Escher. Escher lured the group to a familiar dinner date with Strahd... only for Strahd to murder all of them, including Van Richten. Van Richten was approached by a dark power -- Vaund the Evasive, and given the option to return to life in exchange for the promise that Van Richten would eventually return to Amber Temple and free him. He took it, waking up outside of Barovia. From there he became famed vampire-hunter-book-author, until in his early 50's he decided it was time to seek vengeance and fulfill his promise. He brought in his hat of disguise, came up with an alibi, and headed into Barovia as Rictavio the Great.

He was absolutely played as a much more morally grey character at the start (the party's first encounter with him rather than Rictavio was him literally torturing a dude). He softened over the course of the campaign as he grew attached to the party, until finally reaching a point in the post-campaign where he's considered Lawful Good

Also: Ezmerelda was treated more or less as his adoptive daughter. She absolutely argued against this every single time, but he even slipped up and referred to her as his daughter on a few tense occasions.

RAHADIN - Rahadin I adjusted a lot, too. A LOOOOOOT. Strahd being comically evil makes sense -- the dude is a darklord, that kind of comes with the territory. With Rahadin, I wanted him to have more motivations to his actions, because the base game actually suggests that the dude is actually capable of caring. In the base game, you can find him at Amber Temple, trying to "petition the dark god into releasing his master from his torment." He screams in grief if he finds Strahd dead. Furthermore it felt like the game glosses over the fact that the dude was adopted as Barov's son. It doesn't bother addressing how Rahadin felt about Sergei, who would in theory be his other brother. I thought a number of things suggested in his backstory were interesting, but not expanded upon in the base game. So I took it upon myself to do so.

I changed how dusk elf society was built, which affected the three major dusk elf characters. It worked off of a pretty brutal caste system, with three kings at the top overseeing all of it. Rahadin was born in a lower caste, but actually brought into the warrior caste after a member of royalty was intrigued by his stature. Rahadin worked as a general, but grew frustrated by the inefficiencies of the caste system and its inequality. He started attempting to use his influence to petition other members of nobility into changing or loosening the strict system.

Patrina caught wind of this, and viewing it as a threat to her lifestyle + viewing it as an easy way to gain brownie points with those above her... tattled on him to the three kings, spinning what he was doing as treason. Rahadin was arrested and subsequently tortured. They attempted to execute him on a breaking wheel, breaking his bones against the spokes and leaving him in the town square as an example. He wound up escaping, crawling his way out of town until he was subsequently rescued by a group of human monks. The event pretty much broke him, morally. He went to Barov soon after and sold his people out, taking a personal hand in helping annihilate the dusk elves and conquering their land. Barov was so impressed by the man's loyalty that he adopted him as his son.

Part of this was done to make a connection as to why the hell Rahadin just absolutely fuckin' hates Patrina so much (since that definitely got played up during the campaign). When thinking of Rahadin's motivations, I tried to come at it from the angle that this man was evil... but legitimately cared deeply about Strahd, Sergei, and Tatyana. He was devestated from the events of the wedding, but saw Strahd's return as a second chance. As the lone surviving witness from the wedding, he desperately wanted to help the three of them. But his own blind loyalty to Strahd and his broken moral compass prevented him from doing so.

One of my favorite little additions was a sidequest I offered to the players (they wanted to redeem Rahadin). They were requested by him to retrieve (well, "not destroy or sell") one of his most precious belongings in his office. When they get there... it turns out it's a birthday card and a worn-out old amulet from Sergei and Tatyana that he's kept after all these years. They got Ireena to read the letter to him, to help him keep going after Strahd's death.

anyway i could ramble on about changes forever but i don't want this post to get too long haha. i have. many feelings. over this campaign. maybe at some point I'll do a separate post with some of the others.

i also kinda wanna do a comic of an event from Rahadin's backstory for my players but we'll see, I might deem it "too stupid."

[laughing-with-god]

Jhope from hunger games headcanons and his personality too ??? I’m curious how his personality is like ?!?!?

Very quiet when he’s at the Capitol.

One of those people who doesn’t say much but what he does say tends to be important or well thought out. 

He is somewhere in the middle with his Capitol fame.  There are victors who are more charismatic and outlandish and they tend to be the crown jewels, while other Victors like Yoongi are hated for not buying into the popularity contests.  Hoseok is somewhere in the middle of these extremes.  He doesn’t go out of his way to be liked but he also isn’t dumb enough to incite the hatred of the Capitol.

Bites his nails a lot and has an aversion to crowds.  Because of what happened in his games he ended up very anxious, esp when a group of people suddenly come upon him.  He knows he’s out of the arena now but he can’t help the fight or flight instinct.  

Doesn’t go to the Capitol unless he absolutely has to.  But unfortunately, District 8 doesn’t have a lot of victors who aren’t old and senile so he gets sent to mentor almost every game. 

One of the best mentors a tribute could have.  He understands that every kid is different and he never pushes any strategy or alliance onto them unless they come to him first.  It sounds really morbid but he understands that some tributes have simply accepted their deaths and just want to have a peaceful week before the arena, and Hoseok thinks they deserve that much.  

However if they do ask him for help, he’ll practically break his back to give it to them. 

Not the best at getting sponsors but he seemingly has a sixth sense about other tributes.  His instinct and ability to read people are really good.  Like he can look at all the interviews/reapings/chariot rides and point out to his tributes who they can and cannot trust.  So far he hasn’t been wrong yet and it has saved tributes' lives before.  

He also makes a promise to every kid he mentors, he tells them that he’ll pass on any message they want their family to hear after they die and he’ll give them a month's worth of his Victor earnings. Because of this act of kindness, he is by far the most well-liked person in 8.  

He is a big brother first and foremost.  He lives with all his younger siblings on Victor’s Row and tries his best to make up for the parents they don’t have.  The only bright side to him being a victor is that he can now afford to take care of them and none of his younger siblings have to go work in the factories.  

Really protective of his siblings.  Whenever the reaping happens each year, he never sleeps the night before, can’t eat breakfast, and will probably throw up from the nerves of the possibility of his sister or brothers getting reaped.  Every year he cries in relief when they aren’t picked.  

Because he technically is an orphan himself, he has a soft spot for children without parents.  He often frequents the District 8 orphanage to help out with the kids.  Every Christmas he sends loads of gifts to them.  

He also tries to talk the older ones out of putting their names in more times for the reaping just for the sake of food.  

“Learn from my mistake.”

Hates the winter months.  His siblings have to brace themselves whenever snow first falls because they know Hoseok’s nightmares will get worse and he’ll refuse to go outside.  Snow reminds him too much of his arena.  

His voice is really raspy.  I like to think his voice box got kinda fucked up in the arena, and he used to have really bad night terrors where he’d scream his head off. So now his voice reflects that and isn’t as smooth as it used to be.  

Really wants kids but will never have them because he knows his kid will mysteriously get ‘reaped’ into the arena.  Another reason why he acts almost fatherly to every kid in his life whether they be from the orphanage, the tributes, or his own siblings.  

Gets along with Taehyung and only really opens up to him.  He doesn’t know why he likes Taehyung so much, probably because the 11 mentor is so silent, calming and Hoseok has an ability to read people so he knows that Taehyung is a good guy.  Every year at the Capitol when they mentor, Hoseok finds him and shows him pictures of his family, and happily talks his ear off about the last year.  

Hoseok suspects that Taehyung has always wanted siblings.  When Tae was reaped he had absolutely no one to visit him so that’s why he seems invested in Hoseok’s family and sometimes asks questions about them.

Hoseok tries not to be judgemental but he is wary of the career mentors.  He knows that they have just as much blood on their hands as he does his, but he can’t help holding a tiny reservation about them ever since his games.  

Has a soft spot for District Ten bc of his old ally.  

Always has sweets on him.  Whenever his tributes are freaking out before their interview or chariot ride, Hoseok slips them a sweet and just offers them a sad smile.  

 Every year when he gets back from mentoring, he just holds his family for a bit and goes boneless with relief that they’ll never have to experience the things he had to.  

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

Paralles | Chapter 10

Add yourself to my taglist! | Here’s my masterlist! | Parallels Masterlist

Characters: OC! Violet Grace Dawson, Luke Patterson, Julie Molina, Carrie Wilson, Bobby Wilson, Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer, Flynn nolastname, Willie nolastname, Nick Danforth-Evans, Dirty Candy 

Guideline: Sunset Universe is the universe in which Sunset Curve is famous and Violet is friends with Carrie, Julie and Flynn. Candy Universe is the universe in which Dirty Candy is more famous and Sunset Curve has broken up. 

Song(s) used: Boy Bye - Emma Bale

Warnings: I wrote this after watching Ginny and Georgia, so.... I added Marcus Baker as a character don’t @ me. Minor anxiety. 

Words:  4,231

The second Violet woke up the day after her date with Luke, her phone started ringing. Glancing down at the screen, Carrie’s picture smiled back at her. Violet chuckled, not surprised that the girl was FaceTiming her at this moment and immediately picked up. 

Before Violet could even greet her best friend, the blonde girl attacked her with the important question. “How was it? Tell me everything!” 

Violet chuckled as she sat down on her bed with the phone angled in front of her. “It was so amazing! He took me to this fancy Italian restaurant called “Figurati Italia”, which I’m pretty sure means “Imagine Italy”.” She sounded dreamy and resembled a lovesick puppy. It scared Carrie a little as the girl droned on and on about how chivalrous and amazing Luke had been on the date. 

“He did say something about a blind date you guys had set us up on…” Violet continued after minutes of dream-talk about the date. “What’s that about?”

Carrie swallowed harshly. Being reminded of that mistake made the guilt well up in her stomach. “That was – uhm…” She searched her brain for the right words. “Violet – other Violet – was so in love with Luke and the boys knew Luke had a minor crush on Violet too, or at least they thought he did. So, we set them up on a date, before the whole Sunset Curve thing blew up. When they realized what we had done, Luke kinda laughed in her face and told her he’d never date her…” 

Violet’s jaw dropped. “What an asshole!” she snarled. “And you let me go out with him?!”

“I’m sorry, Vi! But this is different, this is – this is to get you back!” 

Violet chuckled, her second of anger switching out into worry. “And what if that’s not how we get me back?” 

“Then we’re just gonna have to find another way and in the meanwhile, get you used to this universe?” Carrie suggested. Her stomach felt weird in that moment, like a bad omen, a foreboding that something terrible was going to happen. 

The brunette girl nodded her head slowly, trying to wrap her mind around the idea of being here. Forever. She wasn’t the Violet that used to live here. She was nothing like her. Or at least, she didn’t think she was, judging from the stories she’d heard. People would notice, at some point that she wasn’t who they knew her to be. There had to be a way to mislead them. To learn to be the Violet they knew. 

“Do you know if Violet had some sort of diary? Just so I can get a sense of what she was like, how her brain worked and stuff?” 

Carrie pondered over it for a moment. “She did have this songbook she used to write her songs and thoughts into? I believe she hid it in her nightstand.” 

Violet immediately dove towards the white nightstand and opened the first drawer, finding a bright blue fake leather notebook with ‘VGD’ embossed in gold on the front. 

“I found it…” 

Curiosity rose within both girls. Carrie had never been allowed to look into that unless it was a song Violet was willing to share. Though she knew there was more in there than she was allowed to see. Violet’s biggest secrets, her deepest thoughts. They were all stored in there and now, the girls were granted a free pass into Violet’s mind. 

“What’s in it?” Carrie asked. 

“Songs, mostly,” Violet replied as she browsed through the notebook. She halted at a song titled ‘Homesick’ and as her eyes scanned the lyrics, she could feel every single feeling her parallel self was feeling in that moment. Her eyes halted at the date that was scribbled at the very top of the page. “Care… Around what time did you set her up with Luke on that blind date?” 

“Uhm…” Carrie hummed as she pondered about the question. “I’d say around March 2018 or something.” 

Violet’s heart dropped. “Huh…” 

“What?” Carrie asked. 

“I think Violet may have written a song about him,” she mumbled, but Carrie heard her, loud and clear. “It’s kinda heartbreaking…” Her fingers traced over the stains of run-out ink. Violet had been crying while writing this song. “Luke’s an asshole…”

“That’s no news,” Carrie scoffed. 

Violet stared at the paper while the gears in her brain started doing their work. “He needs to pay for what he did… He needs to pay for breaking that poor girl’s heart.” 

“And how are you gonna do that? He’s so self-absorbed and obsessed with his fame, he won’t even notice you’re trying to make him pay for what he did…” Carrie reasoned, but to no avail. Violet was already plotting the perfect scheme in her mind. 

“Vivi,” her mother walking into her room made her snap out of her train of thought. “Can you go to the store for me, please? I forgot the feta cheese for dinner tonight.” 

Violet rolled her eyes at her mother. “Of course, ma, I’ll go in a minute.” 

“Don’t call me ‘ma’,” her mother frowned. “And get outta bed, it’s past noon!” 

The girl managed a smile. “Sorry, mom. I’ll go in a minute.” 

Her mother shot her a smile before turning on her heel and leaving her daughter’s bedroom, letting Violet and Carrie to their conversation. 

“I hear there’s a super cute new bag boy in the store around the corner,” Carrie informed with a smirk. “Total cool guy. Guitarist and has a motorcycle.” 

“Huh,” Violet hummed as the gears in her brain started working yet again. “I do have a thing for guitarists, don’t I?” 

“That you do,” Carrie agreed. 

Violet chuckled before saying goodbye to Carrie and getting off her bed. After throwing on some fresh clothes and doing her makeup, Violet left the house for the store with the scheme unfolding in her brain. The new bag boy would be the perfect pawn in her plan. 

Though, when she entered the store and laid her eyes on the new bag boy, she didn’t expect him to be this gorgeous. His sharp jawline and high cheekbones, along with the perfect swoopy brown hair was enough for her heart to nearly burst out of her chest. 

“Fuck,” she muttered and made her way towards the cheese aisle. With her mind set on the pretty bag boy, she searched the shelves for the feta cheese and once she had found it, she reached for it. Being in such a rush, however, caused her to take the packet behind it with her, causing it to fall to the floor. “God dammit, stupid cheese,” she groaned to herself as she bend down to pick it up. 

A hand bumped with hers as she reached for it, and, when she looked up, she stared straight into Pretty Boy’s light brown eyes. Violet swore they stared right through her soul, baring every little piece of her. 

“What’s the cheese done to you?” he asked, chuckling as the two of them got up again, both holding the cheese. 

She regathered herself from the impact the boy had on her ovaries and flicked a strand of hair out of her face. “It did what I want you to do.” She confidently said, her lips slightly parting as it had always been one of the many tricks she had up her sleeve. 

Pretty Boy’s eyes skidded from the left to the right, trying to figure out what she meant. 

Smirking, Violet wrapped her hand tighter around the cheese and, as he was still holding it, pulled it closer towards her, pulling him along until his face was inches away from hers. “Fall for me,” she whispered before letting go and pushing past him. 

“You got plans tonight?” he shouted after her. 

Violet smirked and turned around, glad her plan was working. “Yep, I’ll be at Red and Blue tonight,” she told him, hoping he’d get the hint. Judging by the smirk that lifted his plump lips, Violet knew she was winning. 

“I’ll see you there then.” 

And the boy managed to keep his word. That night, when Violet was at Red and Blue with Julie, Flynn and Carrie, the Pretty Boy showed up too. Her breath hitched in her throat as she noticed him approach her. 

“You didn’t,” Carrie gasped in Violet’s ear. 

“I did.” She smiled at the boy. “Hey,” she greeted when he was close enough. 

“Fancy seeing you here,” he teased as he reached for her hand and kissed the back of it like a true gentleman. “I never got your name.” 

She went on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his ear. “Violet Dawson,” she introduced herself over the loud music. 

“Marcus. Marcus Baker.”  The two of them smiled at one another, causing Violet’s world to stop spinning for just a moment. “Wanna dance closer to the DJ? The atmosphere’s always better there.” Violet bit down on her lower lip as she nodded her head in response. Marcus then led her through the sea of dancing people, holding on tight to her hand. 

As the two danced together to the music, Violet noticed Luke walking into the club with his bandmates closeby. His eyes skidded across the crowd and halted when they met Violet’s. He hadn’t even noticed who she was dancing with until he had approached them. 

“Hey,” he said, “Who’s this?” 

“Marcus,” Pretty Boy introduced himself with a smile as he reached his hand out for Luke to shake, which the rockstar completely ignored. “Okay…”

“You wanna get out of here?” Luke asked Violet, cocking his head towards the door. 

Violet’s eyebrows knitted together, “I’m actually having fun, Luke. I’d rather stay.” She looked up at Marcus, shooting him a quick, apologetic smile. “But you can go if you’re not having fun.” 

“Oh, uhm… No, I’m staying. You want something to drink?” he asked instead, and Violet could tell he was getting a little nervous. 

“Sure. You want something, Marcus?” 

Marcus hummed and grabbed Violet’s hand again before guiding her towards the bar, leaving Luke to trail behind them. 

“When were you gonna tell me you had a boyfriend?” Marcus asked, his lips pressed to her ear to make sure only she would hear. 

Violet chuckled. “Oh, he’s not my boyfriend. We went on like one date and I think he’s desperate for another, but I’m not really that interested.” 

“Ah,” said Marcus, nodding his head. “You need me to make sure he knows that?” 

Violet smirked. “No, I’ve got another idea for that.” She said and confidently made her way to the stage. Marcus watched as she walked, his lips turned up into a smirk. 

She grabbed the microphone on the stand and cleared her throat before nodding at the band, telling them to start playing the song. While the upbeat, bass-driven music chimed through the venue, the girl started swaying her hips before starting to sing with her eyes focused on Luke. 

“You thought I'd worry That I've made the wrong decision But I'm moving on way faster than I thought I think I've grown out Your destructive efforts Still you're holding on to all the things we loved”

A soft, yet distinctive guitar riff chimed in at the pre-chorus and when she looked up, she found Marcus next to her with a guitar in his hands and a smile on his face. 

“You want me to come back Like I want you anytime Now I'm here with somebody Now it's the sad boy you play out And again I'm falling Yet again that's no surprise Thought I left it behind”

Having Marcus there gave her the confidence to really go for it on the chorus. She started moving her hips to the music while singing the lyrics to Luke, who stood near the bar, watching her and Marcus like a hawk. 

“But I don't want this You think I want you back But I'm so over this Boy bye And I'm not homesick You think I want you back But I'm so over this For now?”

The music went back to its bass-driven core and while Violet focused on Luke at the back of the club, Marcus couldn’t keep his eyes off of Violet as she sang. From the moment they had met, he had found her interesting. She was this overly confident, attractive woman and it intrigued him. He wanted to know what she was compensating for. 

“Friends keep asking why we're not together So I guess you haven't told 'em what you did Oh You may be sorry It's not better late than never And I think this time I'm glad we called it quits”

As even Marcus grew more confident on the guitar, Violet made her way over to him and leaned on his shoulder. This action made him look up. Neither of them could hide the smile crawling to their lips as their eyes locked. 

“You want me to come back Like I want you anytime Now I'm here with somebody Now it's the sad boy you play out And again I'm falling Yet again that's no surprise Thought I left it behind”

She stepped away from Marcus again and for a few seconds, kept eye contact with him until she got lost in the music and let herself go during the chorus. 

“But I don't want this You think I want you back But I'm so over this Boy bye And I'm not homesick You think I want you back But I'm so over this For now?”

Her eyes landed on Luke again to see his reaction on her performance. She didn’t like what she saw though. He looked at her in the same way he had during their dinner. The literal embodiment of the heart eyes emoji. It frustrated her, but it didn’t distract her from the song. 

“But we gotta stop the playing round The playing round For Gods sake Oh we gotta quit the playing round It's more than we can take Oh we gotta stop this playing round The playing round For Gods sake Oh we gotta stop the playing round It's more than we can take”

“But I don't want this You think I want you back But I'm so over this Boy bye And I'm not homesick You think I want you back But I'm so over this For now?”

Marcus took Violet’s glance his way as a sign to really go at it on the guitar and show off a little. It did seem to impress her as she turned towards him, giving him that same smirk she did in the store. 

“But I’m so over this Boy bye And I'm not homesick You think I want you back But I'm so over this Boy bye Boy bye”

She let out a very last hum as the band stopped playing, Marcus included. The crowd then burst out into applause and even the guitar boy next to her clapped for her. Her cheeks heated up whilst she locked eyes with him. 

“I didn’t know you could sing,” Marcus said, placing the guitar back where he found it. 

Violet shrugged. “Didn’t know you played guitar.” That was a lie, Carrie did tell her that, but it was the right thing to say as it caused Marcus to bare his pearly white teeth that nearly caused Violet to get a heart attack. 

“That was hot,” Luke grunted in her ear when she and Marcus approached the bar for another drink.  

Violet furrowed her eyebrows. “You didn’t get the hint, did ya?” she asked and Luke tilted his head a little, the smirk vanishing from his face. “Leave me alone, Luke. Please?” 

“Wha– Violet?” Before he could say anything else, Marcus had already whisked her away to go and dance on the dancefloor with a drink in their hand. None of it made much sense to Luke, but he figured it was just the new way Violet operated. Maybe she didn’t want to be exclusive. Maybe he needed to try harder. 

And that’s what he was going to do. 

Try harder.  

Violet was almost scared to turn up to practice the next day. Luke would probably hate her for rejecting him and it would make everything awkward and weird. It wasn’t going to end well and she knew that. 

When she arrived at the garage, she was proven right. Luke acted cold towards her as soon as she entered the studio and everyone could feel how the warm, comfortable bond they had, had turned ice cold. 

“No, Bobby!” Luke groaned for the nth time that rehearsal. “It’s a B chord, not a C chord! Are you ever gonna get it right?!” His voice was thundering through the garage and it startled each and every person in that room. 

Violet glanced over to Carrie, who furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She hadn’t been informed about the conversation Violet and Luke had had the other day, but she could tell something had been off about the two since rehearsal started. 

“Luke, calm down!” Alex yelled at the lead guitarist. He did know what had happened between the two and he knew Luke was taking it out on everybody else instead of owning up to it like an adult. 

Luke scoffed, “No, Alex! This is exactly why we broke up in the first place! Because we don’t work!” His eyes flicked over to Violet, making her feel like there was a different layer to that sentence. They wouldn’t work either. 

“No, you’re just mad because you got rejected!” Alex fought back. At least someone mentioned the elephant in the room. The girls on the sofa gasped and all three of them immediately looked at Violet, who shrunk in her seat behind the piano. 

Luke clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Rub it in, why don’t you?” he muttered before placing his guitar on its stand and gathering his stuff. 

As he started to make his way to the door, Violet got out from behind the piano and ran after him. “You can’t run out of rehearsal, Luke! Come on! Just because I didn’t wanna go on a date with you, doesn’t mean you have to quit the band!” 

“I do though,” he said and turned around. With a few large, but slow-paced steps, he stopped in front of the brunette girl that had broken his heart and hurt his fragile reputation. 

“Why?” 

Sighing, Luke muttered,“Because I joined for you, you idiot.” 

Violet couldn't possibly say anything to that and let Luke walk away again. The feelings she had been feeling for him all this time finally got reciprocated. By a different version of Luke, that is, but still. It didn’t quite matter which Luke said it. She heard it coming from his mouth. The words she’d been wanting to hear for years. 

“I am so sorry, guys,” she breathed, hiding her face in her hands. “This is all my fault.” 

“It’s not your fault, Violet,” Reggie said, shrugging. “Luke’s just stubborn. He can’t take no for an answer.” 

It was supposed to make her feel better, but it didn’t quite. She had ruined any and all chances she had of returning to her own universe just because one version of that guy had hurt her years ago. 

“Can we end rehearsal early then?” Alex questioned, coming out from behind his drums. “I got a date with Willie tonight.” 

Violet smiled. At least that was a thing here. “Yeah, sure. It’s not like we’re gonna be able to perform at Chubbie’s anyway,” she said, shrugging. 

“We’ll get there, don’t worry,” Alex tried to soothe her and placed a hand on her shoulder as he passed her on his way to the door. 

“Yeah, we’ll be ready in time,” Reggie agreed as he, along with Julie and Flynn left the garage, leaving Violet with the Wilsons. 

Violet shook her head, trying to wrap it around what had just happened. “How can we be ready in time when the gig is this weekend?” she mumbled to herself when Carrie wrapped her arms around the girl. 

“I know how to get your mind off of everything,” she said, pressing her temple against Violet’s. “Girl’s night at my place.” 

Violet couldn’t help the smile reaching her cheeks. That did sound like a good plan. The best plan, even. It would keep her mind off Luke and the gig and the whole universe thing. It would calm her nerves and anxieties. 

Or at least, she thought it would until they arrived at the Wilson’s house. A group of girls stood at the front door, angry expressions on their faces and arms crossed in front of their chests. 

“Where have you guys been?” Kayla asked, grumpily. “We’ve been waiting here for over an hour!” 

Carrie squeezed her eyes shut. “Fuck, I forgot about rehearsal…” she muttered. 

“Rehearsal for what?” Violet questioned, unaware of any gigs that were happening for Dirty Candy. Though, judging from Kayla’s shocked face, there was a gig she should be aware of. 

“The gig this Saturday!” she sneered. “A mega-important gig at that!” 

Carrie and Violet glanced at each other, eyes widened in complete horror. The exact same day as the gig at Chubbie’s with the boys from Sunset Curve. As Kayla and the girls started yelling at Carrie and Violet, the latter completely zoned out. She couldn’t hear a word of what was said. All she could think about was how she might be stuck here for the rest of her life if she didn’t perform at Chubbie’s on Saturday with the boys. 

What if they didn’t show up after that humongous fight? What if that wouldn’t be the thing they had to do to get her back? 

The girl’s storming off snapped Violet out of her thoughts, yet she still found herself in some sort of state of shock. Nothing felt right anymore and everything kind of sucked. There was no way she was ever going to survive in this universe if stuff like this kept happening. 

“Vi?” she could hear Bobby’s voice in the far distance. “Are you okay?” 

She coughed, shaking herself back. “Yeah… Yeah. I’m okay,” she clearly lied but the Wilsons didn’t push further and instead took her inside where the girls watched some movies together. 

Within half an hour, Carrie had already fallen asleep and Violet couldn’t bear watching the rest of the movie. Her mind was restless and kept running back and forth over her options and every possible scenario that could happen. 

There was only one thing that could keep her mind off everything. So, she hoisted herself up from the couch and made her way to the music room where she took a seat at the piano. 

Her fingers grazed the keys, letting a soft melody fly out the instrument. A content sigh left her body as she let the music take her away. It felt nice to let everything out of her system. It seemed to be her one and only escape to her from this crazy world. 

“You okay, Vi?” Bobby’s voice shook her out of her thoughts, causing to stop playing the piano. “You seemed a little out of it earlier.” He moved over towards her and sat down next to her. Their shoulders touched and it caused a weird spark to send shivers down Violet’s back. Something she had never felt before. 

“Yeah… Everything’s just… a lot, you know?” Bobby tilted his head, urging her to elaborate. “The switching universes, Luke suddenly being into me, the pressure of being in Dirty Candy…. It’s just – a lot… I’m used to being on my own, writing music with my best friends, but now I’m suddenly supposed to be this whole other person…. It’s exhausting.” 

A single tear rolled down her cheek, which Bobby caught with his thumb just before it reached her lip. The two locked eyes and for a second, Violet found herself drowning in his eyes. She had never noticed how gorgeous they were until now. The dark brown, the slight twinkle that was in them. She had never seen him up close like this. Her eyes took that liberty to scan his entire face. From his eyes to his nose and cheeks to his lips. Before they could move back to his eyes, Bobby closed the gap between the two of them and kissed her, full on the lips. 

Violet was startled, at first, but quickly melted away under his touch, closing her eyes as he deepened the kiss. The kiss lasted longer than it should’ve, but Violet didn’t quite mind. Or at least not until her mind drifted back to Luke and she felt like she was kissing him instead of Bobby. 

This caused her to flinch back. 

“Sorry! I shouldn’t have…. I’m sorry,” she quickly muttered before getting up and running out. 

Though it was a mistake to Violet, Bobby didn’t quite see it like that. If it were up to him, this would’ve happened a lot earlier and could happen a lot more often. He had never admitted it to anyone, but he had been in love with Violet for years. Those feelings had never been reciprocated, so he didn’t act up on them either. Violet was just Violet. Until now.

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[justatiredghost]

January Rain by the Sea Part 5

In a life of misery, the ocean is the only place Klaus has ever felt any sense of peace or belonging. He finds himself drawn here whenever it all gets to be too much

-

Klaus was trying to be careful, not wanting to tighten the net wrapped around Dave more than it already was, but his pocket knife wasn’t particularly big or sharp, causing him to have to saw at it roughly for longer than he’d like. It was a little awkward, especially with Dave watching him with a guarded look that was nothing like how he’d looked at him earlier that evening.

“So, what’s the story, then?” Klaus asked, desperate for anything to talk about. “Do you get dressed up and go swimming after dark like this often? Or—”

He reached out, planning to snap the waistband of what had to be a fake fishtail, but he touched his hip where tiny scales began, only to find that they really were sprouting from his skin. The detail was too precise, just a scattering before they became full overlapping scales that you’d expect on a fish. He couldn’t imagine anything fake holding up against his squirming and thrashing, being dragged across the sand as well as the coarse ropes of the netting. It had even damaged the tail in some areas, and there was no faking the rope burns or the bleeding. Or the way his tail curled that legs and knees couldn’t.

“Did you really expect it to be fake?” Dave asked, trying to hide the hint of a smile despite himself.

“Huh,” Klaus said. “This isn’t how I thought it would go, but I always knew the drugs would kill me eventually. Am I having a stroke or something?”

“I don’t think that’s how strokes work.”

“So you’re not a hallucination, then?” Klaus asked, studying him through squinted eyes in mock-suspicion.

“If I say that I am, what are the odds I get out of this alive?” Dave asked, turning grim again.

“Woah, woah,” Klaus said, raising his hands. “Who said anything about dying?”

“I mean,” Dave said. “Despite how I looked earlier, I’m not exactly human. Most people would be more than happy to sell me out.”

“Fame and fortune?” Klaus asked, waving a hand dismissively as he went back to cutting through the net. “Yeah, been there already, and I’d rather never go back.”

“So, what, you’re just gonna let me go?” Dave asked skeptically.

“I mean, yeah,” Klaus said. “Kidnapping isn’t really my thing. I mean, what am I supposed to do with a whole ass human? One that’ll have to live in a bathtub too. Besides, pretty sure everyone’s just looking for an excuse to lock me up. Can you imagine what would happen if I started going around telling everyone Merfolk are real?”

“Oh,” Dave said. “Um, thanks.” It didn’t exactly look like he believed him, but there was at least enough doubt that he didn’t look so hopeless, so that was nice at least.

“Just to be clear, though,” Klaus said, hoping to get him to relax. “You are the same Dave I met earlier, right?”

“Yeah?” Dave said, looking confused by the question.

“Okay, cool,” Klaus nodded, and he finally managed to untangle his tail, which Dave stretched cautiously, either because of his injuries, or because he didn’t want to accidentally smack Klaus, which he appreciated. “You can never be sure with these kinds of things.”

“I want to ask what you mean by that, but I’m afraid to know the answer.”

“Probably for the best. I’ve lived a wild life. Now, can I—“

He gestured to the net still wrapped around his chest, trapping his hand, and Dave nodded after a moment. His eyes fell closed as Klaus drew in close, his breathing finally seeming to calm.

“So,” Klaus said, trying to keep the conversation going. “When you said you had a thing tonight, you meant a fish thing?”

“Yeah,” he hesitated, like he wasn’t sure how much he should give away, and Klaus figured he should probably change the subject to something less personal.

“What about that trap you set up for your boss? How did that go?”

“Oh, it worked,” he said, chuckling more out of surprise than anything. “Thankfully, he doesn’t know it was me, otherwise he’d have sacked me immediately. Not that it matters now.”

“Way to be cryptic,” Klaus said, finally slicing through the last of the rope and throwing it to the side. “What does that mean?”

“Just—“ Dave said, avoiding eye contact as he rubbed life back into his numb arm. “It’s probably about time I moved on.”

“Hang on,” Klaus said. “You’re not leaving because of this, are you? Because it’s really not that embarrassing. I’ve done way worse stuff, ask anyone.”

“I don’t know. I’ve done some pretty stupid things, I’m honestly surprised this is the first time someone saw me. Just, I can’t have anyone knowing who I am.”

“Well, now I feel bad,” Klaus said. “I don’t care. Can you use your Mer-powers to wipe my memory?”

“I don’t— I don’t have any mind wiping powers,” Dave said in confusion.

“Oh well, worth a shot,” Klaus shrugged. “My sister could make me forget probably, but that means telling her, so we’ll just be right back where we started with someone knowing.”

“Your sister?” Dave asked, shaking his head. “I really can’t tell when you’re joking or not.”

Usually, Klaus went out of his way to never mention his family or the Academy. Unless he thought it might get him into an exclusive club or a discount or something. But he knew Dave’s secret, and he honestly did want to reassure him, maybe share a secret of his own so he wouldn’t feel so exposed. Klaus really had no idea what had gotten into him, he wasn’t this honest with anyone. This guy just felt so familiar, so right, that he found himself not caring about his usual caution. So he decided to keep going.

“Oh, I’m not kidding at all. She’s the Rumor. She got the fun power, I just get to listen to ghosts screaming.”

“I assume that’s supposed to mean something to me, but for the life of me, I have no idea,” Dave said, just looking more and more confused.

“Seriously? You’ve really never heard of me?” Klaus asked. “The Seance, the sexiest and most fun member of the Umbrella Academy? Where have you been living, under a rock?

“Kinda,” Dave admitted with a chuckle. “But the Umbrella Academy does sound familiar. That was the thing with the superhero kids, right? You were one of them?”

“That’s one way to but it I guess,” Klaus grumbled. “Way to make it sound incredibly boring.”

“And you said your power was ghosts?” Dave asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t think ghosts are going to be able to help us here. Not that I could hear them right now, even if I wanted to.”

“This has been one of the most wild conversations I have ever heard, and you’re the one who just found out I’m not human. How did that happen?”

“I told you, I’ve lived a wild life,” Klaus winked.

Klaus dug around in his pockets until he found what he was looking for and held it up in victory. He’d forgotten he had a spare joint, although now it was incredibly soggy. “Aha, I do have one left! So, are you gonna chill here and smoke with me, or do you need to head out on very important Mer business?”

“You’re gonna smoke that?” Dave asked, skeptically.

“It’s only a little damp,” Klaus said. “I just gotta dry it out first.”

“Right, well, good luck with that,” Dave said, turning away towards the ocean. “And thanks. For saving me.”

“Hey, it’s whatever, am I right? Just don’t make a thing out of it,” Klaus said, flopping onto his back and staring up at the stars. “I’d offer to walk you home like a real gentleman, but I’m not a gentleman, and also I imagine there’s a bit less walking and a bit more swimming involved.”

“Goodbye, Klaus.”

Klaus waved without looking, digging his toes into the sand. He must have taken his shoes off when he jumped into the water, he needed to remember to grab those, but at least this felt nice right now. He didn’t even hear Dave splash into the water, the next time he looked up, he was just gone. For some reason, a wave of melancholy washed over him as he was left alone on the beach. What was up with him, lately? He really needed to smoke this joint.

[ilooklikeaburntchickenugget]

Only Mine Pt. 5

A/N: THANK YOU ALL FOR THE SWEET MESSAGES ABOUT THIS SERIES! It’s honestly so fun to write about so I’m glad all of you like it as much as I do. Pairing: Gerard Way x F!Pop Star!Reader Word count: 2,337 Warnings: Some swearing, mentions of anxiety and stress

You were humming an idea you had, your phone sitting out and playing one of the hundreds recordings you had for songs. Sweatpants and a large hoodie with fuzzy socks were the only appropriate attire for the recording studio, your hair carelessly held up by a scrunchie in a bun on the top of your head, glasses slightly crooked on your face.

“You get it, right?” You asked from the couch, where your legs were propped up against your chest.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I do.” Ray smiled, turning back to the computer and putting in a few various sounds.

“I’m thinking of putting in these ‘Oh’ sounds over and over, as background, pre-verse and then in the chorus.” You included.

“That would be cool.” Gerard laid back in the chair in between you and Ray, “Make them lower though, they’ll contrast your voice.” You nodded, agreeing.

“I want to make it sound frantic, almost anxious, right? That’s kind of the feeling of the song.” “Well, yeah, that makes sense with the meaning and lyrics.” Ray added on and you nodded. “I think it sounds sick.” “Thanks man.” You smiled lightly, “I have like 20 of these. Not the same song, but for the new album.” “Already?” He asked, shocked.

“Don’t underestimate her,” Gerard looked over at him, arms crossed and slouching back, “Give her five minutes and she’ll have an entire fucking song conducted.” You nodded.

“Maybe not five, but something along those lines.”

“Have you made a title for the record?” Ray asked next and you shook your head.

“I have most of it composed, I don’t have a title though.” You said, “It’s a concept album, so as you guys know, it’s written like a book. But there’s this whole plot and everything. So it’s not like I can name it after someone or something, like I did with the last one, I have to find something.” “What about a song name?” Gerard looked up at you, “Name it after a song, maybe. One that you feel embodies the record as a whole.” “I don’t know,” You sighed out of partial frustration, “I’m not good at naming albums. I almost named the last one Gerard, but Ray told me no.” You could hear Ray lightly snicker remembering that.

“Really?” Gerard asked, a look of slight shock on his face.

“What?” You asked, “You act like you don’t know that entire record is about you.” He shrugged.

“It still flatters me.” “Well this one is kinda about you,” You admitted, “More about the picture the media has painted us out to be.” “You mean bad boy makes innocent girl bad?” He asked and you nodded.

“It’s almost set out as a character v. self, character v. character, and character v. society album.” You explained, “She’s frustrated with herself because she knows he’s bad but she loves him, she’s mad at him because he’s that way but she also loves him for it, and she’s mad at everyone who’s telling her he’s bad, because she knows it, but she can’t help it.” “So like an addiction?” Ray asked and you nodded.

“That’s why Clean is on there. It’s the last track, it’s her almost cleansing herself from everything.” “That makes sense.” Gerard nodded.

“I mean, I think it’s brilliant.” Ray began playing with a few more sounds while talking, “I hope people take it as it is, AKA it’s very ironic, but addressing that by making an entire record is pretty bad ass.” You lightly laughed.

“Thanks,” You smiled, “Maybe Gerard is making me corrupt, making me a badass and all.” You winked playfully at him.

“Ah yes, I’m going to make you my emo queen.” The three of you began laughing.

“I am thinking about changing my look to take on this alter ego,” You began, “You cut off all your hair and bleached it to be a representation of The Patient.” You looked to Gerard, “I don’t think I would do anything to my hair, but I would change up my wardrobe and makeup look.” “Like start off as you are and gradually get more rebellious looking?” Ray asked and you nodded.

“The paparazzi will love that.” You lightly smiled sarcastically, a few moments of silence at the end. “Thank you guys, by the way, for taking time off to help me make this.” “No problem,” Ray smiled and nodded, “Besides, everyone loves you and we’ve been having some writing block lately.” “And I didn’t have a choice.” Gerard said. You eyed him, throwing a pen which hit his head and he very lightly flinched at the impact.

“Oh stop it.” You rolled your eyes.

“Ready to go in?” Ray asked, motioning to the recording booth. You nodded getting up and grabbing a pair of headphones. You put them on, beginning to do some short vocal warm ups. Ray was sitting right outside through the glass window at the panel, Gerard leaning over and playing with a few things on the sound board.

“Ready?” Ray asked into the mic and you nodded, pulling out notes on your phone to read lyrics.

“We’re just doing verse and chorus, right? No belts or high notes or anything?” He shook his head.

“That’ll be next.” He responded and you nodded. The music started up, giving you a few seconds to prepare before you began singing the lyrics, both Gerard and Ray actively adjusting various switches and such. Finally, when the song wrapped up, you took a few steps back from the mic as they stopped the recording.

“How was that?” You asked.

“Incredible as always.” Ray smiled and you smiled back, “Now we have to work on high notes and belting for the bridge and final chorus, then we can do background vocals.” You nodded, “Let me just edit a bit of the track.” It only took him a matter of minutes before replaying the track, a huge smile plastered on your face the entire time.

“It’s sick!” You smiled and clapped, jumping a bit.

“It’s honestly incredible.” Gerard smiled too.

“Thank you.” You smiled back.

“Ready for everything else?” Ray asked and you nodded.

It took you another hour of recording and getting everything before you could finally retire the recording and production process for the song, getting out of the booth and grabbing a water.

The finished product was incredible, it had the perfect amount of everything from base to drums with a little bit of synth and a light echo attached to your voice.

“Do you think this new record’s gonna be as big as the last?” Ray asked you, all three of you now on various pieces of furniture in the studio and eating burritos, which had been jointly decided upon pretty quickly when you all grew hungry. “Mmm,” You hummed, thinking for a minute, “I don’t know. Probably not considering winning 10 Grammys in one night is a record,” “On top of the, like 40 other awards you got.” Ray laughed.

“Yeah, true,” You agreed, “But I don’t make music to win awards or anything. I make music because I want to and because I love to and other people like it.” You explained, “You guys are the same.” They nodded. “The awards are just something nice.”

“I mean, you’re basically on top of the world.” Ray responded.

“Yeah, but that’s what makes it all the more scary,” You began, “You kind of look down from your stance at the top, having everything you’ve ever dreamed of in your career, and you have to ask what do you do next. And then it turns in to panic because there’s no where to go. And that’s why Gerard is up with me every other night while I’m having a panic attack about what the fuck I do next.”

“I don’t think I’m much help.” He added.

“You’re more help than if I was alone.” You responded, “But I’m kind of excited for this new era. There’s no limits anymore, I feel like, so I’ll just take on this good girl gone bad character. Not in real life, of course, but my alter ego.” “So you’re gonna reset everything?” Ray asked and you nodded.

“Yeah, hopefully. Starting with my closet.” You took a bite of your food, “Gee, take me to Hot Topic.” He rolled his eyes.

“If you want to do that, then just take all my leather jackets.” “You have too many anyways.” “Do not,” He warned, “I take pride in my jacket collection.” This time you rolled your eyes. “You have an entire rack in your closet for jackets.” “Uh huh, says Miss ‘I have to have an entire room for my purse and shoe collection’.” “Oh, please, it’s part of my personality.” “Well jackets are apart of mine.” He fired back.

“You two are literally an old couple.” Ray interrupted.

“Kinda.” You agreed.

“But for real,” Ray asked next, “What is going on in the world of Y/F/N Y/L/N?” You sighed.

“For once it feels like nothing,” You admitted, “No brand deals really, almost no interviews, no tour because that finished up, just this I guess.” You took another bite and continued, “I did recently get the opportunity for there to be a documentary on me and my life though. Like a camera crew and everyone follow me around for a few critical weeks of the year, put it into a whole movie type thing about how I live, my fame, all that.” “Wait, what?” Gerard asked, now a mixture of shock and concern on his face. “You-you never told me.” He said next.

“Well, yeah, I mean I told them I would at least have to think about it. I was planning on telling you but I needed to figure out if I wanted to go through with it first. I was very indecisive about it. Still am.” “So what are you thinking?” Ray asked, clearly trying to break some of the tension.

“I still don’t know,” You admitted, “I mean, a part of me really wants people to understand why I’m so under the radar, why I’ve disappeared from the world for a while. But the other part wants to protect that privacy. Plus if we were to theoretically go through with this, Gee, you would have to be okay with it too since they’ll be filming in our homes, and very possibly me and you.” He nodded, “And plus, I don’t know if it’s the right timing. I’m starting this new era of me being private and taking on this alter ego for everyone else, it may just be bad timing too.”

“I think it would be interesting for people to be able to see you, like the real you. And how you deal with the fame and all.” Ray added.

“Yeah, but,” You took a brief pause to find words, “How much of my privacy am I willing to forfeit for that?”

You and Gerard got back to your New York townhouse, kicking off your shoes and almost immediately crashing on the bed. You had to admit, at least to yourself, that your mind was beyond conflicted with what to do. Your next album release would have been perfect timing to plan starting a family with Gerard. Release the album, stay completely under the radar, and go on a small tour with a few big shows. But the opportunity for the documentary to be made would make a huge deal to your life. It would be nearly impossible to do both at the same time, though.

You laid down, your head on Gerard’s shoulder, as you both laid in bed reading your books trying to wind down. But Gerard, being your husband, best friend, and soulmate, knew you were stressed. Just from even looking at you, although no one else could tell, he could.

“Talk to me.” He said softly, barely above a whisper.

“I don’t want to disrupt your reading,” You sighed, “Or annoy you.” “I like listening to you talk.” He glanced to you, your eyes meeting. You didn’t know how a man could be that gorgeous, he just was. “It’s soothing, even when you rant.” You lightly laughed, snuggling further into him. He willingly took one of his arms, swinging it behind you and placing his book down on his nightstand, marking the page. 

“Fine,” You sighed, moving down so your head was on his chest, feeling it rise and fall with every delicate breath he absentmindedly took. Your hands found their way there too, drawing circles on the shirt he had on.

So there the two of you laid, you pouring our your anxiety and worries to your husband, who seemed to understand what you were saying, translating every jumble of emotion you had into a symphony of calmness. 

“This is all up to you babe, I’m just along for the ride.” He said, “But maybe this is a sign, ya know? Maybe you should take this opportunity to have a documentary be made about you, because maybe people will begin to actually understand the extent to which your life has been thrown into the spotlight, and why you need that privacy. And maybe that sympathy will get us to an even better place where we can start a family, worry free from any chance that our child or children will be in the spotlight.” “You’re so smart.” You lightly laughed, nuzzling into him. “I’ll think about it, Gee.” And like that a lightbulb went off in your head. You squeezed out of his embrace, groaning and getting up out of bed, his face filled with confusion. “Where’re you going? Did I say something wrong? I-” “No, it’s a song idea.” You palmed your face in your hand, “Like a really good one.” You grabbed your phone to go record it. “You get it, right?” “Not really because I don’t record as many songs as you, but kinda.” You groaned again, his face so innocent as you eyed him.

“You’re an ass.” 

[hitoshisbabygirl]

Author's Notes ♡: okay uhm so I haven’t watched Aladdin in so long and I kinda mixed it with some Persona 5 (being a phantom thief yknow!) so yeahhhh anywhooo welcome to anothe POCuties collab! I lm so happy to do a fluffy little thing with good ol Kyou <3 qwq without further waiting, here's my addition to the already wonderful collaborators! Make sure to check their stories too in the masterlist! ~ bunny ❥

Warnings : None!! Fluffy!! Also please ignore typos if any they’ll be fixed later </3

Word count :2.1K

Paring(s) : Kyoutani Kentatou x F! Reader

Summary : When the city you live in is rampant with villains what happens when your seabed by a cold and off putting vigilante (that’s my best summary I’m sorry </3)

Enjoy ♡

Hearing footsteps approaching from behind the barrels he was hiding in Kyoutani felt himself grin as he pushed a group of barrels down before the guards could get him. Soon yelling and crashing could be heard. Bingo , they had run into the mess he made. Running down the street with gold hidden in his clothes he got further than he thought, climbing up and over the crowds as he got a good bit of ways from them. Looking back to see who was following him still he didn't see the group of people moving , and he definitely didn't see the girl appear in front of him until he ran smack dab into her, the two falling to the ground. Getting ready to yell at whoever he ran into he looked down to see one of the prettiest girls he ever saw. Blinking at her and her blinking at him he heard the sound of the guards reappearing, now sounding even more mad. The sound of them approaching snapped him from his thoughts, getting up and helping the girl off the ground “ ‘m sorry'' Was all he said before looking for something to climb up. Seeing that there was a rope hanging from a traveling merchants cart. Running to it he climbed up and over past the girl before the guards caught up, paying attention to her while he slipped away.

Days later Kyoutani went back to the district he ran through days later, this time just wanting to find something to eat. You see, Kyoutani was a seasoned thief , stealing from tombs, jewelry places, houses , mansions , in and everything he could. He was used to scraping by when he was younger but now, he was used to taking from the rich for his own rise to fame, being known as an uncatchable thief. Strolling by he heard people cheer, yelling and sounds of a festival being started rained down the streets. Peeking around a corner he saw a group of guards in front of guys practicing to hold up a carriage of sorts. But who he saw getting in the carriage is what caught his attention ; the girl he arn into before. Interested to talk to her he went behind the crowd into the alley, seeing some of the carriage carriers getting ready to be in the midst of everything. Sneaking behind one of them hesnacthed him before dragging him behind a wall.

After little confrontation he reappeared dressed as the guy he got to take from, fixing the outfit before joining the others ``Ah you must be that new guy, quick get into position, you're holding up the middle left, the one beside the princess” The leader said before Kyoutani was intrigued ‘She’s a princess? Explains why guards let me alone to check her’ he thought as he grabbed one of the llong pillars holding up the seat. Lifting it he felt the rest of them struggle to lift with him “Wow, you're strong” He heard a soft voice say. Looking up he met the eyes of the princess, the young woman he had ran into before “....thanks'' that same raspy voice spoke to [ ] as she heard it before ‘it can’t be...isn't he the one whos been stealing from the temples’ she thought as she ignored it, sucking in a breath as her arranged husband stepped into the carriage with her “hello [ ], aren't you just excited to see everyone so ready for our marriage” the arrangement husband Tooru said to her as she looked out the curian window, seeing the blonde that was under her and what sounded like...growling? He pushed the wooden ple hard to throw off the guy holding up tooru’s side, making him screech as [ ] let out a little giggle. Peering up to her he gave her a sly smile before continuing their walk around the city grounds. After the parade they took them to the castle in which they stayed. Setting the carriage down, the couple got out , Tooru did first before reaching a hand to help [ ] who was being helped by Kyoutani. Giving him a soft smile she went to her still grinning fiance. As the duo went up to the door Kyountai saw a piece of paper left in the princesses seat. Glancing down he took it and the soft material that was beside it. Opening the folded piece of paper he read it ;

“To whoever may find this , preferably the carrier beside me I don't have much time. If you found this and my veil piece meet me at my tower tonight i have a proposition for you~ Princess [ ]”

Placing it in his pocket he watched the duo go into the doors but not before seeing the girl he's been eyeing give him soft and pleading eyes before she was pulled by the chocolate haired male who was still draining about their wedding. As the night came around Kyoutani caught himself climbing the tower of the princess that he was gaining curiosity for her. Making it to the top he sat on the edge of her tower's top roof . Hearing a window open he looked to see the girl in a nightgown come over to him. “Hello there” her soft voice said as he grunted still looking as mean as he did in the street. Trying to get herself up [ ] pushed herself up to the window seal before starting to climb out. Seeing her struggle to join him Kyoutani got down and came to her , leaning a hand to her as she thanked him, using it as a pulling lever for her to get closer to where he was. Gently she landed on her feet as she took in the air from her tower top, sighing “I'm glad you found my note, i was worried one eof the maids or Oikawa would find it and just...make life hard” Listening to her Kyoutani just nodded , looking to the streets below them. “You're...the thief right? Kyoutani?” Hearing his own name from her lips his head turned to hers quickly, seeing as her eyes lit up at the action “How do you know about that?” joining him as he looked below she giggled “ Ah..you look like a ruffian. Besides , when I ran into after my guards saw us collide I knew you'd be someone I could trust. Besides Kuroo that is.” Furrowing his brows [ ] could see the confusion in his eyes “My pet tiger” She answered. As Kyoutanis eyes grew wide she gave him another smile “ I've had him since he was a cub! He’d like you, someone who's free and just unapologetic” [ ] said as she watched the blonde study the ground before glancing at her “What did you need a ruffian like me for? You're a princess , ya got the fame , the money , even the power to do what you want.” Thinking about it she sighed, placing her head in her hand as she stepped over the balcony part of her tower “I wish to be like you ; free. Free to explore, free to roam, free to study and do whatever I want. I wish for more than being just a princess, i want my own identity besides the one I was born in'' finishing her speal [ ] looked to the blonde who gave her a understanding look “You...giving me that sense of freedom...it's relieving to have someone like you around y'know? Someone who isn't on labels or status , just a normal person to have adventures with '' Taking in a breath Kyoutani looked at the Princess `` So you're wanting to be around a thief instead of the safety of your castle huh? You're quite a princess” he said as [ ] huffed “You can call me [ ] i'd rather not be reminded i'm a princess” She said as Kyoutani smirked “Well [ ] wanna go for a trip?” furrowing her brows she looked at him confused until he whistled with a magic carpet appearing up to where they were. Gasping [ ] leaned over to the carpet and touched it , seeing it move to wave at her “W-what...H-how did you” “Found it in a chest when I robbed the temple. Same with this lamp” going in his pocket he held up a gold lamp, swirling it around his finger. Reaching towards the lamp he lifted it higher “I don't recommend touching it, there's a genie in it and I...Don't really need him at the moment…” sliding it back into his pocket he climbed over the tower wall to sit on the carpet before reaching out for [ ] “careful princess” he said as she took his hand and fell farther than she thought, landing in his arms. Smacking his arm before settling in she huffed “I told you to call me [ ]!” Giving her a genuine laugh Kyoutani tapped the carpet, starting it up as they flew from the castle “Yeah yeah I know, just wanted to say it one last time”

And this is how they formed a bond ; Kyoutani coming over to take her on night trips or catching her when she wasn't around her father and fiance. Their bond grew over the next few weeks and after a while she was just used to seeing him everyday. He met her pet tiger Kuroo, she met the Genie in the bottle he talked about before. She confided in him about how she hated this made marriage and how she wanted to get away while he told her of the life he lived before, not having much and fighting for the basics in life. It brought them together and showed each other a different side of the world they didn't expect to see. Soon they were pretty much inseparable, [ ] claiming she didn't need any help going to the store when she was really going on adventures with Kyoutani, the two going to do more searching and heist together. Even after seeing what and how he steals she was more intrigued than disturbed. One day during an improved exploration from being upset [ ] spoke up after the two had sat in silence. “Yknow you could be a king...we could be a couple” Looking at her laying on his shoulder Kyoutani rose a brow as she continued “I...used to hate being a princess….trying to find a sutor and having duties when i'd rather be around people my age..it was draining...but once me and you met I had to know more...I needed the thrill in life that i found in you and now look at us. Sitting out here watching the sunset and I just feel...better about this all y'know?” Finishing , [ ] sat up and curled on her knees ``But i'd get it if you didn't feel the same, it wouldn't change anything I feel..” Softly Kyoutani took [ ]’s hand and kissed the back of it before hesitantly wrapping his arms around her shoulders ``You don't have to be afraid...I..feel the same..I think..” Mumbling to himself he continued “I don't know much about love or feelings….And I definitely don't know about kingdoms or any shit like that..but i'm willing to make you happy” blinking up to the usual stoic blonde “Im harsh, a loner..and one hell of a thief but..thats what ive been told i'm good at...it's what i was used to hearing about me. A king...a potential lover..that's changed. I hope I could be good at it but it scares me now..” Looking back at [ ] he felt his face heat up “Seeing you sad before you got in that cart with whoever that shitty guy is made me...sad? Mad? It's...hard to explain but I wanted to make it better...i wanted to make you feel better..and now..maybe I can'' Pulling her closer he lifted her face to have her looking at him. Biting his lip Kyoutani leaned in and kissed her cheek before he could shy away. But right before he could get too far [ ] kissed his cheek, the two of them having the same face of shock as [ ] giggled “Y'know you can kiss me Kyou..” And that's all he needed. Leaning back in he kissed her, a bit rough and messy but the best he could with little knowledge. [ ] felt herself smile behind the kiss as she pressed back, the two pulling away when they couldnt breath. “[ ]...I’ll try my best to make you happy okay?” His unusual doed eyes looked to her soft ones as she kissed his nose “I know you will Kyou”

[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 56 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Hiya loves! We're doubling up tonight to catch up to where we are on AO3. Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: Violet returned to work, Raven made a career-changing decision and Pearl went out a window.

This Chapter: Gigi takes a chance, Courtney is distracted, Fame continues to be Fame  and Trixie struggles.

***

Bimini stirred a pot of quinoa in the kitchen, preparing her lunch after her midday trip to the gym, when she heard a yell sound throughout the apartment.

“OH! MY! GOD!”

Bimini turned around, just to see Symone come out of her room, her laptop in hand.

“Oh my god oh my god oh my god!” Symone was jumping up and down, a gigantic grin on her face, her hair in a high ponytail, the screen of the laptop shaking.

“Hello love-”

“I GOT OFFERED A MAGAZINE!” Symone screamed, happiness radiating from her and Bimini couldn’t hide a smile.

This. This was exactly why she still lived in a model apartment even though she was in her mid twenties. This was why she stayed even though she could easily afford her own place. This was why she didn’t mind when new girls didn’t wash their dishes or when they left panties in the bathroom sink.

Because she got to be part of moments like this.

“Congratulations,” Bimini grinned. “See,” She pointed her spoon at Symone, “I told you Sutan was brilliant.”

“Mmh,” Symone smiled, holding her laptop to her chest, squeezing it tight.

“What’s up with all this noise?”

Both Symone and Bimini turned, catching sight of Naomi and Gigi who had come out of the rooms, Naomi's hand on her hip as she looked around, Gigi’s eyes wide as saucers as she took in the scene.

“Symone got her first magazine,”  Bimini poured black beans over her quinoa.

“What?!” Naomi walked over to Symone, grabbing the computer from her hands. “Give me that!” Naomi's eyes ran over the screen, her hair spilling down her back, her long legs looking even longer in the tight leggings she was wearing. “Holy shit.”

“Congratulations Symone,” Gigi smiled, and Bimini felt a wave of fondness for the new girl who had literally flown in last night, Sutan asking to see her in person. She was obviously not a real redhead, her dye job not fooling anyone, but she had perfect eyebrows and a very nice smile, the way she moved filled with potential.

“This is so unfair!” Naomi groaned, shoving the laptop back into Symone's arms. “You haven’t even walked a proper runway yet!”

Bimini didn’t like to get in arguments, her personality type not one that looked for conflicts, so she wasn’t going to point out that Symone had literally just walked a showroom, which was a much bigger deal than anything Naomi’s agent had gotten her at L.A. Fashion week back in October.

“You Amrull girls have it all too easy.” Naomi sat down on one of the kitchen chairs, sighing heavily. “Fuck.”

***

“Ah!” Pearl grinned as she finally found her keycard, the lanyard shoved to the very bottom of her beat-up messenger bag, her computer safely inside. Pearl held it against the door, a little beep allowing her to step inside the design empty floor.

Pearl didn’t normally go home with Trixie, since part of her job entailed after-work schmoozing and cocktails and entertaining their ad partners and she was normally long gone when he ended his day, but Katya had texted that she couldn’t get ahold of him, and when Pearl had checked his work calendar, it had all made sense. Trixie was apparently spending the afternoon on attempting to find a new hire for design, and Pearl wasn’t envious in the least. Since she was still in the office editing their new web content, she went down to get him.

“Sugar butt!” Pearl held a hand up to her mouth, calling out for her best friend, the door to his office closed. “Time to go home!”

“Do you mind keeping it down?”

Pearl looked over, spotting Violet who was still sitting at her desk.

“Vivi!” Pearl grinned, letting go of the door to walk into the floor, her quest to get Trixie completely forgotten.

“Don’t call me that.” Violet huffed, but she didn’t protest as Pearl walked over.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” Pearl grabbed an empty chair, spinning it around to sit on it. “How’s the whole leg situation?” Pearl gestured towards Violet’s leg. She had already gotten the whole story from Trixie as they played Playstation and drank beer, the man working through his feelings by shooting people in Call of Duty.

“Annoying.” Violet raised an eyebrow. “Kinda like you.”

“Ah!” Pearl gasped, putting a hand on her chest. “Someone hasn’t gotten the good painkillers.”

“Please,” Violet sighed, rolling her eyes. “I’m fine, it’s just this stupid fucking paperwork.” Violet gestured to her desk, and Pearl looked at it, Violet’s desk for once not filled with the trinkets that usually defined her space. Instead, it was pages upon pages of legal documents.

“Damn.”

“Mmmh,” Violet signed another one, putting it on top of the rather large pile. “You’d think not pressing charges would be easier.”

“Hold on,” Pearl sat up straight. “You’re not pressing charges?”

“No,” Violet shook her head. “I don’t want to bother anyone.”

“Standing up for yourself isn’t a bother Vivi.” Pearl bit her lip, moving closer to her friend. “You deserve justice.”

Violet looked at her, her brown eyes searching Pearl’s face.

“Know what Pearl?”

It wasn’t often that Pearl blushed, actually, it almost never happened, but she could feel her cheeks heat up, the intensity on Violet’s face making her feel both small and like she was the center of the universe.

“Forget what I said,” Violet smiled, tilting her head. “You’re not that annoying.”

“Ha!” Pearl laughed, throwing her hair over her shoulder, the moment between them broken as Violet joined in. “Girl please.”

“I could sue, but, I honestly just want to be left alone, and to forget that this entire thing ever happened.”

“If you’re sure.” Pearl leaned back in her chair. It made sense with what she knew of Violet, a trail sure to be what she’d consider an unnecessary mess. “But just so you know, I’m punching Aiden in the face if I ever see him again.”

***

Gigi tapped her foot nervously, heart racing and stomach in knots from the three espresso shots she’d had this morning.

It was either that, or the fact that she was in way over her head, and couldn’t even figure out how she’d gotten there.

Less than two weeks ago, she’d been hanging out at the Venice Beach skate park with two of her friends, enjoying the sunshine and a scoop of her favorite banana chocolate chip bread pudding from Schulzies, when a woman with a labradoodle handed her a business card.

She’d called the number later, after getting home from her fashion design class at SMC, and now, here she was. Sitting in the lobby of Elite Model Management feeling like, at best, a mistake, and at worst, a complete and total fraud.

“Gigi Goode?” A dark-haired woman called out, giving her a warm smile as she stood up, smoothing down the skirt of the green dress her mother had made.

Gigi wished her mother was there with her, but apparently grown-ups don’t take their moms with them to job interviews--or whatever this was, and Gigi desperately wanted to be seen as a grown up.

“Follow me.”

Gig swallowed, following her down a long hallway and then into an open, bustling bullpen, full of chic New York professionals, all perfectly groomed, every movement with purpose.

They stepped up to a door labeled ‘Sutan Amrull’ and Gigi stopped cold, suddenly overcome with fear.

“Wait…” she took another deep breath, trying to calm her shaking nerves.

The woman turned around, a look of concern flashing over her face before she smiled again.

“Hey,” She reached out, touching Gigi’s arm. “Don’t worry… You’re gonna be great in there.” She gave it a quick squeeze before letting go. “And, if it helps at all… I promise that he’s incredibly nice.”

Gigi forced out a laugh, nodding. “It does help. Thanks.”

The woman opened the door and guided her inside, where the man himself sat behind a large desk, a pair of glasses on as he was typing away on his laptop.

It was weird seeing Sutan in real life, since Gigi had of course looked him up, and knew that he was the force behind some of the biggest supermodels in the last 20 years.

“Umh..”

Gigi bit her lip. She knew she was already signed with Elite in L.A., but apparently, Sutan had asked for her specifically and after talking to Naomi, she knew that meeting could determine the course of the rest of her career.

“Oh,” Sutan looked up, a smile flashing over his face before he closed his computer and pushed his glasses into his hair. “Hello.”

“Hi,” Gigi waved, her stomach doing a flip. “I’m Gigi.”

“And it’s great to meet you, Gigi!” Sutan stood up, quickly buttoning his suit jacket before gesturing towards the chair in front of him. “Come sit.”

Gigi did as he asked, the man shaking her hand before she sat down. She’d never been treated so seriously before.

“How are you doing?” Sutan sat back down. “Is the apartment okay? Girls treating you well?”

“Oh, yeah.” Gigi nodded. “Everyone’s been…really cool.”

Really cool was an understatement. Symone was probably the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. Naomi carried herself with absolute confidence, and Bimini was so amazing Gigi couldn’t help but hang on her every word.

“Wonderful.” Sutan smiled. “I like your dress.”

Gigi didn’t know if he was being serious, the suit Sutan was wearing obviously expensive, what everyone was wearing in New York obviously expensive.

“My mom made it.”

“She did?” Sutan looked surprised for a second. “That’s great, and a good edge to have.” He smiled, tapping the pen he had picked up on the desk. “If she happens to ever be in New York, bring her by.  Let me say hello to her and show her around the company so she knows what you’re going to be doing.”

“Really?” Gigi tried to hide how much that notion excited her, how much she’d love to share more with her mom than her nightly calls home. “She’d love that, and she likes coming to New York. She’s a costume designer. For theater.”

“Makes it all the better! I’m sure we could get some Broadway tickets for the two of you.” Sutan made a quick note, and Gigi wondered for a second if it’d be rude to make a request, her mom talking her ear off about how Jinkx Monsoon was finally going to be back on Broadway. “My girlfriend is actually a designer too.” Sutan smiled. “Though she only does boring old regular fashion.”

Gigi laughed, the promise that Sutan was nice apparently holding true.

“So.” Sutan sat up straight, adjusting his suit jacket. “Let’s cut to the chase.”

Gigi nodded, shifting so she could sit on top of her hand, her stomach suddenly tight with anticipation and worry.

“I’m very interested in signing you Gigi.” Sutan pointed at her with his pen. “You’re obviously gorgeous, but we all already knew that.”

Gigi had never heard anyone state how she looked with such absolute confidence, Sutan calling her gorgeous like it was a fact and not an opinion.

“I have to see you walk, and we need professional photos for a portfolio, so we have to do test shots which means we need to get you to a salon.”

Gigi had to force her hand not to fly to her hair, but she had apparently not managed to hide it well enough, since Sutan smiled.

“I’m not going to make you into a blonde or anything, but Elite girls don’t use box dye.”

“It’s actually-”

“Or henna.” Sutan had cut her off, but Gigi didn’t feel corrected or like she had done anything wrong. “I promise you’ll love it. Juju Sanderson is a master at what she does, and you can always say no.”

Gigi nodded, the nervous twisting of her stomach replaced with more manageable butterflies.

“All that aside… Today, I think you and I should just talk. Get to know each other.” Sutan leaned back in his chair. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good.” Gigi smiled, finally letting herself be excited. She was going to be a model.

“So, Bimini told me you like roller skating?”

***

There were times when Maxwell was incredibly, deeply grateful for Trixie’s laid-back, supportive-dad style of management. Times when it was essential to have someone running the show who didn’t yell, who had perspective and encouraged them all to find joy in their work, to not get too stressed out about deadlines, reminding them that they were a team. Usually, in fact, Maxwell appreciated Trixie a lot.

Today was not one of those days.

In typical Coach fashion, Trixie had dragged the entire department out for a family lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant, insisting that they were all getting way too anxious and uptight about the upcoming deadline for Spring Runway submissions. He treated them all to delicious food and several rounds of margaritas, got them all to relax and let their guards down.

Which is why, when they returned to the office, laughing and chattering, trading jokes and banter, no one was prepared for the sight that awaited them.

Miss Fame, in all her ivory-clad glory, standing in the middle of the design floor, tapping her foot and looking around.

Maxwell felt his heart literally drop straight out of his asshole, the panic of a drop-in visit from their CEO just as acute as if it was the first time.

Why hadn’t Courtney called to let them know she was coming? Usually, they would have at least had a few minutes of warning. And they all had their phones on them, so there was no excuse. What an absolute nightmare.

"There you are. I was starting to worry I was paying you all for nothing."

Maxwell exchanged a tense look with Alexis, the only other designer who’d been through this ordeal as many times as him, the trauma bond they shared always coming out in moments like this.

"Hi, Fame,” Trixie said, doing his best to save them all with a friendly grin. “Can we help you?"

"Knit."

Everyone looked at April, whose eyes grew about three sizes, and Miss Fame sighed.

"White knit. One of you showed me a white knit," she said, then folded her arms, clearly waiting for a clear and immediate answer, no one stepping forth, not even Violet who Maxwell knew was fluent in Fame.

"Umh," Blu raised her hand like an obedient second grader, and Fame gestured for her to go on. "Can you be a bit more specific-"

"No," Fame cut her off. "Now. Who has something of actual value to add?"

***

Courtney stabbed a tomato, wondering what time it was in Tokyo. It had to be late at night. Was Bianca out on the town, living it up and enjoying the Japanese nightlife? Or, maybe she was back in her hotel room, already tucked in bed. Courtney closed her eyes, wishing she was there with her instead of stuck in this dull cafeteria surrounded by suits.

If she really concentrated, she could imagine the feel of the cool sheets on her back, Bianca’s lips trailing down her collarbone. She squeezed her thighs together under the table.

“This seat taken?”

“No, go ahead,” Courtney replied distractedly, lowering her eyes once again, doing her damndest to conjure up the image she’d just had, feeling like she’d just been woken up from a delicious dream, trying desperately to fall back asleep quickly--but it was gone. She sighed, dejected.

“Deep in thought, huh?”

Courtney looked up to see that the voice belonged to one of the suits, a generic square-jawed bro smiling at her from across the table, apparently trying to be charming.

“Um…” She was in no mood for this today. She glanced over at her phone to check the time, eyes bulging and stomach turning over when she realized how long it had been, and that she had three missed calls from the office. Miss Fame was obviously back from her own lunch, and Courtney was in deep shit. “Fuck!”

She jumped up from her seat, snatching up her things.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck-”

“Everything okay?” asked the suit, but Courtney didn’t have time to indulge his bullshit, simply grunted a ‘yeah’ and raced to the elevator.

When she got to the office, she realized to her dismay that Fame was nowhere to be found. She woke up her computer and quickly figured out what happened. She must have gone down to design...with no warning, if the frantic messages from downstairs were any indication.

She slid into her seat, taking a deep breath and picked up the phone, dialing Kandy’s extension. She answered immediately, quietly reporting, “Yeah, she’s still here. Everyone’s ready to kill you.”

“I know, I’m sorry! I thought she was still at lunch, but...what can I do to make it better?”

“We like pastries and alcohol,” Kandy said, and then abruptly hung up, Courtney dropping the receiver with a groan.

***

Sutan grabbed a handful of hangers with polo shirts, putting them into the clear plastic bin he had fished out from the bottom of his closet. The dry cleaning had been hanging in the hallway when he had gotten home from work, Violet’s things mixed in with his own, the apartment as always spotless after the visit from his housekeeper.

Sutan took another handful, putting it in the bin for storage. Violet hadn’t asked him to clean out the summer side of his wardrobe, the clothes she hadn’t yet used still neatly packed up in the beat up suitcase they had gotten from her place, but Sutan wanted to do this for her, wanted to make sure that it was easy for Violet to get to her things while she was staying in his apartment.

He put the lid on the bin, actually hauling it to the empty walk-in closet in Raja’s old room a task for another day since he wanted to get done before dinner arrived, an order of Italian food on it’s way.

Sutan didn’t actually know if Italian was what Violet wanted but it seemed like a safe bet, his girlfriend asleep on the couch when he got home, her shoe, jacket, crutches and purse making a trail from the hallway to where she had obviously crashed the second she came through the door.

He admired her work ethic, but a small part of him couldn’t help but worry if she was pushing too hard too fast, Violet’s afternoons spent with her sketchbook open to do her part of the spring fill ins, even though he could see that she was so exhausted she could barely hold a pencil.

Sutan tore into the plastic, ready to put the clothes away, when he heard the door to the bedroom open.

“Sutan?”

“In here!” Sutan poked his head out of the closet, a smile on his lips when he saw Violet in the door, his girlfriend leaning against the frame. “I got you a penne vodka for dinner.”

“That’s fine.” Violet was wearing her work clothes, a pale lilac wrap dress hugging her body, but she was rumpled from sleep, the fabric askew so he could see her bra, matching lilac lace peeking out.

“Fine.” Sutan nodded, a fine from Violet just that. A confirmation that it was fine, which Sutan was still trying to get used to.

“Do you have Raven’s number?”

“... Yes?” Sutan looked at Violet, only now noticing that she was holding her old and clunky iPhone in her free hand, the other holding the one crutch she prefered to use at home. “Why?”

“So I can text her?”

Sutan snorted, the dry reply really what he should have expected.

“I figured.” He fished his own phone out of his pocket, his notifications telling him that a text from Gigi had ticked in, the young girl asking him if she could bring some reference photos for Juju to look at.

Gigi was only 19, but his gut feeling had been confirmed the moment he saw her, her weird but charming little laugh, great jaw and intense eyes exactly what he predicted everyone would be looking for in the upcoming seasons. She was a little bit boney, but she’d hopefully grow into it, a pound or three more and some guided trips to the gym rounding her out.

“There.” Sutan pressed send on Raven’s contact, a ding from Violet’s phone telling him it had arrived.

“Thanks,” Violet smiled, and Sutan had expected that he’d be left to continue unpacking, but she was still leaning against the door, now fiddling with her phone.

“Everything okay lovely eyes?”

“It’s just,” Violet looked unsure. “The spa thing Fame sent with the flowers. It’s for two, and I wanted… I thought maybe Raven would like to go with me, but…”

Violet trailed off, and Sutan had to bite down a smile. He had sensed that Raven and Violet had gotten closer but this was a development he hadn’t seen coming.

“I think she’d love that.”

***

“So, these are my top three candidates at the moment,” Trixie said, handing over an iPad to Raja, and a folder to Fame, who always preferred to look at physical copies, the three of them in Fame’s office.

Raja swiped through the photos, trying not to judge the candidates too harshly, while Fame sifted through the folder.

“Trixie…” Fame paused, looking up, “what am I looking at, exactly?”

“Well, uh… One of them is a recent Parsons graduate, the other has been working at Calvin Klein for a few years, and the third-”

“This is garbage, Trixie. None of this work speaks to the Galactica brand. None of it.”

“Well, but don’t you think those blue pieces are-”

“Trixie.”

Raja felt for Trixie, she really did, but she had to agree with Fame on this one. She could see why he’d selected the designers, their work technically good and creatively interesting, but it was all wrong for Galactica.

“Look, I know they’re not the most exciting portfolios we’ve seen, but this is a tough time of year, and this was the best of the bunch. Fashion week will be hard without an extra person, and Violet’s been doing great work, but her injury is really slowing her down, and-”

“Why don’t you expand the search? Maybe go international?” Raja suggested.

“Yes, try that. And please do not waste our time with any more sub-par candidates.” Fame closed the folder, then called out, “Courtney!”

After a beat, she sighed and tried again. “Courtney!”

It seemed that the progress Raja thought Courtney was making had been stymied a bit, Fame’s exasperation clear as she raised her voice, something she hated to do, calling out to her for a third time.

“Courtney!”

“Yes Miss!” Courtney finally came racing to the door, standing breathlessly, notepad in her hand, waiting for Fame’s instructions. Fame held out the folder in her hands, and Courtney stepped forward.

“This is garbage,” she said, handing over the folder. Courtney took the folder, pausing for a moment, as Fame looked at Trixie and pointedly repeated, “garbage.”

Courtney looked slightly confused, but nonetheless dropped the folder into the trash can beside Fame’s seat on the sofa.

“Is there anything else you need, Miss?”

Raja stifled a laugh, knowing full well that this moment had lost the dramatic punch that Fame intended, could see the cross look on her friend’s face as clear as day.

“That’s all.”

[punz4lyfe]

Now you've been asked what you do like about him what about the opposite what don't you like about goh?

Aw man, this is gonna hurt.

TL;DR - Goh’s a completely lovable character, but I have three particular issues with him that I feel could become worse if not taken care of properly.

First off, DISCLAIMERS!! To all my fellow Goh fans, please know that writing this, I do not mean any hatred to Goh in anyway. I LOVE Goh, and if you’ve seen literally ANY of my past anipoke posts, you would already know that. These are just issues I find with his character that I want to be changed for the best.

Now with that outta the way, here’s what I don’t like about Goh:

1. His iffy character development. While he’s doing fine in becoming more open to people and more willing to help Pokemon, his fighting skills are what I have trouble with it. Let’s go back to his first ever official battle.

It was at Hoenn’s Frontier Cup where he used Scorbunny and Scyther against a trainer’s Mightyena. Despite having a type advantage with Scyther, he lost horribly, which is completely understandable. He’s a beginner and doesn’t possess the same kind of street smarts and experience Ash and many other trainers have. Alright then, so maybe this will lead to a change in character of wanting to become better in battles by getting some training with Ash, who made quick work of that Mightyena trainer. Surely we’ll get some development over this topic after this episode!

He beats Saffron City’s Karate Master and scores a free Hitmonchan.

...Okaaaay, I mean, we’ve never seen the Karate Master in battle before, so perhaps it was just another fodder trainer the anime is filled of. I sure we’ll get some more Goh development after thi-

He easily defeats and captures a powerful Flygon.

.....Alright, alright, it was only a wild Pokemon. Everyone can beat those, right? Heck, in the next episode, he technically suffers a curbstomp loss against Kiawe and admits he only battles Ash every so often. Perhaps this loss will encourage Goh to train more with Ash so he could become a stronger trainer. I mean, despite his good luck with Pokeballs, he’s gonna need to be as strong as he can be for tougher mons, like Legendaries. I’m 100% sure we’ll get something out of thi-

He takes down a wild Zapdos and NEARLY captures it.

.........Uh, okie dokes, it wasn’t a successful capture, and who knows? Even though we have not seen him battle/train that much on-screen, maybe he just got a little lucky. Even in the games, it happens to the best of us. Perhaps this barely missed victory will finally give Goh the time to actually development more on-screen so that he could have a better chance agai-

He defeats Oleana’s Milotic, using his fire-type Raboot who only wanted to use a weak fire-type move.

..............Allllriiiiight, maybe Oleana just got a little cocky later on. Plus, Raboot finished Milotic by evolving in Cinderace and finishing it off with Pyro Ball. With this powerful evolution in hand, maybe Goh will finally realize that, in order for Cinderace to reach its greatest potential, he must start training for once and obtain some proper development for a chance against stronger threa-

Cinderace fights decently well against Mewtwo, even lasting longer than Pikachu and being on-par with the more trained Lucario.

....................At this point, I’m all out of excuses for him. Overall, Goh’s development as a trainer is very rushed to the point seeing him achieve numerous victories despite all odds being against his favor to be iffy.

2. Slightly touchy topic, but there are some negatives with his whole catching all Pokemon goal. So Goh wants to catch every single mon he can in order to reach up to Mew, as he said to Mewtwo in episode 46. And yes, this includes Legendaries as well. Unfortunately, this is where my issues with his goal starts. First off, where in the world will Goh keep any Legendary he encounters? Cerise’s glorified garden dome? Yeah, keep Dialga and Palkia, literal beings of space and time, inside a glass dome with a bunch of weaker mons. And speaking of which, wouldn’t catching mons like the Creation Trio or the Island Guardians cause quite the upset in, well, y’know, the natural balance of things? Sure, Goh technically hasn’t caught a single Legendary yet (Eternatus doesn’t count because it had to be sealed away), with how the anime is playing out, issues like this will surely rise throughout the series.

And yes, the anime is playing it out for Goh to indeed catch every single mon before reaching Mew. If you pay attention to the openings as well as many of Goh’s own character moments, such as episode 46, then you can easily see the signs telling us that Goh is bound to catch them all, just as Ash is bound on defeating Leon. In the past, pretty much all of Ash’s traveling companions had their own goals as well, but it’s usually because of those goals is why they leave Ash by the end of their journeys, like May and Dawn pursuing contests in other regions, Brock wanting to become a doctor, Iris wanting to find more Dragon types, Kiawe wanting to become an Island Kahuna etc. Because of that, it becomes up to the audience’s interpretation (and fanfics) on how they achieve their dreams and what challenges they could face throughout the way. With Goh, there will a lot more focus and emphasis placed on his goal, and while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s too bad there aren’t really any stakes or obstacles in Goh’s journey!

Really now, another glaring issue with Goh’s goal is that he has NO trouble going through with it at all. From his very first fodder capture, all he has to do is get a good throw and then PING! Pokemon caught. Guess the thing of having to weaken a Pokemon first before capturing it has been retconned out of the anime forever. With that said, there’s absolutely no struggle for Goh to overcome in his journey, which kinda makes things boring. Where’s the challenge? Where are his rivals? Are there any doubts? Does he have any issue of having to catch and connect every single mon in existence? No, well then good for him I guess! Sad thing too is that he catches so many Pokemon with so much potential, but they then disappear completely after their debut.

Remember that free Hitmonchan he scored from Saffron’s Fighting Dojo who seemed completely willing to train with Riolu and Farfetch’d? Never seen again. That female Raichu who loves giving berries? Completely forgotten about. That Aerodactyl Goh resurrected and bonded with before catching? Thanos snapped. The Heracross Goh obtained from a trade at the cost of a second Pinsir he worked hard to find? Literally who?

3. And my biggest issue with Goh. The fact he’s somehow on the same scale as Ash.

Don’t believe me? Well, let’s go back to the ending of episode 46. After Mewtwo teleported him, Ash, Pikachu, Lucario, and Cinderace back home, Goh said this: “We’ve still got a long way to go.”

Excuse me, but WHAT?!?!?!

You BOTH got a long way to go, even though you both suffered a complete curbstomp from a mon that would probably even make the likes of Lance, Cynthia, and Leon comparable to Youngster Joey?!?! What the Distortion World?!?! Why is Goh and, by extension, the writers implying he and Ash are on even terms when it comes to being a trainer? Goh, as a reminder, you literally only began your trainer career 45 episodes ago!!

Alright, let’s talk about Ash for a second and what he’s been through since he started his trainer career. Ash started in Kanto, and while he really only fairly achieved three out of his eight badges (Brock and Misty’s were givens, Erika’s was a thank-you gift, Sabrina’s was all Haunter’s doing, and Jessie and James are complete jokes that no one should take seriously), he still partook in as many battles as he could against tough trainers while getting some pointers from the much more experienced Misty and Brock. After that, he went on to become a much more impressive trainer in later journeys. Instead of a full recap, I’ll just list two impressive things Ash has done in each region he’s journeyed through after losing in the Kanto League.

Orange Islands: Won his first official double battle with Pikachu and Charizard despite neither initially getting along at first and then defeated the Orange League champ, Drake.

Johto: Survived an entire forest of bloodthirsty Ursaring with his friends and defeated Gary’s Blastoise with his Charizard.

Hoenn: Helped stopped both Team Magma and Team Aqua’s elemental threats and reached Top 8 in the Hoenn League despite only two of his mons being fully evolved with one being a glass cannon bird.

Kanto again: Conquered the Battle Frontier and tied with May in his first ever contest.

Sinnoh: Helped protect a Riolu from the famed Hunter J and knocked out two of Tobias’ Legendary Pokemon.

Unova: Defeated Iris’ Dragonite twice (Charizard pretty much had the high ground in their fight) and helped protect Meloetta.

Kalos: Defeated four Mega Evolutions (Lucario, Abomasnow, Absol, and Sceptile) and was one of the main heroes against Lysandre.

Alola: Became an Ultra Guardian and conquered the Alola League.

And right now as of Journeys: Defeated Korinna’s Mienfoo and Mega Lucario with only Dragonite right after the two curbstomped Gengar and defeated Chairman Rose.

And this isn’t even scratching the surface, and yet, somehow, Ash is still on the same scale of Goh. This doesn’t make any logical sense, it completely negates Ash’s experience while over-wanking Goh’s, and it ruins any semblance of power scaling between the two. Logically, Ash should be leagues above Goh and the latter should always confide to Ash whenever he needs assistance or pointers, not “Oh, we both lost to a powerful legendary, guess that means we both have stuff to learn and we’re both beginners lul”. It’s like Deku and All Might both losing a villain that’s beyond both of their capabilities, and then Deku saying that they BOTH have much to learn afterwards! Does it make sense? HECK NO.

If they had to have Goh comment about their loss, why couldn’t he say something that would’ve made more sense? Maybe say something like “Wow, I can’t believe I lasted that long, honestly.” And then Ash would say, “Hey, you’re only getting better. And me and my team will always be there in case you need more training.” Have the two acknowledge the fact that even trainers like Leon wouldn’t fare any better than them against Mewtwo. Just absolutely anything that doesn’t completely ruin what we know of these characters to the point the two are considered equals, despite all the evidence saying otherwise.

I’m getting a little exhausted now, so I’m done, but thanks for asking, anon!

And for anyone reading, please feel free to agree or disagree. I’m completely acceptable to anyone else’s thoughts/opinions over Goh and would love to hear them.

[erikthedead]

entry #4

Started reading FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY’s ‘Notes from the Underground,’ and I just got into the second half of him rambling and reflecting on his behaviour in detail. I never would have thought a Russian man from the 19th century would make me feel a little bit less alone in this world (or at least the ‘character’ delivering the narrative). Yet the more I read about what goes on in peoples’ heads the less insane I feel, or at least comforted by realising that everyone is a little bit insane, as long as they’re being honest. Should that be comforting? I feel like that should actually be disturbing, but I kinda like being disturbed. The bit that struck me to get writing about myself was how he recurringly mentions this need to be seen and heard and be a noble member of society, but flip flops between that and a state of isolating himself and being a recluse, ashamed by how his own face looks. I hope I’m interpreting it right, as I’m not so sure I’m smart enough to fully understand everything the man was trying to convey. The whole thing reads as him trying to make sense of himself, if anything. But if I am right in that, I can totally relate, and it causes me much distress as it seemed to have tormented him too.  His way was to throw himself into busy streets and bars, never feeling comfortable with it from what I’ve read, and possibly did it on purpose to feel uncomfortable, because he was getting bored with the current discomfort of isolating himself in his room with his books. That’s the interesting thing about it, he never once says he ‘leaves the comfort’ of his own home, like you’ll hear many well-adjusted introverts say. People who are content on their own. He obviously wasn’t content, he was bored, sick of his own brain, he tells us how he would break down into tearful fits from some sort of mental anguish that he tried to escape from through consumption of literature. I do exactly the same thing with media of all kinds, not because I ENJOY spending time with myself and my things, but because it helps me COPE with it. I am so envious of consistently introverted people who relish in their alone time. That SHOULD BE ME. All the same, it annoys me to death when someone complains about being ‘stuck in the house’ all day when they want to go out and mingle and see the world, because that is too exhausting a thing to wish for compared to creature comforts and solitude, surely. Both of them irritate me because I’m jealous of their seemingly consistent understanding of themselves, their desires and what makes them content on a regular, general basis. I’ve been trying to hard to figure out my own. I’m twenty-six now, yet I still feel juvenile as hell. I still feel like a child that goes up to the next thing that catches its eye and wants to ask, ‘can I have a go?’ And of course, to an innocent child, you let them have a go, without any expectations. You don’t get that luxury as an adult. You are expected to choose, commit, KNOW what you want. But again, I can’t help but think this isn’t me being special, that everyone probably feels this way, you certainly hear it from a lot of old people who humbly state that they are still always learning and discovering new things. Then again maybe they miss the point. Discovering things is fine, all the time. Learning is appreciated and encouraged. But actually changing or choosing not to change (both can be bad, right?), that is unsettling. We’ve given up good and evil for behaviourism and yet still people like me, Fyodor and to name a few other people I relate to when I read their autobiographies, Russell Brand, Stephen Fry, Steve-O (oh yes I compare myself to the greats, in all my unheard mighty feats), people like us can’t even get that right. Creative, expressive, bipolar people. People with big heads and sensitive souls, I’d say. Although I connect deeply to people like this I’d never want to be around them for too long. I know their torment and quite frankly my own is enough to contend with. There is a feeling of ‘pay attention to me but leave me alone.’ ‘Love me more than anything but don’t care too much about me because I’m bound to hurt you or make a fool of myself.’ Actually, in Notes from the Underground, Fyodor talks about man’s unconscious desire to smash up something he has been building, because he is unconsciously terrified of what to do what he has completed it, and Brand actually mentions this quite a bit in his Bookywooks. How he’d personally reach a level of fame and notoriety but then sabotage it, fearing the peak or what comes after – the come down. I hope I’ve interpreted these guys correctly, because it does make sense to me. The only thing that really sets me aside from these guys is my utter lack of ambition. At least in these peoples’ hypomanic states they were achieving something. What do I do? I’m the classic, slightly mentally ill underachiever that never sticks to anything. The sheer magnitude of my unconscientiousness could be used as an example of how not to be during a Jordan Peterson lecture. My downfalls were not self-sabotages, conscious or unconscious for the first half of my life. The rest you can blame on me, that’s fair enough, but puberty hit me early and like a train, and all that meant was I was spotty and got a bullied a bit, but that didn’t excuse me from performing well in my exams and essays. I was predicted to come out with some of the top grades in the whole school. I even started finding my confidence and standing up for myself to bullies after a few years adjusting to adolescence. Then my mother died suddenly one night from an overdose when I was fourteen, and my whole world flipped upside down. Like an anime main character backstory right there. It wasn’t perfect beforehand, anyone who knows my whole childhood situation will agree, but I had a bloody good chance up until she died. After that, I became nihilistic, rebellious, promiscuous and generally self-destructive. ‘How would your mother feel if she could see you now? She wouldn’t have wanted this.’ Oh how I wish I slapped anyone that said this to me. How dare they even try to assume what she would have wanted, having never known her. Of course, I said it to myself all the time, I still do sometimes, but I have that right. The rest of you don’t. Hah, rights. What a joke, even as I try to be dominant through typing to imaginary figments of the past and the future, I’m not even convincing myself.

The inconsistency, of my desires, my attitudes, my cognitions, my emotions and ultimately my behaviour is what pains me. I would rather be a complete abolition that was sure in himself than be like this. What’s even more frustrating is that it’s not that uncommon for people to be like me in that sense, but they just go with the flow with it, seemingly unaware of their inconsistency, and become incredibly defensive when you point it out. It’s understandable, I get defensive with myself, which could be an early sign of schizophrenia, who knows, time will tell. At the moment though I am without doubt an anxious, depressive, inconsistent muddled mess of a person, and even the HOPE for my future self comes and goes in powerful forms. I have the grandiose fantasies of being interviewed by people because I’m just that interesting and my achievements are that remarkable, and I also have the sheer terror while preparing to talk to the shop assistant when I’m buying something. Oh yeah, buying things, that’s a tricky one for me an’ all! The trick with me is not to give me too much choice, because if I have I will never decide, or I will make a silly last minute decision or pick the third thing after debating with myself for ten minutes between choosing from the first and the second. Not only indecisiveness, but impulsiveness plagues me. Not just buying things I don’t need, or don’t even want yet because I haven’t finished the last thing, but even charitably so. I saw a stranger E-begging by chance and decided to send him money. I have no idea why. Am I just a good person? I don’t have enough money for myself, and even if I do have some to spare, that should go to others who have helped me financially before a stranger on the internet. Maybe I’m not a good person, and I just did it to cleanse myself of some feeling of shame or guilt for wasting money on myself. As well as the positive fantasies of my future where I am destined to greatness through nothing other than my own conviction and virtues, I have the other vision in the crystal ball that shows myself destitute and addicted to hard drugs, homeless or institutionalised, ultimately suicided. Addiction and suicide run through my veins afterall, and I’ve been close to becoming the 3rd generation of my bloodline to go out by my own hand. The decently sized scar on my arm from a self-inflicted slash that was intended for my neck, that nearly severed my nerves and would have left me with a malfunctioning left hand had I gone any deeper. Sometimes I look at it and feel ashamed for doing it, for trying to throw away my beautiful, special life, and other times I look at it and feel ashamed for missing my real target, my consciousness. I battle with my consciousness a lot, I try to minimise it through drink and drugs or healthy mental exercises, distract it with my media, sublimate it through writing and drawing, but rarely do I get peace from it. Then other times, I count my blessings and praise the universe for bestowing onto me just the ability to think and feel and be a person. Neither approach to life is crazy to me, what’s crazy to me is not being able to bloody pick one and settle on it for more than a couple of days at a time. Like Fyodor describes his character going out into a busy bustling area in his urges to be part of society after a stint of isolation, I will go out some weekends and do the same, but that’s only a more recent, probably more healthy advance in my development than what I have been doing for a long time which is going online to provoke and debate people with my thoughts and opinions, and sometimes cheeky insults. I really resent when people who know me call it ‘trolling’ when I go off on these episodes. Trolling to me is when you put something out there that you don’t actually stand by, but you know will get a reaction out of people because you’re bored and want to mess with people. Now fair enough, there’s a lot to be said for that last part, but I have no reason to say things I don’t really think/feel/believe when the things I say genuinely are enough to upset people on their own, things I sincerely believe are correct. I’ll feel ever so right and convicted during these online tirades, then the next day want to delete all my social media and wipe my name from the planetary database. Perhaps I could just delete my existence while I’m at it. Seems like my self-doubt and my self-assuredness play equal part in my misery, because like everything else, I can’t choose one. The same happens if I go out and meet new people on the weekend, I’ll exchange numbers and add people with all intention of meeting up in the future, only to ghost them afterwards. I don’t know why.

[pkmnsdarkqueen]

The Villain’s as their dnd race and class

From this

that helped inspire all of this

(used hero forge )

-some edits to original design-

Team name: Rainbow

How they got the name: They kept arguing over what to be called and some Npc said they were all so colorful, and should go by rainbow. This stuck, they all collectively hate this npc for being the cause of what they find a terribly lame name.

other teams:

Elite (Kanjo)

Second Gen  (children group)

Dropouts (main group coming soon)

Giovanni-Shifter mountain lion, Fighter: Battle Master

A shifter fighter as before still trying to absolve his crimes for ya know running a mafia that controlled many towns. Instead of uniforms to signify being part of the mafia members where shoulder armor all in the same colors to signify their allegiance. The helmet on the ground is reserved for the leader alone. He still has these in case some of his old ways or contacts are needed by the group. Also in his fighting style he still uses some dirty tactics such as rings since brass knuckles are a bit too obvious, and well the good old broken class bottle his tail is holding. A touch of an orange vest since well, the anime version of him is something my mind will never forget.

(rest below cut)

Archie-Sea elf, Rouge: Swashbuckler

I know sea elves aren’t a traditional race, but the homebrew stuff people have made is so good and I want to keep the elf/dwarf rivalry with Maxie plus someone else is already a triton. So he fights with a giant anchor because of course he does, and no matter what has on his captain hat despite not currently having a crew. The center skull of his necklace is a sapphire, and the skull mask was his claim to fame as a pirate since I can’t make the x pattern he has in the games. 

Maxie-Mountain dwarf, Wizard: Evocation

Ah maxie the dwarf, He came from the mountains fascinated with rocks and that comes into play ash his magic is mostly volcanic. Like most dwarves he wears a helmet this one with a Ruby in it as it is traditional among dwarves to have armor. However he’s very unlike most dwarves in that he keeps a clean face,a nd isn’t terribly rugged which aids to why he left in the first place. His book has spells as well as all of the research he’s done on various land scapes.

Cyrus-Kalashtar, Artificer: Forge Adept

He doesn’t look like he belongs, and he does not care. He’s like the one person in the party who’s hired them for this job, and just wants his answers dang it he doesn’t care what he looks like to them. He sleeps in that outfit and through some artificer tech bs it keeps his body temperature perfect unless the weather is extreme. And he gets 2 angels cause he’s the one guy in the party with a gun, that he made mind you, and will not let anyone touch it. Also has a scanner to find the planar abnormalities and the little orb is like a small spy drone. He’s not as friendly as other Kalashter but has the no emotion thing under control to a terrifying degree, or perceived lack of emotion.

Ghetsis-Human, Warlock: Fiend

Again he has to have a good enough reputation to be allowed to hang around so he looks almost knightly in a way. Heads up the copper sickly green color on the dog’s paws, ANYONE WITH THAT COLOR IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE BBEG (big bad evil guy so final boss). Read plot to understand. He claims the spectral wolf he rides on is a warlock spell adjusted, since they can get mounts, but it’s one of the gifts from the god he is taking orders from since he’s older and it’s colors are somewhat based on his hydreigon. As far as the color I also used it in his magic where the sword he summons has the evil god’s influence. The staff on his back is the cane he uses when the wolf is unsummoned. Also yes he is missing an arm cause I like that more than him having one. Finally the scattered objects around him symbolize the fact he, ye know killed his former party.

Lysandre-Leonin, Paladin:Oath of the Crown

He’s a lion because of course he is, but as he is oath of the crown and royalty much of his armor details are polished in the brightest of golds. Overall his attire has little silver usually a black or gold. His blade would be gives waves like fire, and his abilities would be mostly fire based. He would be the best in the party as diplomatic ventures due to being royalty, despite the disgrace he recently brought on his family, and the fact he’s a paladin thus the quil and paper at his side.

Lusamine-Aasmir, Bloodhunter: Profane soul

Blood hunter another kinda sketchy class, but as an aasmir people instinctively trust her more. Her powers would be ice based if her own, and project some heavenly like light as well. However as she is also helping the main boss powers from him would resonate int hat sickly copper green color as well. Her weapon of choice would be scythes though she’d be able to talk away any suspicious. Better yet the amulet on her neck is how she is able to make sure those who can sense good and evil such as paladin Lysandre is enchanted to throw them off. It also is what holds the mind control on Guzma who got too close. 

Guzma-Bug Bear, Barbarian: Wild Soul

The palest and most BUG of bug bears you’ll ever meet. I wanted to keep the pale look cause it fits with ‘team skull’ and kept the dyed hair as well. Also naturally he’s got some skulls. The blindfold is excused by Lusamine saying he has an injury there when in actuality it hides that he’s possessed and the eerie glow from soem of her and Ghetsis’s magic is in his eyes. Also yes most of his armor is bone based. Now for the reasons as to why he has a thorax and bug antenna. So barbarian wild souls get their powers from another plane of esistence after having come into contact with it. Since Lusamine is well experimenting with merging planes, and has used various races as experiments before why not use now mind controlled bug bear? Yeah so he got kinda merged with another plane’s race of bug people. Lusamine has a whole story about how she saved him, and he’s been left kinda mentally unstable and half bug when it’s all her fault. 

Rose-Loxodon, Cleric: Life

A simple elephant that just wants to know if there is a chance magic can be used up fully or is truly as renewable as everyone claims it to be. Certainly can fight though truthfully doesn’t mind helping out by healing. However if soemone gets hurt from fighting in the party, cough maxie and archie, he’s strict about not healing them till they apologize. I kept him in mostly grays since it matches his suit, and some armor since he’s a steel trainer. I also decided his magic would mostly be a gray with pulses of yellow. I gave him brown details on the skin so that it’s true to form, and also he’s got some colorization past usual gray elephant. He’s high key one of the most vital party members as the healer and uses that sometimes, also the one who buys the most health potions. (If I could give the elephant ears piercings I would)

[esepoimipullula]

Alright, so... this is the utterly self-indulgent essay. XD

For any non-Italian readers: remember the introductory note on my translation of Goofy and The Perfect New Year’s Eve Handbook? About Italian Goofy (Pippo) having a huuuuuuuuuge family? Well, everyone in this family is, ofc, either just as quirky or nearly as quriky as Goofy himself... which makes for a lot of interesting personalities. Like Goofy's cousin, Indiana Pipps. Or Arizona Goof, in English. Presumably to make the joke at least a little bit subtler.

... yes, "the joke" is that he's literally an Indiana Jones parody. Who happens to be related to Goofy and look almost exactly (or exactly, depending on the story) like him. He's an "adventure archaeologist" who spends most of his time scouring South American jungles for lost pre-Colombian temples full of traps and treasure, travelling through scorching deserts to find legendary Egyptian ruins, and stumbling into fantarchaeology/Ancient Aliens/magical/mystical relics. He's brave, smart, passionate, confident to the point of being actually a bit arrogant, kind of reckless and hotheaded, a little rough, rather snarky, and has a strong sense of justice... and a bunch of strange habits and quirks. Like his penchant from entering buildings from the window rather than from the door (because that would be too easy), his preference for sleeping bags over beds and tents over houses (though he does have a house just out of Mouseton... in a dangerous swamp complete with crocodiles), his dislike and distrust for city life in general, and his love for a particular brand of strong-flavored liquorice candies called "Negritas" that almost everyone else finds adsolutely disgusting. Through the years, he's fallen in love with a bunch of female characters (starting with Clarabelle Cow, or so the internet tells me... Goof guys trying to steal her away from Horace must be a bizarre family tradition) and he's had a bunch of female characters fall in love with him, as you can expect considering he's the Dr. Jones of the Mouseverse and everything. But none of these crushes has ever really gone anywhere... whether because of a bout of obliviousness preventing him from realizing his temporary sidekick had been head over heels for him the whole time (sorry, Martina), a misguided attempt to present as a more traditional academic for a nerdy professor who unexpectedly turned out to be really into the adventurer type, or fairy law forbidding him to marry his French fairy sweetheart (yup, that happened).

Ironically, his most constant and long-lasting is with his nemesis, Dr. Kranz. (Nope, no name given.) (Yes, this is going to be an "enemies to lovers" kinda thing... except with, like, A Twist. So if you don't like that kind of dynamic or think people shouldn’t like messed-up ships or anything like that, you'd probably better stop reading.)

Kranz and Indiana appeared together in Indiana's first story, Mickey and Goofy in: Raiders of the Lost Temple by Bruno Sarda, and have been chasing each other for one reason or another ever since. Kranz is an adventure archaeologist, too, but despite being (almost) as skilled and succesful at his job as Indiana, he spends an awful lot of time following him around and trying to steal his discoveries... most often by putting on some disguise, stalking him from a distance, and popping out of nowhere with a gun and a mocking smirk as soon as Indiana finds the hidden lost idol/treasure/artifact/city.

Despite some weird occasional foray into the world of attempted world domination, Kranz is (mostly) into the whole villain business for the money and the fame. The money because he loves luxury (especially fast cars and five-star hotels) and sells a good chunk of what he finds or steals to unscrupulous clients or outright villainous organizations to afford to live the good life, and the fame because he has a big ego and (somehow, still) a reputation as a respectable archaeologist that feeds into it... and he's always trying to overshadow Indiana, because he hates being always second best to him. Which is just as well, because Indiana hates his attempts to steal his own discoveries, his criminal activities, his utter lack of ethics, and his greed. Whenever they see each other without either of them ending up on the wrong end of a gun or tied up for the local authorities to find, they usually still end up at each other's throat anyway. Or at least, insulting and teasing each other the whole time.

Except... it wasn't always like that. Back in the day, Indiana and Kranz were actually students in the same college. And roommates (YES, "and they were roommates!"). And "inseparable" best friends who got along very well despite their differences and genuinely cared for each other. And after graduating, even adventuring partners, at least occasionally. Kranz already loved money and luxury, and Indiana had already started to develop his simpler yet more bizarre tastes, but they were good together.

There's actually a recent mini-series about their college years written by Bruno Sarda himself, Young Indiana. It's pretty much a shipper's delight, as it contains high amounts of fluff, overdramatic (and suspiciously coupley imho) friendship drama with a happy ending, hugs, kisses, straight love drama taking a backseat as the focus stays firmly on the friendship drama, and a certain amount of foreshadowing of (angsty) things to come. But their old friendship was already an established fact before that...

Like in the story Indiana Pipps and the Return of Doctor Kranz, where Indiana ends up telling Mickey the story of how they parted ways and became enemies. Which was apparently inspired by something that happened in the Martin Mystère comics, but I've never read them so I wouldn't know. Long story short, Indiana and Kranz where on an expedition together when they unexpectedly found an absurdly powerful ray gun left behind by Ancient Aliens. As it turned out, by that point Kranz had already been in contact with a shady organization that would have paid good money for something like that, so he proposed they should sell the gun to them and share the profits of the sale. Indiana immediately opposed the idea, of course, being all like, "wtf dude idk about YOU apparently but I have morals and also a sense of professional ethics"... so Kranz knocked him out, took the gun, wrote him a note about how you shouldn't slap good luck away, and fled to the other side of the world, where a man from the organization would await him. But when Indiana woke up, he immediately started trying to track him, eventually ruining the sale right before it could go through and throwing the gun into the sea, where it would never be found again. At that point, Kranz swore he'd have his revenge on him by basically costantly tailing him and ruining his life and career, never leaving him a moment of peace.

Which he's sometimes been pretty succesful at, considering there's been a whole story about Indiana being so stressed due to Kranz appearing out of the blue to ruin his day, it turns into some sort of bizarre mania where he believes everyone and anyone is secretly Kranz in disguise. However, the same story also has Kranz being so stressed due to Indiana constantly foiling his schemes that he goes on a cruise to just forget about him and relax for a while... and ends up jumping off the ship when he mistakenly believes Indiana might be on it, too. So, that's a two-way street, I guess.

So, basically... friends to enemies, genuine affection being ruined by greed and ambition and turning into resentment and spite and straight-up hatred, a degree of mutual obsession and general unhealthiness. But that's not really all there is to their relationship.

There's also stories where they're forced to collaborate to reach the same goal and have to behave more or less civilly, or even where they choose to do so willingly and end up actually still being a good team. There's stories where getting good results while working together makes them behave almost amicably, as much as they're able or willing to. Stories where they acknowledge their past together, if not their old friendship, and even the similarities between them. Stories where they find themselves with someone they both look down down or hate even more than each other, and find some common ground insulting and snarking at them in-between doing the same to each other. Where they grudgingly help each other out.

And then, there's Indiana Pipps e il soccorso obbligato. The story I blame for getting me into this ship in the frist place, when I could be here reading and writing Scroldie or Dimeshipping or Donsy or Mickey/Minnie or literally any other of my Disney comics ships that people other than me actually ship.

In Il soccorso obbligato, Kranz gets kidnapped by some shady guys while he's working on a revolutionary archaeological discovery, except he's not been kidnapped and he's not actually close to finding anything that awesome, and it's all just a convoluted trap to get back at Indiana for laughing at him one time because he's terrible. But Indiana doesn't know that, and so he and Mickey rush to the rescue and fly to a whole other continent to find him...

That story really has everything. From Kranz coming up with a ridiculous and ridiculously cruel plan because he might be used to Indiana insulting him and mocking him but sometimes his former friend laughing at him and acting all superior and better than him still hurts, to Indiana actually falling for it and trying to justify to himself why he does, telling himself that after so many years spent (fighting) together there's a bond between them and he owes it to Kranz... and admitting he’s worried about him. From Indiana still remembering little details about Kranz and their past together and looking almost fond as he talks about them, to Kranz being both petty and obsessed enough to leave a journal full of insults to Indiana for him to find as a clue and setting his password to a mocking phrase about him (and Indiana, who should expect some stuff like that or at least be used to it, still getting riled up and planning on giving Kranz an earful when he finds him). From Kranz assuming Indiana would only come save him if he threw an imaginary fantarchaeological discovery into the mix because then Indiana wouldn't be able to resist his "archaeological curiosity", to Indiana considering said discovery more of a secondary concern and actually regretting and feeling almost guilty for mocking Kranz the last time they saw each other before the supposed kidnapping... and recklessly, unthinkingly running over a thin ice bridge over a gaping chasm just to get to him, throwing all caution to the wind even as he tells himself he doesn't even know why he's doing it. And the way they still KNOW each other despite everything that happened, maybe even because of everything that happened! The angst! The complicated, unspoken, repressed things! Being a softie and a sap, I'm always a sucker for "the hero and the villain actually have a bond and care for each other on some level even if it's not the healthiest or most normal thing"... but considering the history between these two? Though the story in itself is very fun and entertaining, it never fails to break my heart a little.

And in all honesty, I might end up writing fanfictions about them. Fanfictions full of angst and pining and conflicted feelings and "we were never lovers but oh god we could have been --- if you hadn't screwed up everything in the end, at least" college stuff with a mess of obliviousness and repressed feelings, most likely.

[popculturebuffet]

Darkwing Duck Reviews: Darkly Dawns the Duck Pts 1 and 2

It’s a Darkwing Double Feature! Just in time for his ducktales special, I take a look at the introduction of everyone’s favorite Daring Duck of Mystery. In his daring debut we meet Darkwing Duck, an egositical and attention hungry superhero who soon finds himself having to look after a feisty orphan to keep her from getting nabbed by local kingpin of crime Taurus Bulba with the help of his biggest fan. Darkwing owns the night under the cut with decades old spoilers. 

Let’s Get Dangerous.. is tommorow so with that in mind i’m doing a darkwing double feature to refresh myself before the big special. So i’ll be covering both the original series pilot “Darkly Dawns the Duck” and the ducktales reboot episode “The Duck Knight Returns”.  Let’s Get Dangerous Itself because I was so wiped yesterday I didn’t get the other review done and unexpectly got acess to the new episode way earlier than usual so i’d rather focus on that. Got it? Good. Let’s continue past me. 

As usual with a new show a breif bit about my history with it: I watched it years ago, as a friend of mine lent me the first two discs of the season 1 dvd and never found the third one nor asked for them back, nor cared I had them. I thoughtly enjoyed it, had a great time and then it took me a decade or so to actually watch the series again due to a combination of being too stubborn to just buy the season 1 dvd again, a very darkwing move of me in hindsight, and then when disney plus meant I had all episodes at my finger tips I.. sat on them till now.. though to be fair i’ve sat on a LOT of great shows on there including the mandalorian, gargoyles and boy meets world. I have a bad tendency to procastinate, the fact this is coming out so late in the day should be a giveaway. I did read about half of volume 1 of the comic and all of volume 2, so there’s that at least.  Point is this new episode finally made me decide to get off my ass and watch darkwing once again, starting with the pilot and the episodes related to the fearsome four to be ready for tomorrow to see what the differences are (Thoguh I did remember bushroot vividly, so I had that at least).  Something to note before I get started talking about the pilot itself though, is the episode order for Darkwing Duck is a Darkwing Clusterfuck. Now I do understand WHY they aired this way: While some episodes do logically take place after other episodes, you can reasonably pop on just about any darkwing and watch it and enjoy it with minimal need to know what happened in previous episodes, kinda like batman the animated series oddly enough. It was also aired between two networks so on some level I get disney’s confusion here.. but on the other hand it’d take ten minutes, they clearly can call up the creator easily as Tad Stones made a cameo in ducktales 2017 we’ll get to so they could easily get a better order from the creator himself, so they really don’t have an excuse for this, or for slapping the pilot in the middle of season 1. Then again both ducktales 2017 and x-men the animated series were sort of a mess order wise when first put up, so not giving a shit about where episodes are placed for re-watching clearly is a pastime of theirs. 

Now i’ve got that out of my system we can dive into the episode itself and a breif plot synopsis. Darkwing Duck is the superhero protector of St. Canard, a masked vigiliante who takes out crime but wishes he actually got fame and credit for his work. Kind of like Booster Gold but without taking endorsments or as far as we know coming from the future. He also has nothing else as shown by the fact he fights crime, does a training regimine to prepare his breakfast that’s a delight to watch then prepares to sleep. It’s an intresting concept, a hero who HAD a civlian identity once, as the rest of the series would play out, he just no longer needs it. And it’s also ahead of it’s time as batman would explore this idea both seriously with bruce wayne murderer and comedically and seriously with the lego batman movie LONG after this series aired, meaning the writers here figured out what many probably knew about batman and put it into their parody version: Batman is the real identity and Bruce is the mask. Batman only keeps his old self because the bruce id is useful to him: It keeps people away from his company, puts up a playboy facade that draws attention away from him being batman, and allows him to do various charities and what not and help honor his parents in a way that dosen’t involve swooping in and kicking people in the throat. And as seen with bruce wayne murderer when the option to throw bruce away for good came up Batman gladly took it.  This is the same idea: Drake Mallard ONLY cares about crime fighting, has no friends no family, we never do find out jack about his family hopefully if there’s a full reboot series Frank and Matt fix it for their version. He has nothing, and is fine with that. He hasn’t really had a reason to care about anything else than his own glory and works alone not because it’s less efficent but because his oversized ego means he dosen’t want to share credit. IT’s an intresting start and his ego would be a defining bit of who he is and used intrestingly int he reboot but we’ll get to that there. 

His life changes forever though when local crime boss Taurus Bulba unleashes his latest scheme: To steal the Ramrod, a gravity manipulating device created by the late Dr. Quackmeyer.. late because Bulba’s men killed him and were dumb enough not to get the arming code for the ramrod first a year ago. Bulba is also behind bars but in one of my faviorite gags of the episode despite the warden’s constnat gloating, Bulba has taken the “Supervillian makes jail into a base” Or “Jail is nothing to a supervillian who can easily get out trope” to ludcrious machines. He has whole meetings with his minions, keeps the ramrod once he gets his hands on it in the laundry and has a ship SHAPED LIKE HIS FACE built into his cellblock. I’ts just so over the top it’s glorious. But yeah since Bulba can’t go after it at first he sends his three goofy minons, one played by eddie “Mandark” deezen in.. love that guy. 

THey do end up stealing the ramrod thanks to the help of bulba’s cool, non-anthromporhic condor who he uses as his right hand man and as his link to his minons via a small tv aroudn it’s neck. That.. is awesome. Darkwing spots the condor but fails to stop the three stooges or the condor and gets unknowingly blamed for the robbery..and stopped to get glamor shots not realizing the guy thought he was a criminla which.. fair enough. It is a shadowy disguise after all. 

Darkwing ends up grabbing onto the vulture sonic 3 style, but ends up falling off him into a hangar where we meet the original version of Launchpad McQuack, whose apparently quit working for scrooge and has his own hangar now though it wouldn’t be a stretch that scrooge bought it for him.. he does , stingy as he is, appricate hard work and launchpad wanting to start his own buisness and while hte planes were probably all on launchpad, Scrooge would gladly buy a run down buliding for a loyal friend who wants to put in some hard honest work. Plus it’s a free place to store any vehicles he has in the st canard area.. I mean it’s still scrooge. And yes I know the whole “Tad stones said they aren’t the same universe” non sense. I do have the utmost respect for the guy and he seems really, nice but I don’ tlike that, no one likes that and both the comics and the current duckverse with the ducktales reboot entirely ignore that for good reason.While the two shows are diffrent in tone they stil lfit and it’s not a stretch for launchpad to want to spread his wings or failing that scrooge to help push him out of the nest and give him his own buisness or one of scrooge’s to run. 

But while Launchpad does help DW with a propeller plane they fail and while launchpad offers to be his sidekick, DW gives him the old I work alone bit.  However him being alone won’t last for long as Bulba still needs that arming code and since his only lead is Waddlemeyer’s grandaughter who grew up in his lab, he sends his buffonish minons to go get him. Why he never sends his lone female minon with them is because it’s funnier if she dosen’t I guess. Which it is so fair enough.  So thus we enter Goslyn, who the head of the orphanage is fed up with due to her antics. Goslyn is played as most of you knwo by christine cavanagh.. I honestly forgot and it still throws me off a bit she’s using what would later be her chucky finster voice for a character so completely diffrent. Granted it’s not unusual in voice acting, just weird here and only for me personally having grown up with rugrats but not darkwing. The orphanage head is a bit less jarring as she’s played by Marcia Wallace, aka Edna Krabable from the simpsons but A) that show was already running at this point and B), the character is basically a nicer version of edna versus chuckies voice coming out of a tiny if immensly fun to watch hellion. I do like goslyn, sh’es a fun character even in her shadier moments, it’s just something i’d forgotten about i’ll need to get used to is all. 

Bulba’s hired goons come in claming ot be friends of her grandpas and we actually get some really heartwrenching context for Gos’ behavior: While she does act out she actually LIKES THE orphanage.. ti’s just her friends keep getting adopted while no one wants someone “full of spirit”. It’s heartwrecnhing to hear.. and only gets worse when the goons try and kidnap her.  Thankfully Darkwing.. also kidnaps her, but he kindaps her from kidnappers and while Goslyn naturally takes a second to realize he’s the good guy them shooting at him clues her in. Darkwing, in a rare for the series as a whole moment of reason and not wanting to just power though something himself TRIES to do the responsible thing and leave gos with the police where she’ll be protected.. but given they think he’s a wanted criminal they shoot at him.. and the small child in his motorcycle. Yup that’s the police alright. 

So with no other options Darkwing takes gos home, hyjinks insue including her activintg the breakfast thing. But the two genuinely start to bond. While Darkwing dosen’t WANT to keep her around, the whole not wanting connections thing, it’s clear he’s growing fond of the little snot as she holds her own with his trianing course, they have a tickle fight and in the sweetest moment of the episode the two sing little girl blue, a song her grandfather used to sing her to sleep that she teaches darkwing. It’s an utterly heartmelting bit and Cummings and Cavanagh really sell the hell out of it. It also however turns out ot be plot relevant: Turns out just in case Dr. Waddlemeyer hid the code for the ramrod in the song, and when Darkwing sees a photo Goslyn got from bulba’s goons, he realizes this and realizes that depsite thinking she didn’t know it Goslyn had it all along.. and that as long as h’es around she won’t know.  Bulba is naturally livid at his minons failure and decides now’s the time to take this into his own hands and while he actually liked the prison hq setup, as it did make sense as it was the perfect cover and the warden was too full of himself to realize Bulba was still active and too convinced the bull was beaten down when he clearly wasn’t, but instead as mentioned above awesomely converts his cellblock into a flying ship in the shape of his own head.  Bulba.. is a great villian and I only think the show didn’t use him more because he’s a dead serious, deadly dangerous villian in an otherwise goofy but fun superhero parody show. The show later gained Negaduck, so they had a more dangerous threat for darkwing that fit the show’s tone better while still being utterly terrifying, and likely simply didn’t need him till the idea for the steerminator came up. But I love the guy: he reminds me a lot of the kingpin, a threatning villian who uses his sheer size to beat our hero down, is cool and suave and is an utter mastermind at planning. He also wears a nice suit.  And naturlaly he has a plan to take out darkwing since despite the two never having met, as Darkwing disparages when Goslyn assumes their lifelong mortal enmies like in the comics, they know of each other.. and thus bulba knows exactly what trap to spring to get him out of the way and goslyn into his ship: He flashes a message in morris code that he wants to surrender to Darkwing while stroking his ego a LOT. And it works... while i’ts an obvious trap Darkwing’s so full of himself he goes despite Goslyn telling him it’s very obviously a trap.  Naturally everything goes pear shaped as a result: Bulba shows up, revealing gos not only to be right but easily pummling Darkwing. Which makes sense: While Darkwing is a vetran crime fighter and secret agent, Bulba’s been at being a villian longer clearly as he’s built up enough of a rep both for Darkwing to know him out of hand and for the warden to be proud capturing him. Given what univese this is, it probably isn’t Bulba’s first round with a superhero and given at this stage St Canard only has one.. yeah Darkwing is outclasssed and the police grab him while Bulba scarpers. And while Gos puts up a good fight using the trianing course, Bulba’s vulture gets her. Bulba has everything he needs.  Darkwing meanwhile actually bemoans what a dick he’s been, that the first person he’s cared about besides himself in possibly ever is now in the hands of a murderous mastermind, and that he’s stuck in jail with no one to call on for help. Thankfully.. help arrives.. and by help I mean launchpad backing the ratcatcher, Darkwing’s bike, into the prisoin. He DID come just to bail DW out despite his earlier jerkishness, but backed in and Darkwing not beliving superheroes have time for paperwork, decides to just bust out. And to be ifair int his case he’s probably right as you know, a ten year old might die if they don’t get there in time. So off they go.. but with Bulba in the air they need something with wings to catch him. ANd luckily as Launchpad mentioned earlier he’s been working on something special for darkwing.  It’s with this we enter the thunderquack, which is DW”S awesome headshaped plane. It’s just cool it’s got a nice design, goofy enough tof it the universe but cool enoguh to still be fun to watch. Darkwing has really damn cool vehicles, as the ratcatcher is also awesomely iconic. But yeah the thunderquack impresses darkwing and rightfully so and he decides to make LP his sidekick afterall.  So now our heroes fly into the danger zone and attack bulba’s airship with Darkwing landing on the bow and a scuffle insues with darkwing and hte minons.. who use actual guns which for a 90′s kids show is  a suprise, especially one this intentioanlly goofy, but boy is it nice. However Bulba, being awesomely evil, isn’t dumb and instead of fighting darkwing, which he could win but would win him nothing and having gotten nothing out of goslyn, figures the hero might know the code.. and while Darkwing lies and says he dosen’t, Bulba points out .. he’s right.. but he’s always been a gambling man and has his condor drop goslyn to lure drake into telling him , with DW putting in the code and bulba testing it with a bank robbery.. before predictably having his condor drop the girl because he no longer needs her. Thankfully launchpad catches her in time and then they get revenge on the condor with the thunderquack BITING IT.. which is awesome. Hopefully the reboot version does that. 

Darkwing meanwhile saves the day, his new daughter and the city by simply sneaking over to the ramrod and mashign the keys till it overloads, silly, but undeniably awesome and effective. Bulba TRIES to finish off darkwing this time for foiling his plan.. btu the ramrod explodes and while bulba’s minons and goslyn and launchpad are safe... bulba and darkwing are apparently dead and it’s effective.  A few weeks later Goslyn’s back at the orphanage utterly distraught and broken at being basically orphaned again. Naturally though Darkwing’s alive, having taken his old identnity back since now he has something worth using it for and adopts her, hinting at who he is so she goes with him. And Drake has changed.. sure he’ll still be as egostical and impuslive as he was here.. but he’s no longer just darkwing.. he’s drake again as he has someone worth fighting for.. two someones in fact. He has a friend, a loyal partner to help him fight cime. And more importantly.. he has a loving daughter. And both needed each other: Goslyn needed someone who understood her despite her manic energy, and Drake needed someone who needed him and not darkwing, a reason to be a person outside the cape and cowl and outside the attention again. He needed a reason to live again... and he’s got it. And it’s going to be great. 

Final Thoughts: This pilot is excellent. Well paced, plenty of laughs, tense action and great introductions for everyone involved as well as a hell of a vilian> This is how you do a first episode: it introduces the main themes of the show, both comedically and dramatically, introduces the cast and gives us a one off , or rather two off it’d turn out, villian whose compelling and intresting. IT’s really damn good stuff and I can’t wait ot see what frank does with a simlar story tommorow. Until then, stay safe, and happy hallowen. We’ll be back shortly for The Duck Knight returns and then Let’s Get Dangerous tommorow.