#tagging everyone just for the chart seems eh

[eternallytir3d]

This will probably be mostly an OC blog. So here's some sketchbook doodles of Chi and some of the other sinners. Along with a small thoughts chart as well.

[medicinemane]

The world is set on prescriptivism and... it doesn't jive with me

[shoichee]

is it alright if i request hcs for midorima introducing his shy g/n s/o to the team (maybe they’re his lucky item for the day? i cant see his tsundere self introducing them volutarily) and midorima is being soft with them cause they’re a bit scared of the team??

I HEAR YA LOUD AND CLEAR, A VERY CUTE REQUEST, i gotchu fam <3

@knb-kreations

Midorima x shy!Reader

[Headcanons]

as a reserved individual himself, Midorima is not one to broadcast his relationship out to everyone, and this sentiment is only stronger when he knows that you’re even more introverted than himself

even so, after dating for a substantial amount of time, he wants to include you into his life and potential dream career in basketball… and that would entail bringing you to meet his inner circle of his friends teammates

the only problem (and the reason why he’s held off in introducing you to them for so long) is that his teammates can be quite rowdy (and have some… unique quirks? but Midorima isn’t really one to talk)… especially that Takao Kazunari

still, he never felt like he had to introduce you to them right away… when the right opportunity will present himself, he’ll do it

besides, you don’t seem in any rush to meet them anytime soon from the way you’d rather prefer spending your time with Midorima alone

well, until one day, the Oha Asa predictions presented that opportunity:

“Today, Cancers are in a unique situation from the rest! It seems like their luck can be quite stagnant or off the charts depending if they have their lucky item for today! Ready to hear it, everyone?! Today’s lucky item for Cancers isn’t a standard one! It may differ for every Cancer, and that’s the beauty of fate!~ Cancers should bring along with them something that they cherish the most! But be careful…! Cancers should also take care in making sure nothing happens to their lucky item today!”

Midorima, in hearing the prediction from his TV, flinches out of surprise, mostly because the first thing that came to his mind after hearing “most cherished” was you

but alas, he’s going to follow fate down to a T, with no exceptions

when he approaches you early morning, he tells you with the straightest face:

“(y/n)-san, according to the Oha Asa, you’re my lucky item today.”

“U-U-Uh… um, is… is that a pick-up line?”

“Hmph! As if I would stoop myself down to Takao’s level. The Oha Asa predicted it so, and I will not take any chances today.”

“Um… what do I have to do then?”

Midorima softens his gaze at you and mumbles, “Nothing really. Just stay by my side for the entirety of today.”

thankfully, today was a Saturday, so at least school wouldn’t be an obstacle between the two of you being separated

so here you are, tagging along with Midorima to do some mundane trips around the neighborhood

Midorima please… this is literally just a date but he refuses to acknowledge it as such

he still had basketball practice that evening though, so by then, it was time for him to go to the gym to start warmups

… but wait, that would mean he’d have to bring you there too…

“Ahem… you…” Midorima clears his throat. “Do you mind just sitting on the benches inside? There’s no need for you to make conversation if you do not wish to do so.”

“O-Of course!” you exclaim. “I… I wanna see you play too… even if it’s just practice, I-I hope your teammates won’t mind?”

“Well I’ll make sure they’ll mind their own business.”

“Would I really bring good luck to you by just sitting and watching you, Shintarou…? It’s hard to believe that the Oha Asa said that I’m… supposedly lucky?”

“The Oha Asa is never wrong,” he says confidently. “Besides, I don’t see it anything but an advantage when I know you’ll be here to provide support in your own way. After all, you do make the most out of your capabilities and do your best, nanodayo…”

Midorima makes sure to enter the gym first, with you tailing behind and taking shelter behind his broad back

even despite that, nothing could prepare you for the chaos inside

a basketball FLEW to you and nearly killed you if it wasn’t for the fact that Midorima easily stopped the ball in its projection

“Fools! Are you ever careful in shooting?!”

“Ah shut it! Not everyone’s like you, Midorima!”

“If you have that much energy complaining, then you have the energy to start warming up, rookie.”

Midorima sighs in response to their comments, but you’re behind him peeking out a bit and then ducking behind his back again when you saw how intimidating they were

“Wh-Whoa!! Shin-chan brought someone over?!”

“What?”

“Where?!”

“The brat brought someone over?!”

Takao immediately skips over to him and you, curiously peeking to see who Midorima, the ever-so serious and hardworking dude, brought to practice; it’s very rare that he’d bring his own Teiko ex-teammates along, let alone anyone unrelated to basketball

“Oh! Aren’t you (y/n)-chan?” Takao asks, tilting his head with a childish wonder

“O-Oh, um…” you reply, darting your eyes to Midorima before continuing. “It’s nice to meet you… I’ve heard a lot about you from Shintarou, Takao-kun.”

Midorima turns red and denies it to his breath as he hounds on Takao as an outlet for his embarrassment

Miyaji and Ōtsubo are peeved but lowkey curious about why Midorima brought you here, so they ask… to which Midorima replies:

“(y/n)-san is my lucky item for today, nanodayo.”

“Captain, can I throw my family’s pineapples at him??”

“Shin-chan, I’d normally laugh, but did you just label a person as an object?” (to which Midorima immediately interjects, “A-Absolutely not!!”)

“Alright, you little shit, you 1st-years are really getting on my nerves right now…”

“W-W-Wait…!” you exclaim, slightly stepping out from behind Midorima’s back. “Please don’t be mad at him… I wanted to watch too…” but when everyone’s attention immediately shoots to you, you squeak and hide behind his back again

from the way you clutch onto Midorima’s shirt from behind, Midorima immediately turns around to you with a soft tone of voice

“Hey, come on now… they’re not bad people, nanodayo. You know I’ll be there by your side if anything happens, (y/n)...”

everyone’s REALLY quiet hearing how Midorima talks to you, and they’re like WTF???? WHERE DID THIS SIDE EVEN COME FROM….?

only when Takao blows a slow whistle to break the silence does everyone break into quiet snickers, ready to make fun of Midorima to death about it

as Midorima gives you a short pat on the head and turns to walk to put down his duffel, all of his teammates follow him to give him those “playful” hits and slaps on the back and arms LMAOO some may have actually knocked his spine out of his body though ngl

you’re just standing there timidly, not knowing what to exactly do next, and Miyaji notices you and approaches you

“Oy,” he says with his usual rough tone of voice. “If you really wanna watch, you can sit over there. Don’t be in the way though.” He points to the specific bench, but softens his usual Spartan-like, harsh frown just a tad bit when he sees you cowering a bit

“Sorry… uh, (l/n)-san, right? Take care of the idiot for us.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Midorima immediately stalks over to the two of you, knowing full well how… scary Miyaji can be, and Miyaji’s frown comes back

“Huh? Nothing for you to be concerned about, rookie.” Miyaji KICKS Midorima to the court to start doing shooting drills and then turns to you like nothing happened

“W-Wait, Shintarou…?”

“He’ll be fine,” he sighs, ruffling his hair. “If he does anything stupid, let one of us know, alright?”

“He’s been, um, good to me.”

and Miyaji gives a little smile for the first time as a stamp of approval, and then he goes back to practice while you lightly skip to the bench… that smile MAY have convinced you that Midorima’s team wasn’t so scary after all

“Sooooo....” Takao says, jabbing Midorima’s ribs. “Your lucky item, eh?”

irk marks appear on Midorima’s head as he prepares to strangle Takao, only to remember you were watching him

“Ahem… (y/n) is my lucky item, regardless of what day or prediction.”

“Eurghh, that’s so sappy, what the fuck—”

“Shut up if you know what’s good for you, Takao.”

the entire team = your personal bodyguards for REAL, and it’s almost scary how every single teammate uses their own “softer” side when talking to you directly like… Midorima is now kinda regretting that he introduced you to them so late? he didn’t know that his teammates would be THAT considerate to you

especially Takao… he’d say a bunch of jokes to get you to laugh but he’d know EXACTLY when to back off and let you chill out??

the upperclassmen would be very polite and soft spoken with you?? like they all have their own respective younger siblings, so they’d definitely treat you like one

Kimura always offers you to taste-test his family’s produce for free, free of charge, zilch, nada

Midorima wonders if they like you better than him (spoiler alert: of course they do)

to get under Midorima’s nerves while you aren’t around, they’d always go, “Bro, where’s your lucky item???” in referring to you LMAOOO (Takao is ESPECIALLY guilty of this)

[ziracona]

I posted 16,773 times in 2021

1384 posts created (8%)

15389 posts reblogged (92%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 11.1 posts.

I added 6,402 tags in 2021

#dead by daylight - 1379 posts

#fate go - 1374 posts

#fate grand order - 722 posts

#queue were right you really are a bad guy - 703 posts

#fate - 489 posts

#crazy ex-girlfriend - 435 posts

#ask - 424 posts

#the terror - 322 posts

#anonymous - 279 posts

#unlimited blade works - 275 posts

Longest Tag: 142 characters

#she’s not really even pretty not that that matters much but everyone in story is always like ‘so hot!’ when really she’s just kinda 🤷🏻‍♀️ eh

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

The thing about Ace people is that they routinely do some of the fuckin best character analysis shit you ever seen. Like, Ace friend wants to talk about why a scene was lit, you better believe I’m sitting down all ears. Idk if it’s maybe the extra processing space for set decoration picking up all the intended scene elements or something, but it’s off the charts.

385 notes • Posted 2021-06-30 09:32:16 GMT

#4

Also a lot more of you are disabled than realise it. If you have: Anxiety disorders, Anorexia, ADHD, Autism, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Drug addiction, Dysthymia, Memory loss, Mood disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Organic mental disorders, Panic attacks, PTSD, Somatoform disorders, or Schizophrenia in an intense enough way that they prevent or drastically deter your ability to work and function the way an average person is meant to, you are considered disabled. If you have AIDS, Alzheimer’s, Arthritis, Asthma, Cancer, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic Pain, Cystic Fibrosis, Diabetes, Emphysema/Lung disease, Fibromyalgia, Headaches/Migraines, Heart Disease, Lupus and other auto-immune diseases, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Musculoskeletal issues, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, or Seizures in a form that impairs your ability to do average citizen work, you are one of us.

This is an honest and open invitation to consider your struggles, even if they seem invisible or not ‘bad enough,’ true and valid and to honour your strength, and care for yourself and give yourself more kindness and leniency, but it’s also a plea to learn more about all disabled people and care more about us all, not just the ones like you or like people you know. We are all valid and we all matter, and we have very complex, sometimes overlapping, sometimes wildly different, experiences. But we all go through some real shit and spend a lot of our lives with people not even trying to understand us. We should. We should all try to learn and care more, me included. The first sign of a truly intelligent civilization is considered in anthropology to be evidence a civilization worked to make life longer, better, and more accessible to the injured, the elderly, and the disabled. It’s a core part of being human. Of being people. Please don’t forget people who don’t look disabled, but also, please don’t ignore the existence of the most visibly disabled either, or the struggles that take more work and energy to address. The people who need the most accommodation, or expense, or time. Being human at its core means not just knowing, but showing actively how much they matter, and deserve to live as full lives as they want.

446 notes • Posted 2021-07-03 02:37:58 GMT

#3

I really love the 9th Doctor because like yes!!! I get it man! He’s like “FUCK humans—god, humans are weak and stupid and mean and petty and gross and vicious and self-important and cowardly and pompous and think they’re such hot shit when they’re the worst, can’t STAND humans!! Also God DAMN if I don’t love humans, and they aren’t incredible and brilliant and full of surprises and kindness and dignity and empathy and endurance and goodness and wonder and so impossible strong and brave and sad and alone and lasting and incalculably special and wondrous, but like, I DO hate them though—I love them! But god I fucking hate those stupid shits. I’d die for them; I’d kill for them; they’re each worth more than a whole planet, but fuck those worthless little shits can’t fucking stand humans.” — like cheers bro, the fuck—same✊😔🍻

493 notes • Posted 2021-06-15 00:49:22 GMT

#2

Rewatched Blade Works again and I just.

601 notes • Posted 2021-11-25 08:44:36 GMT

#1

No Fate GO event will ever be as funny as that time every stupid version of Nobu in the game was fighting over who the true Nobunaga was, & one of them walks up and it’s literal historical Oda Nobunaga with like his Wikipedia pic imposed into the game as his character art, and everyone in-game lost their shit because he clearly was the real one and not the canon Fate one, and she freaked so much she literally ran away, & then later Wikipedia Nobunaga showed up to die heroically with all the others in the big finale fight and every fucking bit of it was played 100% straight while being clearly acknowledged simultaneously as the most crack meta even Gudaguda had ever done

2577 notes • Posted 2021-08-07 02:49:27 GMT

This does not surprise me but I'm howlin' at the very visible transition from dbd to fgo hyperfixation also yes I know. I will never be found more relatable than that time I made a gudaguda post. Knowing that was the peak changed me. Very excited UBW post from like two weeks ago made it to #2 bc it deserved to and that show really saw and changed me. Horrifying in a way to realize that must mean I answered almost 300 anons. Like 90% were good and great so not that bad but the knee jerk reaction to seeing the sunglasses face is the 'I'm a healer, but' so it is seeing the tag too lol. Also love that I'm 99% sure my longest tag is me ragging on Amanda Young bc that's on brand and I have less than no regrets fuck that woman. Not literally, like, put her in a car crusher. Anyway. Thanks @chaoticlovingdreamer for the tag and the sweet message in yours. :) I'm not gonna tag people individually for this except @theinkgirl if she wants, but if you see this, feel free to consider it a tag. ^u^

[chemicalpink]

Do you think /beebtstarot is telling the truth 👀 they madea longk asssss post but I still don’t trust them

Lmao I really am about to get myself out there after just getting my blog back in order. A disclaimer first: this isn’t drama okay, I’m not spilling tea and I’m just talking to people that are consumers of tarot content. Also, this is the first and last time I’m touching this topic bc I really don’t want to lose this blog.

So I’ve seen that blog a few times around, I’ve seen people trying to expose them or whatever. Honestly I couldn’t care less about their content bc what I’m here for is for you guys that consume the content. So let’s set a few things straight. (Disclaimer 2: this is in no way meant to be rude to you anon, I just really don’t want to talk about it further so I tried to write as much as I could)

1. Everyone’s craft is different, utopically, us readers are very well prepared and have a strong moral compass before putting our work out there for public consumption, that doesn’t happen regularly (unfortunately) but having different ways of doing your craft doesn’t make it any less valid (unless you know, they’re blatantly lying on their content)

2. If you’ve been following me for a while or you’ve been snooping around my blog, you know my stance regarding love readings, specifically, soulmates, specially, BTS’ or any other celebrities, we are fans, just that. And even more so than fans we are people with our own personal journeys to fulfill, there’s really no gain in getting so invested in information that has a lot more to it than just spreads or charts, the ultimate truth regarding these things can only be known by the person whose journey it is.

3. Tarot, Astrology, Divination, Spirituality, are just a tiny part of what makes us human, we cannot define any part of a person just by using them. People are multidimensional and intersectional beings with a lot more to them than what cards, stars, or whatever means that we might want to use can even begin to tell us. Sure, they’re fun, and they are an amazing tool for personal use, if it’s not personal, then it’s a great entertainment tool but that’s about it.

4. I am the BIGGEST advocate on you guys consuming content responsibly. Really. There’s a shit ton of content out there, and they all cater different tastes, please don’t feel like you have to consume someone’s content just because they’re all over some tag, or they have a lot of notes or they seem to know what they’re doing. The only way to tell whether you should or shouldn’t consume someone’s content is yourself. It’s a two way road, as much as (in this case) tarot readers should know what they’re doing, it’s also your responsibility as content consumers to know whether you find it okay to consume someone’s content given their professional/personal values on the topic, and there’s nothing wrong with double checking and questioning content creators about it. Don’t let people believe that they can force feed you content as it is just because they’re doing it for free.

5. Now, given all that, would I, Marinette, personally, consume this person’s content? No I wouldn’t. Why? Because their content doesn’t align to my personal values of respecting people’s spiritual journeys* (even if done in good faith) and because their content doesn’t fall into the standards of what I would consider to give an accurate reading while still entertaining (even if tea isn’t as spilled) but again that’s me, you guys could consume their content all you’d like if it caters to you.

On a very very last note, there are a lot of great astrologists/tarotists out there that would be able to fulfill your tarot tea needs, you just gotta find them and protect them. It has been rough for us, this place has become a warzone of petty people starting drama, accusing us of things, calling us pathetic and delusional, just because our content doesn’t cater to them so, just please be nice and be aware that responsibility of content consuming is yours only.

*if you’ve read this far, congrats! You’ve found the small letters, some people are gonna say oh Marinette but you talk about respecting people’s journeys yet you’ve done love readings for celebrities in the past, I see you, and I’ve always been transparent about it (I’ve dedicated a lot to trying to get people to understand but hey, some of them will still talk) all my works have disclaimers on them, I do not respond to soulmates asks, rather do “significant others” readings bc that’s how I can provide people a more accurate reading. Whether said s/o is or isn’t someone’s soulmate eh not our place to know. And I’ve always said that I don’t put on here everything that comes out in readings, it’s spilling the tea responsibly, spilling the tea without being as invasive.

***let’s look at it this way: some empathy exercise. If you were to come to me for a reading for the first time (or send me an ask saying ohhh expose me), I could read you inside out in one go, traumas, troubles, insecurities, but would you really like all of that to be out in the open? Or for a complete stranger to know about it? No right? So I just use a general overview, I still expose you, but within boundaries (I don’t dig to deep, I evade the deep things that might come afloat) bc at the end of the day I’m really just another stranger on the internet and you’re just trying to have some fun.

[sherry-l]

Why YGO Vrains is such an immeasurable disappointment: a list

First of all, I need to make it abundantly clear that Im a big fan of Vrains – I love Yusaku, Ryoken, Ai, Kusanagi... you see them very often on my dash. I fantasize about the ideal version of Vrains that’s written well, the Vrains that’s fully exploited its potentials, every night in my sleep. I wrote this list PRECISELY because I love Vrains. That’s why I got so frustrated with its cardinal writing issues (and production issues). It physically pains me to hear people calling Vrains the worst and most boring series of YGO – but the fact that I couldn’t argue against that because it’s true pains me more.

And now, an incomprehensive list of the faults of Yugioh Vrains.  

1.      What the fuck is wrong with the character designs (beside that of Yusaku and Ryoken???) Everyone looks aesthetically displeasing – characters in real life look incredibly boring they could easily drown in a crowd of background characters, but their avatars are OSTENTATIOUS. Seems like the character designer had no clue what “less is more” means – blue angel, soulburner, and Bohemann for example, look like they were immersed in a bucket of glue and then dumped into another bucket filled with random accessories.

(from a fan artist’s perspective…Im especially salty about takeru, akira, Kusanagi, and the Knights of Hanois’ designs…like, their designs don’t inspire me to draw. Their personalities might be interesting, but their looks lack the vibrant, enthusiastic energy that the 5Ds, Zexal, and Arc-V characters possess)

(imagine how many fanfics and fanarts of Kusanagi x Yusaku there would be had Kusanagi looked HALF as hot as Ryoken)

And don’t even get me started on the colour palette – whoever decided on the colours just cant make up their goddamn mind! Colour saturation is way off the charts, the range of colour is too wide the audience simply dont know where to focus.

2.      Forgotten plotlines. Yusaku’s link sense? Hanoi’s spy in SOL? The Queen and the rest of the chess pieces? Yusaku’s forgotten memories? The rest of the victims of the Lost Incident? Just to name a few. 

3.      Character relationships are weak to minimal to none. Bonds and friendships – the vital element in all previous YGO series – is practically non-existent in Vrains. Where’s the camaraderie between our main casts (Yusaku, Aoi, Soulburner, Ema, Onizuka, etc…)? They don’t feel like a team fighting the evil together. They’re completely separate individuals who don’t give a single fuck if one of their…acquaintance…dies in a battle. We don’t have heartwarming moments of friendship blossoming and consolidating. It’s honestly such a let down.

4.      Interesting and debatable topics thrown away. The conflict between artificial intelligence and humans could spark so many in-depth discussions, but then the writer just decided its all Lightening’s fault. No morally gray situations, no ambiguity between the line of good and evil. It’s just all Lightening and his petty jealousy… yeah.

Oh and if Ai lives on the world will blow up. Why? Do we have a concrete reason to back that statement? eh...

5.      Overall quality of the animation. I don’t know if its because the animation staff was short on time or low on budget, but for a megacorporation (konami cough cough) that makes billions every year, they certainly are capable of investing more in this anime series. I can count the number of episodes in which the characters don’t look wacky with a single hand.

6.      Character development, wasted potentials. Ryoken is the only character who received decent treatment. The rest of the Vrains cast are all disappointments. Original concepts are cool and promising – Yusaku, a victim of child abuse with PTSD, embarking on a journey to overcome his reclusiveness and learn to open up to people around him? HELL YEAH. Aoi, a teenage idol with depression developing into a more mature and responsible heroine who saves Link Vrains? IM ALL FOR IT.  Soulburner’s character arc is fine overall but personally I don’t feel like it’s expanded enough. Also, there’s the mistreatment of side characters like Onizuka, Ema, Akira, the list goes on. I got so furious just looking at these characters and remembering that they’re all wasted and sidelined.

7.      Incoherent/ random plotlines. IDK all episodes in season 1 (Hanoi’s arc) felt pretty consistent, focusing on a linear theme – Yusaku’s revenge on the Knights of Hanoi. But after that it felt like the writers gave up writing outlines and just wrote whatever he pleased/ considered more convenient for the sake of…a plot…that he had no idea which direction it was headed for. This is reflected in the amount of forgotten plotlines we listed previously.

8.      Weak villains. Kinda related to point 4. Bohemann, Lightening, Windy, and Haru are all one-dimensional, flat, predictable villains with the cliché goal of “destroying humanity cuz humans are dumb and Ais are superior”. Not likeable, not fun to watch, not morally gray (something I expect from well-written antagonists), they are just there to serve as symbol of evil for the protags to defeat.

Honourable mentions - what I personally want to see in Vrains, really. Very biased.

-        The familial interaction between Yusaku and Kusanagi? Brotherhood, perhaps? Without any mention of Yusaku’s parents, Kusanagi is the closest Yusaku has to a brother figure. I crave for some wholesome brotherly moments between these two.

-        More slice of life episodes please.

-        The friendship between Yusaku and Takeru. Please. Please. PLEASE. From the second opening we can see the animation staff CLEARLY intended for there to be a strong bond between Yusaku and Takeru – Takeru probably was written to serve as a Jounouchi/ Johan/ Crow sort of character. Yusaku and Takeru could bond over their trauma and overcome their PTSD together. AND IT WAS SO HEAVILY HINTED AT IN THE 2ND OP!!! fam what the fuck happened to that friendship, Im so robbed.

-        Yusaku and Ryoken’s duel or tag duel. These two haven’t duelled AT ALL since the first season ended. Isn’t Ryoken Yusaku’s official rival? Isn’t it Yugioh tradition for the protag and the rival to duel like, a trillion times? AND ISNT IT ALSO A YUGIOH TRADITION FOR THE PROTAG AND THE RIVAL TO TAG DUEL?????? The fact that Yusaku and Ryoken never had a tag duel haunts me every night in my worst nightmares afjw4ot9wgrk

-        Topologina Nabee

Thanks for coming to my ted talk, this marks the end of my rant on YGO VRAINS DISAPPOINTMENTS. Again, I harboured no malicious intent when I compiled the list – its more like a vent of frustration than actual criticism. I would pay billions to see a Vrains reboot or, if there exists an alternate universe where none of the writing/production issues above are present in Vrains, I would do a Kaiba and build a dimension travelling machine and immigrate there.

TLDR: wasted potentials. wAsTED PoTEntialS. WASTED POTENTIALS!!!!!!

[let-me-be-a-fander-in-peace]

Outsider.

———————————

My versions of demons are technically not Christian demons, but it’s a bit more complex than that, so VERY information about the demon race at the end of the fic. Here is the prompt I used.

Next

————————————

Relationships: Virgil & Thomas, Remus & Janus & Virgil.

Word count: 3,100.

Description: it was bound to happen eventually, doesn’t mean that Virgil, a human, is happy about being put in a school for demons.

Tw: Joking about skinning someone alive and comparing their organs, and joking about hostages. (Yes, Remus is mostly the one joking about it)

————————————

Of course, Virgil thinks, only my parents could mange to make this big of a mistake.

Standing in the hall you enter once you walk through the frount door of the school. Virgil sees all of the baige lockers lined up, most of the few gaps in between the lockers against the wall are wood doors that enter into classrooms.

Virgil sees students walking down the hall, talking with friends or walking alone. There also students standing by the lockers grabbing thing they need for there first class or putting their supplies away. There are also groups of people just standing by the lockers taking with each other. this would normally not surprise, except for one key detail;

They were all demons.

Everyone had horns and some color from the rainbow skin tone mixed with unique features every demon have, like wings, tails, multiple eyes, plants growing in select areas, and more.

Virgil felt anxiety pounding in his gut as he walked to the councilors office. He could feel eyes burning his skin and he can see the double takes some of demons are doing.

Virgil stops in frount of a door and pulls out his crinkled postet note with the councilers door number on it from his pocket. He glances down at his postet note to confirm that he is at the right door. yep, Virgil thinks, this is the right door, and he hesitantly walks in.

Virgil enters the Councilers office and walks towards the accountant, He glances down at the name tag, Mrs Qucei to ask for his schedule.

“..Hello? Um, I’m Virgil Angst and I’m here for my schedule?”

Mrs. Qucei without looking up from typing on her computer says “Go to the door behind you to enter Mr. Sanders Office for you schedule.”

Virgil stands in that place for a second before quickly turning around and speed walking to the door behind him and knocking.

“Oh? Come in!”

Virgil hesitantly turns the door handle and pushes the door open, just enough for his body to fit through.

When Virgil closes the door he looks a around the room. The room has beige walls and dark wood flooring, on the left wall there is a giant picture frame with a bunch of mini lgbtq+ flags with the corresponding meaning for each flag.

In the left hand counter there is a bedside table with small figet toys on it and a lamp. There is a bin under the table with more figet toys, and next to the bedside table there are different types of chairs, there is a beanbag, a spiny chair, a stool, and a two person couch.

Across in the back right corner facing the right there is a wooden desk and a big computer screen in the middle of the desk. The desk seems to be kinda messy, there is a messy stack of papers on the side and a buch of pens and pencils littered the desk, when they look like they should be in the cups with pens and pencils, (some with animal erasers and fluff balls on the top).

But typing on the computer in your typical office chair there is a demon, he looks to be an short demon, (so around six foot four) and his skin is a warm gray. This horns go up and then swoop down, kind of like a crooked upside down L. He has a slim-ish nose and small lips. His eyes have no whites in them (most demons don’t) and his eyes are a dark brown. His hands have webbing in between them, and he has sharp and long nails. he is wearing a warm brown leather jacket and a dark blue top, he’s wearing jeans and brown loafers.

He looks up from where he was sitting and smiles at Virgil, ushering over to the many chairs. Virgil drops his backpack right against to the tall stool so it’s leaning against it, and Virgil sits on the tall stool where he can hang is legs off. Virgil pulls on this sleeves and bunches the extra fabric that goes past his hands into his sleeve covers hands, and he keeps doing that to have something to do with his hands.

Mr. Sanders smiles at him before talking, “Hi, I’m Mr. Sanders he/him, what’s your name and pronouns?”

Virgil figures that Mr. Sanders already knows his name, seeing as he is the new human student, but goes along with it anyways, “Um, Hi? I’m Virgil Angst.. uh- he/him.”

Virgil mentally cringes at how he spoke, why did I have to be so bad at social interaction.

Luckily for Virgil, Mr. Sanders didn’t seem to mind, and keeps talking, “obviously your the new student, I have your schedule right... here!”

As Mr. Sanders shuffled around his desk for Virgils schedule, he let out a small ‘ah ha!” As he found it. He quickly stood up and walks over to Virgil, handing him his schedule. Then goes back to sit at his desk.

Virgil looks at the schedule handed to him, it has his locker number and combination, and it has his six classes in this order: Biology, Algebra, World history, English, Lunch, German, P.E.

Virgil looked back up at Mr. Sanders. There was still one question in his mind, why was he, a human, doing in a demon school?

As if Mr Sanders could read his mind, he starts the talking, “Now I’m pretty sure your woundering why you’re in a school full of demons, and I would be wondering the same thing if I were you. The reason for this is that the school was informed of your parents, er, work schedule,”— I know that parents keep getting relocated and moving for the new job—“and sense this is the easiest place for your parents, we let you enroll!”

Oh. Oh...

my parents were to lazy to get me into a human school...

...So they signed me up for a school for demons.

...Eh, it was going to happen eventually, I guess.

“Now that I’ve given you your schedule go to your first class! You don’t want to be late!”

Virgil pushes himself off of the tall stool and swings his backpack over his sholder before saying goodbye to Mr. Sanders and walking out of the Room.

Virgil entered the hallway and looked at all of the locker numbers and counts until he hid his own locker.

A-124.

A-125.

A-126.

A-127 .

And... A-128!

My locker.

Virgil looked at his looker and back at this schedule a few more times confirm that he was actually at the right locker. Once he wasn’t so anxious that this wasn’t the right locker the looks at the locker combination and puts his hand on the lock to try.

17.

Virgil put it to number 17.

45.

Virgil twisted the lock in the other direction to get to 45.

31.

Virgil twisted the lock in the opposite direction all the way around before putting it on 31.

Finally Virgil pushed up the black peace that opens the locker, and the locker opened with a small squeek.

Virgil suddenly felt a wave of relieve that he hadn’t been assigned the wrong locker, and then he put this backpack in his locker and took out his binder and a book Virgil is currently reading. Then Virgil took a picture of his schedule and set it to his background screen. Then was on his way to biology class.

As Virgil walks down the hall he saw a bunch a demons looking at him. He understands why they’re looking at him, doesn’t mean he has to like it though.

Virgil steps infrount of a open door and checks his phone to see if this was the right class.

He checks his phone and thinks, yep, this is the right class.

Virgil walks through the door and sees a seating chart being protected on those roll up white screens. Virgil looks around at the seating chart before in the corner of his eye he catches his name. Virgil’s name is in a box that represents the back corner table, with two other people, A Remus Creatività and A Janus Dolus.

Virgil walks over to where his name corresponds to and sits down, putting his binder and book in the table corner. Virgil grabs his book and opens it up to his paper bookmark. Pulls the bookmark out and sets it to the side, and continues reading where he left off.

Not even a page in, Virgil feels his book get suddenly ripped out of his hands. He looks up at the bitch who ripped his book out of his hands, and see’s a tall demon around six foot nine with light green skin, he has a pointy nose, and big eyes with a white eye color, around his eyes there is purple eyeshadow, and (really good) winged eyeliner. He also shaved his eyebrow ends. He has a crazed smile with a lot of sharp teeth. He has a dark green curly muttet with a buch of small white streaks in his hair and one prominent white streak in the frount. In his hair there are dark green horns that fade into black at the top, the horns zigzag to the back of his head.

He has two pairs of tentacles, they’re a dark brown, lighter on the bottom where the suckers are. and crossed like you would cross your arms if you didn’t have bones.

He is wearing a black T-shirt with the red anarchy symbol, and a bunch of Bracelets on his wrist, some are your average homemade friendship bracelet, some are rubber bands with stuff on them, and there are also hair ties and those animal shaped rubber bands. He’s wearing gray ripped shorts and purple tights with a bunch of holes in them. And finally he’s wereing doc Martins with purple lace.

I think that’s lace code Virgil thinks, err... if that is lace code, which I think it is, purple means gay pride... I think.

Virgil is snapped out of his head by the demon talking,“Oooo! What’s this!”

The boy exclaims, closing the book with a finger in the book to hold the placement, and reads the summary on the back.

Then another demon, around six foot three, walks up to the other demon and pulls Virgils book out of his hands. This demon has a golden skin tone and a long nose. His face is half regular and half snake. On his regular side he has dark brown eyes, just like most demons, you can’t see the white in his eyes. On his snake side there are yellow-green scales, the scales start right next to his nose and go to his ear. His lips look totally normal except for that where the human lips end on this snake half there is a snake mouth, (stretchy skin that Virgil can’t see connects his snake mouth together), and it extends to his ear. his eye on his name half is fully yellow and he has a split pupil. under his name eye is what looks to be a giant pink eye bag.

His clothing is very causal, his black hair is slicked back and in a black Beene, so Virgil can’t see his horns.He is wearing a black long sleeve shirt with thin yellow strips on the sleeves, he has three pairs of arms, (so six arms total) that all have the same sleeve pattern. He has black fingerless gloves, his nails are painted white with a glossy topcoat, and you can see scales on some of his fingers. he is in black leather pants with a brown belt. His shoes are black high tops with white accents.

“Remus, Why are you harassing the new student?”

The tall demon, who’s name is apparently Remus, pouts, “Jannyyyyyy—“ Remus gets a death glare from... Janny? “Janusss! I wasn’t harassing him! He’s at our table and I want to know if he’s juicy or not!”

“You could do that without harassing him.”

“But that’s no fun!”

The short demon, Janus? glares at Remus, crossing his multiple arms, he still has Virgils book in his hand.

“...Okay, okay, I’ll stop.” He sighs giving in to Janus’ stare.

Virgil feel kinda awkward, and interrupts, “Uh, hi, this is fun and all, but can I have my book back.”

They both turn to him. they look at each other and back back at Virgil, “Sweet Satain, I forgot you were even here.” Remus bluntly responds.

“Ah, I’m terribly sorry, here is you book back.” Janus says and he hands Virgils book back to him. Virgil hesitatly takes his book back, and puts his book mark on the last page he was at before shutting his book.

“So! Your the new kid! And your human, of course I was curious!” Remus exclaims, “So, how did you get into this school? Last time I checked humans went to that other school a town over, so what are you doing here?”

During that speech Remus went to sit across from Virgil, and Janus went to sit next to Remus. Remus is leaning over the table with his fists against the table looking at Virgil with wide eye curiously.

“Ummm..”

I really dont what to say to to demons, who are basically strangers, that my parents where so busy that they convinced the leaders to let me go to school here because I can comfortably walk here.

Suddenly the teacher starts calling for everyone’s attention, signaling that class has started.

Virgil silently sighs in relief. Saved by the teacher.

Class is pretty boring, seeing as it’s the first day of school and all classes are just going over rules and stuff like that.

Virgil is reading the class syllabus when suddenly a paper is sild over to Virgil. Virgil looks up from the class syllabus to see Remus wink at him, so Virgil hesitately unfolds the paper and reads their writing in it.

Did you know that skin is the largest organ?

Virgil feels confused, why is Remus asking if I know if skin is the largest organ?

...no, I didn’t.

Virgil slides the paper back to Remus, he writes something down and slides it back.

Well it is! If you skinned someone alive and separated all of there organs, all of their skin clumped together would be bigger than all of the other organs, even the big intestine!

Virgil writes something down and slides it back to Remus, Why is them being alive while you skin then important?

Before Remus could write something down Janus slides the paper to himself and looks between Remus and Virgil with a ‘seriously?’ Expression. Remus quickly nods and Virgil hides his face in his hoodie out of embarrassment.

Janus writes something and slides it over to Remus, who writes something down and slides it to Virgil.

Virgil unfolds the paper and reads it.

Why must you always have the most gruesome conversation starters. Is written in nice cursive with a black pen.

After that is, Because you always gotta start out conversations with your true self!

Next to that Virgil writes, So,,, your true self is skinning a person alive to compare there organs?

Yes! Inside my soul is skinning someone alive and comparing their organs. There is a picture of a ghost, inside the ghost there is one stick figure with exed out eyes and with red pen scribbled all over the stick figures torso. Next to the stick figure is another stick figure nellinf next to it with a knife and the end of what is supposed to be the arm.

I can attest to that, is written next to it.

Now we know what is inside Remus’ (that’s your name right?) soul, what’s inside your soul?

The paper was eventually sild back into Virgils area and he read what was new in it.

Yes! My name is Remus, you also spelled it correctly, an what is inside your soul, Janus?

Below that Janus had written, ...Hmmm, inside my soul is a very rich fancy old lady who killed her husband for his money, and she is covered in jewelry drinking wine in a finch wine glass. what about you, Virgil. (if that is your name.)

The paper slides to Virgil, he reads the paper and thinks for a second, before writeing something down. Yes, Virgil is my name, In my soul there is a 2000’s emo kid writing decent poetry about how ‘no one understands me’ while blasting The Black Parade.

Virgil sides the paper over to Janus, who does one of those nose laughs where instead of making noise you choppily exhail. He writes and slides the paper over to Remus, who slides the paper back to Virgil.

You couldn’t come up with anything more creative than The black Parade?

Yeah! Is written in his chicken scratch handwriting, what about the screams of hostages?

Virgil rolls his eyes and slides the paper back. You couldn’t come up with anything more creative with just ‘the screaming of hostages’?

The paper is slid back to Virgil, oh-ho! Do not test me! I don’t want to scare you, too much, you feel me?

You say that as your convertation started was about organs. Is written in Janus’ fancy handwritten

Yeah, why did you try to start a conversation with that?

The paper is slid back to Virgil, and Remus has a weirdly smug face on as Virgil opens the folded paper. because only juicy people actually respond to that! Congrats Virgil! You passed the juicy test!

With his micanical pencil Virgil writes, I don’t know if I should be relived or scared that I passed the ‘juicy test’, and slides it over to Remus and Janus’ side of the table.

The paper slides back to Virgil. I’ll leave that up to you! But just know now that you have passed the test you are our friend. You cant escape. Below that in Janus’ black pen is, good luck.

Just as Virgil finishes reading Remus’ and Janus’ nots the bell goes off, making Virgil jump in his seat.

The bell is so loud, he thinks while packing up. Once he has all of his stuff ready to go he gets up to leave class when he hears Remus yell, “SEE YOU LATER!” And Virgil waves back at him.

Virgil walks out of the classroom and looks at his phone to see what his next class is, it turns out his next class is algebra.

———————————

Heyyy everyone... I have so many other things planned out, but I saw this prompt and all of my modivation for all my other wips left my body... so have this!

There is going to be more than one part! it should be out soon, now information on the demon race!

——————————-

I do not mean to disrespect Christians! This universe’s version of christainly is just that, a fantasy version that represents the worst version of Christianity. so please don’t come for me.

The demon race and the Human race met in the 500’s, the reason I say demons are technically not the Christian demons is because they were labeled as the devils followers, they were said to be devils from hell. That is where the image of Satan was created. There where lots of hate agents demons back in the old days. but demon and Humans have been collaborating for so long that most of the hate and suspicion for demons has died out with time.

In this universe Demons are taller and stronger than humans, but there senses are dulled down compared to humans, (which was why the bell was louder to Virgil.) Demons where also considered to be Dumber than humans (there not), because they were hunters and gathers, and they spoke a different language. So in this universe that was how the image of the devil was created. in the modern day (when this story takes place) most Christians consider the big, red, horned version of Satan bullshit, (especially demon followers) but it kinda rude to call demon’s devil’s.

[sierraraeck]

Prison (Pt.2)

BAU x OC Aundreya

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Summary: Prison arc reimagined. Aundreya goes to visit Spencer and gives him some advice on how to survive in there. Story thirteen.

Category: Angst.

Warnings: Cussing. Mentions of drugs and homicide. Someone gets stabbed.

Word Count: 3.4k

A/N: Just a reminder that this is all fiction and I don’t actually know anything about prisons.

Garcia visited him first.

Sure, she made the chart, but Derek, Aaron and Aundreya all agreed it was a good idea to have her visit first because there would be a lower likelihood that Reid would look disheveled or beaten up. They all knew she wouldn’t be able to handle that well, and for him, it would only make him feel worse to upset her.

Next was Hotch. He could help talk logical next steps. Then Derek because, well, Derek. They’d been super close since the beginning of time it seemed like, and he could try to get Reid to talk to him while helping him stay strong.

The prison buzzer went off and the line of prisoners were brought into the visiting room. Spencer immediately spotted Derek and relief filled his body. As he approached the booth, Derek stood up and surveyed him.

He had cuts below his eye, on his brow, and one even on his neck. He had bruises littering pretty much the rest of his face, the place between his temple and cheekbone swelling with a deep purple color. The marks on his throat were self-explanatory.

Spencer had never been much of the hugging type, but right now, all both men wanted to do was hug. All they needed to do was hug. But of course, now was the only time they couldn’t.

They both sat down and just looked at each other for a while before Derek started, “Kid-”

“I’m okay,” Spencer cut him off, but his voice was already shaky.

“We are making progress in our investigations. We all really miss having you around. Who’s supposed to give us all of the stats we need now?” Morgan said, attempting to lighten the mood.

Reid gave a soft smile at that, which was the best Morgan could hope for. “I guess you will just have to rely on Garcia to get you all that information.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“How is she, anyway?” Reid asked.

“She’s okay, actually. We are all having a bit of a tough time but we are all still keeping it together,” Derek answered.

“Good, good. What about everyone else?”

“Yeah, they’re managing. We all just really want you out, that’s all,” Derek attempted.

Reid gave him an incredulous look, “How are they really?”

Derek sighed. “JJ is worried, as we all knew she would be, Prentiss is deep breathing, but trying to keep herself all in the logistics of it. Rossi is helping everyone else, including Hotch who is just being Hotch. Level headed, linear thinking, determined Hotch,” Derek listed off. He would have mentioned Aundreya, except for the fact that she wasn’t exactly falling into the ‘somewhat-healthy-coping’ portion of the group, and he wanted to keep Spencer feeling positive without lying to him. But he knew the question was coming.

“And Chambers?” Reid asked, hesitant.

“She’s okay. Working hard but she’s doing fine,” Derek said, which was true if you were only looking at her from afar. She was composed, calm, and very determined to fix this. But no one was quite sure if she was sleeping or not. She seemed to be slowly withering away into a delirious state.

Of course, Spencer could read all of the context on Derek’s face and questioned, “Is that code for ‘she’s not doing well at all but is pretending like she is?’”

“Yeah,” Derek admitted. He couldn’t lie to Spencer, even if he wanted to, “How did Hotch put it that one time?”

“Struggling in silence,” Spencer answered. “Is she sleeping at all?”

The rest of them knew when to stop. They knew that at some point, after 24 hours awake had come and gone, they were so tired that continuing to work wouldn’t even be beneficial anymore.

Aundreya knew no such boundary. She worked until she passed out from exhaustion, and even then, set alarms to keep her awake. Everyone had tried everything in the book, but she wouldn’t have it. They all knew it was because she knew more than she was letting on, but they allowed her to chalk it up to ‘the message was left for me’ and no one argued. They say that love and fear are the two strongest emotions, both of which the entire team was using to fuel them, but she was running on an extra emotion. One that for her, was probably one of the most powerful. She was running on self-blame. Self-loathing. And once she went down that path, there was nothing and no one that could pull her back until the problem was solved and she could move past it herself.

“Not really,” Morgan tried to keep his answers as short and simple as possible.

“Tell her to take a moment and take care of herself. I’ll be fine for the few hours she sleeps,” Reid said.

“We’ve tried, but honestly, I don’t blame her. None of us are getting much sleep and for good reason. You’re not fine,” Derek said, and Spencer looked down, “And if I had the ability to go that long without sleep, just constantly trying to put things together to help you, I would.”

“I appreciate that,” he said shyly.

“So is there anyone in here you have made connections with? Anyone who can help you?” Derek asked. It was his main concern at the moment.

“Sort of, there’s this one gu-”

The buzzer went off again, signaling the end of their meeting. “Time’s up!”

“-we’re trying to look out for each other,” Spencer quickly finished.

“Okay, well just keep your head down. You are your first priority,” Morgan reminded him. He sounded like Aundreya, and it made Reid smile just a bit.

Spencer nodded and was shoved back in line and escorted out of the visitor room.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

When Morgan returned to us from the visit, I could literally feel the worry radiating off of him. He headed straight for Hotch’s office, and I tagged along solely based on the intense eye contact he gave me as he walked by.

I shut the door behind us.

“It’s bad, Hotch,” Morgan stated, “It’s really bad.”

“What happened?” Hotch asked.

“He’s taken a hard one recently. Maybe two,” Derek said. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was about to choke up. “You should have seen him. I’ve never seen him look so … broken.”

“Let me talk to him,” I said. Hotch was resistant to the idea because I was well known among prisons and prisoners.

“I still don’t know, Chambers,” he said.

“I’m telling you, I can help,” I pleaded.

“We aren’t going to do anything outside of the law,” Hotch said sternly, lowering his voice. As much as I wanted to convince him that wasn’t where I wanted to go with this, I couldn’t, because he knew me better than that.

“You’re right. We are not going to do anything of the sort,” I emphasized.

He gave me a knowing look.

“Come on, Aaron. Right now, all I want to do is talk to him. He needs someone with inside knowledge helping him out.”

“Hotch, she’s right. He desperately needs that sort of help right now, and this is our best avenue,” Derek spoke up.

“Fine. Go. Keep us updated. Derek, grab the rest of the team and have them meet us in the briefing room, we have a new case,” Hotch said, nodding at both of us, “But I don’t want either of you sharing this new information about Reid to anyone else. We need them in their best state of mind if we are going to continue to get work done.”

We both nodded and raced out of the room. I quickly grabbed my stuff, barely turning to wave to the rest of the team before scampering into the elevator.

The drive over to the prison was agonizing, by far the longest 25 minutes of my life. Luckily, I had already prepared myself for when I would get to see him, so I had everything ready.

When I walked into the visitors room, he was waiting for me.

I almost allowed my focus to be completely consumed by him, but there were multiple other jobs I had to complete. I scanned the room and identified all of the guards. Some I recognized, others I didn’t. Then I examined the prisoners and came up with the same result, but it was good to pin-point possible allies and possible threats.

I walked over to my side of the table and he stood up to greet me. I leaned over and gave him a hug.

“No physical contact!” one of the guards hollard. Spencer’s figure was stiff but I gave him a squeeze before I freed him, not even bothering to look in the guard’s direction, let alone apologize like I’d seen so many others do. I knew the rules. But I also knew my rules.

We sat down and the first thing I thought was that Morgan was right.

He had taken a hard one recently, and based off of his slight grimace at my embrace, the evidence wasn’t only subjected to his face. I think the worst thing about it was seeing his eyes; they were dull, a gray sort of brown. Not anywhere near the usual shiny hazel or chocolate I admired on the daily.

“So who was it?” I asked after I finished my survey of him. I refused to ask how he was doing. We were both tired of that question, especially since we both already knew the answer.

“What?” It wasn’t the opening he was accustomed to.

“Who or whom was it that marked up that pretty face of yours?” I rephrased.

“Darrell and his group,” Reid answered.

“Ah, Darrell. Fairchild, right?”

“Yeah. Ironic last name,” Spencer commented.

“No kidding. Derek tells me that there aren’t a ton of friends in here?”

“No, not really. There’s one,” he informed.

“We’re gonna change that, eh?” I posed it as a question but if things went my way, it was soon to be a statement.

“How?”

“First thing’s first, I need you to drop the innocent act,” I said matter-of-factly.

“No. I can’t do that,” he defended. It was the reaction I’d expected.

“I know you don’t want to, and I know that it’s one of the only things keeping you sane in here, but if you are going to survive for as long as it takes us to clear your name, I need you to do it.”

He leaned in. “What are you suggesting?”

I met him halfway, his gaze on me intent, “Own it. Your charge right now is murder. That immediately puts you on a higher playing field than a lot of the rest of them. Own it. You don’t ever have to admit to killing anyone, maybe you shouldn’t, but you need to act like you did. Yes, try to stay under the radar, but when you walk, walk confidently. Shoulders back, chin up, as if someone just reminded you that your title is Doctor Genius Spencer Reid.”

He smiled slightly at that and I pointed it out. “Exactly. You get a bit cockier whenever you hear it, so keep that in mind. Other thing, you need-”

“Time’s up!” the same guard from before yelled.

Spencer looked regretful as he went to stand up. I reached over the divider and grabbed his forearm. “Sit down.”

His eyes got wide. “What?”

“No physical contact!”

I didn’t release my grip on him and just stared him down with an arched eyebrow.

His eyes rapidly flicked between me and the guard. At this point, the straggling prisoners were just loitering, preparing for a show.

“You need to get in line right now!” a different guard yelled as he approached us.

Spencer turned to go but I held his arm down firmer and snarled, “Sit. Down.”

To my surprise, it was enough to get him to slowly lower himself back into the chair.

“I swear to god Reid!” the guard ramped up. It’s never good when the guard already knows your name within the first few weeks. “Lady, I need you to remove your hand from him.”

I didn’t respond. All I did was cock my head to the side as if I was cracking my neck, exposing my beloved tattoos there. I then lifted my other hand up and set it down on the table, the weight of the bracelets and rings making for a satisfying ‘plop’.

I smiled up at the guard whose fiery feet were now frozen in their path. “We’d like a few more minutes.”

He gulped. “Uh, ma’am we can’t-”

“You know what my name is so use it. Also, you can, and you will. Thanks,” I hissed, flashing another toothy smile and narrowing my eyes. The prisoners in the back looked astonished and I winked at one of the ones I recognized.

“Sure thing, Aundreya,” the guard said with a nod, carefully retrating.

I turned back to Spencer, and it looked like somebody’d hit him on the side of the head with a pan. The level of confusion radiating off of him was almost amusing.

“What just-”

“Not now. We have more important things to discuss.”

“You have got to teach me that.”

“Teach you what?”

“How to act crazy and disturbed while also being in charge.”

I laughed. “Oh, Spencer, you already are crazy and disturbed. We all are. You just have to hone yours in, that’s all. And after the confidence boost you are about to receive from inmates and guards alike, you just have to feed off of it and walk around like you own the damn joint.”

He was looking at me with the most focus I’d seen in a while. “What else?”

“Take these,” I said, handing over half of my bracelets and both of my rings. The guards were eyeballing them like their life depended on it.

He observed them, then looked up at me.

“Put them on,” I instructed. He did as I said and I wanted to smile at how fitting they actually looked on him. “Anyone tries to touch you, show them these. They will either back off, or ask you a variety of questions. All you need to tell them is that you know me and you know me well. A handful of the prisoners already saw us talking and a lot more will know by the time we are done.”

“What else?” he repeated.

“I wanted you to get a tattoo of my ring, but I figured that wouldn’t exactly be the avenue you’d like to take so make sure that the bracelets are always in sight. Never take them off and don’t let anyone touch them. Other thing: they’re gonna draw a lot of attention, so you have to start acting confident and you have to do it now. If you are timid with them on, people will talk and wonder if they are fake or if you are ‘unworthy,’ so be smart about it.”

“What do I tell people if they ask how I know you?”

“You have two options. Tell them the truth…” I started.

“Or?” He was always fast at picking up on how things worked. And here, everything had to be a lie.

“Or you tell them that I was the one who caught you. That you were causing problems for me and were able to track down a lot of my connections and I didn’t like that, so I decided to hunt you down. It took me a while and a lot of my effort to get you. During that time we got infatuated with each other because we were so evenly matched and actually enjoyed the challenge the other offered, that’s why I still visit you. Tell them I want to break you out and initiate you into my ring. Tell them I have eyes on you at all times and will personally pay anyone who hurts you a visit.”

“What? I don’t think-”

“Do you trust me?” I interrupted.

“Yes,” he replied without hesitation.

“Good. Then tell them that and they will leave you alone. I will be visiting you at least once a week, and will make sure to make a show of it every now and then. But if we are going to make this work, you have to utilize all of the information I just gave you. And please, for the love of Lucifer, own your crazy,” I leaned even closer to him and looked right through his eyes, enunciating each word carefully, “That is the only way this works.”

I pushed back out of my chair and he mirrored me. I placed my hands on his shoulders and pushed them back slightly. With my index finger I tilted his chin up. I hooked a hand behind his neck and brought him to me, whispering in his ear, “You’re going to get through this, Doctor.”

I released him and turned to walk toward the visitor exit. I peered over my shoulder at his gaze following me out. I gave him one strong nod before turning back around and leaving him with what I considered to be the best I could manage at the moment.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

Seven weeks and two days.

That’s how long Spencer had been in prison for.

Five weeks and six days.

That’s how long Aundreya’s bracelets protected him.

He did exactly as she said. He started to own his crazy. He started acting like he wasn’t as innocent as he claimed and he did his best to act confident while also keeping his head down. And she was right. Anyone that approached him quickly identified the chains he was now sporting and left him alone. They did draw a lot of attention though, and when he gave the false backstory of them hunting each other, becoming infatuated, her eventually winning but wanting to break him out to join her ring, it was like he immediately gained respect. He never thought he’d be so thankful for jewelry and lying.

But it only worked for so long.

Some of the guys thought that because Aundreya would be so caught up working cases, and because she’d ‘gone soft’ helping the FBI out, they could get back at her by hurting him. Surely she would no longer have the guts or the freedom to come after them. Plus, if she really enjoyed this new life, this fresh start, she couldn’t be caught ‘paying them a visit’ knowing how that ended, now could she?

Four cell doors didn’t get locked that night.

Must’ve been a security malfunction or something. At least, that was the explanation given the next morning.

But knowing Spencer’s luck, he was one of the four cell doors that remained open. The other three? None other than Darrell Fairchild and his two bloodhounds.

The small blade could have been smuggled in. One of them could have been crafty enough to make it. However it got there didn’t really matter. What mattered, was that it hurt like a bitch.

Twice.

The blade easily penetrated through his flesh, was brought out just far enough so that Spencer could see his own blood dripping from the blade onto his shoes, then plunged right back in. The second time came with a twist and a forceful yank upwards.

The rough concrete floor stung his knee caps and sent a wave of pins and needles up his legs. He put his hands over his stomach and had a wave of deja vu wash over him.

He’d done this before. Unfortunately, this time there wasn’t someone ready and willing to help him.

He looked toward his still open cell door, realizing that any evidence of Darrell and his possy being there was already gone.

Reid croaked out for anyone to help him, but no one came. He yelled a little bit louder, hearing a faint echo off of the concrete down the hall, but still, no one was around. Half crawling, half dragging himself toward the hallway, he continued calling out for help. His eyes drooped shut, collapsing only halfway out of his cell before he was able to identify the footsteps coming his way. His last thought was one of pleading, hoping that it was someone, anyone, who would help him. He wasn’t ready to die.

Taglist (open)

@justanothetfangirl

@kris-stuff

@blameitonthenight21

[silver-wield]

Nobody asked for this one, but I said I was gonna do it anyway. Barret and Cloud's friendship development.

Don't worry, I'm not gonna make a mile long post. I'm just gonna hit on the key moments, but I think these two deserve a bit of spotlight.

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven’t played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it’s gonna be reasonably long.

Also, this is one person’s interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that’s cool and we’ll agree to disagree.

You’re also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I’m grabbing them from Youtube and it’s frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Other analyses if anyone’s interested.

Shinra HQ vision scene (Cloti/plot analysis) 

Chapter 3 (Cloti reblog) 

Tifa character analysis 

Aerith Resolution (plot analysis/theory – I should probably update this since I’ve had other ideas since then) 

Train graveyard (not really an analysis, but I got some sweet screenshots of Cloti) 

Clotiscrew tunnel analysis 

Cloti reunion analysis 

The Promise Analysis 

Andrea’s approval (Cloti ask response) 

Leslie analysis (not mine, but a good read) 

Cloti action touching 

Aerti friendship analysis 

Cloti body language chapter 3 

Cloti healthy disagreement 

Cloti post heliboss battle (chapter 15) 

Clerith playground scene 

Cloti body language plate fall 

Now, strap in and enjoy the ride.

I'm not recapping the whole game lol

Chapter 1: Barret isn't impressed one bit with Cloud. Watching back their early interactions and I keep noticing this sad look on Cloud's face when he's excluded. But then, I'm also like “Well you pushed them away first”. But I also wanna hug him.

Yeah, so Barret isn't impressed and he's outright hostile, calling Cloud names and antagonising him. He even shoots at Cloud and then raises his gun to take out a security bot. This man doesn't like Cloud and isn't afraid to show it.

You gotta remember, Barret is 6'5 and built like a brick shit house and has a machine gun on his arm. He's not someone to mess with. Taking that in, Cloud's dismissiveness is pretty impressive. I mean he's almost a foot shorter than Barret, after all, and his sword probably weighs more than him lol

Perhaps by the end of the chapter – after Cloud saves Jessie – Barret might have thawed a tiny bit towards him, but he's still mistrusting and doesn't like him.

Chapter 2 and there's not a lot of interaction between them. Barret does actually agree with Cloud when he says “what's done is done” in reference to the destruction. This shows Barret is pragmatic and not against Cloud himself, just his role. After that, Cloud's alone for the rest of the chapter until the above screen when he leaps into the cargo carriage of the train and Barret says, “You had me worried for a minute.”

He looks caught out when the others all look at him because he's been a total dick to Cloud throughout the mission, but this shows he cares about his team, even if he doesn't like everyone on it. Showing concern for his people is the trait of a leader and if the game were showcased differently we could assume that Barret is our leading man.

“The folks down here don't have the luxury of choice, you know.”

Still in chapter 2 and this is such a great moment between Cloud and Barret! There's no arguing, just Barret giving Cloud a different perspective that's not the badass merc “Idc” one he's showcasing. You can see once the conversation is over that Cloud grows introspective, so Barret's words clearly resonated with him. This looks like another marker on Cloud's chart of going from a douchebag to a decent human being. He thinks about how things are for other people. Later, Marle tells him to consider others feelings, too. To listen. I'm loving all these small moments that come together to build a clearer of picture of Cloud's development.

Barret actually removes his sunglasses – why is he wearing them at night? – to meet Cloud's eye. This is a gesture that shows his sincerity and belief in his words. He's not just blustering for the sake of it. He cares about the people and the planet.

Chapter 3 and we don't see Barret until near the end. He's back to being snappy with Cloud – understandable since he's being a dick going on about money.

(aside: can I just squee at Cloud smiling at Tifa through this whole bit. He's such a dork)

And when we see Barret again he's very professional and courteous. There's no emotion in his tone and his words are very formal. He could be talking to anybody. His head dips as he's speaking, in an effort to lower himself more to Cloud's physical level. On an emotional one, he's making himself non-threatening. This isn’t a confrontation is what he’s putting out.

Cloud doesn't look happy at the dismissal and something we know about him is his desire for acceptance, so this probably hurts, although he acts otherwise.

We're up to chapter 5 and this is a turning point between Cloud and Barret's budding friendship. Barret's in battle dialogue makes it clear he's trying to show off in front of Cloud, who's dismissive still. There's a lot of back and forth between them in the kind of guy banter that suggests they kind of respect each other, but they also just have to put up with each other.

The above screen is the second before Cloud says to Barret that he's better than that in response to his arguing with the Shinra manager. Barret seems surprised Cloud even tries with him, but what's more telling is this expression from Cloud shows he gave it some thought before speaking. He considered the right words to address Barret which shows he's thought about the kind of reaction Barret could have. He took in Barret’s words from chapter 2 and Marle’s from chapter 3. This is called character development!

Chapter and Cloud throws some shade and Barret blusters lol

Tbf Barret's grown a lot less hostile since chapter 1. He's not as combative to Cloud, nor is he maliciously insulting him anymore. They've entered a stage of snarky banter, which we all know is one of the big steps on the road to friendship lol

Clearly Barret being able to see Cloud in action and rely on him in battle – not to mention Tifa's enduring good opinion – are starting to colour his own opinion.

(Tifa actually rears back when Barret waves his arm around in this bit lol)

Barret looking to Cloud for back up here. I mean, they're all in the shit, but this is interesting that he's looking to Cloud for that reassurance they're gonna continue kicking ass. The fact Cloud agrees without even the tiniest disagreement is probably the first time they're genuinely on the same page through their own choice.

Let the friendship begin!

Now, I bet you're thinking I picked this one to showcase cloti, well you're wrong. This is an example of how Barret's mellowed towards Cloud from his chapter 1 hostility to now. Cloud disagrees with him and instead of getting pissed that his leader decision is overruled, he lets it go.This could be a moment of contention between them, but they’ve both grown enough over the game to get to the point that not everything between them is a fight.

Now, maybe Barret's saying this because he thinks Cloud is about to die, but that seems selfish and like he's saying it to make himself feel better after being a douchebag, and for a selfless man like Barret I just don't buy it. He's genuinely regretful of his past actions and this is the point between the two of them that they can start again and actually become proper friends.

There's no time for much of a guy reunion between them when Barret does see Cloud again all the way over in chapter 12 -- that’s a long ass time apart for Barret to think about how he treated Cloud -- and we kind of brush past Barret's feelings because the plate collapse takes priority.

After that, Barret is much nicer to Cloud, trying to get his praise in battle and being a proper support to him. There's still that snarky banter between them, but the hostile edge has gone. We see a culmination of their friendship development during the stairs climbing sequence. Where before their banter had a hard edge and combative nature to it, this is very friendly and full of jokes and warmth. Barret has definitely softened towards Cloud and considers him a real friend. You can't fake that shit.

Conclusion

Yeah, I kinda cut this short and didn't do the latter half of the game, but that's because it's much more clear than this early development. Focusing on the small interactions between them that built a gradual friendship, it took a huge shock to get Barret to reassess his opinion of Cloud and him dropping from the reactor, going missing and then showing up to save the day covered it. It was like he got a reset and from that he dropped his prejudiced preconceived ideas about Cloud and opened up to him more. Because there’s such a huge gap between the time Barret sees Cloud again, it’s easy to miss the middle part of their friendship. The part where it goes from dislike to like. It’s easy to remember Barret hating Cloud and then see them being a team after chapter 12 because those moments stick in your mind more. It’s the transition that gets lost.

I love their development and how they become friends. It's not the kind of friendship that Barret shows with Red. Those two are bros the instant they met. Cloud and Barret's relationship is more complicated because of Cloud's role and identity. It takes Barret a long time to see past that persona, especially when he's only got evidence of that to go on – unlike Tifa. Once he does, he gives Cloud his full support and trust.

I, for one, can’t wait to see how they go forward in Barret’s arc.

[starstruckmyths]

Please tell me a few sentences story from the shrunkyclunks alignment chart right column top to bottom you are talking about

Nonny is referring to This Post for all those wondering!

Also, I feel touched your read my tags, remembered, and then came here to leave me an ask💕

You have Modern Rebel Bucky for all of them, and then Cap Steve Purist, Cap Steve Neutral, and Cap Steve Rebel. I’m going by the picture of the art, they’re just too good not to use.

I hope you’ll ~enjoy~

.

Steve Purist + Bucky rebel

Bucky can bench press Steve. 

To the wonder of most, he does it with apparent ease. Whether he is lifting Steve from the waist, pulling him up by the arm, or straight up pick Steve up from the ground, horizontally, and lay him on his shoulders to do squads, looking completely serious while Clint gapes in the background. 

It’s not a secret that Steve loves it. 

There is something about being picked up so easily that has his frown turn upside down in a moment’s notice. Perhaps it’s an old memory resurfacing (or more than one) together with a feeling of familiarity he doesn’t want to lose.  Perhaps it’s sharing his unusual capabilities. Perhaps it’s the theme-park joy he gets from being lifted up and down and up and down and up and down and-- you get the point. 

There’s nothing more he loves than being hoisted up into the air and being carried or used as a weight for Bucky to train with, simply because he loves being so close together.

Though all of that is nice and well, Steve knows it’s very likely just the feeling of not being seen as the strongest again, the one everyone expects can do everything. It’s knowing someone on his team is strong enough to bench press Captain America, to work him to the ground and beat him in training sessions. 

He goes around in his suit, fighting evil, being an example, but every second he is aware there’s someone in the Tower who could do just as much as he can, who can match him in nearly all he does, but doesn’t ever put him down because of that. And that’s nice. 

He can be Captain America, and trust someone to have his back. 

He can be Captain America, and know someone will take care of him when he needs it. 

.

Steve Neutral (retired) + Bucky Rebel

It’s cute to see Bucky try. 

After years of fighting and many battles, some on Earth and even some in space, there’s not a lot that impresses Steve anymore. He’s retired, really, kicking back and watching the sunset. Of course when his team really needs him he steps in, but lately he’s been enjoying the little things of life, and making time and space for himself. 

Bucky tries, though. 

He will come and challenge Steve to spar, which seems to always end up with Steve pinning Bucky down on his back, while the latter smirks at him in a way he can’t really explain - or perhaps he just tries not to think about it too much. It’s a real charming smirk, though, and it never fails to make Steve huff and make it clear he won. 

Sometimes Bucky tries his actual best, but he still can’t quite seem to get into Steve’s weak-spots, and it either ends in a tie or Bucky on the floor.  

“Fight me!” Bucky proclaims, and then he jumps and paw his hands at Steve’s chest and face like an enthusiastic puppy happy its owner is back home. Only he’s a six feet fall puppy who can do martial arts and has the super soldier serum. 

Eh, same thing.

.

Steve Rebel + Bucky Rebel

It’s not the first time he’s been caught dangling down Bucky’s shoulder, and he highly doubts it’s the last. 

So maybe there was a cheer-leading introduction going on, and maybe Steve dressed himself up in a baby blue skirt with a matching sport’s top to go and join have a look, but did they seriously expect not to start throwing hands the moment some assholes started bothering people?

He could handle the comments thrown at him, a guy wearing a skirt and all, but when it was the girls being hooted and hollered at, he decided to put his dance skills to a different use. They complimented him for his high kicks, and his lean form, and said with some training, he could be an amazing dancer. 

Unfortunately, Bucky did not share their opinion. 

And so he’s dangling, quite glad he had made the decision to wear a set of spots shorts beneath the skirt in case he needed to do a cartwheel or the fabric would fly up, so people weren’t immediately exposed to his manhood, mainly because he can feel the skirt is too short to completely cover him in this position. 

Regardless of all that, it’s honestly not the worst position he’s been in, though Bucky’s metal arm does push into his stomach, and the metal pricks his tummy. 

Oh right, Bucky isn’t wearing a shirt. 

Steve doesn’t know where he was before this, or what he was doing, but it’s intriguing. Bucky’s constantly shifting and tensing back muscles are intriguing. Steve traces it with his hand as good as he can in this position. Bucky’s ass is also right there, looking very good in these tight jeans that looked new, but he knows if he tries anything Bucky will retaliate - probably twice as hard too.

“I was just putting my powers to good use,” Steve huffs, crossing his arms but not succeeding. 

“Punk,” Bucky answers, not sounding all that mad. 

“I think of myself more as a rebel, actually.” Steve tries to crane his head to look at his friend, but there’s not much to see. “You should pass that title to me. I’m clearly more of a rebel than you.”

“No, you’re a punk,” Bucky says, “I’m the rebel.”

“Natasha says it’s my turn to be the rebel.”

.

[the-shadow-of-atlantis]

All The Stars (Part 5)

Summary: Nova is trying to get use to Hogwarts

Tagging: @melyaliz @coffee-randomness @thespacebuns

Read Earlier Parts Here

Nova's first week at Hogwarts was interesting to say the least. On her first day Nova got to meet Adelines brother, Henry, who was starting his first year at Hogwarts. Nova herself never had any siblings so it was fun seeing them interact.

Henry was a giant ball of energy, curious of everything and ready for his first day. Adeline was a quiet thing, she seemed a bit nervous and always tried to keep a close eye on her brother. They always dropped him off at his classes first before they took off to their own. Nova couldn't help but notice though that Adelina seemed to take paths that were almost empty, and that Pam seemed to follow them from a distance. Curiousity got the better of Nova and after two days she decided to ask.

"Adeline would you mind showing me where the library is?" Nova asked as she grabbed one of her notebooks.

They hadn't really been assigned anything yet that required a trip to the library but Nova was itching to explore the castle. But she needed to test the waters first. Adeline seemed to share a glance with Pam from a distance but still she got up and joined Nova.

"Of course." She said as they made their way out.

Nova began drawing in her notebook as they walked slowly looking up so see what details she could scribble down for later.

"What are you drawing?" Adelina asked, trying to make sense of all the lines in the notebook.

"I'm trying to get a better layout of the castle. I hear Hogwarts is full of secrets and I want to try to find as many as I can." Nova said never looking up from her book.

"You're going to want to watch out for Filch then." Adeline said, shuddering. "He's mean and Mrs. Norris is unlike any cat I've ever seen."

Nova nodded she had heard about that pair and was waiting for her surprise to come in to see if she could get around them. Just then Nova frowned as she looked at her notes carefully, now was the time to ask.

"Adeline is there a reason you tend to take the passages least used?"

Adelina seemed stunned but she quickly shook her head and continued on her way.

"It's faster to get to certain places." Adeline casually said though Nova stared at her in disbelief.

"Even when there's hardly anyone roaming the halls after school hours?" Nova pressed.

Adeline seemed to contemplate her next words. Every now and again she would glance behind them. Finally she stopped and sat down near a statue. Nova decided to sit down on the floor, her legs crossed and her notebook closed so she could focus more on Adeline.

"I'm guessing that even though you grew up in the muggle world your father still taught you about the wizarding world." Adeline scoffed at her own comment. "Of course he did, you were homeschooled right."

Nova waited as Adeline took a deep breath.

"I didn't know anything about magic until they came to my house and delivered my letter. Suddenly all the weird things that would happen around my brother and I made sense. Suddenly I was in a world that wouldn't look at me as if I was a freak…" Adeline paused, her eyes focused on the ground.

"I was excited when I came to Hogwarts. The ministry person did a fantastic job on focusing on all the good things about this world, they failed to mention the bad. It wasn't till I got sorted into Slytherin and started my classes that I found out. All the other classes hate Slytherin because it's the house that produces the most dark wizards. Many Slytherins apparently joined Voldemort during the first war. So anyone who wasn't a slytherin avoided me or called me names. But then some of the slytherins specifically the pureblood slytherins started calling me a mudblood."

Nova's hand clenched at the word and tried her best to stay calm.

"So everyone either hates me for being a slytherin or for being a muggle. The bullying got so bad I decided to avoid people as much as possible. Pam figured it out however, she's tougher than I am. She fights back but she decided to put her focus on protecting me instead. Any other muggle born slytherins tend to stay to themselves not knowing who to trust."

Nova nodded taking in what she just learned. She herself had noticed that certain people tended to avoid her in the two days she had been here, particularly a certain hufflepuff.

"Is that why Pam is following us right now?" Nova asked a loud thud rang out in the hall and Pam peaked out rubbing her head.

"How did you know I was here?" She demanded.

"Like Adeline said, you follow her everywhere. It wasn't that hard to guess. How's your head?"

"Fine." Pam grumbled as she approached the two girls.

"I never understood the rivalry of the houses." Nova admitted. "Especially the hostility towards Slytherin. My father was a slytherin and he fought with the order, left his family too. You should be proud to be a slytherin and a muggle. Honestly purebloods should be the ones looked down on, I don't see what's so special about being inbreds."

Adeline let out a horrified gasp but Pam snickered and nodded her head in approval.

"Okay you seem good." Pam said through snickers.

Nova smiled at her new friends and together they began navigating the castle with Nova and Pam keeping an eye out for anyone who would dare mess with them. They also attempted to get close to any other muggle borns, but as Adeline had pointed out many had trust issues. Still Nova always made it clear was there for anyone though it seemed like it was just going to be her and the two girls.

Trying to get her professors to let her use muggle supplies ended up less of a hassle than she thought it would be. Professor Magonagall had been a little hesitant at first however she did like how Nova tended to color code her charts. But other than that almost every other teacher didn’t seem to mind and soon Nova noticed other muggle students using their own muggle supplies. However one teacher that seemed to keep putting up the most resistance was Professor Snape.

“I thought I said to take out parchment and quills not whatever this is.” Snape said looking over Novas supplies.

“Its the same principle.” Nova said showing him the tip of her fountain pen. She knew this one was going to be a tough one she had asked around about all the teachers.

Snape was also her head of house though she hardly ever saw him, he was rumored to always favor their house. Currently that didn't seem to be the case.

“The supply list calls for parchment and quills.” Snape said as if making this final.

“The notebook is a form of parchment and I am still using the correct ink in my pen.” Nova countered, a pair of red headed twins that were sitting across from her looked at them in amusement.

“Miss Vinci while you are in this class I suggest you follow all the rules and that applies to the adequate supplies for this school.” Snape said sternly.

Nova glared at Snape as she pulled out her wand, his eyes raised in disbelief but instead she tapped her pen and muttered a spell making the pen turn into a quill.

“Better?” Nova asked, finally Pam and the twins burst into laughter.

“5 points from Gryffindor.” Snape said through clenched teeth, making Nova look at him with wide eyes.

“You can't do that.” She protested, if anything he should be taking points away from their house.

“10 points then.” Snape hissed, oh so that’s how this was going to be, fine.

Nova stayed quiet as she tried to focus on her work. They had started working on a potion and Nova decided it was best to wear her safety gear. She slipped on her gloves and snapped her goggles into place. She knew people were staring at her but still she pressed on adding to her potion as instructed.

“What is all this?” Snape asked completely unamused by what she was wearing.

“Its called safety gear.” Nova said looking over her cauldron to make sure it was turning the right shade.

“And why are you wearing it?”

“The name clearly states its purpose.” Nova said looking up at him.

“Did I ask you to put anything on?” Snape asked and Nova could tell she was definitely testing his patience.

“Given the type of potion you are making us do I’m surprised you didn't.” Nova continued.

“Are you that far behind from being homeschooled that you fear your well being from your own work.” Snape remarked, oh so this is how he was going to be.

“On the contrary.” Nova said her eyes narrowing. “I know what to do, still accidents can happen. If anything I just doubt your healing abilities and though I can be taken to the hospital wing I would like to avoid excruciating pain in my eyes and hands.”

Snapes nostrils flared and again Pam and the twins snickered while Adeline stared at her horrified.

“Detention Weasley.” Snape snapped, making Nova's jaw drop.

She wanted to protest but she knew it was futile, she’d figure out a way around all this.

“Hey Vinci right?” One of the twins asked as they caught up to her.

“Yes?” Nova asked, noticing Pam tense, she put a hand on her arm to calm her.

“We were wondering.” The other continued.

“Our father he loves all this muggle stuff you think you could give us some things to send to him?” The first said, Nova tried to remember where she had heard the name Weasley before.

“Your father works for the ministry right?” Nova asked as she remembered her father speak of an Arthur Weasley would he be their father.

“Yes.” They both said, making Nova nod.

“I could tell my father to give him some of my old things. He works for the ministry too, and would probably be faster.” Nova said smiling politely at the two boys.

“Sounds great, Fred and George Weasley by the way.” Fred said, holding his hand out.

“Fred and George got it.” Nova said looking between the two as she shook his hand. “Sorry about the dentition.”

“Eh dont worry about it.” George said.

“Hasn’t been the first time.”

“Definitely won't be the last.”

“Still its not fair he’s just a bitter old git.” Nova mumbled. “He cant get away with it.”

“Sounds like you have an idea brewing.” George said smiling.

“Possibly.” Nova smiled back. “I’ll definitely let you know what I come up with.”

The twins were a fun lot, Nova began to notice them more when she would roam the halls with Pam and Adeline. Helping keep an eye out for each other whenever Filch was close. The twins were impressed that Nova was able to evade Mrs. Norris so easily until they realized she just dropped off cat treats in order to keep her busy. Nova gave them half of her supply after that.

However as the week continued and they began entering their weekend Nova kept noticing that a certain Hufflepuff was still ignoring her. The Slytherins shared a couple classes with the Hufflepuffs yet Cedric always seemed to sit as far away from her as possible. In the end the only other friend the girls had managed to make besides the Weasleys was Jaime, the Hufflepuff girl that rode in the train with Nova on her way to Hogwarts. Jaime a Hufflepuff through and through never spoke as to why Cedric avoided her so much but Nova had a pretty good idea.

She was finally able to confront him during the weekend. Adeline had insisted Pam needed to work on her homework since apparently Pam had a track record of always holding off till the last second to do her work. Nova had been caught up and figured it be easier to explore the castle if she was alone, as much as she enjoyed the two girls company she needed some time to herself.

Nova's map of the castle was far from complete and she took her time going down the halls as she sketched into her notebook. She looked up to double check where she was going when she saw him. He froze as he saw her and he seemed to be contemplating which way he should take off. Nova however shut her notebook shut rather harshly and approached him quickly.

"Cedric." She said fiercely as she stopped in front of him. "Is there a reason you are avoiding me?"

"I'm not avoiding you." He said though his expression said differently.

"Oh really?" Nova narrowed her eyes at him. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze and finally broke.

“You’re a slytherin.” He said simply

“And you're a Hufflepuff so what?” Nova asked, crossing her arms.

“Do you have any idea how many dark wizards have come from slytherin house?” Cedric asked as if that would clear everything up.

“And what about the slytherins that aren’t dark wizards?” Nova countered. “What about the Slytherins that are muggle borns? The slytherins that grew up knowing noting about the Wizarding world until they came here? The slytherins that were suddenly turned down by those who were suppose to be accepting of them? And what about the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw and Gryffindors who maybe weren’t as bad as death eaters but are still not good? I doubt all of you are saints too. And for the record your house doesn’t matter in the real world, you really think your job applications will ask what house you attended in Hogwarts? I really doubt my NASA one will.”

“You’re what?” Cedric suddenly asked, very confused cause he was sure he had never heard of that department before.

“National Aeronautics and Space Administration, it's the American muggle space program but that’s beside the point. The point is slytherin isn’t a bad house and not everyone is automatically a death eater or evil, hell not all of us are even bloody pure bloods. I thought Hufflepuff would be more accepting, guess that means you aren’t what your house says you are.” Nova huffed and turned away however she didn't feel as good as she though she would have after having that conversation.

“You know the more you stare at food the longer its going to stay there.” Pam said, breaking through Novas thoughts.

“Guess I’m not that hungry.” Nova grumbled still having been in a bad mood when she woke up the next day.

She had told the girls what had happened and though they had been a nice comfort Nova couldn’t here’ll but be a little homesick. Maybe she could ask her mother to send some cookies. She felt Pam stiffen beside her and looked up to see Cedric standing next to her.

“I figured maybe we need a restart. Hi I’m Cedric.” He said smiling softly at her and holding his hand out.

“I’m Nova.” She said, hesitantly shaking his hand. “These are my friend Pam and Adeline.”

Cedric smiled a little brighter and Nova felt her resolve slowly melt away, curse this Hufflepuff.

[fanficreadingcorner]

It’s been too long

Pairing: None just nice platonic relationships between three best pals

Words: on the shorter side with only 1,768

Masterlist

A/N: So I came up with this idea while I was talking to a friend and watching the Witcher. So right before the feast Jaskier asks Geralt if Witchers ever retire and Gerald says they do when they get old and get killed. Which lead me to think, hmmm does this mean that Witchers never age? If they don’t then that means they hunt monsters until they die. So I thought what if Geralt had finally killed all the monsters, then what? He would just continue his existence cause there are no natural predators to a Witcher anymore and this is what came to mind. A Geralt that never aged along with Jaskier who also stopped aging for reasons to be explained and you the reader as a witch. Let me know what you think, and if you want me to write them during a specific time or doing something. Let me know, my head cannon is that they’re responsible for a lot of things that happened. SORRY for the long intro, now on with the show!

         “Jaskier’s home” you said while moving to go unlock the door so that Jaskier could barge in like he did every day, there was one time you forgot to unlock the door and not only would Jaskier never let you live it down after he slammed himself against the door, but Geralt had also laughed so hard that day that it would forever be ingrained in your memory. He didn’t laugh often, or at all for that matter so that had been a rare treat. You moved to go pick up your laptop and things that were scattered around the dining table while Geralt grunted and went to go check on the mac and cheese that was cooking in the crockpot, it was his turn to cook today after all. Suddenly the door burst open and in strode the famous bard.

           “I’M HOME” yelled Jaskier at the top of his lungs. You would think that with how often he yelled that loudly that his vocal cords would have been damned by now but alas I guess the healing was something that came with when that witch ‘cursed’ him all those years ago.

           “We know, you tend to almost break down the door every time you throw it open” grumbled Geralt while you moved around setting up the table so that the three of you could enjoy dinner together, something that had originated sometime in the 18th century if you remembered correctly but it was really hard to pinpoint when exactly considering how long you all had lived at this point.

           “Aren’t you lucky then that I have absolutely not muscle in any part of my body as as to not hurt the door, unlike someone I know that stockpiles it like flour in 18th century France” jabbed Jaskier right back causing you to snort in amusement, you’d think that after living together for so long that they would treat each other with more love but not even 600 years, give or take a few, could mend somethings. Although admittedly this was how they showed their love for one another.

           “Well you would know wouldn’t you Mr. ‘I wanna be part of King Louis court it looks so fancy and I can probably make a lot of money out of it playing my songs. So I’m going to go to France by self’. How many times did we have to save you from the guillotine?” questioned Geralt while turning off the crockpot and then looking at Jaskier with a smirk on his face.

           “I lost count after 5” you added laughing when you saw the look of betrayal on Jaskier’s face. Before it quickly morphed into a smug face.

           “It doesn’t even matter because I’m alive and, guess whose song is number one on the charts again” bragged Jaskier while doing a little happy dance. You would think that after the first time this happened, he would have lost some of the excitement but it’s never a boring day with those two. Although admittedly it was a lot worse the first time this happened because he wouldn’t stop bragging for YEARS afterwards. Luckily it died down, although he still celebrated with the same dance every time. Laughing and shaking you head while you sat down to eat you remembered that you probably shouldn’t be surprised that his songs were this popular you forgot sometimes that this was the same man that made ‘Toss a Coin to your Witcher’ famous in what was basically all of Europe at the time which in itself was an impressive feat considering that things were not as wide spread as they were now.

           “Yes, while we’re glad that you found your calling as a song writer I still don’t get why you won’t become a singer again, you have a good enough voice” You stated while waiting for Geralt to bring the food to the table and Jaksier to finally sit down. “You’ve done it before, we know you can do it” You continued as Jaskier sat down and rolled his eyes at you.

           “I’ve already told you, it’s too much work and I make more than enough money this way, plus the last time we did this remember how hard it was to stage my murder?” he countered while Geralt placed the food on the table, sat in his chair and started serving the food to everyone.

           “Eh I guess you’re right, It was cool though when you went on tour and we were able to tag along. Have you talked to Paul recently?” you continued while taking your plate for Geralt to dig into.

           “No, he’s busy or something, also I’m still kinda upset. Not at him of course but at the queen, why didn’t the queen grant me knighthood as well. Lord knows we’ve known that family for years, plus Geralt helped them come into power! But nope she has to go and knight Paul, I wrote most of those songs you know!” huffed Jaskier while quickly spooning some mac and cheese into his mouth and chewing aggressively. You raised your eyebrows in amusement and shrugged.

           “Perhaps” started Geralt, who had been quiet as of so far, “It has something to do with the fact that ‘you’” he said with air quotes around the you, “were ‘dead’ and thus she couldn’t really knight you” he finished off pointing his fork at Jaskier and then placing it in his mouth.

           “She could have done it posthumous; she knew I wasn’t really dead” muttered Jaskier before continuing his assault on the cheesy noodles.

           “Anyways” you dragged out hoping to steer the conversation elsewhere before Jaskier got too caught up. “so casting is finally done for ‘The Witcher’” watching Geralts reaction only to see him groan and throw his head back in frustration. Rolling your eyes, you continued. “So, they cast a British actor to play you, I think his name is Joe Batey? Resemblance is uncanny to you and his acting’s great, plus he seems to be able to capture your essence pretty well.” You continued as you watched Geralt try to make himself as small as possible to avoid the next question that was undoubtably going to come from Jaskier, which was not an easy feat considering how large Geralt actually was.

           “That’s great! If you don’t mind me asking who got cast as Geralt?” Questioned Jaskier none the wiser as to why Geralt seeming very invested in his food all of a sudden and not the current conversation like he has been a few moments ago.

           “Oh no one in particular” You started off watching Jaskier reach for his water and take a sip. “Just some actor that goes by the name Henry Cavill” At that Jaskier spit the little water he had in his mouth out causing it to go all over Geralt, and then proceeded to laugh like a mad man.

           “You’re joking!” Jaskier managed to choke out in between his laughs while Gerlat grunted and slid his hand down his face to ride himself of the water that had landed no his face. Shaking your head no, you confirmed Jaskiers question, Geralt would be acting as himself. Once Jaskier managed to calm down a bit he asked a follow up, “how did you manage to get him to even audition, let alone take the role?!” now he looked like a teenager wanting to know how to the two most popular kids in the entire high school had gotten together. You looked over at Geralt expectedly waiting for him to answer.

           “I lost a bet” was all Geralt muttered before Jaskier started laughing again causing Geralt to groan in annoyance and roll his eyes. “It’s really not that funny Jaskier” he tried hoping to calm the bard down just a tad. Gasping Jaskier now had Geralts full attention.

           “Not that funny!?” he exclaimed dramatically, hand over his heart like Geralt had just said the most offensive thing in the world to him. “Forget ye not how you came into this predicament of even being an actor?” chuckled Jaskier while Geralt grunted under his breath. “That’s right, a bet, you lost a bet to me and now you lost a bet to (y/n), so I guess it’s safe to say that you probably shouldn’t bet anymore. Even if you were good at it before” finished Jaskier with a flick of his wrist before picking up his plate and washing it in the sink. Shrugging Geralt stood and started cleaning up the table before answering Jaskier.

           “I suppose my luck finally ran out, although I think that happened when the witch cursed you with eternal life” Geralt smirked while bring up the dirty plates to the sink. Causing Jaskier to whip around and gasp dramatically at Geralt.

           “I will have you know that I am a blessing to this trio that we have, isn’t that right (y/n)?” asked Jaskier catching you off guard as you placed the leftover in the fridge.

           “uhhhhhhh” you hesitated while closing the door and turned to face them. “I would like to be excluded from this narrative?” You tried hoping that they wouldn’t drag you into this.

           “Well I never!” huffed Jaskier. “I thought the writer of the famous Witcher novels would have more to say on this” he continued before turning back to the dishes.

           “Flattery will get you nowhere” responded Geralt while handing Jaskier more plates to wash while he finished clearing off the table.

           “It used to” mumbled Jaskier while aggressively scrubbing a patch of cheese on one of the plates before placing it in the dishwasher. You leaned against the counter next to him before responding.

           “To be fair it was a different time and in the stories I wrote you aren’t exactly immortal” you said before pushing yourself off the counter to make your way upstairs. “Anyways, the network wants me to have the pilot scene finished by tomorrow, so I will see you guys later” you excused yourself before making your way up the stair but not before hearing Jaskier start to bother Geralt again.

           “Hey Geralt which do you think was the better of these two songs I wrote, Bohemian Rhapsody or Thriller?” started Jaskier, hearing Geralt grunt in annoyance you knew this would not be over soon.

           “It don’t think it’s important” answered Geralt, while you heard Jaskier sigh in annoyance.

           ‘It’s very important and you know it! Some of my best work….” Jaskier trailed off as you made it into your office and shut the door. Never a dull moment with these two.

[fly-pow-bye]

ThunderCats Roar - “Warrior Maiden Invasion“

Co-Executive Producer: Victor Courtright

Supervising Producer: Nate Cash

Producer: Marly Halpern-Graser

Story by: Joan Ford

Teleplay by: Molly Knox Ostertag

Directed by: Angelo Hatgistavrou

Where the ThunderCats get roared.

The episode begins with a game of hide and seek. No, this isn’t a metaphor for the ThunderCats having to hide from some sort of monster, I mean an actual game of hide and seek. Specifically, it's a variation where the hiders can go to a safe zone to be immune to tagging, so there's more stakes involved. Wilykit and Wilykat are the seekers, but their sibling differences are getting in the way. I really do mean differences, too; this is one episode where they are very much distinct. There won't be a lot of "Thunderkittens" here, that's for sure.

Wilykat is focused on going by the rules, doing a proper countdown before seeking the hiders. Wilykit gets bored and goes out prematurely, quickly ending the countdown before anyone could find a good hiding spot. Wilykat wants to sneak around, not alerting the hiders to their existence. Wilykit smashes stuff, because, hey, they might be in there! Gallant shares his apple with his friends. Goofus eats the apple and says "forget you, I got mine". I think one might get the point here.

Of course, all of this smashing is not helping Wilykit with his seeking, as he gets distracted long enough for everyone else to run away. When Panthro decides to hide in the ThunderTank, something he would be around even if he wasn’t playing hide and seek, he manages to slip away because Wilykit broke something. Even Tygra, whose best idea was to hide in a pan with Lion-O because he couldn’t find a good hiding spot, manages to slip away because Wilykit broke something. Essentially, the same scene repeats three times in a row; they couldn't even be bothered to have her be distracting in a different way.

It is sort of noteworthy that it's the girl that's doing everything to sabotage the game and the boy being the sensible one; cartoons, and fiction in general, usually have it the other way around. I can't say this show is sticking to the cliches. Of course, there's a reason why it's the girl; the title should be a slight hint to that.

They end up losing the game of hide and seek, as the rest of the ThunderCats make it into the safe zone without the Thunderkittens ever tagging them. Tygra leans in and tells WilyKit that she should learn things from her brother. They do justify why this game was such a big deal: because hide and seek is a valuable training exercise. Even WilyKat doesn't buy it, though he would have preferred if they were able to tag one guy without WilyKit's sudden obsession with smashing things.

WilyKit: I am not obsessed with smashing! Hyah! (smashes chair)

See, the joke is that she seems to be obsessed with smashing, despite saying she isn't obsessed with smashing. Aren’t our expectations subverted? I don't remember WilyKit ever being this destructive. There was the time she was destroying things in Driller, but that was an episode where everyone was doing that sans Panthro and Tygra so Panthro can be slightly peeved. Here, it's just so she can be the kind-of sort-of bad guy of the episode. There's not enough time to think about this, because an alarm sounds just as soon as she breaks the chair, and she immediately says that she didn't do it. Eh, I'll give them that.

But no, it's not because of some meaningless chair abuse, it's a by some definitely bad guys. I mean, why wouldn't they be bad guys? They set fire to the Troll Village, they're using locusts to attack the Berbils, they're throwing boulders at a peaceful looking cottage, and they're bullying the Mole Master. They specifically point out the Mole Master as someone Lion-O knows nothing about, but they don't explain the Troll Village. We never even get to see one.

Tygra assumes that the mutants must be behind this, but Cheetara then sees them take off their hoods. Apparently, they needed to wear them just so Tygra can assume they're mutants.

Turns out, it's not the mutants, but the Warrior Maidens. They are so not the mutants that they even have giant text saying that they are Not Mutants. It's even made out of cracked rock to show how brute they are. Right from the get go, WilyKit gets excited to see muscular women, rapidly pushing one of the buttons and giggling with a three-frame animation that I decided to spare anyone reading this with. There are some episodes that really show off that even with these designs, they can have some impressive looking animation. This isn't one of them. They can't all be winners, but can they at least have decent characters in their place?

That is far from the end of the text, as they end up smashing through one of the walls and beating the tar out of the ThunderCats just for being near them, showing off their ultra crushing grasp, super prism refracted laser cage, and their you ain't goin' nowhere grip! It almost feels like a toy commercial, though ThunderCats Roar designs don't look like they would translate well into action figures. I feel like that would be kind of a problem for a ThunderCats revival, but that's another story.

None of this stops the fangirling from looking at these warrior women with awe. As we all know from this episode and seemingly only this episode, WilyKit likes to smash things, and they like to smash things! Who cares if those things are her teammates, they must be the coolest people ever! Even when Willa picks her up and roars at her, she's still motioning to her brother to check them out.

Willa looks like this in Roar, by the way. She even has the added character trait of only speaking in roars, having the other Warrior Maidens doing the talking for her. No bow and arrow or any semblance of a personality besides "HULK SMASH" here, that's for sure. Admittedly, I've never actually seen an original episode with one of the original Maidens, so I can't judge based on comparisons, but what I can say is that there's not much here other than that.

They tell Willa to throw these flea-bitten felines into some sort of jail for their crime of attempting to stop them from breaking and entering into their home. They need them in "jail" so they can check out all of that alien technology that's in the lair, and by check I mostly mean "smash". Smash smash smash, that's all they do. They happen to find a location, and it's very convenient for them and the plot.

They end up in their very own Thunder Brig, which is specifically designed to disable their powers and their gadgets! Lion-O tries to do the "ThunderCats Ho", and the Eye of Thundara turns into a frowny face. I would argue what a ThunderCats Roar would even do when they're all here. Cheetara tries to run out of the room with her super speed, but the Brig sapped her speed. Even Snarf has been deactivated by the magical Brig! Dun dun dun duuun! I should have brought that up ages ago: ThunderCats Roar uses that one musical cue so much that it may as well be its equivalent to Johnny Test's infamous whip crack. (EDIT: From what I've heard, the overuse of this one cue is intentional, parodying how much the original ThunderCats used this same cue. If one doesn't know, the musical cues are taken straight from the original. My ignorance should not be used as a criticism against this show, though I could see people who aren't familiar with that could get annoyed.)

The first question anyone's going to think isn't how they're going to get out of there, but why would they even have something that seemingly only affects them in their own lair? They even bring it up only to have Tygra say that he thought it was a good idea at the time. No hint on why he would remotely think that; it may as well be no reason whatsoever. "How to learn to fight without weapons or superpowers" would have at least been a decent excuse to have it.

Here’s the real reason: it’s so the...adults? Are they really adults? Maybe Tygra, but even that is pushing it in this episode. It’s so the not-so-kids can be taken out of the plot and essentially become damsels in distress, as Kit and Kat are the only people who can fit through the ventilator. Before they leave, Tygra tells Wilykat that he’s in charge. I mean, he might have won that all important game of hide and seek if it wasn't for that meddling sister and her sudden urge to break things!

Wilykit and Wilykit make it out of the Damsel Room, under orders to find the button that unlocks the door to the Thunder Brig. They have to use their best stealth to get past these Warrior Maidens, as even Panthro's super strength was nothing to them. And by they, I mean WilyKat, as most of her plans boil down to things like this:

WilyKit: (flexes her not-nearly-as-big-as-the-Maiden’s muscles) Okay, I'll challenge them to an arm wrestling match, and when I beat them...

That is one of the few lines that made me smirk in this episode. There's at least some variety in the ways Wilykat deals with the maidens. We get an admittedly far too long scene of him trying to decide what smoke bomb to use, only leading to a joke where he just yells "chamomile tea" with a title card with him in a monocle appearing, and Wilykit admits that it's cool seemingly as a way to justify it. Kind of like a fistbump joke, though without the fistbump.

He also uses rope to swing a table where two of the maidens were arm wrestling, making them fall and bump their heads, knocking them out. The rest of the scenes are essentially him sneaking around and saying "sneak sneak sneak" while doing it, which is kind of going against the whole stealth angle.

After Wilykat gets through with his masterful sneak sneak sneaking, with a few "dun dun dun duuns" in the way, they make it to the room where the button is, which is also the room with all of the monitors showing all of the calamities we saw earlier. This leads to the big plot twist of the episode: they're actually using all of that alien technology to stop those calamities from earlier. It makes...kind of a bit of sense?

It turns out, they were actually fighting the locusts, and the Mole Master turned out to be a villainous king, just as he was in the original. Driller was a villain in the original and became more of a misunderstood neutral guy in Roar, so it wasn't like knowing that would spoil this episode. As for the cottage...just guess. One might even guess who was in that cottage, too. Was he doing anything in that cottage? That is just as explained as what started the Troll Village fire. I didn't forget about that one, but if I didn't mention it, would anyone really notice?

With this proving that they were good guys after all, Wilykit's way of referring to them, not mine, Wilykat decides that maybe they would be convinced if he just politely tells them that they're heroes like they are.

Needless to say, that doesn’t work, as Willa decides to grab him and roar at him some more. Her translator tells him he's going to go into a different cage; one a slippery mutant wouldn't get out of. Can you believe being compared to the mutants was the straw that broke the camel's back?

Well, you kind of shouldn't, but it does look like she gets angry at this, which makes the Warrior Maidens very pleased! Turns out, they just needed to be talked to in the language they can understand: property damage!

WilyKit started the episode recklessly destroying everything she touches, including things that probably wouldn't be her property, idolizes people who destroy things that are definitely not her property, never changes her mind throughout the entire episode despite people seemingly smarter than her suggesting otherwise, and she ends up saving the day in the end. She had to learn absolutely nothing!

To make a long story short, she ends up pushing the button. Maybe it's because she uses a chair to do it, despite WilyKat suggesting to use her fingers, so she can keep her smashing mood. Hey, if these guys have this amazing little girl that destroys property, they must be good guys!

We do get a little more backstory, including the factoid that the translator happens to be Roar's version of Nayda, but it all boils down to; we existed, we were cool, Mumm-Ra happened, we had to disappear until Mumm-Ra was defeated. Lion-O proclaims that they were the ones that defeated Mumm-Ra in an attempt to get them to be impressed, and that attempt actually works...though they assume WilyKit did it. Because she breaks stuff!

Super Best Friends Forever Fist-Bump!

That is a fist bump, though not really a fist bump joke. Lion-O pretends he doesn't care that they decided to give Wilykit all the credit, but he clearly does and he's jealous about it.

And yeah, that's pretty much it. If there's any other positive I can say, it's that this episode does continue something I miss from today's cartoon. Why can't we have The End cards anymore? Why has it become passe to not have cartoons end abruptly?

Granted, I really don't know why "it's over" with a childish doodle of Lion-O has any relation to this episode. It could represent Lion-O's expression when he realizes these Warrior Maidens aren't going to appear again for a while.

How does it stack up?

Yeah, I didn't like this one at all. It doesn't even have a good animation part to distract from any of this. This is the first time I have to give out this rating.

Next, Lion-O loses the Sword of Omens! Oh no!

← Panthro Plagarized! 🐈 Lost Sword →

[thejollyroger-writer]

Charity Comes from Strange Places

a/n:  ROUGHLY based on the first three minutes of the Hulu show "Harlots," but barely anything beyond that. Sometimes I just need a good period piece, yanno? Unbetaed, because I wanted to get this up before I went to work

SUMMARY:  Captain Hook and his men have been regulars at the same inn and brothel for years now, though the Captain has spent his time there at a table in the corner, filling his books and drinking his rum, though he finds himself drawn to the gorgeous blonde who seems to be in charge. When there is a threat to her safety, and the safety of her girls, Killian acts -- but can be reveal pieces of his soul to her that he has not shown anyone?

Rated T for emotional damage and something very close to smut

Also on AO3

Tagging some who might be interested: @shireness-says @kmomof4 @captainsjedi @let-it-raines @profdanglaisstuff @snidgetsafan @thisonesatellite @stahlop @darkcolinodonorgasm @superchocovian sorry if I’ve forgotten anyone, I have to go to work

----- 

Over his years as a sailor — a slave, an officer, a pirate — Captain Killian Jones has been to a lot of inns, a lot of whorehouses, and even a saloon or two. He’s seen callgirls of all shapes and sizes, has heard all sorts of lines, and has been asked by every woman who approached his table since he was a young officer, though he has accepted none of them. He was raised as a man of honor, a man that has always longed to love a woman the way he saw his brother love his wife for the short time he was allowed, the way his father should have loved his mother. He does not shame his men for choosing to take part, and has never shamed a woman before in his life. 

So he sits in the corner, adding to his captain’s log or working his way through one of his newest stories with a bottle of rum, waiting for the sun to come up, hiding from the nightmares that squeeze their way up from between the boards of his ship, the ghosts of the men who have lost their lives on that very deck, who have lost their lives because of him. 

At least here, the ghosts stay away. 

Here, he can watch over his men, make sure they keep out of trouble. Here, he can assure the tall brunette that seems to run the inn that his men will pay their debts, will pay for the windows and the benches they break after drinking too much and the bedframes that they break with more active activities. 

Here, from his table in the corner, over the pages of the book perched on his lap, he can look out over the few who are still conscious in the inn, watch for suspicious activities. 

Here, he can see her, that blonde beauty that sets herself up on the corner of the bar every night, a pile of papers spread out before her and the quill in her hand never still, always moving against the pages, against the large book that he assumes is full of the numbers for the inn or the callhouse — or, in moments when it is not against paper, tapping against her bottom lip as she thinks. 

He has never seen another woman like her, never in all the worlds and all the realms he has passed through. The golden curls that fall in waves down her back remind him of the brightest sunrise, the shining reflection of the morning sun on the stillest seas. She’s beautiful, more beautiful than any woman Killian has ever seen, even if he has only seen her from afar. 

Gods, he’s never even spoken to her, but he believes with all of the heart that he has left that if she ever turned her words in his direction, he would be unable to form any of his own. Or, heaven forbid, if she ever laughed — if she ever turned a laugh in his direction, he fears his heart would burst out of his chest and fall onto the floor before him. 

 Usually, on the nights they come, the place is emptying, just missing the dinner crowd, but tonight, the inn is buzzing with life, most of the tables and almost the whole bar full. 

In fact, the only space for him is at the bar. 

Next to her. 

Next to her at the bar. 

Squaring his shoulders, he takes a deep breath, holding the pile of papers he was hoping to work on closer to his chest as he moves through the crowds of people and slides onto the barstool next to her. 

Out of the very corner of her eye, she looks at him for just a moment, and he doesn’t miss the smirk that passes quickly over her face. From this close, he can see that her eyes are as green as the dress she’s wearing tonight, shining more than the soft silk of it in the firelight. 

Belle is the one chosen to work behind the bar, the very girl that Killian’s own quartermaster, Will, has taken a fancy to. The smile she offers him is much softer than the blonde’s smirk. 

“Hello, Captain,” she says, handing him the regular bottle of rum. 

“Miss French,” he returns with a bow of his head. “It certainly is a busy night here, innit?” 

“It’s a special night around here,” Belle says, leaning against the bar in front of him. “Our proprietors have lined up some entertainment for tonight, so everyone is going to have to wait for their girls until after the performance.”

“A performance, eh?” he asks, turning slightly toward the blonde beside him. 

She smirks again, Belle nodding, but none of them can respond before applause starts of the other side of the inn, cheers from the men that fill the room. 

They don’t speak for the rest of the night, the silence between the girls’ songs staying unbroken, but that does not make him less enthralled by her. He fills out his logs, checks his star charts, listens to the songs, but says nothing. 

She does the same, sipping from a crystal glass full of a dark brown liquid — whiskey? — paging through her books, humming along with the music every once in a while. 

Tapping the end of her quill against her bottom lip. 

That movement alone could be the death of him. 

By her silence, he can tell that she has shut herself away from the world, can tell that she has built walls up around her to keep everyone out, but that does not stop him from wondering. 

Wondering what her story is, how she got to this place. 

Wondering how she found herself in her position when he is sure that she must be younger than he is. 

Wondering what kinds of secrets and surprises he could find behind those green eyes. 

He wonders all of these things, but does nothing about it, leaving without a word at the end of the night. 

Wonders enough to come back the next night and sit beside her at the empty bar, a single seat between them, even when most of the inn is silent. 

Wonders enough to sit next to her, but not to speak to her, even though every muscle in his body is drawn towards her. The seat between them hums with his need to get closer to her, to get to know her, to bloody say something to her, but the minutes tick away. 

Until: 

“How was your latest voyage, Captain?” she asks, almost quiet enough that he misses it, and when he turns to her, her eyes are still on the pages in front of her. 

“Pardon?” he asks, not even sure that she has said anything in the first place, but when he turns to face her, she turns right back to him, her eyes bright and searching his for a moment before she repeats herself. 

“How was your latest voyage? They say you went to Arendelle?” 

For the briefest moment, he still does not believe it, does not believe that she is speaking to him. 

And then, her eyebrows rise up her forehead, coaxing him for some sort of answer, and he knows he is not hearing things. 

He clears his throat, straightening his back a bit as the corner of his lips tick up in a momentary smile. “It was unexciting. Rather boring, actually. We, uh, we have an understanding with the Queen there, and sometimes they call us up to take care of… difficult visitors.” 

With this, she breathes out a single laugh, dropping her head for a moment before turning back to him. 

“You really are a pirate then?” she asks, just a drop of uncertainty in her voice. 

“Did you really think otherwise?” 

“It’s just that, you and your men… you’re so… well-mannered. So nice, and generous. Which is the opposite of what everyone tells you about pirates, you know?” 

“What can I say, love?” he asks, leaning towards her, filling some of the space between them. “I run a tight ship, and teach my men nothing but the best manners.” 

This time when she smiles, it’s a brilliant thing, and he really does almost feel his heart fall from his chest at the sight of it. 

Between long periods of silence, she asks a few other questions about his journeys, about places he’s been and what do you eat on a ship when you spend months at a time on the water? 

Every once in a while, her duty calls, and she leaves him alone at the bar for a while at a time. And while it physically pains him, it is during one of these times that he must leave, doing so without bidding her goodbye. His heart sinks, gathering up his papers without knowing where she is, but it is past time for him to return to the ship. 

 When he comes back the next night, he does not leave an extra stool between them, but he still does not engage with her. 

And to his great surprise, either does she. 

He thought the night before that they were doing well, that the comfort he felt between them could not have been just by him. 

But her silence makes him question it all. 

Every once in a while, he allows himself to look over at her, but her eyes are always focused on her books, never once leaving the pages before her. 

He leaves in the same silence that has been around them the whole night. 

 The next night is the same. 

 The following morning, they leave for a three-day voyage. When they return, he does not even try to sit by her, returning to his spot in the corner. 

Three more days pass like this, with Killian on his own in the corner, though every time he can spare it, he finds his eyes leaving the pages before him and traveling to where she sits in her own corner. 

Either she does not see him, or she does not care. 

Until, at last, she does. 

When he comes in the next night, his spirits sink when he realizes that her usual seat at the bar is unoccupied — but, turning his attention towards his usual dark corner, he is unable to keep the smile from growing across his face when he sees her sitting there.

When she returns it with one of her own, his lungs stop working for a moment. It’s as if he’s forgotten how to breathe, as if he’s never learned how to pull breath into his own lungs. He needs to move, needs to cross the room to where she is waiting for him — to where she is waiting for him — or, heavens, he just needs to draw breath. 

The sea has been kind to him in the three decades he has spent on it, and the amount of times he has felt the burn of the water in his throat can be counted on his remaining hand, but it feels eerily similar to what is happening to him now, to the wild heat stretching out from his chest over his body.

And then she does it again, that questioning raise of her brow coaxed by his stillness, and the world is righted again with that movement, his lungs finally working once more and he can fill the rest of the space between them. 

“Good evening, Captain,” she says as he slides onto the bench across the table from her, and he realizes that she has already procured his regular bottle of rum. 

“Hello, love.”

“Emma,” she says quickly, and he snaps his eyes up to meet hers only to find her sucking on her bottom lip, a sight that he wishes would stop awakening other parts of him. “My name is Emma.” 

He turns his head to look around them, make sure that no one is listening to their conversation, before leaning across the table as far as he can, which coaxes her to do the same. “Killian,” he whispers, winking at her. 

“Ahh,” she breathes, a sly smile across her face, and when she sets her hand on his arm, it sends an electric shock through his whole body. “So there is a soft core under that hard pirate exterior.” 

“We’ve all got something to hide,” he says, the words coming from somewhere deep inside him, somewhere that has been locked for years. 

“That we do,” she says softly, the fingers of the hand not resting on his arm rising to the silver chain around her neck, which runs down her chest and into the front of her bodice. He does not mind the way the slim chain pulls his attention to where the white skin of her breasts protrudes from the front of her dress. 

“Can I ask you something, love?” he asks, leaning back on the bench, needing to focus his attention on anything other than her breasts, however lovely they are. 

(Because, Gods are they lovely.) 

She nods. “Only if you return me the favor.” 

“Of course, darling.” 

She nods again. 

“How is it that you have found yourself in such an esteemed position at such a young age? How are you the proprietor of this establishment, when you cannot yet have reached thirty?” 

Shaking her head, she runs her teeth along her bottom lip, her eyes set on the table. When she does not move to speak immediately, he does not push her, simply watching her as she seems to attempt to put the words in the right order. 

All at once, she moves to swipe his bottle of rum, meeting his eyes for a moment before she takes a swig of it and sets it back down on the table, leaning away from him at the table. 

“I grew up without a family, by myself, on the streets.” Already, his heart breaks for her. “When I was seventeen, I was attacked by an older boy I met, a rich boy from a rich family that thought he could have anything he wanted, and he wanted me, apparently. Left me broken, hurt, in pieces in the alley behind this very establishment. I passed out outside, and woke up in one of the beds here. The old owner of the callhouse, Ruth, was sitting by my bed, and nursed me back to health, didn’t even tell anyone that I was here. I needed somewhere to stay, and Ruth saw that, so I started helping her with the books and I cleaned up the inn downstairs, which used to be owned by a different woman, Granny, for room and board. When Ruth died, she left the business to her son, David, but he only owns it for the sake of paperwork. Granny died not long after and, because she could not leave the inn to Ruby, her granddaughter, she also left it to David, bringing the businesses together. Ruby runs the inn but is also one of the most popular girls, and I take care of everything else. But I can’t — I don’t sell myself like the other girls, because of — for fear of what happened when I was younger.” 

Killian really wants to comfort her, hold her, kiss her, feelings that he has not had for ten years, since he held Milah in his arms as she took her last breath on the deck of his ship. 

And feelings he cannot act on. She just bared her heart to him, much more than he ever expected asking the question that has been sitting at the back of his mind, and told him about the scars of her past. He has to accept that. 

But she reaches across the table and rests her hand on his arm, and there is light again in his life, coming solely from the radiant smile of the beautiful blonde across from him.

Emma. 

They go back to their regular routine: small conversations asked sporadically between periods of silence, though tonight, they are sharing their stories, their scars (literally and metaphorically), and a bottle of rum. 

“I really want to know,” she says after a few hours, and just as many drinks, her words slightly slurred. “How you got the hook.” She reaches out, wrapping her slender fingers around the metal appendage, which sends a jolt of electricity through his body, a warmth that spreads across his bones but settles below his stomach, slowly stirring his cock to life. 

  “You’re asking for the deepest secrets here, love,” he says, his voice low, trying to suppress the growl that he desperately wants to release as he focuses his gaze on her fingers, not trusting himself to look at anything else. 

“I already bared mine to you,” she whispers, her free hand finding his atop his stack of papers. “All I’m asking for is a little… reciprocation.” 

He raises his eyes to meet hers and finds the same bits of a smirk that he could swear he heard in her last word — she has to know what she is doing to him, the effect that she has on him, the effect she has had on him since the first time he laid his eyes on her. 

“Well then, a gentleman always reciprocates.” 

Her eyes widen for a moment, but he becomes too distracted by the movement of the tip of her tongue running across her bottom lip to focus on anything else. 

“A gentlemen, eh? Is that what you think you are?” 

“I can assure you, darling,” he says softly, turning his hand in hers so he can tighten his fingers around hers. “I am always a gentleman.” 

She does that damned thing with her tongue again. “Then tell me, Killian,” she whispers, leaning closer to him. “Tell me how you got the hook.” 

So he does. He tells her about Milah, about falling in love with another man’s wife, about her choosing to come with him instead of staying with that monster—

And about Mr. Gold growing angry with him and piercing Milah’s heart with a rigging hook on the deck of his ship, taking his hand in one fell swoop when Killian challenged him, and leaving with both Killian’s hand and heart. 

Killian sips the last of the bottle of rum, willing it to refill itself so he can drown himself in the liquid, in drunkenness, instead of in the pain that he drowns in every time he thinks of his first love. 

“I took the hook and made it my reason for living, since Gold had taken the only other one I ever found: a reminder never to give my heart away, because of the pain it causes.”

Silence falls between them for a moment, and Killian realizes that his thumb is moving slowly across the back of Emma’s hand. 

And then she laughs. 

“We’re a jolly crew, aren’t we? Two lost, broken hearts, learning to love again.” 

 Killian stays late into the night, knowing that his next journey will take a few weeks’ time before he can return to her. 

But he spends every lonely, silent night thinking about her anyway. 

When they do finally make port again five weeks later, Graham, a man that left his crew to work as a lawman (an ironic fact that didn’t get past any of them) is waiting on the docks for them. 

“Captain!” he yells, pulling Killian’s attention from the list of tasks scrolling through his mind as they try to dock. 

“Smee, Will, finish here!” Killian orders, and both of the men respond simply by nodding. They’re close enough to the dock that Killian makes it to the worn boards with one quick jump from the deck, aided only by a long rope, and he comes to stand beside his old friend. 

“You’ve arrived just in time, Captain,” Graham says, worry painted across his slowly-wrinkling features. “The churches are planning an attack. In a few nights, they’re going to attack the brothels and callhouses. The girls, they— they’re in danger.” 

Killian almost loses the contents of his stomach on the dock, but swallows the sour bile that makes its way up his throat before he can lose it. 

“Smee!” he yells again, turning his attention back to the ship, where the red-faced man peers down from him from the deck. 

“Belay those orders. We’re not docking for very long. Spend the next few hours gathering supplies for another trip with whatever men you need, take the coin from my supply. We set sail again at sunset.” 

He can tell that Smee is confused, but it is not the man’s place to question his orders, so he simply salutes and begins belaying his own orders to fit the new ones. 

Killian turns back to Graham. “Can you give me a ride there? And get a carriage to meet us in a few hours?” 

When Killian bursts through the doors of the inn, it’s emptier than he has ever seen it, but it is barely midday. Only Emma and a few of the girls sit at one of the tables, eating from a plate of bread and fruit in the middle of them. 

“Emma,” he breathes, crossing the space between them, just as Emma jumps from her own seat. 

“Kil—” she stops herself. “Captain.” 

“I must speak with you immediately. It’s urgent.” 

He knows she must be confused, perhaps even a little scared, but she agrees with him nonetheless. 

“Carry on with your breakfast,” she tells the girls seated around the table, then gestures towards the stairs. “Can we speak in my office?” 

Killian just nods, following her up the steps two at a time, the tails of his leather duster struggling to keep up with him. Her office is the first room at the top of the stairs, barely large enough for the desk and cabinet that it holds, so when he closes the door behind them, he is only inches from her. 

“I see why you work downstairs even if you have an office.” 

She laughs lightly, and his heart pounds at the sound of it. 

But that’s not why they’re here. 

“One of the officers met me at the docks, an old acquaintance of mine. He told me — they’re planning a raid, all the bawdyhouses in the area. Emma, you and your girls are in danger.” 

Her eyes grow wide, stricken with terror. He hates to be the one to bring the news, but being able to offer an immediate solution almost makes up for it. 

He reaches out to take her hand. “Emma, come with me. You and your girls, you can hide on my ship. We’ll take a trip up the coast, to wherever you want to go, wait for the danger to pass.” He releases her hand, only to press the tips of his fingers against her jaw. “Please, Emma,” he whispers. “Let me keep you safe.” 

For a moment, she does not respond, does not move. Killian is pretty sure she does not even breathe, just stares at him, into the deepest depths of his soul, at whatever she finds in his eyes. But she must find what she’s looking for, or like what she sees, because she nods. 

“Graham will be here in a few hours with a carriage for you and your girls. Bring what you need, we have more than enough room. We leave at nightfall.” 

In this moment, he wants to kiss her more than ever, but he knows he cannot. He needs her to make the first move, after all they have been through, all she has told him, so all he does is slowly run his thumb across her cheek before opening the door to the office and rushing back to his ship. 

They have to prepare.

 They should be here already. He’s trying not to pace across the upper deck of the ship, trying not to think the worst, but the sun moves closer to the horizon with each moment and there is still no sign of them. Only his belief in Graham — no, his belief in Emma — keeps the soles of his boots on his deck, when all his brain is telling him to do is run through the town and try to find them. 

But he’s worried. 

Just as he’s about to check his timepiece again, he hears the clop-clop-clop of horses on the wooden planks that lead to the deck, matching the pounding of his heart, and he finally sees the police carriage turn the corner, with Emma sitting beside Graham in the drivers’ box. 

Because of course she is. 

Graham pulls them to a halt at the end of the dock, rightfully not trusting the horses to pull them all the way to the ship. 

“Captain!” Graham yells, jumping from the platform before moving to let the ladies out of the carriage. 

Emma just smiles. 

“Help the ladies with their luggage!” he commands, leading the way down the ramp to take Emma’s bag from her shoulder. “M’lady,” he whispers, squeezing her hand for a brief moment before hoisting the bag up his shoulder. 

But she stops him from walking away, refusing to let go of his hand. “Killian.” 

He turns back to face her, just as she takes half a step towards him, almost colliding with his chest, stopping from doing so with her hand pressed firmly against his sternum. 

“Thank you,” she whispers, a soft smile covering her face for the briefest moment. “We can’t — I can never repay you for this.” 

“Believe me, love, your safety is the only repayment I will ever need.” 

They’re not the words he wants to say, he realizes as they pass through his lips, but he hopes they will do the trick. 

For the briefest of moments, he can swear that she is about to kiss him, her eyes trailing down to his lips, and gods, he has never wanted anything more in his life. 

But it doesn’t happen; instead: 

“Alright, Captain!” one of the ladies yells, the tall brunette that Killian knows Graham has a soft spot for — Ruby — as she makes her way around the carriage. Emma jumps away from him, which certainly does not make him feel any better, but even though he’s also heard how much Ruby likes her gossip, it does not calm the pounding of his heart. “Where are we going?” 

He turns down to Emma for a brief moment, and she smiles up at him. “Lead the way, Captain.” 

 The girls do not do well on the water. 

They have not even left the harbor before Ruby gets sick over the side for the first time. Aurora has still not awoken after passing out before they even left the dock (though Killian has a feeling that Philip doesn’t mind looking after her), and Belle is pretty emotional about leaving her family behind, even as Will sits beside her on the deck and assures her that they will be back before too long. 

Tink and Emma seem to be the only ones that don’t mind being out on the ocean, with August showing Tink around all of the equipment on the main deck, and Emma standing beside him on the helm as he leads them further from the town. 

They all understand the risk. Emma told him that when she explained everything after he left that morning, they all agreed, even if it means trusting a pirate and his crew — a crew that the girls know, many of them intimately, and trust more than many of their other regulars. 

Killian insists Emma take the captain’s cabin, two more girls each in the first mate’s and quartermaster’s cabins, with him and his whole crew in the main cabin. 

Once he has their course set, heading a few knots up the coast to a neighboring town, he turns to face her only to find her watching him. 

“Can you show me my quarters?” she asks, her voice soft, almost shy. 

“Of course. Follow me.” 

He leads her across the deck, itching to reach out and touch her — take her hand, rest his palm of her back, stretch his arm over her shoulders — but he does not, simply gesturing for her to take the lead down the ladder into his cabin. 

She crowds him at the bottom of the ladder, pressing her palms against his chest. 

“Thank you,” she whispers again. “For all this. For everything. I know that having a woman on your ship is bad luck, nonetheless five, but—” 

“I can assure you, love,” he says, allowing his hand to find her waist. “Leaving you behind when I know you’re in danger is worse luck.” 

“But you still did not need to bring us to your ship, did not need to do… all of this.” She gestures around them, though her eyes never leave his. 

“Of course I did.” His words are barely a breath, almost inaudible over the pounding of his heart, which he knows she must feel beneath her fingers. 

“Why?” 

“Don’t you know, Emma?” 

She is silent for a moment, and he fears he may have overstepped — but his fears are extinguished almost immediately when she surges forward and presses her lips against his, her fists tightening around the lapels of his jacket. 

Kissing her is even better than the daydreams he has had about her, better than the few times he awoke with her name on his lips. Like the rest of her, her lips are soft, warm, welcoming, a homecoming like nothing he has ever experienced, and he would be content if the only thing he did for the rest of his life was kiss her. 

But she has other ideas, that he certainly is not opposed to, as she pushes the duster off his shoulders and onto the floor. 

“Thank you,” she mumbles, her lips still pressed against his as her fingers begin to undo the buttons on his vest. 

“Anything for you, my love.” 

As she pulls his shirt over his head, he realizes that he is going to need her help to do the same to her as she is to him, and he wishes the thought of it did not embarrass him so much. This perfect, wonderful woman is not here for Captain Hook, has not fallen for Captain Hook — she is here for him, for Killian. He does not have to pretend to be the hardened man that his persona calls for him to be. 

“Emma,” he whispers, his lips trailing down her neck. “I can’t — I’m going to need your help.” 

But she pulls away, her hands slowly trailing down his back — his back, that no one has touched for almost ten years, and that no one has seen for almost twice that. 

“Tell me how to get it off, I’ll help.” Her words are more sincere than he was expecting, and confuse him for a moment before he realizes that she is not talking about her shirt and trousers. 

She’s talking about his brace, his hook, his armour. He’s never wanted to take it off as much as he does now. 

He takes a deep breath, swallows, and squeezes his eyes shut. 

“Killian?” 

“I haven’t —” he starts, the words getting trapped in his throat. “It’s been ten years since I—” 

He can tell that she is trying to suppress a smile, but it does not disappear entirely. "Me, too." 

"No, Emma," he says, lifting her chin with his index finger so she is looking at him. "There are only two people who have ever — who have seen my back, and it's gotten terribly worse since the first one has laid her eyes on it." 

Her eyes widen as she comes to understand his words. 

"The only person who has seen it without the brace — who has seen my arm without the brace, as well — is the ship's doctor." 

"I understand if you don't want me to, if you —" 

"You have to start at the shoulders," he says quickly, stopping any kind of uncertainty she was about to unleash. "Work your way across the chest and down to the arm." 

The smile she turns up at him, her fingers soft against all of the scars he is revealing to her, is warm, understanding — and thankful. "Okay," she says, nodding, and unfastens the clasp on his right shoulder, then his left, pulling the tight leather away from his skin. 

For the first time in years — possibly ever — he feels free of his shackles, and when she presses a soft kiss against the scars on his shoulder, he knows that he has never loved another as he loves Emma, feeling more free with every inch of skin that she bares and caresses, all the way down to the hardened scars at the end of his blunted arm. 

"Thank you," he whispers, her fingers wrapped around the very part of him that he has never shown another person — hell, around his very soul — as he kisses her again. 

After a moment, he remembers what he was trying to tell her in the first place, and can't stop the small laugh that rises up his body. 

"That wasn't what I needed help with, no matter how thankful I am for it," he mumbles, pressing his lips against her neck, kissing her softly all the way down to her chest. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Your clothing needs to come off somehow, as well, and I — well, I'm sure you're aware that I only have one hand." 

She pulls his lips away from her chest, forcing him to look at her before she presses her own lips against his stubble-covered cheek, her breath hot in his ear. "That would be why I opted for no corset." 

"You're a bloody marvel," he growls, pulling the front of her shirt from where it is tucked into her trousers and running his fingers across the simple bodice she wears beneath it. 

"Only for you." 

At this, he pulls back, his fingers tightening around her hip as he looks down into her eyes. 

"I need you to know, Emma, that we will do as much or as little as you desire. The last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable, and at any moment, you can tell me to stop and I will do just that." 

Her eyes search his for a moment, but he knows that she will find nothing but sincerity. And she smiles. "The soft core under the hard pirate exterior," she says, one of her hands over his heart while the other runs through the hair at the nape of his neck. 

"Only for you, my darling." 

There are other words he wants to say, other feelings he wishes to voice — pieces of his soul that she has not unburied yet — but he does not say them. Not yet. Instead, he chooses to show her, to worship her as a lover, in a way that only someone who really knows you is capable. He spends the rest of the night showing her, time and again, that he would never hurt her, that he cares for her more than he has ever cared for anyone.

Because here, in her arms, he is free to be Killian Jones, the man with as many scars on his past as he does on his body, if not more. Here, he is himself, more than he has ever been, able and willing (oh, so willing) to show her what it means to be loved. 

[archieandrew]

Oh god your "still no chemistry" tag just got me so hard like I like dom and kat and love sh but I swear to god did a blind man run their chemistry test? Like everyone has such a great dynamics but those two just nothing.... (I still ship class tho but eh)

Oh my god, exactly! Not hiring Will Tudor as Jace was a big mistake because his and Kat’s chemistry was off the charts. Like when Dom and Kat are together it just looks stiff and forced, and maybe that’s because they were friends before being cast on the show, but either way, we’re on s3 now, and it seems like the lack of chemistry just got worse.

[wolfwhiteflowers]

TWD ep 5 / 6 spec and filming spoilers //....rant. Good thing s9 is AU imo. 

-this is more of spoiler/spec. post

*if you’re curious of my thoughts or whatever on TWD... go to my blog /tagged/*twd  ...I rant so much. whatever. ok.

-how Rick dies is like FTWD, I’m guessing. Based on one of those articles, Kang mentioned there’s play of time. It made me think of FTWD with how they did the death of Nick and Madison. So, maybe Rick dies before Maggie timeline-wise. I also wondered if in 9x01, fans will learn that Rick will die and we see how he dies in s9A. hmm I doubt it. I just think there’s a lot of parallels with TWD and FTWD killing their main characters. I also think maybe ...there’s mulitple time jumps. Like 9x01 is one year..and then time goes by fast and then ep 5 or 6, is another time jump of when Rick dies. 

----I really wanna know why 6 episodes for AL and LC. Weird amount of episodes. First half is 8 episodes. Unless writers want to have 2 episodes of something else in the first half. Or.. both wanna do the same deal..and one of them gotta leave certain time because of a different project, maybe. 

- I also don’t know for sure what the writers will do with Maggie. Like is LC really done with TWD or on a break? Well, I’m gonna assume Rick and Maggie will die. I don’t think LC would want to come back to TWD if the money thing goes to NR. I’m gonna assume Rick dies because blah writers.

----Looking at the script spoiler. I’m starting to like..doubt it? I mean I don’t think the spoiler is actually confirming Rick dies. So it’s just a rumor that Rick dies as others watch him in the middle of herd. The script could be some scene to something else. So, I don’t know for sure Rick dies in s9 or not. I hope he lives and goes missing (or Grimes go on a boat). But I doubt that. :\ I wish I know for sure ..now. But I’m assuming he dies anyways. ~wait and see.

-So since Rick dies around ep 5 or 6. I wonder what the msf will be like or s9B. I’m not so sure yet on the heads on pikes scene. Maybe they remix it. Maybe be like they show each character how they die from Alpha. Maybe none at all or happens in season finale. But yeah like what’s the conflict in s9A and B. So, I don’t think they’re gonna do the communities’ leaders die idea. Because we got spoilers of only Rick dying. But like Zeke could still die in msf like his comic death. I also kinda speculate that maybe TWD writers are filming and editing it different. Like maybe they film the the heads on pikes scene last but film Rick dying and saving Team family from the herd that Whisperers/Alpha sent out..or remix. Idk It may not be that because that’s like really rushing this whisperers arc. Anyways, just wait and see what s9B will be like.

-Oh Henry..wtf. So Macsen got braces and idk what it could mean for Henry in TWD if he can’t have braces there. Henry’s dead? Henry won’t talk much? Henry is missing (like Elodie and will be found in Commonwealth)? So if Henry’s dead then..what’s the point for Carol’s arc. omg. I guess I’m one of the few Carol fans, that think it’s really sucky if Carol lost Henry. I think ..it’s gonna always be Carol and Henry in the show. I think they’re gonna be like comic-Michonne and Elodie, imo. 

Maybe he won’t have braces that long. ......Maybe Macsen isn’t in s9/TWD anymore because of the time-jump. :B

- eh Skybound...

Will King Ezekiel get a bigger role than what he does in the comics at this point or more back story?  Please no hinting at the comic stuff we do know.  We have enough people on death watch. -Zombie Madam

King Ezekiel will chart a different path than his comic counterpart in Season 9. That’s not to say the show version will be completely different, but you will be in for some surprises.

I’m not sure what the answer means. But a lot of Zeke/C&E fans think he will live past the comic-death moment. Eh...then I don’t know how to speculate s9 and well Idk what Carol will do or be like. :\ But again it’s like wait and see for sure if Zeke lives on or not.

-no Dwight in s9A. ..I hope he is in s9B. I like this character. I kinda think he might be Beta some day. Anyways, in s8 finale, he got a good ending to his story. Idk why he’s banished but Eugene gets no punishment or so.

- https://twdzone.com/threads/%E2%80%99s-death-scene.3874/#post-41200 < the script rumor/spoiler. Major and sad spoilers!

-June 29th, Lincoln left Georgia to NY. :[  Seems like he’s done with TWD. His beard is short. Fans speculate that cast are on holiday vacation and he can grow his beard long again in short time. Also ep 6 isn’t done filming(?). But I think he’s done-done. (I wonder why he gotta leave so quick.) I hope he appears in comic-con and yeah whole cast there and them being all cute. sigh.../I wish AMC lets everyone knows that he’s leaving the show. 

----(repeating my spec. again :P) 

what I noticed some cast members got hair changes too. Like Maggie, Enid, Cyndie(Oceanside), Rick-AL. I’m thinking there’s another time jump or these characters are dead too. (Enid maybe be in background.) Cyndie- actress is gonna be on another show. Idk much but I think she’s done with TWD too. So there’s that theory again with Communities’ leaders dying from Alphia/ heads on pikes. It’s like an easy way ..for writers to do. A lot of parallels..with leaders leaving the show. But I think Rick dies alone. So..I like that. I want Rick to have his own focus on the show. Idk I still hate all this. Rick :( Also, it could be Rick dies in ep 5/6 and then msf, other communities’ leaders die. Because what is s9′s conflict?...I like this theory I have and others thought of it too, they introduce whisperers and Alpha early in s9 so then Negan isn’t seen as the worst villain of the show and show his redemption. It makes sense storywise..based from the comics. I guess. This show is going so different from comics.