#wonder what their actual escape plan could’ve been.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

i think that whenever killer is in stage 1, especially when he’s still held hostage by nightmare and color and he are working on a safe escape, that killer always makes sure to tell color that he’d understand if color left or gave up. that he wouldn’t hold it against him.

and color always firmly denies it and turns down the offer. he’d never leave or give up on him—and the danger and threat of the situation scares him enough that he knows he can’t leave killer alone with it.

[fromthelakes]

Emily Prentiss Headcanons

Faith and Fear: Raised in a Catholic household, Emily still carries traces of guilt and fear tied to her religious upbringing. She’s stopped believing in a benevolent God, but in moments of desperation or fear, she finds herself instinctively praying or whispering old Latin prayers. It’s a paradox she can’t quite reconcile—a tether to a childhood belief system that also judged her harshly for who she is.

Over-Apologizing: Despite her confidence, Emily has a habit of apologizing unnecessarily, particularly when she’s made someone close to her uncomfortable or feels she’s overstepped. It’s a reflexive habit she can’t unlearn, born from years of trying to make herself smaller, less obtrusive, easier to love. The words “I’m sorry” always come out of her mouth before she can stop them.

Cloud of Smoke: Emily keeps trying to quit smoking, but she secretly doesn’t want to. It’s a habit she picked up as a teen, and even though she managed to quit at one point, the habit crept back into her life during a stressful time. The feel of a cigarette between her fingers reminds her of something steady, something controllable, even if it’s slowly killing her.

No Room for Happy Endings: Emily doesn’t actually believe in happy endings. Every time she sees her teammates finding love, building families, or chasing personal dreams, she feels a pang of something ugly—envy, despair, guilt. She tells herself that people like her were made to protect those who can still find joy, not to have it for themselves.

Keeping Her Distance: While Emily cares deeply for her team, she always keeps them at arm's length emotionally. Years of betrayal and loss have taught her that closeness only leads to heartbreak. Even her romantic relationships are short-lived or built on a foundation of secrets, because she’s convinced anyone who gets to know the real her will eventually walk away. So, her solution is to leave first.

What Could Have Been: Emily doesn’t think of herself as a person who could’ve been a mother, but sometimes, when she’s at a park or watching JJ with her boys, she has these fleeting, unbearable moments of wondering. A child with her dark hair and quick wit. A child she’d read stories to in every language she knows. A child who’d run to her for comfort. Then she remembers that she could never protect them, and it feels like something she never even had is ripped away.

Always Packed, Never Home: She never keeps her bags fully unpacked. Her childhood was a blur of houses, apartments, and embassies. Each room she was given to sleep in felt like a borrowed space, filled with someone else’s furniture and memories. Even now, she never truly decorates her home—just in case she has to leave. It’s not paranoia; it’s muscle memory. She’s never felt like she was staying somewhere permanently.

The Ghost of Paris: The apartment Emily stayed in while she was “dead” in Paris still exists, untouched, exactly as she left it. She keeps paying the rent on it because part of her believes she might have to go back. She doesn’t even know what she’d be running from, but the thought of losing her escape plan makes her feel naked, vulnerable, weak. Sometimes she wonders if she’ll die there one day, just as alone as she was the first time.

A/N: Heyy, here are some of my headcanons for Emily. I'm slowly trying to get back into writing, and thought that maybe starting out with some short (and not the happiest) headcanons would be a good start. I do have cuter/softer/happier headcanons for her, but I wanted to post these first. I also have an Emily x female reader oneshot in the making, but knowing me, I'll probably abandon it.

[httpscomexe]

Forbidden Secret Desire 4

Summary: You finally put all of the pieces together and your pursuer tries to make a move, failing horribly, so you decide it’s the best plan to just escape.

(Find What I’m currently writing by checking my pinned post)

Parings: Logan Howlett x Reader

Warnings: (Individual warnings per chapter) Mentions of hidden camera, forced touch, clueless reader. Logan is an official warning as approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) because Logan is a DRUG. PLEASE BE AWARE that this will be a NON-CON fic. Do NOT get attached if you do not like non-consensual fiction. I will not change my fic plans because somebody decided not to read the warnings. Thank you.

Tags: @remmyj10 @sammyluvsfics @badbishsblog @dickmaster3000 @cellyx33

Word Count: 3483 (All other chapters here) Chapter 5

P.S. If you’d like to be tagged, ask in the comments, you also have permission to send an ask, but make sure it is NOT anonymous, so I know your username, don’t worry, I’m scared of confrontation too. But this is a SAFE SPACE where I will not judge. Thank you again.

Enjoy your Forbidden Secret Desire…

“Logan?” You call his name as you barge into his office without knocking, not bothering to have any boundaries since the matter seemed important. You were being watched through a camera for the last two days after all.

“Is Mr. Howlett in here?” You ask after being allowed in the lounge where some other teachers were having their lunch break. You had been searching for him all day, and you haven’t seen him once. You figured you would’ve seen him during third period, since he was supposed to be the substitute the entire week, but looked to no avail. You even asked around, wondering if anyone else had seen him. You were slightly hopeful when a few students claimed they saw him on hall duty during the first passing period, but then you were once again in the dark.

You skipped your fourth period also, hoping you might be able to find him outside in the garden or near the little park in the back of the school. Even searching the greenhouse, but of course. He was nowhere to be found. You knew he didn’t leave anywhere, his truck was still parked in the lot where it’s always parked, so eventually you just gave up on searching for him, and headed back to your room to catch up on any assignments you’d missed throughout the day.

As you entered your room and locked your door, you internally groaned. You weren’t sure what to do about the stupid bear, so you went into your closet to collect it.

“Oh! Mr. Howlett…” You yelp in surprise as you collide with Logan in your closet. “Uh what- what’re you doing in here?” You take a few steps back and cross your arms over your chest.

“I came to check on you, you’ve been missing all day.” He tells you, his voice seemed different, almost more tired or grumpier than usual.

“Oh, yea- I’ve actually been looking for you.” He sets the bear down on your desk, once again facing your bed. “Uh- I actually had a question about-” You look down at the bear, the little red light was gone. “Uh…”

“What is it?” He asks, his voice softening down to normal. But you don’t answer. Instead, you continue to look down at the bear. Its eyes were solid black and the whirring noise was gone.

“Never mind actually.” Your shoulders slump. If the red dot wasn’t there, then how would you prove to him that someone was watching you? Maybe he was the one watching you?

…

Nah. He wouldn’t do that. Right?

“Alright, well…” He crosses his arms, and looks down at you. “Are you sure? You look dumbfounded.” You see his hand in front of you but you pay it no mind, until you feel his index finger under your chin and he gently makes you look up at him and away from the bear. “Is it something about the bear? What’s going on?”

“No, no. Nothing’s going on, the bear is awesome. Everything’s cool.” There’s no fucking way he would’ve put a camera inside of the bears eye. Would he? He wouldn’t. He’s the only one that could’ve. No one else had been in your room before. Kurt has. Yesterday was his first time…

“You’re lying to me, pup. I don’t like it. Clearly something is going on.” Your eyes continue to stare into his, as if you were trying to connect to his soul.

“Nothing’s wrong, I promise.” You chuckle slightly. Maybe you shouldn’t bring it up to him… Just in case. “I would tell you if there was.” His hand moves, his index finger going from under your chin to gently caressing your jaw before his hand cups your cheek.

“I still feel like you’re lying to me, but okay.” He drops his hand down to his side and stares at you for a moment, now it was his turn to read into your soul.

But the bell rings just in time. “Anyways, I really have to finish some work that I wasn’t able to catch up on today. So I’ll see you tomorrow.” You force a soft smile onto your lips, trying to make everything seem fine instead of letting out your inner I’m being watched! Someone put a camera inside of my bear and has been watching me sleep! Also sometimes it would make this clicking sound so I’m pretty sure they’re also taking pictures of me when I’m getting dressed and undressed and I have NO idea what to do PLEASE HOLD ME!

That wouldn’t be very appropriate.

“Alright. Well, let me know if you need me for anything please. Anything.” He repeats, his finger making its way back under your chin as you freeze and he presses a kiss to your forehead. Well that’s not very appropriate either now is it? “Have a good night, Y/N.” He tells you, before leaving the room. And you stand still in place. For about a solid ten minutes.

Thousands of thoughts race through your mind. Your brain completely detached from what's in front of you as you stare at the wall and picture nothingness. What if he was the one watching you? He wouldn’t do that. Then why was he kissing you? It was just the forehead. It’s still not appropriate, maybe you should tell someone you trust. You only trust him. What about Kurt? And what’s he gonna do? Seriously, you were sure Logan was just being friendly. He’s just as awkward as you. Now if he started going further, then you would worry. But for now, you had other matters to deal with. Including emails and homework.

You sit on your bed and open your computer to once again, another thousand emails from “Erik Lehnsherr,” all asking about things you know everything about. Nanotech, electricity, (Which was a bit personal if you ask me, considering you produce it) and a bunch of other stuff. Sometimes it makes you wonder why he doesn’t just ask google.

After answering a dozen of them, a few of them he decides to send back with a secondary question, before you finally send one last email.

“I’ll get back to you tomorrow. This is a lot of typing, so maybe it would be better to ask me some of these things in person? I have a lot of work to do also. So, goodnight!” You tap send, and it takes a moment before the ‘sent’ message pops up on the bottom of the screen. Now you just had to finish your homework. You tell yourself, opening your google classroom and tapping the first assignment. Reading human body language. Great.

“So he was just standing there?”

“Yea, it was so weird…”

“How did he get in?”

“I don’t know, he’s a teacher, maybe he has a key?”

“Still doesn’t explain why he was in your room.”

“He claims he was looking for me, I guess worried?” You explain, shrugging your shoulders with your locker open, Kurt leaning on the one next to you as you both talk back and forth.

“He couldn’t send you an email or a text.” You shrug again and close your locker.

“Look, correct me if I’m wrong, but he’s definitely the one that put the camera in your bear, it’s the only thing that would make sense.” It was now his turn to shrug.

“Oh come on. He’s not like that.” Kurt just stares at you, his head slightly tilted. “Ugh, you’re unbearable. I mean what makes you think he’s smart enough to know how to use a camera?”

“Literally no one else has had access to your room.”

“That’s the only thing that gets me.”

“Okay, then who else is on your list for who could’ve gone into your room, put a camera in your bear, then left without being noticed?” Silence. You obviously didn’t have any other names on your list. It was Wednesday already, and you’d just discovered the camera two days ago, so regardless of who it was, you still had to tough it out for the rest of the week to be able to report anything to Xavier. He apparently has no phone reception in the mountains. “Exactly.”

“What’re you two lovebirds talkin’ about?” Alex and Scott bring you out of your thoughts, Alex with a mouthful of pizza as Scott does the talking.

“I thought you two were out for the rest of the week?” Kurt turns away from you, ignoring Scotts comment. “Something about being disruptive in class?”

“Yea, we’re supposed to be at home but he forgot some books in his room.”

“He forgot them?”

“Yea.”

“Then why are you here?” Kurt crosses his arms, the tip of his sharp tail moving to wag as it glides across the lockers. Why did you never realise he has a tail? Wait… “Looks more like you two are the love birds in this situation.”

“Aww, are you getting mad cause we’re talking about your little girl-”

“Boys!” A female voice booms from the other side of the hall. “I gave you five minutes to collect your- wait, is that a pizza in your mouth! Where in the world- No you get back here!” They both quickly scramble away, and the teachers' heels echo as they pass you and Kurt to follow them.

You sigh. “Okay you make a point, but we should-”

“Report it?”

“No, we should leave it be until Xavier gets back.”

“Okay, what if it goes further than the camera? What if your clothes start going missing..?”

“If my clothes start going missing then maybe I’ll consider doing something. But honestly, it just doesn’t seem like him. Not only does he not seem the stalking type, but he definitely would NOT be able to figure out how to connect the camera to his phone, computer, whatever it is.” You explain quickly, not catching a breath until you’re finished.

“Okay… just.” He takes his own deep breath, looking down at you with soft eyes. “Let me know if you need anything from me, okay?”

“Okay. Thank you, Kurt. You’re too sweet.” You smile softly, softly punching his shoulder before beginning to turn around. “I’ll be in my room, so call if you need to, I’m not busy.” Pushing your door open, you see him leaving the lockers from the corner of your eye before you actually step into your room. Locking the door and then immediately checking every corner of your room to make sure no one was in there, before you finally relaxed. Or at least your body relaxed.

Your mind on the other hand raced with thoughts. What if it’s not Logan, and it’s some creep student. You’d be reporting the teacher who helped you be friends with Kurt. That wouldn’t be nice. On the other hand, what if it is Logan? Then what? You have to prove it to Xavier that it was him. The app on his phone showing the camera and the pictures in his gallery would prove it for sure. You realise he probably would’ve deleted everything by now. As soon as he realised the bear was moved into the closet I’m sure he would’ve gotten rid of the proof.

Your mind races for hours, and before you know it, the sun is down. Your head still pounding with what could be the case and what would happen if you did what, each scenario runs rampant in your head, making you dizzy as you unconsciously moved until you were lying on your stomach, your pillow thrown over the back of your head in attempt to silence the thoughts.

Then you feel a hand on the small of your back, immediately causing you to flinch and sit up on your ass, reading to start kicking the damned asshole that's been- oh its Kurt. Wait…

“Are you okay?” You don’t answer him, you instead spring forward, falling into his arms as a few stray tears fall from your cheeks, his tail moving up in the most attractive way possible to wipe the tears off your cheeks, his arms wrapped around your waist as he squeezes you.

You both sit like that for a while, at some point he even moves to lean against your headboard, still holding you in his lap, then his hands move, causing you to sit up slightly, unaware of the way you were positioned on his lap as his hands cradle your face and he looks into your eyes.

“What’s going on?” He whispers softly, not exactly expecting an answer, but figuring your eyes would probably tell him anyway. You sniffle.

“Wait-” Your voice cracks, and you shut your eyes to think. “How did you- when- why?”

“Are you gonna finish any of those questions?” He asks rhetorically, his hands making their way to rest on your thighs. “I came in here like five minutes ago, You weren’t answering your phone and it’s only eight so I got worried.”

“And how..?”

“Honey, I can teleport.” He chuckles, his head tilting slightly, your brain completely ignoring the pet name he’s decided to give you.

“Oh… Yea…” You say softly, and you feel his tail move on your back before it pushes you carefully towards him, his hands moving to wrap back around your waist as he takes you in for another hug, and you rest your forehead on his shoulders. You weren’t crying anymore. Instead, new thoughts ran through your head. He can teleport.

He can teleport…

He can teleport…

He can… teleport?

You didn’t know that before. You snap back out of your brain to feel one of his hands on the bare skin of your back, which makes you sit up awkwardly, causing his hand to move across your waist until it's back on your thigh.

“I didn’t know you could teleport.”

“Really? I figured you knew that already.”

“No.” Your voice sounded more stern. He wouldn’t. Would he?

His hands gently move up. His left hand stopping on your wait and his right hand continuing up to your cheek, you also feel something wrap gently around your calf. Something felt wrong. And it makes you feel sick. You clear your throat a little, and try to count to yourself.

Shit… His right hand moves just slightly, his thumb moving softly over your bottom lip as you stare into his eyes, your brows quirked in confusion but they were devoured in tiredness. Then his hand gently cups the back of your neck, and his tail wraps just slightly tighter around your calf. Then he kisses you. Why is he kissing you? He’s supposed to just be your friend. He shouldn’t be doing this. You pull away slightly, but his lips just trail down from your lips to your neck, gently biting at your skin. You open your mouth to say something, but your voice catches in your throat. Then both of his hands gently move down to your waist before he softly pushes you onto your back. NOPE.

You scramble out from under him, but his tail tightens around your calf. “What’s wrong…?” He asks, trying his hardest to sound innocent.

“What do you think you’re doing..?” You finally choke out, pulling again before his tail finally loosens around your leg.

“I just thought-”

“Please get out.” You demand, not letting him finish. Your voice embarrassingly raises a few octaves as you speak. “Now.” Voice shaking, you sit up straight before he finally moves.

“Okay… I’m sorry.” He tells you softly, getting off your bed and making his way to the door, “Goodnight.” He says before finally leaving.

Then you actually catch your breath. What the fuck just happened. He can teleport. Logan. Logan in the morning. Logan…

“Logan!” You barge into his office, but this time he’s there, looking at his computer for a moment before his eyes shift onto you above the screen, barging in with red cheeks and a red nose, and a shaking body. Which is why he stands up quickly and walks towards you, letting him fall into his arms and sob quietly.

“There you go… you’re okay, pup. It’s okay… just breathe.” He whispers soothingly, pressing gentle kisses to the top of your head as his hand softly runs over your back, trying with his best effort to get you to calm down, and reaching behind you for a moment to lock his door, making sure no one else could barge in. “It’s okay, pup… I’ve got you.” He kisses the top of your head one final time before resting his chin there, his arms still wrapped around you as your own arms are squeezing around his waist.

“Okay…” He whispers again after a few moments of not hearing your sobbing. “Tell me what’s going on?” He gently moves his hands to rest on your shoulders, carefully creating a distance big enough for him to look down at you as you use the backs of your hands to dry your cheeks.

“There was a camera…” You start, actually debating whether or not to tell him. Fuck it. You tell yourself again. “It was inside of my bear's eye, and it was watching me, and at first the whirring sound didn’t bother me cause I thought it was my neighbours, I don’t have neighbours, and the clicking drove me crazy. I couldn’t think, every time there was a click. He said it was you, but you don’t know how to deal with simple tech, I told him that, you were the only other one to touch the bear, and he’s never been in my room before, but he can teleport, he teleported, I didn’t know he could teleport, then I ask him, and he kissed me and-”

“Okay, okay.” He interrupts you finally, placing his palm over your mouth. “So somebody put a camera in the eye of your bear?”

“Mhm, Kurt.”

“Okay…” He nods slightly, squinting his eyes as if to take in the information. “He was taking pictures of you, and whirring and clicking what’s with that?”

“See that’s why I know it wasn’t you… It was the camera making sounds.”

“And Kurt thought it was me?” You nod. “He said he’s never been in your room before?” You nod again. “But he can… teleport?” He finishes, making you nod hysterically.

“And then he forced me to kiss him…” You pout a little, your shoulders dropping as you remember what happened in detail. It disgusted you.

“He…” He clears his throat slightly. “Forced you to kiss him…” His voice deepens, but you don’t notice it as you nod some more. “Should I call him in here?” He shrugs himself a little.

“No, no. No, I don't want to see him.” You move away slightly, freaking out.

“Okay, okay. Pup, hun, come here.” He reaches out, gently cupping your face in his hands. “If you don’t want me to then I won’t. But you have to tell me what you want me to do.”

“Am I able to get another room?” His jaw clenches slightly as he thinks about it, then he lets go of you and moves to look at his computer. After moving his mouse and typing some things on his keyboard. “So I can’t. I can only see what room students have, you can request it from Xavier though and he will look into it when he gets-” You groan in the middle of his sentence as he moves away from his desk and you land your forehead on his chest. “-back from his mission.” He finishes telling you, gently wrapping his arms around your waist to pull you closer.

“I don’t wanna be alone in my room anymore at night though. What if he comes in while I’m sleeping? Or what if-” He silences you by placing his palm over your mouth again.

“The only thing I can suggest is not sleeping in the mansion until you get a room change.”

“But I’m not allowed to leave…”

“How is Xavier gonna know?”

“I don’t have a place to go…”

“I have a log cabin.” He tells you, making your eyes practically sparkle slightly. “If you’d like, I can take the rest of the week off and take you there. I can put in an excuse for you.”

You think about it, your eyes leaving his eyes as they stare past him.

“You don’t have to of course. It’s completely up to you. But if you really want to get away from Kurt, then come with me to the cabin. I’ll keep you safe.” He tells you, his left arm moving around your waist and his right hand gently tilting your head up so he could look into your eyes.

“Okay…” You whisper, moving closer again to fall into his arms and onto his chest as his arms snake back around you, as he presses one final kiss to your forehead…

[causeimcrayzeebee]

have you seen the kamimura lore drop and what are your thoughts?

ohbmy god this could’ve been so embarrassing cause i hadn’t seen it yet and was so confused as to what you meant so I was planning on just yapping about kamimura in general but then I saw it LMAO UM I WAS SO HAPPY CAUSE KAMIMURA CONTENT!!!!! KAMIMURA LORE!!! AND THEN SO FUCKING INCREDIBLY SAD FROM IT LIKE....THAT'S GORE... THAT'S GORE OF MY COMFORT CHARACTER.... um yeah I have work for law to do but I got too into reading the lore drop so lets talk about it! (I will get to my work after trust) spoiler warning for chapters 1-3 and tetro typical trigger warnings!!! take care of yourself!!

I am not going to cover the ableism portion or too much of the diagnosis/hospital parts because I am not personally disabled and would like to let other disabled people talk about it, so i'll leave the rest of the conversation to others in the community!

also i took notes while reading it to organize my thoughts like usual (im so bad at putting words together well). some of these are kinda funny so here are some highlights lmfao

alright, now lets actually be serious.

firstly, I'm so glad that kamimura at least had a good childhood. I think it really shows in the way he interacts with the tetro pink cast that he was a sociable and happy kid! my mom actually teaches preschool so shes taught me a lot about early childhood psychology (shout out to my mother guys!!!!!). one of the biggest takeaways I've had from her is that the first five years of one's life are the most important in development! that's what Montessori programs keep in mind and throughout preschool and early kinder, they take time to establish learning through play; a lot of people have the misconception that letting kids play at school is just letting them mess around, but it's crucial in building their skills! kids learn to socialize with others and to problem solve; that foundation is very important for everything else moving forward in life! I could rant about how preschools need to utilize this more, esp in the American education system, but I digress. my main point goes to something I (and a couple other people I'm not original in this LMAO) have mentioned before about how it makes more sense out of hasegawa and kamimura, that they'd kill off kamimura because he had other people. kamimura, despite having further and further cut himself off from the world right till the end (until the kg at least), still managed to make meaningful connections, like tamba and hayashi, even if they weren't like ideal. the way he approaches tamba is very caring in a way that can seem like it's not, yk? likely it stems from his trust issues, it's scary to put your genuine real feelings out there, so hiding them with some snide remarks is easier. luckily, tamba has a similar approach so hey. shout out tamba n kamimura you will always be special to me.

anyways, its both so amazing and so heartbreaking that his parents were so loving and supportive, but died too soon. I do wonder about the role of attachment in this case; like specifically in babies/toddlers, they get attached to their parents usually because that's the first person they see, the first to take care of them. kamimura was able to get that love and support from his parents, even when it got so much harder and the days in the hospitals got longer. so having it all be taken away when you're NINE? that's obviously gonna destroy you, and that leads to his trust issues and isolation. he was able to thrive still as a young child because he had his parents to support him! so when that's all gone, how else are you supposed to cope?

yeah fuck you family friend, that was brutal. I cant even imagine coming home from school to find your parents absolutely desecrated. the day of his parents death beginning the routine of staying locked in his room.... oh my god like what if I cried (I did). that probably changed the way he thought about his room; his room was an escape from the horrors of the outside world. if he just stayed in the room, he wouldn't have to experience the fucked up world. it became a habit. EUGAHHD I'm in shambles.

after the murder of his parents, it's understandable that it shook kamimura and his aunt to their core. that was a violent murder (by a man who was literally just rejected romantically.... its so fucking upsetting that that is a common crime). his aunt wasn't even ready to have kids so having the responsibility of taking in kamimura must've been a lot. In regards to homesick, despite the very clear distance in their relationship, kamimura really seems to appreciate her being there, even if it was very distanced; she was still an important part of his grieving process and his whole life honestly.

oh boy here we go. isao when I catch you istg..... sorry that's an exaggeration, likely this was from a societal disgust, yk just homophobia from the world, so I cant really blame this kid too much.... but we still have beef. god, this was one of those actually crushing crushes, hm. it's so fucked up; someone who was starting to get kamimura a bit out of the dark space that was his life, giving him something to enjoy and be happy about! and all of that was just thrown away because kamimura was vulnerable and shared his feelings. not having your feelings returned can already be devastating, but this? the spread of rumors, the bullying, the losing his one friend? it's like the world wants to torture him omfg. here the trust issues become worse; those who loved him leave, those who he loved leave. everyone just leaves, so what's the point?

this explains his relationship with hasegawa, and the issue after trial 1. it had to have felt way too familiar; telling someone he was fond of vulnerable information, only for it to be told to a bunch of people he never wanted in his fucking business. however, I think the reason why they made up rather quickly in clean up crew (which btw I watched w my friend earlier today bc I got them into tetro........ god I love that episode) is hasegawa's response. hasegawa, unlike isao, is remorseful, he CARES. hasegawa even shares something personal to him, about his own loss.

I think this also changes the scene of hasegawa coming out a bit. before, he was rejected by isao because he was a homophobic douchebag. but in the student spotlight, hasegawa casually says he's not into girls. while its funny thinking that kamimura was having some gay panic then lmao, I think actually it was probably processing that in a confused comfort, not exactly because his feelings could be reciprocated, but for this; hasegawa was so comfortable with coming out as gay, so comfortable with the concept, unlike isao. if kamimura confessed his feelings to hasegawa, and were (somehow) not reciprocated, he likely still wouldn't have ran away. of course, with kamimura's trust issues, he probably wasn't confident in that assumption, but hasegawa is not the kind of person to drop someone because they confessed to them. he would've kept the person that had become so important to him. and because of that maybe, just maybe, kamimura would've said what he really wanted to say if the interview had happened before woodshop.

once he's on his own and moves out, he no longer has someone reminding him to do things, so with no motivation to simply live, he ends up staying locked in his house like we've seen before. what's the point in anything? when that kind of spiral hits you, and you don't have other people present in your life to keep doing, how would you ever stay motivated?? I know it was a really informal post, so I might be going insane trying to add this to the analysis, but the repetition of 'but life goes on' I think really solidifies the importance of a support system. when things are difficult, the world never just stops, it keeps going despite your struggle. but having people who care about you around you can help make each day easier, they can help 'slow down time' if you will. kamimura has gone through an amount of stress no one should have to face, but people around him could have made it easier on him by being there. that's the tragedy of tetro.

it's especially tragic that at the very end, right before the kg, he was taking his own life.

(plot wise, I need to know what y'all theorists think of this bc I have ideas but i need to finish the staffside logs before I can even actually consider my thoughts lmfao.)

sorry to be captain obvious on a majority of this post lol but gosh wow. I really loved that we got this, it was so much information I am kinda stoked despite basically all of it being depressing as hell. tetro has really become an inspiration for me and writing, I am constantly so impressed by von's writing and it's given me perspective on how to approach writing as a whole. i feel as though this gave me so much perspective on kamimura himself as a character. some of this just confirmed my ideas already, but it strikes me as something so human just learning all of this. when I, or anyone really, first meet people, I only know surface level things, yk cause I don't know them. but then I start talking to them, and I learn about different things that have happened to them, how they feel about certain issues or what they're doing on a day to day basis. you can never know everything of course, but when you discover new parts of someone, it makes them more complex and they don't fit the idea you had of them before because people are complex!! and that's the beauty of writing, capturing humanity! the impact of each character, esp kamimura, has been so beautifully done, I'm just constantly moved as the story progresses.

thank y'all sm for reading my excuse to talk about kamimura, this was A LOT of blabbing I'm so so sorry but I hope you enjoyed haha! :)

[spritesitrus]

Hey! Could we know the childhood of a Koopaling? When I saw that they had a difficult time I was curious about how they had it… I love your art!!

After a long time, I've finally got this one done and thank ya! Here's a doodle of everyone altogether that I never got around finishing

By the time Bowser had taken all the Koopalings in, all of them were orphans except Roy and Morton(whose dad is still alive).

I did have designs for some of their bio family members. (First two pictures Lem's family, 3rd image is Wendy's mom and grandma, 4th/5th images are Roy/Mort's parents. For those who aren’t here it’s simply because they don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.)

So this is gonna be both their life before and how they join the Koopa Troop. These are all individual stories I was actually writing out to draw as a comic but for the sake of this post, it’s all condensed into brief summaries. (Though I’ll share some of the writing I did for some)

Going into everyone's individual backstories

Lud

Ludwig was left behind at an orphanage since he was born and it's unknown why or where the whereabouts of his parents are. Ludwig himself has never been interested in finding out who his birth parents are since he's figured it's not worth any trouble trying to search for people who've abandoned him.

He ran away from his orphanage at the age of seven and now on his own, he only had his smarts to survive and turned to a life of crime to survive. He's learned that he can only trust himself and to never show any vulnerability to anyone no matter how hard things get. For the next three years, he then became known as an infamous criminal known to rob big organizations and never get caught because none of his plans have ever failed. Though he bites off more than he could chew and gets roped in by a Monty Mole gang to make a plan to steal treasure from Bowser at the cost that they let him go after the job is done. 

Basically, Ludwig is able to find a way to get Bowser's attention but things go awry from what he planned and tries to fight Bowser but fails(obviously). Accepting his defeat, Ludwig accepts to fate but to his surprise, Bowser decides to take him in as his pupil since he sees Ludwig's potential. 

As Ludwig is taken to the castle, he decides to roll with it and continues his plan but begins to feel like it could be a trick Bowser is pulling on him since he’s being allowed such liberties to just live in the castle freely and wonders if Bowser knows what he’s up to he could’ve gotten rid of him beforehand. 

During the week Ludwig stayed, both him and Bowser squabbled a lot at first and found each other completely difficult to get along with. Though as time goes on, they then begin actually becoming closer. 

Ludwig then begins to feel guilty that he's going to rob him but before he can decide against going through with the plan, the Monty Mole gang get to him and threaten that he has until the end of the day to pull it off since they think he’s beginning to get second thoughts. Ludwig then goes through with the plan but then just before he can make an escape Bowser catches him but he doesn’t get angry and lets Ludwig go saying that if Ludwig ever needs a place, he’ll let Ludwig come back. This then makes Ludwig finally break down and plead to Bowser for help since he doesn’t know what to do and he’s come to really care for him. Turns out Bowser knew something was up about Ludwig and took him in because he had already figured out he was being used by someone. 

By this point the Monty Mole gang had become impatient and set out to attack them, causing Ludwig to get caught near an explosion damaging his right ear. Though he and Bowser are able to fight off the gang and then Ludwig decides to become a pupil under Bowser's for real.

Mort/Roy

The twin sons of a renowned businessman, Morton Koopa Sr. who is known as a good person to the public. But underneath his persona, was a ruthless and cold man who has many secret ties to crime. Along with this, he also is one of the few Koopas with the rare ability of having a Giga Koopa form.

Their father was very horrible and abusive to them, so their mom was able to leave him and take Roy and Morton with her. Though unfortunately, she was murdered during a break-in and Morton and Roy had to move back in with their dad.

While growing up, Morton and Roy never got along and now with the pressure of being the next heir to his father’s company, Morton would be favored more by their dad while Roy would regularly get into constant trouble and was seen as the problem child. This caused even more of a strain between them. 

When Morton is eight, he also awakens his Giga Koopa powers like his dad and his life only begins to become harder from there. For my ver, the Giga Koopa form is a rare ability that can be only passed down through Dragon Koopas hereditarily but even then, the chances are very rare even with a direct bloodline. Also Bowser doesn’t have it either (just as a fyi I guess). 

At some point, Roy causes some trouble that makes their dad look bad and finally fed up with Roy always causing him problems, he decides to get rid of him. Morton figures this out and he finally decides to escape with Roy. While the two of them are getting chased after by their dad’s men, Morton then sacrifices himself and uses his Giga Form to help Roy escape. 

Roy then runs into Bowser and Ludwig and he manages to get their help to save Morton from his rampage. They finally run into Morton Sr once again who basically hands their asses to them but Morton comes in to defeat him for good. As he’s being taken away, Morton Sr tries to convince Morton to let him go but Morton has finally broken his control and he gets sent to jail.

The two then celebrate their freedom at least and decide to join Bowser as his students.

Lem/Igg

Iggy and Lemmy lived more around the Jungle Lands which consisted of more tropical jungle areas. A huge storm destroyed the area they lived in, making them both orphans. 

Lemmy lived happily with his family that consisted of his parents and his little sister. When the storm had hit and being with his sister last, he regrets never being able to save her. Iggy doesn’t recall much of his bio family though somewhat remembers he was probably the youngest one out of the bunch of siblings who usually had to fight to get things but couldn’t most of the time. He was neglected because of his odd behaviors as a baby and doesn’t know if he was just abandoned or if his family had died during the storm. Later on, Lemmy finds Iggy alone at a shelter and helps him by giving him food. The two then decided to become brothers and never leave each other alone.

Basically how the two join is that they just kinda showed up one day, and they just never got rid of them.

This is probably not a line I will keep in the final version but I will still share it regardless

Wendy

Wendy’s family consisted of her mom and her grandma who were Magikoopas. Her dad had run out on her mom when she was pregnant with Wendy and then mom died a little after having Wendy, who was then raised by her grandma. Then, when Wendy was two years old, her grandma had died from a sickness that left her alone with no other living relatives. Shortly after, Wendy's powers awakened and she couldn’t control them which would wreak havoc and create tremors, making others scared to take her in. 

Bowser and Kamek go to check out the source of the tremor and find her. She becomes attached to Bowser and with much reluctance from Kamek(due to how the other five Koopalings are already trouble enough)they take her in. The two find out very quickly that leaving Wendy alone is a very bad idea since she will get upset causing her powers to go out of control. They take her back to the castle and warn Lud and Morton to never leave her alone unless they want to find out the hard way. 

As she meets the other five, she’s a little overwhelmed at first and is particularly scared of Roy which he definitely did not get mad about.

Basically, it’s all up to Lud, Lemmy, and Morton to take care of Wendy(since Roy and Iggy are more likely to upset or annoy her). 

Then on a particular day, Bowser and Kamek are off doing something so they leave the Koops in charge of Wendy yet again. At this point, the other three are becoming a little tired of always taking care of Wendy who they can’t leave alone and all try to find an out to dump it on one or the other. It ends up that Lud and Mort decide to dump it onto Lemmy but since he has no impulse control if he and Iggy are in the same room, they decide that it’s okay to leave since they didn’t know about the consequences yet. 

After making sure she’s fast asleep in their bedroom quarters, Iggy and Lemmy go off but are then brought back when they hear Wendy crying after she found out they left her. They call back Lud and Morton and after a while of not being able to cheer her up, she then goes out of control with her magic and begins wreaking havoc yet again getting everyone all caught up in the storm. 

Unbeknownst to them, it turned out Roy was taking a nap at bedroom quarters the entire evening and he groggily wakes up and he’s able to calm Wendy down by simply brushing her hair since he figures that’s what she just needed. The others look in shock that it worked but are happy that Roy and Wendy then became the closest afterwards. 

Larry

Bowser is in this warzone somewhere in an ally island to the Darklands and finds a fallen soldier who is Larry's dad who gives Larry to him before shortly dying after. 

Larry doesn't figure this out until like way later because Bowser totally did not forget to run that by him which gave him an identity crisis for a while but hey it all worked out.

Anyways Bowser takes Larry back to the castle and decides that these seven kids he’s got will be his pupils. 

And I will share some writing I got down since this one is so short. 

*this one below takes at some point afterwards

And of course, everyone's reaction to when Jr had come along

[justwinginglife]

Always You, Part 1.5

I couldn't stop listening to "Don't Smile" from Sabrina's new album (yes, it is yet another fic based off of one of her songs LOL), so to prove to yall that I am actually thinking about the Always You series, and working on it, here's a short fic from our POV during the breakup. Sorry for angsting, this fic series has me in my FUCKING FEELINGS.

You hadn’t believed Soshiro had dumped you at first. 

You couldn’t have heard him right. If you had, he must’ve been joking. You wanted to touch him, to tilt his chin up so you could meet his gaze, search the depths of his eyes for some semblance of an answer -he had been unable to look at you through this whole endeavor- but you wondered if that was the reason he was leaving you, if you had selfishly claimed too much of him too many times.

Was he tired of you? Had he fallen out of love with you? Did he not feel the way you felt? Was your whole relationship just some fantasy you’d concocted in your head? Were your most precious memories nothing more than fiction? Was he never yours to begin with?

Before you could process the reality of the situation, before you could beg for some closure, he was gone. If you’d known he was going to leave that quickly, you would’ve chained him to the spot, forced him to face you. But then what? What would you have said? What would you have done? Got on your knees and pleaded with him to love you? Curse at him, tell him you hated him? Bawl your eyes out and hope he found some shred of sympathy for you? That he’d pull you into his arms and declare this all a bad dream? Was there even anything you could’ve done? Was this your fate? Was this what you were resigned to? How long had he been planning this? How long had he been desiring an escape? What had you done to deserve this?

You trudged home, numb and aching all at once. You couldn’t feel your feet hitting the ground but you could feel the pain of loss carving its way into your chest, threatening to stay there indefinitely. You couldn’t feel the tears spilling down your face, blurring your vision, but you could feel the churning in your stomach. You couldn’t feel your throat going dry but you could feel the acid that threatened to trigger your gag reflex. 

You thought your mattress might erode away as you settled yourself into its cushions and vowed never to leave. You thought your pillow might melt from the frequent onslaught of tears it endured. You thought you might just die here and nobody would know. 

You hadn’t even told anyone that Soshiro had dumped you; you hadn’t wanted to make the nightmare a reality just yet. But if you were in denial, your heart certainly did not feel that way. Your heart had accepted every harsh truth and it had the audacity to keep painfully beating in your chest. You wondered if you could beg it to stop. Would he care if it stopped? Did he care if you lived or died, or were those concerns only reserved for boyfriends? 

The days passed by, each one achingly slow, each one filled with crippling doubts and insecurities, each one a torturous reminder of the emptiness in your bed, of the deafening silence in your house. Then days turned into weeks and you learned how to walk again, if only to make it to the bathroom and resume your crying there. When the weeks turned into months, it became harder to deny that he’d left you, that he wasn’t coming back, that he wasn’t in love with you anymore. But you’d try to deny it anyway, drowning your sorrows in liquor, telling yourself when you reached the bottom of the bottle, he’d be yours again, and in between blackouts and hallucinations of better days, you’d find solace in the ghost of him. When the months turned into years, and you heard news that Soshiro had moved on with someone else, you felt the fresh pain of your breakup all over again. You felt suffocated by the memories of what once was and the dreams of what could’ve been. 

You already knew he was the one for you, anyone who came after would only ever be second place. Any semblance of happiness that you could scrounge up after him would feel superficial in comparison to the heaven you’d once had with him. You wondered if he felt the same.

Did he see you in her eyes? Did he picture you beside him when she rolled over in his bed? Did he taste you on her lips?

Or did he never love you at all?

You’d always thought that maybe the two of you would both stay single another decade or two before finally running into each other at your favorite cafe again and then you’d rekindle old flames. You realized just how pathetic that sounded when you heard that she was talking houses and marriage with him. You hoped that she was doing all the talking, that he was only half listening. But the problem was hoping for anything at all. 

How long could you keep doing this to yourself? 

How long could you keep holding on?

How long until it killed you?

[kfkr1ze]

[002-A16] Scissor Words

Summary — ✈︎ The egg that suddenly grew legs managed to escape Kiroku’s grasp and ran away. Kiroku chases it, but he quickly loses sight of it…

Characters— ✈︎ Kiroku, Akuta, Muneuji, Nanaki, Sakujiro

Location: Youkai Art Museum in Shodoshima

Kiroku: …………

Egg: ………

Kiroku: …… Ah…… there’s legs.

Egg: ………

Kiroku: ……Ah!

W-Wait……!

Kaede: (It’s around the time we agreed to meet up. 

… I wonder if Kiroku-kun had fun.)

Hm?

Kaede: Wow, what’s this? There’s an egg-like object with legs. Is it a youkai? Having something like this displayed at the entrance… It’s creepy but cute too!

I wanna take a picture. Where’s the camera app…

Kiroku: Hah, hah……!

Kaede: Wah!

Kiroku: Gh……!

Kaede: You surprised me…!

Why are you in such a hurry, Kiroku-kun?

Egg: ………

Kiroku: (Moving side to side) …………!

Kaede: (He’s panicking while trying to see what’s behind me…?)

Kiroku: Ah, wah…… Mn……!

(Please don’t look… over there……!)

Kaede: Eh? What is it?

Egg: ………

Kiroku: Uh……!

Kaede: … He ran away.

Huuh!? The egg-like object isn’t here anymore…!

Location: Maze Town in Shodoshima

Kiroku: Hah…… Hah…… Hah……!

(…I lost it… What do I do……)

(I have to tell everyone on the walkie talkie app……)

Dewawa: You sure you wanna tell?

You wanna be the one who tells everyone that you lost the egg that everyone tried so hard to take care of?

Kiroku: ………

Dewawa: They’re already gonna be upset won’t they?

And on top of that, you haven’t made any progress with the lantern art right?

Pinfu: Right～

They might think you’re so pathetic since you can’t do anything at all〜

Kiroku: …………

Rouzel: That’s not true! You should just contact them! I’m sure that everyone would be worried!

Ripris: It�� doesn’t matter what you do…

Both chasing the egg… and contacting everyone… is such a pain… ZZZ.

KB: Personally, I believe the best solution would be to contact the rest of themーー

What will you do, Kiroku?

Kiroku: ………

……I’m not…… telling them.

Location: Otomari Chuuzaemon Inn in Shodoshima

Akuta: This olive soumen is SUPER good! I can munch on it as much as I want! Endless munching!

Muneuji: The fried soumen from the other day was good, but this soumen is good as well.

Nanaki: Is Chief here?

Akuta: Oh, nah he’s not here right now.

Muneuji: I believe he went out with Kinugawa earlier.

Nanaki: Yeah? Then I guess later will be fine. 

Akuta: By the way Nanaki, are you in a good mood? You’ve been all smiley lately. Did something happen?

Nanaki: Oh actually, I was just working on the song for the encore of the summer festival. The one that’s supposed to match the BPM of the fireworks, 

I just wanted to show it to the chief a little since I finished it. 

Akuta: EH!? Nanaki, you can make music!?

Nanaki: Well. Yeah I can.

Akuta: REALLY～～～～?! I also challenged myself to make music before, but I couldn’t do it y’know～～～～!

Man, I can’t even read sheet music. The notes just look like tadpoles dancing…

I really respect people who can make songs〜!

Meaning I really respect you, Nanaki～～～！

Nanaki: You’re going way too hard on the praise.

Akuta: You don’t gotta be humble! Actually, I really wanna make a song one day, so you gotta help me!

Nanaki: If I feel like it.

Akuta: Yayy!

I gotta make a plan to get you to feel like it soon～～～！

Muneuji: … By the way. 

Yesterday, Kinugawa was the one who got the egg, wasn't he? 

But I haven’t seen his face at all today.

In other words, that would mean he still has the egg.

Nanaki: Now that you mention it, you’re probably right about that.

Muneuji: And he hasn’t come online on the walkie talkie app at all today… If I’m being honest, I’m a bit worried.

Nanaki: You think something bad happened?

Akuta: Nahh I’m sure he’s all good! I mean that guy looks like he’s strong!

Muneuji: No… He could’ve been abducted by an alien. 

Nanaki: I-I’m not too sure about that.

Muneuji: I don’t think it’ll be a problem since Chief is also with him, but just in case, I’m going to look for him outside.

Nanaki: No, I’m pretty sure you’re getting too anxious. You should calm down. 

Muneuji: If he got abducted, it’d be too late to save him…! (Quickly runs away)

Akuta: Huh?

Kiroku: …… I finally…… found it.

(But… I think it got scared of a crow… and started clinging to the branch of a tree……)

Egg: …………

Kiroku: …… You can’t …… get off?

Egg: …………

Kiroku: (If I spread out my shirt… it can act like a trampoline.)

…… Come here.

Egg: …………!

Kiroku: …… You did it. That’s great.

Egg: …………!

Kiroku: (…Cute… Okay I have to… hurry and bring the egg to everyone……)

(But.)

(Looks around.)

Kiroku: (I don't know where this is…… And it’s getting dark. I should talk to the kids[1]… Ah.)

I… don’t have the finger puppets……

(No, before I look for them, I have to hand the egg over to the next person…)

(I’m getting a lot of notifications on the walkie talkie app… I should respond to everyone … No, but)

Dewawa: They’re already gonna be upset won’t they?

And on top of that, you haven’t made any progress with the lantern art right?

Pinfu: Right～

They might think you’re so pathetic since you can’t do anything at all〜

Kiroku: (I definitely can’t…… I need to do this… on my own.

I have to hurry and bring the egg home…!)

(But, I also can’t just leave those kids behind……

Especially on a trip to a place I might never come back to……)

(We’ve been together for practically my whole life……

Those kidsーー)

Ah……

Kaede: Kiroku-kun! Thank goodness…!

Sakujiro: So you were in a place like this.

Kaede: You did have a GPS with you, but I was really worried when you just up and left like that!

Kiroku: I… I’m… sorry……

Kaede: No, it’s fine. I’m just glad that you’re safe. But next time, don’t run around so much that you end up getting lost.

Also… Here.

Kiroku: ……Ah……!

Kaede: I found them on the side of the road. They’re yours, right Kiroku-kun?

Kiroku: …… Yes…… They’re… my friends……

Kaede: I thought so. Be careful not to drop them next time.

Okay, let’s go back to the inn!

Kiroku: …………

Kaede: ………

(Kiroku-kun… He’s been looking uncomfortable this whole time…

Almost like he wants to say something, but can’t.)

(Kiroku-kun is quieter than most people, but that doesn’t mean he’s not interested in his surroundings.)

(In fact, it feels like he’s more considerate about his surroundings than most people are. 

That’s whyーー)

(If only I could find a way to get him more comfortable…)

Oh right!

Kiroku-kun. Let’s use PeChat.

Kiroku: Eh……?

Kaede: If it’s hard for you to put something into words, maybe it’d be easier for you to put it down in writing. We can give it a try.

Kiroku: ……

Kiroku: ………

……My next message.

…… Is going to be…… a little longer……

Kaede: Got it. I’ll wait for you.

-

-

-

-

Kiroku: ………

(I’ll… open the walkie talkie app.)

Akuta: “Ahー Ahー Mic test! Testing, testing, one two three. 

Is Kiroku-san thereee? Go ahead.”

Kiroku: Ah……! He…llo…… Go …… ahead.

Akuta: “I’m glad we finally got in contact with you! Muneuji was really worried about you, y'know. He jumped up and ran out of the inn. Copy.

Kiroku: …… Co ……

Akuta: “So, so? How are things on your end? You still on planet Earth?”

Kiroku: I’m… I’m coming back…… Copy.

Previous — ✈︎ Masterlist — ✈︎ Next

Notes — ✈︎

“Those kids” referring to the finger puppets.

[shadowbriar]

Regulus Black - Supermassive Black Hole IV

Pairing : Regulus Black x (she/her) Selwyn!Reader Word Count : 4.2k Warning : Food. Height. Fluff. Synopsis : A simple arrangement turned into an everlasting one as two naïve children try to figure out their heart. Notes : I'm sorry it's taking forever for me to post this, I had a change of heart of how the plot should go and tbh I still dk how to end this story so bear with me please. If you'd like to be tagged for the next chapters, please comment or reblog so I can add you to the tag list. If you like this story and would like to support me, please visit my kofi page and perhaps get me a coffee?☕ Taglist: strikethrough means I could not tag you. @lostarc24 @hogwartshouse @milivanili99 @stelleduarte @40rimm @lilmaymayy @mischiefmanagers

↞ Part III

Regulus rolled over to the other side of the bed for the millionth time now. His eyes were staring at the clock by the bedside table, watching as its hands moved and ticks with every second passed. He knew that he had to get up, sooner or later, be it from the knock on his door or the unbearable hunger in his stomach. He barely ate last night. His head was spinning, heavy from the unpleasant memories and regret of his once again apathetic gesture towards her.

It must’ve been her worst birthday party. He spoiled it all the moment he walked in on her and Rosier. Perhaps he should have minded his own business. She has all the right to kiss Rosier if she wanted to, it’s the least bit of freedom he could give to her, but Regulus couldn’t help but feel a little bit triumphant when she seemed to be uninterested in him. That she too finds the idea of kissing Rosier to be baffling.

A loud groan escapes his lips when the next memory floods in. Regret beyond imagination is sticking to his skin like a muck. He wonders what would happen if he did what she asked him, if he would just lean in and kiss her. Would that be a great gift he could’ve given to her? Or would it’ve been a one way ticket to hell for him?

Reaching for his jumper, Regulus finally stood up and walked out of the room. He figures it would be worse to have her knocking on his door than to face her willingly. He could perhaps piece some words to meet her with a cool head than to have him caught red handed.

“Morning,” He greets her as he reaches the dining table.

She looks up to see him, her shoulders slightly tense and it makes Regulus bite his inner cheek a little harder, “Morning.”

Regulus kept his lips in a tight line. He took a seat opposite of her. His fingers locked to each other, an attempt to soothe himself as his brain tries to make some coherent explanation. It proves to be a harder task to do each day whenever she is in the equation.

“Listen, about last night—”

“You’re right,” She cuts in “I was drunk. I didn’t know what I was saying so if we could just.. Forget about what I said, I think that would be best for us all.”

Regulus opens his mouth, wanting to argue with her but finds himself nodding and turning silent, trying to ignore the loud cracking of his heart. Her words twisted a knife in his heart. Somehow he hoped that his words were lies, that she was sober and she really wanted him to kiss her. It wasn’t like he saw her drink anything, anyway. But who was he kidding? There would be no chance in this universe that she would want him to kiss her. No chance. None.

She flashes him a small smile before looking back down to her toasts.

Now what? Regulus thought. Where does it leave them at? He knew that he still owes her an explanation. About the Greengrass, about Rosier, about everything, but is right now the best time to bring it up? And what could he say about it? The truth? Would that do them better or worse?

“Do you have any plans for the day?” Regulus finds himself asking.

She pinched her brows, shaking her head, “I don’t think so, no.”

He hums in acknowledgement.

“Well actually, there’s this theme park I wanted to go to with Sirius.”

Regulus nods, finding himself to be more heartbroken, “Right.”

“But if you’d like to come—,”

“Yes.” He says, a little bit too excited for his liking.

“—I can cancel on Sirius.”

Regulus clears his throat, attempting to conceal his embarrassment as her brows rise. His excitement was surely out of character. Something the reserved, quiet, and collected Regulus never does. But then again, he could never be his usual apathetic self whenever it comes to her now, could he?

He wonders what her pinched brows and confused eyes mean. Was it really that appalling that he wanted to go to the theme park with her? Was it wrong of him to show excitement for her offer?

She blinks. Seemingly taken aback to his agreement but her smile slowly blooms. A sight that would be replayed in his head repeatedly before he sleeps tonight, “Alright.”

—-

She finds her teeth slightly chattering from the cold. The weather was playing with her. It was bright and hot when they first came out of the house, but now that the sun is slowly retreating, the wind blows stronger and colder. She was never good with coldness in the first place but she certainly didn’t think it would be this cold tonight. Her thin layer of flannel did not help to preserve warmth and she knew she was pretty much screwed for the rest of the night.

Her knuckles were turning white, body shuddering as she tried to gain some warmth. She could see Regulus glancing at her every once in a while but he never said a word. She knew that he could tell that she was freezing. Hands burrowed deep into the pocket of his coat, Regulus is warm and cosy under his thick layer of wool coat and it's surely shredding all of her dignity to say it but Regulus was right, she should’ve brought a coat.

“Quite the gentleman, you are.” She remarks between her chatter.

“One warm gentleman, indeed.” He says, snuggling into his coat as he sighs “The weather is so nice tonight.”

She glares, certainly not appreciating his sarcasm.

“I’ve told you to bring a coat,” He says as a matter of factly “I’m not going to give you mine, just because you’re cold now. Even if you’re freezing yourself to death and begging me for it.”

“Oh just how chivalrous of a man you are, Regulus.”

He shrugs, buttoning his coat and snuggling deeper to it.

“I am not cold and I most certainly will not ask for your coat.” She replies, her anger giving her the slight raise of temperature “Don’t worry your infuriating little mind about me, Reg.”

Regulus smiles jubilantly, nodding.

She turns to look away, finding herself conflicted once again with his charms. On one side she wanted to slap that enchanting little smirk off of his face but a bigger part of her wanted to take a picture of him and keep it in her pocket. 

Regulus has been smiling a lot today, so she noticed. He was beautiful. More beautiful than she remembered him. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she could stare on his face straight on instead of stealing glances like she used to or perhaps Regulus has just simply been enjoying their time, she couldn’t really tell. All she knew is that he looks beautiful this way and she hoped he would show this side more to her.

Now they’re standing in line, waiting for their turn to try on the rollercoaster. Regulus notes lazily that it wouldn’t be much worse than flying for quidditch. He’s played some of the most brutal games as a Slytherin quidditch player, but James said that rollercoasters are worse than flying and she told him exactly that. 

“You can hold my hand if it’s too scary for you.” Regulus said as they put on their seatbelt.

If he didn’t have that mocking smirk on his face she would have let herself blush and enjoy the butterflies in her stomach, but instead she rolled her eyes, “You wish.”

But boy, how right James is.

Regulus seemed to be having the time of his life through the loops of the track as she screamed her lungs and clung onto him for dear life. He was laughing, happy cheers escaping his lips. If she wasn’t fighting for her life she would’ve been hypnotised by the happy scream Regulus was shouting. Funny how the one time Regulus truly enjoys their shared moment is when she’s trying her best to not shat her pants.

When the cart stopped, Regulus turned to see how tightly she’s been holding his hand. He smiled at the sight but bit it down and turned the other way before she could see it. She was still panting from the adrenaline but a bright smile was evident on her face. She too seemed to be enjoying the ride.

“Shall we go for another round?”

“I’d love to, but I’m not a big fan of the queueing line.” She says, peeking out “It seems to be longer than before.”

“Well, that’s why we’ve got wands, isn’t it?” Regulus says as he takes out his wand from his coat pocket.

“Regulus, what are you doing?”

Before he could utter the spell, she hurriedly pushed his wand away, widening her eyes in disapproval as Regulus kept his nonchalant self, “What?”

“You can’t use magic in the presence of muggles.” She scolds “What on Earth were you thinking?”

“You said you didn’t want to queue. We could just do a little confundus charm and they wouldn’t know a thing.”

Her jaw dropped, completely horrified at his mischief.

“Just relax.”

“No,” She said before he could take out his wand again “You’re not going to use your magic here.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Why not?”

“Will you two get off? We have a long queue.”

Regulus' glare was certainly terrifying that it made the operator step back, looking intimidated. The boy didn’t look much older than them which made her feel even more sympathetic that she pulled Regulus' arm, dragging him out of the cart with angry steps.

He followed her, a small smile was still tugged on his lips as he watched her. She was evidently seething, for whatever reason he couldn’t understand. He only wanted to make her happy. She said she wanted to go for another round and didn’t want to queue, so what exactly is the issue with doing a little confundus charm? It’s not like anyone would know.

“Alright, ground rule for the rest of the night.” She says as they stopped, turning to face him “No magic. No matter how simple the spell is, or how insignificant it is in your eyes, no magic is allowed.”

“Why?”

She widens her eyes, appalled, “You know why!”

Regulus couldn’t contain his laughter now. Her reaction warms his heart. He finds it adorable how she’s so worked up over little mischief he’s sure no one would bat an eye for. It fascinates him how for once he’s finally the troublemaker instead of the voice of reason. Being in a trio with Rosier and Crouch, Regulus has always been the moral police instead of the third rascal.

“Fine,” He says, messing her hair “No magic for the rest of the night.”

She was stupefied then. His beautiful smile, the tender noise and his gentle gesture, it feels like the Regulus she’s always dreamed of is finally hers. Her cheeks were turning rosy, flustered by the enchanting side he’s showing at the moment.

“Don’t do that,” She says, slapping his hand away from her head “No messing my hair either.”

“You’re blushing.” He remarks with a satisfied smile.

“I most certainly am not.” She argues “It’s from the cold air.”

“Oh, so you admit you’re cold now?”

She glares, not saying a word.

“I’m still not giving you my coat.” He says.

“I did not say I was cold nor was I asking for it.” She spat with evident vexation “Has anyone ever told you just how much of a pain you are, Regulus?”

He shrugs, “Only on my good days.”

She rolled her eyes, taking steps away from him.

Regulus was toying with her, she knew it, and as much as she tries not to give the reaction he’s craving for, she couldn’t help but to give it. He was always right, always so perfect for her to ever be truly angry. The fact that he’s being so lovely tonight makes it impossible for her to hold a grudge longer than three seconds.

“So where to next?” He asked, matching his pace with her.

“We’ve ridden all of the rides,” She says, looking around the park “But one.”

The rogue on her cheeks turn darker as she stares at the Ferris wheel. The stories of her muggleborn friends about how romantic Ferris wheel rides are, echo in her head. She didn’t understand what was so special about the ride. They could certainly just get on their broom to go up and see the city lights but muggles seem to romanticise the ride a lot and she couldn’t help but to hope to feel such romantism with him.

“Alright, shall we go then?”

She turns to meet eyes with him, nodding.

Now they find themselves sitting in one of the cabins. She couldn’t find it in her to see his face because she knew she would be blushing hard once again. The excitement is building up, making her giddy and skittish. She could only hope that the tapping of her feet wasn’t that obvious for him to notice.

“You alright?”

She nods, not facing him, “Yes.”

“Okay.”

Regulus finds it odd how she’s suddenly looking away, not sparing a second to see him ever since they headed to this ride. Was she still angry about him taking out his wand? Was it about him messing her hair? Or was it about something else?

“It’s nice up here,” He comments, trying to break the ice.

She hums.

“Reckon we can see your house from up here?”

“Maybe.”

Regulus frowns. Her sudden coldness was something he didn’t expect to see. Everything was brilliant just a minute ago. He enjoyed their time, feeling as if it was a proper first date for them to have, and he thought that she felt it too. Now he wasn’t so sure.

His finger taps on the metal cart, biting his lower lip as he thinks of the moment things went downhill. She still had that smile when they began walking. It only disappeared when she pointed at this ride, a ride that doesn’t look half as interesting as the others. Compared to the rollercoaster, Regulus would argue that this ride is dull and dreary. Is that really the cause of her sudden change of demeanour? That she didn’t really want to go up this ride?

“Can I ask you something?” She asks, suddenly facing him.

Regulus nods.

“Do you have any muggleborn friends, Regulus?”

He frowns, shaking his head, “No, not really.”

“Right,” She nods, muttering to herself “That makes sense.”

“What makes sense?”

“Nothing,” She lies “I just remembered that I’ve only ever seen you with Rosier and Crouch.”

Regulus clenches his jaw. Is that it? Is that why she’s suddenly distant now? That she’s thinking of Rosier? 

And he thought she was having fun with him. Apparently not.

“Is there something you wanted to know about?” He asked, digging his grave deeper “Do you want to know about my friends?”

“If you want to talk about them, I’m listening.”

Regulus bites the inner of his cheek. It hurts to know that she wanted to know about his friends better, that she was even thinking about them, when they’re literally on a date. Well, she didn’t say it was one but it should certainly be called as. What else would you call this? This certainly goes beyond what a friendly hang out is.

At least in his dictionary.

“You gave a rule earlier, so can I give one too?”

She nods, her brows furrowing a little at his question.

“Can we not talk about anything else but ourselves for the rest of the night?” He asked “I know I owe you a lot but I really hope we could finish the night with just the two of us.”

Her expression changed. There was a hint of tenderness Regulus couldn’t really put a word on. As if she was touched over his words. Like she didn’t expect him to want to spend the rest of the night with just the two of them.

She smiles, nodding, “Alright.”

They turned silent once more. But the air is certainly different now. Tension and awkwardness no longer linger around them, only comfort and mutual understanding that they both wanted to bask in this moment while it lasts. It fills both of their hearts to know that they’re enjoying their time spent together. If only they would say it aloud, they would’ve amplified their happiness by tenfold.

But after a couple minutes of silence, as their cabin got to the peak, the wheel suddenly stopped. The sudden halt was making her panic, squealing in fear as Regulus put his arm protectively around her. The engine stopped.

“Looks like we’re stuck here,” Regulus said, looking down to see people trying to work the machine “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” She said, still clinging on his arm “How long do you think we’ll be stuck here?”

Regulus shrugs, “How should I know? I’ve never been to these kinds of parks before.”

She frowns but remains quiet.

Regulus closed his eyes, feeling the light breeze of the wind as he relaxed his feet. It was refreshing up here. Quiet, calming, serene. It reminds him of his night flies around the castle whenever he needed to get some peace of mind and tranquillity. Perhaps he could go and find more of these rides some time.

One of the things he loved most about this moment is how she’s still holding his arm tightly. He smiles at the thought, how much more comfortable they are with each other over this date. Perhaps he should’ve done this years ago.

“This is nice.” He comments, still with his eyes closed.

Silence.

Regulus opened his eyes, turning to see her who has her head now resting on his shoulder, “Hey, you alright?”

“Do you think it’s still gonna be long until the engine comes back on?”

“I don’t know,” He says truthfully, pulling away to see her better “Are you okay? Should we just disapparate?”

“No,” She says fast, finally looking up to him “No magic, remember?”

“Well you don’t seem to be enjoying this ride.” He points out “Surely we can make an exception.”

“It’s not the ride that’s the problem,” She says, her teeth chattering a little “I’m cold.”

Regulus bites his smile. He wanted to rub it on her face, how he’s right from the beginning and she was just too stubborn to admit it, but the tormented look on her face made him think twice. She seemed to be really bothered by the coldness that to be fair, was nothing for Regulus, but still, he wouldn’t give his coat.

Instead, Regulus unbuttoned his coat and took off one side of it, gesturing to her to come closer.

“We both can’t fit inside, Regulus.” She notes.

“Well, I told you I’m not giving you my coat, so either we squeeze in or you freeze yourself to death.” He says with a nonchalant shrug “Your choice.”

She looks at him with disbelief. As if she couldn’t believe that the man sitting in front of him, acting cheeky and playful, was Regulus Black. Everything about him today just doesn’t make sense. From the moment he volunteered to come to the theme park, to asking her to snuggle close to him to share his coat now. Whatever happened to the apathetic Regulus Arcturus Black?

But she knew better than to complain about it. She enjoys every passing moment of the day. Every bicker, every annoyed remark, every feigned anger. She wouldn’t wish for any other way to spend the day.

And so she snuggled closer to him, encircling her arms around his body like a koala to a tree. His body warmth was comforting, along with the smell of his perfume. Regulus put the other part of his coat around her, trying to cover her as best as he could.

“Is this okay?” He asks. She could hear his heartbeat from the close proximity.

“Yeah,” She whispers, not looking up cause she knew her cheeks must be as red as tomatoes “Is this okay for you?”

Regulus hums, resting his chin to the top of her head.

“This is nice,” She says “I might actually fall asleep on you.”

He smiles, “Just don’t drool on my shirt.”

“No promises.”

—-

Regulus couldn’t recall the last time he woke up with such a light heart. The memory from last night still intoxicates him. How they spent hours waiting for the wheel to finally turn, to get them to the ground, yet neither of them were complaining. Matter of fact, he hoped that it would’ve lasted longer. He wouldn’t mind spending forever stuck in that cabin with her.

When he came down to the dinning hall though, a frown bloomed on his face. She was absent. Her plate was empty, cup cleaned as if she hadn't even used it. Only Sirius was present with a stack of toasts on his plate.

“Where is she?” Regulus asked.

“Resting,” His brother said “Where the hell did you go last night? Why did you come back so late?”

Regulus sniffled, taking a seat and fixing himself a cup of tea, “We just hung out, went to the park in the city.”

“Why did you come back so late then? There’s not much of a ride there.”

“We got stuck on the Ferris wheel for hours.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow, “Why didn’t you just disapparate?”

“She wouldn’t let us use magic. I don’t know, ask her.” He said, defensive “Why is she still resting? Isn’t it late already for her?”

“She’s sick, that’s why.”

“Sick? What do you mean she’s sick?” Regulu asked, feeling guilt to seep in “She was just fine last night.”

“She caught a cold. Fever and all,” Sirius said as he put a toast in his mouth, standing to leave for his room “Next time you go out with her, tell her to bring a coat, will you?”

Regulus rolled his eyes, “You think I didn’t tell her that?”

Regulus’ words were met by silence as Sirius entered his room. He begins to wonder if his banter of not giving her his coat was wrong, if their play stubborn was too far that it made her fall ill. It might just be one of those light colds, sure, but Regulus has never made anyone sick nor has he ever taken care of anyone unwell.

Should he even be taking care of her? Supposedly, yeah, seeing that he is her husband and the kind gesture she did the other week when she brought him his breakfast, but such action is strange for him. Where does he even start? How does he even do it?

—-

It was noon now and Regulus sprinted out of his room the moment he heard some noises in the kitchen. He saw Sirius left for whatever business he has so the only cause of such commotion would be her. He skipped down the stairs, feeling relieved to see her that is now enveloped under layers of blankets.

“You look awful,” He comments.

“Wow, thank you,” She retorts, sniffling “What a pleasant compliment, Regulus.”

Regulus bites down a smile, taking a seat opposite her, “Have you taken any meds?”

“Yeah, not much of a help so far, though.”

“Well, at least now you’ll remember to bring a coat whenever you go out.”

She glares at him, “You’re a prick, Regulus, do you know that?”

Regulus grins.

He watches as she fixes herself a cup of tea. One and a half teaspoon of sugar, no milk. He finds himself noting the small details of hers he didn’t know before. Like how she leans more on sweet kinds of breakfast instead of savoury ones, or how her brows are more often pinched than not whenever she’s thinking, or how the scent of rose from her was not from her perfume but her hand cream— her perfume was patchouli based.

“Do you not have any plans today?”

“No,” Regulus shakes his head “I prefer to stay in and read. I don’t normally go out.”

She hums in acknowledgement.

“Did you have plans for today?” He asked in return.

“Not really,”

Regulus nods, turning silent.

The only noise between them now was her sniffling. She taps on her cup, looking as if she has something she wanted to say but is still debating to utter it. Another thing Regulus takes note of— she fidgets quite a lot.

“Will you read for me?”

“No.” Regulus answers firmly.

“Oh come on, that’s the least you could do!” She whines “You got me sick!”

“You got sick because you’re too stubborn to listen to me.”

She huffs, “I wouldn’t be sick if you had given me your coat.”

“But then I’d get sick if I did.”

“Yes, but I’ll make you soup and read you a book, so you owe it to me.”

“You will not make me soup,” Regulus snorts, mocking “I doubt you even know how to turn on the cooker.”

Her mouth agape, offended, “That is beside the point, alright!”

“You don’t look sick enough for me to owe you a reading,” Regulus remarks, standing up from his seat “Feel better soon though. You look ghastly.”

“You—,” She said, throwing him a ball of tissue “And whose fault is that?!”

“Yours.”

“Regulus!”

Regulus chuckles, turning and heading back to his room. At least her anger is still intact. He could lose the bigger weight of guilt he’s feeling over her cold from the knowledge. Another thing to note, bring her coat for her the next time they go out.

↠ Part V

[likeburningcoal]

So I watched the first two episodes since they’re in English now. Live reaction:

LMK Season 5 spoilers under the cut:

Fun training session! Let’s go!

Tired MK is tired. Somebody get this boy the therapy he needs!

Wukong is trying to be responsible about the monkey form at least.

“I’m compartmentalizing!” XD me too MK, me too

MAC MAC MAC!!!! Also “Bud” not in a mocking way!!!!

“This mountain’s been by home just as long as yours” I’m screaming!!!

They’re working together! (Sorta)

Wukong confirming he didn’t know about MK!

Referencing Mac’s death and resurrection!

Ominous stone crack!!

Mei!! My girl!!!

THEY BUILT HIM A NEW HOUSE!!!!

Tang continuing the tradition of shirking the hard labor. Good to see he’s still himself.

THE PICTURES!!!

The origami!!

Even Mo gets a picture!!

HUG HUG HUG!!!

MK please chill, like even 2% calmer would be a major improvement. You need to rest and get therapy.

“Sleeping with the noodles”

Dadsy give him some comfort. Also send him to therapy. Or teach him cooking.

MK backstory! Noodles! Sleepy noodles!!!! That is so cute oh my god!!

MK is a heavy boi. Also sleepy.

“I love you, son” I am not emotionally prepared for the sheer amount of MK and Pigsy fluff in the last two minutes.

Mac sleeping with the little monkeys!!! At the tree!!!

Spooky goings on. References to Monkey King getting kidnapped to the underworld perhaps??

Stop blaming the monkeys for the things they’ve been trying to stop please. That’d be great. MK needs a nap. You could’ve waited for him to sleep.

Wukong throwing shade about the underworld situation. You tell ‘em!

Smug smile. Good monkey.

Mac canonically appears in the Monkey King Ace Attorney TV show? What?

Fillet?? Fillet??? Nezha?!? “Nezhie”?!??!?

Li Jing, hey, can’t say it’s a pleasure to meet you. Maybe take some parenting classes and then we’ll talk.

Mac trying to stop the fillet!!!

MK losing it a bit at that, love the concern for Wukong! They is a family!!!

Also Nezha trying to plea for them!

Underworld jail.

Grumpy Wukong and mopey Mac, I can just feel all the angst fics being written.

MK is trying so hard to free his mentor!

“It’s tense in here.” Gee I wonder why.

Secret plan with the fur? Secret plan with the fur? The nods?!

(I think I should interject here to point out, I rarely watch things without also doing something else to distract my hands, and yet my crochet has been forgotten because I’m having so many thoughts!)

Nezha providing exposition

Tang!Wukong, glasses is a must

Painted art style my beloved it’s good to see your return!

“My father is not the enemy” I mean he’s not exactly a pillar of goodness either my dude.

“I’m a clone”

Okay the running animation bit was actually pretty nice, love the movement. I like how they’re really trying to keep close to the original style of animation even though they’re working with a totally different tool set.

Mac, are you…are you Naruto running?

Wukong keeps doing the cutest smiles. I’m gonna have to go back through and grab some many screenshots.

Wukong and Mac just…knowing exactly how to fight together with no communication when they’re actually both on the same side.

Sandy got a new truck…

…And it’s gone, poor guy

MK worried that they’re just the harbingers of chaos when they have directly caused so few of the problems they’ve faced. Like, I get it, but maybe have some perspective. You know what would help with that? Therapy.

Just don’t explain anything. It’s fine. They’ll figure it out.

MK building powers!!

Fillet use!! Mac stepping in!! Mac sacrificing himself?!?!? Oh the angst fics will be legendary!!

“He always gets away, right?” Followed by sad face?!? OH THE ANGST FICS WILL BE LEGENDARY!!!

Monkey in pagoda. This feels familiar.

I’m sensing a later “boiling rock” style episode. Or else they all get trapped in there and have to bust out (Nezha helping them escape possibly?)

That was so good! I can’t wait for the actual proper release for better audio quality and more importantly MORE EPISODES!!

[domiforpresident]

Love to hate you, hate to love you ♡

|| Part 2

Paring: fem!blackreaderxRiriwillams

Summary: You and Riri have to work on an assessment together after school. Riri constantly tried to put up walls when around you, but you were willing to break them down. Though, Eventually she let them down for you.

Word count: 3.4k+

Warnings: slightly mean!riri, cursing, a little Riri angst (broke my heart to write fr)

This is briefly proof read so bare with me if there's any errors

Divider creds: @firefly-graphics

Dialog color coding: Riri, y/n, Maya, Riri’s Girlfriend

Tag list: @oceean @kya-rose @shahanaazsoumah @ririnator (if you wanna be tagged just lmk)

It had been a few weeks since you first encountered Riri. You couldn’t do your daily routine without thinking about her. You thought about her while in the shower and she even haunted you in your sleep. The only two places you thought you could escape the chokehold she had you in, she easily invaded. You barely even knew the girl but she was the only thing on your mind 24/7. Your notion to get back on Riri’s good side was still a priority of yours. You just didn’t know how to put it into motion. Riri had been skipping classes for the past few weeks. When you did see Riri The most interaction you had with her was when she would give you quick glance’s that came to an end as soon as she realized you were looking back. Today you hoped Riri would actually show up to class. You doubted she would though. Regardless, you got ready for the day like you usually do. You did your hair in twists, then did your edges. Next you put on a grey graphic sweater with light brown embroidered words on it, tan cargo pants, and your Jordan 1 dark mocha’s. You grabbed your tote bag and headed out the door, you would’ve eaten breakfast but you were too eager to see if Riri was going to show up to class today.

You were now walking down the halls headed to your class. You saw Riri’s girlfriend while turning a corner. This wasn’t anything new though you saw her quite often. But this time something was different, she looked worried, and she was coming your way. For god knows what you thought, maybe she had somehow found out you were plotting on her Girlfriend. Maybe she wanted to compliment your outfit, whatever it was you were anxiously anticipating what she was about to say to you.

“Hey y/n i was just wondering have you seen Riri” she muttered out fighting tears.

You thought to yourself how does she know my name if I’ve never spoken to her. In that moment though, the only thing you genuinely cared about was Riri’s well being.

“No, I haven't seen her yet, is she ok?” you asked.

“Yes she’s fine it’s just- never mind. If you do see her, let her know I just wanna talk to her.” Riri’s Girlfriend said while choking on her words a little as she walked away.

You remained standing there for a few seconds trying to brainstorm on what could’ve possibly happened as to where, Riri's Girlfriend would be fighting tears and asking where Riri was at. As well as why out of all people did she decide to ask you. At the end of the day It wasn’t your relationship issues, and even though she did tell you to let her know if you saw Riri you didn’t plan on doing so. You wanted a few moments with Riri to yourself. She would probably see Riri later on in the day anyway so you wouldn’t be hurting anyone by withholding that information you thought. you still needed to get to class so you headed down the halls once more.

Finally you had reached your destination, Now you were about to find out if Riri had skipped class again or if she was sitting in her designated seat right behind you. To your surprise there she was sitting down with air pods in. Riri had gotten her hair done in cornrows going straight back. She had on a black and white flannel, a white crop top that compressed to her body and revealed her abs, along with some baggy blue jeans that sat right on her waistline and a pair of black and white Jordan 4’s. You immediately perked up now knowing that she came to class today. You thought to yourself maybe today would be the day you could finally put your plan into motion.

You walked through the door with a big smile on your face and slid into your seat. The class was kind of chatty because your professor had stepped out for a second. You saw that as an opportunity to speak Riri and you took it.

“Hey Riri” you said with a small smile.

Riri ignored you. You thought it was because she couldn’t hear you over whatever she was listening to so you knocked on her desk. Lightly enough not to startle her but aggressive enough to get her attention.

"Huh?” Riri said as she took one of her air pods out her ear.

“Hey Riri” you said again with the same small smile in a sweet tone.

“What do you want that’s so important, that you had to interpret my music” Riri bluntly questioned.

“Well we do sit next to each other Riri, and you fr wanna go the whole year being rude to the person you’re sitting right behind??” you sighed out.

“So you didn’t have shit important to tell me. Made me cut off my music for nothing” Riri spat out at you.

“You should at least try to hold a normal conversation with me Riri, I’m gonna be here for the rest of the year. It wouldn’t hurt you to make a friend.” You said, trying your best to convince Riri to talk to you.

“and you should try to get off my-“

Before Riri could finish her sentence your professor walked in. She was still looking at you though. Instead of a look of irritation, She was looking into your eyes With that treacherous smirk on her face. At this point you couldn’t tell if Riri loved or hated you. She was so evil to you every time you and her talked and acted as if she hated you. But that smirk, her god awful Smirk said otherwise.

Your stomach was doing backflips and you felt yourself starting to blush. If you held eye contact with Riri any longer you knew you would say something to embarrass yourself so you turned around in your seat before you could. Riri let out a low chuckle. You were probably the only person who heard it. You thought her smirk was bad. But her laugh was worse, it made you feel like you were about to melt. It was so light and airy but so attractive at the same time.

“Ok guys we’re gonna be working on a project for the next few days, and you will be pairing up with your neighbors.”

Your professor then went on to further explain the assessment to the class. You were attentively listening, hoping to distract yourself from the way Riri made you feel. You knew that you liked Riri a lot, but nobody had ever made you flustered. It’s as if she knew ever button of yours to push. Riri got on your nerves, all while making you get butterflies in the same instance.

It was the end of class now and you needed to know where you and Riri were going to study. You turned around to face Riri again.

“So Riri…do you wanna study in my dorm or yours??” you asked her.

“My dorm. I don’t know what you got going on at yours.” Riri muttered the last part a little as if what she said had some underlying meaning.

“Well you’re gonna have to give me your number Riri, so i know what time to come over.” You explained.

“I don’t have to do anything. Maybe you should just read my mind and figure out when I’ll be ready to study ma.” She said mockingly as she threw that nick name at you again.

You found it corny coming from anyone else, but when Riri’s Chicago accent laced it, it sounded so smooth. However You were a soldier and you weren’t going to let Riri watch you fold that easily. Not yet.

“Riri I’m being serious” You picked up your phone. “put your number in my phone so i can text you when I’m on the way, and you can give me instructions to your dorm.” You spoke sternly trying to get your point across, and stand your ground.

“Hand me the phone y/n” Riri said as she rolled her eyes.

You handed her the phone and she put her number in it, then handed it back to you.

“Don’t try to come over after 10 though, My girlfriend is supposed to be coming over.” Riri said in a timid and exhausted tone.

You wanted to ask if she was ok, but you didn’t want to pry at her relationship problems, and risk the friendship with her that was slowly forming.

“Ok Riri that works for me, all i know is you better open the door when i get there.” You joked with Riri because you knew how rude she could be sometimes.

“I should keep yo ass locked out just for saying that” she joked back. In that low giggle that drove you insane.

“I’ll see you later Riri.” You laughed while walking out the door. Now walking in the hall’s, all you could picture was Riri’s low giggle, and how it danced off her tongue so smoothly.

You just made it back to your dorm. It was the end of the day now, all your classes were over. To your pleasant surprise, your best friend was there sitting on one of the beanbag chairs y’all had in the corner of your dorm. It’s been a while since you got a moment to talk to your bestie after she started spending the night over her boyfriend's apartment regularly. You needed a moment to catch up with her. So you dropped your tote bag on your bed and plopped down in the beanbag chair right next to her.

“Hey y/n, girl i was just about to text you and let you know i was here. I feel like we haven’t talked in forever.” Maya said while reminiscing on the conversation’s that you and her used to have.

“Maya so much has happened the past couple of weeks.” You began to explain. “You didn’t lie Riri’s lil butt is mean. I think that's one of the reasons why I like her.”

“You think you like Riri?? Need i remind you she has a gf." Maya tried warning you once again.

“I don’t think I know I like her. She’s literally all I think about, even if I wanted to stop thinking about her, I couldn't.” You tried to clarify.

“Well are you gonna shoot your shot or what? If you like her as much as you say you do, act on it girl.”your best friend tried to encourage you.

“Well it’s not that easy maya, I’m trying to build somewhat of a friendship with Riri. especially when thinking about the fact that the first time she spoke to me, she was yelling at me for scuffing her shoes.” You covered you face with your hand and blushed while saying the last part.

“You scuffed her shoes??” Maya couldn’t help but laugh.

“It wasn’t on purpose.” You blushed while laughing.

“Aww you really do like Riri huh??” Maya asked.

“I really do maya, and tonight I’m going to Riri’s dorm to work on an assessment with her.” You stated while smiling.

Your mind had now gone to the idea of being closer to Riri than what you usually were. You and her would possibly be inches apart, maybe even less than that. Riri was Making you nervous and she wasn’t even present.

Maya then got up from her bean bag chair. “Well good luck y/n I’ll talk to you later, and you better tell me how it goes with Riri.” Maya demanded in a playful manner.

Maya was now gone, probably at her boyfriends apartment. You were getting ready to go study at Riri’s dorm. You freshened up and took your hair out of the twist you put them in earlier today, and let your long thick 4-c hair fall to the middle of your back in a twist out. You now had on a white tank top, black sweatpants and your black converse. You texted Riri and let her know you were on the way to her dorm. When she texted you the directions, to your shock Riri lived right down the hall from you. So why hadn’t you seen her even if she wasn’t going to class? You had to save your thoughts for later though because now you were at Riri’s door. you knocked and she opened it.

“Hey Riri” you said while smiling. You were excited to see her and overjoyed that she opened the door the first time you knocked.

She had changed out of the clothes she had on in class and changed into a black wife beater, and black sweat shorts.

There was a moment of silence. She hit you with her extreme, and intoxicating eye contact again.

“So yo ass just gon stand outside all night, or you gon come in?” Riri grinned while giving you space to walk through the door.

You walked in her dorm. You would be lying to yourself if you said you thought Riri was going to properly invite you in. she welcomed you into her dorm without something extremely snarky to say. In your eyes that was progress.

“You can sit on the bed, I already started working, if you need help on anything I can explain it to you.” Riri told you.

For the first time Riri didn’t have something snarky to say to you. She genuinely wanted to get her work done. It’s not like she was in a rush though. When you sat down on her bed you saw she was practically done with the assessment. So why did she still invite you over, you thought to yourself.

Riri walked over to her bed and sat down right across from you, you and her notes were the only thing separating y’all. As you and Riri got to work you realized that you both work very well together, when she’s not trying to be rude to you.

An hour had passed, you and Riri were finishing your assessment, along the way you and her cracked a few joke's. As you and her were laughing a knock came from the outside of Riri’s door.

“Hold on y/n let me see who it is” Riri said as she looked at the door confused.

“Alright, don’t take too long though I’m starting to get sleepy, and we need to finish up.” You said as you smiled at Riri as she walked to the door.

You couldn’t help but be nosy and try to see who was knocking on Riri’s door at this time of night. It was a man. Specifically a white man. What the hell was a white man doing outside of Riri’s dorm room, especially at night!? You thought to yourself.

“I thought I told you not to come to my door anymore. If you want something done you gotta go to the website.” Riri said in an irritated voice.

Before the white boy could say anything else she slammed the door on his face. You couldn’t help yourself at this point you had to ask Riri what that was about.

“Who was that, your friend or something??” You asked.

“Nah just a customer” she put air quotations around the word customer, so now you were even more confused.

“Customer for what??” You asked once more.

“You came here to study, not be all up in my business” She argued.

“Oh come on Riri, we been playing and laughing this whole time. Now you wanna be rude again??” You rebutted.

You saw Riri break a little in that moment, she semi let down her walls for you.

“So basically…” Riri began. “I do people’s assignments and assessments, for a price of course. I make pretty good money off of it too.” She explained. “I figured, the work is mad easy for me so while I’m here i might as well get something out of it.” She added.

“No I get that, especially when thinking about the fact that you’re a black queer woman operating in a mainly white space, it wouldn’t hurt to have some extra money on the side.” you agreed.

“Exactly, these white people lucky to have me, not the other way around.” Riri proclaimed.

“Don’t say that too loud, they might hear you and come to get you, because god forbid a black woman have confidence in her intelligence.” You joked.

Riri was starting to blush. You were validating her experiences which no one had ever done for her before. It was definitely a sight you could, and planned to get used to.

“I’m glad you invited me over Riri, it was nice studying with you.” You said as you packed up your things.

“I guess it wasn’t unbearable to study with you either y/n.” She said with a subtle smile on her face.

Riri wasn’t smirking at you, she was actually smiling at you?? you managed to make Riri smile.

“Good night Riri” you smiled back while rolling your eyes and walking out her door.

You had made real progress with Riri today, you actually made her smile. Not only was she smiling but she was smiling at you. The sight melted your heart.

You were back at your dorm now, you Changed out of your sweatpants, and into some pajama shorts. As You were laying down in your bed drifting off to sleep, you got an unexpected text from Riri.

"Can I come over? I know it's late but I really need someone to talk to."

"Yeah of course Riri" you texted her back. If anyone else asked your immediate answer would've been no, but with Riri it was different.

You didn’t know what to expect when Riri got to your dorm. It was late as hell. What could Riri possibly want to talk about?

It had been 5 minutes since Riri texted you and you heard a knock at your door. When you opened it, to your shock Riri’s eyes were puffy and red. She had tears falling down her cheeks. You instinctively pulled Riri into a hug.

"Oh my God Riri what the hell happened." You asked in a concerned tone as you walked Riri over to your bed.

"Um- my…my girlfriend came over and we started arguing really bad, it got mad heated." Riri whispered as she barely got her words out.

"Riri calm down, take your time." You soothed her while rubbing her back.

"Whenever we're arguing she takes the lowest blows at me, and I don't know what I did or do to-"

You immediately cut Riri off.

"Riri, she's supposed to be your significant other, the person that's your peace. If she's going out of her way to make you feel bad about yourself then that's not your fault. Don't ever think it is." You said wholeheartedly.

All Riri could do was slightly smile at you. The real reason she chose to come to your dorm is because she knew that you would validate her feelings about the situation. With the short time shes known you she took note that you valued how she felt, and You genuinely cared about her.

"I really do appreciate that y/n." Riri said as she embraced you in a hug.

"It's the truth Riri, you should be with someone who respects you and doesn't make you feel this way." You told Riri.

"Y/n do you mind if I stay here for the night, I don't want to deal with her ass anymore for now." Riri asked.

You took Riris cheek into your hand and rubbed it gently.

"Of course you can my love" You lightly giggled as you answered.

Riri had eventually calmed down after talking for a little bit longer. When you and her laid down She nuzzled her head under your chin and sat it on your chest. You didn't position Riri to do it, she just did it. You could've sat there forever just soaking in the moment, you were on cloud 9. You couldn't understand why Riri decided to texted you and only you in her time of need but she did. She found security in you.

The next morning Riri was gone. She sent you a text before she left that read,

"I genuinely appreciate what you did for me last night y/n."

As you read it You were still high off the fact that Riri was nuzzled up under you. It was the next day but your heart was still racing a little. Riri made you feel a way no one else could. Whenever you thought about her you cheesed so hard your face started to hurt. Today's challenge was figuring out what last night Meant for you and Riri’s relationship. She had a girlfriend but it was extremely obvious that their relationship wasn't healthy. You also weren't too fond of the idea of being a rebound. You cared for Riri too much for your own good and You needed her like oxygen.

It broke my heart having to hurt Riri a little, but I hope yall enjoyed 😭💙, also this is gonna be a mini series so probably like 4 or 5 parts it really depends.

[kadextra]

I have thoughts about q!Bad taking the soul vulture outside earlier because that really surprised me

He was sitting, depressed on the church roof talking about missing his kids in full view with it leashed by his side. Just numbly monologuing and barely acknowledging it was there as it continually kept on attacking him. He made no moves to stop what was happening, then just put it back in the box.

First of all. why????????

Like I can see no world where this was a rational decision???? Dapper kept these creatures under extremely tight security underground for a reason, because if the Federation/Code found out what they were capable of it could spell the end for everyone. In their journal, Dapper wrote about a time when one did accidentally escape outside, and she panicked and ran all over the server trying to contain it… now we have Sadboyhalo here choosing to take one out in public, attached to himself. Any islander could’ve walked by at any moment and saw him, put two and two together that this is the thing that’s been hurting him, the Federation could’ve seen it. this might literally be something that Dapper may consider a leak/betrayal too?

Maybe, q!Bad took it out to feel closer to his son on their birthday in some kind of twisted way, because it was the last thing they shared together? But then he easily could’ve gone to the actual secret soul vulture lab, right next to the sign she left and not take it outside??????? was it simply more self destructive behavior in a particularly bad moment? then why have it so risky in the open? idk guys it doesn’t make sense….maybe it’s not supposed to.

We’ve had the thought that he’s been using the soul vultures to continue Dapper’s research on the soul hearts / soul potions. Yeah I do think that he might be, but do I think that’s all? No. It has gone way too far for it to be just that anymore. I’ve been wondering this for a long time but today kinda proves it for me, I’m 100% sure that the soul vultures are playing as a symbolism for q!Bad’s mental state at the same time as causing a physical plot effect on the character. it’s the self-destructive behavior, the drastic actions he is willing to take, his pov of being expendable

At first, they reflected his torn up grieving mind and he’d go down to the cage on purpose to hurt himself. The damage started to leave lasting impact on his body with the blue corruption that’s gotten worse and worse, along with his mental health. Then he released a vulture in the cage to torture Ron, showing how far he was willing to go in crossing the line. Now, post-psychotic breakdown he brings the vulture out in public, which directly precedes what? him suddenly opening his house to the public for everyone on the server to come celebrate Dapper’s birthday party, where they got front row seats to the delusions he’d only been doing in private. it was so weird from him because this man never invites people to his house like that.

What is he intending by doing all of this? is he intending anything? how much is all part of his big plans, and how much is driven by emotion or a lack of lucid decision-making? maybe this new behavior is because he thinks his delusions can no longer be contained in “safe places” like his home anymore (because are they even safe?) and so he’s not caring to show it. or maybe he wants people to pay more attention as a cry for help?

I really have no idea but everything is soooo obviously getting worse with him. and his friends might be seeing more of this from here on out

[cielie-voss]

Accidental encounter. ~ Eddie Munson x Reader

Summary: Eddie and you have a very accidental encounter at night.

Triggerwarnings: except for a bad suicidal joke none I think.

word count: 1.7k

Masterlist

If you want to be tagged in coming fanfics or if you want to request something, feel free to send me a dm or an ask. 🥰 Likes, comments and especially reblogs are always welcome. 🤗

Biggest thank you goes out to my lovely @violetmiroh for helping me with everything, encouraging me and dealing with my verbal diarrhea and absolute nonsense without complaining. 💕

It's a miracle he sees the body laying on the ground a few feet in front of him in time, so he has the chance to react and hit the brakes before something bad could happen. Outraged, he jumps out of his van and stomps in the little cone of light his remaining flashlight casts on the street, the one flashlight he didn't crash against the fence with.

“What the hell are you doing? I could’ve killed you!”

With a heavy sigh you try to cover the smile that creeps on your lips. What unspeakable joy spreads in your chest to be the one joking around, leaving him speechless.

“Yeah, but unfortunately you didn’t. So try again.”

He furrows his brows and cocks his head as he looks at you, a worried expression on his face.

“But you didn’t try to kill yourself, do you?”

"Tried to kill myself? On an empty road? Yeah, very effective.” You roll your eyes as you prop yourself up on your elbows. “I’m waiting for Merry and Pippin to pick me up so we can join the ents on overtaking Isengard.” With a deadpan expression you wait for his reaction, but Eddie is too stunned by your answer, he’s lost for words. He needs a moment to process what you just said before shaking his head and questioning confused “What?”

“I’m stargazing, dumbass.”, you confess a few moments later. “The stars are so wonderful tonight. Look,” you point up in the sky, eyes wide and mirroring the stars above your heads.

“see? Right there.” He follows your gaze and after a short while the sight of a bright shooting star enchants him. It’s the first one he’s seen in a long time. In years to be exact. How come he forgot the joy of just stargazing, watching the peaceful nightsky and clearing his mind?

A soft ‘wow’ escapes his lips as he turns back to you. Your gaze is still fixed on the sky but out of the corner of your eye you can clearly notice the smile on his face.

Satisfied you lay back down on the still warm pavement and cross your arms behind your head. “Awesome, right?”, you ask and take in a deep breath.

“Hell yeah.” Eddie is surprised by the warmth the ground still radiates hours after the sun already disapeared as he lays down next to you. More and more shooting stars light up the dark sky as you silently just lay there and watch the sky, count the endless stars, trying to identify the many starconstellations, making wishes each and everytime another comet crosses the sky above. Hours could’ve passed, days or even months, Eddie wouldn’t mind, as long as he can enjoy this little peace he found next to you. Next to you …

Like a lightning it struck him. He is actually lying next to you, not even a few inches seperates him from you. And all of a sudden Eddie feels his heart violently beating in his chest. What is it that makes him feel this way suddenly? That makes him feel so anxious? Is it the fact that he is all alone with you? You two have never been alone together. There was always someone else. Teachers or your little brother with his friends or other students. It's not like you are friends or something like this. You share a few classes, barely ever talked to each other outside the occasional group work. But he would be lying if he said he never tried to catch a glimpse of your cute face. He spent extra hours at the library instead of being home when he planned a new campaign. The way you always poke out the tip of your tongue when you're concentrating on your homework or when you frantically seek your pencil between your papers, the pencil you pushed through your braid moments earlier, never failed to make him smile like an idiot. But he's never been so close to you.

Maybe it's because he got to know another side of you? A soft and vulnerable side, not the quiet and reserved version you are at school? A side no one else in school can ever see?

A shiver runs down his spine as he secretly glances at you. His eyes catch a glimpse of you just for a split second, but the way your eyes are halfway shut and your soft lips form a pleased smile burns into his brain and he hopes he’ll always remember this picture.

Eddie can’t describe it, there are no words for this, but the way this moment makes him feel is better than anything he ever experienced. Grounded and satisfied, one with the world around him but at the same time soaring higher and higher on this happiness, as if nothing could go wrong or hurt him anymore.

But he knows he can’t lay next to you like this forever. Already knowing he has to leave this moment anytime stings like needles in his heart.

“Eddie?” Your voice breaks the silence you’re in and pulls him back out of his thoughts. Only now does he realize that he stares at you, his eyes glued to your face as if he was trying to memorize every freckle on your cheek, every lash that frames your beautiful y/e/c eyes, every curve your lips make wearing this kind smile.

“Oh, sorry, didn’t … I didn’t mean to … you know …“ What is this spell you cast on him to make him this … this … tongue tied?

“Stare like a creep?”, laughing you interrrupt his nervous rambling noticing how his cheeks begin to glow redder and redder the more he tries to talk himself out of this.

“Yeah, didn’t mean to stare like a creep, sorry.” He hufs to cover up the embarressment he feels creeping up. “I just - I never saw you from this close and I …” Again his ability to articualte vanished completely, leaving a big blank space in his brain. “Never noticed how beautiful you are.” The words tumble out of his mouth without permission of his brain. The second these words left his mouth he wants to punch himself. Well, now she thinks you’re a creep, Munson, he tells himself squeezing his eyes.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me, really. I think I should -” Before he could finish the sentence with the word leave, you grab his hand and squeeze it gently.

“Thanks.” Carefully he opens his eyes again and looks at you, finding you smiling at him. “By the way, I think you’re really handsome too.” Now it’s your turn to blush like a little kid.

Eddies lopsided smile only grows wider at the sight of the little dimples that now appear on your cheeks. Your smile is radiant, lighting up your face brighter than the sun could ever do and Eddie swears he has never seen a more beautiful thing on this goddamn earth.

“So you think I’m handsome?”, he begins to tease you with a smirk on his face. A whole heartedly laughter escapes your chest as you turn away from him.

“What's so funny ‘bout that?” His laugh is deep and vibrating as he joins your giggles, poking your upper arm in hopes you turn back to him, he already misses your eyes and your freckled nose.

“Nothing, Munson, nothing.”, you tried to assure him, but your giggles make your statement implausible.

“Yeah, sure.”, he sarcastically retort and sits up crosslegged, looking at you in a mock-pouty manner.

“Why can’t you simply take a compliment without making a joke out of it? Can’t you just accept the fact that I think you’re a handsome guy?” The giggling dies down in your throat, the smile remaining on your lips as you too sit up, hand behind your back for support. “Or do you really think I’m joking, because I’m not, y’know?” You cock your head as you look at him, scanning his face that’s framed by his wild curls, his dark chocolate brown eyes that reflect the stars. “I mean, I’m sure you may cross a mirror or two a day so you know how you look. And you must be an idiot to think you look - “ As you try to explain to this boy that he, in fact, is really handsome and that you’re not joking around with him, you suddenly feel his calloused hand pressed against your skin, cupping your cheek.

And before your perplexed mind has the chance to analyze the moment and prepare you for what's about to happen next, his lips already crashed on yours. Although all this happens so fast, faster than your mind could understand, the way his lips moved so smoothly with yours feels like slow motion.

You break the kiss and gasp for air. "What the actual fuck was that, Munson?" You have to admit, your question came out ruder than intended. With wide eyes you look at him, not knowing what exactly the kiss sparked inside of you, but you like it. You even like it more than you thought you would. And more than what was good for you.

"God, I'm so sorry really. I -" With shaking hands he combs the strands of hair away and rubs his hands over his face. "This is so embarrassing, I'm deeply sorry if I…"

"No." You stop him, your voice barely above a whisper. "No." More words than that just refuse to come out, your mind is completely blank, the only things that won't get out of it are his lips, his touch and the smell of cigarettes and cheap perfume.

To your surprise you had to find out that his hair is way softer and fluffier than it looks like as you bury your fingers in his mane, pulling him closer to you.

Your heart beats so fast and so loud, you ask yourself if he could hear it as you lean forward into another kiss.

_________

If you want to be tagged in coming fanfics or if you want to request something, feel free to send me a dm or an ask. 🥰 Likes, comments and especially reblogs are always welcome. 🤗

[vclvetfleur]

Freak show Chapter 7

Buggy x fem!reader

Summary: Buggy has awoken to the betrayal and is determined to find you. You had quickly escaped the island in search of somewhere new before Vivienne requested a celebration back home.

WC: 3.5K

Notes; I had edited this chapter a bit, unsure of the exact sequences were going to play

Chapter 7: Hide and seek

Buggy’s crew had turned their heads to noises of things slamming and yelling. “Where the fuck is it? Where the fuck did that whore go!?” He screamed, throwing things across the room recklessly as he searched for the missing map. “That fucking bitch!” He stormed out of his quarters, face flushed hot red. “Listen up! The map was stolen last night! And judging that we had a few acquaintances just leave, we’re packing up and leaving!” Buggy announced. “But Captain- we set everything up…” One of the acrobats in Buggy’s crew chimed in. Buggy shot them a look, warning them to keep quiet before having to deal with consequences. “Get your shit. And pack up!” He slammed his hand against the pole holding their flag. The crew quickly fled and followed his orders.

Buggy ordered the rest of the crew that was responsible for navigation to sail in half an hour.  Once our ship was in view, they needed to prepare for war. Buggy felt foolish to ever let his guard down. To even trust you. This had to be your plan all along. Insecurities came through. Why would someone like you ever actually go out of their way to express some kind of attraction to him? What was he even thinking? If only he didn’t ask you to stay with him. This could’ve been prevented. But a mistake like that could not be brought up to the crew. He would look weak. Just a weak clown who fell for a whore’s tactics to rob him blind.

He locked himself in his training room, throwing knives and training his body for battle. He was determined.

-----------

You felt bad for tricking him. But it was for the best. You had no time to pick up a lover if you were gonna be Queen of the Pirates. You were too busy to even think about Buggy’s feelings. Plus, how badly could it of hurt? Maybe it bruised his ego. But definitely didn’t do much. Maybe it made him realize how idiotic he was.

Some part of you still felt some remorse. He was so careful of you after putting your body through all that. He let you bathe and held you all night. He made sure you felt safe in his arms. He was vulnerable. He fully revealed himself to you. It had to be an act. He had to have wanted you to put your guard down.

You laid on your hammock, your eyes watching the clouds dance through the sky. “You seem like you’re back to normal…” Vivienne interrupted your daydreaming. You turned your body to the side, shrugging. “Have I not been acting like myself?” You wondered. Maybe spending all your time with your crew was a bit strange to them.

“You never really cooked before. So yeah-pretty strange. Rumor has it Buggy snuck a knife into the cell and nearly killed you.” She revealed the details of this supposed ‘torture’.

“I just don’t wanna get into it…” You murmured. This was the best outcome. Slightly embarrassing, but it’d be more embarrassing if they knew the truth.

“We should celebrate.” Vivienne requested. Your lips curled into a frowned smile, suppressing the enjoyment of the idea. “Anywhere in particular?” You wondered. “Home.” Vivienne and you haven’t been back to your village since you left for sea. Parts of you missed it. It’d be nice to actually go back. You pondered on the idea before silently nodding. “Let the navigation team know…” You half whispered. Vivienne nodded, leaving you in your silence.

You sighed, going back to watching your clouds. It would be nice to lay low in your old village. Maybe give back to it to help the villagers. You and Vivienne often snuck away together to other villages on the island for weeks to months at a time to stay away from all the memories and overall status of the village, but once you both set sail it hurt to leave. You left your mom and dad’s grave. It’s been so long since you’ve talked to them. You used to spend hours talking to them. But that was years ago. You felt guilty for not having returned in a while.

‘I’ll see you guys soon…’ you hoped they could hear you. Wherever they were now.

The next couple of days were spent sailing before landing at the village. You shot up from your seat, watching the shore get closer and closer. “Vivienne! Vivienne!” You cried out for her. You rush to find her, shouting her name, giggling, and smiling as you do. “We’re here!” You tried to warn her. She left her quarters, running to the main deck to get a view of the shore. You followed suit and watched as the boat landed.

“Pirates!” You watched a young girl run and scream. You jumped off the boat, looking around. It was the same as you left it. “Hey! Little girl! It’s okay! We’re not here to hurt anyone.” Vivienne tried to calm her nerves. But it didn’t seem to calm her anymore. She had already gotten the attention of the villagers. The mayor stepped out, sword in hand ready for attack. “Girl…” He stopped, his eyes large, his mouth hung slightly open. “So, this is where you two ran off to this time…” He murmured. He had watched over you and Vivienne for a few months while you and Vivienne were in your pre-teens. No one else was willing to take you both in. Especially with your abilities. Vivienne was more welcomed by them than you ever were. They knew you’d just cause issues. But Vivienne never found it fair to have a place to call home when you didn’t. You both put the mayor through hell while under his care. The poor guy.

“I assumed you just went on your little adventures… or just left.” His voice hinted at disappointment. He essentially stared at you both like monsters.

“We’re here to repay the town…” You mumbled. “Gil! Get the bag!” You called out. You and Vivienne set up a bag of stolen loot that you both deemed appropriate to give to the village. It just fell a little short of 7 million berries. You weren’t willing to give up so much of your belongings away.

“We don’t need your stolen money.” A familiar face came out. She was slightly older, but you remembered her. Mina. It was a friend of your mother. She was one of the last remaining people who survived the raid that destroyed the village years ago. You fell silent. This was a terrible idea. “Even after everything… you really became a pirate? Knowing what they did…” Her disgust was clear through her words.

“I-I just thought… Look- I’m just here to speak to my parents.” You tried to walk past, being stopped by the older woman.

“Please… do what’s best and leave.” Her brown eyes softened as she stared into yours. Vivienne held your arm for support, hoping you wouldn’t later take this out on the crew. Your eyes welded up with tears, shaking your head.

“I’m not gonna leave. We’re staying here for a few days. My bounty is way too high to be back at sea. If you can live with sending your best friend's daughter out to die, go ahead. But we’re staying.” You pulled yourself together. The happy demeanor going back into the demeanor you always held. You drew your sword out, your eyes darting at the villagers. “Anyone wanna say anything?” You vaguely threatened.

“Just let them stay…” The same young girl from earlier spoke. “Please… I don’t want anything bad to happen.” The mayor huffed, giving in to your demands. “Fine. A week and you two are gone.” He walked away, unwilling to argue. You drew your sword back, shoving into Mina’s shoulder. “We were hoping for a celebration. You all have to work for your berries now.” You taunted.

Vivienne tried to chase after you, but you denied her any access to you. You went to the one place you longed to go for years.

You sat down at the infamous graveyard that was held as a memorial for that faithful day. You knew the route to them like it was written into your brain. You sat down, facing the two small graves. You wished you had enough time to buy them a new hedge stone. Something they deserved. You talked and talked, trying to catch them up about the past couple of years and your adventures. They wouldn’t be proud, but if it was something you truly desired, they always gave in. Every toy you eyed was yours. Every candy bar. Every dress. It was yours with just a look. You didn’t even shed a tear. You were just happy to be able to spend the time you did. But time was up. Now to play your role as a pirate.  

You went into town, searching for your crew. It wasn’t heard to find most of them. “We’re still celebrating. If they try anything, don’t do anything. Just call me.” You instructed. You went into a local restaurant and demanded for them to make you a feast. “There’s no time. We have customers to take care of.” The owner tried to stand up for himself.

“Oh? I’ll slaughter every one of them then… So, either tell them to leave or they’ll leave 'cause I made them.”

You struck immediate fear. This is what they submitted you to. You just played your role accordingly.

The rest of the nights that went by you and your crew went from restaurants to bars to shops and demanded whatever you desired. And the mayor could not speak a word of it.

You ate till your bellies were full and drank until you forgot what you all have stolen or done the next evening. Vivienne was the only one who stayed mostly sober. Not out of guilt. She believed they deserved it. But to speak to her lover from across the sea. She was careful not to give up the location this time though. Cabaji informed her about Buggy’s new reign of terror. He has been going from port to port in search of you. It was endless. He definitely took his frustration out rather quicker than ever. He had thrown a crew member overboard for telling Buggy to ease up. He has gone completely mad.

You had two more nights to spend in the town, spending a lot of it talking to your parents, mostly apologizing for your actions. You knew it wasn’t right. But you needed to survive somehow.

You retreated into town, hearing screaming. You rushed, expecting a crewmate to be harassing a villager. You specifically told them to always get you first. What was the moron doing? The closer you got, the more screams you heard. Not just one. But multiple. From men, women, children. Fuck… a raid. You vanished; your sword being drawn before spotting the familiar attire. He was here… How did he find you so fast?

You began your attack, tackling and fighting off members as they tried to find the source of the kicks and punches thrown. You knocked down one of Buggy’s first men. Your boot crushing his chest as you threw one more kick his way before being knocked to the ground. You tumbled, looking around before spotting the bright azul hair. “Stop fucking hiding coward!” He shouted into the air.

There. You appeared in front of him. “Get out Buggy. This place has nothing to offer you.” You warned. “Oh. But you do. Where’s my map your sneaky little rat!” his fists clenched as the veins in his muscles and neck appeared more clearly.

“I’ll give it to you if you leave. Now please. Leave. Your problem is with me. Not them.” You calmly tried to reason with him. You lied though. You’d never give it to him.

“Why the fuck do you care about them? Oh… this place is special, isn’t it?” he tilted his head. His smile appeared for the first time in weeks, purely out of amusement. He struck a nerve. Something that meant something to you. “What’s so special about this place? Hmm? Care to speak up beautiful?”

“Buggy- don’t fucking start. You don’t want to start this.” Your hands out like a dog trainer dealing with a vicious rabid dog.

“You started it first!” His voice boomed through the town. Your shoulder automatically raised, to shield you. His hand flew your way before sending you fly once it hit impact onto your body. Your back fell as you slid against the dirt.

The mayor watched in terror. “This is exactly why we told you to leave!” He hollered. “You’re gonna get yourself killed! Don’t be stupid!” He finally showed some care for you. He tried to bury it, but it’s hard after witnessing someone you watched grow up being beaten in front of you.

“Mayor Tenile, Go inside. Get everyone out of here. Now.” You warned.

“Oh- you’re on a first-name basis? Do you know each other?” Buggy put the pieces together. He watched your face, reading into your slight body movements. Your body tensed up, taking in more breath to calm your nerves “This is your home, isn’t it?” Buggy laughed manically. “Oh no! What a shame! I never realized what a dump you were from. Wow- I’m doing you a real favor, place is hideous. Not even a lick of color at all. No wonder you have the dark and gloomy look going on.” His laugh grew louder.

“Just stop… please.” You tried to plea once more. You thought of something idiotic, but it might work. It worked on most people after all. You sat on your knees, pressing your chest up slightly. Your hands coming together, arms right under your breast. Your eyes give the puppy dog look to them. “Buggy- I’ll give you anything. Just stay away from here.”

Buggy stared you down, his eyes scanning you. “You’re not that sneaky.” His knife flying your way. You vanished, moving quickly out of the direction. You got up quickly before making a run towards him. Your sword going through his torso. You needed to find a way to get him away. The question of how would trip you up. You thought of something. You rushed to the ship as fast as you could. “Hey! Don’t back out of a fight now!” Buggy called out as he attempted to follow the footsteps. You dug through your belongings before finding the map. You had such little time before Buggy destroyed the whole village.

You left the cabin, watching as Buggy’s body stood at the port, waiting for you. “Really? You’re playing hide and seek now?” Buggy accused you. “No- I have something you want. So- either leave or it’s being thrown into the ocean.” You marched up to the railing of your ship. You held your arm out, map hovering over the ocean. “Now leave.” You slowly let two fingers go of it as it was secured only against your thumb and finger and pointer finger. Buggy had no time for this game. His hand flew over, attempting to yank the map away from you. Your grip was on tightly. A yank of the map pulled most of your body towards the right. Your body attempted to keep its balance over the railing, but ultimately failing. Your feet slipped off as your body fell mid-air.  Your grip of the map immediately lets go. Your hands attempted to hold onto something to keep you from falling into the water, but everything was just out of reach. Buggy’s fist grabbed the map retrieving it from you. He was confident you wouldn’t actually hit the water. This had to be a trick. He just waited for the reveal.

Your body smacked against the water, your clothes immediately weighing you down. Your arms attempted to push you up, but there was no use. You sunk lower and lower, unable to get a single breath in while you were under. Your vision grew hazier by the second. Your head felt woozy. It wasn’t long before your vision went completely blind.

Buggy waited, but nothing. This wasn’t a trick… His immediate panic set in. But he couldn’t come grab you. He’d die trying.

Your body laid there, unconscious. Your dress sunken to the floor with you as your hair seemed to flow against the currents. You had finally been defeated by Buggy.

Buggy panicked trying to find a way to get you out. There had to be someone who could help. He heard a rustling in the bushes, turning his head to find an older woman with long black hair, knife in hand. She had been spotted. She charged out with the knife, swinging it at him. Buggy didn’t move for a second. “What are you?” She cried as she kept trying to make an impact. Buggy was losing time. He grabbed her wrists, staring down at her. “Stop! I will leave if you do one thing. Just-“ He made the deal. “I will call my crew off immediately.” “Why would I believe you?” She attempted to pull her hands away. “Cause you can do something for me,” Buggy spoke quickly, knowing you barely had a minute left. She broke down her boundaries and opted to listen to what he had to say. Buggy quickly explained, stumbling over his words, but Mina took no time to try to save you. Despite her grievances, she couldn’t live with the fact she could actually save you. She snagged her shoes off before diving into the water.

Mina dove into the water, scanning the water to find you, sinking herself deeper and deeper before finding you. You laid there. Finally at peace. You looked softer weirdly. You didn’t have the same angry look you had all the time. Your eyebrows softened and your body was less tense. She grabbed your arm quickly before swimming to the surface. She swam above the sea, holding onto the deck as she attempted to pull you up. Buggy rushed to help, grabbing your arms out of the water and pulling you up.

Mina left the water after, standing above you. She shook her head before getting onto her knees. She pressed her hands against your chest, stopping to hear for a heartbeat or breathing.  

“You idiot. This would’ve never happened if you only kept a simple life…” She whispered.

Buggy kneeled down, shoving Mina out of the way. None of this was working. He turned you to the side, hoping you wouldn’t die from choking on water you’d eventually throw up.

You regained your eyesight. Everything was brighter yet still fuzzy. You turned around, kneeling on your hands and knees, water spilling out from your lungs and stomach. Mina rubbed your back and removed your hair away. She shushed you, trying to comfort you as you coughed out mostly everything before fully coming to. You looked to your left to see Buggy sitting there. Blood-boiling rage took over. You stood up quickly, kicking Buggy farther onto the floor. “Get out of here!” You drew your sword, pressing the blade onto Buggy’s neck.

“He was just on his way…” Mina tried to intervene.

“If I could- I would kill you right now… You don’t deserve it though. Next time you see me in your path, leave. I can never forgive you… Your ego has gone too far. First, you destroy my village and attempt to kill me? I don’t even want the map anymore. Keep it. It’s as worthless to me as you are right now. You’re nothing, but a circus freak. Now get your men. And leave.” Your words getting caught in your throat. Your jaw tightened as you unknowingly grinded your teeth. Your vision grew blurry once more as tears filled the brim of your eyes. You were foolish. You’ve betrayed Buggy countless times. But this had gone too far. It stung more knowing the new history you’ve created together. The way you both let each other see such vulnerabilities. But that’s all it was. History. “It’s just business. Don’t forget it.” Buggy shoved your sword away before going back into town. He quickly recruited his men before making a departure. You couldn’t look at him. But you knew he couldn’t stop looking at you. He wanted to plead to you. But there was no use. Everything he thought of saying would do nothing.

He had to be okay with the story you convinced yourself happened.

It wasn’t long before you collected your crew as well. You couldn’t be here any longer.

You recollected the money you promised the town in the first place. You went into the Mayor’s office, waiting for him at his desk before dropping the money you promised.

“Uh- here… I’m sorry about the mess I brought. Take it to rebuild everything.” You couldn’t bring yourself to look him in the eye. You felt such guilt for causing another tragedy on the village.

“You know I can’t accept it.” His gaze softened, standing up to protest the money.

“Please- I’ve caused enough issues. Just let me do something nice…” You begged.

“Don’t say that. You defended yourself. That’s all… You’re not a bad kid…” Your lip quivered, wiping your eyes before tears could start.

All the years of the villagers never taking you in because of the fear they had of you. You were too bad to be let in their homes. To play with their kids. To be in their store. You were just a kid.

“You’ve done good. Don’t ever forget it… Now please.” You cut him off. “No- take it. And uh- here. I want my parents to get a nice gravestone. If you can work that out for me…” You handed over an expensive watch you knew could be sold for 435,000 berries. “I’ll get out of your hair now. Thank you.” “Visit again soon.” He requested before you headed out the door.

“I probably won’t.” You confessed before stepping out of the building. You made your way back onboard, setting sail for somewhere new.

notes: I'm so sleep deprived

[sapphire-weapon]

More things I didn’t discover until my 10th playthrough:

When Ashley wakes up at the beginning of chapter 14

you know like

when Leon is sitting on the floor at her bedside, and he’s winded and his vision is blurring and he’s actively planning his suicide and probably wondering at what point he should actually pull the trigger so that he does it before he turns, and he’s very likely just hoping and praying that Ada will actually come through for him post-mortem and get Ashley home in his stead

yeah so like when she wakes up during that

and Leon’s name is the first thing out of her mouth? She doesn’t just say his name. She also puts a hand on his shoulder

and that’s when he perks up and gets up and his symptoms suddenly all vanish and I want to fuckgin throw up now that I’ve noticed it.

I’ve talked before about how Ashley is Leon’s anchor to reality, but that is actually literally true in this instance. When Leon sat down and flipped his gun around and pulled the slide back, he was checking to make sure that a round was chambered. Then he takes a deep, steadying breath.

This happens just after his suppressant wore off, and there was no way for him to know when Ashley was going to wake up. It could’ve been hours. And by then, it would’ve been too late for him.

He was checking for a round in the chamber so that he could use it on himself if it came down to it.

Canonically, this isn’t the first time he's considered suicide. In RE6, he admits that he considered it (”a few times, actually”) while still in Raccoon City, and also just after escaping. So, when he’s sitting there at Ashley’s bedside, he isn’t considering suicide with a “I hope it doesn’t come to this” mentality -- it’s more of a “It was probably always going to end like this anyway” one.

And I can say that with confidence because it’s the closest he ever gets to actually turning (prior to his hallucinations at the very end of chapter 15) -- and it seems to be entirely self-inflicted. On some level, mentally, he’s already given up.

But then it’s her touch and her voice that clears his vision, steadies his breathing, chases away the pain and weakness that caused him to sit in the first place, and even brings a smile to his face. Suddenly, he’s fine. And he doesn’t have another fit like that again, outside of Saddler deliberately causing one.

And I just

I think about that in tandem with how bad his mental health gets later in the series -- how dark his depression gets in some canon installments, how profoundly his trauma manifests, and how he tries to self-medicate with liquor until it turns into a problem that just gets worse and worse and worse as the years go by.

And I just have to wonder if he’d have ever gotten that bad if he hadn’t walked away from Ashley at some nebulous point after RE4.

[lady06reaper]

A Lil Too Quiet

Just something I whipped up while on a South Park craze

Mostly based off of South Park The Fractured But Whole

GN used

word count: 1372

TW: cussing, chaos, suggestiveness towards the very end

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

“I just… How?” 

“What the fuck?”

“ACK- My brain hurts trying to understand how this happened.”

“Don’t ask, I don’t even know myself,” I said as I was tied upside down with Mysterion who was in the same rope bundle as I am.

“Fucking cut us down!” The edgelord yelled.

~AT THE FREEDOM PALS HQ~

Human Kite, Tool Shed, Wonder Tweek, Mysterion, and I walked down the stairs to HQ. I sat down on my chair that I claimed with my many stab wounds etched into the fabric. Mysterion leaned against said chair, and everyone surrounded us with confused looks waiting for an answer. Prof. Timothy came through the crowd looking at Mysterion and I.

“The internet was so quiet while you two were out on patrol, a little too quiet for what happens when you two are on patrol. That’s why I sent Human Kite, Tool Shed, and Wonder Tweek out to find you two to see what was going on. Care to explain?” Prof. Timothy could’ve just easily read our minds but no, he wants us to say what happened like two little kids with a broken vase and a ball at our feet.

“Ask them, they were the one with the ‘most brilliant idea ever known to man’,” Mysterion gave me a side eye.

“It would’ve been if someone didn’t distract me!” I threw the shade right back at Mysterion. “I have been working on my ulti-bomb for months! Perfecting it down to the T and you just had to ask what I was doing!” I threw my arms up in the air in frustration. 

“What the hell is a ulti-bomb?” Human Kite questioned with a confused look on his face. Everyone shared the same look, he just had the gusto to actually ask.

“You remember all the drugs and alcohol that Conner put that cheesing shit in? Well I looked all over town for some and finally found it, combining it with my gunpowder, made with half lead and half homemade drugs, and a trash can with 8-inch mortars (A/N a mortar is a really big firework that they use for big firework shows and are generally illegal) welded around it, I created the ulti-bomb.”

Everyone looked at me like I just killed their dog, concerned looks and shocked expressions were shot my way.

“So what were you going to do with your creation?” Timothy questioned rather cautiously. 

“Let me start at the beginning.”

~A FEW HOURS BEFORE~

I had just escaped out my bedroom window onto the bush down below, making sure all the branches and leaves were off of me. I headed to Jimbo’s guns to get my lighter which was really a flame thrower rigged with diesel and kerosene instead of gasoline. Having that equipped I headed to where I had the ulti-bomb stored, and that's when I got caught.

“What the hell are you doing?” A raspy voice from up above asked. I looked up only to see Mysterion giving me an angry look.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m going to light my ulti-bomb and go on a joy-ride around town ultimately landing in Starks pond. I have it all planned out, Edgelord, so you can just toodle off and go do your emo shit,” I waved him off and grabbed the rope/fuse to drag the ulti-bomb to the fire site I had cleared out.

“I am not letting you blow up the town with your homemade borderline terrorist bomb!” Mysterion jumped in front of me blocking my path.

“I’m not going to blow up the town, I have the science down to where it’ll be more like a bottle rocket going up, then when I’m above the pond it’ll blow up in all pretty colors, like Aurora Borealis, and then it’ll go into the water so it doesn’t relight and then blow up the whole town,” I said matter of factly.

“And what’s that on your back?”

“A flamethrower to light the ulti-bomb, you can’t use a normal lighter or it won’t work.”

“Why wouldn’t it?” Mysterion cocked his head to the side.

“It wouldn’t follow the path I had formulated it to, it just might blow the town up,” I thought about this town going up in flames, how many drug dens would be busted. But if that did happen I would be screwed. 

A local walked by holding a cigarette, he mumbled something along the lines of ‘fucking weird ass teens these days’. He dropped the still lighted cigarette bud right by some of the excess rope that laid on the ground. I heard a hiss and looked behind me to see the fuse lit and making its way towards the ulti-bomb.

“Oh fuck,” I said calmly. Before the bomb had time to go on its uncoordinated path, I grabbed Mysterion and jolted towards the bomb. Using what rope didn’t get lighted I tied us to the bomb and told Mysterion to hold on tight.

The ulti-bomb shot off the ground straight up, we both screamed our heads off. I could hear the cheesed drugs and alcohol inside the trash can combining with each other, I took my knife from its sheath and cut the rope that tied us to the ulti-bomb. We fell, plummeting towards the ground, before that happened I used the homemade flamethrower to push us away from the ground up towards a nearby building. The rope that tied us together caught on a flagpole, we got jerked by the rope before we hit a dumpster.

“No no no!” I shouted before looking up. The ulti-bomb blew up, and instead of the Aurora Borealis it was a bunch of middle fingers, dicks, vaginas, and boobs in the sky. “God damn it! The fucking tobacco messed it all up! Or maybe it was the nicotine? I’ll have to start from scratch and experiment more.”

“You vandalized the sky, we’re tied upside down, and you’re worried about making another one!? What the fuck is wrong with you!” Mysterion screamed in my ear, I moved my head as far away as I could to prevent ear damage.

“No need to yell when I’m right here!” I screamed right back.

~MEANWHILE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN ON SOME RANDOM ROOF~

“Where are they?” Human Kite asked out loud while landing by Tool Shed and Wonder Tweek.

“Who knows? Maybe they’re making out somewhere,” Tool Shed said.

“Or-or maybe, ACK-, they’re dead in an alley somewhere! Oh jeez!” Wonder Tweek freaked out at the thought of his two Freedom Pals dead somewhere.

Before anyone could say anything else, they heard a big *FWOOSH*. They looked up to see the metallic of the trash can glittering in the moonlight with two people falling down from it. The big boom drew their attention away, when they looked up, all they saw was middle fingers, dicks, vaginas, and boobs lighting up the sky.

“Found one,” Tool Shed remarked.

“And when there’s one, the other is bound to follow,” Human Kite finished.

~BACK TO PRESENT TIME~

Everyone was astonished at my story, wide eyes and opened mouths filled my vision when I looked at my fellow Freedom Pals.

“So basically you were trying to create an artificial Northern Lights? Aw, that's really sweet,” Professor Chaos said with a soft tone.

“Yes, I must agree with Chaos, that was really nice of you (super hero name),” Professor Timothy agreed.

“It would’ve been but no, someone just had to let that rando flick his cigarette bud towards the fuse,” I got up from my chair and looked Mysterion dead in the eyes.

“How was I to know that that would’ve happened?” Mysterion looked at me as well.

“I didn’t even know that that was going to happen. Well, back to the drawing board,” I started towards my lab, but was stopped when my hood was grabbed.

“Oh no you don’t, you’re coming with me,” Kenny dragged me by my hood towards the stairs, up to who knows where to most likely do things.

(A/N you can decide what the things are ;). Lemme know if y’all want a pt 2/continuation of this. Thanks for reading! Don’t do stupid shit with proper safety!)

[thelediz]

Sonic Underground episode 40: Virtual Danger

AKA: THE FINAL EPISODE

I’m watching Sonic Underground in search of inspiration to finish a fic I’ve been writing forever. It’s a sad state of affairs. See the recap of the first three episodes here, if you're interested!

The Plot (for want of a better word): Sonic and Manic have been training their piloting skills with a virtual reality game, but it turns out their online friend is Robotnik in disguise! Can they escape the trap he’s set for them, or will they be trapped in cyberspace forever?

An interesting factoid, before we begin. The creators of Batman Beyond and The Justice League mentioned that they learned a lot from doing Batman Beyond, and one of the important things was that it doesn’t matter what your series is doing or how well it’s going (or not), the season finale should ALWAYS feel important. It should wrap up a storyline, it should set a full stop on a sentence. That way, no matter what happens, your fans will be satisfied with it.

As we all know, this series was not intended to be viewed in any particular order, so you can't expect this episode to wrap anything up properly.

However! This episode does KIND of wrap up a storyline that’s been running throughout the series, about the Resistance skimming supplies. It shows up in most Cyrus episodes. You probably wouldn’t have noticed it, but hey! Credit where due!

We open on the boys playing a VR game. They are just about to defeat their 'online friend' when Sonia walks in and pulls the plug on their game console. They’re late to a meeting.

CYRUS.

If you remember episode 12, you will remember the zombie robot, which allows a pilot to take remote control of a machine. It’s back. Yay. The boys apparently want to prove their skills have improved, because they’ve been playing video games. And they do pass the test, so it turns out video games ARE good for you, any parents who may be watching and still doubting whether their kids should be allowed to buy a Sega Saturn/Dreamcast in a couple of years.

Robotnik is going to be doing an audit on his supply ships, which means he’s definitely going to notice that the Resistance have been taking them. So they’re onto plan B: steal ALL the supply ships before Robotnik can change strategy.

There are three left to take over, and Cyrus assigns Sonic the last one. Sonia objects, because the last one is the riskiest, and she’s the best pilot. The way it’s framed, this isn’t arrogance so much as her being worried about Sonic. Combined with looks she was giving him a few episodes ago, it makes me wonder if they wanted a mini storyline of Sonia worrying about Sonic taking too much of the risks… could’ve been a good one!

Sonic does indeed get caught, but turns it into a kamikaze flight, turning his ship back on Robotnik’s palace for a crash. He barely misses Robotnik himself by like a half-metre. But the point is, all the supply ships are now out of Robotnik’s reach and he has to re-orient his factories to rebuild. Successful mission all round, and the triplets are given a few days off.

Manic dozes off to have a dream about playing more video games, but this time, Sonia has decided to play too. And of course she is immediately better at it than them. Whether this is just how the show functions or a sign of Manic's low self esteem, we will never know.

The Song: Don’t let your guard down. A very strange 80s/early 90s pop song, running a bit light on lyrics – mostly just “Don’t let your guard down. Keep your shield up, you gotta be ready”. Which, again, propaganda sure, but… not much for a good song, guys. Perhaps this is just proof of why Manic isn't the band's lyricist.

In the ACTUAL game, their 'online friend' offers them a mod, and promises a better one later. Because cyber security is not yet a common thing, the boys do not think twice about downloading and installing both files, no questions asked.

But once they’re in the new mod, their online friend is revealed to be Robotnik, and this has all been a trap! Now the… Okay, I’m not entirely sure how this happens, but they get zapped into the game. And apparently, if you die in the game, you die in real life. And… Look. Shadow the Hedgehog did this too, so I have to accept it as a thing that can happen in the sonic universe, but I will never not think it’s a little silly.

The point is: the boys are trapped and Sonia sees it happen.

Sonia calls Cyrus, who creates a program to allow Sonia into the game virtually, and pull Robotnik in physically. Don’t question it. While Sonia’s trying to rescue her brothers, Cyrus is going to try to hack Robotnik’s satellite to disrupt his connection, which will apparently win the game for the hedgehogs. Seriously, don’t question. Just accept.

Surprisingly, Sonia’s amazing piloting skills do not actually save the day. Cyrus cutting off the satellite dish does. I am legitimately surprised.

The episode ends with the triplets sending the now unloaded cargo ships back to Robotnik’s palace, further damaging it. Sonic declares it “Game over, Buttnik!”

And that’s it. That’s the end of Sonic Underground.

Sure was an episode, huh?

Look, it was incredibly underwhelming and very much Just An Episode, but on a meta level, it was actually a pretty good culmination of the series. There was the weirdly fluid animation that was absolutely not quality checked. There was the random disjointed plot that barely hung together. There was the odd character relationships and motivations that were generally fine but also kind of illfitting. There was the conflict and resolution in the final five minutes of the episode.

There was no Sleet or Dingo, and the song was barely an attempt, but OTHERWISE.

This was Sonic Underground, for all its faults and wonders.

Come back tomorrow for final thoughts, if you’re interested!