#this scene was supposed to go in a completely different direction

[lynzishell]

The Present ❤️ Selvadorada

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Transcript below the cut:

Asher: The sun is starting to go down; we should head back. Atlas: Yeah, you’re probably right. There’s a lookout over here. Do you want to check it out real quick? Or should we turn back now? Asher: We can take a look. A few minutes won’t hurt.

Atlas: Did you mean what you said earlier? That your wish is to be with me forever? Asher: Of course I meant it. Atlas: You know I want that too, right? Asher: I know.

Atlas: The only reason it didn’t occur to me to wish for it is because I’m already yours, for as long as you’ll have me, and I hope that’s forever, but I don’t want it to be because of a wish, I want us to be together because we wake up every day and choose to be.

Asher: I want that too; you know I do. The whole wish thing, it was just a hypothetical.

Atlas: I know. It’s just… Look, I don’t know how to do this, so I’m just going to ask you, okay? Asher: Ask me what?

Atlas: Will you marry me?

Asher: Really? Atlas: Really.

Asher: Hell yes, I’ll marry you!

Atlas: I love you. Asher: I love you too. Atlas: Not to ruin the moment, but we only have an hour to get out of here before it gets dark. Asher: Shit. Okay. Five more seconds and then we can go.

[thankskenpenders]

Thoughts on two specific areas of the writing in Sonic X Shadow Generations

The best new 3D Sonic game in over a decade (or even two, depending on who you ask) dropped late last year. And I didn't write anything about it! Sometimes life happens. Well, I've finally sat down to finish Shadow Generations, and by now everyone has already been singing its praises for three months. This is the rare instance where the entire Sonic fandom, and even mainstream reviewers, are in agreement on something. The level design is the best it's been in a long, long time and the cool factor is off the charts, embracing Sonic's peak cringe era in an incredibly confident way. It's great. If you're even reading this post, you probably don't need me to tell you that. So I won't!

No, what I'm really interested in here is the writing. Because this is me we're talking about. But I actually don't want to talk about the main narrative of Shadow Generations, which is really solid little story about Black Doom trying to mold Shadow into his perfect soldier. No, I'd like to zero in on two other aspects of the writing here: the revisions made to Sonic Generations, and Gerald Robotnik's unlockable journal.

The updated Sonic Generations script

The new package mostly presents Sonic Generations how you remember it. There are some tweaks, but it's not a major overhaul. Graphically, I don't think the game has been touched much, if at all. I certainly can't notice any difference without a side-by-side comparison, despite playing it on a PS5. The most notable update is that the game's script has been rewritten by Ian Flynn.

Naturally, this caught my attention. Generations always had a nothingburger story, so with Ian rewriting Pontac and Graff's lame dialogue there was nowhere to go but up. (I don't like to pin the blame for those games' stories entirely on them, as a ton of it was dictated to them by Sonic Team, but, well, I don't think they're very good dialogue writers.) But it's less a complete rewrite and more like Ian was brought on as a script doctor for some minor touch ups here and there. Many lines of dialogue are completely identical to how they were originally written in 2011, and many others only have slight wording changes. Ian was clearly not allowed to request additional scenes or extend the ones that already existed. He has to match the original beat for beat so that they can reuse 99% of the cutscene animations. Don't expect it to be a whole new experience compared to the original.

Still, I think the new script is an improvement, albeit a minor one. Various things have been tweaked to maintain characterization consistency. Cream calls Sonic "Mr. Sonic" instead of just "Sonic." Instead of calling Sonic "buddy," Rouge uses the pet name "Blue," like she tends to do in things like the IDW comics. Espio doesn't have to remind you in the dialogue that he's a ninja, and he no longer has a line making it sound like he has some kind of soul reading power. I also like that Modern Sonic now actually has responses to what his friends say when he rescues them, rather than being silent like Classic Sonic. They won't blow you away, but they make Sonic feel a little more engaged with everything.

In general, the altered dialogue just seems tighter to me, and some of the more childish or trite wording of Pontac and Graff's script has been altered. Here, let's actually make a direct comparison, just because this stuff is interesting to me as a writer. Here's a couple lines from after the Egg Dragoon fight late in the game, in the original script:

Modern Eggman: Ooooh... I can't believe this! I was supposed to beat you this time. Modern Sonic: Aw, I'm sorry! I didn't get that memo. I beat you every time! [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat this guy every time. It's like it's our job or something!

This is a simple exchange. Eggman is mad that he lost. Sonic is unflappably confident because he always beats Eggman, and he explains this to his younger self. But the wording here isn't particularly good. Eggman's simple and direct wording makes him come off like a little kid who's mad because his older brother beat him at Mario Kart, rather than a mad scientist who just had his plans foiled. It's making light of the situation.

And I've never liked Sonic saying "It's like it's our job or something!" That doesn't feel like a thing Sonic would say, it feels like a thing an outside observer would say about Sonic. This is a frequent problem with so-called "MCU dialogue," where quips meant to echo the commentary of a casual, somewhat disinterested audience are inserted into the story itself so that the writers can be like "See? We get it. We're genre-savvy, too!" It also just reminds me of bad Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric lines like "Rings! It's like they're made for me!"

And then here's Ian's rewrite:

Modern Eggman: I recalibrated everything! This was supposed to be my time! Modern Sonic: Oh, please, keep dreamin', Egg-head. I beat you every time. [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat him every time. Our score card's flawless.

Eggman's still mad about his defeat, but the line "I recalibrated everything!" makes it more specific. He put all this work into the engineering side of his latest scheme and got tunnel vision, thinking if he got his creations just right there'd be no way he could lose. "This was supposed to be my time!" also turns it into a time travel pun, which is a bonus. He's still pitching a fit over losing, but it feels more like Eggman pitching a fit, rather than sounding childish.

And then instead of saying that beating Eggman is "like his job or something," Sonic says he's got a flawless score card against Eggman. He doesn't take Eggman seriously as a threat—at least, not to his face. He acts like it's all a game. But he conveys this in a way that feels truer to the character, rather than feeling like the words of a real world observer poking fun at the tropes of the Sonic series.

Is this amazing, A+ dialogue that blows me away? No. Again, it's not a completely different scene from the one we already had. Ian had to fit the beats of what was already there. He couldn't go all out and write an all new story confirming his longstanding headcanon that the Time Eater is a remnant of Solaris or whatever. But the wording here makes the existing story land a little better and feel truer to the characters in subtle ways.

But to me, the main change is that the Sonics and Tailses seem to have a more solid understanding of what's going on with the timeline and the Time Eater, compared to how idiotic they sometimes seemed in the original game. Which is good! No more standing outside Green Hill and wondering why it seems so familiar. Thank god. As part of this, yes, there are a few more references to past games in the dialogue, like Sonic briefly being confused about the fact that they're time traveling without the Time Stones, or South Island and Westside Island being acknowledged as the normal locations of Green Hill and Chemical Plant. Yes, ha ha, insert joke about how Ian loves references here. Look, it's Sonic fucking Generations. It's a game built entirely out of nostalgic references. Just own it! And, again, in this instance Sonic and Tails come off as less stupid when they make it clear that they do, in fact, remember their adventures from presumably less than a year ago in-universe.

Eggman, too, seems to have a better understanding of the powers he's toying with. Where in the original vesion his focus was simply on going back in time to undo his previous defeats and he seemed kind of oblivious to how much the Time Eater was actually fucking up the universe, here Eggman says he wants to use the Time Eater to give himself complete control over the entire timeline. Eggman also makes way fewer references to his own failures and shortcomings. Of course he won't admit that Sonic has defeated him time and time again. To him, he's never truly lost—Sonic just keeps delaying the inevitable total victory for the Eggman Empire.

So, yes. The new Sonic Generations script is better. It won't blow anyone away, but it's better than it was. It's been elevated from "kinda lame" to "fine." No, if you really wanna see Ian flex his ability to breathe new life into old Sonic stories, look no further than...

Gerald Robotnik's Journal

Hoo boy.

The story of what happened aboard the ARK has always been... a bit confusing, to say the least. Fans with encyclopedic knowledge of the script for every route of Shadow '05 may disagree, but it's the truth. We've had all the pieces to understand the story for a long time now, but that info was given to us out of order by a pair of unreliable narrators—Gerald, who became a vengeful lunatic shortly before his death, and Shadow, who was subjected to multiple rounds of amnesia and altered memories. Some of the ambiguity left by Sonic Adventure 2 was cleared up in Shadow '05, but that game also retconned in a bunch of new elements to Shadow's backstory (aliens!) that lead to further confusion. Not to mention the fact that that game had multiple routes and only revealed the truth about Shadow if you sat on the ultimate final boss battle for WAY longer than the fight would normally last. Or the fact that Sonic X made its own tweaks in its telling of the story. Or the fact that none of these things ever had the best English translations. I can't blame anyone who hasn't played those games in two decades for not remembering the truth about these characters and getting some details mixed up.

What we needed was something to piece together all of the info we have into one coherent backstory, told in chronological order. And thanks to Shadow Generations, we have that, in the form of an official journal tying together what we knew from Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow '05, and Sonic Battle into the tragic tale of Gerald's rise and fall.

Ian Flynn was the perfect man for the job here as the guy who started his career by tidying up the mess that was the first 159 issues if Archie Sonic. This is what he excels at: taking disparate bits of weird Sonic lore from multiple different sources, boiling them down to their most interesting elements, and connecting it together in a way that will make the audience see the dramatic potential he's always known was there. Rather than feeling like a cynical exercise in franchise building, going back and explaining things that never needed explaining so that people can add more bullet points to the wiki, he puts a new spin on things that retroactively enriches those past stories. The story here means something to the characters involved and gives us a better understanding of them as people, rather than as plot devices to motivate Shadow.

(And, of course, Ian didn't do this journal alone. He wrote the story, but I also have to give a huge shout out to Evan Stanley, who made the final product. All of her handwritten journal entries, sketches, and "photos" included throughout. The physical damage done to the journal over the course of 50 tumultuous years, passing from Gerald to Eggman to a certain special someone at GUN. The way Gerald's handwriting gets less and less legible as his mental state declines. So much love was put into what could have been a mere text dump in a menu, and it really elevates it to the next level. Congrats on officially getting hired by Sega, Evan, you've sure as hell earned it!)

The main idea the journal conveys is that Gerald was under a lot of pressure from a lot of different parties—GUN, the President, his colleagues aboard the ARK, Black Doom, even his own family—and boy did it get to him. The known incidents aboard the ARK mentioned in previous games are put together here to form a story where everything slowly spirals out of control as Gerald keeps compromising his morals to further his research, thinking he'll eventually find some way out of all this because he's a genius. I won't recap that whole story here (if you haven't already played the game and read the journal entries, I would highly recommend at least reading it on the Sonic wiki), but I'd like to highlight my favorite elements of the story, as Ian tells it here.

1) The Eclipse Cannon

Here's something that never quite made sense in Sonic Adventure 2: why does the ARK have a laser that can blow up the Earth built into it? It was supposed to be a peaceful research colony. Sure, Gerald went crazy and swore revenge on the Earth, but, like... when did he have an opportunity to go back up to the ARK and modify it? Did he have someone else do it? How? The ARK was raided by GUN and shut down! And then they arrested him, held him in prison for an unclear period of time, and executed him by firing squad when he was no longer useful! It doesn't add up. Shadow 'the Hedgehog '05 would give its own answer by introducing the Black Arms and saying that the Eclipse Cannon was always supposed to be a secret trump card against the Black Comet. But, like... we know that's kind of a bullshit answer, right? You don't need enough power to blow up a whole planet just to destroy a comet.

Well, the new journal retains what we already knew, but it paints a much more complete picture.

See, long before Gerald ever made a Faustian bargain with Black Doom, he had already made one with an even greater evil: the military. GUN gave Gerald much of the funding for the ARK, Gerald's personal utopian research station in space, but it didn't take long for GUN to start pressuring him to design them weapons. Gerald tried to get GUN off his back by personally contacting the President of the United Federation, and the President gave him an alternative: how about, instead, you just use your genius brain to figure out the secret to immortality for us, so our soldiers can be immortal? Gerald was initially sickened by the notion and found it completely absurd, like chasing a shadow... but given no other option, the sarcastically named Project Shadow soon began in earnest. (Maria would later put a more positive spin on the name after Shadow's awakening, pointing out that a Shadow can show us the direction of the light, like she says in the game itself.)

Of course, this search for the ultimate life form didn't go very well, and without any results on that front GUN kept hounding him for weapons. Gerald would throw them a bone here and there to get them off his back. His research on Chaos resulted in the Artifical Chaos prototypes, which he worried would be used for warfare but could at least theoretically be used for search and rescue missions in floods, in his mind. But that wasn't enough. So he gave them Chaos Drives to power their mechs. And that still wasn't enough. He's got Emerl. He'll give them Emerl. They're not impressed by Emerl. They'll shut the whole ARK down if Gerald doesn't give them something big.

Fine! GUN wants something big? Gerald builds a huge fucking laser cannon into the ARK. However, as a middle finger to GUN, Gerald makes it so powerful that it would destroy the Earth if it was ever fired at any target on its surface. In other words, GUN now has their ultimate weapon of mass destruction, fulfilling his contract, but they can never actually use it. Oh, the delicious irony. (And also Shadow will blow up the Black Comet with it in 50 years yada yada yada.) Is this perhaps extremely shortsighted and naive of Gerald, to believe that such a weapon would never actually be used just because of the risk? Of course. But hey, that's Gerald for you. And I love this as an answer.

(Also, this, uh, kinda echoes something from real life! Remember the bit in Oppenheimer where he says all nuclear war will become unthinkable, and Edward Teller responds "until somebody builds a bigger bomb"? Yeah, Teller went on to conceptualize a superweapon codenamed Project Sundial that would have been able to kill all life on the planet, as the ultimate deterrent for war. This was never made for obvious reasons, but hey, there's a basis for this sort of thinking outside of heightened sci-fi! There's a whole Kurzgesagt video about this if you're interested.)

2) The Biolizard

The Biolizard is, of course, brought up as the initial failed prototype of the ultimate life form, from before Gerald met Black Doom. We don't really learn all that much about it that we didn't already know, but I just love the way it's framed in the story.

As you can see above, we actually get to see a picture of Maria holding up the cute little salamander that would end up mutating into the Biolizard through Gerald's experiments. (Researchers want to figure out how to replicate salamanders' regenerative abilities for humans in real life, too, so this was a natural starting point for the project.) And then, after it grows to a monstrous size and goes out of control, Gerald has to lock it away in an unused sector of the ARK. He needs to keep the poor thing alive for his research into harnessing Chaos Energy, building life support systems directly into it, but he doesn't have the heart to tell Maria what happened. So it just becomes this first dark secret weighing on his conscience. The Biolizard becomes Gerald's Tell-Tale Heart beating beneath the floorboards of the ARK. I love that.

3) Lost Impact was the breaking point for the ARK

Remember the level Lost Impact in Shadow '05? The flashback level on the hero path where Shadow is running around fighting Artificial Chaos enemies on the ARK 50 years ago? Yeah, that wasn't just a random incident. That was important, as we now know due to its placement on the timeline.

See, Emerl's rampage aboard the ARK that was chronicled in Sonic Battle and Dark Beginnings set off a domino effect. Emerl riled up the Artificial Chaos, causing Gerald to lose control of them. They became violent, and so Shadow had to stop them, as depicted in Lost Impact. The thing is, that incident sent an SOS signal to GUN telling them that shit was going down on the ARK. Gerald didsn't fully understand the trouble he was in and assumed that he'd simply be reprimanded by the higher ups, or maybe face legal action. But, well... the next time he heard from GUN, armed troopers were raiding the ARK.

So Lost Impact was the straw that broke the camel's back. I just really like that detail.

4) Maria

And, of course, there's Maria herself. Maria has often been more of a symbol than a character, this perfect embodiment of everything that's good and pure in this world who gets killed to motivate Shadow and Gerald's revenge plots. But I really like the wrinkles this journal adds to her and Gerald's story, and their relationship. This is the most fleshed out they've ever felt.

For one, the journal leans into the idea of Maria's intellectual potential. The rest of the Robotnik family is all geniuses, after all, and she was proving to be a really bright kid. She excelled in her studies on the ARK, and she even helped design Shadow's jet skates and inhibitor rings. When Maria died, the world didn't just lose a symbolic personification of purity. She genuinely could have been a hugely influential scientist who did so much good for the world. That's what Gerald wanted for her. But we'll never know, because GUN killed her.

Speaking of her family, their presence isn't just mentioned for the sake of fleshing out the Robotnik family tree. It's mentioned that as Gerald struggled to find a cure for Maria's illness through his genetic research, he faced mounting pressure from his family. They didn't want Maria to be up on the ARK forever. They wanted Gerald to hurry up and find a damn cure, or otherwise just send her back home to Earth so she could be with her family again. She'd been up on the ARK for so long that Gerald's coworkers started thinking that she had been born up there. Eventually she gains a baby sister on Earth who she's never met. A rift forms between Gerald's two sons, and he's unable to really deal with it because he's so consumed by his work. There's this sense that the family is falling apart, and that everyone is dreading the possibility that Gerald will never find a cure and that Maria will just spend her final years up in space and die far away from her family, because Gerald just couldn't let go. If that happens, it'll break the whole family. But he can't stop now. So he just keeps working. Curing Maria is the only way to win his family back, in his eyes. It can't all be for nothing.

But my favorite detail regarding Maria is this one paragraph:

Maria is growing into a lovely young woman. It breaks my heart that someone as bright and energetic as her is diminished by disease. There are no visible effects, and I've caught my fellow researchers muttering to each other, doubting her illness. It is infuriating. I find all my reason and restraint vanishes when she's slighted.

This is SUCH a great addition to the story! It's always been true that Maria doesn't really seem all that ill, just looking at her in cutscenes. With this one little comment, Ian flips that issue on its head and turns it into a story about invisible disability. She doesn't act like she's in chronic pain, so she must not be, everyone thinks. And this really, really gets to Gerald, as does the pressure from his family. He's dedicating his whole LIFE to saving her, and they think she's faking it?! It's such a small addition, never referenced elsewhere in the journal, but it adds so much flavor to the story, as does the implied family drama. It grounds Gerald and Maria and makes them feel more like real human beings, rather than being pure archetypes. It's just enough info to let my imagination run wild filling in the blanks.

You also get the feeling that Maria being such a walking ray of sunshine was the only real source of joy Gerald had left in his life before Shadow was awakened, and the only thing keeping him from snapping under pressure sooner. All this stuff just keeps piling on, everything's spiraling out of control, but at least Maria is keeping her chin up, right? It makes so much sense that losing her would make him go off the deep end when it's framed like this.

It's just... man, I never thought I'd care so much about Gerald and Maria. But that's the Ian Flynn touch. After years of less than stellar Sonic writing that seemed to be embarrassed of itself, I'm so happy to have new games coming out that fully embrace the history of the series like this, making its world feel so rich and real instead of just serving as an excuse for a string of platforming levels. I don't even like Shadow '05, but I'll be damned if Ian and the rest of Sonic Team didn't make something amazing by "yes, and"-ing Shadow's cringe past here. Sonic has truly reached levels of "we're so back" never thought possible.

[xichilie]

IM SICK AND FEVERISH ABOUT BRANT HGAH

🍣 anon hath returned, the soulmate au was DELIGHTFUL. Thank you so so much!!

I WISH YOU LUCK IN PULLING. I had some absolutely wild luck, first ten pull on both his and his weapons banner. Insanity

ABSOLUTELY adored your most recent Brant post, but now I'm thinking about a stage kiss. For a performance, would he go full tilt, full contact and declare his love through the stage lines? Or would he slip his hand or a finger over your lips at the last second, promising it be only until he could kiss you properly?

Congratulations 🎊

Hello 🍣

I was pretty lucky, too. I got him and his weapon 🤭

Brant x (fem)reader

"The Kiss That Wasn’t"

Fool’s Elysium had never been so quiet.

The cavernous hideout, usually filled with raucous laughter and the chaotic energy of performers in motion, now held its breath. Firelight flickered against the worn wooden stage, casting golden shadows across two figures standing at its center.

Brant thrived under this kind of pressure. The hush of an audience hanging onto every breath, the delicate balance between performance and reality—it was a stage made for a man like him.

And yet, tonight, something was different.

Tonight, she was in front of him.

Y/N stood with squared shoulders, her expression unreadable despite the storm of emotion written into the script. One hand hovered near her chest, the other clenched at her side as though holding something back.

Brant had memorized every line, every cue, every carefully choreographed motion. He knew what came next. He was supposed to step forward, take her hand, and—

Kiss her.

It was the grand moment of the act, the culmination of rising tension. A declaration written in stage directions rather than words.

Brant had kissed plenty of co-stars before. He had swept them into dips, pressed lips together in the name of art, played the dashing rogue with effortless charm.

But now? With her?

A sharp breath left his lips as he moved closer. His fingers ghosted over Y/N’s wrist, sliding up, tracing a path toward her jaw. His touch was light, as if testing something—waiting for a sign that wasn’t scripted.

The audience waited.

She wasn’t backing away.

And for the first time in his life, Brant hesitated.

It was a second too long. A pause too loaded.

His heart hammered in his chest, drowning out the carefully rehearsed melody swelling beneath them. The firelight turned her eyes into molten gold, and for a wild, reckless moment, he wondered if this was what it felt like to be utterly and completely undone.

He could kiss her now. Let the world fade. Let the story carry them.

But no.

Not like this.

Just before their lips could meet, Brant raised his fingers, pressing them lightly against her mouth.

The air thickened. The unscripted choice turned the moment into something raw, something alive.

Y/N’s eyes widened slightly, the barest shift in her expression—surprise? Amusement? Understanding?

Brant let his lips part just enough to murmur, voice low, meant only for her.

"Not yet."

A promise.

A delay.

A declaration in disguise.

The music swelled. The moment passed. The play continued.

But for Brant, the real story had only just begun.

When the performance ended, the cavern erupted into cheers, the Troupe members whistling and clapping at the particularly intense scene. The excitement was palpable, voices chattering about the improvised moment that had made the scene so much more compelling.

But Brant?

Brant had vanished.

Y/N found him perched atop a stone ledge overlooking the main hall, one leg swinging lazily over the edge, the other propped up as he leaned back against the cavern wall. A half-empty bottle of wine rested beside him, likely stolen from the Troupe’s stash.

The moment he saw her approach, a slow grin stretched across his face.

"Ah, my lovely co-star,” he purred, extending his arms as if inviting an embrace. “Come to sing my praises? To tell me how utterly dazzling I was?"

Y/N crossed her arms.

"You changed the scene."

Brant gasped, a hand flying to his chest as if mortally wounded. "What? Me? Change the sacred text of our craft? I would never—"

"Brant."

The single utterance of his name made him drop the act—at least for a second. His grin, though still playful, softened at the edges.

He sighed dramatically, stretching his arms over his head before flopping onto his back. "Alright, fine. You caught me." He turned his head to look at her. "But it was better that way, wasn't it?"

Y/N didn't answer immediately.

Brant watched her carefully, studying the way she weighed her response.

And then, she smirked.

Oh.

Oh, that was dangerous.

Brant felt something twist in his chest, something warm, something thrillingly out of his control.

"You’re impossible," she finally said.

"And yet, here you are," he countered, grinning. "Curious, that."

She turned as if to leave

And Brant, ever the opportunist, reached out, catching her wrist.

He didn’t pull her back. Didn’t force the moment.

He simply held her there, thumb brushing absentmindedly over her pulse point.

When she turned to face him again, there was no teasing in his expression.

No theatrics.

No performance.

Just Brant.

"I meant it, you know," he murmured.

Y/N’s breath caught. "Meant what?"

Brant lifted his free hand, brushing his fingers—just briefly—over her lips, echoing the gesture from the stage.

"Not yet," he whispered.

Not under the stage lights.

Not with an audience watching.

Not as a performance.

But one day. One day.

And then, because he couldn’t help himself, he winked—

And slipped away into the shadows, laughter trailing behind him like a final bow.

Leaving Y/N standing there, heart pounding, wondering just who had truly won this round.

The script remained unchanged.

The lines untouched.

But when the moment came—when Brant once again traced his fingers toward Y/N’s lips, when he prepared to repeat his “not yet”—

She caught his wrist first.

Brant froze.

His usual confidence faltered for the briefest second, his pulse skipping as he stared at her in surprise.

Her fingers curled gently around his wrist, holding him there.

And then—she smirked.

Brant barely had time to react before she leaned in, just close enough for her lips to brush the tips of his fingers.

“Not yet.”

She whispered it so softly that only he could hear.

The audience never knew why Brant’s next line came a second too late.

But he did.

And for the first time in his life, Brant found himself utterly, completely smitten.

[ourdawnishotterthanourday]

Rose Tinted — Boo Seungkwan

✧ Take off those rose colored glasses ✧

Plot: Picture this… you find out that your so-called best friend has been playing you all along.

🎥 Starring: fem!reader x best friend!Boo Seungkwan 🎥 Genre: big time angst 🎥 Word count: 0.9k+ 🎥 Warnings: swearing, asshole vernon, asshole kwannie (sorry y’all), brief mention of blood but not graphic 🎥 Notes: I am baaaack (hopefully for a while). I know I haven’t been posting for forever but I hope to see you all more often again ^^  🎥 Shout out: thanks to my lovely bestie @nothoughtsjustfic for motivating me to write again 💜 love you Chee! Never change pls hehehe

♡ REBLOGGING AND/OR FEEDBACK WOULD BE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED — DON'T BE A STRANGER PLS ♡

Set The Scene Masterlist —  Masterlist

“How much longer are you going to keep this up, dude? She’s been glued to your side since that dumb bet. Weren’t you gonna ditch her like forever ago?”

Time froze as you heard Vernon utter those words to your best friend… or so you thought. 

“Shit, Vernon! Be quiet before she hears you!” Seungkwan hissed in return, which was followed by a dull sound and then a shriek from Vernon.

“Whatever. I just don’t get it. You don’t even like her. She could offer to buy me unlimited pizza and beers and I still wouldn’t be able to handle all that clinginess.”

“Fucking hell! Just get out and don’t come back until we leave. You’re going to fuck up everything,” Seungkwan snapped, his voice unlike anything you’d ever heard coming from his lips. 

“Fine.” Vernon sighed dramatically. “But don’t come crying to me when it all comes to bite you in the ass.” 

A second later, you heard the front door slam shut, the sound of which snapped you right back to the horrible reality you were now forced to face. 

You’d just been shown a completely different side of your supposed best friend and you didn’t quite know whether to cry or scream. What you did know was that you couldn’t stay hidden behind the wall for forever, even though that did seem awfully tempting. You’d never been very confrontational but this matter couldn’t be left unspoken, not if you wanted to keep your sanity. 

You needed to hear the truth from Seungkwan himself. 

With your heart nearly pounding out your chest and a million thoughts running through your mind, you forced your legs to move in the direction of the living room where Seungkwan was awaiting your return. 

His head immediately shot up when he noticed you approaching him, a smile that felt just a little too forced making its way on his face. It was almost as if you could see a sliver of disgust flash behind his eyes.

Had that always been there or were you just overanalyzing everything because of what Vernon said?

“There you are! Any longer and I would have gotten worried.” Seungkwan chuckled as he turned his head back towards the TV.

Right. The movie the two of you had been watching before that awful conversation. If only you could turn back time. 

“Y/N?” Seungkwan asked with a raised brow when you hadn’t moved at all. “Aren’t you going to sit down? We can finish the last thirty minutes before we have to leave.”

“No.” 

Your voice was barely audible but you knew that it had been loud enough judging by the way Seungkwan responded.

“No? You don’t want to watch any more? Well, we can put on something else if that’s what you wan-”

You were quick to interrupt him. “No. That’s not what I want.”

“Okay?” He got up from the couch, his brows furrowed in confusion. “You’re acting kinda strange, Y/N. What’s going on?”

Without realizing it, you’d been clenching your fists so hard this entire time that your nails had pierced through parts of your skin, drawing a little bit of blood which you could feel dripping down your fingers. But you honestly couldn’t give a fuck right now. 

“Do you hate me?” you blurted out, completely catching the man in front of you off guard.

“W-what? Hate you? Why would you ask me that?” Seungkwan chuckled nervously, his hand awkwardly coming up to scratch behind his neck. 

“Be honest with me, Seungkwan.” You looked him dead in the eyes, noticing the way his eyes grew wide at the fierceness behind your words.

As if suddenly coming back to himself, he shook his head furiously. “You’re being crazy, Y/N.”

You let out a loud snort. “Me? Crazy? Then are you saying Vernon was lying just now?”

At that revelation, Seungkwan’s mouth opened and closed a few times as if he was about to say something but backed out at the last second. There was no talking himself out of this. And you were not backing down until you’d heard everything, even if it was going to crush you. 

“Yeah… I heard everything. About a supposed bet, about you pretending this entire time and wanting to ditch me. Does that ring a bell?” 

“Y/N, l-listen,” the man pleaded as he took a step forward to reach for your arm. 

“Tell me the fucking truth, Seungkwan!” you nearly screamed, surprising both yourself and him at the anger laced in your voice.

You could see the hesitation in his eyes at first, but it wasn’t long before that disgust you swore you’d seen before flashed behind his eyes once again. 

“You really wanna know what I think of you? Fine!” He threw up his hands. “I don’t like you, I never have, not then and not now. I’m not your fucking best friend and I’m sick of pretending. You’re right. It started out as a stupid bet to see if I could befriend you, but with how fucking desperate you were, that wasn’t hard. And then you just wouldn’t fucking go away so I thought, I might as well use your clingy ass to my advantage. Because who in their right mind doesn’t like free meals and free rides? All I had to do was pretend.” He chuckled bitterly. “Happy now?”

You didn’t stick around to respond, already halfway through the door with tears streaming down your face by the time he finished his cruel rant. This wasn’t the sweet and caring Seungkwan you’d been sharing all your secrets and insecurities with. This was the real Seungkwan, a mean, heartless excuse of a human being who you didn’t recognize at all. 

He’d broken your heart in a million little pieces and you didn’t know if you were ever going to recover from this. 

So much for letting someone in.

So much for not wanting to be alone. 

Boo Seungkwan, I hope it was worth it. 

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[khloberry]

❝ It was supposed to be just a girls weekend in Vegas, but a chance encounter with a handsome stranger takes things in a different direction. . . ❞

What Happens in Vegas

Nicholas Chavez x Reader | 18+ smut

Hi guys! This is the first fic I’ve ever posted. I’ve always loved to write & every so often I fall back into the writing mood. This was one of those moods, inspired by one of my favorite songs and Nicholas of course, because obsessed obvi lol. It’s a little long, but I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing!

“We drink to those who love us, we drink to those who don’t. We drink to those who fuck us, and fuck those who don’t!” I shouted cheerfully, raising my shot glass to my three friends. I quickly knocked back the tequila, the familiar burning sensation warming my chest.

This was just the first shot of many. Tonight was all about having fun and feeling free. It was my best friend’s 21st birthday, and to celebrate, we were in Vegas for the weekend.

“Tonight’s gonna be a good night!” one of my friends exclaimed, her eyes bright with excitement as she scanned the nightclub from her seat. The scene was a frenzy of flashing lights, dancing, and drinking.

“The best night,” said my best friend.

“Fucking epic,” I added, taking back another shot before standing to my feet.

“Come on, birthday girl, let’s dance.” I grabbed her hand, leading her out into the energetic crowd.

The moment we hit the dance floor, the music and energy gave me a rush. If dance was a drug, music was the supplier. I loved how it made me feel. How it made me come alive. I danced to song after song, losing myself completely in the music.

I could’ve stayed on the dance floor for hours, but the slight ache that was forming in my heeled feet told me to take a break. I stopped by the bar for a mixed drink before heading back to the VIP section.

As I sat and sipped my drink, I looked around the club. My eyes glanced over to the adjacent section, where a group of guys and some girls filled the space. There was drunk banter and laughter going between some of the guys, some of the girls were dancing and taking pictures, and then, there was one guy looking out into the crowd.

I watched him as he watched the crowd. I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t pull my eyes away from him. Perhaps it was the way the low lighting cast an alluring shadow over him, or maybe it was the quiet intensity of his focus, but there was something about him that I couldn’t look away from. It was almost like a magnet pulling me in. I eyed the outline of his facial features, my eyes drawn to his strong jawline. His profile was attractive, and I found myself stuck, gazing for a bit too long and a bit too intently.

Suddenly, he turned his head, glancing in my direction. His eyes met mine, and for a moment, it was like everything in the room stopped. I felt a flutter in my stomach. I wanted to look away and pretend that I hadn’t just been caught staring, but there was something so intriguing about him that kept me stuck.

His eyes slowly glanced over me, a smile spreading across his lips. I watched as he rose from his seat. My eyes followed his movements, taking notice that he was headed in my direction, moving closer and closer until he was standing in front of me.

“I’m Nicholas.” He introduced himself with a smile. The sound of his voice was smooth and deep, immediately pulling me in.

I smiled back, offering my name in return.

“Nice to meet you. Would you mind if I joined you?”

I patted the space next to me. “Sure, Nicholas.”

He chuckled as he sat down beside me, the scent of his cologne enveloping me like a warm hug.

God, he smelled good.

I took in the handsome stranger next to me as I continued sipping my drink. He looked good from afar, but now as he sat beside me, I saw how attractive he really was. My eyes traveled upward from the dark pants he wore to the light shirt that was unbuttoned at the collar. The glint of the gold chain he wore caught my eye and his strong neck. He had a charming smile and alluring brown eyes. His presence was attractive, intriguing.

He noticed me staring again and smirked. His eyes held a hint of amusement. “Like what you see?”

I took another sip from my drink before answering, a smile teasing my lips.

There would be no denying it. “I do.”

“Good,” Nicholas leaned in a bit closer and spoke low against my ear. “Because I like what I see too.”

My body suddenly felt warm, and I had a feeling it wasn’t just because of the tequila. I bit my lip, and at the action, his eyes fell to them. He didn’t try to hide that he was looking. His gaze made my insides clench.

No, it definitely wasn’t just the tequila.

“So what brings you out tonight? Are you from here?” I asked, trying to shift from the sudden way he was making me feel.

“No, I live in LA. I’m just here with my guys for the weekend.”

“Same,” I smiled. “It’s my best friend’s birthday,” I looked out into the crowd. “My girls are out there somewhere dancing the night away.”

“And you’re sitting here with me,” he teased.

“I was minding my business. You decided to sit down.”

He chuckled. “No, you were staring, actually.” He moved a bit closer. “Tell me I’m lying?”

And there it was again—that flutter in my stomach.

For two strangers, the chemistry between Nicholas and I was strong and hard to ignore. Everything else seemed to fade away as we sat together completely immersed in each other. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but I felt like I could talk to Nicholas forever. He was charming and witty, and he had a quiet confidence that I found so very attractive. It surprised me how comfortable I felt with him and how effortless the conversation flowed. Talking to Nicholas felt natural, easy. It was as if this wasn’t the first encounter and we’d known each other all along.

“No way!” I threw my head back in laughter at the wild story Nicholas had just shared with me. “He was really naked?”

“Bro was ass naked running down the strip,” he laughed.

“Vegas is a wild place,” I shook my head in amusement.

“You’re beautiful, you know.” Nicholas said suddenly.

I blushed. I wasn’t someone who got flustered easily, but he had me feeling like a schoolgirl with a crush. I was about to tell him that when I heard the sound of my friends approaching voices. I looked towards them as they came into the section with curious looks on their faces.

“There you are,” my best friend began. “I was starting to think you got lost on your way back to the dance floor.”

“I’m so sorry. I guess I just lost track of the time.”

My friends glanced at Nicholas, giving me a knowing look. My best friend mouthed ‘fuck’ and I held back a laugh.

Nicholas offered them a polite smile before standing. “Let me let you get back to your night. I wouldn’t mind talking to you again if that’s cool?” he asked, his eyes hopeful.

I put my hand out and he placed his phone in my palm. We exchanged another smile as I added my number.

“Enjoy the rest of your night ladies and happy birthday,” he told my best friend before turning to leave.

She thanked him and after he walked away she turned to me. All three of my friends spoke at once.

“Oh my god!”

“He’s fucking hot!”

“Who the fuck was that?”

They all wanted to know who was the handsome guy who had stolen my attention. I knew that I just met him, but there was no denying the connection.

The rest of the night continued on with unending fun. By the time I got back to the hotel, I was floating somewhere between tipsy and drunk. My best friend’s birthday had been one for the books.

It was always fun times with my girls.

And then there was Nicholas, who still lingered in my mind. I had never felt so strongly connected to someone I didn’t even know. The thought of him made me feel butterflies.

I was showered and lying lazily across my hotel bed, scrolling through my phone when an unfamiliar number appeared across the top. The sight of it made my heart skip a beat in expectancy. I answered and a smooth voice filled my ear.

“Hey, beautiful.”

“Missing me already, huh?” I teased.

Nicholas chuckled. “What can I say… I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”

“Oh yea? Thinking about what?”

“That I would really like to see you again.”

I smiled at my phone. “Tonight?”

“If you’re up for it.”

I contemplated his invitation. Sure, the rational part of me knew that going to meet up with a guy that I only just met tonight was going against my better judgement. But mix tequila with the thoughts of a hot guy like him and what was good judgement?

We only live once, right?

Soon enough, I was making my way across the indoor bridge that connected our respective hotels and found Nicholas waiting for me. He looked even better than I remembered. His scent was still intoxicating as he pulled me into a hug.

“Promise me you’re not crazy and my night isn’t about to play out like an episode of American Horror Story.”

He laughed, placing a small, reassuring kiss to the top of my head. “I promise.”

The ride on the elevator seemed to go on forever as it made its way up to the top floor of The Aria, where Nicholas was staying in the Sky Villas. My heart thumped in anticipation as we headed down the hallway towards his hotel suite. The sound of the door unlocking only heightened my anticipation.

We entered the room, the door barely closing before his body was pressed against mine, capturing my lips in a kiss that left me breathless.

“Damn…” I said as I caught my breath. “Offer a girl a drink first, Nicholas.”

“Shit, I’m sor—”

I cut him off with another kiss. “Fuck manners.”

My hands gripped his shirt, pulling him closer into the kiss. It was deep and demanding. There was a hunger in the way I tasted his mouth with my tongue.

Feeling emboldened as I kissed him, I walked him backwards to the couch that was centered before a large window overlooking the Las Vegas Strip. The night sky enhanced the mood of the room, adding to the intensity that was building between us.

I shoved Nicholas down onto the couch and climbed on his lap. My lips eagerly met his again in a heated kiss. I wanted him and he wanted me just as badly. He slid a finger under the strap of my sundress, and then the other, sliding it down, the fabric falling to my waist. He groaned with appreciation as he eyed my bare breasts and reached out to cup them.

Leaning forward, he buried his face in my neck and kissed it slowly. “Damn, you’re so fucking beautiful.” He moved down to my collar bone, trailing kisses along it. Every part of my body was on fire and got even hotter when he moved down to my breasts. I moaned as his mouth closed around my nipple and he started a slow, gentle sucking. The sensation sent another heatwave throughout my body.

Nicholas gripped my hips and pulled me fully down against him. I could feel how hard he was underneath me, and I bit my lip as I began slow grinding on his lap. His hands moved from my hips to my ass and squeezed it, groaning into my ear. The pressure was building inside me with each roll of my hips.

As his groans and my soft moans filled the room, a bright light suddenly appeared. The familiar upbeat iPhone melody sounded as his phone went off beside us. Instinctively, my eyes fell on the incoming call, and even in my drunken and lust filled haze, I saw very clearly, the picture of a female on the screen and one unmistakable word—baby.

“Shit,” Nicholas said with a frustrated sigh, quickly grabbing his phone and pressing the side button to silence it. The now silent phone mirrored the silence in the room.

“Um,” I cleared my throat. “I think I should go.” I pulled up my dress and stood up quickly. A little too quickly because I felt my head spin. I raised my hand to my forehead to quell the sudden dizziness.

Nicholas reached out to grab my arm, his eyes seeming to ask what his voice couldn’t in the moment.

No, I wasn’t okay.

Reflexively, I snatched my arm away as the reality of what just happened came crashing down. I looked at him and then left without another word spoken. The feeling of disbelief, disappointment, and stupidity all hitting me at once.

The rest of the day went on with me trying my hardest not to think about what happened with Nicholas. He called and sent a text asking to talk, but they both went ignored. As disappointing as it was, I told myself that we were nothing more than just two strangers who met and had a moment.

It didn’t matter.

He didn’t matter.

I pushed away thoughts of him and focused on my weekend, choosing to not let what happened ruin what was left of Vegas. I was here to have fun with my girls and that’s exactly what I was going to do.

By nightfall, the pool party we were at was in full effect. The large pool was centered on the rooftop of the club surrounded by cabanas and neon lights. The night sky cast an illuminating glow against the water, making the night feel magical. Music thumped, alcohol flowed, and water splashed around as everyone engaged in fun.

“Hey, isn’t that your guy over there?” my friend asked suddenly and pointed in the direction of a group of guys nearby in the pool.

It didn’t take long for me to spot Nicholas, and as fate would have it, he spotted me at the same time. I looked away quickly, hoping he hadn’t seen me but knowing that he had. Soon enough, he was making his way through the pool over to me. When he reached me, I made sure my back was to him. He placed his hand on my shoulder before he spoke.

“Hey.”

“Are you stalking me now or something?” I turned to face him, immediately irritated at how good he looked shirtless.

He didn’t respond to that. Instead, his eyes looked apologetic as he told me. “I tried calling you.”

“I know, Nicholas. I didn’t want to talk. Still don’t.”

“But I do, if you would just let me explain.”

“Explain what? The fact that you conveniently forgot to mention you had a girlfriend.”

“I know and I’m sorry. It’s just—” he sighed. “It’s complicated. Things haven’t been good with us for a while now. I don’t even think we’re going to be together much longer.”

I looked at him incredulously. “So, what, things aren’t good with your girlfriend so you hook up with me? I was supposed to be what… your Vegas fling? Your little ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’?”

“No, it wasn’t like that. It’s not like that.” he sighed and ran a hand over his face. “If we could just go somewhere and talk. Please?”

“What more is there to talk about?”

“Everything,” he took a step forward. “Just tell me…tell me you didn’t feel something. Tell me you didn’t and I’ll leave you alone.”

“Nicholas, I—”

He moved in closer, his eyes locked on mine now. “I know you felt it.”

Everything in me wanted to step back as he inched closer. So dangerously close. I knew it was coming. I could see it in the way he looked at me. I could feel it in the way my breath hitched. I wanted to move, but I couldn’t. I wanted to push him away, but I didn’t. And when he leaned in and kissed me, I let him.

Before I could even process what I was doing, I was kissing him back. I wanted to curse myself. It was everything I shouldn’t have wanted but couldn’t resist. When we finally pulled away, I was sure that the lust in his eyes mirrored my own.

“Come on.” I grabbed his hand and enclosed it with mine.

It was now or never. I knew if I allowed myself another moments thought, I would come to my senses and tell Nicholas to go away, or better yet, go to hell. And maybe I should’ve. But my body was yearning for him in a way I didn’t even understand. It was like a fire had been lit that only he could put out.

We reached the hotel room and, much like the night before, we wasted no time getting lost in each other again. He kissed me deeply. Like he wanted to savor the moment. Like it was nothing else he would rather be doing.

I searched his eyes for anything that said this was a mistake, but all I saw was a man who knew what he wanted. And it was this moment with me.

Right here.

Right now.

But as much as I wanted it, I couldn’t help but question what we were doing. Did I really want to be that kind of girl?

“I feel like this is so wrong, but I don’t think I can stop.” I told him through kisses.

“Then don’t.” Nicholas said roughly, kissing me in a way that said he definitely had no intention to stop.

I wanted him to continue. I wanted him to stop. It felt wrong. It felt so right. I was a whirl of conflicting emotions. But as I felt his fingers moving along my inner thigh, traveling higher and higher until they reached my sweet spot, I knew I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to.

Nicholas slid my swimsuit bottoms off and parted my thighs, taking a pause to glance down at the sight of my glistening pussy. He slid his fingers up and down my wet folds.

“So fucking wet,” he brought his fingers to his mouth and tasted them. “So fucking sweet.”

He positioned himself between my legs and leaned down to kiss me again before he slid inside. My walls instantly closed around him like a warm hug. The feel of him was too good for words. So full. So hard. So perfect.

“Fuck…” he groaned, picking up the pace. “You feel so good.”

From the sound of his voice, to the way he filled me so perfectly, and the way he hit all the right places in all the right ways, the pressure was already building.

“Mmm…yes…right there,” I moaned in complete and utter bliss. My moans seemed to be his undoing because soon he was going a bit faster, a bit harder. It was pleasingly rough. It felt amazing.

Nicholas gripped my thighs and pushed them back towards my chest. The position had me completely open and submissive, and left nothing for me to do but take it. And he gave it to me. Relentlessly. My moans got louder as I felt him even deeper now. So deep that the pressure was building every time he hit that sweet spot within.

It made an ocean of me.

I ascended higher and higher with each stroke taking me to a place of euphoria I had never reached before. It felt almost sinful.

Was sex supposed to be this good?

I didn’t think I could reach higher heights, but then, in a rough voice, Nicholas told me to “turn over.”

I positioned myself on all fours and he knelt behind me, his hands gripping my ass and spreading it. I felt a wet sensation as his spit dripped down into my hole. His thumb then began to rub teasing circles around it. It was enough to make me come undone.

But he wasn’t finished with me yet.

He lowered his mouth to my pussy, making me gasp. His mouth was hot and wet, and his tongue skillfully licked and consumed me from behind. It felt so good. It felt better than anything I could have imagined. The sensation was overwhelming. I was on the verge of exploding. And then, his mouth closed around my clit and started a slow sucking, and I exploded.

Like a bomb.

It had me pulsing like a heartbeat and I had barely caught my breath before Nicholas slid his entire length into me in one smooth thrust. I closed my eyes and thought I saw stars as I ascended to another galaxy.

“You still with me, beautiful?” he asked with the confidence of a man who knew he had me right where he wanted. Unable to even speak, I made a small whimpering sound as he began a slow rhythm before picking up the pace.

“I’m gonna make you cum again, okay?” he told me. It wasn’t a question but rather a promise that he was about to fulfill. He gripped my hips and gave me long, hard strokes, igniting the fire in my core again.

“Oh my god…I’m so close,” I cried out. I could tell that he was getting closer too because his strokes were coming faster. Harder. I felt the sweat drip off him as he drilled me from behind.

He gripped my hair and pushed my head down into the bed, my back arched higher, as he hit my sweet spot repeatedly. My hand clenched the sheets as I felt the fire inside reaching its peak and I exploded again. He was right behind me, pulling out just in time to coat my back with his release.

We collapsed together on the bed, our chests heaving in and out as we found our breaths. I rolled over and as Nicholas lay beside me, I just looked at him.

“What the fuck?” I said with a small laugh. “You’re way too good at that.”

“I am, huh?”

I nudged him in the arm. “Shut up,”

He laughed and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Best night ever, beautiful.”

And it was.

It had been the best sex of my life, but it didn’t happen at all like I would have planned. There was the girlfriend he had that he’d omitted to tell me about, and the cheating that I had helped him do. None of it was right, and yet, being with him still somehow felt right.

How could something wrong feel so very right?

As I thought about Nicholas and our weekend in Vegas, meeting him wasn’t something I expected, but it was something I wouldn’t forget. I didn’t know what would come of it, if anything would at all.

Maybe all this weekend had been was a chance encounter. Maybe it was a chance at something more. I didn’t know. I couldn’t be sure. The only thing that was certain was that whatever happened, we would always have Vegas.

[tikosblogg]

Okay but like….Best friend Noah, becoming all possessive over you, when a random dude stares at you a little too hard 😩❤️

Part Two Here

I was sat up on the kitchen counter, resting my head against the cabinets behind me, tucked into the corner. Noah stood to the side of me, leaning back against the counter top as a handful of friends stood in a relaxed half-circle around us, talking and sharing jokes. It felt intimate and safe, a little bubble of joy amidst the crowd of twirling bodies and laughter drifting through the open windows.

Jesse, with his animated expressions and hand gestures, had snagged everyone's attention with a story from an old touring mishap—something about a raccoon and a dumpster fire.

A gaze was fixed on me, unsettling in its intensity. At first, I glanced around, thinking it was just my imagination, but a quick sweep of the room brought my eyes to a guy I barely knew, standing awkwardly at the edge of the group. His attention was locked on my thighs, an unsettling hunger in his gaze, and my heart thudded with discomfort. I instinctively glanced down and realized my dress had ridden up more than I intended, revealing more skin than it was supposed to.

While keeping my composure, I shifted to adjust the fabric, tugging it down, but my mind began racing. Jesse’s story faded into a murmur as the weight of that stare pressed down on me. My pulse quickened, and in a moment of anxious fidgeting, I considered climbing off the counter entirely, but I didn't want to cause a scene or draw more attention.

I looked over to Noah to give some lame made up excuse to leave the group, until my words died in my throat. I noticed his eyes set in a hard stare to my left. The look on his face was serious, his stare cold. I slowly turned my head in the direction he was staring, to see him eyeing the guy, that was still currently, burning holes through my thighs. Noah suddenly stepping into the guys line of vision.

He moved in front of me, positioning himself between my thighs, his back facing me like a shield. The warmth of his body radiated towards me, and I felt an immediate sense of relief washing over me.

Noah leaned back, slightly into me my chest softly grazing his back, and turned to shoot the guy another cold, piercing stare that spoke volumes. My body shuddered at the sudden possessiveness Noah displayed toward me. His voice suddenly filled the air, making everyone around go silent. “Got a problem?” His voice was calm, but held an eerie edge to it.

Without a word, the guy took a step back, eyes wide, and then another step, shaking his head quickly retreating from the kitchen entirely. I let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding, my shoulders finally relaxing as I leaned my forehead against Noah’s back in whispering a “thanks.” The tension slowly slipping away.

He turned his head slightly over his shoulder, revealing a small, reassuring smile. "No problem, sweetheart." he said, his voice steady and low. It sent a jolt of warmth through me, weaving a complicated mix of emotions in my chest. I knew Noah had my back, always—yet this was different. There was a possessiveness in that simple act, a reminder that I wasn't just a friend to him; I was treasured.

I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, glancing up at him with a sheepish grin, feeling the rush of camaraderie morphing into something deeper. As Jesse resumed his tale, I found myself fully in the moment again, but with a newfound warmth that lingered just a little stronger than before..

Instead of moving back to his spot next to me, Noah relaxed deeper into me, his back completely pressing against my chest. A delightful heat spread through me, igniting each nerve ending with that rush of adrenaline. I couldn’t help but feel a tingle of excitement at having him so close.

I knew it was wrong. To think of my best friend this way, the one I sought solace in during rough patches, the one who many people saw as just a bestie and nothing more. I shouldn’t be feeling this way about him. But as he laughed with the others, my heart raced at the thought that maybe I wasn’t the only one who felt the tension between us.

My thighs unconsciously tensed around his hips as I tried to ground myself against this newfound sensation—the thrill of intimacy wrapped up in friendship. He must have felt it too, because his laughter stuttered for a split second as his hand reached back. Slowly, reverently, his large hand slid down the side of my thigh, making me shiver from the touch. His fingers were warm, gentle, but there was an underlying strength in his hold, like he could both protect and consume me if he chose.

I swallowed hard, my breath hitching in my throat as his hand traveled further, down my calf, until his fingers lightly but deliberately wrapped around my ankle. It was an entirely innocent gesture, maybe, but it sent fireworks through me. I could feel his heartbeat against my chest, steady and alive, matching the rapid beat of my own heart in a chorus of tension.

Noah turned slightly, just enough that I could see the smirk gracing his lips, that perfect smile deepening. "What's the matter?" he teased, his voice low and playful, not quite matching the serious tension in the air around us.

My pulse quickened further. Did he notice the way I was feeling? Was he teasing, or was there an underlying truth to his words? “N-nothing,” I replied, trying to maintain a facade of calm while my insides twisted with a mixture of desire and uncertainty.

His fingers tightened slightly around my ankle, and in that moment, the laughter of our friends faded away until it was just the two of us—the space around us pulsing with unspoken words and hidden truths. The air felt charged, electric with what lay between us, each heartbeat echoing a question that had lingered unspoken for far too long.

I finally said fuck it, and leaned in slightly closer, pressing my lips to the edge of his shoulder, feeling him stiffen just slightly at the unexpected contact. The initial shock was quickly replaced by more tension, and I could almost feel the struggle within him as I watched the playful spark in his eyes change into something deeper. Something more.

“You should be reeaal careful,” he murmured, barely above a whisper, his eyes locking onto mine with fierce intensity. All I could see or focus on was him.

I felt a rush of confidence, emboldened by the heat of our connection. “Or what?.”

[burst-of-iridescent]

The Choice of Compassion: A Scene Analysis of Aang vs Zuko

should aang have killed ozai?

the age old question. the discourse secondary only to the infamous kat.aang vs zutara ship war. the argument that's been raging for sixteen long, long years and inspired dozens upon dozens of thinkpieces on either side.

so naturally, i'm here to add one more that no one asked for.

now, this debate keeps getting mischaracterized as The Side That Respects Pacifism vs The Side That Wants A Preteen To Commit Brutal Murder when, for the most part, i don't think anyone is really staking their life on the homicide hill. the real issue most people take with aang's arc in the finale isn't him sparing ozai, but rather the deus ex-machina mechanism through which he's able to do so. i agree with that, but i would also take it further to argue that the real problem is that aang's ending is not thematically and narratively consistent with the rest of his arc as set up in the show.

to illustrate this, let's take a look at another scene that plays with similar themes: zuko choosing to save zhao in the siege of the north.

the basics of both scenes are the same: both boys choose, against all logic and common sense, to spare someone who would never show them the same mercy. when it comes down to compassion versus violence, they choose compassion, even at risk to themselves.

but where the siege of the north differs from sozin's comet is that zuko choosing to save zhao is thematically consistent with his arc in season 1, and aligns with where it will go in seasons 2 and 3.

zuko's journey throughout the show is one of rediscovery. he has to find his way back to who he used to be, before his family and his nation warped his perception of right and wrong, and forced him into believing he had to become someone he didn't want to be. it's clear as early as the storm episode that zuko is fundamentally kind, and the person he is now is as a result of being indoctrinated in a culture that perverted violence and cruelty into honour and strength.

in trying to save zhao, the personification of the fire nation's worst qualities and most twisted teachings, zuko turns against the values he's been raised with most of his life and instead chooses to remain true to himself and what he believes is right. it's a triumphant moment because it's zuko returning to the heart of who he is, and who he's truly supposed to be.

and even though his decision may be logically unsound (why risk yourself trying to save someone who tried to kill you?) you don't see anyone complaining that zuko shouldn't have tried at all, because his choice here is a direct - even if brief - resolution to the internal conflict the show has previously established for his character. the narrative consistency of the set-up and payoff allows the audience to recognize the thematic cohesion of this moment in zuko's arc - which is what makes it so powerful and satisfying.

so, the question is: does the same apply to aang's choice not to kill ozai?

the argument supporting aang's decision is usually something as follows: "aang sparing ozai is his way of remaining true to his people and making sure they aren't forgotten. it's a powerful symbol of how he's keeping their culture and beliefs alive even though the fire nation tried to wipe them out."

now that's not a bad argument, in theory. the problem, though, is that if this is the resolution of aang's arc, it has to be a direct response to a conflict established in said arc... and remaining true to air nomad values is not a struggle the show ever set up for aang until the finale.

not once in any of the previous seasons does aang seem to be forgetting his people's ideals, or losing his identity through assimilation, or struggling to reconcile his air nomad beliefs with the ideas he's encountering in this new, changed world. there isn't a long-term, sustained arc about him being worried or concerned about air nomad culture dying out completely, or about taking on the burden of keeping it alive. in fact, the only episode that does reckon with this theme in any capacity - the northern air temple - seems to push the opposite message: that aang should move on and adapt to this changing world instead of remaining mired in the past, and protecting the culture of a people long gone.

(note: i don't like how the NAT episode handled this theme, but for the purposes of this post, we will take it as it was written.)

both zuko and aang are characters whose arcs revolve around change, but if zuko's arc is about moving back to who he truly is, then aang's arc is about moving forward. it's about going from the last airbender to the avatar - about drawing wisdom from different places, about immersing himself in the practices, beliefs and cultures of the other nations, and learning to value them as he values his own.

it's the classic want vs need: what aang wants is to be nothing more than a goofy, peaceful airbender but what he needs is to become a fully-realized avatar, the embodiment of four nations in one. and this conflict is established and re-established repeatedly over three seasons, most especially in his struggle to learn earthbending and firebending, both of which called for him to adopt new perspectives and beliefs contrary to his own.

this is why aang refusing to kill ozai feels so narratively unfulfilling, because it's the complete antithesis of what the show established for aang's narrative over three seasons. the plot point of his absolute pacifism not only comes out of left field (where was this problem when he was going to battle ozai during the eclipse?), it's also incongruous with the depiction of other air nomads in the series (both yangchen and gyatso don't seem to practice absolute pacifism) and with where aang's own arc appeared to be leading.

additionally, it also conflicts with the thematic clash that the aang vs ozai fight is supposed to represent: what was meant to be balance and harmony vs dominance and supremacy now turns into... air nomad beliefs vs fire nation beliefs, which runs contrary to the fundamental message of the entire show. not exactly what you want for the final battle between your protagonist and antagonist!

all of this is not to say that aang should have gone turbo avatar state on ozai and singlehandedly yeeted him into the spirit world. but there were a dozen other ways to handle ozai's end: give him a disney death, let aang learn energybending of his own accord and incapacitate him the way katara took down azula, or - my personal favourite - bring in the spirits in a neat parallel to the book 1 finale, and have ozai's death be a consequence of the imbalance he propagated in the world (i've always felt the avatar being the spirit bridge was a plotline that kinda got shafted in book three, and bringing back someone like koh, for instance, would've slapped).

the point is that for the resolution of aang's arc to be thematically consistent with the established narrative (the validity of this narrative, and whether it should have been different, is another point entirely, but it cannot be denied that this is what the show chose to go with), he needed to place the values and beliefs of the other nations on equal footing with his own, and win because of this willingness to draw from all nations instead of relying solely on his own.

ultimately, remaining true to his compassionate, peaceful nature is not a struggle in aang's narrative the way that it is in zuko's, which is why him choosing to spare ozai doesn't have anywhere near the emotional resonance or satisfaction of zuko reaching out to zhao. meanwhile, the conflict that does characterize aang's arc - being forced to become the avatar - never comes to a meaningful resolution the way that zuko's does. rather, it's thrown out the window in favour of a last minute plot point that robs aang of both agency and development, and destroys the thematic cohesion of his narrative for nothing.

[whenmemorydies]

The restaurant could be good.

Why did Syd call herself an accomplice in 3x05 Children?

I was re-reading @yannaryartside's fantastic meta about this (and you should too) and it got me thinking. In their meta, OP asks:

Is Syd (or her leaving) supposed to be a wake-up call to Carmy? That he fucked up something that brought him genuine joy and connection because Syd knew the real him, while Claire liked Logan and Carmy's brokenness? The way Claire would enable him in his bad tendencies? How is he gonna realize all that?

Honestly, I don't know what these writers have planned for how Carmy comes to the realisation that season 3 Carmy is not it lol. But I have one suspicion about how it might go, and it has less to do with Carmy and more to do with Syd.

We have to go back to season 1 where it all started. Where Sydney met Carmy and articulated within the first three episodes of the show, her hopes for her future and the future of The Beef.

Recall 1x02 Hands and the convo between her and Richie in Richie's car:

Sydney: You know the restaurant could be good. Like I know you know that. Like it doesn't have to be a place where the food is shitty, and where everybody acts shitty and feels shitty. Like it could be a good legit spot.

Cut to season 3, after Syd and Carmy have overhauled the restaurant and everyone is...well...acting shitty, feeling shitty and the food is looking like a damn mess:

Also recall the alley chat in 1x03 Brigade:

Sydney: You know, I think this place could be so different from all the other places we've been at. But in order for that to be true, we need to run things different.

Then cut to season 3 where we have EC Carmy decidedly not running things different at The Bear. Instead, he repeats toxic communication and management styles from his past:

Recall 1x05 Sheridan and Sydney's vulnerability with Carmy about why she started her catering business, Sheridan Road, after leaving the restaurant scene:

Sydney: Like it was the first time I didn't have a complete and utter psychopath behind me screaming, and pushing and yelling, and I thought I wanted that, you know?

Cut to season 3 and, well, you know the drill: behold our fav Executive Jeff acting like an utter psychopath and partaking in some screaming, pushing and yelling.

So what happened in season 3? Why have things gone in almost the exact opposite direction of what Sydney hoped for in season 1?

To my mind, the answer to that question lies in season 2 and what both Syd and Carmy were doing during that season. Yes, Syd spent most of season 2 setting up the restaurant alone while Carmy played hooky with Claire. But what was more striking to me was the contrast in effort that both of them put into actually doing things different at the restaurant (as per their pledge to each other during the alley chat of 1x03 Brigade).

Breaking cycles

I agree with @yannaryartside: Carmy playing hooky with Claire in season 2 was him numbing himself (i.e. Claire is the drug that he was addicted to for this purpose). I also reckon he was using Claire as another way to keep Mikey in his life - a reverse-engineered haunt - particularly while the most obvious physical manifestation of Mikey in the present day (The Beef itself) was being transformed into something else entirely. That kind of change - that kind of loss - couldn't have been easy for Carmy, particularly as The Bear was something he had wanted to open with this brother in the first place. I get why Carmy would "self-medicate" with Claire to try and numb some of the pain he may have felt, I really do.

But while Carmy was spending so much of his time either avoiding or dulling his pain, it meant he had little time or energy for working through these things. We know that he has been making attempts at this particularly in relation to his familial trauma and grief (as evidenced by his attendance at Al-Anon meetings). But throughout seasons 1-3 we see almost no work on Carmy's part to address the abuse and trauma that he's experienced in professional kitchens. We do not see him trying to prepare himself for the task of leading an entire restaurant. The first and only time we see Carmy start this process is in the last episode of season 3, when he bravely confronts Chef David Fields at the funeral dinner for Ever.

Now admittedly, Sydney does not have the history of familial abuse that Carmy does. But as discussed above, she does share a history of professional abuse in the restaurant industry with him. Its why the two of them make that promise to each other to do things different in 1x03 Brigrade.

To this end, Sydney spends almost all of season 2 working to enhance her leadership skills to make herself better for the staff she'll be leading as CDC of The Bear. Recall her book, Leading with the Heart by Mike Krzyzewski (Chicago-born, Polish-American and hugely successful former basketball coach of the Duke University Blue Devils and the American national basketball team), gifted to her by her father, Emmanuel:

In the beginning of 2x07 Forks, we follow Sydney as she surveys The Bear during renovations and while she works on a menu idea. This opening sequence features the following narration from an interview with Krzyzewski (which reiterates the show's ongoing message that none of us are alone, particularly when we take the time to listen to one another):

The other thing is that you're not gonna get there alone. You know, be on a team. You know, surround yourself with good people and learn how to listen.

You're not gonna learn with you just talking.

And when you do talk, converse. Don't make excuses. Figure out the solution. And you don't have to figure it out yourself.

I always wanted to be part of a team and obviously I wanted to lead that team. You know, [...] what an interesting life it is to be a leader.

The advice Coach K gives in the above monologue is also mirrored in Marcus' eulogy for his mother where he spoke about the importance of listening. It's also gold advice for how to be consistent in relationship to others. I've spoken here about the themes of chaos and consistency on this show and how one of Carmy's battles is understanding that,

[C]onsistency in terms of a product (e.g. a clean kitchen every night or immaculately plated dishes each service) and consistency in terms of relationships are two different things. You can strive for consistent products but destroy all your relationships in the pursuit of them. Conversely, if you strive for consistency in your relationships, you may not always make consistent products (and quite frankly, that's OK - is a perfectly plated agnolotti dish worth Carmy's relationship with Tina? Is driving Syd to a panic attack worth Carmy's pursuit of a star? I think not on both counts).

Sydney took the time throughout season 2 to learn how to be consistent and effective as a leader. She knew - and knows - that simply being an excellent chef is not going to cut it when it comes to running a restaurant and leading a team. This took time and effort on her part but she was committed to making The Bear different to all the other places she'd been at, so she did it. I should also note that Syd did this internal work while menu-planning and trying to push herself culinarily. She was doing so much lifting. Jealousy of Claire aside, I am surprised Syd didn't rip Carmy a new one when he talked about rejigging the menu while at his girl-who's-a-friend's house lmao.

Cut to season 3 though, and Syd is running The Bear with Carmy who has spent the entire season not having put in the work to change the chemistry in their restaurant. Of course Syd tries to counter this as best she can. She runs interference with the team and gently tries to steer the ship. But as she says in 3x09 Apologies, things have been off at The Bear.

So when Syd tells us in 3x05 Children that she's an accomplice, I can't help but feel that in her heart, Sydney believes she's an accomplice in the betrayal of their vision - Sydney and Carmy's shared vision for The Bear - from season 1. The vision she worked so hard during season 2 to bring to fruition.

By season 3, they've betrayed it and each other: family style is no where to be found and The Bear looks and feels like all the other places Syd and Carmy have been at. While exhausting for Carmy ("I'm so fucking sick of this"), this would have been devastating for Syd, given all she's done to try and avoid this outcome. You can understand why she'd consider an offer like Shapiro's (though we know she's not going to take it).

Given the events of 3x10, where Carmy confronts Chef David and has that heart-to-heart with Chef Terry, its clear his perspective on Michelin mode is starting to shift. I think the threat of losing Sydney will scare the shit out of him too. But what I think will prompt Carmy to actually change his behaviour in season 4 is the realisation that he too is an accomplice and has betrayed not just himself but Sydney and their team as well. Season 4 will necessarily need to be told, at least in part, from Syd's perspective so that the impact of this on Syd is made clear to the audience (Storer and Calo, are you listening? Its me, a desperate fan). And once Carmy recognises his role in continuing the traumatic professional legacy championed by Chef Fields, he can get into working through and breaking that cycle. I'll be seated and ready for it.

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Twisted Kaijuland Prologue (2025 Rewrite)

AT LAAAAAST!!!! I have finally completed the rewrite of an AU I've been wanting to work more on, but I'd lost interest in the direction it was going at the time. Now I feel more saatisfied with this and hope to continue sharing these ideas with everyone!

Note: there are LOTS of changes to how the story originally started, so please keep that in mind as I work to continue figuring out more and more of this AU and how everyone works. That means some (aka a good chunk of) scenes and scenarios will be completely different from before, mainly to make it flow and make better sense compared to my other AUs. But I will be keeping up the originals, so don't worry!

Also random, but I believe this version is much longer than the original prologue was! 😂 Hope you all enjoy this retelling! And I will be uploading this on AO3 as well!

WARNING: Minor and explicit language (cursing) and blood mention. Going forward there's a possibility of there being more blood given the nature of the kaiju, but I'll be sure to properly warn when those do pop up. Meanwhile, most of the storytelling in the beginning will be Yuu exploring the island and getting to interact with each of the kaiju packs!

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

Prologue: Found Astray in a New World

Beep……

Beep……

Beep……

Bwoop…

The steady beeps rang in Yuu’s ears as they drifted in and out of consciousness, lulled by the rush of crashing ocean waves that coaxed them to fall back to sleep. Yet the discomfort they felt on their back as the heat of the sun pulled their mind back to the surface, tempered by the cool breeze filled with the smell of sea salt. A pained groan escaped as they forced their body up, sand clinging to their damp skin as they stared through the haze at their surroundings in the faint morning light on the horizon. ‘W…where…am I?’ they thought, panic slowly creeping in as they realized they didn’t recognize anything. ‘Huh?? Where-? What-?? How did I get here? Why can’t I-!’

A sharp pain hit as they groaned, clutching their head and hissing as they waited for it to pass.

“Why…can’t I remember?” they uttered aloud, their voice cracking a little from thirst.

Yuu sat in silence as they waited, hoping that the headache would pass quickly while trying to sort through their clouded thoughts. Fragments of memories—of shapes and sounds so unrecognizable they couldn’t be real—scattered no matter how hard they focused. And yet while those memories eluded them…some were too nightmarish to be forgotten.

Long, narrow faces with gaunt skin and fangs sharper than needles, maws and pores oozing a viscous black ichor that stained and burned the ground it touched.

Sharp, wicked claws attached to long, gangly arms that pulled and dragged the bloated and serpentine bodies across the ground at inhuman speeds.

Flashes of teeth so close to their face they could smell the rot of its breath.

‘These are just nightmares,’ they thought to themselves, taking a deep breath to try and ease the fear clutching their chest in a vice. ‘They’re not real—they’re just fragments of bad dreams from my memories!’

Memories you don’t have, a small, nagging voice in the back of their mind chided them. You don’t know where you are. You’re lost and alone…do you even remember who you are? Who you’re supposed to be?

BEEEEEEEEEP!!

“Wah!?” they yelped as they fell backwards into the sand, staring at the source with wide eyes. Around their ankle—glinting in the sunlight like a beacon—was a metal band. A cursory glance revealed a near-invisible seam, a soft red light blinking erratically like it was seeking…something. “What is this thing?” they uttered, reaching down to try and pry it off. It refused to budge, tight enough prevent it from being slipped off yet loose enough to wriggle a finger underneath. Whoever made this ensured there was soft material underneath, keeping the metal from rubbing against their skin.

Confused and frustrated, they turned their attention back to their current situation: finding out where they were, getting help, and finding a source of food and water. Knowing which of the three would be easiest to achieve, they began walking along the beach to find a fruit-bearing tree towards the strangely shaped rocks.

The sand was soft beneath their bare feet, Yuu taking note of their attire and realizing they were wearing long gray pants and a strangely designed long-sleeved top. They noticed what looked like a faded black symbol resembling an upside-down triangle with a boat-like shape. Around their neck they felt an odd band, though what it was they couldn’t tell—though at least it didn’t seem to be restricting their breathing.

“What is even happening to me?” they uttered, feeling around for any injuries they hadn’t noticed. There were no bumps, no tender spots, no cuts or scratches…nothing to explain the massive gap in their memories. “If this is some sort of prank, I-“

Thunk!

“Yeow!” Hopping on one foot, Yuu hissed and glared at the rock…before realizing it was too reflective and shiny to be one. Cautiously, they started digging around the object, taking care to avoid the sharp edges. More and more was uncovered as they dug, shoveling sand away until they finally managed to make out something. The same marking as the one on their top, only…different somehow. Like someone had tried to alter it to appear more monstrous or dangerous. “What in the…world,” they uttered, finally looking up and staring at in shock and horror.

As the sun rose higher, the light revealed more and more that the strangely shaped rocks they’d seen weren’t made of stone. Twisted and mangled, Yuu found themselves staring at a massive graveyard of ships and planes. As far as the eye could see it stretched, creating a maze of metal corpses jutting out of the sand like the bones of a monstrous creature. Warily they ventured forth, watching their step and avoiding the jagged metal pieces that reached out like lost souls seeking to drag them down into the sand. Slowly they began to notice other materials in the mix, hulls of wooden ships rotting away yet somehow maintaining some semblance of their shape.

Peering inside one of the ships, they spotted a scores of barrels and crates—some broken revealing their contents. Furs, herbs, spices, cloth…all relatively in decent condition, if worn down by time and scavenging critters. In the corner, they noticed a large coffer of coins and jewels—completely untouched.

“What did all of this?” they muttered aloud, taking a closer look around at the condition of the ships and planes. As the sunlight revealed more and more, so too did they notice the full extent of the damage. Some bore gashes along the sides—some a singular line while others bore more than one in a row. Some were warped with chunks dripping like frozen droplets, as though something corrosive had burned through the metal and cooled in an instant. Others…

Others were impaled with black crystals.

They felt ill as they approached one of the crystals, a dark, noxious green light pulsing within that seemed to grow brighter as they moved closer. Wisps of eerie gray mist slowly cascaded down from the stones, where they could see a pool of inky ichor at the base of the plane’s frame. For a brief moment, they thought they heard…whispers coming from within.

Stay away!, their mind seemed to scream even as their body crept forward. Danger! Evil! Vile! Beautif-

In an instant they stopped, quickly backing away before they could touch the tip of the crystal and collapsing with a wheeze. “What was that?” they uttered, shaking their head. They stared up at the crystal, only to avert their gaze once more when they felt the strange pull again. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t natural and it wasn’t safe. Climbing to their feet, they decided it was time to leave the ship graveyard and continue their search for food and shelter. “This place will be a last resort,” they uttered, shivering as they moved away from the inky black crystals.

The sun was steadily rising now as they continued their search, somehow managing to escape the giant metal deathtrap maze and into a wide clearing. Up ahead they could see a jungle tree line, immediately recognizing the cluster of yellow at the top of one of the trees. Relieved to have found a food source, they ran as fast as they could towards the trees. As they grew closer and closer, however, their excitement turned to confusion as they slowed to a trot. Still the trunks of the trees continued to grow bigger, dwarfing Yuu as they stopped and stared up in horror at the sight of the trees looming over them like towers.

“What the hell is going on,” they uttered, slowly turning in a circle as they realized just how small they were compared to the foliage. Plants that should have come up to their waist or shoulders were large enough to form a canopy, shielding them from the steadily growing harsh sunlight. Trees that should have been easily 15-20 feet tall were easily three times that height, fruit that should have been easy to pluck and gather now swayed threateningly like a boulder ready to be dropped.

Buzzing overhead caught their attention as they looked up, pure terror filling their veins as they saw what could only be described as a giant dragonfly-like creature flitting about. It hovered close to a flower, the downdraft of its wings buffeting Yuu with strong winds as it landed on a petal—and disappearing the moment the flower snapped shut around its body, clamping down like a vice as it struggled to escape.

“Nope! Nope, nope, nope, nope!” was all Yuu managed to say before they scurried away, not wanting to find out if anything else had a taste for flesh. “Giant food is one thing, but I draw the line at man-eating plants!”

Giant food, giant bugs, giant plants, a deserted island, and an entire graveyard of ships and planes? This had to be a fever dream or a nightmare of epic proportions! Yet it was getting harder and harder to find logic in anything they were seeing. None of this should even be possible, and yet…here they were, stranded in the middle of nowhere with no idea of who they were, how they got here, or even why they were here. And if the insects and plants were enormous, what else was even bigger than them? They didn’t even know if there were any other survivors out the-

‘Get a grip, Yuu!’ they thought, managing to stick close to the edge of the jungle on their right and keeping the shore on their left side. ‘Panicking won’t help anything, and you need to stay focused. Food will have to wait, so let’s just find water and shel-‘ the ground collapsed under their right foot, sending Yuu sliding down a steep incline with loud, “Aaaah!!”

Whud!

“…ow,” they uttered, groaning as they slowly sat up. Glancing back where they came from, they spotted the steep slope that had been concealed by one of the leaves. The dirt was smoothed away to reveal red and yellow clay, as though someone had carved out the opening with a tool to remove any bumps or ridges. Realizing that it would be too steep a climb to get out of the ravine, they sighed and shook their head. “Great…is everything on this island trying to kill-”

Thoom…

“…me…” Their voice trailed off as another thud hit the ground, the earth vibrating beneath their feet as they slowly turned towards the densest part of the forest. Something was coming, the sound of branches creaking and snapping reaching Yuu’s ears as they slowly started to creep behind a large rock formation—before finally noticing the razor-sharp teeth and the empty eye socket. They clamped their hands over their mouth as a massive black shape began to emerge, ducking into the gap of the skull until they could peek through the socket.

The creature that emerged was gigantic, towering beyond anything they could imagine as it crept into the area on four legs. The sunlight fell across its body, black and green feathers gleaming while its beak—wickedly sharp and deadly—was slick with something damp.

‘What…what the fuck is that thing?!’ Yuu thought, pressing their body against the inside of the skull as they watched the monster move.

It sniffed the air, its four glowing golden eyes scanning the area. It sniffed at the colorful crystal formations at the base of the tree. A pair of thin, small arms extending from its chest as the strange hands grasped at the stones, snapping them from the base. When it opened its beak, the sun glinted off of sharp rows of teeth before it crunched down on the crystals. Once the crystals were gone, it sniffed around for a moment before it stood on its hind legs and leaned against one of the trees. Its neck stretched out further than they thought was possible, its sharp beak plucking at the fruit that seemed so ridiculously small in comparison. From this angle, they could see a pair of massive wings pressed tightly to its sides and a long serpentine tail lazily sweeping across the ground.

‘Okay…whatever the hell that thing is, it seems only interested in fruit, so maybe it won’t mistake me for a bug and eat me…?’

Something skittered across the bark near the monster’s claw, and a moment later its head had darted forward. A giant spider-like bug with crystalline spikes was squirming in its beak before it tossed its head back, swallowing it whole before continuing to pluck at the fruit with a distinctly happy trill.

‘…yeah, that makes more sense,’ they thought, feeling their heart beating heavily in their chest. ‘Dammit…I can’t run or that thing will spot and eat me like that spider! Maybe I can just…wait here in this skull and-”

Beep-bwoop!

“Shit!” Yuu whispered under their breath as they immediately reached down to the ankle bracelet. To their horror, the bird-lizard monster’s head immediately snapped towards their direction, the two feathery ears popping up and swiveling left and right—searching for the sound again. ‘Dammit, why is the universe trying to kill me?!’

THOOM…THOOM…

Each footstep from the monster made their heart jump as they pressed their body against the wall of the skull, bracing their feet against the other side to avoid falling over and making more noise. They could hear the beast sniff the air, the musty smell of rotting meat and fruit washing over the area while something loud scraped against the ground around their hiding spot.

‘Please don’t beep again, please don’t let it find me, please, please, please, please!’ they thought, staring at the bracelet as the light blinked mockingly up at them. The monster sniffed—horrifyingly close now—as a wave of hot air rushed through the eye socket. Through the gaps in the skull’s teeth, they could see its shadow blocking out the sunlight, the tips of what they realized were its massive claws beginning to curl underneath their hiding spot and starting to lift. ‘I just woke up, I don’t want to die!’

Just then, in the distance, a loud, echoing roar filled the air.

Immediately the bird-lizard let out a sound akin to a chirp as it dropped their shelter back down, the quiet crooning it was making earlier devolving into a terrifying hissing snarl and caw. The earth shook as Yuu heard it bound away, branches and leaves snapping in its path as they heard it barrel through the forest. Then…

Silence.

They waited, heart racing as they listened for any sign of it returning. Minutes felt like hours before—finally—they cautiously emerged. Shaken, Yuu was horrified to see the deep gouges in the earth from where the creature had been digging with its claws, realizing just how close they were to being eaten.

Cursing under their breath, Yuu pointed at the bracelet and said, “Once I figure out how to get you off, I’m breaking you with the biggest hammer I can find.”

Be-beep! Beep-bwoop!

They glared at it and asked, “What now?”

“Signal connection: acquired,” a mechanical voice from the wall said, the sudden speaker startling Yuu as they pressed their back to the skull, looking around warily. “Scanning…no threats detected nearby. Opening access port. Please stand by.”

Chk! Tsssss….

Right before their eyes they watched as the stone wall split open, revealing a large metal door that slid open into a dark tunnel. “Please step forward,” the mechanical voice commanded as the lights turned on inside.

Glancing back at the path the monster had disappeared through, Yuu reluctantly obeyed and entered just as the entrance shut with a decisive tssss. Now they found themselves stuck between two locked doors with no visible way out. “Okay…now what?” they asked aloud, looking around in confusion. A thought occurred to them as they uttered, “Please tell me I didn’t just walk into a trap.”

“Please stand by for entry permission,” the mechanical voice said. “Analyzing bracer code…error! Error! Code cannot be found in database.” Movement out of the corner of their eye drew their attention to the inner door, a panel opening on the side as a camera-like device emerged. “Please stand still while scanning is in progress.” A red beam of light shot out, the thin line moving from their feet to their head before vanishing, the camera retracting with a click. “Scan acquired. Searching for facial recognition files…search complete. No staff record on file. DNA signature cannot be verified. Please stand by while I contact the current on duty director for further instruction.”

“Wait, what’s going on? What is this place?” Yuu asked, searching the room for something to focus on. “Where are we?”

“Status update: cannot establish contact with current on duty director,” the computer voice said, making them wonder if it was canned phrases. “Attempting communication with secondary duty director……attempt unsuccessful. Reevaluating follow-on directive…complete. Beginning creation of temporary visitor profile.” The panel on the other side of the door opened, this time revealing a small screen and a microphone. “Please place your hand on the screen and state your name to begin registration process.”

Gingerly placing their hand palm down on the screen, Yuu leaned in and said, “Um…Yuu?” They jumped but held their hand to the screen when it began to scan, the glass surface pleasantly warm to the touch compared to the chill of the room.

“Name and handprint scan accepted. Creating temporary visitor profile…profile complete. Welcome Uhm Yuu.”

“I-it’s just Yuu,” they said quickly.

“Please report to the main office for assistance, Uhm Yuu,” the computer voice continued, the door sliding open as lights began to turn on inside. A path of green lights appeared along the floor, creating a pathway for them to follow. “Once in the main office, you will be provided with instructions, your new staff badge, and your new Multi Information Record Assistance tool. Access to the lab facilities will be limited without the badge and tool, so please ask for assistance from the main office if you find yourself unable to enter certain workspaces. If you lack the current clearance level, you will not be permitted to enter the space. Please ensure you follow proper protocol when storing collected samples before proceeding through the decontamination and hazard chambers. Have a nice day!”

“…what is this place and why does it sound shady as heck?” Yuu uttered as they shook their head. Knowing they had no other options and didn’t want to be outside, they followed the green lights.

It was…eerily quiet. They expected to see someone—anyone—in this place rushing around or even just working, yet it was silent. Each room they passed by was either dark or lit up but empty, various tools and computer equipment scattered about in the gloomy space. Streams of data flickered across the monitors and transparent screens, occasionally displaying diagrams of weird and disturbing creatures that looked nothing short of a nightmare’s dream! Only one monitor, however, caught their eye as they stared, noting how oval its shape was and the ornate serpent-like frame that decorated the edges of the cracked surface. Instead of a reflection, however, bright green flames flickered within the dark depths, the screen glitching as a broken white mask blinked in and out of existence.

Whatever had happened in this place, it was clear to Yuu that this place had long since been abandoned. A struggle happened from what they could tell, though it looked less man-caused and more…sinister. The walls were dented and marred with deep gashes, patches of dried blood stained the floors the further they ventured in. On one wall mirror, they saw a bloody handprint that slid down before disappearing, the inside of the room looking like something had shattered the equipment with a single blow. What unnerved them the most, however, was the fact that there were no bodies.

‘Why am I still going deeper into the creepy abandoned death-trap?’ they thought, warily looking between the rooms for any sign of life. ‘Isn’t there some rule to horror where you’re not supposed to do that?!...then again, being out there with big, tall, and terrifying and whatever made that roar sounds even worse.’

They finally reached the end of the green lights and entered a large open room, multiple desks and chairs arranged in a chaos of papers and busted computer stations. Only one in the back against the wall seemed operational, flicking to life as they approached. “Please place your hand on the panel to begin replication of your new staff badge,” the computerized voice said. Upon touching the panel, the screen began to fill with data faster than their eye could read, the machine whirring to life before ejecting a thick plastic card from the slot beneath the monitor. “Congratulations, Uhm Yuu, for joining the Night Raven Corporation’s Exploration and Research Development Team. You will begin your first assignment as a lab assistant to our great technicians. Please follow the lighted path to the lab area where you will obtain your first Multi Information Record Assistant tool and receive your first task from your immediate supervisor.”

“I’m not even a scientist, and even if I was, where is everyone?!” Yuu asked. When they received no response, they slumped their shoulders with a sigh and said, “Yeah. These are just recorded voice lines…that can somehow say my name without issue…mostly…”

The lights led deeper into the facility, the lights dim with red emergency lights flashing the further in they moved. The eeriness made their skin crawl, walking around the shallow gashes in the floor until they finally made it to a large warehouse-like area. From wall to wall were machines and, rows upon rows of glass tube tanks lined up as far as the eye could see. Each one was filled with a viscous liquid of various colors: red, blue, orange-yellow, and green. Yuu could see there were dark shapes in most of the tubes, though any distinct features were obscured by the layers of dirt and dust against the glass. Cautiously they approached the closest one, wiping their hand against the glass-

“AAH!?” they shrieked, tumbling over one of the cables and scrambling away until their back was pressed against the base of another tank. Inside the glass was an almost humanoid creature, its face looking like a squashed reptile crossed with a fish as the gills on its neck slowly fluttered in the liquid. Tubes and wires connected to the creature’s body, though whether it was to keep it alive or feed data to the computer next to the glass tank they couldn’t tell. Breathing heavily, they uttered, “This place is going to give me a heart attack before I can even figure out what’s going on! What even is that thing?!”

Blip! “Cannot com-m-m-mpute your question. Please con-n-n-nect device and ask again.”

“…what?” they uttered, looking around in confusion before spotting what looked like a large, thick bracelet next to their right hand. Curious, they picked it up, examining the surface and spotting the screen. It was dark, with the word “M.I.R.A.” displayed in bright blue letters. “What…are you?” they asked.

“Answer,” the tiny bracelet said, startling them as they dropped it into their lap. “I am M.I.R.A., an a-a-a-artificial intelligence tool. P-p-p-please pl-l-l-l-lace me on your wrist in a comfortable position to begin user r-r-r-reassignment and module r-r-repair protocol.”

“Nnnnot sure that’s a good idea if you sound broken,” they uttered. Still, they complied, the bracelet snapping shut around their wrist.

The screen blipped and flickered, a loading bar appearing on screen as the voice said, “Beginning r-r-r-repair protocol. S-s-s-stand by………repair protocol, complete. Module is now in operational order. Beginning user reassignment. Please state your name.”

“Yuu,” they stated clearly.

“Acknowledged. Searching database…new staff profile found. New user ‘Uhm Yuu’ has been accepted. Welcome, Uhm Yuu. What would you like to know?”

“…are you actually going to answer my questions, or are you just saying canned recorded responses?”

“Answer: it is my directive to assist my user and answer any potential questions they may have and provide suitable answers based on available data. I am designed to learn and respond accordingly to any situation you may come across.”

“Guess that’s good enough for me,” Yuu muttered. Aloud, they asked, “So what exactly are you? Let’s start with that.”

“Answer: I am a Multi Information Record Assistant, an artificial intelligence tool developed by the Night Raven Corporation to aid its researchers and exploration teams in the study of the local flora and fauna. Once assigned, I am to monitor my current user’s vitals to ensure they remain in good health and offer suggestions on mitigating stress when not in current danger. I will continue to serve my purpose until the day you pass, in which I will once again be reassigned to a new user. What would you like to know?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, back up! What do you mean ‘once again’? Did you already have another user before me??”

“Affirmative. Dr. Amity Willows was my previous user prior to her passing. As the top researcher in this facility, Dr. Willows’ work was vital to the progression of understanding the environmental effects of the energy found across the island and the influence it has on the local flora and fauna.”

“I…what? Island?” Yuu uttered, thinking back to the beach they’d awoken on. “What do you mean by that? Where are we? And…what happened to Dr. Willows?”

The tool said nothing for a moment, the screen humming as a new loading bar appeared. Then, with a blink, it transferred to another screen with what looked like a variety of folders with locks on most of them. “Answer: Due to the low clearance level on your profile, I am unable to access many of the files uploaded to the Dark Mirror Server. Searching……located data logs recorded by Dr. Willows. Data logs have been triple-encoded to prevent complete factory reset in the event something should happen to her, and will require time to unlock each data log. However, I am able to access the last few minutes of security footage before servers went down.”

“Can you show me what happened and where everyone is?”

The screen blinked through various different screens—too fast for their eyes to follow—before finally settling on an angle of the lab they currently stood in. Compared to now, there were more people around frozen in time. They were examining the figures in the tanks, some holding tablets while others were standing in front of stations filled with test tubes and beakers. The video began to play, though the quality seemed…strange. The video glitched and skipped, some segments being streamlined while others looked like fragments of images. In the center of the room, however, they spotted two unusually colored tanks: the largest being a noxious red color while the smaller one was a brilliant cyan. Both seemed to have creatures inside them, though what they looked like they couldn’t tell from this angle.

In an instant, the imagery changed. Warped screams and cries of panic emerged from the speakers as the scientists began to run, the red tank shattered as the creature’s serpentine body—dripping with a black ink-like substance that seemed to burn the metal floor—dragged itself across the floor by two sets of gangly clawed arms. Its head in one image showed an oddly familiar narrow skull-shaped head, the eye sockets empty of any eyes yet seeming to “cry” drops of the inky ichor.

Yuu covered their mouth in horror as they saw the creature hunting down the scientists, the camera shifting to the hallways they’d walked through as the creature went on a rampage across the area. The scientists that managed to avoid the creature by hiding in the rooms had been splashed by the black ichor, which began to spread across their bodies, the feed cutting out just before they could see what happened—though given what they’d seen and the lack of bodies, they had a good idea.

“What…the hell is that thing?” they uttered, watching as the creature crashed its way down the hall and out the entrance before the feed finally cut off. Remembering the giant skull they’d hidden in just outside the facility, they asked, “Did…that monster die after escaping?”

“I do not have access to the outside cameras at this time. However, the little data I am able to access from Dr. Willows’ research logs suggest that the creature’s DNA was unstable. Comparing data prior to and just before the incident in the lab, it appears that the creature’s DNA was contaminated by an unknown substance that weakened its immune system. The compromise appears to have created an unstable reaction to the creature’s DNA, triggering a rapid deterioration of its physical body shortly before its emergence from containment. Based on visual analysis, it would suggest the creature’s movements are indicative of death throes warring with an insatiable instinct to feed and consume other living creatures. Conclusion: it is highly likely that whatever skeletal remains you have found may be the very creature that escaped.”

Yuu was silent as the screen went back to the screen showing the rest of the videos that weren’t locked, their thoughts swimming. When they finally spoke, their voice was quiet as they asked, “Does…this mean…I’m alone on this island?”

“Answer: cannot confirm. I am unable to connect to the communication network between the various facilities scattered across the island. Current status of facilities is unknown—I cannot detect any distress signals either.”

“So…there may be other people out there, then. I just have to find them, right?”

“Affirmative.”

“Okay…I don’t suppose you can tell me anything about why everything is so giant? Or…maybe what that giant bird…lizard…monster thing was.”

“Answer: the island’s biology constantly shifts and changes over time. The energy that’s released in the environment enhances the soil’s nutrients and the resulting flora growth, creating a rich ecosystem not found anywhere else on Earth. Due to this, the creatures of this island have been noted to grow at an exponential rate, resulting in many animals and insects developing mutations and abilities unnatural to those commonly found in their natural habitats.”

“And the giant bird-lizard…?”

“Cannot confirm. The island is host to many a creature that match that description.”

Yuu groaned and covered their face, leaning against the closest surface while uttering, “Of course…why would I think otherwise on an island full of giant monsters? How in the world am I supposed to survive here if the scientists in this place didn’t even survive that mutant in the tank?”

“Rrrrr…”

‘……why does this feel so soft?’ they though, a sense of dread filling their chest as they patted the fluffy damp surface. Another low, rattling growl erupted beneath them as Yuu slowly turned their head.

Bright cerulean eyes with cyan sclera stared at them in the gloom, blue flames flickering in its ears. The creature’s face was cat-like, ebony scales decorating its cheeks and forehead gleaming like obsidian stones. Its upper lip curled up to reveal sharp fangs, licks of more blue flames emerging from its mouth.

“Niiiiiice kitty…monster,” Yuu said slowly, carefully getting off and backing away. It watched them intently, standing taller on four legs as a three-pronged tail swished behind it. “Gooooooood kitty-monster…”

Out of the corner of their eye they spotted the red and blue tubes from the video. The larger of the two had clearly been shattered, its bulk all but concealing the smaller tube’s condition. Drops of containment fluid dripped from the broken glass to the floor, revealing the very large pool at the base.

‘Oh shi-!’

“Sssscraaaarl!!”

“FUCK!!” Yuu shrieked, barely dodging the monster’s jaw as it snaped at them before bolting for the exit. “MIRA!! What the hell is that thing?!”

“Cannot confirm,” came the computer’s response. “Please stand still so I may conduct a proper scan, Uhm Yuu.”

Hearing the snarling creature charge after them, Yuu picked up the pace and shouted, “I’m about to get eaten by a mutant cat monster, and you want me to stand still?!”

“Negative. According to article thirty-five, section five—”

“Less briefy, more helpy, please!” Yuu yelped as they quickly turned the corner, hearing the monster slam into the wall as its claws scrabbled for purchase on the metal flooring.

“Affirmative. Activating lockdown procedures. Please proceed to the entrance, Uhm Yuu, as quickly as possible to avoid being locked in. You have ten seconds. Nine. Eight.”

Seeing the end in sight and the steel door starting to descend, Yuu uttered every curse they knew as MIRA continued her countdown. Fueled by pure adrenaline and fear, Yuu launched themselves forward and slid across the floor—and out into the open field. A loud clang rang out as they landed in the dirt, a muffled growl of pain escaping through the metal.

Panting and trembling, Yuu turned to stare at the door as the monster slammed and scratched at the metal. How they managed to outrun such a creature they had no idea, and yet…they had. They were still alive! They made it!! They-!

…why was the door glowing?

They watched in horror as the door changed, the silver metal shifting from glowing orange to pure white as it warped and melted right before their eyes. Through the slowly widening gap they could see the monster’s face, licks of blue flame escaping its jowls as it locked eyes with them.

“Are you kidding me?!” Yuu yelped as they scrambled to their feet again, bolting away from the hidden base. Their heart leapt in their chest as the monster snarled, hearing its bounding gait charge after them catching up faster than it had on the metal floor. For a moment they swore they could feel its hot breath against their back, the smell of sulfur and smoke filling their as they heard what sounded like clicking—

BWOOSH!!

“Gyah!?” they shrieked, somehow managing to dodge the burning brush that exploded in front of them without stopping. “Is everything on this island trying to kill me?!”

“Answer: the local flora and fauna-”

“I wasn’t asking literally, MIR—ack!”

So distracted were they by dodging the bursts of flame from the monster, they didn’t realize they had run into a dead end as they all but slammed into the wall. Hands quickly patting the smooth surface, they cursed when they realized they couldn’t climb their way out and turned to find another way out—only to stumble back when a wall of blue flames erupted in a circle around them. As though it knew they were trapped, the creature slowly walked through the flames as it flickered over its fur without igniting it.

Cerulean eyes stared them down, and in the light they could finally make out more features. What they’d thought were wires on its back were actually four tendrils, each one bearing a wicked stinger-like barb on the tip dripping with a noxious green liquid. A drop hit the ground, a faint sizzle escaping as steam rose from the hole in the dirt. Its tail was pronged like a trident, the light glinting off what looked like metal edges along the pointed tips. In that moment, Yuu knew they were dead…

When a shadow fell over them.

In seconds the feline monster’s face went from cold predatory hunter to confusion to fear, eyes gazing up as it hunkered low to the ground. A low, garbled sound akin to a caw and growl rumbled overhead, Yuu’s heart dropping as they followed the monster’s gaze. Perched atop the ridge like a hawk was the bird-lizard from earlier, a large gash that hadn’t been on its shoulder before glistening with fresh blood in the light. Amber eyes locked on to them, a slit in its forehead opening up to reveal a third eye that seemed to pierce through their very soul.

“Tssss-EAARRR!!” the goliath shrieked, flaring its wings as sparks flickered to life across its feathers in a dizzying fashion. Yuu’s hands clamped over their ears as the sheer volume overwhelmed them, the pressure weighing on them with each passing second.

Over the din they could make out a faint shriek, peeking up to see their pursuer writhing on the ground with thorny vines gripping its limbs from the ground. It was clearly in distress, body thrashing as it tried to chew its restraints off while hissing and screeching. Realizing that this was their chance, Yuu bolted past the monster—

And screamed the moment something massive enveloped them, the ground getting further and further away as the wind whistled against their aching ears. They froze in pure terror as they came face to face with the corvid, all three of its glowing eyes staring down at them. It opened its mouth, breath washing over them as—in a low, gravely voice—it said:

“Never…more…”

/------------------/

“……uu……it…get up…….Uhm Yuu. It is time to get up.”

“Mmn…five more minutes…”

“That is ill advised. Vital signs indicate hydration and nutrient intake are critically low, resulting in lowered cognitive abilities. Recommended course of action: seek closest water source and edible fruits.”

Vital signs…?

Groaning, Yuu opened their eyes and sat up, their head pounding from a headache as they realized how dry their throat was. “Wha…what happened?” they mumbled.

“Answer: you fell unconscious and have been asleep for the day,” the computerized voice said calmly. “According to my data, your body was undergoing incredible amounts of stress, resulting in unhealthy amounts of cortisol. Recommend engagement with meditative activities such as yoga or coloring pictures to increase the body’s natural ability to process and regulate your stress levels.”

“Wait, what do you mean I-”

All at once they remembered, hearing the monster’s words echoing in their mind.

“Fuck!! Where’d the monster go?!” Scrambling backwards, they felt something against their back and yelped, finding themselves encircled in what looked like a giant wooden wall of branches—a nest? “Oh no…is it going to feed me to its babies?!”

“Negative. Nevermore currently does not have any young under his care.”

“…wait…his name is Nevermore?”

“Affirmative. Due to his corvid-like appearance and behavior in mimicking some words during test phases, researchers have since dubbed him ‘Nevermore’ in tribute to a famous known poet’s works.”

Yuu’s mouth opened and closed, processing this information as they stared at the bracer. “…you mean to tell me that you know exactly what this thing is?” they finally asked, keeping their voice low in case the monster was nearby. “Do…you know why it didn’t eat me?”

“Affirmative. Nevermore is one of several creatures that match your earlier inquiry, hence my inability to assess the probability. In reference to why he did not consume you-”

THOOM!!

The ground lurched beneath them as Yuu scrambled to press themselves against the wall of sticks—or rather trunks—with a muffled squeak. Another booming step rattled their bones as Yuu silently prayed to not be seen, hand instinctively covering MIRA’s screen to stop the computer from speaking further. Their heart thumped against their rib cage as a massive beak appeared over the edge, seeing the giant monster’s eyes that seemed to glow a brilliant amber in the dim lighting scan the nest.

‘Don’t see me, don’t see me, don’t see me,’ they thought, frozen in pure terror as Nevermore quietly chirped and trilled as he sniffed the air. ‘Goawaygoawaygoawa-’

Nevermore’s eye locked on to them, sending a wave of cold dread through their veins as he turned and leaned towards them.

“NO!!”

He recoiled, blinking at the sharp sound of their voice. When he tried to lean in again, another sharp ‘No!’ from Yuu made him back off with a tilt of his head. As soon as he started venturing into the nest, they noticed how…slow he moved, his body hunched lower than normal. They watched intently, knowing they were trapped but refusing to turn their back on him.

As soon as the pair of smaller arms stretched out from beneath his feathery chest, they braced themselves—until they realized he was holding something.

Carefully the monster set down the massive pile of fruits, each monumental in size and shape. Only when the last of the fruit was still did he move to the far end of the nest, resting his head on his paws and closing his eyes with a sigh. From this angle they could faintly make out the thin line indicating he was still watching, yet he strangely seemed to be trying to appear smaller than he was.

“MIRA…what is going on?” they finally managed to whisper.

“Answer: Nevermore is offering sustenance. Based on previous records of his behavior, he is attempting to ease your fears much like he has in the past when tending to young cubs in his care. Dr. Willows once noted his role as a caretaker of future generations, as he is often found to have adopted orphaned cubs and hatchlings and raise them with his fellow Primal Guardians.”

“So…he’s not pretending to sleep so he can trick and eat me?” they asked, noticing how his eye opened just a little wider before shutting quickly.

“Negative. Though he has not had direct contact with humans, he has not gone out of his way to attempt to harm or eat any of the researchers. According to my database, Dr. Willows was once saved by Nevermore when an expedition was attacked by smaller yet deadly creatures that wiped out the rest of her party. As such, Dr. Willows has started thoroughly studying him as soon as she was released from the medical bay for injuries sustained.”

“…okay…so this giant fruit…is it safe for me to eat?”

“Affirmative. The produce found on this island are noted to be safe and ideal even for humans who require additional nutritional supplements to function properly, providing a stable source of energy and nutrition necessary for day-to-day function. The peach on your right should provide adequate hydration and sustenance.”

They warily looked between the fruit and the monster, half expecting him to gobble them up like the spider from earlier at any second. Each step they felt the bark beneath press harshly against their bare feet, slowly reaching out to dig their hands into the peach while watching him. In an instant the aroma of the peach intensified, making their mouth water and their stomach growl. Before they knew it, their lips were sticky from the nectar and they had all but devoured the chunk in their hands.

‘How long has it been since I’ve had anything to eat or drink?’ they thought, thinking back to the beach and realizing they couldn’t remember anything leading up to that moment. ‘…why am I even here?’

So lost in thought and the flavor of the food, Yuu hadn’t even noticed when Nevermore’s head began inching its way over…until they felt something stiff press against their head.

“BWAH!?”

“SQWARK!?”

Yuu’s eyes were wide as they stared up at Nevermore, his ears perked up and main eyes just as wide and confused as they felt. “Di…did you just lick me?!” they asked incredulously.

“Note: it is not uncommon for Nevermore to attempt to calm frightened cubs with careful grooming after offering a meal,” MIRA commented. “Much like how animals in the wild and domestic settings will perform social grooming to bond, known as ‘allogrooming’, it is an essential and fundamental aspect that reinforces relationships, builds social hierarchies, and even resolves conflicts. In this case, Nevermore is seeking to reassure you as much as he is assisting with hygiene after your meal.”

“And you didn’t think to warn me he might do that?!”

“I am unable to access any records indicating this being a possibility. I’m afraid this was outside of the realm of my assessment to predict such a scenario.”

For a moment Yuu couldn’t speak, watching Nevermore with a confused frown. Despite his size, the griffin-like monster seemed…strangely calm. Like he was observing them as much as they were observing him, a strange intelligence in his eyes. Then, with a quiet voice, they asked, “MIRA…what exactly is Nevermore?”

“Answer: Nevermore is one of many creatures belonging to a category of megafauna. While each megafauna possess differing appearances and capabilities, researchers have begun referring to them as one singular species: Kaiju.”

[novelmonger]

I am now (finally) embarking on the last of the LotR audio commentaries I never listened to before: the Production/Post-Production one, with Barrie Osborne (producer), Mark Ordesky (executive producer), Andrew Lesnie (director of photography), John Gilbert (editor), Rick Porras (co-producer), Howard Shore (composer), and Jim Rygiel (visual effects supervisor). A lot more Americans in this group than the previous ones have been. I feel much more out of my depth with this one in terms of figuring out who's talking, but let's see what new stuff they have to say for FotR!

The sound from when Sauron explodes comes from a bunch of sounds they recorded both inside and outside ships in the harbor, as well as the sounds of WWII airplane propellers.

The scenes with Gollum in the prologue were actually some of the last shots they filmed for FotR.

The farmers around the area where they filmed Hobbiton would warn them when people would turn up who weren't supposed to be there, with cameras and whatnot, as well as warning them when planes or choppers would be overhead, so they could prevent (as much as possible) from footage leaking before the movie was released. That warms my heart :)

They used the analogy of a "shell game" when talking about all the different techniques they used to keep the proportions of characters correct with their different sizes. Because they would switch up the techniques between shots, it helped sell the overall effect, because you're not just always looking at a scale double or a bluescreen or what-have-you.

In the scene with Bilbo and Gandalf in the kitchen, they used forced perspective, with the table cut in half so that everything is small for Gandalf and the right size for Bilbo. When Bilbo pours the tea into the teapot, Gandalf handles a small lid on his side, putting it on a little rod that holds it in the right position so it looks like it's sitting on the teapot. Meanwhile, the actual teapot is on Bilbo's side so he can pour the water into it. Also, when Gandalf is first sitting down at the table and turning to get his legs underneath it, if you look closely you can see that when he bumps up against it, the half of the table closer to the camera jiggles a little, but the other half doesn't because it was actually some 5-10 feet away.

In the shot at the party that pans down from the fireworks and the tree, the actual party with all the dancing and everything was shot in a set, so they had to go back to the Hobbiton location (which had already been cleared of the set at that point, I think) and match up that shot to get the tree, and then they composited it together.

The direction for that shot of Minas Tirith when Gandalf goes to research the Ring was to make it look like "Constantinople in the morning." This may be my favorite part of this commentary :)

They needed to scan actors' faces so they could have their digital doubles to work with for certain shots. When they brought in Ian McKellen to scan his face, they said, "We just need to scan your face in a neutral position." He said, "Neutral for me or neutral for Gandalf?" And he demonstrated his own neutral expression, and when he switched to neutral Gandalf, he looked completely different, pursing his lips and furrowing his eyebrows and sucking his cheeks in more. Truly the sign of a gifted actor who knows how to ply his craft.

In the scene where Frodo and Sam are trying to sleep on the road for the first time, originally they were going to end with some sort of animal sniffing around them. First it was a deer, and they also tried a rabbit and maybe some other animals (possible fox appearance???). But that part didn't even make it into the Extended Edition.

Something I never thought about that they had to pay attention to was, because Orthanc is made of shiny material, they had to consider the color and quality of the light reflecting off it. So when they filmed the real location, they would take the camera and pan around the location, then print out stills and put them up around the miniature when they filmed that part of the shot, so they could get the right colors to match each shot they would composite over it, so it would look like both were in the same place. Now that's what I call attention to detail!

On the night they shot the little chase sequence with the Nazgul in the forest, it was actually raining off and on, even though you can't really see it in the movie. That made the ground very muddy, so the Hobbits actually had to be carried back to their first position for each new take so they wouldn't get too much mud on their feet and clothes.

To get the sounds of the trees' "voices" when the orcs in Isengard tear them down, they actually used several animal sounds like whales, moreso than sounds recorded from actual trees.

Bob Anderson, the swordmaster for the films, said they needed to have five copies of every sword for every actor every day they were going to be fighting with them, because that's how likely it is for them to be broken (since the swords actors use for hitting each other are lighter and not made like a real sword). But Richard Taylor wanted to find a way to make the swords more durable, because there are a lot of swords in these movies. So Weta developed a technique to help the stunt swords redistribute the shock from hitting them against each other. They took polyurethane, which Mark Ordesky notes is the same material as skateboard wheels, and they made a sort of sheath of that under the surface of the hilt. None of the swords they made like that ever broke.

The tree that gets thrown down into the chasm in Isengard had to be a miniature so they could get it high enough to drop it as far as they wanted to (and so they wouldn't have to cut down a huge tree). But they had to add little springs and things to make the branches bounce and jiggle properly, rather than just break off, as they would if you just made a little model tree. Little details like that really sell the scale.

In the Nazgul horseback chase scene, they cleared a path for the horses to safely run through the forest. But then they would also get branches and put them on the car or whatever vehicle had the camera, so it would look like they were pushing through more dense foliage, while still keeping the actors and horses safe.

The Council of Elrond was the final piece of the sound mix they had to finish for FotR, and it was down to a matter of hours. One of the things they mentioned having difficulty figuring out what to do with was the moment when Frodo sets the Ring down on the plinth. Originally, there was going to be a murmur of the crowd watching, but it didn't seem to have the gravitas and stunned awe necessary for that moment, so they had to play around with a lot of things before Peter Jackson was satisfied with it.

When Gimli smashes the Ring with his axe, John Rhys-Davies was actually only holding an empty handle, and the axe head was added digitally later so it could shatter.

Barrie Osborne (I think?) commented on something at least Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan, especially Dom, started to do in order to make it more believable that the primary actors and the scale doubles are the same people. He noticed that their scale doubles tended to move and walk in a certain way (I assume partly because most of them were Little People, so their physique and proportions are a bit different), and so instead of leaving it up to them to mimic his movements, he started changing the way he moved to match them. That's just really cool.

Originally, they were going to do a bit of a flashback when Boromir asks Aragorn, "Have you ever seen the white tower..." etc. It would have been shot in the same place as the scene where Aragorn is visiting his mother's grave, and would feature Elrond talking to Aragorn about how he's the only one who can wield Anduril and how he needs to take his place as the king of Gondor.

For some of the close-up shots of Gimli in the scene where they first head into Moria, they actually had to use a double - not a scale double! an actual guy who was the same size as John Rhys-Davies! - because John had such a bad reaction to the facial prosthetics that he had to go a few days in between each time he put it on. But he'd had the prosthetics on the day before, and they didn't have time to wait until he could put them on again. So they had to find a double, put on the prosthetics and costume, and then John stood out of frame and spoke the lines, and the double mouthed the words along with him. I would never have guessed!

THANK YOU TO WHOEVER WAS TALKING AND I'M SORRY I COULDN'T RECOGNIZE YOUR VOICE FOR SURE, but someone was talking about "cinematic dark." In other words, how to light a scene so you can see everything that's happening even though you're in a place with hardly any light sources, like in Moria where the only light comes from the torch and Gandalf's staff most of the time. Instead of making it all really dark (*pointed stare at too many movies these days*), they shot it as if there is a source of light, but always very far away, like it's filtering through miles of rocky caverns or something. What that meant practically was that they would only light the characters in silhouette or from the side, never the front. So it would still give the impression that they're in darkness, but you don't have to strain at all to make out what's happening. They also desaturated the colors so everything looked muted, similar to how your vision kind of goes black-and-white in the dark.

One of the fundamental elements for the Moria goblin screeches was an opossum screech. There was some kind of opossum research facility in Wellington that they went to to record what became the foundation of the goblin sounds. Then they took them and re-recorded them in some WWII tunnels to get the right echoey reverb effect. And then for the sounds of them moving, they took sounds from insects like grasshoppers, as well as rattling seashells from the beach against the walls of the tunnels to get a scuttling sort of sound for when they come pouring out of holes in the ceiling.

You know that one shot where Legolas fires an arrow at a goblin archer and the camera follows the arrow all the way into his forehead? I always assumed that whole thing was all CG, but no! Even that had a practical element to it! They set up a camera on a sort of zip line with a bungee cord and sent it down as fast as it could go towards an actual stunt guy in costume! Now that's what I call above and beyond.

They shot a scene that didn't make it into even the Extended Edition of the Fellowship arguing about what they should do next after they leave Moria, with some members having misgivings about going to Lothlorien. I wish we could see that, even though I understand why they needed to keep things moving. They didn't mention if they actually shot this or if it was scrapped by the time they got that far, but there was also a mention of the entry to Lothlorien being much more frantic, as they're chased by orcs and then rescued by a sudden volley of Elven arrows.

There was also once a longer scene between Boromir and Frodo as they're waiting to see if Haldir will let them into Lothlorien. He tells Frodo a story of him getting over the death of one of his comrades. Um...I wanna see these extra scenes!!!

They wanted Lothlorien to feel ethereal and maybe almost slightly in a different universe, because of the Elves and especially Galadriel, who can see into hearts and minds. One of the ways they did that was by diffusing the light on the set so everything seems kind of dreamy. Another way they tweaked things was by bringing out the blues and edging them towards lavender. Yes, yes, Lothlorien is supposed to be golden, but after hearing the explanation about how lavender is actually one of the hardest colors to get to look right on film (the word used was "fragile") and to look good against skin tones, and therefore you don't see it very much in the movies, I can appreciate the subtle ways they tried to make Lothlorien feel distinct.

Originally, they were going to have a scene where the Fellowship goes through some rapids on the Anduin and get ambushed by orc archers. Ultimately, they decided they didn't need that as a story beat at that point, and it would have been very difficult to shoot anyway. Makes me wonder if that influenced the infamous barrel scene from the Hobbit movies, like they dug up some old plans for that....

Except for one wide shot where they used a scale double for Frodo, the entire confrontation between Boromir and Frodo was shot just with Sean Bean and Elijah Wood, no special effects, just strategic blocking and using the slope and different angles to their advantage to always make it look like Frodo is smaller than Boromir.

If I understood Howard Shore correctly, he was inspired to use a boy's choir for Boromir's death when he saw Boromir, after falling to his knees from the first arrow or two, looking up at Merry and Pippin. Boys singing at his death gives a sense of lost innocence, which is appropriate both to Boromir trying to take the Ring as well as to the lost innocence of losing the Hobbits. So it's not just a lament for Boromir, it's also his lament for (as he thinks in the moment, because he knows he's dying) failing the Hobbits.

The original mix for Boromir's death had all the sound effects at full volume, which made the moment even more brutal. Mark Ordesky was saying that he (and probably some others) was thinking it might be better if they pulled back on some of the sound and let the music be louder. Peter Jackson said, "Well, let's try it," and as soon as they turned down the volume, the entire room basically agreed immediately that's how they needed to do it. It's meant to sound and feel almost like you're sinking underwater as Boromir is dying, because that's how it would sound and feel for him.

Oh my goodness, further proof that studio execs shouldn't have a say in the story of a movie. New Line wanted the movie to end with Frodo and Sam paddling across the river, and then an Uruk bursts up from underwater and grabs Frodo, pulling him out of the boat. The Ring somehow comes off the chain, and the Uruk is so enamored with it that he ends up drowning while trying to grab it. Then Sam somehow gets Frodo (and the Ring) back into the boat. Thank goodness they came up with the much better ending we all know and love. Because the people actually involved with writing the movie and telling its story knew that the ending of FotR needs to be about the breaking of the Fellowship, about love and loyalty in the face of great evil. So that's why they went with the ending they did: Sam falls into the water and almost drowns, Frodo saves him, and that paves the way for the incredible emotional high of Frodo leaving the Fellowship, but Sam going with him. And just like Frodo is thinking about how Gandalf talked about how he was meant to find the Ring, Sam is thinking about how Gandalf told him not to leave Frodo. It all ties together so much better.

The last shot for the film was Boromir going over the waterfall. It was in the final cut of the movie just as a previs shot, and Barrie Osborne said he assumed it was going to be a CG effect or something. But finally, while Peter Jackson was in London working on scoring the film - so pretty late in the production - Barrie called him and asked when they were going to shoot that scene. Peter Jackson had forgotten about it! So Barrie had to shoot it, and since they didn't have the actors in New Zealand at that point, they had to get Weta to make a silicon dummy to shoot instead.

[thechekhov]

Hey Chekhov! How do you start converting an AU idea from character sheets and mini comics into a plot outline for a full, continuous comic? Especially if the series you're basing it on isn't complete?

I've been following your white diamond Steven comics for years, and frankly, I love how it builds and continues the scaffolding canon laid to be something that is thematically still the same but also very unique. And I never thought I'll ever say this, but now I'm working on a canon-divergent AU with someone that's I think aiming to do something similar(continue the themes of canon but different). So I'll just like some advice, I suppose!

You might've answered something like this before, honestly, but I tried to dig a little and couldn't really find it.

Thanks, if you do answer this! I just want take the opportunity as well to say also that your comic and blog accompanied me through parts of my late teens, and I'm very grateful for you being a stabilizing influence during that time.

Thank you! I really appreciate you saying that, and I appreciate you respecting me enough to ask for advice.

As for your question...

Well, to be frank, I don't START with character sheets and mini-comics. In fact, for WD!AU, I didn't have any character sheets until I started season 2.

Think of your story as an aquarium. Your characters are fish.

Yes, they're important, but having a whole bunch of fish without any substrate, tanks, feed and WATER..... will not really make for a memorable aquarium experience.

The reality is that all stories should start with an end.

That's my personal approach, anyway.

What I mean is - you need to know the general idea for your story before you begin to write or plan it.

Let's try this:

1.Tell me about your story in THREE sentences!

Just three. Not long ones, just regular ones.

For my AU, @ask-whitepearl-and-steven, it would be:

"A young orphan runs away from home with a mysterious lady who seems more cryptid than human. He realizes that he's not human either - he used to be the ruler of an alien planet! He and the other aliens he meets decide to (REDACTED) (REDACTED) (REDACTED) and he (REDACTED) (REDACTED) (READACTED) (READ ANDCTED) (READ AND FIND OUT)."

YOU should know how YOUR story ends too! Even vaguely.

It helps if you know at what point you plan to lay down the pencil. Because if you DO know, you are always going to know which direction to walk in, even if the end is so far away it's beyond your line of sight.

It's true that when I began WDAU, I didn't have much information about White Diamond and white Pearl, because they had literally ONLY been introduced. I had to guess a lot of the details (like WP being Pink's originally) and what White would be capable of. And thankfully, my original intent for the story's end fit pretty well with what was later revealed!

But don't forget - you could also just fuck around with stuff! It's your story, after all.

And don't forget... to also look back!

2.Tell me WHY the story is happening in the first place.

There's a reason that the beginning of your story happens when it does. If there is no reason to start somewhere, then find a different place to start.

You should be able to tell me "We're picking up the story here because something significant has happened... and that significant thing happened BECAUSE...."

That 'because' is your main background information that should be revealed slowly throughout the story. In WDAU's case, we only have a few pieces of the puzzle. We know Greg's side. He know Earl's side. But there are still little bits and pieces missing! And they're all important for finding out WHY Steven ended up an orphan and WHY he is being followed by White Pearl (Earl) at the very start of the comic!

3.Tell me what the coolest and most interesting things to happen would be....and then write them!

I think this may be something that's rarely said out loud, but I will speak on the behalf of the people...

We should write the scenes we want to read. If you don't want to read the scene you're writing, then DON'T write it!

If you feel like you "have to" do a page and a half of 'lore' because you think it's traditional to have that 'explanation' about the location of your story, or the history of the species or whatever, you're simply wrong. There are other ways to reveal information aside from just forced paragraphs upon paragraphs of information that would make an SAT Reading Section sweat.

Instead, I recommend that you find the most exciting or hilarious way for the characters to discover the most important bits of info. Find a dramatic twist. Shove it into the narrative. Then, figure out what needs to happen to get there.

Ultimately, though, remember this: When you're taking advice from me or from others, don't forget to take advice from yourself, too! It's your story, after all. You know it best, and only YOU can figure out how to get it written.

I hope that helps at least a little bit! Writing it never easy, but it should still be enjoyable!

[certifiedlovergirlsstuff]

"Maybe someday I'll be that guy for you" this line just broke my heart. Why did he have to be so nice about it lol. Can you write a part 2 where he actually start noticing her like that? Like really starting to like her?

steve’s pov (might not be exactly what you asked for)

he still feels his heart lurch whenever he notices that dulled look hiding in your gaze. you try to hide it with a smile in his direction but it doesn’t properly meet your eyes. you don’t go out of your way to find his company you let him come to you, keeping a distance for either of you or just your heart.

it’s not like you’ve completely iced him out, but it’s different now. and steve really fucking hates that, but what’s he supposed to do? he didn’t want you to get your hopes up and so he told the truth, you deserve someone thousand times better than him. and that’s now caused your friendship to sail on rocky waters.

“stop staring at them, it’s creepy.” he startled slightly from the voice behind him, looking over his shoulder to see robin with her eyes stuck in a book at the small break table. he pretended to busy himself, “i wasn’t staring, just zoned out.”

robin hummed, “you seem to be doing that more then usual these days. got a specific thing on your mind? like, oh, i don’t know, breaking y/n’s heart.” she tried to sound nonchalant, but steve could hear the bitter rage spilling through her words.

he sighed as his chin dipped to his chest, “i-i didn’t mean, or try, to break their heart. i-i just wanted to be realistic with them, and also, you don’t think that hurt me to do? i never want to hurt them, it fucking sucked to see them curl away from me. i-i just want my friend back.” he whispered the last part to himself.

“steve,” robin called his named and he looked over his shoulder to see her book closed and tapping her palm on the table. he slowly pulled the second chair closer and rested his elbows on the table.

robin rubbed both palms over her freckled face, “okay, what i’m about to tell you is doctor patient confidentiality. i will give you the worst haircut if any of this information slips from your mouth, got it?” her blue eyes widen. steve just nodded along, planning to lock away all sharp objects.

“they have liked you since freshman year, so it’s been like four plus years of them just gazing at your passing figure in the hall to now working along side you. they were the first to mention to me how you’ve slowly changed in the last year and a half, from being king douchebag to ice cream sailor. they could not stop gushing about any little interaction the two of you had, dissecting the scene until there was nothing left to inspect. so they came up to me the day after the… incident, with tears welling and wetly laughing as they said, “i think i like him more than i expected. probably just felt my first experience of mild heartbreak.” and i’m pretty sure it was more than mild. so what i’m trying to get at is, they’ll need time to heal, and i’m not sure whatever is going on inside harrington land. but just make sure you properly evaluate and think through before taking any further steps.”

then robin had the gull to leave steve in the back room with his screaming mind and pounding heart, and if things couldn’t get worse, the saloon doors pushed in to show you entering with a bag from hot dog on a stick.

“oh… hey,” hesitant. he saw the way your conversed shoes shifted and bent, debating if you wanted to stay or make a run for it. steve made the decision for you and stood from his seat, “uh, i-i should probably-“

“no, no. stay, if-if you can. i got you some fries, figured you’d be a bit hungry before your actual lunch.” your fingers curled tight around the white paper bag, the crinkling sounding like lightning.

steve was sure he had a bit of a surprised expression on his face, “you-you didn’t have to do that.”

you took robin’s spot while shrugging your shoulders with a twisted smile, “we do it for each other all the time. just thought of you and figured you didn’t eat anything before coming into work.” sliding a cup of medium fries and even a small coke can.

a smile lifted the corners of steve’s lips, “robin’s right.” he noted the way your brows twitched at that, “you’re a saint from heaven meant to be the one good person on this shitty earth.”

“that’s must explain why i get hurt so much.”

steve squeezed his eyes shut, fuck.

[lemotmo]

Yes to all and fascinating 🎉🎉

Q. Do you really think Buddie is happening? There is just so much evidence to suggest otherwise that I cannot bring myself to believe it's ever going to be a thing.

A. Where is this overwhelming amount of evidence that you speak of? How did I miss all the evidence? You certainly didn't provide any evidence in your ask. In fact the only 'evidence' that ever gets stated is "Ryan's dad said it's not happening'". That's it. That's all anyone ever has to offer up as proof it's not happening. A select few will go the even more ridiculous route and say "Lou said Ryan wasn't into it". I cannot believe I missed the meeting where it was decided that an actor's father, who the actor himself has suggested he has a rather complicated relationship with, and the man who wanted his job are used as the voices of truth and fact over the actors own words. The Ryan stuff in general is wild in this fandom. Oliver's quotes are taken as fact. He gets credit for his own voice. Why does Ryan not get the same credit in return? Oliver says he's up for it if that is the direction the show decides to take them in. Response: "yay Oliver wants Buddie"! Ryan says he's up for it if that's the direction the show decides to take them in. Response : "well he's not going to tell us he doesn't want it to happen". What's the difference between the two answers? They both have said the same thing and they've said it repeatedly. Why does Oliver get credit for saying it but Ryan gets discredited in favor of his father and the leech who wanted his job? It makes absolutely no sense. The only thing Ryan added to his response was that he was good with whatever direction as long as the show didn't lose their friendship at the core. That is not a fancy way to say 'I just want them to stay friends'. That's how you say a romance between them would be great but please don't ever forget that they are also best friends. People taking that response and bastardizing it to make it sound like something he didn't say is not Ryan's fault. I don't want their friendship to be erased when they turn romantic, most of us don't. Their friendship is their foundation and it's what brought people in in the first place. No one should want that erased once they go canon. That's all he was saying. I do believe Buddie is happening and I believe there is overwhelming evidence to support the belief that Buddie is happening.

The nonsense with his father's Buddie answer happened years ago, that is not a recent answer, and while the show was fully owned and controlled by FOX. It has been fairly well established since then that the plan was for them to go canon as a result of the Ana/ shooting arc. Which means Ryan and Oliver went into the beginning of that storyline with the full knowledge that the outcome would be Buddie. Clearly Ryan was down for that. He played it that way. The panic attack in the store when Ana was referred to as 'mom'. The conversation with Carla about making sure he followed his own heart and not just Christopher's. The entire shooting scene! The way Eddie's only response was to check to see if Buck was also hurt. The way Buck arrives at the hospital when Eddie wakes up. The will reveal conversation. The break up scene and dialogue between Eddie and Ana. It was clearly where it was supposed to go. Somewhere between conception and completion FOX stopped it, we don't know for sure why. Studio execs may have cut the storyline but they clearly didn't demand scenes be rewritten or re shot so Tim and the show kept the dialogue and framing of the scenes the same, an intentional choice on their part because I believe he always intended to come back to Buddie. The only thing I'm not sure of timing wise is the Taylor of it all. I don't know at what point she was re added into the mix, but that was when the show started trying very hard to make her a viable endgame option for Buck. Oliver never really got on board with that ship though so it was a hard sell, but Kristen and the show tried very hard to make it sail. I don't believe Eddie was brought in for Buck from the very beginning, but I do think it became very clear to Tim, and the others, fairly early on that the chemistry between Oliver and Ryan afforded them options they may not have ever intended. As a result I think Tim, as well as Oliver and Ryan, started leaning into and playing around with the chemistry. You cannot fake chemistry. It either exists or it doesn't. If you're a good enough actor you can fake it to an extent if you're willing to work at it, but the effortless chemistry that Oliver and Ryan have together is not easy to find.

At some point in maybe season 3 or early 4, I would guess, I think Tim decided Buck and Eddie would be each other's endgame, but that he might have to hold it specifically for the series finale. He has said before he was holding off on definitively defining their relationship because the show is not over. He gave it a shot with the shooting arc but once that was snipped I think he moved forward knowing how their story was going to end, but with the belief he was going to have to save it for the end. The show being controlled by the FOX network didn't leave him a ton of other options. Because he always had the end goal in mind he treated all their other relationships as temporary, and as a result very little effort has been put into any of them. But while they were dating other people their relationship with each other, and the family unit they built with Christopher, was given attention and depth and continued to grow and blossom. Their unit was clearly the priority. That's what got the story focus, but putting each of them in separate relationships, that got very little focus, at least gave Tim plausible deniability that he was trying to set up Buddie. Everything changed when they were freed from FOX.

Moving to ABC gave Tim options. It was clear the moment the network started promoting the show that they were fully on board with the Buddie of it all. They were basically the entire marketing campaign for season 7. Every single episode was promoted with Buddie content. I still firmly believe they were the plan for season 7. You can misinterpret episode 7x4 all you want but it was clearly about Eddie and Buck's unrealized feelings for him. Tommy was the red hearing. A way he could explain to himself why he got so carried away with jealousy without having to acknowledge or examine the Eddie of it all. The episode was not subtle. The show was basically waving a giant YOU HAVE FEELINGS FOR EDDIE flag around all season long. Actual Buck focus disappeared entirely after that episode and he was used almost exclusively in Eddie's storyline. He just realized this major thing about himself and his new found relationship and status got zero focus because the show wanted the audience to remember that his relationship with Eddie was still the priority. Eddie and Buck as a unit was still the focus. I have made no secret about what a disaster I think the back half of season 7 was, especially the finale, my god that was a terrible episode of television. I think Tim eventually came around to that realization as well because he spent the first half of season 8 undoing all the nonsense the rewrites in season 7 created. He got Maya reunited with her family, got Bobby back as captain, and split Buck and Tommy. All the while he was cleaning up the season 7 mess though he allowed the first part of season 8 to be overrun by Brad. I liked Brad, I really did, but his focus took away from the genuinely needed forward motion on the Eddie storyline. That has to be corrected in the back half of the season. I 100% believe Buddie is the plan, and is coming sooner rather than later, and for the most part Buck has been put in position. He has arrived at the beginning of his realization. Eddie is not quite there yet though. He's stuck in the Christopher situation. Not everything needs to be resolved and closed before he can be ready for Buck, that's an unfair demand to make of his character and a television show, but the Christopher situation needs to at least be moving forward. Eddie has enough information about his own feelings to not be too far behind Buck in his realization, but he's blinded right now by the Christopher situation. Eddie needs focus first. It's way past time for some Eddie centric storylines. Let him spend a couple of episodes on himself. The Buck realization can come while that stuff is going on, in fact it would make sense for Eddie to realize his feelings while he's in Texas. But even if the show doesn't do it while he's in Texas, Buddie is coming. They have intentionally avoided, sidestepped, or not even bothered trying at all, with any kind of viable alternative for either character. They're not interested in anyone else for them. And now they're at a network that isn't forcing their hand to go another way. They just have to clean up some thing first.

If you don't want it to happen that's fine. Your preference is your business and your right. But people need to stop pretending they're only saying it's not happening because it's the obvious answer. The obvious answer is the contrary in fact. All the legitimate evidence we have points to it being inevitable. A bullshit answer from a parent, who has no direct involvement with the show, and a laughably predictable response from a man who wanted his job, is not the winning hand you all seem to think it is.

Thank you for this Nonny! I needed a post like this to reply to. There has been so much discourse lately and I miss the fandom positivity a lot. This is definitely a great read! 🤗

So, first I'll add my disclaimer:

BUDDIE IS 100% HAPPENING.

There, I said it. Feels good too. 🤗

I don't understand what on Earth that anon was talking about with the whole 'evidence to suggest otherwise'? Do tell, where is that evidence to be found.

Because from where I'm standing there is a mountain of evidence that Buddie is happening. I'm not entirely sure of the timeline, but I have never been more sure that it's happening. I've been here since 2018-2019 and for the longest of time I was certain it would always stay a fanon ship.

But then the move to ABC and all the Buddie promo happened, combined with bi-Buck. And seeing how Eddie was EVERYWHERE in Buck's bi storyline, even when he was in a 'relationship' with some other guy, Eddie was still firmly in first place.

It was soooo obvious. From the get-go so many of us have been saying that T was a plot device to start the Buddie arc. And lo and behold... look what happened! Turns out that T was indeed a plot device! We were right! Go figure!🤷‍♀️

I think Buck's realisation that he is in love with Eddie will come quite early on in 8b, since we've already seen some of his reaction when Eddie told him he's leaving for El Paso. He'll spin out of control and finally realise why.

As for Eddie? I don't know. I'm sure he's going to be in El Paso for a few episodes to confront his parents, make up with Chris and maybe find himself in the process? I really haven't a clue about the timeline here. I will all depend on how long they'll want to draw things out. Knowing Tim, this might take a while. 🫠

But ultimately, I don't care. I'm just cruising along, waiting for March so we can get this show on the road. 🙂‍↕️

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[viktorthinker11]

Has anyone else realized just how much this gear symbolizes Jayce and Viktor’s relationship? Gears are meant to be linked together, they’re supposed to be in pairs as they help the rotation of a machine.

The first time we see it is when they are together, forming their new found partnership, and discovering the true magic of Hextech. They pass the gear to each other to emphasize this connection and synergy.

The next time we see it is when Viktor discovers another one during his talk with Jinx and Vi. Viktor keeps this gear and when Jayce kills him, it rolls out of his hand and falls flat on the ground.

At this point, Jayce and Viktor are seperated from each other. Jayce ending his life shows that their relationship is over, that they’ve broken apart. This is why Viktor releases the gear and it comes to a complete stop, because there is no longer any traction in their relationship. They are not together, so the gear no longer has any meaning.

The final time we see it is in this scene.

Jayce is in the room alone without Viktor who is usually always by his side. He touches this gear shaped table and has flashbacks about when Viktor was almost killed by Jinx’s rocket.

He feels guilty about the direction things have gone in, that he couldn’t save him. If Viktor was spared that day, none of the events that took place afterwards would have unfolded. This is why he lashes out at Mel, asking why she didn’t save other people in the room, meaning Viktor.

The gear here is at a complete standstill as it truly solidifies that he and Viktor’s relationship is no more. They can’t go back to the partnership or connection they once shared. It is not only because they are apart, but it is because they are not on the same page, they are not connected. Viktor is a completely different person from when they first met. This is why Jayce tells Viktor during their fight that his partner died in that room.

To sum it up, the gear stopped moving over time as their relationship began to fade.

[runawaycatwalker]

Part 33. Revelatory Repercussions (Midnight Rendezvous, Part C)

< First | < Previous | Next >

For those of you who were hoping for a different side of the Catwalker/Chat Noir/Adrien Agreste reveal to go down (or you just like snarfing down identity reveals like I do), I've written some bonus content you may enjoy reading:

Alternate Scene 1 (Chat Walker)

Alternate Scene 2 (Adriwalker)

Description below the cut

Chat Noir stands in front of Ladybug with his arms stretched out with a dramatic flair.  Ladybug holds out her hand to stop him.

Chat Noir: My name is—

Ladybug: Wait.  Mayura might try to interrogate me again.

Ladybug looks to the side, rubbing the back of her neck.

Ladybug: Is it possible you could reveal in a way that gives me plausible deniability?  Like showing me without really showing me or—?

Chat Noir: I think so...

Chat Noir leaps up to the top of Marinette’s bed, as Ladybug looks up towards him from below.

Chat Noir: Yes!  It's here!

Ladybug: What, up on Marinette's bed?

Chat Noir: Come and see!

Chat Noir points to a photo of Adrien (and Luka) on Marinette’s bulletin board.

Chat Noir: Ladybug, I'd like you to meet... Me.

Ladybug bursts out laughing so hard that she falls to the floor with a ‘splat!’

Ladybug: Bahahaha!  You're hilarious, Chat!

Chat Noir: ...I am?

Ladybug points up towards Chat admiringly.

Ladybug: Oh, I see!  It was a lie I can use on Mayura later!  Clever kitty!

Chat has a look of hurt in his eyes.

Chat Noir: I'm not lying.  If you need me to prove it to you—

Ladybug throws up her hands, a little annoyed that Chat would persist with such an obvious lie.

Ladybug: There's nothing to prove because you and Adrien are completely different!

Chat Noir: We really aren't.

Ladybug folds her arms smugly.

Ladybug: Well, here's something only Adrien would know!  I once saw Marinette giving Adrien something at the park!  What was—

Chat can’t help but gush about Marinette, beaming as he holds both sides of his face.

Chat Noir: Oh, the hamster wheel!  I wish Marinette hadn't thrown it in the trash, I love her presents!

A close-up of Ladybug’s face as her eyes bulge and mouth pulls taut as that Chat Noir not only passed her ‘Adrien’ test with flying colors—proving that Chat is, in fact the love of her life—but that it was her fault that Adrien was so sad that day in the park in the first place.

Chat Noir: It helped cheer me up after the 'Couple of the Year' debacle and—Uh... m'lady?

Chat Noir looks up in mild bewilderment as Ladybug leaps past him toward her trapdoor.

Ladybug: Going a minute outside now, thanks!

Chat Noir looks away as Ladybug shuts the trapdoor behind her.

Chat Noir completely jolts as the voice of Ladybug booms from outside.

Ladybug (voiceover): WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS?????  AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!

Cut to Marinette’s balcony, where Rena Furtive comes to inspect the noise to find Ladybug spinning on the floor like a pinwheel.

Ladybug: AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!

Rena Furtive: Ladybug?  What—?

Ladybug: I KNOW WHO HE IS!

Rena raises an eyebrow.

Rena Furtive: Chat Noir?

Ladybug: Mm-hm!

Rena Furtive: And that made you start screaming?

Ladybug clenches her fists in overwhelm, blubbering as tears pour down her face in streams.

Ladybug: HE'S!  ANTIPERSPIROEUJEUGUEN!

Rena Furtive: I don't want to know, so I'm not going to ask.

Rena looks down at Ladybug and holds up her flute at the ready.

Rena Furtive: But, just to be clear: Do you think Chat Noir is a bad guy?

Ladybug: NO!

Rena Furtive: Good.  Then I'll give you some privacy.  And a noise-cancelling illusion so you don't wake all of Paris.

A montage of Chat Noir trying (and failing) to occupy himself as he waits for Ladybug to come back: Chat sits on Marinette’s chair and spins; Chat lodges his baton into the stairs to Marinette’s bed and hangs from it upside-down; Chat lays on the floor and holds up his baton, extending it in both directions; Chat lays face-down on Marinette’s chaise lounge; Chat lays on top of the trunk Marinette keeps her presents for Adrien in and spins his tail above his head.  Nothing makes him happy.

Ladybug returns, going straight for Marinette’s empty chair.

Chat Noir: Ladybug, you're back!  Is anything wrong?  You were gone for a whi—

Ladybug hides in the chair, scooting as far away from Chat Noir as she can until she bumps into the wall.

Ladybug: So sorry that about!  I mean!  About that so sorry!  I'm mean!  No, I mean—

Chat Noir: It's okay.  I get it.

Ladybug: You... do?

Chat Noir looks down with shame.

Chat Noir: I disappeared on you without warning.  As Adrien and as Chat Noir.  I could have told you the truth instead of running, but I didn't.

Ladybug peeks out from behind the back of the chair, still too flustered to function.

Ladybug: It's not that!  It's because I... I...  I... It's impossible to say it!

Chat Noir: Would talking about something else help?

Ladybug: Yes, please!

Chat scratches the back of his head and gives a deprecating grin.

Chat Noir: This might sound like kind of a strange question.  But on the off-chance you know...  Are you aware of Marinette giving me anything else without telling me?

Ladybug grips the back of the chair and looks evasive.

Ladybug: Whaaat?!    Noooo...!  Why would I know anything about—oh!

Ladybug throws on an air of innocence, grinning as she points her finger up to allude to the image of the beret she gave him.

Ladybug: The beret!  The one that I, Ladybug, delivered for Adrien's fifth name's day!  I would totally know about that!

Ladybug blushes, feeling very much like a balloon as it loses all of its air as she recalls how she gave her heart to him.

Chat Noir: The one with the heart on it?

Ladybug: Heart.  Yes.  She put her heart on it...

Chat Noir: And do you think that other people knew?

Ladybug: I think everyone knows about... that.

Chat Noir (still oblivious to Marinette’s feelings) rubs his chin in thought over how this information means that the candidates for Mayura aren’t nearly as limited as he’d assumed.

Chat Noir: So everyone was aware except me... of course.  But why tell me that it was from my fans in Brazil?

Ladybug tries to wave him off, pointing at her head as she holds her last shred of being able to handle this.

Ladybug: Oh, you know Marinette!  She had this silly thought that the world would literally end if... if...

Ladybug buries her head in her arms and knees as she sits in her chair in a fetal position.

Ladybug (internally): And it did literally end.  It must have been my fault he became Chat Blanc—I can never be normal around him.  Mayura would have noticed the instant Ladybug acted like Marinette around Chat.  My love destroys the world.  And I can't tell him the truth.

Ladybug continues to curl in on herself.  Chat Noir sits cross-legged behind her, pointed away and looking downwards.

Chat Noir: Talking about something else isn't helping, is it?

Ladybug: No.  I'm sorry.  I'm such a disaster.  The whole point of me choosing this was to support you, and I couldn't handle the truth...

Chat Noir: It's alright.  It's the thought that counts.

Ladybug spins her chair around, waving her hand at Chat Noir as he turns to face her.

Ladybug: But you deserved to have everything be perfect!  You deserved to have me be overjoyed!  Not laugh.  Not run.  This can't possibly be how you wanted this all to happen!

Chat Noir, kneeling on the ground, places a hand on Ladybug’s lap and looks up at her.

Chat Noir: Maybe it would have been nice to hear you say, "I should have guessed!  I'm glad it's you, Adrien!"  But that's just the Ladybug who's in my imagination.  I've always preferred being with the real you.

Chat Noir looks up at his lady with a reassuring smile.

Chat Noir: And you have given me a gift.  I'll know that whenever you look at a billboard with Adrien's face, you won't see 'that missing model'.  You'll see your partner.

Ladybug looks away guiltily as Chat tries to reassure her.

Ladybug: The billboards don't exactly have 'Adrien's' face anymore.  I'm sorry I couldn't save them.

Chat Noir: My friends should still all have photos from the times we've spent together.  Those are the ones that really matter.

Ladybug throws her hands in front of her at the injustice this boy has been subjected to.

Ladybug: And that just makes it worse!  Sharing your time with other people is so important to you!  But now you're all alone!

Chat Noir holds up his hands in a flourishing gesture in hopes that he can placate her.

Chat Noir: I'm not all alone!  I've been hanging tout with a little old hermit who doesn't recognize me!  He's teaching me his ancient ways!

Ladybug looks straight on at the boy she loves, knowing how much he’s hurting himself despite how he tries to cover up the pain.

Ladybug: But you need more than that!  You need your friends, Adrien!

Chat Noir looks downward, making himself small.

Chat Noir: ...We need to find Mayura first.  Maybe she's not actually my friend like I assumed, but—

Ladybug leaves the chair behind and goes down to Chat’s level, touching his cheek while keeping a hand clenched next to her heart.

Ladybug: No.  No, you're right to be so cautious.  Of course I want you to be happy, but... Your life is far too precious.  You should protect it however you can.  And your friends can bear losing you, if it means that you come back safely.

Chat Noir tries to cheer Ladybug up as they sit side by side.

Chat Noir: Of course I'll come back safe and sound!  Catwalker will make sure of it!

Ladybug: I just wish I didn't have to rely on him.

Chat Noir: There's nothing to worry about!  I trust him to be my eyes and ears.  And hands.  And feet.  And mouth...

Ladybug: He won't have your heart.

Chat Noir: Sure, he will!  I'm letting him use my everything!

Chat holds up a finger and places a hand on his chest, so as to look far more sagely than he actually is.

Chat Noir: Except for the cat puns, those stay mine.

Ladybug: You're keeping the cat puns?

Chat Noir: I must!  He's deathly allergic!

Ladybug: Right.  Because you can totally die from pun overexposure...

Chat exaggeratedly wipes away a tear from his face while Ladybug bursts out laughing.

Chat Noir: Oh, yes!  And it is so tragic!  If he ever uses cat-related humor, he'll *poof* out of existence!

Ladybug: Bahahahaha!

Ladybug collapses into Chat Noir’s chest as she realizes that this moment cannot last.

Ladybug: ... I'm going to miss this.

Chat Noir: Me too.

Ladybug: I wish you could stay.  Even if Catwalker was truly perfect, it just isn't the same without you.

Chat pulls Ladybug close to him. She leans into his shoulder.

Chat Noir: Just because I can't be Chat Noir anymore, I haven't given up on my mission to be your loyal partner.  I've told you that it was 'you and me against the world, m'lady,' and that's still true.

Chat Noir whispers into Ladybug’s ear from behind as he wraps one arm around her and brushes his other hand through her hair.  Ladybug clings to Chat’s arm, holding onto him and his memory as much as she can before she has to let him go again.

Chat Noir: The form that takes might be different now.  But I promise you this: I'll always be here fighting by your side, Ladybug.  Even when you can't see me.

Below is the same image as above, only without text:

[lostsyren]

Hey, I’m doing thin anonymously because I’m quite ashamed of my own thoughts, but in the beginning I was quite bitter Rafe got (very beautiful and lovely!!) girl but now I’ve forced myself into shock therapy and binge every poste about this ship and I have to thank you for helping for getting out of this toxic almost fictophillic (?) relationship. Now I’m actually quite happy to see them together, so yeah. Quite stupid I know but thanks for the ice cold bucket full of Sofia and Rafe content that helps me to overcome this stupid, irrational (‘I hate her because I ain’t her but I won’t admit it’) thoughts.

So I’ve got a small question, could you maybe write something about Rafe being completely scolded by Sofia when he talks shit about pouge or whatever?

Love!! ❤️

⟡♡ pogue princess ──୨ৎ──

{a/n: hi lovely! i’m so glad you’re now a rafesofia truther!! welcome!! <3 honestly it’s the best thing you can be with all the screen time and scenes they got in s4!! i’m glad you like my work! and don’t be ashamed, i don’t care, people have different opinions and that’s ok! i hope you enjoy and thank you for the request!}

{summary: rafe and sofia go to a party where rafe crashes out and sofia is not impressed and makes her concerns known}

˚⋆𐙚｡ 𖦹.ᡣ𐭩˚ ˚⋆𐙚｡ 𖦹.ᡣ𐭩˚ ˚⋆𐙚｡ 𖦹.ᡣ𐭩˚ ˚⋆𐙚｡ 𖦹.ᡣ𐭩˚ ˚⋆𐙚｡ 𖦹.ᡣ𐭩˚ ˚⋆𐙚｡ 𖦹.ᡣ𐭩˚ ˚⋆𐙚

Sofia entered the party, her arm wrapped around Rafe’s, eyeing the rowdy crowds of kooks all drunk or on their way to it. She instinctively tightened her arm around her boyfriend.

The sun was settling as Kelce’s house party started to set in motion, the heavy bass thumping and the drinks continually flowing.

Sofia quickly scanned what the other girls were wearing, making sure she didn’t stick out. Her slip dress held on by flimsy straps was something she’d worn before– she hoped no one would notice.

It was funny to her how she cared more about what Rafe’s friends thought of her than what Rafe thought. She supposed it was because whenever it was just her and Rafe, those insecurities never used to bite. It was always when she’d hang out with Topper, Kelce and Ruthie the anxiety began to eat at her.

Spotting Topper in the crowd, she gave him a small smile, before Rafe dropped her arm and went to embrace his friend.

“Hey Top!” He laughed, smile wide and words loud. Sofia always felt so small next to him– both in size and importance. With Rafe’s arm no longer there to hold, she felt unmoored, drifting in a sea of unfamiliar faces. But of course she did recognise a few: the people she’d serve at the bar. And she knew they recognised her too. It always stung when she’d see the gears slowly turn in their head, glancing from her to Rafe. They were always so… confused– what was a pogue doing with Rafe Cameron?

The party was the same as all the parties before it. Rafe, Topper and Kelce being loud and obnoxious, Sofia sticking with Rafe when he was away from them, and when he’d leave her, she’d stick with Ruthie, who’d always ask weird and invasive questions: So how are you and Rafe? He giving you any trouble? You’re always together, do you not get tired of each other? You guys moved in yet?

Sofia would give short, vague answers, never calling her out on her shit, because she knew how ruthless Ruthie could be– she’d never want to be on her bad side.

So that’s what she was doing, sipping at her drink whilst listening to Ruthie bitch about some other girl, (after she’d interrogated Sofia about her love life of course), when she heard a loud commotion come from the kitchen.

Sofia watched Ruthie’s eyes gloss over with glee, darting in the direction of the clamour. Sofia tagged along, leaving her drink on the mantle piece, only to see her boyfriend yell like a crazy person at someone she didn’t recognise with Topper behind him, trying to rein him back like he was a feral animal.

“This is our Homebase!” Rafe yelled, his voice making Sofia’s body squirm. “Get the fuck off our property, think you can just freeload like the good for nothing pogues you are?”

The group of guys rushed out the party, a crate of beer slotted under their arm, which they presumably stole, leaving Rafe enraged. Whenever he got like this he looked like he enjoyed it, his eyes glistening with a manic sheen, his lips contorted in a sneering smile. It disturbed Sofia.

Ruthie skipped over to Topper, swinging her long arms around his neck, whilst Rafe continued to let off steam.

“Coming from the Cut and stealing our shit? That we earned. It’s not right, they need to be taught a lesson.” He yelled, drinking straight from the vodka bottle.

Sofia’s stomach pooled with shame. She sometimes wondered if Rafe thought of her like that– like a freeloading, good for nothing pogue.

Rafe spotted her sidelining the uproar, his face breaking out in a smile as he approached her.

“Baby! There you are!” He greeted, voice still suspended in a yell. He draped a heavy arm around her, dragging her into his body heat. “How you finding the party?”

She looked up at him, as he swung back another swig of alcohol.

“I want to go home.” She said, looking up at him with wide eyes.

His brow furrowed, nose twitching in confusion, “but we just got here?”

“I don’t care– I’m leaving.” She untangled herself from his grip, weaving her way through the throng of people, grateful to finally exit and inhale the sharp, cold night air.

She waited for Rafe outside, knowing he’d follow, wrapping her arms to shield herself from the wind.

And like clockwork, he slipped out the house a moment later, running around to face her. “Sofia? What’s wrong huh?”

She was angry and she knew he could tell, from the way his demeanour shifted from the cocky, slick, drink swinging guy from inside to the now twitchy and confused Rafe who was scared of pushing her too far.

“You yelling to everyone about how much you despise pogues while I’m standing right there? You know how stupid that makes me look?” She said, tone harsh.

Rafe glanced around, checking if anyone overheard, “let’s go home yeah?” He suggested, leading her to his car, his hands on her shoulder.

Sofia wanted to scream at him, let all his kook friends see him get shouted at by a pogue instead, but deep down inside she didn’t want to embarrass him, wanting to live up to the impossibly pristine expectation of being Rafe Cameron’s girlfriend.

So she let him open the car door for her, helping her get in, slipping into the drivers seat a moment later.

“I don’t understand why you’re upset,” Rafe said, turning to face her once the car door was shut.

Her eyebrows furrowed, “when you insult pogues you’re insulting me. You’re calling me a good for nothing free loader, you’re calling me a thief, you’re calling my family scum. Don’t you understand that?”

Rafe’s confusion only proliferated, his nose turning up, his lips screwing in disbelief, “baby they stole our beer– I was shouting at them, not at you or your family.”

“Yeah they did, but not because they’re pogues Rafe, there’s some kooks who are just as bad.”

“I know that, I wasn’t being serious Sofia.”

“Yeah well sometimes it feels like it is serious.”

“You can’t be for real right now– I treat you so well and you think imma disrespect you?”

“It’s not about that, it’s about you disrespecting my people. This, them–” she said gesturing to the house and its occupants, “it’s not mine, it’s yours.”

Rafe let out a sigh, eyes scanning Sofia’s “what’s mine is yours, you know that right?”

“Rafe, just stop with all the pogue talk ok? I don’t like it,” she said, tone dismal and exasperated.

“Ok ok it’s done. Anything for my girl, ain’t that right?” He said with a smirk, swooping his face down to hers. It was hard for Sofia to remain angry at him, not when he smiled at her like that. She rolled her eyes, lips curving into a grin.

“What d’you say, you wanna head back to the party? Or shall we go home?”

“What do you wanna do”

“I say we should go home and I’ll make sure you’re not a free loading pogue.” His tone was playful as he brushed the hair off her neck, his breath hot against her pulse point.

“Oh yeah? How are you gonna do that?” Sofia murmured in his ear.

“You’re gonna pay me back of course. Gonna teach you a lesson for stealing my heart.”

Sofia erupted into laughter. “That was terrible Rafe.”

Rafe also began to chuckle, eyes crinkling at the sides. She could tell he was relieved their little spat was over. Despite always being involved in many fights with others, Rafe seemed to hate whenever they’d fight with one another. “yeah well you’re blushing so it wasn’t that bad.”

Sofia pressed a kiss on his cheek, “come on, let’s go.”

“So demanding, quite the pogue princess aren’t you?”

“Pogue princess? Really? That’s even worse.”

Rafe cocked his head with a smirk, “whatever you say, princess.”

˚⋆𐙚｡ 𖦹.ᡣ𐭩˚ ˚⋆𐙚｡ 𖦹.ᡣ𐭩˚ ˚⋆𐙚｡ 𖦹.ᡣ𐭩˚ ˚⋆𐙚｡ 𖦹.ᡣ𐭩˚ ˚⋆𐙚｡ 𖦹.ᡣ𐭩˚ ˚⋆𐙚｡ 𖦹.ᡣ𐭩˚ ˚⋆𐙚