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a-simple-imagine · 5 years ago

Text

Mother of Exiles

Synopsis: Guess it’s time to get the ball rolling on this revolution but first a party

Pairing: Dolores Abernaty x fem!reader

words: 2.6k

A/N - Sorry this is late. I have a lot going on.

Warning: Guns. Mentions of nudity.

"Did you find something?"

Her gentle voice draws your eyes from the mirror as she walks towards you joined by another. For your first mission, you had been given the ultra dangerous task of.... going shopping; not exactly what you expected but here you were stood in some overly pristine clothing establishment. It was rather small and didn't appear too busy but just about everything in her cost more than your apartment. You wonder if Dolores knew that when she brought you here. It had been a while so you flash a smile at her return. You weren't sure how much longer you could put up with being here, or Karen who keeps asking if you need any help every five minutes. Although you did appreciate the compliments being thrown your way with every new outfit.

The AR mirror was a particular favourite of your shopping adventure. It made the tedious notion of shopping a tad more bearable. Your reflection wore a black and navy blue peak lapel tuxedo jacket with matching flare pants. It wasn't a bad look, minus the flare.

"Not really," your entire body slumping with a groan. "Nothing looks right,"

With a hand placed delicately over your shoulder, Dolores takes control of the AR menu. You watch as she shifts through the various options; dashing suits, delicate jumpsuits, elegant dresses before finally making her selection. It's always a treat to watch a new outfit unravel across your reflection and this time was no different. The most elegant of black dresses descended, a delicate embroidered flower pattern lines the chest that stopped above the waist. The V-neck plunged deep between the valley of your breast. It reached to the floor and from the shoulder was a cape. It was beautiful and you're almost in awe of her choice however it wasn't the most practical of outfits.

"It looks good on you," You meet her blue eyes in the mirror just before she turns to her companion. "Wouldn't you agree, Caleb?"

So his name was Caleb. You wonder who they are to each other as you await his response. He gives a half-hearted smile. "Yeah, looks good."

The corner of your lips turn up but you're still unsure of the choice. Staring at yourself, all you could focus on was everything possibly wrong with the outfit. Was it too long? Did the v-neck show off too much skin? Should you go for something simpler? Shorter?

"What is this for?"

"A party." Her hand glides off you shoulder as she steps back. "And you need to blend in,"

"I don't think a fancy dress is gonna make anyone believe I'm part of high society."

"It's tribal," Dolores insists. "They use plumage to identify themselves which makes them easily fooled."

"She said the same to me just go with it," Caleb adds, taking a seat off to the side.

"I couldn't possibly afford this," You explain in a hushed tone, twisting your body so you could have a gander at the back. It mimicked a backless dress through its use of see-through material and edged with flora of eccentric lace.

"I think this is a winner," Guess she made up your mind. You didn't mind though, making decisions when it came to spending could be... difficult at times.

"Wouldn't something a little more practical work better if we're on the job," You counter as you step down from the podium almost weirdly relieved to be in your everyday clothes.

"It won't matter," she insists. "We are not doing anything complicated."

"So what are we doing anyway?"

Dolores explained the operation as if she was explaining something very complex to a young child. To summarise you were planning to attend a party of sorts in order to find and detain Liam Demphery Jr, a figurehead of Incite Inc. So as you got ready, you mentally prepared yourself to kidnap a man or more so borrow. You could live with that. It wasn't like you were some corporate bootlicker; you were just new to all this crime business and you didn't exactly have much of a choice. Help Dolores or die w're your options.

Even in an age of speed, you're still surprised by how quickly they altered the dress to your liking. You just wanted it a little shorter so it was easier to walk in and run should the moment arise. Goes to show that money really was power. The dress may not have been the most practical but it did look the part. Dolores was sporting a simple but frankly spectacular jumpsuit that stopped just above her chest. Her beautiful blonde hair pulled back into a tight bun. She looked amazing, not that you had been staring as you walked in just a few steps behind her. Meanwhile, Caleb was beside you dressed in a black tuxedo with a black shirt and tie. You had to admit the man cleans up well; he looked very dapper. You all matched in a sense; all in team colours if you will. When Dolores had said party, she meant party. This was in no way you average get together but an almost overly pristine masquerade event full of elites. Women adorned beautiful white dresses while there wasn't a man in sight not in a tuxedo. The walls were covered in artwork of the finest caliber, some of it was even animated. The rich sound of the violinists filled the entire room with an aura of elitism and sophistication. You’re in awe of the world you've stepped into even though it wasn't for long. Heading towards a table decorated with a variety of masks. They had simply ones of one colour to ones with bold designs and feathers. You eye a white one with an intricate gold pattern but Dolores hands you a simple black one.

"What is this?" Caleb asks as he is given one too.

"I thought your world would be so different than mine," Dolores starts, placing the material mask over here head and fitting it against the bridge of her nose. "But there isn't any difference at all."

Dolores heads into the crowd and Caleb trails after. You place on your mask and follow in toe. Your eyes scanning the crowd for the target but you can't help but take in the sheer size and bizarreness of it all. It was like a different world; one filled with the finest of things but only for those in dresses worth way too much. It was surreal to be surrounded by so much wealth. There were various podiums set up around the room, each had a crystal chandelier of sorts hung above. And on display were tastefully naked individuals being ogled by the wealthy. You didn't feel any particular way towards nudity, you didn't see it as an abomination or indecent. You just didn't quite grasp what they were doing or what this whole event was even about.

"I'll take him when he's alone," Her words break you from you existential crisis over how rich people choose to spend their time. Dolores wore a small but knowing smile. "Wouldn't want to spoil the fun,"

You don't bother asking because if there's one thing you know about Dolores it's that she never answers your questions: and when she does it's usually vague and unhelpful. From the corner of your eye, you notice a server as they pass, quickly grabbing a flute of champagne off their little tray. Two sets of eyes fall to you and you buckle under the pressure. "What? I need something to calm my nerves-" You huff like a child being scolded. "Dolores just said to have fun."

It was true. You were feeling on edge and this would help with your confidence since Dolores insisted that you should stop using limbic tabs. You weren't sure how long you'd last without them but so far so good... kinda. "Stay focused."

"I can multi-task." With a heavy sigh, both of them continue walking. "How long is this gonna take?"

Bringing the glass to your lips, you take a small sip to gauge the taste. Fine bubbles exploded against your tongue in an explosion of dainty flavours. It had a floral taste to it with hints of fresh fruit. Maybe a hint of peach? You couldn't be sure but either way, it tasted expensive. You've had champagne before but it never tasted like this.

"You're not enjoying yourself?" Caleb asks from a few steps ahead.

"Can't say I'm particularly interested in anything here," Your shoulders rise in a casual shrug as you narrowly avoid crashing into a couple who had no intention of moving out the way for you. "couldn't afford it either, the champagne is good though."

As your path drifts you find yourself separated from the others. Everything about this place absolutely reeked of privilege and nobody even suspected that you didn't belong. Guess Dolores was right in saying they are easily fooled. All it took was a gorgeous gown and a mask you never imagined yourself wearing. Staring up from the edge of a podium, you admire the man who was so proudly on display. He wore nothing but a Victorian ruffle style collar paired with sleeves. His muscles so defined as he lay his body bare for the world to see. You couldn't imagine being in his position but each their own. You tried not to look but you couldn't help your curiosity as your eyes drifted from his abs down to his rather... large penis and back. Jesus Christ, he could do some damage with that thing; not that you were judging him or choosing to objectify him. It was just an observation. You're unsure of his role at such a high-end event until you overhear someone ask to place a bid and all the little pieces fall into place. You were currently attending a sex auction? What even were rich people. Turning on your heel, you go in search of your companions and they weren't all that hard to find.

"Good, we're ready to intercept him," Dolores declares, turning to you as you approach. "Ready?"

You nod a little too eagerly. Your adrenaline was pumping. You could do this. There was no turning back now. It was a simple job just grab the target and leave, right? The blonde has you following her out of the ballroom and up the stairs. Readying a gun you didn't even know she brought with her. Where exactly had she been hiding it?

"Where did she get that from?" Your voice but a whisper as you speak to Caleb. The target, Liam, was being guided by two others. Dolores fired three rounds; each one an assault to the ears even with a silencer. You weren't used to it. It made the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The taller of the two gentlemen came charging towards you all, Dolores strikes him first. Knocking the wind clean out of him. Looking to you two, Dolores holds out the gun. "Stay on Liam, I'll handle him."

"You sure?" There was uncertainty in his voice and you couldn't really blame him.

"Take it, I won't need it."

Caleb looks between the two of you before running off down the stairs. "You should go too,."

You don't want to leave her but you nod just once. Hesitating at the stairs; you glance back at her. Was she going to be okay? You've seen her shoot two men before your very eyes but this was an entirely different ball game. Whatever they were talking about, you were too far away to hear but for a second your eyes meet and it was enough to put your mind at rest or at least to send you chasing after Caleb.

Deep breathes as you finally break out into the cold night air, hunched over as you calm yourself down. You're pretty good in heels but apparently not when you need to be because you almost slipped down the stairs. Luckily nobody was around to see you but it was still embarrassing. After a moment, you stand up straight and walk up beside the man. He had the gun held up at Liam's surprise guest. Seemed like everything was under control.

"You're helping her aren't you- Dolores," The stranger spoke slowly and clearly; a little cautiously if you will. "are you one of us?"

"One of us?" You repeat looking to Caleb with furrowed brows. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," He growls. "Just give me the asshole and I will let you walk out of here."

With a nudge of his head, you take the hint but before you can even grab Liam he's calling out to someone. "Connells- the fuck took you so long."

Twisting around, you spy yet another gun; you were feeling very unprepared for this battle. Unsure of who he was pointing at, you back away a little in surrender. Flinching at the sound of gunfire but when your eyes open, it's to see him shoot the rest of his men. What was going on? The plan had changed so drastically.

"What the hell are you doing?" You know it's Liam. He's the only voice you weren't familiar with now but you don't dare to look. Focused in on the man with the gun.

"Don't you fucking twitch," The silver-haired Scott spat with a firm grip of his weapon. It was pointed in the same direction as Caleb's. You exchange a confused look with Caleb. Who were all these people? As the Scott drifts to Liam, you're quick to move out of the way.

"Run." Liam stumbles against the side of the vehicle; the rest of you too stunned to make a move. "Run, before I put a bullet in your pointy little head." His Scottish accent was thick which made him sound a little harsher than expected. Liam was hesitant, a little surprising for how cowardly he seemed, "fucking run!"

The fear was clear as Liam ran for his life; you were half expecting to witness a shooting but thankfully it never happened. Instead, his attention is drawn between you and Caleb. Guess he was on Liam's side after all.

"You better go after him," Or not. Caleb watches him and then turns to you; your shoulders rising up in the smallest of shrugs. You didn't need to be asked twice. Caleb is faster but you put that down to the fact he didn't have to put up with wearing heels all night as you jog along. You couldn't wait to trade them for a comfortable pair of boots.

"Leave me alone, I- I'll pay whatever you want." Rounding the corner, Caleb has Liam shoved up against the wall. The gun Dolores gave him being put to good use in front of his face.

"Oh yeah? Pay me with what, Huh, I have all your money."

"You do?" You question, Dolores had only filled you in on the plan but you were beginning to realise she had left a lot out.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm with her," Caleb spoke, his gun falling to the side as he lets the poor guy relax. You'd be questioning him if it weren't for the whisk of blond that just sauntered past you. Dolores.

"Hello, lover."

Wait... lover?

#westworld #dolores abernathy #Dolores abernathy x reader #evan rachel wood #westworld fanfiction

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ngame989 · 5 years ago

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“Soul” - TGG SVTFOE Fanfic Collection Ch. 9

Writing: @ngame989

Art: @toxicpsychox

Editing: @ubercelloczar, @toxicpsychox, @seddm

Alternate fic links - FFnet, AO3

Summary: It's that time of the year for another Soulrise, and Tom throws Marco the birthday bash of a lifetime to celebrate, but Marco realizes that underneath all the joy and celebration Tom has a storm of emotions brewing inside. When Star gets dragged into some mysterious mission on the surface, it's up to Marco to realize just what's been bothering his demon friend.

Comic Page

Masterpost

And we're back with another chapter! Things are ramping up a bit, and we have plans for probably the next dozen chapters in the works already with a few special events in the mix. Thanks for sticking around, and stay tuned for more. Hope you enjoy!

“A little to the left.” Tom hovered above the door and moved a massive cloud of dark blue balloons slightly over in the wrong direction, glancing up at her to check. “My left, honey.” He nodded and shifted them back. A little more, a little more, and… “There. Nice work, Tommypoo,” Wrathmelior affectionately growled in her native tongue while reaching down to rustle her smiling son’s hair. When Tom suggested throwing a party for a friend she hadn’t met yet, the same boy who had been the subject of quite a few mother-son heart-to-hearts in years past, some old concerns had bubbled up in the back of her mind. But she couldn’t bear saying no for long, and it wasn’t long until she was more than happy to volunteer the Lucitor lake house for the occasion.

Tom’s enigmatic friend Janna popped her head out the front door with a sly grin that would put many of the devils Wrathmelior personally knew to shame. “Yo Tommypoo, can I get a hand at the snack table?”

All three of his eyes popped open and cast intense glares back and forth between Janna and Wrathmelior. “You even taught her that?” he groaned incredulously at the latter.

Wrathmelior smiled apologetically. “Sorry, sweetie. She’s quite persuasive.” Janna had been spending enough time in the Underworld that Wrathmelior had given her a few crash courses in conversational demonic, enough to get by on her own when she tagged along with whatever Tom was doing in the kingdom. Though she was still difficult to figure out, they got along swimmingly. So many humans seemed either too scared or concerningly excited about the lava, wings, and horns they might encounter down below, and Janna’s cool enthusiasm was refreshingly welcome.

“Guilty as charged.” Janna pointed finger guns at Tom as he walked through the door and they disappeared into the house.

Wrathmelior went into the more appropriately sized entrance into the kitchen, where by the time she arrived Tom and Janna were putting out plates and napkins. Her husband was there as well and had apparently been receiving a cooking lesson from Star for some time now, judging by the lecture she was giving him. “-can’t do this too early or the chips will get totally mushy and gross. Crunchy chips, molten cheese, crisp pico - all required elements for any Marco-approved nachos.” Star instructed before bending down to grab a tray full of chips out of the oven, setting it down on the counter next to the other supplies. “If you pour juuuuuust right, the cheese will get all in between the chips so you get a little with every bite.” Dave solemnly followed her work as the jumbo bowl was filled with a quantity of triangle chips, yellow goop, and vegetables that gave even the full-sized demon pause. “Voilà! Star’s Super Spectacular Nachos!” Everyone grabbed a sample chip, and just as she said, a little bit of everything seemed to work its way through the dish.

“Mmmmph,” Dave grunted. “These are good. Star, can you teach the castle staff how to make this marvelous thing?”

“Honestly, I’m not that good at it, Marco and I have just been cooking a ton lately. Campus food is both really expensive and really crummy.” Star stuck her tongue out in disgust. While the others, Wrathmelior included, tried and failed to stop eating, Star wandered through the living room and looked around at all the decorations and party games that had been set up, her grin only growing wider as she did.

Tom leaned against the stairs with his hands in the pockets of his teal shorts, smirked as he coolly observed the room. “We are preeeeetty good party planners, aren’t we?”

“Aww yeah we are!” Star skipped over and bumped shoulders with Tom. “But honestly this was mostly you. Marco’s gonna love it.”

“You think?” Tom’s cocky demeanor fell away to the earnestness underneath. “Ah, it was nothing. I mean, sure, we’ve got a private beachfront property, the most state of the art ping-pong tables in the world, a live Love Sentence cover band… I mean, who wouldn’t do this for their friend’s 17th birthday?”

Janna slurped the stretchy cheese off her last chip before chiming in from the kitchen. “You’ve been spending, like, every waking moment on it, dude. Feels like we haven’t even hung out in weeks, buuuut it is pretty cool. Remind me to call you when I’m in the mood to throw a grave rave.” He flashed a casual toothy smirk, but there was an extra glint in his eyes that caught Wrathmelior’s attention. Janna sauntered into the living room to join the others. “So what’s the special occasion, Tom?”

Whatever that look had meant, it was quickly replaced with sheer confusion. “Uh, Marco’s birthday? Did you get bit by a Hippocampotamus or something? Those things are nasty.”

The Earth girl rolled her eyes. “I mean why all the fuss? This is basically the one human teenage birthday that isn’t extra special.”

“Whatever. Just wanted to throw an ultra awesome party for one of my best friends because he’s a super cool guy.” He quickly averted his gaze, eyes drifting around the room until they stopped on the elegant family grandfather clock. “Probably about that time, ready for me to send you back?” he asked, glancing sideways at Star.

“Oooooone sec.” Star ruffled her hands through her hair, brushed sand out of her light blue blouse, and stuffed her sunhat and sunglasses into her purse. “Sand would blow my cover.” Pillars of fire erupted in the wide open area of the living room as Tom’s eyes glowed, and the familiar carriage he’d built himself once upon a time quickly spawned from the ground. “See you in a few!” Star climbed into the seat; one sizzling rush of air later and she was gone. The irony of Star using the vehicle Tom had delicately crafted once upon a time in the service of wooing her to pick up her human boyfriend wasn’t lost on Wrathmelior, but there was no point to harboring any negativity if Tom was happy with it.

Out of the corner of her eye, Wrathmelior saw a smug Janna sneaking up behind Tom. He lightly shrieked when she slapped him on the back. “Good job, Lucitor. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go set up the traditional Diaz prank. I’m pulling out all the stops this year.” When she opened her jacket, his eyes widened at the various weapons, gadgets, skulls, and animals hiding within. One of them stuck its furry head out. “I became the alpha possum just a few weeks ago. Scooter here can smell red hoodies through walls, isn’t that right?” She scratched the creature’s head before closing the olive jacket back up. “So, you want in?”

“Nah,” he scoffed, waving his hands dismissively. “You go ahead, do your thing. Wouldn’t want to get in the way of the master.”

“You flatter me. Suit yourself, see ya,” Janna shrugged and slinked off elsewhere in the cabin, leaving just the Lucitor family behind. Tom milled about the cabin making minute adjustments to the decorations and furniture, seemingly to kill time more than anything. What had him so worked up? There was no time for Wrathmelior to ponder this question, though, as a loud swoosh from the outside signalled the arrival of the carriage before she could even collect her thoughts.

Tom perked up and bolted out the door while Wrathmelior took the larger exit out the side. Just as the carriage doors opened, Tom snapped his fingers and summoned a black cloth, blinding the boy within whom she presumed to be Marco. “What the heck, man?” Marco curiously started the famous sword-hand dance, but Tom floated over and past him to peek into the chassis.

“Wait, where’s Star?”

“Moon needed her for a little bit, she said she’d be ready pretty soon but said I should go ahead. Can you get this thing off me?”

“Right, right, sorry,” he stuttered while fumbling with the knot until it came undone. “Anyway, welcome to the Lucitor family lake house!”

“Surprise!” The Lucitors spoke in unison, although Wrathmelior knew she wouldn’t be understood. “Happy birthday!”

His eyes widened in wonder at the massive quantity of balloons and the big sign that greeted him. “Wooooah, you guys, you didn’t have to!”

Tom put his arm around Marco’s shoulder and began walking him towards the door. “Don’t worry about it. Oh, Marco, meet my mom and dad, Queen and King Lucitor of the Underworld.”

“My pleasure, young man,” Dave warmly stated as he stepped forward to shake Marco’s hand.

“Nice to meet you,” Wrathmelior growled out with Dave translating.

Marco waved up at her, possessing the same unflinching assuredness that she’d noticed in Janna. “Tom’s told me a lot about you, thanks for having me. Just one question. Is there-”

“Ping-pong?” They said in unison, both their faces breaking into wide smiles before they’d even finished the word.

“If the brand-new Dropshot 720 DX model with real-time trajectory tracking and RGB paddles counts, sure.”

Marco excitedly grabbed Tom by the shoulders, shaking him back and forth. “With optional holographic crowd simulator?”

“Duh. Marco, please, I’m not an amateur.”

“What are we waiting for? The ping ain’t gonna pong itself.”

“We’ve got snacks and music and all sorts of other things, too. Ha, now I feel kinda silly, putting all this together and being the only one here when you show up. I totally understand if you want to go with Star instead, I’d never try to get in the way of, you know, the whole thing you two have.”

The human boy crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow in response. “Tom, you’re one of my best friends and you’re throwing me a ping-pong birthday party. If you think I don’t want to kick your butt until we’ve broken every last ping-pong ball in the kingdom, you’ve got another thing coming, buddy.” Both glanced down when his stomach loudly rumbled. “...but maybe, um, we start with the snacks.”

Wrathmelior cooed at the exchange as Tom wrapped an arm around Marco’s shoulder and led him into the house. So much had changed in the past few years, both above and below ground. Even if her own home and kingdom had been affected to the same degree as those of the surface-dwellers though, none of it would compare in Wrathmelior’s eyes to what she’d seen out of her son. With the ample time she’d had to reflect since the state of the world settled down, she might even say that he’d been the more mature one between them. The last time she’d played doting demon mom over her son’s relationships had gone… regrettably, to say the least, and it had hurt like heaven when he broke the news of what had happened. Could anyone blame her for wanting things to work out with the girl he’d spent years chasing? Most shocking of all was that he hadn’t even talked to her about it beforehand. Before she could even realize it, he’d grown into a capable young Prince of the Underworld solving his problems all on his own.

“Surprise, Diaz!” The moment of solemn reflection was interrupted by Janna’s voice from inside the house followed by a series of crashes and girlish shrieks. “Go, Scooter, go!” As the chaos unfolded, she could hear Tom simultaneously laughing to the point of breathlessness and blasting fire to defend Marco.

While she still couldn’t help but worry that something seemed off with Tom today - a feeling compounded by how little experience she had not being the first one to know what might be going wrong in his life - it was surprisingly easy to push aside. With the friendships he had, she felt at ease knowing he could handle it.

***

“Lava snakes up above you, Tom!” Marco launched up into the sky with a flurry of sword strikes to stun the enemies while Tom floated over to cover. Tom’s mage dropped icicles from the ceiling to pin the first of the bosses to the ground for Marco to execute. “Thanks.”

Meanwhile, Janna’s character dropped a smokebomb and used the cover to sneak up and eliminate the ranged attackers with his shotgun. “These stupid alien crabs won’t stop spawning,” she growled.

“It’s fine, keep on them. Obsidian lizard to your right, Marco!”

One of Tom’s gifts to Marco had been Threat of Wet 2, the hit sequel to the original action game Threat of Wet. He initially hadn’t been sure if it would be his sort of game but it only took a few minutes of endless heart-pumping mob-slaughtering multiplayer action to be hooked. Even if he was having fun, he wasn’t great at it, judging by the amount of nervous sweat he had to wipe off his brow in a rare free moment between dodging deadly lasers and spikeballs. He used an uppercut to alley-oop the lizard into Tom’s laser blast before dashing and slashing through it for the kill.

“Little help?!?” Janna shouted, tossing a stun grenade at the ravenous pack of creepy jesters clawing at her and rolling under a fallen pillar to regroup with the team. The horde got distracted and chased after one of their mini fighter drones, giving the group a moment of respite.

“Last ones, I think,” Marco said with a grimace. “Not sure what the best move is here, they’ll obliterate me.”

Janna snapped a finger and pointed at Tom. “You think we can pull off Tamalebolge here?” Marco had no clue what she was talking about, but Tom’s mouth slowly widened into an eager grin as he apparently understood what she was trying to say. They nodded with conviction and turned back to the game.

“Set the smokescreens, I’ll get in position. Marco, just follow me.” He went along with it and hunkered his swordsman down between two clouds of smoke blocking their vision while Janna laid out more in a straight line with gaps in between. Janna maneuvered her character towards the spooky clowns and shot a single pellet at them to get their attention. Once they began charging over, Tom started unloading every spell he had while moving backwards in and out of smoke patches.

The clowns kept moving forward, but seemed to be stuttering in a way that prevented them from ever successfully landing a hit. In a moment of confusion while Marco tried to process it, he got bodyslammed into the ground and instantly killed. “You’re dead… that was embarrassing,” the game’s message on his corner of the massive screen in Tom’s media room taunted. What the heck were they up to, and why was it working?

“Almost… almost… no!” Tom’s thumb slipped on the controller and Marco could literally see the fire in his eyes at the mistake. At the last second Janna rolled under the legs of their enemies and stunned them just as they were about to slam, finishing them off and displaying a message to proceed to the next level. Their characters sauntered over to the exit and halted for a moment while Tom and Janna proudly hi-fived in celebration… and in the half-second they’d looked away, a thin blip of flame from a single floating wraith pierced through both, killing them instantly. “OH, COME ON!” Yep, this game certainly was unforgiving.

Janna busted out laughing and patted Tom on the shoulder. “Dude, take it easy, that was sick. You were right, this was pretty fun.”

“Told you.”

“I’m afraid to ask, but what the heck is Tamalebolge?”

“There’s this place called Tamalebolge on the outskirts of the Underworld, we stopped there for lunch one day after Mom sent me to give a big box of eyeballs to the mayor there. Dunno why a town needed 10000 preserved eyeballs, but whatever.”

On the other side of the couch, Janna scoffed resentfully. “Lucky town.”

“Anyway, they had this tamale that was a bunch of layers that got spicier as you bit in, and it hurts because each time you hit one layer you let your guard down for the next so you get that burning feeling a bunch of times in a row. In one of our trips to the Librarinth we got cornered by some Decimatals and had the idea to put up a bunch of walls of fire, since they could-”

“Could never adapt to the fire because it wasn’t steady,” Marco finished with a hint of awe as the pieces clicked into place. “Dang, that’s really smart.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Janna exclaimed in a monotone, not even looking up from her phone. “Alright, Marco, what did Star say she was doing exactly? She hasn’t even asked for any pictures yet.”

Marco raised an eyebrow. “Well, Moon said she needed to borrow Star for a bit, but that was a few hours ago so…” Suddenly the weirdness of Janna’s last statement - well, compared to the baseline he expected from her - struck him. “Wait, pictures?”

“Yeah, dude,” she coolly responded, leaning over Tom and showing him an album with… how many pictures of him was that exactly? 500? 1000? He looked away before any more could load to just stare in complete indignant shock at his friend. “Anytime we hang out without her, Star asks me to, like, take pictures of you and send them to her. You haven’t noticed by now? Damn, I’m just that good.” She smirked and twirled her phone around, blowing on it like a smoking gun before holstering it in her pocket.

Tom folded his arms and leaned forward to stare Janna down. “Really? Star asks you to do this?”

“Yes. Well, I started it first. And sent a new shot every few minutes for weeks. And now she’s so used to it that me not doing it makes her think we all got eaten by weresharks, so whenever I stop she always asks what’s wrong. So yeah, basically she asks for them.”

From Marco’s position reclined into one end of the sofa, Tom had to twist himself around to shoot Marco an incredulous look and nudge his attention towards Janna as if to beam “Are you really gonna just let that slide?“ directly into his brain. “Whatever, I’m used to it. The most surprising thing is that you actually, y’know, send them to Star."

Janna finally devoted her undivided attention on Marco for a few seconds, assessing him with her cold and enigmatic expression before sighing. “I already had them and Star’s madly in love with you for some reason so why not? What, Diaz, I’m not allowed to do nice things for my friends now?” Leave it to Janna to make being kind of normal and thoughtful still creepy and weird.

“You know what, I’m just gonna message her,” Marco said, walking out of the room to clear his head and pulling out his phone to check in on Star. She could certainly handle herself, especially with Moon there, but he was still curious what could be making her miss a lot of the celebration that she herself had helped set up. After he’d sent the first, he hastily added on a second asking if she needed him for anything. OK, so maybe a little worried. It surprisingly only took a second before his phone dinged with a response.

“Mina’s back. Long story, not what you think, we’re fine here 👍. Kinda crazy tho. 😵 Will tell you later. 😈 acting a bit strange, stay and try to see why? 🤔 Also have fun, it’s your party!!!!🎊🥳🎉🎈 Hopefully will be done soon, would never miss 👻rise with you 💕💞💏 Love you 😘🥰😻”

Mina? Every bone in his body wanted to leap into action, but Star knew her better than probably anyone; if she said there wasn’t a problem, he’d trust that. The fact that something was up with Tom, on the other hand, demanded attention. Was there something strange going on? It hadn’t occurred to him, but now that the idea had been planted in his head, Tom wasn’t the first person he’d have expected to go through all this trouble. He was a great and thoughtful guy, sure, but weeks of detail-oriented planning seemed... a bit out of place for him. Like Star said, though, he should still just enjoy the day and there’d be plenty of time to try and sleuth out whatever Star thought was going on.

“Hey, man,” Tom said as he poked his head around the corner. “We’re going surfing, wanna come with?”

“Sure Tom, just one tiny problem: the water here is lava-”

Tom only smiled wider in response. “Come on, you’ll see.” The two headed outside where Wrathmelior and Dave were sunba- uh, stalactitebathing, he supposed? Marco wasn’t sure what the point was underground but, hey, maybe it was a demon thing. Janna, too, had already made her way outside and stripped down to an outfit more suitable for a lava beach. She appeared to be rubbing some sort of neon red goop all over herself, which stupefied him so much that he barely noticed she was wearing a pair of hot pink shorts. What kind of bizarro world had he entered?

When she finally noticed him, he quickly averted his gaze to avoid any suspicion. “Yo, Diaz, liking the view?” Too late. She put a cap on the bottle of goo and nodded in the direction of the lake. What was she up to? As Marco warily followed, he saw Tom swimming around in the lava unfettered. All of a sudden, Janna started running with intent towards the lake.

“JANNA, NO!” Marco surged forward to try and stop her but she had a headstart and was surprisingly fast on her feet. When she kicked off the sand to hurl herself into the lava, Marco’s eyes instinctively squeezed shut and let out a whimper despite knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that she had to have some sort of plan.

When Marco opened his eyes, Janna was completely unharmed and lazily treading lava. She ducked under to sneak up on the lazily backstroking Tom, rising up to grab him by the horns and dunk him. He flailed for a minute before bobbing back up and taking a big gulp of air.

“Janna, what the here?!? Not cool...” he paddled to shore and shook the excess molten rock from his ears before standing with Marco, careful to keep his distance since he still had some residual slag on him. “Can you believe that?”

There was no other way Marco saw fit to respond to that than look of pure incredulity. “Yes? Always? So, anyway, how is she not dead right now?”

“Full cocktail of fire and heat resistance. Mostly Earth sunscreen with some demon incantations courtesy of my parents. Seeps in and affects your hair and innards and even any tight clothing for perfect safety. There’s enough for you too, if you want.”

As if today couldn’t get any crazier, disbelief morphed into fight or flight instinct as he tried to keep himself calm. “...so I’m just supposed to rub something Janna is giving me all over my body… and- and then jump into lava? Are you insane? What if it makes my tongue sentient, turns my legs into pudding, o-o-or worse? Oh my gosh, i-it’s gonna kill me-” Well, so much for calm, the sole bit of his mind hanging on to rationality offered.

“Woah, man, easy. Deep breaths. Just offering.” Tom gently patted his back until his breath steadied. He sighed and looked away. “For the record, Janna is a pretty good friend, you know. I’ve actually liked doing all the princely political crap when she’s here, and- and she does help. A lot, actually. I get that she likes messing with you, and honestly dude, it is pretty funny sometimes. If you don’t want to risk it, I totally respect that, but…” Marco followed his gaze out towards the lake where Janna was trying to befriend a wandering hellbat. “She really does care, in her own way.” There was an emotional conviction there that impacted Marco on a level he wasn’t prepared for, and even after a lifetime of wariness around Janna he found himself trusting more in Tom’s vote of confidence in the here and now… plus lava surfing did sound pretty awesome. Was this what Star had meant about his behavior today? He made a mental note before turning his focus back to the present dilemma. In all his time as an interdimensional adventurer he’d piloted dragoncycles, trained in combat with the sharpest swords he’d ever seen, and flipped a horse made of pure magic while floating on the back of one of his best friends. Why not go for this?

“Alright, let’s do this,” Marco said, marching over to the towel that had been laid out on the sand and cautiously picking up the bottle at arm’s length as though it was a radiation hazard, which he couldn’t even be sure it wasn’t.

The bottle floated up out of his hands on a puff of smoke guided by Tom’s magic. “Heads up, though, the souls of the damned mixed in there can bleach pretty badly, so maybe don’t wear anything you care about. Janna ruined my perfectly good ‘cold as ice’ shirt testing it,” Tom pouted. Marco stripped off his hoodie and goblin dog t-shirt, finding them far too valuable to damage.

I didn’t care about these swim trunks that much anyway, he internally grumbled while he snatched the bottle from Tom and gingerly applied it to his skin. After giving the first gentle dab on his arm a minute to verify he didn’t turn into a pig-goat, he reluctantly spread it around the rest of his body. He was surprised to find that it soaked in even easier than regular sunscreen despite its incredibly visible color. The even more daunting step was trusting it to protect his skin from literal lava. Tom held up a small flame in his hand. Marco instinctively recoiled but allowed Tom to bring it closer as a test, and sure enough even once it came in direct contact with his skin he felt nothing beyond a weird air current and a gentle warmth with no damage left behind. The only step left was taking the plunge. Now or never, Diaz, he chanted as he walked towards the edge of the sand.

“Aww, does Marco need floaties?” Janna goaded, having moved back into wading level to witness Marco’s entry. One toe went forward, very delicately. Almost, almooooooost… and it was in! It probably took about 10 minutes for Marco to fully immerse himself in the boiling liquid, mostly by choice, although its viscosity made the prospect of freely swimming around seem tiring regardless of magical protection.

Tom’s parents had approached the shore during that time and applauded Marco’s efforts. Wrathmelior made some deep rumbling sounds that caused Tom and Janna to both snicker. Tom noticed Marco’s frown and waved reassuringly. “She just said you’re moving slower than the lava itself, but don’t worry dude, you’re only the second human who’s even tried this. You’re doing great!” Tom motioned towards his parents before taking a running leap into the lake and paddling over to Marco, patting his back and inviting Marco to hop on. “Remember that move we practiced? The Screeching Bat?”

“Uh-huh?”

“Think we can use it here?” he asked, pointing to the beginnings of a massive wave forming in the distance.

Despite all his reservations about every step thus far, one thing he knew he could always trust was his and Tom’s teamwork. They’d had each others’ backs even when their friendship should have been shattered to pieces by guilt and heartache, and it had only improved from there. Deep breath, Diaz. “Let’s do this,” he confidently declared, climbing onto Tom’s lower back and bracing his legs under Tom’s arms while he assumed his usual four-limbed propulsion flight position. “Wait, where’s Janna?”

As the rippling sea started to form a recognizable wave, the pair saw a creature emerge to ride the peak with Janna on its back. “I’m QUEEEEN OF THE UNDERWORLD!” she screamed as the three-headed sea-turtle-esque animal carried her along.

Wrathmelior waved her giant camera in the air and made another comment that instantly left Tom with face a few shades redder than normal as he turned away. Being new to the whole “dipping skin in lava” experience, Marco’s focus was too scattered to trust his own judgment on whether or not Tom’s reaction was just a trick of the heat. He didn’t have time to dwell on it further before Tom jostled under him. “Whatever. C’mon, Marco, let’s just do this thing. Keep steady and don’t push down too hard, the heat doesn’t bother me but it’s still not fun having my face skid on molten rock at highway speeds.” Marco nodded and Tom lifted them off of the surface before flying over to the waves, picking up speed as they went.

They lost track of time as they did loop-de-loops and pushed their moves to the limits, swimming over and under and through the most insane ocean waves Marco had ever seen. At one point, as Janna rode closer to the ground, Tom followed the curve of a wave until he was upside-down under the crest of the wave as it crashed down behind them. Marco let go of Tom’s neck and felt his heart pounding as he straightened out, letting his body dip down in their signature trick that earned this flight pattern its name. Come to think of it, this was the first time they’d even made use of any of the awesome combat patterns they’d spent weeks naming and practicing in the last year, but they’d had enough fun goofing off in the sky that it was its own reward. When the largest wave yet approached, Tom veered straight for it and carved a hole in it with a fire blast at the last second. Marco tucked himself closely onto Tom’s back as they blasted through, and he was so high on adrenaline that he couldn’t help but sit straight up and holler in victory right afterwards.

As it approached an hour since they’d set out onto the lake, they all headed back at Tom’s suggestion that the potion’s effect wouldn’t last. They were greeted with another assortment of snacks and drinks from Tom’s parents, giving their swim trunks some time to… whatever the lava equivalent of “dry” was... in the comfort of the living room. Janna grabbed a glowing green glass bottle and took a huge swig. Marco’s wary gaze on its contents must have lasted a bit long because Janna took notice. “Chill, this is just Underworld cow’s milk. Tastes the same as ours.” If anything, that freaked him out more, but he’d had enough of these moments throughout the day that he could just put up with it at this point. As Tom approached with some sort of large bug shells on a plate - thank heavens the Underworld imported Earth snacks now - Janna silently looked him up and down a few times. “So, Lucitor, I didn’t know you had those moves. If I knew you could float upside-down so easily…” she trailed off with implications Marco didn’t feel like trying to unpack. Tom could only babble incoherently in response until he sprinted off deeper into the house. “Ooooor not,” Janna grumbled before sinking into the couch and taking a swig.

“Is everything OK with Tom?” Marco hesitantly asked.

“Beats me. Lately we’re just on mission after mission with no time to stop and catch our breath or even get a bite to eat in-between. Can’t believe one lousy year has already made him such a workaholic. Even Star only got like this when she thought, like, the entire kingdom would collapse or something.” She grabbed her phone as it buzzed, frowning at the screen. Suddenly, she took a photo of Marco and tapped her screen a bunch of times, standing up as she shoved it back in the back pocket of her shorts.

“What was that?”

“That was Star, she apparently needs me to bring a few of my more… let’s just say noxious potion blends, in case of some kind of emergency. But first she wanted to make sure the lava surfing didn’t damage your abs.” She faked a gag response and rolled her eyes. “And she also said, and I quote, ‘Tell Marco he doesn’t need to come because he should reeeeeally take care of the thing, and that I’m suuuuuper sorry for skipping out on you, and that we’re aaaaaalmooooost done here, and then we can cuddle up for the Soulrise.’ Normally I’d pry about ‘the thing’ but I’m too nauseous right now. Also, an ‘I love you’ filled with hearts until the character limit, so that settles it: me reading that is the next five years of birthday presents, minimum, for both of you. You’re welcome.” She punctuated with a snap of her fingers and a rumble grew louder until a chasm opened up in the ground and Tom’s carriage rolled up the side.

“Since when could you-”

Janna winked and hopped in the carriage door as it vanished in a column of flame, leaving only Marco behind. He had hundreds of questions and concerns about Star’s situation, but between her continued insistence on staying behind and what Janna had just said, his certainty was growing that something fishy was afoot with Tom. Where might his friend go if something was troubling him? This could take an hour, no, all day to crack the case, but Marco was ready to sleuth harder than ever to solve this mystery.

One guess and thirty seconds later, Marco found Tom sitting on the couch in another one of the lounge spaces in the lake house, manipulating two paddles to play ping-pong against each other. Leaning against the wall, Marco observed as the simulated crowd went wild in stark opposition to Tom’s joyless expression that alternated between the match and his own lap, never once noticing his friend to his side. After a few more minutes of this, the announcer enthusiastically cheered for the victor of the round.

When the system rebooted, Marco made his move. “Playing without me?”

Tom glanced up from the table. “Wuh? Oh, hey.”

“Wanna play?”

“Well, obviously I would, but, um, I just… gotta…”

“What’s wrong, Tom?”

“Wrong? Me? Nothing’s wrong, Marco! Why would anything be wrong?” A puff of smoke shot out of his nostrils and clearly forced grin on the last word.

“C’mon, man. We both know something’s up. You’ve been acting all strange today.”

He threw his hands up with a defeated scowl creasing his eyes and face. “OK, fine, you got me. I stubbed my toe on the beach earlier and it really stings-”

“Tom.” Neither budged as they stared each other down. So it’s gonna be like that, huh? If he cloaked himself in bravado, then Marco just needed to find a way to open up that shell and draw the inner turmoil out. “You, me, first one to 6. If I win, you talk.”

Tom crossed his arms suspiciously. “Dude, you’ve literally never beaten me.”

“Yeah, well, then it should be easy for you. Whaddya say?”

“What do I get when I win?”

Marco gestured at the table humility. “I will officially give up any hopes of ever beating you and you’ll forever be known as King Pong.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll play. You’re going down.”

“Game on.”

"Let's see, ‘enter nickname’... Tom the Bomb? Seriously, man? I-"

Marco was interrupted by the fake stadium’s booming audio as the commentators began. "Welcome everyone to the championship bout where we will determine who is the true king of the ping."

“Hey, that’s my joke,” Marco whined pointlessly, drowned out by a second female announcing voice that continued without pause.

“On the away team, we have the human, the underdog to win it all this year, Marco Diaaaaaaaz! He’s got wicked topspin sure to send heads spinning and he’s hungry for the title. Never count out the man in red! Now on the home team, you know him, you love him, it’s the man with a plan to slice and dice you to pieces, it’s Prince of the Underworld Tom Lucitoooooooooor!”

Marco pointed incredulously at… well, everything happening around them. “Seriously, dude, are you sure this is even a computer?” Tom shrugged nonchalantly in response.

“We have a lot we could say up here about this long-awaited grudge match, isn’t that right, Janet?”

“That we could, Derek, but I’m sure all the lovely AI fans here don’t want all this AI blabber. They want some good old-fashioned ping-pong. Now let’s watch while Tom readies up the serve…” Tom deeply inhaled and exhaled a few times, then got into position on his end of the table. He crouched over slightly with the ball in one hand and paddle in the other, then tossed it up into the air and smashed it with the paddle. Marco jumped backwards to avoid the searing speed of the projectile that was aimed at him with a disdain reminiscent of the first time they’d ever played the game. If he’s gonna amp up his game with demon powers, I’ll just need to be better.

“Wow, what a scorcher right down the diagonal! I sure wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that, it’d fry my processor to a crisp!” Marco didn’t find a chance to start a volley on the second point, nor did his possession of the serve change the outcome in the slightest. When Tom got the ball back, he didn’t even use his paddle as his powers drove the ball directly sideways after the initial impact in Marco’s court. Marco called a timeout and turned away from the table in thought, stumped for solutions. This game was his idea, after all... The AI announcers irritated Marco with their constant humiliation of his skills, but one sarcastic jab struck an unexpected chord: “If he wants to beat Tom, maybe he shouldn’t be playing ping-pong.” He’d gotten nowhere trying to break through with blunt questioning and was doing a worse job trying to get past his confidence at the sport. But if there was a deep insecurity underneath that facade of confidence, maybe he needed to work on building that up instead.

Turning back to the table, he placed his paddle flat on the table for a moment. “Look, Tom, I get it. I can’t beat you at this game. I-I just didn’t want my best friend acting so bummed at a party he threw, OK? If winning here would cheer you up a bit, it’s match point. I won’t stop you. And- and maybe I’m not even the one to deal with this, since I know you usually talk to your mom about this sort of thing, but-”

“Marco, I-” He paused, started again, stopped, and stuttered his way through another half-dozen attempts at a sentence before falling silent and gazing at the floor. “Look, I’m not upset, everything’s fine,” he angrily said through gritted teeth. Tom grabbed the paddle and gracelessly swatted at the ball. Marco flinched and shut his eyes, ready to hear the announcers celebrate the clean sweep… but nothing. “Huh?” he wondered aloud before seeing a ball way off to his left. Had Tom just flubbed the serve? Tom tried once more, much less methodical in his swing. Marco swatted it back over the net and in Tom’s haste to return he spiked it directly onto his own court.

“...and in a shocking turn of events, it’s now 5-1, Lucitor! Now is Marco’s chance to turn it around!”

The three eyes in front of him glowed at the edges in anger, but the expression within wasn’t one Marco feared was directed at him. Marco centered himself and performed a straightforward serve to the edge of Tom’s court, and Tom managed to return it for the first genuine volley of the match, but a steep drop shot gave Marco his second point of the match. Tom grunted in frustration as Marco set up for the next serve, and he immediately lashed out with demon telekinesis but put too much power into it and sent the ball flying with an animalistic growl that betrayed more pain than fury, as if he was squaring off against himself and not Marco.

Tom flopped four serves in a row, leaving the game tied at 5-5. “Whatever it is, Tom, we can talk about it. You’re worrying me a bit, dude.” Tom didn’t even bother to return Marco’s next serve, putting the game at match point, win by 2.

“Just off my game. I told you, nothing’s wrong, there’s not anything I need to talk about right now,” his voice trembled. “I can do this.” Marco raised an eyebrow in a challenge to Tom, then served the ball in the exact opposite direction of the table. Bluff called. Tom hesitated a split second before sending his paddle soaring through the air around Marco’s head to make contact with the ball and fruitlessly swat it to the ground, giving Marco the point as the crowd went wild with cheers and boos at the performance. But Tom ignored all of that to toss himself onto the couch and buried his head in his hands, and Marco immediately dropped next to him.

“Dude, just talk to me,” Marco offered sympathetically.

“I don’t know how much longer I can deal with this.”

“With what?”

With his face buried in a pillow, Marco didn’t catch anything more than “a-a” in response.

“What was that?”

“Janna,” he forced out as though the word caused physical grief.

He had been a bit weird around her specifically, but somehow Marco hadn’t come into this conversation quite expecting it. “Um, OK. Well, I get that… she gets on my nerves too, and since you’re spending so much time with her I totally get- oh.”

Tom sighed.

“Ooooooooh.” It was all Marco could say as his mind raced to process the new developments.

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t think you-”

“Neither did I, but here we are.” Marco placed an arm around Tom’s shoulders to try and comfort him, and Tom merely returned a lopsided smile, opting to sit in silence while Marco wracked his brain for an idea of how best to respond. “When I…” Tom hesitantly spoke up but immediately faltered, taking a moment to regroup mentally. “My whole thing with Star went for, like, two years, and looking back I kind of feel like I was an idiot every second of it. Every time I got caught up in that dumb crush it just messed things up more. Like, remember that big monster party she threw? I was too hung up on dancing to even worry about what my friends needed.”

“Look, Tom, we all did lots of dumb stuff back then-”

The half-demon sunk into the couch, shrugging Marco’s arm off of him and staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah, sure, but at least you and Star were only completely clueless about how much you guys love each other, and even that was at least a little bit my bad too! A year after Star and I broke up the first time, she came back to Mewni as this confident and charismatic person, and I didn’t even know how to do anything besides flounder around doing nothing when she wasn’t around. Ever since I put all that stuff behind me, it’s- things have been going great!” Tom paused for a second after his voice cracked sharply. “Janna’s clever, she’s actually really thoughtful sometimes, she’s the funniest person I know, and she helped me realize I actually kind of like doing all the stuff that a prince is probably supposed to be doing. And here I am, the buffoon with a crush yet again.”

Marco had a few differences of opinion on the details, to put it lightly, but the sentiment struck a chord. “It’s- it’s never easy. I mean, there was a part of me that felt like I couldn’t even be regular friends with Star anymore for a while ‘cause it just kinda sucked to keep getting reminded of those feelings.”

“Really? Never would have thought.”

“Yeah, well, me too. But that did get better after, well, the booth…”

“So I just have to find a photo goblin and kiss her then, got it.”

“Not my point, Tom,” he retorted with a light punch in the arm, both of them smirking; it was still a sensitive topic, but this seemed to be helping Tom shake off the worst of his anxieties at the very least. “You’re being too hard on yourself, man. Literal hours after we met, you tried to kill me for dancing with a girl you weren’t even dating, then you saved me from a rampaging monster who then proceeded to get turned into a baby.”

“Has that ever stopped being kinda messed up?” Tom quickly interjected.

“Not really, no. But even if all that stuff you said is true, which it isn’t, anyone would still be lucky to have a friend like you. If you think you’re not a good enough friend for Janna or whatever, you’re wrong, and if you think you might screw something up, maybe you will but that doesn’t mean you should just give up those feelings. Take that from me.”

With a giant huff of air, Tom ran a hand through his hair, body language still displaying loads of tension even if he was being more open about his problems. “I’m not- I don’t want to just walk away entirely, but… When I went on that trip by myself right before Earth and Mewni merged, when I was just chilling on a hill in some dimension out there looking up at a thousand stars disappearing behind the horizon, I finally realized that what I wanted most was to find someone I could share that sort of moment with, even if it’s not romantic. Someone I could just sit next to without saying a word and still feel like we were doing something special.”

“Yeah…” Even though Marco had a great respect for his friend, it never ceased to amaze him how potently reflective and sensitive he could be, especially for someone who’d once been every human’s worst stereotype of a rage-filled demon monster. The words made him think of Star, who he could spend every single day with doing absolutely nothing and never get bored. Who was always there to lift him out of his lowest times, celebrate his best, and everything in between. Who would always be his very best friend, so long as they both shall live. Tom deserved every bit of happiness that Marco had discovered came with that kind of relationship, and if he could find it with Janna then Marco would be behind him all the way. “These things can take time, it did for me and Star.”

“No offense dude, but did it? You were best friends, like, seventeen hours tops after you met, and I bet even when things were at their worst you knew it, too. I like Janna, a lot, but I don’t know if that’s the sort of thing we have in the first place. And if I’m not sure of that, then I might be risking a friendship for something I’m not even sure would be good for me.” All three of Tom’s eyes sparkled their plea as he finally turned to fully face Marco, who returned the favor. “What do I do?”

“...really, Tom, I’m not sure.” Jackie, and Kelly, and the Curse… he’d had a lot of doubt in what he wanted most, for sure, but Tom was right about one thing: even if he hadn’t realized it, that unshakeable certainty in Star’s friendship somewhere in the core of his being had gotten him through whatever life threw at him. Without that, he shuddered at the thought of what might have been. “If you think saying something is a bad idea right now, then don’t. Just promise me one thing, OK?”

“Mhmm?”

“If and when you do feel confident that saying something to her is what you want to do, don’t wait, OK? If she really is your best friend, don’t hide it from her. That’ll only hurt you both, and that is 100% Marco Diaz first hand advice.”

Tom pulled Marco into a tight hug, clapping him on the back a few times for emphasis. “Thanks.”

When they broke apart, Marco kept a hand extended to Tom’s shoulder. “You can always join me and Star for sunset-watching, too, if you want. They might not be the same as one thousand at once, but Earthni’s are pretty amazing.”

“Might take you up on that. Feeling a lot better already, to be honest. Don’t feel like I need to avoid being around Janna anymore.”

“I’m glad.” Marco felt his phone buzz and check

“Awwww, isn’t that heartwarming, folks? It just warms my neural net. With that healthy of an approach to love, I don’t think there’s a wrong play Tom could make here. He’s got a good spin on the ball to angle that shot exactly where he needs it to go. What do you think, Janet?”

“Right you are, Derek, this is a truly remarkable sight seeing these two guys talk about their feelings. Usually we see young players put all their focus into fast smashes without buckling down on the fundamentals and getting a good, clean drive. If he can just find someone to lob, I think he’ll be alright. What do you say, all you people watching out there?”

“JANTOM! STARCO! JANTOM! STARCO!” The crowd chanted in unison, some even holding up signs. Were those doodles of their faces?

Notice of the loud noise startled the boys. Had they been watching the whole time? “What the-” they both exclaimed in utter shock as they jumped up and struck defensive poses.

One spectator ran up to the edge of the holographic projection with a pair of fake horns. “I LOVE YOU TOM PLEASE MARRY MEeeeeeeeeeuuuuu...” Marco yelped as the control console exploded from one of Tom’s fire blasts, causing the shrieking voice to trail off into a deep robotic crackle. Both breathed heavily as their eyes, wide with fear, flickered all around the ping pong setup in search of any other hidden dangers. When his heart had stopped racing enough for him to feel any external sensations again, Marco felt a vibration in his pocket and pulled out his phone.

“Oh, hey, Star’s ready for the Soulrise, which is in… forty minutes? Holy crap.”

“Sorry you spent so much of today dealing with my stuff.”

“Hey, anytime. I’ve always got your back.”

“C’mon, at least let me feel bad about this.” The pair each put an arm around the other’s shoulders and grinned at the warmth of friendship. Well, and the warmth of the flaming wreckage in front of them.

“I’ll get the carriage for them, but first, um, can you help me with one more thing?”

“You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“That we should throw this thing into the lava ocean?”

“You read my mind.”

***

How long had it been since she’d last seen a Soulrise? Despite her lifespan as a demon, she had never understood the fuss. Last year Relicor had discovered that the merging of dimensions had shifted the surface geography enough to make the Soulrise visible from their lake house, and it was only the sheer convenience that kept her here. As the winged skeletons danced above the lake, Wrathmelior could certainly admit it was a charming display, but was it really that different than anything else one could find in the Underworld if they only looked around them? Still, it was nice to spend an evening on the sands of their own private beach with her husband and a pretty display of spirits. But where was Tom?

“Hey, Lady and Lord Lucitor, thanks for everything today.” She looked down at the sound of Marco’s voice and saw him escorting a half-asleep Star with mud caked onto her skirt.

“Why yes, Roy, I- zzzzzz - would like all fifty flavors of goblin dog, thankszzzzz,” Star mumbled as she drifted in and out of sleep. Her eyes slowly blinked open and stared at the boy’s face. “Oh hi, Mr. Pillowzzzzzz…” She was visibly drooling into Marco’s hoodie as she clutched his torso tightly.

Dave stood up and went around Wrathmelior’s legs to see what was going on. “What happened to her?”

“Had a really long day dealing with an old enemy, I think. Didn’t get too many details before she fell asleep on me. Can you send us home, if it’s not too much trouble?”

“No, you’re adorablezzzz… wait, home?” Blonde hair whipped around her face as she jolted awake with a mortified expression. “Ugh, Marco, nooooo, it’s your birthday and I said I’d be heeeere and I can totally stay…” She trailed off into a massive yawn and firmly pinched her cheeks. “...awake.” She hung her head shamefully, turning away from him but leaving his arm hooked around her waist that was keeping her upright.

Marco smiled and spun her around to face him. “Hey, don’t worry about it. You should rest, don’t force yourself to do this.”

“Nighty tightyzzzzzz...” Star hooked her arms around his neck and drifted off to a deeper sleep.

“I can summon the carriage, but I’m afraid I don’t know where you live,” Wrathmelior grumbled with her husband translating. Now that she had a glimpse, she could understand a bit better what Tom had meant when he said those two had something special.

“Oh, right, duh. Um, the Monster Temple then? We can stay there tonight.” He put an arm behind Star’s knees and lifted her up, using her unconscious grip on his neck for leverage.

Wrathmelior nodded and began to tap into her well of demon magic to yank Tom’s carriage from its usual den deep in their home when Dave spoke up, catching her attention. “Did you want to say goodbye to Tom, too? I don’t know where he ran off to.”

Something above her caught Marco’s eye, causing him to beam at the sight. “Nah, it’s fine, I’ll just call him tomorrow.” Wrathmelior craned her head to look behind her; Tom and Janna were sitting together on the roof, not saying a word. Even from a bit of a distance, it was plain to see that Janna was completely enraptured by the whirling vortex of shrieking ghouls while Tom was spending just as much time taking in her reaction as he was the event itself. If neither had noticed the commotion on the ground now, nothing in all the dimensions would do the trick.

“It’s just a Soulrise,” Wrath muttered, communicating through Dave.

After entering the carriage, Marco cast one long look at his friends. “Yeah, but they’ve earned this one.”

#starco #jantom #svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #tgg svtfoe #wonder if we'll see how star's day went? ;)#fanfic

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burritodetodo · 5 years ago

Text

Burrito’s Guide To Survive Coronavirus Quarantine

We got to keep social distance (1 or 2 meters each other) or stay home during coronavirus outbreak so I thought I can share with y’all some things I’m gonna watch or do doing quarantine (this is a very long post, REBLOGS ARE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!).

BUT FIRST SOME RULES:

Wash your hands: do it for 20 seconds or a while, but ALWAYS do it. It prevents the virus from spreading. If you don’t have sanitizer, water and soap! The cheapest and best ally against the disease.

Buy everything you need: if you can, try to buy stuff so you can stay some days at home. If the place is crowded, go back home and come later when it’s more empty. Same as medicine.

You can go for a walk: stay at home all day can be overwhelming for your mental health, but unless the goverment puts a curfew or gets strict about it you can go walk outside for a while always respecting the 1 or 2 meters from other people and without making contact (chatting) with other people. This ain’t my rule, a CDC professional says. DON’T go visit your friends or to crowded places such as bars, restaurants, shoppings, etc. If you want to buy something, ask for delivery or take away.

If you have coronavirus sympthoms (high fever, diarrhea, cough, feeling tired, breath difficulties) DON’T GO TO THE HOSPITAL YET, CALL TO YOUR PUBLIC HEALTH ORGANISATION OR WHATEVER YOU GOT AND THEY’LL TREAT YOU.

(credits to whoever made this meme)

SO YOUR LIFE IS ON QUARANTINE

Let’s say your boss or your school told you can stay at home. Okay then, you gotta prepare for some days inside *Isolation by John Lennon plays in the distance*. The first thing you think is you have to prepare a batch of series and movies to watch in order to kill some time. I’m gonna recommend you some you can find on VOD or cable, if you don’t have it don’t worry because I got you covered!

Infinity Train: a yet two seasons saga about people who got to face their problems aboard an endless train. The protagonists are joined by creatures who have different nature and help them, or not, to acknowledge their issues and leave the train. It’s on CN, it will continue on HBO Max.

The Owl House: a teen girl who daydream a lot was going to be sent to a down-to-earth camp but then she crosses a portal to the Boiling Isles, a magical world where she is taken care by a powerful Owl witch/saleswoman and her adorable demon. Lots of fantasy, some action scenes and many many puns. It’s on Disney Channel, it’ll be on Disney+ in some weeks.

Primal: Genndy Tartakovsky delighted us with the alliance of a caveman and a dinosaur, two rivals in a wild world who ally after facing a devastating event. It IS brutal and beatiful, has no dialogue and keeps you watching closely. Five final episodes are set to premiere this year. It’s on Adult Swim, maybe on HBO Max.

Tuca and Bertie: for the critics, one of 2019 best shows. For Netflix, a show that had to be cut off because the studio unionized. Two friends in their late 20s face changes in their lives: from living with a boyfriend and plan a life to look a way to stay sober and get a job. Deals with trauma, ptsd, anxiety and more harsh moments very well. In fact, the creator is a vital part of Bojack Horseman! It’s on Netflix.

Aggretsuko: red pandas are cute eh? But what about a antopomorphic red panda who releases her anger and frustrations by singing at a karaoke? This awesome comedy by Sanrio & Netflix is one of anime’s big hits lately. Like T&B, has a good handle of adult problems but not going too deep just to not break the comedy. You can watch it on Netflix.

Regular Show: yeah-uuuuhhhh! Eight seasons, a movie, five Halloween specials and some others. The adventures of a racoon and a blue jay with their co-workers/friends that relies on psychadellia and 80s and 90s nostalgia. It begins good, gets better, then lowers the quality (they were producing the movie at the same time tho, give some credit) and with and after the movie ends awesome. It’s on CN web, dunno if on Hulu (US only) and proably on HBO Max.

Evangelion: it’s a classic at this point, but addictive to me because I end rewatching the series or the final movie many times. A post apocalyptic future where the world has to deal with strange creatures known as the Angels and a boy with lots of traumas has to get on a mecha to save the humankind. All the characters have traumas and issues, the interaction between them or the action makes it worth. The End of Evangelion is a movie that ends the unfinished series. Warning: at some point it becomes very twisted and there are scenes which are too much violent. Viewer disclosure etc. It’s on Netflix worldwide.

Steven Universe & SU Future: this is the tale of the gem boy who ends a galactical tyranny and brings democracy to the universe. A acclaimed show that broke through many topics like gender, identity, ptsd, relationships and many more. Besides it’s got the best scores of the Milky Way and beyond thanks to the talent of Rebecca Sugar, Aivi Tran and Surasshu. And the actors and acrtresses! I don’t forget the movie, a musical that is an introduction to the epilogue: Shippuden Future. The show is available on CN and will be on HBO Max. Worldwide? No news.

Adventure Time: something that began as an innocent boy and a magical dog having adventures in a post apocalyptic world turns into the journey of Finn Metens from childhood to almost adulthood. There is a lot of fantasy and comedy you enjoy, but there are dark moments and serious ones through S6 that find a balance with early seasons form S7 to the finale. It also has great music, memorable moments and colaborations. And guess what? There is going to be a special set to premiere on HBO Max in some weeks! You got plenty of time to catch up or rewatch before that on CN or only (!!) S5 on Netflix.

Final Space: a dude tries to save the universe with their friends, where we can find his love interest, a cat-man and his kitten son, a intersexual alien, an AI then robot that is the best of them, two particular siblings and an annoying bot that prevents insanity that makes you insane. Crazy adventures in space, lots of situations, sadness, an evil smol bean who is a space emperor, a dude who looks for revenge, space deities that can destroy the universe. Is this a lot or info? It is not, because there is more and you can watch it on TBS, Adult Swim and Netflix (the world except US).

Rick and Morty: the most powerful, smartest human in the universe has adventures with his grandson. It’s awesome, but has a very toxic fanbase. Anyway, you can enjoy it on Adult Swim or Netflix (which is up to date!) and the rest of S4 is set someday.

Bojack Horseman: a Hollywood satire about human relationships, fame, traumas with a pour of comedy. Alongside the previous series, the best adult animation of the decade. Sadly cut by Netflix because the studio unionized (see T&B), said by both the creator and Aaron Paul. You can watch the six amazing seasons on that platform.

I’m not an animated movies guy, but here are three I really like and you can watch:

Porco Rosso: a handsome Italian combat aviator turned magically to a pig has a face off with an American pilot hired by pirates to get rid of him before WWII in Fascist Italy. It’s entertaining and, like every Ghibli movie, nice to watch. It’s on Netflix and will be on HBO Max for US.

Lego Batman Movie: Batman is depressed and has to get over it. It’s wacky and has lots of comedy. Plus Will Arnett is top 3 Batman. On Netflix (Latinamerica).

Spiderverse: Oscar winner movie about your friendly neighbour Peter Parker Miles Morales. Miles sees Spiderman die and feels bad after being transfered to a private school. Then a radioactive spider from a Fisk compound bites Miles and he’s Spiderman... among other dimensions’ Spiderpeople: Gwen, Peni, Peter Parker, Noir and Peter Porker. It’s visually amazing. On US it’s on Netflix (I guess), on Latinamerica on HBO.

Some interesting live actions I watched lately

Atlanta: Donald Glover is Earn, a dude who struggles to find a job for her baby girld and sees an opportunity when his cousin, Paper Boi, has a hit and uses him to make his cos famous. Sometimes a comedy, sometimes a social satire with touches of drama. And all protagonists are now big shots, like Zazie Beetz, Brian Tyree Henry or Lakeith Stanfield. There are two seasons and two seasons set for 2021 (2022 possible beacuse of coronavirus). It’s on FX, Hulu (US) and Netflix (world)

Avenue 5: this is brand new. On 2060 space cruises are a thing, and one cruise (the Avenue 5) has an accident that leaves the crew and passangers stranded for years. The captain (Hugh Laurie) has to solve this shit with a bunch of incompetent crew, bosses like Judd (Josh Gad), except one female engeneer who is very smart. Lots of crazy things happen in this series from the creator behind Veep. It’s on HBO (it’s free in the US!).

Peaky Blinders: it has some years but damn it’s epic. A gang from Birmingham makes their way to the top during the late 1910s after the Great War and extends through the 1920s. S5 is right in the ascension of fascism in Britain. ALL THE CAST acts spectacular, names like Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Anna Taylor-Joy and a long etc. But my fave is Paul Anderson, that ultra violent junkie Arthur Shelby is splendid, then is Tommy and aunt Pol, the baddest badass woman in Britain. Blinders is going to have seven seasons, there are two left. You can watch it on BBC or Netflix.

Sex Education: speaking of Britain, excellent teen comedy. Horny, doubtful teenagers going through those hard years. Stories of sex (duh!), abuse situations, abortion, there are gay relationships either, Gillian Anderson! It’s on Netflix, go go go!

Watchmen: despite not having Alan Moore on board, Damien Lindeloff did a tremendous job with the comic. Way better and less misleading than Zack Snyder’s 2009 film, Watchmen is again at the gates of the world’s end (like today) and handles the problem of racism and white supremacy quite well. Just 9 episodes, but worth to watch. On HBO.

CAOS: Sabrina the Teenage Witch is over. Warner and Netflix made a revival of the Archie Comics character and brought her to XXI Century. But gorier, hornier, dark and magical than the nice 90s sitcom. Sabrina Spellman goes from a doubtful teen who has to decide if she has to be a witch or a powerless woman to rule Hell. How she does it? Find out on Netflix! Note: S1 and 2 take some episodes to start properly. Don’t get bored too easy.

There are A LOT MORE to recommend and I make a list: Harley Quinn (DC Universe), OK KO (Hulu -US only-), House MD, Young Justice (DC Universe/Netflix), Ken Burns’ documentaries (Netflix), Titans (DCU), Over The Garden Wall (CN), Seis Manos (Netflix), Thundercats Roar (CN), Easy (Netflix), GLOW (Netflix), Star Trek Discovery (CBS, Netflix) and Picard (CBS, Amazon Prime), etc.

- You named cool shows, but I’m not from the United States or I don’t have a subscription to (insert VOD here) because I can’t afford it

- Glad you asked, I have the answer here

Introducing Stremio. It’s an open source platform where you can watch shows, movies or even live TV on Windows, Linux, Apple or Android. You create an account, install some addons and start looking for what you want to watch.

Stremio is based on torrents, you should install addons from many known torrent sites. So maybe you find an old show, but there aren’t many seeds to watch. And it could be frustraiting, so make sure there are people sharing so you can watch it.

You can download Stremio here and check the FAQs which is very clear.

NOTE: Stremio is note quite “clean” way to watch, but if you do please support the shows you watch by posting, commenting about them, making memes, thanking the creators and crew for their work, buying merchandise if you can. They put a lot to make the shows we love, let’s give ‘em back that love and effort.

You’re tired of the same music, the same movies or need to leave something to make company? There is Vaughn Live, a streaming page where are lots of channels with movies and series on strem (not VOD). For example, there is a channel that streams Adventure Time, other Regular Show, other Sci-Fi shows, another with DBZ and so on. Take in count that if the channel has +70 viewers, the free access is cut and if you want to watch it you have to pay.

En Vaughn también hay canales en español, como Simpsonmanía, Dragon Ball, Futurama, dibujos viejos y muchísimo más. Anyway, go to https://vaughn.live/ and enjoy yourselves!

Y hablando de canales en español, pueden ir a SeriesLan donde está el mayor reservorio conocido de series animadas de entre 1960 a 2010 en español latino. Pueden encontrar tesoros desde Don Gato, los Halcones Galácticos o Street Sharks a Flapjack y Mechas XLR. Otra alternativa para que pasen el rato.

Some interesting facts:

Epic Games releases a free game per week in their store. This week will be two games. You can check in https://www.epicgames.com

Steam has good prices on games and some free ones. There even is the latest Football Manager for free until March 25th. Check on https://store.steampowered.com/

If you’re interested,

I got this playlist I made on Spotify

with songs I liked in more than one year. More than 1200 songs.

And that’s pretty much it! You got resources for a lot of days, 14 initially since that’s the quarantine time in my country. Remember: obey the indications of the Health authorities, this is no time to play the “fuck the goverment” game. We will overcome this pandemy together, helping and caring for each other. That’s why I did this guide, to keep your minds busy in these tough times! Wash your hands, keep social distance, stay at home, go outside if necessary and have some patience please. This has been a PSA.

Stay strong!

Burrito

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imaginegladions · 5 years ago

Text

Awkward

A/N: Remember when I said I’d rewrite the events in SuMo but from Gladion’s awkward POV of being in love with the protagonist the whole time? Hahaha guess what I found in my drafts.

It takes all of Gladion’s strength not to throw himself to the ground and beat his own head in until he’s buried himself in the dirt. Nevermind the fact that he’s currently at Aether and beating his head through metal would only end up in him getting a face full of water and maybe sinking the facility. He’s certainly hard-headed enough to accomplish it. He ran away as a child after all.

But then again, so did most children. It’s just that other kids did so with consent from their parents. Though, that does put into question the sanity of parents. Gladion wouldn’t know what a sane parent would be like anyway.

This isn’t a time to question the problem of parenting in Alola though. There were bigger Feebas to fight.

Gladion’s stupid heart fluttering world ending crush on you.

It’s been a nuisance ever since he’d found out about it an embarrassingly long time ago. And now, what seems like his millionth attempt to ask you out had ended in disaster… again.

He’d planned it out. Honestly! He did! And it was a great plan. He was going to give you Type: Null and flirt a little. Then, he’d ask if you needed tips to raise the Pokemon which would lead to an offer to discuss it over lunch at the nice Cafe in Ula’Ula with all the Meowth.

… He’ll admit he got that idea from Nanu, because he’s honest like that and the man scares him.

And the plan was going well.

Up until the flirting part of it.

“I heard that Alola’s got a really strong Champion- what- what kind of line was that?” He groaned, hitting his forehead with his fist softly.

Silvally snorted next to him, staring up knowingly with slanted eyes.

Gladion bit back the urge to stick his tongue out at the Pokemon. “How was I supposed to know they’d get excited and sprint back to the League to prepare?” He winced thinking about how the encounter had gone.

Silvally tilted its head at him as if saying “Does it really seem so out of character?”.

“I mean, I do want to challenge (Y/N). It’s just-” He buried his reddening face into his hands. “I want to hold hands too. Maybe. Just a little.” He muttered.

Silvally simply sat there, warming his legs as if this was a normal occurrence. Which, it was. Gladion stood there, cheeks cooling down in his hands, wondering if he’ll ever get to the end of this hellish cycle.

—————————

Every cycle begins at the point someone sees something round and decides wouldn’t it be fun to roll that? In this case, Gladion is the idiot that saw a wheel of feelings and decided it would be fun to roll it down a tall hill then forgot to put a stop to it. And it didn’t even begin in any spectacular way. In fact, it began with two words.

“Get o-”

Gladion laughed, throwing the dog off his lanky frame. “No, seriously. This hoodie is my last good one, I just finished stitching it. Get off!” He said, chuckling softly all the while and effectively softening the impact of his command. “If Plumeria catches us at it again, we won’t hear the end of it.” He rolled his eyes, cheeks reddening a little remembering the last time Plumeria swung by.

“So, I met your little trainer. When are you asking them out?”

A faint ripping sound drew his gaze down where a small rip graced the back of his hoodie. “Null.” He stared deadpan at the Pokemon who only wiggled in excitement. “You’re gonna get it now!” He lunged and the Pokemon tore away from him, running around the tiny room.

Gladion gave chase, a small smile on his face. He didn’t normally have this much time to spend on himself and his Pokemon between battling to get stronger, work he had to do for Team Skull, and research on how to stop Ultra Beasts. It was a relief that Null was still as cheerful as ever.

So cheerful, Gladion didn’t hear the creak of the door opening.

“Oh! Sorry, the landlady kind of didn’t say anything when I asked if there was room so I went exploring-”

Well, speak of the Zubat and they’ll appear.

You both froze, staring at each other. Gladion had one hand on his torn up hoodie, his shirt riding up where Null had its face squished to his chest avoiding Gladion’s grabby hands. The sewing set was off to the side while thread spilled onto the floor like tiny streams of color.

Null seemed to smile, liking how the situation turned out. The Pokemon began to chew at the hoodie in earnest, taking advantage of its trainer’s shock.

“You look like you’re in a bit of a pinch there.” You giggled, gesturing to Null. “You sure you’re both eating enough?” She teased.

Gladion felt his face reddening, unable to think of anything past how absolutely humiliating it is for you to see him in this state of utter awkwardness. The feeling of frustration, embarrassment, and even fondness bubbled up into one loud cry.

“G-Get out!”

And so it spins.

#type: fic #imagine gladions #gladion #gladion imagine

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tangyyyy · 5 years ago

Note

Bon, parce que je te connais et que tu vas me faire un truc ultra angst tu vas te faire pardonner avec du pure fluff avec cet autre prompt^^ , Fluff numéro 7 “wait, no, don’t take kissing away from me.”

Here it is !!!! :D

My second dads!elu one shot ! Many many thanks @juuuunaaaaoooo, you made me write again !

Guys, you can request any prompts anytime in my box, really… ;)

Anyway… I hope you’ll enjoy this one !

Worst parents ever

Lucas is in a hurry. The rain began to fall on the streets of Paris and the young man has no umbrella. Walking on Boulevard Barbès, Lucas tries to bury the baguette he just bought under his coat, nobody likes wet bread. A fast-moving car passes by him and, driving in a puddle of dirty water, splashes his jeans. “Damn…” he grumbles, fastening his pace a little more.

Night has fallen on Paris and the Christmas decorations shine brightly. Lucas has never been a great fan of the holiday season. Especially Christmas. The endless family dinners, the fake kindness and the crappy gifts of his old aunts? No thanks, not for him. Eliott, on the other hand, loves Christmas. Lucas remembers, nostalgic, of their very first Christmas together, many years ago. Offended to learn that Lucas didn’t like this great tradition, Eliott had done everything he could to make this evening unforgettable. Thanks to his many talents, both physical and artistic, he succeded, although Lucas has always refused to admit it. He smiles. After a busy day of work, he can’t wait to find his man and their daughter.

Éléonore, said Nour, is now two and a half, almost three. Lucas often looks at her and can’t repress a whiff of anxiety at the idea that she can grow up so fast. His thin blonde hair leaves place, for some months, to thick chestnut hair that Lucas and Eliott have the greatest difficulty to style. On his little nose, many small freckles have appeared. Only his big deep blue eyes like Lucas’ don’t seem to change. Now capable of the most spectacular acrobatics, she’s also a talkative little girl with an overflowing imagination, just like Eliott. Lucas is sure of this and can say, objectively, that their daughter is the most beautiful person in the world.

Going home every evening to his apartment that he loves so much, coming back to his lover and his daughter… He was so happy! Once in front of the big massive wood door, Lucas pushes it and come inside. Automatically, he puts his keys in the small box placed on the entrance furniture, takes off his shoes, leaves his soaked coat that hangs on the coat rack and walks in the narrow corridor, the baguette unscathed by any trace of rain in his hand. A smell of tomatoes, thyme and rosemary tickles his nostrils. Tomato in the middle of December? Lucas knows that Eliott can be very creative in kitchen but making such an affront to seasonal vegetables? No it’s not in his habits…

Lucas finds Eliott in the kitchen, busy over the sink, washing a green salad. Looking around him, Lucas doesn’t see Éléonore. No doubt she must be playing alone in her room with her many toys as it happens to her more and more often…

“It smells good.” Lucas say, smiling.

Eliott, who didn’t hear his manwalking behind his back, jumps and put a hand on his pounding heart.

"Damn Lucas, you scared me…”

Lucas laughs and puts a little kiss on Eliott’s cheek before placing the baguette on the worktop.

“What are you doing?” He asks, curiously, as he sits on one of the high bar stools near the sink.

"I had no idea so I warm a jar of ratatouille.” Eliott replies by refocusing on the salad.

“Mmmh… good idea!”

Last summer Lucas’ mother had gave them several jars of fresh ratatouille, telling them that during the cold and long winter months, they could at least have some sun in their plates. Smelling the scent of Mediterranean vegetables bursting with sun and olive oil, Lucas licks his lips in advance. Éléonore, too, loves the ratatouille of her grandmother. She, who, however, begins to sulk the vegetables for a few weeks, makes an exception for the famous Mamie Marie’s Ratatouille.

“You had a good day?” Lucas asks, absently looking at Eliott bustling around the salad.

"Meeting, meeting, meeting and… Meeting! We’re on a new project. It’s going to be great but it’s hyper ambitious so there’s a thousand things to see upstream of the real…

-Oh ok, cool.” Visibly immersed in his own mind, Lucas now stares at a tiny gnat drowning in the sink full of water.

"And yours?

-Yes, yes, it’s been okay…” He answers absentmindly, staring at the gnat.

Silence falls in the kitchen. Drops of water come to the windows and the wind rises almost conceals the noises of the Parisian traffic. Only Eliott continues to work on the preparation of the meal, Lucas remains motionless near the sink.

Finally, Lucas frowns and redirects his focus to Eliott, now busy taking out the plates and cutlery of the small wooden furniture on his right.

“It means that you’ll spend a lot of time with Amélie…

-Well yes, she’s the pre-real workload so yeah indeed, I’m going to work a lot with her. Why?

-Just to know…” Lucas scowls, crosses his arms against his chest and forces himself to think of something else.

Knowing very well why Lucas asks such a question, Eliott bites his cheek, forcing himself not to smirk. Nevertheless he’s not decided to let such an opportunity to make fun of his lover. For years Eliott has been working with Amelie, Lucas has always been jealous of the young woman. It’s true that Amelie is an attractive woman who has never tried to hide, in the past, the attraction she felt and still feels for Eliott. But he’s always very clear with her. Although Eliott can’t be more faithful to Lucas, the young man can’t help but worry. Diyng of jealousy to know that Eliott is gonna spend most of his time with this very beautiful and clever artist, Lucas can’t think straight anymore.

Eliott, pretending to clean the sink a little more, discreetly walked to Lucas.

"Besides… Speaking of Amélie… Today she showed us the new shoes she bought, really high heels, Louboutin. Wow, it makes her legs beautiful, you should see that… Aoutch!”

Lucas just kicked him.

“Stop it already!”

Eliott now laughs openly.

“Stop what?!

-I don’t fucking care about Amélie’s legs!

-You should, she’s beautiful! And then her little dress…

-For fuck’s sake!”

Raging and crimson cheeks of shame, Lucas punches Eliott’s shoulder. The latter, far from being offended, laughs again and walked closer.

“You know I don’t like that girl and you play with it!” Lucas complains, folding his arms back and lowering his head sulkily.

"Sorry, sorry… I can’t help it!” Eliott say, wiping a small tear of laughter at the corner of his eye.

He tries to take him in his arms but Lucas is struggling.

"You’re just a fucking sadist!”

Eliott laughs again and finally settles down. He puts a soft, gentle hand on Lucas’ cheek, encouraging him to look up at him.

“I’m sorry, but… I can’t believe you’re still so jealous. Even after more than ten years, the house, Nour, all that…

-Yeah I know it’s ridiculous… ” Lucas breathes, biting his lip.

“No it’s not ridiculous, it’s… quite flattering actually.” Eliott smiles. "But once again… You’re the only one who counts, you know it.”

Lucas smiles as well, sighs and relax his muscles. His hands rest on Eliott’s hips.

“I know…

-And then you have nothing to envy to Amélie.

-Really?

-Really.”

Lucas, still sitting on the bar stool, legs apart to accommodate Eliott closer to his body, raises his eyebrows.

“She’s one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen though.

"Yeah well…” Says Eliott unconvincingly. “Allow me anyway to put your tastes about women in question.” As Lucas prepares to retort, his man keeps talking. "She’s too tall… My type is smaller people…” He finished with a mocking smile.

"I’m not that small!” Lucas complains.

"Who tells you that you’re my type?

-You jerk!”

As Lucas begins to slap Eliott’s abs with his fists, he grabs his face with his hands and puts his lips on his.

“I love you Lucas…” he whispers between two kisses.

“I love you too, bastard…” Lucas answers.

The two men kiss each other. Eliott’s hands are set in Lucas’ neck. The latter grabs the bottom of his husband’s tee-shirt and strokes his bare stomach. Their tongues touch and play together. Eliott’s hands move up in his hair pulling them slightly. Lucas scratches his thin skin lightly, stroking his belly button and his ribs. Deep in his throat, Eliott lets out a small sigh of ease, without getting away from the mouth of Lucas. It’s the latter, at this sound, which moves away slightly, he licks his red and swollen lips, he rests his hands on his knees. Eliott frowns and looks sulky.

“Wait, no, don’t take kissing away from me.” He says, trying to take him back to him.

Lucas smiles. Yes, of course, he would love to keep kissing him, but at the same moment, a whole other preoccupation is coming to his mind.

"If we don’t stop right now, I’m not sure I could control myself for a long time…”

Eliott cuts him off by sticking his pelvis to his.

“I like that…” He moans close to his ear.

“I think it’s more reasonable to wait for Nour to be sleeping Babe…” Lucas smiles again, not finding the strength to walk away.

Hearing his daughter’s name, Eliott sighs, puts his forearms on Lucas’ shoulders and displays a look of deep reflection.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right…” He admits in a half smile. “It would be a shame to traumatise her for the rest of her life… By the way, where is she? That’s it, it’s teenage time? She doesn’t even want to come and kiss her father after a hard day at the childcare centre?” Eliott asks, glancing down the corridor to the bedrooms.

Lucas raises his eyebrows, losing his bright smile. He moves a little further and looks Eliott straight in the eyes.

"You’re joking right?” He asks his husband.

Eliott, not understanding what Lucas means, rising in turn a mocking eyebrow.

"Yes, Lu’, it’s a joke. I don’t seriously think that our two-and-a-half year old girl is already in her teens…

-No, I mean… She’s playing in her room right?

-Well yeah, I guess.

-Eliott…”

The two men look at each other, the same expression scandalised on their two faces. The situation seems to clear suddenly for one as for the other.

“Did you get her at the childcare center when you went out of work?” Lucas asks.

"No! It was you who were supposed to pick her up on the way back! You didn’t do it?

-No I didn’t!”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…” Understanding that their daughter is not at home as expected, Eliott rushes to the other end of the living room, to his phone that he had put there an hour or two ago.

“6 missed calls from the center!” He shouts, panicked.

"They tried to call me too!” Lucas answers from the small entrance where he went to get his coat in which he had buried his own phone.

Pacing up and down in the living room, the phone sticked to his ear, Eliott calls back the childcare center. Lucas joins him, collapses on one of the chairs, takes his head in his hands, nerves alive, succumbing to the stress of such a situation.

"Hello… Yes, I’m Éléonore’s father.” Eliott introduces himself, his worried eyes staring into Lucas’ anxious ones. "I’m really sorry, there was a misunderstanding and… Yes, yes, very well, thank you. Sorry again, we… We just… I know… Yes… We’re coming right now, sorry, we’ll be there in five-ten minutes.”

Coming out of the house with Eliott, Lucas doesn’t mind the rain anymore. In a big hurry, the two men walked fast to the childcare center.

“Fuck! We spoke about it yesterday! It was you who had to go and catch her!” Lucas yells, already out of breath.

"No no no! It was you who was supposed to come home with her!

-But that makes no sense! It’s you who came home first!

-Yes but the center is on your way, not mine!”

The two men remains silent, each convinced to be right.

After a little while, Lucas lowers his head and burries his hands in his coat.

“Damn… We’re the worst parents ever…” he said in a sad and shameful tone.

“Don’t say that.” Eliott answers without looking at him or slowing down.

"But we’re not even fucking able to decide properly who’s supposed to care about our daughter at the childcare cen…”

-Shut up!“

Lucas is guilt-ridden. Honestly and in theory, he knows very well that he overreacts. Éléonore is perfectly safe at the childcare center, they’re only late for an hour and then mistakes can happen from time to time… But he can’t help himself. How could they forget their own daughter? Worse still, how did they do to not realise earlier that the little girl wasn’t in the house? And if she hadn’t been to the childcare center, what if a stranger had come to get her? What if, what if … Before Éléonore came into his world, Lucas was the first to make fun of all those parents feeling guilty for the slightest mistake about their offspring. And now, he and Eliott find themselves in the same situation… What a joke!

Eliott pushes the door of the childcare center and introduces himself to one of the childcare worker at the entrance. On his heels, Lucas sees Éléonore playing quietly alone with small wooden cubes. Not caring a lot about the worker, he breaks off quickly, takes off his shoes and rushes alongside the little girl on the playthings. He crouches down and takes her in his arms.

"Oh sorry… Sorry babygirl…” He holds her tight and kisses her hair. “We’re here.”

Obviously the little girl doesn’t seem to have realised that her two dads had forgotten to pick her up. Lucas puts his hands under her armpits, places her against his chest and keeps her close to him while standing up. “Come on, let’s go home.”

Letting herself be carried into the entrance, the little girl sees Eliott in great discussion with the childcare worker. Visibly surprised to see that her both of her dads have exceptionally come to get her, Eleanor made a funny face.

“Papa?

-Yes, see? We came both! We really wanted to see you!”

Lucas stops near Eliott. The latter turns to his husband and daughter, smiles and lays a kiss on the little girl’s round cheek.

“Hi you. How are you?

-Good!

-What did you do today?

-I did the painting!” The girl answers playfully, proudly showing her two little hands on which there are still some traces of red paint.

Lucas turns to the woman.

“We’re really sorry, I don’t even understand what happened…

-Oh do not worry too much! As I said to your husband, this can happen to everyone.

-No but really, sorry…

-Listen, you’re not the first to whom it happens and you wont be the last, believe my long experience.”

Lucas smiles at her sheepishly, absently stroking his daughter’s hair.

“And then…” Keeps saying the woman. “It’s a pretty good thing!”

At these words, the two men raise their eyebrows.

“It means that your world doesn’t revolve around Éléonore only. That’s a good thing! She needs to see that everything is not just working for her only, that she’s not the center of the whole world, especially at that age. There are times when we don’t necessarily think about our children, it’s pretty healthy actually.”

Lucas bites his cheek, thinking back to what they were just doing to forget their own daughter. Seeking to hide his embarrassment, he drops the little girl on the ground so that she can get her shoes in the small lockers near the entrance. Eliott bends down and helps her to put on her shoes.

Seeing two other pairs of shoes in the lockers, Lucas looks up at the woman.

“There are still children?

-We don’t close until late, around 9:30 pm, for parents who have atypical schedules.”

Lucas nods before putting on his own shoes.

Once Éléonore has put on her thick coat, Eliott takes her in his arms. The little girl frowns and tries to struggle.

“Nooo! I want to walk!!” She gasped. Eliott doesn’t let her go and shakes his head.

"Sorry kitten but it’s raining a lot and…” He glances at Lucas. The latter shrugs. “And as we left the house quickly, we forgot to take an umbrella so we will walk very quickly to not get wet.”

Lucas bites his cheek again. They didn’t even think of sheltering their daughter from the rain… really, they fucked up everything today! The shrill voice of the little girl draws him from his dark thoughts.

“Will you run?” She asks Eliott. Éléonore loves when Eliott carries her on his back while running at full speed, it’s even one of her favourite activities. His father laughs.

"Of course! Everything you want tonight Mademoiselle Lallemant.” He replies, kissing her forehead.

His coat on, Lucas turns to the woman, standing there, watching them tenderly.

"Well… We’ll go now. Thank you very much and sorry again for all that.

-Do not worry, not a big problem, really. Next time make sure to keep your phones with you.” She answers with a smile.

"It wont happen again.” Lucas adds, shaking her hand. "Nour, you say goodbye?

-Goodbye!” Nour yells, still in Eliott’s arms, waving her hand to the woman.

"See you tomorrow sweethart.” She greets her back, giving her a small wink.

On the way back, Lucas looks in front of him, Eliott running in the rain, holding Éléonore firmly in his arms. The little girl laughs loudly. Lucas could never get tired of this laugh for sure.

Back home, while Eliott kneels in the small entrance, helping their daughter to get rid of her coat and shoes, a burning smell suddenly rises to Lucas’ nostril.

"Oh fuck!” He rushes into the kitchen. In the saucepan, the ratatouille is totally burnt and lets escape a blackish smoke. With a quick gesture, he grabs the pan and puts it in the sink before running the water.

"Damn fucking shit… That must be a fucking joke…” Lucas takes his head in his hands. “We make everything mess!” He slaps his forehead with the palm of one of his hands.

He feels so guilty to not being able to do anything right. He would like to be that perfect, caring, organised father, but deep down, tonight, he still feels like a teenager who has trouble growing up. He knows it’s fleeting, he’s aware that most of the time things don’t go so bad but… Tonight is too much…

On his back, he feels Eliott taking him in his arms. The man puts his hands on his stomach, puts his head on his shoulder and hugs him, his chest stucked to Lucas’ back.

"It’s okay…” he whispers in his ear.

“But Eli, look, we’re fucking pathetic…” Lucas complains, thinking back to the forgetting of their own daughter and their house full of an unpleasant burning smell. He begins to run out of air and feels his belly knot. Eliott moves slightly away to give him room to turn around.

“Hey, hey, calm down, Lucas… look at me. Look at me…”

Lucas turns around and stares into the calm and reassuring eyes of his man.

“Nour’s perfectly fine, she’s here, with us. And about the ratatouille… It doesn’t matter at all. It’s nothing… ” He told him confidently. Lucas nods, soothed by the sound of Eliott’s voice.

“What are we eating then?” He asks in a weak voice.

Eliott frowns and thinks.

“Hmmm… we can order a pizza!” Leaving Lucas’ eyes, he turns towards the living room in the direction of Éléonore, who is busy telling the contents of her day to one of her stuffed toys, sitting on the ground at the foot of the Christmas tree. "Nour… Do you like pizza?”

The little girl raises her big blue eyes towards her father. She doesn’t answer anything, obviously not understanding what Eliott is asking to her.

“Pizza… You know, the round good thing with other stuff on it…”

The little girl frowns before refocusing on her stuffed toy. Obviously what her father tells her, not only does she not understand it but she doesn’t really care about it either.

“Oh my God…” Eliott blows tragically, a hint of indignation in his voice.

“What?” Lucas asks.

"Our own daughter has never tasted pizza in her whole life…” He says, eyes round, slowly turning to his husband.

“Well… Uh yeah… Maybe not with us but wi…

-That’s the real shame, Lucas! What unworthy fathers we are!” He exclaims in a perfect dramaqueen’s impersonation. "We have to fix this right now!” He adds, grabbing his phone to call their favourite pizzeria.

A smile on his lips, Lucas looks at him, his own blue eyes filled with unspeakable tenderness.

A little later in the evening, Eliott and Lucas are settled in the couch. Éléonore is sitting between them. Just out of the bath, her hair is still wet and her skin smells like baby soap. In her hand, she holds a small slice of pizza she carries to her mouth, already smeared with tomato sauce. Her two dads watch her eatting with appetite.

"So? You like pizza?” Lucas asks her smiling.

The little girl just nods, too busy eating her new favourite dish to answer properly to her own father.

Lucas sighs of ease, keeps smiling and lets himself go against the back of the couch, a hand resting on his daughter’s back. He looks at the ceiling thoughtfully. Eliott prefers not to waste time and takes a large slice of pizza.

"You know what?”

Eliott turns to him, traces of tomato sauce at the corners of his mouth, just like their daughter. At this sight, Lucas laughs.

"I think we’re not so bad fathers…” Lucas says.

“Of course we’re not.” Eliott replies.

“We forget our daughter at the childcare center, we almost burn our kitchen, we don’t eat at the table but on the couch by putting crumbs everywhere but…” He pauses, watching Éléonore and Eliott. “We’re happy like that.” He finished with a smile.

"And that’s what counts.” Adds Eliott, his mouth full of pizza.

"Yeah, that’s what counts…”.

#skam france #fanfiction #dads!elu #lucas lallemant #eliott demaury #and their cute little girl !!#I'm sorry if there are many mistakes in this one #I wrote it very quickly #the pictures aesthetic is a bit crappy but it was fun to do it !#oh and sorry Ju #I know it's not exactly what you asked but...#It's what Ive been able to write !#firts time I write in present tense #I usually prefer past tenses #it was sooooo hard for me #not very confident about this os but anyway... ^^#guys I hope you'll enjoy it #really...

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strangcrdoctor · 5 years ago

Note

📂 📂

Okay sorry for this big long-ass tangent, but we’re going there. Because apparently I deleted my previous detailed headcanons post about Stephen’s watch collection, but since I need to bring it back around I’m gonna. Bring it back around. This is a mix of what’s featured in the exact MCU canon as well as what I personally have added for my own amusement.

So first and foremost we’ll talk about his watch drawer in the film, because I read a hilarious article at one point pointing out that it’s actually not ideal for watch winders to be stored horizontally instead of vertically, and all of Stephen’s watch winders are horizontal. The reason that it’s not ideal for watch winders to be stored horizontally is because winders are designed to keep automatic watches wound and on-time perpetually in spite of not being worn. Automatic watches are a subset of mechanical watches - the primary two categories being quartz (run on battery) and mechanical (run by mechanically winding the mainspring) - that instead of needing to be wound at the crown are wound by a freely-moving internal rotor, which winds the watch by spinning and generating kinetic energy to wind the mainspring rather than needing to be wound by hand at the crown like a traditional mechanical watch. (Most automatics also have a manual-wind function at the crown, but not all do.) Now, given that, winders that are set up horizontally have a harder time moving the internal rotors because slow side-to-side motion doesn’t generate as much momentum on those internal rotors as up-and-down motion does. The reason being, the rotor is oriented to the shape of the watch case, which is usually flat against the case back. If a watch case is oriented horizontally on a winder, the winder usually doesn’t spin fast enough to generate any movement of the rotor and therefore doesn’t wind the watch. If a watch winder is oriented vertically, and the watch therefore spinning on a vertical axis, the rotor will naturally turn as the winder turns following the pull of gravity, and will generally keep the watch wound which is the point of the winder. QED: Stephen Strange, in spite of being a big watch aficionado, apparently doesn’t even have effective watch winders which fucking cracks me up.

Even worse considering all that, Stephen has approximately (as far as we are shown) at least 10-12 watch winders in that drawer. Watch winders of that size, shape, and assumed quality usually run $150-$300 apiece. So do that math, and that’s not even the watches. That’s the winders. THAT DON’T DO WHAT THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO.

Alright, next up, Stephen has some other pretty major investment pieces in that drawer from what we can see. So I will leave it to an obsessive watch article online that identified Stephen has also got another Jaeger LeCoultre, a Grande Reverso in rouge, which started on the market at $35k, a Tag Heuer Monaco chronograph which depending on the vintage/model could range from $5k-$15k, and a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona which usually range from $20k-$80k. What the others are I can’t really determine and an official list was never released, but just know that Stephen had all of his winders full, and at the going rate of his collection, that’s uh. To say the least, one very expensive collection. I will also add to that list that it looks like Stephen has a very traditional field style watch on a NATO strap, which based on the dial and case size is probably at least WWII vintage or designed to be reminiscent of it, and likely to be hand-wound rather than automatic, but is nonetheless a true collector’s piece given the interest antique watches still have in the luxury sphere. My personal headcanon regarding that more antique looking watch is that it was his grandfather’s - that is Eugene Strange’s father - field watch he wore at the Ardennes in 1944. It has some shrapnel dents in the casing, but Stephen has kept it in excessively good condition. And even when he liquidated the rest of his collection, he kept that one and put it into storage with what few personal effects he wanted to keep.

Now for Stephen’s watch from Christine, the Jaeger LeCoultre Ultra-Thin Perpetual. Which, ladies and gents, I have held a Jaeger LeCoultre Perpetual, and they are gorgeous. Regardless of this movie, having worked in the luxury watch industry for 8 months I learned a hell of a lot and got quite a bit of personal taste for myself, and that included my respect and value for the fact that JLC’s are worth their money. Jaeger LeCoultre is still comparatively a very small company that specializes and in very Stark-esque fashion has designed some of the best advancements in modern watch movement making. Their pieces are constructed in-house from top to bottom, and wear like iron. They’re the McLaren of the watchmaking world: bent on functional superiority, craft, and style. Stephen’s JLC is an automatic with what is called a perpetual calendar function, which means it has complications for marking day of the week, day of the month, month of the year, year, and moon phase. In automatic watches this is especially spectacular considering each complication - meaning each one in that list above is its own complication - is an added mechanism that feeds off of the primary chronometer movement and automatic rotor. JLC also specializes in some of the sleekest multi-function automatic movements in the world, which is what makes so many functions in an ultra-thin automatic so impressive. It is also a watch that bottoms at $20k, which means that Christine Palmer ain’t no poor bunny, honey. It also means that their relationship isn’t just some shallow thing. If Stephen Strange wasn’t worth her time at all, Christine wouldn’t have even bothered to give him that gift, let alone engrave it. It also shows how much Christine knows about Stephen because of all the watches Stephen owns, the JLC does suit him the best. Sorry guys but this sucked up 8 months of my life and I still love it in some small way but lord can I not shut up about it apparently.

But as one parting shot across the bow about Stephen’s JLC, even when the crystal was cracked in the course of the film, JLCs come with extensive warranties. And given the year of the film and when that particular model was released, it’s immeasurably likely that the watch is still under warranty. (Also let’s be real - if Christine dropped $20k on this bitch boy’s watch, she would throw in that 5 year warranty plan.) Which means that since Stephen didn’t get the crystal repaired, at least not by the end of the film, it’s not because he necessarily couldn’t afford to. Crystal replacements are always covered in watch warranties, so more than likely, for sentimental and deeply symbolic reasons, Stephen elected not to replace the crystal because it being broken has its own meaning to his life now. Which isn’t, you know, totally damn heartbreaking.

Alright, last bit and I’m just adding this as an aside - I also headcanon that Stephen has a pocket watch from his grandmother’s line, a Tavannes chronograph that she carried during her own service in WWII, and it’s the only other watch he kept from his collection aside from his grandfather’s and the JLC from Christine. Stephen maintains an obsessive love for timepieces, but unless otherwise gifted one, doesn’t have any means or plans to re-start a new collection...

Though, he has made it a personal project to restore every clock and watch stored in the Sanctums, which for him is just as satisfying.

#''prescriptions #''CV #a completely useless headcanon #I count this as two because it's honestly more like a dozen but wheeeeeze #aestarc

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makeste · 6 years ago

Text

BnHA Chapter 039: Deku VS Todoroki 2 - Flashback Boogaloo

Previously on BnHA: Todoroki and Izuku began their one on one! Todoroki blasted ice attacks at Deku and Deku broke up each one with mini One for All finger smashes. Todoroki’s right side slowly froze up, but meanwhile Deku went through all five fingers on his right hand and then proceeded to blow up his entire fucking left arm. You’d think this would have been the end of it, but no, this motherfucker then went and busted out another smash through his already-mangled right hand. Rather than going into shock at this point like a normal person, Deku fucking screamed at Todoroki to use his full power, because apparently he wants to die in the most spectacular way possible. I don’t even know.

Today on BnHA: Everyone just sits back and watches while Deku destroys his own body in his crazed attempts to get Shouto to use his left side. It’s not fun. Then Shouto starts having flashbacks to his horrifying past. This is even less fun. Basically no one is having a good time here. But eventually something in Shouto clicks when Deku yells at him that his power is his own. And then Shouto finally fires up his left side. So that part at least is fun, but the rest of it has me needing some damn blood pressure medication you guys.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 91 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

oh my god literally the first panel is a baby Shouto POV of his mom

I don’t know if I’m ready for this chapter guys

“when did I forget what came after that?” oh my god. is it so bad his mind blocked the memory for self-preservation reasons or something

Todoroki is really mad that Deku would suggest something so absurd as him using his full power. I assume Deku is going to tell him something similar to the “you’re not your dad” thing that he already said to Endeavor earlier

seriously Shouto, you can use your full power and still piss your dad off

now he’s really mad and he’s charging right at Deku

that’s maybe not the best plan

meanwhile Bakugou is watching intently and it’s so cute I have to post the panel

you go ahead and take your notes kiddo. you’re gonna need ‘em if you end up having to battle him yourself

now that they’re up close Deku is using the microwave trick again!

BUT HE’S STILL USING HIS RIGHT ARM. WHAT GOOD IS THE MICROWAVE TRICK IF THE ARM’S ALREADY FUCKED UP

PLEASE DON’T PUNCH HIM WITH A CLOSED FIST WITH YOUR BROKEN HAND, I MAY ACTUALLY FAINT OH MY GOD

I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW DEKU!!!!!!

has Horikoshi ever broken any of his bones?!! COME BACK AND WRITE THIS SCENE AGAIN AFTER YOU’VE BROKEN A BONE, ASSHOLE. COME BACK AND TELL ME THAT HE CAN FUCKING DO THAT AND NOT FALL DOWN SOBBING AFTERWARDS

the only possible explanation I can come up with is that he’s somehow completely hopped up on the adrenaline of it all and isn’t actually feeling the full pain just yet

but he SHOULD be, because that’s the body’s way of telling him, “DON’T FUCKING PUNCH ANYONE WITH THIS HAND YOU COLOSSALLY STUPID FUCK!!!”

anyway, Todoroki is FLYING ACROSS THE RING, but DEKU SHOULD BE FUCKING DEAD AND NOW I’M JUST MAD, DAMN IT

whoever wins this match has to fight either Shiozaki or Iida next, depending on who wins their match (probably Iida). and then after that, either Bakugou or Tokoyami (probably Bakugou). but I don’t know if either of these guys will actually be up for that at this rate

I can’t believe it, but Todoroki actually doesn’t look too good. just use your stupid left side already, Shouto

JESUS CHRIST CAN WE GET AN ACTUAL RESPONSIBLE ADULT OUT HERE??? ANYONE?? AIZAWA????

he’s agreeing with my hypothesis that Deku is so hopped up on adrenaline that he’s not feeling the full pain of what he’s doing to his body. and he’s already done so much damage that it can’t all be fixed in a single healing session. that’s what I’ve been fucking saying

should they stop the match? ABSOLUTELY. will they stop the match?? FUCKING WHAT DO YOU THINK

fucking hell, even Aizawa and All Might are just watching in awed admiration

SUPERHEROES ARE THE FUCKING WORST

Deku’s gonna be in the hospital for a fucking month and ALL OF THIS IS ON YOU SADISTIC FUCKS

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAIIIIINED

oh my god finally

YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MAKE A FIST IN THE FIRST PLACE. BUT OKAY. YEESHHH

now he’s... biting... his thumb...

aaand that’s another smash

this is fucking horrifying. I’m not enjoying this at all, not even gonna pretend. it’s just absurd to me at this point that they would let this keep dragging out. I hope this inspires a series of rule changes to future sports festivals to lessen the risk of children doing irreversible damage to their bodies all for the sake of a fucking exhibition match

Shouto asks why Deku is going this far and Deku says he’s “just trying to meet expectations”

All Might you need to sit down with this boy after this and explain where he’s supposed to draw the line in this regard. like, when you did the plus ultra thing? that was for a good cause! sacrificing yourself to save other people’s lives! but he’s just doing it because he has something to prove and it’s the dumbest fucking thing, ugh

sorry guys, I might be bitching about this the entire chapter if this keeps up

“I want to be a smiling, dependable, cool hero!” Deku fucking shrieks

then you might want to step back about twenty feet and take a good long look at what you’re doing so far to accomplish those goals, Deku. because right now, “smiling” and “dependable” are not the words that come to mind

OH MY GOD!!!

BABY SHOUTO WITH NO SCAR!!!

RED ALERT. GOT MY BOX OF TISSUES OUT. ICE CREAM IN THE FREEZER AND ASMR PLAYLIST CUED UP ON YOUTUBE IF I NEED SOMETHING TO CALM ME DOWN AFTER THIS SHIT

Deku says he can’t begin to imagine what Shouto’s experiences have been like or how fierce his determination must be, but...

oh my god more flashbacks oh my god oh my god

(ETA: adding this note a couple years after the fact to warn people reading these recaps for the first time that my initial reaction to the full Shouto backstory was kind of intense. I really blew up at Rei in particular because without getting into any detail, that scene hit close to home for me in regard to some experiences I had while growing up. so I kind of projected a bit without meaning to. anyway, please see here for the “part 2″ version of this post, and fwiw Rei is now one of my favorite characters.)

THIS CHAPTER IS MAKING ME SO FUCKING ANGRY I’M GONNA FUCKING HULK OUT. SHIT. FUCKING SHIT

SHOUTO’S SCREAMING AT DEKU TO SHUT UP AND I FUCKING AGREE. YOU JUST SAID YOURSELF THAT YOU DON’T KNOW THE HALF OF WHAT HE’S BEEN THROUGH AND NOW’S REALLY NOT THE TIME TO START FUCKING PREACHING AT HIM OVER WHETHER OR NOT HE’S SERIOUS ABOUT HIS GOAL

NOW BABY SHOUTO IS HUGGIN’ HIS MOM AND SAYING THAT HE HATES DADDY AND DOESN’T WANT TO BE LIKE HIM

BECAUSE HIS DADDY “BULLIES” HIS MOMMY OH MY GOD

HE KEEPS REPEATING THAT HE DOESN’T WANT TO BE LIKE THAT

WHY DID WE HAVE TO HAVE THIS STUPID FLASHBACK. I WANNA GO HOME

I KNOW IT’S MY FAULT!! I ASKED FOR ANGST!! I KNOW!! I’M SORRY! I NEVER LEARN SOBB

SHOUTO’S MOM IS PATTING HIS HEAD GENTLY

DEKU IS SCREAMING AT SHOUTO AGAIN. STOP SCREAMING AT HIM!!!

BABY SHOUTO IS LOOKING AT THE WINDOW AT SOME KIDS PLAYING

-- THOSE ARE HIS BROTHERS?????!

AND HIS DAD SAYS NOT TO LOOK AT THEM, “THEY BELONG TO A DIFFERENT WORLD THAN YOU”

JESUS CHRIST. DID ENDEAVOR JUST WAKE UP ONE DAY AND DECIDE TO BE THE WORST??? JUST LIKE, THE WORST EVER? SINCE HE COULDN’T BE THE BEST, HE DECIDED TO BE THE WORST?!

LIKE, IF I HAD A GUN WITH TWO BULLETS AND WAS TRAPPED IN A ROOM WITH ENDEAVOR, MINETA, AND THE SKYPE VILLAIN, I WOULD SHOOT ENDEAVOR TWICE AND THEN PISTOL WHIP HIS DYING ASS UNTIL IT STOPPED TWITCHING??

NOW SHOUTO IS WALKING BY THE KITCHEN AND IT LOOKS LIKE HE’S ALREADY CRYING FROM SOMETHING (ABUSE, PROBABLY!!) AND HE’S OVERHEARING HIS MOM TALKING ON THE PHONE AND SHE’S SAYING THAT SHE CAN’T TAKE IT AND SOMETIMES THE LOOKS AT SHOUTO AND HIS LEFT SIDE AND HATES WHAT SHE SEES

WHAT A FUCKING THING FOR YOUR CHILD TO OVERHEAR!! AND I SEE A KETTLE ON THE STOVE! SHOULD I BE PREPARING MYSELF TO PUNCH MY COMPUTER SCREEN

SHE SAYS SHE CAN’T RAISE HIM ANYMORE

HE’S LOOKING UP AT HER WITH WIDE EYES

SHE’S LOOKING AT HIM LIKE... I CAN’T EVEN DESCRIBE IT. I DON’T WANT TO DESCRIBE IT OR POST IT

AND THE NEXT PANEL AFTER THAT IS HIM WITH A BANDAGE OVER HIS LEFT EYE

I HOPE SHE FUCKING WENT TO JAIL FOR FUCKING LIFE. MAN, I DON’T EVEN CARE. I HAVE ALL THE SYMPATHY FOR HER, RIGHT UP UNTIL SHE (A) LEFT HERSELF AND SHOUTO IN THAT SITUATION RATHER THAN TRYING TO REMOVE HIM FROM IT, AND THEN (B) FUCKING MAIMED HER OWN FUCKING CHILD, WHO LITERALLY HAD NO ONE ELSE EXCEPT FOR HER

I HATE THIS!!! I HATE ALL OF THIS!!!! I HATE THAT I AGREE WITH ENDEAVOR’S DECISION! I HATE THAT SHE ENDED UP PAYING FOR HIS GARBAGE BEHAVIOR! AND I HATE THAT SHOUTO IS NOW STUCK WITH HIM ALL ALONE!

AND IT SEEMS LIKE SOMETHING IN SHOUTO JUST SNAPPED FROM THAT POINT ON AND HE BECAME DETERMINED TO DEFY HIM

BACK TO THE FIGHT OMG

DEKU IS GOING FULL SHOUNEN JESUS

OH MY GOD AND IT FLASHES BACK TO BABY SHOUTO AGAIN

AND HE’S WATCHING A VIDEO, AND IT’S AN INTERVIEW WITH FUCKING ALL MIGHT

HE SAYS QUIRKS ARE PASSED FROM PARENT TO CHILD, BUT IT’S NOT JUST THAT AND “ONE MUST RECOGNIZE AND APPRECIATE ONESELF”

FUUUUUUUUUUCK

HE LOOKS SO HAPPY AND RELIEVED AND IT LOOKS LIKE HE HAS THE SAME BABY BOY CRUSH ON ALL MIGHT THAT BABY DEKU HAD

I’M JUST SO MAD AND UPSET THAT THIS WOMAN COULD HURT THIS CHILD, KNOWING FULL WELL HOW DIFFERENT HE WAS FROM HIS FATHER, HOW MUCH HE DIDN’T WANT TO BE LIKE HIM, AND HOW MUCH THE MERE THOUGHT OF IT HURT HIM

OH MY GOD AND NOW PRESENT-DAY TODOROKI LOOKS LIKE HE WANTS TO CRY

PROBABLY WHEN THE SAME WOMAN WHO SHOWED YOU THAT VIDEO LOST HER MIND AND POURED SCALDING WATER ON YOUR FACE

WELP

I just want to press pause for a sec and let you guys know that I’ve been listening to my “fight music” playlist during my readthrough of this chapter, and this scene was absolutely perfectly timed. got to this point RIGHT when I read that panel. I got so fucking fired up lol

so finally Todoroki has gotten over his stupid insistence on not using his left side! yay! I think Deku could have picked a better sort of therapy than this, personally, but hey! anyways, are you happy now dude?

you know what, forget I asked. no one cares about you

I’m just happy for this little guy:

THAT WEIRD SMILE AT THE END I CAN’T I’M FUCKING DEAD. HE LOOKS SO HAPPY AND DORKY

ALSO, WAY TO BLOW ANY CHANCE THAT BAKUGOU OR ANYONE ELSE HAD OF DEFEATING HIM LOL. MIGHT AS WELL JUST WRAP UP THIS COMPETITION NOW

(ETA: well I mean. it would’ve been true if this breakthrough had actually stuck lol)

well, Deku, you did it. you can pass out now

BONUS:

Kouda’s pure, sweet face is all the ASMR I need after this chapter that fucked up my emotions in every possible way!

gotta tell you guys, I liked his design from the start. but this?

this just seals the deal. he is in fact the best character in the whole series. THIS WHOLE TIME IT WAS KOUDA, who the fuck would have ever thought

#bnha #boku no hero academia #makeste reads bnha #midoriya izuku #todoroki shouto #endeavor #todoroki enji #'read bnha!' they said #'you're in for a ride' they said #are you fucking happy #you are aren't you

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strombolienthusiast · 6 years ago

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Smash Ultimate Preds/Wishlist

Geno (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars)- I’ve never played SMRPG but he’s a neato character that deserves a comeback.

Want- 50%

Likelihood of getting in- 70ish%

Xenoblade Rep (Xenoblade Chronicles Series)- Feels like Xenoblade 2 is too new for them to have thought about putting any more reps in.

want- 0% (sorry not sorry, never played the games)

Likelihood of getting in- 20%, maybe an assist trophy?

Shadow The H(edge)hog (Sonic the Hedgehog Series)- It’s pretty much a given at this point that’s he gonna be a sonic echo at this point, I’d be willing to bet money on it.

Want- 70%

Likelihood of getting in- 90%

Shantae (Shantae Series)- Shantae has been on Nintendo consoles since she debuted and it would frankly be a shame if she didn’t make it in as at least an assist trophy but given that that’s all shovel knight got that’s probably her only shot at being in the game.

Want- 85%

Likelihood of getting in- 35%

Skull Kid (Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask)- I mean... I guess?

Want- 12%

Likelihood- 50% chance

Another fucking Fire Emblem rep (Fire Emblem Series)- You know Sakurai’s gotta do it to us.

Want- -5%

Likelihood- 1000%

Sora (Kingdom Hearts Series)- Kingdom hearts as a concept, much like the German language, has always been fascinating to me. Also like the German language, it seems quite terrifying and gives me a strange craving for pretzels.

Want- 18%

Likelihood- About as likely as getting more info on the FF7 remake sometime within the next year

Isabelle (Animal Crossing: New Leaf)- Much like Shadow, this is the only other character on this list I’d be willing to put money on being included as a playable character, almost certainly aiming to be a villager echo.

Want- 60%

Likelihood- 90%

Rayman (Rayman series)- Given how popular he is and with the recent success of the combined effort project “Mario X Rabbids: Kingdom Battle”, Ubisoft may be looking to play nicely with him.

Want- 70%

Likelihood- 65%

Earthworm Jim (Earthworm Jim series)- An oldie but a goodie, Jim is my personal pick for who I’d add to the game if I could only bring in 1 more character.

Want- 100%

Likelihood- roughly the same as me crying myself to sleep because I know he’ll never make it (15%)

Additional Bounty Hunter(s) (Metroid Prime Series)- With the recent announcements of both Ridley and Dark Samus appearing as playable characters, Metroid hype is bigger than ever and I’m certainly no exception. Given the secret ending of Prime 3, I’d imagine Sylux (2nd from the right) would be the most likely candidate out of any other hunter that’s appeared in the series from either Hunters or Prime 3.

Want- 100%

Likelihood- 10%

Raiden (Metal Gear Solid Series)- Normally I wouldn’t think that such a character has a chance of making it, but given that Konami has not only given us Snake back but has also thrown in both Simon AND Richter Belmont, so they’re being unusually generous. Maybe they’re hiding something else from us..

Want- 50%

Likelihood- 40%

Heihachi (Tekken Series)- Ryu’s introduction in smash 4 has shown us that Nintendo is certainly interested in adding other fighting game reps into Smash, and given that there was a Heihachi outfit for miis in Smash 4, I’d argue he’s the next most likely 3rd party fighting game rep.

Want- 20%

Likelihood- 55%

Ken (Street Fighter series)- I’d certainly maybe expect Ken to make an appearance as Ryu’s echo fighter. Given that Capcom was alright with letting Nintendo keep Ryu in the game, Ken is certainly not out of the question.

Want- 50%

Likelihood- 40%

Lloyd Irving (Tales Of Symphonia)- As with Heihachi, Lloyd had a mii costume in Smash 4 which gives many Tales fans hope that their series might finally be represented in an official way.

Want- 45%

Likelihood- 45%

Yuri Lowell (Tales of Vesperia)- In a similar vein to Lloyd, Yuri is probably the second most likely Tales character to appear. With a remastered version of Vesperia on it’s way to the Switch, it wouldn’t be out of the question to have Yuri make a guest appearance.

Want- 30%

Likelihood- 25%

Dixie Kong (Donkey Kong Series)- A highly requested fighter, many speculate if she gets in it would likely be as a Diddy echo, although I feel she’d be much better as her own character. That being said, with the recent announcement of King K. Rool and Dixie nowhere to be found, her odds aren’t looking spectacular.

Want- 60%

Likelihood- 25%

Incineroar (Pokemon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra moon)- Pokemon is almost certainly getting a new representative, and while there are certainly plenty of options from gen 7, I’d argue that the fire cat wrestler probably has the best chance of the lot, maybe tied with Decidueye.

Want- 70%

Likelihood- 70%

Banjo and Kazooie (Banjo Kazooie Series)- Arguably the current front runner for fan favorite character yet to be announced, I’m honestly not sure about these guys in terms of what their odds are.

Want- 70%

Likelihood- 50%

Isaac (Golden Sun Series)- Another fan favorite hopeful for assist trophy turned fighter. I know next to nothing about this guy.

want- 20%

Likelihood- 50%

Jeanne (Bayonetta Series)- This would be an obvious choice for an echo fighter, but given that Bayo already has a skin based on Jeanne I’m not counting on it. (Plus let’s be real who actually wants another Bayonetta in this game) Granted, giving that Rodin is the assist trophy that’s been revealed to us, who knows?

Want- 40%

Likelihood- 25%

#Super smash bros ultimate #Super smash bros #prediction #gaming

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returnerofthesky · 7 years ago

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Well, that’s that.

The Elite Four, predictably, were complete pushovers outside of Kalihi, who’s Flying typing was actually something I had no real advantages or disadvantages against (even Erin was mostly able to get by on her speed), so it just turned into a slugfest. To nobody’s surprise, Rose was the real MVP of the day; EV-trained Drought Flamethrower is a hell of a thing no matter who’s going up against it. Truly, she is the mage of the group. :V

I do like all the elite arenas, though. It’s very slick without feeling overdone like some other Elite Four arenas I can think of. The Champion’s room with the big transparent crystal windows is also really cool, though it would probably look better in the daytime, at night I could barely make anything out.

Hau was surprisingly the most fun fight in the entire game, and his team felt very fairly balanced and had very good coverage, meaning it was both difficult but also not impossible (ahem). His Raichu’s Focus Blast completely caught me off-guard (and KO’d Billcario in the process), and when I brought Rose in to roast the thing, it immediately swapped out for Flareon and Flash Fire. Primarina also nearly managed to KO Cyan with the Z-Water move despite the type matchup. But alas, Rose just Drought Solarbeam’d it into oblivion. Funnily enough, not a single battle had them play their trump card at the very end, which would have been refreshing had I not completely dumpstered them anyway.

As for the ending, it was... nice. Nothing fancy or grandiose like XY’s, but not poignant and emotional like BW’s. It was just... nice. The festival in Iki Town was a fun chance to show off all the trial captains again (even if I still wish they had more personality beyond their one note), seeing Gladion and his mom kind of reconcile was nice even if I still don’t really like the changes made to Lusamine story-wise, and the scene where you let out your Pokemon in order to show them off to everyone at the festival actually got me to smile. This series was always meant to be about the partnership between people and Pokemon, and if there’s anything that the game really does pull off well, it’s that theme.

(That said, it’s extremely jarring for those XY folks to get their scene, along with the Zygarde scene, given the Zygarde cells sidequest was completely removed)

On the whole, that’s kind of how I can describe Ultra Sun and Moon. It’s not spectacular by any means - it’s a dolled-up version of SM in some ways, and it’s a heavily edited version in other ways, and usually not for the better. Most of the Ultra stuff was very, very awkwardly handled, and while I appreciate the new or different content, a lot of it was just... there. Mantine Surf is a nice minigame that I played three times and forgot about, I have absolutely no desire to ever touch Ultra Ride again, and things like the Kantonian Gym feel too much like novelties.

On the flipside, the Alola Photo Club was an incredibly good addition, the trials themselves were pretty enjoyable, and the entire Po Town/Aether Foundation segment was so good it almost outshines the entire rest of the game. In terms of graphics it really looks great (even improving from original SM), there’s quite a few small quality of life changes that I appreciate (giving the Save button its own spot in the corner of the menu, for instance), and despite my story complaints, I do like Hau’s development, especially in light of him apparently not getting much of it in the original games.

(I don’t know if I’d say it’s perfect, it still feels weird seeing him go like “oh, I’m gonna take battles more seriously now for my Pokemon’s sake!” when it would have been much more sensible to just have him be like “after all the Aether stuff I wanna be stronger so I can protect people like kahunas should do!”, but w/e)

It’s not spectacular, but it’s not terrible either. It’s just nice. And I’ll take nice. :3p

#sky plays #pokemon #ultra sun #pokemon ultra sun and moon

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writeyouin · 7 years ago

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Swerve X Reader – A Human Crewmate - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – The Big Announcement

A/N – Based on a lot of @rocksinmuffin head-canons so extra special thanks to them for that. Without further ado, let’s introduce more of the crew ^_^

Warnings – None.

Rating – T

After a good night’s sleep and a shower, you felt phenomenally better, until there was a loud rapping at the door. Your heart raced at the unwelcome sound because the few bots that you knew, apart from Ultra Magnus and Rung, entered without knocking but it was definite, you’d never heard this knock before. You kept quiet, waiting to see if the mystery visitor would leave.

“Human, I’m co-captain Megatron, please may I enter?”

You released the breath you’d been holding, Rodimus had warned you this might happen.

Finger combing your still wet hair and attempting to look a little better than possible in the bath robe made from an old cleaning cloth, you called, “Sure, come on in.”

Megatron entered stiffly, frowning uncomfortably at the situation; he’d planned on avoiding you completely but with the upcoming announcement, it wasn’t possible. You meanwhile, were eager to be on your best behaviour, especially since the ex-warlord had overcome his previous issues with organics to visit you.

“Hello,” You greeted, almost shyly.

Megatron merely nodded in response, looking slightly more formidable with his red-eyes trained upon you.

The two of you stood in awkward silence for countless minutes until it became clear you’d have to speak first.

“I’m glad you came, it was-”

“You should leave,” he cut you off.

“Excuse me?”

Megatron hated himself for the upset expression on your face; he’d put that there. “This ship is no place for humans. I’ve met with Rodimus and Ultra Magnus, the decision has been reached that I shall offer you a choice. You may stay and go about the course that has currently been set or we can drop you off on the nearest organic planet where you would fit in more adequately. Being on an organic-friendly planet can be very advantageous. First, it would be more equipped to match your needs, second…”

Megatron started listing all the advantages of planet life and disadvantages of ship life; you realised quickly that he’d practiced this before coming to see you, somewhat like a student reciting a presentation to a teacher.

“Do you hate organics?” You interrupted after around ten minutes.

The question shocked Megatron, sending him into a silent panic under the calm exterior; had he really given the impression of hatred rather than concern?

“No human, I simply worry about your welfare here.”

“If you don’t mind me saying so Megatron, your argument is biased, you never bothered explaining the benefits of ship life, like the fact we speak the same language, or that some of you know a little about caring for a human, not that I can’t take care of myself. Not to mention, I know people here who I can hopefully call friends, if not acquaintances and at least here, I know what I’m getting into; planet-life is a mystery. And hey, who knows? Maybe one day, I’ll find this isn’t working and need to move, if that happens, I’ll come to you and ask for advice on planetary choices; until then, you’re stuck with me just as much as I’m stuck with you. I hope you can accept that.”

There was a cheer from the other side of your door, most definitely Rodimus who’d probably been listening in from the start. Megatron sighed at the lack of professionalism and at your decision; he hated it even more that your answer seemed to be well-thought out and rational. There was nothing else to do but admit defeat, “Very well human.”

He turned to leave, you called after him, making him pause, “The name’s (Y/N) by the way, I hope I can stay long enough to learn it.”

Megatron shuffled out, wondering how he was going to deal with you later down the line. Outside your room, Rodimus was beaming triumphantly, “I told you he was sassy,” he grinned.

“She, Rodimus,” Megatron corrected, “She.”

“Frag!”

Now dressed in a plain, white, cotton shirt and pants and properly groomed, you took a few steadying breaths. You were hidden on a table behind Rodimus who was on a balcony above the crew, giving a long-winded speech that was somehow supposed to link to you.

“Without further ado,” Rodimus boomed, holding out his hand for you to stand on, and presenting you with a flourish, “Please welcome our newest crew-mate and only human, (F/N) (L/N).”

Noise erupted throughout the hall, some bots apprehensive, others disbelieving, a few furious, but most excited; it was truly overwhelming to be the centre of such attention. Questions of every possible sort were thrown at both captains which Rodimus silenced, shouting over the crowd, “Hey, hey, this is just as new to (Y/N) as it is to any of you and she is the one person surrounded by aliens and away from her home planet; try a little perspective, will ya? In the meantime, give her some room. If she approaches you and decides to tell her story, that’s fine but don’t all overcrowd her at once. (Y/N), do you have anything to add?”

You swallowed, glancing at the hundreds of bots below, Rung was among them, mouthing the word ‘breathe’ to you.

You nodded at him, addressing the crowd, “I know this is all a little new and scary but I think we can all get around this; if you have any questions later, I’ll try to answer them all, uh, thank you for your time.”

Swerve was delirious with excitement, there was a human on board. A human! Being so much smaller than the other mechs, he hadn’t really gotten a good look at you but that didn’t matter; he was going to make all the extra effort to meet you in person. He was so sure that it was going to be the best day of his life until he got to your hallway and saw the lengthy queue to your hub-suite. As far as the eye could see, mechs were lined up, the ones at the front pressing an audial to your door to see if you were even in.

Swerve’s mood plummeted; how on Cybertron would he meet you like this? Surely, there should be some kind of rule like the bots closest to your height got to meet you first, or better yet, bots with the most Earth knowledge. Still, his desperation to meet you was strong so if it took waiting the next three cycles waiting in line, he’d do it. Despite his strong resolve, Swerve quickly found he couldn’t wait long, mainly due to the amount of regulars at Swerve’s who kept finding him and demanding he opened the bar. As much as he wanted to stay and meet you, he did have patrons to serve. Plastering on a fake smile, Swerve headed jovially to the bar, hiding the disappointment he felt in his spark.

You cowered in the oversized supply closet, wishing desperately to be back in the safety of the hab-suite. The angry bot on the other side of the door continued screaming at you, “YOU HEAR THAT FLESH-STICK?! OL’ WHIRL’S GONNA KILL YA. HIDE IN THERE ALL YOU WANT, I’LL DESTROY YOU.”

You didn’t know what you’d done or said to offend Whirl but you prayed he’d calm down, fast.

“H-Hey, I’m really, really sorry for whatever I did, can we talk about this?” You quivered.

“TALK ABOUT IT! WHAT KIND OF WEAK SLAG IS THAT? GET OUT HERE SO I CAN FRAGGING CRUSH YOU.”

He blasted a hole through the door, making you squeal as he poked his optic through. You put up your hands, stammering, “Wait, wait, wait. Is it a human thing?”

“Finally, the blood-bucket gets it.”

“R-right, then you really don’t want to kill me because you’d be missing out on a huge opportunity.”

Whirl hesitated, glaring at you with contempt. Taking the pause as a good sign, you pressed on, “You want to kill humans but do you really know the most effective ways to do it? I mean, the best place you can learn it from is me so I’ll teach you some stuff I know if you don’t kill me now. You can still kill me later but just, wait a while?”

Whirl considered this and started laughing manically, “Alright bone bag, you teach me and I’ll leave you till last but if you trick me, I’ll peel the skin off your body, got it?”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from the… strongest bot here. Like, who else has the sheer power to blast through a door like that?” You attempted, stroking Whirl’s ego and opening what remained of the door carefully.

Whirl flexed, “Well y’know, it takes only the best.”

“Exactly, you’re spectacular.”

Whirl picked you up forcefully, placing you on his shoulder, “Keep the compliments coming Tiny, you’ve got a while left.”

“A while till what?”

“Till I get you back to your hab-suite, you’re gonna need to be well-rested for complimenting me tomorrow.”

“Right, how smart of you.”

“Yeah, just like that.”

And so, you kept bragging about Whirl, begging to hear some of his greatest accomplishments as he carried you proudly past curious onlookers to your room.

Getting back was worse than you’d thought; there was a horde of bots awaiting your return who rushed towards Whirl upon spotting you. Whirl held you above his head with one claw, firing a warning shot from his chest, “FIRST GUY TO TOUCH THE FLESH STICK GETS SCRAPPED.”

Everyone froze, examining Whirl to gauge whether he meant it or not. You squirmed against the pain blossoming in your chest where Whirl was gripping you tightly. Fortunately, the pain didn’t last long, you were lowered back to the floor as the mechs dispersed, all shooting hateful looks at Whirl on their way by. After that, only two remained, a large orange and white bot and a much smaller black and white one who wasn’t too much taller than you.

“What? You didn’t hear me?”

“Lay off it Whirl, Rewind just has a question for (Y/N),” the taller bot said, placing a loving hand on Rewind’s shoulder.

You felt comforted by the sight of the two bots, everything about them showed they were a couple; it was nice to see how some bots weren’t the different to humans in certain respects.

“I don’t know if my human even wants to talk to you. (Y/N)?”

You were quite glad to get away from Whirl after seeing how unstable he was. “For now I think it’ll be okay, you two want to come into my room?”

Despite the lack of a mouth, Rewind seemed to smile, “We’d love to, right Chromedome?”

Chromedome looked less certain but nodded anyway.

Reluctantly, Whirl turned to go, “You two are lucky she likes you, see you tomorrow meat bag.”

You let the two bots in hastily, apologising for the lack of Cybertronian sized furniture, and using the lift to raise you up to the table, closer to Chromedome’s height.

“Now, you had a question?”

“Yes,” Rewind confirmed, hardly containing his excitement. “You see, it’s my job to document history and I was wondering, if it’s not too much trouble, will you let me record some of your time on the ship? This is the only time most Cybertronians will see a human so…”

You glanced at the red light on Rewind’s helm, “Are you recording right now?”

“I’m always recording.”

“If you’re always recording, why do you need my permission?”

“Because I don’t just want to get scraps of you when we happen to cross paths, I want to be your shadow, please.”

“I don’t know… Am I really that interesting? I mean, you guys are so advanced and all.”

“Are you kidding me? You’re incredible and-” Rewind sighed, “I know I’m asking a lot but I’d love to hear about your culture, interests, philosophy, biology, everything.”

You mulled it over, ready to reject the proposal until you saw the hope in the small bot’s optics; you couldn’t deny that. “I’ll tell you what, you help me find my feet, tell me which bots to meet or avoid, give me a bit of a tour and you can film me.”

“Really?!” Rewind practically jumped for joy, “Great, where do we start? What’s your routine now? Have you settled into one yet? What about-”

You held up a hand, silencing him, “Tomorrow you can film me. Right now, I need to sleep.”

“Sleep! This keeps getting better, can I record you sleeping?”

You stared disbelievingly, looking to the other bot for help. Chromedome took the hint, giving Rewind’s shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“Oh right,” Rewind flushed, embarrassed at his lack of manners, “Sorry, you probably want some privacy. Uh, how long do humans recharge?”

You looked at the clock, unable to read Cybertronian time measurements, “Can you give me eight hours?”

“You got it, eight hours,” Rewind babbled happily, leaving the room with Chromedome in tow, “Sweet dreams (Y/N).”

You saw them out, pressing a button on a nearby remote to lock the door afterwards. Then, stumbling over to the bed, you fell asleep within seconds of hitting the mattress.

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crystalelemental · 7 years ago

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Alright, now that I’ve beaten the League, a few thoughts on the game overall.

I really like it, but I’m not sure I like it more than Sun/Moon, which is a damned shame considering the next part in a generation is almost always better in my eyes. I think the only other time this might have been the case was Black/White 2. Which is...oddly fitting.

I think my big issues come down to two things: Necrozma and Lusamine. Combined, they adequately sum up all of my problems with the game. I’ll get to them, but positives first.

Love the new UBs. They’re all excellent, I can’t wait to get my Stakataka, Blacephalon is still cool, and while Naganadel cannot be my favorite because Nihilego is way better, it’s a neat design for a Dragon thing so I’ll let it go. I’m a huge fan of the expanded island dex, and I’m sure that Nuzlock-esque rules would be fantastic with the new spread. That said, I cannot imagine a horror greater than a Nuzlock in these games. Totem Pokemon are hard as shit, and while that’s been fun for a normal playthrough, you’re basically asking for half your team to get wiped if you run a Nuzlock. Marowak in particular is a fucking asshole, with Detect and, if memory serves, Ground and Fighting coverage on a Fire type. Callie hated this fight, and had a really good point: it’s not entirely fair that you have two things, both now super fast, hitting for most if not all of your life in one turn. You don’t really get breathing room in a 2-v-1, and without a chance to really switch out, a Nuzlock may as well be impossible, I feel.

I ADORE Mantine Surf. The ability to accrue a reasonable amount of BP per session is spectacular, and I sincerely hope this mechanic stays forever. Not even necessarily in this form, but in some kind of easy minigame that permits you to get a ton of BP per run. Two runs gets you any move you want, and that takes all of 5 minutes. Easily the best mechanic. The move tutor options are also great, and a lot of additions really help a lot of Pokemon.

On a more neutral note, I think the Ultra Wormhole travel is interesting, and I don’t have that they put it in the game, but I really wish it wasn’t so random. Going through the White Wormholes was a nightmare. I found my first Celesteela on accident before getting Nihilego, but once I tried looking for another I couldn’t find it for an hour. I really, really hate random chance, and think there should’ve been a way to make sure you know what you’re getting in to with those. But, they also allow me to get an infinite number of UBs and shiny hunt forever, so I guess I can’t be too mad?

Now, the complaints. The real ones. I’ll start with Necrozma, because it kinda ties in with the other, but indirectly. Necrozma, as a force you need to subdue, is great. It does seem intimidating, and it’s new forms are great. But it’s a force that...literally was already kept in check. And was only a threat because some assholes pissed it off in their dimension. They don’t really get into this, but it was apparently used to power the technology of Ultra Megaopolis. Which, by the way? Super disappointing area. You don’t get to explore it! It was just the tower! Laaaame. But getting back to Necrozma: I think what bugs me is that it’s a Dragon. I know that’s petty, but another major super legend being Dragon type sucks. I really was hoping we’d move away from that, but instead here’s yet another Dragon. So now it’s a slower, weaker Deoxys-attack with better defenses, and an ability that lets super-effective hits deal more damage. No idea how much more.

From a story angle, what really bugs me is that it doesn’t feel like an immediate threat. I can definitely get behind the concept of a force of nature as the antagonist, in the sense that there is no villain and the real thing we’re struggling against is a force of nature or some conceptual threat. It’s the entire reason I loved the Atelier Dusk trilogy so much. But...well...that only works in the absence of a villain. But we do not have the absence of a villain. We definitely have one, and she was great once, but just...god, okay, get it together me.

Lusamine’s arc in this game weirds me out. And not in the good way. I knew some people who were looking at the anime trends and some of the promo stuff for this game, and going “Oh god, please don’t make Lusamine a good person, that’s really not okay.” And I didn’t really agree entirely. I think a redemption arc is fine. I think that, given sufficient motivation and self-reflection, any villain becoming a good person is possible. But with Lusamine...her actions are severely fucked up, especially toward her kids, and if you’re gonna have that redemption, it’s gonna have to be big, and it’s gonna have to mean going through a lot. My biggest worry was the return of Mohn. I saw that spoiler, and was worried they were gonna go the route of “well Mohn’s back, so Lusamine’s stable. See? She just needed her husband, and when he left bitch just lost it.” Basically, I was worried about an invalidation of her entire character and agency as a person by having everything hinge on her husband. Thankfully, that did not happen, and initially I was very pleased with the direction. I have since changed my mind.

Lusamine goes off and awakens Necrozma, attempting to capture it for herself, fucks up, and Necrozma almost ruins the world or Alola, as well as Ultra Megaopolis. She does this because, guess what, she still has that collection of Pokemon frozen in time. She also still has the scene where she talks down to Lillie and proclaims she has no children. So all the stuff that showcased her definitely being a villain? Still there. My problem isn’t what, it’s how. A sufficient struggle and showcasing of Lusamine making an effort and dealing with ramifications for her actions would be good. That I would appreciate. But they didn’t do that. Any possible changes occurred off-screen and we’re just told about them, and worst of all, the main takeaway they try to push is that Lillie and Lusamine talked to each other, and suddenly it was fine. No. That is not acceptable. Communication is good, but do you know what Lillie tried to do, in both games, after the third island? TALK. Lillie tried to talk with Lusamine, tried to talk sense into her, and nothing came of it. Communication only works if both parties are listening, and the entire point of Lusamine’s character is that she’s controlling and not willing to listen, but suddenly we’re gone to Ultra Space for a few hours and she’s completely changed as a person? Nothing adds up, and it’s entirely because there’s no focus on characters anymore.

It was kinda like this with Delta Episode. Instead of focusing on any human element, it’s just “Here’s this big cool super legendary Pokemon.” And sure, Necrozma is cool and all. But you know what was better? The dynamics of a broken family, and the development of an abused child coming to terms with her history, calling out her abuser’s actions as awful, and moving forward. But we don’t focus on that. Instead, we sideline that entire family’s story. You give a few more details initially, talking about the history and the loss of Mohn, and hinting at more complex motivations for Lusamine, then immediately toss all of that away in favor of...what, exactly? Big space monster dragon? Yeah, it looks cool, but it’s not as engaging as their story. You focused on the wrong thing, and sidelined what made the initial games so good.

I mentioned Atelier earlier, and I feel like this is the perfect comparison, because Atelier Shallie did this too. “This series is supposed to be light-hearted, so we have to have a positive and upbeat ending!” Fine, great. But the basis you set is heavy material and incredibly sobering, and you can’t just hand-wave that and insist that things got better off-screen or with minimal effort. These things take time and effort to resolve effectively, and it’s almost better to imply that parties are willing to work toward a solution and not reveal the means, than insist that the means was a simple 5-minute conversation and easy fix. Acknowledging the gravity of human struggles and showing only that parties are willing to work toward a fix without needing to show the fix is perfectly valid, and trying to undermine severity for the sake of remaining “light-hearted” becomes a massive problem for a story that is otherwise gripping.

Ultimately, I strongly feel like the bad outweighs the good here. As a cap-off to the series on handhelds, it’s almost disappointing to know that their idea of an appropriate culmination was a bunch of flashiness and “Look at this cool big Pokemon thing!” while sidelining the story and characters as hard as humanly possible. I was really hoping for an improvement and a deeper analysis of the family dynamics within the context of the original story. But instead, all of that is sidelined in favor of this “alternate telling” that changes nothing about the history of their dynamics, but ends on a note where everything is immediately and casually resolved with no effort, off-screen. It’s bad, and I really, really wish that we’d stop getting these stories that have such a powerful start to work with, and just fuck up the ending beyond belief. I know I have a tendency to complain, but I do not ask for much to be generally satisfied. To miss that entire mark is, quite frankly, unbelievable.

#pokemon ultra sun and ultra moon #pokemon ultra sun #pokemon ultra moon #I'm having fun with the game part but holy shit the story is Not Good

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codependentsoulmates · 7 years ago

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RANKING EVERY SEASON OF SUPERNATURAL

Let’s a-freakin’-go, Mario.

12. Season 7. Leviathans. And Sam’s god-awful wolverine sideburns. ‘Nuff said.

11. Season 6. Soulless Sam was hilariously, sarcastically endearing for a little while, but towards the end of the Soulless Sam arc, just, ugh. I wanted to fast forward so bad. Samuel coming back was unnecessary and anticlimactic, “evil Cas” was an eye roller, I didn’t give a shit about Lisa and Ben, um... EVE??? What the actual fuck was that. She was possibly the single most wasted, ultra-super-anticlimactic use of a story arc that I’ve ever seen. There were a few redeeming episodes (i.e. Clap Your Hands If You Believe).

10. Season 9. Okay, this could be biased just based on how much I truly cannot stand God!Metatron. S10/11 Metatron is great; he’s such a little jerk that you cant help but find him funny. But S9 Metatron... holy shit. It was like being subjected to hours upon hours of having to watch only the Umbridge scenes from Harry Potter on repeat. It felt like legitimate torture trying to force myself to finish the season. Plus, yes, I ended up liking Gadreel later (much later) on, but Gadreel!Sam felt like it went on forever. I was over it and it was like the end of it would never come. Also, I’m just gonna say it: Abaddon was boring and annoying, and the only reason she was even an issue was because Sam and Dean thought, “Hey, wow, let’s experiment on the most powerful demon we know of roaming the Earth right now. We cut off her hands, nothing will go wrong!” Riiiight... okay. Also, Kevin’s death was seriously messed up and unnecessary and I still haven’t forgiven them for it, so. But uh, human!Cas was super endearing though, and even though I really don’t ever want actual human Cas to become a thing, it was cute for awhile.

9. Season 12. Alright. I don’t share the exact same sentiment or level of hatred that a lot of other people seem to for this season, but it had... a lot of issues. So, uh. Buckle up. First of all... Lucifer. While I don’t... hate the idea of him coming back as a villain, just so many things about this were... sigh. Rockstar!Lucifer was - and I’m gonna fucking say it - truly awful. So, so awful. Maybe he could’ve worked on another show, but with Lucifer’s character/personality having already been so established and defined on Supernatural, it just felt out of place. He was not the same character - which is something I often complain about with the Rubys. We had just come from Casifer - which was brilliant and so, so in character - and then we get this... weird, unsnarky, not sarcastic or playful at all version of Lucifer and... pass. Moving on... they finally get to put Luci back in his cage and... then Crowley decides to keep him as a pet? And believe Lucifer - fucking LUCIFER - now bows to him and won’t get away? And assume the demons who have time and time again always helped Lucifer, will now follow him instead? What??? Crowley isn’t that dumb, and he could’ve achieved ruling Hell again with no problems if Lucifer was in the cage. It made no sense to me. And um. Lucifer having a child? Seriously? So much reaching going on. Now to the second issue: The British Men of Letters. Okay. They started off as the enemy this season. The title sequence was the MoL symbol. And yet... they weren’t that relevant or threatening until the last couple of episodes (and those were, well, in nicer terms... questionable.) They either should’ve saved a Lucifer-returning-as-the-enemy storyline for later or saved the BMoL. Together, it was just too much and not enough expansion. Side note: I loathe the BMoL like I loathe God!Metatron. Which brings me to the third - and maybe biggest - issue I had with this season: Mary fucking Winchester. What the fuck. What the actual fuck, were the writers thinking. They legitimately ruined her. Throughout the series you have this wonderful idea built up about her: she was a badass hunter and she sacrificed things for John and she loved her boys so, so much and she gave up hunting for good because that was never the life she wanted and just. Then she’s here and you’re like finally Sam and Dean get to have a fucking parent who is there for them and can nurture them for once in their goddamn lives, and then. Then she’s a different Mary and she’s back to only caring about hunting even though she never liked hunting in the first place and she’s working for the people who tortured her son and she’s leaving her boys who just got her back, who she just got back, and she was going to let them die or get hurt for the goddamn Colt that she didn’t even know was the Colt. And I just. I couldn’t get with it, I’m sorry. Oh, and also everyone fucking DIES this season, so that was just fucking great, too.

8. Season 10. This is an unpopular opinion, I’m sure, but I hated Deanmon and I was glad we didn’t have to see him that long and suffer like we did with Soulless Sam. That being said, they did way overhype Deanmon, which was pretty uncool and unfair. But I honestly hated the Mark of Cain - it went on waaaaay too long - and I really, really dislike seeing Dean be... not Dean... so... Also, I am still pissed the fuck off at Charlie’s death, so I refuse to rank this any higher out of spite, too. But um. They killed fucking DEATH this season. And while I was actually really unhappy about it because Death was cool as hell, that scene with Sam like, just wrecked, and Dean’s “Close your eyes, Sammy” kinda made it really, really almost worth it. (You’ll soon realize I really only care a lot about Sam and Dean’s relationship and their Absolute Best Moments™ that wrench my heart.)

7. Season 8. Unfortunately, the writers decided hey, let’s ruin Sam’s character a little fucking more and write him as OOC as possible by having him not actually give a shit where the fuck Dean was for an entire year because he was too busy fucking some piece of shit girl! Seriously, I didn’t think I could dislike anyone more than I hated Ruby 2.0 or Gordon... and then came Amelia. I have yet to encounter a person in the Spn-verse that is worse than her. No joke. This season ranks above the others though because it was less “meh” or all over the place. And because Mrs. Tran being a complete baller for just a single episode was more entertaining that any of the main story arcs for any of those seasons below. Also, more importantly, it had more of a return to what Supernatural is supposed to be - I’m looking at you S6/7 - and even though trying to close the gates of Hell was pointless and we knew it was never gonna happen, I have a sick love for suffering!Sam at any given time because then Dean goes into overprotective big bro mode and they stop fighting and being jerks to each other for a lil’ while and we get Seasons 1-5 (eh, minus 4) bro’ lovin’ and protectin’ again. Plus, this season holds my favorite quote/speech Dean has ever said to Sam (you know what I’m talking about) and I already said I’m a sucker for heart-wrenching moments between them, so.

6. Season 4. Probably yet another unpopular opinion, but oh well. Ruby 2.0... gag me. Way to ruin a good character. Plus, as much as I love Gen, I loved nothing about her portrayal of Ruby. It wasn’t the same character. That’s the bottom line. Also Sam’s demon blood addiction and him so far up Ruby’s ass all season??? Vomit. Skip. Next. Literally if Sam listened to Dean for legit two seconds, the Apocalypse could’ve been avoided. But Castiel! And the angel arc! The actual saving graces (hah, literally) of the season.

5. Season 1. I feel really weird about placing this season this low because it’s really just as good as the two I’ve ranked above it, but. I suppose that’s cheating. Season 1 holds a very, very special place in my heart, is all. It’s the OG season, monster-of-the-week episodes (which, side note: makes no sense to me when people rank S1 super low because there were “too many monster-of-the-week episodes.” Um, yeah.. that’s kinda... what the show is fucking about? Sam and Dean... hunting monsters? But okay, anyway...) Baby Sam and Dean!!! The world wasn’t fucked yet! Lil’ skulky Sam!! Okay, real talk, S1-3 (and 5) Sam was fucking BALLER. He was the best Sam, and then the writers trashed his character, so. Cool. This season is really only this low because I had to fully rank this and because John was kinda a dick. But I loved Sam fighting with him and Dean getting in between them to protect Sam. (Also, on another note: John was a piece of work but he was a better parent than S12 Mary, jussayin’.) (Also, also, it irritates the shit out of me just how much they ruined John’s character and who they made him out to be post-season 5. He was truly something else and he did some really shitty things, but I don’t think it was fair to do and I don’t think that was ever what Kripke intended for his character, but. Oh well. I digress.)

4. Season 11. Once again, I don’t necessarily rank this fully above S1 or below the next ranking, but. There was a lot of good things going on this season. Casifer was brilliant and delivered some of my favorite one-liners of the series. His interactions with God!Chuck were great. Him helping instead of being a villain, but still being a ridiculous child. God!Chuck was wonderful and handled really, really well. Also, his World’s Best Dad mug? I heart. Freakin’... Baby? Brilliant, incredible, amazing, wonderful, spectacular. Rowena was also bitchin’ this season, the whole flippin’ demons, angels, witches working together (even though it was just one episode) was suh-weeeet, Sam and Dean were vibin’ like early seasons Sam and Dean. I really wasn’t here for the forced Dean/Amara weird as hell relationship/attraction, though. It was... no. Just. No. Also like, Amara was okay and they did mostly show how powerful she was but like. Azazel, Lucifer, the Leviathans, Gordon, or basically... anyone felt like more of a threat than her, even though she was the only actual unstoppable force ever on the show. And while it was kinda nice for the finale to be her and Chuck working it out, it was also... kinda lame. Here’s this dark force that is the most powerful thing in existence, and it’s stopped by God... apologizing and hugging it out with her? Um... okay, I guess.

3. Season 3. Even though this season was short and waiting for Dean to die kinda sucked and put a damper on the whole season, it still is by far one of the best ones, hands down. Not only did we get Katie Cassidy’s badass, savage, cool as hell Ruby 1.0, we got Bela (who had so much wasted potential, sigh) and return of the Trickster, Bobby really becoming the boys’ father figure, and Sam finally getting to kill Actual Piece of Shit™ Gordon Walker. Season 3 also has some of the best episodes of the whole series - Bad Day At Black Rock, Mystery Spot, Ghostfacers - and we got A Very Supernatural Christmas, which gave us the birth of the Samulet, and I swear to god that scene made me actually cry a little bit. (A lotta bit.)

2. Season 2. This is like. THE Supernatural season. All the cool kids are introduced: Ellen, Jo, Ash, the Trickster, Tessa. Bobby becomes more involved, brotherly bonding up the wazoo, total badass, pure monster hunting. Episodes like Tall Tales and Hollywood Babylon. And episodes like Croatoan and Heart (which had one of the best endings to an episode in the series just in terms of emotion and how well it was set up with the song and ugh), and had debatably the best season finale of the whole show with All Hell Breaks Loose Parts 1 & 2. (It killed me.) Great monsters are introduced like shape shifters and djinns. Azazel was annoying but was an actual villain (unlike some of the later big “villains”) and he was that start and end of everything. He was the Winchesters’ reason for hunting, he catapulted everything. And everything was so simple and pure and made fucking sense.

1. Season 5. I mean, there’s really no surprise here. It baffles me when S5 isn’t at the top of everyone’s list. While I don’t necessarily wanna go back and watch S5 episodes like I do with most other seasons, it was just the most well-rounded, well-thought out, well-executed season. No competition. Everything had a purpose and a meaning. Everything was tied up. Ellen and Jo die, which is a downer, but at least they were badass. Lucifer is a total tool, and you love it. It’s also Mark Pellegrino’s Lucifer, which is - quite obviously - the best Lucifer. Death is rad as hell. Cas is in his fucking prime this season. Sam and Dean love each other so fucking much this season. The Trickster/Gabriel is revealed as an archangel!! Crowley!! Bobby in his prime as Sam and Dean’s father figure!! Dark Side of the Moon A.K.A. one of my all-time favorite episodes and also one of the most beautifully shot episodes!! (And Ash in heaven! “Some people share, like soulmates”!!!!!!) The fucking END!!! I honestly would probably rank S5 at the top of this list solely for the scene where Lucifer is beating the crap out of Dean while Dean just keeps saying, “Sammy, it’s okay, I’m here” and then Sam’s montage of memories of him and Dean as he takes back control, and jeez holy shit is that montage beautiful and brilliant. That scene alone is probably the best scene in the whole show and I will defend that opinion until I die. The only bad things really in S5 were how unbelievably annoying Zachariah was and how I still think throwing their random half-brother in there just so Dean didn’t have to be Michael’s vessel was ridiculous and absurd. But really, this is the season. I’m glad the show didn’t end after this season, but holy fucking shit would it have been one of the sickest, best, most baller series finales of all time, and no matter what they do for the series finale now, this finale is so untouchable that it will never even come close to living up to it.

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