#so she's trying to fix things by acting as the ninja's spy

[nin-jay-go]

thinking about alterline's harumi. she's not really doing so hot

[fancyfade]

Okay so. Very long set of notes after having read all of Ra's and Talia's appearances from the first appearance (including Dr Darrk's prelude stuff) to Bride of the Demon. (Ra's, Talia, Bruce)

..

These are notes on the means the League used to kill people, motives of League of Shadows employees, and League bases

League's means:

Trained attack dolphins

attack leopards

Trained assassins, in the beginning they seem to be specialisty in certain weapons? Like we have one knife fighter guy who has knives held between his toes for some reason, one sling guy, assassins who use poisoned claws and tetsu bishis, poisoned blow darts

group of "The finest assassins on earth" who beat up batman with sticks. the finest assassins on earth are the closest i can think of to them having ninjas so far in that they wear identical black uniforms that cover most of their faces. however they are not referred to as ninjas.

we see a lot of men with guns (no ninja outfits yet) in batman 232

underwater assassins

The league of shadows has many unique types of serums or drugs that affect people including mind-erasing-serum and hallucination gas (which seems to let people see specifically what you want IDK how it works), sedative lipstick, a healing salve

Talia has trained pet snakes

there is a special gun that goes off w/ body heat and auto aims itself

Ra's uses ionized gas invented by vasco markewitch to knock out communications and make citizens sleepy. Characterization notes: this implies he cares about limiting collateral damage somewhat

The league hires a supervillain illusionist, tzin, to kill batman in 'Tec 477

a spy for LoS is in LoA in 'tec 485.

The League of Assassins (not working for Ra's, working for Sensei at this time) place bombs in a fault line to try to cause assassination via earthquake.

when written by marv wolfman: Mutates, which are mutated humans who are super strong who seem to be only able to fulfill orders and are not written as if they have free will of their own.

on infinity island, ra's has some floaty orb thing that can capture people. IDK how it works at all

Ra's starts a secondary cult in Batman Annual 8 (

giant murder machine that reacts with an agent distributed into the water

Batman 400 by Moench: using the rogues of gotham as a bargaining chip (releasing them from prison and then offering to help imprison/kill them). The gotham rogues also kidnap people important to bruce ot use as hostages under ra's' orders. The demands are to rescue gordon and his cops from the people who just kidnapped them (also under ra's' orders).

Hostage taking is used again under a different writer: Mike Barr has Ra's take Tim and Alfred hostage in bride of the demon. Ra's says the stakes are high enough that he will do what he must do, rather than what he wishes he would do.

mini cameras on bruce and dick's buttons and belts of costumes

Ra's immerses himself in a lazarus pit while healthy to try to amp up his body and have the strength of 10 normal men. (Batman 400)

Bride of the Demon (Mike Barr again): ra's' has a plan to 'fix' the hole in the ozone layer. He has some ozone that will 'self-replicate' (aka turn oxygen into ozone once it gets to critical quantity idk how). This will in the lower atmosphere act as a greenhouse gas, raising temperatures, farmlands would become dust belts incapable of producing harvest, seas will rise as volume expands and flood coastal cities. He says the greenhouse effect will be devastating but overtime the earth's ecosystem will return to normal, but the ozone hole is more important because of the ultraviolet light – humans shall die but plankton will also die and that is the source of the food chain

talia leaves a microdot on carmody's fingernail when shaking his hand (she is disguised as fawn zbrignew) to contact him without alerting anyone else.

The league airplanes have bombs capable of being detonated by remote control

League of Shadows employees characterization:

'Tec 411: The assassins run when outmatched

Ubu is super into making sure you respect Ra's.

lurk is a big guy who seems to temporarily replace ubu. He also hates Batman and blows his mission (to stop sensei's guys from getting something during the LoA vs LoS war) to try to beat up Batman.

a lab assistant named striss tries to kill ra's and steals molybdenium 5 to sell it. (EDIT: OK it was a compound that renders molybdenium 5 weak he stole)

There was a very bad plotline where a guy felt like he owed a life-debt to ra's b/c ra's saved his life and then changed that to batman b/c batman saved his life.

Talia hires Scrag Donovan (a criminal guy + crew)

vasco markewitch, a scientist who figured out how to convert gems into pure energy, seems to be working with Ra's in DC special series 15

the spy who has poisoned blow darts implies he assassinated an ambassador at some point.

saltzer (one of ra's' minions) shoots talia on accident when she is working with bruce in wolfman's plotline and ra's kills him.'

Batman 400: ra's' minions seem worried of his health and say he should flee to fight another day. Ra's says if they suggest it again he will kills them

Ra's had a trusted lieutenant, Landar, who had been blessed with a son and he had made Ra's the godfather. Ra's said that he cared for the son when his parents were out on missions.

a chemist who was working for ra's betrays him and sells to penguin a chemical that breaks down the liver and kidneys that won't work on bodies w/ lots of testosterone. the scientist is terrified that ra's will come after him and wants more money than penguin initially promised

There is an implication shard gets punished for killing the guy he was sparring, he says “how many nights in the box for killing this one, Grind?”

Shard also kills himself when he starts to lose a fight against batman which is like... wut.

ra's presumably pays his guys – he offers 1 million dollars to the guy who captures batman

League of Shadows Base locations:

Mount Nanda Devi (Batman 232)

There is a base in the desert but the writers do not refer to where. this is possibly in the sahara in north africa as another comic by the same writer (Denny O'neil) says Ra's has a base there.

Infinity Island (which is an island in the indian ocean)

Ra's has a base in the Amazon rainsforest (bride of the demon)

Base in antartica

[shuttershocky]

hihi, if is not much, can you please summarize what happened on Darknights Memories? Or maybe point to a summary of it? Cause i had the worst possible idea to take some time away from ak right around the event and now i go a little crazy with all the random lore i see from your posts that referenciate the event somehow.... also, maaaany thanks for your ak posts, theyre always a delight to read!!

Hi there!

Darknights Memoirs was an extremely lore-heavy event, closer to being Chapter 6.5 than an event really. While there are many, many, many things to cover, I'll try to summarize the most important parts.

this will be a rather long post

W is a young Sarkaz girl who killed the original W, a mercenary in Kazdel. The mercs the first W ran with all had a bounty on their heads, and W intended to collect them. Realizing there was no way she could defeat the original W's comrades (Hoederer and Ines) however, she joined up with them instead as the new W.

It is sacred tradition among Sarkaz that when you pick up a fallen Sarkaz warrior's weapon, you assume their identity, with all of what that entails. W killed the original W and took his weapon, therefore she is W now.

Ines is a psychic, while Hoederer is an extremely capable fighter. Though they and W don't get along too well, they stick together for years.

Some time later, W, Hoederer, and Ines are hired to protect a caravan coming from Rim Billiton, which supposedly unearthed a massive, ancient landship.

The three are attacked and nearly killed by elite Sarkaz soldiers working for the Kazdel leader, Theresis. They are rescued by the landship's owner, who is an extremely powerful Sarkaz Warrior. The Sarkaz Warrior turns out to be Theresa, the deposed King of Kazdel and Theresis' sister.

Theresa welcomes them into the landship, which she calls Rhodes Island. Her organization is called Babel, whose goal is the emancipation of the infected. W becomes fascinated by Theresa the moment she lays eyes on her, and begins following her around to see what the former King of Kazdel is really like.

Theresa is a goofball and can barely fix an automatic door even with Closure helping her. Her two assistants however, are much more serious. Kal'tsit runs Babel's medical mission and W sees her as a bitch. Doctor runs all tactical operations, and W, Ines, and Hoederer are terrified by them.

Ines describes Doctor as some terrifying kind of unknown being, one who cannot see other people as people. The entire Sarkaz Civil War is just some sick game for them, and all people are only chess pieces. At the end of the day, Doctor exists in their mind as the only "real" person, with everyone else just a piece to be packed away once the game's all over. Despite this however, Theresa vouches for them with absolute trust.

W also meets an 11 year old Amiya in raggedy clothes. She works as Kaltsit's assistant, but is otherwise just a little kid allowed to live inside the landship.

Some time later, having successfully escorted Babel through Kazdel, Hoederer says its time for them to leave. They part ways in decent terms, and Hoederer gets the mercs their next job as Theresis' agents.

Close to three years pass, in that time the Rhodes Island landship is attacked, Theresa is killed, the Doctor goes missing, and the Babel operators are scattered to the wind. W is not a part of these events.

The Usurper King of Kazdel dreams of a Kazdel becoming a politically powerful nation, but the only way for a war-torn country of the hated Sarkaz to be able to do that, would be if all its neighbors were brought down to its level. Hearing of an Infected uprising inside Ursus called Reunion, Theresis sends his men to aid them and bolster their numbers, hoping to stir up conflict in other nations.

Hoederer, Ines, and W work for Talulah, with Ines noting that Talulah isn't exactly Talulah. There's a shadow behind her that only Ines can see, and it terrifies her. This foreshadows the Deathless Black Snake of Chapter 8. Theresis also sends Garcin, a Sarkaz warrior who was part of the elites that nearly killed the three mercs years earlier before Theresa scared them off.

Patriot talks with the three Sarkaz, noting that he too mourns Theresa's passing, and wonders how the old country is doing. Decades before, Patriot took his whole clan out of Kazdel because he did not see a future in Kazdel's endless wars. Unfortunately for him, he ended up going to Ursus right when it was on the verge of becoming Terra's single biggest war machine.

Chernobog happens. Babel has reformed as Rhodes Island under Amiya's new leadership, and clashes with Talulah's Reunion among the ruins of the city. Seeing her chance to get revenge on Garcin and make herself Theresis' only link to Reunion, W secretly meets with her former Babel comrade Scout whose team has already been massacred by Reunion, and strikes a deal with him. Scout must go alone and kill Garcin and his entire squad by himself, and in exchange, W makes sure Doctor makes it out of the city alive.

Recognizing it was a suicide mission but also the only way Doctor could make it out of Chernobog when everything went to shit, Scout takes the deal. This is also why we see Scout make a farewell letter to the one Vanguard operator in Operational Intelligence, the same one who spies on Hellagur and Patriot's meeting.

Garcin sees Scout approaching his team and asks for the lone warrior's name to know who could possibly be this stupid. Scout gives it, but not before saying that he's already won.

Scout singlehandedly kills Theresis' entire elite Sarkaz team, including Garcin. A very heavily injured and dying Scout nearly kills Ines as well when she finds him making it out of the ruins, but she's saved by Hoederer who finally kills Scout. Hoederer calls Scout an old friend and tells him to rest easy. Later it is shown in Chapter 8 that W lies and takes the credit for killing Scout, possibly to impress Theresis, as Scout was a living legend in Kazdel and one of the last of its renowned stealth masters (dude was basically a ninja)

As seen in Chapter 1, W upholds her end of the deal and lets Doctor escape. Realizing that some of the Sarkaz warriors have betrayed her, Talulah suspects Ines and has her killed.

Hoederer is shaken and leaves Reunion, returning to Theresis who is now in Victoria. W is now the sole leader of Reunion's Sarkaz warriors, just like she planned.

Hoederer and his unnamed assistant (possibly Ines who faked her death) report to Theresis. Instead of killing him for running away, Theresis is satisfied enough by the trouble that Reunion caused and places Hoederer under house arrest with him inside their little Kazdel embassy in Victoria. We are also introduced to the main manager of Theresis' affairs, the Confessarius. The previous Confessarius (possibly the one who worked with Theresa) is Operator Shining.

Hoederer explains to their assistant that this is basically perfect, because now they can easily spy on Theresis' movements. Hoederer unveils a machine they can use to send messages to any of Kazdel's old communication towers, which W now has total control of.

The end of Darknights Memoirs shows that W has been acting as a triple agent (thus all the Revolver Ocelot jokes). She's double-crossing both Talulah and Theresis, because her heart and loyalty have been with Theresa all this time. Knowing that Theresis almost certainly was involved with his sister's death, W worked to make Theresis rely on her more and more, just so she can be close enough to kick the chair from under him when the moment is right.

We last see W in Chernobog helping a pair of kids survive in the ruins. One of them has picked up a sword from a dead Sarkaz warrior to defend herself with. W tells the young boy what it means to pick up a fallen Sarkaz’s weapon.

This ritual is very important to note, because the leading theory about the sole reason Rhodes Island is being led by a 14 year old girl, is that Amiya was the first one to reach Theresa and pick up her sword. 

[shinobis-of-ninjago-au]

Shinobis of Ninjago

Pilot 2: Ruler of Shadows

Prologue Pilot 1 (Pilot 2, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 ), Episode 1

After retrieving the Staff of Illusions from the Forest of Second Glances, they set off for the next weapon; the Whip of Technology. The whip hadn't been created at the same time as the rest of the Golden Weapons, making it a special case. The First Spinjitzu Master realized that with all the new innovative ways the people of Ninjago were doing things, she needed a new weapon to control the element so things never got out of hand in the future. An untraditional weapon for an untraditional element.

The whip was located in the Eastern Mountain ridges. The ninja found it strange for a weapon with such technological power to be hidden in such a remote spot, but knew better than to question Mystake.

Nya hummed from her spot pulling the Horse Carriage, her teammates huffing beside her. "I spy something green." She said.

They had started a game of I-Spy a while ago as a way to pass the time. The others had grown tired of it and instead chose solitary silence.

Seeing that no one was going to answer her, Nya sighed, shoulders slumping as she too, retreated to silence. Before, when it had just been the three of them, they had no problem making conversation. Now that Skylor was with them, things were tense.

"So, Skylor, I know ya don't like talkin' 'bout it, but how did Mystake find you? Ya don't seem like one who would become a ninja willingly." Nya was shot a deadly glare from the red-haired girl. "I-I mean, we all had something we wanted to fix in our lives, but by the way you are so focused on saving your brother, ya seem like ya had a good life before it happened."

Skylor sighed, rolling her shoulders. "I did. There was nothing wrong with the way we were living. Shipments would come in once a month and we would make good money everyday. We had good neighbours and grew a lot of our own food so we didn't have to walk into town all the time.

"Then the skeletons came looking for that estúpida map and their leader, Lady Misako, or whatever, said to take my brother. That's the only reason I'm here. As soon as he's safe I'm leaving."

"He's a year younger than you, right? He should be able ta' take care of himself until ya get there." Nya said, trying to cheer her up.

"I don't know, Nya. The Skeleton Army is very ruthless. If they believe he holds useful information, I fear what they might do to him." Pixal said.

"Uh, yeah, how about a change of topic." Seliel offered, noticing how Skylor tensed up. "It's almost noon, we can take a break once we get over this ledge."

Minutes later, they stopped, leaning the Horse Carriage up against a tree as they settled down to a light lunch. After not having breakfast for fear of the meal resurfacing, they were more than eager to eat something.

Seliel finished first and decided to re-pack the Horse Carriage, making sure everything was packed down tightly. Digging through her bag to make sure she had everything, she pulled out the map and a compass. Spreading the map out of the ground, she laid the compass in the upper left corner. Seliel frowned, tapping the compass and humming.

"What's wrong?"

Seliel looked over her shoulder, seeing the konran. "I don't know." She answered. "We're supposed to be heading North-East, but the compass is acting up." She gestured to the compass on the ground, its needle spinning around rapidly.

"That would be the whip's doing." Pixal answered as she came up beside them. "It scrambles any devices that might help locate it, much like the Staff casting illusions to confuse those who pursue it."

"If Mystake knows where it is, why isn't she leading us?" Skylor asked. "I'm not looking forward to getting lost."

"Mystake's reasoning is sometimes questionable." Pixal muttered. "She means well, but sometimes her teachings can be hard to follow, especially if they come out of the blue."

"The most powerful move in spinjitzu can only be accomplished when multiple elemental masters combine their spinjitzu." The ninja looked with confusion to where Mystake was standing. She smiled and motioned for them to start loading the carriage again.

"What happens when they're combined?" Nya asked, picking up a bag and tossing it in the back.

"The Tornado of Creation." Mystake replied. "The power to create something, out of nothing. But, be warned, if done incorrectly, it can have disastrous consequences. All beings must have a connection to one another, a bond strong enough that their physical forms will not be destroyed."

Not knowing how to follow that, the four stayed quiet as they loaded up the Horse Carriage and began their ascent of the mountain once more. When the sun began to get low in the horizon, Mystake told them to stop.

"Is something wrong, Master?" Pixal asked.

"No, we are here."

After helping Mystake dismount, the ninja followed her as she led them over the summit of the mountain into a valley of some sort. At the bottom, there lay a tall, windowless tower made of ivory. It was quite beautiful, with ivy crawling up the walls and a flower field surrounding the bottom.

When they reached the flowers, Mystake stopped walking, motioning for her students to go on without her. "You will find the whip at the top of the tower. I will be waiting at the Horse Carriage."

Without any further information, she sent them on their way. Finding large oak doors, Seliel and Nya pushed them open, the groan of unused hinges echoing through the tower. Once inside, Nya pulled out her flashlight, shining it along the walls. An ivory staircase circled the tower, disappearing into the shadows overhead. The walls were covered in gold markings, carvings of the history of the creation of the whip, starting from how it was created to how it was sealed within the tower.

"Well," Seliel began. "Let's get climbing."

The four began to climb the staircase, Nya's flashlight shining off the carvings, educating them all on the life of the Golden Weapons, a tale never before told in such detail. When they reached the landing at the top, they paused. They had to bend over in order to stand on the landing, for the ceiling was close. Pixal fingered her way along the ceiling until she found a crevice.

Pushing on the stone, it began to move slowly, but upwards nonetheless. Dust filled Pixal's nose as she gave one final shove, the stone slab coming loose, falling to the other side of the ceiling. It left a hole in the roof, maybe three feet by three feet. Crawling through, the ninja gasped in amazement at what they saw.

The whip was floating coiled in the air, a marble dragon statue lay curled around it--protecting it.

Pixal cautiously stepped forward. Pulling out a thick cloth, similar to the one they used to wrap the staff, she draped it around the whip, the golden light disappearing.

She turned back to her teammates and smiled, though it wasn't visible beneath her mask. Their expressions were very different from hers, a look of fear in their eyes as they pointed behind her with shaky hands.

Turning around slowly, the kanchō realized the marble dragon statue was gone, instead, a silver dragon stood in front of her. It's neck long and wings stretched out, showing off a leathery, metallic purple membrane.

The dragon huffed, blowing hot air into Pixal's face. She began walking backwards until she reached her teammates. Not wasting anymore time, they all jumped through the hole in the ground and began running down the staircase, the furious roars of the dragon getting fainter with every step.

Bursting through the doors, they raced through the flower field, not caring if the tower doors were left open. Climbing the hill to the summit of the mountain was slower going, but no one slowed their pace, wanting to get as far away from the dragon as possible.

The only time they stopped to catch their breath was when they reached the Horse Carriage. As she said, Mystake was waiting for them, unsurprised by their breathless state. She took the weapon from Pixal, laying it next to the staff. Not waiting for the ninja to relax or receive an explanation, she placed herself in the Horse Carriage, motioning for the girls to pick up and continue the search for the next weapon: the Trident of Water.

------------------------------

After securing the Whip of Technology, the five set out across the continent for the western shore. It was where most of the population lived, as there were not as many mountains and the capital was close. Unfortunately, the ninja did not get to see the capital as they had more important things to do.

Mystake decided that it was best if they find a more remote beach—one that was not crowded with people—to retrieve the weapon. After many miles of pulling the Horse Carriage through sand, they reached a part of the beach that was mostly hidden from prying eyes.

Pulling the carriage to the top of a bluff, the four donned the scuba gear they had rented and were debriefed by Mystake. Climbing down the bluff, they walked across the sand and waded into the water. Pulling on their masks, they dove under the waves.

Nya led, looking back occasionally to see her teammates either playing with fish or swimming away from them.

Pixal noticed her staring and apologized. 'Sorry, they are just so pretty. I didn't see fish like this up North.' She signed.

Seeing that Seliel wasn't going to be any help with her fear of fish, Nya swam over to her. 'Why don't you and Pixal stay here on lookout? I'll go get the trident with Skylor.'

Seliel nodded and moved over to Pixal to fill her in on the new plan, and to get some protection from the fish. Nya waved Skylor over and the two took off, each pulling out a waterproof flashlight. After a few minutes, they started to find chunks of stone that soon morphed to entire pillars and walkways. After five more minutes, they stumbled upon a structure that was almost fully intact. It was like a gazebo, but it had no roof. It was beautiful, with pillars and arches, seaweed climbing up the structure.

Swimming through an arch, the two turned off their flashlights, gazing around as the trident cast distorted light on the stone pillars. Nya went forward, grabbing the trident and holding it above her head triumphantly.

Before either of them could make a move, the seaweed started rustling. Unwinding from the pillars, it began weaving together. Skylor and Nya watched in amazement and terror as the final strands of the plant wove into place. The seaweed faded into deep teal scales, ocean blue eyes staring at them as a long tail swished back and forth.

As soon as the dragon let out its first roar, Nya had located the button on the contraption attached to her back.

When Mystake had recruited her, she had asked Nya to perfect her underwater jet pack and make three more. She had supplied Nya with every material and tool she needed. Now she knew why.

Pressing the button, she shot upwards, Skylor following soon after. Shifting their weight, they steered over towards Pixal and Seliel. They zoomed past them and the two looked after them with confusion before the roars from the dragon reached their ears. Turning on their jet packs, they followed Nya and Skylor to shore. Once their feet were on the sand, they shut off the machines, running across the beach and to the bluff.

Climbing the cliff was slow going, especially in flippers and soaking wet. Eventually they made it to the top where Mystake was sitting, waiting for them. She smiled, took the weapon from Nya and they were off again.

[charlie-pippin-faraday]

House of Anubis characters playing Among Us

I know the Among Us fad is over, but I was thinking about this today, so I figured I’d speculate what I think all the HOA characters would do if they all played Among Us, both as crewmates and the imposter

Nina - She is somehow always finding bodies. She's that person who finds and reports them every time so it makes people sus. However, she is terrible at lying, which saves her on this part. This game stresses her out sometimes; every time someone dies she feels guilty that she hasn't found the imposter yet. She wants to help people, meaning sometimes her tasks fall by the wayside. She will also drop everything to go and fix the sabotages immediately, meaning it's often easy for the imposter to trap her and murder her. As the imposter, she's fond of the self-report, mainly because she overthinks it and thinks this is the best strategy to cover up. However this is where the whole "terrible at lying" thing backfires on her, because she will self-report and then can't lie her way out of it.

KT - Everyone always thinks she's the imposter, and she doesn't help herself out because she's horrible at defending herself. And no one believes her when she says she's caught somebody in the act. However, when she IS the imposter, she doesn't last very long because she's terrible at lying and coming up with an alibi for herself.

Mick - He's the first one dead every time. Very slow at tasks. Card swipe is his enemy. And when he's the imposter, he's always caught within the first murder or two. He's not very good at this game.

Eddie - Never does one single fucking task. He's out here to be a hero and run around and catch the imposter, but he constantly forgets that doing the tasks is important to winning. The tasks are also his downfall as an imposter. He has a pretty good time at the murdering part, but he is very reckless about it, and he doesn't know the name of any of the tasks so when someone questions him he gets caught in his lies when he makes up fake tasks.

Willow - Everyone TRIES to kill her because she always leaves herself incredibly vulnerable, but she somehow narrowly avoids death every time. When the imposter is coming for her, she always turns the other way, or someone else enters the room at the very last second. However, she trusts people and believes the best in them, which sometimes ends in her unwittingly vouching for the imposter. She is an absolutely terrible imposter herself, though. She almost never murders people, and when she does, she almost immediately admits guilt and apologizes.

Fabian - This man loves his TASKS. He sees his list of tasks and he is determined to do them no matter what. The sabotages stress him out, but he's able to handle it well. Gets mad at the people who don't do their tasks (*cough cough* Eddie *cough cough*) because if you guys just did your tasks we wouldn't even NEED to argue about who's the imposter, we would just win. Being so focused on the tasks does sometimes get him murdered, though. He's also surprisingly good at being the imposter, mainly because he knows the tasks and map inside out and he's able to come up with convincing lies about where he was and what he was doing. No one ever suspects him, either.

Alfie - King of "wrong place wrong time." Very often he finds a body and then someone walks up on him standing over it. Sometimes he can talk his way out of it, and sometimes he can't. He's also deathly terrified of being murdered; oftentimes he runs away when another person comes near him. Additionally, when he's the imposter, he's less interested in murdering and sabotaging and MUCH more interested in the vents. He LOVES the vents, it makes him feel like a ninja or a spy. Spends the entire time in the vents. Most of the time when he gets caught it's not due to a murder, it's because someone saw him venting.

Mara - She is DETERMINED to catch the imposter. She is the Queen of the cameras, and she spends most of her time parked in front of the cameras scanning every single feed, looking for any sign of the imposter. Don't get me wrong, she does her tasks, too, but she's committed to catching the killer first and foremost. She tries to put herself in charge of every meeting and direct the trial. If she sees you in the act, you better pray for your soul; no one escapes the cold wrath of Judge Mara. She's also going to get real mad at the rest of the crew if they don't agree with her and don't vote her way. As the imposter, however, everything is personal. If you've wronged her, whether in the game or in the real world, she is coming after you. She'll try to do it strategically, but she is going down her list in order of how much she hates you at the current moment. No convenient kills; she'll go out of her way to get her vengeance. She doesn't even care if she gets caught as long as her personal justice is delivered.

Patricia - Little strategy, just rage. If she sees someone near a body or thinks they're the imposter, she is going to throw out STRONG accusations and yell at them until they admit they're the murderer, even if she's wrong and they're innocent. She's also very liberal with her use of the emergency meeting button, she loves that button. She will hit that button on the smallest whim just so she can yell at her suspect. All the others run from her if they see her approaching because they're afraid she's gonna report them with absolutely no evidence. As the imposter, she loves to commit murder and she loves to do all the sabotage. Is there any sort of strategy or thought process involved? No, but it works anyway. She wins every time she's imposter because Eddie is a fucking simp so she exploits him and he believes every word she says and vouches for her in the meetings, leading to the downfall of the crewmates and her imposter victory every time.

Joy - She is very quiet and calculated when playing this game. Very seldom does she actually talk during meetings, which often makes the others suspicious of her. If she's got a hunch, she will abandon all tasks and spend the entire round quietly following that specific person around. And if she figures out who it is, she's not necessarily going to say anything or reveal to the other crewmates what she knows; she wants to see how it plays out. She also never reports a single body. However, acting sus all the time does help her when she's an imposter, because no one ever knows when it's actually her. Very strategic and calculated as the imposter. Doesn't go too fast, picks her kills smartly. Very sneaky. Her imposter rounds are long ones. When asked to defend herself, she's very good at gaslighting and subtly shifting suspicion elsewhere.

Amber - Shockingly good at this game. She's quite observant and somehow seems to always know where everyone was and what they were doing. She also has a knack for zeroing in on the correct imposter. Sometimes she does this knowingly, and sometimes she reveals it when she's reporting her observations. As the imposter she plays dumb, which works for her most of the time.

Jerome - This is his favorite game in the entire world, he's very good at this game. When he's a crewmate, he doesn't actually care if they win; he's there to cause as much chaos as humanly possible. Whether he's a crewmate or imposter, he lies about literally everything. He makes up stories and tosses around accusations, and he's very convincing, making the others fight amongst themselves. Does he ever do tasks? No one knows. You can't trust him one bit in this game. As the imposter, he sabotages everything all the time, he locks so many doors, and he strategically murders people. As a master manipulator and strategist, his tactics are different every time. He's in his element.

[scoopsahoy]

Maybe reader listening to Steve give Dustin relationship advice in 'The Spy' and in 'The gate' and they're basically just really confused?

ぺ  word count ⋰ 1k

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❍  cw ⋰ swearing

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You followed close behind the unexpected duo of Steve Harrington and Dustin Henderson, helping them lay down raw meat on the train tracks, still not grasping the concept of what they were doing.

You knew they were trying to attract some creature, but what it was still wasn’t clear. But you and Steve were supposed to hang out that day, so you went with him.

The yellow gloves made your hands sweaty, and your feet were aching. The bucket handle was hurting your fingers, and the smell of the raw meat hurt your nose.

“All right, so let me get this straight,” Steve said as you lingered behind. “You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who... who you just met?”

“All right, that’s grossly oversimplifying things.”

“I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?”

“An interdimensional slug? Because it’s awesome.”

“Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn’t, I-I just... I don’t know. I just feel like you’re trying way too hard.”

“Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, all right?”

You rolled your eyes at the hair joke.

“It’s not about the hair, man. The key with girls is just... acting like you don’t care.”

You raised your eyebrows, stopping in your tracks for a few seconds as you processed his advice.

“Even if you do?”

“Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts.”

“No, it doesn’t,” you corrected, shaking your head.

Steve groaned before directing his attention back at Dustin.

“Then what?” Dustin said.

“You just wait until, uh... until you feel it.”

“Feel what?”

“It’s like before it’s gonna storm, you know? You can’t see it, but you can feel it, like this, uh... electricity, you know?”

“Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere-”

“No, no, no, no, no. Like a... Like a sexual electricity.”

“Oh.”

“You feel that, and then you make your move.”

“So that’s when you kiss her?”

“No,” you and Steve said in unison.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down, Romeo.”

“Sorry.”

“Sure, okay, some girls, yeah, they want you to be aggressive. You know, strong, hot and heavy, like a... I dunno, like a lion. But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy, like a... like a ninja.”

“What type is Nancy?”

“Nancy’s different. She’s different than the other girls.” Another eye roll came from you as you tried — rather unsuccessfully — to block their conversation out.

“Yeah, she seems pretty special, I guess.”

“Yeah, yeah, she is.”

After Steve told Dustin how to style his hair and pick up girls, you pulled him aside as the small one kept walking.

“Listen, Steve, I know you’re trying to be helpful, but maybe you shouldn’t be giving sex advice to a fourteen-year-old boy.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because he’s fourteen.”

“So?”

You sighed. “Well, telling him to prance like a lion while being stealthy like a ninja... that’s not the way to pick up girls.”

“Worked for me.”

“Yeah? And how many of them were just hookups?” He didn’t answer. “Look, you’re my best friend, and I love you, but maybe you should leave the advice to me. A girl.”

He nodded. “Okay. I guess I’ll just tell him to talk to you if he has questions.”

“Good.” After a few seconds of silence, you smiled. “Farrah Fawcett spray?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. And, like I told him, if you tell anyone I told you that, you’re dead, Y/L/N.”

“Yeah, got it. I’ll keep your dirty little secret.”

—

You sat in the backseat of Steve’s car, helping him chaperone Dustin to the Snowball dance. When he parked, you leaned forward and rested your elbows on the seats.

Getting a good look at Dustin’s attempt at a mullet made you chuckle to yourself.

“What?” he asked you in an offended tone.

“Nothing, you just look like a dork.”

He rolled his eyes before Steve got his attention.

“All right, buddy, here we are. So, remember, once you get in there-”

“Pretend like I don’t care.”

“You don’t care.”

“I don’t care!”

You rolled your eyes. You were honestly shocked that Dustin was taking his advice, despite you warning him that it wouldn’t work, especially on Max.

“There you go. You’re learning, my friend. You’re learning.”

Dustin adjusted the rearview mirror to check his hair one last time before Steve fixed it back.

“Hey,” Steve exclaimed.

“What?”

“Come on. You look great, okay? You look... You look great. Okay? Now you’re gonna go in there...”

“Yeah.”

“Look like a million bucks.”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re gonna slay ‘em dead.”

“Like a lion.” He purred at Steve, showing off his teeth. You both gave him a confused look, Steve inhaling sharply through his teeth.

“Yeah... Don’t do that, okay?”

“Okay.”

Steve stuck his hand out and they shook. “Good luck.”

Dustin nodded before you got his attention. “If I were you, I’d just be nice to her. You’re a charming kid, Dustin. You’ll get any girl’s attention, especially with that... hairdo.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, I know so. And don’t act like you don’t care, girls hate that shit. If you like her, she deserves to know. Just ask her to dance, and I’m sure she’ll say yes.”

He nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”

“Yeah, no problem. Like Steve said, go slay ‘em dead.”

He opened the door and got out before you climbed over the seat and plopped down next to Steve. You both watched him walk in before you looked at him to see he was staring at you.

“What?” you asked.

“You ruined my advice.”

“Good. It was awful advice,” you joked. You watched his eyes travel inside, and you looked to see if you could find what caught his attention.

You saw Nancy at the punch table, her hair curled in tight ringlets, wearing a plaid dress. She looked beautiful, but seeing him still gushing over her made you sigh.

You waved a hand in front of his face, breaking his focus.

“Hey, Romeo, you wanna stop staring like a creep?”

He looked at you. “Sorry.”

“Now, are we going through a drive-thru like you promised? I’m starving.”

“Yeah, sure. If you admit my advice was good.”

“Well, I guess I’ll just starve,” you said in a fake defeated tone.

You both laughed before he put his car in drive and you rode off towards a restaurant still open.

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Della Arc Finale and Shadow Into Light  Combo: The Shadow War! or The Last Stand of Lena DeSpell (For at least a year)

Hello all you happy people! And today the two arcs of Ducktales i’ve been covering unite for the season 1 finale! It’s been a hell of a ride: We’ve had a family reborn, gay subtext, a warriors homage, an underground adventure, a vacation with the gods, gay subtext, a giant shark made of money, a trip to old Scotland for some family fun shouting, gay subtext, a trip into Lena’s innermost nightmares that also involved a sasquatch for some reason, a heart stopping reveal, a heartbreaking argument due to said reveal and gay subtext. It’s been a hell of a ride and while the Lena train will go on, I feel both acomplished and happy to have finished up the Della arc in such a short time. Never doing that again mind, as it took up my entire schedule and pushed any other ongoing projects out, but i’m still proud to have pulled it off. 

When we last left off.. yesterday, The truth came out, the boys lashed out at Scrooge, Scrooge lashed out at everyone, and we all cried. Now Magica looms, our family is broken again and it’s up to two unlikely people to bring them together again. So join me under the cut for some parent trapping, some adventure and even more Weblena subtext than usual, as we enter the Shadow War.

Part One: Night of De Spell! 

I”ve come around on the episodes being treated as two parts in reuruns and on Disney +. They were BUILT to be chunked up later as there are clear breaks between episodes, said chunking is to make reruns on tv easier.. and it makes my job easier as it gives me clear act breaks. I’ll still cover them all in one article, but it makes it easier to recap it when I have two clearly defined acts, something that’s been a struggle when reviewing episodes that just aired like Let’s Get Dangerous! and the Last Adventure!, hence why I switched to breaking down the episode instead for the latter. So I really can’t gripe about something that dosen’t really affect anything negatively, at most it just adds credits to both episodes, and HELPS me a lot. 

And it really helps with this one as like most of the episodes for the Della arc... the first half of the finale is two plots that don’t really intersect that much aside from Magica mimicking Scrooge on the phone to keep him from going to the dinner. Other than that they don’t really impact each other until the end of the first part. So i’ll be covering both plots separately, and then just the episode as a whole for part two. 

Good. Let’s get quackin. 

Everyone But Scrooge and Lena in Parent Trapped:

It’s three days after the end of the last episode and everything still sucks: Webby is desperate to try and get her family back but none of them are hearing it and Dewey and Huey are taking it an extra mile and throwing their mementos from their adventures in the bay. Louie however dosen’t want to and it’s the one bit of an otherwise great episode that does not work for me as he’s not keeping it for sentiment: it’s a solid gold Kopesh. As someone who makes about 30 bucks a month and gladly sells stuff he doesn’t need, this annoys me on a fundamental level. Sell the damn thing and buy yourselves some food or some ninja turtles dvds like me. 

So Webby is worried they might leave soon and she’ll be back to almost no one but Launchpad assures her they aren’t going anywhere.. right as Donald, desperate to help the boys cheer up and relating to what their feeling, offers to take them where they always wanted to go: Cape Suzette! Spin it!

The Sea Ducks’ even on the flier. Baloo was a legend.. I hope he enjoys his retirment on Cocaine Island as Secretary of Goodtimes under President Snowflame. So our dynamic duo spiral into panic at the thought of loosing their family and best friend respectively. 

Webby: Someone’s gotta remain calm here Launchpad: So you? Even Launchpad knows he isn’t the adult in the situation between him and an 11 year old girl. So they come up with a plan. It’s time to parent trap those sons of bitches. They’ll host a heartwarming dinner reminding them of all the good times, invite Scrooge as the suprise guest and then spring the parent trap. Probably also sing Let’s Get Together given the two people we’re dealing with and given Beakley’s age she likely showed Webby both. Sidenote... I really wish we’d seen more of these two. It’s a team up we only got this once but both Webby and Launchpad being friendly weirdos with a lot of heart but not a lot of common sense made them the dream team and make this part of the plot hilarious and help lighten the mood given the heavy stakes. 

So later that day, we cut to Huey and Lewey who are looking into Cape Suzette.. and find themselves not as excited anymore. They wanted to go all their lives.. but it’s clear that traveling the world.. it’s just another port town, not much more or less adventuerous than Duckburg, and was likely only appealing because it wasn’t here. They’ve flown higher now, seen more and while they won’t admit it... they probably really DON’T want to leave Scrooge forever. it sounded good a few hours ago, it sounded great 6 months ago but now.. it’s just not the same. Dewey is all for it.. but that’s because Dewey was the one who took everything the worst. He put all this effort into finding his mom, into this whole big hunt... and also put all his faith and love and future into scrooge, so having that all puleld out from under him without the maturity to get that he lost a lot too, combined with his natural stubborness, has lead him to dig in. But before hec an convince the other Webby and Launchpad slip them the invitation. The boys accept, probably because with a child’s handwriting it could only be either Webby or Launchpad.. Donald set out traps for Doofus after the last time. 

So they take over the kitchen with Donald confused and upset and then just grumpy after.. they explain their making a farewell dinner. And one of them is his friend. And the other one is his boys surrogate sister. And their offering to make him free dinner and brought all the fixings when he’s out of a job

So naturally their attempt at a parent trap is about as subtle as a Killdozer through your living room, with Webby having made replicas of all their adventures out of food. Launchpad provided drinks.. that are melted popscilces (”There’s a riddle on the stick”). God bless you thoughtly dumb thoroughly beautiful man. So naturally this really isn’t working at all, not helped by Scrooge not showing up thanks to Magica, and Beakley showing up because Webby made the crucial mistake of thinking Launchpad could think bout anything but Darkwing Duck, Planes or a Darkwing Duck Shaped planes clearly so he gave her an invitation telling her NOT to come. 

Webby’s attempt to get them to remember Scrooge fondly gets no-sold, though in a very touching way as Dewey, clearly sensing what she’s trying to do instead picks Uncle Donald, with Huey, Louie and Launchpad all joining in saying he’s Loyal (Dewey, who also uses it as a jab at scrooge because he’s being a little shit this episode, and not in his usual fun way or Louie’s usual fun way), Thoughtful (Huey), Passionate (Louie) and that he likes his sailor suit (Launchpad). It brings the duck to tears and as a big fan of Donald, I love this a lot and it shows that, even if Dewey is doing it to take a jab at his uncle, they really do love and apricate their uncle and all he did despite perferring scrooge for the last 6 months. They may love their rich uncle.. but Donald’s there Dad and nothing can take that away from him.. not that a lack of an emphasis on  his role as their adopted dad in season 3 didn’t try. They love him and wether they realized that because of what happened with Scrooge or always felt this way and just never expressed it, i’ts sweet. For the record I feel while they loved him it took till this for Dewey and Louie to appricate him while Huey, being a sweetheart and the most like him out of the three, always did. Launchpad attempts to use a bouncy castle to fix things for some reason.. the inner machinations of his mind are an enigma.... or just this on a loop. 

You make the call. Beakley naturally, being a spy with decades of experince and someone with half a brainn, figured out their parent trapping them.. but to the suprise of both and the audience she agrees. The family’s been apart too long and she’s fully on board with keeping it together. It makes sense both just in the context of season one and with the reveal of the finale. For the former, she’s watched Scrooge be miserable and withdraw for a decade, and was the one who acitvely encouraged him to spend time with the boys. Sure she wasn’t happy about them moving in, but that settled quickly and last episode she was every bit as worried about the boys as she was her own daughter. She WANTS her best friend to be happy and knows he and his family are stubborn as hell, and knows that our dream team’s heart is in the right place.. but they have about a third of a brain cell between them when it comes to social situations. The finale just adds to it by not wanting Webby to loose her dad or the rest of her family because her dad’s being an idiot. And as a third I just thought of, now we know Beakley’s only ever had one family member before joining the McDuck family, she likely wishes she’d had one and dosen’t want Scrooge to loose that.  It’s also a VERY touching moment: Webby forgave Scrooge easily out of desperation, Launchpad did because he’s nice.. but Beakley while justifably pissed at the time and pulling Webby out of there til lhe stopped being a shithead, given the “your not family” comment, despite having EVERY reason to shun him too.. she gets that right now her best friend needs her to keep his family from running off. 

She also wins easily, making a pie that scrooge liked and taking it away saying they don’t want a reminder of that “awful man”.. before giving them Scrooge’s side of the story, if through double negatives Launchpad dosen’t get. She points out he spent nearly all his money, that their mother was her own woman who made the decision, and that Scrooge spent TEN YEARS looking for her, the entirety of her lives and only stopped because he was on the brink of loosing everything. That starts to turn the boys minus Dewey, but the killing stroke is her pointing out a very simple fact: he lost someone too and all their doing is cutting out their family and costing him more people for something that wasn’t ENTIRELY his fault and he spent a decade trying desperatly to fix. 

This gets Donald, whose the first to say they should go home. “This family has been apart too long.” To me, while I wish the show had built it up more.. i’ts Donald realizing how WRONG he was. He shunned his uncle and while he was right to be mad.. Scrooge did everything he could to fix things, and not trying to reconcile cost him a decade with the only family he has left that he cared about. Cost the boys their uncle and is NEVER what his sister would’ve wanted. And now he’s enabling the boys to make the same mistake he did, his own anger in the past making them think their resitment and shunning is okay when it’s not helping anyone. All he’s done is hurt someone he loves, someone who is easily his second father and teach his boys to do the same. That has to stop. It’s a great bit of character. 

Huey and Louie are natually easily convinced while Dewey refuses to at first and cries.. before joining in, letting go of his anger too forced to finally realize the truth, or at least what I feel it is: He attacked scrooge because he didn’t want to admit his mom wasn’t perfect, that after all this time he found out she DID do something bad, if not villiaonous, by leaving them and taking the rocket before it was ready, something reckless and selfish, and admitting Scrogoe wasn’t the only one responsible.. was admitting she left him. He finally lets go... just in time for a giant eruption of purple from the mansion. Wuh-oh.. as for why let’s go back a few hours. Boys?

Scrooge and Lena in Night of De Spell!

So a few hours ago Magica is still using Lena’s body, to the point that when Lena is able to force her out for a second she genuinely FORGOT she was there. That’s horrifying..nothing to add there that entire sentence was just really fucking terrifying. 

So naturally she plans to use Lena’s body to get back to the mansion only to find out the kids left from Launchpad (this is before he entered the other plot), but gets in anyway by manipulating him by faking that webby said something about him being weak. 

That being said.. he is in a VERY bad place, beginning the series running gag of characters eating nothing but Pizza and having pizza boxes everywhere as a sign of depression, as the mansion is littered with it despite, as mentioned before everyone only having been gone three days. He’s not even wearing his robe, instead wearing a dirty undershirt and rolling around. He’s so horribly depressed and miserable.  Magica being kind of nuts can’t fathom why he’s miserable and keeps trying to make him Tea.. which leads to something like this for about 7 minutes. 

Granted i’ts more by accident he avoids  Magica poisoning him but still. Also before we move on I have to give props for the animation here and Kimiko Glenn’s performance. She plays Magica perfectly (as Magica only uses her own voice when not around scrooge), and the animation shows off the diffrence between owners of the body incredibly well.

Eventually Magica realizes he’s not faking it and dosen’t want an easy win. She’s waited a decade and a half for this she wants at least some fight. So she manipulates him, talking about family (Not that sh’es a good family member but we’ll get tot hat), and how it weighs you down.. likely also beliving given what we know about her backstory, that he belivies that. That what he said to poe back then was accurate, not realizing.. he changed. 

So he decides to go back to baiss and get rid of everything.. except the dime and Magica being too eager for it gives the game away, so she simply bites him and takes it and... frees herself with the power of the eclipse. After 15 years Magica is free, at full power and quickly imprisons our heroes. 

Scrooge naturally tears into Lena before blaming his family for it.. before she shuts him up, pointing out that Magica got in here BECAUSE his family was gone. Had Webby been here she would’ve realized something was off and stopped her, as would the rest of the family. With no one left to watch his back and his insincts dulled by misery, he was an easy target. She WISHES she had his family. She realized too late that what she wanted wasn’t freedom.. it was somewhere to belong, somewhere where she’s loved and people care about her. Actual parents or parental figures, a warm bed, and a place where no matter how much you argue your welcome at the end of the day. To have a home. Scrooge takes both things in and thanks her for making him realize he was a moron, she was right.. and that if she helps him get out of this.. she has a place in said family.  Naturallly though given this is only part one their beaten easily once they escape: Magica turns Lena back into her shadow, more on that in a minute and traps Scrooge in the dime, and so part 1 ends with Magica ascending at full power and Donald giving the natural response “Aw Phooey”. Time for an intermission...

Part 2: Day of the Ducks!

So we pick up where we left off.. with Magica’s manical laughter and Dewey wondering.. who the hell is this? Webby fills him: Ancient sorceress,  mortal enemy of scrooge usual stuff between them. Except in this version she’s leagues more powerful. She’s also voiced by Comedic Actress and Former Doctor Who Star Cathrine Tate who I haven’t complimented enough int he roll but will now. She easily rolls between comedic and thretaning in an instant and was perfect casting, able to be delightfully hammy.. and unspeakably vile and abusive. 

Back to the plot Magica proceeds to make things worse by moving her base from the Mansion to the bin... and summoning ALL the shadows of the citizens of duckburg. We also get a few neat scenes as a result: Glomgold tries to force his to stay but gets dropped in the bay.. and suprisingly is not a throaway gag but a gag that leads to the setup of his plot next season and the introduction of Kev, who comissioned this episode,’s faviorite character. More on that someday. Fenton does some stargazing.. and naturally when his turns into an evil shadow ghost tries to summon his armor.. and instead his shadow steals it. 

Finally Gladstone’s... gives him 20 dollars because of course it does. All nice littlle nods and in fentons’ case setup for later. 

So while Magica begins her gloating, she had a long speech prepared, our heroes back at the boat try to come up with a plan. They do end up getting unexpected reinforcements: Gyro, Manny, and Little Bulb all show up as their shadows emerging destroyed the glass in the underwater lab. “That’s it no more underwater labs! it’s volcano’s and abandoned castles from now on!”. Well the last one worked for the Mads for a while. i’d of gone for it. Though fair play while they do keep Gyro’s cool underwater lab next time we see it and the windows break security shutters activate to prevent another flooding. Likely Scrooge wouldn’t pay to move the whole thing i’m betting. Fenton also shows up so with most of the supporting cast at this point in the show present, they can begin the raid. 

Donald does try to squak out a plan.. but it’s here an intresting idea of the series pops up: No one can understand donald. Well some people can, but not everyone can and even the boys mostly take it from context.. or at least Dewey does. This causes Donald to angrily chase Dewey around

So Gyro, not having the time for any of this, shoves a thing in his mouth, phrasing. This is the Barksian Modulator, a nod to Carl Barks and how Donald could speak in the comics and thus gives him a Don Cheadle voice.. wait.. does this mean comics Donald is voiced by War Machine too? I’ll table that. The point is he can speak clearly and in the sliky tones of Don Cheadle. Not as sexy as Keith David but i’ll take it. I also appricate Cheadle being fully game for this, doing a silly promo video about his roll here, likely taking a bit of a pay cut to do voice acting, and even doing donald’s trademark untitllegble raises. I do WISH donald got to give his badass speach in his own voice as Anselmo would nail it, but he got plenty of good performances before and after this and the gag of having an academy a golden globe and sag award winning actor with tons of charsima as Donald’s intelligble voice was too good to pass up. He even gives out an ah phooey! Such a legend. 

So he gives a big inspirisng speech and a new motto of “Ducks never back down” that Dewey uses afterwords to diminishing returns. Andddd has the kids stay on the dock for their saftey SEEMINGLY having leanred nothing. Seemingly being the key word. Just to jump ahead a bit his assault team of him and the other adults goes decently: They are overwhelmed, but Fenton is able to improvise a ray gun, and then uses little bulb to turbocharge it. It’s awesome and shows the guys got talent with or without the suit. Beakley keeps the boat safe as she can (and gets as frustrated as donald, which is great, showing i’ts not so easy is it?)< and Gyro gets captured and is disapointed when he tells magica he’s only an aquantince when asked instead of a friend, though let’s be fair here... Scrooge REALLY does value gyro and did not want him to die. Are they friends... eh I dunno, but I do think he’s more than aquantince. Gyro also deserved it after putting Manny and LIl Bulb up against each other for the job. That will teach you to try and unemploy keith david! Launchpad also gets the awesome task of crashing into the bin as a distraction, though Magica keeps tossing him back, which at least does the job... he also gets a TRULY magnificent moment where he leaps onto the plane, singing his own version of the darkwing duck theme song. Fucking amazing and a shame they never called back to this at any point once Darkwing was introduced. I’d pay money to see them both do that. 

So meanwhile with the kids, they naturally say nerp to staying behind. But they need someone who could help them bring them in. In Webby’s actual words, which I am not paraphrasing nor manipulating “Like a noble teen ne'er-do-well who can break into anything, including your heart?” And just in case you think i’m reading too much into things this is her face after saying that. 

That my friend is a face that just SCREAMS 

There’s no straight explination for this face or this line, and for anyone whose going to bring up the sisters thing in the finale 1. Sisterhood is complicated and sometimes not literal and 2. she was trying to keep Webby from walking into what she thought, correctly, was a trap. I’m doing this NOW because I forgot to in the review, and want to make it painfully clear i’ts okay to ship them as long as you don’t do sex stuff. Their chlidren. It’s gross. Don’t. It is precious. 

So they head to Lena’s and find the place deserted and kinda messed up.. and find her Journal which reveals her secret origin: 15 years ago, though her age is not exact and even frank’s said that and while we do see her fully formed as a teen, that might of been an artistic thing we don’t know. Point is 15 years ago Lena was born when Scrooge sealed Magica’s phsyical form away in a dime during their final battle on Mt. Vesuvius, her base in the comics and original series, so she constructed Lena out of her shadow to act as her minon. 

Webby of course is heartbroken, feeling Lena used her and all that bad stuff, though the boys comfort her, saying she’s still got them.. not getting the diffrence between familial love and romantic love but point is they know how Magica got out and what she did with scrooge, but they still need to get inside.

Huey, I think, Gets an idea and they swim underwater to emerge from Gyro’s flooded lab. Louie also gets his Kopesh back. 

Naturally though their own shadows go after them but Dewey cleverly disapates them: since their shadows they need light to exist, and a simple hit of the fuse box disapates them. Presumibly since Magica was forced to make Lena into a more indepdnent and unique being, she’s immune to this hence why this has only happened to magica’s shadow before.

So they continue making their way up, facing Louie’s old nemisis THE STAIRS in a whopper call back.. only to find the bulk of the shadows, inclduing ShadowdGizmoDuck, waiting.. only for Donald to show up just in the nick of time. Turns out het PLANNED for all of this: he knew they wouldn’t stay put if he told them to and would find their own way in, thus allowing his force to be the bait. Fucking brilliant. 

So our heroes head inside while Donald takes on an army single handed.. if with his modulator bugging out.. and given he and Beakely enter the bin via the office entrance later, he BEAT THE GIZMODUCK ARMOR. If you needed proof donald is a legend, there you go. Goodnight.

Anyways our heroes head inside, and when asked what they do, Dewey manages to give his own badass line “Do what we do best make trouble”. What follows is an awesometastic final fight with every one of the kids using their own talents against Magica in one epic clash. Huey simply asks the questions he has while dodging Magica, throwing her off ballance, and nearly getting her weakness out of her. Louie uses his faster speed at burrowing in the gold to easily dodge her and to get her to break a mirror and claims it was a curse. While she dosen’t buy it he eventually uses his silver tounge to wear her down... and leave her open for a kick to the ribs. “Ow my ribs”. Magica drops the dime and it’s clear our first two boys were just the warmup. This is the headliner and she is pissed, coming at Magica with everything. While we’d seen how badass Webby was all season.. this is her crowning glory. The moment that shows she’s not just the best of the kids she EQUALS Donald and Della in martial combat, if not in experince and easily keeps the pace with Magica, railing at her for taking her family and her friend away. Magica tries gaslighting her by saying Lena wasn’t real.. only for lena to come back. 

In one glorious moment, Lena shows off how far she’s come, defying Magica at FULL power to return and fight back, keeping her off webby and giving Dewey, who magica kept from getting the dime seconds earlier, heads for the dime. She’s gone from going with her aunt for her own selfish reasons.. to fighting her with everythig she has left knowing she won’t surivive.. and Webby gets proof that Lena really did love her. Wether she tricked her or not.. she loved her.. and sadly enough to die for her as Magica, after telling Lena “your not family” after Lena calls her aunt, seemingly destroys her and a furious webby attacks in grief and rage. The “your not family part” also gives horrifying context to magica’s abuse: she likely abused Lena.. because Lena wanted family.. and Magica just wanted a minion.. and now we know her backstory.. she already LOST the only family she thought she had and hardenred herself, refusing to loose anyone again and thus took it out on an innocent child like the heartless monster she is. 

However while Lena’s temporary death didn’t stop Magica.. it gave Dewey a dewstraction and he got the dime back. He tearfully apologizes to Scrooge.. before having to run again, but both have genuinely and finallyr econclied, putting away their own anger and pride and hurt and restoring the family good. Dewey uses the dime to block as Magica corners him.. and that desepration move frees Scrooge. We then get another hell of a fight as Scrooge easily counters her, uses his cane as a sword.. and THANKS HER. As far as he knew without her he’d of lost his family..w ith her , and with Lena, he found the strength to welcome them back in and they came for him when he needed them. This , given the Poe thing, infuraties her MORE, though this time she deserves him making her feel bad and using his douchebaggery against her, and he disarms her of her staff, which breaks on Donald’s head. Magica is dewpowered without her staff and without her amulet which was absorbed into Lena. Laucnhpad also gets a moment by bodyslamming her from the plane. She escapes, why they don’t go after her I have no fucking clue seriously guys what, but the point is for today our heroes have won. The bin, mansion and most of the city may be damaged.. but the family is whole again, cemented by scrooge callign out his nephews names (Minus dewey.. but intetoinally this time) and saying “Curse me kilts i’ve missed you”. After years of pain, hurt and sorrow..the family is whole once more and as they enjoy a midnight swim together, the future is all ahead of them. 

But there’s only one thing.. or rather one person missing. And as we close out the episode and the season we cut to the moon.. where Della is watching a newscast.. and sees her boys for the first time. And we hear her for the first time. SEQUEL HOOK BITCHES. 

Final Thoughts on The Shadow War!:

Shadow War is an EXCELLENT capper to the season and both it’s arc, tying both together beautifully by having Scrooge’s misery over his family leaving him vunerable to Magica. Any complaints I can muster are minor nitpicks, it ties in everything that had happened up to this point into a neat bow while leaving two big sequel hooks for next season for each arc. Though it’d take their sweet time, and some weird rescheduling from Disney ,  to get to the Lena one. It’s heartfelt, satisfying and awesome in every measure and is only the weakest of the three finales because the other two had even more shit to work in after seasons of hard work building up this world, with larger stakes and what not.  It also has great symmetry with Woo-ooo and had the series ended here, and taken out the stinger.. it would’ve been decently satisfying. Thankfully it didn’t and we got two more knockout seasons after this and a whole other arc to cover at some point.  It’s still utterly fantastic and still worth your time. Now for something new as this is the first story arc for a series i’ve finished, and as such ...

Final Thoughts on The Della Arc:  I”ll get to the Lena arc, both for this season and as a whole, once I finish this retrospective. But for now how does the Della Arc hold up after all this time? Decently. It does have i’ts problems: The pacing is pretty bad: the arc is staggered out fairly but the size of it’s mystery coupled with the lack of any real info about Della for the entire goddamn season when this is her first big roll in anything, is annoying and will never not be even though we now have all the answers. 

So while i’ts not perfect.. it’s still pretty damn good. They took one of Disney’s greatest lingering questions that went purposfully unanswered.. and answered it.. turning it into a masterful series of character pieces and using it to drive Dewey as a character. This was his arc and it shows depth to him: in most episodes he’s mostly pluck and adhd, but the arc shows off the hole left by not knowing his mom, his determination.. but also his selfishness and stubborness. It really fleshes the kid out and makes you root for him even when he’s fucking up a lot. The character work with EVERYONE, from Dewey in general to Webby and Donald in Ithaquack, to the other boys on the sunchaser to Scrooge in the last two/three eps, to Beakly in the same.. ther’es just lots of great stuff in this arc and way too many great moments to dismiss it. The pacing may of been shot, we may not have learned mcuh about della.. btu sometimes adventure is about the journey not the destination, and the journey AND where it took us were both phenominal so yeah. It’s a good arc. Not the series best, but a good start. 

As for the Lena Arc i’m saving my throughts on that till we finish it as unlike this arc, which leads into the next but isn’t 100% connected to it, her arc extends for the rest of the series character wise, story wise and weblena wise. So we’re not done with this retrospective and i’ll save my thoughts for when we get to season 3. But Covering the della arc was a lot of fun, exausting but fun, and again any future arcs that aren’t paid for will be staggered out and any interlocking arcs that are paid for will have both paid for. Now with that out of the way..

NEXT TIME ON SHADOW INTO LIGHT: Lena gets SO JEALOUS as Webby makes a new friend and everyone gets a new faviorite as Violet is introduced! Meanwhile Beakley is desperate to prove to her 11 year old grandaughter she has friends and decides to befriend launchpad. Shenanigans insue. See you next week!

Next Time on this blog: It’s back to Amphibia! It’s time for some Zelda action as our heroes go to the first temple. I’m expecting either a giant spider or a shadowy ghost version of andrias. Don’t let me down show!

Until then, stay safe, follow me on patreon and on this blog and i’ll see you at the next rainbow. 

[nights-legacy]

Nothing is Trivial-Raph

2024/16 version

Most would think Raph would not be the one who was into romantics, lovey-dovey stuff. And most people would be right. That is until he met Y/N. She was able to bring out the softer side in him. He could be the big, cuddly teddy bear that Mikey jokingly called him. At first though, it bothers him when the guys would use it as an excuse to tease him. So he would put up his normal tough guy front, even with her. That was until he noticed how she reacted to it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The lair was quite for once. Leo was quietly talking with Master Splinter, Donnie probably had passed out in his lab, and Mikey was out skating through the tunnels. Raph was sitting in the main room with Y/N watching something random on the TV.  They were cuddled up with Y/N laying over Raph’s lap.

“That’s so stupid. No one would even think about doing that if they had any type of stealth. It would not work at all.” Raph complained about the B class spy movie that they were watching. Y/N giggled furiously at his words.

“I don’t think they were really going for accuracy baby.” Y/N turned over and looked up at him. “Especially in a movie that focuses more on the boobs, pretty faces, and sex then the true facts about stealth and morals.”

“You got that right.”  Raph grumbles before looking down at his girlfriend. “But that sells more right? Have to have the pretty faces.” He ran his finger tip down the side of her face. She blushed almost as red as his mask. “Aww babe, you’re blushin’. Did I do that?” Raph asked, feigning innocence.

“That trick doesn’t work any better for you than it does for Mikey.” She turned to look away shy, blushing more.

“Oh really. How about this?” He started tickling her sides. She burst out laughing trying to get away from the torture. Raph held on tight with one arm around her waist while the other hand dug into her sides. After a while the tickling, Raph stopped and pulled her back to his chest.

“Not cool Raph, not cool.” Y/N’s breathing was labored as she tried to catch it. He chuckled before nuzzling her neck. She sat there in-between his legs and his arms around her waist tight giggling as his breath fanned over her neck. She snuggled back into him, closing her eyes in content.

“Aww look at that. Raphie is being all cuddly-wuddly.” The two jumped and turned to see Mikey looking at them with a cute smile.

“Oh, I didn’t know that was possible.” Leo commented upon entering the room. Raph tensed while Y/N looked to him. “Maybe the tough turtle is nothing but a soft teddy bear after all.” Leo came over and loomed over them. Raph growled and Y/N could feel it through his plastron. She grew nervous that a fight between the two would ensue.

“Nothing but a total pushover, I would say.” Donnie chipped in from his computers. The three brothers started laughing. Raph let go and leant back away from Y/N but didn’t move her. She looked back at him with bewilderment. He wouldn’t meet her eyes as the others walked away. Y/N noticed the look of irritation on his face and sighed before looking back at the TV, leaning her arms on her knees.

Time Skip~Y/N’s POV

Raph has been acting strange for the past couple of days. When we’re alone, he acts somewhat normal but when we’re somewhere where he can be seen by the others, he is distant and stand-offish. I have a feeling it’s because of the things that the guys said about him being soft. I didn’t like them teasing him but I didn’t think it would affect him that bad.

“Hey baby. Do you want to watch that episode of Forged in Fire?” I called from my spot on the couch. The rest of the guys went out with Splinter for some strength training. Being the strongest of the 4 and constantly weight training on his own, Raph was excused.

“Yes! They’re making Templar swords.” He called from the kitchen.

“Who would figure a ninja would be excited about the making of a knight’s weapon.” I joked. He came in giving me a playful glare.

“Shut up.” He sat down next to me. I snuggled into his side and clicked play on the remote. We were about halfway through the episode when we heard the sounds of the guys returning. I smiled and glanced in that direction.

“Hi guys.”

“Hi Y/N. Hey Raph!” Mikey yelled. As I turned back, I felt Raph move away from me a bit, removing his arm from around me. I looked at him but his eyes remained locked on the TV. I furrowed my eyebrows but said nothing. After a few minutes, I leant my head on his bicep. He didn’t move but tensed. The episode was just about done when Leo joined us and in response, Raph moved away again, sitting on the floor in front of the couch.

“Raph, are you okay?” I asked. I saw Leo look at us and I guess Raph did too. He glanced at Leo before looking at me.

“Yeah never better.” He said before turning to the TV again. I glanced between him and Leo. I thought about it and I realized he’s pulled away from me a lot in front of his brothers lately. Did he take what they said to heart about being soft? Did he think I made him soft? Was I to clingy for his taste? Was he…ashamed of being with me? “Babe? Babe?”

“Huh?” I shook my head. Raph was looking at me. I looked and realized the episode was over. “Oh. Sorry. Spaced out.” I rubbed my arm and looked away. I got out my phone and looked at the time. It wasn’t too late but I thought I would leave Raph alone. “I better get home.”

“Really?” Raph asked with a sad face. I nodded and got up. “It’s only 6. Normally you go home around 9.”

“Yeah. I remembered I said I would help my dad with his camera and developing. And I’m already tired. Better go help before I crash for the day.” I lied. I smiled and went to walk towards the exit. Raph followed. I turned at the top and looked at him. “See you late Raph.” I leant forward and kissed him.

“Are you okay? You seem down.” He asked while placing his hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I said. “I just thought I would give you your space.” I turned and walked out.

Raph’s POV

I watched as she walked away, dumbfounded. Give me my space? What was that supposed to mean? I slowly walked away from the entrance to the lair. I went back and sat on the couch. I sat there in my own thoughts, wondering what happened when Leo spoke up.

“Everything alright, Raph?” I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. I looked at him to see him reading a book. He glanced up from his book. I

“Was Y/N acting weird?” I asked him. He thought about it.

“Maybe. But you weren’t acting any better before.” He said. I gave an annoyed, confused look.

“What do you mean?” I said roughly.

“I mean you completely pulled away from her with no explanation. Actually, if you think about it, you’ve been doing that for the past week.” He said a matter-of-factly before getting up and walking toward the dojo. I watched him in surprise.

“What?” I thought back to the past week. I mean I did keep a little distance but I was just was tired of the guys teasing. It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal. Y/N’s face before she left popped into my mind. It wasn’t one of tiredness but one of hurt. “I’m an idiot.”

“I normally would not use such a term but yes.” I jumped and turned to see Master Splinter.

“Sensei.”

“I was waiting until you realized for yourself what you were doing. It has hurt Y/N very much what you were doing Raphael. Just because you show affection for the one you love doesn’t make you soft. It makes you stronger. It shows you are not afraid of love or afraid of showing it. It may seem trivial what you have done but it is not.” He told me. I looked down, ashamed. “You can’t let this continue Raphael. You must fix this. And remember never be afraid of showing your affection for your love or you might lose her forever. Now go and remember, nothing is trivial when it comes to you and Y/N.”

“Thank you Master Splinter.” I said before running off.

“Woah where you going dude?” Mikey asked as I ran by him, Donnie, and Leo.

“To go see Y/N. Don’t wait up!”

“Wait, Raph! We have patrol!” Leo yelled after. I stopped and went to say something but Sensei did instead.

“He is excused for tonight.” Leo looked like he was going to argue. “He has his own mission to fulfill tonight.”

“See ya!” I yelled.

Y/N’s POV

I sighed as I laid on my stomach in bed. I couldn’t keep my head straight, thinking that Raph was pulling away from me completely. I rolled over and threw my arm over my eyes.

“This is really helping your dad.” I jumped and screamed before calming realizing it was Raph’s voice. I caught my breath as I sat up.

“Raph. You scared the shit out of me.” He gave me a sheepish smile.

“Sorry babe. It wasn’t my intention.” He came in and knelt in front of the bed. I turned and sat cross legged in front of him. I looked down and played with the hem of my shirt. “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I was just tired of the teasin’ from my brothers. You know I’m not the smartest when it comes to reacting. I never thought far enough ahead to think about how you would react. I’m sorry.” He dropped his head in shame.

“Oh Raph.” I smiled. I reached out and lifted his head. “I understand. It did hurt and I didn’t act much better. I should have pulled you aside and asked what was going on. You did what you would normally doing in a situation you didn’t like, you put a front. If you want we can cut down on the PDA in front of your brothers.”

“No! I mean, no. Yes I put up a front but I shouldn’t do that with you. I should be honest with you, not pull away. This will not happen again. I’m not afraid to show my love for you even if it makes my brother tease me about being soft. I don’t care what they think. Our relationship is between us and our opinions are the only ones that matter. Nothing is trivial when it comes to you.”

3rd POV

The next day Y/N was back in the lair like normal with Raph. This time though, unlike the past week, they were cuddling. Even when the guys came into the room with pizza. They came in in a loud and wild rush, well mostly Mikey. As soon as they came in they saw Raph and Y/N on the couch.

“Ohhhh. Our big teddy bear is at it again.” Mikey cooed. Raph glanced over before turning his attention back to Y/N. “Aww.”

“Does the teddy bear want some nommy wummies?” Donnie joked. Leo laughed but didn’t say anything to the affect. He was the only person to witness Raph’s and Master Splinter’s conversation yesterday.

“Say what you want. I don’t care. All that matters is right here with me.” Raph looked down at Y/N who smiled big before cuddling into his plastron.

“As it should be.” Leo said as he walked over with two plates. He handed them to Raph who gave him a smirk and fist bump.

“Yeah. Totally.” Raph said handing the love of his life her plate. She took and pecked his nose ridge. He smiled his classic smile before catching her lips in a passionate kiss.

[petitelepus]

Decepticon For Life, Part 12

You get Autobot mechanic Bulkhead to help your side, Decepticons to finish the Space Bridge. Now if only things would go as planned... NOTE, I’m trying to bring this story back! It has been my most read story and now with Killer May reaching for this story’s hits I need to update this story. It’s been a while, but give the Decepticon For Life a read and I won’t disappoint you! Also, happy Juhannus!

It was all going according to lord Megatron's plan. He got Bulkhead to work with you and now he was giving orders to Constructicons how to finish the Space Bridge... The only problem was that he couldn't help but argue with professor Sumdac about how to move forward. You groaned as you listened to them argue where hollow cato tube should go.

Out of all the jobs, Megatron could give you it was to watch over them. You knew nothing about Space Bridges but apparently you knew enough is someone was trying something. Suddenly there was a loud clank as the giant tube was thrown on the ground and the Constructicons sat down.

"That's it! We're on a break!" Mixmaster exclaimed and he and Scrapper poured oil down their intakes. You shook your head and went to them. "Okay, guys, do what you must but next break is in 3 hours!"

"Whatever you say, babe," Scrapper said between the chugs of oil. You groaned but then you heard professor and Bulkhead argue with each other. You walked up to them and cleared your intake, getting their attention. "I hope you don't plan to do anything stupid. Lord Megatron gave me permission to knock some sense into you if you decided to act foolishly."

Bulkhead shook his helm. "Wouldn't think of it."

You nodded, "Good." and turned to go and get your Constructicon friends to work again. When you were out of the earshot professor Sumdac turned towards Bulkhead. "I can't believe she was an Autobot...!" He grumbled in disbelief and Bulkhead looked at the man like he had grown a second head.

"What? What are you talking about?" The green mech asked, "The femme Decepticon? She isn't an Autobot!"

"Oh, but she was!" Professor exclaimed as loudly as he dared so he wouldn't catch your attention. He looked over his shoulder and when you didn't turn towards them he looked at Bulkhead again. "She came here months ago with Starscream but she had this Autobot symbol with wings on her chest. She appeared to have amnesia and she couldn't talk until I fixed her. Starscream was most likely using her so when Megatron took her in she fell for everything that monster has to say."

"Wait, are you saying that femme is an Elite Guard?!"

"Shh...! Not so loud!" Professor hushed before checking if you heard. No, you were nagging at Mixmaster and Scrapper how they chugged too much oil to be healthy. Professor turned to Bulkhead. "I don't know who she was when I fixed her, but she had some poor lady's purse. You don't happen to know anything about it, do you?"

"Hmm, not that I can recall..." Bulkhead admitted before turning serious. "But if you tell me she was an Elite Guard then she could have been a spy!"

"Impossible! As I said, she had no idea who or what she was before Megatron took her in!" Professor snapped and this time you had heard them.

"What are you doing?!" You asked as you stomped over to them and placed your hands over your hips. "Did you come to an agreement over that tube? Because if not, I will personally stuck it up to your aft Autobot!"

"Yeah, we got it now..." Bulkhead grumbled and the professor nodded with him. You nodded and turned towards Constructicons, yelling them how their break was over.

It took hours, but finally, the Space Bridge looked like it was done. Megatron stood by the control panel with you behind him and Bulkhead stood next to him.

"I did what you asked. Now, why don't you let me and professor go and we call it even?" The green Autobot asked. Megatron glanced at him from the corner of his crimson optic.

"All in due time, Autobot," He said. "Are you certain it will work this time?"

"Ooh, absolutely." Professor Sumdac said as he walked to the controls and pushed a button. The bridge's engine sputtered and coughed, but nothing happened. Your optics widened in shock. Had they failed? If they failed, what would it mean for you?

"Oh well, too bad, nothing anyone can do, I guess we should just keep going-!" Professor was saying when suddenly the giant machine turned on, coughing and roaring as it created a blue ball of energy between its long towers. You smiled excitedly. It was actually working! Oh, Megatron was right when he got that big oaf Bulkhead!

"At long last, I will lead my troops back to Cybertron and reclaim what is rightfully mine!" Megatron boasted and you clapped your hands behind him. "Bravo, my lord! Your plan worked as planned!" You praised him. You have no idea what this Cybertron planet held, but you swore you would be right behind your lord as you would claim your home planet.

Suddenly there was an explosion behind you and you all turned to look what it was when you saw the Autobots emerge from the newly made tunnel they had exploded open.

"Too bad there is nobody for you to lead, Megatron!" Optimus Prime, leader of this small Autobot group shouted. You were about to pull out your guns when you noticed Scrapper above the mine. You grinned at the evil bots, "I don't think so!"

Scrapper jumped down with a warcry and snatched the two smaller Autobots, the yellow and light blue ones, into his arms. "Who you're calling nobody!?" He asked and Mixmaster shot cement mix at the Autobot leader and their ninja bot, trapping them on their spots. Mixmaster jumped next to Scrapper who held the bots in his arms and Optimus glared at them, "So you two are working for Megatron now."

You walked up to the Constructicons and grinned. "They were always on the winning side." You said but just as the last word left your mouth, the mountain trembled and groaned as the mountain's roof over your helms was blasted into oblivion. You shielded your face from falling rocks.

Who dared to attack you like that?! Did Autobots come with backup?

When the smoke cleared you looked up and you couldn't believe what you saw. It was Starscream! He was using the jets on his legs to stand above you all and he wasn't alone. There were 5 jets circling him. Had he come for revenge? He couldn't have picked any worse time, but you might as well take him down with Autobots and make him tell who you were.

"Megatron, my old friend! Thanks for making all the hard work for me! Ha ha ha ha!" Starscream laughed and you grounded your denta together in fury. You wouldn't let him get away again. Not without answering your questions first.

"Star-!"

"Concentrate your attacks on Megatron!" Starscream ordered, cutting you off, and the jets behind him transformed and shot straight at your lord. You watched in horror how the shots landed and threw Megatron back into boulders and stone wall. "Lord Megatron!" You shouted and quickly run up to him.

"More Starscream clones!?" The ninja bot exclaimed followed by Optimus' question, "How is that even possible?!"

The blue bot started to rant in a quick manner about a theory that Starscream had claimed pieces of AllSpark and made clones with it. You didn't listen that closely as you focused on helping your lord up to his feet. Megatron growled and pulled out his sword.

"Lugnut, Blitzwing! I need backup at once!" He shouted, out loud and through comm links, but no one came. "Where are you?!"

Where indeed were they? Should you go look for them, but would you dare to leave your leader alone to fight against Starscream, his clones, and Autobots? Granted, Autobots were out of the picture. The shots get coming so you jumped behind a boulder and returned the fire at the clones with your gun.

Megatron was doing amazing, fighting off 5 clones and blocking their attacks with his sword and fusion cannon attached to his right arm.

"It will take more than a few pathetic clones to defeat me Starscream!" Your lord shouted and shot a blast of energy at Starscream who dodged the attack. You shot at the clones with your best abilities and you managed to keep a couple of them on their toes if they didn't want to get shot.

"Mixmaster, find Lugnut and Blitzwing! Dreadtrap and Scrapper back me up!" Megatron ordered. Scrapper let go of the Autobots he was holding and as soon as the bots' pedes touched the ground they took off quicker than you have seen someone go.

"You, hey, I never bargained, but this? I'm a builder, not a fighter!" Mixmaster said, but just as he was done a shot went through the oil canister he had on his hand and all the precious oil leaked through his hand. The Constructicon saw red, just like his optics, and threw the messed canister on the ground. "That's it! Nobody messes with my motor oil!"

You heard banging and saw that Optimus Prime had broken free from cement and with a single punch he released the ninja bot also. You growled but focused on Starscream's clones. You wouldn't let them hurt your lord any more than they had already. Mixmaster run past you and he came face to face with a blue Starscream's clone.

"Fool! A mere construction bot is no match for my superior firepower!" The clone boasted and Mixmaster frowned. "Oh really? Then you know where you can stick it?" He asked as his hand transformed and he shot a load of wet cement at the clone. He hit the bullseye and the clone screamed as he couldn't move.

"Gaah, impossible! You can't defeat me! You're not worthy, you're an inferior and your job stink!" The clone shouted as he struggled against he gooey cement like a fly in spider's web but just like on the web, he just got himself more mixed up. Mixmaster seemed satisfied with it, but when he turned there was a white clone pointing his gun at your friend.

"Don't worry, I won't shoot!" The clone shouted but his actions told another story. You switched tactics and took a shot at him and just as you were about hit him, the ninja bot thew one of his throwing stars at the clone's leg. That sent the white con flying and hurling through the air and he hit ground face first and hard. The ninja bot jumped at him ad cuffed him. "One Starscream down, five more to go."

You had a shot at him. You had him in your scope but you didn't take the shot. He could be useful against the clones, you ensured yourself. You cleared your optic and the ninja was gone.

"I'm not down, I can escape anytime I want to! I just don't want to." The clone talked to himself when an orange clone flew to him and shot the static cuffs off from the white's hands.

"Brilliant strategy, brilliant! It's such an honor to help you escape from such an elegant Autobot trap!" The orange clone praised and the white looked at him as he got up, "What are you talking about? I escaped all by myself!" He claimed and flew off. You tried to shoot what you thought was the real Starscream but he wouldn't let you get a clear shot. That's when you heard pathetic crying coming and you looked to the side.

The blue Autobot had a whiny clone in cuffs, but then came the blue clone who was still struggling against the cement mix around him and he hit the Autobot and clone head-on. The blue bot shouted rapidly for the cons to get off from him, but they were just as trapped as he was. The jets in blue clone's legs were still working and they pushed the trio through the Space Bridge's portal.

Three enemies gone, a bunch of them left. You took a shot at the white clone and he noticed you hiding behind a boulder as you kept shooting at him and his allies. He laughed and shot at you and you quickly ducked your helm down before he blew it off. As soon as you could, you took a shot at him again and hit him straight on the wing.

"Ouch! You didn't hurt me, didn't hurt at all!" The white clone exclaimed and you were starting to doubt everything this clone said. Megatron and Starscream were fighting hand in hand combat, though your lord had his sword and Starscream had his guns attacked to his arms.

"Starscream! Give up this foolish mutiny!" Megatron ordered but Starscream didn't give up. He gave Megatron an ugly glare and activated his jets and dodged a sword's cut, rounding around your lord. Megatron turned to shoot him, but two clones, white and femme ambushed Megatron from behind.

"My lord!" You shouted, but just as the clones were about to take a shot, Optimus Prime out of all the mechs tackled them head-on, saving your lord. The grey mech lowered his sword and looked at Optimus. "Why, you would be the last bot I expected to come to my rescue."

"I wasn't coming to your rescue." The Autobot leader snarled. You looked him through your scope, but you didn't shoot. You saw both leaders fighting back to back, against two clones and one original scumbag Starscream. You saw orange at the corner of your optic and you saw a blur of orange before you were tackled hard.

You let out a loud 'oof' as you lost your gun and the orange clone got up from on top of you and pointed his gun at you. You glared at him and he cackled. "Brilliant spot, just brilliant for shooting from a hideout!"

You glared at him. "You have no idea." You lifted your leg and activated your own jets, sending flames at the clone's face. He screamed and backed up, just enough for you to get the opening you wanted. You reached for your gun and took the shot, sending the clone flying through the room.

Suddenly you heard screaming and you turned to look, only to see your lord using Autobot leader Optimus Prime as a shield. What a brutal turn of events. Mixmaster was shooting wet cement at the ninja bot who kept dodging his attacks and then the small yellow bot tried to ambush the Constructicon from behind, but he was quickly pinned into the wall by quickly hardening the cement.

"Mixmaster, considerate your attacks on head Starscream!" Megatron ordered as he threw his Autobot shield on the side. Your leader and Starscream shared words and insults and you started shooting at the femme clone, trying to keep her busy. The ninja bot went to his leader's side, but he couldn't help him as the orange clone snapped static cuff on him.

"Brilliant, such a brilliant move with static cuffs! I just had to try it out!" He kept praising and you took a shot at him, but he saw it coming and dodged. You growled and followed his movements through your gun's scope when you suddenly saw a bright light and you fell back in pain. Someone shot you!

You groaned as you tried to get your processor and limps working. Whoever had shot you they had gotten you good. Your vision was fuzzy, but when it started to finally return you watched in horror how the clones were holding Megatron back as Starscream approached him with your lord's own sword. How did he get the sword from your lord's hands?

"Oooh, I have been waiting a long time for this...!" Starscream smiled as he looked at his reflection from the sword's black blade. Megatron tried to struggle and get the clones to release him, but it was in vain. Starscream grinned. "Don't worry, I'll tell you went offline valiantly... Just as you named me as your successor!" He raised the sword above his helm and you cried out in horror.

"Lord Megatron!"

[magicalthoughtsendinterriblefics]

Say Love - Song-based Request

Requested by anon: I was wondering if you would write a angsty Dean Reader, where Dean went to Lisa after Sam fell into the pit, though he and the reader are engaged and he promised her to marry her after everything's over. She finds out and confronts him, and he regrets it and leaves Lisa but the Reader can't forgive him that easily for betraying her like that & anon: I was wondering if you could do an angsty dean imagine based off of "say love" by Jojo

Pairing: Dean x reader

Wordcount: 2.097

Warnings: Angst, not edited, not quite right according to the original story, Dean being a real asshole.

A/N: SO I haven’t watched Supernatural in about a year, so... SORRY. I figured Dean had to be a proper asshole in order to work for me so, if you don’t like that, feel free to go read something else.

Enjoy!

“I promise you, when this is all over, you and I are heading straight to Vegas and get married,” Dean said listlessly as he packed his guns.

“If you come out alive, that is,” (Y/N) replied. Dean sighed heavily and stopped his activity, he got up from the motel bed and walked towards her, holding her hips with his strong hands.

“I’m a Winchester, trust me, you won’t get rid of me that easily,” he smirked just the way she liked it and pecked her lips softly.

“I love you, Dean,” she whispered.

“Me too, sweetheart,” he said and turned around, going back to pack the rest of his guns before leaving.

Whatever happened that day remained a mystery to her for many years. Dean didn’t come back as promised, instead (Y/N) waited for two days for him to return before going to every hospital around the area looking for him, then she went to every morgue, then to every prison in the whole country. She didn’t find him anywhere.

To anyone else, that would’ve been weird, but she knew how supernatural things worked, and sometimes there was no body left behind to bury.

She tried to move on. At least the Apocalypse was over, that was for sure, so it meant Dean got to finish the job. It was the only thing that mattered, or so he said, and therefore (Y/N) tried to honour his memory by hunting more and more monsters.

Hunting had always been Dean’s priority, and he always said that it didn’t matter if it took your life away, you always had to finish the job. He lived and died by that motto, and (Y/N) was following his steps.

“Cicero, Indiana,” (Y/N) read out loud as she sipped from her cup of coffee, “three mysterious deaths and one missing corpse… Easy.”

She had continued moving from one motel to another, eating out from one diner to another, changing from one identity to another, just like Dean had taught her ten years before, and each day she tried to honour his and Sam’s memory and name.

She drove a rented yellow car all the way down to Indiana, he dropped the car in the highway and walked to a new car rental to get a new one. This time it was white and austere, perfect to keep a low profile.

Then she drove to the cheapest hotel she could find, asked for a room and installed herself before going out as an FBI agent to start her investigation.

She was interrogating an old woman out in the middle of the street, when she saw Dean parking on the opposite sidewalk. She had to stop the old woman from talking to focus on what she was seeing - she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Dean was no longer driving the Impala, and he had a kid on the passenger’s seat, which he was taking to school. The kid ran inside the school building as Dean waved goodbye. Then, he took his phone out and made a call.

“I told you he would be on time,” he laughed, “that was only once and we already apologised… Alright… So what do you want for dinner, I can go to walmart after work and buy whatever you want… Sounds yummy… Yeah, I’ll get that too. All right, love you, bye.”

(Y/N) didn’t notice, but her eyes had filled with tears that wouldn’t slip. She had lost her breath as she saw Dean drive away. It was him, for sure; same face and body, same clothes, same voice… Except he didn’t act like Dean. He wasn’t driving the Impala, he was working what seemed to be an actual job, he was taking a kid to school and getting him on time, and he was saying “I love you” to the person on the other side of the phone.

“Miss, are you alright?” The lady asked.

“Yes, apologies, it’s just that he was my next witness,” (Y/N) muttered and then went back to her business.

The old lady was no help at all. But (Y/N) didn’t care anymore, she had seen her dead fiancé out on the street, alive and kicking, after having faced both Michael and Lucifer.

“Michael possessed him, that’s it,” she told herself while she packed her weapons.

She had been spying on Dean for a whole week. She learned his schedules and found out everything about the woman he was living with.

“Lisa, an ex-girlfriend… Oh, Michael, you really don’t know my man, he wouldn’t go back to her… nor any other ex.” (Y/N) talked to herself as she spied on them having dinner at a fancy restaurant on a Friday night.

As they were going out, (Y/N) heard Lisa telling Dean about her want to take her son out the next night. “I think we need some mother and son time, you know?”

“I know, babe, you do whatever you think is right. I’ll stay home and fix that sink that’s giving you trouble, okay?”

“Thanks, sweetie,” she said and kissed his cheek.

“Thanks, sweetie,” (Y/N) mocked and waited for them to get on the car. She started her own car and went out to keep on working on her hunt because, no matter what, she had to finish the job.

The next night, she parked right in front of Lisa’s house and waited for her to leave. She saw Dean walking her and the kid to the car, and how she drove away as he, again, waved goodbye.

For a second, (Y/N) observed him and noticed how much of a dad he was. Of course, it was Michael possessing him but who cared? He was a good father, kind and soft, and she couldn’t help but imagine what real Dean would be like if they had their own kids. A tear rolled down her cheek at the thought, thinking of the life she could no longer have.

She waited for Dean to get back inside to leave the car. She walked back to the trunk and took out a couple blades, which she hid in her leather pants, and then a gun which she kept on a safety belt around her torso, hiding under her black shirt. Then some ninja stars she had just bought, which she kept inside the pockets of her leather jacket, and finally she took a machete out.

She rang the doorbell and moved in a way that Dean couldn’t see her face through the peephole.

“Who is it?” Dean asked from behind the door, for he couldn’t see her face.

“Oh, I’m Lisa’s friend. I just came here to pick up my tupperware, that’s all,” (Y/N) answered with a fake accent.

Dean opened the door and froze at the sight of (Y/N) standing, threateningly, in front of him.

“Hi, Dean,” she said and threw a combo of punches and kicks that made him run inside. She attacked him fiercely, and could easily trap him between the wall and her body, pushing the machete to his throat just enough to make him stay still but not enough to cut his head off. “I want answers, and I want them now, Michael.”

Dean stopped shaking, and looked at her directly to the eyes. “I’m not Michael.”

“Right, Dean,” she faked a smile but didn’t move away, “why didn’t you come back then.”

Dean swallowed lightly and prepared himself for the greatest lie he had ever told.

“So what are you doing here?” Dean asked. He was now sitting on his couch, as (Y/N) stomped around the living room. Her machete rested on the coffee table in front of Dean.

“I’m hunting a zombie in town,” she answered.

“Oh, it’s Margaret Thompson’s fault,” Dean said, “she’s been playing with antique voodoo curses.”

(Y/N)’s mouth fell open. “The old woman? How on God’s green Earth do you know that?”

“I saw her buying the book and stuff…” He muttered.

“Why didn’t you stop her?” She argued.

“I told you I’m not on the business anymore!” Dean exclaimed.

(Y/N) shook her head in disappointment, trying to hold back her tears. “This is not my Dean,” she whined, “MY Dean would’ve stopped that woman from the beginning.”

“I’m so sorry, (Y/N/N)” he apologised.

“Sorry isn’t enough.” She dried her tears with the back of her hand, took her machete from the coffee table and turned around to leave.

“Where are you going?” Dean asked, getting up from the couch.

“I’m going to kill a zombie and an old woman, then I’m going to go find a new case and so on until I take out all the rage I have growing inside of me.” She huffed.

“(Y/N), I’m sorry… I just didn’t know what to do… I couldn’t, I couldn’t get back to you after Sam’s death because you reminded me of him.” Dean said.

“Well, boo-hoo you whore, I had to spend a whole year mourning your death. I spent three months looking for you everywhere; hospitals, morgues, prisons… EVERY-FUCKING-WHERE and meanwhile you were playing Barbie’s house with that… woman and her goddamn son.” She shouted.

“I’m sorry!” Dean shouted back, “I… Alright, I’ll tell you the truth.” He took in a deep breath, “I was too scared to get back and marry you.”

“WHY? WHAT DID I DO WRONG?” She cried.

“NOTHING!” He replied, “You never did anything wrong. You’re perfect, and pretty and you’re worth it… I couldn’t help but to think I didn’t deserve you… And I still don’t. So I came back to Lisa, thinking that if she could take me back you would too when I was ready to be a good husband. I’ve… I’ve been taking this as training.”

“You… You are such a child!” She cried, “Taking this as training? Are you fucking serious? This woman is trusting you, she’s letting you live with her, take care of her child, make love to her… And you are taking this as training? I always knew you were an asshole but this is too low, even for you.”

“See? That’s what I mean, you’re too good for me. You’re perfect, and pre…”

“Pretty, and worth it…” She interrupted, “I know, that’s what you always said. But if you really care for me, you could’ve done so many other things…” She chuckled with disdain, “Hell, you couldn’t even say ‘I love you’ once.”

“I always said it,” Dean argued.

“No, you said ‘me too’ but never the L word…” She wiped a tear away.

“Give me another chance, I promise I’ll be good.” Dean begged.

“I can’t, not after all of this.”

“(Y/N), please, I’ll take the Impala out of the garage and we’ll run away just like the first time, remember?” He held her hand, “We were twenty and your father was threatening to sacrifice you for the sake of his cult… We drove away in the Impala, no bags nor anything, just you and me. We can do it again.”

“No, Dean… I’m not letting you break that woman’s heart, nor her kid’s.” She took her hand away from Dean’s grip, “Be a man for once and take responsibility for what you have started here.”

She let out a couple more tears, looking deeply into Dean’s whole frame, as a way to keep him on her mind. One last memory to close the cycle. “Goodbye, Dean.”

She turned around and left without looking back. Dean followed her, saying all kinds of things, trying to get her back, but she wasn’t listening. In her world, she had finally finished that chapter.

“I love you,” Dean whispered, but (Y/N) didn’t hear it either. She was already inside the car, with her window up. She gave him one last glance and drove away.

(Y/N) got back to her motel. She parked and cried for a full hour, willing to take all that pain away from her body. When she was finished, she got out and walked towards the door that led to her room. She was looking for her keys when a shiver ran down her spine.

“Hi, (Y/N), long time no see,” a voice said. (Y/N) froze in place and sighed with pain.

“Oh no, not you too,” she mourned.

“Wanna go for a walk?” the voice asked. (Y/N) turned around and saw Sam Winchester standing right in front of her, looking as alive as the last time she had seen him.

“Sure, why not?”

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Forever Tags: @dekahg @myfriendmagislit @thecrazyhatwoman @pureawesomeness001 @bingewatchingmylifegoby @cutie1365 @one-left-foot

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[myaekingheart]

39. The Worst Three-Legged Race

read the scarecrow and the bell on ao3

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               Kakashi turned the lightning barrel over in his hands, perched on a tree overlooking a forest pass. He wondered how the others were doing, Naruto and Sakura and Sasuke. He had worked hard to drill the importance of teamwork into their heads and hoped now would be the time when it really showed. Their mission was to locate a band of thieves and retrieve a stolen gold statue belonging to the daimyo’s sister. So far, all was quiet on his end of things.

               Working alone allotted endless time for Kakashi’s to mind to wander, and wander it did. Ever since the Hanare incident two weeks before, Kakashi been given a lot to think about in regards to his relationship. He had scarcely seen Rei so distraught, especially over the subject of him potentially leaving her. He never wanted to hurt her, nor did he think it was necessarily in her best interest to spy. He couldn’t argue with her, though. It seemed everyone thought he and Hanare were an item. The kids definitely overestimated their relationship. They way they reacted made him wonder if keeping Rei a secret was really such a great idea, after all. He hadn’t expected them to be quite so invested in his personal life, but the way they acted proved that whatever he was doing wasn’t working. They were tenacious little gremlins; if they detected some sort of issue or absence in his life, they had no problem swooping in and trying to fix it. And in this case they were hellbent on his romantic endeavors.

               He looked up at the clear sky overhead and wondered what Rei might be doing now. Likely working, per usual. The ANBU were often busy with one thing or another. He truly missed her, though. That was the trouble with dating shinobi—whatever time you get together is brief. Work dominates. He hoped to the high heavens that the separation wouldn’t be the death of them. Sure, they had their chakra plants but it wasn’t quite the same as face-to-face quality time. Would things be this way for the rest of his life? He had already spent so much time away from her, abstaining from her in their youth. He still couldn’t forgive himself for that, for all the pain his neglect put her through. He had made a lot of mistakes, and knew he would likely spend the rest of his life atoning for them.

               Kakashi sighed and leaned his head back against the trunk of the tree. It was during times like this, in the quiet of his own solitude, that the weight of their history really began to affect him. He was twenty six years old and she, twenty four. He had known her since she was an infant of barely six months. Even in their distance, they had been through so much. For the rest of his life, he knew he would consider their reunion the best thing that ever happened to him, a true blessing he wasn’t sure he even deserved. There was no real reason for her to want to enter back into his life. He had made so many wrong turns, but also lost so many loved ones. Now that she was back within his reach, did he really want to risk losing her again?

               Hanare made him realize just how important this was for not just Kakashi but for Rei, as well. She clung to him in the same way that he quietly, softly did to her. They needed one another. They loved one another. He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, envisioning her before him now, then in a year, two, five, ten. His future in cut scenes: damp foreheads pressed together with heavy breaths, cherry blossoms floating around a white kimono, holding her hands and repeating that promise from his youth, domesticity and kindness and subtlety. Happiness.

               Kakashi had no idea what the future held for him, but all he was certain of was that it must involve Rei. It needed to involve Rei. Without her, he would surely be reduced to nothing. He would have nothing. His life would become meaningless. She was the rock that grounded him into his sanity, kept his heart from freezing over, kept the demons in his head at bay with her own kunai in hand. He had vowed to protect her, but all this time he hadn’t realized she, too, had been protecting him. A mutual commitment, a mutual respect. They were comrades not just as shinobi but in life, in the most basic form of living, in humanity. She meant everything to him, and the more he recounted those halcyon days and those dark days and those subtle days, the clearer his intention slowly became. He needed her by his side always, for the rest of his life.

               Kakashi almost felt disappointed in himself when he finally reunited with his students. Sakura had been held hostage, and Naruto and Sasuke inseparable—literally. The point, though, was that they had worked together. They had no choice. And they succeeded. Kakashi considered the statue in the sleepy sunlight, the irreparable damage it had suffered. He was sure the daimyo’s sister would not be pleased. “Well…maybe it can be melted down and recast” he pondered. “Although that’s a pretty big maybe.”

               The daimyo’s sister frowned as she inspected the thing, turning it this way and that. “Such a shame” she sighed. “All that hard work, and now it’s completely useless!”

               “Now, sister, let’s not be hasty” the daimyo reassured. “I’m sure it can still be salvaged.”

               The woman shook her head. “It’s beyond repair! There was really no use in bringing it back now. I don’t want it anymore!”

               Naruto clenched his fist at his side. His other hand was still attached to Sasuke. “What?!” the jinchuriki shouted. “We went to so much trouble on this mission for you and now you don’t even want it?!”

               “Typical” Sasuke scoffed. Kakashi whacked them both lightly in the backs of the heads, a signal for them to shut up.

               “What’s going to happen to it now?” Sakura asked. “What are you going to do with it?”

               “Probably send it where everything else damaged goes: the dump” the woman said.

               Kakashi felt his throat tighten and his hand began to quiver. “Actually” he spoke up, “I wonder if the material can be made into something else. I’m sure there must be some way to recycle the gold itself.”

               “At this quality?” the woman asked. “Anything it would be made into would be worth nothing. No, I simply must just throw it away!”

               Sakura caught something strange in Kakashi’s eye, a desperation. She didn’t quite understand it, but it moved her. “Lady Daimyo, wait!” she called. The woman peered over her shoulder quizzically, curious as to what this young girl needed to say. “It may be worth nothing to you, but I’m sure others would really appreciate whatever that can be recycled into. Not everyone can afford something so nice.”

               The woman blinked a few times, then stared at the damaged statue. A sly smile crossed her lips as she then turned her attention to Kakashi, trying to mask his rising panic. “Okay…” she said slowly, voice dripping with intent. “How about we make a deal then? If you want this statue so badly, then you can have it. But in the stead of your monetary payment for this mission.”

               Naruto gulped. “Forget the bear, we’ll take—” he started, but Kakashi slapped a hand over his mouth before he could finish.

               “We’ll take it” the copy ninja said. The kids looked at him with wide, dumbfounded eyes.

               Sakura couldn’t stop thinking about it the entire trip home. “Kakashi-sensei, what exactly are you going to do with that thing, anyway?”

               “Oh, you know…” Kakashi said casually. “I might sell it, or take it to a silversmith and see if he can do anything with it. I’m sure it would make a nice bookend.”

               Naruto clenched his teeth. “You don’t just give up your paycheck for a stupid bookend” he grumbled.

               In the back of his mind, however, Kakashi had no intention of using it for any of those petty options. Really, he would only need a fraction of the material. He wasn’t even totally sure if this was the right time to do something like this, regardless of his students’ protests, but he had thought perhaps a little too much in his alone time. He didn’t want to let an opportunity like this slip away. He patted the statue clunking around in his back pouch and hummed softly, fighting a smile. Perhaps he could sell the rest of the material and then return the money to the kids as repentance for skipping out on their payment. He was sure they would forgive him after that, or at least he hoped so. It seemed only fair not to put the rest to waste. After all, it didn’t take much to forge a ring.

[shogetsus]

Stripes of Auburn, Eye of Sapphire

25. Mai

Read on Ao3 | Read on FFN |  Masterlist

Summary: Her heart tries hammering its way out of her ribs, wanting more than anything in the world to say something that could sway him, whatever that might cut him off. But not a single idea crosses her mind, panic overtaking her senses.

All she knows is, there’s no way she would ever forgive herself if Sasuke gets killed trying to protect her. If anything, she’s not a damsel in distress.

Hot, blazing anger seeps through her veins, and her voice booms throughout the room. “ENOUGH!”

TW: Canon-typical violence Spoilers! - Masamune's route

Mai

The door Mai has been leaning against split moments ago gets thrown wide open with a strong kick, a very familiar figure stepping in. “M-Masamune!”

“The One-eyed Dragon?” Sasuke gapes, somewhat shocked to the core, sounding as if he’s been expecting anyone else but him.

“Correct.” Masamune replies smugly, standing in a battle stance on the other side, katana at the ready.

“W-what are you doing here?” She can’t help but wonder. “H-how did you find me?”

But Sasuke interposes himself between her and Masamune’s blade, drawing his own kodachi on his back. “You better get back, Mai.” She breaks out into a sweat, keeping her eyes fixed on the current threat looming over them. “I must recall, this is no appropriate place for a fight. And I’ve got no intentions of hurting Mai.”

His diplomatic approach proves futile as Masamune takes a step further into the room, making her flinch involuntarily. Fear spreads in the pit of her stomach like hot, molten lava, her pulse racing at the sight of his single eye; beautiful and yet, so deadly.

Whatever his intentions are with showing up out of the damn blue, they clearly contrast Sasuke’s.

“Wa-wait! Masamune, let’s just talk things out, like you did with the farmers—!”

However and in the flash of a moment, Sasuke turns and flings her to the floor, throwing himself over and shielding her with his body. The sound of steel slashing air rings in her ears, breath catching in her throat. The edge of a sword then stands where her head had been a second ago—Masamune’s sword, most precisely.

Swinging again, Sasuke appears to act on his own reflex and jumps forward with his kodachi in hand, placing some distance from her and Masamune. “Thought you’d be more of a spy than a fighter, ninja. But you’re good,” Their blades cross with one another, and her friend gets pushed to his knees by Masamune’s sheer strength.

She feels fear in a way she’d never felt before—not even when she’d met the edge of the same sword a month and so ago. If Sasuke hadn’t pushed me to the floor…

Masamune’s eye carries a wild blue fire as he stares Sasuke down, at the mercy of his katana. “You actually thought having her hostage could stop me? I’m ready to take both of you down!” His words make her throat go dry, his thin smile sending cold shivers all over.

He’s completely serious.

“Masamune, stop! Just STOP!” Mai shouts, but he doesn’t tear his gaze away from her ninja friend. “I’m not his hostage! Sasuke is a friend of mine from the future!” But her insistence only makes Sasuke stir in some sense of realization—though it’s no moment to apologize for spreading their secret—straining further to push back Masamune’s katana. “He didn’t kidnap me, I came willingly! You don’t have to kill him!”

“And you’ve clearly gotten the wrong idea. I’m not killing him for kidnapping you...” Masamune takes a tiny moment longer to make that remark, his brow twitching oddly. With his voice low, it seems her plea hadn’t really stirred him. “This guy’s been on the watch list, framed as the potential ninja from Uesugi’s ranks—the same who’s been seen sniffling near the Castle, digging up information. If he brings it back, our side will suffer in the upcoming war.”

A more confident smile breaks into Masamune’s face, strengthening his resolve. “As one of Lord Nobunaga’s allies, it’s my duty to see he doesn’t escape.” He leans further into the strike, the blade drawing closer to Sasuke’s neck.

“Agh—!” Sasuke grunts, on the verge of running out of steam.

Her heart tries hammering its way out of her ribs, wanting more than anything in the world to say something that could sway him, whatever that might cut him off. But not a single idea crosses her mind, panic overtaking her senses.

All she knows is, there’s no way she would ever forgive herself if Sasuke gets killed trying to protect her. If anything, she’s not a damsel in distress.

Hot, blazing anger seeps through her veins, and her voice booms throughout the room.

“ENOUGH!”

Pulling one fan off the folds of her kimono, the steel surface isn’t cold enough to ground her in the moment, exasperation taking its toll as she wrings herself in between the men, breaking the clash of their blades in a swift strike. Masamune’s eye finally lands on her, aggravated, its intensity matching her own.

Sasuke staggers backwards, and wisely takes it upon himself to flee the scene, rolling onto his feet. He can’t seem to help to look back at her for a split moment before crossing the threshold, the desperation in his eyes only proving how much he hates to leave her like that.

‘Run!’ She pleas not with words, but with her gaze, and her ninja friend complies with a solemn nod, disappearing into the shadows.

“Dammit! Get out of the way!” Attempting to move past her, she blocks Masamune’s katana with the metallic end of her war fan again, using the momentum to push him back. “Mai, I’m serious…”

“So am I!” She fears his fierce glare would stop her heart dead, but turns out it gives one large beat, then another, until her breath comes in fast, a rush of adrenaline kicking in. Masamune fumes, staring at her as if having a new prey upon his sight.

“Move, or I will kill you.”

“Then do it!” She growls back, just as scared to death as she is irrepressibly angry, spreading her feet in a defensive stance and daring to pull out her second fan for good measure.

His brow twitches once again, a haunting look crossing his face. Although Mai could pretty much have imagined that for, as fast as a blink, Masamune swings another blow her way. The katana gets caught in between her two weapons, his overwhelming strength getting a wide edge over her determination.

Still—and nearly against all impossible odds—she doesn’t move.

Resolute, she meets that wild, nearly unfocused blue eye, “I won’t let you get to Sasuke!” Stepping aside and parrying his blade, he swings from the side and Mai stops the blow once again, doing a preemptive kick forward to procure them some much-needed distance.

It doesn’t give them so much of an inch, unfortunately, and Masamune strikes again, this time meeting the ends of her hair as she cranes her neck downwards. “I won’t let you kill the one true ally I’ve got in this world!” She taunts him, hardly caring about the remnants of her rational sense all but screaming in her head how unwise it is to do that with a dragon such as him.

If he truly is such a beast though, and the violent scene merely serves as to show Masamune Date’s true face, then all that’s left is to demonstrate how steely determined a tiger can be.

With a newfound strength burning within her, a clash of wills come across the two of them, her flexibility giving her an equal hand against his natural overwhelming power. They start a dance around one another, silver and black meeting gold and crimson, dodging and deflecting.

Until, finally, Mai finds a small opening and goes for the kill without a second thought, hitting the inside of his wrist with her fan.

Masamune hisses, his fingers prying open in reflex and katana slipping off his grasp, landing on the mat with a thud. Left with nothing to do but pressing forward, she prompts the sharp, metallic edge of her other fan against his throat, eager to meet the end of such madness unfold—

… Only to meet the tip of Masamune’s second sword grazing her obi, against her stomach.

Panting hard, their eyes lock in no small surprise from both sides, sheer tension wafting heavily between them. She doesn’t even dare to blink, the silence feeling as if it’ll choke her all along.

It’s a tie—or that is, until one of them decides to finish the job.

And then, after giving her a long, cold gaze and for what it seems like an eternity later, Masamune lets out an aggravated sigh.

“I can’t fucking believe this.” Taking a step back, he sheathes his sword with a quick, angry movement—appearing close to regretting it if he doesn’t do it fast enough. ”I’ve never let an enemy escape before.”  

Am I… I am alive.

The bare second she processes that thought, all shreds of energy threaten to leave her body, feet turning to jelly, hardly feeling able to stand. Unceremoniously, Mai drops on her knees, sucking on as much air as she can.

As for Masamune, he rakes a hand through his hair, barely containing his frustration. “Can you at least tell me why in all hells did you protect him?”

“Because… Sasuke is not my enemy. Both of us came from the future, and I’ve got literally no reason to lie about that,” She pants, forcing herself to speak.

“People get killed here for way less than that…” He says matter-of-factly.

“But he’s my friend, trying to survive this hellish place, just like me,” Mai retorts, gathering enough strength to look up at his face. “I’m not going to let you kill a friend.”

He crosses his arms, “Did your friend happen to tell you he’s an enemy spy? Making sure he doesn’t get back alive is my job. It doesn’t matter whether he’s a friend or family,” He sounds coldly certain of that.

“So you’d kill your friends, your family… just because it’s your job?”

“Of course I would!”

She feels her blood turning to ice. I can’t really have just heard that. To some extent, that alone makes it easier to believe she was the one who miraculously managed to put up a fight with a veteran samurai mere minutes ago.

In fact, a desperate attempt to survive does make people do the craziest of things, and this Mai is well aware of. Her father and Nobunaga—the two people in her life she’s danced with—have never indicated otherwise.

Though either had suggested there would come a time in which she’d have to fight back against someone she cared about.

“Let me make this clear to you. I have responsibilities as daimyo of Oshu, head of the Date clan, and ally of Nobunaga.” If Masamune’s glare didn’t stop her heart dead moments ago, the one he shoots her then might very likely do the job. “If I must, I’ll kill anyone. Even you.”

The words are sharper than the blade he just swung at her several times, going pale as a ghost. Is he the same guy she’d been playing around, teased and had a hot, steamy make-out against the wall with just some hours ago?

“… How can you even say that?” Her voice comes off thin and weak, barely having it in to form a sentence.

“Because it’s the only way to live here,” Masamune insists, as serious as ever, “Standing up for enemies like you just did does nothing but get you killed.”

“I just can’t believe—“ What can she even say to that? “I know Sasuke means nothing to you. Probably either do I and… I can understand that. But would you really kill your own friends? Your family? That’s… that’s cruel.”

“Pointless slaughter is cruel!” He shoots back with a snarl, “But if you had decided to plunge that fan into my throat just a moment ago, say, to protect your friend? I wouldn’t think you were being cruel.” There are so many wrongs in that single idea she hardly knows where to begin with. “In this chaotic time, you need something to believe in, something to kill for, and something you’d die for. Consider this another lesson to stay alive in this time, and learn that your life, or anyone else’s, could end at any moment.”

So, that’s his motto? Kill someone—even your own blood—so several others might survive? How can that come from the same person who had experienced death not at the hands of men firsthand?

Tears brim her eyes, blurring her vision; all the anger, frustration and close experience to death bottling up to a point it’s difficult to discern what’s rational from what’s not.

“… Is that what you truly think duty is?” But she quickly shakes her head, realizing what’s pointless is actually having that argument. “No, it doesn’t matter. I’ll probably never know how you possibly bear with the thought of people important to you getting killed. And everyone has someone important to them.” Like you are to me, for starters.

Her tears trail hot down her cheeks, wetting her hands while she rubs them away harshly, starting to feel sick to her stomach. And still—

“… Not me.” Masamune replies after a silent, more solemn moment, “As a daimyo, as the head of a clan, as someone who has a damn lot of people under them, I’ve been taught there are some things I just can’t yield.” His detached words manage to pierce her heart further, “And so, when the time comes, I refuse to hesitate.”

Gulping to keep the awful bile where it belongs, Mai raises her head to take a good look at the completely unknown person in front of her—the sight can be compared to the classic one seen on the movies, when the nice, reliable character finally reveals their dark side to the audience. It’s like we’re not just from different times, but different realities.

Her head begins throbbing hard, most likely from the adrenaline wearing down combined with the fit of rage she can’t find within herself to put down. The dim light only shows half of Masamune’s figure, highlighting scars of old trailing down his neck and shoulder. And while in another time she’d have thought more positively of those marks of war and illness, the current view of it isn’t as easy to fathom as it once was.

It takes a long while when he does, but at last he deflates somewhat, sighing tiredly. “Here. We’re going back.” He says, offering his hand as if finally recalling his good manners.

However, there’s no way for her to take his olive branch. “’We’ are not doing anything.” Mai snarls, having the mere decency of slapping his hand away with her own and not with her fan as she deep down wants to. “Don’t you dare to touch me.”

Standing on her own, she gathers up the little that remains of her pride, turning her back on the utterly shocked look in his face. Her headache comes back with massive force after getting on her feet, white little dots dancing on the back of her eyes, but at least she manages to keep her head straight as she steps out into the hallway.

Killing because of an order? Because someone higher up demands it? Because of duty? I’d rather have something to live for, not the other way around. But these people have been fighting each other for so long they’ve just lost it.

And yet, the swirl of her thoughts ends up making her sadder than mad or scared.

Masamune’s upset yelling echoes through the practically empty main floor, “Mai, wait! Just wait—!” Outright ignoring him, she exits the inn alone.

Outside in the streets, it’s completely dark, shortly coming into realization she has no real clue where they are, or the road back to the castle. To make it worse, a downpour falls upon her, soaking her wet in no time, most likely to cope with her regular bad luck. Though to be fair, I might have run out of my stock of luck after that crazy fight…

Like a—if very slight—silver lining, though, a couple of familiar faces come to view as she keeps going forward: The young recruit she’s met in the morning, Tadamasa, joined by Hideyoshi and a bunch of his men.

Tadamasa’s gasp can be heard through the heavy rain, “Milady! You’re hurt—!“

“Let me through.” She growls back menacingly.

Not even meeting the boy’s eyes, she bumps his shoulder while walking past him, but sadly not getting much further to avoid Hideyoshi as well. Putting himself in her way, the frown in his face only shows how deeply worried he is about her, but she’s in no mood to entertain any of the men’s pleasantries.

“Thank goodness we found you, Mai.” He sighs in sheer relief, pulling off a coat to presumably cover her in.

Regardless, her tongue acts quicker than her brain, shooting him a sharp glare. “Am I your prisoner, Hideyoshi?”

He’s taken aback for a second, tilting his head back. “What—? Of course not…”

“Then I can walk back on my own.” She’s quite aware of her insolence, but that’s hardly a concern to her in the current moment, what little remains of her dignity overtaking her good graces, concentrating on merely returning to safety.

Is it Azuchi Castle even safe for her, though? After the death threat Masamune just pulled on her? Is even plausible to call a place with a bunch of blood-thirsty commanders of armies playing conquerors somewhere ‘safe’?

To add up to her misery, as the weather does no good to her headache, a cold shiver mixed up with her soaked clothes reveal a small gash on her upper arm. There’s little more than a pinprick of blood, though it’s enough to sting at the brushing of her wet sleeve. Hells, of course this madman did get me in the end. I still can’t believe he cut me after all!

She can hardly recall the last time she’s felt so miserable in her life, but the current experience could pretty much belong to her hall of fame by then, not even strong enough to scream all her frustrations out into the night. Her feet begin to feel like made of lead with every step she takes, and grunting under her breath she pulls through as much as she can, managing to finally enter town and a route that would surely get her back where she came from.

However, it takes but a gust of wind for her knees to buckle under her, the world tilting before her eyes.

“Mai!”

It’s a repeated event, so she’s not surprised when someone catches her before she falls into the mud. “Shit, I tried telling you it was raining outside…” Masamune’s face shows up among the shadows, pressing a hand to her head. “You’re burning up.”

Why did you follow me? Though her vision goes foggy and blurred, she can, if very vaguely, make out his worried features.

“Aren’t I your enemy too…?” Of all the things she wants to say, that’s the only thing it wheezes out of her mouth. Are you back to finish the job?

“No, you’re the most reckless lass I’ve ever seen… now with a fever.” Sighing, he says matter-of-factly, looming over her figure, perhaps if to cover her from the unrelenting rain.

A couple of steps splashing against the muddy road signal more people incoming. “Lord Masamune, you’re here! What’s wrong with the Princess?”

“We need to keep the rain off her.” In her barely conscious state, she can’t really keep up with Masamune talking with the person that unquestionably sounds like Kojuro. “Hideyoshi had a coat. He’s over there, get him quick.” A blue glimmer is the only indication his gaze is back on her again, “Just rest up, lass. I’ll bring you back home.”

Back home? Aren’t you going to finally kill me?

Strangely so, his voice sounds as tender and like the guy she met for lunch, brushing his fingers over her eyes to close them. Out of shame rather than anything else, she complies, if only to erase the sight of that sparkling eye off her mind and, most of all, her conflicted heart.

Just who are you?

Regardless of her struggles, it doesn’t take long before finally running out of steam, and touched by the warmth of that hand, she lets darkness overtake her at last.

Or that she prefers so, before breaking into ugly tears once again.

[xathia-89]

The Queen to the Devil King

Someone was biting and nipping at my neck as I began to stir from my slumber. It was still dark as I felt the lips curve into a smirk against my skin when a groan escaped my throat.

“Mm, took you long enough,” Nobunaga murmured, then took all of my breath away with a passionate kiss.

“I need sleep,” I whined as his fingers expertly dove under my kimono. They knew exactly where to go as Oda was playing me to bring me around to his game. “You are insatiable,” I whimpered, my nails digging into his shoulders as I started to pool under him.

“Consider it my way of celebrating that you aren’t going back to the future,” I could hear the cockiness in his voice, before encouraging all the noises I made for him alone to hear.

It was late morning by the time I eventually got out of bed. Nobunaga was likely already in the middle of a council as I spied that the rest of the room was perfectly tidy. A clean kimono had already been laid out for me to wear, it still seemed silly to me that I had my own room in the castle with my clothes, but Oda was insistent on keeping it that way and then would have the maids fetch me a clean one each morning.

I found my way to the seamstresses and sought out any extra work they had since I had nothing else to do. The maids would come and find me if there were any issues, and the kitchen staff had nothing for me to fix either with the warlords or suppliers. The kitchens were extremely busy with the feast that Nobunaga was hosting that evening, as I realised that a bath and getting one of my newly made kimonos out would probably be a good idea as I went to sort them both out with a couple of maids to help me style my hair.

I was being watched like a hawk as I made my way around the room, ensuring everyone had enough sake, and then constantly switching Masamune’s glasses with water after spying Mitsuhide looking far too smug. I was pouring the sake out for Hideyoshi before I realised that he might need cutting off when he said that he was getting jealous of all the time I spent with Nobunaga. I wasn’t entirely sure which way to take it, and replaced his cup with water, and waved Masamune over to get Hideyoshi to try out some new recipes he’d worked on.

Oda caught me by the hips and pulled me into his lap. His arms were kept around me as he kissed me passionately in front of the whole hall. I was blushing a shade of red that would have easily made a tomato look pale, as he then smirked, and simply had me start pouring his sake out for him as the room resumed its usual activities. I was shaking my head at the man, who was giving me a smug look. He was asking to be told off.

“You’re very hands on at the moment,” I whispered in his ear and gave him a taste of his own medicine as I bit his lobe discreetly. “Anyone would think that people had been talking about me,” I laughed.

Oda blushed slightly. “They’ve been talking,” he muttered and emptied his cup of sake down his throat.

“I’m not staying out of fear,” I frowned, getting him to look at me. “If I was scared of you and all this, then I’d have gone back through that wormhole to 500 years in the future,” I pointed out. “I will tickle you,” I humoured him before he cupped his ears automatically as I giggled at the adorableness of the sight before me.

“And I will just have to make sure your hands are otherwise occupied,” he grumbled, taking hold of one hand, as a sake bottle was pushed into the other. I had to laugh since he knew that I could ruin a lot of things for his image as I kissed him on the cheek. The rest of the world could watch us all they liked, it would never change my decision or my feelings.

I stepped away as Mitsuhide approached. He acted very suspiciously about me I found. It was easier to go and check on Hideyoshi who had stepped out for some ‘fresh air’ and remembered to take him some water. He was sat on the steps to the garden as I coughed for his attention and offered the drink to him.

“Did he ask you yet?” He mumbled, looking a little depressed.

“Ask me what?” I enquired, trying to figure out just how much Hideyoshi had had to drink.

“About marrying him,” he snorted and sighed after taking a mouthful.

“I, er, what?” I nervously replied, feeling all the blood rushing to my cheeks at the mention. It also shocked Toyotomi into sobriety.

“Oh no, I, what I,” he stammered, before dashing off, leaving me feeling very heated under my kimono before I heard someone shouting for me from the hall.

I patted Masamune on the shoulder and asked him to go and find Hideyoshi to make sure he was okay before I realised that it had been Nobunaga shouting for me as I was waved over to him. He took my hand in his and kissed the back of my palm whilst maintaining his eye contact with me. The smouldering, promising look in his eyes was making me melt before I noticed that the entire room had fallen silent.

“Natsuki,” Nobunaga’s voice was bursting with passion, though his volume was barely audible. “Will you rule the world by my side as my queen?”

I blushed even brighter, as Hideyoshi’s drunken questions began to make sense. I nodded, unable to stop my happy tears as I threw my arms around his neck and met him halfway in a sizzling kiss.

Half of Japan was present for the wedding celebrations it felt like, as even Shingen, Kenshin and Yukimura were willing to accept a temporary truce to allow Sasuke to attend. Though I was beginning to think that the ninja wouldn’t be going back as he was stood in awe of Ieyasu and Hideyoshi as I needed to remind him that his geek was showing.

All of the vassals returned to their fiefs. Things were quiet for the time being, and Oda wanted to whisk me away to keep to himself for a while as we took our time on a journey to some hot springs and stayed a few days. It didn’t seem too surprising on anyone’s behalf when it became rather apparent our first child was on its way only a few months after the wedding.

“Mum,” a little voice hissed in my ear, trying to tickle my neck.

“It’s still dark, go back to bed,” I mumbled, regretting that I wasn’t in the tenshu like normal.

“I can’t,” the voice whined.

“I will be a very grumpy queen tomorrow,” I warned our only daughter. She had three brothers, and I was pregnant with child number five. If I didn’t have so many people to help me, then every child would have been killed by the time they’d reached the age of two. It turns out that when two stubborn people procreate, the offspring present new standards that you weren’t even aware were possible.

“That won’t be much new,” she huffed and crawled into the side of the futon that Nobunaga would occupy usually if we were sharing. He was away for a few days to inspect the surrounding areas, and we had agreed it would be better if I stayed in Azuchi with Hideyoshi. Nobutada, Nokatsu and Nobutaka were likely to be getting up soon for their daily training with the vassal. Tokuhime was cuddled up with her head on my bump as the baby wriggled about a little much to her amusement.

“The things I would do young lady if I wasn’t so tired,” I mumbled and fell back to sleep as she did. Neither of us would sleep well in Nobunaga’s absence, it was guaranteed that this is how we would end up sleeping, and my husband found it amusing greatly once he discovered it whilst looking for me upon his return.

It wasn’t long after dawn when we were both woken by her three brothers. All of them had disturbed looks on their faces, and I was pulled from my bed with complete disregard for my attire. Something that I would address with them lately until I was pushed out onto a balcony overseeing the gates. Shingen and Yukimura were chomping at the bit to gain access and an audience, yelling bitterly at the guards as I sent a maid with a message to let them in and seat them in the great hall. I would get ready and see them.

“Mum, they’re our enemies! And Dad would kill us if they took you,” Nobutada argued as I hid behind a screen to get changed into the appropriate kimono.

“And how long after I’ve been kidnapped until they get so sick of me I get handed straight back?” I asked, snorting as I made sure nothing was exposed. “Even your father has talked about handing me over to any of his vassals to see how long I’d last elsewhere.”

There were awkward mumblings as I entered, both men immediately falling silent as we formally greeted each other with bows.

“Gentlemen, what is the emergency?” I calmly asked. “Nobunaga is away currently, though apparently leaving me behind isn’t enough of a warning and I’ve been made to promise that Hideyoshi is also present,” I sighed, rolling my eyes at the parts my sons had made me add on.

A snigger escaped Shingen’s lips, as Yukimura elbowed his lord hard in the ribs. “Sorry, we’re here to discuss a mutual problem,” he eventually advised, before the side doors slammed open, and my husband looked at us all with curiosity. “Just in time,” he coldly smiled.

“I’ll leave this to you,” Nobunaga stated to me, and briskly left, the doors echoing as he let them swing shut behind him. I shook my head at the movements and turned my attention back to the two ‘enemy’ commanders.

“Kennyo escaped from Kasugayama. He had help,” Yukimura butted in. “Which means someone somewhere is helping him and will be looking to attack us all at our weakest.”

“How do you know he had help?” I frowned.

“His cell was unlocked, and it wasn’t forced,” Shingen confirmed, making an ice cold shiver go down my spine.

“For now, the agreement will be both sides will send soldiers out to search for him. Any battles we will pool resources to get him back in a dungeon, I will be biased and say it must be here since it is not certain yet which of your guards has been the weak link,” I rationalised, not realising that my sons were watching me all avidly. “And I assume we will need to trade some kind of collateral?”

“I was going to suggest a wife exchange,” Takeda hesitantly offered.

“Goryanin will kill you,” Yukimura muttered, as I tried to stop my amusement showing.

“Unfortunately, not acceptable given my current status. How about an exchange of children?” I replied, and then heard some muffled gasps of surprise. I held my hand up to stop Shingen or Yukimura from drawing their weapons as I slowly inched towards the door, and threw it open as all four of my offspring tumbled in. “Please, take them all, yours cannot be as bad,” I scoffed. “I don't think you all realise how much trouble you are in,” I hissed. “To the tenshu. Now,” my tone told them it was all non-negotiable as they scampered off. Nobunaga would keep them occupied for now as I closed the door again. “Please, accept my sincerest apologies.”

Takeda chuckled. “Please do not worry about it. You are a formidable woman in every circumstance it seems. An exchange of firstborns?”

“Agreed, we will meet in a few days. They are to be treated as guests of honour and not locked in dungeons,” I nodded. We confirmed the meeting place and the two men swiftly left, before I turned back into my monster mother mode, and headed swiftly for the tenshu.

Oda was having them all clean his armour meticulously and stood up to meet me. We walked out to the veranda, he was impatient for the news.

“Would you rather find out what Shingen wanted or what our children did?” I sighed, looking out over Azuchi as a breeze came as a refreshing feel.

“Enemies first,” he said, entwining our fingers as we stood at the far end of the veranda, his free hand around my waist to bring me against him. Even after all these years, he was still as passionate and domineering about our love and had to show it at every moment possible.

“Kennyo is currently free,” I advised. “He had help too, there wasn’t any force used on the door, it was just unlocked. We call an alliance until he’s captured again,” I replied. “And as a collateral, he was going to suggest that I go to Echigo whilst Goryanin comes here, but for obvious reasons, it’s now an exchange of firstborns.”

Nobunaga nodded, and then glanced back towards the tenshu.

“They were eavesdropping, gave themselves away when I was talking about an exchange of children,” I explained. “If they insist on doing these things, then they need to learn how to not get caught. A few lessons with Mitsuhide may be on the cards,” I shrugged before resting my head against his shoulder as Nobunaga looped both his arms around me and pulled me into him. His scent was so warm and welcoming to me as I breathed it deeply. “I never will get used to you going without me,” I mumbled. “I hate it more and more each time.”

“I know fireball,” Oda’s voice was low as we cuddled over the town for a while, eager to soak up the chance we had.

It took a few months, but the individuals and Kennyo were all tracked down and returned to dungeons across the territories. It also turned out that Shingen’s eldest girl and Nobatatu had definitely got a young romance going on from the letters I had privately sent to Goryanin. I was wondering how to play it to my husband as I looked out over the sunset. I was ready to burst it felt like, and I had heard there were bets on gender and name amongst all the vassals and retainers, and even Nobunaga was joining in apparently. Though I was hearing it was roughly split down the middle as to whether he was saying, boy or girl, as our baby kicked me in the bladder. Oda had gone to complete the return exchange with Obai-in, and Masamune was apparently on his way for a visit. I felt a large amount of relief that things were stable for now, Hideyoshi only stayed at Azuchi because that was just his nature to stay close to Nobunaga and me, but all the other vassals were at their own fiefs.

My husband stormed in without our son, making me raise an eyebrow as he practically went to snap the fence in two. I placed a hand on his shoulder and saw the fury in his eyes.

“He got Kensho-in pregnant,” he snapped, shocking me into silence.

“Well, you’ll be a grandparent?” I offered, stumped for what to say.

“He has the entire world for him-”’ he started to rave.

“Is he happy?” I asked, putting myself forcefully into his path.

“What, er I?” Nobunaga was startled by my confrontation and had wide eyes as he looked back at me.

“Is. He. Happy?” I enunciated.

“Yes,” he reluctantly admitted.

“Then what you need is to go and find Masamune, and let some steam off, and let me discuss this with Nobatatu and Shingen,” I replied, waving him out of the room as I went to go and arrange for my trip to depart shortly.

I wasn’t expecting to find them outside the gates, and my son’s face relaxing the second he saw it was me and not his father.

“You have no idea how lucky you are that I have such a good way to figure out your father right now,” I scolded Nobatatu, before turning to Shingen. “Is Kensho-in happy with the idea of being married to him?” I asked bluntly.

“She said she can’t wait when she found out she was pregnant and said it would mean we’d need to be married,” my son replied in a small voice.

“This does create a bit of a political issue for your fathers,” I chuckled, ruffling the head of my son who was actually taller than me. “Luckily I get on well with Goryanin,” I smiled. “I’m fine with it, but you leave now whilst she’s still early and go and manage your own lands that your father gifted you. It’s far enough from both places to keep you out of harm’s way.”

I waited for my son to disappear to get his things ready, and turned to Shingen, expecting his argument.

“Between you and Goryanin, I think me and Oda never stood a chance,” he admitted.

“All I’m bothered about is them being happy and no one being forced into anything,” I shrugged, knowing it was a very modern way of thinking. But it was hardly nothing new to those around me, it was the principles I’d always stuck to since I had arrived. As a result, I had a loving life, surrounded by family and friends who all loved me dearly as I did for them.

[poisonedfortunecookie]

shance support week - day 4 - On Your Side

here’s day 4 for @shancesupportsquad shance week. 

“Like I said, your plan is too dangerous Keith,” Lance ground out between gritted teeth for what felt like the hundredth time. Keith wasn't listening.

“It's not dangerous if you have the skill to see it through,” Keith challenged his hands clenched into tight fists because Lance didn't understand dammit, he could do this.

“Even for you, this is risky. You're not indestructible!”

“I don't need you to tell me what I can and can't do, Lance.” Keith spat taking a step forward invading the others personal space and getting right up in his face.

Lance snarled his own hands curling into fists.

“That's enough!” Shiro commanded, stepping between them a hand on each of their chests. He'd hoped the two of them could have sorted this amicably, but they were beyond that now. He had to step in.  

Lance froze, but Keith pushed against his hand for a moment before backing down. They continued to glare at each other.  

“Lance is right. It's too dangerous,” Shiro said sternly, shooting Keith a sharp look.

“What?!” Keith spluttered taking a step back. He looked up at Shiro with an expression akin to betrayal. Shiro felt Lance flinch in surprise against his other hand.

The others, who'd all been pretending they weren't watching the fight between Lance and Keith, turned their full attention to the three men.

Keith bristled. “You're just saying that because you're fucking him now,” he spat.

“What? We haven't even-its none of your business!” Lance almost choked, his face flushing a hot red.

“Keith! This had nothing to do with my relationship with Lance or what we might get up to in the privacy of our rooms. Your plan places all of the risk on your shoulders. We can't accept that, we're a team, so we're going to work together, now everyone get ready to depart. We're leaving in five," Shiro dropped his hands and stepped back, silently praying that the two men would listen and not try to fight each other again.

Keith glared at them both before turning sharply on his heel and stalking off to his ship.  

“Ok team, to your lions!” Shiro commanded. Hunk, Pidge, and even Allura jumped and turned away, running off with their heads bowed acting as if they hadn't seen a thing.  

Lance scampered after them quickly, before Shiro could say anything to him. As he left Shiro could see the tips of his ears were still burning red.

Shiro sighed and pulled his fingers through the tuft of white hair. He'd have a word with them after the mission was over.

-

Following the team focused plan, which allowed them all to contribute and play to their strength, the mission was an easy win. They didn't even need to form Voltron.

The team returned to the castle with no injuries, and barely any new scratches on their lions. Even Keith's small Galra ship returned unscathed.

“Shiro?” Lance called out to him after they'd got out of their lions and were heading back to the bridge. There was no one else around.

“Thanks, for having my back back there. I mean I know Keith has the skill, and he could have probably handled that on his own, but it was just too-" Lance was cut off by Shiro's hand landing on his shoulder.

“Lance, I will always be on your side. You make me a better man, and I trust your judgement,” he said with a sincere smile, giving Lance's shoulder a firm squeeze. Even after their success, Lance was hung up on the fact Shiro had sided with him and not Keith as if he hadn't expected it even though it was obvious to everyone he was right.

“Oh, right, it's just..” Lance flushed, stuttering. Shiro smiled his hand moving from Lance's shoulder to the back of his neck to pull him in for a chaste kiss.  

They were interrupted by the sharp sound of Keith clearing his throat.

“Sorry to interrupt, but uh, can I talk to Lance? Please,” he coughed, his gaze fixed firmly off to the side so as not to intrude on their intimate moment more than he already had.

Shiro took a step back, his hand sliding from Lance's neck. “Of course,” he shot Lance a reassuring smile before walking ahead leaving the two of them alone.

“I just wanted to say I'm sorry, for what I said earlier,” Keith said quickly before Lance could say anything and start another argument.

“It's not like I disapprove of you and Shiro or anything. You make him happy, and I'm glad for that. And you were right, about the mission, I was just being cocky..” Keith trailed off his hands balling into fists again as he struggled to find the words. It wasn't as if he didn't have faith in their abilities, far from it, he just wanted to protect them.

“Keith, you're still a part of the team you know. You don't have to be in a lion to fight with us,” Lance smiled and moved towards Keith throwing his arm around the other man's shoulders.

“And you know Red was really happy to fight with you today, she was so excited and so proud of you.”

A low rumble from Red echoed around the hanger. Keith laughed.

“Thanks, Red, and thank you, Lance,” he smiled sheepishly at the other Paladin.  

“Don't mention it. You really should come back more often, I know you're off being all cool super ninja spy with the blade, but we miss having you around.”

Keith laughed again. “Ninja spy? What is it you think I do with the blade?”

“I dunno. Cool stuff secret stuff,” Lance shrugged. They both laughed.

Shiro watched them from a distance. He loved Lance, and he loved Keith, both were precious and irreplaceable to him, and now that he was dating Lance dating he would likely, more often than not, be on Lance's side when it came to arguments between the two men unless Lance was wrong.

But he hoped, more than anything, the two people he cared about the most would keep getting along, so he didn't have to pick sides.  

[morfinwen]

For the headcanon ask: Sarah (Chuck), Steris, Anakin, and then any OC you would like to answer for, please. :)

So i’ve been sitting on this for i don’t know how long, chipping away at the answers, and this is what i got. It doesn’t cover everything for every one you asked, but it covers a fair amount. At any rate, it’s enough that i’m putting it under a read-more.

Sarah Walker

Headcanon B: [hilarious]

Despite being the daughter of a con man and a trained CIA spy for her entire adult life, post-series Sarah gets a deer-in-the-headlights look whenever some chatty new acquaintance asks how she and her husband met. Unless Chuck is there to rescue her, or her panicking mind manages to remember that a simple relating of “he fixed my phone and I gave him my number” without any of the classified details would work just fine, she winds up inventing some story on the spur of the moment. She’s not that good with inventing things spur of the moment.

Eventually she memorizes a safe, straightforward version of events to tell people who ask, but that isn’t until after she tells their neighbors across the street a complicated story involving ninja muggers and a computer virus that turned out to be a bomb.

Steris

Headcanon A:  [realistic]

Steris has learned, to some extent, to express her emotions in a way that other people understand. It’s still acting, though. She may be pleased, but she does not feel like smiling. She may wish to get to know someone better, but she does not have any actual interest in who tailored their clothing.

Wax and Marasi are learning to understand how she expresses things. Wax, particularly, tries to learn how to communicate the same way. It will probably always be as much acting for him as ordinary social conventions are for her, but she appreciates it more than can be expressed, in either way.

Headcanon B: [hilarious]

She has a notebook dedicated to plans for the Scadriel equivalent of the zombie apocalypse. It started years ago, after an especially stressful society event, and her mind picked that particular topic to obsess on. After that, whenever she had difficult emotions that could not be soothed any other way, she would work them out by refining the plans or expanding them further.

Marasi came across the notebook once. She had read about half a page before realizing it belonged to Steris. She put it back quickly and has never brought it up, but sometimes she passes by an abandoned building and ponders its defensive capabilities, or eats some fresh fruit and wonders how difficult the plants would be to cultivate in desperate circumstances.

Steris’ theoretical colony is doing much better now that she’s married to Wax.

Headcanon C: [heart-crushing]

For a long time, Steris wished she had a sister. She tried to connect with other girls her own age, but it never seemed to work out. Some, particularly the daughters of older families, wouldn’t have anything to do with her at all, and those that did would suddenly stop, and Steris was never sure why.

When she first learned she had a baby half-sister, she started making a list: things to teach her, things they could do together, what personal things she could share (and what ones she would never, ever be allowed to touch). She was still working on it when her mother, still very upset, explained to her that none of those things were ever going to happen. Steris still didn’t understand why, but she tore up the list and threw it out.

Anakin

Headcanon A:  [realistic]

A lot of things would have gone very differently if the Council had thought a bit more about the fact that Anakin had an incredibly different outlook than the kids brought up in the Temple.

Headcanon B: [hilarious]

Due to their radically different upbringings, experiences, and temperaments, Obi-Wan and Anakin miscommunicate regularly. Sometimes, far too often, it leads to frustration and disappointment. Other times, however, it leads to ridiculousness that leaves them scratching their heads, wondering where it all went wrong …

Obi-Wan tells Anakin to “meet him by the ship”. He then spends two hours waiting by the crashed ship in the forest, nibbling on preserved food packets, and very deliberately not worrying about what might have befallen his Padawan to delay him so long. Meanwhile, Anakin is hanging out on the ship they arrived in, tinkering with something he’s been secretly working on all week while he waits for his master to show up already.

Headcanon C: [heart-crushing]

Everything about Anakin’s life is heart-crushing, if you ask me.

Any OC  

I picked Leah Tolkien, my character from Fallout 4.

I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Fallout games at all, so here are a few things you need to know about Fallout 4 for the following headcanons to make sense. I’ll try and keep them brief …

- The Fallout games take place in a post-apocalypse America, about 200 years after nuclear war. It also takes place in an alternate universe, as its pre-War America looks a lot more like 1950s America than modern-day, despite the War taking place in 2077. There were more advancements than in 1950, but mostly based on what people of the 1950s might have thought advanced science would look like.

- Fallout 4 starts with the main character, his or her spouse, and their infant son entering a vault to escape the nuclear war that’s just started (in 2077). They are, unwittingly, frozen cryogenically. Some time later, they wake up briefly to witness strangers kill their spouse and kidnap their son. The MC is frozen again, wakes up after an unknown amount of time, and escapes the Vault, vowing to find their son and avenge their spouse.

    - Everyone else in the Vault is dead. The life support systems were discontinued for every pod except the MC’s.

Headcanon A:  [realistic]

I have issues with how the concept of artificial life is handled in Fallout 4, both from scientific and philosophical standpoints, so there’s a lot of official information about synths that i ignore. Most notably -- this is a spoiler for the game, in case that matters -- i ignore the in-game fact that the synth child Shaun Leah ends up having custody of (eventually … i haven’t gotten that far) will never grow up or age.

Headcanon B: [hilarious]

The Silver Shroud was a popular radio/TV series before the War, with all the ham and cheese you would expect of a 50s-style serial about a masked vigilante going by a name like The Silver Shroud. Leah and her family loved it.

One of the (many) side quests Leah took up while searching for her son involved finding the original Silver Shroud costume, then using it and a weapon based off the one used by The Silver Shroud to fight crime. Leah did the entire thing as in-character as it was possible for her to be.

While that side quest eventually ended, Leah still indulges in acting like The Silver Shroud from time to time. Some of her companions are as enthusiastic as she is about it. Others, well, they have to brace themselves every time she has the chance to talk to the bad guys she’s fighting.

Headcanon C: [heart-crushing]

As i’ve noted previously, Leah considers herself as two different people -- pre-War Leah and post-War Leah. In many ways, post-War Leah is a much stronger person. She can carry more, walk farther and faster, and is probably healthier than she’s ever been. Morally, her beliefs and principles have been challenged, both more often and much more dangerously than in the past. She’s learned to do things that her younger self would not have believed possible. But at the same time, she is far more fragile.

Sometimes, she’ll find a broken-down crib or a baby’s rattle, and mentally … go somewhere else for a half hour. Someone will walk by in a scavenged military uniform, and she’ll spend the rest of the day on the verge of tears (her husband was in the military). A song will play on the radio that reminds her of her wedding, and she’ll turn it off so fast the knob just about breaks. The thing that sets her off today might have caused no reaction yesterday. She might not even understand what about this thing reminds her of the past. Sometimes she can push it to the side or ignore it, but other times there’s nothing to be done but wait for it to pass.

Her companions eventually learn how to help, in their own ways, even if it’s just making sure nothing sneaks up on them while Leah’s out of commission. But it never fully heals or goes away. What happened to her was a drastic, awful thing, like getting a limb cut off. She’s learned to move forward, but something has been lost that can’t be replaced.

Headcanon D: [unrealistic]

Not sure if this counts as “unrealistic”, but it’s all i got.

After the end of the game, once all the dangling threads have been resolved and the dust is settling, Leah has a funeral for all the people who died in Vault 111. It’s a very personal affair, so she only asks her closest friends to come.

There’s not much more to it than digging graves outside the vault and laying the bodies to rest. For some people, she didn’t know them well enough to say much more than their names and professions, and even for the ones she did know she doesn’t say many words. It’s easier to cover the graves with stones to protect them from animals rather than put up markers, and honestly Leah prefers it that way. In a better world, they would have headstones up for their families to visit and mourn at, but that isn’t the world they live in. Most likely anyone coming to Vault 111 is coming to raid it or to gawk at it, so this way they won’t be raiding or gawking at the graves.

She visits once every year, on the anniversary of the day she left the vault, and leaves flowers, one for every person.

Thanks for asking!

[kitsune-ryu-neko]

Voltron Season 6 Thoughts

OH BOY. FINALLY. Also, I may or may not have forgotten everything from season 5.... I do know that I wanted to see more of Earth and possibly the Garrison and see what they are up to but that didn’t happen sooo...here’s to hoping season 6 has that covered?

ONTO THE SHOW!!!

Episode 1: Omega Shield - Jealous Lance? - Lotor is less than enthused to see this person... XD - I LOVE THE FACIAL EXPRESSIONS HERE XD So nanny, huh? I agree with Lance. Seriously funny. Also Lotor’s expression is giving me serious anime vibes.  - I love the idea that Hunk is gonna learn more about the Galra. That’s totally not gonna come back at aaaaalllllllllll - Oh boy. Lotor is making some enemies. I didn’t think Sendak would be as big a threat as he is? - Something is happening to Not!Shiro. what are we calling him? Kuron?  - It’s Haggar. of course it would be. THIS MEANS WE GET THE CLONE REVEAL THIS SEASON RIGHT??? ITS BEEN LIKE FOUR SEASONS NOW - well Hunk’s Galra knowledge was needed sooner than I expected... - AN UPGRADE!!! FUCK YEAH! - Ok so Haggar found that place...great... - Lance NO! - Hunk is a great leader ~ - Oooohhh lots of stuff happened this episode! Allurance? Kuron and Haggar. Leader Hunk. and Haggar returning to Altean form???

Episode 2: Razor’s Edge - WAIT we left off here?!?!? - WHOA MAJOR LOTURA MOMENT THERE - Lotura vs. Allurance GO! - Well I have no idea what happened but that was really sweet of Krolia to protect Keith. - A FLASHBACK??? - And then...a very creepy Shiro... why? I understand the family flashback but not the one for Shiro... - It was Time....so that has to have been a future glimpse to Shiro - “beautiful, flowing white alien hair”  - Pidge and Hunk are so mean sometimes XD - There is no freaking way Earth didn’t detect all of that - Oh boy this is a convenient way to see flashbacks... Plus it’s kinda fun.  - Huh...so they had that mission....wonder what happened to make her leave - Lance is so sweet - ok Keith’s dad’s outfit looks a lot like Shiro’s... - Ok ..I mean...cOME ON...the Galaxy Garrison HAS to know something by now!!!! How could they not??? THERE IS AN ALIEN FIGHT LIKE A HOP, SKIP, AND A JUMP AWAY!!!! - This has to be why they sent Shiro and them on that mission....or at least related to why - Figures thats why she left. Also, BABY KEITH IS SO FRIGGING CUTE - WHOA THAT WOLF CREATURE IS ADORABLE TOO - TINY KEITH!!! THIS IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE BEST EPISODES SO FAR BECAUSE WE GET CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT PLUS ANSWERS!!! - Dear lord how long have they been living on this thing? - it’S BEEN WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!? - THE MICE ARE SNITCHING!!! NEVER TRUST THEM - I LOVE THAT THEY KEPT THE ALIEN WOLF DOG - UUUHHHhhhhhh that place looks a lot like the hologram room of Altea...just sayin... - Altean?! ....Altean....... < . < Altean - WHAT A GREAT FRIGGING EPISODE OMFG

Episode 3: Monsters and Mana - ...is this gonna be the roleplaying D&D episode? - I’m like ten minutes in. Coran is the innkeeper. Shiro is the hooded figure in the corner that overhears everything and gives out info. And his backstory is hilarious. It’s so overly dramatic XD - “HEY WHERE ARE YOU GUYS GOIN’?!?!?!” - “Sounds like you’re too busy to help us with this wizard” XD - “Shiro’s DEAD!” < . <  - Lance is a ninja cat....of course he is!  - Way to call back to the first episode. “Maybe you just have to knock” - OMFG SHIRO DIED AGAIN!!! XD - CORAN IS THE VILLAIN. I should have known with that look he gave them earlier - I can’t take Shiro (Kuron?) seriously anymore. i cant XD

Episode 4: The Colony - revealed evil instincts huh? - ok i think something is gonna happen to allura, and keith will come back and everyone will be back in their original lions again to go and save her... - Altean pod? Is it Keith, Krolia, and whoever else altean? - HEY IT IS!!! - Oh so SHE’S Romelle... - WELL this is just INTEREStING, LOTOR. Thanks for lying. We all kinda thought you would be lying to them about something - GOD DAMN I LOVE THIS BACKSTORY - That IS horrifying, Coran. Holy moly - Lotura moment right when shit is about to go down. oh boy - Damn Lotor....you deserved that - Wow...with this Haggar and Kuron thing...shit really is going down - ok so not what I predicted... Something happened to shiro instead of allura

Episode 5: The Black Paladins - Well this is gonna be an interesting episode - She didn’t attack Keith. They have to have some kind of connection, right? Was she the person they helped back in like...season 2?  - The hacking is most likely because of Galra tech and Altean tech being fused? Pidge did that back in like...season 5 I think...  - WAIT A MINUTE...DOES NO ONE IN THIS FRIGGING SHOW KNOW THAT HAGGAR AND LOTOR ARE MOTHER AND SON?!?!? sheesh - Her voice is different... - Lots of loyalties being tested here, dang - Is this gonna be where we find out the truth? Haggar told Kuron to lead Keith away. She didn’t specify where... - OH SO WE DO!!!! YAY!!!! - Oh Shiro’s arm...of course. Because he’s a spy. well this is all coming together nicely - Pidge is smart. Take every precaution - Can I just say that the lighting in this fight is great! - Ok the abandonment comment is so frigging stupid. Not only is that comment complete bullshit, but it makes no goddamn sense. BUT OK SHIRO - “Actually, neither of us are leaving.” First of all, FUCK. Second of all, damn that was some great delivery on the voice acting wow - Damn...I didn’t know Shiro’s alien arm could do that ...but that’s good know O . O - Well...there go all the Shiro clones...that’s....kinda sickening - AWWWW MAN, THE FEELS!!!! “You’re my brother. I love you.” God damn if Shiro is dead or if Keith dies I’m going to be so sad... - The animation in this episode is just....amazing - OH!!!! OHH!!!!! FLASHBACK FOR KEITH AND SHIRO - Keith looks younger but Shiro looks the same age XD - WOW That Ending. That Ending was great. A+ 10/10 would watch that episode on repeat

Episode 6: All Good Things - Hey it’s the astral plane again. Good to see ya. Means we get real Shiro - REAL SHIRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - HOLY SHIT HE DIED?!?!? I mean...technically his essence or soul or whatever the fuck that is COULD inhabit the body of literally any of his clones... - You know...this is all just heartbreaking...Shiro...the clone...him dying...all his friends...Keith...everything - The Allurance moment was sweet.  - Well, there goes that. destroyed.  - Coran is such a great character - Is Lotor REALLY BRINGING THIS UP?!?!? REALLY?!?! No one is gonna trust you after that.  - Aaaannnddd Allura....you need to learn when to not say something omg. YOU KNOW HE HATES THAT WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO ANGER HIM!?!? - Damn Lotor calm down. So much for your so called “feelings” huh?  - Lotor....you fucked up saying that - Although, I like that he thinks he is the hero for the universe. The person to bring peace. And I like that we know how he thinks and why he has these thoughts. He doesn’t like either of his parents. He’s half Galra and half Altean. No one ever trusts him because of either side. Honestly, it’s tragic. But damn Lotor...you could have fixed things better than this...but no one would have trusted you anyways because of your past. :/  - Well that’s neat. Good luck paladins - Hey Keith got the Black Lions’ giant wings - Good luck Lotor

Episode 7: Defender of all Universes - THAT TITLE < . <  - Lotor’s expressions are still amazing - Oh hey everyone can meet real Shiro again - Ok nevermind < . < maybe one day - This is a cool fight - Yay they won against Lotor! Still tragic though... - Goodbye Castle of Lions ;-; - Oh? Can Allura do something?  - His hair is actually all white now...weird - BUT IS SHIRO FINALLY BACK AFTER ALL THIS TIME?!??!! O: - YAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - And we got Shiro’s actual hair floof back! - O: ARE WE FINALLY FRIGGING GOING TO EARTH?!?!? FINALLy - SEASON 7 I CAN’T WAIT!!!!

Overall. Best. Season. So. Far. There was so much. Great character development. I loved the flashbacks and backstories!!! Lots of intense moments and lots of secrets finally revealed! The music was dramatic and the animation at times was just superb. 10/10 would watch the season all over again on repeat. Wow. And I’m so HYPED FOR NEXT SEASON!!! FINALLY!!! After SIX FRIGGING SEASONS we FINALLY get to see Earth again! I wanna know what everyone is up to. What everyone knows, especially the families, classmates, teachers, and the Galaxy Garrison as a whole. Plus I really wanna see the paladins back with their families! Also, Keith won’t be alone going back. How long do we have to wait for season 7? Until January? DX