#maybe just to see if it gets let through and uuh .. it did

[ganondoodle]

i just checked and in german they call the triforce in eow 'Große Macht' which is literally just 'great power/might' ........... why did they call it prime energy in english........

(lets add 'gloom' to the weird english translations pile while im at it bc i cannot get over how childish it sounds to me (its miasma in german ..) ... i will be fair though and say 'malice' is a better name for it than the german 'mud of hatred' ... that sounds way less dangerous)

i find it funny that echoes of wisdoms big bad is called 'Null' in english (which is .. german for zero) and hes called 'Nihil' in german (which is, im pretty sure, 'nothing' or also 'zero' in latin) and leads me to assume every language is just calling them some form of zero/nothing just in another language than the rest of the games translation xD

also calling the triforce 'prime energy' in english is on the same level of bad as calling the enigma stones in totk 'secret' stones to me ... perhaps even worse .....

[fryktheciller]

in a bathroom

knox overstreet x fem!reader

summary: he ends up in the bathroom with you, and you almost gain something from it.

notes: i SUCK at making summaries and it shows. don't cancel me for not forgetting about the chris story it's an important part and i had to write about it also i kind of hate him in this story at some point but lord is he fine

tw: kinda suggestive??? also light swearing

There wasn’t a party you didn’t go to. 

You didn’t really attend them for the people, with whom a couple of sweet smiles and flattering words were enough to start and end a whole conversation for the whole night, and you didn’t even go for the stupid and drunk games they played. It was for the alcohol, really, and one person. Only one. And it wasn’t even noble to wish to see him. You might have seen him three times, maybe not even that, and never even talked to him: all you did was laugh under your breath when he took Chet’s well deserved punch in the nose, and not get black out drunk on purpose just so you could look at him. 

Saying you didn’t have any hopes was useless. Everybody knew it. He was so lost in Chris that he’d barely even look at you. The only warranty you had was his (and yours) state of drunkenness, which led both of you—but mainly him, let’s be honest— to do dumb actions.

 

The beer slowly made its way down your throat, cooling it down first and lighting up a barely satisfying fire in your guts. You looked down at your shoes, then at the sink, lit up by the faint and loud light above the mirror that was in front of it. You’ve been thinking about him all night; “how’d he even have the guts to show up after what he’s done?” was the thought that kept your mind busy. You took another sip from the red plastic glass, and then the beer was over. You placed it back down on the cold tiles of the floor; the action took you out of the hive of thoughts you had running in your mind and made you realize how sore your butt was. 

You slowly got up, your legs barely keeping you up as a black shadow left just a circle in your visual field, your head was spinning, the limbs numb as you tried hard not to faint on the spot. You took a deep breath.

 “‘M not even that bad, oh my god…”

You huffed and looked at yourself into the mirror with a small smile. Whatever was left of the red lipstick was tracing around your lips, leaving the center of your pale lips exposed, and the hair all puffy and frizzy. You leaned in, lipstick in hand, and carefully reapplied it, fixing the small smears with your hand. 

“There’s no hope, unless…”

You straightened up, and began rummaging through cupboards and drawers, looking for a solution for your hair. 

“How could there be nothing– no oils, no combs��this girl survives without a comb? How do you even do that…” 

You huffed once more, closing, defeated, the cupboard next to the mirror and sitting back on the ground, eyes fixated on the ceiling. 

The door opened and closed quickly. A tall and slender figure leaned its back on it as soon as the door was shut down, rather loudly, and sighed heavily. It took you a couple of seconds to shift your gaze from the ceiling to the intruder— no one less than Knox Overstreet. Your stomach dropped, and your cheeks flared up; if by sitting back on the ground your body lost all trace of energy, his sudden entrance made it regain every drop of it that the alcohol took away from you. 

—Oh, uuh…sorry…maybe I shouldn't have…come in… — he stuttered, opening the door once more and hesitantly leaving the room, his own cheeks reddening just a little. 

—It’s…fine, you- you can stay…i don’t mind…— you chuckle, almost nervously.

Hold on, you were really going to ask him to stay? Out of all people? A weird and deep pain in the stomach hit you; you almost couldn’t believe it. 

He smiled faintly and entered the room once more, closing the door behind him. You got up and smiled tiredly. 

—You are..?

—Dalton.

—Dal…Dalton? Dalton Dalton?

—Suppose you know my brother.

—Charlie, yes, ‘f course. sure…uuuh…Knox. Knox Overstreet.— and he offered you his hand, which you took and shook weakly. 

You looked at him, almost with tenderness, as he looked around the room, clearly lost. 

The pain in the stomach came back, hader this time; it felt like you were being punched— no, worse, stabbed in the guts over and over. Your knees buckled. Harder than before; and a weird sense of hate for him and pretty much everything washed over you. 

“A cigarette will fix anything…god how i’m tired…” and you took the worn out pack of cigarettes with one of matches stuck roughly in it.

—Do you smoke?

—I do…thanks.

You handed him one of the cigarettes and put one for yourself dangling from your lips. You could already feel the lovely effect nicotine had on you, tiring you out even more in anticipation. You curved a little and made a small semicircle around the match and the cigarette, but he placed a surprisingly warm and soft hand on yours.

—It's only polite that I light you up.

You smiled faintly at him, trying hard to conceal the most tender and hardest flutter your heart must have had in your whole life, and handed him the matches. He swiftly lit up the match, then you, and finally himself; you took long drags, watching him step on the half burnt match on the ground absentmindedly, all you could think about was how amazing it felt to smoke in such a situation. You two stood in silence for a few minutes, then you turned around and sat on the windowsill.

He opened his mouth, as if to talk, but hesitated for a few seconds.

—Really awkward and impolite to ask, but do you know about…what happened..?— his tone was hushed, almost vulnerable as he exhaled the smoke in short puffs from his nose. 

You smiled and put out the cigarette, nodding as you did so.

—Of course. Everybody knows. 

—Charlie must have told you I was– well, I still am much of a dick.

—I know that. But it wasn’t news when Charlie told me. I was there that night. 

You looked down at the ground for a few seconds, then began swinging your legs. 

—You look so much like a Welton schoolboy, you know,— you blurted out, looking at him.

—Why did I never see you? Anywhere at all?

You shrugged, chuckling. 

—Don’t come here often?

—It’s not that…I don't have…demands. I don’t come here to kiss on the forehead the girl I like knowing that she has a boyfriend who could break my rib cage if he tried hard enough. I come here to drink. And…really, that’s it. 

The other reason you had to attend parties so avidly almost slipped out of your mouth, but you swallowed it down. 

He nodded, half smiling. 

—Can’t tell if I should be offended or flattered. I don’t wanna look like a “Welton schoolboy”

You laughed heartily and shook your head. 

—Flattered. Definitely. I’d attend Welton if it accepted girls.

—What? You can’t be serious,— he laughed, cocking an eyebrow like he does most of the time.

—Do you know how fun it would be to attend the same school as my brother? The rumors I could spread, oh my god, don’t get me started on them.

He laughed heartily in response, and you with him.

—You sure don’t attend Welton, which leads me to ask… where do you study?  

—Lone Pine institute. Welton, but worse. And for girls, too. 

—Should i say i’m sorry or what..?— he laughed

You laughed along with him; the air was becoming lighter and both of you noticed. He made a few steps towards you and sat on the ground, leaning back on the bathtub. 

—Go and fetch us a drink like the gentleman you’re supposed to be?

—I just sat down. Also, I don't wanna throw myself into a sea of horny and drunk teenagers. 

You scoff, and chuckle a little. 

—Are you really that much of a babygirl?

—Why don’t you go instead, little miss?

You chuckled at his nickname; it made you both furious and endeared. 

—The roles have switched, I assume?

—They have. Now go, go.— he gestured towards the door and chuckled. 

You rolled your eyes in response, but got off the windowsill nevertheless. 

—Want me to bring something in particular?

—Come back alive.

Your cheeks flared up a little more than they should have; and you hastily made your way outside the room, closing the door behind you and leaning against it for a few seconds. 

“I feel like some kind of Austen’s character,” you thought, smiling stupidly. 

You got off the door, walking slowly in the half-empty rooms. Red, plastic cups and crystal glasses scattered all over the kitchen table and pretty much every surface around. Looking for a clean one was useless, so you grabbed the only unopened bottles you could find under the table: clear, low-quality gin and fancy brandy. 

The route for the bathroom was the same, except the air was thicker and heavier than it was when you first left the room; your cheeks lit up once more, burning, practically— 

you still couldn’t believe you were alone, together. 

—The gentleman you are, Overstreet,— you mocked him, entering the room and shutting the door behind you. 

He was startled, and knew you could tell. He had your lipstick in hand, which he clearly tried, by the red stain on the back of his hand; he quickly placed it back on the sink and chuckled nervously, almost. 

—Interested? ‘S a pretty shade of red.

He looked at you, almost in panic and blushed ever so slightly. 

—It is, I suppose…

—you tried it on and you suppose?,— you laughed and handed him the bottle of gin. Then made your way back to the windowsill.

He just smiled in response and also sat back down on the floor. 

—No glasses?

—Unless you wanna drink other people’s saliva, no. 

You both laughed heartily, as you cracked open the bottle of brandy and took a few sips. 

He copied you, scrunching his face as the alcohol went down to his guts. 

—Don’t drink often?

—You know Welton.

—I also know the poets. And charlie. 

He laughed and you with him. 

—I suppose you drink…more than i do

—less than you think, maybe. Lone Pine’s stricter than they give it credit for

Silence falls and you both keep drinking and staring at the ground. 

—Do you really think that…me and Chris…

You shrugged and took another sip. 

—I know very little about both of you. But you’re not her type. And maybe neither Chet is. I really just can’t stand the guy. 

He looked at you, interrogatives in his gaze.

—She’s a lesbian, in my humble opinion. But she can do whatever she wants. I don’t give a fuck, really. 

He laughed heartily, and you with him. 

—Wanna switch?— and he handed you the half empty bottle of gin.

—You really are a babygirl, aren’t you?

He laughed with sarcasm, then got up and took your bottle while giving you his. 

You both drank in silence for a little while, the quiet sound of crickets and the liquids sloshing in the bottles filling the room. 

You couldn’t help but think that drinking from the same bottle was like some sort of kiss, or something like that; you cursed your stupid mind for such thoughts and sent the idea down your guts with the bitter and fat gin. 

—Suppose you think of me as a dick.

—You are, and nobody can deny it,— you smiled faintly at him— although, if it can hel you, there’s worse out there. 

He smiled, almost mechanically. 

—I regret it, honestly. 

—Why, was there a time you didn’t? You made a huge, maybe not even that, a bigger-than-huge mistake. Did you realize it?

He nodded, and you felt a little guilty for getting so aggressive with your words. He looked down and kept drinking. Awkward minutes of silence passed again, where you both drank and stared at the ground. Another outrageously ridiculous thought crossed your mind, but you swallowed it with the gin. 

—You do like brandy, hm?

He chuckled and nodded in response, looking at the bottle in his hands and then at the one between your thighs. 

—You’re a gin lover yourself

You chuckled and blushed faintly.

—What would you have done?

—If I had a persistent unrequited admirer like you?

He nodded. 

—And I was a prick’s girlfriend?

Again, he nodded.

You shrugged and smiled.

—I wouldn't have thrown myself into your arms, but I wouldn't have stayed with the dickhead either. 

—So?

—Difficult situation. I would’ve ran away. 

He laughed heartily, and you both drank some more. The air suddenly became lighter, your cheeks didn’t flare up as often and as heavily as they would just a few minutes ago: the alcohol was kicking in for both of you. 

Silence again. The bottles were almost empty, and the night became colder, more humid and the faint light above the mirror shinier.

—You’re pretty, by the way. A lot. 

You smiled again; the slurred words that came out of his mouth didn’t even have that much of an effect on you; maybe he didn't even mean it. 

—Thanks, but it's the gin you’ve been chugging on for at least three quarters of an hour speaking, not you.

You both laugh, a little too much for your ugly and drunk joke. 

—I mean it. Unless you're taken, otherwise act like I said nothing. 

—Me? Taken? Oh, please,— you laugh heartily. 

—Hard to believe.

—Admit that if I said that I was taken, it would have been really ironic. 

He laughed and you followed him, then he got up slowly and stood between your knees. 

—Do I get punched if I kiss you?

—You have a surprisingly high tolerance.

He kissed you. Deeply. The taste of the low quality gin mixing with the sweet and familiar brandy on his lips. He held you by the waist, and you wrapped your arms around his neck, bringing him even closer. You pulled back a little, tracing the outline of his lips with wet and slow kisses; he tried to kiss you back but failed. He leaned down on you, tightening his arms around your waist, and kissed you again, sweetly, this time. 

—Promise me we’re going out after this?

—Dead Poets’ honor.

You kissed him once more and slowly got off the windowsill as his hands moved down to your hips. 

You didn’t think, you couldn't think even if you tried your best in a situation like the one you were living in: with your arms around his neck and his own leaving your hips and looking for the zipper on your dress. Soon his lips left your mouth, moving lower and lower and lavishing your skin with kisses as the dress got loose and began sliding down your body; to be really fair, you didn’t even notice him undressing you; your focus was more on trying hard not to swoon right there and then when his lips left your own to smother in languid kisses your neck.

The dress fell slowly off your body, hampered by his firm grip on your hips, and ended up leaving only your chest and stomach exposed. And as he kept acting on impulse, you can't help but think it's only a fling and nothing more in a bathroom during  a party, and that his promise was just something to say.

Maybe Chris was still there, in the head that was now kissing your chest and trying so hard to undo your bra; or maybe not—maybe in that head full of love and illusions and dumb, reckless thoughts—there was you. You didn't dare to ask; you'd never dare to ask. Their motto was carpe diem, or something like that; “might as well follow it for once,"  you thought. 

—I think I met  the love of my life in a bathroom,— he muttered against your skin, trailing back up to your lips and letting the dress fall to your feet.

[nenynrawrites]

YOU WRITE FOR SEAN??

Can you write something about reader who’s close friends w aic & she’s on tour with them for the dirt tour and Sean has liked her for a few months now, and she likes him too but they’re both REALLY scared to tell each other.. so the guys make Sean ask her out & the date goes really well !! You can take it anywhere after that.. 🤓😏😏

Summary: Basically what anon said!:>

Wordcount:

Warnings: !Smut!, other than that just fluff:>

A/N: Thank you very much, anon, and I hope you like it:> <3

,,Wow, that sounds great! You gotta teach me some time.''

,,Yeah, sounds good.''

Ever since you heard the first track from ,,Dirt'', ,,Them Bones'', it wouldn't leave your mind. From just humming to outright singing, from just nodding to outright dancing through your flat, playing it over and over again, but stopping soon enough, so the vinyl doesn't end up scratchy. So it was only logical for you to join your friends on tour as soon as they asked. And maybe also because you were able to spend more time with Sean.

It happened a few months ago when you decided to drop by at the studio the boys were recording at, bringing some baked goods you've spent the afternoon on. You caught yourself in a conversation with Sean, talking about the ,,Sid and Nancy'' film, how it's playing in theaters and such...

,,Y/N?''

,,Yeah?''

,,Are you...Free for a minute?''

,,Uuh, yeah, what's up?''

,,I wanted to ask you something more personal, if that's okay.''

,,Oh?''

Yup, this wasn't going to plan like Sean intended. He probably lost all his chances alread. Who even mentions, that it's a personal question?

,,Go on, I suppose?''

,,Oh, uhm, yeah, I...I wanted to first tell you, that I've liked you for a bit now, and thought maybe you'd like to go on a date with me?''

You were...Flabbergasted? No, rather surprised. Sure, every now and then he was nervous towards you, but you really thought only you had feelings, and not thinking, that he would reciprocate them.

,,I would love to!''

,,Yeah? Cool! Uh, wanna meet up later and plan it? 'Cause I didn't think further than this...''

,,Sure, just come over.''

,,Alright, I'll see ya.''

,,Yeah, see ya.''

Both of you were asking yourselves how easy it seemed, yet the thought of fucking up any second lingered in the back of your head, but at least this part went great. Now onto the evening plans...

\~-\~

,,You know, I already got a little part of our date.''

,,Oh, cool! And that'd be?''

,,Tickets to see ,,Bill and Ted''. I know you love comedy, and both Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, so yeah...''

,,What was that?''

,,Nothing!''

You vaguely heard a name being mentioned, but put the attention to it aside, having found the bracelet you got gifted by Layne a while back.

,,So, did you wanna eat something before the movie, or...?''

,,Whichever way you like. Thought of snacks during the film and then something proper after.''

,,Sounds good to me. You ready?''

,,Yup, lets go.''

Like the gentleman Sean was, he held the door open, took your jacket off of you and so on, The whole time through, you always noticed how red his cheeks were. Obviously with it being evening it gets a little bit cooler, but not too cool that you'd get red cheeks; But you weren't any better: Tripping every second word and being clumsy, yet not knowing, that Sean found it adorable, finding traits of himself in your actions.

Walking up to a little bench that overlooked the city, neither of you talked much, just quietly ate, sometimes catching glances and giggling, before at some point, Sean burst into laughter, that you quickly accompanied him to, choking, and even laughing more at that.

,,Oh fuck...Fuck, I needed that...''

,,Same...''

,,Y/N, can I ask you something?''

,,Yeah, shoot.''

Sean leaned closer, an arm around your shoulders, one hand holding yours. He was so close, it probably made your hear skip all the beats. You felt breathless, but in a good way. And Sean? He just watched you, waiting for you, to fully get your attention.

,,For these past few months, even before the tour, I started to like you quite a lot more, you know? You're nice, you're sweet, and if I continue, I'd defnitely talk your ear off with how great you are.''

,,I don't think anybody would get tired of that. Especially when I'm gonna tell the same back to you.''

,,You wanna seal this?''

,,How?''

,,Let me show you...''

It wasn't rushed, and there was enough chance for either of you to pull away before and during, but that was the last of your thoughts. Sean pulled you even closer, basically pulling you into his lap, but random rustling from a far stopped it.

,,Shall we head back?''

,,Yeah...Don't know if there's suddenly a sloth walking out.''

Sean just raised an eyebrow, before chasing you down the mountain, scooping you up at the end and giving you a piggy back ride back to the hotel.

~-~

,,You look really beautiful, you know? Like a goddess!''

,,That's a bit much, but thank you. Must make you a god then.''

He was so speechless, but his actions basically spoke for him: Sean turned so red, he could've matched with the sweater he was wearing.

,,You good?''

,,Yeah, yeah...So, about before-''

,,Mhm?''

It didn't even need words, just the soft touching of your lips was enough. Hands tightly holding onto your hips, leading you onto his lap again, fully now. He felt daring, and as you adjusted yourself, went for a few neck kisses, and you swore it must be his hidden talent. Your body was tingling just as much as his, shotting through every nook and cranny as the ksses deepened. And then there was the door.

,,Hey, Sean, did you ask her out ye- Oh, sorry!''

It felt comical: Your situation was just perfect, and then Mike walked in, grinning a little, before grabbing whatever he needed, saying ,,Don't forget to use protection!'' and then walked back out. It were mere seconds, but still confusing ones.

,,...You know, uh...''

,,I was bribed.''

,,Yeah, I see that, but I think he's jealous?''

,,Eh, he's got a girl, so don't worry about it...Where were we...''

You just hoped nobody would listen from the outside, 'cause what happened in the next few hours to come was pretty...Loud...

~-~

,,You look pretty.''

,,Disheveled like this?''

,,Yeah, I mean, look at me! I look like a swamp monster!''

Wildly gesturing to himself, Sean set his point, making you laugh in response. It was true: His chest and face were full of beads of sweats, hickeys, too, his hair just as drenched, compared to you, who looked as dry as the Sahara. But you just enjoyed the closeness, the skin-to-skin contact, with his arms pulling you against his side, your legs entangled, as he put a featherlight kiss on your lips.

,,I didn't even get a chance to tell you that you're pretty..."

,,Oh, you did."

,,No? When?"

,,Yesterday! When you were enjoying having my lips around your dick. Couldn't stop telling me that I look pretty."

,,Because you did! You looked the prettiest."

,,Want to tell me that again?"

,,Of course..."

You moved so slow, he wished he could've just pushed you down, but he knew you loved to take your time.

,,Come on, please..."

,,You're eager."

,,You would be, too!"

Sean stopped you from continuing, pulling you back up and on his lap, kissing you softly, before guiding himself in, giving you some time to adjust.

,,Pretty girl, looking so good on me."

Sean always seemed much bigger than you (tall and lanky combo x3) but this position made him seem...Intimidating, for some reason.

,,Feels good, huh? You like that, don't you?"

,,Mhm...Fuck-"

He was giving you so much praise every second, your head started to spin, the combination of everything being too much.

,,F-Fuck-"

,,Close? 'Cause I'm c-close, too-"

,,Yes! Yes, yes, yes!!"

It stopped as quick as it started, but to after lay in your now boyfriend's arms was the best reward.

[ranbling]

My first thoughts about 7×6

- I hate the Buckleys

- Maddie and Hen look gorgeous

-so the whole promo is like the first 2-3 minutes

- Buck is a control freak and I love him

- Buck's face when Eddie says the wedding is about Buck :((

-Henren!!!

-Ravi!!

-so Chimney is missing from the whole party (ahw Chimney not wanting a party::()

- so Buck mentioned the theme (and Eddie heard Chim not wanting the party) and instantly offered a couple costume

- ahw poor Buck everyone is leaving

- Buck just invinting a whole other room of people

- nobody forces Eddie and Buck to sit that close to each other

-Buck and Eddie really share a single braincell

- what do you mean take the party to him????

- well at least they're not bringing into his actual apartments

- if I go to my room and realise there are 30+ strangers partying there I'd go somewhere else too

- yes!! Maddie is 911

- Chimney is looking better than he did in the promo

- so Chim was drugged 100%

- uh this guy is trouble

- ahw Kevin mention

- so maybe nor drugs

- ugh I bet it was the Buckleys that changed it

- well Chim is very lucky not getting hit

- don't leave your phone!!! And what work??

- Athena and Maddie had took over the scene

- ahw dispatch

- why is Chimn hallucinating Doug???

- poor Maddie, marrying you is not stressing

- tell her Hen!!

- ahw he went to the old karaoke place

- so chimney is not wandering through the vents on the day

- so the guy probably had a disease and gave it to Chim

- poor Maddie

- i really like the camera work focusing on Chim

- Chim turning back into a paramedic!!

- Bobby and Buck in blue while Athena and Eddie in green is a choice

- halucination Doug is an asshole

- uuh the rebar

- so it is Doug standing behind him!!

- aw Kevin, I'm happy to see him, but not when Chim is dying

- well Chimney really went home, a hospital would have been better

- Poor Maddie asking Chim if he remembers himself

- Chim remembering the wedding!!

- Jee!!

- why are the Buckleys here???? Go away!

- hospital wedding!!

- Chim's tux over the hospital gown

- i hate they let Philip walk down Maddie (Maddie would never)

- Bobby is officiating!!!

- awh Maddie climbing into Chim's bed

- the joke about the cruiseship

- Chimney not remembering his name is soo funny

I don't get why Lou thought people will love Tommy after this episode, he did nothing except not dressing up as the theme and then showing up to the wedding

[jacenotjason]

hellooo!! helloo!! I have... I have TWO QUESTIONS!! 1. How would each of them react to someone being homophobic/transphobic towards them? 2. uhhh how would they react if they saw their parents? especially the ones that don't like/have never met parents (i was gonna put something else for the second one but uhhh i frogor uh oh)

OH BOY TWO QUESTIONS!! Ok lets all pray Tumblr doenst eat this its gonna be a lot

Ok first question, how would they react to someone being queerphobic to them?

Eddie: “mhm… sure…” he does not care. He deosnt really listen to people in the first place, the second you start trying to offend him he just tones you out. He does not give half a shit. Maybe if you keep talking.. a fuck will fall into his hand!

Poppy: being queerphobic to her?? Eh. Who cares. She lived through a homophobic cult and also bigoted parents, shes got tough skin. Being queerphobic to her children? PREPARE TO CATCH THESE TALONS BIIIITCH

Julie: absolutely roasts you. She takes one look at you and digs up your nastiest trauma some how. Like this “ew a girl dating a girl thats gay (idk how to be homophobic)” “? *looks up and down* okay? I didn’t ask, go tell your mom. Oh, wait shes dead isn’t she? And your father isn’t even present, he left when you were 6 and you had to rely on your Grandfathers homophobic ideology and your Grandmothers abuse. I don’t care what you have to think.” Then the homophobe just lays on the floor in the fetal position.

Sally: “196.251.208.6” get doxxed.

Frank: he just starts crying :( then he goes and tells Eddie and hes gonna stab you

(How do you even be homophobic to someone questioning??) Barnaby: “I know my identity isn’t the root of your anger.. come here, sit down, lets talk it out..” uuuh free therapy? He just summons tea bc all grandpas have the ability to just summon tea

Howdy: i actually have no idea. Ik hes sort of gotten this reputation as violent but hes- guys hes pathetic. He probably just laughs at them and shoos them away, maybe pull the gun from under the counter if he needs to

OK ooo o this ones a little less fun.. if they met their parents

Eddie: quick Eddie lore he was raised in joint custody, his parents hate each other so… uhm.. were getting the gang back together! He’d probably just sit with his face in his hands as his parents fight like “Ohmygod.. guys stop” they blame each other for how Eddie ended up and hes like “Im literally right here”

Poppy: shes long gotten over her fear of her parents. She’s happy and thats all that matters, she’ll happily tell off her parents like a GIRLBOSS YEAAAHHH happily explain how she escaped the cult they sent her too and how happy she is rn

Julie: uhm.. Julie’s parents are dead. Next question. Lmao ok but fr if she like.. came back to life she’d be so happy :3 she, and all the other joyfuls, were raised by a single mom and Julie got all her “men are trash, defend urself, never be afraid to punch a man” type ideology from her mom and her mom was super accepting and she misses herrr :((

Sally: now you may think Sally has a terrible relationship with her parents.. but she doesnt :3 shes unable to see her mom (for agoraphobic, mental health, and also legal reasons) but she loves her a lot. Her mom did sort of raise her in shitty conditions, but Sally doesn’t blame her at all and misses her a lottt wah

Frank: no

Barnaby: ooohh no… so uuh lore for those that dont know, Barnaby’s parents gave him up to the “”””boarding school”””” when he was four and he doesnt remember them. He’d probably be happier then he should to meet them, but most definitely get gaslit by his parents :( like they have what Barnaby thinks is a normal conversation but really isnt.. someone stop it q-p

Howdy: he fuckin loves his dad!! And all his family!!! And he sees them regularly, so itd just be a normal visit

AAA big post ee

Also tumblr didnt eat it thank u tumblr

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 44- Part 5

Hm-? So out of those eight Badges he has, he really doesn’t have the Standard Badge yet? Hah, that’s something Xera has over him! Go her!

Does he…not know about the stuff with the Orphanage and what Connal’s been up to…? I mean I doubt he’d be any more sympathetic if he did know, but he might feel…slightly different if he knew about Connal’s collaborations with Team Meteor. Just slightly. And this is the same guy who complained about not being allowed into the Grand Stairway by those police officers- take some initiative, man! I know you’ve got those vigilante ambitions too!!

…Okay I know he’s just saying that to be a jerk to Xera, as per usual, and he doesn’t actually know about what she’s been through as of late, but considering what I’ve said before about the Heather stuff, calling Xera “bad at her job” is an accidentally perfect/appropriate insult.

Really trying to go for that Gary Oak catchphrasing, are we?

Well, gotta say, that was a nice reprieve of a battle after all the chaos Noel threw at me- I needed that. I also need that Healing Shard- and then we’ll be off!

Now THAT’S an even better reward! Xera’s gonna have so much money soon! And…what is going on over there?

…Huh. Should…we do something about that…? Can we do something about that?

Oh, there’s two of them! That works, uuh- I guess we’ll try and break up this right one first? If we interact with the Tauros, maybe-

Oooh- oh, hold on, is this some kinda static encounter? Well in that case, I’ve definitely gotta catch this! And that starts with sending in Glare to run interference!

DON’T LIKE THAT, OKAY- so we don’t keep Glare in, we switch to, uuuuh- Crater, I guess?

I don’t like that either, but a couple Rock Slides should get Tauros down to low enough HP and hopefully Crater won’t die in the process!

Yeah, see, that helps too- paraflinching our way to victory, truly.

There, never doubted this plan for a second! Now I’ve got two Great Balls here, and one of them should be just fine for this.

Toro’s just Spanish for “bull”, but I couldn’t really think of any other fitting names for a bull Pokémon and it sounds cool enough, so- yeah.

Uh?? Okay, I can investigate that in a little bit- for now, it’s time to catch the other half of this duo.

Same strategy as before, have Glare paralyze it and…it shouldn’t know any Psychic or Ground attacks, it should be safe for Glare to stay in.

Ooooh, and this one has Sap Sipper, very nice, now I really wanna catch it! A few Crunches should be good for this, yeah?

Whoops, too much! Alright, reset that one, let’s try that again-

Previous

Next

[cata-daily]

Realised I never did this, so here's a transcription of cata's pass the world 2 segment! Took me 25 minutes for the "slower" part, and 9 minutes for the last minute lol

(First one was 976 words, this one was 1227 words)

Under the cut because it's basically a wall of text

[rustling]

[sounds of a mothman rising out of a box]

I still haven't found my cultist mask-

[balloon sounds]

Hello everyone, it's a-me, Cata-calysmic, and much to Throabbin's dismay, I've got access to more helium, because I turned 30. Huz-zahh. 

Anyways, we're back for another episode of Pass the World! I'm number 6 and I best get started, because I've got three hours to work, and five minutes to make it into a video, so let's crack on with all the nonsense we got doing- YAAAAA-HAHA-HEYYY

Ah, good old helium, so fun to use- aanyways, certainly wasn't the place I was expecting to spawn, and I can see the no communication thing is already being broken by these signs.

[bu-bu-bu-bu throaarbin that looks like uuh communication right theere and aaaccording to the title there's *clearly* supposed to be uh no communication so uhh i think that you uh-]

Ah well, rules were made to be broken.

And of course before anything begins I must do the most important thing! 

*Cover me in vanity, COVER ME IN VANITY- OHhhah-*that's better

I entered this hole which I assume is the main entrance, aand- uuhm- ookay, I've never played the Zenith seed before or Legendary, and judging by all these gravestones, I'm in for one heck of a time!

My first job is to find a pylon so I can teleport down to the hell base, why we started in the sky is completely unknown to me, whatever.

*Creepa, aw ma-hahehh*

But now I'm here, I can teleport down *here* and uh, haeh. Chests. Let's hope they're better organised than last time.

Ah well bugger me, they've actually labelled them this time, huzzah, that saves some time.

I had a quick ponder, wondering where I was in progression, and it would appear, judging by this sign, and this ridiculous bridge, that we're on the Wall of Flesh. I know for an absolute fact that I am not going to be able to deal with that thing, because of the imps! So we're going to go with a different plan, but that requires a ridiculous amount of work, so let's crack on with it.

I bought a bunch of dynamite and acquired a bunch of track, luckily for me one of these chests had two of those things in abundance, so that's gonna save me some time and money.

Building this track was absolutely *infuriating.*

Every- single- time I got back on the minecart and placed a single bloomin' track, we had baets and slimes and demons everywhere. 

Kill 'em all off, get back on the track, place a track, *and they all come back again*. Ridiculous- it took me for-ever to build this track- if they just left me alone, maybe things would have gone better but this is Zenith, of course it'll be hair-rippingly difficult-

Why did they [micbonk] choose this, what's wrong with you people?!

There's no peace- it's endless- death after death after death just trying to build a railway system to fight a wall-

I also forgot about the Queen Bees that spawn down here- I blew one up, I got killed by it, I then went straight back, blew another one up, and got killed by it, I then went straight back and completely forgot about it and I just blew another one up and got killed by that one!

At least I learnt my lesson but only after I saw three of them *in a row* what is this nonsense- look at it!!

Anyways after wasting a whole hour on building this lot, I utilised the ridiculous amount of platinum I've been storing up after killing all of these things- burnt through every single bit of it trying to modify a few things- look at this nonsense, it just keeps going!

And then we summon the Wall of Flesh! At first we did get our (ass) kicked *just* a little bit because those imps and their fireballs are *brutal*. But after a while they just seemed to fade away, I guess they have nowhere to teleport properly to actually shoot me.

Aand with the last speck of track we have remaining- Wall of Flesh dies, and I need to go change my pants.

I make a mad dash for the surface using the hole I came in at the beginning, went straight over to the crimson and broke every single altar I could find, avoiding all the stuff coming my way. 

I was a moth on a mission and I needed those altars. 

Now for the boring part- I mined cobalt, turned it into bars, made a pickaxe. Got mythril, turned it into bars, made the anvil, made a pickaxe. Mine titanium, got an adamantite forge, turn the titanium into bars, made the armour, made the repeater, and finally got to carry on with hardmode!

And during all that nonsense a Jungle Mimic appeared, I tried my best to kill it and it just *disappeared offscreen*

And the *hornets*. The *hornets*. They would *not leave me alone*

Oh core blimey, I'm running out of time, UUHM

I went up into space cause I needed to get some wyverns cause I needed souls of flight and instead I ended up leaving the earth's orbit. 

Did I learn from that? No I didn't cause I immediately did it again. 

After killing two wyverns I realied I had no souls of night, so I went straight off to the crimson to go get some and died three times while doing it. 

My goal here was to kill Mechdusa but I didn't realise what I was getting myself in for.

After a bunch of farming I had enough materials to make two of the summons. I summoned the first one in hell, that was a really bad idea, I don't know what I was doing but I died while trying. 

I then had a plan of action and went all the way back up to the surface and then fought it up there, but for some reason, the Twins and Prime despawned, so all I was doing was fighting Destroyer. 

I managed to kill Destroyer luckily, but it took 7 whole minutes to do it, and then died to a wyvern.

Since I know I wouldn't be able to kill it, I instead decided to go all the way to the beach because I wanted to fight Duke Fishron cause I 'ot one summon.

However I knew getting there would be an absolute nightmare so instead I went to the aether so I could build a home there, and then put a pylon down.

After placing a pylon I then blew a hole all the way down to it so I could then get to the ocean easier, and then made a home, so I could then [how do i transcribe this]

Conveniently, this part is completely free of any evil so that means npcs can be here, fantastic. 

After quickly building an arena I summoned Duke Fishron, got it to half health, then died to it anyways, so that's the end of that.

I went back, placed my own sign cause I guess communication is absolutely fine now- 

Took off my armour, and closed. 

Anyways, thank you again Throabbin' for letting me join in on this little bit of fun in Pass the World. 

I'm off.

[maxwell-grant]

Sooo, thoughts on Mortal Kombat 1 ?

@jcogginsa asked: You've said Peacemaker is the DC character who fits most in Mortal Kombat, but of the three leaked guest fighters for MK1, who do you think fits it best?

Okay, new Mortal Kombat thoughts then

Well with this and Tekken 8 I guess it didn't take long for Street Fighter to spearhead another fighting game comeback. But while Tekken 8's more on the "basically the same as it always was except there's a graphical update", Mortal Kombat is kicking things off with a, Story Mode-centric showcase with a tiny gore montage and no gameplay. Fairly unusual territory for the series, but it seems to be paying off for them in viewcount.

I'm really not a fan of how anyone looks here, though. What you see in the trailer is the fairly logical endpoint of the MK series increasingly striving for more realism and fixing little design issues like, uuh, a majority asian cast of characters who never even slightly looked asian until some 20+ fucking years into the series, y'know. And for sure the faces look great, but I do feel like we're getting those great faces and expressions at the expense of everything else in their designs becoming increasingly colorless. Like Scorpion and Sub-Zero or Kitana and Mileena, who somehow look more like palette swaps than theyve done in decades.

It's not the only issue I have with this trend but, look the clothes and the lighting and the visuals look very pretty, but this is maybe the most swagless most of these characters have ever looked and that's a capital sin. So far, they look like half-a-step removed from A.I prompt recreations of themselves, which is the harshest thing I could say about it. It's too generic.

And man I'm, reeeally not liking the Fatalities here, I feel like that's the biggest issue with the franchise moving so firmly into 3D realism, the Fatalities just plain aren't that fun anymore most of the time. Sorry to MK fans following me but I will have to be the christian parent finger-wagging at the screen and say that they actually should tone it waay the fuck down because they lost the plot that this is Mortal Kombat, not fucking Liveleak, and plenty of modern games can pull off absurd cool pop-off gore without putting us through characters writhing and screaming and gurgling in pain during rancid torture.

And no, we can't chalk this up to personal taste anymore ever since that story about MK11 devs developing PTSD because they had to look up nonstop hanging/murder/animal torture videos and photos to get the gore right, which is frankly as good an argument as any for throwing Mortal Kombat in the trash and not letting it come out until they cut that shit out for good and overhaul their entire approach to game design and tone, which they clearly have not done and will not do. It's fucked and NRS deserves way more shit for it than their playerbase is willing to give them.

Moving on, so this is like, what, the second or third reboot? I guess it's more so them following on the clean slate Aftermath was setting up but, damn these guys really do love DC Comics and the increasingly short periods between rebooting the whole thing to dodge narrative problems and only coming back to those same problems again and again.

On the more individual character basis: Raiden looks Japanese finally, and I guess the scaling down makes sense since he's not a god anymore. Kung Lao, eh. Kitana, looks way worse than she did in MK11 (maybe I'm biased because that was like, the one time I liked how Kitana looks) and if this is a timeline reset, are they gonna undo her as Khan of Outworld? Fucking boo if they do, that was the best thing they did with her, they are cowards for walking that back if they do.

Kitana looking boring unfortunately also means Mileena isn't looking great either, although I do like the viciousness in her eyes, I like that her alignment's pretty unclear from the trailer, and I like that they're keeping the teeth from 11.

Scorpion and Sub-Zero look way too basic, and although I'm not against their increasing focus on Scorpion looking more human, I just don't like that this is making him look less Scorpion than before, he looks like a disposable Shirai Ryu grunt that reports to Scorpion before getting killed in a pre-fight cutscene.

Shang Tsung as the villain again is a fairly allright idea (if slightly redundant given Aftermath) and of course necessary if they're taking this back to the beginning, I don't mind his design (the claw gauntlets are pretty good) but I do mind that he looks less like Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa than before. I hope to be wrong here in this assumption but If they're not bringing Tagawa to voice him, if they're not basing him off Tagawa's characterization like they did for 11, why bother with Shang Tsung at all? Tagawa's performance is like 80% of Shang Tsung's entire appeal.

I do really like Liu Kang's look though, it's a very nice, very pleasing blend of his classic ensemble with enough Raiden elements to show his new role. Is this the first time they've ever featured Liu Kang front-and-center in the ads and posters for a new MK game? Sure feels like it. Apparently one of the head writers remarked "People, Realms, Rivalries: Liu Kang has tinkered with all to achieve his vision", which is nearly always code for Bad Guy Talk. Too early to call it but, I guess it was inevitable, and if we're really doing Evil Liu Kang for the third time this is already a better baseline than the prior two takes. I don't like his face though, I really liked his MK11 face and this feels like a total downgrade (where's the eyebrows? his eyes are totally different, he looks like the doctor from that wretched surgeon meme and it makes me hate him on sight)

So far, I do really like that the trailer sticks entirely to fantasyland kung fu film vibe. The last two games were stuffed to the gills with Earthrealm military horseshit where as this feels like it's making a point of avoiding that, no gun-toting Americans in sight thankfully. Johnny Cage has been confirmed but, he can stay, he's cool. Speaking of that, Van Damne Johnny Cage, cool I guess? I don't care about Van Damne but, if they're getting action movie celebrities to be in these, getting Van Damne specifically feels like bringing things full-circle a little.

Kameo Fighters? Oh so we're doing Smash Bros Character Reveals now? That's gonna be a fun powderkeg to just throw out there, lmao, I hope they reveal these slowly to really make the fandom spaces unusable. I guess they put Mileena upfront to avoid the worst as is. I do like Assist Characters in the VS series, I guess this is gonna be like that so, cool with me even if they wind up shelfing characters I actually want like D'Vorah and Kano.

(SPOILERS FOR THE LEAKED CHARACTERS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THOSE): Quan Chi, eh okay they were bound to bring him back sooner rather than later, so long as he's not making Shang Tsung chump out I'm okay with it. Takeda, fine. Mavado, don't give a shit. Ferra, without Torr, okay let's see how that goes.

And of course the ones everybody's talking about, Homelander and Omni-Man, who seem extremely redundant to feature together given they have basically the exact same powerset, but I can't fault NRS for jumping on the popularity of that match-up and they have Injustice Superman assets to share between the two. Homelander, couldn't care less but sure, put the meme guy in there, he fits. Omni-Man, I've been dancing around watching Invincible for months now but yeah, cool, he's pretty damn great, seems like the only fighting game you could possibly put him in, and most importantly it means J.K Simmons is joining the voice cast, which I'm of course super excited for.

Personal stand-outs for me are Tremor, who's pretty cool. Khameleon, whose design I actually like quite a bit and who I never thought would show up again, totally on board for her. Ermac, who is one of my favorite designs and who I really enjoy playing as, but the designs so far have been really underwhelming so, not sure what they're gonna do with him.

Oh yeah, PEACEMAKER's joining the roster? Never actually thought I'd happen but I'm gonna do a victory lap anyway because I fucking called it a year ago that he was the most perfect choice in the world for Mortal Kombat. Okay scratch what I said prior, in this house we allow for ONE gun-toting American in the game. And sure maybe I'm biased, but I definitely think he fits the most within Mortal Kombat, if nothing else, because Peacemaker is the one you can actually imagine pulling off a Friendship or uppercutting the same guy's head off three times, he's the only one who feels conductive to the MK series sense of humor. Omni-Man's I imagine is a very close second, being famous for pulling off Mortal Kombat fatalities in a series where that is, at least initially when it operates by seemingly standard superhero rules, uncharacteristically frightening and sadistic violence for anyone to do.

Overall: Glad that they're making an effort to push Mortal Kombat to new places, there's plenty of cool choices or ideas set up here, but there's a lot that I dislike or am ambivalent to, a lot that I wish they were doing differently, and of course the concern of "how much are the devs having to put up with this time around given these Fatalities look somehow way worse than the ones from 11" that is frankly kind of a dealbreaker for me in terms of me getting or supporting this game. I guess it's "it is what it is", but that's a shit excuse and it could, y'know, not be what it is.

[bitsandbobsofwriting]

All 6 of the Knights know about Merlin's magic, but all think they're the only one to know:

So the Knights (Arthur, Gwaine, Percival, Elyan, Leon, Lancelot) + Merlin are like,,,, investigating something

Ya know, the norm

They're out in the woods tracking down some really mean dude, and whadya know? They get attacked by bandits, as per

So, as per, Merlin hides behind a tree, keeping a careful eye on the fighting

(The knights are drastically outnumbered, BUT they're far more skilled than the bandits so it basically evens out.)

Only planning to step in, to make their own luck, when he needs to, he waits

Everything is going fine, and Merlin need only sit and watch...

UNTIL!

One more person creeps out from the shadows, and begins chanting, the knights notice this of course, and are, all of a sudden, made painfully aware that the bandit attack had just been a distraction to keep them busy, so the sorcerer could step in and do some evil shit

But distraction or not, they still need to actually subdue these arseholes with swords before they can do anything about the sorcerer

BUT that is taking far too long and as the chanting grows louder, Lancelot throws a glance Merlins way, and nods, before giving a shout in an effort to draw attention to himself, and away from Merlin

Merlin follows his cue to step out from his hiding place, but before he can drop a tree branch or something similar onto the head of the sorcerer, he's spotted

The sorcerer looks his way as he stops chanting, let's out a shout-

"Emrys!! You filthy traitor!"

- and throws his arm out towards Merlin, who instinctively, before he even realises what he's doing, extends his own arm in retaliation

Both pairs of eyes glow brighter and brighter, and streams of colour extend from each of their arms, meeting in the middle with an explosion of light that seems far brighter on the sorcerer's (or the...not-Merlin) side

Merlin had clearly overpowered the other sorcerer, but everyone is thrown to the floor with a bang

Merlin conks his head, not dangerously hard, not enough to bleed, but hard enough to leave him properly dazed for a few seconds, and confuse his thoughts

Those few seconds are enough to leave the bandits scampering off into the night in fear, and for the sorcerer to spit at the floor before quickly following them, obviously unimpressed with the fact that he was beaten

Those few seconds are ALSO long enough, for Merlin to look up, and see that the knights have rushed to stand in a circle around him

For a moment, Merlin fears that they mean to tie him down, or even kill him on the spot....

....that is until he realises that none of them are even looking at him, and are instead gesturing their swords wildly at each other, and shouting incomprehensibly, leaving Merlin very confused (not helped by the obvious concussion)

As his vision clears, he takes note of everyones position

Lancelot stands the closest to him, his sword pointed at Arthur (who is opposite him in the circle), shouting something about loyalty and fear and bravery

Arthur in return is pointing his sword at Leon (though is yelling at everyone in the circle), Leon has his sword pointed back at Arthur

Elyan has a sword pointed at Lancelot

Percival and Gwaine have somehow managed to gain second swords, with Percival pointing one at Elyan, and one at Gwaine,

Gwaine is pointing one at Percival, and the other at Arthur

(To help, it's looking like this, the colour of the arrow references who the sword is pointing at)

Merlins head hurts, and he's very confused at why everyone is yelling at each other and not him

Well he understands Lancelot shouting in his defense but....what was going on??

Despite the noise, Lancelot notices Merlin look up, and immediately calls:

"Merlin! Get behind me, quick!"

Merlin tilts his head but goes to move towards Lancelot. He doesn't really understand what's going on but,,,, he remembers doing magic, and not the subtle kind he normally goes for

but his head hurts and he's tired, and Lancelot is the only one who knows his secret, so doing what he says right now is probably the safest option for him to take at the moment

But before he can take more than one stumbled step:

"NO, Merlin I won't let anyone hurt you, come here, my friend." from Leon, (loud and forceful, but gentle as well) stops him in his tracks

At this, Gwaine let's out a growl, and both him and Lancelot move the swords previously pointed at Arthur, to Leon's direction

Merlin is even more confused at this point, and Arthur yelling-

"Absolutely Not! Get your scrawny arse over hear Merlin you idiot, I'm the King, I wont let ANY harm come to you, I swear."

- does NOT help matters

At this, Merlin reckons it's best to just stand still. His head hurts and his magic has been outed and everyone was shouting at him. Probably best to just,,,, wait it out and see what happens. His head hurts

In all honestly, he's not quite sure any of this is real, I mean he wasn't really sure what the sorcerer was chanting before the big explosion thingy, could've been anything. His head hurts, he thinks again

Maybe he hit it harder than he thought

Everyone has stopped shouting at this point, though the swords stay raised, every one of them obviously prepared to jump into battle ("with each other?? " Merlin thinks) at a moments notice

Elyan, quietly "Are you alright Merlin? You hit your head pretty hard. Everything's going to be ok just.... step behind me, I'll protect you."

When he first starts speaking, the others growl, and go to yell over him,,,, by the end of his demand, they all quiet down, and furrow their brows, though they all keep their swords high

It's Percival who speaks next:

"Wait.... are we all trying to protect Merlin?"

Gwaine shouts at this:

"I won't let any of you hurt him! He may have magic but he just saved us, and I'll run the King himself through if I have to in order to keep him safe!"

(if Arthur wasn't preoccupied with....well everything that's happening, he would be offended at the notion that his Knight is far more loyal to his manservant than him)

It's Leon again next:

"Shut up, Gwaine, did all of you...wait. Who knew about Merlins...magic, before now?"

All of them look nervously at each other, but Lancelot is the first to nod, with a:

"I won't let him be punished for bravery."

Despite threatening to kill each other for Merlin, none of them are looking him during this conversation, he however is following whoever is speaking with his eyes, becoming more and more confused... do all of them...know??

Percival and Elyan nod at the same time, and Gwaine (who is looking more serious than any of them have ever seen him) clench his jaw before letting out a low:

"I knew."

Leon looks at Arthur next, whose brow is deeply furrowed, his mouth open slightly, as he give a slow nod

It's Leon, who slowly lowers his sword first, closely followed by Elyan, Pervival. Gwaine follows them, and then Arthur, but Lancelot keeps his sword aimed at the King

"Lower your sword Lancelot, it would appear, that all of us are attempting to protect Merlin from... each other." From Arthur finally has Lancelot relaxing slightly

"...uuh, Lancelot?" From Merlin draws everyones attention back to him, and his very confused (and slightly fearful) face

Lancelot goes to rush towards him, but before his first step even lands, everyone has at least one sword pointed in his direction, quick as lightening,

He huffs as he drops his own sword to the floor:

"Look, we all know about Merlin's magic, and we're all trying to protect him alright? Come off it guys, we need to check his head."

Everyone fully relaxes at that, but it's Leon who reaches Merlin first (he had always been freakishly fast, the bastard) and as he gently tilts Merlin's head forward so he can take a look at the back of it, Arthur puts one hand on Merlin's shoulder, the other still gripping his sword tightly

Merlin is looking very surprised at all this, but his head still hurts and no one seems to be trying to build a pyre or bring out the cuffs, and Lancelot seems relaxed so...that's a good thing right?

He allows Leon to examine his head with no resistance at all,

"He's almost certainly concussed, so we'll need to keep an eye on him for a day or two, but he'll be fine, he's not bleeding and his skull isn't cracked."

Leon steps back from the dark haired manservant, and Merlin looks over his shoulder to give him a dopey smile.

Arthur, with his hand still tightly on Merlin's shoulder, starts giving orders, Percival and Gwaine were to see if they can track down the horses, who had been spooked in the attack, but were trained well to stay close by (and also had all their packs still on them)

Gwaine starts with a "Look princess, if you think I'm leaving Merlin with Uther's so-"

But is interrupted by Percival telling him to shut up, and dragging him in the direction of where the horses were last stood.

Elyan is to starting to build a fire, and Leon and Lancelot are to double check the perimeter, and collect anything left by the bandits in their hasty retreat

Lancelot looks to Merlin for confirmation, a silent "you ok with me going?" hangs in the air, and Arthur looks as though he's going to start yelling again, but Merlin's head hurts and he really doesnt want that, so he gives Lancelot a slight nod, and smile.

Lancelot glances at Arthur once more, face drawn and serious, before walking towards Leon, waiting at the edge of the clearing

Arthur watches them go, before finally settling his gaze in Merlin, and tilting his head slightly in question

Merlins response-

"My head hurts :( "

-causes Arthur to huff out a small laugh before attempting to get Merlin settled against a log, close ish to where Elyan is getting the fire lit

After half an hour or so, everyone is back at camp, the horses have successfully been returned to camp, and are grazing off to the side. The fire is roaring, and Elyan is cooking what had been caught for dinner earlier in the day

Merlin is sat in the same place as he was before, though he seems to now be squidged between a very protective Lancelot, and a very protective Arthur

Gwaine is sat on the opposite side of the fire, and has had a glare leveled at Arthur since he first sat (with Percival sat next to him. No one would say it, but everyone knows it was so Percival could grab Gwaine if he decided to keep to his word and attempt to run the King through with is sword.)

Other than Elyan, Leon seems to be the only completely relaxed one. He knows Arthur the best, and he is aware of the Kings inability to lie on the spot, or keep control of his anger,

If Arthur was intending to hurt Merlin, he would certainly have made it obvious by now

The whole camp is painfully silent all through the meal, it's only after Leon comes back with clean bowls (being one of only two people who were willing to leave the camp (Elyan had already cooked, it wouldn't be fair to make him clean as well)) that Merlin breaks the silence,

His eyes are looking a bit clearer now, but he still has a headache, and he feels like he would probably end up passing out if he tried to stand up:

"So.... I knew about Lancelot but, how long?" The question is obviously aimed at everyone, but all take in a sharp breathe, with Arthur and Gwaine narrowing their eyes, at "I knew about Lancelot"

Percival looks from Merlin to Lancelot and raises an eyebrow in question:

"I realised it wasn't possible for me to have killed that Griffin on my own, but Merlin was the only other one with me. I figured that he had enchanted by lance,"

Everyones brows lower at that

"That was years ago? You've known all this time??" From Leon

Lancelot gives a shrug, "He wasnt exactly subtle. The lance was glowing so brightly I almost fell off my horse, and the only things I could hear were my horses hooves, and Merlin crouched at the side of the road muttering to himself....or to the lance I suppose."

Everyone but Arthur huffs out a laugh at that

I guess he doesn't like to be reminded that Merlin had been closer to Lancelot this whole time

And I can't be arsed to write it out, but all of them explain when, and how, they found out about Merlin's magic. It had been Leon first (which is unsurprising, he's the only one of them who's known him the same length of time as Arthur), a year or two after Lancelot first left.

He was conflicted at first, but after witnessing all the passed up opportunities that would've been perfect for Merlin to strike, like any self respecting evil sorcerer would, he couldn't convince himself that Merlin was evil.

He of course, kept an eye on him, but stopped worrying about him as a danger after only a couple months. He laughingly admits to losing sleep all these years, worrying about Merlin being an idiot and outing himself accidentally.

Though Arthur was the last of the group to speak, he realised Merlin had magic next, shortly after Balinors death.

After some questioning (at the time) Merlin had admitted that he met his father briefly "almost recently" (which was as specific as Merlin was prepared to get at the time) but he'd died shortly after

Arthur could tell Merlin had been upset about it, and made the connection between the timings of Balinors escape from Camelot, Merlins age, and how upset Merlin had been over the death of a near stranger

He explains that he wasn't sure at first, told himself he was seeing connections that weren't there, but he paid more attention to Merlin when Merlin thought no one was looking, and learned the truth soon enough

Gwaine figured it out next, within a week of meeting Merlin, repeating Lancelot's sentiment that he wasnt that subtle with it.

Theres no cool story here, Gwaine is just a lot smarter than people give him credit for

(all those years of trying to tell if another drunkard was about to start a fight, or walk off, made Gwaine very observant)

Like Gwaine, Percival noticed Merlin's magic within a couple weeks of arriving in Camelot

He grew up in kingdom where, as much as it wasn't common, it wasnt illegal. He saw the occasional bits of magic, and knew enough to recognise it

One too many instances of luck, in the midst of a battle, had been what clued him in

Elyan was reluctant to admit it, but he'd only realised a few months ago

(probably, Merlin thinks, probably why he'd been acting so weird recently)

Though he had realised in the same manner as Percival, one too many fallen branches, one too many instances of Merlin seemingly knowing they were about to be attacked, or follow the wrong path

After all their confessions they quietly wait, mostly focused on Merlin

Who at this point

Is still concussed

Though he is greatly appreciative of the fact that none of his friends (and also Arthur, the love of his life but like,,,, he's concussed. If he starts thinking about that too much he'll start talking about it and there is a time and place. Which isn't here and now) are trying to kill him:

"Huh. Gaius is gonna have a field day with this. But he'll probably also yell soooooo... please don't leave when I tell him and also maybe stand in front of me?"

he says with a chuckle. Someone goes to reply with a "Gaius kno-?? Of course he does." But before they can speak, they're interrupted by Merlin mumbling that-

"my head hurts :( "

Everyone else lets out a chuckle at this, but it's Leon who tells Arthur that it's been long enough now,

"Get some rest Merlin, we'll head back to Camelot in the morning, and we'll protect you from Gaius' famous wrath when we get there :) " from Arthur, has Merlin going:

"Oh thank the gods." Before promptly passing out on Arthur's shoulder, much to the amusement of everyone else.

~

THE END!

There is of course a merthur love confession at some point. And also Gaius expectedly yelling at Merlin when they get back (for being stupid and unsubtle all these years, for revealing his magic in such a dramatic fashion the previous day, for essentially concussing himself). The lot of them giggle at that, despite Merlin glaring at them the whole time

Arthur also reveals to the whole gang, the draft on the Magic Ban Repeal he'd been secretly working on. He always wanted Merlin to trust him enough to tell him the truth, but started work on the repeal when he came to the realisation that trust and respect goes both ways.

SO like always gang, I'm shitty at writing in full so like,,,,, if someone wants to wrote this go for it, credit and tag me✌

[rishi-eel]

thinking (yet again!) about the differences between the bad batch story reels and the season seven arc and like... some changes just blow my mind because all it did, really, was make the bad batch less likable.  

lets star with the whole “reg” thing. if i remember correctly, in the originals “regs” is said twice. the first instance is by crosshair when taunting jesse in the LAAT. the second is said by hunter: he tells tech (who’s hacking into the cyber center) that he and wrecker are going to “go get the regs” (i.e. rex and jesse). that is, hunter only used it among his squad when the others were not present (much like how cody informs that the bad batch are defective clones out of earshot. these words are descriptors, but there’s also an offense associated to being referred to by them). the idea that hunter has restraint referring to regular clones this way in their faces connects, i think, to how hunter was a tad more apologetic to jesse in the original script. “he means regular clones. don’t take it personal. it’s just that we don’t always follow protocol” carried an actual sense of hunter trying to convince jesse that it’s nothing to do with him.   

it’s interesting, i think, that in a context where you have clones and defective clones, that the bad batch (as defective clones) would find a way to talk about other clones in reference to themselves in a way that normalizes their own existence. it also introduces the idea that the bad batch experience a level of disconnect, and even animosity, in regards to other clones. all that can be conveyed by only using the word twice. the season seven episodes added three more instances, and in all of them the bad batch members comfortably throw the word around the clones who “are regs.” the sense of separateness (which, again, was already established/achieved by using it just two times) is only made stronger (thus more needs to be done to portray a sense of reconciliation or coming together. the reels succeed this to an extent because that barrier wasn’t built up as high). 

so yeah in the original... wrecker didn’t say “we always get shot down when we travel with regs,” he kept quiet as he helped people out of the wrecked gunship (in fact, wrecker lost a lot of subtlety going from the reels to the final eps, which i’ll get back to). hunter didn’t fake-compliment rex with a “not bad, for a reg”! and oh boy crosshair’s comment implying that echo is worthless and expendable because he’s a “reg”... yeah that was not in the reels either. in fact, not only does crosshair not call echo a reg, the meaning of his original dialogue was completely different.

in the original, after hunter voices his suspicions echo might be dead, crosshair suggests that if alive echo could be cooperating with the enemy, making him a traitor. rex takes this as an attack on echo’s character and crosshair explains that no, he’s not intending to insult echo, by saying: “oh i don’t blame him, if i were left for dead, i wouldn’t be so loyal.” and like!!!!! that’s such a radically different line of dialogue because crosshair seems to blame rex for having left echo behind, actually. if you betrayed the republic to survive, or even out of spite, i don’t blame you even if you now present a threat to myself and my family, is such an interesting, empathetic sentiment. and that contrasts with the lack of regard given to rex, making it read like he’s condemning rex for leaving someone behind. crosshair doesn’t seem to understand, as an experimental commando clone, the pressures rex as a legion captain is under, because he’s seen a less expandable (they’re a specially trained four man team, if one dies that’s 25% of the unit gone. is there a replacement for that member? you get the idea). so you’ve got a clash between different povs, but also crosshair being shown as having a set of morals, chief among them being that you do not leave anyone behind. so remember when rex says to move out and crosshair goes “commander cody is in no position to move” yeah i’d say that’s crosshair making sure cody isn’t being left behind. when crosshair saves anakin? that’s because he saw anakin go off on his own and followed him. because you don’t leave people behind. and like... the idea that yeah crosshair is an asshole. he’s unpleasant and that’s deliberate. he doesn’t care if people like him and he’s not trying to be liked. but that he values the lives of other people and looks out for them? that makes an interesting, flawed and multifaceted character. that got lost in the dialogue change because its no longer suggested that crosshair holds these values.

as for what i said earlier about wrecker: he lost subtle, nonverbal moments through the addition of lines that are either anticlimactic or only serve to make him seem loud or ditzy in an exaggerated fashion. he didn’t laugh when the LAAT came down. he was quiet as he helped people out of the downed gunship (no comment about regs!). he didn’t say “boom” when the ship exploded in the background after he flipped it over (the difference? a character moment that’s actually cool and impressive vs something that’s corny). when wrecker comes to crosshair’s aid by picking rex off of him, there was no quippy one liner. there was no need for anything to be said for it to be understood that wrecker is acting as a barrier and it trying to intimidate rex. when he’s afraid to get onto the elevator? that’s conveyed visually through camera angles and through hunter picking up on the fact that he’s scared. he doesn’t scream (if you can call a comical “aah what is that thing oh no its going to get me” a scream) when the organic decimator almost gets him. when they walk across the pipe? wrecker doesn’t whimper or talk to himself for comfort. he is scared of heights, that’s already been established, but he’s also a grown man and a soldier like he’s keeping that to himself? like we see wrecker hesitating to walk on the ledge but doing it anyway because he has to. in a piece of dialogue that was cut, tech said “does anyone want to know the odds of us making it across alive?” to which wrecker (who’s you know already having a bad time) interrupts with “don’t even think about it, tech” (if ur curious, this exchange was replaced with: wrecker: “keep walking tech!” tech: “that’s fine, but if you fall don’t take me with you” which???? uuh weird exchange). also, the fact that wrecker was mostly dealing with his fear silently means that when hunter tells wrecker to hold on because they’re almost there... that’s because hunter knows he’s scared and is checking up on him. basically... any kind of serious moment was cheapened by having wrecker talk in them. now i don’t want to say that DBB is a bad voice actor, but his expertise is making animal noises. he’s not able to do a realistic, deep voice, meaning that whenever wrecker talks he kind of sounds like a joke. it’s fine when wrecker is actual being lighthearted and jokey, but otherwise? the emotion just does not come across as genuine, which breaks the stakes or weakens credibility.  

and god the whole plot point about the bad batch being suspicious of echo was nonexistent in the reels. the “don’t worry, echo says he’s got a plan”/”that makes me feel so much better” exchange between rex and tech is in the original, but tech’s sarcasm isn’t from doubting echo’s allegiance, it’s because they’re planning to land on admiral trench’s ship and echo having a plan (that he himself doesn’t know) doesn’t exactly soothe his anxieties. rex acts like tech’s being a big joker and playfully shoves him, telling him to get on board. which is an interesting interaction because these characters are kind of starting to bond?? as for tech and echo, they kinda become nerdy friends really quick. like when tech warns echo not to send the signal right away because he first needs to make it look like it’s coming from skako minor, echo’s like “oh yeah good thinking tech.” and when echo figures out a way to shut down all the droids at once tech is impressed and lightly shoves his shoulder. again there is none of that “oooh maybe echo’s a traitor maybe he’s with the techno union” shit. like i understand that the writers wanted to up the stakes but it falls flat because the idea of echo being a traitor isn’t credible. it does not seem like an actual risk or possibility. so all it did was make the bad batch seem like assholes, cutting away at some very nice character moments.   

ok this is a long post and you might ask yourself “but tumblr user rishi-eel, why do you care so much about the story reels, this stuff isn’t canon now” and there are a couple reasons, first, i think it managed to tell a better story overall. so the question is: why is that? because you would expect that writers reworking the plot would add improvements and not downgrades. and to be fair, the s7 episodes had a bunch of upgrades, but not when it came to the characterization of the bad batch. another thing to consider is that changes were made in the context of setting the bad batch up as future protagonists of their own spinoff series (something the original arc was not intended to do because there were no plans for a bad batch series). were the characters made flatter and more archetypal to add to marketability? was the reg/defective clone rivalry (and dichotomy, even) amplified because this separateness serves a narrative in which the bad batch are heroes and the other clones villains?  

[reduciodepresso]

“Their Own Story” Lexi and Fezco (Euphoria)

Warnings: smut :) 

Chapter Two

Read the whole thing on Ao3 here: 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/36642913/chapters/91401163

Lexi checked her phone for the first time that night when she got home, seeing Rue’s text only as she was getting ready for bed.

>> Hey Lex. Fez told me you’re doing better… just hoping you’re still good to keep things on the dl. I really don’t want Jules to find out. It’d mean a lot.

Lexi gets that familiar sensation in her stomach that feels like she’s been kicked in the gut, her eyes flickering away from the screen as she considers how to respond. She tries multiple times to come up with a good answer before settling on saying nothing for now, shaking her head as she goes back to getting ready for bed and tries to push Rue to the back of her mind.

It wasn’t like Lexi was mad or anything… except that she was.

She had just been through one of the scariest moments of her life and Rue was not only the person who got her in that situation, but like, she had also pretty much abandoned Lexi to save her ass from getting caught.

She hears her phone go off again, her stomach doing a backflip as she knows it’s just going to hurt to see whatever Rue’s telling her now, and so she doesn’t check it right away.

She’s on drugs, Lexi reminds herself, whatever she does and says on drugs is nothing personal.

But Lexi had a habit of making everything personal, even shit that didn’t concern her. Her eyes wander to watch her sister put a face mask on while she’s brushing her teeth, getting tired of watching her reflection as she loops about the same shit over and over again.

Cassie only glances her way once she finally stops staring at herself, content with the way the mask sits on her face as she takes her phone out to take a photo. “Get in it, Lex,” she tells her.

Lexi smiles, popping her head into the corner of the frame as Cassie takes the photo.

“It’s cute,”Cassie tells her, though Lexi doubted she had the vibe Cassie was going for.

“Yea?”

Cassie doesn’t respond, and for a moment Lexi thinks that she’s gone back to staring herself down, but when she steals a quick look to confirm her suspicion, she finds Cassie studying her, “do you have a hickey on your neck?”

Lexi goes still, her mouth still full of toothpaste as her sister moves to get a closer look, taking as long as possible to spit into the sink.

“Do I?” She finally asks, subconsciously touching her neck as Cassie pulls her hair out of the way. “That’s… weird.”

“Weird?” Cassie repeats, “did you… hook up with someone?”

“Uuh, maybe.”  

“What! Why didn’t you tell me this?”

“Cause…” you don’t care about my life, Lexi wants to say, but holds her tongue, “cause I don’t want to read too much into it.”

“So you like… like him? Or her,” Cassie adds, “whoever.”

“Yea.”

It startles her how easily she responds, her heart skipping a beat as she tries to figure out how she could suddenly be so sure, but she doesn’t let the sudden revelation show as Cassie asks her what his name is.

“Um… you wouldn’t know him,” Lexi tells her, “he was at some theatre camps a few years back, we reconnected recently.”

“Oh. That’s cool Lex.”

She nods, biting the inside of her mouth as Cassie leaves and she’s left alone in the bathroom, watching her face in the mirror as she’s trying not to smile.

Fuck, Lexi thinks to herself, and suddenly, thinking about Rue doesn’t seem so bad in comparison to Fez. At least she’s used to feeling discarded, and so meeting someone that didn’t make her feel that way was starting to stress her out. But, everything she’s been feeling since coming home from the gas station is so new to her, the excitement, the worry about what would happen next.

She reaches for her phone, doing a double take when she realizes it wasn’t Rue who had texted her, but a number she doesn’t have saved to her contacts.

>> Lexi Howard.

Her hand comes up to cover her mouth, trying not to laugh out loud.

>> hey Fezco

She pauses, furrowing her brow.

>> this is Fez, right?

She can almost see his amused expression as she sees watches the three dots pop up on the screen. It makes Lexi wish she could unsend the message, her hand coming up to rest on her temple as she watches him type.

>> you guessed correctly

She smiles as she blindly walks back to her bed, flopping onto her mattress as she hears her phone go off again.

>> you get home alright?

Lexi glances over at Cassie as she gets up to take her face mask off, waiting until the bathroom light is turned off and her sisters back in bed before responding.

>> Yea, my sister might’ve said something about a hickey though…

Fez sends back some laughing emoji;

>> My bad. Consider it as me returning the favour.

Lexi turns into one of her pillows, stifling the small noise that escapes her in fear she’ll wake Cassie up or something.

>> Never said it was a bad thing.

She stares at her message for a second before sending it, practically throwing her phone across the room after doing so and is forced to retrieve it when she hears it go off again.

>> good

>> you had me worried I fucked up.

Lexi reads his response twice, her legs rubbing together as butterflies swarm her insides.

>> you didn’t. I had a lot of fun

She almost goes to ask if she can see him again, but she worries she’ll come off as too forward and so she leaves the message as is, figuring if Fez wants to see her again he can ask.

But, the next day at school it’s all she can think about, like, to the point where she thinks she’d be putting Cassie to shame.

She’s so in her head that she doesn’t even notice Rue approaching her locker, and so she jumps in surprise when she closes the door to reveal her friends face.

“Scared the shit out of me!” Lexi exclaims, holding her hand over her chest as her heart rate slowly returns to normal.

“Sorry,” Rue rushes out, glancing around at the people that pass them, “you never responded to my message.”

“What message?” Lexi asks, but keeps her eyes on the floor below her.

Rue rolls her eyes, “you know what fucking message, Lexi. The one that asks you not to tell Jules I’ve fucking relapsed.”

“Where did you get the drugs?”

“Why does that matter?”

“Cause I want to know if I’m going to suddenly go into cardiac arrest or something,” Lexi says, watching how guilt briefly flashes across Rue’s expression.

“Hey, don’t worry, that’s not how it works, and if it makes you feel any better, they came from a reliable source,” Rue tells her, “look. I’m sorry about everything that happened, it was fucked up on my part, I get that. But, I’ll be a better friend once I know you aren’t going to tell Jules.”

“I won’t tell Jules,” Lexi states plainly, “want me to pay you back for the drugs too?”

Rue doesn’t pick up on the sarcasm, “well, I wasn’t going to ask but—hey, wait!” She calls out as Lexi storms off, “I was kidding too!”

“Okay, Rue.”

“Thank you!” Rue yells from across the hall, “it means a lot!”

She gets to the bathroom before she starts to cry, hating herself for caring so much and yet never doing anything to change. Maybe she thought this is what she deserved for living such an uneventful life, maybe she needed that pain just to know that she was apart of this world.

Lexi takes out her phone to text her mom and ask for permission to skip the rest of the day, her heart skipping a beat as her eyes land on the unanswered text message from Fez as she does so.

>> u at school?

She quickly tells him that she was, her fingers shaking a bit as she tries to figure out what he wants, not used to messages she wasn’t expecting, as she was often able to anticipate when someone is going to reach out to ask something of her.

>> Alright, cool. Disregard then.

She stares at the words, some girl calling out from the other side of the stall to tell her to hurry up.

“One second!” She fires back, her fingers hovering over the keyboard as she thinks about what to say.

>> I’m actually skipping the rest of the day

>> if that changes anything

She stares at her response for a moment;

>> they’re putting on a movie for english, and I’ve already seen it so I figured I don’t need to be there.

Her eyes close, wishing she could just leave things as they are without rambling on like she’s never had a conversation before, only opening them when she feels her phone buzz.

>> Yea, that could change a thing or two.

Fezco knew he probably should’ve waited a day or two before texting her, but when he remembered he had her number that night he couldn’t help himself.

When he had gotten home after seeing Lexi, Ashtray had noticed his good mood almost instantly.

“What the fuck is up with you?” Ashtray had asked after ten minutes of watching Fez roam around the house with a trash bag, throwing out empty bottles and take out containers. “Are you fuckin cleaning?”

“I don’t know what you’re on about,” Fez tells him, “nothing wrong with what I’m doing.”

“Your acting weird,” Ashtray insists, knitting his brow as Fez goes onto take the vacuum out of the closet, “like.. really fucking weird. Did someone drug you or some shit.”

“I ain’t on fucking drugs, man,” Fez chuckles, shaking his head as he catches Ashtrays expression, “where’s Feye.”

“Shooting up or some shit,” Ashtray responds, “do you gotta hickey on your neck?”

“Stop asking stupid questions, man.”

He gives Fez one last look before dropping the subject for the night, and Fez is walking away from him before he can get a second look.

The next morning, however, Ashtrays at it again.

“You fucking singing, now?”

Fez turns to look at him in confusion, raising his hands up in defence, “no. I’m not fucking singing.”

“Yes. You were.”

“No I fucking wasn’t.”

“You were humming! I could hear you from the other room.”

Fez groans in frustration, “that’s still not fucking singing, man!”

“Whatever. I’m out for the day,” Ashtray tells him, “so you can sing all you fuckin’ want while I’m gone.”

Fez doesn’t respond, glaring at the little shit as he stomps around the house, waiting till he’s on his way out before speaking up; “hey! Bring Feye with you.”

“Why do I gotta be the babysitter?”

“Cause I said so,” Fez says, unable to find the energy to put up with the kid this early in the morning. Fez thanks God when Ashtray doesn’t press any harder, savouring the silence that follows his departure.

And then he texts Lexi, finding himself driving to the school less than 30 minutes later, nervously tapping his hands on the steering wheel as he drives. It’s only when he shuts the car off to wait that he catches what Ashtray had been talking about earlier, hearing his tuneless hum filling the silence that surrounded him.

He quickly stops himself, scoffing at his own actions even though there was no one else there to catch it.

“Hey,” a voice states

He hadn’t seen Lexi approach, jolting back a bit when he hears her voice right next to the car before realizing it’s her.

“Sorry,” she adds when she notices his surprise, “didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

“Nah, it’s all good. Get in,” he tells her as he reaches out to unlock the other side of the car, trying his best not to stare as she slips into the passenger seat.

Fuck, she made him more nervous than most deals he’s partaken in, tearing his eyes away from her as he sits up straight. He felt kinda funny when he thought about it that way, and yet still, he couldn’t get his heart to just chill for a second.

“So, too smart for school?” Fez finally asks, grinning when he makes her laugh.

“Oh yea, totally,” Lexi responds sarcastically, turning to meet his eye with a smile.

“You good?” Fez asks, noticing how her eyes were red like she had been crying.

She laughs once, “oh yea I’m good, just Rue being… Rue.”

“Did she say something about… the thing?”

“Yea, but she just cared about Jules not finding out,” Lexi tells him, “I think my emotions are still all out of whack or something.”

“Yea, that happens,” Fez tells her, “did she at least apologize about it?”

He wondered how bad he’d feel if he went into that school now and just told Jules what happened, even though he knew it wouldn’t end well.

“Erm, sorta.”

Fez’s eyes flicker towards her, “she’s… an addict, they’re kinda fucked up like that.”

“I know,” Lexi tells him, “which is why… I want to stop thinking about it.”

He considers prodding further, but something about the way she turns to look at him tells him it wasn’t what she wanted to think about right now. “I’m good with that.”

He puts the car into drive, feeling the adrenaline as he pulls out of the school. He lets her turn the music up, watching her hands, in the way they linger on the unit as she makes sure the volumes good before pulling away.

She smiles, and he feels her looking to see how he reacts, heat rising to his face when she doesn’t turn away. He listens to her as she hums along to the melody, only noticing how he’s been grinning to himself the whole time when they get to his house.

“It’s this one,” Fezco tells her as they get out, leading her through the door with her back to his chest, his hand reach around her to take hers to help her inside.

“You wanna watch somethin?” Fez asks her, neither of them moving from their position as he closes the door behind them.

“Yea, we can watch something,” Lexi says, and he feels her run her thumb along his knuckles as they move to the couch.

Lexi had absolutely no idea what they ended up choosing, as all she could focus on was how she was resting her head on Fez’s chest.

It was a nice feeling, she thinks to herself, as Fez grazes her arm with his hand.

They get about 20 minutes into the show before giving into the tension that filled the room. Lexi had shifted to get a little closer and when their eyes had locked, Fez met her in the middle.

His hands are in her hair as they kiss, tugging at roots so that he can pull back and study her for a moment. Lexi’s eyes flutter from his actions, and Fez chokes on his breath, “do you always gotta look so fucking fine?” He mutters as he presses his lips to hers again, gently deepening the kiss in such an affectionate way it warms Lexi’s insides.

Her arms wrap around Fez’s waist, pulling him close as they lie down and he buries his head in the crook of her neck, his hips instinctively grinding into her as her hands slide beneath his shirt. She explores his bare skin, her nails lightly scratching his back as she’s relishing in how it feels to know him in this way.

“Fezco,” she murmurs, enunciating each syllable like she’s taking a breath of air, tugging at his shirt until he gets the message and helps her take it off.

He’s undoing to buttons on her shirt, hastily pulling her arms out of the sleeves as his eyes stay glued to her chest, while she’s still stuck on the fact that he’s half naked above her. Her fingers trace the front of his body, a hazy smile on her lips as they both take a second to stare at the other.

“So, is a couch proper enough for you?” Lexi asks him, “or will that compromise some moral consciousness of yours.”

She swears she could see him blush a bit, shaking his head as he mutters her full name under his breath. “You know, I might be a drug dealer and all that, but I do sleep on a bed,” he tells her, and now she’s the one to blush as the thought had slipped her mind.

“That… does make sense.”

“Is that where you want to go?”

“We could, erm… we could do that, yea.”

He grins, picking her up in one swift motion and swinging her around, walking them down the hall without straining from her weight.

She pulls him closer, her hands clasped together behind him as he lowers her onto the mattress.

“Hey, I’ve been here before,” Lexi realizes as she takes in her surroundings.

“Yea,” Fez states, Lexi’s eyes widening when it clicks that this was where she slept after that night with Rue.

“Oh. Right.”

She shakes the feeling off, straining her neck instead so their lips clash together. He leans into the touch as he takes her bra off, Lexi’s hands fiddling with the buttons of his pants as they strip down to their underwear.

Without pants, Lexi feels a little more exposed than last time, even though he had already seen her without a top on. But his hands are holding her wrists down when she goes to cover herself, ready for what she was about to do. “Don’t even think about trying that shit,” he tells her, moving to kiss her sternum, letting go of her hands to focus on her tits. “You look fucking good, so you can stop questioning it,” Fez adds, “so. Fucking. Good.”

It’s enough for her to give into the feeling, letting any insecurity she had dissolve as his tongue grazes her nipple, her back arching to find friction as pleasure washes over her, moaning quietly as he begins to grind into her, feeling him hard as he presses up against her lower stomach.

“Shit, Fez.”

He slowly makes his way down her front, getting to where her panties are and pulling them down with his teeth, bring them to her ankles before throwing them aside, not wasting anytime to move back up and suddenly burying his head between her legs.

Lexi gasps in surprise, Fez hooking his arms around her legs as he sucks on her clit, the pressure making her cry out and curl her toes.

He moves to slowly pump one finger into her, glancing up at her before adding another. She couldn’t quite describe the noise that escapes her, her body lurching upwards as her insides clench around the feeling.

He adds a third, Lexi crying out again as he slowly slides his fingers in and out of her, curling to pass by the same spot every time.

It overwhelms her, every nerve in her body sparking at once and she’s coming undone at the feeling, seizing around Fez as he draws the feeling out for as long as she can handle before she’s pulsing against his fingers, her voice ragging as she’s pushing his head away, unable to take any more.

He waits until she’s no longer panting to kiss her, passing the time by taking in her naked body as it rises and falls, as it tries to get air back into her lungs. He mutters something about how good she looked when he does finally press his lips to hers, her hands moulding to his back as her mouth gives into his.

Lexi tugs on his boxers, and she feels him hesitate as his hand moves to rest over hers, “you don’t gotta do anything you don’t want to,” he says, “I’d respect that.”

“But if there is something I want to do?” Lexi responds quietly.

“I’d uh… respect that too.”

She smiles, feeling his hand help her slide his boxers down and he shifts to take them off, the slight shift compelling a thought to come to mind as her eyes land on his dick already leaking with pre-cum. “But do you think… do you have…” she lets out a huff of air before trying again, “I just watched my sister get pregnant and all that and I don’t think that’s something I want to experience so like if you have some form of protection…”

He stares at her with wide eyes, frozen, his expression unchanging as the seconds pass before he suddenly starts to laugh.

Audibly.

“You don’t gotta convince me,” Fez finally says, his body still shaking as his eyes dance with amusement, “but my condolences for your sister and all that.”

“I’ll… pass the message on.”

Fez snickers, dropping his head as he begins to laugh harder just after he had begin to calm down, Lexi joining in with her hand over her mouth as she wasn’t sure if she had ever heard him laugh like that, tears leaking from her eyes as neither of them are able to sober up.

However, after staring at her naked body long enough, Fez finally shift to reach for his nightstand, opening the bottom drawer and fishing out a condom from the back of it, though he’s still chuckling a bit as he rolls it over his dick.

She simply watches in fascination, trying to stay calm as she stares at Fez’s dick and wonders how it will possibly fit inside of her when three fingers already seem like a stretch.

Physics?

Stop thinking about it, Lexi.

“Okay, you good?” Fez asks once it’s on, bringing his thumb to slide between her legs to feels how slick she was, hovering over her clit when he passes it to begin drawing small circles against it.

“Yea,” she breathes out, suddenly forgetting why she was so nervous as she feels his touch, “go for it.”

He shakes his head in slight amusement as he leans over her, lining himself up against her entrance as she kisses him, distracting herself with his lips when he tells her to relax.

“Relax,” he repeats as he begins to push into her, Lexi’s eyes squeezing shut for a second as she half-expects him to just go for it like she had asked him to. But he moves slowly instead, inch by inch as her brain tries to figure out what’s going on, why she’s suddenly being stretched open in such a way.

His hand moves to cup the side of her face, and she’s focusing on the way he caresses her cheek as he sinks in a little further, a high gasp escaping her as she reminds herself to breathe.

“Yea, just like that,” he tells her as she exhales and he slips in a little more, his voice tight and strung out as his hand moves to brace himself against her shoulder and his head falls to watch his dick disappear into her. She feels his fingers dig into her skin, his arm shaking as he steadies himself and slowly pulls back up, “you all good?”

“Yea,” she squeaks out, his head popping back up to look at her as he sinks into her again, a groan escaping them both at the same time as she meets him this time, a jolt of pleasure shocking her as Fez’s eyes go wide.

“Fuck.” Fez grits out as her mouth falls open, her hands moving to grip his hipbone and the base of his scull as he rocks into her again.

His hand is sliding down her front as he begins to find an agonizing pace, and Lexi greets him by hooking on leg around his waist, a ragged gasp escaping him as he bottoms out, his hand clawing at her front as she moans aloud.

“Please, Fez,” she says, whimpering as their eyes looked and his face contorts in strained pleasure, “y-you can fuck me harder.”

His irises darken, their usual light complexion disappearing without a trace as his hand slides down her front and his thumb begins to rub tight circles between her legs, his hips snapping as she rises to meet them, her limbs pulling him closer to her body as a desperation begins to fall over her.

“Please,” she repeats, though she wasn’t quite sure what she was asking for. Please, like she’s asking him to give himself over, like she wants him to accept her as his.

“Fuck, Lexi,” Fez moans in response, his eyes fluttering as their gaze stays glued to one another, his mouth agape as she presses a sloppy kiss to his jaw, to his lips as he twists his head to meet hers, indulging in the taste of her mouth.

They yield to the touch of the other, Lexi’s core beginning to tighten as her senses begin to take over and ever thought is pushed to the back of her mind, her rhythm beginning to falter as she begins to cry out, every sound that escapes her lips blurring together as he thumb moves quicker and he begins to moan with her.

“Fez I’m going to—”

“—I know,” Fez grunts out, watch her as he’s wringing the air out of her lungs and she’s suddenly rigid beneath him, knowing she would scream if she had any voice to use as she clings to Fez as he continues to pound into her; watching her cum with satisfaction.

She was shaking, her hips still strained as he lets up on her clit, his body lurching forward as he takes hold of her face, holding it in place as his pace grows sloppy and his expression breaks open in pleasure, cumming silently as her embrace keeps him locked into her.

They’re trembling against one another as they come down, interlocked within each other’s arms. Fez drops his forehead to rest on her shoulder, catching his breath as Lexi does the same.

When he does lift his head, he kisses the shoulder he had been resting on before finding her mouth, Lexi humming as she softens to the feeling.

They stayed like that for some time, carelessly searching for any part of the others mouth they haven’t yet explored, high on endorphins and adrenaline as cherish the haze that engulfs them.

Fez eventually pulls out of her, forced to get up to discard the condom in the bathroom.

She’s sitting up when he gets back, tucking her knees into her chest as she watches him with a soft smile, admiring how flushed his skin still is as he slips back into his boxers.

“What’s got you staring like that?” Fez asks, grinning as he re-joins her in bed.

Lexi shrugs as he kisses her forehead; “how are you doin?” He adds as he pulls back, Lexi glancing down at herself for the first time to see her inner thighs had small traces of blood staining them.

“Oh fuck,” Lexi realizes, completely forgetting the basics when it came to loosing your virginity as she was so wrapped up in the other stuff.

“You’re good,” Fez assures her, grabbing her hand as she stands up, “don’t worry about that shit, okay?”

“Did it get on the comforter?”

“Nah, and even if it did—it wouldn’t be anything new,” Fez quickly says, thinking his words over once he hears how it might sound, “cause, like, I’ve passed out on it all banged up before, not cause…”

“Not cause you’ve fucked a lot of virgins?”

They burst out into laughter at the same time, and she’s still giggling as he wraps his arms around her, waiting for their laughter to die before getting dressed.

Fez gave Lexi the sweater she had returned to him a few days ago to wear, giving into a fantasy he’s been playing in his head since she had given it back to him as she slips it on.

He had asked her if she wanted to smoke after catching himself staring, realizing he didn’t want her to leave yet, “just if you wanted to try somethin that isn’t… Fentanyl.”

She had laughed, and after thinking about it for a second she had agreed; “I think it would help; having a better experience with a drug where I’m not terrified I’m about to die.”

He took her to some park he always went to that was about a block away from his house, glancing over at her every so often to appreciate how good she looked in his sweater, and with her hair still a little messed up from before.

Lexi called her mom when they got to the park, telling her she’s hanging out with Rue for the night or something, while Fez sparks the joint between his fingers.

He tried not to think about what that meant in terms of her freedom, if her mom was expecting her home late or not at all.

“Do you just inhale it?” Lexi asked him once getting off the phone, taking it from his hands and trying to replicate what she watched him do.

“Yea, like that,” Fez tells her after explaining how she’s meant to hold it in her lungs for a bit, smiling a bit when she starts to cough, “you’ll get used to it.”

She gives it back to him, giggling a bit when she finally stops coughing, “here,” Fez adds after he see’s she’s regained her composure, “take another hit.”

He holds it out for her so that she doesn’t have to hold it in her hand, feeling his stomach flutter as her lips graze his fingers.

“Yup,” Lexi announces once she’s exhaled, “I think I’m high.”

“Perfect,” Fez chuckles, “more for me.”

He tries to finish the joint quickly so he can go back to talking to the girls whose in his arms. He liked talked to her after all, and the silence also allowed for Fez’s mind to wander, every quiet second they spent together was consequently filled with images of how Lexi looked while he was fucking her, with the sound of her voice as she says his name.

“How does it feel?” Fez asks her once he’s pretty much made himself hard again, happy she was high enough not to notice.

“Better than Fentanyl,” Lexi sighs happily, “not as good as sex.”

“I’ll have to start putting that shit on the labels,” Fez responds, laughing quietly to himself as he listens to her giggle.

“I just sorta feel like I can say whatever, but that I also don’t have to say anything and that would be cool too,” Lexi tells him, “are you high?”

Fez looks down at the last of the joint, contemplating her question as he finishes it off. “A bit,” he tells her, “a bit more than usual.”

“Good, I don’t wanna look funny in front of you.”

“You ain’t gunna look funny in front of me,” Fez tells her, moving so that she was sitting on his lap, “don’t be nervous about stuff like that.”

She turns to look at him, his stomach fluttering as her gaze lingers, “you are a very attractive man,” she finally says, “makes me nervous.”

Fez lets out a high laugh, happy he’s a little stoned now as his face warms, “I don’t wanna make you nervous.”

“Well, you do.”

“I guess that’s cool,” Fez says after a moment, waiting until she’s turning to look at him, and he kisses her once before continuing on; “cause like, maybe you make me nervous and all that as well,” he finally admits. “So we even.”

Lexi grins, and Fezco admires how nice she looks when she smiles with her teeth showing and everything.

“I guess we are.”

[bibiana112]

If u want someone to ask about zero escape….what are you thoughts on Akane and Junpei in ztd compared to 999? Like which characterizations are better to you, and what could the other have done better?

Thank u for taking that tidbit on my description and running with it Thank u Thank u

Okay so you see, this is kind of tricky because while I do have Big criticisms of it as I do almost every aspect of ztd, their characterization is also something I literally described to my friend as pretty much the only worthwhile development in the whole thing? Like I don't think they drop the ball on the two of them or, okay, well at least not that hard, not to the degree that many other threads are dropped or to a degree where it bothers me necessarily

So uuh, yeah! It's complicated! And it's going under a read more because it's a lot apparently! Hi btw if you're new here I'm a Pretty wordy person lol

• Okay so first, Junpei thoughts, finally I have some Junpei thoughts to let loose

One of the big things that stood out to me about Junpei in particular while replaying 999, and well with my friend's perspective on him as well, is that he isn't really allowed to be as dynamic of a character in ztd as he used to be, like I legit forgot why I liked him so much until I revisited 999. He's so jaded during the whole entirety of it that the little bits where he does let anything other than edge shine through is when you're reminded oh yeah that's the same dork, other than that he's pretty one note as either the asshole of c-team or dead. Oh and in love with Akane, did you know he's in love with Akane? I think we should tell the audience again, they didn't hear it the first 90 times including the other games. SORRY I Do like them but it's kind of a peculiar situation how he seems to fall on a bunch of love interest pitfalls usually reserved for female characters, basically every single action and narrative development of his is primarily defined by his relationship with Akane which like I get it but this game is Also trying to pretend she isn't the protagonist at the same time and it just feels off because I would like to think him and at least the Fields would remain in contact after 999 and it's nice that he kind of works with Seven sometimes but it's an especially weird direction as follow up on the set up from vlr since it allowed him to have another person dear to him, which you know Quark is just an X-Pass now since he hasn't adopted him yet if at all and he truly Only cares about Akane and quite literally nothing else not even himself and okay fine go off I don't like that very much if he's supposed to be very average how am I not supposed to wonder about what kind of life he had before the nonary game if he drops everything in it to go after the childhood friend he hardly knew anymore/woman that literally kidnapped him? I can see why that'd be a kind of sort of natural progression for him character wise, I can see the sheer impact of the experience leading him to desperately want closure sure, can also see him starting off less like that but then the line of work takes a toll on his mental health, sure, but I still... don't... vibe. Maybe it's just me not enjoying romance more than half the time but yeah I just don't think it's that great of a direction, I think it doesn't completely not work and i Do like how they still don't entirely get along despite all that, I'll get into that more a bit later I think but still on the subject of only Junpei

In 999 he is great he subverts what you'd expect of a protagonist by starting out with the exact vibes you'd expect from a generic one, again he is a dork, but he is also just a dude super confused and not even necessarily trying to get along with everyone, he just wants out and since he knows June he wants to get her out as well, he even has a pretty unapologetic cold streak on like Door 3 being the most egregious example but even smaller things like cheating on the draw or just the way he conducts himself when pulling off his whole gambit on exposing Ace. And still despite all that his heart's in the right place and he does connect with the people he's stuck with, especially Clover y'know, and he saves a little girl not even only because it's his friend but because it's someone that needed his help and he couldn't just ignore that. Like, I truly think that one of the neat things about their relationship in 999 is that it Is still on pretty equal standing in regards to the narrative, since well it was designed to be as part of the premise, he is getting the puzzle solutions from her sure but mini-Akane only got to witness a bunch of important stuff because Junpei was capable enough to figure those out himself in the present as well. I miss those moments of him figuring shit out and being allowed to be a smooth smartass about it for two seconds and then it goes on cooldown and he's back to dumbass bi disaster hours cracking puns and getting attached to the silliest things to cope with the stress of the situation and no impulse control

Can I talk about how I don't like that one fragment from ztd? Suspicion? That one where he's dead. It is a joke lmao, it's probably just the melodramatic tone moreso than characters actually getting dumber but everyone I've watched get to that part went wow Junpei died and Akane immediately lost braincells okay, like, it would make sense for her to flip her shit! But something about the framing was... Not selling it. It also made me seriously consider wether or not Junpei was, kind of, sort of fridged? Obviously because uh that's just what the imagery evoked but setting aside the gender stuff about this trope for a bit can we acknowledge that like, Akane gets impactful moments relating to vlr stuff while all he gets is to be collateral of those moments? He really doesn't do much of his own accord. I also will much more fiercely defend that Phi was definitely fridged but that's not who we're talking about now kajsks

• Here I go talking shit about how their relationship is handled in ztd despite enjoying it in theory

Okay remember when I mentioned I enjoy how they aren't entirely getting along? Well yeah! I think it's pretty great that we get to see how the trauma is still there and how junpei doesn't entirely know what to think of the whole thing after finding her again and immediately being given the cold shoulder and how he wants it to be acknowledged while Akane wants to keep pretending she's someone else so she can do what she was there to do and then leave and not be reminded of all the feelings she indeed has under all her calmness, because, for once, she didn't plan for him to be there at all. But that's almost just the premise and the little bits we get from D-com before it went to shit, during the actual game I think it could've developed the idea that That's where their relationship is at much much better. Instead of, like, not only immediately jumping to getting engaged but getting engaged at the fucking death game too. Like if there was at least any room to breathe before he actually gets to propose y'know? Gets kind of old dying on different fragments over and over and only gathering that the weird thing he's holding is a ring because it rolls off one of the times and have the immediate reaction be wait seriously? Aw ok. I think if he wasn't obsessed about it and just idk found it in the common area and did the proposing as a spur of the moment thing after they've already done some shifting bullshit it'd be much better, he's impulsive like that and I think it'd make it feel like there was actual progression from where their relationship started out y'know?

• Akane is the writer's favorite character and it shows (honorific)

The thing with Akane on the other hand is that, well, I most definitely don't prefer her in ztd, but I almost feel like it would be incomplete to look at her character in the other games without the context we get here? I just wish it was I dunno on a fucking leaflet instead of part of this game lol I feel like ztd is the time where they Best convey the idea they had of her as the ''World's Worst Heroine'' and everything, I feel like in the other games she is too... defendable? For that title? Is that the word I'm looking for here? You could look at her in 999 and completely justify her actions or even just comprehend them, you don't really have too much context from her perspective in VLR but it's easy to do the same depending on who you are, easier even. In ztd, however, we actually get to see first-hand the messed up things she's capable of including her mindset going into preparing the AB game. Not that we couldn't surmise it from context and actually playing through it, but watching her actually say the ends justify the means as she drugs junpei into passing out again while still being able to see how it just pains her to with the callback to when they were kids is pretty much a buckwild fucking wow moment for me still, and I think her being aggressively theistic up to that point is also good spice as I've once discussed already.

And the thing is? I don't think 999 could have showed us that side of her at all, I can imagine that side to her being there as zero while in the planning stage, or while Junpei is away from her in the game, all I want but that could never be in the game proper aside from the implications it already has. It couldn't fit, if she ever slipped in her charade in a way that clues the audience in more than we already are then it circles back into undermining the very point that she is scary good at this, mini-Akane still hasn't fostered so many of those traits for us to know from her either, all of that. I like to pretend only 999 happens a lot but even then I wonder what if it actually was the only game in the franchise how much my perception of her character would be different then, y'know?

That being said, while I think ztd ties a bunch of things together in respect that we finally get to see her without putting on a big farce, I also think it had a bunch of missed opportunities? But that I'd say is derived mostly from how the game itself is paced and structured, all that jazz and, look, I love shifting junkie himbo Carlos, enjoy c-team ot3 as much as the next guy but he is. Just. A Guy. And their interactions having to go through such a vanilla ass character's thick skull most of the time almost annoys me? I think what annoys me is that he's so out of the loop while both the characters around him And the audience are begging to know about what's happened since 999. Like on a basic dialogue level he just doesn't bring much to the table despite having a background that would make you think he would. It is staggering how much of a creep they make him come across as just for gross anime little sister jokes and despite enjoying what they did for Akane's general sense of dark freaking humor, it drives me absolutely insane how Akane seems like she forgot she isn't an only child to enable those particular jokes, or how she has literally no aversion to fucking Fire, and this one's probably a me thing tbh but there's a minor interaction from an item where she was the one positively thinking back on how nice nurses were like girl how do you let yourself have a single good memory related to hospitals after everything. Whatever Carlos has going on with Junpei is okay though, I like how jaded ass junpei rags on him being so selfless every chance he gets, don't love it but it's okay

• Okay there's a tldr about Junpei and Akane, aka what you actually asked about, after this next paragraph because I needed to rag on this particular aspect of ztd a bit, you know for my sanity, cause sure I had fun with the shifting segment but it's pretty fucked

OH MAN I have to get this out of my chest Know the Whole thing with the aliens?? It drives me insane how the only reason it's there probably it's that they had both vlr to follow up on and the Stupid premise of the decision game, at some point they realized oops if only three people can survive the game but five of these people need to make it through the fucking apocalypse what do?? And they went with just copy paste two of them from another timeline like. what. It's a poor premise for a death game in this universe to begin with, it's very saw-ish and while you can justify it as a character thing it's still just. Not an environment that is as thought provoking or as good for enabling character stuff as the ones that came before, the whole narrative isn't. I say the time travel becomes the main character after 999 and I stand by that, the gimmick that they choose to flesh out isn't very well conducive to actual character studies, so as the series goes on the form and the time travel and mechanics related to that become way more interesting by design to pick apart than most of the new cast. Unfortunately even the old cast suffers from that being the case, fucking shifting itself is something I majorly dislike in relation to a bunch of character stuff especially pertaining to these two, but if I dare say maybe having the characters have very little qualms about offing themselves at the drop of a hat is at best boring and dull and lessens the impact of literally everything that's come in their stories before and why should I care about getting Akane to survive in 999 if we're treating every timeline as equally devoid of merit well then that'd be kind of missing the point of the many timelines bullshit wouldn't it? Life is unfair, yadda yadda, nihilism doesn't inherently bother me I'm a Hello charlotte fan for fucks sake but here we are, I won't even pretend Akane going on about the anthropic principle didn't capture something kinda special for me, but you know what absolutely irked me? The q-team epilogue, that just goes hey, and what if, we tried to split the timeline even faaaarther back before literally everything, doesn't even solve the nonary game existing by the way but the Kurashikis probably wouldn't end up involved how about that huh no 999 then huh that's like a microcosm of what bugs me through the whole game, that's where it hurts where it doesn't only present this idea of hey what if nothing has inherent meaning to it and shit just changes based on circumstance as it's only philosophical backbone it Also constantly points at things and iconography from the past games because it knows they're things you've already embed with meaning, and then it scrambles and shuffles them until it's a purposefully shallow and inconsequential backdrop. Did Phi need to get incinerated? No, but you remember when Akane did so it'll pull on the heartstrings easier if that's how she dies. Why is the mystery person going by Q? He has way too many aliases and none of them relate to the letter, but hey remember the twist about the last door? Remember bases? Did you know the CQD thing is a reference to the distress signal used before SOS? Remember when we were on a ship? Well it doesn't really matter, because nothing does, but we can't get that point across without familiarity. The narrative is about that idea, 15 seconds of anime speech at the ending don't change that, and in a way that just ends up undermining every other game that came prior. It is not about these characters anymore.

Tldr; I greatly prefer Junpei in 999 and would have appreciated if ztd at least gave him more to do than propose and I think not getting specifics on his background hurts that whole development for him. Akane though while I still prefer her in the context of 999 I greatly appreciate most of the characterization she gets in ztd and I end up falling back on it even when imagining her going through the second nonary game, I just wish she also remembered Aoi exists and had things related to her past trauma actually bother her. Lastly I ranted about how I think shifting as it's handled in ztd kneecaps their characters and even the whole story of the franchise for me, and how the reason for all these draw backs is that, aside from 999, the time travel is the main character and not the actual characters.

So there you go!

[iwantutobehapppier]

Our Future

Pairing: Dark Steve Roger x reader

Summary: You left Steve after he did the unforgivable. But what lengths will he go to to make you forgive him? 

Warnings: +18 only, smut, dark themes, sex pollen, dubious consent cause ya know, implied cheating, dark Steve Rogers, dark avengers. Please if any of this bothers you read no further.

Word Count: 2.924

A/N: Happy 7th night of Chanukah! It’s almost to the end! Can you believe it?! Thank you everyone who has read, and reblogged. It means the world to me! Hope you enjoy this nice Dark Steve Rogers fic. Shout out to the ever talented @imanuglywombat​ for helping bounce some ideas off on this one I didn’t know totally where to go and she helped me find my way.

Trying best to hid your wince you hold your dislocated arm close to you to ease any jarring as you make your way up the ramp into the Quinjet. You’re fairly certain you’re bleeding somewhere if the wetness you feel in your suit is any indication. All you wanted to do was get back to the compound, see medical, then make your way to SHIELD Strike quarters with some good narcos.

“Let me see your arm,” you could break glass with the intensity your jaw clenches at the sound of his voice.

“I’d rather let it fall off,” Steve sighed at your clipped tone, he moves to reach to your arm to set it but you jerk away. Unable to hold in the grunt of pain. Steve frowns at your stubbornness

“I don’t want you touching me,” adamant to solidify your words you take a seat.

“Fine be in pain see if I care,” he stomps off not missing your muttering “You never did care.”

Steve could admit that gutted him. His steps faltered for a fraction. He cared for you more than his own life, more than stupid missions. Sometimes he was just a fucking idiot with women. He’d find a way to fix it though.

Squaring his shoulders he keeps walking to the pilot seat, sitting next to Bucky in the co-pilot seat who side-eyes him. “You gonna leave her like that?”

“She won’t let me touch her,” Buckling himself in he tries his best to keep the pain at bay. Was it really that bad that he couldn’t even set your shoulder back? You’d just sit there in pain than even have him touch you?

He knew you would be mad at him for a while but he figured after 3 months some of your ire would wane.

“Hm,” Bucky watches Steve start up the QuinJet controls, “well can you blame her?”

“Told you not to let her catch you,” he flicks Steve’s ear who tries to swat the hand away, “ever,” Bucky’s condescending tone the same he’d been hearing for months on end since the incident.

“Please don’t start too.” Bucky shrugs flipping switches in response to Steve’s prepping the Quinjet for take off.

Bucky turns his head back, catching your figure way in the back, head tilted down. Your slowed heart rate indicating you’d fallen asleep. He turns back to Steve.

“Now you’ve fucked it by letting her catch you with a side piece,” Steve can’t help but roll his eyes, if Bucky went on about this one more time he was liable to punch his best friend unconscious.

“I wouldn’t start if you’d not fucked this up,” Steve grunts wishing for this conversation to not start-up once more, “how long did I have to hear you going on and on about wanting her?”

“I offered my help,” Bucky bobbed his head back and forth in mock “But no the Great Steve Rogers had to woo her.” He scoffs, resituating himself in his seat.

“My side piece? The girl was yours after all.” Steve recalls for Bucky.

“Yeah well let’s be thankful she didn’t know that when she caught you balls deep in her.” there’s a soft snort from you and they both look back catching their breath. They were fairly certain you hadn’t heard anything, but still...

“All I’m saying is fix it,” Bucky grumbles in a whisper looking directly at his pal, “Cause if I have to hear you whine about not being with her one more time-”

“Yeah I get it, Buck,” Steve sighed looking back at you once more.

Once you’re all back at the compound Steve is hot on your tail following you toward medical. You wanted to scream at him but with your loss of blood, still not sure where from, and the pain in your shoulder you didn’t have any fight left in you.

Steve should have headed his buddy’s words of giving you more space but he was unwilling to be apart any longer. You just had to forgive him and let it go. Simple as that. He’d make sure you saw it that way too. It’s not like you knew about all the other times.

A nurse sees you before you can say anything and you’re ushered into a room the door shutting in Steve’s face. Your snide smile makes his hands ball up.

Pushing his thumb to the entry bad you stick your tongue out when it blares at him denied entry. Of course, you would have made sure FRIDAY knew to keep him away from you. He’d get in. He could see through the partially closed vertical blinds making out your figure removing your gear and uniform. Licking his lips at the outline of your breasts.

It had been too long since he’d had sex. None of the other girls did it for him anymore, knowing you weren’t at home waiting for him to go another round with. He had to get in.

Looking at the pad he types in the override code and smiles in triumph with the door slides open for him to come in, shutting after his entry.

Turning around after finally getting the gown on provided for you, you hiss at the sight of him “Why don’t you bother whatever whore’s bed you crawled out of today?”

“I am not sleeping-”

“I don’t really care Steven.” the resignation in your voice when you interrupt him leaves him speechless. You had been mad at him, that’s all he had seen since that night. Just your fire.

“I’m not the one who stepped out of our relationship,” You squeezed your eyes tight trying to will the overbearing oaf out of your life.

“That’s not fair, as far I knew you-” Eyes snapping open at his pathetic excuses you whipped around, finger-pointing. Steve couldn’t help but inhale the smell of your shampoo at the quick turn. God, he missed you.

“I what? Slept with some dude?” Your fingernail presses into his chest, not caring that he couldn’t feel it through his suit, “Well, I didn’t but you couldn’t listen to me so you went,” you jab your finger into his chest feeling the anger flash through you as if it was that night all over again “and got your dick wet with one of those SHIELD trainees.”

Saving you from this hell the nurse comes in with supplies to tend to your wound and reset your shoulder. You step away from Steve to fall onto the bed, the nurse starting on the gash across your abdomen.

”Go” The soft defeat in your voice, turning your to the side catching his gaze from the corner of your eyes.

“I want to be here,” he makes a step towards you, ignoring the way you hiss at the antiseptic being applied makes his stomach turn. He never did enjoy seeing you uncomfortable, it reminded him of his younger years feeling helpless.

“Please,” You whimper, “If you love or ever loved me you’ll leave me alone.” looking at the nurse you try to convey your apologies for the awkward situation you put her in

“I’ve always loved you,” you can barely find it in you to scoff in disbelief at his words, just so tired of this back and forth.

“Sure have a fucked up way of showing it.”

He knew he had to leave, the finality in your tone let him know there was no moving you. Just yet.

Four weeks, he didn’t see you for four weeks. It was making him irritable, he doesn’t have to talk to you but to at least see your face even with the surly look you give him now would be enough. But nothing for four weeks.

“If you sigh one more time I’m gonna blast a hole through your chest,” Tony declared pointing the blaster cannon he’s tinkering with at Steve.

“I mean you can find another girl right?” Bruce offers before Bucky can stop him, scrambling in his chair. The four of them sitting in Tony’s lab relaxing, having guy time. Well, now it’s just friends’ time. It used to be guy time when he had you.

“No, don’t-” Bucky buries his face in his hands resting elbows on his knees after seeing Steve’s face scrunch up. 

“Find another girl?” Steve lamented. Oh if it was so simple.

“Well fuck now you started it.” Bucky groans into his hands. He had just gotten him to agree to getting out of the apartments and spending time with some people.

“What?” Bruce looks around confused at his suggestion. It seemed reasonable, there is plenty of fish in the sea as they say.

“I can’t just find another girl like her, she’s one of a kind. Full of fire and passion but nurturing. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted. But she won’t talk to me,” Steve cards his fingers through his hair messing up the perfectly comb style. “I know if I could get her just have an honest conversation we could work past this.”

“Maybe if you had some HYDRA truths serum you could get her to talk,” Bucky sits up straight sure Steve is done for now.

“Why not give her the serum?” Bruce offers nonchalantly.

“The serum?” Steve raises an eyebrow.

“Dude!” Tony reprimands Bruce who has the audacity to look confused by Tony’s displeasure

“It’s just this thing we made,” Tony opens his mouth before Bruce can start. “Nothing just gets someone to express their thoughts as they come to them and cannot stop.”

“A truth serum.” Bucky offered.

“Nooo,” Tony rolls his eyes, “it’s just a serum that makes them… talk.” Bruce looks at Tony in confusion.

“That’s not the one I meant,” Bruce looks at Tony not picking up on his eyes shifting and grimace to get Bruce to stop talking.

“The one you call ‘Sex Pollen’,” Bucky tried to hide his chuckle with a cough, but Tony catches it glaring at him.

Steve stands up and marches to stand in front of Bruce who looks up at him. “UUh,”

“Show me.” Bruce can only nod at the authority in Steve’s voice.

“What a pushover,” Tony mutters going back to tinkering with his hand blaster. Bruce scampers away to return quickly with a vial.

“It lowers the progesterone and raises estrogen, but the only caveat is the hormones don’t level out until, well,” Bruce stutters trying to explain.

“Until you cum in her, mouth, pussy, ass anywhere,” Tony supplies, Steve’s brow raise, and Bucky stands up in curiosity. They all surround Bruce’s hand holding out the vial.

“Just a little bit,” Tony instructs, “And she’ll be crying for your cock.” All four men stare at the vial with varied interests. More so pride on Tony’s part. “It also makes them fertile as fuck so if you don’t want a baby don’t finish where you can have one.”

Tony chuckled to himself recalling a memory he fails to share. “That’s kind of how we got Morgan.”

“If you don’t give her what she needs, though, her body temperature will climb and well,” Bruce flusters himself trying to explain without being so technical.

“Boiled brain,” Tony finishes watching Steve grab the vial.

“Only about 3 drops bud,” Tony calls out to Steve’s retreating figure.

Steve heard him but his mind was focused on a plan to get you back. Using this he’d easily seduce you, show you why the two of you were so good together and leave a little present in your body tying him to you forever.

Yeah, this would work just fine.

Steve couldn’t believe his luck, you had left your quarters and he was able to slip in, put three drops in a water bottle on the kitchen he knew you’d finish soon.

Then he waited. It wasn’t 20 minutes later that he was knocking on your door upon your return. You were already flushed when you answered. He knew you had drunk the water, if not all of it.

“St-Steve?” You questioned, you had been doing so well not seeing him or knowing he even existed. It had helped so much in cooling your temper. However, it wasn’t to say you did miss him. You missed him something fierce when you were alone in bed using your toys. Toys that never compared to what Steve could do for you.

Eyeing his physique in front of you now was temping enough. The tight shirt showing his pecks and muscles hidden underneath, your eyes trailed down to the sweat pants sitting low on his hips. You had no shame licking your lips at the sight. Maybe you should have rubbed one out this morning?

Gripping the door frame tight you felt shivers run up and down your spine, centering in your underwear where you could feel growing dampness.

Steve,” you repeated, not failing to notice the way his eyes trail up and down your body. “What are you doing here?”

He smiles, pushing his way in, you stumble back giving him full entry into your living space. One part of you says to push him out but the other says to feel his pecs. Shaking your head you repeat yourself. “What are you doing here?”

Steve says your name, it’s deep, masculine, and soaking in desire. You teetered on your feet.

“You feeling okay baby girl?” he catches you in his grasp, though you weren’t really running. His arm around your back, the other holding your hip.

You try to speak but your throat feels suddenly too dry. Eyeing the water bottle on the counter Steve grabs it, keeping one arm behind your back, and hands it to you.

“Go on,” His eyes trained on your lips as you take the bottle to your mouth. You drink and Steve watches the way your throat moves with each swallow. Just as you’re about to take the bottle from your lips Steve tips the bottom of the bottle up making you swallow the remaining contents.

You keep eye contact even as he sets the bottle back down, his thumb running over your bottom lip collecting missed water. Without thinking your mouth opens and you twirl your tongue around his thumb. Collecting the remains.

“Such a good baby girl,” He purrs, your hands on their own accord trail up his shirt, nails dragging along the defined muscles.

“Yeah, you missed me huh?” You begin to nod your head but something shakes you from your stupor. Your eyes widen, hands on his chest begin to push trying to get him away but that only makes him pull you in against his chest.

Your head tilted up, looking at him with growing fear. “What-” you try to think clearly. “What did you do?”

“I only did what I had to,” His eyes shift to the side for a brief moment and when you look over you see the water bottle.

“Did you drug me?” Your words slur, and your hands that were once pushing him away began kneading his muscles under them.

Steve slides his hand down your back to cup your ass. Two fingers dipping between your butt cheeks and pushing you to your toes. When your body rocks against him you can feel his erection pressing into you.

“Its gonna be okay,” He coos, you fight the sensations pushing through, Your desire to rub up against him, the way his fingers feel so good pushing against your ass. A soft mewl pulls at your lips, feeling his chest rub against yours, nipples pebbling with arousal.

He flips you around holding your back to his chest, hands sliding down your sides to pull your shorts and underwear down. One hand cupping your mound, he groans at the dampness against your mound, You certainly had made a mess.

Tony wasn’t lying about this ‘sex pollen’.

“What did you do?” your voice softer than you want it to be. You should be screaming but your body is responding completely contradictory to how you want it to. When he pushes on your back sending your chest forward he doesn’t relieve the pressure until you’re bending in half.

“I’m reminding you how much you need me,” He pushes his sweats down to under his balls. He didn’t wear any boxers for this, no he wanted to be ready to enter you as soon as he could.

He leans back to groan at the sight of your pussy dripping with arousal. Oh, he may have to start giving you a drop of this every day if you were ready so quickly every time.

You moan when he drags his knuckles up and down your slit, admiring the way you rock on your tiptoes and back down pushing his cock against your ass. You knew you were asking him something but for the life of you, you couldn’t recall. All on your mind is how you can feel the heat of his fat cock behind you, the tip rubbing against your ass cheeks.

“What..?” You speak out, your subconscious trying to push through.

“I’m making sure you won’t leave me again baby,”

“No,” you mewl, upset at the thought of leaving him. Not when he makes you feel so good.

“It’s okay though,” he comforts you, gently caresses your sides before lining his cock to your entrance.

He pushes in grunting at the way you grip him, it had been so long since he’d be in you, and from the feel of your tightness it had been just as long for you to take anything inside.

“I’m securing our future.”

[miastideclock]

Stray Kids Reaction To Their Relationships Accidentally Going Public

@babybouille​ asked

Hi there ~ ! I saw that your request are open ? If possible can I please have a skz reaction for when their relationship with their s/o accidently goes public ? Thanks :)

-

Can do, love!

Word Count: 4,6k Warnings: sorry this took so long, not really a warning bUT YOU GET IT

Bang Chan

“What kind of spoiler? You will see it later. Recently what has everyone been up to these days? I’ve been working out a lot. Like, I’ve been eating salads. I want to build up my body-” Chan answered as he read the questions out loud.

Chan and Felix were sat on each their chair in Chan’s studio, talking to the fans via Chan’s weekly livestream. However, you had completely forgotten this. As you and Chan had been dating for almost six months, you probably should know this by now, but what can you do. 

You knocked gently before opening the door, instantly closing it back up when you saw what they were doing. Luckily, the camera was at such an angle that you couldn’t see the door. 

Chan jumped in his seat, as did Felix. “Hold on one moment you guys, I just need to mute our mic for a second.” The older Aussie spoke into the camera before clicking a few buttons. Chan then got out halfway out of frame, to the point where you could just see from the waist down on the left side of his body. From where he was standing, he could reach the door, so he opened it back up to find you standing there with a sheepish smile on your face. 

“I am so sorry! I completely forgot!” You instantly apologized to both your boyfriend and your friend. As you leaned gently to the side to see past Chan, Felix chuckled, waving it off saying it was an honest mistake. “Did anyone see me?”

Even though you and Chan had dated as long as you had, the public had yet to find out. Originally, Chan was under a strict dating-ban, but after a few weeks of convincing, the management agreed to let you date, but only if you kept it a secret, and if you worked at the company. That way no one would be suspicious of you entered and left the building at free will. 

“No, no one saw you babe- we’re good.” Chan chuckled and leaned forward to kiss you, jokingly making kissy noises as he came closer, mostly to gross out Felix, but also because the two of you genuinely found it funny to act like those super-gross couples. 

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m headed to the store, you boys want anything?” You asked, but as both the boys said no, their phones started vibrating like crazy. Felix grabbed his from the table they were sitting at, his face first confused, then a look of panic struck him. He instantly motioned for you and your boyfriend to be quiet as he grabbed the mouse and started clicking around the screen. He ended the live. 

“Mate. You didn’t mute yourself.” Felix breathed once Chan asked what all the commotion was about. Chan’s blood ran cold as he realized what that meant. You instantly pulled out your phone and went to the VLIVE app to see the ending of their stream, and sure enough. Kissy sounds, loving nicknames, Felix saying you were cute together. It was all there. 

“I guess we’re official then?” Chan sighed as he looked at you, scared of how you would react.

“Oh thank god!”

Lee Know

“You excited for the set tonight?” You asked softly as you sat on your boyfriends lap. He gently brushed his hands through your hair as he hummed a reply. 

“Yeah, it has been so long it feels like. But when you really do the math it really isn’t that bad.” Minho replied, the playing of your hair never stopping. You had enjoyed having your boyfriend to yourself for a while, but you knew how much he loved working and being on stage, so you didn’t mind giving him up to his members for a while.

You and Minho had been dating for about a year at this point, but you had yet to go public. The only people who knew were his members, and their management team. Or so you thought.

“Hyung, don’t kill me!” Seungmin ran over to the couch you were sat on in the greenroom, his make-up perfectly done and his outfit matching Minho’s. Minho sat up straighter, making you look up from where you had your face nuzzled into his chest. 

“Then don’t give me a reason?” Minho spoke, asking more than anything. Seungmin looked genuinely panicked, and you soon grew concerned for the boy. You had seen him get worried over dumb things before, but never like this. 

“I posted on Instagram. I didn’t see until I read the comments, but by then it was too late- I deleted it, but the fans are too fast.” He stumbled over his words and stuttered, almost as if he had just ran a marathon. 

“Seungmin, calm down. What was it about the picture?” Minho was now also concerned for the well-being of his member, genuinely worried he would have an anxiety attack. 

“You and Y/N are in it.” He breathed and showed you his phone. The screen showed his selfie, very cute picture. But if you zoomed in, you could see you and your boyfriend, cuddling, being mid-kiss. Unluckily for you, the quality was good enough to where you could definitely tell it was Minho. 

You inhaled a sharp breath of air, and instinctively looked to see Minho’s reactions- but it was impossible to read him. Was he happy? Stressed? Angry? Sad? Even with a gun to your head, you couldn’t give an answer. 

“I mean..” He started, not sounding very upset. “If it’s already out there, management can’t really force us to keep it a secret anymore, right?” He asked Seungmin what his opinion on the matter was, but he was at a loss for words. You had to side with Seungmin on this one, as it was a thing anyone would be angry at. 

When all Seungmin could do was stutter out inaudible sounds, Minho turned to one of the managers that had just entered the room. “Am I in trouble?” He asked calmly, and much to everyone's surprise, the manager shook his head. 

“No, but just meet with us in the conference room when we get back, so we can talk about where you can go and stuff.” He said, making you and Minho nod.

“That went well.”

Changbin

You smiled slightly as you smelled the freshly popped popcorn, the salty and buttery smell filling your nose. While humming gently to yourself as you poured the snacks out of the bag and into a bowl, bopping your head to the beat you heard in your head. “Blurry lines, yeah-yeah. So many, so many-” But you cut yourself off as you heard your show begin in the living room. You softly squealed and ran with the popcorn and your drink.

Your boyfriend Changbin and his group was going on a talk show, and you were so excited to see it. You always loved their live interviews as they always felt more charismatic when nothing was edited out.

“Tonight on Late Later Latest with Bentley™, Stray Kids! Welcome!” The host greeted the boys. They did their intro and got started. The host asked her usual questions, how promotion was going, how it felt being such an up-and-coming group etc etc. After the general questions, she asked more individual question, asking Minho about his dancing (Nat Geo), Felix and Chan about their life in Australia and so on. When she finally went to Changbin, you felt your heart beat proudly. 

You had originally asked management if you could come to the audience of the talk-show and watch, but they sadly denied your request as people might get suspicious. You and Changbin had been dating since forever, but the public didn’t know yet. Management had agreed to let you keep dating, but only if they could expose your relationship at any given moment for promotion purposes. At first you were disgusted with their demands, but you soon understood where they came from, and agreed. 

“So Changbin, what would you say motivates your writing the most?” The host asked, giving him a smile as she did so. 

Changbin nodded and answered, not giving his answer enough thought. “Well, mostly my girlf-” but he cut himself off. “uuh- my members? Maybe my fans?” He stumbled over his words, trying to hide his original answer, but it was too late.

“Were you gonna say girlfriend?” The host asked him in kind of a humoring tone. Changbin then sighed and nodded, this making you choke on your popcorn, sending a few pieces flying as you coughed. You did not expect him to expose your relationship for the whole world to see, this fine Thursday afternoon. 

“Yeah. I guess I have to come clean now, don’t I? Y/N, please don’t kill me.” He sheepishly smiled into the camera and gave you a slight wave, causing you to smile back at him and wave gently, not realizing he couldn’t see you. You then let your and fall into your lap as you giggled at your now public boyfriend.

Hyunjin

While almost skipping, you made your way down the hallway. Taking turn after turn and up and down hallways and staircases, you finally found what you had been looking for. The loud music gave it away instantly as you entered the room.

in the middle of the floor, looking at himself dancing in the mirror, stood your boyfriend Hyunjin. “Hi baby!” He grinned when he saw you stood there by the door. He stopped dancing and hurried over to you and picked you up to spin you around. “I missed you!”

You had been out of town for about three weeks, so it was with good reason he said what he did. 

“Am I interrupting anything?” You quickly asked, praying that he would say no. He shook his head while copying your grin, finally placing you back on the ground. You took that opportunity to get on your tippy-toes and give him a kiss.

You and Hyunjin had been dating for just under nine months at this point, and your relationship was still as blooming as if was only a few weeks ago you went on your first date. 

At first, you had been forbidden to date, as his idol-contract came with pretty serious and strict rules, but after sneaking around for about half a year, the company finally gave up and let you do whatever you wanted. Hyunjin’s managers were all surprised when you let them know that neither of you wanted to take the relationship public, at least not to begin with. So all the secrecy was completely your own ideas. Hyunjin’s members also agreed to keep you a secret for now, respecting you and Hyunjin’s decisions.

“Would they mind if I stole you for a day date? I was thinking maybe taking you on a picnic right now, and then after we could go to the fair?” You suggested, already having the picnic basket ready in your car parked outside.

“I already told them I would be occupied the day you came home. I just gotta send this to our editor, and he can work his magic or something!” Hyunjin let you know, letting go of your waist to run over to the camera propped up on a tripod. He had been filming a dance practise, something he did every once in a while. 

He clicked the camera and then sat down on the floor next to the laptop the camera was wired to, clicking a few more buttons. After that he cleared out the room, and you were on your way. 

The date was nice, you and Hyunjin catching up, even though you had spoken on the phone every single night while you were away. However, mid-date, Hyunjin got a phone call from his leader. As it was just Chan, he put it on speaker so you could listen in too.

“Hyung! What’s up?” He asked casually, after he had placed the phone back down on the blanket. 

“Hyunjin- did you mean to post that? Cause if yes- hella cute. If not? I’m so sorry, mate.” Bang Chan’s voice was slightly static as he was talking through a phone after all, but that wasn’t what made his statement confusing. 

“What are you talking about?” Both you and Hyunjin said at the same time.

“Oh, Y/N, fitting that you’re here too. But you posted the uncut version of your dance practice to our VLIVE instead of sending it to the editor. Everything is there.. Everything.” He spoke slowly, trying to make sure you and your boyfriend truly understood the consequences.

You looked over at Hyunjin for a second, him being just as confused as you were- all before he looked like he had touched a hot plate, his face lighting up in a grimace. 

“You! You’re in the video! We kiss! And say dating! sHIT-” He started panicking. 

“Baby- slow down. I don’t care if you don’t. Maybe it was time for us to go public anyways- we couldn’t have kept it a secret the rest of our lives, right? I love you, you love me- we can do this.” You spoke in a tone to try to calm him down.

“Yeah, I do love you. We’ll figure it out.” He replied after letting out a sigh of relief. You then leaned in to kiss him but was cut off by someone you had forgotten long ago.

“Awwww, you guys! That was so cu-” BEEP. Hyunjin quickly hung up on Chan even though he was mid-sentence, going back to kissing you.

Han

“Please don’t ever get a mustache.” You chuckled as you gently stroked the fake beard glued to your boyfriends upper lip. He chuckled as he returned the favor, gently pulling on your fake grandma-glasses.

“I would say the same about your outfit, but I don’t know. This whole grandma look is growing on me.” He joked, you swatting away his hand as he did so. 

“You’re weird.” You laughed at him.

You were currently sat in a boot at a restaurant, trying to enjoy a good meal with your boyfriend. As you still weren’t known to the public yet, despite having dated for almost a year- you had to play dress up. 

You were sat in a dated dress you could find in any grandmother's closet, matched with a shawl draped over your head and granny glasses, covering as much of your face as possible. Your other half was in a suit, distorting his true body-type, a fake mustache and a hat. 

“I don’t know, I preferred the costume where you dressed as a woman.” You snickered, making Jisung roll his eyes and chuckle with you. 

This was in no way shape or form the first time you had dressed up to go out, but it had been some time since the last time you did it. His company didn’t necessarily have anything against your dating, as long as you kept it lowkey. You could go public if you so wished, but if you did- you couldn’t go on dates on massively crowded spots. 

“I liked the one where you were not only a man, but a biker!” Jisung cackled at that one. But before he could say anything else, you both noticed a flash of light in the distance. Your first thought was lightning, but as you were inside a shopping centre, you doubted it.

As you both turned to the source of the light, you saw not only one, but two paparazzis standing by the entrance of the restaurant, taking your pictures.

You then quickly looked up at each other, and then making a run for the door, trying to hide your faces as much as you could. 

Once you made it outside, Jisung grabbed your hand as you still ran, trying to drag you after him. You couldn’t help but laugh at the situation, as it would have to look ridiculous to anyone else. An old couple running at full speed down the shopping mall, as if they were being chased by the police? Iconic. 

Your laugh soon infected Jisung causing him to laugh too, one hand on his hat, the other in yours.

Felix

“Okay, so- No! I’m not impostor- I’m down by electrical!” Felix defended himself as he spoke into the mic, discussing with the other players on Discord.

Felix was twitch streaming as he and some of his personal friends played Among Us. They also opted to use Discord rather than the chat that came with the game, when they were discussing. 

“Nah, Felix sus! You know you can vent from electrical to medbay, and then you’re in cafeteria in two seconds, giving you plenty of time to kill cyan, and then leave!” One of his friends argued, prompting you to say something. 

“No, I saw Felix do a garbage-task earlier, he safe.” You backed him. You hadn’t actually seen him to a task, but he seemed like he needed some help. 

You loved playing with Felix and his friends, but you preferred it when they weren’t Twitch streaming. You were always scared to mess up, or let words slip. Words like babe, honey, or boyfriend. As you and your boyfriend Felix had decided to let the world think you were only friends, it made things a bit more difficult, gaming wise. 

You had been dating for just over half a year at this point. His idol-company had asked you to date in secret for a while, just to see if it would work out before you announced it to the world- something you completely understood, as it was quite a mess to clean if you had a nasty break.

However, the past few weeks, you and Felix found yourself catching yourself almost revealing it by accident. At this point, you found it tiresome to keep the secret, wanting to spread it to the world so you could adore your boyfriend in public. 

“Oh damn. Unless Felix and Y/N are impostor together!” Felix’s friend tried once again, but just as you had done previously you defended both you and your boyfriend.

“Eject confirmations are on. Danny was clearly the other impostor you dimwit.” You chuckled into your mic, making him groan.

“No, sorry- you’re right. Sorry Felix.” He apologized, prompting Felix to thank you for backing him, but along those lines, a certain word accidentally slipped his lips.

“Thanks, babe.” 

As soon as the words had left his lips, the chat grew quiet, no one knowing if they were allowed to speak, or if Felix wanted to try and save his mistake. One of your monitors showed Felix’s stream which also happened to show his stream-chat, it going completely nuts.

xxemogirlxx: DID HE SAY BABE?

changbinishawt: IS Y/N HIS GIRLFRIEND?

falixlaa: omg i knew they were dating

And so on, and so forth. You found yourself in complete shock as you leaned back in your chair, your mouth wide open. 

“Oh, screw it. Yes, Y/N is my girlfriend, and we’ve been together for a while. I’m also impostor while we’re at it.” He said, the relief in his voice prominent. As he spoke the last words, he ran over to his friend in MedBay and killed him, finishing the game.

The discord went crazy, all eight of Felix and you’s friends rioting.

“How does it feel being completely out to the world, Y/N?” You were asked by Danny.

“Feels great.”

Seungmin

“I’m really sorry, I’m already late for the meeting!” Your boyfriend, Seungmin apologized as he repeatedly kissed your cheeks, nose and forehead, finally landing on your lips. 

“Go on! Have fun, and say hi to the boys from me would you?” You giggled and tried to squirm your way out of his hug. He finally released you, but not fully as he slid his hands down your arms and intertwined your fingers, slowly stepping away as he did so. 

“Of course! Love you.” He smiled as he finally let go of your hand, but kept his walk backwards. 

You were inside the company building at this point, so you didn’t need to worry if anyone saw you. You smiled at him and waved slightly until he turned a corner and was out of sight. 

You and Seungmin had been dating for exactly six months, it being the reason for your date- to celebrate your anniversary. The company did have some words to say about your relationship in the beginning, but after a while they backed off and let you have your fun. 

Once you were sure he was gone, you made your way out of the building and down to the bus-stop waiting for the next scheduled bus. Two girls were sat at the bus-stop already, waiting for the same bus as you probably. They seemed to have a weird look at you, but you ignored it 

Maybe they had seen you and Seungmin enter the building! or maybe you just had gum on your pants? You decided to not give it too much thought. It was only a two minute wait, so before you knew it, you had your headphones plugged in and your phone in your hand. You were about to press the Spotify app, but soon noticed you had received a notification from VLIVE a few minutes ago.

You grew confused as the title didn’t mention any specific members hosting the live, but you clicked it nonetheless. 

Your headphones were soon filled with the cheers and rioting of your boyfriends band members, having the time of their lives as some sat on the couch, and some on the floor. You did however fail to spot Seungmin in the crowd, making you a tad bit confused, but reckoned there was a reason for it. A reason you and about 1.2 million others soon found out.

Just as the boys calmed down and Minho opened his mouth to talk, the door at the very left of the screen opened and revealed a distressed Seungmin. 

“Sorry I’m late, I was on my anniversary date with Y/N-” He started, not realizing the live had already started. The boys tried to save him as they started yelling once they saw where the sentence was going, but it was too late.

You felt your heart drop as you moved faster than lightning to tap the screen so you could see the comments. They were going crazy, everyone trying to figure out who you were, and if they had seen you before. 

“Damn it. Well, sorry STAY- I do in fact have a girlfriend, and we would much appreciate it if you didn’t go trying to look for her, or harass her in any comment section. Thank you.” Seungmin asked directly to the camera, the comments instantly flooding with nothing but love and support for their faves and their significant others. 

After the live was over, you found yourself smiling to yourself, happy that no one came with any mean comments. 

As you were on your way to collect your bag and push the stop button on the bus, you accidentally made eye-contact with the two girls who were sharing headphones. They looked you up and down once more before their eyes lit up, almost if they realized. 

Fear instantly washed over you, but it was soon gone as they raised their hands and waved and sent you little finger hearts, showing that they supported you. You softly waved back and stepped off the bus.

I.N

You were walking around a store downtown, minding your own business, having taken yourself out on a date. Your boyfriend, Jeongin was unable to join you as he had an early morning practice. You didn’t mind though, it had been a while since you got some time to yourself.

You and Jeongin had officially been dating for ten months circa, meaning you were already well into the relationship. His managers never really had anything against it as you seemed to follow all the company rules anyways. 

Looking at the items in the thrift-shop you were in, a ring caught your eye, instantly making you think of Jeongin. You decided to give him a call to see if the ring was something he liked, and if you should bring it home for him. 

The ringing of the FaceTime was short before he picked up, lighting up the whole screen with his massive smile. “Hi babe!” He beamed. You quickly greeted him and asked if he was busy. When he revealed he had a few minutes to spare, you flipped the camera so he could see what you were looking at.

“I saw this ring and thought it would suit you so well! It’s not too bold, and just large enough to make a statement. Would you wear it if I bought it for you?” You asked him as you showed him every angle of the ring, even how it looked on you. 

“Oh I love it! It would go well with so many outfits too. You really know your stuff.” He complimented and chuckled. You spoke for a few more minutes before you felt a tap on your shoulder.

“Excuse me?” You whipped around as they spoke to you, the voice belonging to a girl around maybe fourteen years old. You gently placed the screen of your phone against your stomach, not necessarily to hide your boyfriends face, but to be respectful towards the person you spoke to.

“Can I help you?” You asked as politely as you could. The girl soon waved over her friends who were scattered around the store, making them all step over to you.

“How do you know our oppa?” The first girl asked, almost sounding angry as she spoke. You shot her a confused glance, genuinely not knowing what she was talking about.

“I’m sorry- do I know you?” You asked, in case it was the little sister of one of your friends.

“No, you don’t. But I saw your phone and you are talking to our I.N-oppa!” She was almost throwing a tantrum at this point, and you had no idea what to say or do. You tried stuttering out a reply, but you found your mouth gaping and closing, like the one of a fish. 

Muffles sounds suddenly came from your stomach, making both you and the girl look to your phone. You gently pulled it back out so you could see the screen. “Y/N, babe! Let me talk to them okay?” He suggested, having heard the entire conversation. You turned your phone around, but you didn’t let the girl hold it on her own, scared that she would run off with it. 

“Hi! Nice to meet you! I’m Jeongin, and this lovely girl you are talking to is a good friend of mine, so I would really love it if you stopped being upset with her, and rather left her alone, okay?” Jeongin spoke to the girls, trying his best to come across as kind and sweet, even though he hated how they had treated you. 

“Of course! But.. Is she your girlfriend?” The main girl asked, causing you to shake your head no, at the same time Jeongin sighed and confirmed you were. You felt your breath hitch and a smile creep up on your face.

“She is, but since we’re best friends now, you guys won’t tell anyone right?” He continued in the same baby-ing voice. Almost all of the girls agreed. All but one.

“Too late? I am so sorry!” She started sheepish, and ended in a panic. Apparently she had been filming the conversation and instead of stopping the filming when Jeongin asked them to keep it a secret, she had stumbled and uploaded it to twitter istead. Posting it to her hundreds and thousands of followers already. 

Both you and Jeongin stood there silently for a second before you flipped the phone around and agreed that you should stop by the company building to do some damage control.

“I’ll see you there. Love you, bye.” You said and hung up. You gave the girls a half-assed smile and picked up the ring to go pay.

That took so long I am genuinely so so so so so sorry x

I hope you liked it tho!

-Bentley

[dreamii-yume]

I've had an idea in my head for quite a while! What about Cater using you all he can for his birthday? You can't deny him either! You don't want to make the birthday boy sad, do you? He'd film everything as well! Threatening to upload it to Magicam if you don't do as he says.

- 🍑

Let’s start off with some spicy blackmail for our birthday boi~ (ง ื▿ ื)ว

“Oh~ That’s good pose, (Y/N)-chan! Look a little more to the right, here!”

Holding his phone in a horizontal manner, Cater tilted his upper body to get that perfect angle he wanted. You awkwardly shifted from your position, waiting for him to get a shot as you looked away in embarrassment. “Ah! Come on, don’t look away all shy like that~! It’s cute though, but it doesn’t feel right~” You flinched as you quickly went back to glance at the lens of his phone, your face blooming redder by the second.

“T-Take the shot already…” You barely mumbled out with your voice coming out a lot weaker than you would’ve wanted. You knew he was utilizing his time here, trying to savor the moment, but resulting in you becoming more and more humiliated by the second…I mean, how could you not? When this birthday boy just ordered you to go down on your knees right between his legs, and basically gave you the permission to jerk him off. It’s his own perverted way of a gift, yet you could only puff your cheeks at it.

Cater gave nothing but a chuckle. “Now, now…It takes time to get that perfection, Cupcake~” He taunted, his eyes sparkling at the sight of you through his phone screen. His responses seemed distracted, you figured it must be because he’s so lost on his own world right now. Well, of course he’s applying this much focus on you right now; The way you nervously hold his cock in your hands and letting it poke against your warm cheeks, it’s simply enticing. No matter which place he holds the camera at, each angle is just unbearably adorable that it’s just impossible to take one shot. “Hey, why don’t you stick out your tongue for me, Darling?”

You let out a slight whine, keeping your mouth shut into a straight line as a form of rejection, stubborn as you can be. Still, it wasn’t enough for Cater to rethink his choice, having your tongue out just above his cock would definitely increase your cuteness level! “Hm~? Is that a no?” He hummed in a mocking manner; it made your stomach churn in response. The feeling of regret bubbles in. “That’s too bad…I guess we can still go with a livestream then! What do you say? Let’s livestream this event on Magicam!”

You gulped. “I just can’t decide on a good shot, you see! Maybe if I let everyone see your current state, they’ll be able to help me? Cay-kun is quite popular, you see~!” He said with a cheerful smile, but his eyes look down on you with dark intentions, making you feel as if there’s a loaded gun right at the back of your skull. His fingers began to fiddle with his phone screen, filling you with dread especially when you can’t see which buttons he was pressing. What if he was already livestreaming all this time and you just haven’t realized…!? “Let’s title this with…”The Prefect of Night Raven College’s Adorable Birthday Gift to Cay-kun”! Then-“

With a huffing whimper and frustrated tears building up on the side of your eyes, you opened your quavering mouth and stuck out your tongue like he asked. Cater stopped with a victorious smirk on his face before laughing, you felt his cock twitched in your hand. “Aw, you poor thing~! Getting all flustered like that…” He said, reaching out to your face to wipe away those tiny tears, before studying your facial features. “Hm…So cute…”

He slipped his thumb on the side of your mouth, widening the gap before a truly smug smile followed right after. You widened your eyes with a squeak as he moved his cock right at the entrance “…Now, I want you to take this all in your mouth. All of it.” He smiled sweetly with a small giggle.

There’s nothing that you could really do here, your words are useless against him when he literally has the power to ruin you with a click of a button. Covering it up as a birthday gift didn’t really mean anything at all, he could’ve done this at a normal day and he’d still have that power. After much mental deliberation with yourself, you eventually moved to lean in closer and do as he say, opening your mouth wider to accommodate his girth. “Mm…That’s a good girl…” He said in a gentle whisper, moving his hand to pat your head as a form of motivation. His breath seems shaky, now that he’s feeling all sensitive with how warm you feel on the inside. “…You can move now.”

And so, you did, not having any other choice in the matter. Your actions were a bit clumsy, but you provided a warm and comforting feeling every time you bobbed your head to swallow him whole. The way your tongue would slide up and down his shaft, your saliva sticking to his skin like a protective layer. Cater couldn’t help but be amused as he noticed that you were actually learning fast, curiously exploring your options to deliver pleasure without even noticing it yourself. Cater was glad that he decided to secretly record this whole event, not to livestream or to post anywhere, but for himself to daydream again and again in the near future.

He let out a slight breathy chuckle and kept the fact for himself, however he would be lying if he said that he expected you to adapt this quickly. Honestly, your hands would automatically pump his dick slightly while you nibble and suck on his head, your hot breathing lingering against him was enough to stimulate him faster than he would’ve liked. Before Cater knew it, he just found himself to be the one moaning out loud as you fastened your pace. He mentally cursed as he just overestimated his endurance and his hand, which was sitting on top of your head, was beginning to add pressure to have you engulf him deeper and longer. “Nngh…(Y/N)-chan…You’re really good at this, huh…” He giggled, like an intoxicated individual, a drool slipped out on the side of his mouth in process. “More…Cay-kun wants more, (Y/N)-chan…!”

You heard him and to your surprise, your body was more than willing to grant his request as you felt a surge of motivation flowing in you and you began to suck him faster. Throwing his head back, Cater was unable to hold himself back anymore and with a euphoric smile, he gripped your head and pulled you out. His thick, white semen came bursting out of his slit like that of a firework and landing everywhere, mainly on you. You closed your eyes, feeling some liquid all over your face and mouth, eventually dripping down your cheeks like slime. “A-Ah…” You moaned slightly, slowly opening your eyes only to shut them off immediately as bright white flash suddenly slipped into your vision. Clearing your mind soon took the realization in you that after so long, Cater finally took that one perfect photo he wanted, and you weren’t even ready! You wondered how it look but seeing how your senior stares at his phone with that lovesick look on his face made you rethink otherwise.

Maybe that picture should really just be for his eyes.

“Aah~! This is perfect! It’s a completely stolen shot and you still look so cute!” He admired the photo, exhaustion doesn’t seem to have any effect on him even after his initial release, but trails of sweat drops down from his forehead. “Plus, my cum makes you look like you’re covered in whip cream instead! I guess pulling out was really the correct choice, good job me~!”

Squealing like a little girl, Cater finally took noticed of your pouting self and merely smiled brightly at you. “And good job to you too, (Y/N)-chan! You’re such a Sweetheart!” He said as leaned forward and pulled you into a bone-crushing hug. “You really made Cay-kun’s birthday so much fun! Thank you~!”

You averted your eyes to the side and gave him a twitching smile. “Uuh…Y-Yeah, whatever you say…” You said, paling at the thought that you actually wouldn’t have agreed to this if he hadn’t blackmailed you in the first place. The senior seemed to be too distracted with his own enthusiasm to notice your salty attitude, but you had an underlying that he does notice, he just doesn’t want to acknowledge it. You ended up sighing in depravity in the end whilst hugging him back, you quietly click your tongue as a plan to have your revenge later…When you’re sure that those pictures won’t accidentally fall to some shady website that is.

Cater melts a little long in your touch before forcing himself to pull away and flashed you a wide smile. “Well then, I’m expecting our date in that one super photogenic café this Saturday, yeah~?” He said as you looked back to him, blinking. “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I don’t take my girlfriend out somewhere nice?”

Then it hits you like a truck. “Wait…G-Girlfriend…!? Boyfriend!?”

With your panicking self, Cater tilted his head to the side, feigning innocence. “Hm~? That’s right. I mean, it’s just common sense for us to be in a proper relationship after doing that, you know?” He said with a shy blush, but still gave an evil smile in the end, making you gulp down a very bad feeling. Especially as proceeded he pulled out his phone with the recent picture of you covered in his seed, making you squeak in fear. “After all, you wouldn’t want this coming out so soon, right?”

“So, you better bet that we’re going to be stepping up a higher level than this, Sweetheart~!”

[windfighter]

Descending into darkness

Prompt: Cave in

------

Day 3546 of my descent into madness

Yeah, that’s a nice round number, we’ll go with that.

While exploring for a way to the middle of the earth I came across what looked like a deep cave. Could this be the road I was searching for? It seemed impossible, but so have many other of my quests, like….

Uuh… Kouji couldn’t remember any of the other silly quests he’d written about. He scratched his head and leaned back against the cave wall.

…the quest for the golden hammer of thunder. Maybe I will tell you about that one day.

I stocked up in a nearby town, which was torn and ravaged by the elements. The few people still living there, unwilling to leave the home their ancestors had built, warned me about the monsters in the deep.

Kouji heard something in the dark and moved his flashlight from the notebook to the wall. A tarantula. It skittered away between two rocks. Kouji hoped it would find something to eat in there. He sighed. He hoped he would find something to eat in there, especially if he didn't find another way out.

Despite their warnings I packed my bag and headed into the depths.What new creatures would I discover in the dark? I entered the cave on my own, my usual companions away on their own adventures. I had barely gotten a few feet into the cave when the skies opened up, the earth rumbled and the entrance collapsed behind me. There was no way for me to get out again, my only choice was to head deeper, towards the monsters the town-people warned me about.

Kouji closed the notebook, scratched his neck and looked towards the cave in. He should probably start searching for a way out. He had already tried moving the rocks, but they were stuck and the few that weren’t threatened to topple the whole pile over him instead. He looked around, let the flashlight dance over all the nooks and cranies of the cave. The room he was in was small, the main entrance blocked and a small tunnel close to the ceiling his only choice of route. He wasn’t claustrophobic, but he really prefered the open fields to small tunnels his shoulders could just barely fit through. He put the notebook back into the backpack, pushed the backpack into the tunnel and pulled himself up as well.

He had to crawl through it. He got down on his stomach and pulled himself into the tunnel. The rock scraped his arms and he held his head close to the floor, the flashlight in his mouth to light the way. He couldn’t see past the backpack and hoped there wasn’t any poisonous snakes on the other side.

The backpack fell and Kouji cursed. He crawled to the edge and peeked down. It wasn’t a huge drop, only a couple of meters, but he was head-first and there wasn’t many good places to grab on to. How did he manage to get himself into situations like this all the time?

He crawled a little further, until his shoulders got out of the tunnel. The air felt easier to breathe and he searched the wall next to the tunnel for something to hold on to so he wouldn’t plummet head first to the stone floor. He found a piece of rock sticking out and grabbed onto it with his left hand while pushing himself forward and bracing against gravity with his right.

His torso got free. He was sweating like crazy, his grip on the cave wall getting worse with every passing second. He pushed forward a little more, twisted to the side and lifted his right hand from the wall. He started sliding towards the ground, his legs slipping out of the tunnel and his left hand holding on tightly to the rock. He managed to get his right hand around it as well. His legs slipped out of the tunnel completely, scraped against the rock and banged into the wall he was holding on to. He lost his grip, fell, but landed on his feet and bent his knees to soften the blow.

He’d definitely get bruises from that, but at least his head was still intact.

He dried his hands off on his pants and looked at the tunnel. He wouldn’t be able to get up there again without help, so now he was well and truly stuck unless there was another way. He grabbed his backpack again and looked around.

He was in a much bigger room this time. No clear exit though. He let out a sigh and walked around the room, listening for any sound of wind or water and looking for any signs of an exit. Or sunlight, sunlight would be pretty great.

Blood slid down his arm and fell to the ground. He stared at the drops. That was probably something he should take care of before moving on. He sat down on the floor, put the backpack between his legs and rummaged through it for the first aid-kit. He wiped off his arms with an antibacterial wipe, put bandaids over the still bleeding scrapes and put the kit back in the bag.

His stomach complained. He hadn’t brought a lot of food since he hadn’t planned to be in the cave for long, but he had a few protein bars and there wasn’t much use trying to hold on to them, so he ate one.

There was a certain… calmness over being in a cave. Kouji had no idea what time it was, he just had his own body to go on. He leaned back and looked towards the ceiling. Stalactites hung from it, an occassional drop fell onto the floor and echoed in the darkness. Bugs crawled over his hands but disappeared from the light when he tried to see what it was.

Kouichi would murder him when he heard about this.

Kouji stood up again, grabbed the backpack and kept moving.

------

There was a river.

...well, river was a little generous, although it probably had been at one point in time. There was a stream. Kouji had iodine tablets in the backpack in case he ran out of his own water, so if it came to that he’d still be able to get something to drink. He followed the stream upstreams because it had to come from somewhere.

It was not an exit.

Not an exit he could use anyway. A long, vertical drop, with the sides eroded and slippery from the water. This would have been a perfect opportunity to use what he learned from Ruki about rock-climbing, but he didn’t have any of the gear with him. Why would he? He was just going to walk in, look around and then walk out again.

He walked in the other direction instead. Followed the stream until it disappeared into a dark and winding tunnel. He listened into the tunnel for a while. It sounded like the stream got bigger further down, and he’d check it out as a last resort.

He continued along the wall. There was another tunnel. He’d have to crawl through it, but at least he didn’t have to get down on his stomach this time. He got down on his knees, gripping the flashlight tightly and crawled into the tunnel.

The ceiling was lower in a couple places and Kouji banged his head a few times. Eventually the tunnel got wider and after half an hour the tunnel got wide enough that he could stand up and walk. His knees were hurting by then, his palms bleeding. He wiped them off on his pants and kept following the cave.

The tunnel opened up more, into another big room. Stalactites and stalagmites and big pillars filled the room. Kouji couldn’t help but stop and stare in awe. If only he had brought better equipment so he could take pictures of it. Maybe he could get back later, through the vertical drop. If he could find it from above. He leaned against the wall and just listened to the sounds of the cave.

Nature was wonderful.

Maybe he should be more stressed about eventually being stuck in a cave, but he was mostly unhurt and so far it didn’t rank very high on the list of horrible moments of his life. He heard the wind dance between the formations and smiled. This was what peace sounded like.

He didn’t know how long he stood there. He was used to being still and quiet for long periods of time just to get that perfect shot and this wasn’t much different. But he was getting tired and he was certain Kouichi was starting to wonder why he hadn’t called yet. He pushed himself off the wall and kept walking.

------

Kouji wasn’t… entierly sure where the road back was any longer. There had to be an exit somewhere, cavesystems this big didn’t exist without an exit. His flashlight flickered. He sat down, pulled the spare batteries out of the backpack and changed batteries.

He shivered, yawned and stretched. It was probably late evening by now. He drank some water and took the notebook out of his backpack. Might as well rest for the night and keep walking when he was more awake.

I can hear them skittering in the dark. Feel their breaths against my neck but when I turn around there’s nothing there. Only the darkness. I can hear dripping further down. Is it water? Is it blood?

Am I just haunted by the monsters of my own making?

The caves get darker with every step take, my flashlight barely managing to light up the floor infront of me. The silence is heavy in here, every sound I make an affront to gods that have long since been forgotten. I try to step lightly, but the ground is covered with gravel that crunch under my shoes.

I dare not take my shoes off, afraid that I will step on… something.

Kouji yawned again and rubbed his eyes. He put the notebook away and laid down, closing his eyes in the process. He drifted off to the sound of water dripping to the floor.

------

Screeching woke him up. Wings flapping in the air above him. He turned the flashlight on, let it swoop around the cave.

Bats. Hundreds and hundreds of bats. That meant an exit nearby. Kouji tried to make sense of where they came from, started running between the stalagmites and pillars. A few bats landed on him, hung on to his shirt. He kept going. They’d leave on their own if he found the exit.

He could hear the wind and the rain. The sound echoed through the cave, mixed with the screeching of the bats and made it hard to pinpoint where it came from. Kouji slowed his steps, took a moment to find where the bats were coming from.

The cave was getting brighter. Daylight bounced between the pillars, reflected in the crystals decorating the walls. Kouji stopped. Freedom was close, but he had never felt truly trapped. He admired the cave, turned his flashlight off. The bats let go of his shirt, disappeared into the mass of bats hanging from the ceiling. They were quiet and still, asleep for the day.

Kouji leaned against the wall. A spider skittered across his shoes, a centipede disappeared between the rocks next to him. Nature was wonderful and one day he hoped he could bring his friends and show them.

He pushed away from the wall. He could see trees through an opening between two pillars and he walked towards it. He’d return another day, and next time he’d bring his camera equipment.