#to be clear i'm stating this here but i mean this from like. any POV on my part. i literally write all these muses LMAO | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

violetarks · 1 year ago

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catch the rain, even on a sunny day!

game: danganronpa 1: trigger happy havoc/dangganronpa 2: goodbye despair

characters: togami byakuya, hinata hajime, komaeda nagito

summary: you two share these moments that feel oh so close to being in a relationship, so close yet so far.

warnings: g/n! reader, second person pov

↣ togami byakuya

what you don't expect at 11:30pm, obviously after the set nighttime where walking about the school was prohibited, is a knock at your door. you were awake, reading through a novel that you found in the library that you found interesting. when you hear the knocking, you're suspicious that it's someone attempting to take your life to escape this hell, so you take the bat set beside your door (taken from the sports equipment) and hold it at your side.

you open the door slightly, only enough to peek out and see the one and only byakuya standing at your door, in what looks like his pyjamas. you raise your brows, not seeing any murder weapon and opening the door fully.

"byakuya. it's really late, y'know..." you sigh, putting the bat away.

he notices, raised brow. "i know that. i've been unable to sleep due to our... argument earlier."

you squint your eyes at him. "what? have some insults to spray at me that you didn't think of in the cafeteria?" you scoff, crossing your arms, "i don't want to continue this shit when we should be sleeping."

"please." he grunts, rolling his eyes. you want to slam the door in his face. why is he the one giving you attitude? "i'm unable to rest due to our problem. let me in and we can speak about this properly."

you're a bit suspicious of him, but if he did try to attack you, you would be able to hold him off long enough to get help. he may be tall, but... he doesn't look like much of a fighter.

however, the look in his eyes makes you rethink. he looks... seriously irritated, or upset. you let him in, closing the door behind him. when you turn around, he's awkwardly standing there, hands in his pockets. he doesn't know where to sit.

"on the bed." you huff, walking over and taking your spot at the head. he slowly follows, sitting at the foot end of the bed and facing you. "what do you wanna' say?"

he finds it hard to talk to you now, since you're sitting right in front of him. and in your pyjamas, no less. something he hasn't seen on you before. byakuya fixes his glasses, hands on the bed as he leaned back.

"i... apologise for the things i said."

the statement makes you widen your eyes. did... you hear him right? he apologises? there's no way!

"they were uncalled for and i did not think of the consequences." he admits to you, unable to meet your eye. you are too busy staring at his red, embarrassed face to ask him about it. "i shouldn't have belittled you to the point of tears."

"shut up... i wasn't crying." you mutter out, looking at the bed sheets. "my hayfever..."

"sure." he huffs, looking back at you. he notices your troubled expression again and wipes off his smug look. "either way, i apologise. i will think about what i say before i speak, especially... to you."

you look back at him, feeling his hand rest against yours. he hums out, "i will do better."

you almost can't believe he is even saying these things. if it weren't for how hard your heart was beating, you would've guessed you were dreaming. but here he was, nearly holding your hand as he says he's sorry.

"thank you, byakuya. i appreciate your apology." you retort, brushing a thumb over his knuckles. he begins to glow pink, you notice. "it... it really means a lot that you're here right now."

your smile makes his stomach jump. he doesn't know what it is, but it's scaring him a little.

"yes, thats, um... that's good." he says, clearing his throat, "i won't speak like that to you ever again."

you chuckle, tilting your head at him. "but you talk to everyone else that way." you state.

he huffs, looking away, shoulder slightly touching yours, "i... i frankly don't care about the others. you're much more... tolerable."

you can't help but grin at his disguised compliment. you laugh a little, patting his arm, "thank you, good to know you've taken a liking to me, byakuya."

he chokes on his words, unable to find a response. after you've finished your laughter, he fixes his glasses and looks to your pillows. "shall i let you rest?"

"oh, right." you say, standing up and walking to the door. he follows behind, hand still brushing against yours. you open the door, watching him now stand in the hallway, looking at you. "goodnight, byakuya."

he goes silent, staring at you. his eyes dart from eye to eye, and you go to ask what he's thinking before he leans forward, brushing a soft kiss against your forehead.

when he pulls away, he sees your wide-eyed expression. you look shocked, as anyone would be in this situation. byakuya only smiles at the reaction, as if he wasn't blushing the brightest red in the world.

"goodnight. sleep well." he tells you, walking off to his room. you could never tell what he was thinking, that guy.

↣ hinata hajime

it was cold when you began walking around the island, heading towards the restaurant to eat lunch with everyone else. however, on the way there, you notice a certain somebody sitting on a nearby bench, scribbling in his notebook.

it wasn't really like him to be out on this side of the island alone, with no reason to be. that's what concerns you, making you stop your mission to get some food before akane does, and to instead see what's going on with him.

"hajime!" you call out, making your way towards him. when he looks up to see you, he almost panics, closing his notebook and hiding it under his leg. you decide not to press about it. not yet, at least. "what're you doing here? it's lunch time, and akane won't wait for us."

"i—i'm just collecting my thoughts..." he claims, watching you sit beside him. the wind blows, making his face cold as he is made highly aware of his notebook. "i didn't think anyone would be here at this time."

"well luckily i caught you." you say, smiling at him, "it's so cold out. aren't you freezing?"

"ah, well... you know, it's usually so warm, i don't bother bringing jackets out." he admits, a reasonable response. you nod your head, suddenly tugging off your thick jacket and standing up. "what're you doing, y/n?"

"hold on." you say, in front of him and tossing the jacket around his shoulders. his face is mere inches away from your chest as you heave your jacket comfortably around him. once you're finished, you clutch the front together, grinning. "are you warm now?"

his pink face says it all. you were so kind to him, but why? what did it earn you?

"what? no, no, i don't... i don't want it." he says, furrowing his brows and placing his hand over yours to push it away. you blink at his actions, keeping the jacket around him. he always seemed to be like this when you would offer something, anything to him. did he not like that? "y/n... is this really okay?"

"yes, hajime." you chuckle, feeling him gently hold your hand now. he still looked unconvinced, his frown and pointed look showing that off already. you only rolls your eyes and make sure the jacket is on properly and wouldn't slide off his shoulders.

"are you not cold?" he questions, watching you sit back down, "this jacket is a big. doesn't fit either of us."

"i'll be okay, hajime." you respond, crossing your arms, "and nekomaru gave me his spare jacket after i lost mine at the beach. so it's gigantic, but it's warm."

when you feel a heavy weight on your shoulder, you look to your side to see hajime's arm around you. he's trying to put the jacket over you as well, since there's more than enough room. his cheeks darken in colour when you stare at him.

"why're you looking at me like that? i—i don't want you to freeze." he tells you, shuffling closer to your spot. the heat he radiates is like a fireplace. with him this close, you can easily tell that he's blushing like crazy. the guy just couldn't keep a straight face. you smile. "is this okay?"

you glance at his expression once more, embarrassed. once you nod your head, hajime rests his arm around your shoulder and rubs gently, trying to warm you up. he seems a little nervous, as if you were feeling uncomfortable from his actions, but when he feels you lean in, he relaxes.

"you're nice, hajime." you say, looking at the view of the gardens in front of you, "i'm glad i met a guy like you."

"thank you..." he says, faulting when he feels your thigh touch his. you simply grin at him, making him relax further against you. you were so enticing, it made his head spin sometimes. "i'm grateful to have met you too."

"when we get outta' here, you and i should go out for dinner." you offer, seeing how he widens his eyes at the request. he definitely did not expect that, but nevertheless he nods his head. "great. i look forward to it."

hajime was the kinda' guy who didn't want to make the first move, but once you start, he gets it rolling. when you lean against him, he feels as if it's his signal to go forward. if it wasn't that, then maybe you just outright asking him out was the sign. either way, he squeezes your shoulder, pulling you taut against him.

"what were you writing about?" you question, breaking him out of his daydreaming state.

"nothing." he says, avoiding the question. you look to him, seeing the way he glances to the side to avert your eyes. "it's nothing, really."

you weren't stupid; it probably had something to do with you, right? if not you exclusively, then at least relating to you. and you would be correct, he was indeed writing about you. how you made him feel, the things you would do for him that made his heart flutter. he would never admit to it though, in fear of someone stealing the book to find out his secrets.

and he couldn't tell you, not yet. so for now, he sits beside you, holding you close and letting you talk about whatever you wanted to. as long as he was with you.

↣ komaeda nagito

"i knew you'd be here." his voice cuts through the soft waves on the shore. you turn your head, seeing the one and only weirdo himself. "you do know that dinner is coming up, right?"

you huff back, legs spread onto the sand, "i know, nagito. surely you're hungry, right?" you look over your shoulder, seeing him walk closer and set himself beside you. he copies your position, making you tilt your head at him. "how'd you know i was here?"

he gives a shrug. "i am the ultimate lucky student." he jokes, watching the waves with you, "just kidding. chiaki said she saw you walking this way."

he let it quiet down between the both of you as you don't do anything to speak up either. but the few seconds are ruined when he clears his throat.

"is there something you wanted to say to me?" you question him. although you shouldn't, you feel comfortable around nagito as much as you are with the rest of the group. while the others found the guy scary or peculiar, he was always somewhat kind to you. even though his actions were very questionable, you gave him the benefit of the doubt. luckily he hadn't attacked you yet. "why are you here, nagito?"

he gives you his usual smile. somewhat softer, if you could comment. his usual one had malice behind it, but this one? genuine, maybe. you could never tell what he was actually thinking.

"here." he says, holding out a familiar box to you. you widen your eyes, lips parting in shock. "the, uh... i found those snacks you like in the store. i thought i should bring them to you, knowing how much you miss these things."

it's true, the snack you had once mentioned in passing. how had he remembered it? did... he didn't go out looking for them, right? just for you?

"i—i..." you stutter, taking the box from his hands. he smiles a bit wider, noticing the way you perked up and stared at the box. "how did you find this? i went looking in the store when we first got here and i couldn't see these!"

a smile dawns on your own lips, looking at the cute mascot on the front of the box. nagito exhales slowly, looking to the waves now. "just snooped around, y'know? i've got pretty keen eyes." he tells you, tapping the side of his head, "and i saw that you left the group activity pretty dejected earlier. what's up with that?"

your smile falters before you sigh out, "nothing... i just can't stop thinking about this island." nagito glances to you, tilting his head. you lean your head on your arms, propped up on your knees. "i feel like we're all gonna' go crazy trying to escape. and if what monokuma said is true... what's waiting for us? in the cities and countryside?"

"don't be silly." he says, waving his hand with a smile. you look to him. "you won't go crazy. in fact, you'll all grow closer together. the ultimates have too, don't they?"

you exhale through your nose, shrugging your shoulders. "i mean, i guess so. i'm thankful for ibuki and kazuichi. their personalities always light up the room." you hum out, leaning back now. nagito copied. "but when peko started talking about her surveillance results, how there's no plausible escape, i just... it just made it set in more."

he watches as you close your eyes and bury your head into your arms. you felt so hopeless here. what were you able to do now? even with your ultimate talent, how could that help? what good did that do?

"you can't think that way, y/n." nagito claims, resting a hand on your shoulder. you lift your head up enough to see him offer a generous grin. "you are all so talented. coming together and working to solve each murder is what will help you to escape this place, right? so there's only one thing to do."

his somewhat positive attitude make you lift yourself up. he's right and you know it. you just need to work hard and make sure you keep yourself and all your friends safe. even if that can't happen... as long as some people escape, it is worth it for you.

"i guess we just need to persevere." you huff.

"that's right." he says, leaning closer to your side. your shoulders bump gently. when you don't move away, he takes that as his invitation to stay. "i'll be here to make sure you don't go crazy, 'kay? you can rely on me."

"thanks, nagito." you say, smiling at him. he feels his chest tighten. you look to the ground for a second before back at him, smiling a bit more. "i'm glad you're by my side."

your words sound sweet to him, he can't believe you've said that to him. something like him... worthy of your words? he didn't know. but he can't deny that the way you stare at him makes his heart beat faster.

"you're... you're welcome." he says, voice shaky. he places a hand on his chest, trying to calm himself. "i, um, we should probably get going, huh? to—to eat?"

you chuckle, standing up and brushing the sand off of yourself, "you're right. we should get going."

nagito stands up after you, doing the same thing. once done, you lock eyes once again. you hold the box close to yourself, excited to taste them. out of pure impulse, you lean forward, brushing a kiss against his cheek. he stiffens up, hands frozen at his sides as he feels it. you were so warm, he could feel it radiating off your face as you closed in.

when pulling away, nagito notes the smile on your face.

"let's go." you hum, nodding towards the restaurant.

once you walk off, nagito hastily follows closely behind.

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hidtired · 7 months ago

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A Single Punch [Part 3]

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Description: The line up ended with people thinking you died. However, your recovering at Hilltop with severe injury's. How will people react to seeing you again?

2.6k words

Warnings (much angst, injury, near death, depression, recovery, typical walking dead shenanigans) [Happy ending, fluff <3]

(Daryl Dixon x Reader) Masterlist

Your POV

"They took Daryl as their prisoner."

That sentence replay in your mind as you lay in bed that night. You had no idea what they were doing to him. Not even if he was breathing in the same moment you were. He doesn't even know you still are. You had to bite down on your tongue to prevent you from getting emotional. You were struggling to exist. Adding this mental pain onto the physical, you would never recover if something happened to him. You wouldn't have the strength to try and become better.

You would die of a broken heart.

The pain medication giving to you is what put you to sleep. Waking up foggy, still with a weird compression feeling in your neck. People had started their days already. You stared as people were getting ready for the morning. You proceeded to stretch trying to regain control of your body again. You heard Sasha and Rosita talking outside, "Then let me come with you, its stupid to go alone.'' You were confused, but what else is new. But, it sounded like they were going to do something they weren't supposed to.

Sasha had promised to help wash your hair in the sink yesterday. So when she came to keep that promise you questioned her. She was preparing the area you were going to use to wash your hair (Hopefully removing whatever blood that the last time didn't.) "Where are you going?" Sasha had turned to you towel in hand, "What are you talking about? I'm not going any where, we are washing your hair." She seemed to think you were confused but your expression remained blank, "With Rosita..." Sasha pursed her lips, "You heard us talking earlier." She stated it in realization. She sighed before helping you to lay your head in the sink.

Warm water was flowing down your scalp, a relief to you. Sasha began while running her fingers in your hair, carful of the stitches. "You can't tell anybody... I just can't- can't live with it. He need to pay for what he did." You sat there and listened, she wanted revenge, closer. You released a long breath, "I don't like it. Think- of the conseq-quences. Act on here-" You pointed to your brain, "not here..." your hand rested above your heart. "I know this one is much louder." You looked up at her with sad eyes. She simply looked away for a second. You continued, "No one else, we are losing no one else." Then is when she looked down at you, "Lets get your hair dry and get a new bandage on." You only sighed but complied.

She was probably hoping you world forget what you had heard. Just because you didn’t talk most of the time didn’t mean you weren’t getting better. You felt like you were at the point of having clear cognitive abilities. Your struggle was in having your brain controlling your body. You would tell your foot to move and it would, it just wouldn’t get to where you thought it told you it was. Maggie walked in frustrated about something but you had to tell her to talk to Sasha and Rosita.

“Maggs?”

You had startled her out of her thoughts, “You need something Y/N?” She approached you while looking you over for something wrong. You could only hold your head down ashamed, Sasha said not to say anything but you couldn’t let it go. “Could you check on-n Sasha? She and Rosita, planning something…” Maggie stood there confused before realizing what they could be planning. So without a word she ran out the door to look for them.

She returned later explaining Enid told her they had already left. Jesus was going after them though. Now you could only hope they were going to be ok.

You had asked Enid to help you outside to a bench. You wanted to be near if they came back. Also maybe because the trailer was driving you mad. You could tell it was getting late with the temperature slowly dropping. The book you were reading had lost your interest. You stared out watching everyone go about there days. You hadn’t thought much about Negan. The thirst for his blood that many seemed to have. You’re sure if you sat and lingered on it you would. For now it was still a thought of terror. You would dream about the feeling of the bat. Only on nights the meds started to fade and your headache only fueled the sensation.

Then Daryl would swirl around in your head. He was shot the last you saw him. Even worse he could only think you were dead like everyone else thought. Knowing him he was having guilt eating him alive. About you and Glenn. You’ve seen how he gets with grief. You could only hope he didn’t do something stupid.

The sunset reminded you they weren’t coming back today. You attempted to get up before older lady was at your side helping you. It was frustrating being so dependent. The was no use pushing the help away because you did need it. You sulked while laying down in bed. You didn’t talk for the rest of that night going to bed early.

You woke up before anyone. You slowly moved to get out of bed. Taken small slow steps leaning on anything near you. You had managed to get out slowly closing the door. You didn’t trust going down the steps so you sat down going down that way. Making your way back to that bench all by yourself took a good half hour. The cold air was slightly warming with the sun peaking over the hills. The cold was welcome, you preferred it better then the constant burning in your aching body.

Enid was the one to wake up seeing you gone and alerting Maggie. She had found you at the bench. She feared you had fallen somewhere. She sat opposite of you, “You should had woken one of us.” Looking at her seeing the expression of someone tired and lost. “I got here, eventually.” She only looked at you displeasingly. You smiled at her before choking out,

“I’m sorry-y my current existence was at the expense of Glenn’s.”

She looked shocked, “That’s not how it-“ you were waving your hand slowly waving her off, “It’s true, I’m just telling you I won’t let it go to waste. He was one of the good things left in the world and I’ll do right by him.” It was the first semi clear thing you’ve said your entire recovery. Despite it being slower and more forced out, it was firm and decisive. Maggie stared at you with tears in her eyes, placing her hand on yours and squeezing it. She nodded, “Thank you.” The rumbling in the distance broke the moment. Maggie stood and listening closely, “It could be the Saviors again.” She ran to get up onto the watch platform.

As the sound got closer it achingly sounded like Daryl’s bike. Maggie was yelling to open the gates. You stood and slowly made your way around a corner again leaning on anything to help you. The gates were wide open as a bike and two figures on them got off. It was Daryl… he was here. He is right there! Your slow steps soon turned faster and more wobbly. You started to cry. He was getting hugged by Maggie oblivious to your presence. You ran out of things to keep your balance but continued on sloppily. Your cry’s turn louder as you yell,

“DARYL!”

Your sobbing now- struggling to catch a breath even. You couldn’t get there fast enough. Daryl quickly turned at the voice. Your brain moving too fast for your body, caused you to fall to your hand and knees. But you still try and crawl.

Daryl POV

Earlier

Daryl was making his attempt to escape again. With the key that was slipped under the door, he was headed to his bike after finding some cloths and Ricks gun in Dwight’s room. The place was empty, until a larger man rounded the corner with food in his hand. Fat Joey he had heard them call him. He startled when they made eye contact. He lifted his hands in a surrender, “L-look man I didn’t see anything, you could just go I won’t say anything.” But Daryl angrily approached the him. “No! No wait!” Daryl had beaten him into the floor. Something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Another person, he stopped looking over to the presence.

He straightens in surprise, “Jesus?”

Jesus was as surprised to see him to. Daryl looked rough, and if the way he just watched him beat that man to death, wasn’t doing the best emotionally. He seemed on edge, and most notably animalistic. Daryl waved him over to the bike, “We gotta go.” Daryl was fiddling to start the bike as Jesus approached him. He seemed sporadic, maybe that’s why he didn’t mention anything about you. The man was already at level ten no need to push him further.

The ride to Hilltop took them until morning light to break. The gate opened and Daryl seeing Maggie made him feel like a hole had appeared under him and the only voice that could have possibly pulled him out of it rung out through the air.

“DARYL!”

Now

He had turned to see if he imagined it. He saw you struggling to make your way over. He first thought that like how Rick hallucinated Lori, he was doing with you. But regardless he ran the rest of the way you couldn’t as you fell. He was breathing hard and tears were streaming down his bruised face. He reached down to pull you to your feet. He caught a glimpse of your face seeing a bandage rapped around your head. He was in disbelief as he held you. You had crumpled into him. Your casted arm going around him as your other found his hair pushing him closer to you. Daryl’s voice held a tremble, “How is this possible.”

You choked down a gasp of air before talking, “You punched him…” You pulled back to look at his face. Hand removing from his hair to caress his cheek.

“I didn’t intend to play dead but did. I passed out- and- and then heard- took y-you.” Your speech was turning more slurred harder you tried to talk. It was obvious you were struggling to keep up with yourself. Daryl could only stare. Overwhelmed by the feelings flooding through him. After feeling like he had his entire being ripped from his body, only for it to appear back to him. ‘His punch?’ He couldn’t care to think of why you were in front of him just that you were. He wasn’t a religious man by any means but he was thankful to whatever had made you fallen back into his arms.

You were crying at a small whimper now when Maggie approached putting a hand to your back. “Shhh, you have to calm down Y/N, let’s get you laid down.” Daryl was dazed, still struggling to comprehend if this was real. Maybe a dream? Was he still in his cell? He had a good look at you now. Your face all kinds of colors. Your skin pale with bags under your red eyes. You moved almost like a toddler. Just like how Judith would try to sass him and walk leading her tripping at the inability to multitask. You were in obvious pain. You had yet to pull away from him. He looked to Maggie with a panicked and questioning look, “Is she okay, how hurt is she?” He moved to sweep you by the legs to pick you up bridal style. He didn’t even care for the pain in his shoulder from the gun shot.

Maggie started to lead them to the trailer, “She has been getting better. She was much worse at the start. I’ll explain everything.” In the trailer he set you down on a bed. You had one hand still on his arm. He sat down on the side taking your hand into his turning to Maggie for an explanation. Catching the hint she continued,

“We didn’t even notice she was still alive until Sasha and I were on are way to Hilltop.”

Daryl interrupted- “Why were you going here? Rick said you had died from whatever sickness you had, but saw Gabe did a fake grave for you.” She inhaled before placing a hand to her stomach, “I thought I was losing the baby…” Color drained from his face, Maggie spoke reassuringly, “They baby is fine! The doctor who looked at me also helped her.” They both turn to you. You were fiddling with his hand in yours, seemingly mesmerizing by it. She sighed, “He said she was recovering better than he thought she would. She wasn’t herself the first few days but, she seemed to have taken most of the force to her hand.” Daryl's eyebrows furrowed and he eyed the cast on your hand.

You turn your attention to Daryl, “I’m ok… I swear.” He saw what had happened to you. The sound of that damn bat and the blood pouring out from your motionless body. Maggie movement caught his attention, “I let you two be, you’ll find me around.” She walked out the door before he could reply. You sighed at her abrupt exit and the face he was making. The face of a man consumed of guilt, “Later, you-u should talk through it with her. Your face is saying it all.”

Oh to be called on his B.S. again. To have you reading him like you had the manual to him. He probably still had the thought written on his face, ‘Your really here.' The pressure you pressed in your combined hands made him return it.

“Daryl, what did they do to you.”

A simple question really but his mind spun at the remembrance. He was covered in grime, and he is sure you noticed him being a little twitchy. The cuts and bruises to add told you a story. “Nothing worse than thinking you were dead.” He said it truthfully. You gave that god awful look that would make is heart pound. “Ar-are you ok?” Your eyes were becoming glassy. He only smiled and began to nod, “I will be now.” You slowly smiled back to him.

He went to clean up at your request, had taken a shower and cleaned some of the cuts on his face, along with his still healing bullet wound. He returned back to you and ate. He was quiet to observe you. Taken his own notes on your condition.

You were face down on top of his chest after he ate. Both soaking in each other. Daryl broke the silence, “Be my wife…” You didn’t even hesitate, raising your head to look at him and replying, “Where’s my ring at then…?” He huffed out some air having a dumb smile on his face, “In are room…” That had gotten your attention, “How long has it been there?” Marriage for Daryl wasn’t a concept he thought would be a part of his life with how he was raised. “Found it back on a run for the prison. Never found a moment with how everything went down.” Your hand reached to whip a tear from your eye before flopping back down on him,

“I’ll be your wife.”

A ruckus outside caused Daryl to investigate, removing himself from you felt like a sin. "I'll go check it out, stay here." He only looked back for a moment before heading out the door. He slowly stalked to see the gate open. Jesus appeared by him, "I was just about to get you." Daryl looked at him questioningly. He continued his approach to the gate. Daryl rounded the corner to see Rick, Carl, Michonne, Tara, and Rosita. Rick pulling away from Maggie, and all eyes falling to him.

The group he considered his family was here.

Part 4

Feedback welcomed and requests open!

Also sorry again for grammar or spelling that is messed up! Dyslexia kicks my ass on the daily.

#daryl dixon #daryl dixon x reader #daryl fanfiction #daryl imagines #daryl x female reader #daryl x reader #norman reedus #twd daryl #angst #fluff

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bonefall · 1 year ago

Note

So, I'm writing an essay on the whole STATE of misogyny in WC for one of my university classes, and I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of things! No pressure of course, please feel free to say no!

A) Could I reference your good takes with appropriate harvard referencing and links back to your blog?

B) Are there any specific moments from the books that you think should be covered the most?

C) The end result will be a visual essay, so it's like those fun infographics people on Tumblr make on like ADHD and stuff, so when it's done, would you like to be tagged to read it?

(Sorry for anon, I'm nervous lmao, but if you'd be more comfortable I'll resend this off anon)

AAY good topic! You've got a lot to work with. Absolutely feel free to reference anything I've written, and tag me when you're done.

While you're here and about to write something so legitimate, I'm also going to recommend you check out Sunnyfall's video on gender in Warrior Cats. She breaks down the arcs into numbers, directly comparing the amount of lines mollies have to toms, and examining the archetypes women are usually allowed to be.

I think it's a must-have citation in a paper about WC misogyny.

...and, I think it's insightful to look at the WCRP Forum thread about the video. Note how the respondents immediately come into the thread to complain about how the video is too long so they didn't watch it, dismissing Sunnyfall as not being entertaining enough to hold their attention, even whining that she starts with statistics to prove her point, which I'm convinced she did exactly because they would have cried that she "had no evidence" if she didn't.

I am not a scholar, so I don't know how to document or prove that the books have an impact on the audience outside of anecdotes. But I think if you do write a section about fandom, it would be worth mentioning the in-universe and metatextual apologia for Ashfur and its reflection in the real world discourse, the authorial killing of Ferncloud because of fan complains, and the utter defensiveness against the discussion of misogyny you see outside of Tumblr.

You may also want to check out Cheek by Jowl, a collection of 8 essays about sexism in xenofiction by Ursula K. Le Guin. There's a very unique manifestation of authorial bias in animal fiction, having a lot to do with how the author views "the natural world," and it's worth understanding even though Warrior Cats are so heavily anthropomorphized.

So... Warrior Cats Misogyny

I think discussing individual instances can be helpful, but I'd implore you to keep in mind what's REALLY bad about WC's misogyny is framing and the bigger picture.

Bumble's death is shocking and insulting, but it's not just that she died. It's that the POV Gray Wing sees her as a fat, useless bitch who took his mate so she deserves to be dragged back to a domestic abuser, and he's right because the writers love him so much. It's that Bumble's torture and killing only factors into how it's going to hurt a man's reputation.

It's how Clear Sky hitting, emotionally manipulating, or killing the following women,

Bright Stream (pressured into leaving her home and family)

Storm (controlled her movements and yelled at her in public)

Misty (killed for land, children stolen)

Bumble (beaten unconscious, blamed nonsensically on a fox)

Alder (child abuse, hit when she refused to attack her brother)

Falling Feather (scratched on the face, subjected to public abuse and humiliation)

Tall Shadow (thrown into murderous crowd, attacked on-sight in heaven)

Rainswept Flower ("blacked out" in anger and murdered in cold blood)

Moth Flight (scratched on the face for saying denying medical treatment is mean, taken hostage in retaliation against mother for the death of his own child, which he caused)

Willow Tail (eyes gouged out for "stirring up trouble")

Is seen as totally understandable, forgivable, or not even questioned at all, when killing Gray Wing in an act of rage would have been "one step too far" with the ridiculous Star Line.

"Kill me and live with the memory, and then let the stars know it would only matter if a single one of your murder victims was a man."

It's the way that fathers who physically abuse their kids out of their ego (Clear Sky, Sandgorse, Crowfeather) aren't treated anywhere near the same level of narrative disgust and revulsion the series has for "bad moms", even if they're displaying symptoms of a post-partum mood disorder (depression, anxiety, and rage), an umbrella of mental illnesses 20% of all new mothers experience but are heavily stigmatized with (Sparkpelt, Palebird, Lizardstripe).

It's Crookedstar's Promise giving him two evil maternal figures in a single book, while bending over backwards to make every man in a position of power still look likeable in spite of the fact they're enabling Rainflower's abuse. Leader Hailstar is soso sorry that he has to change Stormkit's name for some reason, in spite of leaders being unaccountable dictators the other 99% of the time, and Deputy Shellheart functionally does nothing to stop his own son from being abused or even do much parenting before or after the fact.

It's the way men's parental struggles are seen sympathetically, and they don't have to "pay for it" like their female counterparts (Crookedstar's PPD vs Sparkpelt's PPD, how Daisy and Cinders are held responsible for Smoky and Whisper being deadbeats, Yellowfang's endless guilt for killing her son vs Onestar's purpose in life to kill his own), even to the point where a father doesn't have to have raised their kids at all to have a magical innate emotional connection to them (Tree's father Root, Tom the Wifebeater, Tigerstar and Hawkfrost).

It's less speaking lines and agency for female characters, being reduced to accessories in the lives of their mates and babies, women getting less diversity in their personalities, with even major ex-POV characters eventually becoming "sweet mom" tropes.

You could zoom in on any one of these examples and have an amoeba try to argue with you that "Oh THIS makes sense because X" or "Ah well my headcanon perfectly explains this thing" or "MY mother/girlfriend was abusive/toxic/neglectful and I've decided that you are personally attacking ME by having issues with how a character was written or utilized," but the beleaguered point,

That I keep trying to hammer in, over and over, across books worth of posts,

Is that these are trends. More than just a couple one-off examples. It's the fabric that has been woven over years, showing a lack of interest in, or even active prejudice of, women on behalf of the writers.

LONG STANDING trends, which have only gotten worse as the series progressed. From Yellowfang being harshly punished with a born evil son who ruins her life in TPB and the mistreatment of Squirrelpaw that begins in TNP, all the way up to the 7 Fridgenings of DOTC and Sparkpelt's PPD being a major character motivator for her son Nightheart.

So, I would stress that in your paper, and structure it less as "the Sparkpelt slide" and "the Yellowfang slide," and more as "The paternal vs maternal abuse" slide, and "the violence against women" slide. They're really big issues, there's tons of examples for each individual thing.

Anyway to leave off on a funny, look at this scene in Darkest Hour that I find unreasonably hilarious,

"Everyone who matters to me; my truest friend, my sensible and loyal warrior, the wisest deputy I've ever known, and 2 women." -Firestar, glorious idiot

He can't even think of a single trait for either of them what the hell does "formidable pair" mean lmaooo, when I finished a reread about a year ago this line killed me on impact.

#bone babble #cw misogyny #warrior cats analysis #SO good luck!! Absolutely ping me when you're done I wanna see lmao #Full disclosure I'm bad at responding to DMs because I open them and then forget #But I can try to answer your questions #Feel free to send questions in tho. You don't have to come off anon if you don't want i don't mind #I cannot stress enough. I'm just a guy who likes to yell about cats.

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itsclydebitches · 4 months ago

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I’d love to hear your thoughts on Viz acquiring RWBY.

Apparently this is also how I find out that my computer isn't taking screenshots at the moment, so @hivemind42 I'm tagging you since I can't include your ask here 👍‍

Yeah, right now I'm feeling... neutral due to lack of information? It's pretty clear to me via the announcement vid that they want to keep the fandom optimistic without outright acknowledging that Viz hasn't committed to anything yet (beyond hosting what already exists of RWBY, that is). There are a lot of exciting words like "production" and RWBY's "future" and continuing the "legacy," but no hard facts like whether we'll get a Volume 10, or whether they'll be new material at all. Admittedly, I'm questioning the likelihood of us seeing more RWBY in its original form because 1. does Viz have any experience with producing animation? (I was under the impression they were manga + anime distribution) and 2. Wouldn't the team have already been informed if a company was willing/able to continue the franchise as published? Meaning, I'd think someone snagging RWBY would have gone into the negotiations with, "Yeah, we absolutely want to produce a Volume 10. That's why we're here" but hell, I don't know enough about the production end of things to say whether this is normal or not.

The actual, factually-based takeaway is that RWBY will continue on in some capacity - the specifics of that are TBA - and fans should be happy that at the very least the franchise will have a permanent home. (Say what you want about RWBY/RT, I don't like any media getting lost to the digital wind.)

The cynical takeaway from my POV is that RWBY's future may only consist of additional manga/more spinoffs of questionable quality.

The really cynical takeaway is that if they attempt a Volume 10 it may be an epic dumpster fire due to the combination of RWBY's current state and a company (I think?) getting their feet wet on this side of the creative line :/

But who knows! I can't say I remain eternally optimistic, but there's been too many curve-balls on my yearly bingos lately for me to completely write off "RWBY gets acquired by Viz, publishes Volume 10, and it's solid addition that nostalgically grabs Clyde by the heartstrings" :D

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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a-998h · 11 months ago

Text

Seven

Creator's POV

The floor ripples like water and is made up of the colors of every element. Above me is the blue sky I saw when I got here. It's clear I'm dreaming, but I have no idea where I am. Walking across the multicolored water like surface I end up in front of something.

The thing is made of white light. It was shaped like me... I think. What ever this is looks human shaped but moved like a fire.

"Hello, young one," This thing says.

I back away. This thing, it gets off a warm feeling but I don't trust it.

Whatever this thing is stood there, menacingly.

The figure moved closer. By now I could make out some eyes and a mouth. The figure turned from light to something more solid.

"What the hell!" I yelled in fear.

The figure recoiled on shock. It slowly became more human looking. It started with the eyes gaining color and shape. The eyes matched mine perfectly. Next was the skin that matched my shade and marks, after that the figure gained my hair texture and color, and lastly it had my proportions.

"What are you?" I asked this thing.

This thing laughed, not in a cruel way but in a patronizing way. This pissed me off becuase it's like my own mind is mocking me. So far this has been so god damn werid that this has to be a dream.

"I'm what you were," it laughs.

"What?" I question.

By now I think I've just lost my mind. There is no way any of this is really. There is silence between us. The dream version of me moves closer to me.

"You don't believe me, do you?" She says.

I nod and she sighs. She paces back and forth with a neutral expression on its face. Its expression changes into a smile before rushing back towards me. It then starts touching the green liquid, which causes plants and flowers to grow from it. It was beautiful to see, but I still think this is a dream. The dream version of me the creates ice spikes from the light blue, almost white, liquid. She keeps creating things from each color of liquid. This just makes it seem more clear that I'm dreaming. I want to tell them that I still don't believe them, but something tells me that would be a bad idea.

"Ok, ok, I believe you. I just have a lot of questions," I tell them.

"Good, so what questions do you have?" It asks me.

I ask them what she meant when she said she was what I used to be. She laughs loudly at this. I give them a confused look.

"Well, I'm a god," It states.

I just stare at them becuase this sounds completly crazy. It explains more.

"I was created by the Phanes after Teyvat was created. I befriends the remaining dragons before I was tasked to create the archons," it explains.

It can tell that I'm confused. It tells me things about the world that was never in the game. This leaves one important question left, what does any of this have to do with me.

"Where do I come in all of this?" I ask.

"Well, after my death my soul was sent to a different world to be reincarnated becuase Celestia didn't like me," it says.

It feels like my head is in pain. This was crazy, this has to be a dream.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" I ask it.

It pauses and thinks. It remians in their thoughts for who knows how long. When they comes out of their thoughts, it mentions how the people were treating me and how there were statues that looked like me. When I thought back to all of it, it made sense?

I ask them why its here, and that causes its ace to become cold.

"I'm here to warn you," it mumbles.

"Warn me about what?" I ask.

"They plan to keep you here, they don't want to lose any part of me," it says.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

She didn't say anything for a bit. When it does start talking again, it says that I need to get to Musk Reef as quickly as possable. Apparently, an ancient civilization created the Spiral Abyss as a way for them to explore other worlds. It writes the stuff and ritual I'll need in order to get back home, and that I have six days to do this.

"O-ok, " I mumble out.

It starts trying to talk, but I can't hear it. Its mouth is moving like it's yelling but no sound is coming out of its mouth. Everything was getting brigther and brigther until everything was covered in a white light, and then.... I wake up.

#genshin impact #sagau #cult au #genshin fanfic #creator!reader #sagau lore #sagau cult au #sagau genshin #sagau x reader #genshin cult au #genshin sagau

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one-piece-aus · 1 year ago

Text

Whumptober Day 17

Kid x Reader

Ahoy! Remember that angsty Kid story I wrote last year for Whumptober? I saw you guys wanted a sequel so I decided to write the prequel to that from Kid's POV! (I do have the idea of making this a series but I need more motivation) Anyway, if you can read the other part to this HERE

Enjoy the story! ^-^

"Kid, you've been acting different lately," Killer said as he stood beside his friend.

"You don't have to remind me," Kid growled, shifting his stance while keeping his arms folded as he leaned against the school's gate. His eyes were fixated on a group of friends walking by... no, he's only looking at one person, you.

"It's the girl, isn't it?" Killer stated, following Kid's gaze.

Kid grumbled in response and averted his eyes from the group to glare at the ground. Even with you out of sight, you weren't out of his mind. You haunted his mind and wouldn't leave, ironic because you didn't exist to him before Ms. Makino paired the two of you for an English project this year.

"When are you gonna tell her?" Killer asks turning back to the redhead.

"I don't plan to."

"Why not? She gets along with us just fine," Killer pointed out, which is seen as a good sign in the Kid Gang since most of the girls who try to run after them have a distaste for most of their members.

"She's probably already dating that goth freak."

"Who is?"

Kid and Killer turn to see Law approaching them.

"Fuck off Trafalgar!"

"I came to ask a favour, I thought I was going look for a way to bargain but it looks like you need information." Law smirks.

Killer glances at Kid who is already growling at Law, "Kid, if you don't want to ask her directly to find out, this is the next best thing."

"I know," Kid growls, loathing at the thought of asking Law for something. "Fine! Do you know if [Y/n] is with that freak Hawkins?"

Law shook his head. "I've seen Basil hang around [Y/n] but he's not dating anyone. He says romance is nothing but delusions and a distraction in high school, maybe you should heed his words Eustass."

"I don't ask for your opinion Trafalgar!" Kid flipped him off.

"Well you did ask for information, and now you gotta pay up."

"Like hell I will after-"

"Do you know if [Y/n] is with anyone?" Killer asked for Kid, figuring if they get more info Kid will help Law without a fuss.

"I don't, but if anyone in this school would know, it's probably Basil," Law shrugs. "He knows her the most, probably the only one who knows her. Not even Strawhat or his friends know about her, and that's hard to find these days."

"I know her."

"Sure you do Eustass, but I suggest talking to Basil."

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

"You wish to know if [Y/n] is single?" Hawkins questioned, closing his locker door and turning to Kid.

"That's what I just asked."

"May I inquire why?"

"I just want to know," Kid told him, folding his arms.

"To answer your question, no, she is not with anyone at the moment," Hawkins stated. "However, if you're wanting to pursue her, I would advise against that."

"Let hell you'll stop me!" Kid shouted, side-punching the locker beside him.

"I'm not saying I will," Hawkins said. "But I think you should reconsider."

"What do you mean?" Kid asked narrowing his eyes at the blond.

"Knowing [Y/n]'s past, it's clear that you're not suited for her."

"And what? You are!?"

"No, our relationship is as she once stated 'loners who stick together', but you, on the other hand, are a bit more complicated now that you've developed feelings for her."

"That's none of your business!"

"Perhaps not, but it is [Y/n]'s business and as someone who has known [Y/n] for quite some time now, I can't help but be concerned about her well-being," Hawkins states while maintaining eye contact with Kid. When the redhead doesn't respond, Hawkins walks past him to go to his club when he stops. "There's more to [Y/n] that you haven't seen. If you're serious about this, I suggest you find out before you go any further."

Kid stood there, hearing Hawkins' footsteps echo further down the hall.

Did he really not know you? Sure, Kid might not know your childhood or the other schools you went to, but he didn't think that'd be a big deal. He hasn't been to your house yet either but most families wouldn't want a member of a gang in their house... No, that's not an excuse. If he's going to get to know this side he hasn't seen, he has to set that aside.

Kid decided that the next time he sees you he'll take you around town to see if he could take a step closer to knowing you. At least, that's what he wanted to do, but you were making it hard to do.

You no longer stayed in your shared English class, always asking to study somewhere else. He never saw you in the halls, not even when Hawkins walked by. You were nowhere to be found at lunch, and if you were in a club at the end of the day, Kid didn't see you in there because he checked every club meeting to find you.

Two weeks passed since this started, and Kid normally didn't like assuming these kinds of things, at least not when it comes to his friends, yet his mind couldn't stop whispering this thought to him.

You were avoiding him.

Tag: @gnarlycrys @roseoftrafalgar @bookandyarndragon

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cricketnationrise · 9 months ago

Note

hello! :) THIS IS SO CUTE I CAN'T WAIT FOR A POSSIBLE CRICKET EXCLUSIVE!! because i am obsessed with u fr but that's common knowledge. <3

for the ficlet fest, if you'd like:

time stamp: 2:23am

location: brownstone

character: alex/henry

song: this is me trying by taylor swift (only if you want!!!!!!!)

rating: whatever you'd like

but like you can go any direction with this I'm just always projecting my adhd/anxiety/not good enough feelings onto alex on a regular basis :')

my ao3: firenati0n | Archive of Our Own (same as tumblr user)

THANK YOU SO MUCH! SENDING LOVE XOXO

your cricket exclusive is here! i actually went full on henry pov with this one bc my brain got stuck on the trying of it all. so have some first post-canon fight make up. this is actually the longest ficlet yet, but somehow i don't think that'll be a problem 😂 💜🦗

read the rest of the ficlets here!

❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙

2:32am, brownstone

The brownstone is quiet when he returns, which is completely reasonable for just after two-thirty in the bloody morning.

It’s also immaculate, which is decidedly less so, especially considering the state of the place when Henry stomped out a few hours ago.

The hallway is clear of trip hazards, shoes neatly in the rack. The kitchen gleams in the range hood light; counters clear and wiped down, small appliances lined up as precisely as Buckingham guards. Peeking his head in the for-once dark office reveals two tidy desks, chairs pushed in, and both of their laptops plugged in and charging.

The den at the base of the stairs makes Henry pause. The stacks of books have been put away. The coasters on the coffee table have been relieved of their burdens of half-drunk tea cups and abandoned coffee mugs. In the dim light from the street lamps through the window, Henry can even see vacuum lines in the carpet. A second glance has Henry taking cautious steps inside.

There is one thing out of place after all.

On the couch, propped on a few of the numerous throw pillows Pez insisted upon, and tucked into the quilt Ellen sent them, is Alex. Like an anchor to the ocean floor, Henry is drawn into the room, and to Alex’s side.

He kneels between the coffee table and the couch near Alex’s head and just looks for a long moment. Alex clearly hasn’t been sleeping well. The couch is too short, even for Alex’s shorter frame, so his legs are tucked uncomfortably. His curls are more of a wild mess than normal, like he’s been tugging at them. Alex is gripping the quilt as tightly as he normally clutches Henry, and there’s deep furrows on his forehead.

Henry should let him sleep, probably—neither of them have been sleeping all that well. Increased paparazzi presence as Alex’s first semester of law school starts and Henry takes a more active role in the shelter has been stressful. But Henry can’t help but reach out and try to smooth those lines on his forehead. Something churning and tense settles inside him when his gentle touch has Alex’s eyes blinking open, a small smile on his face when he recognizes Henry..

“You came back.”

“Of course I did, love.”

Alex exhales messily, blinking back tears now. “I wasn’t sure— After earlier—”

Henry shushes him with a hand on his cheek. “I will always come back to you. Promised I was done being an obtuse fuckin’ asshole, didn’t I?”

“You still left, though,” Alex says.

It’s Henry’s turn to fight back tears. “I could hear myself sounding more and more like Philip at his worst. It scared me. I didn’t want to subject you to that, to even inadvertently use my knowledge of you as a weapon. So I left before words I didn’t actually mean could find their mark.” He sways forward, resting his forehead on Alex’s, needing to be closer. “You deserve more than sharply aimed words, especially when you haven’t done a thing wrong.”

“Hen…”

“I’m sorry Alex. I shouldn’t have— I knew it would be different once the paparazzi got wind of our plans, but I wasn’t prepared for how much more invasive they would feel. I’m having a hard time adjusting to life beyond Kensington’s thick walls and I started to take it out on you.”

Alex’s hand pulls on his shoulder. “C’mere.”

Henry climbs onto the couch and sprawls undignified on top of Alex, tucking his head into the crook of his neck. Alex’s hands, as ever, hold him steady, rubbing large circles across his back.

“There were two people in our fight, Henry. You aren’t the only one struggling. Or taking it out on the person he loves.” He presses a kiss to Henry’s temple. “I could hear echoes of my parents, but couldn’t figure out how to stop the word vomit. And that scared me—I never want you and I to be like them.”

Henry pulls his head back to meet his gaze fiercely. “Never.”

Alex smiles at his vehement tone, but it's got a rueful edge to it. “We’re gonna have to figure out how to talk about this stuff before it blows up in our faces again.”

“Not tonight, though?”

“Nah, not tonight.”

They’re quiet for a long moment, curled around each other on the couch, when a niggling thought finds its way past Henry’s lips.

“Alex?”

“Hmm?”

“Why were you on the couch? Did you— Did you not want to be in our room?”

Alex holds him tighter. “I— You left and— So I was cleaning, and I did this room last, and when I was done there was no way stairs were happening, so I just collapsed here. I didn’t actually think I'd fall asleep, I don't usually when you aren’t right next to me.”

“So it wasn’t because you wanted space from me?”

“Fucking hell, baby. No, I never want space. I want the opposite of space from you. If I could figure out a way to crawl into your rib cage every night I would.”

“Oh.” The last bit of tension leaves Henry’s body at that and he relaxes fully on top of Alex.

“Yeah, oh.” Alex chuckles. “But, as nice as you feel on top of me, it’s late and this couch ain’t big enough for the two of us.”

“You fit on it better than I do,” Henry can’t help but tease.

“First of all, rude. Second of all, I also have to pee so get up before I shove you off.”

Reluctantly, Henry stands and reaches down to help Alex up after him. Henry folds the quilt and hangs it over the back of the couch, smoothing the last wrinkles with his hand. When he straightens up, Alex is only halfway up the stairwell.

“Meet you in bed?” Alex whispers.

Henry climbs up to meet him. “Always, love.”

#cricket writes #firenati0n #ficlet fest 500 #rwrb #pov henry #the brownstone #they'll have a longer talk later and come out stronger #but early mornings are for lovingly flopping on top of your boyfriend

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fandomlovingfreak · 1 year ago

Text

By The Cliffs (Ch 5/?)

Paul Lahote x Female Reader

Wattpad I AO3 I Twilight Masterlist

Rating: T+

Word Count: 1348

Summary: It was supposed to be a vacation.

A time to relax after Graduate School and unwind the pent-up tension I'd built up in the years of juggling school and work. Finally, I'd have the chance to breathe. Craving the serenity of mother nature's caress, I'd chosen Forks, a four-hour drive from the University, based on the stories I'd heard from Washington locals I'd known in school. With its endless trees and rainy weather, it seemed a perfect sleepy dream spot.

In retrospect, my belief that it was solely my decision to visit and not the Universe's mystic call pulling me there was mortal ignorance. But who besides a creature possessing the gift of predestination could have anticipated what awaited me by the cliffs?

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of Meyer's Characters. This work is not created for profit or financial compensation, and is a transformative fair use work in accordance with Section 107 of the United States Cop1yright Act.

Notes: Paul's POV!! He's got some abandonment issues that will probably be more obvious in his POV's then in other characters (at least so far lol)

Warnings: This fic is about Imprinting. Warning if that's not your cup of tea. There is some swearing (bc it's my love language) and angst. Some abandonment issues but lowkey Paul doesn't even understand his feelings either so it's vague-ish.

Enjoy!

I know I'm not actually angry with her as I watch her retreat back into the house. Truthfully, I was mad at myself. That first impression was a shit show, making it abundantly clear that I had a lot of work ahead of myself if I wanted (y/n) to welcome the imprint.

It's not like she could know that I could hear her entire conversation with Sam and Emily before I walked into the house due to my heightened hearing, but hearing her call me Mr. Hothead had sent a spike of hurt through my body. Even if it was fair-- especially after watching someone spiral out of control like I had.

My piss-poor explanation-- our conversation, if you could call it that-- made me all too aware that her anger was also fair. Just because I could admit all of this didn't mean her rejection didn't sting.

You couldn't pry this information from me, but I had pictured a fantasy where I'd meet this so-called soulmate by whatever chance. Nowhere in that sick romantic fantasy had I expected this outcome. I guess I'd expected whoever she was to feel that instant connection and know we were fated to be in each other's lives. Reality had kicked my ass enough times. You'd think I should have anticipated the opposite.

A sympathetic hand lands on my shoulder, squeezing slightly. I don't need to turn to know it's Sam's hand on my shoulder.

"Give her some space. There's no use in continuing to argue. It'll only drive her further away."

I want to knock his hand off and tell him to go fuck himself... but he's right. I wish I could say he doesn't understand this rejection, but I know out of everyone here, Sam understands everything I'm going through perfectly. Emily wasn't the type to yell, but she'd wanted nothing to do with him initially. I'd felt and heard that memory a thousand times in the past years as his thoughts had unintentionally been shared around the pack.

"Okay." The single word comes out in a huff under my breath.

"Maybe you should run it off," Sam suggests, "One of us will talk to her,

talk her through it... better, and then you can come back and try again later."

The idea of Sam or any others explaining these... almost intimate details

with (y/n) reignites the stinging pain inside me. It should be me. It's our bond.

Rationally, I knew we couldn't find common ground with the heightened emotion that raged between us. Still, I desperately wanted her to understand I wasn't forcing her to do or be anything because of the imprint. I needed to give Sam or someone else to explain the things I fumbled through before... letting her know that the imprint wasn't something that held her to me, but honestly, the opposite. It was me who needed her.

Releasing a breath, I hadn't realized I was holding in, I nod, "You're right. I'll go." It was probably good to get away from the current environment. The breather-- the distance-- away from the pack would help me find my composure.

The first step towards the tree line stung, like there was a rubber band between me and her, and every step away pulled the rubber unnaturally... too tight. I force myself to continue until I'm out of view, mentally blocking out the screaming in my head, begging me to run back to her.

Stashing my shorts under a fallen tree, I phase, breaking into a spring down the familiar path. Though I'm still fighting myself mentally, I try to enjoy the run and surrender to my wolf instincts.

Run. Fast. Hard.

Her face pops into my head, crystal clear, like she's standing right before me, and my claws dig into the dirt, my lungs burning as I stop dead in my tracks. Panting hard, I let my mind wander across the details of her face. We'd spent only minutes in each other's company, yet I could recall the smallest details like I'd known her for decades. Like I had had the chance to study her intimately.

My feet move on their own, propelling myself through the forest toward home as the imprint bond offers me more possible scenes from the future. She's smiling, her hand reaching for mine, our fingers entwining lazily as she laughs. (y/n) looking at me from the passenger side of the car, singing to something I can't hear. She's reaching for me, our lips meeting as she initiates a kiss.

These possibilities, moments where she smiles at me and laughs with me, wants to kiss me, bring me hope. I can fix this.

Phasing back, I make my way into the house. Dad's in the kitchen, drying dishes.

"Paul?" He calls, wiping his hands on the kitchen towel before leaning on the counter to watch me, "What are you doing here?"

"Showering," I smile, close-mouthed at him, trying to make my escape towards the bathroom.

"Showering? It's only," he looks down at his watch, "Four. Don't you have patrol tonight?"

I pause, "I have a good reason."

Dad raises his brows in interest, "And that is?"

"I'm-- going to see a girl." It's not really a lie; it's not really the truth.

"Sam's letting you blow off patrol for a girl?" He doesn't look like he believes a word of it. Or at least, he doesn't entirely "Doesn't really sound like Sam."

I shrug, "Kinda has to. I… imprinted."

The gears turn in Dad's head momentarily as the words catch up with him, "Well, I'll be damned. Are you bringing her over soon? I'd like to meet my

future daughter-in-law." I know he's ragging, but it still makes me

anxious. Bringing (y/n) here would not happen for a while, especially if he

insisted on making that type of joke. After today's events, I'd walk on eggshells around her regarding this sort of humor.

"Not anytime soon. Gotta convince her to talk to me without it ending it an

argument."

"Ah--" Dad crosses his arms over his chest, looking delighted for whatever reason, "She's not local, is she?"

I scoff. As if that matters. An imprint is an imprint no matter their

background, "Nope. The wolf thing really-- freaked her out." The image of her running back into Emily's house screaming about wolves flashes through my memory.

"Understandable. It's not every day you encounter shapeshifters."

The understatement of the century.

"Listen, I'll talk about it later, okay?" I move to make my escape, "I want to drive her back to her car—"

"Why doesn't she have her car?" Dad interrupts.

"I'll explain later!" I turn, making my way down the hall before he can ask any questions.

Shutting the bathroom door behind me, I turn the small shower on before stripping down. Standing under the ice-cold spray immediately relieves some of the tension in my shoulders. I exhale, my body seeming to deflate further. Finally, my head starts to clear ever so slightly, and I can begin to rack my brain for the words I must say to (y/n). Without being pushy, I need to explain the imprint in a way that balances out the power. It was obvious by her words and reactions that she felt I was trapping her, leaving her with no choice but to be with me. I can see how alarming that would be; a stranger coming on to you strongly would freak me out, too.

Driving that point across was important. The other part I needed to make right was her perception of me. I was so much more than anger. And I could be so much for her if she only asked.

If I could get her to see beyond her concept of 'Paul', the asshole who screamed at the guys who saved her and then argued with her when he was supposed to explain imprinting, I would be golden.

Recovering my image wasn't impossible. I'd just have to be more patient with my imprint. If I could be patient for anyone, it would be (y/n).

Thanks for reading! I appreciate all of you who have read this fic, liked- reblogged- commented- sent an ask! You are AWESOME!

#Paul Lahote #Paul Lahote x reader #paul lahote x female reader #twilight #the twilight saga #twilight saga #paul lahote x you #fanfiction #fanfic #reader insert #fandomlovingfreak #new moon #eclipse #breaking dawn #imprinting #imprint #imprinting fic #angst

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rjmhereunderprotest · 2 months ago

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Only Human: Species Bias in Fantasy/Science-Fiction

Let's get the premise for this little essay out of the way now: Humans are Boring. They are the most overused, overemphasized, overdone, overrated race in any fantasy/sci-fi setting. And I'm honestly SO tired of it. And by that I mean, humans, and human-like races, are consistently the primary characters of any story. Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, they're all overdone to death, but Humans? Those other races are generally just derivatives of them anyway and they are constantly placed into the primary focus of any story. Often to its detriment in my mind. We always complain about how we want other perspectives, different heroes, different narratives, but we always default to humans and frankly its gotten stale. For me, it's become even more so the longer this has gone on. So in a follow-up to my entry about Monster-Narratives with Sarah Kerrigan, let's talk about humans and why they're so goddamn boring.

Disclaimer First

I am not saying ALL human characters and ALL human centric stories are boring. I can name many a human character who is compelling and interesting and deep. My problem isn't humans as a central POV, my problem is when given the option in a setting to do ANYTHING and be ANYONE... a story will default to human. Every. Single. Time. And worse yet, they'll even make Non-Human races more human like.

Besides the aforementioned Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits, a lot of alien or fantasy races can end up just being humans with a slightly different coat of paint. You don't need to look any further than a lot of monster girl fiction, which has universally decided that you can just have any human woman put on cat ears or pop out a fox tail or grow some wings and presto chango they're a monster now I guess. It's cosplay, nothing more. No one actually has the dragon BE a dragon i full. They have to look like a human somehow.

And let's be clear here, the reason for this is obvious. Write what you know. Everyone knows how to be human, so it's easier to just WRITE a human. The perspective will ring more true if you know what a human is and can properly depict them. And since everyone is human, everyone at least has an idea of how they're supposed to be. I'm not blaming anyone for going to the default option on this, it makes sense.

But all across media there exists multiple opportunities to actually present a perspective or allow someone to step into the shoes of something that isn't human. That isn't just a derivative of humanity. That is truly foreign to them. Sadly they rarely take the chance and when they do... well, a lot of the times it falls into some bad writing clichés. Before we get into some of the main offenders, let's address one of said clichés of the bat to better understand why human centrism in genre fiction can lead to some terrible ideas.

Planet of Hats

The Planet of Hats is the well-worn concept that alien/fantasy races are monoliths. That every member of a species thinks like each other, acts like each other, builds their society around a singular concept, is entirely devoted to that particular concept, and is forever entrenched in that one state of mind forever. That is the Planet of Hats. You see it manifested in every Warrior Culture or Pacifist Society or Amazon Island or Gangster Planet. An entire people bent to serve a singular overriding "Problem of the Week" scenario to comment on a singular issue. Mostly by going completely overboard with it. And if you want to know the biggest offender of this... well, all those examples I listed come from one single IP who has done at least one iteration of those worlds over its very long life-span.

Sorry guys, it's true and you know it. For all the good Star Trek portends to be, all the progressive ideas it puts forward, for all the social commentary it has added to zeitgeist, one place it consistently falls short in is depicting alien races. How you ask? How is one of the most socially conscious and ethnically diverse franchises in history failing in this regard? Especially considering it has spawned some of the most iconic alien races in all of fiction?

Because as I just pointed out, a lot of their alien races are basically just one note stereotypes. Built around a single idea to create a "Problem of the Week" episode. This has been true as far back as the original series. Which was completely episodic and rarely if ever revisited alien races it ran across. Now of course there are mainstays and they've been fleshed out over the decades, but a lot of that fleshing out has been a result of Star Trek trying to push back on the Planet of Hats problem. And they still don't really address the crux of it.

The best way to explain Star Trek's problem lies in how one alien race was introduced to us, the Ferengi. You know them, the big eared hyper-capitalists who are best known for being the franchise's greedy assholes/Comic Relief. And boy, was their introduction a MESS.

It's fair to say the first two seasons of "The Next Generation" were... bad. As in... awful. "The Last Outpost" is one of those awful episodes where the Ferengi first showed up. Roddenberry, Star Trek's creator, wanted to evolve a lot of the concepts from the original series. The problem was he didn't have anyone to tell him "This doesn't work" The Ferengi were made to replace the dated "America vs Soviets" allegory that a lot of Trek's previous antagonist aliens represented. For Roddenberry, the real danger was unfettered capitalism. Hard to argue with that, problem was the Ferengi weren't a threat.

"The Last Outpost" presents the Ferengi less as an alien race and more like farcical clowns who basically exist to make the Federation (Humanity) look better by comparison. The Ferengi run around the entire episode, acting like unhinged monkeys, while Commander Riker struts about with his superior moral values and beliefs. At no point do the Ferengi resemble a legitimate threat to humanity. They're buffoons, made to present less a commentary on hyper-capitalism and more of a mockery of it. As a result, none of the Ferengi come off as characters, they're caricatures. Silly, nonsensical, idiots who are there to make Picard look righteous and humanity as more evolved.

Now let's not act like Roddenberry was supposed to be fair to the alien race he created to represent the things he hated. But he was supposed to make them a culture and not just strawmen he could beat up for an hour. Hell, decades earlier, he had bothered to give the Nazi Planet more nuance! And that was a planet, as stated, full of Nazis! But even that felt more like a culture than the Ferengi running around like baboons, hooting and hollering as they unconvincingly tried to pull one over on the natives they intended to exploit. Natives that the oh so perfect Federation, embodied by Commander Riker, easily protected by simple human fortitude and stalwart moral fiber.

Of course, years down the line, the Ferengi were finally developed into something that resembled a real civilization instead of punching bag. They actually had a degree of morals, not like the Federation, but they weren't entirely monstrous. Characters like Quark helped immensely in rehabilitating the image of the Ferengi without completely discarding their original characterization. But Star Trek has never really completely abandoned it's human centrism. Nor it's tendency to portray humanity in general as the "Better Way/Only Way."

Because let's be honest here, the Federation is just humanity. Sure other races are in there, work with them, and we are TOLD their customs and beliefs are respected, but be honest. How often have you seen an alien on Star Trek in a Command position? How often are aliens in Star Trek the central character? Has any captain or lead character in any Trek show ever not been a human?

You may point out Spock or Worf, and fair, but Spock is half-human and Worf was raised by humans. They're also not the Captain of the ship of their respective series. Even then, Vulcans and Klingons don't get off so easily. How many times have the Vulcans and their reliance on logic being criticized because they don't express outward emotion like humans? How many times have the Klingons had their culture scrutinized as purely violent? Yes, they've always come back around to highlight the value of their differing perspectives, how their voices at the table are worth listening to, and how there is more to them than just the warrior and hyper-logical. But ultimately, a lot of Star Trek comes back to how each of these alien races REALLY should become more human. Oh the Federation won't FORCE it on them, but they'll just kinda neg them on it. You should really show more emotion, Spock. You should really stop being so war-like, Worf. Be more human, be more sensible, conform! Why don't you conform already?

You might argue that's not the case, but it kinda is. Star Trek will always come around to how if a lot of these alien races were more like the Federation's ideal of humanity, they'd all be much better off. And it all stems from the Planet of the Hats cliché. Which purely exists to give the Federation some problem to preach about and argue against. The Federation won't conquer you to be like them, but they will kinda pressure you to change. And sure, a lot of these cultures could do with reform. But a planet existing purely to be used as a soap box isn't a culture, it's just the Ferengi of "The Last Outpost" again.

I'll sum this section up in terms that were expressed by Chuck Sonnenberg of SFDebris. Star Trek's tendency to put alien races in a box is detrimental to its world building. If Germany was a fictional race in Star Trek, it would be defined by industrial power, a love of war, and expansionist foreign policy coached in racial purity. That even after being defeated, said society would constantly be trying to claw back to its perceived glory days, never changing, just constantly being stuck in its singular mindset for all eternity. The only thing keeping them in check being the Federation of United Planets, mostly dominated by humans, who shake their heads at how awful Germans are for refusing to change and be more like them.

Doesn't that sound stupid? And if the Federation of Star Trek, the epitome of Optimistic Science Fiction, can make such a mistake, how do franchises that aren't so hopeful and cheer faire? Star Trek is an incredibly influential series in genre fiction. It informs a lot about how its done even today. If it can't help but put humans on a pedestal, even though it shouldn't because that's antithetical to its own world-building, how have other IPs faired in that regard?

Well... not good. Not good at all.

Center of Everything

I could list so many examples of humans being positioned as the most important element of any fantasy or sci-fi story. It almost feels redundant. Star Wars generally has humans as its main protagonists. A good deal of Lord of the Rings involves the nations of men being the main bulwark against the forces of Mordor. Earth is basically the most important planet in both Marvel and DC and humanity is the most special of all races out there. How many humans get to be a part of the Green Lantern Corps? Overall, humans are going to be the focus of any story. Even if they exist in a setting where they aren't the only sapient race out there. Humans get to take center stage and lead the plot. Even if they really shouldn't and they aren't supposed to and you know where this going...

I think this is probably the best example I can use to point out how Human Centrism can be a problem. Because I think enough people at this point recognize what went wrong with the live-action Transformers movies. Yeah, I know some folks keep trying to rehabilitate them, I don't care. I'm dying on this hill! They were never that good!

A movie about the Transformers should not be so reliant on the squishy humans that no one ever cared about. A series of dynamic characters who, at the point of the first Bay Movie's premiere, had carried several stories on their own despite not being human! A race of alien robots with intriguing inter-cultural dynamics, opinions, philosophies, so much character and complexity. Sure they were toy commercials at the end of the day, but no one who watched Dinobot's sacrifice in Beast Wars' "Code of a Hero" would be able to deny that the series could not transcend that stigma! The Transformers were always meant to be the center of their franchise, as they rightly should be because they can carry it just fine on their own.

Then Michael Bay showed up and decided to turn the whole series into an extended US Army Recruitment Commercial instead. I think we can all agree Military-Industrial Complex Propaganda is far worse than making kids want to bug their parents for toys. But that's neither here nor there, even if Bay hadn't been jerking off to the US Military in these movies, the problem with them was apparent from moment one. When the films became more about Shia LeBeouf wanting to get laid than the alien robots. The films excessively/progressively revolved around humans and their interactions with the Transformers. They became the primary focus more and more until they essentially took over huge swaths of the plot and narrative. Autobots and Decepticons alike, no matter how important, iconic or well-known, were very casually tossed aside and killed off over the various sequels. And no one really cared because the Transformers on both sides became so highly interchangeable and forgettable that sometimes you could blink and miss them. Remember Arcee? Prominent female autobot? Strangely split into three motocycles for some reason? Murdered to death! With only one line of dialogue!

Oh sure, Optimus and Bumblebee got to be front and center, but mostly because they got to be colors that were just a mess of greys, browns and blacks. That and Optimus is by far the most popular of all the Transformers and the face of the franchise. But if you want an example of humans taking over a narrative to its detriment, Michael Bay's Transformers movies are the singular defining example of just such a problem. And you probably heard the defenses, it gave audiences a anchor point, a relatable view, something they could connect with.

Strange, none of the fans over the years needed humans to help them connect to any of the alien robots that were the main narrative focus of countless tv shows and comics. But I suppose Hollywood Executives know better. When have they ever been wrong, right?

To be honest though, this is nothing new. Science-Fiction especially has always had a problem with positioning humans as ultra-super special. And some people could recognize it for the dangerous prospect of what it was. Issac Asimov noted John W. Campbell's tendency to position humans as the most important or superior race as opposed to others it encountered in fiction. And to Asimov, that also appeared to extend to the smaller scale of reality and Campbell's... well, let's say belief in American Exceptionalism. Asimov didn't like arguing with Campbell, so he tried to avoid using aliens too much.

You can see the problem though, insisting on the exceptionalism of humanity often denotes a general sense of racial/national superiority. There's nothing wrong with rooting for the home team, but not everything should be a competition and humans shouldn't take over every story for themselves. Especially if it isn't their own, like the Transformers. Their franchise is proof enough that humans don't have to be central element to be successful. And yet, until now, most theatrical films felt the need to involve humans in some aspect. And sadly, because of "Transformers One's" not so stellar box office performance, that belief might persist. And it will continue to hamstring the Transformers property like it does with other stories in genre fiction.

Illusion of Choice

Even if this mindset doesn't inherently compromise a story's narrative, it can still kneecap it. The best example of how involves gaming, specifically RPGs. Despite portending that our "choices matter", so often in games they do not. Because, here again, too many franchises decide that the only perspective that matters is one that looks similar to you.

Discounting the many video games that might allow you to be an alien, monster or even just an animal, because they are out there, I feel far too many RPGs can be very limiting. Does Fallout let you pick if you want to be a Ghoul or Super Mutant? No. That's only been a recent development and only for one game and its an MMO. Video games in general, when set in a fantasy or sci-fi world will default to one of the pre-approved human or human-like races, if they present the choice at all. Dragon Age 2 famously hard locked you into being a human despite the last game letting you pick your race. Now you can say that's because they had a set story to tell that needed the characters to be human. But it's still jarring.

And I think there's one instance where BioWare itself had a huge opportunity to change things... but decided they were just going to play it safe.

After three games of playing Commander Shepard, who had to be human because that made the most sense for the story they were telling, BioWare had an opportunity to shake things up. They had a whole new story, not tied to Shepard. A whole new galaxy, again, not tied to Shepard or humanity itself. And they decided to just go with another human character... again. Mass Effect has probably some of the most diverse alien races out there and even now, you can still only play them through multiplayer. The main games? Stuck with human protagonists.

I'll freely admit I probably defend Andromeda more than most Mass Effect fans. Not completely, because it does have a lot of problems, but I admire it for what it was TRYING to do. What I can't forgive is what it didn't even attempt. It could've easily crafted a story that enabled the player to pick whatever race they wanted to play as. Turian, Asari, Salarian or Krogan! Quarians! They could've let us be quarians, but NO! We are always stuck as humans, never given the opportunity to experience this galaxy through any other eyes but human ones! Even when given the perfect opportunity to do so, Andromeda chickens out and just sticks us as an ordinary human again.

It's so painfully sad. And while being given the option to be something other than a human probably wouldn't have fixed the game's other problems, at the very least it would've been looked at as some admirable. As something that tried to expand Mass Effect's unique setting and give more dimension to the aliens it had crafted.

Humans are simply the safe option. Safe to animate, safe to draw, safe to craft stories for, safe to empathize with. The second you have to do it for something that is properly alien or decisively not human, that's when you run into trouble. Because if you can't get the audience to connect with a character, it's over. And that becomes harder if the alien or fantasy creature does not share something in common with us.

It's kinda sad honestly that the biggest departure from human-based races that Dragon Age has even done is qunari. And they're technically just horned giant people. They're not exactly inhuman enough, hell if character creation teases are anything to go by, they've actually tried to make them MORE human looking for the next game.

Which brings us to a whole other issue that is pushing us further down this hole within the confines of gaming itself. For far too long now, the gaming industry has become increasingly obsessed with hyper-realism, both in graphics and design. Unique artistic styles and aesthetics have slowly been eroded away by an obsession among developers and publishers alike. A need to force characters and games themselves to be grounded in the real, no matter how fantastical the setting is.

lately, people have often complained about how the faces of game characters have gotten "ugly" over the years. The stupid among these people think its a conspiracy to get rid of sexy ladies in video games and alter beauty standards in the mainstream for some agenda. The reality is known to the smarter set of folks, who have seen the industry cultivate motion capture technology to reduce their reliance on artists to craft characters for them. Just get a recognizable face or literally anyone you can find and make them act out the lines while wearing a facial capture rig. You wanna blame anyone for making women in gaming less sexy? Blame LA Noire for proving the viability of facial animation capturing, not some evil conspiracy of developers obsessed with some innocuous message.

As a result, gaming has emphasized realism more and more in its aesthetic design philosophy. Particularly among the Triple A Games, where they seem to think that if the characters don't look real, gamers will feel that things look too old and ugly. There's no room for artistic interpretation, that costs money. No, slap a rig on some actor's face and make them do all the work. You wanna know why MJ in the second Spider-Man game looked off to you? Well that's because the actress is a real person and faces don't always stay the same and alterations to a face scan can potentially mess things up even more.

She also suffered a car accident that required doctors to reconstruct her face, but that's probably only a minimal issue since she you can't really tell the difference as I understand it.

The point is, hyper-realism has damaged gaming to an insane degree artistically and further harmed non-human characters. Because in order to get that hyper-realistic look, games have compromised themselves. Now the qunari look even more like SyFy channel aliens than ever. The boundless creativity of CG reduced to what can be produced on a budget within the make-up chair.

And I don't expect Mass Effect's eventual fifth entry to be much better. If BioWare is still this scared about letting us play something truly non-human in a fantasy setting, then they're not even going to try to let you build your own turian in Mass Effect Beyond or whatever generic subtitle they shove onto it.

And yet its doable, they can let you craft an non-human character to be the main hero. The fact Elder Scrolls was letting you do this for years is proof enough of that. Baldur's Gate 3 revealing I could be a Dragonborn was enough to convince me to pick it up eventually. Admittedly, any game that lets me be a lizard or reptile of some kind instantly has my attention if not purchase. Purely for this very essay's stated hypothesis, it's almost impossible to find any game that will let me play as something that isn't human. Because far too many games and stories prefer to just fallback on boring humans.

And yet, nothing I've mentioned so far is the worst example of this problem.

Ultrabores in the Grimbore Future

I'm not going to mix words here. The Imperium of Man of Warhammer 40k is boring. There I said it. And it's this feeling that is impetus for this entire little article of mine. In the lead up to the release of Space Marine 2, and looking further into the lore of 40k itself, I came across two inescapable truths for me.

1: Every other race in the setting was 10x more interesting and compelling, both character and lore wise.

2: Every Imperium of Man Fanboy is an Insufferable Douche Canoe of the Highest Order.

I might be overstating that last point, but it's hard to be subtle about this because I don't think anyone is going to listen otherwise. The Imperium fucking sucks! And I don't mean as characters, I don't mean as a faction gameplay wise, I mean in-universe it SUCKS. There is NOTHING admirable about this future human civilization or anything they stand for. They're objectively fucking horrible and Games Workshop itself has admitted this. And yet, despite this fact that even the most ardent hobbyist of this tabletop will admit to, you still will find more than enough Stans of the God-Emperor of Mankind who will INSIST they are the good guys. Or at the very least, necessary for the survival of humankind.

My answer to that is no. Very emphatically, NO. The Imperium of Man is not neccessary, at least it didn't have to be. It did not have to be this cruel, this dogmatic, this blindly loyal, this xenocidal and racist. It did not have to be at all like what it is, but because of the choices of Emperor himself, it is now! And it probably can't unfuck itself, because it's already fucked over so many other people within and outside its realm of control. It does emphasize the good things about humanity, it's oozes all the worst aspects of it. That's its point. That's why this universe is Grimdark. That's why it's not a good thing that humanity has become what it is in this future.

And yet, Imperium fanboys will refuse to budge. Insistent that the Emperor did everything right and it was only everyone else not just laying down and dying that screwed anything up, if at all. And while Games Workshop itself has stated the opposite, explained in detail that this franchise is satire, that you should not take the actions of the Imperium of Man as a lesson for how to run a civilization or your life... guess what the biggest seller and face of 40k franchise is?

Yep, humans.

You might think that's a contradiction, but it makes sense you realize those are the figures that sell the most. Therefore, the Imperium gets the most books, the most lore, the most focus on media outside the main tabletop. Sure they've made games where you play as the xeno factions and books with aliens as protagonists. But the majority of 40k lore is all about Humanity and it's really affected how this franchise is viewed at this point.

You see it doesn't matter how often you say something is satire or that it's aspirational. If you place the spotlight on it long enough, people start to gravitate towards it. The Imperium of Man, being the most popular of 40k's factions, is a victim of its own success in this regard. It has become increasingly difficult to separate the satirical dark comedy of the Imperium from the lore's various attempts to make them the most badass of all badasses. People like watching struggles for survival, conflict of epic scale, heroic sacrifices, it makes for really compelling drama. It also more often than not whitewashes all the bad things the Imperium does if you overly focus on all the cool shit the Space Marine chapters pull off.

You tend to forget that the only reason anyone survived the Fall of Cadia is because a bunch of Eldar showed up to help evacuate humans. Or that Cadia only stayed standing for so long because a Nekron helped out. You ignore the pointless war that turned Kreig into a wasteland, when all anyone talks about is how the Death Corps can take down Tau with a shovel. You can point out how the Emperor is in fact, for all intents and purposes, fucking dead, but when it's coming out of the mouth of a dude who's following a sadistic murder god, it's not very convincing. People always come back to this when the Imperium is involved. "So what if they suck, they're humanity's best and only option at survival. And they're fucking badass!" And Games Workshop doesn't push back on this, mostly to not piss off its fans, generally though because tried to do that once before and it backfired.

The Tau Empire used to be an up and coming foil to the Imperium in many ways. They were ruled by reason and science, not blind dogmatic faith and religious zealotry. They believed in harmony among the races, not genocide and supremacy. They had an optimistic and hopeful view of the galaxy, as opposed to the fatalistic one the Imperium had. As it stood, they were the most heroic out of all the 40k races... and a bunch of fans, mostly Imperium as I understand it, hated them. They felt they ruined the grimdark setting by being too goody good.

So Games Workshop eventually just gave in and decided to change the lore. The Tau were only like that because their leadership was essentially mind controlling them. Great, so they're no better than anyone else in this future. Wonderful. Can't have an opposing view from the Emperor's that might turn out to be a better path forward. Nah, turn them into a brainwashed cult essentially to further justify the existence of the Imperium. Forget that an earnestly good society in a galaxy that is probably fucked beyond repair is probably sufficiently grimdark since they're such a young race but probably equally doomed. We need to make EVERYTHING in this setting so completely utterly hopeless, because anything less means the Emperor is wrong for creating the circumstances that made everything worse.

And as a result, the Imperium of Man is the one major roadblock for me getting into this franchise. Now, don't misunderstand, there are things about the Imperium I like and find interesting. Like many, I like Captain/Lieutenant Titus, because he's not a dogmatic sycophant who acts like a religious zealot. I do actually like the Death Corps of Kreig if only from a history buff perspective because I'm into the WWI Aesthetic they have going on. And of course there are the Salamanders, the only Space Marines I will ever consider truly heroic because they give a shit about things besides duty and honor, as well as possess some degree of empathy for other lifeforms. I enjoyed the first Space Marine game a lot! It's why I picked up the sequel.

However, all of these points have asterisks next to them. The Death Corps of Kreig are cool VILLAINS to an extent. I don't think you can ever present them as heroes given their mindset or origins. That's true of a lot of things within the Imperium. The Salamanders are still beholden to the dogma that has consumed a good deal of the Imperium and they are not really going to do anything to break off from it. And while I enjoyed the first Space Marine game and had fun with Boltgun, let's just admit something right now... half the enjoyment of the original Space Marine Game came from this dude.

Grimskull was probably the most fun antagonist to go up against in any game. Him just yelling "Space Marine!" in his ridiculous Cockney accent always made me smile. Titus, as badass as he is, lacks quite a bit in the personality department. The sequel doesn't do much better, even if his character arc is at least serviceably good in that game. But he remains stoic and loyal, he isn't exactly a dynamic figure like Grimskull was. And be honest with yourself, that first game got real boring after you killed the Warboss.

That's the problem I have with 40k. There are so many more interesting, compelling, fascinating alien races. Sure, none of them are perfect good guys and a lot of them are downright evil... but they're at least unique! I had a lot more fun learning about the Orks honestly than I did listening to the one hundredth iteration of something super epic and cool an Ultramarine did. We get it, they're Master Chief and Doomguy on Steroids! Do they do anything else besides pontificate about how awesome the Emperor is and go on about duty and honor more than Zuko in season one? The Orks might be idiot rampaging soccer hooligans, but at least they're funny.

And yet there are far fewer Ork, Eldar and especially Tau related books and media than the plethora of Imperium related works that have overstuffed everything. And if you admit to liking anything other than the Imperium of Man, especially the Tau, you are instantly ridiculed. I would honestly pay way more money just to play as Commander Farsight than Titus. Because Farsight feels like a natural progression for Titus to take, but never will. He just can't. While Farsight will leave his government behind and strike out on a new path to pursue the Greater Good as he now sees it, Titus can't, because that would only be seen as heresy, both by fans and in-universe.

Imperium Stans will look at this picture and honestly claim this fucking sucks without hesitation. That's the degree of brainrot they give off. Calling some of the coolest looking shit lame.

I just instantly felt Farsight is a more compelling and complex character by default because of his arc. Whereas Titus will never really change much beyond what he is, a reasonable enough Ultramarine in a sea of equally super serial hardasses that aren't much different from him. He just thinks a bit more for himself.

Farsight's crew of mech piloting badasses at least have variety. But to my surprise, so many others didn't agree, annoyed apparently that Farsight was able to resist corruption of demons, baffled at how it was possible because he lacked faith in the glorious God-Emperor of Man! None of them considered that maybe, just maybe, Farsight was able to resist corruption because he's not governed by religious dogma at all. Maybe his open-mindedness and ability to reason protected him just fine! But can't have that I guess, humans have to remain special after all.

Despite everything going for him, actually retaining a proper sense of heroism, being a truly good person who wants to do the right thing even in a universe full of shit, I still saw Imperium fans giving Farsight shit over the stupidest of things. I found a video on YouTube not long ago concerning how Farsight rightfully pointed out the weaknesses of the Imperium Titan Mecha. Oversized bulky machines that are millennia old. But while scary, Farsight noted how they can be defeated and are not as efficient or effective as the Space Marines were. The comments were FILLED with Imperium stans laughing at this bit of lore, calling Farsight names and declaring that the Titans were older than his whole civilization as if that was some kind of gotcha.

Everything the Imperium uses is older than shit though, that doesn't make it better. The reason it's so old is because the Imperium does not know how to make this shit anymore. They lost the knowledge when they rejected science in favor of their stupid religious dogma. Now their old as fuck spaceships are finite, same as their Titans. The Tau can replace their losses, the Imperium ultimately cannot. And yet here were the fanboys, praising how cool and awesome the Titans were, ignoring Farsight beat one easily, had video to prove it and that they essentially sound like those weirdos who jerkoff constantly about how awesome the Tiger Tank was. Despite it being an overly expensive over-designed mistake. One that both the Americans and Russians put to bed because their tanks didn't need special parts to function or guzzled up fuel like a thirsty pig.

Treating Titans as superior because they are older than the Tau is like arguing a Trebuchet is better than an Abrams Tank. Sure, one is way older than the nation that created the other. Doesn't mean its going to last very long in a one on one fight. But because humans have to be super special and awesome in 40k, we can never point out how their various systems, beliefs and strategies are outdated and costly.

Frankly, I'm more interested in Warhammer Fantasy by default by this point. Not just because they have a full faction of lizard people, although that is a plus. But because the factions of that universe are more diverse, interesting and not as mired in adherence to the grimdark lore mindset. Even the human civilizations are more compelling because they're not all one singular entity and have differing ideologies and strategies. I'll take that over being expected to look at the Ultramarines in awe simply because they do something badass every Tuesday which will get them six more books whereas Farsight still only has two.

And I don't think I need to point out what this has resulted in. As Asimov feared, placing humans on the superiority pedestal has emboldened that very sentiment in reality. Look no further than the current fervor over the existence of a Black Space Marine and a female guardsman officer in Space Marine 2. Even with fans pointing out how both of those things are both perfectly fine in canon, it doesn't change just how much 40k has attracted a lot of racists over the years. So much so they had to change tournament rules to prevent people from wearing actual Nazi uniforms to events because one asshole did so.

If there is any franchise that truly showcases the dangers of humancentric narratives it's Warhammer 40k. Because we are hardwired to root for the home team and we've also proven that we're incapable of reading satire. Creating the perfect storm of events that leads to far too many people stanning a literal Fascist-Dogmatic Forever War Machine. And while Games Workshop has tried to get the other factions more time in the sun, I'm not sure they can ever manage to get them up to the same level of prestige as the Imperium if they keep holding themselves back from just giving the Space Marines a damn rest for a second.

Room on the Party Wagon

I don't want to make it seem like it's all so hopeless. That there's no way for mainstream audiences to overlook their inherent human bias. I do believe it is possible for non-human protagonists to take center stage in a property and remain there. I believe that because I've seen it done before. In fact, I was quite literally there.

If there is any more miraculous franchise than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I don't know of it. There should be no reality where two guys making a sketch of a nunchucking turtle for funsies in an apartment while chowing down on pizza could launch something this everlasting. And yet they did it. Ninja Turtles, 40 years later, is still going strong. And all with a lead cast made of decidedly non-human lead heroes. Better yet, it didn't stop with Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey. Over the years, countless heroes and villains have been added to the mythos. A good number of them fellow mutated animals, all with distinct personalities, motivations and interpretations over countless adaptations and timelines. It is truly astonishing to have been there from the start of Turtle Mania and to have never had them go away for very long.

And again, all with primary character who aren't human. How? Simple enough, people gravitated to the Ninja Turtles. They had distinct vibrant personalities. They were fun and colorful and different. They connected you to them by getting you to recognize their relatability.

There is still an interest in non-human protagonists, and not just dwarves or elves. I'm not alone in my desire to have something other than my own species take the spotlight now and then. Wings of Fire is fairly popular series that stars no humans at all for the most part. In fact they rarely show up. The real stars of the franchise are dragons, big fire-breathing dragons who all have unique cultures and perspectives that incredibly well-fleshed out and intricate. They're also not entirely humanized either, as dragons have very different morality and cultural cues from humans.

Another interesting take on things can be found in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Which, despite having him out for most of the runtime, was all about Rocket. He was an absent protagonist, but he was the primary because everything revolved around his story and towards him finally accepting his species' name and moving past his survivor's guilt. Rocket is probably the most prominent non-human hero in the entirety of the MCU as a result and that's a big deal.

What I'm saying ultimately is that there is room for multiple perspectives. Not just the ones we're the most comfortable with. Because if we only accept the experiences of those we consider familiar, we will never understand those that are other. The road to a society like the Imperium of Man is based in one of mistrust, fear and prejudice. To avoid that, we must be willing to look through the eyes of others and learn about the human experience from something that is not. That is what the best of science-fiction and fantasy can allow for.

If such genres are meant to be an escape, what greater escape can be found but one that is outside our limited human experience. We can never know it is like to fly, or swim deep beneath the sea, or see from a dozen eyes or just one. But we can imagine ourselves in that role and empathize with that which is alien to us. If we limit our fantasies then we limit ourselves, our imagination, our ability to connect. If all you desire in your sci-fi or fantasy is for some big burly human with a sword, regular steel or chainsaw, to murder orks and aliens, then that's fine. But there are others among us who don't want such arbitrary limitations. Humans are not boring by nature, but picking the same old fantasies and escapes IS boring. We could do with changing things up more.

What I'm saying is, it would not hurt anyone if they just did one Triple A Title in the style of the Space Marine games but for Farsight instead. We don't always have to be the Space Marine. Notif we've be okay being a Ninja Turtle. There's room for all perspectives, human or otherwise, in genre fiction. We should be doing more to open up the gates for those experiences. Sooner rather than later.

#Genre Fiction #Science Fiction #Fantasy #Star Trek #Mass Effect #Transformers #Warhammer 40k #Warhammer Fantasy #teenage mutant ninja turtles #baldur's gate 3 #wings of fire #Humancentrism #Aliens #Dragonborn #Lizardmen #Let me play as a Quarian already BioWare!#Leandros Sucks By the Way #Pour One Out for Warboss Grimskull #That Ork was the REAL OG.

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inbetweenknacksandnooks · 25 days ago

Text

Soldier 11 x F!Reader/GN!Reader. Long post. Self-indulgent. Not angst, but not quite fluff either.

I had the issue of getting caught up in the intro that Soldier 11 doesn't even show up until the end, so this is probably going to be more than one part, and I'll link another part if/when I make it.

I'm sorry! I swear I had an actual idea of what I wanted to do with Soldier 11, but Tumblr bunked my progress, so all my ideas turned into soup that my brain decided to spit out because it doesn't remember what it wanted!

C/W:

Almost 800 words before Soldier 11 appears

Around 2,180 words TOTAL

225 words of Author's Notes

Using [F/N] once

2nd person PoV

You get a knee injury, though it's not detailed

The reader character may or may not be annoying to read about =_=

I had a little too much fun with making little visuals.

I tried to do a mini-action scene.

Read if you want :>

Constructive criticism is welcome.

You remember when you first saw her.

You'd wandered into a hollow as a rookie raider. You'd never actually been in a hollow before, but you did train at the H.I.A club and got an S Rank against most of the enemies you'd probably meet in a hollow, except for the human-like entities and... the Expert Challenge enemies.

But that didn't really matter! You weren't going into a largescale hollow like Zero or the Cretan Hollow... you didn't even plan on going inside of a companion hollow. Just a tiny little sub hollow that had been newly established. Hollow 145184.

Was that the hollow's identification number? Why didn't it have a unique name? Did the numbers mean anything? If this hollow became bigger, surely it would be properly renamed, right?

In any case, the ethereals should be small and relatively harmless. Really, you'd be doing a favor for... whoever kept track of the hollows! If you raided and defeated enough ethereals the sub hollow would shrink, after-all.

Sadly, your raiding had borne no fruits of interest. 300 Dennies here, a few ether crystals there. Guess that's just what happens when you target something so small, it was either raided already by faster raiders and/or Hollow Investigators, or no one had left anything to begin with, as the area was so small.

Whatever.

It was just a way to get expierence anyway... and seeing as there was no hiccups, you could probably move on to bigger—

Bwooop! Bwooop!

Your bangboo blared. Looking at the screen on its face a warning was clearly seen.

Carrot Data Valid for:

4:51

Alright, five-minutes give-or-take, ticking down as you access your bangboo to find out where to go next.

"Alright Eggmuffin! Guide me out of here!" You encouraged giving the white, brown and yellow multiboo a small shove, which it gave a simple, "Ehn-nene Daah!" [Translated to, "sure thing! No shoving next time, though!"]

Time to go through barely-functioning buildings and stupid-crowded streets with debris, collapsed archways and bridges that you and Eggmuffin had to climb over, or sometimes struggle through.

Carrot Data Valid for:

2:16

Ah, but you both were more than halfway done! The exit was even on Eggmuffin's map!

Now in a clearing you're both set to sprint your way...

Home?

An otherworldly sound shook through your body, rumbling against your bones, you were paralyzed with fear as though a tiger had roared with the menacing energy of a caterwauling cougar.

Eggmuffin looked at you, and seeing the massive ethereal nearly crack the ground with its lunge at you, it tried to defend you, reaching into the pocket on its tummy and retrieving a bunch of ether-corrupted garbage at the massive crystallized beast, including food (why did they feel the need to pick it up in the first place?), various kinds of silverware and firecrackers from the festival a few days back.

At the very least this distracted the Ethereal long enough for you to recognize it as a Farbuti in the "Energized" state... you defeated the normal Farbuti with an S ranking in the H.I.A Club at least once, but fighting in real life somehow felt different, dangerously so Plus, the Energized variant was supposed to be harder to defeat.

A very stress inducing,

"Warning! Carrot Will Expire in Approximately: 1 Minute and 45 Seconds."

Was semi-heard by you, even throughout the loud popping of the firecrackers Eggmuffin lit via matches stored in their pocket.

Time to make a mad dash!

Gone with your stunned phase, you began to run, adrenalin pumping through every blood vessel in your body, grabbing Eggmuffin by their plushy body, you carry them in one arm, looking at the map on their screen.

58 Seconds

You could feel your lungs flare up in pain.

42 Seconds.

Eggmuffin was starting to feel a little heavy... did you get them new parts or something recently?

37 Seconds.

You try to maneuver around a wall, while the ethereal behind simply smashes right through it. The loud noises cause even more ethereals to your location. Smaller, but too high in number to risk fighting anything.

23 Seconds.

Right there! Right up ahead there was a brick wall belonging to a house. If she could just reach there you'd be teleported to safety like magic and probably go home to re-think this whole "Hollow Raider" thing.

11 Seconds.

...

4 Seconds.

...

Carrot Expired.

Too late.

As soon as you got to the wall you hit it instead of passing right through like a carrotless buffoon. Your right shoulder hit the wall, and Eggmuffin fell out of your hands from the momentum.

Out of breath, out of bangboo strength, and out of time.

The ethereals were approaching, and the biggest one pounced at you. And you closed your eyes...

Only to hear the sound of clashing metal.

Opening your eyes there was a girl with white hair in an orange and black military-looking vest.

Your conveniently-placed savior was here, and saved your arse so thoroughly that made you think twice about keeping up the snarky thoughts about the absurdity of the situation.

Nearly everytime she'd swung with the blade in her hands a generous amount of fire came from it, easily grouping up many of the smaller ethereals without much effort before they singed from it and fell.

Her attention turned to the Energized Fubuki, which was having a tough time hitting its bulky frame when the unknown girl could duck and weave out of the way of it's arms, which were at least the width of a 15 year old tree trunk with ease.

Then she landed a few loud hits and spun in a spiral like a hamster exercising on a blazing wheel.

Before you even knew it the one that had ruined your day, your raid, your carrot, had been vanquished.

And you were left staring at the woman that had done the deed.

Her visor hid most of her facial details, but you could at least see that she had reddish wood-brown eyes. The color of a shiny Zigzagoon or a redwood tree in direct sunlight.

Her skin was slightly glistening, sweat somehow looking more like sparkle on her.

"...ad. Please state your name and business here." Oops. Seems like you missed a few bits of her sentence while thinking about her.

"Mmn... erm... this is Eggmuffin..." you gave the name of the bangboo who'd been jostling your shoulder for the past minute or so. "And my name is [F/N]... what's yours?" Perhaps out of a strange nervous reflex, you gave the classic icebreaker-fingerguns with a neat snap to add pizazz.

The beautiful silver-haired lady sighed a short huff, like an exhausted horse. "As I have previously stated, I am Soldier 11, from the Defense Force."

Ah, nuts and berries, she had apparently said something important that you were too dazed to listen to... oh! Time to recover from this!

"Right, but that can't be your real name, right? Is it a code-word?" It wasn't until this moment that you realized you probably shouldn't be making snarky remarks to someone who could take down things that you couldn't.

'Soldier 11' sheathed her sword in a... backpack thing? Perhaps it was magnetized to allow it to stick and maybe there was a sulfer-and-metal, or flint-and-steel-like reaction that caused her sword to burn?

You have up snap yourself out from getting distracted because of how cool and amazing she looks! She's part of the Defense Force, so she probably won't like if she catches onto you being a Hollow Raider.

"It is not a 'code-word' for anything, nor is it a title. It is simply a statement. You may use it as my name if you wish." You're tempted to ask why she introduces herself like that, but it might be best to simply not know.

Soldier 11 scanned the area, staying quiet then pressed a button on her vest, "Soldier 11 to Captain Magnus–over."

"–aptain Magn—oldier 11—Over." A voice in static replied back.

"There is a civillain without a carrot found in area #329. Permission to diverge from the mission in order to escort her? I will be back to the Obol Squad within fifteen minutes."

"——on Granted."

Soldier 11 looked back towards you, where you'd been busily deleting the expired carrot from Eggmuffin just in case she'd decided to poke around your bangboo, which thankfully didn't happen!

"Follow me."

And so you did.

You couldn't help but wonder why she didn't need to ask where to go over radio. Was she seeing the instructions on where to go through her visor? Or had she actually somehow remembered when you're pretty sure that even the best Hollow Raiders were helpless without carrot-leading bangboo.

Hmm.

Everything started to look the same, and it didn't help that you hardly ever visited this district when it wasn't constantly shifting.

Maybe you were just tired, or beginning to corrupt but you're head was spinning and you're balance was off, so it was only a matter of time before you tripped over chunky rock from a nearby fallen tower and skinned your knee.

You let out a hiss of pain and examined your injury. Flecks of mini-pebbles could be seen embedded in the abrasion. This would be such a chore to disinfect later.

Soldier 11's eyes flick to the wound, " wipe it off and get up."

Arguably that tone made you want to get up even less, causing you to rest on your back a bit and close your eyes like a defeated turtle.

"Ehn! Ehn-nee!" Eggmuffin let out a panicked sound that you didn't bother looking at the screen for translation for. The bangboo wiped off the little bits of gravel in the knee and went around you to push you up by pressing on your back.

Not wanting to be a chore for the bangboo that was trying so hard, you sat up straight and let out a long drawn out groan of annoyance. "How far even are we? How much longer will it take?" Maybe if you just knew an estimate it would help.

Soldier 11 stayed quiet for a moment, tilting her head upwards as though there was an invisible map in the sky.

There wasn't, but you knew that already but still looked up anyway...

"It will take around 3 minutes and 31 seconds to reach the destination." Was she a bangboo in disguise with those calculations or something?

Still, 3:30-or-so wasn't that long, you could probably defrost 4 ounces of meat in the microwave in that time!

"Alright, alright..." you extend your hand to Soldier 11, trying your best to save energy by not getting up fully on your own.

Soldier 11 looks puzzled for a moment, but wordlessly helps you up and continues on the path.

Alright! Well maybe you could both talk and get to know each other! It would be like a speed date with dangerous monsters that make your date take a break for about a minute.

"So... what's the Obol Squad like?"

"That's irrelevant."

Yikes. You could feel your attempts at small talk going awry, and you didn't really know what else to ask apart from things like, 'what do you like to do in your spare time?' but you weren't entirely sure she'd talk about something 'irrelevant'.

Okay, then the next step. What would be relevant?

"Hey, so if I ever wanted to join the Defense Force... could I have a few tips? Or if I get lost again, what would you want me to keep in mind if I needed to fight off an ethereal?"

"Civilians without proper training should run or hide. If you have a bangboo with you there is usually a tracking device you can turn on to alert Public Security of your need for help."

"Oh, I see... and if I don't have a bangboo, or my tracking device is damaged?"

"Hide from ethereals and hope that passerbys can help. Also record your situation if you have the means to do so, by paper, recording tape, or other means."

Alright. Well that wasn't anything you hadn't already known, which was unfortunate. The bangboo's tracking device might be a useful tip, if you didn't already take it out of Eggmuffin to avoid getting tracked by... anyone that might want to arrest or confront a hollow raider like yourself when you made it big.

"You're almost to the outside. Just open the door of that building." Soldier 11 stopped, and gestured you forward.

"Oh... so we're at the end already?"

"Enn! Ehn-na naaa!" Eggmuffin bounced up and down and ran to the door, which seemed to belong to a two-story apartment.

"Affirmative." Soldier 11 relayed, encouraging you to go yet again.

"Right... then I'll be going out of the hollow!" You took a few steps towards the heavy wooden door, Eggmuffin trying to reach the round doorhandle. Your eyes were looking at Soldier 11, who in turn looked at you back. "Thank you."

"No thanks needed."

Soldier 11's eyes never left until she knew you were no longer in the hollow.

Author Notes:

This is based on the song Strange Sight, by KT Tunstall after watching Tinkerbell and The Legend of the Neverbeast... and crying... again...

Specifically it's based off of the first verse! You probably won't be able to tell even if you re-read this fic while having it in mind, which is fine. It was originally an animation idea translated to fanfic, so it probably wouldn't be very apparent.

I'll likely be doing the other few parts I have planned after we get to properly meet and interact with all the Obol Squad members, since my plan is to eventually have this reader character go join the Defense Force and eventually The Obol Squad.

Funfact:

This is very heavily based on an OC I made for the Obol Squad named Fawn, er, differences is that Fawn is more goofy and was never a hollow raider and never had a bangboo. She was just a civillain that got trapped in a hollow, rescued by Soldier 11 and is gay asf and brute-forces joining The Defense Force and The Obol Squad so that she can be closer to the one that saved her. She was initially placed in a different Squad I made up and makes lots of friends and stuff there and kinda just takes it all easy! She's so silly and I love her!

#fem!reader #zenless zone zero #zzz x reader #Soldier 11 x F!Reader #Nack's ZZZ canons #NackFics

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