#wish i still had my dvd sets

[mikobeautifulheart]

JJK men "pretending" to be your boyfriend.

INCLUDING: Yuji, Megumi

TW: it's a stalker kind of situation and people being creeps.

Each person is like 500 words each.

◇Megumi◇

You were on a snack run during your "games night" that Yuji insisted you guys do.

It was the height of your Friday night, absolutely winning Monopoly. But the snacks started to run low during your Just dance sessions.

Everyone stopped for the night and decided to put on a movie. The TV turned out to be helpless; it would only play DVDS.

So you, Yuji, Megumi and Nobora drew straws on who was going where.

It was decided that you and Megumi would go get drinks and snacks, leaving Yuji and Nobora to pick out a movie before the store closed.

You all put on sweaters and hoodies before heading out.

"Okay we'll all meet back here at 10:00 okay?" Nobora said

You all nodded in agreement.

Then you all split into your respective directions. You and Megumi walk together down dark streets, sure you were a sorcerer and all but you were also human, you couldn't help but feel nervous walking at this time of night, especially past so many bars. But all you needed was to hear Megumi strike up a conversation and forget all about the dangers.

"Are you sure? I can be quick?"

"We'll be back in no time" He said, giving a little grin, sensing how uncomfortable you felt.

"Yeah don't worry Megumi were just picking up snacks" you said with a slight quiver in your voice.

"Oh here we are," Megumi said, suddenly coming to a stop.

Megumi looked at you with a slight frown.

"I guess I'll go to the next store to save time" You said knowing that this store wouldn't have all you're looking for.

"It's fine, the quicker we can go the better." You said.

"Okay, I'll meet you…?"

"Yeah, actually I'll meet you here" you said”

He headed into the store still watching you until you began to walk down the path, the street lights were barely bright enough for you to feel safe, every time you walked past an alley you heard shuffles that made the hairs on the end of your neck stand up. The footstep shuffling sound was so close to you, you could have swarn they were trying to walk past you, but they didn’t.

Finally you made it to the brightly lit convenient store, no one else was in there but the cashier. As you walked inside a beep rang throughout the store, and right after another one did too. You turned around the corner of a shelf slightly catching a glimpse of a stranger in a hoodie, face was hard to make out when they were wearing a mask. The cashier suddenly left into the back behind the counter. It made you a little more nervous but all you had to do was be quick.

You brushed it off as another person looking for something to. You grabbed a basket and started putting items into it but you could feel eyes glaring into the back of your head. No this isn't happening. Just as you got to the back of the store you pulled out your phone and tried to unlock it to text Megumi but a hand grabbed your wrist suddenly. 

“HEY!” you harshly whispered shocked at the sudden action

“Let go!” you said out loud with more confusion than confidence trying to pull your wrist away.

Another beep rang through the store and hurried foot steps headed your way. What if it was another person? What if this was a set up? You might die here tonight.  The footsteps reached you and you felt a hard chest pressed against your back. You squeezed your eyes shut wishing you weren't here and stayed with Megumi instead.

“Let go of her” a familiar voice said intimidatingly.

It was Megumi, he grabbed your wrist back pulling the other person's hand off and holding it.

“Look man this girl is my little sister, she just ran away and our parents sent me to bring her back- '' The stranger suddenly said hurriedly not expecting this complication.

“She's not going with you, go tell your ‘parents’ she's fine because she's with her boyfriend” he said

The man's face went white and he wordlessly hurried out of the store.

“You should have come with me,” he said. He let you go and you turned to him, almost shaking.

You bring your wrist up to your eyes to inspect the stinging pain, it's red. Megumi's attention is drawn to your wrist too. Gently he takes it and presses it to his lips.

“Im sorry that happened” He sighed a cold breath against your skin

“Let’s just go home, I'm tired" you sighed.

☆Yuji☆

You and Yuji were doing some afternoon studying together. Eventually, before it got dark Yuji wanted to do something different.

“Hey Y/N lets go watch a movie as a celebration for finishing”

“Yuji we have a whole other test.”

“But thats next week and we’re already ready for tomorrow” He smiled

It was so pure, you couldn’t say no. You both got up and started to walk out of the library with your things. After a quick stop at your respective dorms and dropped off your things with a quick outfit change and you guys began to walk together.

It was getting dark now and the cinema was a few minutes away, you had an off feeling deep down in your gut like someone was watching you. But Yuji was with you, nothing could possibly happen. And if something did Yuji would be there to protect you right?

You guys get into the cinema and the feeling still bothers you. To be quick Yuji said he would go buy all the snacks while you picked a movie and bought tickets. You watched as he walked off and waved, you smiled back at him, it was just a weird feeling, no reason to get Yuji paranoid, plus you had no hard evidence it would be weird to mention. You stood in line when you felt someone stand behind you strangely close. Maybe it was Yuji who came back to ask what you wanted, but when you turned around  there was someone else, a complete stranger looming over you. You froze in shock when you realised who it was. An old classmate, before you even came to Jujutsu high, but you left all that in the past. He always stuck out to you, doing strange things when you were around until one day in school you found him going through your bag. He was a real creep.

“You” you hissed at him through gritted teeth. He made your life miserable for the longest time, you were extremely paranoid for that part of your life and the only time you forget about him he comes back to haunt you.

“You need to come with me” he said in a low voice, you could tell he didn't want to make a scene.

Honestly neither did you, so you'd have to find your way out of it without gaining too much attention. You pulled your phone out of your pocket, about to call Yuji to meet you urgently but the guy snatched the phone from you. 

“Hey! Give that back!” you tried to stay calm but he was getting on your nerves. You reached out to get it back before he put a pocket knife close to your stomach. It was in his sleeve so no one could see it, but you could feel it.

“Come outside with me” he said and not knowing what to do you complied hoping that someone would notice the trouble you were in. He stood behind you making you walk out the door. Just as you stepped out a hand grabbed your arm. You flinched at the sudden contact.

“Hey don’t leave me now” Yuji looked at you with his eyes dead set on you. 

“Hey buddy back off can’t you see we’re busy here?” the creep said

“Actually we’re the ones busy here, so if you don't mind, do your business and leave us alone.” Yuji said, wrapping his arm around your waist and glaring at the guy coldly.

“Look Who do you even think you are pal?” The creep asked demanding for an answer

You held your breath. 

“Please help me Yuji” you mumbled softly that only he could hear. He looked down at you seeing how bad this was. 

“Im her boyfriend so you better not touch her again or I'll have to punch your face in. I sure as hell know for a fact that she wants nothing to do with you so I'd tread lightly” Yuji said without hesitating. He turned around with you and walked into the cinema leaving the guy frozen there.

“Thanks” you whispered leaning into his side. He squeezed you closer to buy the tickets with you this time.

When you got into the room you guys sat down and Yuji said

“I’m sorry I didn't notice you sooner” His hand going under your shirt feeling a scratch the knife left. You didn’t even notice your senses were too heightened. Your face turned red, luckily the room was too dark to notice. You leaned onto his shoulder as the movie started and planted a small kiss on your head.

THANKS FOR READING ♡

AUTHOURS NOTE: I probably should have mentioned this in the other posts but re-blogs are welcomed if you were wondering. Also I tried to keep it short and sweet but all the events would be to much to rush and it wouldn't make sense. Also thanks for reading.

EDIT: HERES PART 2 WITH GOJO AND GETO

[pippin-katz]

The Fingers & Ring Touching

I have not seen anyone losing their minds like me over this shot:

Oh yes, people have been going feral, but not in the way that I am.

This shot is used in the film and in the credits. It’s adorable, we all know that. But I haven’t seen anyone pointing out the fact that the shot in the credits actually starts before the shot in the movie.

In the movie, they’re already touching hands when it cuts to them and shows them look at each other, then back up at the king.

In the credits, that doesn’t happen until after like 5 seconds of them playing with their fingers and smiling to themselves! We see Alex move his hand onto the couch and Henry reach out to start fiddling with the ring on his finger, and they both try not to laugh. It’s a longer shot!!

That means they have more footage of the two of them sitting together than what we saw. They set up the shot and started rolling, and probably had them play out the entire scene from that angle so they would have it all as one big piece of footage they could cut up rather than a bunch of little clips they'd have to tie together. Most of the scene is from this angle, so that makes even more sense.

Which ALSO means that this was extremely likely to be unscripted!

For one, this is such a small notion that I doubt they would've written it in as anything other than "Henry and Alex touch hands", which means they probably would have improvised what that entailed.

But the thing that makes me think it was unscripted is how Taylor tucks his lips in as if he's holding back a smile/laugh. Nicholas is smiling bigger when his head is down too. Taylor kind of cautiously does it, like he's trying not to be obvious, probably because they're filming, but it also works for Alex and the scene. He lowers his hand to the side of his leg and then onto the couch with his pinky stretched toward Nick.

So if they're running through the whole scene, this happens while the royal advisor person, Tommy, comes in to tell the king about the crowd forming outside. That means they have nothing to say or do while they have that exchange. All they have to do is sit there, probably in character in case Matthew ended up wanting to insert a shot of them, and stay quiet.

If you recall, or haven't seen the pre-recorded interviews with Nicholas and Taylor separately, they obviously both gush about how much fun it is to film with the other, but Taylor in particular mentions that they "get into a lot of trouble". Matthew has also mentioned that the most difficult part of working with them was how excited and hyper they got around each other and had to get them to "shut up and do the scene".

This all to say that it would not surprise me AT ALL if this was just them, either bored and fidgety, or trying to make the other laugh, especially given the fact that the both look like they're actively trying not to for a couple seconds before they control their expressions.

The fact that they're smiling at all in this situation can be used to remind the audience just how happy they make each other; that even during this godawful conversation, where the king was just blatantly rude and condescending to Alex, and has been dismissing Henry's feelings, they can make each other smile with nothing more than a single touch. The clip used in the film starts after they both look the most amused, once Nick's smile has turned back into more of "Henry" smile than his real one.

I hate them. Why are they so cute?

I wonder how much footage they have of the two of them just goofing off between takes or doing shit like this that didn't make the cut. I wish we could get a DVD with tons of behind the scenes content; I'm still watching the film every day, so I'm doing my part to keep its numbers boosted lmfao

Thanks for reading!! If you enjoyed this essay & would like to support me, you can give me a tip on my Ko-Fi! ☺️

[thisbelongsto-nohbodys]

well, I finished my rewatch of the whole of the Hilda series. Def noticed and remembered a lot more things than I thought I would and that'd'll b helpful for any post-series headcanons and comics I might do. If I do any comics then they'd def b minis inbetween any Owlphibia ones I make (next on the list is Mrs Wu's apology to Sashanne btw).

It just really sucks that upon my rewatch I really did see/feel how Netflix screwed over the 3rd season by shortening it. As nice as all of these streaming services are for more non-traditional animated series', the fact that most of them are cancelled or shortened is a big problem. I remember when shows had way more than 10-12 eps a season and a lot of these studios who produce these shows (Disney, Netflix, etc) def have the money but don't want to spend it on quality shows (so they can instead give that cash to shareholders and execs). I really wish that we could've gotten those 6 eps that were planned for S3 since without them it felt like the season went by in a sprint instead of the previous seasons where we had time to walk around and enjoy the scenery and the characters (like the Pooka, who doesn't love the Pooka?...well, besides Astrid).

Still tho', I'd recommend Hilda to anyone that hasn't seen it and to rewatch it if u have. I doubt it but if they made a complete series dvd set (including the movie) I'd 100% buy it.

[sommerflue-22]

i loved the childhood crush fanfic of yours! im wondering if your making a yuichiro choice one?

A/n: aaaa thank you sm! and ofc! i hope you like this one too :D

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Childhood Crush | Yuichiro Tokito

Muichiro version

Featuring: Yuichiro Tokito, aged up!Yuichiro

Content Warning: gn!reader, modern setting, fluff, not beta read

Word Count: 1.7k

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At first, Muichiro was the twin who caught your attention. How could he not? He was a kind kid, soft-spoken and very polite. Not to mention, he smiled a lot. You were in the same homeroom class with him back in your first and second year of elementary school. After that, you were separated. You didn't play with him during recess anymore, but it didn't matter because you made friend with his twin.

Yuichiro was an active kid, always running around playing tag or football whenever he had the chance. You were his seatmate for a whole semester during your third year.

One day during PE, the teacher paired you two to play badminton. It was a match made in heaven. You hit the shuttlecock back and forth, not even letting it drop. Sure, Yuichiro was strong, but you managed to match his energy. The game was really intense, your other classmates started to abandon their own games and watched you and Yuichiro instead.

From that day, you and Yuichiro were pretty much inseparable. You played together during recess, sat next to each other in science lab, exchanged collectible cards. Just two active kids having fun every day.

You remembered the first time you realized that, hey, Yuichiro is such a good friend... but he made your little heart beats a little faster, unlike the other kids.

Yuichiro came to school one day, eyes wide and a big grin plastered on his face.

"(Y/N), (Y/N)! Guess what?!"

"What?"

"You have to guess first!"

You pouted, annoyed, but gave yourself a few seconds to try guessing the reason Yuichiro's joyful expression. "You... got yourself a new bike?" Yuichiro did tell you he wanted a new bike.

"Ah, I wish! But no!" Yuichiro circled the table and sat next to you. "My Dad got me that dinosaur movie's DVD!"

You gasped, "No, he didn't!"

"Yes, he did!" Yuichiro bounced his feet, excited. "Do you wanna watch it with me after school? Mui don't wanna watch it, he'd rather watch cartoon."

"Eh? Sure! I wanna see the movie too!"

"Alright! Let's go to my house after school!"

The movie was all you talked about with Yuichiro all day. Even during recess, you both didn't join the other kids playing football. Instead, you sat with Yuichiro on the swing set and talked about dinosaurs. When the school bell rang, signaling the end of the class, you both were all packed up and ready to go.

Thankfully, the Tokito's house wasn't really far from school, only a ten minute walk. Once you got there, you borrowed the telephone to call your mom. You told her that you're in Yuichiro's house, about to watch a movie. Your mom let you, but also told you to go home before it got dark.

"All good! Let's go watch that movie!" You gave Yuichiro a thumbs up and he led you to the living room.

You sat comfortably on the sofa as Yuichiro put the CD in the player.

"Yay, it's starting!" Yuichiro plopped down next to you soon after.

"No, it's still the main menu! You gotta push that one there, the 'Play Movie' one! Give me the remote, you're so slow!"

You grabbed the remote from Yuichiro's hand and played the movie.

It was really cozy in the Tokito house. The sofa and the throw pillows were fluffy and soft, the floor was heated, and Yuichiro's mother made them hot chocolate. She also gave you two a bowl of popcorn and a few bags of chips to eat during the movie.

There were a few scenes that made you two jump, but you laughed them all off. Instead of getting scared, you and Yuichiro just commented on how cool the dinosaurs looked. The movie was interesting, but it was quite a long one. Almost two and a half hour long.

Things got a little bit boring when you reached the part where the characters had to plan an escape. It was a lot of talking, not enough dinosaurs. It was the first time the two of you fell silent. You kept your eyes glued to the TV, though, wasn't about to risk missing a dinosaur appearance.

You yawned as the two main characters got left alone by their other friends. They were supposed to guard the front door as the others went to find supplies. You weren't interested in their 'romantic' banter.

You were about to reach out and grab some popcorns when you realized Yuichiro had fallen asleep, his head rested on your shoulder.

Your heart started to beat faster than usual. You didn't know why, maybe because you were afraid of waking him up. As much as you liked watching the movie with him, you couldn't blame him for falling asleep. The movie was still on its boring part and school was tiring. It was normal for him to get tired and fell asleep.

You stayed on your seat and decided to watch the movie again. Wrong move. The two characters were kissing. Mind you, neither you nor Yuichiro knew the movie had a little bit of romance in it. You were just there to see the dinosaur.

But the scene that was unfolding in front of your eyes really made your stomach fluttered. It was your first time seeing two people kiss, and hug each other oh so tightly right after.

I wish I can hug Yuichiro like that...

...what?

You couldn't believe you thought about hugging Yuichiro like those characters. It was a tight hug, a really intimate one. They also did it after they kissed each other.

Gross.

You tried to forget about that feeling, but it never left. It stayed in the back of your mind, coming forward every once in awhile, during random moments you shared with Yuichiro.

By the time you were in the 6th grade, you fully understood that you did like Yuichiro... a little bit (a lot) more than a friend. Yet you never told him.

Apparently someone from another class had a crush on one of the Tokito twins. You had no idea which one, but you saw Yuichiro got pissed off when he found out. You saw him got angry because other kids teased him.

You thought it was better not to tell him about your little crush.

So you kept it to yourself.

You went to the same middle school and high school as the twins. You watched as they grew up to be really attractive. By the time you graduated high school, Yuichiro was already towering over you.

Oh, he's a bad news, alright, you told yourself. Yuichiro was tall, ripped, really good looking, and you waited for him to finish his kendo practices so you knew what he could do with those muscles.

The day after your graduation, you and Yuichiro drove down to the beach and had a little picnic to watch the sunset. It was something that the two of you loved to do since the ninth grade. For Yuichiro, it might be completely platonic. But for you? You loved to pretend that those sunset picnics were dates.

"So... you're moving out this weekend?" Yuichiro asked.

"Yep." You answered, still munching your chips. You got accepted to a really good program in a reputable university. The thing was, it's located on the other side of the country.

"My, my... It won't be the same without you here," Yuichiro whistled. "I mean, we've been friends since like... what, elementary school?"

You laughed, "Back when you still believe in Santa Claus."

Yuichiro threw an almond at you. "I was an imaginative kid... But, anyway... I hope you'll like it there! I'm really happy for you, you know. You deserve this. So go out there and explore the world! Make friends with a lot of people, fall in love with a few, then maybe one day I'll receive an... I don't know, a housewarming party invitation? Or maybe even a wedding invitation?"

You smiled, watching as he popped and almond into his mouth. He had no idea...

"The point is... I'll always be your friend. You can call me anytime."

You sighed. "Well... It would be great if I can find someone else out there, maybe date them, got my heart broken, fall for someone new, repeat the cycle... but I don't think I'll be able to experience those stuff... at least not in the near future."

"Eh?! Why not?!"

You turned to look at him right in his eyes. "Because of you."

Yuichiro blinked a few times before his eyes widened.

"(Y/N)..."

"You don't have to reciprocate. I just need to tell you that... just to let you know." You let out a laugh.

"Ah... thanks..."

Surprisingly, you didn't feel sad. You felt relieved. You finally let go of something that you've been holding onto for so long.

The two of you sat in silence as the sun set. Once you could no longer see the glowing, orange orb, you stood up.

"Right, we should get going, then!" You clapped your hands once. "Let me get the trash and dump them. Oi, Yui, stop zoning out and fold the mat."

You picked up the trash and walked to a nearby trash can. Once you disposed them, you went to a faucet near the stairs to the parking lot to wash your hands.

As you were washing your hands, you felt a pair of strong hands wrapped around your waist.

"Yui—"

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

You let him hold you close, feeling the warmth of his body embraced you, sheltering you from the cold wind.

"Because I don't want you to hate me."

"...Since when?"

"...third grade..."

Yuichiro chuckled, you could feel his breath on your nape. "Oh, (Y/N)..."

Yuichiro turned your body around and soon you were engulfed in his scent, earthy and clean. Your heart was beating like crazy, but so was his.

"So... do you wanna... try it out?" Yuichiro asked, voice quivered at the end.

You chuckled. He was nervous.

"Only if you want to." You lifted up your chin to meet his face.

He rolled his eyes as he leaned down to peck your forehead.

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A/n: I GOT CARRIED AWAY AJASOFEJOHGE

[aihoshiino]

It was obvious Ai loved him…but seeing it said on screen still makes it tragic…i almost felt i had a lump in my stomach Hikaru could've been alright if they just had a happy family together but no 😭😭 with the dvd now revealed, do you think Ai would've gotten back together with Hikaru if she knew that "I can't love you" was a lie? Even as a family i feel like that's a possibility now

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, ngl… now we have the full context of the HKAI breakup and a better overall understanding of their r/s dynamic, I've actually been thinking about their first on-scree conversation in episode/volume 1 - where Ai speaks to him on the payphone. I'd always kind of zeroed in on it as important because it was the one and only time pre-flashback that we'd gotten an actual exchange between the two of them, one sided as it was. And I was especially always really curious about the "No, I'm not trying to get back together" line because it implies A Lot even when we just hear Ai's words.

And now that we know that the HKAI relationship was 1) so unhealthily codependent that Earth's Most Autistic Creature, Ai Hoshino noticed and went mmm i gotta get the fuck outta here 2) ended by Ai herself and 3) Hikaru met that breakup attempt with LET'S GET MARRIED I think it makes it clear that the moment Ai reached out to him he immediately leapt to thinking there was a chance of them getting back together, probably out of pure wishful thinking. And Ai, realizing that he hadn't moved on or been able to grow past her, had to gently but firmly turn him down. And keeping in with that theme of miscommunication tragedies, they were probably both having a VERY different conversation:

What Ai meant: "[I know I'd just be a burden to you, especially with the twins and I don't want to put that weight back on you so] I'm not trying to get back together." What Hikaru heard: "[You're a burden and I can't bear the weight of putting up with you so of course] I'm not trying to get back together."

Minor sidebar, but Takahashi actually highlights that moment in particular during her interview in First Report, the anime guidebook (I promise I'll get it translated soon… I promise…!!!), noting that Akasaka actually gave her the full details as to the HKAI dynamic so she knew how to properly convey Ai's feelings for him at that moment (then noted that as a fan of the original manga she has very mixed feelings about getting spoilers… bless her LOL). So Ai's vocal delivery in that scene can also be considered a pretty big clue…

ANYWAY UH. My point is that I don't think they'd ever get back together unless Hikaru got his shit together and was more stable & less prone to clinging onto Ai at the first opening. She herself even says that they broke up because his obsession with her was consuming him and she wanted him to be able to stand on his own without her, because she thought that was better for him. It's possible that him and Ai being in each other's lives vis-a-vis the twins and Ai being more able to set boundaries (in hindsight, her turning him down is actually really good progress for her!) he could've developed a more healthy relationship with her, but his fixation on her then and in the present day is so all consuming I guess it's hard for me to imagine.

[burning-omen]

Wilde

Jason Todd x male!reader

Request by anonymous : Can you do a smutt with dom male reader x bratty sub jason todd. Where jason is the typical confident, brat/jock. But jason has a feet kink? Like licking, getting footjobs and stepped on his cock?

Whenever MR had his feet up or something Jason would stare and then excuse himself to jo; or put reader's feet on his lap and massage them pretending he is distracted; and reader knows, so is a little shit about it, miving them Jason's lap/ streaching when they are on the sofa, etc.

Untill reader sees jason jerking to one of his used socks and confronts him.

I know this is really long but it really got into my head and i would love you for it.

Warning⚠️: foot fetish, footjob (Jason receiving), y/n teases Jason, discovering kinks, not beta read (I love my beta reader too much to send them this at this ungodly hour)

(A/n: multiple things, first I would like to wish a happy black history month for my fellow seasoned folk, reparations over forgiveness. Second, I have no shame in writing this and those who hate can suck my massive signaling, also i was reading gay poems so now y'all got Wilde as a title)

It was the first movie night of the month. You and Jason tried to make it a weekly thing but with the way both of your schedules are set up it was a bit difficult. After missing the last two movie nights from last month (the first time he canclled, the second time you did) you decided to finally spend some quality alone time with your boyfriend. You had everything set up perfectly, your internet has been out all week so you had to pull your DVD player and a few CD’s out of your storage closet, but other than that it was an easy set up.

Absentmindedly, you cracked your knuckles, waiting for Jason who said he was just around the corner about- you lifted your phone, checking how long ago he sent the text- 20 minutes ago. He still wasn’t here, or maybe he was and he was just fucking with you, who fucking knows. Clearly not you because he said he’d be here and he wasn’t. You considered starting without him, or calling him. But what if he’d gotten caught up in some vigilante business or was stuck in traffic or something, then you’d feel like shit for starting and you’d have to start the movie over.

So you waited another 10 minutes, then 15, then 20. By the time 30 minutes had passed you were on the verge of falling asleep on the couch. Just as your eyes drifted shut you heard the familiar click of the window lock. Groaning, you sat up, turning around to see Jason, still fully dressed in his Red Hood gear, climbing through your window.

“You’re late.” you said tiredly.

You heard another short click as he pulled his helmet of holding it under his arm.

“B put me on a stake out with Nightwing last minute, I tried to tell him that you’d be on my ass for it but he never listens,”

You sighed, “You two have that in common.”

He chuckled, then muttered, “Sure, Y/n.”

Walking around the couch he tossed his helmet on the table. Just as he sat down you stood up, grabbing one of the cases off the table and popping the CD out of it. He watched as you had a mild struggle with the old DVD player, but eventually got it set up. You sat back down on the couch, your back leaning against the arm of the couch and your knees pulled up to your chest.

Jasons hand rose for a moment, then he let it fall again. Looking up at your face he thought, ‘He won’t notice..’.

Even his thoughts sounded nervous, after a moment of hesitation he lifted his hand again, grabbing your ankle and pulling. You yelpped as you were suddenly yanked, your left foot now firmly placed in Jasons lap. You were about to question him when you felt a gentle pressure against the underside of your foot. Looking down you saw that Jason, surprisingly nimble fingered, was giving you a foot message. What you didn’t see was the nevrvousness that wracked his entire body. His hands shook ever so slightly shaking.

With a small smile you asked, “Is this your way of apologizing?”

He didn’t say anything, seemingly focused on the movie, so you moved on, turning your focus back to the movie as well.

~~~~~~~

There was about an hour left in the movie, Jason’s hands had stopped moving a while ago, now just resting against your foot. But that didn’t stop something else from moving against your foot. So slow and gentle that you almost didn’t notice it.

Almost.

Once you did you had to resist the urge to jump out of your skin. Slowly and gently his hips rolled against your foot, at such a steady pace. You glanced down, you doubt he was even focused on the movie. His grip on the bottom hem of your pants tightened and his breath shuttered ever so slightly.

It was kinda hot.

The movie -that you’d honestly almost forgotten about- went silent for a moment. And all you could hear were the quiet, needy pants coming from your boyfriend, you hadn’t even noticed before. But now, even as the movies volume picked back up, it’s all you could focus on.

You almost wanted to confront him. Just to hear him be a little louder. But honestly it would probably just embarrass him. So you didn’t.

A few more minutes passed, you tried to ignore him. It wasn’t working. At all.

You couldn’t even remember the plot of the damn movie you’d been focusing so hard on him.You shifted your body, trying not to move the foot in his lap for both of your sake. You were unsuccsesful. You knew that because of how hard he’d suddenly bucked up and the gasping, stuttered moan that left his lips. It was beyond noticeable. But he played it off, staying focused on the movie despite how flustered he felt. You played it off too, acting like that wasn’t one of the hottest things you personally experienced in your life.

Another short glance down to Jason then back to the TV. The main character was doing…something to save the…planet?? Country??? Something, the main character was doing something to save the something.

Jason was far too distracting, but you were far too entertained to pull yourself away.

After a short moment of contemplation, you shifted again, ‘accidentally’ pressing against Jason cock. His hands gripped your leg harder than you thought he would, a sharp gasp coming from him.

He glanced over at you, letting go of your ankle.

“Sorry..” he muttered.

“‘S fine..” you muttered back, pretending to pay attention to the movie.

Then the moment he recovered, you did it again.

You did stop eventually, when his breathing became heavy and uncontrollable and his grip became painful, you let up. Despite the fact that you stopped moving, he didn’t. His still clothed cock ground against the bottom of your foot.

~~~~~~~

You felt him stop, but his grip on you pant leg tightened. You looked over at him, he was breathing hard, his eyes squeezed shut and his mouth fell open. His hips were bucking softly against you and you felt his cock twitch hard under your foot. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what happened. You're surprised he lasted so long, almost an hour of humping against the bottom of your foot and he’s just now cumming. He bit down on his lip to stop himself from making any noise, he wasn't successful but it was cute nonetheless.

You had to stop yourself from laughing when he excused himself.

You waited until you heard the bathroom door shut before you sat up.

You were hard, because after that why the fuck wouldn’t you be. Every desprate little moan, the way he tried to stop his hips from bucking against you too hard, his grip on your pants, every move he made. It all built up to a very, very hot experience.

The rest of the night went on relatively normal, you watched another movie, you cuddled, you made out. It was a good date. And you’d discovered something new about your boyfriend.

He has a foot fetish.

~~~~~~~

You thought about, all damn day. While you got dressed, while you drove to work, while you worked, on the drive home and as you fumbled with your keys at the door you thought about it.

Finally, in what feels like the first time in the past 15 hours, you focused. Unlocking the door and turning the handle.

“Jason, I'm home!” you shouted into the quiet apartment.

You heard some movement upstairs, but that's all.

Locking the door and hanging up your keys you quickly made your way upstairs. Walking through the dark hallway before coming up to your bedroom door and pushing it open. Only to see a very flustered, panting Jason, gripping the cover that had been hastily thrown over his lap staring at you.

Instead of mentioning the fact that he’d very clearly been jerking off before you walked in, you moved past him, pretending not to notice as a devious little idea came into your mind.

You let out an exasperated sigh, tossing your work bag to the floor and kicking your shoes off then putting them away in your shared closet. Then, leaning up against the wall directly across from the bed, pulling your leg up to arms length and almost painfully slowly, pulling your sock off.

A quick glance up revealed that Jason was damn near drooling at the sight.

You switched to your other sock, then stood up straight with both socks in hand before tossing them to Jason, who despite his best efforts, could not hide the desperation in his face as he caught them.

“I’m gonna go take a shower, can you put those in the laundry basket for me?”

He nodded wordlessly.

With a small smile you went into the bathroom, turned the shower on, and waited.

A few minutes later you cracked the bathroom door open, fighting feelings of ridiculousness as you peaked at your own boyfriend through the crack.

Sure enough, he was jerking off. Hips bucking up into his own hand, his chest rising and falling rapidly, whining and whimpering as he pumped his cock into your sock. And while the part of your mind screamed about how disgusting it was to be sexually attracted to feet, the other, much louder part of you mind screamed that this was so fucking hot and that you’d do anything to see him like this again.

His legs twitched and his hips sputtered as he came, moaning openly, cum drenching the sock wrapped around his cock, oozing through the fabric and down his fingers.

And after a moment of sweaty, pleasured bliss. He panicked. You knew why, cum was kinda hard to get out of clothes, they usually have to be hand washed to get out the stain completely, which usually wasn’t a problem. Having to explain why your sock, and only your sock was suddenly drenched with cum was going to be a problem.

Luckily for him, you’d seen the entire thing and you weren’t too concerned about a dirty sock.

You watched him panic for a moment before pushing the bathroom door fully open. A deep pink blush set on his cheeks as he tried to explain himself through his flustered state. You could see that his brain seemingly just couldn’t handle this and was beginning to shut down on Jason. So as he stumbled his way through an excuse, you sat on the bed next to him, a small smile on your face. Grabbing his jaw in your hand you turned his face so he was looking at you.

“Jason..” you said, your voice commanding his attention.

“Yes?” He answered after a moment.

“I know,” you said, it came off more monotonous than you meant it to, but you got your point across with two simple words.

His panic lessened but only by a fraction.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about..” he lied.

You had to fight the grin that tried to stench across your face.

“Jason, you know as well as I do-“ you placed your hand over his cock, pulling off the sock that you just watched him soak in cum, “-that you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

He paused, seemingly gathering his thoughts.

A minute later, he spoke.

“It’s really your fault if you think about it.”

And you laughed, because of course he tried to pin his link on you.

“Okay, how?“

“I didn't feel anything about them for years- then here you come with them looking all nice, and always sitting them in my lap, and teasing me with them, and I just-” he shrugged, “again, completely your fault.”

“So it's my fault that you have a foot fetish?”

“Don’t..say it like that, and yes it is-”

Likes<reblogs

[adhdbisexualramblings]

I’m likely going to regret posting this after an actual rewatch of season ten, but-

Chloe was a wonderful foil to Timmy. They should have shared fairies. They’re perfect for each other friendship-wise.

Timmy’s conflicts are mainly external - neglectful parents, abusive babysitter, sucky school life - and despite his rowdiness and forgetful nature, he’s genuinely a very sweet boy who just gets caught up in whatever rash wish he’s made. Sure, he only has two friends (excluding his godparents), but that’s because he’s unpopular.

Chloe…has the exact opposite problem. All of her problems are purely internal. She does good everywhere she goes and strives to help everyone, which makes her a good person by nature, but it’s because of that giving nature why she has no real friends. She’s elevated immediately upon going somewhere to a celebrity status - it happened in Dimmsdale, and though she didn’t seem particularly upset about it, she still hasn’t stopped getting praise for her actions even months after moving there. Her life is the antithesis of Timmy’s to a T - wonderful, caring (if not overprotective) parents, a lot of people around her all the time, and a genuine love for everything that would theoretically make her the ‘perfect godchild’.

But, she has no real friends. No one she can count on for a cry or to lean back on if she needs help. Because she’s Chloe Carmichael, perfect girl, she shouldn’t have problems when everything in her life is great. Unlike Timmy, who is seen again and again clearly needing assistance, mainly assumed by characters and not explicitly said aloud by him. Chloe doesn’t have that specific ‘normal child’ status he has (no I am not projecting my survivor’s guilt onto a fictional character be quiet) because her life looks so good from the outside.

Despite what many reviewers, angry YouTubers in 2017, and a look at the first episode may tell you, Chloe does have flaws. Sure, she does actually like doing all this good stuff, but she’s…well, not far from, but you get it. She’s not totally perfect. She’s very protective about things she values (her DVD box set (which I totally get because those things are pricey, especially in this economy)) and tends to blow up if there’s any chance they’re threatened (yelling at Timmy to never lay a hand on said box set). She can be selfish (that episode where she had to share Timmy’s birthday and tried to one-up him) and a bit of a control freak (ideas likely coming from her parents’ want for perfection). She’s overly ambitious and her desire to find good in everyone blinds her to their bad parts (Foop may be a baby, but he’s not exactly as innocent as Chloe thinks). She can be easily-impressionable, as shown when she took to a brief life of crime in one episode. And, as Timmy puts it, she’s a little nuts.

Back to Chloe having no friends because she can’t be vulnerable with people who see her as a celebrity. She has a lot of traits that people might not like (see above) and can put them off on being an actual friend. Timmy has never seen Chloe as this popular untouchable mini-goddess - he hated her from the moment he saw her. Him having to share his fairies and subsequently be around her more often allows her to show those ‘worse’ (read: naturally human) traits off, and he won’t mind because those aren’t new to him, or weird. Timmy becomes, because of this, her first actual friend.

So while Timmy is rambunctious, mischievous, and has trouble paying attention but is still a sweet child in the moments where we see it, Chloe is a kind, generous, potentially self-sacrificing, overflowing-with-love girl who can get obsessed at times and lets her kindness be her downfall (sometimes). In the end, they’re both kids who have flaws.

Chloe and Timmy prove that misery is in the eye of the beholder. What’s miserable to Chloe may just be a normal day for Timmy, and we don’t know what fairy council grounds are for distributing godparents.

Additionally, Nick ruined Chloe as a character by breaking the show, don’t tell rule (telling us why she needed fairies instead of showing it through body language or actions) and sweeping her other bad traits under the rug. I despise the bright colors and neat lines of the new Flash animation they used, I hate it immensely, and Timmy’s character was botched within the first two seconds he was onscreen, but those are all their own posts.

[i-want-my-iwtv]

I will be delusional as I want BUT I'll pretend that tom cruise going back to Warner Bros means we'll finally get the deleted scenes from the iwtv please please manifesting

🙏🙏🙏 Anon, embrace being delusional! I wish! If anyone's connected with Warner Bros please please tell them we want the deleted scenes!

Anyway since we're on the topic... over the years I've talked about wanting the cut scenes, and I wanted to reflect for a moment on why we want them. I think we want them because, like a delicious cake, once it's all consumed, we still look at the serving plate, hoping we can still lick the icing off the knife, or maybe the baker has some leftover cake back in the kitchen?? Or maybe they can tell us that the secret ingredient to intensifying the chocolate is ESPRESSO... We just want another taste so badly! We want to know the secret ingredients that set it apart from other cakes. And some filmmakers know that, and sometimes they're happy to share the cut scenes on a DVD release, maybe with commentary as to why the scenes were cut, like:

"Here's a scene were Louis kills a priest and ultimately we had an overall run time limit of 2 hours, but it was otherwise a perfectly good scene."

"Here's part of a set of scenes we shot early on where Lestat shows mortal Louis what killing entails, and although we loved it, we ended up improving the Lestat makeup & hair a few weeks later, and for the sake of continuity we had to cut it bc we couldn't go back to that location to reshoot, or it would have taken too much time to fix in post, etc."

Giving over the cut scenes is a little like an artist showing the scrapped versions of a painting composition, and that's fine when the creator wants to invite the viewers into their artistic process, but I think the IWTV filmmakers at the time (and for years after) really wanted the '94 movie to be serious* to the point that releasing cut scenes could have undermined their overall vision... maybe they simply didn't want to invite the audience into their creative process.

(*Serious, BUT there was certainly plenty of beauty, charm, dark humor, intimacy, desire, so much more! Maybe the filmmakers cut scenes that THEY felt didn't mesh well with the overall story they wanted to tell, like putting together an outfit and choosing accessories that go better rather than others... you know?)

WITH THAT SAID... What cut scenes would you have liked to see? That's what fanfic and fanart are for, so tell us and maybe someone will be inspired to create it for all of us 💝

IF Tom was still part of VC at all... one of my personal fantasy casting ideas was to have Tom play the Marquis in TVL, and now he's really old enough to do it! 😅 Can you imagine?? Tom playing his own horrible father! Cast younger actors to play kid!Lestat, teen!Lestat, etc.?? Tom!Marquis showing obvious preference for his two older brothers and being horrible to Gabrielle... it could be amazing.

Obviously it wouldn't be adorable like this but... I've always loved Tom Cruise characters when he interacts with kids and teens, he's always seemed very in touch with his inner child, even when that inner child is more of a 12 yo brat. Whole novels could be written on his layered performances with child and teen actors, but for now, just a few thoughts...

^From Jerry Maguire. I can't quite articulate why this was so compelling... iirc, maybe because his character is really frustrated/demoralized in this scene, and there's something comforting about a kid naively telling you that "the human head weighs 8 pounds," as if to say, "Your problems are not really as big a deal as you think they are; live in the present moment." And Tom in this character seems to absorb that deeper meaning and it gives him some relief, it's a step towards his character's growth.

When Tom played Ray in War of the Worlds, he had a teenage son, and there was a heartbreaking scene where Ray had to choose between protecting his son or his daughter. From That Moment In:

Desperate to keep his family together, Ray is forced to leave the terrified Rachel alone for a moment as he puts his weight on Robbie and forces him to the ground as the air around them lights up with smoke and tracer fire. Meanwhile, another couple, fleeing the madness, sees Rachel standing by herself and attempt to rescue her, not knowing that her father is nearby. Looking back, Ray sees this and becomes torn between his children, not wanting to lose either but forced to choose. Robbie assures his father that this is what he wants, “I want to see this,” and to please let him go, which Ray finally, achingly, submits to, seeing that Rachel is being whisked away. Father and son say goodbye as Robbie runs over the crest and Ray rushes down to get his daughter as a hellfire of explosion overtake the hills, giving us the impression Robbie has met his end.

I just love the idea of Tom playing the very character that had caused so much pain for Lestat, that Lestat was always on defense from that man, looooong after he died. Despite all the torment the Marquis inflicted on Lestat, Lestat still gave him a comfortable place to live out his last few years, the roles pretty much reversed as happens with aging parents, Lestat actually nurturing this man (not always in the kindest way but still!) in his feeble old age... and couldn't bring himself to even kill him out of mercy.

Nature & Nurture, Lestat was damaged by his father genetically and emotionally in his formative years, and so much of Lestat's bravado and verbal attacks seem to be a shield for the awful feelings of growing up unloved, unwanted, and beaten for expressing his own desires. So much so that even in canon he often expresses the intensity of his desires far more eloquently and frequently in the narration than he's able to do verbally, even with the characters he cherishes the most. Because to express his love exposed himself to losing it.

Tom could for sure pull off a performance that would capture the Marquis, because he essentially played Lestat with the qualities of a victim perpetuating some of the abuse he suffered from the man who was supposed to be (and was!) his role model for becoming the man he became. 😭

[akane-kurokawa]

Chapter 146 thoughts!

OKAY SO-

Would I seem sadistic if I said I’m so glad we got to see this scene? With the confirmation that filming was chronological, I was giving up hope that we would get it.

I said it in an earlier chapter and I’ll say it again, Frill’s acting is a one of the best parts of this arc. She steals every scene she’s in like a grotesque horror creature. Major props to Mengo for how she’s able to capture the feelings of these scenes so perfectly through her art.

We have to still take everything we’re seeing with a grain of salt since I can’t see how Aqua would have the source for all of this unless it’s all in the dvd (including the parts Ai wasn’t there for) but it does fit well with both the movie narrative and potentially even the real events.

That said, Airi using Taiki to manipulate Kamiki is foul, and her setting him up with a sense of insecurity and abandonment that seems like gasoline to Ai’s spark of her own issues. It really just makes one big fire.

It reminds me of Ai’s scene with Nino, there are all these expectations and demands from her. At such a young age, she needs to be what these people -these people who are CLOSE to her even, not just the fans- need her to be. With Nino, it’s entitlement, but with Hikaru it’s desperation.

Ai is out in a similar position to Aqua a few chapters ago, though unlike Aqua, who accepts the position he’s put in, putting Ruby’s needs above his own (as she even addressed) Ai chooses honesty. She admits that she can’t give Kamiki what he needs, or at least she’s not sure that she can. It’s a difficult decision steeped in kindness, but it also shatters any hope Hikaru had.

Here’s the confirmation that (at least in this movie) Kamiki pushed the murder suicide into happening. I wonder how Taiki feels about it.

My heart breaks for Taiki, acting this out. This is such a fucked up situation for all three of the siblings to be acting out. (Side note I do wish we spent more time with Taiki and his thoughts about all this as it was happening but considering I was losing hope we’d even get this scene, I really can’t complain)

Another note about the ordering of events, we have substantial reason to believe this is rearranging of facts, to some capacity anyway. Ai was all but confirmed to be broken up with Hikaru prior to the twins birth. Hikaru was implied to have been behind Ryosuke’s presence at the hospital (and indirectly Gorou’s murder) after all.

The movie timeline having him and Ai together after the twins are born is very strange to me. I can’t see Hikaru being the chillest about having children, considering Taiki. I’ve always interpreted her having his kids while not being able to love him as being a sort of betrayal to him, like she was using him. Obviously the situation is more nuanced, but from Hikaru’s perspective she isn’t too different from Airi.

This does answer my confusion two chapters ago about that incident being cut, it wouldn’t make sense to include with this new interpretation of the timeline. My guess is that this was constructed this way as a basis for establishing a clear motive, even if it still seems to go out of its way to make Hikaru as tortured and sympathetic as possible.

I love Kana I love Kana I love Kana I love Kana. Another top tier character of the arc (and of my heart always) is Kana, her relationships with the twins have been one of the beating hearts of this series since the formation of new B Komachi.

She cares so much about Aqua, even beyond her feelings for him, and she’s able to pick up when something’s wrong, get it out of him, and then comfort him about it.

He’s promised to live now, the tide of Aqua is turning.

Was that giggle the first time he’s actually laughed? It’s so cute how she’s being so goofy to cheer him up, she cares so much.

Also from a shipping standpoint I am cheering, but not too loudly yet. Aqua is in no place for a serious relationship and I don’t see the endgame ship (this) getting together until closer to the end.

You know, I had jokes that Kamiki has twice now been the dramatic punchline of a chapter (Nino talking to him, Kaburagi talking to him) and I’d said that rule of threes meant his next one would be a big one, but damn.

Not worried he’s going to kill her tbh, it doesn’t seem like she meets his victim profile tbh (superstar women at the height of her career) and he is too calculating in all this to do any kind of impulsive killing, having previously used proxies or opportunities where the victim was entirely isolated. If he was going to be a sloppy killer, he’d be caught already.

That said, this is the arc of everyone having convoluted unspoken plans, so I’m expecting something much more elaborate in this. Maybe he’s planning on doing or saying something that will influence her performance of Ai in a way that affects Aqua’s plan (whatever the fuck that even is), or maybe he’s beginning his own series of falling dominos.

Either way Ruby doesn’t die, especially not before the final arc, so I’m much more excited than worried in this situation. Last week I asked for more to chew on and this week they rolled out a full buffet.

[darkdemeter]

Hi idk if I sent this request your way,if so feel feee to ignore it.

But could you write a death x reader but the reader is an oldest sibling too? Maybe their (3) younger siblings are in Haven with the makers while their big sibling travels with death for supplies.

I was thinking that the reader could be a foil to death,they have an excelent relationshipp with their siblings, their younger siblings always try to act all tough when Deaths around to "make sure he doesnt hurt their big sibling"(its harmless though).

And ive always hc Strife being the second oldest,and its clear him and death "hate" eachother(or at least dont get along). So maybe the reader has more affinity with the sibling that follows them in the birth order.

Maybe during their travels the reader swaps "sibling advice" with Death(more Like they talk and he listens. I dont think he'd Open up much about his relationship with his siblings). I think the reader would be like "talk to them like adults,dont underestimate them,sometimes you gotta accept they need to get hurt to learn a lesson" that kind of stuff.

And I think the reader would also share how it kind of felt like their childhood was taken away from them and replaced with the duty to take care of their siblings (and that they would still accept taking care of them,they just wished they had more time to experience their childhood). just sharing those kinds of stories to Bond with Death.

Maybe after the supply run they return and Death watches from afar as the reader and their siblings are just chaotic forces of nature and play around and give the makers a stress ulcer lmao. Maybe he gets a little sentimental and hey maybe he puts the reader's advice to the test (with strife or with any of his siblings really)

Also,one more bit of info: Death has confirmed hes the eldest but thats about it, And the reader's siblings are all close in age to the reader,just a 4-5 year gap. (I imagine the reader being in their 20s)

(Pd: I wanted to request this since its heavily based some Real life experiences of mine as an older sibling! And the idea has been going around in my head like a DVD screensaver.)

As always take your time! Your writing's amazing!!!! Have a nice day!!!

THE BONDS BETWEEN KIN

◤✘DARKSIDERS REQUESTS | CATALOGUE Death x GN Reader

NOTES ↳ Firstly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JER!! Wishing you the best day and I hope this makes for a well waited gift! 🎉 I agree so much with the hc that Strife is the second oldest (or that he and Fury have this sort of opposite twin energy?) Writing this was actually a unique go because *LORE DROP! Demeter here, I am the youngest of my siblings. WARNINGS❕ ↳ a mixed concoction of fluff and angst — some profanity — Death is a bit grumpy at the start — we got a wholesome ending! — I think that’s it?

✎ 4.9k ────────────────────────

Everything moves together in sync with each other. Hammers and mallets pound posts and pieces into place, platforms rise and lower at the controlled helm of a steady rope. Crafts are honed and day by day a further stretch of home is made. Humans engage and tidy and work, doing what they must and can for each other; for survival. And that’s what you must do with the pale rider.

He stands idle by Haven’s entrance like an outcast, back set against the old and creaking oak that overlooks a jungle of branching pathways. To those around Haven, he is walking trouble; he is Death after all. So when nobody goes out of their way to greet him or offer him a piece of hospitality, he returns the favour by not batting an eye their way. Most of them keep away. Most of them shrink away in fear of him.

Most… 

The flicker of burning amber slims finely into a narrowed glare as he watches you from that darkened corner of Haven. His hands tense against the cold skin of his arms that are squarely crossed over his chest, huffing and tsking his tongue to himself as he waits for you. 

Things haven’t been the same for any of you since the apocalypse, so you do what you must for what remains of your family, keeping them safe and well supplied. You can’t bear to see them go hungry or cold, you can never settle with the heartbreaking thought of them going without a place to lay down their heads out of risk of being compromised. You never could, now that you think of it. 

They understand why you must go, you’re one of the stronger and healthier humans who can hold themselves well enough in a fight or two. It still didn’t make the going away part any easier. Not since your parents died. 

“Alright, I’m off.” Your announcement only bears furrowed brows and sunken frowns. They fear that this time you won’t come back. 

“Do you really have to go?” Your youngest sibling cannot hide the slight tremble in their voice. Despite their old enough age to know how this new world works around them, therein lies the terrible and voided feeling of abandonment. 

“I’ll be back before you know it. I promise.”

You know Death has this habit of watching you, you feel it even now, the way his piercing eyes bear a weight that almost forces your body to be pushed forward. You notice it too whenever you’re with your siblings, silent and watchful of how you play and mess around, how you coddle them like newborns whenever they’re in fear and how attentive you are to their wounds, troubles and failings. Not so much like him. With his siblings, he is coarse and ruthless, very rarely shedding that toughened exterior to be kinder. It’s how he was raised to be. And so, it’s only natural for him to continue to be that way. 

In comparison, you hold your ground when scolding your siblings when they do something wrong or dangerous, but nevertheless you temper your strict lectures with a level of care and love. You tell them to not go outside after dark because it’s dangerous and you don’t want them getting hurt. You correct them if their sense of play converts into discord. You don’t spit venomous judgment and tell them how it must be done, you guide and show them how it can be done. You’re a mender of broken things, a leader to lost and hopelessly wandering ones. 

You keep balance within the confines of your family, and Death keeps balance on the outskirts. Out of reach from you. Sometimes he feels like he envies the way you and your siblings get along. But that’s not right, it’s not envy. He can’t explain it, not even to himself. It’s just this insecure feeling that he’s done everything wrong by his brothers, that their so-called brotherhood is naught by an empty shell of petty lies, spite and disagreeable alliance. 

And Strife… he scoffs to himself at the mere thought and pictured recollection of that sibling. He thought Fury’s relationship with him and their brothers was a demon stirred nest. His estranged kinship with Strife was an entire beast all its own. The two of them always butt heads, caught in a state of arguing with no hope of a middle ground, even when there are options. The two can never seem to be on the same page. 

It’s one of the many sad reasons he admits is why he seeks solitude rather than the companionship of his kin; the very and actual last of his kind. 

Sighing, he pushes himself off the tree’s wall and stares sharply in your direction. There you are, still attending your younger ones with gracious and overbearing care. You spoil them with lavish affection, grabbing each one and embracing them tightly and peppering them with a treasure trove of kisses that they can miss you by. 

The youngest is given a tad more than the others. The baby of your little clan, much like War is of his own. 

Death stalks over with a harrowing crunch under each step, it’s noticeable like a literal announcement that the reaper has come for your soul. An ice cold chill runs down your spine and pricks along your skin with goosebumps.

Each of your siblings are torn from that tight and warm embrace you supply them with, a halo that hovers over them all protectively, and they each visibly tense up. If he didn’t find your stern eyes in that moment, he would have questioned why they all puffed up like a murder of fat crows. But he bites his tongue, he bites down the passionate stir of sarcastic aggression. 

“Are you finished?” he questions instead. His tone has a harsher bite to it then he cared to let on. 

“Yeah, just… give me a second.” It’s a second more you ask for. Surely the reaper can spare you that. He rolls his eyes, a fiery haze lacking direct and knowing pupils that flow about in the carved out sockets of his mask like wild fireflies. 

Knowingly, you direct your gaze to your siblings. You see through their toughened charade easily because you know them — each of them an open chapter within a book. They mean to hide their worries and carry on as if your going away doesn’t leave them haunting around Haven as ghosts that float anxiously until you inevitably return. As if something to prove to Death, they hold their heads a little higher and furrow their brows a bit harder with determination. 

“We’ll get to work on those tasks for you,” says your middle sibling, the youngest nodding in agreement. You huff quietly to yourself. “Alright. Take care of them now. Stay out of trouble and be sure to help out the Makers when they need it. I mean it.”

The rise of your brows makes it fundamentally clear that you will not hear another tale of your siblings running amuck rather than helping the Makers. 

“I’ll keep them in check for you,” assures your second oldest sibling. 

Your nearance in age makes it easy for you both to converse often and come together for the better. That’s what Death has come to understand. You pat their shoulder with a smile, proudly fond of their commitment to ensure things run smoothly in your absence. 

You turn to Death, daring to meet the soul-shuddering cold of his gaze and gruffly, he saunters off with you not far behind. A chorus of voices familiar call after you in bidding you goodbyes and reminders to stay safe. 

Out of all the survivors in your little enclave, you’re really the only one that embraces Death’s skulking presence, his quiet and brooding nature that leaves him on the looming outskirts as he remains watchful and vigilant. His trips are usually short and few in between his other priorities, to what accomplishments you have little idea, but your company is at least familiar to him. Still, you can be subjected to the brutality of his cold shoulder. 

“So what has your scythes in a twist this time?” you ask, your eyes highly observant of your surroundings. He only grumbles in response. The voided silence is only occasionally disturbed by a drawled caw that circles from above, Dust languidly surfing through the air. 

“I’d wage a penny for your thoughts, but you don’t strike me as the gambling type.” He’s scouring some corner of the area, sifting through a bundle of half splintered and damaged crates in search of supplies. 

Years ago, this exact spot was a graveyard of a small and docile park, smothered ankle-deep in ash and decay. Now, the trickling resurgence of growth sprouts freshly, the sunlight dances in soft haloing rays through the crackling rubble. Flowers are beginning to bloom. Much like Humanity in a way, the world itself is slowly finding its footing again in this changed world.

You wander over to him after dragging a sorted amount of supplies that you already found. The sun would be setting soon and it was best to remain close in numbers. 

“C’mon,” you chide with a wistful breath of air and you join him at his side. “I know that burdened look when I see it. Out with it, Horseman.”

“It’s nothing that concerns you.” Your lips purse sharply, brow slightly raised higher than the other, a pure visage of ‘Oh really’ on your face. 

He continues to ignore the idea of looking at you and instead focuses his search on the crates before him. A Horseman reduced to a lower task, he’s almost brought into the far past of his youthful days, a time where he saw worlds conquered and thousands slaughtered. 

However, he only had himself to blame for offering to go with you, noting how despite your skills, you wouldn’t last out here by yourself. Not without him. 

Shaking his head with a short tut jabbing in his throat that pulls tight on his vocal cords, he catches movement out of the corner of his eyes. You walk forward until you situate yourself against a fallen structure, half sitting on it and cross your arms. It’s not too long after that Death’s feathery companion lands beside you with a throaty warble, bristling his feathers into a puff.

He cranes his neck and the flaming core of his stare meets yours, intentionally ignoring the lazy bird that chirps a velvety purr while you absently pet a finger along his back. He sees that same look you give your siblings when you’ve caught them in a lie. 

The amount of times he’s given Strife that same pressing look and still, he never yields any similar results that you do. 

Death sighs to the wind that carries it up in the air to be discarded and forgotten much like his many attempts to reconcile and temper his brothers. Every turn had been for nothing in the end. 

“Your siblings giving you trouble, Death?”

You sound sincere and it almost visibly shakes him. So genuine in your knowing, in your concerned question. His chin falls with a steep incline that you read as an affirmative nod. Yes, you know just which brother in particular that Death’s mind is tormented by, leaving him bitter and lonesome. 

“My younger siblings do things that drive me crazy at times. There’s times where we fight, there are days where it’s hard to juggle the roles. I want to give them a promising world yet I have to also be realistic. I always let them know that my intentions for them are sincere. That I want what is best and most safe for them.”

Death is silent. He can hear the inaudible but…

“But… there are times where I have to stand on the sidelines and let them do their thing. I have to watch them fall so I know they can get back up on their own feet. Because when I’m not around, I want to know they’re going to be okay without me.”

“And yet you coddle them to no end,” he remarks. You hear the rasped judgment in his tone and you chuckle to suppress the thin layer of tears coating your eyes. 

“I do,” you admit with a nod, “I do, yes. What I’m trying to say is that it’s not easy being the oldest, okay? I know what it’s like. All the responsibility shoved on the shoulders, made to be the lookout, the judge, jury and executioner. To be gentle yet stern and understand when and what was necessary.”

Death stands to his full height after he moves a few crates aside, possibly littered with some supplies you can take back to Haven. 

“I have noticed… you treat them more like soldiers than anything. Especially Strife.”

“I do not—”

Your lashes beat fast at the sudden defense he fronts and he catches himself, eyes thinning into a glare. Either way, you know you have him there. And he knows it too. He joins you, leaning against the structure while crossing his arms and undoubtedly scowling under his mask.

“You try to hold them back from their capabilities and mold them into compliance. More than anything after everything that’s happened, they need a brother. I think you’ll find that if you talk to them, really talk to them, that you can find common ground. A stable union.”

He turns his head in your direction but doesn’t exactly meet you. His raven locks fall over the white contrast of a bone and placid visage, the dimming orange of sun emits a glowing aura around him and the wind gently breathes through his hair. 

He almost looks thoughtful, heavily seated in an internal channel that studies your words like ancient scriptures. 

Perhaps humans did have a shred of intellect. His shoulders jump as a low and gravelly note comes from his throat, it sounds almost like a dry chuckle. It still brings a hopeful smile to your face that he’s found something useful in your advice. 

“How exactly did it all fall on you to look after them?”

It’s a loaded gun more than a question, so heavy with a leaded tale of many days that seemed uncertain and scary. Your body slumps forward a little, lips pulled in to sink your teeth into them. “My parents weren’t around a whole lot, they were kept busy working longer hours each week to bring in enough money. My dad’s job had him travelling a lot anyway and…” You pause, rolling your tongue over your teeth.

“Meanwhile, I was left to look after my siblings. I was the one who made them dinner, got them washed and ready for bed and checked if they brushed their teeth. Some nights the power went out and I’d have the flashlight pointed at the ceiling to make shadow puppets. Kept them from getting scared of the dark.” 

You swallow thickly. “I did… everything I could for my little bear cubs. I’d get into the shittiest of scraps with kids who shoved them around. I’d sneak out of school during lunch period to make sure they were doing alright in their yard.”

It’s a flurry of memories that come back to you. A series of events cataloged into your mind, to remember the good and the bad, how much worse things could have been, but also something else. 

“Do you blame your parents for it?”

Immediately you shake your head. Out of necessity or because you truly don’t blame them. “No. I love those kids with everything I have. However… I paid the price by giving up my own childhood for it. Instead of typical teenage sneak outs or going out on dates, I stayed home on the couch helping the kids with their homework or heating up enough popcorn so we could all huddle up together and watch a movie. I taught myself how to ride a bike so then I could teach them how. I was never really taught by my parents when they were around. They would just vaguely explain it to me, then go about their own thing.”

Instead of a soul shredded and marred into something heinously bitter, you stiffened your upper lip and rolled with the punches. In the forced haste of time that hurried you to grow up, you saddled up with the responsibilities that were your parents, not yours. 

The bottom lids of his eyes flinch, a minute action but heavily betraying his thoughts as you both stare at one another. 

He’s almost… bothered by your story. As though he finds it unfair. 

You shrug with your brows rolling with a lax coil as you shove off that small grief. “But it is what it is. I didn’t get the chance to experience what my childhood could have been. It would have been nice, I would have liked to enjoy it while I had it, but I’d trade it all a hundred times over if it meant they grew up knowing they were loved and appreciated, that everything they did was acknowledged.” 

You have to take a break before the bubbling writhe of tears come undone. Clearing your throat, your fingers pluck the frayed rips in your pants, annoyed at the little imperfections that those rips represent. But then you smile. You remember those fights started on the sidewalk as a bully gave your youngest the roughest shoulder they could muster. You’d knock noses, bust lips and pack bruises if it all meant that your siblings knew you always had their backs. 

Sighing shakily, calmed, you continue, “That’s what being human — and older sibling — is about. You’d give anything for them, to see them safe, see them smile and to see the world at their fingertips.”

“You’ve raised them well. I cannot see any other doing the task better than you have.” Your brows bevel in the center, a smile tugged at the corner of your lips. “Thanks, Death.”

He can take your response any way he likes, but you’re glad that you had someone to unload the burden to. Someone who can in some way relate. You and Death have much in difference but you see many other alignments that match up. Almost two sides of the same coin that flips round and round in constant motion. A never ending cycle, a duty never entirely complete. 

With a glance towards the setting sun, you push yourself up on your two feet, disturbing Dust’s placement that sends him flying to the winds, and you begin to sift through Death’s collected supplies. “Just talk to him like a brother, Death. Because in the end all you have is each other. And when shit hits the fan, you need them on the sidelines of the ring.”

Death hums, a steep sound that reverberates in his chest and rumbles in his throat. He straightens his posture and his eyes follow you closely, watching you with the keen intent of a hawk. And he nods. Not the sort of evasive or dismissive bob of his head, but an actual bow of his chin that then rose up. Your lips grow wide into a grin. 

“Now, shall we get this stuff back to Haven?”

Your name is shouted in burstful happiness, relief trailed in whimpers as your youngest sibling runs to you. The other two keep their pace cool as they approach, aware of the pale rider’s presence next to you while you both unload the cargo of supplies. 

Placing down a crate, you replace its company with that of your eager little bear that engulfs you boldly that it knocks the wind from you a little. You huff out a short laugh. “Hey, I wasn’t that long. I promised I’d be back.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“See that you’re both in one piece,” remarks your middle sibling, earning a soft jabbing elbow to their rib by the other.

“Yes, we’re both alright.” You glance to Death then. “Thanks for helping me out with the supply run. Should do it again sometime.”

Death had found the actual events of going through supplies mundane, funnily enough he thought he would die from how boring it was. No, it was the nature of your little talk that kept his mind occupied. 

“Try not to run out of supplies so soon,” he retorts dryly and you chuckle. “We’ll try but more humans are being found by the day. Maybe we’ll need some extra hands onboard soon enough?”

Death’s lips curl into a slight sneer to what you allude to behind the mere suggestion. His eyes roll far around in his skull and he shoves his shoulders down, releasing the tension from them as he moves swiftly to spin on his heel. 

“Be seeing you around, Horseman,” you coo over your shoulder, your attention becoming a stolen relic by your thieving siblings. 

He stands at Haven’s inviting gateway and stops in his retreating advance. Something compels him to linger in the shadows of the tree’s abode, a place he finds so hostile and uninviting to his very existence, but among it all there’s you. You always offer a greeting nod of your head, a direct line of contact with his eyes as you acknowledge him. Your eyes don’t shakily follow him like he’s a phantom to be watched and feared, you embrace the gloom and grim of his company. 

You won’t admit it anytime soon, but you always have this sense of anticipation. And when he’s not around, you find yourself missing him. 

Death hides in the now blackened corner where he stood earlier that day, his eyes flaring and dimming depending on his concentrated intrigue as he watches you. You and your siblings organise your collected haul into piles. 

“What’s this? What’s this thing do?” 

“You know what that is, you cheeky little thing,” you chuckle as your little siblings begin their cycle of mischief.

“Huh, look at this. It looks just like you.” You gasp at the second oldest, mouth agape that cannot portray anything but that insulted fun. “Oh really?” You quip before you both engage in a small scuffle. 

You become entangled in playful headlocks and knocking the other back with reserved and non-lethal blows. 

Before Death’s eyes, all four of you are causing the type of trouble you had warned them about before you left. Between the mockery of fights, you hold them tight to you and ruffle their hair affectionately. When Ulthane marches over, his eyes bearing the fearsome darkness of a scolding glare, he begins to bark and roar with fuming irate. Your siblings had gotten up to no good, and what you once warned them about, you now indulged in their mischievous plots. 

A small stone Ulthane kept in the back and higher stacked crates to indeed keep mischievous and curious humans out of reach from, was now the prized toy of a game of Maker-in-the-middle. Instead of throwing high given his advantage there, you duck low and keep your throws to the sides. 

Laughter fills the air around you as you play around, getting a little too rambunctious but otherwise it's all an exchange of kinship, a bond strengthened over the years. Death wonders if you allow yourself these luxuries now to make up for your lost childhood, and maybe you did, but it lights a feeling in his chest that it almost swells with an unknown fire. 

By the time he finally moves to take his leave, he lets out a slip of a chuckle, gentle and tenderly adoring. Out of all the humans, Death holds a more softer regard for you. 

Strife doesn’t bother in entertaining his older brother’s arrival, his gaze set on the distant view of Haven from this afar camp that he refers to as The Exiled Point. A fitting title he named in spite of Death and their recent confrontation with each other. 

He doesn’t pay any mind to the thunderous fall of steady footfall moving towards him. Strife is far too engrossed at his post, keeping watch here, no longer hindered by the need to wear the robes of his disguise in order to fit in around the humans. The closest he ever felt to belonging somewhere. 

“Strife.” The gunslinging Nephilim only scoffs with a venomous whistle flowing against his masked tongue. 

“You gonna tell me to pack up and leave again?”

The kinship is strained between them. Ever since that distasteful argument, the two have grown further apart, barely sparing the other so much as a shouldering glance. No hint of remorse, no intent to mend their breaking brotherhood. 

“That’s not why I came up here.”

“Then what is your business here, Brother?”

Death’s head falls slowly forward and his shoulders sag down. He tries to think about how you’d react, what you would do in this situation. What would you do?

“I… wanted to see you.”

Strife cocks his head to the side, body jostling with a sharp and jagged laugh that hints at his still writhing anger. “Well, you’ve seen me! So you should be on your way. I dunno, go and see the humans, go out and protect the balance. After all, what help could I be? I’ll just be a danger to everything.”

Death raises his foot to rest it atop the cut down stump beside Strife, the moonlit winds bellowing the flowing scarves and waisted tabards of the brothers’ armour. Both set their sights to the faint glow of Haven’s lights. A soft beacon in the foggy distance. 

“What I said to you was unfair.”

Strife clicks his tongue that runs over the sharpened tips of his fangs. “Still doesn’t change what you said. You don’t get it, man. When I was down there with the humans, I felt—”

Strife feels his heart rap hard against his chest. Within the blaring glow of flittering gold, tears shimmer. He wanted to yell, he wanted to cuss and roar at Death to mount up and ride away, to never come near him again. He wanted what he had seen the humans have with his own brothers; but he couldn’t.

Death shakes his head, voice sullen. “At the time, I thought I was doing what was necessary. What was safe for the humans. But I see now that I didn’t make the right choice. I treat you like a soldier, I talk to you with scorn and hatred because it’s all I’ve known. But first and foremost, you are my brother, Strife.”

With a loud, bellowing sigh that forcibly drags Strife forward to slump in his posture as he sits on a perched rock, he takes a moment to reflect. It hadn’t been fair at all that day with that fight. 

They were both ready to kill each other if the Makers, War and Fury hadn’t intervened. If you hadn’t stepped in to keep the brothers from ripping each other apart. You didn’t agree with Death’s decision then, after all, you had gotten on well with Jones. With Strife.

But Death was the eldest, the leader of the fabled Horsemen. Who was Strife, the second eldest, to fight and argue? Who was he to disobey an order?

“I’m sorry, Strife.”

It sends a volting freeze through Strife’s entire being, his muscles tense and his unresting spirit freezes. It feels like his heart has stopped beating. 

Not once has Death ever been sorry. The only time he ever expressed a shred of guilt and remorse was for their fallen brethren, for Absalom… 

Strife finally shifts to look to his side, meeting Death’s eyes. A steadfast silence passes between them that slowly begins to mend the wounds of their drifting apart. His golden eyes dart and waver behind the visor, his lips tugged and twisted into confused sneers and parted, forgotten sentences. 

“I cannot take back what I’ve said. I cannot promise to coddle you like a newborn, but I wish for our brotherhood to become stronger. I want the bond between us to become so powerful that it will take more than a mere disagreement to tear us apart. You — and War and Fury — are my kin. Because in the end you three are all I have.”

Both are settled into silence again, listening to the low howl of the wind’s carrying gusto. Their sights retrain their focus on Haven, as if the kindle in which they both knew that was you, brought them together. A far off thank you that you won’t know of until you see them again. 

A small, genuine and high-spirited laughter burns in Strife’s chest, soon joined by Death. 

“So am I still in exile?” 

Death curls his fingers into a tight fist and much like he’d seen between you and your siblings, he punches into Strife’s shoulder. “You never were. You always had a place to belong with us.”

As time goes by in a passing of shaded midnight, moon gliding slowly through the sky, two brothers that watch over Haven become three and then four with Dust finally perching himself comfortably on Death’s shoulder. Each of them embrace the cool winds at their backs, basking in the quiet contentment of their renewed bonds. And all because one human had the answer all along that finally united the four Horsemen not as soldiers, but as a true brotherhood. 

[alsoanyways]

@transgender-scout @1ight wait fuck now i have to compile them okay okay okay i have a feeling this is gonna get long so I'm gonna put it under a cut haha but for real thank you for asking!!

First things first! This is how I imagine the flock is able to disguise themselves. There's no going undercover at an actual school for them, but I don't think anyone's looking twice at a bulky coat, especially if it's set in the future. Not too far in the future though, still in the 21st century. I have no ideas for a plot restructuring or anything, I never read past Nevermore and I barely remember anything past the fourth book, so most of my headcanons are character dynamics and such. I do have some that aren't focused on the flock but not many. Anyways.

(also idk if most of this can even be considered headcanon bc its basically fanfic at this point)

A couple things I should've added to the design post are Toto's Total’s nonexistence (I'm sorry if you like him but I do not lmao) and the fact that their hair is feathers. Like those very fine and very long feathers that roosters get. The flock also doesn't develop superpowers.

In my version of things, there's a small town close-ish to the E shaped house. Far enough that no one in town is gonna drop by for a visit, but close enough to fly down to for some groceries, which they'd do after Jeb left and until the money was gone. I think he would've taught them how to forage for things and that's how they get by since then.

Max (21) isn't The Leader TM either, I think leadership is shared more with Fang/Friday and Iggy. She likes volleyball and usually the one to go foraging. She's never thought about it but if she did, she'd probably consider herself agender.

Fang/Friday (22) gets his name from a Friday the 13th DVD cover, Jeb thinks he wants to be called Jason when he first points to it. He used to help Nudge/Dora and Angel with their hair when they were little and still does occasionally. He likes to draw and he's the go-to when someone needs to be comforted. There's no way in hell I would let him be anything less than bisexual.

Iggy (20) is the one that probably hears Friday's voice the most. He was also taught braille and Jeb got them a labeling machine. He's still the best cook and he's very protective over the vinyls/tapes/cds in the house. He mourns the loss of them when they have to flee the house, but he is excited to finally have access to new music. He's also gay. Because I said so.

Nudge/Dora (17) still wishes she could live a normal life, but has accepted that it's just not a possibility. She clings to "Dorothy" when she learns it. Being talkative and into fashion are still part of her character, but now she also loves bugs. She tags along when Max goes foraging so she can try and get pictures of any new bugs she hasn't seen before. Friday often gets to hear which bugs and what they were doing when they're sketching together.

Gazzy/Gizmo (14) gets his name when he watches the Gremlins movie for two months straight and starts mimicking the mogwai noises. He almost kills everyone when he mixes a couple cleaners from under the kitchen sink. He's quickly enamored with the chemistry books he's given afterwards. Like any other teenage boy, he likes video games and has too much energy for his own good. Max offers to race him when he's particularly amped.

Angel (11) is the only one out of the group that wasn't experimented on and she doesn't get the protectiveness or why they never go anywhere. She likes sitcoms and never refuses an offer to forage with Max. She also took a liking to helping Iggy cook things. She was very quick to tell people she wasn't a boy once she had the vocabulary.

Ari (15) has chronic pain. Being turned to goo and rebuilt into something different will do that to you. It doesn't get better the second time. Nor the third. He used to live in the E shaped house, before Jeb brought Gizmo, back when he was a regular kid. He's always liked animals, caring for them. He wanted to be a farmer or something when he grew up. After he joins the flock, he and Gizmo are fast friends. (Watching him and Gizmo dick around is what makes Friday realize that he really is just a kid.)

Maya/Em (21, kinda) my identity issues queen!! Cloning keeps the original memories intact and then they were further messed with to ensure her allegiance. She has a hard time coming to terms with that, with not being Max, not being who she thought she was. Her friends aren't her friends, she didn't watch Gizmo and Angel grow up, she didn't go to Friday after another nightmare, or call Dora to come catch a spider. That wasn't her. Having time away from them before she joins the flock helps. She renames herself Em during that time, distinct enough from Max but not removed from it completely. She learns that she likes cooking and she discovers cheerleading. She thinks she'd like that if she got the chance to participate. She's also aroace. She wants nothing to do with any of that.

Dylan (21) sticks closest to Em, but he eventually grows close to Iggy as well. They share a soaring/gliding wing shape and Iggy is grateful to have someone who can fly as long as he can (recreational flying is always cut short in his opinion, because the others have to work harder to stay airborne and get tired). Dylan likes to tinker around with motors and mechanisms, trying to get them to work again or building them from the ground up. Not that he has an abundance of opportunities to do that, but being able to fix a busted car comes in handy. He's one of them gays that can drive.

Lastly, I do have ideas on Erasers and different classes of them and their usages but jesus christ this did in fact get very long and I need to go eat something lmao so that'll have to be a separate post for another time.

[correctproseka]

So @queer-prosekai told me to do my own top 10 list of the sets + my favorite card of each, so here's some rules i set for myself

1- i have to REALLY like the full set, not just really like a card but a little less to the others (cough Saki in no seek no find, for one example. Though other sets have also triggered this rule)

2- i also am judging by card only, not the story, however. I am not completely good at this because a lot of the cards that are already good get to be way better because of the event behind it.

3- only counting the trained cards, not untrained, it would be a very different list.

ANYWAYS. LIST STARTS NOW:

10: LIGHT UP THE FIRE

Oh my poor child are you okay??? Going past how much i like this event. Which would get me here writing for hours mind you. I also just really like the set. The dark colors and the fact that in all 3 cards you can barely see color- its black and then each has their own color showing up, An has red, Toya has blue and Rin has white. It just gives a fucking impact on you looking at them. Would not change a thing, really.

9: WISHING TO THE BLUE SKY FOR YOUR HAPPINESS

Anyone else remembers qhen this set just totally broke us? Oh my god. I do. Shizuku in a suit. An in this pretty ass dress. I just cjsjcjsmcjsncjdj. It was mainly those two that really hit for me, specially An. But when it hit it hit hard man

8: SMILE OF A DREAMER

It was the first lim set, so it was really simple compared to what we get now. But simple doesn't mean bad. I really love the colors and idk man i have a soft spot for it i cant defend everything my brain is a dvd logo bouncing around😭

7: HEAR ME HOPEFUL SHOW

Angel Minori is one of the prettiest sets ever, it just isnt higher because personally i like some others more, doesn't mean this shit isnt fucking gorgeous. The lightning, the setting. I love this mmj card with everyone in it bc this is such a beautiful place???? Just. Licks this set like an ice cream then cries bc i ate the pretty ass set.

6: Someday, from the depths of despair

Lowkey i did not expect this one to be this high before i made this list. But it is just gorgeous setting, gorgeous lightning. It just makes my brain go brrrr looking at it.

5- What lies behind lies ahead

The hermit set has people in a chokehold for years, and for good reason. The hairstyles are pretty, the au ideas one can get out of it are yummy. AND THE CARD THEMSELVES ARE SO CKSJFKDK. All of them having this golden thing around as if hermit was a story told to us by images. It just could be a poster. Its certainly pretty enough to.

4: Our escape for survival

Sorry for the amount of niigo here. It will happen again. Niigo never misses. Anyways i just love this set sm. The lightning, muffled colors and backgrounds just hit so fucking hard. The rain shared on the 3 cards from the set is so symbolical and so is the clock and the engines on Mafuyu's and Luka's card. It tells us a story before we even read the event and that is beautiful.

3: Close game offline

I had to skip this set and i am still sad about it. Man the the the cmsucksjcjx aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa viddygame and neon.

2- Unnamed Harmony

I like silly, your honor. I also like water. Saki's card has both /hj. No but really i just really like the outfits and colors and just everything in this set it would be a CRIME to not have this here as a Saki stan. Just look at it!!!!

1: Draw your bow in this white world

.. so, who's surprised? I can barely even find a favorite card in this set. From Kaitos . Kaito. (Does he need more?), Shizuku's gracefulness and beautifulness and Mafuyu just pretty and badass breaking the "screen"/mirror/window with an arrow. Its just soooooo ancjamvjsjchsjxncnsicjsv chomps.

HONORABLE MENTION:

Knock the future, which light up the fire took it off on a technicality (i like 3/3 cards on light up the fire and 2/3 on knock the future bc Honami is very meh compared to the others to me)

Anyways if anyone else wants to do this as a challenge id love it. And @probably-not-niigo i challenge u to do the same

[absolutelynooneaskedforthis]

CLEAN

Trevor Zegras x reader

synopsis; reader has struggled with self harm since high school, and in the face of a relapse, Trevor supports them with everything he has. based off of the bridge mostly, the ten months sober, i must admit, just because your clean don’t mean you don’t miss it section specifically. fun fact. i cannot listen to this song without crying 💪😔

a/n; this is for all my bitches who have struggled with s/h in the past or are currently, i love you all and i’ve been there, it does get better. please tell someone. please at least find an outlet for that anger. it’s hard. please please please help yourself. you will thank yourself later for letting you find yourself.

warnings; self harm, mentions of trauma, daddy issues (same💪💪), mentions unsupportive family, established relationship, flashbacks are in italics unless it’s a highlighted word, y’all know how to read fics

HEY! IF YOU ARE DEALING WITH SOMETHING THAT INVOLVES SUICIDE OR SELF HARM PLEASE TALK TO SOMEONE ABOUT IT. I know it seems hard, but you will find help and hope. I love each and every one of you. i know where you are, and you will feel better once you tell someone trusted.

You don’t know what it was that brought you back to that day.

One second you were enjoying your boyfriend’s current hockey game, the next you were in the bathroom staring at yourself in the mirror. Waiting. For what, you didn’t know. Something. Anything. To set you off. To have it begin again. All the words. The scars.

The scars.

They were like physical reminders of all the things he used to say to you. All the “you’ll never be good enough”s and the “why are you the way you are?”s. Even the little things, anytime he told you to settle down, shut up, sit still. You used to bite your nails, but your dad thought that was an issue too.

“Stop chewing your nails, you look like a toddler. Immature and stupid. Wouldn’t be a stretch.” he mumbled the last part, but you heard. Loud and clear.

“I’m going to trevor’s.” You raced to the kitchen table to grab your bag and hurried to Trevor’s house.

You knocked on the door and texted him to let you in. It was around 8:00. You were 17.

He opened the door to see tears welling in your glassy eyes.

“What do you need?”

“Can I just, stay here? For the night?”

“Yeah, we were just about to watch a movie. I’ll ask my mom to let you choose.” He brought his arm over your shoulders and closed his front door.

“Hi cutie! Are you alright?” Julie brought her hand to your face in a greeting as you nodded as enthusiastically as you could.

“What did you want to watch?” she immediately caught Trevor’s gaze and grabbed the remote.

“Mamma Mia?” you suggested. It was summer and you had been aching for a Zegras family movie night.

Julie nodded curtly and selected the DVD from the shelf in their living room.

“Hey kiddo. Popcorn?” Gary sat down and passed you the bowl.

“Thank you, Mr. Trevor’s dad.” You’d called him that since you were little and you didn’t know his name. You practically inhaled the handful and turned to your left to see Ava and Griffin in the kitchen.

“Y/n!” Ava rushed to the couch and immediately wedged herself between you and Trevor. His hand still lingered behind you heads as he rubbed small circles into your shoulder.

That was before it all happened.

Every little comment was like a new open wound. A new knife to slice your self esteem. Everything made it so much worse.

Trevor knew about all of the shit your father put you through. He was always there. At school, when he let you stay the night, sneaking out to go get ice cream when either you or him were grounded, he was your person.

When he moved in with Jack, you moved with him, against your father’s wishes. He disowned you on your birthday over the phone, and Trevor and the Hughes were there for you.

All of this brought you back to your bathroom mirror, and the reflection staring through it.

You looked at your wrists and hands in the mirror. The lines. Creases of melancholy seared into your tired veins.

You glanced at your razor on the glass shelf next to the mirror.

Ten months sober, I must admit

Just because you're clean, don't mean you don't miss it

“I’m home babe!” Trevor called to you from the kitchen, you were assuming.

How long had you been in here?

“Bathroom,” your voice tried to reach him, but failed as it cracked and turned thin.

Your frail voice must have given you away, as immediately after you heard fast footsteps up the hall as Trevor swung the door open, but not in a hurried manner. He examined the counter and you.

“Don’t do it. It’s not worth it, not after you’ve made this much progress.” He enveloped you in a hug and you couldn’t help but crumble into him. Your t-shirt slowly began creeping up as Trevor’s hands traced circles up your back.

“Why did he do it Trev? I haven’t spoken to the man in years and he still haunts me.”

“He’s not here, that’s all that matters. And i’m here, pretty girl. I’ve always got you.” he kissed the crook of your neck lightly as he tapped your hip to signal for you to stand up fully. His arms still wrapped around you, he whispered to the air between you,

“Jump.” but there was nothing romantic about his tone. He was ever sweet and caring in your moments of need.

You wrapped your legs around his waist as he carried you to your shared bedroom. He sat you down on the edge of the bed and nudged your arm up to help you take your tear stained shirt off.

There was nothing sexual about his actions, just you and him. In that moment. A necessary action for the both of you.

Once you were changed into a more comfortable shirt, and Trevor changed out of his game day suit, the two of you laid under the covers, holding each other in exhaustion and love. You had nothing but the latter for him. Love.

Ten months older, I won't give in

Now that I'm clean, I'm never gonna risk it

[trillscienceofficer]

A long time ago @nebulouscoffee asked me to write the DVD commentary of “Best Left” (which is a Raffi/Seven/B'Elanna fic set between Picard S1 and 2) and now I'm finally doing that.

This is inevitably going to get long because the fic itself is much longer than anything else I've ever posted, and I still have so many feelings for a story I put a lot of effort and heart into! But first things first, here's chapter one.

Cris, I know you’re really busy these days on the Stargazer, so I’ll keep this short.

As I was coming up with ideas for “Best Left”, my main goal was to have Raffi (which I knew would be the POV character) in a very different place than where we see her first on Star Trek: Picard. I wanted her, by this point established, long-distance relationship with Seven be a part of the network in which Raffi is now deeply enmeshed (ie La Sirena's crew). That said though, both canon events (by this time Rios has been made captain) and my plot ideas were not very accommodating of having literally everyone on board the ship. It would've been too unwieldy for a project that was already shaping up to be very ambitious for my standards. But while Jurati and Picard's absence is, I think, not that big of a deal, I still very much wanted to underline Raffi and Cris' friendship, which I think is essential in order to understand Raffi and one of the few relationships she's had that didn't go sour on her. I obviated to his physical absence with both real and imaginary correspondence, from which Raffi could draw strength in difficult moments. The fic both begins and closes with Raffi writing a message to him.

Raffi hits send on the message and looks up only to find Elnor at her side, looking just as morose as he’d been a few days earlier, when she’d told him first about the road trip idea. She sighs internally; the queue to transporter hub number four advances. It’s a busy day on the new Betazed spacedock, but luckily no one among the crowd seems the wiser to a Romulan young adult carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He holds the straps of his bag and his staff with a white-knuckle grip. Raffi hooks her left arm into the crook of Elnor’s right. “What’s the matter?”

Rereading this I remembered how fun it was to write Raffi and Elnor interact. My intention here (and throughout the fic) was to have Raffi obviously care for him while also not losing her somewhat world-weary attitude because of her affection. Raffi is still a woman who analyzes everything around her, and acts accordingly—not to mention all the unacknowledged guilt she carries wrt her son Gabe. I didn't want to have Raffi be straightforwardly ‘maternal’, it didn't feel right and I think older women in fiction should be allowed to have mixed feelings about this role more often. Plus, like Raffi herself realizes later in the fic, Elnor has already had plenty of other women bossing him around all his life, he doesn't need one more.

Soji is at the navigation console, smiling and waving a little awkwardly. And finally, Seven watching them from the captain’s chair, which she occupies with ease, leaning on one armrest. The very image of the roguish pirate captain; Cris wishes he could pull it off this well. “Welcome aboard,” Seven says, the hint of a smirk on her lips, as if she’d just heard every single one of Raffi’s thoughts.

I honestly think Raffi is constantly roasting Cris in her head. Also when rereading I was surprised about this reprise of the idea of mind-reading from the previous dialogue between Raffi and Elnor, that was cool and I can't remember if I even wrote it entirely on purpose. In any case, I wanted to have both Soji and Elnor along for this story because (1) they could offer an interesting outsider perspective on the older women drama about to unfold and (2) I wanted to have them interact with each other and have an adventure that had nothing to do with their specific backstories. Writing Soji in this story was so much fun! It was a nice challenge to balance her characterization between the right amounts of deadpan honesty and genuine care, and making it obvious that she's still figuring out how she wants to live her life.

“I don’t think Cris would forgive me if I tried to take La Sirena into another Borg transwarp conduit,” Soji says. “And honestly I’m not sure the ship can take it.” “It wasn’t particularly pleasant on a Borg cube either,” Seven adds. “As I’m sure Elnor remembers.” “Crashing on the surface was worse,” he replies, and some of the gloom lifts from his face. The effect Seven has on people sometimes—but Raffi should be the last to judge, shouldn’t she? It’s not as if seeing Seven again, sitting on that chair so lazily and yet still projecting intent, isn’t reminding Raffi of the few weeks they’d spent on board La Sirena before. But it’s probably best if she revisits that particular recap reel in private.

I based this little Seven-Elnor interaction from my own feelings about my Cool Aunt, which I think are fitting lmao (ie especially as kid, if she was speaking to me I would immediately feel better no matter what)

Also while rereading I was like, damn I made this first half of the chapter so horny... but I've been in a ldr myself and this is pretty true to my own experience. Reuniting always means a mixture of attraction and awkwardness, and it's what I wanted to convey about Raffi and Seven here, especially since they both have a hard time trusting in people or believing that they're capable of being around people without fucking it up. The following misunderstanding about room assignments is part of this pattern.

She’s re-learning restraint, in the hardest way possible, in other facets of her life.

So here comes the part of this fic I agonized over the most... Raffi's history of substance abuse and her current commitment to sobriety. I thought the latter is what fit better with Raffi's actions on the second half of S1 (ie locking herself out of the replicator) and some scenes of S2—imho those are clues that she (wants to) simply quit. Now, a commitment to complete sobriety (including weed snakeleaf, like in a 12-step program) is not necessarily an effective way to treat addiction long term—actually quite the opposite, from what I could learn from the research I did, even if still the most popular recommended form of treatment today. I'm not entirely sure it would be at all recommended in the 24th century. So how to reconcile this with the hints about Raffi quitting cold-turkey? Is it even something I would want to depict in a good light? What I eventually tried to do is treat the matter strictly from a character perspective. I hinted that Raffi is seeing a counselor, and now feeling part of a network of people, and is now restored to her place in society via Starfleet (from her perspective). Sobriety is something she thinks she should do and can do now, so that's what Raffi did; it's all part of her wider commitment to live a different life. If this also has a whiff of self-punishment... I don't think you'd be entirely wrong. I tried to hint that Raffi has her own thoughts on her addiction but I don't necessarily share them myself (see the disclaimer on top of chapter 4), and those thoughts might be another way in which she's denying herself (because no one else grants it to her either) the compassion I think she deserves. It's a really complex topic and I don't know if I did it justice here. I welcome feedback if you have any.

She’d thought she’d lost any interest in making out, over the years—she was surprised to find out how much Seven enjoys it, and how much of that enjoyment is infectious.

I have this headcanon that Seven really enjoys making out (it's appeared in other fic of mine too, eg “Doing the Unstuck”) and her partners never expect this of her. I think I like the idea that Seven's approach to sex and intimacy is still about the sudden thrill of closeness she displayed when she twirled Chakotay around in order to kiss him lol. I especially like the idea it's one of the things about Seven that's not changed despite all that happened to her since said kiss, and that she could bring Raffi to enjoy making out again as well.

It’s still the same suitcase-shaped contraption that she cobbled together months earlier with Borg parts from the Artifact, as far as Raffi can tell. Some other parts Seven had replicated on La Sirena, and then had proceeded to build the device with surprising ease. She’d explained that it was a modular design she and other friends had come up with over the years. It hadn’t been the first time she’d found herself needing a regenerator without having one handy. Raffi had admired her resourcefulness then, and still does now.

I ranted a lot about Seven's regeneration last summer, and all my thoughts and headcanons ended up in this fic. Regeneration for Seven is now a bit different than what it used to be on Voyager; still a necessity but quicker, and something that doesn't tie her down to bulky machinery any longer. Something that ultimately Seven has more control over. However, it's also a necessity that now needs to be articulated explicitly to the people she's close to, and that other people have to learn to take into account about her. I also wanted Seven to determine clear boundaries around regeneration—eg, here she doesn't want other people around when she regenerates—but boundaries that she is still constantly renegotiating, as it happens in chapter two when she invites Raffi to stay. Seven isn't used to be around people much anymore, so she's still adapting to new realities (like her relationship with Raffi) and rethinking what is comfortable for her.

“I hope your other stops were less frustrating than Trill,” Raffi offers, making her presence known. Soji looks up at her, and her face breaks into a smile. “Oh hey, I didn’t realize you were here, Raffi. But yes, I can honestly say it was the worst one so far. I think, and Agnes agrees, that their academic institutions really opposed the lifting of the synth ban for some reason.”

This little piece of Trill worldbuilding came to be because in “Second Self” Una McCormack wrote that Raffi has taken part in the zhian'tara of a colleague. Which is absolutely bonkers to me!! I couldn't help myself and expand on it a bit, all the while maintaining my stance on Trill being very conservative when it comes to decide on people's personhood. I know it's maybe controversial but I really don't think Trill institutions are that enlightened on the topic. They might think they are, but in presence of someone like Soji the appearance would crumble immediately. I honestly loved revisiting my Trill feelings through Raffi and Soji, I haven't written Dax fic in a very long time, so this was a nice way for me to scratch that itch.

Raffi crosses her legs, raises an eyebrow. She’s reminded all too well of when Soji had first come aboard, the confusion of a young woman whose entire life as she knew it had been a deception. She can recall how Soji described her relationship with Narek, and how Raffi had been the one to name his behavior for what it was. Maybe some pointing out of the obvious is needed here too.

This is one of the things that caught my attention the most when I rewatched S1—Raffi has been looking out for Soji practically from the start, calling out Narek's presence for what it was (abusive). I wanted to let Raffi speak her mind here as well, about the kind of interactions Soji has had while on tour.

A scratchy, stuttering audio signal starts playing from La Sirena’s bridge speakers. ‘—damage. Propulsion systems offline. Atmospheric controls—’ More digital artifacting of the signal. ‘—predict where the subspace eddies will take the ship. I don’t know how long I still have—’ The audio signal cuts off, then the message repeats once again. ‘—damage. Propulsion systems offline. Atmospheric controls—’ “I think that’s all of it,” Soji says, soberly. “Damn,” Raffi says, at a loss. “She’s dying, if not already dead,” Elnor says, voicing what everyone is thinking. He turns to Raffi. “What do we do?”

When she read this chapter, my partner asked me about the use of pronouns for the yet unknown person in distress—here Elnor assumes it's a she, while Raffi and Soji don't. It was actually on purpose, I wanted to hint at the fact that Elnor's default assumption is that the people that do stuff out there in space are women because the Qowat Milat usually speaks in these terms as well. Maybe it's silly, I don't know, but I wrote it in anyway as a subtle wordlbuilding detail. Maybe too subtle if it leads to pronoun confusion.

“I’m not sure I could live with myself if we didn’t try to save the crew of that ship. There’s a chance they might still be alive.” “Then let’s do it,” Raffi says with a curt nod. “You’re in command of La Sirena now.”

In the rescue scene I tried very hard to let Raffi do tactical evaluation in a way that didn't come off as callous as it sometimes does for Worf on TNG or Tuvok on Voyager—she's honestly trying to give Soji, now in command, a good overview of the situation.

Raffi takes a long look at Elnor, and to his credit he looks genuinely curious, hands folded together, leaning with his elbows on his knees. She knows better than to doubt his intentions, but—when he wants, he knows exactly when and how to ask one of his blunt questions for maximum effect, doesn’t he? In this case, distraction. She idly wonders if this is a skill that everyone in the Qowat Milat picks up, along with the assassin training. Using the truth as a finely honed blade, rather than the cudgel it’s always reminded her of.

That the absolute candor tenet of the Qowat Milat may be used in more than one way and for more than one goal is something I already written about before (ie in “Policy of Truth”). I think Raffi has her own different ideas about telling the truth because she's trained in intelligence gathering and also because pursuing the truth has always been painful for her—see her quest to find out who was behind the Mars attack. So here she's surprised to find out that Elnor's honesty is not at all a weakness, which she's assumed so far, but rather a very well-honed skill.

“It is the ship we’re looking for,” Soji confirms, going through the readings with, once again, an ease that belies her actual experiences. “It is still transmitting the distress call, though it’s extremely garbled. The hull is pressurized, somehow, at least partially. Life signs—one, I think. Humanoid. Very faint” She looks at Raffi, eyes wide, and Raffi braces herself. “We have to beam them over. The subspace tug might breach the hull at any time. I know that we have no idea who we’ll find, but they’re dying.” Goddammit. They really should’ve woken Seven up before getting here. Then again, at this point it’s probably best to ask for forgiveness than permission. If they’re all still alive to do so. But they will; a boy assassin, an android with super strength, and Raffi. Risk assessment used to be her job in Starfleet, long ago.

I still really like Raffi thinking 'oh well, too late to go back now, but at least I have backup'. I thought about her characterization a lot while writing this fic, and tried to convey her dry humor at best I can. She's really funny in canon! I really enjoyed writing her constant quips, even if they're just in her head.

Down the stairs, she hears Emil grumble. “I can’t deliver proper emergency care if you rush me.” “You’ll replicate what you need, as you need it,” Soji retorts impatiently. “Just initiate the transport.”

All EMHs are the same.

She’s older now, and out of uniform, looking much worse for wear after what she just went through. But there’d been a time more than twenty years prior when her face had been on every Federation newsfeed, along with the rest of the crew of the USS Voyager. “You know her?” Raffi turns to Soji, frozen in bemusement beside Emil. “I’ve never met her but yes, I know who she is,” Raffi says. “You two stay here and keep an eye on things. Seven needs to see this.”

I really like the way this chapter ends (so much so that it's the quote I chose for the fic summary on AO3). I thought about the idea of generational difference a lot when coming up with this fic, and how Raffi has witnessed so many momentous events, like the return of Voyager, that Elnor and even Soji really have no context for. It's an interesting aspect of having older characters that weren't around in previous shows, and an opportunity for a different perspective that unfortunately I think Star Trek: Picard squandered completely (Una McCormack was more attentive in her novels, luckily). Regardless, Raffi's experience turns out to be an asset more than once in this fic—no one aboard La Sirena at this point is as intimately aware of the events of the Dominion War as she is.

[inherstars]

The Last of Us | The Hourglass (2 of 4)

MLEH. In case it's not obvious, this takes place in the game story universe. TBH, in my head, they all do. Previous section here.

They each raged at the world in their own ways.

Maria was usually the yeller.  She didn’t like it, but being a woman in a man’s world -- even a world as small as the one they were left with -- required volume. It demanded that you had a voice, and that your voice be loud and unwavering.

It helped that Tommy was so much easier of nature.  Straight-forward, even-keeled, charmingly Southern gentleman when he needed to be, but also just a more mild-mannered human being than his wiry spitfire of a wife.

Until Joel came back into the picture, in fact, Maria couldn’t remember ever seeing him getting truly up in arms about anything.

But now…

“We’ve gotten lucky so far, is what I’m saying,” he roiled, trying to keep the horses as a swift but easy gait after their initial headlong rush out of Jackson.  They couldn’t afford to have the animals collapse in exhaustion when there were still so many miles to go.  “And it’s gonna run out, eventually.”

Maria nodded along, uncharacteristic in her silence.  She looked at him occasionally, meeting his eyes when she saw his head turning toward her from the far corner of her vision.  He didn’t need much encouragement to keep going; after an almost silent ride to the midway point, the best of the sunset views now long gone, Tommy seemed spontaneously gripped with agitation.

“We’ve had two come through Jackson already,” he said. “Three, if you count that nurse practitioner.  Why won’t they stay?  It’s not like we’re not already offering them a fucking paradise compared to what’s out there.  They’re crazy if they think they’re gonna find a QZ that’s still up and running, let alone one that won’t work them to death.”

She’d heard all this before. She’d taken part in this same venting exchange more times than she could count.  But she didn’t have it in her tonight.

Tommy went on vehemently, “Something's going to give, eventually, and -- hard as I try -- I am out of ideas when it comes to how to fix this problem.  We can only get by for so long with a hand ful of first aid manuals and those shitty medical training DVDs they dug up in Laramie.  At this point I’ll settle for a veterinarian.  A first year med student.  A pre-med dropout.  Chrissakes, some hippie chick who used to run a fucking herbal shop.  Something.”

It hadn’t escaped him that Maria was less a participant to the conversation than usual, his sideways glances become more frequent, and her acknowledgements less engaged.

More to the heart of his upset, he said, “Time is running out, you know?  How long before one of those toothaches develops into an abscess?  And how long do Trina and Beverly have left, anyway?  Trina's due in November.  Bev, like a month after?"  He looked at her sidelong, wishing she'd say something.  Gripe at him to be quiet so she can think. Anything.

More deliberately he added,, "... at least you've got a good bit longer than them."

Maria’s eyes lifted from the back of her horse’s head, finally focusing on something, though it wasn’t her husband.

After a long minute she said, "Tommy, we… we don’t have to rush anymore."

"Course we do,” he defended.  “It's..."  

Her words connected, his whole manner changing, locking up.  The sudden tightness of his fists on the reins drew the animal to an unintended stop.

Maria kept walking, hoping he would catch up again, but when the other set of hoofbeats failed to materialize behind her, she reined in and half-circled to face him.

They didn’t have time for this.  She didn’t have the strength.

"Tommy. Can we please?”

He was broken.  Shattered little pieces in the shape of a man on horseback.  Jesus, what was it with the Miller boys and those eyes?

“What do you mean ‘anymore’?”

“Come on,” she begged, throat tight.  “Please.”

His head lowered, eyes scouring the earth to either side of him.  With monumental effort he spurred his horse forward, falling back alongside her as they heeled them to as swift a gait as they dared.

“How, uh… how long?  I mean… when did it--”

"About three days ago.  I wasn't sure at first, but... well, then it was pretty obvious."

Tommy’s voice clenched with emotion.

"Maria..."

"Tommy, I--"

"I'm so sorry.  Baby, I... I wish there was something--"

"I know,” she sighed, unable to look at him.  If she looked, she was going to fall apart, and they didn’t have that luxury.  In retrospect, perhaps it was better to have something else to focus on, even if it was just as grim in nature.  “Me too."

Softly, "I wish you would have told me."

She hesitated, finally slipping him a little look of apology.  In the trenches of grief, it was easy to forget that she wasn’t there alone.  They were in this foxhole together, just as cold and afraid, just as illuminated by the shell bursts of tragedy.

"I wish I'd known how,” Maria admitted.  “It was right in the goddamned middle of everything else, I barely had time to process it, myself."  She breathed out, worn down to the bone.  "I'm just... so tired."

Tommy rode a ways in silence before hastening his horse in perfect parallel with her own. He caught her eye.

"Hey,” he said quietly, firmly.  “It'll happen."

“Yeah,” she murmured.

“It will.”

Oh, but he meant well.  That was the hardest part.

"I know. It's not the happening I'm worried, about it's the... maintaining."  She looked at him worriedly.  "I just wonder, you know... when do we give up and stop trying?"

Again he fell quiet, though this time not for quite so long.

"I thought the trying was your favorite part."

She wanted to be so exasperated with him.  So furious that he would make a joke now, of all times, about this, of all things.  Instead she sputtered with an exhausted laugh. 

"God, you are fucking insufferable."

"Well, too late for you, now,” he sighed, resigned.  “Good luck finding a divorce lawyer these days.  We’ll have a better shot with a doctor."

More gently, Tommy added, "Baby, I'm sorry.  I really am.  I was excited, too.  I was... hopeful, too."

She looked at him gently.  So in love.  Humanity had fallen completely apart, millions of people lost millions of other people, and all the world was heartbreak.  But she had him, and she felt so unworthy, and so desperately, achefully grateful.

"I know you were."

He pulled himself together with a little breath.  A little focused furrow of his brow.  A little stiffening of his spine.

"We'll get our chance."

"I know that, too.”  She steeled herself with a good breath, meeting his eyes with as brave a smile as she had heart to muster.  “Look, we got other people's chances to worry about right now.  Let's get this moving."

Continued here

[amethysts-angel214]

Did you know that Oh! Jesus was going to have 3 more episodes? Well, that's because those episodes were scrapped, while the other 3 still exist. I will resurface them from the dead.

Episode 4: "A Sad Prayer"

The setting is Hawaii. There is a fisherman's family. One day, the boat capsizes in a storm and the father goes missing. The mother is in despair, but the young child believes that "his father is holding on to the planks of the boat and is safe." The mother embraces her son and prays to God. "Oh, well, we can't give up yet. God, please let him live." Nora, hearing his prayer, casts a spell. The mother and son prayed to the sea every day from the top of the cliff. The villagers sympathize with them, saying, "Poor thing." Boron is impressed, but asks Nora. "Wow. You can pray like that to someone who is no longer with you. By the way, Nora, did you save your father? Where is he?"

When Nora went in the direction she pointed, Boron was surprised at the devastation. Sure enough, his father was floating in the sea, clinging to the plank of the ship, just as his son had wished. However, there were many sharks circling around him. The sharks had been prevented from approaching by Nora's magic, but in the middle of the sea, the father was frightened and calling for help. Boron: "What?! Is this helping him???" Boron instinctively used his storm magic to blow a gust of wind. The storm blew the father, still clinging to the plank, out to sea and he reached the shore. A muscular giant came and listened to his father's heartbeat. The giant was shocked at his father's cardiac arrest and began artificial respiration. Boron: "Now he can go home. How about it, Nora? I helped him." Nora applauds with a smile.

A villager runs into the mother and son's house. Villager: "Your husband was rescued in the next village!" The mother and son drive to the next village, where they see the father leaning on the shoulder of a giant. The two of them are wearing matching outfits and are making love. Perhaps the artificial respiration was wrong, but the father who was rescued had become romantically involved with the giant who had rescued him.

Something inside the mother snaps. The accelerator is pressed hard. The tires spin. Son: "Mom?" The car continues to hurt the giant and his father, crashing into them. The two are thrown like a chain reaction and pushed off a cliff into the sea. Boron is surprised.

The mother is out of breath in the car, then suddenly comes to her senses and turns to her son, smiling as she speaks. Mother: "Now, let's pray for Dad again." Son: "What?... Ah... O-okay." Mother and son pray from the top of a cliff, facing the sea. Son: "Please come back to me, Dad, who won't make Mommy angry." On the sea, a giant and his father are floating, crying out, "Help us!" Sharks are circling around them. Boron: "Oh! Jesus."

Episode 5: "Capitalist Society"

The setting is Japan. There is a businessman whose sales figures are not increasing. The product he sells is "Get in Shape with the Bible." It is a set of a DVD of dancing to gospel music and a Bible. However, the businessman who is not selling well makes a wish. "Oh, God, I want to increase my sales figures." Hearing these words, Nora casts a spell. Then, the leather shoes he is wearing turn into bright red magic shoes. The next moment, regardless of the businessman's will, the shoes control his feet and he runs into various houses. "Wow, that's exactly what I wanted! Healthy products for the mind and body!" The products sold one after another at the places he visited.

His sales performance at the company is growing, and a cute girl he likes has even turned her attention to him. The businessman is happy about this, but he has no time to spend the huge bonus he received, and is forced to work from morning to night, at the mercy of his red shoes. He can't take off those shoes even if he tries. The idea of ​​getting in shape with the Bible is spreading throughout society, and Boron doesn't find it funny. He doesn't find the spread of the Bible interesting, and he's also physically repulsed by the creepy dance. If you get hit on the right cheek, you put on the left cheek. Boron: "Eeek. I get a weird aura and it's creepy..."

Boron wants to stop this trend, but Nora is dancing next to him with her Walkman on. Boron is disheartened. Meanwhile, the businessman is overworked and wants to quit. But he can't quit because his performance is improving. In the dilemma of wanting to quit but being unable to, the businessman pretends to be cheerful but is getting more and more tired. After laughing hysterically and insanely, Ding... The red shoes fall off his skinny feet, who died from overwork. Boron: "Humans are stupid. What's the point of working yourself to death?" Everyone in the company is crying because the businessman died from overwork. His cute daughter is also crying because she's lost her love. Boron: "Isn't that right? People always realize they've lost something before they realize it. Well, it's fine. That strange trend has died down." At this point, the president shouts. President: "Oh, because this guy is dead, our company's performance will plummet!" The employees start crying even louder at the president's words. Boron: "Eh?"

The funeral of the businessman is being held. When the DVD is put into the player, "Trance Sutra" is displayed on the TV screen. On live TV, the announcer shouts, "Using the Bible to shape yourself is outdated. From now on, you'll lose weight with trans-sutras!" At the same time, the company president and employees begin dancing in front of the businessman's coffin. In a capitalist society, even the death of a businessman is used to advertise a product. His performance report jumps up again after he dies. Boron says, "Oh! Jesus."

Episode 6: "Possessed by the Devil"

The setting is England. A girl is writing a letter. "Please come home soon, Daddy. My new mommy is acting strange." Then her stepmother arrives. The stepmother picks up the letter, reads it, tears it up, and slaps the girl. The girl is in tears. The stepmother prays to heaven. "Oh, God, please let that child be possessed by the devil." Nora hears her prayer and casts a spell. Then Boron's body starts to move uncontrollably and enters the girl's body. The girl's voice changes to that of Boron. Girl (Boron): "Hey, stepmother. Don't think you can get away with doing this to me. You too, Nora!" The stepmother is shocked and calls the priest. The exorcism ritual begins.

Boron is trapped in the girl's body and feels cramped, so he goes wild. To the priest, he sees a possessed girl raging on her bed. The priest desperately shouts at Boron to get out, pouring holy water over him. Priest: "Go away! Filthy beast! Free the child from her suffering!" Behind him, the stepmother smiles. Girl (Boron): "Hey, look closely! Damn priest! This girl's suffering is your stepmother's fault! People are always hurting people! Don't blame the devil!" Furious, Boron uses magic to summon thunderclouds and cause a thunderstorm. Lightning strikes the garden and there is a power outage. The priest says, "This is the Great Demon King!" and runs away, but he does hand the bill over to the stepmother. The stepmother, annoyed, takes out a knife and stabs the girl, saying, "I'll kill the demon!" The pain makes Boron move away from the girl. Boron: "Oh no! That was close. I was almost killed." The knife was stuck in the girl's right shoulder. The stepmother tries to finish off the girl, who is writhing in pain.

The father returns. He opens the door and sees the stepmother about to stab his daughter to death in the midst of a flash of lightning. Father: "What are you doing?" Stepmother: "Oh, you. No, it's not that, this is because the girl is possessed by the demon." Girl: "Dad, help me!"

The next day, after the rain. The stepmother is handcuffed and taken away by a police car. Boron: "Really. That was quite a disturbing incident." The girl suddenly looked up at the sky and began speaking into the empty space. Girl: "Thank you, Devil. I heard everything you said." Boron's face went red, and Nora smiled. Boron: "Oh! Jesus! Don't thank the Devil!"

Welp! That was a blast reading those! Bye! Have a great time!