#welp circle of shipping life I guess

[alanshee-keeper-of-realms]

Yakko: This is my boyfriend Max

Max: *waves*

Yakko: And this is my boyfriends boyfriend Bradley

Bradley: Do you ever shut up?

Yakko:*smug grin* Nope but thanks for asking gives me more of reason to talk and push your buttons Upperthrust the 3rd,

Max: *trying not to lose it with laughter at the absolute look of murder on Bradley's face towards Yakko*

[chocos-universe]

Getting Along?

___________________________________________

--Charlie was left alone after Vaggie and everyone else beside Lucifer and Alastor left. She then heard a noise and started to investigate what it was... definitely wasn't what she was expecting.--

___________________________________________

|Lees: Lucifer and Alastor||Lers: Lucifer and Alastor|

___________________________________________

FT: Angel, Husk, Vaggie, Charlie, Nifty, The Eggies, & Sir Pentious

___________________________________________

Ships known in this fic: Chaggie (Charlie x Vaggie), (kinda) HuskerDust (Husk(er) x Angel Dust), & RadioApple (Platonic) (Alastor x Lucifer)

___________________________________________

"Awh... are you *sure* you can handle them, Vaggie? They seem like a handful today..." Charlie spoke as she placed her hands on her girlfriends shoulders. "Don't worry, hun. I got thiissss-- NIFTY YOU PUT THAT DOWN--" Vaggie put her girlfriend to the side and snatched the knife outta Niftys hand. "Hey!!>:(" Nifty whined, jumping a little and raising her arms in an attempt to get her knife back. "I don't... trussssst her with a knifffffe..." Sir Pentious statted, backing up a little. "It's okay, boss! We'll protect you!" Frank said, jumping up and down. "You eggs couldn't do shit, even if your life depended on it." Said Husk, drinking his booze. "Now you take that back!!" Sir Pentious pointed his finger to the ceiling, hissing a little. "Ooooh! Is a fight gonna break down?~ *baby voice* Are you gonna win whiskers?~" Angel said, wrapping his arms around Husk until Husk pushed him off. "Go fuck yourself..." "Only if you WATCH me~" Angel smirked, winking at Husk, which he only got a flustered little grumble in response. "Disssssgusting!!" Sir Pentious covered his eyes and curled up his tail a bit. "That's it. Everyone outside NOW. And wait there." Vaggie instructed, throwing the knife behind her and pointing outside. The others shrugged and walked outside, leaving the couple alone.

"Ugh... they act like kids!" Vaggie said, turning around to meet with Charlie's eyes. "You'll get used to it..." Charlie smiled and kissed Vaggies cheek. "I guess... say, uh... where's Alastor and Lucifer?" Vaggie questioned, raising a brow. "They said they didn't wanna go, then Alastor pulled my dad somewhere. I-I'll find them soon enough! Probably in separate areas." Charlie said, smiling. "If you say so. I better get going. See ya." Vaggie gave her a goodbye kiss and walked out of the hotel.

"Welp... time to find--" Charlie got cut off by a shreik. She raised a brow and walked upstairs to the second floor where the library was. She walked over and took a peak inside. Man, has she never found anything cuter...

"AHAHAHAHAHALASTOHOHOR-- NAT THEHERE-- *squeal*" Lucifer squirmed in Alastors lap. "C'mon Luciferrrrr~ I promised if you'd be quiet I'd stoppppp~!" Alastor teased, spidering up Lucifers ribs. "YOHOHOHOHO'RE MAHAHAHAHAKING IT UNFAAAAHAHAHAHAIRRRR!" Lucifer whined in between his laughter. "Do you want me to switch spots?~" "YEHEHEHEHES!!" Once Lucifer said that, Alastor switched to Lucifer's stomach and sides, softly scratching at them. "Hohohoholy fuhuhuck!" Lucifer giggled, curling up a little. "You're the one who asked for this~" Alastor chuckled and lightly blew at Luci's neck. "I-I knohohow... hehehehehe!" Lucifer covered his face from blushing so much. "You know you enjoy it~" Alastor giggled a little and lightly circled around Lucifers belly button. "Nohoho teheheasing!" "No teasing? Yeah? And what of I don't? What're you gonna do about it?~" Alastor teased, lightly going up to the kings underarms. "Th-ThihihiHIS--!!" Lucifer then shot his arms up to Alastors armpits. Since the raido demon was caught off guard, he couldn't help but let giggles slip out. "H-Hehehehey! Th-Thahahahat was uncalled fohohohohor!! Nahahahaha!" Al curled his legs up a little, now just making Lucifer trapped on Al's lap. "Yeah? Was it uncalled for?~" Lucifer teased, moving up to lightly scratch behind the deers' ears. "Dohohont tehehease me-- AH-- YOU BIHIHITCH!" "Now that wasn't very nice!~" Lucifer chuckled and looked down, seeing Alastors' little tail wagging. "Awww! Do you wike it, buddyyy?~ Do you like my wittle twickles?~ Yeah?~" Lucifer teased in a baby voice, still scratching gently behind Al's ears. "FUHUHUCK!! L-LUHUHUHUCIF-- *raido static*" Alastors face flushed as he covered his eyes with his arm, which only made Lucifer giggle. "OHOHOHOHO-- I'LL GIHIHVE YOU SOMETHING TP GIHIHIGGLE ABOUT--" Alastor dug his thumbs into Lucifer's ribs making Lucifer SQUEAL, but that just made Lucifer go down to the raido demons sides. "AH FUHUHUCK-- YA BRHAHAHAT!!" Lucifer laughed, drilling and tickling Al's sides. "SAHAHAHAYS YOHOHOHOU--"

Charlie's eyes sparkled in joy. "Awh... they're getting along..." He mumbled to herself as she smiled. She decided to walk away from the scene, letting it play and die down. They'd be at it for a whole while anyway.

❤️End💛

[bump1nthen1ght]

Deep Blue Sea (Shark Merman x Reader) Chapter 1

Pairing: Gender Neutral! Reader/Shark Merman

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Soulmate AU

Warning: None

Word Count: 2682 words

Summary: You have a chat with your soulmate

Prologue

“So, you want some?”

He  takes your stunned silence as no, checking that the crab is fully dead before pulling off a leg and biting the meat inside. His teeth catch the light of the setting sun, glinting white in between chunks of crab.

“So were-”

“Soulmates? Yeah, looks like it.” He, your soulmate, cracks off another leg and begins to chew. You find yourself transfixed watching him, mind reeling with questions. He uses the sharp claws on the tips of his fingers to dig out more meat. You’re not even sure where to begin.

“What do we do know?”

He shrugs, sucking out the last of the crab leg and tossing it aside.

“Dunno, guess this mystery is solved though.” He taps his wrist and you get a closer look at his soulmate mark.

It loosely resembles a human compass, yet alien in it’s design.There’s eight large symbols, none of which you recognize, and the arrow is slightly misshapen before straightening to a point.

“I always assumed my soulmate was in the Atlantic or something, maybe even a selkie. When that thought always drove my ma up the reef.” He sighs, pressing his chin against his palm as he lays against a rock. “Wonder how she’ll take this. Maybe she’ll turn a whole new shade of blue.”

His chuckle is low, rough against your ears, but not entirely unpleasant.

You can see more of his backside as he scoots closer into the tidepool. The first thing you notice is just how big he is, his tail stretching from his hips to the open ocean. The second thing you notice are the defined muscles which stretch and flex along his back.

Okay, what the fuck.

There’s a pressure building in your temples and you think you're beginning to overload. Your fucking soulmates eyes wander, looking nonchalant as can be beforeperking up when he sees another crab. His body slithering away from you to snatch it up snaps you out of shutdown mode.

“Uh, I guess….what’s your name?” He doesn’t take his eyes off his soon to be snack, only humming to acknowledge he even heard you. “I think that’s a good place to start, don’t you?” That at least gets you a chuckle, followed by a tiny crack!

“Cruz, you can call me Cruz.” You make eye contact as he takes a long, languid bite of crab. Your furrow your eyebrows, face unimpressed. He lights up with a mischievous grin.

“Is that your real name?”

“Nope,” Cruz says, popping the p and breaking open a claw, “But I don’t think you could pronounce my name so…..”

The tension in your jaw tights as he turns away from you once more,humming to himself and letting out a soft “Oh!” as the other leg reveals quite a bit of meat. You rub your brow and sigh.

“My names _____”

“Neat.”

In high school, your mom got the yearbook epithet “biggest social butterfly.” Your dad, however, was barely presentable on picture day and a social circle consisting of the three fellow chess-club members. You were a lot like your dad in many ways.

The conversation, to say the least, seemed to float on the water like a dead fish, and you had no idea how to resuscitate it. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t natural, it wasn’t that missing piece yoru guidance counselor said it would and dammit, it’s kind of pissing you off. You’re pissed off that it’s pissing you off, because when has making first impressions ever been easy for you? Did you think this was going to be different, because what, a stupid mark on your wrist? That has no basis in logic, not even a little bit.

You refuse to dignify any emotions similar to disappointment which begin to well inside you, because it’s ridiculous. You worked hard to get to California, you’ve worked hard your whole damn life, what's stopping you from working now?

“Welp, seems I scared away all the other crabs.” Cruz huffs and places his hands on his...hips? “Been nice chatting _____, but I got dinner to catch.” Cruz looks back at you as he slinks into the water, sending a salute and a wink.

The words bubble up in your chest before you can catch them as he begins to swim away.

“Wait, but, um, I-” Your commands fall clumsily out of your mouth and barely leaves a ripple on the water. Cruz doesn’t turn around.

You feel the heat sizzling up your neck and face as you look at his back. Flashes of him, the arrow, your mom, that stupid guidance counselor paint the inside of your eyelids.

No.

“Will you wait a second!”

The scream barely echoes in the small tidepool, but it’s enough to catch Cruz’s attention. He whips back to you, eyes slightly wide. You realize just how hard you’re breathing.

“I-, just, can you meet me here? Tomorrow?” Cruz's expression stays still, only the slightest bit of confusion crossing his eyes as he raises his brow. “I want to get to know you better.”

“Oh, um, okay.”

….

….

“What time….. do you want to meet up?” Cruz looks far less mischievous and much more sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck with a clawed hand and looking up at you from under his eyelids.

“How about 5PM?”

Cruz narrows his eyes.

“I don’t know what that means.”

Ah, right, merman.

“About three hours before sunset. I mean, do you know how long an hour-”

“Yes, I know how long an hour is. I’m not a pup.” Cruz rolls his eyes

Well, the sass returns.

The two of you stay in that position for a little too long. You begin to rub your arms as the cold of the sea breeze and your social anxiety slowly come back to you.

“See you tomorrow, I guess.” With a hesitant nod, his black-blue eyes looking pensive, he submerges. Your breath comes back to you in a wave as your soulmate swims into the open ocean.

The walk back to civilization is a blur, the pounding voice in your head drawing out all other noise yet barely making sense itself.

You’re not sure what you expected of the first meeting with your soulmate, but it certainly wasn’t that.

---------

The next day, Cruz is waiting for you at the tidepool by 4:55 PM, shucking an oyster with one of his claws. He looks up as your feet splash into the tidepool. You wave.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

It’s an understatement to say the silence is uncomfortable. You take a beach towel out of your bag and begin to lay it on a large rock. The task helps keep your mind distracted, but you feel Cruz’s eyes burn into your back.

“So, I guess, what are you exactly?” You say, sitting yourself down.

“Merman’s best word I’ve heard you humans use, so that.” Cruz has shifted his focus  back on his oyster, which he then downs with one swallow.

“I see, I see. Are all mer-folk as big as you?” That catches Cruz’s attention. A self-satisfied smirk grows on his face as he puffs out his chest.

“Not at all. I’m a Great White and we’re one of the…” Cruz extends his arms art in front of him, flexing his fingers and his biceps in a decidedly braggadocious manner, “bigger species out there.” He finishes his statement with a playful wink. A tiny smile crawls on your face.

Interesting. Male Great Whites are typically around 12 feet, but Cruz is only about 9 feet. I wonder why that is?

“I can see that.” Cruz shifts, ego now lifted, and lays his weight on his right elbow, facing you. “You mentioned a mother, do you have a clan?” Cruz nods.

“Yup. It’s my ma, my dad, my two older sisters, and me. Plus two other families. My ma’s parents were from this reef.”

It’s difficult for you to fight the instinct to whip out your notebook and jot all this down.Your inner scientist screams to pry into the complex social hierarchy and behaviour patterns of this new species. But the more sane part of you knows that would probably be pushing some boundaries.

“Wow, so you’re a true Californian, huh?” Cruz squints his eyes at you. “Uh, that’s where we are. The territory Santa Cruz lies in.”

He gives a low hum, reaching for another oyster  nearby. This movement is far more natural than his earlier show, but you still get a full glimpse of his cut shoulder muscle and tight abdominals. It stirs something in you.

Would he have the swimmer’s V? Okay, stop, focus.

“Yeah, I guess I am.” He pries open the oyster, staring at the soft meta inside. “A member of the clan, born and bred.” Cruz brushed the pad of his finger on the shell, his voice holding a quiet bitterness, tinted somber.

Should you comfort him? He’s within touching distance, but the thought of grabbing his hand feels too intimate, soulmate-ship be damned.

Before you can make a move, Cruz throws his head back and gulps down the oyster. He shakes his head and lets out a small “Ah~”, then pushes his short hair back against his skull. Whatever emotion that was there before, it’s gone.

“Where are you from?”

“East Coast, bordering the Atlantic. So you weren’t too far off.”

“Well, I’m not just a pretty face.” Cruz winks at you, but his eye catches a scuttling crab nearby. He gets low in the water, moving slowly to catch it by surprise. You don’t hum the Jaws theme, despite how much you want to.

“No siblings, just me and my parents.” Cruz doesn’t look away, even as he kills the crab.

“Lucky. How big's your clan?” The familiar crack of the shell follows.

“We don’t really,” crack “...have those. Humans can-” crack “We typically live near each other-” crack “but don’t get that-” crack “....close.”

Cruz hums contently, but you can clearly see it’s from the crab and not your one sided conversation. He sucks juice off his fingers. Seems you’ve lost him once again.

I didn’t expect this to be so difficult.

“Have you ever had cooked crab?” Cruz perks immediately, slowly turning back towards you.

Got ‘im.

----------

You return with two warm lobster rolls, a bag of crab legs, and some shrimp scampi. Cruz’s black-blue eyes just peak out of the water, suspicious.

“So these two are lobster, actually, but this,” You shake the crab-bag, “is all crab. I thought I ���d get you a couple things to sample.”

Cruz’s nose (Is it a nose? There’s a ridge but you’re not sure if the slits count as nostrils. Questions for later.) just breaches the water as you set the crab-bag down and settle on your rock. You grab a couple of legs for yourself before nudging it  closer to him. “Have at it, it’s pretty self-explanatory.” You say midst a large bit of your lobster roll. The whole meal was not cheap, so you decided to indulge in this treat as much as you can. You’ve had a stressful couple of days.

Cruz slowly approaches the plastic, snatching it up quickly before looking inside it. His eyes widen and there's a small smile on his lips as he pulls a long leg out. His smile only grows bigger.

“Oh, also!” You clap, pointing towards the bag and jolting Cruz out of his food-induced joy. “There’s sauce, garlic butter, shit like that in those little plastic containers at the bottom. You dip the crab meat in them.” You take another large bit of lobster roll and hear Cruz break into a crab leg. Cruz gets his mouth ready to take a big bite before pausing. His eyes flit between the lef and the garlic butter, before he slowly pulls the lid off and dips the meat in. Cruz then takes the tiniest bite possible.

His eyes, black as they are, light up. He quickly takes another, larger bite. It’s quite adorable, like a baby trying ice cream for the first time. Cruz devours the leg quickly before snapping into another sauce.

“You like it?” Cruz nods, cheeks stuffed with crab meat as you giggle.

“What kind of craf is fiss?”

“Dungeness. That’s commonly eaten by humans. They’ve got some of the highest meat value and they're all over  the West Coast.” Cruz nods, though you’re not sure he understands parts of your sentence. “They’re also pretty sustainable to fish, although ocean acidity is kinda fucking with their babies. It’s also been fucking with Red King Crabs, which sucks because their only found in like, four places and are so beautiful and also sustainable and-” Cruz has stopped eating and is staring at you. After a big, long breath in you realize how fast you were talking. You feel the what of your blush on the base of your neck. “Sorry, I’ll let you eat. I just...really like crustaceans. A Lot of aquatic animals, but crabs especially are… I’m doing it again. Sorry.” You take a large bite so you won’t have to talk for a couple of seconds, avoiding eye contact with Cruz. You’re sure your chest and arms are bright red; It’s an embarrassing symptom of when you get too excited.

Cruz just keeps staring at you. Frankly it’s the longest he's looked at you and not a nearby snack. You chew the slowest you possibly can, the brioche bun becoming mush in your mouth, to fill the silence.

You don’t see it, but a small smile widens on his face. He picks at his empty crab shell.

“I think those facts are crab-tastic.”

You immediately choke on a bit of lobster roll, pounding your chest as you sputter between mouthfuls. When your eyes stop watering, you see Cruz has moved closer to you, hand outstretched and a couple inches from resting on your calf. He jerks it back when you look down at him.

“Wow, thanks, but puns aren’t really part of my vocrabulary.” You obnoxiously wink, scrunching up the left side of your face. Cruz laughs. Not a chuckle, but a full, belly laugh.

“Well I find them quite crab-tivating.” A larger laugh bursts from your chest as he mimics your wink and shoots you another big smile.

The sharp teeth are beginning to grow on you, adding to Cruz’s boyish charm. You feel the hot blush in your chest crawl up your neck once more.

Oh fuck.

Cruz reaches for another crab leg but hits the bottom of the bag, a playful pout now on his chin.

“Here, try this next.” You hand him the second lobster roll. “Probably don’t want to get this one wet, it’ll be soggy.” With no hesitation Cruz digs in, perking up once more and going to town. His teeth serate through the bread like butter. Within 4 bites, the entire roll is gone.

“Dang, I’ll make sure to bring some more food next time.”Cruz pauses, mid-lick of the butter on his claws and looks up at you.

“Next time? You want to meet up again?” You raise your eyebrow.

“Well yeah, don’t you?”

Cruz stays quiet, no sassy comment or a sarcastic look. Just staring, mildly shocked.

Your embarrassment bubbles back, screaming you’ve misread this whole situation and the last few minutes. “I mean, we are soulmates. Shouldn’t we meet up again?”

Cruz's eyes narrow as a barrage of thoughts seem to flit across his head. His smile recedes back into a straight line, that little spark leaving his eye.

“Yeah, I guess we have too.” He crinkles up the plastic bag, shoving it against your calves. “See you tomorrow.”

A pit rolls in your stomach as he quickly moves to leave.

Did I say something wrong?

“Uh, I’m actually busy tomorrow. Can we do Thursday-er, 3 days from now?” Cruz nods, not turning around to face you before slipping back into the water and swimming away.

The pit doesn’t leave your stomach, an empty sauce container rolling across the rocky shore.

What just happened?

[klbwriting]

Pirate’s Heart - Prologue

Fandom: Six of Crows

Pairing: Kaz/female!Reader

Summary:  The Galacia Islands are magical and surrounded by a protective reef. The humans and mermaids who lived among the islands were at war for decades before an uneasy treaty was made. A foolish mermaid turned pirate and an angry heir also turned pirate join forces to take down the military leader who threatens their way of life and their families.

Notes: welp, here’s another Kaz story with pirates and mermaids and I cannot wait to keep writing it

Taglist: @sixofshadowandbone @awomanwhoisupsidedown​

Once upon a time there was a reef that circled a group of 12 large islands called the Galacia islands due to their cool waters.  Before humans arrived the islands were home to many magical animals and plentiful resources, ruled over by loving Sea Witches and frequented by mermaids.  They spent most of their lives swimming in the deep but if the spirit took them they could ask permission from the witches to explore the land, maybe even live there for a time.  It was a happy time, full of laughter and life, prosperous for all life.  All the islands had different types of mermaids that lived around them, their tails telling a story of where they were from.  Rarely, a mermaid was born with a multicolored tail and these were considered lucky to the others in their villages and were kept guarded with hopes that they would bless their village with safe travels and a good harvest or trade.  

It the soft heat of the summer, while most of the mermaids were deep in their waters to keep cool, a loud boom rang out and part of the reef that protected the islands was destroyed.  In sailed three ships full of humans, some looking for treasure, some for a new life, and some for opportunity, and everything was changed.  

At first the mermaids just hid, allowing the humans some space, seeing what these new creatures would do with this land.  They brought in more humans, they killed the animals for fun and food, and they built ports and cities.  They also began hunting the rare colored mermaids, desiring the scales from their tales for jewelry or charms.  This angered the sea witches who rose up, revealing themselves and combining their powers to seal the reef again, destroying many of the ports and towns in the process.  They also destroyed themselves to keep the reef intact forever and left their mermaid brethren to pick up the pieces.  The humans were furious at suddenly being trapped within the reef and blamed the mermaids, sparking war between the two.  

For decades the war raged, the mermaids of the deep taking down any and all ships that  dared to venture into their waters, the humans hunting any sea witches that were born to prevent the mermaids from being able to walk on land with them.  After nearly 100 years the two sides were at a stand still and an uneasy truce was coming to pass.  However, an up and coming captain in the navy was determined to wipe out all mermaid life in revenge for the sinking of a boat his wife and child were on.  His name was Pekka Rollins and he was determined to find a way to catch a mermaid and make them reveal where their leaders were from.  

*******

Y/N was unhappy with her lot in life.  She lived on the border of the largest island, called Argoes, and she was born with a multicolored tail.  Her tail was even more rare, the colors were not common and completely out of typical order.  Normally a tail would be many shades of red or green or blue.  Y/N's tail started yellow, moved onto blue, then red, white, and finally green.  She was more heavily guarded than any of the rare tails before her.  When she got an opportunity to escape it was the first thing she did.  She broke above water for the first time right near the boat where Pekka happened to be, scouting the area.  He saw her tail and realized that this was something special.  She was guarded, she would hear things from those guards about their leaders, possibly find a sea witch for him to use for her powers.

"Hello there," he said, smiling sweetly at her.   Y/N noticed he was young and handsome and the first human she had really interacted with.  

"Hello," she said back.  

And that was the beginning of a months long romance for her.  She was entranced with his tales of the human world and what amazing things they created.  He would bring her trinkets, they would lay on the beach and sing songs to each other.  He even made up a song about her tail that made her smile.  It was perfect and soon she was hopelessly in love with him.  Once he knew had her he planted a seed.

"I wish you were human, we could get married and I could truly show you the human world," he would say every time they met.  In truth Y/N was already tracking down a sea witch, hoping to bribe them into giving her legs.  One day when Pekka mentioned her turning human she smiled bright.

"I found a sea witch...they said if I gave them my heart and its power I could be human like you," she said.  "But, I heard a rumor that you can't be in love without a heart, would you still want me if I couldn't love you?"

"What fool told you that?  Love comes from the soul," he said.  "Give them your heart, they will bring you to the surface right?  You wouldn't swim all the way up would you?"  She nodded.

"Yes, they bring you to the shore because your legs are weak at first," she said.  Pekka smiled.  She thought he was happy that they could finally be together, she had no idea what he was really so happy about.  They made arrangements to meet the next evening in secret after she had her legs.

Y/N swam into the seaweed grove where the sea witch had made their home and summoned them.  The sea witch was beautiful, with hair a fine gold and eyes black as the night sky, neither man nor woman, just magic.  They were also tricky, now in hiding and rarely did anything unless given something of high value and the heart of a rare tail mermaid was something to be coveted.  Their hearts were full of magic and would give the sea witch even more power.  This sea witch was called Horus and once the agreement was made, sealed with an exchange of scales from the mermaid, they reached out and gripped the skin on Y/N's chest.  She felt a pain that seemed eternal as the sea witch pulled her heart seemingly through her chest, leaving a jagged scare where it had once been.  She felt empty now, her emotions dulled, her love for Pekka disappearing almost instantly.  This should have been a sign that the love was not true, the sea witch knew this but not Y/N.

"How do you feel about your love now?" they asked, a smirk on their face.  If the love was true the heart would return to the mermaid with a kiss from the object of their affection, if not then the heart remained with the sea witch for as long as they lived, which was a very long time.   Y/N shrugged her shoulders and the sea witch beamed.  "Don't worry my dear, when you kiss him you will feel your true love."  

"Alright," Y/N said half-heartedly.  This was perfect, a rare tail's heart and it would stay with Horus forever.  They were ecstatic and gladly helped the mermaid to the shore.  

Upon arrival Y/N's legs appeared, weak and unable to hold her up.  She was in the shallows, Horus helping her further in when Pekka arrived with a squad of navy soldiers, ready to attack and kidnap the sea witch.  Horus realized what was going on and abandoned Y/N, using her new found power and kill several of the soldiers before returning to the deep.  Pekka was livid and grabbed Y/N, dragging her deeper into the jungle in case the mermaids that were her guards actually found her.  He threw her to the ground and knelt on her naked body, holding a dagger above where her heart should have been, unaware that it was missing.  She was living on magic alone now, its power infinite.  

"Tell me where the sea witch went!" he demanded.  She groaned out, still in pain from her heart's removal and feeling weak.  He snarled at her and she was confused.  He said he loved her, why was he doing this?  

"Pekka...what...why?" she sputtered, trying to speak through her fog of disorientation.  He pushed the dagger more to her chest, drawing some blood.

   "The sea witch, how do I bring them back?" he demanded.  She finally felt herself becoming right again and figured out what was happening.  This was a betrayal.  He had used her, led her on until she did what she wanted, lured a sea witch to the shore.  Her heart's power had saved the witch and now she was going to die.  Fine, what use was there to living without a heart anyway?  Her feelings felt soft, dull, lifeless.  She guessed she might still have a soul and that made her feel something, but not the same as having a heart.  

"Just kill me already," she said, tired and ready to be rid of this pain.  He scowled at her and one of the other soldiers told him to give up, the truce was signed and this would just bring around more fighting.  

"Pekka, you need to get home, you know your brother's sick, his wife is pregnant, she is going to need help with Jordie and the new baby," one of his men said.  Pekka glared him but realized that he was outnumbered, most of the squad was already leaving.  He roared his anger at Y/N and pierced her chest, stabbing her where her heart should have been before standing and leaving her for dead.   Y/N knew she wouldn't die but she couldn't go on like this, now all she could do was sleep.  So she did.

[maxrev]

Feels prompt for Knox (or a Shepard of your choice if he's not feeling talky): “ you’re not a machine or— or some thing. you’re a person, and i’m sorry anyone ever made you feel otherwise."

Welp, guess Knox felt like talking lol. Here ya go! From this list of prompts      

BIG shout out to @nightmarestudio606 for helping me with the kiss...I haven’t written one in sooo looong lol

            ________________________________________________

What the hell was he doing? He never ran. From anything. Hadn’t since he was four fucking years old. And now, at thirty one, he held many titles: Commander Shepard, Savior of the Galaxy, etc, etc. He’d taken down husks, brutes...hell, even a reaper without a second thought. 

So, why did this particular man have him running for cover, hiding in his own damn cabin no less? Fuck this. 

And yet, he remained where he was, a few steps just inside his cabin door, looking all around but not seeing a thing. The fish tank burbled quietly beside him, fish merrily swimming around; model ships he’d carefully crafted on display in the glass case; a softly squeaking wheel from the hampster - who still wasn’t named - running in circles. All of it a part of his carefully crafted world, even if the fish and hampster had been gifts he’d never have bought on his own. Pets required time and attention he had none to give. 

His world was orderly, meticulously thought out to every minute detail, any possible contingency planned for. Except one apparently. 

Major Kaidan Alenko. Putain de merde.

If was wearing his hardsuit, his vital signs would show his heart rate was up along with his stress levels. As if mocking him, the fish continued to swim, serene and unhurried from one end of the tank and back, not a care in the world. 

“Commander, Major Alenko wishes to speak with you. Would you like me to let him in?” EDI’s voice carried over the speakers above him. 

His cabin. His only sanctuary, such as it was. As the commander, he was available at all times, yet no one ever bothered him here, preferring to stay well away. It seemed there was nowhere left to run. Cornered like a wounded animal and he damn sure felt like one, too. Ready to lash out. Cool heads prevailed, not that he’d ever been accused of having one. The memories of Horizon and Mars mocked him. 

The major was a brilliant soldier and he needed him on the Normandy. He ran a hand over his shorn head in agitation. Okay, okay. I need him on the Normandy. Admitting it turned out to be not as hard as he’d imagined. 

“Commander?”  EDI prodded. 

“Give me five minutes.”  Let the major wait outside, stew a bit in his own thoughts. 

Glancing around the cabin, Knox wondered why he was so damn nervous. Nothing was out of place, all his things meticulously maintained and where they belonged. The only mess to be found were the piles of datapads scattered over the desk. He was having a hard time keeping on top of them. The barrage of information was constant, barely able to read one before another was thrust into his hands. 

Enough. No more stalling. Leaning casually against the ledge along the fish tank, he crossed his arms and ankles. He could give the impression of being relaxed, even if he didn’t feel it. 

“Let him in, EDI.” 

The door slid open. The world narrowed to just one man and his nostrils flared as he took a deep breath and pushed away a sudden unknown emotion he felt as his eyes landed on Alenko standing on the other side. He waited for the major to make the first move having invaded his refuge.

Stepping inside, the major nodded at Knox, “Commander.” 

So formal. It should put Knox at ease but instead it irritated him. Irrationally so. Wanting to shake the ground beneath Alenko’s feet, he said, “Call me Knox.” 

Thick dark eyebrows rose up in response, surprised. Good. Knox felt more at ease with the knowledge.

“Okay...Knox,” Kaidan drew out the one syllable as if trying out the feel of it. “Then I ask that you call me Kaidan.” 

Knox simply continued to stare at him, not responding. The silence stretched out and his impatience began to grown. He did not like to be kept waiting. 

“Was there something you needed?” His words came out harsher than intended but if it prompted a response, so be it. 

Brown eyes, wariness in their depths, looked away, the tips of Kaidan’s ears becoming pink. Interesting. He rubbed the back of his neck, a tell Knox had seen often when he was unsure about something or embarrassed. Which was it this time? 

“I…” he took a deep breath, then turned an looked Knox right in the eyes, “I wanted to apologize for my distrust back on Mars, for questioning your loyalties. I realize now you’re the commander I’ve known since Eden Prime and I’m happy to fight by your side...sir.” 

Straightening up, Knox strode over slowly, coming to a stop before him, crowding his space. The air around them was charged with electricity. He spoke quietly, calmly, but with steel in his voice, “Only now?”

Kaidan didn’t look away this time. The intensity in his gaze made Knox’s blood heat. There was more going on here than what one could see on the surface. 

“What is it exactly you want from me?” 

Merde! What a loaded question he was asking. Deciding he needed a drink, Knox turned towards his desk where he kept a bottle of whiskey. He splashed some of the amber liquid into a glass, uncaring when it slosed over the side. Maybe the burn as it went down would put him back on solid ground. The ground he’d tried to shake beneath Kaidan’s feet had backfired. This was new territory for him. 

He tossed the whiskey back, turning to hold up his empty glass, "Drink?"   

Kaidan hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded. Knox poured another for himself, then handed the other glass over. The major sipped sparingly, eyes widening a fraction in surprise. 

Knox shrugged, "I liked the whiskey you added to the bar. Bought some for myself."

An inadvertent admission. He wandered over to watch the fish, lest Kaidan read more into it. Silence followed his words and he turned to find the major browsing the datapads. Knox bristled at the invasion of his privacy, ready to let fly with harsh words and criticism but his inner voice caught up to him and told him to stop. 

There was nothing more than intel about the war and the crucible and maybe Kaidan would be able to provide some insight, see things from a different angle...as he usually did.

Instead, Knox kept quiet and observed him, refusing to admit to himself he was actually committing to memory every nuance of the man across the room. Suddenly, Kaidan’s body tensed up, fingers coming to rest on one specific datapad. Having so many open, Knox couldn’t remember what intel was in each one and now he was curious at the reason for the strange response. 

"Find something?" 

Kaidan’s hand snapped to his side as if caught in a trap. Placing the unfinished drink on the desk, he turned to leave with an excuse at the ready, "I should go get acquainted with the crew." 

Knox moved quickly, stepping in front of him, so close he could see the variations of color in the expressive brown eyes. His own eyes traveled at leisure over Kaidan’s face; new scars blending with old ones, a few more wrinkles and gray hairs from the passage of time and the stress they were under...a tinge of pink on his cheeks. 

Their eyes locked. For the first time ever, Knox found himself lost. Unable to process the feeling, he did what came natural. He charged ahead. 

The world around them ceased to exist, narrowing down to just the two of them, Kaidan’s breath hitching for a fraction of second before relaxing into the kiss, opening eagerly as Knox slid his tongue inside. Pressing up against him, their feet  tangled and they stumbled across the room, Kaidan’s back stopping them up against the fish tank. Knox planted his palms to each side while Kaidan grasped at his clothing. 

They sank into the kiss, neither willing to be the first to let it end. But end it did, Knox pulling away first. What the fuck was he thinking, kissing a member of his crew? There wasn’t time for personal relationships, death on the horizon or not. Things like this just got messy and caused more problems than he needed right now. Either of them needed. 

He walked back to the desk, leaving Kaidan where he was. How he felt about what happened was of no concern to him. Leaning into his arms, hands pushing the datapads aside, one blinked to life. The one Kaidan had been looking at. On the screen was the Cerberus husk they’d found on Mars where Kaidan had questioned if the terrorist organization had done the same to him. 

Behind him, the door slid open and he heard footsteps as Kaidan left his cabin. 

His voice, raspy and deep with the remnants of their kiss lingering still, floated back to him, “You’re not a machine or— or some thing. You’re a person, Knox, and i’m sorry anyone ever made you feel otherwise, including me." 

[abundantchewtoys]

Homestuck^2 re: Chapter 4 “The Contest”(p119-143)

Ah, "The Contest", huh? I don't think Harry Anderson was in the bleachers watching a sporting match during his last hour at school.

It sounds innoccent, but it probably isn't. I don't suppose we'll see Callie in a drawing contest with Calliope. :P

---

Page 119

... Ah. It's the new planet. Interesting tree growths.

Is it going to be a contest racing somewhere?

Or is Dirk going to hold a contest, and who wins gets to name the planet? Kind of weak since he can just rig the contest with his powers.

I wonder if the First Guardian is already here, too. ... Then again... This session is the first outside of the Green Sun's domain! So maybe no First Guardian.

---

Page 120

That's a bigass bare mound.

---

Page 122

Ace landing, Terezi. 10/10

It's like a cracked piñata. Dirk's room appears to have been near the backend of the ship.

The trio's survived, though, and now they've gone exploring. So... I suppose Dirk has captchalogued all equipment from the storage rooms.

---

Page 123

Rosebot appears to be en guard near the entrance, but what's inside the cave?

---

Page 124

... Wow. Why is she en pointe, has she studied ballet over the course of the three years? :P That black tiara is unsettling. Well, so is the rest of the black outfit, but perhaps it's inspired by that Alternian battle armour which Candy Rose was wearing.

... Pffffff, Dirk. Are they just using the cave for shelter, or is this were the frog temple can be found?

... Are they going to enter the Lotus machine?

---

Page 125

Woooooow. Okay, Terezi's looking SMASHING. A lot like Latula, actually, with the hair. Lots of the characters are in to using their accentuting lines in their outfits these days, I've noted.

And yeah, Dirk just set up shop in this cave. (The prince is in.)

---

Page 126

Pfffff, Terezi is just bored out of her mind. I guess she had the vague idea of serving as Dirk and Rose's consciousness, but that has turned out rather differently. Of course, she has little control over Dirk. Even her being able to have him stop calling Rose Rosebot, is just him humouring her to some extent.

Also, we get an insight what ascension is like for Rose. Still quite confusing, it appears. Then again, the process isn't finished yet for her.

I liked how the combination of the command and Dirk's first comment actually belong to be read together - in that he asked Terezi to render herself more symbolically, and she did!! Yes, her hear really looks like Latula's now.

I guess the reason she didn't succumb to drinking this time, is that Terezi isn't actually the one that caused John to die, unlike with Game Over Vriska. Though she's probably still guilt-ridden, since it was the exertion of getting her to Earth C that was the final straw.

---

Page 127

Yeah, Rose still thinks Terezi's on board with everything on some level. But Dirk's plans, even though they involve her, extend way beyond.

---

Page 128

Showoff. She isn't a fully realized Mind player, but she's still quite powerful. Ah yes, let the theories commence that the new session will contain Quest Beds for Karkat, Kanaya and Terezi. :P

Heh, the powers Dirk is showing there. They're what Brain Ghost Dirk used on Aranea, and Reload Dirk on Caliborn.

---

Page 129

Heheh, another equine didn't survive bearing down on a planet. And Dirk was involved.

I'm... Not entirely sure what just happened here.

I though Rose was alluding to Plato's Cave. And she seemed to notice the ship didn't need repairing and how odd that is. So she might be at least a little aware of his powers?

Well, at least we know now that Dirk has the same access as Dave.

And is Deltritus the name he has for the cave/planet? Though it sounds kind of like the name for a denizen.

----

Page 130

Wow. Okay.

So. Dirk wants to create something wholly new. He thinks they made a mistake in creating Earth C from "leftovers".

I notice that we have kind of an alphabetical thing going on. Alternia, Beforus, Earth C, now Deltritus.

Dirk makes a good explanation about how he can still be so flawed while being completely self-aware. Still doesn't excuse all his manipulations. He keeps her on the same page as him at all times.

So the contest is about species. This means we're going to get 2 entire new species and cultures introduced, my god. I thought we had reached a threshold somewhere, somewhen. But no. Apparently not. I guess that's the next step we're going to.

The Watchmaker analogy is actually quite fitting for Dirk... and Rose's meta-analysis for her.

Dirk's notes on Deltritus are interesting. Shows he's actually not that concerned with details after all.

Blaperile has a good point - Dirk knows a session will be spawned here, but not what race "wins" in the end. Or he makes a point of not telling for the sake of his game.

I also saw some more of Dirk's accent slipping in here, suddenly. Huh.

---

Page 131

Heh, the Sburb logo is actually in Jane's colour here, not Dirk. That will become relevant later on.

I wonder if this is how universes used to propogate in previous iterations. Gods create races, several per universe, on different planets at a time, and have all of them play Sburb.

...

Eeeuw, Dirk proposes to, like, experiment on DNA. So there isn't animal life to start from here.

In the end, what they start from is still ectobiological material, nothing from scratch.

---

Page 132

... Wow. So it's the mother of all Sburb machines. The Ultimate Alchemy/Ectobiology... Thingamabob. Still, I'm reeling from the idea that they'd combine their own DNA with items. That's some Frankenstein like shit right there.

Here's to hoping all their "iterations" only exist as holograms or simulations, not real beings. That'd be cruel, otherwise. Maybe this is a moment to give some of the fan species a cameo, make them canon that way!!

---

Page 133

Ah. Rose still has his number, at least. Hey there, 1025 cameo. *wave* Of course he picked one of the unseen shenanigans from when Terezi was controlling him.

---

Page 134

Ooooh, so it's what Jade was doing to create a frog that could perform the Vast Croak, but in reverse!

Alchemical biology genetic SBaHJification

Dear god. Really, they should just add JPEG artifacts and be done with it.

So yeah, it's back to combining items. The ultimate alchemy session.

---

Page 135

Awww, she remembers this, even misses these simpler times of combining items. And yes, seems like an appropriate circle of stupidy goes on inside the machine.

But maybe the machine just reads the captcha's on the back of the card! ... Wild efficiency, in my Sburb session? It's more common than you think. :O

---

Page 136

I fear for Dirk's first attempt. Not going to be a viable form of living at all, right? Poor thingy.

---

Page 137

Ah yes. Ecto-Alchemologize. The appropriately contrived term for what's appearing.

Dirk's manning those buttons like a DJ, like the protagonist of And It Don't Stop.

---

Page 139

Cool effect.

---

Page 140

... Yes, it's definitely a bonehead they just created.

It APPEARS to have a normal face, but yeah, it's probably a mutant, not unsimilar to the beasts that were fought on the Tower of Syndetic Ascension.

---

Page 141

... Well okay, that actually looks kind of cute.

A gusher tentacle cactus. But tiny.

So it would appear Dirk's DNA just gives it life, not anything more.

---

Page 142

Welp, that little guy's freaking out.

---

Page 143

When we next see them, the place is going to be littered with sentient abominations. ... Actually, come to think of it, Roxy experimented a lot with Jaspers DNA as well, creating all those Mewtini clones. But they weren't sentient.

Unless Dirk didn't have the sentience switch on yet.

---

Next chapter appears to be from Terezi's perspective! But who's she going to talk... to...

She's not going to get Vriska's message NOW, is she? ... Of course she is.

Well, this is where we’ll leave things. We’ll pick the story back up in a few weeks!

[qqueenofhades]

I know you dont watch GoT anymore. And that Braime and Sansa are your favorites. But I know you've read the books and are obviously really interested in the story. And I was just wondering what your thoughts are on the whole Jon killing Dany thing? Is that something you can see happening in the books? And if it is do you think it'd be in the same context as the show did it?

Ahaha, welp. Just jumping right in there.

(Also, you never have to apologise for asking GOT/ASOIAF questions. I obviously have been a fan for 16 years and wrote fuckin’ TNR with its half-million-plus words, so I clearly do have Thoughts on the story/characters, especially with the bag of lukewarm cat vomit that was s8 of the show.)

I already answered this ask discussing how much I hated the Mad Queen Dany thing, both because a) it was horrifically badly handled and b) these mediocre misogynist douchegobblers have managed to outdo themselves in terms of the gross messages they’ve sent about women, after 8 seasons of that. (These are the same people who made Sansa say that she was grateful for her rapes and who claimed that Dany’s turn into madness was foreshadowed by her having a “chilly” reaction to the death of her abuser, Viserys, in s1, so…. make of that what you will.) I’m not saying that it was narratively impossible, especially since GRRM has been toying with the same thing in the books and has more than his own share of Male Author Syndrome. But at the start of 8x04, Dany is in Winterfell, perfectly sane, toasting Arya as hero of the battle. By the end of 8x06, she’s crazy, a war criminal, and dead, murdered by her boyfriend, because… well, something something plot reasons. Even if you didn’t like Dany or were rooting for her to go mad or whatever, that was wildly badly handled.

I personally think it would be pretty gross for GRRM to also go down the Mad Queen route, though at least if he does, we will have had Dany’s POV chapters beforehand and presumably something resembling a justification and a building narrative momentum toward it. But she also got stuck in Meereen for so long because by his own admission he didn’t know what to do with her there or how to get her out of the situation and moved onto Westeros, which remains, theoretically, her outstanding goal in the books. It would obviously not be outside the realm of possibility for this to happen, given GRRM’s focus on “grittiness” that the show took to max factor 5000. I would still find it reductive and trying to make a Clever Postmodern Point and etc if it happened in the books, because literally why invest us in a character this long, especially one who has tried so hard to overcome the circumstances of her past/to not be her father, and then just do exactly that? Obviously there would be elements of Shakespearean tragedy to it, and if done well it could be compelling, but I personally just have a different approach to fiction and what people want out of a story (especially one now as famous as GOT/ASOIAF and how universally betrayed everyone seems to feel by the ending). I’m not saying Dany’s ultimate ending needs to be sunshine and roses and getting what she wants, because often character arcs and resolutions become all the more powerful for being subverted and thwarted (think the “I said I wanted [x] but [y] was there instead” sort of endings). But whatever it is, it needs to be…. not that.

Also, Jon in both books and especially show has been the epitome of Mediocre White Man. I stopped watching in s4, but Kit Harington’s acting was so wooden and the writing for him was very much Standard Misunderstood Brooding Fantasy Hero that I could barely pay attention to his scenes. I find him somewhat more interesting in the books, though ADWD dragged for everyone and it was obvious GRRM was writing in circles. But everyone has noticed that especially in the show, Jon does absolutely bupkis. His ass is constantly saved by the women in his life, he makes an absolute hash of any power that he is given and doesn’t want it anyway, and his ultimate ending was…. going back to the Night’s Watch (as their idea of satisfying narrative storytelling is to literally put everyone back where they were in the very first episode, apparently). Never mind the fact that there’s no need for the Night’s Watch, but the point is, even the fact that Jon is Rhaegar and Lyanna’s son ended up being relevant for like half an episode. That has been one of the major plot points/secrets of the books (although not so much anymore) and it just…. fizzled out like a damp squib. Dany actually TRIED for multiple seasons to be a good ruler and to learn how to handle power and become a queen, so for her to have to be the one to die for Jon to once again do diddlysquat is… well, as I have said before, the misogyny leaps out. They ended up wasting so much potential and so many other things that were also foreshadowed (and far more convincingly than “wah wah she was gonna go evil!”). For this? So Jon can just go brood in the snow again? Cool.

Not to mention, I find it gross on principle that Dany’s boyfriend had to be the one to kill her, especially after rape/sexual violence/loss of agency was such a big part of her early-season storylines (and how horrifyingly and grossly that has been handled on the show overall). We’re obviously supposed to sympathize with Jon in this scenario and to feel that it is justified to “stop a tyrant” or whatever. Also, if the episode was going to be called “Queenslayer,” why the fuck wasn’t it Jaime fulfilling the valonqar prophecy, another thing they forgot about, and killing Cersei, at great personal grief/cost, to once more stop an insane monarch from burning down King’s Landing? But that, of course, would be actual character development/overall arc, and they preferred to also trash that by having Jaime “killed Aerys Targaryen literally to save half a million innocent people and lived with his reputation being destroyed ever after” Lannister unironically claim that he never cared about the lives of the innocent and only wanted Cersei. After she again tried to kill him and Tyrion like three days ago, not even to mention what they did to Brienne and with that whole arc, but I will have a ragestroke if I think about it too much. 

Basically, the ending wasn’t “bittersweet.” It was tragic, reductionist, ham-handed, hugely disappointing for everyone who put years of investment into these characters, and ended up in the amusing position of making Bran Stark the younger and more beautiful queen who comes to cast Cersei down. He became king because… reasons? Whatever? And he knows literally everything about everyone thanks to being the Three-Eyed Raven, so there’s no way that can go horribly wrong. He has basically done nothing except sit in a wheelchair and look creepy for several years now, his arc has never been remotely about being king, and Isaac Hempstead-Wright himself is apparently on record as saying he genuinely thought it was a joke script when he read it. This after both Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington broke down over learning what happened to their characters/Kit apparently realized it for the first time at the read-through and was horrified. Emilia already talked about wandering for five hours and having a crisis and calling her mom and asking to be talked off the ledge like….. fictional choices/characters completely aside, that’s a gross thing to do to your actors. I know they’re all proud of their work and they have apparently and understandably been defensive about the existence of the petition to rewrite s8, but they’ve all been pretty clear, while still being professional and supportive, that there is stuff that they’re just as much WTF about as we are.

Basically, as everyone keeps saying, the acting, cinematography, visual effects, music, etc was clearly up to as high a standard as ever, but was betrayed fundamentally and comprehensively by this god-awfully shit writing by a couple of hacks who clearly rushed the final season to get on to ruining working on Star Wars. They have also been on record about saying “you can’t do what the audience expects or it’ll get boring blah blah blah,” which is a profoundly flawed storytelling strategy if you’re paranoid and trying to outsmart your audience and do something that nobody has ever thought of because you’re an Intellectual Postmodern Commentator On Our Violent Society. If your audience can guess where a story is going, but are still surprised by major twists along the way that then make sense in hindsight, you’ve done your job. If you’re relying on grimdark and cramming in gimmicky plot twists and deus ex machinas and Shocking Moments rather than authentically developing your story, it’s going to bite you in the ass in a big way, as was just proven. 

Nobody expected a completely happy ending from GoT. But the fact that they went to such lengths, especially in s8, to build up characters/ships (Jonerys, Braime, Gendrya were all torched after major canon moments completely unexpected by fans, especially the latter two – why even include it unless to just be more Tragique, and Gendrya is the only one that has even a chance in the future since half of it didn’t end up idiotically dead) and then just wrecked all of it…. as I’ve said, good endings don’t need to be rainbows and unicorns and kittens. But if you’ve asked eight years of audience investment, there has to be something that makes it worth it and that doesn’t make everyone feel like they were duped and stupid to get involved in the first place. They have been beating the “it’s a hard world and bad things happen to the characters” drum for all they’re worth, but… it’s just bad. You can analyse and ask why the hell they did things and so forth, but it’s bad. At this rate, the show should have either ended after 8x03, or they should have taken the money HBO offered and done the proper 10 episodes and let Bryan Cogman write all of them. He was the only one who appeared to remotely give a shit about the characters, and since D&D wrote the last four episodes themselves, yeah, this disaster is on them.

Fortunately, I left the show years ago and have TNR and am used to ignoring their version of things. And I knew all along that they never really got the characters or the story. But I feel really bad for everyone who has had this thrown back in their face, and it seems like a communal disenchantment with this ending is going to enter the pop-culture consciousness on a possibly unprecedented level. So if GRRM does do the Mad Queen Dany killed by Jon in the books (though he has apparently called the show’s ending “traumatic”), I’ll probably still not like it. He has a chance to sell me it on/justify it to me narratively, which the show categorically failed to do. I don’t think I will, just because as I said, I don’t like anything about it, but yes.

Anyway. This is a long post already, and I probably have more to say still, but it’s pretty obvious I think it’s just really, really bad, and that’s about the essence of it.

[laufire]

ENDGAME

Okay. I definitely won’t be able to sleep today, so I might as well pour out all my Endgame feelings right now.

First thing first, I was probably in the WORST POSSIBLE HEADSPACE to watch this film; national elections where fascists could take over Congress (spoiler alert, they didn’t. I literally just cried with relief for over ten minutes) AND being extremely concerned about characters you over-identify with on the same day, all after the worst year of your life, apparently don’t mix well. Who would have thunk.

(btw, I was spoiled as I was voting about That Very Big Thing; everyone who follows me probably can guess what I’m talking about. I almost threw hands tbh. Then almost cried over a dozen times on the way to the theatre because the stress of the day was killing me ugh).

All this to say, my head is a mess right now, I don’t even know if this post is going to make any sense, and I will probably take time to process certain things and have a definite opinion on them LOL. But well, here is now.

And err. Warning for a brief mention of suicide ideation?

(crossposted to dreamwidth, livejournal, and pillowfort)

TONY (& CO)

– In case it wasn’t obvious, the thing I was spoiled about? Yeah, it was Tony’s death. FML. I mean, even if I wasn’t spoiled, I would’ve seen it coming as soon as we saw him after the five years jump, lbr (happily off-screen married to Pepper? With an adorable daughter? Pepper resigned to the possibility of losing him instead of begging him to stay like in IW? And then the movie kept hammering it home LMAO; that and a lot of things for the mains that I kind of saw coming from less than a third into the movie, which IDK if it’s because I was particularly intuitive, or the foreshadowing was that heavy handed xD).

Obviously, I’m not rocking your world if I tell you I’m extremely heartbroken, I guess. Especially because, as I said, my emotions were already all over the place. And seeing a character I adore, and in who I project a lot of my issues on –including, yes, suicidal issues–, sacrifice their lives (no matter how poignant, and moving, and well-written it might be) was incredibly hard for me. So, yeah. I’m going to have to deal with that for a while I guess. Which I plan to do by writing a bunch of Fix-It and Not Actually Fix-It fics ASAP.

But. I mean, out of all the endings Tony could have, this was always my second choice for him. And he was grandiose in this film. He figured out time travel. He created a gauntlet capable of holding the Infinity stones. Beings far more powerful than him were trying to carry that gauntlet to the van and none of them thought to use it, but he did. He was completely vindicated. He is the Saviour of the Universe.

And he looked gorgeous the entire time, which is truly important for me.

– In all seriousness, the thing I take to heart the most is that

his legacy remains intact

, and it’s inspiring, and heroic, and poetic, and prosperous. Clearly, without him, my enthusiasm for the universe will never be the same, but one thing that worried me is that I wouldn’t want anything to do with Marvel for a while after this film, and that’s not how I’m feeling; I’m very much looking forward to further parallels and homages to him in my ever-growing list :P

Tho, honestly, I’m kind of side-eyeing myself for the fact that, the one time!!! I go and fall in love with a male lead character, he happens to be genuinely heroic and self-sacrificing, instead of just using those concepts as lip-service and getting to have his cake and eat it too LMAO. I mean, sure, given my reactions to those characters, the AeJons Snowrgaryens of the world, I wouldn’t have liked him so much if it was the case, but dammit. It’d be nice to experience that high sometime xD

– The Iron Fam is the best part of this movie for me. Tony’s relationship with Morgan was way too adorable to handle it; Pepper was enormous and so poised (and the scene where they circle around each other in their armors… poetic cinema); I didn’t get enough Iron Husbands to satiate me (Rhodey’s caress should have been skin to skin!), but I loved what we got; Happy is an assholes who made me cry ABOUT CHEESEBURGERS.

And let’s not talk about Peter, OMG. My heart. And Harley appeared to Tony’s funeral! Though, honestly, the person I missed the most there was Christine Everhart, who should have been there just on the basis that I like her (plus, ya know, IMO she was important to Tony’s origin dammit).

I’m going to consider Nebula an honorary member, tbh. Her scenes with Tony in space cut me deep; and she and Rhodey are buddies!

Natasha and Fury (I loved his appearance *sniffs*) are honorary members too, because fuck it. They both appeared first vis a vis Tony on his movies, and have two of my favourite relationships with him, and I say so.

– Related to that, one Failure™ of this movie, is not providing a Nat & Tony one-on-one scene. Seriously, I can’t believe they didn’t realize how necessary that was. But I ADORED the scene where they and Bruce are lying down bouncing ideas about the stones (it made me softly whisper “ot3” LOL); it was possibly the only “Avengers” moment that worked for me –other than Clintasha, but that’s on a different league tbh.

I wanted more Nebula & Tony scenes too; I would’ve loved to see Tony interact with Past!Nebula. Yes, realistically, he would probably had made her LOL, but. I needed it. it’s definitely on my to-write-list :P

– I wanted just some positive interaction between Carol & Tony to counteract Current Comics Bullshit and I got Carol rescuing him, smiling beatifically at him, and Tony basically saying she was Da Bomb and the Avengers should follow her lead instead of keep sucking xDD So that was nice.

– I loved the scene at the beginning where he fucking SNAPS, and goes for Steve’s throat. It was probably my favourite scene. It’s resolution with everyone’s reactions and after the flashforward kind of… totally sucked, but whatever. Still amazing.

– The only part of his storyline that I HATED, and I mean absolutely loathed, was his scene with Howard. Jesus Fucking Christ. They went with the most simplistic take they could have, didn’t they. I haven’t felt more insulted in the theatre in my entire life, and my family made me watch both Ocho apellidos movies with them, so Marvel? That’s a feat. The moment where he says his father hit him with a belt so we (Tony included) are supposed to think, well, at least Howard wasn’t physically violent with his son, hooray?

And I think we’re supposed to take his “wouldn’t want my son to turn like me” as motivation for Tony’s actions and like… newsflash, but Tony has “put the worlds’ needs over his own gain” since Iron Man. Fucking. One. It’s literally what he does in this film, because we’re shown that, despite having achieved his happy ending, he was still trying to figure out time travel even if it meant risking his future.

Seriously, if they wanted me to be moved, they should’ve used Maria. Or hell, Edwin Jarvis was right there. And if whitewashing of Howard’s abuse becomes one of those MCU things that ends up bleeding into the comics, I’m gonna riot. Ugh.

BTW, just thought about this. Has anyone confirmed what the H. of Morgan’s second name stands for? Because my immediate idea was that it was for Happy, but now the fear that it might relate to Howard has entered my brain and I need someone to drive it out.

OTHER FAVES :P

– I am a lot more heartbroken over Natasha’s death than I expected to be. I like her character on paper a lot, but sometimes the writing or the acting don’t agree with me; neither was the case in this movie. I thought she was incredible. I loved the scene where she’s leading the post-dusting council. So losing her in this movie, of all movies, really hurts. And I understand why people who love her would be unhappy, and even furious –to some extent, so am I, tbh; specially because I don’t think she was properly honoured by the other characters after the fact–, but I do think it was extremely fitting for her arc.

– I loved Nebula’s storyline; how she was able to form new relationships, and what I know will be enduring friendships. Her interactions with her younger self were fascinating too; I loved that she perfectly followed the time-travel mumbo-jumbo. And she was so adorable at the beginning. Her bond with Tony didn’t have as much screen time as I wish it had, but the rest of the movie really shows how much his kindness touched her, and I love it. I’m a bit sad she didn’t get to kill any Thanos, tho.

– Okay, putting him in the “faves” section doesn’t exactly feel right, but whatever: I maintain that Thanos is a great villain. I don’t know what people that say otherwise are thinking. He’s the perfect foil for so many characters, and he is genuinely villainous; he is so delusional and self-righteous (seriously, his “solution” for the Snap 2.0 was… o.0) his plans feel sincerely menacing. He perfectly spells out his own doom; narratively speaking? He’s a joy of a villain to me. And I loved how he reacted to the information about the future; specifically, that upon learning about Nebula’s “betrayal”, his tactic was SOFTENING towards past!Nebula to make her even more eager to please him.

– Carol didn’t have much screen time, but I liked what she got (like, nothing too deep, but I didn’t expect much). I liked the Carol/Rhodey nod, even if I’m not sure how I feel about the ship in this incarnation. I wanted to hear something about Maria, but welp.

And on a shallow note, I kind of love that fandom absolutely freaked out about her wearing lipstick on a scene (while praising the “~natural no-make-up make up, effortlessly feminine without looking like you’re actually trying” look that she sported on CM, and disregarding that while yes, it was a troubling look that fitted a pattern across movies, A4 was made first so it was hardly a “betrayal” of the semi-grunge style), for the movie to go and give her the butchest look she’s ever gonna get on film lmao (and I will be pleasantly surprised if they’d keep a look like this for a movie where she’s the lead and not a supporting character, tbh).

– Sam and Bucky were So Soft™ with each other OMG. If their show doesn’t have at least ONE episode centred on them going undercover as a married couple, I’ll write it myself, because they are perfect for it (especially if you add some of the early banter/antagonism).

Btw, Sam getting the shield? The only good part of that mess at the end LMAO.

– I have mixed feelings for the Alt!Gamora development. I just… really loved the GOTG-IW versions of her character and her ship, and she’s gone and just… :( And that type of pseudo-amnesia/relationship do-over thing can be so badly written sometimes… But she’s back, and if done right, the role-reversal between her and Nebula could be gr10 for GOTG 3. We’ll see.

THE BAD™

– I know if I walked up right now to the Russos, and asked them why they hate Thor so much, they wouldn’t even understand the question. They would say, but we love Thor?? He’s such a fun character?? Or some version of the sort. They can fool themselves, but not me. You don’t do this to a character for whom you feel a modicum of respect, IMO.

Like, the fat-phobic jokes? The way they dealt with his substance abuse? How his arc about stepping up and assuming responsibilities ended by… him throwing away his responsibilities. Losing his hammer was a turning point for him to relearn the lessons about value and worthiness and power he’d been taught, and then… this movie. I couldn’t even fully enjoy his scenes with Frigga because I was so appalled by it all.

His only great scene, IMO, was how horrified and out of it he sounded after killing Thanos. I really felt that.

I didn’t even enjoy that he passed his power to Valkyrie because… unlike with Sam, that basically came out of nowhere. If they at least had given them ONE more scene at the beginning; seriously, it writes itself: just put her in the room when Bruce and Rocket are trying to convince him to go with them, and have her being the one that does it. Make her help him the way HE helped HER in Ragnarok; show her trying to help him and getting angry and frustrated. IDK, something.

And I know I’m probably alone in this because everyone around me practically creamed their pants when it happened but… having Steve control Mjolnir felt like adding insult to injury. Not just lifting it (which I would’ve been annoyed by too, given that they rewrote the new Asgardian mythology just to have this scene lol), but commanding it as only Thor did. Just. How much more are you going to take from Thor, people.

I want to make it clear that my problem is with the execution, not with Thor going through this; that, written differently, with more care, I could have loved.

– I’ve always been conflicted with MCU Steve. I loved the Captain America old comics I read as a child, and 616 Steve was A Hero. So I wanted to love MCU Steve just as much but… it often felt that he just didn’t measure up.

Well, conflict over. I don’t like the guy. Reading Man Out of Time just a few months ago probably isn’t helping (and yeah, that’s not a fair comparison, but it illustrates why I look at 616 Steve, and I adore him, and then I turn to MCU Steve and just… this guy is not worth my time).

I couldn’t even enjoy the ship, because my feelings for it come solely from my love for Peggy, and she didn’t even get to say a word? Add to that the fact that an endless loop of “OMG HE MADE OUT WITH YOUR NIECE. NOW HIS NIECE. RUN” was going through my head the entire time (the fact that Sharon was absent from the funeral when EVC acted in half of the MCU Russos films is hilarious in light of this xDD).

 MISC

– I really enjoyed some of the heist shenanigans. Especially Tony’s plan for a distraction being GIVING HIS PAST SELF A HEART ATTACK. How extra and edgy can my man be xD Tony and Scott are A Duo.

– I was thinking that Alt!Loki might make an appearance in GOTG3 if Thor is really a part of it, and how that might mix, but then a friend reminded me about his show, so I guess that’s where they’re going? IDK, The Avengers�� Loki is probably the one I liked the least out of all his appearances, so unless I hear something really good about it, I’m not picking it up.

– IDK if it’s because I was desensitized, but the white suits and Clint’s hairdo didn’t look as ugly on the final product?

– So THAT was the gay character Feige went on about. I knew he was going to be an unnamed nobody with less than five lines LMAO. Stop being cowards and give us Danbeau and WinterFalcon.

– I was very touched about Ned and Peter’s hug (MY BBYS), but isn’t Ned supposed to be five years older? AKA out of high school? I mean, he looked like he had missed Peter, not like he had disappeared with him too? And the entire class is going on a trip in FFH? Is it because of nostalgia/a friends thing? Were all of them dusted? Because poor teacher then xDD

– I think a lot of emotional threads were unceremoniously dropped, but other than the ones I’ve mentioned, I’m more indifferent towards their recipients so… eh. A great example is the fact that Bruce’s conflicting journey with Hulk was solved off-screen LMAO. Some of the humour felt extra-cringy too tbh.

– I have Tony-related fanart as my lock screen, my computer background, and my phone background. I get teary eyed with just looking at them. I should think of changing them, but I wont xD

– I know I’m forgetting things but whatevs, I can talk about them later.

[tarthbeauty]

Is this an unpopular opinion? Maybe. But I’m in a shitty enough mood right now to meta the fuck out of this possibly leaked spoiler.

I’ve seen it a few times. That Jaime lives and possibly crippled. Do I want him alive? Actually, I really do. Do I want him crippled? I mean??? I guess it would be a nice kind of circle for what he did to Bran. He couldn’t be a knight anymore. He couldn’t fight. 

Do I want him to get back together with Brienne? 

Nope.

I love the Braime ship. I love that it’s canon. But I don’t want it for the endgame. Not given the limited information we were given in that last episode. The information that Jaime doesn’t care about the citizens of KL. That all he wants is to get back to Cersei. Which. Honestly. That’s okay. Though people said it, I never believed he was going back to kill her. I thought he was going back to try to get her out. I thought he was going back to her because living separate from her in a world where she exists is doable for him. But allowing her to die? The woman who birthed his children. The woman he loved for his whole life. His twin? No. I didn’t expect him to just be like. “Welp. There goes my sister, I guess.” Fuck that, no. Him going back was in character. In my opinion. (Him seemingly completely forgetting about Brienne between Winterfell and KL and that he, you know, cares if people die, that was not in line with his arch.)

But I swear to fucking god. If D&D make my favorite ship endgame and Brienne is treated like some MOTHER FUCKING CONSOLATION PRIZE. I will freaking scream. I don’t want a Braime endgame because I think it’ll taint what they had together. I think it’ll taint the kind of woman she’s supposed to be. Yes, she loves him. Yes she cried over him. But do you think Brienne of Fucking Tarth is going to give a man the ability to make her cry over him twice??? 

There are situations where I’ll be less angry. Like a flashback scene of Jaime asking Tyrion to tell Brienne he loves her. (But we all know that didn’t happen.) And so like. No. I think Brienne matters more than being a consolation prize. I think Brienne FUCKING MATTERS. I think she deserves better (even if better just means herself) than a guy who is only with her because he can’t have someone else he clearly loves more. Because those last scenes we got with Jaime and Cersei? Yeah. He showed in every way that he loved her more than anyone. (And again, I’m okay with that. Brienne had her moment with him.) 

There are a million ways I would write this and fix canon so that a survived Jaime would be welcome back with Brienne, but it’s just... This feels so goddamn cheap. It make her cheap. It makes him seem cheap. There is no dignified way that strong, beautiful, fucking tough as nails Brienne of Tarth could take Jaime back into her arms after this. Not once she learned that he got crushed under RK next to Cersei. I just... I don’t like this. I hate this actually.

I’m not saying that I think she should shun him. Because Jaime did what he felt he had to do. But goddamn does she deserve better.

[sobdasha]

Are you hoping that Shiki turns out to be a girl too? Personally I always thought that if Akito was only going to have one child it should be a daughter to better fit her arc and make her whole story come full circle. Am I literally the only one who wants this? What do you think?

Short answer: not really, no?

Long answer, with more context, including why I don’t think that plot twist would actually contribute anything to Shiki’s narrative, continues below:

I do get the idea of wanting Akito to have a daughter, and of wanting the kids’ stories to mirror and parallel their parents. I see how that is fulfilling. But I don’t think that in Shiki’s case this is at all likely.

(I know I joke about FBA being fanservice and the characters being clones of their parents, but FBA is not just about bringing the parents’ stories full-circle. These characters actually have their own stories, with narrative needs that are different from those of their parents. Sure Akito having a daughter might be better to bring her arc full-circle, but FBA isn’t Akito’s arc.)

Shiki being a girl would fit the themes of Fruits Basket, you could argue that, but I would argue that it does not fit the themes of Fruits Basket Another.

As I see it, FB is a story about a lot of people very desperate for love, who keep changing themselves/lying to themselves to try and get and keep love, and who all need to learn that it’s okay to be themselves. (Also, love that doesn’t involve room for growing and changing isn’t love, it’s abuse. ETERNAL BONDS ARE BAD. Being able to grieve and move on is good.)In this regard, Akito’s narrative does well with the theme that she’s has been misgendered and needs to learn to be herself as a woman in addition to needing to learn to be herself without god.

As I see it, FBA is a story mostly about two people who actually don’t care about love and really don’t give a shit if they’re loved or not?? Like Shiki and Sawa do care about getting hurt, and don’t like being rejected, but…Sawa’s nothing like Tohru. Tohru is a people-pleasing extrovert who hated being alone. Sawa’s an introvert who’s like “well I’m clearly incurably annoying so I guess I’ll eat lunch outside so I won’t inflict others with my presence.” She’s not happy with this state of affairs but clearly isn’t actively looking to change it.And Shiki’s not very much like Akito. Akito’s a love-starved emotionally-stunted child screaming “HEY LOOK AT ME AND LOVE ME I’M RIGHT HEEEEERE.” Shiki’s just kind of like, “Welp. Family politics suck. People are constantly bad-mouthing my mom. I tried to help some kid on the street once and got the pants sued off me for my trouble. I think I will just keep my head down. Forever. Hm I wonder how that kid is doing anyway not that I will ever see her again.”

Sawa and Shiki don’t really need to learn a lesson about how it’s okay to be themselves. They are themselves, even though they feel those selves are bothersome to other people. What Sawa and Shiki are is really horribly apathetic. Their narrative arcs involve learning, “Hey you know what? Sure it’s gone badly before, but interacting with another human being isn’t actually the worst crime you can commit. Somewhere out there is actually someone who wants to talk to you. And maybe, just maybe, you refusing to engage other people is actually secretly hurting them.”

Shiki turning out to actually be a girl doesn’t really add anything to that character arc about engaging in society.

Also I don’t know what the motive would be? Like, Ren had Akito raised as a boy because Ren didn’t want another woman in her relationship with her husband (nooooooo that’s not what a daughter is noooooooooooo). What motive does Akito have to raise Shiki as a boy if Shiki isn’t a boy? People talk about “Oh but Ren would make Akito raise Shiki as a boy” but like??? Okay??? Why??? What point does that serve??? Sure Ren still hates Akito and would love to continue to ruin her life but??? Akira is dead and Shiki has nothing to do with Ren’s relationship with Akira??? ??????????????

Also Shiki can’t be a girl because then it wouldn’t be a het ship. I hate this but it’s true. I must have wanted to tie this in somehow because I see on my page of notes (that I mostly ended up not using) that I have saltily written up in one corner “Is this why no Ritsu or Kagura in FBA, they’re off leading their best lives as wlw???” I SURE HOPE THEY ARE.

[shaken-veil]

for the ship part of the questions list, emily/outsider

002 | send me a ship and I will tell you:

When I started shipping them: Uhm… I guess, the first time Emily stumbles into the Void in game. I was like ‘Welp, ship it!’

My thoughts: *Hysterical german screaming and running in circles* Yes. That’s it.

What makes me happy about them: That Emily can have someone, who cares for her as Emily, instead of her being empress. Also Outsider, needs some back talk in this endless talks. They just look wonderful together and they deserve to be happy. And if one does free the Outsider after DOTO.. well ^^

What makes me sad about them: Even with him becoming human again, I doubt that they could have a simple relationship, with all the court bullshittery and the empire always breathing down her neck. I want them to be happy!

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: Writing Outsider as a little love prince, totally at Emily’s feet.

Things I look for in fanfic: Good. Plot. Please. Slow. Burn. Pain. Angst with a good ending.

My kinks: For them? All the neck kisses. Is this a kink? If not, whatever. xD Also, letting Emily fall down into the endless Void catching her dramatically with one hand. Smug Asshole.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: I also ship Emily with Jindosh and Outsider with Corvo, so that would also work for me. ^^

My happily ever after for them: Outsider, human again, stays in Dunwall, trying to figure out a normal life with Emily’s help. 

[atamascolily]

Episode Review - Sinbad 1x02 - “The Return of Sinbad, Part Two”

In which we resolve all the dangling plot threads from the first episode and create some new ones to sustain us for the whole season. Also, Sinbad meets-cute, wizards are fond of practical jokes, Maeve is a total badass, Firouz's invention saves the day and Rumina acquires some motivation. 

Again, there's some Early Installment Weirdness, but the main purpose is to get all our characters together and give them reasons to hang out/hate each other, which it does very well. It just looks odd in light of later developments in the series....

(Photos from Far Far Away.)

When we left off, Sinbad's ship was attacked by a badass sea serpent. Some random crew members get eaten. Such is the life of a background extra in this series.

Sinbad concocts a daring plan! He shares it with Firouz. Actual dialogue:

Firouz: "That's insane!" Sinbad: "And having my men devoured by a sea serpent isn't?" Firouz: "Good point."

I love this so, so, so much.

The plan is for Sinbad to go up to the mast and throw an improvised bomb into the serpent's mouth when it tries to eat Sinbad.

It works great!

While Sinbad is coming down, Admir starts to fiddle with the ropes. Rongar, however, is Not Amused and forces Admir to back down.

Anyway, they arrive at the Isle of Dawn at last. Sinbad takes the crew ashore in a longboat and leaves them at the beach while he goes to find Dim-Dim. Instead, he's attacked by a hawk.

When he recovers, he's staring up at a beautiful woman with a drawn sword. She's not happy to see him.

Whatever you say, ma'am, Sinbad says, trying to collect himself and generally failing.

It turns out to be her hawk that attacked Sinbad. "You can talk to dumb beasts?" exclaims Sinbad in amazement.

"Isn't that what I'm doing right now?" she rejoins. Owww. Harsh but true.

It turns out the hawk's name is Dermott and he was just "protecting his mistress" which a super-weird line in light of later plot developments, so we'll just leave it alone, okay?

She starts ranting about raiders, Sinbad cuts her off and apologizes by thanking her - which is confusing - but eventually, she shrugs and says that Dim-Dim is expecting him and leads him off through a magic circle.

Master Dim-Dim lives in an alternate dimension paradise full of roses, which is one of my favorite things ever in this entire show. He's delighted to see Sinbad - his childhood ward - and they have an emotional reunion while the woman - now revealed to be Dim-Dim's apprentice, Maeve - watches awkwardly from the side.

Okay. It's been less than five minutes, but we had a real, stumbling, fall-on-your-face meet-cute moment, some extremely tsundere bantering, and now a Shipper on Deck. If you think this show

isn

't trying to ship these two <i>hard</i> with these tropes in play... nothing's going to convince you. Nothing.

Of course, Rumina and Turok are STILL spying on Sinbad even when he's with Dim-Dim becase the master wizard has no privacy shields, WTF Dim-Dim?

Quoth Rumina, Oh, Sinbad's so dreamy. Turok is not so easily amused.

Turok does another bit of transfiguration, with the intent of destroying the Isle of Dawn completely.  

Meanwhile, Dim-Dim and Doubar have a happy reunion on the beach. Maeve, however, is much less popular. "Out of my way, tubby," she says in an Irish accent that the producers of the show correctly decided to drop in later episodes. Doubar is not pleased.

Neither is Mustapha. "It's bad luck to have women aboard."

"It's bad luck to have idiots as well." 

NOW SHIT IS GOING DOWN. "Ask me about my mother," he demands.

Maeve takes the bait. "She raised a loud-mouth son!"

When Mustapha tries to throw her, she decks him completely. One-handed. Holding a hawk in her other hand. HOT DAMN. This moment is so bad-ass we will see it replayed over and over again in the opening credits. It's just that good.

Look at that expression on Firouz's face in the background. Classic.

Mustapha knows when he's been beaten.

"Welcome aboard, ma'am," he concedes gallantly.

Remember, Sinbad, the fate of the whole world is on your shoulders! Dim-Dim reminds his star pupil. No pressure!

Dim-Dim also has a reunion with Prince Cassib, which is super-awkward since Cassib barely remembered who Dim-Dim was in the previous episode. But he apologizes anyway for being a jerk, Dim-Dim accepts the apology, and then starts to playfully tease the price and play jokes on him, and laughs his head off like a lunatic. Admir is Not Happy About This and glowers quietly in the background.

Oh, and as soon as they start to leave, Turok's transfigured rock destroys the Isle of Dawn completely. Dim-Dim's all fatalistic. Welp. That's the end of everything. Guess I won't be needing it anymore! Sinbad is concerned and confused by all the ominous foreshadowing.

Generic footage of Sinbad sliding down the ropes. You'll see this in the credits a lot.

Sinbad tries to chat up Maeve about their shared connections/enemies. It doesn't work. Maeve admits to wanting to kill Rumina, not Turok, won't talk about why, and stalks off in a huff when Sinbad presses further. Not his smoothest moment, I'm afraid.

Dim-Dim teaches Maeve how to throw fireballs, which is an important life skill that everyone should know.

Maeve accidently-on-purpose tosses one towards Sinbad and Doubar to freak them out.

Hey, there's that ring around the moon again! Are we going to be attacked? Hell yes! There's that ominous music again... 

Rongar sneaks into Admir's cabin, a rifles through his belongings to find... a fake hand!

Admir awkwardly makes conversation with Firouz. Firouz is awkwardly pretending to be interested.

But Admir starts talking about his own "inventions," which gets Firouz interested enough to come to his cabin. That's Rongar's cue to plop Admir's trunk - which he dragged up from the cabin - in front of Firouz, because Rongar wants to make sure this display is public knowledge.  Because when you can't talk, the next best thing is to make a big scene.

Admir, his cover blown, decides to admit everything - he's actually a demon named Eblus, sent by Turok to corrupt the prince and derail the mission!

Also, if the teeth didn't give it away, he eats people. I'm not sure who exactly was in the trunk - you'd think Sinbad would have noticed a crew member missing - so maybe it was some poor soul in Basra? I have no idea.  

Dim-Dim tries to exorcise the demon, only to be blown away into another dimension. So much for the all-powerful wizard trope. (I wrote a fic in which this particular fact is heavily lampshaded.) Good-bye, Dim-Dim, we will never see you again except as a plot device to motivate our heroes! 

Well, this sucks, everybody is clearly thinking, especially Prince Cassib, who realizes he's been totally (literally??) screwed by this demon the whole time. Cassib's dropped the awful clothing but not the eyeliner, so you can tell he's gone over to the side of good - enough to volunteer to sacrifice himself to Eblus so that everyone else can go free. Sinbad's having none of it, of course. 

Eblus morphs into his Final Form, which is not as good CGI as the sea serpent, but still pretty good for the show as a whole.

Sinbad and Maeve crash into each other and have a Moment of Tense Shouting, which is movie-code for They're meant for each other/sexual tension.

Most of the actors avoid physical contact with the CGI, which makes it all the more startling when Mustapha dies. But hey, what did you expect, he wasn't in the opening credits. Rongar is devastated by his beloved friend's death, especially when the body vanishes to become a Force ghost.

Rongar screams in devastation, and goes for blood, but it's Sinbad who eventually stabs the demon and saves the day in a typically dramatic fashion.

Poor Rongar. You deserve so much better than this show gives you. I'm really sorry about that.

"Well done," Maeve says softly to Sinbad. Not, "Where the fuck is Master Dim-Dim and how are we going to get him back?" which apparently never comes up. Oh, well.

Turok decides enough is enough and it's time to kill his hostage Princess Adeenah in a dramatic fashion.

Turok decorates his whole island in a typically dramatic fashion. (It's called the Isle of Tears in this story arc, and Skull Island later on the series - both are pretty accurate.)

Welp, that looks ominous, doesn't it?

Group shot! Sinbad's on the tiller while everyone clusters round and tries to figure out what to do. Good thing Sinbad has a plan...

The entrance to Turok's cave is a skull because everything is a skull. Turok likes skulls. Got it?

Turok brings Adeenah out on the balcony to threaten her where Sinbad can see.

In case that message wasn't clear enough, Rumina uses the magic pool to put her image in the sky and talk to Sinbad directly. If Sinbad agrees to be her "special friend," then she'll let the crew go. The princess's death is non-negotiable, though.

Sinbad talks sweet nothings to distract Rumina while Firouz and Rongar get him ready to launch with the hanging glider (which Firouz admits they've never tested before on a human being).

Stop flirting and help me kill the princess, Turok admonishes his daughter, breaking off the conversation right there.

The hanging glider does work and it's awesome....

... allowing Sinbad to glide right into the cave entrance....

...grab the princess and slice Turok's head off. Rumina screams. Note the complete absence of blood, because this is Fantasy Violence, y'all, and also proof that Turok Is Really Evil.

Now just to get back to the ship...

"Hey, how's he going to land that thing?" Maeve asks of curiosity. Wow, I forgot to think about that, Firouz admits, like you do.

Fortunately, that's what oceans are for! Crash-landing!

Once on board, Sinbad gives Maeve a dramatic head-nod. Wasn't that badass of me? 

Maeve nods back. Yeah, that was pretty badass, actually. Oh, you crazy kids...

A pissed Rumina sends a rock monster to destroy the ship while she sobs over the decapitated corpse of her father.

Maeve tries to throw fireballs, and fails. Sinbad decides to motivate her by slapping her ass to piss her off - and thereby give her more power. He apologizes to Dermott first, to show that he's doing it strategically instead of just being a jerk, but it still doesn't carry over well on a re-watch.

It does, however, work. Maeve hits the giant so hard he collapses and the resulting shock waves send her tumbling into Sinbad's arms AGAIN, ARE YOU SENSING A TREND HERE?

Rumina, sobbing, curses Sinbad and vows to destroy him but doesn't seem too motivated to do anything about it right now, so the crew sails away without further disturbance.

Well, that was great, we killed Turok and Rumina, Sinbad says as a way of making conversation with Maeve. This is a dumb thing for Sinbad to say, because I don't know why he assumed Rumina was dead just because they beat her rock monster. Anyway, it's all a cue for Maeve to sigh dispiritedly, and inform Sinbad that, no, Rumina is still alive.

"How can you tell?" "Just look at Dermott."

Sinbad is so confused. “He looks the same to me.“

"Exactly," Maeve says and walks off. Clearly, there's a lot of backstory she's not telling Sinbad here....

Adeenah gets to wear Prince Cassib's ugly old outfits because the prince is a gentleman now. They're so happy and in love, and grateful to Sinbad for everything. Sinbad is very magnanimous about the whole thing.

Sinbad goes and takes the tiller because All is Well in the World. Dermott lands nearby and starts chirping enthusiastically. Sinbad is having none of it and begins to monologue. 

“Oh, be quiet, featherbrain! I know your mistress is unhappy. Maybe a long sea voyage will cheer you both up. The way I look at it, this world is growing a little too civilized for me. It’s growing up. Growing serious. Growing dull. But out there, who knows what worlds await? And out there is our good friend, Dim-Dim. I promise to find him, Dermott. ....Of course, I need a good crew.“

Dermott flies back to Maeve as if to relay this message. She looks back at him with apparent skepticism, then back to the sea again. Too bad, Sinbad. Well, you can't win them all...

And with that, the crew sails off into the sunset for the next adventure...

So it's never clear why Maeve stays on board after this. Certainly, it's not something that's ever talked about or discussed - Sinbad's monologue is pretty much the extent of it. Also, why the hell does Rongar stay; Mustapha is never mentioned again (with one memorable exception in the Season Two finale); why can't a powerful wizard - who we later learn binds a much stronger demon - defeat Eblus; where did he go and why; and why doesn't Rumina just up and kill our heroes then and there? Sigh.

But does it really matter? As I've said, the point of this two-part opener is to introduce you to the characters, their basic motivations, and get them pointed in the right direction. Everything else comes later or is ignored completely.

Good parts: some fun dialogue and exchanges, watching Firouz's hanging glider in action, Maeve being a badass, Dim-Dim's awesome rose garden, Cassib growing up, good CGI effects (especially the sea serpent).

Bad parts: Maeve's erratic Irish accent. (I'm so glad they dropped that in the later episodes; it just doesn't work well here because it feels so forced.) Sinbad slapping Maeve's ass as a plot device, so many obvious shipping tropes crammed into one episode that it starts to feel really forced - I think we could have done without the last two "falling into each others arms" bits and still gotten the point quite nicely, thank you.

But anyway - now that we've established everything, time to start doing stuff. Next up: one of the series' best episodes - "The Beast Within".

[lightandwinged]

So the more I read about The Last Jedi in terms of spoilers and leaks, the more I’m like 

(potential spoilers below cut)

The two big ones that have me side-eyeing the most are (a) the idea that Luke dies as a result of his Force juice running out while he’s projecting himself across the galaxy Because Of Reasons and (b) the idea that Kyle Ron kills Snoke by cutting him in half, and thus takes his place in the Great Circle of Life as leader of the First Order.

(b) is the one that has me more like “...really?” because... look, you built up Snoke to be The Big Bad, more Emperor Palpatine than Darth Vader. And I get if you’re trying to go all M. Night Shamalamadingdong on things and make us all go “wat a tweest!” as it’s revealed that Kyle Ron is the Actual Big Bad, but I’m just getting whiffs of Darth Maul here. Only less so because Darth Maul looked like a badass and Snoke looks like Palpatine’s used bubblegum. 

And like... I’m not asking for some extensive trilogy backstory about why Bubblegum McGee is in charge of the First Order and fucks around with Hux and Kyle Ron, but like... we saw a hologram in TFA and I doubt we’ll get more than a few scenes in TLJ because we have to spend time with everyone else (REMIND ME TO RANT IN A FEW SECONDS ABOUT HOW MUCH I HATE HUNTING FOR LEAKS ON THE INTERNET BC IT IS RELATED) so like... ????

Like at least with Palpatine’s few scenes in RotJ, it felt like he deserved all the build-up he got. He spent the whole time pointing out to Luke that he literally orchestrated everything that was happening and gently poking and prodding him towards the Dark Side, a turn that was only averted by Vader stepping in and refusing to let his son go down the path he went down (HAVE I GIVEN MY ROTJ INTERPRETATION IN THE LAST HALF HOUR???). The only thing that really defeated him was the element of surprise: nobody expects the Ewok Inquisition, and bad guys never plan for Love To Win The Day. 

And look, I am fine with Kyle Ron dealing a killing blow to Snerk but... an evil person would expect their protege to be the one to deal the killing blow, especially as reports suggest that Crylo Rong doesn’t deal the killing blow to defend anyone or save anyone or because Love (sorry, R3yl0s) but to seize power for himself, which...

I don’t know. As a plot point potentially happening, it doesn’t sit right with me. I may change my mind when I actually see it happen, but I’m like... really? 

As far as (a) goes, I 100% figured that Luke would die in this film because it’s all about passing the torch to the next generation &c., but (1) I feel less okay with it now that Carrie’s gone, meaning that if Luke is also gone, there’s no torch passing next film except... idk, Chewie to porgs? R2 to BB8? Something? and (2) it feels like a cop-out for Luke’s character, WHICH MAKES SENSE CONSIDERING ALL MARK HAMILL HAS BEEN SAYING. 

Someone (probably on Reddit, but idek anymore) made the point that this trilogy reduced the OT mains to who they were at the very beginning of their trilogy, not to who they became... as if the writing completely ignored anything that came after about the midway point of A New Hope. I haven’t been one to jump on the “LUKE THEY DID YOU WRONG” bandwagon yet because we just didn’t know, but... seeing that his character arc was basically completely mirroring Yoda’s and Obi Wan’s is just weird. I haven’t read anything in Legends, but even in regular canon, it just doesn’t make sense that Luke’s response to baby Kyle Ron making a mess would be to say “welp, I’m a failure now” and pack up to live the rest of his days with hairless Ewok nuns and porgs. It just... his leadership that he developed in the OT and willingness to put aside even his personal feelings and connections for the people he loved; where did that go? 

And now, mind, this is all just the most persistent rumors from people who allegedly saw the film. There’s no confirmation yet and probably won’t be for another day or so. For all I know, either everyone’s wrong about these leaks OR they’re done in such a way that I’ll be like “why yes, I see what you were going for here, well done.”

But I was burnt bad by the prequels and my vibrating excitement for them back in 1999-2005. I’m going into this expecting something that will make me very angry and upset, and I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised. MEANWHILE, ON THE HUNT FOR SPOILERS. I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaate it. Hate it so much. The easiest venues for finding spoilers are this blue hellsite and Reddit, and both are AWFUL. On the blue hellsite, it’s literally just R////los crowing about how THEY ARE SUPER CANON U GAIZ and I’m like... can u not? I find the ship annoying for about 65 million reasons (can we pls pair Rey with nobody, Kyle Ron is actively the Worst, the fandom makes me bleed, if Rey must be paired with someone can it please be a woman or else Finn, HEY GUYS FINN FUCKING EXISTS, etc.), but it’s also like... the least of what I’m wondering going into this. I lived through the Great Harmonian Ship Wars of the early 2000s. I don’t want to pick through 6000 pages of straw-grasping to find a leak I actually care about.

Reddit at least posts leaks that are relevant overall, but they’re also The Actual Worst because most of the complaints about another persistent rumor (Rey’s parents were nobodies, which... seemed pretty well confirmed, if bothersome, but okay?) are things like “if girl not Skywalker, how girl use lightsaber?” and variants. And then there’s another rumor (that I actually like) of Leia using the Force to survive being tossed into space (by some accounts, flying like Superman, which I’m like... that’s fucking awesome) and the Reddit response also ignores the OT and is like “how Leia use Force if not established by her using lightsaber?” Like come on you troglodytes. Did you miss the end of ESB where she hears Luke calling her through the Force? Or where Luke says “my sister has it” (it being the Force)? Or where she’s pondering over her suddenly understood Force intuition at the end of RotJ?

Basically, they seem baffled that girls do things, and I can’t, y’all, I just can’t. 

And naturally, exactly NO leaks discuss Finn, Poe, or Rose. From looking over the visual dictionary and children’s books already released, they actually have a lot to do, but nope, we’re not going to talk about them because we’re racist they’re not as important, I guess?

Hrrrngh. 

I’m going to see this movie on Thursday night, for better or for worse, and God-willing, I’ll feel better afterwards. Right now, though, I really want to go find the beatable Kyle Ron action figure and take out some frustration.

[coexistxcoldrain]

King of unfathomable stupidity

Title: King of unfathomable stupidity Author: Minzgruen Rating: Mature Warnings: Smut Ship: Masato/Hiroki (Masaki?!) Words: ~4,100 Summary: There was more than stubbornness to this game. The next encounter hurt; in more ways than one. But impudence always wins, right? Note: Sorry it took me so long. Uni has had a toll on me, basically. Even now, I am supposed to write a term paper on the gender aspects in Kirino Natsuo’s “Out”, welp. But anyway, here is the sequel. Of course there will be a third part, too, and I really hope it won’t take as long. But again, disclaimer: I’m German, my English probably won’t be perfect and you will find mistakes or parts that will sound odd. I am always learning. So please correct me anytime if you like~   And now, have fun! ♥

 King of unfathomable stupidity

I knew that he would be here as well. They were getting real good real fast and now we were sharing the same stage already. It wasn’t such a big festival, however, we were not talking about Knotfest. But they’ve already been to Summer Sonic once, anyway.

It was weird, knowing him to be so close after such a long time. It’s been several months and he had never replied to any of my messages before I had given up eventually. It was fair enough, I suppose; he had made his decision, which was to move on. You could call him ‘brave’ if you wanted to, I guess, he knew what he wanted and he knew how to be consequent. More so than me, it seemed.

 While he was brave, though, I was just too proud. Too proud for my own good, if I might say. I wouldn’t message him any further and in case we would we see each other accidentally today, I’d greet him and not grant him any attention. So much for my plan.

 We still had time until our show and so we hung out in the backstage area with good food and a beer. Everyone was in high spirits; we laughed a lot and were excited to play. It was such a nice, summery day and no clouds in sight. You could hear another band’s instruments on stage and the screaming and shouting of the enthusiastic audience.

 I felt good. I had been hard to accept the fact that I would probably never be with Hiroki ever again. I guess it had been my own fault after all. But right now, I felt fantastic. The mild and hot summer days were just what I needed and what kept me alive right now altogether with my band and our shows. It kept me … busy and relaxed at the same time. Just what I needed.

 Though, sometimes after concerts, I still longed for his body. Of course, I missed sex. Not having sex for months when you’re used to it was hard. Don’t get me wrong, I could have had dozens of women. Literally. I just wasn’t interested; not even in distracting myself this way. Maybe this would change again soon, I wanted to give myself a bit more time.

 A few of our band members have had their girlfriends for quite a while now already, one was even engaged. With my 30 years of age, I felt kind of isolated in that respect. My friends knew about my struggle with women, my last relationship didn’t end all too well, so one day they stopped asking even though they were progressing so fast in life and wanted to share.

 I wanted that, too. I wanted a healthy, stable and loving relationship and I wanted to marry them someday. Of course it was hard maintaining that when you were part of a successful band. But I wanted that more than anything, that’s how I consoled myself. It would never work out this way with Hiroki; I could never have all of this. It was the only way and the right way for us to have ended our affair.

 “Why do you look so gloomy all of a sudden?” Ryo, always the loudest, grinned and threw another beer in my direction, which I caught only just. “We’ll wrack this festival.”

 “Geez. Your God-complex is getting too big, man. Why do you always wanna destroy things?”

 Everyone laughed and Ryo shrugged amused. They really were like family to me, anyway. Just as I wanted to open the can, I remembered that I needed to pee and excused myself. “Be right back.”

 I went to the men’s bathroom at the very end of the long corridor on purpose to walk a bit in silence and in hope of being alone. I often preferred not to speak before concerts; I wanted to treat my vocal cords with care and listening to music alone by myself made me focused. Right now, I didn’t have that excuse. It was simply too early and my band members too excited.

 I opened the door with a sigh and entered the silent, pleasantly cool and empty bathroom. My thoughts had been running in circles ever since we “broke up”. God damn, I was a 30 year old man; this kid shouldn’t affect me this much. But that’s what he surely did.

 Behind me, the door closed by itself while I strolled to one of the last urinals and opened up my fly. A sigh of relief escaped my lips but just as I was about finish peeing, the door opened again.

 “Oh, sorry.”

 ‘Course it was Hiroki. Of all the people who could have come to this loo at this exact time, of course it had to be Hiroki. I cleared my throat and tried to calm myself down. I was an adult, after all. “Don’t worry, I was just about to go,” I said and closed my fly.

 But he didn’t move from where he stood in front of the door almost like a tree having taken root. Of course I’d planned on washing my hands but now I just wanted to leave this room. So I shot him a questioning glance.

 “Anything else?”

 “Masato …”

 God, I couldn’t handle this now right before our show. I knew they must have already finished theirs. His forehead shimmered with fresh sweat. What did he want, anyway? It was him who hadn’t answered any texts. There really wasn’t anything left to say, was there?

 “Will you let me through?”

 “No.”

 “What was that?”

 “Let me have this one more time, okay?”

 This having said, he strolled closer to me; lightly, slow and as if on tip toes. Head slightly narrowed, he glanced at me from under his thick lashes, mouth slightly parted. Oh no, he wasn’t going to have his way with me.

 “I’ve had sex with another guy since then,” he began, his voice low and dripping with excitement where I could not even identify what it was that made him so damn confident. “It was good but not amazing.” Then he touched my chest just faintly, though I could feel his fingerprint burning through the fabric of my shirt and right under my skin. “Then Teruki and I had a mutual agreement. I just … couldn’t stop wanting you, though. It made me think …”

 “What? That you made a mistake? Make up your mind.” I tried pushing him from me but the half-heartedly attempt didn’t really seem to achieve anything. He still looked at me with the same clouded, determined eyes and tried pressing himself even closer to me. Then I snapped out of it, took him by the shoulder and shoved him from me with a nervous laugh and a shook of my head.

 “Hiroki, I will not have you crying after this. Or telling me that you don’t want to see me again a second time.”

 “I did not say that.”

 “You … basically broke up with me.”

 That’s when he cocked his ears. “There was nothing to break up. We weren’t official and we certainly weren’t exclusive.”

 “Maybe that just doesn’t work with us, then.”

 “That’s fine. So let me just have this …” I was so perplexed when he leaned towards me and pressed his lips to mine even though I could have really seen this coming. My first instinct then, funnily enough, was to pull him into an empty stall and close the door. Not one of my brightest ideas, I must admit, I was just too scared someone could barge in on us.

 There was a short silence then encircling us like an upcoming storm. We heard the other breathing and his scent knocked me over like the very first time. “I know you want that, come on … Have you ever had sex before a show?”

 Jesus, fuck. I couldn’t have him dominating me; it made me so weirdly mad. He’d never tried anything like this before, never showed any interest in it. He wasn’t the confident, leading part in this, he never had been. I had liked it this way. But this now made me want to control him even more. And maybe that was his plan after all.

 “Will you shut your mouth?” I hissed with sharp teeth, gripping his hair and pressing the back of his head against the stall door. I only became aware of the fact that I was pressing my whole body to his in the process because he kept grinning and sighing silently. But before I could react and finally get my arse out of there, he pulled me in and started kissing me again. I really longed for getting some space between us because even then I couldn’t stand the thought of the consequences following. But it was the delicacy with which he slid his fingers through my blonde strands of hair and the slight desperation with which he kissed me that made me stay exactly where I was.

 “I don’t think you really want me to.” Those words escaped his mouth as a shaky whisper but you could still sense his fucking smugness with every breath he took afterwards; leaning his god damn pig head against the stall behind him. If he had been taller than me, I’m sure he would have loved to look down on me right now. Otherwise, it just looked cute … and a little needy, which I liked. Sadly.

 “You actually want me to talk back, don’t you?”

 “I actually want you to get out of here. Now.”

 “Jesus, Masato. How many times did we have sex by now? I know how you react. I know what you like. I know you. Now drop that stupid façade of yours and fuck me.”

 I sighed and let my forehead rest on his. I could have just walked away, what was he supposed to do? But he had a point there after all, I could have … but I didn’t. I had missed him, his sharp tongue and his body. He was so close, just there right in front of me and for this moment – all mine. It was really hard, almost impossible even, to overcome this temptation. And even though I was aware of the fact that he would still not be mine after this, and I would still miss him and this would probably be the last time we shared our breaths, I leaned in to kiss him and he eagerly responded like he knew it would happen sooner or later, anyway.

 “I missed touching your chest. You’re taller than most. And your chest is broader,” he whispered against my lips; his fingers lightly brushing my nipples and his hips moving forward in circles against mine. I could feel his erection through our trousers.

 I then made my decision finally and locked the door just in case and in response, I heard a snicker leave Hiroki’s mouth. I almost had to chuckle myself – though in disbelief – as he pulled out a small tube of lube and a condom out of his pockets; stuffing all of it on the window sill and shortly after tried to get rid of my shirt. “I know you don’t have much time. I don’t want it to be a long fuck, either. You can just take me, you know?”

 I gasped in disbelief at his so very unfamiliar straightforwardness and closed my eyes for a mere second as he grabbed my hand and led me to his backside. I was nervous. Shit, a little child held the power to make my knees go weak. I honestly tried really hard to regain my composure after that but he didn’t stop our hands at his arse just like that, he made me reach into his jeans as well and with a nervous yet curious stroke, I felt a little knob right where his arsehole should be.

 He actually had the nerve to wear a butt plug on this day. And my brain slowly began to melt.

 “Yours would feel so much better inside me,” he purred in my ear and that was when I lost all control whatsoever. I could have handled it so much better, this was exactly what that little shit wanted and I was about to give it to him just like that. But to be honest, in this moment, I couldn’t have cared less. All I wanted was to fuck him hard; fuck that god damn smugness out of his face and fuck him so hard that he regretted ever having done something like this to me, though something told me that he really wouldn’t. He’d enjoy it nonetheless.

 With that, I turned him around and pressed him against the cold, hard wall face first; his cheek and part of his nose touching the tiles. He gasped and didn’t say another word for the time being, though I knew he had closed his eyes and was drowning in the feelings of this present moment. He enjoyed the sensation of me pulling down his trousers and briefs while one of my hands pinned down one of his. I wished I had cuffs with me, of course I didn’t, but then, on the spur of the moment, I picked up his belt and wrapped it around his wrists. Tied his hands on his back.

 Yeah, I thought, as he drew a sharp breath in surprise, that wasn’t what he had expected. We wouldn’t have this his way. This was mine and even though he basically persuaded me into doing this, we would do this on my terms.

 “Listen to me, you little asshole,” I hissed at him as I pulled at his hair and with that his head backwards in my direction, “I will fuck you just the way I want. And you will not make the slightest sound or I swear you will regret it.”

 Still tearing at his hair, I felt him nodding reluctantly, which made me grin all over again. Just the way I wanted him. I wanted him nervous and subordinate and insecure. Finally I could turn the tables again and it was me in charge. I tried pressing the thought of this being awkward and over for good in a few minutes to the back of my head in the process but I couldn’t let go of this burning feeling completely.

 Pressing his torso against the wall with my underarm, I opened up my fly with one hand and got out my hard dick. I was almost bursting and the tingling sensation was spreading through my whole body by then. I couldn’t believe I was about to fuck him again after such a long time; that I was about to fuck after such a long time. It blew my mind and my dick twitched at the mere thought. Stroking it a few times, I let out a quiet moan. I could just forbid him to come; with his hands tied back, he wouldn’t even be able to touch himself. I could just come myself and untie him and just go; leaving him there all flustered and desperate. In the state of me being turned on as fucking hell, this really did sound like a great idea. Maybe he’ll learn his lesson then. Maybe he’ll finally walk out of my life for good – or, well, maybe he’ll come back all the more instead.

 After a few tries, I managed to get the condom out of the wrapper but sadly I could not pull it on with just a single hand. He gulped when I took my underarm from his back but after I had put on the condom and applied an appropriate amount of lube, I put it there again, only harder this time.

 “Have you thought this through, Hiro-Chan?” My voice warm and soft, I knew how he would shudder as I encircled the end of the plug, slowly pulling it out. He gasped at that, so I pressed him even harder to the wall. “I said ‘not.another.word’. Are we clear on that?”

 I waited a few seconds, but apparently he understood and didn’t retort anything. Good, I thought, and grinned again. Good, little fuck. When I slowly put my tip to his entrance, he only twitched. I didn’t know if due to nervousness and surprise or pleasant anticipation. But frankly said, right now I really couldn’t care any less, so I pushed in.

 We both inhaled sharply at the same time and thus I let it pass, though our moans sounded differently. The tight, warm sensation made my head spin, it was infectious. The thought of it all made it unbearable not to fuck him unconscious right then and there. He wanted my cock inside him and now he had it. We’d always preferred hard sex, though this time I wanted to overdo it on purpose. It would hurt, of course, but he liked the pain. He wouldn’t be able to sit normally for days.

 I held his hips steady with one hand while the other was still busy keeping him in place against the cold wall, and with a few rough, short thrusts, I was finally inside him as far as it would go. Right up to my balls. He shuddered and his legs twitched, but like the good, little fuck he was, he didn’t make a single sound. My dick was bigger and thicker than the plug he had been wearing; however, I was sure that he had done that on purpose, too. He knew how my dick looked. He loved it; had worshipped it a million times before on his knees, his eyes cloudy and mouth wet. He wanted the rough sensation and me filling him up like nothing before.

 By now, I had established a rough, steady pace. I didn’t intend to take any prisoners, I thrusted my hips forward faster and harder every time and he took in all of my length without a single moan or a complaint. The friction was heavenly and the sight of him, all needy and defenceless, was almost enough to trip me over the edge. Though he bit his lips and was determined not to let out a sound, I was moaning all the way through. Little grunts and huffs escaped my open mouth while my eyes were fixed on the spot where my dick slid in and out of him at a rapid pace.

 “Do you regret it now, Hiro-Chan?” I asked him, but instead of answering, I might have seen him shaking his head hardly noticeable. After a while, I had almost reached the point of my limits. I was almost there, it didn’t take much more. By then, my head rested on his shoulders, all the while breathing hot air against his ear and neck. His face must have hurt from how hard he was pressed against the tiles for so long. But then again, I bet his arse must have hurt way more.

 “Give me … one hand. Please,” he croaked out with a shaky, little, unsure voice. He knew I was getting close and I bet it must feel awful to be so close yourself but not being able to come at all. Being depended on someone to let you come. I grinned and fucked him even harder for a couple of seconds. “No, I won’t.”

 “Please,” he cried again, seemingly desperate and not fearing any consequences. His dick must have felt raw and so thick to the point of bursting. After all, he had been wearing the plug all day, too.

 “You know,” I stopped in my tracks for a short moment, gripped his hair and ripped his head back, hissing, “I will press your cock to the wall and keep fucking you. Either you come or you don’t. I don’t care.”

 I heard him gulping and then he nodded, speechlessly. He wouldn’t dare trying anything like that again. And so I carried out my threat; I took away my arm from his back at which he audibly sighed, and pressed his hips with both my hands to the wall. Again, he took in a sharp breath; probably because of the sensation of the cold and hard tiles against his dick. But nonetheless, it was friction. Admittedly, rather uncomfortable, too hard friction, but it was all he would get from me and he knew it.

 When I started thrusting again, he was in different spheres and I was drunk with him warm and tight around me. I felt it tingle inside of me and my insides grew warm; feeling the familiar vibes spreading through my whole body. And then I came and the world around me stopped for a moment. All I could concentrate on was my rapid heart beat and uneven breathing. Eyes pressed shut and only making lazy thrusts forward, I collapsed a little bit down on him. Sweaty, hot and way too high. But that was when my consciousness finally kicked back in; the fairy tale was over.

 We didn’t say anything while I carefully pulled out of him, though I noticed that he really indeed had come. The tiles were stained with his semen. He, too, was breathing fast. After I had untied him, he turned around to look me uncertainly in the eyes. I returned the glance only hesitatingly, though immediately feeling uncomfortable again, I leaned back against the wall opposite from him and let my head fall back. Must have been a funny picture right then and there; us two standing there, half naked, flustered and not too sure what to do at all.

 “You’ve never fucked me like this before.”

 “Is that a good or bad thing?”

 “Interesting, I suppose,” he whispered, obviously looking down at the ground. Then he lazily got dressed again and wiped his come off the wall while I disposed of the condom.

 “You really shouldn’t have persuaded me, you know?”

 “We both liked it.”

 “Yeah, obviously.” I couldn’t help but to be a little louder at that than intended. He had missed the whole point completely. But was I surprised? No. After all, he was still only a child. “And what now? Will it all be like before again? I know we both don’t want that. So what was your intention?”

 “I had none,” he shrugged. I wish I knew whether he lied or not, but sadly, he was rather good at that. “I just wanted you to fuck me, that’s all. Can’t you deal with that?”

 He smirked, although it might have felt a bit off. But apparently I had totally been on edge and this little gesture was all it took for me to lose control completely. With both my hands, I pushed him back against the wall and pinned him there. He gasped in surprise to suddenly see my face so close to him. “You little asshole. Who taught you to be so fucking rude, anyway?”

 “I learned from the best,” he sighed, but he didn’t meet my gaze. At that, I let go of him. “You know I’ll be in contact, right?”

 “Don’t bother. I won’t answer.”

 My heart beat so fast in my chest. But it wasn’t this pleasant feeling right before and after your orgasm. It felt rushed and it hurt, it made me uneasy and I wondered how long I could still stand on my own two feet. That was not what I had wanted. Maybe, part of me had really longed for a soft hearted kiss, two foreheads leaning against one another; yet another declaration of love but this time, I had been ready to accept it. Ready to take him into my arms and don’t let him go for several long moments. But we were both too stubborn. Or maybe it was just his revenge; either way, it worked.

 “Yeah, right, we’ll see …”

 And then he just walked out of the stall and bathroom just like that; without a word of goodbye or another glance. I was left there paralysed. I had probably stood there for way too long after he had left, we were just lucky nobody had actually come in. I just couldn’t believe what had happened and I couldn’t fathom how it all had escalated so quickly.

 Maybe that was what I deserved in the end. This wasn’t the Hiroki I knew and he certainly wasn’t he person I actually wanted to be with. If he’d changed just like that … then yeah, maybe it was for the best. Maybe now … I could finally get over it, even though for different reasons than expected.

 This day, I only half-heartedly performed on stage. Some might have realised. But at least nobody knew the real reason.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Grimoire of Zero 10 - 11 | Royal Tutor 11 - 12 (FINAL) | Kado 10 | Boku no Hero Academia 25 | Tsukigakirei 10 - 11...plus summer 2017 anticipated anime.

Just gonna put this here so it gets more attention while it’s open.-> http://www.strawpoll.me/13311671

Grimoire of Zero 10

Geez, the staff pulled a Kado 0 - 1 on us here…i.e. the ending of one ep is the same as the opening of the next ep. It’s just to a lesser extent than Kado did.

Seriously, who is Him??? They still haven’t told us!

Welp, there’s my answer. It was too obvious to centre a 12 episode series around, I would’ve given a plot point like that about…3 or 4 eps, tops.

Grimoire of Zero 11

The thing about this show is that you can just turn your brain off and watch along. It’s a tad slow, but enjoyable and that’s why I’ve stuck with it.

LOL, I understand what it’s like to have “messy, wormlike handwriting”…

I don’t believe a wisp of that karate chop, Holdem. The hand was at the wrong angle.

Finally, the show gets funny again. There’s the Zero we know.

I love the sense of scale the animators have demonstrated with the spells. Just saying that before I have no more chances to.

Ooh! Oh, that man. I actually side with Holdem on this one, he deserved that punch.

“I-“ – Ooh, at that moment I got completely engrossed in the cliffhanger. Normally shows don’t cut off in the middle of a sentence, do they?

Royal Tutor 11

I can’t believe they forcibly took Gregor. Isn’t there some kind of legal offence for-oh wait. That’s called kidnapping. (partially sarcastic)

I’ve always found it interesting that the princes have to refer to the king as such, rather than “dad”. That seems to be a problem in every single piece of media you get about royalty, although these guys have a conscious sort of “I am no longer the king, but your father” (and vice versa) switch which is controlled by Viktor.

Oh, so it’s basically all the Dickensian stuff you get in Oliver Twist…(I haven’t read it, but you know how it is with classics *rolls eyes*).

Heine’s movements are believable, but there’s some suspension of belief needed for Viktor’s (because he faints a little too fast, I think).

Welp, this ain’t quite crying material, but I can tell there was a “climax” where the audience was expected to cry. Knowing this is anime-only material keeps my eyes dry, I guess. However, knowing that Heine’s resigned as Royal Tutor really made my heart drop…after all, this is the second last episode, and I’ve really had fun watching these princes and their diminuitive tutor.

Royal Tutor 12

Bruno really likes Gendo poses, doesn’t he?

Heine’s voice is great for a noob VA. It really sells the character.

I always thought “hai-neh” was a weird pronunciation, but that’s what it says in the katakana.

Seeing Heine tell others their strengths really makes me feel like I’m missing them already, in a good way. I’m not tearing up yet, but it’s real heartwarming and I know if I were in the same situation, I’d cry too.

“Goodbye” isn’t quite “excuse me”, but I guess it works context-wise.

This is one of those shows where “show, don’t tell” works well and I think the show’s nailed it for the most part.

University degrees don’t necessrily make good tutors. Any student knows that, especially in uni.

I can see why even the author cried at this now, even though I’m still not crying.

W-Who’s that? With the dark hair? Eins???

Ah, there’s my answer. It was indeed Eins. Why does he have dark hair???

Welp, there’s one finale for the spring season over. The anime staff really couldn’t have done too much about Eins, though, which sucks. Come back another time for a different show, ‘kay?

Kado 10

I’m in that weird stage where I want to like Kado, but because everyone’s jumped ship, I won’t want to like it either…what a weird thing peer pressure is. *feels like crying*

I feel like I’m in Superhero Project (one of my stories) where protag Keisuke wakes up in a white expansive room to be trained in his powers. Only this time, they gave the room fractals.

Interesting. It’s like an alien LINE convo.

Sarasouju tree…apparently, it’s this thing. Commonly known as “sal”. I’ve never heard of it, though.

“Humans are ephermeal creatures.” – You remind me of Haibara (Detective Conan).

“There’re guns everywhere in America!” – LOL, that sure ain’t the truth, as much as America has gun problems.

Let’s play another common anime game. It’s called “Spot the Main Character from their Hair Colour”.

(SPOILERS for White Parasite from now on!) zaShunina’s still teetering on “cuckoo” from his facial expressions here. It’s sad, because I wanted him to be mysterious and beautiful like La Luna forever...that’s why I killed La Luna off!

*sigh* Okay, evil mastermind pretender, put your hands back on and please just negotiate like you wanted to in the beginning. (*on the brink of tears* Hey, I realised something. I keep making comparisons to White Parasite, but people find it confusing. By making those comparisons, I seem to have almost jinxed Kado to be this way.)

*crying because Shindo* La Luna’s force of living was the goodwill that it used to create its powers. Does that mean the anisotropic run off trust in the same way? (By the way, please don’t resurrect Shindo. That would break the laws of reality as we know it – even anisotropic laws.) (end spoilers)

Welp, I guess not. B-But, my dreams just got ruined by Saraka kissing Shindo (although the Kado tag spoilered it for me anyway)…

Pffffft. Okkkkkkay, Captain Shang, hold up!

Shindo’s angry face at Saraka wearing his shirt had me dying. He really is Captain Shang.

Kado. You were so beautiful at first. I placed my faith in you. B-But you changed, and now all I can do is see you through as you become a cliché fest I could have easily created with my own hands. In fact, I did create a Kado with my own hands - White Parasite. So I am the one to blame…I will have to see this through as I have seen through White Parasite.

Boku no Hero Academia 25

Well, that certainly threw me for a loop. Between two forces of roughly even power, it’s unpredictable who’ll win, but the ability to humanise a character comes with weaknesses. I know that already, as a writer and reader of hero stories.

All Might is such a fatherly type. I don’t think I could write a character like him – both OP yet grounded at the same time.

Plus Ultra!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wait, the woman with red streaks is his…aunty? Sister? I’m not sure at all.

Aw, this Shouto segment was just too good. I’m worried about Iida though, because from the Stain stuff I’ve seen floating around, he will not take the defeat of his bro lightly. Also, amazarashi is coming in the next part of BnHA! I loved Speed to Masatsu, so it’s good to meet him again here.

Tsukigakirei 10

“An Encouragement of Learning” is a Fukuzawa work.

From Kawagoe to Chiba it really is about 2 hrs. Look.

Oh great. Bad CGI people strike again…

Monzenyokocho.

Did Hira have kawaii eyes just as the other people thrust trash at him?

Imokoi is a Kawagoe specialty involving…wait for it…sweet potatoes. That’s why the sweet potato mascot makes sense.

My eyes!!!!!!!! Bad CGI people stand out more in night scenes (compared to day scenes, of course).

Toki no Kane, apparently also known as the Bell of Time.

The “game” in question, that rock paper scissors, was probably a batsu (penalty) game.

I guess I should’ve guessed Kotarou would’ve gotten angry at Hira eventually. I just didn’t think it would be now.

That shot of Kotarou walking down the street looked a little awkward because it looked like he was walking on a flat surface when it’s actually slanted.

It’s not just my video, is it? Akane’s crying got sped up and that pulled me out of what was meant to be an immersive scene.

Chotto matte means “wait a bit”, but I feel like “I’ll be right there” is warping the meaning a lil’ too much.

Well, I never expected this show to portray anger. It pulled Kotarou’s anger off really well.

I never thought I’d see the day where Kotarou would rely on the potato mascot, either. I like a show that goes out of its way to be unpredictable like this. Too bad it came a little too late in the game.

Tsukigakirei is all about following the heart and not necessarily the mind, so this is a pefect way to show it.

Oh! That was another good unexpected thing, but then they’ve been teasing that since the fireworks. Too bad they kept part of Kotarou’s face hidden right after it.

This end of ep LINE convo is about a couple that can’t sleep, so one of them starts talking about their part time job…then it gets cut off.

Oh, so that’s how Sakura is related to the main events…okay.

Tsukigakirei 11

“To decide that I’m hopeless before I even begin is nothing but laziness.” - Wise words, Dazai.

Were there always two potato mascots at the top of 13.70? I think one appeared there when Kotarou first received his, actually, although I’m not bothered to look…

The people aren’t CGI now…or I’ve somehow gotten used to them…? Either way, they’ve stepped up their animation game (in exchange for ep 12 being late, according to a note on the CR page).

That’s a cute jumper, Akane.

The fact Kotarou changes his message is something I can relate with. Even one forum post can take hours to type, even though time is always never on my side.

What’s that purple thing on the onigiri plate? A pickled plum? No, those are red…

A “root for the underdog” story is a classic, so I can see why Roman’s rooting for Kotarou.

Hahaha…yeah, let’s just sat I can’t understand the science for the life of me and leave it at that. That stuff’s chemistry, I haven’t touched it since I was 14 or 15.

The stuff about circles appears to be on segments, equal angles and so on (you know how you find the angle of a triangle based on where it is in a circle? Yeah, stuff like that).

Oh yeah, I never thought this but…Kawagoe Seminar. It’s named like Sailor Moon’s Crystal Seminar, and for good reason – both are cram schools.

There’s a grade score near Kotarou’s wrist, so understandably he got an A in Japanese.

Parents aren’t like that, Kotarou. They don’t always hope for your failure, they just hope you’ll do well in life…says someone whose parents have aways supported them.

Instead of having CGI people moving, they’ve finally done 2D people. However, the tradeoff is that now the people are not moving, which is just as weird if not even weirder.

“PoPo” is such a weird name for a shop, LOL.

No wait, I take part of my comment about 2D people back. There is still CGI, it’s just less prononced now they’ve bothered to put in 2D background people as well.

That scarf goes well with his outfit…says someone who sucks at coordinating outfits.

Why not just talk with her when you’re ready, Kotarou? If The Royal Tutor taught me anything, it’s that it’s always good to talk things over if you can’t understand each other.

Aitai can mean “want to meet”(like you’re meant to do to make the fish a heart), but the ai is in hiragana (so it doesn’t mean anything) and the kanji for tai used means “red snapper”. As in, the fish.

There’s a lot of ganbaru (try your hardest) used in this ep, and Kotarou says benkyouganbaresou in this “Sorry it didn’t turn out so great” convo. The nuance is therefore lost in the translated version, “I feel like I’m ready to study again starting tomorrow”, although I can’t suggest a better alternative.

Yeah, Kotarou’s mother is right. If you have a normal sleep schedule, you’re able to work better, despite how great it may be to sleep in.

I get easily lost on public transport, so I understand the vibe Kotarou’s parents are giving off.

This ep’s ED LINE convo is two people (one’s a guy, the other I don’t know the gender of) talking about studying and, at the start of the convo, the guy’s mother being angry. At the end of the convo it turns out the guy’s notebook was blank (and that’s the punchline to the convo).

Well, I’ll confirm my lineup for summer here and now. Licensing’s already being doled out as we speak so some of the lineup’s set in stone already. In order of hype:

Definite hype:

Boku no Hero Academia 2* (carryover)

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu*

Reflection*

Nana Maru San Batsu

Kaito x Ansa (already binged Nazotokine to prepare)

Nobunaga no Shinobi ~ Ise to Kanegasaki-hen ~* (see below, carryover)

Medium - low hype:

Vatican Kiseki Chousakan

Princess Principal 

Jikan no Shihaisha (seen the first chapter or so of the manga)

Isekai Shokudou* 

18if

Youkai Apato

Clione no Akari

Konbini Kareshi

Zannen Onna

Asterisks mean licensing’s been confirmed already for me as of this post - I’ve asterisked anything confirmed to be by CR this season, because that’s likely to be worldwide bar Asia. Katsugeki is the only known show out of the asterisks that isn’t a CR stream. 

Funi’s opened up its services to my region (due to the CR x Funi merger), I could probably watch 18if there, but 1) I feel like Funi doesn’t have a good enough player, and 2) I feel like it’ll show up on a service that has a better player.

You’ll notice Nobunaga no Shinobi, a carryover from the last season I previously didn’t care for, is on the list. I was looking at YouTube videos of people’s favourite OPs and I fell in love with Shirayuki (by Renka, it’s the OP for the current season) recently, so I binged the existing content in one day. However, it being a short series means it’s not eligible for simulcast commentary and I’ll have to make a separate ranking for short series once I make my year-end rankings (to include ~ Ise to Kanegasaki-hen ~, and because watching Kenka Bancho Otome has screwed my rankings over enough as it is). After all, my 2016 ranking policy was “a show I saw at least once over in 2016 and had at least one seasonal entry in 2016″, which if applied to this year would make Nobunaga no Shinobi eligible, but it would be unfair to pit it against any shows with standard 24 min eps.

[asktheguardians]

Ch.30 Big Race

Back on Excalibur hour has passes by and the others are looking for Shadow after that eating. Skyla, Holly, and Guider we’re flying around looking everywhere but Guider then see him on a pole sleeping on it. He then shouted at him to wake him up which made him fall onto Chase’s arms.

Guider: Shadow it’s almost time for your race! Look at the time! Shadow: Well…I don’t know where the race is??? Also thanks for catching me Chase. Chase: No prob *drop him on the ground* He He Guider: It’s ok I’ll take you all there. Klondike: Wait what about us? Guider: Oh you two can come we prepared like chairs for those who can’t fly and stuff. Skyla: Let’s Go! *Both Holly and Gloomy fist pump the air*

As they all hurry to the big race that Shadow accepted to join in, Alex is having trouble with the chief of the village.

Chief of Excalibur: I do feared he is coming back again….at a time like this….on this day…. Alex: Please Chief we can help I brought the Guardians. Chief of Excalibur: Yes but…He might still hold the grudge….

other place…

Crazh: Dude why are we even here for it’s just a bunch of mountains and fogs? Leo Jet: Cause today is the day we’re going up there through those fogs! Zerk: You’re crazy aren’t ya. Rumor heard if you go in that fog you be heading to a mountain to your death. Leo Jet: And I know my way through it! Just follow me alright and try to catch up!

Leo then jump off the ship and open his wings which he then leads the way to the fog while Zerk follow him by sailing the ship. Crazh still question himself what is with Leo and this fog.

Horns began to play and the crowds are going wild when the race is about to began. Shadow is rushing into the race which he is quickly signing the paper in front. The announcer began a speech to start the race while the others are sitting in the chairs to watch the race but still waiting for Shadow to show up.

Announcer: And to tell you all today is a special event and we have a very special guest! A new Knight of the Wind is here to join in the race! Once he is here we will began the race…..any minute now….

Shadow is rushing in the hall running fast as he can but he keep thinking he is getting lost in the hall to the race. The crowd are questioning and still waiting for him.

Klondike: I really hope he isn’t just running in some hall in circle. Chase: Maybe he’s just nervous? Klondike: Well I guess or he ate too much from that food….those things are just too good.

He is running more faster and panting alot in the halls as he heard the crowd voice.

Shadow: I’M HERE *panting and breathing* I just have to use the bathroom sorry!

Announcer: AND THE KNIGHT OF THE WIND HAS ARRIVED! *crowd cheering*

Shadow felt embarrassed but all he can do is just wave at the crowd and walk to the starting line by Bolt. Klondike then notice he’s not wearing his glasses but Gloomy poke his hand with his glasses in her hand.

Klondike: Gloomy why you holding his glasses he’s gonna need that? Gloomy: He got goggles that are use for this race so he told me to hang on to them. Guider: Don’t worried if anyone wears glasses we give them goggles like glasses that are used only in sports with the same glasses view. Beside I kind of lost my glasses when it falls of my face which made these now. Chase: Very Interesting…..*put his glasses on* wow his eyes are blurry and giving me little headache.

Shadow then see Bolt and gave him a pat on the shoulder saying good luck but Bolt gives him a hand shake.

Announcer: Looks like our racers are very pumped up for this race! Now that our last racer is here we can began the big race! Now Racers! Get Ready To Fly!

5….4…….3…………2…………1…

GO!!!!!!!!

The racers then run off the bridge and flap their wings and soaring fast to the line. Shadow then follow along and then jump far. As he open his wings he’s coming up to the racers fast. He then coming up to one till he notice a Soraz on the side is holding a camera shooting a shot of the racer. Back at the starting line it showed the racers on screen so people can see the race and knows who’s in first and last place. It then showed who’s in place and it showed Shadow in last place. But then slowly catching up to 6th place. Back in the race Shadow then seeing the Soraz diving into the clouds which he thinks it’s the line so he follow them which turns out there is an obstacles in the way.

Announcer: Looks like this might be his first time racing in the Sky Race? To tell you all how it goes there will be obstacles along the race and you must go through them. Letssee if the knight of the wind can go through them!

Skyla: Man I wish I can join the fun! Those obstacles look so easy and fun! Klondike: You could of ask. But these might be easy or really fun for him since he train himself to flying. Guider: Lets see those training helps him in this.

Shadow then flying through the obstacles fast as in he zipping through them like a fly. He is now in 4th places and is catching up faster. They then came to the next course which looks like a bunch of rain clouds. As he fly in he notice it isn’t rain it’s hailing. the hail hitting his wings is felt like he’s getting pinch by them.

Announcer: Looks like the Knight of the Wind is getting hailed on in that course. In this course you have to go through the hail storm which felt like your getting hit by pebbles or something?

Shadow *on screen*: HE’S NOT WRONG!

Skyla: Come on Shadow you can handle those hails!!!

The hail storm is slowing him down which he then felt as if his body heat is getting hotter and hail hitting him getting lighter like melting ice. He then continue on and going fast through the storm. As he’s catching up he then see Bolt right in front of him.

Shadow: Hey Bolt! Bolt: For a new knight you’re not that bad and i can’t believe you’re in-

Announcer: THE KNIGHT OF THE WIND WENT THROUGH THOSE HAILSTORM FAST AND NOW IN 2ND PLACE!!!

Shadow: Huh didn’t know there were people in front earlier I thoguht i might be in 3rd or 5th or something Bolt: Welp we’re in the final course lets see if you can beat it.*soaring to the course fast*

As Shadow then stop for a sec to take a look at the course his eyes wide open which showed him a huge pillar made of clouds and Bolt is flying way high up.

Announcer: OH MY GOD! We’ve have arrived the final obstacle of the race the Pillar of Bravery! You can’t go around it you must fly as high as you can and come down sonic speed to the finish line which is straight ahead! But mess it up when coming down will cause serious injuries so be careful racers!

Klondike: what's so brave about that thing? Guider: Well this test how brave and how skills the flyers can be when coming down really fast and try to turn up using that speed and go straight to the finish line. Those who tried it get their wings broke and body very injure so for example it’s like how you guys have those car crashes. Skyla: Hmmmm!!!!! I wanna join in so bad!!!! *Holly patting Skyla head* Chase: Let’s see if Shadow can do that?

Shadow then fly up meeting up with Bolt as both going first and second place back and forth which is making the crowd going wild. As they reach to the top Shadow then look down seeing the finish line. Bolt then takes the lead going down fast and so he goes in for the dive with his wings straight fold coming in faster which then meet with Bolt.

Shadow: This race is amazing! If you or me win this race I wanted to say you Soraz are amazing and you’re a great flyer mate! It’s good to race with you! Bolt: In all my life I never heard anyone said that for a long time! And it’s an honor to meet and race you Shadow! You may not be a Soraz but you got the spirit of one!

As they both look down coming in mach speed both have open their wings and created a huge sonic boom coming in very fast to the finish line.

Announcer: AND THE WINNER IS!!!!!

When he about to announce they come into the finish line with a huge wind right behind them blowing away the crowd off their seats and no one look to see who won when the cloud uncover the screen.

Announcer: Um…looks like we can’t tell who won so that’s why we have the camera here in the first place! Let’s see that in slow motion!

Everyone seeing the screen and all are quiet and the other racers come in the finish line to see who won.  When they pause the screen they then zoom in and turns out the winner is-

Announcer: l-looks like i-it’s…IT’S A TIE!!!!! For the first time it’s a tie!!!!

Bolt: Wow….you are really something Shadow *let out his hand for a shake* Shadow: *panting* yeah you too mate *shake his hand*

Announcer: What a good sportsmanship folks well we can just say this but racers! All of you did amazing out there Congratulation!

Everyone clap their hands and the racers are waving at the crowds and patting each other on the shoulder and back.

???: You Gotta Be Kidding Me a Tie!!!! Have You Gotten Slower Knight!!!

Everyone looking around and Shadow is looking fast ashe know that voice anywhere. He look up and see who it is.

Chief of Excalibur: I’ve fear he’ll be here… Alex: You!

The person walks to the announcer and then grab the microphone.

Shadow: Leo Jet! *pull his axe out*

Leo: Hello everyone….do any of you miss your old friend Leo?

(Ch.31 Revenge)