#okay time to find out what happens after i got my ass clobbered

[meep-aaa]

Isat is such a jolly game you get beautiful moments like me going :

"YEA I'm finally gonna get this boss battle over and done with, I'm gonna kick the King's ass"

*Gets fucking one shot*

*Immediate reaction is to draw a shitty ass phone doodle*

[snkpolls]

SnK Episode 62 Poll Results (for Anime Only Watchers)

The poll closed with 73 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Manga Readers’ poll, click here.

Anime only watchers, beware of spoilers if you venture over to the manga readers’ poll results.

--

RATE THE EPISODE 68 Responses

Again, the response to last week’s episode was notably positive, with 98.5% of responses giving it a score of 3 or higher. Marley and Me is still going strong! 

Gave a 3 because while I don't give a rats ass about the Warriors or their "tragic" sob story, the animation and voice acting was on par

It was way better than the first two of the season I liked it a lot!!

I think it was one of the best episodes not only in this season, but in the entire show. It shows deepness of the characters in Attack on Titan and shows as the other side in such an amazing way. It was brilliant. 

I think the episode was pretty good

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 68 Responses

Eren’s formal reveal as the amputee soldier took the biggest piece of the pie, with 45.6% of respondents enjoying that scene the most. Trailing behind that is Reiner’s tragic suicide attempt with 10.3% of the vote, followed closely behind by RBA’s side of Shiganshina at 8.8%.

Flashbacks were important. And eren intro was epic

Reiner standing up looking like an undead zombie after getting clobbered by Annie and then stating "Reiner is dead...I will be Marcel" was just...Wow. Just loved seeing the wall breach from RBA's perspective. Reiner gains more dimensions and complexity with each episode and I'm here for it! Bless MAPPA :-)

WE GOT THE FULL ED LAST WEEK. AFTER SEEING IT IN ITS ENTIRETY, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT NOW? 66 Responses

Although just over 59% of responses gave the ED a decidedly positive grade (with praise going towards both imagery and the song), almost 20% of responses simply thought it was “okay”. A relatively equal amount of responses alternated between liking the animation and disliking the song and vice versa. Only a few seemed to dislike both. 

Didn't watch/care

ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5, HOW MUCH DID YOU ENJOY THE SEQUENCE INTRODUCING ALL OF MARLEY’S TITANS? 67 Responses

The sequence introducing all of Marley’s Titans has gotten rave reviews, with 97% of responses rating it positively. Truth be told, I’d given it a 5 myself, if I could… But I can’t, I’m just a mysterious voice, detailing the results of this poll.

OUT OF ALL THE TITANS THE MARLEY MILITARY HAD 9 YEARS AGO, WHICH ONE WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE? 67 Responses

For the question regarding possible inheritance of the Titans, we’ve gotten a rather colorful pie chart! Annie’s Female Titan is clearly leading with just under a third of those who took the poll picking it out as their favorite option. Reiner’s Armored is taking second place with almost 21%, followed by Zeke’s Beast at almost 18%. Bertholdt’s Colossal and the Series Mascot is, surprisingly, at just under 12%, with Pieck, unsurprisingly, bringing up the rear.

WHICH OG WARRIOR CANDIDATE WOULD YOU WANT TO ADOPT? 64 Responses

When it comes to possibly adopting a warrior candidate, we’ve gotten even more pie flavors! Reiner is at number one with just over 20%, with Pieck and Annie going into second place, both with just under 19%. Bertholdt’s in third place, with a little over 14%. Marcel and Zeke bring up the rear and it seems like no one wants to adopt poor little Porco. Just over 20% seem to not want to participate in this little scheme for various reasons.

A LOT OF THE SHIGANSHINA BREACH HAS REUSED QIT ANIMATION FROM PAST EPISODE - THOUGHTS? 67 Responses

When it came to the fact that a lot of the Shiganshina Breach Animation was reused for the episode, most seemed to respond either positively or indifferently. Just over 58% thought just that the old animation flowed decently with MAPPA’s new style, while 16.4% didn’t really care. Almost 12% expressed nostalgia for WIT’s style of animation and 9% noted that while they weren’t fans of this move, they understood the reason for it. Whoever was left noted that they either really preferred MAPPA’s new style or really didn’t like this move from MAPPA, as a whole.

KAJI YUKI HAS LOWERED HIS VOICE A BIT TO DEPICT AN OLDER EREN. THOUGHTS? 67 Responses

A bit of a lopsided result for this one. 71.6% of all responses noted that they enjoyed Yuki Kaji’s move of lowering his voice to depict an older Eren. 16.4% states that they didn’t care and the rest either expressed further “enthusiasm” for this move with one person noting that they preferred younger Eren’s voice range. 

:c

I didn’t even notice

WE’VE LOST COUNT ON HOW MANY TIMES WE’VE SEEN MARCEL GET EATEN. BUT OF THE OPTIONS BELOW, WHO DID IT BEST? 67 Responses

When it came to seeing Marcel biting the dust numerous times, it turned out that we have plenty of options and styles to choose from. 37.3% said that they preferred MAPPA’s depiction of the event, with just under a third preferring Isayama’s newer depiction. Bringing up the rear with 22.4% were those who preferred WIT’s depiction and 7.5% who like Isayama’s older depiction the best.

DO YOU THINK THAT REINER WAS CORRECT, THAT MARLEY WOULD HAVE HAD ALL OF RBA EATEN IF THEY HAD FOUND YMIR AND RETURNED HOME IMMEDIATELY? 65 Responses

In what is perhaps the most divisive question of the poll, it would seem like those who thought Marley wouldn’t have had all of RBA eaten if they had found Ymir and returned home immediately came out on top, with almost 57% arguing they would have either threatened the kids before keeping them around or became understanding from the get-go. 43.1% dissented and thought Marley would have, in fact, done so. 

Don't think so because we only saw 1 other warrior candidate and when the warriors failed in the Shinganshina arc they didn't pass on Reiner or Zeke's powers.

Marley = maybe. Zeke = would have been understanding

Maybe just eat Ymir

WHAT’S THE FORECAST FOR TONIGHT? 66 Responses

For the question about tonight’s (or rather, the night when the fanbase took the poll) weather, we’ve received a multitude of responses. From the most popular to the least, we’ve had people predicting a cloudy night, a snowy night, clear skies, a rainy night and finally, a stormy night. On the other hand, just over 18% didn’t seem to care. 

Call if hail at you’ll be late for muster

freckled Jesus getting crucified, RIP Marco

Fuckkkkk Berttttt

Hangman

it's gonna rain titans

Meh, don't care about Bertolt

REINER GRADUATED 2ND FROM THE TOP IN THE 104TH, BUT DID YOU EXPECT HIM TO BE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SELECTED WARRIOR CANDIDATES? 65 Responses

Reiner’s surprisingly poor performance during his years as a Warrior candidate surprised most of those who took our poll, with 40% expressing just that. Almost 37% thought this development made him more relatable as a character, with the rest either noting that they either didn’t care or that this portrayed the 104th in a somewhat poorer light (lol). 

I feel like his traumatic experience of watching someone he grew up with die and his resolve to become more reliable and strong pushed him to reach the point that he did considering he also outranked both Annie and Bertolt.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE FACT THAT REINER IS HALF-MARLEYAN? 66 Responses

When it came to the fact that Reiner turned out to be half-Marleyan, almost 38% thought the said fact gave more depth to Reiner’s character. Just over 24% thought it made him even more tragic and 18.2% hope that said detail will have more significance in the future. The rest stated that they didn’t care. 

I think it's sad for Reiner, but a nice twist. I was wondering what happens to half Eldian/Marleyans so it was nice to see the result from a more cultural and political standpoint.

GALLIARD’S FIRST NAME IS ACTUALLY “PORCO.” THOUGHTS? 66 Responses

For the reveal of Galliard’s first name actually being “Porco”, we’ve had 45.5% of responses understanding why the big man himself decided to go by his last name instead. 13.6% asked what Isayama was thinking when giving him that name. The rest either expressed further sympathy for the boy or thought it was a decent name for character. 

I can't stop thinking of him as Porky Pig now. He had such a cool surname too xD

DO YOU THINK THAT THE RIFT BETWEEN REINER AND PORCO CAN BE RESOLVED? 66 Responses

When it came to deciphering the rift between Reiner and Porco, a bit over 40% thought that the rift would never be able to “go away”, with Porco disliking Reiner for various reasons. Almost a third dissented and thought that it would be possible, provided Porco either learned of Marcel’s actions or kept working with Reiner for longer periods of time. The rest weren’t sure exactly. 

It seemed like the rift wasn't really prominent in episode 2, so maybe it's already resolved.

IN THAT SAME VEIN, DO YOU BELIEVE PORCO’S COLD FEELINGS TOWARD REINER ARE UNDERSTANDABLE AND/OR JUSTIFIED? REMEMBER: HE DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT MARCEL’S ACTIONS. 65 Responses

When it came to a similar question, most (67.7%) thought Porco’s cold feelings towards Reiner were understandable, but not justified. 20% thought they were, in fact, both understandable and justifiable. 10.8% thought they were neither and there was one sole person who stated that they didn’t care.

REINER AND ANNIE WERE REALLY ROUGH ON EACH OTHER. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THAT? 66 Responses

Reiner seems to have even poorer relations with Annie and this episode surely confirms it. Almost 50% were surprised to find out just how poor said relations were. A third stated that they believed the two still cared about each other, just well, “deep down”. A little over 15% predicted this hatred, on the other hand. 

Annie went full "Levi on Eren" on Reiner. I knew they had a tense relationship, this just confirmed my suspicions. I don't think they hate each other.

HOW DID YOU FEEL GETTING TO SEE MORE BERTOLT AFTER HIS UNTIMELY DEATH LAST SEASON? 66 Responses

Seeing Bertolt again in the story was generally treated positively by most, with almost 44% stating that they enjoyed his extra screen time. A bit over 20% stated that they really missed him and were sad to see him, knowing what happens in the future. On the other hand, a little over 21% openly expressed their dislike for the character. Just over 12% simply stated that they didn’t care. 

Dude had it rough, at least the suffering is over now.

i barely care about him... he's just there. he adds nothing to the show compared to other warriors. his personality is way too boring and bland. 

This doesn't make me sympathize with him in any way shape or form

I'm so glad to see Bertholdt... Mappa did him cute as a kid and hot all grown up.

ANNIE AND KENNY: WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THIS UNLIKELY ENCOUNTER? 66 Responses

When it came to seeing Kenny and Annie’s unlikely encounter, the responses were rather distinctive. A little under a third thought it was random, but enjoyable. Others stated that they were just happy to see more Kenny or Annie. Some noted that Annie’s survival rate when taking on the Ackermans is impressive. Finally, just under 11% noted that they didn’t care for it. 

I thought they did it as fan-service bc Kenny = popular

It was a bit too short to be impactful in my opinion.

I wish we saw more Kenny

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS AFTER LEARNING THAT REINER IS THE ONE WHO PUSHED FOR THE ASSAULT ON WALL ROSE AFTER TRAINING WITH THE 104TH FOR 3 YEARS? 66 Responses

Upon learning about Reiner’s push for attacking Wall Rose after 3 years of living with the 104th, the fanbase came out to be rather divided. Whereas a bit over a half expressed at least some sympathy for him, the rest were sharp in their critique. A few stated that they didn’t care, however.

HOW DID YOU FEEL SEEING REINER ON THE EDGE OF SUICIDE? 66 Responses

Seeing Reiner on the verge of suicide brought out a lot of sympathy for the man himself, with people expressing degrees of sympathy for him. A little under a third simply noted that this is a dark story. However, a few also stated that they didn’t feel much sympathy for him due to his previous actions. 

besides the fact that this whole episode was dark, this particular scene made the episode more and more uncomfortable and depressing :( can someone please hug him and tell him that everything is gonna be fine?

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO THE REVEAL THAT EREN WAS THE AMPUTEE SOLDIER FROM THE LAST EPISODE? 66 Responses

The reveal that Eren was the amputee soldier from the previous episode is another one of this series’ twists and turns. Sadly, a third of the responses had already been spoiled about it. On the other hand, another third or so seemed to have an inkling and were happy to see a confirmation in this one. Just over 21% were simply in shock. 

I knew from his voice 

He's learnt to control his regeneration o.0 I wonder what else he has learnt. Also guessed last episode.

EREN OBSERVES THAT FALCO MAY BE TRYING TO PROTECT “A GIRL” FROM INHERITING THE ARMOR - IMPLYING FALCO MAY HAVE FEELINGS FOR GABI. WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THAT? 66 Responses

When it came to Love Doctor Eren Yeager, more than 50% thought that this development showed his maturation over the course of the story (and 4 years, specifically). Some thought that it didn’t really mean anything, while others looked to a bit more romantic answer. Finally, some thought he was being influenced by the memories of his father or his father’s Attack Titan predecessor.

Don't know if Eren was implying that or if he was trying to gain intel.

BE HONEST - DOES EREN WORK THE HOBO LOOK? 66 Responses

When it came down to seeing Eren’s new design, the majority actually seemed to be more interested in seeing his “manbun” one, as seen in the trailer. Almost 20% thought it was his coolest design to date! The rest either seemed to prefer one of his earlier designs or thought that he looked kinda gross. And some people were just thirsty. 

Cool change. Doesn't look "better", but does make him look more serious/battle-scarred.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

i was super confused at first, but after a lot more research im completely caught up w the story and very excited for whats to come!

Would've enjoyed even more REINER

Definitely ready for more. I always assumed our old team has been lurking on this side of the wall ever since ep 1 (call me crazy, but was that my mans Jean who bought the newspaper??) anywaY, I can’t wait for the reveal/ambush WhatevEr it is they got planned. You know Armin’s behind this shit. Let’s get ittttt

I need to see Levi already!! I feel like I’m going through withdrawal

The artwork was really nice, same with the animation. I thought the bit with Annie and Reiner was too intense though I felt kinda sick watching it. Also, they showed the scene in the trailer where Reiner is talking to Eren when they were in training and also when he was trying to commit suicide but the audio was different from the visual so I'm curious now if Reiner like tries to have Eren kill him but Eren and co want to interrogate him??? So he's like "why won't you let me die?". Also, I like Falco even more now, seems like a great and important character.

Seeing the Titans normally animated makes the cgi hurt more :(

it gave a lot of clarity cant lie

Reiner's backstory with his dad broke my heart. I thought he took it well. For Marcel to die afterwards and the warriors to be pushed down that path was terrible. I also love how Annie was really against attacking the Eldians, and voiced her disgust, and it felt organic. It didn't feel like it was forced in to show viewer thoughts. The episode made me appreciate Annie's maturity from a young age and emotional depth, and the fact that this was achieved with Reiner as the main focus makes it amore impressive.

mappa > wit. no doubt. the cinematography was a m a z i n g. it was very aesthetically pleasing to watch. 

Why did the smiling titan ignore Bertholt?

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 65 Responses

Thank you again to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again after next episode. 

[houseisekai]

FE3H:HI Shadowbringers - Part 1: Return to Abyss

House Isekai Shadowbringers AU Masterlist Here

----

Being awoken by a familiar voice, Kazuma’s group, The denizens of Nazarick, and the School-Living Club find themselves separated from everyone after the battle of Garreg Mach.

As they try to reunite, they find that they are caught in a grand scheme of unknown purpose...

---

(Familliar Voice) “Just how long do you all plan to sleep? I did not save you all to just watch you be snoring away in this void!”

(Aqua) "Ngh...W-What?"

(Familliar Voice) “The time to wake is now...The time to stand on your legs with your own strength is now!”

(Aqua) "That voice is...so...familiar..."

(Familliar Voice) “The world is being swept away in the tides of war, light threatening to consume us all! Fodlan needs you, House Isekai!”

(Aqua) "...So...thi-"

(Familiar voice) “For the love of-"

(Kazuma's voice) "GET THE HELL UP RIGHT NOW!"

(Aqua) "DWAUH?!"

Aqua jolted herself awake, sitting completely upright so fast she accidentally headbutted Kazuma.

(Aqua) "ACK!"

(Kazuma) "AGH, MOTHERFUCK-OW!"

(Aqua) "Ow...Why were you so close to my fa-"

Aqua noticed him wiping a single tear away, but she didn't know if that was from almost breaking his nose with her head.

(Aqua) "...How long was I out?"

(Kazuma) "Dunno. Just woke up myself and our bodies ended up here."

Kazuma helped Aqua up and he took a look at his surroundings.

Darkness and Megumin were near the door, checking for any damage they may have-

...Door?

(Kazuma) "...We fell down the canyon, didn't we?"

(Megumin) "Ack! Yeah, my bones certainly feel it!"

(Darkness) "Disappointing, I don't feel it-"

(Kazuma) "Shut your pie hole. Now, if we fell down the cliff during the battle, why are we in a room?"

(Everyone) "..."

The first thing everyone did was look directly up. They were in an enclosed room, that much was certain.

(Darkness) "Did we fall into a building?"

(Kazuma) "If thats the case, where's the debris? Why are alive if we crashed through? None of us look terribly injured other than a few bruises."

As everyone continued to speculate in their heads what was going on, Megumin tried to open the door and get a better idea of where they were.

(Megumin) ? "Uh, the door's stuck."

Megumin tried yanking the handle open only to rip it off the door.

(Megumin) "...Uh oh."

(Kazuma) "Ah damn it! Look what you did!"

(Darkness) "...That normally doesn't happen unless the doors are very old are in need of repair.”

Darkness took another look at the room and noted that it was relatively dark. It wasn't pitch black thanks to a torch Kazuma lit himself with a spell, but the room didn't look like some ancient ruin.

In fact it looked a lot like...

(Darkness) "Are we in Garreg Mach?"

(Kazuma) "Aqua, you can see in the dark right? What's the verdict?"

(Aqua) "...Its kinda hard to say. It definitely looks like it, but we need to go outside the room."

(Megumin) "But how? I just broke the handle."

Darkness pulled out her sword.

(Darkness) "Stand back, Megumin! HAAAAAA-"

CRASH!

Somehow, Darkness managed to completely miss the door with her sword and hit the wall instead.

The blow created a hole wide enough for everyone to get through, no problem.

(Kazuma) "Nice aim."

(Darkness) "S-SHUT UP!"

Aqua took a good look around but still struggled to make out where they were.

(Aqua) "...I think we need to keep going. Frankly this could be any random dungeon in this world."

(Kazuma) "Hm, alright. Darkness, you take lead."

She nodded, and the four of them went on their way, deeper into the building...

...

[A Dark Sign - Fire Emblem: Three Houses OST]

The Pleiades maids kept their weapons out as they silently advanced, Albedo with her axe still out leading the group.

Cocytus remained at their rear with all four weapons out while Aura and Mare continued to scan around them to find out where this was.

(Ainz) "Demiurge, do we have any idea yet?"

(Demiurge) "None yet, Lord Ainz. I'm afraid I do not recognize anything here."

The hallway they were going seemed to go on forever.

The only sounds he could hear was their footsteps.

They even tried to do a life scan spell but it didn't pick up anything.

(Ainz) "The only option then is to keep-"

(Shalltear) "Lord Ainz, there's a hole here!"

Everyoned turned to the right and saw a massive hole into a room.

The rooms they had passed by had all been intact, if a little old.

The door was still strangely intact, but it was clear the room had been abandoned for quite some time.

(Sebas) "It's hard to tell how recent that is..."

(Ainz) "Then let's keep going, we don't have any time to waste."

(Albedo) "By your command, Lord Ainz."

...

Footsteps began to loudly echo as Kurumi stepped out onto a massive arena-like area.

She used her torch to get a better look at the area around her but with no luck.

(Kurumi) "Guys, look at this!"

Yuuri, Yuki, Miki, and Megumi all came behind her, eyes widening.

(Yuki) "Its...really scary here."

(Kurumi) "Heh, no worries! If anything comes up, they're getting this nice little shovel to their heads!"

(Miki) "Kurumi-senpai, please take this a bit more seriously. We're the least equipped for a fight if it comes to one."

(Megumi) "As long as we stick together, we'll be okay."

(Yuuri) "..."

(Kurumi) "Yuuri? Whats up?"

(Yuuri) "...We're being followed."

...

thud...thud...thu-

Everyone moved to the side of the entrance as Kurumi readied her shovel.

Thud. Thud. Thud!

(Kurumi) "HYAAAAAH!"

CLANG!

THUD!

(Familliar Boy's Voice) "OW, SON OF A BITCH!"

Rounding the corner, Kurumi was about to swing again until she saw who it was.

(Kurumi) "Leclerc?!"

(Kurumi) "Thank god its you! I got so scared and-...Oh crap, I just clobbered you with a shovel!"

Kurumi helped him up, and the group walked over to them.

(Megumi) "Yuri, are you alright?"

(Yuri) "Yeah yeah, its fine Megunee. Heh, didn't think I'd see any of you guys down here."

(Miki) "So wait, that means we're back in Abyss!"

(Yuki) "Oh, everyone's out right? We need to group up with the others too!"

(Yuuri) "...When did your hair get so long?"

(Yuri) "Ya know, I was just about to ask you something similar. How do you guys look exactly the same 5 years later?"

(Everyone) "..."

(Kurumi) "...F-Five years?"

(Yuri) "You don't know? Thanks to you guys, you helped evacuate our people. But, according to reports, and my own scouts, you all fell into the canyon."

(Megumi) "That part is consistent at least. Well, we fell into the canyon but when we woke up, we found ourselves in here."

(Yuri) "So...you guys didn't blow anything up then?"

(Yuuri) "No, why?"

Yuri grabbed his sword and frowned.

(Yuri) "We got some intruders in here besides my group and the knights then...”

...

Several knights laid across the stones, blood splattered left and right.

The knight captain stepped forward and examined the bodies with his torch, looking up.

His men stood behind and in front of him, making sure if anything attacked, they’d be ready.

This was a tight hallway, and from the looks of it, these knights didn’t have time to react to whatever attacked them.

(Captain) “Alert all forces down here that we have intruders! I want every exit covered, every corner with three man squads!”

(Knight) “Yes sir!”

The team quickly scrambled back to the entrance of the hallway.

Once they were completely gone, Kazuma became visible once more, using his lurk ability to hide in the shadows far ahead of them.

(Kazuma) “Clear.”

Darkness, Megumin, and Aqua poked their heads from the corner and slowly walked to the bodies.

(Darkness) “These wounds don’t appear to be physical...”

Their armor had burn marks, suggesting whatever attacked them was magic based.

(Megumin) “Could be someone from House Isekai.”

(Kazuma) “Doubt it. If it was Class VII or any of the Persona users, they would’ve knocked them out. And if it was Nazarick, there wouldn’t have been anything to find except the blood.”

(Aqua) “Whatever it is, I hope we don’t find out...”

(Kazuma) “If we can follow those knights out, we may be able to find an exit out of here. At the very least we’ve figured out this is Abyss.”

(Darkness) “Then that means the Church won the battle while we were away if they’re down here.”

(Kazuma) “Damn. Well come on, we’re wasting ti-”

(Aqua) “Crap, in front of us!”

Everyone turned around and saw a torch light coming around the corner where the patrol of knights went out of.

The four could hear the heavy footsteps of armor marching towards them.

(Kazuma) “You gotta be-Shit, alright! Come on, we’re going back the way we came and we’re choosing a different way, MOVE YOUR ASSES!”

...

Ainz and his group eventually made his way to a flight of stairs upwards into the Monastery, arriving near the old student dorms.

It was nighttime when they emerged, the moonlight covering the entire monastery in a soft white glow.

Albedo looked around first, giving the all clear signal.

The Pleiades maids took positions around the walls to find any knights, but were unable to.

(Aura) “No life detected up here, Lord Ainz. Just us.”

(Mare) “W-Where are all the soldiers?”

(Ainz) “Good question...”

Sebas opened one of the student’s doors and looked around, noticing how dusty it was, with cobwebs formed all over it.

The Pleiades maids did the same, opening up the dorms room by room.

(Yuri Alpha) “Strange. We fell into the canyon when it was late afternoon. By all accounts, the rooms should be relatively unchanged and soldiers should be all over the Monastery.”

(Solution) “Yet everything looks like its been abandoned for years.”

(Pandora’s Actor) “Perhaps it’s been more than a few days than our awakening?”

(Cocytus) “I DOUBT THAT THIS AMOUNT OF AGING COULD HAPPEN IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.”

(Ainz) “...We will investigate the dorm rooms. Sebas, you and the Pleiades will check our surroundings and make sure no surprises await us.”

(Sebas) “My Lord.”

The Pleiades knelt down quickly, then jumped onto the rooftops and began their scouting.

(Shalltear) “...This quiet is troubling me.”

(Demiurge) “It’s as Mare asks, where are the soldiers? If the Church was victorious, we should have seen multiple sentries on the way. And the same goes for the Imperials.’

(Ainz) “Let us keep looking. If we see anyone, we take them prisoner and find out what we know. No killing.”

Everyone nodded and went on to investigating the dorms and the nearby greenhouse.

Narberal and Solution went to the graveyards as their sisters looked elsewhere.

They said nothing as they looked over the walls and into the nearby rooms, weapons drawn.

Still nothing.

Narberal took a quick glance at the graves then back at the classes-...

Something wasn’t right.

She turned back to the graves and noticed one had been dug up.

Narberal looked to Solution and hit the nearby stones loud enough for her sister to hear.

Solution saw Narberal motion her head downwards, and they went down to the entrance of the graves and went towards the dug up grave.

Solution nodded as to keep watch while Narberal knelt down to get a better look.

While embarassingly enough, she couldn’t actually read the language of Fodlan, she was able to decipher the name of who the dug up grave belonged to.

‘Sitri’.

Narberal furrowed her brow.

‘Sitri’. Sitri was that woman who was Byleth’s mother and Aelfric fused with during that incident with the Ashen Wolves earlier in the year.

She and Lord Ainz were one of the few who personally made sure that her body was put to rest, so why was the coffin gone?

Narberal put her fingers to her ear for a message.

(Narberal) “Lord Ainz. This is Narberal Gamma.”

(Ainz’s Voice) “Report.”

(Narberal) “No one has been spotted yet, but there is something...troubling, to say the least that I have discovered. It’s about Sitri, her grave has been dug up.

(Ainz’s Voice) “...How recent was it?”

Narberal poked at the dirt and noticed how soft it was.

(Narberal) “Very recent. As to where the person who dug it up went, I am unsure of.”

(Ainz’s Voice) “...Hmph. This is Lord Ainz, everyone regroup at the dorms, I think we finally have a lead.”

Ainz started making his way back to the entrance of Abyss.

(Cocytus) “WE ARE HEADED BACK IN?”

(Ainz) “Yes. Someone has very recently dug up the grave of Byleth’s mother.”

(Albedo) “What could anyone in this world possibly want with a corpse of a woman?”

(Ainz) “If it’s anything like last time, nothing good...”

...

Yuri opened the door to the Ashen Wolves’ old hangout spot and revealed Constance, Hapi, and Balthus in the room.

(Hapi) “Hey Yuri-bird...Well, aren’t you guys a sight for sore eyes?”

(Megumi) “Thank goodness, you’re all okay!”

(Constance) “Hah, but of course we are! A few grunt soldiers aren’t enough to stop a Nuve-”

(Balthus) “HAH! I knew it! There’s no way that you guys died during that battle!”

(Constance) “H-Hey, I was talking!-”

(Yuki) “You all look so different...!”

(Hapi) “And...you guys look exactly the same?”

(Constance) “Huh. Now that you mention it, they don’t look any different despite the years that have passed.”

(Miki) “What is going on here...?”

(Yuri) “When we get out of here, we can start speculating on that all we like. Right now, we’re not the only ones down here besides the Knights.”

(Balthus) “Think whoever it was caused that explosion?”

(Yuri) “Definitely.”

(Yuki) “Maybe it’s others from House Isekai?”

(Constance) “I sincerely doubt any of your friends are that stupid to give away their location like that!”

(Everyone) “...”

(Constance) “...Okay, maybe there’s just a few of them that would.”

(Megumi) “Actually if I can ask, what are you four doing back here in Abyss if the Church has occupied it?”

(Hapi) “At first, it was just to keep our promise we made to Byleth and your class, to meet up here five years later for the Millennium festival. We still got about 4 days before that actually happens but we figured it’d be better to come here early.”

(Constance) “And from what we have gathered, it hasn’t been a full occupation by the Church. I think these men were sent here to assess the damage from the battle and see how much forces were needed to take it back.”

(Balthus) “As we were sneaking through, we heard a loud explosion, which alerted the knights as well.”

(Kurumi) “How deep in Abyss was that explosion?”

(Yuri) “We were originally near it, actually. I heard some voices which sounded like yours, so I followed it, since it didn’t sound like the knights. Lo and behold, it was you all.”

(Balthus) “And since we have those extra days, we might as well investigate it and take care of any knights in our way! You still know how to swing that shovel, Kurumi?”

Kurumi smiled and swung the shovel up onto her shoulder.

(Kurumi) “You bet I do!”

(Constance) “Fantastic! We do not know what’s down there, so we’ll need all the help we can get!”

(Hapi) “As for the rest of you, we’ll find you a weapon on the way so you can at least defend yourselves. Now let’s go ahead and get moving, we’re sitting ducks right now.”

Everyone gathered their gear and went outside the room, traversing deeper into Abyss.

...

Kazuma leaned on the wall as he was running out of breath. He checked behind him, and Megumin and Aqua were in the same state.

Darkness was perfectly fine, not even breaking a sweat from all that chasing.

He looked around the room and noticed it was very spacious, almost like an arena of some sort.

(Megumin) “I...think I’ve been down here before actually.”

(Aqua) “Really? When?”

(Kazuma) “Not important right now! Did we lose them?”

(Captain’s voice) “SPREAD OUT! I WANT THEM CAPTURED ALIVE!”

(Kazuma) “...Shit.”

(Megumin) “O-Oh, I know! We can go down there!”

There was a stairway that had a soft orange glow radiating from a doorway at the end of it.

(Darkness) “Well, if it comes to fighting, we may as well fight where we can see them!”

(Kazuma) “We are NOT going into that deathtrap just so your libido can get satisfied!”

(Darkness) “W-Wha?! I’m being serious!”

(Knight) “I think I heard something!”

(Aqua) “Deathtrap it is! UP UP UP WE GO!”

Aqua ran first down the stairs, followed by Megumin. Kazuma groaned but followed in suit, Darkness going last.

Aqua threw the door open, stopping dead in her tracks with eyes going wide.

They all collided into each other and fell onto the floor.

(Kazuma) “Hey, why the hell did you-...” !!! “...S-Stop...?”

[Those Who Sow Darkness - Fire Emblem Three Houses OST]

The room they were in seemed like a chamber, but it was covered in blood with bodies dressed in black strewn all over the floors. Some were torn in half while some other bodies were missing heads.

Despite all that, that wasn’t what caught everyone’s attention.

It was an open coffin, with a body inside of it that was disturbingly clean.

And the body that was very much alive standing over it.

It was a figure dressed in black like the rest of the corpses in the room, and it slowly turned around to face the four.

(???) “What do we have here?”

A man’s voice came from the figure, but he was wearing a mask, making it impossible to tell who it was.

Everyone quickly got up and drew their weapons.

(???) “Ah. I had mistaken you as part of those zealous knights, but no, you are something far more interesting! You are one of the last part of Byleth’s little class!”

(Aqua) “Who are you, creep?!”

(???) “...Let’s just say, someone who knows what will happen if I were to harm any of you.”

(Kazuma) “Yeah, we’d put you into the dirt!”

(???) “I doubt by the likes of you idiots. No, it is your teacher who would see my head mounted on his wall. He’s become something of a reaper to our group as of late...”

(Aqua) “You think we need Byleth to kick your sorry ass? TURN UNDEAD!”

Aqua raised her hand at the figure, but nothing happened. Not even a glow of light emitted from her palm.

(???) “....Even if that spell WERE to work, I assure you, I am VERY much alive! Not unlike my poor colleagues here. And I told them to be careful as well...”

(Aqua) “M-My spells aren’t working?!”

(???) “I silenced the room, so to speak. No magic spells, not even mine, will work unless I say so. I anticipated you all to be the more threatening of your group here, but it seems I overreacted.”

(Kazuma) “Wait a- YOU’RE ONE OF THOSE DAMN MOLE PEOPLE WITH THE GOD AWFUL NAME!”

(Everyone) ?

(???) “’...Just so I never have to hear us referred to as ‘Mole-people’ ever again, you may call us Agarthans. We, are true sons and daughters of humanity, fighting against that bastard Seiros! And considering what has happened to you all, we need not be adversaries.”

(Darkness) “And side with the very people who murdered Byleth’s father and countless students, do you think us THAT stupid?!”

(???) “That was a poor display by my colleagues, and something I voiced against, if you choose to believe it.”

(Megumin) “Alright, sure, we believe you. Now what’s with that body?!”

(???) “Hmph. I thought it was obvious enough. Though unfortunately for you all, that is all the explanations you are getting from me, it seems we have overstayed our welcome.” 

Knights burst into the room and completely covered the entrance.

(Captain) “Freeze! Don’t move a-...What in the goddess’s name?!”

(Knight) “Sir, those are Imperials!”

(Captain) “SEIZE THEM!”

(???) “I’d advise you four to get down.”

The four turned around and saw the blood rising into the air and going into the body in the coffin.

And a dark purple light emitting from the man’s hand.

(Kazuma) “OH SHIT!”

Kazuma grabbed the three and jumped to the side, a dark spell hitting the Captain first, and the explosion catching the knights.

The entire squad exploded into bits with their limbs slamming against the wall.

All the blood that shot out from their bodies was pulled into the coffin like mist.

The man walked away as the last of the blood began to dissipate and he turned to Kazuma.

(Kazuma) “What, you too lazy to pick that corpse up with you?”

(???) “She is a corpse no longer. Though, she may need a little more lifeforce, but I’m sure you’ll find a way. Consider it my gift to you...Oh, and before I forget, I recommend you steel yourself for battle. We accidentally triggered some form of defense while traversing the depths to get her.”

Before anyone could respond, he teleported away.

(Aqua) “Damn it, that little prick got away!”

(Darkness) “...What did he mean by ‘she’?”

The four got up and went to the coffin.

Megumin gasped audibly seeing who was inside.

(Megumin) “Sitri?!”

(Aqua) “What the- what were they doing with her?!”

(Sitri) “...N-Ngh...!”

(Everyone) ?!

(Kazuma) “What the fuck- Is that what all the blood was going into?!”

(Aqua) “I-I could try healing magic-”

(Megumin) “Hold up a second! I think dark magic was used for this to even happen, I think holy skills would hurt her!”

(Darkness) “C-Can we even trust the words of that man?!”

(Kazuma) “Shit, well we gotta do something to get some life into her and-...”

Kazuma grabbed Darkness’s neck and Sitri’s hand, using his skill life drain.

(Darkness) HOOUWAAAUAAAGGGGGGGGH?!

...

Sitri suddenly felt her body come back to life slowly, but surely. Her eyes opened slowly, but everything was too blurry to tell where she was.

Her sense of hearing was coming back as well, and she could hear several muffled voices.

Finally opening her eyes, Sitri was-

[We’re Hungry because We’re Alive - Konosuba OST]

(Kazuma) “HARUUKAACKFAAACK!-”

(Aqua) “Wow, that looks painful.”

(Megumin) “Doesn’t she get off on that?”

(Darkness) “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT TO ME AGAIN!”

(Kazuma) “EETWASHANEMERGENCHY!YOUHAVEMOSTHPOFAAACK!”

...Sitri was horribly confused.

(Megumin) “G-Guys, she’s awake!”

Darkness let go of Kazuma’s neck and he grabbed the side of the coffin almost tipping it over.

(Sitri) “W-Wha?!”

Darkness acted quickly and grabbed the other side of the coffin, though she accidentally grabbed it too hard, catapulting Sitri into the air.

(Sitri) “AAAAH!”

(Kazuma) “SHIT!”

Kazuma caught Sitri as she fell, which made him collapse into Aqua and Megumin as well.

(Aqua) “OW! DAMN IT KAZUMA!”

(Megumin) “Oof...”

(Darkness) “O-Oh! Ma’am, I am so sorry!”

(Sitri) “I...I...What?! Who are you people?!”

(Kazuma) “H-Hang on!”

Kazuma only helped Sitri up while the Megumin and Aqua had to get themselves up.

(Kazuma) “I’m Kazuma, that’s Megumin, Darkness, and Aqua.”

(Sitri) “...”

Sitri did not feel any less uncomfortable.

(Megumin) “Oh um...Miss Sitri, it’s nice to finally meet you!”

[To the Resting Place - Konosuba OST]

(Sitri) “You...know who I am?”

The three let Megumin in front, since she dealt with the incident regarding Sitri personally.

(Megumin) “Y-Yes. The four of us are students of Byleth, your son.”

Sitri looked shocked at first but smiled.

(Sitri) “Oh, Byleth became a teacher...”

Upon hearing that she started to laugh. Though, tears started to roll down her cheeks.

She wasn’t there to see her son grow up.

(Sitri) “How is he? A-As a teacher, I mean.”

(Megumin) “Hah well...He was a bit awkward at first, not knowing how to deal with the rest of the class. But overtime, he became such an inspiration to us all. I don’t think I’ve had any teacher as great as him.”

Sitri took a breath of relief.

(Sitri) “Then Jeralt raised him right...I knew he would. If I may ask, is his father doing alright?”

Sitri didn’t like the faces they suddenly made.

Aqua was about to say something, but Kazuma put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

Darkness looked down in silence while Megumin took off her hat and spoke in a more soft tone.

(Megumin) “I...I’m sorry to say Jeralt died, saving Byleth and several other students.”

Sitri stopped smiling.

(Sitri) “I...I see.”

(Darkness) “We personally took care of those responsible for his demise. We buried him alongside you, actually.”

Sitri nodded, and a sad smile was on her face.

(Sitri) “Thank you.”

...It took a second for Sitri to realize what she had said.

Buried Jeralt alongside her.

She’s alive.

She’s alive?

Why is she alive?

It was then she noticed what kind of state the room was in. The bodies and body parts lying everywhere.

(Sitri) “What...What happened here?!”

(Kazuma) “...That’s right. We HAVE to get out of here!”

(Aqua) “Wait a second, I hear footsteps!”

Everyone got into positions, Kazuma and Darkness at the front with Aqua and Megumin behind.

Megumin put her arm in front of Sitri.

(Megumin) “Don’t worry, we’ll protect you!”

The door swung open, and someone came charging in.

(Kurumi) “GET OUT OF OUR SCHOOL YOU PUNKS!-”

(Kazuma) “The fuc- WOAH WOAH WOAH!”

Kurumi stopped midway once she realized who they were and slipped, making her fall face first into the floor.

Her shovel went into the floor as well, making a loud clanging noise.

(Yuri) “Kurumi! You idiot, I said to...Wait...Kazuma?”

(Kazuma) “Yuri, Ebisuzawa?! HOLY SHIT, YOU GUYS ARE...Dude your hair, how did it-”

Kurumi peeled herself off the floor and grabbed her shovel.

(Kurumi) “SATOU! YOU GUYS ARE OKAY!”

She hugged Kazuma which made him go stiff.

(Kazuma) “H-Hey, let go of me!”

Kazuma’s group relaxed and put away their weapons.

(Darkness) “Finally, some friendly faces!”

The rest of the School-Living Club and Ashen Wolves went into the room.

(Megumi) “Oh, thank goodness, you’re safe!”

(Aqua) “Megunee! You will not BELIEVE what we just went through!”

(Hapi) “Hm. Finally some good news for a-...?!”

(Constance) “Hapi? What is the ma-...!?”

Yuri and Balthus noticed it too and were as silent as them.

(Yuuri) “...Who’s the woman in the back?”

(Miki) “Isn’t her hair color a bit like...?”

(Yuki) “Byleth-sensei’s!”

Megumi and Kurumi looked at Sitri as well, the room going dead silent.

(Yuri) “She’s...She’s alive.”

Sitri felt tense, not knowing what to say to the group staring at her.

(Sitri) “Um...”

Rumble...!

(Kazuma) “The hell?”

(Yuri) “Tch, now that one sounded close!”

(Kurumi) “Is the place coming apart or something?”

(Balthus) “Don’t think we should stick around to find out!”

(Yuri) “Move it people, we’re leaving Abyss!”

Everyone nodded, dashing out the room.

Megumin held onto Sitri’s hand as she dragged her along with the others.

They made their way into the center of the arena, going into the hallway the entered in.

(Yuri) “Hapi, how close was that explosion to us?!”

KAFOOOOOM!

The wall in front of them completely exploded, shooting stone everywhere.

[In the Name of Ainz Ooal Gown - OVERLORD OST]

(Megumi) “OH MY GOD!”

A giant golem was being smashed into pieces by a an armor clad figure with an axe almost as big as the figure was.

From the hole created, several maids jumped into the battle and started severing the golem’s limbs.

(Constance) “Wait a moment, battle maids? I know who they are! NARBERAL!”

Narberal and Albedo finished smashing the head into pieces killing the golem, but her face twitched upon hearing the voice.

(Narberal) “Oh, please not her-.”

(Constance) “HAVE I MISSED YOUR COMPANY DEAR NABE!”

The other maids began to laugh as Narberal refused to turn around.

(Kazuma) “A-Albedo, is that you?!”

(Albedo) “Ah, the other members of House Isekai. For once, I am glad to see you humans safe.” 

The rest of Nazarick came through and noticed who she was talking to.

(Aura) “Hey, the School-Living Club!”

(Shalltear) “Surprising, Kazuma’s group is somehow alive.”

(Cocytus) “I AM GLAD TO SEE MY FELLOW STUDENTS SAFE, IT SEEMS THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES HERE IN ABYSS.”

(Ainz) “Everyone, focus! We’re not out just yet!”

(Demiurge) “Oh? I believe we just found our missing body.”

Sitri was scared by what she was seeing since most of these ‘classmates’ weren’t humans.

(Narberal) “Hmph. So they found Sitri. I suppose I should say good job.”

(Kazuma) “S-Shit that’s right! The defense mechanisms!”

(Yuri) “Defense mechanisms? What do you mean?!”

...

(Ainz) “So, now that we’ve successfully revived her, every monster that’s down here is about to come on top of our heads.”

(Kurumi) “Welp, that’s just great! Why did they only activate now though, she was brought out of her resting place before, right?!”

(Yuri) “No idea. I guess that’s something we’ll have to interrogate that black hooded bastard for! Miss Eisner, can you keep up with us on your own? We’re going to need every fighter we can get.”

(Sitri) “Y-Yes!”

(Kazuma) “It’s a long climb up. There’s a lot of us, but no doubt there’s going to be a big bad monster after our asses.”

(Ainz) “So, it’s just like a raid...Heheh...”

(Everyone) ?

(Ainz) “Perfect. EVERYONE! Our duty is to escape with everyone, no man left behind.”

(Yuri) “Uh...what is he doing?”

(Kazuma) “S-SHSHSHHH! He’s having a moment where he actually knows what to do, don’t let him get distracted!”

Pretending to not have heard that, Ainz continued.

(Ainz) “You will protect Sitri as if she were me, and I will tolerate no excuses if any harm is to come to her! Pleiades, you will guard the rear, taking care of any of the lower mobs that will inevitably aggro to us.”

(Sebas & Yuri Alpha) “Understood, my lord!”

(Ainz) “Albedo, you will be the vanguard, drawing anything to you. Shalltear, Mare, the Ashen Wolves and Kazuma’s group will be accompanying you. Remaining in the middle will be the School-Living Club, Sitri, Demiurge, Cocytus, Aura, and Pandora’s Actor. Pandora’s actor will be leading Alliance A, Sebas will lead Alliance B, and I will lead Alliance C.”

(Everyone) “Yes, Lord Ainz!”

(Yuri) “Wow, that’s the most organized I’ve seen him-”

(Shalltear) “Watch your tongue, human.”

The floor beneath them began to rumble.

(Ainz) “GET WITH YOUR PARTY, NOW!”

Everyone scrambled to their positions.

(Ainz) “Now...

Time to make our escape!”

[Clash - OVERLORD OST]

Albedo charged into the hallways first, Alliances A and B following closely behind. 

(Ainz) “Yuri, you know the way out of here?”

(Yuri) “Yeah, we take a left once we get to the next intersection of hallways!”

They rounded the corner and found what Yuri was talking about.

Before they could progress any further, they were stopped by several knights.

(Knight) “FREEZE!”

Albedo raised her axe and cleaved the first knight in half, twirling it to the other side and decapitating another that tried to swing his sword.

A knight further back raised his bow and aimed it at Albedo.

(Kazuma) “STEAL!”

A glowing light came out of Kazuma’s hand, a small gust of wind blew past everyone.

The archer noticed something felt colder, but he still had his bow and arrow.

(Kazuma) “AW, FUCKING GROSS!”

He dropped the knight’s underwear and wiped his hand on his jeans.

The knight was distracted long enough for a spell to hit him in the stomach, sending him flying back.

(Shalltear) “Hah, I can see your priorities clearly, Satou!”

(Kazuma) “LIKE YOU’RE ONE TO TALK!”

(Yuri) “Now, to the left!”

Meanwhile at the back, CZ used her rifle to blast away any incoming automatons of Abyss charging at them.

Once one got close enough, Sebas’s fist came into contact with its head at almost blinding speeds, sending the body flying back and hitting several others after them.

Narberal casted lightning through her fingertips and shot it at the group that Sebas had knocked down, causing them to explode into debris.

Several more came barreling in, everyone doing their best to not let a single one through.

Lupusregina skewered one with her staff while Entoma had hundreds of insects shoot out of her sleeve and eat away at another, though two slipped past them.

Yuri grabbed one as it was rushing up the hallway and smashed its head into the wall, Solution catching the other one by deforming her arm into a whip-like slime arm.

It struggled to move as Kurumi knocked its head off with her shovel, with Cocytus stabbing the body with a single arm.

Before Kurumi could take a breath, she noticed even more coming towards them.

(Kurumi) “You gotta be kidding me!”

(Pandora’s Actor) “Father, it looks like they’re increasing the number of automatons! How is our escape looking?”

(Ainz) “1. Don’t call me that, and 2.-”

Ainz casted a fireball and lit a Knight on fire, everyone else caught into a fight.

(Ainz) “-Get up here and prepare for a fight!”

Yuri dodged out the way of a knight swinging his sword, and countered with his own attack, the slash catching the knight in the chest.

Before another knight could get Yuri from behind, Balthus kicked him down and stomped on his head.

Constance, Hapi, and Shalltear casted a spell together, creating a giant pillar of light that disentigrated a group of knights coming at them.

(Aqua) “Incoming right!”

Albedo swung her axe and slammed it to her right, chopping off the top half of a knight using the shadows to ambush them. She looked down the hall and saw a massive bridge in front of them.

(Darkness) “That’s right near the entrance to Abyss!”

Another knight came up from behind, and Darkness slashed her sword at his head.

(Knight) “...H-Huh?”

(Albedo) “YOU MISSED?!”

(Darkness) “DON’T MAKE FUN OF ME!”

Mare’s staff hit the leg of the knight, snapping it completely backwards, making him scream.

(Mare) “It’s probably too dark for you to hit accurately, right?”

(Darkness) “Y-Yes, that’s exactly it!”

(Kazuma) “SHUT UP AND KEEP MOVING.”

Kazuma cast an enemy detection skill and noticed a large one coming from below the bridge, at a rapid speed.

(Kazuma) “Ooooh, SHIT! EVERYONE, WE NEED TO GET OVER THAT BRIDGE NOW! SOMETHING BIG IS COMING!”

Alliance C stood at the exit of the bridge fighting off any automaton while the other two alliances caught up.

Alliance B went first, Yuri Alpha and Sebas killing any knight that was coming to them, with Alliance A coming into the middle.

Alliance C went onto the bridge once the last members passed by, all dashing to the middle of the room.

Right as Megumin was the last one to pass the bridge, a massive automaton emerged from the depths, smashing the bridge into pieces.

(Ainz) “Hah, it actually is like a raid, now we’ve reached the boss!”

(Yuri) “H-How are we supposed to fight that?!”

(Ainz) “TANKS, FRONT AND CENTER!”

Albedo and Darkness ran to the front, weapons at the ready.

(Ainz) “Now, YOU WILL SEE THE FULL MIGHT OF-”

(Kazuma) “Fuck that, MEGUMIN, LIMIT BREAK TIME!”

(Megumin) “...Does that mean-”

(Kazuma) “YES, KABOOM, HURRY YOUR ASS!”

(Yuuri) “Uh oh.”

(Sitri) “K-Kaboom? What does that-”

(Yuki) “IT MEANS GET DOWN!”

The room around them turned into a dark orange as Megumin aimed her staff at the automaton.

“EXPLOOOOOOOOOOOOOSION!”

A tiny ball of flame appeared below the automaton, then erupted into a blinding light, and shook the entire room so violently that any pillars near them completely melted into ash from the explosion.

It sent everyone flying back from the sheer force of the explosion being so close.

When everyone opened their eyes, it was completely gone.

(Sitri) “...o-ow...”

(Megumin) “YEAAAAH! I DID IT!”

WHAP!

Megumin slammed face first into the floor.

(Everyone) “...”

[Duty Complete (Victory theme) - Final Fantasy XIV OST]

DADADADA DA DA DA DADA DAAAAAAAAAAAA!

(Sitri) “Is she going to be okay?”

(Aqua) “She’s used to it. She’s actually learned how to break her fall better since she started.”

(Sitri) “So this happens regularly?!”

(Yuri) “With these idiots, yeah. With us? They’re about as foreign to us as we are to you...”

(Ainz) “Everyone, you did well. I could not be any more proud of you all.”

(Albedo) “Hah, your praise is too much, Lord Ainz!”

(Cocytus) “WE ONLY DID WHAT WE WERE EXPECTED TO.”

(Ainz) “Part of me wishes that raid could’ve gone a bit longer...A-ANYWAYS...”

Before Ainz could finish his sentence, everyone began to hear clapping.

[Those Who Sow Darkness - Fire Emblem Three Houses OST]

They all turned to where the sound was coming from, and saw a man in black with a mask clapping his hands together.

(???) "Bravo, bravo! The others were already afraid of what your class was capable of, but once they get word of this, they'll be pissing themselves, haha!"

Everyone drew their weapons at him and he sighed in response.

(???) "...You still don't trust me. Eh, fair enough. Not like I'm exactly comfortable with you offworlders either."

The man turned to Sitri.

(???) "And its good to see you out and about, Sitri! Byleth will be happy with that at least."

(Sitri) "What do you know about my son, who are you?!"

(???) "...You may call me Lahabrea. I only know what I've been told from Thales and reports...and the few conversations I've held with him.”

(Megumi) "If you even laid a finger-"

(Lahabrea) "Hah! And get between him and his little crusade? I'd rather live, thank you...Though right now with your class's appearance all over Fodlan these past few years, he's not as ruthless as he used to be."

(Ainz) "Years?"

(Lahabrea) "I'm not the right person for THAT conversation. You have mister Leclerc for discussing how many years have passed. For now, I leave you in good faith, with your gift. Your other friends will be showing up in the next few days, so I'll be taking my leave. I feel as if I'm not welcome here anyway."

He raised his to his face and an aura of energy surrounded him.

(Lahabrea) "Oh, and the only thing I ask of you is to give a message to Byleth when he comes. Lahabrea sends his regards."

With that, he teleported away.

(Kurumi) "The heck is that supposed to mean?"

(Yuri) "...Before we get too settled in, lets get out of here. Last I checked the surface of Garreg Mach was clear."

Yuri motioned everyone to follow, and they all finally left Abyss together.

The next morning, everyone met up in the mess hall, answering each other’s questions of what happened in the past, what has been happening, and what House Isekai is to Sitri.

Sitri is utterly fascinated by this fifth house, sounding almost like a fairy tale, heroes coming into another world to save it and its people.

(Sitri) "House Isekai sounds..."

(Ainz) "Impossible?"

(Megumi) "Insane?"

(Kazuma) "Stupid?"

(Sitri) "Unique, actually. My son must be proud to have you all as his students but...what happened to him?"

(Yuuri) "The last I remember, Rean had his giant robot thing teleport Byleth away when we fell..."

(Megumi) "I hope he's okay..."

(Ainz) "I sincerely doubt anything would actually be able to harm him."

(Aqua) "Somethings been bothering me about that actually. We fell down that cliff, so how are we still alive, much less be here five years later?"

(Kurumi) "...When we woke up, I heard a voice gently talking to me...then it uh...screamed at me to wake up like she was my mom."

(Albedo) "Odd. That's what happened to us as well, though...that voice sounded familiar."

(Constance) "So, that answers how you all awoke, but how many others are here too?"

(Yuri) "The way that Lahabrea guy was speaking made it sound like some others of House Isekai made it here before you guys."

(Kazuma) "He said to my group that we were among the last to arrive. So how long have the others been here before we woke up?"

(Sitri) “And...why did he resurrect me?”

Everyone remained silent, trying to think of some possible answer.

(Yuri) “...Well, now that we cleared things up for Sitri-”

Yuri put his cup down on the table and looked to House Isekai’s members.

(Yuri) “-It’s about time we tell you guys what’s happened with the war.”

(Kazuma) “So, who’s winning, the Empire or the Church?”

The Ashen wolves looked at each other.

(Balthus) “About that...-”

-----

Outside Garreg Mach

Dimitri stared up at the Monastery silently.

It had been five long years since he last laid his eyes on it.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw someone walk towards him.

(Dimitri) "Edelgard..."

Edelgard stopped in front of him and the two remained silent.

Dimitri's solemn expression turned into a wide smile.

He raised his hand, and Edelgard grabbed his, both holding each others arms firmly.

(Dimitri) "Hah, it is good to see you again."

(Edelgard) "Likewise, old friend. It's been far too long."

The two turned to face Garreg Mach.

(Dimitri) “Best not to keep anyone waiting, right?”

(Edelgard) “After you.”

----

Year 1, Ruined building in Faerghus territory...

Byleth walked alone through the streets of this small town. He didn’t know what it was called.

All he knew was that it was destroyed in the last massive battle that took place here.

Imperial and Kingdom soldiers lay dead as he passed them by, not bothering to check if anyone’s breathing.

He stopped walking after a minute and reached for the Sword of the Creator.

Byleth activated the whip function of his sword before a voice spoke up.

(Man’s Voice) “I’m not here to attack you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Byleth slowly turned around and saw a man dressed in black, leaning against a wall.

It was nighttime and the area was almost pitch black, but Byleth could tell immediately what he was.

(Byleth) “Give me one reason I shouldn’t cut off your head right now, Agarthan.”

(???) “I can give you two, actually. One: Because I’m the first to actually talk to you instead of attacking, unlike the rest of the idiots who tried doing that. I doubt anyone who knew the reputation of the Ashen Demon would even come within a 100 mile radius of you.”

(Byleth) “And two?”

(???) “I can give you the power you seek to destroy the Church. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all.”

(Byleth) “...Just who are you?”

The man stepped forward and the light revealed that he was wearing a mask that covered his face.

(???) “You may call me...Lahabrea.”

PART 1: END

[Escape - Darling in the FranXX OST]

The forecasted rain wets us

What should I say to you, as you tremble? My soaked blazer is cold and heavy

I feel as helpless as a chick who's left its cage. I felt that my dreams were on the other side of the heavy clouds

I digested only the sweet pain that spread in my chest

I wonder if it'd be better if I'd never met you

Hey, I can't even see the stars

Hey, my tears won't fall either

To Be Continued in:

[bladekindeyewear]

Time to read hs^2′s third non-bonus update!  I have not had a single portion of an image spoiled this time, and have no damn idea what it’s about.  Not even any asks in my inbox.  Will we have more of Ghostflusters, maybe a reason Jane didn’t know he was gone even when he supposedly received divorce papers?  A cut back to the good guys in pursuit of Dirk and crew?  Will Jade be a black-eyed zombie, or finally fucking awake like she deserves to be???

Let’s find out!

Oh god damn everything, please no.  ==>

...Oh!

Oh that’s MUCH better than it could’ve been!  We’re still in Candyverse, but cutting over to the Vriskas’ perspectives.  So that on the right would be the “mostly identical” Vriska who Rose and Kanaya raised, and the aforementioned logistics are just dealing with a dead clown body (that hopefully isn’t being refrigerated in the unseen spot Dirk was hiding from Terezi on their ship).

Kid Vriska looks pretty cool!  A fair bit Aranea-y, with that collar feeling like a nice hint of the Pagey version of her who originally earned the (Vriska) title.

(Vriska) pockets John’s phone before she can worry too much about waiting for a reply from Terezi.

Right, stolen phone... an anon in my inbox pointed out that Vriska “has a direct line out to Terezi” because of it, but I didn’t take it that seriously because I thought it wouldn’t come into play at all later.  Guess I was wrong, with the narrative taking the trouble to point it out-- especially considering that whatever she said, she EXPECTS a possible reply.

Other than some fun banter, I can’t figure out where this particular upd8 is going.

> (==>)

Oh that is a smug, self-satisfied Vriska look if I ever saw one.  (Vriska) over here is still dust under her heels, isn’t she?

VRISKA: If you want to keep Hanging Out, I mean. Which I assume you Do.

Holy shit, she’s throwing a bit of Kanaya Caps in her language.  That’s SUPER adorable.  That was probably in Candy too and I just forgot about it.

VRISKA: So, Nickname me, 8itch. And make it Cute.

Huh!  You don’t stake too much on your name, then?

> (==>)

Vrissy!  That’s surprisingly genial of you, it’s pretty damn good.

VRISSY: So now that we have that locked down, what’s First on the list of Awesome Shit we’re gonna do Together?

Oh no.  No, no Vrissy, you’re gonna be disappointed.  :(

VRISSY: I told you already, I don’t ever get up to Anything nearly as Interesting as you did. VRISKA: Till now ;;;;) VRISSY: Heh. Yeah.

...yeah, FUCK.  Vrissy is gonna get used and thrown away so fucking hard.  The slightest ounce of hero worship thrown Vriska’s way is an ounce that’s gonna get exploited to hell and back.

I suppose from here we’re going into the rebellion, aren’t we?  I hope badass eyepatch Karkat doesn’t look too silly in this art style.

> (==>)

God, this art style is so CLEAN and makes her look so ADORABLE.

--ah, okay.  We’re gonna see how the dynamic between Vrissy and human Kid-Tavros works.  Hope this won’t be too painful.  Besides, like... the kind of hilarious starting-pain that she’s asking HIM to help take care of a dead body.

VRISSY: That was Tavros. He’s on his way.

Oh man, Vriska didn’t know.  :D

> (==>)

Huh!  That’s a more thoughtful expression than I was expecting.

VRISKA: Unless he’ll rat us out to his mom???????? VRISSY: Nah. He’ll get too much of a Kick out of seeing this dead Piece of Shit, don’t Worry.

Oh man.  Tavros’ll probably just be sad or freaked out a bit, but what I wouldn’t give for our first look at him to be him dancing on this clown’s grave.

> (==>)

Vrissy hates that ostentatious prick-mobile, mostly because it is not her ostentatious prick-mobile.

Heheheh.

Hm?  “Actual spy shit”, other than hiding a body?  Did you have some bigger anti-Crocker stuff in mind, Vrissy?

> (==>)

Oh Jiminy Christmas!!!  You’re the spitting image of your parents!  And, like... perfectly visually suited to induce Vriska-macking, unwanted or otherwise.

> (==>)

TAVROS: These are normal things you expect to happen, when you are picking up your kismesis and her,,,, ah,,, new friends,

Oh right, that’s the relationship.  More that I forgot from Candy.

VRISSY: Who is VERY Cool and Sexy with her Eyepatch--

--remind me again why Vriska has an eyepatch?  Something in the Lord English fight, a stray shard of universe fabric inflicting more random meaningful damage?  *Looks it up.*  Oh huh, so THAT was the vague damage to her head she played off-- the shard literally got her eye and she refused to admit it to herself or the narrative.  I was wondering about that weird damage back when I read it, but never inferred the answer.  And did she put the eyepatch on when she landed in Candy?  *Looks that up*  Wait, no, it couldn’t have hit her eye.  From Candy:

Vriska’s face snaps up, eyes blazing. Eyes. Actual eyes, with expression, color, pupils, and everything.

[...]  There’s a bleeding gash on her head and something lodged in her chest.

Okay, fuck.   Then whence the fucking eyepatch?  *Keeps skimming Candy...*

(VRISKA): The 8attle was hitting its clim8x when I got hit in the head with... with...

(Vriska) paws at her head wound, fingers numb and vision blurry.

(VRISKA): Wh8tever the fuck it was that hit me in the head!

Hmm?

JOHN: do you wanna see a doctor for that or something? (VRISKA): No!!!!!!!! (VRISKA): I w8nt to know what the fuck is GOING ON!!!!!!!!

Hmmmm.....  *Keeeeps reading...*

Dammit, that’s all there is.  So this is an inference either Andrew intended or the other authors/artists did from the tail end of all that -- Vriska either took head damage that deprived her of sight in that eye, made it more light-sensitive/blurry, OR that eyepatch is essentially a makeshift bandage over the bleeding parts.  (Which might remain medically necessary, or she might just keep wearing for style points.)  Hmm.

I’m mostly just relieved that whoever’s helping write HS^2 didn’t fuck up.  Okay, that’s enough Candy-digging, back to the story now:

After a few beats, he propels himself off the car like a swimmer at the sound of a gun, his body plunging in a graceful arc toward his goal.

Huh?  I mean, good execution, very Jake, but... huh?  Is someone gonna get clobbered?  Vrissy?  The corpse?

> (==>)

Ooh, the corpse!  Yes!!!  Kick that corpse.

Why did the head honk?  Hopefully this stays a corpse.  (I’m surprised his strikes are as weak as the narrative’s saying; even if he’s really Tavros-natured, he’s still the son of two of the strongest, fisticuff-iest players.  Kind of a rebellion against his parents both, then?)

> (==>)

--unrelated, I just saw the Bonus blinking with Catnapped Part 2.  Guess I won’t be finished once I’ve covered this, just yet.

VRISKA: I am in no place to 8egrudge a man his cathartic ass-kicking moment, but that was a loud fucking scream. VRISSY: No kidding. My ears are STILL ringing from your 8ig attempt at breaking the sound 8arrier.

Y’all are ones to talk, I just reread the part of Candy where you two found Vriska fucking Gamzee.

> (==>)

> (==>)

Please don’t move, clown.  Stay the fuck dead, please?

> (==>)

Calm down, Tav, you’ve got this.

> (==>)

Nice suspenders.

> (==>)

aaaaAAAAAAAAAAA WHO IS THIS AGAIN IS THIS HARRY OR SOMETHING IS THIS JOHN AND ROXY’S ASSHOLE KID

--sorry I got overexcited because I clicked next and saw that hair spiral aaaa.

...I hope it isn’t a DIFFERENT kid of theirs that I somehow forgot exists or such.  That’d be embarrassing.  This guy/girl/person looks infuriatingly suave, also.

> (==>)

YOU’RE SO CUTE IN A WAY THAT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE YOU’RE AN ASSHOLE.

--Yep, dialogue confirms it’s Harry Anderson.

Heh, he’s pulling an Early Acts John and not believing a word of it, but playing along.

There is no possible way that this stuff Vrissy is saying isn’t horeseshit, but he is not about to crack.

--just wanna point out the probably-typo before they fix it.

Ah, bringing it there.  Good luck, Harry.

> (==>)

Oh, that was fast.

> (==>)

...That’s what you get for relying on Harry.

> (==>)

VRISKA: We can just dump it in the inciner8or. That’s pro8a8ly what his plan was to 8egin with. VRISSY: The what???????? VRISKA: The inciner8or. Like, for 8odies?? VRISSY: At SCHOOL???????? VRISKA: Yes? TAVROS: It is somewhat pleasant to be reminded,,, in my darker moments,,,, that the grass is not really ever greener on Alternia,

No comment, this is just pretty hilarious.

I still keep revisiting how easily Vrissy gave up her given name, here.  As if she feels like her real name ought to be associated with the hero instead of her, in a kind of... lowkey low self-esteem way.

VRISSY: I should have known he was fucking with us. VRISSY: GOD he is such a Stupid 8astard.

--Well, they know each other well enough.

Hm.  Does Vriska think they can just kill any human kids they run into?

> (==>)

...GOSH, Vrissy is stupid adorable.  And like, shockingly chill, in general.

> (==>)

Huh.  Vrissy, are you chickening out on an adventure because you’re afraid you’ll get caught?  ...well, good for you, honestly!  Not that I think it’ll last.

...yup, there she goes after ‘em.

> (==>)

I think you’re still going to fuck up, Vriska.

> (==>)

None of them know where they are going, but Vriska is leading the way, hunched and purposeful

I guess none of this is surprising, really.

Is Jane going to, like... hear about the corpse found in a human school’s basement and blame the rebellion some more somehow?  Not that it matters, I guess.

There is something incredibly reassuring, Tavros thinks, about someone who has absolute outward confidence in themselves.

(There’d better not be any relationship conflict involving Vriska upcoming in the future.  BETTER not.)

> (==>)

Gamzee managing to fuck everything up even when he’s dead.

> (==>)

VRISKA: No, he’s right, I was going to count to eight.

Hah.

> (==>)

Are they gonna end up dumping him at Harry’s feet?

Nice way to force him out of school and into the rebellion, that.

> (==>)

VRISSY: Keep looking for Harry Anderson. He’s In The Shit with us now, whether he likes it or not.

Guess so!  Fair enough.

> (==>)

oh no

(I also understand why I haven’t gotten any asks about this upd8 yet.  This is mostly just character (re-)introductions and hijinks.  Totally up for some Harry, Vriska, Vrissy and Tavros adventures now that I can actually SEE them, it really adds a lot.)

> (==>)

And there it goes.  Slide into Harry’s classroom on the waterslick maybe?

> (==>)

The human students, trained to respond to a fire drill with speed and enthusiasm for missed class time, are out in the hall in a matter of seconds.

Oh, the worst possible outcome.  :D

> (==>)

Shit, they’re all on camera.  Nice job, Vriska!  Welcome to Earth.

> (==>)

> (==>)

Oh my fucking GOD, this image.  Vriska is LOVING the chaos!!!  She doesn’t even care!

VRISKA: I thought this planet was gonna be a snoozefest desert devoid of 8oth agency and fun, but I am honestly having a gr8 time.

Pfff.  I should’ve known.  She just cares about being where the Action Is, as Aradia put it at the end of Meat.

> (==>)

She sees it, and she can’t breathe. Her lover, her confidante, her clown of many years, being desecrated by a bunch of treasonous monsters.

You threw him out of a ship.

Yeah, of course she draws that conclusion.  Everything and everyone is either with her or against her, after all.

> (==>)

--Wait, you didn’t even know Tavros was missing until that moment???

So did the lawyers send the divorce papers on their own, or did the authors really just forget?

> (==>)

Your John is showing SO hard, Harry.

> (==>)

Congratulations!

> (==>)

Yep!

> (==>)

HARRY ANDERSON: oh fuck

*slow clap*

I’ll cover Catnapped 2 in a bit, though circumspectly as it’s a paid bonus.  See y’all!

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z Movie 12:  Fusion Reborn (3/6)

So Janemba’s messing with King Yemma, cutting off his authority over the boundary between the living and dead.  Yemma knew this would have dire consequences for the universe, and we see that manifest on Earth, where dead people are suddenly back from the grave.   For example, this family is at a cemetary to visit their grandfather’s grave, only to find him alive and well in his burial clothes no less.    He’s not a ghost or any other sort of apparition either; he has feet and everything.

Elsewhere, an older man named Romeo has a similar experience at the grave of his deceased lover, Juliano.   Or Julianne?    I don’t know.    You’d think they would have called her “Juliet” to play in with Romeo, except in the play they both died young.    Here, Romeo survived, and he’s and old man.

But Julianne hasn’t aged at all in the past sixty years since her death.   It kind of makes for an awkward reunion.   

Incidentally, Romeo has a crucifix, so this marks the first official appearance of Jesus Christ in Dragon Ball.  We’ve seen crosses and the name “Jesus Christ”, but this is an actual image of the Son of God Himself.    “But Lord, why are there no footprints in the sand during the most difficult parts of the journey?”  “Because that was when I Instant Transmissioned you, lol.”

Speaking of crosses, here’s Dracula, and I guess he was dead, until he came back today.   But he still has a wooden stake in his heart, which... okay why does he want it removed if it’s not killing him?  Why can’t he just take it out himself? Also, if Janemba’s powers are causing dead people to come back to life, shouldn’t Dracula turn back into a human?   

Meanwhile, some horde of invaders on horseback marches through traffic.    I think these are supposed to be Mongols, but I dunno.

They kind of get their thunder stolen when a second army of tanks shows up, let by Adolf Hitler.  I mean, it’s not quite Hitler.  His uniform is bright purple, and the real Hitler wouldn’t be leading a battalion of tanks into action.  But this movie never bothers to give him a satirical name, like “Dunkoff Shitler” or “Adenoid Hynkel” or whatever.   So I just refer to this guy as Hitler.   Same as that vampire from a minute ago.  

In any event, this guy’s obvious resemblance to Hitler is why his scenes were edited out in several countries, which have laws against depicting Nazi imagery.  For what it’s worth, the movie doesn’t really lose much with these scenes taken out.

Also, there’s just straight up zombies running around, which I don’t really understand, since Hitler and Julianne are fully alive.  But that’s the chaos of Janemba for you.  He’s not purposely doing any of this.   This is just the result of him cutting off King Yemma’s power to regulate the dead.

But don’t worry, folks, Gohan’s here and he’ll save the day, right after he finishes eating.

Goku may be dead, but his legacy lives on in his sons, Gohan and Goten.   Chi-Chi doesn’t mind doing all the dishes from the boys’ meals, but she does miss her husband at times like these.

So Videl offers to help with the dishes, but Chi-Chi’s like, no way, you’re a guest in this house.

But somehow we end up with Videl doing the dishes in the next scene.   This is one of my favorite animations in this movie.   With the sound effects, I could watch a loop of this all day. 

Chi-Chi is impressed, so she tells Videl that she’ll make a fine wife.  

And Videl’s all “Marriage?  Gawrsh!”   This is adorable.  She’s so worked up that she drops a dish.

But Chi-Chi doesn’t mind, because she still thinks Videl is cut out for married life.  In the manga, Chi-Chi wants Videl to marry Gohan so she can get a chunk of that sweet, sweet Mr. Satan fortune, but in this movie, I almost feel like she’s proposing to marry Videl herself.   “Marry me, Videl, so I may never have to wash a dish again!”  “Wh-what about Gohan?”  “What about Gohan?”

Then Videl breaks more dishes, but before she can clean them up, she gets a call from the Satan City Police, who inform her that the dead have risen and are overrunning the town.   Also, they ask her to contact Great Saiyaman.  Videl’s like “No problem, I’m at his house now.   I think his mom is coming on to me.”

“Stay away from my mom, Videl.”

Meanwhile, in Otherworld, Goku and Pikkon’s championship match is interrupted when a giant crystal sprouts out of the ring.

The Grand Kai believes the disturbance is coming from King Yemma’s domain, and he sends Pikkon to investigate.   But Goku doesn’t want him to go, since that would mean he’d win the tournament by forfeit.   So the Grand Kai orders Goku to go with Pikkon, and that works out, since Goku can teleport there.

When they arrive, they find everything all messed up.

Yemma somehow contacts them from within the barrier around his domain, and he points out Janemba on the roof.

Pikkon tries to ask Janemba to cut the shit, but Janemba either won’t cooperarte or he can’t understand him.   When Pikkon loses his patience, Big J flicks him into one of those floating jellybeans he made.

This catches Goku’s interest, and now he’s happy that they left the tournament for this, since Janemba seems like an even greater challenge.

Janemba seems to agree to tangling with Goku, so he suggests that Pikkon see to Yemma while Goku lures Janemba to hell, where he’ll be out of the way.

I’m not sure if there were already jellybeans in hell, or if Janemba brought a bunch down with him.  

Otherwise, Hell has experienced its own bizarre changes.  I’m not entirely sure what’s changed, since we only saw it twice in the entire run of the anime up until now, but I’m pretty sure all those humanoid-looking figures weren’t there before.

Janemba grabs a few and turns them into mini-clones of himself.

Goku thinks they look cute until they all start ganging up on him.

Fortunately, Goku can just beat them away with a few roundhouse kicks, and they all vanish.   The bad news is that the big Janemba won’t be that easy.

Back on Earth, Gohan’s having tons of fun clobbering zombies. 

Videl’s doing pretty well against them too, but the real question is: Why is this happening, and how do they stop it?   Gohan isn’t sure, but he’s confident that it’ll all work out with the two of them together. 

Videl’s charmed by his answer, but then--

Some jagoff intrudes on their moment.

Oh look, it’s this asshole.   Yeah, Frieza’s back and he’s in this movie too, along with Dracula, Hitler, and Jesus.  For those of you keeping score, that means Steel Ball Run, Hellsing, and Resurrection F were all inspired by this movie.

Frieza is surprised that anyone on Earth knows him by name, so Gohan unmasks to reveal that he was the kid with the bowl-haircut on Namek.        

Videl’s completely smitten here.   “Wow, he’s wayyy dreamier than his mom!”

So Frieza’s decided to kill Gohan as revenge for Goku defeating him.   You’d think he’d be mad about Future Trunks killing him, but he was friends with Gohan too, so it still works.   The part that doesn’t work is this punk-ass bitch running around in Movie 12 like it’s still Movie 3. 

So Frieza sics a surprise army of henchmen on Gohan to soften him up.  Of course, it makes perfect sense that all the top Frieza soldiers would be here, and that they’d still be loyal to Frieza, but there’s also a lot of Movie 1-5 henchmen too, and most of them don’t even know Frieza.  Still it’s not hard to believe that they could be persuaded to join his side.

But Bojack seems pretty hard to swallow.   Out of everyone in this scene, he’s definitely stronger than Frieza ever was, so why isn’t he calling the shots here?

Anyway, waves of henchmen, Frieza’s invincible, what will Gohan do now? 

FREE-ZA FREE-ZA FREE-ZA FREE-ZA

Hadou ooana GALAXY Yudan wana PARASITE

FREE-ZA FREE-ZA FREE-ZA FREE-ZA

Obienaku wa warera min

DIE!DIE!DIE!

So yeah, everyone sees Gohan END Frieza with one fraggin’ punch, and they all turn chickenshit and run away.  Even Bjoack, I guess, which only makes sense, because Gohan punched a hole through him in Movie 9. 

Videl’s like “Wow, it’s kind of weird how all of these dead people came back to life, and presumably we can’t kill them again because they’d just come back, and yet Frieza was the only jerk in this whole movie who got exploded and stayed dead from all of this.”

Then Gohan does his victory poses, and Videl swoons off-screen.  In the dub, they changed the ending dialogue to suggest that Gohan and Videl made out shortly after this scene, and Goten and Trunks saw it.   It’s not in the Japanese script, but come on.  How was Videl not al over this dude after this?  We know it happened.  

Meanwhile, Mr. Satan is punching zombies someplace else, and he’s pretty pleased with how well he’s doing, except there’s no one around to watch him in action, so he moves on to find his grateful public.

Fortunately, he won’t run out of zombies anytime soon.  

Meanwhile, Goten and Trunks are helping out by gathering the Dragon Balls,   They find the seventh one on a golf course.

But Goten gets hit with a golf ball while he’s there.   Irritated, he decides to hide the ball to get payback on whoever sent it his way.

But he hides it in the hole, so the golfer thinks he made a hole-in-one and he’s sobbing with joy.   This doesn’t have much to do with the movie, but what’s great about Fusion Reborn is that you can expand on almost any scene and make it part of the wider story.   Maybe this guy’s a dead Frieza Soldier who got the call to mobilize and he said “Fuck that, if I’m alive, I’m gonna hit the links one last time.”  Or maybe he’s just a regular dude, but the lady there is his dead wife, who’s come back to tell him that the accident wasn’t his fault, and it’s okay for him to move on with his life.    Or they’re both alive, but the golf course gets destroyed by Cell during his epic battle with Tiencha.

Back at Capsule Corp.  Gohan summons Shenron.  For some reason,  in the dub, she tells him he’s “the only one who can,” and I’ve never understood that.   Maybe she means that Gohan’s the only one who understands the crisis well enough to make the right wish to Shenron, but she could still call the Dragon.   She’s done it before several times.

It’s funny how this is the first time Goten and Trunks have seen Shenron, even though the plot of Movie 10 was them gathering Dragon Balls specifically to see Shenron.  That’s how big a disappointment Movie 10 was.  Meanwhile, Movie 12 is so awesome that it pays off ideas from other movies.    

Videl might have wished for a handsome BMF with cool shades...

But Shenron can’t grant a wish that’s already come true.  Let’s just pause here to drink in this majestic shot of Casual Friday Great Saiyaman.   

...

...

...

Nice.

I’m just gonna put it here again.  It’s great.   

So Gohan explains the situation to Shenron and asks him to put all the dead people back where they belong, which Shenron says is a simple task. 

But then he says he can’t do it after all.  Goten complains, and Trunks silences him before Shenron can take offense.

Now, in the dub, Shenron gives a more thorough explanation.   He can move the dead back where they belong, but with King Yemma out of commission, there’s nothing to stop them from simply coming back.  I think that logic is strongly implied in the subtitles, but it’s not quite so clear.    In any case, this is beyond Shenron’s power.  It wouldn’t be if Yemma were on the board, but if that were the case, there’d be no need to involve Shenron in the first place.   

So that leaves everyone feeling pretty dejected.   The problem lies in Otherworld, and if Shenron and Gohan can’t fix it, then they’re out of options.  

And while they ponder what to do next...

...Shenron awkwardly asks if there’s anything else he could do for them while he’s here.

[mittensmorgul]

9.06, Heaven Can't Wait.

YAY! BOBO!

so I neglected to mention Buddy Boyle and Bartholomew the fallen angel, and all the angel factions forming in the 9.03 report because I was trying to get through it as fast as possible, but ugh... guess I gotta mention them eventually. There, I mentioned them, just about as much as this episode did. :P

But this is directly relevant to Cas's current state of mind, which is relevant to the overall plot of this episode, because of Rit Zien angel and why he's come to this town where Cas has tried to make a life for himself as Sales Associate Steve. The Rit Zien seeks out pain-- originally mortal wounds on battlefields-- and either heals or else "humanely puts down" angels he cannot heal. Except, as Cas will explain in this episode, he doesn't understand human emotions, and that emotional pain is temporary... and then we learn that the Rit Zien was drawn to this town by the magnitude of Cas's suffering specifically. Which, if that's not a statement on Cas's current emotional state, I don't know what is.

The first victim we see is a man who literally hangs up on a suicide prevention hotline because he lost his wife. He even has a gun, but changes his mind when faced with the Rit Zien, but he gets exploded into pink goo anyway.

The next is a high school girl suffering a normal level of teenage angst, telling a friend she could just die of embarrassment because her boyfriend broke up with her in the cafeteria in front of everyone but in no way meaning it literally, and poof... pain disintegrated.

Despite his own pain having been kicked out of the bunker and feeling completely abandoned by Dean, Cas still calls Dean to alert him to the strange cases in town, but tells Dean he won't participate in the hunt. Dean manages to track Cas down working at the Gas N Sip anyway (Cas never told him where he worked), and pulls Cas into working the case with him.

There's the whole Nora thing, which Cas thought was a date but was actually a babysitting job... When the Rit Zien shows up for Cas, he thinks it's for the baby, running a fever and crying. But he's actually there for Cas.

CASTIEL: How'd you find me? EPHRAIM: Because you're warded? The same way I find all my patients – I just followed the sound of your pain. You have no idea how loud it is. I could hear you for miles.

And then the question we've been waiting on an answer for ever since:

EPHRAIM: Shh-shh-shhh. It'll be over soon. I'll take the pain away. CASTIEL: I want to live. EPHRAIM: But as what, Castiel? As an angel? or a man?

Because back in s9, this question remains directly tied to PAIN. To SUFFERING.

CASTIEL (to the baby): Nobody told you. Nobody explained. You're just … shoved out kicking and screaming into this human life, without any idea why any of it feels the way it feels, or why this confusion, which feels like it's … a hair's breadth (The baby stops crying.) from terror or pain. You know, just when you think you do understand, it'll turn out you're wrong. You didn't understand anything at all. Guess that's just how it is when you're new at this.

He thought he understood, and he's only just beginning to truly understand (and I mean, Crowley as almost-human this season too, despite having been human originally long ago, still suffers with the burden of human emotions, equating what demons and angels are capable of feeling even way back here, long before 10.03 when Cas will make that same comparison).

Cas is feeling the guilt of what's happened to the angels, and he's already hurting over it. So when Sam and Kevin discover (with Crowley's help) that the angel fall spell is irreversible, Dean doesn't tell Cas that fact thinking he's protecting Cas from even worse guilt. But meanwhile, it's still a major source of Cas's pain (and Dean's pain, because hell if he doesn't want to bring Cas back to the bunker here, but can't as long as Sam isn't healed enough...)

EVERYBODY'S SUFFERING! Lies all around. Dean specifically tells Sam that he won't be seeing Cas on this hunt, and yet he spends the entire time pretty much with Cas. But also Dean, lying to everyone, trying to manage his mounting lies in the name of protecting (or in the language of 14.08, "not wanting to burden them") or just out of pure FEAR because this situation is officially so far above his pay grade and he can't even talk to ANYONE about how bad it actually is without the whole thing crumbling down around him... and that's not even considering the Fallen Angels Fighting Amongst Themselves situation on top of all his personal shit...

Which interestingly is paralleled in the experiences of young Dean in the flashbacks in the next episode...

spn 9.07, Bad Boys.

Dean's put in a situation way above his pay grade, having been left to "rot" by John after getting in trouble for shoplifting enough for him and Sam to eat while John was off somewhere else on a hunt and Dean had been left in charge again. John had demanded that Dean tell Sam a very different story, one that not only covered Dean's "shame" at having been caught shoplifting and abandoned by John for several months while Sam was "shipped off to Bobby's" (and remember, Sam would've been about 11 years old at the time, ie old enough to have understood the truth of the situation, but maybe not why John refused to get Dean from Sonny's, that to John this was a form of punishment for Dean-- both isolation from everything he's ever known AND forced separation from Sam, like John was punishing him for failing to take care of Sam by isolating him completely...), but also was about John hiding his OWN culpability in any of this happening in the first place. Child abandonment, neglect, the fact he regularly left the boys on their own and disappeared for weeks or months at a time leaving them to fend for themselves on whatever meager sum he left them. Which, I mean, YIIIIIKES.

And this episode was really the start of my "sanitized for sammy" and "the story became the story" tags, of how fundamental to their codependency these small lies have always been, since they were children (and yeah, we saw that going all the way back to s1, with 1.18, 3.08, 4.13... pretty much all the flashback episodes, but this is where Dean gave that calculated deception a name-- "the story became the story.")

We really see the extent of Dean's lifelong struggle with managing all these secrets begins to break down, which exactly parallels his "bigger story arc" issues in early s9. With all that in mind, it's no wonder he breaks and feels his ultimate failure connected with the collapse of the tower of lies that all started with the best of intentions, and just spiraled out of his control. All in the name of protecting his loved ones.

Kinda like Dean trying to keep John's horrific final words from Sam back in s2 (even though that only lasted a few episodes), kinda like Sam hiding the truth back in s4, kinda like Cas hiding the truth in s6. So now they all will have this fun little problem in common (less dumb, less ass...)

But more interesting to me than the actual circumstances of this episode specifically, is how these lies begin to slowly unravel throughout the episode, and how the truth finally coming out affects everything going forward.

First Sam begins to learn the truth about that time, but it's still not really the whole truth. Dean plays it off as his own fault, shrugging the experience off. Sam also can't figure out why Dean's not only kept in touch with Sonny all these years, but also actually told him the truth about the hunting. The deeper truth slowly comes out in bits and pieces. And then there's Robin, who Dean never told the truth to in the past who learns it all in a shocking way... seeing it first-hand.

This had been Dean's one real "escape to normalcy" of the sort that Sam had spent most of his life running away toward (and which Dean's being forced by circumstance now to push Cas toward... let's not forget that the original airing order of these episodes put 9.06 AFTER this episode... which is why I've smooshed the two of these into one way-too-long post). And let's remember that it was only Dean's need to make sure Sam was safe that got him to leave Sonny's and return to John. He talked about his interest in fixing cars in this episode, and he could've had that life if he'd chosen to stay, because Sonny agreed to fight for him if he wanted that.

But even by the end of the episode, Sam only knows part of the truth, and Dean's still trying to protect himself with that tiny shard of a lie:

Sam: You just got lucky? Kind of like you did with this place. I mean, here I was thinking this was the worst part of your life, and it turns out it was the best. Why'd you ever leave? Dean: Never felt right. Sam: Really? Dean: It was two months, Sam, okay? And I couldn't wait to get out of here. I don't know what to tell you. It wasn't me.

And he can't bring himself to burden Sam with the truth, that it was literally Sam himself and his duty to protect him that made him choose to leave.

Then there's Timmy, losing his mother in a fire, Dean thinking it's the "I Clobber Evil" action figure that the mother's ghost is tied to, when in fact it was Timmy himself. Because it's not exactly that Dean sees himself in Timmy-- repeatedly running away from foster homes, clinging to "imaginary friends" -- It's SAM. He talks to Timmy like we have to imagine 16-year-old Dean would've talked to SAM. And doesn't that just say it all here.

And using this “decoder ring” of a couple episodes to help us unravel what happens when these dudes try to protect each other, to “not burden each other” with these sorts of secrets, things almost universally go sideways. Because this is, yes, what Cas was thinking in hiding his deal with the Empty to trade himself for Jack, but it’s also the sort of smaller concerns from each other regarding Jack’s behavior after 14.14. Each of them were worried for Jack, each of them had noticed small things in Jack, but NONE of them wanted to admit the truth to themselves, let alone to each other. Each of them held their tongues, not wanting to worry each other over Jack, or unfairly burden each other for nothing when all they really have are their individual suspicions and no actual concrete evidence that Jack’s soul is actually gone, you know? But the consequences of trying to protect each other are far more grave in s14...

[omg-imatotalmess]

Piggyback Rides

Hey guys! I’m alive... probably... anyway, I’m trying to get my writing mojo back so I’m rereading Harry Potter. This isn’t the greatest, but it’s here. Hope you like it anyway!

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Reader

Requested: No

Warnings: Swearing 

                                                             --- 

Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley in a fight at a Quidditch match; what a picture. The Slytherin Prince pitted against someone he considered a surf was almost too much for you. Especially because he was losing. Oh man, you wished you could laugh. God, you would have given about anything to be able to laugh without Draco biting your head off for it later. It really wasn’t every day that you got to witness something like that. 

In all honesty, you probably wouldn’t have been trying so hard not to laugh if Draco wasn’t so pitiful. He really wasn’t the type for physical fighting. Snide remarks and a few curses, that was more his game. As the two rolled under yours and Hermione’s seats, you could hear high pitched howling. The corner of your mouth twitched and you snorted. That had to be Draco. For a moment, you thought about letting it go on a while longer. You figured it wouldn’t kill Draco to get kicked around a little bit (he was a terrible daddy’s boy after all). Maybe getting the snot kicked out of him once or twice would keep him from being such a brat. Sighing, you reached under the seat and grabbed one of them by their hair. As you dragged him up, you caught an elbow to the face. You yelped.

“Bloody hell, woman!” Ron snarled as you dragged him off of Draco. You offered him an apologetic look, rubbing your cheek bone.

“Sorry,” You said, “I think you have better things to worry about though. Namely that bloody nose.” He swiped his sleeve under his nose, making an awful sort of face, before glancing over your shoulder.

“Might want to call them off,” He said. Following his gaze, you watched as Crabbe and Goyle absolutely clobbered poor Neville Longbottom.

“Enough!” You snarled in your best Draco voice. Almost immediately, they scurried away from the unconscious boy. Neville really had rotten luck, but, then again, he’d put himself into that situation. At least, he had that time. 

“Harry caught the snitch! We won! We won!” Hermione cheered. 

“Atta boy, Harry! Wooo-hooo!” Ron whooped. As everyone began to pour out of the stands, you hung back. 

“(Y/N)?” Draco moaned. Rolling your eyes, you peered under the seats. 

“Regret that, do you?” You asked, amused.  

“Shut it!” he snapped. 

“I could just leave you here, ya know,” You said beginning to move away from where he was laid out pathetically. In all reality, you were just turning away so he couldn’t see the smile forming on your face. 

“You wouldn’t,” He said. 

“I don’t know, Draco,” You teased, walking a little farther away, “Besides, you aren’t the only one that got smacked. You were just the only one that deserved it. You have Crabbe and Goyle anyway. ” 

A loud shuffling caught your attention and you knew he was struggling his way from under the seats. Quickly, you doused your smile. For as high and mighty as Draco acted, he really was kinda a baby. You looked back with a smile as you watched him limp towards you. He already had the beginnings of a black eye as well as a pretty nasty looking split lip. Poor kid didn’t stand a chance against someone with as many brothers as Ron. You didn’t take the Weasley’s for violent people by any means, but you did know a thing or two about what big brothers did to their younger siblings. 

“Don’t you walk away from me!” He called. “(Y/N)! Wait for me you heathen!” 

“I’m right here,” You said. 

“Wipe that smile off your face,” He growled, glaring evilly at you. You found it was far less intimidating after seeing him get his ass handed to him on a silver platter. With his minions trailing behind you, you began the long, slow walk to the hospital wing. 

The four of you had barely gotten out of the stands and you were already contemplating knocking Draco out yourself. You never considered yourself a particularly violent person, but you were getting there. It was amazing how loudly Draco could gripe. It wasn’t that you didn’t think he was in pain, but you were pretty sure he was just being a huge drama queen at this point. He moaned every step he took. Your face hurt too, but that was ridiculous. Eventually, you stopped and turned to him stiffly. 

“Would you quit moaning and groaning if I gave you a piggyback ride?” You asked. For a moment, he actually seemed to consider it. 

“Don’t insult me,” He said, looking very much like he wished you would carry him. 

“I’m not. I’m just offering an injured friend some help,” You said. This was a fairly typical dance. He’d resist something until you did one of two things: 1) bother him to the point where he’d give up and go along or 2) stroke his ego until he was convinced he was more of a man for it. Honestly, you weren’t really in the mood for either. 

“I don’t need you of all people to carry me, (Y/N),” He snapped. 

“Draco, it’ll be easier if I do.” His cool, grey eyes narrowed and he snorted indignantly at you. 

“I refuse to let myself be carried around,” He said stubbornly. 

“Oh my god! Just take the piggyback ride before I finish what Ron started and knock you out,” You yelled, your hands planting themselves on your hips. At the mere suggestion of being hit again, he changed his mind quickly and clammored onto your back. 

At first it was a bit of an awkward position. Between his long legs and your short stature, it was a real treat to try to figure out. You fell twice within the first few steps. The learning curve wasn’t too bad after that. Once you guys figured out that he had to keep his legs tucked up beside you instead of letting them dangle, things got a lot easier. Then, for a blessed few minutes, he shut his trap. The place were Ron’s elbow had caught you throbbed a little, but it wasn’t too bad. You’d live. 

“(Y/N),” Draco said quietly. 

“Hmm?” You hummed, hiking him up a little bit as you did. 

“You wouldn’t have actually hit me, right?” He asked. You laughed. Realistically, probably not. You sure thought pretty hard about it, but you doubted you could have actually done that to your friend. 

“Maybe,” You said playfully. Feeling him tense against your back, you sighed. “No, I wouldn’t have hit you.” It was quiet for a little while again. 

“I hope your cheek doesn’t hurt to badly. I thought even Weasley would have the good sense not to hit a woman,” He said. Rolling your eyes, you found yourself having to fight off a smile. Draco did care in his own way. 

“It’s not that bad. So I have a bit of a bruise, no biggie,” You said. 

“Mm-hmm,” He responded. He buried his nose into your hair, squirming a little. You shifted him.

“Speaking of, how’re you doing back there,” You asked. He hadn’t actually whined in a while. 

“I was savagely beaten by Weasley, how do you think I’m doing?” He grumbled. Stupid question. Before he could get too carried away, you began speaking again. 

“You’re such a drama queen,” You said, your smile playing to your voice. 

“I think you underestimate the agony I’m in, (Y/N),” He moaned. You rolled your eyes. 

“Quit milking it, Draco. I’m already carrying you,” You said. 

“I am certainly not milking it,” He said indignantly. Giggling, you lumbered up the castle steps. 

“Yes, you are, you very much are.” Now that the complaining wasn’t a constant stream, you could actually find the humor in it. 

By the time you reached the hospital wing, your legs were about ready to snap. Who knew such a slim kid could be so damn heavy? You dropped him onto the nearest bed before flopping down yourself. Hopefully Madam Pomfrey would be along pretty soon. 

Draco laid himself out like he had been the one to carry you all the way to the hospital wing instead of the other way around. You had to hand it to him; he could make himself a pretty sad sight if he wanted to. The guy looked about as pathetic lying in bed as he had under the seats. The way he was acting, you’d have thought he’d been attacked by a dragon. Definitely not some redhead with a temper, that’s for sure. 

“You’re one sorry sight, you know that?” You said, poking him. He glared at you. 

“I’m in miserable condition,” He countered. 

“Drama queen,” You singsonged. 

“(Y/N)--”

“I know, I know, you’re in agony and you are 100% not a drama queen,” You said, smiling. 

“That wasn’t what I was going to say, but I’m glad you finally figured that out,” He said, looking very pleased with himself. He reminded you of an incredibly bitchy cat you had once. 

“Okay, then what?” You asked. 

“What?” Sighing, your head dropped back. 

“What were you going to say?” The catlike smugness disintegrated. 

“Right,” He started, “Before you so rudely interrupted me, I was going to thank you.” You gave a jerk of surprise. That was a first. Draco rarely ever thanked you. Or any one for that matter. 

“Oh, well, sure. No problem,” You said slowly. 

“You’re a better friend than I am,” He sighed. In a way, that was probably true. You were a better friend, traditionally speaking. 

“Usually.” He scowled at you. 

“You weren’t meant to agree with me, (Y/N),” He grumbled. You laughed, nudging his shoulder. 

“Aw c’mon, I didn’t say you were a bad friend.” And he wasn’t. Not really. You knew he cared in his own way. He’d probably kill someone for you if he thought you wanted him to. So, though his manner of caring was harsh, it’s the thought that counts. He continued to scowl. 

“Oh dear! What happened!” Madam Pomfrey gasped. You hadn’t even heard her come in. 

“Weasl--” 

“He got what was coming to him,” You said, cutting him off. 

“I see,” She said, raising an eyebrow. Smiling, you slid off the bed and patted Draco on the shoulder. 

“Well, looks like Madam Pomfrey can take over. See you later, Draco,” You said. 

“Goodbye,” He said. Before you left, you leaned down and pressed a kiss to his cheek with a smile. 

“Feel better,” You whispered. Just as you left, you glanced back over your shoulder to catch Draco’s flushed face watching you practically skip away. At eleven years old, neither of you was entirely sure what the feeling in your chest was, but you knew you liked it. 

[johnny-fairycakes]

being best friends with the gang

warnings - like one (1) swear word bullet points - 74 i think pairing - any

—–

- okay so steve and dally low key bulling you, but in a brotherly way

- like flicking you, sitting on you, pulling your hair and they find it hilarious bc you get so mad, smh

- soda writing (more like e n g r a v i n g) rude shit on your stuff

- so you’ve got this little ruler that has ‘SUCK MY TOES’ written across it and whenever he sees it he’s starts giGGLING

- johnny loves drawing on your arms & hands, what a cute boy

- he draws in a felt tip pen so it stays on when you have a shower, but you don’t want it to go so you’ll draw over it again

- he just draws little doodles when he gets bored, like dinosaurs, birds, ¡DOGS!

- reading competitions with pony!

- who can read the book fast enough???? he’s low key a cheat

- if there’s a film of it he’ll watch the film and be all ‘oh yeah uhhhh jack kills the groundskeeper, lol’ even tho that’s not what happens in the book! (just an example)

- there’s no prize, he deadass wants to win

- bbqs at two’s place like every saturday

- johnny barbecued a mint leaf he found once

- darry is the best at bbqs, he makes the best burgers, they’re very professional

- two bit is the host but he does not help at all!

- just runs around with a water gun

- water balloon fights in the evening!

- okay, so you’re playing with 7 strong, boys who are not going to play fair, so neither are you

- usually in two teams of four:-

- darry, johnny, pony & you

- soda, steve, two & dally

- it’s starts off pretty calm but then those juices get a'pumpin and oh lord

- once you tackled soda down, son and he was between your legs (non-kink related) and you were strANGLING HIM WITH A BALLOON

- it was those stretchy clown balloons so you had it around his neck

- you could hear him choking 'cantbreathecantbreathe’

- so you bit the balloon and the water went all over his face, then you ran

- everyone makes fun of soda now because you weren’t even strangling him that hard, he’s just too dramatic

- you and modern!pony would be the biggest FRIENDS fans ever

- his favourite would be ross because he reminds him of darry

- y'all would reenact and the rest of the gang would have no idea what was happening

- 'PIVOT PIVOT’

- pony obviously tried to recreate the opening credits on iMovie (👏👌😩😤) and half the time it was dally yelling and darry trying not to clobber steve

- the end was him smiling at an unflattering angle (IMAGINE THO)

- dally would 100% argue with you on literally anything, even if he actually agreed with you

- one time when johnny was drawing a dino on your arm dally looked at it and said, 'what if dinosaurs photosynthesised?’

- and you y e l l e d (johnny was shook)

- dally calls you out on everything

- 'i had a dream and i was in the middle of the no where-’

- 'the no where! THE NO WHERE! THE! ITS NOT THE!’

- johnny is the friend who will eat cereal with you at 4am bc he’s hungry, alone and loves you (platonically, romantically, you choose)

- modern!johnny will watch you take buzzfeed quizzes

- not even take one himself, just watches

- you draw and paint things together

- he likes the go to garden centres with you and you will buy him a plant

- steve and you would be those friends to pass each other notes and pretend to be subtle about it

- they wouldn’t make any sense?????

- 'beep beep lettuce’

- 'nice remote control u have there’

- 'zip zap zop zic, ur ass is now super thicc’

- 'crepe’

- randomly grabs your hand, pins it down and writes something

- he’s not like johnny who ¡politely! asks then draws something lovely

- he grabs your hand and writes '🅱enis’

- you do science homework together

- you and soda would like to talk about animals

- he’d tell you about Mickey Mouse, the horse, and u cried

- he wants to get you back from when you strangled him!

- throws a water balloon directly at your forehead and felt bad, but laughed anyway

- you and two bit are those fuckin obnoxious friends who find each other funny, even if they just look at each other

- you’d have a new 'thing’ every week that makes no sense

- so like you’d go 'two! look over there!’ and point the opposite way from where you’re looking

- and the you’d point to the ceiling and go 'L O O K’ and he’d look at the floor and be all like ’ A T W H A T’

- dally wants to murder you both

- you both quote the bee movie all the time

- 'BUT ITS OUR YOGHURT NIGHT

- 'THAT BEE IS LIVING MY LIFE’

- 'WHY IS YOGHURT NIGHT SO DIFFICULT?’

- you and darry are pals and complain about the other boys to each other

- you let him teach you football, even if it doesn’t really interest you, you just wanted to make him happy

- cake baking together, before soda comes along and frickIN MERKS DARRY IN THE FACE WITH FLOUR

- offering to look after pony so he can sleep -

you end up watching friends and johnny doesn’t know what’s happening, but laughs anyway

- all of you guys would be the closest friends ever and would commit murder for each other

- sleepovers!

[soundofseventeen]

Seventeen When They Find Out You’re a Princess

Hey everybody! Bee here!! Here’s another edition of the drabbles, courtesy of @noona-clock for supplying! Thank you, as always! You can find their original idea here! And so I won’t keep you waiting, I present to you Hong Jisoo! This one may also be a little longer than the others, oops.

Joshua: Servant

“And where are you headed so early in the morning Highness?” The innocent question from the stagecoach nearly had you jumping out of your skin. Did they know? Of course not! Right?

“Oh, um...I got an invitation from Prince Jeonghan. He and Soonyoung are having their bimonthly croquet game and I was invited to attend.” Not a lie, but also not the whole truth. You stashed a few bottles of the boys’ favorite bubbly in case you might have needed it later. “Please tell Jihoon to meet us there too. I know they like hearing him play.”

“Yes Your Highness. Shall I send for Seokmin and Seungcheol as well?”

“Send one to me, and leave the other for Jihoon.”

“Who shall I leave?”

“The one that Jihoon most likely won’t murder...” And then unanimously, “Seungcheol.”

“Yes Your Highness,” he bowed. “Have a safe and wonderful trip.”

“Will do, thanks!”

*

Jihoon’s notes might’ve been high, your spirits higher, but the tension between the two princes playing on the grass were the highest you’ve seen. Despite the quiet needed, you could hear the profanities they were hurling at each other. You and Chan were used to it, but you still couldn’t help but feel embarrassed that your faithful boys could hear them. They wouldn’t care, obviously, but it was probably just a royalty thing.

“Man, Jeonghan hyung looks pissed,” Chan chuckled.

“Soonyoung wasn’t kidding when he said he was practicing.” Your raised your glass of bubbly in a toast. “To Jeonghan losing.”

The glasses clinked just as Soonyoung yelled, “I TOLD YOU I’D WIN.” followed by Jeonghan gracefully chasing him with his mallet and accusing him of cheating. Didn’t you just love being friends with someone who took losing so nicely?

“Should we call someone?”

“Nah, hyung wouldn’t hurt him on purpose. That and Soonyoung hyung owes me a horse from that bet we made.” Chan snickered as Jeonghan gave up and made his way to the table, letting the other prince live to see another day. Chan poured two more glasses which Soonyoung took happily and the other downed it pretty quickly.

“Aww hyung, don’t be a sore loser. It’s not everyday I kick your ass at this.” Soonyoung gave his famous smirk of a smile, very much like the one he had given you when you had met.

You raised your bubbly in agreement.“I’ll drink to that.” You loved Jeonghan, but you loved messing with him more. “Soonyoung, just for that, next time you show up to the castle, remind me to send you off with more of these bottles.”

“No respect in my home,” he grumbled. “What ever happened to that?”

“It’s a game,” Chan rolled his eyes. “You can always do a rematch. Good job hyung.”

“This is treason,” the eldest grumbled. “Even my own prince turned against me. I’ll have your heads for this.”

“You truly are something,” you shook your head. “Maybe I should stop visiting.”

“Oh please, you started visiting on your own accord and not because someone forced you to be social.”

“Maybe I had a change of heart.”

“Aww, did you finally decide to accept my marriage proposal?”

“The fact that you still have hope for that impresses me.”

“I’m nothing if not persistent.”

“Don’t you think she’d rather marry a winner?” Soonyoung butted in and Jeonghan sent him a glower that sent him into a giggling frenzy.

Well,” you stood up, “while you sulk in your loser-ness, I’ll be in the bathroom.”

“Of course you’re leaving so soon.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Every time you’ve come for a visit, you stay for a bit and then you disappear.”

“I stayed for two hours watching your stupid game.”

“Hmm, yeah, that’s it.”

“What is going on in your head Yoon Jeonghan? Never mind, I don’t wanna know. Seungcheol, Do you have my other dress?”

“Another dress? Aren’t you comfortable in that one? Why so interested in changing?”

“And you care why? I am a guest here. My actions should not be questioned Goblin.”

“Okay, okay, Y/N. Go on up and change. Just be back so I can take down Soonyoung this next round.”

“No promises.”

*

After quickly dressing into your comfy clothes, you took the liberty of roaming the Yoon palace until you found what, or rather, who you were looking for. “Good afternoon Joshua,” you greeted the servant who was currently balancing a tea set.

“Oh good afternoon, Y/N. Lovely day, isn’t it?”

“Always. Here, let me give you a hand with that. Are we taking it to anyone in particular?”

“Just back to the kitchen. The King and Queen had just finished their lunch and Prince Jeonghan did’t want to be bothered today since he had a rematch of some sort, so I’m keeping busy.”

“Anything I can help you with? The heat out there is getting pretty bad and I don’t wanna go back, at least not until it’s cooled down.”

“You’re always so kind, thank you.” His praise sent your cheeks aflame and he left you speechless, but he continued on. “Actually, I need to grab a few things from the cellar and I could use the company. Would you mind joining me?”

“Of course not!”

*

“Careful, careful. Watch your head there,” Joshua’s soft voice warned you. You felt him grab your hands as he gently guided down to the cellar.

“I feel like I should be the one telling you.” You couldn’t help the giggle that escaped you. Casual as his touch was, it left you giddy. Here you were alone with a boy you may have had a crush on, and it was going so smoothly.

“Nonsense, I know this place like the back of my hand-ouch.” He had bumped his head on something, but you couldn’t tell what from how dark it was.

“Are you okay?”

“Perfect; a little bump on the head never hurt anyone,” Though you couldn’t see it, he smiled at you and you could hear your heart thumping harder than the horses clobbering through the the stone paths. “Okay, let me just grab some things for the kitchen and for the maid and we’ll be out of here. Oh and I can’t forget the prince’s gloves or his shoes.”

“Why does Jeonghan keep his stuff down here?”

“I’d like to think it’s because he has no room in his room, but I think he enjoys giving me a hard time.”

“Yoon Jeonghan? Making people’s lives hard? I wouldn’t have believed it.” The sarcasm falling from your lips came naturally, but you couldn’t help it. You loved him, you really did; this was just part of the relationship and if Joshua noticed it, he didn’t comment on. 

You were aware that you were still holding hands even after you had left the cellar, and you also saw the lump on the boy’s forehead. “Uh Joshua?”

“Yes m’lady?”

“What exactly did you hit your head on?”

“It was probably something wooden. Why?”

“Well, you have a bump. So, let’s take you to the kitchen or somewhere so we can take care of that.”

“Okay. But I’m still holding your hand, you know, in case it still hurts.” He made the daring move to kiss your cheek just as-

“Well, well, well. Look at who we have here.”

“Your Highness,” Joshua immediately bowed and motioned for you to do the same, and almost panicked when you didn’t.

Busted. And by that devil like smile forming on his face, you knew he was up to no good. “Well, this explains so much,” he cackled.

“Your Highness?”

“Whoo, well this just made my day. And here I was thinking you had left and left poor Seokmin to go back home with Jihoon. And the dress Y/N, it finally makes sense.”

“Not right now Jeonghan. I’ll explain everything later.”

“Am I missing something?”

“Well, Y/N, do you wanna tell him or should I?”

“The bubbly has made you squirrel-ly Yoon,” you chuckled. “I’ll be sure to tell Chan not to serve you anymore while I’m here.”

“Joshua, my most loyal servant...do you want to know a secret?”

“Jeonghan, unless you want me to send Jihoon over with a mallet, don’t tell him.”

“Your Highness, is everything okay?” Joshua stepped closer to the prince who was merely staring at you with an evil like glee. He took a whiff and furrowed his eyebrows. “You haven’t been drinking excessively.”

“Of course I haven’t! It’s too early for such a thing!”

“Then what is going on here? Am I missing something. Y/N?”

Jeonghan’s eyes widened. “Oh man; you’re on a first name basis with each other.”

“Shut it Goblin.”

He looked so amused; he just couldn’t let it go. “Joshua, Y/N here is really a princess and at this very moment, I have figured out why she’s been visiting and disappearing.”

“Yoon Jeonghan, I will end you,” you promised with your fakest smile and sugary voice. Why wasn’t there anything in your line of reach that you could throw?

“I’m sorry...did he just call you a princess?”

“At your service,” you curtsied sheepishly. “And you, I’ll teach you a lesson about not meddling in other people’s affairs.”

“Ohhh, this is rich though. Wait until the guys hear about this.”

Ignoring the prince, you explained what you could. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It’s just that, I really really like you and I enjoyed having you around-“

“I sense a but here.”

“Jeonghan, get out of here you insufferable-“

“That better end nicely Your Highness,” he sneered.

You took one of the shoes Joshua was carrying and threw it at him. “Go away. I’ll deal with you later.”

“Have fun kids. Ow! Keep it up and I’ll make sure we go to war Princess Brat.”

“I look forward to it,” you winked. He left mumbling some more nonsense about no respect in his home and where he went wrong with his decisions. And now to to face the other one. “Hi.”

“H-hi. Oh man. What should I do now? Should I bow because I swear I-I didn’t have a clue about who you were-“

“That was kinda the plan, actually.”

“But… er, Y/N… really?!” he stared at you in amazement because you’d come to him in servant clothes. He shook his head, still in awe.

“I didn’t tell you because I was having fun with you the way we were.”

“You we’re having fun helping me do my duties?”

“The boys over there are fun, but they’re loud and I liked knowing that I could be myself without the other royals. I really am sorry.”

“I just...can’t believe it.” He laughed abruptly. “And to think, I was ordering you around! Oh my god! Please don’t tell Their Majesties and have them throw me in the dungeon.” As if that couldn’t be comical enough, he fell to his knees, clasping his hands.

“Joshua get up. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Y/N, I mean Your Highness, you’re the best.” Without thinking, he kissed the top of your head and skipped merrily away. “Aren’t you coming?”

You smiled to yourself. This boy really was something else.

[velvetchen]

Dynamic | pt. vii

[ back to masterlist ]

Scenario: Superhero AU Pairing: Chen/Reader Word Count: 5385  Rating: T-ish (important: warning for mild language, violence/blood, mentions of rape)

Summary: You’re the leading superhero of the city, and you’ve fought Dynamo for years. It’s the way it should be - good vs. evil, hero vs. villain. But what happens when a bigger evil threatens everything?

<< previous part x first part x next part >>

You startle awake at the sound of your phone ringing. Not just any ring, but the sound you’ve set for emergency calls. You’re up before you even know what you’re doing, answering the call and putting the phone to your ear. “Hello?”

“Rush, we’ve been waiting on you,” crackles a voice that you recognize as the Director’s. You’re hopping out of bed, stumbling towards your bag.

“Waiting? For what?” You yawn, pulling your suit out of your bag.

“The raid. It’s today.”

Shit. How could you forget? Tonight is the raid you’d been planning for the past week. After your quick mission at the gala, you’d narrowed the possible suspects down to only Griffin. At the last meeting, you’d tracked him down to an old tattoo parlor in the red light district of the city. A place he frequented too often to be normal.

Tonight, you’d be going undercover again.

“I’m on my way,” you say, hanging up. You pull on your suit, and, with a quick check in the mirror just to reassure yourself that your identity is hidden as always, you ready yourself and blink into the NSN headquarters.

“There you are,” says the Director, annoyance carved into his brow. You lean on the nearest thing to regain your balance, which happens to be Whirlwind, who’s smirking down at you as your palm lands on his chest.

He raises an eyebrow, smirk growing wider. “Ass,” you mutter, stepping away and straightening your posture.

You have a look around the room. To your surprise, Chen is already there - had the Director actually invited him? Next to Chen stands Seism, then Inferno, then to your right, Whirlwind. The others are missing, but the five of you are enough for any mission.

“Here’s the plan,” The Director says, and the huge screen on the wall morphs into a map of the red light district. They call it the Siren District, and for a reason: you know what goes on in that side of the city is as mysterious, as wicked as sirens in the deep sea. Illegal dealings, paid murders, gambling, the flesh trade. It’s the one place you can’t step into. More evil lurks in the Siren District than in any supervillain.

You gulp. The map pans out and the Director points to your target location - indicated with a bright red dot in one of the deeper alleys, between a pawn shop and something that claims to be a nightclub. Black Dragon Tattoos. The name itself is a clue. “You’ll be checking all the buildings on this street. It might not be Black Dragon we’re looking for.”

You all nod in unison.

“Do you remember the brief from yesterday?”According to that, you would be paired with Chen - you suspect it’s more because no one trusts him than anything about your abilities being complementary. You’d be scouring the south side of the alley together before you entered the Black Dragon. The Director had picked you for the riskiest part of the job - meeting the Dragon himself. If you could find him, that is. “Yes, sir.”

The Director smiles. The screen turns off. “Excellent.”

You’re sitting in the backseat of something that from the outside, looks like a delivery van but on the inside is a control center decked out with surveillance screens, speakers, and tons of extra gear. Squished between Chen and Whirlwind. Like them, you’ve switched your suit - too bright and too obvious a color - for a black shirt and black pants that stick to your skin in a way that’s meant to draw attention to your body. Meant to distract. You’re not uncomfortable with it, but you button the accompanying jacket up all the way nonetheless: the thought of the people in the Siren District having their eyes on you any longer than necessary is more than a little unnerving.

You have to ditch your mask, too, for a face mask that wraps around the lower half of your face. You’d packed on some eye makeup just in case, paranoid that someone would recognize the shape of your eyes, look too close and realize you’re wearing contacts. What do I have to be worried about? You chastise yourself. It’s not like anyone will recognize me.

“Are you scared?” Chen asks, voice low, just for you.

You snort. “Scared? Hell yes. I’m borderline terrified.”

“It’ll turn out fine,” he reassures you. “Promise.”

“You don’t sound optimistic,” you laugh. You can’t see his mouth turn down in a frown, but his eyes do.

“I am optimistic. We’re going to get through this. I’m serious!” He whines when you laugh. “Hey.”

You exhale, still smiling, putting a hand on his shoulder by way of an apology. “Okay, okay. Fine. Everything will be fine.”

As you get closer, though, you’re not so sure. With every turn, every mile closer, you feel wrong. Like things aren’t going to go as expected.

What could go wrong? You could die. One of your friends could die. Someone else could die. You could be abducted and sold as a slave to a rich old man halfway across the world. You could be exposed - your real identity could be exposed.

You shake your head to clear it. Out of all those scenarios, none were plausible for a simple information raid. Which was all this mission was. The worst-case scenario was someone getting injured and the mission being compromised. That was a very real possibility. You’d work on eliminating that possibility, not worrying about things that wouldn’t happen.

The truck screeches to a stop. “We’re here,” the Director announces as he unlatches the door. “You’ll have to walk a bit. Any further in and they might track us.”

You move out of the van in pairs. Seism is alone, and he goes first. He’s the closest thing you have to a sniper. Hiding out from a secure vantage point and clobbering people with bricks. “Or knocking them off their feet with an earthquake,” he’d said. “But that’s only for emergencies.”

After he’s out of sight, it’s your turn. You and Chen skirt around the back of the van to the road, and you’re immediately thrown into the lurid darkness of the Siren District.

“This way,” Chen says, and grabs your arm, pulling you to the right. You tear your eyes away from the flashing lights of the main street and follow him, matching his pace. He doesn’t let go of your arm, and you can feel tiny bursts of electricity even through the material of your jacket. He’s nervous - he doesn’t usually let himself shock you like that.

“Slow down,” you mutter. “We’re drawing attention.” He does, and you settle into a pace that’s fast enough, but not any faster than the people walking past you on the street.

You thought it would be different, the Siren District. The people on the streets look normal, albeit grungier - but that’s standard for the city’s nightlife. The numerous neon signs hanging from every building cast an unearthly glow on everyone’s face, making shadows seem deeper than they are. Buildings have been built in layers, each new one on top of the old one so that you can’t even make out where one starts and the other begins.

You do see the other things, though. Groups of people clustered in alleys, smoking. The sounds of a brawl from somewhere behind. As you pass a restaurant you hear drunken laughter and a man stumbles out on the arm of a woman, his hand groping at her as she fights him off. Chen’s hand twines around yours and he pulls you away, leading you away from the scene and further down the street.

The Black Dragon is halfway down. You almost don’t notice it: it’s tucked away shabbily behind a large sign advertising a psychic. The door is down a half-flight of stairs, the only sign that anything’s inside is the red neon light that seeps through the crack between the door and the frame and spills out onto the street.

You mark its position, then discreetly pull out the small mouthpiece attached to your face mask. “We’re here.”

“So am I,” Seism’s voice crackles over your headset. “Look up and to your left.” You both do, and in the window of the building across from the Black Dragon is the barest glimpse of Seism’s head as he ducks back down.

“Got you,” you say, sharing a look with Chen. It was time for the next part of your plan.

Chen shoots a quick glance at the entrance to the Black Dragon. “We’re supposed to go further down, aren’t we?”

“We are,” you agree, following his line of sight. Something’s telling you this is the right place. It’s not just the name of the shop, but a kind of aura that surrounds the place. An aura that’s dark, wicked, more sultry than any of the other establishments you noticed.”But…”

“But…?” He looks at you, one eyebrow raised. You wonder if you should. Bypass the plan and go straight for the Black Dragon instead.

“But I think we shouldn’t.”

He smiles, eyes crinkling almost deviously above his mask. “Good thinking, then.”

You activate your mouthpiece again. “Hey, Director? It’s Rush. I want a change of plans.”

“What happened?”

You turn away from Chen, squaring your shoulders as you face down the Black Dragon. “My gut’s telling me to go in.”

A long silence. The Director exhales. “Are you sure?”

You glance at the door again, sizing it up. “Pretty sure.”

“I say you go in,” Seism chimes in.

The Director exhales again. “Follow your gut, then. I trust you.”

You share a grin with Chen. “Thank you, sir.”

With that, you push past the psychic ad and go down the stairs. Then you push the door open, without knocking or looking for a bell. You figure that’s not how things work in the Siren District.

And you’re right - no one looks up at you and Chen as you walk into the building. The red lights are blinding here, and there’s some kind of hazy music that matches the smoky air in making everything seem surreal. It’s not just a tattoo shop, you notice. There are card tables strewn on the right side of the room. All empty. Past that, though, is a dance floor, where there are so many people you have no idea how anyone could find their way out.

Maybe they weren’t meant to.

You and Chen make your way around the mass of people, where there’s a row of doors you presume must lead to the actual tattoo parlor. “If you owned this place, where would you be?” You muse to Chen as you turn back around, looking for any more doors or exits.

“There,” he says, and you look where he’s pointing - to the balcony-like glass box that hangs over the front of the room. Behind, you can make out shadowy figures moving around, but no faces. “That’s got to be it.”

“I think we’d better make ourselves inconspicuous first,” Chen says, quieter than before, and you look past him to where someone who looks like a bartender is eyeing you from head to toe. Not like someone would eye a person they were attracted to, but like he was assessing you as a threat. Exactly the kind of attention you didn’t want.

You let Chen lead you to the back wall. “Stay here,” he says. “I’ll be right back.” And then he vanishes into the press of the crowd.

You frown. Without him, you feel exposed. This is not a place anyone would visit alone, and you’re no exception. Resisting the urge to cross your arms over your chest, you try to look like you’re at ease. Bored, almost. It must work, because you see someone approach you.

He’s short, with pale grey hair and one eye covered with a white contact. “Hey,” he says, and smoothly hands you a bright purple drink.

“Oh, um-”

“Tonight’s special,” he winks. Then he leans in. “You know, you caught his eye.”

You’re on guard immediately at his words. “Whose?”

A slow smile spreads across his face, his eyes boring into yours as he cocks his head toward the glass box above. “His, of course.”

A shiver wracks your body. “And you’re here because?”

“Because he asked me to bring you to him.” Is it just you, or is he morphing in front of your eyes? His voice changes pitch, going deeper with each word. His face swims in and out of focus and rearranges itself into sharper features. He grows taller, inch by inch, until he’s just towering over you. “You’d be making a mistake if you rejected the invitation.”

He’s a super, then. What kind? Shapeshifter? You don’t come across them often. They’re rare.

You shouldn’t leave. It would compromise the mission and put you in danger - the exact situation you’re trying to avoid. And you’re alone now, with Chen lost temporarily in the crowd, both of you deep inside the building and out of Seism’s view. You’re not even sure if you’ll be able to call for help.

Still, though. The man can only be talking about the Dragon. And the Dragon isn’t someone you want to anger. 

You make your decision. Readying yourself internally, you take the man’s outstretched hand. “Take me to him, then.”

He leads you back to where you saw the doors, pushing open the last one and holding it open for you. This room is definitely not a tattoo room. You avert your eyes as you follow him further inside, over to a dingy staircase that creaks as you climb up. This end of the building smells like mold, not the herbaceous smoke that permeated the rest of it.

On the second floor, there’s only a single door. That must lead to the glass box. You tense as the man reaches for the doorknob, readying yourself for a possible attack. You don’t want to give yourself away, but if this is a trap, you need to be ready to escape.

The man beckons you inside with a tilt of his head. “Ladies first.” 

You take a step inside.

It’s empty except for the man on a chair, looking out through the glass onto the people below. As your eyes adjust to the dark, you make out another figure, hunched beside him. Quiet. It’s strange, you swear you saw more people when you looked from below.

You whirl around as the door clicks shut behind you. The shifter is gone. It’s just you and the Dragon.

“Hello, Rush.”

The blood drains from your face. He knows who you are.

Beside him, the figure lets out a small sound.

“Well?” The Dragon says after a beat of silence. “Aren’t you going to say hello, too?” He still hasn’t turned to face you. You stalk forward, so that you’re within his view but can still make a run for the exit if you need to.

“You’re the Dragon, aren’t you?” You cross your arms, looking over him. This man is most definitely not Antonio Griffin.

He sighs, leaning back in his seat. Still not making eye contact. “Ah, Rush. It’s a waste of time to say things we already know. Isn’t it?”

What does he mean by that? You keep silent, shifting in place as you wait for a strike. There has to be a strike. He didn’t call you up here for the pleasure of your company.

Finally, he looks at you, eyes roving up and down your body. You fight the uncontrollable urge to curl up in a ball, hide from him. “You look...different from when I last saw you.”

“I do?”

“Yes. You’re...not as sure of yourself as you were before. Aren’t you?” He doesn’t wait for a reply. “I can see it in your stance. You are - hmm, how do I put it? Afraid. What are you afraid of, darling?”

He laughs, a low chuckle that makes it feel like there are insects crawling up and down your body. Your cheeks burn.

“I wonder. Maybe, you’re afraid of me. Of what I can do. Maybe you’re afraid for your friends. Maybe you’re afraid because you are, for once, caught in real life.” He laughs again, dry and humorless. “Isn’t that right? This isn’t that pretend play, back-and-forth you do with your nemesis. Welcome to the real world, Rush. There’s more evil here than anything you’ve ever seen.”

You freeze. Because something is about to go very, very wrong.

He shifts his chair, revealing the figure next to him, and you choke out a gasp. “Chen.”

How did the Dragon get him? How did he know?

“See?” The Dragon sounds smug. “I wasn’t just going to let you take my word for it. We both know how words are weak. Actions, though, they get my point across much more effectively.”

Chen has his eyes closed, his hands and legs bound by metal bands twisted around them. Is he drugged? Why isn’t he looking at you? You know your panic, your shock, is open for anyone to see on your face. How are you going to get out of this mess?

“Let him go,” you say finally. It’s a pathetic attempt and you know it. There’s conviction in your words, but also desperation. He knows he has the upper hand. He knows he’s got you at his mercy.

The Dragon smiles.

“What do you want from us?” You ask when he doesn’t reply. “Our lives? Information? Or our abilities?”

He steeples his hands. “Nothing. I simply wanted to teach you a lesson. Let’s see how you do in a test.”

And with that, the door bursts open. Men in dark suits flood in, all with a silver dragon insignia emblazoned on their chests. You count six, seven, eight. When you see the shapeshifter from earlier, a cold realization hits you.

They’re all supers.

You’re done for.

All you have is your ring Blade, strapped under your jacket to the back of your shirt. You toss the jacket to the ground - hopefully someone will trip on it. The Blade in your hand hums to life, its light casting pink flashes around the room. You drop into a crouch, waiting for them to attack.

The moment they do, you’re ready. You don’t even stop to think as you fight, one movement leading into another as you turn yourself into a weapon. Blinking across the room, using your Blade to incapacitate. Not to kill.

But that’s your mistake. Because these men are aiming to kill, and you’re not doing enough. The ones you’ve knocked down are getting back up, a renewed determination in their eyes.

You’re aware of the Dragon watching your every movement from his position. “See what I meant?” he calls. “This is the real world, Rush. We are the real villains. This is evil. Do you see?”

You grunt, kicking another guy in the face, your heel slamming into his mouth and sending him spinning into the ground. The guy behind you has some kind of sticky hands that he uses to leap onto the ceiling, swinging down and going for your neck. You duck out of the way at the last second.

Another one can create illusions. Suddenly, there are ten of him. The next moment, Twenty. You’ve lost count. Thinking fast, you blink behind him, and the illusions disappear from this side. You go for a chokehold, wrestling him down to the ground and putting a nasty slice in one of his arms. Then the other. He groans, but pulls himself up to his feet, shooting a right hook. You’re not fast enough and his fist smashes into your face. You see stars and lose your balance, out of it enough that you just barely see the hit coming from the other side-

“Rush!” You hear Chen trying to get your attention, and with his warning, you’re somehow fast enough to bypass the illusionist’s next attack. You drop to the ground to avoid a hit from the shapeshifter behind you, at the same time swinging your leg out in a wide arc, sweeping them both off their feet.

But the shifter is faster than you expect. He jumps onto you, holding your arms and legs down with his. You struggle in his hold. His hand moves to your neck and presses down on your pulse. Hard enough that you go lightheaded.

“Pity I wasn’t alone with you,” he says, increasing the pressure. You choke. “I would have enjoyed you.”

Your eyes roll back in your head, but you can still hear him as he speaks, low in your ear. “Do you want to know what I would have done? If the Dragon decided I could have you?” More pressure. It’s slow, excruciating. “I’d eat you up. You would be screaming for me to stop, but I wouldn’t, I’d just keep taking,” his hand squeezes like a vice and lets go, squeezes and then lets go again. You whimper, paralyzed.

He growls, low. “I’ll just take you like this, then.” His other hand is sliding over your breast.

With all the concentration you have left, you bring your knee up into his crotch. “Get the fuck away from me.”

He falls off you, keening in pain. You scramble over him, seeing red. Did he think he could get away with saying that? How many other women had he said that to? How many of the other men here thought that they could get what they wanted, just like that? You pin him down the way he did you, ignoring his whine of pain. “Enjoy this, you fucking bastard.”

Eyes flashing with rage, you slit his throat.

The instant blood spurts up onto your face, you’re horrified. What have you just done? You’re a hero, not a murderer. This isn’t what you do. You stumble away, landing with a thud on your back.

You don’t have time to break down, though. You only just see one of the men you’d knocked down getting up, wiping away the blood from a cut above his eye. This is the one with super strength, you remember. Pushing away the fatigue that suddenly threatens to overwhelm you, you take a stance, ready to fight anything he can throw at you.

This is going to rely on your speed. You only hope that you can be fast enough to avoid being pummeled to death.

He charges. You blink away at the last second - a classic trick - and he goes barreling right past where you were. Stupid. Doesn’t he know your power is teleportation?

You aren’t in the mood for a slow fight. You want this over with - now.

With a yell, you reappear right in front of him, bringing your Blade slashing over his chest. It doesn’t go in deep - he’s too muscular for that - but it leaves an ugly gash across his shirt. To his credit, he doesn’t waver. Just immediately backhands you across the face.

You go flying, only just managing to keep yourself from smashing into the glass wall behind by blinking upright at the last second. Shaking it off, you go in for the attack again.

You’re a blur of pink light and limbs as you whirl around him, slashing, avoiding hits from every side. You can feel exhaustion pulling on you, slowing you down, and you almost miss another smash to the face. He shows absolutely no sign of stopping as the fight goes on, dragging into an eternity that you don’t think will ever end.

“Asshole,” you grunt, tears stinging at your eyes as you aim a high kick to his neck. It hits home, snapping it sideways. “Why won’t you fucking leave,” you spin, kicking him in the kneecap, “me,” again, “alone!”

When the opening appears, you slam your Blade into his chest.

And feel your blood run cold as he falls to his knees, staring up at you. You look away, unable to stomach his expression, frozen forever into a mask of shock.

You take a step back, looking up at the Dragon, whose face is as impassive as ever. “Well?” You grit out. “Is that good enough for you? Is that what you fucking wanted?” You feel empty, and the tears that are dripping down your face - out of frustration, exhaustion - are just as much so.

As you watch his face, his brow furrows, his mouth setting into a hard line. He’s...angry? You tense. There’s no telling what happens next.

Without warning, he lifts his hand and twists it. Simultaneously, the metal binds around Chen’s hands twist tighter. Chen yells, looking down at them, fresh blood dripping from the cuts that the metal has made.

You’re just as incapacitated as he is. You could blink back to the safety of the outside anytime. But that would mean leaving Chen behind - and you care for him too much to do that. You care for him, and you want him out of here with you, alive.

With a start, you realize this isn’t a new feeling. Somehow, you’ve always cared for him - it isn’t just a recent development, from when you became allies. As you stare down the Dragon, waiting for his next move, images flash through your mind. Chen catching you as you fell to certain death. Chen with his hand around your waist, protecting you. Chen’s quiet words on top of the Spire as he told you what he really felt. Today, Chen with his small words of reassurance and his hand in yours as you made your way down to the Black Dragon.

You feel determination seep back into you.  

“Come on, Dragon,” you seethe, moving in a slow circle. “I got past them. Now let us go.”

He bares his teeth. “If you can get out of here yourself.”

You have no idea how you’re going to beat him, but you have a plan to escape. A simple one that you’re kicking yourself for not having thought of earlier.

The Blade in your hand - made of metal - crumples into a useless lump under the force of his powers. You watch it drop to the ground in shock.

The Dragon smiles. “Can’t have you at an advantage.”

He pulls out a gun. The safety clicks off.

Of all the things you’re slower than, it has to be a gun. Your teleportation is only as fast as your reflexes, after all, and right now you don’t trust your reflexes at all.

He doesn’t pull it on you, though. Slowly, he presses it to Chen’s temple.

Now you’re totally fucked.

Could your plan still work? If you managed to distract the Dragon long enough…

You loosen your stance, faking being more tired than you already are. In response, you see the Dragon’s smile widen ever so slightly. You see it. He thinks he’s got you. He thinks you’re going to surrender, just like that.

“It’s this easy, Rush,” says the Dragon, not moving the gun away. “Even after all you did - after all the efforts of good - see how quickly I turned your work to nothing. How quickly I won. You don’t have it in you, Rush. You aren’t strong enough to be a hero.”

You’re not going to surrender. You are a hero - murderer or not - and good always beats evil. Doesn’t it?

You watch him, going over every possibility, every opportunity for escape. He goes on. “This is why evil never truly disappears. Because we’re not afraid to trick you. To deceive you. You have to be cunning to survive in this world. You have to be manipulative. I see it in you, Rush. You may not be strong enough to be a hero, but you’re smart enough to be a villain.”

The gun is made of metal.

Your eyes narrow, infinitesimally, meeting Chen’s from across the room. You stare at him, making sure he’s looking at you. Focused on you. Then you shake your hand quickly, making it spasm. Mimicking a shock.

Barely, he nods his understanding.

“Join, me, Rush.”

Your gaze doesn’t leave Chen’s. You see him take a small breath, steel himself. The minuscule twist of his hands, palms touching each other.

The Dragon shudders violently as current courses through the gun and into him. The same trick Chen pulled on you in the warehouse, all those days ago. You don’t waste a second more as the Dragon falls to the ground, fingers detached from the gun but still jerking uncontrollably.

You grab Chen’s hand and blink to safety.

You have no idea where you’ve landed, but you’re out of the Black Dragon and away from the main street. It’s dark, pitch black almost, save for a single beam of light shooting across the roof, and your hands shake as you feel around for Chen.

“I’m here,” he says softly, his hand closing around yours as you touch it.

“Good,” you say, and you’re crying again, this time with relief. You haven’t pushed yourself so hard in one day ever before, never with the weight of emotions like this. Never with the pressure of actually fighting your way out of a life-or-death situation. Never with the guilt of two deaths on your conscience. “Let’s see those binds, shall we?”

The tremor in your voice is obvious, but he doesn’t say anything, and for that you’re grateful. Your fingers find their way to his wrists, running over the metal to find the point where they twist together. Biting your lip, you wind it open. Chen hisses as you graze the cuts around his wrists. “I’m sorry,” you whisper. “Sorry.”

The binds come off, dropping to the ground with a small clatter. “I’m sorry,” you say again, and it’s not just for now - but for getting him into this in the first place, for putting him through this with you.

His hand slides up your arm until it’s cupping the side of your face. “Don’t be.” He swallows thickly. “You were amazing.”

“Thank you,” you mumble, heat rising at his touch.

He strokes your face. “I mean it. You saved my life, Rush.”

You chuckle brokenly. “Well, I owed you, didn’t I?”

His hand moves from your cheek to your forehead, pushing away the strand of hair that’s falling in your face. The touch lingers, your skin burning at the contact.

It’s dark, isn’t it?

Slowly, you pull down your mask. The cool air hits your lips. Then you feel for his face. You can hear his breathing; heavy not from tiredness but from anticipation, warm on your fingertips as you pull his mask away, too.

“Can I?” You murmur, already leaning closer. He holds his breath.

You press your lips to his, molding them together. Instantly, you forget everything. There’s only him - the hitch of his breath, the deep hum of a moan in his throat as you move your mouth against his. His hands rest on your hips, pulling you over his lap, his thumbs rubbing slow circles into your side. It feels like hours. Just the both of you, as one in the darkness. You want to feel nothing but him. You thread your hands through his hair, tugging back so he leans up to meet you, his breath pouring into your mouth as he moves his fingers up your waist. “Rush,” he whispers between kisses. “Rush.”

“Mmm.”

“Rush.”

Finally, reluctantly, you pull away, only just remembering to pull your mask up before he can see your face. He doesn’t, though. And in the bare light, you see his features. Every inch of you going rigid as you recognize them. As you realize who he - Chen - is.

“Jongdae?” It slips from your mouth without you meaning to.

The world spins to a halt.

His grip on you turns vice-like. “How do you know my name?”

You don’t say anything. You can’t say anything. In front of you is the man you fell in love with twice over, in two different worlds. The man you just kissed. Dynamo, Chen. Jongdae. Both the same person.

Of all the things that had happened today, this was something you’d never expected.

“Rush. How do you know my name?”

You scramble to your feet, eyes wide. Mind blank. “I - I-”  You don’t know what to do.

So you do the only thing you can: run.

a/n: this is late and it’s a bit unorganized BUT at least i give you smoochies and angst :D

[sueboohscorner]

#WynonnaEarp Season 2 Episode 1 "Steel Bars and Stone Walls" aka Saving Mr. Dolls

Season 2 picks up literally seconds after Season 1 ended and Waves and Doc are on the move, running from whatever she shot at in the last moments of the S1 finale. The creature gets Doc’s hat (RIP) but thankfully, Wynonna was right behind them and was able to gleefully Ty Cobb him…it?…into next Tuesday before blowing it away.

Her plan is simple: use the creepy mouth thing she just blew away to get Dolls back. Somehow. It’s a not fully fleshed out plan okay?

Speaking of Dolls, he used his time wisely and with the cell phone he had on him, called off the missile strike on Purgatory. Lucado, continuing to prove what a massive biatch she really is, throws a temper tantrum about this and the fact that Wynonna offed BoBo by zapping Dolls and gleefully telling him he’s gonna be shipped to a dark site somewhere.

Back in Purgatory, Wynonna walks in on Sheriff Nedley spinning a yarn that paints Wynonna Earp as the cause of all that went wrong at the end of last season with Bobo. Thanks for your continued support, Randy! At least he tells her in his own Nedley way that he appreciates what she did for everyone…right before telling her Black Badge has swooped in and removed everything from the site.

Then Nedley asks what we all have asked at one point or another: Where on earth did Dolls live?? Because maybe that’s where he stashed all his important info. Wynonna takes off searching for his digs to find what she can find and finally breaks into the right place. She realizes quickly it’s not quite as vacant as she was expecting as she’s attacked by a half naked blonde bombshell with an attitude. They realize soon enough though they’re both…ahem…friends with Xavier and the guns are holstered.

Back at Casa del Earp, Waverly is busy patching up Nicole from the booboo she got at the end of last season (what’s a gunshot wound tempered by a bullet proof vest between more than friends?) Kissing ensues but Haught has to put a stop to it due to her injuries. She does note though that Waves tastes differently. Just then Doc shows up and breaks up the party to check in on Waverly and how she’s doing after losing Willa.

Meanwhile Wynonna and the blonde chick…whose name we learn to be Eliza…are circling each other figuratively speaking then Wynnona blurts out that Black Badge took Dolls. Eliza tells her she needs her if they’re gonna get Dolls back since he’ll be taken to Black Rock if they don’t rescue him in time. Either that or he’ll be dead, or worse than dead. Well that sounds ominous.

Team Earp plus one gather to discuss their plan to infiltrate a Black Badge safe house at the Earp household. Nicole..now Agent Haught…will help keep the peace with the 62 remaining revnants with Waverly while the others go all in.

Wynonna, Doc and Eliza head back to Dolls old office (dealing with any problem Black Badge agents as they find them) and open Dolls’ safe. Bad news. Dolls doesn’t have his dose and hasn’t taken anything in 30 hours or so. Wynonna of course has no idea what they’re talking about. Doc clues her in: Dolls isn’t entirely a man. And by that, he means Dolls isn’t a man at all.

Wynonna takes the news quite well, I think.

Unsurprisingly the BB agent gives up the goods and Team Earp is on the move to an old bread factory, where Dolls is. They arrive armed with a dead possum, stinking, and dressed in protective gear. The guard quickly motions them through, not interested in suffering the horrible stench for any longer than necessary.

Once inside, Eliza, fresh from the vents (she had to cut the security cam wires), meets up with them and they’re off, down a stairway and trapped. Eliza’s ID isn’t working for them anymore. Ruh roh. So much for Plan A.

Back home, Nicole and Waverly prepare for battle. Except things aren’t what they seem (Waverly’s weird black glowy eye thing aside) and Waverly confesses Wynonna had a secondary agenda for them in mind. Let’s call it Plan B. She shows up at the Black Badge site in disguise as some chick from Scotland Yard just in time, carting part of the weird mouth creature (“Johnny Big Mouth” demon) from the start of the episode. Meanwhile, Nicole waits for everyone in the getaway car as the guard, who is apparently a blithering idiot who can’t tell Waverly’s lying through her teeth lets her through.

Lucado is with Dolls, taunting him that Eliza’s there and that she’ll stick with him till he’s carted off to Black Rock. She hates him, you see, because he chose to save Eliza over her husband on some op in Kabul back in the day and doesn’t care when Dolls tells her that her husband told him to leave with Eliza since he was bleeding out and wasn’t going to make it. Instead she lets him know Wynonna and Doc are with Eliza and they’ll pay for what he did. What a vindictive %#^@*^#… well, you get my drift.

Waverly arrives in the Black Badge laboratory which is stocked with all sorts of critters, including another Johnny Big Mouth demon. Wynonna calls her and tells her that it’s in fact time for Plan C. While she waits for Waverly to get to…whatever it is she’s gonna do…she and Eliza have a heart to heart. Eliza clears up that she and Dolls are just friends but that she’s there in Purgatory to find out what Black Badge did to Dolls, and to her. To find out what they were changed into. Eliza warns her though that it might be too late to save Dolls and that they might have to end him if he’s too far gone.

Meanwhile Waverly, in full on Plan C mode, is trying to distract? woo? flirt with? manipulate? the lab technician to get him to open the security doors so her sister and friends can escape. He unwittingly gives her the answer as to what she needs and she clobbers the poor guy, but not enough to actually knock him out, just make him bleed. Which is bad as one of the creatures in captivity…a Bulgarian devourer of souls…breaks free.

They escape and Waverly comes clean. She’s there for her sister and Dolls…a good friend. And for some reason he helps her out and unlocks the doors for her.  But before Wynonna can get out, Doc does and shuts the door behind him. He’ll get Dolls. She’ll go with Eliza to save Waverly.

Doc finds Dolls in a cage and Lucado in front of said cage with a gun. But Doc’s prepared for this eventuality.

Doc wants her to apologize to Xavier but before she can, Dolls grabs her from behind and knocks her clean out and Doc gets Dolls out of the cage and the room.

Waverly and her technician friend decide it’s safe to go back inside the lab, THOUGH WHY THEY’D WANT TO I HAVE NO IDEA. Except it isn’t safe and the soul devourer is ticked off in the worse way. Testy little things, ain’t they? Waverly steps forward though and goes all black eyes on the soul devourer, and he…it? backs down. Which begs the question on all of our minds: HUH? Wynonna shows up and grabs Peacemaker, who has been hidden in the Johnny Big Mouth demon head Waverly brought in there and she “peacemakes” the soul devourer before dragging Waves out of there.

Meanwhile Doc is having a tough time dragging Dolls and he offloads the dynamite near the opening of some box…which I’m sure certainly is not going to come up again in the future *WINK*… before giving Dolls a dose of his meds. Dolls eyes go all glowy before he whispers something in Doc’s ears. Whatever it is, Doc isn’t happy about it at all. I’m guessing it’s pertaining to the fact he has to leave on his own because that’s what Doc pushes him to do right as Black Badge agents fall on Doc’s position.

Eliza, Wynonna, Waverly and the lab tech who we now know is named Jeremy (‘sup!) run into a very unhappy Lucado who’s ready to kill pretty much anyone in range right now. She’s stopped before she can by a Black Badge superior as other BB agents drag in Doc.

The big bad Black Badge boss (the B.B.B.B.B? Yikes what an acronym!) wants Wynonna and team to keep taking out revnants and also all the other new creatures popping up in the Ghost River Triangle but Doc is a hard no and Eliza warns her not to sign anything. Lucado adds her tuppence and insists someone pay for what’s happened so the B.B.B.B.B. *smirk* picks up Lucado’s gun and kills Eliza right in front of them. LE GASP!

Team Earp are then all forced to sign the contract in their own blood and the BB boss promises to help Wynonna break her family’s curse as part of the package.

The Black Badge boss asks a final question: does anyone else knows about your mission? And Waves and Wynonna lie their asses off not wanting her to end up as poor Eliza did. Thankfully, Nicole has been listening in the whole time and is able to escape before being spotted.

Back at the Earp homestead, a visibly deflated Nicole apologizes for leaving and Waves insists it was necessary. Wynonna cuddles in Willa’s bed and finally allows herself to grieve. But her moment is interrupted with a light shining in her eyes and she goes to investigate and finds her key necklace hanging on a branch and a teary eyed yet smiling Xavier Dolls looking down from a cliff above.

Wynonna and Waverly share a tender sister bonding moment at the homestead before we switch over to the Black Badge facility where we see a hand stretch out from a box and igniting the dynamite left by Doc.

Told ya that would come back into play.

Steel Bars and Stone Walls was a fun start for Season 2 and really sets the stage for the season. I give it 9.5 peacemakers out of a possible 10.

[slipperysidewinder-blog]

Around the bend #CrashPalace

Troy: /I was less than an hour away from the place I’d begun calling The Crash Palace and seeing a couple of great people I left its care in, the question on my mind was how pissed they might be with me. During the drive I kept thinking to myself that heading back after all this time was gone would prove to be interesting, considering what Kitty and Thrax would easily see…..me abandoning it all, which is anything but.

The night sky was cloud free and the luminous glow of the moon was well lit against the two-lane highway my matte black Maybach was comfortably cruising down. After months of being gone visiting different countries for the business promotions, bought media time, bringing lots of samples back to come in privately, and now having all the permits in place, I was hopeful that Thrax would be interested in getting this going with me. But time would soon tell.

The highway seemed to get more narrow as I drove along, the yellow line dividing the two lanes now seemed like the only thing that was visible outside of the silhouette of trees flying by….. and that’s when it happened.

I slammed on the brakes hard, my imprint was like heavy lead causing the car to come to a screeching skidded, smoked out halt after the impact shattered my windshield, the airbag deployed and blasted me to my seat. Whiplash like a motherfucker. What the fuck just happened?/ 

Tess:  [The winding narrow mountain roads were hugged by towering white-barked pines. Their trunks glowed almost ethereal in comparison to the darker terrain behind them. Down in the dark valley beyond the lights of the winding down Colorado town flickered in a sea of black.

The Wrangler’s tires rode soothingly quiet over the paved road as I headed back up to the cabin. I’d spent more time than necessary just being around the others buzzing around the center of the small valley town, and gathering supplies in town. The wolves and Vi were my only companions out in the seclusion of the mountain so it was a nice change.

Mali, an old trusted contact, had offered me a small hideaway when I’d been looking for the perfect escape. A place off the grid to get my head straight. The woods offered me the sanctuary I needed while I was taking a breather. Vi kept close of course. My magickal companion kept me guarded and was ever vigilant for any possible dangers. He’d remained in his bulldog familiar form while we were around the townsfolk. Now traveling the dark road he’d allowed his magickal shroud to dissipate and reveal his true form. The hairs on the back of my right arm stand on end at a low current of electricity washing by me and around the cabin of the jeep.

I’m half paying attention to the winding curves of the road while lifting my tanned arm away from the steering wheel to pet along Vi’s muzzle and head. I was still feeling the haze from the blunt I’d just tapped out and enjoying the leisure night drive and hefty high.

My wheels were drifting slightly over the center yellow line as the jeep flies around a blind turn and my twin headlights meet a wall of red. I swerve off to avoid a collision and narrowly miss rear-ending vehicle sitting off the shoulder. Fat rugged tires skid raw over the paved road until my grill bumps the rail across the way and screeches to a halt. I’m cursing up a rage, Vi howling as he attempted to get free from the jeep. I snatch my arm out and hook my fingers onto the door release. No sooner had the latch been disengaged, Vi was darting out the interior to investigate. I crawl over the center console and half hang out the door to find out what the fuck just happened.

There was thick smoke wafting through the air, which made it difficult to see through but I catch sight of the front end of a completely fucked high-end car. Twisted metal and streaks of blood become more visible as the wind clears the burnt rubber clouds more.]

Troy: /I opened my eyes slowly and wince with a groan as a warm trickle rolls from the side of my head down my cheek, I reach up to touch it and hiss as the throbbing pain spears my head. I felt some kind of hard pebble lodged in my flesh, with a slick grip I pull it out and see it’s glass from the shattered window.

The front end was totaled from what I could see through a glassless windshield, smoke billowed out from under a mangled hood, radiator fluid was spewing, and as the dust cleared I could see the bloody remnants of a big fucking animal. Son of a bitch I thought angrily as I rub the nape of my neck, shake my head clear and grip the doors handle to get out of the car. 

It was a forceful shoulder shove against the panel to get it open but once I was standing on the gravel outside the wreck, I scanned around me best as I could and contemplated several things. 

One: It was clear that I hit a huge fucking buck. Bambi’s snapped antlers and splayed body parts stuck out of the front grill and all over the mangled hood of my obviously non-salvageable Maybach.

Two: I would need a tow truck for my car and a damn ride out of here. I reached into my black blazers breast pocket to retrieve my cell and make arrangements but what do you fucking know, no service.

Three: As I curse a string of obscenities under my breath, I look over and start paying attention to the jeep sitting against the guardrail on the other side of the road. Almost got clobbered by it from the rear, would have made my night so much more interesting, and that’s when she came out of the dark with an animal of sorts. It was hard to make them out under the smoke and dust but they were coming my way./ 

Tess: [I scan the bloody scene for clues but it doesn’t take long to fill in the blanks. A deer must have wandered out in the road. It happened here all the time, but the question rising up most was…what was a car like that traveling around the mountain?

Shutting the questions down I pull myself up and out the door. My palm braces the door’s armrest and I climb free from the jeep after making sure no one else was headed down the narrow road toward us.]

You doing okay there? Do you need medical assistance?

[I cough out to clear my airway as my voice catches some, my hand waving the smoke away from me and wonder for a brief moment where Vi had run off to.

I stumble as steadily as I could, on somewhat shaky legs, toward the vehicle. Who in their right mind would drive a car like that out here? I breach the wisps of remaining smoke clouds and come within touching distance from some slicked up dude scrubbing over his nape and checking his cell. I didn’t get a good look at him at first, only taking in the scene more fully as he fumbled with his phone.]

You’re not going to get service out here.

[I skew my lips and then grimace when he spins around. There was a slow trickle of crimson running down his temple. He’d taken a head impact into the windshield when that deer must have darted out and I just began moving into action. My fingers working on the knot on the white and black plaid overshirt I’d had wrapped around my waist before I stretched it out, and wound in my hands as I offer it to @MrTroyWarren.]

Here, this will help the bleeding for now. We should… [My mind scrambles for what we should do next. Move the cars and maybe the deer off the road in case anyone else came down the road?] get you looked over and…

Troy:  "You doing okay? You’re not going to get service out here"

/The woman’s voice, soft and concerned cut off my thoughts from trying to operate a useless cell so I turn to face her and the look on her face said a lot. I assumed it was the blood running down the side of my face from inside my hairline that gave her such a look, but it was her genuine care as she offered me the flannel fabric that had me shaking off the dizzy swim in my head and accepting the overshirt so I could use it to apply pressure and stop the bleeding. 

She skidded off the side against the rail so she must have been shaken up too, so I cleared my throat and started talking./ 

Thank you for the shirt. I do apologize for ruining it. I will replace it as promptly as possible and I’m alright considering I just killed Bambi and destroyed a beauty of a car. What about you and your companion? Are you two alright, Miss?

/Dark or not I did my best to look her over while keeping pressure applied to my head, and she appeared to be okay. Shaken up some if anything./ 

I have an emergency kit in the trunk we can use? It’s got road reflectors and flares in it. If you don’t mind, can you put them around my car while I do my best to drag the body parts off the road? I’d greatly appreciate it? 

/This kind young woman didn’t even hesitate to help me out as she said yes and followed me to the trunk. I open the back and pull out the red zip-up mini duffel with the contents she needed inside and gave it to her. Our fingers barely brush, both our concentrated heads whip up to meet eye to eye briefly, and I swear I felt a flooded rush of ease wash over me as if the chaos around us was nothing more than a dream.

She moves away quick but with a smile and proceeds to round the car with caution signs and flares to strategically place while I let the flannel go for now and start dragging heavy ass deer parts off the road, like antlers attached to a head without a body, and a hind leg with half its ass and innards dragging behind it. The rest was chunky tomato soup on the road. I do my best to brush my hands clean before approaching the back of her jeep where she stood./ 

I hate to trouble you more than I already have, but do you think I can hitch a ride? My residence is about 10 miles up this road. It’s the large property over the next hill if you have ever seen it before. I was on my way back to start renovations for a business I’m opening there. But I get it if you can’t or won’t, me being a stranger and all… which by the way, my name is Troy Warren and I’m sorry for the late introduction.

Tess: [The deep timbre of the stranger’s voice before he cleared his throat, oh my did it cause me to drift off somewhere other than right where we were; Which was on the side of the road with fresh deer guts and engine smoke and smell of antifreeze wafting through the night air.]

Yes, I’m shaken some and my pup seems to have run off but we’re better than your night appears.

[I’d moved almost on autopilot after nodding when the taller gentleman handed me the red hazard bag and asked me to set up safety flares. How he got me in a knelt position and igniting the flare sticks and pop up cones, I didn’t know. This night wasn’t turning out any like I’d originally thought. So strange, but what could you do? I listened as he spoke, taking in everything for now. It was going to be a long night.

I stand with a swipe of my hands down my denim thighs and shift around to scout out any signs of Vi. He was gone for now. Probably keeping an eye from the shadows. I must have just been standing there staring into the woods like some mad woman when my mind goes off track. I’m broken away from my thoughts on Vi and I take @MrTroyWarren’s hand when he offers introductions, exhaling a light laugh with a slight drop of my head. My hands absently brush back the errant dark strands dancing over my forehead and tuck them behind my ear before answering.]

No worries, @MrTroyWarren, we’re both scrambling around here. It’s nice to meet a…neighbor.

[I laugh small again. Fuck. Stop with the giggles. The guy is here covered in deer guts and blood and stranded. I internally shake myself and continue speaking]

I’m Tess De la Vega and yeah, no problem with giving you a ride. I’m not going to just leave you out here for the wolves.

[Vi finally had ambled back once he’d investigate the surroundings. He has shrouded again in his bulldog form and must have been keeping watch just in case anything kicked off. After lowering his mostly white and tanned head to sniff and check in on me he’d found his way into the back of the jeep with the other supplies. Soon enough @MrTroyWarren and I were on our way. We’d made small conversation on the short drive, even in the low dashboard lit interior of my jeep @MrTroyWarren appeared as if he’d just left a massacre with all the red smears over his fine clothing. Like a hotter version of American Psycho, but it didn’t scare me off from giving him a hitch. I could handle myself if needed and he was…in theory a neighbor so I lend @MrTroyWarren a hand. When we turn into the long private drive leading up to his residence I’m stunned with what greets us after the trees open up. How the hell did I not know about this place?]

Troy: I do appreciate all of your help and not leaving me for the wolves or any other woodland animals, Ms. De La Vega.

I think we’ve both had our fair share for one evening.

/I took a look back in the passenger side mirror before she started the jeep and watched my cars hazard lights flashing, well one bloodied and mangled flicker up front but the glowing red flares that rounded it front to back fade off now in the distance as we leave the scene. 

The routine of getting to know your local stranger was a simple conversation between us, one that made the trip back to the crash palace seem quicker than normal especially in the middle of the night…. Which prompted my next question the moment Tess put her jeep in park at the massive, well-lit entrance./

Again I can’t thank you enough for all of your help tonight and as you can see this place is obscenely large, meaning there are lots of rooms, 20 to be exact and each has its own full bathroom. I mention this because it is 2:47 in the morning so if you don’t want to drive anymore tonight, you and your companion are. /I could see how exhausted Tess was and the uncertainty in her hazel eyes which was to be expected but I also think my credibility as to who I am and what I am proved valid enough because she said yes but damn this night for not being perfect. I get to show Tess to her room all gentlemen like in a suit covered in deer splatter and carcass chunks. Great. Tess and her bulldog exit the driver side at the same time as I move and locks the jeep up, rounding it to follow me up to the 12ft mahogany double doors. I slid my key into the lock, gave it a turn and inside we headed. She had a look of awe as we stood for a moment in the foyer, letting her take in all her surroundings before guiding them through the living room and taking the hallway off to the right, so she had a private room of which the window inside faced the main entrance, just to give her some added comfort. I open the door and step just inside enough to turn on the light and show Tess around before speaking./

The bathroom has everything you’ll need in it, linens are fresh, and if you are hungry please feel free to help yourself to anything in the kitchen which is across the other side of the foyer. If you need me for anything I’ll be upstairs in my room, it’s the first door at the top of the stairs. 

And again, I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done. Please know you’ll rest comfortably here. Goodnight. 

/Man she was breathtaking. Handled herself very well, smelled great, her smile hinted to more than its innocent curve of the lips, her body looked great, even her thanks and goodnight came out so soft that it washes me with ease again but it was time to leave her be and that’s what I did as closed the door behind myself and went to drop down on the crash couch. I needed a moment to call a tow before I cleaned up and called it a night./ 

#StoryTime #SL #CrashPalace #Tess #Troy