#so uh i found uh a new ship haha

[proshippy-fox]

"they're sibling coded so it's incest" "I headcanon them as siblings so it's incest" "they were childhood-" shut up before I show you a REAL incest ship. sibling coded? no. incest coded.

[hugmekenobi]

Heal

A Bad Batch Post S3 Oneshot

Gif by @barissoffee

Hunter x femaleJedi!reader

Summary: Shaking the effects of Tantiss is easier said than done

Warnings: Literally one use of (Y/N), swearing, hints of Tech/Phee, references to past pain and torture, angst, hurt/comfort, nightmares and trouble sleeping, descriptions of illness (headaches), reader is hard on herself, suggestive dialogue, light PDA (kissing, teasing touches), mentions of food, me making up what everyone is up to on Pabu, fluff and happy ending

Masterlist for S1, S2 and S3

Word Count: 7.2K

Rating: 18+

Author's note: Okay, not gonna lie, I struggled with this one. It was a last minute idea as I was rewatching and writing the final few episodes of season 3 but it worked and felt a lot better in my head and when it came to writing, my brain was not my friend lol. I hope it's still enjoyable! The next oneshot is the story I've had planned for months so that should be a smoother process haha

It had been a few weeks since you’d all taken up official residence in Pabu.

Shep’s offer of setting up homes for you all stayed true.

You and Hunter had been put in a hut perfectly designed for the two of you that was a short walk away from the water and there was even a spare room for Omega who alternated between sleeping in your home and the home Tech, Crosshair and Wrecker all shared.

The three other clones may have been grouped together but there was plenty of room, and not a lot of time was spent indoors anyway.

Wrecker had taken to fishing like, well, like a fish to water.

Crosshair did a bit of everything, helping out with tasks of whoever needed assistance but he mainly he kept up with practicing shooting with his left hand. He wanted the practice, and he genuinely enjoyed it. He didn’t miss being a soldier anymore but that didn’t mean he had to renege on his skills.

Tech spent much of his time with Phee or assisting Shep in rebuilding parts of Pabu that still needed it and upgrading equipment.  

Omega often kept close company with Lyana and the other young reg clones or she went off with Tech to plan out a potential search for lost or salvageable pieces of the Marauder- the two of them had dreams of rebuilding new a ship with as many pieces of their old home as possible. It was yet to be undertaken but the vision was there.

The task of reuniting the children from Tantiss with their families had been successful but with that final mission complete, you and Hunter were also in the same boat as Crosshair and still yet to find your official niche on island. For now, you both were just relishing in the peace and each other’s company.

One thing you had managed to achieve was finding a way to finally get in touch with Lyra again, who- despite being filled in on everything that had happened since you parted ways on Christophsis- still managed to scold you for the lack of communication. But after hearing you all were alive and settled, she’d sent you all packages of more suitable island clothes with promises to visit soon.

Everything was coming together and so you were feeling one with the island life.

However, life here was not without its challenges.

The impact and aftermath of Tantiss remained a constant shadow that would still find ways to rear its ugly head. Something you and Hunter in particular found yourselves dealing with.

--

“I figured we could have the party in the next couple of weeks right here in the colonnade and, I don’t know, you could slip away or…” Shep trailed off as he saw the way Hunter’s brow furrowed in pain.

“Uh huh.” Hunter agreed distantly. He didn’t want to ignore Shep, especially when he was doing him the favour, but fuck had the sun always been this bright? The blinding pain behind his eyes and throbbing in his skull was getting harder to dismiss.  

You were a casual observer and listener to the conversation between the young reg clones and the adult clones that had remained on the island- Deke, Stak and Mox had no shortage of questions for them. But you sensed a rising discomfort and then you caught the way Hunter kept pinching the bridge of his nose and squinting to get away from the glare of the warm sun. “Excuse me.” You politely removed yourself from the conversation and hurriedly walked over to where Shep and Hunter were conversing. “Shep, I’m sorry to interrupt but do you mind if I steal him away for a moment?”

“Not at all.” Shep bid the two of you farewell with a smile.

You lightly rested a hand on his upper arm. “Hunter? Another flare up?” You figured, keeping your worried voice quiet.

Hunter just about managed a nod and said through gritted teeth, “But I can wait it out. Shep-”

He would attempt to come up with an excuse every time and every time you wouldn’t even entertain it. “Come on.” You carefully wrapped an arm around him and guided him back home.

--

You opened the door and carried on through to the bedroom. You gently prompted him to sit on the bed as you knelt down and took his shoes off before you shut the bedroom window to cancel out the noise outside and closed the blinds to keep the sunlight out. You kept your voice low and monotone as you instructed him, “Lie down.”

Hunter did as you said and rested on his back.

The routine was second nature to you. He hadn’t had headaches like this for a while but since Tantiss and because of what he’d suffered there, they’d become more frequent. His senses hadn’t quite readjusted back to what they used to be.

You moved silently throughout the house as you went to the freezer and came back with the cold compress you stored specifically for these moments and placed it over his eyes. “I’ll just be in the living room if you need anything. Try to sleep.” You whispered caringly before you lightly squeezed his hand and made to leave. However, you had barely stepped away from the bed when Hunter’s hand caught your wrist.

“Stay.” He requested through a wince.

“I don’t want to overwhelm you.” You cautioned quietly. You had remained a couple times before, but it had never been a certainty that he wanted you to stay when he was going through this. You always waited for him to give the okay.

“You can’t.” He murmured. He needed you here to ground him in a way the usual methods could never do.

You removed your own shoes and supported his back as you sat him up and slotted yourself behind him.

Hunter rested his head against your chest.

You readjusted the compress slightly once you were both in a comfortable position. “This okay?” You asked as you softly massaged each of his temples.

Hunter let out a tranquil sigh and he could already feel the discomfort receding. You always knew just what it was he needed from you in these moments. “Perfect.”

--

Hunter wasn’t the only one still feeling the lingering toil of Tantiss. Your screams of terror and the way you thrashed next to him woke him up. He called your name and shook your arm to wake you up. “Hey, hey. Easy, easy. It’s alright.” He assured you as he saw your eyes widen in fear.

You shot awake and hastily sat up, your breathing hard and uneven.

“You’re okay. I’m here.” Hunter whispered soothingly as he sat up alongside you.

You closed your eyes and let his voice be the only thing you focused on.

“You’re alright. It was a bad dream.”

Right yes, a bad dream.

“Hold on.” Hunter pressed his lips to your clothed shoulder before he got out of bed and ran a cloth under some cold water.

You worked on getting your breathing back under control. You ran a hand over your face and felt the beads of sweat dripping down your temples and down your neck and back. Your sleep top was sticking to you uncomfortably. But you forced yourself to concentrate on anything that didn’t remind you of the nightmare you’d just escaped. You took in your secure and familiar surroundings of your bedroom to calm yourself down. You weren’t back there. You were on Pabu with Hunter. You were safe here.  

Hunter slid back in bed beside you. “Arms up.” He prompted delicately. When you did that, he carefully removed your sweat soaked top and tossed it to the side of the bed– he’d deal with it in the morning- and placed the cool cloth to the back of your neck and spine before he tenderly dabbed at your temples. He then put a replacement top back over your head and continued to press the flannel around your forehead and neck.

“I’m sorry.” You rasped as you hid your face in your palms in embarrassment. You hated this. He would already have tough days and you couldn’t even offer him any relief in the evenings. The two of you had gotten into a rather unfortunate ritual where you would comfort him during the day and then the roles would switch as soon as night fell.

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for.” Hunter reassured you lovingly. He placed the cloth on the bedside table and rubbed his hand up and down your back to ease away the lingering tension and to help settle you back down. “Same one?” He guessed.

You nodded but kept your face hidden from him. “I’m just standing there. I’m watching him hurt you over and over again and I’m not doing anything to stop it.” You said, your voice cracking with each word. “Then he goes to the rest of you- to Omega. I’m completely frozen and all I can do is watch you all writhe in pain. I keep fighting to move but nothing happens. I’m just so useless and I stand by and let it happen. You’re crying out for help, and I just stand there.” You whispered with plenty of self-loathing behind your words.

Hunter shushed you consolingly. “But that’s not what happened. It’s just the nightmare talking.”

“Is it? Because it feels an awful lot like that’s what I did.” You said with self-directed disgust.

““You didn’t do nothing. You didn’t give up. You did what you thought you needed to do to get us out of there alive.” Hunter reminded you.

“Imprisoned.” You corrected.

“Alive.” Hunter countered.

You knew there was no sense in arguing with him over it. “I should be over this by now. I coped after Christophsis. I don’t know why this is sticking with me so much.” You said critically instead.

Hunter was all too familiar with this line of argument. As soon as you admitted to the nightmare and the fear it brought, you started looking for ways to berate yourself for feeling the way you were. “You couldn’t process Christophsis on your own time. You were in a position where you were forced to carry on. And I don’t think going through and being impacted by torture has a time requirement.”

You finally half-turned to face him. “Do you really believe that?”

The doubt in your voice made his throat constrict and chest tighten. “I know it.”

“But dealing with this is annoying.” You mumbled self-consciously and you averted your gaze once more.

“Do you get annoyed when you’ve needed to help me?”

You lifted your eyes back to him. “No, of course not.”

“Exactly. You help me through those episodes. Why do you think I’d treat you any differently?” He rubbed his thumb along your cheekbone. “You still need to give yourself the same treatment you give other people.” He said caringly.

You leaned your head against Hunter’s shoulder and just gave a series of reluctant but agreeable noises to signal your acceptance of his statement.

“You’re talking to me though. That counts for something.” Hunter praised, angling his head so he could kiss your forehead.

“Yeah, I’m a work in progress.” You managed to say with some light-heartedness before your voice went solemn again. “Just don’t give up on me… please.”

“Never.” Hunter promised with steadfast seriousness.

Your eyes flickered shut and you snuggled closer to him as he ran his hand up and down your arm in soft, delicate patterns.

“Want to sleeping try again?” He suggested after he felt your breathing and pulse settle back down.

You gulped but agreed to give sleep another go. “Okay.” You laid back down readjusted the covers you had kicked off in your sleep-panicked state. You breathed deeply as you closed your eyes and willed yourself to at least get a couple uninterrupted hours. But the darker part of your nightmare, the part you couldn’t vocalise, lingered with you and you didn’t know how to get past it.

Hunter wrapped his arm around your side and pulled your back tight to his chest, but despite all you opened up about, he knew you were holding something back. It was the same every night and he knew sleep would continue to elude you.

--

This new day was nearly over. Dusk had come and gone but the concept of night and sleep filled you with a deep anxiety. You needed to clear your head before you even thought about winding down for the night. “I’m going for a walk; I’ll be back soon.” You said, giving Hunter a chaste kiss to his lips before you exited your home.

Hunter gave you a slight smile as you parted from him, and he could only watch you leave. He had never felt so helpless.

He knew he couldn’t quite help you in the way you needed but there might be someone else who could.

--

“Hey there, Hunter.” Phee greeted cheerily as she opened the door to greet the clone.

“I’m not interrupting anything am I?” Hunter asked apologetically.

Phee rolled her eyes, “Pfftt no way. He’s been at this for hours, if you can get his attention onto something else, be my guest.”  She led him through to the living room.

Tech grunted his greeting as he sought out the tool that he needed for the task he was completing for Shep. The island had a healer- Dalia, but she mainly operated out of her home because, until recently, that suited just fine. But when the attack on Pabu occurred, Shep and Dalia had found themselves ill-prepared for accommodating the seriousness of the injuries that followed so Tech was assisting in expanding and updating her equipment and resources. AZ was already a big help with that, but more was needing done. It was a longer but important project that Tech was taking very seriously.

 “Sorry about the mess.” Phee said with an annoyed yet affectionate stare in Tech’s direction, but she was not surprised when the clone did not appear to even register that she’d spoken. She had stopped trying to get Tech to tidy as he went about altering this latest piece of machinery since he’d insistently claimed there was an order to the chaos around him. The entire area in which he was working was covered with random tools and intricate pieces of machinery. Phee struggled to see how this all equalled a system since all she saw was an array random pieces of metal taking up her living room floor. It didn’t truly bother her though; it was just another quirk she was fond off. Her appreciation for his intelligence and passion outweighed a little untidiness.

“Don’t worry, it’s something I’m very used to.” Hunter said lightly as he carefully stepped over some discarded screws.

“Sit down.” Phee encouraged, gesturing to a spare chair as she took a seat on the couch across from where Tech was working in the middle of the floor. But when Hunter made no move to do so, Phee properly looked at him and she noticed the distant and slightly nervous expression Hunter donned. “Everything alright?”

“I need your help, Tech.” Hunter said in answer.

Tech spoke for the first time since Hunter arrived as he found the spanner he needed, “I’m not yet finished with this. Once I’m done-”

“I don’t need you to fix anything, Tech. It’s about (Y/N). She’s struggling right now and-”

“Well, we know that she has a habit of taking things on by herself. A habit both of you have shared for quite a while.” Tech said plainly, not taking his eyes off the medical equipment he was fixing up. “I wouldn’t take her refusal or dismissals personally.”

Hunter bit back his frustrated huff. He knew attempting to get his brother’s focus when he was so absorbed by a project was always going to be challenging. He went to speak again but Phee beat him to it.

Enough was enough. Phee firmly nudged Tech’s good thigh with her boot, “Would you stop playing around with that and actually pay attention to what he has to say?”

Tech snapped out of his intense concentration. “Right, yes. Sorry, Hunter.” He started officially packing up. Once he was done, he gave his brother his full attention and it was then that he saw the genuine worry on Hunter’s face which told him it was more important than any mechanical repair. “What’s going on with her?”

“She keeps having nightmares from her capture on Tantiss. I can’t remember the last time she slept through the night.” Hunter took a ragged breath. “And it’s not like she’s keeping them to herself and that’s why they’re so bad. She’s doing everything we’ve worked on. She talks to me; she lets me in and help her, but I know there’s something else she’s keeping hidden. And it’s because she knows I can’t offer her the right words, or she wants to protect me from whatever it is she’s not telling me. I’m stuck and she’s not getting any better and I can’t offer her anything more than what I’m currently doing.”

“So, how exactly can I help?” Tech asked, rather puzzled as to why his brother had come to him with this dilemma. He wasn’t exactly known for providing helpful assistance for this type of issue. It wasn’t that he never wanted to, it just always didn’t come easily to him and usually you and Hunter would always be able to work through it yourselves.

Hunter began tentatively, “Y-your experiences were- were similar. I’d thought about Crosshair but what he went through was a bit different and from what you’ve told us, it sounds closer to what she’s been through. I hate to ask it of you but-”

“Where is she?” Tech asked, getting to his feet.

“If you’re not comfortable doing this I understand. It’s a lot to talk about and-”

“Hunter, just tell me where she is.” Tech interrupted with a firm reassurance to show that he truly didn’t mind.

“Down by the shore.” Hunter told him through a grateful sigh.  

Tech nodded and got ready to leave for the beach.

--

You breathed in the fresh and clean sea air, a gentle breeze wafted through your hair. The moonlight cast the water and sand in a luminous white glow. It offered you a peace you were yet to find in your own mind. The faint but demanding whines of the hound you’d acquired on your walk down had you smiling to yourself as you focused on the sounds of the waves lapping on the shore.

Tech saw you seated on the sand, Batcher waiting for you to throw a stick for her. “Did you know that gravity and the gravitational pull of the moon creates a phenomenon called tidal force, which is what causes the ocean tides to change?”

“I mean… I knew it was something like that.” You straightened your shoulders and managed a tight smile in his direction. “Hey, Tech.” You hoped you didn’t sound as exhausted as you felt.

Tech picked up on the heaviness in your voice despite your attempts to conceal it. “Also, did you know that water absorbs the red light of the colour spectrum, leaving the blue for us to see.” He added as he threw the stick for the hound.

You hummed out your acceptance of the fact as a reply whilst Batcher returned the stick but- after greeting Tech- decided she’d had enough and curled up beside you. “You didn’t come here to share ocean facts, Tech.” You said after a moment. “What’s going on?”

“You’re right. I have another purpose in joining you.” Tech admitted as he sat down on your other side.

“Which is?” You asked leadingly.

“Hunter asked me to. He’s worried about you.” He gave you a chance to speak but you offered nothing, so he carried on, “From what I hear, you’re having difficulty sleeping due to nightmares. They are based around your confinement on Tantiss?”

You cleared your throat to buy yourself some time before you answered, “Yeah.” You brought your knees to your chest.

“Can you tell me more? Whatever you’re comfortable sharing is fine.”

You breathed deeply and peered up at the starry night sky. “Well, you know about Christophsis.”

Tech nodded. That was something he’d been told about on the shuttle back.

“Tantiss… Tantiss was different. I took beatings but they were a treat compared to that fucking droid. Hemlock did a much better job of getting the most out of that damn serum. It got harder and harder to fight it. He knew exactly what buttons to push.”

“I’m afraid I had a helping hand in that.” Tech said sheepishly.

You placed your hand on his shoulder. “I don’t blame you, Tech. Not at all.” You reassured him earnestly.

“Regardless, his methods would’ve been that effective because I told him what would work.”

You patted his shoulder to indicate that you really didn’t hold any of that period against him before you removed it and placed it back across your bent legs. You surprisingly found that you kept wanting to talk so you carried on, “I’d never be able to ignore him, he’d always be able to get in my head so, instead, I’d would look for things to take me out of it.”

“A reasonable response.” Tech agreed. The times when he’d resisted, he’d acted similarly.

You felt irritation rise in you. You’d been weak, how could he not see that? “He told me you were alive, and I used it as a way to keep pushing back against him. Omega didn’t doubt it and she only heard him say it once.”

Hunter had warned him about this before he’d left. He expected you to say things designed to make him reprimand you instead of sympathising with you. The part of ‘no emotion’ element of the Jedi Code was deeply engrained in you. Despite your affinity for handling attachment and genuine love for them, when it came to your own emotions, you had gotten a bit too good at supressing or dismissing them. “Years fighting in a war has a way of creating a certain cynicism- or realism- depending on your point of view. It helps with survival and enduring each battle. I may have gotten out of it but even I have to admit that the odds were slim. I called out the plan. I knew what I was doing, I didn’t expect to live, and I didn’t expect you all to assume that I had.” Tech easily explained away the argument. “I’m grateful for Omega’s optimism and hope- it is a wonderful quality of hers and it got me out of there and brought me back to you all-, but I never expected you to believe I lived.”

You couldn’t accept the fact that the people around you were okay with how you’d acted. Every night was a painful reminder of how you’d failed them. “What I don’t understand is why Tantiss is still affecting me in this way. I got over Christophsis just fine.”

“No, you didn’t process Christophsis. You were thrown into mission after mission and were left with no choice but to keep going. It is highly plausible that Hemlock’s own similar torture was harder to get through because it was a reminder of a traumatic time that you’d already experienced but not healed from. Plus, I don’t believe feeling the effects of torture has a time requirement.”

You sighed heavily, “You’re the second person to tell me all that.”

“Does that not tell you something?” Tech prodded but he did it gently.

“I guess.” You said through a weary sigh as you ran your hands through the sand to distract yourself. “I handed myself over to Hemlock though. I gave up.”

“The guilt you’re experiencing over agreeing to Hemlock’s terms is natural. You-”

“It wasn’t guilt. Not wholly.” You said, your voice so quiet it barely registered over the rhythmic lull of the waves.

Tech glanced at you in surprise, but you were keeping your head down, stroking Batcher’s snout- the dog seemed to sense your distress and had nuzzled closer to you. He allowed the silence to grow as he patiently awaited further explanation from you.  

You swallowed thickly as you went to speak again. “I was relieved.” You admitted, it was the first time you’d ever said the words out loud, and you instantly wished you could take them back. You wrapped your arms around yourself as you awaited the disappointed and shameful remarks from Tech.

“What were you relieved about?” Tech asked calmly.

That hadn’t been the response you were expecting. “Um-” You searched for the words to answer him. “When I was-” You broke off and started again and you found yourself being more honest than you’d anticipated. “When I was in that training room watching Hunter be tortured and I heard Hemlock say that he was going to do the same conditioning to Crosshair again and to Wrecker too… I gave him what he wanted. Throughout my time there, he wanted me to join him and that’s what I was prepared to do. But as I said it, there was a sense of relief. Finally, I could stop fighting him. The torture he put me through would end. And in the dream- nightmare- I keep having, as much as I hate what’s happening, part of why I can’t move to help any of you is because I’m just relived it isn’t me.” You visibly tensed as you finished speaking. Saying that last part out loud caused you physical pain and your stomach churned nervously as you waited for judgement. There had been a reason you couldn’t share this with Hunter. It sounded so selfish, so pathetic.

“I understand that.”

You angled your head to face him. It was your turn to wait for him to talk.

Tech took a grounding breath before he elaborated, “In my time imprisoned there, Hemlock wanted to know all he could about you all. He knew there would be a time where he’d have to face you all again. I didn’t quite experience the same beatings you took; it was always psychological. But whenever I showed willing to give him information, all I felt in that moment was a profound relief that the torment and pain would end. Granted, that swiftly became guilt as soon as he left but I couldn’t deny the respite those few minutes of me telling him about you all gave me. Now, did you only feel relief at it being over? Or was it relief that you could join him and do his bidding?”

You thought back to that time and realised what he was getting at. “No, it was because I knew if I gave him what he wanted, then at least they wouldn’t have to go through any more agony. At the time, imprisonment felt like the better option than becoming one of his operatives and experiencing that level of hurt.”

“Precisely. Your sleep is being haunted by the worst outcome. It’s praying on the flash of relief you felt and twisting it into something more than what it was. If you accept what happened and stop fighting it, it loses its power. You didn’t do anything wrong, you acted how you needed to. The only person that has the power to blame you is yourself. No one here does, sometimes it just helps to hear it out loud once in a while and it’s true. You resisted him for as long as you physically could. Those circumstances would’ve cracked anyone.”

You looked at him thoughtfully. “Is that how you did it?” You asked quietly.

“Well, I didn’t. Not always.” Tech reminded you, assuming you were referring to how he resisted Hemlock’s torment.

“No.” You released another deep sigh. “You seem to have settled here. You’re coping with it, and you were there for a long time.”

“I was in hell on Tantiss but not so much anymore. Being reunited with you all has really helped. Though I think if I had to watch any of them get hurt the way you had to, it would be different.” As he spoke, Tech realised why Hunter had come to him for this. He was sharing this part of him with you because he knew you were the only one that would truly get it. There was no worry of judgement, no worries of saying something too jarring. You would understand him just as he understood you. “I’ve accepted what happened to me and how I reacted to it but you’re the only one that knows those particular details of my experience. Phee and my brothers do not. Family helps with some of the burden but until you’ve had the unfortunate time of living it, their support can only do so much. We need each other it would seem.” Tech said with a kind look in your direction.

You widened your eyes at his openness. You were incredibly touched by that, and you didn’t take the lightly. “Thank you, Tech.”

“You asked a question, I merely answered.”

You shot him a look, “That’s not the only thing I’m thanking you for.” After speaking to him and fully unburdening yourself to someone who could only understand where you were coming from without the worry of saying the wrong thing or being too much, you felt like a weight had been lifted off your chest. You weren’t plagued by all the horrible and conflicting feelings that had followed you since Tantiss. You could breathe. You were free. You gently squeezed his hand as you said, “Thank you for what you’ve done tonight. For all of it.”

Tech shrugged off the thanks but smiled at you all the same. “We’re family, it’s what we do.”

--

You walked through the door to your home and took your shoes off.

Hunter walked out of the bedroom as he heard you come through the door. “Hey, how was your walk?”

You didn’t answer immediately. Instead, you just drank him in. You took in the way he leaned against the doorway, the book he was reading dangling from his hand. The way the soft linens of his sleep clothes framed his body. The way he’d still kept and worn the necklace you’d given him all that time ago. And the way he was looking at you with such deep care and affection, it made your heart clench and emotions clog up in your throat- you didn’t trust yourself to speak.

Hunter took your silence for upset. “I had to tell him. I thought-” But he didn’t get to finish his sentence as you strode towards him and embraced him.

You hugged him tightly. “Thank you.” You whispered.

Dropping his book and wrapping his arms around you instantly, Hunter rested his cheek on top of your head. He didn’t need or expect you to share the details of the conversation with Tech, he’d realised that you needed a different kind of comfort and that was okay. All that mattered to him was that it helped you.

You let the warmth of his soothing hold flow through your body, and you kept your voice hushed as you said, “I want you to know that it’s not that I didn’t want to tell you it all.”

“I know.” Hunter replied softly as he caringly caressed your back. He would not break away until you wanted to.

You pressed your face into the crook of his shoulder. Even though he had sent Tech your way, you didn’t want him to feel like he’d let you down or anything along that vein. “You did everything right. I needed you there… I still need you there. I can’t get through it without you but…” The words to describe just what it was Tech gifted you got lost and you frantically searched for them so he would know why you hadn’t just come to him with it.

The last thing Hunter needed or wanted was you feeling like you had to reassure him on the issue. “Sweetheart, all I wanted was for this to get easier for you. I know that there are emotions and parts of that experience on Tantiss that I will never fully understand- as much as that kills me, I wish none of it had happened to you or Tech in the first place but that doesn’t change the fact that it did. You needed more than a shoulder to lean on, and if Tech gave you that, then that’s all that matters to me. I won’t stop being there, whatever it is you need, I’m here.”

The wave of emotion came rushing back and tears threatened to spill from your eyes, and you found yourself pressing yourself tighter to him still so there were absolutely no gaps between you. “Thank you for not giving up on me.”

“I love you, giving up is never an option.” Hunter murmured as he kissed the crown of your head.

“I love you too.” You croaked as you fought through the lump in your throat.

You stayed like that for a couple more minutes before you finally pulled away.

Hunter wiped away a few stray tears that had escaped your eyes. “Fancy an early night?”

“Yeah.” You said through a deep exhale as the exhaustion you’d been fighting with came crashing into you. “That sounds good.”

--

3 weeks later.

“How’s your pain? Anymore headaches?” You asked Hunter as the two of you wandered arm in arm through the main square. You had been keeping a watchful eye in the time that had passed but he hadn’t had any bad episodes of late.

“Everything feels back to normal.” Hunter replied. “And you? How are you sleeping these days?” From what he could tell, you were sleeping through the night but that didn’t necessarily mean they weren’t still there.

“No nightmares at all.” You said with a relieved sigh. The weight of what you’d endured was no longer keeping you down. It had no control over you anymore. You’d thrown yourself back into mediating again and that also seemed to help a lot.

You both walked in easy silence, smiling at the clones from Tantiss who had stayed and at the merchants shouting out enticing deals and offerings from their stalls as you passed by.  

“Although, there’s one thing I need…”

You glanced at him expectantly.

“Can you try it now? I should be fine.”

You hadn’t done it since settling down here in case it was too much. “You’re sure?” You double checked.

Hunter nodded. It was the final step to the normality that he craved.

You both paused and headed over to the side walkway of the colonnade that offered shelter from the open area. You reached out into his familiar Force signature, the connection you formed with it giving you an extra sense of security and warmth. How does this feel?

Hunter closed his eyes and breathed out a serene sigh as he heard your voice in his head, but it felt like everything finally clicked back into place. Then, he felt the gentle press of your lips against his. He reacted automatically and placed his hands on your waist as he returned the embrace.

“What was that for?” He whispered against your lips as you parted.

“It’s part of the check up process.” You murmured before you took half a step back to look at him properly, but you kept your arms looped around his neck so that he was still close to you.

Hunter gave you a fond smile. “Ah, of course.” He sweetly stroked his thumb along your jawline.

You shut your eyes and leaned into his touch.

“Are you happy?” Hunter asked after a few beats of silence.

You dropped your arms and looked at him in surprise. “Yes, of course I am!” You looked at him, worry furrowing across your brow. “What brought that on?”

Hunter awkwardly ran a hand through his hair. “I know things haven’t been easy since we arrived here. It didn’t get off to the peaceful start that I’d hoped for. I just want to make sure it’s still what you want and that you’re definitely feeling better.”

You were caught off guard by the emotions that caught in your throat. What did you do to deserve such a man? “I am very content and happy here; Hunter.” You took a hold of each of his hands. “I’m very content and happy being here with you.” You let out a faint, slightly embarrassed laugh, “I am very much in love with you, you silly man. Every day that I wake up beside you, every day that I get to come home to you and every day I just get to be around you is a day that reminds me that how lucky I am.” You removed your hands and lightly followed the lines of his face tattoo. “Are you happy?”

“Completely.” Hunter murmured as his eyes fluttered shut as he fell completely complaint under your touch.

“Good. Settling down here is what exactly what I want, things just weren’t settling down as quickly as I would’ve liked but it’s different now. We’re both doing much better, it’s a good thing.” You kissed his cheek and delicately brushed your fingers through the shorter strands of hair at the front of his head. I love you, that’s never changed, and it never will. Does that about cover everything?

“Almost.” Hunter said huskily as his own love for you overcame him.

Before you could question what he meant, he tugged you in tight to him and kissed you passionately. You felt him cradle the hinge of your jaw, silently asking permission to deepen the kiss and you granted him access without a second thought. You tangled your fingers in his hair and pressed yourself close to him. You allowed yourself a few minutes to just get lost in the pleasure he was giving you, but you remembered where you were and with a groan, you withdrew from his embrace.

It hurt you to pull away and from the way Hunter just insistently pushed you back against the stone column and carried on kissing and raking his teeth along your neck, he wasn’t impressed with stopping either. “We- we came here for groceries.” You hummed distractedly as you found yourself titling your head to give him easier access.

“So, we’ll get them tomorrow.” Hunter responded simply as he kissed behind your ear and brushed his fingers under your shirt and along the soft skin of your stomach.

“We have- have no f- food and-” You attempted to protest but now his mouth was doing wonderful things along your pulse point that was making you feel very lightheaded.

“That’s fine. What I’m in the mood for, only you can give me.” Hunter teasingly dipped his fingers just under the waistband of your leggings.

You forced yourself to get a grip before you were too far gone. “Get off.” You playfully shoved at his chest with an exasperated shake of your head.

Hunter inclined his head in surrender, “How about you shop, and I meet you at home?” He offered as he stopped his teasing and removed himself from you.

“Is this your bizarre way of just wanting to get out of a chore?” You joked, crossing your arms and feigning irritation.

“No, I just think that if I stay, we’re going to wind up getting done for public indecency and it would be entirely my fault.”

Despite his admission, you still saw a faint but lustful glint in his eyes and you knew he was envisioning precisely what would happen if the two of you remained by this column. And you knew both of you would decide it was worth the risk. You gulped as you hastily said before you lost control of yourself, “I’ll see you at home.”

Hunter released a low chuckle before he kissed you softly once more, the promise of what was to come still lingered behind the action despite his best attempts to keep it brief.

You took a few hesitant steps away him and then gathered yourself and went about your task- your walk brisker than before.

--

Hunter watched you before he moved out from the shelter of the pillar. He spotted Omega sitting with Lyana by the Maya tree. He called over to her.

“What’s up?” Omega asked breezily as she jogged over to him.

“Can you round up the boys and meet me at home? I’ll get Echo on comms.”

“How come?” Omega asked curiously.

“There’s a mission I’m gonna need all your help with. But it needs to just be the five of us.” He indicated to where you were making a purchase. “Think you can get Lyana to delay her return?”

“A mission? Then why can’t-” An excited gasp left her as she saw the silent but confirming look that Hunter gave her. They’d all been eagerly waiting for this. “Yes! I’m on it!” She sprinted off back to Lyana, chaotically relaying the instructions before she ran go find the others.

Hunter laughed to himself as he saw her enthusiastic departure before he hustled off back home and readied the comm channel for Echo. It didn’t take long for the clone to answer.

“You better be calling for the reason I hope you’re calling for.” Echo said by way of greeting.

“Think you can help me out?” Hunter replied with a validatory nod at the holoimage of Echo and he saw the way Echo’s shoulders lifted as he realised it was finally going to happen. Hunter had talked to them all about it in the days after arriving on Pabu and it had been met with an enthusiastic yet somehow still teasing response. It reminded him of how he felt back before the two of you officially got together, with the others just waiting for it to happen. He’d wanted to do it sooner, but your circumstances changed, and so he wanted to wait until both of you were recovered. And, whilst they’d all accepted his decision to hold off, they had been impatient for this day for both genuine well-being purposes but also because they wanted it for the two of you- his family were very supportive and insistent on him doing this. With things faring better, he felt comfortable doing it now. “I don’t want to take you away from anything urgent or-”

“Name it!” Echo said with a pleased smile.

Before he could get into what he needed Echo to do, he heard the door open. Hunter half-turned to see the crowd of eager and motivated faces made up of Omega and his brothers.  

All of them gathered round him and Echo’s hologram.

Hunter took a deep inhale and exhale. In a strange way, this was going to be one of the most important yet daunting missions he’d undertaken. “Alright, we don’t have long before she gets home. Here’s what I need…”

Tagging: @noeasyisnoisy, @notgonnaedit, @arctrooper69, @andreaaxy, @dominoeffectsworld, @allthingsimagines , @nightmonkeysstuff , @jellybeanstacey0519 , @callsign-denmark , @superbookishhufflepuff , @qvnthesia @justsomerandompersonintheworld

Next Oneshot>

[yorshie]

Hi there 😊 I saw ur request opened and wanted to see if I could request reader having a nightmare and they call the turtles (or one of them) in the middle of the night bc they’re too panicked and they try to help calm them down maybe over the phone or go to their place to help! Sorry for the long ask haha Thank you!!

Hello Nonnie! I'm finally (slowly. so painfully slowly) cleaning out my ask box and replying lol. I went with Leo for this one, simply because when I started writing his name just kinda popped up naturally.

Bayverse Leonardo x GN Reader, SFW

The whir of the ceiling fan woke you up. 

It was usually a comforting sound, but now, with the press of adrenaline against your chest and the echoes of the dream clinging to your skin like a fine sheen of oil, the creak of the paddles spinning overhead read as a threat to your muddled mind. 

You pulled the covers back, feet finding the cold floor and bringing a new shiver that informed you of the layer of sweat behind your knees, at your elbows, making your shirt stick to your spine in crinkly ridges where you’d tossed through the dream. Your heartbeat pounded at your temples, your jaw, relentless as it told you you had to run, had to hide, had to go.

The clock on your bedside table read 3:14 am. Too early to get up, to eat food to soothe the latent fear still in your stomach. But superstition had you moving, padding into the kitchen to pull a tortilla from the package left on the counter. You rolled the piece of bread up and shoved it halfway into your mouth, stopping at the bathroom on your way back to the warmth of the bed. 

The reflection greeting you over the mirror after you did your business looked sane, looked normal. Nothing to indicate the nightmare still haunted you, still peered over your shoulder, just waiting for you to fall back to sleep. You didn’t feel the phantom clawed hands reaching for your shoulders until your back hit the mattress, tortilla still shoved in one cheek, and the spinning ceiling fan was there once more to greet you.

You squinted, watching the paddles in the low light from the window. The dream was starting to fade, but it lingered like the curling, tacky edges of the vinyl tabletops in an old diner. Waiting to leave just a little residual glue on your skin, to follow you around.

You glanced at the clock again, contemplated staying up until the sun rose and could blanket out the hushed magic of the early morning, when your eyes snagged on your phone, lying crooked and part way in the opened drawer where it usually charged.

Your fingers found the familiar edges, pulled it across the bed towards you. There was a new message, from Blue, about thirty minutes ago. The notification extended a lifeline, a buoy to hold onto while the frigid waters of the dream still lapped at your consciousness.

Your thumb tapped the screen, slid open the message. 

He was home from patrol, wanted to let you know everything was fine, that he and his brothers had gotten home safe. The balloon of unnamed fear deflated just a touch in your chest, the unknown fear in the heartbeat at your temples tripping up in its terror before lessening just a touch. Like a ship sighted in a storm, you stared at the little blue heart attached to the last message, a wish for you to sleep well.

Without thinking, you hit the call button, bringing the device to the cradle of your ear and shoulder. The rings stretched out in front of you, one after another. You could almost imagine the boat getting further away, the line of safety attached to the buoy growing taunt…

“Hello?” Leo’s voice, soft and questioning on your name, like a light cascading from the boat, finding you immediately in the dark. His voice was a halo of safety as the captain turned the rudder and you were pulled in.

“Leo?” You confirmed, childishly, knowing his voice, but needing the confirmation to yourself as much as to let him know you were there. “Sorry, I uh, saw your message… had a bit of a nightmare, wanted to talk to you if that’s ok?”

And because it was Leo, because he never really stopped worrying,  he answered immediately, tone dipping a bit as he used the voice that meant he was processing intel. “Of course, are you ok? Do you need to talk about it?”

The concern, him using the ‘leader’ voice on you, brought a reflexive smile to your face. If you asked him, he’d be there in ten minutes, you knew, regardless if he was technically supposed to or not. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, I promise. I just… needed to hear your voice.”

Leo exhaled, the sound a little staticy over the line, and you could almost picture the relief sliding the concern off his shoulders. “Do you need me to come to you?”

Heart in your throat, you let yourself have the imagined fantasy. His shadow at your window, his scales pressed up against your skin, entangled in the too small bed with you. His hands running through your hair, simply existing for a moment. 

But with that fantasy came the little bubble of reality. The way he’d watch the horizon, the gaps between the buildings outside your window for the first flicker of light. Always on a timetable, like Cinderella and her pumpkin coach, on the lookout for the danger of traveling back to the Lair with the sun always encroaching.

Reeling in the selfish desire, you spoke low, just for him. “No, I’m ok, it’s almost four already.” You rolled the tortilla to the other cheek, took another bite.

Leo must have heard the sound, because he chuckled softly. “Do you have a tortilla stuffed in your mouth right now?”

“Grandma’s superstition wearing off on me, I’m afraid.” You told him, honest, not fearing judgment from the turtle you’d gladly call your best friend.

“I like her recipe you made last summer, with the peppers and cheese.” He admitted, and you heard his words echo just a touch when he placed you on speaker, followed by the rustle of clothes and a long sigh. You knew what he was doing, getting ready for bed, likely folding his pants. You could close your eyes and imagine yourself there with him, beside him in his bed, maybe back against his headboard while he laid on his plastron, one arm hooked around your waist and a pillow half over your lap for his head…

“I’ll make it for you again this weekend, if you’d like.” You offered, letting the imagined scenarios soothe you, letting the lull of Leonardo wash away the tacky residue of the dream. You breathed in deeply, listening to him hum low on the other end of the phone. 

“Deal.” Leo agreed, and you just knew he was smiling in the dark of his room. Maybe that little dimple at the corner of his mouth was showing, maybe…

“Are you falling asleep on me?” He asked, voice soft, so soft. 

You murmured dissent, but he still chuckled, breath hitting the receiver once more in a familiar way. “Take the tortilla out of your mouth at least, darling. Text me when you wake up, alright?”

You murmured agreement, swallowing the last bite of gummy flatbread thickly. The waves rocked you gently, a tide of Leo’s even breaths in your ear, the mantra of his lungs working as a leading drum for your heartbeat to slow to. 

Before you dropped off, comforted in the buoy of your mind tied to safety, Leonardo murmured over the phone, “Love you, sweetheart. Goodnight.”

[fumifooms]

Marchil crumbs part 5

Part 1 - Part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 6 - part 7

The anime has come and since I have my shipping goggles on I am going to notice so much. This part will be less spoilery for anime onlys (tho if you want to see me talk about why I ship them and why they’re complementary this is not a good part to start with haha). Edit: After completing this part I can confirm it’s fully anime-onlys friendly and spoiler-free! For manga veterans though there are still some fun tidbits to be found, some recontextualisations and new extra content.

Holy shit guys they’re mirroring each other in the mural and reaching out to each other AND looking towards each other?!!!! Their pose is so striking and like perfectly align?! Which means it was so intentional and the staff wanted to highlight them (for an aesthetic and/or narrative purpose I’m sure but it happened)! I will never let this go we won so fucking hard let’s goooooo we are so back

Character foils!! Dynamic duo!!

Soulmates!!

In the opening at 1:16 he looks at her to see if she’s really going to it as the most critical of monster food & muster up courage to dig into it himself lmao… "Marcille doesn’t look too grossed out, she’s picky so this food must be fine then" Aka treating her as a poison taster/good cuisine judge lmao

Doodle from the animation director (source). I should translate it but I’m procrastinating on it so uh director’s brotp? Anyways they hanging out look at them :]

Laios is thinking to himself there (he’s the one saying the subs), and in the meantime Marcille and Chilchuck talk, likely figuring out the money situation. Strategizing duo back at it again not wasting a second

In the beginning of ep 1, when Marcille is rambling about where they could go to get food and what to grab, Chilchuck listens with a big smile & even closes his eyes as they walk. The implication is that he’s thinking about food, but man the scene hits different now that it’s voiced and I remember that indeed Chilchuck is closing his eyes to her voice and enjoying hearing her talk and ramble. I may be too far gone into the marchil pit

I feel like already they’ve come far from when Chilchuck dreaded being alone with Shuro and Marcille, waiting for the Toudens and Namari to arrive.

Ok this might actually be smth I’m gonna complain about but I feel like blushes have been drawn too vividly so far. Why does Chilchuck look like he’s confessing when he tells her she’s not a burden and he didn’t mean to make her feel that way. It almost comes across as "Woah she cares what I think?" 💀 The banter ensuing is of course also great

Ep 2 was an episode centered on them both that had the "Magic/Traps are my domain, don’t interfere!" parallel… And now with ep 3 we’re back to them being haters together. That’s her emotional support man

In ep 4, it doesn’t show well with a screenshot but when Senshi talks about his unmanned vegetable stand with a treasure chest, while in the manga Marcille and Chilchuck both think the same thing, "That’s why that treasure chest akways had money in it…", but in the anime instead they literally finish each other’s thought. Talk about being on the same wavelength.

Ep 5 is a marchil goldmine actually, it showcases perfectly how much of a package deal they are lol. Always sticking close to each other. Glancing at each other during meals… They literally nod at each other before they try a bite to steel themselves. They exchange a serious thoughtful glance when Laios talks about Falin truly being gone atm. They argue a bit but they go right back to sitting right next to each other after the meal <3 My god I can’t deal with them they are so…… "Hate this bitch, not my friend" 3 secs later "Heyy bestie!!" Also he’s worried he brought her mood down after mentioning Falin. Made a post about ep 5 collecting even more screenshots.

Episode 6 my hero my beloved… Again I made a post about the ep collecting all my screenshots here, and even a clip! But this IS the marchil crumbs masterpost thus I must collect the major ones here as well. First of all, fun staff drawings for the first screening!

I already posted a screenshot from the trailer of when Chil had his head on his knees sitting next to her, but after seeing episode 5 I think it’s a fun and interesting trend to notice that they sit next to each other way unnecessarily close wow. They continue to banter a ton, she continues to be very casual with touch, and they’re really cute! I love just how much Marcille blushed damn- It’s really cute too when you remember with the bicorn chapter that Chilchuck teases Marcille BECAUSE he enjoys getting a rise out of her, flustering her and seeing her reactions. I support the teasing -> laughing because her reaction is over the top all-Chilchuck economy. Also she apologizes for having let him go alone and be gone for so long by helping him with sewing his cowl… Cuties

She looked so happy when he opened up about his age!… And then seemed… Disappointed? When he "truly was just a kid". "So you really are a kid! How boring…" This implies that her intent was to tease him for funsies… Ok lads we reached 30 pics see you next post, I’m gonna cover the "wake up clumsy head" manga-anime differences and we’re gonna go back to our usual spoilers yummy schedule.

Here’s Marcille cosplaying as a succubus in the newest Daydream Hour… She may not be a half-foot or have deep-set eyes but let’s be real I think he’d explode

part 6 here!!

[reineyday]

i’m back to say that magnificent was so so so good!! i love the uta mihawk interactions and how mihawk wants to protect her. i think my favorite part though was when mihawk was talking to shanks all nervous about whether he could call uta his daughter, but shanks answers with an “of course.”

this fic made me wonder why mihawk would do if he was present during the one piece film red… would he come along with the red crew, or would he already be there like the others (luffy, law, etc)?

awh 💖💖 thank u for your continued support! it means a lot :') and im happy you enjoyed the fic haha 🥰

UH, long answer short: i kind of have headcanons that position him before, during, and after the movie hahaha. sorry this reply turned out longer than i expected but my brain's got a mihawk & uta agenda goin' on rn. 😂 thanks again for the ask! ➡️

i actually have a bit of a draft going of mihawk seeing the "shanks destroys elegia" headline, seeing what's up, and finding uta, which i started before i wrote up magnificent lol. that's kinda where i picture him--doing something before everything happens, bc his curiosity makes him wonder why shanks would do smthg so uncharacteristic.

i recognize that's kind of a cop-out answer tho LOL so in regards to the movie itself in the canon(ish) timeline, i imagine he'd probably be there beforehand like luffy etc. he'd be there bc buggy and his crew got tickets and he was somehow dragged there against his will (similar to how law says he's chaperoning bepo but a lot more antagonistic about it aha), probably bc croc decides it might be beneficial to go, for whatever reason. probably scoping the crowd. (pls imagine the cross guild at uta's concert garnering Looks and standing out very obviously, but no one wants to say anything about it LOL even if the crowd is very anti-pirate. like, the strawhats and soen charlottes were there so. why not some ex-warlords?)

when there, he'd be like, "hey wait isn't that shanks's kid? didn't he say she left to sing? huh." and then maybe possibly even dial shanks on his baby den den about it bc if he's the type to bring luffy's poster all the way to an island, he'd probably try to ring up shanks. then he wouldn't be able to connect and clock that something is Up bc he knows shanks is just kinda hanging on his ship rn, on his way out from wano. i dont think he'd be with shanks along with his crew, and i dont think he'd bother going after the fact to help if he wasn't there to start with, which is why i think he'd already be there for separate reasons. ;P

anyways, i also have the start of an idea where the movie happens but uta survives, and shanks, stressed, is like, "hey, y'know what, everything's ramping up and everyone's trying to kill uta and she's still recovering from this wakeshroom shit so she'd probably be safer on land but the marines will be looking for all my known close associates... i'm gonna drop her off with mihawk. he trained those two other kids and the misanthropic fucker (affectionate) has probably found a new island by now anyways, since he isn't a warlord anymore. it should be fine. he'll say yes."

he sets out with his crew to follow mihawk's vivre card. benn and yasopp get the news coo and start laughing about something but they don't tell him, and whatever, he's going to see mihawk soon. he's definitely being led to land, which makes him feel vindicated, until it becomes more and more clear that the structure standing out on the shore is a huge big top tent, and there's an unfortunately very familiar flag flying, and shanks is like, "oh god, don't tell me," and then promptly has to dodge a flying fist and yelling about how he isn't welcome here and what the fuck is mihawk doing with buggy???? and benn and yasopp, having seen the cross guild poster in the news and hidden it from shanks, are laughing so hard at him while he deals with this momentary crisis where two completely different parts of his life have seem to connected without his knowing about it.

(buggy is happy to see uta bc for all that they fight shanks and buggy did make some sort of effort with their brotherhood every now and then so he knows uta and she calls him "uncle bugs"!; mihawk ofc says "yes" to taking care of her bc he feels qualified to handle young adults now lol (he says this with an air of gravitas that is hilarious when considering how he interacts with zoro and perona, which is stoically and poorly); uta makes fun of her dad relentlessly for not having made any moves on the guy he's been in a situationship with since she was a literal child; and croc comes home from a meeting to find international pop sensation uta (that the news said tried to take over the world during her concert or something???) reclined on their couch drinking tea. wild day for everyone.)

[artisanscarecrow]

Toasty's Tron Thoughts: Ares???

Been grumbling to myself all day about this so I thought I'd just complain on the internet and then live the rest of my life in peace haha

I only got into the Tron franchise midway through last year. It was kind of a sudden thing, but I found myself really enjoying the franchise as a whole. This being both movies and the criminally brief tv show. (Tron: Uprising was very good and I recommend it)

I also played a few of the video games but that's unrelated rn haha

So, naturally, I wanted to find out if there were any plans for continuing the franchise.... and now I'm hearing about this new flick.

I have (checks notes) many complaints. XD

First of all, not a huge fan of that Jared Leto guy. I've heard a lot of stuff about how he was on the set of Morbius and Suicide Squad and I dunno he doesn't sound like a cool character.

Also, both of those movies were flops, right? Do we really want him as the main character for a franchise that criminally does poorly in the box office, Disney?

Second.... uh, where are the, you know, main characters of the franchise?

Like, where are they.

I know its heavily implied that Kevin Flynn died and that Tron's status is a bit uh...

...vague... at the end of Legacy...

But I mean, Sam's still out there. So is Quorra.

The first film and the second film both followed one of the Flynns as they adventured through the Grid.

Are we just gonna... ignore that fact for this new film?

I remember reading somewhere that Tron's actor wasn't really keen on continuing the franchise because of how in flux it was, so I kind of get him not appearing (though I am very upset about that, if it's a Tron movie, Tron should be in it I love Tron sm :sob:), but I think I also remember Sam's actor saying he would be interested in returning to the franchise at some point?? So what gives???

I dunno, maybe it's too early to tell what's gonna happen in the new movie, like maybe as time goes on they'll put in more information about how this new picture connects to the older ones.

But currently I'm not excited. I'm kinda frustrated ngl. It's a bit of a ship of Theseus situation:

Can you really call it a "Tron" movie if the titular character isn't in it?

Is it a "Tron" movie if there aren't any Flynns in it?

A movie that's Tron in aesthetic alone to me, isn't a Tron movie, and doesn't really sound like something I'd be interested in watching.

But that's just me. If you're excited, I'm happy for you!

Tron lives!

[ecargmura]

Cherry Magic Episode 4 Review - You're A Wizard, Tsuge

As the first half of the episode has shown, Tsuge has become a wizard now. Like Adachi, he has gained the power to listen to people’s hearts. How will Tsuge use this to find a love interest? Well, he found one already. That was darn freaking fast. Who does he fall in love with? The cute deliveryman Minato.

I think their ship name is called Tsugemina. Anyways, Tsugemina’s portrayal in the live action is a bit exaggerated compared to the manga and anime (which are pretty much identical). In the live action, Tsuge is very dramatic when he falls for Minato and when he realized he’s in love, he actually bashes his head against a bookshelf. When I watched the live action, I thought that Tsuge was a bit of a weirdo, but reading the manga and watching the anime made me realize that the way Tsuge is portrayed here is more faithful as he is a stoic man by nature. While the Tsugemina section seems short, that’s because the Tsuge chapters are pretty short in comparison to the main couple; there aren’t a lot too, so who knows when we’ll get another segment of them in future episodes.

I do like the Tsuge and Adachi scene. As Tsuge is a novice wizard, he’s unsure how to make use of the power, but for Adachi, the power has brought good things into his life; Tsuge even notices this too as Adachi has become a bit more talkative, especially when the topic revolves around Kurosawa. In the manga, this scene actually takes some time after the second Tsugemina scene as Adachi had mentioned that he read Tsuge’s new book and noticed the change in his usual heroine types as he added in a heroine with the exact same description as Minato, showcasing how down bad he is for this guy he barely knows (heck, he doesn’t even know his name until later on). Despite the changes, I do like the scene but I dislike the fact that Tsuge gets blocked from the chances he gets to talk to Adachi about the magic.

After Tsuge and Adachi meet up, the episode then shifts to Adachi being the focus character, which I think is a rather good way to transition. Adachi gets jealous for the first time when he sees a pretty lady talking with Kurosawa and starts getting insecure about himself. Despite his jealousy, he does realize that if he did get jealous of that woman, that means he does like Kurosawa in that way. I do like how he was fast to process that and accepted it right away. It sort of shows that even if he doesn’t have romantic experiences, he’s still mature enough to understand what love is.

It’s kind of sad to see why Adachi’s so hesitant towards romance. I sort of get it. If I heard someone say that it’s impossible to date me because of the lack of experience, I’d get insecure too. I’m glad that Kurosawa exists to show that Adachi can be loved no matter how much he adverses romance. The part where Kurosawa comes over to his house was sweet; however, how the heck did he know his address? The way Kurosawa thought about how he’d cherish all of Adachi’s first was heartwarming. I legit stomped my feet in a giddy mood. Why is this anime so cute? Why are they so cute?

No worries, though. The pretty lady happens to be Kurosawa’s sister, Mari. She’s hilarious as she feels like a typical older sibling trying to pester her brother to get what she wants: to stay at Kurosawa’s place until her boyfriend apologizes to her. She even followed him to Adachi’s house via GPS. I do like how Kurosawa feels like a bullied little brother here. She is also good with words as she managed to convince Kurosawa to stay at Adachi’s house, to which his simp self accepts after fantasizing a domestic AU he conjured up in his mind. Haha, he’s such a simp.

Oh and uh, the voice actor trivia of the week is that Gen Sato, Minato’s VA, only has done BL recently. Like out of the four main cast, he has the least amount of experience in BL media but I’m sure that’ll change. In the drama CD, he was voiced by Kouhei Amasaki.

What are your thoughts on the birth of the side couple? How about Mari as a character? What about the whole Kurodachi segment? What did you think about the episode as a whole?

[itsevanffs]

a lot of tag games

i'm just gonna combine them into one post because otherwise i think the next like 10 posts you see are all gonna be my tag games. below the cut etc etc

so, first and foremost, @aglassroseneverfades tagged me in a get to know tag game:

Relationship status: proud cat owner. i'm committed

Favorite color: probably the colour of alana's eyes. or her nose. or her beans. but cardinal red is a close contender

Song stuck in my head: nothing in particular, but i've been listening to all of cam ostrom's stuff on repeat recently. also bought his first EP the second i found him haha

Favorite food: broccoli and camembert pie (quiche?) with cashews

Last song I listened to: another familiar window by cam ostrom

Dream trip: home

Last thing I googled: tumblr

@raehb336 and @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger tagged me in a wip tag game:

post all the names of the files in your wip folder, no matter how obscure or ridiculous. ok. it says to tag someone for every wip but i don't think i can tag like 80 people and i honestly don't want to. i have these in alphabetical order based on fandom btw

FS: rewrite

GF: cat eyes

HP: 2.5

HP: a/b/o fic canon adjacent

HP: a/b/o fic sacred nests

HP: a/b/o fic teacher/student

HP: a/b/o incest for monsieur

HP: a/b/o incest scarves

HP: a/b/o laundry au

HP: a learning experience

HP: at the expense of the world

HP: audio fic

HP: blood in your mouth

HP: blood relations 6

HP: boogeyman au

HP: chav au

HP: childhood pictures

HP: cnpg

HP: crash & burn

HP: curfew

HP: DNP

HP: DNA

HP: doll au

HP: egg creature fic

HP: emd fic of fic

HP: enamoured

HP: eton au

HP: fae au

HP: favours

HP: forced fem au

HP: forcedpreg kidnapping au

HP: futuristic ABO au

HP: hold me down (fuck me up)

HP: hooker au

HP: icarus au

HP: incest au 20

HP: incest inf nc

HP: in the dark rewrite

HP: junkie au

HP: lucifer au

HP: maid au

HP: mamma mia au

HP: mirror au

HP: monastery au

HP: monastery au 2

HP: new politics

HP: oedipus fic

HP: oviparous

HP: ovipos intersex

HP: priest incest au

HP: priest au n

HP: rage, rage

HP: red riding hood au

HP: reverse a/b/o au

HP: robot au

HP: romeo & juliet au

HP: smart move

HP: snow white au

HP: songbird au

HP: stalker au

HP: storm & silence au

HP: swan lake au

HP: tentacles

HP: the darker the weather

HP: the mark upon your heart rewrite

HP: therapy au

HP: tomcest bar sex

HP: tomcest sr 6

HP: vampire au

HP: vee pov genfic

HP: vespertine rewrite

HP: violent resurrection fic

HP: vol de lys

HP: zombie a/b/o au

RG: lecture

SS: swallowing smoke

SV: cnc

SV: eggs

SV: final exam

SV: god's just sleeping

SV: jumper au

SV: slowly

SV: sugar

SV: the worst

SN: demon

and no, these aren't all my fics, they're literally just the ones marked wip. my total fic count reaches 169, because i keep track.

@aglassroseneverfades tagged me in a picrew/uquiz combination, so that's going here:

i don't know if i 100% agree with the quiz but i do like taking care of people, up to a point. beyond that you're on your own, though i can help take care of some of the cleanup.

@toast-ranger-to-a-stranger tagged me in seven sentence sunday, which is good timing on my part because it is in fact sunday:

Mr O’Hara hums. “You like the rain?” “I don’t like-like it,” Miles begins, then changes his mind. “Well, I like it when I’m inside. Not when I’m stuck in a downpour in the middle of nowhere.” “I don’t think Brooklyn counts as the middle of nowhere.” “I live outside the boundaries of human norms.”

that's seven, right?

@aspengray tagged me in a 'get to know' tag game:

3 ships you like: miguel o'hara/miles morales, tomarrymort, and uhh the christian grey/anna steele dynamic i invented in my head. they're cute i like em

first ship ever: god. uh. that depends because it's either bella/edward from twilight, or it's... wait no it is just bella and edward, winx... wait no i watched it in dutchl. so yeah either bella/edward or bloom and that teacher guy from season 2 or three. jesus christ what was his deal. he was hot though

last song you heard: i see you by cam ostrom (it changed because i have spent like an hour on this already)

favourite childhood book: twilight

currently reading: the witcher blood of elves by andrzej sapkowski

currently watching: i don't watch series or tv but i'm always in the mood for a rewatch of spider-man across the spiderverse

currently consuming: water with syrup

currently craving: nothing. i just ate soup

@moontearpensfic, @atredys and @goldenzingy46 tagged me in 10 characters, 10 fandoms, 10 tags, to which i have no context but i just assume you pick your favourite of each fandom:

voldemort - harry potter

miguel o'hara - spider-man: across the spiderverse

rikkard ambrose - storm & silence

john winchester - supernatural

bill cipher - gravity falls

rosalie cullen - twilight

geralt - the witcher

sans - undertale

jim - the jrasl original fiction universe

me - irl

in no particular order. i ran out of actual fandoms i like about 5 entries in so forgive me for cheating. link to jrasl for context though, jim is actually a fictional character and i want him to crack me like a glowstick

@alittlebitofharrypotterinmylife tagged me with yet another get to know tag game, but a different one from the previous two:

last song: crossing the bridge by ólafur arnalds

favourite colour: prussian blue

currently reading: sources on extra virgin olive oil

sweet/savoury/spicy: spicy all the way tbh. i have been craving the burn

relationship status: single

current obsession: miguel o'hara's scrumptious tits. have you SEEN his chest. apparently we were deprived of additional ass which is a travesty but he's still so big that i had to seriously reevaluate my previous love for twinks the second i saw him

erm yeah. sources for the images used as text breaks are all me. moi. follow me on @itsevansart or whatever, do what you want. i am so glad i am caught up. i think. maybe i missed a few but we'll see <3

thanks for the tags though! this year has been brutal but i'm so glad it'll be december soon and we can all get a well deserved break. what do you mean check the calendar? what's a calendar?

[makeyoumine69]

Hi, I’m so sorry if this is an inconvenience, but I thought you’d be able to help me with something because you’re Patrick’s favorite 🥰🥰

So… okay. Very weird situation I’m in, but. like. I have always loved self shipping. Especially with villains. I have always thought of myself as the “exception” where they could be horrible to everyone, but be kind to me, if I were a character in their show or movie or book. But then I spent all of 2022 and 2023 being abused, I have now been convinced that love comes with conditions, and it’s affected my self shipping too. even though I have escaped my abusive situation, the damage still lingers. I’ve been trying very hard for to heal from what happened to me, yet self shipping is still something very difficult for me to do now, when it used to be the easiest thing in the world. Even with non-villains, I still think I am unable to receive kindness unless it is in the form of violence.

Well, I watched American Psycho a few days ago, and I really fell for Pat. Like. Really fell for him, for some godforsaken reason lol?? And for a few days, I genuinely felt good with him, I felt safe, like he couldn’t harm me. I felt like the exception. This was my first time feeling genuinely good while self shipping again. I thought he’d never hurt me simply because he likes me enough to want me to feel loved and safe with him. That he could be horribly violent to everyone in the world, but with me it’d be so different. I spent all of yesterday feeling so proud of the progress I am making in my healing and genuinely feeling so loved and happy. Imagining him giving me flowers, admiring the star clips in my hair, liking my freckles and counting them. Fluffy romantic stuff haha. I have even thought of him protecting me, him knowing my past of being hurt, him being so overwhelmed with rage on my behalf and vowing to never make me feel scared like other people did. I have thought of him as a… very violent guard dog boyfriend 😂

But fast forward to this morning, I am talking to one of my friends who is also into self shipping, about to announce my exciting news that I am finally on the path to healing, that I feel really good drawing myself and writing myself with a very sick, twisted, violent murderous villain, and maybe that means I can feel good with other characters someday too. But my friend said very casually about how Patrick is shallow and a misogynist, which… yes, he is, I am aware 😭 and they kept going on about how he’d never love a girl who isn’t super thin and Hollywood attractive. And it felt like a punch to the guts. I realized I would never ever be attractive to Pat. I feel. disgusting. I feel… like the exact opposite of everything he’d desire, now that my friend had made me think about it: I’m not thin, I’m very chubby with a round stomach, I have freckles, glasses, I don’t even have nice nails because I bite them, and my teeth aren’t white because a side effect of my antidepressant yellows them a bit — I am just. feeling too unattractive to Bateman. Not to say that any of these traits are unattractive, I just feel like… *Pat* wouldn’t like them, wouldn’t like ME specifically. Having a combination of all of these makes me feel… Undesirable to him. Not the exception anymore. And that kills me. I feel so hurt and heartbroken. It was the first time in a year that I was finally started to feel good self shipping again ;-; and now I cannot bring myself to indulge any romantic ideas with him anymore. I feel very stupid for allowing myself to have feelings.

Days ago, I went into his tag to look at photos of him, and found your blog, and remembered you seem to write for him, so you’d know him better than anyone else. I know it’s highly unrealistic for him to like me, but could you tell me how he’d maybe find someone like me attractive, even if I’m not conventionally attractive? It doesn’t have to be a drabble or a fic at all, I’m just asking for uh, reassurance, I suppose. I’m so sorry to come to you and bother you with this but I have been crying about it all day and I thought I’d ask for your perspective on the matter :’) anyway, I’m so sorry, if you don’t want to reply, please don’t worry about it. thank you very much for your time. I hope you have a good New Years and please take care 💙💙💙

Hello my dear anon! 💕 First of all, I want to thank you for putting so much effort into writing this - I can relate to all of this because most of my irl friends call me crazy when I say that Patrick Bateman is my comfort character, and it really sucks. It took me a long time to realize that the most important thing is not someone else's opinion, but how your crush makes you feel. In my darkest days, Patrick was my savior, and I would never trade that feeling of comfort for someone else's opinion. And I'm not a model either, but I will tell you this - Patrick's taste in dates and his obsession with being perfect in everything was driven by the society he lived in. Only God knows what his real preferences in dates were. Remember, he seems to only love blondes, but his ex-girlfriend Bethany was a brunette and, in my opinion, she contributed a lot to his self-destruction and loss of sanity. So, my point is pretty simple - you may think your imperfections are bad, but to another person they could be the rarest of diamonds, because we are who we are, some people are just afraid to show their true selves. Patrick is exactly that kind of person. Speaking of writing - you can come into my DM, and I'd be happy to talk to you about anything! Please don't cry! I'm eager to do whatever I can to help you!

[neonscandal]

I know this been asked before, but can I ask again? So if you sort your top fav characters or fav ships from to Hogwarts houses, which houses will they be (in your opinion)? Why?

I'm excited to know your answer like for eruri, asheiji, matchablossom, destiel, horimiya, sasamiya, etc.....

Sorry if I ask too much, thx if you want to answer.....

P.s

I asked because just found your post about JJK & BNHA character if they were in Hogwarts houses.....(And I love it)

I'm gonna be honest, I love these - little character head canons, asks in general, all of it. So don't apologize for asking! I hope you always feel comfortable to do so. I also hope all my anons woke up today with clear skin and found money in an old jacket or something. ✨

Same disclaimer applies as before. Without further ado, to the Sorting Hat!

Starting with the low hanging fruit 🥁

Kojiro "Joe" Nanjo (SK8 the Infinity) - All brawn, questionable brains but unquestionable talent that makes him a big name around "S". This himbo would of course plinko his way into Hufflepuff but, if we take starting S into consideration and how that translates into the wizarding world, I'd say Gryffindor with Hufflepuff underpinnings.

Kaoru "Cherry" Sakurayashiki (SK* the Infinity) - I am conflicted. Cherry, disciplined calligrapher, renowned skater and member of the S founding fathers is very obviously a Ravenclaw. I'm really just having trouble reconciling his superiority and condescension against what I imagine would be more in line with Slytherin. Also supports the notion of every Hufflepuff having a Slytherin bestie haha but, truly, that's adult Kaoru. Teenage Kaoru was rebellious and genuinely awe inspired by greatness (but still whip smart). Gryffindor with Ravenclaw underpinnings. Bonus: Ainosuke would round the trio out as the Slytherin primary, obviously. May have started out sweet like our dear Sirius but live long enough in a family like that and I suppose it'll get you twisted.

Levi Ackerman (Attack on Titan) - Levi Ackerman is no stranger to Knockturn Alley. He was raised from the darkness, plucked from its depths to attend school and seemed a bit bothered by the whole to do when he had a perfectly decent operation going, small time stuff of course. A loyalist to those he suffered with, Hogwarts gave him purpose beyond what he could imagine and the Sorting Hat was the first... thing(?) to see his potential. Legacy Slytherin, largely unbeknownst to him, but sorted into Gryffindor assured he'd do great things there.

Erwin Smith (Attack on Titan) - Whew. I know the deciding factor for Cherry was young Kaoru vs. adult Kaoru but Erwin Smith is a Ravenclaw. An idealist, but a bit too cavalier with lives of the canon fodder that made up his command. Incredibly intelligent and dedicated which would make you think Gryffindor but Erwin is an "any means necessary" type of leader. Come to think of it, Dumbledore was a Gryffindor so perhaps there's hope there but I defer to your opinion.

Ash Lynx (Banana Fish) - Self taught genius? Ravenclaw. He had Dino's tutor's for a time, sure but uh... I doubt they taught him how to hack computers. He's a self motivated intellectual frequenting the library for a sense of peace. May the halls of Hogwarts provide that to him in the way the city of New York could not. Does not negate how lethal of a threat he can be, if anything, now this kid is strapped all the time, wand at the ready. I can appreciate if someone thinks he should be in Slytherin but I'm sticking to my initial assumption.

Eiji Okumura (Banana Fish) - This 👏🏾 is 👏🏾 a 👏🏾 Hufflepuff 👏🏾. Brazenly lacks fear in the face of gangsters and recognizes, instead, their inherent humanity and that they can need nurturing and help, perhaps more so than others? Oblivious Hufflepuff energy.

Kyouko Hori (Horimiya) - I feel like Hori is a pretty textbook Ravenclaw but I'd consider Gryffindor with a Ravenclaw primary a la Hermione. Part of me is like... Hori would never be as deep in the shit as Hermione got but let's be for real. She'd follow Miyamura into hell if she wasn't already dragging him there.

Izumi Miyamura (Horimiya) - Considering Miyamura's backstory, I'd understand if you disagree but mans is a Hufflepuff. He had no community, nothing to take hold of. But as its' built around him, he appreciates how precarious it is and holds onto it so dearly, even threatened by Yanagi's immersion into the group. Also, he has so many Hufflepuff moments that are so dear to me. Like memorizing the boys' scents so he can recognize if they've been near Hori despite the fact that it is empirically evident that he's more likely to get stolen away from her by one of the guys. Well meaning simpleton, I love him.

Shuumei Sasaki (Sasaki to Miyano) - SHOUTING Hufflepuff. Don't get me wrong, he's no slouch. Sasaki is straight up fearsome when someone gets a little too close to Miyano but we also know his moral code isn't tied specifically to Miyano. Miyano might have been an indirect impetus to help Kuresawa, but I feel like Hirano validates that Sasaki finds himself in fights regardless of "not being good at them" 👀. Gentle giant and will use his size to the advantage of those in need. I saw a post earlier re: succumbing to Sasaki's rizz and how Miyano is like... god tier for not caving sooner. Imagine if this man had access to love potions 😂 kidding, he wouldn't be the type to use them, even the silly ones from the Weasley's but still. Sasaki + magic would simply be too powerful.

Yoshikazu Miyano (Sasaki to Miyano) - IMAGINE MIYANO PERUSING THE RESTRICTED AREA ON THE HUNT FOR BL. I just cackled aloud at the thought. Then you have hulking Sasaki looming over him drawing attention to the intrusion. Like, "sorry, I'm not seeking out unforgivable curses, just two fictional boys in love." Please. Moving along, Ravenclaw. Easy, and he'd be a Prefect. Sasaki would, of course, frequently be caught using Prefect facilities and trotting along behind Miyano relentlessly. Talk about scary dog privilege.

DESTIEL

I had to break these two away to provide an additional disclaimer to the fact that... these legit stumped me. With 14 seasons of background and the radical character development for both of them, it's hard to pick one house and commit to it for either of them. Especially since they, at different points in their development, are interchangeably fitting into the same houses. I never thought about their development in that way before. Upon my deliberation, please see below. Just know, if you disagree, you're probably right and I probably considered your alternative as well.

Castiel (Supernatural) - Cas spends a great deal of his time locked in his Slytherin era, loyal to an antiquated moral system and acting with impunity which is very much giving Death Eater. But, losing his religion, his direction and beneath the weight of all that presumed obligation is a Hufflepuff. In the absence of a belief system, he begins to consider humanity with an unencumbered curiosity, seeks community with the Winchesters and to help those who are plagued by the Supernatural.

Dean Winchester (Supernatural) - Dean starts out as a Hufflepuff. He's all saving people, hunting things, family business. Intrinsically, does seeking out monsters not meet the immediate criteria of "Finder"? Dean protects family, friends and strangers and, at times, critically balances out Sam's Ravenclaw pragmatism that sends him down weird Slytherin shaped holes (hello, demon blood). This with nothing but an 8th grade education, Baby and a comforting slice of pie. But, as the story progresses, his desperation to protect and keep hold of the people he holds dear pushes him deeper and deeper into Slytherin territory where his individual loyalism can justify jeopardizing the natural order, the fate of the world, anything really as long as he and his brother are both still breathing. Subsequently, his previous impulse to always do the right thing becomes clouded with a bias of the right thing if it doesn't impede protecting Sammy. His willingness to leave Adam to ruin is yet another example of this.

Okay, so I'm noticing a trend here... Do I just like a dynamic of Idiot x Genius (or sometimes nefarious manipulator) or am I just sorting people all wrong? Either way, it feels like I'm revealing wayyyy too much about myself here. What do you think?

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Secret Lairs

A JSE Fanfic

SepticHeroes AU: Part 17

Previous Part

Totally didn’t forget to queue this last night and am now just posting this now, haha. (If you were here for me posting it live you saw Nothing!) Anyway. In this chapter Jackie has a meeting with Lorelai, a fellow Hero, and also one with Spitfire Cat, regarding the new SAM the League sent him. And yeah. Keeping it short this time. Enjoy :)

===============

“You get a lot of packages.”

“Huh?” Jackie blinked in confusion. “Well hello to you too. Good to have a nice greeting when I get home from work.”

Chase looked over at him from where he was sitting on the sofa playing video games. “Hello,” he said with a grin. “But seriously. Feels like you get a lot of stuff.”

“I guess.” Jackie looked down at the box in his hands. The mail worker on the ground floor of their apartment building had flagged him down the moment they saw him, telling him something had arrived that morning. He had a suspicion what it was.

“Do you order, like, clothes or stuff online?” Chase asked.

“Uh yeah. Various stuff.” Jackie nodded. “Hang on, I’m gonna see if this is what I think it is. If it is, I’ll be right back.”

“Cool.”

Jackie took the package to his room and began opening the cardboard box, slicing through the tape with a pair of scissors. He opened the flaps and found... a different box. White and green, made of sturdy plastic. Bold lettering across the front proudly read The Semi-Autonomous Machine - by SepTech. A clear window also revealed the product inside.

“Yes!” Jackie pumped his fist in the air. He’d thought this would be it! The League had said they’d be shipping a SAM out to all the Heroes in the county, after all. Even though those deliveries had been delayed, Jackie kept his eye on the calendar, knowing it would be soon. And when he’d picked up the package downstairs and felt how heavy it was, his first thought was a SAM.

The model inside the box was the size of a volleyball, its metal a dull gray. But not to worry! The back of the box listed several features, including customizable color. How was it possible to change the color of metal? Technology was amazing. Jackie was about to open up the box and take the SAM out when he remembered.

“When you get your Machine from the League, I need you to bring it to me. Before you turn it on, or even take it out of the box. I don’t want to keep it. I just want a friend of mine to look it over.”

Spitfire Cat had said that a while ago. And he’d reminded Jackie about it in an email.

Jackie hesitated, staring at the SAM through the clear plastic window. He’d initially denied Spitfire’s request. But... something had changed since then. Jackie no longer distrusted Spitfire. Well, he still didn’t trust him, either. He’d be an idiot to fully trust any villain.

Except that he’d trusted Schneep, even after finding out he was the Specter. That whole revelation had thrown his worldview into disarray. It was hard to maintain a solid line between do-gooders and evil-doers when you found out your friend and doctor was also a practiced thief. So, the question was now, did he blur that line even more for Spitfire Cat?

He thought about it. And then he sighed, and walked over to his laptop. As soon as it booted up he went into the burner email and sent a message to Spitfire. I have the SAM from the League. The Semi-Autonomous Machine. You wanted a friend to look at it right? Well now’s your chance. But only if I can be there to watch whatever’s going to happen.

“Jackie?” Chase called from the living room. “You okay in there?”

Right. He’d said he would be right back.

Jackie picked up the SAM box. No reason to keep this a secret. They were commercial products, not just some tool for the League. He carried it back into the living room. Chase had his game paused, staring at him. “Look what I got!” Jackie said, grinning.

“...no way.” Chase gasped. “Bro! How’d you get one of those?! They cost a fortune!”

“Well, it was a gift.”

“Who do you know who can just give something like that away? And can you introduce me to them?”

Jackie laughed. “Just someone from work. A work friend. I got lucky, really. They were doing a giveaway thing.”

“Bro.” Chase was completely stunned. “We have our own robot. It can do anything for us!” Sitting on the sofa next to him, Frosty lifted his head. He stared at the box Jackie was carrying and growled. Chase laughed. “Oh, sounds like someone’s jealous. C’mon, boy, you know some robot can’t replace you.” He scratched Frosty’s ears and he seemed to calm down. “But seriously, Jackie. That’s insane. Open it up!”

“Oh. Uh... not yet,” Jackie said. “I hear there’s a whole startup thing and I don’t really want to do that right now. I’m tired. Worked all day.” Not technically a lie. There was a traffic accident while he was out on patrol, and he’d stepped in to stop the car from going out of control and make sure everyone was alright. Nobody died, thank god. But there were injuries. After all that... he didn’t really want to think too hard.

Chase stared at him. Then slowly nodded. “Yeah. Uh, sure. It’s your Machine.”

“I actually prefer calling them SAMs. It’s an acronym for the name.”

“SAM!” Chase grinned. “Aw, that’s adorable! It’s like it’s your kid and you named them.”

“I was thinking more of a pet, but yeah.”

Frosty growled again, but was satiated with more scratches. “Have any plans for the night, bro?” Chase asked. “Wanna play something?”

“Maybe. I have to wait for a work email, but if that gets taken care of, sure. We can play Smash or something.”

“Nah, you have to mentally prepare to Smash. We can do Mario Kart or something.”

Jackie made a face. “You know what you were doing with that phrasing.”

 Chase flashed another grin. “Perhaps. We’re both adults here.”

“Yeah yeah. Ask me again after dinner. I’ll be in my room until then.” Jackie turned around and headed back to his bedroom, where he shut the door behind him.

He didn’t have to wait long for Spitfire’s reply. We need to meet up. This Saturday, head to 8915 Waterlow Street. There’s a pub at that address called Hannah’s Bar. Wear something to cover your face, but not your supersuit. ANYTHING BUT YOUR SUPERSUIT. And you should probably hide the Machine in a bag or something. Go inside and ask the owner for a ruby eye cocktail. When they tell you they don’t serve that, say, “I’ll pay extra if you look in the kegs.” They’ll take you into the back. Follow them, and don’t ask questions. Me and my friend will meet you there.

Well. That was sketchy as all fuck. And also inconvenient. I have plans on Saturday, Jackie replied. Does some other time work? Saturday was the day Lorelai—the Hero known as Pink Sunset—wanted to show him some surprise League welcome. And he was not going to miss that.

Spitfire responded within ten minutes. Sunday, then. Evening would be best, 4:30 or later. But show up no later than 7:30. We need to finish by eight. See you then.

Jackie had a bad feeling about this. But he supposed this was what he got for working with a villain.

===============

Saturday came quickly. Even though he was supposed to meet Lorelai at two o’clock, he left the apartment around ten. Lorelai had said it would take a couple hours to drive to this secret meeting place, so Jackie figured he could fly there in double the time. He said goodbye to Chase, telling him that he was going to meet up with some work friends and he’d be home late, then headed out.

Lorelai had messaged him the coordinates soon after their talk, and Jackie plugged those into the Red Line’s GPS function to tell him which way to fly. Northeast. Interesting. While there were some smaller suburbs and isolated business facilities around Daindover, the northeast was mostly wilderness. Just fields and forests for a while. Not even many roads, only a single motorway that cut through said fields and forests. His intrigue and curiosity made the flight over less boring.

He reached the coordinates at almost exactly two o’clock. Looking down, he saw a small dirt road, leading to a small dirt parking lot in the middle of a forest. A campsite? There were a few cars sitting in the lot, and when he flew closer to the ground, he saw... a woman in a familiar pink and orange supersuit. Lorelai. She saw him at around the same time, and started waving her arms. Light flashed in the air, harmless pink fireworks going off around Lorelai.

Jackie landed in the middle of the lot, and took a moment to catch his breath. Lorelai hurried over. “Hey!” she said, smiling. “You found it! Glad I didn’t mess up the coordinates, ha. Well? What do you think?”

“Uh...” Jackie looked around, still recovering from the extended flight. He was pretty physically durable, but four hours of concentration could wear anyone down. Not to mention the cold wind. “It’s... a forest.”

Lorelai chuckled. “Well, yeah. We had to be discreet. C’mere. This way.” She walked over to the nearest tree, and Jackie followed her, curious. “You’re gonna love this, watch.” Lorelai grinned at him, then reached up and grabbed a small branch. She pulled. A mechanical CHA-CLUNK! echoed from inside the tree, and then a section of it slid upwards, revealing a metallic inside.

“Whoa!” Jackie gasped. “Secret entrance.”

“Yep. There’s a few around here, inside that tree, and that one, and those two...” Lorelai pointed out the trees as she spoke. Now that Jackie was paying attention, he noticed how all these trees looked basically the same. The same size, and with the same small branch jutting out from the side. “They’re only big enough for one person, as you can see, so be warned if you’re bringing a big group here. Everyone should come at different times.” She stepped back from the tree. “Here, you use this one. Just press the white button and it’ll go.”

“Alright.” Jackie stepped inside. She wasn’t kidding about them being only big enough for one person. He couldn’t fully extend his arms. “So it’s a lift?”

“Yeah. I’ll take another and meet you down there.” Lorelai gave him a thumbs up. “See you down there!”

“Uh, see you.” Jackie looked around, and quickly noticed the panel with three different colored buttons: red, white, and yellow. He pressed the white one, and the tree-door slid closed. Then he felt the floor move. It was just like any other elevator he’d been in, just much smaller. He was glad he wasn’t claustrophobic.

A few seconds later, the door slid open again, and he stepped out into a large room shaped like a half-circle. The walls were painted a cool blue on the top half and white on the bottom, and the carpet had a design of different-sized blue and yellow polka dots on a black background. White bar lights overhead lit up the area in an even glow. The elevator was on the curved wall, and he saw four other small metallic doors that no doubt connected to the other trees above ground. On the curved wall were two bathroom doors and a wide-open archway, through which drifted some faint, upbeat music.

Ding! Jackie turned around and watched one of those small doors slide upwards. Lorelai stepped out. “Pretty efficient, huh? You’d never know we were twenty meters below ground.”

“Twenty meters?” Jackie looked up at the ceiling, imagining the earth pressing on it. 

“Give or take.”

“Huh. You’re right, I never would’ve guessed that. The elevator was pretty fast.” He looked back down. “Hey, what’re the other buttons in there for?”

“The yellow one stops and starts the lift, while the red one calls for help in case you get stuck in there,” Lorelai explained. “I don’t know why they have the yellow one, to be honest. Probably for maintenance. Anyway!” She grinned. “C’mon, this is the place.” She started walking towards the archway, gesturing for Jackie to follow, which he did. “Welcome to the League Lair.”

Jackie stopped in the archway and stared. This was a huge, open area, easily the size of a basketball court. Maybe two. It looked like someone had mashed together two restaurants with a lounge and a public gym.

On the left wall was a long counter with a buffet of food, and on the right was another counter that blocked off a kitchen from the rest of the area. Round tables and chairs were dotted around, clustered close by both these areas. In the back, partly cordoned off by a half-wall, were professional-grade workout machines, sleek and streamlined, and the very back wall had been converted into a fake mountainside for rock-climbing. In the middle of this all were sofas and armchairs, sitting on top of plush-looking rugs and accompanied by coffee tables and a few TV stands—with TVs and all their accessories. The ceiling was high overhead, with mounted lights giving off a bright glow. The walls were painted black, but hanging on them were several large, colorful framed pictures. The furniture was sleekly designed, all smooth white and grays with highlights of other colors.

“What the...” Jackie trailed off, stunned.

“Pretty cool, huh?!” Lorelai patted him on the back. “You’d never guess this was down here!”

“N-no, I—I didn’t even think about—” Jackie laughed. “So, is this place for Heroes to hang out?”

“Anyone who works for the League can get in. Did you bring your badge?”

“Oh, uh, no.”

“Bring it next time. There’s a scan that happens once you get in the elevator, it won’t go down if you don’t have one. Usually.” Lorelai leaned close. “I thought you might forget it, so I asked the maintenance guys to turn off the scan for, like, half an hour around two.”

Jackie laughed again. “Well, uh, thanks.” He kept staring at this giant room, this League Lair. There were people in here. Almost everyone was dressed casually, business casual at most. The one exception was a familiar face sitting on one of the sofas. “Is that Terra-Man?”

“Oh yeah, it is!” Lorelai said excitedly. “Hey, Josh!” She waved and started walking on over. Jackie hurried to follow.

Terra-Man—(his name was Josh?)—looked up at the shout and grinned. He wasn’t wearing his mask. “Ah, Lorelai! Oh, and young Windstorm, too. How’ve ye been?” 

“I’m not that young!” Jackie protested.

Terra-Man—Josh laughed. “I know, I know, jus’ messin’ with you.” He grabbed the TV remote from the sofa next to him and paused whatever he was watching. “Well? What d’you t’ink? Nice place, huh? Nicer t’an the one we have back home, I’ll tell you t’at.”

“Y-yeah. I’m... in shock.” Jackie looked around again. “Are those... comic book pages?” Yeah, those framed pictures were definitely comic book pages.

“Yep. You know how the League produces comics about the Heroes,” Lorelai said, taking off her mask as well. “The ones here are prints retelling the adventures of Heroes in this county. Greatly exaggerated, of course. And the Council members, too. My favorite is this one of Red Huntress and the Shadow over on the back.”

Jackie nodded. “Are there any of you here?”

Lorelai shrugged. “One. Over in the corner. But I think it looks great. You’ve only been a Hero for a little while, so I think they’ll start making comics for you about a year in? Unless you do something really amazing before that. If the art is good, it’ll be put up in here! We don’t have much say in that, to be honest, it’s mostly Marketing’s decision.”

“...wow.” Jackie was completely overwhelmed. He knew that Heroes had comics made about them—hell, it was how he’d heard about a lot of them—but it was really starting to sink in that he could have a comic about him. Kids could read about him the same way he read about others.

“Like I said, much nicer t’an the Lair back home for me,” Josh added. “We don’ have comics on the wall, or a rock-climbin’ section. Jesus, t’at’s insane.”

“When are you going home, anyway?” Lorelai asked.

Josh shrugged. “Whenever t’ey need me to. You know me. I love t’is place. Some o’the best Heroes t’is side of the globe are from t’is county, and I choose t’believe it’s because of all the great perks you have.”

“So you’re just gonna mooch for a while?”

“Ah, you know me so well.”

The two of them chuckled, and Jackie laughed a little too, trying to match the energy. It seemed to work. At least, the two of them didn’t look at him weird or anything. “Oh, I-I should introduce myself to you. I’m Jackie.” He pushed his mask onto his forehead. “And your name is Josh?”

“Got t’at right.” Josh gave a little salute. “Likin’ bein’ a Hero so far?”

“It’s not that different from what I was doing before, honestly. This, though...” Jackie gestured vaguely at everything around them. “...this is all new. How many of these are there?”

“Well, there’s one per county in the UK and Ireland,” Lorelai said. “I can’t tell you much about other countries. America has a lot, but I don’t know the specifics. One per state, maybe?”

“Uhhh some of their states are bigger than most countries, I doubt it’s that.”

“Point is, there’s at least one in any country where the League has jurisdiction,” Lorelai continued. “Gotta give the Heroes some place to have their free time. I'm here a lot. Love the rock-climbing, it’s better than any gym in my city and well worth the drive. Josh is gonna hang out here a lot, seemingly—” Josh raised his hand in acknowledgement “—but it’s mostly local Heroes. Moonstone came in here at least once, but you know her. Busy with national team stuff. It was crazy, though. We had an obstacle course set up that day and got the top time. Then she made it float and got the top time while it was floating!”

“Holy shit, while it was floating?!” Jackie gasped.

“While it was floating! I know, right?!” Lorelai grinned, bouncing on her feet. “God, you know, I’m so jealous of your city. The last two superheroes from there—before you, I mean—could control gravity and time, do you know how rare those are?”

“Oh yeah.” Jackie felt a swell of pride. “They’re super cool.”

Lorelai giggled. “You’re super cool yourself, you know? I’ve never seen anyone zoom through a probation period so fast.”

“Aw, thanks.” And now Jackie was blushing, flattered. Was he really that good?

“Anything you want to do while you’re here?” Lorelai asked.

“Whatever you do, can ye do it somewhere t’at doesn’ block the TV?” Josh asked.

“Oh come on, it can’t be good watching in this wide open room. The sound’s got to echo.”

“The echo adds character.”

Just then, Jackie’s stomach growled. “You know what? I think we’ll start with lunch,” he said. “What do they serve here?”

Lorelai and Josh laughed. “Just about anything, really,” Lorelai said. “And everything has different options for different food restrictions, too. Come on, menu’s this way.”

Jackie followed her.

He spent a good three hours checking out the various features of the League Lair, including the workout machines and some of the video games they had. Lorelai and Josh were fun to hang out with. He could almost forget they were Heroes that he’d admired from afar for so long.

He left around five, and probably should have left sooner. It got dark quickly on the flight home, and that meant it got cold. He was so glad his new suit had insulation, but even with that, his face was freezing by the time he returned to his apartment. He said hi to Chase briefly, then went into his room and fell asleep almost immediately.

This had been a good, busy day. But tomorrow would be just as busy... and maybe not quite as good. It depended on what Spitfire Cat had planned.

===============

“You’re going out again?”

Jackie paused as he walked past Chase’s open bedroom door. He glanced inside and saw Chase sitting in his swivel chair, facing the doorway. “Uh, yeah.” Jackie smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back in time to do that editing on your video I promised.”

“Right.” Chase nodded. “So, are you going to work, or are you hanging out with someone?”

Anxiety jolted through Jackie’s heart. “Are you implying something?”

“I dunno. Your schedule has just been pretty inconsistent since you got your new job. It doesn’t help my memory problems.” Chase shrugged. “But you can do whatever you want, y’know.”

Jackie let out a breath. “It’s just for work. Shouldn’t take too long, I hope. I’ll be back by eight at the latest.”

Chase laughed. “Alright. Hope you do whatever you need to. Don’t feel too pressured to help me edit. I mean, the commenters do love it when you make witty comments in text, but no pressure.”

“That sounds like pressure to me.”

“Only if you want it to be.” Chase swiveled back around to face the desk. “Oh yeah, you might want to come back through the side entrance. There’s gonna be repairs on the lights in the lobby starting in, like, thirty minutes. Might be easier to avoid it.”

“Got it.” Jackie gave him a thumbs-up. “See you later.”

“See you.”

Jackie continued heading out. Well, it sounded like he’d better come in through the window when he returned. That’d be easier than taking the side entrance.

There was a knot in his stomach from that whole conversation. The more he talked to Chase, the more uneasy he felt. He had to tell him. He had to tell him.

But he didn’t.

===============

Jackie followed Spitfire’s emailed instructions and headed to 8915 Waterlow Street. This whole thing was making him nervous, so he didn’t risk flying, instead taking the train and walking the rest of the day. His nerves were not helped by the fact that Waterlow Street was well-known for being... shady. It was full of run-down businesses that seemed to think throwing on some paint over brick walls made them look presentable. No need to clean their windows or fix their broken signs or cover up the spray-painted villain signs on the sidewalk.

Honestly, the whole north side of town was known for less-than-savory activity. There was a reason it was called the Villain’s Haven. Jackie felt bad for the people who lived in the area. They had to be scared. He wondered why no one seemed to move away.

Hannah’s Bar sat at the address where Spitfire said it would, identified by a hanging sign. The stone building looked like it had sat here for at least a couple centuries. Jackie made sure the blue bandanna covering his face was secure, then pushed open the door.

It was fairly dark inside, courtesy of dim bulbs and small windows. Completely empty, too. Except for a dark-haired woman standing behind the bar checking her phone. She looked up when he entered, and gestured vaguely to the menu written in chalk behind her.

Jackie took a deep breath, and walked up to her. “Hi. I’d like to order a ruby eye cocktail.”

The woman raised an eyebrow. She gave him a long look, assessing his hidden face and baggy hoodie. “That’s not on the menu,” she said.

“I’ll pay extra if you look in the back,” Jackie said.

She looked him over again. Then she stood up straight and lifted up part of the bar. “Almost right,” she grunted. “But I’ll let it slide because you clearly haven’t been here before. Come on.” Before Jackie could say anything else, she turned around and walked through a side door.

He hurried after her, following her into a small room with racks of bottles, including one of those checkerboard wine racks that took up a whole wall. The woman began moving bottles around, taking them out of spots in the checkerboard rack and putting them in new ones. Soon, something clicked. She pushed on a portion of the wine rack and it retracted, sliding behind the rest of it. A hidden doorway, revealing a staircase. “Go on,” she said, gesturing for him to go.

“...yeah.” He nodded, then descended the staircase.

Jackie expected to walk into an even darker basement. But, strangely, the staircase got brighter as he went down. Soon, he walked into a wide-open area that looked like... an American diner. Tables dotted the black-and-white tiled floor and booths lined the walls. A counter with bar stools ran along the back, another menu behind it blocking off the kitchen from view. Lamps dangled from the ceiling. There seemed to be a red and silver color scheme for them, as well as the rest of the furniture. Faint rock music filled the air, coming from an unknown source.

But strangely enough, the walls were decorated—not unlike the walls of the League Lair—with pictures of supers. These weren’t framed comic pages, but instead wall-size painting drawn to look like comic panels. And instead of depicting the Council of Heroes, these all depicted villains. Jackie recognized many of the costumes. But... these villains looked... heroic in these drawings. Their smiles were dashing, not menacing. As much as that threw him off, it made sense when he thought about it.

There were people sitting at the tables and booths, and they all paused in what they were doing when he entered the room. Every single one had their face covered in some way. Jackie shifted uncomfortably at all the eyes on him.

Then he saw motion. A wave. His eyes locked onto it. Spitfire was sitting in one of the booths, wearing his full costume. There was someone else in the booth with him, but they were partially hidden by some of the other customers. Jackie didn’t say anything, just hurried over. As he walked, the others watching him turned away, going back to whatever they were doing before.

“Glad to see you found the place,” Spitfire said as Jackie slid into the booth, sitting opposite him.

“What is this place?” Jackie whispered.

“It’s a... hangout,” Spitfire said carefully. “For certain types of people.”

Jackie glanced around. “Nicer than I expected for a certain type of hangout.”

“Some people have standards.” Spitfire gestured at the person sitting next to him. “I should introduce you. This is—”

“I am the Disassembler!” they interrupted. “No, wait, that sounds stupid outloud. Uh, I am the—not the Destroyer, uh—I am the Dismantler!”

Jackie blinked in confusion. The other person in the booth... was a teenage girl. Or, about that age. Even though she wore a black face mask, he could still tell. Maybe she was slightly older? Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she wore a black jacket that had circuit board designs applied in silver fabric paint. “I... O... kay?” he said slowly.

Spitfire sighed. “This is the Dismantler,” he said. “Dismantler, this is the contact I told you about.”

“Hi.” the girl—Dismantler waved.

“I’m... sorry, I’m a bit...” Jackie paused. “Uh, how old are you?”

“I am an adult,” she said insistently.

“Right.” Jackie looked at Spitfire.

“Don’t stare at me that way,” Spitfire snapped. “Her dad’s one of my best contacts. That’s how we know each other.”

“He sells weapons,” Dismantler said helpfully.

“Gw—Dismantler, don’t just offer that up!” Spitfire gasped.

“I know who you are, by the way,” Dismantler continued, looking at Jackie. “Spitfire told me. And I don’t mind. Mom and Dad hate you cause you arrested my Uncle Soren, but I get it. You were just doing your job. So no hard feelings. I’m not gonna mess with your stuff or anything.”

“Soren?” Jackie repeated, picking up on the only specific detail from that. “Do you mean Soren Moizone? Also known as Pathos?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess you’d know his name,” Dismantler said.

Spitfire’s head dropped into his hands. “I thought you said you wouldn’t say anything,” he groaned.

“Sorry.” Dismantler looked embarrassed behind her mask. “I got carried away. I just wanted him to know I don’t have a grudge or anything.”

“He wouldn’t have thought you’d had a grudge if you didn’t tell him your entire family history. That’s not—that’s really not safe, you know. He could easily figure out who you are now.”

“I don’t think he’d do anything to a teenager, though.”

“You said you were an adult,” Jackie said faintly.

“I’m eighteen. Still technically a teenager.”

Silence fell over the table. Dismantler looked back and forth between the two men. Spitfire was still doing the facepalm of the century, while Jackie was bewildered and a bit lost. “Uh... so I have this,” Jackie said, taking off his backpack. He tilted it so Spitfire and Dismantler could see the SAM in its box inside. “What’re you gonna do with it?”

Spitfire finally lifted his head. “We’re going to inspect it.”

“Inspect it?”

“Yep!” Dismantler nodded. “That’s what I do.” She leaned forward, reaching out. “Gimme. Please.”

“Y-yeah. Sure.” Jackie pulled the box out of the backpack—or more accurately, shoved the backpack away from the box, since it was big and kind of awkward—and set it on the table in front of him.

Dismantler grabbed it and spun it around to the clear plastic window. “Oooo! I can feel it even through the box,” she whispered excitedly. “Are those nanoparticles coating the surface? I bet they change the color.” She began opening the box, but it proved more difficult than expected.

“Here, I can help,” Spitfire offered.

“Laser open this flap and I can get it from there,” Dismantler said.

“It’s not a—yeah.” Spitfire pointed at one of the box edges. A thin, hair-wide beam of red energy severed part of it with the smell of burning plastic.

“Thanks.” Dismantler tore the box open the rest of the way and pulled the SAM from the protective packaging. “Oh yeah! Nanoparticles for color change! That’s so cool.” She set the SAM down on the table. Her eyes, previously a pale gray-green, started to glow white.

Any questions Jackie had were immediately silenced by what followed. The SAM started to pull apart. The metal plate of the coating floated away, and the camera extended until all its parts were separated. Countless wires unwound themselves, and the single tail-like appendage peeled open like a banana. Everything stayed where it was, floating, even as the Machine was slowly dismantled.

Oh. Dismantled. So this was her super power.

Once the SAM was fully disassembled, parts suspended in the air, Dismantler reached into the floating mess and grabbed some tiny, fingerprint-sized metal bits. “Got it,” she said cheerfully. In a matter of seconds, the parts of the SAM had once again converged into a solid device, lying unremarkably on the table.

Jackie was speechless. “I... I’ve never heard of... such... precise... telepathy.”

“Oh, I’m not a telepath, I’m a technopath,” Dismantler explained. “I can control technology with my mind. I’m not surprised that you’ve never heard of it, though. It was only recognized officially about ten years ago. But I’m pretty sure we’ve been around for longer. And I think I’m one because my dad works with a lot of advanced technology. I said he was a weapons dealer earlier, really it’s more of general smuggling.”

“Technopathy,” Jackie repeated in awe. Then he shook his head and got back on track. “What did you take out of my SAM?”

“SAM? Oh, that’s so much cooler than Machine! It makes it sound like a robot on a scifi spaceship.” Dismantler laughed. “But anyway.” She opened her hand and showed Jackie the small metal bits. “These are what we in the business call ‘bugs.’ You know, like trackers and listening devices and stuff like that. These ones also have wireless NICs, which are really hard to make, but basically they let the devices transmit signals to a source.”

“Someone bugged my SAM?” Jackie asked. “But... I-I hadn’t even opened it...” He looked over at Spitfire.

Spitfire just nodded. “I thought they’d do something like this. That’s why I asked you to let Dismantler look at it.”

“Why would the League bug the SAM they sent to me?” Jackie asked.

“Don’t take it personally. They probably did it to all the Machines they sent to Heroes.” Spitfire shrugged. “It might be alright if you left it in there. Depends on what you used the SAM for. But personally, I thought you should know. It gets creepy when you don’t know about things that listen to you. I bet they didn’t even give you the terms and conditions to sign.”

“They didn't,” Jackie admitted, speaking slowly. “But still... why?”

“League likes control,” Spitfire said simply.

Jackie leaned back in his seat. He felt a bit dizzy all of a sudden. “Well... a-at least that’s taken care of.”

“Not entirely.” Dismantler curled her hand back into a fist and retracted it. “There could be spyware programs on it. I don’t know. My super power only works on, like, physical hardware. I can’t help with any software. Like programs or viruses.”

“Oh.” Jackie stared at the SAM, suddenly uneasy.

“Don’t worry about it too much, though,” Dismantler said. “Just don’t let the SAM go anywhere you wouldn’t be expected to be. Or do stuff you don’t want it to see in front of the camera. Or talk about stuff you don’t want it to hear without putting a muffling device over it. Those are really easy to make.”

“Alright... if you say it’s fine, I’ll... yeah.” Jackie nodded slowly. “I guess... it would be weirder if I suddenly got rid of it. Um... I’m going to go home now.”

“Aw, don’t want to hang out?” Dismantler sounded a bit disappointed.

“Sorry. I have a roommate, and I-I don’t want him to worry too much.” Jackie stood up. He picked up the SAM, placed it back in the box, then awkwardly shoved the box into his backpack.

“I’ll email you if there’s anything else,” Spitfire said. “You said we were dropping the search for the Specter, but there’s still the Puppeteer. That was our original goal, anyway. If I find anything... you know.”

“Got it.” Jackie nodded. “I’ll see you around then.”

“See you around.” Spitfire nodded back, then turned to Dismantler. “Hey G—Dismantler, can I see those bugs?”

“Sure.”

As Jackie walked back over to the staircase, he glanced over his shoulder back at the table. Even from here, he could see the bright yellow glow of a solid-heat sphere. Spitfire was going to get rid of those bugs the only way he knew how.

===============

“Hey Chase? Do you still want me to edit your video?”

“Holy hell!” Chase jumped at the sudden voice. He’d been walking down the hallway towards his room when he heard it. Frosty nudged him, making sure he wouldn’t fall, and Chase hurried over to Jackie’s room. The door was open, and Jackie was inside, sitting on his bed with his laptop. “When did you get home?!”

Jackie blinked in confusion. “I don’t know, six-ish? I’ve been home for a couple hours. Where have you been?”

“I took Frosty for a walk,” Chase said. “And then I thought I’d get dinner while I was out. Just walked down to Wendy’s and ate there. Uh... anyway, yeah. Editing would be cool. Just give me a second to pull everything up.”

“Cool.”

Chase hurried over to his room, gently closing the door as soon as Frosty passed through it. He pulled out his phone and texted a number: Rebecca, one of the mail room attendants for the apartment buildings. He was familiar with her, enough that he’d asked her for a favor. Hey did u see Jackie come in thru the front lobby around 6:00?

A moment passed. Then she replied. No definitely not. And I didnt hear any complaints from the guys working on the lights. Theyve complained every time someone walked past.

Jackie hadn’t come in through the front lobby.

But he also hadn’t come in through the side entrance. Chase knew that because he had watched that entrance for hours since Jackie had left. It wasn’t too hard. He just sat on a bench and kept glancing up at the door every few minutes or so. He’d brought his phone and a portable charger, bouncing between checking social media and reading some new e-books he’d downloaded. So he could have been distracted, maybe? And missed Jackie going in? But he doubted that. People rarely approached the side entrance, so the people who did got his attention right away. All residents. None of them Jackie.

How the fuck did he get into the building? There were only two entrances! Had he lied about the time he came back? Where had he gone, anyway? And why had his backpack been full of stuff?

Chase closed his text messages and opened up his notes app. He used the notes a lot to make up for his terrible memory, and recently, he’d been noting Jackie’s weird inconsistencies. He was out a lot. Usually said it was for work or a work-related thing. Which, sure, Jackie had said he was working with law enforcement, he was probably on-call as cases happened. But Jackie seemed to be always on call, no matter what time of day it was. Even for a job like this, he had to have specific hours, right?

Not to mention Jackie had been acting... strange lately. He seemed nervous. And Chase felt like he was avoiding him. Was he hiding something? He’d tried asking Schneep if he’d seen Jackie lately or noticed anything weird with him, but Schneep said it had been a while since the two of them had seen each other, and that if something was going on, Chase should ask Jackie about it in person. JJ said something similar when Chase texted him.

Had Jackie gotten involved in something... dangerous? Something that would earn him a lot of money? Because frankly, Chase didn’t believe Jackie got a Semi-Autonomous Machine from a work giveaway. Those things went for thousands. No job would just give that away. And Jackie couldn’t have that much money to spare. Otherwise he wouldn’t be rooming with Chase in a mid-tier apartment.

He knew he had to confront Jackie about it soon. But when? Tomorrow seemed too soon, and next week seemed too late. Especially if Jackie really was in danger.

Maybe a couple days from now. Yes, that seemed good. It gave him enough time to be sure about stuff. Chase made a note of that, then went over to his computer and started opening up the editing software. If Jackie offered to help, Chase would let him help. And maybe he’d try to get Jackie to open up while he did so. But he doubted that would work.

Chase really hoped Jackie was alright. He hoped his friend wasn’t wrapped up in anything harmful.

[turbulentscrawl]

Hello there! I hope you’re doing well! I love your writing your are literally sustaining the entire idv fandom rn skcbsnsnd. I would like to request a match-up!

My name is Nico and I am a 21 year old female (she/her maybe they if i’m feeling spunky) bisexy (bisexual). ehmmmm. Idk what to say already LOL. uh I believe i am infp and 4w5 I am a scorpio rising and sun and capricorn moon. I personally think that my duality is silly, weird, kinda naive tbh, cute, chill, friendly, maybe a bit talkative? but im also very introspective, melancholic, wise, quiet, perceptive, thoughtful. i can be quiet insecure/self-deprecating/self-critical, i have a hard time being vulnurable and usually help others without allowing myself to be helped. i’m stubborn in that way and like to be independent and tough even though i crave being cared for lol. i am very passionate and empathetic and i have very strong intuition although i tend to ignore it in favor of “logic” and my attempts to feel in control. i am ambitious and always come up with grand ideas in my head and hyperfixate on them and ultimately become disappointed when i can’t bring it to fruition because it’s too ambitious. however that has also made me resourceful because i will find work arounds to make my ideas possible, even if it’s not how i originally planned.

i am a sort of solitary creature, and i know how to be my own best friend and to enjoy my own company, not having grown up with lots of friends. i didn’t used to go out much and i used to think i was very quiet and unsociable but after going out a bit more i have discovered that i can actually be a bit of a social butterfly, and it comes more naturally than i previously thought, although it makes sense considering i could talk to anyone and was a great leader/public speaker as a child. (and then anxiety/depression hit and i retreated into a shell as a teen.)

I used to say my favourite colour was green because I really like it, but then I thought it was grey because that is the colour i perceive myself as. but lately i have began thinking it might be red as that is what i have always been drawn to, regardless of what i think. idk why but it felt important to mention that.

anywhoo. my hobbies are playing any and all video games, watching horror movies, playing board games/card games, doing puzzles/puzzle books (crosswords, sudoku, word search), playing piano, singing. i love antiques and i love buying them because they are practical and beautiful and often much sturdier and long lasting than more modern things (they just ain’t built to last anymore) and i believe that they have so much character and soul and it’s tragic that there is a lost art in craftsmanship of furniture and clothing and like. shoes! and pens and clocks and everything! so i like to give those old beauties a new home where i can actually USE them as well as admire them.

i also love singing i have been told im good at singing but honestly i think im only mediocre. i sing in choir and i would honestly love to be an opera singer haha even though that might seem silly. i would love to be in a band too and i genuinely have been attempting to pursue that. oh i also study biochemistry in university i am suffering but it is interesting and i have always had an innate curiosity about things. i was a very dark but bright and curious child. i was fascinated by death and other things as a kid, but i never found it morbid it was just interesting to me.

i love science and random fun facts but i also love tarot and astrology (even though i barely know anything about it) and i am interested occultism and metaphysics and would love to know more about it because i don’t believe science and “magic” kind of stuff is mutually exclusive.

i feel like i am writing too much but you said write a lot so 😭 i enjoy talking abt myself as im sure most people do but i always feel bad for it lol. uhmm i do like writing and i used to do it a lot but ive been struggling with it lately. i also love lots of different types of “aesthetics” i suppose, such as dark academia/victoria /gothic/antique but also cottage core/witchy/nature/kinda hippy forest lady but also grunge/punk/garage rock/seattle in the 90s but also 70s and 80s style but also 2000s but i also sometimes enjoy modern fashion. idk im a real mixed bag but i love it i mean there are just so many things to love in the world. i am a very sleepy gal too i mean some people wake up early to be a hater but i wake up early so i can have time to go back to sleep.

i cant really think of much else. it’s hard to perceive yourself ya know, but hopefully there is enough information there for you and i sincerely apologise if it is too much!! thank you very much for your consideration and i hope you truly have a wonderful day. sending you good vibes full of love mwuah <333333 :3

oh i also really love sharks and foxes and bears and bats and squids. and cats. and silly little shrimps and trilobytes. and pterodactyls. OK WNOUGH-

-------

Yes I love lots and lots of info 👀

I ship you with Fiona Gilman!

-From how you write and what you’ve described, I’m getting a sense that you strive for a strong identity, but both struggle with and respect the complexity of trying to achieve that. Due to the nature of her worship, Fiona finds it attractive when people accept the intricacies of life. Things are rarely easy to pin down, life is fluid, people included, and she thinks it takes great wisdom to understand that.

-She shares your curiosity for life and the universe, and since your expertise seem to be so different, teaching one another is a great excuse to spend time together. ;) Unfortunately, there are some things in relation to the occult and her worship that she simply cannot share. It’s for your safety, as much as she trusts your ability to comprehend things that would break others…better safe than sorry.

-Fiona is an ambivert. She’s good with socializing, but she also likes equal time to have quiet time. Since you’re still getting the feel for these things, she’s fine letting you take the lead on going out or staying in. If you need space away from her? That’s fine too, there’s plenty of things she can busy herself with in the meantime.

-She’s both persuasive and a little sneaky, and will take steps to assist you in getting better at accepting help. If she has to, and if your workload is too big, she will go behind your back to help with a few things. Nothing major, partially because she feels bad and partially because she hopes you won’t notice, but she can’t just do nothing when she feels like you’re sinking.

-She’s not much of a nap-taker, but as long as she’s not busy with something she does like to offer you her lap as a pillow.

Runner Up: Grace

[ryttu3k]

Fic/writing meme, and AO3 Wrapped! Doing the former slightly differently this year, with writing listed by month. Completed stuff has links. Here's last year's, for comparison purposes!

January: 10,301 (This Train Terminates Here: 4,564, Observations: 5,737)

February: 8,695 (This Train Terminates Here: 1,738, The Body Concentric: 6,957)

March: 3,242 (The Librarian: 3,242)

April: 6,943 (The Librarian: 6,943)

May: 5,088 (The Librarian: 5,088)

June: 2,275 (The Librarian: 2,275)

July: 5,038 (Inarticulate: 1,834, Möbius Strip: 1,059, The Librarian: 2,145)

August: 4,886 (The Librarian: 2,014, untitled Astarion fic: 2,872)

September: 3,729 (Untitled Astarion fic (scrapped): 1,728, Warm: 2,001)

October: 11,411 (Driftwood: 3,351, Burning, Burning: 1,869, A Collection of Critters: 2,659, Sweet Things: 3,532)

November: 8,198 (Sweet Things: 8,198)

December: 21,781 (Sweet Things: 3,930, redacted: 2,866, this is a gift (it comes with a price): 8,782, also redacted: 6,203)

Total: 91,587

Current WIP lengths: This Train Terminates Here (draft 3): 36,306, The Librarian: 21,707, Sweet Things: 17,465

Fic/Writing Meme

1. Favourite fic you wrote this year

Oh, hmm. I'm really pleased with how The Librarian and Sweet Things are coming out, but they're not actually finished, so let's say… a toss-up between Driftwood (the post-Cazador hurt-comfort found family scene I desperately wanted to read but couldn't find so I wrote it instead) and The Body Concentric (Sascha in full Meat Criminal mode).

2. Least favourite fic you wrote this year

Ehh, I guess A Collection of Critters was a bit lacklustre.

3. Favourite line/scene you wrote this year

I really liked the bit in The Body Concentric that got this response 8D

"Anyone who thinks jump scares can't exist in a text medium is FULL OF SHIT. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

4. Total number of words you wrote this year

91,587! Last year was 81,285, so some improvement!

5. Most popular fic this year

Driftwood, with 2,880 views, 79 bookmarks, 424 kudos, and 15 comments. I guess everyone else wanted post-Cazador hurt-comfort with found families too, haha.

6. Least popular fic this year

lmao Möbius Strip. Niche ship, even more niche genre. Currently on 129 views, 1 bookmark, 15 kudos, and 1 comment.

7. Longest completed fic you wrote this year

this is a gift (it comes with a price) came in at a whopping… 8,782. This is very much a oneshot year, apparently.

8. Shortest completed fic you wrote this year

Möbius Strip was a teeny 1,059.

9. Longest wip of the year

Currently TTTH, although I'm not 100% convinced I'm going to pick it up again. Man idek.

10. Shortest wip of the year

Sweet Things is currently sitting on 17,465. Looks like I've been finishing the oneshots but not so much the longer ones?

11. Fandom you enjoyed writing for the most this year

It started out Vampire the Masquerade as usual, took a brief diversion into Zelda territory, then hard swerved into Baldur's Gate 3. Whoops.

12. Favourite character to write about this year

Astarion has booted out Sascha. Pensive emoji.

13. Favourite writing song/artist/album of this year

I get into a fairly good writing rhythm with Godspeed You! Black Emperor, I find!

14. A fic you didn't expect to write

The, uh. Möbius Strip. Haha.

15. Something you learned this year

Writing as a character you actively dislike (Etrius, in The Librarian) is really irritating. His section was 3,807 words, the Dracon's was 11,467, the latter I got through so much quicker and so much easier.

16. Fic(s) you completed this year

11!

17. Fics you'll continue next year

Sweet Things and The Librarian. I'm… still unsure where TTTH stands.

18. Current number of wips

Two active, one I'm undecided on, one that's been sitting since, like, 2021 so I may just stick on an ending and call it good?

19. Any new fics to start next year

I have. A list.

20. Number of comments you haven't read

None, I read all as soon as I get them. I may not reply immediately, but I certainly read them!

21. Most memorable comment/review

This one, from TSATFB:

"This fic is over a decade old but I need to tell you it is probably one of the most influential pieces of media I have ever read in my life. When I first read this fic I was younger than the characters in it, and coming to terms with growing up and my changing identity. Sheik was an extremely important character in discovering myself, and this story and your beautiful, complex, characterization of him was so formative for me as an artist, a writer, and a person. It's really surreal for me to reread this story so many years later as an adult and relate to it differently as I did then, but still feeling the absolute love and emotion I've always held for it. Whenever I play a Zelda game, I always think of how you've written the Sheikah's relationship with Shadow, and it's become a headcanon so inherent to my experience playing that it all feels like fact. When I write my own personal stories about the Sheikah I find that I'm always unconsciously influenced by your depiction, and I always feel my thoughts are the richer for it. This is a long rambling comment but I just really want to thank you for making this, and I want you to know how it has really impacted me and made a marked difference in my life. I am so grateful for it!"

I fuckin' cried.

22. Events you participated in this year

None, alas.

23. Fics you wanted to write but didn't

I continue to have a list.

24. Favourite fic you read this year

Oh goodness I'm actually going to make a BG3 fic rec list in the new year so. Pending!

25. A fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read

As above!

26. Number of favourites/bookmarks you made this year

I'm pretty bad at bookmarking, alas. As in, the last one I bookmarked was July… 2022.

27. Favourite fanfic author of the year

See 24, again!

28. Longest fic you read this year

It's still in progress (now in act 3!), but Tale of the Star is around 250k right now.

29. Shortest fic you read this year

There were a good handful of 100-word drabbles.

30. Favourite fandom to read fic from this year

lmao you know it's BG3.

-

AO3 wrapped

(Some of these are answered above, will strike those through.)

1. How many words have you written this year? 2. How many works did you publish this year? 3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)? 4. What work of yours has the most hits?

5. What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

Driftwood kinda exploded?

6. Favourite title you used

'The Body Concentric'. It has layers.

7. If you use song lyrics, which artist's songs did you pull from the most?

Astonishingly, I only used one this year! …But yeah, it was Florence + the Machine again, haha.

8. Pairing you wrote the most for this year?

Honestly pretty varied? I think it'd actually be the platonic combination of Astarion and Karlach.

9. Favourite pairing you wrote for this year?

As above. They emotionally ruin me.

10. What work was the quickest to write?

Warm just kinda happened.

11. What work took you the longest to write?

I started The Librarian in March. Stares into the middle distance.

12. How many WIP's do you have in your docs for next year? 13. What's your longest work of the year? 14. What's your shortest work of the year? 15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

16. What's your most common “Additional Tags” tag?

I'm not sure about just for 2023, but Vampires has 18 works and Angst With A Happy Ending has 13 and those. Continued.

17. Your favourite character to write this year?

18. The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

Fucking Etrius.

19. What's one pairing you want to explore next year?

Definitely want to write some Halsin/Astarion. They have a nice friendship going on in Sweet Things but I haven't written them as an actual ship yet.

20. Which work of yours have you reread the most?

lmao Driftwood.

21. How many kudos in total did you get this year?

1,599! Technically the year isn't over yet, granted.

22. Which work has the most comments?

Currently, this is a gift with 20 threads.

23. Did you do any collaborative works this year? 24. Did you write any gifts this year? 25. Did you receive any gifts this year?

Nope to all three of these!

26. What's your most common category?

It's actually pretty varied this year! F/F has one (Inarticulate), NB/M has two (Body Concentric and Möbius Strip), M/M has two (this is a gift and Driftwood), and Gen, astonishingly, has three, kinda four if you include Driftwood being heavily gen as well and the ship (Astarion/Gale) being more background! (The others are Warm, Burning, Burning, and A Collection of Critters.) Also, one of the redacted ones is F/M and the other has multiple ships!

27. What do you listen to while writing? 28. Favourite work you wrote this year? 29. Favourite line/passage you wrote this year?

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year?

Baldur's Gate 3's plot is deeply appropriate because it definitely gave me brainworms.

[autisticlalna]

@betweenlands replied to your post:

LUMIANS FIXXIVERSE MY FAVORITE TOPIC OF FUCKERY

HAHA YES

okay. this is going to be long. because i have an above-average number of thoughts. somehow a joke headcanon became a major element of how i draw fv fanart and it's not leaving anytime soon

so, real quick: what are lumians? lumians/lumins/lumiens are an alien species made collectively by the yogscast fandom. i admittedly don't know a lot about the origins because i was mostly in the flux buddies corner of the fandom in 2015, but the general idea is: Xephos, one of the protagonists of Shadow of Israphel, is referred to as "spaceman" several times by other characters. what this is supposed to be is a reference to the fact that xephos's very first skin was william riker from star trek, and the person playing him has always intended for him to be human afaik. what the fandom took this as is "oh, yep, he's an alien, he crash-landed on minecraftia and honeydew found him". the generally agreed-upon traits of a lumian are glowing eyes & bioluminescent freckles, usually pointy ears, and sometimes tails and paws.

now that we have this context out of the way, rewind to me watching through fixxiverse for the first time totally blind. 3 videos in i get to 100 Days Colony Edition, which opens with an escape pod landing on a planet after an accident and the protagonist, a member of the crew, stumbling around trying to orient himself on this new world. so im ALREADY losing my mind

and then we get to one (1) line Ross says offhandedly:

"I have no idea what these things are, but I'm fairly certain they eat spacemen for midnight snack."

at which point i go SPACEMAN? LUMIAN FIX LOL? and latch onto this concept with all of the strength in my puny body.

This action will have consequences.

i get to Lore of Tovalyn and go, oh hey, these are the guys that're on the same ship Ross was! okay, they're lumians now too. because at this point i have no context for anything asides from "these guys are from space in a setting where that's an oddity". ramirez's phrasing when talking about the wandering traders on tovalyn in colony edition made it sound like just the wandering traders were descended from the sheriff crew, so i constructed a plotline in my head where tovalyn was populated by normal humans and the wandering traders were part lumian and were in hiding and pretending to be normal humans to avoid the wrath of the inquisitors. makes sense so far.

a quick sidebar: while watching 100 Days Mage Edition, i called a shot that bob is fred's grandpa (percy tells him "You were named Bob after your grandfather" in 100 Days Fallout Bunker, which was later clarified to be as a "close friend of the family" meaning and not a biological relation meaning but later was "after i'd ran with it A Lot"), which meant that percy was bob's son and therefore half-lumian, and therefore fred is also part lumian. this is why i draw fred with glowy freckles despite him otherwise looking human.

back on track: i now have this fully-fledged narrative in my brain that is entirely based off a joke headcanon i had before i knew everything was one big connected storyline. then we get to the end of 1 Year Of Minecraft, and uh.. oop. turns out everyone's human. that's a canonical plot point. they are all from original earth, and the inquisitors' plan to cause the singularity was specifically to terraform planets on a wide scale so that humankind would be spread throughout the cosmos and free from potential extinction. ramirez outright states that there was no other life out there until after the singularity.

whoops. WELL, I ALREADY HAVE ALL THIS FANART, MAY AS WELL COMMIT

[fictionfixations]

Aphmau. uhh... Thoughts?

So I've just. I remembered that I kinda wanted to know about what happened with aphmau from give-grian-rights' (no @ because i dont wanna bother em lol) profile thing cause i think in their pinned post there was something about aphmau

and like

so then i went back and searched 'aphmau' and like. so there was a document (< this is not mine)

so i read it. and just

bro wtf

no but why do like almost all the youtubers from peoples childhood just turn out really shitty?

and then uh. yknow i didnt know there was fuckin.. sib on sib?? i mightve missed it because its been awhile since then but like. what??

i mean okay, so I watched Aphmau when I was young, don't ask me how old I don't remember, but like.. so I joined around Season 1 or 2 of PDH, or Phoenix Drop High if I remember that right, I think maybe probably either towards the end of Season 1 or in the middle of Season 2? I can't remember but I remember waiting to watch it (I remember seeing that theres a new episode and clicking and then im not allowed to watch it because its not approved or whatever cause i had the i think restricted mode on lol ??) HAHA SPOILER WARNING FOR THE SERIES IG? its all from the memory of me though, who is really forgetful and watched it like years ago \/

uh. so. uhh i really dont remember what series is which -- the fuckin, that one season where they're like.. isolated. in the snow. in like a cabin (and theres that one ghost girl thing i think she was a ghost that fuckin kissed zane or something idk why that was so memorable?)

and like.. so ein is there and like. so yknow, children exposure to aphmau being like drugged or some shit (add on to this: I roleplayed with people on like Hypixel housing cause I found Aphmau fans and like.. i dont know man, the drugging was certainly a part of it with the whole green eyes and stuff)

bro i dont know why i thought that was normal?? i mean no one goes up to a child and says 'drugging people is bad' so i mean how was i to know??? and i was just like 'AWEE <3 <3 <3' I DONT KNOW MAN I LIKED BOTH SHIPS??? I WAS WEIRD I WANNA SAY I DIDNT KNOW ANY BETTER BUT LIKE ?????/ i mean the whole thing made me cry a lot because it was sad and shit but like.. thinking back on the plot now, idk man it was kinda weird

bro the only controversy i knew she was in was like when she for some reason fired all the i think VAs of the characters?? she fired someone and it was all really controversial but i was like 'uh.. this is fine-? idk man i just wanted to watch minecraft roleplay'

and she just like kept dragging it out and i dont think it ever happened (but her content nowadays isnt something i like watching)

also i like.. i rewatched one of her series, one of her newer ones i think with hte demons and shit

My Inner Demons

okay so like.

that show had a lot of adult jokes?????/ idk man maybe it was just me but there was like an amount of sexual-ish stuff and its just ???????????? and i dont remember that when i was a kid but i was oblivious to everything but like.. why put adult jokes in kid show i mean i think it was a kid series i dont really know but her whole channel is like some family friendly show to watch?

i cant name any specific scenes because its been too long but like srsly i feel like it was one of those storylines from a fanfiction that is probably offensive no but like

its y/n x demon boys basically

so that show never really hit hard and wasnt all that memorable, but i am sticking to my claim of adult jokes, and i might be wrong but i swear there was like at least one thing also while we're on the topic of her shows, can I mention like.. the entirety of Mystreet and the fuckin.. WAF??? When Angels Fall or something (the only reason i remember that name is cause WAF.) i like half dont remember what was going on but like

okay so i think so Aaron was like this special type of werewolf thing that I can't actually remember and when he looked at people -

i cant remember

did they die?? IDKK

BUT SO LIke it was like some fairytale thing BUT IT WAS REAL-- wait no i think he got rid of peoples hybrid features cause i think in like.. the series with Ein and the cabin he like went all 'D:<' and then ein lost his fuckin ears and shit /?

I THINK

but so like people were hunting em down because so they were wanted because of that and i dont know why. NO I THINK THEY WERE MIND CONTROLED WIHT THE THE emerald potion? forever potion?? IDK THEY MADE PEOPLES EYES GREEN AND MIND CONTROLLED THEM THEY WERE DRUGS (but the potion is like.. illegal? forbidden?? WELL NOT ANYMORE actually i think travis who i ThiNk is the white haired dude with like green eyes?? ' dad had like the book or something-- i really dont remember)

i ermember that they were probably mind controlled because katelyn or something, the blue haired girl had like green eyes i think and she was attacking aaron

uh

and then i think everyone was fuckin.. dying? i dont know what the fuck happened but then like blah blah blah adn then aphmau fuckin i think goes white eyed and like. irene from MCD or Minecraft Diaries.

with wings

and then i think it ended there wtf im so lost.

its like one of those stories where youre the protagonist so then you end up going a little overboard with crazy ideas that make zero sense when you look at the full picture or some shit idk

aghhh

[solartranslations]

AF2 Dante Chapter 7 (1/2): In the Aftermath

After receiving Vir’s punishments and forming a new contract, they all return to Nordia…

~*Scene: Passenger Ship Deck*~

Felicita: So this ship will take us back to Nordia

Dante: Yes

Felicita: Are you sad about leaving Nord?

Dante: This voyage has made me decide to let go of my sentimentality

Felicita: But…

Orso: …-san, Ojou-san

Felicita: Huh…who!?

Orso: I’m glad I caught you…but, where’s Dante-san…?

Felicita: Dante is…

Felicita: (Oh…)

❤≪Orso≫

Pleasure: I’m glad Ojou-san is safe

Person: I can’t believe Dante-san would leave her alone…

Regalo: …I’ve got some bad news for her

Friends: Uh…Ojou-san’s touching my shoulder… No! I not supposed to be scared of women anymore!

Felicita: (So my “punishment” is real…)

Dante: Orso. What is it?

Orso: Huh…?

Felicita: It’s Dante, Orso

Orso: Huh!? B-But his face! He’s got hair…! I mean his head…!

Dante: Is that all you’re looking at!?

(*bonk) Orso: Oww… Okay, you’re definitely Dante-san

Dante: A lot happened. You came to tell us something, right? Out with it

Orso: …Right. I came to give you an update on Nordia

Dante: I see. Let’s hear it then

Orso: Besides Liberta, the rest of the Family arrived in Nordia with Ash on Vascello Fantasma

Dante: Ash brought them?

Orso: Yes. All of the Executives

Orso: It seems like some Neve girl got into a fight with Mama…

Felicita: Neve did!? But why Mama…?

Orso: That’s when they found out she contracted the Tarocco, but they escaped to Nordia…

Orso: The advisor ordered them to pursue her

Dante: Hm…

Vir: …Curious?

Felicita: Vir…!

Vir: Just when did this rat sneak aboard?

Orso: …

Dante: Why would Neve do such a thing?

Vir: …I only answer questions for those with which I have a contract

Dante: …!

Felicita: …Why did she do that?

Vir: To protect Nordia from Acqua Tempesta

Felicita: Acqua Tempesta?

Vir: Yes. A storm from the sea, to put it simply

Dante: Nordia has always been prone to flooding

Dante: But…an Acqua Tempesta hasn’t occured in ages

Vir: You sailors have so little depth of knowledge

Felicita: Don’t talk like that. How do you know this Acqua Tempesta will happen?

Vir: Because I must prevent it. Of course I know. The next one will be January 10th

Felicita: January 10th…

Vir: I needed to make arrangements before then

Vir: It’ll be the last time I protect Nordia

Felicita: You’re quite forthcoming

Vir: Because I’m kind to my contractors. It’s more fun that way

Felicita: Fun…?

Vir: I didn’t expect Neve to do what she did. I do love her unpredictability

Felicita: …

Vir: So…what are you thinking about, Dante? I believe I already told you what to do

Dante: ……

Felicita: Dante, I’m coming too…

Vir: No. Those with a contract and those without should stay separate

Dante: Don’t worry, Ojou-san. I’ll be alright

Felicita: Dante…

Vir: Take that rat away

Orso: Hey…!

Dante: Let’s go, Orso. Ignore him

Vir: If you have any more questions, you should ask them now. I’ll answer what I can

Felicita: I’ve always wondered

Felicita: Since you know so much, how old are you?

Vir: Oh, that? I stopped counting after 400, so I can’t give an exact answer

Felicita: 400…!?

Vir: …Is that so surprising?

Felicita: Yeah

Vir: Nord is my hometown. I even built Casa Bianca a few hundred years ago

Vir: Some curious humans had just taken up residence in recent years

Felicita: So you went to Nord because you had something to do there?

Vir: ……

>Why can’t you answer?

>This isn’t what you promised

Vir: You’re being greedy. I just can’t tell you

Felicita: Liar

Vir: You wound me

Vir: There’s a limit to what I can say. That’s how it is with adults

Felicita: I don’t care about that

Vir: Haha. If you’re going to complain, that means you’re still a child

Felicita: Then I’ll ask something else

Felicita: …Is there a way to free Dante from the Tarocco?

Vir: Oh…?

Felicita: It’s always been causing Dante pain

Vir: Has it now?

Felicita: And not just him. I’m sure everyone’s going through the same thing

Felicita: If possible, I want to set them free. I’m sure you know how

Felicita: Since you made the Tarocco…

Vir: I can’t answer that

Felicita: You can’t answer anything…!

Vir: That knowledge is valuable. I can’t give it up for free. If you want to know, then you must offer something in exchange

Felicita: Another equivalent exchange?

Vir: That’s correct

Felicita: …

(*step) Dante: Wait…

Felicita: Dante…!

Dante: Vir, tell me what you know

Vir: I just said I can’t do that for nothing

Dante: I’ll pay the price. I can’t let Ojou-san protect me alone

Dante: If it’s to stay by her side, I’ll do it

Felicita: No matter what happens, I won’t leave you

Vir: Huh… If you feel that strongly, I’ll tell you

Vir: To free yourselves from the Tarocco…

Vir: Mondo must die

Felicita: Papa has to…!?

Vir: Relax, I’ll be the one to do the deed. Once I do, you will all be saved

Vir: I was never going to sacrifice my dear Neve after all

Felicita: What do you mean by sacrifice?

Vir: I mean the chance of losing her completely

Felicita: Losing her…? That doesn’t sound like it means dying

Vir: Perhaps not

Felicita: Can you just tell us…!

Vir: I will do whatever it takes to protect what I must

Vir: You can’t be human without that. And I still see myself as one

Felicita: Vir…!

Vir: That’s enough talk

Dante: ……

Felicita: ……

Felicita: (Protecting Papa will hurt Dante and the others)

Felicita: (But doing the opposite will mean losing Papa… What should I do?

Dante: Ojou-san…

Felicita: Dante, I…

Dante: I’m sure this must be hard on you… Actually, it is for me too

Felicita: Yeah…

Dante: But, don’t be discouraged

Felicita: Huh…

Dante: I have an idea

Felicita: For how to save everyone?

Dante: I can’t say for sure

Dante: But Orso mentioned that Ash is in Nordia

Felicita: Yeah

Dante: He’s always said that the Tarocco is his birthright

Felicita: Meaning…

Dante: We might find some clues on Vascello Fantasma

Dante: We have some time until Acqua Tempesta. I doubt Vir will let you out of his sight

Dante: So I’ll find out what I can

Felicita: You will?

Dante: Once we arrive in Nordia, I’ll go find Ash and ask for his help

Felicita: I’ll do what I can too

Dante: Felicita, do you remember what you promised me when we left Regalo?

Felicita: Not to be reckless, right?

Dante: Yes, that

Felicita: You better do the same

Dante: I know. I wouldn’t want to make you sad

Felicita: [Our only choice is to each do our part]

Felicita: [There’s only one way to save both Papa and Dante…]

Felicita: [And that’s to seal the Tarocco…]

~*End of Scene*~

(Continue to Dante Chapter 8)

(Back to Directory)