#like. super low effort. I didn't even know I could do this low but damn it's so funny and I had much fun

[deiaiko]

Team Agni's Halloween rumor

Masterlist

[rosietrace]

『 “Off kilter” 』

| Lancelot Lucretius and Marina Baleen | 🛡️ + 🐚 |

✎ᝰ. synopsis : “The boys, the girls, they all like Carmen–” “She gives them butterflies, bats her cartoon eyes.”

✎ᝰ. content warnings : descriptions of murder, davis /hj, implied mafia business (?)

✎ᝰ. genre : alternative universe (noir/mafia au), romance, (poorly communicated) mutual pining

( ˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥) a/n : AUGHHHH THIS TOOK SO LONG TO COMPLETE BUT I'M SO GLAD IT IS 😭 this kinda lacks proper proof-reading so idk chat maybe it sucks balls but </33 Ellis pookie I rlly hope I did Marina justice here so I'm super sorry if she's ooc :'))

✎ᝰ. reblogs > likes

Lance watched Davis sneer at the hard pouring of the rain, an eyebrow raised and his arms crossed. Pure, potent, exasperation was hardly enough to describe how tired Lance was of his brother.

But alas, thought Lance, who drew out a sorry breath. It's better than nothing.

Their plans for the day, generally consisting of Davis spoiling himself rotten while Lance accompanied him with nothing tucked in his behind other than wallowing compliance, came to a screeching halt.

Due in part with the murder of Nyx Leech, beloved songstress of the Monstro Lounge— a restaurant seemingly drawing the attention of individuals from all across the criminal underworld.

Davis harrumphed, walking to the wooden coat rack and draping his coat over his shoulders. “You think going to the lounge is still a good idea?” questioned Davis.

Lance's eyes narrowed. “Why wouldn't it be?” They were supposed to be investigating a murder, entertainment was hardly a priority.

Or, at least, it was for Lance. Davis sent his baby brother a faux pout. “Oh, boo hoo… I've been itching for another try at the serpentine casino..”

With a roll of his eyes, Lance followed, his hands tucked into the pockets of his coat. “If that's the case, then you're not a detective, you're a slot machine.”

“And you'd slit your own throat for six bits plus tax.”

Davis scoffed. “You overestimate how high my confidence is.”

“I reckon your confidence is on a pedestal, readying itself to be renamed arrogance.”

“I’d hardly call it arrogance when one acknowledges their talents.”

“And it's hardly confidence when all you do is boast about your talents,” Lance shot back, opening the door and gesturing for his brother to leave first.

Grumbling whatever chattering complaints he wanted to say below his breath, Davis strode out of the office. Lance lingered at the doorway, however, contemplating.

Right now, they were low on any actual evidence— and even worse, lower in leads to finding the true culprit.

As the nights grew colder, and the rain poured harder, all Lance could think of…

“Hey,” Davis called. He gave Lance a wrinkle-nosed look, and pointedly side-eyed him once he walked out of the office and locked the door shut.

“Anything on your mind, brother?” Davis questioned. Although Lance didn't want to notice it, Davis' sly little smile was hardly subtle.

Lance shook his head, a valiant effort on his part. “Nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

“I'm sure.”

“Are you really sure?”

“Positive.”

“Are you really, really, really—”

“Say really one more time, and I'll make sure you won't have a tongue in your mouth once we get home.”

Frustrated far beyond reason, Lance shoved past Davis, even when he didn't mean to; and all Davis had to respond to that?

A smirk. A hardly subtle, very amused, all-knowing smirk. Damn it.

“This should be fun.”

“Anything?”

Normally it would take a large bribe or two to be given entry into one of the restricted, ‘employees only’ areas of the Monstro Lounge; but with the circumstances that life had dealt for the notorious restaurant, Azul Ashengrotto had reluctantly allowed Davis and Lance to initiate a look-through of the crime scene. No bribes needed, free of charge.

A figure of chalk was drawn on the floor, positioned the same way Nyx had been found.

From how Davis looked, he looked like he wanted to hurl. It still reeked of a rotting corpse, and that fact didn't go unnoticed by Lance, either.

It was just that Lance did a better job at hiding his disgust, in contrast to… Davis being Davis.

“Anything so far?” Lance repeated his question and looked underneath the shelves that lined the room, waiting for Davis to reply whilst inspecting the area to the best of his ability.

“Nope.” Truly, Davis missed his true calling on the stage. With how nonchalant he sounded, Lance would've gone and assumed his brother wasn't taking the case as casually as he should.

But that's a lie. Lance thought, with every fiber of being all unanimously going to that agreement. He does care about this case.

Just not in the way he probably should.

“Found something,” Davis announced, getting to his feet and properly inspecting whatever was in his hand. “Could be something of interest.”

“Could be?” Lance repeated with a hint of skepticism. ‘Could be’s and ‘Maybe’s weren't what they were looking for.

Davis gave him a look, clicking his tongue. “Do you truly think so low of me, baby brother?”

Without even a moment's notice or a hint of hesitation on Davis' part, Lance's eyebrows shot up at the sight before him.

Some kind of seal. Not quite a brooch, but more akin to a cufflink, or a pin. It bore the symbol of two interconnected snakes wrapping around each other— their grasps at each other almost suffocating just by looking at it.

Lance couldn't help but wonder aloud, “What is it?”

Davis' smirk was horribly contagious. Far too proud for his own good as he indulged, “A seal.”

“Particularly to our matter of interest, baby brother of mine, one belonging to a subordinate working under the Eden’s Serpents.”

Not knowing who the Serpents were was the equivalent to living under a rock and not knowing the sky was blue— so of course Lance knew which group of the criminal underworld Davis was referring to.

“Is it a possible lead?”

“Could be.”

“We're not here for that could be bullshit.”

“Don't be such a debbie downer,” with a flick of his fingers, Lance felt a small flash of pain on his forehead. Courtesy of his older brother.

Barely another word in to snap back at Davis, in walked owner of the restaurant himself, Azul Ashengrotto; clad in all black, say for the silk blouse he wore beneath his black and silver coat and vest.

“Novellions,” Azul said in greeting, accenting it with a well-practiced polite shell of a smile.

Davis, ever the charmer, did the talking. “Mr. Ashengrotto.” They shook hands like merchants making a deal in the midst of the exchange.

“I presume progress remains slow as always?” The question sounded polite enough; but Lance didn't miss the way Azul veiled the condescension in his tone.

Davis' charm didn't falter, but his smile took a more sharp turn. “Surprise, surprise, today that isn't the case.”

Azul raised a brow. “Oh? There's progress after all?”

“Certainly. Truly, Mr. Ashengrotto, do you have such little faith in me and my brother?”

“Certainly not,” Azul waved a dismissive hand.

Lance folded his arms across his chest. “Have I not been informed, or have we been given some sort of time limit to how long we can stay here?” Azul had to have sauntered over to them himself, for a reason.

The chuckle that left the ever conspicuous business man's lips made a vein pop up on Lance's forehead.

“I am merely doing my job as the owner of this establishment.” Azul and Davis were silently at odds with each other; projecting humbleness in the way they said every little reply, no matter how miniscule.

“Care for a bit of relaxation, gentlemen? Surely, the act of investigating a murder can entail quite a bit of exhaustion.”

Lance's lips pursed. “That won't be necessa–”

“How generous!” Declared Davis, who not-so-subtly sent a glare directed at Lance once Azul gave them a hearty, performative laugh, and escorted them to the main dining area.

Lance had his qualms about Ashengrotto, and especially his staff, but he could at least admit to himself that he had little qualms about the restaurant Azul owned.

The Monstro Lounge was dimly lit, its only source of light were the bulletproof glass walls made to display all sorts of oceanic creatures for guests to marvel at while they ate— much of the decor made to resemble sea creatures, as well.

Looking up, Lance commented in as polite of a voice as he could manage, “Quite the chandelier.”

It was like Azul didn't even try to hide how perfunctory his responses were to him and Davis. “Thank you. It feels like almost a lifetime ago since I first opened this place… oh, how far we've come, indeed.”

And in that time, Lance couldn't help but think, your establishment is the number one meeting place for a private tussle between rival groups in the criminal underworld.

Hardly a positive evolution, but one nonetheless.

Azul sat the two brothers down in one of the tables closest to the stage. Whether that was deliberate on Azul’s part, it was hard to tell.

“I do hope you two stay for entertainment,” Azul said earnestly, but Lance knew better than to expect fully packaged honesty where Azul Ashengrotto was concerned.

He turned on his heel, that polite smile fading, and giving way for a smirk to grow.

“You'll see that Marina's quite the talent, indeed.”

Marina Baleen wanted to chuckle when she first saw the look on Lance's face once she strode on to the stage, dressed in sparkles, opera gloves, and a fur shawl.

But much to her dismay, that just wasn't an option. Sure, Marina was one of the potential suspects behind the recent murder of Nyx Leech, but that didn't equal to Azul wanting to put her talent to waste.

She was a spectacle, all eyes on her, like there was nothing more natural than the way her looks — and most especially her voice — captivated the audience like a siren guiding poor unfortunate sailors to a death they wouldn't foresee until it was all too late.

She tried keeping the act of the alluring, sultry songstress, she truly did. But it was just too hard to ignore how comical it was to see Lance's jaw go slack and see how his (quite frankly, rude) older brother closed it shut for him.

Quite cartoonish, that one, thought Marina. When he wants to be.

The stage was set, the lights were on and all were directed at her. Front, back, and everything in-between, Marina was what every aspiring singer wanted to be.

A star. A spectacle, made for the stage and only the stage. The industry was like that, y'know. You're either born with star power, or you aren't.

Marina was just lucky enough to have the looks to get where she was today.

When the song neared its end, the corners of Marina's mouth curled up into a tiny smirk. There was nothing wrong with messing with Lancelot Novellion a little, was there?

She strutted across the stage, heels clicking rhythmically until her steps came to a halt. And she stood directly over Lance and his brothers’ table.

Her hand went beneath his chin, lifting and tilting it at just the right angle so their eyes would meet.

With his parted lips and her thumb brushing against the lower half, Marina engaged with a fermata until her voice slowly faded in what she could only assume was the most natural way it could.

“I…” she could audibly hear the quiet, hard, swallow from Lance.

She was enjoying this far too much. With a cheshire cat grin and a wink, she pulled back from him, taking several steps back and awaiting for a standing ovation that never came.

That was fine. That was natural. Not everyone would want to give her some hurrahs, let alone throw roses at the stage in appreciation.

The silence is better than being thrown porridge, Marina amended. With how prolonged her little smile was, many working under Azul assumed she wasn't capable of doing anything other than smiling.

Azul gave her his praises, Jade following suit; Floyd was the only one not in attendance. Marina wasn't given the specifics, but she knew it had to do with Nyx's sudden murder.

Whatever tightnit, glued-to-the-hip bond the Leech siblings had, it wasn't Marina's prioritized concern. Her current topic warranting caution was trying not to make herself paint an even redder target on her back.

She wasn't the one who killed Nyx. She'd have known if she did, but Marina had no reason to.

Lance intercepted Marina on her way to her dressing room. To which Marina only reacted with a wry smile, brushing past him and not looking back; an obvious, but no less clever way of getting him to follow her.

“I'm not taking autographs right now,” she drawled, her head tilting to one side at a precarious angle once she and Lance made their way into her dressing room.

Lance huffed. He was so cute when he looked painfully constipated with irrigation. “I'm not here for an autograph.”

“I'm not accepting fan meetings.”

“I’m not here for that, either.”

“Then why,” Marina strode closer, her nose briefly brushing against Lance's, “are you here?”

The investigator took one look to the side then focused his gaze on her. “I'm here on business, not to ask for your autograph or a kiss that'll make me refuse to take another shower ever again.”

“You sure about that, Lancie?”

Lance gave her an adorable wrinkle of his nose at the unexpected nickname. He tried covering up by (very unconvincingly) maintaining his business persona.

“Again, Miss Baleen, I'm not here for an autograph.”

The opportunity jumped at Marina as she replied with, “Then is a kiss still on the table?”

“And definitely not that.” Lance sucked in a breath. Marina couldn't tell if the redness of his ears were from being flustered or not, but either way, it looked cute to her.

“Shame…” Marina pouted, slipping off the shawl and tossing it on to the top back of her dressing room chair. “I would've enjoyed making you my personal canvas.”

Lance blinked. Marina counted up to thirteen times before he uttered, his tone gutted and hoarse with disbelief: “What?”

Marina shrugged that off as quickly as the offhand comment came. “Nevermind, that,” said Marina, who tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked back at Lance.

“So, detective, any progress?”

“About clearing your name? Not much.”

“Hmm.” She clucked her tongue. “Shame… am I too memorable to let off the hook?”

“If by memorable you mean conspicuous,” corrected Lance. “Your connections to the victim, as well as your alibi doesn't make you that much of an innocent victim turned suspect.”

“Me and Nyx were never that close, anyway, Lancie.”

“And you think that matters to the press?”

She released a groan. “I already told you what I know.” Her lips pressed together, frustration gleaming in her eyes as she stared back at him.

“What more do I need to do to prove I'm innocent?”

“... I know you're innocent.” Marina could've almost sworn that Lance's eyes flash with an uncharacteristic softness, if only for a moment. “But—”

“But?”

“The press don't believe you are. My brother too, but he isn't important in this conversation.”

“Such a strange way to say that about him,” Marina noted, motion always constant with her pretty head cocked to the side at an angle that bordered on the blurred line of acceptable and concerning. “Though, I can't say I disagree. Your brother is hardly the most agreeable.”

The corners of Lance's mouth ticked upwards, then lowered. “Then I am shocked to say we're in agreement on something for once. However—”

His hands went to her shoulders, the proximity of their bodies hardly registering to Lance as he pushed Marina back and lowered her down to her chair before she could say anything else.

“— I am not here to talk about things we may or may not agree on. I'm here because I was called to investigate with Davis, so I may as well make it worth my while?”

She smirked, leaning into the chair and crossing her legs. “Oh? Well, now you're making little ol’ me blush, Lancie.”

“Don't make an innuendo out of this…” Lance closed his eyes, keeping them that way with a pained twist to his lips.

With a relent, she decided to go along with it. She gestured to a chair from the corner of the room for Lance to sit on, and he did so in quick succession; ready to ask whatever questions he had unprepared for her.

“Where were you on the night of Nyx Leech’s murder?”

“After the duet Nyx and I shared, she told me she was in charge of closing up for the night and told me to leave early.”

“Interesting. Did she go into further elaboration?”

The fact you're acting like you don't already know the answer is cute, Lancie. “From my memory, I don't think so. Whatever she was up to, I merely minded my business and entered my dressing room.”

“And that's…?” Lance arched his brow, waiting for her to continue; anticipating what he already knew but still hoping for a new lead regardless.

Marina's bulletproof pleasantries wavered. “... That's when I heard the screaming.”

Liar or not, Marina was a fantastic actress. Had she not pursued singing, she would've been a household name among Hollywood's finest stars. And she knew that was why Lance kept up the skepticism in her alibi.

He felt something for her. She didn't know what it was, but whatever it was, he wouldn't let it get in the way of him doing his job.

Emotions are kept on the back burner most days, and when they aren't… Marina knew it'd be better for her to not know how Lance would act if he wasn't as patient as he was right now.

But now was not the time for that. She could only keep little Lancie, him and his golden eyes and adorable freckles, in her dressing room for so long. It would only be a matter of time before Davis barges in and drags his brother back to their office by his ankles.

She heaved a sigh. “I tried to ignore the screaming. I thought I just heard things. But then it came again, and it kept coming until it became unbearable and–”

“... And?” She was tense. It didn't take a genius to notice that.

Marina swallowed, hard, forcing down the feeling of bile trying to force its way out of her throat. “I… I opened the door to one of the employee-only sections of the lounge.”

“Nyx tried to crawl to me, tears ruining her mascara. But she could barely move. I ran to her, foolish enough to try and shake the life back into her and–”

“— that's when Azul found you.” Covered in the blood of a fellow performer. The look on Lance's face said it all.

“Yes.” The starlet kept her hands on her lap, her body so still she looked like she belonged in a painting rather than on the stage she stood on prior. “... Not exactly the best alibi, I know you're suspicious of me either way.”

Lance didn't deny that. “I am. However, I'm obligated to believe you until further evidence suggests that you're telling the truth or not.”

“You think I'm lying?”

“I did not say–”

“No, you're implying that I could be lying to you to get off your radar.”

“I've heard your alibi three times now, Miss Baleen. Once when I first interrogated you, second when I was listening in on your interview with my brother— and most recently, right now.”

Marina sputtered, eyebrows knitted together. “What– Just because you heard my alibi thrice now, you think there's cracks in what I'm trying to convey??”

“Ma'am, I'm doing my job.” Lance leaned back — or, at least tried to, he was sitting on a stool without anything supporting his back — as he continued, “your descriptions, while tragic and filled with emotion… don't give too much detail on what had actually happened that night.

“At most, you're one of the only members of the lounge who doesn't go into explicit detail in the same way everyone else has.”

Marina harrumphed. “Why should explicit details matter?”

“It gives investigators better insight and a clearer visual. I'd say it matters more than the monthly salary Mr. Ashengrotto has been more than generous in giving you, despite being a prime suspect.”

But they both knew why that was the case. It stank the atmosphere of the room, sensitizing Lance's senses in ways more than the type of perfume Marina was using.

Azul valued Marina for her talents. It's precisely why she's paid so well, and why she's such a favorite over all of his other patrons serving entertainment for the lounge.

Whether she was a suspect framed, innocent or not, business was business. And nothing could motivate Azul Ashengrotto more than cash.

It wasn't soon enough for Lance to stand, the abruptness nearly knocking over the dusted stool, its bottom still lined with cobwebs.

“Miss Baleen, I swear to you, I will find whoever it is that murdered your colleague and it will take an act of God to stop me from accomplishing that.”

His hands, so calloused but so wrongly delicate, caressed her face, tilting her chin up.

“I won't allow personal feelings get in the way of that. No matter what.”

Lance let go of Marina's face, the silence falling on deaf ears as his eyes found its way to the clock hanging over her mirror.

“... I should go.”

He'd been gracious enough to put the stool back where it'd once been, dusting off any remnants of web or dust and ready to make his way out of her dressing room as soon as—

“Wait–”

Marina's words cut off when Lance looked back at her, eyes seeming so devoid of any emotion left in his system, but filled with plight; like he was asking — begging — her for a reason to stay for longer than he should.

Sadly, her words had cut short. And she shook her head, smiling wryly and turning her attention to her reflection in the mirror. She heard Lance huff, and watched from the mirror as he left— her smile wiped clean.

Lance leaned his back against the door of her dressing room, his head on the ceiling. He cursed himself, disbelief painted harshly on his features.

“What the hell am I doing?...”

【 Taglist / Credits 】

↳ In order of OC appearances/mentions

Lancelot Novellion – Me 😈

Davis Novellion – Also Me 😈

Nyx Leech – Also (2) Me 😈

Marina Baleen – @starry-night-rose

@jasdiary | @authoruio | @fumikomiyasaki | @sakuramidnight15 | @hallowed-delights / @terrovaniadorm | @twsted-princess | @mystery-skulls-ghost | @lueerhythm | @valse-a-mille-temps | @absolutelyobsessedkiya / @twistedsongstressofstarz | @geminiiviolets

[skaruresonic]

The double standard gets more annoying when you realize fandom don't ACTUALLY care for canon...if it means abitrarily bringing back chars or reffing stuff

Like, fans are mad Iizuka didn't know what Choco Island from Tails Advejtures was regarding Forces dev. Ignoring that it's NOT a game made by Sonic Team, and very blatantly contradicts Tails having low self esteem and being bullied before he met Sonic (then you have other Aspect Games do dumb shit that contradicts Sonic Team stuff, along with weird rehash of Green Hill). I'm aware Sonic Channel recently reffed it last year, but notably don't mention events of the game. Same for Fang being canonized, Triple Trouble isn't mentioned

People hype up Emerl being in the Shadow short ignoring that the literal diary entries note that Shadow wasn't even awakened yet. At least one can argue that Doom was mem hacking, but people genuinely believe that the memory is legit and don't care cuz "OMG, SHADOW VS EMERL FIGHT"

Same for people treating Neo Metal as a basic Super Form that can kick Sonic's ass, when no, it's just a recepticle to gaining DNA needed to tutn inyo a Perfect Chaos based form

A lot of this really just boils down to "canon be damned, I want char fights, or any game is canon cuz Aaron Webber said so"

It's a mess

People hype up Emerl being in the Shadow short ignoring that the literal diary entries note that Shadow wasn't even awakened yet.

Admittedly I couldn't remember the content of Gerald's Battle diary entries, so I had to look them up. Reading through them, I realized that Shadow fighting Emerl renders Gerald's problems nonsensical in hindsight due to the way establishing Links works, as stated by Battle.

In addition, Gerald says it was the researchers who managed to subdue Emerl and seal him away. For some reason, the researchers kept giving Emerl more and more weapons to absorb:

---

Journal 5

The higher ups are threatening to shut down this research facility. I had no choice but to hand them the Gizoid to buy more time for my research. I tried to be careful and commanded it to never absorb any dangerous technologies. However, I have heard that other researchers have been making the Gizoid absorb weapons. Apparently, the way to cause the Gizoid to form a new "Link" is to show it power that surpasses that of its former master. While this poses immense danger, I cannot risk losing Maria.

---

Journal 6

My worst fears have come true. The Gizoid has absorbed enough weaponry and technology that it has started to go out of control. The resulting rampage resulted in the destruction of most of the "Ark." ... I have deciphered the rest of the stone tablet. It says, "When the Gizoid had learned all that it could, it became a god of wrath, and all was destroyed." The researchers somehow managed to subdue the Gizoid and sealed it away. Luckily, it only had one "Chaos Emerald" installed. If it were to have all 7 Emeralds installed, it might destroy the whole planet. The Gizoid is too much of a liability. I tried destroying its core, but nothing I did worked. I understand too little of the technology that built him. My best hope is to try and reprogram its AI into a free-willed, emotions-based AI...

---

Assuming this fight is indeed real, and that Shadow wins, that raises an entire slew of problems.

If Shadow fights Emerl, and inadvertently establishes a Link with the Gizoid by defeating him, Gerald's dilemma vanishes instantly.

All Gerald would have to do then is order Emerl to follow Shadow the way Sonic did:

Therefore, Gerald would have no reason to "try and reprogram its AI into a free-willed, emotions-based AI" in a last-ditch effort to bring the Gizoid to heel. He would have had no reason to install the final program or a soul identical to Maria's into Emerl. The events of Sonic Battle would never happen in the first place. Shadow's interference would have rendered his efforts moot.

tfw the fight is so peak that it threatens to break canon

Now, again, granted, this scenario is predicated on the assumptions that

A.) the fight is real; if it isn't, I just have to question why our time is being wasted on a fake scenario,

and B.) Shadow wins the fight. If he loses and Emerl goes on to destroy the ARK, that'd be another issue - how do the researchers manage to subdue him where Shadow cannot? And wouldn't that kind of feed into Shadow's complex about being unable to protect Maria?

Idk, the implications become weird and untenable the more you think about them. Maybe Black Doom really is sticking Shadow in a scenario where he makes him feel as WEEEEEAK as a certain masked villain, but I must ask once again what the point of that is. I ain't playing SxS Gens just to watch this motherfucker get woobified, you know what I mean?

---

I'm aware Sonic Channel recently reffed it last year, but notably don't mention events of the game.

Just because ST references things doesn't necessarily make them canon.

(coughs)

---

Same for people treating Neo Metal as a basic Super Form that can kick Sonic's ass, when no, it's just a recepticle to gaining DNA needed to tutn inyo a Perfect Chaos based form

A Super form? Why?

Metal couldn't complete his transformation without everyone's data and Chaos' ability to metamorphize. In Charmy's words: "Incomplete freak!"

---

A lot of this really just boils down to "canon be damned, I want char fights, or any game is canon cuz Aaron Webber said so"

It's a mess

Peak fiction often hinges on the aesthetics of a scene rather than the logistics. Who cares if Shadow fighting Emerl is so acanonical that it has the potential to retcon Sonic Battle as an entire game? It feels right, therefore it must be right.

Personally, I feel like it detracts from both Shadow's backstory and the ARK's unique identity as a research facility somewhat to have all of these disparate elements link (pun not intended) back to Shadow in some way. The ARK needs to be able to stand as a bastion of scientific progress on its own merits, with all the implications that brings to the table, and not just be regarded solely as Shadow's birthplace.

It should be stressed that the ARK developed tools of destruction alongside projects of medicine and healing. That is worth taking into consideration when examining the colony's purpose as a whole.

When people speak about the colony's darker underbelly, they tend to portray its horrors as those of unethical medical experimentation. In actuality, the real horrors reside more in the general territory of the politics of WMD development. "What the fuck did they have to create a planet-destroying cannon for? Who commissioned it? Why? What was its intended use?"

SA2 and Battle both touched upon the dangers of weapons of mass destruction. In particular, the ethical considerations and mindset of those who created them. These themes reflected the cultural anxiety of the early aughts concerning their development and use.

SA2 is more subtle in that it leaves Gerald's motivations in developing such a weapon ambiguous - Eggman raising questions of whether it was Gerald's legacy and intent to destroy mankind. Battle, on the other hand, is so blatantly anti-war that you're practically hearing War Pigs by Sabbath in the background.

The Gizoid counts as a WMD. Nothing can prevent it from going on a rampage and destroying everything, and flexing your power in order to retain control only escalates risk the more you do it. The only real effective countermeasure Gerald could think of was to give it a soul to dissuade it from ever pressing the nuke launch button. Or, in more allegorical terms, temper one's destructive impulses via conscience.

It takes Eggman forcibly overpowering and dehumanizing Emerl in order to reduce him to a WMD again. Except he loses control of Emerl immediately thereafter and winds up having his Final Egg Blaster getting aimed at the Earth without his consent, much like how nuclear bombs cause indiscriminate destruction.

It's such a brilliant and multi-tiered message, artfully delivered by Battle. Which is why it becomes undercut if we can have Shadow solve Gerald's problem in an instant.

[catherinekal]

Favorite Music Video Number 29!

Didn't take to long to get to some kawaii anime catgirl stuff.

Nyanners is great. I've not actually ever watched her stream (though have seen various highlights here and there) but have known about her long before she ever did vtubing. Once she announced she was doing vtubing it was like damn, this the most perfect fucking fit for someone. No wonder she exploded in popularity fast. Her avatar is adorable and I'm happy for her success.

Then she drops this video and its fucking fantastic. I have no idea what the original song is and honestly who cares. I love how happy and stupid and colorful and well executed this music video is.

I love her 3D model. As far as I know has only been used in this video? It nails that anime kawaii look she's clearly took inspiration from and I like how this video will switch between her 2D streaming avatar and the 3D one. The hairs even clipping into her clothing exactly like some AA 3D obscure anime game and its great.

But it being kawaii as fuck isn't why it's on the list. It's the sheer timing of the edits, and how it never gets boring or to samey with its limited assets. Whoever edited this did a lot with essentially just a 3D model, some simple animations, and some expressions Nyanners did using her 2D model. I'm not sure if any of the animations are directly from Mixamo either, but it wouldn't surprise if they were. All 3D animation is tough, but there's nothing super intense being done I can tell. At least compared to other 3D animations I've seen online. There's doesn't need to be for something like this.

So as always its taking something simple and doing something creative with it. The background is constantly moving to the beat. The circles that pop up every time with various sizes and positions is such a simple idea to always have something visually going on. The silhouettes behind the models help add to the texture of everything. Even the text is given thought by changing colors and coming in creative ways when called for. All simple things used to take what could have been a rather boring video into something that's just so damn engaging. Editing is an artform like any other and whoever made this really knew how to make something that nails the vibe of the song, Nyanners personality, and how to do a lot when little.

This video is by no means low effort though. a lot is going on and I can't imagine how long this took to make, not even counting the custom model and animations. I just kind of love it. It makes me happy and that's enough to be on this list. That's how a lot of these early music videos will be. Nyanners - Seiso

[shurisneakers]

What do you think Bucky would do/think when miss villain gets hit on but doesn’t realize it.

Bucky's glaring before he even realises.

Though, to be fair, he's always glaring so it doesn't always register when he does. System default.

You're talking excitedly on a panel, mic threatening to fly away with the way you gesture around wildly.

It's the first you'd been invited to and Bucky didn't think twice before clearing out his schedule to come to watch. EvilCon was only one day a year but he'd put it on his digital calendar, a reminder on his phone, circled it on the common room calendar. And written it with Sharpie on his metal arm. Just in case.

And here he was, pride in his chest and an extremely large, cartoonish moustache on his face. That and the giant googly sunglasses he has on-- courtesy of your online purchases to his house, obviously-- leaves him out of harm's way for the time being. Or they all knew who he was but they were ignoring it completely.

They probably wouldn't by the way he was about to flip a chair, but that was a bridge he'd explode when he came to it.

He's so proud though. Records you the same way a dad would at a kid's talent show, camera shaky and his own commentary in the background.

"The guy was flirting with you," he states the second you're in the car, heading out for dinner he's insisted on because being on a super evil panel something to celebrate, damn it.

You're basically buzzing out of your seat in excitement even though it was nearly four hours later.

"What guy? The security guard?"

"The guard flirted with you?"

"Oh, sorry, were you talking about the guy from the food court?"

Bucky's eyebrows pull together. "There was a guy in the food court?"

Right. You clear your throat, decided the hole you dug yourself was big enough so you just ask him straight up.

"The moderator," he replies.

"The moderator?"

"Yeah, Bargain Basement Riddler." Bucky nearly rolls his eyes at the thought of the outlandish green garment he wore. "Whole time-- swear to Christ, he was trying so hard."

"I literally didn't even notice," you muse.

"I know."

"You're pissed at him for flirting." You grin, wide and smug.

"I'm not pissed at him for flirting with you. I wouldn't be able to help myself either," Bucky replies absentmindedly. "I'm pissed because he was doing it all wrong."

"Oh?" you ask, eyebrow quirking in amusement.

"Yeah, it was painful," he grumbles. "Like, he kept bringing up taking you in his stupid rocket to blow up a star when you literally said you like submarines better."

"I do think the lil' fucked up creatures down there are fascinating."

"I know," Bucky emphasizes, audibly annoyed. "And that whole thing with testing your inventions out with you. Like you didn't say five minutes ago it was something personal to you."

Your lips purse, impressed. "You were listening way more than I thought you would."

"Of course, I was," Bucky exclaims. "I wanted to throw something at him. You gave him so many ins and he just went with-- whatever."

"You're mad because you... could do it better?" You squint at him.

"Yeah." Which now that he's thinking about it, sounds completely ridiculous. It's not like that guy was the one driving you to get cake from the best diner in the district.

"Well." You blow out an exhale. "Maybe next time I'll invite you up there with me. You could give him a crash course."

"Absolutely not," he mumbles. "He's gonna have to put in the effort if he wants to try with you. If he's gonna steal you away, he can't half-ass this shit."

"He's not stealing me away."

"Not with those lines, he's not."

"Yeah, all he's gotta do is pretend like he hates me for a year and a half."

"I'm not gonna apologise for your standards being low."

You snort, reaching across the car to pick up a stray hair left over from his fake moustache. "With a trash stache like that? No one else stands a chance. Got my heart all fluttery, Barnes. A real catch."

Bucky drops it when you laugh at the sheer stupidity of this conversation, a smile growing on his face.

Dinner's nice. He tells you what he liked about the convention, even shows you the keychain he picked up for Steve and the stuffed raven on a branch for Alpine. You tell him you don't think they'll call you back after you left the stage in an explosion of smoke and lazers.

He says that was probably a fire hazard. You ask him what he thought the live flamethrower counter was then.

He narrows his eyes at you when you steal the larger slice of cake and it only deepens when you amend it by pressing a kiss to his cheek, leaving a bit of frosting there.

It's a good day.

But later at night, when you're in bed with him, half asleep and warm, it comes obnoxiously at the stroke of midnight.

"I mean, honestly, 'Let's get coffee and end the world together'? What is he, a fucking CW show?"

[ladylookslikeadude1]

I wish you would write a fic where- Izumi sasses the hell out of Shouta when she gets annoyed at him.

And this is the first time Shouta has ever seen this side of hers- mark him as sacred and horny.

As a reminder, prompts are still closed. I'm working through some prompts I had gotten after I closed them last week, but I'm not currently taking any new prompts. Also, anon this wasn't super detailed, so if I didn't hit the mark feel free to let me know!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Izumi made a concerted effort to keep her voice polite. She always did, especially with Shouta. She always tried not to treat him like she did Kachan, where they sniped and argued and clawed at each other's sore spots to get a reaction. Izumi had always been told by her mother that men didn’t like that-that Kachan only accepted it because they were friends and nothing more. But this was beyond what she would accept with a smile from the man.

Shouta’s frown deepened. “Absolutely not,” he repeated. “You’re not going out drinking with Bakugou.”

Izumi took a deep breath and tried gentle practicality. “Kachan isn’t going to be the only one there, Shouta. There are going to be a lot of people, it’s not like he and I are going drinking by ourselves.” That she would understand the issue with, but a group of friends going out?

“Right,” he said flatly. “So you two can tease and flirt with each other in front of a group instead of just in front of me? No thank you.”

Izumi groaned. “Seriously?” She snapped, ignoring his startled look. “What part of him saying ‘you should have taken that swan dive’ and me saying ‘only if I took you with me’ constitutes flirting?” She demanded, listing off their most recent argument that they’d had in front of Shouta. The man had been quiet for a while after, but he had said nothing was wrong and she’d taken him at his word. Obviously a mistake.

“At least he invokes some damn emotion out of you,” Shouta returned in a low voice. “I can’t even tell if you like me half of the time.” The enraged noise she made at that was the most passionate he’d seen her with him, and there was something wildly attractive about the way she started pacing and waving her hands.

“I cannot believe you. Seriously, of course I like you. Do you think I’m just dating you because I’m bored? That I was like ‘ah yes, here’s the perfect solution to my boredom. I’ll just seriously date a man for two years while not having any feeling for him at all-that’ll solve it!’” Izumi glared at him furiously. “Are you even using your brain? I thought you were all about logic! This is the most illogical thing you’ve ever said to me!” This went against everything her mother had ever taught her about keeping a man, but Izumi couldn’t bring herself to care at this point. She was, actually, at Kachan levels of anger, which was impressive. Izumi had honestly thought only Kachan could bring this sort of fury out in her.

Shouta knew they had to talk. He knew that he needed to apologize-because her anger made it clear that he had been way off base about everything. But for now, he grabbed her, sank his fingers into her hair and kissed her like his life depended on it. “I have never been more attracted to you in my life than I am right now,” he managed breathlessly, before diving back in for another kiss.

[rcksmith]

Geniuses — Five Hargreeves

Request: “Hi! I am just the annon that recently sent the request 3,11,16 and 22. You asked what I wanted, I forgot to put that I got them from the “fluff” prompt list. I am so sorry!! And don’t worry! It’s not your fault I didn’t see the list 😂😂 but thank you so much! I really like your fics and your writing style so much! 🥺🥺💖💖”

Fluff prompts:

3“You’re staring again.”

11. “Wow- you look…amazing.”

16. “I love you. You enormously stubborn pain in the ass.” 16. “I heard that!” 1 .“You were supposed to!”

22. “well the probability of that is 0, but you go ahead”

A/N: We not tolerate any pedophilia here !!

I write about Five with their 20s. I write the same about the characters of Harry Potter.

Haha love, it’s okay💖💖 i hope you like, because I really like to writing tis. Thank you for resquest. Love u❤️

English is not my first language, so I so sorry if have a mistake.

Requests are open. Love you ❤️

Couple: Five Hargreeves/Fem! Reader.

Warnings: nothing, just bad words and fluff.

(gif not mine)

— — — — —

It was fun to think that Five never had an equal opponent, someone as smart, canny, sarcastic and ironic as he. Five Hargreeves was always used to being the smartest person in the room, always being the one with the quickest response on the tip of his tongue.

And, well, it was fun to think that it all went up in the air when you showed up.

You were cruelly intelligent, able to correct errors in Five's math equations, sarcastic and always had a cheeky smile on your face. You weren't used to being underneath, which is why when Five wanted to show that he was better than you, well, you wouldn't give up.

But unlike the time traveler, you didn't have super powers, you weren't extraordinary, you didn't have any skills, but that didn't stop you from being equal to him in every other way.

Whenever Five wanted to come out on top with the argument that he had powers and you didn’t, you raised an eyebrow, looked at him as if he had made a basic math mistake, and said: “I don’t need powers, I’m a genius, you should try to be one too.” And it made him furious, and, truth be told, you just liked to tease him too.

But just as the two of you had personality differences, the ability to handle emotions and people well was different from Five. You were kind, funny and wanted to make people comfortable around you. Being a genius didn't mean you shouldn't be a nice person, and Five usually forgot about it.

As you and Five spent more time together, it became clear that you two were no longer able to stay away from each other. Five liked (secretly) to have someone to really talk to. Someone that understood and followed his line of reasoning, that understood the equations he did, and that considered him a genius instead of crazy with some reasoning.

Being with you was like, for Five, meeting another human being in a dog-only world, and when he kind of told you that in other words, you laughed out loud and said: “Or how to find an equal sign in an equation.” And that's when he felt his heart pounding for you.

Five remembered when you beat him in chess for the first time, no one had ever done it before, and he agreed to play with the full awareness that he was going to win again. Well, that is not what happened.

When you checkmate his king, Five was stunned. He leaned over the board, looking at the pieces as if they had created a head. And you laughed, leaned back in your chair in a victorious smile.

“This is impossible.”

“it's actually just intelligence, why don't you use it now and then?” You were kidding, it was obvious, you couldn't stand hurting people and Five knew it. The dynamics of the two of you who were exchanging barbs.

“You must have stolen or something, this is very much your style” He returned, eyes on you as you laughed “Let's play again and I will give you a the most brutal defeat.”

“Well the probability of that is 0, but you go ahead” You accepted, first because you wanted to show that you would beat him as many times as possible, and second because there was nothing you liked more than spending time with Five.

The matches started, and you won every time. And when the sunset and the breeze was cold, you and Five looked at each other, with the peach rays of the sun illuminating their faces, and the mutual smile they gave out sweetly.

He were really enjoy the game and you knew that, and he knew you not just want the victory. You two know Just more matches would make you spend more time together. And... Five didn't remember if anyone ever really engaged in a game just to want to be around him.

But things really got more real and serious when Vayna asked you to go to one of her violin performances too. And, well, you wore a long, red dress, firm in all the right places, and Five couldn't get his eyes off you just one second.

It was as if, when he saw you, all the equations in his life had been solved. And a single thought rang in his mind: “I want her”

And the certainty of that was absolute. He wanted you as an overwhelming force, which shook his whole body. He needed you like needed oxygen. And there was no way to deny that anymore.

But it all happened in a fraction of a second, and you had just chosen that moment to approach him and ask:

“So, how am I look? Are you going to make a little joke about berries or something?” You laughed.

But Five could think of nothing but that if there were the personification of sin and perfection, it would be you. He looked at you as a whole, a fucking beautiful woman with a fucking brilliant mind. You are incredible and he had no other adjectives for you.

“Wow- you look… amazing.” You felt all the intensity and truth in that sentence, and your heart pounded in your chest.

For, truth be revealed, you had dressed up for him. Because wanted him to think you were beautiful. Because you thinking him were a young God with all the vigor and beauty.

Five really wanted to focus on anything but you. Not In the swing of your body, in the outline of your lips, in how he wanted to put you out of that dress. He really tried. But his eyes were always drawn to you at the end of the effort, as if you were the only thing worth seeing.

“You’re staring again.” Luther whispered in his right ear, while Five kept his eyes on you for a moment that seemed to him seconds, but to Luther it was hours.

But who could blame him? You looked like a mirage, too beautiful to be true. And Five wanted to record every detail of it in memory.

“Take care of your life!” He replied, taking his eyes off you.

After that night, Five already knew that he could no longer keep his hands off you. He couldn't just look at you anymore when the hunger to touch you started to hurt physically. As soon as you got back to the mansion, he grabbed you by the wrist, in a strong, firm grip, and pulled you with him as he climbed the stairs towards his own room.

Five needed you. A kiss, a caress, a body-to-body contact, anything, he just needed it. And it had to be now, he not wait for you to go home and come back later, he couldn't wait days...damn it! He couldn't wait seconds!

Then he knocked and locked the door behind you when you entered the his room.

“What the hell?” You rubbed your wrist that he must not have measured how much firmly him hold you “You're acting like a nut and I thin ...”

But Five didn't give you time to continue. He couldn't give you time. He could not explain something that for him was still a mess. So he showed you.

Five came to you in big, determined steps, and he fit your face in his hands before tilting and sticking his lips to yours. And then the world seemed to make sense for the first time.

Everything was suspended. The people, the rotation of the earth, the wind, the noise of the streets. Everything went into a black hole and was no longer important. The only thing that really mattered was you. And Five kissed you until the oxygen was strictly necessary.

“I have been waiting for this for some time.” You confessed, and Five blew out a low laugh, answering you with another kiss that ended up taking you to a bed and messy sheets.

After that night, Five became more attached to you, and the relationship grew stronger over the weeks.

“You know this is wrong, right?” You said as you took a look at the equations he had made that afternoon.

Five looked at you with a frown, irritation in his eyes, but you were trying to contain your laughter.

“You have nothing else to do no?”

“Besides seeing your accounts wrong? No.” You had fun, taking one of the white chalk Five was using and erasing an equation from it, redoing it in the right way.

You could feel his gaze on your back, but you did your best not to laugh and return the chalk complacently.

“Now it's right.”

Five looked at the account you redid, and gave you an expression of so few friends that you couldn't control your laughter anymore.

And his expression closed even more. You shook your head and were already on your way to the door when when you heard him mumbling:

“I love you. You enormously stubborn pain in the ass.”

Then you laughed even harder and turned to Five, who had been doing his math again on the walls of his room.

“I heard that!”

“You were supposed to!” He countered without even waiting a second, and then you came back towards him, the laughter still present in your voice, your eyes full of play and love.

You put your arms behind his waist, still with the remnants of laughter coming from yours lips, and leaned your head against his broad back.

Five felt and heard your laughter, and then controlled himself not to laugh too, before giving yours hands that were hugging his waist a few gentle pats.

“You are unbearable.” You mumbled, but full of love overflowing with the words “But I love you.”

Then Five laugh came and he exchanged pats for an affectionate affection on yours hand, signaling that he also found you unbearable, but that he loves you.

[existslikepristin]

Activated My Trap Card

This one is VERY old. Even from before What A Bummer.

Tags: TheLounge?, CLC, Seungyeon, Yeeun, Eunbin, male reader insert, scary ladies, the most uncomfortable threesome with an audience of one, vote story

~~~~~

You stand in front of the door to Cube Entertainment's offices. You got a strange call a few days ago telling you to come to this address in order to "make a lot of money." You were worried that it might be something illegal, or a scam, but after you looked the address up you got a little excited.

And it seems like you were right to be! After a minute or two, the door opens and you see Seungyeon standing there, looking straight into your eyes. She's wearing a super low cut black tank top, a pair of jean shorts that look like they've been cut extra high for optimal showing off, and the most basic pair of black flip flops ever. She doesn't look surprised to see you.

"Yeah, there you are," she says in her deep, beautiful voice, putting her hands on her hips, "I knew you would be perfect. Come on in. I've got a job for you."

She stands aside to let you through the doorway and closes the door behind you.

Unsure of where to go, you wait for her to make the next move. She does exactly that, walking past you and letting her hand graze past your thigh on the way. That had to be an accident right?

With her back turned to you, you look down and she that her tank top is mostly backless, and her shorts reveal about half of her butt cheeks. There is so much skin on display to you right now. You make an effort not to look, but it's damn hard.

You're about to take another look when Seungyeon spins around gives you a deadly look in the eye. "So tell me... who's your CLC bias?"

Holy shit, why is she putting you on the spot all of a sudden?! She looks like she wants an answer, and fast! This really was a trap! Fuck!

Options: 1. (Picked:) Seungyeon 2. Seunghee 3. Yujin 4. Sorn 5. Yeeun 6. Elkie 7. Eunbin

~~~~~

"Y-y..." you stutter, trying to think about how fast you can turn around and open the door to run.

"Yeeun?" Seungyeon takes a step toward you. She's very, very close.

You stumble back and bump up against the door. Seungyeon follows.

"Y-you," you manage to say.

A mischievous half grin grows on her face. "Yu...jin?" She punctuates the "jin" part by pressing herself up against you. You're still nervous, but you suddenly think you know what this is about (that isn't some shit like assassinating you). She's soft but firm, like you can definitely feel the dancer muscles under her tender skin. Except for her tits, pressed against your ribs. Those are totally soft, other than two tiny points of hardness.

"Nah... you."

You feel Seungyeon's body shiver from top to bottom, and she slides one of her legs up yours, trapping you against the door just a little more. Her hands are suddenly on your shoulders.

"That's what I was hoping. I saw you a while ago. You didn't see me, but I saw a picture of me on your phone," She squeezes your shoulders a little, like she's getting needy, "Do you touch yourself when you see me?"

You gulp. You're really not sure if telling the truth about that will help your case here.

Then it's your turn to shiver, as Seungyeon licks your neck, then buries her face in it. "Tell me which one of my holes you fantasize about being inside the most."

Well, what do you say?

Options: 1. (Picked:) "I've always wanted your pussy wrapped around me." 2. "Do you think your throat can take all of me?" 3. "Spread your ass and I'll show you." 4. "Hole? But what about your tits?"

~~~~~

"I've always wanted your pussy wrapped around me."

...

Holy shit, you've never seen clothes come off a person so fast. You barely catch a glimpse of Seungyeon's nipples before they're smashed against your chest again.

"Well I want to wrap my pussy around your cock," she says, already lowering your pants, "Help me make that happen, okay?"

You're not sure how you're supposed to help, since you're pinned between the door and her paralyzing, hot body. You feel your pants dropping to the floor, taking your underwear with them. Your dick springs up and slaps Seungyeon's pussy. Of course you're already hard.

Seungyeon isn't waiting for anything. She lifts herself onto her toes, and your dick gets just enough room to be able point fully up. Your tip rests somewhere in her folds. She reaches around her back and you feel her fingers adjust you very slightly, and suddenly you feel your entire dick being engulfed by her as she drops back down.

She groans. Loud. You're very aware all of a sudden that you're having sex in the front hallway of an entertainment company's office and look around. Seungyeon grabs your chin and forces you to look into her eyes though. You see stars dancing around them, but that's probably because you're feeling light headed from the pleasure being forced onto you right now.

The look she gives you is... intense. The whole time she's moving her body just right to keep your dick inside her, despite the fact that she's so soaking wet and slippery and at such an awkward angle. She manages it well though.

"Do you like this? Hm?" She asks. You open your mouth to answer but all you get out is a moan as she squeezes your dick with her pussy. Against your stomach, you feel her abs working to make that happen. What a fucking talent!

She smiles and pulls your head down to her open mouth. You open yours too and it gets assaulted by her tongue, dancing just as wildly as her body does.

When she finally breaks away from the thing you could call a kiss, she moves her chest off of yours to let you get a really good view of her jiggling tits, shining with sweat. If you're honest, you've already seen most of them thanks to the clothes she wears, but with nothing to cover them at all they're absolutely amazing.

"I need you to... cum, alright?"

Woah, that's sudden. Does she mean inside?

"The first cum... happens fast," she pants between every couple of words. No wonder, since she's still fucking you while just on the tips of her toes, "but that's what... we need... You need to last... longer for the next round."

You definitely already feel your orgasm coming, she doesn't need to tell you that. But wait. Next round? What is she talking about?

Simple poll this time:

Choices: 1. Take charge and cum the way you want to! She didn't specifically say she needed you to cum inside her, but that's a risk you're willing to take. 2. (Picked:) Are you joking? She knows what she's doing and has a plan for MORE? Don't take charge, she'll make you cum the way she wants to!

~~~~~

No way you're risking doing something she doesn't want you to right now. Not after she mentioned a "next round."

"It's happening now!" you say through your half gritted teeth. You really hope she knows what you meant, but you're having a little trouble forming full, meaningful sentences right now.

Seungyeon gets both of her arms around you and squeezes. Her eyes lock on yours again and you're captivated. You can't look away. "Do it... then."

Her hips grind against yours, and your orgasm hits you like a runaway train. You're dizzy, but you can still notice that she's squeezing down on you. As your cum fills her up, her eyes roll up, she bites her lip, and a grin spreads across her face.

You barely register that you slump to the floor, with Seungyeon's clamping pussy bringing her down with you.

"You dumb fucking hooker."

Suddenly, your senses all come back to you. That wasn't your voice. Or Seungyeon's. Oh shit. You can't see where it came from. But you recognize it. You start to imagine yourself getting beat up by body guards, or thrown in jail, or... fuck, maybe exiled from South Korea? Is that a thing that could happen?

So, whose voice was it?

Options: 1. Seunghee 2. Yujin 3. Sorn 4. Yeeun 5. Elkie 6. (Picked:) Eunbin

~~~~~

With a semi-exhausted sigh, Seungyeon leans to the side and looks over her shoulder. You feel a sense of impending doom as you see that the voice came from the daddy long le-- er, you mean, "maknae" of CLC, Eunbin.

Eunbin is only about fifteen feet away down the hall, wearing shorts (not as short as Seungyeon's, but still revealing her full legs), a blue sweatshirt, and tennis shoes. She looks... well she looks stone-faced as normal, but you bet she's super angry, based on the tone of her voice.

"Beannie, it's all good, okay?" Seungyeon sounds annoyed. She stands up, a wet plop nearly echoing as she comes off your dick. She faces away from you. If you weren't terrified, you would be admiring the bottom view of her bare ass and pussy dripping with your cum. Actually, you just came inside her. You're suddenly even more terrified, thinking about the entertainment company lawyers that are about to sue you into oblivion.

There's a dead silence for a solid ten seconds as the leader and the maknae stare each other down. You barely have the self consciousness to cover your dick with your hands.

"Don't you want to try him out?"

You stare up at Seungyeon's back. Could she make this situation worse? Don't mock the witness!

Eunbin's deadpan glare lowers down and locks with your eyes. ShiiiiIIIIT. Her look goes a little further down, right at your hands. And she licKS HER LIPS, WHAT?

"I'm busy, ass whore. Besides, the bitch is waiting with her cunt wide open," she swears evenly, like she's discussing the mild weather. You would question what she's saying if you weren't so confused, and still light headed.

Seungyeon groans, this time with annoyance rather than with pleasure like earlier. She turns around and bends over to grab your arms and starts pulling. You have to assume she wants you to stand, so you try, but it's awkward, trying to stand without revealing your mostly softened cock. Once you're up, she yanks on your hands, flashing Eunbin. Yet, she only looks for half a second, then turns and walks through a doorway. The same one Seungyeon starts dragging you toward, all the while with your cum slowly dripping out of her onto the floor.

What the fuck is happening here?

And who's the "bitch" Eunbin is talking about?!

Options: 1. Seunghee 2. Yujin 3. Sorn 4. (Picked:) Yeeun 5. Elkie

~~~~~

As you make your way through the door, dragged by Seungyeon, Eunbin is nowhere to be seen, but there is definitely another person. You're not sure you recognize her though.

She's tied down with some soft looking rope to a cushioned table. And the ropes are all she's wearing, with the exception of a blindfold. The ropes are holding her down and holding her legs wide open, but her arms are completely free. Doesn't seem like effective bonda--

The door slams shut behind you, making you just about jump out of your skin. Eunbin was hiding behind it! She has on exactly the same expression as before, too. She must be determined to creep you the hell out.

Before you can do or say anything about that, Seungyeon grabs your chin and turns you to look at the tied up girl on the table again. "See there? That's Yeeun. She's been a very good girl until today. She's only had sex a couple times before, but last month she told us that she wants to be a little slut, so that's why you're here."

You see Yeeun biting her lower lip. Seungyeon reaches down and starts stroking your dick back to life.

"You can fuck her any way you want to, as long as it's hard, and as long as you can do it for a really, really long time. And if you can do that..."

Seungyeon drops to her knees and takes your mostly hard dick in her mouth, diving all the way to the base and quickly sucking off whatever was left from the first round. She pops back off and licks it from the bottom to the top.

"If you do that for her, I'll definitely be calling you back."

You look back and forth from the leader of CLC below you and the rapper in front of you. Should you really? This seems crazy.

"What will it be? You can take her sweet pussy all the way to the moon and back, but she's not on the same prodigious birth control I am,"

You mentally breathe a sigh of relief at that, but also wonder what the hell qualifies a birth control as "prodigious."

"If you're afraid of putting a baby in her though, we already pre-lubed her pretty little ass. It hasn't been used before, but you should glide righ-"

DEAR LORD, Eunbin's ever-expressionless face appears right in front of yours, out of nowhere, "Or you can face fuck her. I've been dildoing this stupid thot's dumb mouth for days to get her ready for your fatass penis, if you have the balls," she says, nearly monotone. You're seriously confused by her rude behavior here and suspect she might be hiding a torture room somewhere in this building.

From the table, you hear Yeeun. You may not be at a good angle to see her, but it's definitely her. You'd recognize that sweet, meek voice anywhere, "I'm ready... please fuck me?"

Holy damn. This is really happening isn't it?

Options: 1. (Picked:) Take that risk! Pussy time! 2. Well, if her ass is already lubed... 3. Don't risk Eunbin crushing your skull. Throat fuck Yeeun. 4. Why is titfucking still not an option?! Lol, jk, we all love her boobs, but she's not big enough for that. 5. Run the fuck away! These bitches are actually insane!

~~~~~

You take a deep breath. This is just plain insanity that you are witnessing before your eyes.

Insanity is contagious, apparently.

You step around Seungyeon, and stand over Yeeun. She's at just the right height, and your dick rests on her pelvis, between her legs. You hear a short gasp of excitement from her... and two more behind you, which is definitely still weird.

You back up a few inches, bend your knees just a bit, and move forward again. Yeeun is a bit small, so it takes some pushing, but you can see the anticipation building on her face (what isn't covered by the blindfold). With a thrust, you're in.

Yeeun sighs and a smile crosses her face. Seems you made a good choice. She's going to like this.

"Woohoo! Now make her a slut!"

Again, you nearly forgot about your audience. Seungyeon moves to stand right next to you, one hand on Yeeun's inner thigh and the other one squeezing your ass cheek. Yay, fun...

For hours, you pound Yeeun into the table. Seungyeon stays with you the whole time, climbing on top of Yeeun, sliding herself all over you, and licking... pretty much everywhere.

A couple of times you have to change things up, untying Yeeun and flipping her onto her stomach, re-angling her so you can hold yourself up mostly by your arms, and eventually scooting her to where her head hangs off the table while you kneel over her.

You cum at least four times, but it's hard to be sure, since you think you went basically numb after the first three hours.

Yeeun seems to have lost her mind around that same time. Her blindfold fell off at some point while you were fucking her from behind and now you can see that her eyes have become unfocused. Every time you pull out to adjust after the second hour, she whined and tried to get you back in. But anything coming out of her mouth eventually turned into needy moans.

You kind of wonder to yourself how realistic it is to have lasted so long, for Yeeun to have actually gone half comatose, or for this process to have "turned her into a slut," but hey, it was bliss for you.

Seungyeon gets on her knees between you and cleans off your exhausted cock (and the area around it) with her tongue. It's a little sore actually, but you're not about to complain.

She stands back up and wraps her arms under yours, pulling you in. "I think you were successful, baby. Yeeun is going to want so much more from now on. Let's hope the baby you definitely put in her doesn't slow her down."

Oh. Right.

"So, what's next? Want any kind of... reward before you go?"

With her hips slowly rubbing side to side against yours, it's pretty obvious what she means, but hey, she asked, so...

Options: 1. (Picked:) You're drained, but you'll try for Seungyeon! Even if it results in embarrassment! 2. You want more, but you don't think you can get it up anymore. Be smooth and give her your contact info. 3. Uh, yeah. The call you got said you were going to get paid money for this. That's a reward. 4. Maybe just something to drink? You're fucking exhausted! (Warning, this option is mad kink territory.)

~~~~~

With your cock just about ready to fall off, you aren't sure how well this will work, but you're willing to try for Seungyeon. You grab her by the hips. A smirk crosses her face, and she doubles down on grinding against you.

You lift her chin up for a kiss. It's your turn to take charge with her now. She coos into your mouth. Her fingernails lightly scrape either side of your spine, sending tingles all up and down your body. Her entire behavior just changed! Sheesh, and all you had to do was take the initiative in grabbing her? This girl changes her mind as fast as she takes her clothes off.

The sweetness continues for the better part of ten minutes. You could swear the room's temperature is evening back out, from the sun-like heat earlier to being very pleasantly warm.

Seungyeon slowly breaks away from the kiss, looking into your eyes with less intensity and more... care. She leans her head back, and you take the hint, diving in and sucking carefully at her neck. Her silent shuddering is only interrupted by a moan coming from behind you.

You can guess what it is, but curiosity gets you to turn enough to look. And of course, it's Eunbin. She's still staring, which is still creepy. But she's also got both hands moving inside her shorts. She's probably been there all along, so you guess she can stay and keep watching. You doubt she'd leave even if you asked...

Trying not to think too much about your audience, you get back to work on Seungyeon, kissing her tanned skin from her chin, to her chest, to her toned as hell stomach, to her clit. Once there, her knees shake, so you decide to set her down somewhere she won't fall. It's time to pay her back for all the oral service she's been giving you!

Seungyeon backs up at your touch, until she leans back against the table in the middle of the room, and onto Yeeun's half conscious body. The skinny girl groans as she's suddenly used as a back rest, but Seungyeon doesn't seem to have any interest in fixing the problem.

This is your moment. You're going to make Seungyeon squirm on top of her rapper. You'll make her explode! You start leaning down, tongue halfway hanging out of your mouth...

"Damn, you're still not hard?"

She's holding you back by the forehead, looking between your bodies down at your lifeless dick.

"W-well, yeah, I mean, I just..." you gesture down at Yeeun. That's where your hardness went, and it's still dripping out of her at a moderate pace!

Eunbin's hands are on your shoulders, pulling you away from Seungyeon. It's a bit of a shock, to say the least.

"I'll call you later! Buh-bye!"

The next thirty seconds are a blur. You're dragged, stunned, out of the room, through to the opposite end of the hallway you came in from, and shoved out a door into an alley.

"See ya, fuckface," is the last thing you hear from Eunbin before the door slams behind you.

What the hell...

The door reopens, and you spin around just in time to get a face full of your pants.

"Don't forget your stupid clothes, you degenerate," Eunbin throws you one last insult before the door closes again.

It's a little chilly out here.

[GAME OVER]

[n-blanca-archived]

↳ CLASS 1-A HC’S TO MAKE YOU SMILE (hopefully) 

A/N: i’ve been on class-1a brainrot (yes, all of them. collectively) for SO LONG and honestly? I love it here. romance is all good and dandy but FRIENDSHIP? good shit. 

on that note, these pairings are all platonic! just little things i like about their dynamics or things i think they’d do when they hang out :) feel free to see them as romantic though, not like i can stop you :P

p.s sorry for dipping??? for like months???

genre: fluff

warnings: minor situational angst

→ Denki & Izuku

❑ These two boys are the other’s hype-man, totally. Kaminari absolutely does not mind sitting through Izuku’s ravings about the fluctuating hero rankings, or even just the times where Izuku mutters on and on. 

❑ Kaminari’s been ignored enough times to know that it doesn’t feel good at all to want to talk to someone and for them to sheepishly tell you they’d long since stopped listening. Izuku does the same for Denki, no question. Sometimes Denki starts talking, and he doesn’t really...stop. 

❑ But Izuku finds it’s nice to hang out with the boy, and he doesn’t mind not contributing to the conversation when Denki looks so elated to see someone listening for once. 

❑ While I will forever be the number one advocate for Bakugou tutoring Denki and finding different studying strategies that work for Denki instead of giving up on him, I think Izuku’s just as likely to do that for kami! 

❑ It’s a frustrating first session, but once Izuku’s brian suggests that Kami might just need another method of studying, he takes that idea and runs with it. 

❑ The next week, kami goes to Izuku’s room a little afraid of the freckled boy rejecting him- but to his surprise, Izuku presents him with all types of new study methods, including colored index cards and a home-made sentence reader that covered the entire page except for one line at a time.

❑ (yes, he did tear up for a second.) 

❑ They end up going through that week's chapter in half the time it usually took Denki to get a subject, and they got to play video games afterward! 

→ Ochako & Katsuki

❑ While I don't think the boys in 1-A look down on the girls in the sense of "but they're girls so they are weaker :(" all that much- Katsuki was the first and only one really to make that clear. He didn't see her as something or someone to pity. She was an opponent and a damn capable one at that.

❑ So, yes. Maybe Ochako and Katsuki aren't exactly best friends who'd die for each other. But they’ve proven to each other that if there's someone who'll bring their all to a fight no matter the circumstance, it's each other.

❑ Ochako’s weariness when it came to Katsuki was short lived. It was kind of hard to be so...afraid of someone who treated you better than others seemed to coddle her when she told them she was a hero-in-training. 

❑ It starts small, too. At first it was just teaming up occasionally during class for spars. Then it was going to the gym after school with Katsuki and Eijirou. 

❑ Tiny little hang-outs like that then turn into joining the blonde on his morning runs every once in a while, and eventually Ochako found herself seeking out Bakugou every weekend, and the blonde seemed to be on the same mind-track, too. Every Sunday, when Ochako pulled open the front door, she spotted Katsuki, stretching out in the front lawn, waiting for her. 

❑ (and if they occasionally have breakfast together after their bi-weekly sunday training sessions, then that's their business.)

→ Shouto & Eijirou

❑ them hanging out wasn't really ever. Expected. Like, at all.

❑ but kirishima's shown that he has a knack for weird, almost hostile awkward boys with low friend counts

❑ so shouto fits right in

❑ really it starts when Kirishima finds Shouto in the common room, staring into space. Usually he'd leave him be, but it was weird to see the boy without his group of friends joining him

❑ in an effort to get to know shouto better, kiri offers to play a few rounds of super smash bros,,, and shouto just. blinks. at him. And kiri blinked back for a second before he realizes shouto didn't know what super smash bros was

❑ and of course, to kiri, that's absolute blasphemy

❑ so kiri abandons his trip to the kitchen in favor of sitting next to shouto on the couch, and teaching him how to play as many video games as they could fit in one night

❑ (the first time kiri sees shouto laugh, he can't help the way his face splits into a grin. Todoroki, while not mean, was someone who came off as cold most of the time, so to see him so relaxed made Eijirou feel warm.)

❑ somehow it becomes a regular thing-- shouto would come downstairs, and eventually Kirishima would show up. Sometimes they were both alone, sometimes they were surrounded by their friend groups. But every time without fail, Kirishima would take his place next to shouto, hand him the blue controller that he favored, and turned on the TV to select the first game they'd be playing

❑ (watching Shouto start to gain some of Kirishima's vernacular was also an interesting - read:hilarious - experience)

→ Mina & Yuga

❑break dancing buddies

❑ like. I'm not kidding these two have moves.

❑ well. Mina does, at least. Aoyama gets it pretty quickly but it took him a second to familiarize himself with how your body moves when your break dancing.

❑ aoyama's danced ballet most of his life, so dancing wasn't new to him

❑ but this particular type of dancing was new to him- so of course he reached out to mina after the UA festival

❑ mina, ever the angel, agreed!!!!! Dancing buddies!!!

❑ Mina's also loved dance for a good amount of time

❑ it started in middle school, and just carried into highschool. The idea of being to express yourself with your /body/ was exciting, plus you looked really cool while doing it too!

❑ so when she gets asked by Aoyama to teach him how to breakdance she's nervous, but completely giddy to be able to be someone else's intro to a hobby that was a big part of her life

❑ it's not an uncommon sight to see mina and Aoyama, in their workout clothes, working through moves Step by step with Mina's phone blasting some random song that was beat heavy

❑ (Aoyama would be an interesting extra add on to the bakusquad. Am I wrong? No 🚗)

→ Hanta & Tsuyu

❑ Sero never really interacted with tsuyu, not to say he didn't like her! she just wasn't in his social circle

❑ so to say he felt awkward when he found her in the corner of the library during free period- curled up and sniveling away - was an understatement

❑ still, he put down the fourth issue of a manga he was /really/ looking forward to catching up on, and sat next to her until she calmed down enough to tell him what's wrong

❑ turns out, winter always sucked and made her tired, which made her sad. Added on to the already existing amphibian instincts in her that hated loud noises or too many people, it could get really overwhelming for her

❑ Sero offered to let her into his room whever she wanted to hang out in the quiet, if she felt embarrassed to do so with her closer friends

❑ she seemed surprised, but quickly agreed.

❑ Sero wouldn't tell her, but he often felt the same in a sense. The only two people in his friend group who could be relatively quiet in more personal settings were Bakugou, ironically, and Kirishima. So he often found himself leaving group hang-outs just a little early, to destress in his quiet room.

❑ tsuyu hadn't expected him to stay with her, and especially not offer his room to her whenever she needed to get away. Still, she agreed, knowing she'd probably never take him up on his offer

❑ she was proven wrong three days later, when Ochako squealed about...something.

❑ tsuyu couldn't say for sure what the floaty girl was yelling about. Normally she was attentive, really! But her head was throbbing and she was on the verge of falling asleep then and there when Ochako burst into a loud yell of excitement, startling the frog-like girl

❑ so tsuyu gathered her stuff as quickly as her sluggish body allowed, rushed out a quick goodbye to her baffled friends and made her way to the dorms

❑ the elevator was a struggle, with the humming of the machinery almost lulling her to sleep. She made it out successfully, though due to her drowsiness and increasingly blurring vision, she realized just a little too late that she had wandered down the wrong hallway

❑ sero's name plate made her stutter in her tracks, but after a moment of deliberation that left her swaying on her feet, she knocked as strongly as she could on the thin door, hoping the lanky boy was in his room

❑ thankfully, he was, and he only offered her a small smile before ushering her into the room and guiding her to his bed. Tsuyu thinks she croaked out a tiny "thanks", but she couldn't really be sure

❑ she slept better in those 39 minutes than she had in weeks

❑ after that, tsuyu somehow got into the habit of wandering down the opposite hallway once she left the elevator, and most of the time Sero would open his door when she knocked, only giving her a smile before letting her wander to his bed or, more commonly, the pile of blankets and bean bags he had in a corner of his room.

❑ (she wouldn't admit it, and neither would he, but the times where they walked back to his dorm together once their free period began were their favorites. and the days where tsuyu wasn't so sleepy and they talked for the hour they had weren't so bad, either)

okokok i’m cutting it here since that last section was super long! who knew i had so much to say about hanta and tsuyu ,,,, 

anyway! this was super fun, so i’ll definitely be doing stuff like this more in the future. if you have two characters you’d particularly like to see, don’t be afraid to jump into my ask box! 

[edwardsmate4ever]

The Phone Call

Note: This outtake is a companion piece to Chapter 4 of Visions Interrupted, but it can be read as a standalone too. What happened when Bella called Rosalie in Breaking Dawn?

 Read it on AO3 or FFN, or just read it here! 

The Phone Call

Emmett POV

   “I might be...pregnant.”

 I listened to Edward get on the line, his voice panicked as he questioned Carlisle whether such a thing was even possible.

 Bella’s pregnant? Damn, son, what?

 First thing that crossed my mind was whoa! Edward must have some super spunk or something. Was he some kind of undiscovered sex god? No fucking way. That kid was a hundred and he never even kissed a girl until Bella. He had absolutely nothing on me. If anyone was a sex god; it was definitely Emmett McCarty Cullen. This whole concept was kinda blowing my mind. Maybe Edward didn’t have to be a sex god, maybe any male vampire could do it. Maybe I had super spunk too, and if Rosalie were human… Could I have done that to her?

 But Rosalie wasn’t human, and I couldn’t knock her up. A baby was the only thing she ever wanted in the world. And now, of all people, Edward was getting one. My girl was not going to be happy about this. Turning around to look where she stood behind my seat on the couch, I saw a motionless statue. Her face was a mask, but her stillness told me everything I needed to know. This wasn’t just angry Rosalie. I knew how to handle angry Rosalie. No, this was the face that scared me. This was jealousy and rage and hurt all rolled into one, and I never knew exactly what to do when she got like that. My girl was roiling[1]  inside, and when she came back to herself, she was liable to bolt any second.

 When he hung up the phone, Carlisle turned to look at the four of us. The look of panic on his face rocked me to the core. This man was unshakeable, and here he was, completely at a loss for what to do. The others felt it too, and my anxiety spiked with all of theirs before I felt Jasper try to calm us. He wasn’t that effective though since he was just as fucked up over this revelation. We all stared at each other for a few moments before Rosalie sprang to life. She crossed the room, heading for the door. “I’ve got to get Esme,” she murmured before taking off at a run. I was pretty sure that was an excuse. I knew she was hurting and she wanted to be alone. But I also knew that even though she always said she wanted to be alone, sometimes she actually wanted someone to hold her and tell her everything would be all right. I was pretty sure this was one of those times, so I followed her out the door.

 I caught up to her quickly, and when I was a few yards away from her, she turned and fell into my arms. I clutched her to me, wrapping her up in one of my famous bear hugs. Pretty sure I’d hugged everyone in my family this way at least once when they felt really low, so I knew from experience it would help. And it did; her body went slack against mine, and she wept tearlessly on my shoulder. I buried my face in her hair, my own still heart in my throat.

 Having her own family was what Rosalie was longing for when she died, and that desire held strong into her second life. How many times had I desperately wished I could give her everything she wanted? It was damned hard knowing I could never fill that hole in her life, that it would eternally hurt for her. The fact that Bella was going to experience what she so desperately wanted was devastating. She already didn’t like Bella for choosing to give up her humanity. On top of that, now she was going to get the only thing Rosalie ever wanted and could never have.

 Pulling back from her, I swiped away her phantom tears with my thumbs and brushed her hair away from her face, bringing my hands back around to gently cup her face. “Rosie,” I whispered. “Let’s leave. We don’t have to stay here. We don’t have to watch.”

 My girl inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled, steadying herself, and I could feel the last of the tension leave her body. “Yes,” she said. “That’s perfect. I think we should leave immediately. They’ll understand if we disappear.”

 I nodded. They all knew what this would do to Rosie. They’d probably encourage us to go. Crooking an eyebrow at her, I offered, “Denali?”

 “At first, yes,” she said, nodding thoughtfully. “But then let’s find a place we’ve never been and go there.”

 “I love it,” I assured her. This was going to be awesome. Get away from all of this, just the two of us. As much as I enjoyed Bella’s presence in our family, the girl brought a lot of drama with her everywhere she went.

 As she gave me a shaky smile, her phone began to ring. It was a jarring and unexpected sound at that moment, and it startled us both. She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and read the caller ID on the screen.

 “Edward?” she exclaimed. “Why the hell is Edward calling me?” She sounded pissed off, and frankly, I kinda felt that way too. Unfortunately, it wasn't that weird to imagine Edward rubbing this in her face in some way. Sometimes that teenage assholery just came out of him, I think without him even realizing it. At least, not until it was too late. Edward was capable of some pretty cruel shit, but I didn’t think he would sink that low. This was probably really important if he was calling her now, when he knew goddamn well she would be upset.

 “Aren’t you going to answer it?” I prodded.

 She huffed. “I can’t imagine I want to hear anything he has to say.”

 “Just answer it, Rose. If he’s calling you now, it has to be important.”

 Knowing I was right and hating it, she flipped open the phone, pressing it to her ear, and begrudgingly answered, “Hello?”

 “Rosalie?” The voice was definitely not Edward’s. “It's Bella. Please, I need you to help me.”

 She wanted Rosalie’s help? Our gazes locked, and my girl’s eyes were just as wide and shocked as mine were. “What do you need, Bella?” she asked warily.

 Bella’s voice was hurried and whisper-quiet. I had to really focus to hear her end of the call. “Please, Edward’s afraid. He thinks it's bad, that it’s going to hurt me. He wants to kill our baby. He'll do it too—Carlisle is on his side. I want to keep it, Rosalie. The baby is good—I feel it. I know I can count on you to understand.”

 Rosalie’s eyes widened even larger which I really didn’t think was possible. But her eyes never left mine. I watched as fear turned to resolve, pushing aside all doubt and confusion. “Yes, Bella,” she said firmly. “I'll help you. You can count on me.”

 “Thank you,” Bella whispered with reverence, then she quickly said, “I've got to go," and the line went dead.

 Slowly, Rosalie closed her phone and slid it carefully back in her pocket. Our eyes were still locked and I'm sure my doubts showed in them. I didn't like this. It wasn't going to be good for my girl's psyche. “Rosalie, we were leaving...”

 “I know, Emmett. But weren’t you listening to Carlisle and Edward’s phone conversation a few minutes ago?”

 I shrugged and shook my head. “No, I was distracted by Edward’s super spunk.”

 She rolled her eyes like a champ, but a smile crept onto her face. She couldn't resist my dumb jokes; no one could. It was my superpower.  She quickly sobered though. “Seriously, Emmett. They were talking about aborting it. They think it’s a demon or something. They want to kill that baby, and I won’t stand by and let it happen. Bella wants me to help her keep it. She knows I’m not afraid to stand up to them. I won’t let them strong-arm her.”

 “But babe, you hate her.”

 “We’re not friends, and I don’t like her. But this isn’t about Bella and me, or about me trying to get back at Carlisle and Edward, this is about standing up for someone who can’t stand up for themselves. Standing up for something I wholeheartedly agree with, and she knows that. She didn’t call me because we’re BFFs. If she wanted that, she would have called Alice. What Bella wants is to keep her baby, and she knows I will protect this baby at any cost.”

 “But Rosie, what if this isn’t really a baby?” I tried reasoning with her. “I mean, I don’t know if a human and a vampire can have a real baby.”

 Rosalie shrugged. “If Bella thinks it is, that’s good enough for me.”

 I was really afraid this whole experience was going to break my girl, but she was committed. I knew better than to think she would be swayed. Still, I tried one last-ditch effort. “Edward will fight you. Carlisle will too.”

 “No, they won't, because I have you to protect me.”

 “Of course you do, babe,” I said and wrapped her up in a hug so she wouldn’t see my face ‘cause I wasn’t so sure I wanted to fight them on this. I thought they were probably onto something with this whole monster thing. No way did that petrified, rehydrated vampire spunk create a baby like Rosalie and Bella were thinking it would be. Edward’s spunk was from 1918 and vampified! That can’t be a good thing.

 “Come on. Let's tell Esme,” Rosalie said, pulling away and grabbing my arm, unaware that I was having a crisis of morality over here. “She'll be on our side.”

 Only I wasn't so sure I was on her side. As we ran to the cottage, I did my best to compartmentalize my emotions. I had to put the scared and nervous feelings in a box, and pull out the strong and stoic bodyguard persona. I wasn’t used to covering up my emotions. No point with an empath in the house.

 Empath, telepath, fortuneteller—all the gifteds thought they owned the place. And the worst part was that the two of us and Carlisle and Esme encouraged their egos by being lazy and relying on their gifts too much. Me and Rosie felt like second-class citizens in our own family a lot of the time. That was one of the reasons why we honeymooned so often and for so long—it was just more relaxing not having to watch everything we said, or did, or felt, or thought even.

 Now, instead of getting away and feeling every fucked-up emotion that Rose had every right to feel, she was going to have to gracefully face it all head on. Although, I supposed it was possible there really was a baby inside Bella, and if Rosalie was able to help Bella keep it, maybe Bella would let her help raise it. And that was it—the light bulb moment. I knew then that was the reason Rosalie agreed, as painful as her emotions were. Because in the end, there was a chance Rosalie would get her wish, the baby she always wanted. Even if Bella had to die for her to get it. And I was going to have to stand by and support them, no matter what happened, whether it sat well in my stomach or not. I loved Rosie and only wanted her happiness. After the circumstances of her human death, she needed to be able to trust me fully if our relationship was ever going to work, and I always told Rosalie I’d do anything for her. But this? This was tough to swallow and went against everything my head was telling me was right. My head knew this was wrong, but my heart was dedicated to my Rosie, and I would stand by my vow to give her the world, even if I didn’t like it.

 The cottage was in sight and Esme stepped out to meet us, a smile on her face that quickly faded as she took in our dark expressions.

 “What’s going on?” she asked, worry clouding her normally easy tone.

 Rosalie just laid it out on the table. “Bella’s pregnant, Edward wants to kill it, but she wants to keep it.”

 Esme’s mouth dropped open. “Pregnant? How?” Then she gasped, her hand flying up to cover her mouth. “Oh! You don’t think she and Jacob…”

 “Wow, Esme. I’m surprised you took it there,” I praised her, holding my hand up for a high five, which she did not return, leaving me hanging.

 “You’re worse than Emmett. Too many soap operas and reality shows,” Rosalie teased her. “But seriously, no, Edward’s the father. He and Carlisle want to take it out of her. But she called me, Esme. Bella stole Edward’s phone and called me when she had a few minutes alone. She asked me to help her protect it. She's afraid of what they'll do.”

 Esme gasped again with shock and she looked like she might faint if that were possible. But when I saw that same resolve I saw in Rosalie’s eyes forming in Esme’s face, I knew Esme was on ‘our’ side. She was thinking baby, not monster, just like Rosalie. The possibility that it was anything other than a baby probably never even crossed her mind.

 “Will you help her?” Esme asked Rosalie.

 “I told Bella I would, and I will. It's her choice, not theirs, and I’ll fight for her right to carry this baby. Will you help me?”

 Esme stood up straighter, her chin jutting forward. “Of course I will.”

 “Do you think you can convince Carlisle not to abort?”

 “I do.” No hesitation. Of course not. Carlisle would do anything for her, just like I was doing for Rosie.

 “Perfect. We have to act like nothing is up when we get back to the house. Edward doesn’t know she asked for help—it was a covert move. We have to act like there’s nothing amiss.”

 “No problem.”

 Apparently, I wasn’t going to be consulted. It was clear that my opinion didn’t matter. They never once even looked at me as they plotted. I was a man, so I had no say in this. I was only needed as a shield, and that’s what I’d be. Anything to make Rosie happy, to get her the only thing she ever wanted. What kind of mate would I be if I didn’t? Still, my conscience was eating at me, not sure what this thing was going to end up doing to Bella. She was pretty fragile. What if she ended up dying? What would that do to my brother? Would he hate me forever for standing by my mate? This shit was fucked up, and the only thing clear to me was how long we’d been gone.

 “Ladies,” I interrupted. “We should probably get back. We’ve been gone a while now. We were only supposed to be telling you what happened and bringing you back. The phone call took some time.” I didn’t mention Rosalie’s breakdown, and she shot me a grateful look.

 “Well, if anyone asks, we’ll say I got upset, and you two had to talk me down. That sounds like a plausible explanation for why we’ve been gone for a while, doesn’t it?” Rosalie and I both nodded. “Good, let’s go then.” With that, the three of us raced off to the main house to face whatever came next, bound to protect what some of our family was bent on destroying.

 Extra special thanks to @palmofafreezinghand for being an awesome beta for this and VI

[lucidpantone]

For me personally, I can't get over the fact that Italia committed the cardinal sin of casting a white non muslim actress to play the role of Sana. Sorry for bringing back the same old debate but please hear me out. It's an undeniable fact that, representation does not count without opportunity. She was played by a wonderfully talented actress, but she gets to take that hijab off at the end of the day and go back to living a life where she or her family have never had to face the ostracism of living as muslims in the western world. The other Sana actresses intrinsically understand this nuance of their lives because they have lived it, which is why they are able to contribute to the writing and give story suggestions for their seasons regardless of the real tptb.

I'm not saying talent and authenticity can't exist without trauma and suffering. But the casting of Sana is a political act in itself. It is meant to break barriers for the unheard and the neglected voices within the industry, thereby bringing their struggles and their shame to the forefront, and also to give them a place at the table. As an equal. It's an attempt at leveling the playing field.

What Julie Andem did in casting an actual hijabi non-actress to play Sana in a country like Norway was imo, revolutionary. It gave Iman a platform. Even if Skam had not become an international phenomenon, Iman still received her due recognition within Norway, and now she's out and about doing her own revolutionary stuff. The other remakes understood this aspect and rightfully cast a muslim actress, while Italia simply stole that opportunity from muslim talent in the country. Right now, we could be celebrating a never known Italian muslim actress just the way we celebrate the rest of the Sanas who achieved international acclaim for their performances alongside the Evas and the Noras and the Isaks of the world. But we'll never ever have that now. It's honestly unforgivable. Think of the stolen opportunity from a young muslim teenager who might have been a fan of the og and wanted to play Sana, and what message she received with this casting.

Ironically, Italia is also one of my favourite remakes, I actually love the focus on relationships and the beautiful cinematography, an overall chilled out pacing, and the touch of originality within each season. Giovanni is an absolute legend, and besse is a brilliant director. But they did their Sana dirty. It's irreversible damage. It's important to note that it was only after the massive backlash that they found actual brown/muslim actors to play Sana's friends and family in S4 and the story was with consultation of a Muslim journo/writer. She wasn't a writer on the show, she was a consultant. Which is great, but not the same thing. Who is to say that without the backlash they'd have taken all of these steps? Besse spent time with muslims and studied the culture and tried to create an authentic story for his Sana, but his casting of Sana is his Achilles heel. It also had like zero black actors except for the temporary boyf of Filippo in s3. Someone who knows nothing about the contemporary Italians may think there are no black people in Italy.

Italia S4 is only marginally better in that it didn't completely annihilate their Sana the way skamfr and skames did. Let's not start with Druck because that's a whole bunch of missed opportunities and laziness. Wtfock... Well let's see if they can surprise me. Keeping my expectations six feet under the ground.

Its long after the cut

Ohhh trust me I get it. I feel a lot like this right now concerning casting a MOC as a main. Like most fans of color set the bar super fucking low already concerning mains that aren’t white. People will literally make all types of allowances just to simply get one main who isn’t white in a remake. Speaking for me personally, I will over look using stereotypical tropes, I will overlook them being model/influencers, I will look the obvious lack of effort from the writers to attack meaningful storylines that actually highlight the experiences of people of color simply to get some representation. This is why I am still angry about the Moyo thing because literally all wtfock had to do was main him and they would have got a pat on the back for doing the bare ass minimum and they wouldn't even do that because they didn’t think maining a black boy would be profitable so in many ways am happy that shit blew up in their face. You deserved it for being stupid but the person that pays that price ultimately is Noa and that hurts. Concerning Italia I think thats the thing that stings the most that if Ludo would have just made minimal effort like the bare minimum and just found an actress who was muslim people would have applauded him for getting a half decent script out that finally gave a muslim actress meaningful plot that felt honest to her experiences. So its like damn can any of Sana’s just get a fucking win bruh. Like people are literally willing to take the bare minimum here. Like if wtfock does even a half decent job people will praise them and in many ways they didnt deserve the praise because all they did was do the bare minimum for Nora. I mean if its written well of course I will acknowledge a well written script but it does feel sorta of like is this even a win when we are on our 6 Sana remake. It takes fuck up after fuck up to get a half decent season that doesnt undercut the muslim girls narrative for once. Like people aint even asking for much either. Also I agree about the actress being muslim because Nora herself has said that a muslim protagonist who isn’t shown in some harsh oppressive light hasn't really been seen in belgium. I also appreciate that she has experience some of the issues Yasmina will depict. Nora’s conflict between wearing a hijab and not wearing one. Nora’s conflict between really trying to identify if Islam really was for her and ultimately researching and studying and accepting Islam into her heart because it felt like it was the right path for her and I agree that they took those experiences away from a muslim italian actress and her opportunity to depict them. I still want to recognize its definitely one of the most solid script of out of the remakes but I am also well aware that I have made a shit ton of personal allowances when coming to that conclusion because I am comparing it to a bunch of mediocre efforts.