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wispycecilia · 4 years ago

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hey , pretty stranger !

genshin characters as strangers you’ve met

various! genshin impact x reader. (albedo, childe, diluc, fischl, gorou, hu tao, itto, kaeya, kazuha, scaramouche, thoma, venti, xiangling, xiao, yanfei, zhongli.) - 5037 words.

synopsis: genshin characters as people you’ve encountered, and have remained in your heart ever since then.

notes: modern! AU. long headcanons. british english used. lowercase. some cliche romance tropes used. edited. semi-proofread. gn!reader. mother used in albedo’s one. father used in diluc’s one. slight cursing used. arranged in alphabetical order.

a/n: this was meant to be released way earlier but then word deleted all my work are u srs.. but anywayysss most of these are happy, i promise :) key word is ‘most’ tho. and holy moly these are long asdffghhjkl new record for me!!

masterlist

albedo

• the person who let you have the last carton of eggs. you were rushing to the supermarket in an absolute frenzy; your mother wanted to make desserts, but you used up the last eggs in the house to complete a stupid ‘rubber egg’ science project of yours.

• it was already late, and the chances of the supermarket actually having anything there at all was very slim, but luck seemed to be in your favour??? lo and behold, right there in the poultry aisle, sits the last box of eggs. you could literally hear angels singing.

• well, your glorious moment was interrupted by a third party picking it up before you could. he was observing them with a critical gaze, and in a slight moment of panic, you were debating whether or not you could win against him in a fist fight.

• but as he gave you a quizzical look at your defeated expression, you opted for the second option: begging.

• it was a pitiful sight, really. you were about to get on your knees and plead at the poor guy just for the eggs. you knew your mother would be angry if you came home with nothing, and you weren’t about to risk a scolding, not today!!

• but instead, he just wordlessly handed the carton to you. no small talk, no need for you to throw your dignity to the side, nothing. it was like he could read your mind. you stood there in awe.

• you swear you could see a hint of a smirk on his face, though.

childe

• the attractive person who was taking care of their sibling at the park. he was helping teucer climb up one of those spider web playground equipment things, and then his shirt rised up a bit and. oh. oh my god. ohhhhhh my god?!?!?

• turns out, he was your neighbour… the hot neighbour that you never noticed until now. you’ve interacted with his little siblings before, but never saw him?? and as you were having a mini crisis on a park bench, his little brother noticed you!

• you were invited to join them with a warm smile from both boys, and your heart almost skipped a beat imagining a domestic scene with the two: childe cooking a meal, while you and teucer sit at a table expectantly. ohh you hopeless romantic... imagining all these scenarios with a boy you’ve just met..

• you got attached way too quickly. you thought that childe believed the same: that you two hit it off, but apparently he didn’t. he gave you his number, but only ever initiated conversation if teucer wanted to meet up with you in the park. (the little boy had grown attached to you!) but it was never for anything else. childe never interacted with your ‘how was your day?’ texts at all.

• next thing you knew, the texts eventually faded into nothingness. you heard from a mutual friend of yours that childe started to date a new girl that moved into town, and that the two can be seen in the nearby park, acting like a sickenly sweet couple as they play tag with childe’s siblings.

• you occasionally walk by the park sometimes, and watch in envy as the girl took up the spot that you once had with the boys. it seemed as if teucer completely forgot about you; he liked the new girl more. and childe… he never once looked your way; he never saw you anything beyond a friend to begin with. childe may have never been yours, but a part of your heart still considered him to be a traitor.

diluc

• the person who helped pick your stuff up when you bumped into them. with you being the upcoming successor of a highly esteemed business company, the sight of you rushing to a meeting after sleeping in was embarrassingly undutiful.

• as if your day couldn’t get any worse, you bumped into a stranger along the way, all your files and documents spreading across the pavement like a snowstorm. he initially seemed to carry an impassive look, one that screamed ‘i hate idle chit-chat’, but once diluc saw your face fully?? you swear his eyes perked up in a slight amount of interest.

• one quick apology from both ends later, he helped to pick up all your folders off the ground. and after the situation was all said and done, diluc asked you for your number, his face staying ever-so impassive. and this… just left you shellshocked. him?? the one to initiate romantic advances?? he totally seemed like the unapproachable type. maybe out of your league. but he even called you cute!?!? how even??

• …although, you might’ve gotten your hopes too high up. later that night when you scrambled for the business card diluc scrawled his number on, the dreaded message of ‘number not in use’ popped up on your screen while you sent a quick hi.

• your heart sunk in an instant. one google search of the company written on the business card later, and you found out he was the son of crepus ragvindr, the man who your father left high and dry on a company deal several years ago.

• you seriously thought you had a chance with someone who wouldn’t judge you for your upbringing for once. but, this time round, it looks like you were the one who had gotten fooled once again. why were you involved in your father’s mess?

fischl

• the worker at a super suspicious shop you visited. fischl was there, dressed up in a half-magician half-princess get-up, with… somber music in the back. you entered the shop on an absolute whim, just trying to find a present for a friend, and instead? you get a girl trying to predict your death.

• it was oddly captivating, though, and soon enough, you were a regular visitor in this weird shop. you even managed to stick around long enough to meet the second owner, mona!

• fischl would go off on tangents about myths. in particular, shadow familiars. she claimed she had a pet eagle called ‘oz’ that would take form of a vengeful shadow, and would also do anything she asked.

• fischl dropped the act around you soon enough, and even told you her real name. she poured out secrets about her past that not even mona was aware about. fischl’s past was shrouded in more mystery than the mirror ball on her desk, and yet, she described all her tribulations with the crystal clear intent of getting you to understand her.

• as you two got closer, you realised she was just a sheltered girl that needed a friend. that all of this? this store that she set up with her one childhood friend that she had? was a form of escapism. this coping strategy was one that might be looked down upon by many, but was held in such high regard by you. fischl appreciated your presence more than you could ever know.

• and in your point of view? she was initially a stranger you met by pure accident. but now? she was more than that; fischl was someone you hold dear.

• fischl told you once that she lacked the capability to be loved by others. but, as you clutched the crystal bracelet you made for her against your chest, you hoped that fischl would understand that she was loved and cherished.

gorou

• the stranger who dropped popcorn all over you in the cinema. you two were in a movie premiere for an adaptation of the saddest novel of all time, and to say the least, you were in absolute shambles.

• sad films nowadays were filled with cliches that weren’t enough to make you cry at all. but this one? this one hit straight in the feels. a refreshing feeling, but crushed your ‘stone-faced bitch that refuses to cry during sad films’ title.

• and??? the hypothetical waterfall coming out of your eyes seemed to be so strong that it came into real life. a wave of pure salt and buttered popcorn came pouring out from behind you.

• the tearful moment you had was no longer, and turning around, you came face-to-face with a brown haired boy giving you a sheepish smile, holding an empty popcorn box. the white-haired friend next to him, panicked beyond belief, apologised on his behalf, but the damage has already been done.

• the cinema workers seemed to go heavy-handed with the butter machine today, as you were covered in the thing. great. you looked like an absolute mess; how were you going to recover from this moment socially?

• gorou came down to your row and gave a brief introduction, before offering you some tissues and wrapping his jacket around you. he escorted you to the toilets to clean yourself up, making playful jokes here and there.

• it would’ve been the highlight of your day, but it quickly became sour as he spoiled a pivotal part of the movie to you, only further adding to the pain.

• it’s okay though. gorou was cute; you forgave him. and on the condition that you two go out to watch the movie once more - just you two, alone - this encounter was later forgotten.

hu tao

• the person who was your escape. you were at the countryside temporarily to visit your grandparents for the summer holidays, and you liked to take escapades at nighttime to bask in the chirps of the cicadas.

• you first met hu tao while she was stuffing ‘help me’ and ‘come here at 3am’ notes underneath rocks at the riverbank the kids would stay at. the shock on her face as you caught her in the act is something that still makes you laugh to this day.

• after that, you two kept your nighttime meetings consistent. it would always be during a luminescent moonlight, besides the run-down convenience store that stood just above the river you first met at.

• you never caught each other’s name, but it didn’t matter. all that mattered was the picturesque memories you’d make together: climbing on top of a playground to look at the stars, watching the fish at the river, and you entertaining hu tao’s pranks by acting surprised whenever she snuck up on you.

• though, of course, good things always come to an end. you were just visiting the countryside, so you had no choice but to leave hu tao behind. you keep those memories in your heart, feeling melancholic every time you reminisce on the best summer you’ve ever had.

• hu tao gave you a ghost plushie before you left, telling you to call it ‘boo tao’. and yet, still, as you asked her for her name or any form of contact, she just gave you a smile, one that was unusually sad for her joyful self.

• ‘mysteries make the moment more special, don’t you think?’

• you hoped that the next time you came to visit, hu tao would be sitting there where you first met, welcoming you back with a tight hug and the cheerful smile you loved so much.

itto

• the stranger who got you a stuffed toy from a festival stall. it was one of those absolutely infuriating strength games. you know, the one where you’d have to smack a table super hard with a hammer? yeah. those ones. the neon sign saying ‘strong striker’ was literally mocking you. you were neither strong or a striker from the looks of things. the game absolutely was rigged.

• although you’d probably neglect the toy after the adrenaline from winning it wears off, who cares? whatever! it would fit perfectly in the depths of your closet with the rest of your carnival winnings!

• you were going broke and wasted literal hours on this one game.. you hadn’t even had the chance to try out the cotton candy stall from the other end of the carnival yet! any rational person would’ve stopped right now, but who said you had self control?

• as you were about to hand over your last coins, an unmistakably attractive and muscular stranger stops your hand. he gives you a reassuring smile, before proceeding to look at the game with a challenging glare.

• ‘leave it to me, stranger!’

• …and just like that, the stranger hit the table so hard with the toy hammer that the meter just. went off the scale. the vendor, who was once looking at you with a look of maliciousness due to literally robbing you of all your money, was now awestruck at the sheer power the man holds.

• you felt your heart drop as he claimed the stuffed toy you were so obviously eyeing, but as he looked at you with a satisfied smirk (maybe even a little cocky), he handed it over to you with little-to-no reluctance, before proceeding to return back to the group of friends who were mocking him for showing off so much.

• before he left, though, he asked you to name the stuffed toy ‘itto’, after his name. you did comply to itto’s wish, and instead of rotting in the back of your closet, the toy sits on your bed, reminding you of the both kind (and a little terrifying) stranger who you met on a not-so average saturday night.

kaeya

• the worker at an arcade you were visiting. you went to the arcade to blow off some steam after a relatively rough day, and decided to give their bowling venue a shot.

• what you didn’t expect, however, was how absolutely shit you’d be at it. a worker took pity on you and decided to put up the side railings so there would be no way you could miss a shot, and somehow?? It still never hit??

• after the 2nd set and an endless amount of disappointment, a worker, clad in the tacky uniform he had to wear, walked up to your station and just... laughed in your face. way to make the day worse, asshole.

• he then proceeded to ask you needed a ramp because of how bad you were at bowling and?? come on?? he knew you were bad; you knew you were bad. but, he could’ve at least tried to be discreet with your lack of bowling abilities??

• the stranger was at least perceptive enough to realise that you weren’t in the mood to entertain his friendly bantering, and even offered to play with you after his shift ended. just to teach you the proper ropes of bowling, of course.

• your day may have had a rough start, but kaeya, as the stranger claimed was his name, was here to pick you back up.

kazuha

• the library crush. you first saw him while cramming a project of yours; you needed more stable wifi - the mcdonald’s one just wouldn’t cut it anymore - and had to renew your library card to be able to get in.

• and… shit?? since when did librarians get so hot??? you’ve only ever encountered the stereotypical ones. the old, cranky men that would yell at you if you were ever caught speaking a bit too loud.

• soon, these visits of yours became more and more regular. you’d pretend to act like you’re studying, but in reality, you were admiring the librarian that sat so beautifully on the front desk. you often daydreamed, wondering what he would look like if the afternoon glow cascaded against his face.

• you’d constantly sit at the table adjacent to the desk so you could get the best view of him as possible. maybe even occasionally freak out whenever he would smile at the book he was reading because.. he was just so cute??

• you thought you were being slick with your admiration, but apparently not. because one day, as you were ‘reading’ one of the books you just borrowed from him for ‘research’, kazuha approached you with a cheeky remark.

• ’the book is upside-down, you know.’

• that knowing, cunning (and dare you assume, a little flirtatious?) look on his face said it all. he knew your ulterior motive this whole time, and this slip-up of yours just gave you away completely.

• but it didn’t matter, because in the end, you received a kiss on your forehead, a reminder to take care of yourself, and a number scrawled on a sticky note on the book you borrowed.

• you may have just landed yourself a prince in the kingdom of literature <3

scaramouche

• the stranger who you dubbed as the ‘vending machine rager’. you know those compilations of those 12 yr olds screaming at their xbox on youtube? yeah. that was scaramouche, but with a can of cola instead.

• you’ve never seen someone take canned drinks so… seriously before??? it was. questionable. from afar, it looked like a child baby-raging at a vending machine for not giving them their soft drink.

• this thought of yours only intensified when you went closer, and saw that yes, he was kicking the vending machine out of anger. all you wanted was a strawberry calpis from the machine, but instead, you get a boy blocking everyone else from accessing it. poor you.

• eventually, the guy’s rage was no longer humorous to you, and you just felt bad that he was going this far. usually, people would’ve left it alone already and tried a different machine?? but he was still here??

• you purchased the drink directly above his stuck one, and it knocked it down instantly… scaramouche’s 2 hours of suffering was solved within 2 minutes of your presence. boss moment.

• you handed his drink to him with a smile; he gave you a disgruntled expression. not even a thank you in return. how rude. but this is a story you tell your friends often, just to lighten the mood. after all, what's funnier than an xbox kid personified in the flesh?

thoma

• the stranger who re-enacted a drama scene with you. there was a venue opened up for a drama that was trending at the time, and the workers were handing out props and other merchandise that was featured in the show.

• you were out of money, but there was still this trinket that you wanted to buy. the friend who you came with offered to get it for you, on the condition that you shout out one of the most famous lines, all in an attempt to embarrass you, of course.

• with absolutely no shame, you yelled, ‘why do you look at me like that?’

• what you didn't expect was someone from the other side of the shop to join in with you too, completing the iconic line of the well-known show, ‘how else should i look at you?’

• you two locked eyes, and you were convinced you found your soulmate. after all, no one had looked at you with such a warm expression like that before. the boyish laugh he gave, paired with your faint laughs of amusement, captivated the entire shop.

• from an outsider looking in, you and him looked like you knew each other all your life; like you were destined to be together. you later approached thoma, making light conversation to get to know this enigmatic stranger a bit more.

• but he revealed to you that he was enlisted in the army, and was due to resume training in a week or so. any opportunities for a relationship, let alone a friendship, were completely eliminated.

• thoma settled on taking a picture together, where you and him were holding hands, backs facing towards the camera. it remains as your lockscreen to this day. you’d visit the spot once every full moon, in hopes for looking for the boy of ‘what could have been’, called thoma.

venti

• the busker who everyone was ignoring. the city was crowded and bustling in a way it never had before, but for some reason, even in the sea of people, venti managed to shine and stand out from the crowd.

• that day, you were in a rush to chase up a replacement for a kettle you owned, but as soon as you saw him pouring his heart and soul out into his performances, only for people to not even bat an eye in his direction?? what??

• you had placed to be, but you guess they could wait. and, the smile venti gave you as he noticed you watching his performance attentively, made it all worth it. the conversation you two had afterwards is one that you hold dearly, and you swore to yourself you would help him in any way you could.

• he would be there every tuesdays and wednesdays, always at the same time too: 2pm. and so without fail, you’d show up, 5 minutes early, watching him set up his instruments and the speakers so skillfully.

• venti loved having you around. little did you know, he would’ve given up had you not noticed him and supported him since that day.

• you knew diamond in a rough when you see it, and turns out, a man working in a scouting agency thought so too. you saw him giving venti a card one day, and the next, venti was no longer on the designated spot where he would play his songs.

• he was a shimmering star in the sea of talents, and you were there to watch him grow, right from the beginning. a star is nothing without the support from you, his fuel and fire, to shine.

• you smile in absolute glee whenever you see venti and his recent albums being advertised on the billboards across your city. you hoped he still remembered who you were; his first fan, the first person to see his potential to hit it big.

• but it was okay if he didn’t. you’d support him anyways.

xiangling

• the stranger who kept going for free food samples at the food stall you worked at. she’d appear like, 10 minutes apart from each visit, each time with a half-assed disguise. even the little kid who refused to leave you alone noticed her after a while??

• you weren’t allowed to give out more than 3 portions at once of the sliced chili steak you were handing out, but she was on her 15th sample… oh goodness. you’re getting in trouble, alright.

• you knew you had to stop xiangling’s madness soon, or else you’re getting fired, but as she comes up to you with a fake moustache from the $2 dollar store, an obviously fake deep voice, paired up with an equally cute laugh at the end that gave away her disguise? who were you to decline?

• she kept coming until the end of your shift, using obviously fake names such as ‘bartholomew’ or ‘margaret’... it honestly impressed you on how much costumes and disguises she owned. she probably prepared this in advance.

• after that incident, you were never placed in the food station again. a co-worker ratted you out for having favouritism between customers, but who could blame you? she was so cute.

• chances are, she found another food place to harass for free samples. good on her. who knows? maybe you’ll encounter her again during one of your mall adventures. who knows. <3

xiao

• the airport crush. it was a dull morning, and you were preparing yourself for the jet-lag that was undoubtedly going to occur. and then, in the sunlight, you see the prettiest stranger you’ve ever seen in your life.

• you thought that would be it. that after the quick, fleeting eye contact you two made, that you’d never see the man again. it did put a slight ache in your heart.

• then?? he was literally on the same flight and everything?? this is your chance?? but you were wayyy too shy and couldn’t gather up enough gall to approach him and ask for his number. the guy had a certain air about him, one that seemed unapproachable, as if he was a deity that you could do nothing besides stare upon.

• you tried every method beside approaching him, though. you got so desperate that you even tried to airdrop people, asking if they know (or are) the guy in seat 365. however, it was all futile. you were unaware that the guy didn’t even own an iphone.

• and finally, as you two, by some miracle, end up leaving at the same terminal once more, you mustered up enough courage to approach him.

• but with his response of a quick ‘i’m in a rush; you’re wasting my time’, all your fantasies of ever seeing the fleeting airport crush once more were crushed beyond comprehension.

• nowadays, whenever you see a similar shade of green hair, you hide and revert your gaze as quick as possible. that nauseating feeling whenever you think of that day was too much for you to handle.

yanfei

• your stupid friend’s legal advisor who they were crushing on massively. your friend got into some massive legal trouble after knocking down an entire aisle of precious antiques at a pawn shop, and now here you two are.

• you initially refused to play any part in this, but they did absolutely everything to persuade you to come with them because, in verbatim, ‘my lawyer is the prettiest person ever!!’

• they even sent you the whole ‘ohh lawrd im goin to jail my lawyers hot’ when they first met up with yanfei. put a leash on your friend so they don’t go and jump on her please <3

• they did end up convincing you to go, eventually. it was on the condition that they’ll go out and take you out to a restaurant you’ve always been wanting to try.

• but as soon as you saw the lawyer in question, sitting on her desk with a sense of maturity that you could never imagine having, even though you were most likely the same age??

• oops. looks like you fell for the legal advisor too. good luck to you :)

• that fluttering in your chest only seemed to increase as she sent you a warm smile, obviously well aware that you were forced here. yanfei even offered you her candy jar to keep yourself entertained as she talks business with your friend.

• you two wouldn’t be just strangers for long, and you both knew it.

zhongli

• the coffee shop stranger. you’ve imagined this scenario plenty of times before, actually. it’ll be a cute moment: you’ll forget your wallet at home, and the cute guy behind you will offer to pay for it in full, asking for nothing besides your number in exchange.

• ohhhh nope!! how wrong you were!!! as the man in front of you, clad in a crisp suit, sheepishly turns around, (all the while a disgruntled worker who was definitely not getting paid enough for this sighs in the back) asks if you had any spare change??

• you wanted to curse the universe for this. what have you done wrong to deserve such a thing? the opportunity was right there, the stars were all aligned, so what have you done? you thought you’ve been a relatively good person all your life.

• seriously. why were you the one paying for him?? it was meant to be the other way around. what made it even worse was that he ordered the most expensive thing on the menu. the bashful smile that he gave you made your anger dissipate for a second. just a second, though. annddd then you were back to staring holes into the back of head.

• as he hands you his business card, thanking you for your kindness before promptly walking off, you stare in absolute awe. you weren't shocked because of how rushed his thank you was - the only thing in your mind was that he didn’t even give you his number after all that. the fantasy in your head was completely crushed now.

• but as you flipped the card around, your shock increased tenfold. morax co. was scribed perfectly onto the black card??? even a child would know that name. it was one of the most well-known companies around.

• maybe this encounter wasn’t too bad after all.

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princesssarisa · 3 years ago

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Character ask: Margaret "Marmee" March (Little Women)

Tagged by anonymous.

Favorite thing about them: She's basically the ideal mother, who combines the best traits of all her daughters – Meg and Beth's warmth, tenderness, and compassion, Jo's strength and determination, and Amy's honesty and dignity. She's highly principled and selfless, and she teaches her daughters to be the same, yet she wants them to be happy too, and she gives them nurturing, unconditional love all the while. She's frank with her daughters about their mistakes, but in a gentle, empathetic way, and she's equally frank about her own flaws: e.g. when she confesses to Jo that she struggles to control her anger too, and when she admits to Meg that as a new mother she also exhausted herself and neglected her husband for her babies. She's competent and brave, yet she doesn't hide her emotional vulnerabilities either (e.g. her grief at the news of her husband's near-fatal illness, and through Beth's final illness and death). And by the standards of her day, she's very progressive: she doesn't believe in corporal punishment, she accepts Jo's tomboyishness, she homeschools Beth and Amy, and she doesn't care if her girls marry rich men or not, as long as they marry good men. (Of course in some other ways she's still a 19th century parent: see below.) Unless you think she's "too perfect," as some critics do, there's hardly anything to dislike about her.

Least favorite thing about them: Well, by modern standards, some of the values she teaches her daughters are slightly conservative and not exactly feminist. For example, her speech in "Meg Goes to Vanity Fair," where she openly says that she wants her daughters to be "beautiful" as well as "accomplished and good" (an ideal modern mother would firmly assure them that looks don't matter) and that "the best and sweetest thing that can happen to a woman" is to be loved by a good man (though at least she amends it with "Better be happy old maids than unhappy wives"). Or later, when she urges Meg to be careful not to make John angry and to always be the first to apologize when they're both at fault (though generously, I'd like to think if she had a son, she would advise him to treat his wife the same way). Or the fact that instead of managing her anger but still expressing it in a healthy way, she suppresses it altogether. Of course she's just being a woman of her time and place, and her intentions are always the best, but that doesn't stop me from sometimes disagreeing with her.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I try to be nurturing.

*I have a temper that I try my best to control.

*I care very much about helping the poor.

Three things I don't have in common with them:

*I'm not married.

*I'm not a mother.

*I don't think a good marriage is necessarily the ultimate happiness for a woman; it only can be for some.

Favorite line:

"I am angry nearly every day of my life, Jo, but I have learned not to show it, and I still hope to learn not to feel it, though it may take me another forty years to do so.”

Money is a needful and precious thing,—and, when well used, a noble thing,—but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for. I’d rather see you poor men’s wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace."

"Oh, children, children, help me to bear it!" (I love this emotional honesty when her husband falls ill – so many other mothers would put on a brave face, which would neither be healthy for themselves nor for their children in the long run.)

“Oh, my girls, however long you may live, I never can wish you a greater happiness than this!”

brOTP: Her daughters.

OTP: Mr. March.

nOTP: Her daughters or their husbands.

Random headcanon: Like her real-life model Abba Alcott, besides her four daughters, she gave birth to a boy who only lived a few days. This loss partly explains why she and her husband allow Jo to be such a tomboy, and why she embraces Laurie as an honorary son.

Unpopular opinion: Her marriage really is a happy one. Unlike what so many feminist critics seem to assume, the anger she struggles with isn't at her husband, or at her "oppressive" life as a housewife. Abba and Bronson Alcott's marriage might have been more complex, but the March parents are truly ideal partners for each other.

Song I associate with them:

From the 2005 musical:

"Here Alone," her song of longing for her husband when he's gone off to war.

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"Days of Plenty," her song after Beth's death. (I have slightly mixed feelings about this song, though – some of the lyrics seem to advocate using sheer force of will to push through grief, which I don't think is healthy and which I don't think is how she deals with Beth's death in the book either.)

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Favorite pictures of them:

This classic illustration by Frank T. Merrill:

This illustration of the same scene by Jessie Wilcox Smith:

Mary Astor in the 1949 film:

Susan Sarandon in the 1994 film:

Maureen McGovern in the 2005 musical, with Sutton Foster as Jo:

Emily Watson in the 2017 miniseries:

Laura Dern in the 2019 film:

@littlewomenchannel

#character ask #little women #marmee march #ask game #fictional characters #louisa may alcott #tw: illness #tw: death #fictional character ask

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notmuchofarolemodel · 4 years ago

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music- sia’s movie

originally written on jan 24 2021

I can’t believe i’m writing about this. again.

So, if you didn’t already know, Sia directed a movie about an autistic girl, starring Maddie Ziegler. This is problematic for so many reasons, including the fact that Maddie is allistic (not autistic), Sia did next to no research on autism before directing the movie, and after announcing the movie, she took to twitter and attacked autistic people voicing their opinions. But she’s done so many more awful things since. So yay, article by me, the sequel. /s

Sia has done a few interviews over the last while about her movie and has responded to criticism about it. (very badly.)

Despite her claims, Sia was never going to cast an autistic actor in the first place. She said:

“I realized it wasn’t ableism [Casting Maddie]. I mean, it is ableism I guess as well, but it’s actually nepotism because I can’t do a project without her. I don’t want to. I wouldn’t make art if it didn’t include her.”

It was also found that Sia said had written a film for Maddie a long time ago- in 2015- which almost certainly means she never had any intentions of casting an autistic person.

The plot of the movie, and a clip have both been leaked since the release of the trailer in November.

‘Music’ falls back on harmful Hollywood sterotypes again, and again- but yet, after it was no longer fresh news, almost nobody but the autistic community was talking about it. It’s still set to be released soon this year, but stereotypes such as ‘autism = special/savant abilities’ as seen in Rain man, and ‘Autistic people don’t have feelings’ - are ones that lead to underdiagnosis, and biases in the professional world.

“We are particularly alarmed that Sia has said it would be ‘cruel’ to cast a nonspeaking autistic person as an actor. It suggests that she thinks that autistic people don’t understand our own lives and aren’t the people who should be telling our own stories. When people tell stories about autism that cut out an autistic point of view, when storytellers view us as objects to tell inspirational stories about, or when autism is treated as a narrative device rather than as a disability community full of real people, the stories that are told fall flat, don’t speak to our reality, and are often harmful to us.” -Zoe Gross, ASAN

Sia refused to refer to her main character as disabled, and only used the term ‘special abilities’ which just further proves how these sterotypes affect people’s view of autistic people. In today’s society, autism is a disability, and that’s not a bad thing. She also described the film as “Rainman, the musical- but with girls”

There are several meltdown scenes in the movie, and one of them has been leaked in a clip. In this, Music is having a meltdown in a park, and she is then held in prone restraint. Meaning she was jumped on top of and pinned to the ground. This was not only unnecessary, but potentially deadly. This film is going to be big, if it gets released, and it was very much made for a neurotypical audience’s enjoyment. People will likely see this movie, and think that restraining an autistic person is ok. It’s not. This is how people get killed. Recently a story came up about Eric Parsa, a 16 year old autistic boy who was killed at the hands of the police last year, after they used this ‘technique’ on him.

Regarding this scene Sia said, “If they [cinema-goers] watch the movie, it will allow them to touch into their compassion. That scene was so important to me, because of all the people staring. I felt compelled to put it in.”

This is why people need to listen and learn from actual autistic people. There’s so much dangerous misinformation out there, and it’s unacceptable. There is nothing ‘compassionate’ about harming people, and autistic people are people. i.e people who deserve the same rights and dignity as everyone else.

Sia continues to further dehumanize autistic people by constantly talking about ‘levels of functioning’. humans are impossibly complex, and there’s no one way to function. In an interview with Sia, nonspeaking autistic people are compared to ‘inanimate objects, like wigs’.

Sia also said “People functioning at Music’s level can’t get on Twitter and tell me I did a good job either.” This is untrue, firstly because, again- there’s no one way to function, and just because a person can’t speak, doen’t mean they don’t have a right to opinions, and feelings (and it definitely doesn’t mean they should be compared to ‘inanimate objects’), and secondly because many nonspeaking autistic people have taken to twitter and social media to tell her she’s done a bad job, she’s just chosen to ignore and insult them.

This whole thing is so infuriating, and it’s very obvious that Sia does not care about autistic people.

“Sia being ableist AF while claiming she meant well is some serious abled savior bullshit. I can’t believe so many people green-lit this project & the press team approved the ‘special abilities’ language. Disabled people clearly weren’t part of this production team.” -Kristen Parisi via twitter

She also claimed she decided to make the movie because she was inspired by a 16-year-old named Stevie that she met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. “Stevie used to sit next to me in the front row at my AA meetings. He was low-functioning and on the spectrum with echolalia; he’s the reason I wanted to make this movie,” she said. Autistic people don’t exist simply to be inspiring or make you feel good about yourself. We’re people, who just want to go about our lives, the same as anyone else- we don’t need a cure and we don’t need to fit people’s idea of what autism is, just let us be, please.

Finally, I’m just going to touch on the question ‘Why isn’t any criticism being directed at Maddie?’ This is because she likely didn’t have much say in the film at all. Keep in mind that she was only 13/14 at the start of this project. Sia also said Maddie was worried that people would think she was mocking autistic people. The film is a mockery of autistic people, but Sia is at fault.

“She had researched her role for two years, we watched movies together, and I taught her the nuances and ticks I had observed from [a] friend [with autism],” Sia said. “We did this in the most sensitive and respectful way.”

I can confirm that that is very much not sensitive and respectful- not to mention that Maddie also watched autism meltdowns as a part of her reseach too (filming a meltdown is incredibly dehumanizing) , but the fact that she learned how to ‘act autistic’ from sterotypes, taught to her by a person who just, doesn’t know anything about autism is awful, but also quite absurd. It makes no sense.

No, I do not wish to watch an abled-bodied actor wear my stims like itchy clothes. A caricature of my being.

No, I do not want to see her dance around in skin not her own, profiting from a life not her own.

No, I do not wish to support yet another film that will profit off the lives of disabled bodies without one disabled body involved. -tiffany hammond

I recieved quite a bit of backlash when I posted the first time about why casting a nondisabled actor for a disabled role is bad- from allistic people, so if any of you are reading this as nondisabled people- I literally do not care if you disagree, you don’t get to dictate how autistic people feel. Try a little harder to get out of your own head and see things from another person’s perspective xx

Now, for the love of God, please don’t watch this movie if it comes out in February, and listen to Autistic voices. : Here is a thread of positive autistic representation instead :)

click here for thread!

Sign the Petition

Filming & posting videos of children's autism meltdowns on YouTube is a clear violation of YouTube's community…www.change.org

link

Sign the Petition

Sia has announced she is directing a movie about an autistic woman, and claims she wants to represent the…www.change.org

all other relevant links are linked within the underlined text.

my original article - link

#actuallyautistic #siadoesntspeakforus #siamusic #autism #neurodiversity #nothing about us without us #actually disabled #disabled representation

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renaerys · 4 years ago

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Okay I've got one: Prompt 15 with Reds. 🤣🤣🤣

15. “I can’t hear a word you’re saying, I just keep thinking about how good that mouth feels.”

Somehow they can make even breathing a competition.

Send me a prompt and some characters! Reminder that the challenge is to make everything SFW, so we're getting creative here.

List of prompts

xxx

“So, we’ve called the paramedics and they’re on their way, but until they arrive it’s up to us. Remember the acronym, kids: C-A-B. What’s the first thing you do?”

Aiyeesha Simpson, a gunner in the making destined for academic greatness and social ruin, raised her eager hand. “Find a flat surface to lay him down!”

“Correct.” Blossom took Brick by the shoulders and shoved him down to the floor. A gaggle of Girl Scouts gathered around him as he wheezed for air.

“Ow,” he said.

Blossom patted his chest. “Please choke more quietly.”

I will end you, he thought so loudly he hoped she could hear him through the murder in his eyes. There was community service, and then there was cruel and unusual punishment. When his required hours were up and his record expunged, he was going to write a very negative Yelp review of the local Townsville Girls Scouts of America chapter and tank this year’s cookie sales. Supremely annoying, outrageously petty, and totally legal. That would teach Blossom for sure.

“Place your hands here between the nipples.”

Some of the Cadette Girl Scouts giggled. To be fair, Blossom of all people saying the word nipples in reference to her former mortal enemy as she trained a room full of twelve-year-old girls in CPR using him as the dummy was a perfect storm of absurd and kinky that he did not see coming. And now he was giggling himself, because he was a teenaged boy who thought the word nipples was funny regardless of the very clear contextual cues, and that pubescent shame was on him, one hundred percent.

Blossom, an ancient and inconveniently attractive evil resurrected in a lab for the sole purpose of making his life miserable, did not appreciate his amusement. “Push hard at a rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute. Remember to put your bodyweight behind it, like this.”

Brick flexed, and Blossom pushed against his heart like she was trying to crush it in her hands. Once, twice, three times she administered compressions, and Brick’s eyes glowed red with impotent rage.

“Assist Blossom with her CPR lessons to her satisfaction, and we can forget this ever happened,” Mayor Bellum had promised Brick when he lost his temper and blew up an (empty) ambulance. Butch didn’t need his Super stomach pumped no matter how much he drank, so the ambulance and the four-figure bill that came with it were completely unnecessary. This defense did not convince the mayor, however.

The promise of the bill forgiven and his record cleared—and the deterrence of Aiyeesha Simpson filming the whole thing to upload to YouTube later—gave Brick the strength not to eye beam Blossom in front of the children.

“Okay, who wants to try chest compressions on the dummy?” Blossom offered to the girls.

You evil bitch, thought the aforementioned dummy.

After the third little girl properly placed her sticky, little girl hands between his nipples, Brick had had enough. “Hey, I’m still dying over here. Can we move on already? Jesus Christ.”

“Of course.” Blossom smiled, and she had never looked more terrifying.

Brick hoped Butch was suffering. He hoped he was hung over so bad he couldn’t piss standing up. He hoped Butch tried going online only to find that Brick had disconnected the Internet and cut him off from all his online games and porn because fuck Butch and his weak-ass stomach.

“Who knows what the next step is? Maybe someone other than Aiyeesha this time?”

None of the other girls seemed willing to stick their hands up. The carpet under Brick had scorched where his power leaked out in his building resentment for this entire situation. The smell of burned polyester just made him feel even more powerless to stop this.

“No? Okay, well, remember the acronym. A is for airway. You want to be careful about a possible neck injury, so gently lift the chin…”

Blossom’s hands were not sticky like the Girl Scouts’ hands, but they were cold where they touched his skin and forced his head back.

“Are the paramedics here yet?”

Brick got a tight fist in his short hair for that one, and he considered it a small victory. “No. Something about a shortage of ambulances, apparently.”

Biiiiiiiitch.

God, he was going to destroy her so bad.

“Once you’ve cleared the airway and confirmed there are no obstructions—”

“Then you kiss!”

Some girls picked up the giggling again. Blossom, ever the professional, cleared her throat. “Mouth to mouth is a life-saving procedure and not something I’d recommend doing to someone you plan to kiss.”

Wow, great advice.

Some girls still giggled and whispered to each other. Brick had a sinking feeling that this was only going to end with his embarrassment: everyone knew that the cold judgment of pre-pubescent girls was the absolute worst type of judgment a person could suffer.

“Are you gonna show us?”

“Well, I don’t think I need to show you all how to breathe—”

“It’s in the manual! You have to demonstrate every step.” Aiyeesha waved the CPR manual, and Brick realized his misjudgment. She was no vapid goody two-shoes in the making, but a future Honors Student with a secret, a Work Hard Party Harder, an Ivy League Early Decision candidate with all of senior spring semester to slack off because no one was ever going to touch her 4.3 GPA.

Aiyeesha beamed a winning smile at Brick, and it was as chilling as Blossom’s.

Jesus Christ, there are two of them.

True to form, Blossom had never been able to defy a good instructions manual. “I suppose if it says so in the manual…”

Locking lips with Blossom was not a big deal. He’d done it before when they were kids, and he could appreciate the irony of a gesture meant to save his life this time rather than end it. She didn’t even try to mess with him by using her ice breath, just went through the motions as described in the instructions. The girls were disappointed with the lack of hormonal fanfare of it all, which was probably for the best. Leave it to Blossom to make mouth to mouth the sexless, medical act it was literally intended to be. He was almost upset, because it felt like she’d won something here, which could only mean he’d lost.

Disappointed but more educated than they’d been when they’d arrived two hours ago, the Girl Scouts dispersed after the lesson, leaving Blossom and Brick to put away the equipment they’d used.

She held a dummy torso, and she was looking at him with that pinched, constipated look she got when she was about to say something especially snobby. Instead, she surprised him. “Brick, thanks for being mature about it. I can honestly say you surprised me.”

He stared at her.

“I’ll talk to Mayor Bellum. I’m sure you’ve done enough to meet your hours quota.”

He had not fulfilled even half of his required community service hours and they both knew it.

“So yeah, thanks. I can finish up here if you want to leave.”

Was she trying to get rid of him? Why?

“Brick? Why are you looking at me like that?”

When Blossom was winning, he was losing. That was simply the way of the world. So, if she was losing, it could only mean he was winning.

“Are you listening to me?”

Brick smiled in what he hoped was a cool, sexy way if he imagined looking at anyone but Blossom. “I can’t hear a word you’re saying. I just keep thinking about how good that mouth feels.”

Blossom stared. “I’m sorry?”

He would make her sorry.

“Yeah, you’re a great teacher. I could really feel your passion for demonstrating the lesson correctly. With your mouth.”

Her staring intensified. “Did you.”

“Oh, yeah.” He leaned his hip against the table like he’d seen in the movies. It worked for Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, and that guy had convinced Eva Green. Iconic. “I could really feel you trying to save me.”

Where was Aiyeesha with her phone to film this? There was so little he could do to rattle Blossom as they got older, and while the challenge delighted him, it was also exhausting being constantly a step behind her. Was this truly her demise? Had he won the Teenage Experience? Was this poetic justice for how she’d once killed him with a mere kiss, only to suffer the same fate in turn? He could have cackled. This was better than trolling the Girl Scouts of America reviews, although he might still do that because it was a genius idea and he had always indulged his own genius ideas when they came to him.

So infatuated was he with his own self-fellating digression that he was slow to react to Blossom sidling up to him. Her hand was still cold on his chin, and it sent a shiver down his spine. “Shall I save you again?”

Brick’s dignity drained with his blood, which was an unfortunate side-effect of being a teenaged boy that he would just have to suffer. But winning was about recognizing one’s weaknesses and working around them. He leaned into her personal space. “Please.”

He wasn’t sure who kissed who first, but it was happening and all he could think was I am better at this than you and I hate you and also Do that again. He tried holding her waist, and she fought back with her fingers in his hair. Not one to be deterred, Brick tried some tongue but pulled back when he tasted thirty degrees below zero. He immediately went back in because he could feel her superiority, her Got you, you horny idiot, but the joke was on her because he liked her cold, always had when it was hot as balls out and he’d make up any excuse to pick a fight with her just for the chance to cool off.

The Girl Scout troop leader walked in on them competitively making out in the classroom like it was an Olympic sport and put an end to things, leaving them at a frustrating draw for now. They said barely a word to each other when Brick glared at the troop leader so bad she flustered and didn’t even question them before running out of there with some excuse about getting the wrong room.

Later that evening, Brick caved and changed the Internet password back just so Butch would quit whining at him. He Googled kissing techniques and spent the next hour and a half watching YouTube videos and reading GQ articles about How to Please Her Like a Champion, because he was a champion and a winner and he was not going to lose to Blossom in this. Not a chance.

This had to be what they meant when they said kill with kindness.

“I’m going to end you,” he muttered to himself as he read about the top ten highest voted movie kissing scenes, which he would then stream and commit to memory in order to be fully armed and armored for the next time he encountered Blossom alone in a classroom. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe during their shared free period.

Truly, he had the most genius ideas.

xxx

If you enjoy my writing, check out more of my fics on AO3, link in my profile. I’m currently updating Trinity House and The Alchemy of Us. Thanks for reading!

#powerpuff girls #blossick #ppg reds #ppg brick #ppg blossom #powerpuff girls fanfic #september fic prompts #great pick Carrie!#this one was fun

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aadikted · 4 years ago

Text

Burn🔥🔥

A/N - Hey guyss!!!! AAHHHH!! I just finished watching Hamilton and I fell in love with it!!! I loved everything about the musical and I am soo glad I got the opportunity to watch it!! I loved Phillipa Soo in it and I adored watching her sing Burn. When I heard it I just knew that I had to write a fic on it! I have never written angst before but I am vey glad with how my my story turned out. People who haven’t seen the musical or heard the song can also definitely read this!!

W/C - 1,955...Whew!! My longest fic yet!!

Warnings! ⚠️- Fluff and sooo much angst!

~~~

Memories. Those damned memories. No matter how much you tried, you couldn’t get his memories out of your mind. They were swirling in your head; you were forever being taunted by images of what had been. His hand in yours, as you both walked down the Rockaway beach, smiles on your faces as you talked about nothing and everything. You could still remember the way his curls bounced with the breeze, the auburn streaks highlighted by the setting sun. He had been constantly moving a pesky curl which wouldn’t stay in its place. You couldn’t help but laugh at his irritated expression and with a loving sigh, you had run your hands between strands of his hair. His eyes had lit up with joy and affection and you could feel a smile creeping on your face. Whenever you were with Peter or even thought about him, you would feel an insurmountable amount of love and happiness. But now, just his name was enough to make your blood boil. Instead of smiling every time someone mentioned him, a frown would be etched on your face. You couldn’t bear to think about him, not without wanting to cry. The time you had with Peter had been magical, but now you were left behind, broken-hearted and miserable. You had first started dating in sophomore year of high school. Most people say that high school relationships never last and that you guys would be over before you finished high school, but it would be well into sophomore year of college before you guys would be over.

You could still remember the early days of your relationship, the golden days. You had had partners before, but none had been like Peter. Peter was affectionate and kind and so, so sweet. Unfortunately, he used to get flustered around you and instead of being able to say things to your face, he would write you letters. He used to slip them in your locker, slide them in your desk or give it to you when he would walk you back to your house. Some people might have found it weird, but you found charming. Being a romantic at heart, this was your dream come true. Even though Peter later started being more comfortable around you he still gave you letters from time to time. You cherished every single one of them and kept them safe and secured in your drawer. Every couple had something special to them, and this was your something special. He wrote you letters and you used to bake for him. Peter loved your baking. He said that your cupcakes and cakes were heavenly. In fact, he used to joke that you would just leave the ingredients out and angels would come into your kitchen and bake the sweets. Just reminiscing about those days were enough to put a smile on your face. But, now you didn’t feel like baking, you couldn’t bear to look at the letters. It hurt too much. Peter still wrote you letters, you just didn’t want to open them. You were too scared to find out what he had written, too scared to know why he had cheated on you.

Anyone who knew Peter would say that they could never even imagine Peter doing something like that. Until a month ago, you would have said the same thing. But now, here you both were. You had gone from being that couple in love to practical strangers with broken hearts. You, at least, had a broken heart. You doubted Peter even had a heart. You weren’t even sure you knew who Peter was now. He had first been your cute boyfriend, then he became your cute (secret) superhero boyfriend, he then became your amazing, valedictorian, college boyfriend and now he was this horrible person who didn’t even have the decency to break up with his girlfriend before going off to kiss other girls. This was not the guy you knew. This was not the guy you had dated. This was not the sweet guy who had written all those letters to you. When you had read those letters, you had known Peter was the one. He was yours. You thought he was yours. You should have known. When you had told MJ, your best friend, that you were dating Peter Parker, you hadn’t realized that your expression was conveying more deeply about your feelings for him to her than your words. She knew you were in trouble. She didn’t have anything against Peter, but MJ was a great judge of character and she had known Peter for a long time. She had warned you, she said it would be too much for you one day. But his sweet words had flooded your senses, whenever you were with him, you felt like you were on top of the world. But now you wished you were buried underneath it. You didn’t want to face anyone, your friends, your families and least of all, him. You were cooped up in your room, trying to forget everything. Trying to forget how happy you had been that day. How excited you were to see him again, after months of being apart in different colleges. You had loved every video call with him, but you missed his touch and were craving for it. So, you had decided to surprise him. You had the week off and instead of spending it with your family, you had gone straight to Peter. You were jittery with excitement, you had been imagining the kind of reactions he might have had, but for the life of you, you could have never imagined that you would walk into that room just to see your boyfriend, sitting half naked on his bed, with an equally naked girl on his lap, snogging the lights out of him. For a moment time stood still. You couldn’t believe what you were seeing, but the proof was right in front of you. They hadn’t noticed you yet. You couldn’t think of how to react. You were frozen. But, just like that, the spell broke, you released a gasp and the two people were startled out of their kissing. Peter’s eyes went wide as he took you in.

“Y/ N – Y/N/N!” He stammered

The reality still hadn’t set in for you. You were getting hysterical and couldn’t stop your reply, “And here I thought I was going to surprise you.”

You could see the confusion on Peter’s face. “Pl-please! Just-just let me explain!”

You cut him off before he could give any excuse. You just wanted to know one thing.

“How long?”

You could see the answer in his expression, but you were still unprepared for it when he said it out loud.

“3 months”

That was the moment when you felt your heart break. The moment where you lost control of your emotions. Tears filled your eyes, begging to be released. You couldn’t keep standing there. You turned around to escape with what little of your dignity was left. You could hear Peter calling you from behind, shouting your name, begging you to stop. But you couldn’t, you wouldn’t. There was no possible explanation he could give that would make you forgive him. You didn’t want to forgive him.

So now, here you were, pathetically hiding in your room from everyone. MJ had been calling you continuously. She was the only one you had told what happened. You couldn’t bear seeing the pity in her eyes. Or in anyone else’s eyes for that matter. The letters he had sent you over the years lay scattered about in your room. You couldn’t bear it anymore. You took the first letter he ever wrote you and read it. You read it like you were a person wandering the deserts for months and had only now come upon water. You consumed every letter he had written you. Your eyes scanning every line in ever paragraph. You tried read the lines for a sign, any sign for the boy that had been yours, from when he had been yours. The letters conveyed every one of the emotions and love he used to feel for you. Each affectionate line felt like a dagger to your heart. Every paragraph pierced your soul. You read letter after letter, and then finally you reached the ones he sent you this week, after you found out about his infidelity. With trembling hands, you forced yourself to pick them up. The swishing of the pages as you opened them felt like a daunting warning to not read them. As you read, you wished that you had heeded the warning. He had said that he was sorry. He hadn’t known what to do. He had been having a tough time, juggling college work and his duties as a superhero. He felt overwhelmed and he had needed your comfort. But you hadn’t been there. So when, another girl started flirting with him he didn’t say no to her. He didn’t know how to say no to her. God, you wished he had said no to her. He had never meant to hurt you, but he had lost all clarity and just… broke all the promises he had made to you.

You wanted to scream, to shout, anything to let the pain out. He had forgotten he was yours.

He had forgotten you were his and that you had made promises too. You would have been with him, helped him, and supported him. But he had forgotten. You were a broken mess and you were angry. Angry at the letters for reminding you of better times, angry at him for cheating on you and treating you the way he did, but most of all, you were angry at yourself. Angry for being such a mess, angry for punishing yourself by pushing away people who cared for you, and most all wasting tears on a ruined relationship. You wanted to do something. You didn’t want to sit there and waste your energy and tears. You gathered all the letters surrounding you. You collected them all in your hands and walked down the stairs with a determined stance. You could feel your dorm mates and other students staring at you, wondering what you had been up to, all these days locked in your room, but you didn’t pay attention to them. For the first time in weeks you were feeling hopeful. You made your way to the nightly bonfire the students in your college created. You noticed MJ standing there talking with your friends. You could see that she was surprised to see you, but you just smiled at her and made your way to the front of the bonfire. You looked at the letters and brushed your hands against your name which had been inscribed in Peter’s messy handwriting on the top corner. You then stared into the fire, trying to calm yourself. You didn’t want to look back at the letters again, so you just flung them into the fire. You watched as the fire engulfed the letters. You felt relieved as you let out a breath and felt as though you were breathing for the first time in a long time. What happened with Peter was in the past. And while it still hurt, you knew that your heart would heal over time and that you would find people who deserve your love and friendship. The flames from the fire were dancing as if they knew what had happened and were rejoicing with you. You felt a smile take over your face, brilliant and radiant, almost rivalling the brightness of the fire. The letters had burned, but your life would not burn with them.

~~~~

So..this was it folks!!! Plsss tell me how u liked it and feel free to send me asks!!!

#tom holland #break up #angst #fluffy #peter parker x reader #peter parker #peter parker fluff #peter parker angst #breaking up with peter parker #hamilton #burn #musical #phillipa soo #just imagine #i love this #eliza hamilton #eliza schylur #schylur sisters

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dreamii-yume · 5 years ago

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(1/2) This one is pretty dark, lets take Crowley's incompetence to the logical conclusion, also the fact that despite what everybody says I think the player is meant to be a girl disguising as a boy. Beastmen (aka the Savannaclaw students) have a very keen sense of smell and despite reader's efforts, they find out shes in fact a female. Now leaving a sole female in a place filled with aggressive, horny dudes is never a good idea. This is where the angst/tragedy kicks in (continue in second ask)

Anonymous asked :

(3/3)-→ in a pool of her own blood, her skin laden with bruises and other unmentionable things. The ‘Claw students learnt about her secret and offered to leave her alone if she had sex with them, when she she refused they took her by force, but got carried away and she died in the process. What follows is complete chaos, students screaming in the halls, the dorm heads demanding the culprit to show themselves, Grim crying and screaming as other students enter the bathroom...

Since this scenario request wasn’t specified for any character, why not write for everyone? ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ For that reason alone, I’m going to title requests like these as “Imagine a dream with Yume” for easy distinction! (΄◉◞౪◟◉｀)

Also, was this request supposed to be split into three parts? I checked my inbox over and over again but I only received two though? Hm, weird.

♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

Such an unfortunate thing to happen to someone so loved...

♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

It hurts.

Everything hurts.

Your vision was getting clouded over, dark spots slowly appearing one by one as unfamiliar hands travelled everywhere in your bare body. Who they belong to, you didn’t know and you didn’t care, you wanted nothing more right now but to throw them off you. Tears cascaded down your cheeks, struggling as someone’s grip on your throat tightened, forcing broken sobs to escape you. You tried to claw your freedom out, you tried moving your legs but each of your limbs were being held against your will. Even with the ringing that was slowly pulsating through your ears, you could still hear their awful snarls and comments, cruel laughter echoed throughout the bathroom walls.

“Hey, dude! Aren’t you being too rough? Little girly’s turning a bit blue, don’t you think?”

“Nah, she’ll be fine! God, she just feels so good, I can’t help but to lose myself!”

Bruises had begun forming on your body, anywhere your skin could expose itself to. Your usually healthy skin tone was now dirtied by these disgusting purplish marks and wounds, some still had been bleeding for a concerning amount of time now. You gasped desperately as the lack of air was seriously becoming a big problem for you, but they wouldn’t know that. No matter how much you struggle, they didn’t care, they didn’t even notice how much you wanted to voice out your complaints, but just have no way to do so. Instead, their voices got louder, more excited as the pain in your bottom region increased.

You knew there were risks of attending an all-boys magical school as a cross-dressing girl. You knew that it wasn’t going to be easy, but where else can you go? It’s not like you wanted to be in Twisted Wonderland in the first place, you needed somewhere to stay. Besides, seeing your monster companion, Grimm getting so worked up after finally getting accepted, even as a half-student brought you unimaginable amount of joy. Until you could find a way to get back to your world, you’ll just stick around for as long as you can because you personally thought it was fun.

...Or at least, it was supposed to be fun even with all the risks.

But ending up at the mercy of a bunch of rowdy, good-for-nothing teenagers, coming from different dorms was definitely not a risk that you regretfully did not include to that list. They must be bored, to have taken the time to thoroughly confront you about exposing your true gender like this and using that secret against yours even though you were sure that you have been so careful all this time. The headmaster and Grimm were the only ones that know, probably the Dark Mirror as well, but you were careful enough that even Ace and Deuce who you spend so much time with have never even showed a single gaze of suspicion. You’ve met so much nice and kind individuals in this academy, even if some weren’t so obvious about it at first, that you forgot about the other side of the spectrum. This, you forgot about this, the dark side to every good side.

Night Raven College’s reputation would suffer if the word got out about it accepting a female without a single shred of magic within herself. Two automatically disqualified qualities from a prestigious school, that’s what Headmaster Crowley told you. You didn’t want to contribute to that, but you didn’t want to agree with what the men wanted from you. You may not be the most refined lady out there, but you have dignity like everyone else. Wanting to play with your body in exchange of your secret not getting out was definitely not a fair deal.

But it didn’t matter, it seemed.

Because before you knew it, they were all over you, dragging you one night in a bathroom unused when the moon is out. You were powerless, not just in terms of strength but in terms of magical proficiency, these were students who can pin you down with a single bat of their magical pens, you stood no chance. You screamed, you struggled, you cried, but it was all for naught, they got you where they wanted you. They took turns, filling you up in all your holes with no mercy, their hands fiddling with your flesh way too rough, biting you until you bleed, and even have the audacity to contaminate you with their disgusting seed. There was no love, no care, just brutality and vile, selfish thoughts they wanted to satisfy.

You just wanted them to get over with it already, to just leave you alone. It sickens you to wonder how these men could even walk again tomorrow, acting like nothing happened, acting like they hadn’t just ruined your life. You hated this, you wanted to go back to your dorm, to talk bedtime stories with Grimm. You wanted to walk to school again tomorrow with your fellow first years with a smile on your faces. You wanted to know more about your seniors and listen to their stories way back when they were still in their younger years.

You still wanted to do so much, much more in this unfamiliar world! But...

“Hey...Hey! Wait...! Stop! Fuck! She’s not breathing!”

...It seems like you were never going to live through those moments again.

Your lungs had given up on you, unable to pump any more oxygen to keep your heart pumping. You vision fades as the rest of your body shuts down, you stopped struggling and your limbs fall lifelessly. The hands on your throat loosened but it was far too late, the bone keeping your neck intact had been fractured from the sheer pressure. The panicked state of the perpetrators reflected themselves in your now hollow eyes, as they began to scramble, realizing what just happened. Funny, the rest of your body functions had given up, yet your hearing seemed to be the longest to stay up, at least enough to hear their voices, laced in fear.

“Idiot! I told you, you were being too rough! You straight up killed her!”

“H-How am I supposed to know that!? Don’t blame me! You were the one holding her down!”

“Aah...! W-What are we supposed to do...!?”

You would’ve had a sadistic satisfaction from the way they are acting, the regret building up in their minds. It serves them right but what was the point? Anyone could tell they were being regretful because they’re the ones who’s going to be in trouble, not because they regretted their actions towards you. In the end, they just blamed each other and went their own ways, teleporting without even bothering to fix your current state. Your major injuries were still fresh and bleeding without stop, they didn’t even try to at least clean that up? How rude.

An unfortunate ending isn’t it? No one would’ve expected a plot twist as gruesome as this one. This girl knew she was going to leave this world someday, this whole world of Twisted Wonderland. She doesn’t belong here and she certainly have people waiting for her in her own world. She knew that, she was a lot more aware than anyone after all. It’s just that this lone woman did not expect that she would be leaving both worlds at the same, the universe all throughout.

Ah...You just wished that this universe had given you more time, just enough to at least say goodbye to everyone first.

♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

Continue the...Sweetness???

This is just sad. Yume and my Darlings needs a hug. (´；Д；`)

#twisted wonderland #yandere twisted wonderland #Imagine a Dream with Yume #heartslabyul #savanaclaw #octavinelle #scarabia #pomefiore #ignihyde #diasomnia #yandere #Sweet Dream #yume too lazy to tag all characters

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eerythingisshaka · 4 years ago

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Ficmas Day #1 “The Jabari that Stole Christmas”

[M’Baku x OC]

Word Count: 1.6K

M’Baku looks outside, over the cliff that oversees his vast, snowy kingdom. The chilled air whips around his gear as he tightens his grip around the neck of his staff. Below three of his children play in the snow, laughing and shouting as they dip behind boulders while kicking up the light and fluffy substance behind them in pursuit,

He lets out a deep exhale, heavy hearted by the task put forth to him the prior week. Adebisi’s hands wrap around part of M’Baku’s bicep to grab his attention, but his gaze remains forward.

“Don’t start,” he begins.

“What do you mean, my love?” Adebisi responds innocently, laying her head against him.

“You still take me as a fool under your affections? I said I will not discuss it further and that is final.”

Adebisi tuts at M’Baku, admiring the structure of his profile as she runs her hand from his neck up to the side of his face, turning his head towards her. His jawline remained stern but his eyes glowed with a softness he held only for his love’s: his children and Adebisi.

“M’Baku…” she mewls in a tone that instantly causes him to retort with grunt from deep within his belly. “They are only children. They like fairy tales, what can you do?”

“I can control what is brought into my palace! I never heard of such a story as heinous as that of a Santa!”

“Aish, come on…” Adebisi rolls her eyes, folding her arms. “I thought it sounded nice after thinking about it! It’s presents for children around the world for their goodness, what’s so wrong?”

M’Baku stamps his staff down in the ground. “A white comes into our home at night, eating our food and keeping surveillance on our youth for him to influence with greed and excess so they can expect their most hoped for play things in order to continue the cycle of brainwashed worship?”

“I told you to please be easy on Bucky for once,” Adebisi says, holding for laughter that M’Baku doesn’t give.

“This is serious. This western idea of accumulating wealth based on your behavior while being some of the most corrupt and taking advantage of the lives of the least fortunate and most vulnerable is bastardizing their minds! We aren’t even Christian!”

“Christmas has a very secular view now, M’Baku. Can’t you pretend? Give them a new perspective on what they heard so that it fits what they want and what you want.”

M’Baku grunts. “Sounds like more work than I am willing to offer. I do have other things to do as a leader of the Jabari-”

“Like stew over our children in the middle of the afternoon quietly to yourself pondering their mental capacity to learn about other cultures while maintaining their own belief set? Yes...busy busy…”

“Baba! I’m going to get you, Baba!” M’Baku’s eldest attempts to throw a snowball that has now integrity as soon as it leaves his hand. His sister’s guffaw at his attempt, trying their own with the same result.

M’Baku’s face cracks a smile at their debauchery. “This snow is not wet enough to make into balls or whatever you all are trying to do! I will remain untouched! HA!” M’Baku spreads his arms out wide as his children boo and jeer, kicking snow up at him that only flies back in their faces.

Adebisi laughs at the exchange. “See? They want to have fun with you. Why not make it worth both of your time?”

---

Later on that evening, M’Baku produces a set of kimoyo beads he was gifted a while back. He is not keen on vibranium technology still, but he admits that this comes in handy for communication sparingly; especially when there’s a blizzard outside he would have to trek through.

As he sits on his throne, he conjures up Shuri’s image.

“M’Baku? I did not expect to ever hear from you like this! Was this your first try at calling or did little Abeni help you?”

“Ayyye, my youngest is down for her rest, so I will accept full credit, if you must.”

Shuri laughs. “Only kidding, big guy. What do you need?”

M’Baku clears his throat, fidgeting in his seat slightly as he leans forward for inner confidence. He feels silly requesting help from anyone, much less an opinionated youth like Shuri.

“What do you know about...Christmas?” M’Baku slowly asks.

Shuri pauses for only a second before she can contain herself. Her laughter echoed through the halls, making M’Baku jumpy about his family hearing. He waves at Shuri to hush, trying to muffle her sounds with his arms.

She continues, “Sorry, but...Christmas? Why on earth would you care about that? That’s one of the most western holidays ever. Are you doing Thanksgiving as well?”

M’Baku looks at her with confusion, “What is that?”

Shuri shakes her head. “Really, don’t worry about it, you’ll hate it more. Except there is a big feast involved.”

“That sounds better than this Santa.”

“Trust me, it isn’t. It is more of the same but with the death of native people but let’s not get ahead of yourself. Why do you want to know about Christmas?”

“My children...they all heard about it from some other children in the marketplace. They came to me so excited talking about a happy white man who gives gifts to good children in red and green shiny paper with bows, being pulled by reindeer over a city filled with lights wishing for world peace. It was infuriating to listen to.”

Shuri nods. “I see. Now I understand your disdain for the commercialism and religious aspects of the holiday that don’t match your beliefs but I think we can at least entertain their imagination while maintaining your dignity, hm?”

M’Baku nods. “That’s the least I could get out of this at this point. I tried to get Adebisi to forget it but the woman is stubborn as one of those rhinos-”

“M’BAKU! Where are you? It is time for bed and I am growing impatient!” Adebisi howls.

M’Baku sputters. “I think this is where our conversation ends, Shuri.”

“Meet me in my lab at the end of the week. I can put something together for your children to enjoy, eh?”

“Until then, good night.” M’Baku ends the call, rushing to Adebisi’s call.

“Keep your eyes closed, children. I am serious, Bisi, closed!” Adebisi instructs her children as they walk through the shin deep snow on a clear evening.

Aremu, their son, moans. “Mama, I will miss the game with my friends. What are we doing?”

“Your Baba has a surprise that I think you all will enjoy thoroughly, if you would just quiet down and practice patience. Now!”

Adebisi ululates to the sky before patting her children’s heads to observe their surroundings. All is dark and quiet for a moment until a bellow is heard from the carved cliff of the Jabari leader’s lair. Suddenly a wave of lights flowed across the mountain, framing the notable ape face in stone with a glory of red, green, and white light bulbs.

“Happy Christmas to my children!” M’Baku is seen coming from the mouth of his lair, riding atop a rhino with a holly wreath collar and some non-toxic paint that makes the rhino’s horn glow red in the night.

M’Baku’s children cheer in excitement, exclaiming praise for Santa and Christmas as M’Baku rides the rhino down the mountain to his family.

As he dismounts, a closer look of his outfit is not the traditional Santa suit but Santa no less. Instead of the solid red wool cloth, aso oke of a red and white geometric pattern tailors his frame in the style of Santa, with grass trimming along the cuffs and hem. His face is obscured by his traditional gorilla god mask, with the only recognizable piece atop his head: the red and white Santa hat.

“It’s you! Wow! So cool!” his children overlap amazement as they hug their father tightly, examining his clothing and petting the red nose rhinoceros.

“Santa, have you any presents for us?” Chetachi, his middle child, asks.

M’Baku removes his mask, kneeling in front of her. “Daughter, I do not have what you are asking for.”

She looks at him in bewilderment. “Baba! Are you Santa? Why didn’t you tell us? Is that why you were mad? We know your secret?”

He shakes his head. “I could never be mad with my children. You all challenge, as always. But I will not lie and say Santa is real or that I am him. He is a character like in the storybooks Mama and I read to you all each night.”

“I love those stories!” Bisi exclaims.

“Good! And it is nice to enjoy a story, so this is one to add to the ones we have right? As for a gift…” M’Baku stands, pointing back at the bedazzled mountain behind him. “Is this not enough for you? The hours spent to put these lights up?!”

“Baku…”Adebisi hisses. “Baba means that he did this for you guys to enjoy. Plus a new pet rhino!”

“We can have him?!” Aremu shouts.

“Or her. Is it a boy or girl Baba?” Chetachi asks.

“What do they eat? Will it eat my candy” Bisi ponders.

“Ayye, what pet? Adebisi!” M’Baku is flustered as Adebisi pulls him aside.

“Be nice. We can take care of one rhino. The border tribe won’t mind.”

“I mind the amount of walking to the border to care for it.”

“Thank you, Baku,” Adebisi says lovingly.

“This is what I am talking about. Spoiling the children!”

“My husband, I love you.” Adebisi pulls him in for a sweet peck.

“...it was very difficult going through the fitting for this costume as well…”

Adebisi groans sympathetically. “My poor king, but you wear it well.”

“I do? Ah yes, I do!” M’Baku observes the children arguing over the name of the rhino, feeling his heart melt over the joy his family brings him.

#m'baku fic #shakafic #ficmas

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period-dramallama · 5 years ago

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Spanish Princess Episode 5: many many thoughts

Strap yo selves in

-WHERE WAS THE APOLOGY?? Lina’s just back with Catherine like nothing happened??

-Katherine, I get why you’re upset, but you kind of should be unsurprised?? Your dad was unfaithful to his wife, most kings were. Henry VII and Richard III were the exceptions, and even they had illegitimate sons before their marriages. Many kings also had official mistresses that everyone knew about, so by the standards of the time Henry and Bessie are actually being pretty tactful in at least trying to keep their affair out of sight. (Sexy dancing aside).

-Honestly it would have been so much more moving if KoA was like “I know kings take mistresses...but I thought...I was so sure... he would be different...”

-”they gave me a purse of gold!” It’s expected that you give the monarch lavish presents, lmao Ursula and Stafford would do that even if they hated each other and you

-”everybody loves a masque” the only sensible thing Henry has said so far in this show. Also court probably had way more masques than we see in the show, and it would standard to have a masque every holiday.

-”she is not a boy” hurry up with your character development and learn to love Mary already i am so TIRED of this miserable BS

-seems a rather depopulated masque? If the Chateau Vert pageant is anything to go by putting on a masque was a court activity, with most of the ladies performing.

-Bessie Blount in her cute masque costume... sweet mother i cannot weave Aphrodite has overcome me with GAAAAAAAAAAAAY

-”I never enjoyed carousing...my mother scolded me” look i love the Neville sisters with my whole heart but a) Margaret was 3 at most when her mother died, how does she remember her? She’d have clearer memories of her double-uncle and double-aunt, Richard III and Queen Anne b) Isabel Neville in the White Queen was established as very prim and proper, a well-bred girl who cared about enforcing decorum, she refused to ‘carouse’ and she certainly would never bring a 3 year old to a party c) we saw little Margaret as a girl at the end of the White Queen and she didn’t seem at all shy.

-”she died young, didn’t she” ...yes? most people did?

-”they both did” understatement of the year. Isabel Neville died young because she was ill, George died young (in the universe of The White Queen, at least) BECAUSE HE WAS FORCEFULLY DROWNED IN A VAT OF MALMSEY WINE. THESE TWO THINGS ARE NOT THE SAME! I do at least trust the writers of this show that the understatement was intentional, I’m sure even Emma Frost couldn’t forget a major character getting violently drowned.

-So the court only noticed the plague when one of their own got it so obviously and then died? Yes, plague could move fast, but if there was a whiff of plague the court would flee with the speed of the Looney Tunes road runner. If an acquaintance of an acquaintance of a cook had a cousin who saw someone with the plague, the court would flee to the country. How have these people not died of terminal stupid?! Like Compton was in the same building as the heir to the throne

-To be fair, it makes sense that they’re surprised Compton’s dead. Because the real Compton died of the sweating sickness. In 1528. Also he was involved in Buckingham’s downfall so... you just wrote yourself into a corner.

-Oh wow an actual good reason for More and Pole to be quarantined together i am amaaaaaazed

-”attend the queen” Boleyn, what do you think your daughter’s been doing all season if not attending the queen? Playing tetris?

-Katherine helping Anne into the wagon...I actually like that little moment. Like it does make sense, because the two have no reason to hate each other yet. (And who couldn’t like Anne? She’s such a babby!)

-Thomas More in the Tudor equivalent of casual clothes... much better. Shame about the 1930s lady’s wig.

-”what else should we do?” Maggie, this cannot be the first epidemic you’ve ever lived through. Have you forgotten the sweating sickness of 1485? You’ve probably lived through more epidemics than Oviedo has, you should know the protocol better than him.

-Oviedo continues to be the only man with rights. I wish we could see him crying and missing his wife and babies, but then my lil heart would break so maybe it’s for the best.

-They burn Maggie’s weird blue hood AS THEY SHOULD! IT WAS UGLY AND STUPID! I NEVER HAVE TO LOOK AT IT AGAIN NOW! THANK YOU SO MUCH! yes they also burned her nice dress with the strawberries on it but honestly it’s worth it, bc now i can rest easy, knowing the evil hood has been defeated.

-”you were a plaything” Katherine is so obviously insecure. I’m getting second-hand embarrassment. Like if she really was certain Bessie wasn’t important, she wouldn’t need to say it, would she? Except to rub it in. Which this KOA would absolutely do.

-literally all Bessie said was good morning?? Like Bessie is doing her best?? The masque was Henry’s idea, not hers, she hasn’t shown off about her affair, she hasn’t demanded money or titles, she hasn’t demanded any status to rival Katherine’s, she doesn’t flirt with or even speak to Henry when Katherine’s around, she acts like they’re strangers, she doesn’t even react when Katherine loses her temper...someone please please stick up for Bessie!

-”the rocking of the cart is unsettling to the stomach” is Anne naive, or is she covering for Bessie? I hope it’s the latter, in which case Anne is the one person looking out for Bessie...the babby is Soft, I repeat the babby is Soft!

-the irony of Mary being cold to Bessie when she’s next in the firing line...

-”it is not the rocking” Thank you Lina, where would we be without your gift for stating the obvious?

-”where did Wolsey get his money”...He’s a churchman...at the top of the church hierarchy...how do you fuckin think he got wealthy. Have y’all not been in the sixteenth century for five minutes? Why do you think Luther is so mad at the church?

-”I know of no other man in her bed most nights” Honestly wow I’m surprised KoA wasn’t like “well :/ a girl like that :/ who knows how many men process in and out of her bed :/” KoA gets half a point for being less bitchy than usual. Also Bessie looked so uncomfortable with Henry groping her stomach in front of Katherine. I pray the next man in her life treats her right and that Fraham don’t prematurely kill her off like they did with Compton.

-”the future king” if you’re regent on his behalf, then he’s already king! “Civilised companionship” back at it again with the Scots-are-barbarians.

-Laura Carmichael is utterly stunning this episode, with her hair down. The cinematography was beautiful in general this week.

-”freedom to speak and licence to speak are two different things” hey look at that one of Thomas More’s actual beliefs. I am giving all the credit to the historical advisor for that, I don’t believe for one second Fraham knew that beforehand.

-Maggie I love you but no, God does not sanction adultery. For any reason.

-KOA smirking and gloating about Bessie’s pain...she has never been so punchable. I would understand, if not condone it, if Bessie was manipulative, or greedy, or ambitious, or trying to supplant Katherine. But Bessie’s been betrayed by Henry too, and there’s no concrete evidence she ever gloated about her affair, to anyone let alone Katherine.

-”You think only of your own fate while London is struck down with plague” Earth to Katherine?? What concern have you shown for the Londoners?? Also calling Bessie selfish...Bessie’s not the one who lashed out at Lina, was jealous at Lina for having twin boys, and who wanted to continue a war for personal reasons. And then Bessie proves KoA wrong 5 hot seconds later by sticking up for Mary. Bit rich of KoA to be all “how dare you leave my daughter unattended” when she herself won’t even hold Mary.

-”Louis didn’t last a year” What! Is! The Timeline!

-Meg in that cloak reminds me of the Scottish Widow adverts. Georgie is so greedy- she steals every single scene she is in! Even when she’s raging she has more dignity and more presence than KoA ever has.

-”YOU LYING SOD” i burst out laughing it’s really not the little two-timing shit’s day, is it?

-Mary receiving Charlie B in the most Extra way possible. A++

-Why does Wolsey look like he’s about to cry?

-”thoughts are not actions” Lina I love you but... that is NOT what the New Testament says. Jesus said evil thoughts are very very much sins. I’ll give you a pass because maybe you haven’t been Catholic as long as Katherine has? Idk your backstory.

-Aaand now she’s wishing death on Bessie and her unborn baby and Lina isn’t disgusted? At least Katherine is feeling guilty. AS SHE SHOULD.

-”must it always fall to me to be magnanimous?” Katherine, you think only of yourself, for 23 out of every 24 hours.

-”God wants me to be compassionate to Bessie because of my sins” God wants you to be compassionate because that’s how Christianity is supposed to work. It’s not very selfless of you to decide to be selfless so that you can get what you want.

-oh wow look at that! She’s getting some self-awareness, i never saw that coming.

-”you betrayed Bessie” 5 points to Katherine of Aragon for standing up for Bessie when Henry screwed her over. Finally, some positive character development.

- MINUS 20000 POINTS FOR BABY STEALING

-WHAT THE FUCK

-is henry so dumb he thinks that baby is Katherine’s? Katherine was so obviously not pregnant

-When a baby’s born his skin needs to touch his mother’s skin so they can bond. They should have at least an hour’s cuddle time. Katherine of Aragon is literally traumatising a baby the very minute he is born. For her own selfish, selfish desires.

#the spanish princess

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scottymcgeesterwrites · 4 years ago

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Final Fantasy VII Review

Year: 1997

Original Platform: PlayStation One

Also available on: PC, PlayStation Store

Version I Played: PlayStation One

Synopsis:

The Shinra Electric Power Company rules over the city of Midgar, and the eco-terrorists AVALANCHE stop at nothing to try and prevent the life essence of the planet from being used as energy. Barrett, leader of AVALANCHE, hires a mercenary named Cloud Strife for their bombing mission on a Shinra Mako Reactor. Cloud doesn’t care much for the greater cause and only wants his pay. But then, after a mission goes awry, he meets Aerith, a flower girl who is the descendant of the Ancients. He quickly finds himself wrapped up in the greater conflict against Shinra.

Gameplay:

Final Fanatasy VII utilizes magic spells via Materia – little orbs that come in a variety of colors pertaining to the natural elements. You can mix and match them on your weapons and equipment, which gives you access to different spells and stats. All your equipment varies with the number of slots for how many Materia orbs you can put in. Leveling up not only upgrades the character but the equipped Materia as well.

Final Fantasy VII also uses an ATB system but is known for introducing Limit Breaks – finishing moves that build up after the character gets hit over time. Final Fantasy VI had a prototype called Desperation Attack – but it was very rare as it only appeared when your character had 1/8 of their total HP, and there was a 1 in 6 chance of performing the Desperation Attack after selecting Attack. I actually had no idea that was a thing until long after I finished the game, and never experienced it when I played Final Fantasy VI.

Graphics:

Out of all the Final Fantasy games, I have to say that this one has not aged well. It has the worst graphics of the entire series. The battle and cinematic graphics are passable.

(Most of the graphics power seemed to be put in Tifa’s, uh, bosom.)

But the characters in towns, the overworld, and in-game cutscenes are incredibly blocky. PC versions are supposedly sharper, but the PlayStation One version makes it nigh impossible to see any facial expressions.

The graphics are definitely a product of its time. I always say that the beginning of 3D gaming was essentially like puberty – awkward and full of zits. It wasn’t yet at that stage where it could be aesthetically pleasing. We marveled about it when it was first released, yes, but then we cringed in retrospect.

The environment backdrops however are probably the strongest points, where they capture the industrial nature of Midgar, the reactors and other such buildings.

Story:

Final Fantasy VII became legendary the minute Square released it. Every aspect was memorable. Part of it could be due to the fact that it was the first Final Fantasy game to enter the 3D realm. Another part was Tetsuya Nomura’s character designs, which hit the cool meter to the point of sub-zero.

The cinematics blew our minds. The opening action scene with Cloud, Barrett, and the rest of AVALANCHE attacking Shinra’s mako reactor is the most memorable opening to a Final Fantasy game. Period. Final Fantasy games really do know how to start at the right spot, no matter how good or bad the overall game is. The opening is always the best part.

Then there was the motorcycle chase. Cid’s airship. The gun fights. Battles with Sephiroth. The extra stuff to find, like summons and extra bosses. So much was jam-packed into the game.

But the story was the primary factor in making VII famous. It’s definitely one of the better ones. Man, the story became so famous that even gamers who haven’t touched a Final Fantasy game knew the major spoilers. It is the equivalent to knowing Darth Vader’s line, “I am your father” without having actually watched Star Wars.

Aerith (Aeris in the English releases) Gainsborough – the innocent flower girl who holds the secrets of the Ancients – develops a romance with Cloud and fucking dies at the end of Disc 1 by the main villain – Sephiroth. The scene shocked everyone and practically made headlines. Everybody has seen the horrible image in one way or another.

It seems to me that since Final Fantasy V, the stories have gotten more and more used to main character deaths, ultimately transforming into a heavy-hitting TV series rather than simply a video game series. In other words – it matured. Looking back, Final Fantasy IV appears to be child’s play and a prototype of later dramatic storylines with fully realized worlds.

Final Fantasy VII was also the first Final Fantasy game to create a world much like ours – one with cars and trains and airplanes and machine guns and even cellphones. The main city of Midgar reflects industrialization at its worst, with miles of slums and claustrophobic cities. Shinra Electric Power Company is a reflection of capitalism at its worst - a single entity in charge of so much that it’s pretty much the government. For the first time in a Final Fantasy game, you play as characters who dance between the morally ambiguous line of terrorism and activism. Funny enough, the theme of neglecting the planet resonates with us now more than ever. This game ended up being rather prophetic about the uncontrollable growth of corporations.

While the story is memorable with many intriguing elements, the plot itself is a tangled web. In my opinion, they really hashed in so many things that it’s easy to forget crucial details. It’s not straightforward, but at the same time everything does connect by the end. While Shinra is the driving force as a whole as the villain, Sephiroth takes over, then you learn about his backstory and then with the evil scientist Hojo and the extra-terrestrial Jenova and then “Weapon” and then the planet’s history and this and that and the other thing.

If I were to put Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII together and contrast them, as many gamers do, I would find that Final Fantasy VII is the summer blockbuster and Final Fantasy VI is the Oscar winner. Final Fantasy VII started introducing the sappy romance subplot to the series. A love triangle forms among Aerith, Cloud, and Cloud’s childhood friend Tifa. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with having a love triangle, the writing is like watching middle schoolers trying to express their feelings. Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy IV treated any romance with dignity and realism.

But maybe I’m being a bit harsh. After all, Cloud Strife did go through some suffering as an adolescent. His backstory clearly drives his antisocial behavior, so that becomes a good arc.

The goofiest but memorable part of the story deals with Don Corneo and Wall Market and running around store to store doing tasks in order to free Tifa from Don Corneo. It ends with Cloud needing to cross-dress as a woman to get inside Don’s mansion. Because, you know, it’s not like Cloud can just break in with his sword and Aerith’s magic or anything like that. But whatever. It’s anime.

The recent Final Fantasy VII Remake for the PS4 seems to streamline the story, and actually enhances the emotions they were trying to deliver in the original. I will be talking about the remake in a separate post altogether since I’m almost done with it at the time of this writing. But there’s a lot that I want to say about comparing and contrasting the remake and the original.

The latter half of the plot takes a couple weird turns. At one point, Cloud became catatonic and confined to a wheelchair.

That part of the game became the sluggish part for me. Sephiroth also tries to confuse Cloud, which confused me. Cloud apparently suffers from some alternate subconscious mumbo-jumbo and like. . .ungh. I get an aneurysm thinking about it sometimes.

Complicated plotlines like Final Fantasy VII start showing up from here on out in the Final Fantasy series. The trend of bishonen characters also begin here, bishonen being the Japanese term for “beautiful boy.” Cloud and Sephiroth have that look. The series starts hashing in sappier romances and much more of an anime feel.

Final Fantasy VII ultimately marked the start of a new era for the series – introducing both cool and overused tropes.

Music:

Hands down the best Final Fantasy soundtrack of all.

The entire soundtrack of this game is memorable. The opening tune, with its light twinkle when the stars show up, is enough to make any gamer know exactly what that’s from.

With a story set in a more modern world, we have music that is more modern. After Final Fantasy VI had a more serious and operatic score, Uematsu displayed his love of progressive rock here. The motorcycle chase incorporates a lot of synth, which was fitting for zipping through the streets of Midgar. However, Final Fantasy VII is the first Final Fantasy game without that familiar starting bassline for the battle them. The battle theme is instantly recognizable but also radically different from its predecessors. It’s dramatic and displays danger.

Meanwhile, the boss theme is one of the best boss themes in the series, or any video game really. It’s an electrifying progressive rock piece, and it’s my personal favorite boss theme.

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The more instrumental pieces are somber, given the dreary atmosphere of the planet. The world map music is very different from its predecessors. It’s romantic one moment, soaring the next, and then dips into foreboding terror. I guess that sums up the story of Final Fantasy VII.

And we cannot leave out One-Winged Angel, which I will talk about below.

Notable Theme:

Without a doubt, One-Winged Angel – played during the terrifying final battle against Sephiroth – is the most memorable piece of music in Final Fantasy VII.

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It may very well be the most popular song of the entire series. Nobuo Uematsu was inspired by Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. It’s a whopping 30 something minute classical piece. If you look it up on YouTube and browse through it, you can definitely note the similarities. However, Uematsu didn’t want some boring classical introduction to the piece. He wanted to add the destructive impact of rock. The theme has a very distinct stamping-your-foot-down quality to it.

I had noticed a certain piece-by-piece feel of the song and that’s exactly how Uematsu composed it. This is the only song that Uematsu has composed where he created several tunes in his head and then rearranged them to make a single comprehensive song.

If you want to get technical, One-Winged Angel is the first Final Fantasy song with lyrics. The chorus sings in Latin about Sephiroth’s burning anger, with some lyrics actually taken from the medieval poem Carmina Burana. It sounds fantastic when fully orchestrated.

In Advent Children, the animated sequel to Final Fantasy VII, the music is accompanied by hardcore metal. This new rendition really illustrates the destructive power of Sephiroth. Uematsu changed the lyrics for Advent Children. They are more original now. I specifically noticed the lyrics “Veni, veni, mi fili”, which translates to “Come, come, my son.” Sephiroth is inviting you so he can kill you.

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Uematsu has stated that the original orchestration didn’t sit well with him. As I suspected, Advent Children’s hardcore metal version is the one he preferred, the one he would have composed had he the technology at the time of Final Fantasy VII.

Verdict:

Another must-play for any RPG fan, even if you think it’s overrated. It’s a must-play because of its popularity, in the same way that people are wide-eyed when you say you haven’t seen Star Wars or such-and-such other popular movie. It’s a whole lot of fun, especially in the scenes that involve other forms of gameplay, such as the motorcycle chase and even a battlefield strategy game in protecting Fort Condor.

Direct Sequel?

Yes – first there was the CGI movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

I actually watched Advent Children before playing Final Fantasy VII. I had already known most of what happened in the game and Advent Children became a monumental craze when it first came out. Everybody was talking about it. Watching the sequel before playing the game skewers your interpretation of things. My first impression of Cloud was that he was always whiny and angsty, and meanwhile Tifa kept nagging him to move on. I felt really bad for Cloud losing Aerith.

Then when I actually played Final Fantasy VII, I saw that Cloud starts as this badass mercenary. Tifa is spunky and clearly is the better choice (IMO) but Cloud is enamored by Aerith after only meeting her briefly. WHAT? Cloud. Bro. Make a move on Tifa, you nitwit. Tifa is AMAZING.

Square Enix then continued the story with Dirge of Cerberus – Final Fantasy VII. This video game sequel focuses on Vincent Valentine, a fan favorite of the original game.

Let me remind you about something – the original game revealed Shinra’s inner deep secret experiments, namely with Sephiroth and Jenova. Dirge of Cerberus introduces an even deeper research team within Shinra called Deepground. I don’t know about you, but it already sounds like the start of a terribly redundant string of sequels, like how the Jason Bourne movies keep revealing an even deeper level of conspiracy theories. Vincent’s mysterious background is now fully revealed. He is defined by – guess what? – another angsty lost lover story, this time with a woman named Lucrecia. Now, okay, look, maybe I’m just being a dick about these types of love stories. But when it keeps popping up within the same series in the same manner, I start asking if you have anything else to offer on your menu.

Lastly, there is the prequel for the PSP – Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Of all the games in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core has received the most positive reception. If anything, play that after playing Final Fantasy VII before bothering with anything else.

Oh, and of course there is the Final Fantasy VII Remake, which we thought wasn’t going to happen for the longest time but they finally released it in April 2020. More on that later after I finish it, and after I post my entire series of Final Fantasy reviews!

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lightsandlostbells · 5 years ago

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wtFOCK season 3, episode 1 reaction

So! It’s a million years too late, but I decided to talk about wtFOCK season 3.

I had fairly positive feelings about S1 of wtFOCK. It was the scrappy underdog of the Skam remakes, in a way, and what it lacked in polish, it made up for authenticity. I was very willing to overlook its flaws because of what I perceived as genuine attempts to connect with teenagers. I was really, really holding out hope that future seasons would improve on its flaws. And ... well. (Disclaimer: I still haven’t seen S2. Sorry! I just failed to keep up with all the remakes and S2 is my least fave so I didn’t feel that motivated to make it a priority, even though I did like Zoë a lot in S1.)

Heads up - I didn’t care for this season. A lot of people did, and I would never, ever want to ruin someone’s enjoyment of something, even if I personally didn’t like it. So please take this as a warning that I have a lot of negative things to say, and don’t read if it’s going to harsh your buzz for a pairing or a story that you deeply love. However, I didn’t want to just be grumpy and angry the whole time, so I tried to think of constructive ways to fix certain problems I had with this season. No guarantees that they’re satisfying solutions, but it was an interesting exercise.

Also, I didn’t watch this in real time, and I paid barely any attention to fandom reactions and/or drama, so it’s very possible that I am missing context, or that pacing issues didn’t register with me quite as strongly, etc. If one of the actors ate a live dolphin on Instagram, and then got into a fight with fans on Twitter about their right to eat live dolphins, and now fandom has canceled the problematic dolphin-eating actor, I legit do not know, do not come at me if I’m like “This actor is doing a good job” with “Wow, didn’t know you stanned dolphin-eaters??? YIKES.” Honestly, for the purposes of just grading this season on a storytelling level, I would prefer not to know anything about the cast or crew unless it directly has an impact on the show itself.

Clip 1 - House party

OK, I did like this flashy intro shot, immersing us in the Wild ‘n’ Crazy Teen Party of Wild ‘n’ Crazy Youths.

Amber rejecting every dude in site … When Will Gay Vilde Rise. (I know there have been some f/f storylines in the remakes, but if there’s one involving an actual Vilde, please let me know.)

Luca saying “We’re not walking around in a high school drama” - you can hear the rimshot.

I do like the transition from the party up to the bathroom, that’s a cool shot. wtFOCK’s directing so far is more ambitious than it was in S1.

Robbe is clearly a mess and they acknowledge his problems at home right off the bat.

We go back downstairs. wtFOCK’s version of Magnus knocks his drink on Amber and she gets pissed. She gives him the finger and he falls in love. Still a better love story than S3 Daphne/Basile.

It’s a small point, but I don’t get why we didn’t get this moment before jumping up to the bathroom with Robbe and the others? It would be a far smoother transition, just on a practical level and also in the sense of fully immersing us in Robbe’s POV after a quick update with the other characters.

Belgian Magnus joins the guys in the bathtub and announces he’s in love. They roast him when they find out it’s Amber and start talking about hot chicks. Moyo starts grilling Robbe about his type of girl, in a crass, sexual way.

This is honestly not a bad start to Robbe’s story at all. Robbe is clearly more reluctant to get into his interest in girls than Isak was - Isak was more fuckboyish from the start, Robbe seems like he’s about to start squirming and doesn’t really give an answer to Moyo’s questioning. Which is fine! I think it’s fine to start off the POV character at different stages of performing heterosexuality, as long as it’s taken into account in the writing of the character’s whole arc. The fact that the boy talk is so crude and sexual just ramps up Robbe’s alienation.

I swear, I will never understand how the girls in this scene just go into the bathroom and pee in front of strange boys … like maybe I am just a ~prude but that seems like a recipe for disaster and I would not trust those little fuckers to not be secretly recording me on the toilet.

Her peeing is kind of a power move, like marking her territory.

Also L M A O at Robbe starting to flirt with the girl while she is pissing … like now this comes off as a kink thing. OK, Robbe. Jokes aside, this gets across the same meaning as the scene with Isak: he starts to flirt with her because he was encouraged by the other guys.

Uh, flush the toilet, lady. And use some TP.

Now this version of Emma seriously radiates some Natalie Portman in The Professional vibes.

She orders him to stand up and then starts kissing him. I get way less of a vibe of Robbe’s mad game with women (like how Isak negged Emma into kissing him) and more like this girl is the love interest out of an indie romcom, all mysterious and spunky. She kisses him like once after taking his jay and then leaves. The boys all crack up. Moyo tells Robbe it’s his responsibility to get the weed back which lmao, no it’s not, all you assholes were there and could have intervened.

This scene is perfectly fine and even effective! Not entirely the same vibes as OG, but it still has a purpose and some obvious cause-and-effect, and there are some nice stylistic choices.

Clip 2 - Party pt. 2

Robbe is now making out with mystery girl. We already have a divergence in characterization from OG. Isak was being performative about making out with Emma and shut it down once the guys left. Robbe is making out with this girl because he wants to be straight, I guess? If it’s not to appeal to his friends, it’s likely that this is for himself. Again, I have no real problem with this change if it’s incorporated into Robbe’s overall arc and characterization. My thing is, if you’re writing this scene, do you realize the differences in characterization? Or do you think this is interchangeable from what happened with Isak? The latter is where you run into problems, because then the writing shows lack of nuance. I bring this up here because, well, you can guess how I feel about later events.

Luca seems rather aggro about the mystery woman, which I assume is because she still has the hots for Robbe?

It makes me laugh that we got this first-person POV as Robbe leaves through the garage, because of the “Smack My Bitch Up” song being played in the last clip (the song had an infamous music video, banned from MTV in the ‘90s, that was from a first-person POV). But again, WTFock is trying harder with the cinematography and direction, good for them.

Robbe ditches the cops by jumping on the bike with Belgian Emma. OK, I get it, Belgian Emma is too cool for school.

I have kinda mixed feelings on that, actually. I mean, I’ll be honest - I don’t see why any Emma has to be made into someone more palatable. Definitely don’t demonize her or present her in a misogynistic way! She deserves sympathy and dignity as much as any character on a Skam. But … it’s fine if she and the Isak aren’t like, amazingly compatible except for his sexuality. The Even character is supposed to be the one who really shakes up the Isak’s world! The Isak is supposed to be lost and confused and drifting and then Even comes in and is someone he can really open up to. Not just because he’s another guy who’s into guys, but because Even’s personality meshes with Isak’s so easily while still challenging him and introducing him to new things. In a way, it does kinda diminish the effect of the Even if the Isak meets ANOTHER mysterious stranger who’s an awesome person. Or at the very least, it lessens the feeling of the Isak’s detachment from everything.

And again, this could work if the writing realizes it. You can totally craft a subtly different arc from the pieces of Isak’s season. It’s just that (speaking from the future) I do not feel this is what happened.

Clip 3 - Tagging time

I don’t think it’s necessary to break up all the parts of a longer scene/set piece into a bunch of different clips. If you start a scene at 16:00, it’s OK to have the clip take place over several hours. You don’t need to chop it up unless there’s a reason why this pacing might benefit the story. Honestly, if you’re watching in real time, I think this method is often less effective at building tension/emotion/etc. But wtFOCK is not the first remake to try this tactic.

... this part where Robbe and Noor put on masks sure hits differently in 2020.

Belgian Emma’s name is Noor and she takes him to a warehouse, or something? It’s very secret and Cool Kid. And IDK, it’s fun, but again… I think making the Emma that much of a fun mysterious cool exciting person is very much diminishing the effect of Robbe’s isolation. We had a good start with establishing that alienation while he was in the tub, but now his reactions to her rad hipness feel way too sincere and act against the major character conflict of his season. He seems nervous to go with her, but not because he’s with a girl, just because it’s a risky scenario.

Noor hands Robbe a spray paint can and leads him to tag a wall. There’s a guy taking pictures. So I’m assuming one of the guys in masks is the Even? The POV seems to shift to the photo guy briefly, like we’re seeing Robbe through his eyes. And even though I’m not a fan of POV breakage, I do think this is a cool way to introduce the Even without really introducing him, you know? If that’s him. (EDIT from the future: Ummm, so that wasn’t Sander, right? I’m rewatching and it doesn’t look like him. Soooo that part has even less relevance than I originally thought. Got it.) (EDIT from the future beyond the future: @hellswolfie tells me that this actually was Sander, so I am just bad at recognizing people, lol.)

Robbe and Noor take off their masks briefly to kiss. Uhhhh, did the scene really just … cut off there? Because L M A O what a weird choice. We don’t get to see what Robbe creates on the wall, which could be a great way to establish his character, AND we end with him on a smiley, contented note which does not boost his POV at all. It legit just makes him seem like a guy who’s into this girl, and sorry, even if that’s his public persona at this point in time … that’s not what we, the audience should be getting at all.

Clip 4 - Boy squad morning after

Robbe skateboards to meet up with the guy squad. Again, the directing is far better IMO than in S1.

Robbe got the weed back so that conflict is over, I guess.

He gets a call from his mom and stops laughing with the guys and gets serious. He walks away to take the call. Then he starts to open up to Jens about his mom freaking out, and then Moyo spots some girls so they all ditch Robbe to go chase girls, and WOW, Jens, please turn in your Jonas card.

Don’t love that we didn’t hear his mom on the phone. There’s no reason not to let us hear what she’s saying since it would be in Robbe’s POV AND as it turns out, they just tell us about the situation with his mom right off the bat, anyway, so it’s not like there’s much point in hiding it.

This was effective in a sense to establish how girl-crazy his friends are, as well as setting up Robbe’s isolation, which I was worried wouldn’t come across as strongly after meeting Noor. But I think they could have NOT mingled in his mom issues to make this part more effective. Like if the goal was to show more of Robbe being alienated because he’s gay, then that’s not entirely successful, because there are non-gay reasons why Robbe wouldn’t join his pals on the girl chase. I mean, even a horny hetero Robbe might not want to chase girls with his bros because talking to his mom is a downer, so it’s not necessarily because of his sexuality. Plus he just found a girl he liked in Noor, so apparently, he’s not on the prowl. What this part IS communicating that the Belgian guy squad doesn’t have much interest in their friend’s family struggles, which ... ehhhh, maybe not great in the grand scheme of the storyline? These guys can be flawed, for sure, but we do need them to care about Robbe’s well-being. And Robbe tried to open up here, so the flaw is not in him, it’s in his friends. I’m going to let it slide because Jens was offering to help Robbe in the first clip, so it’s not like he’s been a totally insensitive friend this whole time.

Clip 5 - Phone call from Robbe’s dad

Noor jumps on Robbe and they make out. She shows him the garage and they talk about the tagging world or w/e. Again, not sure why they are portraying Noor as like … a legit love interest. I don’t get much of a sense of discomfort from Robbe. Isak was just not into Emma and was uncomfortable when his bathroom flirting came back to haunt him. And I don’t think it’s TERRIBLE not to follow that route, but you can’t just make this huge change if you don’t account for it in future episodes and Robbe’s overall arc. (EDIT from the future: Which I don’t think they do, otherwise I wouldn’t care.) Every scene should count in furthering Robbe’s character, especially this early in the season where we’re just getting to know his particular struggles. If Robbe is trying to convince himself to like girls, then I want to see definite vulnerability in how that’s portrayed.

I blame the directing/writing more than the acting for the lack of discomfort, since I sensed Robbe’s lack of comfort just fine in the bathtub scene.

Makeouts get interrupted when Robbe’s dad calls. Again, not sure why we aren’t hearing both sides of the conversation? Because we’re in Robbe’s POV. Why wouldn’t we hear them? This seems like they just want to create some suspense or mystery over the situation with his parents. But it’s perfectly possible to do so while still letting us in on the phone calls. In fact, it’s arguably more intriguing to let us listen to some phone calls where we get some vague details but nowhere close to the whole story. It’s not like Robbe’s dad is going to explain the whole situation to his son in an exposition dump. We can get some crumbs to tease us, while still keeping us in Robbe’s POV and not feeling like the show is cutting corners.

Robbe gets mad at his dad and tells Noor he needs to be alone. Closeup on Noor as Robbe walks away. OK … why? Why on her and not Robbe when it’s his POV? Why the focus on Noor’s feelings when we really need to be establishing our protagonist’s mindset in the beginning of this season? I’m not saying her feelings don’t matter, I’m saying that well, this isn’t her story. It would be better to see Robbe’s pained reaction as he leaves.

Clip 6 - Robbe’s dad drama

Jens comes running up while Robbe is being sad. Robbe says that it may be necessary for him to stay with Jens because Robbe’s mom has been committed to a mental health institution and Robbe doesn’t want to stay with his dad. Ah, so I guess we’re hearing that right away. Which honestly makes not hearing his phone calls to his parents even funnier - like you lock us out of his POV arguably for the suspense, but then you end the suspense anyway by just telling us what happened a scene or two later? All right. I guess there’s suspense in that we don’t know exactly what’s up with the mom, mental health-wise, or the root of Robbe’s problems with his dad.

It occurs to me that maybe they just didn’t want to hire people to voice Robbe’s parents? Or put in the time to film both sides of the conversation? I have a hard time believing either of those because it’s so lazy, but.

I mean, just turn the phone conversations into text conversations if you’re not going to let us listen to Robbe’s parents on the other end.

They go and play football without really resolving the situation. Sad music plays while Robbe joins in. Also, someone was calling Robbe, and I assume it was his dad, but it’s not shown.

These clips are VERY short and choppy so far. You could easily combine the last two, so Robbe is with Jens instead of Noor when he gets the other phone call from his dad, leading into this conversation.

We know immediately about Robbe’s mom’s situation instead of it being a mystery, like with Isak. Which, again, isn’t inherently wrong, but then I want them to DO SOMETHING with it.

Clip 7 - Jens and Jana

Oh hey, Jana got her braces off! IDK if that happened last season or this one, but it was something I liked, seeing a teenage girl with braces on a teen drama. That rarely happens unless it’s a joke or a plot point.

OK, they really need to film Robbe’s phone so I can actually see who’s calling…

Jens tells Jana about Robbe’s parental situation. I’ll note that first she asks if something’s up with Noor, so news of the Robbe/Noor relationship must have traveled really fast since they’ve only just gotten together. Like Robbe and Noor are clearly dating, going off Jana’s comment, and not just hooking up. Then Belgian Magnus wants to know about hooking up with Amber. Meanwhile Robbe is having a conversation off screen with his dad? Guess it wasn’t important!

And that’s the problem, obviously. It’s his POV season, anything you decide to show SHOULD be important to his storyline.

Also … it’s fine that we’re focusing on Robbe’s shit home life since that’s relevant to his story, but almost nothing in these clips has set up Robbe’s attraction to men, and only slightly his lack of interest in girls, which was negated by him seeming very interested in a girl afterwards. And knowing how long this season takes to get going with the Even character, it’s a pretty glaring omission.

So we don’t see Robbe’s phone call with his dad, but he gets snappy about it when Jens asks. One of the boys (I can’t tell who) says that Robbe’s on his period. Gonna be real, I don’t care for this squad so far.

What was the point of this clip? We already know Robbe is having problems with his dad, which is the most relevant part to the plot here. We shouldn’t be wandering from Robbe’s POV so much, but even taking that into account … we already know Belgian Magnus likes Amber, so that’s not necessary to establish. And we didn’t need to see Jens tell Jana something we already know. I assume he tells her so Zoë can find out and offer a room, but there’s no reason to see Jens tell Jana this, so. Filler clip.

Clip 8 - Zoë and Robbe at the lockers

Yeah, Zoë offers Robbe a place to stay here, but again, we didn’t need to see the news travel down the Jens-Jana pipeline. It could have been condensed more efficiently.

Robbe doesn’t want to because he says his dad wouldn’t approve. Zoë says she hopes things get better with his mom and Robbe at first snaps and tells her to leave it, then says thanks. This is an actual good interaction, writing-wise, kudos.

I liked Zoë a lot in S1 and I like her here again. I really should watch her season despite my Noorhelm allergy. The scene of them kinda smiling at each other across the hallways reminds me that this is probably the strongest relationship in the whole season, tbh.

Why was this clip so short? So many of these clips could have been combined into one. I mean, Zoë could have said, “I heard from Jana who heard from Jens...” without us needing the previous clip. Although, did Robbe really want anyone else to know about his home life? Lol @ Jens just blabbing Robbe’s private business.

So I guess they didn’t set up the Eskild situation in S2 that would lead to Eskild offering Robbe a place to stay?

Clip 9 - Robbe gets roommates

Robbe is in Zoë’s room. He sees her “everyone you know is fighting a battle” quote next to the mirror, which is a detail I actually quite like in context with the rest of this storyline and Even’s condition. It’s a good Skam thesis overall.

I guess Zoë met with Robbe’s dad. Zoë calls him a tough cookie. Robbe doesn’t want to speak to him. They bond a little over their parental problems. Again, a nice detail.

Belgian Eskild appears and teases Robbe a little before announcing that Robbe’s dad has agreed to let him stay in the flat. Yay!

Oh, so Senne is staying there, too? At least they didn’t do a pointless Noorhelm breakup in this version.

Milan (the Eskild) tries to go in for a hug and Robbe isn’t cool with it, so at least that’s something with Robbe’s issues with men. (I think? The thing is, Robbe also does not really know Milan, so it’s not as weird that he’s not ready to be affectionate with a near-stranger.) (EDIT from the future: Keeping the S2 almost-kiss that’s referenced in the next clip in mind, I can rationalize this moment as a continuation of that awkwardness from Robbe’s POV.)

They chat with Lisa (Linn) who wants to direct Robbe on what he is and isn’t allowed to touch in her room, heh. Milan and Zoë have cute interaction, and Robbe looks happy. I do like the flatmate vibe so far, they seem fun.

Clip 10 - Robbe and Milan

Senne and Zoë get cute. I haven’t seen S2 so I can’t give my opinion on their version of Noorhelm, but I did think a few things about them were less creepy in wtFOCK’s S1 than in OG. Milan talks about how they’re a Disneylike couple and Robbe laughs.

Then Robbe apologizes for something that evidently happened in S2, where Milan tried to kiss Robbe at a party? Again, I didn’t see the scene. Milan says he’d never try to do that. He offers Robbe a hug, which he accepts - tbh I don’t know if Robbe SHOULD accept based on where he is in his character arc, maybe he should have more skittishness? But it’s a nice character moment, at least. They really have to make up for lost time with the Robbe-Milan relationship, so I can get that they need to establish some closeness fast.

Not being in the wtFOCK fandom, I kinda wonder if there was backlash to that scene from before and this is damage control, LMAO.

I feel like you could’ve tweaked this to be more representative of Robbe’s issues, like have him stress here that he’s not gay, because it’s a sweet scene but again, I don’t feel like this episode built up Robbe’s internal dilemma very well. You could make this not just about smoothing over whatever bump there was in this relationship, but also about setting up some internal tension with Robbe’s sexuality issues. Multi-tasking - it’s great!

EDIT from the future: OK, I tracked down the S2 scene, and yeah, while it illustrates some of Robbe’s internalized homophobia, I really think you needed to carry this through to this clip. Because that was a very public situation, and they made a point of emphasizing onlookers’ reactions. I feel like you need to show that Robbe’s internalized homophobia isn’t just about external reactions, but internal struggles, because ... so far, that’s what it is? Like what is he doing with Noor otherwise?

Clip 11 - Housewarming party

Party is underway. Yasmina is there and is friendly with Robbe. It sounds like they’re working on a school project together. Aaron (Magnus) and Moyo are talking about hot chicks again.

Noor arrives and the boys tease Robbe about how far he’s gone, Robbe looks pretty chill and happy until Moyo says Robbe’s getting laid tonight and you can see the nerves and reluctance take over. Okay! A character detail that actually works for his arc! Yes!

Partying, makeouts with Noor … sorry but they are wasting a lot of time with this relationship. ROBBE ISN’T INTO HER. Here’s the thing: I don’t want to demonize any of Evak’s female “love interests,” right? It’s pointless anyway because Evak is the endgame pairing, Sonja and Emma aren’t “threats” in the end, but also because they’re not bad people just for wanting to date these two guys who happens to want each other instead. And I think you can do interesting things with Sonja and Emma as characters. I’ve read Sonja fanfic that’s really good!

But when it comes down to it … this is not the story of Robbe/Noor, and there’s a point where it feels like there’s too much development for something that is really intended to be a speed bump in Robbe’s journey.

I guess it’s a pet peeve of mine when gay stories devote a ton of time to het relationships, to the point where it begins to overshadow the main gay relationship. Love, Victor did this to an absolutely ridiculous degree. (I actually made notes for Love, Victor reactions, but hesitated to post them because 60% consisted of me typing I DON’T CARE ABOUT THESE STRAIGHT ROMANCES.) And I GET it, this is an experience many gay kids go through in their coming out journey, but also, less charitably… you don’t need het romance to dominate everything. You don’t need to make this about how a gay person being gay hurts a straight person. I genuinely appreciate that once Isak kisses Even, it’s fucking over with him and Emma, that plot thread is done.

Anyway, Noor tells Robbe he’s so fucking hot and Robbe looks more uncomfortable, moreso when she wants to see his room and he goes off like he’s headed to Mordor.

Aaron checking out Amber … okay, again with all the het. I don’t care!!! This is not important right now!!

Noor pushes Robbe onto the bed, ugh please don’t have them Go There.

She takes off her top and Robbe touches her boob like he’s sticking his hand into a porta-potty. We see his discomfort so at least this part is effective and relevant to Robbe’s arc. Noor is taking off her bra when the boys come into the room, wanting the weed. Okay, you dumb fucks, you’re teasing your bro about getting laid and yet you think it’s cool to enter his room when he’s with a girl? I mean, that’s a lucky break for Robbe, but his friends are extra stupid.

The mood is killed, Robbe goes hunting for weed. Episode ends.

HOW I WOULD REWRITE THIS EPISODE:

Lmao, some of my changes sounded a lot like “be like OG Skam S3.” Because Skam S3 was well-written and made sense. But I tried to think of edits that worked with what wtFOCK was presenting, not just repeating OG.

(I’m also repeating a few things in this section that I said above, btw)

While this episode doesn’t make me angry or anything, it’s got a serious problem with dithering. The first clip is a solid start to the season, but afterwards, so many of these clips feel like filler. There’s a lack of substance to them. It was hard to write about them because they ended up feeling like two minutes of nothing.

Did we need to see repetitive mentions of Robbe’s troubled relationship with his dad? No, it’s an important plot detail but we could have established that more concisely in fewer clips. Did we need to see the process of how Robbe comes to stay with Zoë, Senne, and Milan? No, not really. Or at least not dragged out over at least three clips.

I don’t feel like I’m in Robbe’s head to the extent that I should be so far. Some of this is because the show just flat-out locks us out of his POV, like not showing the phone call in the Jens-Jana clip. But a lot of it is also because of the narrative dawdling. There’s just not as much to analyze unless I bring in Skam season 3 and project what we know about Isak onto Robbe. And that’s not a good way to adapt a story.

The framing of Robbe/Noor needs to change. Combine the bathroom intro with the aborted sex scene - the boys are sitting in the tub, teasing Robbe about getting laid, so he makes out with Noor and they go into a bedroom where he’s clearly not into this, and then Moyo and Aaron come in asking for weed because Robbe still actually has the weed from the bathtub at this point. Or do what Skam France did (can’t believe I’m referring to Skam France) and have the arrival of the cops interrupt the makeout/sex session and Robbe takes his cue to exit.

But frankly, it’s not great to have Robbe acting or looking too cozy with Noor, like this is a legitimate romantic arc except when it gets to the sex. The point is that this isn’t a romance. Even if you want to show some cuddly, non-sexual scenes with Noor, you have to show more of Robbe’s reluctance and fear throughout.

Show Robbe’s fucking phone conversations with his parents!!!! Good Lord. He’s not ordering a pizza. These are important aspects of his story. Capitalize on that family tension, show us what a bad place Robbe is in at the start of this season.

Now, about the lack of Even in this episode. Not introducing Even is a bold move, but not necessarily a smart one. Even’s introduction in Skam is not just the intro of “the love interest” - he’s the catalyst for almost everything in Isak’s story. Consider that in episode 1, Isak is seen mostly unhappy and bored - he’s distraught after kissing Emma, he’s checked out of his friends’ lunchtime girl talk, he zones out staring at his teacher’s boobs, he doesn’t want to be at kosegruppa. Isak is actually very passive and just going through the motions, doing what people tell him to do. But once Isak meets Even at kosegruppa - well, that’s when Isak wakes up. In the next few clips, we see Isak taking action. And sure, they’re small actions, searching for Even online, watching the Even video over and over, asking Vilde if there will be more kosegruppa meetings. But we can see that Isak now cares about something, he’s paying attention. Of course, Robbe’s story doesn’t have to follow the same arc. However, it does the season a huge benefit to get him intrigued by something at this point, so we the audience are not just sleepwalking along with him for a few episodes.

There’s also just the simple fact that we have only 10 episodes to establish a love story and make us care about the Even character, and it’s a very risky move to waste too much time. If you are really killing it with the rest of Robbe’s arc, this could still work, but ... well, that’s not what’s happening here.

If they didn’t want to full on introduce the Even directly, one thing they could do is subtly and indirectly find ways to include him in the narrative and create some mystery. Let’s say Robbe sees the Even’s artwork somewhere and is like whoa, that’s cool, and we can tell that it resonates with him. Or he admires Even’s graffiti, or it makes him laugh, whatever. Basically Robbe has some kind of emotional reaction to a thing the Even has created or done, which helps to set up that relationship even before we officially meet the Even.

If we want to add a little more, perhaps Robbe sees a mysterious dude in a mask tagging a wall, but they get interrupted by the cops or something and have some kind of brief but intriguing interaction with each other, and Robbe’s like, who was that guy in the mask? Or Noor takes Robbe to the tagging place, the police/security bust them, Robbe and Noor get separated, and Robbe gets helped out by the Even so he can escape. So it’s an important moment, lots of adrenaline, we can frame it like there’s a sudden ~charge~ between them (ooOOOooo the Even helped Robbe stand up and their hands touched like this was a fanfic, etc.), but he doesn’t learn Even’s name, maybe he doesn’t even see his face because Even has a mask on, so Robbe spends part of the next few episodes trying to figure out who that guy is, casually asking Noor if she knows a guy like that, keeping his eyes open. Maybe we have some fakeouts where Robbe thinks he sees the Even again but it’s just a false alarm. He’s on edge, eager to know more about that mystery guy, and so are we. Bam, we have “awakened” Robbe from his deep sleep.

If you’ve seen Netflix’s The Get Down, there’s even a scene like this where Jaden Smith’s character gets caught tagging by the cops, he runs and flees with another young dude, and they have a moment where they recognize each other as graffiti artists they admire. While watching that scene for the first time, without any context or spoilers, without even knowing if there would be LGBT content in that show, I immediately thought, “This guy is his love interest.” Not even because it was overtly romantic. Because the way it was written and shot told us that this meeting was important. Because they had an instant connection. Something similar could have worked for Robbe and his Even. But in any case: it would have been best to establish something between those characters, even if it wasn’t an “official” introduction.

Stop focusing on Aaron/Amber when it’s not in Robbe’s POV. Reverse the scene at the beginning with Aaron videotaping and Amber getting spilled on. She gets pissed, he falls in love, and then we follow him upstairs and we meet the boy squad. That is a very obvious, very clean transition that doesn’t interrupt Robbe’s POV as it technically hasn’t started yet. So IDK why they didn’t do that, lmao.

Some changes with the Milan relationship:

Tweak the apology scene to be more representative of Robbe’s issues. Have Robbe apologize while still stressing that he’s not gay. Have Milan be chill and not question that statement, but maybe Robbe is so defensive that it comes across as unconvincing.

Then have Milan be the one instead of the boys to interrupt the Noor almost-sex scene. Milan wanders in acting drunk, haha Milan, he’s wacky. Robbe doesn’t realize it (though the viewers do if they’re paying attention) but Milan is only pretending and is “subtly” rescuing Robbe because he realizes, based on the earlier scene, that Robbe might be struggling with his sexuality and he wants to give him an escape option. (Although I still think it’s best to combine the not-sex scene into the opening clip, but this could work, too.)

Basic questions we need to be asking, clip to clip: what is the conflict? Where is Robbe’s head right now? Why is this scene necessary? How did this scene come to be - what’s the cause and effect here? How does it advance Robbe’s story? Is it redundant? How do we tell this story in a narratively economical manner?

#wtfock reactions

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roccinan · 4 years ago

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I love myself, but not today

*gasp* Me? Actually writing on a writing blog??? Shocking!

I don’t really know where I was going with this or if I’ll ever expand it and post to AO3 so for now, this drabble stays here. It’s a character study/backstory exploration for Andres (again, not exactly a headcanon I 100% believe, just an idea with some darker turns). Goes with Alvaro’s “same father” hc and can be read as compliant with Corners and also Hermanito (to a smaller extent)

Warnings: referenced child abuse, referenced illness and drug abuse, implied sexual abuse, misogyny/sexism, references to child birth, POV 2nd person, intentional vagueness

Relationships: Mostly Andres-centric (asdfasdf no I do not condone whatever’s going on in his head); a side of #hermanos, some berlermo foreshadowing if you squint

Not sure if anyone will read this, but if you do, hope you like this experimental chunk.

I love myself, but not today

Your name is Andrés de Fonollosa. And you’re a son of a bitch. Anyone who knows a lick or two about you will say you’re a fucker from hell. A bullet for a heart and a cock for a brain. They’ll call you a vile, wicked thing that should have died in your mother’s womb. But you know it’s not true. Because the truth is, you are much, much worse.

There is a man inside you (one day you’ll give him a name), festering under skin like the once-swell of your mother’s belly. If you’re in the mood for lying, you can say he was born on a sour day, the exact hour you felt the twitch of Mamá’s nerves in your dying bones. But no, no. This man has lived with you since your first breath. You can say he fed on you until he broke out, a grinning thing of blood and teeth.

But the truth is-- he fed you.

Your life is hell. You don’t need anyone to tell you. You learned all about hell before heaven ever crossed your mind. You knew dirt before you thought of clouds. Knew the taste of iron and salt years before sugar touched your tongue. Back then- at least- you can admit, “Andrés de Fonollosa” did nothing for you. He doesn’t stand between you and the cigarette kissing your skin, doesn’t wipe the piss from your mother’s legs, doesn’t stop the hands tugging at your hair. You owe Andrés nothing and you owe (you’ll give him a name one day, this man you nursed since birth) everything.

You love your mother, or so you say. That’s what sons do. But when she looks at you, there’s a message between her dull eyes, one that says, “I wish you were never born.” It’s a silly thought from a feeble thing. Women, you decide, are fragile and weak. (No, a little voice says, they used to be strong, until you looked over the shoulder of her lover and saw her sobbing in a corner, withered bones and wasted salt, doing nothing to stop the blood from leaking off your lip.)

You love your mother, or so you think. You cannot say the same for your father. But in spite of your best efforts, she leaves you in hell. Once, to the powder because it’s all she can procure. And twice, when her eyes glaze over atop wet sheets. You think you should let her die. Think she might as well have died when you dragged yourself out of her womb, a warhead choking on her cord. A stretching, wrinkled piece of flesh, the prune that your father left. You won your fight with her before she even had the chance to strike.

Maybe if you had his face, she would be happier. You don’t know. You’ve never been lucky, but you like to gamble. So even as a babe, you chose to wear her face instead of his. A ghost of who she was, a challenge from your birth.

You don’t cry when Mamá dies. Because she’s not dead, not really, not when her phantom lives in your face, your blood.

Someone says you look like a woman, but maybe he meant to say you look like your mother. It doesn’t matter. You crush his nose with the flat of your hand. Cartilage crumbles under your palm like clay. It’s not so hard to hold your own after that.

Then you think of crawling out of hell, swimming off when no one’s lurking. Looking. But you’re a spiteful thing. Not a coward, you tell yourself. Only a son of a bitch who finally grew a fucking spine. So you turn back and climb down.

This is your den, your hell. And you are king.

It won’t be long before you learn of the sanctity of marriage, or so you claim. Before you dip your toes into the power of vows and a whiff of luxury always at the tip of your brain, you almost settle for a vapid face and cheap lipstick. Between your girl and the widow who offered to teach you French, you don’t really care who kisses you so long as there’s someone to hold your dick. (A woman, though, always a woman. Never a man. Never again.)

Until she traces the scar- one among many- on your hip one night, whispering her hand down the jagged edge. She says she likes it, “sexy, manly, a battle scar.” It’s a wakeup call. You end things there, and you don’t care if she cries and screams and calls you a bastard fucked in the head (what else is new?). You’re not going to waste any more time on the smell of cigarettes and dust on the road.

She called it a battle scar. But you know it’s a sign of defeat, an angry mark on skin that tells the world you’re nothing better than a rat on the street. No different from the men that claw at each other’s throats over anything so much as bristled pride. Your pride is of a different sort, a dignity you no longer want to lose.

Some men aim to kill. Others aim to hurt. And you, you aim to prove a point.

And you’ve wasted enough of your youth on blood and spittle, in some effort to keep the reins of your domain. So you leave without a word. You are a gentleman, or so you say. From now on, you have a goal. You’ll walk up the hill of dirt, even if you have to limp, and pull yourself up to the looming sky. You will wash the blood off with soap and spend the rest of your life with silk and cotton, and preferably a docile, coy bride (or two, three, maybe five) at the altar. You dream of Dulcinea’s arms and a bed in the clouds, the farthest you can fly from the rotting dirt that birthed you.

No one will scar you again. And it doesn’t matter what you do to keep it that way. Better them than you, after all.

Then your father dies. He leaves a boy behind, a boy who until now, you believed grew up with everything you made do without. You see him out of spite, because no matter which pelt you choose, you’ll always be a bastard through and through. You hear that he’s frail, as pitiful as you are strong, and you think it’s mighty funny that your father built him so much worse than he built you. A pungent taste of irony, the gleeful voice says.

But when you finally speak to him, that tart voice dies, and the road shifts beneath your feet. He comes to call you “Andrés,” without a trace of disdain on his tongue. Only “Andrés.” With a needy timbre he tries to hide. His hand too shy to touch yours, even after days, weeks, months. He says, “Andrés” and you can hear the concern floating within, the faint hope that you can love him back. He calls you “Andrés” as if you were always Andrés, not something spat out and told to die.

Your name is Andrés de Fonollosa. And you’re a son of a bitch. You come from hell. But the thread of light that lures you out isn’t a hill of dirt or a sunny sky. It’s the voice of your brother and the shy smile on his lips. The Isaac to your Ishmael.

Sergio Marquina is, you think, the first spot of light in your wretched life.

----

The second spot of light is an accent from across the sea.

#not sure how to tag this #umm???#drabble #I have ZERO idea if this style works or not LMAO #I guess 'corners' was just on my mind again #originally wanted to include more of Martin in the last line but the drabble was too empty anyway #I don't think it'd flow unless I fleshed the whole thing out #but if I did that it wouldn't be a drabble anymore asdfasdfadf #me @ me: we are showing self control for once!!

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laineybug04 · 5 years ago

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A Helping Hand

Amy has a hard time being taken seriously after Chaos destroyed Station Square. So when she has a vision of a boy stuck in a capsule who may be the key to Eggman's next big scheme, no one is willing to listen or help her. Determined to help save the day this time, Amy strikes out on her own to save the mysterious black hedgehog from her dreams

Chapter 1- Next Chapter

I saw this concept while browsing tumblr. Special thanks to mewmewhakusho and another-sonic-blog for letting me play around with this idea. I've been a Shad/Amy shipper for YEARS and I've never seen this idea play out before. Here's my take.

Extra special thanks to Nothin' Fancy for beta reading for me once again!

Visions of Grandeur

A delicate white-gloved hand hovered over a deck of cards spread in an arc on a table covered in red lace. The cards were shiny and looked almost brand new. Amy knew better- they were a family heirloom passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years. If her mother was to be believed, they were almost as old as the chaos emeralds! The candle sat to the right of the cards- its flickering light dancing against the shadows, causing the patterns on the cards to sway with them.

A young pink hedgehog stared with green eyes bright from excitement, and glowed in contrast to the dark, ominous mist which surrounded her. The mist was thick with sinister whispers, yet the girl hardly heard or cared to listen. Her anticipation at what was in store trumped any caution she may have had.

She greedily took three cards from the deck and laid them hastily but neatly in front of her. One straight horizontal line that would reveal her destiny. Her hands gently laid them perfectly straight, over the first to the left that represented the past that she needed to know. She continued over the present that the unknown past had affected. Finally she caressed the final one on the right- the future! She twirled in place, her joy was just too much! Sure the last one tended to be fuzzy, but she could usually guess based on the first two, so it was mostly just to complete the rule of three.

Amy Rose was no stranger to tarot readings, in fact she had even used them to find out how to be with her hero, Sonic! They'd shown her Little Planet, where Sonic had bravely saved her life. They'd shown her future- a life of adventure, thrill, new friends and becoming a hero alongside her Sonic in their fight against the old, and nasty, Dr. Eggman.

A gleeful smile took over as she imagined what the cards would show her now! Their first date? Kiss? Wedding day? THEIR CHILDREN? She giggled in sheer delight at the prospects of her happy future. But even as her heart pounded, demanding she quickly reveal her fate, she took a shaky breath to calm her nerves. She wanted to retain some adult-like dignity- this was her future after all! Amy steadied her hand, and flipped over the first card on the left.

The shadowy mist that surrounded her table converged on her and turned to an unforgiving steel color. Her smile faded and her happiness ebbed away- the past was almost never this cryptic. Not unless something horrible had happened. She searched through the fog but only found a large window with thick glass and a foggy reflection. Immediately her heart began to thump painfully, and so quickly, she felt it could give Sonic a run for his money. She pressed her hand to the cold glass and listened to the horrors going on behind her. She heard screaming, gun-shots, and shouted orders over stomping boots. When she inhaled, her nose was assaulted with an unfamiliar scent, it was a sharp coppery smell, with a dark, burnt undertone to it. Her whole body hummed with fear and hopelessness, a heavy weight of despair pressed down on her from all sides.

Amy tried to breathe, and her throat seized, so desperate to help, but with no way to know what was wrong, she floundered. Even in a lucid dream, it was so hard to make out the view behind the glass. It was blurred at first, but as she strained her eyes, she started to make out small white dots within a deep velvety black. The sounds behind her muted slightly as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. And then she realized, she was staring out into the void of space. She looked down, and to her despair, she saw her beautiful home planet of Mobius being drenched in blood that was flowing from the window.

She stared on in horror- she had no way to fix this. Worse still, she hadn't seen Sonic, or really anyone who could help her. She turned back into the fog, trying to see something, anything that the fog could show her how to stop the blood. She searched but still saw nothing and only heard the same conniving whispers under the sounds of the invaders. She growled in frustration and just jumped into the fog. She cried out, "Where are you!? Please, I can-"

She heard a gunshot, one that was louder than the rest, almost as though it was by her head. That wasn't what stopped her in her tracks. No- it was a scream that was so broken and filled with such heartbreak that she'd never heard in her life. The voice was young, maybe only a few years older than her, and it was deep and gravely with fear. Tears burst from her eyes as her heart broke from the anguish in his scream.

"MARIA!"

Amy could feel herself being pulled back out of the dream but she fought it, bringing herself back to the table and looking at the face of the card. She rolled her eyes, she should have known- Eggman's emblem was plastered over the dark background of space- it's eyes bleeding down to the earth below.

"The Death Egg," she decided, shaking her head, "Like that's a big surprise."

Still, her whole body shook. She knew the terrors Eggman had brought onto the world- the Great War between mobians and humans had been unkind to both sides. Eggman, specifically, had chosen himself over either side. It was only recently that Princess Sally and King Nigel had reached out and cultivated a more friendly relationship with them. But the history between the two people was still painful. Even with Eggman as a common enemy...

"I wonder if the United Federation will be involved," she murmured cryptically.

She glared skeptically at the second card, her excitement from earlier had been murdered and thrown out into a ditch. Now she was hesitant to see what else these cards had in store for her. Her frown deepened and she squared her shoulders- she knew how her tarot worked. It would not show her the past unless it was going to have a huge impact on the unseen present.

Amy flipped the card.

This time the mist retreated entirely and she found herself deep in the heart of a jungle. Lush greenery surrounded her, and the warm, tropical wind rushed around her, making the leaves rustle in a soothing lullaby. Her head bent backwards and she saw small twinkles of the afternoon sky between the gaps in the thick canopy above. Her eyes closed for a moment, as she felt peace enter her troubled heart and chase away the horror from the previous vision. She took a deep breath, allowing the damp, warm air to embrace her. She felt light, joyful, and her feet started to move in rhythm with her happiness. As she twirled, her eyes caught the glimmer of gun-metal that froze her heart.

She fell before she could get a better look at it.

A gasp ripped out of her throat as she fell into darkness, but then there was a glow of harsh chalk on a concrete background, 'Was that red chalk?'.

Her fall slowed to a stop before she hit the ground and the writing on the wall was gone. Before her was what looked like some medical, mechanical monstrosity. She looked around to try and get a grip on where she was, but found only more rusted metal, abused cables, and neglected machinery around her. She looked up and saw the ceiling so far ahead, she wondered if she wouldn't die from the fall, normally. The walls were an uninteresting metal grey, and Amy decided to move her attention back to the console in the middle of the room.

As she got closer, she found the thing was so old and covered with dust, she couldn't quite see into the capsule. But she could see the outline of someone inside. She rubbed at the glass desperately, calling out to them. She let out a frustrated huff when she couldn't get them to respond. Instead she made her way to the console attached to it. She ran her hands over the dusty console and saw four buttons specifically that glowed through the dust on them.

"A... R...I...M..." Amy read out loud, "Arim?"

The scream from earlier ripped into the forefront of her mind and she realized the 'A' key had been pressed twice. She looked on in the capsule in sadness, "Are you Maria?"

The capsule pulsed, not in assent, but in Anger. Red mist seeped from the cracks in the capsule and the walls echoed a scream that was much older than the one she'd heard before. This was the roar of an older man- not a child like before. But before she found herself back in the room with the red table, she felt the room ring with a terrible, evil laugh- very much like the one she'd heard come out of Eggman before.

When she was back in the red room, she looked down at the card. It showed multiple strings of chains, some an old, but strong metal and others almost see-through. They were wrapped around a black arm that clung to them so tightly they practically bit into the skin. Over all of the chains was stamped what she recognized as Eggman's insignia. She scoffed in annoyance and confusion, "What the heck is Eggman up to this time?"

A small, scared part of her wondered if it would be worse than what had happened with Chaos and Station Square. Using a literal god of destruction hadn't been enough to take Sonic down. What else was that crazy old doctor willing to do in order to win against the Hero of Mobius?

Her jaw set as she looked at the final card on the table. She knew she wasn't going to get too many answers from it- the future was never truly set in stone after all. This time the main character of the cards was not Sonic or her, but Eggman. She was worried about what the future may hold, but she shook her head. Amy still had no idea what Eggman was up to and she knew she couldn't leave here without at least a tiny clue about what he was up to.

She flipped the card.

Now she was in a new, dark room. The walls were scrawled with the same crazed red chalk she'd seen earlier that seemed to pulsate with malicious intent. In the center of the room sat a lone black hedgehog, curled into a ball with his hands over his ears.

"Hey!" she called out as she ran to his side, "Are you okay?"

The ball unfurled and was on its feet so quickly Amy gasped in surprise. The hedgehog twisted around to face her and Amy was struck by what she saw.

There were dark red streaks in his fur that matched the writing on the wall and his wide eyes. A snarl twitched on his lips as his white gloved fists clenched at his sides, ready for a fight. The white puff over his heart heaved with his labored breathing. To anyone else, this creature would be terrifying. Who on earth had naturally red eyes that seemed to permanently glare into your soul? However, Amy's heart broke for him- the hedgehog was barely out of boyhood, almost Sonic's age, chained to the floor of the room by his wrists and ankles.

"Here," she reached out gently, "Let me help you."

The hedgehog's eyes widened in surprise and he seemed to lean forward for a brief moment. But the next second his sneer deepened and he swung his arms out, "Don't touch me. This is where I belong!"

Amy looked around incredulously before shooting him her own shocked look, "You... don't look happy being here."

"Tch," he scoffed as he folded his arms, "It's not about happiness. It's about what they deserve. What I deserve."

Now the walls seeped with a red mist that the boy was starting to choke on and walls rumbled ominously. Still she stared on at the shadowed hedgehog in front of her and all she could think about was how to get them out of there. She reached into her pockets and was amazed and elated to feel her fingers brush against the cold, metal shape of a key. Amy smiled- she knew this was the key to the hedgehog's chains.

"Nobody belongs in a place like this," she called out in spite of the poison surrounding them, "Come on! Just give me your hand and we can get out of here."

The boy growled and lashed out with the chains, "I said NO!"

Amy dodged the chains and now she was angry, "Stop being silly! This place is going to kill you!"

"You're too weak to stop it!" he growled out, his sneer turning into a soft but cruel smile, "You're pathetic!"

Now Amy's cheeks puffed out in rage. She clenched the key in her hands and she lunged for the hedgehog, "I'LL SHOW YOU WEAK!"

She was pinned to the ground before she'd reached him. As the hedgehog stood over her, holding her down by her throat and his other arm pressing down on her chest, the room began to collapse around them. The mist surrounded them and was only pierced by the glow of seven bright lights that circled around them ominously. The boy's red markings faded into a shadowy mist and his whole body blurred into a vague black monster that held her down and kept her from breathing. As the world faded around her, Amy saw the final card float in front of her- the earth and moon shattered against the backdrop of space.

She heard a sad sigh reverberate in her mind...

Amy found herself on her back, in her bed, with the shadow creature still trying to choke her.

She groaned lowly in frustration. This creature was not the same boy she was trying to save in her vision but some vague dark monster that would try to "choke" her while she woke from her lucid dreams.

"Ugh," she thought as she began to hold her breath, "Sleep paralysis. My favorite."

Amy held her breath for what felt like forever- even as her body shook with desperation and fear of the monster in front of her, she knew there was only one way to escape the beast. She waited as her body slowly woke from the hell, first with tingling sensations in her toes. It was not a pleasant feeling, it felt like tiny, heated needles poking into the pores of her skin. It slowly gravitated up her legs and when she attempted to move her feet to quicken the process, she found she couldn't move them.

Maybe twenty seconds later she finally felt herself wake up and she shot up from her bed with a gasp. After several harrowing seconds of catching her breath she searched the room for the shadow demon from earlier. Only when she found no signs of it did she rest her head in her hands with a groan. Normally she loved being able to consult her tarot cards, even if it always ended in her being caught in sleep paralysis. They tended to show her premonitions of hope, happiness and adventure!

Tonight though...

Amy shook her head, she knew she wouldn't get another wink of sleep tonight. She turned to the window and saw the soft light of the night just before dawn. Amy heaved a large yawn and got up anyway. She dressed in her signature red dress in the dark of her small windowed tent, bemoaning the loss of her apartment six months earlier. As she picked up a bucket from the corner of her room she dreamed about the running water she used to enjoy. She walked out into the pre-dawn landscape, swinging her bucket despite her conflicted mind and got ready for the day.

She walked out into the cleared ruins of the outskirts of Station Square. As desolate as the area was, she couldn't help but give a small smile. The tents each represented at least one person from Knothole Village who chose to help in rebuilding Station Square. At a glance, Amy counted well over three dozen tents- almost a third of the population of Knothole. Amy scanned the horizon- the work on the city was slow going but it was coming along. The water had been completely drained since about a month after the god, Chaos, had wreaked havoc to the city and the buildings were now mostly safely demolished. Despite the devastation, the Mobians were determined to help rebuild what the human's had lost to be better and stronger than before.

"Not to mention learning more about human building techniques," Amy thought with an eye roll. She'd overheard Sally bring that up at the beginning of the rebuilding project. She couldn't argue with how smart it was, and it had gotten so many more volunteers out. Amy couldn't help but feel a bit leery at the phrasing, however, "It's like people can't just help because they can."

Speaking of helping, as Amy filled her bucket from the well- a mechanical marvel very unlike the traditional wells they'd had to use in the past- she couldn't help but think back to the poor boy she'd tried to save in her dream.

"I wonder what Eggman wants with him," she murmured under her breath, "And why he's okay with it...

"If he was okay with it," she corrected herself, a sad weight clutching her heart, "What was that writing on the wall, anyway. Part of the curse...?"

"Hun?"

"I wonder if those lights were the chaos emeralds," she continued to mutter under breath with a shrug, "Wouldn't surprise me if they were involved, somehow."

"Rosie!"

"There's always got to be some sort of magic when it comes to Eggman," she sighed as she stretched her neck mindlessly, "For a mechanical genius, he sure relies on the supernatural a LOT."

"Amy!"

Amy was pulled out of her reverie and shrieked when she saw her bucket was overflowing and she was wasting so much water. She scrambled to shut the water off and turned apologetically towards the person behind her.

Bunnie Rabbot looked on at Amy with a concerned raised brow over sharp green eyes, one mechanical hand resting on her hip and the other holding her bucket. One mechanical foot tapped methodically against the silence before she pointed to Amy with her good arm. But before she could say anything, Amy gave a little chuckle,

"Hey... Bunnie!" Amy smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, I got a bit distracted."

"Y'all right, there Rosie Cheeks? It's awful early in the morning for you to be up. You sleep alright?"

Amy stood aside to let Bunnie get her water before shaking her hand in a 'so-so' motion, "Could have been better. I... I drew my cards today"

Again, Bunnie raised her brow, "Drew your cards? That a Station Square sayin'?"

Amy shot her a deadpan look, "My tarot cards? The ones I used to find Sonic? The ones that told me to move to Station Square?"

"Right, right. Sorry Rosie-Cheeks, I forgot," Bunnie shut off the water and gave her own sheepish look, "My stahs, I've been runnin' mahself ragged out here. 'Tween helping Sugah 'Twan with the soup kitchen and the main construction site I've been getting pulled in all sorts a ways..."

She giggled but then blanched at her joke, "Don't read too far into that, I shouldn'ta said that..."

Amy rolled her eyes- at twelve years old, she was way too used to hearing the older crowd telling her what she should or shouldn't hear, "Sure... anyway... have you heard anything about where Sonic is? I need to talk to him about what I saw."

Bunnie winced with a small sympathetic hiss, "Ah'm sorry, hun, but Sugah Hog left to go chase a rumor about Doctor Eggman. He left a while ago for Oil Ocean Zone just a few minutes ago..."

Amy's cheeks puffed out and her hands found her hips, "UGH, SERIOUSLY!? He didn't even say goodbye?!"

Bunnie sighed, "Ah'm sure if you called him he'd answer. Or you could talk to Sally..."

Amy's arms crossed and she scoffed, "Please, he never answers his calls. And Sally's been too busy rubbing elbows with the President. Rotor and NICOLE don't believe in my 'mumbo jumbo' and Tails has been loosing it over his stupid project..."

"Now, Amy," Bunnie chided while picking up her bucket and pointing at Amy in a scolding manner, "He helped save the city from Doctor Eggman, too, you know. He deserves a rest..."

"He isn't resting though!" Amy cried, "And I helped save the city too!"

"Of course you did, Rosie-Cheeks. Takin' down that Zero fella really took a lot outta you... but, we're all doing our part," Bunnie chided dismissively, "Look... I get that you had a bad dream..."

"Vision."

"Yea... that," Bunnie took a deep breath, "If it's that important to you I can listen for a bit. I don't need to check into the kitchens for a while..."

Amy stared her down in frustration before she sighed, "Yea... okay... So you know how Tarot readings usually include a past, present, and future card?"

"Can't say I do, but I believe you!"

"Okay... Anyway, the past card had me in space and... I think it was another Death Egg."

Bunnie gasped, "You don't say..."

Amy nodded, "So at first I thought Eggman was hiding in space, but that's in the past. So the present one had me in a jungle and I dropped into a cave with really creepy red writing on the walls and I thought maybe that's where Eggman is hiding."

"Right, okay..."

"But the last card, the future card, didn't have anything to do with Eggman at all!" Amy ranted, "It was a black hedgehog... I think Eggman's going to use him for something really bad..."

"Oh, really? Who was the hedgehog?"

Amy shrugged, "I don't know. I've never seen a hedgehog with red tiger stripes in their quills like that, and the way his quills bent is like I've never seen before... and his eyes... he looked so angry and sad..."

Now Bunnie gave a knowing smile, "Well I'll be, I never thought it'd happen!"

Amy shot her a confused look, "What?"

"I didn't think you'd get over Sonic so quickly, Rosie-Cheeks!"

Amy's eyes widened, "Weren't you listening? This isn't about him!"

Bunnie rolled her eyes, "Sure it isn't. Look, hun, I don't think it's about Eggman. AH think, yer getting a lil crush on someone else and you're feel'n guilty 'bout leaving Sonic behind..."

"But I'm not..."

"And y'all shouldn't!" Bunnie put her bucket down and grabbed Amy by the shoulders gently, "Yer growing up now and that comes with a lot-ah complicated feelings. It's okay ta look a lil closer and see what happens! Don't ya feel bad about chasin' yer happiness Rosie-Cheeks! Yer still so young. Don' be afraid ta go chat up your lil friend when you see him 'round the camp again. I'm sure he'd really like a nice chat with a cute lil lady such as yerself!"

"But I haven't even... I don't have any..." Amy, enraged, stumbled over her words, "You're not even listening to me!"

"Aw, Ah'm sorry I couldn't help you more sweetheart," Bunnie said glumly before gasping, "Oh, I gotta go! Sugah 'Twan's waitin' on me and I still haven't gotten myself presentable yet!"

Amy huffed and sputtered as Bunnie waved goodbye and called out, "Go talk to Sally-girl if you need more help! She'll help y'all with your new boyfriend!."

Amy shook with frustration and her cheeks burned red-hot. She gave a growling shriek and kicked her bucket of water over. Too late, she realized she would have to wait in a now much longer line for water to brush her teeth and wash her hands. As she grumbled under her breath over not being taken seriously, again, she resigned herself to a long drive to Central City and a meeting with one Princess Sally Acorn.

White House-Central City, United Federation

10:16

Amy's mood had not gotten any better after her journey to Central City. Not that she was surprised, she'd had to walk the entire way to the other city because the buses to the other cities wouldn't let her on without permission from her mommy.

Amy growled in her seat in the waiting room of the White House, practically grinding her teeth down to the root. While she'd only been there a grand total of ten minutes, each moment seemed to tick by at a snail's pace and she was left consumed in such an angry aura that no one wanted to be anywhere near her.

"I swear, if Sally keeps me waiting just one second more, this whole house is going to be nothing but rubble when I'm done with it!"

"Miss?"

Amy's eyes shot the older human man, who dared to interrupt her incensed thoughts, with such a withering look she made the rest of his group flinch in fear. She was both angered and relieved to see the older gentleman was entirely unphased by this and even seemed mildly amused by her pouting.

Amy took a deep breath to reign in her temper, but her voice still came out curtly, "Yea, what do you want?"

The man raised one brow and replied, "I was hoping to ask you the same question. Are you lost?"

Amy's pout deepened but rather than give into her rising rage, she smoothed out her dress and held her nose up at him with an air of importance, "I'm waiting to see Princess Sally Acorn. I have important information about Dr. Eggman's whereabouts that I need to share with her."

Amy raised her eyes smugly to him, only to see that man's eyes widen only ever so slightly. She was even more infuriated when he folded his hands behind his back and leveled her with a condescending look, "Oh? That's odd. We've just gotten very reliable intel on his location. I imagine you've done your own well-founded research to come to your conclusions?"

Amy's cheeks puffed out. To be honest, she didn't have a reliable source and all she really had to go on was a jungle...

But her heart never steered her wrong- she knew she had to talk to Sally as soon as she could, "Call it a woman's intuition. I need to talk to her. Tell her it's Amy Rose."

His brows crinkled slightly and Amy was struck by the man's eyes. She'd never seen eyes that were different colors- one green, one brown. Something stirred in her heart and told her to be kinder to him. She took in his clothes- a deep green, almost black military jacket with matching slacks and the shiniest black shoes Amy had ever seen. Two stripes over his left breast pocket and the numerous medals put him high in the chain of command, although Amy had no clue where exactly. He was conspicuously missing a name tag on his uniform- a bit annoying but then she could always ask.

Finally the man offered a kind smile, "I recognize you now- you were with the princess upon her arrival a few months ago. I'm on my way to a meeting with her and the President. I'm sure we can spare a few moments for you two to... have a little chat before our meeting..."

If looks could kill, the old man would have keeled over from the terrifying glare she shot his way. He had turned and began to walk away by the time she took a few deep breaths and began to follow him. Slowly but surely, she soothed her irritation as they briskly strolled through the winding corridors of the mansion. Through it all, a persistent feeling thumped in her chest- a sort of deja vu that refused to let her go. Finally she turned to the old man, "I'm... sorry, I never got your name."

"Lieutenant Commander Towers," The man said with a restrained smile, "I'm with the G.U.N."

"...The...?"

"The Guardian Unit of Nations," he answered, "We oversee the defense of the United Federation against her enemies."

Amy frowned in confusion- the feeling of deja vu was just getting stronger, "...Did you... fight in the Great War at all? I feel like I know you from somewhere..."

The man stopped in his tracks and eyed her with concern, "Did you?"

Amy shook her head, "I was only three when Eggman took over. My parents did. Sorry, I thought I'd maybe seen you or your name in one of the old history books. It's starting to bug me, actually."

The man sized her up and Amy couldn't help but straighten her back and face him head on. For all that he'd made a poor impression, Amy still wanted to measure up. Finally, he offered a sad smile and a nod, "We're almost there, right this way."

He moved, and Amy was immediately gripped by tunnel vision. Her eyes honed in on a map of what she presumed to be the entirety of the United Federation from the Western shores of Soleanna to the Eastern most tip of Chun-An up to Holoska and down all the way to the most Southern edge of Mazuri. Amy scrambled to get a closer look at the map and zone in immediately on a tiny spot of an island almost 100 miles off the coast of the Mystic Ruins. Amy was just taking in the latitude and longitude of the island when the man came up ever so silently behind her, "Ms. Rose? Something the matter?"

Amy pointed to the island immediately, "Does this island have a jungle on it?"

The man frowned in confusion before deciding to humor her. His face quickly hardened then smoothed over when he had a moment to realize what island she was talking about. Despite his brief unrest, his voice was smooth and seemingly unconcerned, "I couldn't say- I've never been."

Amy huffed then gave a small determined grin, "It's off the coast of the Mystic Ruins... it has to."

The man shrugged, "I believe you. Now, if you'll follow me, I believe you have important information to share?"

Amy pouted and folded her arms over her chest, "Yea, yea, I'm coming, Abe..."

Now the man froze completely and halted Amy with a look that was both highly suspicious and entirely ill at ease, "What did you just call me?"

Before Amy could answer, someone called from around the corner, "Lieutenant Commander! There you are!"

They both turned to see a broad, stout man with an impressive beard in a similar military outfit to Towers. He clapped the tall, lanky Towers on the back and started to guide him away, "Abraham, you won't believe the progress the young princess has made in her little country, and so close to enemy lines! My dear, Knothole village has been in very impressive hands!"

"Thank you, Commander Thunderstrike," Amy heard the smooth, but very tired tones of Sally's voice and her heart lifted in relief, "That is very high praise coming from..."

She turned the corner and her eyes widened in surprise, "Amy! What are you doing here?"

If Amy had been the type to look before she leapt, she would have seen Sally was in no position to entertain any surprises. The princess looked tired, her hair, while not technically out of place, was drooping. It was clear to almost everyone that Sally had been in the middle of meetings with barely a chance to change clothes before the next stage of plans. All for the sake of having a mutually beneficial relationship with the humans that the mobians hadn't seen in literal centuries. It was clear that such lofty goals bore a heavy price. As determined as Princess Sally was, she was at the edge of her good graces.

It was a shame Amy caught none of this. She pointed immediately to the map, "I know where Eggman's hiding!"

Sally frowned in confusion while Amy lunged towards her and grabbed Sally's hand. The Commander and Towers looked on as Amy dragged Sally to the map.

"Oh? Do you, young lady?" Now the Commander turned his amused gaze to Sally, "Another savant in your entourage? Wonders never cease with you young critters, isn't that right Towers?"

Towers only gave an uneasy nod as Amy pointed to the island she'd been so fixated on moments before.

"There! Right there! He's on that island!"

There was a pause just before Sally gently massaged her temples and the Commander began to roar with laughter, "Oh, there's a good one. Trust me, my dear, no one is on that island."

"I know Eggman is!" Amy retorted, "Or at the very least he plans on being there soon!"

Towers' frowned down his nose at her, "And your sources?"

"None," Sally groaned, "Amy, please. We don't have time for this. We're in the middle of planning something. Go back to Station Square. We have everything under control here."

"Sally, please, you have to believe me! Something is going on on that island and we have to send Sonic there to check it out!"

"No, we don't," Sally countered, "We know where Eggman is and he's not on some desert island-"

"Jungle island."

"-WHATEVER island in the middle of nowhere!"

"Then let me go and check it out!" Amy begged, "Please, I know I can handle it, and I can at least see what's going on!"

"Absolutely not!" The Commander thundered, "Your Highness, I can allow some modicum of freedom within the country but..."

The Commander began to stumble over his words as he realized he couldn't very well explain how he knew Eggman wasn't there in the first place. In answer to his prayers, Towers took a step forward and offered, "This is within our sphere of influence and if Ms. Rose's information is even remotely legitimate, it's worth at least a cursory investigation. Allow us to look into this on our own while we work together on our separate venture to bring Dr. Eggman to justice."

Sally sighed, "Thank you, Lieutenant Commander. I appreciate your diligence and kindness in this matter. I suggest we consider this settled."

She shot Amy a look that made the pink hedgehog's blood run hot with embarrassment, "You don't believe me, do you?"

Now Sally's eyes flashed with anger and she grabbed Amy's arm roughly in turn.

"Excuse us for a moment gentleman, I'll return for the second meeting shortly," the princess said hurriedly as she dragged Amy around the corner into a room.

The room was filled with a series of maps and blueprints on it. The room had only two others in it, another tall man that Amy recognized as the President of the United Federation, and a white bat, with bright teal eyes that looked on in the barest hint of interest. Sally let go of Amy just long enough to grab a small pile of papers and slam them in front of her. Amy looked down, her heart frozen in shock as Sally revealed the pictures of a clearly reactivated Eggman base in the middle of Oil Ocean zone near Shamar. As Amy's hands gently hovered over the pictures, at one point even hovering over one of Eggman himself, Sally spoke to her in low but harsh tones.

"I understand that you want to be a Freedom Fighter. I admit we've given Tails a lot more leniency and responsibility that we've given you. And I promise once this is over we will be taking your training much more seriously than we have in the past-"

"I don't need training, I need you to listen to me!" Amy growled, "There's a boy who needs our help! A black hedgehog with red eyes!"

Sally continued unimpeded, "You're being incredibly childish and nearsighted if you really think you're the only one doing anything about all of this."

"Eggman has to be tricking you! Just let me go with them to the island and I can..."

Sally's fist clenched and she barely stopped herself from slamming it on the table. She took several deep breaths behind clasped hands before she tried again, "I believe you have visions. I believe you have insight into things that we don't. But this is hard evidence that anyone can see while yours are just vague apparitions that we can't analyze the way we can with these. There are only so many resources we can spare and frankly- I can't focus on some unknown black hedgehog, and Eggman, and rebuilding at the same time. So please… just..."

Now Sally drew close and her voice was now a harsh whisper, "Go back to Station Square. Stop throwing a tantrum and help where you're needed."

Amy stared into the cold, hard blue eyes of the princess, and she felt tears begin to burn at the corners of her eyes as she realized that once again Sally insisted on treating her like a small child. Sally put her hand on Amy's back and opened the door to the room, and with a gentle push, ushered the young girl from the room. Mortified, she saw the commanders had been right behind them, faces pale but unmoving. Amy only started down the hall when the door was closed softly behind her and she was left alone and with a pounding sense of anger and determination.

Back inside the room, Sally took several more deep breaths before she addressed the President directly, "Forgive me, sir. That was one of our trainees. She's... very excited to officially join our ranks."

As the President waved off her apologies, Sally failed to notice the stoic, almost fearful silence between the two commanders of the G.U.N and the bright, interested look of the President's mobian guest.

Mystic Ruins-Tails' workshop

15:22

Tails was in the middle of the most peaceful sleep of his life. For days before this, he'd stayed up late into the wee hours of the night- tinkering with the chaos emerald he'd been awarded for his part in saving Station Square. It was all worth it. If everything went as planned, the days of Eggman getting the jump on them or someone using the chaos emeralds for their own nefarious purposes would be a thing for the history books. He dreamed of being awarded the World Genius prize, the parades in his honor, and best of all- the thumbs up and hair ruffles he'd get from Sonic. He could practically hear the magic words come out of his mouth, "I'm proud of you, buddy!"

Just as he was about to get the key to the world and a solution to grow four, no, FIVE inches taller- he heard a frantic pounding at the door of his house. He gave a loud shriek as he was pulled from slumber and jumped from his bed. He fell, in a tangle of blankets and tails, to the floor below him. His eyes were so heavy, he could barely keep them open as he wrestled with the fabric prison that kept him from shutting the incessant pounding up. He groaned pitifully as he stumbled his way through his house and towards the door. He opened the door and was immediately blinded by the light of the summer afternoon. Tails adjusted his eyes and found, not Sonic, or a key to the world, or even a tiny emergency. To his dismay, he only found one Amy Rose at his doorstep with a wicked smile on her face and a full backpack behind her.

"Hey, Taaails... whatcha doin'?" She said in a cloying sing-song voice.

Tails glared at her pathetically before rubbing his eyes, "What'dyou wan'?" he whined.

"I need a faaavor~"

"I'm not driving you anywhere and I don't know where Sonic is," Tails quickly ground out while rubbing his poor blood-shot eyes, "Tools are over there, take whatever you want, just let me sleep and don't break anything."

Amy frowned, "You sure? I need to..."

"Please... Amy," he shot her a look that was practically in tears, he was so exhausted, "I... need to sleep. I don't even care if it's the Tornado. Just bring it back when you're done and let me sleep..."

As Tails stumbled into the wall a few times, Amy gently took him by the shoulders and guided him back to his room. Tails whined under his breath but allowed her to tuck him in and tousle his hair gently, "Sleep tight, Tails. And thanks for your help!"

Tails yawned and grumbled something under his breath before snuggling into his pillow with a smile. He was snoring by the time Amy marched back through his kitchen and into the basement area that led to his garage. She turned on the lights and was amazed by the absolute armory this kid had in his hangar. The walls cut deep into the cliff side, using the natural formation of the cliff to provide protection against the elements. Cables and rebar laced the walls from the ceiling all the way down to the water and they were lined with tables laden with gadgets, and experiments. The water, at high tide at that moment, was snaked purposefully around the machines like a moat. When she looked up to the ceiling, she saw the outlines of trapdoors that would open and lead up to the runway just outside his house. She ooh'd and aww'd over the planes for a moment before she stopped and frowned.

"These are great... but I don't know how to fly." She grumbled a little bitterly. She hadn't asked for flight training, but then Tails' hadn't either, if she remembered correctly. The empty promises of the princess, the Freedom Fighters, and even Sonic to teach her the basics mocked her at the edges of her mind.

"Why does Tails get to learn all the cool stuff? He gets to go on missions, be involved in planning… but I'm the one too young for that?" She thought, a little jealousy bubbling to the surface.

Amy shook out those miserable thoughts. Now wasn't the time to wallow in self pity or petty jealousy. She had a mission to complete. Someone had to look out for that haunted boy from her vision, and if everyone refused to help, she'd do it herself.

"Just like Birdy, and his family," she decided with a resigned nod.

She huffed in frustration but eyed the ATVs and the two cars Tails built and her frown deepened, "Those won't work..."

Her eyes feel on a three half-built boards on display over his workstation that sent her foot tapping in frustration, "I could boogie board my way there, I guess, but once I get to the island I'll be too tired to spy on Eggman!"

She pursed her lips and looked around the garage some more before she leaned against one of the cars. To her horror, the car actually started to slide. Before she could stop it, she had fallen over and the car had slipped and crashed into the moat of water around its display. She scrambled to try and get the thing back out of the water. As she pulled it back she realized that rather than sinking, the large car had started to float?

Upon closer inspection, she realized the car had a point in the front with a white bottom and bright golden yellow stripes on its sides. The seats were shaped like regular seats in a car, but the bottoms were now exposed so they could swivel and the floor was replaced with a hard wood deck. The clear black writing on the side declared this vessel to be dubbed, "The ROS Tsunami MKII". There was a lot of room to move about the cabin turned deck and Amy's smile grew brighter. She clapped and squealed with glee as she threw her bag inside and climbed aboard.

"I can't fly. But I can drive!" she crowed, "A boat can't be much different than a car! How bad could it be?"

She looked over the console and studied the buttons before her eyes fell on something that made her gasp, "A chaos emerald?"

And there it was, in all its golden yellow glory, sitting in the center console under a glass display dome that secured it into the boat. She smiled at this, "Great! No need to worry about running out of fuel! Now... where's the... AH HA!"

Amy found the button that displayed the map and fumbled through putting in the coordinates that she remembered from the map. She gave a victorious whoop as the engine roared to life and jerked towards the exit of the workshop. Her whoop turned to shrieks of fear as she barreled headlong towards a wall of rock. Just before she hit the solid wall she lunged towards the bow and summoned her hammer. She swung against the wall with all her might, opening a gaping gash that led out to the ocean. The boat sped out over the waves, leaving Amy to melt in a relieved puddle on the bow. She crawled back gingerly towards the captain's chair and practically slid into it. She wiped her brow and watched the console as it revealed the map to her destination.

"Okay... just a slight bump in the road," she murmured warily, "I can fix that when I get back. Tails never has to know. I can take some pictures, prove that Eggman is on the island, figure out what that capsule thing is and maybe find that boy stuck in the curse room! Easy as pie..."

Little did she know that pie is just... an absolute bitch and a half to make.

#Amy Rose #Shadow the Hedgehog #havenofear #Amy Rose is here!#Sonic Adventure 2 #coming of age #just a side story from One Hundred Moments #A helping Hand

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watchyourbluesturngolden · 4 years ago

Text

my annotations for chappy 11 of ysijwa

this is just for drea and leyla to read so if you're not drea or leyla pls keep scrolling :)

ok this is pretty chaotic and like i said earlier i treated this ike a wattpad comment section so... have fun ig :)

SHERLOCK AND WATSON CINEMATIC UNIVERSE SHUT UPPPPP I LOVE YOU SM DREA

NOT MISS SNAP CRACKLE POP

jealous y/n you say???

now i know why you ignored all my tiktok asks lmao

HELPLESS OH MY GOD

truly madly deeply intended :)

damn he's kind of a narcissist yk? like "I have to be serious my entire family depends on it" shut up mr darcy you're not special

devout in his religion hmmmmmm hopefully we see some more religious trauma content bc me too vampy

awww he wants kids but now he cant have them bc hes... dead :(

AWWW his sister taught him to knit :( if he doesn't knit bloodbag a sweater i swear to god

stuffy moron is correct

"IT'S A FUCKING WONDER HE EVER GOT LAID" OIJRIOJWEIOJIEWOJFIOEJOF

"THE ATROCITY THAT IS BEING ACQUAINTED WITH NIALL AND HIS HORRIBLE AFFINITY FOR CHEAP FLANEL" ORJFOIJFEIOWJ YOURE SUCH A POET

he's so dumb she was with him bc he's hot that much should be obvious to him🙄

FOOLISHLY HOPELESSLY UNMEASURABLY IN LOVE HWAT THE FUCK DREA IM SAD

i love that he remembers the spinal cord dislocation and the dead leaves . like yea im dead rn but the leaves in my hair are really what's bothering me the most

what the fuck is a maw

ok i looked it up i get it now

"attachment is for gullible idiots" yup and youre one of them vampy 😌

"the warmest skin his icy fingers had ever had the good fortune to touch" im so soft rn

oh so now she has "a wholesome beauty about her nature" ? i thought she was just cute enough 🤨

HE THINKS HER SMILE COULD RESTART HIS HEART THATS SO CUTE IM OUHOIJFOEWIJFIOEWJ

"the responsibility of keeping her safe, satisfied, and happy" how 🥺 🥺🥺

"as long as he breathes" i thought he didn't breathe lmao BUT I GET THE SENTIMENT

"always when it comes to her" IM SCREAMING RN THIS IS SO SOFT I CANT

ill never forgive him for being so dense either his brain is basically a rock

HE WANTED TO COMMUNICATE THAT HE BELONGED TO HER IM GONNA HAVE A STROKE

couldnt be me i dont want to be percieved

HE ADDED A FUCKING BUTTERFLY AFTER THE DISCO BALLS IM OIWFJIOEWJFIOEJIOEWNOJIWJ(*H(WUIOFJIOEWJFIOWHVIFUEH)U)($UT

HEY a hamilton obsession is not childish😤

'the only person who was allowed to touch him there was y/n' he's like a little kid who's possessive omggggggg

oh this reminds me i rlly hope everything in that chest was new and had never been used on anyone else owijfowiejfioewj

oh please my irish king can control himself let y/n meet the other vamps🙄

"if they knew all along why did it take so long" yk im wondering the same thing dummy

"every day was a battle to earn her love and affection" wtffff how could she hurt him like that he is just a baby

i think he needs therapy tbh

yes he does deserve to be treated with respect and dignity😤

"supporting and tolerating them despite your differences" exactly unless they're a republican

IM SORRY THAT WAS MEAN OIWFJOIWJFEIOw i said what i said tho

they did everything backwards but it's what baby needed🥺

im literally gonna 🔪 bradley how dare he hurt my favorite ribeye like that

PROPER BOYFRIEND-GIRLFRIEND BONDING PLSSSSS im sure he makes sure to say stuff like "as your boyfriend' or 'since youre my girlfriend' all the time now

"everything that has to do with harry has always and will always make her feel safe and secure" ...who's gonna tell her👀

HE BECOMES CLINGY IVE BEEN WAITIN FOR THIS ONE TURN IT UP

awwww my love language is also quality times bestiesssssss

(this is more serious you might want to change the words to nose kisses or something because esk*mo is a slur)

HE wants to be wrapped in HER arms and get forehead kissies like a little baby🥺🥺

i can tell you wrote this chappy bc leyla would never write about ice cream

IF CHRIST CAN GET A DATE MARKER SO CAN HARRY OIFJOEIWJFIOEWJFWI PLSSSSSSSSSS I LOVE HIM

ALWAYS FOR HER WEJFIOJWEIOFJEWIOFJOIEWJFOIEWJF HES SO IN LOOOOOVE

HE DID IT AND IM SO PROUD OF HIM🥺

omg i have a thot imagine if she got a heart murmur or something and obvi he knows bc he can hear it so now he has to find a way to make her get it checked out out without being suspicious 😭

HE ROCKS HER TO CALM HER DOWN WHEN SHES HAVING NIGHTMARES IJFEOWIJFOIWEFJ

“nearly blinds himself for eternity” what a drama queen i love him

maybe learn how to turn your brightness down grandpa

“can women sense emotional distress” why is this so funny oiewfjwieojfioewj

DEHUMANIZING OWEIJOIAJAKLFSDJLKSDJFKLD

not a psychotic episode 😭😭

crippling mommy issues woejfkljdklsjsdf me too king

awwwww he made her a full buffet i would cry

matchy socks im gonna sob

king is a chef 😌

y/n’s head @ harry’s clavicle rn: 💥

“his plush chest” drea its ok you can say titties

“absolutely flawless”? are you sure shes not just cute enough 🤨

he got her oat milk 🥺the sign of true love

hes such a shithead i love him

SPELLING HIS NAM E ON HER TUMMY IM HAVING ANOTHER STROKE

“I DIDNT WANT TO LEAVE YOU ALL ALONE” HES SO WOIFJSJFSDKJKLSDJF

HE DIDNT HAVE TO DO NIALL LIKE THAT 😭😭

RAPUNZEL HAIR OSIDJSKJKLSJF

she traces a tiny heart on him wtfffffffffff im sad

this… is hot

“theres no room on the counter” owifjlksjfslkfjklsj

HE WOULD WALK THROUGH FIRE FOR HER maybe then he’d be a little less cold

im sorry that was wrong of me lisjfskldjfwoiejewiojrei

OH MY GOD OWEIJFKLJSKLFJL SHES SO BOLD “can’t i?” OSIJFKSLJLKJF

oh boy hes gonna kill her

I WONDERED WHEN THE YOURE HOT WHEN YOURE MEAN THING WAS GOING TO COME UP

literally shut the fuck up mr english major

do it bestie kick him in the balls

SPARE BOOBIES MAAM I CNAT BELIEVE YOU aCTUALLY WROTE THAT OWIFEJWIJEKLJFOIEWHOEWIFEHFLKEWJFKLEWJKLJFL

IM WHITE IM ALLERGIC TO SPICE WEJFLKJFKLEJFLKJSKLJKFSJD

“character development at its finest” what a self aware king

y/n stop being mean to him baby just wants to feel close ☹️

“I’m anemic” ok king whatever u say

“ME AND MY CHRONIC ILLNESS IM SENSITIVE” IJFKLSDJFKLJSDKLJ

ahhhhhhh it’s yoga time

“just ask your cervix” jlksdjflksdjflkdsjflk

“if only you knew” ☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️

yeah y/n isnt like those other girls 🤪 shes different 🤪

yes bestie objectify him

THERE IT IS MY FAVORITE LINE IN THIS ENTRIE BOOK

PERHAPS MY FAVORITE LINE IN ANY BOOK EVER

“He hasn't been this stiff since rigor mortis”

i think about this on a daily basis i truly do

grey shorts? what a slut

“call the lapd im pressing charges” me after walking up the stairs

OH SO THIS IS WHERE THE GREYS ANATOMY CHARACTERS FROM THE SPOILERS WITHOUT CONTEXT COME IN

him using his shirt as a towel im BARKING

“I wasnt jealous” yea ok 😃

AGAIN HIM DRAWING HIS INITIALS ON HER SKIN THATS SO WOIJFSKLDJFLSJ

yeah harold she just wanted a little kiss 😤

yeah 😃 its bc he ran track 😃

no bc thats so fucking cute that she pretended she had never seen the show before bc he was excited to introduce her to it 🥺

I would do the same tbh i feel like it would be fun to wash dishes with harry idk why

“that skank” oisjksldfjklsjfklsdjflkd

YOUR THICK SKULL COULD DAMAGE THE MARBLE LSKFJKLDSJKFLSDJFKLSJFKLSJKLSJLDKFJLSKDJF I WOULD CRY

he gets her a cup of water 🥺

ok but like wouldn't she want to wash her hair after it got all sweaty at yoga

awwwww she got his toothbrush ready for him why am i so soft rn

memory foam mattresses sound nice but actually they kind of suck bc you sink down and feel trapped in them 😃

HE WATCHED THE TIKTOK SHE SENT HIM IM HAVING A THIRD STROKE

niall is probably on the dumbest side of tiktok idek what side but it’s probably annoying and he thinks it’s hilarious

noooo baby youre not a monster🥺 someone give him a hug rn

well actually you are kind of a monster but its ok we still love u bestie

I too run on caffeine and pizza pockets 😌

TONSIL HOCKEY WHAT THE FUCK OIEJFLSDKJFKLSDJFLSJLKFJSDKLFJ

chatsnap hes such an old man 😭

true lmao if you dont have social media i immediately dont trust you

not the i just washed my hands tiktok 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

HE FEELS STRANGELY PERCIEVED RN KJFLSJFLKSDJ IDK WHY THIS IS SO FUNNY TO ME BUT IM LIKE LEGIT LAUGHING

DO IT BESTIE BITE HIM CHOMP CHOMP

“my eyes are stinging” hes such a baby 😭

“MY SIGH”TS ALL FUZZY” SJFKDSLJFLKDSJFLKDSJFLK

“are you all right” “I dont know :(’ i cant handle this my face hurts from smiling lksjflkjafklj

he has a kitchenaid stand mixer omg thats so sexy

ok but has anyone ever gotten salmonella from raw cookie dough bc i think thats just a myth

fuck u for that one vampy

wow he could never deal with my chronically ill ass

WAIT IS IT WAP

NOPE ITS BETTER LSDFJSDKLFJDS

I agree body is absolutely an instrumental masterpiece

I KNEW HE KNOWS SOME TIKTOK DANCES I KNEW IT

“I know youre kinda into that (getting smacked in the face)” SHUT UPPPPPPP SKJFSKDLJFDS

NOT HIM TWERKING SLKFJSDKLFJDSKLFJDSKL

YES YN GET THAT VIDEO AND BLACKMAIL HIM

“I think i popped something” ok old man 😭

why is the word wench so funny lkfjslkfjdslkfjsdlkfj

dont hand it over i want to see him snap

OH SHIT HE JUST JUMPED THE TABLE LSDFJSDKLFJLKDNMNXCMNJKHOIUIOEUR

oooooooooooo

OH MY GOD AGAIN SHE REALLY IS BOLD SLKDFJDSKLFJLSKDJFLKJFS

not guerrilla warfare 😭😭😭😭

do it bestie give him a concussion he deserves it

“no piece of art could ever compare to her” 🥺🥺

“remember that time you told me making out was childish” “no” i hate him 😭

THERE IT IS AGAIN “sex isnt the only way he can feel close to someone anymore” SHUT THE FUCK UP IM SOBBING

this reminds me of the dehydrated intercourse with demonrry

“don’t care, relationships are about sharing’ hes so sdjfksldjfklsjf

DO IT BESTIE KICK HIS KNEECAPS IN

suing disney for false advertisement 😭

THIS SCENE IS KILLING ME LKJFKLSJFLDSJ “just pucker your lips over it” “You have actual brain damage, dont you?” DREA I LOVE YOU KSDJFLDSKJFLKSDJ

how do those bubbles taste babe

ok drea wtf i was so happy and now this??????

“everything’s wrong” NO SHUT UP SHUT UP ITS HAPPY HOURS

not the boob privileges 😭

WAIT THIS IS FROM THE BSE MV ISNT IT “dance is just so hot rn” “depressing shades are just so hot rn”

NOT HIM GETTING ALL STUTTERY WHEN HE ASKS HER IF SHE WANTS A DRAWER 🥺

NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN THIS GENTLE WITH HIM BEFORE WTFFFFFFFF IM CRYING

“youre so fucking cute, my baby” me when i see literally any picture of him

JELLO HAS a STRONGER BACKBONE THAN THIS KSFJSDKLFJDSKLFJ

“betrayed. objectified. taken advantage of. used. “ i hate him sm 😭😭

OH MY GOD IS SHE GONNA SHAVE HIS FACE THATS SO CUTE IM

SHE ISsSSSSS IM SQUEALING

stop him worrying she’ll think it's weird and wont want to do it 🥺

“bold of you to assume id ever be convicted” PLS DREA LAKFJDKSLFJ

“the more you talk, the more appealing manslaughter sounds” I CHOKED DLSKFJDSKLFJDKSJFDSKLJ

HIM WHISTLING TO GET HER ATTENTION WHY IS THAT SO CUTE

Im sorry but its really funny to me how you wrote the sentence “wrong metal, he thinks ironically” … get it ? like IRONically lkfjdslkfj im sorry i’ll show myself out

“this boy?” what a fucking cutie i want to kick him

I forgot what a bop helpless is thanks for reminding me im gonna go listen to the entire soundtrack again-

theyre so fucking cute i hate them

so yea bascally this is the best thing ive ever read and i love you so much and my face hurts from smiling :)))

#annotations #ysijwa

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alirhi · 4 years ago

Text

writing sample, I guess?

So, there’s this series of books I’ve been trying (and mostly failing lol) to get done for...gods, going on 20 years, now. fuck, I’m old. Anyway, I still haven’t finished a single book, ever, in my life, but I’ve got a lot of random snippets of widely varying quality lol and I’m bored so I figured... fuck it. I’ll share some stuff and see if anyone likes it. I’m starting with a scene that was scrapped from the second book in the series. sorry if it’s a little confusing, and I’d be happy to provide context if anyone asks. I just don’t have a lot of good stuff that’s not getting kept if I ever actually finish and publish any of this crap lol and I don’t want to start off with something that’s actually being kept, if that makes sense? Anyway, here:

oh first... TRIGGER WARNING! death, blood, violence, mentions some other traumatic things like torture and rape.

and despite other characters calling her a child, main girl is NOT. she’s in her 20s. just to clarify XD

"Dad!" Choking back sobs, Rachel stumbled just inside the door and skidded the rest of the way on her knees, coming to rest beside the man she'd truly come to think of as her father. "Dad... dad... Daddy!" Tears blurred her vision as she pulled the bleeding and barely-conscious warrior's head into her lap; she tried to blink them away, but only made them roll in steady rivers down her cheeks.

Voice wavering, she stroked his unnaturally pale face and whimpered, "Daddy, please wake up!"

He stirred, ever so slightly, and the one eye that remained in his skull fluttered halfway open. It seemed at first that he couldn't see anything around him, but then that cold blue orb came to rest on the most welcome features he could possibly hope to see in his final moments, beautiful even twisted in grief as they now were.

"Rachel..." Amadeus rasped. With a wince, he swallowed past the dry lump in his throat and tried again: "Little Lady... You cannot be here..." Feebly, he tried to bring one hand up to cup her cheek, but couldn't muster the strength. His arm sort of twitched uselessly by his side and then dropped, limp and weak in the steadily growing pool of blood beneath him. The shattered stumps where his wings had once sat twitched as she pulled him closer, but they, too, would never be of use to him again.

For one desperate, foolish moment, the young queen felt relief wash through her. He was alive! Resolved to keep it that way, she squared her shoulders and gently shushed him. "Let me concentrate. I'll get you healed up and then-"

"No."

Startled, she nearly dropped him. "What?"

Throat still dry and choked, Amadeus had to fight to push every word out. "I'll not... see another dawn. You must... lead our people... home."

"You're my people!" she protested, fresh tears stinging her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, daddy, I'll get you heal-"

"Rachel." Her mouth snapped shut as he turned his head to press his pasty face into her hand. Blind hope aside, they both knew he could never be healed; severed wings were the one injury no angel could recover from, no matter how much energy she wasted trying. He closed his eye for a moment, and when it opened again, he put all the strength and dignity he could into his gaze; it pierced through his sobbing Queen, and she shivered. With the last of his waning strength, he insisted in a soft growl, "Be my daughter."

The blonde hated that she knew exactly what he meant. Cringing, but unable to look away or deny him the one thing she could actually do for him, she lifted her stolen dagger and took a deep breath.

"I love you, Daddy." Hardening her heart, she closed her eyes and plunged the shining golden blade through his.

As his lungs deflated for the last time, Rachel filled hers and let out the longest, loudest scream she could manage. A surge of power shot out of her at the same time, slamming into the walls hard enough to cause spiderweb cracks in all four sheer rock faces, and causing the glass to explode out of the tiny window near the ceiling. Vibrant sky blue eyes turned a faintly glowing silver as she set Amadeus' body on the floor and stood. Her lap and hands were soaked in his blood, but she paid no attention. Her tears dried and her grief retreated behind blind, ice-cold fury.

The cracks followed her through the halls, and only grew when the stones around her began to shake as she conjured music through their atoms. This was no low-volume hum to entertain herself; this was her war cry, and it reverberated through the dimly lit halls, announcing her approach to every living thing left in the castle. She was hardly even aware of what song she'd conjured until she heard Jonathan Davis' voice tear through the building screaming "ARE YOU READY?!"

Experience during their invasion of her home world had taught her one thing: The Fallen hated her taste in music, and the driving beat that spurred her on well past the point of exhaustion and kept her focused disoriented the enemy. It was perfect.

"I'm sure I don't need to tell you that this is a very stupid idea." The blonde didn't even so much as twitch when Lazereth appeared out of the gloom and fell into step beside her. "You're letting everyone know exactly where you are."

"Do I look like I'm hiding?" she snarled, swirling silver irises flashing.

"Why aren't you on that transport, you foolish girl?"

In any other situation, her normally cool and collected friend's venom would have made Rachel pause, possibly reconsider her actions, but she was too far gone. Nothing penetrated the static that clouded her mind. No thought was given even the tiniest voice except one: Kill them all. Vengeance drove her forward, and as her rage built, the music grew louder and the cracks in the walls wider and deeper.

Lazereth blinked, taking note of the damage for the first time. "You're expending an awful lot of power, little one."

"I don't even feel it."

That was almost more concerning than the fiery hatred that radiated off of her tiny body. "Killian, child-"

"They killed my father." Rachel stopped dead in her tracks, finally turning to face her friend as she drew her borrowed sword with one hand; the other still kept a white-knuckle grip on the knife she'd driven into Amadeus' heart. The final strike had been hers, true, but that was mercy. He'd have died either way.

Lazereth growled, gripping both of the little blonde's shoulders and giving her a violent shake. "And your children need you! Your people need you!" At the young Queen's startled expression, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't look at me like that! Of course I know who you are. And now Matthias will, as well!"

"I don't CARE!" She shook the older woman off, not wanting to find out the hard way if her strange nullifying power worked on her. "Imprison me, enslave me, torture me, rape me... Whatever. I'll live. But no one fucks with my family!"

Tears stung the noblewoman's eyes, blurring her vision with an icy gray haze as she whispered, "You still have family, my dear."

"And Emil's taking care of the last members of it still trapped on this rock," Rachel snapped, breaking into a run as the song switched from Korn's Blind to Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song.

She didn't notice, and was too wrapped up in her bloodlust to care, when Lazereth stood where she was, one hand hovering by her throat and tiny pink lips forming one nearly-silent word. "'Emil'?"

It was surprisingly easy to make her way through the palace to the throne room. Rachel met with some resistance, but it was minimal; by the time she reached the closed and barred doors, it finally dawned on her that most of the King's forces were out looking for her in the city. Good. She wanted her next fight to be one-on-one.

"MATTHIAS!" The heavy doors slammed open, the broken timber that had been bracing them shut launched to two separate corners of the room from the force of her rage. Finding her prey there, huge eyes narrowed in feigned anger to cover the very real fear behind them, she smirked. "Let's dance, you ugly fucker."

The room trembled and her ears ached from the volume as the song she conjured changed again and grew louder. Pantera's 5 Minutes Alone brought Matthias's two remaining guards to their knees, clutching their heads in pain. Matthias himself had too much pride to be seen flinching, much less cowering, and that was fine with her. If he shrank and cowered, she could simply lop his head off and walk away. She didn't want that; she wanted him to suffer.

"You wanted the Pallandre Queen," she bellowed over the music as she slowly closed the distance between them. He took an involuntary step back before he caught himself, and her smirk spread into an insidious, almost manic grin. "Well, here I am, Matty. Come and get me."

Never breaking eye contact with her, the newly crowned King called out to his guards. He tried to sound commanding, even a trifle impatient; Rachel only heard the tremor of unease that made his voice waver and crack. She smiled again. "They're busy. Anyway, this fight is all yours, Matt. You invaded my home, you enslaved my people, you killed my father... and now? Now is your moment of fucking reckoning. You're gonna learn today, boy; don't start a fight you don't have the balls to finish!"

Finally she was mere inches from him. It was too close for her sword to be of any use to her, but that was fine; she still had the knife coated in Amadeus's drying blood in her other hand. Staring up at the lanky monstrosity before her, she cut the music at last and grinned as she pulled her glamour back in around her. She delighted in watching those comically large eyes get even bigger with shock as her golden locks and bright sky blue eyes both faded to a deep brown and her pale pink skin turned a beautiful light caramel color. "You should have killed me when you had the chance."

"You!"

The illusion dropped in an instant and she backed up a step, nodding. "Been here all along, baby." Quick as a striking snake, she pressed the flat of the knife blade against his bare arm and then danced back, cackling as he shrank away from her and howled in pain. "Not my fault you were too stupid to see it."

#my writing #fiction #fantasy #battle #snippet #original fiction #critiques welcome #i know i'm bad at death scenes #rough draft #scrapped

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jenomark · 6 years ago

Text

Nothing Ever Changes

○Pairing: Gangster!Kun x Reader (Female) ○Other Members/ Characters: WayV (briefly) ○Genre: gangster AU, smut, angst ○Warnings: oral (m), oral (f), penetration (f) ○Word count: 3,026

→Summary: Gang leader Kun doesn’t let anyone know about you, his own personal whore. For one night, you ask him to treat you like someone he loves.

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

One taste of him makes you feel like you’re drowning. The fear, it hits you before you open your mouth to say ‘Hello’. Power has a name, and that name can get you a lot of things. Or enough things to kill you. Everything you’ll do for him will be voluntary. You’ll hold your breath if he asks, because men like that tell you when to speak, when to think, when to be. He is a king, whose throne is your home. You won’t know it, and if you are unfortunate enough to catch on, you’ll wish you were ignorant enough long before the water fills your lungs. And if he tastes you back, you’ll welcome the death of his open sea.

His name is on the tip of your tongue: Qian Kun. Everyone talks about him in their whispers like he’s some sort of monster. You’re the girl that plays in the dark, the girl that stands in the face of men like him, and laughs. It’s dangerous business calling him out. It will feel like all of the city is looking straight at you, their eyes poking needles in your skin. Don’t cause a stir, dear.

You were raised right, even though you ran the streets until your knees were dirty with secrets. Being polite only got you so far, but being yourself, well, that put advantages in your pocket and money in your bra.

“And who are you?” Kun asks.

No, not asks. A man like Kun doesn’t ask for anything. Kun takes, and what he doesn’t take, he leaves for the vultures to pick through. Kun reminds you of that as his eyes rake you over, his piercing threats giving you only one chance. You resist the urge to play him like all men love to be played with. The whispers are deathly quiet, but you’re aware of their incentive: Qian Kun will kill you. Your eyes take in two of his members, YangYang and Hendery, and every little boy out too late past their bedtime.

“I’m nobody.” you say.

You want to believe that Kun is smiling, that the corners of his mouth are turned up just for you, but the only girl he’s ever moved for was Her. They still talk about Her, how She changed him, and how She left him. You’ve never seen Her, but maybe She was prettier than you. Maybe She was somebody.

“What was it you said back there?” Kun asks. “I didn’t hear you correctly.”

You don’t back down, even as he waits for you to cower. “I asked if you were going to take this whole city down with you.”

It isn’t smart of you, dear. Hearing the words come from your mouth makes the lights above you feel more harsh on your skin. This is your home, and although you’re loyal, it’s been going up in flames for years. The police activity is out of control. Beggars and liars run tricks at night, their outstretched hands ready to strangle any innocence that is left. Sins lay at every doorstep, calling out your name, exhausting what little good nature you have. You yearn for peace and other things Kun’s name hasn’t all but gambled away.

You wait for the slap, the hands around your arm, or the scolding. Will it come in the night, in the form of a pillow over the face? Will they disgrace your name instead?

“Would you go down with it?” he asks. “Either you go down with the city, or you’ll wish you had.”

You’re aware of the music stopping, of a bunch of ears turned your way. You can hear your blood rushing through your veins. He stares you down, his hand on his knee, his hat next to him on the table. You look over and see the door to freedom, but the escape is too narrow for someone like you to fit through.

“Gladly,” you tell him. “Anything for you, Mr. Qian.”

Kun’s face lights up, and suddenly, everything is over. The music resumes. The barmaid laughs her rowdy, drunken chortle. The color comes back to Kun’s cheeks, and just like that, all tension melts away. You see Lucas bouncing a woman on his leg, her breasts suffocating his face. Ten and WinWin are in the corner, counting stacks of money on the table. Xiaojun smiles politely at you, tipping his hat as if everything is just a joke, just a game. The world is alive, with or without you.

Your eyes fall back to Kun. His back is turned toward you, his exit noticed only by you. You follow him. You can’t keep up. He has some place to be, it seems, and he wouldn’t worry about someone like you. He knows you’re there, can feel the fear clutching at your heart with each step you take. You file out onto the street, looking left, then right. The air is balmy, but no amount of heat can stop the chill. It’s always the chill, dear, isn’t it? First, it covers your neck, then it works down your breasts and wraps around your spine like a cold fist. You’ll shake with fever. You’ll let it control you.

“You know, “ Kun says. “I wouldn’t have to embarrass you in front of everyone if you just listened to me. This city is the greatest on earth, even if it’s a pile of shit.”

Kun leans against a wall, one hand in his pocket. He holds his hat in his other hand, the gold clip he keeps affixed to it shining in the moonlight. Everything he owns is worth more than your whole life. You’re always aware of how easily he could end you if he chose to. You walk towards him and take his hat, placing it gingerly on top of your head. The way he looks at you makes it feel like it might be your last act of the night.

“Not everyone agrees,” you say. “We’ve had this conversation before, Kun. You know, when you come over to my place in the dead of the night and pretend like we’re lovers.”

He doesn’t say much now, and he hasn’t said much since he started coming around. He leaves in the morning before anyone can speculate about his personal affairs. You don’t want a relationship with him, you just don’t want to keep being the whore in the bar, her name so easily dragged through the mud in the name of The Great Qian Kun. He had said to you, “No one needs to know where my cock has been but me.”, but you knew it was because of Her. Word travels fast when your name is as iconic as it is dangerous.

“Tell me what you would do to me.” you say.

You place his hat on his head like someone placing the crown on a king. Kun tilts his head and watches as you slowly hitch up your dirt-strained dress. He bought you a new dress once, but he tore it to pieces the very same night.

“You embarrassed me.” Kun says.

You climb your fingers up your own thighs before dipping them between your legs. Kun won’t look there anymore. He’ll only look you in the eye, and maybe, one day he’ll see you as more than just what you are. You don’t count on it. You are a hot, wet pussy, and the taste of you is just as murderous as he is.

“What do you want from me?” he often asks. Tonight, is no different. Nothing ever changes.

Kun straightens the hat on his head and looks up at the stars before looking back at you. You remove your hands from between your legs and lightly press your fingers to his lips. You feel a slight flick of his tongue against your skin, but mostly, hot breath. Kun closes his eyes, and his breath rattles. Sometimes, you wonder if he regrets the first kiss, or if he thinks of Her every time. Is it the courage that drives him forward, or the fear?

“Fuck me.” Kun whispers.

He grabs your neck and brings your lips to his. His hands squeeze your throat too hard. You gasp for air in between kisses. His tongue fills your mouth like sticky syrup. You work through layers of clothing to feel your fingertips on his warm, firm stomach. Both of you are wrapped up in each other until voices pepper through the neighborhood. There is always a point where Kun loses himself in you, but there is always something that brings him back. He’ll forget how you made him feel. He’ll forget that you are human, too. You are just for fucking here, there, anywhere.

“You should go home.” he says.

“You’re a real gentleman.” you retort, your voice rising to a level that should have gotten you hurt. But Kun doesn’t notice or care. You fix yourself and your dignity. When you open your mouth to speak, he stops you.

“Don’t,” Kun says. “Not tonight...please.”

Kun’s voice comes out thin and broken. His face, which is normally full of sadness, also reaches despair. You reach out to touch him, but he moves away.

“Kun….”

“Is that all you want?” he asks. “For me to fuck you? Is that all I am to you?”

Kun is as annoyed as you are. His beautiful eyes are glazed over and unfocused. You approach him again, your movements mechanical. You unbutton his pants, yanking them down past his strong thighs. You know it will be the last time you get to do this.

“Not here.” Kun says.

You are on your knees and it is too late. This is all that you are: his cock in your mouth, his eyes on the top of your head, his fingers grazing your shoulders. Your knees are dirty like your dress, but they are nothing compared to the way the rest of you feels. Kun relaxes against the wall. He breathes in deeply. You can hear his moans, though he tries to stifle them. You intentionally dig your fingernails into his thighs so that he’ll feel pain.

“Stop,” he whispers. “Stop everything.”

“Doesn’t it feel good?” you ask.

You hold his cock in your hands. There are tears threatening to spill from your eyes, but you blink them away. This man should not matter to you. You’re another whore, another warm thing to help him sleep at night. You stop him from succumbing to the nightmares he gets from everything bad he’s done, but my dear, you are a nightmare, too.

“Get up.” he orders.

You rise up. You can barely look at him as he hikes his pants around his slim waist. You wonder what he’ll do next. You don’t expect the kiss on your cheek, and you don’t expect how disgusting it makes you feel.

“I’m sorry.” he says.

“Are you?” you ask, the venom in your voice hard to contain. “Kun, you don’t owe me anything, but please answer me with the truth. Is it me? Am I that horrible to you?”

Kun almost looks heartbroken. Almost. “No...I-”

“Then show me, “ you said. “Show me what it’s like to be with you, to really be with you. I don’t want to be some whore you embarrass in front of your friends. I don’t want to be sucking your cock in these streets, or parading around the city looking for other indecent places to fuck you. I let you into my home. I want to feel human, Kun. I want to feel wanted. I want to feel like Her.”

The mention of Her makes Kun’s jaw click. You’ve hit a nerve, but he’ll forgive you. Kun nods. He takes you by your arm and drags you down the street. You look back at where you both stood, and smile.

He doesn’t bring you to his place, but rather, leads you to yours. He knows the way by memory. He walks in like it’s his home, too, his fingers on the doorknob as lightly as they touch your heart. Everything looks the same in your bedroom as you enter, but you realize that you are not the same. Kun smiles warmly, his dimples making you feel like you’re in a daze. You know it’s an act specifically put on for you, but you don’t care. He lights a few candles around your room and rapped his knuckles on the wall.

“Are you nervous, Mr Qian?” you ask, smirking.

The same question he always asks is there, but he doesn’t speak it from his lips. You sit on the edge of your bed as your answer. It’s quiet in your house, but the sound of your thoughts are thunderous. Kun strides over to you, and for once, he sinks to his knees. Taking your foot in his hand, he raises your leg up and kisses the soft skin. His rough hands move up your calf. You lean back on your elbows and brace yourself for the ferocity of Kun’s touch.

Passion. The word comes to your mind. Normally, the pair of you would spend the night fucking once, twice, sometimes three times. You were like animals when drunk. His sweat would drip onto your back, and his fingernails would draw blood. You would bite down on his neck and come on his tongue. He was always gone in those moments, with his eyes closed tight, his regrets staring back at you. He chose you because you reminded him of Her, and he didn’t try hard to make either of you forget.

Kun’s mouth wets your inner thigh. You let him bunch your dress around your waist while your fingers move down to your clit.

“Patience.” he growls.

Your body jumps with fright at the sound of his voice. You remove your hands from yourself and keep them by your side. His grip on your thighs is tight and demanding. With his swollen lips, he leans his head between your thighs, pushes your underwear to the side, and sucks on your clit just enough to make your legs shake. His hands seem huge as they knead up your body to remove your dress. His hand presses against the small of your back, and he pulls you closer to the edge of the bed. His fingers tickling up your spine, you arch your back enough for one of your nipples to brush against his lips. He nibbles on your breast lightly, his tongue swirling around your nipple. He rests his chin in between your cleavage and looks up at you. His eyes are full of sorrow, and there is something about them that makes you feel like no one is home. You comb your fingers through his dark hair before lying on your back, ready for him to wreak havoc on your body.

“Make love to me, Qian Kun.” you say.

If you were Her, he would treat you as his Queen. Kun would not want to disappoint. Slowly, he brings your underwear down your legs. His lips find your thighs again, his mouth kissing a path up to your pussy. You tangle yourself in your sheets, watching his looming shadow across the wall. It is not in the shape of a monster, but the shape of a man. His tongue opens you up and licks every part of you. Kun has always gone down on you, but this time it feels different. He eats your pussy like it’s the last thing he’ll ever do in his sad, miserable life. You wrap your legs around his head and grind your hips to meet his face. He looks up at you, and you can see the wetness all around his mouth. He breaks out into a grin when he sees how easily you’re falling apart. The laughter that escapes from his mouth makes you livid.

“What’s so funny?” you ask.

“You.”

You push him out from between your legs and slide your body from your bed. You feel like you are in a frenzy. Fuck passion. Fuck going slow. You shove Kun against the wall. He stumbles into your wardrobe, knocking a few things from a table onto the ground. Any trace of amusement or smugness vanishes from his face. You kiss him hard, tearing his jacket from his body as you do. Kun picks you up in his arms and throws you back onto the bed. He removes any clothing he’s wearing with haste. You admire his body in what little light there is. His cock is hard, but that isn’t the most interesting part of him. What feels the most compelling is the way Kun is looking at you now: a look stuck somewhere between adoration and neediness. It’s so fierce that you feel it grinding against your bones.

This is who he is, too. You are both so hopelessly in love with someone you can’t have. You both know what it’s like, and you feel it every time you come together. The torture of it is addicting, for both of you. You take the alternative, because you think it’s what you deserve. You fuck it until it makes you hate yourself, until you ask it to love you when it is not capable of love.

Kun wastes no time in proving you right. He pulls you to him by your legs. You don’t experience his cock in inches. There is no easing, no set pace. Not in this life. All of him is inside of you, stretching you out, pushing against your cervix. He holds your body tightly enough to leave bruises, his brand of love just a little bit tender. You don’t let go of him, and you don’t look away. You happily burn with him.

You fuck hoping to forget, but all you get to do is come. Kun flips you over and holds your hands behind your back. He doesn’t think, doesn’t speak, doesn’t want anything but your warm hole for the night. He thrusts. When he comes, filling you up to the brim, he leans down closely to your ear and calls you his whore.

#qian kun #kun #nct #wayv #kun smut #kun fanfiction #nct smut #nct fanfiction #wayv fanfiction #qian kun fanfiction #me: sorry im not writing today!!#also me: HERE IS A FIC

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