#put me in the damn merchandising team

[fantasywater]

Octavia WILL bend the knee

Here I will go in-depth into why Octavia will not be given the same grace in the fandom as Blitz did when she has her Full Moon Reckoning with Stolas.

NOTE/WARNING: I have seen and read the leaks, and they will be part of the reason why I feel this way.

What I mean by Full Moon Reckoning:

This is when the writers finally allow a victim of Stolas to be fully and rightfully angry at him for all the transgressions he has done to them, and more importantly when the FANDOM treats the actual victim's pain as the take back my power moment that it is.

The reason for this distinction is that I have noticed that Stolas is the fan favorite, and therefore it seemed all his wrongdoings got default reasons for not being that bad.

However, when Full Moon aired an odd and swift negative wind hit his character, and it has not abated.

Even with the newer ep the wind didn't lessen it got stronger.

It's like some spell broke.

It feels like a genie that can't be put back in the bottle.

He has gone from the fan-favorite to the most criticized.

The fandom is pretty unanimously on Blitz's side and has stayed on it.

However, as I've stated Octavia will not get this.

Octavia's pain in Sinmas is going up against:

Blitz and Stolas are male

Octavia is female, and a female in a Yaoi series at that. The women exist only as one-note plot devices for male pain, and that's even when said women themselves are technically leads(Loona, Millie).

2. Blitz and Stolas are main characters

Octavia is a side character who has barely been in two episodes spanning two seasons.

3. In the leaks Octavia takes up for her mother twice

Basically, she goes to bat for the fandom's hatesink.

4. Two other fan favorites(Fizz and Asmodeous) are written to be Team Stoliz

Plus, apparently, they are going to be against Octavia's mother and therefore Octavia.

5. THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON why Octavia is going to get it both barrels from the fandom is that Blitz and Stolas are canonically a gay couple by Sinmas.

Viv said an important arc will be finished by season's end, and I saw a post from her patron where she point-blank says they are a couple by the end of season two. Also more proof to me is that Blitz is very affectionate to Stolas in the trailer and in the leaks.

Speaking of, if you go to YouTube pretty much every comment is praising the ship sailing. A daughter is painfully estrangling herself from her beloved father, while he cries and begs for her mercy, and all everyone can talk about is getting wet over a toxic ship flying into her pain.

Recap TLDR:

Blitz got fandom grace because he is THE main character and was at the time rightfully against Stolas.

While Octavia will get to have her say she is also a woman bit player up against Blitz THE male main character who is now with Stolas THE male fan favorite in a gay romantic relationship.

She will also make the unforgivable sin of taking up for her cheated on mother Stella the hatesink.

Blitz and Stolas will also have the backing of two other favorites Fizz and Ozz as well as the rest of I.M.P.

The YouTube comments ignoring her anguish for the now canon ship are simply a taste to come of what the fandom as a whole is going to do.

Basically, this poor girl doesn't stand a chance.

I WANT to eat crow.

I realllly do.

That's why I employ the fandom to give the same grace they gave Blitz these last two episodes to Octavia as well.

However, this show is made by a fujoshi for fujoshi and that's why I know in my heart of hearts she will be damned instead.

Now, I've stated that the fandom is probably going to kiss the Stolitz ring against Octavia, but let's go into what I think the show is going to do.

Yes, after a year in the show and two seasons overall, Blitz finally got to angrily reinsert his personhood to Stolas, and yes it was cathartic and I'm glad it happened.

However, that doesn't change the fact that four episodes after Full Moon his fate is to be his abuser's boyfriend.

Also, if the merchandise is said to be hints of the creator's thoughts then his final destiny is to be his husband.

Basically, if the main character ultimately bent the knee then so will Octavia.

While the fujoshi in charge does allow them to assert their pain their ultimate fate is to comply.

Essentially it's just lip service to shut critics up.

She, and apparently his voice actor, has said don't worry everything will be alright, and by everything it's obvious they mean Stolas.

She has also said she likes happy endings so you can bet there will be none given to Stolas that doesn't have Blitz and Octavia by his side.

Also make no mistake Blitz's own daughter is also there to help the story ignore their pain. The seed was planted in Seeing Stars when Octavia warmly hugged, hung out, and was gaslit by a complete stranger. It's also why she's her ''sister' now in the pride poster.

Yea, Loona has a big part to play in season three alright, and it's to brainwash Octavia's distress so Stolitz can reign supreme.

Realistically if a fujoshi fangirl weren't writing this show this is what would happen:

Now that he has the crystal; Blitz would completely cut ties with the guy who sexually extorted and depersonalized him for a year. Not become his boyfriend/husband.

Sometime in season three Octavia finds out about her father's (poorly written) abuse and attempted murder attempts by her mother. However, instead of seeing him as a martyr, she states that Stella's actions toward him DON'T NEGATE HIS toward Octavia.

He still broke his own daughter's mental health with his infidelity and abandoned her as a consequence of his own actions i.e. illegal grimoire lending.

She then states she still wants him, and her other toxic parent, out of her life for good.

Her final words are Goodbye Dad... No.... Stolas.

Stolas for his part should be having some serious self-reflection by season 3. He should be strongly asking himself if Blitz was worth Asmodeus's self-fulling prophecy of losing his title, wealth, home, and daughter.

It should be NO, but a fujoshi is steering.

What she is going to do instead is make them use Octavia's pain to trauma bond into domestication.

Then Loona and the writing, in general, is going to make sure Octavia solely blames Stella: The Convenient Stolas Trump Card so they can all just be a family already.

Bonus: We will even get to see Octavia kick her mother from the palace with Stolas' signature GET OUT this time.

Ultimately Blitz and Octavia's misery will not mean anything. As the official car sticker merch states they will be a blended family and their suffering by Stolas be damned. 

However, I do have a small (delusional) theory that Ms. Fujoshi could throw a curveball:

Apparently, she has been liking a lot of Vassago and Stolas romantic fanart, but with a of course jealous Blitz. 

What if Vassago is Disney Princess Stolas's true endgame.

The guy who gets to show him what an actual healthy relationship looks like, and for a romantic like him this would be his true Prince Charming.

Sure Stolas ending up with a prince(and therefore getting everything back through him) just drives home that dirty, poor, broken, baggage-having, hypersexual Blitz was ultimately never going to be good enough for Purity Angel Stolas in the first place.

However, on the bright side, he's finally away from his abuser...

So on that note, Blitz's true endgame is Fizz. 

His real first friend. His real first love.

The correct star-crossed lovers.

The person who actually knows the true Blitz and can meet him blow for blow when he gets messy instead of running away crying with self-pitying gaslighting.

However, since she seems to hate her own main character Blitz's true endgame is going to be tainted.

Foreshadowing Number 1:

I've always found it curious that right after the can we make-out line the very next scene is Fizz coming back to Ozz wiping his mouth.

Why even put that thought in the audience's head unless....

Foreshadowing Number 2:

When Blitz shoots the stalker the mirror that Fizz and Ozz are kissing in front of breaks right down the middle, splitting them, with Blitz's face the last thing seen in the fracture.....

Basically, she is going to have Blitz and Fizz get together by cheating on Ozz, and the fandom is going to blow them both up for it.

Other Tidbits:

Blitz still very much has feelings for Fizz.

Even how he acted when he met him shopping in Full Moon showed this, and he fully blushed in the storyboard.

This is something he has never done for Stolas.

You know the endgame we should be rooting for and all that.

Also Fizz full-on blushes(cage) in the Opps storyboard.

Of course, the show properly erases those because we can't have anyone shipping Blitz or Fizz with their true soulmate.

Apparently, in a leaked script bit, Blitz falls in love with Stolas because he reminds him of Fizz. I mean my dear Stolitz shippers it should be a yikes on a bike for that alone.

[winters-light]

Sip and Paint

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Words: 1k

A/N: bucky at the stark expo in tfa letting the girl drag him around??? this is 1000% realistic and I have had this idea for weeks but was too lazy and then when I finally sat down and wrote half I forgot to save it and had to rewrite it so rip :')

please comment and lmk what you think because i’m still new and so in my head about my writing!

“Oh my god, Bucky,” she gasped suddenly as she stopped in the middle of the aisle.

Currently, the pair were in the supermarket on a Friday evening - the first Friday evening they'd both had free in weeks - doing their weekly food shop. It had been a long week and honestly, she was so exhausted the last thing she wanted to do was to go out drinking with the rest of the team. Instead, she and her fiancé had decided to cook dinner together and have a quiet night in.

“What?” he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice as he glanced over to where she was pointing.

“Look it’s us,” she excitedly gestured towards some paint your own avenger figurines.

They had somehow found themselves cutting through the toy aisle and the Avenger section had caught her eye. She had been part of the team for nearly two years now, yet somehow it was still so surreal whenever she saw toys and other merchandise modelled after herself.

A small smirk appeared on his lips as he took the two figures in. He picked one the boxes up, allowing his eyes to study the miniature version of himself, finding himself impressed with the attention to detail on his uniform.

“Damn… This actually looks pretty good,” he chuckled, running his metal hand through his hair before carefully placing it back on the shelf.

Noticing the way his mouth subtly curved up in amusement, an idea crept into her mind. "Pretty please can we get them?" she asked sweetly, widening her eyes ever so slightly as she blinked up at him.

"Fine,” he sighed softly, rolling his eyes and shaking his head though the small smirk remained in place. He was hopeless against her pouting and they both knew it. She had the Winter Soldier wrapped around her pretty little finger; he could never deny her anything.

Her lips quickly flicked up into an excited smile as she added two boxes to the trolley before pushing it along so they could continue with their shopping.

***

Once they had finished cleaning up from dinner, she excitedly set up the figurines and paints on the dining table, snapping a quick picture for her socials - as cheesy as it was.

The scene looked like something straight from Pinterest, she had lit candles and got out their fanciest wine glasses determined to make a romantic evening of it. This week in particular had been extremely stressful, and she figured they both deserved to relax and spend some quality time together.

“Baby,” she called out for Bucky to join her. She greeted him with a gentle kiss on the cheek and instructed him to sit down. She giggled softly shaking her head as he sat down in front of his own clay figure. “Nope, we’re painting each other, it’ll be more fun that way.”

“Fine,” Bucky groaned and reluctantly agreed, unable to deny her. This whole ‘paint and sip’ thing she had insisted on as soon as she saw the figures in the supermarket sounded ridiculous to him, but she looked so excited by the prospect he couldn’t bear to refuse her. Besides, he found the whole 'sip' part of the night extremely agreeable. And maybe he did secretly adore all the effort she had put into their date night; it had been so long since anyone had cared for him like this.

Bucky shook his head in slight amusement as he picked up his wine glass and took a long sip before picking up the clay figure of you. He ran his hand over the smooth clay with a soft hum, impressed at its likeness to her.

"Just don't laugh at me, if mine looks completely awful," he grumbled though a hint of a smile played at the corners of his lips as he grabbed the brush and dipped it carefully into the paint.

“I won’t,” she chuckled softly and shook her head, watching him as he began to work. She was surprised to see how seriously he was taking this, the way his metal hand held the figure so gently and his whole face had scrunched up in concentration. She smiled at the sight taking a sip of her drink before picking up her own brush.

***

The hours passed by quietly, the couple surprisingly more invested in their art projects than either of them expected to be.

“This is a lot harder than I thought it would be,” she muttered swearing under her breath as she accidentally smudged some of the paint on her figure. The paint that came with the kit was awful and patchy and had preferred to stick to their hands and anywhere but the model. She had been struggling to paint in the details on his face for the last hour and was just about ready to give up.

"You're telling me," Bucky replied with a soft chuckle, equally as frustrated as he smeared away and attempted to start on the painting again. His brows were furrowed in a deep look of concentration, his tongue sticking out between his teeth as he focused intensely on the figure in front of him. "This is impossible."

“Ready to call it a night?” she suggested as she poured the last of the wine into her glass and practically drank it in one sip.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea,” he murmured in agreement, letting out an exasperated sigh as he set the figure down. He looked a bit disappointed in his work, but at the same time, he couldn't help but to chuckle at how ridiculous they looked sitting there, frustrated over a painting meant for children.

She nodded, chuckling softly as she looked over their figures. Despite their best efforts, the paint messily smudged over the figures barely even resembled humans anymore. She stood letting out a soft yawn deciding that tidying could wait until morning. She grabbed the remaining bottle of wine on the table and took it into their bedroom with Bucky in an attempt to salvage the rest of their night.

[oshinohoshi]

Down the rabbit hole of Oshi no Ko collabs

As someone constantly looking at Oshi no Ko merch I shouldn't buy, I came to learn about the sheer number of OnK collaborations. So I figured why not impart such useless knowledge here.

Note that these are merely some of them and yet there are so many that I had to split this into a whopping three posts. Here is part 2. The third is to come.

Most of the below collabs featured limited edition merch and special illustrations.

Cafe Collaborations

The Animate stores had OnK events at their cafes which involved themed food, decorations, and special merch. You can see a video of one Animate cafe event here.

Other OnK cafes took place at Sweets Paradise restaurant, The Guest cafe and diner, Tower Records cafe, the Atari cafe inside Ikebukuro Parco (Parco is a chain of department stores), and cafes in Tokyo and Osaka held the Exceptional Autumn event (the name of course is taken from "lies are an exceptional form of love"). This is by no means an exhaustive list.

Brands

The funniest brand that has teamed up with OnK has to be Panasonic's personal "Solota" dishwasher. There are a few commercials including this one where Ai mentions that there are three people in her household and then has to play it off. There was also a 2 hour low fi style video of Ai sitting on her couch reading with the dishwasher in the background. Unfortunately, I can't find it which sucks because it was pretty cool [edit: updating this to say that you can download it here. Thanks for that!] There's also a Hikakin Premium cup noodle commercial.

Other tie-ins include Onkyo earbuds, Kaneyo brand baking soda with Kana of course, Sanrio, candy, food and drink brands like Meiji and Lotte chocolate, 7-11, Pizza Hut, Sushiro restaurant (the Mother's Day promo images are so cute it nearly killed me), TIRTIR cosmetics, and hair care brand Je L'aime.

It would be remiss of me not to highlight Tamanoi's Sushi no Ko seasoning powder which was advertised in the manga (why? just how much did they pay them?) during an important pep talk from Kana to Aqua no less.

Pop Up Events

There have been a bunch of other pop ups where they sold limited edition merchandise based on illustrations created for those events. I'm especially fond of Ai in the "cheer squad" design from Animate. It's the cutest damn thing. Most of the pop ups mentioned below also had exhibits.

(The bottom right photo is from this tweet).

One took place at Base Yard Tokyo, a store that sells clothes and anime/manga goods. This was at the Harajuku store and took inspiration from Harajuku fashion. Ai's hair bow is stupidly enormous. I love it so much.

The store Akihabara Gamers sold merch based on illustrations with a flower theme featuring ridiculous hats for Aqua, Kana, and Akane.

Another event was at the Atre Akihabara mall. The building was decorated with murals including an Ai mural matching the one in the anime where fans left flowers after she died. This article has images.

Tokyo Records and Red Tokyo Tower also had events. Red Tokyo Tower is a VR/AR related theme park next to Tokyo Tower. Here is a video.

Clothes

Recently the Japanese online shopping site Yumetenbo put out a line of dresses under the name "Black Devil Stars." This is the website.

I think they're really cute and Ai's devil design is one of my favorite collab designs. I'm sad that Aqua's art did not feature him in his dress but the suit is still cool. Bic Camera stores are also selling items like stands, keychains, cards, and an Ai plushie based on the same designs.

In terms of more regular clothing, there of course a ton of Oshi no Ko items, but the clothing lines I know of are from Uniqlo and Shimamura. The photo below is Rumi Okubo, Mem's VA, wearing a Shimamura sweater and uh... is that a neck warmer? Is that related? I have no clue.

There's also a fashion show called Tokyo Girls Collection and this year they had an event called Idol Runway Collection pairing fashion with idols. The official YT channel put out a Mem vlog style video of it. It doesn't look like the models wore the outfits featured in the illustration. It's a real missed opportunity to show off Aqua's baggy suit.

[itsblasttothepast]

In a new segment I like to call 'delusions of a broken mind (thanks to Red Bull Racing)', I've come with potential solutions to end Checo's bad luck for the next Grand Prix. I know, I know, the curse is far too strong, but so are we as fans.

Since one of my conspiracy theories was that Checo posted a shirtless pic and since then we have been lost, here's my potential solution #1:

What do you think? Uh? ?Uh?

All right, fine, next one. Potential solution #2 ... it turns out that my theory about the yellow shoes is crap, because he wore them in Silverstone:

So, maybe the solution is giving him another lucky shoes. Since he is a fan of the America (Mexican soccer team, I love Checo, but even he has this horrible flaws), maybe the shoes should be something with the soccer team, they won the league this past season afterall. Here are the options:

I personally like the blue ones more, but if Checo wants to stick to yellow, that's an option too. However, if for some reason he can't wear a soccer team merchandise, I have another option:

And let's put a bunch of cinnamon inside those damn shoes, just to be safe.

You didn't like this option either? Good thing I save the best for last... Potential solution #3... are you ready?

When Checo arrived to the press commitments (which he shared with hubby Lewis), he said hi and petted Roscoe:

And then, on Friday, he was P3 in the free practices... so... he just needs to pet Roscoe before every qualy or race... we just have to convince Lewis to bring Roscoe to every race! Or maybe if Checo adopts a dog? (he has one here in México, but maybe choosing another one that can travel with him). Although Leo was with Charles in Silverstone and he was screwed, so maybe is Lewis' luck that helped Checo through Roscoe (he's his step child after all).

Well, don't look at me! I just give the ideas, I'm desperate here!

This concludes the segment 'delusions of a broken mind (thanks to Red Bull Racing)', thanks for watching, if you have potential solutions, please share them with me, because we need Checo to shake off this bad streak and overcome the curse.

[litgwritersroom]

can you please write the background story of ozzy hooking up with the mystery celebrity??

LET ME BE YOUR WOMAN

Ozzy / MC - 5000+ words - @mrsbsmooth NSFW

It’s professional. It’s strictly professional.

Ozzy rolled his neck, stretching the tension from his shoulders. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous.

Being a choreographer was his dream job. The choreography videos he’d posted on social media had been fun to make, but he’d never imagined he’d get this big. Dance classes with a waitlist four months long. Invitations to choreograph music videos and international tours. Working one-on-one with celebrities and popstars, all to great success.

But he’d never worked with someone as famous as Brooke Barrow.

Millions of fans. Tens of millions of albums sold. A twenty-country international tour that had fans getting in fistfights over merchandise. And in just a few minutes, she’d take the podium as the biggest celebrity he’d ever taught.

He cast his eyes around the studio one final time, wiping a smudge from the floor-to-ceiling mirror with a silent curse. Did he have time to go over the whole thing again? He checked his phone. No. But he did have a text from Marshall.

Snogged yer worldie yet?

He frowned.

She’s not my worldie. She’s a client, he typed. This is professional.

The dots danced at the bottom of his screen as the reply came instantaneously. Professional my arse. I can feel you sweating from Essex.

Ozzy rolled his eyes, setting his phone to do-not-disturb.

Maybe it wasn’t strictly professional.

All the celebrities he worked with were gorgeous, but she was like something out of his imagination– though he supposed he wasn’t alone. Curves like murder, eyes wide and innocent, skin like a summer evening; bronze and glowing and warm. Hair like silk, and lips you couldn’t help but want to bite down on. FHM, Maxim and Playboy had tried beating her door down for years, not one of them successful; her “good girl” image hadn’t aligned with the type of photo spreads they’d want to put her in.

But things had changed. The label said she wanted a rebrand; a sexier, more grown-up persona better suited to her now 22-year-old self. The issue was that the label thought she had absolutely no idea how to look hot when she danced. She needed help to nail it for her next video.

And she’d requested him specifically.

They’d spoken on the phone many, many times, to clarify the vibe she was after, or discuss the preparations and stretches she should be doing beforehand. They got along great. She was a professional, but still wonderfully friendly, something he’d come to understand was rare among celebrities. She put on those sequin shorts she was famous for one leg at a time. There was nothing to be nervous about.

He made the last few adjustments to the studio, breathing steadily to calm himself down. He had the choreography down, he’d recorded it and it had been approved by her management team. Everything was set and ready to go. He just had to teach her how to do it, that was all.

But as the studio door flung open, he suddenly felt a little queasy.

God Damn.

Her perfectly curated Instagram had nothing on what she looked like in person. She was unreal, a loose, white t-shirt hung off her shoulders, exposing the hint of her brown skin. The flash of a black sports crop stretched over her perky breasts. Tiny, skin-tight shorts he was sure Lululemon never intended to be so pornographic, and heels; sky high, lace-up heels he’d told her to wear, knowing she’d need to be dancing in them on stage.

He had to avert his gaze, shaking some sense into himself as he greeted her with a smile and an outstretched hand.

“Brooke,” he said, as politely and professionally as he could. “I’m Ozzy, great to finally meet you.”

“Ozzy!” she grinned, smiling with recognition. She took his hand, shaking it gently, but didn’t immediately let go. “Hi! It’s so nice to meet you in person, I really am such a fan.”

Ozzy’s eyebrows shot up. “A fan… of… mine?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Huge fan. I swear, about 50% of the views on your Youtube videos are from me and my friends.”

“Well, thank you,” he laughed, feeling a lot more at ease. “That’s really nice to hear. I’m glad you enjoy them.”

“Enjoy is one way to describe it. My friends would call it “drooling over…” she said, her eyes narrowing slightly. She bit her lip, and he couldn’t hide the surprise on his face.

…What?

He couldn’t help the rush of adrenaline that flooded his veins. Jeez, his dancing had helped him with women in the past, but… he definitely hadn’t expected—

Was Brooke… flirting with him?

He was suddenly a little at a loss of what to do. Flirting back would’ve been insane, not to mention crazy unprofessional. He couldn’t get a rep for flirting with his students. But… he knew this choreo– he’d created it himself. It wasn’t exactly “leave room for Jesus” type of dancing. So maybe a little harmless flirting would help her to feel less… exposed.

He glanced down at their still-enclosed hands, and looked back up at her, only vaguely trying to hold back the heat in his eyes.

“Well,” he said, a cool confidence in his voice. “I’ve obviously seen all of your music videos, too. Maybe we should leave it at that… for now.”

He held her gaze, and she bit those beautiful lips again, his eyes lingering on them. Brooke released his hand with a coy smile, placing her bag down on the floor in the corner of the studio. She pulled a water bottle from it, wrapping her lips around the mouthpiece of it, tapping it gently against her lips after taking a sip.

“So,” she said. “Where do we begin?”

*

Ozzy showed her every move, running her through it in sets, slowing her down and adjusting her position as she followed along.

But she wasn’t getting it.

She was rigid. Stiff, even, like she was embarrassed to fully let go.

“I’m so screwed,” she groaned, flopping to the floor to take a drink of water.

“No, you’re not,” Ozzy chuckled, sitting down alongside her. “You’ve got the steps down perfectly. You’re just too stiff.”

She sighed, tucking her leg underneath her as she turned to face him. “How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Make being sexy so fucking easy?”

Ozzy’s eyebrows twitched upward, and he couldn’t help but look her over once more. God, she looked so fine with a sheen of sweat over her body, the glow on her skin like she’d been kissed by sunlight.

“You’ll get it. You just need to loosen up. Let go a little.”

“You keep saying that, but I don’t know how,” she complained, pouting at him.

He laughed, getting to his feet. “Here, I’ll show you.”

He reached out his hand, helping Brooke to her feet, and she let him pull her up with a huff.

Ozzy led her to the mirror which spanned the breadth of the wall, turning her to look at herself.

“Okay, do the leg sweep.”

Brooke did a rigid leg sweep, her hands firmly on her hips.

He raised an eyebrow. “This isn’t jazz dance, Brooke. Make it slutty.”

She giggled, looking at his reflection in the mirror.

“Oh, you’re serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious,” he smiled.

“Oh, God, how on earth do I do that?”

Ozzy frowned at her. “Come on, Brooke, you’ve seen people dance seductively. Arch your back. Swing your hips. Run your hands over your body.”

He counted her in, and she tried, running her hands awkwardly up her body. She turned, looking hopefully at him, and he shot her a look of disbelief. Brooke blushed, and Ozzy shook his head, teasing her with his gaze to let her know it wasn’t that serious.

Then, he had an idea.

He’d used it many times, and it always worked. Every single time. He switched to the playlist one of his dancer friends had made him. She said it went hard in the Basildon dance crowd.

“You like clubbing, right?”

“...Yeah?”

“How do you dance in the club?”

“Awkwardly.”

Ozzy laughed. “I highly doubt that.”

Brooke grinned at him. “Yeah, alright, I’m probably a little more relaxed. But I’m usually drunk. And it’s dark.”

Without another word, Ozzy walked over to the door, and switched the lights off.

The studio plunged into darkness, the only light the emergency light over the exit. It was perfect, casting a deep red glow over the room, leaving her in almost full darkness. That deep maroon was the only thing allowing him to see her, and even then, only just. He hit play on the remote once more, smiling as the lyrics started.

Nails, hair, hips, heels, ass fat, lips real

Purse full, big bills, bitch I'm a big deal

Ozzy turned the volume almost to the max, and he took her hand.

“Pretend I’m not here,” he said. “It’s just you, dancing with your friends. Or dancing around your kitchen. No one’s paying attention. No one else is here.”

Ozzy started moving on his own to encourage her, and after only half a minute, he saw Brooke starting to move as well. She was hesitant, but quickly realised she could barely see him, gaining the confidence to start subtly dancing in time with the music.

“Yes,” he smiled. “That’s it.”

She huffed a small laugh, moving a little more confidently.

“Now you’re gonna walk,” he said, moving back across the room. “Or more like…, strut. Towards me. Step to the music.”

“What’s that gonna do?” she asked.

“Get you in touch with your body. And make you feel confident. Toss your hair over your shoulder, stop to dance, do whatever feels right. Just move in time with the music.”

He could just make her out in the low light, her brow furrowed as if she wasn’t sure, but he smiled encouragingly at her. As his eyes began to adjust, he saw her walking toward him, the click of her heels on the studio floor perfectly in time with the beat.

“Great!” he called, “Keep going!”

He began walking backwards around the room, drawing her towards him, and Brooke began laughing.

“You’re moving away!”

“Yeah, I know. Keep coming to me.”

“Ozzzzyyy–” she complained. “I feel stupid!”

“Good thing no one can see you, then, isn’t it?” he teased.

It wasn’t long before she started letting go a little.

As Todrick Hall started instructing her through the song, she started following along.

Drop for me, drop for me, drop

Pose for me, pose for me, pose

Striking dramatic, confident poses, or pausing to do a dramatic slut-drop, she was laughing her head off in no time, loosening up her movements as he finally stopped moving away. Brooke was having so much fun, she didn’t notice him stop, colliding into his chest with a thud.

“Oof,” he groaned, catching her by the upper arms, laughing.

“Oh my God, sorry!” she giggled. “I was getting too into it.”

“Good!” He grinned. “It’s a good exercise to get in the right headspace.”

“Can we keep going?” she said. “That was really fun.”

He slipped the remote from his pocket, hitting next, and Brooke burst out laughing as a deep, sultry rhythm started.

“Oh God,” she groaned. “Is this Buttons? Whose playlist is this?”

“Mate of mine. She loves making dance playlists. This one’s called ‘Hoe town, population me’.”

Brooke burst out laughing. “And you thought that was a good playlist to put on for me?”

Ozzy suddenly blushed, absolutely embarrassed that she might think he’d done that on purpose.

“God, Brooke, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean–”

“Shhh!” She laughed. “It’s exactly the vibe I need. I love this song.”

She took his hand, twirling herself underneath it, swaying in time with the beat. She was rolling her head around, relaxed and carefree, her shoulders beginning to follow as she sang along to the lyrics. And as she sang, he couldn’t help but watch her.

You've been saying all the right things all night long

But I can't seem to get you over here to help take this off

The way her mouth formed every word, her tongue flicking gently and her teeth biting at her lip as she began to move. Jesus Christ, she was sexy. He felt his body starting to react as she joined her hands with his, lifting his hands into the air between them. He couldn’t help but step a little closer, bringing them to the side as her body heat began to radiate against his.

Brooke began winding her body, moving her hips in time with the music. She lifted his arms again, turning herself underneath them, and wrapped them around her shoulders. He tried to keep some distance between them, knowing they didn’t need to be dancing so closely, but before he knew it, she’d pressed back against him, their bodies moving together.

“Can you show me how to do those body rolls you were doing before?” she asked, her voice soft and innocent.

Jesus, he was getting hot under the collar.

“Sure,” he said, pulling her just the necessary amount closer. He reached around her, pressing her back into him. “Chest first, shoulders back, then arch your back, pushing your stomach forward. Roll it through, then grind your hips back.”

He pressed his chest into her back, his hand pressing her shoulders back against him. He rolled her with him, her body bending flawlessly with his, ending with her guiding her world-famous ass back.

Directly into his crotch.

She had it straight away, rolling her body against his in a way that had him glancing up at the ceiling for mercy. Her perfume was intoxicating, rich and sweet like caramel and sea salt, and he inhaled deeply as she pulled her hair to the side. He could still hear her singing; it was like a distraction to her, pulling her out of the studio and onto the stage.

Take a chance to recognise that this could be yours—

She began to grind herself back against him, and his heart began to race for real. She felt so good against him, her hips winding into his… but his mind kicked back in.

Professional. Shit. Keep it professional.

“Looser,” he whispered. “Let go of your hips.”

She sighed, her shoulders dropping a little as she immediately became disheartened.

“I can’t do this,” she said, exasperated.

“Brooke,” he said. “You can.”

“I can’t,” she said, stopping altogether. “I just can’t move my body like you can.”

Ozzy frowned to himself. She was almost there when she thought no one was watching. Whenever it was just her and the music, she was perfectly on beat, playing and having fun with it, moving with flawless rhythm. It would take so little to get her there. He just needed to get her out of her own head. Relax her. Get her thinking about something else entirely. He swallowed, hard. Because there was only really one way he could think how.

People acted differently depending on how they were feeling, and there was one mood that he knew would help her. The one that curbed shame and increased risk-taking.

He could turn her on.

“Would it help if I guided you?” he asked, his voice low and husky.

“Please,” she groaned.

“I’ll have to touch you a bit though. Is that alright?”

“Yeah,” she said, “but I don’t think–”

Brooke’s voice cut off halfway as he pulled her body flush to his, and she gasped a little at his sudden taking of control.

“Hips,” he demanded. ”Roll them, like you were before.”

He gently brushed her hips, but her movements were static, so he gripped her harder, guiding her firmly into the movement he wanted to see. Side to side, in a one-two grind, swaying her with the music.

“Oh,” Brooke said, her voice quiet. “So…”

He felt her begin rocking into his hands, and he leaned in closer, speaking into her ear so she could hear him over the music.

“Yes,” he hissed. “That’s it. Now hands.”

He didn’t wait for her to try, taking her hands and placing them on her stomach.

“Run them up your body,” he said, covering them with his own. “Touch yourself like you would want someone else to touch you.”

He traced her hands over her taut stomach, guiding them up over her ribs, brushing her breasts and squeezing them with her own hands. Brooke gasped, but Ozzy didn’t stop, dragging them up over her collarbones and onto her neck. He splayed them on her skin, threading them into her hair.

“Ozzy,” she whimpered.

“Don’t be afraid to get into it,” Ozzy whispered. “If it turns you on, you’re doing it right.”

Brooke’s breath fell heavy, and he released her hands, letting her guide them over herself. He watched her in the mirror, her face glowing in the soft, red light, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up as she closed her eyes. Her hands threaded back into her own hair, and she tugged on it gently, trailing her hands onto her collarbones. She traced her fingers across them, and moved downward, her touch falling heavier on her breasts. She squeezed them together, much harder than he had, and kept going. Lower and lower, over her stomach, trailing down her waist, her hands like a magnet for his gaze as she directed them to the space between her legs. She spread them, bending low to the floor, and traced her hands up the back of her thighs, scratching her nails into the skin. She arched her back, touching herself over and over again.

And Ozzy realised he’d stopped dancing.

All this, right in front of him, an arm’s reach away but feeling like miles. Her body was so effortless, moving with all the beauty and elegance of someone who’d been dancing for a lifetime. He was absolutely entranced by her, the heat in his body like a fire in his blood.The song ended, and for a moment, the trance was broken. But as the next one started, he knew there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop what was going to happen. Doja Cat was going to make sure of that.

The beat was low; seductive and sensual and sex in music’s form, and Brooke turned, gazing at him with deep, hooded eyes. She was in his arms before he could even pull her closer, her body pressed back against his as they began to move as one. He wrapped his arms around her waist, that intoxicating perfume curling into him once more, groaning as Brooke took his hands in hers.

She placed his hands on her, covering them with her own, just as he had, and began guiding him over her skin. Her hips, her waist, under her t-shirt, pushing them onto her breasts.

Baby, worship my hips and waist

So feminine with grace

I touch your soul when you hear me say

"Boy, let me be your woman"

Every drop of blood in his body was rushing south, and he grasped her in a way that was wholly unprofessional, knowing she could feel what she was doing to him. He moved her hair to the side, dropping his lips to her neck, dragging them from behind her ear down to her shoulder. God, he wanted to bite her, her skin tasted exactly like her fragrance, the sweetest caramel with the delicious taste of her sweat.

“Ozzy,” she whispered, gasping for a breath as she reached behind her head and threaded her fingers through his hair.

Jesus, this was already going way too far, but he couldn’t help himself. One hand was on her breast, stroking her rapidly hardening nipples through her bra. The other on her stomach, toying with the waistband of her shorts. Brooke was grinding her ass against him with a wind that would put professionals to shame, the roll of her body against his only drawing more and more heat from his breath. He had to stop this. He had to stop before it went too–

Before he knew it, she’d turned, and her lips were on his.

Ozzy picked her up, and a moment later, he had her against the wall, holding her thigh around his waist as he held her legs apart. Brooke’s hands were in his hair, holding him against her as she slipped her tongue into his mouth, whimpering with need as he began rolling his hips against hers. She tugged at his shirt, and he gladly let her pull it over his head, drawing an irresistible whimper from her as she traced her fingers over his abs. He pulled hers over her head as well, tossing it across the room, before pushing his hands into her sports bra.

“Fuck, yes,” she gasped, “Yes, Ozzy, please!”

He lifted the tight fabric higher, exposing her to him, and leaned down to take her nipple in his mouth. She held his head to her, her back arched, moaning with each flick of his tongue against the sensitive bud. Brooke reached down, slipping her hand into his sweats, stroking her fingers down his length as he groaned into her skin.

“Oh my Goddddd,” she moaned as she traced his full length. “I knew it, I fucking knew it.”

He couldn’t help it, his body completely on fire with every kiss of her palm against his tip. He couldn’t take it any more. He curled his arm around her waist, sliding it into the tiny shorts that had been tormenting him since the moment she walked in, and he took a handful of her ass for himself. He rolled the fabric down his wrist, exposing her, before pushing the shorts all the way down. She reached down, tugging them far enough down that they fell to her ankles, and she stepped out of them. She reached down for her shoes, but he stopped her, turning her face toward his.

“Leave them on.”

Naked except for her pushed-up sports bra and lace up heels, she stood like a goddess in front of him, every curve and angle of her body bathed in a cherry-red glow. His fingers traced her outline, admiring her for the work of art she was, before lingering on the heat radiating from between her legs. He pressed his fingers against her clit, starting a slow, steady rhythm, holding her legs open with his own as he pressed his hard length against her leg.

She tugged his sweats down, pulling him closer, and before he could even think about what he was doing, she was guiding his tip to her entrance. He captured her lips with his, groaning at how wet she was, and began to push inside her.

Brooke whimpered and moaned at his size, and he pulled back for a moment.

“Tell me if it’s too much,” he whispered, kissing her softly.

She let her head fall back, exposing her neck to him, an opportunity he gladly took as he began kissing up and down it.

“No,” she groaned. “Oh my God, Ozzy, give me all of it.”

So he did.

Brooke gasped with each thrust, whimpering and moaning his name as if he was her favourite song, and he couldn’t help his eyes rolling back as he savoured her. Every roll of his hips was met by one of hers, drawing forward to meet him as if she couldn’t bear for him to not be inside her.

Jesus, he couldn’t believe she thought she couldn’t dance.

“Ozzy,” she groaned, and he paused for a moment, hearing the pain in her voice. “My heels. My feet are–”

Shit, he hadn’t even realised, capturing her thigh in his hand meant she’d been balancing on one heel. He released her, and she dropped to her knees, laying back on the studio floor, her hands against the wall. Ozzy kneeled in front of her, and she wrapped her long legs around his waist, urging him back toward her. He pressed back into her, his hands on either side of her body, and something came over him.

He’d never had a one-night stand before, it wasn’t his vibe. And almost as if he’d only just realised what he was doing, he paused for moment, looking down at Brooke’s exposed body.

Damn. He’d never had a one night stand before, and he wasn’t going to start now.

He was just going to have to make sure this wasn’t a one-night stand.

Ozzy smirked a little, glancing up at Brooke’s hands to make sure she was holding her hands steady against the wall…

And he danced.

He gave her every movement of his body that he had; hips, torso, thighs; rolling his body into her as he drew himself in and out of her, over and over and over. Brooke’s body wrenched underneath him, begging him with her thighs, squeezing him tightly as she held herself off the wall.

She caught a glimpse of them in the mirror to their side, and she gasped, panting his name with every thrust as she watched him build her toward her peak.

“Fuck, fuck,” she gasped, her voice damn near at a cry, every breath like a wave of curses and groans as she tried to hold back. “Ozzy, fuck, I’m gonna–”

She whimpered, her mouth falling open, and he almost chuckled at how fast he’d brought her there. But he couldn’t help but groan in response as she tightened around him, her strong thighs squeezing his waist as her walls gripped his length inside her.

“Oh Jesus, Brooke, yes,” he whispered, throwing his head back as he guided her through the waves of her climax. He gently slowed as she came down, rolling softly into her so as not to overstimulate her. But almost as soon as she’d taken a breath, she opened her eyes.

She looked up at him with the deepest, hooded eyes he’d ever seen, her full lips parted and her lips wet from his kiss.

“On your back,” she whispered.

Ozzy’s eyebrows raised, and before he could even tell her she didn’t have to, she had him on his back. Brooke slid him back into her, and he smiled up at her…

Until she started moving.

Up. Down. Forward. Back. Side to side and directions he didn’t even know existed. She was a full-body experience, her hips grinding into his, her hands gently caressing and scratching at his chest as she worked herself over him.

“Je–sus–christ,” he gasped, grasping for purchase with each grind of her hips. “Brooke, fuck!”

Her lips fell open, moaning as she watched him underneath her, and she glanced one more time at the mirror. He turned his own head, glancing at their reflection, and almost lost control. Every curve was on full display, her back arched, her breasts exposed, her every movement captured in glass and reflected back at him as he watched her ride him.

She caught his eye in the mirror, biting her lip and moaning as she took him especially deeply.

“Oh, God, Ozzy, you feel so good,” she gasped.

Ahh, Jesus, he was close.

He tried to slow her down, but Brooke had no interest in it, closing her eyes and lifting her pace. So he did the only thing he could do.

He started thrusting back into her.

He fell into her rhythm, meeting her hips with every movement, echoing and mirroring and taking back the lead. His hands left her hips, and he reached for her hands, bringing them to her breasts.

“Touch your body,” he demanded. “Brooke, touch yourself.”

She whimpered, squeezing her breasts the way she’d shown him before that she loved, and Ozzy grabbed her hip once more. He guided her with one hand, thrusting up into her, and brought his other hand to her clit, grinding his fingers against her as he watched her rolling her nipples through her fingers.

Jesus, the visual was too much, and he could feel the sweat dripping down the back of his neck. He was so close, dancing so close to the edge, holding back for her, desperate to–

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Brooke, shit, shit–”

“Ozzy–”

With a sudden heave of her body, Brooke snapped, her head falling back as she came a second time. The tightness surrounded him, and he couldn’t have held back if he wanted to, exploding in a wall of gasping moans as he bucked up into her. The beat of the music pumped through him, the roll and wind of their hips together like a wave of ecstasy that they rode each other through. His fingers left marks on her hips, grinding her back into him with some unholy urge to come as deep into her as possible, and it only drew a darker gasp from Brooke’s lips.

They stayed like that for what seemed like an age, their hips rolling in perfect unison as they came down from the high together. Brooke collapsed on top of him, her body soft and limp against his, and he wrapped her up in his arms, completely at a loss of what to say.

“That was fucking incredible,” Brooke said, panting heavily into his chest. “If that’s what dancers can do, I need to get better at dancing.”

Ozzy laughed, stroking her back. “You seemed to have pretty good control of your hips from where I’m standing?”

Brooke lifted her head, glaring playfully at him, and smiled. “Glad you think so… now. But I think I can get even better.”

He kissed her gently, smiling back, a little amused at his own boldness. “Well, you’re doing classes with me five times a week for the next two weeks. So…”

Brooke giggled, and leaned over him, kissing him deeply. He groaned into her soft lips, holding her to him, stroking his hand through her hair before releasing her. She bit her lip, an adorably excited look in her eyes, and grinned at him.

“It’s a date.”

[vlad-theimplier]

WIP Wednesday: Custos Custodium

In which Jensen and the Task Force take on Sheppard in Dubai. I rearranged some lines to give a bit of characterization to anyone but Jensen and MacReady (who have plenty), and to make the tactical briefing a little meatier. Apparently, one of the divergence points between our world and the world of Deus Ex is that 10mm caught on over 9mm, but we know NATO exists and still prefers its familiar cartridges.

Anyway, Jensen does actually like some of his coworkers. Read all about it at https://archiveofourown.org/works/55686901/chapters/141357007

“Listen up, all of you!” Miller said in commanding tones. “We’ve finally got a lead on this man, an arms dealer goes by Sheppard.”

Jensen’s eyes widened behind his shades as the name registered with him. This was the bastard who’d escaped their grasp in Detroit—he damn well wasn’t getting away this time. John “Sheppard” Trent, 42, looked the way he remembered from Detroit, anonymous but mean. And as if Jensen needed another bone to pick with the man, Miller added a nugget of new intel: “He’s ex-Belltower. One of the Special Forces commanders who disappeared during the Incident.”

“And he’s come out of hiding?” MacReady asked. “That cannot be good.”

“It’s not. He’s selling weapons and military-grade augments to terrorists.” Miller swiped at the screen to reveal an Indian man with swept-back hair, stubble, and a haunted look around the eyes. “This is Arun Singh, the undercover agent who lured Sheppard out of his hole. Best UC Interpol’s got. For three years he’s worked to get us in tight with the Jinn, an Iraqi smuggling cartel that’s infected the Eastern Hemisphere like a plague. Last week, our arms dealer sent a message to the Jinn, offering to sell them a shit-load of black-market merchandise dirt cheap. They told Singh to handle the buy.”

A woman’s voice came over comms in a German accent, overriding MacReady’s scoff. “They’re not going to like it when Interpol disrupts their party. Is Singh’s cover really that good?” Dietrich, Jensen realized, looking at the screen. And she was worried about the right things.

“It is right now,” Miller answered. “We need to keep it that way.” He swiped again at the screen to show a sprawling but incomplete edifice, jutting out of the sea in graceful curves of steel and white concrete marred by tarps and scaffolding. An inset proclaimed it the “Desert Jewel.” “This is where the deal’s going down: a half-finished high-rise hotel that’s been abandoned ever since the incident. It is not a pretty picture inside.”

“Let me guess.” MacReady, of course. Mouthy bastard. “Most of the laborers were augmented with heavy-duty industrial rigs. So when the Incident hit and they all went schizo, things got gruesome real fast.” He stared at Jensen. Jensen stared back, curling his lip deliberately.

Miller nodded. “And no one except for some homeless junkies has been inside the place ever since.”

“So what’s the plan, Director?” Jensen asked.

“Singh’s meeting Sheppard on the ground floor, inside the hotel’s main atrium. He’s sent the bulk of his Jinn crew to the penthouse levels to secure a vantage point. I want MacReady’s team to take up positions overlooking the atrium and make the arrest. Dietrich, put the SAW and the marksmen on this little artificial island section here, across the lagoon from the atrium, where you can suppress and snipe as needed. Frost, you’re in reserve, up on the roof just back from the atrium. Rig ropes for descent. Jensen, you’re going in solo from the penthouse.”

Suited him fine. “My objectives?”

“Keep the Jinn from joining the party. As far as we can tell, only one route connects the atrium to the penthouse level—a halfway-decent elevator shaft here.” Miller swiped again, and a wireframe schematic popped up insertion points and the elevator in question. “I want you to block access to it.”

“Fine. Just cut me loose. If anyone spots me… I assume non-lethal is preferred? Doubt I’ll have time to cuff ’em, but Singh’s cover will be stronger if he’s not the only one still breathing when this is done.”

Miller nodded approvingly, but MacReady couldn’t resist a jab. “And if anything does happen to him, you’ll be the one telling his wife. After you get out of the hospital, of course.”

Jensen ignored him. So did Miller. “One last thing,” he said. “Singh told us the Jinn are using some kind of portable wi-fi device to boost communications. It could pick up anything he sends our way. He’s got a better chance of maintaining cover if you disable it, but if it comes to it, your number one priority is keeping the Jinn out of that atrium.”

“I’ll keep an eye out.”

“Good. Any questions?”

Lieutenant Frost chimed in. “Sir. Director. Why is this our op? Not that I mind—we’re all itching to mix it up—but Station Muscat is practically next-door.”

“Muscat’s resources are occupied elsewhere. We were the closest station with the manpower for an op this size. We did get the intel on this mission at the very last minute, no fault of Singh’s, so we’re all scrambling a little. Sheppard has stayed ahead of the Task Force for so long by pulling exactly this kind of stunt, on the rare occasions he shows his face at all. It’s our job to make sure it doesn’t work this time.”

“Aye aye, sir.” Frost took the answer as the gentle reprimand it was meant to be, and Jensen once again admired Miller’s leadership acumen. There were no further questions. The agents and soldiers turned to the briefing screens and reviewed the scant intelligence they’d received, or busied themselves checking their weapons and armor, as the trio of VTOLs sped onwards.

According to the map, they were coming in over the Persian Gulf a few hours later when Miller spoke up once more: “Ears here.” He checked the screen to make sure the other two teams were looking. “A new wrinkle has arisen to keep us on our toes. Sandstorm coming up out of the southwest, straight from the desert. It’ll be barreling down our asses—we can’t afford to make mistakes. Our pilots will keep us up-to-date on the storm’s progress. The window’s tight, but all signs indicate the deal is on. As you were.”

Silence descended once more. The indicators for their birds crept towards Dubai. Around Jensen, the agents began rechecking their rifles and donning their helmets. He gave his own weapons a perfunctory once-over, then rolled his shoulders and wrists. He crossed his left arm over his chest, running his blades out at the wrist and elbow, slow, then lightning fast. The myomer and servos whined quietly, just audible over the rush of wind and engine.

MacReady leaned forward. “Not gonna go all wonky on us now, Hanzer, are ya?”

“Why? You want to put a control chip in me? Don’t worry, I’m in spec.” Jensen locked eyes with him and bent his right hand almost to his right shoulder. His blade flicked out halfway, the tip coming to rest against his temple without even dimpling the flesh. Then, slowly, he pointed the blade at MacReady, giving him a chance to flinch or hold up a hand, to show fear.

“But if I do lose it, I guarantee you’ll never see it coming.” And he snicked the blade out to its full extension against the shoulder of MacReady’s combat vest. The alloy rang quietly on the ceramic plates, but MacReady didn’t move. Every eye turned to look at them, including Miller’s. Jensen withdrew the blade.

“Agent Jensen! Am I gonna have a problem with you on this op?”

“Nossir. MacReady just had some questions about my capabilities.” He met Miller’s gaze through his shades, deferential but uncowed, letting the double meaning hang in the air.

“Good. Because you’re our only Aug, and our only infiltration specialist. I intend to make good use of you.” That last was delivered as much to MacReady as to him, Jensen thought.

Miller resumed reassembling his rifle, ramming home a magazine of 7.62 NATO. Jensen grimaced. He supposed the AIC didn’t plan on getting tied down in a firefight, and Dietrich’s heavy gunner could always share, but it bothered him that their commander might find himself running dry in a pinch. At least the sidearm he wore was a ten-mil like everyone else’s. Not that Jensen had an augmented leg to stand on: no one else on the op—hell, probably no other agent in the hemisphere—carried a forty-five, but he could jam nine-mil into the Destrier in a pinch. Still, if they’d had time to actually plan this mission, they could’ve optimized logistics a little better. Or at all.

Chikane broke in on his maundering. “Time to put away your happy thoughts, gentlemen. We’re approaching the target.” The team was one-third women; Agent Montañez—Carmen—rolled her eyes. Jensen met them and twitched his hand by his crotch in a subtle jerk-off gesture. She hid a smirk behind her gloved hand.

Fortunately, Miller missed the byplay this time. “You’re up first, Jensen. Let’s do this.”

The pilot opened the team circuit as Jensen stood. “Strike-One, Strike-Two, this is Strike Leader. Engage hush drives and descend to angels one-five.” The VTOL quieted, slowed, and dropped in the sky. Jensen rode the change in altitude effortlessly. He thought about telling Chikane he flew like someone’s grandmother, but Malik wasn’t there to laugh.

The cargo ramp descended, and the jump lights came on red. Jensen rolled his shoulders. They were low—less than two thousand feet, for sure. He’d told Miller about the Icarus, of course, but he might have played up his skydiving “experience” a little. Well, too late now. Green lights and a tone. He stepped forward and leapt into the sky.

[sillygoblinantics]

I’m real sick of Lily’s hollow nothingburger ranting nitpick of a “retrospective” of Pokémon…

So let me sperg about these games in a constructive way that highlights the parts of the game that Lily neglected to mention

This is:

Gobbo’s Semi-Complete Pokémon Retrospective!

I’ve been a fan of Pokémon since I could remember; roughly four years old give or take, my introduction began through the merchandise like cards, toys and book. I wouldn’t start my journey until I was 7 with soul silver with my female chikorita as a starter. I would then go on to play (ordered by region introduction): fire red, ORAS, soul silver & heart gold, platinum/BDSP, white, X&Y, sun & moon (and the ultra games), sword & shield, PLA, and scarlet & violet (including the dlcs and epilogue).

Going forward note that the games that are italicized are the main games I played myself in. Just thought I’d make that clear. So I can’t fully explain some of the games than others but I may mention points others I’ve seen talk about the games say that have provided good insight towards.

Gen 1 & 2

(Grouping these together as I have more to say and knowledge of the gen two game mostly from HGSS)

Gen 1: many peoples first taste and introduction to the world of Pokémon. With a variety of creatures, a straightforward goal and towns and cities to explore Kanto opened the floodgates to what would be a long running series. It started with a premise of catching cool beasts and creatures and traveling the world and fighting an evil organization with the help of your newly acquired friends through strategy and planning you’d prove yourself against the best of the best of trainers and a rivalry that would form into a friendship as they got older. At first, the games only had one option for gender being a boy, you could chose your own name or presets of other options one of which being Red who is a protagonist in the manga, but he’s not ash (as ash would be playable with pokemon Yellow and somewhat in the let’s go games). You also get to name your rival either through the realms of your imagination and witty humor or the presets: this is Blue your rival. (In the anime he would be changed personality wise slightly for American audiences watching the anime, Gary)

I didn’t get far in my first playthrough of FireRed as a kid, I’ll admit. I got stuck in cerulean city and was trying to grind my Pokémon’s levels which took too long. You could probably tell that I had charmander as my starter, well I will flex by saying I had a female charmander first time playing it! So meh! I named her Flare. When it game to this generation there was many things that were cut or added, beta designs, unused mechanics or sprites and even the concept of buying pokemon in the marts which would probably be added via the coin shop of the game place. Of course this is my assumption so feel free to correct me in replies!!

Now I might be biased with what I’m about to talk about with Gen two, but this is my retrospective and I get to do what I want! XD

Gen II: ah Johto my fictional home away from home! I LOVE THESE GAMES! My brother and I would play pokemon as kids and he’d always be ahead of me in the story so I’d have many times where I’d ask him to help me figure something out! Like that god damn stupid farfetch’d quest… grumble grumble… he helped me twice! Soul silver was the first game I played and my starter was a female chikorita whose name sadly escapes me. The last place I left off in that game was cerulean city before my game was unplayable due in part to “kids being dumb” antics (I put a magnet near my ds and we had to ship it to Nintendo to fix it). So I got heart gold and replayed it! This time with another female starter, totodile! Who I named Fergie which is short for fergalicous. The gen two remakes was jam packed with everything from new pokemon, new region, new types, and a sort of epilogue if you will to the previous games through the story of team rocket! Being that after you defeat the boss he vanishes and his grunts are trying everything to contact him. This time you get to be a boy or a girl!

These games added more to the worldbuilding there was in Pokémon with the origin of the legendary beasts who had been resurrected by a much stronger legendary more so than the bird trio of Kanto. This pokemon would make their appearance in the very first episode of the anime, the rainbow bird: Ho-oh.

If I may also sprinkle in my other fixation that is mythology the legendaries of Johto are most definitely based or pull inspiration from the divine beasts of Japanese mythology. It’s no secret that the people at gamefreak value and put in the love and care they hold for culture and upbringing.

This is something that I will make note of for a brief tangent: the fact that in many of the games there’s a special building or place where players can enter to find GameFreak themselves in their office. They have unique dialogue and even reward players with exclusive items or certificates for completing the Pokédex! In the gen two remakes they give you a special item that lets you go back and forth from having the updated soundtrack or the gameboy soundtrack, I personally love the gameboy sound as it wasn’t overstimulating which is just a personal thing not to diminish the ost.

There was many things added to the games such as a day/night cycle and as mentioned earlier, new pokemon types! Steel and dark. Initially they planned to make one eeveelution (fandom term) a poison type later changing it to dark type but forgetting to fix the dex entry, this of course is umbreon! In a leak for the beta sprites there were many designs or complete pokemon who were cut or replaced, an early concept for leafeon was one of these designs that would be brought to gen four!

One misconception of Gen two from what I’ve seen is that Kanto is the postgame, this is false. The real postgame is facing Red who after the first game vanished just like Giovanni. When you travel through Kanto after getting the first eight gym badges you are given bits and pieces of information of this mysterious character who as you progress learn was the previous champion before vanishing. At the top of mount silver he waits for an opponent who can beat him. I’m still grinding to beat him!!! Of course with Maxwell by my side!

Before we wrap up I want to add in a few things the remakes added:

Pokeatholon

Bug catching tournament

Safari zone (where you can design your safari zone which will affect the Pokémon that appear)

Suicune quest

Steven stone

Celebi

Sinjoh

Ruins of alph

Radio

And Voltorb Flip

————————————————

Gen III

The remakes are better I’m sorry ok if you take mega evolution out of the games it’s still cool in how you can ride latias high above Hoenn to move around the region with ease and the approriate more characteristically fitting designs of Maxie and Archie. To sum up in a way to point out how pro-corporate and rainbow capitalist Lily orchard is the whole plot and motive of team magma is literally to make more land for real-estate. Archie just wants Pokémon to have more rule of the world and make a sort of waterworld type landscape. Kyrogre and groudon are based on leviathan and behemoth being two sworn enemies who will bring catastrophic effects should they awaken and fight the other, only when the sky is summoned does the land and sea cease their feud.

The games are cool with having bike mechanics which involve the usage of two types of bikes to traverse different terrain: BMX bby!!!

But contests were introduced too!

The inclusion of a puzzle that requires some knowledge of braille to access the regis was also a fascinating element of these games.

Oh and the fact our trainer has a dad who’s a gym leader was neat too.

Oh and my starter was a male treecko I named Trevor for alpha sapphire.

———————————

Gen IV

I never had diamond or pearl so for a while my own understanding and knowledge came from playing the third game that added onto the story and gameplay of the previous games. I had a female piplup I named Pearl.

Gen four was meant to be the last game installment of the Pokémon series. Given the story and stakes at play with team galactic and their cultish mindset to restart the world by taking control of the embodiments of time space and for platinums sake, antimatter it made sense. But it wouldn’t stay like this given the reception the games had. Like the first two games there were many unique features and even side quests you could take part in!

The under ground

Contests (and poffin making/ball capsules)

Ranmas (I know I spelled it wrong stop!) park (the park with a bias to pokemon based on appearance lol)

Personality ribbons

The old mansion

Gts (with the lil parade thing)

Two new eeveelutions!

And badge cleaning (nothing is more satisfying than cleaning the badges)

So why is platinum better? Let me list it for yall now:

The opening is different where you run into Cyrus first instead of Rowan

Looker

Fatima’s gym challenge was a maze with lights and puzzle solving rather than math equations

More Pokémon

The distortion world

Looker

Battle frontier

AND THE FACT THAT YOU GOT TO HAVE A LUXURY HOME AT THE AGE YOUR TRAINER IS THAT YOU GOT TO DECORATE!!!

Also this was a playground rumor when I was growing up now: if you beat the elite four and league a certain number of times in a row, you would get to meet your trainer character’s dad.

Now did I believe this rumor? Yes.

The answer will shock you!

I also use to and still believe that Looker is the trainers dad and nothing with change that for me!!!

Ok I will have to separate this into two parts! Stay tuned for gen 5–9

Gen 5&6 (next)

Gen 7&8

Gen 9 (coming soon)

[nebuvoid]

There's many things I want back in Pokemon games. But one, if not the thing I want the most, is Pokemon Amie/Refresh. And sure we got inferior versions after but it was just never the same. Especially not the damn washing in Scarvi, it's funny for a bit but it's very lackluster.

With Legends ZA on the horizon getting Amie back is a possibility but. We didn't get bases or contests back in PLA so. We either won't get it back at all or another eh version that's an afterthought at best.

What I propose instead is a full spin-off game. To put it simply, a Pokemon Nintendogs type game. People would eat this UP. I'm definitely not the first person to bring this up. But seriously, they would make so much money with this.. god can you imagine if they outsourced it to the New Pokemon Snap team. Crazy. A game like that would ensure they could focus on the aspect of unique animations for playing with and petting your pokemon, teaching them tricks, hell it could finally expand on pokemon contests without being overshadowed by battling!

One of the things fans have wanted the most is seeing more of Pokemon acting like the little beasties they are. And I think they're missing out on a great opportunity with this. Hell they could make it so certain contest tricks translate to unique moves or abilities if you trade the pokemon over to the next mainline game. That would ensure that not only the 'My Charjabug is my perfect little scrungly' demographic is interested, but also more competitive players focused on maxing out potential for battling.

For a company that's gotten more and more greedy over the years (I'm not talking about the 200 or so devs in there, because no matter the quality of recent games you can still tell they're passionate when you pay attention to certain aspects. They still care. I see you.), for a company that wants to sell as much merchandise as possible it's crazy to me how they haven't done this yet.

P.S. For the love of god fix walk speeds for follow pokemon in the next game. My mons in Let's Go certainly didn't get left behind when I started running. Sometimes the 'realistic' walk speed has to be disregarded for a better playing experience.

Speaking of Let's Go, the unique ride pokemon were one of the best things they have ever done. Though I do get that's hard to implement with a bigger roster of pokemon, I certainly wouldn't be opposed to seeing that back either.

[torithegrey]

After talking with my family, I feel I am best not to return to work. Respectfully, I do not do well being caught in the middle of conflicting data. I said I was ready for demotion last Sunday, per DM's advisement of

If it takes 2 managers to say yes, then I am saying yes to being done. I need to focus on home, and achieving work life balance.

This job is, indeed, fun. It is not paying the bills.

I say these from a place void of ego.

No one above the store manager should be calling the shots without being invested in being a foot soilder once in a while. That means working the register during peak training season. That will help with better quality control, as new talent will be exposed to Kool DM, rather than "Boss Man." All faces wearing a metaphorical Spencer's Hat, should be participating as Party Hosts on the floor.

Quit throwing away and destroying what we could be donating in house. If theft is the concern, then core staff should be compensated a livable wage, so "potential" destruction of company assets is less a concern.

We should not have destroyed product from Phluid. If we need localized information per store, as to where and how to direct aid, then maybe a remote Social Work position COULD be considered.

Gender affirming care is such a pain to get, expensive (especially without fair, affordable, in house insurance.) NOT to mention, deadly in less progressive areas. Destroying those binders gave me worse ethical ick than the amount of paper Barnes and Nobel college went through JUST to maintain a system that easily COULD have switched to digital tags, given the company parent parentships.

If you would like us to reduce paperwaste in store? Get the damn merchandising done consistently with ALL detailed RELEVANT data available quickly on the tablet. That way budding leadership doesn't feel like they HAVE to reinvent the wheel, with consistently moving goals posts of expectation, to no personal gain. Bonuses should be distributed equally among ALL leadership, equally. Including full time CORE staff as determined by actual foot traffic.

On GSM is Off, they get a GSM on duty, of their selection, to sync up with (one on, one off) to take urgent calls at the CO-STORE. So if the co-store is STORE 1234 store, then STORE 1234 is available for questions at STORE 1234, and GSM is OFF DUTY. District/ Parental placement should be irrelevant, if quality is consistently monitored. So DM, your on off partner could be a store GSM. To ensure retainment toward your retirement.

I put up with leadership showing clear signs of burnout, and shared the ways it was impacting business. If there are legality issues preventing accommodations for all brains in mind (guest and Party Host alike) then maybe the ship needs to sink. I don't suggest that option, as you have a highly talented CORE-team. Treat them as such.

Again. I say this with respect, with full understanding this could mean termination without possibility of rehire, and I am okay with that. Especially if it means I can dedicate time to my entire family.

All of the people who invested their stories into my inspiration. They deserve the comfort of my success.

Love you ALL. Ready to Marry music. I'll let ya know when my next party is live. 🥰

Sincerely,

Ex-Cheif Enforcement Officer,

Love and Light Black Ops

Victory Rose ☠️🖤☠️🖤

[sophiaz59]

Day 1

Date: April 11th, Thursday

Event: Pitching Competition

Location: Actors Center Australia (23 Norton Street, Italian Forum, Shop 30 A Italian Forum Performance Precinct, Leichhardt NSW 2040)

Before the event, the staff of Inner West Film Festival sent us the photos of Juries for us and volunteers to be familiar. In the morning, I went to DMU for borrowing the equipment, FX30 Camera, Tripod and Rode Mic.

After we arrived, we put all the equipment, bags and personal belongings inside the staff room. Then we helped them to carry some boxes of booklets, clothes, bags and other merchandise made for film festival this year from their car at the parking area to the Actors Center, then set the booklets on the tables in the Actors Center for people who came and may be interested in those films to plan and book tickets online. After giving each of us a black T-shirt with Inner West Film Fest, we went to set up the camera and other equipment.

Before the Pitching Competition, we tried to interview some audiences and film makers (though got rejected a few times), also captured the interactive moments between people to show this is a very popular and successful event: Staffs and volunteers were working hard. People were gathering as crowds, talking and enjoying the drinks. Film makers and producers were talking, and hugged rarely.

During the Pitching Competition, I listened all the pitching and tried to remember all the pitching team while filming them from where the audiences were sitting. In the beginning of the Pitching Competition, I forgot to turn the mic on. Luckily, this will not affect much to the video of highlight of this event for social media. But this kind of situation did not happen again. After the Pitching Competition, we tried to interview all the pitching team. Though there were too many people, we just couldn’t find everyone, we tried to find them and ask if they would like to accept a short interview to talk about their films and themselves.

Hope next year's film festival will be able to provide a room for interviewing the pitching team and arrange a time schedule for this. So people can set the camera, tripod, mic and lighting better.

Inner West Film Fest 2024 Pitching Competition

WE CAN STILL BE FRIENDS | Thomas Crnkovic

LYREBIRD | Beck Thompson & Isabella Andronos

PASSION POP | Chris Elena

CAMOUFLAGE AUSTRALIA | Gabriel Robinson

HOME BEFORE NIGHT | Kalani Gacon

BIRD HANDS BEAVER A FISHMINT BOUQUET | Kim Pham

THE AUSTRALIAN DREAM | Luke Agius

ECHO 8 | Maria Tran

THE LISTENING | Milena Bennett

SKIDMARK | Natalie Patterson

GOD DAMN | Noel Vinson

UNDER THE COVER | Reilly Archer-Whelan

NOBODY WITH A JOB READS THE REPUBLIC | Terry Guannan Hou

RAM | Sean McCallum

After the Pitching Competition, I was mostly interested in BIRD HANDS BEAVER A FISHMINT BOUQUET, ECHO 8 and NOBODY WITH A JOB READS THE REPUBLIC. "Pain travels through families until someone is ready to feel it" used by Kim Pham in her pitching, probably not only hits my heart, but hearts of many people with Asian family background. I felt like more and more people in Asia or have Asian background start to realize the importance of mental health and the problem with family which was rarely talked and discussed in public before. So many film makers started to make this kind of film to reveal the problem, encourage the audiences who were facing the similar situation or problem to make change or just comfort them.

About ECHO 8, the speaker, Maria Tran actually left deeper impression on me than the trailer of her film. She was really confident about herself and her films, showed her passion and ambition, convincing the listener that she knows what she is doing and she will be succeed.

NOBODY WITH A JOB READS THE REPUBLIC is quite interesting with amazing beautiful storyboard which delivers the tone of this story well. I was actually quite surprised that Terry Guannan Hou was studied economics instead of Bachelor of Visual Arts or Master of Film and Screen Arts in USYD.

Before leaving, I gave the SD cards and Tripod to the staff of Inner West Film Festival for Day 2 Opening Night.  

By the way, the drinks were really expensive.

[harrykilledmoi]

Lol my sister called me to ask me if I was the one who made the cassette edit and then proceeded to tell me that she thought it was real and she would've bought it for me for Yule.

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

I had a fanfic idea where Sam gets fired from his job for the most stupid and unfair of reasons (not his fault, Morris is just mean), so he and the Farmer (and maybe Shane) team up to ruin the Joja Mart for good (without getting into to too much trouble). Like planting grass inside the store (you can actually do this in the game), rearranging the stock/inventory incorrectly, that sort of thing. Coincidentally, the Community Center gets fixed the very next day…idk if I will write all of this but it’s an idea I have.

Oh ho ho! You know, anon, that would be a great headcanon!

I can imagine Morris really unfairly firing Sam because of a merchandise mover who came and brought out new Joja goods, broke something, and put all the blame on Sam. And Morris, not in the best mood that day, fired Sam without understanding the problem. Even Shane couldn't help Sam when he tried to stand up for him. And when the Farmer found out about this, they decided to give Morris a real hell, and the restoration of the Community Center would finish off the greedy manager Joja completely.

And at the same time... It's quite difficult for me to write such a headcanon, because in this case, Morris will not be the main villain, but the victim.

After discovering the Stardew Valley Expanded mod, I now look differently at the characters that in the vanilla version just act like assholes. Because such an act on the part of Sam, Shane and Farmer will create trouble not for Morris, but for cashiers Claire and Martin. And Morris really only wanted the best for Valley, it was just that his image of "the best" was different. His sad face when the people of the Valley boycott Joja on Community Center rebuilding day. Like wow, I usually dislike Morris, but then...

I'm sorry anon that I'm talking about this mod so often, because maybe you don't know about this mod and I'm just here mumbling about it. But it's just that I've always been interested in being a kind of devil's advocate and looking at the characters as misunderstood personalities, and not cartoonish villains. Such emotions, before the discovery of sve mod, Clint evoked in me, when most people in the sdv community called him creep and 'nice guy', but I always thought that he was simply misunderstood. I hope than makes sense (English is so hard, damn).

But enough of the sad stuff! If you really want to write fanfiction about this, don't forget to notify me, I'm interested in reading it 👀 I might write a headcanon on a similar topic someday, we'll see. Thanks for the question anon! ❤️

[chidoroki]

Isabella - 73584

I had a serious debate with myself over whether or not I wanted to sit down and spend my weekend writing another one of these praise posts. I was content with just doing one for each of the Fullscore Trio kids and ending it there.. but apparently I love this woman too much to just ignore her on her birthday. So here were are on September 9th with a list of all her best and my personal favorite moments as to why I believe she’s such a great character, antagonist and mother (yeah you heard me right). Considering she only shows up in the beginning and very end of the story, this post ended up longer than I originally anticipated, which just goes to show how many thoughts I really have about this woman. (for real, this rivals Ray’s post in terms of points but there’s far more words)

Since she also has some backstory and certain events differ between manga and anime (thanks to the second season), I’ll try to go in chronological order between both timelines instead of chapter by chapter, which might be a bit confusing as we’ll jump around the story a lot but just to bear with me as I try to makes sense of it all.

(spoilers for the entirety of The Promised Neverland & ch181.7, so if you haven’t read/completed the manga yet, consider this your first warning, because I’m literally going from start to finish with this one last time. I promise.)

- I’m not sure how well she compares to Emma when it comes to athleticism, but Isabella seemed to have no trouble climbing up and down trees when she was younger.

- Not only that, but she managed to scale the wall by herself using a method that requires a fairly impressive jump. It’s also implied that this is how she climbs the wall again so many years later when chasing the soon-to-be escapees, which helps prove that even at an older age, she hasn’t lost her touch.

- Was chosen to undergo training to become a Mom, which required high test scores and the current mother’s recommendation. She accepted the offer in order to keep living and survive as human the demons couldn’t eat.

- Based on Sienna’s comment, is it fair to say Isabella is on par with the full score trio? I mean, the woman is basically flawless.

- She was practically untouchable during her time at headquarters while training too apparently. Mom positions are scarce so the environment where these ladies fight (physically/mentally/emotionally) to even snag that job is highly competitive, and yet Isabella never let anyone deter her from her goal of becoming a Mom, which probably led to the “Iron Lady” nickname she received now that I think about it.

- She was the youngest ever to be granted the Mom position at..what, 19? 20? Somewhere around there, but impressive nonetheless considering they’re forced to have a child, build up a strong, emotionless exterior and endure so much fear. (but my goodness, the woman doesn’t age at all. she looks just as good when the story actually starts as she did her when she was a bit younger)

- It became common knowledge among the Sisters that she was also very successful in the way she raised her children.

- Her success greatly benefited the farm, as she offered up countless high quality goods, which sounds terrible, I know, but believe me when I say she gave her best effort for her children. Even though she held the Mom position, the amount of power she actually had in this system was pretty minimal, especially with how much she valued her own life. She couldn’t afford to make any mistakes or risky changes, so she settled with doing the most with what she was capable of. She provided her children with a normal lifestyle, not only to keep up the orphanage facade, but knowing that their lives would all be cut shorter than they anticipate. She gave them love in hopes that no one would ever have to feel the dread she felt after Leslie’s death and/or finding out the truth. She tried to delay that horrific fate by encouraging them to learn all they can (like teaching the trio about strategy and chess) so they could achieve higher tests scores and (unknowingly to them) add a couple more months or years onto their lives. Yes it was her job to raise these children to such high standards but she excelled at it for their sake too.

- And I know y’all will just throw Ray in my face like, “oh but he was her actual child and she treated him horribly/different.” Okay but deep down I don’t think she actually wanted to? When they both realized they were truly mother and son, Isabella couldn’t just dote on him and start treating him as such. I’m sure Ray wasn’t too fond of Isabella at this point in his life either, knowing that she sent several of his siblings away to get killed. They probably would’ve gotten along just fine in a perfect world, but since they were both aware of the hell they’re trapped living in, they emotionally distanced themselves and formed a business-like relationship as a result of Ray’s deal, which benefited them both in different ways. For Ray, it was more practical, with the obvious notion of living as long as possible along with obtaining various rewards and knowledge of the outside world. For Isabella, it helped emotionally by simply just ignoring their true relation. I believe if she clung to that realization, it would break the orphanage illusion and eventually wear down her “Iron Lady” exterior that she relies so heavily on.

- Like can you imagine how much you would have to harden your heart in order to quite literally walk children to their death every couple months for years on end and just move on like it’s completely normal? Now imagine how earth shattering it must be to think about doing the same to your actual child. All those years spent perfecting a fake smile and emotionless exterior like she was trained to have and her son shatters it in an instant. She becomes completely terrified about how he’s actually alive and in front of her right now and there’s nothing she can do to truly save him.. and yet she still recovers so damn quickly I can’t even comprehend it! But there’s still some sadness in those eyes. You can’t tell me otherwise. That one moment of weakness speaks volumes to me.

- So now with her general backstory FINALLY out of the way, we can finally start with ch01/ep01 and how her laugh is sweet and innocent. I say that because (all hidden emotions and motives aside) that’s exactly how she’s supposed to sound in this moment, not only to us but to the children as well.

- She of course checks Emma’s tracker a moment later but other than that I still think it’s a pretty genuine moment between the two.

- As previously stated, her ability to raise high quality children is unmatched, which is clear as day thanks to the fullscore trio.

- Despite their crazy level of intelligence, the trio has yet to win a simple game of chess against Isabella, even when teamed up.

- She treasures everything about the kids.

- She really cares about them, even when it’s time to send them off with a smile, which we know is thanks to her strong facade.

- But mother dearest isn’t really fine. She doesn’t like walking kids to their death, especially so young. But she can’t let them (or even herself) know that. She can’t show weakness, so she hums Leslie’s song, which is a tool she’s used for years in order to give herself strength.

- Don’t worry, I disliked her this moment happened too, just as the story intended. And here’s where her fantastic antagonist role begins for all the world to see.

- A true champ at jump scares.

- Acts completely calm the night after a couple of kids found out the secret of the farm.

- She uses the tracker in plain sight, sending whomever went to the gate last night a threatening but silent message.

- Correct Norman, that’s the “Iron Lady” for ya. Also the name of ch03 for us. Well, “The Iron Woman” but same difference.

- She switches from calculating and manipulative breeder to sweet and pleasant mother so quickly and effortlessly it’s incredible. Isabella even checked Emma’s pulse in this scene to see if she was acting normal.

- At this point she still had no idea who went to the gate (Ray didn’t tip her off yet, at least I don’t think so) but her guess couldn’t have been more precise. The level of fear she drives into both Emma and Norman was great too, but then again her presence is enough in any scene to give us chills.

- Notices her watchdog isn’t at his usual post and starts to get suspicious.

- Not only of him, Emma and Norman, but Don and Gilda as well, thus giving the five extra chores to finish in an attempt to slow down any escape planning, such as cleaning vacant rooms, organizing the pantry and inspecting spare linen.

- While the trio believes Isabella was being too soft and patient in finding her targets, she effectively catches them off guard by bringing in Krone for assistance. The trio soon realize they were actually preparing the sister’s new room and those mundane chores were just an excuse to buy time.

- Look at her, all smug. Checkmate indeed. (and totally not important, but her eyes are such pretty shades of purple)

- The sass and her no nonsense attitude.

- Immediately puts Krone in her place the moment she even thinks about shipping out the targets. Of course holding off on shipping the targets would benefit the farm, as it would produce higher quality merchandise as time passes, but plant 3 is run by Isabella and she’ll be damned if an assistant thinks they could waltz right in and decide her children’s fate.

- She check’s Emma tracker again despite her claim of knowing exactly who the targets might be. You can never be too careful.

- Her precious children managed to win a game of tag against Krone, which is still impressive considering the kind of training the sister has gone through, so kudos to her teachings.

- Knows right away that Krone was trying to take advantage, which allows Krone to realize that the opening she had to learn more about the children was all planned by Isabella herself. Her intimidating nature is enough to scare adults too.

- Reveals that Krone was mostly summoned in order to keep Ray in check after his failure.

- Despite the trust issue, Isabella still keeps up her end of the deal by requesting the items Ray asked for, thanks to the odd perks she had under Grandma Sarah which allowed her to order goods that weren’t on the supply list.

- This hug between her and Phil is just too cute not to mention.

- I imagine she makes this comment because she knows exactly how long a rope must be based off her own almost-escape.

- It’s just something about how this scene is framed alongside this dialogue that makes me think “oh, like mother, like son.”

- I blame her very thoughtful planning for my first big freak out when I watched season 1 blind, like ma’am that’s my favorite boy, please don’t.

- She conspires with Grandma Sarah in order to get rid of Krone for good, which renders the evidence sister just found out about the children’s escape completely useless. Sarah believes there might be some truth to it, but ultimately ignores it and puts her faith in Isabella’s ability of controlling the children & the situation.

- She then cuts Ray off and ends their six-year long deal, opting to control the situation herself from now on. Also, how she wanted to keep him around until the very end is kinda bittersweet. Does she mean as merchandise? Or because she wanted him to live as long as possible? Ah such a tricky little comment.

- She also tosses him across the room like a rag doll.

- Thank god for this panel existing and actually being adapted into the anime so I could hear it because I had absolutely no memory of her laughing in this moment.

- “She says it so nonchalantly,” Norman said once upon a time, and it’s still so frightening.

- As insane as her ideals seem given the circumstances, nothing she says here is really a lie.

- She has the strength to quite literally break a leg and that cracking noise still haunts me to this day.

- It wasn’t even a spur of the moment thing either. Isabella came fully prepared with bandages to fix up any injury she was willing to inflict and that thought alone is terrifying.

- Not only that, but she broke it so cleanly that Emma’s leg does indeed heal perfectly in the exact time frame she estimates. This entire moment is so unfairly impressive, like ma’am how dare you do this to Emma of all people.. like why couldn’t you at least use that kind of force to snap Peter’s neck instead or something?

- To make matters worse, she then reveals Norman’s shipment date. And it’s the following day, which sends the kids into a very understandable panic.

- Needless to say, November 2nd, 2045 was a very successful day in the life of Isabella. Woman was putting everyone in checkmate in ep08 and my anger on full blast.

- This sly smile she sends Ray’s way after announcing Norman’s shipment to the younger kids is so cruel.. it’s perfect.

- I can only imagine she asked about Ray’s whereabouts because she knew the boys were close friends and she hoped they would at least say goodbye to one another, but that’s just me.

- Puts an end to Norman’s parting words in such a simple and chilling matter.

- The way she just openly threatens Emma with others just out of earshot.

- Norman out here asking the real questions. If anything, I say she’s more “content” rather than happy. I don’t think she’s ever really thought about her own happiness, at least not often enough, hence the slight pause. This entire time she’s been focusing on how to make her children’s lives perfect, but for herself she just wants to survive in this hellish world they’re all living in.

- I’m honestly still not sure who’s final decision it is to send people to Lambda, either Isabella, Peter or someone else (honestly never bothered to check), but whether or not Isabella had any say in the matter, I’m sure she’s at least a little glad that Norman gets to live a bit longer? Perhaps that’s a stretch, but I’m putting the idea here anyway.

- I say this because I believe that’s part of the reason why she offered Emma a Mom recommendation, not only because our girl’s high test scores, but in hopes that she could live a longer life.

- Although she really stresses in an intimidation fashion how pointless Emma’s efforts are now that Norman’s “dead,” the cliff remains a major hazard and her leg is still bandaged up, Isabella still tries so hard to convince her to give up, like Ray has, in order for Emma to end her own suffering. It was the first instance during my blind watch-through were I started to get the hint that Isabella might actually care about her kids, and of course I know now it’s because she didn’t want Emma to experience the same pain she did after Leslie’s death.

- With Emma and Ray both broken, things went by rather smoothly for Isabella those last two months, though she continued to keep a close eye on them.

- Her humming is so soothing. And why it took me this long to bring up “Isabella’s Lullaby” is beyond me, but oh my god, that song and any other soundtrack that uses its melody is absolute perfection.

- Had enough sense to not let her guard down the final night, even though her efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, but the idea counts.

- Though her caretaker side is focused on more during the fire, some motherly instincts do kick in as she instructs Gilda to get the babies from her room and lead everyone outside to safety. She was also concerned for Emma’s well being, hoping all the smoke didn’t get to her when the girl vanished. (i know you can argue “she’s only worried because they’re merchandise” which is fair but c’mon, i swear she’s not completely heartless)

- Took a hot minute (ahha) but Isabella eventually realized that the kids were actually escaping solely based on what they were wearing on their feet. I’m sure Emma’s discarded left ear was a big tip off too but to come to that conclusion by noticing the shoes they had on during all that chaos is surprising.

- She looks completely insane here but I always thought this shot of her was nicely animated with all the fire (or embers? sparks? whatever they are) flying around. The laugh she does before this is also a nice bonus. Oh, and she somehow managed to secure a radio from the room Don had locked.

- Figured the fifteen kids would head towards the bridge and called in headquarters to block it off.

- But when the children didn’t appear at the bridge, she just happened to know exactly where else they might try to cross the cliff.

- In the anime’s case, Isabella climbed the wall and ran there quick enough to engage in a stare down with Emma before she finally slid down.

- The moment I knew I was doomed.

- After the 15 kids successfully escaped, Isabella admits defeat, for she couldn’t really see how much her children have grown to outsmart her.

- This iconic quote, which conveys so much truth and sincerity. There were multiple occasions where she had to distance and restrain herself due to the system that controlled her, but the love she was able to show the children was genuine. If she wasn’t held back by the strict rules enforced by Mom position, I don’t doubt she would’ve treated Ray better or became far more emotional whenever a child had to leave for good or seriously injured, instead of donning a fake smile and being closed off.

- She realizes with this unspeakable loss in merchandise, the reputation she worked so hard to build up is meaningless now and that the farm no longer has any use for such an incompetent caretaker. She figures she’s as good as dead anyway now, so she wastes no time in actually helping the escapees by reclaiming the ropes to hide their exact method and route of escape, if only to grant the kids some extra time before the pursuers really locate them.

- She doesn’t act bitter as a result of her loss, instead choosing to wish the escapees luck with the future they grasped for themselves and care for the children that were left behind.

- She’s just so pretty y’all. Thank you anime.

- She was named “Best Antagonist” (and rightfully so!) back during the 2020 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, winning over Askeladd (Vinland Saga), Overhaul, (My Hero Academia), Garoua (One Punch Man,) & others.

(Post-season 1 spoilers ahead, even though the anime is completely finished at this point, but will be touching upon her special chapter more as well.)

- Completely owns up to her mistakes that caused the farm a massive loss in profitable goods and is ready to received whatever punishment necessary, which she expects to be death.

- Only.. she’s not being killed, she’s actually being promoted to Grandma. Though Isabella was directly responsible for the children’s escape, the blame ultimately falls on Sarah who couldn’t correctly control Isabella, thus leading the old lady to be shipped out in place of the goods Isabella lost.

- Peter also notes that the farm found more worth in Isabella than Sarah, so her past merits also played a part in sparing her life, as having a woman like Isabella in charge would surely produce the level of quality the farm needs.

- Isabella eventually accepts the promotion, though she can’t help but feel hesitant and shocked about the whole deal. This woman was ready to embrace death and finally be free from this cruel world, but now she has to witness not only more kids being shipped off, but moms and sisters in training as well (yay old chapter reviews coming in clutch).

- She could have very well just refused Peter’s offer, but we all know how much Isabella originally wanted to survive, so she doesn’t just accept because this man dangled a sense of freedom in her face, she also agreed so she could have the opportunity to help her children in any way her newfound power would allow her.

- Of course, her transition to Grandma happens a bit differently in the second season, but I will give some bittersweet thanks to the anime once more for the obvious but curse them for also having this entire scene dark as hell. Let me see her beauty darn it! I can only fix the lighting so much until it looks overexposed and bad again.

Anyways, Sarah is still alive at this point and taunts Isabella with the escapee’s lives just to see how she would react, which gave her a small sense of hope. Then some demons pay a visit later on and also ask if she would want to see the children one last time, but Isabella tells them that not only would she be too ashamed to face them but that they would manage to survive Grandma’s capture plan, which involved several men blowing up their shelter. It’s now clear to the demons that these children are special, and while Isabella agrees, it’s not for the same reason the demons think so. The demons believe the kids are special because of how they were raised to such a high quality. Isabella calls them special simply because they’re her children, just as any mother would.

- In the anime, it’s the demons who offer Isabella the Grandma deal if Sarah’s current plan were to fail (which it does) and she takes it and the freedom from Grace Field House without question. Do I still believe she had similar intentions to help out the children like she did in manga at this point? Of course.

- Not even a full month into her new job did she start preparing to help Emma & the others by considering who from the current Sisters she wanted to recruit to personally assist her destroy the farm entirely.

- A month later and Isabella had already decreased the number of shipments that took place at Grace Field, which obviously helps raise the quality of the children by default, but it also means less death and gives those kids a chance to live longer.

- She completely anticipated that Matilda, Jessica, Sienna & Scarlet were conspiring against her and caught them quite easily, as they were among the top scorers.

- Each had a fair chance at becoming Moms but with those positions limited, it was obvious to figure out they were trying to force Isabella’s seat open by creating some suspicious activity to place on her almost perfect record. Unfortunately for the girls, our new Grandma is too smart for her own good and I love it.

- The four women are apprehensive to join her insane plan to go against the farm, but Isabella assures them there’s no freedom if they follow the system’s rules and betray her. The harsh reality they’re all living in will continue unless they stop competing with one another and combine forces to defeat the true enemy.

- To persuade them further, Isabella mentions the children they all gave birth to are still alive, bringing out an array of emotions from the women that they each thought they had buried deep down.

- THIS! Just all of this is wonderful and shows just how much Isabella learned from her children who once defeated her.

- To fully gain the women’s trust, she gives them Ray’s farewell note that he originally left in order to bait Krone, as proof she won’t double-cross them at any point.

- I love the fact that she kept the note close to her because it acts just like all the other various toys and items she saved in her secret room back at plant 3. The original owners were all precious to her so she kept a piece of them behind to remember them in a place only she knew about. As I said before when mentioning her “I wish I could have just loved them normally” quote, all the love she had for her children had to be suppressed when she was under the system’s control, but that doesn’t mean she never cared. Because she did, and if I haven’t made at least that clear by now then I’m failing.

- Can her intentions and love for her children be any more clear? (possibly, i’m not done with this darn post yet. how you guys holding up? i’m going a little insane at this point.)

- Anyways! Second season didn’t make the rest of the story easy so apologies for any timeline mishaps as I switch between both anime and manga events from here on out.. like how in manga Isabella is informed of the escapee’s return to Grace Field via Peter, while the in the anime it’s her who helps lures them back with a fake transmission via the radio they stole.

- Just before Emma & the others do return to Grace Field on November 13, Isabella finally reaches out to the farm’s many other Sisters to recruit them. She waited until the right moment to inform them of her crazy takeover plan so Peter wouldn’t become suspicious from all of headquarters acting/thinking differently (you know, like how Emma kept the jailbreak plan under wraps until the night of). These ladies also feel a bit wary and even think of Isabella’s offer as a joke, but with some real, heartfelt encouragement, she manages to win over every single woman to her side.

- The moment when it was first revealed to us that she was not only still alive but was also promoted to Grandma is still so powerful.

- She snaps Nat’s finger back into place after Peter broke it. (and considering emma’s group infiltrates the farm right after this, i’m pretty sure that ch170 with rallying the sisters took place before this..i think?)

- Gave me a minor heart attack.

- *CLAPS FRANTICALLY!!!* The moment she truly won me over.


- While her betrayal against Peter in the manga is fantastic and quite possibly one of my favorite moments, the anime did give us a little something too. It shows Peter spewing utter nonsense to Emma about how she’s destined to fail, only for best girl to bite back with such a fantastic quote, and then Isabella drops the act and switches sides. While I agree Emma’s comeback is “wonderful,” it’s the English dub that completely wins me over in this scene by having Isabella comment “Now that’s my girl” instead, like bro.. hearing that makes me so happy.

- For real dude, you have several highly skilled women pointing guns at you, I think her betrayal is crystal clear.

- This is like the perfect example of how she had to conceal her feelings while bound by the system. She just misses these kids so much y’all but she can’t let her true emotions show yet.

- Having her call Peter a boy is beyond hilarious to me. Also, how she disagrees with him on so many levels is excellent, like how he believes in experimenting on kids and having the right to call yourself their parent just because you created them, while Isabella believes in raising and loving children normally and that you earn that parent title by actually being part of their lives. To be fair they both inflicted pain on kids (Nat’s finger/Emma’s leg) but Peter’s action was a mistake in itself. Isabella got frustrated back when Krone even threatened to ship out the kids who discovered the secret, so you can bet she’s probably pissed off at this boy for harming one of her kids on purpose.

- The best mother-daughter moment ever! It’s such a shame it never got truly animated since the second season decided not to give the children guns, but we get to see a small smile from Isabella after Emma decided to still call her “mom.”

- The anime never gave Peter the chance to run away, like he (somehow) managed to do in manga, so we had the chance to see someone actually shoot at him. Well, in his general direction at least. Isabella lands a perfect shot not even a full second after he pulls out that disc. Accuracy on point.

- Said this once or twice in the past in manga so I’m glad the anime brought it back.

- Remains cautious and keeps her gun raised at Peter when Emma approaches him and rightfully so considering he still had his knife hidden at this point.

- Refuses Emma’s offer to join the kids in the human world at first because she knows that her (& the sister’s) actions shouldn’t be forgiven so easily, but with some rather blunt sympathy from Ray and encouragement from her other children, she finally gives in.

- This entire post summed up in one image.

- She apologizes even though distancing herself from her kids and preparing them for death were just required of her role as a caretaker. She wouldn’t have done any of that in a normal world. (do i sound like a broken record yet? probably)

- The emotion you hear in her voice during this entire dub scene hits my heart in all the right places.

- She still thinks of Leslie after all this time and I think that’s real cute.

- Her protective nature is on full display when she protects Emma from this bastard of a demon. A truly surprising and heartbreaking moment, considering this is the woman who’s survival used to be her top and only priority in the past, but now doesn’t hesitate to give her life in order to save her kid (and by extension that small girl emma saved. also, major heart attack for me).

- Despite being critically injured, this woman still possess enough strength to hold back a demon twice her size. She doesn’t even pay any mind to its nonsense. Like the demon, people often think this is when redemption arc starts but I believe it started way back in ch37 when Isabella retrieved and hid the ropes the kids used to escape. Ever since she admitted defeat on the wall that night, she threw caution to the wind and began cheating the system in hopes to one day assist the kids achieve a brighter future. Despite all the work she’s done behind the scenes, Isabella believes there’s still so much more she can do to atone, so even though she’s already received the children’s forgiveness, she continues to assist them by jumping in and saving them directly from demons for once in her life.

- Ma’am it’s sweet you’re so concerned with their safety, but we should be asking you that question ya know? (but then again emma was the same way after she woke up from her coma).

- Knows that just apologizing and saving Emma isn’t enough to suddenly forgive all her actions and wants to do so much more for the children as a result. Even though I already acknowledged all her subtle and hidden moments, I wish we got to see her care for them more openly.

- I simply can not read through ch177 and not get emotional. No matter how hard I try, I always feel tears start to form in my eyes. Oh my god, how cruel that death can be this beautiful. It’s so unfair.

- *uses old chapter review because I’m too upset right now* “She apologizes for everything. For not treating him right and loving him as a mother normally would her own son. For making him despise his life so much and enduring so much pain that he thought the only escape was suicide.”

- “She leaves him with one last wish to protect everyone, and that completely breaks me because you know exactly how much they both care for their family. Not only would they literally die for their family, but they would live for them too if someone asked. Truly like mother, like son.” (aaaaaahhhhh)

- Her, umm.. ghost (along with Conny’s & Yuugo’s) help Ray reunite with Emma in 2049.

- All my tears aside, the anime did something right by actually keeping her ALIVE!

- Have you ever seen something so GODDAMN BEAUTIFUL in all your life?? This image is so powerful it literally tossed aside any salty feelings I had that night with how the second season ended. Seeing her like this grants me so much happiness y’all, it’s truly unbelievable. I still can’t get over it and hopefully I never will.

Okay, now I’m done, thank god. Sorry this is like ridiculously long, especially since she’s absent for sooo many chapters. Also find it so hilarious how drastic my opinion of her changed from the beginning to now, from “bitch” to “oh my god I love her so much.” I know people will always have opposing opinions whether she’s actually a good mother or not and that’s totally fine. Wasn’t trying to convince y’all of that either because yes, some of her actions are real unforgivable, but she was suffering under the farm system too and just followed through with what she was trained to do in order to survive, but while other Sisters fought to climb ranks and help themselves survive, Isabella ultimately wanted the best for her children. The more power she gained, the more risks she took and once the system crashed so did her facade.

An absolute queen.

[vicious-vixxxen]

Could I request older, pro-hero Deku with a chubby male s/o who gets ridiculed because people don't think someone of his size is good enough for the Number One hero

((Ah I may have gotten a little too deep with this one, so apologies nonnie in advance for the angst. Topics like this relate a lot to me personally. So here ya go.))

Izuku Midoriya x Chubby!Male!Reader

“That’s...such /bullshit/,” You huffed, fist clenched into the folds of the magazine, before flicking it across the kitchen with a huff- tears already stinging at the corner of your eyes as it landed split open- your face plastered over the centerfold article. ‘Is #1 Pro Hero Deku’s Husband /TOO/ big?’ The article practically shouted up at you- big, bold red letters smeared over your face, hiding the smile you’d had that night. You’d managed to secure a spot at one of Izuku’s favorite restaurants- mostly by promising the owner you’d be in and out of there within half an hour- he wasn’t the type to fawn too heavily over Pro Hero work, so ‘Deku’ being your husband didn’t hold much weight with him. But you’d been excellent patrons of his since they’d opened, in your second year of high school together. So you managed with what seniority you held. And seeing as how Izuku had only been able to snag thirty minutes between patrols, it was the perfect opportunity to scarf down a quick bite, and chat in- what you thought had been- the privacy of one of the uppermost floors of the establishment. But of course, sleazy as they were, the paparazzi had found a way to catch the both of you eating. A little too fast, a little too messily, just to be able to enjoy the atmosphere together, and have ample room to chat with one another before Izuku had to get back to his patrols. Which was fine, for Pro Hero Deku- six foot seven inches tall, two hundred and ten pounds of pure, lean machine muscle. The epitome of health and wellness, and what it meant to be strong. Able. And then there was you. A little too soft around the sides, cheeks /too/ plump/. Stomach /too/ pudgy. Thighs /too/ thick. God, you looked like a pig, food smeared on your chin, a bowl between you and your husband. ‘I guess we know where his priorities really lie’ the magazine quoted, from some random asshole on the street no doubt. Jesus Christ. “Bunch of fucking assholes.” You were angry. Of course you were angry. Fists held over your eyes to keep the tears at bay. But you were sad too. So, so fucking sad that this shit kept happening. Izuku’s management tried and failed countless times to keep shit like this from spreading. But people loved a good slam piece, as much as they adored seeing Deku’s latest accomplishments splashed across every newspaper, and TV report. Sick fucks. Whatever. Water under the bridge, you told yourself. Throat feeling tight, eyes burning with unshed tears, as you took a few deep breaths, and headed back towards your bedroom. Turning out lights in the house as you went, before stripping and crawling into bed. Thoughts running a mile a minute, as you stared up at the ceiling in silence. The only real noise the quiet sound of a car or two passing the house every now and again. You couldn’t help the way your open palms slid against your chest. Pressing, and kneading at the soft, pillowy flesh of your sides, and stomach. Grimacing at yourself, you recalled how fit you used to be during your high school days. What a dynamic you and Izuku had. Fresh on the scene after high school, no one could compare to the two of you. Kiri and Katsuki came close, but never quite managed the spark you and Izuku had. Professionally speaking. But Izuku just kept climbing higher, and higher- your quirk was good, but limited in its capabilities, which meant a halt in your hero placement a year or two after graduation. But you did what you could. You helped people because you wanted to help people, ratings be damned. But the harder Izuku worked, the more help he needed managing the world that came with climbing to number one. So you patrolled less and less, in favor of working with his design team on costume upgrades. Merchandise. Izuku trusting you and Inko to work directly with his management team, as he knew you all shared a hive mind of sorts when it came to design, and marketing. Pro Hero life for Deku was saving people. Kissing babies, and countless interviews. It was grueling, and tiresome, and he needed a team behind him to take care of everything else. So that’s what you did. Long hours spent at home alone, working through the night on various Deku projects. Meant less patrols, less gym time. You had no need for those things when you were kept busy with Izuku’s team, and you did good work! Fuck, you did great work, and Izuku praised you nonstop. Sure you’d gained a little weight at first, but it looked good on you. At least you thought so. And so did Izuku, if the way he drooled all over the expanse of your thighs the first time you’d gotten a night alone in nearly a month was any indication.   But as time progressed, you cared a little less about your appearance each day. You took care of yourself, and you were far from unhealthy. But there was no denying you had filled out substantially. You didn’t care, and Izuku didn’t seem to care either...but the media sure did. Closing your eyes suddenly, you took a deep breath. Holding it in for several seconds, before letting it out shakily. Tears finally falling as you did so, and you rolled over to snuggle into Izuku’s side of the bed- face smushed into the other man’s pillow, to breath in the soft scent of his cologne. His musk. Drifting off to sleep sniffling, dreaming of the glory days the two of you held together. Izuku hadn’t planned on coming home tonight at all, it wasn’t in his schedule to. But when he’d taken five to break for a snack, he’d ran into Kirishima at the agency. Chatting quickly, recalling rather suddenly that it had been several days since he’d seen Y/N. Scratching at the nape of his neck awkwardly, hunched over slightly muttering excuses to himself. He may have been big, and strong, but to his friends, Midoriya still held fast to those traits that made him who he was. Even back at UA. One call to Bakugou from Kirishima later, and the two of them were taking Deku’s shift, sending him hurrying home- a smile as bright as the sun on his face as he charged up, and bolted from the agency as fast as he could. Fingers crossed that you weren’t asleep yet. His dreams were dashed, but not unpleasantly so, when he landed outside however, and found all the lights in the house were off. It was late, and he appreciated you getting your rest. Knowing all too well how often you’d stay awake working on things for him. Izuku’s heart overflowed with love for you when he recalled all you did for him. For the both of you. He couldn’t imagine being as cemented in the top spot, as capable of doing what he did, without you there. You and his mother were his whole world, keeping him afloat at even the hardest of times. He...he was nothing, without you. So knowing you were in bed, getting your rest, made him smile. A smile that was soon replaced with a recoiled snarl as he entered the house- beelining to the kitchen for a glass of water, wherein he found the magazine spread out, as though left for him on the kitchen floor. Another one. Another article attacking you. Shaming you. Making fun of you. The kitchen was alight with green sparks as Izuku picked up the magazine, sneering at it when it came clearly into focus, before promptly stomping over and throwing it into the trash. Chest heaving as he sat with the knowledge that you’d probably been worrying over this again all evening. While he was out. Combing the city for villains, while you were here, dealing with...god. Hero suit boots already at the front door, Deku removed his socks as he made his way back to your bedroom quietly- leaving them in the hall- a nasty habit of his he’d never been able to break. Letting himself into your room, his heart breaking at the site before him. He wasn’t sure how long you’d been crying, but it was long enough to leave the salty, humid scent of tears in the air as he entered. And there you were, huddled up with his pillows, breathing softly- face smeared with tears, their tracks glinting back at Izuku as he rounded the bed, and just stood there. Feeling so powerless. Too big. Normally he’d clean up first, but being sure he couldn’t wait one more second, let alone the twenty minutes it would take to shower, Midoriya acted quickly. Removing his Hero suit silently, left in nothing but a pair of fitted boxer briefs- before sliding into bed next to you. Pulling his pillow gently from your grasp, to settle behind his own head, before gathering you up and into his arms. Shifting you almost entirely onto his front, before you stirred. Izuku’s stopped breathing when your eyes fluttered open, and your nose wrinkled- wanting to smile as you noticed the heat beneath you, the strong scent of Izuku’s skin filling your senses. Glancing up at him, your sleep idled mind offered only one clear thought. ‘He’s home’. Try as you might, however, the pressure from earlier in the evening boiled over again- mixing with the overwhelming sense of love you felt at being able to see him. Feel him. Smell him. Just /be/ with him. Everything was still, and quiet, a pin drop could be heard. Until you hiccupped, once, twice, before choking on a sob as you pressed your face flush against Izuku’s chest, and cried. You cried, and cried, and cried. Trying to recall the last time you’d seen him, your sleep clouded mind coming up blank. All you could see was that stupid fucking picture in the magazine. Izuku held firm to you as you cried, eyes shut tight, tears threatening to spill right alongside yours. Old habits die hard, he thought idly. He didn’t shush you, or try and quiet you down. Offer words of encouragement, nor did he berate the magazines, or spew on about how much hell he was going to put them through for this. He simply held you, stroked your back, and kissed the top of your head over and over, as you covered his chest in tears. Finally settling down after a few minutes, and simply breathing together. Your ears pressed against Deku’s wet chest, listening to your husband's heartbeat. Allowing it to calm you. Arms finding their way under Izuku’s body, holding each other now. Tight, almost too much. But neither of you complained. “I love you,” Izuku finally whispered, though it was so full of sentiment- of meaning, almost harshly so, it caught you off guard. “I love you more than the world will ever know, or understand, and I’d drop off the face of the planet tomorrow, and leave them to fend for themselves, if it meant proving to you how wonderfully, beautifully, exquisitely perfect you are to me.” Fucking…”I wanted to /stop/ crying, you fucking jerk,” You laughed wetly, fresh tears spilling down your cheeks as you lifted a hand to swat at the side of Deku’s head- both of you snickering wetly now, as you began to card your fingers through his hair with the same hand. Snuggling impossibly deeper into the man’s chest, as his words rang in your ears. He meant it too, the voice in your head whispered. Your chest tight as you imagined him giving up all he’d ever worked for, just so you’d understand. You never held any doubt that he loved you. As you were, as you had been- however you’d be tomorrow, or the day after. But you struggled a lot, internally. You always had. It would be a struggle you’d live with till the day you died, you were sure of it. But even so, you reasoned, then and there, that if even then, you knew how deeply, and unequivocally Izuku cared for you- loved you. That thing’s would always be okay. No matter what. “I love you too,” you sighed back finally, clearing your throat, and closing your eyes as you felt yourself quickly drifting again. “So so much, ‘zuku.” Peppering Deku’s chest with kisses till you fell asleep, Izuku was sure if his heart swelled any more, it would burst. Waiting till you had fallen back asleep fully, he rolled the two of you over. Caging you into the mattress beneath him, and falling asleep that way. Guarding you even as the two of you slept. Keeping you safe from everyone, and everything.  Midoriya’s only other thought, besides you, before he slipped into unconsciousness, was to call into the agency the next day, because he wasn’t going to going in for a while. ((Really enjoyed writing this one, got me in my feels, and made me feel all warm, imagining Deku holding me at the end of a  long day, when I could care less about feeling good about myself. Thanks for the opportunity nonnie, hope you enjoy.))

[queen-of-the-avengers]

Succumb to Your Urges

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Word Count: ~2k

Warnings: fluff, implied smut?

Summary: Every thought you have is of Natasha, and it’s starting to interfere with your missions and your job. How can you get her out of your head? More importantly, does she know?

sharing a bed for @blackwidowbingo

secret romance (2020) for @avengersbingo

free space (2021) for @ladiesofmarvelbingo

Author’s Note: This is unbeta’d and any and all mistakes are all on me.

You’re supposed to be focusing on the mission at hand. Loki had manipulated a bunch of people into doing his bidding, scattering them all over town to gather supplies for something he’s cooking up. Thor can’t be reached, you have no clue where he is, but you do know that Loki is up to something. After all, he is the God of Mischief.

Loki ordered his men to scour the city looking for supplies, but all the men seemed to gather at the same place: the downtown mall. You’re not sure why they are here or what they want, or if Loki is here with them. He has magical powers that will turn him into anything and anyone. He could be right next to you, and you wouldn’t know it.

You and your entire team are wearing normal clothes so as to not attract attention. If people know that the Avengers were at the mall, then you wouldn’t be able to get anything done. They would surround you and ask for pictures and stuff, exposing you directly to Loki. You’re supposed to keep an eye on the man Steve assigned you with, but you haven’t been paying attention to him at all. In fact, you haven’t looked at him in the past ten minutes.

The only person who you’ve been staring at is Natasha.

She’s assigned to the same man like you because there are fewer men on Loki’s team than there are Avengers. Steve and Tony are in charge of one, Wanda and Vision are with another, Bucky and Sam are a team, and Bruce and Peter are together. Who knows where the other teams are in the mall since it has two stories, but you're communicating through the earpieces with the assistance of Friday.

“We’re all good here,” Natasha mutters.

“Yeah nothing is happening on our end,” Steve responds.

“Guys, are we supposed to move in or just watch them? Our guy is just eating in the food court,” Peter asks.

“If nothing happens, then we do nothing. We don’t want to give Loki the advantage of knowing we’re here. Stay put and wait for our signal,” Tony instructs.

Natasha crosses her arms, causing her breasts to push up and spill over her shirt. Damn, she looks so good right now. You mean, she looks good all the time especially in that tight little uniform she wears on almost every mission. It shapes her ass very well that has you daydreaming about slapping it. However, it’s a rarity to see her in normal clothing.

She’s wearing skinny blue jeans that hug every curve, heeled ankle boots, a black tank top with a brown leather jacket. Her hair is down in soft curls, and her makeup is done just right. Man, if you had things your way, you would have already gotten her in bed. She is oblivious to your feelings about her, but everyone on the team knows how much you like her. Maybe that’s why you two are on the same team.

Natasha feels your eyes on her, burning a hole in the side of her head. She looks over at you, and you quickly look away as to not give away you’ve been staring at her. You looked away so quickly that you didn’t see the smirk forming on her face. The man you’ve been watching is now on the move, and you’re back in action, your focus on the mission—eighty/twenty.

The man leaves and you two begin the chase. You need to be at a safe enough distance to not get spotted, but you need to be close enough so that if he makes an abrupt turn somewhere, you are able to see where he goes and what he is doing. The man heads to an electronic store--the biggest store in the entire mall.

Why is he here? What does he hope to gain? More importantly, what is he getting? If you can see what he’s buying, then you can try and determine what exactly Loki is up to. The man maneuvers through the aisles slowly, looking at things as if he is interested in buying them. He moves on seconds later, never staying in one place for too long. You and Natasha have split up so that it doesn’t look like two women are following this man. One of you is in one aisle and the other is in an aisle two rows back.

The man looks around as if he is stretching his neck before making a beeline to the back room. You and Natasha follow him until he disappears into the room.

“I’ll wait here, you go find him,” she whispers.

She stands guard and makes sure that no one goes in and that no one but you two come out. If you really need her help, then you’re going to ask for it over the earpiece. You push open the door and quickly head inside, wanting to get this over with. The man is nowhere to be seen, so you head in further until you hit the very back wall. The room isn’t that big, to begin with, so you can only assume that this isn’t the big warehouse where they keep all their merchandise. There is nowhere to go once you enter the room except for the door you came through, and the man is nowhere to be found.

He just… disappeared which either means it was Loki in disguise or that Loki popped him out of the room. Either way, Loki knows you’re here. You rush back to Natasha and sigh angrily.

“I think we may have been made. We need to go now. Loki isn’t going to be here anymore.”

You two leave the store and head back to the rendezvous point that Tony set up for cases like these. If no one gathered anything or if something bad happened, then everyone should meet up back in this spot. Tony, Steve, Bucky, Sam, Wanda, and Vision are already at the meetup. When you and Natasha join, Peter and Bruce jog to the area.

“Our guy just vanished,” Peter pants.

“Yeah, same here,” Bucky nods.

“I think Loki knows we’re here. We’re not going to get anywhere now that he knows. Either we wait until tomorrow or we have to figure something else out,” you groan.

“We’ll come back tomorrow. I can get some facial scans done of our faces, and have virtual masks made for us so that we can stay undetected,” Tony reveals.

“Why didn’t we do that in the first place?” Natasha asks.

“Because I didn’t think of it until now,” he says quickly before moving on. “Okay! Everyone, get some shut-eye if you can because we meet here first thing in the morning.”

The entire group disbands to the hotel Tony bought for everyone to stay in for the night. It’s better than going back to the tower and possibly expose yourself to onlookers. People really have nothing better to do than to stare at Tony’s tower all day and wait for one of the Avengers to walk through the front door.

Because the hotel had almost all of their rooms booked, Tony was able to get rooms for two people each, and that means you and Natasha would be sharing a room. The room you got stuck with only has one King bed, so to her, it’s no problem, but all you’re going to be thinking about the entire night is her sleeping right next to you. You enter the hotel room tiredly, tossing your jacket onto the nearest chair.

“I’m going to take a shower first if you don’t mind.”

“Yeah, go ahead. I’ll take mine in the morning.”

Natasha heads to the bathroom with her pajamas, and you plop down on the bed in exhaustion. The only two things that can be heard is the soft hum of the air conditioning and the shower. You look over at the bathroom door to see it open a crack. Did she forget to shut it? Is it opened on purpose? Does she know you’re ten feet from the door and can practically see in it?

No, Y/N, bad girl. You can’t just look into the bathroom when someone is showering. That’s creepy and wrong.

Still, you can’t seem to stop yourself from quietly approaching the bathroom door. Natasha takes crazy short showers since she claims that she knows where everything is, so why spend twenty minutes in there just staring at the wall? It’s very hot and steamy inside the bathroom, but you can clearly see the shower door open and Natasha steps out.

If you thought she looked good with clothes on, then she looks breathtaking naked. Besides the fact that she is wet, you can see the curve of her breasts with her nipples hard and puckered out. Her skin looks silky smooth, almost as if you could lick every inch and feel how smooth it is. Her ass is plump and round, and you imagine tapping her ass and watching it jiggle.

No, stop this! This is wrong! Look away!

But you can’t seem to look away. Not now. Natasha dries herself with the towel before grabbing her clothes. She is going to come out soon, so you force yourself to peel your eyes away and head back to the bed. You can’t seem to get the image out of your brain, even if you were to go to sleep now. You scramble to get under the covers, turning your back so that when she walks out, all she is going to see is your back.

You don’t hear anything for a few minutes, but then you feel her slide into bed. Thank God you have a King bed instead of a Queen. You won’t be able to feel her when she is on her side of the bed, and it provides you with extra space as if you were in a separate bed.

“Goodnight,” she drawls.

“Night,” you say quickly.

She turns off the light, sending the room into darkness. All you can what is your heart pounding, scared that she can hear it from her side of the bed. You can’t bear to turn over and face her, scared that she will say she caught you looking at her. Even if sleep wanted to come earlier, it can’t now. Every time you close your eyes, all you see is Natasha… naked. What the hell were you thinking peeking in on her while she was changing?

You’re so caught up in your own thoughts that you don’t hear or feel Natasha move until she is practically right behind you. She touches your waist and slowly slides it south, keeping her hand on your leg.

“What are you doing?” you whisper, not turning to face her.

“I know you like me.”

“What? No, I don’t,” you shake your head, denying the obvious.

“I left the door open on purpose.”

You turn around for this. She’s so close that you can see the color in her eyes and the freckles on her face.

“You did?”

“I know you were watching me.”

“I’m sorry, Nat--”

“Don’t be,” she whispers, cutting you off. “I like you too.”

She takes this moment to lean in, giving you time to think about this and to pull away if you wanted to. If you really wanted to, you could say no to this and she would let it go just like that. Or you could enjoy the moment and just be with her. You can worry about the details and the feelings tomorrow morning.

You opted for the latter.

She presses her lips to yours gently at first to test the waters before giving in harder. Her hand slides over your ass to grip at it, and you scoot closer just to feel her next to you. You can’t believe this is happening right now. You’ll get shit for it later from the rest of the team, but nothing else seems to matter.

It’s you and Natasha, and you may not go further than just kissing for a bit, but you know your relationship is about to take a hard right onto a one-way lane with no way back… and you’re okay with that.

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[buckleyblueyes]

For buddie: 23 & 56

Performer AU + Awful First Meeting. Yes, I did stretch the definition of "performer" and what about it?

Eddie "Diablo" Diaz is Major League Baseball's most infamous hothead. He's arrogant, he's obnoxious, and worst of all, after making baseball history by pitching three no hitters in a row, and leading the Texas Rangers to two consecutive world series titles, he might just be justified in thinking so highly of himself.

Of course, the people who know Eddie best, his family and his teammates, know better. The Eddie they know is a loving single father who is so insistent on not leaving his son alone that he hired a private tutor, Carla, to homeschool him, just so he can take Christopher with him when he has to travel for work without disrupting his education. The Eddie they know is funny and kind and would do anything to keep playing baseball.

Including pretending to be an asshole on national TV so the franchise can sell merchandise with "Diablo Diaz" and little devil horns on it--all the big players have personas, Eddie. If the Giants can sell stuffed pandas in little jerseys, we can sell the devil--and who is Eddie to say no when his contract is on the line? So, when the fans and camera are watching, Eddie becomes an entirely different person.

He'd hoped that getting traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers would be a fresh start for his public image, but unfortunately the team manager Athena has other ideas. She sought him out to intentionally stir up controversy (well, and because he's a great pitcher), and she's not about to pass up the opportunity to make money off the Diablo Diaz persona.

Luckily, his teammates all seem to understand that "Diablo" isn't really him. He makes fast friends with the Han brothers, Chimney and Albert (catcher and shortstop, respectively), and the team doctor Hen Wilson (if Eddie hadn't been drafted to the major league, sports medicine had been his backup), during Spring Training, and he feels more supported by Bobby Nash than he ever has by any of his previous coaches.

Opening Day at Dodger Stadium comes on a crisp April afternoon, and while Eddie is nervous to throw the first pitch, by the second inning he’s feeling a lot better. By the time Bobby pulls him out and puts in the relief pitcher, Ravi, he’s feeling pretty good. As he’s walking off the field between innings, though, his attention is caught by the mascot, a brown dog in a blue Dodgers uniform, who is waving him over. Eddie scoffs and shakes his head in an exaggerated fashion: Diablo Diaz doesn’t play with mascots. The mascot keeps trying, though, and so Eddie does something a little stupid and puts one leg out to purposefully trip the mascot. It’s a tried and true older brother move, one that Adrianna and Sophia hate. 

And it works. The mascot topples over into the dirt, and Eddie heads to the dugout. Chimney gives him an incredulous look and he just shrugs. He knows it was a little extreme, but he has a role to play here. 

A few weeks later, Chimney invites him out for drinks with Albert, Hen, Hen’s wife Karen, Chimney’s girlfriend, Maddie, and Maddie’s brother, Buck. Eddie accepts easily. Eddie has a great time. Well, almost. See, Karen and Maddie are great, but Buck? Buck won’t give Eddie the time of day. According to everyone else, he’s a human golden retriever, sunshine personified. But for some reason he just hates Eddie’s guts. 

It’s a damn shame, since the man is drop dead gorgeous.  

After a few similar outings and gatherings, Eddie finally snaps. “What’s your problem, man?” “Okay, you. You’re my problem.” “Why?! What did I ever do to you?” “Seriously? Maybe if I lie down face first on the clay, you’ll recognize me then!” Buck stalks off, and oh. Oh. Oh, fuck. 

Buck’s the mascot. Eddie flashes back to the look Chimney had given him on Opening Day and suddenly it all falls into place. Immediately he goes to find Chimney. “Why didn’t you tell me Buck was the mascot?!” “I thought you knew...” “No! You said he was an actor!” “Well, he is.” 

So, now Eddie knows why Buck hates him, but he’s not really sure what he can do about it besides try to show Buck that he’s not actually an asshole. But it’s hard to do that when so many of their interactions involve Buck in a ridiculous mascot costume and Eddie contractually obligated to be a dick. Eventually it comes to a head on the 4th of July. 

Eddie is ducking out of the team party early, and Buck just can’t help but make a snide remark. “Too good to hang out with the rest of us?” he sneers. Eddie grits his teeth. “Actually, I have to go home to my son.” Buck looks shocked. “You’ve got a kid?” 

“Christopher, he’s my world.” He shows Buck a picture on his phone. 

“He’s super adorable, I love kids.” Buck’s entire demeanor has softened now, to the point where Eddie thinks he might be receptive to an apology, so he sighs and puts his phone away.. 

“Look, I’m sorry about how I act during games, and about tripping you. But you have to know that it’s all a performance. A marketing scheme. It’s not really who I am.” 

“Oh.” Buck shakes his head. “I feel really dumb now.” 

“Don’t worry about,” Eddie smiles. “Let’s just start over. Friends?” 

Buck shakes his hand and returns his smile. “Friends.” 

Of course, the “friends” thing can only last so long because Buck is, as previously mentioned, gorgeous. But he’s also thoughtful and sweet and endearingly dorky now that he doesn’t think Eddie is a total dickhead, not to mention Christopher adores him. So, yeah, Eddie’s a goner. Lucky for him, it kinda seems like Buck might be just as gone. 

They’re together by post-season. Somehow, Albert won the bet.