#my new mission in life is to point out all the great details in this storyline and what of it??? catch this lore bruh

[samijey]

04/02/2024 vs 06/02/2024

[allophonicmess]

Too Sweet

Logan Howlett x fem!Reader

Act 3

Warnings: spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine

This is a fluff chapter. Gotta give you guys some candy after all that angst

Word count 4.1 K

Life resumed as normal after that. Or as normal as it could be when you are suddenly placed in the new timeline. Logan kept getting confused by little details that were different to the life he had lived before. Professor X ? Sure he exists but he had hair. Cyclops? Oh yeah. He was just as annoying as he remembered. Who are the fucking Avengers and what sort of rich nerd was Tony Stark? And what about Jean?

“A hot red head with the telekinetic powers?” Wade hummed, pretending to be lost in thought. “Uh, no. UNLESS! Charles used to have a beautiful flowing mane that I don’t know about. He is turning grey, you know… but it suits him. Silver fox”              

So Jean was out of the picture. That was good, right?

Logan groaned at Wade's bad joke. He shifted his focus outside, watching the landscape change from looming tall skyscrapers to even fields and trees that started changing colour with the season. It reminded him of home.

“Just to get this straight.” Logan shifted in his seat. The car that Wade had bought from the dealership had been heavily discounted and Logan now understood why. You would think it can’t get worse than the Odyssey? Oh boy, were you wrong. It was too small for 4 people, let alone 2 mutant men. He already felt sorry for whoever might have to sit in the back for whatever reason.

“Y/N has powers?” Logan asked, trying to play it cool. The whole drive had been a big Q&A.

“Yup,” Wade said with a pop. One hand on the steering wheel and the rest of him laid back in his seat.

“They call her Osmium, too?” Logan didn’t like this dependency on the wanna-be hero. But he had to make a good first impression.

“Osmimimum? Uh no. She is called Atom” Wade laughed “Don’t if she actually does stuff with atoms… It's more like…” Wade groaned as he tried to think of an example.

“She manipulates density.” Logan pointed out. They had trained together many times. But Y/n was never allowed to use her full potential with the X-men. They condemned violence and so she was often left out on mission and focused on keeping the school running.

“Ugh- I guess? She once told me in great, boring detail why ‘Atom’ is a bad superhero name for her but they kept it for the marketability. “ He shrugged “Oh! I remember that one time we stopped a child-mutant trafficking and she got mad, like REAL MAD, and then she turned this one guy into goop.” Wade nodded fondly, thinking back at that moment. “And I mean like Nickelodeon kids choice award goop, like slurpable slushy goo, like-“

“Okay, alright! I get it.” Logan groaned in annoyance. Shaking his head at Wade. He was thankful for the man’s support and friendship but god was he annoying. Constantly.

“I wish she would do that to me sometime. It’s on my ways-to-die bingo. But she keeps refusing!” Deadpool hit the wheel dramatically.

“You are disgusting,” Logan stated dryly. “The most disgusting person I ever met.”

“Don’t forget the most annoying!”

...

The decision to go back to teaching was not made out of fun or for the joy of doing it. Maybe partially, even though Logan would not openly confess so. It was made out of necessity. Living with Wade and Al became tiresome after the first few weeks. It was always the same antiques, the lack of schedule as well as a constant state of chaos that made him crave the ordered life at the school once again. He hoped that it would give him a sense of belonging. The X-men might be different here, with a few quips and details that didn’t match with his reality. But living at the school would tie him to a strict schedule and by god, he needed some structure in his life.

 But all in all, it meant home.

“Okay, peanut. Today is a big day. But I know you’ll do great and meet a lot of new friends.” Wade joked in a motherly tone as they arrived at the Mansion. “And no hair pulling or biting unless they ask for it, okay?”

“I can’t wait to be rid of you” Logan groaned as the car came to a halt. He exited the car with a low groan, stretching to lose stiffed muscles. Not having to constantly ride in Wade's joke of a car was another reason that he preferred living at Xavier’s Institution. Speaking off:

“There you are. Welcome, welcome.” Xavier rolled into the mansions yard.

“A pleasure to have you, Logan. I must say, I was very pleasantly surprised when I received your response to my inquiry.” He moved towards Logan, offering his hand for a handshake.

Logan inspected the man. He was older, in his 40s maybe. But younger than the Charles Xavier he had worked with. He sported shaggy longer hair that was starting to thin out. Soon he would need to get it trimmed to keep his professional exterior. Along with a beard that was rather spotty and seemed too reminisce of his look in the 70s. Xavier looked like a mix of the two versions that Logan got to meet during his time at the school and it made him wonder how time worked here. Events seemed to play out in different order, they didn’t happen at all or much later than seemed correct.

He shook Xavier’s hand, thanking him for the offer. “Of course. I was surprised when you contacted me.” Logan confessed. His gaze shifted towards the grand building in front of him. It was the same old English style build that he knew, with a few modern elements added here and there.

“Is it familiar to you? The school? I assume you have experienced quite a few dejá-vus since arriving here.” Charles observed Logan.

“I do. Some things are the same. Others don’t match what I know or didn’t happen at all.” He confessed. Already feeling the brother connection build, similar to the one he had with the other Charles.

“You will find your answers. I am sure of it.” Charles turned around motioning Logan to follow him inside. “I think it is best if we continue this conversation in my office.” He looked over his shoulder at Wade, who had waited in the car, listening in on the conversation.

“Oh, yeah, I’ll be on my way. You call me if you need to get picked up, Pookie!” He waved at Logan in a motherly way.

“You aren’t coming?” He asked, somewhat confused. But then he saw Charle’s face, the intense stare he gave Wade.

“Uhhh, no I technically have a house ban for no apparent reason-“

“You burned down the west wing” Charles answered dryly.

Wade clicked his tongue, “Right, okay. Yeah… But! It’s very modern now.” He chuckled weakly. “You’ll still call me up for a mission, right?” He tried to persuade the professor.

“If the mission takes place outside of my building then yes.” Charles agreed, focusing back on Logan. And leading him inside. Neither of them commented on the cheer that Wade gave as he drove off.

Being back at the school felt surprisingly good to Logan. It was like coming back from a long holiday. Most everything was the same: Students running in the hallways, playing games in the gardens and-

“Fancy seeing you here!”

Logan turned around quickly, looking for whoever addressed him. Some children were buzzing along the halls, none of them too interested in him. Then he spotted her by the stairs. Leaning onto the dark wooden rails of the gallery. The light from the window behind her illuminating her figure.

“Y/n”, he breathed.

“Hi! Charles told me that you wanted to start teaching again.” She made her way downstairs, focus shifting between not falling and keeping her gaze on him. She seemed pleasantly surprised to see him.

He turned more toward her, watching her get closer to ground level. With each step he felt his excitement grow “He contacted me, actually. Asked whether I wanted to work here…”

“Oh really? What a coincidence ”She grinned mischievously, stopping at the end of the stairs and leaning on one of the bannisters. She kept a little space between them. There might be some familiarity between them but she didn’t want to push him too far yet and give him the chance to get closer to her if he felt like it.

But Logan stayed in place: “Do you have anything to do with that?”

She smirked,  and he felt some of his charm return to him . He might be rusty but some things were just engraved in him.

“Maybe” She shrugged, smiling softly with a playful sparkle in her eyes “But I’m assuming that you won’t be teaching history, right?” Y/n teased carefully. The multiverse situation was a thing she wanted to be careful about. Wade had told her a little bit about what had happened to Logan before he transferred but she didn’t know any details.  

“No, I teach PE and defence classes. You do science, right?” He shifted his weight from one leg to the other, hoping to lose the tension in his body. He threw the tidbit of knowledge into the conversation, hoping that he was right and that the two versions of her had that much in common.

“Chemistry and Literature, yeah.” She smiled. She then looked at her watch before pointing towards another corridor with a sigh “I’d love to talk more, but I need to get to class. Maybe we could meet sometime.” She secured the book in her arms.

“Yes.” He answered with a stiff nod, his hands were getting sweaty.

They stood In awkward silence.

“Maybe over a coffee?” She asked, looking up at him, her lip curled upwards. Her look became more expecting as he watched her in silence.

 He would catch the bait she just threw, right? Scott had laughed when she asked him about what Logan had been like; What this version might be like.

 ‘He’s an asshole’ He said ‘a cocky asshole and who thinks he can charm any girl he likes’ she blushed at that comment ‘But he is into the dark, mysterious type if that is what you are after’

“Maybe”, Logan gave  cold and curtly.

He regretted his demeanor when he saw her smile slip for just a moment.

Fuck.

Her face slipped for a moment “Oh.. okay.” She huffed softly. “See you around then.” Y/n nodded quickly before running off.

...

A routine established itself after the first weeks back at the school. The work there itself was the same. Teach the children standard curricula, training them in controlling their powers and some extracurricular activities.

He would spend some evenings with the other members of Team X ,as they called themselves here. Sometimes he would meet Y/n in the hallway but he didn’t work up the courage to stop and talk to her beyond a quick ‘hello’.

What is wrong with you? You used to sweep women off their feet. She is offering herself to you at any chance and you still can’t manage to ask her out?

He sighed as he changed back into his regular clothes. The class had just ended. It was Friday, still fairly warm for October and the trees looked beautiful in all shades of red, orange and yellow.

 Would be perfect for a romantic walk… A charming, rugged man could ask a woman out for that.

“That guy died a long time ago…” He mumbled to himself. Picking up his bag and closing the locker.

He exited the gym, making his way to his room or rather apartment. Wade managed to burn down the teacher's quarters along with the kitchens and cafeteria in some wicked stunt. No one knew what happened and that was for the best, he guessed.

However, that incident resulted in a modernized reconstruction with more spacious rooms for the teachers and a communal cafeteria that students and members of Team X shared.  Great for extroverts but Logan had to pass it every time he went to his rooms, much to his dismay. To make it worse,  the communal space was separate from the hall via a glass wall, allowing for a perfect view of everyone who tried to sneak past. Which led to uncomfortable situations such as this.

“Logan!” Piotr called, waving his huge metallic arm to get the other man's attention. Logan's initial reaction was to ignore him as he had done many times with the members of his old team.

No, he wanted to do better. He needed to. It was that kind of behavior that made him spiral in the first place. So he took a deep breath and channeled all jolliness available to him after 6 hours of teaching and a generally low level of it to begin with.  He slowly made his way towards the teacher's table.

“Come, eat with us.” Piotr offered him the seat next to him on the thick wooden bench. A seat opposite of… fuck- of fucking course he was in on Wade’s plan to play matchmaker.

 “We can’t have you get scrawny, eh?” he joked.

“Not that that would be likely to occur” Y/n joked as Logan sat down. His look snapped towards her and her eyes widened in shock at what had just come out of her mouth.

A knowing, wicked grin spread across Colossus's face. That fucking asshole…

“What are we having?” Logan asked, ignoring the situation that had just occurred. He tried to keep his gaze on Piotr who was busy filling a plate with whatever was in the big metal pot on the side of the table. His eyes shifted to Y/n every so often.

“Pierogi. I am trying out new recipes for a cooking class with my students” He said proudly, placing the plate in front of Logan “Y/n said, they are very good. Right?” He asked her, putting the woman on the spot.

“Oh, uhm…yeah. I like the new… stuffing.” She said, the answer sounding more like a question, carefully looking at Logan when he tried it. She was thankful for Piotr’s brotherly demeanor and gentle nature. Yet sometimes he would tease her as any older brother liked to do. And they sure liked to do it in front of people that the younger sibling might fancy.

Logan nodded in agreement, complimenting the man for his cooking.

“You cook here regularly?” He asked with a mouthful.

“Of course! Cooking is a very important life skill. As well as baking. You should join one of Y/n’s baking classes, she is very talented.” Colossus complimented the woman, making her grin.

“I plan on holding a workshop on the weekend for older students and alumni. You should come.” She offered, a hopeful look in her eyes. Maybe she was too discrete the last time she tried to get Logan to ask her out. So this time she tried to be more direct with her offer.

“I don’t bake,” Logan answered in a backhanded comment as he continued to eat. He didn’t think too much about it. He had planned to ask her out after lunch. He was overly focused on what he would say to her once the others left to notice how he had sounded.

It only occurred to him when he saw how Y/n visibly deflated. “Oh, right” She hummed, swallowing another bite of her food, eyes looking anywhere but towards the man who had once again rejected her so swiftly.

Piotr, just sighed with disappointment, leaning back in his chair. His hard elbow bumped into Logan’s side.

You fucked it up. Again.

...

“Okay, stop. You mean to tell me that she tried to ask you out not once but TWICE and you rejected her?” Wade paced through the living room. Trying to make sense of what his friend had just told him. “You mean to tell me that you now spend 3 months at that school? Being in her proximity 24/7 and actively avoiding her?”

Logan sat on the familiar black couch that looked even more beaten up than the last time he was at the flat. With disgust, he realized that he didn’t even want to know what caused the new damage.

 “I don’t avoid her”

“Oh no? And yet the few times she does catch you creeping in the halls you manage to scare her off.” Deadpool said down one of the rotatable bar chairs. Swirling dramatically.

“No wonder the girl’s not interested in a sad drunk fuck like you,” Al commented from the table where she sat, carefully packaging her newest acquisition of sellable goods.

“ No, Al that’s the thing! The girl wants him DESPITE being a sad drunk fuck!”  Wade jumped from the chair to pace around some more. He had to come up with a plan to get the two to spend time together, and get to know each other better. Create some closeness to let the sparks fly and catch on.

“That’s even worse.” Al laughed, snoring.

“Thank you for the compliments… Reassuring.” Logan groaned, regretting to even have answered Wade when he asked him about how things were going with Y/n. Maybe he wasn’t ready to be with someone again. He liked her and wanted to get to know her but something was stopping him. The urge to protect her from danger and he still thought of himself as the greatest danger to her and his team.

“On the other hand, she is still interested after being rejected TWICE. So you still have a chance, Pookie.” Wade said, sitting down next to Logan, yet again way too close.

“I’m gonna help you, buddy, Don’t you worry.” He leaned in closer, his lips brushing Logan's ears “Act three needs some lovin’ and I make sure you get all the loving you need, baby” He whispered towards Logan. And with dread, and a bit of disgust,  Logan accepted that he had no chance of stopping the man.

...

By the time the midterms rolled around, Logan had gotten familiar with the schedule and his  profession once again. He slept better, tended to snap less at people and even his drinking tendencies seemed to get better. Being part of a community felt good and it made him angry at his younger self for rejecting the people who loved him out of some ill-placed ideology: that to keep them safe, he had to distance himself from them.

And yet you are doing it again.

He sighed as he trotted into the community kitchen. He broke his coffee maker in a fit of frustration last week and hadn’t found the time or energy to tell Charles to get a new one. He stayed out of the professor's way for the most part, not wanting to be roped into some conversation about ‘needing therapy’. So he sourced his caffeine intake from the machine that sat in the big, homely department kitchen. Another benefit was that there was always a fresh pot ready and waiting for him. Downside, there were almost always people in the kitchen, waiting for others to join in for conversation and breakfast.

This morning he should be safe from conversation. Most students and some staff went home for the fall semester break, leaving the school running on a minimal level to accommodate those who had no home to go to. There were no classes, meaning that the school apparatus calmed to a halt.

In practice that meant that almost everyone slept in with no pressure to get up early. And for Logan, that meant that he could enjoy his drink in peace before people tried to talk to him.

Lost in thought he strolled into the kitchen. It seemed empty, thank god. He sighed in relief, stretching languidly. The air exiting his lungs in a low groan.

Then a soft click sounded through the room.

A fridge being closed.

“Oh hey, you’re up early.” Y/n appeared behind the full-size fridge door that had previously shielded her from his view. She looked a little tired, not yet fully awake and a bit tousled from sleep.

Aww C’mon. Maybe Wade was right about the universe wanting them to come together. But primarily to annoy him and allow for Wade to give him the ‘I told you so’ speech.

“So are you.”  He answered, leaving on the door frame and watching her pour some creamer into her cup. Upon closer inspection, she did look younger than her other iteration. Her features were softer looking with fewer wrinkles and scars. He needed to ask her about that at some point.

She leaned onto the counter to reach for another cup, taking it out of the overhead cabinet. Proceeding to pour some coffee in it. “How do you take your coffee?” She asked, turning towards him.

“I’ll take two sugars” He answered, moving towards her with slow even steps. The threat of Wade’s ‘help’ kept looming in the back of his mind, pushing him to be more open towards her and to come out of his shell. Who knows what that maniac had in mind?

Y/n hummed in agreement, dropping in two cubes of sugar and stirring the dark liquid before handing it to Logan.

He thanked her softly, holding the porcelain with his much larger hands. He had moved quite close to her, both leaning against the kitchen counter. The closeness and difference in height between them meant that Y/n had to look up to him, to make eye contact.

With a grin he noticed how she shifted her stand, one hand bunching up the material of her cardigan.

You still got it if you let it happen, man.

They stood in comfortable silence for a moment, enjoying their drinks and watching the sun paint pictures onto the kitchen surfaces, colored by the stained glass windows.

She was the one who broke the silence. “Are you ready for the training session today?” She asked, turning towards him, shifting her position so that her hip was pressed against the counter.

“Training?” He asked confused, setting down his cup to cross his arms over his chest, the muscles shifting visibly under his skin.

That’s right! Show her what you got!

“Yes, staff training? We got the call from Washington about a mutant security threat. Charles wants us to be ready just in case. Do you read your emails?” She teased, watching him over the rim of her mug.

“I don’t know how that stuff works if I’m honest with ya.” He shrugged “Do you go on missions regularly? On Government orders?” He remembered that Xavier had mentioned something along the lines of that. Some complicated struggles between heroes about government regulation and so on.

“Yes, after the blip it was decided that an X-team force should be established to take care of mutant-related threats or endangerments.” She explained.

He had heard of that, too. “Right. What was that blip again?”

The energy in the room shifted suddenly.

Y/n huffed, almost spilling a bit of her drink. “Ha, that’s a bit of a heavy topic for morning coffee talks.” She looked around uncomfortably. Logan seems to have hit upon a heavy subject.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” He apologized quickly. Beating himself up for screwing it up once again.

“No, no it’s fine.” She shook her head, setting down her drink to cross her arms as he did. Only that she seemed to do it defensively. “Half of all life stopped existing for five years and… that left a few scars.” She explained somberly, softly nodding to herself.

Logan blinked, his mind moving at high speed to get the conversation on a good topic again. Anything to turn it around and to prevent her from having a bitter aftertaste to their first proper talk.

Yet it was her, once again, that stepped up. She noticed how he got nervous, eyes wandering, shoulders sagging.

“I’ll explain it to you later. When we are not so pressed on time.” She reached out slowly, placing her hand on his arm, squeezing it in reassurance. Y/n smiled at him softly, moving around him to exit the kitchen and prepare for the day ahead.

Without thinking Logan placed a hand over hers, just in time before she pulled hers away. It had her stop in her tracks. Her eyes moved to where his rough callused palm warmed the back of her hand, up to his eyes. He was watching her with intention.

She was nervous. This was either going to be an invitation to finally get to know him or he had enough of her and told her to stop fancying him.

“You can explain it to me on a walk to the lake? Tonight?” He asked, one eyebrow raising in question. His hand squeezed hers gently.

A second of silence followed.

She exhaled, the stress leaving her body but she had to keep her composure. A grin spread across her face “Sounds like a plan.” She held eye contact for a few beats, then let her hand slip out of his hold as she left.

That’s how you do it, Tiger!

Her lips pressed together to keep from smiling too hard as she exited the hallway.

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I hope I got everyone on the taglist. Write to me if I missed you.

New requets for being added to the list via comments on the Masterlist post, please. That helps me to keep things organized :)

But please leave a comment on this post to provide me with serotonin 😍

[miss-musings]

"And We're Not Done Yet": How Omega Also Needed Crosshair in The Bad Batch Season 3

Both during and in the weeks after "The Bad Batch" Season 3 aired, a lot of people talked about how much Omega helped Crosshair grow and change during Season 3 (and the show in general).

I'm certainly one of those people, but I thought it might be time to talk about just how much Omega needed Crosshair in Season 3 as well. I know he generally supported her like his brothers did throughout the show, but let's focus on how she specifically and uniquely needed him throughout S3.

(NOTE: I already posted this as a thread on my Twitter — @catchingclassic. So, sorry for any repetition across platforms. But, if you already saw the Twitter thread, I am going to expand on a few points, because Tumblr is more conducive to that.)

So, let's talk about how Crosshair and their special bond helped Omega in "The Bad Batch" Season 3:

Initial Imprisonment on Tantiss

Let's go chronologically and start with our characters' five- or six-month imprisonment on Tantiss.

While Omega is a prisoner at the base, she basically only has four individuals she has neutral to positive interactions with on a daily basis: Nala Se, Emerie, Batcher and Crosshair.

While she spends the most time with Emerie and does seem to develop some bond with her -- as we find out from Emerie's comments in 3.14 -- she also doesn't fully trust Emerie. If she did, she would've clued Emerie into her escape plans in 3.03.

But, Crosshair is someone she KNEW she could trust.

Crosshair was essentially Omega's only comfort during her imprisonment (other than Batcher, I guess). She'd just lost Tech and been separated from Hunter, Wrecker and Echo. She clearly needed someone to support her mentally/emotionally.

We only see two conversations between them in 3.01, and in the first one, he doesn't offer her much in the way of comfort. But in the second one, it's clear that Crosshair is trying to keep Omega focused on escaping, even if it's without him.

Look, I'm not saying Crosshair's demeanor was great. I wish we could've seen him offering her more comfort and support (and maybe he did off-screen).

But, at minimum, she continued to interact with him on a regular basis and seemed to tell him all sorts of details about her day, her plans to escape, etc. And, again, Crosshair encouraged her as best as he could:

Crosshair: What is your primary objective? Omega: Escape. Crosshair: Then stop wasting time on lost causes. Forget the hound, forget me, and complete the mission.

In early 3.01, he doesn't believe escape is possible. But, by late 3.01, he's apparently realized that Omega does have a good chance of escaping, if she plays her cards right, so he's trying to keep her focused.

And, he's actually right. Omega could've left with Batcher at the end of 3.01, but as I'll talk about shortly, that wouldn't have gone very well.

I've been showing TBB to my sister and we recently started S3. She was surprised by the five-month time jump in 3.01 and by just how much Omega had changed. She'd lost hope. She'd become almost complacent about her new life on Tantiss. She doesn't acknowledge Crosshair in the hallway. She doesn't demand to leave anymore. She's just accepted this is her life now, to some degree.

Omega definitely still had some fight left in her, as we see when Batcher is threatened, but five months on Tantiss clearly diminished so much of the stubbornly optimistic person she used to be. She also seemed to tunnel-vision on Batcher and Crosshair, and so that's why Crosshair has to remind her exactly what her objective is.

Again, we don't get to see much of it, but it's clear that Crosshair was basically Omega's only real support system on Tantiss. She might've had some positive interactions with Nala Se and/or Emerie off-screen (although that doesn't seem likely), but Crosshair seemed to be the only person encouraging her and helping her toward an escape attempt.

Speaking of...

Escaping Tantiss, Round 1

Omega absolutely needed Crosshair's help to escape Tantiss, especially on the day and at the time she did.

Let's say she took Crosshair's words to heart and left with Batcher at the end of 3.01:

She's outside the base with no weapon and no datapad. Even if she happens to remember the abandoned shuttle, she has no way to find it other than just blindly running around the jungle.

(EDIT/UPDATE: I forgot the droid K9-X1 also had a datapad Omega could’ve taken after she used it to open Batcher’s chute in 3.01. Not sure if it had the same capabilities as Nala Se’s datapad, but I would guess so. The droid also had an electro baton she could’ve taken. Not exactly a blaster but it’d be better than nothing. 🤷‍♀️)

And, while Batcher would be some help against the jungle creatures, one lurca hound isn't going to do much.

It would probably take a while, but I’m sure the lurca hounds and/or the stormtroopers would find her. And even if she remembers Plan 72 herself, now she doesn't have another person (or a weapon) to help her execute it.

But, in 3.03, once she gets Crosshair out of the cell, he gives her the second blaster. Now, they're both armed. They get outside, and he suggests they "follow the flight path" to find the crashed shuttle. He also watches her back the whole time they're in the jungle, and when the stormtroopers find them, he suggests Plan 72 and acts as a distraction while she steals the shuttle.

I also love that moment when she seems to give up, but Crosshair doesn’t let her:

Crosshair: You got us this far, and we’re not done yet.

One small detail I appreciate: if you look really closely at his facial expression when she apologizes, he really goes 😟 to hear that Omega of all people has given up hope that they’ll actually escape.

In any case, Omega, Crosshair and even Batcher all needed to be there to escape Tantiss as they did. And even then, they probably wouldn't have gotten away safely without Emerie bringing Hemlock Omega's results to have him call off the V-Wings.

Navigating Lau

Once the group crash-lands on Lau, Crosshair proves crucial to their escape efforts there. We always focus on her contributions, but don't really talk about his.

Omega probably would've been at the crash site all day, freezing and trying to fix the shuttle, if Crosshair hadn't prompted her to leave. He locates the spaceport, and says they need to move before they're discovered.

Once there, he reassures Omega that the stormtroopers are a standard patrol presence and tells her they can't contact Hunter and Wrecker because the Empire monitors long-range comms. He then comes up with the plan to try to sneak about one of the shuttles at the spaceport, but it's too well-guarded.

This is where Omega then takes the lead: she tries to bribe the spaceport employee and then decides to get money by hustling people at the cantina.

The whole time, though, Crosshair is watching her back and tries to stand up for her against the Imperial officer and the street kid.

And, despite how much he dislikes it, he does follow Omega to the cargo docks and helps her free Batcher. During the shootout, he fights the troopers while she steals the ship. Just like on Tantiss, they wouldn't have gotten out of there without working together.

Finally, as they head to reunite with Hunter and Wrecker, Crosshair tries to prepare her for the possibility that they might not be there. We know he's wrong, but he was still looking out for her (even if it was probably just him projecting).

Crosshair's Knowledge of the Empire and Tantiss

Just like on Lau, Crosshair's knowledge about the Empire and its procedures, etc. proves crucial in TBB's larger fight against Tantiss.

Once he and Omega reunite with everyone in 3.05, Crosshair helps by sharing what information he does have (although it does take him a while because of his trauma).

He takes TBB to Barton IV to decrypt the datapad in 3.05; he tells Rex & co. about the CX operatives in 3.06; he volunteers to take on CX-2 twice in 3.07; and he initiates the plan to break Rampart out of prison in 3.12.

Obviously, I don't like that Crosshair stayed with the Empire and left his family in 1.16. But the unspoken truth is that, without Crosshair staying in the Empire as long as he did, TBB probably never would've found Tantiss.

It was so well-guarded that the only way they could've found it was to track a ship already going there, like CX-2's Dagger in 3.11 or the science vessel in 3.13.

Also, while Omega wasn't there, Crosshair's knowledge of Tantiss and the surrounding jungle was crucial to TBB infiltrating the base in 3.14 and 3.15 -- even though the CX operatives beat their asses and take them prisoner anyway.

We'll circle back to Tantiss, Round 2 later, but for now, let's refocus on mid-Season 3:

Recovering from Tantiss

Let's talk about Omega needing Crosshair during their downtime on Pabu.

While the show focuses on Crosshair recovering from his trauma, Omega was traumatized by her imprisonment too. And Crosshair is the only one who knows firsthand just how bad it was for her.

Her day-to-day routine on Tantiss clearly wasn't as brutal as his, but she was still separated from her family for months.

As she tells Emerie in 3.03, it reminded her of being trapped on Kamino; and as we know from Season 1, that's where Omega was initially traumatized.

In mid-Season 3, she's so focused on going back for the other clone prisoners, but it's clear from several looks and remarks in 3.05 and 3.06 that she's still processing everything that happened to her there.

Throughout Season 3, we get several scenes of Crosshair being worried about her, checking on her and trying to keep her safe. We also get at least two scenes where he affirms just how bad Omega's suffering was:

Emerie in 3.03: "You should go back to your room." Crosshair: "You mean her CELL."

This exchange was short, but I love that Crosshair refused to let Emerie gaslight Omega. (I know Emerie was essentially a prisoner too, so her gaslighting wasn't exactly intentional, but that's a story for another time.)

We also get The Argument in 3.05 where Crosshair holds Hunter accountable, albeit in a very mean-spirited way:

Crosshair: You let Omega be taken to Tantiss. She went through what she did because YOU failed. You're angry because she escaped with MY help, not yours.

Admittedly we don't get to see it, but I wouldn't be surprised if Omega's recap of her imprisonment in 3.05 glossed over just how bad it was for her.

Again, Crosshair knew firsthand just how much she suffered. So, he tries to look out for her as best as he can, whether that's physically or emotionally. (Admittedly, we could've gotten more scenes of this, but the show is focused more on Crosshair's post-Tantiss recovery rather than Omega's.)

In 3.08, Omega's focused on helping Crosshair start his healing journey. I'm sure it proved to be a decent distraction while inadvertently helping her start processing her own trauma too.

I mean, at the end of the episode, they're meditating TOGETHER. It's not like she showed him how to do it and then just watched him or walked away.

It might have been inadvertent, but by helping him heal, I also think Omega was starting her own healing journey too.

Family, Reconciliation and Hope

Another recurring thread in mid-Season 3 (and even into the finale) is how Crosshair's journey reaffirms Omega's belief in the power of love, hope and family.

We know from Season 1 that Omega always wanted to save Crosshair and bring him back to their family. Even though he leaves them willingly in 1.16, she still cared about him and in 2.15, she and the others pushed Hunter to do whatever necessary to save Crosshair.

But, especially after losing Tech in 2.16, I can imagine just how important saving Crosshair and restoring him to their family was for her.

As she says in 2.16 when Hemlock captures Hunter and Wrecker:

Omega: I already lost Tech. I'm not gonna lose them too.

From the way she pushes Crosshair to talk to Hunter at the beginning of 3.05, it's clear she's invested in seeing the brothers reconcile. And, based on her expression when she sees Wrecker hugging his brothers at the end of the episode, it must've been so comforting for her after everything she and their family went through -- especially losing Tech.

Additionally, throughout the show, Omega has always tried to believe in people's goodness, and appeal to their kindness and compassion.

With Cid (and others), she's proven wrong, and they ultimately take advantage of her.

But, Crosshair proved she's right to believe people CAN change -- that they can reject the darkness and choose light.

When the group is debating whether to let Omega train with Ventress in 3.09, Omega uses Crosshair as her prime example that "people can change" and that she's not naïve for wanting to give Ventress a chance despite her past crimes.

I think she ultimately learned that there's a balance: that yes, some people like Cid will take advantage of you; but that there are others like Crosshair and Ventress who are trying to be better and will come through for you if given the chance.

(ADDITION: While it took her a long time to come around, Emerie also ultimately makes the right decision to turn against Hemlock/the Empire and help free the Tantiss prisoners. Maybe after reuniting with Emerie in 3.12, Omega hoped her sister would come to her senses and help/join her, just like Crosshair did. I can’t say for certain, but it’s a thought.)

Returning to Tantiss

In 3.11, when the Empire attacks and invades Pabu, Omega feels guilty for seeing the island full of refugees suffer because of her.

She straight-up says as much to Hunter and Crosshair. And while Hunter tries to emphasize that it's not her fault, based on what she tells Crosshair later in the episode, she still feels guilty:

Omega: Look at what they've already done. I can't let the people here suffer more because of me.

And, in 3.12, when Crosshair justifies letting Omega surrender herself, he affirms her sacrifice for the people of Pabu:

Crosshair: The Empire would've destroyed this whole town. She stopped them.

You can argue that Crosshair made a bad decision by letting Omega surrender, but I personally feel like they had no choice, especially if they wanted to minimize the suffering on Pabu. They couldn't hide; they couldn't fight; and they tried to run but failed.

I've wondered before if Hunter had been in Crosshair's shoes in 3.11, whether he would've let Omega go. I honestly don't know if he would've. Crosshair himself was so reluctant, and I imagine Hunter would've been just as bad or worse.

We've all talked before about how much Crosshair was afraid of going back to Tantiss, but we tend to overlook Omega's fear because of how brave and determined she is in 3.11. When CX-2 is taking her back to Tantiss, the way Omega breathes when she's on the ship is reminiscent of meditation breathing. I imagine she was trying to collect herself before facing Tantiss again.

I think she was afraid to go back, but she was more concerned about the people of Pabu and the prisoners on Tantiss, so she was trying to make the best of a bad situation.

But, despite all her fears and his own, Crosshair supported her decision and then tried his best to track her ship. And while he ultimately failed, I'm sure the thought that he was there for her -- physically and emotionally watching her back -- helped Omega make that choice and face it as bravely as she could.

(ADDITION: Right before she boards CX-2’s ship, there’s a moment where she turns around and looks back at Pabu. Was she looking for Crosshair specifically, or Hunter or someone else familiar, or just looking back in general? I’m not sure.)

Escaping Tantiss, Round 2 (AKA The Shot)

So, Crosshair helps his brothers infiltrate Tantiss.

They get captured by the CX operatives and taken to the training room/CX lab. Echo, Omega and the clone prisoners work together to fight the CX operatives and save TBB.

After Crosshair saves Hunter from CX-2, he affirms he's going with Hunter to find and save Omega.

It's honestly a really good thing he did, because without Crosshair on that bridge, that scene plays out very differently.

Hunter probably could've taken out CX-2's Dagger and Scorch by himself, but with Hemlock holding Omega at gunpoint, I think Hunter might've actually put his blaster down when Hemlock threatened her.

It'd be in-character for him, as he surrendered when Hemlock's commandos had Wrecker at gunpoint in 2.16. Admittedly, he was vastly outnumbered, which is a big factor. But, if Hunter is on that bridge by himself, he and Hemlock are basically in a standoff.

With Crosshair with him, though, the brothers have Hemlock outnumbered and outgunned. If Hemlock managed to shoot one of them, the other would take him down.

Additionally, either of them might’ve backed down if they had to navigate that situation alone. But together, they have each other for support. They're greater than the sum of their parts after all.

So, Hemlock has Omega at gunpoint and is using her as a human shield. The brothers take a knee on the bridge, and Hemlock decides to take Omega over to the edge, so if the brothers manage to shoot him, he and Omega will both fall to their deaths.

Omega signals them. Hunter catches it, but Crosshair apparently doesn't. So, Hunter tells him what to do.

And now we come to The Shot:

Let's say Hunter is out there alone and the scene plays out the exact same way. Omega signals him, he sees it, and she stabs Hemlock in the leg and lifts the binders so he can shoot them.

Could Hunter have made that shot?

Obviously, it's a TV show set in a science-fantasy universe. So, there's always a chance. Plus, Hunter is definitely a better shot than the average person, and in a high-stakes situation like that, I'm sure the adrenaline and his love for Omega would help (just as it does for Crosshair in-canon).

But, based on everything we've seen of Hunter's shooting abilities in the show, I'm going to say: No, he probably wouldn't have.

In 2.09, Tech shoots the vial of ipsium instead of Hunter or Wrecker because:

Tech: If the shot is not precise, it'll cause another cave-in.

If Hunter was a better shot than Tech, Tech would've had him take it. But, Tech was the best of the three, so he did it.

And, Crosshair -- as a sniper -- was the best shot in Clone Force 99. I mean, that was his whole thing. He’s a sharpshooter.

I know that Crosshair has basically everything stacked against him, and he still managed to do it. But, Hunter would've been facing many of the same disadvantages -- injuries; lighting and weather conditions; the distance, size and speed of the target, etc. And based on everything we've seen in the series, Hunter is a worse shot than Crosshair.

If Hunter knew he could make that shot himself, I think he would've taken it knowing Crosshair was missing his shooting hand. And, if Hunter only thought there was a chance he'd make it, he clearly didn't want to risk it. He deferred to Crosshair, because he knew Crosshair was the better shot of the two of them, even with all the disadvantages they were facing.

No, it HAD to be Crosshair.

As I said, Crosshair needed to be there for Hunter and Omega.

He helped Hunter take out the Dagger and Scorch; he supported Hunter as Omega was being held at gunpoint and Hemlock told them to surrender; and he made The Shot to free Omega and then helped Hunter turn Hemlock into Swiss cheese.

That was the only way the three of them could've done it -- together.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, as much as we understandably love to talk about Crosshair needing Omega to grow and change, Omega needed Crosshair too.

After losing Tech, she wanted so badly to escape with Crosshair and return to TBB so they could all be a family again.

He gave her support and encouragement during her darkest days.

He looked out for her as she processed her traumas and never let others diminish her suffering.

He supported her decision to protect Pabu by surrendering herself, despite her fears and his own.

He showed her that change was possible and that healing is a journey -- one they started together.

And then he helped his brothers rescue her and the others from Tantiss, and ultimately saved her life.

Plus, as we hear about in the epilogue, Crosshair helped his brothers raise Omega for ~10 happy years on Pabu.

Omega needed Crosshair in Season 3 just as much as he needed her.

She needed ALL five of her brothers/dads to become the kind and capable person we meet in the epilogue.

[plague-of-insomnia]

Ch 212: That Butler, Going South

Please respect the spoons (time and energy) and money I invested into this post. Do not use my content without credit.

16 pages including the cover.

Basically, the chapter covers Sebastian and Ciel traveling by train to Brighton, discussing the servants’ missions as Ciel enjoys breakfast in the dining car.

(Remember that all the missions are happening simultaneously more or less, so Ciel doesn’t know how successful or not they all were.)

It’s actually quite brilliant of Yana and her team to time things like this. This chapter is a great way for fans who may have lapsed during the servant arcs to catch up again, or even for new fans lured in by the anime to get a taste of the manga.

It’s also interesting to see a how a some of the scenes mirror panels/moments from previous arcs.

For example, the shot of Sebastian and Ciel on the train together is akin to the end of the circus arc. (And admire how much her art has improved!)

Later, we get a (shocking, to me, anyway) shot of Sebastian sitting at the table with Ciel as equals, reminiscent of when they ironed out the details of the contract.

The chapter begins with the two of them on the train in their first class compartment, en route to Brighton from Reading.

Sebastian, ever the conscientious butler, notices the time and mentions breakfast, but Ciel is cautious: they’re fugitives, after all. Sebastian points out that most people wouldn’t expect a criminal to be casually taking a meal in the dining car. Seeing his point (and since Ciel is driven by his stomach lol), they go to have breakfast together.

They then discuss the servants’ missions and what they expect. For example, Ciel brings up the point that Lau can only be trusted so far, and he is the one who first brought their attention to the whole mess back in the Campania arc with Karstein Hospital. And he is a mafia boss.

But, both of them acknowledge that Bard is the smartest and most capable of the four servants (Bard, Mey, Finny, Snake), and that he managed to make it to the UK all the way from America alone. Plus, he’s trustworthy. Ciel points out that’s precisely why he paired them up. (Seeing them compliment my man 😭😭… Take that, Bard haters!)

They also discuss the mission Ran Mao and Mey are undergoing and ofc Snake and Finny. (I’m sorry but I’m tired and I don’t care as much about the other servants as Bard so I’m… not going into detail on their pages. Maybe tomorrow if I have time and spoons I’ll make an add-on to this going over those pages.)

This panel is one of my fave moments in the chapter… it translates more or less like this:

Mey: For our lord

Bard: With pride

Snake: With my life on the line

Finny: I do the assigned work and see it through to the end

Despite initially being wary of leaving their compartment, when Sebastian suggests they leave the dining car, Ciel wants to stay and stretch his legs. It’s only a few hours to Brighton by train.

Looks like next week we’ll start the arc in earnest and maybe learn how they plan to infiltrate the hotel.

Please respect the spoons (time and energy) and money I invested into this post. Do not use my content without credit.

Note: The last panel is actually Ciel speaking, so apologies for that error in translation.

[zepskies]

Break Me Down - Part 2

Pairing: Soldier Boy/Ben x Female Reader

Summary: You’re a private investigator by trade, but now you happily sit at a desk — leading a surveillance team at Supe Affairs. After managing to end Homelander in New York, Soldier Boy escapes custody. You are recruited for the manhunt, joining Butcher’s team.

Truly, you joined the S.A. for the right reasons. But after you become his accidental hostage, Soldier Boy will break down every single one of them…

💚 Break Me Down Masterlist

AN: Surprise Sunday update! I was able to put the finishing touches on Part 2 a bit early. 😉

Song used in this chapter is “If I Didn’t Care” by The Ink Spots (but more like Amy Adams' version). Song inspiration for this chapter (and the song title) is “All My Livin Time” by Radio Company (Jensen’s band with Steve Carlson).

Word Count: 4,500 Warnings: 18+ only! Willful seduction, kidnapping, SB being himself lol.

Part 2: You Move Me, Baby

This next mission was going to be a bit more…hands on. 

It was a gentlemen’s club, styled like a 1920s speakeasy, of all things. If nothing else, Soldier Boy was predictable.

Through a crack in the dressing room door, you didn’t see any gentlemen here. You saw a bunch of skeevy bastards. 

For the record, you didn’t like this plan. But as Butcher once again pointed out, Soldier Boy’s less likely to fuckin’ recognize you than any of us. 

And you certainly couldn’t (wouldn’t) imagine Butcher in rhinestone nipple tassels. 

Right now, you were waiting to be assigned an outfit. Hopefully, you could just blend into the background of whatever performance act the stage manager wanted to slip you into. And you really hoped you wouldn’t have to striptease on stage.

In the meantime, you sat on a stool in a black lace bra, matching panties, and sheer pantyhose, while Annie was helping you with your stage makeup. Years as a pageant child had taught her well. You felt like Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, fending off getting hairspray up her ass. 

Sure, you had gone undercover several times, but this was slightly out of your wheelhouse. You bit your lip, forgetting that you were already wearing several coats of scarlet red lipstick. 

Annie slapped your hand. “Stop it. You’re smudging my paint job.”

You had Butcher and M.M. to thank for arranging this little detail. 

May they both rot in hell, you silently simmered. 

“Oh, stop pouting. You look great,” Annie said. You caught the little smirk she was trying to taper down. 

Then the manager’s head popped into the dressing room. When he verified that all the young women had at least their underwear on, he stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

“All right, listen up,” he said in Spanish. You understood just enough to follow what he was saying. “Angelica got food poisoning.”

You grimaced. Angelica was the main act. She had a whole burlesque-style routine with the rest of the women—for which you were meant to step in for one of the girls in the ensemble. Hopefully in the back. 

“Daniela, you’re filling in,” said the manager, pointing to a busty brunette. 

“What about the second act?” asked another girl. If you remembered right, her name was Raquel. “Dani can’t sing like Angelica to save her fucking life.”

“Excuse me, bitch. I sing better than you,” Daniela snapped back.

The manager rolled his eyes and clapped his hands harshly to end the bickering. 

“Okay. Which one of you bitches can actually sing?” he asked, first in Spanish, then in English, you noticed as he glanced at you.

Annie looked at you with raised brows. You glared back at her. 

Damn you for telling her about your childhood church choir days. You were sure your religious mother never thought you’d be using those talents like this.  

“No,” you said firmly. Annie just smiled and waved the manager over.

That was how the two of them ended up all but pushing you on stage—after Annie had wrangled you into a shimmering red gown over your underwear and pantyhose. It was overlayed with delicate beading in intricate patterns. And it was easily the most beautiful thing you’d ever had on your body.

However, you did take issue with how long the slit was, running all the way up to your hip bone.

Not really ‘20s style, now is it? you thought sourly.

Annie just slapped your ass and guided you forward.

You shot back one last look at her—one that swore you’d have your revenge.

Then the curtain slid open. 

Fuck me, you thought nervously. This was really happening!

The lights blinded you for a moment, and you blinked the glare out of your eyes. They soon adjusted as you forced yourself to move towards the microphone at the right-hand side of the stage, close to the live band. The pianist shot you a smile and a wink as he started to play in dulcet tones.

Steeling yourself, you grabbed the microphone with a slight tremor in your hands. You stared out into the crowd as the rest of the band joined in, slow and jazzy. 

You’d informed the manager that you really only knew one song by heart.

“Eh, that is too slow,” he’d replied to you in English.

“It’s that, or Dani belts out in her best soprano,” you informed him. He sighed and waved a resigned hand. 

“Get her the red one,” he told Raquel. She then handed you the dress on a hanger. 

Now, you held the microphone between both hands and started the song your grandmother used to sing to you when you were a kid.

“If I didn’t care, more than words can say,” you began. “If I didn’t care, would I feel this way?”

You took in an unsteady breath. With each note, your voice was getting stronger, more confident. 

“If this isn’t love, then why do I thrill? And what makes my head go round and round, while my heart…stands…still…”

As you eased into the rest of the song, you remembered your mission. 

You scanned the dark room, rows of men of all ages, women serving drinks and food and their own bodies. You weren’t finding your target.

But this intel was good. The source was the girl you’d replaced in the show, and M.M. had already worked out her safe exit out of the city for a while. 

There. You finally saw it. 

Or rather, you saw him.

Towards the back, Soldier Boy sat at a large exclusive booth. He had a long joint propped between his fingers, and a working woman from the club already propositioning to service him. Her manicured hand eased down his chest. 

He also seemed to have hired men sitting at a table nearby. 

Your voice nearly hitched at the sight of him, but you forced yourself to take a calming breath during a musical interlude. 

You knew Annie and the rest of the team were here in the club somewhere, to back you up. But Soldier Boy knew Butcher and his team were onto him. the bastard would recognize them. You were the distraction here.

And if he went away with that escort, he could easily disappear upstairs and hop out the window again, gone like a coil of weed smoke.

Somehow, you needed to keep his ass in his seat.

So your voice came back in strong for the final verse.

“If I didn’t care, would it be the same? Would my every prayer begin and end…with just your name?” 

You watched Soldier Boy’s gaze drift toward the stage. Your lips curved as you held his eyes for a moment…but then, you coyly slid your gaze away. 

Okay, what’s going to grab his attention…

You shifted on the stage, letting the curve of your hip and ass sway to one side. You raised your other foot on the tips of your toes. And the slit running up your leg slid open, revealing your tall silver heels and a smooth leg, all the way up to the inside of your thigh.  

Unfortunately, you hadn’t been able to fit your gun holster this time.

“And would I be sure that this is love beyond compare…” Your voice rang out on the high note; at that climactic point, the music reached a crescendo.

You turned your head and looked directly into Soldier Boy’s eyes, and his mouth slid into a grin. 

He was watching you. 

Good.

“Would all this be true,” you sang, “if I didn’t care for you…”

As the final notes reverberated from the piano, applause and male whoops erupted from the crowd. 

You slowly released the microphone, breaking off eye contact with your target. 

Then you turned around, trying to hide the nervous tremor in your legs. You pressed a discreet hand to the communicator in your ear after the curtain fell behind you, and you told the team. 

“He’s here.” 

Annie was no longer backstage. 

“Good job, crooner,” M.M. said on the comm. 

“Watch him ‘til he’s ready to leave,” Butcher said to everyone.

You agreed and dodged the manager so you could slip to the back room within the dressing room. 

You were about to change into your real clothes (and grab your gun), when you were stopped by a Latino man. Though he clearly wasn’t a local or a tourist. He looked ex-military, complete with a crew cut and dark beard. 

“Soldier Boy would like to meet you,” he said in lightly accented English. You affected some doe-eyed shock, even though some of your surprise was genuine. 

You’d just wanted to keep him watching the show. You hadn’t expected him to take the bait this much. 

“Oh, wow…where? Now?” you asked.

“Now,” he confirmed. “Upstairs.”

He couldn’t even pick me up himself? Lazy, you wanted to tsk.

You spied the stage manager over by the doorway. He gave you a stern nod that told you that you had no choice but to accept. 

Not that you ever intended to decline. Though of fucking course the manager had known Soldier Boy was here. He was probably a damn regular. 

You gave Soldier Boy’s man a charming smile. “Lead the way.”

This wasn’t the plan, exactly. You decided it was even better though. Just infinitely more dangerous. 

Even though you had years of training, honing your body and your mind in a fight, you weren’t a supe. You were, in fact, exceedingly breakable.

“Are you crazy, cherie?” Frenchie said on the comm. 

You also thought you heard M.M. mutter an, “Aw shit.”

“She don’t got a choice now,” Butcher said. “But it’s a good play to get him alone. Slip her one of them hockey pucks.”

You heard M.M., Annie, Butcher, and Frenchie’s continued twittering back and forth about the change of plan. Meanwhile, you were being escorted upstairs.

Kimiko managed to maneuver into your path from the opposite direction, and she slipped a small disk into your hand as she passed you. 

You gave her a grateful wink and discreetly placed the device into your bra while your escort wasn’t looking. 

It wasn’t a dose of Novichok, but it was something that might keep Soldier Boy occupied for a moment. You intended to use it if he got too fucking handsy.

You were let into a room on the third floor. With the lavish way it was furnished, complete with a king-sized bed, it almost looked like a hotel room. 

Yeah, Hotel California, you thought wryly, as the door shut behind you. 

Soldier Boy sat at a table by the far wall, gazing out the window with yet another joint (or perhaps the same one?) and a generous pour of whiskey in his hand. 

Even you could admit, he cut an attractive figure. He was dressed in light brown slacks, a matching suit jacket and a white dress shirt with the top buttons left open. A simple ensemble, but well-tailored and suited to the golden tan he’d developed here in South America. His beard was neatly trimmed, his short hair styled back in its familiar sweep on both sides. 

Even seated, his posture was casual, yet controlled as his head turned to meet your gaze. A smile started to curve his lips. 

Show time, you told yourself. 

“You’re new,” he said. You tilted your head, a bit of flirtation in your smile.

“What makes you say that?” you asked.

He gave you an oh please look. With the hand that held his whiskey, he gestured with a curling finger. 

“Come ‘ere. Don’t be shy,” he said. It was an order rather than a request, but you hid your instinctive annoyance.

You subtly took in a steadying breath. And you moved farther into the room. You didn’t stop until you were sitting opposite him at the window, crossing your legs beneath the table. 

You could tell he’d expected you to take a seat in his lap, but to a degree, you didn’t want to do what he expected. He was likely paying the club well for this time. You didn’t want to make it easy.

You wanted him to be enticed. Invested in this moment. 

And distracted, for as long as he let you. 

You watched him glance down with interest at your bare leg peeking out. At your strappy silver heel shining along with your dress in the soft lamplight, which casted shadows across his profile. 

“Want a drink?” he asked. 

You were surprised he was offering you anything. You’d half-expected him to order you onto your knees already. Upon which, he would’ve received the gift currently residing in your bra a bit early. 

You didn't want to take any drink you hadn't poured yourself, but you also needed to keep this act going...

"I'm not gonna fucking drug you," he said, reading the look in your eyes. "What would be the fucking point of that?"

Hmph. smart-ass motherfucker, you thought. But you didn't detect a lie.

You quirked your head and took the proffered sip from his glass. You wanted to play it cool, but maybe you also needed a little liquid courage. 

“All right, easy on the booze. Get his guard down,” Butcher said in your ear. You resisted the urge to frown.

Could Butcher see you somehow too? Or was he just hearing the ice clinking in the glass as you gulped it down. 

“Did you enjoy my performance?” you asked Soldier Boy.

“Still am, doll face,” he said with a smirk. You raised a brow. 

“I’m not that new,” you replied, biting indelicately on a dark cherry. Your heeled foot slowly slid against the inside of his thigh. 

It was his turn to raise brow. His head tilted with his smirk. 

You didn’t know if he was more amused than turned on, but his gaze roamed openly over your legs, the cleavage on display, your dark red lips. 

“Are you enjoying your stay in Medellin?” you asked, trying to keep the conversation going. 

“Oh, yeah. I’m having a fuckin’ ball,” he said wryly. He dabbed some ash off his blunt with a finger. 

There was something off there, and you didn’t miss it.

“You sound bored,” you said. Soldier Boy considered you with a lustful, challenging gaze. 

“Maybe. You gonna help me with that, sweetheart?”

A flutter of nerves churned in your belly, but you used it, letting the feeling prickle awareness across your skin. 

“Depends,” you said coyly. 

Both his brows rose this time, as if he was surprised you were actually pretending to resist him. 

“On?”

You subtly leaned forward when you gave him back his glass, allowing him to spy a bit more down your dress. You stared into his deep green eyes, and tried not to get lost yourself. He was an attractive man, but he was also your target. A job you intended to finish. 

A smile played at your lips.

“On what excites you,” you replied. 

By the way his eyes darkened, his smile curving, you thought he liked that answer. 

Then his hand extended toward you, a silent command in his gaze. Steeling yourself, you tried your best to be graceful and sensuous when you took his hand. He playfully jerked you forward, making you fall into his lap. 

You waved some dank weed smoke out of your face as you looked down at his amused one. 

He was nearly down to the roach on his joint. Meanwhile, his free heavy hand slid up your bare leg, disappearing beneath your dress and making goosebumps spread across your skin. Your breath hitched, though you disguised it with a smile. 

“You afraid of me, sweetheart?” he cooed. 

Yes, if you were honest with yourself. 

There was a false sense of security in his deep voice. You looked down into his eyes, very green and intensely focused on you, despite his air of nonchalance. 

“Not really,” you replied. “Only that you might get ash on my dress.”

He chuckled, smoke blowing out his nose. He put out the joint in the ashtray and took another sip of his whiskey, likely to drown out the cotton taste in his mouth. You laid a hand on his chest, fingers spreading between the open buttons, and felt his warm skin. 

He glanced up at you with another challenging tilt to his head. What are you gonna do now?

You met that challenge, boldly leaning down to press a kiss against his lips. You held his face, delving your fingers into his soft hair. 

Soldier Boy grabbed your hips with a bruising force. It made you wince, instinctively biting into his lower lip. He uttered a pleased sound, guttural in this throat. You braced yourself against the wall behind him for leverage as his chair started to tip back. 

Before either of you could fall, he lifted you effortlessly by the waist and pivoted, pinning you against that wall. Your legs wrapped around his waist as his tongue invaded your mouth, devouring you with hot and heavy hands holding you in place.

His fingers pressed into the flesh of your thighs, and you knew you couldn’t easily escape if you needed to.

This is getting out of hand… 

He was busy kissing a wet and sloppy line down your neck, his beard scraping against your skin. It actually felt so fucking good to be touched. You hadn’t experienced it in so long, it almost startled you when your heated core pulsed with the friction you were feeling against the hardness in his slacks. 

You would never admit it, but it wasn’t an act when you moaned into his ear. Fuck…

But when his hand again slipped under your dress and crept up your inner thigh, alarm bells triggered in your mind as panic started to set in. You panted for breath. 

With him seemingly distracted, you reached down into your bra and grabbed the metal disk. 

You gasped as Soldier Boy grabbed your wrist, tight as a vice. He looked down at you with a sly grin. 

“You were fuckable in black, but red’s my favorite so far,” he said. 

Your eyes widened. When the hell did he see me in black?

And then you remembered. You’d worn a black dress at the last club, where you got groped on the dance floor and found Soldier Boy’s latest note…

Had he hung around after all, watching you and the team pick up his clues?

And you realized, he knew exactly who you were. 

Soldier Boy glanced down at your lips, then at the tops of your breasts heaving as you caught your breath. His eyes shone with mischief and lust. 

“It’s a real shame. You’re probably a good fuck too,” he remarked. It sparked your irate disgust like a wildfire.

Then you smirked. “You can fuck this.” 

You activated the disk in your hand and flicked it at him. He instinctively grabbed at his face, releasing you. The device attached to his cheek and electrified enough volts through his body to drop an elephant. 

Maybe five. The CIA weapons specialist hadn’t been too sure.

And a star bolt shot Soldier Boy in the chest, shoving him away before he could grab at you. 

You jumped back and continued to put several feet of distance between you and Soldier Boy, while Annie and the rest of your team poured into the room. They were poised for a fight, once Soldier Boy ripped the device off his face with a grunt. It probably hadn’t hurt him much, but he looked pissed now. 

He rolled the kinks out of his neck and surveyed the room with a slow gait. He spared you a fleeting glance. You were now at the safety of Kimiko’s side, and Frenchie handed you a gun. 

“Ah, the Scooby Gang,” Soldier Boy remarked. He nodded at Butcher. “This is how you repay me for taking care of Homelander? My own son.”

“He weren’t your fucking son,” Butcher replied. “I’d reckon you know that best of all.”

Soldier Boy’s lips twitched. Whether at a smile or a frown, you couldn’t tell. 

“You found me, remember? So what, you got buyer’s remorse?” he said.

“See, the problem is, supes like you are what we call,” said Butcher, “a menace to fucking society.” 

Soldier Boy’s lips pulled down into a frown. He looked a cross between annoyed and impatient. 

“I fought for my country. I saved lives—”

“You took just as many as you might’ve saved,” M.M. interrupted. “And not just that building you burnt the fuck up last year.” 

Soldier Boy hesitated at that. “You really wanna do this?” 

You all really want to die? his eyes said. He got determined silence from all of you. He rolled his shoulders and adjusted his blazer. 

“All right,” he shrugged. 

Then all hell broke loose. You ducked for cover as Soldier Boy deflected the giant flare gun M.M. shot at him. With his bare hand. 

Hired security then poured into the room—you assumed hired by Soldier Boy. And you protected Hughie from getting his neck snapped by shooting a man between the eyes.

You and M.M. continued to fight them off. Meanwhile, Kimiko and Annie tried to give Butcher and Frenchie a chance to get close with the Novichok gas on Soldier Boy. 

You took care of three more men before you heard a low buzzing sound. You turned around, and a gasp fell from your lips when you saw Soldier Boy’s chest lighting up. 

You knew what came next. 

And so did Annie. She poured her all into her next star bolt—which managed to shove Soldier Boy through the window. She and Kimiko flew or otherwise ran out the window to follow him. While Butcher, Frenchie, and M.M. helped you fight off the last of the hired guns. 

Finally, you covered Hughie as the five of you left the normal, human way, and ran down the stairs to exit the club. By the time you were able to join Annie and Kimiko, however, Soldier Boy had disappeared.

You glared down the dark, busy streets of Medellin. 

Damn it!

You returned to the hotel disappointed and angry beyond fucking belief. Mostly at yourself.

After all the work you did, having to seduce and make out with that bastard, only to discover he’d made you long before you took the stage at the club.

Fucking hell, you thought angrily as you kicked at your suitcase. It sent your clothes tumbling across the dirty carpet, but right now you didn’t give a fuck. Damn cocky bastard. 

In the bathroom, you kicked off your heels in relief. You looked yourself over in the mirror and found various cuts and bruises from the fight. Your softly curled hair was a shambles, along with your makeup. 

Parts of your dress were torn, along with your pantyhose. Which was probably Soldier Boy’s doing, if you thought about it. You sighed. 

You were about to start undressing, but then you heard something. A small sound, like a thump. 

Your gun was on the table in the main room. Frowning in suspicion, you left the bathroom cautiously. Before your hand could close around your gun, a gloved hand grabbed your wrist. 

You aimed a punch with your free one and caught a man directly in the jaw. He reeled back, but was quick to recover and try to grab you again. 

While the guy was strong, you could feel that he wasn’t a supe. A human, you could deal with. He wore a mask over his face, but you could see he had shoulder-length brown hair. He was tall and lean, and one of his boots was strangely larger than the other.

You didn’t have time to focus on it. You redirected his following blow and used his strength against him, flipping him over your shoulder. Unfortunately, he landed on the table that held your poor laptop. 

“Aw, shit,” you snapped with a grimace. You searched for your gun in the wreckage. 

While you were somewhat distracted, he aimed a kick that caught you in the face, sending you onto your back with a pained cry. You quickly rolled over and got to your feet, just as your attacker threw out fist after fist.

You dodged and shoved away most of them, until he grabbed your arm and managed to crack his elbow into your temple.

You went down and hit your head hard against the bedframe.

And it was lights out.

You slowly, painfully woke up in a moving car. 

You were suffering the cottony taste of a gag in your mouth and a musty bag over your head. Your wrists were tied in front of you, and it felt like you were shoved into the backseat. The car was quiet, save for the radio playing Latin pop on low volume. 

You never would’ve thought Shakira would be the background track of your kidnapping, but here you were. 

The car eventually stopped and you were dragged out, forced onto your feet on a cobblestone driveway. Then into a house. 

…Well, this fucking sucks.

The thought rattled through your mind as you were led down a hallway, across a cold expanse of tile floor. You couldn’t see where you were going with this stuffy bag over your head, but you knew it was tile. Your bare feet all but scraped across it as they dragged you. 

Whoever held your arms in a vice grip eventually forced you to sit in a rickety wooden chair. They pulled your wrists behind the chair and bound them together with a zip tie. 

You felt the slit on your dress sliding open, so you crossed your legs, for whatever good that would do you. At the very least, it would give the impression that you were sitting here casually, and not (figuratively) shitting yourself with fear.  

“What the hell is this?” a deep, familiar voice asked.

“A gift.” You knew this voice as well. Neither one instilled you with calm.

Then the bag finally came off your head. The gag did not, however. You knew your red dress was in unfortunate tatters. You knew you were bruised and scratched, and overall worse for wear.

But when your gaze found your kidnapper, you glared up at him with a stubborn tilt to your chin. Antonio, Señor Groping Bastard from the club, was smirking back at you. 

What the fuck.

Then you noticed him.

Soldier Boy stared back at you with raised brows, and instant recognition in his eyes. His lips curved into a smirk.

“Hey, sweetheart.”

AN: 😬 So we finally made it to the prologue opener! Was it everything you thought it would be? How did you like her attempt at "undercover?" 🤭

And are you ready for what's coming next?

To keep reading: Part 3

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[timetoletmyimaginationfly]

Welcome And Goodbye

Nanami Kento x Reader

(Song: welcome and goodbye by Dream, Ivory)

It’s been three years. Three years since he returned back to Jujutsu High.

Three years without you.

You both had the same mindset after the death of Haibara when you were in your first year as students. Having to risk your life as a jujutsu sorcerer felt too much of a burden, especially for you. You two didn’t realize it until later; how much of an impact Haibara made into your lives until the break up. He was the reason that you and Nanami became a couple for six years. The reason why you two left behind the life of a sorcerer. However, once Nanami returned, his death became the reason of the break up.

Nanami arrived home late again. He hated staying out late for work. It was seldom, but he knew you were going to worry yourself out. He stopped at Jujutsu High after his mission for Shoko to heal his injury.

He found his dinner on the table, wrapped up for him to eat when he arrived home. He looked at the counter filled with papers, textbooks, and your laptop. Guilt crept in him. Quietly, Nanami walked inside the shared bedroom. He found you curled up in a ball, fast asleep. The closer he walked to you, the more he saw the tears that stained your cheeks. He hated it. Especially because he was gone so late, he knew you cried so much with worry.

When he sat down, you felt the bed dip and woke up. You jumped up and wrapped your arms around him. You couldn’t help but cry. You couldn’t help but worry about the possibility of death happening to him. However, you knew the consequences when he decided to return.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly and kissed your forehead.

“I’m just glad you’re home safe.”

He remembered that week all too well. Three years later, it plays over and over in his mind. He remembered you two sitting on the couch, wanting to talk about the relationship and his job. He remembered the tears that you tried to hold but failed to. He remembered you mutually agreeing about breaking up. He remembered it all, detail to detail. The broken look on your face, what you wore, how your hair was. He remembered packing his things. The last time you two made love and kissed before he left to stay with Gojo until he found himself his own place.

He wonders everyday if you were doing okay. But he knows that you are. You still lived in the same apartment. You worked overnights at the hospital. You still attend the same school and you’re at your last year of it. He knows the café you visit frequently because he saw you a year later when he needed something to eat. So every now and then, he goes there to pay for your coffee and snack before you got there.

“I don’t see why you can’t go up to her and just say hi,” Gojo said. Nanami sighed, turning the page of his newspaper.

“She has her new and better life,” Nanami answered. “Besides, as long as I know that she’s okay, that’s all that matters.”

“But you won’t know unless you ask. She’s good at putting up a mask. And you know it. You just read her well.” Nanami was silent. Sometimes, Gojo does have a point.

“Do you talk to her?” he asked curiously.

“Of course! You know, I had her meet my students. She gives them great insight.” Gojo’s smile was wide. Nanami was surprised. He didn’t think you would keep in contact with anyone. But, Gojo was the one who kept tabs on you for him during the recent stage of the break up. It only made sense that you and Gojo would talk to each other now and then.

Nanami made it to the café again. He paid for your future order and sat in the corner, drinking his own cup of tea as he read the newspaper.

He found you walking inside. He enjoys the surprise look on your face when you found your order paid and ready to go again. He couldn’t help but smile to himself. You sat at the opposite side of the café where the windows were. You always love being by the sunlight. You were typing continuously. He could assume that you were typing a paper. Nanami thought of ways to approach you, but stopped himself every time.

The next time he looked up, he found a man sitting down in front of you. His heart sank. You smiled widely at him and laughed at whatever he said. He wanted to leave. He wanted you to be happy, but he didn’t want to see it with another man.

“Hello?” you said, answering a sudden phone call. “Satoru?” The name coming out of your mouth made his ears perk. He couldn’t help but look up just a bit. “I might be a bit late. Later.” He couldn't help but wonder when you called Gojo by his first name, too. Panic settled within him.

You stood up and packed your things, and told the guy that you’re heading out. Nanami watched the man lending you his sweater but you politely declined. The man was persistent and Nanami smiled as you continued to reject the offer. He could safely assume that you weren’t interested.

As you left, Nanami stood up. He folded the newspaper and threw his empty cup in the garbage. He left the café, deciding to go home and not continue to see you what you were going to do with Gojo.

“Hey there, stranger.” The sound of your voice surprised him. He slowly turned around and found you hugging yourself warm and giving him a shy smile. “It’s been a while.”

“Y-Yeah. How did you—“

“It’s not everyday that a tall man with blonde hair comes in the café. You’re not hard to miss, especially with that tie of yours,” you said with a small laugh. Nanami couldn’t help but smile back. There you were, finally in front of him three years later.

“I…I um…” You were the only one who could get him flustered like this. It still amuses him to this day.

“Thank you. For the coffee and snacks,” you said.

“How did you know?”

“I only realized it a few months ago. I noticed you the day it was paid for. I…I didn’t know how to approach you.”

He called out your name. His voice was soft and gentle. Your heart fluttered at the sound of his voice. It was music to your ears. You had to stop yourself from touching him, from holding his hand. You were dying for his touch and kisses. Everyday for the past three years.

You thought about him every day. You were heart broken that day. Nanami Kento wasn’t just your lover but also your best friend. He knew you inside and out. He knew you more than you knew yourself. But after your talk with him three years ago, the worry was too much where you agreed to end the relationship while he didn’t want you to worry. And you regretted it ever since. Because no matter how happy everyone sees that you were, deep down you still weren’t.

Nanami watched you shiver again. Swiftly, he took his suit jacket off and placed it around your shoulders. You felt weak from his smell. You missed him too much.

“You should hurry. Gojo-san is waiting,” he said sadly and quietly.

“Satoru can wait,” you said. He watched the tears form and he watched you hold them in. “You seem to be doing great though. Kicking ass I bet.”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” he replied softly.

“Kento, I—-“ You blushed, you haven’t really said his name in a while too. It felt foreign but it also felt so right. You lost your train of thought. Nanami usually has that effect on you.

“Do you have time then? I-I really missed you and…”

“Follow me.” And so he did. Nanami followed you for a few blocks. He realized that you were leading him to your place. “Want some tea?”

“Please.”

It was the same as it was, except there were no pictures of the two of you around the apartment. The couch was new and even the table yet the layout and arrangement never changed. He went in the kitchen with you. He sat at the high chair at the counter, watching you heat up water in the kettle.

“The truth is, I’ve been training with Satoru for the past two years,” you confessed. “I told him not tell you because I wasn’t ready to see you just yet.” Nanami’s eyes widened.

“So…a-are you coming back?” he asked.

“Somewhat? Not completely,” she answered.

“What made you change your mind?” You knew that he wanted to protect the younger sorcerers. You couldn't say no to him for that reason. Strangely, you missed the action. You missed helping people in need. It was why you decided to go into the healthcare field but sometimes, it just wasn't the same.

“I miss helping people,” you answered. “But I also miss the action. That was fun.”

“What about school? You worked hard.”

“I’ll still do it,” you said. “I still don’t want to be a sorcerer forever.” Nanami nodded. He understood. It was the same for him.

“Itadori-kun has a lot of potential,” Nanami said. You nodded.

“A lot of growth is needed for him. But Satoru has promising students."

“So, you train and partake in missions?”

“No missions. Just training and teaching whenever I can.”

“I never noticed you.”

“I haven’t either.”

It was quiet again for the two of you. You went back and turned the stove off. You poured hot water in two tea cups and gave each other black tea bags. Nanami quietly thanked you and blew at the hot liquids.

You texted Gojo. You were going to cancel the training session. All he did was text you good luck. You feel like you know Gojo well enough that he knows that you’re with Nanami.

You vented to Gojo a lot. And he’ll tell you the same thing every time. To go and talk to him. You had it all planned out today. But the moment you stood in front of him, everything you planned for was gone. So for a while, the two of you drank your tea with content silence until it was prolonged and awkward. Nanami looked at the time and stood up from his seat.

“I should head back,” he said. You looked at the time. It was already eight. And you knew Nanami. It was almost time for him to get ready for bed.

“R-Right,” you said, disappointment evident in your voice and it didn’t go unnoticed by him. He slowly got ready to go. By the time he was at the door, the two of you two remained silent. Both of you wanting to tell each other to stay.

“I’ll see you around,” he said and turned around. He immediately felt you grab his wrist. He turned around and the moment he saw your tears, he pulled you into his arms.

“I missed you too, Kento,” you said, replying to his statement from the café. “I missed you so much. I regret it. I never should’ve left. I should’ve tried harder and—“ His grip on you tightened.

“I never should’ve brought it up,” he said. “I never…I should’ve…fuck. I missed you so much.”

The two of you remained like that for a while, with you in his arms and his face buried in the crook of your neck. When he pulled away to look at you, he cupped your face and used his thumbs to wipe your tears away. You couldn’t help but smile from his comfort. Nanami smiled back and rested his forehead on yours. You two took in the comfort that was missed for the past few years.

“I never stopped loving you,” he confessed.

“I love you too, Kento. So, so much.”

He captured your lips. He closed the door and lifted you up. You wrapped your arms around his neck and legs around his waist. Nanami carried you to your bedroom. Gently, he laid you down, lips still glued to each other. He gently bit your lower lip and caressed the side of your body. You softly moaned at his touch. You loosened his tie and unbuttoned shirt. Nanami was the first to pull away. He admired your flushed and breathless look. He smiled softly and gave you soft kisses all over your face.

“Have you ever…was there ever anyone else?” he asked curiously. You shook your head.

“Just you Kento. How about you?” Your answer made his smile wider. He captured your lips again before replying the same answer you gave him. And the two of you stayed up together, catching up on the three years missing each other.

The sunlight shining through the thin curtains stirred you awake. Memories of last night flooded your mind and you blushed as you turned around. Next to you was Nanami. You smiled, missing his serene and sleepy face in the mornings. You couldn’t help but softly brush his hair back. Nanami smiled and slowly opened his eyes.

“Good morning, darling,” he greeted, voice hoarse and tired.

“Good morning.”

“Come here.” He opened his arms and you eagerly went to him. Nanami gave you soft kisses on your shoulders, up to your neck, then to your lips. You shuddered and sighed in content. “After last night, I'm not leaving you ever again."

“I wouldn’t let you,” you said.

“Do you have class?” he asked curiously. You nodded and told him that it started in a couple of hours. “I’ll drive you. Go get ready then we could go to my place and I can do the same.” You got up out of bed and walked to your closet. You pulled out clothes, but what surprised him were also clothes that he left at your place.

“They were in the laundry. I couldn't throw them away,” you said. “We can spend more time together before we go now.” Nanami got up and hugged you.

Students couldn’t help but stare at the two of you, especially at Nanami. Nanami carried your bag and held your hand. You guided him to the building, excitedly telling him about your semesters in school.

“What are your plans for today?” he asked.

“This is my only lecture, but I go to lab and practice skills for about an hour. Then the library to study. If Satoru calls me, I might train instead. I have work tonight, too.” You pouted at the idea of work. You hated working and going to school. It was tiring, especially when you train with Gojo. Now being back with Nanami, you were contemplating on calling out tonight. It has been a while.

“Call me. I might be able to pick you up," Nanami offered. “I’m going on a mission with Itadori-kun, but it shouldn’t take too long.”

“Text me when you get to the place and let me know when you’re done?”

“Of course, love.” He walked you all the way to your classroom. He gave you back your backpack and pulled his wallet out to hand you his credit card.

“Wait, Kento—“

“When you need coffee and food,” he said. “I know you need the coffee.” When you didn’t take the card, he sighed and took your hand and placed it there. “Let me take care of you again. I miss it.” You couldn’t help but smile.

“Okay,” you said happily. “I’ll see you later.”

“I love you, darling.” Nanami gave you a soft kiss.

“I love you, too.”

[lgcmanager]

SIDE EVENT 021 ( CHUSEOK & LGC FAMILY CONCERT 2K24 )

a reminder on side-events; they are non-mandatory occasional events that your muse can choose to participate in or not.

while missing an event might mean missing out on points, be aware that choosing to take part in it could have positive or negative consequences for your muse. there is also no telling which part of the event will have consequences either since they will be tailored to make it difficult to guess what could impact your muse. while the final consequences are decided at the same time as the event is created, we will only reveal them the sunday after the deadline if there are any. so choose wisely: are you willing to make a gamble with your muse?

( important note: EVERY MUSE in the company will take part in the event canon wise, whether or not a mun writes for it. )

sometime around EARLY AUGUST, all of the parties involved ( IDOLS, ACTORS, MODELS, and TRAINEES ) gather together to their assigned locations by their managers and coaches as they begin to disclose all of the details pertaining to LGC FAMILY CONCERT 2K24.

GENERAL DETAILS

this year the concert will be held on SEPTEMBER 27 and 28 at the SEOUL OLYMPIC STADIUM. the emcees will be BLAZING’s MAY ( PARK HAEMI ), DBSD’s SIWOO, and HARU’S MINWOO.

CHUSEOK ( DEBUTED ARTISTS )

for all of the DEBUTED ARTISTS ( including BLAZING5, DBSD, NKND, and HARU ) on SEPTEMBER 14 they will be invited to a grand dinner party to celebrate CHUSEOK. it is mandatory for all of them to attend and during this time, the managers will be present so it is expected to be on their best behavior ( and a great chance to catch up with some of the artists they may have not seen in a while ).

CHUSEOK ( EVERYONE )

as a future reminder, everyone will be celebrating chuseok from SEPTEMBER 16-18 so they will be given a short break to spend time with their loved ones and relax ( exception will be KIM JINSEO, who will be attending MILAN FASHION WEEK on SEPTEMBER 17 ). everyone will be returning back to the company and training on THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19.

TRAINEES ( STAGES )

as briefly mentioned in TRAINEE MISSION 018, all of the trainees would have started vlogging their day in the life as a trainee videos and in the next few weeks, those videos would be edited and compiled to create multiple videos that will be shown on LGC’s youtube channel and throughout LGC FAMILY CONCERT 2K24 as a chance for new and old fans to get to know the trainees even more!

on AUGUST 18, the trainees will be told that they will learn and/or practice the following songs:

AWKWARD SILENCE – FUTURE DREAMS S2 ( SENIOR MALE TRAINEES; FROM NOSTALGIA S2 )

DOLPHIN – OH MY GIRL ( SENIOR FEMALE TRAINEES; FROM NOSTALGIA S2 )

SIESTA – CRYSTALLIS ( SENIOR FEMALE TRAINEES WITH CRYSTALLIS )

BE MINE – HARU ( SENIOR MALE TRAINEES )

PRETTY U – SEVENTEEN ( JUNIOR MALE TRAINEES; FROM NOSTALGIA S2 )

HOW YOU LIKE THAT – FABULA ( JUNIOR FEMALE TRAINEES )

THUNDEROUS – TYPE ZERO ( JUNIOR MALE TRAINEES WITH TYPE ZERO )

POWER UP – RED VELVET ( JUNIOR FEMALE TRAINEES; FROM NOSTALGIA S2 )

I GOT A BOY & SO HOT REMIX – BLAZING ( EVERYONE IN DAY 1 / ENCORE STAGE )

SHINE & AJU NICE REMIX – DBSD ( EVERYONE IN DAY 2 / ENCORE STAGE )

( important note: for the NOSTALGIA S2 songs, ic wise those were selected as some of the most viewed performances from the season [ aside from week 7/agito week ]. )

ooc wise, since some of the trainees can come and go, there will be no lyrics distributions for this. do note that regardless of skill set, all of them will be required to dance to the song assigned to them ( and ic wise, the coaches would have assigned the parts after asking all of them [ minus the encore ones ] to audition by singing a snippet of each of the songs ).

CO-ED SUBUNIT DETAILS

as mentioned in the V&A MISSION and CRYSTALLIS MISSION, ic wise the idols chosen were notified beforehand about the song and who they will be working with. but ooc, the idols selected for the unit were CRYSTALLIS’ ASTRID & YOUNGWON, HARU’S HANKYUNG & JOSHUA, and V&A’S JEON HARU & SEN. they will be performing and releasing ‘LIES ALL LOVE’ on the day of the concert ( SEPTEMBER 27 ). line distributions can be found HERE.

SPECIAL STAGE ( NOVA )

on day 2, NOVA will be performing their own version of NKND's "girls, love boys, love girls", which will be called "GIRLS LOVE BOYS"! you can find the line distributions for this over HERE.   

INTERVIEW & GAME PANELS

for both days, all of the ACTORS and MODELS will be a part of the panels where fans and attendees can ask questions from their favorite celebrities! based on everyone in LGC AGENCY’s notoriety, they will be grouped as follows:

SOLO ( DAY 1 )

HAN JISOO

KIM JINYOUNG

LIM SANGHYUN

GROUP ( DAY 1 )

AHN YEIN, CHO MINKYU, HAN HYUNHEE, JO EUNWOO, KIM CHERRY, MOON JIAH, PARK SUJIN, ZHENG LEO

SOLO ( DAY 2 )

BAEK SEONA

KIM JINSEO

SHIN JIEUN

YANG AERI

GROUP ( DAY 2 )

BAE SOJIN, HAN ROWON, HAN SEUNGHYUN, LEE HYUNSOO, MOON JINO, NAM GYURI, YOO HAEMIN

( important note: people who had at least 500 NOTORIETY OR MORE since the beginning of AUGUST were given a solo interview panel and anyone with LESS THAN 500 NOTORIETY would be placed in the group panel. )

for the SOLO panels, each actor/model will be asked a series of questions ( within a 1 hour minute time frame ) by the fans regarding their recent gigs throughout 2024 ( eg. “any memorable instances filming a cf/drama/movie”, “what can we expect in the latter half of 2024” )  and about themselves ( hobbies, interests, etc. ) by the end of the panel, the actor/model will be given a chance to randomly pick 3 lucky winners and they will be given a chance to have their photo taken and signed by the artist!

as for the GROUP panels, it will be similar to the SOLO interviews but with a gaming component included. the GROUP will first see a big bingo board, where each square is either a general question asked by one of the fans ( eg. “show us your best aegyo”, “what is your favorite gig you’ve done in the past year?” ) OR a mini-game ( eg. “play rock, paper, scissors against the host. whoever loses gets hit with the toy hammer. if they do not win 3 individual rounds of the game, they cannot get the square”, “reenact a famous scene and if one of the fans can guess correctly what movie/drama it came from, you can claim the spot” ). for the mini-games, in order for the GROUP to claim that spot, they will need to win the game. if they lose the game, the spot will not be available. if the group gets a “BINGO” by the end of the panel, they will get a chance to give 3 lucky fans a small gift set signed by the actors/models from that group.

because there are multiple interview panels, some of them will be going on at the same time and any DEBUTED ARTISTS who aren’t a part of a panel during that time or have any bit of free time CANNOT visit other people’s panels.

V&A ANNIVERSARY FAN EVENT

per request by various ETERVAL communities, LEGACY has added a mini fan event for V&A to attend to. while their anniversary is on SEPTEMBER 27 ( same day that they will be performing ), the event will be on SEPTEMBER 28 before the concert. during the first portion of the event, there will be a V&A trivia game between 7 lucky super ETERVALs ( one for each round/member ) and the 7 V&A members. the questions will be quite group specific, testing both teams’ ability to recall as much information as they know about V&A ( eg. “what month, day, and year was [insert song] released?”, “when was the fandom name revealed?”, “what is the title of the third song in [insert album]?” etc ). then in the latter half, the ETERVALs will be split into smaller groups and have a hi-touch moment with their favorite member. each member should have an equal number of fans lined up for them.

near the end of the event, the V&A managers will take several group photos with V&A and all of the ETERVALs who attended and it will be posted on their social media as a way to thank them for attending the event.

OFFICIAL GROUP NAME REVEAL ( NKND )

on SEPTEMBER 28, it will be revealed publicly that the trainees in the “new kids new dreams” project will be officially be called MZSD ( and for the observant people, the group name has been hinted since 2022 as mentioned in this article )!

LGC FAM CON 2K24 SET LIST

for all of the other information regarding family con 2k24 ( collab stages & set list ), please click over HERE!

WRITING REQUIREMENTS

CHUSEOK: write a 250+ word solo/headcanon post or a 4 replies (minimum 8 lines; 2 posts per mun) thread with someone else about the time spent during chuseok for +5 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE ANYWHERE !

LGC FAMCON 2K24: write a 300+ word solo or a 4 replies (minimum 8 lines; 2 posts per mun) thread with someone who is participating on the same day as your muse about anything related to the family concert 2k24 for +5 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE ANYWHERE and +8 NOTORIETY !

you have until OCTOBER 5, 2024 11:59 EDT to meet requirements and claim your points. threads can be continued beyond the deadlines but points won’t be collected after that. the official tag for this event is lgc:familycon2k24.

in order to validate your skill points and collect your notoriety points, please submit the following form on the points blog before OCTOBER 5, 2024 11:59 EDT:

MUSE NAME ∙ LGC FAMILY CONCERT 2K24 - CHUSEOK: +5 ( skill points distribution ) [ LINK ] - LGC FAMCON 2K24: +5 ( skill points distribution ) + 8 notoriety [ LINK ]

[phantom-of-the-501st]

Crosshair's Helmet

Okay, I know a lot of people have already talked about this but I just wanna drop my own thoughts on the significance of Cross' helmet.

That helmet has always been a significant symbol for Imperial Crosshair ™️. With it on, he's the perfect soldier. With it off he's more vulnerable and open (even if it isn't always obvious).

Let's chuck out a few examples!

Helmet On

Killing civilians.

Pretty much everything he does on Ryloth.

Initially confronting the Batch on Kamino when his men are surrounding CF 99 in the training room.

Shooting the person in Solitary Clone (I have completely forgotten their name oops).

The first half of the mission with Mayday where he is opening up a little bit but is still reluctant to let his guard down.

Helmet Off

Being singed by the ion engine.

The rest of the S1 finale after he's killed his fellow imperial soldiers and is running around with the Batch (including when he stays on the platform).

Talking to Rampart in his office when Crosshair is feeling particularly bitter and cynical of what he's being asked.

Watching Cody leave.

The entire last half of the mission with Mayday including when he shoots Lieutenant dickhead.

I'm not gonna list every moment because I'm sure you get the point. The helmet is very symbolic for where Crosshair is and his relationship to the Empire.

You see it in Episode 12 in particular. Right at the beginning, Lieutenant Asshole tells Crosshair "you're not in uniform", at which point Cross puts the helmet on. He's not "in uniform" without it, he isn't a true representative of the Empire without it. That piece of armour symbolises Crosshair's entire identity as an imperial soldier.

And then he loses it and that's when the real vulnerability kicks in. It's been creeping in throughout the episode, with Cross giving away minimal details of his life to Mayday but when the avalanche hit, he lost the helmet and the fear truly set in (I'm sure you could also make some inference about the avalanche symbolising how Crosshair's entire life came crashing down on him yada yada).

From the moment that helmet comes off, every emotion is on display. Crosshair doesn't choose to hide his emotions, nor does he try to play the perfect solider. He starts to break down, he rebels against orders. Crosshair isn't playing the Empirial puppet.

And I think that this moment is going to be a tipping point for Crosshair. Not just because he shot Lieutenant Fuckface but because he lost his helmet. This isn't a case of him taking it off and momentarily showing his vulnerabilities. It's gone. He isn't getting that back.

Crosshair's life as a soldier for the Empire is gone, buried. While the Empire still have him in their hands, they can still pull the strings, but he isn't going to be their loyal lapdog anymore. At least not by choice.

I truly think we're going to see a new phase for Crosshair. One that leaves his loyalty to the Empire dead and buried.

°•°•°•°

Tagging @eriexplosion @phis-writing @saturn-sends-hugs @nimata-beroya and @snarkyfina because I'm sure they all have their own great takes on this topic! :)

[astercontrol]

Update on the Mission Day project I mentioned earlier.

Lots more detail at that link, but to summarize the main points:

Back in 2016, there was a line in a TRON game which said that May 14 was "Mission Day."

Some fans got excited that maybe something cool was gonna happen that day

akin to the Flynn Lives ARG starting in 2009, where fans were led on a whole fun adventure, following clues through a network of webpages

but no, this time it turned out nothing happened, and people were disappointed.

and when I heard about that, my own rebellious side went:

Let's make our own interactive Mission Day fan ARG!

Like, what if next May 14 you start seeing fanfics posted on AO3 with mysterious clues in them...

leading to a webring of fan pages and fan blogs, all connected in their own cryptic ways... easter eggs and sneaky links on them all...

Separated by rating, sure, with proper warnings and everything, so people can see the stuff they want, and avoid what they don't...

but NOT restricted by the rigid and sorta LGBTphobic censorship of canon.

so potentially offering a LOT more diversity in fanmade art, writing, comics, animations, games... anything we wanna make.

...And as I got started on this brainstorming, a few things occurred to me.

First:

The main focus of this should be celebration of the great variety of fans and the different ideas they have

and a declaration of our freedom from the "official" owners of canon

Since fans have such a wonderful abundance of different headcanons and AUs, many of which are not compatible with each other in the same storyline...

this will have to be a multiverse.

So.

I'm working on a framing device (one of the entry points to this ARG; perhaps not the only one) which is a webpage featuring text chats between characters, in one of the timelines

It will show their communication as they test a new adaptation to the laser technology, which opens up connections to alternate universes

Then the links to participating fan pages will be listed at the bottom... framed as a record of "different timeline branches" opened by the laser

aaaaand from that point out, the exploration is free.

Anyone who wants their page of fan content included can get in touch, and links can be added anywhere.

So anyway that's my concept. Dunno how long it will take-- maybe the whole year til next May 14, maybe more. Maybe the whole thing's way too ambitious for me to bite off at this point in my life, LOL...

But, anyone who wants to get in on a private chat planning this, or at least talking about it? Feel free to DM me. I'm doing stuff already, with or without y'all, and I'd love to swap ideas.

[simplyholl]

Practice Makes Perfect Pt. 8

Summary: Loki and Y/N have to pretend to be newlyweds for a mission. What can go wrong?

Pairing: Avenger Loki x F. Avenger Reader

Warnings: Angst. Jealousy.

W/C: 884

See my Masterlist here

The only thing that happened between us is cuddling. Loki hasn’t tried to make a move. I’ve wiggled my ass against him, worn revealing pajamas to bed, and there’s no reaction from him. I guess our last time really was on the mission.

It’s been a week and we take turns sleeping in each other’s room. I wish I didn’t feel anything for him, but I do. It would make getting over him easier if he wasn’t in my bed every night. His scent lingers on my sheets, my clothes, my skin.

I squeeze in the crowded elevator. Bruce asked a few of us to come to the lab. He wants us to try this new material on our suits. When I arrive Nat and Loki are already there. Nat is chatting it up with Bruce. Allyson, the newest lab assistant is standing so closely to Loki you couldn’t fit a ruler between them.

She twirls her long, brown hair between her fingers. Her other hand grasps Loki’s muscles. She looks into his eyes, giggling and batting her lashes. He laughs along with her. He doesn’t acknowledge that I’ve arrived. I don’t blame him for not taking his eyes off her. She’s beautiful; tan skin, shiny brown eyes, perfectly manicured nails, her clothes fit perfectly, accentuating every curve of her body.

I think back to how they interacted before the mission. Were they always flirty and I never noticed? I recall a couple days before we left, she brought Loki breakfast before a meeting. So, they had been close before. Why would he want me when he has Miss Perfect waiting for him? Nausea rises in my stomach. He used me. Of course, the sex was meaningless to him. But how could he sleep with me every night when he had Allyson?

Why wasn’t he sleeping with her now that he’s back? “Here’s your new suit. Y/N? Are you okay?” Bruce was speaking to me and I was too distracted by the god in the room. Story of my life. I take my suit from him, thanking him and trying to run out of there. “May I speak with you for a moment?” Loki’s rich voice sends chills down my arms. I hate how my body reacts to him.

Allyson scowls at me. Has she always been like this with me? I always thought she was sweet. I can’t blame her though. If she knows what transpired between me and her boyfriend, she has every right to be mad. I’m mad at myself. “Allyson was telling me she reads those filthy books you like. I told her you read them all the time. Would you care to give her some recommendations?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll make a list for you.” I smile weakly. There is no way in hell I’m giving her horny material so she can jump Loki’s bones. She runs her hand down Loki’s arm. “Thanks. I would appreciate it. I’ve been meaning to tell you. Jordan has been talking about you. I think you would hit it off.”

Jordan also works in the lab. He’s attractive and would be my type if a certain dark-haired god hadn’t ruined me for life. I fake smile and tell her I think he’s great. I take a step back trying to escape this conversation. “We should go on a double date!” Allyson suggests, her grip on Loki tightening.

“Um… okay. Sounds great. Text me the details.” I’ve got one foot out the door when Loki calls me back. “My ring. I’ve been meaning to get it back for some time.” He points to his ring still perched on my finger. I honestly forgot I was still wearing it. It felt like it belonged there. Now with Loki bringing attention to it, and Allyson’s venomous gaze on it, it feels like it’s poisonous burning my skin.

I wiggle it off my finger, placing it in Loki’s waiting hand. “Of course, sorry. I should have given it back sooner.” I don’t miss Allyson’s smirk when I take it off. I don’t know why I’ve agreed to a double date. It sounds like my own personal hell. Honestly, I want to see what Loki and Allyson are like together. I need to know if it’s purely physical or if there’s something there.

I’ve been in bed for a few hours. I can’t sleep with so much on my mind. The familiar sound of Loki knocking on my door echoes throughout my quite room. He has some nerve coming here after he made it clear he is dating Allyson. I barely open it, pressing my face to the crack in the door.

“Are you not going to let me in, darling?” he chuckles. Does he think I’m a joke? Rage and hurt course through me. “What are you doing here?” I ask not moving the door an inch. “I’m coming to bed. What are you doing, love?” He looks at me curiously.

“Don’t call me that! Go sleep in your girlfriend’s bed, Loki. You have no business being here when you have her.” I slam the door in his face, and lock it to make sure I get my point across. I sink down against it resting my face in my hands. How did everything go so wrong?

Tags

@fictive-sl0th @ozymdias @lokisgoodgirl @eleniblue @marygoddessofmischief @coldnique @mochie85 @goblingirlsarah @jaidenhawke @lokissidepeice @huntress-artemiss @those-late-night-feels @acciotherapists @muddyorbsblr @lokixryss @sheris532 @ravioli19 @lokidokieokie @javagirl328 @assemblingavenger @lilibet261 @foranythingandeverything @vickie5446 @lemonadygirl @joyofbebbanburg @msturi2u @chrisevanscardigan @bunny24sstuff @anonymously-ominous @luthien-elvenia-asher @iambetterthanbefore @honeyrydernot @blog-the-lilly @marvel-whoreee @lokidbadguy @cakesandtom

[thevoidscreams]

Hi🌹we want primarchs, how💖 Can I have something with Sanguinius and the diplomat reader?

I had two ideas for this, so if it's not right, then I am sorry. I hope the other will be it, I intend to do both if I can.

With just one word, your whole world collapsed around you, and you wanted to sink into the floor. With just one word, your career and life were over as you knew it.

'Just be charming and smile. This is what you trained for.'

Yeah, easy for your king to say, while he sat comfy on his plush throne you were sent to actually meet the head of this human force that came from out of the stars to your sleepy little world.

You're first diplomatic mission was to try and get a food deal and peace from this new "friendly" force, so you wouldn't have to resort to war.

Not that your planet had the means or the men to muster a show of force that would intimidate even ten of the tower men that guided you and your serf down the extravagant halls to speak to this Sanguinius character. Whoever he was.

The way the red clad warriors talked about him, he seemed like so kind of god. They even called him the Great Angel. But a lot of leaders were greatly over exaggerated by their men.

You'd have been happy to keep believing that as the large armored men came to a set of doors as tall and extravagant as the others. But still, this one felt different. Like something just beyond them, was far beyond you.

You promptly understand why as the doors opened and the leader of this legion came into full view.

Beautiful, radiant, and perfect. They all fell completely and utterly short of the figure sitting behind the desk. His long golden locks and angular face, his brilliantly golden armor and pristine white wings. All of it was more than you could have described if given a hundred lifetime. Is this what love at first sight was like?

You entirely forgot why you'd even come, what your own name was, or even how breathing was done. All your points for conversation and all the silly human demands your king had conjured up. You knew that this being could have asked for your right arm, and you'd have let him have it right then and there.

Your mouth fell open as your eyes widened and everything in you came to a perfect blissful halt as even your baser brain functions didn't seem as important as him.

You understood now why they called him the Great Angel.

He seemed expectant as you tried to find the ability to speak.

"Wow." It left your lips before you even had time to process that you'd begun saying it.

The primarch stared at you for a moment, and you felt your world collapse around you. Wow? Really? Your first ever diplomatic meeting and you open with 'wow'?

That was it. Your career was over, dead before it even had a chance to crawl. He was going to think you were a brain-dead idiot and send you away. Oh God, the thought made you sick, being sent away. Never to see him again. You wanted to see him forever.

But surprisingly, your world didn't collapse. The self mutilating doubt, however, was shattered as a merry peel of laughter left his lips once he was over his own temporary shock.

"Well, hello to you as well. Thank you for coming up to meet me, I know you must he busy, but it is good to get right into the peace negotiations. I much prefer this to the alternative."

You almost melted with relief. "Heh, yeah, me too."

After a second of looking away and collecting yourself, you began again. Sitting in front of him, dainty and professional. "My apologies for the slip up before, I am the peace delegate and diplomat under my planet's king." You went on to give your name and a few other important details and the angel smiled.

"You don't need to apologize, I'm quite used to it by now. But yours was a first. You managed to keep your feet under you. I'm impressed and glad. I've never enjoyed being kneeled to."

You found a soft smile creeping onto your own face at how casual he seemed to be.

The conversation carried on for hours, but it never felt like work, not in the whole time you were there. The two of you just seemed to comfortably exist together as you laid out your kingdoms desires and needs, and he laid out expectations for compliance.

Of course, the King would have to finalize all the documents for your agreement. But it was a better deal than you expected.

"Oh, before we depart for the surface," Sanguinius began, "is there anything you'd personally like from this deal?"

The question caught you off guard and now frazzled again your mouth moved before your brain.

"To come with you." You slid a hand over your mouth, mortified.

The primarch himself seemed shocked, but as you looked up, still blushing to meet his eyes, you could see the smile pulling at the corner of his lips again, and he nodded.

"I'll see what I can do about that."

You'd both look back on that day with great fondness. And that's how one word both ended your career and life, and started your new one.

[pbaintthetb]

Lol watched Book of Mormon (and hoo boy possibly actually one of my faves I've watched on stage. Plot is average at best but the goddamn choreo and the lights- the act 1 finale? I digress) thoughts

You can never go home again, or more accurately, You can never go to Orlando again. Anyway Price probably needs a few years to resort his head and life before he can go to Orlando and appreciate it because currently I don't think he can seperate what he wants (needs) Orlando to be from what Orlando actually is...

Orlando and Salt Lake City are the same in the sense that neither of them actually exist and they're metaphors (ignoring the fact that they do, both exist). Both Nabalungi and Price songs about their favourite fictional (real) real (fictional) place are kinda tragic because it reveals the things they view about the world as fact. Hence why this place is so special. Yes comparing Price's pretty first world problems with Nabalung's concerns is a bit of a stretch but also it kind is the same thematically.

I do hope Nabalungi can get what she wants from Salt Lake City though, although not necessarily in Salt Lake city idc.

The vibe I had in the interval was that it was possible out of district 9 Price is the only one to have actually read the Book of Mormon, cover to cover. Cunningham explictly hasn't, the conversation about "latter days" made me wonder if the other mormons only kinda read it which-

leads onto my thinking that like Price's relationship with Mormonism is, in many ways, more academic/clinical. Like he's got that kind of obsession with religion that I personally associate with people who don't actually believe but either A. really want to or B. really want to disprove it. Price is firmly in A, but yeah like I feel like Price needs Mormonism to be real where he is in the plot (Orlando. If mormonism is real he can go back to Orlando. And it's worth it.) But he doesn't necessarily actually have that spark of genuine belief the other District 9 elders have ya get me? Like he knows it back to front he knows the logic, adn in the coffee scene talks about how a lot of it has always seemed nonsensical and incoherent to him. It's a set of rules and guidelines but idk if Price actually has like core real belief/faith.

When those extra rows of lights came down for Man Up near the end of act 1? Oh yeah you bet we were all in for a fantastic time then, you know good stuff is gonna happen

The lighting in Sal Tlay Ka Siti was beautiful, like I mean the actress's performance and voice were great too, but the lighting really sold the like kinda hopeful tragic nature of the song. She's so happy most of the time but that song, ugh, the tree branch gobos, the visible beams, the colour KSJDFJS:LKDF

Lol disco ball.

The set? It's so detailed? And they get it up so fast? LIke I know they drop blacks in "You and me (but Mostly me)" so it's more than the black out, but STILL?

Again, how do they get the waistcoats on so bloody fast in "Turn it off"??? (I do actually have theories about this but that's not the point, it's stilll so cool)

Maybe this is just the run i watched, but like the Mormons, other than being dressed the same are all roughly the same height (except Cunningham) so their numbers are so extra cool because they really do kinda blend and move as one unit and it's so cool to watch. Especially Hello and Two by Two where they all have black ties.

Did they just start a new cult at the end? Curious what most of the mormons are gonna do when they leave Uganda. Also curious if their parents got an angry phone call from the mission president and are just like.... why aren't they home yet???

BFN is an elder now? Okay... not gonna touch that and how that happened

Nabalungi's dad is fucking hilarious omg his delivery this guy

The only song I'd heard was "You and me (But mostly me)" but I had been told of the spooky mormon hell song. The latter slapped. Did not have Atilla the Hun playing flute on my bingo card that day.

^I loved the blacks coming in from all sides to trap Cunningham out of "You and Me (But mostly Me)" and leave Price as the star also like I knew the song but teh first "but mostly me" cracked me up

One of the incorrect names Cunningham called Nabalungi was "Nigel Farage" lol. Couldn't hear much of the dialogue after that.

About the incorrect name, Nabalungi has the patience of a saint for sure.

Oh during teh play i couldn't watch half of it because I was too busy watching the district 9 elders, but mostly Price reacting to it. It was hilarious. Price looked so fucking happy but like he was trying to hide it and was clapping Cunningham on the shoulder at one point.

As a musical, it's incredible, and it properly contextualises a few things people have said about it and how long it's been running. By "as a musical" I mean the general production of it n shit. The plot is pretty average, the songs have funny lyrics but a lot of the numbers probably won't hold up so well on sound track for me personally- but when you're watching it??? oh yeah. Oh yeahhh.

Oh, the pipes on the guy playing Cunningham, man. MAN.

You can never go to Orlando again.

[decimadragonoid]

Here's some more Dragonball Z fanart featuring some of my favorite characters: Guldo, Chiaotzu, and Gohan. However, this art piece isn't exactly a happy one. You probably might get the hint as to why I say this already, but I'll give you some details.

As a lifelong fan of Dragonball, I was shocked to hear that the creator of the series, Akira Toriyama, had passed away roughly over a week ago. It was like reading news articles about how Toriyama-san was about to announce some new projects and spinoff works he was working on; then, suddenly, the next day, I found out that he was gone. According to official reports, Toriyama-san's cause of death was acute subdural hematoma.  Basically, this is a form of severe head injury in which bleeding fills up the brain area and causes brain tissue to compress. I will leave a hyperlink in case anyone wants to know more about it, but anyway, back to Toriyama...

When I was much younger, I would watch Dragonball and Dragonball Z on Cartoon Network's Toonami and Miguzi segments. Sometimes I would find myself hurrying back home or to my grandma's house from school and my afterschool program to catch the latest episode. I would watch Goku's adventures religiously and see what kind of friends, rivals, and enemies he'd make along the way. I was also a big fan of the Dragonball Z video games, including DBZ: Budokai, The Legacy of Goku, Dragonball FighterZ, Super Dragonball Heroes: World Mission, and DBZ: Kakarot. I would play DBZ: Budokai 3 non-stop with my cousin whenever I went to his house to play his PS2 with him. I still wish I had my PS2 so I could relive my DBZ gaming memories, but I still have Dragonball FighterZ, Super Dragonball Heroes, and DBZ: Kakarot. Matter of fact, I want to return to Dragonball FighterZ at some point since the online modes have been overhauled with rollback netcode. I also want to go back to DBZ: Kakarot at some point to finish playing the game and DLCs!

Fast-forward several years later, I remember not too long ago that during the COVID pandemic, I would binge-watch the original Dragonball series and a portion of the Dragonball Z series while exercising on a machine in the comfort of my home. It was my favorite pastime and a great way for me to lose weight while doing so. In fact, I plan on continuing to binge-watch the original Dragonball Z series with the Kikuchi musical score real soon.

I'm still very shocked and saddened by the fact that Toriyama-san is no longer with us, but as a Dragonball fan and appreciator of his works, I will always keep his stories close to my heart. Dragonball is a series that has given me a reason to never give up on life and everything that I do. It's something that helps me get pumped to exercise, become a better person, and never stop improving myself in the long run. So, to give Toriyama-san a proper sendoff, I'm going to refrain from trying to collect the Dragon Balls to bring him back to life, salute him for all his hard work and his efforts to make my childhood the best childhood I've ever had, and keep his memories and works alive!

Thank you so much for the memories, Toriyama-san. May you rest in peace.

========

Akira Toriyama:

April 5th, 1955-March 1st, 2024

========

Please leave your thoughts and critique in the comment section, as it really helps me think about and improve my style! Be sure to reblog this and spread this around to your fellow Dragonball fans too!

Also, feel free to share some of your fondest memories of Akira Toriyama's works, whether it be Dragonball Z or anything else that comes to mind. I'd love to hear your fondest memories!

========

Dragonball Z © Akira Toriyama

Fanart by DecimaDragonoid

[burning-sol]

SPOILER WARNING FOR EVERYTHING YEAH

rumi - lived several consecutive lives of tragedy trying to shield themselves from terrible trauma by taking on new identities, coming to the point they lost track of who they really were, they became rumi after acquiring the holy blade which was used as a way for zuen to feed rumi visions that enforced the identity zuen wanted them to have and rumi spends the campaign becoming disillusioned with said identity and in the end becomes elena <- and this is very much a summary but rest assured rumi is very identity fucked

exandroth - eldritch angel who i headcanon was influenced by zuen to become a bloodthirsty retribution seeking guy, has a very wounded ego and took that out on peter, over the campaign picks up human traits and is less bloodthirsty, BUT THEN GETS STABBED and starts wanting to possess rumi and acts like rumi probably wants to be rumi, but then you find out that exandroth has a peter form like WHAT THE FUCK did she start being that when possessing peter does exandroth even consider itself an angel anymore, and it actually IS an angel which exandroth literally got (as far as we know) all the rest of her kind killed, so he's very much an outlier, also gave up maybe its literal heart or like symbolically its heart or like some sort of essence probably to make the robots who did the killing, you know i like to imagine that exandrothwas given a robot heart in return like yeah robotic angel now

thanatos - a guy who's soul was put in a robot who then became a murder robot guy, who was then abducted by the royal family and made to believe he wasnt a murder robot guy, but then he remembered he WAS a murder robot guy, and he killed his adoptive dad and left to go on the robot murder mission he was given but then learnt to be more than just a murder robot, also he meets tristan who also made him who is like "you should totally just blow up the world" like he put than in thanatos' coding, also exandroth who was his bro also turned out to be his mom???? hey . oh also he's the last murder robot out of all the murder robots that all looked exactly like him.

rolan deep - so rolan was a kid that died and then rolan deep the bug came out of it who still had the memories of original rolan who carried out school life and left the hive that had been starting so the hive was like "lol wait we sorta needed him" so rolan goes off and probably utterly dosnt like himself becomes an alcoholic and drinks so much than he literally is built different, then he comes back to galloway and starts the bug apocalypse and doesnt know he's a bug but finds out and its like oh shit!! but thne hes like nah i think im still a guy and then like helps blow up the hive you know how it is.

roachel rant - aka the hive queen who first assimilated rachel into the hive and we dont really have a gague for how much rachel influenced her but it's my headcanon that the entire concept of a human collective whatever was pulled from rachel and informed how the hive would end up being structured and that roachel rant actually shares a lot with rachel rand like the hive queen and rachel rand become roachel rant something new that is sort of both of them but neither of them and roachel rant isnt even evil but like misguided after having to rationalise human concepts when she's actually a bug alien, do you think they were even bugs or did rachel make them take the form of bugs maybe rachel had a bug interest after all they ARE imposter things what if they were never bugs at all and that was all rachel's influence

gillion tidestrider - he was given up as a baby to the elders and trained to be a weapon with barely any exposure if at all to the outside, was only visited by his sister edyn who gave him pretzel and even she would slowly be unable to visit gillion, gillion's whole identity before development revolved around trying to be the chosen one BUT ALSO always failed to BE the chosen one, and gillion developed a very black and white view of morality which directly led to him going to stab jay's dad which led to him getting banished by the ones who informed his identity to that points and instilled those values

william wisp - he DIED. oh yeah and he thought there was an afterlife but there wasnt so he's had to deal with that. also he's dead. btw he is so morally grey he's not far from being a villain his recent stuff has been dark. did i mention he died. dont worry she got revived by dakota's heart and also got tits (thats definitely canon) but also she is definitely not far from dying again it will most definitely happen. did i mention she died.

the greats - yeah so these are five girlies that got put into a catboys body and sort of maladapted to vyncent idk but also they nearly fucking died being stuck in vyncent's body and then they went home and they got pulled out of vyncents body and im not sure if they're even alive because they looked very nearly dead can someone fact check this

ryan selecruh - aka jyan the name that he has because he has to have it to be in the j-crew and he says this "are you saying that my defence mechanism where i put on a different personality around every single person i know is a self destructive behaviour, and that im ruining my life and eventually i will implode with all these personalities and i will lose who i am truly inside"

jebediah lightbringer - LITERALLY SPENDS LIKE THE ENTIRE CAMPAIGN BEING AN UNRELIABLE NARRATOR JEBEDIAH DOESNT EVEN REMEMBER HOW HE BECAME BLIND??????

if you read through all of this ty u are so cool thanks for hearing my rant abt my blorbos

[vidreview]

VIDEO ESSAY ROUNDUP #5

[originally posted march 30th 2024]

it's been a minute since i've done one of these, for a whole host of reasons. the biggest one is that i just haven't been watching very much youtube lately, on account of spending my time making youtube instead. in February i released a scripted essay about the German time travel murder mystery show DARK, while in March i posted an unscripted conversation piece about all the movies i own but haven't watched. i've got a lot more planned for this year, but we're here to talk about other people's essays, not mine. so let's do that!

"Yellow Paint" by Caleb Gamman.

i've talked about Caleb Gamman on this blog before, and no doubt i will continue to do so. he's a fantastic and criminally underrated essayist whose materialist approach to media analysis is a model for the kind of thing anyone making video essays ought to aspire to. nominally about the discourse over yellow paint signposting interactible objects in modern AAA video games, this essay is a disgusted and exhausted act of passive aggression (which turns into regular aggression by the end) against the ways social media and corporate greed have engendered an atmosphere of deliberate ignorance and illiteracy towards games, traditional media, news, politics, everything. it's an entertaining and vindicating watch, full of great points argued with genuine conviction.

"PS1 STORIES - 3D SHOOTING MAKER" by Blue Bidya Game.

this one i found through a friend posting about it. we're looking at a review of a very specific PS1 "RPG Maker" spinoff dedicated to 3D rail shooters a la Star Fox --which is an instant sell for me, a long-suffering Star Fox enjoyer. but it's just as much an in-depth history of the Maker franchise as a whole, which is a lot deeper and more interesting than i ever could've imagined. a lot of research went into this, a task i can only imagine was made incredibly difficult by the language barrier. it's a great little video that packs a lot of charm into its 31 minute runtime, but what i find even more remarkable is Blue Bidya Game's mission statement: "I do sentimental videos on every game in the PS1 library alphanumerically and region-free until I die. Let's get weird and look through low graphical detail windows together. What do you think is out there? What could be just past those blocky hills?" at time of writing, there are 36 videos on Blue Bidya Game's channel, the vast majority of which are below 2000 views. if the quality of this single essay is even remotely indicative of the rest of his catalogue, then this might qualify as one of the most exciting & slept-on works of historical games journalism out there. if you were a fan of Tim Rogers' "Let's Mosey: A Slow Translation Of Final Fantasy VII" series, i think you may have found your new favorite youtube channel. you're welcome

"VR's Greatest Hope, We Thought - Half Life: Alyx Four Years Later" by Brother Burn.

there was a time when i believed wholeheartedly that VR was my beat. i futzed around with the Oculus DK2 at the University of Oklahoma tech lab in, what, 2014? and had my mind blown by the experience of riding a virtual roller coaster. in 2016 my roommate and i went halfsies on an HTC Vive, which arrived on our doorstep the very day that Donald Trump won the presidential election. more on-the-nose symbolism you couldn't possibly ask for-- that is, assuming VR software development & investment kept up its then-rapid pace long enough to support total quadrennial escapism, which it absolutely did not. don't get me wrong, i found a number of titles to love; i made a video about perennial VR classic Beat Saber in 2018, but was plenty charmed by the likes of Arizona Sunshine, The Gallery, Vanishing Realms, Zombie Training Simulator, and especially the fast-paced climbing game To The Top, whose only weakness for me was the limited number of tracks in its (admittedly good) OST with no ability to easily import your own tracks instead. yet for as much as i liked these games, vanishingly little about them was so far beyond what was offered by the tech demos present in Valve's VR pack-in The Lab that you couldn't get an approximately similar experience by just playing that instead. alas, the horizon of possibility for VR games hit something of a ceiling once all the most obvious ludic experiences had been more or less perfected.

anyway, this video by Brother Burn is at least in part about that. i never played Half Life: Alyx, but it certainly seemed positioned to be "VR's Greatest Hope" at the time and so i was naturally drawn in by this essay's title. what it confirmed for me is that i'm glad Alyx exists, but don't feel an especial need to play it. he talks at length about the stealth level "Jeff", which sounds cool as hell and is something i could never under any circumstances subject myself to. i cannot handle horror in VR. there's a section of Arizona Sunshine set in an abandoned mine that i had to psych myself up to finish for three weeks. so it's good, in that respect, to get a breezey overview of Alyx from someone who isn't a Half Life superfan (like me), who gets motion sick in VR easily (also like me), and who clearly came up during a very specific era of youtube (ditto). Brother Burn's style is a time-capsule from 2017 in all the best ways. post-Game Grumps, pre-Breadtube, high effort editing with a lightly self-aggrandizing sense of humor, lives maybe two or three doors down from Errant Signal; i dunno what to say except i find his work charming. that he has less than 2000 subscribers at time of writing is as unfortunate as it is unsurprising.

"remember fingerboards?" by Jeffiot.

this may quietly turn out to be one of my favorite video essays of the year. a history of skateboarding with a history of finger-skateboarding along with a personal history of both into a genuine loveletter to what is objectively a very silly activity? oh yes, thank you very much, i'll take two. the section where he first tries fingerboarding is so surprising and charming, and everything that follows is like… i dunno, freeing? there's something about this video that feels like a substantially relieved exhale, as it's the first really niche thing Jeffiot's done since the astronomical success of his Skull Trumpet essay. the scariest part of being Suddenly Popular after such a long time being totally invisible is the looming specter of What Next. the temptation must've been there to just keep on doing videos investigating the origins of Weird Internet Ephemera forever, since that clearly resonated with a lot of people. instead, here he is doing something totally unrelated, in a realm that none of his new subscribers are likely to be interested in --a supposition at least momentarily supported by the fact that this video only has 14,000 views after a single day (compared to the 100k+ views his last few hit). that number will surely go up, but for the moment i think it's illustrative of the fact that every channel's subscriber count actually contains at least two, probably more, discrete pools of audience. 155,000 subscribers is impressive and substantial, but how many of those people are there for Jeffiot, and how many are there for More Skull Trumpet? all things being equal (which they very much are not), i see that 14k viewership number as a soft indication of Jeffiot's dependable long-term viewers, the people who'll follow him down whatever blind alley he wanders through.

i plugged Jeffiot in the previous roundup, with a lot of time spent analyzing the phenomenon of running a small channel that suddenly gets huge because of a single viral hit. when i wrote that post in january of this year, he'd just exceeded 50,000 subscribers after having only 5,000 a few weeks prior. now, two months later, he's got over 155,000 subscribers. this makes Jeffiot's channel a really useful case study in how one translates good luck into good fortune. the most notable development in my opinion is that quite a lot of Jeffiot's back catalogue has seen an immense increase in viewership as well, something that simply does not happen unless there's a palpable and immediate and consistent qualitative energy shared between the old stuff and The Thing That Went Viral. when i say that the job of a video essayist toiling in sub-5k-views obscurity is to lay the groundwork for getting lucky, this is exactly what i mean. Jeffiot's stuff is high-effort, surprising, and thoroughly entertaining across the board, unique in subject matter yet somehow broadly approachable (that he's clearly very influenced by the work of Tim Rogers over at Action Button is, i'm sure, just a coincidence). i really hope that Jeffiot doesn't take the relatively low viewership of this fingerboard essay as a Failure and vow to stay away from such seemingly off-brand subject matter in the future. it's not a failure (i mean, god, i'd kill for a video of mine to even break 5k in a single day at this point), but rather an indication of confidence and direction. the best artists and creators will walk their path whether you follow them or not. there's no being true to what compels you which also permits universal success, and any attempt to the contrary is a great way to strangle your soul to death. the successes float you on from the sinkers. views and subscribers don't have a linear relationship with monetary success on youtube (unless you rely exclusively on ad revenue, at which point you're already fucked and should probably check a calendar to see if it's still 2015), yet it's so easy to get spooked by them because youtube wants us to be obsessed with analytics. somehow, i think Jeffiot's smart enough to avoid such pitfalls.

"The Mass Extinction Debates: A Science Communication Odyssey" by Oliver Lugg.

this one was suggested to me through my askbox. what strikes me most about this video is how it spends 45 minutes building up the context leading up to the debates about what actually caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, so that you understand what they really represented beyond a simple who's right/who's wrong. i had no idea this was such a recent thing-- 1996, man. that's so in my lifetime. i've always thought the asteroid theory was just uncontroversially true, it never occurred to me that there would have been a combative dogma against it in the scientific community. this is just a good, fun, enjoyable and educational video essay.

"Everyone But Me Is Wrong About The Cornetto Trilogy" by Innuendo Studios.

this is an essay refuting the semi-popular assertion that the Cornetto Trilogy (Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End) are about stunted manchildren being forced by circumstance to finally grow up. instead, Ian Danskin argues, these films are about stunted manchildren who refuse to change until circumstances beyond their control forceably change the entire rest of the world in a way that allows them to never have to grow up. this is one of those essays that's clearly been on the backburner for a long time, delivered with a real sense of frustration and desire to correct the record on something that seems, to Danskin, transparently obvious.

i liked this essay a lot because (to get a bit inside baseball) i'm dedicated to finally producing my extremely-long-in-the-works essay titled Everyone Is Wrong About LOST, about how everyone is wrong about the tv show LOST, by the end of this year. a big question for me in writing that essay has been what tone to strike, how much indignance i should show, where the line between funny and annoying lies. this essay did a lot to clarify that question for me, which is only that much more edifying because Ian Danskin has been at this since 2014. his original essay, This Is Phil Fish, was a big inspiration for me when i first started thinking i might want to try my hand at this gig, and his work ever since has remained some of the most consistently good and clear argumentative writing on the platform. any time he posts a new essay is a moment of quiet celebration for me, especially on the rare occasion he does traditional media analysis like this instead of the equally excellent but generally dry rhetorical analysis he's been doing with the Alt-Right Playbook for the last 6 years. it feels somehow poetic to once again have the path forward in my work clarified by a creator who inspired me an entire gender ago, like somehow despite all that's changed i'm still being true to my WAIT HOLD ON WHAT

well i guess i'd better hurry up and make this fucking LOST video, huh?

<- ROUNDUP #4 | ROUNDUP #6 ->

[themculibrary]

Fics With Titles That Start With L Masterlist 2

part one

laid bare (ao3) - chezamanda, eiluned clint/natasha E, 19k

Summary: Starting a relationship with your partner is against S.H.I.E.L.D. policy, but it’s not like Clint Barton cares about the rules too much. An undercover mission dredges up feelings that can’t be buried.

las vegas (ao3) - elcapitan_rogers steve/natasha M, 219k

Summary: Steve was freaking out over his own wedding and the gang decided to take him to Las Vegas to unwind him.

latte art and slow dancing in the dark (ao3) - deadonarrival steve/bucky, clint/natasha E, 89k

Summary: Once upon a twitter someone pointed out that there is a Starbucks inside the CIA building and how it should be a Stucky Meet Cute and since I happen to have worked at Starbucks and I hate DC I was like, man let me just… do that.

Here’s the tea:

Bucky is a somewhat well-adjusted former army sniper that got his shoulder blown out. He took his discharge and went home to finish school and is working on his international relations masters. His best friends and roommates (Nat & Clint) are CIA agents and tip him off that their local Sbux is hiring. He gets a job there and meets none other than the hottest guy on earth.

So how does one get a date in the most top secret government location in the US? What happens when that guy is more than just a hot dorito and wants to give Bucky everything he wants? Bucky is going to have to figure out his shit and fast. That’s what’s up.

leave yourself behind (ao3) - raendown sam/bucky T, 76k

Summary: “It’s a very long story,” he said.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. The basic truth itself could be summed up real easy: that guy right there is me from the future and that’s his pal Sam, also from the future. All the details and the questions afterwards - only half of which got actual answers - that’s what really took so long.

When a version of himself from the future is brought back to the past right in front of him suddenly HYDRA isn’t the most interesting thing in this war. But the more time Bucky spends with himself and the new companion who came with him, the more questions he finds himself with. How much time has really passed? How much can one man be changed from himself? Who is this Sam - and what will he grow to mean to Bucky?

lessons learned (ao3) - sadsongssaysomuch steve/bucky E, 39k

Summary: Steve Rogers is a retired Army Captain from Brooklyn who now runs a private security firm. He’s a charismatic public speaker and an intensely private man.

His life runs on routine until he hires James Barnes, a reckless, conflicted man for his PR department. Steve takes an instant liking to him but struggles to help when Barnes’ careless ways begin to interfere with his job.

James Barnes is a man of secrets and he’s gotten good at hiding his traumatic past with his smart-ass attitude. When Steve approaches him about it, one thing leads to another and they end up having a drunken fling.

However, Steve has his secrets too…

let my love erase all your doubts (ao3) - Mimisempai loki/mobius M, 1k

Summary: While traveling with Loki in Asgard on a mission for the TVA, Mobius stumbles upon what appears to be a tender moment between Sif and his lover. When Loki finds him in their room, Mobius lets his jealousy take possession of him to Loki’s great surprise.

let’s hear it for captain america! (ao3) - Magnetism_bind steve/bucky E, 5k

Summary: A missing scene from Captain America: The First Avenger

let’s keep our eyes on the cracks (ao3) - napricot scott/hope T, 9k

Summary: Y’all thought Captain Marvel was gonna save the avengers but it’s gonna be Ant Man crawling up Thanos bootyhole and expanding. Book it.

Five responses to how Scott Lang and the Avengers defeated Thanos and saved the universe, or: five ways of looking at a buttsplosion.

let’s stay together (ao3) - bevioletskies scott/hope T, 3k

Summary: For all his missteps and mishaps, Scott has been on pretty good terms with the Pym-Van Dyne family lately. That is, until Cassie started calling Hank “Grandpa”.

Librarians at Tattoo Parlors (ao3) - BonKatze steve/bucky M, 3k

Summary: Bucky goes in for a tattoo, Steve looks like a librarian who got lost on a Sunday stroll, and Bucky really wants to know if there's anything hiding beneath the polished exterior.

lights, camera, action (ao3) - Kellyscams steve/bucky E, 17k

Summary: Bucky Barnes, aka the Soldier is one of Stark Naked’s most popular models. Having worked in the adult film industry for a few years, he’s gotten used to the daily flow of things. Not to mention also earning himself Stark Naked’s “Naked Boy” of the Year, and something of a reputation for being a powertop.

So when his favorite director, Sam, calls him in for an unscheduled shoot, Bucky figures it’ll be more of the same. What he’s most definitely not prepared for is meeting their newest model, Steve Rogers–who personally requested Bucky for his first scene. Not only is Steve the hottest guy Bucky’s ever seen, he’s sweet and adorable and cuddly and… Bucky’s never hit it off so well with another model before.

This shoot might very well changed everything.

like a clock in a thunderstorm (ao3) - shellybelle clint/natasha E, 3k

Summary: Natasha is a quiet mind raised in silence, Clint a whirlwind raised in chaos. In the early days of their partnership they are drowning under the weight of unanswered questions, and when the heavens open, Natasha breaks, and Clint is a good man after all.

lives in his own heaven (ao3) - glorious_spoon darcy/loki E, 1k

Summary: His fingers ran down the curve of her spine, tracing the shape of her hips. She couldn’t see what shape he wore, but there was a hint of claws when he gripped her there, the sudden force almost painful. “Hold still.”

“Or what,” Darcy said. She meant it to be catty, but it came out sort of soft and breathy instead. Damn it. “You’re going to spank me?”

losing my religion (ao3) - avengstark sam/bucky G, 1k

Summary: “Hello? Earth to Barnes? You’ve got me worried here, Grandpa. Do I need to get the nursing home on the line?”

Bucky blinked. Slow, lethargic. “Nah. Unless your bones are aching? You trying to tell me something? I’m not giving you a massage, Wilson.”

love alight like electric touch (ao3) - dioncchusmic steve/natasha, steve/wanda G, 71k

Summary: Liberal lawyer Natasha Romanoff is doing everything that she can to prevent the community ballet center from it’s destruction, wherein the said ballet center is bought by SHIELD Industries, aka Steve Rogers’ company.

They come into an agreement that he won’t destroy the community ballet center as long as she works for him as his Chief Counsel, what happens when Natasha agrees and finds out more than what she’s bargained for?

love is cursed by monogamy (ao3) - drifloon bucky/clint/natasha T, 5k

Summary: Natasha has two soulmate marks. It’s a problem until it isn’t.

love is for children (ao3) - solrosan clint/laura T, 6k

Summary: Natasha and Clint trust each other with their lives, but what will it take for them to trust each other with the rest?

lovely to finally meet you (ao3) - Robertdoc T, 10k

Summary: Though Agnes - Agatha Harkness - has revealed herself, she’s not done messing with Wanda’s mind yet. Not through mind control, but through more painful reminders of what Wanda allowed to happen in Westview, gaslighting her into believing she’s exactly the kind of person who would let it happen, and offers to stay in Westview forever that Wanda can’t convince herself she should turn down anymore.

Until a blast from a familiar, suddenly rebuilt object brings back a memory of what she really did right before the Hex formed, who she really tried to be even at the lowest point of her life - and who she’s finally ready to introduce Agatha to now. But even that may not be enough.

Another attempt at a Wanda character study that doubles as a wish fulfillment/theory for future episodes, tries to explain the still unexplained trailer snippets left, and seeks to give Wanda a real chance to heal and remember she’s not just another all powerful woman who went unstable from grief -

love of ours (ao3) - emeraldine087 bucky/steve/tony T, 253k

Summary: Tony Stark REALLY hates magic with a passion. He knows it’s got something to do with how his memories aren’t quite as he remembers them. He knows Steve screwed him over and sent him that shitty apology with an even shittier phone. And he is pissed supposedly with no end in sight and no resolution to be had. And yet, he also has this other set of memories - One where he is madly in love with Steve…

Steve Rogers REALLY feels like things with Tony could’ve gone a lot better. So he stubbornly stays in the Avengers compound to try to set things to rights, vowing to repair his Avengers family and his friendship with Tony. And yet, his endgame is still to help Bucky get rid of the Winter Soldier programming - Help his first and the one true love of his life to find himself again…

Bucky Barnes REALLY loathes having to rely on others to tell him about his life. Steve is a big help, but sometimes, Bucky feels like Steve’s after helping him for the benefit of the person he used to be rather than the person he is. Unlike Steve, Tony doesn’t give a shit about him. And yet, it’s with Tony that he feels like he can be or do anything - Like fall in love with the man he had orphaned all those years ago…

love the sin, love the sinner (ao3) - silkspectred steve/tony E, 10k

Summary: It keeps happening. Not often, just once or twice a month, but it keeps happening. Always in the same way: it’s unplanned, sudden, unexpected, Steve is surprised and eager, his dick goes from zero to one hundred in two seconds, Tony’s touch is electric, everything he does drives Steve crazy, but he never lets Steve kiss him, he very rarely looks Steve in the eye, he never talks, never makes a sound when he comes, never mentions it later.