#really wanna get some new material out of my system thank god i took notes in 101

[hotmess-exe]

aight enough bragging about how my first stand up set was about breast cancer, time to write new stuff and get back on stage

[felidaefighter]

Fears To Ease And Flesh To Mend

Ranboo and Tubbo find out that unzombifying a piglin is a bit different from unzombifying a villager, and they start off parenthood with quite a few complications and in a little over their heads. For the sake of their child, they may need to put awkwardness aside and ask for help.

[Sick fic, canon divergence, Phil and Techno meet Michael, lots and lots of piglin lore headcanons] ~20,000 words per chapter

Chapter Four of Four

     Michael runs from the window to tug on Ranboo’s pantleg, and speaks in an accent that’s half-breathy, half drawn-out drawl. “Meeturrr Oo-itch eetch heerrr!” He says, which Ranboo, dedicated parent, understands to mean “Mister Foolish is here”. Between learning english for the first time and being, well, a toddler, his speech was actually coming along pretty well. Techno had assured them that the thick accent would ease up over time since the new sounds (mainly the ones made in front teeth and lips that gave him trouble) could be learned better since he was so young. “Oooh is he? Thank you Michael!” Ranboo patted the toddler’s head and received a high-pitched squeal of delight in return.

    Ranboo does a quick once-over of his son. His ear infection cleared up fast and left surprisingly little hearing damage, to everyone’s relief, and scar tissue had quickly started forming over the entire right side of his face. It still needed to be covered, but even the worst of the infections on his face and ribs had cleared up by now. There wasn’t a single bit of green or any other sickly color on him, and his fur was clean and healthy. Turns out, having a rotating team of very dedicated specialists, and loving parents-- (himself and Tubbo having very awkwardly asked Phil and Techno to help out regularly, who obliged)-- meant a very fast recovery for the little piglin. He was looking the best Ranboo had ever seen him, and appeared to have quite a decent amount of energy. “You wanna come down with me and say hi?”

    Ranboo hoisted the very eager Michael into his arms and went carefully down the ladder, then opened the door to let Foolish in. “Hey Foolish, come on in!” He greeted. Foolish gratefully stepped into the warm house out of the snow, eyes immediately landing on the piglin in Ranboo’s arms. “Hey Ranboo! Oh, and who’s this?” Foolish asked to Michael, feigning forgetfulness. Michael snorted out a giggle; Foolish had stopped in to say hi quite a few times during the month or so Michael had been healing after Ranboo and Tubbo had figured out rather quickly that the playroom, however cute, was too cramped for a growing kid, and hired Foolish to build a bigger house.

    “I’m Mikuh!” Michael introduced himself proudly. “Michael! Of course! You look like you’re feeling a lot better today.” Ranboo smiled, and set Michael down, who proceeded to scramble all over everything. Luckily, the trapdoor to the basement was sealed off and chests weren’t high enough for him to fall off and hurt himself from. Ranboo sighed a very parental sigh as he monitored the toddler out of the corner of his eye while he and Foolish talked. “He is looking a lot better,” Foolish commented. “Seems like he’s a fast learner, too.”

    “He is so smart,” Ranboo agreed, attempting to not puff out his chest with pride of his son. “And we’re consulting with some of the villagers both here in Snowchester and around where I live to see what the best material for a prosthetic eye would be. We’ve already got a leatherworker working on a prosthetic ear too-- he had a prototype but apparently he didn’t like wearing it ‘cause it felt weird. That’s what Techno said he said, at least.” Foolish seemed a bit surprised at that. “Techno knows about Michael? And about… you and Tubbo?” Ranboo nodded, recalling that particular conversation.

---

    “Ah, Ranboo, just the person I was hoping to see. Come in, come in,” Techno said as Ranboo stood at the door. Ranboo obliged, and stepped into Techno’s house. It was cozily warm, and Steve was taking up the only corner of the house that had a draft. Techno looked like he’d been either tidying up or searching for something before Ranboo had knocked on the door, and he busied himself with continuing whichever it was while he spoke. “I had these ah-- I had these golden carrots I think Michael might enjoy-- here, you can have some.” Ranboo gratefully took the bag that Techno had been searching for and put it into his backpack, thanking Techno a few times. 

    “I also wanted to thank you for what you mentioned earlier too,” Ranboo said, “About to not let him near shiny things until he’s a little older. I’ll make sure he doesn’t look too closely at the carrots, too.” Ranboo let out a small chuckle and Techno nodded. “Of course, of course,” he said, but then he paused his movements awkwardly, turning to face Ranboo. Ranboo involuntarily took a sharp breath in. He knew exactly what this conversation was about to be. Hopefully-- hopefully-- the gift beforehand was an indicator that it wouldn’t crash and burn and go completely terrible, right? It didn’t seem like it would make very much sense to give a gift in that case. Still, Ranboo waited for the weight to drop.

    “Phil and I have been talkin’,” Techno started, “And we’ve come to a conclusion. Well, I think Phil had his opinions about it a bit differently than I did but-- we reached the same conclusion.” Ranboo let him continue. “Y’see, I believe that people can change. When I went into retirement, I had changed-- until I was hunted down but still. Tubbo, he might’ve been the unelected figurehead of a power-hungry nation--” Ranboo bit his tongue, knowing Techno had every right to feel that way-- “But Snowchester is just some village. He helps maintain it, but he’s not, like, some dictator or somethin’. So what I’m sayin’ is, I’m down to believe that Tubbo has changed.” 

    Ranboo let out the breath he’d apparently been holding the entire time Techno had been talking. “Thank you, Techno,” he said, and it surprised Ranboo when it came out a lot more ragged (yet relieved) than he’d been expecting it to. Techno, ever averse to appearing soft for too long, continued talking. “Besides, I did some digging into what you mentioned about Quackity and it all seems to be true. Apparently he also tried to frame Eret-- the king-- for a bombing? You may wanna watch out for that guy.” 

    “Oh. I did not know that,” Ranboo admitted, taking mental notes, and then, on second thought, taking physical notes in his memory book. More importantly... “But does that mean-- about Tubbo and I’s marriage--” Techno raised an eyebrow. “Well I’m assumin’ you eloped and didn’t just not invite me to the wedding, since that would be rude.” Ranboo let out a full laugh, relief finally allowing itself into him. “Yeah, yeah we kinda really just eloped. We didn’t have a ceremony or anything. Oh god, hopefully Phil doesn’t feel the same. You both definitely would be invited if we ever do have one,” He added. 

    Techno made a dismissive handwave. “Ehhh I think Phil’s biggest issue was that he’s an old man and was grumpy about you two making a shotgun wedding decision or somethin’ like that. Like he was just salty about not having more intel on the situation beforehand. He’s got the same feelings about Tubbo that I have for the most part, especially after I told him about Quackity kinda running things from the shadows or whatever.” Ranboo nodded, smiling. It was honestly pretty heartwarming to hear that as the reason behind Phil’s apprehension. Hopefully now that they were all living in relative peace, Tubbo and Techno could both start to move on.

---

    “Honestly it surprised me too,” Ranboo admitted to Foolish. “But Techno’s problem is with government and oppressive systems of power and Tubbo isn’t a part of either of those things, so.” He shrugged. Foolish nodded. “I see I see. That makes sense, though, yeah. Well, I’m glad he’s helping you with that sorta stuff then! It definitely seems like it’s doing good for Michael.” Ranboo grinned. “Yeah. What’re you here about, by the way? Payment for the next section of the mansion?” Foolish shuffled around sheepishly. “Well… sorta. I was hoping I could get the trident next? I kinda lost mine in an accident the other day.” Ranboo raised his eyebrows, knowing full well there was a whole big story behind that. They got to chatting as Michael enjoyed the running-around space of the downstairs room.

---

    “Nite Uh-oh. Nite Ranoo.” Michael said with a small yawn, snuggled into his bed and blankets. He was very fond of the color yellow-- they’d made a lucky guess with that one. Tubbo and Ranboo smiled fondly at him as they dimmed the lanterns in his room. “‘Night Michael!” They both answered, before heading down the ladder for the night, closing the trapdoor as quietly as they could. There was a small moment when they’d both reached the ground floor before they burst out into small, quiet giggles. “I like that he calls me ‘Uh-oh’,” Tubbo said with a bit of a wicked grin. Ranboo laughed. “Mhmm. I know it’s just because he has trouble with words that start with soft sounds, but it really fits you.” Tubbo nodded sagely. “It does, it does. It’s an accurate descriptor of my general status.” They giggled a tiny bit more.

    “Honestly,” Tubbo said, “I’m still shocked that Techno’s just. Okay with this whole thing. The whole marriage and kid thing with you I mean. He is right, I’m a different man now that I’m not president, but I woulda thought he’d be a bit more hesitant about it.” Ranboo thought about it for a moment. “Mmm. I think it’s a good thing, though. I mean, he’s changed too, y’know? Maybe this can be a fresh start for all of us.” Tubbo sighed at this, but it wasn’t his usual, world-weary sigh; it wasn’t the sigh that held the weight of a nation or war or problems with power. It was the sigh of a weight, however small, being lifted off of him. “That’d be nice, I think. I’d like that. And I’d like Michael to grow up in that world, too.”

    Ranboo couldn’t think of a better way to say it himself, so he hummed in agreement and leaned up against his husband affectionately. “I think… I think things might be okay,” he said, cautiously, optimistically, but gaining strength the more he said it. “I think that Michael will be okay. And I think that we’ll be okay. And I think that, if Techno and Phil and you are willing to set aside the past and focus on the future, the future might be something new.” A wave of nostalgia suddenly washed over Ranboo, and he was reminded of one of the very first conversations he’d had with the then-president that would become his husband.

    “Do you remember… do you remember the conversation we had when we talked about elections?” Ranboo asked, and when Tubbo chuckled Ranboo could feel it in his arm. “Oh god. That was ages ago. I do, though, I think I do.” Ranboo continued. “You said you didn’t need control, and that if I wound up elected, I should make things better.” Tubbo hummed thoughtfully, leaning in turn and bonking himself affectionately against Ranboo as he continued. “I think that maybe, that’s what this can be. We can’t change the things we’ve done in the past, but we have a chance to move past that and do something different.” The two husbands paused, just for a second, listening to the gentle snoring of their healthy son in the bedroom upstairs. “Yeah,” Tubbo agreed, sounding more hopeful than he had in a long time. “We can make it better.”

[heycallmeladytypewriter]

The Call of a Siren- Chapter Four

Chapter One / Two / Three

A/N: Here is the promised longer chapter! You'll notice I changed some minor things, something I will occasionally do as most writers. Once again, if anyone is interested in beta reading please DM me! Enjoy!

I don't own My Hero Academia. I only own my own characters and the story I create within Horikoshi's masterpiece of a world I'd love to live in.

The next day was more of a normal school day. Well, almost.

Present Mic was going on and on about proper grammar of the sentences he would write and adjust on the board for fifteen minutes before Delia zoned out. She didn’t get much sleep as yesterday’ s fitness tests scores bothered her still. She was second to last which only reminded her of her lack of experience using her quirk. Once again, she felt frustrated being raised in an ‘anti-quirk’ home. Everyone else except Midoriya and herself had years of training and time to figure out their abilities but at the very least Midoriya had All Might. She had no one.

“Oi brat! Stop doing that!” Angry boy hissed in her ear. She jolted in her seat before realizing she was rapidly clicking her pen - a habit of hers when deep in thought. Delia lifted her pen slightly so he could see it and clicked it a few more times aggressively before putting it down on her desk.

Then he kicked her chair leg a bit when Present Mic turned around to write more sentences on the board. Bastard.  Just another happy reminder that she sat in front of Bakugo which was already proving to be the pain in the ass she figured it would be when assigned. She curled her hands around the edge of the desk to prevent from turning in her seat to kick him in the shins.

She was practically bouncing to get out of her seat for hero training just to get a break from sitting in the same room for the past few hours. That was one thing she probably wouldn't come to love- staying in the same classroom for multiple classes rather than back home she would change classrooms with each subject - something she liked due to stretching her legs, changing seats, different people, and getting away from the asshole who kicks her chair when she annoys him.

“ I AM HERE!” All Might rushed in with his booming voice, “COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A HERO!”

Everyone immediately sat up in their seats in excitement that the number one hero was...well coming through the door like a hero! The class practically jumped out of their seats they were so excited.

“I can't believe it's really All Might.”

“So he really is a teacher! This year is gonna be totally awesome!”

All Might marched right over to the podium as the class took in his choice to wear his Silver Age costume which was pretty cool. He announced that he will be teaching ‘Hero-ing 101’ and that today he was starting off with battle training.

“Fight training!” Bakugo growled out excitedly while Midoriya countered with a nervous “Real combat?”

“But one of the keys of being a hero is looking good!” He swept his giant arm towards the wall expanding with numbered briefcases. “These were designed for you specifically based on your Quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started. So everyone grab your assigned cases by your number and get to the locker rooms! Meet me at Training Ground Beta!”

The girls around her were chatting away while opening their cases but Delia sat with it in her lap for a few moments.

“Wow, you guys look great.” Delia said to the girls. Momo Yaoyorozu was dressed in a simple red leotard with a chunky yellow utility belt and short red boots. Mina Ashido gave her a twirl in her new costume of a cute camo-like body suit of teal and purple with a short cropped fuzzy jacket. It was random out of context but given what little she had seen of the bubbly girl - it weirdly worked. Kyoka Jiro rocked ripped jeans, a long coral shirt, black jacket with a popped collar, and what looked like giant chunky boots with a speaker in them. Tsuyu Asui was a ‘frog’ personified in a black and green suit with webbed feet and giant goggles on her head. Lastly, Ochaco Uraraka looked like an adorable astronaut in her pink and black suit with her cute oversized boots and wrist accents. Yaoyorozu smiled at her compliment, “Thank you. Why aren’t you getting dressed?”

“Are you nervous, Bell?” Asui asked her, looking concerned.

Delia pulled on her neck, “A bit, yeah. But I’ll be fine.” Ashido let out a small squeal and nudged her, “Well then put on your costume! We wanna see you looking great with us!”  

Delia bit her lip before clicking open the clasps to reveal her new costume she spent months trying to create. Blowing air out her cheeks, she stood up and placed it on the bench to start dressing. “Here goes nothing.”

“They say that clothes make the pros young ladies and gentlemen, and behold, you are the proof!” All Might stood a few feet ahead of them as they entered Training Ground Beta. “Take this to heart. From now on you are all...heroes in training!”

Everyone was checking out one another's costumes as they walked. The guys looked great except Mineta’s looked like he was in a diaper so that was an odd choice. When she saw Midoriya run out she almost facepalmed. Way to be obvious dude. The simplistic green and red design was fine but the hood part of it resembled too much of his all time favorite person. Her eyes kept scanning until it landed on the person practically foaming at the mouth to start.

If she had to be honest with herself, she would say he had one of the best costumes but she wouldn’t tell him that. He wore a tight tank top with a large orange ‘X’ in front, a belt with what looked like grenades on the side, some hardcore knee pads, then down to some heavy duty boots. The giant grenade gauntlets hooked on each arm looked heavy so she hoped he could take them off in a tight spot. She let out a small snort... Of course the boy with anger management problems would resemble a human grenade.

Biting her lip, she looked down at herself wondering if her costume matched her the same way. She pulled her hair up in a high ponytail mostly for practical purposes. She wore a high collar but sleeveless open shirt that was hooked to her by a small silver belt under her chest. She was wearing a silver strapless swim top underneath as well as black small swim shorts that could be seen as well because her thick skirt was cut into three large panels- two on each hip covering her sides and partly her backside and then one straight down the middle with a medium silver utility belt fastening it to her person. One of her favorite pieces was her, as she liked to call them, her ‘ass kicking boots’ that went to midthigh and had thick non-slip soles and a slight wedge heel. Plus, they were pretty with their silver intricate designs.  She also had silver gauntlets on her arms. The coolest feature was her water storage system. In the event, she was without any water near her to use her quirk she had compartments built into her suit. Every silver accent and design on her clothes like her boots, shorts, belts, and gauntlets were made of some ridiculously strong but flexible material that was hollowed and filled with water that she could pull from or store for emergencies. It wasn’t a massive amount but was enough for a quick emergency whip or two. Plus, everything was in a shade of dark azure blue. She felt like a water warrior.

Momo Yaoyorozu came over to her and knocked her with her hip, smiling. “Told you. You look great and it seems some others are taking notice.” She subtly nodded off the side where Angry Boy was standing diligently. Delia frowned because she had no idea what she was talking about but before she could open her mouth to say that she heard weird breathing down behind them.

“God, I love this school.” They turned to see Mineta standing way too close and way too happy.

“Okay, that’s just wonderful. Go love the school from over there, please.” Delia pointed to the group of others gathered a couple feet away. Yaoyorozu even went as far to actually ‘shoo’ him with hand gestures like he was a bug. That had Delia cracking up which prompted Momo to start giggling with her as he trudged over to the other group when All Might cleared his throat to signify class was starting. The class promptly lined up to face the number one hero.

“Now that you're ready, it's time for combat training!”

______________________________________________________

As they got settled in the monitoring room, she introduced herself to her partner for the exercise today. She spotted him a few feet from her in a martial arts costume and noted that he was the kid with the really big tail. Delia walked right up to him and stuck her hand out, “Hi, I’m Delia Bell. Looks like you’re stuck with me today for the ‘mission.’” She used air quotes for that last word jokingly.

“Oh hey! I’m Mashirao Ojiro. Happy to be stuck with you.” He joked back. “So I think we should watch this first run and get some idea of our strategy, sound good?”

“Agreed.” With that, they turned to the screen as the first mission started. Unfortunately, her excitement abated because she had a really bad feeling considering who was involved in this group as Midoriya and Uraraka walked through the building.

After a few turned corners, it started...then never really stopped. The class was on the edge of their seats after Midoriya laid Bakugo out flat on the floor and declared his hero name, “Deku.” Despite the escalating situation, Delia smiled proudly as Midoriya basically gave Bakugo the finger as he took back the name that was used to hurt him and stood his ground. Unfortunately, this only encouraged Bakugo to continue with full force. Midoriya then used his impatience to trick him again with the capture tape they were given before the match and ducked under another explosive punch before running down the corridor.

“The little guy’s really good!” The boy in a yellow bodysuit standing beside Jiro commented.

“He’s holding his own and he hasn’t even used his quirk yet!” The boy dressed in what looked like a tape dispenser helmet (?) said impressed.

We watched as Midoriya ran from Bakugo until he was completely lost to him. Bakugo began to yell furiously, “DAMMIT! You were tricking me for years by acting weak! Bet you’ve been laughing behind my back, huh?” If this idiot only knew…

“Come out and face me you coward!” Bakugo was blowing up doors left and right but walking with such arrogance, Delia was surprised his giant sized ego could fit through the door.

Meanwhile, Uraraka finally reached Iida who again proved his intelligence by hiding everything in the room that she could possibly float and use against him. She snickered when she heard Iida’s ‘evil voice’ while calling Uraraka a ‘do-gooder,’ What a dork.

“That isn’t a bad idea really.”

“What is? Hiding everything?”

“Yeah. Something to take a mental note of and I also think maybe we should try sticking together and allowing the ‘do-gooders,’ ”Delia again snickered at his impression of villain Iida, “to come to us on our home turf.”

She nodded, “Sounds like a plan to me.”

They both turned back to the screens to see Midoriya had found Bakugo who was now smiling which probably was a bad sign. “ Since you’re such a stalker, by now you probably know how my Quirk, Explosion, works. I secrete a nitroglycerin-like sweat from my hands and make it blow up. Imagine what I could do if I had a lot of it. “ He stood back into a lunge with his arm extended to the boy across from him. Oh, no . “That's right, these gauntlets aren't just for show. I’ve been storing my sweat for one monster blast.” Okay, One: Ew. Two: Mega Oh, no.

“Young Bakugo! Don’t do it! You’ll kill him!” All Might yelled into his microphone that she assumed was connected to their ear pieces.

“ He’ll be fine as long as he dodges !” Bakugo yelled right back and pulled the pin.

Delia’s hand went out to Ojiro's arm next to her as if to brace herself from what she just witnessed. He didn’t push her off as he too stared in horror at the screen.

“Whoa, whoa! This is fucking nuts!” Kirishima called out as the whole building they were in shook from the blast.

“Come in! Come in, Midoriya!” All Might was all but pressed against the screen as the dust cleared and we saw a giant hole where the walls and windows once were in the room. The class collectively sighed in relief when we heard a weak, “Is that even allowed?”

Then this goddamn psycho came out of the smoke and laughed. Laughed!

“Go ahead. Use your stupid Quirk on me, Deku.” He crouched low and smiled that disturbing smile again. He almost looked unhinged. “Even if you use everything you’ve got, you’ll never beat me.”

“Sir, isn’t this getting outta hand? That Bakugo is getting real crazy. He’s gonna kill ‘im!” Kirishima voiced Delia’s exact thoughts. The class all nodded in agreement and looked at their teacher expecting him to follow suit and shut this down.

“Not so.” Sorry, what? “Bakugo. Use that stored-up power again and I’ll stop this fight. You’re team will lose.”

“ Huh? ”

“To employ such a strong attack indoors is inviting the destruction of the stronghold you should be protecting. That’s a poor strategy, whether you’re a hero or a villain. The penalty would be a massive loss of points.”

That resulted in an angry yell before he rushed Midoriya who was talking to his partner. It seemed he had a plan though she couldn’t even see how at this point especially how her floating herself to the weapon earlier didn’t work against Iida’s speed. Midoriya threw a punch but Bakugo, in an amazing amount of speed and skill, flipped mid-air using a small blast and counter attacked from behind to hit Midoriya right in the back with a strong explosion.

“He doesn’t come off as a guy with strategy. But he’s actually quite intelligent.”

Ashido, Kirishima, and Delia took their eyes off the battle for a moment to look at the boy half covered in ice. “What’re you talkin’ about?”

“He changed his trajectory while in midair and using a blast that doubled as a smokescreen. Very clever.”

Yaoyorozu chimed in with noting his ability to understand the physics of the situation and his Quirk. Denki Kaminari, whose name she remembered only due to that Mr. Aizawa had already used it so much in a day and a half because he was a high school five year old, moaned, “Ugh, Bakugo is uber talented. I hate it.” Delia pressed her lips together because while she agreed with her classmates on Angry Boy, she was still horrified by his behavior as he continued to beat the hell out of Midoriya. This oh, so intelligent and talented boy is basically throwing a tantrum and he had the nerve to call her ‘brat.’

“This is hard to watch! All he has to do is wrap tape around him, not kill him.” Ashido cried out.

“Bakugo is certainly acting like a villain.” Tokoyami responded.

“I thought Midoriya was pretty amazing at the start of the fight, but he’s completely outmatched in terms of combat power. Not to mention, Bakugo seems like a natural at all this stuff.”

“Give him a chance.” Delia said sharply. Kaminari looked at her surprised as her tone was with more bite than she intended. “Sorry. But give him a chance.”

Delia turned back to the screen once again and saw the boys facing off again but near a different set of windows. They exchanged words then lunged at one another but this time it was different. Midoriya was finally using his Quirk and Bakugo’s hands started sparking up as well.

Delia gripped her arms harder, “All Might…”

“They’re gonna kill each other! Sir!”

The Pro hero said nothing but gripped his tiny microphone hard enough it should've been in splinters before speaking into it, “Both of you-”

“Uraraka, now!” The class looked up at the video feed of the others and the brunette grabbed hold of a pillar. All of a sudden, Midoriya punch for Bakugo went upwards creating a giant amount of force to break the ceiling above as he took on Bakugo’s explosion head on. “SMASH!”

His punch created massive amounts of debris for Uraraka to use and she used the pillar she held onto as a bat and swung the floor pieces at Iida. As he was distracted in fending off the debris, she floated herself over to the weapon thus winning the mission.

The class was entirely silent as All Might declared the hero team the winners. Was this really a win?

After a few moments, she heard Ojiro say, “Okay...we aren’t going to do that.”

_________________________________________________

“Match two! Team B will be our heroes! Team I will be the villains!”

As Ojiro stretched, Delia pulled out some water from her belt to form a whip. “Hey, I’m going to hide behind one of the pillars near the door so I can surprise them.”

He nodded, “Good idea.”

The buzzer went off.

As they braced themselves for the heroes, it turns out Shoto Todoroki had different ideas. All of a sudden, the whole room was covered in freezing ice. Her boots were stuck in ice and as she peeked around the corner of the pillar so was Ojiro's. Damn. I didn’t think he had power like this!

“This Quirk is insane.”

She may be stuck but she still had her whip which she kept moving to prevent from freezing. They both stilled when they heard footsteps.

“Pry yourself up if you want, but it might be hard to fight me with no skin on the bottom of your feet.”

“Good thing I wore boots then!” Delia kicked herself free and lashed her whip around Todoroki’s right arm which wasn’t covered in ice. His eyes widened slightly before freezing her whip around his arm but she had another one at the ready that grabbed his arm again and tugged as if to throw him back but he had stuck himself to the floor with his left side. Before she could react, he covered her body from the chest down in ice preventing Delia from doing anything more.

“The hero team winnnnnns!” All Might announced over the loudspeaker.

“Fucking dammit!” She muttered as she tried to break free of the ice. But she didn’t need to as Todoroki suddenly emitted enough heat to defrost the whole building, Ojiro gasped, “Heat, too?”

Delia scrunched her face as everything was now wet which would’ve been great if the fight was still going. “It’s not your fault. We’re just playing on different levels.” Well, damn. Thanks so much. He said it so mildly and without emotion as if it was as simple of a fact that two plus two equals four. For some reason, she couldn’t find her anger at it because he was right. Delia felt deflated as he walked right back out the door he came in. Ojiro shrugged at her, “It’s the second day. We’ll get it next time.” She attempted a small smile at his effort to not seem upset on how quickly that ended. She gathered some of the water on the floor and refilled her tanks before walking out with her partner.

They settled back in the screening room as each battle went on. Delia took the time to see everyone’s Quirk and was impressed by how power heavy the class seemed. Acid, shadow, hardening, tape, energy beams, and it went on which was great to watch but definitely put even more attention on how short her and Ojiro’s battle went. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bakugo far from the group with his gaze on the floor and teeth gritted. He was not taking this well. Maybe I wasn’t far off in the unhinged part from earlier...  

Delia was half tempted to see if he was alright, which she obviously could tell he wasn’t, but pulled herself back as she did not like how he was in his battle in the slightest. The urge never went away as her classmates continued the missions and she kept one eye on the screen and the other on the boy looking on the verge of a crisis in the corner.

Finally, everyone had battled and class was dismissed with a quick congrats speech in from their teacher then an even quicker exit as he zoomed right out. Delia figured it was because he was losing his stamina at holding his form.

_____________________________________________________

Back in the classroom, Delia was putting her books in her bag when she heard the door open.

It was Midoriya who looked much better than when she saw him last. A bunch of the class ran to meet and introduce themselves to him which was a nice change of pace for him, she assumed. She doubted he was very popular in his last school considering how he and Bakugo came from the same school.

“Tokoyami! Stop using that desk as a chair!” Iida walked determinedly to the boy sitting on his desk while he talked to her former mission partner and Jiro. Jiro put her hand on her hip and said, “Dude, you need to chill.”

Ojiro pointed at him, “You’re carrying a lot of tension.”

Iida slumped forward in defeat as she walked over to the small group, “No one understands.” Delia swung herself on the desk next to Iida which caused them to laugh as she put her hand on his shoulder with comfort and some slight mocking, “It’s okay, Iida. Someday they’ll learn proper manners and respect.”

He sighed and nodded before turning to her, “Yes, well uh - Oh, c'mon!”

Delia giggled and swung her legs like a child, “I said they would. I didn’t say I would too.” She giggled again when the blue haired boy pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation before walking away.

“Hey, Bell.” She looked up from laughing at Jiro. “Yeah?”

“Is that a My Chemical Romance button on your bag?” Delia looked over to her desk with her various buttons and stickers on the side of her bag.

“Yes, it is. You a fan?”

“Major.”

“I listen to them occasionally as well.” Tokoyami threw in. Jiro grinned, “Nice to know some of us have some taste.” Ojiro scratched the back of his head, “Well, I guess I have none.”

“It’s alright. We’ll just have to educate you!” Jiro elbowed him gently. Delia looked at her watch then hopped off the desk, “Oops. I have to catch my train!”

When she ran outside, her eyebrows raised as she saw that Midoriya and All Might were staring off into the distance. Delia waved at them, “Feel better, Midoriya. Have a nice night, Sir!”

Running down the hill, she flew up to Bakugo and found her feet slowing a bit. They looked at each other for a moment and Delia opened her mouth to say something before she thought better of it and continued down the hill to catch her train home.

[gkingoffez]

Written for @bizarrebird, for @redvsbluesecretsanta 2018, who requested Tucker fluff on Iris, with a side of Tuckington. 

Have a Merry Christmas and/or happy holiday season everyone, and thanks for reading my work this year!

Words: 2,497

AO3 | FFN.Net 

Only after the Chorus contingent has flown away and the initial hubbub of excited exploring has died down a bit, can Tucker finally slip away for a moment of motherfucking peace.

He climbed to the roof of the brand new Blue base and took a 360 survey of the landscape surrounding their new home.

It was fucking beautiful, so far removed from the grimey Armonia cityscape, the hellish heat of temple or even Blood Gulch’s lifeless desert canyon. Mountains rose up in the distance, blue peaks with rocky cliffs and greenish yellow grass spread out before them. Several armoured figures were darting about near the shore of the giant blue lake in the centre of it all, including a bird-chasing Caboose and Donut, and a pair of helmetless ex- Freelancers.

Wash’s ass looked particularly muscular from a distance.

Overall, it was different to any moon Tucker had even been to, more like the pictures of New Zealand from before global warming had fucked up nature’s shit than the dusty, unoccupied parts of Earth’s moon, or even the teeming jungle moon Endor from Star Wars.

It was pretty and picturesque and nice and just... good.

They deserved a break, and a beautiful place to relax in, and hopefully not fuck up too much (Sarge had already been talking about setting up perimeter mines and homing rockets, which could only end badly).

They needed some time away from the rest of the galaxy, without traumatising separation, civil wars, asshole mercenaries and all that general soldier bullshit getting in the way of what they did best- standing around and talking.

This was what they’d been promised when they boarded that ship back to Blood Gulch oh so long ago, and damnit was Tucker gonna take every advantage he could while it lasted.

The dusk arrived, and then gave way to evening as Tucker sat there. Caboose had fallen into the lake, shed his armour and rolled around in the grass in the interim, while Wash and Carolina had long since retreated inside.

Tucker sat and looked up to the sky and the stars. They were different from the ones over Chorus or Earth or Blood Gulch or anywhere else, which was another good thing. New stars, new chances, new beginnings for all.

He has a moment of utter peace before he falls asleep.

-

“The stars are different, aren’t they?”

There was a beat of silence in the cool evening air.

“...Are you being serious right now?” asked Wash. “Tucker, you do realise we’re in an entirely different star system now, right?”

Tucker scoffed indignantly. “I’m not an idiot, dude, I was just pointing out that- you know what, nevermind.”

Wash rustled on the grass beside him, obviously thinking. There was a pause

“No, I get what you mean. It always takes a while for your brain to adjust to new patterns and environments, of course the sky looks different to your eyes. I guess humans aren’t really evolved to adapt to new skies, but if we’d stayed with what was familiar and comfortable, we’d never have left Earth, I guess.”

“...no need start philosophising dude. The stars are different, it ain’t that deep.”

Wash huffed in amusement, and Tucker glanced at him. His silver streaked hair glinted in the planet-light.

“On a somewhat related note, what’s your favourite night sky?” asked Wash, still staring straight upwards.

Tucker raised his eyebrow in confusion.

“Favourite planet to view the sky from, I mean. Like, Earth is a classic, there’s so many well-known constellations.”

“Dunno,” grunted Tucker. “But Earth would be the boring choice, besides, you can barely see anything through the pollution.”

Wash inhaled deeply, his chest rising and falling.

“I did basic in Leonis-Minoris. It’s a binary system, you know, so it wasn’t dark planet-side too often. But when both stars set, boy did it get dark. Camp was out in the middle of nowhere away from the light pollution of the colonies, so you really could see everything, even the dust from the Milky Way. Any shooting star you saw was guaranteed to be a ship entering the atmosphere, though, so that took a little bit of the magic away.”

“Sick,” added Tucker.

“What about Blood Gulch?” asked Wash, twisting until he was on his side facing Tucker. “You were there, what, five years? You must have spent a lot of time looking up with nothing else to do.”

Tucker couldn’t help it- he burst into laughter. “Are you being serious, dude? The sun barely ever set there, and when it did it wasn’t some huge event. Yeah, maybe there was a heap of stars because we were in the middle of goddamn nowhere, but none of us gave a shit either way; it was all about dealing with the stupidity and trying not to die of boredom on a daily basis.”

Wash chuckled. “I forgot about that, although to be fair I only really skimmed that report before I visited. Did I ever tell you about Sarge’s cardboard cutouts?”

“God, that’s not even the worst thing Sarge did. One time his robot started a revolution with our tank at the most inconvenient fucking time possible.”

“Sounds familiar. Have you seen him gathering materials for his new army lately?”

Tucker groaned. “Not this again.”

Wash chuckled, then laid his hand over Tucker’s. They turned and grinned at each other, Wash’s smile turning from amused to a familiar softness.

“Who knows- maybe your newfound appreciation for simple things like stars means that you’ve grown a bit since Blood Gulch.”

Tucker looked into Wash’s shadowed eyes.

“Maybe, yeah,” he sighed.

“Yeah,” smiled Wash.

“Yeah,” interjected Caboose dreamily.

“Caboose, I thought I told you to stay quiet!” snapped Tucker, jerking in the other direction. He had almost forgotten that his dumbass teammate was there, lying on his other side.

“I know, but you were all agreeing to something and I wanted to agree too!”

“Fucking hell, man,” said Tucker, shaking his head. He wove his fingers more tightly in Wash’s, settled onto his back again and looked back to the stars. The night was clear and revealed thousands upon thousands of tiny bright dots.

“Hey Tucker, which one of them is Chorus?” Caboose asked, pointing upwards.

Tucker groaned. Wash sniggered.

-

“You’ve been out there like five times already. What the fuck do you even do up there so late?” asked Grif, as he shovelled food into his mouth at the breakfast table like a starving man. “Are you taking those magazines and beating off all night?”

“That’s gross, Grif,” yelled Carolina from across the table.

“No, asshole. I’m just taking some time to myself. Just lying there, looking up at the sky, thinking about stuff, taking in the view, ya’know.”

Grif paused with a burrito halfway to his mouth. “Sounds like some girly shit, dude.”

“Stop talking, Grif,” came Carolina’s voice.

Tucker shrugged, taking a swig of his coffee. “It gets me away from you fuckwits, so it must be worth it.”

-

They chose a spot near the lake to meet after dinner, all sitting in a circle in various stages of armour wear, from Caboose’s pyjamas to Carolina’s full suit (minus only helmet) and weapon lineup.

Tucker cleared his throat.

“Here ye, here ye! I call this band meeting to order. Judge Tucker, sex-god and your humble leader, presiding.”

He banged a rock down on the ground like a gavel.

“You’re not the leader, Tucker,” said Grif, flat-toned. He rustled with the packet of M&Ms in his hand.

“Yeah, if anyone’s the leader, that would have to be the lead singer,” sung Carolina, drawing out the last word torturously long.

Tucker fought back the urge to grimace, and exchanged knowing a look with Grif. If only they had the balls to tell Carolina she wasn’t that good of a singer. If only.

“Anyway,” said Carolina, “We don’t have to decide that now, we’ll have plenty of time to iron out the details later. Firstly, and maybe most importantly, we need to come up with a name.”

“The Red Beatles,” said Grif.

“Fuck no, Twenty-One Blues,” shot back Tucker.

“Caboose and His Best Friends!” interjected Caboose excitedly, waving his arms.

“Also something we don’t have to decide right now,” conceded Carolina. “So we have all our instruments and know all our roles... so, uh, anything else we need to talk about?”

“Yeah, I have a question. Why the fuck are we out here again?” Grif huffed, gesturing around. “There’s a perfectly good room with a perfectly good couch in the base and instead I gotta pull pebbles out my ass because Tucker has a hard on for nature suddenly?”

“Dude!” cried Tucker. “Artists draw inspiration from nature all the time. Just look at this shit.” He gestured upwards, all three of his friends followed his hand. “You could write a thousand love songs looking at this.”

The sky that night was on the more breathtaking end of Iris’ spectrum- They had no need for any light source other than it, the light reflecting from the planet and the ocean of stars enveloping it enough to make the whole moon surface glow.

“You still haven’t told me which one is Chorus yet, Tucker,” Caboose said quietly.

“Boo hoo, nature’s pretty, the sky’s so sexy I wanna die, waaaaah,” cried Grif pettily. “That’s what you sound like, Tucker.”

“Fuck off, red.”

Carolina shook her head. “I mean, yeah’s it’s beautiful, Tucker, but we need to get back to band business now. Now, hear me out boys, and don’t say anything until I’m finished- one word, tassles-”

Tucker had never suffered so much in his life as he did trying to swallow back a groan in that moment. He looked up.

-

“Do you miss Church?” Sarge asked gruffly, out of nowhere, not looking up from cleaning his gun.

Tucker shuffled, surprised and pensive. It was just the two of them, leaning up against their ramshackle base on the cusp of sunrise. A pale sky and dim stars stretched above them- either of them had spoken a word, both still shaking off sleep and a chill in the air.

Tucker swirled his coffee between his  bare fingers.

“I don’t know. Probably. Wasn’t the first time he left, you know? I’m used to it.”

Sarge grunted in acknowledgment and brought the barrel of his shot to eye level, peering down to check for blockages.

“He saved us all, in the end. This is probably the nicest thing I’ll ever say about one of you Blues, but I’m gonna miss him.”

Tucker swallowed. There was a tightness behind his eyes.

“Yeah,” was all he said in reply.

-

“Tucker...”

Tucker started from his doze at the sound.

“Tucker... ooooHHhhhh.”

He looked around, peering blearily through the darkness, the familiar landscape forming around him- outside on the rocky cliffside, he’d fallen asleep under the stars again. Not too unusual for him lately.

Something poked at his side, and he reached under the thin camp mattress he’d commandeered for stargazing, and pulled out a sharp rock, which was promptly thrown away.

“Tucker I am a ghoooost! Ooohhhhhh I am... scaryyyyyyy.”

Tucker sighed very audibly, rubbing at his eyes.

“Caboose, get your fucking ass back in this dimensional plane right now,” he yelled into the night. “If I can hear you now that means you must have found a way back- so just come through before you’re lost in the abyss for all eternity, or some shit.”

There was a pause, then-

“Oooooooh. Scary ghost! Scarrryyyyyyyy!”

Tucker was tired. He just wanted to go back to sleep.

“Come on dude. Wash is getting worried about you. Just come back.”

Another silent beat.

“...okay. Sorry.”

“Good. And you’re not a ghost, okay? Don’t say that.”

With a grunt, Tucker rolled over. He shot a glance at the starry sky above him, smeared with wisps of clouds, before settling back in to sleep.

He swore he heard footsteps walking down the rocky path to the base as he drifted off.

-

It was muggy beyond all belief.

Instead of tossing all night, sweating through the sheets and disturbing Wash, Tucker opted for a the second option. He carefully jumped up, pulled some boxers on, grabbed his camp mattress and set up shop a little ways outside their jumbled-together base.

He lay with his arms folded under his head in the somewhat fresh night air, gazing straight up at the now familiar stars.

Tucker would never admit it to anyone around him, but he was enjoying his stargazing habit far more than he’d expected. If you’d told him a year ago he’d spent so many nights outside pondering stars, Tucker would have laughed his ass off.

But between the fire, the dinosaurs, the water park,  the robots, the second fire, the dinosaur-robot war and having no one else to talk to but all his idiot friends, the peace of Iris at night and the twinkling of burning stars a thousand star systems away was a respite among chaos. It was kinda like his rock back in Blood Gulch, in that sense.

It wasn’t every night (he wasn’t nearly that sentimental, god), just every once in a while. He’d sneak off, maybe take Wash or anyone else who felt like it with him (which didn’t happen often, not that he minded) and chill out away from the crazy everyday shit that went down when multi-coloured idiots all lived together on a moon in the middle of nowhere space.

Truth be told, he’d never been a fan of stars before- maybe there’d been more interest in the universe before it all became so commonplace (and dangerous), but cultural attitudes had changed. He hadn’t joined the military to travel, mostly just to pick up hot military chicks and maybe fire a gun.

It was entirely possible he still wasn’t a fan of stars, and was just trying to vainly recreate that initial moment of peace from the first night on Iris. Maybe he was a sappy bitch at heart. Who fucking knew?

All he knew was that when he lay down and looked up at night, things were kinda okay. Nothing was on fire, people weren’t dying and his friends were all safe and asleep just down the hill.

It wouldn’t stay that way forever, and the system’s sunwould rise in a few hours, bringing new daily terrors. Grif could very well spike someone else’s food with his Meth-Meth, Carolina could take another opportunity to ‘practice’ her ‘singing’ and Sarge was extremely likely to be continuing his impossible war against gravity as soon as he humanly could.

Anything was possible. They could be dragged into another galaxy-hopping adventure any day now, or Donut could succeed in burning the entire moon down, them along with it.

The future was up in the air, but at that moment, Tucker felt peace as he stared up at the twinkling stars, the warm air a comforting blanket to lull him back to sleep.

[porkchop-ao3]

Hii prokchop, I have been thinking about requesting this for a while (Ur rick is my absolute fav) Rick and his girl have an argument, he is not in the right and he's all angry with everyone and everything. And then he goes to pick up reader at university and shes with her friends or something and they make up nsfw? Idk just want to see Rick as boyfriend material-grandpa trying to understand his younger gf

Why is it whenever I tell myself ‘okay THIS one will be a short one’ I end up writing 6k words?? Sigh. I think I’m incapable of keeping things brief…

Anyway, thank you for this anon! As someone who’s at uni, I could really emerse myself in this request, I hope you like it!

Contains throat fucking and sex with the parents in the house, how exciting!

Enjoy x

-

“… No. No, nononono…” I whispered, frantically searching my laptop, scanning through every folder.

“Hmm?” Rick questioned disinterestedly, sketching away at some blueprints beside me.

“No way. I haven’t just… did I really just do that?” I murmured, clutching the sides of my head, my heart rate rising along with the speed of my breaths. Panic clawed at every part of me, my blood running cold.

“What?” He turned to look at me, spinning in his office chair.

“My poster… the poster I’ve been working on all week.”

“W-what about it, did you finish it?” He asked, leaning over to stare at the blank screen of my laptop.

“Yes.” I said, then looked up at him with tears springing into my eyes. “Then I deleted it.” Rick looked at me gone-out, and I sobbed, covering my face with both hands.

“Wait, what- are you sure? Why would you-”

“I deleted the wrong fucking file!” I shouted, and smacked my palms into my face in anger, wanting to punish myself, to hit myself over and over for being so damn stupid.

“Didn’t you have back ups?” He asked, and I shook my head, wailing out in despair.

“I don’t fucking need this! I don’t fucking need it, oh God, what the fuck am I- I’m such a fucking cunt.” I yelled, smacking myself again, this time Rick grabbed my arms, pulling them away from my face. I cried freely, not caring about the state I was in as I looked at him. “This week’s been so shit as it is! This can’t be happening…”

“Relax, baby, I’m sure it’s- y-y-you can get it back from the recycling bin thing, right? I don't… I don’t use computers like this, all of mine have custom operating systems, l-let me look.” He said, turning my laptop to face him. I knew he wouldn’t find it, I’d searched everywhere.

“Nooo. No. Oh fuck. This project is due tomorrow. It’s the main piece to the whole fucking thing, I don’t have time to make it again!” I cried, wiping the snot and tears from my face, feeling everything crash and burn around me. The past couple of weeks had been littered with tiny little things, little problems that had been building up and up, and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back, it was all I needed to have a full blown melt-down.

“This is precisely why I don’t like the education system; everything is based around deadlines, it has nothing to do with what you can actually-”

“I don’t care why you don’t like the education system!” I yelled. “I’m fucked, Rick! Absolutely fucking fucked!” Rick frowned at me, clearly pissed off by my outburst.

“Fuck you, then.” He said, pushing my laptop away and turning back to his blueprints. Something snapped in me, I dug my fingernails into my palms, feeling the anger bubble inside me, stewing and only getting worse the longer I stayed still. I slammed my laptop screen down and stuffed it inside my bag, kicking my chair out of the way as I stormed towards the garage door. “Go on, run away and sulk like a little girl.” Rick said, not even turning to look at me.

“Excuse me?” I asked, turning on my heel to stare daggers at the back of his head.

“I’m just saying; I could help you get it back, but… l-looks like you’d prefer to throw a tantrum, have a cry and feel sorry for yourself.”

“You could help me?” I squeaked, and Rick shrugged.

“Depends, are you gonna stop acting like your shoe size? Y-you know, some people have real problems. Like paying for a mortgage, putting food on the table.”

“What the fuck, Rick? What is this? Don’t make light of my issues, you have no idea what’s going on in my head.”

“What, nobody liked your profile picture?” He said, and I ignored his patronisation.

“I’ve been thinking of dropping out.” I admitted, looking down at the floor. Rick turned around to look at me at this, a look of surprise on his face.

“Really?” He asked, and I nodded. “Thank God.” He snorted. I frowned at him.

“Is that it? You’re not going to ask me why, or offer some support?”

“Why would I try to stop you? Y-you know I hate University. It’s just a place where rich, stuck up idiots go to pay other rich, stuck up idiots for a piece of paper that says they’re smart. But if they were really smart, they wouldn’t need to be at University.” He explained, waving his hand around as he spoke.

“I’m there for art. To have access to facilities I wouldn’t otherwise have, to learn new techniques and gain knowledge about the industry. Not because I think it’ll automatically make me smart.”

“Oh yeah, art. No offense, but that’s even worse. Have fun working at grocery stores for the rest of your life; maybe you’ll make it to management. Then you might have an office to hang your degree on the wall in.”

“Thank you.” I said, feeling more tears spring to my eyes. “For backing up my biggest fucking fears, Rick. That’s exactly what has been playing on my mind for months. I don't… I don’t know if I’ll even be able to get a job after this. I don’t know if I’m good enough, if anyone will want to employ me. I don’t know if I have the confidence to even put myself out there, I’m such an anxious wreck. And all this time I’m acutely aware of all the debt I’m putting myself in, owing thousands before I’ve even moved out of my parents’ house. So yeah, I’ve been considering jacking it all in. Getting that minimum wage job and skipping the middleman.” I admitted to him, scrubbing the wetness from my face as I did. Rick watched me with an unreadable expression, his lips parted just slightly.

“Th-that was… that was a joke, by the way.” He said, his voice uncharacteristically small. “I don’t really think-”

“Whatever. It’s not a joke to me, it’s very real.” I sniffed, cursing the tears still flowing freely from my eyes. Once I started crying, I couldn’t stop before it was all out. “Art… it means everything to me. It’s all I’ve ever been any good at, and if it doesn’t work out… I don’t know what I’m going to do. I have no other qualifications, really, I have all my eggs in one basket, and I’m fucking terrified, Rick.”

Rick moved to get up, but I held my hand up to him. “Sweetie?” He said.

“I’m going back to my dorm. I need to sleep; I’m so fucking tired. I’m just… I’m done.” I shook my head.

“Wait, you want me to drive you?” He asked, this time getting up despite my disapproval.

“No, thank you. I wanna be alone, the drive will give me time to calm down.”

“Alright… uhhh, you’re still going home to see your parents tomorrow, right?”

“Yes.” I sighed, the thought of it only making me feel worse.

“Okay. I’m still going to drive you back, okay? Wh-whether you wanna see me or not. It’s a long way, it’ll be half the time in my ship.” He insisted. I nodded.

“Hand in is at two, so… any time after that really. I’ll wait in the courtyard outside the photography studios, you know the place?” I mumbled monotonously, and Rick nodded his head. Call me crazy, but he seemed to look guilty. I took a shaky breath as he opened up the large garage door for me; and I was grateful that I didn’t have to walk through the house and risk bumping into the family looking like a mess. “See you tomorrow, then.”

-

I slept through from the moment I got back till midday; I hadn’t bothered setting an alarm. What was the point? I knew I wouldn’t be able to remake the poster, I’d probably fail the module, so why bother getting up early? I crawled out of bed and walked into my room’s ensuite bathroom and washed my face with cold water, rinsing off yesterday’s makeup that had run down my cheeks. I hadn’t washed it off the night before; I hadn’t had the energy. I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth, dressing in something comfy for the long trip home.

I walked over to where my portfolio sat, and took a moment to organise everything before zipping it back up. I figured I’d leave now and hand in my work early, then I could grab something to eat before Rick arrived to pick me up. I glanced over at where my laptop bag sat on my desk; untouched since I’d walked through the door and dumped it down. I knew I should probably email my tutors to explain what had happened, maybe they’d go easy on me… probably not. But I wasn’t one to hand in unfinished work without an explanation, no matter how shitty that explanation might be. I wandered over to it, frowning as I noticed something sitting on top of it. It was a note and a USB stick.

There’s a bunch of dimensions where you didn’t delete your poster. I broke into your dorm room in one of them and got it back for you. I scared the shit out of her and I think she called the cops, but at least you can hand it in now.

Rick.

PS. This sounds like something you’d worry about; but it’s not plagiarism. Technically, you did the work, right? Just hand it in, I know what you’re like.

I lifted the USB and stared it with a slack jaw. I jumped into action, pulling out my laptop and switching it on, plugging in the USB and pulling up the single file inside. There it was, the finished poster; indistinguishable from the one I’d produced. I slumped in relief, slapping a hand over my heart. I sent it to the campus printers, figuring I’d stop by and pick it up on the way over to the studios. With that, I was out the door.

Once everything was handed in, I stopped by the food truck that practically lived at the side of the road outside the student accommodation area, and grabbed a coffee and a cheeseburger. I headed over to the courtyard with my luggage, taking a seat on one of the benches so I could eat my breakfast… well, lunch. A girl from my course spotted me and headed over with a beaming smile on her face.

“Feels good to be free, huh?” She asked once she’d reached me.

“Until next semester.” I smirked.

“You get everything done?” She asked, and I nodded as I swallowed a mouthful of food.

“Just. Though, I would’ve been fucked if it weren’t for my boyfriend. I deleted my final piece by accident, he’s smart and… he got it back for me.” I said, finishing off the last of my burger.

“How do you delete the main part of your project?” She laughed, taking a seat beside me.

“Sleep deprivation and not thinking about what I’m doing.” I explained. She nodded in understanding.

“You haven’t mentioned a boyfriend before, anyone I know?” She asked, and I shook my head.

“He isn’t at University. He's… he’s a little older than me.” I told her.

“You been seeing him long?”

“A few months.” I said, and she nodded. I felt a churning in my stomach when I thought of him, remembered everything he’d said last night, how hopeless he’d made me feel.  

“You okay?” My friend asked, and I shrugged.

“I don’t know. We fought last night. I think helping me get my work back was his way of trying to move on from it. He does that; does something to try and make me forget about it, never actually apologises.”

“Leaves you to stew over it as he pretends like nothing happened?” She assumed, a knowing smile on her face. I nodded. “Yeah, don’t let him get into the habit of that. It’ll only make you feel worse; some things just need addressing so you can get over it, you know?”

“Yeah, you’re right.” I nodded, movement in the parking lot distracting me; Rick was pulling up. “I need to go. Thanks for your advice though, I’ll talk to him.” I smiled.

“You’re going home already? Me and a bunch of the other art kids were gonna go out drinking tonight.” She said disappointedly. I cringed on the inside at the idea, secretly glad that I was going home instead.

“Aww, I wish I could come… but my family are expecting me.” I said, glancing over at where Rick had climbed out of his ship and was glancing around for me. I gave him a wave, capturing his attention. He waved back, but didn’t approach, and if I knew him, it was because he didn’t want to have to speak to the person I was with.

“Who is that, your grandpa?” She asked, squinting at Rick in the distance. I laughed to myself, and shook my head.

“No. That’s Rick. And if he plays his cards right, he might still be my boyfriend.” I told her, and she spun around to gape at me in horror.

“No way. You can’t be serious, (y/n). He’s like, ninety.” She said, looking at me with an expression that could only be described as pitiful, as if she felt sorry for me. I rolled my eyes.

“Seventy, actually. But it’s not like that matters, he acts like a five year old most of the time, anyways.” I shrugged, gathering my things.

“Woah, I know you said he was older but I thought you meant like… thirty.” She snorted.

“I don’t see why it’s a big deal to you. He’s far more interesting than any of the basic fuck boys that this campus seems to be teeming with.” I told her, throwing my bag over my shoulder and standing up.

“Yeah but… Jesus. Does he throw his back out every time he fucks you? Does… Does dust come out when he cums?” She snickered, and I watched her laugh for a good few moments before I decided she wasn’t worth anymore of my time. I was probably having far better sex than she was, anyway.

“Whatever, fuck you.” I sighed, turning and heading towards Rick, I heard her call out an apology through fits of giggles, but I kept walking.

When I was close, Rick opened up the passenger door for me. He moved in, going for a kiss, but I ducked him and climbed straight into his car; thanking him curtly. He stood staring at me blankly, then slammed my door and walked around to the drivers side, getting in and looking over at me.

“Hey.” He said, but it sounded more like a question than a greeting.

“Hi.” I replied, looking straight ahead.

“You, uh… everything cool?” He asked, and I turned to raise a brow at him wordlessly. “Oh. I gue-guess not.” He grumbled, starting up the car and driving away from the University. “Still want me to drop you off at your parents’ house?” He asked me.

“If it’s no bother.” I answered, and he nodded.

“N-no bother.” He agreed. He was taking peeks at me as he drove, as if he wanted to say something but kept deciding against it. When he finally did speak, he sounded exasperated. “Look, I know you’re mad about last night.”

“Oh? Why would that be?” I asked sarcastically, and Rick sighed.

“B-because I belittled you. I came for everything that means something to you, and it was fucked up.” He admitted, and I was surprised by his honesty. I turned to look at him, my expression soft. “I know I’m an asshole, (y/n).”

“Not always.” I said meekly, and Rick chewed on his bottom lip for a while.

“Sometimes I-I forget that there’s such a huge age gap… I forget that you’re only young an-and still have ambition and dreams and all that crap, the world hasn’t sucked all the light out of you just yet. And I realised that me saying shit like I did yesterday, i-it’s only speeding up that process.” He explained, and I frowned.

“What, so you’re saying one day I’ll be joyless and dead inside?” I asked.

“Probably.” He shrugged. “That’s just the way the world works; it’s a grindstone, wearing everybody down until there’s nothing left to feel good about.”

“I don’t believe that.” I said, and Rick nodded.

“Well, that’s good. Keep holding onto that for as long as you can.”

“This is depressing.” I mumbled, looking down at my hands.

“I was intending to motivate you, but uh… but yeah, it seems to just be depressing at this point, you’re right.” He said, glancing over at me with sheepish smile.

“How is this supposed to motivate me?” I scoffed.

“Well, I said some shitty stuff. Stuff that wasn’t true; at least it won’t be, if you completely ignore everything I said.” He told me, and I thought back to last night’s argument, replaying the moment that cut me the deepest; that I was wasting my time and I’d end up working in a grocery store if I kept it up. “You’re an extremely driven young woman. I-I-I can see that, you work your ass off for everything, you want something and you make it happen. So if you wanna make a career for yourself, doing what you enjoy, then you’ll get there.”

“Thank you.” I whispered.

“It pains me to say it, but you shouldn’t drop out. You’ve worked hard to get where you are, it’d be a waste for you to call it quits now.” He said, and I smiled.

“I’m not going to drop out, I don’t think I ever really was.” I admitted.

“I didn’t think so.” He glanced over at me and smiled back. “You aren’t a quitter.”

“I owe you big time, by the way. You totally saved my ass.” I said, reaching over to place my hand on his thigh.

“Don’t mention it, you think I was j-just gonna let you fail after how hard you’d worked? Knowing that I could do something about it?” He asked rhetorically, and I leaned over to kiss his cheek.

“Thank you, Rick.” I said, and he cleared his throat casually. I knew he didn’t deal well with these kinds of things, so I let it drop.

“Am I gonna see you this week?” He asked me, and I groaned, leaning my head back against the seat.

“Not during the daytime.” I said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked.

“Well, my parents tell me they have something planned for every day I’m there. Basically, I can kiss goodbye to a nice relaxing week off.” I explained, then stroked my hand up and down his thigh. “But I can get away with going to bed at ten without arousing suspicion, so if you wanna see me…” I trailed off, biting my lip.

“Are you suggesting that I-I should sneak into your bedroom like a teenager?” He asked, and I shrugged my shoulders noncommittally. “Cause I’m down for that.” He added with a smirk. “You uh, you want me to come over and fuck you with your parents downstairs? You be-better keep quiet, sweetie, unless you wanna get us caught.”

“I can keep quiet,” I nodded. “can you?”

“Sweetie, I live with my daughter and grandkids, I’ve fucked pe-people in the living room without them hearing me.”

“How come you’ve never fucked me in your living room?” I asked in mock offense.

“Cause you howl like a banshee when I hit it just right, you’d give us away easily.” He shrugged, and I dug my fingertips into his thigh and narrowed my eyes. He groaned through a chuckle, licking his lips.

“Be there at ten, and I’ll show you.”

“Ten? You really want me to wait that long?” He laughed, and I glanced down at the growing bulge in his pants.

“Fine. I’ll say I’m going for a nap as soon as I get in, we can do it broad daylight.” I shrugged, and Rick groaned again, glancing over at me.

“Y-yeah, alright. Twice the risk, twice the fun.” He said, and I had to agree.

We made the rest of the journey in mostly silence, and I was simmering in my arousal the whole way at the promise of what was to come. My panties felt damp, and I squeezed my thighs together in a bid to get some relief, though it did little. I slid my hand farther up Rick’s thigh, brushing my fingers against the hardness I felt between his legs. I shuddered, imagining how he was going to feel inside me; wondering whether he was going to fuck me hard, like usual, or be a little more gentle to keep the noise down. I shifted my hand to cup him, giving his cock a squeeze, gaining a soft sigh from him. I let go shortly after, though, not wanting to distract him from driving and risk not getting home at all.

When we arrived at my home, Rick landed his ship on the driveway and climbed out when I did. He walked around to my side, helping me get my luggage out before turning to look at me; his eyes were clearly filled with arousal.

“Fuck, I can’t wait to portal into your room and fuck that sweet, tight pussy of yours. Feel your legs around my waist as I gag you with your own panties to stop you from making a sound. Would you like that?” He purred, backing me up against the side of his ship. My legs felt weak underneath me, and I felt positively desperate. Rick’s eyes flickered up to something behind me, and he chuckled. “We’re being watched. Your m-mother is at the window.” He told me, and I rolled my eyes.

“Ignore her.” I said, and Rick pushed forwards to capture my lips in a hungry, heated kiss. He rolled his hips, grinding his erection into my core, coaxing a whimper from me.

“Shall I say hi to the folks?” He asked, an amused smirk plastered on his face. He knew the answer to that. My parents weren’t exactly thrilled with me dating a seventy year old, and Rick seemed to revel in that fact, almost seeming to get off on it.

“The less you anger them, the more quickly I can escape to my room.” I told him, and he moaned, kissing me once more.

“Alright, baby. I’ll park a couple streets away, then I’m coming for you.” He whispered. I nodded, butterflies filling my stomach at the anticipation. I picked up my bag and headed towards the house, taking one last glance at Rick as he climbed back into his ship.

My parents, of course, showered me in questions when I turned up. Why didn’t I drive myself? Why am I still with that old creep? Is he just using me? Is he rich, and if so is that why I’m with him? I dodged every question, making a show of looking at them with drooping eyelids. Finally, I rubbed at my eyes and apologised profusely, explaining how much this semester had wiped me out and that I was desperate for a lie down. Thankfully, they let me go, and I plodded upstairs, dragging my bag with me. Once I was out of sight, I raced to my room, whipping off my sweater and baggy sweatpants, stripping out of my underwear, leaving it all in a heap on the floor before laying face down on my bed, crossing my ankles in the air behind me and resting my chin on my hand as I waited for Rick to turn up. I wasn’t waiting long, and soon a portal was opening up at the foot of the bed, and Rick stepped out, palming his cock through his pants. He looked over my naked body and smiled.

“Mm, look at you. So ready to take my cock. Good girl.” He said quietly, glancing over at my closed bedroom door. “Where are they, still downstairs?” I nodded my head and rolled over onto my back, parting my legs and rubbing my pussy as I hung my head off the edge of the bed.

“You know what I want you to do to me.” I said meaningfully, licking my lips and staring at his crotch. Rick caught on quickly and chuckled, unbuttoning his pants and dropping them to the floor. He removed his coat and shirt too, and he was just as naked as I was. He stalked towards me, closing the gap between us and reaching over to give my tits a squeeze. I used my free hand to grab is cock, giving it a few tugs before sticking my tongue out and rolling it around the head, gaining a deep, yet quite groan from Rick. When I let go of him and widened my mouth, he got the message and thrust gently into my mouth, only pushing about half of his length in at first.

“Yeah, baby. That’s my perfect angel, open wide for me, that’s it… fuck.” He whispered, rocking his hips slowly. I groaned at the sensation of him filling my mouth, going deeper with every stroke. I relaxed my throat, readying myself for him; I wanted him deeper, to feel him hit the back of my throat. “God, you’re so good for me. Letting me take what I need from you. Such a good girl, I’m gonna make you cum so hard baby, you deserve it.”

I moaned again in response, rubbing my clit faster, pushing a finger inside myself and rocking it back and forth against my g-spot. It wasn’t long before it just wasn’t enough, and a second finger was added. Rick held onto my breasts as he fucked into me faster, and I could feel his cock stretching my throat, and I breathed through my nose between thrusts, letting my eyes fall closed as his balls hit my face with how deep he was going. There was something extremely satisfying about being used in this way.

“Fuck, baby, where’d your gag reflex go? You been practicing, huh? Choking on one of your dildos while you rub that pretty pink pussy of yours?” He asked, and I moaned around his cock, hoping he’d take it as a yes. “God, that’s nice, baby. So fucking hot. Yeah, fuck yourself for me. I want you to make yourself cum with my cock in your mouth.” He growled, his tone sending a shiver through my body. He eased off a little, giving me a moment to pull in a few full breaths, then he was on me again, rougher. He fucked my mouth as if it were my pussy, letting out quiet little grunts as he did. I resisted the urge to gag and choke, relaxing and letting it happen, keeping my jaw slack.

I fucked myself fast, feeling my knuckles become drenched from my arousal as I sunk my fingers deep inside myself. I could feel myself drawing close already; the knowledge of what I was doing with my parents just downstairs becoming too much. Rick seemed to like it too, egging me on with his words, bringing me closer to climax with every word.

“I can see my cock in your throat, baby.” He told me with a satisfied smirk, reaching his hand down to cup my neck, so he could feel the bulge he made with each thrust. The lack of oxygen was making me dizzy, and only adding to the hot tingle between my legs that threatened to send me spiralling into orgasm. “Imagine if mommy and daddy walked in right now. Wonder what they’d say if they saw their precious little girl like this, you think they’d be mad?” He laughed, his hips moving quicker. His words sent shockwaves through me, and I moaned loudly around him, my eyes going unfocused as I felt myself teeter on that edge. Rick grunted rhythmically, and I could taste the head of his cock painting stripes of precum along my tongue, the flavour was the last piece of stimuli I needed, and I was cumming. I cried out around his cock, my vision dimming as my oxygen supply dwindled. Rick pulled out quickly and let go of my throat, my lungs filled with sweet, sweet oxygen and heightened the intensity of my orgasm tenfold. I bit down on my bottom lip hard in a bid to silence myself, but muffled groans still escaped.

Rick stroked his fingers through my hair as I came down, whispering words of praise to me in the softest voice he could muster. I swallowed hard around the ache in my neck, breathing heavily as I pulled my hands from myself, dropping them down against the mattress.

“Look at my pretty girl.” He cooed, running his thumbs along the sides of my face, wiping away the tears that had escaped my eyes. He bent down and gave me a kiss before walking around the bed and climbing on, kneeling between my legs. I lifted my head to watch him as he nudged the deeply flushed head of his cock against my pussy. I whined when he rubbed it against my over-sensitive clit, and he shushed me softly.

“Fuck, Rick… I need you to fuck me.” I whispered bringing my knees up to spread myself open for him, he groaned at the sight.

“I know, beautiful.” He said, stroking his hands over my thighs and shuffling closer to me on his knees. “You gotta keep quiet, remember?” He said, smirking at me before burying his dick in me real slow. I gasped and pressed my lips together, wrapping my legs around Rick’s waist when he leaned over me and kissed me, slipping his tongue into my mouth and dancing the tip against mine. He began moving slowly, easing in and out of me more gently than he had with my mouth.

“Mm, so good.” I sighed, stroking my hands up and down his spine, tightening my legs around him, anchoring him to me. He buried his face in my neck, speeding up. The bed started squeaking, so he eased off and cursed under his breath.

“You’re so fuckin’ wet, baby. You feel so good.” He told me, and I hummed in pleasure. “God, I wish I could plow you nice and hard, fuck, I gotta install a sound proofing field in here.” He said.

“If you fuck me on the floor, we don’t have to worry about the bed making too much noise.” I suggested breathlessly, and his hips stalled. He lifted his head to look at me, then down at the floor. I giggled as Rick pulled out and got off the bed, dragging the beanbag in the corner of my room out into the open, then he curled his finger at me in a ‘come hither’ motion. I grinned and moved over to him, plopping down onto the beanbag and parting my legs for him; he wasted no time in settling back between my legs and thrusting into me, not hesitating before moving at a moderate pace. So soon after my first orgasm, my body was sensitive, every nerve ending was alight, sending pulses of pleasure right into my gut every time Rick buried himself to the hilt; I was panting in no time.

“Fuck yeah, this is better.” He breathed, his hips beginning to clap against my thighs with the force of his motions, and I dropped my head back into the soft cushiony beanbag and whimpered. He paused momentarily to grind his hips in circles, stimulating my clit and making me moan. “Hmm, you said you’d be quiet.” He teased, and I bit down on my lip.

“Just feels so fucking good.” I sighed, bucking my hips beneath him, urging him not to stop. Rick chuckled and carried on, fucking me into the beanbag with newfound force. My mouth hung open and I closed my eyes, gripping onto the edges of my beanbag. One notably rough thrust had me sobbing out a groan, and Rick covered my mouth with his hand.

“Shhh shh.” Was his response, licking his lips and staring down at my face as he kept his hand clamped over my mouth, allowing only muffled whimpers to escape me. “Unless you want mommy and daddy bursting through that door, seeing you with this big old man dick buried in your snatch. Do you, huh?” He asked in hushed tones, his own breath becoming strained. I shook my head frantically under his hand, and he smiled. “Okay, I guess w-we’re doing this then. You can breath okay, can’t you baby?” He asked, and I nodded.

Rick was relentless, taking me at a pushing pace; my eyes watered and my breath came fast and short through my nose, the risky nature of the situation was arousing me way more than I thought possible. The sounds in the room had dwindled down to heavy breathing and obscene squishing sounds as I grew embarrassingly wet. Rick grabbed my thigh, squeezing hard as he pushed it out wider so he could look down and see his cock pumping into me. A low growl rumbled in the back of his throat and he paused to grind against my pubic bone again. I sobbed behind his hand, mumbling against it, trying to warn him about my incoming climax, begging him to keep going, to fuck me harder. Despite their inaudibility, Rick seemed to understand my words and continued, slamming his hips with enough force to bruise. I wailed, the sound muffled and quiet, and then I was pulsing around his cock, dizzied by the intensity of my second orgasm and feeling a flood of wetness between my thighs, bringing up more indecent sounds.

“Fuuuck, your pussy’s so good, squeezing my cock like that. Fuck, I’m gonna cum. I’m gonna-” he grunted, and I mumbled frantically behind his hand, this time he lifted it away so I could speak.

“Pull out.” I told him. I knew he wouldn’t like it, but I also knew he wouldn’t deny me, and I wanted to swallow his load rather than flush it down the toilet once it was all said and done… Rick thrust two, three more times, then with a groan of my name he pulled out. I was quick to lean down, jerking his cock into my open mouth, feeling his hot load hit my tongue and drip down to my breasts, I moaned in satisfaction as I did. Rick rocked his hips as he came, grunting through clenched teeth with each wave of his orgasm.

“Ohh god, baby, that was so fucking hot, l-let me see.” He said, lifting my chin up with his hand and looking into my open mouth full of his cum. He pushed my mouth closed, and I swallowed, much to Rick’s pleasure. “Good girl.” He whispered, petting my hair.

“Mmh, thank you.” I sighed, laying back down against the beanbag.

“You missed some.” He said, pointing to my chest. I ran my finger through the cum on my breasts, and before I could lick it away, Rick grabbed my hand and sucked my fingers clean before leaning into kiss me, sharing it with me. He grinned at me when he pulled away.

“We should get dressed.” I said disappointedly, glancing over to my clothes. Rick nodded and moved first, pulling his clothes on lazily, leaving his shirt untucked. He smirked at me watching him get dressed, and threw my clothes at me. I pulled them on with a sigh, not in the mood to leave the cozy bubble of my afterglow just yet. “You know, the ten o'clock offer’s still there, if you’ve got it in you.” I said, and Rick snorted.

“Of course I’ve got it in me.” He said, kneeling back down in front of me and pulling me closer to him by my legs, my hips bumped into his and I hummed, still sensitive. “I’ll be there.” He added.

“Good.” I grinned, pulling him in for another kiss, rolling my hips against him.

“Jesus, i-is every chick your age this cock hungry?” He asked me when we broke away, and I giggled and shrugged.

[applegelstore]

So we (=my sister plays, I watch her and do other stuff besides) have finally marathoned through Tales of Berseria (only the post-game sidequests left). So here’s excerpts of my final verdict (mostly in contrast to Zesty because sorry but I can’t help it. Plus, it’s the prequel for Maotelus’ sake). Cut for massive length and very heavy spoilers, obviously! No reviews, though, just incoherent ramblings. Many, many incoherent ramblings.

-The plot is indeed kinda more exciting than Zestiria. Which isn’t particularly hard. I mean there are many reasons why I love Zestiria, but the plot (and the villains) sure aren’t one of them. The plot was kinda just… there and didn’t do any harm, but honestly I could just have watched a 200 episode show of plotless party banter and would have enjoyed it just the same. The plot in neither game makes particularly much sense, tho.

-I have a billion questions and somehow most of them concern Zaveid’s gun in both games. Like, how does it actually work? It separates fusings, but it’s the basis for the invention of the armatus? Apparently it also boosts magic? Idk. And where does it come from? Let me guess, there was that super advanced sci-fi-civilization that lived on the planet like 20 000 years ago and is now forgotten *insert dramatic music here*

-How on earth did Velvet get out of that volcano…? But as long as Morgrim is safe, I’m good.

-On that note, Velvet literally screaming WAKE UUUUUUUUUUUUUP!!!!!!!!! at the volcano made me kinda happy

-whenever she has facepalm/I’m so done/I’m surrounded by idiots moments, I feel her very much

-Despite the headscratchers, I’m totally digging the Berseria/Zestiria worldbuilding, like hell

-Sue me but I still like the Zestiria characters lightyears better than the Berseria characters. Mostly because they’re funnier, more relatable, and also because I honestly don’t like the Darker and Edgier trope. But also because the costume designs are goddamn awful, Magilou is an obnoxious pest, and it takes Eleanor far too many hours of game play to get that other people than abbey members have human rights (I ended up liking her in the end but honestly getting there was a pain). BTW yes, Velvet, Phi and Eleanor probs have more dramatic changes in personality over the course of the game than the Zesty squad combined, but can anybody explain to me what kind of character development Eizen, Rokurou and Magilou display? …Thought so. Also, no, dramatic 180° turn character development is NOT a prerequisite for good character writing in my opinion, thank you very much. I also think that mental breakdowns aren’t a prerequisite, just in case you were wondering. I’m honestly not a big fan of the Heroic B.S.O.D. trope, although there might be some exceptions where I thought it was well done. I still prefer to do without.

-At least I can tolerate Magilou and Eleanor now that the former got a backstory and the latter finally learned how not to be a dick

-Phi’s constant complaints that he doesn’t want to be treated like a child (I’ve got bad news for you sweetie, you’re TEN) do horrible things to my headcanon that he simply stays physically 10 for eternity, but don’t think I’d give up too soon

-however, I guess we can establish that he plays splatter games with a burning passion

-I am very glad that the monster doggies and the monster bird are safe and sound in the epilogue

-WHERE IS FIRE MUM

-How on earth do people defend the opinion that Berseria was less of a button smasher game than Zestiria?? Because honestly in Zestiria I never managed to win battles by doing nothing but frantically smashing X/Square/Triangle/Circle without any plan or order.

-THE BATTLE CAMERA IS SO MUCH BETTER THO I can control it freely! Oh bless the new camera. I want that so hard in Zestiria. It would help a bunch.

-the equipment upgrade and drop system is also a billion times more effective in the sense that you don’t have to carefully plan your fusings (guess who’s always too lazy to do that) and fruitlessly try to farm the drops for that for hours (guess who’s too lazy for that as well, and also helplessly underlevelled because she’s so lazy and ends up with bosses one or two hitting an armatus even on normal mode *coughs*). Bless.

-I mean the new equipment system in Berseria is basically Final Fantasy IX but for lazy noobs. There’s ups and downs to that, I guess?

-Meirchio is so goddamn pretty, I didn’t even realise that in ToZX. Guess I was distracted by how bad the trainwreck is. Anyway I love everything about this town

-Aball and its surroundings incl. Taliesin also deserve awards

-the dungeons and field areas weren’t anymore interesting than Zestiria, tho

-btw Aball=Avalon? Magical apple island and stuff? Just asking because honestly some of the Arthurian references are pretty obscurely named (it took me quite a while to get the Lastonbell=Glastonbury reference, too, trollolol. Anyone else reminded of Good old Ah! My Goddess translation sins? I mean, come on… Verdandi to Belldandy? Apparently, correctly transcribing Roman letters into Japanese script is even more difficult than Ancient Avarost)

-Morgrim, let me love you, please take all my blessings, you are purrfectly pleasantly plump and I want to cuddle you and give you kisses

-why exactly was Shigure one of the bad guys?? It still escaped me after we cut him in half, sacrificed his soul to some ancient deity, and killed his deceased, reincarnated, dragonised mum

-speaking of which, is it really clever to use the souls of your mortal enemies to revive gods that you want to be on your side!?

-anyway, screw you, Melchior, in particular

-Bienfu is a strong contender for most annoying mascot ever and I still wanted to throw him into the ocean hours into the game. I swear if I have to hear him yell BIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN just once more in my life I’m gonna punch the screen.

-I’m with Jude on the pengyons. I mean I guess killing and eating them is preferable to killing them but not eating them, but still. Everyone speaks about representation, where’s my representation? Is there a single JRPG in which at least one of the playable characters is a vegetarian?

-I was surprised how much I enjoyed the Jude and Milla cameo, cracktastic as it was. Milla was actually my favourite in Xillia, although I had and still have severe problems with her character. But here I only saw of her what I love about her, and it made me happy. You go, Milla

-The skit writing with the constant “all males are perverts”, “all women are deceitful whores” and “men and women are fundamentally different and will never understand each other or be friends unless they’re incestuous siblings” is goddamn awful, period.

-apparently if your vessel becomes malevolent even the tiniest bit (no need to go full tainted), that physically hurts your malak/seraph. I’m glad that doesn’t happen in Zesty.

-Zaveid. Buddy. I feel sorry for you. But it also kinda shocks me how fast you get over your girlfriend’s death. I also have bad news: Eizen’s little sister will still look like a 12-year-old in a 1000 years from now. I actually hope you’re NOT into that.

-btw Zaveid and Eizen jump from mortal enemies to true name basis pretty fast holy shit

-I wouldn’t have minded more Aifread’s Pirates shenigans and nobody is surprised

-I want the cracktastic enemy book back

-I want my elemental powers back. Fuck this don’t ya try to talk down my beloved Magical Dragqueen mode IT’S THE POWER OF LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE y’ignorants

-dear malak NPCs, thank you for establishing that the abbey version armatus is a sucky beta version which will be replaced with the awesome real thing in a couple of centuries, and will eventually symbolise harmony between humans and malakhim. Bonus points for carrying along the motherfucking Galahad ruins bow to drive home the point

-I’m a little too amused by the fact that the ending credit cards are a “everyone’s happy, nobody ever died, and everybody’s friends with each other” AU

-uhm, guys? Did they give Artorius’ sword to Sorey’s gay pride armatus in the anime? I didn’t like it even back then but now I hate it even more, pls no

-I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want Sorey back I want

-I know there will never be a Zestiria sequel because it didn’t sell well enough for that, but just in case: the only premise I’ll accept is “Phi, Sorey and Mikleo free Velvet from her prison and finally tear Innominat apart for good”. I don’t know how that would work without killing Velvet and Phi, but hey, I’m sure we’re gonna find a solution because it’s as JRPG and all we need is the POWER OF LOVE *dundundundun*

Everyone is happy. Also what is this “reborn Malakhim aren’t the same people they died as anymore” crap, don’t give me this heartbreak material you assholes

-is it wrong if I wanna play Zestiria after finishing Berseria? Actually, we would have gotten there far sooner if I hadn’t insisted taking breaks so I could play a few hours of Zestiria in between. Whoops.

-my sister was worried that Phi would miss his auntie Velvet very much and suggested Sorey and Mikleo should adopt him once the sweet baby slumber party is over. At this point I’m wondering whether I should give her fanfic recs to brighten her days, or whether that will cause her to forever ban me from her Playstation and refuse to cook for me ever again

-after watching the Zesty DLC, she also told me: “I don’t know what was the point of it, but Rose and Alisha were very cute.” She’s on the path to righteousness.