#also the combat will get a bit more complex over time! but it's not the same as sksw's motion controls haha

[oddygaul]

the REDLINE manifesto

In honor of my second DIY screening of Redline, here is, at long last, a prettied-up version of my most popular reddit post, an unabashed love letter to my favorite movie. Most of this is probably less groundbreaking than it was when I first posted it a decade(!) ago, but whatever, the internet needs more Redline content anyway.

REDLINE Trivia

–JP stands for Joshua Punkhead, and in the very first draft he had 26 children and raced to pay off his child support. Also, the catchy moniker ‘Sweet JP’? English-only… the original Japanese gets the mouthful ‘very sweet weaponless prince’.

–You'd be hard-pressed to tell without looking into the lore a bit, but Miki & Todoroki are damn near the only actual humans in the movie; everyone else is some species of alien. Some are obvious, like Shinkai (Oceanic/Chikulun hybrid) and Trava (Anista tribe), but even the most human-like characters are some other race. Sonoshee, for example, is listed as being half human, half Oceanic tribe (海洋族). 

The most curious case, though, is JP. While it'd be easy to assume he's human, there's a lot of details that don't add up: his unique elf ears, his super-lanky-even-for-a-Koike-character-design physique, the fact that his race is conspicuously redacted on his bail sheet… and his seeming immunity to death. Seriously, bro crashes every single thing he drives in the whole movie, then emerges unscathed with just a fiery flash of the eyes – that ain’t normal. If I had to wildly speculate, and I do, I’d put money that he’s somehow linked to Mikuru and the Giant species, as seen in Trava: Fist Planet. The physique matches, the Giants have displayed some preternatural healing abilities, and Trava lays the groundwork for a few other threads in Redline (namely, the existence of bioweapons and Shinkai & Trava’s past military experience), so there’s precedence. Maybe one day we’ll find out for sure…

–We all know and love Funky Boy thanks to the Roboworld president’s endless tirades. But the giant data-motivated crocodile monster Volton fuses with to engage Funky Boy in thrilling combat? She is a lady, and her name is Wire Girl.

–All of Redline’s vehicle and mechanical designs are nuts – they’re insanely complicated and filled with organic curves and details. Despite the immense difficulty of keeping such complex designs consistent, every mechanical shot is hand-drawn, without the aid of any CG. To help the animators stay on-target while drawing, the team made some sweet-ass production models for them to reference. What I wouldn’t give to own one of these…

–Before deciding on Redline being a film, writer Katsuhito Ishii and director Takeshi Koike considered making a TV series. Initial writers’ meetings saw the team fleshing out a comprehensive story bible about the setting: it included not only a wide-scope view of the universe and its history, but also detailed backstories for each racer. Even after deciding to make a feature film, Redline’s initial script gave each racer as much time and focus as the final cut gives to JP & Sonoshee; all of this was, unfortunately, cut for time. According to Ishii, though, much of this ancillary information made it into the novelization…

one day my Japanese will be good enough to read you ;_;

–Confused about why the movie ends with that sparkly, PowerPoint-ass ~LOVE~? Well, you shouldn’t be – Redline is ‘unabashedly dumb’, after all, per Ishii – but there is a little context. Over the course of the movie’s 7-year production, Koike and Yukiko (a producer on the film) fell in love, tying the knot in Switzerland just before Redline’s world premiere. If that doesn’t justify the ending for you, I don’t know what could.

–This isn't trivia but idk where else to put this stupid-ass Lynchman meme I made

Subtext you may have missed on first watch

–Machine Head is Sonoshee's estranged father?!

Crazy, I know, but hear me out. 

First of all, Redline unambiguously shows the viewer that Sonoshee and Machine Head have some sort of pre-existing relationship, the nature of which isn’t explicitly clarified. 

At the Oasis restaurant, Sonoshee tells JP she's waiting for someone; it may sound like she's simply brushing him off, but the moment Machine Head enters the scene, Sonoshee perks up and waves to him. When the Crab Sonoshee is flipped by missile fire during the Redline race, we get exactly two (2) Dramatic Anime Freezeframes: JP and Machine Head, implying those two, out of everyone, care the most about Sonoshee. During the final stretch of the race, as Machine Head prepares to pop his steamlight, he is not only aware that Sonoshee also has one, he taunts her about it:

“I see you still have your steamlight – got the guts to use it this time?”

JP even draws attention to the fact that Sonoshee’s looks identical to Tetsujin’s. Finally, though this is certainly ancillary, it is interesting to note that the exact moment Godwing loses its structural stability is right after JP declares he’s going to win because he, not Machine Head, has Sonoshee at his side.

So let’s line this up with what backstory we definitively know. As stated above, Sonoshee is a human / Oceanic hybrid; Machine Head, though his body has been modified beyond recognition, is referred to the same way. While talking to JP about the steamlight, Sonoshee says her father is the one that gave it to her, then describes him as a skilled racer who ran a junk joint. In that same conversation, when JP suggests she’s too focused on racing at the expense of personal relationships, she bristles and tries to end the conversation. During the flashback of young Sonoshee racing, her reaction to crashing is intense: she’s clearly holding herself to a higher standard, and is already dead set on racing in the Redline someday.

Now, there’s other plausible explanations for all this; maybe there’s just a romantic entanglement between Sonoshee and Machine Head, with JP barging in as the third vertex of a love triangle. But is that the most likely scenario for two people constantly characterized as putting racing before any personal matters?

No, I think Machine Head is Sonoshee’s father. 

Picture it: Machine Head raised Sonoshee at his junk joint, so she grew up around racing and car modification. After seeing success on the circuits, Machine Head stopped being content with mere victory, and started spending all his time and energy modifying his body, pushing himself farther and farther. Sonoshee, feeling neglected and cast aside, turned to racing, seeing it as the only way to get her father’s attention. This lead to her perfectionism complex; if she’s not the very best, why would the King of Kings ever look her way?

Anyway, while it’s not confirmed in the text, I think there’s so many hints it might as well be. It makes JP and Sonoshee’s romance a lot more interesting, too. Their arc isn’t just two people falling in love, it’s about Sonoshee moving past the trauma of her father’s emotional abandonment and opening up to someone new. After JP explains his match fixing history in the climax, Sonoshee isn’t placated because he told the truth, she’s fired up seeing the strength of JP and Frisbee’s friendship: she sees the folly of chasing approval from her absent father, and that she could instead be forming bonds with friends who support her unconditionally. She can race for herself.

Koike and Ishii said Redline is about adult friendships, after all!

pictured: the most romantic kiss in cinema history

–The Redline race is, in fact, underhanded political maneuvering

Now, this one is sorta just The Plot Of The Movie, but I feel like there’s so much going on in Redline people often don’t connect these dots. 

We all laugh at the Roboworld president’s hammy word salad:

“I wonder if this might be some kind of ploy by our enemies to infiltrate our borders. If that’s true, do you realize Roboworld’s military secrets could be at risk here? We’d be exposed!!”

…but he’s… kinda right, though?

At the time of the movie, the M3 Nebula has just emerged from two devastating interplanetary wars. The galaxy’s superpowers are under a tenuous peace agreement – one of the most important stipulations of which is a ban on the use and development of “bioweapons”, which in the Redline universe are less ‘weaponized bacterial strains’ and more ‘gargantuan synthetic monsters that can be deployed to wreak unthinkable destruction’. Despite this ban, the government of Roboworld has been continuing with bioweapon development unabated… and not only does Planet Supergrass seem to be aware of these violations, it really seems like they’re leveraging all their soft power to expose them.

Now, we know Supergrass is generally involved with the Redline final. As a member of the Redline Committee, they have a reason to be involved; they’re helping out with nuts & bolts logistical stuff, like transporting the racers to the course and prepping the finish line. But when you consider the significant, tangible political blows dealt to Roboworld by the race – Funky Boy and Wire Girl’s presumed destruction, Roboworld’s violation of the bioweapon treaty being broadly exposed to the public, the decimation of Roboworld’s military – the long string of coincidences that got us to that point start to seem a little suspicious.

Who pushed for the Redline final to be held on such a hostile planet? Who knew about Roboworld’s experimental orbital laser cannon – a project so tightly under wraps even their president only learns about it during the race – and hired contractors to sabotage it? Who organized a group of malcontents to attack both Roboworld’s power relay station and Funky Boy’s containment creche, right when such disruptions would be the most impactful? And who decided the race’s crucial middle stretch should go right over the restricted military zone housing said creche?

Supergrass has the motive and the means – plus, the race is already illegal, so what can Roboworld do, sue them about it? No sir, that Princess is on some subterfuge shit, and Secretary Titan, that shady fuck, is her inside man. And you can take that to the bank.

Craving more REDLINE?

Unfortunately, due to the movie’s commercial failure, there’s not much else in the franchise. The Redline production pilot is fucking sick, though, and there’s Trava: Fist Planet, an OVA by Koike & Ishii that predates Redline and focuses on Trava and Shinkai’s misadventures. While Trava never got the continuation it deserved, they did make a trailer for season 2... ahh, what could have been.

If you’re just after more of Takeshi Koike’s mind-blowing animation, there’s only a scant few projects in his trademark black-filled style. His most well-known work is probably the Samurai Champloo OP, or maybe World Record from The Animatrix (can’t find a link for that one, but y’know, do your thing). Koike also contributed animation to two other Ishii films: an extended intro for Party 7, and this aggressively horny dance sequence for Funky Forest. Back at Madhouse, it seems the studio liked to use Koike as a bait-and-switch, letting him direct lavish production pilots to secure adaptation rights then switching the staff up for the full production. Feels kind of scummy, but we got the immense Afro Samurai Pilot and Iron Man Pilot out of it. Finally, he made the series of Love shorts for SMAPxSMAP, the SMAP variety show, which are as dope as they are low-res.

I really wanna know if Koike was the one ballin out to CYNE and Gang Starr for this

—

And finally, as I threatened in my last post about Redline: let’s talk thematic depth.

~Thematic Depth~

In conversations online, Redline is often given this caveat of just being ‘eye candy’, or hit with the classic ‘style over substance’ cliche. Now, the phrase ‘style over substance’ has always bothered me, generally – it feels like it comes from folks who have never tried to make art before, who make light of the painstaking work and dedication that goes into creating anything – but it particularly frustrates me in animation. The process of animation is such an absurd, masochistic timesink that it’s a wonder anything ever gets finished at all; something this ambitious being finished, with this level of consistency and polish, is nothing short of a miracle, and to simply call that ‘style’ massively undervalues the whole endeavor. 

Because, make no mistake, Redline is ambitious as hell from a visual standpoint. The consistent focus on kinetic motion and speed, buoyed by Koike’s masterful use of exaggerated perspective, spatial distortion, and dynamic camera work; lots of moving, hand-drawn backgrounds instead of matte pans; lively crowd animation in most scenes; remarkably expressive, constant character animation that imbues personality to every character and never settles for industry standard lip flap dialogue… and all of this using incredibly complex character & mechanical designs, many of which feature distinct alien physiology, and a rendering style with bold, detailed shadows that would be more at home in illustration than animation. It is truly a singular work.

And the thing is, that wild ambition and unfailing dedication to the craft is the message.

The very first moments of Redline, before we see a single car or alien, are a brief series of title cards. I think most first-time viewers, and even many repeat viewers, immediately forget these words seconds after reading them due to the famously high-octane opening act. They read:

“In the far distant future, when cars are giving up their wheels in the changeover to air-cars, there still exist stubborn fools who carry on a vanishing spirit of racing…”

It’s easy to pass over this narration because, well, Redline simply isn’t about this conflict. We don’t see a single air-car racer, and there is no on-screen depiction of this purported old-school / new-school racing divide. So why is it here?

Because it’s the thesis of the whole damn project. Redline is about a group of old-school animation industry vets coming to terms with a changed industry that doesn’t support the type of art they want to create anymore, and their determination to pour their hearts into one last, stupid, beautiful swan song.

Madhouse was founded in 1972 by a group of ex-Mushi Pro staff, including Masao Maruyama and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. A response to Mushi Pro’s shoestring budgets and spartan timelines, the goal of studio Madhouse was to create production schedules where animators could flourish, rather than choosing the cheaper route; as Maruyama puts it, their mission statement was to ‘create animation other people aren’t interested in creating’. And, well, for decades, that’s what they did – Madhouse consistently gave a platform to idiosyncratic creators and produced incredible results. Their film canon includes pivotal productions like Kawajiri’s Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust, Rintaro’s Metropolis, every single Satoshi Kon production from Perfect Blue to Paprika, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, the film that launched Mamoru Hosoda into stardom. While their TV output might be seen as more workmanlike, they were still dedicated to creating original stories. For example, despite his proven track record, Masaaki Yuasa was unable to secure funding and creative freedom anywhere else but Madhouse, with whom he produced Kemonozume, Kaiba, and The Tatami Galaxy prior to the establishment of Science Saru.

Takeshi Koike’s formative years as an animator were during this golden era of Madhouse. Poached directly out of high school by Yoshiaki Kawajiri himself, Koike was taken under his wing – his first job as a professional animator was inbetweening for Wicked City, and he’d moved up to key animation roles just one year later. I think Kawajiri’s intent was for Koike to be his protege; in this boom era of animation, with high-budget feature films and OVAs as the de facto standard, creative vision and a unique style is what you’d look for in an up-and-coming director, and Koike had both of these in spades. For a time, this pathway seemed almost assured; Koike’s big-league directing debut on The Animatrix produced one of its most well-received shorts, even amidst an anthology stacked with superstar creative talent.

Kawajiri & Koike's (adorable) shared office circa 2002

Unfortunately, the turn of the millennium brought a lot of change for Madhouse and the industry at large. Budgets shrank, and production schedules started trending towards today’s unsustainable nightmare grind. CGI became ubiquitous not for the unique shots and compositions it allows for, but as a corner-cutting method for complicated actors like vehicles or mechas. A certain homogeneity and tendency toward ‘safe’, appealing designs and premises took hold; what good is your off-the-wall, creative worldbuilding idea when the anime industry revolves around merch sales, and generic moe waifus are outselling your original IP ten-to-one? All these industry vets could see the writing on the wall: animation would survive, but things were changing, and the ideals they’d founded their studio around were becoming untenable.

So I genuinely believe Redline is a parting shot from the old guard, a celebration of the era of the industry they cut their teeth on, one last lush, extravagant farewell before they passed the torch to the next generation. Maybe not from the start, sure, but after years of troubled development, progressing slowly due to the team’s meticulous vision, I think they rallied around the cause, dead set on making a masterwork, no matter what. Just look at the talent they attracted, the staff list reads like a best-of: Shinya Ohira, Hiroyuki Imaishi, Sushio, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Sayo Yamamoto, Katsuya Yamada, Takafumi Hori. 

And that’s where we come back to that opening message, about those stubborn fools. Suddenly, that movie chock-full of characters putting everything on the line for their passions feels a lot more personal. Koike is JP, the traditional [animation / racing ] purist who’s become an anachronism and just wants to be able to do things his way; Kawajiri as the God of Racing, who JP’s looked up to since he was younger, giving him one last thumbs as he achieves his goals; and Maruyama as Frisbee, putting his livelihood in danger to buy his team the time and money they need for one last gig, who wants to see his friend finish the damn thing on his own terms, just this once. 

In a way, it makes it heartbreaking that Redline performed financially as poorly as it did; Japan’s frosty reception to the movie is at such odds with the fervor of its creators. But you know what? Redline exists, and it exists without compromises. They did what they set out to do. They made it across that finish line.

—

[elodieunderglass]

I received an extremely informative and well-researched ask on the topic of the modern UK cavalry, referencing a question about how Killie would do in a cavalry AU. I didn't have much of an answer myself, but a really informed person popped into my inbox with an essay about modern warfare!

It goes to my heart to anonymise the research as the asker should receive credit for their hard work, but that’s what they asked for and I would hate to be the vessel of work shoelaces stolen from the president, etc.

Hi, hello, I'm so sorry for the lengthy special interest lore dump but I saw the "Killie in the cavalry" post and couldn't hold back from my chance to contribute to a possible Killie AU.

Please consider anonymising this, because a work friend follows you, I've so far successfully concealed my Tumblr from them and if they see this ask they will KNOW it's me--

So yes absolutely the UK still has a cavalry!

I’ve popped the rest behind the cut with a TW for military discussion.

I am not a supporter of any military, or the military-industrial complex, but I fully appreciate it as a topic of research (I could easily get obsessed with bits of it myself) and I think it's important to be informed about how the world operates. I'm very appreciative of the information and the time it took to compile it.

Today the cavalry's operational role centres around armoured combat i.e. getting in tracked, heavily armour-plated vehicles and using them to fight the enemy.

This pretty much comes in two flavours: heavy vehicles like the Challenger tank

which are designed to fight, and light reconnaissance like the Jackal

which is designed to go forward, look at the enemy, and then run away before they can get blown up.

I can see Killie in either of these roles - obviously the instinct is recce (light, fast, sneaky) but one mustn't underestimate the extent to which a main battle tank has elements in common with a thoroughbred! It's a highly advanced and specialised killing machine which can nevertheless go *catastrophically* wrong in the most unexpected ways.

For example, tanks break down every few hundred miles, so reliably that they're followed by a huge baggage train of mechanics ready to replace the broken bits; this is a standard part of all military planning and so "normal" that any officer would look at you funny if you suggested you might perhaps be able to drive their beloved vehicle, say, half the length of the UK without calling the tank equivalent of the horse vet.

The Challenger sometimes throws a tantrum if it's too wet ( https://www.msn.com/en-ie/money/other/britain-s-challenger-2-tanks-face-setbacks-in-ukraine-war/ar-AA1uC047 ) and if something goes wrong (drove over barbed wire too quickly) the crew have to spend hours "track-bashing" - removing the tracks by hand and putting them on again:

Main battle tanks like Challenger have incredible and highly advanced armour, but once something goes wrong with them in combat, it tends to go horribly wrong. The ammunition for the main gun is all carried inside the vehicle, and if enemy fire DOES penetrate the armour, it often "cooks off" the explosive ammunition inside, leading to a chain reaction. Not a good time to be inside a sealed box.

Space is VERY tight inside even modern tanks. Four people (loader, gunner, commander, driver) are working in a space smaller than the average box room full of lethal recoiling and rotating metal that loves to eat fingers (sound familiar?). Small troopers are at a big advantage here - Killie is the ideal size; tiny enough to fit comfortably in all the crevices but strong enough to sling the (20kg) rounds for the main gun around (biceps!).

Big tanks have personalities in the way that small recce vehicles don't. Some regiments also have traditions of naming their tanks - this is more of a US thing in modern times (the UK did it in WWI but I'm not aware of it happening today) but you could absolutely bend reality a little. And O Holy Thunder is a *great* name for a main battle tank.

(Side note - in WWI, tank names started with the same letter as the squadron they belonged to. So "F" Squadron tanks would all be called things like Frolic, Firespite, Ferocious. I can see a skit where the crew desperately want to call their tank Holy Thunder but the boss won't permit it because they are part of "O" Squadron, leading to...)

Going a little further, you can put Killie in the modern cavalry and STILL have him on a horse! The Household Cavalry have a dual role as operational and ceremonial troops ( propaganda here: https://www.army.mod.uk/learn-and-explore/about-the-army/corps-regiments-and-units/royal-armoured-corps/household-cavalry-regiment/ ). Troopers rotate between the two roles. The soldiers you see outside Horseguards patiently stopping their horses from eating unwary tourists are from the Household Cavalry - Killie could be one of those troopers one year, and deployed in the desert in an armoured vehicle the next.

Note that again, while those horses are trained to be disciplined, patient and very smart, when they go wrong, they do tend to go horribly wrong, sometimes in distinctly Thunder-esque ways. You may remember the Household Cavalry horses who ran amok in central London twice last year, streaked in blood and getting into fights with buses: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c886qel3wdxo

You may also remember Obelisk, the Household Cavalry horse who got sufficiently bored that he started luring pigeons in with oats dropped from his mouth and then stamping them to death. He was subsequently taken for "psychological re-training". Peak Thunder behaviour.

As a final note, while you rightly mention the class boundaries that would make a cavalry *officer* an unlikely career for Killie (these still exist today, albeit unofficially - Cavalry officers tend to be "Country Life" types from good families called Tarquin and Hettie), there's no such restriction on the soldiers, whose demographic skews more working class and urban.

Cavalry regiments tend to have wonderfully evocative and antique names (Queen's Dragoon Guards, Royal Lancers, King's Royal Hussars) and bags of tradition, battle honours, and ceremonial kit and champagne bills that cost a good deal more than the average officer's monthly income. You don't have to have an independent income - but it helps...

If the AU needed Killie to be an officer, he'd be more likely to serve in the Royal Tank Regiment, which is armoured but *not* Cavalry. This distinction is entirely a matter of tradition & history, not operational role. The RTR is the youngest armoured regiment (founded during WWI, barely 100 years old, Johnny-come-lately compared to the 3- and 400-year legacies of the Queen's Dragoon Guards etc) and nicknamed the "Chav Cav" because it does the same job as the Cavalry without any of the class hangups.

I'd suggest, however, that Killie's... style... is more suited to Trooper Killie than Lieutenant Killie. I can't really see him dealing with the pressures and strains of being responsible for the leadership, discipline and welfare of 30 young Troopers and their vehicles. He'd have a heart attack, the poor boy.

I don't even know if Tumblr will post this monster ask but the Spirits seized me and demanded I post it before going to find breakfast. I hope it brings some joy!

Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge!

[freaky-deaky-cookies]

Bg3 companions with a reader with heavy cute aggression towards them? (hug squeezing them/ pinching their cheeks/ biting etc?) Thank you!

Bg3 companions with a Tav with heavy cute aggression towards them

Wyll

Unbelievably charmed by Tav’s cuteness aggression. While he might find it a little surprising at first, especially if Tav  aggressively hugs or squeezes him, he’d quickly grow to love the attention.

Wyll would likely laugh, a little awkwardly, at first, especially if Tav grabbed his arm for a playful squeeze or pinched his cheek. His natural charm would come through, and he’d give Tav a gentle, kind smile in return

"Is this how you show your love? Well, I suppose I can’t complain."

Gale

Both a scholar and a romantic at heart, would appreciate the affection but also be a little perplexed by the intensity of Tav’s cute aggression. His more dignified demeanor might make him try to compose himself, but Tav’s sweet gestures would likely catch him off guard

"Ah, I… I suppose that’s one way to show affection, isn’t it?”

Gale would likely be more flustered than he lets on, especially if Tav gave him a tight hug or pinched his cheek. 

Astarion

Both flustered and mildly annoyed at first, but deep down he would find the affection highly endearing 

"What in the hells are you doing? Ah, no, no, no! Not the cheeks, darling. I am not a doll."

If Tav pinched his cheeks or gave him a tight hug, he'd mockingly sulk, "Is this some sort of punishment for my good looks?" But he'd be secretly pleased by the affection, even if it makes him squirm a little.

Halsin

Would take Tav’s cuteness aggression in stride, although he’d likely find it both amusing and endearing. His warm, easygoing nature would make him the perfect target for this kind of playful affection, and he'd be more than happy to indulge Tav.

If Tav bit him or nipped at his ear, Halsin would let out a deep chuckle, "You know, I have to say—you’re certainly bold." But his eyes would soften with affection, and he’d likely return the affection in kind

"Ah, my dear, you are full of surprises."

Karlach

She's incredibly warm-hearted, and this kind of behavior would likely make her both flustered and happy.

"Whoa there, partner, you trying to squeeze me into oblivion?" Karlach might laugh in surprise the first time you hug her tightly or pinch her cheek. She’s not used to being treated with such softness, but she’d definitely appreciate it. 

She’d likely get more comfortable with Tav’s playful aggression, even giving Tav the occasional mischievous grin as she waits for the next cheek pinch or cuddle attack.

Shadowheart

She’s quite emotionally complex, and Tav’s actions would likely draw out both a flustered and guarded response from her.

If Tav hugged Shadowheart too tightly or pinch her cheek, she’d flinch at first, feeling a little overwhelmed. She’s more used to keeping her emotions in check and might wonder why you’re being so affectionate.

 However, deep down, she finds the attention somewhat comforting

Lae’zel

Would be the most perplexed by Tav’s cuteness aggression.

"What is this? Why do you cling to me like a child?" If Tav hugged Lae'zel or pinches her cheek, she’d stiffen up and push Tav away slightly, looking at them like they have done something absurd. Her combat instincts are strong.

However, there’s a part of her that might secretly be touched by Tav’s persistence. Over time, she’d likely start tolerating (and maybe even enjoying) Tav’s bursts of affection, but it would take a lot of patience on your part to soften her hardened exterior. If you catch her in a rare, vulnerable moment, she might even offer a tiny smirk in response to a cheek pinch or playful nibble.

Minthara

She’s confident, composed, and not easily swayed by soft gestures or emotional displays. That said, there’s an intriguing contrast between her severity and the unexpected warmth that Tav’s cuteness aggression would bring out.

She might start allowing small gestures in private, like allowing Tav to cuddle her or resting her head on Tav’s shoulder, but only when no one else is around—she wouldn’t want to appear too soft.

[pucksandpebbles]

𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒂 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏', 𝒎𝒄⁷¹

a short fic in which Mack notices a girl on the ice and cannot get her out of his head because of just how much they have in common macklin celebrini x figureskater!reader

a/n : my first mack fic ahhhhh! I wanted to do this as a dual pov so it felt more 'x reader' but then couldn't be arsed so this is all Mack pov!

A disclaimer btw, reader's nickname is 'Princess' and sometimes that's how Mack refers to her but otherwise it's pretty much 'x reader' because she isn't named. The way I write reader fics can be so specific cause I hate doing the y/n thing so this may read a little like my oc fics. I also know nothing about figure skating except the basics and have no idea about the goings on at the Shark Tank so don't come for me.

Absolutely nooooo proofreading sorry guys if there's mistakes. Always remember to show love and don't be a silent reader - I love your thoughts and without y'all I probably wouldn't be writing so thank you. And we are soooo close to 200 followers, I cannot believe it.

wc: 1.9k

There’s a girl on the ice at the Shark Tank. Clad all over in a black material that clings to her skin, hair whipping from side to side even though it’s secured in a pony tail, even her skates are an even-toned black, speckled with bits of ice, the only part of her not in black, not covered in a material are her hands. Despite the way she’s skating, rushed and powerful, Macklin thinks that she must be cold - her hands that is, especially with the way in which, when she does the cantilever, her fingertips brush at the ice below her. With a strength that is deep set in her bones, she charges across the ice, powering her high and complex jumps and landing with an elegance that would be impossible to master for Macklin. She’s a figure skater, obviously. Occasionally, some of them book out the stadium for practice, it’s not often though and usually they’re accompanied by their trainers and teammates - but as Macklin looks around the empty seats of the stadium, he spots nobody. 

She’s stayed past her allotted time. But Macklin’s also here early, lacing up his hockey skates for a pre-practice practice, his own personal warm-up that he can do without any prying eyes. Now he’s the prying eyes, watching mesmerised as the skater performs her toe-loops and a quad or two. It’s impressive to him.

He watches as she propels herself up into the air, arms pulling into her chest and long hair wrapping around her face. This time when she lands though, she stumbles and her other leg flies over and she goes tumbling to the ice, the momentum of the jump carrying through to slide her away from the scene of the incident, sat with her legs outstretched. She buries her head in her hands and cries out and Macklin shoots to his feet and rushes to the plexiglass to see if she’s okay.

Against his better judgement of staying quiet and unnoticed, Macklin shouts out across the ice to disturb the skater, “Are you okay?”

Her head pricks up and she stumbles to her feet and her skates haphazardly, skating tenderly to the plexiglass where Macklin is standing.

“Fine, sorry were you waiting for the ice?” She smiles apologetically, stepping off the ice and reaching for her guards.

Macklin shakes his head, “It’s okay, not really,” she sits on one of the benches, unlacing her states and tugging a hoodie out of her skate bag to pull over her head, Macklin watches intently and then realises he’s being a bit of a creep - the best that he can force out is, “Your skating was impressive.”

She practically bats away the compliment, smile souring into a hard set line, “Not really. I fell, couldn’t make the quad in case you noticed.”

“Well, it looked impressive to me.” Macklin combats the self-depreciation, the line sounding awfully familiar. Usually he was on the other end of this type of conversation.

The girl shakes her head, “I need that quad to make the team.”

Macklin sits down beside her as she swaps over her shoes and takes her earbuds out, “You seem like you’re working very hard for it.”     

She smiles, brushing through her loose hair now, Macklin watches the soft waves unfold along her back, “You too. You’re a shark aren’t you?”

“The centre, Mack,” he formally introduces himself, extending a hand out to her to shake which she takes with a giggle.

Her amusement is barely hidden and she slides her hand against Mack’s and softly shakes it up and down as a greeting, “Nice to meet you Mack.”

“You’re not going to tell me your name,” Mack questions.

She smirks as she stands up, pulling her skating bag, a light beige coloured and highly battered, onto her shoulder, “You can figure it out. But people call me the Axel Princess in the skating world.”

“How about Princess then,” Macklin shouts to her as she makes her way through the stadium away from Macklin, evidently towards the exit.

She turns to him, walking backwards slowly, a sweet smile appearing on her face, “Princess, I don’t mind it.”  

Macklin thinks about ‘Princess’ through all the way up until practice, as he run drills silently and alone on the ice. He thought it would be nice if she had stayed to watch, leaning back in the stadium seat as he warmed up until he was warm and his hair was wet underneath his helmet. The drills strain at his muscles in a burn that Macklin pretends the enjoy - it’s for the good of him, for the good of the game, for the good of the team. When he returns to the locker room before actual practice, he’s puffed out and jelly-legged, having pushed himself more than usual. Spaced out as he thought of the girl of the ice, how her limbs must burn with the exertion of how she propels herself up and off the ice and lands back to the ice in a hip-shattering movement, and then just carries on.

He’s heard about some of the San Jose figure skaters before, most of the hockey players look upon them with scorn, a little bit of a rivalry. There’s no artistry in hockey like there is in figure skating and ice dance, and the two sports operate in almost completely different ways. Hockey players build up and figure skaters slim down - most of the skaters burn out by the time they reach their twenties. Macklin remembers the exhaustion under her eyes, dark purple circles and the tape covering the bit of her skin visible to him when she came closer. She was small too, skinny, a small woman but able to produce such a performance on ice, it was incredible. It’s a sight that is familiar to Macklin, when he goes home and his father trains him and Aiden until they drop. It’s his second season with the sharks and when he returned after his first, he remembers how Toffoli had pulled him to the side, told him he looked exhausted, and asked if he was okay because he didn’t seem himself. Macklin had shook him off, it was for the better he said to himself but he couldn’t even bring himself to believe it.

He wondered if it was the same for Princess. If she worked herself to the bone like Macklin did because she felt inadequate. Not good enough, even if everyone around her was saying that she was perfect, the best, number fucking one.    

Macklin couldn’t stop thinking about her all through practice, and then in the locker room when he would usually be chatting with Toff and Ekky, even on the drive home with Will, he keeps strangely silent, thinking of the next time he might see her again.

Mack must be a psychic. 

Because Mack does see her again. It’s when he, Will, Ekky and Toff are filtering into the stadium before practice. This time she is on ice with what looks to be a trainer. A stern looking woman dressed in a warm fur coat and yelling at her across the ice; with each screeching yell, Macklin flinches, and watches as she takes it, a blank look washing across her face, making the only defining feature on her face the purple circles under her dull eyes which skitter across the ice. It catches Macklin’s attention immediately, and after a few curses from her trainer, Mack watches as Ekky and Will turn their attentions to what is happening out on their ice. 

As they walk past, Princess runs her jump again, the same one over and over and Mack watches as she fails in over and over, tumbling to the ice and getting back up. 

Toff looks concerned Mack notices, and he’s not the only one. But the boys do nothing, say nothing. It turns Mack’s stomach. Yet again, Mack can’t stop thinking about her all through practice. It’s eating away at his bones, and by the time he plonks down on the bench of the locker room after practice, and the incident is all but forgotten by his friends, he pulls out his phone.

He does what he must and googles her - The Axel Princess.

Headlines pop up instantly. Horrible ones, questioning her integrity, critiquing her performance despite the medals hung around her neck, commenting on her struggle with her body. Mack slams his phone back down. He can’t think about it. Can’t think about just how alike they must be.

She stays on the periphery of his life for almost half a year, until the Winter Olympics roll around. 

He knows that she’s been picked for the team, he has a google alert set up and that is how she finds out that she’s officially competing on the team, for the US. He goes to the Olympics, he’s not competing, but his father drags him and Aiden along to watch Canada compete and despite being herded by his dad around the event, he does slip away to watch the figure skating and watch her compete.

The routine is beautiful. Macklin cannot judge, obviously, he knows very little about figure skating, but to him it is beautiful.

He thinks that she spots him in the crowd, directs a little wave and moves on.

Her face is stern and hard as the hang a bronze medal around her neck and Mack thinks he might be able to see tear track streaking through her competition make-up. He’s been following her career since they first met and he’s watched as they predicted her to podium, one reporter even asked her if she thought she could win gold. She shook her head but her answer said it all. 

That anything but gold, was sub-par.

It made Mack’s throat clog up when he read the article.

He is desperate to get out there on the ice, to where she is wobbling on the make-shift podium. She looks as if she might keel over and spill her guts out on the pure white of the ice. Mack stands up and rushes down the stairs. There’s a slight bribing incident with security (the Olympics need better security desperately, he thinks), but he manages to get backstage.

They’re not close. Not really, by any means, have only talked once, it’s a strangely parasocial relationship and for a moment Macklin feels as if he has made a horrible mistake in coming here, doing this, misreading it all. However, almost as soon as she spots him, she melts into his arms, weeping and burying her head into his hoodie.

Macklin doesn't talk, doesn't question as she weeps salty tears onto his teal Sharks hoodie. His arms help support her as she leans into him, chest heaving and body limp against him - it breaks his heart a little.

He takes her back to his hotel room, makes sure she has a good shower, some comfortable clothes to dress in - they’re all Mack’s - and lets her cuddle up to him on the hotel bed and she eats a hamburger and they watch the movies on the horrible hotel channels. She lets him drag her around the rest of the event to watch Will and Ekky play and watch him try to avoid his dad and Aiden for the rest of the time in favour of her and Toff’s attention.

It’s the best week of his life. 

[shi4g]

I have no tittle for this but... CW: Divorce, a bit of manipulation if you squint ExHusband! Simon Riley

Simon Riley it's this big complex of a man, a kaleidoscope of traumatic experiences all smudged together, some sparkle of pride, a piece of big ego, and that clear feeling of constant discomfort that haunts him in the back of his neck, one that he can't get off, no matter how much times he stands under the shower head, a forearm pressed against unmoving and cold tile.

Of course, this are things that he learned to live with, all his life has been like this, full of burdens and sorrows being thrown into his strong shoulders, he's used to it a this point. So when he goes home and things are completely fine? It does more wrong than good.

This man had not taken leave in a while, if, not to say, ever, but lately, his body had been acting up, he's not as young as he used to be and and it was taking a toll on his body, either he wanted it or not, so reluctantly after getting scolded not only by one of the nurse's at base, but his therapist, and the Captain itself, he had no other choice than to take a small break, two weeks, two weeks it's just as much as he needed, at least that's what he said, but no amount of resting time could really make up for all of those years of hard exhausting work.

His apartment it's empty, just as empty when he left, just as empty as when he moved in, empty in the sense that it lacks of much things, has the very strict basics, empty in the way that his steps echoed through the walls as his combat boots met the wooden floor. As he walked into his room, there still laid the last vestiges of how this place wasn't as dull as it was at the moment, and it wasn't in the most pleasant of ways either. A small burn of cigarette butt on the floor and little indents in the wood of something that looked like heels, that disgusting smell of incense that still clung to his curtains, that stupid dog fur that he still found on his black shirts; things that used to be nothing turn into something.

The first days of his week were spent solely on resting, but, he's used to a bit more of action, so he keeps working out even if its on the emptiness of the department, but soon, with time to rest also comes time to think, time for that awful sensation to crawl into his neck, and, in an impulse, a very bad impulse, a bit of whiskey and a cigarette, he calls.

The phone rings

Once

Twice

Who is this? — A female voice answers the phone, you, the culprit of the damaged floor of his place, the cigarette burns and the smell of lavender incense. — I swear if it's about the credit again, I don't want it

'Ello, luv, nah, jus' me — He answers in that voice that you've grown to hate, the groan it's loud when you realize, and he chuckles in response. — I guess I have that well deserved...

What do you want? — You ask a bit of worry still seeping through your voice, why did he call? Was he okay? He never reached out, you had agreed on not doing so, but even in the end, the words "Call me if you need anything" had come out of your lips the very last time you had seen each other, it rolled off with ease, he would never be a burden you reassured, even after you had yelled at him how much of a bastard he was, maybe you were too.

Are you alone? — He counters your question with another one, even with all the implications you could grasp from that, his voice sounded pensative, you knew how to recognize it, even if it had been literal years since the last time you two spoke.

What do you want?— You repeat, skeptical, what is he trying to do? What is he trying to get you into?

Come over — He asked as if he was demanding it, something you've grown to hate of him.

Even with that, even when you hung up on him, the silence after the question had Simon positive about his request. And he was in the right, neither of you could keep the distance you've been trying to keep, and it just got confirmed when after an hour, some knocks in his door distract him from his piss poor attempt at making supper.

When he opens the door there's this awkwardness lingering in the air, specially when you notice that he's... Whole, he's not missing a limb, or in a wheelchair, he doesn't even have a bandaged arm, no nothing.

You said you wanted help

I never said that, love

Well, no, you didn't say it but I told you to call me if you needed help

I do

With?

Supper

The silence it's loud after his answer, you look at him with incredulity, how can he make you worry like that for something so stupid? He was a grown ass man with a grown ass man job and a grown ass man house, yet, he wanted help with supper, before you could even begin to complain the door was closed behind you, and he looked like he was trying not to smile at your angry face.

That's what he wanted that's what he was craving, a bird that kept him by his toes... And who better than you? His already ex-wife. Your relationship with him was a mess, he is away a lot of time, too much time for your liking, he's away, and he's insufferable when he's around, he's too closed off with his emotions, he doesn't let you in, he keeps you on his porch and expects you to get yourself soaked while it "rains" if that metaphore makes any sense.

Are you fucking dumb? Did you hurt your head again? — You ask, incstintively pushing past him as he has that ugly (not really) smirk on his face

But even with that, you find yourself falling right onto his trap, right into his infuriating words that keep you going, right into his mocking ways.

Even with all of that you always came back.

That man craves for no silence, he wants you there, he wants your fiery spirit, he wants your reprimands, he wants your mean words that you didn't really mean, he wants the heel marking on the wood floors and the impolite cigarette burns on there too after you drop it when he starts kissing you.

But it's fleeting, just as his small break from his job, once he's back at base he makes honor to his nickname, he goes radio silent yet again and you can just stay there and wait for him to get too overwhelmed by the silence of an empty apartment again.

[immortalmsmoon]

Naruto General Headcanons

A/N: i have quite a bit of requests but i have no motivation to write person 5 I'm so sorryyyyy it might be a while before i post them. if you have any other requests though please make sure to send something in!

Cast Line Up- Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi

Naruto~

This kid has SO MUCH energy, but at a certain point in the evening he crashes so hard. Like you cannot get him to do ANYTHING because he's half asleep. 

Has broken his arm twice. The first time when he was like 6 he fell off a tree while he was climbing it. The second time he was splashing paint on the great faces and as he was coming down he hit his hand on the ground too hard. 

When he can’t sleep he sits on the roof of his apartment complex and stays there for a while, usually until the sun rises. 

Likes to paint his nails frequently, usually bright colours, a big fan of bright oranges and greens.

Never has chapped lips. No matter how dry out it is he just never gets them.

After the chunin exams he holds a deep adoration for Neji, because he was able to change his point of view and become better and stronger, and Naruto finds it really impressive. 

Sasuke~

Likes to draw, while he was in the academy he often found himself doodling on his work. If someone ever approached him about it he would deny them and tell them they were seeing things. 

Sometimes when he feels really alone, he likes to turn on his TV for background noise and deep cleans/rearranges his bedroom. He does this usually once a month.

Can play guitar, and does sometimes. It reminds him a lot of his family, specifically Itachi, so he usually keeps it locked in the back of his closet. 

A very avid reader. Has tons and tons of books.

Loves to stargaze. Spends a lot of nights, especially rough ones when he feels alone, watching the stars, usually in a tree or clearing. 

After he left the village, for the first few months he actually missed being there, and missed Naruto and Sakura’s theatrics. He got over himself pretty quickly though. 

Sakura~

VERY good at makeup, but because she's a ninja she rarely gets a chance to do it, because she usually sweats it off. 

Used to wish her hair was blonde because Ino has blonde hair, and she was incredibly popular. 

Very very flexible. 

Also has a very large sweet tooth, and will take most sweet food over savoury or sour food. Can also handle spice VERY well. 

Her legs are stronger than her arms, and she tends to use them more in training and combat. One of her favourite people to train with is Tenten.

Kakashi~

Hates ramen. Cannot stand it. It's been like that since he was a kid, and honestly he's not sure why, he just really cannot stand it. 

Has very nice hands. They are usually fairly soft because he hates how his hands feel when they're dry. 

Once tried to read a book that wasn’t Make Out Paradise and couldn’t even get past the second chapter. 

Very lazy. His ideal day is staying inside his house in a comfy robe and soft slippers reading the day away.

Insomniac, and very good at hiding it. His bags aren’t obvious, and if they are he covers them up with makeup.

Hates being fussed over, but secretly likes to fuss over other people. He can’t really help it, he’s just lost so many people that he has to fuss over the people he loves.

[within-your-eyes-if]

June 1 Update & Testing Begins!

Hello all!

I am sending out links after posting — please check your emails/Discord when you get a chance!

Aside from that, I'm feeling a little nervous but pretty good overall. I'll go over everything once the update is ready to be published.

How long do I plan on testing?: At least a week. I want to give everyone time, but this isn't a new chapter. It may be extended depending on feedback, but I think a week or two is sufficient.

Once testing ends, I'll put on the final touches (if needed) before releasing publicly.

What comes next?: I'm redoing my To-Do list today, but I will share what I have on my test page:

Arcane Sense System with Basic Inventory:

The code is ready and working in a test environment — implementation is planned for Chapter 1 rewrite.

This system will make it so this ability can be tracked and used 'at will' in certain cases — it will be mostly utilized in Ch3 Part Two and going forward.

Armor and Stance System:

The code is ready and working in a test environment — implementation is planned for Chapter 1 rewrite.

This will have greater impact on the fight scenes — it will be a little more "game-like" but not overwhelming or super-complex.

Rewrite Chapter 1:

I want to introduce the MC's abilities better and with more sense. This rewrite would aim to redo the combat areas (again ;-;) but for these new systems. I don't think it will be too bad since the systems are working.

Redoing the Guilt Mechanics:

Since announcing this previously, I've see a few of people mention they enjoy it as it is or find it might not make sense regardless. I'll be contemplating this more along with a 'trust system' that a reader suggested for the time being.

Reworking the Poly Routes:

Changes in tracking have been made. I plan to add new scenes and revise existing ones to improve these relationships. I was hoping to have it in this update, but turned out to be a rather large undertaking so will likely be included in next big update or an update following that.

I’m also working on a few other systems, which I will detail in later updates as they become more fleshed out.

What About Chapter 3 Part Two?

It's still in progress. I'm currently at a part where the MC meets various characters, leading to the dinner with Admos. This may seem straightforward, but with five potential encounters and branching paths, it's quite intricate.

My plan is work on the arcane sense system that will be utilized in this chapter quite a bit so I can get it out sooner than later — I am aiming for this to be the next big update.

Goodness, it feels like a lot — and it probably is. But, we can only move forward! Thank you all for your loving support and incredible patience!

[scmg11]

HAILEE STEINFELD x READER

BODYGUARD

A/N: HELLO BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE! HOW ARE YOU?

As I got swiped away by inspiration and already wrote 8 chapters for my new book, I wanted to surprise you. So I finished proofreading this a new chapter for you!

Let me know what you guys think.

Sending you so much love ❤️

-

Summary: Y/N got assigned as Hailee's new bodyguard but Hailee is not so happy about it.

Warnings: just a little bit of description for harassment, but it will be gone quickly.

Word count: 21840 words.

-

The sound of feet covered in combat boots echoing around in the small, empty hallway was the only sound filling the silence around, creating a calming melody to the girl’s ears as she sauntered to a closed door, stopping in front of it and knocking gently, patiently waiting for permission to enter in the office.

"Come in."

The girl opened the door right after and smiled warmly at the person sat behind the big, glass desk in the middle of the room, "good morning."

"What’s it with this formal shit, Y/N!"

"Oh my bad. Hello bitch, how are you doing?" Y/N smiled cheekily at her boss but also her longtime best friend, sitting on one of the two armchair placed right in front of the desk and crossed her left leg over her right, bent over one and looked at her friend expectantly, waiting for a witty remark.

"I would say ‘that’s better’ but I’m not so sure now." Y/N chuckled at her best friend rolling her eyes and winked at her teasingly, "anyway, I don’t want to take too much of your time up. Let’s get to the point and discuss why I called you here today."

"Alright, what is it?" Y/N looked expectantly at Clara, who was now leaning with her elbows on the desk and with her hands linked together, slipping ‘business face’ on.

"I know you got back from your last job about two weeks ago, but I have a new client and requested the best bodyguard I have. I would be a fool not giving you this job."

"Hm, the best bodyguard here. Flattery. A lot of it." Y/N teased with a proud smile, puffing out her chest, before deflating after a snort left her lips when Clara rolled her eyes good-naturedly at her best friend’s antics, "anyway, of course I will take the job, you know I get bored easily at home after a few days off. So who is this new client? A snotty young prince? A dumb heiress? Uh-oh! I know! A stuck-up model with a big God Complex? Ah they are my favorite. Their head is full of themselves, it makes me laugh every single time. Especially when they are male models."

"None of them actually. Luckily I would say." Y/N sighed out in relief at that before both shuddered loudly as they thought over enduring months and months of working with those kind of clients. A fucking tough job. "It’s an actress. She is also a singer and she is starting a tour soon. You will have to follow her around on tour and a few events she is invited to. If you do a good job, which I’m sure you will, more than perfectly, they will have you around her a lot. She is gaining fans quickly and her parents want her safe."

"Sounds good. Easy. Do I know her?" Y/N nodded gently at the job offer and got instantly excited hearing she have to follow the actress around tour. She is always happy with traveling around the world to discover new, amazing places.

"I don’t know. I’ve seen a couple of her movies, maybe you did too. She is Hailee Steinfeld."

"Oh yeah, I remember her. I listened to one of her songs yesterday on the radio. She has a beautiful voice and that song was such a bop."

"Oh great!"

"When am I starting?" Y/N asked in excitement, always wanting to work since she loved her job dearly. She doesn’t know exactly who her new client is, she just knew her name and her voice when she sang, but she will have time to do a small research about her. She always liked to be fully prepared for a body guarding job.

"Well, if you are ready, they would like for you to start now."

"What, now as in now?" Y/N asked in disbelief, her eyes widening in shock as she realized what her best friend just said.

"Yeah, it was kinda fast." Y/N snorted at that as she shook her head in amusement.

"That’s an understatement Clar. But I will accept. How much time do I have to get ready for her tour?"

"2 weeks I think. She is finishing a movie and then she is off for tour. You can meet her today. Her mom called me this morning asking me if it was okay to join them today."

"Sure, no problem. Are we still up for drinks tonight right?"

"Are you kidding me? I’ve been holed up here for the entire week. I need a break."

"Hm, when you say break you actually mean a good fuck right?" Y/N teased her best friend, who looked at her in fake outrage as she placed her hand on her chest feigning taking offense from Y/N’s words.

"Excuse me?!"

"Don’t act so innocent all of a sudden. I’m the one that has to be your wingwoman."

"Go before I decide to fire you as my wingwoman and as a bodyguard."

Y/N chuckled as she sat up and walked around the desk to give her best friend a big, warm hug before promising to pick her up at 7 for their usual Friday night full of drinks. As Y/N exited the building and climbed into her car, her phone dinged with a text message her best friend sent her with all the information she needed about her new job and the location Hailee was actually in right now to go there and meet her. She put the address in her GPS and drove away into the busy streets of LA.

-

"Name please?" Y/N lifted her sunglasses up her head and looked at the security guard outside the set Hailee was filming in, smiling at him politely.

"Hi, Y/N Y/L/N. I am Miss Steinfeld’s new bodyguard. My agency should’ve already sent all the information needed."

"Ah yes. Here you are. You can park right beside Miss Steinfeld’s trailer. You have to turn left, then right, then right again and you should find it right away. Her name is on the door." Y/N listened carefully to the guard’s directions after he lifted the automatic barrier and let her enter the set’s parking lot. "Have a nice day!"

"Thank you so much. Have a nice day!" Y/N followed the guard’s directions and drove through the set’s parking lot, stopping a few minutes later when she saw a trailer parked in the middle of a deserted part of the parking lot with just 2 cars parked near it. Y/N parked her car right beside a a black Porsche and exited the vehicle, locking it before making her way towards the entrance of the trailer to read once again the name on its door and to make sure it was actually Hailee’s trailer.

"Mom, I already told you that I didn’t need a bodyguard. I don’t want one!"

"Haiz please, listen to me. You are going on tour soon and for the first part of it we can’t be there with you. You are gaining fans fast and we are worried about your safety."

"Yeah, you could’ve tied me to my tour bus or you could’ve locked me into my room. It’s the same, right mom?" Y/N listens to two voices argue, loud enough for her to hear it but just quiet enough to not let everyone around them hear them. She didn’t peer around the trailer to watch who was arguing to avoid being caught eavesdropping, but from what she could hear, she assumed she pretty much was the subject of the argument between Hailee and her mother.

"Haiz, I know you are saying this because you are angry at me and your dad for making this decision without asking you for your opinion, but trust me it was a decision made for your own good."

"Yeah, yeah. Sure. Thanks." Y/N was debating in her mind if she should make her presence known or not, fearing she would get caught by someone, especially from Hailee or her mother.

"Excuse me Miss Steinfeld, but we are ready to shoot again." Y/N sighed out loud when she heard someone approach the two women and quickly ran to her car when she heard footsteps approach where she was leaning on the other trailer’s side.

"Thank you Simon. I will be there in 5 minutes."

Y/N had just the time to close her door quietly before two figures rounded the corner from the back of the trailer, taking just a second to look at them before opening her car door and feigning arriving just in that moment as she adjusted her leather jacket before closing her car door and locking the vehicle again, feeling a pair of eyes watching her movements. "Hm, hello?" Y/N spoke up tentatively, feeling a little bit uneasy at the two pair of eyes staring at them.

"Hi dear, can we help you?" The shorter of the two women asked in a gentle and soft voice, smiling politely at her as she approached them, while the taller one stayed in silence, standing beside the shorter woman with a rigid stance, her arms crossed and her face stoic with her eyebrows furrowed angrily.

"Yes, hi. I am looking for Miss Hailee Steinfeld."

"She is right here." The shorter woman pointed to the taller one with a smile just as Y/N stopped in front of them. "I’m Cheri, her mom."

"Oh, nice to meet you Mrs. Steinfeld, Miss Steinfeld, I’m Y/N Y/L/N. I was assigned to you to be your new bodyguard." Y/N stretched her arm over to shake Cheri’s hand first before doing the same with a reluctant Hailee.

"Oh dear, there’s no need for these formalities, just call me Cheri!" Y/N returned Cheri’s warm smile and nodded softly at her request, "anyway, welcome! I’m afraid we don’t have much time to discuss things since Hailee needs to go back on set, but you can stay with me until she finishes for the day."

"That would be great!"

And they were off, walking towards the set with Cheri talking excitedly to Y/N, telling her how excited she is Y/N was assigned to Hailee as her new bodyguard, how much she admired her for doing such a difficult and sometimes dangerous job, and Y/N listened with rapt attention and with slight amusement at the woman’s enthusiasm but she couldn’t help but notice Hailee stayed quiet the entire walk towards the set with her jaw set and her nostrils flared a bit as she stared with furrowed eyebrows ahead of her. "We’ll wait here sweety, then we will discuss everything after you’re done for the day."

"Okay, see you later."

-

After about three hours Hailee joined them back where she left, her face conveying her tiredness but Y/N could still see in her eyes she was still slightly mad at her mom for hiring a bodyguard she apparently didn’t want from what Y/N gathered when she eavesdropped Hailee’s and Cheri’s argument earlier that day.

"I already ordered burgers baby. They should be here soon." Cheri told her daughter as she approached them and when Cheri’s hand caressed Hailee’s bicep, Y/N watched as a bit of her anger slipped away and got replaced by a loving glint.

"Thanks, shall we go?"

Y/N couldn’t help but notice a small change in Hailee’s behavior compared to the one before shooting back on set. Maybe she cooled off a bit or maybe she had time to think over her mother’s words during filming, but Y/N was glad that she actually came around her mother’s decision, decision she found truly heartwarming. "How was shooting, honey?"

"It was good. A little bit stressing towards the end of it since Nelly couldn’t remember the right line and she had some troubles getting it right, but it was fun as always."

"Oh I’m so sorry for her. She must be exhausted."

"Yeah, she came back from another set three days ago. She has so many projects going on right now."

Y/N didn’t know who Hailee and Cheri were talking about but she assumed they were talking about one of Hailee’s co-star. "Y/N, dear, have you already worked for another actress or actor before?" Cheri asked Y/N with a small smile as they approached Hailee’s trailer in the set’s parking lot.

"Yes, I have. Quite a few. I started my body guarding job with an actress actually. I remember being so anxious and so nervous all the time. But with time you develop more confidence, you become more confident, you learn how to control your emotions and act rationally and logically. You have to be strategic when needed and you must have a clear mind when a dangerous situation unfolds before you so you can protect your client."

"Oh wow!" Cheri exclaimed, her eyes shining with curiosity that Y/N found extremely cute but she couldn’t help but notice Hailee scoffing under her breath as she rolled her eyes, now being the one curious about the actress’ reaction to her words.

"Anyway, it becomes ‘easier’ with time, even though there is nothing easy in this job." Y/N clarified with a small smile directed at Cheri, since the singer wasn’t exactly paying attention to her as she fished her iPhone out of her pocket and started texting someone.

"Oh I’m sure. Y/N, I know how much you’ve worked with your agency and how much of an hard worker you are, that’s why I specifically asked for you. I know Clara. She is one of my dearest friend’s niece. I asked her to assign Hailee one of her best bodyguards and she immediately told me your name and everything you’ve done during your time in her agency."

"Yeah, we pretty much funded it together. We started together."

"For how long have you known her?" Y/N watched as sheer curiosity glistened in Cheri’s eyes and felt her chest flutter at how comforting her attitude is. She couldn’t help tilting upward her lips when she noticed Hailee had her eyes still on her phone but she stopped typing away on it, clearly interested in the conversation going on between Y/N and Cheri as she tried to listen carefully even if she was acting disinterested. They arrived at the trailer and settled in, Y/N sitting on a loveseat, while Hailee and Cheri sat on the couch in front of Y/N.

"We met in college. She was my roommate."

"Oh that’s wonderful dear! I’m so glad Clara assigned you-." Cheri got interrupted when a knock on Hailee’s trailer’s door echoed around the makeshift living room, "it must be the delivery guy with our order. One second, I’ll be right back."

"Yeah, sure." Y/N awkwardly looked around the room with her hands entwined, not really knowing what to say now that she is alone with Hailee, but trying to find something to say since she will be her bodyguard from now on and they will need to start some kind of civil relationship between them. "How was your day on set?"

"Good." Y/N had a feeling that that one word answer will be the only thing that will leave Hailee’s mouth and sighed out softly. The singer’s tone wasn’t exactly harsh or conveyed hostility, but it held a dryness in them that told Y/N she was still pretty mad at her mother or even Y/N herself for this situation. Not that Y/N had a say in all of this. She was just doing her job.

"Okay! Here I am!" Cheri came back a minute later, carrying two dark paper bags full of their food and Y/N immediately sat up to go help Cheri, feeling Hailee’s eyes on her in the process but paying no mind to it. "Oh thank you, dear."

"You’re welcome." Y/N smiled widely at Cheri, who grinned back at her with sweetness seeping out of her every pore before they settled everything on the kitchen table, with surprisingly Hailee’s help, who got up a minute after Y/N.

"Let’s dig in. I’m starving." Hailee stated, making her mother chuckle with a fond smile on her lips and gestured to Y/N to eat before joining them.

-

"Have you got everything, honey? Did you pack everything?"

"Yes, mom!" Hailee laughed good-naturedly at her mother’s anxiety as she made her check her suitcases 4 times and go over the list she made of things she had to pack at least 10 times to make sure she packed everything with her before making her finally close her suitcases to bring them down to put them in her tour bus. "I literally have the list memorized by now." Hailee smiled lovingly at her mother as she checked the list for the umpteenth time before meeting her eyes and nodding at her.

"Okay, yeah. You’re right. Sorry. I- I’m just a bit stressed. You’re going on tour and I want to make sure you have everything with you."

"I know mom. I got everything. I checked everything before closing all my suitcases." Hailee smiled warmly at her mother before chuckling softly under her breath with fondness swirling around her brown irises when she watched her mother fold the piece of paper with the list on it and nod gently at her.

"Good! That’s good. Hm, alright it seems you’re ready to go. Oh no! It’s getting late!" Cheri took a look on the watch on her wrist and placed her right hand on her cheek in shock when she looked at the time. They were running a bit late.

"Yeah, we need to go." Hailee hugged her mother before doing the same with her father and her brother then walked in her tour bus and closing the door, making sure to lock it before making her way further into the bus to settle everything down. She felt the bus start moving and sighed out contentedly.

"Hi." Y/N had to swallow the soft snort that was ready to come out of her mouth when Hailee jumped up in fright with a small squeal at Y/N’s voice echoing around the silent bus.

"Oh shit. Fuck! You scared me."

"Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t know how to make my presence known without scaring you, I guess I didn’t do a good job." Y/N chuckling softly while scratching the back of her head, the grimacing to try to convey her regret for scaring the singer.

"Well- don’t worry. I guess it’s definitely better than doing a sudden loud noise or something like that."

"Yeah, I guess." Y/N chuckled softly under her breath, emitting another soft chuckle then let a small smile adorn her lips as she looked at Hailee for a few seconds before focusing on her hands in her lap, feeling slightly awkward being in a room alone with Hailee since they had never been alone again since when first meeting almost 10 days prior.

"Hm, what are you doing here?" Hailee asked as she played with her fingers, wringing them gently as she tried to focus her gaze on anything but Y/N, clearly feeling the awkwardness between them. It’s not that they started off on a wrong foot, but Hailee still strongly believes she doesn’t need a bodyguard while on tour and she hadn’t acknowledged Y/N, just the bare minimum.

"Your mom told me to stay here with you." Y/N answered with a serious, business-like tone. She had always been a professional at work and had never, not even once let her emotions show or let them control her, but since Hailee had never been friendly with her, always acting annoyed by Y/N’s presence, almost like she blamed Y/N for being there to protect her when she was just doing her job, she decided to build a wall between them and act just with Hailee just like Hailee is acting with her.

"Oh, yeah right. To protect me." Hailee stressed the word ‘protect’ out with a sarcastic tilt in her tone and Y/N felt annoyance bubble in the pit of her stomach, but she tried to swallow her comeback down to prevent starting an argument with her new client.

"Yeah." Y/N trailed off for a few seconds to collect her thoughts and try to not sound annoyed as she felt to Hailee, "that’s what I do. It’s my job."

"I don’t doubt that, trust me. It’s just that, like I’ve been trying to say for the past 10 days, I don’t need protection!"

"Yeah, I heard you. Your mother heard you. Your father heard you. But they are still worried. Fans can get crazy. They are all amazing, but sometimes meeting your idol makes you go a little crazy. Trust me, I met a lot of them. A few of them were pretty crazy."

"But not my fans."

"I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that fans can be a lot sometimes, especially after waiting for you for an entire day at a venue or at the airport. They are loyal, passionate, loving. And that can get too much sometimes."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Y/N resisted the urge to roll her eyes as Hailee dismissed her as she wasn’t paying attention anymore with a wave of her hand and rummaged around the kitchen for a mug. "I’m just changing a few things from now on. When we’re stopping for a break in about an hour, you’re gonna leave me alone. I don’t need a babysitter."

"I’m not a babysitter." Y/N countered back with a strong but still polite tone, crossing her arms and staring at Hailee hard.

"Yeah sure, but I still want to be left alone. I do not agree with my mother’s choice of giving me a bodyguard, but I have to accept it in some way. But what I don’t accept is you staying here when you can easily stay with the crew on the other bus. I want my privacy."

"Okay well. I will go on the other bus as you wish." Y/N gave in dryly, not wanting to keep discussing this subject, stood up right after and, without sparing Hailee another look, walked into the driver’s cabin and asked him to pull over and let her walk out of the bus. Thankfully he stopped immediately after her request, communicating what he was doing to the other driver and without even saying anything else to Hailee, she walked out of the bus and got on the other one.

-

"Yeah, yeah, totally. Oh, yes, we just got here." Hailee opened her tour bus’ door as soon as it stopped, finally arriving in Phoenix, the first city that will start Hailee’s worldwide tour. "Yeah, I am getting off of the bus right now and I’ll go in the venue for the soundcheck."

Hailee stopped in her tracks on the last step to get off the tour bus when she came face to face with Y/N, already waiting for her with her arms crossed and stoic face to accompany her in the venue. "Hi."

"Yeah no, sorry mom. Line got interrupted for a second." Hailee ignored Y/N and visibly rolled her eyes, letting out a huff through her nose as she descended the last step off the tour bus and walked away from Y/N, huffing out again when she heard over her mother’s voice through her iPhone’s loudspeaker steps following her, annoyed about Y/N following her around. "Okay, I will. I need to go now. Okay, bye mom. Love you."

Hailee waited for her mom to say ‘I love you’ back before hanging up the phone. "Are we ready to start our first soundcheck for the first date of this tour?!"

"Hell yeah!" Hailee high-fived her guitarist before doing the same with the drummer, joining her at her sides then walking inside the venue. Hailee took a second to sweep her eyes all over the place, taking it in and smiling widely when she imagined the venue being completely filled with her fans that night. "Hm, I missed this so much." Hailee stated out loud, letting out a sigh as she soaked up in the feeling of finally being back on tour.

"Hey, Y/N! It’s nice to see you again." Y/N smirked smugly when Hailee furrowed her brows and turned her head around in confusion when her drummer said ‘hi’ to Y/N, Hailee then noticed the smug grin on Y/N’s face and rolled her eyes in annoyance before turning back around and walking towards the stage.

"Hey Mick. How is it going? Everything already set up?" Y/N asked enthusiastically at the young man smiling back at her, who walked into step with her as she walked behind Hailee, now a few feet from them. "Excited for tonight?"

"Oh yes! Everything is set up. I’m so thrilled for tonight. I can’t believe it’s sold out on the first night already." The brown eyed young man looked at the stage with a big, bright smile before looking at Y/N again, "so everything is going good. Great even."

"Cool. Are we ready for the soundcheck? Can I go get my in-ear monitors in?" Hailee butted in the conversation and asked just as enthusiastically, eyeing the stage some more before focusing her attention back on her drummer.

"Oh yes! I have them already. Go get ready."

"M’kay, ready for soundcheck in 5 minutes, Mick."

"Okay!"

-

"Are you ready?" Hailee’s makeup artist asked in a soft voice as she applied the last touches of makeup on the singer backstage, Hailee nodding gently as she stared ahead of her after taking a deep breath, making the makeup artist smile warmly at her.

"I’m a bit nervous." Hailee admitted as she bit on her bottom lip anxiously, watching from her position in the backstage the lights on stage changing colors while the music in the background became louder and louder each passing second, signaling and warning her she only had about 10 seconds before going on stage, the beats of the drums reverberating through her ribcage, filling her up with adrenaline.

"You’re gonna do great." Y/N shouted over Hailee’s fans loud screams and smiled encouragingly at her, shocked to see a small grin directed back at her after the singer moved her focus from the stage to her, meeting her gaze briefly then returning her eyes back on stage, taking one last deep breath before running on stage, saying ‘hi’ to her fans that erupted in the loudest collective scream yet.

"Hello everybody! How are you?" Hailee laughed into the mic when her fans screamed louder and shook her head fondly before continuing, "I can see you’re doing great! Let’s get this show started, shall we?"

-

Y/N had to admit the concert was amazing. The fans were crazy for Hailee and Hailee put one hell of a show for them. Y/N had travelled a lot and she had seen a lot of concerts when she was a singer’s bodyguard and she had seen a lot of crazy fans, a lot of them were crazy, but she had never seen so much love being directed at a singer with that intensity, with so much warmth. It was endearing, truly. "WOHO! HOW WAS THAT?!"

"You did amazing. Congratulations."

Hailee turned around to stare back at Y/N, still not expecting her acting so nicely after treating her so poorly. "Thank you!"

Y/N smiled warmly at Hailee but the brown haired girl just reciprocated with a tight lipped smile before turning towards her dancers engulfing her in a big group hug, "hey, great show!"

Mick high-fived Y/N enthusiastically and giggled alongside her while bumping their shoulders together, watching as the dancers surrounding Hailee now started jumping up and down with her in the middle and screaming at the top of their lungs. "And it’s just the beginning."

"Do you think it will get crazier?" Y/N asked with an incredulous voice, watching Mick nod with widened eyes. "Really?!"

"Yes! Hailee’s fans are the best. They are so passionate about her! It’s amazing."

"I saw them during the concert. I still have to ‘encounter’ them in other occasions but I can see they are passionate." Y/N admitted as she watched Hailee interact with her dancers as she smiled widely, "I guess I will need to be extra careful, right?"

"Eh, not that much. They are respectful. Most of them at least. She had almost zero encounters with ‘batshit crazy’ fans."

"That’s good to know. I had a quite a few with that kind of fans and trust me, it’s not a pretty sight to witness."

"Oh I’m sure." Mick snorted under his breath before shaking his head softly, "but I’m sure it’s fun and exciting, am I right?"

"In some way yeah. But I guess when you need to protect your client, you are worried too. Even if there isn’t too much danger."

"Oh yeah, right." Mick seemed to ask something else, but he never got the chance because Jasmine, one of the dancers, came sauntering towards them with a big grin and interrupted them.

"GUYS! GET READY! WE’RE GOING TO PARTY!"

"What?" Y/N snorted when Mick asked that question with his eyebrows furrowed and a confused expression on his face.

"You heard me. We are going to celebrate the first concert of the tour!"

"You already planned everything, didn’t you?" Mick asked with a mischievous grin on his lips as he crossed his arms and looked at Jasmine knowingly.

"Well, yeah! C’mon, we’ve known each other for years!" Y/N watched as Mick chuckled with a small nod as Jasmine circled her arm around his shoulders and side-hugged him tightly.

"Fair enough. Anyway, I’m always in when there is alcohol involved."

"Y/N, are you in?" Jasmine asked with a smile, rolling a strand of hair around her index finger and looking at the Y/H/C girl expectantly.

"I kinda have to." Y/N replied with a snort, "you guys kinda have to be friends with me, because wherever Hailee goes, I go too. But I’m glad you invited me, so I don’t feel like I’m crushing on you guys’ night."

Mick and Jasmine laughed at her joke and both punched her shoulders as they shook their heads, "you sound like a jealous girlfriend."

Y/N snorted out loud at Mick’s joke before flipping him off, making him laugh harder alongside Jasmine. "C’mon you two, let’s get drunk!"

-

"I know! But at least I got free alcohol!" Jasmine laughed care-freely as she sipped on her drink, moving her head to the beat of the song playing in the club while eyeing her friends in the vip area dancing.

"We got free alcohol. Thank you Jaz!" Mick leaned over the table and high-fived Jasmine then doing the same with Y/N, who was only paying half attention to what they were saying as she tried to keep her gaze focused on Hailee dancing with a few of her dancers on the dance floor not too far from them. "Dude you now look like a jealous girlfriend. Chill. She is with us. She is safe."

"Stop harassing her Mick. She is doing her job." Jasmine leaned over the table to slap Mick’s shoulder before sitting back on her chair and patting Y/N’s hand gently, drawing her full attention. "Don’t listen to him Y/N."

"Oh trust me, I’m not. And I never will." Y/N joked with a mischievous smile directed at Mick, making him gasp with an offended face, his mouth opened in an O shape and his eyebrows drawn together, but she purposefully ignored him and focused her attention on Jasmine instead. "I just- I don’t want to be too oppressive. She doesn’t want me here. But her mom does. I want her to trust her mom is right. I am not her enemy. Nor are her fans. But sometimes things get crazy and I am here to protect her if it will ever happen."

"Don’t worry Y/N. She will come around eventually." Jasmine assured Y/N with a warm smile.

"Yeah, she will. I am sure of that." Mick caught Y/N’s attention by laying a hand on the Y/H/C girl and patting it gently.

"Thank you guys." Y/N smiled in appreciation at her friends, who just lifted their drinks and winked at her with small grins of their own.

"I need a drink." Y/N snorted under her breath when another dancer, Tess, walked at their table and sat unceremoniously down on the chair beside her, a bit sweaty and out of breath. "Can you go get me one Mick?"

"Sure. For 200 dollars."

"What?! C’mon! You came here to sit three songs ago! I need to rest." Tess argued as she groaned at Mick’s mischievous expression.

"Not my fault. You could’ve joined me then and you could’ve rested enough to get a drink." Mick countered back with mirth glowing in his eyes. Despite his words, Y/N saw Mick gripping the chair’s armrests, a clear sign he is ready to get up, and that gesture made Y/N smile fondly as she witnessed the drummer mess around a little bit with Tess.

"Ugh, you’re an asshole." Tess flipped him off before sending him a kiss when he got up from his chair right after. "Love you!"

"Yeah, yeah." Mick waved Tess off before walking towards the small group still dancing and talked to Luke and Mark quickly, before walking towards the VIP area’s bar. He probably asked his friends to get drinks for everyone and not too long after everyone joined the table when Mick, Luke and Mark brought shots and drinks. Everyone except Hailee. Y/N was ready to sit up and join her to keep an eye on her closely, but Tess passed her a shot and made her cheer with everyone else. Then another. When the third one arrived in a very short time, Y/N declined it since she was technically working and that made her senses go back on alert, chancing a look at Hailee, expecting her to dance with the few people dancing on the dance floor, but she was met with uncomfortable eyes that were clearly asking for help. With a lightning-fast movement she sat up from her chair and strode towards the dance floor.

"C’mon, let me buy you a drink babe."

"Do not call me babe. I said no. Thank you." Hailee talked slowly but with a firm voice, her tone a bit lower and full of anger and annoyance.

"Then let’s dance a bit before getting that drink. I promise I will make worth your while."

Y/N wanted to punch that douchebag’s face repeatedly when she heard the conversation going on as she got closer to Hailee and a small curly, dark brown haired boy, watching as he ogled Hailee with his brown eyes. "Is there a problem here?"

"No. Bye."

Y/N had to restrain herself when the boy answered before Hailee could, not even moving his eyes from her chest before meeting Hailee’s gaze with a disgusting flirty smile, "where were we? Oh yeah, we were about to dance. Or we could skip the dance and the drink and get right to the good part."

"Like a said no. A million times no."

"But-."

"You heard her. No." Y/N interrupted him as she crossed her arms under her chest and approached Hailee slightly, noticing how she leaned a bit over her as she tried to move away from the boy.

"Who are you?" Y/N had to physically restrain herself from punching repeatedly this douchebag’s smug face by closing her hands into tight fists, feeling her short nails sink deep into her palm and creating a grounding stinging, and by taking a deep, calming breath but it proved to be a really difficult task when the douchebag’s face twisted in disgust, "go find another girl to hit on, she is not interested."

Y/N’s patience was becoming thinner by the second and closed her eyes for a second to stop from head-butting hard this jerk, before opening her Y/E/C eyes again and focusing her cold gaze on him, "the only person I want to hit, hard, right now it’s you. Don’t test my patience. I’m here to tell you to go fuck yourself."

"Nice try, but I’m not going anywhere. Not without her at least." Hailee frowned in disgust when the boy winked at her in something that he may have considered seductive before focusing his gaze back on Y/N. "So why don’t you go bother someone else?"

"Did I stutter? Go. Fuck. Yourself."

"Listen-."

"No you listen for once. I said no. NO. A million times no. I guess you don’t take a no for an answer but I don’t care. I said no. I’m not going anywhere with you. And apologize to her since she had been nice enough to not beating the shit out of you."

"Oh I got it now. You two are together. It’s fine. We can arrange something." Y/N and Hailee facepalmed right away as they stared dumbly at him for a few seconds but they sighed loudly when they noticed he was actually serious.

"We’re not together. I am her friend."

Hailee was glad Y/N didn’t use the word ‘bodyguard’ since this jerk seemed to be so dense and dumb that he would’ve thought about some kinky role play shit he would’ve wanted to join. "We are her friends and we tell you to go nicely. Don’t let me repeat myself or the word ‘nicely’ won’t be used again."

Hailee turned her head around and smiled warmly at Jasmine and Mick behind her mimicking Y/N’s pose and watching the boy with a withering glare, "ugh fine, you bitch were too fucking haughty and snob to fuck."

The boy turned around with a scoff and went to walk away, but Y/N stopped him right after, "oh hey! You forgot something."

"What?" The boy didn’t have time to turn fully around before Y/N’s fist collided with his cheek hard and made him fall down on the floor with a grunt that almost got covered by the cheers and loud wolf whistles from her friends as they cheered Y/N on.

"There. Now you can go to hell asshole."

-

After about an hour, Y/N walked out of the club, following Hailee closely as she talked animatedly with two of her dancers about something Y/N wasn’t exactly paying attention to. "You don’t have to worry about that, we will blame Pete for that."

"Hey!" Y/N smiled softly at the boy in question protesting, lowering her head down and watching her feet move on the concrete for a few moments before looking up ahead again.

"Don’t worry, we won’t do that." Hailee was quick to reassure with a calming, comforting tone but her innocent expression then broke into a mischievous smile a second later, "maybe."

"I hate you two!" Pete put his hands on Hailee’s and Lorna’s shoulders, walking respectively on his left and on his right side, and pushed them to the side, making them stumble in their steps.

"That’s our stop. We’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Haiz." Lorna and Pete hugged Hailee tightly, doing the same with everyone that wasn’t on the bus they were staying in then walked in their bus.

"I’ll join you guys in a second. I will walk Hailee to her bus."

"Okay." Jasmine lifted her thumb up and nodded at her after she hugged Hailee goodnight and walked alongside her friends to their bus.

"Hm, I need to walk you back to your bus then I’ll leave you alone." Y/N told Hailee in an awkward stance and shrugged softly.

"Okay." Hailee nodded and started walking the few steps towards her tour bus, hearing Y/N catch up with her not even a second later.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Y/N didn’t believe Hailee not even for a second, she saw her bite on her bottom lip and fidget with her hands nervously since they left the club not too long ago, making Y/N ask if Hailee was okay.

"Are you sure? You seem a little bit- lost? Deep in thought. I just want to make sure you are okay."

"I am just a little bit shaken by what happened." Hailee finally admitted after a few seconds of silence, causing Y/N’s heart to clench at her quiet voice.

"I am so sorry." Y/N apologized with a regretful expression on her face and looked at Hailee with remorse clear in her Y/E/C eyes, "I shouldn’t have sat down at the table. I should’ve been right beside you so he wouldn’t have approached you in the first place." Y/N looked down at her feet for a few seconds in shame before looking back into Hailee’s brown irises when she felt them on her, finding nothing but fondness in those mesmerizing irises.

"Y/N, it’s not your fault. I actually really appreciated you giving me space and not staying glued to me all night long. I might not wanted and I might still not want you here since I don’t think getting a bodyguard was necessary but I understand my mother’s worries and I respect your job. And you did an amazing job. You came at the right time and helped me out and I’m grateful for that. Stop beating yourself up. You did nothing wrong."

"I know, but I should’ve arrived earlier. I should’ve stopped him before he could’ve approached you. I was distracted and I shouldn’t have been distracted. Not when I am working."

Hailee smiled tenderly at her before placing a hand on her right shoulder and caressed it softly in a comforting manner. "It’s okay. You need to have some fun too!"

"I don’t. Not when I’m working." Y/N countered back with her eyebrows furrowed and shook her head in denial, "my priority is your safety and I can’t protect you if I am distracted. It won’t happen again."

"Okay, stop. Hold on. Let me open the door and we can keep talking." Hailee rummaged in her purse to find the tour bus’ keys and opened the door, then signaled for Y/N to enter, but the girl shook her head and signaled her to go in first. Hailee rolled her eyes good-naturedly and shook her head with a small smile before she realized Y/N wasn’t going to give in and walked in first.

"Wow, what a mess!" Y/N said out loud and widened eyes comically as she took in the place, full of clothes scattered all over the living room’s floor and couches.

"Yeah sorry, I was trying to unpack a few things."

"All of this is a bit more than a few things." Y/N joked as she looked at Hailee comically and the girl shrugged shyly.

"Anyway, we started on a wrong foot. Especially because of me. Let’s start over. I will try to be more polite to you if you will try to have fun when needed."

"Oh I didn’t realize this was a negotiation." Y/N cracked another joke, smiling mischievously at Hailee while shaking her index finger to point at Hailee and herself, the singer scoffing with another good-naturedly roll of her eyes. "Anyway, I will try. But your safety has to come first."

"Deal."

-

"Ugh, Y/N relax. You don’t need to walk me back every night to my trailer, especially when it’s 10 feet away from the entrance!"

"I am sorry, but this is the protocol. It’s my job to be sure you are safe in your trailer."

"Yeah, okay, but no one is around. My fans are on the other side of the venue."

"I still will walk you back in your trailer." Hailee huffed out a small laugh as she fished her keys from her stage pants she stashed in there after grabbing them on the counter in her changing room before walking out of the venue and unlocked her tour bus door. "I-."

"Like every other night for the past month, no. You don’t need to check the bus. It was locked."

"Okay." Y/N sighed dejectedly, scratching her forehead in frustration at Hailee’s stubbornness as she looked the singer in her eyes, "you did great tonight by the way."

"Thank you." Hailee smiled widely at the compliment, adrenaline still pumping hard in her veins at how wonderful the concert was that night. The crowd was ecstatic and the atmosphere was amazing.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight Y/N."

-

Y/N could hear Hailee’s name being screamed by the ecstatic crowd from the backstage and couldn’t help but smile at how passionate Hailee’s fans were and how much love they showed her, "okay, all set. You can go on stage now."

"What’s up everybody!" Y/N smiled widely when Hailee run up on stage and the whole crowd erupted in a loud scream of excitement at her sight, "wow, I see you are happy to see me!"

No matter how many times she saw it, Y/N was still stunned how much loved Hailee was by her fans. She had travelled a lot and she had been pretty famous singer’s bodyguard before, and even if Hailee’s fans weren’t that much compared to the singers’ fans Y/N had worked for, she could see the real passion, affection and love they had for Hailee. A lot of really famous singers have also a lot of ‘occasional’ fans in the crowd that are there at their concert just to watch them live, but with Hailee’s fans Y/N could see every single one of them would go to every single one of Hailee’s shows, they weren’t just occasional fans. "WOHO! WHAT A GREAT SHOW!"

"Fuck you Mick! You will make me go deaf one of these days."

"Nah, you’ll be just fine." Mick waved her off and snickered as he circled his arm around Y/N’s shoulders and hugged her closer for a moment before pulling away.

A few seconds later a body crashed into her back as it crawled over it, giving her just a few seconds to react and grab the person’s thighs to prevent them to fall on the ground, "Y/N! I missed you!"

"Jaz we saw each other 2 hours ago!"

"I know! But I still missed you!" Y/N smiled warmly at her friend as she hugged her tightly and shook her head before putting her down gently.

"Oh yeah! I’m gonna change quickly. I wanna say ‘hi’ to them." Y/N heard Hailee speak to her manager not too far from her and watched curiously as she run to the hallway that led to the dressing rooms, already knowing she was talking about going to say ‘hi’ to her fans waiting outside the arena. She followed her and waited patiently outside her dressing room as Hailee finished changing from her stage clothes and walked her to her fans when she finished, watching with fondness in her eyes Hailee talk to her fans, signing their pictures of her and taking selfies with them. It was calm for almost 10 minutes until a fight started not too far away from them, a few rows back, between a few Hailee’s fans. A few screams could be heard and Y/N, waiting patiently a few feet behind Hailee until then, immediately jumped into action and went to take Hailee away from the scene, since the arena’s guards already got it covered, but the singer walked forward to try to calm everyone down slipping from Y/N’s grasp. Y/N saw from the corner of her eyes as she walked again towards Hailee, a girl crashing into another girl holding a beer and accidentally breaking the bottle onto the barrier on her left, before another girl crashed onto her side and made her stumble forward, dangerously close to Hailee, as she walked a few steps forward to try to help and calm everyone down. "Guys, please let’s just-."

"Hailee!" Y/N got in front of Hailee’s just in time. The Y/H/C girl grabbed the singer’s forearm and pulled her behind her back as she got in front of her a second before the broken bottle got pushed into her lower stomach while the girl holding the bottle fell down on the floor right in front of Y/N’s feet. Y/N grunted in pain when she felt a big piece of glass embed in her skin and flesh, while the rest fell down on the floor and crashed into pieces, but the Y/H/C girl pushed the pain away to protect Hailee and moved her away from the hassle. "We need to go."

"Oh shit- Y/N!"

"We need to go now. I need to escort you away to a safe place."

"B-but we need to look at that-."

"I’ll be fine." Y/N gritted through her teeth as she ignored the excruciating pain and grunted out loud when she pushed Hailee towards the direction of her tour bus.

"Y/N we seriously need to call someone." Y/N grunted back in protest as she kept pushing Hailee towards the bus and signaled for her to open the door as she looked around for anymore treats. "Y/N, please. You’re bleeding."

"I will check it as soon as I am sure you are safe and now-." Y/N trailed off as she closed the door behind her and locked the door. "Now you are." Y/N sighed out loud as she laid her back on the closed door for just a moment before she pushed past the pain for a few more seconds to check the entire bus to be completely sure Hailee was safe.

"Okay, now please, stop here and let me check." Hailee leaned her hands on Y/N’s shoulders when she joined her back on the living area and pushed down gently to let her lay her butt on the small table behind her. "Oh fuck. It looks bad." Hailee stated, examining the big red spot on Y/N’s white t-shirt with a worried expression on her face.

"Can you- l-lift the shirt?"

"I don’t know." Y/N grunted in pain when Hailee just grazed the hem of Y/N’s shirt and stopped her movements right away.

"Fuck." Y/N hissed out loud and retracted her body abruptly from Hailee’s grasp, "sorry, just- be careful."

"I am." Hailee replied softly with a small smile, "I think we should let it be checked." Hailee repeated as she looked once again at the blood stained patch on Y/N’s white shirt, biting her bottom lip nervously. A few seconds later she felt the bus move and instinctively looked at the closed door separating the living area from the driving cabin at the front of the bus with her eyebrows furrowed together. "No, no, no! We should stop."

"No, it’s okay. It’s important that we get away from that chaos. We can handle it. Wait, let me rephrase that. I can handle it. I don’t want to bother you too much. I will go into the bathroom and as soon as we are far away I will go into my bus." Y/N announced as she lifted herself off the table with another pained grunt and limped a few steps towards the bathroom to check herself the damage that broken bottle did to her, but a gentle hand on her right bicep stopped her in her tracks.

"You can’t be serious Y/N. I will help you." Y/N smiled in appreciation at the soft tone Hailee used and nodded gently at her, who nodded back with a small grin of her own, "okay, now stay put. I don’t want to hurt you if you move."

"Yeah, okay." Y/N let herself be lead by Hailee back towards the table, making her sit back down on the table and slowly but more firmly this time, lifted Y/N’s t-shirt to assess Y/N’s injury, carefully slipping the shirt away from the glass before pulling it up under her chest.

"Oh shit." Y/N gasped out loud when she felt the cold air hit her hot skin and chanced a glance down her lower stomach.

"Oh shit." Y/N repeated Hailee’s words and stared at the big piece of green glass embedded into her skin. "Fuck."

"Sorry!" Hailee grimaced in apology as she tentatively grazed the piece of glass to assess the damage.

"Don’t worry." Y/N said through gritted teeth as she tried to subdue the stinging sensation in her lower stomach, "it has to be taken out."

"Wait- do you want me to-? No! No way." Hailee asked when she moved her eyes away from Y/N’s injury and found her Y/E/C eyes staring at her expectantly.

"Hailee please, we still need to drive for a bit more and I am starting to feel dizzy. So we need to take this out and stop me from bleeding out. I would have done it myself but I don’t have enough energy in me to pull it out neatly, I would cause more unnecessary damage. So please, I know I am asking too much, but you are my greatest option right now."

"Geez, talk about ‘no pressure’." Hailee joked and made Y/N chuckle airily under her breath as she smiled fondly at the singer.

"Yeah." Y/N shook her head and looked at Hailee amusedly, "sorry but it is what it is."

"No I got it." Y/N smiled fondly at Hailee and nodded once before letting her continue, "I just don’t want to screw it up. And I don’t want to hurt you."

"Don’t worry, you won’t. You will do great. I will guide you through it all."

"Why do I feel like it’s not your first time being this heavily injured?"

"Because it’s not. I liked to get into a lot of trouble in high school." Hailee smiled mischievously down at her but in her eyes Y/N could see worry and apprehension as she stared into her brown irises.

"Hm, why am I not surprised?" Y/N snorted under her breath and blushed slightly under Hailee’s gaze, "anyway, we should probably focus. I seriously need to take this shit out, you look a little pale."

"Yeah, yeah. It also hurts like a bitch. So we should hurry."

"Okay-." Hailee took a big, deep breath to ground herself and closed her eyes to focus, a few seconds passing before she opened them once again and with her index finger and thumb took a solid hold of the big, broken bottle’s piece. She stared at the glass a couple of seconds, took another deep breath then looked into Y/N’s eyes firmly, "on three. One, two, THREE!"

Y/N groaned out loud, trying not to scream too loudly at the searing pain in her abdomen and closed her eyes shut hard, "ow! Fuck, fuck, fucking shit!" Y/N felt dizzy and hold onto the table’s edge hard to prevent herself to fall on the ground. "Sorry for cursing. It won’t happen again." Y/N murmured quietly after she gained some consciousness, her head spinning slightly and feeling a little bit weak.

"Are you serious right now?" Hailee asked incredulously as she walked to the trash can and dumped the broken bottle’s piece into it and walked back to Y/N to assess her injury. "You were in pain. Hell, you are still in so much pain. There is no need to apologize."

"I know, but I’m still working right now, so I should try to at least be well behaved." Y/N tried to reason with seriousness but the small smile that Hailee sent her way broke her deep serious frown into a big grin of her own as they both chuckled under their breaths.

"I don’t care. You are not working right now. You are a friend that got hurt and I am taking care of you."

"I should consider myself lucky, shouldn’t I?"

"Oh yeah, very lucky actually!" Hailee replied with a serious face as she nodded once before breaking her serious façade with another grin, her hands still lifting Y/N’s shirt up some more to prevent the shirt’s fabric to stick onto Y/N’s deep cut on her lower abdomen, "I will take care of you really good, you’ll see!" Hailee winked playfully before looking down on Y/N’s cut to see if there was any small pieces of glass left that she didn’t take out earlier, luckily there weren’t. When she moved her eyes once again back on Y/N’s face she was met with a small blush on Y/N’s face and a big, mischievous and cheeky grin on her lips. "What?" When Y/N just kept staring at her knowingly, Hailee thought about what she had said and immediately blushed furiously as she fumbled over her words to try to clarify, "NOT LIKE THAT! Y/N!" Hailee slapped gently Y/N’s shoulder, who chuckled softly under her breath.

"Hey! You are the dirty-minded here, you should hit yourself! And I’m injured, I’m in a lot of pain right now, it’s not fair hitting me!" Y/N caressed her left shoulder where Hailee slapped her and chuckled under her breath at their banter.

"Not enough to stop you from being the only dirty-minded here!" Hailee countered back before lifting a challenging eyebrow up when Y/N opened her mouth to try to counter her back. She smirked triumphantly when Y/N shut her mouth and grunted out childishly.

"It’s not my fault, you said it like it was meant to be dirty!" Y/N replied a few moments later and pouted softly, trying to play her trump card and make Hailee relent and say she was the one dirty-minded between them, but it only blackmailed when Hailee smirked cheekily.

"Well, this only proves you are the dirty-minded here. Because even if I decided to specifically say those words with a dirty meaning, I covered it all up with an innocent look and I made it sound innocent. You were the one that caught the dirty meaning behind that phrase. But it wasn’t the case anyway, because I didn’t realize what I said only after you pointed them out, you horndog."

"Ugh, fine you won. Now please, tell me if I need stitches because I seriously need to disinfect the cut before it could get infected."

"Oh yeah! Wait-uhm- how do I know you don’t need stitches?" Hailee asked with an insecure voice, her eyes now back analyzing the cut intensely while her eyebrows were cutely furrowed together in concentration.

"Check the central portion of the cut. How distant are the two flaps of skin?"

"Hm, I think not too much. Maybe just a tad bit of a quarter of an inch."

"Okay, that’s a good thing. You don’t need to patch me up-." Y/N trailed off as she thought over what Hailee said while she tried to see the cut’s damage for herself too.

"Yeah- wait, hold the fuck up. I would’ve had to patch you up? Are you insane?" Hailee asked incredulously and stared at Y/N like she just grew two heads, who simply chuckled in amusement as she shook her head good-naturedly.

"No, I’m Y/N."

"I-hm." Hailee opened her mouth to prepare herself to counter Y/N’s words back, but as soon as her brain registered Y/N’s witty joke, she closed her mouth shut and looked at Y/N unamused. Y/N then chuckled softly under her breath and shook her head, but didn’t add anything else, wanting to hear what Hailee would counter back, excited for their new teasing and bickering dynamic. "Wow Y/N, that was really mature of you, I must admit. Very, very mature."

"What can I say? I’m a book full of surprises and plot twists." Y/N replied with nonchalance, shrugging and smiling innocently at Hailee.

"Unbelievable." Hailee shook her head good-naturedly and rolled her eyes in amusement as she walked to the cabinet where she knew there was the first aid kit and joined Y/N again. She place the bag beside Y/N and grabbed a cotton wool, soaked it with hydrogen peroxide and lifted it to Y/N’s cut. "Okay, this will hurt a little."

"OHW! OWH! OWH! FUCKFUCKSHIT!"

"Almost done, stay put!"

"I’m trying!"

"Not enough!" Y/N grunted at Hailee’s reprimand and tried to stay as still as the excruciating pain on the left side of her lower stomach allowed her to, closing her eyes shut as Hailee cleaned her cut. "Almost done."

"Finally, ugh it hurts so much, shit."

Hailee then stopped altogether when her eyes moved up from the cut just an fraction of second and got met with Y/N’s defined abs, every muscle standing out due to Y/N contracting them from the pain. "Uhm-." Hailee opened and closed her mouth like a damned dumb fish, slapping herself on the forehead in her mind for not getting a grip on herself at the sight of just defined abs and a well-defined body, her hand frozen on the cut.

"Hailee please, hurry- fuck! Ohw, ohw, ohw!"

"Oh, shit! Sorry!" Hailee apologized as she lifted the cotton wool from the ugly cut after she started pressing on it too much without notice in her distracted state and cursed herself under her breath for hurting Y/N more than necessary due to her being an- horndog? A stupid? "Here, done!"

"Uh, fucking finally. Okay, it is starting to subside." Y/N started to breath evenly back a few seconds later Hailee stopped mending her injury and relaxed her previously contracted abdomen when she could just feel a light and small stinging sensation from her lower stomach cut.

"We need to put an antiseptic cream on it otherwise it will get infected." Hailee pointed out as she walked towards the bathroom and opened her medicine cabinet, finding the aforementioned cream after rummaging a bit in the cabinet. "Wow, I need to thank my mom for thinking about everything. She packed a whole pharmacy in my medicine bag."

"A big thank you to Mama Steinfeld." Y/N breathed out as she nodded oxygen Hailee before chuckling softly under her breath with her as Hailee approached Y/N back and opened the bandages.

"Ugh, it looks ugly. Does it hurt a lot?"

"Not as much as before but it still hurts." Y/N explained with a shrug as she looked down at her injury too.

"Okay good. This will sting a bit but it will get it better." Y/N nodded and gritted her teeth to prepare herself for the stinging, flinching just a bit when Hailee’s delicate hand applied the antiseptic cream on Y/N’s cut with a cotton swab.

"Do you want me to blow on it just a bit?" Hailee did all her best to refrain her face to break into a big grin and tried to keep a serious face as she asked the question and it got even more difficult when Y/N looked down at her incredulously but she kept applying the cream not looking at Y/N, fearing she would crack and laugh out loud if she looked into Y/N’s incredulous eyes.

"How old do you think I am?"

"I don’t know, 5 years old?" Hailee then cracked as she looked at Y/N with her bottom lip trapped under her teeth to prevent her smile to broaden but as soon as she met Y/N’s eyes she bursted out laughing.

"Ha-ha very funny." Y/N rolled her eyes good-naturedly and snorted under her breath, her heart fluttering alongside her stomach at the cute laugh Hailee was emitting for her own joke.

"I know, I am hilarious."

"Debatable." Y/N countered back jokingly, "ohw, hey!"

"Sorry!" Hailee smiled apologetically but Y/N saw through that and rolled her eyes at her pushing on her cut at her mocking words.

"Thanks." Y/N breathed out gently as soon as Hailee stopped applying the antiseptic cream and smiled in appreciation for her care and patience.

"Okay, time to patch you up and we’re done!"

"Finally!" Y/N exclaimed out loud, amusing Hailee to no end as she wrapped the bandage around Y/N’s lower stomach. "Thank you."

"You’re welcome." Hailee smiled affectionately at Y/N after placing the other unused bandages back into the emergency kit and looked at her in gratitude, "I actually should be the one thanking you. Not the way around."

"I was just doing my job."

"You almost got hurt badly for it." Y/N shook her head with a soft smile and lifted her hand up in protest.

"It’s nothing. I’ve been worse injured." Y/N admitted with a mix of shyness and resolution, trying to make Hailee stop feeling bad for her.

PART 2

[dnpanimationstudioclone]

Charlie & Vaga’s Inspo-Boards🍎🦋

Made some inspo-boards for my Chaggie duo! Charlie & Vaga have a lot of connected together characters. I assume most know em, if not than u can let me know in replies and I can answer💖 there’s a lot of characters I can still think of for them but there’s only so much room🤣

Charlie🍎🐑 A lot more like how she was in the pilot. Still naive and gets ahead of herself but still a kind and well meaning gal who wants to help the sinners not just from exterminations but be able to heal and grow into better and happier people Def a half full glass gal who does her best to see the good with the bad wether that be her home in Hell or the people within it, especially the sinners. She often sees people like the sinners as characters within stories. Complex tales full of development. She’s had…personal experience with a sinner who showed her the ability of goodness and change and wants to repay the favor by helping the rest of the sinners who most have long give up on themselves. She’s also bit affected by her parents and their views too. Even the ones she doesn’t agree with.

That isn’t to say she doesn’t care for her fellow Hellborn & often tries to help them with the hotel, such as having the sinners do community service for Hell and try to stop the exterminations & impact it has on them(casualties, property damage, etc)

She can at times, get carried away with her best intentions snd has trouble realizing the complexities of sinners & their internal struggles She’s done legit research on humanity(morality, redemption, history, rehab etc) she’s basically a girl fresh out of college now applying what she’s learned into the real world and growing the knowledge of actual experience and learning how not everything is an easy by the book tale or script. Good thing she’s got her sinner girlfriend and friends/clients who help her see the angles she can’t.

Notes-Cheery, full of sweetness & spunk, kind, positive, half-full glass, compassionate, generous, sometimes too giving, curious, adventurous, open-minded, passionate, has a fiery side when necessary, brave, will get her game face on when the moments serious enough, determined, caring, music-loving, theatrical, eccentric, loyal to those she cares for, sensitive, occasionally insensitive, occasionally impatient, occasionally unaware, doesn’t always think things through or as fully, can get way in over her head, stubborn, bit out of touch, occasionally prideful(she’s the daughter of pride), naive, still learning about people & how they work and has a lot more inner demons than she may realize.

Vaga🦋👁️ Vaga(short for Vagabond) is often seen as the polar opposite of Charlie. Where as she’s more social, talkative(and sing driven) and bubbly, Vaga’s more withdrawn and akward with people….most the time unintentionally intimidating them with her intense looks and angelic spear. But nonetheless shares Charlie’s goals of wanting to help the sinners from the extermination She’s amazing at combat and strategy…socializing and hospitality not so much… She often keeps her distance from most, following Charlie’s lead, letting her do the talking and bonding, leading most thinking she hates most…truth is she hates herself. She sees the world but most of all herself in jaded glasses of past regrets she tries to hide. She comes to learn she doesn’t have to fight her demons alone, and eventually comes to terms with them…granted not by full choice but still She acts as hotel security aswell as self appointed co-assistant to Charlie where as Alastor took over as manager(mainly for better social skills and handle on things outside of just combat)

Notes-Stoic, serious, deadpan, master of sarcasm, occasionally unaware, has trouble expressing her feelings, occasionally numb, prone to worry, temperamental, strategic, tries to be pragmatic, determined, stern but tries to be fair, cautious, practical, bit out of touch, anxious, passionate, devoted, loyal, has a sweet inner softness to her, secretive, quiet, so done with crap, needs caffeine alot, seems like she’s in some action fantasy story, and carrying a lot more in her than she lets on.

I’ve also done a board for Angel Dust

What do u think? Any characters u think would fit Chaggie or others? I’d love to know💖

[hero-of-the-wolf]

YES. YES YOU GET IT !!!

The intro to Twilight Princess is so lovely and atmospheric and it's perfect <3 it's literally so well crafted and it does what it sets out to do, 20/10 I already want to replay the game again and I haven't even finished it yet lol

AND THE ANIMALSSSSS. THEY ARE SO EVERYTHING 😭 if I could carry that lil doggo with me everywhere I go in the game I would oughhhh

You should probably know that your Twilight Princess posting has convinced me to buy not only the game, but a Wii console to play it on.

@nerdzanddadz has contributed greatly via joyful screaming, like a happy bird. We’re going to try it out today.

Moral: Be careful what you post? 😂

!!!!! OMGGGGGG you gotta let me know what you think, it's one of my very favorite games of all time 🥺

[dayntee]

I have very strong opinions about disaster wizards, and especially THIS MOTHERFUCKER:

Listen, if you haven't played Pillars of Eternity, I understand. It's a bit niche unless you're like us olds who grew up on real-time-with-pause CRPGs in the 90's and early 00's (namely the original Baldur's Gate, BG2, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights). That type of gameplay appeals to a veeeeeery particular crowd of people, and if you weren't either super into the Forgotten Realms or D&D in general, it likely wasn't your bag.

THAT SAID - with Avowed coming out next week, I need to gush about one of my favorite fantasy worlds and its disaster wizard because I just love this stupid man so much.

Mild spoilers for Pillars of Eternity and Deadfire ahead:

Eora is a fantastically interesting world. It has some of the most unique fantasy races to play and explore, it leans into its darkness and philosophy hardcore, and it takes a look at gods and says "What's that, you pretentious fucks? Sit your asses down, you have no power over me."

The combat and mechanics system is intricate and complex, but vaguely familiar if you've played any form of tabletop RPG. It does its own thing while still being reminiscent of stats and mechanics with which you're likely familiar. If you're the kind of person that likes to theorycraft their character into a fine-tuned murder machine, you will like this system. If you aren't, that's fine too - there's an option to take all the thought out of the process and let the game level you up itself so you don't have to worry about it and can just roll around doing story stuff.

Pillars of Eternity had a friendship (but not romance) system, which sets you up to have the best found-family adventure with total nutjobs that also has more Matt Mercers than you can shake a stick at (seriously, if you pick a male PC and the right voice option, within the first 20 minutes, your party can be composed of exactly three Matts). It deals with your character, known as the Watcher, getting the world's worst split personality syndrome and having to hunt down the mystery behind why babies are suddenly being born with no souls.

Stick with me, this ride is WILD.

After you resolve this pretty inconvenient global cataclysm, you settle down in a keep you acquire during the course of the adventure, only for a god to wake up between game 1 and 2 in your basement and *checks notes* CRUSH YOU TO ALMOST-DEATH.

Oh, and he also takes a part of your soul. For funsies!

Berath, the god of death, offers to restore you to life to figure out what basement-god (Eothas) has planned so long as you agree to be their herald. While you can say no, that just ends the game, so your will to live means you're in on this whole thing and now you get to sail a boat to do it, for reasons, I guess.

Several of the companions from the first game reappear in this one, but to keep on topic, the most important one is Aloth. Why?

BECAUSE NOW YOU CAN WOO THIS ASSHOLE AND THE ANGRY SCOTTISH LADY THAT LIVES INSIDE HIS HEAD.

Aloth is one of my favorite disaster wizards because he has all my favorite tropes just... built right in:

Crippling self-confidence issues

A "split personality" (it's more complicated than that) that is both mortifying and also potentially one of the best characters in the game

A maker of Generally Bad Choices™

Canonically bisexual

Entirely non-committal (at least without a lot of work)

A PAIN IN THE ASS TO ROMANCE

I say these are my favorite, but they're really just all the qualities that every other disaster wizard I've ended up falling for tend to have in some way. Aloth just winds up having them all, wrapped up in a handsome elven package, and then voiced by Matt Mercer because fuck me in particular, I guess, god damnit.

Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk on why Aloth is amazing and more people need to romance this jerk. I say this with nothing but love—it's 100% worth it, even when he's breaking your heart (or his romance flag is bugged and you have to roll back three hours to fix it AHHAHAH GOD WHY).

Should you want to read along with the general flow of my head canon for my own playthrough, which is a helluva slow burn will they/won't they extravaganza, you can find the largely completed series here on AO3. There's even smut now!

Back to Solavellan Hell with me.

[cryptic-underground]

Thinking about how fun your Isekai AU comics are, like they really give the vibe of Ford starting to realize being a hero like he’s always wanted isn’t all fun and games if it means people you care about getting hurt

Yess definitely!!

( I go on for a bit so I'm sorry)

I think a lot about how Ford puts a lot of his self worth in doing great things. Like in order to be something, be recognized as something of value, he has to do something grandiose to earn it. Himself isn't enough unless he's doing something.

He was told he was special a lot as a kid I feel. Mainly a way to combat the bullying he faced by his family, basically being like "you're not a freak, you're just special!" Definitely suffers from gifted kid syndrome or whatever it's called. I also see this as contributing to him having a bit of a hero complex. Like he's special so of course he'll be the one to save the day, who else would it be but him?

And this causes him to be naive. Close-minded. He sees risks and threats of course, he's a man of logic and science. Though they're more far fetched possibles, not something that actually can happen in his man. Like numbers that aren't a full equation sorta. Non-concrete evidence. Because there's no way he'll fail in the end, since he's special. All the people in his books that were called special didn't. The only option is for him to succeed.

But I see Stan's circumstances kinda shaking him. For most of his life, Ford believed that Stan could never take something seriously. He didn't take him wanting to go to West Coast Tech seriously, he didn't take his love of science seriously. And now when he's captured and Ford's trying to help, and loos like it's just another of Stan's silly childish games. Trying to play hero or whatever. Because in the beginning I figure that Ford thought Stan got in over his hand and now he's being forced to halt his life to save him like he covered for him for years.

But Stan is taking this seriously, it's really Ford that isn't. Since Stanley sees the full picture and his brother doesn't. He knows how dangerous the circumstances are while Ford turning a blind eye to play make believe hero.

Ford never heard his twin sound this way. So tense. And he definitely never saw Stan's face look so scared before. Since Stan was always fine, always. Up until this point he wasn't even sure he was capable of being afraid before. Always saving him and punching whoever bothered Ford. But here and now he looked so pale, so petrified, and so so far away.

Then the call cut out and Ford was alone without any possibility to save his twin. None of his specialness had stopped this from happening. His brother, his twin, his childhood best friend was in danger and he couldn't save him. His specialness hadn't beaten Stan's attacker up like all the times his brother did for him.

Why was he special if not to do just that?

[thecatsaesthetics]

But Rhys took Feyre's choice away in ACOSF and is as bad as Tamlin

Disclaimer - I am going to state up front SJM shouldn't have told this story through Nesta's POV. It is an incredibly complex storyline in it's own right and deserved to be told through Feyre's POV.

However, fans tend to make several claims about the story that I want to either debunk or combat. You can still hate the storyline (I hate how it was told as well) but twisting canon to suit your own narrative isn’t right.

(I am using this timeline for the series, which is the most in-depth timeline I have ever found.)

Let's begin

What actually happened in canon:

Rhys and Feyre were actively attempting to have a baby since the end of ACOFAS (December 21st). Feyre announces her pregnancy to the group 16 days into the start of ACOSF. She says she is "two months along". ACOSF is canonically 10 months after ACOFAS. Meaning Feyre and Rhys conceive Nyx in August.

31 days into ACOSF Rhys and Feyre find out via Madja Nyx has wings. Feyre would be heading into her second trimester. Rhys knows the baby wings pose a problem (as does Madja). Madja informed Feyre the birth would be "more difficult" but does not state the baby will kill her. Rhys sets out on finding a way to save Feyre and the baby.

33 days into ACOSF Rhys goes to Drakon and Miryam to ask about the wings. They give him nothing but sad looks.

40 days into ACOSF Helion visits and is asked by Rhys about the wings and says he will look into it.

43 days into ACOSF Nesta, in a fit of rage, tells Feyre her baby is going to die and kill her.

So canonically Feyre does not know for 12 days. So, around two weeks, Feyre is unaware the chances she will die in labor are incredibly heightened.

That is really important, it is not months they are keeping this from Feyre. It also doesn't seem likely Rhys or any of the IC would have let Feyre give birth without knowing what was happening. It also seems likely Rhys was pending more information from Helion who had 3 days to look into things before Nesta had her outburst.

While again it's not explicitly said I believe SJMs implication is that Rhys was exhausting all efforts prior to telling Feyre. Which is something Feyre would have done herself, since we know she wanted Nyx, and rather then let Feyre's pregnancy be ruined by fear (especially if an answer was out there) Rhys decides to take the burden on himself.

Is it necessarily right? I don't think so, but is it done to specifically control Feyre? (Like Tamlin's actions were) No. It's done because Rhys cannot bring himself to take Feyre's happiness away from her. Feyre is described as being so happy in ACOSF, she finally has everything she's ever wanted. She has her mate, her family, her home, security, and is awaiting the arrival of her baby. Feyre has her gotten her "happy ending" and who would want to take that from someone? This is something Rhys was struggling with in ACOFAS, the idea that he does not deserve to be happy with Feyre.

I hate that we get it told through Nesta and Cassian's POV, because honestly this would have been a good Feysand plotline and would have dealt with the remaining issues that were hinted at in ACOFAS.

Commonly incorrect statements by the fandom

"Rhysand forced Feyre to stay pregnant because he valued the baby's life over hers" -

This is canonically not true. Feyre is the one who wanted to get pregnant. Ignoring this is missing the point entirely, Feyre wanted to start her family.

Second, while Rhys clearly loves Nyx it seems his concern was for her and not for Nyx:

Cassian squeezed Rhys’s shoulder. “Why won’t you tell her?” Rhys’s throat worked. “Because I can’t bring myself to give her that fear. To take away one bit of the joy in her eyes every time she puts a hand on her belly.” His voice shook. “It is fucking eating me alive, this terror. I keep myself busy, but … there is no one to bargain with for her life, no amount of wealth to buy it, nothing that I can do to save her.”

His concern is for Feyre and the fact that she is going to die while in labor. He doesn't even mention Nyx dying, and it's said Nyx will die in the labor as well.

"Rhys prevented Feyre from getting an abortion" -

So first we need to ask ourself, are abortions a thing in Pyrthian? We don't get any mentions of them and fae children are rare. I would suspect in Pyrthian they aren't a thing, but maybe in the human lands.

Second, by the time Rhys and Feyre find out about the wings it's been 31 days into ACOSF and when the baby was announced she was two months pregnant, which is frustrating because we don't know if she means two months on the dot or two months and a few days. It's then 15 more days till the wings are discovered she is anywhere between 11/12 weeks pregnant.

It's important to remember pregnancies are not defined by months, they are defined by weeks. If you are 11/12 weeks pregnant the abortion you get is more complicated then at 8 or 9 weeks. So it seems even if she could have an abortion (if that's a thing in Prythian) that she would have had to pass the fetal tissue.

Remember the problem isn't that the baby is sick or causing Feyre to be sick. Feyre is described as being healthy and radiant all throughout ACOSF. The pregnancy isn't the issue, it's the birth. The wings will supposably get caught and not be able to pass through the birthing canal. So even if she had an abortion those wings are getting caught and preventing the tissue from passing. We later see the size of the wings don't matter, because Feyre gives birth preterm and it still kills her.

And it will be challenging enough during a birth when the baby is alive but if they preform an abortion you're talking dead tissue being stuck in Feyre as they attempt to pull it out of her piece by piece.

That could kill her as well.

So when Rhys says "nothing I can do to save her life" he means it. As long as Feyre gives birth/passes those wings in her fae body she's dead.

The only in universe solution is for Feyre to transform back into an Illyrian form (I'll get into that later). That's it, nothing else could save her and in fact what happens is Nesta bargains for Feyre's life and then permanently changes her body to be Illyrian. So the solution was to shapeshift.

"Nesta told Feyre because she thought it was wrong"

That's not true, in fact Nesta agreed to say nothing and was later sorry for even telling Feyre. So no she did not tell Feyre because she thought it was an injustice.

Nesta was bitter and hurt by other things that happened (I am not going into it) and decided to hurt her sister back. She told her in the most brutal and awful way possible.

She easily could have caused Feyre to go into preterm labor and didn't care if that happened. If Feyre had gone into preterm labor with no solution to get the baby out then she would have died.

"Feyre's choice was taken from her"

So if we rule out abortion, and go with shapeshifting I don't see how anyone concludes that the 12 days Feyre does not know takes that choice from her. Even for the 12 days with the abortion idea, she still could have done it. She makes a choice not to, Feyre does not go into labor unaware of the risks.

Going back to shapeshifting, Rhys says this:

“So let her change back into an Illyrian to bear the babe.” Rhys’s face was stark. “Madja has put a ban on any more shape-shifting. She says that to alter Feyre’s body in any way right now could put the baby at risk. On the chance that it could be bad for the baby, Feyre is forbidden to so much as change the color of her hair until after the birth.”

So originally it's Madja who says shape-shifting is banned but sorry I do not see how Madja is going to control Feyre. During the announcement scene we get this from Feyre:

Nesta angled her head at her sister. “So you can’t do magic while pregnant?” Feyre winced. “I can, but given my unusual set of gifts, I’m not sure how it might impact the baby. Winnowing is fine, but some other powers, when we’re still so early in the pregnancy, could strain my body dangerously.”

Feyre is given the medical opinion of Madja on her doing magic and chooses to follow it.

And the nail in the coffin that it wasn't Feyre's choice is the birth scene itself:

“There is nothing we can do,” Madja said. “Cutting the babe out of her will kill her.” “Cutting it out?” Nesta demanded, earning a sharp glare from Rhys. Madja ignored her tone. “An incision along her abdomen, even one carefully made, is an enormous risk. It’s never been successful. And even with Feyre’s healing abilities, the blood loss has weakened her—” “Do it,” Feyre managed to say, the words weighted with pain. “Feyre,” Rhys objected. “The babe likely won’t survive,” Madja said, voice gentle but no-nonsense. “It’s too small yet. We risk both of you.” “All of you,” Cassian breathed, eyes on Rhys. “Do it,” Feyre said, and her voice was that of the High Lady. No fear. Only determination for the life of the babe within her. Feyre looked up at Rhys. “We have to.”

While it isn't explicitly mentioned, the scene prior is discussions about saving Nyx not about saving Feyre. Madja says "we risk both of you" implying their is a way to just save Feyre. That way would be shapeshifting, something Feyre is refusing to do in this moment. Rhys is the one who is objecting to the c-section and Feyre insists that "We have to". Feyre chooses to have the c-section and attempt to save her son.

Conclusion:

I don't think we can conclude Feyre's choice was taken from her, in fact it seems she made a choice not to shapeshift and save herself. That might feel like pro life propaganda and maybe it is (I don't know SJMs stance on this) but a mother choosing to go through with a risky pregnancy and delivery is still her making that choice. Just because it's not the choice you would make or like, doesn't make it any less of a choice.

It's really odd how people twist this storyline to fit a narrative of "Rhys is just as bad as Tamlin" and while I can understand the similarities, (both being born out of fear and trauma) it just isn't the same. Tamlin watched as Feyre became sicker and sicker, and ignored her. Tamlin forced Feyre back to the Spring Court after she told him she didn't want to be taken from Rhys and the IC. Tamlin slut shamed her during the HL meeting. Tamlin was actively attempting to control Feyre's behavior and get her to fit what he wanted for her.

Rhys found out horrible information (on top of all the other shit that was going on in ACOSF) about the life of his mate and child. His mate who was currently overjoyed at the idea of being pregnant and having a baby. And he wanted to find a way to save her before giving her the fear, anxiety, and distress he was suffering. It wasn't about controlling her, and it wasn't about having some super baby. It wasn't the right thing to do but he didn't do it out wanting to control Feyre. That's important information and something that shouldn't be twisted.

You can dislike it (as I've stated I hate it being told in Nessian POV) but you shouldn't twist things to fit your narrative.

[skitter-queen]

How to Beat Lung in Worm

Most veteran Worm players will agree that Lung (specifically, the second fight against him in Chapter 5) is one of the hardest fights in the entire game. The monstrous dragon represents a seriously steep difficulty spike, and has ended the runs of more players than any other boss other than the true endgame fights. But with some clever tactics and a bit of forward thinking, you can wriggle your way past this obstacle and onto the next section of the early game.

Phase 1

As far as Worm bosses go, Lung's first phase is actually fairly tame, owing to his power allowing him to "scale" up, pun intended, over time. Many players are therefore tempted to rush through the easy phase as quickly as possible, but this is actually a mistake; this is the ideal time to take advantage of his relatively low damage and lack of ranged attacks to prepare for the next part of the fight. Gather your bugs, keep your hit points up, and make sure to locate the puddle of Hallucinogenic Slime (it usually spawns on the upper floors of the complex, but this may depend on the choices you made with Newter earlier on): you'll need it soon.

Phase 2

This is where things get really hard. Once you've dealt enough damage to Lung, he will power up, attacking faster, harder, and with way more fire. Running away is no longer an option, and his regeneration makes it seriously difficult to keep his health in check. If that wasn't enough, this is also when Lung will start laying his combat eggs, one of his most iconic and notorious capabilities. Fans of the original Worm book have praised this inclusion for its careful adherence to the source material (noting the particular detail on the in-game cloaca model); most players of the Worm game, however, cry out in wails of gamer rage as newer, smaller Lungs spew forth from combat egg after combat egg until their hapless Taylor dies like the miserable little bug she is.

[mantis-clan]

So, What’s Happening With Mantisclan?

I’ll preface this by saying really quick before anyone panics- Mantisclan isn’t going anywhere!! I’m simply changing up how I do things :)

So, what is happening to Mantisclan?

As I’ve worked on this blog over the past four days (wow I work fast. good job me, you went and burned out at a record pace!) I’ve had an absolute blast. It’s helped me get through the recent loss of my beloved dog and kept me from spiralling. But I have realised something. I need a bit more out of a story like this- the ability to plan ahead and have a cohesive main character and plot in mind. But at the same time I also need the instant gratification of being able to smash out an update in under half an hour.

My solution?

Two seperate clangen blogs!

Yep, you heard me, in order to combat burnout I’m going to be working on two projects at once. Has grief driven me mad? Probably. One project to satisfy the need I have for complex stories and another (this one!!) to be more surface-level, focusing more on brief updates similar to moons 0-33 of Mantisclan.

That’s right, the art-heavy updates are going away unfortunately, I just can’t maintain that level of detail on the current Mantisclan schedule, but on the upside I’ll be focusing more on text-based updates and writing out each update with likely just a singular image to go with!

These changes will be in effect as of moon 38.

And what of this other clangen blog? I’m currently working on setting it up, but it will be formatted and written very differently to Mantisclan, along with updating less frequently. This way I’m able to cater to people who want quick, easily digestible updates and those who are more interested in a cohesive, pre-planned story. The story will still be at the whims of clangen, but this way I have some writing power over how it is absorbed by the audience.

More info on this new blog under the cut!

I will be playing several moons ahead of each update so as to ensure proper story foreshadowing and planning.

Updates will likely take the form of mini-comics with possible accompanying written lore.

Updates will be less frequent but more detailed than Mantisclan!

There will be more focus on small, relationship-building events

There will be more of a focus on lore!

I will actually spend the time to develop the setting lol

More info to come :3 stay tuned!

[theramblingsofadork]

Character Profile: Rivet The Cat

> Age for the AU: 18-Early 20’s

> Personality Strengths: A sweet and caring cat, Rivet is fairly mature, playful, and can be a bit of a flirt. She has a big heart, enjoys riding her hoverboard and doing competitive racing, is very affectionate and loyal to her loved ones, and enjoys partaking in long, intellectual talks. She also believes in second chances, and that everyone deserves the chance to make a change to be better. (“We all make mistakes. Some greater than others. What matters is if we choose to stay there.”)

> Personality Weaknesses: Rivet’s desire to believe in the best in people can sometimes get her into trouble. While she’s gotten much better at discerning a genuine change of heart from a cheap ploy, there was a time when she would let any evil doer go just because they apologized and promised to never do it again. (Something her brother had to teach her against.)

She can also be a bit much to some, being a touchy type who likes to drag people out of their comfort zones for the sake of wanting them to be involved and be the best they can be. Especially with the sensitive types, this can tend to put unwanted pressure on them.

She also gains a singularity complex that never quite goes away after losing her brother, leading her to bottle things up to try and bear the weight of the world on her shoulders to the point of exhaustion, despite being someone who is fairly reliant on the strength of others.

She’s also her own brand of stubborn, and will usually stick to her guns on who/what she believes in, even if it isn’t the popular choice. (Like believing everyone deserves a second chance.)

> Strengths and Weaknesses:

⚙️ Mechanics: Rivet’s developed a pretty decent grip on mechanics and inventing over the years thanks to her mentors and a lot of trial and error.

While her work tends to lack the clinical precision and polish of a classically trained inventor, she’s clever and resourceful, and knows workarounds to get ‘the thing’ to work. However, this does mean her builds aren’t always the most stable, and she’s had more than one project blow up in her face.

> Energy Bracers: Rivet built these to give her the ability to fight back against enemies she’d otherwise be powerless against. They can absorb and store up energy from external sources like Charge’s electricity, which then allows her to fight back with it by using it to fortify/enhance her natural abilities (Ex: Strength, Durability, Speed, etc); Essentially borrowing the power of others to make up for her lack thereof.

However, excessive overuse or overcharge can cause the tech to backfire, putting a massive strain on her body and making her eat the damage until she collapses.

> Hoverboard: This is Rivet’s primary form of transportation, and a key element to her combat style. While it started out as an old, abandoned, Extreme Gear board, it’s since been lovingly upgraded multiple times, making it a mix of both Mobian and Eggman tech.

⚔️ Combat: Rivet is fairly decent at fighting thanks to her training with Hunter, but without her tech or hoverboard to support her, she doesn’t stand much of a chance against a strong opponent, and will go down fairly easily.

> History: Rivet and her brother Charge were found unconscious and amnesiac in the forest one day by a lone forest dweller named Hunter. Talking pity on them, he took them in and raised them as his own, training them to be protectors of the forest.

Rivet eventually became curious about the world outside their village and wanted to go explore it, but Hunter refused, wanting to keep them safe. However, the outside world found them when a group of Badniks attacked, and as Rivet discovered Eggman tech for the first time, she became fascinated with it.

Against Hunter’s wishes, she began to tinker with it to see if she could use this ‘technology’ for good, crafting improvements for their village as well as various little inventions. Eventually she even found and fixed up a broken down hoverboard, which her and Charge then used to explore and visit a nearby town.

There, she fell in love with the outside world and it’s people, even meeting some other inventors. Hunter wasn’t happy when he learned of their little trips, but ultimately, he knew he couldn’t stop them, so he sent them on their way with his blessing, and a warning for them to look after each other no matter what.

The two siblings then began to travel about and explore the various regions. As Rivet began to take notice of the villain problem, she wanted to do something about it, so she dragged Charge into helping her stop them.

They became a little vigilante duo for a time, keeping crime off the streets. (At least— once Charge got her to see that just because an evil doer apologizes doesn’t mean they mean it or can be let off the hook.)

But as Charge began to lose interest in crime fighting, and tension began to grow between them, Rivet decided to create her now-trademark bracers to help solve the issue.

This allowed her to siphon off Charge’s power to use it as her own, which made her strong enough to fight villains without his direct help, freeing him up more to do more of what he wanted to. A win-win in her book.

Eventually though, the two learned about the Atmos Innovator’s Competition, which she then convinced him to join her in as a less violent way to help protect people and the planet.

There, she met Starline and the Starpoint Squad, and a new chapter of life began…

> Likes: Nature, technology, being able to protect people, tinkering with new ideas, competitive racing, helping others, her friends, playing the occasional video game (Hex got her into Hero Mania), the Starpoint Squad, Team Dark, Sonic and Co, Hunter, Surge and Kit, kids (she’s actually quite weak to them), winning against her racing rivals.

> Dislikes: Losing her temper, saying the wrong thing, not being able to help, feeling helpless, losing the people she loves, being alone, undeserved cruelty, Eggman (at least what he does), water (her fur becomes a nightmare when she’s waterlogged), pollen (she’ll sneeze forever), milk, Zeroth, Yvetica Yew, her racing rivals: The Babylon Rogues and Crimson Coral.