#does getting killed and revived count

[jadeactuallysucks]

Idc what people say I loved seeing him a terrorist. He’s exactly how I would’ve imagined someone outside of his perspective seeing him

Also doing research on Azrael Angel of Death I can’t tell if he’s supposed to be a fallen Angel or just an Angel but I don’t know religion that well

More stuff I wanna say

With all of you chosen defenders out there saying it was dark who killed mitsi, nahhh we need A train Chosen, I’m calling him over during valentines. Ruin some relationships. Including yours. How is it not a surprise he kills people?He’s quite literally made to be a weapon with all the powers and violent tendencies.

And he was absolutely at fault for making dark a terrorist too no complaint about it. Very hedonistic ideology in which the two of them could do whatever they wanted. In which the world was their sandbox. Up to interpretation

Obviously I view chosen, especially my version of him, different than others. Some of you sickos are treating him nicely!!!!

Low-key mitsi didn’t need to be in the story at all. Just tweak a bit, and also the box would’ve been a lot more callous, instead of agent and victim hating chosen for killing their fridged gf, I would’ve loved the more controversial morals of victim hurting chosen for whatever justification he wanted to come up with. And like there’s too much of a pattern with killing off characters for the sake of plot. I think dark is a good exception cause he was a rabid dog and needed to be put down sorry dark lovers also not sorry cry

I liked that ambiguity, I know most people like stuff spelled out for them with backstories but I like mysteries cause that’s how fanart and fics can be made. Some stuff does need to be explained like how victim escaped and founded rocketcorp which I get.

Oh yeah agent 😛😛😛😛 smash smash smash I see why victim is on the bisexual dance floor he’s amazing. And I don’t need merc backstories, I can just guess he recruited work buddies or just buddies

First part and terrorism parts my favourite scenes, can’t wait for Ava 12 to make or break my interest haha. The box will forever remain my favourite episode the glaze is real

Oh my god victim getting tortured during the first scene. By far the best part (except chosen and dark) in the episode. Kicking and giggling seeing him get revived after being unsaved. I feel like it kinda one ups Chosen’s trauma so I definitely hope that stupid shit gets it worse than victim. Honestly this is the stuff I want left out. I want to imagine the pain he went through rather than see it. Cause even after that he still forgives his tormentor like a dog crawling back to its owner

Uhhh also I have a big complaint about women (sorry women) I don’t like the stereotypes. I don’t need to know they’re a women by the colour pink or long hair. But this is me screaming at a wall cause I watch the same thing kids watch and the main audience is children. I need more characters like blue. Where you can’t tell if they’re a girl or not and you don’t need to care cause they’ll be taking performance enhancing drugs either way

These were all made in the moment so yk agree to disagree. I can’t get myself to hate the episode like how other people manage to do. I guess it’s just cause I stuck around for a year to see this. And I’m sticking around 3 MORE SEASONS BABY

Also like this is a good day for multi fandom me. Al of the stuff I watch is getting new stuff. Like omg Ava, then walten files, then interloper and digital circus and prolly more but I can’t count as you can tell I can only count to four

[zepskies]

Lost Time

Pairing: Russell Shaw x F. Reader

Summary: When Russell takes longer than usual on a job out of town, you realize how hard it is to live half a life with him.  

AN: I’ve been wanting to get to this for a while now! Here’s a sequel story in the Every Second Counts world. Also, this is one of my entries for @jacklesversebingo!

Prompt: “Are you trying to get us in trouble?”

Word Count: 4.9K

Tags/Warnings: 18+ only. Angst, fluff upon fluff, implied smut, mild spice.~ **DOES NOT contain spoilers for 2x02. This was written long before the new episode came out. But look out for the little announcement at the end. Some (smutty) bonus content on the way!

💜 Series Masterlist || Jacklesverse Bingo Masterlist

Wolfing down lunch alone in your office usually meant you wouldn’t be disturbed. That distraction tended to come in the form of either Dr. Goldstein, History Department Chair (AKA: your boss), or Chris Belmont.

The latter was a language arts professor who liked to pop in on you when you were alone in the teacher’s lounge, often trying to revive yourself with a cup of Keurig coffee. Or he’d sit down next to you (uninvited) and talk your ear off.

Today, however, you made time for your brother between bites of your admittedly sad ham sandwich. You held the phone to your ear while you ate and tried to resist the urge to answer emails. This was the first month that he’d gotten phone privileges. You wanted to give him your undivided attention.

Not to mention, you genuinely wanted to know how Charlie was doing in rehab. He told you that his leg was healing up well after the surgery to repair the damage from Eddie Mendez’s bullet. Charlie was also getting put through his paces in the substance rehabilitation program, but he sounded truly sober. He sounded like himself.

“I finally get visitors this weekend,” he said. “Dave and Manny are coming by.”

“Dave and Manny. They sound familiar,” you said, tapping your chin with a pen out of habit, even though you weren’t writing anything down. You brightened with recognition. “Oh! Didn’t they serve with you?”

“Yeah, they were in my unit on the first go-round,” Charlie said, with a tone of fondness that you recognized. You remembered now. Those guys were like his brothers during his first tour of Iraq. He’d come home for a few months afterward, changed. You saw it behind his eyes.

And then the second tour. That was what almost killed his spirit.

“It’s good that you guys reconnected,” you said. A smile graced your lips. Charlie needed all the support and familiarity he could get, and coming from his brothers in the Air Force, it was all you could ask for really. “You got time to see your little sister?”

“Ha. Younger maybe. Definitely not little.”

“Whatever, gimpy,” you teased. He’d told you that he hated his crutches, made him feel like an old, one-legged pirate.

“I think I can pencil you in,” he said. There was good humor in his voice. “How about the Mountain Man? How’s he doing?”

Your smile dimmed. You twiddled your pen between your fingers. “He’s…good. He’s on a job right now, so I don’t think he’ll make it back in time for this weekend. But I’m sure he’d wish you well. He asks about you every time he comes home.”

“Oh, yeah? How long’s he been gone for this time?”

Your lips pursed. “Couple weeks.”

Three, and counting.

“But he’s supposed to get back next week.”

“Have you heard from him?” Charlie asked.

“Here and there,” you replied, leaning to one side of your desk chair. “He’s not really supposed to contact anyone when he’s on a job.”

“Mhmm.”

“Charlie,” you warned. You knew what he was thinking, even by that placid tone of his voice. Your brother sighed on the line.

“Look, I like Russell. What can I say, after what he did for you? For me,” Charlie said. “But…I don’t have to like what he does, or what it’s doing to you.”

Your teeth clenched, but you tried not to bristle. You knew he was just looking out for you, for once like an older brother should.

“I know what you’re saying, but we’re good. I’m good,” you said. “I knew what I was getting into…”

You saw Dr. Goldstein peek into the narrow, rectangular window in the middle of your office door. He gave you a little wave through the glass.

“Hey, Charlie, I’m sorry but I need to let you go. My boss wants to talk to me,” you said.

Another heavy sigh. “All right, I get it. Evade an unsavory conversation by playing the ‘boss’ card.”

Despite yourself, you smiled. “It’s true! Look, I love you. I’ll see you this weekend.”

“Oh, fine. Evade away… Love you too,” he said begrudgingly, but in the kind of way that told you he was smiling too.

You hung up with him and beckoned Goldstein inside. He let himself in and closed the door behind him before he approached your desk. He didn’t have a stack of essays in his hand, so you counted that as a small blessing. After exchanging the usual pleasantries, however, he dropped a familiar bomb on you.

“I’m sorry to do this to you, sweetheart, but would you mind taking over my 5:00 p.m. class tomorrow? I have to step out early for an appointment,” he said.

You grated internally, for more than one reason. Primarily at the way he once again called you sweetheart. In your whole life, you’d only ever given one man permission to sweetheart you, and it certainly wasn’t Paul Goldstein.

“Well, my schedule is a bit tight tomorrow, but I think I can make that work—”

“Great! Thanks again, sweetheart,” he said, already getting up from the chair across from your desk to head out. Your voice stopped him at the door.

“Ah, you know…” You stood up from your desk. Part of you was hesitant, but the other part of you—the part that had survived nearly being shot and killed in the woods—stood firm. You rounded your desk but left a respectable distance between you and your boss.

“Paul, I would appreciate it if you would just…call me by my name. In a more professional capacity, just like I do for you,” you said. “Sweetheart, honey, that kind of thing just doesn’t make me feel very respected in the workplace.”

Goldstein blinked in surprise. He was taken aback, you could tell, as if what you’d said had never once occurred to him. Or maybe he just never thought you would call him out like that. You saw him mentally calculating though. After some recent sexual harassment allegations in the Sciences department, he likely didn’t want the headache and the red tape of an HR writeup.

“Of course. I’m sorry if I… Well, I hope you know I didn’t mean anything by it,” he said.

“I know, Paul,” you replied. But what you didn’t say was, It’s all right. 

The longer you remained quietly poised with your hands laced in front of you, the more Goldstein seemed to get the message. Eventually, he cast his gaze away and left your office with a parting nod. 

When the door shut behind him, your shoulders slumped as you let out a deep breath. You grabbed onto his vacated chair to steady yourself, smoothing your hand down the length of your pencil skirt. 

“Well, okay then.” You smiled to yourself and grabbed your phone and keys off your desk. That small win deserved an afternoon coffee break.

You ventured over to the faculty break room and started setting up an extra-large mug of coffee from the Keurig. Pumpkin spice, here I come. Finally PSL season. 

While you waited for it to percolate, you checked your phone and found no missed notifications, no calls or texts from your boyfriend. Biting the edge of your lip, you gave into the urge to check your text thread with him. 

Hey, just checking in. You okay? 

That was the last text you sent Russell, a few days ago. The fact that he hadn’t had time to read it worried you.

It had been three weeks since he left town on another job for the Horizon Group. He was able to reply here and there on some jobs, but often you had to deal with days of radio silence in between. This time, it had been a full two weeks since you last spoke to him–a five-minute call after he checked into his hotel, somewhere in Belize.

Despite your attempts otherwise, not a day had gone by where you hadn’t thought about him, worried about him, wondered where he was, and what he was doing. 

Even after four months, this arrangement hadn’t gotten easier. Sometimes, it felt like you were living half a life without him.

The coffeemaker chiming briefly broke you out of your melancholy, but you let the coffee sit there and cool while you deliberated with your phone in hand.

You tried to resist, since you didn’t want to bother him…but you ended up sending him another text. 

Hey. I don’t want to distract you. Just want you to know… 

I miss you.

“Oh, look who’s here.”

You looked up, already wanting to expel a breath of annoyance at the familiar voice. You plastered on a polite smile and turned to see exactly who you expected to see: your colleague Chris. There was really nothing wrong with the French and Spanish professor…except that he talked too much, and was often too eager to get into your business.

“How’s your day going?” he asked. After he grabbed a soda from the fridge, he parked himself in front of you and laid a hand on the counter. With one of the round dining tables so close, it ensured that you would have to squeeze by him in order to leave.

“Pretty good, just have one more class before I head out for the day,” you said. You intended to just make amiable conversation, but you didn’t realize you’d just given him an opening.

“You know, me too. Just my freshman Spanish 1 kids. Dumb as doornails really. They barely even look up when I talk,” he said. “Literally, I could be reciting Mein Kampf and they wouldn’t even know I was speaking German.” 

You couldn’t quite smile. You opened your mouth to reply, but he beat you to it.

“Hey, since we’re going to be clocking out soon, maybe you want to go for a drink with me. I know this bar. A little rough, but the price is right and the food’s not bad. This place called Howley’s,” he said.

Your non-smile dropped further. You really didn’t know where to start on this one.

“Ah, well—” you began, but again, he cut you off.

“To be honest, I’ve kind of been meaning to ask you for a while. I just uh, haven’t been able to find the right time. Since, you know, our class schedules don’t seem to match,” he added with a boyish smile.

He was cute, you could admit, with the dirty blonde hair down to his ears and the dark brown eyes. But it didn’t shake your resolve.

“Look, Chris. I’m sorry, but—”

“Is because we work together?” he said, once again interrupting you. “The whole workplace relationship thing?”

“No,” you said. It was sharper than you meant through your annoyance. “I actually have a boyfriend.”

Chris’s excited-nervous energy gradually deflated, his eyes dimming.

“Really? I’ve never seen you with anyone,” he said.

You quirked a brow at him. “Well, he doesn’t work here, so he wouldn’t really need to come to campus.”

You didn’t tell him that Russell was Dory’s older brother, and had in fact been on campus a couple of times. You shouldn’t have needed to explain it.

Chris gave you a wry look. “Sure. You really have a boyfriend, or are you just trying to let me down easy?”

You almost gaped at the man’s audacity. Instead, your lips pressed together, and your head tilted as you stared at him incredulously.

“Does it matter?” you asked.

He blinked. “Uh, what?” 

“Whatever I say next, are you going to believe it?” You finished dumping in a couple of tiny creamer cups into your likely lukewarm coffee, and you took the styrofoam cup to-go. “Good luck with the freshmen.” 

You slid past him and left the teacher’s lounge. Your path took you, brusquely and irritated, back to your office. You couldn’t help but replay every bit of your interactions with Goldstein, and then Chris, in your mind like a bad movie. 

Jesus Christ. If I have to deal with one more idiotic man today, I swear—

Speak of the devil, and he appears.

There was a man leaning against your office door, his hands in the pocks of his jeans. He looked up at your approach, and he smiled. 

“Hey, sweetheart.”

This time, you paused…and you smiled too. There he was in all his rugged glory. Russell Shaw. 

You dumped your coffee in a nearby trashcan and hastened over as quickly as you could in your skirt and heels. Russell bent down to sweep you up into his arms, and you leaned up on your toes so you could wrap yours around his shoulders. You buried your face into his neck, inhaling the familiar mix of his cologne and spicy soap. 

“Missed you too,” he said, a deep rumble. It washed over you pleasantly. 

“I thought you weren’t getting home until sometime next week,” you said, trying to work past the thick well of emotion in your throat. Maybe he heard it in your voice anyway, because Russell soothed a hand over your hair and pressed a kiss near your ear.

“Got finished up early,” he said, with that familiar grin of his. You could hear it in his voice.

You slipped your fingers through his long dark hair. Then you leaned back enough to see his face. 

“How’d you know I wasn’t in class?” you asked. 

He raised his hand off your back to point up at the sign on your door. It displayed your office hours and the times you were in class. He shot you a wink.

“I might’ve called Dory too,” he said. “She invited us over for dinner tonight. I said we’d be there around seven.”

You tsked and smack his chest, making him flinch. 

“Hey!” he protested with a laugh. 

“Don’t agree to stuff without me! Now we’re going to be out all night the day you get back,” you said in annoyance. 

Russell smoothed down your proverbial feathers, namely by slipping his hands down your back and comfortably settling on your waist. 

“Now, come on,” he cajoled. “Need I remind you that she’s my sister, and your best friend, by the way?”

You waved a playfully dismissive hand.

“I know damn well, but I’m also selfish,” you said. You gripped the edges of his familiar green jacket and tugged him closer again. “I want you all to myself tonight.” 

Russell’s grin kicked up into high gear. “Oh, yeah? What for?”

You smiled and leaned up on your toes again, your lips approaching his. 

“I’m gonna—”

“Hey, Professor!” 

Just then, one of your students walked by with a gaggle of her friends. She gave you a little wave, and then an amused look when she noted how you and Russell were intertwined. You quickly set your heels back on the ground and dropped your hands from him. 

“Oh shit. Prof’s got game,” one of her friends whispered. 

“Yeah, a lumberjack,” she replied. 

“Hell, I’d climb him.”

The girls giggled quietly as they continued to make their way down the hall. 

Your hand rose to cover your mouth while your face burned hot in embarrassment. Russell, damn him, was smirking like the Cheshire cat. You shot him a little glare. 

“Shut up,” you said. 

He chuckled, and he allowed you to take his hand and lead him into your office. He closed the door for you, but that was where the chivalry ended. 

He hooked his arm around your waist and brought you flush against him. A stunned yelp escaped you. You grabbed onto his arms on reflex, craning your face up to meet him. A smile played on your lips, before he captured them in a kiss filled with heat, and the torture of longing, only broken by your shared relief.  

You had the presence of mind to reach behind him and lock the door. Russell took that as an invitation to back you up against your desk, knocking down a carton of pens in his wake. You held his bearded face and gave him as much as he asked for. Until the pace of his kisses eventually slowed and warmed into something more tender, with the brush of his hand against your cheek. You smiled a little against his lips. 

He ended up being the first to pull away. His thumb brushed your chin next, and then your thoroughly kissed bottom lip. 

“God, I missed you,” he said. You saw the sincerity in his eyes, all the heat and play and teasing aside.

“Me too, baby,” you replied, and your voice was heavy with the truth of it. You slid your hands down his arms. Suddenly you remembered your internal checklist for whenever he came home. “You okay? No hospital stays or checkups needed?”

Your hands continued their perusal over his chest and down his sides. Russell took your hands and un-busied them. 

“Completely fine. Everything went off without a hitch,” he said. 

You eyed him more warily. After a moment to try and discern if he was downplaying for your sake, you were able to take him at his word. For now. It wouldn’t be the first time he tried to hide an injury from you. You intended to complete a further examination later tonight. You smirked a little at the thought.

“Okay, I’ve just got one more class in a few minutes. Then I can get out of here,” you said.

“All right,” he nodded. “I’ll meet you at home then.”

Your smile turned cheeky. You flattened your palms down his chest, plucking at the edges of his jacket.  

“Yeah? You gonna be waiting pretty for me?” you teased. 

“You bet,” he agreed. He leaned in close to say lowly in your ear, “But not as pretty as you’re gonna be when I get you all laid out for me. Get myself reacquainted with every sweet part of you.”

“Oh, really?” you said, trying to taper your blush. There was something entirely wrong and right about him talking dirty to you in your own office. You grinned as he began to press tantalizing kisses down your neck. “I guess I’m going to be the appetizer tonight.” 

His chuckle resounded in your ears. Russell squeezed your hips and brushed his lips against your skin. Damn him, he knew exactly what he was doing, making small volts of electricity zip down your spine. Warmth plumed between your legs as his beard gently rasped along your neck. 

“Sweetheart, you’re the whole damn meal,” he said, in that voice of his, smooth and baritone and perfect. 

Your blush intensified, even as your smile couldn’t help but brighten at his words. He nipped just under your ear, earning a stifled whimper from you.

“Are you trying to get us in trouble?” you whispered.

“Hey, I don’t work here,” he teased. His lips never left your skin. “I just reap the benefits.”

You fought against the urge to pinch his side. You grabbed your phone from your desk and checked the time. Shit. Almost 5:00 p.m.

All the while, Russell continued to torture you. His hands were no better than his mouth, caressing a path from your waist to your hips, then squeezing your ass as he pressed you more fully against him. He hummed against your neck.

“Oh, please don’t do this to me,” you whined, even as you clung to the front of his jacket and pressed your forehead into his shoulder. “I have to get to class in like, five minutes.” 

“I’ve accomplished quite a lot in five minutes,” Russell said. His nibbling along the shell of your ear was all too distracting as you laughed. 

“Oh, I know,” you dryly replied. “But if I let you get your hands on me now, I’m most certainly not going to be able to lecture on the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia.”

His smile grew. “I like it when you talk nerdy to me.”

Your laugh turned into a giggle. Still, your duty to your students won out. You had to press a gentle hand against his chest to push him back.

Russell let out a long-suffering groan, but he pulled away from you without losing his smile. He tucked an errant strand of hair behind your ear and caressed your cheek. 

“I’ll see you at home,” he said. 

You agreed, though when he aimed to leave, you couldn’t resist the urge to smack his ass on his way out of your office. 

He stopped short and twisted back, pointing a knowing finger at you. 

“You don’t play fair, missy,” he said. 

You smirked and tossed a kiss at him.

“See you later,” you said.

You loved Dory. You really did. But after a day like today, you were happy to finally be home after dinner at your best friend’s house. You were happy to be where you were in this moment, lying in bed with Russell, wearing nothing but one of his old shirts as Speed played on the TV against the wall. 

“You didn’t leave me…I can’t believe it. You didn’t leave me,” you quoted along with Annie, Sandra Bullock’s character. 

“Didn’t have anywhere to be just then,” Jack (the beautiful Keanu Reeves) said on the screen. The couple shared a kiss, and you let out a happy hum, making Russell look down on you in amusement. He had an arm wrapped around you as you laid tucked against his side.

“I have to warn you,” you said for Jack. “I’ve heard relationships based on intense experiences never work.” 

“Okay,” Annie (and you) replied. “We’ll have to base it on sex then.”

Jack smiled. “Whatever you say, ma’am.”

As the movie came to an end, you sighed and lowered the volume as the credits rolled. 

“How’d you like it?” you asked.

“Was good! Even though my movie buddy decided to quote half the cast,” Russell quipped. He prodded at your side like a pianist playing a Mozart cantata, making you flinch with a squawk of laughter. You grabbed his hand to try and stop him. 

When he finally let up, you sighed and caught your breath, leaning against him again.

“I still can’t believe you’ve never seen that movie,” you said. “Practically any movie, for that matter.”

“Hey, I’ve seen stuff…it’s just, you know, we didn’t really have much access to pop culture growing up,” Russell said. 

You sobered up; you were reminded that he didn’t have a normal childhood, even less so than yours. 

“That’s okay,” you said, resting a comforting hand on his chest. “I’m gonna keep helping you catch up, long as you want me to.”

Russell smiled and pressed a kiss to your forehead. “I appreciate that.”

You closed your eyes in content. 

“So,” Russell said, interrupting your peace. You heard the mischief in his voice before he even said anything else. “Am I gonna have to knock this Beaufort guy on his ass, or you got that one covered, slugger?”

You huffed in amusement. 

“Belmont,” you corrected, opening your eyes again to shoot him a wry glance. “And there won’t be any ass-kicking needed on that one. Just a typical hard-headed man with a slighted ego.”

“Oof, cut him some slack, baby. You’re a hard one to let go of,” Russell teased. You smiled.

“Hey. Don’t butter me up unless you intend to do something about it.”

“Oh, my apologies,” he said. He turned over and waylaid you with kisses along your jaw, then down the column of your throat, and further still, until he met the edge of your shirt. You felt his hands move under the hem of it, slowly bunching up the material as they slid up your body.  

Your first coming together when you two got home tonight was fraught, and a bit wild—the kind that nearly broke your headboard (again). 

Now, Russell seemed to want to take his time. He guided your shirt up, inch by inch as his lips explored whatever small expanse he bared, from the soft skin of your stomach, to the swell of your breasts. He stopped there, laying a sweet kiss in between them. You watched him with deeper breaths, but you softened when he turned his smile up at you. You saw nothing but affection in his eyes. 

“You know, the best part of my day is coming home to you,” he said.

You had to blink past the sting in your eyes, and swallow past another lump of emotion in your throat as you reached down to caress his cheek.

The hardest part of mine is watching you leave.

But you didn’t dare say that. You just guided him back up to your lips, and met him with a heated kiss.

You were nearly asleep when Russell finally came back to bed, after double-checking that the house was all locked up. He installed a more sophisticated security system a few months ago. It made him feel slightly better about leaving you alone. 

He padded back over to the bed and joined you on his side. You rested your head on his shoulder again, and he slid an arm around your waist. 

“Charlie’s doing well in his program, huh?” Russell asked. 

You’d been talking about your brother with him and Dory at dinner. 

You nodded. “Looks like it… God, I’m so proud of him. He’s really worked hard.”

Russell hummed deeply. “Glad to hear it.”

You glanced up at him, for a moment admiring his profile. He looked down and met your gaze.

“How long are you going to be home?” you asked, because you couldn’t stop yourself.

When you and Russell first started dating, he tried staying at a motel for a few weeks. You eventually invited him to just stay with you when he was in town. It made it easier to spend more time with him, since you worked a full-time schedule anyway. It was nice to come home to him, when he was here. After the surprise wore off, however, the fear always returned.

When is he leaving next?

“I don’t have another job lined up just yet,” Russell admitted. “Wanna take a couple weeks off, since this one lasted so long. I’m sorry about that.”

You were glad to hear it, so you nodded, but you had a feeling your true thoughts weren’t as well hidden as you intended. Russell searched your face.

“How’re you doing with all this?” he asked.

Your heart seized up, but you tried to play it off.

“What do you mean? We had some good food, good catching up on ‘90s movie magic, good making up for lost time,” you said playfully. You slid your leg across his lap. Russell welcomed you, drawing a hand up your thigh and under his shirt that once again hung loosely from your body. You had to reclaim it from somewhere between the sheets.

He still raised his brows at you. “You know what I mean.”

Slowly, your smile fell. Your gaze lowered. 

“Russ, I’m doing my best.”

“I know you are, sweetheart, and I appreciate that. You don’t know how much,” he said, stroking your back. “I just, uh…I know this is hard on you.”

He understood Tracy, Doug’s wife, even better now. He had been better able to sympathize with Doug too, because for the first time in his life, he had someone to come home to. Someone who was actually waiting on him to come home. It was a bigger responsibility than he thought it would be. 

You sighed. 

“Look, I’m not going to lie, this…it’s been hard as hell,” you began, closing your hand around his. “But I love you. I love you, and I still think we have a good thing here.”

That warmed him, reminded him why this was worth it. Russell nodded in agreement, and he crossed the few inches of distance that allowed him to kiss you, good and slow. 

“I love you too,” he admitted. He could count on half a hand the number of times that happened in his life, but even though it hadn’t been all that long…he thought you might be the one that finally stuck. 

Your pretty smile was just one piece of evidence. You gave that to him, and you reached up for a kiss. He obliged you in turn.  

“How about we put a timeframe on it then,” he said, after parting softly from you. 

You tilted your head in confusion, tinged with disbelief. “What?”

“How about you give me…’til the end of the year,” he said. “I know I’ve been taking a lot of jobs lately. It’s because I’m pretty close to my goal. I’ve almost got enough to find some good real estate and start working on that bar.”

Your drowsiness fell away completely as your excitement grew for him.

“Oh my God. Russ, that’s amazing!” 

Your support softened him that much more, deepening his smile. He framed your face with a hand and stroked your cheek with his thumb.

“Here’s a promise,” he said. “Six months, and no more missions. No more jobs. You’ll be stuck with me, so much that you’ll probably get sick of me.”

Your smile grew to radiant proportions.

“Hmm, maybe a little,” you teased, “but I’ll make that sacrifice.”

He grinned and drew you into another kiss. You paused, holding his bearded cheek. 

“Thank you,” you said. Russell shook his head.

“Aw, sweetheart,” he said. “You never gotta thank me for that.”

AN: Let me know if you enjoyed this little addition to ESC! 💜

Bonus Drabble:

After watching 2x02 yesterday, it gave me...feelings lol. So I ended up writing a new (very smutty) drabble to fill in a small gap in this one-shot! It's called More of This:

Summary: Welcoming Russell home, where he belongs. (18+) 

▶️ Keep Reading: More of This

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@deanwinchestersgirl8734

[achromatophoric]

In the woods, three students examine what appears to be a disfigured corpse.

Bianca: Don’t you mean undead?

Yoko: Nah, she meant killed.

Wednesday: Incorrect on both counts. This individual is one of the unalive, a category of outcast that is significantly less common than their undead counterparts.

Bianca/Yoko: 😑😐

Wednesday: *sighs* I’ll explain.

Wednesday: The “unalive” are those who are technically living, but have been de-animated.

Yoko: Wha?

Bianca: So like a coma? Because this— *gestures at disemboweled body* —does NOT look like a coma.

Wednesday: Far from it. Take his pulse.

Bianca: 😤

Bianca: *crouches down and hesitantly takes the body’s wrist*

Bianca: 🤨

Bianca: 😧

Bianca: Holy shit.

Yoko: Seriously? *checks the other wrist* The fuck??

Wednesday: As I said, technically living.

Bianca: But—But his goddamn intestines are on the outside!

Yoko: *bewildered look* No, she’s… she’s right. When I focus, I can smell warm blood. Like what the actual fuck?

Wednesday: There you have it.

Bianca: *stares at the body*

Bianca: Can we revive him? Like reanimate him or something?

Wednesday: Of course. Enid should be here shortly with—

Enid: *scampers up* Hiya, babe! Hey, girls!

Bianca/Yoko: *confused waves*

Wednesday: Thank you, mi lobita. *takes something from Enid*

Enid: *pointedly does not look at the body* So another one, huh?

Wednesday: Quite. Ready?

Enid: Totes. *plugs her ears*

Wednesday: *aims at the body’s head and—*

Bianca: IS THAT A GUN?

Yoko: WHAT THE F—

*BANG*

Bianca/Yoko: 😱😱

Re-alived dude: *gasps and sits up, now entirely unscathed*

Bianca/Yoko:

Bianca: WHAT—

Yoko: —THE—

Bianca/Yoko: —FUCK?!

Wednesday: *calmly lowers gun* The unalive can be returned to their original state in the same manner as their most popular counterpart—

Wednesday: —by destroying the brain.

Bianca/Yoko:

Yoko: That makes no freaking sense!

Bianca: This shit isn’t supernatural, it’s fucking super STUPID!

Enid: *cheerily* Close! It’s superfarcical.

Wednesday: Precisely. The unalive are amongst those entities classified as transcending the realm of the absurd or ridiculous.

Bianca/Yoko:

Enid: If you think these guys are weird— *points*

Re-alived dude: *sits there, very confused*

Enid: —you should see wereweres.

Bianca/Yoko:

Yoko: *hesistantly* What the heck is a w—

Bianca: *elbows Yoko* Don’t encourage—

Wednesday: Wereweres are a type of superfarcical shifter that, upon exposure to the full moon, can only be referred to in the 2nd person past tense.

Bianca/Yoko: 😠😲

Enid: Not to be confused with werewheres or whereweres.

Bianca: Please st—

Yoko: Go on.

Wednesday: The former transform from a person into a place, while the latter are transported by superfarcical means to some unknown location.

Bianca: No—

Yoko: Superfarcical means?

Enid: I once saw a wherewere get picked up by a banana unicorn named Mass Appeel.

Bianca:

Bianca: *has a stroke*

Yoko/Enid/Wednesday: 😬😱😒

Yoko: *scrambling to help Bianca* Shit, sorry! I had to know!

Enid: *anxiously calling 911* Crap crap crap not again!

Wednesday: I’ll dispose of the firearm. *stalks off*

Bianca: 😵‍💫

Re-alived dude:

Re-alived dude: *mutters* What the fuck is even happening?

[edorazzi]

Hey, you need to know that I started watching you because of the Miraculous mentor au, but you sucked me into Thunderbirds instead. I have now watched the first season of TAG and am working on the second. WHy is it so good? I watched TOS but this is completely different and I love it so much THANK YOU FOR GETTING ME INTO IT

I KNOW, right?!

It's so rare for a reboot/sequel/revival/whatever to be genuinely great and TAG just nails it somehow!

It's a lot more simplistic, lighthearted and fast-paced than classic Thunderbirds (TOS Gordon has a kill count while TAG Gordon can't even say "ass" without getting censored!) but you can feel every drop of the love and respect behind it. With the endless Easter eggs it was so clearly made for classic fans to watch with their kids - my dad went in VERY grudgingly when I wouldn't shut up about it and ended up watching all three seasons with me!

I think TOS is more about the high-tech rescues with incredible practical effects, and TAG is about the Tracys themselves who were originally pretty glossed over. Just look what they did with John who spent nearly the whole series in off-camera space jail (for the crime of being handsome); now he's the cornerstone of the whole iR operation and lethal levels of sassy about it!

I love that they aren't afraid to touch on more delicate things too: Scott's self-destructive tendencies; Virgil's feelings of inadequacy; John's crippling social anxiety; Gordon's physical injuries; Kayo's fear of rejection; Alan's fading memories of his parents. And that when Jeff does return he's so full of love for his sons - these boys aren't getting one awkward pat on the shoulder followed by a shot of whisky and a cigarette to deal with that emotional outburst!

Anyway, I adore TAG and I will not apologise to anyone caught in the crossfire of my hell blog. Welcome and thank you!!! :V

[thewertsearch]

@krixwell asked: I think it's general theory summary o'clock. Broadly, what are your expectations for the rest of Act 5 and its ending?

I'm a little late answering this one - but hey, better late than never!

I can't predict the rest of the Act anymore, but I can try and predict the ending. Here are my predictions for what'll happen in Cascade, organized by character.

Rose & Dave

The Derse twins, who have dispatched DD together, meet Aradia at the Green Sun. The Tumor detonates as planned, but Aradia is able to save them somehow, possibly by spiriting them away with time travel...

...or, by telling them how she cheated death.

Aradia was able to resurrect herself without a backup body, from a pedestal hidden within the moon of Derse; the very moon the kids are currently piloting. Doc Scratch has already hinted that Rose might ascend on 'another quest bed somewhere', and I think this is how she - and Dave - could do it.

If Rose and Dave died destroying the Sun, it would almost certainly count as Heroic – but that doesn't actually matter. If the twins die on Quest Slabs, they won't die as God Tiers - they'll die as mortals, and resurrect as God Tiers. They should reincarnate safely, as the Sun collapses for good.

The Meteor Crew

To be honest, I don't think the trolls will have much of a role to play in the endgame. All the action is happening in the kids' session, and now that the Scratch has started, they can't even contact that session.

In any case, these kids are planning to follow the Green Sun's explosion to a predetermined rendezvous point. I'm not sure how they're going to get there - but Kanaya is a wielder of the Space Aspect, so maybe it's her time to shine.

...I mean, shine even more brightly than she already does.

Jack

After he absolutely kills CD, Jack is destined to travel to the troll session, but I still have no idea how. Perhaps the dimensional instability created by the Scratch will start to rip holes into other sessions, and he’ll be lured into one? Who knows.

I'm as stumped as I ever was. Only one way to find out, I guess!

John

Once he's triggered the Scratch, this kid's going to need an out. He'll need to make himself scarce in order to avoid being erased...

...or, perhaps he won’t. Perhaps, as the Heir of Breath, he’ll be able to use the Breeze to conceal himself from whatever force is destroying the session, the same way he hid his scent from Jack.

Either way, he'll probably be fine, while the same cannot be said for...

Jade

The greatest of Fs for our girl. Jade's been killed in an extremely tense situation, without leaving much hope for her resurrection before the Scratch.

The Sprites are still around, but I don’t know how they’d revive her- like, sure, Nanna has a healing beam, but I don’t think she can heal death. Plus, Jade made a Choice with Echidna to locate her Final Frog - and it seems that accepting a Choice will inevitably lead you to sacrifice your life. If Jade's death was immediately undone, would it really count as a sacrifice?

I don't want to call it too early, but... it isn't out of the question that Jade is gone for good. Especially when she's already got a replacement, waiting in the wings.

Jadesprite

I think it's genuinely possible that Jadesprite could take over Jade's role as one of the 'main' four kids.

She's about to lose her First Guardian powers, but she should still have time to fulfil Echidna's request in her realself's stead, simply by shrinking the entire session, and teleporting it to the Furthest Ring, where her allies can captchalogue it. Hell, this would be easy for her.

I really, really don't want Jade to be dead. But, well... she made a Choice.

The Endgame

Finally, we see the consequences of the Green Sun’s destruction, which I’m sure are as cataclysmic as they are unexpected. Rose realizes how badly she was played, as Scratch's full hand is finally revealed. All of Paradox Space shakes from the impact. Scratch and Snowman die, and English consumes the troll universe.

Everyone meets up on the exiled Lands, and they resolve to travel to the reset session, once it’s spawned.

Act 6?

After we're done, I’m hoping for the Guardians-as-Players to get the Hivebent treatment – by which I mean, I’m hoping Act 6 gives us the full story of the Scratched session, right from kid Nanna standing in her bedroom. It’s also possible, though, that we’ll join their session in medias res, as our protagonists' teenage parents face hitherto unknown challenges in a new Medium. I'll talk more about my specific predictions for the Guardian session in their own post, once Act 5 has fully concluded.

The adventure continues, as the kids slowly realize that English, and the Paradox Space twisted to suit his ends, is the true enemy, and they begin to make plans to confront him directly.

[acowardinmordor]

Steve has powers, specifically of a Doesn’t Stay Dead variety. He knows theirs a limit on how many times he can come back. Let’s go with eight. Aka he has nine lives. He knows there’s a cap, and he has some kind of mark on his body that counts down. He lost one as a kid, doing something like riding his bike too fast, and crashing over a hill. Nothing nefarious, just a bad accident.

He drinks himself unconscious freshman year, and wakes up in vomit, missing a marker.

He survives the demogorgon.

Billy kills him though. So does the Russian beating.

The kids realize after Starcourt that Steve really was killed by the Russians, but don’t realize there’s a cap. It makes them feel safer if they think that Steve will always be there for him.

He doesn’t tell them that he died twice. The only reason he knows about the second is because he woke up the next day missing one of the marks. He never went to the hospital, so doesn’t know why or how, just that he’s used six of his eight chances.

Definitely drowns getting dragged through watergate, and barely revived before the others reached him. Only one left.

Eddie survives, barely. Steve learned his lesson from Starcourt and goes to the hospital, takes the antibiotics. Takes it easy, tells himself that it’s all over. So it’s fine. And he still has one spare.

Gets close with Eddie as they recover and wait on the Feds. And Eddie loves stories, knows fairytales and immediately declares that this infinite life glitch is fake. There’s no way it’s Infinite. He assumes that Steve doesn’t know that, and isn’t going to tell him. They get close enough that Eddie sees the marks on the back of Steve’s neck, sees seven faded, sees one left. He freaks out for a while. Tries to talk to Robin about it, but even she doesn’t know, and he doesn’t know how to tell her this secret that doesn’t belong to him.

Steddie is not quite together, but everyone knows it’s an any day now thing. That’s when Vecna comes back.

Steve goes down protecting the kids. But he gets up a moment later. It’s the first time they ever saw it happen, and it cements Steve as the coolest dude ever. He’s invincible.

Something something, they have a plan that needs someone to take on a very dangerous bait role. Obviously, to the kids, Steve is the only possible choice. And since it doesn’t matter, Steve wouldn’t let anyone else do it anyway, there’s no reason to tell them. Either he’ll survive or he won’t.

Eddie though? Not having it. Informs the group that he’s going with Steve. No one likes this plan. Eddie has vivid, vicious scars from last time. Steve can come back to life. It’s just stupid for Eddie to risk himself.

They’re both self sacrificing idiots, and when shit goes down, they’re both determined that THEY will be the one to die and save the other.

Luckily, they cancel each other out. Neither dies during the fight, and the others find them fast enough to get them to the hospital. It’s not until Eddie wakes up from the surgical anasthesia, and frantically asks about Steve that the secret comes out. He’s drugged out of his mind, and rambles his fears and the marks and how he knows that Steve won’t survive another one.

Unluckily, the kids and Robin were clustered around Eddie’s bed - around the bed of the guy they thought was at risk of dying and staying dead, because they knew Steve would be okay no matter what - and they hear all of it.

So it’s a horrible thing as they look at the other bed in the room, at Steve, still not awake, still critical, and have to grapple with that fear, even as they try to count, and learn all the times and ways that Steve has died before. Praying that it won’t happen again

[siffrins-therapist]

👾censoredmandibiles Follow

OK time to settle something

EDIT: this post WAY ended up breaking containment. GO CLUTCH YOUR PEARLS ELSEWHERE

🦑tentacleovi Follow

YO FREE BLOCKLIST IN THE NOTES HOLY SHIT

#RIP OP's notifs #i don't go here but i suggest making popcorn before diving into those notes #some of it is puritan bs you'd expect #some of it is discourse i never even knew existed

41.6K Notes

🕷️friendofcharlotte

I think a painting my friend got at a thrift store was painted by Mr. Italy Veneziano? Is there a way to authenticate it? Google isn't helping.

⭐wishonadeadstar Follow

Try here. Turns out my nan's portrait of her farmhouse was originally painted by Mr. Romano when he was living in NY during the 1920's.

🕷️friendofcharlotte

THANK YOU

8 Notes

📽️bisexuallightinggoggles Follow

hey yo so the US rep put like 100 hours into playing that game Spiritfarer just this week... anyone want to go check on the guy??

💿newagepirate Follow

There are literally government workers who's literal job it is to check on him

⛰️lesbianmothernature Follow

how tf do you know he put 100 hours into playing a game anyway????

📽️bisexuallightinggoggles Follow

We're friends on Steam. He adds like everyone who asks.

And for everyone in the notes asking what Spiritfarer is it's one of those cozy simulator games here's the trailer.

#isn't the 'deathiversary' of his friend Davie this week? #i'm definitely not the first person to think of that #okay looking at the notes was a mistake #like i'm not one of those ppl who puts #'DNI if your username makes fun of davies death' but #immortal or not #even if it happend centuries ago #you can still be sad your FUCKING FRIEND DIED

12.3k Notes

🥾hikingawayfrommyfeelings Follow

So if I become a citizen of Ladonia can he just... visit me through my computer?

🦝trashypanda Follow

He gets mad when you summon him :(

🦘callmejoeythewayi Follow

"summon him" Like a fucking demon?

🫒shrekbignaturals Follow

We are NOT rehashing that old discourse.

🎱magic8saveme Follow

Oh god I just revived my blog after escaping x/twitter and last time I saw that disk hoarse, my dash was just post after post of this for DAYS

🪄magictrio-dropout

#was there actual discourse about whether the nation-people were demons? #cuz the discourse i saw on my dash was #whether tales of things like demons vampires and #other immortal or 'came back to life' creatures #were born from when the nation-people resurrecting #or like #doing creepy stuff

IDK about tumblr or the first bit (I've personally never heard that at least not from anyone being serious) but the other stuff has been debated in academia for decades! One of my literature professors is ADAMANT that the vampire myth can be traced to old folklore about the reps and them reviving and possibly the blood-drinking comes from an evolution of the myth when before, old stories talked about blood soaking the earth where vampires rose. If anyone's interested, here's where you can find my professor's paper about it.

🎃warongayxmas

So like. *grabs a bat and slowly approaches a hornet's nest* Then does the Jesus story have the same roots then?

🫒shrekbignaturals Follow

WE 👏 ARE 👏 NOT 👏 RE 👏 HASHING 👏 THAT 👏 DISCOURSE👏

🥾hikingawayfrommyfeelings Follow

Wtf happened to my post???

#so did OP become a Ladonian citizen or what?

187.4k Notes

🐦‍pinchforawish Follow

MY DAD GOT TO SEE MR ENGLAND LIVE BACK WHEN HE WAS IN A PUNK BAND

🐦‍pinchforawish Follow

TUMBLR WTF HOW TF DOES THIS VIOLATE GUIDELINES

🏴dinotonugget-deactivated

Finally. Proof that the site runs so shittily bc Mr. Eyebrows works for staff

🫎moosecrossing Follow

Spoke the truth and got fucking killed for it

67.9 Notes

[crazyk-imagine]

Revive Me

Pairing: Soldier Boy x Supe!reader

Characters: Soldier Boy, Supe!reader, Hughie Campbell, Billy Butcher, Frenchie, Kimiko Miyashrio, Mothers Milk, Annie "Starlight" Janurary

Warnings: Angst, minor fluff, the boys show is a warning itself, things get rough, ben was brainwashed, reader was forced into hiding, ben loves you but sucks at it, reader wants to kick his ass, a lot goes on here lol

Word Count: 1.9k

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m sorry there’s another one of you?” Billy asks.

Ben grunts, furrowing his brows. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Frenchie and Kimiko share a look.

“Well- uh- there’s- there’s another supe that was… a part of your team?” Hughie adds with a calm and slow tone, as if he’s talking down a child throwing a tantrum.

“What do you mean? There wasn’t-” He pauses, thinking back to his time before the payback team was officially formed. “You’re lying.” He steps towards Hughie, causing Billy to stand before him.

���Watch yourself, mate.”

“Then his little fuck face mouth better start yapping.”

“Do you really not remember?” Hughie can’t help but ask.

“Does it look like I fucking know what you’re talking about?”

The non-supe jumps at his tone. “Okay, okay. Fair enough. Well,” he gulps, “before there was payback, you- you had a partner.”

“Oh shit,” Frenchie mutters. “The original woman.”

Hughie closes his eyes, slightly shaking his head at his buddy’s poor choice of words. “I wouldn’t use those words exactly but yes.” He turns back to Ben. “She was basically Wonder Woman before Wonder Woman but… cooler. She-”

“She didn’t play by anyone’s rules, much less Voughts.”

Hughie nods, “ex- exactly. You remember her don’t you?”

“Those little dick pricks.” He growls under his breath, taking another hit of his joint. “Fucking erased my memories.”

Billy brows rise to his forehead, “you mean to tell me those dickheads can erase our minds now?”

Ben huffs, “only those who can beat them. Where is she?”

“Uh- see that’s- that’s the thing. We- uh- we don’t know exactly.”

He narrows his eyes at the young man, knowing if he had laser vision, he’d use it.

“They put her away before you rose to fame, which is why her name isn’t familiar.”

-

He enters the bathroom and slams the door shut, causing the walls to shake, almost simulating an earthquake.

He stares into the mirror, reminiscing of a younger him, not that he’s aged but he’s battling an internal battle.

How could he have forgotten you?

Why did they take you away?

Why didn’t he realize it sooner?

He pulls his fist back and listens to the blood rushing through his hand as the glass shatters, falling into the sink, on the counter and to the floor.

He opens the door, pretending like nothing happened. “Alright, how do we find someone who’s been hidden?”

“I have an idea,” Annie adds.

“What’s the plan?” MM asks.

“And no explosions,” Billy adds, glaring at Ben.

“I’m not a fucking kid who needs to be told what to do.”

-

You moan in pain, the container gets colder.

Everything hurts.

You want to give up.

-

He slows down his pace, his body feels colder. He glances down, seeing nothing happening.

His expression hardens, he knows it’s you.

Those fuckers- he should have killed them when he had the chance.

He can tell by the way his heart hurts, it's you but the not remembering hurts him, but why does it hurt so much?

He can’t imagine the magnitude of your relationship having this much of an affect on him.

Fuck, why can't he remember?

-

You want to scream but it’s hard when the mask is snapped in place.

You hate them, hate Vought, hate what they made you.

-

He can’t help but ignore everyone’s wishes to quiet down as he kicks in the door.

His eyes scan around the room before stopping on your previous prison.

He turns, lowering his head; lips snarling at the sight of his precious girl in that damn ice box. “You fuckers have some unpaid debt, I’m here to collect.”

Kimiko pulls Hughie and Frenchie back, the heat already emanating off him before he could let it out.

The cries and plea’s to live and fear of dying do nothing, if anything it’s white noise.

-

More smoke enters your lungs, it’s harder to stay awake.

You don’t want to close your eyes but it’s been harder to hold your breath these last few months.

You don’t know how much longer you can hold on.

It’s like ice crystals are forming in your veins.

-

He lifts his shield and stares down at the bloody mess of what used to be a man- or a woman- he doesn’t care. He straightens himself and takes careful, rushed steps towards you.

He listens for your heartbeat, needing to know if this is all just some sick and twisted lie or if the woman he’s dreaming about is really here.

He leans over and finds your cold face.

The difference between you and him, he got hotter (in more ways than-) and you, you’re cold to the touch and he hasn’t even opened it yet.

“Baby,” he mumbles, the nickname foreign and so familiar on his tongue; it makes him sick to his stomach. He slips his fingers under the handle and lifts it, not caring if he breathes it in too.

“Holy-”

“We came all this way for a dead body?” Billy grunts.

“She’s not fucking dead.”

“Oh my god, they- they preserved her like-”

“The perfect doll they made her.” Ben takes a deep breath, not wanting to blow up… and potentially hurt you.

He can hear the steady rhythm of your heartbeat and knows you’re under; he doesn’t care how long, he breaks apart the container with his gloved hands.

“Come on, sweetheart.” He lifts your limp figure out and tosses it over his shoulder, keeping his shield in his grasp in case he needs to defend you. “Come on, pansies. Let’s get a fucking move on.”

“Are we really just gonna wait around and see if she wakes up? What if she’s like him but even more violent?” Annie asks.

“She wouldn’t,” Ben hisses. He thought it was interesting that a non-supe was fucking a supe but then realized two annoying people make his head pound.

“If you’re too scared to stick around and find out who she is, then get the fuck out of my face before I mess up yours.”

Hughie pulls her out of the room before she could say anything.

-

Ben turns back to your cold figure. “I don’t care how long it is until you wake up, I’m not leaving your side,” he mutters under his breath.

-

You didn’t realize how long it had been since you moved a muscle until now.

Air fills your lungs, seeming like you can breathe for the first time.

You open your eyes to find the room engulfed in darkness. Your eyes take in the room, stopping on the sleeping figure in the chair near the bed.

When were beds so comfortable?

You push yourself off and take a step towards him, almost collapsing at the sensation in your legs.

You close your eyes and take a moment to process everything.

Your eyes snapping to the left, where noise comes from on the other side of the door.

You glance down at Ben and back to the door, you move away from him.

The hinges squeak and you don’t care if he hears or not, the sound of people talking worsens your headache.

You stand in the hallway, covering your eyes at the lights above.

They stop and stare at you, jaws dropping.

The asian female next to the scruffy man, signs to him, asking what to do.

You sign back and ask her to tell the others to quiet down, all the noise hurts your head.

She owlishly blinks, unsure if she saw what she did.

Frenchie sits there stunned, happy his girl could have someone to communicate with but sad he can’t understand fully what it was you said.

You turn and almost bump into him.

He glances at you, wondering what’s going on inside your head and where you learned sign language. “Sweet-” He groans, staring at the broken dry wall particles floating through the air.

“Oh for fucks sake,” Billy groans.

You glance over at him over your shoulder, the light reflecting off your eyes, causing a flicker of bright light to emanate off them.

He furrows his brows at the sight, sharing a look with MM and Annie.

Ben pushes himself off the ground and glances at you, wondering where the hell this strength has been. He takes a deep breath, wondering what’s going on in your head. “What the hell was that?”

So much for mystery.

You glare at him. “Don’t fucking look at me like that,” you tell him with a raspy voice.

He’s stunned, you weren’t one to curse, even when someone pissed you off so much.

“What the fuck happened?” You aim for him, holding him up by the collar of his shirt. “What the fuck happened to me?”

He glances down at you, ignoring the stares he gets from the others. “I need you to let me down, baby so I can explain everything.”

Your blood boils at his voice.

The memories of the tape recorder playing as you entered that stupid fucking room.

The beginning of the end.

He furrows his brows at the sight of your red, glowing eyes.

Had he been a non supe, he'd probably shit himself thinking you were gonna blow his head off.

You tighten your grip on his neck and slam his head into the wall before letting him fall under your hand.

You walk away before anything can happen to them.

-

You enter the room you found yourself in and talk deep breaths.

You overcame this before and you can do it again.

Ben grunts as he follows you, wondering what the hell just happened. He enters the room and holds his head. He groans, rubbing the palm of his hands into his eyes.

He raises his head in time to see steam radiating off you.

He reaches for you only for his hand to fall at his side as you race to the bathroom.

The door slams shut.

He listens to you, the heavy breathing and the way your hands shake as you try to calm down. “Sweetheart?” He knocks once. “Let me in and I can explain everything.

“No,” you groan.

The shower turns on, you sit in the tub.

He opens the door, knowing you didn't lock the door.

His eyes fall on your figure and walks in, turning off the water.

“Flamer?” He whispers, smiling at your flaming body.

“Soldier?” You stare at him with a wounded expression.

He reaches for your cheek and you pull away.

He reaches for you again. “How could they keep you from me?”

You close your eyes and lean your head into his hand.

You're hot to the touch but he doesn't care especially as he watches the fire die down, his hand no longer engulfed by your tender flames.

-

After much talking, he got you out of the bathroom and comfortable on the bed as he explained it all, more or less dancing around the reason they pulled him out of his prison.

“Does anybody want to explain why the fuck there's ash in the bathroom?” Billy asks.

“I'll pay you back once we're done.”

The man with a plan rolls his eyes. 

[vertical-tacos]

BUILDERMAN- KILLER CONCEPT

HI GUYS I'M BACK WITH ANOTHER PAGE !!!

he's uh. he's sane and can be trusted with heavy objects (DO NOT TRUST HIM WITH HEAVY OBJECTS)

info below cut as per usual

INFO

BACKSTORY: Originally worked with John Doe. got a little TOO into the concept of aggressive GUIs. betrayed his coworker, got infected by the code, yadda yadda. He's a bit nuts.

ABILITIES

PASSIVE: “CODING FLAWS”

Each time an objective is completed, Builderman receives a ping sound, and a brief (.5s) highlight of the player that completed the objective.

LMB: Builderman pulls out a classic banhammer and takes a swing. 20 damage. Arc hitbox. 5s cooldown.

ABILITY ONE: “FAULTY DESIGN”. Builderman will either build a fake dispenser, or a sentry. Fake dispensers will apply Poison II to anybody within a 10-stud radius (effect disappears immediately once out of radius). Sentries will shoot one bullet every 2 seconds at survivors, dealing five damage per hit. Bullet hitboxes are similar to base-game c00lkidd’s “corrupt nature” ability, just a bit smaller, and slightly faster. Dodge difficulty: 5/10

ABILITY TWO: “OVERRIDE”. Builderman will pull out the same hammer used in the LMB, but with a noticeable particle trail to differentiate. If it makes contact with a survivor, the survivor receives Afraid III and Weakness III for 10s. Attack speed for this swing is .25x slower than normal attack.

STATS

DIFFICULTY:★★★☆☆

DAMAGE: 20

HEALTH: 850

REGULAR SPEED: 12

SPRINT SPEED: 22

STAMINA: 95

STAMINA-LOSS: 10

STAMINA-GAIN: 12

VOICE LINES

Idle

- breathing, glitch sfx

Running

- static buzz

When Attacking

- old Rblx sounds (mainly sword and banhammer sounds)

When using "FAULTY DESIGN"

- "They'll need this!" (Dispenser)

- "Get em!" (Sentry)

When using "OVERRIDE"

- "Hope you're fast!!"

- "No time like now!"

KILL LINES

If killing Jason

- "Wrong game, buddy!"

- "Should've listened to her!"

If killing John Doe

- "You could've had it all!!"

- "Now you're the example!"

If killing 1x1x1x1

- "A fitting end for a criminal!!"

- "Next time, put your energy into something good!!"

If killing C00LKIDD

- (static covered voice clip) "Your account has been banned for violating the terms of service."

- "Don't worry, I'll tell your dad where you are!"

If killing Guest 666

- "What a shame! could've used you by my side!"

- "Hope he* wouldn't hate to see you go!"

*Guest 1337

If killing Azure

- (voice clip) "Object 'SpawnPoint' could not be found, or no longer exists."

- "Don't count on your revival!"

Bonus info!!

- Man is basically always smiling. if he starts frowning, he wants you DEAD.

- Either speaks in his normal voice, or in mimicry of other players, depending on his current stability.

- can indeed 180 his head. think you got out of his sight? think again.

- Put this man in confinement now. he's crazy

- personality and behavior slightly inspired by King Candy (Turbo) from "Wreck it Ralph".

[thranduil-aran-edhil]

There are 3 ways to revive Astarion/reverse his vampirism in D&D 5e. Two are baked into the mechanical rules. And one would be interesting to roleplay.

OBS: im not counting the method used in BG2EE where you can use Bodhi's Heart to revert Jaheira's/Viconia's/Aerie's/Anomen's vampirism.

The first one is True Resurrection. Now, of course, by the time the Tadfools can get a hold of this (by level 17), the whole thing with "the creature can only have been dead for 200 years" would make it a bit inconvenient. HOWEVER, Astarion isn't dead, he's UNdead. So they would have to kill him. A funny mental image, in my opinion. This would be the most certain way to revive him. (if you're going with Rules As Written, if you're spicy and like the Matt Mercer method, it could be less certain)

The second one is the Wish spell. Which is a very interesting spell, it would need a specific and clear wording to revive him. There's a chance it won't work. And there's a chance that the caster (most likely Gale) won't ever be able to cast the spell ever again.

The final one... comes from Elven High Magic. The only magic in DnD that can still go beyond level 9 even after Mystra's prohibition after Netheril's Fall. All of the spells are ritual and communal. It's quite thematically fitting, as Astarion is an Elf, but he never says anything about Elven culture in the game. It's Ye Olde Lore, like 2e (AD&D). Here's the spell in its entirety:

Gift of Life (Wizard Spell) This powerful high magic spell has an effect unlike any other. It restores undead creatures to life. Undead creatures are allowed a saving throw vs. death magic, but they can only make such a roll at a level equal to half their Hit Dice. An 18th-level lich, for example, would make a sav­ing throw vs. death magic as if it were actually a 9th-level wizard. If the undead creature fails its saving throw, it is immediately restored to life as it was just before its death, if it died by unnatural causes. It is restored to life as it was 10 years before its death if it died of old age or similar causes. The restored creature is stunned and incapable of any action for 1d4 turns as it slowly realizes what happened. The restored creature returns to life at an appropriate experience and Hit Die level, and with its original alignment and abilities. It will, however, be wearing the same clothes, and carry­ing whatever equipment (if any) that it did as an undead creature. This spell does not necessarily change the alignment of a creature that was originally evil, but the elves recount legends of wicked liches or vampires who were restored through this spell, repented their old lives, and changed alignment, dedicating themselves to the defense of elves. The material component of this spell is a gold medallion in the form of the sun (worth at least 500 gp). Notes: Restricted to elves able to cast High Magic, such as those of Evermeet.

And here's an interesting alternative, based on the D&D Elven High Magic from angelfire.com:

Suyoll/The Revival: This ritual restores an elf's life, health, and harmony with the Weave. This is seen as an acceptance back into the community of elves, despite any changes that occur during the elf’s life (or death). This ritual restores an elf’s natural state, neutralizing all ill or unnatural effects upon him. It cancels curses of any nature other than those divinely placed (i.e., personally inflicted by a god) and spell effects such as petrification and polymorph. Suyoll allows the regrowth of full limbs, muscles, and organs (such as eyes, tongue, etc.). It also negates any magical or non-voluntary alignment changes. The most advanced form of this ritual involves the restoration of undead elves to a living state, as they were 100 years before their deaths or transformations. GM’s Note: This ritual is rarely used; for the elves are a stubborn lot and forgiveness is not a virtue they practice often. Thus, any outcast elf or seriously injured elf is often perceived as pitiful or as a fool who learned his lesson for straying away from the path of elvenkind. However, great sacrifices made for sake of a clan or kingdoms are looked upon proudly, and the Suyoll is invoked to honour heroes who act in such interests. This ritual can even restore a Drow to status among the Tel`Quessir, though the ritual erases all powers (but not appearance) of the Drow (judge as a moon elf).

Do with these informations what you will, I just thought it would be nice to share :D

[hestzhyen]

Chapter 76 Rebirth Posting

More exciting stuff, dear void! I am seated with popcorn! Rough TL of Editor's Notes First Page: (none this week) Last Page: 雀!! 飛宗三能力がもたらすのは...?! [Suzaku!! Tobimune san nouryouku ga tarasu o ha...?!] Suzaku!! What has the third of Tobimune's abilities set in motion...?!

Some meta stuff first!

Next week's issue will be a double because April 27th/28th is the start of Golden Week, a series of national holidays in Japan. In other words, prepare for lobotomybachi.

Volume 7 will be releasing on May 2nd in Japan, so look forward to info on the cover illustration, page count, and the possibility of extras soon!

The next issue of WSJ has Kagurabachi getting the Lead Colour Page alongside some kind of "happy announcement". One wonders what it will be! It could be a character popularity poll, it could even be... that.

Hiruhiko's Gambit and Samura

So much for seeing what's happening at Kamunabi HQ! We got a whole chapter of Hiruhiko's shenanigans for the most part, but the payoff was so fucking worth it.

"Run along now, Ms. Toto. I need you to be able to save my ass with a timely teleport before I get murked."

Killing Samura, the pinnacle of the Gotta Go Fast sword style while he's deeply wounded and gasping for breath? He'd need some fancy moves to pull that off. Great time to see what else Kumeyuri can do!

Oiran != prostitutes, alright? Can we put that stupid "discourse" to rest already?

The word used in Japanese was 遊 [yuu], which will probably get translated as "Play". 遊 means a variety of things from play to pleasure/recreation/diversion to flexibility/freedom.

Also, the JP line between the last two boxes is:

"遊"は周囲のモノを自在に操ることができる "yuu" wa shuui no MONO wo jizai ni ayatsuru koto ga dekiru "Play" lets the user freely manipulate nearby objects.

モノ [mono] is 物, meaning "thing/object". The extra emphasis from writing it out with katakana means that Hokazono-sensei's telling us that it's for non-living things only is my guess. It can work on things and objects but not living, breathing animals or people. Plants are probably also excluded from use but that's up for debate I suppose, have at it if you want to.

Anyway! How 'bout all them corpses Chihiro and the Masumi created, huh? Yeah... Add on a super-duper strong Banquet and not even Samura is safe. Because we got confirmation at last that John did target and manipulate Samura to be the anxious, defeatist wreck of a man we love to debate (apparently).

The schemer schemed successfully.

A broken man with so much anxiety and guilt is easily manipulated. Called it!

And indeed, Hiruhiko does a great job of getting the strongest swordsman to kill himself to save his daughter. The corpses probably don't have any killing intent that Samura can hone in on, so he'd be going off the sounds they were making and not much else when it comes to fighting them. Too bad his senses are scrambled thanks to Banquet.

So he performs one final act befitting his role as her father before he becomes the latest series casualty... oh. Oh.

What's that? Tobimune's third ability is... Suzaku?!

No malding, W for the official EN translation.

The kanji used for the ability was 雀 [suzume], which means "sparrow". But it can also be a reference to the Vermillion Bird of the South (朱雀, zhū què) from the Chinese myth of the Four Symbols. With the Ruby next to the kanji being すざく [suzaku], there's absolutely no doubt that the last ability is divine intervention incarnate. Was the True Realm bit in the beginning hinting at how Samura came to have this ability, since he hates killing...? Being able to revive the people you murder would definitely ease his conscience over those sincerely held Buddhist beliefs clashing with his duty.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------------*

Suzaku the mythical bird is similar to a phoenix but not quite- they're both associated with rebirth through fire, but there's some really deep lore with Suzaku that makes it a distinct entity. Some short details on what exactly Suzaku is are here and here.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------------*

The move seems cool and OP as fuck, yeah. It's also the most probable answer to the question Shiba sorta kinda answered back in chapter 60:

Hey Shiba where've you been since we last saw you here?

So now I wonder if this was Samura's plan all along- kill the other bearers to sever their contracts with the blades then bring them back with Suzaku. At the very least, the chances of Uruha being alive after all just shot up dramatically. Revival sword + not seeing his body + deliberately being teased about his status + Chihiro saying this about the man's death:

YOU SHOULD HAVE RESTED LONGER DAMNIT. Chapter 60, I don't like you very much.

Let "Uruha Lives!" be the next thing we hastily scribble in public areas as our sign of rebellion against The Man.

Anyway...

Iori's probably still gonna have trauma from seeing her dad get eviscerated right in front of her.

The Crow feathers burning up raise some interesting questions- is it just a neat visual effect or is it part of some limitation for using Suzaku? As in there's a long GCD like he's playing FFXIV with only three abilities at level 2. We see him flood the hallway with feathers shortly after though so maybe it's just for the cool factor.

There has to be some kind of limitation on Suzaku though. Probably. Maybe it requires a ton of energy and/or has a long cooldown before it can be used again and/or it cancels Crow/Owl if they're in effect and/or can only be used once per revival target? Hope we find out. What a fucking amazing move though. Samura is terrifying with Tobimune- he seems downright immortal and inescapable. Look what you've done, Hakuri! (Please don't, you did nothing wrong. Ask the author when you can come back to us though.)

Oh shit his eyes are open!

Samura looming in the dark with his scars on fire, preparing to teach a "stupid brat" a lesson... I nearly forgive Hiruhiko's presence in the hotel this arc. THIS PAGE IS SO FUCKING AMAZING! But yeah, Samura called Hiruhiko a 糞餓鬼 [kusogaki], "shitty brat", "stupid brat", "son of a bitch", however you wanna phrase it ("friggin' brat" in the official EN) the page prior. He's got Mr. "I'm the only one who's free" cornered and it's a coinflip if the pink menace goes down or not, I think. Toto's presumably in a safe location but will she know to teleport Hiruhiko out of danger? She and Hiruhiko could plausibly have the twin/soulmate sense thing that Chihiro and Hakuri have going on. Kumeyuri's third ability could come in clutch too, whatever it is. We'll see.

What I want to see most, though, is the additional follow-up to this from Chapter 51:

It's going to happen in a different way than I expected but it'll still be emotional as hell.

I think Samura's sight was also restored for a bit of thematic harmony after he "woke up" from the hallucinations by dying. Blinding himself out of guilt trapped him in his own head and negative thinking, also blinding him from interpreting things in a better way. His sight being restored would symbolise that he's now on a more even keel with a better perspective on things.

Sorry for all the panel captures this entry but I wanna make a note of something here that couldn't necessarily be brought over into English:

Something something literal AND metaphorical "waking up".

The line in JP in Samura's panel was:

彼をようやく幻覚から醒ましたのは致命傷による痛み kare wo youyaku genkaku kara kimashita no wa chimeishou ni yoru itami

醒ます [kimasu] means not only "to wake up" but also "to be disillusioned" and "to sober up". Got the triple play of meanings here! It's not normally written with the 醒 kanji -覚める[kimeru] is more common- so Hokazono-sensei was very deliberate about keeping all three meanings here, I think. Or he's just very fond of associating kanji using the sake radical (酉) to the blade that's named after a shaky pour of sake (酌揺) and induces drunken hallucinations (酔った幻覚). Like Samura sobered up and got his head back on straight after becoming human shishkebab.

At any rate.

Will Samura be surprised by how Chihiro looks, especially with that massive scar? Will he also think Chihiro looks like Kunishige? I want to find out!

Wouldn't it be so evil if we cut over to the Kamunabi HQ attack next chapter instead? Ha ha... ha... not really though, because I'm eagerly awaiting seeing who gets to show up to do cool stuff over there. Whatever perspective we get, I'm here for it.

Meanwhile, On the Roof...

Thanks for reminding us of the series of events just in case we forgot since a lot has happened the past few chapters.

Kuguri had the good sense to run away so he can live and fight another day, though it's hilarious that Hiruhiko apparently forgot or didn't bother to include him in what he planned to do. I think we'll see more of him in a later arc; maybe not a lot, but he's got a better head on his shoulders than Hiruhiko (not that that's a challenge) so he could become another recurring skills check for Chihiro. He's most likely tied to whatever will happen with the Sushi Bearer.

I kinda wanna see his commentary on how Chihiro uses the Iai White Purity style but we'll have to wait on that. Glad to see you Kuguri, now get the hell out of Dodge while you can. Samura's on the warpath against your buddies and you're certainly included if he sees you. You also probably don't have much of a chance to kidnap Iori with the Masumi around her so seriously just GTFO and live.

Speaking of:

Ikura definitely got more than he bargained for getting himself involved in this.

Seems as though the Masumi are gonna be just fine. Good. Protect Ikura and Iori from the re-corpsified corpses just in case and don't make any funny moves that raise death flags. I'm fucking warning you guys and I won't do it again.

As for Iori...

There won't be enough therapy in the world to help her after this.

I think even if she and her dad don't get a chance to talk, she got an answer of sorts when he protected her at the cost of his life.

Naturally I think they have a ton of shit they need to say to each other, and Samura still deserves a verbal lashing, but at least Iori won't be thinking he abandoned her because he didn't love her or something like that. The problem is he cares too damn much if anything, really. And can't/won't get help for that fragile mental state of his.

Samura being glad that he was the only one who was hurt is the biggest answer to her question of "why" though- he doesn't want her to suffer. He'll shoulder all the pain and misery, do whatever it takes to let her live a free and happy life. He's a true father at heart even if he's not really functional in some critical aspects. Kinda like Kunishige, in a much sadder way.

At least Kuinishige's main failing -that we know of, at least- was being immature and leaving all the housekeeping to Chihiro. Bit of a crappy thing for a parent to do to their kid, but it worked for them and didn't bother Chihiro much. He actually cherished those times when he was taking care of himself and his dad. In all other respects Kunishige seemed to be a proper parent- he was teaching Chihiro some really valuable life lessons and being a good role model outside of housework. Most importantly, he was willing to walk through life with his kid and support him every step of the way.

By contrast, Samura's too mentally tortured to support Iori properly. He fears her hanging herself and doesn't talk to her but sends her away. He knows she's a target for kidnapping and worse and instead of working through it with her, he makes her forget everything so others forget her too- even himself. But he'll be her shield and protect her no matter what it costs him.

It's such a damn shame that he thinks his little girl needs to be separated from him to be safe and happy, really- she cherished those memories of their mundane days together just as much as Chihiro did with Kunishige. No doubt she has the same feelings of not wanting to trade those moments for anything, not even the safety and peace of mind her dad wants her to have so desperately.

I really, really hope they get to talk things out. There's so much unsaid between them and they deserve a quiet moment to rip the band-aid off and start the conversation.

One More Thing

A little detail that might get lost in the hype of this chapter:

Reusing screen shots like Hokazono-sensei reuses panels.

The Shinuchi is the exception to the three basic abilities rule for Enchanted Blades. We saw Kyora use Spider, Dragonfly, and Centipede during the Rakuzaichi arc, and we can surmise that the flower field was Malediction, the True Realm ability that the Sword Master unlocked. So there may be more critter abilities to witness if we see the sword in action!

Okey dokey. Give yourself a little compliment this week kind void. We'll meet again for the "exciting announcement" and whatever happens next in this wild fight!

[hubristicassholefight]

Swordswoman showdown FINALS

Hornet (Hollow Knight) vs Xena (Xena: Warrior Princess)

(Better here in a "preferred character" sense, not "who would win in a fight")

Propaganda below cut

Hornet

Technically its not a sword but she wields a needle in a setting where swords do not exist and she wields it in an exceedingly swordlike fashion so. She counts; Girlboss demigoddess spider lady. She's been protecting an entire kingdom for longer than many of the other characters have been alive. She systematically kills her siblings for being too weak. She's simply the best.

#im pretty sure hornet can beat like. anyone in a fight.#have you ever fought hornet#its so fucking hard getting past her every time i play hk i go literally insane.

#i remember getting stuck on the first hornet fight on mt first play through and bring likr#''omg the boss fights in this are so hard!!!''#like what. you're not even half way through what are you talking about#you can't even DASH honey. you don't know what's diffcult or not in this game.

So, SPOILERS

but I feel like the "she systematically kills her siblings" part needs a little clarification. See, one of her siblings was used as a living prison for an angry god and that uh. Didn't work out for the sibling in question or anyone else.

This account is itself heavily abbreviated but it's likely that any other sibling Hornet encounters will be trying to take over as the god's new prison. She appears to challenge any sibling she sees to battle, in order to test their resolve against herself and her needle - would they actually have a chance against that god?

We never actually see her kill any siblings, but she does quite pointedly tell one of them that (to paraphrase) "My needle is lethal and I would feel no sadness in a weakling's demise."

Feels like a relevant quote. In any case, if they can't beat Hornet, it seems like her needle would be a far more merciful end than what the god would grant.

Anyway, a bit of additional material for @swordswomanshowdown :

As is the case for any cool swordswoman, it's not just her sword that's lethal, it's her with it. And Hornet's needle was custom made for her - the creators have said that, while other needles exist, hers was made specifically for her to wield, and its construction allows her to use her spider silk better in combat.

And another thing that I think makes her a good swordswoman: she's actually pretty thoughtful about how she uses it. There's a least one instance where she tries to warn someone off before fighting them! At the same time, when she does fight, she seems to enjoy it - during her boss battles, you can hear her laugh sometimes, as if exhiliarated. She's really got it all, as a swordswoman!!!

#HORNET SWEEP CMON PLEEEEEEASE#shes gay. shes the only sibling with a gender. shes a spider named HORNET. look like croissant. whats not to like

Xena

Warrior Princess

She wields a sword and chakram. Just had to submit a biconic swordswoman.

i love her. she made me gay as a kid. Anyway, her weapon of choice is her sword, she is obviously very good with it

#unfortunately i have to choose and i have to choose xena#a) utena had no warcry. b) xena fought gods. c) xena has kickass goofy comic book combat which is my favorite

xena didn’t just fight gods. she fucked up a girl’s life so bad that she (calisto) devoted her entire being to destroying everything that xena loved that ended up with calisto becoming a god in order to destroy xena, which didnt work because xena entombed her in lava. and then when xena and gabrielle encountered calisto in the (christian) afterlife (different from the greek one which they also fought her in), calisto dragged gabrielle to hell so xena became an archangel in order to save gabrielle and then sacrificed herself in order to undo all the harm that she did in calisto’s life and then when not!jesus (played by timothy omundson) revives xena and gabrielle, calisto impregnates xena with the reincarnation of calisto’s soul in order to end the cycle of hate. xena doesnt just fight gods. she creates and destroys them

#this isnt even mentioning her fighting julius ceasar several times#telling brutus that caesar is not his friend#xena and gabrielle’s souls reincarnating across centuries in order to kick ass and fall in love all over again#or the time xena became a god but tbh that ep is kinda ‘uhhhhh…..’ even if they did hire a consultant for it

#I think everyone here knows to vote for Xena. I think a couple people here might have some propaganda for Xena saved already#everyone remember that Xena/Gabrielle is CANON and that's a pretty big deal also#(does anyone have that Xena Loves Trans People interview around because that would also make good propaganda)

I love Xena ❤️ 😍 💖 ❣️

[theghostavocadoe]

how I think AGSZC would act in the BG3 universe because my brain won't let it go and the world needs to hear

Cloud - Y'know how in almost every conversation there's always one dialogue option that's along the lines of "I don't give a shit I just want this damn tadpole out of my head"? Yeah that's him. Every time without fail. He's the one who exhausts every opportunity to get it out. The Dream Visitor is tired of his bullshit from day 1.

Zack - the heart of gold do-gooder who also takes every chance to joke around much to the behest of others. He introduces himself as Daisy Dewdrop Fluffington to the Steel Watch and refuses to live it down. Lae'zel hates his ass so much.

Genesis - Probably kissing Astarion. No, definitely kissing Astarion. Arson is the name of the game. Goblin camp? Ruined. Kagha? Dead. Moonrise Towers? Massacred. Fireball is his best friend. Has been revived a total of fifteen times and counting. Shadowheart learned Revivify specifically because of his dumb ass. Convinced Malus Thorm to kill himself.

Angeal - Paladin who's WAY too virtuous for his own good. Refuses to kill literally anybody even if they wrong him. However all logic flies out the window when he meets Karlach and learns about the folks posing as Paladins of Tyr just to hunt her down. Then he slaughters the damn place and steals their sword. And then he cries about breaking his oath despite the oathbreaker knight being dead silent.

Sephiroth - Probably does an evil run entirely by accident because he just slaughters everybody who minorly inconveniences him. Including the Absolute Cultists. Eats every tadpole he finds because Mmmm Power. Beats the ever living FUCK out of the Chosen and dominants the Elder Brain for himself because Fuck You. Probably Dark Urge.

[goodolddumbbanana]

Can you rate all TSAMS characters?

Oh boy.... That will be a lot. Warning, it is all for my personal taste, so that could be a little bit biased, okay

Sun: (100/10) What can I say? I love that silly one too much. He is like if you put a normal guy in the worst scenario ever, and then keep reviving him no matter how he beg you to stop. He is just like a can of contradictory. He wants to find a girlfriend but he keeps pushing them away.

He is cheerful, but he is also the most depressed person you ever know. He is a coward, but he keeps putting himself in the most dangerous area. His self perseverance is lacking just like the love Creator has for him.

He is likely has the most morally compass in the house, aside from Terra. But also, he is the only one who has his siblicide highest. Like even BM of all people or Moon or Eclipse, didn't take as much as family members counted like him.

And the most funny thing about Sun is that, he is kind and nice. But also, he is an asshole. Like a really uncaring asshole. Heck, even Moon or Eclipse has more sympathy than Sun, and that talks a lot. He is like if you put more morals and hope and an ideal of a loving father inside the Creator chest.

If Creator using his façade to use people, to make them work for him, to enslaved and torture them for eternity then Sun using his kindness to edge people to be better. (Obviously it's not working for Nexus for a while)

His complexity in his character always makes me giggle.

Moon: (Which Moon? The old moon, or moon V3) now I just realised there is a lot of Moon and just one Sun lol.

Old Moon: (10/10) He is an asshole, a real one. He cried himself to sleep because of all the mental torment he causes, but he never changed. He just keeps making it worse. He rather spends time with people he hates, than people who love him (Monty at first, and then KC, Eclipse) he keeps hiding shits and then lets it blow up into his face.

He is a hypocrite, and a liar, with how many times he walked away from Sun to help another person who is not Sun. He is the cause of mostly trauma Sun has experienced. he is a master of brother's issues. He is the main character who has a hero tragic plot stories. People love/respects/ needs and hate him at the same time. (Eclipse, Sun and literally everyone else)

Moon V3: (9/10) I like him but with amount of Moon keeps dying like rain, I would not invest my emotionally on him too soon.

Also, he seems much nicer but also more depressed? He has a lot of hidden issues too, and I'm dead on my hill that he is just Nexus with Old Moon memories. I like how his relationship with both Sun and Solar is very much balanced, even with Monty his best friend doesn't take that much screen time. Though... It seems like, he wants to get away from Sun nowadays.

Solar: (6/10-10/10) at first, I don't like him much. To put it more simply, he is like if you have a very cool picture inside your head and then you proceed to draw it.

There was no ending for him, he just exists for the need of the plot. Even back then when he moved to Tsams dimension and became Nexus besties, he still doesn't have any traits of his own personality. Like, he is a very yes man to Nexus , and he keeps doing everything in the most self desperate way, keeping things in the dark because he doesn't want to bother people. His relationship with Sun, very much awkward and far away, also makes me feel a bitter taste in my mouth. And the whole killing Creator arc is also kinda boring and unrelevant

But then he changed. Slowly, but he sure does. He becomes more sassy, more confident in himself. He goes out more, relaxing more. He can prank family members without making it too far, or insulting them for being stupid. (I'm crying when I see him saying f*ck you to Moon and Monty. My baby is growing)

Something really ironic that Nexus tries so bad to be his own person, but he gets worse and Solar who just wants to make everyone happy, changes

Nexus: (7/10, 100/10) I can't rate him man, he is just.... everything about him causing me pain.

I don't like how he relies on Solar and literally every enemy so much at first but now... He is everything.

Like he is silly. But he is a bad boy. But he is also silly. He is the definition of good goes evil but well handled.

Like unlike some other guys who when you go evil, you become sexy, hot and mysterious and evil.

No, my boy is just purely cringe. He sewed his own clothes, he makes himself taller and his booty is bigger than Earth and Moon. He is addicted to crack and monologue his tragic backstory for hours for Sun like they are in the therapy room.

He is cruel, yes. But no one takes him seriously, and even now when he says he hates Sun the most, Sun is the only person who caught him off guard and is able to use it to throw him into a different dimension. Like girl, why do you let Sun talk so much???

You can just hit him just like you beat KS, why girl????

He lives a tool and even in death, he is still a tool. My boy is really tragic.

Creator: (10/10-5/10) he used to be the baby girl. But he lost his brain (literally) and just became a husk of meat. Like he got so much potential, especially his relationship with his children but they just killed him off and that just sad.

Dark Sun: (10/10-8/10) he is so cool at first but I feel like he lost his spark when his arc is full filled.

KS: (10/10) he is cool. Very cool. He is like what would happen if Sun snapped and got mixed in the blender with BM. He is addicted to crack. He is lonely. He is a girl dad. He has a lot of issues.

[separocean-anxiety]

Steven Universe can be extremely petty and self-centered—the show doesn’t shy away from depicting him in a negative light, especially when it comes to Future. He’s a fantastic communicator but he still gets stuck in his own head; he still makes abysmal choices sometimes. I’m glad they gave him certain glaring flaws—it makes him feel like a normal person. The show doesn’t try to paint Steven as perfect, or even right all the time.

Granted, I do have gripes with how his idealistic perspective is sometimes mirrored in the show’s reality to the effect of sending a mixed message. For instance, while it makes sense that he wouldn’t agree with Bismuth’s ideology because he was vehemently against shattering, they didn’t have to have her story conclude with her being bubbled again, and the other Gems going along with it. There are cases in the show where Steven is clearly wrong about things, and the way the story is framed communicates that. I wish I could count that episode among them.

Future really shines a light on the complex that Steven’s developed and essentially founded his entire sense of self-worth upon, and how warping his greatest strength—to connect with and help others heal—into his utmost Purpose has led to him spiraling and becoming incapable of knowing what to do with himself. He imposes himself upon others; he burns himself out in desperation. And the thing is that this is nothing new for him: all across the original series, you see this same constant scramble for identity seeping into everything he does.

I feel like there’s this general broader perception of him that erases or just flat out forgets these qualities. He did unambiguously kill someone. And yes, that was by accident, and he was able to revive her. But he also very much tried to kill someone else On Purpose. And in White Diamond’s case, I really can’t blame him. But the scary thing is they have more in common than they know.

Where his mother tried to shirk responsibility at every turn, he desperately assumes it in her stead. Rose vilified and killed her former self; Steven deifies a false impression of who he believes he is. White Di- Steven Universe can do no wrong. Steven Universe knows how to help, how to relieve pain from others. If Steven Universe can’t do it, who can? If Steven Universe’s “help” isn’t needed anymore—if Steven Universe isn’t needed anymore—then who is he?

[lolazoel]

Thursday's child has far to go

Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace. Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go. Friday's child is loving and giving, Saturday's child works hard for a living. But the child that is born on Sabbath day, Is bonny and blithe, good and gay.

I was thinking about Cas, angel of thursday, and this poem because the Adams family has their corner of my brain. Anyways, not the point. Point it "Thursday's child has far to go" and if we apply that to Cas that's heavy... not only does he have to cover a lot of distance, flying into hell to save Dean, get him out, play errand boy for the Winchesters, but he also falls, (falls in love with Dean,) falls out of heaven's favour, into human life, into the empty like 12 times (i didn't count, i just think it'd be realistic for the show to attempt to kill Cas so frequently), was cast into purgatory, had to learn to drive... but his physical journey aside he also has a massive emotional journey and character arc. He had far to go since season 4 and yes, i'm still salty he got killed off and then post revival never got back on screen, he had a long journey, he deserved a happy ending.