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mairitess · 8 months ago

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form 009-xm3rc, signed, in triplicate // to be known, ch. 2

summary: jordana has her own ambitions. and her own friends.

a/n: i'm giggling so hard i can't believe people like this and that i'm so influenced i whipped out this next part bc of comments luv and thanks? this is also ch. 2 but i don't think it necessarily haaaaaas to be read in order ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ do what u wanna do + also on ao3!

words: 2.8k

tags: angst, jaya mentioned, jordana characterization if it were up to me, and now it is up to me, jordana pov, dr s2 spoilers

warnings: n/a

preview:

They shrugged in tandem unnervingly. “You know us. There’s the form for filing a complaint of abuse of power, Form A17-PQ9 for actually complaining about an abuse of power, the form for filing a complaint of aiding and abetting a coup, Form A38-BU9 for actually complaining about aiding and abetting a coup, the–” “I get it!” Jordana interrupted. “Where do I file the form for filing a complaint about wasting my time?”

Nya’s last words echoed painfully at the tail end of all of Jordana’s thoughts, steady like a heartbeat, as Jordana walked through the fluorescent-lit halls of the Department of Reassignment. Gotta fill out form BA-7180. Gotta notarize form BA-7180. I’m not what I do. I’m more than what I do. Have to make sure Agent Walker has copies of Form 009X. Have to go to HR to corroborate Agent Walker’s statement. I’m not what I do. I’m more than what I do? Need to mediate a meeting between Lord Ras and Agent Walker. Need to find Nokt. I’m not what I do. I’m more than what I do.

Steady, for sure, but believable? Jordana wasn’t sure. Though maybe it would become more believable the more she said it. What was it that one wizard said? The more you believe something the more you manifest it? No – That couldn’t be right. Jordana ran with facts and figures, not signs and persuasions. Certainly not manifestations. Sure, there was elemental power; sure, she could harness Source Dragon energy; sure, she’d learned a good bit of Theroxian magic… Yet those still felt markedly different from simply sitting somewhere, thinking really hard over and over again, just willing something to be and it becoming.

Here were the facts and figures, at least those she liked to keep at the forefront of her mind:

Figure: Jordana had a 74% success rate while working under Dr. LaRow.

Fact: The success rate took the number of inventions she suggested, with the number of inventions she worked on, with the number of inventions tested and passing lab trials, with the number of inventions that were used practically outside of a simulated scenario.

Figure: Sora’s success rate, though she was working under Dr. LaRow for far less time than Jordana, was 84%.

Fact: Don’t ask Jordana how she knows.

Fact: She knows because she was counting.

Figure: Jordana’s success rate after being recruited by the Administration increased to 89%.

Fact: Jordana was only recruited as a mercenary.

Fact: If Lord Ras’ plans fell through, Jordana was more than happy to join the Department of Reassignment full-time.

Fact: It wasn’t an “if.” It was a “when.” Lord Ras had overstepped when he lost Nokt.

Fact: Jordana only knew because Agent Walker offhandedly told her. “It’s a good thing you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket,” he said. “That ship is sinking fast. We’re just making sure we have all the evidence for it.”

Agent Denholt begrudgingly walked Jordana over to an empty desk, and Jordana plopped her stack of files loudly on the table. “Agent Mantha is out doing surveillance for the next few hours, so make sure to finish by then,” they said.

Jordana hadn’t necessarily thought of herself as the “bureaucratic type” while she was working with Dr. LaRow, and the paperwork surely was not a highlight of the position she held now. But the more time she spent with the Administration, the more she warmed up to the idea of the Administration – not as pencil-pushers, but as enforcers of order. Jordana liked order the same way she liked her facts and figures: You were either right or wrong, good or bad, acting as you should or acting as you shouldn’t. All she needed was to be told where the line was, and from there, all Jordana had to do was sort.

When the Administration first found her, Jordana had just finished her first week with Dr. LaRow, and was still riding off the highs of achieving a childhood dream. Though Dr. LaRow mentioned Sora every two seconds, Jordana didn’t care – one of them was there, and the other wasn’t. She didn’t quite know, either, why Sora left. Probably couldn’t take the pressure. But Jordana could take it. She wasn’t a quitter.

“A girl of your talents could go much further than one realm,” one of the agents said. “It may just be one realm,” Jordana retorted, “but it’s mine.”

While extremely flattered by the Administration’s initial offer to join them, to put her skills to use with the Department of Reassignment, Jordana simply took it as proof she was good enough to compete with Sora. Was Sora getting recruited by the logistical gatekeeper of all the Realms? No. Well, probably not. But whatever the Administration was offering wasn’t enough for Jordana to leave the laboratory. Besides, what could an enforcing agency want with an inventor, a scientist?

The second time the Administration found her, two agents – Agent Pi’idi and Agent Urda – materialized from a bright portal right after Lord Ras had convinced her to join with his efforts. She’d just turned her back once Lord Ras sifted into the darkness of the night, and in his place were the Administration’s enforcers. Though this time, their recruitment tactics were different.

“Do you really think the Administration would let Ras go so far to achieve total domination like that?” They asked her. Jordana’s hands shook, yet she managed a casual shrug. “The Administration hasn’t stopped him yet.”

“I get it!” Jordana interrupted. “Where do I file the form for filing a complaint about wasting my time?” She snarked, drawing a sarcastic laugh from the suited agents.

“Trust us,” Agent Pi’idi said, smirking. “We’ll make your time well-worth it.” “All we’re offering is a tour,” Agent Urda added. “You give us an hour to see what we do, we tell you what we’re looking for, and you give us a decision in a week.” “Do you have all the paperwork already filed for an outsider?” Jordana asked, jokingly. “Where’s my visitor’s badge?”

Agent Urda pulled a rectangular piece of plastic from his lapel while Agent Pi’idi pulled out a stack of files in triplicate. Jordana could see the notarized stamp on top, peeking through from underneath the carbonless copy paper. “We’re the Administration. Of course we do.”

------

The tour was exactly an hour as promised, Jordana circling around the Department of Reassignment and back where she started. While Agents Pi’idi and Urda brought her in, the department manager, Agent Walker was the one to give her the tour. At first, she thought his rambling and verbal meandering were nerves, but after 20 minutes, she realized – he didn’t really care. Jordana, surprising herself, kind of liked that.

“So you’ve seen each of the departments, met some of the other agents… This is my office. Rule of thumb: Do not call on me unless there’s an emergency. What counts as an emergency?” “Someone needs realm reassignment.” “And?” “That’s it.” “Yup. That’s it. Any questions?”

Agent Walker just did what he needed to. He must have been good enough at the work to become manager, but he didn’t gloat about it, nor seem like a try hard. And from the video game controller in his hand, Jordana could make a pretty good guess as to what he was really spending his time on while at work.

“Just one.” Jordana frowned. “What does the Administration want me for? I don’t understand how I could be of any help.”

Agent Walker shrugged, and pulled a slip of paper from the folder he’d tucked under his elbow while they walked. “It says here that the Administrator thinks you’d fit well with the Department of Reassignment. Uh… Hold on.”

He mumbled to himself as he skimmed through, flipping the page. “‘Jordana’s commitment and advanced technological understanding, notably through her development of containment and transference vessels for pure elemental power, would best be recognized as reinforcement of Administration duties and responsibilities as opposed to threats,’” Agent Walker quoted. “‘Jordana’s conscription or, preferably, allegiance with the Administration would be a useful asset to Administration goals.’”

He looked at her. “Does that make sense?”

Jordana turned the paper towards herself, re-reading it. “It says you’d prefer my ‘allegiance’ over my ‘conscription.’ So that means…”

Agent Walker returned the pages to their respective folder. “What do you know about the Administration, Jordana?” “Not much,” she admitted. “Just that it’s slow and bureaucratic. Nothing gets done.”

Agent Walker smiled. “Good. That’s precisely what they want you to think.”

He opened the door to his office, gesturing for her to step inside. There was a standard desk with two meeting chairs, no windows, and a small gaming set-up with a TV and beanbag. The TV’s lights were dim, but still gave away Agent Walker’s paused gameplay. Jordana took a seat while Agent Walker closed the door.

“Everything has its place, Jordana. Everything belongs somewhere. My controller,” he said, tossing it on the beanbag as he moved to sit across from Jordana, “connects to the console. My computer sits on my desk. And just as everything belongs somewhere, so does everyone.” Agent Walker’s brow furrowed, somewhat unbecomingly serious.

“I mean that in two ways. The first is in the literal job of the Department of Reassignment. After the Merge, all we wanted to do was make sure everyone got back to where they belonged. Call it going home, if you want.” Jordana nodded slowly, and Agent Walker leaned forward towards her. “The second is that everyone has their place in the system. And that’s where you would come in.”

What… System?

“Some people actively avoid their place. But that upsets order – everything was in order before the Merge. The Administration, sometimes, needs people…” Agent Walker trailed off, choosing his words. “Adjacent to the Administration to help find them. Why spend three days filing Form 5U-O3E to search a last known location when the subject may have left it two days before? Why not,” he suggested, “simply file Form 009X, to process and reattribute mercenary acquisitions of targets?”

The older agent smiled to himself, proud. “It’s practically a game, Jordana. You find them, we catch them, and I put them back in their place. A completely reimagined, completely expedited process.” Jordana’s gaze flickered up to a certificate framed and hung on the wall, just above Agent Walker’s desktop. Greatest Annual Contributions to the Department of Reassignment.

“And what do I get?” Jordana asked.

Agent Walker leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. “When everyone’s back where they belong, Jordana… All the realms will have you to thank. Nobody could do it like you.”

He smiled, earnest. “That’s why we’re asking you, Jordana. Only you. And if you agree to help us, we’ll make sure everyone knows you saved them from the effects of the Merge.” He kept saying you. She’d never heard her name used so many times in one conversation, attached to such promises of greatness and success.

Bright lights started dazzling in Jordana’s head, the buzz of cheers and congratulations filling her ears. “Oh, and if you thought Imperium’s labs were advanced… Wait ‘til you see the Department of Innovation.”

“I get to work there?” Jordana asked, feeling lightheaded with fantasies of what could be. “The Department of Reassignment doesn’t just put people in their place, Jordana. We decide where everything goes.”

The next day, Agent Walker received a completed and signed form through the pipes, in triplicate. Form 009-XM3RC: Filing to Work in Consortium With the Administration.

------

Lord Ras was completely unaware of Jordana’s dual allegiances, completely engrossed in his own endeavors. Jordana didn’t mind. She felt what she was doing was bigger than Lord Ras, even if he managed to bring back the entirety of the Forbidden Five. The Administration pulled more strings than she could’ve imagined. Jordana felt lucky to be pulling on a few of them herself.

Her first mark was a test – a Juniper Long, attempting to evade returning to her work as a lighthouse keeper in the Never-Realm by hiding out in the Wyldness. Easy grab, at least, in between her orders from Lord Ras. Jordana had caught Juniper against a tree, Juniper confused beyond all measure, and Agent Walker opened his portal and swiftly took Juniper away. For sake of appearances, Agent Walker would often pretend to be somewhat cold to Jordana when he finished their tasks; he’d pretend he was taking her work from her, or that Jordana didn’t have as much agency in her work as she truly did. Jordana didn’t mind the theatrics. Besides, they couldn’t have people outside the Administration realize that there were more Agents and pseudo-Agents than the public thought.

“It’s a balancing act,” Agent Walker tried explaining to her once. “Remember what I told you about everyone having their place, everything being part of the system?” “Yeah. I don’t think I ever really understood what you meant by ‘system,’ though,” Jordana admitted.

He laughed. “Think of it like… Like yin and yang. The Administration isn’t on a ‘good’ side or a ‘bad’ side. We’re bureaucratic because order – systematic, global order – requires both. Life itself is about opposites moving together, forever, complimenting the force of the other as it goes.” Agent Walker’s voice grew quiet as he finished, as if he were recalling some distant thought he couldn’t quite place.

“… I guess.” Jordana shrugged, and Agent Walker laughed again. “You’ll get it when you’re older. Maybe.” She shoved his shoulder, and he clutched it closer to him in mock hurt. “Hey! I’m your superior!"

Jordana stuck her tongue out, and she felt like she was exactly where she needed to be as a grin spread across her face.

Agent Walker was perhaps one of the best people she’d ever had the pleasure of knowing. He was kind to her and gently corrected her mistakes while (maybe over-) congratulating her on her successes. Sometimes she’d visit the Department and hear him speak so highly of her it made her feel shy. No one in Imperium was proud of her the way Agent Walker was. Agent Walker would always ask about her new inventions, and as it turned out, he was pretty handy with technology himself. Soon enough, they were developing new gear together. It might not have been her dream job, but Agent Walker was far better than Dr. LaRow ever was. Even with his help, everything she did still felt like hers. It was Agent Walker’s idea for Jordana to etch a maker’s symbol at the bottom left corner of her creations, something he said was inspired by a blacksmithing tradition he’d heard about long ago.

------

A few months into their agreement, Agent Walker called Jordana into his office, handing her a tablet with a looping clip of a ninja Jordana had only seen before in passing. A woman caught on a security camera, likely about Agent Walker’s age, pretty despite the scowl on her face. She pulled her mask over her face, and it took losing sight of the woman’s entire face for Jordana to start recognizing her.

“Do you know her?” Agent Walker asked, his face stern and arms crossed over his chest. “I… No,” Jordana said, shaking her head. “But I’ve seen her. With Sora and Arin.” Her mentor nodded, pursing his lips. “She’s your next target.” He started to turn away from Jordana to return to his game. “Do I get to know why?” Jordana halfheartedly called out, still looking at the streaks of blue in the woman’s hair.

“She says she’s my Yang,” he responded, and Jordana turned to him in shock. She had so many questions – What were you doing with her? But that felt unfair, given his apparent disposition. It was the first time she’d seen him defeated, slumped in the beanbag, not even bothering to pick up his controller.

The Yin/Yang promise had fallen out of practice, to Jordana’s understanding. It was a Ninjago custom, but after the Merge, some rituals simply ceased to be. At least Jordana thought some of them had. But if Jay had a Yang…

“You’re from Ninjago?” Jordana asked, quiet. Agent Walker glanced up at her. “I guess so.” “You guess?”

He sounded sad. Jordana didn’t know what she was supposed to do other than watch and maybe awkwardly offer to sit with him.

“I… I didn’t know where I came from.” He took a deep breath, exhaling shakily though he tried to laugh it off. “That’s why they put me in the Department of Reassignment, I guess. Bringing other people back home if I didn’t have one.”

Sometimes when Agent Walker stepped the wrong way, she’d watch him grab his shoulder or brace his back. Jordana first thought he might be older than she’d assumed, but after this… Who was Agent Walker, really?

“Do you know her name?” Jordana handed the tablet back to her mentor gently.

“Nya,” he responded, her name rolling off his tongue like water.

#ninjago #lego ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #dragons rising #ninjago fanfiction #it's a fic #nya ninjago #ninjago nya #jordana ninjago #ninjago jordana #jay ninjago #ninjago jay #jay walker #nya smith #nya jiang #sora ninjago #ninjago sora

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izfaish · 2 years ago

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[Ch. 89 spoilers]

this chapter made me love hoshina more 😭😭😭

finally got confirmation as to who soichiro is - captain of the sixth division, and the family's ultimate incarnation. just like how no. 12 is the ultimate incarnation of no. 10's capabilities. both rejected by the ones who taught and molded them. both concerned with whoever's the strongest - once enemies, now a "pair of rejects". i just love the parallels drawn there.

hoshina considering his swordsmanship the "proof of his existence" also gives such an insight into how he sees and values himself. the firs time he mentioned it, imo it sounded cool and dramatic. but here, with added (reinforced) context, it's a lot more sad.

there's parallels to be drawn from kikoru's relationship with her parents - esp. her dad, who openly complimented her once in the entire manga then yeeted out of the mortal coil; and her mom, who kikoru literally chased the image of to surpass and get stronger.

(also i wouldn't be surprised if haruichi's reasons for joining the jakdf were from issues with his own father and izumotech.)

point is, kafka and reno and kikoru and everyone are considered the new lady gaga talented never before seen generation of anti-kaiju troopers - BUT NOT only in combat ability. it's also from the way they surpass the expectations and trappings of the older gen of fighters.

(though the 'tough love' mentality still lingers, especially with kikoru and narumi's storylines around isao.)

this might be why hoshina was so shocked when mina asked to team up. he finally didn't have to fight those unfair expectations on his own. she genuinely saw his own strength, skills, and drive - all before everyone else got the memo.

but BACK TO THE CHAPTER - i'm curious to see hoshina fighting with the one sword style that his brother uses. he probably didn't want to use it because it's his brother's 'thing' and i wonder if this will reach soichiro and lead to him and hoshina meeting later on.

i don't know what to make of soichiro, other than i suspect he might be in the trap of thinking that hoshina, by decree of their family, is 'inferior'.

anyway, i loved this chapter, i loved seeing bebby hoshina, keen for more

#kaiju no. 8 #kaiju no 8 #kn8 #kn8spoilers #kn8 chapter 89 #soshiro hoshina #hoshina soshiro #kaiju no. 10 #chapter review

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byakuwan · 2 years ago

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made a compilation™ of Every Time Byakuran Exists in the present.

89 pages.

they're in order, but out of context.

labeled ch numbers at the first page of each one.

i left off the charts for rainbow rep arc.

i skipped a couple mentions iirc.

two chapters at the at the end get Very gorey.

#khr #katekyo hitman reborn #byakuran #khr byakuran #so y'all can form opinions too

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flowflowflowflow · 8 months ago

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Boat is in reverse position for word 'Enthusiasm' in escaping to Rivendell

EN~514

+3 (In such case flipped position of boat as assumed as normal)

EQ~517

Let's check EQ (Sick Bubblegum)

SV, red, 6.58 AM, related to very rapid and extremely enthusiastic attempt to escape to Rivendell (Keeping this in mind)

19, 22

41 (41st victim, + 1 from red as 2 halves of children of Zuckerberg. Catherine explains to second Ariana Grande that Mark is unable to erase her, whereas she has already married to me, who is the only person who can erase her, in such way demonstrating her difference between them)

This slightly suggests 30 (CHS)

1+9+2+2~14

Looks as

A((CA)<-W)~A(AC)~113, 14, 3 and looks as chemistry (Suggestion about 'GO' as 67+3 in post with Where Crawdads Sing) and CH as Catherine Horodnitskii

In other words she enjoys behaving as my little bitch with whom I can do whatever I want, who can do whatever she wants with you, while she is unreachable for you because she is CHSBW

30 seems as (17+12+1)

6.58~64/19

Not TP (Because TR probably)

And adding red, 64+1, 19+1

65 seems as 66-1, where 66 from 1966th year

20 seems as 17+3 where 17 is 12.17.1966

Whereas in New York it was

2.58 AM

60 and 2.02 and 2.42

Let's add red

61 seems as either forever (Drained) or 139 (Drained Nyarlathotep?) and 29 as 26+3 or just 12+17

While 2.02, Bob, PE: DK, EDward

3,1,23~3123~54

Adding red, 2.03, as Boc

We see escape to Rivendell and let's look in "Back to Shire'

2.03 + 3 negators

1112.03~212.03~

BABOC as БАБОС as БА��С and those huge bucks of money from which Chris Wray was turning away his head in my collages

21203~baboc, БАБОС, money man

Rivendell

189

-4

185, RE, well, 86

But 19+66+17+12~114~86

We have 86 and we had 87 from 186 in Earthquake

While 193~7 (3+2+3-1)

And 8, Earthquake

And 1+7 and 3+2+3

Whatever

Okay, further

There was 84, and red

85 as 1(86)

Flipped boat is not negator

This is reference to excessive enthusiasm

Omega + 3

What's in Rivendell?

RI~189, number of countries with Grand Lodges under jurisdiction of UGLE

Why exactly Rivendell?

Because there are High Elves

PE: DK had height 1.85 meters

I and Chris Wray have height 1.80 meters

So Chris Wray tried to escape in Rivendell to seek for help of high elves to deal with ongoing events (+5 centimeters, as 5th position of PE: DK)

With absolute enthusiasm

BOAT~2+15+1+20~38/11 and 23/5 as

38 as CH in Chris

It's flipped

62/89 and 77/5

3 negators

65/92 and 80/8

65 as 66-1

92 as Illusive Man eyes, Chris's eyes

80 as Nyarlathotep, 323

Boat got flipped on enthusiasm but there are 3 negators to fix it

Seemingly link to Lily Cole, very big IQ value required

Anyway, let's forgive (65~135~25, BE, 'I am sorry') flipped due to enthusiasm boat

There was attempt to escape in Rivendell

But it totally failed

Let's check post

3+22+20+22~67 as (1+2+1+7+1+9+6+6~33, 133) and 3+4+2+4~13

67/13

Let's remember about 3 negators or 4 if without enthusiasm

71/17

71~129 (12+17)

17, Q (17th birthday, but 1(29), specification, adjustment, strike)

If with enthusiasm, then 67+3~70, GO, Catherine says that she wants to do what I previously said

And 16

(CAW)~13+3

BABOC

Sell out

Remember this from 10.21.2022?

Let's add one more

See you Soon

We remember there was number 189 and 'not elvian language (About sigils)'

Enthusiasm is very important (Remember extended version of Teardrops on My Guitar at Bacon Theatre or Beacon)

Let's apply same +3 or +4 here

We see 'BE~135~65'

Let's apply +3

5+18+42~65

+3~68 (132)

And there is closed marriage mentioned

A appears

5+9+6~20

+3~23 as 26-3

Or 33-10 or 33-90~123 because wife

But mine, not of Chris Wray

Let's check

33123

Don't CC yourself

133123~67/13 (67~133)

Let's check Earthquake

6.58

My timezone

6.61~67/13, exactly

Look at 661 as (66)1 where 66 from 1966

Written in cool way

And escape in Rivendell done on a boat

This presumes it was done by Lily Cole or Greta Thunberg

There is enthusiasm, boat is slipped but still moves

Looks like rather Lily Cole

111(123)~11(1(323))~21(323) seems as drained Lily Cole!

21+323~344, Sick Bubblegum

But why did Lily Cole was running from somewhere (Seemingly USA) in Rivendell which is Grand Lodge of UGLE?

So it was not Lily Cole, possibly, but somebody very enthusiastic

Yes, there's 71~129

11.58~13.58

Ignoring red

84, 136

Within mind of not Lily Cole

Finally, 2.58~60

Red, 59~7 (3+2+3-1)

Finally SV

VS under Wreification

3 negators

Very strong anal sex

Fist Fuck (66 from 1966th)

Bad luck (BL, 212)

We remember about BABOC

XOR

OC remains

18~17+1

And ML as 25

Now let's again check 3.22 post

With escape to Rivendell

Escape to Rivendell failed (Bad luck)

11(1,19)~220

Remember about 41

220~28 as C+A+W+1

Escape to Rivendell, also Galadriel

Ending of LOTR 3

No rush, no enthusiasm

Seemingly 71+-4

67~133 and 75 (84)

125~1335 (Yes and, and 336, Black Whore, 223~1(323))

No Or~67

Without Jenna Ortega

However

Escape to Rivendell failed

4 wives, right

And 6.2~138 (ACH, CH from Chris)

Escape was to Rivendell

And person was returned back to Shire

SH as A(SHer) if we use incorrect usage of first 3 in prefix

And RED(SV), 19+22 as 23+18~41

Seemingly blood transfusion at farms (Hoboken Hollows)

We can add seemingly last post from first Ariana Grande

Also

31231 (Cool way)

31(231~My Nothing 8(Th))

31(1314828)

31214828

(312~Cab, Ml/Bl)

148~EB

Cab eb Th (Seemingly adventures of second Ariana Grande and second Taylor)

312+52~364

392~c 92~c Jenna Horodnitskii, in other words, second Ariana Grande fucks second Taylor Swift, whereas Jenna Ortega dies right after formal marriage to me, because I am not OS but OC and OC is in open marriage so we don't need to care about multiple linked identities)

Not dad

Vi is alive

Vi Go

V govno

228

And there's Lily Cole somewhere

Jenna appears to be a Charlotte, in other words Chris Wray

ML/BL + 5 bottles of vodka

5222~74

Both 74 and 84

While Jenna Ortega is the real Taylor Rothschild and gots drained because of being in mask, since I search for people only visually and can't remove mask with my hands

Ultraviolance + Wrong

Feel this? Not good enough

Next step was escape to Rivendell to Ascended Masters yet it completely failed and led to disaster

Which appears to be

3((3123)1)

33+12+31~76~124~LD(chka)

In other words, Chris Wray was playing scenario of his funerals in 'cool version' of filming

Where he died in cool way and then there was modeling of situations

Yet, in process he decided to escape in Rivendell for actual Master's advice

And it led to fatal for him consequences

3123(1+3)

31234

c GKAT

Iksik in

GKAT is of course in this interpretation is EB

c EB~352~3513~48/12

How the hell you can get 48 from 11.58?

Take 58 and subtract 10 as 'for 90 days'

Because not marriage

Seemingly second Taylor to Putin for 90 days because marriage was not official while Taylor Rothschild was undercover and Jenna got drained because of wearing mask of Taylor Rothschild, after she got married to me officially, since I am not OS but OC, whereas as Chris Wray tragically died in catastrophic events during his way to Rivendell (Diana in reference, 49+3~52) he couldn't help to finish starring of Jenna Ortega in this wonderful movie as well as was unable to bring advice from Rivendell on time

As the result, I need to check on Jenna Ortega and Lady Gaga, yet there's one irreversible tragic event: death of Chris Wray

And, as he was escaping at boat (38~62 and 65~66-1, bad sign, as in Eclipse and burning tree in the Ring, BT~220, cab, somewhere, as father of Brian Hugh Warner in corresponding video for WE ARE CHAOS)

Lily Cole is referenced

So unfortunately Chris's Wray body was unrecognizable and had to thaw out

An tai

Tai wan

Af ca

Af w

AFW

1623

61~139~29

My nothing

200+27

227

Let's check post with 67+3 again

(Feel SKG? Even though Chris Wray didn't reach Rivendell and PE: DK is dead

)))))

You still have me

There was 13+3~16

Seemingly 17-1

Ехал грека через реку

В реке рак

Galadriel

As we remember, water doesn't add negation

Cancer is 71~129, abi

So cancer (Second Ariana Grande) started to f*** second Taylor Swift but she was doing this without pleasure

129~30

Second Taylor, I don't understand whether you are victim or source of problems, is it clear?

10.05~10.55~65~66-1

Let's check transfusion part

177~1123~1323, A(CW), yes, Chris Wray tragically died and had to thaw out

Yeah

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h-i-raeth · 1 year ago

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Fuck it, this is the week I get back on the bandwagon.

The Files:

The Sum Of Our Parts (AFTG, Andriel, Unwind AU, Ch 1 - 9 on AO3 here)

Time And Hearts Will Wear Us Thin (hanahaki deconstrucion fic) (ST, Queerplatonic Stobin, Ch 1 - 8 on AO3 here)

No Easy Peacetime Girl Here To Be Found (ST, Barb is assumed dead until El rejoins the Hawkins Crew in S2, heavy canon divergence spiraling from pre-S3, Ch 1 - 6 on AO3 here)

For There’s No Guarantee That We’ll Ever Come Home (ST, Barb Lives AU branching off after Ch 5 of Easy Peacetime Girl where instead of reuniting with the Hawkins crew at the end of S2 Barb is trapped in the Upside Down until Eddie, Steve, and Robin find themselves stuck there at the end of S4, CH 1 on AO3 here)

The Shadow Of Dust(Disconnected Scenes) (Stranger Things, His Dark Materials AU, unpublished + looking destined to be Long. )

God Knows Where I Would Be If You Hadn’t Found Me (QP Stobin Alternate First Meeting, Stancy never happens but Robin befriends Steve in the winter of ‘83.

Snippet (From Easy Peacetime Girl):

The girl—if she was even real—wasn’t anyone from Hawkins. Wasn’t any out of town visitor at the wrong place at the wrong time. She was there, out of nowhere, and then she wasn’t. Like magic. Like exactly the kind of secret scientific bullshit that prompts monsters to snatch unsuspecting teenagers out of Nowhere, America towns. And she was so small, and scared—Barb sincerely doubts that she’s a threat to any missing townspeople. So she doesn’t mention her. Either they know about her, or they don’t, but they won’t learn more about her from Barb. Not that it stops Brenner from pushing. He seems to have a bee in his bonnet about it, the idea that someone else should already be living there. Not a creature, but a human. Something intelligent.

WIP Wednesday Game

It’s WIP Wednesday, time for a little accountability, sharing your work, and getting a kick in the pants.

Here’s how it works:

In a reblog of this post (so people can find you in the notes) or new thread (w/ rules attached) if you want to play on your own, post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to play!

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file. If the filename is one you can't share from (for example, an event or gift fic), write 3 sentences on it anyway, and then 3 more on another to share.

That’s it! You can invite others to join in, or just post. I’ll be searching the reblogs to find people to send asks to!

If you’re reading this, you’re invited!

If you see someone posting a WIP Wednesday Game snippet, send them an ask! Make them write.

Requested/Friend event mentions under the cut! If you'd like to be pinged next week, send me a message to ask!

Friends @fiore-della-valle @redbirdblogs @greenbergsays @idkfandomwhatever @luckyspike

@obaewankenope @mad-madam-m @anonymousdandelion @geometricfractal @prettybirdy979

@eriquin | Requests @aparticularbandit @madnessfromthemountains @makeroftherunes @1attheedge

@whimsicalmeerkat @kidsomeday @lizhly-writes @skyderman @adhdavinci

@owlbearwrites @anachronismstellar @anyctibius @rilannon @lazinesswrites

@zyrafowe-sny @dreaminghour @blue-eyedbeta @candyskiez @dreamerking27

@kalira @virgulesmith @i-want-delfeur @selkies-world @exceedinglygayotter

@oitreewrites

#wip wednesday #WIP Tags:#the sum of our parts #time and hearts will wear us thin #no easy peacetime girl here to be found #for there's no guarantee that we'll ever come home #the shadow of dust #if you hadn't found me #missed a few weeks because my stepmother had one of her semi-annual breakdowns and I spent almost all of January watching kids #I'm still watching kids but things have calmed down somewhat and I'd like to get back into writing regularly #I'll clear the old asks from my inbox first

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cookingmywaythroughcarryon · 2 years ago

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Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Orange Buttercream

I am back! It’s been a very long hiatus but I’ve still been trying out recipes and cooking foods mentioned in the Simon Snow Series!

Today seemed a particularly good day to post, as Carry On Countdown is going on and today’s prompt is CAKE!!

This cake comes from chapter 89 of Any Way the Wind Blows and is courtesy of Lady Ruth Salisbury, of course.

“There’s chocolate cake with chocolate-orange butter cream.” (Simon POV, Ch 89, Any Way the Wind Blows, by Rainbow Rowell.)

I’ve made this cake a few times now. The family seems to love it for birthdays. It’s very rich, very dense and very good.

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate-Orange Buttercream

Ingredients

Cake:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup of canola oil

1 cup milk (I used lactose free)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup boiling water

1/4 cup orange juice (which I forgot to include in the picture)

Buttercream:

8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped, or 8 oz bittersweet chocolate chips

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 oz shortening ( or more butter if you prefer, I used vegetable shortening) also at room temperature

3-4 cups powdered/ confectioner’s sugar

1/2 cup orange juice

1 tsp orange zest

1 tbsp cornstarch

Method

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Grease two 8-inch cake pans and line with parchment paper.

Whisk the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in one large bowl.

Gently whisk the eggs in a separate bowl until yolks and whites are combined then add oil, milk, and vanilla then mix well. Save the boiling water and orange juice for a bit later.

Add the egg/milk/oil mixture to the dry ingredients and mix.

Then add the boiling water and orange juice to the mixture.

Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until center set and toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack.

Buttercream:

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and allow to cool slightly

Whip the butter and the shortening until creamy

add orange juice and orange zest, mixing well

add 3 cups of powdered sugar, one at a time.

add cornstarch

add melted chocolate

add up to one more cup powdered sugar, to reach desired consistency (the first time I made it I ended up with the entire extra cup, last time I used 3/4)

if it feels too thick you may add a tablespoon more of orange juice

Place one of the cakes on a plate and cover top with buttercream. Gently place the second cake on top of the first and apply the buttercream liberally over the top and sides of cake. Slice and serve.

Enjoy!

Recipe with photos below!!

Ingredients (sorry the orange juice is MIA in the photo)

Cake:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup of canola oil

1 cup milk (I used lactose free)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup boiling water

1/4 cup orange juice (which I forgot to include in the picture)

(dry ingredients in photo!)

Cake Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Grease two 8-inch cake pans and line with parchment paper.

Whisk the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in one large bowl.

Gently whisk the eggs in a separate bowl until yolks and whites are combined then add oil, milk, and vanilla then mix well.

Save the boiling water and orange juice for a bit later.

Add the egg/milk/oil mixture to the dry ingredients and mix.

Then add the boiling water and orange juice to the mixture.

Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until center set and toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack.

wet ingredients!

Cake cooling

Buttercream Ingredients:

(there is the orange juice!)

Buttercream:

8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped, or 8 oz bittersweet chocolate chips

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 oz shortening ( or more butter if you prefer, I used vegetable shortening) also at room temperature

3-4 cups powdered/ confectioner’s sugar

1/2 cup orange juice

1 tsp orange zest

1 tbsp cornstarch

shortening and butter

The buttercream!!!

Buttercream Method:

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and allow to cool slightly

Whip the butter and the shortening until creamy

add orange juice and orange zest, mixing well

add 3 cups of powdered sugar, one at a time.

add cornstarch

add melted chocolate

add up to one more cup powdered sugar, to reach desired consistency (the first time I made it I ended up with the entire extra cup, last time I used 3/4)

if it feels too thick you may add a tablespoon more of orange juice

Putting the cake together:

A slice of cake:

Enjoy the cake!

@carryon-countdown

#cooking my way through carry on #the food of carry on #carry on cooking #Lady Ruth Salisbury #carry on #rainbow rowell #wayward son #any way the wind blows #food from books #carry on recipes #CAKE #chocolate cake with chocolate-orange buttercream #carry on countdown #carry on countdown 2022 #coc 2022 #Day 4 carry on countdown: cake

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samwontshare · 3 years ago

Text

Running With Knives by eden22

—-

Want a completed 100k Sambucky fic to read with Sam dealing with wicked PTSD, Bucky taking care of Sam, Bucky escaping HYDRA in ‘89 and running into Sam in Afghanistan creating a several year long slow burn? This fic is for you! A+ angst, smut and hurt/comfort feels.

(There is past Stucky however Bucky believes Steve died in 1945 and it’s very in the background, mostly implied, takes VERY little space in the fic, and I never felt that Sam was ever being compared to Steve or that relationship. It’s very much in the background but I know some folx might be put off when they see the mention.)

Additional notes: mostly top!Bucky with bottom!Sam (there’s a lot of smut!) though there is one bottom!Bucky scene end of ch 16.

I wouldn’t call this Sam-centric but I would say it’s balanced between the two.

#sambucky #fic rec

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silhouetteofacedar · 4 years ago

Text

Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic Ch. 9: Stubbed Out

Previous Chapter - AO3 - MSR, rated E

Even being a coward takes effort.

Mulder’s been stressed for days, trying to forget his phone conversation with Mark and attempting to hide his agitation from Scully. It’s not going well. He hasn’t successfully kept many secrets from her since they met, and at this point it’s practically impossible. If Mulder acts at all furtive or suspicious, she catches on like a shark smelling blood in the water and circles him until he surrenders.

Maybe she’s deeply perceptive; maybe he’s just not that subtle.

His resolve to keep his mouth shut lasts until Wednesday, just after lunch.

He’s built himself a fortress of stacks of newspapers on the desk, leafing through them with a magnifying glass. Scully’s in the annex, looking at some fibers under the microscope. They’ve got a case, which usually sucks up all his attention, but the phone call from a few days before is still buzzing in his ears.

“Hey, uh, has Mark mentioned the cafe incident?” he asks from across the room.

Scully keeps her eyes on the microscope. “No, he hasn’t, actually. It was hardly an incident,” she adds, switching out the slide. “You need to relax.”

Clearly, she’d picked up on his nervous energy. For once, he wishes Scully could just read his mind. Then I wouldn’t have to figure out how to tell her, Mulder thinks.

There’s no easy way out of this.

“Have you seen him since then?” he asks, trying to sound casual.

Scully huffs out a breath. “We went out last night. Mulder, I’m trying to focus-”

“He called me,” Mulder admits suddenly. “On Sunday.” Whelp, consider the beans spilled, Mark, he thinks. You dick.

Scully looks up at him then, brows furrowed. “He did? Why?”

“First of all, let me make it clear that I wanted nothing to do with any of this,” Mulder says, setting down the newspaper. “He dragged me into it. I wasn’t going to say anything but it’s been pissing me off.”

Scully gets up from the little table and walks over to the desk, perching on the edge of the chair across from him. “Mulder,” she says slowly, “What are you talking about?”

“Mark called me on Sunday night, saying he had some questions for me regarding your character.”

“My character,” Scully echoes, eyes sharp and questioning.

“That’s what he said,” Mulder says, picking up a pencil and rolling it between his fingers nervously. His heart is leaping in his throat. “But what he really wanted to know was if you… um. Sleep around.”

The words land heavily, their weight sending ripples through Mulder’s body.

Scully’s face turns to stone. “Really,” she says tightly. “I don’t see how that is any business of his, or yours,” she adds.

Mulder’s blood pressure has to be at a record high. “He mentioned something about planning for long term, and his daughter. And he thinks we, um.”

Scully crosses her arms, and Mulder’s never seen such an icy, quiet rage. “He thinks we what, Mulder? Tell me exactly what he said.”

Mulder digs the point of the pencil into the desk until the sharpened lead snaps. “He thinks I fucked you,” he says quietly, not looking at her.

“Oh,” she says, louder than he expected. “Well, that’s lovely, Mulder. Did you happen to tell him that it’s not true?”

“I essentially said ‘see you in hell’,” Mulder admits.

“Right,” Scully says, pressing her lips together so hard they turn white. “And you weren’t going to inform me of this because…”

“Because it’s none of my business,” Mulder explains. “I didn’t want to overstep.”

“A first,” Scully says sharply.

“Hey, I learned from last time,” he replies, feeling suddenly defensive. Why am I in trouble here? “You made it pretty clear after Jerse that this is your life, and I’m genuinely trying to honor that. But your boyfriend called me, Scully. I didn’t ask to get dragged into this shit.”

She’s angry now, and he can’t tell if it’s directed at him or Mark. It feels like both. “You didn’t think I might want to know about this, Mulder? You didn’t think to give me a heads-up that the man I’m seeing thinks I’m an easy lay?”

“Whoa, whoa, nobody said that,” Mulder says quickly. “And I’m telling you now because I think you should know I had this conversation with him. I’m sorry I waited but I was unsure how to-”

Scully’s eyes are red, and Mulder stops. “Scully?” he asks quietly.

“He kissed me,” she says hoarsely. She takes a deep breath. “Can’t think why… don’t really want to think why.”

Mulder feels hot and cold all at once.

“It’s funny,” Scully continues, “I-I could tell he wanted more. It was surprising, and not entirely unwelcome, but I stopped it because something felt off.” She emits one small sniff before setting her jaw firmly. “I guess now it makes sense.”

“Scully…” Mulder says softly.

She gets up from the chair. “Thank you for letting me know,” she says woodenly, before returning to the annex and sitting behind the microscope once more.

Well that went perfectly.

They barely speak for the rest of the day, buried in their respective piles of research.

At the end of the day Scully packs her briefcase with short, sharp movements, her shoulders rigid. She slips into her coat, and Mulder sees her mouth set in a grim line.

“Scully,” Mulder says quietly.

She shakes her head once, the smallest negative movement. “I have a phone call to make.”

He leaves the office about forty minutes later, a parcel of newspapers under his arm; homework he knows he won’t be able to focus on.

He takes the elevator to the fourth floor of the parking garage, and sees Scully standing at the far end of the row of cars, leaning against the cement wall, cigarette in hand. He walks to her and rests his elbows on the wall, looking out at the twilit city.

“How many of those have you gone through?” Mulder asks, peering around her in search of burnt stubs.

She doesn’t answer, just holds the cigarette out to him. He hesitates, then gingerly takes it and raises it to his mouth. There’s smudges of lipstick on the filter, and he’s not a good enough man to ignore the eroticism of it.

“I haven’t smoked since ’89,” Mulder says, exhaling. He passes the cigarette back to her.

“Sorry to break your streak,” she murmurs, taking a puff. He watches the smoke escape her full lips, her angelic face profaned by tobacco and a dishonest man’s kiss.

“You didn’t,” he says softly.

They watch the world rotate below.

“I broke it off,” she says, eyes tracing the skyline. He doesn’t need to ask what she’s referring to, and she doesn’t elaborate.

Mulder shifts his weight awkwardly. “That night we got drunk… you asked if I thought you were settling.”

“Mm,” she hums. “No spark,” she recalls.

He nods. “It didn’t feel right to say at the time, but the answer was yes. You should be with who you want to be with, Scully. Someone who makes you… makes you feel things. Not the guy who seems good on paper.”

“It would have been right to say,” Scully says. “I asked you. I don’t- I don’t know why you’re suddenly hellbent on staying out of my life, Mulder, when I’m asking you to be in it. I appreciate your respecting my privacy and boundaries, don’t get me wrong; it’s a welcome change from past experiences. But I… I need a friend.”

There’s a tightness in his chest at her words. “I guess I’m overcorrecting,” Mulder admits. “You’ve been through so much hell, had so much taken away… I wanted to let you choose for once.”

Scully shakes her head. “This mentality you have of letting me choose isn’t much better,” she says softly. “Someone else still controls the information. You trying to protect me by omission doesn’t give me much more agency, Mulder.” She stubs out the cigarette and turns back to the rows of parked cars. “You of all people should know the most empowering thing you can give someone.” She starts to walk away.

“What’s that?” he asks.

She looks back at him. “The truth.”

#my fic #txf fic #msr #xfiles #fox mulder closet romantic #fmcr #this is one of my faves okay #tharr be angst

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nikadoesanart · 4 years ago

Text

Will Jouno assist Fukuchi?

In ch 92, Fukuchi shows Bram to Jouno (though I'd say introduce would be a better way to describe it cause Jouno's blind but minor inconsequential details) and reveals that he is the mastermind behind the Agency being framed and asks Jouno to help him. Personally, I think that Jouno is just a bit more likely to form some kind of alliance with Fukuchi but not necessarily a full-on partnership, much less to the point where it'd be considered working more with Fukuchi as Kamui of the DOA than helping Fukuchi as Fukuchi himself or as the commander of the HD.

Also, I am using @buraihatranslations translation of ch 92, so that's where my exact phrasing for quotations and page counts are coming from. You can read the full translation here.

The main context of our focus

“I’m the mastermind. Jouno, wouldn’t you like to assist me?” (p 19)

For starters, I don’t think Fukuchi is being a reckless idiot for saying this. Considering that he's literally Kamui, he obviously must’ve considered this as a calculated but worthwhile risk to take. As I’ve previously mentioned in my ch 89.5 cover art analysis, Jouno is the most on the fence of the HD in terms of supporting Fukuchi vs believing in the Agency’s innocence. In fact, as we learned in 92, he simply doesn’t care and can therefore be considered a (nearly) neutral party. Jouno is also basically a living breathing lie detector, so he can tell apart the likes of jokes and lies from the truth very easily. Jouno also cares primarily about being able to hear his victim’s suffering, regardless of who’s right or wrong or innocent or guilty (as he’s told Aya). It logically just makes the most sense for Fukuchi to try to get Jouno on his side out of all the HD because :

Teruko is a simp for Fukuchi but she still cares about civilians and being able to take pride in her job as an officer (Sky Casino)

Tachihara has already clearly established his doubts in the ADA being guilty in front of all of the HD (ch 89) and told Fukuchi that he sees himself as more Mafia than HD now (ch 89.5)

Tecchou has a very strong sense of justice and cares about fairness, so asking him to quite literally join the side of the terrorists would never work out and would essentially be a waste of both time and possibly personnel too

What does Jouno personally want?

As I've already briefly touched on (and presumably you already read ch 92 before this), Jouno has already stated his goals, which gives us a good sense of where he stands morally.

“I just want to hear the voice of someone’s suffering.” (p 9)

“To hurt people under the name of the law[,] corner them and hear their “sound” as they break.” (p 10)

Now that we’ve more than established that Jouno is in fact, a sadist, I do want to emphasize Jouno’s mention of the law. Not only does he enjoy making people suffer (specifically psychologically, as he’s mentioned before), but he specifically mentions that he wants to do it “under/in the name of the law”, meaning that he likely either only wants to do it in a “justifiable”/“excusable” way or that he doesn’t want or plan to be held accountable for his actions (or worse, both). Until we get a backstory reveal, there could be any number of reasons for him being this way. I think it’s fairly likely that he’s from a similar situation to Fukuchi (took part in the Great War, and the mental scarring of everything he experienced then caused him to find some sort of extreme and inhumane goal or enjoyment to cope with it all). So for example, he could have been drafted for the War because he’s an ability user (or maybe he already happened to be in some sort of training where he received recognition for his skills, ie. the military academy or part of a renowned dojo) and eventually that led him to become a sadist because coping mechanism or discovering that he’s a sadist because of some extreme circumstances (ie. having to interrogate a prisoner for the first time and realizing how much he enjoyed giving and hearing the psychological torture).

Example of Jouno's excuses and justification

“I was just asking suspects for cooperation!”

“Then do it after they sign the consent form for judicial transaction. Otherwise, it’s not justice.” (p 12)

On one hand, we have Jouno who is very quick to make excuses for his actions by using his position as an officer to justify his behavior. Despite knowingly and intentionally using extreme measures, beyond what's necessary for the situation, he's using the law and his job to try to justify it. (If you're seeing some real-world parallels here, good job!)

On the other hand, we have Tecchou who very clearly values actual justice that is fair to all parties (as we’ve seen previously with him promising the cafe owner that the ADA will get a fair trial at the very least in ch 72). In fact, I think it’d be safe to say that Tecchou is the one that values impartial justice and fairness the most out of the HD, but that's not the focus here.

Parallelisms and which other organizations would suit him and his goals

(p 15-16)

For starters, Jouno appears to be on the side that believes that the ADA is a part of/affiliated with the DOA (if I’m not reading this wrong)

Also, I’d like to highlight him saying:

“ ‘Our tastes match’, if I should say. The abusive nature. To be honest, I’m almost empathetic. If we happen to lose this battle, I wouldn’t mind reemploying to their side. Not to say that we wouldn’t possibly lose.”

Jouno has no doubt in the strength of the HD but also just wants to be on the abusively cruel side dishing out the suffering. If he’s able to use his position to excuse his actions (ie. what he said about Aya just a few pages ago), then that’s even better for him. The ADA has an ability permit and currently ⅓ of the police force is siding with them and believes in their innocence. Joining the ADA next, should the HD lose, would be the most advantageous for him, if the allegations of them being abusively cruel terrorists were true.

In my opinion, his actual next best organization to join, based on his interests and goals so far as well as his own methods, would be the PM. They have an ability permit too and he’d have just as many chances to be either on the front lines and/or work with the interrogation team. With what his goals has revealed about his moral code, he’s just more cut out for the nature and surface level goals of the PM than the ADA. In fact, Dazai has already admitted to the two of them being alike (which we as the readers can deduce is for their methods in manipulation and interrogation) and Dazai has previously mentioned that he’d sometimes have to come in and help Kouyou’s interrogation team with the job (ch 19). Jouno joining the PM could be a very easy transition, should he stop caring about doing things “under the name of the law” (p 10). However, there is a loophole with the PM being a part of the tripartite tactic, of which the whole goal is to protect Yokohama. Both we as the readers and the members of the ADA know that despite their methods, the PM does in fact care about upholding the overall peace and safety of Yokohama. The reason why he jokes about joining the ADA and makes no mention of the PM (at least in my opinion), is because before all of this, to the public eye, the ADA was one of the “good guys” that were upholding the law whereas the PM is quite literally the mafia. (I touch on this part too in my ch 89.5 cover art analysis.)

Back to answering Fukuchi's question now

I feel like Jouno is ever so slightly more likely to form some kind of alliance with Fukuchi as Kamui but not straight up joining the DOA/allying with the DOA as a whole because again, Jouno is very much sadistic but he also specifically tells Aya (a possible hostage and a confirmed supporter of the ADA) that he specifically wants to “to hurt people under the name of the law” (p 10). Fully siding with the DOA and Kamui would mean that he’d no longer be working under the protection of the law, by any extent, unless Fukuchi were to create some kind of excuse as the commander of the HD (ie. Jouno was under the control of the vampirism). He might work with Fukuchi but I don’t think he’d work with or for Kamui. Either way, I think that overall it’s a very close tie.

In short:

If he says yes then he’d risk not having the law to protect him any longer, which is a part of what he clearly wants to have. The only way around this is some sort of agreement where Fukuchi will create a believable excuse for Jouno helping or he does it in a very indirect way that won't be noticed by others or can easily be played off as some sort of coincidence.

If he says no, he’d likely have to go up against Fukuchi and Bram and risk getting turned as well. I doubt he’d be killed since that would raise too many questions with Tecchou and Teruko, and thanks to Tachihara’s fight, I’d say it’s all been explicitly stated that still being alive is a part of the requirements to be turned into a vampire. When Tachihara tried to off himself as a last resort, specifically to stop Fukuchi and Bram from turning him into a vampire, Fukuchi personally prevented that from happening (ch 90).

Jouno has established that he just wants to hear the sound of people suffering (which Fukuchi would probably have learned of or figured out by now, considering that he’s the commanding officer here), which can be achieved from quite literally any side. However, his condition to this is doing it "under the name of the law", so being on a side that has the law’s protection and works on the front lines is where he’d be closest to achieving this with minimal risk (so realistically the HD or ADA). I doubt Jouno would have any interest in joining the Special Division because I doubt he’d get to do much interrogating or front-line work there, in addition to him having less of an excuse for his cruel methods, and I've already gone over why he'd rather join the ADA than the PM.

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd analysis #bsd spoilers #bsd theories #bsd jouno #bsd 92 #bsd chapter 92

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xiyao-feels · 3 years ago

Note

jin ling! wen qing! mo xuanyu! lan qiren! or pick any of them, if four is too many

Omg—okay, let's see. I've done JL on his own, and MXY is a difficult subject for a few reasons, but...

Wen Qing

-WWX has no idea that WN is WQ's younger brother until she discovers them and JC in her supervisory office in Yiling, shortly after their arrival there

-She was very high-ranking in the Wen Clan—the same rank as Wen Chao!

-WN tells LWJ that though WQ had written on core transfers, it was all conjectural, because "Nobody at all would let her experiment on them, so the conjectures stayed conjectures. All of the seniors said that she was letting her imagination run wild."

-WWX tells WN that be set up a cenotaph for him and WQ back at the Burial Mounds, but that they were burnt down.

Lan Qiren

-'Sir' (先生, xiansheng) is what all the Lan clan disciples and cultivators call him.

-During Sunshot, he defended Gusu, enabling LXC to travel around and help people

-He led the Lan forces during the first siege

-He saves OYZZ during the second siege, impressing the heck out of him him with his skill at the sword in the process

Sources

Wen Qing:

WWX having no idea WN is her younger brother: Exiled Rebels, ch. 60:

The people outside answered and followed her away. Wen Ning let out a breath of relief, explaining to Wei WuXian, “My… My elder sister.”

Wei WuXian, “Wen Qing is your elder sister?”

Wen Ning nodded, somewhat embarrassed, “My sister. She’s really powerful.”

[...]

Wei WuXian exclaimed, “You really are the younger brother of Wen Qing?”

Same rank as WC: Exiled Rebels, ch. 60:

Frozen, the two stared at the woman standing before the entrance. Or, one could call her a maiden. Her skin was on the dark side. Although her features were sweet, her expression was with utmost arrogance. The sun robe that she wore glowed red, its flames almost dancing around her sleeves and her collar.

The rank was extremely high, the same level as Wen Chao!

WN on WQ's work on core tranfers: Exiled Rebels, ch. 89:

Wen Ning, “After all, in the past, nobody had ever actually tried transferring golden cores before. Although my sister had written an essay on core transfer, she’d only made some conjectures. Nobody at all would let her experiment on them, so the conjectures stayed conjectures. All of the seniors said that she was letting her imagination run wild. On top of that, it was unrealistic. Everyone knew that nobody would willingly give their golden core to someone else, for if this really happened, they themselves would become absolutely useless, never able to reach the pinnacle or go anywhere in life at all. And so, when Young Master Wei first came back for us, my sister refused to do it. She warned him that the article and actually conducting the experiment were two different things. She was not even half confident.

WWX on the cenotaph, Exiled Rebels, ch 111:

Wen Ning, “Didn’t you ask me what I wanted to do when everything ended? I’ve talked to A-Yuan about it. We’ll be going to Qishan first to bury the ashes of our people. I also wanted to look around there to see if I could find the things from when my sister was still alive, to build her a cenotaph.”

Wei WuXian, “A cenotaph. I built one for you and her back on Burial Mound, but they were burned down. We can go to Qishan too.”

Lan Qiren:

Lan disciples and cultivators calling him 'sir': Exiled Rebels, ch. 116:

‘Sir’ was the honorific by which all disciples and cultivators of the GusuLan Sect referred to Lan QiRen. Any mention of ‘Sir’ meant him and only him.

-Activities during Sunshot: Exiled Rebels, ch. 48:

During the Sunshot Campaign, stories of praise were told about all three of the Venerated Triad. The ones of ChiFeng-Zun were about how he swept over all obstacles, leaving not even a trace of the Wen-dogs after he finished. ZeWu-Jun—Lan XiChen—however, was different from him. After the situation of the Gusu area had settled down, Lan QiRen was able to defend it with great tenacity. Thus, Lan XiChen often travelled to aid others, saving lives from danger. In all of the Sunshot Campaign, he had countless times recovered lost territory and assisted narrow escapes. This was why people were ecstatic whenever they heard his name, as though they gained a ray of hope, a powerful trump card.

Leading the Lan forces during the first siege: Exiled Rebels, ch. 68

Back then, during the first siege of Burial Mound, Jin GuangShan led the LanlingJin Sect, while Jiang Cheng led the YunmengJiang Sect; Lan QiRen led the GusuLan Sect, while Nie MingJue led the QingheNie Sect. The former two were the main forces, the latter two could’ve gone without.

Saving (and impressing) OYZZ: Exiled Rebels, ch. 81:

OuYang ZiZhen brandished his sword fiercely as he turned around, “Don’t worry, Dad! I’ll protect you!”

Yet, just as he turned around, a withered hand stretched toward his throat. Sect Leader OuYang was almost scared to death as he wailed, “ZiZhen!!!”

At that precise moment, a blade severed the hand. Lan QiRen grabbed OuYang ZiZhen and threw him back into the pile of people. He himself, leading a group of sword cultivators from the GusuLan Sect, charged into battle. He’d been resting for quite a while, so his stamina had recovered. Many people were astonished by the force of his sword.

[...]

OuYang ZiZhen disappeared for a while after being caught by his father, but he rushed over nonetheless, “Wow, this is the first time I knew that Mr. Lan QiRen knows the sword and his swordsmanship is so good!”

Lan JingYi’s voice was as loud as always, “Of course, who did you think was HanGuang-Jun and ZeWu-Jun’s teacher of swordsmanship before they reached sixteen?!”

#also this was a great set of characters thank you #tbh I think the beginning of ch 60 has the best concentration of WQ fun facts #but I didn't want to pull all of them from the same chapter

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notthatiwilleverwriteit · 5 years ago

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Do you think that 19 days will be NSFW in the future?

Good evening, dear anon-san!

“Do you think that 19 days will be NSFW in the future?”

My initial answer was no, but then I went through the comic and started giving it more thought. I think it depends on what do you mean by NSFW. According to Wikipedia, NSFW stands for “not safe for work” and is used to refer to material that contains nudity, intense sexuality, profanity, violence, or other potentially disturbing subject matter. I’m assuming you meant NSFW in the sense of graphic sexual content, but if you look at 19 Days from the whole definition’s point of view, I think it already is somewhat NSFW.

I doubt we will ever get to yaoi-level of NSFW, but shounen-ai - which is 19 Days’ genre - can very well have NSFW content, too. Albeit it’s usually less graphic and the story’s overall focus is different. 19 Days’ illustrations especially contain NSFW-level of nudity, and some of them are at the very least suggestive in a sexual way:

I don’t think the comic itself is completely SFW, either. I doubt we will ever see the characters fully naked or yaoi-level of sexual content because of censorship-related issues. But some chapters already have nudity. I mean, I think have lost count how many times I’ve seen He Tian’s abs by now. Or would you like to get caught looking at these panels at work or school (ch. 1, 130, 144, 199, 203, 226, 251, 276, 282, and 291):

At this point, some of you might come at me for sexualizing 15-year-old boys. Before anyone gets that far, let me save your breath. I know they are teenagers, but whether people want to acknowledge it or not 19 Days is also a work of boys love (BL). Just as the name suggests, BL stories are about male-on-male love, romance, and sex. Their main target audience is also girls and women which means their content (stories, themes, character designs, and art in general) is meant to attract and please the females. This doesn’t, of course, mean other people can’t enjoy BL stories, too. I actually think 19 Days is an excellent example of a shounen-ai that has attracted all kinds of folks.

But let’s face it, OldXian didn’t have to include shirtless male torsos. They didn’t really contribute to the story at any point. Instead, they did offer some occasional eye candy. And I never see people complaining about seeing hot shirtless guys until someone talks about sex and sexual content out loud like this. That’s when people seem to become appalled by the idea of someone thinking He Tian shirtless or Mo Guan Shan’s buble butt are sexy.

Okay, end of rant. And nothing of that was aimed at you, dear anon-san. I was just talking about it in a general sense. Now, back to your question!

There have also been countless genitalia-related panels, but for obvious reasons, they have been censored in different ways. Jian Yi especially seems to be a walking NSFW warning. (ch. 37-39, 47, 77, 88, 89, 110, 206, 275.5)

Also, there have been a couple of panels with skinship that isn’t exactly platonic. Often these moments are meant as setups for comic relief and can’t really be seen as NSFW. However, I think they still are sexually charged when put in the context that these boys have romantic feelings for each other. And again, Jian Yi especially seems to be quite forward in making his advances. (ch. 92, 98, 191, 213, 236, 253, 303, and 306)

There is actually one chapter I would like to talk about more. I think it’s different in nature when it comes to these kinds of sexual moments mentioned above. The chapter in question took place after JY accidentally got drunk at a restaurant and Zhan Zheng Xi had to carry him home. Due to an unfortunately tangled backpack strap, ZZX found himself on top of JY (ch. 165):

A couple of chapters earlier, JY had been called a disgusting gay, and he was clearly struggling with that. Perhaps being drunk brought it to the surface. He started crying and asked ZZX if he truly was abnormal. ZZX, of course, tried to comfort his friend, but soon the situation escalated in the wrong direction. JY touched ZZX in ways that ZZX wasn’t comfortable with which resulted in ZZX freaking out and pushing him away.

I’ve always found that moment both dark and sad. JY was obviously in a bad mental place and was probably looking for some sort of reassurance and comfort. XXZ had been supportive of JY coming out to him, but JY didn’t seem to be convinced he wasn’t disgusted by him after all. ZZX was the one person JY didn’t want to reject him in that sense. The thing was, though, ZZX wasn’t rejecting JY liking men (or him) but was far from being ready for JY coming on to him like that.

In my opinion, JY’s kiss and advances were borderline NSFW but more importantly, I think that moment was a good example of NSFW content being utilized to build the overall theme. It wasn’t about two cute guys getting physical but rather about JY’s insecurities, need for acceptance, and longterm unrequited feelings for ZZX that had only very recently come to light. Just because something is NSFW in the sexual sense, it shouldn’t mean we can overlook or forget the other story elements those moments include.

To me, it seems that talking about the NSFW aspect of 19 Days is somewhat frowned upon in the fandom Discourse™. Kind of in the same way as talking about the characters’ potential sexual orientations or ukes and semes. People tend to get annoyed and say it doesn’t matter. I relate with the annoyance somewhat. Because often it seems the theme and significance of the moment at hand are being ignored when readers only focus on wondering “so when are they gonna fuck?”. I’ve found that a bit frustrating, to be honest.

But overall, I don’t agree with the mentality of brushing some questions off because “they don’t matter”. I have found that people tend to say that when they don’t like others talking/debating about something and wish the topic wasn’t brought up anymore. It might not matter to all readers, but shutting down conversation and discouraging others from sharing their interpretations is never okay in my books. It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about something but I don’t think you should go around complaining about others talking about it. Especially in their own posts, and especially if you don’t have anything else to say other than “it doesn’t matter”.

I firmly believe sexualities and sex are most definitely relevant themes in 19 Days. It’s a story about teenagers discovering themselves and falling in love, after all. Among other themes as well, of course.

To answer your question, dear anon-san, I think 19 Days is already somewhat NSFW. The official illustrations especially seem to be quite..revealing at times. I doubt it will get much more graphic, though, because of OX having to struggle with the censorship as is. And to have actual yaoi-level NSFW content in the comic in its current timeline wouldn’t fit the pacing. However, I’m interested in seeing will the future-related chapters ever give us more sexual content when the boys are older and their respective relationships have developed more.

I never thought I would write this long of an answer to your question. Turns out I feel surprisingly passionate about this. So, thank you very much for this, dear anon-san! I’m going to check how many people have unfollowed me now after this post.

#19 days #zhanyi #tianshan #Jian Yi #Zhan zheng xi #answered ask

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canyouhearthelight · 5 years ago

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The Miys, Ch. 89

Wee-oo-oooooooooooo!

I thought long and hard about this chapter before writing it, and it just felt like it fit more into the narrative. Will it raise questions later? Probably. Am I prepared to answer those questions? I’m pretty sure.

Thank you, @satan-parisienne for being such a lovely person to bounce ideas off of, and for being an amazing sister (real and fictional).

The following week was a fog of exhaustion and mind-numbing soreness. Tyche insisted on sparring each night, either with fencing or some other form of combat, while adamantly refusing to speak other than instructions and taunts regarding my form. Any stretching to relieve my over-worked body had to be done in the gym, at home, or in my office, as those were the only three places I was allowed for the time being. I didn’t even have the relief of walking to stretch my legs, since any time I spent in transit was seated on a transport with two escorts, one on either side.

Conor and Maverick were as patient with me as could be expected, but I could readily admit that I was in a sullen mood and would have done anything for some privacy. Eventually, they both told Tyche to come keep an eye on me herself, they both needed some space. Since she had been working me to the bone, not to mention was responsible for my ongoing rotation of guards, she was honestly the last person I wanted to see at the moment. The second she walked in the door, the feeling was clearly mutual - she wouldn’t even look at me, just stood staring at one of my plants, arms crossed.

“You couldn’t even bring Mac with you?” I glared.

“I haven’t seen him in two weeks,” she snarled back. “Pretty sure you scared him off with your crappy attitude.”

“Maybe it’s because I haven’t had five minutes to myself in the past fucking week,” I muttered, turning away from her. Stomping into the kitchen, I got two cups of coffee, set one on the end of the table closest to her with a thunk - being angry didn’t mean I was going to be rude - before flopping down in her favorite armchair.

The next hour was the most tense round of sipping my walls had ever seen. She surrendered first, standing to pace. “Where the hell are they? They didn’t say how long they would be gone.”

Before I could respond, a chirp came from the ceiling. “Human Conor and Human Maverick are at the Undine, playing a Terran game with needles and a target. They advised me when they left that they would return when both of you have categorized your defecation, although I am not entirely sure what that means.”

Against my will, a snort of laughter almost sprayed my coffee onto the deck. Tyche’s eyes tracked as she parsed what was just said, and I recognized her scowl as the one she used to keep from laughing. “I know for a fact that you have a better grasp of human euphemisms than that. You knew what they meant.”

“Simon has informed me that it is a standard Terran practice to diffuse tense situations with humor. Did I do it wrong?”

“We aren’t tense,” she argued.

“Tyche. There is currently less strain detected in the hull plating than there is in that room. Please re-evaluate your statement.”

She gaped like a fish at the remark, while I dissolved into breathless laughter. “Oh my gods, who taught you to say things like that?”

“Several humans on the Ark display a propensity for conversational rejoinders using wit. I find it very unique and pleasing.”

“I don’t care how witty you think you’re being, we don’t need to sort our shit out,” Tyche asserted airily.

It was my turn to gape. “You have me under house arrest! Don’t you think that needs to be addressed!?”

I was less than intimidated by the finger she pointed at me with, despite her gesturing like it was loaded. “First of all, it’s a protective detail, not house arrest. You’re free to go wherever you want, in a transport, with escorts.”

“How is that any - “

“Second of all,” she raised her voice to interrupt me. “Do you really think I have the authority to make that decision? Yeah, you’re my sister, and I love you, but you are also my boss, dork. Not the other way around.”

Every processor that I joked existed in my head stopped with a grinding screech. How fucking stupid am I? “You mean to tell me I could have just walked off at any point?”

“Pfffft. No.” Annnnnnd now she was looking at me like I was an idiot. “I mean, you can try. But the door won’t open.”

If I wasn’t already sitting down, I’d have fallen on my ass. It hurt itself in its confusion! Something supplied from the back of my head. “So. I’m not on house arrest, but I also can’t walk out that door by myself. You don’t have the authority to assign a protective detail to me, but you did assign a rotation of escorts… Ohhhhhhh.” Apparently ‘turning it off and back on again’ worked for mental processors, too. “I am under house arrest, or protective custody, or whatever, but it wasn’t your call.”

“Finally!” she threw her hands in the air and flopped elegantly across my couch.

“Which means it was someone on the Council. So Xiomara did this.”

An exhausted thumbs-up popped comically from the pile of scarves and sweaters formerly known as my sister.

“Why didn’t you just tell me that?” I demanded angrily, chucking a pillow where I thought her head was.

A muffled voice came from under the pillow. “I did manage to make sure you actually like and trust your escorts.”

“What do you mean my escorts? Who else’s… The entire Council?”

The thumb popped back up.

“And you couldn’t tell me.”

Second thumb.

“Why not?”

One hand dropped and the other flashed me a middle finger.

“Okay, can’t answer that either.” I thought for a minute. “Can’t as in, not supposed to, or can’t, as in you don’t know?”

Index finger. First one.

“Is there a penalty if you do tell me?”

Thumbs down.

“So, really, there’s not anything stopping you from telling me except you keeping your word,” I pointed out.

Thumbs down.

Wait, what?

“There is something other than your word keeping you from telling me, but it’s not a penalty.”

Thumbs up.

“You literally can’t tell me, can you?”

Thumb still up. That explained the twenty-questions game, and her terseness lately.

“Are you physically incapable of making the words go, or is something preventing the words from getting there once they go?”

Two fingers. Second option.

“What is Xiomara thinking!?” I blurted angrily. “This is over the line. She may have the authority to put the Council under watch for our safety, since Safety is her jurisdiction, but dinking around in your head!? She can’t do that!”

I glanced back at Tyche, her hand in a thumbs down. “Something I said was wrong.” Thumb up. “She doesn’t have the authority to go poking around in your head.”

Thumb stayed up.

“Who does?”

She flapped her hand. Apparently can’t tell me that either.

“Did they have your permission to do this?”

Tyche made a ‘sort of’ waver with her hand before giving a thumbs-up. At this point I wanted to scream in frustration.

Keeping my eyes on her hand, I started talking, playing a sort of hot and cold. “The only person who has the authority to poke around in your head is you…” Thumb up. “Unless you’re unconscious.” Thumb down. “So you were awake and aware, and gave permission…..” Sort of, yeah, again. “But someone suggested it…” Thumb up. “Was it Xiomara?” Thumb down. “Antoine?” Thumb down. “Was anyone else in the room?” Thumb down, to my relief.

Wait. Thumb down?

“This was your idea!?” I shrieked, resisting the urge to tackle her when she gave a thumbs up. “And you thought I was being an idiot!? Tyche, how could you do that!?”

She sat up, gasping for air. “I knew I would tell you at some point. I let it slip a dozen times, and you were so distracted you didn’t notice. So, since Antoine and Derek were clever enough to set up the proximity alerts for those of us who are triggered by random strangers touching us, I asked if whop could set it up so you couldn’t hear me, even if I did slip.”

Hang on. “Say that last part again, slower.”

“I asked if wherb could set it up so you couldn’t hear me, even if I did slip.”

“Oh my gods,” I whispered. “That’s why you haven’t been talking. It’s garbled when you say something I shouldn’t hear, isn’t it?”

She nodded and started talking. It sounded like someone speaking backwards, through a voice distorter, while underwater. “Tyche, it sounds like I’m having another stroke.”

She nodded, and made a ‘keep going’ gesture.

“It’s supposed to, isn’t it? Because even though the brain damage was fixed and I can hear fine now, I had hearing issues for so long that you knew I would brush it off and not think anything of it.”

She nodded again, lips pressed in a firm line. “Because I would notice not hearing you at all, or any noise replacing it, or anything like that. But I literally never noticed that my hearing was garbled again until I was looking for it. Which I wouldn’t, because I should be able to hear fine.”

“Yep,” she confirmed with a firm, final nod.

“Sneaky bitch,” I muttered. It was clever, I had to give her that. I thought back over the past week and all our interactions, trying to determine if any specific topics triggered the parts I couldn’t understand. I started at the day she punched me, and something stood out in screaming neon with alarm bells attached. “We. When you were chewing me out in the gym that day, you kept saying ‘we’. We were counting on Bjornson thinking I’m helpless. We thought we had the advantage.” I paused as one sentence stood out, even clearer and louder than the rest. “This time, he’s got more people than Arantxa did, but we thought we had the advantage…. Because we knew who they were, we knew what they thought…” I focused on her, and felt nothing but fear and confusion as I whispered. “Tyche, how do you know who they are and what they think? How deep into this did Xio drag you?”

She stared at me, wide-eyed and helpless as garbled words fell from her lips.

<< Prev Masterlist Next >>

#the miys #family #found family #humans are weird #humans are space orcs #aliens #sci fi #science fiction #original writing #apocalypse #earth is space australia #original sci fi #my writing

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webtoonempress · 5 years ago

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Dear ppl who read Blood Link please give me a spoiler, bc the group trans kinda confuse me, why does Bin not like nor care for his son? It sounded like that when that older vamp said his son is in danger and bin respond was "not interested" and that he only pretends to care cause of gok....

Also I only read Ch.89-94 [I'm reading backwards fyi] and I wanted read the first chapters of season 2 to see if mention why but the group didn't trans them

So can someone give me so info please

#blood link #lezhin #manhwa #webtoon

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ngame989 · 6 years ago

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“Christumpmasday” - TGG SVTFOE Fanfic Collection Ch. 4

Writing: @ngame989

Art: @toxicpsychox (make sure to follow him for bonus pics from the story!)

Editing: @toxicpsychox, @seddm

Alternate fic links - FFnet, AO3

Summary: The holiday season is upon Earthni, and as her 16th birthday draws nearer, the blended festivities are leaving Star feeling down while they scramble to set up everything in time for the perfect Christumpmasday celebration.

Comic Page

Masterpost

Also doubles as a late @wholesome-week Holiday submission!

See below for the text, hope you enjoy!

“Is it… a dragon-cycle?”

“Nachos is too protective, if we got a second one she wouldn’t get along with them.” Marco ran his fingers carefully through the branches of the pine tree in front of him, giving it a gentle shake. Half of the needles fell to the ground.

“True, true. OK, what about, like, a cool sword or something?”

His focus was already on to the fourth tree in the row, ruling it out just as easily as the previous three. Disappointing. Didn’t anyone know how to properly maintain a healthy and good-looking evergreen? “Star, that’s just what you got me for my birthday. I’m not going to tell you your gift early. Besides, would you even want a sword? We can look for one sometime.”

“I’m good, just wondering. Just give me ooooone more guess… your abs?” He lurched forward in surprise, his reaction to the comment earning him a faceful of foliage. Shaking the needles out of his hood and spitting a few from his lips, he finally turned his full attention to his girlfriend, studying her as she leaned against the fence on the perimeter of the farm. She’d donned one of his hoodies overtop of her blue narwhal-embroidered outfit as emergency protection on the unexpectedly chilly day, as California’s relatively warm winters had mostly carried over to their slice of Earthni. Adorable rosy hues surrounded the heart marks on her cheeks, and he wasn’t quite sure it was from the cold - he was much more certain where his own flush was coming from, at least. “What? It’s super freezing and I’m super cold and I super do not like wood. I needed a distraction and my mind wandered back to the Neverzone after I mentioned the sword.”

“Well, don’t worry, because I found the one!” He beckoned her over with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth and pointed to the one in front of him. Relatively tall and thick by Christmas tree standards, but it would be sure to look fantastic in the monster temple foyer for the first annual culturally blended holiday. Why it had been dubbed Christumpmasday, and why the rest of the town had gone along with it, Marco might never know, but he was still excited no matter how unwieldy its name might be. She took his hand when she got beside him, but kept moving until she crossed fully in front of him, gently tugging his arm around her. Marco smiled and took the hint, wrapping himself snugly around her and tucking his chin into the crook of her shoulder; despite growing a bit in recent months, he was still a ways off from being a full head above her. “Better?”

She briefly nuzzled her cheek into his through his hood. “Much. Sorry for being a party pooper today… I just want to have a normal holiday, and my birthday, without having to worry about appeasing a giant angry log. Is that too much to ask?” There was a fire in her sparkling sapphire eyes that Marco recognized all too well: this was really bothering her.

As best he could, he threaded their gloved fingers together and reassuringly squeezed both the hand and the hug. “Maybe the Stump isn’t even around anymore… still, better to be safe than sorry for this year at least. Look on the bright side, if it isn’t an issue anymore, then next year we can just do what we do best here on Earth: keep traditional holidays around as an excuse to eat and have fun!” Star snorted in laughter and turned to face him with a smile, hesitant but genuine all the same, and he returned a sympathetic one of his own. “If you really want a hint about my gift, it’s something we’ll get to enjoy a lot when we get to hang out after all this is over.”

“Well if it involves spending time with you, then I know I’ll love it,” she teased, and the cold bothered Marco a bit less.

The moment was interrupted when Rafael entered his peripheral vision with an unfamiliar woman behind him. “Ah, there you two are. I have been looking all over the place!”

The woman, taller than Marco’s dad and almost as brawny and sporting a stereotypical lumberjack outfit, jogged ahead of Rafael, seemingly unbothered by the cold. She patted Marco’s head as he and Star scrambled to split apart. “I’m Dee, nice to meet you.”

“Ooooooh, I thought ‘Dees Trees’ was just wordplay,” Star responded, shaking her hand after Marco, who giggled in response.

“Well aren’t you two just the most precious things? So your dad here tells me that you’re looking for a tree?”

“Yep, this one,” Marco pointed to the one in front of him and the sign marking it at $65.

“That one’s certainly a beaut. Tell ya what, it’s on the house. As thanks for this whole Cleaving thing - best thing to happen to my business since that household tree burglary spree in ‘89!” she said jovially.

Star bristled a bit inside the hoodie. “You don’t have to do that-”

“Please, I insist.”

“We’re fine, thanks.”

“It’s the least I can do.”

“I said we’ll pay.”

Marco’s eyes bounced back and forth following the two as Dee remained fairly calm while the frustration in Star’s voice visibly mounted.

The heated exchange was interrupted by a loud rev; the three turned to see Rafael already midway into cutting down the chosen tree with his chainsaw. Dee helped the man steady it as it was fully detached from the base and he let out a victory shout while turning off his chainsaw. “This is my favorite part of the holiday season,” he chuckled, patting the handle on the tool.

Star sighed heavily. “We’ll take it, then. Thank you.” Marco was still worried by her sulliness; he’d ask her about it later.

“Take care, now!” Dee said as they hauled the tree to the Diaz car. Once it was secured to the roof, Marco hopped halfway into the backseat before Star grabbed his hand, holding him still. He looked up at her from halfway inside the vehicle and saw her reading something on her phone.

“Everything OK, kids?” his dad called from the front seat.

“Eclipsa just texted me, my dad’s been swinging around the temple using the holiday lights like vines to hang them up and he hurt himself.”

“River…” Marco facepalmed. “I told him I’d help with that!”

“Hold on, she just sent a correction.” Her brow scrunched up worryingly as she read the words. The tension in her shoulders finally released after a few seconds as she rolled her eyes. “Apparently those were two separate things. Lights are all set, but he sprained his back falling off the ceiling while trying to race Meteora around the castle after, so now he can’t go get a ceremonial stump like he does every year.”

“Maybe we can just see if we can take the one from our tree?” Marco offered.

“Good idea. But we’re paying for it this time,” Star insisted, puffing up her cheeks.

She took his hand and led him back into the farm to the same spot they’d been, stopping dead in their tracks at seeing the sign which had an additional description written on in red ink. “Don’t risk angering the stump! VERY special offer, guarantees no botanical horror attacks!” A zero had been added to the price tag, and Marco resigned himself to the inevitable as he pulled out his wallet for the familiar sum. “So that’s what she meant by us helping her business.”

***

The decor in the monster temple was splendid, Moon idly mused as she strolled through the corridors. There was a certain vivacity that Earth’s traditions brought into the holiday season that hadn’t been present for Stump Day alone. While she tended to prefer a more orderly, professional aesthetic, even she had to admit that a holiday celebrating the dead bottom of a tree could get dull at times with an almost exclusively brown wooden palette. If she had been told one year ago that come next Stump Day she’d be galavanting around the infamous Monster Temple, no longer a Queen, preparing to celebrate the holidays alongside Eclipsa, she’d have sent the laughable soothsayer to a therapist posthaste. But somehow she had settled into her new life with relative ease. Of course there were still lingering vestiges; many Mewmans still sought her advice about all sorts of mundane topics, albeit in a less… needy way, and she’d provided some counsel to the governments of the new world, filling in any information about the Mewman people and tradition. But at the end of the day, she was no more or less than any other woman in their new world, and after all the hardships she saw Mewni through - some, regrettably, by her own hand - it didn’t upset her as much as she might have thought it would.

She navigated the labyrinthian hallways until she reached the set of guest bedrooms Eclipsa had set up and walked over to hers to find the door open and her husband playing cards with Globgor.

“Moonpie!”

“Hello, darling. Hello, Globgor,” she waved. She walked over to the side of the bed and pecked River on the forehead before sitting down beside him, careful not to hurt the multiple casts he had on. “How are you holding up?”

“Never been better! Just some minor scrapes, really.”

“River, you fell three stories and landed on a hard stone floor directly on your back.”

“Bah, no matter, I’ve had worse! Besides some minor agony I barely notice it at all! Globgor here is teaching me some card games that the monster army used to play hundreds of years ago, it’s roaring fun! You should join us!”

“I think I’ve heard of some of the games…” Moon trailed off suspiciously, one eyebrow raised.

Globgor rubbed the back of his neck, clearly understanding her implications. “Ahem, well, I may have made some modifications to them. Most used custom decks that had lots of very, shall we say, unkind pictures of Mewmans on them, and most of the moves had unflattering names as well. While I was in the crystal I ended up remaking most of my favorite games without that stuff and playing matches with all kinds of imaginary characters in my brain,” he chuckled. Not that she was one to judge, after all - she’d already been through that song and dance with Buff Frog what felt like ages ago.

“Yes, and he’s really good at them!” River exclaimed in frustration as he tried and failed to counter Globgor’s most recent play. “You should join us, dear, you’re remarkable at these types of games!”

She patted his hand and flashed him a contrite smile. “I’d love to, but I still need to go through all the family belongings and find some Stump Day decorations. I’m sure at least some of them were salvaged from the castle.”

River clasped Moon’s hand with both of his own animatedly. “That reminds me! You just missed Star, she stopped by not too long ago to check up on her old man. She said they were going to set up the tree.”

“Shoot, I promised I would help them with that!” Globgor conked himself on the head, accidentally throwing his cards all over the bed in the process. “We can pick this up soon, so sorry about that!” He quickly gathered the strewn cards up and shuffled around the bed, closing the door on his way out.

“Not a problem!” River shouted after him. His volume lowered substantially as he and Moon were the only two left in the room. “It really is wonderful to have family holidays like this, is it not? Good food, good company, and best of all, no in-laws,” he smirked at her.

“River!” she jokingly admonished.

“Oh honey, you know that as much as I do. I love the Johansen clan dearly, but they can be positively insufferable at times. And don’t get me started on old Aunt Etheria…”

Moon laughed into her hand. “Yes, I suppose it is nice that the festivities will be much smaller this year.” After all the chaos and the dissolution of the Butterfly kingdom, their extended family (especially her own side) had some… mixed reactions. With Moon distancing herself from the power and prestige her family had been accustomed to, things were a bit tense and as such everyone had decided to stick to themselves for the holidays, which just left the main former Butterfly lineage and the Diazes to celebrate. Moon had grown rather fond of this new mixed-dimensional extended “family” of hers, which she supposed was a good thing since she had a sneaking suspicion that they’d become official family in due time. While she wouldn’t trade the last half a year for anything, it too had its own brand of chaos which made moments for just the two of them still rarer than she’d like, and now that they had one both seemed most content not doing anything. The comfortable silence lingered on for many minutes, both of his rough hands delicately clasped around one of her own while her other idly toyed with his beard, and neither seemed . Finally, their tranquility was broken by a knock at the door, which meant it couldn’t be Star. “Come in,” Moon said, separating from River and defaulting to a more proper pose.

She was greeted by a familiar red hoodie. “Oh! Um, sorry if I, uh, interrupted anything.”

River struggled to sit up and face the door properly, beaming brightly at the young man whose company he enjoyed very much. “Not a problem, my boy! Moonpie was just checking up on me. But don’t worry lad, I’ll be back on my feet in no time!”

“Oh, I know that. Star and I were just in the kitchen and thought you’d want the leftovers from tonight for a snack.” He held up a bag filled with what had to be a few pounds of meat and some corn.

Her husband’s eyes lit up like fireworks as he beckoned Marco into the room. “I see the holidays have come early this year, hah! Thank you, you know this old man quite well.”

“Well, I’ll leave you two alone,” Moon gestured to the bag and her husband, rolled her eyes playfully as he fished his meat blanket out from his beard and began to dig in.

She and Marco both walked out of the room. “Have fun with your boxes, honey!” he mumbled out as the door was closing, nearly unintelligible through the multiple drumsticks barbarously stuffed in his mouth.

Marco stopped and turned back to face Moon. “Oh, is there still something left to do for decorations?”

“I was planning on going through some of the Butterfly family possessions to find our old Stump Day decor, that’s all.”

He hesitated only a fraction of a second before responding, “Do you want some help? We finished everything with the tree already.”

Moon warmly grinned back at the boy. She’d noted his kindness and willingness to be by Star’s side through anything years prior, but what impressed her most was how it consistently extended to everyone else around him. “That would be lovely. They’re in the storage room, I’ll be up in a moment.”

“OK, I’ll get Star and we’ll meet you there.” He hustled off back to the main area of the castle, leaving her alone in the hallway.

She made her way to the storage room, getting lost a few times along the way, still not entirely familiar with the layout of the building. Her first task was to do a quick scan of the boxes and organize them. There was a notable lack of cohesion to the contents of each container, she noted with ire, but that was likely due to the haste with which they had been packed as the castle had been attacked. Forgivable. She’d noted around fifteen that possibly would contain the decorations she was looking for and had gathered them all together when a conversation from the hallway caught her attention.

“Why noooooot?”

“Star, they’re not going to let you use one of River’s clubs. Those things are like two feet wide and have spikes!”

“Yeah, those are his miniature clubs, which is why I want to bring them to miniature golf, duh!”

“It’s indoors! There will be kids around!”

“Oh, well why didn’t you say so! Dad has some indoor clubs for kids too.”

“He showed those to me, they’re even more dangerous!”

“Marcooooooo, come oooooon.”

“Trust me, it’ll be more fun with the normal clubs.”

“Fiiiiiine.” Just as they came into view through the door, she spotted Marco give a quick peck to the side of her head as she rolled her eyes at him, their fingers intertwined. Moon raised an eyebrow with a smug grin when they entered the room. They reminded her so much of herself and River when they were younger.

“Hi Mom!” Star said, leaving Marco’s side to give Moon a quick hug. “Marco said you needed help with something here, what’s up?”

“We just need to locate some of the Stump Day decorations from our usual family gatherings, shouldn’t be too long,” she responded, indicating the various boxes and bags on the floor behind her.

Star’s cheery expression visibly sunk. “Oh. Yeah, um, sure, we can help with that.” Moon’s brow furrowed in confusion briefly; she considered speaking up, but had learned it was best not to pry too much. No matter, they could finish this up quickly enough and all have a well-rested night before all the celebrations to come in the next few days. “So what exactly are we looking for?”

Moon pried open the nearest tub and overturned the piles of now-unneeded royal attire to see what lay beneath. “We’ll probably need a lot of mugs for the big dinner that Eclipsa is hosting for the locals tomorrow evening. And the diorama for River’s annual telling of the story of Stump Day, which he’s insisted he is still going to deliver himself. Perhaps a few of the hats as well, if we’re able to locate them. After last year, I don’t think we can quite play it too safe, after all.”

The three began to dig through boxes, clearing them out at a rapid pace. She noted a newfound chilliness even in Star’s interactions with Marco, responding to his antics making goofy voices with some old puppets with only half-hearted laughter. After about thirty minutes, they’d gathered everything they needed and began packing back up the belongings.

“Why do we even still have this stuff, anyway?” Star spontaneously spoke after a rather uncharacteristic bout of silence during their labor. Moon glanced over to see her holding up one of Moon’s old crowns, her hearts wrinkling as her face contorted in displeasure.

“Sweetheart, it’s a valuable heirloom. It’s still important to the tradition of this family to keep these things around, what if you or someone else might be interested in them in the future?”

Star scoffed and carelessly dunked the crown back in the box. “We’re not royalty anymore, Mom, and we never will be again,” Star retorted, dunking it carelessly back into the box.

“I know that, dear, but-”

Star’s voice, now risen to almost a shout, cut her off, echoing throughout the spacious room. “But what? I’ve moved on, I’m through with this, and you should be too. So what’s the point of keeping this, or this, or any of this unless you’re trying to hold on to the glory?” She held up the crown again, the top to one of the royal staves, and the medallion with the royal crest to illustrate her point. Moon and Star had butted heads enough in the past that this feeling of anger bubbling up wasn’t new to her, but it had been a while since her daughter had frustrated her to the extent she was right now. “Marco, back me up here!”

The boy raised a finger and stuttered briefly before an incensed Moon cut him off. “That’s not my point, Star. Even if it’s in the past, we can’t just toss away our history! What about things you did for your kingdom or your people? Don’t you want to at least remember that much?” she held up a few of the dresses and official portraits from various diplomatic events Star had participated in when she was younger. “These were things you did, not just stuffy royal artifacts. Surely that at least means something to you?”

Moon followed Star’s bright blue eyes as they darted intensely around the items she held until they suddenly stopped, fixated on a puffy blue and pink dress. The fury evaporated instantaneously and her expression morphed into shock. “Forget it, I’m done with all of it,” she sullenly intoned, dumping what she was holding on the ground and walking away. Marco tried to wrap an arm around her shoulder but she shrugged it off brusquely and marched out the door.

Marco took a step forward to follow her and then stopped, sulking and turning back to the pile of stuff, plopping to the ground and burying his head in his hands.

“What has gotten into her?” Moon vented through gritted teeth. “She just wants to be a normal teenager again, fine, but that does not mean she has to disrespect everything this family has done!” She took a deep breath to calm herself down before turning to Marco, not wanting to take anything out on him unduly. “Has she talked to you about any of this?”

His eyes remained fixed on the ground, playing with the zipper of his hoodie. “Earlier today she said she just wanted to have a normal birthday and not have to worry about Stump Day, but this stuff, it- I don’t really know. I mean, I- I get it, kind of, what she’s trying to say.” He looked at her with his brown eyes wide, as if asking permission.

“Go on.”

“Star… she spent practically all her time on Mewni trying to fix things, and trying to do whatever she thought was best for everyone. And- and when she gets an idea in her head about how to do that, she believes in it really hard, and it’s hard to stop her.” Both unconsciously smiled at the thought, and Moon didn’t miss the glimmer in the boy’s eyes as he continued talking about his best friend and love. “She still cares a lot about making the world better for everyone, even now. And the last big thing she believed in was that magic and Mewman queens and the whole Butterfly monarchy needed to be destroyed to do that.”

“So perhaps keeping everything squirreled away made her think I plan to use it again in the future,” she finished the thought.

Marco averted his gaze and rubbed his arm for a moment, opening his mouth a few times and failing to speak before finally choosing his words. “Do you?” he asked meekly.

The question stunned her, but upon a moment of reflection she couldn’t blame him. Time and time again, Moon had taken charge when she felt the time called for it, for better or worse. “No, heavens no. It’s been difficult at times, giving it all up, I admit. Even after Eclipsa took over, I still ended up doing what I thought was best to bring order. I suppose Star must get that from me, although she’s far better at it than I ever was.”

“I- I get it, though. On Earth we had a saying that I remember learning in school: ‘Those who can’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it,’ or something like that.”

“I like that. It works. Well, I’ll… give Star some time, and think about what to do with all of this, I suppose. I can finish the cleanup myself now, run along.” Moon was about to turn around as he went to leave but decided on one more thing to say. “Oh, and Marco?” She walked over to him by the door, noting that he was almost as tall as her now, and grabbed both his shoulders before placing a tender, motherly kiss on his forehead. The brown eyes she’d caught her daughter getting lost in all too often focused intently on her own amongst the surprised expression on his visage. “You’re still both teenagers, but you’ve grown so much. She wouldn’t be the admirable young woman she is today without you, and I suspect the opposite is also true. Thank you for being everything you are to my daughter.”

His mouth was slightly agape, unable to formulate any words in response. “T-thanks, um, Mrs… thanks.”

“Just ‘Moon’ is alright, dear,” she said affectionately.

“Thanks, Moon,” he finally stammered out before stumbling towards the door and out of the room at her gentle nudging. It only took a few minutes to carefully organize the remains back into their boxes and get the Stump Day items ready to set up. Turning one last time toward the belongings that had been neatly packed away, a few ideas began running through her mind…

***

Everything was a mess. Star the Screw-up strikes again. She sulked into the battlements of her balcony, gazing into the night sky. She’d bummed Marco out, she’d gotten all tangled up in the holiday lights, she’d yelled at her mom who really didn’t deserve it, and even after they’d worked it out over some tea later she still felt hollow inside. The fact she was out in the cold in just her nightgown didn’t help, either, but she couldn’t be bothered to do anything about it. Weren’t the holidays supposed to bring ‘tidings of comfort and joy’? It didn’t feel like it. She grabbed the pillow she’d dragged out from her bedroom and screamed into it, letting her head sink further down until she was almost laying flat on the ground.

“Hey.”

Star lowered the pillow from her eyes and saw Marco in his pajamas, fiddling idly with the bottom of his shirt.

“Hi,” she mumbled into the pillow.

“Mind if I join you? I brought some hot cocoa.”

“Mmh.”

He took it as an affirmation, slumping down on the cold floor next to her, seemingly unbothered.

“Sooooo… nice night out tonight, huh?” he asked hopefully, passing her a stump mug.

“Yeah, I guess.” Her gaze went skyward as it had been for the past dozen or so minutes while she thoughtfully sipped her drink, feeling the liquid warm her instantly. “The stars are really pretty from up here.”

“Yeah,” he replied, taking her hand in his. She rolled onto her side to find him already facing her, studying her intensely with a faint smile dancing on his lips. “Did everything go alright with your mom?”

She sat in silence for a moment, drinking in the soothing love his chocolate gaze was practically projecting into hers, and feeling the soft caress of his fingers on her hand. “It was fine. She apologized too, even if I was the one who messed it up… but I get it. She’s right, you can’t throw away history just because you don’t like it. Heck, I think I was the one telling her that like a year ago!”

Marco shrugged his shoulders. “Things change, stuff happens, we all mess up sometimes. Don’t beat yourself up about it too much.”

“I know, I know, it’s just… all this holiday stuff, all this reminiscing and being thankful for what you have and all this celebrating traditions from Mewni got me thinking about a lot. Stump Day, and my birthday, and princesses…” she paused for a moment, steadying her breathing. “...and you.”

His eyes widened a fraction. “Me?”

“You.” Star untangled her hand from his and brought both to her face, grounding the bases of her palms into her shut eyes to try and plug up any waterworks that she could feel working their way up towards the surface. “Stump Day just made me think of last year, and all the fighting and drama, and that made me think of all the other stuff, and… euuurgh,” she moaned.

“Star, it’s OK-”

“No it’s not,” she whimpered, not being able to stop the tears from dripping down her face this time.

“Woah, woah, Star…” he sat up, visibly scared for her, and pulled her up with him, but her body language was unyieldingly feeble as she shied away from his touch. “Just talk to me, OK? None of that was your fault.”

“Maybe…” she folded her arms and crossed her legs, leaning back against the merlons mulling over her words. “In the barn, you told me you felt like that since the beginning. And I know you didn’t, like, mean that you were head over heels in love with me while you were showing me around school or anything, but… I get it because I was the same way.” Once the words started, the pace quickly swelled until she couldn’t help but pour her heart out. “I pushed it aside, convinced myself it wasn’t there, ignored it when it was staring me in the face, and ate up the whole Curse thing like the cheapest, crummiest street corn. But looking back on it, that whole year on Mewni… it never went away then either. I was just too blind to realize what those feelings meant until it was almost too late. That’s what- that’s what I just wanted to forget.”

An arm bumped up against hers, and in her peripheral vision she saw him standing next to her, looking off the balcony into the distance. “It always feels better when you talk about it,” he offered meekly. How many times had she been the one trying to pry the truth out of him? Now that the roles were reversed, she fully understood why it had always been so hard. “What do your guts feel like?”

“Just one giant bleeeeergh,” she garbled, sticking her tongue out for emphasis.

“Well, you did have four glasses of cornnog.”

She smiled wistfully, staring down at her feet. “Touché, Diaz.”

The cool breeze whistling through the nooks and crannies of the temple was the only sound around them for a minute until he began again. “I won’t lie to you, Star… it stunk sometimes. It wasn’t always fun, sometimes it hurt. My feelings for you felt like an obstacle for so long…” In her mind’s eye, she could picture it all too clearly: wheeling on him, grabbing his arms and apologizing with rivers running down her cheeks to show him what he meant to her. But he cut that off only a beat later. “But I don’t regret a single day, because they were still with you.”

Now she whipped around to face him, looking incredulously at his calm form hanging over the top of the stone. “Wha-”

“All that time I spent trying to shove away or ignore how I felt, it- it still meant something to me. I wouldn’t trade any moment where I loved you for anything, even when it hurt, even if you were with someone else, or, heck, even if I didn’t think it was love. Doesn’t matter.” He sniffled briefly, wiping his face with his arm, and finally turned to face her. The glossy trembling she’d expected to find wasn’t there, instead she only found a fiery resolve. “C’mon, let’s go inside.” She barely remembered to grab her pillow before his firm grip pulled her back into their bedroom. Star wasn’t sure how he could be so calm about all of this. Some nagging, self-loathing voice in the back of her mind told her this had been eating away at him too, that he was just trying to spare her feelings, that she’d been the one to screw up by taking too long to tell him she loved him, but it was dulled by her curiosity at his actions. He shuffled under the bed, rummaging around until he pulled out a long, thin box with baby blue wrapping paper and pink hearts all over it.

“Marco?”

“It’s your birthday present! I- I was going to give it to you tomorrow, but I think now is better.”

They both sat down on the edge of the bed. Star glared at him suspiciously, inelegantly removing the bow and wrapping paper to find a thick velvety fabric. She started to pull it out and it unfolded itself many times, quickly sagging to the floor as she held it up. The water built up on her eyelids once more, steadily beginning to pour out as she beheld the sight in front of her.

He scooted beside her, wrapping one arm around her midsection. “I, um, hadn’t realized all this stuff was getting you down this much or I wouldn’t have-”

She shut him up with a passionate kiss, weaving her fingers through his hair as the heat of the moment stretched on. Their foreheads stayed together when they finally separated, both panting for a moment as Star tried to recover from the tongue-tiedness. “Marco, you absolute dork,” she said breathily with her lips grinning as widely as the could. “I love it.”

Both their heads turned back towards the blanket as they each used one hand to hold it up. It was a beautiful tapestry of moments from their entire relationship, from beginning until at least one thing Star could pinpoint as only happening a few weeks ago. Her spare hand caressed the fabric, adoring each and every detail. “The day we met, that day you froze time for sixty hours, the Blood Moon Ball,” he pointed out one by one. “Our first kiss… in the booth. When I found you before you killed Toffee. Right before we went to destroy the magic. This is us, Star. I- I don’t want to pretend that this stuff didn’t happen even if it wasn’t always fun, because then it wouldn’t be what made you special to me. And also, our old Friendship-Thursday-slash-Thursdate blanket was getting nasty. It smelled like month-old nacho cheese even after Lavabo washed it,” he shuddered. “So now, every time we’re snuggled up together, we can remember everything that got us to this point, and- and I left some blank spots for more patches later, because I want to look forward to the future too.”

“This is way better than any of my dumb ideas from earlier today,” she chuckled, wiping the tears and snot from her face. “Maybe that’s what ‘Christumpmasday’ should be about. The past coming together and making something new and exciting without giving up what led to it.”

“...except for the actual evil Stump demon thing. We might still be better off without it.”

“Definitely.” Both sported a cheeky grin.

“Oh, and by the way, Star?”

“Hmm?”

His lips suddenly were on hers once more, catching her off guard for a moment before she reciprocated. He swung her around, hugging her body tightly onto his, setting her nerves ablaze and causing all the hairs on the back of her neck to tingle. She adjusted her legs and pushed him back down into the pillows, landing on top of him without breaking the kiss, both hungry for more of the other. When the moment finally ended, she propped herself up on her elbows, fingers toying with his silky hair as she gazed down at the love of her life. When his eyes left hers, she followed them to the clock on her nightstand. 12:06 AM. “Happy birthday, Star,” he grinned before pecking her on the cheek.

A warmth like no other spread from Star’s chest through the rest of her body when she curled into him, needing more than anything to hold him tight tonight. Her legs tangled themselves into his as her head found purchase on his chest. “I love you so much, Marco. I don’t think I tell you that enough.”

“Same. Love you so much too, Star.”

He tucked the blanket tighter around both of them and held her as closely as he could until sleep claimed him. Star planted one last languid smooch on his jawline, nuzzling her cheek into him hard enough that it squished against his body before she too drifted off, snug in their bed, while visions of sugar-stumps danced in her head.

#starco #svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #moonriver #tgg svtfoe #fanfic

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