#sequel to the backup plan

[hockeyspiral23]

"What was that?" "Oh, nothing uncle. I'm just still very angry at Sorrengail." "I know, but since the Riorson heir is no longer available, we do have to think of different options." "Perhaps I can help with that." "Maraya! How wonderful to see you!"

[hermitw]

Complaint that the best thing I've ever written might be this fic where Sukuna's milk-dripping tiddies save us from the shibuya incident

[thursdayinspace]

Today's morning smut is brought to you by Feelings. They happen sometimes, there's really nothing I can do about that. (There's a sequel now if you want one, haha.)

He’s not hers, but for tonight, she will pretend. He’s not hers, but for tonight, she will bask in the tenderness of his gaze and call it love, let the bittersweet feeling of wholeness consume her until there’s nothing left in the world but the two of them. Just for tonight, the edges of their joined bodies will be the edges of the universe.

He went to the end of the Earth for her. With a head wound, with no backup, with no plan. He saved her life and almost died in the process, and she with him, their corpses frozen together, finally joined in death. She has no reason to doubt his affection, his loyalty, his readiness to give his life for her. But she doesn’t want his sacrifice. She only wants him. And tonight, she isn’t strong enough to resist the lie.

“Scully,” he whispers against her temple, his hot breath ghosting over the skin of her face. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she says, and she is. Her legs fall open for him, her body ready to receive him, to take him inside and keep him there for as long as this will last.

She reaches between them to guide him, for once in her life letting him know what she wants. He’s big and her body resists the intrusion for a moment, until she’s ready to give in. It’s been like this from the moment they met: he stretched her to her limits and she enjoyed it. This is no different.

Her hands are on his back to hold him close, her eyes are shut against the onslaught of sensation. The roll of his hips is slow but insistent, and she’s his, just for now, she lets him draw her in.

“Open your eyes,” he says, his voice low and pleading. “Please.”

Since the first day, it’s been his one request. She recognizes that look in his eyes, from so many days ago.

“I meant every word,” he tells her. “All of it. You have to believe me, Scully, I meant it all.”

All she can do is give him a small nod in return and scrape her fingers along the back of his neck where they rested on that day, that day they can never go back to. An anomaly, a moment out of time that should never have been. All his pretty words, everything she’d wanted to hear for so long. His heart in his hands offered to her like it was hers already, but it doesn’t belong to her, not the way she wants it. He wouldn’t take hers if she offered it.

But the way he pushes into her, again and again—it feels so good and she can’t help wanting it. He’s so big, deeper inside her than anyone has ever been, but all discomfort has faded and all that’s left is want and desire. He’s a drug she can’t quit, he’s in her soul like a parasite that’s eating her alive, and she’ll let herself be devoured if that’s what it takes. This is her choice, this is her life. He makes her feel… makes her feel… That’s the end of the sentence, she thinks. He makes her feel. And the universe outside the confines of their bodies is bigger than she’s dared to imagine, and their joining opens her heart, her soul, opens the skies and lets her see the stars and everything beyond.

“Mulder,” she breathes, and she has no other word, no language besides that of her body. She clings to him like a promise ready to be broken and he fucks her like he wants to make her forget, make her forget that this will end.

Their first time, as impossible as that moment in his hallway, and she’s just waiting for the bee to sting her again. She wants to badly to believe that the world won’t come between them this time.

Moans and whimpers enter her vocabulary and he understands, no longer rocking against her but thrusting in hard. It’s still not hard enough. He’s giving her the essence of him: forceful and gentle, all-consuming and distant, full of passion and restraint. The cosmic size of his love engulfs the box he keeps her in. But tonight, the lid is open and they’re one in the void of everything.

She’s burning up with need, for him, for release. He’s pushing her slowly towards the edge and she wants so badly to fall. His eyes are locked on hers and he trails one hand down her side to her thigh to hike it up higher, angling her underneath him to drive her to new heights. She curls her fingers against the skin of his back and lets him. With every thrust he pulls away from her as if he’s leaving, and then plunges into her again, piercing her, splitting her open.

His lips are moving soundlessly and she doesn’t want to know what they’re saying. Three words, but they have no sound. She doesn’t want them. There’s only so much pretending she can take.

Her body is tensing and she has to come but doesn’t want to, doesn’t want to let him go.

“Every word,” he says hoarsely, his voice strained, his lips finding hers in a fierce kiss. “Every word, Scully, I meant it.”

She doesn’t cry, doesn’t speak, just leans up for another kiss to silence him.

He lets go of her leg and grinds against her with every push in, and she clenches around him because yes, there, right there…

“Oh god,” she whimpers, a cry of pleasure and a prayer, please, God, make this real, let this be true.

It’s too much, it’s everything she wants, everything she can’t have. He’s making love to her and she needs it, and she knows she will never heal from this. Every choice she makes destroys her a little more and she never wants to go back. He’s not hers, but he gives her what she’s craving, invites her along on this journey to the terrible truth.

She comes so hard, the universe shrinking to the place where they’re joined, exploding into a million pieces with her at the center. She’s made of pleasure, frozen in a moment of perfect bliss as her body rhythmically convulses beneath him. He’s panting her name over and over, still moving inside her, and when he stills and cries out she knows it’s over.

He’s given her all he can give, he’s given her so much, but he’s not hers, not hers. She lets him hold her close, their bodies cooling, sweat drying on their skin.

The bee never mattered. If it hadn’t been that, it would have been something else. He’s not hers and she can’t give him what he doesn’t want, but the universe loves its cruel jokes and lets her love him anyway. Their pretending is coming to an end, but they are eternal and she’s powerless against it. Caught in a state of love that will never be enough. But for as long as he holds her like this, she will try to believe.

[angst-and-fajitas]

Emma's Pantheon fic list (literally everything I'm working on)

COMPLETE

• The Nightbus

Canon-Compliant one-shot which takes place within the ending of s2 ep 3, elaborating on Caspian's POV of their first kiss.

• it's about who you leave behind

One-shot, Canon-Compliant, angsty fic about Maddie and Dave and grief, taking place 16 years into the 20 year timeskip, between season 2 ep 6 and ep 7.

IN PROGRESS

• Iterations

XL one-shot, technically Canon Compliant? Told from the POV of Maddie within the Dyson sphere, as she observes three different simulations where things turn out different but not necessarily better: one where David Kim doesn't get cancer, one where MIST doesn't save them in the data center, and one where she backs up and reboots Caspian after his death. Tragedy-heavy. Estimated 12,000 words approx at completion, but I'm trying to slim it down.

• The Miracle of Backups

Longfic diving fully into that simulation AU in which Maddie makes a backup of Caspian before his fight without telling him, then reboots him after his death. Covers their relationship throughout the following 20 years, all the highs and lows of love and tragedy and the conflicts between their two worlds. My outlines currently estimate 45 chapters and roughly 150,000 word count at completion.

These two together are my magnum opus, I've been working on them since July! I have 35k down already. As soon as Iterations is ready to post, I'll start posting my finished chapters of tMoB alongside it.

• No Sleep Till London: collection of missing-scene Maddspian ficlets taking place between s2 ep 3 and 4, within those missing one to two weeks between DC and London. Pure mutual-pining fluff basically. Kinda a sequel to The Nightbus?

• shorter, angsty canon-compliant multichapter thing taking place during Caspian's season 1 homeless arc. Kinda a character study?

FUTURE IDEAS

• alt version of the first half of s2 ep8, in which Caspian DOES get to talk to Dave before everything goes to hell

I'll update this post as things evolve. I just wanted a reference space for my plans, because I've literally only talked to one friend about it

[knightprincess]

No Matter What (Crosshair x Reader) - Platonic

Words: 1.3k Warning: Fluff with a little bit of hurt/comfort. Synopsis: After settling on Pabu with Clone Force 99, (Y/N) goes on a self-given mission with Crosshair to bring their lost brother home. Standalone Sequel: Silence

After the assault on Mount Tantis and the death of Hemlock, things had been different for Clone Force 99. Echo had refocused his efforts on helping the build Clone Rebellion, taking with him Emerie and some of the clones rescued from the Advanced Science Division, among them Comet. Omega had seamlessly adjusted to life on Pabu once more, happy to be just another kid, growing up peacefully until she was ready to join the fight once more if she did.

Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair would take care of Jax, Bayrn, Eva, and Sami until they could be returned to their families. Each had decided it was time to retire, to discover who they were outside of being soldiers, and to find out what adventures life had in store for them now. However, they’d always be on call if Echo ever needed them.

(Y/N) on the other hand, would use her skills as a bounty hunter to help provide for the people of Pabu and help clones across the galaxy find their way once they were freed from the empire. Although she loved the peace Pabu offered and the small family unit she had gained with Clone Force 99, she wasn’t ready to settle down completely. Not when she still had questions that needed answering. Not when she still needed to find closure.

“I miss him too,” said Crosshair, picking up Tech’s broken goggles from the dashboard of (Y/N)’s ship. Seconds later, a sigh escaped him, hidden within it, regret and grief. The last time he’d spoken to Tech was on Kamino; once again, they’d gone their separate ways. If only he’d chosen differently. “You have to let him go (Y/N). He wouldn’t want you to hold on like this.”

“I can’t,” whispered (Y/N), stopping what she was doing and allowing Crosshair’s words to sink in. “I have to bring him home, even if I have to say goodbye one last time,” she added, admitting she knew there was a chance Tech was truly gone, but she couldn’t allow herself to believe it, not until she found him. “He never gave up on me when I was lost. Neither of you did. I won't give up on him now until he’s home.”

“Then I’m going with you,” said Crosshair, putting the broken goggles back on the dashboard, moving to sleeping racks, and setting another up, if only to make his point clear.

“Omega and the kiddos need you here,” commented (Y/N), attempting to protest. Although she already knew it was pointless. Crosshair was one of the most stubborn people she knew. Once he made up his mind, there was little that could change it.

“Hunter and Wrecker can handle things here until we get back,” declared Crosshair, turning to face (Y/N) before crossing his arms over his chest. “Right now, you need me more,” he added, although he did not admit he’d thought about going out there to look for his brother. Something didn’t sit right with him, leaving Tech out there.

“I’m not going to win, am I?” asked (Y/N), sighing as she walked the length of her ship. Filled with memories of the past, her life as a Jedi Knight that felt like a lifetime ago, and her new life as a bounty hunter and protector.

“Nope,” simply responded Crosshair, “You’re stuck with me this time Shortfire.”

The moment Crosshair entered the cockpit, he pushed the red button, activating the com channel. He spoke to Hunter, Wrecker, and Omega there, informing them of his impromptu decision to join (Y/N) on her journey. Framing it to make sure she had backup and would come home again.

“It wasn’t your fault (Y/N),” said Crosshair when (Y/N) entered the cockpit, following the routine she’d once taught Tech, checking over all the systems. There’s nothing either of us could have done to stop him from using Plan 99.”

“If I was there, I could have stopped him from falling,” admitted (Y/N), finally opening up about the guilt haunting her. When her family needed her most on Eriadu, she was across the galaxy, hiding from her past and the Jedi Hunters that had seemingly appeared overnight.

“You were protecting them. No one could have predicted Saw being on Eriadu, and no one could have predicted Tech sacrificing himself. Blaming ourselves won’t change the past (Y/N). It will only prevent you from finding peace and happiness, whatever that looks like.”

“For what it’s worth, Fortune Cookie, I’m glad you’re coming with me,” admitted (Y/N), bestowing Crosshair with a new nickname, replacing the old one of Snarky Sniper. “I don’t think I could do this alone.”

“We’re family until the end,” Crosshair replied, pulling (Y/N) into himself and wrapping her in a warm embrace that seemed foreign but familiar to them both. “Where do we start?”

“Where our fight ended,” responded (Y/N) with a shakey voice, recalling when she’d gone to Eriadu, risking everything to follow the monorail track in search of Tech. She��d found the car's wreckage but no sign of Tech. If there was any blood, the rain had long since washed it away; there was no body to be found or any trace that he was even there, just what remained of the car.

“Tantis?” questioned Crosshair, confusion evident in his quiet voice as he took up the co-pilot’s seat.

“Hunter said Hemlock was the one to return Tech’s goggles; there’s got to be some trace, a lead to follow somewhere,” replied (Y/N), a slither of hope present in her otherwise whispered voice. She dared not speak louder in case her fears grew stronger and became her cruel reality.

“Setting course for Tantis,” worded Crosshair as (Y/N) piloted the ship safely away from the small island. As per tradition, the people waved goodbye, Hunter, Wrecker, and Omega among them.

“Take good care of them, Gonky,” spoke Omega through her com, receiving a simple gonk! in confirmation.

“We’ll see when you come home,” added Hunter, his voice filled with acceptance as if he knew the day would come when (Y/N) went in search of answers. As if he knew one day she’d go on the self-given mission to bring Tech home. “Stay safe out there.”

“You got it, Havoc #1,” replied (Y/N).

“I’ll make sure she comes home in one piece,” declared Crosshair, resting the stump of his wrist on his lap, grabbing onto the handle beneath his seat as he prepared for the rough climb out of Pabu’s atmosphere, “Our family’s been through enough. None of us can handle another loss.”

“We’re not losing anyone this time. We’re bringing our lost brother home,” replied (Y/N), determination alight in her voice. One way or another, the small family unit was going to be reunited again, no matter how long it took.

“Remind me again,” started Crosshair, fiddling with Tech’s broken goggles; now they’d left Pabu’s atmosphere. A smirk appeared across his lips as he remembered Tech’s hobby of recording everything—even the little things. “What you told us before we went into our first battle.”

“No matter what, I’ve got your back. I’d take a bullet for you if it comes to that. In the bitter end, we’re gonna be the last one standing.”

The holoclip appeared before the two, glowing blue and fuzzy. Of course, Tech had recorded it. They were so young back then, naive to what would happen when the war ended, unprepared for the cruel galaxy they lived in.

“Looks like Tech knew you were going to ask,” commented (Y/N); the smallest of grins appeared across her lips as she launched them into hyperspace. “Do you think Omega knows it?” she asked, curious if the boys would have shared the almost promise with Omega, the brave little girl growing up far too quickly, growing up to be a fighter no less—the best of all of them.

“She knows. Hunter would have made sure of it,” replied Crosshair, hope flooding his voice despite the uncertainty they both faced. “No matter what, Shortfire, I’ve got your back until the end.”

KnightPrincess Masterlist

[cherrycola27]

Red, White, and Bradshaw

A Red, White, and Rooster Sequel

Series Warnings: Language, alcohol consumption, political inaccuracies. Mentions of and acts of terrorism, death. Allusions to and full smut. Banner Credit @thedroneranger

Masterlist Next Part

...........................................

Chapter 1: Designated Survivor

At thirty-nine years old, you'd lived quite a life. You had been married to the man of your dreams for almost a decade. You had four beautiful children with him. You had been the First Lady of the United States, and you were currently the Secretary of Commerce for Bradley's successor, President James Hamilton.

Though you had worn many hats during your time in Washington, you never lost sight of who you were. After his time as president came to an end, Bradley supported your political career. He was more than happy to take a back seat from the spotlight and be a stay at home dad to your kids.

Andy and Elle were now seven, Leo, whom you were pregnant with at his second inauguration was five, and Wren, your fifth anniversary vow renewal oops baby, whom you loved very much, was three.

Your two boys were the spitting image of their father, and your two daughters were like mini versions of you. Out of all of them, Elle and Leo had definitely inherited your can-do attitude and "bossy" personality, as Bradley would say, while Andy and Wren shared his laid-back vibe.

Your family was your pride and joy, but you were also proud of the fact that you never had to sacrifice your love of business and politics to have them. You were blessed with a supportive husband who recognized how hard you worked.

When President Hamilton had first offered you a cabinet position, you were hesitant to take it. How could you raise a family and serve? Being First Lady was one thing. This was an entirely different level.

Bradley listened as you told him about your worries and assured you that he would do everything in his power to support you if you wanted to make this career move. "You supported me when I need you. You helped me follow my dream, and now it's my turn to help you." Bradley had told you as he held you in his arms one night.

The next day, you accepted the offer, and after a relatively quick vetting process, you became Y/N Wiseman-Bradshaw, Secretary of Commerce.

The first few months were an adjustment. You spent many sleepless nights venting to Bradley about how you thought you'd made a mistake and that you should quit. He would listen to your concerns and encourage you and soothe your worries each time. He celebrated all of your victories in your new position, both big and small. Everything was going well—too well.

.............

It was a quiet night in Washington D.C.

President Hamilton was about to give his first State of the Union address. You were in a secure, undisclosed location with your family. You had been chosen as the designated survivor. You thought it was silly, really. What were the odds that every single person ahead of you in the line of presidential succession died at the same time?

But you also understood the importance of it. You appreciated a good backup plan.

You were relaxing in some leggings and a well-worn, oversized Georgetown hoodie, staring at the TV when Bradley joined you.

He had an old Navy shirt and some flannel pants on. He'd just tucked the kids in bed before coming to watch the State of the Union with you.

He wrapped his arm around you as the two of you shared a bowl of popcorn.

"Oh my god, did I look that stuffy when I gave my speehes?" He asked as the two of you listened.

"No, Dearest. You looked exceptionally handsome." You told him. He laughed as the two of you continued to watch the screen. Everything seemed fine—normal even.

Until it happened.

A large boom shook the safe house just as the live feed of the address went black.

You and Bradley looked as each other with panic in your eyes.

"Bradley, go get the kids." You told him. He was out of his seat and racing down the hall before you could finish your sentence. You quickly flipped through the TV channels to see if you could figure out what was wrong. The sound of sirens and helicopters blared from outside. Whatever this was, it was serious.

Just then, Dante, the head of your security team, burst in the door. Mrs. Bradshaw, we need to move all of you now." He said in a protective tone. "Dante, what's going on?" You asked him. He didn't respond.

Just then, a news flash came over the TV, and your heart sank. Your children came running into the room and gathered around you as Bradley followed behind.

"Oh my god." The two of you said in unison. "Bradley, they blew up the Capital." You said in disbelief as you watched the screen. You couldn't believe your eyes. In the spot where the beautiful building had once stood was nothing but a pile of burning rubble.

"Dante, I need you to get the Seresin's on the phone right now." You demanded. "Mrs. Bradshaw, we need to get all of you out of here now. We will call them from the car." Dante said. You wanted to protest, but he was grabbing your arm and hauling you out door as more members of your security team escorted Bradley and your children.

You looked back over your shoulder just in time to see a banner flash stating that there would likely be no survivors. Your heart sank as you thought about all innocent men and women who lost their lives— your parents included.

Suddenly, it felt like everything was moving in slow motion. Andy and Elle sat on either side of you in the car while Leo and Wren clung to Bradley.

You were vaugly aware of him telling you that they had reached Jake and Jaycee. The Seresin's and their three children were fine, and more security would be sent to them.

Bright lights from police, fire, and military flashed through the streets of D.C. as Dante navigated them. You were sure someone was talking to you, but you didn't hear what they said. You felt like you were underwater.

You didn't register yourself getting out of the SUV or the fact that you were being taken through a back passage of the White House. It was only when Chief Justice Inglewood was asking Bradley to hold the Bible and for you to place your hand on, that you snapped back to reality.

"Wait, what's going on?" You said as you looked around the room.

"Mrs. Bradshaw, you're the designated survivor." Chief Justice Inglewood said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

You still hadn't processed what was going on.

"Honey, you're about to take the oath of office. You're going to be the president." Bradley said to you calmly.

You took a deep breath as Justice Inglewood looked at you. "Please place your left hand on the Bible, raise your right hand, and repeat after me." She began. You didn't even have time to process what Bradley had said before Inglewood started the oath.

"Do you, Y/N Wiseman-Bradshaw, solemnly swear to faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of your ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States?" Chief Justice Inglewood asked you.

That's when the reality of the situation hit you like a ton of bricks. The president, vice president, and everyone else in the Capital tonight were dead. You swallowed thickly as your children huddled close, not sure of what was happening, but aware enough to know something was off.

You took a deep breath and looked at Bradley for reassurance. He nodded his head and smiled.

"I, Y/N Wiseman-Bradshaw, do solemnly swear to faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." You affirmed in a shaky tone. You felt like you were going to throw up. You tried to swallow, but your mouth was dry, and your tongue felt like sandpaper. You were vaugly aware of someone taking pictures in the background as you spoke the words.

"Congratulations, Madame President. I wish this could have been under better circumstances." Justice Inglewood said as she shook your hand.

You thought that it was odd that she was shaking your hand and congratulating you. You were here because hundreds of people had died, not because you won an election. You did deserve this.

Your hands started to shake as tears pricked your eyes. This was wrong. All wrong. You felt like you couldn't breathe. How the hell did you end up here?

Your husband turned to you and saw the fear in your eyes.

Bradley immediately pulled you in for a hug before cupping your face in his hands. He could sense the terror running through your body as the severity of the situation set in.

"Oh my god, Bradley. I—I—what am I going to do?" You said as tears threatened to fall from your eyes.

"Right now, we are going to tuck the kids in and read them a bedtime story. Then, you are going to go with Dante to a secure conference room and talk with the department heads that weren't at the State of the Union. You are going to figure out a way for us to get through this because that's what you do best, honey. You solve problems. Tomorrow morning, you are going to drink way too much coffee, put on a suit, and address the nation. You are going to let them know that we are down, but not out. You are going to show them how strong their president is. But most of all, you're going to do your best. That's all you can do." Bradley tells you as he kissed your forehead.

Dante doesn't give you time to respond or to help Bradley with the children before he is whisking you away again.

"Go get 'em; Madame President. I love you." Bradley said as he ushered you to go. You nodded and followed Dante.

You couldn't believe this was happening. One minute, you were enjoying a quiet evening. The next, you were thrust into a position you weren't even sure you wanted and knew you weren't qualified for.

"Oh my god." You said to yourself for what seemed like the hundredth time this evening as the weight of everything settled over you.

You were no longer Secretary Wiseman-Bradshaw. You were President Wiseman-Bradshaw.

Life as you knew it would be forever changed.

Dante and your other Secret Service team members stopped outside a door. Dante went ahead while you waited behind. Moments later, he returned and said,

"Madame President, they're ready for you."

Taglist: @daggerspare-standingby @shanimallina87 @teacupsandtopgun @hecate-steps-on-me @roosterscock @roosterbruiser @roosterforme @seresinsbabe @startrekfangirl2233 @soulmates8 @xoxabs88xox @avengersfan25 @blackwidownat2814 @loveforaugust @mak-32 @cottagecori @amysteryspot @heyimmadisonn @sunlightmurdock @lewmagoo @cassiemitchell @die-cunt @shipinabluebottle @malindacath @violyn20 @imawkwardlysoc @books-for-summer @blackroseboulevard @recordblues @desert-fern @luckyladycreator2 @katieshook02 @samhapner6 @sebsxphia @roosters-girl @diorrfairy @je-suis-prest-rachel @mizzzpink @a-linabean @amklibrary @gretagerwigsmuse @jstarr86 @actuallyazriel @krismdavis @bradshawsbaby @wkndwlff @dakotakazansky @multifandomlover4life @princess76179

[runabout-river]

Yuta's power level is so high that he'd dominate most threats, making it hard to create tension in a sequel. Without characters like Sukuna or Kenjaku, a new villain would seem underwhelming in comparison. And if the new threat is weaker than Sukuna, it wouldn’t feel like much of a challenge for someone as strong as Yuta, especially after a time skip where he could become even stronger.

So, for a sequel to really work, Yuta would probably need to be out of the picture to let other characters shine and make the threat feel more real.

There are a few ways to deal with this in a potential sequel. Note that Yuta is basically what Gojo had been in the story.

Give Yuta a threat that can't be beaten by phyical power eg: political strife. Without Gojo, Yuta - as his distant relative - might become the next head of the Gojo clan. This would put enormous weigth on him and keep him occupied in the same way that Gojo was constantly occupied in JJK.

Give the story new disaster curses eg a curse made from the fear of Death, a curse made from the fear of foreign invasion, a curse made from hate of the invading foreigners and whatnot. Like with Gojo, these new threats would not just waltz up to Yuta to be killed by him.

Have Kenjaku come back with a backup plan and eg a centuries old body he kept around with a good CT. Kenjaku would also be someone who wouldn't just go to Yuta to be killed. Things like this would only come to a head at the middle or end point of a story.

Have Sukuna come back as a curse. I can even see a repeat of the starting hook of JJK where Sukuna was divided into his fingers and it was a finger hunt at first. The cacth here would be that Sukuna's soul is split which would make him spawn 19 different curses of varying power levels.

Number 4 has great story telling potentials because Gege could go back to JJK's roots and explore what curses are (together with new disaster curses). Gege has no problem re-using old ideas a second time so he could even (fanfic idea ->) replicate Yuta's and Rika's tragic past by having a child killed in an accident just for Sukuna's curse to possess the child afterwards.

There is so much stuff Gege could do if he commits to a JJK Part 2 and there are various workarounds to problems like Yuta's immense power as we've seen when he dealt with the exact problem with Gojo.

[ejthenobody]

Been thinking about what could possibly happen in a Hi-Fi Rush sequel, and I've got a short list of some things that I think would be cool to see that I want to share:

If there is a classic "reset to zero" moment in the game, I think it'd be cool if it was caused by Chai's arm basically self-destructing and failing due to planned obsolescence and Zanzo's supercharger. The part connected to his heart or whatever with the MP3 player is fine but the arm itself is so screwed up that the gang just can't salvage it, and the reset comes from Chai having to get a new arm without all of Peppermint's upgrades.

I think it'd be cool if the game opened up on or at least had hints to Chai, in between games, taking small but legitimate steps to his dream of being a rockstar. Maybe he's released like a small handful of work-in-progress tracks online or maybe even has one pretty decent single under his belt that did well for an indie musician. There's no way he's gonna become a full-on rockstar in between games that quickly but I think it'd be sweet if he was legitimately trying, on top of working with Vandelay as an ambassador.

The coffee machines at Vandelay STILL only put out decaf. That one robot's legacy will go on forevermore.

Peppermint and Korsica. c:

BATTLE-READY CNMN!

Zanzo making an epic return as he's the only guy who legitimately could've survived his defeat. Sure he got hit once and launched into a bunch of servers that exploded but like everyone else very clearly died while Zanzo could've maybe lived that, despite being a wuss. Maybe we get Punished Zanzo or something and he gets an actual fight on top of his Jojo posing.

Kale's obvious return. I mean, the Kale AI is right there in that basement and they left the plug there. Someone could just go in there and plug him back in and get SPECTRA 2 started. I think it'd be extremely funny though if an AI Kale fight was like a post-game only thing though, the entire main story happens and somehow the SPECTRA backup is just left there to rot the whole time until the gang are like, "Hey, y'know what would be funny?"

Photo Mode, but again, BUT MORE!

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

TTD - First Meeting 2/4

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 and end

Part 2, sequel of this. This Hero and Villain have now their own tag and masterlist.

*

Hero woke up and they didn’t like that very much.

The ground was hard under their head, and they winced. Their fingers unwillingly clenched and grasped some gravel.

Wait a minute. That meant they weren’t in a room. Not theirs, anyways. Come to think of it, where were they and what happened ? Their head hurt. They touched their forehead gently. There was no blood, and it looked like it was in its usual shape. Still, it hurt.

Maybe the next step was standing up, come to think of it. So they did. Stretching up, they clasped their tongue, trying to focus. It had been a while since they had felt this sluggish. They were in a little street. Okay. That was an important piece of information. So, they were going back from their last job (stopping a robbery, nothing serious) when – when – they forgot.

How could have they forgotten ?

They stayed still. Apart from them, there was no one in the street. Everything was quiet. And, possibly, very wrong. Something was missing. Hero was quite sure that it wasn’t a street before, but a dead end. What was blocking the way before was a two-storeyed building, full of people. Now it was... gone. It hadn’t been demolished or anything. There weren’t ruins or even rubble around. There just wasn’t a trace of it, as if it never existed. It was the right street though, and if they struggled very hard to remember, they were inside just before. There were just fragments of memories. A thief sulking in a corner, their hands tied up behind their back. A smile from an old lady. A warm cup of tea into their hands and the odor of the mint.

The next minutes were used to frantically search for the people who lived there, anyone. After a lot of swearing and some tears, they had to renounce. They sat on the ground, vaguely entertaining the idea of curling up and never getting up ever, when their phone rang.

“Are you okay ?” asked Other Hero. “There was an attack from Supervillain in your area.”

“Yes. Just where I was, in fact.”

“Oh shit ! How did you survive ?”

“I think my powers protected me. But a whole building is gone and I – I don’t understand what happened.”

“ It’s your first time with this guy, uh ? You’d better sit down, buddy, I’m gonna break it to you.”

Other Hero had that tone she always had when they passed their regular tests, just before obtaining the highest grades. Hero listened.

“His power is very simple, actually,” she declared. As you saw – or rather as you didn’t see - he can make things disappear. He only has to look at the zone, and everything is gone.”

“A whole building ? What about the people ?”

“I’m sorry, have I stuttered ? Gone.”

A drop of sweat slowly trickled down Hero’s forehead.

“I don’t see how I could fight that”, they finally said. Is there a way ? Has he got a weakness ?”

“Oh, you can’t. With your powers, that is. It’s best if you don’t try. At least you’re protected, but you haven’t got what it takes to bring him down.”

“You do.”

“Of course, but I’ve got my area to protect, you know. Tell you what though, I’ll call the agency and ask them if they can send you backup.”

“Thanks, but -”

They didn’t have the time to finish their sentence. Other Hero had hung up. Having backup was good, but with this kind of threat it couldn’t hurt to have a plan B.

The warehouse they had visited a couple of weeks ago was not far, and still standing. With a bit of luck, it was still Villain’s lair. Hero hadn’t come back since. It wasn’t as if this villain seemed like a serious threat anyway. Even the place itself wasn’t that threatening, past the first impression. So they opened the door without much thought, and because they were still dizzy, they walked on a button without noticing. They only had time to gasp and protect their head with their arms when a huge cage just fell right on them.

There was a series of clicks, and when they opened their eyes again, they were surrounded by heavy metal bars. Spotlights illuminated their trap one by one while a booming laugh resonated in the room:

“You’re mine now ! Miiiiine !”

A dark shape appeared at the end of the corridor. The spotlights were strong, but they couldn’t lighten it up. Light seemed to avoid the black silhouette.

“I knew you’ve come back to taunt me, nemesis, but that was your downfall ! See what I could do in your absence ! Tell me, prisoner, am I harmless now ?”

Hero didn’t answer. They were still staring at the darkness. Villain had to clear their throat to get their attention.

“I said ! Am ! I ! Harmless ?”

“Uh ? Oh, uh, yes. I mean, no – I mean – what was the question again ?”

A grunt of frustration came out of the silhouette:

“You are into my claws ! How can you not pay attention to every one of my words ? I am the master of your life – nay, the master of your very fate ! Be awed !”

“I kinda am.”

The shape stopped its walk:

“You – you are ?”

“Yes. Do you control shadows ?”

“Only mine, but as it is the best, I do not care what others could offer me.”

“ And yet you could darken this whole warehouse”, whispered Hero. “And all the buildings you go to. I suppose you can make it as big as you wish. That’s impressive.”

“Extremely. I’m glad you’ve finally come to your senses. Imprisonment quickly taught you some manners.”

“Actually, I didn’t come to fight you. I came for two things. A warning, first.”

“Ah, it is to laugh ! They’re nothing but a pitiful prisoner, a mere prey at my mercy, but still they try to rebel ! Such audacity.”

“Supervillain is here.”

“You have to be more precise.”

“The one who can make everything disappear.”

“...shit. I mean, curses !”

“And he’s here to stay if I don’t do anything to stop him.”

“So you want to beg for your freedom ? What if all of that was an outrageous lie to deceive me as a way to mock me once more? ”

“That’s the thing, Villain. Even if I were free, I couldn’t defeat him. I’m not powerful enough. That’s the second thing I wanted to tell you. I need your help.”

“ Excuse me ?”

“Supervillain needs to see to use his power. But if the whole area is in your shadow, he’ll be helpless.”

“A poor plan, if I might say so. I only need to cover his eyes to blind him.”

“If you succeed to find him first, that is.”

“That wouldn’t be a problem. If memory serves, he had an awfully tacky magenta suit, even flashier than your orange jacket. But wait ! Why should I listen to you ? Why should I expose myself to the cruel outside and the crueler sun ?”

“Your warehouse might be on his way. And that’s the kind of act that can grant you a pardon from the agency.”

The silhouette recoiled:

“I neither need nor want a pardon. I am a devious malevolent being of pure darkness and I intend to stay that way.”

Hero wiped his forehead. They were getting tired.

“Okay, fine. We’re running out of time. What do you want ?”

“For starters, I want you to kneel.”

Hero tilted their head, confused:

“Why ?”

“You know. To acknowledge my superiority and your defeat, all of that good stuff.”

“Oh. Okay, if you want.”

Hero politely obeyed while the laugh resonated once more:

“Yes...yes ! Muahaha I am the unflinching and unbowed victor of our perilous fight !”

“Uh-uh, sure. If there something else ? I think that we’re running out of time here.”

“Pledge your allegiance to me.”

“What ? But I’m a hero. I can’t.”

“Then I won’t help.”

Hero actually felt a twinge of remorse. That was a promise they were going to break, but then again, it was going to be made under duress.

“What would you make me do ?”

A moment of silence ensued.

“I don’t actually know”, admitted Villain. “It would be my first time someone would submit to me, I don’t go outside much. The very thought of another soul touching my tools and my creations makes even my dark soul shudder.”

“I could go shopping for you. This way you won’t have to scare citizens.”

“Using your own money to trade for the goods I decide you to get to sustain my mortal body ?” asked the voice which was suddenly a lot more cheerful.

“You really don’t like to go outside, uh ?”

“Hush, prisoner. It is decided, then. I shall fight this obnoxious magenta menace who…!”

Despite the heavy doors, a piercing scream from outside made them both start. Hero jumped on their feet.

“...And the sooner, the better.”

*

Sequel here

Back to These Two Dorks masterlist.

Or back to Hero x Villain Masterlist.

[the-writing-artist]

Updated List of AUs

All completed works can be found on my AO3, under the penname 'BlueAbzies'.

~Code Lyoko~

The Boy in the Computer: Jeremie and Aelita swap roles. Main story is DONE, side stories are WIP (titled 'The Girl From the Outside').

Echoes of a Different Life: Derivative of TBITC, where Michel and Sophie's plan with Lyoko healing Jeremie didn't work. WIP, planned for TGFTO.

The Stars In Your Eyes: Derivative of TBITC, where I make the Jerlita Sapphic like SAE as mentioned below. WIP, planned for TGFTO.

The Drifter: Derivative of TBITC, where Final Round goes differently, as XANA destroys Lyoko before Jeremie is devirtualized. WIP, planned for TGFTO and idea from Ani and their Gone Wrong AU.

Backup Programs: Derivative of TBITC, where a pre-evil backup XANA exists. WIP, planned for TGFTO and idea from Boxy.

Code: MEMORY: Aelita and Anthea swap roles; my beta reader helped me out a lot with this one. Has sequel tiled 'The Healing of Memory'. DONE, unless my beta reader gets more ideas.

The Missing Piece: Jeremie and Laura swap roles; an appreciation piece for all the work Jeremie actually does in the series. DONE, but planning a story with an alternate perspective.

Silver and Gold: Jeremie and Aelita are childhood friends and both get tangled up with Lyoko, in more ways than one. WIP.

Lyokowarrior Sissi AU: A world where Sissi actually followed Ulrich into Lyoko when she was first offered, replacing Yumi in the group. WIP, has no official title yet.

Sapphire and Emerald: A universe where Jeremie was born as a girl; Sapphic Jerlita basically. DONE.

Bridge Across the Milky Way: Yumi is the girl trapped within the supercomputer, Ulrich is the one who finds Lyoko, Jeremie is the kid with arguing parents, and Aelita is the one who has pressure from family, plus another swap or two. WIP, and coming along nicely thanks to my beta reader.

The True AI AU: A world where the revelation that Aelita is a human also includes Jeremie as the AI. WIP, has no official title yet.

The Best Kept Secret: Jeremie has a secret about his body, and Aelita ends up finding out what it is by accident. WIP.

~Fullmetal Alchemist~

For Hope, I'd Give My Everything: Roleswap between Edward and Alphonse, among others. Lots of angst, WIP.

Great Divide: Edward and Alphonse are parent-trapped in a modern universe, and there's a reason for things being this way. WIP.

The Space Between: Alternate ending to CoS where Edward stays in Amestris, and Alphonse has a secret. WIP.

~Kingdom Hearts~

Destiny's Embrace: Kairi wakes up in a strange new world where everything seems too perfect to be true. DONE, but may rewrite it.

Days Lost: Kairi grows up with the Wayfinder trio, and things happen differently according to her memories of them. WIP.

Destiny's Twist: The Kingdom Key goes to Kairi after Sora turns into a Heartless to save her in KH1. DONE, may add a sequel once KH4 comes out.

Overturning Fate: A ReMind AU where Xehanort gives Kairi the chance to save herself. WIP.

The Cycle of Fate: Ventus hides in Kairi's heart and the cycle of fate hits the Destiny Trio harder than in canon. WIP.

Don't Wake Me Up: Kairi is dragged into the whole Xehanort-induced nightmare mess too, branching off from DDD. WIP, but can be read on my AO3.

~The Outsiders~

Dawn Goes Down to Day: Pony wakes up the hospital only to find that everything he wrote in his theme was just a dream. WIP.

Shaken Up: Pony is jumped that day instead of Johnny. WIP.

So Eden Sank to Grief: Pony dies in the hospital instead of Johnny. DONE.

A Different Sunset: Dally and Johnny survive the events of the book. DONE, but may add another entry eventually.

Modern AU: Takes place in modern times and centers on the topic of the gang's mental health, starting with Pony's. WIP, but can be read on my AO3.

~Crossovers~

Code: MIRACULOUS: A world where the CL characters are placed in the world of Miraculous Ladybug, and Jeremie finds himself as the Guardian replacing Waldo/Franz after the man mysteriously vanishes. WIP.

Code: HEARTS: Lyoko falls to darkness in Kingdom Hearts 1, and XANA finds itself teaming up with Xehanort. WIP.

If you have any questions about any of these, feel free to send me an ask~

[cinelestial]

Godzilla Minus One Review:

You can tell by the amount of emotional storytelling and having us feel through the pain of Koichi Shikishima as he balances the struggle of defending his country and saving his life; that director Takashi Yamazaki has taken notes from his famed inspiration of the Star Wars franchise and truly made possibly one of the best Godzilla films in franchise history. This science fiction masterpiece clocks in at over 2 hours and every second of it was spent on the edge of my seat.

Kamikaze pilots became an addition for the Japanese military during the closing moments of the war in the Pacific. One thing that the film highlights is the beginning stigma of kamikaze pilots who decided to live either by choice or due to their planes mechanical failures. That is the historical context set up we get in the beginning elements of the movie as Koichi decides to land his plane on Odo Island despite his plane not suffering from any mechanical damage. We also see the first instances of Godzilla as the monster attacks and kills the majority of the mechanical workers on Odo Island sparing Koichi himself and Sosaku Tachibana.

Godzilla’s ruthlessness was felt throughout the entire film from the moment the monster attacked the crew on Odo Island to his absolute destruction of the Ginza neighborhood in Tokyo which was undergoing rapid development. The scene where Noriko hangs from the train pole for dear life as Godzilla rips the train in half was just wild.

One thing i really enjoyed about this film is the character development of Koichi. In the beginning of the movie, he decides not to fulfill his kamikaze duties but after realizing the immense sacrifices that many Japanese people (not only pilots) have endured during the war and the Godzilla attacks, he dedicates his life to his “impromptu family” and realizes that he is willing to sacrifice himself to create a “better world” for his “daughter” Akiko. Tachibana immediately sees that Koichi understands the immense toll that war has, how kamikaze pilots never had that choice to live and creates an eject mechanism so that Koichi can have that choice to live. You can see his facial expressions throughout the film start from being in fear to being determined to save Japan.

I also love that they gave Shiro Mizushima a moment of shine as he coordinates backup for Kenji Noda’s plan to sink Godzilla into the ocean floor. The theater was clapping! The movie was paced extremely well and used every part of its 2 hour runtime to tell its story. Did not feel like there were any fillers or unnecessary scenes. The ending also really does leave the viewers thinking about the many different ways and theories that the film may continue through a possible sequel. I know not all films need a sequel but Please give us a sequel!!

There are so many parts to this film that I can go into detail about that make this one of my favorite Godzilla films. This film only had a $15 million dollar budget and yet superseded many action movies made this year in the United States including the comic book movies in DC/Marvel well known for their $200 million dollar plus budgets. Studios should take note.

I highly recommend this film especially for those who may not be familiar with the Godzilla story who would like an introduction into the kaiju portrayal of monsters in Japanese films.

[hockeyspiral23]

The Backup Backup Plan

... I'll say as of now, but really probably the only thing that I've wanted to write to continue in The Backup Plan universe.

With Xaden Riorson off the market, Catriona Cordella needed her own backup plan. Enter Alic Tauri ...

[pleas3pretendimnothere]

Six more books this month! If I keep this up, I'll be barely able to meet my 52-books goal. The (short) Narnia books are my backup plan if I run out of time... Anyway, I read a lot of great stuff this month!

Piranesi

By Susanna Clarke - I've been looking forward to this read all year. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was my favorite book I read last year, and while Piranesi was not quite so huge and fantastical, it was still another outstanding project from Clarke. I loved this book.

Piranesi's best strength is the constant sense of foreboding. The narrator is childlike, his desires and endeavors so simple, they sometimes seem pathetic. Piranesi is naive but he isn't dumb. He seeks truth, and his naivete transforms a strange, cold, unwelcoming world into something magical, mysterious, and benevolent. This creates a peculiar sense of wrongness throughout the tale's beginning, and when truths slowly come to light, Clarke only further bends the reader's perception of Piranesi's world. Is it the world that is broken, or the men living within it?

The book somehow felt too simple, too quick, but nonetheless, I couldn't put it down. The main character is loveable, and the challenges he faced still haunt me. Even now, I get shudders, remembering the twists! Deeply psychological stuff! Everyone who loves a good mystery, maybe even horror, needs to read this one. BUY IT!

Sabriel

By Garth Nix - I'm a sucker for fantasy romance (very different from romantasy, btw). If the fantasy world is weird, and the romance is built from adventure and adversity, I'm game. This book...this is it...

LOVE Sabriel. Can't sing enough praises. We've got weird necromancy magic based on runes and a series of bells capable of varying archaic horrors. A weird fantasy world split in half. On one side, people are living in a happy and prosperous Ghibli world, on the other, they're fighting monsters and undead ghouls in a Souls game. There's a cat that is also a mind-devouring cosmic god. Cool. Then, children are thrown helplessly to the wilds as bait for bigger predators. It was Berserk, but for the girlies.

The romance was exactly what I like. Natural, built on friendship and trust, and low on the horniness scale (although Nix weirdly informs us that our male character is...cut....okay, I guess...). The adventure was dark and gruesome, as the central magic system is necromancy, so there was an unexpected element of horror in Sabriel. Nix pulls off a sinister sense of danger and risk that sustains itself from beginning to end. Characters die and are killed and brought back, and the ending! Bizarre, frightening, but endearing and clever. Loved it.

Cannot WAIT to pick up the sequels. This is my perfect book, no flaws, no notes. If you like sweeping romance and spooky fantasy, stuff like Howl's Moving Castle, BUY IT!

The Ship of the Dead

By Rick Riordan - I don't know how to review Riordan books. I don't know what to say. They're all carbon copies of each other with little distinct tweaks to an excellent formula. They're all good.

I mean it, I don't know what to say. The Magnus Chase series is good. Period. It's fun, it's weird, and this finale was especially dark. The dragon scenes were excellently scary! Throughout the rest of The Ship, I was laughing, I was gasping, I was having a wonderful ol' time. Period, no notes. Keep it up, Rick.

Don't sleep on these books, that's all. Read them, learn stuff, warm your heart, and repeat. Revolutionary series? No. But joyous and loveable? Absolutely. RENT IT!

Borne

By Jeff Vandermeer - I just ate so good this month. Sabriel was my perfect book, and so too is Borne. I am an insatiable devourer of dark romance. Thank you Jeff, god bless.

Weird is the best way to describe Vandermeer's projects. The Southern Reach trilogy played on evolution, madness, and legacy. It was freaky and exciting, and I knew after finishing it that I had to read more from Vandermeer. His mind is sometimes so impossible to comprehend. Borne came into my lap, and I zipped through it in no time. Why? Of course, because there's romance! I just can't put that shit down, I'm serious!!

This novel is quirky and silly at times, and then it quickly turns upsetting and dark at the drop of a hat. It's graphic and absurd, and the terror is masterfully written. Like Junji Ito, Vandermeer finds horror in the absurd. He takes a bear, a frightening predator, and says, what if it was really big? And it was flying? And it also used to be a normal man, but now its a fucked-up god? Silly, strange, but when written in the cosmic sense, as Vandermeer writes it, petrifying. The mundane becomes the macabre. Chef's kiss.

And a goopy, otherworldly, unfathomable monster? What if it was a child? What if it loved you, and you taught it to be kind, but it was still just a monster? Borne the character is so complex and fun and scary, and I think I won't ever to be able to forget how he made me laugh.

And I didn't even mention the romance, oh, the ROMANCE! Another perfect book. If you're into psychological horror and romance, this is for you. I'm talking fucked-up, NieR: Automata, SCP shit. Loved it so, SO much, BUY IT!

In the Time of the Butterflies

By Julia Alvarez - And now for something completely different! I read A Thousand Splendid Suns and told my friend I was a sucker for stories about the struggles of women in the world. She said, "Oh! I've got just the book for you!"

In the book's Afterword, Alvarez explains her intent to bring the struggles of the Dominican Republic to the English-speaking world. That English-speaking world is a bubble, after all, and it's a difficult one to penetrate. Growing up as an American, I knew almost nothing about the world south of America. I learned about Europe and China and North America, but I essentially thought South America was all one, big, same place. Africa, too. Of the Dominican Republic, even as an adult, I knew very little.

For that, I am most thankful to the book. Alvarez follows a fictionalized version of the Mirabal sisters, four sisters whom three of were martyred during the Era of Trujillo. While many of the events of book are dramatized, many surprising scenes are not. I was constantly fact-checking the events of this book, which lead to lots of time spent researching the history of the Dominican Republic. Before this read, I knew next to nothing about the country, and now, that's totally changed.

The book feels mournful from the start, as the reader knows these women are doomed. Nonetheless, each feels like a fully realized woman with personality and desires, hopes and sorrows. I only became emotional during the epilogue, when Alvarez details the impact of these four women following the murders. I genuinely felt I had watch three women die far, far too young, and I commend Alvarez for that.

Alvarez has accomplished a powerful, insightful novel about women and the Dominican Republic. The day of their death, I learned too, would become the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. That's kind of a big deal! It's a personal, emotional read, and I'd recommend it to any and all readers who want to understand a massive part of history in a quiet corner of the world. RENT IT!

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

By Brandon Sanderson - I am no stranger to Sanderson's work, but I knew almost nothing about his four "Secret Project" novels. Of them, this one attracted me the most because romance + fantasy = yippee!! Unfortunately...I sort of hated this book.

I love the Mistborn series. Really enjoyed The Way of Kings and Elantris. Adored Warbreaker. Again, I am quite familiar with Sanderson's cosmere and his style of writing. Yumi was akin Sanderson's modern Mistborn books--fun, but lackluster. Where Alloy of Law and its sequels are campy, Yumi is just embarrassing. I was cringing SO MUCH at Sanderson's constant need to explain away all the mystery of this book! Mystery is good, I kept screaming! Ask Nix! I don't need an explanation for every little thing! When he wasn't explicitly saying, "Yes, we are definitely in fantasy anime Japan," he was covering for all the plot-holes that OBVIOUSLY weren't really plot-holes! Plot-holes I hadn't even considered, until his quirky narrator served them up to me out of nowhere! Why? I don't know! I don't know!!!

Don't get me started on the Japanese-cringe. It really felt like a mediocre, forgettable anime. At one point early on, Sanderson attempts to explain what MUST be Keigo, and...oof. So wrong, so misunderstood! And why attempt putting fantasy Korea into the mix when hardly any effort was made to do so? Why not make both Japanese fantasy? WHY?!

I'm getting angry just writing this. The book had a lot of potential to explore cool ideas; a nobody from a technologically-advanced society ends up in a position of import in a foreign land, where everyone thinks he's someone he isn't. The possibility for conflict was ripe. What if Painter thieved Yumi's body? What if he attempted to split their connection and seize control? His own body had been stolen and reshaped! Wouldn't he be disturbed, upset? I wanted some kind of betrayal, I wanted anger and agency, but instead, our two main characters are instantly peas in a pod! Everything's cool, all the time! Painter's secrets are small and unimpactful, and while the twist of Yumi's world WAS more worthwhile, it somehow lacked drama? How? The twist was huge, why didn't it feel huge! It was Broken Age and Your Name, but worse. If there were stakes, I didn't care about them!

To describe this book in one word, I'd say disappointing. Don't read this. Watch Your Name, play Broken Age, but just...just don't read this. Waste of my time! SKIP IT!

[smilingangel582]

Since I got this.... hehehe I'll be writing a sequel now.

The villain strikes again! With backup...

King of the court or any sort of nickname doesn't bother him like it used to. Tobio Kageyama finds it rather a nonchalant aspect in his daily volleyball routine.

His passion to make it arouse this sense of happiness brought him to a rather obnoxious orange little guy who would annoy him to dust.

Now he just needs to set to him to they both are satisfied.

"You better concentrate, Kageyama... or the captain has something planned for you," Hinata's words brought a chill down his spine, recollecting the dares they've been doing, but specifically the captain permitting for round two.

Wearily, he began to set as many as he could to all the spikers.

None of them had forgotten Tsukishima's attack on him. Many looked like they were anticipating him to make a mistake to get his punishment.

Oh, that won't happen, never... he can't relive that again... nuh uh

He shivered now, taking a break by drinking some water. Kageyama's vision was clouded from exhaustion, particularly because he overdid his training, unlike the others... part of that was to be blamed on Tsukishima for tickling him to death.

He leaned back, now feeling his sweat beginning to bead.

"Kageyama~, you shouldn't let your guard down!" It was a sneaky voice from Nishinoya who had snuck up behind him fingers itching to get him. He straightened up and glared at the upperclassmen "Oi, Noya-san you can't do anything to me yet... its still practice..."

"Someone's dying for a play fight." Tanaka and Noya duo laughed at that, and this earned a blush, to be completely honest... he didn't mind, but he also dreaded the fact that this was against all of them and himself.

He hopes Daichi has some sort of empathy towards him... to stop them.

How was he wrong? Because he ended up digging his grave.

Constant pressure in mind made him give Hinata a set too high. In the end, the ball plopped down on the court with a silent echoing tone in depth. Reminding something sinister.

He heard cracking of knuckles and it was to his pure horror, Daichi, then the other responsible senpai-tachi (plural of senpais). They all had the looks of 'we'll teach a slow and painful lesson' and that was something terrifying.

In the end, he was at the receiving end, where Tanaka and Noya each grabbed a knee, squeezing them with pure merciless desires. Then Hinata is impatient to get the sweet death spot on his ribs. Ennoshita and Sugawara had the audacity to tease his ears and neck.

They were all on him, except Tsukishima (thankfully for Kageyama), Yameguchi, the managers and Daichi.

"Man messing with you is so fun!" Tanaka laughed getting the sensitive part of his calf muscles. This was bad... really bad, thought Kageyama, not only were they destroying they were teasing him like crazy... he wanted to crawl into a rock right this instant!

His cheeks were blossoming a colour of pink, almost from embarrassment. His giggles reached several octaves now. "Gahahaha nohoho Ihihihihi hahaha hate thihihis!"

Tsukishkma clicked his tongue "Ah... I can't watch, your doing it wrong..."

"Huh -whoa!" Hinata yelped when he was pushed to the side, the tall guy was now giving directions... Kageyama gawked with horror "Thehehehe hehehell yohohohou agahahahain scrahahahahwny bahahastard?"

"I wouldn't use that tone king, I'm really motivated unlike last time"

Last time he wasn't? Kageyama wanted to argue but a new painfully ticklish sensation passed through his nerves, he just felt like a wave of electric current pass down his limbs now curling as he freed his arms.

"I recently discovered the ribs also have a new switch... the bottom ribs give him an extra sensitivity... try it Hinata"

He was gladly gone but only with passing down his knowledge to his successor in overthrowing the king.

"AHAHAHA NOHOHO! AHAHAHAHAHA MEHEHEHERCY PLEHEHEHEASE! IHIHIHI GIVE! BOHOHOKE!

"Wow, you weren't lying... he got way louder than before..." it seems Daichi sees the limit in Kageyama and grabs the orange haired kid away from him."He pouted. "Aw I wasn't finished"

"Well... I suppose he needed a laugh or two... but i think it's a bit unfair to let him take the torment" Daichi said as he turned to Sugawara who was uneasy "W-why are you looking at me?"

Another tickle war broke and Kageyama could just stay away with his breath easing up to a normal pace. Tanaka was attacking Noya, Hinata enjoyed tormenting Yameguchi along with Tsukishima giving advice. Sugawara's childlike laughter was the spotlight while Ennoshita helped...

This was something no one could stop. Kageyama smiled...

[aiyexayen]

you NEED to tell me all your thoughts and the bts process of Everything You‘re Not Supposed To Do. and i know youre dabbling in a sequel so probably more like tell me Everything that has to do with this verse!!!! i NEED to know!!! the idea of this fic is so unique, i havent seen it anywhere else before! and its ingredients are so precisely and carefully mixed (as all your rarepairs are!) that im astonished its not ,, canon ,,

its such a cool set-up! lqq joining tianchuang, lqq seeking out siji manor years after qin huaizhang teaches her his disguise skills but finding an abandoned estate, han ying going from wariness to desire and affection for lqq! everything thats going on with zzs in the background and that we dont get to see!!!!!!! there are two moments of this AU that are burned into my mind—one is lqq reflecting on her own disappointment at finding what she hoped to maybe become her new home abandoned, the other is zzs realizing he has been outsmarted and giving in to his fate. idk why but these two moments moved me very deeply. the image of lqq taking qhz up on his invitation, but too late. finding only withered grounds, empty houses, dust. and then zzs surrendering to the fact that he has been outsmarted. that his two disciples turned what he taught them against him, that he lost because he, too, is human. the only reason they could outsmart him in the first place being that he let them so close to him, that he underestimated what he means to them, what they are ready to do for him. eugh!!!!! so good!!!

please ramble! i loved reading your thoughts re: The Only Place You Wanna Be! <3

ooouhoohoohooheehee i love this fic (Everything That You're Not Supposed To Do) and thinking about it and talking about it.

starting by dragging a point over from ao3 about having a difficult time believing zhou zishu would go that far in some of the scenes! because i actually had such a fascinating time myself playing with just how far i thought zhou zishu would go. how far would he push liu qianqiao and han ying? how hard would he make them work? as his lovers? as his subordinates? as the sole occupants of the venn diagram where those two circles overlap in such a complicated way. they're so *entangled.*

zhou zishu, of the infamously soft heart. zhou zishu, who knows this about himself and becomes colder and harder to compensate. zhou zishu, who murdered an innocent family down to the servants, down to a little girl he *knew* and cared about. zhou zishu, who drugged his san-shidi to keep him out of the way during that mission--to keep him safe from it--to keep him safe from the worst of tian chuang--to keep him safe from zhou zishu himself.

and i feel like the zishu in this story does a lot to keep both his family and his lovers out of the depths of his business, but while his family/sect he'll do more to protect, he *needs* his lovers to be able to protect themselves.

he'll go harder on them than anyone else because he needs them to be *the best*--no mistakes. no way they can be his weakness and vice versa.

or, at least, that's what liu qianqiao would tell you.

but a very delightful bit of ambiguity i have in this particular fic is pov. we never get zhou zishu's pov. *is* he so ruthless? how many backup plans on backup plans does he have? is he in the shadows after all, waiting to swoop in if they need him? does he retain much awareness and empathy for their humanity? has his own human fallibility projected inhuman standards on them to make himself feel safe, and it simply hasn't backfired yet? is it some jumbled mix of the above?

and! i love that we will never know. that, truthfully, we don't even need to.

anyway! all that was a big part of the bts process, sitting with zishu's character and his headspace in tian chuang, sitting with my pov characters and how i wanted to play with this perspective on it all.

and of course, as always, thinking about liu qianqiao. the idea that a choice that in another au might have been kinder to her than gui gu--to study further under qin huaizhang among the blossoms of siji shanzhuang--ends up merely being complicated in a different way.

something that still requires her to become the best at what she does, rise in the ranks, thrive in danger, make a home only out of the people she can trust.

going to gui gu ought to have her letting go of her obsessions and hurts, but it was never really good at what it wanted to be good at, this concept of second chances missing the mark with its meng po tang, and so it only let her steep in her hurts longer and let her grudges fester. meanwhile this other path both took her further away from the jianghu and required her to actually deal with her shit besides. there was enough of qin huaizhang's legacy, especially in some of the older members of siji shanzhuang that were definitely still around when she joined, to make that true.

i also like to think that in essence liu qianqiao's original choice set her up for more success, too.

in canon, in choosing to become a ghost, she chose to die in a sense, to stop living, but to become a ghost--a permanently frozen echo of the life she had lived up to that point, of the things that killed her.

because humans be human, she went on to still form relationships and find new purpose to an extent. but she didn't necessarily actively expect or want to, and her very identity as a ghost required her to always have the clinging cobwebs of her past laid over everything she did and planned and wanted.

but in choosing to go after qin huaizhang, she was *choosing* to live. she decided that she still had the capacity to be a person, to heal, to find meaning in living. and even if that road took her first to disappointment and then to tian chuang of all places, it still took her somewhere. and she was ready to embrace whatever it was she found.

i have a fondness for canon liu qianqiao and her role as yan gui and her relationship with luo fumeng and xie-wang and her tortuous journey through the weeds with yu qiufeng, trying to sort out and settle these matters that weighed on her too long in her state of self-imposed death.

but i'm also *so* compelled by a liu qianqiao, with all her passion and ambition and cleverness and *care*, who chose to live in that one crucial moment instead. and i just wanted very badly to see her reaction to and influence on a zhou zishu who was rapidly approaching his own choice on that matter.

anyhow! i am indeed working on a sequel to this fic. i haven't fully decided if i want to try another 5+1 things format for it, or if i want to explore zhou zishu's pov as well, or what.

but it will pick up right where the first one leaves off, with all the dramatic fallout of liu qianqiao's plan.

here's hoping it doesn't take too long to actually write 😅

[qlala]

tagged in this @ao3commentoftheday WIP post by the wonderful @crestfallercanyon, with whom i absolutely agree: sometimes a work in progress wednesday can be a friday, too <3

serendipitously, i couldn't sleep last night and ended up working on my sequel to my coldflash undercover-at-a-rave fic, "black on black," for the first time in a while!

this is a bit more than a snippet, but i was enjoying myself too much :) hopefully this isn't a piece i've shared before!

~~~

Barry slid his gaze back to him on an unimpressed look that only put Len in a mind to wipe it off his face. “Are we really going through this again? I’m here to stop the meta. You’re not—”

“Supposed to be here,” Len repeated, rolling his eyes. “Thought you’d be grateful. Always telling me what a good man I am, and now…” He spread his arms and turned a slow circle on his heel. “Here I am. Offering to help.” 

“Uh-huh,” Barry said. “And you don’t have any selfish reasons to want the CCPD to stop the warehouse raids out here?”

He was clever; Len would give him that. But he was also easily flustered, and Len diverted easily with another slow once-over that ended on the leather harness crossing Barry’s chest and drawled, “One or two.” 

It worked like a charm. Barry crossed his arms and glanced away again, but the tops of his cheeks darkened in the shadows, and his gaze wasn’t nearly as stern as he was trying to make it when he looked back at him. “Are you really planning on helping this time?”

Len tilted his head with polite disbelief. “Call keeping you from getting whammied last week ‘not helping?’”

Barry dropped his arms, exasperated. “Leonard.” 

“That little blonde number is starting to interfere with my life one way too many. I have a… vested interest in keeping their body count from getting any higher.” 

Barry visibly weighed believing him for a moment, as if he had better options for backup, then nodded, once, decisively. 

“We have have a name for them now,” Barry offered. “Some kids have caught on to what’s happening, and they’re trying to find the meta. Like, on purpose. They’re calling them…“ He shook his head, with an expression that told Len that he had clearly lost an argument at some point, then he tossed a hand out in defeat. “The 'angel of the rave scene.' Cisco has been making Phantom or the Opera jokes all week, but…” He shrugged. “‘Angel’ kind of stuck."

It was a lot of charming information that Len hadn’t asked for and didn’t care about, and he told Barry as much. 

“You wanted to help,” Barry reminded him. “If you hear someone mention it inside, you should know who they’re talking about.”

He was right, but one part of that sentence had stood out to Len, making his nose wrinkle in distaste. “Inside?”

~~~

Inside was exactly as bad as Len had remembered: oppressively hot, deafeningly loud, and sticky. The air was even thicker with fog machine smoke than the time before, and Len had a passing thought that he should’ve brought an oxygen mask. He’d come somewhat prepared, though; along with the pistol in the back of his jeans, he’d brought his least favorite jacket in case Barry decided it was a tactical decision to rid him of it again. 

Barry didn’t make him wait long on the stripping front. They skirted the crowd that time, hanging close to the edges where it was a little cooler, but Barry still shrugged out of the patterned shirt he was wearing unbuttoned over that goddamn harness as they went.

Len’s attention snapped back from scanning the crowd. He watched the shirt slide off one shoulder as Barry pulled an arm free, then the next, but didn’t waste a moment watching it drift to the ground. Because the muscles in Barry’s back were far more worth looking at, shifting lean and powerful in the strobing light and reminding Len how it had felt to have them under his hands. 

The sharp shadows cast by Barry's shoulder blades crossed with the stark lines of the harness, which was calling to Len stronger than every cigarette in the building. There were two rings on the back, one on each side where the straps from over his shoulders and under his arms met the strip of leather across the back. It suggested a matching set in the front that must’ve been covered up by the offending shirt, and Len didn’t stop himself from putting the toe of his boot down, hard, to catch Barry’s heel on his next step. 

Barry twisted to look back at him with an offended little frown that Len couldn’t have cared less about. Because Barry’s movement had given him the confirmation he’d been looking for: the same dark straps and matte o-rings on the front, framing Barry’s chest in a way that was borderline obscene. 

Christ, want wasn’t a strong enough word. Len’s skin was prickling with it. He was of half a mind to leave the job for another day, skip the glitter-bombed bathroom and just take Barry back to one of his safe houses from the start. Hell, tell Barry to take them back to his place instead, let him find out how hard it was to get eyeliner out of pillowcases—

It was a stupid thought and all the reminder that Len needed to remember which head he was supposed to be thinking with. Leave the job for another day? He had six and a half million dollars in untagged cars sitting in a warehouse three blocks away, delivered the day before the CCPD's raids had started. His contact was getting jumpy—wouldn’t move them, didn’t want them to stay—and he was starting to make noise about Len getting Mick to just take care of the inventory. 

So no, Len didn't have another day, much as he might wish that he did. He gave Barry a smirk for tripping him up instead, accepted the exasperated look he got in response, and followed him deeper into the warehouse. 

Not that it ended up taking them much longer to find 'Angel,' in any case. Wasn’t hard, when a glance up at the stage found the kid perched on the edge of the DJ’s set-up, bleached-out hair full of glitter and reflecting back every flash of the colorful lights that throbbed over the crowd. 

Unfortunately, Angel didn’t have any trouble finding them, either. Because when Len tracked his gaze back up from where Angel was bouncing one long leg to the beat of the blaring music, they were looking right back at him. 

Angel's gaze slid to Barry, and their smile went hazy and beatific before they looked back at Len. They lifted one hand and wiggled their fingers in coy greeting. Then, when Len didn't wave back, they turned their hand over, palm side up, and crooked one finger in an unmistakable come hither gesture. 

Len caught Barry’s arm to stop his forward momentum. (It took a heroic amount of restraint to not grab him by the back of the harness instead, not that Barry seemed to notice or care). When Barry started to turn again, Len indicated the stage with a lift of his chin and pushed in close enough to be heard over the music.

“We’re being summoned.”