#there's a whole backstory behind her character and I have a plan for how she's involved in some of the OG MW trilogy events

[callsign-vulture]

[lemonisntreal]

TONE DEAF :: Rosita and Norman <3

The first in a [hopefully] series of redesign + headcanon posts where I give you my take on a character for my AU

I'm grouping the two together because a] a lot of fluff headcanons I have, they share [because they're literally husband and wife]. And b] if I made an individual post for every single character, I... would go insane. So yeah. A bunch of characters are gonna get clumped together.

[FULL MASTERPOST HERE [yet to be made <3]]

HEADCANONS // BACKSTORY ⬇️

Me and the bad bitch I pulled by being autistic [also autistic]

Both of them are the same age, mid to late thirties.

In terms of general intelligence: Rosita has gifted IQ, while Norman is at genius level.

I know. I know Norman seems kinda dim in the movies. But guys [LMAO]. "I know it looks like there's nothing happening behind those eyes, but...... he can make entire computers!"

He's so smart yet so stupid. He's that kind of character. Like he can do all of this super impressive shit, and is super talented and can do math like BOOM done, but he's also kinda a "deer-in-the-headlights" when it comes to life [I LOVE HIM 👹]

Both of them worked hard and have their college degrees almost completely paid off at this point because of the scholarships they earned.

Rosita has a degree in engineering, Norman's a computer scientist.

They're both in STEM, it's just that Rosita likes to handle more of the mechanical aspects of things while Norman's better with the technical stuff, which I think is cute af.

Yin and Yang <3

This dynamic is just how they are too. How they act. Like for example, Rosita can be very to-the-point-

She's very much a problem solver and will get right to it once she understands what she's doing. Like yeah, she often takes a very methodical approach to it [see the scene where she's got all the papers laid out to try and learn to dance- very new territory for her], but once she learns, she gos all in. And EATS.

Norman's gotta have a plan before doing anything, meanwhile. He has a morning routine that can't be interrupted or else his whole day and mood will be thrown off. He reads through a recipe twice before even starting. That kind of stuff.

He's a lot more hesitant to even try.

A lot of people find Norman boring. But Rosita is enraptured by every word he says, she LOVES his long spiels about hyper-specific [and often mundane] things.

AAAA--

Norman is also a closeted DORK. He ran a tabletop games club in highschool with a couple other of his geeky ass friends [he's still into D&D to this day and has introduced Rosita to the game too]

[she's fun to play with, but super competitive. This goes for ANY game, actually, not just D&D. She'll kinda accidentally turn everything into a "contest" due to her inability to not do her very best] [it's mostly inspirational, not annoying, if that makes sense?]

I also wanna say Norman was in a weird amount of drama that he didn't want to be in at this time. Like all of his friends had falling-outs, and he was just always caught in the middle of it.

He's afraid of confrontation [UNLESS IT'S FOR HIS WIFE] [HE STANDS UP FOR HER RAHHHH] [this is gonna happen when I get to rewriting Sing 2, he's NOT just gonna take Crystal calling his WIFE "mommy pig"]

They're sooo "excuse me, he asked for no pickles"

Norman and Rosita technically met in high school, in Junior year when Norman first moved to Calatonia.

WHICH, he and his family did this because this was a point in time where laws having to do with the rights of animals were VERY flimsy, and Calatonia was one of the first and only safe places at the time-- for Pigs especially, actually.

The 3 Little Pigs is deadass CANON TO SING. So Pigs were/are actually a marginalized species in this universe.

[[during the warring period that I have yet to really talk about, they were often victims of the anarchy and poaching, so stigmas and insults around them still exist to this day]]

[[[[see Jimmy Crystal]]]]

So anyway, they "met" in high school- Norman totally crushed on Rosita from afar whenever he'd catch her in volleyball matches-

Rosita had a major tomboy phase throughout high school, slowly falling out of it during college [still only saves dresses and skirts for special occasions really]

[[Fun fact, Rosita is also sapiosexual [attracted to intelligence] [Roxanne Ritchi ahh] ]]

[[Norman is bi]]

They actually got introduced to eachother and had a proper arc when they went to the same college [which might've been a college in Redshore actually? But I'm not 100% sure on that headcanon. It would line up since Rosita's "wanted to perform in Redshore since she was a little kid" and Redshore is obviously a massive city with a lot of notoriety. Idk though- and it's not really that important to the story anyways]

Norman and Rosita had plans together- they were gonna make it big and live freely. Things were looking up with the lawmakers, who were finally repealing a bunch of nasty stuff that was put in place during the war times. And the two had hope that their dreams could actually be accomplished.

Rosita, who was originally gonna play it safe and become an engineer, was now thinking about attempting to become a performer [which Norman has supported since the beginning, he LOVES her singing, and often tells her that she's "better than some of the people I've heard on TV!"]

But. Life got in the way...

Present day, Norman works in Redshore at Crystal Enterprises. He's the head of some sort of organizational team- not really working on what he loves at this point.

And this is because of their children, who were a very sudden appearance in their lives [which is why we see so much struggle in the chaos at the beginning of the movie in this AU]

Rosita stopped everything, and Norman grabbed the first high-ish paying job he could, spending all his spare time on clocking in overtime hours.

The kids are all adopted, and there's only 6 now: Oldest Caspar [13], twin boys Mickey and Moe [11], middle child Kelly [9], little bro Freddy[8], and Zoey the sweet baby sister [6].

They became foster parents after the death of Rosita's sister [this hc is kinda subject to change, but this is the story rn. I'll specify on this later ☝️]

So Rosita's kinda put her life on hold for these babies. She's such a great mom to them, and they love her and Norman so much

But some of the older kids [Caspar specifically] are kinda in a rough phase since they feel like she resents them [which she doesn't], or that she isn't their "real mom" [which she IS]

This is like an E plot in the story, but definitely's gonna get at least a little bit of focus.

Rosita and Norman's marriage is falling apart just a little bit due to burnout, but it'll get better <3 [I can't do anything tragic to these two they're too sweet]

Norman snuggles up to Rosita in his sleep. Rosita starfishes LMAO

They wake up entangled. This is normal.

"Pig piles" are also a thing- there have been several nights where all six children "had nightmares" and so the family of 8 all slept in the same bed.

Norman has the best bond with the two girls out of all the children. They immediately latched onto him to be their level-headed dad.

Rosita can carry two kids at once easily, and often "relocates" them like this :>

She's probably the strongest out of everyone in the troupe if you don't count the potential Meena has. She solos.

She's constantly taking notes on everyone and everything around her. At the theater, you'll catch her tidying stuff up she spots out of the corner of her vision while you're having a conversation with her [she's still listening]. She knows everyones favorite foods, and allergies, and their preferences in things, etc. She's the most attentive and considerate out of all of them [the mom]

She may have a touch of OCD.

She gives the best hugs.

Rosita is also a FANTASTIC cook [not even a headcanon, I'm pretty sure the entire fandom agrees on this one] and often bakes stuff for her sweet-toothed children [and husband]

This is actually how she initially connected with Caspar, who refused to eat or speak at first when they were all placed with Rosita.

Cinnamon rolls.

Kelly will only eat the frosting off the top, and has ruined an entire pan before by doing this.

Rosita actually isn't the biggest fan of chocolate, small detail.

Idk why she just strikes me as not being an enjoyer.

Loves vanilla though. People are furious when she answers "vanilla" with zero hesitation to the chocolate vs vanilla question.

Norman is kinda a hopeless romantic, or at least really enjoys the aesthetic of it [in a sweet and not shallow way ofc], and goes all out every Valentine's Day: balloons, flowers, the works. He's learned that Rosita prefers strawberries over a box of chocolates, however. Has a tradition of getting a fruit basket for her <3

They also have a tradition from all the way back in college, where they go out to eat at specifically the in-universe equivalent of Olive Garden [which was the fanciest thing they could afford at the time] and eat a shared giant plate of spaghetti.

Norman loves coffee. Insists he likes it black but actually prefers a good 50:50 ratio of creamer and coffee.

Norman is also ☝️ lactose intolerant LMAO

[[or would be, if traditional milk was widely accessible/a thing. I say "lactose intolerant" but what I really mean is he's allergic to most milk substitutes- like nuts and soy [gives him tummy ache, not anaphylaxis] ]]

God, parenthesis are carrying me so hard rn.

Stopping here because I'm tired, but I could go ON about these two omg-

Normita forever rahhhh <3

[maezysworld]

test subject x the ghoul pt 1

Pairing: cooper howard x fem! cat mutant & sniper reader (thats a mouth full lol)

I've never really written stories like this but i think this is a fun idea so ill try my best anyways please please please msg me if you have ideas and or suggestions (i am sensitive please be nice LMAO)

Warnings: slow burn, writer is dyslexic, might be slightly out of character, a whole lot of guns, not proof read

context: you are part cat due to being experimented on you have the cat ears and eyes along with all there senses (i do plan on making a full backstory)

your on the search for a doctor who has a large sum of caps over his head, you could care less about the caps you don't have a lot to do in this world so you take any opportunity you can to have some fun no matter how risky it could be. considering the amount of caps, you already know it will be quite the task but you don't mind playing with your food.

you've asked around the wasteland a little (not that a lot of people really said anything useful) but any information you got led you to a town called filly. you entered filly walking in trying your best not to draw more attention to yourself, the gasmask your wearing doesn't really help with that but you don't really need people knowing you have animal ears and eyes. you take in your surroundings as you walk with a crowd looking for the highest most excluded building you could see when a ghoul catches your eyes, you walk a bit slower admiring him for a moment watching him roll a vile in between his fingers before snapping out of your trans and picking up you pace again.

you get to the top of the building staying low to the ground making sure no one sees you up here before laying on your stomach and pulling out your sniper riffle. you sit and watch everything for about 7 minutes until a familiar doctor falls into you glance. you don't even bother lining up your scope to his head, you don't feel the need to someone else is bound to get him after you shoot him regardless but that's more then okay with you, you don't mind playing a waiting game.

you see him talking to a vault dweller just before an older woman who seems to run a shop approach them, you try you best to listen in but all you can seem to make out is the shop owner saying something about getting out of here. "this gasmask is fucking me over" you whisper with a sigh readjusting your arm a bit to be more comfortable.

suddenly the ghoul stands up, along with a few people just now noticing there's a ghoul in the town as they cautiously speed walk away from the area. the ghoul shouts something about this doctor having a hefty price over his head as almost everyone moves away from the man. a sly smile grows on your face now knowing hes involved with this bounty as well. the shop owner says something and before she can even finish her sentence the ghoul shoots the mans foot off, the poor vault dweller just stands there in fear and confusion, a wave of sympathy overcomes you knowing you were just like her you almost wish you still were.

the old woman shouts "i gotta 1000 bottle caps for who ever kills that fucker!!... but you dont get SHIT if i kill em first!". your not to sure why but after hearing that you start to focus your scope on anyone who starts to even look at him. the ghoul holds his gun out gun on the trigger ready to shoot just waiting for someone to make the first move as he looks around in a circle. a man in a black hat and googles pulls out his gun but before he can even pull the trigger the ghoul shoots him in the chest, his bullet exploding on impact. immediately after more people start shooting at him, he turns in a circle again shooting anyone who try's to get near him as you shoot the people from a distance. in all honesty you know he probably doesn't need your help but still you continue with out a reason to be doing so. you see someone trying to come at him with a knife from behind and just as the ghoul turns around to attack you shoot the man with the knife and the glare of your scope hits the ghouls eye and he looks up as you give a slight wave right before pointing to signal behind him as a brother a steel knight shows up.

you see the old woman and the vault dweller go run and hide into the shop bringing the doctor with him. you know you wont to much to the walking tin man so you decide to go down and listen in. you try your best to sneak in with out anyone seeing you but as the ghoul is on some broken steps you look over at him and with out a doubt he was looking dead at you before getting right back into combat. you ignore it and continue to snoop in on the others.

you keep your back pressed tightly agents the wall. hear the woman convince the vault dweller to take the doctor to moldaver, you've heard of the woman but have never had any encounters with her based off the things you've heard you know this will be a good time (you would have never found anything about this situation fun before the war). you start making your way out of the building after hearing that its plenty for you to go off along with now having both the doctor and the vault dwellers sent. you decide to hide in a ally and wait for things to die down before leaving.

after about 9 minutest you don't hear metal clacking or guns shooting you start to leave filly. you didnt get to far outside of the town before you hear a gun cock behind you "aint you a little over prepared?" you hear a mans voice with a southern accent referring to your gas mask. you turn to face the voice seeing the ghoul you've been eyeing this whole trip "doesn't effect you now does it? is the gun really nectary after i helped you?" you scoff offended but knowing youd do the same "now i aint ask you to do that for me, did i?" he says finger on the trigger. you think for a moment 'rude ass' you think to yourself "i guess not, but a thank you would be nice" you say with sarcasm in your voice. The Ghoul keeps his eyes upon you as you speak, the gun never moving. He lets out a short laugh at your attempt to engage. "You want a thank you for a job half done? bailed in the middle of a fight.. not that id thank you anyways i didnt need your help smooth skin. what's you goal here you tryn to steal my bounty" he says sounding more relaxed than he should be. "not necessarily, i don't want the caps if that's what your worried about." the gun never wavers even as you speak. "so just what do you want then?". "entertainment, not much to do in this world." you say with a smile on your face, not that he can see it. The Ghoul is surprised by your answer. He lowers his gun slightly, looking you up and down, but still doesn't trust you. "You ain't got better things to do with your time? Like finding food, or water, or caps?". those things are all fairly easy to come across for you, your sneaky and when you want something you take it. "lets say that all comes easy" Something you said intrigues him, and his gaze lingers on you a little longer. He shifts his weight to his left foot, and holsters his gun. "You saying food, water, caps just comes to you?". you relax abit more now that his guns down "i never said that, its just easy to get. now i have some information that may be of use to you, and im more then happy to give it under one condition" The Ghoul's interest is piqued. His curiosity getting the better of him, he nods his head. He wants to see if what you're peddling is actually worth something. "And what would that condition be?". you feel excited, youve never traveld with someone much less had company in years and the though of him agreeing (even if its not very friendly) makes you happy "i come with you on your bounty." He considers it, still not fully trusting you, but also intrigued by your offer. "And why the Hell would I want you along for a bounty hunt? Why should I trust you? What's to stop you from just turning on me? "he responds "you interest me, my weapons aren't out now are they? if i wanted to kill you i would have done it while i was on the roof" you say slightly muffled from your gas mask. He looks at you for a moment, thinking it over. He didn't like the idea of traveling with someone he didn't know, but he wouldnt mind the help from someone who knows how use to use a gun(not that he'd ever admit that). "Fine, we'll go after the bounty. But the second I even get a hint you're planning something, I'll kill you where you stand. We clear?". "understood." you say trying your hardest not to sound excited. He nods, then turns and begins walking away the dog standing behind him following. He calls over his shoulder to you.

please let me know what you guys think of this and im open to any suggestions and ideas ( i would also love name ideas for this) :)

notes: @s-lock-doctordonna I LOVED YOUR IDEAS AND I WILL BE USEING THANK YOU <3

[shallyouobeyme]

Wander

Platonic!Yandere Wanderer x Reader (GN)

Summary: It wasn't just his mother who betrayed him fairly early on in his life, it was also his sibling - the only person he had been close to at that point in his life. At least that was what he thought. But once he had changed into the wanderer, some new information came to the light...

! Minors Do Not Interact !

TW: Probably not canon compliant with Wanderer's backstory since I don't have his character (sadly), Lumine is the Traveller in this one, kidnapping, dark content, obsession, kind of dying (but like not really), I do not condone this - this is all fantasy

As the story is told the archon of Inazuma, Goddess of Eternity, created a puppet which later became the feared Fatui Scaramouche - but that story isn't quite complete. One fateful fact that the story omitted was that the 'betrayed' puppet wasn't the Raiden's first attempt. Before him, she had breathed life into her very first puppet, a prototype of sorts, which had many faults from which the archon learnt. With the knowledge gained from them, she successfully created the wanderer and later the puppet she still uses to this day.

After his creation, the wanderer was left in the care of his predecessor as the archon attended to her duties and the two grew close due to their shared nature. In fact, the wanded soon realized that his sibling - as humans would probably call them - meant more to him than anything else in the world and he looked forward to spending eternity together with them and their mother. But Destiny had something else planned for him.

And so the story continued, but it wasn't just his mother who betrayed him, no his sibling stood by her side when he was cast out, ignoring his pleas to come with him, to stay by his side. So all throughout his travels, through joining the Fatui, through trying to achieve Godhood, his anger at those he had considered family stayed constant. He had to admit to himself that somewhere very deep inside of him he still felt a longing to be by his sibling's side and even though he would never admit it, he knew that once he'd become the god he was always meant to be he would give them another chance. A chance to leave behind the woman who had created them to join him, to stand by his side as they were always meant to.

While during his time as a Fatui, the wanderer heard many things about Raiden through the many spies in Inazuma or just general news, he never heard any news about his sibling, not even from the most dedicated spies. And so their fate eluded him which was the reason that after his defeat by Lumine and Nahida, and after he changed into who he was now - the wanderer, looking for a new purpose - he was especially curious when Paimon started talking about Inazuma and local affairs.

Especially when you were mentioned. His sibling. The person who had not left his mind for the entire time he had been gone. And what he heard Paimon say changed everything for him.

"We met up with Ei recently - I hope you don't mind us talking about her, we know you're still bitter about that whole deal - and she brought one of her puppets along. They kind of reminded Paimon of you, they didn't look like the Shogun at all and they had their own personality, just like you. I think Ei said their name was Y/N-" Paimon rambled on, Lumine walking beside them, used to Paimon's constant chattering by now and not needing to pay much attention anymore. Usually at the first mention of his mother, Wanderer would have interrupted her snarkily to stop her talking, but at the slight chance of hearing news of you, he had to let her keep talking, "-They were really, really nice. They even told us about when they were made. Paimon wonders if that's similar to how you were made."

Paimon did not wait for him to respond, instead happily continuing talking the aspect of not being interrupted for once: "What did they say again? Oh, yes, they were also made to hold the Shogun's Gnosis, but they weren't strong enough, Ei said that she gave them consciousness so that they could help care for future Puppets. So they even took care of you, right?" Wanderer didn't bother replying, instead working through the fact he had just heard. His mother had given you consciousness? Somehow he had always assumed you were just like him, that you had gained consciousness when your mother had attempted to place her gnosis in you.

"Oh well, seems like they grew on the shogun because even after they made their successful puppet they kept them around. It's all the better for it though, knowing what would happen when Ei'd leave them behind," Paimon sighed and for the first time, Wanderer intercepted.

"What do you mean? What would happen?"

"You don't know?" Paimon looked at him surprised, she must've expected him to know all about your time before he was made, "Because Ei was the one who gave them life, she also became the source of their life, if they ever leave Ei's surroundings, they'll turn back into a puppet. At least that's what Y/N told us, but they're so nice, I don't think they'd lie."

That changed everything for the Wanderer. If what the little flying Imp was saying was true, then you had never betrayed him. You had no choice. You were bound to your mother, unable to leave even if you wanted to - which you must have. Suddenly his life had a new meaning. He'd free you, so that you'd finally be able to spend eternity by his side, under his protection. You'd finally be siblings again, just like you were always meant to.

Without giving any care for his companions, Wanderer took off in a different direction. More specifically, the direction of Sumeru's harbour. He'd do whatever he had to to get to you, to free you, to save you. He stole a boat - may or may not hurting the owner in the process - and made his way towards his old home, a place he had sworn only to return to once he had become a god, but now there were new priorities in place. He still knew many secret spots surrounding the Archon's home and luckily for him, given his mother's personality, not a lot had changed in the past years.

It was easy for him to secretly make his way into the chambers you and him had shared after your creation - it was only now that he realized that the reason you had shared was that Ei hadn't bothered to give you your own since you were already a failure in her eyes. And what a sight to behold he found there, you were sitting in the window nook you had already loved when he had still lived there, reading a book. You hadn't changed at all, time had not touched you.

As he stepped closer, a shadow was cast over you that made you look up. Your eyes widened, but he saw the happiness in them. Had you missed him as much as he had missed you?

"You're back!" you shouted happily as you jumped up and ran towards him, embracing him in a hug that he gladly reciprocated. Oh, how he'd missed that - but now he'd never have to go without this happiness again. But as quick as the happiness had set in, it diminished when you turned back and looked at him worriedly. "You-You can't be here, Mother will- She can't know you're here, you have to leave."

Anger built up in him - of course, even when he was here to save you, his mother had to make things difficult for him. But he wouldn't let her ruin this, not as long as he had to fight for you.

"She will never find out, we will leave right now and we'll be off this island before she'll be any wiser. Don't worry," he told you to calm you down as he took your hand in his and pulled you with him - he was always the stronger of you (for reasons that were now obvious) so even though you tried to get him to stop, he just pulled you harder.

"We? I can't leave Inazuma, I need to be close to Mother," you tried to reason with him, but he just shook his head and disagreed with you. "She only makes you believe that, you don't need her, I can be your new source of life, we only need each other."

"But that's not how this works-" you tried again, but then there were guards shouting and running after the two of you. But because of your resistance, you were slower than usual - if it kept on like that, they'd catch up to you and you knew that if they were to try to capture your brother, something horrible would happen - either to him or to them - and you couldn't allow that to happen. So, even though you knew that it would mean your end, you took up the pace and ran along with Wanderer.

The two of you quickly arrived at his boat and he hoisted you into it before using his vision to bring quite some distance between the boat and the shore. He didn't notice you sitting on the other side of the boat looking back at the island with a sad kind of desperation. You knew that your life would end any second now, but you didn't mind all that much, after all, you had already extended the span of life you should have had. And now your life would end protecting someone you love, so you could die without any regrets.

"Brother, I want you to know that what will happen now isn't your fault, nor is it Mothers. Please, just be free, live your life in peace, and be happy," you called out to him, causing him to turn to you in confusion. He wanted to ask what you meant, but before the word could leave his lips, your body fell limp. Quickly, he rushed towards you, hoping you had just fallen unconscious, but as he turned your body to lie in his lap, he realized that the worst had come to pass. What he turned wasn't his sibling, it was a puppet of wood and wires. Gone was the animation in your face or the faux skin on your body, instead it was all just wood and paint. A puppet.

As Inazuma disappeared behind the horizon, he found a new reason for his existence. You had asked him to be happy, but how could he ever be happy if you weren't by his side? He'd move Celestia and the abyss if he had to, would make deals with whatever creature was out there and willing to help, if all else failed he would even return to his mother - everything to bring you back...

A/N: Thank you for reading the eleventh entry into my Yandere Writetober - I hope you enjoyed and you may want to comment and reblog, who knows. Tomorrow's word is 'Spicey' so I hope I'll see you again in my notifications

[princess-ibri]

What would be the backstory behind Judge Claude Frollo?

So tip what I’d do is basically just adapt the backstory he had from the book. He and his brother are orphans, taken in by the church, Frollo grows up to be the self righteous judge and his brother Jehan becomes a gambling drinking wastrel. I think the animosity/belief in his own righteousness would grow from Frollo’s relationship with his brother. Jehan’s rebellious actions constantly put their hopes of stability growing up in jeopardy, and young Claude feels superior to him because he’s rewarded for towing the line, and that just sort of builds up overtime to the whole world, eventually turning from “I’m in the right because I’m doing right” to “I’m always in the right”.

Also I had Jehan be the father of Claudine in my rewrite of her for Canon Descendants, as Claude Frollo deserves to die eternally frustrated.

Since the backstory wasn’t really long I will take this opportunity to drop the little idea I had for my take on a HOND 2 rewrite/better sequel. I was looking over the Disney Villain Recruitors from Tokyo DisneySea—Park only characters that are like new Sidekicks to the villains and wondering how I’d adapt them to the DisneyVerse, and had the idea that Frollo’s Recruiter, Veil, would actually be a demon that’s been sent as his handler basically when he makes a deal in Hell to come back as a revenant to try and get revenge.

The bell she wears around her neck is his reliquary which’s holds what’s left if his soul—Ala Rasputin from Anastasia—and the plot , which would include a rewrite of Madelline from HOND 2 cuz I like her design and Quasi deserves love to, would probably pull in my rewrites for Zephyr and Claudine as well and have a Medieval Folk Horror flavor over all of it.

[punkshort]

Chapter warnings: smut (m masturbation), language

Chapter Three

Pairing: Joel x F!Reader, pre-outbreak and post outbreak

AU (the only thing I kept was the outbreak, Joel, and Tommy's characters. Joel's backstory is different, and the way he finds Jackson is different. I may include Ellie one day, I just haven't planned that far)

Fic Summary: You worked for Joel and Tommy a few months before the outbreak. The outbreak happens, and you and Joel get stuck traveling the country and keeping each other safe. Neither of you spoke about the feelings you had for one another pre-outbreak, and in a post-apocalyptic world, it seems like survival should be your only focus. But feelings can't be ignored forever.

Fic tags: Explicit Smut (18+ MDNI), Smut, Language, Canon-Typical Violence, Alcohol Use, Age Difference (Reader is 10 years younger than Joel), slow burn, mutual pining, angst, trauma, SA referencing later but I will put a big warning on those chapters

You were nervous about the office dynamic once you broke up with Justin. That following Monday, you walked into the department and risked a glance over to his desk. He was hunched over his keyboard, burying himself in some report, looking mildly panicked. You frowned as you made your way to your chair and slunk down, punching in your password while you waited for your computer to boot up.

Colleen popped up quietly behind you.

"Sooooo? How was camping?” she whispered with a huge grin on her face. "Tell me all the details!”

She propped herself against the edge of your desk, trying not to draw Justin’s attention.

“I broke up with him,” you whispered back, eyes wide. You needed to tell someone, your nerves were on fire. You knew you shouldn’t have told the queen of gossip, but people would have figured it out soon enough. Colleen’s jaw dropped.

"What?! Why?” she whispered back, but louder than the first time. You put a finger up to your lips, indicating she was being too loud.

"I don’t know, I just don’t feel the same way he does. He’s a sweet guy, but there’s no spark. I didn’t want to lead him on,” you told her, and turned back to your computer, opening your email program.

“Well, your timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I don’t think he’s got the time to be upset over it. He came in this morning to an email from Joel, with Heather cc’d, wanting a full breakdown on the 401K contributions for the past 6 months. Apparently, he caught some discrepancy, and he wants answers first thing this morning,” she said, raising her head a few inches to glance over the top of your cubical wall in his direction. “He must be shitting his pants; Joel never contacts any of us directly. I don’t think he even knows most of our names.”

You felt guilty as relief flooded through you. At least there was a distraction from the elephant in the room.

About an hour later, Heather came to collect Justin. He followed her out of the room with a folder tucked under his arm and nervously running a hand through his hair. As he walked by your desk, he gave you a tight-lipped smile, which you returned. At least he wasn’t the type of guy to be an asshole about being dumped.

It had been three hours since Justin and Heather left for their meeting. At this point, his absence was painfully obvious to the whole room, and everybody had given up on trying to be discreet.

The whole department had rolled their desk chairs out to the openings of their respective cubes so they could all see one another as they gossiped and speculated wildly. All except for you. You tried your best to stay out of it, but you kept overhearing everyone’s chatter, and it was incredibly distracting.

“They couldn’t possibly still be talking about a minor discrepancy, could they?” one person asked.

“No way, something happened by now. Oh my God, what if he was stealing from our 401Ks? I read a newspaper article about someone doing that last week!”

“Oh come on, Justin wouldn’t do that,” Colleen chimed in. “I bet they finished up their meeting a long time ago, and he and Heather are in her office doing a deeper dive into the numbers together.”

Everyone went quiet for half a second when the electronic beeping of the door keypad caught the attention of the room. Chairs were hurriedly being pushed back up against desks, and fingers furiously typed, trying to log back into computers that had been long asleep during the gossip.

Heather walked into the hushed room with an empty banker’s box in her hands and headed straight for Justin’s desk. She set it down on his chair and turned to address the room openly.

"Hey guys, I’m sorry I didn’t have the time to call a formal meeting, but I wanted to tell you all personally before the email from HR comes out... Justin quit this morning.” She paused when a couple of people quietly gasped and exchanged looks. “Now I know we are going to have some big shoes to fill, I may call upon some of you to help and do some overtime until we can find a suitable candidate to take his position. As always, if any of you want to recommend anyone you know, my door is always open. But for now, we will just have to make do. Does anyone have any questions? You know I like to be transparent with you.”

Heather glanced around the room of stunned faces. Everyone was wondering the same question, but nobody had the nerve to ask it, until Debbie spoke up from behind you.

"Why did he quit? Was it Joel?” She was standing outside her cube, frowning with her arms crossed, no doubt feeling some residual anger from when Cheryl quit just a few short months ago. Your boss sighed, and slowly nodded.

"Yes. Well, yes and no. Joel really grilled him in that meeting this morning, it went a full hour. I did everything I could to take some of the heat, but Joel was just dialed in on Justin today, I don’t know what got into him. He had a million questions, one after another, and it eventually got to a point where he was outright questioning Justin’s job performance and skillset. It finally got to be too much for him, and Justin announced he was quitting.” Heather paused for a moment and looked around the room at the team. She turned and pulled Justin’s chair from his desk, moving the empty box to the floor. She sat down, looking as if she was exhausted from just recounting the events from the meeting. She rubbed her pointer and middle fingers against her temples for a moment, and then continued.

“Joel didn’t say anything wrong; this is his company, and he has every right to ask those questions… he just has such a harsh way of addressing things. It is a lot to handle. I managed to grab Justin at the elevators and took him back to my office for a while. I tried to convince him to stay but he just wouldn’t hear it, he had his mind made up. I’m sorry guys, I really tried. I know this will put a burden on some of you, I will do my best to fill the position as soon as I can.”

The keypad that operated the door started chiming, and in walked Mike from the mailroom. He had his head down, looking at the pile of mail in his cart, bopping along to the music feeding through his CD player and into his headphones, oblivious to the awkwardness in the room. He stopped at your desk like usual and dropped a big stack of envelopes in your inbox, gave you a quick smile, and turned to leave.

Heather quietly began filling the box with Justin’s personal effects, looking like she desperately needed a cigarette or a coffee break. Or both.

You exchanged a quick glance with Colleen, one that said ‘we are definitely going to talk more about this when she leaves’. Then you noticed the envelope at the very top of your mail pile: Sullivan Agency, LLC.

Your heart thudded in your chest. It was a strange feeling – your body was waging a war within you: relief vs fear. Relief that you didn’t have to pay Mr. Sullivan’s balance out of your paycheck, but fear that you would now have to go to Joel’s office as he requested and tell him about the check.

You shakily opened the envelope and sure enough, as promised, was a check for the full balance due on his account.

You stood up, feeling slightly lightheaded as you made your way over to Heather. She jumped slightly when you quietly said her name.

"I just got the check from Mr. Sullivan. What should I do? Should I just email Joel and tell him it came, or do we really have to go to his office?”

You prayed she would tell you to just email him, but unfortunately, she said “We should tell him in person, I don’t want to make him even more mad.” She stopped organizing Justin’s picture frames and buried her face in her hands for a moment, trying to collect herself. She raised her head up, clasped her hands in front of her mouth in thought, then turned in the chair towards you.

“I really hate to ask you this… do you mind going up to his office by yourself? He’s had enough of me today, and quite frankly I’ve had enough of him, too. He seemed to take a liking to you, it won’t be that bad, it'll be quick.”

She looked at you hopefully, desperately, eyes begging, but followed up with “If you are really uncomfortable, I can go with you, it’s just...” her gaze drifted back to Justin’s desk, and the enormity of just how much work this put on her plate was likely hitting home. Updating a job description, meeting with HR, creating the job posting, screening applicants… the list went on.

You shook your head, always the people pleaser you said, “I got it, don’t worry, I will go up there right now and just get it over with."

You gave her a small smile as relief flooded her face. Heather asked if you were sure, and you promised her you were. Before your resolve broke, you turned on your heel and left, heading towards the elevator. 

The moment the elevator opened and you stepped out onto the 10th floor, your heart lept into your throat. The nerves were finally catching up with you. You looked up and saw a small desk situated between two closed doors. Behind the desk sat a kindly looking older woman. She had hair so grey that it looked almost blue, and it was woven on top of her head into a conical shape. She looked up at you through her plastic pink framed glasses, which were adorned with a chain that wrapped around the back of her neck so she wouldn’t lose them. She smiled at you warmly, her bright pink lipstick somewhat smudged on her front tooth and beckoned you over. Your eyes flicked to her name plate - Ruby Potter - as you returned her smile and walked over.

“Hi there, dear, who are you here to see?”

“I’m here to see Mr. Miller," you said without thinking. Ruby chuckled.

"Dear, they are both ‘Mr. Miller’. Which one?”

"J-Joel, I’m here to see Joel. I have a check for him," you stuttered, your cheeks warming from embarrassment.

She picked up her phone and punched one of the buttons on her speed dial, lazily lifting the headset to her ear.

"You have an accountant here to see you,” she said. She had forgotten to ask your name. You tried to mouth it to her, but she waved you away, as if she did this all the time. You couldn’t hear the words on the other end of the phone, but you could hear the tone – it was sharp and aggravated. Ruby seemed unphased. Once the other end of the line went silent, Ruby said “So do you want me to send her in, or not?” She nodded with whatever Joel said in response and hung up the phone.

“Go right on in, dear. His office is that one.” She languidly pointed to her right, your left, and then turned her attention back to her computer. You took a moment to appreciate the elderly woman’s ease. She clearly dealt with Joel’s wrath countless times, yet she was completely collected. In fact, she sat before you, well past her retirement years, working directly for the man himself without a care in the world.

That gave you a small confidence boost. If Ruby could handle Joel, so could you. Afterall, it’s just words. You had a job to do, you did nothing wrong, you are here because he requested it. 

You approached Joel’s office door and gently gave it three quiet knocks. You waited until you heard his acknowledgement to enter. You twisted the doorknob, opened the door just enough so you could squeeze through, and shut it behind you.

Shit, maybe you should have left it cracked. Too late now.

Your eyes locked onto the back of his tall, broad frame as he stood facing away from you, one of his arms resting above his head against the window. He was overlooking the city through the floor length windows as he finished up a call on his cell phone.

You had no idea what he said on the phone, you were far more distracted with how large and strong his shoulders looked in his white button-down shirt. Your gaze slowly traveled down, taking in his dark grey dress pants and noticing how generously they hugged his backside. You only wished he had rolled his sleeves up to his elbows like before - you wanted to see his muscles twitching under that tanned skin again. You watched in a daze as he lifted his arm from the window and ran his long fingers through his dark curls, wrapping up the phone call.

Get it together, what is wrong with you??

He pushed a button on his cell and began speaking without even turning around.

"What do you need now? I already told you-“ Joel swiveled around to see you standing before him, eyes wide, nervously clutching the envelope in your hands from Mr. Sullivan. He stopped short when he realized you weren’t Heather, and his expression softened a fraction. You must have surprised him, because before he could catch himself, he was raking his eyes up and down your entire frame, sending a shiver up the back of your spine. You were grateful you happened to wear your most flattering light blue sundress today. You thought this morning when you put it on that it would give you the confidence to get through seeing Justin at work for the first time since your break up. You never thought you would need that confidence for this moment.

You meekly cleared your throat.

"I’m sorry, Mr. Miller. You wanted me to tell you when Mr. Sullivan’s check came…” you trailed off, your cheeks feeling warm under his intense gaze. You needed to look somewhere else. You glanced down at the now crumpled envelope in your hand and stretched out your arm to eagerly show him your prize. You were at least 10 feet away from him, barely inside his office at all. It looked ridiculous; he obviously couldn’t take it from you at this range.

He nodded, pursing his lips, and then showed mercy on you when he finally looked away to take the few short strides back to his desk chair. He sat down, glancing back up at you expectantly from across the room.

"Sit.” he ordered, motioning towards one of the two chairs placed in front of his desk.

You responded to his command quickly, and you thought you saw a twitch at the corner of his mouth, but it disappeared too fast for you to be sure.  You sat down in one of the chairs, shifting uncomfortably in your seat as you waited while he scrolled through his emails, looking bored. Looking down at the envelope in your hands, you gently fingered the edges in order to focus your energy somewhere. Why did he want you to sit? This should have been a quick conversation.

Joel cleared his throat, and keeping his eyes on the computer monitor, he began to unbutton the cuffs of his dress shirt. First the left sleeve, then the right, taking his time. He began to methodically roll his left sleeve up, up, up all the way to his elbow, before he leisurely did the same to the right sleeve. You didn’t realize your eyes had snapped up when you saw him begin to uncuff his sleeves, so by the time he finished, you had barely blinked and your lips were slightly parted, breath ever so slightly quickening as he finished his task. You didn’t notice your reaction, but out of the corner of his eye, Joel certainly did. He fought to contain the confident smirk that threatened to spill across his face.

He was right, you had been checking him out in that meeting.

“Give it to me,” he said, turning his probing gaze towards you once again. You looked into his dark, beautiful eyes for a moment, not sure what he meant. Then it came to you. The check.

Wordlessly, you outstretched your hand once again to hand him the envelope. Without breaking eye contact, Joel reached out and took the envelope from your grasp, but in the process grazed two long fingers gently against the back of your hand, sending sparks through your entire body at the contact.  You gasped softly, and clamped your mouth shut. You dropped your gaze, embarrassed, while you waited for him to open the envelope and hopefully dismiss you. The tension was too intense, you needed this to end.

Joel didn’t seem to mind the tension in the room, or even notice it for that matter. He slowly opened the envelope and pulled out the check within. He took note of the amount as a small yellow post-it fell out. You hadn’t seen that before in your rush to get up to his office, you had no idea what it said.

Joel picked it up and read it thoughtfully to himself. When he didn’t say anything after a minute, you finally spoke.

"What does it say?” you asked, your voice almost a whisper.

He swallowed before bringing his heated gaze back up to you.

"It says: Thank you for showing me such kindness during my time of need. I’m sorry for the late payment. It won’t happen again.”

You glanced down at your hands in your lap, a small smile threatening to tug at your lips.

“You were right this time, but don’t be naïve. Not everyone is always tellin’ you the truth,” he warned, sliding the check and post-it note back into the envelope. You nodded in agreement, still sheepishly looking down at your hands.

Joel gazed at the top of your head as you stared at your lap. He didn't want the conversation to end.

"You’re doin’ a good job," he told you, pausing to reflect for a moment. "Thank you for making that connection with my client. I’m not good at all that. Talkin’ about their personal stuff. That’s more Tommy’s side of things.” He reached across his desk and held out the envelope for you to take back.

You looked up at his outstretched hand, and careful to avoid touching him again, took it. 

"Thank you, Mr. Miller,” you replied softly, and stood up from your seat.

You gave Joel a quick smile and turned to head towards the door. Halfway to the exit, you stopped and turned back around, finding Joel’s eyes had yet to leave your body.

“I bet you would be good at it," you said, then your eyes widened as you realized how that sounded. “I-I mean, talking to the clients, learning about them, their personal lives…” you rambled as heat spread across your cheeks.

He stared at you for an awkward moment, considering your words.

“Well, I should be getting back to work,” you said, hitching your thumb to the door behind you, but before you could turn away, Joel stopped you.

"Thanks, sweetheart, maybe I’ll try it sometime,” he said, his expression softer.

You nodded and forced yourself to look away from the uncharacteristically relaxed features on his face. You turned to leave the room, but the door suddenly swung open. You nearly lost your balance, but a strong arm shot out to catch you.

“Jesus, Tommy, would ya watch it?” Joel growled from behind his desk, his expression leaving no traces of the softness you had just witnessed.

“Sorry darlin’, didn’t know my brother had anyone in here.” Tommy eyed you up appreciatively and grinned. “I don’t believe we formally met, I’m Tommy,” he stuck out his hand, which you quickly shook and gave him a polite smile, telling him your name.

You hastily made your exit, squeaking out an excuse about work, and shut the door.

“Do ya ever knock?” Joel seethed, but Tommy was too busy staring at the closed door, still thinking about the way your ass looked in your blue dress.

“I’m happy for you, Joel,” Tommy said, ignoring his question, and strolled over to a small cluster of framed pictures on the wall that haven’t been updated since they started the business. He leaned in to examine them more closely. “You need to be gettin’ back out there. I won't even give you any shit for dippin’ your pen in the company ink, like you did to me.”

“The hell you on about?” Joel replied, taking the opportunity to adjust himself under his desk while Tommy’s back was still turned. The way you were blushing and squirming in his office had a bigger effect on him than he thought. And you hadn’t even been trying. Not like him, rolling up his sleeves on purpose to see your reaction. He shuddered to think what it would be like if you actually tried to seduce him. He would be a puddle on the floor.

“Nothin’ was goin’ on, she just brought me a check.” Joel stood and walked around the front of his desk, leaning up against the edge of it, arms crossed and surveying the back of Tommy’s head.

Tommy chuckled, still examining the photos.

“Yeah, right. She was blushin’ like a whore in church when she left. Ya know, you should really get some new pictures in here. Did ya know you still got this old picture of the bunch of us at that rodeo? It’s got Amy in it.”

Joel sucked in air through his clenched teeth, the rest of his hard on instantly disappearing at the mention of her name.

“Sorry, Joel. It’s been so long, we still ain’t allowed to talk about it?” Tommy walked over behind Joel’s desk and flopped down in his chair, which made Joel have to turn around and sit in the same chair you had just occupied moments before.

“What’s there left to talk about?” Joel sighed, rubbing his face with his hands.

“Do you still talk to her? Keep in touch?” Tommy asked, fiddling with a pen on the desk.

“No.” Joel responded harshly. “Why would I? Last I heard, she’s been shacked up with that prick somewhere in the Midwest.”

“It’s been five years, and I still haven’t seen ya go out on a date, coffee, nothin’. Why are you doin’ this to yourself?”

Joel shook his head and stood up, already missing the warmth your body left in the chair.

“I’m just busy, Tommy. Haven’t met anyone worth chasin’," he replied, grabbing a pen and pad of paper from his desk.

“Well, that little lady that just left is well worth chasin’, if you ask me.” Tommy stood up too, and joined Joel as they headed out of the office to the conference room for their next meeting.

“Nobody was askin’, just drop it.” Joel couldn’t have Tommy egging him on, it was already difficult enough to keep his mind off you.

Joel hardly heard a word all throughout their meeting with the Marketing department. He vaguely remembered the head of the department nervously working through a technical error on his presentation, which made IT have to get involved. But Joel barely noticed. All he could think about was you.

You: in that thin, blue dress. He remembered how your cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and how you bit down on your lower lip when you tried to hold back a smile. He thought about how soft your skin felt when he gently grazed it with his fingers. How your knees pressed together as you squirmed in your seat, waiting for him to turn his attention to you. But you had no idea that his attention was always on you, even when you weren’t around. It was all consuming, at times overwhelming, the way he constantly recalled images of you in his mind. 

Joel was relieved when the IT department could not fix the technical error, and the meeting had to be rescheduled. Everyone in the room held their breath, Tommy included, for Joel’s inevitable outburst, but surprisingly none came.

“Check with Ruby and put it on my schedule,” Joel said, collecting his things and leaving the room.

Tommy stayed behind to chat with the head of Marketing while Joel made a beeline for his office. He shut the door quickly behind him. Squeezing his eyes shut, he leaned his head back on the door.

What was going on with him? Why couldn’t he get you out of his head?

This was Tommy’s fault, had to be. He kept bringing you up and forcing these thoughts into his head.

But it wasn’t Tommy’s fault when his cock jumped after he touched your hand and heard you gasp.

Fuck. This had to stop. He rubbed his hands over his face roughly, then something Tommy said came back to him. It had been a long time since he was with Amy. Tommy was right, he hadn’t been on any dates, he was just sexually frustrated. It was building up, and he needed a release. That would clear his head.

Joel turned and headed towards his private bathroom, which was just a small pocket door in the wall, hardly visible when you first walked in. He went in and locked the door behind him. He unzipped his pants and pulled out his cock, already throbbing from the past hour of torture his thoughts have led him on.

Joel gripped the base firmly in his fist, and he squeezed his eyes shut, dreaming of you wearing that dress in his office. This time, when you squeezed your knees together, he imagined you were trying to create some friction to relieve the wet heat between your legs. You were just as turned on as he was in his fantasy. Joel lazily ran his hand up and down his cock, as his imagination kept carrying him away.

He wondered what kind of panties you were wearing under that dress. Maybe they were lace, or a thong. Maybe you weren’t wearing any at all. There we go.

He started running his hand up and down his shaft faster, his breath quickening as his fantasy took hold.

Now he was bunching your dress up around your hips, hitching your leg around his waist as he grabbed onto the back of your neck, bringing you closer so he could suck on the pulse point in your throat, making you moan his name. He pushed you on top of his desk, and you let yourself fall backwards, recklessly shoving papers and files off his desk.

He could feel his release bubbling to the surface now, as his movements became more frantic, and his other hand grasped the towel bar next to the sink for leverage.

Now Joel saw you bouncing on his cock, still wearing that pretty little dress, but your tits were spilled over the top. He pulled one nipple into his mouth, making you cry out and bounce faster, while his fingers brushed gently against the other one. You grabbed the sides of his face and dragged his mouth up to yours, hovering over each other’s mouths, gasping, but still not touching, as you bounced faster, faster, faster… 

Joel groaned and desperately reached out to grab a tissue from the box next to the sink, right in time to catch his thick ropes of come. His hips gently thrusted forward as he came down from his high, breathing heavily, eyes squeezed shut.

He opened his eyes as his breathing returned to normal, glancing around the room to steady himself.  He looked down, grateful he didn’t make a mess on his dress pants. He cleaned himself up, flushed the tissue down the toilet, tucked himself back into his pants and went to wash his hands.

He cupped some water from the sink and rinsed his face. Drying himself with the towel, he looked up at the mirror and saw a dirty, old man, who had just jerked off to the thoughts of a much younger employee. The shame was setting in now.

I hope you enjoyed it, you dirty fuck. She would never give you the real thing.

Joel dried his hands, and left the bathroom, feeling guilty, but couldn’t deny he had a much clearer head.

He didn’t see you for at least a full week. That whole week, he felt like himself again. He could see clearly; his thoughts weren’t all jumbled up and he was back to barking orders to his teams on jobsites.

He just needed to jerk off. That’s all it was. No big deal.

Early one morning before most of the employees started their work day, he made his way down to Heather’s office on the 6th floor. She had left him a voicemail saying that the company was being audited, and she needed to speak with him right away. This would require a lot of work from her department, and she needed him to approve the overtime, especially since he scared off your pretty little boyfriend, the department remained shorthanded. He walked off the elevator with his hands shoved in his pockets, sleeves pushed up to his elbows. It was quickly becoming his new look, just in case he ran into you.

He turned the corner towards Heather’s office but stopped short when he heard you laughing. He peered around a corner and saw you with some co-workers in the break room.

He was frozen to the ground, taking in your beautiful smile and laugh as you tried not to spill the coffee in your hand. You were wearing a knee-length flowy black skirt, with a V-neck light purple blouse. When you bent over to laugh again, he saw a glimpse of your tits bouncing under your shirt. He held his breath for a moment, trying to will himself forward, when you suddenly looked over and met his gaze. 

Your friends didn’t notice him standing there, and you didn’t say anything. You just ran your eyes up and down his body, pausing on his exposed forearms. You gave him a shy smile and a little wave. Before he realized it, he was slowly lifting his hand up in return.

He was fucked.

Chapter Four

[shsl-analyzer-guy]

The V3 Survivors Mirror Image Danganronpa's Previous Game Protags. Here's Why

Idk if this was intentional or a happy accident on behalf of the crew behind V3, but in replaying that final trial once again, a few distinct points about each of the 3 survivors stuck out to me as being very reminiscent of their predecessors- Shuichi with Makoto, Maki with Hajime/Izuru, and Himiko with Komaru. So I wanted to yap about it a little bit, because that's just so cool to me, and v3 has always had my fav surviving cast anyway so this just makes them a million times better

Shuichi -> Makoto

Shuichi, first and foremost, grows into the protagonist role during chapter 1, in which he's believed to be the killer for most of the trial and the player has to prove his innocence. This is a direct parallel to Makoto, and it's not difficult to see. In addition, the one who made it look like he was guilty was the one musical girl he'd gotten attached to in the early game, and it was her plan failing and being revealed that led to his proved innocence, similar to that of Sayaka's failed murder plan.

At the end of the game as well, though, he's the one who gets the rest of the cast one by one to reject the game and choose to end the cycle, rather than vote the way that the mastermind wants. This is a deliberate deviation from Makoto, defined by K1-B0's presence acting as the SHSL Hope Robot, and that's just as important to note, because the V3 survivors are mirror images and grow in a similar but reverse imaged way to their predecessors. Where Makoto chose to become hope no matter what, Shuichi chose compassion no matter what, and broke the system entirely by appealing to the outside world, rather than acting in spite of its despair.

Maki -> Hajime

Maki starts the game in a position similar to Izuru. Playing her backstory especially assists this, but she's living a life inherently disconnected from her peers because of what she was made into by the people in power over her. Like Hajime, she was approached while in a vulnerable state to be remade into something new and dangerous that the system she was raised within could use. She accepted this offer and became an assassin for the sake of someone she loved- a childhood friend that cared deeply about the others in their orphanage and protected them over herself. This has a lot of interesting similarities to Hajime's agreeing to become Izuru for the sake of Chiaki in DR3, but the distinction here is that the childhood friend was the one being targeted. Maki taking on the role of assassin was her choosing to shoulder the burden knowingly rather than being tricked into it, but still for the sake of sometime that ended up dying to save another orphan, like how Chiaki died trying to save her teacher and classmates.

Maki's arc is also the immediate inverse of Hajime's, to a tragic degree. Whereas Hajime's arc ends in him losing to choose himself and refusing to back down and sacrifice either his memories of freedom, Maki's arc is in learning to open her heart to others and thus, in the V3 final trial, her arc projects into her choosing to be the sacrifice so that Shuichi and Himiko can escape the game. Rather than break the cycle like Hajime does, she chooses to be an active participant in it, and become the next SHSL Survivor. Were it not for Shuichi's deduction, this would have been the outcome, and she would've entered a new game with no memory of her previous identity, mirroring how Hajime entered the sdr2 game as its mastermind without knowing he set this up for himself.

Himiko -> Komaru

This was actually the character that made this whole mirroring thing stick out to me, despite being perhaps the least obvious of the 3. It started with just me seeing the back of her head in the epilogue and going "haha that's funny, she has the same fuckass bob as Komaru lol :)" but then I kept thinking about it and more mirrored traits between Komaru and Himiko started to stick out to me.

Himiko and Komaru both have a character arc that primarily centers on expressing their emotions. For Komaru, she does nothing but cry for the first couple chapters, only barely surviving with the help of Toko and Syo, and is a total open book. She's easily excitable, way too trusting, and all-around joyful when she's not under immediate fire. Himiko is the exact opposite, being totally closed off from her emotions and writing off any and all efforts as 'just a pain' out of a depressed laziness. Similarly to Komaru, however, she's pulled through this and helped to grow with her two female "friends" with very differing beliefs- Angie and Tenko. Both Komaru's and Himiko's relationships with these women inspire them to face what they fear with more emotional strength, and bring them to the conclusion that, regardless of how it hurts them, they owe it to their "friends" to try. Komaru chooses to stay in Towa City, and Himiko chooses to help in the trials from here on out. While both these girls start on opposite ends of emotional imbalance, they both get brought to a point of stability through their love of their fellow girls. Yuri stays on top. Anyways

This is more of a meta point as well, but both Komaru and Himiko are the most underrated of their respective groups. Komaru isn't nearly as popular of a protagonist as Makoto and Hajime, and Himiko is the least popular of the V3 survivors in comparison to Shuichi and Maki. This makes sense; she's not as focused on as Shuichi and Maki were(for obvious reasons), and while I doubt that was intentional, it is another funny little connection that's there.

Anyways, that's kind of it. Idk if any of this rambling makes sense, but I saw it and thought it was cool so I had to share :D

[lalalahaha124]

going to talk about how much i love wanderer. hi.

With the 4.8 summer event, I and many others can say that we are absolutely thrilled to see that scaras story isn’t over yet.

His relationship with Mini Durin?!?! Literally the cutest thing ever.

My favorite thing about Genshin will always be the lore. I don’t think i would be playing as long as i have if its story didn’t hook me. The fact they’re bringing back Durin and foreshadowing whatever the “worst possible scenario” for dragon spine has me on the edge of my seat. I really hope we make a visit back to Mondstat soon. Scara’s role in all of this only makes me even more excited!

My favorite characters in Genshin tend to be the ones with the most mystery or lore behind them. Scaramouche has one of the coolest backstory’s in the whole game.

A puppet who desperately wants to be human, who wants to have a real heart.

Only for him to realize that humanity was inside of him all long, artificial being or not.

His relationship with Ei is one that is so interesting to me. She left him in an empty pavilion, not wanting to discard him and intervene with his fate. Scara seeing this as him being abandoned by his own creator, his own mother. The only thing showing his relation to her is a golden feather and the electro symbol on his neck.

Scara viewing Ei as his mother is a whole other thing I could talk about. The fact that we’ll never learn what Ei thinks of their relationship is so unbelievably heartbreaking to me. I also find it sad that Scara still refers to Ei as his mother after she abandoned him.

I don’t quite remember which character story it’s in, but when I first read that scara ended going to Yae Miko for help it really put into perspective how different things could’ve been. Had Ei choose to keep Scara around and not put him in his slumber, who knows what relationship they could’ve formed. Miko having to help scara with tatarasuna incident instead of Ei because she was in her Plane of Euthamiya really shows the turnmoil Inazuma went through while their archon was semi-absent(?) Miko returning the feather back to scara is also a nice little detail i saw. I really wished they had shown more interaction between Miko and scara during the Inazuma archon quest.

Scara learning how to be human with his old friends from tatarasuna?!? Him still remembering what they taught him in present day?!? My Heart.

The reveal that Escher was really Dottore all along was heartbreaking. Scara realizing he basically almost killed off a whole clan for nothing?? Good Lord. He spent centuries thinking that Niwa betrayed him, only for it to all The Doctors fault.

Scaramouche and Dottore relationship is very interesting to look at.

Dottore basically planning to earn scaramouches trust from the start with lying to scara about niwa is so so so evil. dude. Dottore using him for centuries to help with the blueprints for his segments. Oh i know scaras pissed.

Dottore modifying his body and putting him through countless experiments (which, we don’t even KNOW how bad they really were. thank god scara doesn’t have a human body) One thing that really solidified that Dottore never really cared for Scaramouche is the fact scara was most likely never meant to leave the Shouki no Kami.

Scara being attached to tubes that when cut leave him basically paralyzed. I don’t exactly remeber which item had this description but supposedly was made to make him only feel anger and other negative emotions. Dottore never saw him as anything other than an experiment.

anyway. i needed to yap about one of my favs. i’m writing this at 3 am so i probably made a much of grammar and lore mistakes forgive me 🙏 i wrote all of this without using any references and only used my memory 😭😭

[buffyfan145]

I got the first 2 episodes in of "Rings of Power" s2 and they were amazing!!! 😀 Worth waking up at 5 am to watch. LOL I still got ep 3 to watch and will this afternoon, but need to get my thoughts out here behind a cut, but so happy with s2 so far. Not tagging all the characters, as it seems to think too many is spam, so hopefully this goes in the tags and I talk about most.

First off, I loved seeing Sauron's backstory in ep 1!!! 😀 I mentioned before in my other posts that I'm a fan of Jack Lowden's and it was great getting to see him after the version Adar knew. I only expect Jack back in flashbacks if he's able, even more so seeing a new interview with Charlie this morning assuring fans that he won't be recast. The whole prologue explained so much about what happened with Adar, and then Sauron reforming eventually into Halbrand. Also confirmed he really was going to Númenor on his own, and his meeting with Galadriel really was by chance so those theories he planned it all along were wrong.

Charlie's doing amazing too both as Halbrand and now as Annatar. I loved all the shoutouts too to "The Silmarillion" and other 1st Age stories about him, including him being The Lord of the Werewolves and able to talk with that wolf. Then the Bible references as we knew about the Annatar transformation scene looking like Jesus and angel paintings, but also the "Let My People Go!" scene fit with Moses and especially the "Prince of Egypt" movie, which I love too. But also realized at times they way they're doing (and Tolkien wrote) Sauron rising from nothing to being aids to kings is so similar to the Bible story of Joseph, and the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (which my high school did an amazing version of that music my junior year of high school LOL). So I loved all of this and everything we saw with Celebrimbor in ep 2.

Then with Galadriel!!! 😀 OMG, first I have to mention about those Haladriel scenes!!! We knew the rings were going to connect them, as well as their mental bond in general, but now she's seeing visions and knows Sauron is in Eregion and saw him there. Plus, hearing him call her name in that vision, and confirming that she can read his mind, and him hers (as he knew the rings worked). Then the big one where Galadriel confessed to Elrond about how she feels about Halbrand/Sauron (and still used his Halbrand name) and it clearly was showing us that she fell in love with him by using that flashback to the "I felt it too" scene, and that's why everything that happened and being deceived hurt her so much. And Elrond knows now, which is why he and Gil Galad are being like that to her now as they don't trust her around Sauron anymore and think she'll turn. Loving that we're getting scenes about Haladriel even if they both are actually in the same place.

Then I loved the scene with the rings and showing they are good and worked to help restore the elves. Absolutely love Círdan too and being a mentor to Elrond. Him talking about more 1st Age characters and their flaws was great too. LOL

The storyline with The Stranger, Nori, and Poppy is great too. He's got to be Gandalf. I thought this the whole time but every scene I see of him just confirms it to me.

Pretty sure Ciarán Hinds' character is one of the Blue Wizards. The show did supposedly get the rights to use the Blue Wizards stories that Tolkien wrote in "Unfinished Tales" and one of the 2 Blues went evil in the 2nd Age in Rhûn, similar to how Saruman did in the 3rd Age. So I'm pretty sure that's what we're seeing him and that he found a cult with the Mystics.

Then loved seeing more with Durin, Disa, and the dwarves. It's setting up Sauron/Annatar giving them the 7 rings, and the making of the Doors of Durin too. Also very cool seeing Narvi too and the female dwarves having facial hair similar to more male elves having long hair (this didn't bother me like it did other fans but cool to see them add it). Though also really sad about the singing not working.

So now getting ready to watch ep 3 this afternoon and I saw from the description that it involves other characters we haven't seen yet from s1, and then I'll be caught up till ep 4 next week.

[sammygems]

Things I Have Noticed/Remembered from my MCDiaries rewatch

I will be updating this as I continue my rewatch, currently everything listed is out of order, cause I've started writing this as I am on episode 64 of season 1 and I don't feel like fixing it to be in order, so sorry!

What the fuck was Garroth's "plan" he mentions to Zenix in the first episode 😭

Zenix seems to be younger then Garroth in Diaries, considering the way that Garroth talks about him, but I think in MyStreet, Zenix is either the same age or slightly older then Garroth, so far this is like, the only obvious age difference between the series (besides Travis and everyone else of course)

I forgot how entertaining Brendan's character is, he's far less annoying then I remembered

ZANE AS AN ACTUAL BAD PERSON, I LOVE HIM

I love Vylad, but I legit forgot how much he was in Diaries season 1, I thought he was in it far less

Currently at the stage of Diaries where there is no lgbt+ people, i'm very disappointed by this (we haven't even reached the queerbaiting)

KC's character is....not as bad (racist) as I was expecting, still not great though. I'm choosing to believe that KC is from Tu'lu and Maid Cafes are a thing there, and "Kawaii~Chan" is just a stage name for her work.

Y'all know how Cadenza went missing and she was actually turned into a chicken? Yeah, the way Hayden, Castor, & Laurance talk about her to Aphmau makes it sound like Cadenza is a small child. But then it turns out she's the same age, if not older, then Laurance and Aphmau.

Aphmau should've just made Joh and Hayden lovers, I'm so serious, it would make the whole Cadenza and Laurance being "close like siblings" in season 1 to I think actually being called as siblings in season 2 and in MyStreet a lot easier to understand and make a lot more sense.

Why does Kenmur have like, some sort of romance with all the girls from Meteli??? He was engaged to Sasha and is stated to have feelings for Cadenza.

I love when the episodes open from Sasha's POV, and she goes and talks to Gene and there's just no voices. I love having to pause to read what they're saying. (this point is sarcasm)

The way literally everyone reacted to learning Laurance was blind was....icky. Like, I understand Cadenza and Aphmau reacting as like "we need to find a way to bring his sight back", but the fact that it was literally EVERYONE who decided he needed to get his sight back was so weird.

I don't mind Laurance ACTUALLY getting his sight back, but I wish it was done differently. Like, personally, I'd have him like, have to wash his face with the water of the fountain of Lady Irene.

Emma & Corey, Dale & Molly, and Logan & Donna are very sweet couples.

After Zoey and KC were able to turn Cadenza back to her human form, Zoey mentions that she "recognizes Cadenza from somewhere", but I don't think this goes anywhere???? I'm assuming it was supposed to hint at like, Cadenza's backstory.

ngl, I kinda wish we got more of Zane and Kiki's relationship, I really wanna know what side of Zane Kiki actually saw.

Anyway, Kiki is currently expecting.

Nicole (my beloved) has showed up. I've decided I won't question the logic behind her iron fists being able to break bedrock, and instead say that her referencing her iron fists just made me think of Ace from One Piece and Natsu & Gajeel from Fairy Tail.

I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT NICOLE'S FOX, ROXY, AND ABOUT THE WYVERNS IN GENERAL 😭

I need to mention that in one episode (before Aphmau went to Scaleswind and learned about Lady Irene), Garroth says to Aphmau "by the seven", which I think she was hurt, but the use of "by the seven" is similar to how the same phase would be used in Game of Thrones or to how irl lots of people say "oh my god", so I'm really wondering if there were originally supposed to be 7 Divine Warriors instead of 6.

The way when Aphmau found Levin and decided to keep him and Garroth IMMEDIATLY decided he would be Levin's father figure.

The way when Laurance found out that Aphmau had a kid, his response was to play with Levin and say to Aphmau "you didn't tell me you had this little buddle of joy/energy".

That's all for now, I'll like, update when I have more to add.

[architect-2015]

THE INTERVIEW

Roman and Kailani are invited on IMPAULSIVE and retell some very incredible memories, future plans and send a very heartwarming message.

(I won’t be quoting anything from the podcast but i will link it at the bottom, i wanted to take free will on the questions asked to fit in with the backstory and character of Kailani.)

“I’m on the internet and stuff, just watch SmackDown I run that show and Logan Paul will never have it.”

———

Kailani and Roman have been invited to make an appearance on the Podcast IMPAULSIVE run by Logan Paul, to say Kailani is a bit weary having not told a lot of her private life to fans.

“So welcome to IMPAULSIVE and today we have two guests which are currently the top superstars in the WWE Kailani Silva and Roman Reigns”

The duo walked into the camera view and over to George to take a seat.

“Hey guys how y’all doing?” Lani asks as she settles next to her husband, who slung his arm over her shoulder.

“We’re good thank you for joining us today, so we’re gonna got straight into it if that’s okay as we know you guys are very busy people” Logan Paul replied whilst looking at his notes.

The couple nodded with a chuckle in confirmation.

“So you two dare I say run the most dominant faction in the modern era, but you used to be in a faction that was almost as dominant in the short time it was in action, Kailani you didn’t debut with the group so how did you end up joining? what’s the story behind that?”

Roman looked over at Lani urging her to answer the question, taking a deep breath she began to speak.

“Well—- uh we knew each other down in WWE’s development program which was called FCW but now is obviously— NXT. We had worked some mixed tag matches.. not massive ones but little filler matches so we already knew we had good in ring chemistry. Seth I knew from Ring Of Honour— we’d met on the indie circuit before we both were privileged enough to be picked up by the WWE.. Dean— well to be honest I didn’t know Dean at all— only spoke to him a hand full of times… At the time I was actually looking to terminate my contract with the WWE and move back to indie wrestling because I just wasn’t happy with what I was doing and— I just missed the freedom of the independent companies I’d wrestled under— so Joe suggested the idea to Vince as a last minute option to make me stay.”

“I remember I went to Vince one night after RAW… because we had been talking and you mentioned that you were looking to leave to company. I just remember thinking that if you left I would have lost my chance with you, obviously me having feelings that I hadn’t admitted yet… so looking back now I realise I did make a bit of a selfish decision without asking you about your stance on the idea before hand — but now I wouldn’t change what I did for the world.”

“Lani you obviously debuted during the divas era, how would you say things are different in this era of not just the WWE but professional wrestling as a whole?”

“Well yeah I can certainly say a lot changed— back when I debuted the views on women’s wrestlers was that a lot of us were just sorta eye candy I guess, like we had five minute matches and were literally called divas which I found to be very degrading because you look back on what people like Trish and Lita and Chyna did in order to gain respect for the women of the WWE and then that got stripped away. If i’m gonna be honest and this might get me in some shit but it really was a joke and I was gonna quit but then I found my reason not to.”

Roman reached down and took his wife’s hand in his giving it a comforting squeeze know that it was a weird subject for her to reminisce about.

“You two are obviously married as mentioned in the Bloodline storyline, does that impact the way you preform in the ring when your wife is ringside. Does the personal and professional ever over lap?— Lani you obviously have been on the receiving end of some violence from Romans in ring competition, gracefully taking some bumps to save Roman.”

“Yeah we got married in 2016— so seven years ago and those years have been the best I mean she’s always been there for me even from the beginning, with the shield, the baby face push which didn’t do any good for my in ring career, my leukaemia, my remission and through the challenges of covid. I honestly couldn’t have wished for a better wife. Of course there will always be an underlying fear that Lani will end up getting injured because of her position in the Bloodline, If she got hurt in anyway I wouldn’t know how to cope. There’s always been extra safety precautions whenever she’s face to face with a male competitor. All i want is a happy and healthy wife— so i’d do anything to make sure nothing would happen.”

Lani looked up at her husband with a look one could only describe as pure, true love.

“Kailani you haven’t had a title defence or a one on one match since you retained the title against Ronda at Extreme Rules, whats going on with that?”

Roman, who now had his hand oh his wife’s knee squeezed gently to offer some comfort.

“— I hadn’t been feeling too well leading up to my match with Ronda, she’s the kind of opponent that if your not 100% then you’re gonna get whooped so going in to the match i was definitely hesitant… but i wanted to be a fighting champion. I did my job, we had one hell of a performance and i retained my title — but even after the match i was still really not feeling like myself so i went to the medical staff we have backstage and had some tests run. As of right now i’m not fit for in ring competition.”

“Now.. i want to ask your guys opinion on something— you two obviously being very experienced wrestlers and the faces of the company… how do you think i’m doing?— i mean i didn’t want to come in a be like this social media guy looking for his fifteen minutes of fame in a wrestling ring.”

“You know what Logan— I think you’re alright.. I remember the first couple SmackDowns you showed up in as a regular… I can’t lie, it did take me a while to warm up to you because to us— wrestling is our lives. You know it’s not one of those hobbies you just pick up and hyper fixate on for a couple months then drop it…this is the WWE— it’s the big leagues, but you do put in the effort because it translates over when you wrestle for tv and premium live events. Everyone has those couple months where your’e just trying to feel out what’s best for you. I mean Joe after The Shield ended— just.. you had some bad booking where nothing was meshing correctly— i mean the suffering succotash promo speaks for itself.”

Kelani teases her husband poking fun at the few shitty promos Vince had made him say during the part of his career as a baby face where no one actually liked him but the higher ups continued to shove Roman Reigns down the audiences throat. 

“Everyone has moments where they choke up or blank in a promo— especially early on in your career.. it’s part of getting used to the grind of being a wrestler. As you progress and you gain more experience you learn to handle those situations— I still blank now but I know how to seamlessly move on. I use the crowd to my advantage— just pause and stare and I know they’ll react. If you go out there and try to recite word for word what you need to say the fans can feel that it holds no emotion. If you mess up and it’s clean enough for you to carry on, clear your throat and do that. I draw that noise from the crowd because it plays into my character and then by the time I start talking again— they’ve completely forgotten that I messed up my words.”

The interview had carried on for about 45 minutes after that question with any and every question being asked and then having received an in-depth response and explanation, many of the fans watching had noticed the body language between the married couple. Roman constantly having his hand on her stomach and we’re quick to start a wildfire of assumptions about it. The WWE Superstar was quick to put an end to rumours.

———

———

Roman Reigns on IMPAULSIVE ⬇️⬇️

[aliorsboxostuff]

When I tell you that the Joel miller x trans!reader fic was the best thing I’ve read in a while I mean that. The way you just integrated the character into the already existing storyline without really changing it was absolutely everything. If your up for it I was wondering if you could write a fic about Joel and trans!reader knowing each other in the QZ and what it would look like to have a relationship with him there or before the relationship. Maybe some Tess too? I completely understand if you’re not up for this request but if you are thank you so much. 😊

AGHH this turned out so short but I didn't know what else to put im so sorry anon!! I really love the idea but I think building the whole backstory before Joel and Tess got out of the QZ is a bit hard. As usual, please excuse my writing if there were any mistakes, I do hope you enjoyed it anon! 

Hounds

Tags: Joel Miller x ftm!Reader, Tess, Before leaving QZ, Tess being the badass she is, Tender Joel, bind safely everyone!, Tender Lovin’, Mostly Fluff, a bit of smut, just dirty thoughts tho, Established Relationship, Bisexual Joel, Bisexual Tess

Tess and her hounds. They follow as her shadow. Pick a fight with her, you pick a fight with all three of them. Tess has always been seen with those two, even walking into the same apartment where they all live. But behind closed doors, no one knows that Tess lives alone while Joel stays with his boyfriend. 

3rd POV

Tess was popular amongst the Boston QZ. Not popular, per se, but known for her strengths and determination. For her headstrong and immovable demeanor. Another thing that boosts her status are her hounds. 

Joel Miller was one thing. Stone cold, dead eyes. Picking a fight with him is the same as picking a casket, according to those who have seen his combat with their own eye. His threats are not to be taken lightly, because when that man says he’ll break your jaw, he’d do just that in the next second. People have seen a fair share of his skills with a gun, and it's not to be messed with. Rumour has it that he’s the one burning infected kids, not a shadow of a doubt in throwing a human into the fire pit. 

The other guy, he's another thing. Don't underestimate him as Joel's shadow, because he might as well be standing at the same podium Joel does with his strengths. He smiles and waves, acting as the good guy for the two of them, but behind those sweet eyes are thoughts malicious enough to be kicked out of the QZ, plans that would impress even Tess. He might not be a stud but he’s the one doing the slippery parts. Countless times, Joel always ends up with the upper hand in a situation with his help. Body as agile as a deer, he’s the hands of the operation. If anyone dares to mess with him, you can bet Joel is right behind them with a gun cocked.

Tess and her hounds. Her boys, the ones that help her operation. Not that she’d need it, but it makes clean-up easier. No one dares to keep Tess away from them, unless she says so herself. Only the most ballsy illegal sellers are brave enough to negotiate with her, because most of the time they'll give her the thing she wants just like that, out of fear and respect.

—

How you first met Joel was through Tess herself.

You were notorious for stealing small but valuable things from FEDRA agents. A stash of guns and bullets, cards and drugs inside your home. Most of the things you don't even use, but due to your ability to pickpocket most if not all of the gullible FEDRA agents, you’ve gained an abundance of them. Your most prized possessions were the firearms you managed to steal or negotiate off of agents. Those are located under your bed, in an inconspicuous box, loaded with extra bullets on the side.

Tess had apparently caught a whiff of your gossip around the QZ, of the ‘Invisible Pick-pocketer’ the agents are having a hard time looking for. As much as she hates to admit it, her strong suit is negotiation, and Joel wasn't exactly the sleekest person for a job like stealing small shit. 

So, one Wednesday morning, in one of the food stalls in the QZ, Tess approached you. 

“Sorry I don't work with anyone,” You were focused on the bowl of food in front of you, scarfing it down because you missed your dinner.

“You might wanna look up first,” A voice of a woman you didn't recognize. So you placed the bowl down, putting on your stone-cold mask before looking at the source of the voice and you almost shit yourself. The most feared woman is standing in front of you, arms crossed with a brow arched. You gulp, trying to salvage what that hardened demeanor you could. 

“I’m- Tess, right?” The edge of her lips raises.

“So you’ve heard,” She leans into the small table, her hair covering one side of her face. Your eyes widen, fear shoots up your spine. “And I’ve heard about you too,” 

“Oh- uh- really?” You cough into your hand, avoiding her eyes.

“You’re the pickpocket, right? The ones FEDRA can't seem to find?” Her grin becomes dangerous. “I have a proposition,” 

She crosses her hands on top of the table, entwining her fingers. “You know me, I know you, we both know what we can do,” 

“Yeah,” You arch a brow, curious. 

“How about you join me? We could use a hand like you, literally,” Her eyes fall to where your hands are, old scars from the fire incident still evident on the back of your hands. It took a second for you to consider before you realize—

“Wait, we? You and… Miller?” 

“Yeah, who else?” Tess leans back into their chair, her arms crossed again. 

“You won't mind? I thought you two worked together, ‘cuz y’know…” You tilted your head, hoping she would take the hint, which she does and immediately cackles, covering her mouth to the side. 

“Me and Joel? Fuck no! I don't swing that way,” Then she seems to retract herself. “Well, I do, but he’s not my type,” 

“Oh, okay, cool, I'm cool with that…” Tess rolls her eyes at your answer before she stands, mumbling something about ‘youths’ and saying ‘cool’ under her breath. She turns towards you, inclining her head towards the street. 

“C’mon, you have to meet Joel.”

—

“Maybe should've taken that break earlier,” You groan, lifting up your shirt as you rubbed at your sides.

“Told you should've taken it but ya’ didn't, now-”

“Look what happens, yeah yeah I know,” You huff, Joel's disappointed stare burning at your back. Feeling the relief of finally taking off your sticky shirt, you stood by the bed as you began to peel off the body tape, taking lungfuls after the busy day. The tape at this point has soaked up most of your sweat, disgusting as it is. When it's at its last loops, calloused hands find its place on your waist, then Joel's comforting weight as he settles behind you.

You feel his coarse beard against your nape as he places a kiss there, his warm breath makes you sigh. Careful, shaking hands replace yours and continues unwrapping the body tape until it falls in a heap next to your leg. Joel places one hand on your stomach, the other rubbing circles on your waist.

“Thank you,” You smile, leaning into his touch as Joel murmurs his answer. He runs a calloused hand up to your shoulder, then between them, pushing slightly until you arch under his touch. He presses another kiss just above where his hand is pushing, before he relents and both of his hands fall to your waist.

“Tess is coming for dinner,” He says, voice ghosting at the shell of your ear. You suppress a shiver, gulping instead.

“Then let me get ready,” You smirk, feeling Joel's hand releasing you as you slip away from his grasp. You turn, placing a short kiss on his cheek before patting it twice. He raises his brow, which makes you grin. “Go wash up,”

Dinner went on as usual. For the past months, Tess, Joel, and you have been planning on escaping the QZ in search of Tommy. He hasn't been replying back Joel’s messages and knowing you and Tess won't be leaving Joel to go out by himself, Tess has been going around looking for information and parts.

“I got a trail. Some guy got the battery we need for the truck. I can track him down this week but I need you to cover my shifts in the afternoon,” Tess points her fork at you, which you instantly nod at. “Joel, keep gathering cards. I have a bad feeling we might need to bribe our way out,” 

Joel hums his answer and that's the end of the dinner. While it worked more as a meetup hour for the three of you, the little bits of food are enough to simulate what it would be like if the world wasn't like this.

As you begin to wash the dishes, your mind wanders to a simple, easier life. Tess would come over, maybe bring her partner, to have dinner together. You’d cook something for the group, something you and Joel enjoy. Wine would be involved, sweetening the night, and there wouldn't be talks about truck engines and unresponsive brother. Maybe Tommy would come over too, have dinner with Joel and he can meet his boyfriend. Then once dinner is over, you and Joel can take the leftover wine and bring it to the porch, settling side by side as the night sky flies by. A simpler world, a better world-

“Hey, you okay?” Joel's hand stops you from jolting, a grounding weight on your arm.

“Y-yeah, sorry,” You dry your hands on the dish towel, noticing the slight quiver it holds. You could practically feel Tess’ eyes on your back. You inhale, straightening yourself before you turn. “I got your shifts covered Tess, don't worry,”

“Make sure that trail isn't some bullshit, yeah?”

“Always do,” She nods, gulping down the last of her drink before she stands. 

“I’ll take my leave, good night boys,” She smiles, before you walk her to the door and shut it behind her with a last wave. You place the lock in its place, standing there just for a minute. Joel makes his way behind you, a reassuring hand on the small of your back.

“Let's go to bed,�� You find yourself nodding. 

After washing up and clearing the table, you change into a simple shirt and briefs while Joel changes into his sleep clothes. He usually falls into bed with his day clothes on if he’s too tired and cares far less, but by your request, he changes to a shirt and pants when he can. 

As you pull back the thick excuse of a blanket, the bed creaks when Joel lays down and you follow suit, leaving the blanket at your feet knowing how hot the night could get. Joel turns and you instinctively wrap your arms around his middle, the man buries himself deeper into the pillows. 

“What were you thinking about?” Knowing your boyfriend, it’ll take a while for him to fall into slumber. He slowly laces his fingers with yours and you feel the brush of his lips against your knuckles. You tighten your arms.

“You ever wanna…” You blink at the small stars above. “You ever thought of living a different life?”

“Have a ranch somewhere, and we can… We have a normal dinner, and we’ll invite Tess and shit…” You feel your lips quirk before a beat of silence, then another kiss pressed on your knuckles. 

“Yeah, I do,” Joel turns slightly, looking out the same window into the same night sky. “We can raise sheep,”

You let out a chuckle, nuzzling into Joel's short curls when he only huffs, quietly rolling his eyes. The idea of farmer Joel, tending to his little sheep as they run around him. An image of him wearing nothing but a stetson suddenly flashes across your eyes, quickly killing your laugh, making you hide your red cheeks into Joel's nape.

“What?” He gruffly asks, unable to turn because of your arms.

“Nothin’,” You mumble, still hiding behind your boyfriend at which Joel only huffs before settling back to bed. The blush finally ebbs away and is replaced with a smile instead as you take lungfuls of Joel's scent, lulling you to sleep.

“Good night, Joel,” Joel tightens his hold on your hand.

“Good night, darlin’,” 

Requests are opened! Reblogs appreciated <3!

[dirty-bear-rick-sanchez]

Marta is to our Morty what Evil Morty is to the Central Finite Curve - both represent the part of Morty that wants to be free from Rick, no matter what the cost. Marta wants to stay in the video game and live out her full life away from Rick, and doesn't care about the fact that this means that a piece of Morty is now missing. Similarly, Evil Morty wants to escape from Rick, even if that means torturing and murdering thousands of Mortys in the process.

I would argue that Marta is a more sympathetic depiction of this than Evil Morty, which I think makes sense since we see her start out as being extremely loyal to Rick and then having her position challenged, whereas for Evil Morty we jumped into his arc once he was already well underway with his plan to escape Rick once and for all. If we are getting his backstory (as seems to be more and more likely), it will be interesting to compare this with Marta's.

Also, we see the nobler side of Marta's intentions - she does want to help save all the pieces of Morty, she is trying to advocate for Morty as a whole in his relationship with Rick, and she truly believes that she's making the right choice by staying behind in the video game if it means that all the other parts of Morty get saved. With Evil Morty, his only intention seems to be to save himself, no matter the cost to the other Mortys. However, when I spoke about this to @hazelnut-u-out, he made the very good point that Evil Morty does seem to consider his escape from Rick/the CFC a win for all Mortys, despite the harm he's causing to them. I think Marta and Evil Morty represent very similar parts of Morty's character, just at different stages/intensities.

It's also worth noting that Marta exists within Morty, whereas Evil Morty exists within the show itself, which is arguably reflective of Rick's perspective. From this angle, it makes a lot of sense that Marta is portrayed in a much more sympathetic light, since we experience her character from Morty's perspective, whereas Evil Morty is played as a villain because this is how Rick sees Morty wanting to break free of him.

[maezysworld]

Test subject x The ghoul pt. 2

pt. 1

Pairing: cooper howard x fem! cat mutant & sniper reader

hi friends once again I am dyslexic so this is probably not the best but I hope you all enjoy it anyways (I’m always open to feed back as long as your nice about it)

Warnings: slow burn, writer is dyslexic, might be slightly out of character, a whole lot of guns, use of y/n, blood mention, sad dog (not a dead dog a sad dog)

context: you are part cat due to being experimented on you have the cat ears and eyes along with all there senses (i do plan on making a full backstory)

You guys have been walking for awhile few words exchanged. your walking a head of him with the dog by your side, you’ve been following the sent of the vault dweller as the dog follows the doctors. “what her name” you ask the ghoul. “she ain’t mine.” he says in response dry and uninterested in your attempt to start a conversation. “why the hell do you have a random dog?” you ask confused but not really surprised. “The doctors, and just how do you know where we’re going.” he says not knowing if you’re following the dog or leading her. “I have my ways” you say before you stop walking and lift your mask just to show your nose, as you take a deep breath you notice that the doctors sent smells different smells bloodier. the dog runs ahead to a fallen huge piece of metal, it looked like it was apart of a building but your not to sure. you start to jog ahead following the dog, the ghoul not far behind. Once you catch up you see a headless body that belongs to the doctor, the dog lays her head on his lap and makes a short whimper noise.

you crouch down next to her petting her head “I guess we found our man.” you say looking up at the ghoul. “part of him.” he says looking around foot prints catching his eyes. “so what’s this information you have for me.” he sounds frustrated that you haven’t told him yet (and your surprised he hasn’t shot you for not telling him yet) “the value dweller has his head and is going to a woman named moldavor.” you say now standing looking at the ghoul, he doesn’t respond. You lift your mask just above your nose again taking another whiff of the air. “what in hell are you doin?” he says turning to look at you “do you ever take off that mask?” he says a moment later. “not around strangers I don’t” you say putting your mask back on now knowing what direction she’s heading.

“you must be fuckin hideous hiding your face in this world” he says lightly laughing. “something like that, here” you throw him a chem, you have met quite a few ghouls (well the non feral ones) are normally fairly nice, so you started carrying chems on you when ever you have space just in case. “I’m not to sure how many you have but I know you’ll need one soon.” you say as he catches it, he looks at you confused maybe a little Great-full too.

“well we know where she’s heading we can stop here for now” the ghoul says. about 20 minutes later you guys have a fire going and sitting down, no words spoken. “I’m y/n” you try to start a conversation to no response. “do you wanna tell me yours?”. “do you wanna take off that damn mask?” the ghoul snaps back. you sigh, “okay mr ghoul, no need to be so rude” you whisper as you wipe down your gun. the ghoul heard you but choses to ignore it “do you ever take off the mask” he says sounding a lot less defensive. “depends” you reply “on what?” he asks curiously. “if im alone yeah sure, with others it really depends on who im with” you say never looking up at him “so your hiding something.” his words sound like a question but his tone tells you it’s not, “I can keep watch if you want to rest” you say, the ghoul doesn’t move. you put your pistol in your holster while the ghoul watches your every move, you stand up and stretch a bit and walk around where your little camp is “are you not tired?” you ask the ghoul, once again he doesn’t respond he just puts his hat over his face ‘thanks for the response’ you think to yourself.

after a few minutes you sit back down with your back turned to the ghoul and you take off your mask. it’s hard to hear and see in that thing and if your going to be in the dark you’d prefer to have any advantage you can in a fight, and well having built in night vision it’s pretty handy. you pull your jacket hood up to cover your ears to the best of your ability. you put out the fire, after about 26 minutes you see figures running in your direction it’s a pack of ghouls you nudge the ghoul to wake him up “you should get up there’s a handful of ghouls coming our way” you say before putting back on your mask and standing up with your pistol out, the ghoul stands up trying to see what your looking at but it’s practically pitch black but he hears the footsteps and that’s all he really needs. the dog runs up and attacks one of the ghouls and with our fully thinking you follow, but the ghoul stays his distance. you shoot a few only killing 3 as your reloading you hear one coming from behind you, you turn and pistol whip them as they fall to the ground you feel another one grab your ankle. You take out your switch blade and stab it in the side of his neck before kicking him with your other foot grabbing the back out after your ankle was released and stabbing him in the head again, blood gets everywhere your eyes on your mask are practically covered in blood. you focused alittle to hard on whipping it off when you get tackled to the ground by another, you can’t even see what’s attacking you as you struggle to take off your gas mask while kicking this thing off if you. After you get it off is when you feel the ghouls dead weight on your body with a bullet threw his head you shove him off and you start to stand up “you were really about to let the last one take you?” the ghoul laughs, you wipe the blood off of your face and brush yourself off “yeah well I expected to get a-bit more help from you.” you say irritated “I wanted to see if you could hold your own. clearly you can’t” he says stepping closer “I didn’t think I had to dickhead, I assumed you had my back.” you say sounding more and more pissed off. “they got your mask off?” he asks knowing the answer considering he saw your face. you turn away making sure your ears are still covered from the man, “you ain’t ugly, so why wear it?” “I’ll answer that question the day you tell me your name.” you scoff. “fair enough little miss” he sounds more chear full, that makes your blood boil. ‘took almost losing my life to have him pleased, fuck off’ you think to yourself grabbing your mask and getting as much blood off of it as you can.

VERY SORRY IT TOOK ME THIS LONG I’m sorry it’s not the best my wifi has been supper weird and I had to do this all on my phone and I’ve been sick the past few days☹️ but hopefully it’s good enough!!

[chaoticace2005]

My theory is that Mimzy was once Alastor’s best friend, he maybe even thought he might have been in love with her at one point, in that manner aroace people who don’t know they’re aroace often do, that she was then sacrificed by this cult, and that Alastor had them infiltrated and taken down every member of that cult over decades, losing more and more of himself each time as those he killed grew less and less directly connected to the crime, “sorry you just got in my way, maybe I enjoy it just a little bit does that make me insane”, but that in the act of doing so, that contradiction of righteous intent and pure depravity, along with whatever ritual for power the cult had initially started upon, let’s say in honour of Roo (the root of all evil in the Hellaverse, a character yet to be introduced), and that on Alastor’s eventual death, he then found himself in Hell all-powerful, and set about bringing down those Overlords beneath his power continuing this moral code, until he hit a wall, finding himself having ended all Overlords less powerful than him / otherwise came to his senses on meeting Mimzy again and finding her to have gone to hell, recognising that “weren’t you an old pal of mine” and really nothing more and deciding mere power, entertainment is all he now desires. But that still, out of obligation, that he must kill Lucifer, the Devil, for a sense of completion, while still being allowed to exist himself afterward. Which leads to whatever deal he ended up trapped in seven years before the events of the series, and him getting Charlie to make a deal with him to “harm no one” at a certain point in the future: to ensure that when the time comes that he will be able to kill Lucifer, and the one person able to stop him won’t be able to. To really make Alastor a true Exterminator, more measured, the embodiment of how the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

That would be interesting. We really don’t know Alastor’s motivations behind anything. He says it’s all for fun and entertainment, and he certainly seems to get joy out of it, but that could all be surface level.

He and Mimzy definitely have an interesting relationship. As an aroace person who has thought I’ve had crushes on friends before I can definitely relate to it. He seems to genuinely care about her.

The whole thing with the hotel definitely has an underlying motive, but I think it’s still unclear if it’s “good” or “bad” yet. He wants it to succeed for reasons. He has beef with Lucifer… because?

It makes him such an enticing character! Because we don’t know if he’s gonna be an ally or an enemy! And we really don’t know what he’s thinking! He could hate Lucifer because of a deep reason or plan, or it literally could just be because he hates people more powerful than him. He could have a whole in-depth backstory or he could just be kinda always like this. He could be calculating or it could all be more impulsive. He has his own separate thing going on separate from the rest of the hotel, and we’re as in the same about it as the other characters

There are certainly tons of theories to be had though!! Especially with the crumbs they gave across the season!

[naisilla]

The Emperor's New Muse Part .5

Odyssey Kayn x Reader

content: coming up with a 'how to save the universe' plan, some "bonding" time with the members, and finally a more definite backstory to our character.

A/N: Apologies for the delayed post this should've come out earlier but I've been struggling with a bit of writer's block because I am making this whole story up as I go gliding by the seat of my ass or however that saying goes. Anyway, I hope it's worth the wait! Knowing that at least a few of you are invested really helped me keep going so thank you all!!

And that's how you came to become the newest recruit member of the Morningstar, and also how you found out about the universe's impending doom.

You gave Sona a judgemental side eye, like... really? You plan on saving the universe with these people!? The Templar, however, ignored your stare and continued to look out the window with her back turned to you. Looking as mysterious as ever.

Currently, the Morningstar was blindly traveling through deep space. Destination: unknown, as long as it was as far away from Kayn and his locus armada. So far there was no sign of them on your tail, you could relax for now.

"So what's the plan? on saving the universe?" you ask looking towards the front of the ship where Jinx was goofing off in the pilot's seat doing anything but actually steering the ship, Yasuo was close by at the control center holo screen.

"We're currently in the drafting stage of our master universe-saving plan" Jinx says while tinkering away at something you assumed was highly hazardous.

"Seriously? you guys don't have a plan yet? What have you been doing this whole time?" It was hard to believe that no progress had been made within the last three months. Aka the time Kayn got his hands on Rhaast, the universe's greatest threat without fully understanding it.

"It's been hard to think straight, that insane ordinal is constantly chasing us down. Every planet we stop at to stock on supplies or rest from travel is crawling with the empire's military and Kayn is never far behind." Yasuo says with a frown on his face.

It was true, you had just witnessed just how quickly the Demaxian Empire was at tracking down wanted criminals. Only, the morning star crew weren't nearly as high priority as they were targeted to be. They were just a bunch of rag-tag space pirates.

It was clear that Kayn was obsessed with getting Sona back for his personal gains. Once fiercely loyal to his emperor Kayn has become obsessed with his personal hunt, he will not hesitate to kill any who cross his path. The ordinal was slowly corrupting into something dark and consuming.

That scythe was the catalyst for all of this. According to Sona, no one knew what Rhaast truly was, but it was undeniable that he or it wasn't the "sentience of ora".

Rhaast clearly wanted to open the ora gates, but for what purpose? Immediately you figured opening the ora gate was the last thing the universe wanted. Sona confirmed from her upbringing within the templar order she had heard of a time long ago when an ancient civilization, extinct for eons, once opened an ora gate. "Annnnd they're all dead now, so it must've gone well for them."

Sona doesn't know what's actually behind the gates but she has seen visions. Visions of which none of the Morningstar or you were aware of. She saw silence. She saw the vast well of time. She saw a moment stretched into an eternity. She saw lingering stillness and glacial quiet. She saw dark stars and black suns frozen in a void of endless shadow. She saw monstrous, silent deities lurking in a corrupted cosmos.

Yet she never spoke of them, Sona was a quiet and mysterious templar after all. The only reason you believed in this religious fanatic was because you could see it in her eyes, the horror. Behind a calm and neutral expression was a gaze that carried worry and fear. Whenever you would steal a glance with the templar it was like looking into a void, one that stared back into your deepest reaches. Sona knew many things, and yet she remained quiet about them, almost as if she was uncertain about whether or not she wanted to save the universe.

You had decided for yourself that you would take charge of planning the next course of action, borrowing a tablet from Yasuo you had snuck off by yourself to figure out what exactly one was supposed to do next.

Sitting down in the saloon of the ship, you began to develop a plan. From what you now know Kayn had to be stopped, the ordinal is so obsessed with his quest for power that he's becoming unstable.

He was being puppeted by that alien scythe whose intentions were far more dire than Kayn could realize. Rhaast wanted the ora gates to be open and it was clear that whatever lay beyond that gate was something never meant to be unlocked.

You needed to stop Kayn from opening the gate, the only reason he hasn't just gone straight to the gate immediately is because he needed Sona to unlock it. Only Sona knew how to do this which means she was a highly valuable asset, good thing she was on your side for now.

Was it possible to destroy the ora gate? If you could manage that then there would be no threat of anyone opening it ever. But it was unclear as to how these ora gates worked, no one truly understood them at all that the risk of something just as disastrous happening. How would one even go about destroying something so incomprehensible?

Ok so destroying the ora gate isn't a likely option, you delete that plan from the tablet.

Looking for the whereabouts of the ora gate would be a start, that way you'd know where to go and where Kayn would be headed at some point.

According to Yasuo, Sona had told him that there were in fact, multiple ora gates in the universe. All are located throughout the furthest reaches of the universe, far beyond the darkest corners. Knowing which one Kayn would go to would be impossible to predict.

Rubbing your temples, you grunt and delete that plan route.

Let's take a step back from the end game. The ordinal Kayn, instead of trying to intercept him at the gates or destroying one perhaps we needed to go straight to the source of the problem.

It wouldn't be hard to find Kayn. He would always come to you. If you had learned anything, it was that this insane and obsessed man was smart, and calculating and when you had something he wanted, it wouldn't be long before he pounced.

You type down "KAYN" in capitols. He was now the focus of your plan. There were a few options of how you could go about this. You could be a mediator and persuade Kayn to give up his pursuit for power, Or perhaps separate him from that damn scythe. Destroying Rhaast was also a good idea, oh wait an even better idea! We kill Kayn!

Just as you were typing out that last thought you feel the weight of someone leaning onto your shoulders, their shadow looming over your head as they nondiscreetly look at your plans.

"Whatcha doing?" Jinx asks with her eyes glued to your plan's title. She snatches your tablet from your hands and brings it close to her face as she intensely stares at it.

Sighing you grab the tablet back trying to focus on forming more ideas- "He's so cool~". You snap your head, pull a face, and look at Jinx as if she lost her min- yeh she probably has already.

"Jinx, please. Anyone but him. Kayn is evil and you're...chaotic neutral." You groan realizing there's no point in reasoning with the loose cannon.

With pacifist, petty, and genocide plans crafted, you went to showcase each of them to the Morningstar crew.

Sona true to her character wanted to take the peaceful route, but even she knew negotiating with such a cruel and ruthless person held little chance in successfully de-escalating the Ordinal.

Yasuo liked the idea of taking Rhaast from Kayn, the thought of taking away his power source was enticing to the captain of the crew. Although you weren't sure if you could trust Yasuo with the sentient scythe. Not that you were assuming the captain was immoral or corrupt but, nobody should've ever come into contact with whatever Rhaast is.

Jinx and Malphite unsurprisingly wanted to go the chaos route, already suggesting which weapons would best tear down the Locus Armada and the Fractal Sheer.

"I carry enough weapons to seize a medium battle fortress!" Jinx proudly exclaims standing before you. You simply nod and half smile "uhuh that's great jinx" your voice passive agressively giving off an annoyed tone.

She grins and dumps her current arsenal onto your lap, you jump in your seat. Did she seriously just throw live weapons at you?! "These are my best friends!" She says picking up the rocket launcher from your lap. "This is fishbones! I modeled him after Sharkpedos, He's always worried about me." You blink stunned.....he?

As she's showing him off she uses one hand to move the jaw of the rocket launcher up and down like a puppet. "I'm worried Jinx maybe we should try a less dangerous option, I like (Y/N)'s other plan to take the scythe instead." Jinx rolls her eyes at the rocket launcher she's ventriloquizing before throwing him to the side, followed by the sound of it crashing onto the ground.

"Yeh he can be a bit of a buzzkill, anyways this is Pow-pow!" Jinx says now picking up the mini-gun making your lap feel a ton lighter. She spins it around and you duck as the barrel comes towards you before shooting a desperate look to the others- oh, Sona and Malphite are gone and Yasuo is reading some book clearly unbothered. Great you're stuck with Jinx then.

"I love your plan to destroy the locus armada! let's shoot them up and watch their bodies fall together!" Jinx says playing on a raspier and higher-pitched voice for the minigun. Jinx then pulls out a lightning projector "This is Zappy she's my stun gun, she's more unstable than I am! Watch this!" Jinx then suddenly tosses the gun onto an empty couch like how one would casually throw their phone on a bed, only, when the gun softly bounces onto the lounge chair it explodes. And Jinx had thrown that on your lap just earlier...

Yasuo gives Jinx a glare flicking his eyes up from the novel he was currently reading, his nose still buried between the pages.

Not giving a single shit about Yasuo Jinx continues to introduce you to her "friends" such as the Flame Chompers, which are curiously sculpted in the likeness of Malphite's head; and the Super Mega Death Comet, an interstellar portal lifted from one of Jinx's old mining jobs.

"You should see the ship! I heavily modified the Morningstar with so many offensive weapons!" Jinx says happily grabbing you by the arm and dragging you on yet another tour of the Morningstar. And after an hour of being overstimulated with interacting with Jinx..... you were still unsure as to what half of Jinx's modifications do.

Finally, Jinx had gone off to wherever leaving you to mentally recover by yourself. So far regarding your "Plan" no one could agree on which one to go with, personally, you were leaning to the separate Kayn from Rhaast. You could kill Kayn if it comes to it. But between the two it was Rhaast that was the true danger.

That would not be an easy feat, Kayn alone was an intelligent and strong fighter. His eyepatch and left arm are clearly ora augmentations making him a superhuman. He now wields a sentient alien scythe and he has a whole personal army at his disposal.

There was no way the five of you could possibly win against him in a fight, it would take some grand scheme to outsmart the Ordinal and gain the upper hand.

Something crawls along your shoulder, and immediately your mind races to some giant ugly alien spider, you see how messy the interior of this ship is, clearly no one is cleaning the ship so of course it would be crawling with pests. You go back and forth on whether to scream for help or smack the bugger into smoosh.

To your relief, a familiar face peeps up at you. Warm round eyes that contrasted with its cool blue and green complexion and a goofy wide smile beamed up at you. "Hey little guy" you coo at the lizard. "How did you get here?"

The lizard chirps and clicks seemingly happy as you scratch its head like how one would pet a cat. "Let's return you to Yauso"

After walking through the layout of the ship you finally found Yasuo, sitting by a large window on a red carpet with incense and candles laid around him, his nose buried in a novel.

His eyes flick up from his book to look at you. "Ah I see Space Lizard has found you".

"Space Lizard? don't tell me that's what you actually call them."

Yasuo shrugs his shoulders. "We really couldn't decide a name for it, we'll probably never will. We plan to sell it for a profit"

"You're selling them!?"

Yasuo shrugs again. "That is why we stole it from a maximum-security nature reserve." Your jaw drops.

"You actually managed to pull that off?" Yasuo nods with a smug smirk on his lips. It was impressive but a part of you just felt for the innocent animal, he seemed happy and healthy here it felt wrong to give him away for money. Your thoughts get interrupted by bubbles floating towards your face and popping upon contact with your nose.

Surprised you turn your gaze and see that Space Lizard is blowing bubbles. You're unsure as to whether to be amazed or grossed out but by Yasuo's smile, you can tell that at least he secretly likes it.

"So you guys are really space pirates huh?" you ask as Space Lizard climbs down your arm and onto your outstretched hand.

Yasuo nods with a proud smile. "Yep, real space pirates". He turns a page in his novel. "It's a lot different from my old life, I would've still been living a life of luxury if it weren't for the framing of my brother's death."

Right, you remember Yasuo briefly mentioning that earlier. "I'm sorry for your loss" Yasuo merely shakes his head dismissively. Lowering his book.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get justice for my brother" he said quietly, his gaze turning downward. You couldn't help but feel drawn to his pain and frustration. Despite the cocky and careless personality he usually exhibits, he was clearly hurting.

Yasuo pauses and shifts in his seat "I should've been there, if I would've been there then-"

You nod your head not letting him finish but acknowledging the obvious truth, he'd been beating himself up for this incident for a long time, and from the way he spoke you could tell it was a huge weight on his shoulders.

"The empire screwed me over, they blamed me for something I didn't do. My brother had grown distant with me in recent years, He was off being a hero while I was spending my nights in a drunken daze, aimlessly wandering between high-end nightclubs. To him I was a disgrace, someone to be ashamed of, I wish I could prove him wrong. But now I'll never get the chance."

Space Lizzard had jumped down from your cradling hand and moved over to where Yasuo was sitting to perch himself on his shoulder, nuzzling its head against Yasuo's face as if to comfort him. A small smile returns to Yasuo's face.

"I know I'm not the only one who's on the run from the empire, You mentioned how you managed to escape punishment for sabotaging a locus armada ship back. But that's all we know about you, what made you turn against the empire?"

A sour snort escapes you, a bitter taste returning to your mouth. "I've hated the empire since the beginning" Yasuo looks at you confused.

"Why is that? What happened?"

You swallow down the rising pressure as the memories of your past rush back. "I used to live on one of the few planets that weren't claimed by the Demaxian empire. Of course that wouldn't last long. They always have to keep expanding, taking planet systems by force."

You recall your old home planet "My homeland was beautiful, it was bountiful with nature and wildlife and we lived in harmony with the land, we were a lot more primitive with technology. We didn't have much need for it. I was just a little girl when they arrived...."

"The Demaxian Empire was brutal, they came in guns blazing, declaring our planet and its land as their own. They had no regard for the lives and cultures they were erasing. Our planet was the gateway to the Outer Rim, a new frontier that the Empire craved. To them, our way of life was primitive and unacceptable.

I still remember them bringing their warships into my planet's orbit, demanding we bend the knee to them. When we refused. They bombed our planet, destroying much of our infrastructure and reducing our population to just a fraction of the original number.”

The look in your eyes was one of a faraway expression, there was a slight tremble in your hands and your whole complexion had paled.

"When the smoke cleared there was nothing left. The land was leveled out, the villages were torn to the ground and all of the plant life, and the animals were gone. They came in and wiped out our entire people in the name of expansion and development. But left after draining everything of Ora. Apparently our planet wasn't good enough to colonize. All that slaughter and ruination for nothing!" you say clenching your teeth. 

"The nightmare didn't end there however. With our home now uninhabitable we had to leave, some submitted themselves to the empire and lived lives of servitude and slavery. Others like myself fled to distant planets like Piltron and Zaun. Desperate to find stability in living." By now you had seated yourself next to Yasuo who surprisingly was listening to your rambling, his novel was closed and by his side, and Space Lizard while perched on his shoulders looked at you intentively.

"I had nothing to my name, no ID, no money, no family. I was used to living off the grid with no influence by technology and government systems. Without any ID it was an unimaginable pain in the ass to intergrade into society. No vital records office could obtain any identity due to my home planet never being a part of the Demaxian system. I couldn't get a stable job or any proper schooling, I was left to figure shit on my own because Demaxia doesn't have time for my kind.

I had to struggle with low-end jobs that paid under the table, there was no dignity in my line of work not when the turnover rate of a nuclear powerplant worker was so high, and more people were dying of negligence faster than new hires were acquired. I was fortunate, if you could call it that to be a mere janitor in Zaun's power plant system. But that didn't come without prejudice from the locals.

I didn't understand why, I still don't, we were all in the same boat and yet I was treated differently. Over time I learnt the ways of the streets and how to survive them. I kept my head down, I minded my own business. Despite being surrounded by thugs and gangs I managed to stay out of it by blending in. Of course, there were a few times I messed up" You say, pulling up your shirt, showing a couple of scars along your torso. Scar tissue in round formations pulled taught towards the center, the classic sign of a healed bullet wound. There were others too, a couple of singular lines dragging across your torso also, the result of getting shivved.

"I was never going to escape the pits of the lower class, no matter how many hours I worked, how many side jobs I had, despite living as frugally as one could survive on. I could never escape being a blue-collar in the slums. The empire's system is so rigged that if you want to live comfortably you have to be born into it. It's so unfair! So many people suffer in poverty and filth because the stupid king is more focused on colonizing more and more planets with stupid rich assholes who don't even spare a thought for the people who keep their obnoxiously pampered lifestyle afloat!!!" Yasuo jumps back a little at your heated outburst towards the end, his usual calm and suave demeanor now tense with a startled wide eyed stare.

It was clear he felt awkward about being called out for his old lifestyle. You sigh and shake your head.

"I'm sorry I don't mean to take it all out on you specifically, I've never really talked about any of this and I suppose all those years were bottled up for too long." Yasuo's gaze softens, his hand goes towards his belt and he passes you a flask, you raise a brow questioningly but take his offering and take a swig instantly feeling the distilled alcohol kick you in the throat with a powerful punch. You cough and sputter looking at him shocked.

"What the hell is this?"

"Pure distilled Polmos Spirytus Rektyfikowany Vodka"

"...." You stare at Yasuo silently before dowing another swig, then another. Letting out a gasp and wiping your lips with the back of your hand as the satisfying burn of the alcohol soaked itself into your system.

"Better?"

"Better."

You noticed the velocity of the ship shifting and turning into the landing procedures, curiously you looked to Yasuo.

"Whats happening?"

Yasuo shrugs "Looks like Jinx is taking us to a pit stop."

Part six: Here

A/N: So I've had this idea as headcannon for ages but never had the chance to implement it into the story so free lore content below!:

Piltron and Zaun is a rather unique planet in my Odyssey story. Piltron similar to its Runeterra counterpart (Piltover) is the higher class planet to Zaun. Piltron is a hollow planet that exists as an outer shell that hovers around its inner planet Zaun. To access Zaun you need to travel between the tectonic plates of Piltron via colossal industrial elevators. Piltover isn't a perfect shell that entirely encases the inner planet Zaun but is cracked into multiple districts that are tethered to its center Zaun via cybernetic tendrils to avoid floating out of Zaun's atmosphere. If you've seen Transformers: The Last Knight you'll know that I've taken inspiration from the scene of Cybertron being spacebridged into Earth's orbit (see image below).

Zaun Center, like the earth's core, is made of a uranium deposit that is harvested through fission (nuclear power plants) that power both Zaun and Piltron through the cybernetic tendrils that also hold the two planets together. Zaun is made up of the working class while Piltron homes the more upperclass citizens. Piltron and Zaun are allied with the Demaxian Empire and stand as the main manufacturing planet of the weapons and technology of the empire.

Despite being a part of Demaxia, Piltron, and Zaun have the least amount of empire enforcers due to the trust between them and the core worlds. Plus because of the unstable levels of radioactive activity in Zaun, most enforcers don't hover around for long. Sure in this age we have radioactive protection suits but Zaun is seen as dirty to rich snobs.