#i say...while using selective all caps XD | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

themurphyzone · 4 years ago

Text

PatB Oneshot: A Whole New Life for You and Me

For the air mice nyoom’s server Secret Santa for @deez-art! Decided to gift them a fic for the wonderful Brainladdin AU cause it’s so pure and I live for found family. I decided to go with the happy ending for the movie, cause Genie’s reaction upon being freed melts me every time.

@nuttersincorporated came up with the fun idea of Wakko calling Brainladdin ‘Dad’ and Brainladdin denying it every time. I thought it was cute XD

Summary: The evil Snowballjafar has been defeated, but there's still some loose ends that need to be wrapped up. And really, there are way too many emotions going on here for Brainladdin's comfort.

AO3 Link (No FFN post cause AO3 has easier x-over system).

No power, however grandiose and terrifying, could go unchecked by the laws of the universe. Snowballjafar had forgotten there were unseen forces far greater than himself, even with phenomenal cosmic power at his fingertips.

The price to pay? Itty bitty living space inside a cramped magical lamp.

Brainladdin stared down at the black lamp that now contained his former friend turned enemy. While part of him would always remember Snowballjafar as a fellow young orphan on the streets, he also knew that this fate was karma for all of the hamster’s cruelty.

Jaspinky wouldn’t be forced into a union he didn’t want. Yakko wouldn’t be forced to hurt the people he’d come to regard as his younger siblings. Wakko and Dot wouldn’t be forced to live in an ACMEbah under Snowballjafar’s iron command.

ACMEbah was restored. Everyone was safe.

Brainladdin gave the lamp to Yakko, now back to his normal self, or as normal as could be for a wisecracking genie with a penchant for cartoonish humor.

“Allow me,” Yakko said, winking at Wakko and Dot as he zipped towards the palace balcony that overlooked the city. The kids eagerly scrambled over to the balcony to watch the proceedings.

In a flash of light, Yakko now wore a backwards blue cap, Wakko sported some strange armor that covered his chest and face, and Dot had a pink helmet with her trademark yellow flower painted on the side. Wakko and Dot grinned up at Yakko with adoring expressions, hanging off the balcony a little too eagerly for Brainladdin’s peace of mind.

“Wakko! Get off that railing at once!” Brainladdin shouted.

“Yes, Pops,” Wakko said in the universal ‘exasperated teen’ tone, which Brain suspected he’d picked up from Yakko. But Wakko planted his two feet on safe ground anyway, settling for standing on his tiptoes instead.

“I’m not—oh forget it,” Brainladdin sighed. It wasn’t worth arguing about, and he’d rather just take the defeat now instead of prolonging it.

Jaspinky giggled, his jewelry swaying gently with every movement. His blue eyes sparkled once again, a much welcomed change from the abject terror he had experienced while drowning in the sand-filled hourglass. And really, he looked much better in blue and gold than seductive red.

It was an objective fact.

Yakko held the lamp in his left arm, then wound it so fast that it resembled a blue whirlwind. “This is it, folks! The real teeth-clenching, nailbiting, game-winning swing of whatever century we’re in!”

Another magical burst, and Brainladdin found himself holding a tiny triangular flag emblazoned with Dot’s flower. Jaspinky screamed in glee, waving a giant pointing foam finger that now covered his right hand. Brainladdin rolled his eyes, but held the flag as high as he could in a silent show of support.

Dot readied her large mallet as Wakko crouched behind her, punching his fist into the palm of his hand. Yakko zipped to the other side of the balcony, then hurled the lamp towards Dot with all his might.

THWACK!

Dot’s mallet connected with the lamp and sent it soaring high into the blue sky and far beyond the walls of ACMEbah, straight into the heart of the vast desert.

“THAT’S FOR JASPINKY, MY BROTHERS, AND BRAINLADDIN CAUSE I FEEL LIKE BEING GENEROUS, YOU STUPID HAMSTER!” Dot screamed as she dashed around the balcony at high speeds, high-fiving Jaspinky’s foam finger as she passed him.

“And it’s outta here, thanks to my new sister sib! What a swing!” Yakko ruffled Dot’s hair as she threw herself at Wakko, knocking him down from his crouched position. The two laughed and embraced, laughing in joy and relief that their ordeal was really over. The duo began an odd victory dance that involved a lot of stomping both of them and rude hand gestures to the horizon on Dot’s part. “He’s looking at uhhhhhhhh…about a ten thousand year sentence in the Cave of Wonders. Without parole or bail, unless some poor shmuck decides to release him in a cashgrab sequel. But that’s a problem for another time.”

Brainladdin allowed himself a tiny smile. And Jaspinky smiled that bright, silly smile that always seemed to make Brainladdin’s chest flutter swiftly and strange, but not in a wholly unpleasant way either.

To think this entire business had started out as a way to ascend to the throne of ACMEbah. Leave poverty behind him. Get Wakko some actual food and not worry about amputated limbs courtesy of angry shopkeepers.

He hadn’t counted on falling head over heels for Jaspinky’s gentle spirit. Who wanted to marry for love and not for power or fame or wealth. Nor had he counted on striking up a genuine friendship with a powerful magical being, who had wishes of his own yet was bound to the desires of his master.

Wakko lived by the rules of the street rat like Brainladdin, but he’d found a kinship with others willing to show him the affection Brainladdin couldn’t offer him.

Dot could finally be a child, a rather clever and self-sufficient one, and now she had brothers who would watch her back from this point on.

And Brainladdin found himself back to square one. There were other methods to take over ACMEbah, but he couldn’t continue perpetrating this lie.

Jaspinky deserved someone better than him. Wakko should be taken care of by people who would provide for every physical need and show him the love he deserved. He didn’t get along with Dot, but she was protective of Jaspinky, and it was by far her most admirable trait.

Most importantly, this quest would’ve been doomed to fail from the beginning if it hadn’t been for Yakko, who supported the endeavor in his snarky, playful way, entertained with his magic, and didn’t seem to begrudge Brainladdin for not keeping his promise when he’d been blinded by power.

Really, Yakko never should’ve been locked away from the world, only to come out when someone wanted to use him.

“Pondering again, Brainladdin?” Jaspinky asked. He took off the foam finger and set it down gently, then carefully pried the flag out of Brainladdin’s hands. His fingers were warm and gentle, much like how they’d held hands on that whimsical carpet ride just a few starlit nights ago.

“Yes,” Brainladdin said softly. He swallowed the lump in his throat, then took Jaspinky’s hands in his and tried not to think about how this would be the last time he might ever see him. “And I’m sorry I lied to you about being a prince.”

Jaspinky teared up, his impossibly blue eyes reflecting the sky above. “It’s okay. I know why you did,” he whispered, like the lie was easy to forgive, just like that.

A street rat couldn’t hope to change a centuries-old law. Street rats had no power, no connections, no respect. And the Sultan-CEO wouldn’t approve of any match but the ones she selected for Jaspinky, regardless of his wishes.

“I suppose this is goodbye.” Brainladdin squeezed Jaspinky’s hands, just to prolong releasing his hands for a little longer.

“It’s not fair,” Jaspinky whimpered. “I love you.”

Brainladdin had seen those words float around in every step, every touch, every look from Jaspinky. But to hear it spoken out loud…

Well, it seemed he would be yearning for much more than power once he returned to the street.

A few teardrops splashed down from above. Yakko sniffed into a handkerchief, and Wakko and Dot stopped dancing, the reality of the situation sinking in, judging from their crestfallen expressions.

“Sorry. Never been this invested in a love story before,” Yakko said, poofing the handkerchief away as he drifted down next to Brainladdin. “But ya still got one wish left. Might as well use it. Just say the word and it’s riches, elephants, an entourage, and the whole prince shebang.”

Even after I went back on my promise to set you free? Brainladdin wanted to ask, but the words caught in his throat. You still want to offer me a chance to be with Jaspinky?

“Eh, what’s an eternity of servitude to love?” Yakko stretched casually, as if he could read Brainladdin’s thoughts. He bumped noses with Jaspinky, who smiled despite his tears. “You only come across someone like Jaspinky…well, never actually. Then again, trying to score a date can be pretty hard when you’re stuck in a lamp.”

Brainladdin cupped Jaspinky’s cheek in the palm of his hand. He wouldn’t feel his warm, luxurious fur ever again.

“Jaspinky…while I-I reciprocate your affections, I can’t fabricate an entire persona to make you…you know.” Brainladdin looked down, unable to meet Jaspinky’s tearful gaze.

“Um…” Jaspinky just sounded confused.

“He stinks at admitting he loves you even though it’s completely obvious cause he actually wants you to be happy unlike all those other rotten, no-good, stuck-up jerkwad princes!” Dot shouted.

He could’ve done without the insult, but he nodded his thanks to Dot for the translation to Jaspinky terms.

“I understand, Brainladdin,” Jaspinky murmured. He kissed the back of Brainladdin’s hand, soft lips pressing against the calloused skin. Brainladdin allowed a moment for the kiss to settle, then pulled away to take care of one last piece of business.

“Yakko, I wish for your freedom,” Brainladdin declared.

This was his chance to set things right. So that Yakko would have his freedom, never be forced to serve a cruel master again, and fully become the loving, questionably responsible brother he was meant to be.

“Right away! Vipers, monkeys, gold, coming right-” Yakko said, dusting off his gloves and cracking his knuckles. He raised his arms, then paused in surprise, the final wish not quite registering yet. “-wait, what?”

Brainladdin held the lamp up to Yakko. The forever-teenager’s powers would be his own, never subject to anyone’s whims again.

“Yakko, you’re free.”

Blue smoke poured out of the lamp as it rose out of Brainladdin’s hands, swirling around Yakko’s body as he looked on, completely speechless for probably the first time in millennia. His eyebrows drew up in shock, his arms making odd, meaningless motions as if he didn’t know what to do with his own body. Bolts of cosmic, ancient magic weaved around Yakko in indescribable colors, sparking clouds of massive energy that had never been witnessed before or ever again.

Jaspinky rested his jaw on top of Brainladdin’s head, not caring if he squished his fez. Wakko’s tongue lolled out happily, and Dot bounced up and down in sheer amazement before catching herself and settling for a joyful grin. Together they watched the golden shackles around Yakko’s wrists break and vanish into a cloud of magical sparkles.

Yakko stared at his own bare wrists, rubbing them and feeling the fur beneath his bonds, probably for the first time in his long life. He turned them in every possible direction, his mouth making movements that were heavily reminiscent of a fish out of water.

“I’m free?” Yakko asked in disbelief. He gingerly picked up his lamp by the handle, tapping it a few times in case it had any power left. But the lamp had lost its golden sheen, its exterior now a dull brown. Yakko’s chest heaved up and down rapidly. “I’m free.”

His voice was tiny, not at all full of confidence and bravado as Brainladdin had admittedly grown fond of throughout this whole ordeal.

Then he cleared his throat, thrusting the depowered lamp into Brainladdin’s arms and startling Jaspinky enough that his arms slipped off Brainladdin’s head. Jaspinky laughed it off, and Brainladdin nudged him with his foot.

“Quick! Wish for something outrageous! Wish for denial!” Yakko begged as he covered his eyes, turning away from Brainladdin. “That’s it! Denial!”

Brainladdin shrugged, but obliged anyway. “I wish for denial?”

“Psych! Like you really need me for something you’ve already got!” Yakko shouted in Brainladdin’s face, giggling uncontrollably.

Brainladdin sighed and pushed Yakko’s face away from his, but Yakko’s glee was absolutely infectious, and even he couldn’t help but smile as Yakko bounced off pillars and roofs and the ground below, reveling in his newfound freedom. Whatever Yakko planned to do, Brainladdin had no doubts that the genie would use his liberation from the lamp well.

“I’mfreeI’mfreeI’mfree—I’M FREE!” Yakko chanted the mantra over and over. He lifted Wakko and Dot onto his shoulders and nuzzled their noses, and they returned the gesture with huge smiles. Wakko leaned a little too far over for comfort as the trio celebrated in midair, but it seemed that Yakko’s magic allowed him to stay on without worrying about the laws of physics.

“You know, I’ve always wanted to see the world! You know how boring lamp interiors are? It’s good that you don’t, cause you’ll be bored if I answered that!” Yakko exclaimed as he conjured a long, blue slide that allowed Wakko and Dot to safely return to the balcony in style. Then he broke out an enormous suitcase, packing clothes, toys, and other items with a ridiculous amount of arms.

So Yakko planned to leave too. But Brainladdin tried to hang onto the joy of Yakko’s freedom for a little longer, trying not to linger on how his life always consisted of saying goodbye to anyone he met that he’d grown to…tolerate.

“Well, off to see the sights! Tahiti, China, the Galapagos, Pennsylvania, Switzer-“

Yakko paused and looked down, a bag of apples in one hand and a potted cactus in another. His mouth opened in surprise. He was watching Brainladdin.

Then Brainladdin’s vision blurred. He wiped his eyes, and his fingers came away damp. No one else had commented yet, though Jaspinky’s hand was on the small of his back, but Brainladdin said nothing. Best to ingrain the memory of Jaspinky’s soft touch in his mind while he had the chance.

Yakko wiped away a few tears of his own, his form shrinking until he was just a head taller than Wakko.

“Poit. I’ll let you have a moment,” Jaspinky whispered. Brainladdin only registered his words just as the gentle pressure vanished from his back. Dot knelt, taking Jaspinky in her cupped hands. She was silent, only giving Yakko an odd look before retreating into the palace for her own private conversation with the princess, leaving Wakko and Brainladdin alone with Yakko.

A case of déjà vu swept through Brainladdin. He and Wakko alone in the Cave of Wonders. Wakko bouncing along to a bombastic musical number, where he could have a fun childhood experience that ACMEbah refused to grant. Yakko’s excitement over simply talking to living beings.

At first, Yakko was just a means to an end. He was powerful, and it wasn’t difficult to work within the boundaries of his genie limitations. Maybe he could’ve took things more seriously, maybe he could’ve stopped jabbering for just a few seconds so Brainladdin could get a word or two in. Although Yakko had been trapped within a role, he still made everyone smile, he was protective, and he was kind.

“Hey.” Yakko tapped Brainladdin’s forehead. “You really oughta stop that brooding habit of yours.”

“I don’t brood. I ponder,” Brainladdin shot back, ridding himself of the watery veil in his eyes. Yakko provided him with a handkerchief, and Brainladdin blew his nose. The item poofed away. “Thanks, Yakko. For everything, and not just for convenient items you can create without obeying the laws of physics and other scientific fields.”

“Are you really gonna see the world?” Wakko asked, his eyes shining with wonder.

Wakko had expressed a desire to see the world many times before, but only so he could earn enough money to help Brainladdin put bread on the table. One of Brainladdin’s regrets about this elaborate plan falling through, really. Nobody, especially a child, should ever have to worry about rationing one loaf of bread and an apple to last a week.

Here was a prime opportunity for Wakko to experience the world without financial woes dragging him down from truly enjoying it, since Yakko could just create money and food as needed and serve as a somewhat responsible guardian for him.

Brainladdin didn’t ask though, but only because he didn’t know how to broach the topic. Wakko would never follow his own dream if he was constantly worried for Brainladdin, and it didn’t feel quite right to request something of Yakko so soon after his new freedom.

Yakko nodded, wiping away a stray tear from his cheek. “Well, more than what I’m seeing right now, anyway. And really, it’s no problem-o. At least you guys aren’t boring. Can’t say the same about all the other masters I’ve had.”

“I’m gonna miss you,” Wakko admitted. He held up his arms, and Yakko scooped him up in an enormous hug. Wakko flopped like a sack of potatoes, nuzzling into Yakko’s fur.

“Heh, you too, kid,” Yakko murmured. “Boy, have you been filling up on the palace’s sweetcakes or something since we started this whole thing?”

It wasn’t healthy sustenance by any means, but if Wakko was truly putting on weight, then Brainladdin saw no reason to complain.

Yakko shifted his brother so that he was secure in one arm, then set his other hand on the ground next to Brainladdin, who stepped into the offered palm. Yakko set Brainladdin on his shoulder, a gentle brush of magic preventing any accidental falls.

“Yakko…” Brainladdin could barely look him in the eye. “Though your antics could be somewhat over the top, you go about them with a certain degree of charm. And I suppose…I’ll miss you as well.”

“Awww, only somewhat over the top? Looks like I gotta up my game.” Yakko cracked a grin. Then he pushed his nose against Brainladdin’s, and while it was an odd feeling to be nuzzled on the nose, he didn’t push Yakko away either.

Wakko made an angry noise in the back of his throat.

Brainladdin shrugged. His dignity had been torn to shreds anyway. “I can learn to tolerate one more.”

And Wakko immediately closed the distance, his knee digging into Yakko’s smoky tail and somehow making him go ‘oomph’ even though there shouldn’t have been anything with substance there. Wakko’s nuzzle was somewhat rougher than Yakko’s, but it wasn’t anything Brainladdin couldn’t handle.

And this was long overdue, Brainladdin thought as he patted Wakko’s cheek. Had he ever done this while Wakko was awake and conscious to feel it? He wasn’t sure, but as Jaspinky taught him…it wasn’t too late to start.

“Who cares what anyone says? You guys are always gonna be royalty to me,” Yakko declared.

Wakko closed his eyes and almost melted right there, and Yakko had to set him down carefully since the kid’s body composition seemed to be made out of shifting sand with all the physical contact. Brainladdin carefully climbed down Yakko’s arm and tried not to tear up again at his words.

Just as Brainladdin’s feet touched the ground, there was a furious scream from the door on the far side of the room.

“The Sultan-CEO is just…AHHHHHHH!” Dot shouted as she stomped across the tiled floor and slumped against the balcony railing, her head smacking against the metal bars. Her brothers threw their arms around her instantly, and her ire diminished, though she was still wracked with tension.

Jaspinky trailed behind her, his shoulders and tail drooping, the golden band around his tail making sad tap-tap-tap noises.

Shoot. He was still crying.

“I’m sorry, Brainladdin.” Jaspinky twisted his tail between his hands. “Sultan-CEO-Mom’s still awfully mad. Some dictator from the kingdom of Dunlikus was supposed to meet with her but got caught in a whirlywind from Snowballjafar’s evil magic. She wouldn’t listen to us. But…Dot tried to convince her about you. She really did.”

“I believe you, Jaspinky,” Brainladdin quietly said as he patted Jaspinky’s back. Jaspinky sniffed once, twice, then intertwined his tail with Brainladdin’s. While Brainladdin’s tail was crooked and stiff from the amount of times he’d been roughly grabbed while stealing, Jaspinky’s was smooth and unblemished. “Did she say anything to Dot in particular?”

It was rather interesting to watch Jaspinky’s tail flow with every unrestrained emotion. Yet it also served as a reminder of their very different social statuses.

Jaspinky nodded sadly. “She said Dot doesn’t have any good ideas cause she’s just a kid who doesn’t know how the real world works. But then…neither of us have really seen the world outside the palace. The magic carpet ride was my first time, and it really was a magical wonderful memory I’ll treasure forever. But Dot-well, how do we know how the world works if we’re stuck here?”

For all his oddities, Jaspinky could ask the most profound questions.

“You won’t.”

But Jaspinky couldn’t live in the city either. Brainladdin didn’t want Jaspinky’s kindred spirit snuffed out by the cynicism and roughness of the streets.

Jaspinky winced, hurt shining in his blue eyes. Realizing his reply came out blunter than he intended, Brainladdin rubbed a circle into Jaspinky’s hand in a silent apology. Jaspinky lifted Brainladdin’s fez and planted a kiss on top of his head, then made a show of adjusting the fez.

Brainladdin took Jaspinky by the hand and led him to the siblings. He wondered how exactly he’d come to have more physical contact in the past day than what he’d given and received in years. Truth be told, it was a terrifying yet exhilarating change. But it would also be tinged with bittersweet.

After Jaspinky, he doubted he’d be able to ever touch anyone like this ever again.

“It’s okay-“ Yakko tried, hands held out to placate Dot.

“No, it’s not!”

Wakko was silent, but he was the first to spot Brainladdin and Jaspinky joining them. He gently turned Dot so that she was no longer glaring daggers into the buildings of ACMEbah. The fur around her eyes was damp with tears.

Jaspinky climbed up the skirt of Dot’s pink and white dress and perched on her shoulder, humming comfort into her ear. Dot stroked his head with her finger, and his foot kicked rapidly. She gave a tiny laugh.

Which was excellent, because Brainladdin was rather weary of all the crying. “Jaspinky explained what happened with the Sultan-CEO,” he said. “Though it didn’t have the results you wanted, we’d like to commend your effort regardless.”

“What Brainladdin said!” Jaspinky chirped. “Remember that mean ol’ Chance O’ Ler from Turkey? He was so scared of Sultan-CEO-Mom that his pants changed colors! But you didn’t even flinch in front of her!”

“Hey, how come nobody invited me to witness all this?” Yakko pouted, holding up a dramatic Greek mask with an exaggerated frown. “I would’ve drawn pictures of that moment, you know! I’m getting really good with my sketches!”

He snapped his fingers, and five large scrolls materialized, each containing a drawing of everyone in their group. Brainladdin thought it was a surprisingly accurate representation of himself…

…except his hands resembled a lump with misshapen sausages for fingers attached.

It was the most glaring flaw in all the other scrolls too.

“Are those chain-link sausages?” Wakko asked, pointing to his own sketch. Brainladdin was just glad he wasn’t the only one who thought so.

“I like them!” Jaspinky said, wiggling his own fingers.

“It was mostly proportionate. But the hands leave a lot to be desired,” Brainladdin added.

Dot only covered her mouth and ducked her head.

Yakko shrugged, the scrolls disappearing. “Private tutors and art references are hard to come by when you’re stuck in a lamp.”

Then Dot burst into laughter, Jaspinky chortling alongside her as her shoulders rapidly bounced up and down. She lightly struck the railing with her fist multiple times. There were tears again, but they came from joy rather than sadness.

“Those—ha! I can’t—Yakko, you really captured my good side…but oh my gosh-“ Dot could barely speak between breaths, a huge smile breaking out on her face.

Yakko winked at her. “Figured that would snap you outta it.”

Dot just hugged him back, and Yakko let out another ‘oomph’ as tiny yet strong arms encircled him. “Geez, what do you mice feed these kids?” he wheezed.

Jaspinky stood up, dusting his clothes off and trying a small test jump. “Zort! Brainladdin, catch me!”

A mass of fur, clothing, and narf crashed into Brainladdin, knocking him to the ground with no chance to prepare. He spat out a tassel from Jaspinky’s sleeve. The princess was way too cheerful about his impromptu belly flop.

Then Jaspinky sprang back up, helping Brainladdin to his feet as well. “Dot, I’m really happy to be your friend,” Jaspinky said. “But if Yakko doesn’t mind, I think it would be amazingly fun and wonderful if you could see the world for yourself.”

“Course I don’t mind!” Yakko exclaimed as he threw Dot into the air and caught her. “I’ll have to redo my travel itinerary, but it’ll be more fun that way! If I put Tahiti before Pennsylvania, we can go snorkeling with dolphins on a nice sunny Friday, no hold on a sec, China should be first cause it’s been way too long since I’ve had dumplings, and Greece can-“

“YAKKO, HOLD ON A SEC!” Dot shouted just as Yakko prepared to throw her again. She dangled somewhat precariously next to Yakko’s legs, but she didn’t seem to mind her position all that much.

It surprised Brainladdin that Yakko was willing to accept a new responsibility so readily, and he caught the wistful look on Wakko’s face when Yakko happily declared he’d love company on his trip, but he knew Wakko wouldn’t accept. From Dot’s forlorn expression as she glanced at Jaspinky, she wouldn’t take her chance either.

ACMEbah had a way of robbing everyone of a happy childhood. It appeared sadly common to every social class.

“I don’t take orders from anyone, not even princesses,” Dot growled. “And I’m not leaving you to the tender mercies of the Sultan-CEO or anyone who just wants a pretty face with money, Jaspinky.”

But Jaspinky shook his head. “You won’t have to worry about me though. Cause I’ll live in the city with Brainladdin and Wakko. So I won’t be alone!”

What? That is possibly the least reassuring thing you could’ve said right now, idiot!

Dot’s expression turned stormy. She was thinking along the same lines too.

“Did-did I say something wrong?” Jaspinky’s ears drooped. “I can do some good in the city. I-I never knew things were so bad. And I wanna help.”

“Put that fluff between your ears to use and think, Jaspinky!” Brainladdin snapped. Jaspinky’s mouth quivered. Brainladdin took a deep breath, mentally counting to ten before clasping Jaspinky’s hands between his own. “I…I’m sorry. For my outburst. But remind yourself of our first meeting in the marketplace. You meant well when you took the apple off the fruit stand and gave it to Wakko, but you barely understood the concepts of money and payment, and you completely froze when the shopkeeper barbarically tried to chop off your hand.”

“You saved me though,” Jaspinky said.

“Yes, but if the shopkeeper had been faster with his sword? If I was too far to help you? And your lack of a disguise was another issue. You waltzed into the marketplace with all your finery and no protection. Someone would notice eventually. The best case scenario? Your clothes and jewelry would’ve been stolen, but that’s all. And if someone chose to kidnap you for ransom or worse, the palace and royal guards would’ve been in an uproar. If that hypothetical situation came to pass, guess which group would be suspected first.”

“N-no,” Jaspinky whimpered. “I-I didn’t mean-“

“I know why you did though. You weren’t malicious, just naïve. There’s nothing to apologize for or forgive.” Brainladdin pulled Jaspinky’s head down until their cheeks touched. Jaspinky’s fur was a different sort of warm, not blistering hot like the desert sun, but more of a soft ray of light.

The princess had walked among the commoners for the same reason Brainladdin had disguised himself as a prince. Because he’d felt trapped by a societal role and just wanted to be free.

“Brainladdin?” Jaspinky’s voice was oddly distant.

“If you leave the safety of the palace—if they realize you’ve taken the lifestyle of a common street rat—they’ll hate you. Nobody will see you. But you’ll be blamed. For things you didn’t do…or just for trying to survive. And you’ll lose your good heart, Jaspinky. I can’t even protect Wakko from the consequences. But he’s already figured out some of it. So please…don’t…l-leave…”

Don’t leave the palace…don’t leave me…

Wakko’s hand rested against Brainladdin’s back. The child was always too generous for his own good. It was a quality that Brainladdin couldn’t bring himself to force Wakko to lose, as much as it was a detriment to his survival.

Brainladdin’s vision blurred, and he felt water leak out of his eyes against his will. He was going to die of dehydration at this rate. Jaspinky nuzzled his cheek, humming a meaningless tune into his ear.

The magic carpet ride had been one of the most awe-inspiring experiences of his life. Soft fabric beneath them, close quarters necessitating physical contact, a navy starlit sky above. Being weightless, being free from the worry of scavenging for scraps or taking over ACMEbah, being able to see the wonder in Jaspinky’s eyes as he touched a cloud for the first time…

They weren’t Brainladdin the street rat and Princess Jaspinky in the sky. No, there were no statuses to worry about, no pressures to conform to.

Jaspinky petting a wild horse as it galloped across the land. The stars twinkling in Jaspinky’s eyes. His excitement when he experienced something he’d never seen or done before.

Yet it would be nothing more than a wistful memory.

“They’re still trapped, you know. There’s gotta be something we can do,” a quiet voice said.

Wakko.

“Jaspinky. Brainladdin. You guys really love each other, don’t you?” Dot asked.

Brainladdin wiped his tears on his vest, not caring that it was one of the few pieces of clothing he owned. He looked up at Dot, who was seated on Yakko’s shoulders.

She’d been nothing more than an irritating obstacle when he tried to woo Jaspinky. But if it weren’t for her presence, Jaspinky likely would’ve been married to someone he didn’t love.

He really couldn’t fault her for hating the made-up Prince Brainli.

“He’s my world,” Brainladdin whispered, his voice barely audible, even to himself. He gave Jaspinky a tiny nuzzle, and Jaspinky’s tail intertwined with his own once again.

“And mine too,” Jaspinky agreed.

Dot watched them for just a moment longer. Then her back straightened, her head tilting proudly. Her foot tapped against Yakko’s chest.

“As someone who’s secretly observed the Sultan-CEO’s political meetings and learned the do’s and don’ts of palace business, I’m the most qualified one here for the position of temporary Sultan-CEO,” she declared. “Yakko. A scroll and quill, if you please.”

Yakko grinned, and the requested items appeared. “Your wish is my command.”

“Thank you,” Dot said with a firm nod.

Brainladdin glanced at Jaspinky and Wakko, but they seemed just as confused as he was. He wasn’t sure if one could just declare themselves Sultan-CEO. That wasn’t really how it worked.

“I, acting Sultan-CEO Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Third, also known as Dot, hereby decree that the Royal Marriage Law of 1175 is null and void, and from this day forth, the princess of ACMEbah shall marry whoever they deem worthy.”

The quill jotted Dot’s decree word for word on the scroll, every letter emblazoned with a golden shine.

“Now for the seal of approval!” Dot shouted.

Another flash of magic transformed Wakko into a black and white seal, the scroll was brought down to his nose level, and he gave the paper a large, slobbery lick. Then he clapped, his flippers beating together as Yakko tossed several fish fillets into his mouth.

Then the scroll disappeared, and Wakko transformed back, white bits of fish still coating his mouth.

“This new decree is non-negotiable and binding,” Yakko said. “And I’ve also taken the liberty of framing, enlarging, and sticking it in a palace hallway our dear power-hungry Sultan-CEO frequents. She won’t be able to remove it no matter how hard she tries.”

As if on cue, there was a distant horrified scream that practically blew one of the domed roofs of the palace off.

What just happened? She can really do that?

Jaspinky squealed in glee, right next to Brainladdin’s ear. He barely had time to rub the sensitive hairs before Jaspinky lifted him into the air and spun him around so fast that he saw more stars than the sun in broad daylight. And they were absolutely beautiful.

“I choose you, Brainladdin!” Jaspinky exclaimed. His laughter was like a melody, Brainladdin losing himself in the music, and he was probably grinning like a fool too but he no longer cared about that because he could be with Jaspinky, and there was an entire world for them and them alone!

Brainladdin clung to Jaspinky’s shoulders, steadying himself as Jaspinky set him down again. He brushed Pinky’s jewelry out of the way, and Jaspinky pressed his forehead against his own.

“Call me Brain,” Brainladdin murmured, and he held Jaspinky close.

They were no longer trapped. They were free. They could be together.

His heart quickened, and it was an exhilarating feeling indeed.

“Alright, everyone into the group hug!” Yakko shouted, and a giant hand scooped them up. Brainladdin was instantly sandwiched between Jaspinky and Wakko, Dot squeezing herself into the crook of Yakko’s arm on Jaspinky’s opposite side. It was getting hard to breathe, but he couldn’t tell if that was from the force of Yakko’s hug or a side effect of the emotionally charged atmosphere. “Now that we’re all done baring our souls.”

“Thank you, Dot!” Jaspinky exclaimed, hugging the girl’s cheek. “Thankyousomuch! And now that I’ve got Brainladdin staying with me, you should go with Yakko! No ifs or buts, young lady!”

Dot smirked. “You just wanna get rid of me so you can do stuff with Brainladdin.” There was something sneaky in her voice that Brainladdin heavily disliked. “But I’ll gladly take this vacation.”

“I could never get rid of you, Dot! You’re my best handmaiden!” Jaspinky protested.

“Simmer, Jaspinky,” Brainladdin said, and the princess relaxed. “She’s only teasing. That being said, I highly detest her tone.”

He gave Dot a pointed glare, and she casually placed her elbow against Yakko’s arm. “You’re not a complete jerk, but if I were as bigheaded as you, I’d avoid most of the rooms on the southern side. I still haven’t disabled the booby trapped perfume bottles that spray catfish guts yet. You’ll be mostly safe on the east side though.”

“And you’re not a complete brat. Just an annoyingly clever one,” he muttered.

Dot looked all too pleased with herself.

At least he’d finally confirmed who rigged that perfume bottle on his second night as Prince Brainli in the palace.

“Perfect!” Yakko exclaimed, and confetti showered down on everyone. “So any particular places in mind? A change of scenery would do you some good!”

“Burbank. Machu Picchu. Rome,” Dot said. “I’ll come up with more later. You got any ideas, Wakko?”

Wakko shook his head, only staring at the ground far below them.

“Wakko? Wakster? Wakaroo?” Yakko frowned, gently shaking Wakko, who only went limp. “C’mon, we know you’ve got places you wanna visit. Mostly for the exotic food, right?”

“Sorry. I’d love to go, but-“ Wakko’s face fell.

This wasn’t like before, where Brainladdin refused to let Wakko venture outside ACMEbah. Now neither of them would be alone in this world.

“Look at me, Wakko.” Brainladdin held onto one of Wakko’s fingers with both hands, and the boy obeyed. “As the soon-to-be ruler of ACMEbah, I will be living in the palace with Jaspinky. There’s no more need for concern. And you have a somewhat responsible brother and an irritatingly capable sister who will always have your back. Your new objective is to explore the world for yourself, and if you try to send money back or work yourself to the bone, I shall have to ground you.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Wakko snatched him up for an enormous hug. Brainladdin gasped for air, fairly certain one lung was punctured and his left kidney had been knocked out of place from the tight squeeze.

“Oxygen!” he wheezed. Wakko relented and returned him to Jaspinky, who was more of a white and blue blur than a mouse right now.

“Faboo, Dad!” Wakko exclaimed, much to Yakko and Dot’s joy.

“Yes, faboo indeed,” Brainladdin muttered, a dizzy spell from the lack of oxygen overtaking him. He slumped against Jaspinky. “I expect a letter every night, Wakko.”

If Wakko replied, his voice was lost in Yakko and Dot’s chatter over their travel plans. Brainladdin and Jaspinky were deposited on the balcony, Brainladdin finally recovering his vision so he could see the siblings off.

“Bye-bye! Bring back souvenirs! Troz!” Jaspinky shouted, his jewelry jingling as he waved goodbye to the siblings.

“Farewell for now,” Brainladdin said, crossing his arms over his chest. Best to act like he was ruling ACMEbah after all. He tried not to squeeze too tightly, if only to stop the slight ache in his chest from all this emotional nonsense.

“You heard them! Let’s blow this popsicle stand!” Yakko shouted, and he shot into the sky like a firework with Wakko and Dot in his arms. The two screamed in delight, their laughter echoing off the buildings of ACMEbah. “Let’s give the lovebirds some space!”

“We’re history!” Dot yelled.

“We’re mythology!” Wakko added.

“I DON’T CARE WHAT WE ARE! WE’RE FREE!”

In a shower of magic, they shot across the sky and were gone, off to tour the world to celebrate their new lives.

Jaspinky waved to the sky for a moment longer, then turned to Brainladdin, that stupid, silly, wonderful smile on his face. “I’ve got sweetcakes and tea in the kitchen. Do you want any?”

Brainladdin rolled his eyes. “Don’t ask stupid questions, Jaspinky.”

They headed to the kitchen, walking hand-in-hand, never to be separated again.

o-o-o-o-o

Colorful fireworks burst around them, lighting up the night sky in flares of red and green and blue. The stars shone from above, the earth and all its worries far beneath them. A breeze tugged them along, the magic carpet pulling this way and that with no clear destination in mind. But they didn’t need one.

Whichever way the winds blow, as they say.

“Look, Brainladdin! Another letter!” Jaspinky pointed to a paper drifting towards them, protected by a cloud of Yakko’s magic. He leaned over the side in his excitement to grab it out of the air. Brainladdin kept hold of Jaspinky’s tail just in case, though the magic carpet was sentient enough to lift that side up to prevent accidental falls. The letter floated into Pinky’s hand, and he scrambled back to Brainladdin, showing off the letter proudly. “It’s a J! Wakko’s very good with oregano. I wish he’d teach me!”

He really should’ve been more clear with his expectations for Wakko.

“That’s a Y, Jaspinky. And oregano is a spice. This is the paper craft known as origami.” Brainladdin tucked the Y inside the folds of his royal robe for safekeeping. It would go nicely with the W and D that were already on his nightstand.

“Oh. Well then, it’s a very nice Y!”

“Yes, it’s constructed well.”

Another firework flared, and Jaspinky oohed and awwed at the wondrous sight, his eyes ever an innocent, pretty blue. He’d picked a new outfit for tonight: a purple crop top with matching pants and headband, a see through, puffy material that framed his bare shoulders wonderfully, and golden earrings.

The fireworks paled in comparison.

Jaspinky gasped in awe. “Look, Brainladdin! A shooting star! What’d you wish for?”

Brainladdin glanced at the canopy above, where a meteor shower zipped through the upper atmosphere. “You first.”

“Narf! Alright. I wished for a world where we can all be happy! Your turn!”

Sentimental, yet thoughtful. Of course.

“I wish…for our lives to be fulfilling.”

Jaspinky smiled. “Looks like our wishes came true then.”

“An astute observation,” Brainladdin said.

Jaspinky kissed him, and warmth flooded through Brainladdin’s body. They soared into the starry horizon, the full moon shining from afar. A new world awaited them.

AN: This…uh…this is way longer than I intended it to be. I hope you enjoyed this story. This is my first time writing the Warner siblings, so I combined some of the posts Deez-art made about this AU for my characterization of them. I apologize if they were out of character, but I did have fun with them. Especially Dot. For some reason her dialogue is just fun to write.

Also, Brain angsts too easily. That’s why this story is almost 7000 words.

Some of the dialogue comes directly from the 1992 Aladdin movie.

I HAVE LISTENED TO A WHOLE NEW WORLD HOW MANY TIMES FOR THIS STORY. THIS ISN’T THE FIRST TIME I’VE DONE THIS EITHER. I NEED NEW LOVE SONGS.

As for why this story is published on AO3 instead of FFN, it’s just easier to tag this sort of thing there.

#pinky and the brain #brinky #brainladdin au #patb fanfiction

62 notes · View notes

xbaebsae · 4 years ago

Note

Rain for the wip game? 👀👀👀

Thank you Brenda!! ♥ It's a Rheese x Jake wip from one of the forced-pre-relationship-bonding-situation chapters I self indulgently really enjoy writing xD

The whole wip is 7 pages long so I just chose a snippet of it here :) The story is basically that Jake forced Rheese along to some really boring patrols (his way of saying i like you i guess, genius) so her mood's in the basement. It's also raining. When she finally thinks the day is over and they sit in his truck on the way back to Stone Ridge it breaks down and they eventually break into an old retired fishing store shack.

If we hadn’t been thoroughly soaked before, we sure were once we arrived at the old abandoned shop he’d had in mind. It was a small building next to the main road and I finally knew where we were. Still in the Henbane region and at least 2 hours of foot march to Stone Ridge. “Been a while since I broke in somewhere”, he said after checking the barred doors and windows. “You used to do it regularly?” Acting like nothing happened felt awkward to me, but I didn't want to cause another argument. For one I was tired, my body exhausted from walking all day, and secondly god knows I couldn't take another tense moment like the one just minutes ago. “Here and there.” An adventurous shimmer in his eyes, he gave me a sincere smile that caught me off guard in the shine of my flashlight. With little effort he tossed a couple of planks aside, kicked in the backdoor and entered. God knows why I hesitated to step inside after him, maybe it was because I never broke in somewhere before and this little fact only added to my already fucked up situation. "Ya lookin like a stray wet cat now, Shorty. Gonna embrace it or are ya gonna come inside?" Rolling my eyes and wondering if he'd ever stop with the damn cat analogies if I ignored them, I stepped through the doorframe into the dry sanctuary which didn't belong to us.

The inside was far from comfy, most of the shelves were empty, only a few leftover bottles sat in the shut down fridge behind the counter. “Got some beer here, if you want? Really over its date though”, I yelled. “I take one, beer doesn’t really turn bad.” He barricaded the door from the inside with one of the shelves, finally muffling the sound of the storm outside. “Doesn’t it lose its taste though?” I could really do with one myself but figured he could try it first, it was the least he could do. “One way to find out.” He opened a bottle with his combat knife, downed a lot of it and crunched his nose as he cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand. “Lacks a bit of carbon but it’ll do.” Still skeptical, I settled on some cola instead and wished there was anything hot to drink here or at least a bottle of whiskey or other strong stuff to warm me up and to make my company more bearable. Unfortunately those were the only leftover drinks. “Shithole’s gotta have heating somewhere. Go check if there’s some dry clothes lying around. Place used to be a fishing supply shack so maybe we’re in luck.” “What’s your size?” He shrugged. “Anything you could wear as a nightgown, I guess.” I didn’t know why that flustered me but the implication that I’d wear his clothes as nightwear had something very intimate about it and I wasn’t sure how to feel. He didn't picture that possibility himself I hoped.

While Jacob checked out the adjacent staff room, I browsed the shelves for clothes. Rubber boots on mass along with baseball caps but nothing that resembled pants. On the far back wall was a aisle full of t-shirts reading all kinds of dumb fishing slogans. A couple of harmless ones were only left in kid sizes and the sparse selection of adult ones were all stupid sex jokes. “I didn’t know fishing was this sexual”, I looked through the rows of shirts searching for larger sizes. “Wha?”, came from the other room and I decided that all of these were too embarrassing to hand to him. I didn't want him to think I implied something when handing him a shirt playing on 'rod' sizes. “Come here and pick one yourself!”

With crossed arms his eyes wandered over the assortment and I could see him having a harder and harder time to supress a dumb smile. “Fishin’ really gets ya the chicks these days, huh?” “Personally, I’d run away from someone wearing a shirt saying ‘Mine’s so big I need to hands’!”, I stated dryly and he finally let out the chuckle he’d tried to avoid so desperately. “Could see John wearin’ that.” “Oh come on, the way you keep looking back at it, you’d love to aswell!” His eyes lit up playfully when I joined in with a sincere smile. “Ya already know it though, so what’s the point?”, the suggestive undertone in his voice embarrassed me and I was thankful we were standing in the dark so he wouldn’t notice my face turning red. “No… I don’t know that! It’s not my fault I end up touching that ...thing when you can’t control your damn boners!”, I rambled uncontrollably, making him laugh out loud and lean over for a second just to push me with his elbow. “You’re too easy, Shorty!” “I’m not!” My protest didn’t even convince me and after a short moment of silence I let out a long sigh. “Think we only get two options here. Rest looks a bit small, not that I’d mind you taking one of those kids shirts-”, he teased while collecting the two biggest shirts. “I think I’ll pass, thanks!”

#wip stuff #thank you ♥

4 notes · View notes

snkpolls · 5 years ago

Text

SnK Chapter 127 Poll Results

The chapter 127 poll closed with 1,993 responses. This month’s poll results were compiled by /u/alooulla, Crunchwrap, Giovata, @momtaku, @shifter-lines and /u/staraves.

Thank you, as always, for your support!

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,888 responses

It’s time to get back on the hype train, y’all! Chapter 127 was a vast improvement over last month’s reception with close to 90% of respondents viewing it favorably. By way of comparison, with chapter 126, that number was only 55%.

Fixed everything I didn't like about 126

This chapter was top quality. Jean and Yelena were great this chapter. Loved Reiner and Annie helping each other. But please Isayama stop torturing Reiner :(

Amazing and I agree with Hange completely

Wow, such an awesome chapter! It's been a while since a chapter like this has made me put my thinking cap to analyze the scenes in more detail and come up with theories regarding what's coming next!

Are there any words sweeter than "Save the world"?

Calm before the Storm in the SNK fashion

Finally Kiyomi! And some talk between the parts. Seeing the dead SC veterans made me cry a lot. I still care about them so much

I still don't like that the SC are just up and going forces with the Warriors, who are nothing more than unforgivable monsters, BUT I can admit the execution this month was much better.

Pretty damn tasty this month, not gonna lie. Hope to see more of that Floch in next month's dish, chef Isayama is a genius.

Guess you could say Gabi haters got a "kick" out of this month

Hahaha

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 1,938 responses

Hello JeanMarco fandom? Are you there? This is the fandom of 2020 telling you it’s time to come back to the series if only for a month.

It’s been 84 years but Jean finally learning the dark truth of Marco’s death topped our list of favorite moments with over one-third of the fandom selecting it (35.7%). “Yelena the shit stirrer” was second with 20.6%.This Jean-focused chapter netted Jean the third and fourth favorite spot as well. “Jean and Magath’s argument” and “Jean’s idealistic daydream” tied for third with 7.9% each.

"Erwin being implied to not support the rumbling" I wanted to choose this as one of my favorite scenes along with Hange's "I don't support genocide" <3

The biggest highlight of the chapter definitely has to be Jean punching Reiner upon learning that the latter was responsible for Marco's death. Ever since the truth about Marco's death was revealed a while back, I was awaiting the scene of Jean learning the truth about Marco's death and how he would react towards Reiner regarding it

Why is nobody talking about Yelena and Pieck pleaseeeee

I didn’t think it was possible to love Jean more than I already did but this chapter proved me wrong. I was so glad he finally learned what happened to Marco and at least got that closure.

Loved Yelena messing with everyone's emotions and calling out the truths that nobody wanted to recognize

Jean punching Reiner was my favorite moment of the chapter. Finally that evil fuck is getting what he deserves for what he's done.

The only people Yelena didn’t drag were Pieck and Falco. She has good taste.

Hange acknowledging their failure to stop Eren from getting to this point is 👌👌👌

Jean's and Magath's debate gave the vibes of 'what's older, the chicken or the egg' and I'm living for it lol

I actually found Jean’s dream sequence to be a little unsettling, maybe because of Isayama’s style of not drawing certain facial features clearly, like the eyes. It was almost more foreboding to me than sweet, peaceful, or nice to see.

My favorite moment was the reaction shot where Mikasa was going to charge Annie and everyone is freaking out but the last panel is Levi just sleeping.

I seriously want to see Mikasa vs Annie XD

Jean complementing Hanjis stew is the best moment in the manga

WHO WAS THIS CHAPTER’S MVP? 1,938 responses

With Jean receiving the bulk of the focus and development it’s not a huge surprise that Jean (66.2%) was the landslide winner for chapter MVP, with Yelena (9.9%) as a distant, and we mean distant, second. What is a surprise is that Hange’s culinary creation (9.7%) beat out Hange themself (8.9%) for the number 3 spot.

STAN JEAN KIRSTEIN

yelena best girl 😔💕

I already knew that Hange was a queen, but I'm genuinely surprised with Annie too. While the first made a big part of the fandom shut up (genocide is never justifiable) the second one admitted her crimes and understood Mikasa better than anyone.

I love the chapter. It was satisfying to see Jean find out the truth to Marcos death.

I loved how Jean got focus and how he called everyone out on their bullshit.

Mikasa being a badass again. My girl<3

Hange’s stew!!!!

I love the chapter. It was satisfying to see Jean find out the truth to Marcos death.

I loved how Jean got focus and how he called everyone out on their bullshit.

Awesome, go Hanji ! And Levi ! Though he didn't do anything.

I just want some of Hanji's stew

DO YOU THINK THE GIRL IN JEAN’S DAYDREAM WAS MIKASA? 1,943 responses

Was it Mikasa? Was it a girl with exactly the same hairstyle and scar who just happens to look like an older version of her? Most fans seem to think it was very clearly intended to be Mikasa with solid numbers. Or at the very least, considering the eyes were hidden (a common manga trope to confuse identities), proof that Jean has a definite type.

That woman in Jean's fantasy is very clearly Mikasa, you can even see the scar in one of the panels lol

I can't believe there are people denying it was Mikasa in jean's dream. What the actual fuck?

I think it isn't exactly Mikasa, but Jean *does* have a type and Mikasa heavily influenced it by being his big crush back when all his hormones were firing at 200%.

WHICH STATEMENT DO YOU MOST AGREE WITH REGARDING HANGE’S ANSWER TO JEAN ABOUT GENOCIDE BEING INHERENTLY WRONG? 1,939 responses

Nearly half of respondents (45.1%) agree with Hange that genocide is non-negotiably wrong. However, those that said in certain circumstances it is perhaps unavoidable if one’s enemies are intent upon it (16.6%) or it truly is the last resort (29.9%), responded in numbers too large to be dismissed. Those that claimed it was unabashedly a good thing, lag behind (8.5%). The results of this question would seem to indicate that even the fans that support Eren’s actions are doing so, for the most part, reluctantly; because that's the only way they see Paradis surviving.

Hanji’s rejection of genocide in no uncertain terms—I’ve been waiting for that! I want to frame that panel on my wall!

Finally people are arguing against Eren's crazy ideas. Expected more from Hange's and Jean's points tho, they have the capacity to be more eloquent

Jean is so close to noticing that the rumbling is best for him…

Kinda disappointing to see the group take such a simplistic take on the Rumbling.

Hange wants paradis to die on the moral high ground

Hating on Hange puzzles me, I understand people who support the rumbling, but saying she is bad for wanting to stop the killing of billions is just frustrating to me.

I'm tired of negativity flowing from fanbase. Everyone would like to see genocide; blood and rotten bodies of innocent people, but even Eren doesn't want that!

Genocide is morally and ethically wrong as hanje said which I agree with. What I don't agree with is her acceptance that once eren dies the eldians on paradis are gonna genocide within a few years. That fact that she hadn't thought of anyway to get around this is disappointing.

If it was Isayama’s Intention to make me feel bad for the rest of the world, he should have focused on it for a larger portion of the story cause honestly, they all can burn in hell for all I care. Innocent or not.

HANGE’S CLAIM THAT NONE OF THE DEAD SURVEY CORPS MEMBERS WOULD SUPPORT A RUMBLING WAS FOCUSED ON ERWIN. WHAT DO YOU THINK? 1,938 responses

This poll team member, staring at the camera like Jim from The Office. While Hange has been proven to be a trustworthy character, one with 11/10 intelligence and someone who knew and worked with Erwin on the daily for years and years, and certainly knew him better than anyone aside from Levi, only a third of respondents (36.7%) trust Hange’s judgement on this.

Hanji is right y'all are just dumb

I love how when Isayama wants us to agree with a character he pulls out the Erwin card

I love that years later, Erwin has still not been forgotten.

Erwin would never support a full rumbling to genocide the entire world, and it saddens me that anyone would think otherwise.

We aren’t bad people for supporting Eren. Don’t let the Erwin stans throw hate at us. Erwin would have protected his home too.

WHICH DEAD CHARACTERS DO YOU THINK WOULD SUPPORT THE RUMBLING? 1,783 responses

Kruger (58.3%), Kenny (57.4%) and Zackly (43.9%) top the list of characters we think would support the rumbling. Despite Hange’s confident declaration that no one in the Survey Corps would be so small minded, many disagreed choosing Ymir (31.3%) and Erwin (31%) as characters they think would support the Rumbling.

WHO WON THE DEBATE BETWEEN JEAN AND MAGATH? 1,930 responses

This was definitely a Jean chapter, am I right? At 48.8 percent, Jean definitely won the debate according to most fans. In fact, poor Magath didn’t even get a result worth mentioning; ‘neither’ or ‘Hange’ both got reasonable responses, but this was unarguably a slapdown for Jeanbo!

Jean slapped Magath. Bonus points for including that they were totally ignorant even after the walls were attacked.

Magath's replies to Jean are weak. I believe I can do better than him on countering Jean's points.

Idk when they'll get that it doesn't matter how much they hate each other or who started it.

Magath sucks. "Your people did shitty things to us" stops being an excuse when you do things that are just as bad if not worse than what happened before.

This chapter just showed how fake magath is man wow

The argument felt a little? biased towards the paradis folk? i wasn't too bothered by it, but hey, if jean was going to get to punch reiner then reiner deserved to punch someone for bert too.

The argument of "Who is the real bad guy" was a circular "You're the bad guys!" "No u!" "NO U!" -- but by the end of the chapter, all of the arguing characters put aside their differences as they ~left the forest~

Everyone: *kids fighting*

Hange: *bass boosted* WOULD ANYONE LIKE SOME STEW

ANNIE QUESTIONS WHETHER OR NOT MIKASA COULD KILL EREN. DO YOU THINK MIKASA COULD EVER BRING HERSELF TO KILL EREN? 1,935 responses

Early in the chapter, Mikasa surprises Hange and Jean by stating without hesitation that she will help stop Eren, but when Annie forces her to confront how far she is willing to go, she is clearly reluctant to take extreme measures. Almost half of the respondents (49.1%) believe that this is something Mikasa will never be able to do, with a decently close remainder of respondents saying either yes, she could bring herself to do it (29.1%), or opting not to decide (21.8%).

I don't see Mikasa killing Eren but i ALSO also don't see her doing nothing about it. It's complicated

If she met Eren in her present state, she wouldn't be able to kill him. Perhaps if something else happens between now and then to really strengthen her stance, she could.

I literally have no idea but i have a feeling she will confront him either way

I think she will struggle first, but after she will gain the conviction to do it.

I think she'd be willing to kill him if he showed to be willing to kill the scouts.

Lol at Mikasa learning how to think independently of Eren

She probably won't be able to do it regardless of her conviction because of the Ackerbond, unless Eren allows her to.

Killing eren is kind of extreme isn't it?

She will join Eren!

IF MIKASA CONFRONTS EREN, WHAT OUTCOME DO YOU EXPECT? 1,907 responses

This one was all over the place! Proof if proof were needed of how impossible this particular subject is to predict right now; Mikasa’s strong feelings for Eren haven’t faded even though she has consistently demonstrated an opposition to his goals, and the poor girl is being torn to pieces. However, those that think Mikasa will ultimately be unable to bring herself to stop him if it means killing him are in the majority here. It’s still anyone’s bet though.

I dont think they can talk him out of it, but im not sure if killing him even stops the rumbling, hence i am not sure what to expect from this.

If Annie would turn out to be right with her suspection that Mikasa could turn her back to the alliance?

Mikasa is going to k-word Eren, isn't she? All the focus on her plus the uncomfortable question. Oh dear. Please no Isayama.

I feel like if Mikasa did end up killing Eren, she'd be even more hated than Gabi for killing Sasha.

Eren will accept his death . And itll be a suicide by forcing Mikasa and armin to kill him.

Eren will die because of the immense power his titan needs, Mikasa will be there to say "Farewell, Eren"

Armin will be the one who will finally take Eren down.

Armin and Mikasa try to talk, Armin die, Mikasa have no choice but try to kill Eren. Don't know if she succeed.

Armin is going to die with Eren while they look at the sunrise over the ocean

I don't think he will need to be killed. I believe that Eren will take all his squad to the paths and then they will talk. Eren will finally tell them everything. If he is going to destroy the world, Mikasa most likely will finish him off.

Eren won't be stopped

He'll confide in her and somehow convince her that he's in the right

Her and/or Armin's death(s) would be the only thing to stop Eren

If Mikasa comes into contact with Eren, she will confess her love for him because that's what she was last seen thinking about. If she couldn't do it before, better late than never.

It will be a group effort to finish him off

Mikasa will be killed (likely accidentally by Eren) in the process of trying to talk him around. Ironically, it will be this which finally causes him to question his current course of action.

Maybe she will kill Eren but it will destroy her

She'll let someone else do it. Maybe Jean?

She's probably just gonna scream "Ereh" all over again

Mikasa and Armin will confront Eren, no one will win but no one will die

No one will kill Eren because he's killing himself

IF ANNIE AND MIKASA WERE TO FIGHT NOW, WHO WOULD WIN? 1,932 responses

In this writer's opinion, I always bet on Annie winning their original first fight even though I was (and am) a massive Mikasa fan. Now though, I definitely agree with the majority of those who answered this question. That first fight might be debatable but this second one wouldn’t even be a contest. Mikasa has just had years more of training and growth, and we don’t even know if being in the crystal for so long has left Annie weakened in any way. 63% of respondents think this is Mikasa’s fight to win.

Hope mikasa mikasa fight annie it will be sweet

MAGATH WAS NOT SURPRISED TO DISCOVER THAT KIYOMI WAS WORKING BEHIND MARLEY’S BACK. WHO DO YOU THINK KIYOMI IS TRULY WORKING FOR? 1,917 responses

Close to 74% of those who took the poll this month are still not convinced of Kiyomi being particularly loyal to anybody but herself. Is this a case of reading a book by its cover too soon? Or is she genuinely as snakelike as she appears to be? Just remember that people can still have the capacity to do good whilst putting their own interests first. Unfortunately the opposite is equally true.

She's double agenting everyone, like an arms dealer in a war. She sells to both sides and loses nothing in return

Her nation. She's putting her nations interests first.

She is loyal to Mikasa primarily for selfish reasons, but the rumbling threatens her home too, so she'll probably support Hange and co now.

Plot twist: the Yeagerists have been Kiyomi's pawns, in the next chapter Kiyomi will throw Floch and the Yeagerists under the bus AND pretends she is indeed a hostage.

Kiyomi is working for herself even not for Hizuru and she will double cross everyone

Kiyomi/Kruger/Willy 4D chess conspiracy ftw

I have no idea who's side she's on at this point.

Not conspiring with the Jaegerists but with Zeke and the euthenasia plan.

I have thin hopes she might be working with Eren and Historia who convinced her to join their side.

She lusts for the blue rock

THE PLANE’S FUEL CAPACITY IS MENTIONED AS A LIMITING FACTOR IN FINDING EREN. WHERE DO YOU THINK EREN IS? 1,912 responses

Eren didn’t enable infinite fuel in the PATHS console, and now everyone else has to deal with it. 40.3% of you think Eren has already left for the continent, 36.3% think he’s still on Paradis in his Founding Titan, 16.8% think he’s hiding somewhere in human form, and that leaves 6.6% who think he’s already reached the continent. Does anyone know the MPG on iceburst stone?

I'm going to be honest, I genuinely thought the plane was an aborted arc.

I find it funny that everyone is very concerned with catching up with Eren, even though they have no idea where he is, and have completely forgotten about Zeke. How do they know he's not lying in some rubble somewhere?

I just thought the plane idea was kinda....lame? I don’t know it just felt weird to me.

I can't stop picturing all the Wall Titans holding onto Eren's ribs for dear life as he crosses the ocean because they underestimated how deep it was.

YELENA MENTIONS THE APPEAL OF “SAVING THE WORLD” AS A MOTIVATION. DO YOU THINK SHE JOINED ZEKE PRIMARILY FOR HIS VISION OR WAS THERE ANOTHER FACTOR? 1,910 responses

Nearly a quarter of you said that Yelena served Zeke to further his cause, 20.2% of you said that she did it because she was just really thirsty for Zeke, and 13.2% of you said that it has nothing to do with Zeke, and that she was just looking for fun and fame—in other words, SASUGA, PIECK! The fairly overbearing majority of you though, at 42.1%, said that it was some combination of all of the above answers.

I think Yelena's motivations for following Zeke are partly spiritual. She mentions his titan being godlike, and follows Zeke around like a disciple.

I was quite shocked to learn that Yelena was an average Marleyan herself who just made everything up about her coming from an annexed Marleyan nation and being saved by Zeke in some way.

YELENA BRINGS UP THE MORE RECENT CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE WARRIORS AND THE 104TH. IS THERE AN EQUIVALENCE OR IS ONE SIDE MORE AT FAULT? 1,901 responses

This question had an interesting response, because it was expectedly divided, but not in the way one might have guessed. 34.9% of you said it’s irrelevant whose crimes are greater, 34.1% said that it’s about equal, 30.2% said that the Warriors are most at fault, and only 0.8% of respondents said that the 104th were most at fault. When we see talk of blame, or right and wrong, we normally see a very even split—especially when it comes to Eren, so this is an interesting outcome!

It’s so brilliant on the way it shows war’s true face ... don’t have winners, don’t have losers, it doesn’t matter who started or who finished it, we are fighting each other and for whom? for those who died 2000 years ago? people are just sickening. this chapter showed a lot of that with Yelena’s speech

Fuck Marley, but the sc doesn't have the higher moral ground on the warriors.

They should stop choosing between evils and start forgiving, never forgetting, but forgiving so they all can live together when it all ends one way or the other.

ZOOK YOOGER APPROVES!

JEAN THANKS YELENA FOR HELPING THEM GET ALONG. WAS THAT HER INTENTION? 1,889 responses

A clean 31% of you think that Yelena was “just taking the piss”, by bringing up everybody’s past, and I had to google what that British (Australian?) nonsense means, but hey, you learn something new every day. Following just behind that at 30.7%, you guys said that she wanted to create more conflict for an unspecified reason. 27.6% of you said that she was just venting frustrations, while only 10.7% thought she actually wanted to help Zeke, and bring everyone together to stop Eren.

Looking forward to seeing Yelena roasting everyone in season 4.

Someone should beat magath for being an ass and yelena for being so edgy

WAS JEAN JUSTIFIED IN ATTACKING REINER LIKE THAT? 1,894 responses

Almost three quarters of people thought Jean was justified in giving Reiner a walloping, largely for killing Marco (36.7%), but also to knock sense into Reiner (21.6%). 15.6% thought it was justified but that Jean took it too far, and a fraction fewer (15.2%) thought both guys have been justified in their actions. Just 6% thought the beating wasn’t justified at all, as we readers are well aware of Reiner’s feelings of guilt already. If you expected the sufferboi saga to end any time soon, don’t hold your breath…

I wouldn't say Reiner deserved it, but Jean is definitely justified for it. I don't blame Jean since the guy who killed his "best" friend was sitting right in front of him.

Uuuh YES? Is that even a question? Imagine someone killing your best friend and then calmly talking about it like telling a story.

His feelings are justified, his actions aren't.

Nobody fucking reacts over Yelena stating "Armin stole Bert's power", and instead we're just getting wank over a plot device from 2013: I named Marco.

Yes, but Annie deserved a beating too.

It makes no difference, they both are wrong and bad guys right now

We the audience know Reiner's entire backstory but Jean does not, hence why we feel more sympathy for Reiner than Jean does to him.

No reaction to Bert being eaten by Armin and Porco's already forgotten when he literally died the day before, but more Marco angst? Alright then.

I'd say neither is truly 'justified', but it was an emotional purging they both needed. Jean for his anger over what and who Reiner's taken from him, and Reiner getting what he feels he must receive for what he's done.

He should've killed him

Leave Reiner alone already. He suffered enough. He understands his mistakes. He doesn't need to be punched anymore.

Reiner deserved it, but by now its been too long so it feels out of place.

It's understandable. Jean's hit his breaking point. Reiner I love you but please stop trying to provoke people into causing you bodily harm.

Jean should've hit him harder. And Reiner wanted to be hit cause he knows it himself that he deserves it. Give the boy what he wants 💅

Reiner needs a damn hug goddamnit.

Yes. Revenge is always justifiable

Pretty sure reiner liked it either way

Honestly, when Jean hit Reiner, I felt good. I think that Reiner and Jean will have a better friendship and I'm looking forward to that.

I really don't know.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MAGATH STOPPING HIMSELF FROM EXTENDING A HAND TO GABI? 1,886 responses

Magath is a complicated fellow isn’t he? He seems to treat Eldians better than most but has trouble getting over his own prejudices regarding them. Most of you seem to think it was character progression (56%) that he reached out to help Gabi in that moment as a man, instead of as her commanding officer. We shall have to see if Magath’s attitude continues to soften, and if so, could it potentially be a microcosm of the world’s attitude to Eldians in general?

Magath begins to have a real compassion for warriors, especially towards Gabi (already in one of the previous chapters, he had given her a hug).

Foreshadowing, he'll die for her. 100% sure.

Gabi apologized to the Devils, she asked them for help. Magath realized that Gabi is not a brainwashed fanatical degenerate anymore, even she is not on his side.

Good question. It seemed like he only know started to realize that Eldians are people with feelings, fears and hopes too, but didn't know how to interact or if he was even allowed to show that concern after all that time.

He doesn't know how to react to this because Hange's words from earlier struck him deeply.

He fill asham that she act more like an adult than him

He finally starts understanding he was being an ass. Better late than never!

He is not sure how to comfort her. The situation is a tough one.

He realises now that he needs to provide the better future for these young Eldians thus being the guy that will free the Eldians from the discrimination.

He realized that he cares about Eldians a lot and he doesn't see difference between them and other people.

He realizes that he’s one of the reasons why a kid like gabi is suffering and feels like he doesnt have the right to comfort her

He wants to help the warriors but feels guilt about all the pain he caused them

He's a bitch realizing it's kinda his fault

He's only shown to care for Gabi tbh. We've seen him humiliate all the kids over and over even when they were trying to help and give suggestions, so I don't accept it as development and much less as "caring for Eldians".

I really dont know wtf was happening in these panels

When not arguing with Jean, Magath was flabbergasted all the time about Eldians being more human instead of devils he thought them to be, so idk, this reaction kind of goes hand in hand with all that. He's kind of realising they're human as well and he's afraid of feeling compassion for them.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT JEAN'S TREATMENT OF GABI AFTER THE ACCIDENTAL KICK? 1,905 responses

66.6% agreed that Jean’s softer treatment of Gabi was the cutest shit they’d ever seen, or close to it. 23.5% were neutral on the matter, and a small proportion (4.6%) didn’t really care for it. Then there’s that little bump in 1 voters (5.4%), from those who didn’t like to see any kind of positive treatment of Gabi. My goodness, would Sasha hold a grudge this long?

Bless Jean and his kindness toward Gabi

Gabi is garbage

Gabi sucks

She shouldn't be the one to endure the kick of a seething horseface and explain why the warriors did what they did. Worse even, hiding her own pain to beg her aggressors for help. When her arc is all about leaving the forest, that's disgusting.

Haven't we had enough of Gabi Sue hogging the limelight? And the way she begs the SC to side with her after what she did to Sasha? Disgusting!

It kinda annoyed me that Gabi is apologizing to the 104 when they're the ones who destroyed her home and don't seem to feel guilty about it

idk but i love gabi

Gave the kick moment a 3. +4 because Jean is amazing, but -1 because Gabi should have gotten worse.

It really shows what a great character Gabi is because she can continue for vengeance but she is being a bigger person and choosing a more moral path.

MUCH OF THE CONVERSATION AROUND THE CAMPFIRE WAS REMINISCENT OF WHAT WE DISCUSS IN THE FANDOM. WHICH IDEA WERE YOU MOST HAPPY TO SEE? 1,893 responses

Does Isayama read our posts? You might be forgiven for thinking so, considering the campfire discussions focused on so many different angles; the complexity of the situation was nailed, and the winner was Jean knowing Eren’s actions are best for the island but still morally wrong (35.1%), but Yelena’s little dialogue was appreciated enough to come a close second (31%). This was the moment where all of us felt like our view was taken on board however, and it was brilliantly done.

I wonder if Isayama actively collected all fandom ideas, because he NAILED it. Well, he did his part, right? In showing the complexity of the situation. He can't change the fandom's minds, but he can put his message out there.

Annie confronting Mikasa only to immediately back off, what she pointed out made sense, and yet they didn't even discuss what to do if Eren couldnt be persuaded to stop genocide.

This chapter was a beautiful reflection of the community's arguments.

The panel when they are eating around the campfire looks like 'The Last Supper' of Jesus and his 12 apostles.

+1 for Annie for calling the 104 out on their inability to kill Eren if need be, and for Hange for having some fucking common sense

I liked it more when they were all enemies tbh

WHICH OF THE MORE LIGHT-HEARTED MOMENTS FROM THIS CHAPTER WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 1,898 responses

To me, Hange cheerfully knocking on the window to interrupt Jean’s idyllic daydream was pure comedy; what’s wrong with you people, am I the only one to find that funny? Sigh… Levi waking up to complain about the noise was alright though. I guess. And 50 percent of you seemed to like that one best. Comedy is wasted on you lot.

Sleepy Levi made me laugh out loud!

Levi was wholesome for once

Why would you think of Annie's asking if she's forgiven as a light-hearted moment?

I felt sad and grieved while reading this.

Loved Yelena with Titan Pieck, feel like she won't make it out of this alive and that's a shame since she's pretty interesting

I didn’t like the foodstuff. Isayama can’t make food jokes funny.

Isayama noticed Annie's favorable treatment so often he even slipped a joke about how nobody cares enough about the severity of her crimes to care... Haha...

Wouldanyonelikesomestewwouldanyonelikesomestewwouldanyonelikesomestewwouldanyonelikesomestew

LEVI JOINS THE LIST OF CHARACTERS WITH GLORIOUS BEDHEAD. WHICH HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE SO FAR? 1,898 responses

Mikasa’s gravity-defying locks assert dominance with 53.1% of the vote. Mankind’s strongest soldier makes an impressive debut in second place with his moment of dishevelment (21.2%), and Annie’s shaggy mane from all the way back in the Female Titan arc made it to third place (15.1%). We then have Gabi (4.6%) and Eren (4.1%) closely matched, and an honorable mention for Jean’s mild fluff from the days of Uprising (1.9%). Levi’s bedhead this chapter may well be the last in the series!

Levi taking his beauty sleep and being cranky after waking up by all the noise was the cutest thing on the entire manga. And talk about that bed hair... Can I tousle it, please?

[Levi’s] hair jkjkksksks KAWAII

DEATH FLAGS ARE ONCE AGAIN FLYING! WHO DO YOU THINK WON’T MAKE IT OUT OF THIS ARC ALIVE? 1,844 responses

Break out your bingo cards! Love him or hate him, most people agree that Floch has by far the highest chance of meeting his demise at a hardy 67.7% of responses. Just over 50% have voted that Yelena will die; perhaps she’s too much of a wildcard to stick around for the long-term. It’s not looking good for the old guard as many people think Hange and Magath have a good chance of dying, 48.7% and 45.2% respectively. A lot of people have also interpreted Jean’s development this month as an ominous sign (37.9%); it would certainly be one way to follow in his commanders’ footsteps! On the other end of the scale we have the fewest votes for Gabi (8%), Mikasa (8.2%), Falco (9.5%), and Armin (9.8%). Those expecting all four to meet their end are imagining a very grim finale indeed.

Hanji please don't die!

They're gonna kill Floch :(

Can Floch just die? Please?

I feel like hange will come up with a plan to save paradis without genociding.... and then immediately die without telling anyone the plan :)

Fuck annie. just fuck her. i want her to die so fucking badly.

If Hange dies I’ll cry

If Jean fucking die I’ll RIOT !!

Isadistyama knows only too well how much we hate Floch, which obviously means he isn't going to fkn die.

Gabi must die

Someone need to die soon.

Reiner's will to die will keep him alive to the end of the series…

I hope Levi doesn't die.

Really hoping Hange's death wasn't just foreshadowed in this chapter.

Jean will definitely die. Too much protagonism around him in this chapter.

My guess about Mikasa's life chances are now 50/50. 50% dying chances if she would protect Eren by fighting against the alliance and the other 50% having a chance to live a normal life with turning back to her old self

Just not Levi, at least not yet, c'mon we barely got him back :(

Maybe this whole manga is one man's journey trying to die in vain, until he ultimately finds the will to live... Then dies.

Hope they all die

THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER WAS NOT RECEIVED VERY WELL. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT CHAPTER 126 NOW AFTER HAVING READ THE FOLLOW-UP? 1,891 responses

With the worst rating in recent memory, chapter 126 was a disappointment to many readers, and we even saw some people losing faith in Isayama (the heresy!). So we asked the fandom about their feelings of the previous chapter in retrospect and knowing the continuation.

Surprisingly, the majority of respondents (48.9%) said their opinion of the previous chapter had not changed, but they felt positively about it, with 23% saying their unchanged feelings were negative. A remainder of 28.1% said their opinion of the previous chapter had in fact changed, with 26.1% expressing more positive feelings and 2% feeling more negatively.

A real improvement compared to Chapter 126.

Amazing, picked up on everything I thought 126 needed.

Definitely an improvement upon the last chapter

This chapter remedied most of my issues/concerns from the previous chapter

Chapter 127 was so awesome it made 126 even worse in comparison.

I prefer personally chapter 126, but this chapter had much better pacing

Everybody complaining about 126 were too impatient and short-sighted. This was always what was going to happen and both chapters did exactly what they were supposedly to do.

It really made me feel better about 126

Way better than 126 but still kinda cringe tbh

Much better chapter that made 126 redeemable

AFTER THIS CHAPTER, HOW HAS YOUR OPINION CHANGED ON THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS?

Due to this chapter being dialogue-centric with character interaction galore, naturally it was bound to have an impact on the characters’ likeability. The significant focus on Jean’s inner turmoil evidently made him skyrocket in the eyes of the fans, with 80.6% of responses to him being on the favorable side, correlating with him being the fandom’s choice of MVP.

Jean's development is top tier.

I am so proud of how far and mature Jean has become! ;-;

Jean continues to show why he's the best character in the series

JEAN CHADSTEIN

JEAN JEAN JEAN JEAN

Other characters receiving a boost in favorability were Yelena, Hange and even Gabi (although in her case by only a smidge).

Yelena was my personal MVP this chapter

Mama Hange is the best

Gabi behaved like an adult and preferred to ask for forgiveness and help (she was adorable).

While many were relieved by Hange’s strong stance, it should be noted that Hange also received significant backlash this chapter, with ¼ of respondents viewing Hange less favorable.

Fuck hange

Hange is just making idiotic shitty points, and she has become one of my most hated character after this chapter. Jean's argument is one of the best, and almost everything he says this chapter made me love him even more.

People saying hange is acting based off emotion .. when literally all eren has done is act based off emotion. of course hange doesnt have a plan yet, eren is literally gonna annihilate the world

Though no characters had an overall less favorable response, Magath’s comments about the Paradis Eldians certainly almost landed him there.

Magath can suck a nut

Fuck off Magath

Magath really annoyed the hell out of me this chapter

ONCE AGAIN ISAYAMA APPEARS TO BE PLAYING WITH OUR EXPECTATIONS OF THE FINAL PANEL. WHICH OUTCOME DO YOU BELIEVE IS MOST LIKELY? 1,824 responses

Dreamt up fantasy or not, this chapter gave us yet another plausible scenario for the long-haired man holding a baby, confirming that Isayama knew what he was doing when he released that final panel, and he will milk the speculation for all it’s worth. With over 50 custom write-in responses of people saying they have no idea, it’s clear we’re all just on Isayama’s wild ride.

The most popular option chosen was that it depicts Eren holding Historia’s child (38.9%), followed by Grisha holding Eren (29.1%), Jean holding Mikasa’s child (14.7%), and Farmer-kun holding Historia’s child (8%). We also found many trends in the write-in answers:

Eren holding his baby with Mikasa (11)

Jean holding Historia's child (9)

Grisha holding Zeke (4)

Eren holding ymir fritz (reborn) (4)

Zeke holding Eren’s child. (3)

Falco holding Gabi's child (2)

Armin holding Historia's child (2)

As well as multiple answers that it’s Isayama injecting himself into the manga. You’re all hilarious.

Eren holding Isayama

plot twist: its isayama's dad holding him. he is free of the manga now

Isayama holding baby Onsen

Some of you had some creative ideas that I enjoyed reading:

Eren holding historia’s dead baby. saying it’s free from this world’s cruelty

Eren holding the Crawling Titan's human form (the one they encountered when heading to the ocean).

The next inheritor of the Founding Titan is holding Historia’s child, Eren sees this as a future memory.

Two marleyans free of eldian rule

Zeke holding Yelena's child

How did that last one get - actually, screw it, I’m on board. #Zelena4Life

We also had some voicing of concern regarding the lack of warning for final panel spoilers. To anyone who was spoiled by the final panel as a result of our actions, we apologise, and we will make sure any future polls that include discussion of external material will be appropriately tagged. This was Crunch’s fault, so please direct all of next month’s hatemail at him. He’s very sorry though.

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE OUTCOME OF THIS UPCOMING BATTLE WILL BE? 1,865 responses

Before they can reach Eren, the Alliance needs to first get past the Jaegerist. Only 12% of respondents expect this to be easy. The vast majority (63.8%) are anticipating an Alliance win but at the cost of major character deaths. On the other end of the spectrum, close to 20% expect the Alliance to be defeated but think they will reach Eren another way. The tiniest percent (4.1%) think that the Jaegerists will win this battle and Eren will be successful.

I hope isayama wont nerf the alliance so hard in the upcoming battle. and pls no stupid death. make it glorious.

5 titan shifters versus a group of Jaegerist, I'm putting all my money on those well rested shifters to deal with a majority of the Jaegerist on the outside while the non-titans sneak in and rescue Kiyomi. And hopefully one of them can kill Floch while they are at it.

Super excited for next chapter! It was good exposition and a good setup for an epic fight! I also kind of hope that now that they've figured out the trick to stop fighting and finding diplomatic ways that they don't directly resort to violence but at least try to find a way to talk with the Jaegerists. If they don't try to talk and find a way around then the lessons learned won't have meant a thing. I'm super happy with the direction of the story

Even if you hate Floch you still have to give him credit for what he as done with taking over Paradis and mobilizing the Yeagerists in anticipation for the alliances next move

I swear if Armin doesn’t either turn into a titan now or in the final battle I’m gonna be saltier than the Dead Sea.

YES, WE ARE GOING THERE... HOW BADASS DID FLOCH LOOK IN THAT FINAL PANEL? 1,888 responses

God help us all... The bird’s nest hair is gone so there is nothing left to distract us from that rockin’ bod and fierce expression. Please know that I am physically in pain that only ¼ of the fandom selected the “Ewwwwww no” option. The rest of us are apparently weak for thicc thighs bound by tight leather straps.

My hat is off to the 9.2% who selected “How ‘bout dat Kiyomi.” You have my respect for maintaining your dignity and opting out of this question entirely.

Floch based

Floch is a CHAD

Floch is a hottie

FLOCH MARRY ME PLEASE I LOVE YOUU

Floch NEEDS to die!!!

FLOCH SHALL REIGN SUPREME!!!

FLOCH THE CHAD

I hate floch but damn is he lookin fine af

AT THIS POINT, AROUND WHICH CHAPTER DO YOU EXPECT THE MANGA WILL CONCLUDE? 1,876 responses

After another set up chapter amidst the scenery of the apocalypse, the chances of this arc wrapping up quickly are slimmer than ever, with only 2.2% of respondents believing the series to be in its final volume and ending at chapter 130. The 138-gang has officially taken over as the majority, with 43.9% of respondents expecting the story to wrap up in ten more chapters, beating out the 37.3% who think we will only get to chapter 134, and the 16.6% who think the story will go even further, to 142 chapters or beyond (for those counting at home, that’s at least midway into 2021).

I find it hard to believe that the story is getting wrapped up so soon… There’s so much that I feel like needs to happen before the story ends

I hope [Isayama] finishes the series without any rush.

I'm unsure if the manga will be able to end in 2020

I thought we were supposed to be approaching the end but now we go on a sidequest to free princess Kiyomi from a miniboss, huh?

The end is near and I already feel sad.

Whatever happens, it's been a wild ride up to this moment. I thank Isayama for everything.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,892 responses

Eren’s POV (37.3%), a continuation of the present storyline (21.9%), and the return of Historia (19.1%) are our top hopes and dreams for the upcoming chapter. A major death (6.8%), Reiner finding the will to live (6.0%), news about our boy Zeke (5.6%) and the Rumbling (3.4%) round out the entries.

EREN POV AND HISTORIA POV ALREADY JESUS CHRIST

I'm kinda hoping we get a zeke pov I wonder how he feels abt eren betraying him.

Historia was named because she is history from the story YAMS I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU WHERE IS QUEEN BAE

HISTORIA WHENNNNNNNN???!!!!!!!!

I just miss eren and historia and zeke a lot, they're my favorite characters :(

I just want annie to see her father smh

I have faith in isayama's cruelty and I honestly hope to see someone die

Please get Eren or Historia on the screen for the love of god

Reiner's too tired to die now. Wondering at which time yam will give him a new motivation to live and fight.

I’m still hoping Mikasa and Armin will man up and realize that Eren may not be worth fighting for. Maybe next time!

Hype for that Floch death next chapter, cmon Yams

Watch it burn!

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,797 responses

The percentage of people who primarily discuss the series on Reddit is up from last month, while Tumblr and Discord’s percentage is down. People who don’t discuss the series, but participate in the poll are up 4.1% (of the whole, 73% relative to itself). The top 5 ranking order is: Reddit, I don’t, Facebook, Tumblr, and Discord. I’m surprised by the lack of Discord responses. If you voted Discord, but don’t see many people in your Discord communities aware of the poll, let them (or us!) know!

On that note, I have to give the Snapchat voters a hard time. Snapchat got 6 votes this time. Six. That’s the same as it was last month, but let me put this into perspective for you. Steam got three votes. There are twice as many people who voted Snapchat as there were people who voted Steam. Two. Times. Until I receive evidence to the contrary, I’m electing to believe that this is a Marleyan psyop, and I’m not falling for it.

Regardless of where you discuss the series though, we appreciate your contribution to the poll, and the SnK community as a whole! We literally could not do this without you guys, so thank you!

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER? 406 responses

Nice prelude before the final confrontation(s)

Fantastic chapter with great development for Jean and Reiner.

Overall, this is exactly what I wanted after last chapter's fiasco.

Where is Zeke lmao

Needs more Historia. THEY ARE ALL THERE WHY IS THERE NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THE QUEEN OF PARADIS. ISAYAMA PLZ

Kinda bummed there wasn't more Levi, but I'm always bummed when there's not a lot of Levi.

I don't like where this is going

I can't believe I'll be legit sad if Floch goes.

Erwin would have come up with another way to protect Paradis. He would have blackmailed and sweet-talked all the other diplomats lol. If Erwin was in charge he would have come up with a decisive plan and Eren wouldn't even have had to consider the rumbling, unlike Hange who is all talk but no plan and I guess that's why Erwin had to be nuked out of the story.

F U L L B O C C O

I live for character drama and Jean’s my favourite character so you know I loved this one.

I loved the Pieck x Yelena moment...and I Am Once Again Asking for Historia Comeback.

Mikasa. That’s it, that’s my thoughts,

Meh this arc has really a lot of problems with the characters, basically i dont care for anyone at all except eren and reiner, and that's a major flaw.

[Yelena] pointed everyones hypocrisy out that they aren't just victims who did nothing wrong. Everyone, except of Falco, has cover they hands with blood. It's not just ""muh Marley, muh Eldia or muh Yelena"". Everyone have started sins and are to blame for something. It was a really necessary wake up call, not only for the characters, but for this fandom as well. No matter if this was her intention to create more drama in the group or make them realize that they and not different from each other. GREAT MOMENT and Yelena absolutely slaying 👑

Please just make mikasa ended up with eren in the future. I dont really care bout anything

THE.CHAPTER.THAT.WE.NEEDED.

There really just aren't any good solutions, are there?

Isayama stop messin with my heart

Also I've seen people mad at Magath, but the only two charas I really hated here were Yelena and Floch. Both kinds of people are terrible in real life (usually minus the killing but eh)

Eren is gonna win and kill everyone

Can we stop the SUFFERING XD jokes with Reiner? The torture porn is seriously getting old and unnecessary. Can't believe I had to lower my opinion of him as well.

Every major character during this arc had moments of extreme fragility and desperation. mikasa, connie, armin, hanji, reiner and now jean. i love this because it would be extremely weird for a group of people who constantly put their sanity to test to remain the same (strong and capable of fighting and leading in every situation)

Bless Jean! He is such a good friend. I hope he can heal. That reveal with how Marco really died was very traumatizing. I hope all of the characters can heal.

BTW Isayama..It will be so pathetic if the Manga ended by Mikasa kill Eren..The worst and most unsuccessful end

Better than the previous one for sure. I love dialouges! Still expected Annie to interact with Armin and Levi not just sleeping through all of this like the sleeping beauty.

Annies back, back again. Annie's back, tell a friend.

Another banger

AoT is like good wine, it gets better with time.

AOT makes my life tolerable enough to live, thank you isayama

Boring chapter i wanna see eren ffs

Bitches really do be supporting genocide

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

10/10 as usual

127 was a totally piece of shit

I think jean and pieck will become a thing. if it doesnt, ill be sad lol

I'M AT SOUP

I'm confused.

I'm glad the situation of Marco's death and his importance to Jean was addressed. I just hope this won't be the last we see of it. Jean needs to heal and Reiner needs to do better.

I'm just happy that there will most likely not be a Cringevengers-like ending that seemed not too far-fetched after 126.

I want Eren to live

I want the recipe for that stew

I want to see Mikasa's POV

It feels as if Isayama has read our discussions and merged them into the story. Also I think Jean is the one who understands Eren's motivations the best at this point. Not Armin, not Mikasa.

It seems now that all the pieces are in place. I believe from now until the end will be a constant and crazy ride

It was a great chapter, but where's Eren? Even the "Avengers Team" are wondering.

It was a great chapter, Isayama covered most of the topics that were hanging loose on the last chapter

Real Housewives of Eldia

It was a masterpiece

It was alright.

Some will die, Eren will do some bad shit, but he will fail somehow

MOAR JEANKASA

Monthly dose of Reiner suffering

More Mikasa

More Reiner

None, just AOT

Nostalgic. Especially when Jean learns of Marco's demise.

Not enough action

Not enough suffering for Reiner.

Pie

Pieck Is hekkin cute

Pretty much what I expected after the events of last chapter, in a good way.

Reiner and Gabi both should have gotten so much worse from Jean, they have too much blood on their hands to be even remotely forgivable.

So long as the Jeagerists are resolved this volume, or something wilder - no more build-up. JUST FUCK EVERYTHING UP, ISAYAMAAA (not like GoT fuck it up, but the good kind)

Somebody, please let Reiner sleep and wake up properly

Shit gonna hit the fan so hard

Shit is happening and I'm not ready. Wonder if the anime will make the chapters flow better like in Season 3 Part 1+2?

There going to set something big up soon and everyone will be hype for it but then it will show Marley perspective of the rumbling or something

Eren will succeed! All hail Eren!

This chapter was everything I wanted, thx Yams ily

Lets just say I have new ships

This chapter was intense and I love the debates around the fire.

Too long chatting

Chapter was good but the fandom is at its absolute lowest state at the moment, between the aggressive Eren cultists, warriors and 104 fans attacking one another, and crazy shippers. Stop this clownery

Crazy chapter, looking forward to the next one.

Fuck the Jaegerists, death to all empires. Everybody needs to be a republic already, this is getting old.

Great breath of fresh air chapter. Needed that after the quickly paced 126.

Very good. i don't like the fandom,they are just children. i have always hated them.

Was a fantastic chapter overall and I hope for more of the same next chapter

We really missed Annie

Hype's alive again

I shit you not, He actually turned himself into a pickle. A pickle! He called himself pickle Rick. Now that's the funniest shit I have ever seen.

I liked that yams showed conflict in the gathering of the warriors and the 104th and that they weren’t going to forget each other’s crimes

I loved the arguing and tension in the alliance. I like how most of the chapter was around the campfire.

I prefer this chapter to have been the other half split of the previous one. And this one advanced to slowly, with unnecessary things

I'm still waiting for a crazy plot twist

When will the Ackertalk finally come

Where did mikasa go at then end!!!

YELENA!!!

Yelene spitting facts

Annie turned to alcohol

Im fine if this ends with the alliance stopping Eren but I'll find it dumb if Paradis isnt destroyed by the world afterwards. (which I highly doubt will happen)

It was pretty dope

It was really good but we all know I cannot wait another month for the next chapter release. And yes, I am extremely upset that we won't be getting another Levi x Zeke fight.

Honestly Erwins flashback looked forced, that space could've been used to yelena revealing Eren's location, or confirming who that guy from the building was(shadis?)

Love this shit.

Loved it! It's tied with 121 as my favourite chapter from this arc.

Loved it. Not much to say about this one, since it wasn't nearly as controversial as the last one :P

Hoping the deaths I picked are going to happen and I hope 🤞 that ema talk 2 will happen

I'VE BEEN WAITING TWO YEARS OF MY LIFE FOR THIS. I DON'T EVEN CARE IF I GET CORONAVIRUS I CAN DIE HAPPY.

I’ll die of the corona if eren dies

Jeans pretty cool ngl

pointless volume incoming with pointless battle vs floch. Waste of time

Pretty much what I expected after the events of last chapter, in a good way.

I don't forgive Annie

Thank you Yelena

Jeanstans: Attaboy Jean! Reinerstans: HOW DARE HE?! Reiner: Too bad that didn't kill me.

Loved this chapter but it was mostly playing catchup with the rest of the characters, still needed. Really shows how far ahead eren is.

Genocide supporter fans are just bunch of edgy teenagers. Let's see how they support Genocide when they get massacred irl.

More useless drama for a character who is progressively getting more annoying by the minute (hi Jean)

Since the end of the second world war, japan was reconstructed almost entirely by young people, so probably this story will end showing that with some analogy. making that previous statement, i think it won’t be eren, or any of the older characters, since they lived and did the horrors they did and must somehow pay for it(and specially the PTSD most would have, so they’ll be probably incapacitated in some way), i think it will be Gabi, or maybe Falco or someone else, because they are just lost, Gabi changed her mind and personality so well(progress, developed it), so that’s why i think it would or maybe even should be her. am i expecting too much from Isayama?

I believe in the Time-Loop still. But ya, hope Final Battle is with Levi and Eren teaming up. (Also Mikasa a bit before...)

Honestly wished the first few pages were real. I would love it for Jean and Mikasa to actually get together.

Annie clearly has no big role to play, & I think she’s going to go home & find her father dying. On a more positive note, we finally got some character interaction!!

That soup tho

Why should Mikasa be the one who confronts Eren? lmao According to the final exhibition would Armin be the one who will confront Eren, but I'm sure "talk-no-jutsu" will fail as an outcome. It doesn't worked in chapter 112, why should it be different?.

The award goes to Isayama for being the first person writing a story in which I have absolutely 0 clue about what will happen next. Like I never ever was at such a loss of theories. Never.This is both awsome and frightening. At least for that, props to Isayama

Top-tier

Unfair

I love the cart titan

#snk 127 #snk chapter 127 #snk poll results #snk poll #snk polls.

65 notes · View notes

ofravensandgenesis · 5 years ago

Note

For the prompts, how about 5- "you're safe now"? The deputy and any characters of your choice 👀

A/N: Characters/Verse-Setting: Staci and Joshua. Set in the verse of A Cold And Broken Hallelujah about two years before the start of the events in that fic and the in-game timeline of Far Cry 5.Summary: Staci gets to know the new rookie on the force a bit better.Content includes: PTSD, non-graphic traumatic flashback, mention of non-consensual drug use, mention of medical child abuse, it’s okay though they have coffee and granola bars, Joshua justifying terrible granola bar choices but he makes up for it later, it’s still granola bars blasphemy, but friendship prevails, etcA lil backstory spoiler detail reveal for Joshua, but nothing super major that we won’t cover in ACABH sooner or later. xD This helped me flesh out a bit more details regarding how Staci and Joshua’s friendship came about, which I enjoyed a lot!! Thank you for the prompt Amistrio!! :D ♥Ao3 link here, to avoid tumblr disaster formatting on mobile.

Staci’s bored. Which is a nice change, because it’s been busy as hell with the holidays rolling through like Hurk Jr. deciding to take a steam roller for a joy ride (again) and christening it “the Hurkulator 9000.″ With spray paint.That’d been a messy day. How the man managed to avoid doing time in jail was a mystery, but then again: this was Hope County, home of the weird.The downside of being bored was that it was really, really tempting to fall asleep. Staci couldn’t fall asleep now though, it was almost the end of his shift, almost time to go home and then he could collapse into bed and play dead to the world for a blissful day of sleep.A blissful day, because he was currently working graveyard shift with the new rookie.Not going to lie, Rook was kind of a weirdo. Joey had smacked Staci for saying so to her—it’d been in private though! He’d made sure the new guy wasn’t around to hear ‘em, Jesus. Yeah, Staci knew he was being kind of hard on the guy, but the guy was kind of…jumpy. Selectively jumpy. Weirdly jumpy.Like, not at all surprised if someone showed up from around the corner jumpy, more like…jumpy when talking to people sometimes. Socially jumpy.Specifically, socially jumpy around him, Joey, Whitehorse, and perhaps a few others around town…despite not being from this area. Dude was from Georgia, down south…which was also kind of a tie-in weirdness given the local doomsday religious cult Hope County was home to, now, sadly. The Seeds had come from Georgia, so…Rook showing up coming from the same home state, looking just like the self-proclaimed prophet? Yeah. That was either deeply unfortunate luck or intentional choice there.But the probie had a rather particularly keen skill at vanishing into thin air right before anyone even remotely associated with the cult turned up.It was actually rather impressive, and had Staci wondering where the hell the guy hid sometimes, and how he managed to disappear so damn quietly.So, while the social jumpiness might have something to do with looking like the local loony cult leader admittedly, but it did raise the question of why Rook wasn’t putting in a transfer right away.That’d certainly been a weird day, when Earl had introduced Joshua to the rest of the department. Staci was sure Earl had asked at least once if not twice if Rook was sure he wanted to transfer once he’d seen the man’s picture in his file, informing the potential new transfer about the situation. Rook had apparently thought about it for a long while, and said he wanted to try working in Hope County anyway, if they’d have him—and the department sorely needed more people, they were understaffed as it was. Hell, Whitehorse had accepted Staci too—not that there was anything wrong with Staci. Just, Staci was a city boy, and Hope County was most certainly NOT that.It was about as far as you could get from a proper city without it being an empty stretch of highway, honestly. Hell, they even had a small, abandoned ghost town here…freaky as that was. Something to do with the history back during some mining age or something. He couldn’t remember. Fuck, that was going to bug him if he didn’t look it back up, Staci groused.Still, it was more than middle of nowhere with this potential weirdery of either a lookalike…or an unexpected relative. Even understaffed, Staci wasn’t sure why Earl had said yes.Perhaps he thought Rook would be useful. Whitehorse was calculating, taking the long view of things, but not manipulative, and not willing to put people, his people, in harm’s way without good reason.The Seeds were definitely brewing up trouble, had already been trouble both directly and by fucking proxy with their goddamned followers.Maybe Whitehorse thought Rook would be a possible ace in the hole…or would seed doubt in the Project’s ranks if or when the truth came to light?No…no, that didn’t fit Whitehorse’s M.O.…guess the guy had been earnest enough for Whitehorse to take a chance on him then. That’d work on him. Joey too—she was a bit more protective of him than Staci would’ve expected even for a rookie on the force.Danny…was the most skeptical of them, even compared to Staci.But Danny was kind of a prick. A rules-bound prick, but a prick none the less. Staci knew Danny would be withholding judgment until he’d seen more of Rook in action and conduct. Specifically, how much of a workaholic the newbie was, how much he respected the rules, if he was a fellow neat freak, how good his aim was, and the quality of his character.Yeah, Danny was a judgemental prick, but it wasn’t a bad list…for an obsessive compulsive. Nobody should be that neat at their desk or have a semi-permanent smell of wood polish floating about it.Staci was of the opinion Rook was a write-off—or he would be, if Staci wasn’t also likely saddled with helping Rook learn to take the training wheels off. …eh it wouldn’t be that bad, training new officers could be fun at times. They’d be playing pass-around but it’d likely help round Rook out, while making sure he didn’t get indoctrinated with Danny’s vengefully personal grudge against dust and disorder. There could only be one, for Staci’s sanity. Yes, it was great that Danny was always on point and made sure everything else was, but the man could stand to take it down a notch.None of them wanted more trouble with the Peggies than was needed though, or to have them snooping about. It’d been a bit of a devil’s deal there, in Staci’s opinion: get some sorely needed help in a time when trouble was festering, but said help might be a wild card.Assuming of course Rook wasn’t some long-lost relative of the Seeds out to do a crazy and reconnect with the family and infiltrate the police force…but that’d be crazy talk.But they were in Hope County, which Staci had learned was a hotbed for weird shit, and crazy was the baseline normal. So who fucking knew.The guy wasn’t really trying to convince anyone he wasn’t suspicious by being normal…which, actually worked in his favor, now that Staci thought about it. Was that reverse psychology? It seemed like a lot of work to act as, well, weird as Rook kind of was. It wasn’t really overt or hammed up, just…little things. That didn’t seem likely to be something a person would put on as an act.Ah, fuck. Intrigue was too much work to deal with, but deal with it they had to. Whitehorse had made the choice to accept Rook, so accept Rook they did.And Whitehorse had also made sure they were all on the same page with the official department line of keeping Rook’s unfortunate similarities on the down low. Hell even Nancy had agreed, surprisingly enough, looking wide-eyed enough Staci almost thought her eyeballs would just fall out of her head.How, exactly, a baseball cap and glasses were going to throw people off from noticing that they had a walking double of Joseph Fucking Seed in their ranks was beyond Staci.What was even more out-fucking-rageous was that it was fucking working. Nobody around town had mentioned it, there was no gossip about it, it was like…like…like no one had even noticed Rook’s face yet?It made Staci wonder if he was going fucking crazy. Crazy with boredom in this backwater town. God he needed to get out and find someone new to hang with, find something more to do on his time off. Someone to hit on would be nice, but the city-slicker charm had worn off after a while, and there weren’t a lot of ladies looking for regular one-night-stands—and Staci most certainly wasn’t looking for a relationship, even a friends-with-benefits one. Those tended to escalate far too often, in his opinion. No, thank you. If he wanted to pursue a serious relationship, he would say so at the beginning. Hooking up was hooking up, serious dating was serious dating.Ugh. He probably should see if the rookie wanted to hang out then, since he was a fresh face. Maybe Rook would be more relaxed off-duty with a beer or two in his system.Rook worked hard, at least, pulling his own weight while learning how to get his feet under him. That’d please Danny certainly—all the deputies had been harboring concerns the new guy might be thinking Hope was an easy job with not much going on. Which it was sometimes, just those were the very, very rare occasional blips rather than the day to day norm.Fuck it, fine, the rookie was doing alright in Staci’s book. So far. It was early yet still, a few months in, and it’d be a year before they all settled into accepting Rook as one of their own, but…well, it was nice to have a hair’s worth of breathing room more with another member of the team present. And a gopher to get coffee and doughnuts—he was glad he wasn’t the one getting them all the time now. Well. Most of the time.Fuck, they ran out of doughnuts near the beginning of the shift, but there were granola bars and there’d be coffee in the break room, and he needed something to keep him on his feet until his second (or in this case more like fifth) wind hit. Was it a shitty idea right before he could go home? Yeah. But he wanted to drive home, not drive headfirst into a ditch. Just a small coffee then. And one of those chocolate chip granola bars.Staci stood up with a groan, feeling his bones creak way more loudly than they should’ve at his age—he wasn’t even fucking twenty five yet, God damn. That was an effect of an all-nighter with over time though. Rolling his shoulders as he walked, he rounded the corner, past the bulletin board—and just about walked smack into the new guy. Just about made Staci jump, if he’d had the energy to do so. Too much burn out, not enough coffee for that right now though.“Jesus fucking Christ, Rook. You scared the shit out of me just about.” Staci said, grumbling more than he likely should’ve. It wasn’t the other man’s fault…just, Staci hadn’t heard him coming at all. No footsteps, no nothing.…Staci squinted. Rook’s head was tilted forward a bit, his eyes shut, now that Staci actually was looking.Was. Was Rook asleep? Was Rook a fucking sleepwalker? …that was actually kind of hilarious. Or it would be, if Staci wasn’t dead on his feet. If anything he was a bit illogically envious that the man could walk and sleep at the same time. And that was a sign Staci definitely needed to rest. God.Staci heaved a sigh, annoyed, but really just too tired to deal with bullshit of any kind right now. He reached out and gave Rook’s cheek a quick series of not-quite-gentle smacks. “Wakey wakey, probie, you’re not allowed to sleep on duty even if you can fucking walk and catch forty winks at the same time. Come on now. Raise-y daisy.”Any other time, Staci would’ve considered pranking the other man with this. Grabbing a sharpie and drawing some cartoony dicks and squigglies and whatever else he felt like doodling on his coworker’s face. Well. There’d be other times. Just he wasn’t in the mood right now.What he hadn’t expected was for Rook to snap awake with a sharp intake of breath, eyes wide and wild, hands a blur as he reached up to grab Staci’s upraised arm hard enough for the bones to creak, his other hand clamped to Staci’s other shoulder as he bared his teeth. Staci had flinched and had been bringing his other hand up to try to block, but Joshua had just reacted. Much faster than Staci would’ve expected from a sleep-deprived young rookie with no previous history in martial training, especially upon waking up.That was kind of fucking freaky and he was deeply, immediately concerned he was in deep shit. He’d seen this kind of reaction before, just he hadn’t expected it from Rook.He hadn’t expected Rook to look at him with what Staci could not call anything other than killing intent for a split second there, only to rein it in in the same instance while processing it.Then Rook just stood there, holding onto Staci, breathing harsh and fast, grip easing ever so slowly, the snarl upon his face relaxing into a glassy, wide-eyed looking around. Joshua’s eyes settled on the bulletin board beside them, and Staci felt the other man’s grip tighten.Staci had seen this before, had dealt with enough people with PTSD and heard about it from the veterans at the previous district to recognize what was going on. He reached up and rested his hand on the other man’s bicep, carefully, lightly, trying to get his attention without startling him.“Rook. Rook, it’s okay. You’re okay. We’re okay,” Staci said, pitching his voice low and calm, and oh boy if it wasn’t unsettling to see Joshua’s head snap to focus on him, blue eyes boring into Staci’s soul with enough intensity to make Staci falter for a moment under the other man’s gaze.“We need to get out of here,” Joshua said, words hurried and quiet and urgent, and edge to them that spoke of coiled tension and fear, deep south accent laying it on thick with that rough edge that came from having just woken up. Combined, it made Staci actually seriously question if there was a threat he didn’t know about present. “I’m not leaving you behind, you’ve got to get out and somewhere safe, Pratt. You have to, understand?”…No fucking wonder people followed the Seeds, damn. It was sort of weirdly touching that Joshua 1) recognized him during what seemed to be either a bout of PTSD or as the more uncharitable part of Staci’s brain suggested a bout of crazy, and 2) Rook seemed to actually genuinely be…very concerned about Staci’s continued well being.Damn.Staci withheld a split-second sigh, and made a mental note that he had to buy this guy a drink some time in the future. And be a little bit less of an ass and more…well, friendly perhaps. He hadn’t been a total ass to Rook, but he hadn’t been terribly friendly either, waiting to see if the new guy would stick around and make it through to being a regular or not. That was of course if this didn’t turn up to be a reveal of some factor that disqualified Rook from serving as a deputy. Fuck, he had to check for that as a senior officer here. First things first though, he needed to focus on calming Rook down and getting him grounded and remembering where they were.“Rook…Rook, you’re safe. We’re safe,” He said, trying to soothe the other man and get him his bearings, out of the nightmare or whatever it was that had set Rook off like that. Nightmare, he was sure. “We’re here in the Hope County Sheriff’s Department, here in Fall’s End, it’s 6:45am on a Thursday, we’re going to be off shift in a little over an hour, and Joey’s going to come in with Danny to relieve us and handle whatever new noise complaint related crap the Drubmans will drum up with fireworks and such,” He was just rambling, adding in the date and year and other mundane details to help with orienting oneself in time and space and contex. He was keeping it all slow and easy, keeping his eyes on Joshua as he continued talking like there wasn’t anything to worry about, that they were safe, because they were. Staci watched as the tension drained slowly from Rook’s face, his eyes came into focus and actually seemed to see where they were, recognition filtering in slowly. He felt Joshua’s grip on his shoulder and arm loosening again, all the way this time until there was no pressure applied, and Staci could lower his upraised hand to rest it on the side of Joshua’s other arm.“You’re safe now. Okay?” Staci asked, trying to get Joshua to recognize reality over the traumatic flashback he seemed to be in…or nightmare, or whatever it was. The method didn’t change…fuck Staci wasn’t as well-read on this as he needed to be. “Deep breaths now.”“…Okay,” Joshua said, his breathing finally slowing down, his expression finally looking like he was all there, here, now. “Okay.”He looked shaken. But there.“You alright, Rook?”“Yeah…yeah. I’m sorry, I…”“Don’t worry about it. Come on, let’s go get a coffee then, alright?” It was as much getting Rook something warm to drink as it was because Staci wanted one too. Food and warm drinks helped people calm down, and was one of his go-to solutions. Great way to bribe himself too when he was in a mood, like right now. Fuck sleep deprivation, man.…Fuck that was probably part of all this with the probie too.Joshua nodded, and the two of them turned to head back down the hall to the break room.“Here, you get the coffee poured, and I’ll grab us some granola bars. You like chocolate? Or you want oatmeal raisin?”“Oatmeal raisin.” Rook said, pulling out a pair of cups from the dish rack to check if they were dry, before proceeding to starting filling the first one.Staci just gave Rook an incredulous look from where he was going through an overhead cabinet. Who chose oatmeal raisin over chocolate? “Seriously?”Fuck. That came out of his mouth before he thought better of it.Rook just gave him an amused squint. “Hey I like chocolate but that’s shitty chocolate that’s all sugar and next to no chocolate flavor in the brand we get here at the station. I find the oatmeal raisin one still too sweet, but I’ll eat em anyway if there’s nothing else. The caramel apple flavor’s better, but we’re all out unless I’m mistaken, aren’t we?”“Yeah, Hudson runs through those super quick, you gotta horde some in your desk if you want any at the end of the month before restock day. Still, oatmeal raisin?” Staci wrinkled his nose with an openly judgemental look as he handed the offending granola bar over.“Pay me the funds we use for these, and I can make them better and tastier, with less crap in them,” Joshua said, taking the offered bar to waggle it pointedly at Staci before turning to hand over one of the cups of coffee. “No shit?” Staci asked, genuinely interested. Better food was always a plus in his book.“Yeah man, I love cooking.”Well that was certainly a potential plus to keeping the probie around—if he passed muster. Rook was looking calm now at least, pulling out the milk carton from the fridge to add a healthy amount to his cup. That was a quick bounce back, damn. Promising though…if still a bit haunting to think of how Rook had looked at him at first.Hm. Maybe Rook was just hiding it real well. Keeping busy, as it were.“Huh. I’ll bring it up with Whitehorse and run it by the others so they’re in the loop, if you really wanna do that on the regular. If you don’t, let us know ahead of time—Hudson deprived of snacks is a bad time for all. Pass the milk?”“Yeah I stress bake from time to time, this works out nicely,” Joshua said, handing the carton over.“Hm. You get stressed like earlier a lot, probie?” Staci asked, glancing at his coworker sidelong while stirring in his own sugar and milk.He saw how Joshua’s expression shifted slightly, lips thinning into an almost-frown.“Ah. That. Yeah I…get nightmares a lot. Doesn’t fuck with my sleep quality, just I’m fucky to wake up sometimes and need a moment.”Staci could tell Joshua knew the score here, and what the intent was for this line of questioning. He still had to ask, though, for the department’s sake and Rook’s own sake. If Rook wasn’t fit for the job, he was a danger to himself and the others in the department.“Did something happen? That looked like a PTSD flashback you were stuck in.” No point in beating about the bush, Staci reasoned. Particularly since he had all the diplomacy of a hungry narwhal right now.Rook shook his head though, not looking at Staci, holding his cup while appearing lost in thought. “No. Nothing happened. Just bad dreams.”Staci snorted, pausing mid-air in lifting his coffee up for a sip. “Yeah and I’m the Queen of England.”Joshua actually laughed a small surprised noise at that, turning to look at Staci with a cheeky grin. “I didn’t realize I was in the presence of royalty! Forgive my lack of manners, your highness.”Alright, he kind of liked this probie. Particularly when he was less of a bundle of nerves. The man was solid enough on the job while being professional, but behind the scenes...had been less smooth. The probie seemed to flounder a bit without a proper “script” to follow. But in this instance? The rookie might’ve hit his stride. It was making Staci smile out of reflex, and fuck he actually was feeling a bit less crabby over all this right now. That was uncharitable, Staci knew, but he was fucking tired. Joshua too, he knew.Joshua’s smile slid back to a more attentive, neutral expression. As much as one could, with dark shadows under one’s eyes. Fuck, Staci must’ve had a matching set too, it was practically part of the uniform during the holidays.“But I’m serious. I haven’t actually been in a violently traumatic experience or such. Some bullying as a kid, and…well, being illegally institutionalized, but it was done without a proper diagnosis from a clinician and was a complete hoax by the parties involved.”Staci almost choked on the sip of his coffee. “Say what now?” He’d followed with the being bullied part, because what kids didn’t get bullied, but the institutionalization part was a new one as far as stories went. “Institutionalized as in like in a mental hospital?”“Yeah. It was fucked. They committed a bunch of foster kids with made up diagnoses and wanted to run drug trials on them to prove efficacy with cooked test results. It all came to light after a couple of years. Corrupt practices, illegal human experimentation, inhumane treatment, kidnapping and criminal fraud charges everywhere, from what I hear.”“Jesus.”“Yeah. The courts sealed it and withheld our names because we were all minors, the other kids and I, but you might’ve heard of it like, a little under a decade ago? Was a bit of a flurry in the newspapers apparently.”“Oh fuck, maybe?” Staci vaguely recalled some mention of that scandal, now that Joshua mentioned it. Probably from a newspaper headline at a gas station or corner store, fuck if he could recall which one.That was weird, recalling reading about something he as a teenager had read about in passing as a tragic but impersonal event, and now standing before someone who it had affected both deeply and personally.He was perhaps learning a little bit more about empathy in this moment than he cared to, right now.“So, you’re saying that wasn’t fucking traumatic?” Staci asked, raising an eyebrow with a head tilt to go with it to indicate he was very skeptical that someone could skate through that kind of experience without coming out a little banged up mentally or otherwise. Some people could, he knew, and it varied from person to person, but the odds were against that he figured.Tonight was certainly an interesting night for gossip though.“Oh it was, I hate being locked up and watched, and drugged against my will until I’m a catatonic ball huddled in the corner quite a lot. Don’t like being questioned while on drugs either, in hindsight. Not really stuff I expect to encounter in any line of work though, including law enforcement. Locking others up doesn’t bother me, so long as it’s legal and ethical and such.” Those first words were light, as if trying to pass the matter off as a bit of a joke. It didn’t quite land. Joshua shrugged apparently trying to look casual about it, but the motion was a bit stiff and jerky, and he glanced down, hesitating while looking like he wanted to say a bit more.So Staci waited.In retrospect, the nicer thing to do would’ve been to reassure Rook, but well, that was more Joey-intuition than Staci-intuition, particularly right now. He’d be supportive in a minute, his sleep-deprived brain needed a bit longer to remember to do things.Joshua clearly needed a moment to organize his thoughts on what to say, which Staci was fine with, leaning against the counter to one side as he took a sip of his coffee in the meantime.“…the physician and psychologist who looked me over afterwards said I was fine, so I just…” Another abrupt little shrug and an accompanying shake of the head, before Joshua looked at Staci. “…I believe I’m sane, I just…still have the urge to say I’m not crazy, which I know sounds bad.”“…yeah that line never sounds great coming from a potential coworker or someone you have to spend more than the next five seconds with there, rookie,” Staci pointed out dryly. But hoo boy, Joshua…probably got a pass on that after being falsely labeled as in need of medication. “And for the record? Having a mental illness or something doesn’t make a person crazy. They need help, and we are sometimes the ones who need to help them get to the right people who can help them, medical professionals or otherwise.”Well, with that backstory reveal, Staci was inclined to cut Rook some slack on the weirdery, provided Rook managed to get his feet under him in good time. Rattled, but tentatively sound enough so far as early impressions went for what the man had been through.“Yeah. Yeah I know just…they treated us like we were crazy. To be disregarded, like we didn’t have an ounce of common sense between us all. They didn’t listen. Maybe it was also because we were kids,” Joshua said, looking away, “kids that no one cared about if we went missing.”“And that’s fucking wrong by any moral standard. Nobody should fuck up kids like that.” Staci said, followed by another sip. Humans sometimes were absolute assholes, but that was nothing new as a revelation to Staci. He’d certainly seen enough of that growing up. HE glanced down at his cup, noting that it was half empty already and commented offhand, “God I can’t believe we’re having a heart to heart chat at seven in the morning, after a full night shift, and after over time. Fuck, man.”Joshua breathed a laugh, but didn’t look at Staci.…right, he wasn’t reciprocating much was he. Fuck. Time to be a bit more heart-baringly friendly then. “And I agree, you’re not crazy. You seem perfectly sane so far, questionable granola bar tastes aside,—”That got Staci a proper laugh from Rook then, and he smiled in his little moment of social victory. Ah, and Joshua was back to looking him in the eye again. Good, good, they were restoring proper “friendship potential” connections.…ugh, Staci was trying to be friendly. It was too damn early for this. Or late, depending on point of view.Continuing, he said, “—and frankly the shit you’ve been through sounds real rough. I’m not the most eloquent guy even at the best of times let alone at the end of a long night shift, but you seem alright in my book. If you ever want to, I don’t know, talk and have a drink about it, honestly Joey’s the better choice for that but hit me up if you need it.”Eh, close enough. He wasn’t giving out details of his life, it just…didn’t fit the flow of what he said? But maybe another time. Was he leaving Rook hanging with awkward did-I-overshare-feelings? …GOD being nice was hard. But worth the effort, yes. He just wanted to grumble a bit about it right now.“We can swap shitty childhood stories or something sometime with enough beers or something. After we’ve both slept, I can’t be fucking bothered to do serious story time with heavy shit right now. No offense,” He added as an afterthought because that might’ve come off as abrasive. “I’m fine with listening in moments like this if you’re okay with a low level of emotional response and engagement, but I’m gonna be snarky.”“Oh so that’s just you in general, not because oatmeal raisin granola bars offended you in particular then,” Joshua said, looking rather amused at that point.“Hey, those are shitty granola bars, Rook. I just can’t believe you like them.”“I tolerate them, Pratt. I know good fare from shitty fare, and good fare ain’t that. Also, you can call my Joshua you know.”“Staci, then.” He offered a hand as…he didn’t fucking know, sleep-deprivation-addled reflex to what his tired brain thought of as an introduction of sorts? They’d been introduced when Joshua had first showed up of course, and shaken hands then, but it’d been a perfunctory greeting. This was a more welcome to the club house kind of greeting, or something. Fuck, fine, Staci was accepting Rook as one of theirs more officially-ish.Joshua was either too tired or was more of an accepting sort, taking Staci’s hand and giving it a shake. “I’ll buy you a drink sometime then, after we’ve both slept some. You wanna swing by my place later this week to help test out homemade granola bar flavors?”“Sure man, where d’you live?” Staci asked, letting go of the other’s hand to rip open his granola bar with the one hand and his teeth, before taking a bite.“I rent a place outside of town, I’ll text you the address and directions?” Joshua offered.“Yeah, alright. Stay awake until you get home then, probie, and don’t fall asleep on the way back.” Staci said, raising his half-eaten granola bar in a mock-salute that Joshua responded to in kind with his coffee cup as Staci headed back to his desk with what remained of his own coffee. It was tempting to get another cup, but he needed to sleep sooner rather than later once his shift was over, and the end was in sight.Fuck, guess they might be becoming friends then after all.…well, that wasn’t such a bad thing, now was it.Hell, maybe it’d work out. It wasn’t like he was overbooked with friendships galore around here in Hope, after all. Rook’s backstory seemed kinda heavy on shitty things that’d happened to him, but, well…why not. Staci was willing to give it a go if Joshua was. Plus it wasn’t like Staci himself had come from a peerless background either. He took another sip of his coffee and a second bite of the granola bar.…hm, maybe Joshua had a point. Maybe these were too sugar-heavy on the flavor instead of a more chocolate-rich taste, now that he was paying attention.Fuck. Now he couldn’t fucking un-taste that cheap-mass-produced-granola-bar flavor. He shoved the rest of the bar into his mouth grouchily, chewing on it with a bit of spiteful prejudice. At least there wasn’t much left of this one, for what consolation that was worth. Staci really fucking hoped they got better granola bars now, either by Joshua baking them or a different brand, because there went his bland, non-attentive, mindless enjoyment of one shitty junk food snack masquerading as a healthier snack.God fucking damn it.

10 notes · View notes

rockmiyabideusexmachina · 6 years ago

Note

What do you think about Rockman X Dive being delayed to September due to popularity? Is it a good thing? Is Megaman getting revelant again? What about the Megaman Zero / ZX "Legacy Collection" ? Chances for ZX3?

Remember, delays are never a bad thing, necessarily. And being delayed because a lot of people suddenly want to try it, now that the contest and the beta cap has been lifted, certainly at least seems like it bodes well for interest in the game. The whole point of the delay seems to be so that the experience goes off without any issues, along with delivering even more content to try out, so that’s great! Even better for me; pushing it back that week means I’ll actually be on vacation from work and actually be able to play it more than I would have, previously. So the timing works out great, for me! XD

To say that Megaman is relevant again, suppose that’s how you want to look at it. While sales of 11 and the X Legacy Collection have been awesome, if you compare it to AAA titles, you probably wouldn’t say the franchise is, per se. But in terms of the last 9 years or so, since the dark ages of Inafune’s departure and Legends 3′s cancellation, I would certainly say it has revived and is starting to gain a new generation of players interested in it. At least this time around, Capcom’s reviving of old titles - and forcing us old-timers to repurchase the same old games in slightly altered packages - is bringing about new games for many Mega Man series as well. Likely the only way Capcom could gauge interest in getting around to a new ZX game would be to package it with Zero. ZX/ZXA never sold all that well if I remember correctly, so perhaps this is the best sign that a third ZX game could theoretically happen, one day. This world might just be reset after all! And if it does, let the Legends 3 revival rumors go full blast!

In terms of what we’ve seen for the collection so far, in trailers and whatnot:- I’m not all that enamored with the pixel graphics filters. Like, I think for some of the backgrounds it can help, but for the characters, I’m not as keen on it. - Glad that with the art gallery, we’ll finally be able to see ZX official art and concepts in nice resolution! If only we could get those in like an artbook or digital press kits or something after all these years!! *ahem*- Casual mode for the Zero series? What is this making it easy for new players?! LOL Code Name: -Invulnerable Pacifist-- The Z-Chaser bonus content game doesn’t feel all that special, but I guess it’ll be worth a try or two. But just a straightforward time-attack race? That doesn’t appear to grade you on enemies destroyed or health, but just on your time? Meh. Zero’s stages and ranking system are already more in depth than that. It’s like a weakening of Zero’s core gameplay! Why is that a bonus game?- The remix selection feels small, if we’re only getting 10 tracks. Maybe due to the fact we’ve had them remixed so often on official CDs, it just feels a little disappointing. In many ways, I would hope remastered tracks, like from Telos, Mythos, Resonnant Vie, etc. are included as in-game options. Although I doubt it. The samples of 4 that we have heard are all popular tunes, and it certainly sounds like Kitagawa and the team that created the X Legacy remixes are behind this as well. Like the X Legacy remixes, it’s a style that I both love, but need to hear repeatedly for it to grow on me. The guitar sounds great, but the electronica of the songs can be really jarring at first. Like, it feels muddled/distorted and doesn’t mesh with the guitar in places. Or you just expect more live instruments in places, like the piano in Trail on Powdery Snow, than the synth stuff. But once the guitar takes over, and I’m like, yeah, this sounds awesome.

- The limited edition villain art print is pretty sweet. Who knows how the bust will turn out. The Rockman 11 1-Up head certainly was not quite what I expected as a final product, so I don’t know how the half & half bust will look when it’s not just an official art piece spliced together. But I might just have to preorder that.

- I’m not sold on the 5-in-1 Legacy box set until I can see what the box will even look like. Like, that’s still too expensive to rebuy all those Legacy Collection titles again, and to just get a Rockman 11 script which doesn’t seem that impressive, and an acrylic print of that Game Informer art. Right now, that just feels like an easy pass.

#Ask #Ask Miyabi Anything #Rockman #Megaman #Rockman X DiVE #Megaman X DiVE #Rockman Zero #Rockman ZX #Rockman Zero/ZX Legacy Collection #Megaman Zero/ZX Legacy Collection

9 notes · View notes

tahlreth · 8 years ago

Note

Winteriron Bakery AU where Tony is the owner of Stark Bakeries and falls for Bucky. Steve and Sam tease Bucky a lot because Bucky always goes out of his way to visit the cake shop. Granted the cakes are delicious but it's way out of Bucky's workplace. Rhodey and Pepper tease Tony a lot whenever Bucky comes. Bucky is always blushing when he talks to Tony. One day Bucky shouts that he loves Tony. Tony immediately agrees to date him. Fluffy, cute story. Happy ending.

AN: Woooow this got totally out of hand. XD Also, it’s barely edited because I’m awful. But yeah. Probably angstier than the asker intended. Sorry! But it’s still pretty fluffy sometimes? idk Hope you enjoy it! Because it is super long, there is a ‘Read More’

Bucky hadn’t been home before 10:30 at night in almost a month and a half.

It wasn’t that he was pulling overtime, though he’d managed to fool his roommates for just over a week with that cover story. Evading their questions had gotten trickier after that, but Bucky persevered for two more blessed weeks. It wasn’t that he was ashamed or embarrassed about where he was spending his time… it was just that he didn’t need Stevie or Sam ruining everything. He’d been certain that as soon as they knew where he spent his time, they’d show up and figure out why he was going there. Once they figured out, their ‘I’m a little shit’ switches would be flipped and the teasing would begin. And yeah, they wouldn’t really mean any harm, and once they both settled they’d be supportive about it, but… It was just that he didn’t need them destroying his new happy place.

He’d discovered the little cafe completely by accident. One day, one horrible awful shitty day, he’d just started to drive. It was something that had always helped him calm down, and he hadn’t had any specific destination in mind. He just… drove, taking turns when the urge hit him, getting further and further away from both his work and his apartment. Bucky hadn’t even thought about stopping until his stomach started to complain, which was when he started looking for diners or maybe a donut place.

What he’d found instead was a shop named 'We Sell Fucking Cakes’, except the 'u’ on the sign had been replaced with an adorable looking cupcake capped with what looked like a wrench. Intrigued, he’d found a place to park and found his curiosity further peaked by a poster in the window that announced they’d defeated 146 attempts to force them to change their name. It had seemed like Bucky’s kind of place despite the cutesy looking decor - when he’d opened the door, it had been to the sound of hammers hitting an anvil instead of a bell. He’d thought it was the weirdest and cooling fucking thing ever.

And then… then he’d fallen in love.

Not with the food or the coffee, though both were pretty amazing. Their menu of 'real’ food was pretty limited - some sandwiches, one kind of soup every day, the occasional taco or casserole special. Where they really shone was in their desert selection. It was as varied as the baked goods were delicious, and Bucky often wondered why they hadn’t opened up a bakery that was only a bakery.

“Because I need coffee like I need air,” the resident genius baker had told him with a shrug and a twinkle in his eye. He’d also had flour streaked across his nose and on his cheek, and Bucky had ached to brush it away with a few tender swipes of his thumb. “If we sell it, I get to drink it for free. Duh.” It wasn’t fair that the wink he’d given before disappearing into the kitchen made Bucky a little weak in the knees.

It was for him that Bucky made the hour-long drive everyday after work. He’d been purposefully vague whenever he was asked about his job and where he lived. From the way Pepper’s eyes danced, he wasn’t fooling the woman who handled both the register and all of 'We Sell Fucking Cakes’ marketing. She and Rhodes (who the guy Bucky desperately wanted to impress called Rhodey) were very clearly aware of his gigantic crush, and they were always making sly comments whenever the man who’d stolen Bucky’s heart came out from the back to mingle. At first, Bucky had fucking panicked, sure that they were going to ruin this as surely as Stevie and Sam would.

Thank fucking Christ that Tony seemed oblivious as to why they were teasing him the way they were.

Tony (whose last name he didn’t know, but it was fine, Tony could just take his) sometimes blushed or darted quick looks Bucky’s way, but he seemed oblivious to Bucky’s feelings. That was both a blessing and a curse. Because sure it meant Bucky was too chicken-shit to ask him on a date, but it also meant that they could talk without things getting awkward. Tony not knowing about Bucky’s infatuation meant he could sit in the warm, welcoming cafe for a couple hours a day. It meant they weren’t avoiding each other’s eyes or pretending things didn’t get weird when one person was crushing and the other person wasn’t.

And Tony definitely wasn’t. He came out and talked to Bucky all the time, but he tended to talk to most of the patrons. Everyone loved meeting the man behind the baked goods, and Tony seemed to thrive on the attention. He preened and boasted, and it was so well-deserved that Bucky found it endearing instead of ignoring. The fact that he lingered or even sat at Bucky’s table was easily explained away; Tony was a nerd. A total, complete, unapologetic geek. In Bucky he’d found a kindred spirit, and their discussions usually revolved around things like Star Wars, Star Trek, Dune, and various books and video games. They even had a book club of sorts, where they traded beat up paperbacks and then argued over what the author was trying to say. It was friendly, it was Tony wanting someone to talk nerdy to, and not anything more.

Bucky was the one who wanted a romantic relationship, and he was the one who was too scared of losing what they had to ask for it.

It was fine though. He liked being Tony’s friend. Eventually his crush would (probably) fade, and he’d get to keep Tony’s friendship for a lot longer than dating would likely last. So it was fine. He had a great little spot to hang out, eat dinner, and spend all his money at. He had Tony stopping by his table for chats, and he had Pepper and Rhodey shooting him knowing glances without giving up his crush to the object of his affections. Bucky had it good, really, and he was thankful for it.

Then Sam and Stevie got curious and way too nosy, and he knew that his good thing was living on borrowed time.

~.~.~

“Hey! This is the street that goes to our apartment! Where the hell are you going, Buck?”

“To drop you punks off,” Bucky said, trying his hardest not to gnash his teeth. “Your fucking car’s not even having any problems, I’d bet my goddamn life on it. You and Stevie are just trying to be nosy.” He growled when Sam leaned forward and peeked around his headrest, hands gripping Bucky’s shoulders. “Get the fuck off of me while I’m driving.”

“Awww, someone’s being a grumpy bear,” Sam teased, grinning at Bucky when their eyes met in the rearview mirror. “C'mon Bucky. Take us to your secret hideout!”

“Someone’s going to murder you in your sleep tonight,” he muttered as he tried to shrug Sam’s hands off. “I ain’t taking you anywhere but home.”

“If you drop us off, we’ll only tail you in Sam’s car,” Stevie pointed out calmly from the passenger’s seat. He looked highly unimpressed when Bucky whirled to face him and bared his teeth in a snarl. He even threw a fake yawn in for effect, and Bucky was officially Not Amused.

“I knew it! I fucking knew you were lying, you assholes. Gonna murder you both now.”

Despite the threat, he took a turn that would eventually lead him to 'We Sell Fucking Cakes’. Steve meant the threat, and the pair of them would be impossible if he forced them to sneak after him. Even if he just stayed home for a day, they’d just tail him the next, or maybe the one after that. He was totally unwilling to give up his favorite cafe or his crush for as long as it would take the two idiots to lose interest. So he just drove, putting up with their teasing and their rambunctious behaviors - he wished they would just fuck already to work out some of that tension sizzling between them.

When they realized just how far away the cafe was, he sank down in his seat, shoulders nearly touching his ears in a show of defensiveness. They wisely didn’t comment, but he could feel their judgement. If they thought he didn’t see the knowing looks they were exchanging then they were as stupid as he was annoyed by this turn of events. They’d know that he wasn’t going to this place just for the food and the atmosphere. Bucky didn’t think it would take them longer than a few minutes to realize that he was going there for Tony, and he really, really didn’t want to deal with that. 'We Sell Fucking Cakes’ was his - he didn’t want to share, not even with his best friend and their slightly more shitty roommate. He wanted to keep it and his massive crush for himself, and he lowkey hated Sam and Stevie for putting him in this position.

He flirted with the idea of just taking them somewhere else, but they’d know.

Observant assholes.

They got to the cafe far too soon for Bucky’s taste - once he’d killed the engine, he locked the doors before the other men could leave. “If either of you do anything to ruin this for me,” he growled, looking as menacing as he possibly could. He had it on good authority that that was pretty damn menacing, and Steve and Sam looked suitably concerned. “I won’t just murder you - you will beg me for death before I’m done with you. I’m not kidding, Stevie, so you can stop rolling your fucking eyes. Keep all your fucking commentary to yourselves - I don’t need any help or teasing from the peanut gallery. I like this place, and if you embarrass me to the point that I can’t come back, you will be on my shit list for the rest of your shortened lives.”

Before they could reply, he unlocked the doors and exited the car, slamming the door shut behind him. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he stalked toward the cafe - his mood lightened a little when he saw that the number of attempts to get Tony to change the name had gone up to almost two hundred. Maybe when they hit that total he’d throw the staff a little party…

The sound of Steve and Sam walking behind him caused his mood to tank again. Bucky knew that he looked grumpy at the very least. He might even have his 'murder face’ on, but he couldn’t help it, not when he was sure this was going to go terribly. Steve snorted when he heard the sound of a forge that announced their arrival, and he wanted to throttle the idiot. Tony had inserted lots of little quirks like that - his second love was engineering, and he wasn’t ashamed to make that obvious. His shoulders were close to his ears again, and he stormed over to his usual table and flung himself into his seat. And it was his, at least at his usual time of day; it was always empty and waiting for him, which he appreciated. When he was sitting there he could sort of see into the kitchen, so he got little peeks at Tony happily baking and puttering around.

Steve and Sam paused, both looking over at him in confusion. Despite the way he was glowering, arms now crossed over his chest, he jerked his chin towards the front counter. Even if he was pissed that they’d forced him to bring them here, he wouldn’t let them leave until they’d tried and praised the food and coffee the cafe served. Once he’d calmed down a little from his snit, Bucky would be placing an order of his own. He could feel two more pairs of eyes on him, judging and concerned in equal measure - he hoped like hell Pepper and Rhodes wouldn’t take his bad mood personally. Not even catching a glimpse of Tony was enough to make him smile; he just slouched down in his chair, wishing the floor would open up and swallow him.

Because even if his shitty roommates were being normal and not terrible just then, he was pretty sure that would go out the window as soon as they met Tony. It had been… a while, a long while, since Bucky’d shown interest in anyone. The pair of them would know he was into Tony right away (so sue him, he had a type) and they’d be so fucking delighted that their manners and common sense would fly right out the window. God, Pepper and Rhodey might even join in, and they’d all be making fun of him and his crush, and Tony couldn’t stay oblivious forever.

He’d worked himself into a state that was just shy of a full-blown panic by the time Steve and Sam joined him at his table. His table that now he had to share, and Sam’s stupid head was blocking his view of the kitchen. He briefly thought about forcing them to change seats - Stevie was short enough that he wouldn’t be an obstruction - but realized that would only give them more ammunition. If he went up to the counter he could maybe take a peek in and give Tony a greeting that could also be a warning… When he looked over that way, he met Pepper’s eyes - she mouthed an 'are you okay?’ and he could only shrug in response.

“So this is where you’ve been coming every day?” Sam asked, sounding both confused and deriding. “It’s a cafe, man. Can’t be anything that special - we drove an hour for this?”

“Hey,” Steve said, knocking his shoulder into Sam’s arm. “Don’t knock it 'til you’ve tried the food. It smells great in here - if it all tastes even half as good, I’m gonna have Buck start bringing stuff home for me.” Bucky shot a grateful smile his way, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. Maybe… maybe this could be okay. Maybe he could get through this relatively unscathed. Tony didn’t always come out right away, and Bucky hoped that this was one of those days. If he could hurry his nosy friends out of here, he could pass this place off as a quirk - somewhere quiet that he’d stumbled on and used to unwind.

Unfortunately, just as he’d started to relax the universe proved that it hated him.

“Bucky!” Tony sounded so happy to see him, just like he always did. For the first time it made Bucky want to run, and he thought seriously about returning the greeting gruffly just to throw Steve and Sam off the scent. But it was Tony, and it wasn’t his fault that Bucky was in a crappy mood.

“Hey Tony,” he answered, looking up with a smile that he knew was too soft. Sure enough, he saw his roommates go stiff from the corner of his eye, and he just knew that soon they’d have matching, shit-eating grins on their faces. His crush was standing by his table, absolutely beaming at him; despite everything, Bucky felt himself start to cheer up a little bit. “Saw you’re getting close to two hundred.” Tony’s expression changed to one of pride, and his attention was still completely focused on Bucky - he hadn’t glanced at Steve or Sam even once. “Maybe when you get there you should change the sign.”

“Noooo! Not you too Buck. I thought you liked the name,” he said, pouting even as his eyes danced with laughter.

“Not the name, Tones,” he soothed, straightening in his chair. “But you should put a sheet over the words, get people’s hopes up. Then, while they’re still smug in their victory… you can very dramatically pull the covering away to reveal that you’ve replaced the cupcake with a cookie.”

Tony practically cackled when the full genius of Bucky’s plan hit him, and he couldn’t help but duck his head to hide his pleased smile and the way he was blushing just a little bit. Beneath the sound of Tony’s delight, however, he heard Sam give a low wolf whistle. Nobody would ever be able to prove that he was the one to deliver a vicious kick to the idiot’s shin.

“You have the best fucking ideas, Bucky-babe! We are definitely doing that - maybe we’ll reset the counter to zero too… oh! Sorry, I’m being rude. You’ve got friends. Hello, friends of Bucky. I’m Tony - owner and resident baker extraordinaire.” Bucky half expected Tony to bow, and when the man side-eyed him with a grin tugging at his lips, Bucky knew that he’d been sorely tempted to do just that. “Buck’s never brought anyone with him before. I was starting to think that maybe he didn’t think this place was good enough to tell anyone about. Which reminds me!” He turned back to Bucky with a scowl, putting his hands on his hips. “What the hell was that book you had me read? That was such bullshit, and I’m pissed you made me read that with my own two eyeballs.”

“Why should I be the only one to suffer?”

“Ass. Anyway! So yeah, I’m Tony. I see you already ordered - tell me how you like the cake, friend one,” he said to Sam, cocking his head to the left. “I used a new recipe for the ganache, and I’m not quite sure about it. Reviews have been good so far, but I’m always open to more opinions. And friend two - why would you get such a sweet drink when you’re eating something sweet enough to give some people a toothache? I’ll go get you something more bitter - you can try both and then tell me how right I am. Do you want usual A or usual B, Bucky-babe?”

Steve and Sam were staring at the whirlwind that was Tony, and Bucky was probably taking too much pleasure in their gobsmacked expressions. “I think maybe I’ll switch things up and take not-usual C. And this is Sam - friend one - and Stevie, er, Steve - friend two. They suspected me of nefarious plots and decided to tag along to foil any evil plans.”

“They’re too late for that - already read the damned book. Nice to meet you, Sam and Steve! I’m Tony - wait, told you that already - and that’s Pepper at the counter. Rhodey went to run an errand, but he’ll be back soon. And now I’m off to get Bucky’s order and a not-so-sweet drink for Steve. Be right back!”

Tony left as quickly as he’d come, and Bucky watched him go with way more interest than was appropriate for someone who was just a friend.

“Wow. Just… wow. Guess we know why… Bucky-babe,” Sam’s voice was a drawl, and he got another kick to the shin for his trouble. Bucky was also wearing his fiercest glare, because Tony was the only person allowed to call him that ever. “Is driving an hour to come here.”

“It is all becoming clear,” Steve agreed, wearing a wicked little smirk that could only mean bad things. “Have ya asked him out yet, or are ya pining?”

“I’m not pining,” he said, flinching at the pout even he could hear in his voice.

“He’s pining,” Sam remarked in an aside to Steve. “Probably has been since he started coming, poor guy. I think we need to help put him out of his misery, Steve.”

“Don’t you fucking dare.”

“I dunno if even our words of wisdom’d be enough,” Steve mourned, knocking Sam’s arm again. “Maybe we oughta watch. And laugh.”

“This Tony might have untoward thoughts about Bucky, man. I think we need to find out what exactly his intentions are.”

“’S a good idea. You wanna be good cop or bad cop?”

“Good cop. You’re scarier than me, even if you are a shrimp.”

“Will both of you just stop? Please?” Bucky hissed, feeling a blush start to creep over his cheeks. “I told you - don’t ruin this for me! I like coming here–”

“Doesn’t seem like there’s been much 'coming’, not with you so tense.”

“Shut up Stevie.”

“New plan - let’s help the man get laid. Tony seems like he might be into it.”

“That’s a much better plan. Operation: Let Bucky Come Here has now begun.”

“… what the fuck is that name, Steve?”

“Shaddup. I’ll come up with something better later.”

“I’m kicking the both of you out and I’m gonna get roommates who aren’t such fucking trolls.”

“Oh, you guys live together?” Tony’s cheery voice made him jump in surprise - he hadn’t realized the man had come back. Bucky felt his cheeks heat as he prayed that Tony hadn’t heard the rest of their conversation. “Then maybe you can help me solve a little mystery that me and Rhodey have been working on. Pep’s not super interested, but I think that’s 'cause she already has it figured out.” As he spoke, he set a plate with two huge chocolate chip cookies in front of Bucky, along with a tall glass of ice cold milk. Steve got a cup of coffee that probably only had a little bit of sugar and cream in it - he knew from experience that it actually paired really well with the pie that Steve had chosen to get. “Where the hell do you guys live?” Tony plopped down in the only free chair, the one that just happened to be next to Bucky. It was a struggle not to sling a casual arm over the back of it.

“He hasn’t told ya?” Steve asked slyly, shooting a look in his direction. “I’d have thought he’d be giving you directions so ya could drop by sometime.” Unlike Sam, his best friend was a lot better at evading Bucky’s kicks even when he couldn’t see them coming. Tony just looked a little confused before shrugging.

“He’s a private guy,” he said, looking over to meet Bucky’s eye with a smile. “I didn’t want to push.”

“Oh, but you have no idea pumping my friends for information?” Steve’s smirk made him realize that he’d chosen his words poorly.

“If you’re going to be… pumping anyone, it really oughta be Buck.” Before he could yell at his friend, Steve quickly bounced to the actual subject of the conversation. “We live about an hour away, actually. It’s a nice drive though. Might hafta stop in for myself sometime.” Bucky gave him a 'you do and you’re dead’ look, but Stevie happily ignored it.

“An hour away? Huh! Never seeing you around ever suddenly makes a lot more sense. Mystery solved.” Tony blinked, then looked over at Bucky with wide brown eyes that he could stare into forever. “Wait. So do you work nearby, or like… halfway between here and your house?”

He promptly occupied himself with eating his cookies. There was no fucking way he was answering that - he’d much rather stare at his snack and eat. Besides… he was sure Sam and Stevie would be jumping right in.

Sam quickly proved him right.

“Nah. Bucky actually works in the opposite direction,” he told Tony with a grin, leaning back in his chair. With a casual ease that Bucky envied, he draped his arm over the back of Steve’s chair, completely missing the way Steve’s cheeks turned a little pink. “We were wondering where he kept disappearing to. Now that I’m here, I can definitely see the appeal.” That drove Steve’s blush away, and the small blond went so far as to elbow Sam in the stomach. Bucky approved, because the only one he wanted to notice Tony’s appeal was himself. Sam could fuck off and find his own crush, or he could finally admit that he wanted Steve and put them all out of their misery.

Bucky flicked his eyes up at Tony, who was slack-jawed as he stared at Bucky. He felt himself start to blush again, and this time the heat rose all the way to the tips of his ears. After a second of the scrutiny, his shoulders started to inch upward and he started to slouch over, wishing that he’d murdered his two friends before this day could happen. “So you… you drive…” Tony sounded a little faint, and Bucky wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole. “You’ve been here every day except weekends. Bucky-babe, that’s two hours in a car every day. I know you like my baking, but holy shit. You don’t have to go that far! Fuck, I could send you home with a box of deserts to tide you over for a few days or something.”

“… I like it here,” Bucky told him gruffly. “’S nice and quiet, and I like to drive anyway. Don’t mind that part. Plus I get to see you. And Pepper and Rhodes,” he added in a hurry. “I’d miss our book club.”

“That doesn’t happen every day!” Tony told him, flailing in his seat. “We could schedule days, you dope, so you don’t have to drive so far all the freaking time. That has to waste so much gas!”

Bucky wanted to tell him that it wasn’t a waste, that he didn’t mind using the gas or buying enough snacks and coffee each visit to justify his several hour stays. The words to let Tony know that he liked when they just talked, or when Tony was dealing with some irate patron and made faces at Bucky as soon as they turned away. It was nice, when they caught each other’s eye while Tony was working in the kitchen - Tony didn’t wink every time, but whenever it did happen his stomach started to flip and his heart would beat just a little faster. Seeing Pepper and Rhodes was nice too, and their teasing was a hell of a lot more subtle than Sam and Stevie’s.

That wasn’t completely fair, because his roommates would settle after a few days of being merciless, but still. Rhodes and Pepper were almost as big a draw as Tony was.

He’d sort of thought Tony might enjoy having him around too. Maybe not the same way Bucky did, since he was so far out of Bucky’s league it wasn’t funny, but he’d thought they had made a connection. They were friendly, if maybe not exactly friends - they’d probably have to exchange numbers and see each other outside of the cafe to claim that much. Tony always stopped to talk to him and had started using Bucky as a test subject for new recipes. They had inside jokes and running arguments about a multitude of subjects, and he had really thought that Tony was glad to see him whenever he walked through the door.

Judging by Tony’s efforts to convince him to stop in less frequently, he’d been wrong.

“I like coming here,” he reiterated, jaw clenching once he’d bitten the words out. “Thought I was welcome to stop by any time. Sorry for bothering you so much.”

Tony didn’t immediately rush to say that Bucky wasn’t bothering him. He didn’t say anything at all, just sat there and looked uncomfortable, and the atmosphere had turned awkward. Steve and Sam were both squirming, which fucking served them right. This was their fault - if they’d just kept their noses out of Bucky’s business, he’d still think Tony liked him, if only as a friend. Maybe some people would appreciate knowing the truth, but he’d been happy with his ignorance, thanks. They’d ruined it, just like he’d thought they would. After a few seconds of silence, Bucky shrugged and dug around in his pocket so he could set a few bills on the table.

“Thanks for the cookies,” he managed as he stood and walked away. The sound of a hammer and anvil irritated him when he yanked the door open - what the fuck kind of noise was that for a cafe? Rhodes was coming in as he was going out - he ignored the man’s smile and his greeting, walking past him with nothing more than a shrug. On reaching the safety of his car (doors locked and windows rolled up all the way just in case), he took just a few seconds to breathe, resting his forehead against the steering wheel.

Once he’d gotten himself under control, he started the car and headed for the apartment, not waiting for Sam or Stevie.

They could find their own damned way home.

~.~.~

Bucky didn’t go to the cafe on Wednesday or Thursday; when Stevie had ordered him to go back on Friday, he’d flipped his friend off and hidden in his room for the rest of the night. Both of his roommates had been apologetic, but that didn’t fix anything. He’d lost one of the few places outside the apartment where he’d felt comfortable and happy, and he’d lost what probably could have been a really great friendship once he’d gotten over his crush. There was no way he was going back there just to be embarrassed and hurt when Tony avoided him while Pep and Rhodes looked on with pitying eyes. That was the only way another visit played out, and he wasn’t interested.

By the time Sunday rolled around, he was snapping and snarling at Sam and Steve whenever they spoke to him. He felt uncomfortable in his own skin, angry and twitchy and just all around miserable. His friends tried to be understanding, but the way they were hovering and being so damned nice only irritated the shit out of him. Bucky finally told them to leave him the hell alone and just fuck already; when he slammed his door it was too loud in the deafening silence he’d left behind him.

Monday passed by in tentative, awkward silences and long glances and Tuesday was more of the same. None of them seemed able to stand being in the same room as each other, which meant Bucky was back to being sequestered in his own space. He lose himself in his work and mindless internet use, back to having bad days and no longer comfortable with trying to drive away his feelings. Not after how it had worked out the last time.

Before he knew it, three weeks had passed in a listless haze and he realized that something had to give. He couldn’t keep being an asshole to his two best friends. Bucky knew that he owed them a hell of an apology, and that he needed to find a way to get over this before he lost Stevie and Sam’s friendship completely. He hadn’t really meant to go back to 'We Sell Fucking Cakes’, but he passed by the turn that would take him home, and he was halfway there before he started to question the unconscious decision. At that point, he figured he might as well keep going.

Wasn’t like he had anything at the cafe left to lose.

~.~.~

The count had reached 195, and Bucky hated knowing that he wouldn’t be around to see it hit 200. He didn’t find the anvil and hammer sound as annoying as he’d tried to tell himself it had always been. In a weird way, it was kind of like coming home. An old one, anyway, one that you’d left behind and couldn’t ever really get back. The place was busy, which was a blessing. Or it was, until he saw a young couple sitting at what had been his table; that hit him like a punch right to the gut. At least Pepper didn’t seem to notice him right away, and he pulled his ball cap down over his eyes and kept his head down too, trying to figure out what he might say when he was finally at the counter and had to make an order.

Bucky was halfway through planning a garbled speech when it happened. He heard Tony before he saw him, and he hunched in on himself further. There was something wrong with Tony, he could tell that almost immediately. His voice, usually so animated and full of life, was much duller than Bucky could ever remember hearing it. When he peeked up at him, Tony looked… well, he looked sad. There were bags under his eyes and he drooped instead of carrying himself with effortless grace.

Shit, had something terrible happened while he was gone? Someone could be sick - Tony could be sick - or maybe there was finally enough pressure to change the name. Maybe the business was going under despite how busy they seemed, or maybe Tony had been dealing with the shitty family he’d dropped vague hints about. Maybe he’d been reading another shitty book.

Maybe… maybe he missed Bucky as much as Bucky missed him.

The thought gave him a burst of courage, and even if he was wrong that was okay. If he just… if he tried, no matter what happened, he could move on. It would give him some closure, and he could work on not being such a prick to his friends. So yeah. It was time to take a chance.

As a bonus, Tony had always been kind of dramatic. He’d probably eat this shit up, which could increase his chances of success. Challenge accepted.

Stepping out of the line, he whipped his hat off - he was pretty sure he didn’t imagine the gasp that left Pepper and Tony’s lips. Keeping his movements exaggerated and theatrical he tossed it to the floor and (just for effect) shrugged off his unbuttoned plaid shirt as well. It had been a busy day in the shop, which meant he’d gotten sweaty enough for his tank top to cling to his upper body, and he knew damn well that he was displaying his muscles to their best advantage. He didn’t even mind the oil and dirt streaked over his skin, because Tony’s eyes had gone wide and his pupils had dilated; if he was happy with what he saw, Bucky was happy to let him see it.

The other patrons were muttering now, and he was sure more than a couple of them thought he was insane, but he didn’t give two shits. He only cared what Tony and (maybe) Pepper and Rhodey thought. Refusing to feel as silly as he might look, he pointed at Tony, who obligingly put one hand over his heart.

“I came here every day to see you!” Bucky declared loudly, putting all the confidence he didn’t really feel into his voice to keep it steady. “The first time I came in here was an accident - I just needed to drive. Then I came in, and you had chocolate all over your cheek and it was fucking adorable. After I ordered you came out and talked to me for half an hour about Stargate Atlantis, because you’d had a marathon the day before. It was awesome, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a piece of cake as good as that one. It was orgasmic, Tony. You bake the best shit ever, but that wasn’t why I made the hour drive every day!”

Tony was still staring, shock warring with a tiny smile, cheeks slowly turning pink. He could hear a couple women cooing at him, and Pepper looked pleased as punch even with one hand covering her mouth.

“I came because…” he dropped his arm and shrugged, scuffing the toe of one boot over the floor. “I came because I wanted to see you, and I wanted to talk to you. I couldn’t get up the courage to ask you out, but–”

“Yes!” Bucky blinked at Tony’s interruption, and for a few seconds they just stared at each other. Tony’s face was turning a very appealing shade of pink, and God Bucky wanted to kiss him.

“What?”

“I mean… what? You… you weren’t… nothing! It’s nothing.”

“Jesus Christ.” Now Bucky was staring at Pepper, because he’d never heard her use anything even remotely like foul language before. “You are the two most frustrating men I’ve ever met. Bucky!” He snapped to attention without even thinking about it, eyes on her. “Did you really think Tony was coming out to talk to you for the hell of it? Do you honestly believe that he comes out and spends that much time talking to just anyone? Why are you such a moron? And Tony!” It was such a relief when Pepper shifted her attention, because she was a lot scarier than he’d have thought. Tony shrank beneath the weight of her gaze, his eyes darting from her to Bucky and back. “The man was driving an hour each way to come and see you! He picked his table so he could see you working in the kitchen! He brought you books and movies and weird geeky things that I didn’t understand at all but that you loved. He was not coming for your cupcakes, you idiot. You are driving me insane, and I’m tired of trying to gently nudge you into realizing that you both have giant, embarrassing crushes on each other.” When she pointed to the kitchen, her finger was shaking with what was probably rage. “Get your asses into that kitchen and sort this out, or so help me.”

She didn’t need to tell them twice, and they both booked it to the kitchen to the sound of their 'audience’ clapping with a few wolf whistles thrown into the mix.

People were such assholes.

Once they were in the kitchen, Bucky took hold of Tony’s hand and tugged him into a corner he knew for a fact wasn’t visible to anyone else. He probably should have let go when they were tucked away, but instead he focused on tangling their fingers together. One of them should probably talk too, but they were busy avoiding eye contact. He tried a couple times, even opened his mouth, but the words didn’t want to come. Pepper was going to end up murdering them both at the rate they were going.

Talking was maybe not the way to go here, so Bucky gave up on them for a while. Using his hold on Tony’s hand, he carefully pulled the shorter man into his chest and settled his chin on the top of his head. Tony melted against him almost immediately and wrapped his free arm around Bucky’s waist. They both took a deep breath at almost the same time, and he couldn’t help but start to chuckle. Tony started laughing a few seconds later, and Bucky let go of his hand to wrap both arms around him instead. Moving carefully, he backed them up until he could lean back against the wall, fingers rubbing gentle circles into Tony’s back.

“Pepper’s my new favorite,” he murmured at last. “I’m going to bring her presents so I’m in her good graces when she eventually takes over the world.” Tony snorted, then pressed his nose against Bucky’s neck.

“Why can’t I be your favorite?”

“… you’re my favorite when it comes to things of a relation-date-ship-romantic stuff,” Bucky said after a moment of thought. “Don’t wanna kiss Pepper the way I wanna kiss you, that’s for sure. She’s more my favorite potential future dictator.”

“She would be a just and fair ruler,” Tony allowed, shifting his hands to rest them on Bucky’s hips. “So… you do wanna kiss me?”

“Wanna kiss the fuck out of you.”

“Why didn’t you, you know… do anything about that?”

“I didn’t think you wanted to kiss me.”

“Dude. Really? Pep and Rhodey have been teasing me about you for weeks. I thought you were, you know, politely ignoring it.”

“No… I thought you didn’t realize that they were teasing me.” Tony pulled back just enough that they could stare at each other in disbelief. Pepper was right - they were both idiots. Bucky huffed out a quiet laugh, then shrugged one shoulder. “Okay, so your friends were too subtle, and my friends were like a wrecking ball to the face.”

“Oh my God, I wanted to die.”

“Me too. … I wanted you to come after me when I left,” he admitted quietly, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling. “Or at least say I wasn’t bothering you, or that me coming here wasn’t a waste.”

“… I didn’t know how to do it without shoving the crush I thought was hopeless in your face. And then you were just gone, and I had no idea how to find you.”

“Well we can’t have that. We’re swapping numbers before I head out. And, uh. Do you wanna make a da–”

“Yes! Yes to that. That’s what I tried to say yes to earlier, only then you acted like maybe you weren’t trying to ask me out so I got really embarrassed and there were a whole bunch of people watching which, you know, was kind of great. Especially when you took that other shirt off,” he emphasized the words by skimming his hands up and then down Bucky’s arms. “Like, they’re all super jealous of me now, and it was kind of romantic, declaring your all-consuming love for me in front of so many people–”

“Woah, hold on. I wanna date you, kiss the fuck outta you and maybe get to know you well enough to fall in love and all that junk. 'All-consuming love’ at first sight is for like… Romeo and Juliet. I want something real.” Tony was gaping at him, and Bucky shrugged self-consciously. “Or. Uh. Something like that.”

“That is so much better, and yes please. So before you leave we’ll set up a date and get each other’s numbers, right?

"Yup.”

“You like me and I like you, and we’re gonna date - exclusively - with the aim of maybe making it a long term thing. Right?”

“Mm. That’s the idea. You cool with that?”

“So cool. Like, ice age cool. Details are sorted, kiss the fuck out of me now please.” Grinning, Bucky cupped the nape of Tony’s neck, toying with the ends of Tony’s hair. When he didn’t immediately go in for the kiss, Tony began to pout at him, then lifted up onto his toes to steal one of his own. Bucky evaded the attempts several times, then swooped in to catch Tony’s mouth in a kiss that turned heated in a matter of moments. After all the dancing around they’d done, Bucky was very okay with diving into the deep end when it came to physical displays of affection.

When Pepper came to check on them twenty minutes later, Tony was sitting on one counter, shirt rucked up so Bucky could run his hands over bare skin. Bucky himself was locked between Tony’s legs, tank top on the floor and Tony’s heels digging into the back of his thighs. They were both breathless with new bruises on their necks that showed they were taken, kiss-bruised lips never leaving each other for long.

She wasn’t too impressed with their lack of concern when it came to keeping food surfaces sanitary, but Bucky didn’t mind the lecture they got. He wasn’t even fazed when she ordered him to help Tony wipe the kitchen down; the way he whistled while he worked seemed to actively irritate her.

Why would he give a shit when he had an all-day date with Tony set up for Saturday and a box full of treats to apologize to his roommates with?

Life was good, and he was really glad Tony had decided to sell fucking cakes.

#anonymous prompt #my writing #my fic #winteriron #Tony Stark #Bucky Barnes #Tony Stark x Bucky Barnes #non-powered au #Tony has a bakery #they're both oblivious #boys in love #boys kissing

168 notes · View notes

minyo129 · 8 years ago

Text

{Fanacc}170902 SHINee World 2017 ~FIVE~ Special Edition in Tokyo Dome

Minho is soooooo much more hype than usual rn and it's really no mystery as to why. Bless him we don't deserve him. [ cr:keys_knees ]

*Taemin's hair was too messy and the fans started laughing! Minho went over and tidied it for him

They are doing Lucifer with 4 very young dancers!!!!! Super nice

Yes, they are doing the stages with 4 members but Onew's part remains (music). Only for certain songs, a dancer will stand-in for Onew

SHINee's selective predebut/debut pics/after debut pics are showing over the VCR

SHINee are on a SHINee bus and going around the dome (shooting their signed coloured balls

Minho is looking so cute like a little boy in the cap and denim top (that looks like a raincoat!)

During Your Number, Minho was the one who ended and dialed a number. He went "SHINee World , (we/i) really like you!"

SHINee says this is the first time they are gonna perform "Tell me Your name" (and minho pretended to be very nervous)

There's this "bunch/strands" of taemin's hair that keeps "standing" up so the members teased him : "is this your keypoint today?"

Key pointed to the fans and then went "muacks"

The four of them are holding hands a while ago and walked together to thank the fans *awwwww*

Them : we hope that we will come back to the stage very soon as 5 members Key seems to be holding back his tears. Can't bear to see his face like this [ cr:minhoclove]

the main stage just picked itself up and rolled all the way to the back of the stadium wtf wtf

taemin's hair was sticking straight up and minho fixed it

the little kids from the JAT vcr are on stage dancing to lucifer with SHINee

when SHINee came out the screen split in half horizontally and SHINee were on a platform that came out from behind and lowered down it was really high up

it's really hot in the dome SHINee are drenched lol seriously key flipped his hair and sweat went flying OTL

minho tossed the prop cup to taemin and he totally failed at catching it and it went flying during your number

key almost fell during his chair move during your number again... he didn't, but almost did he was laughing after

the tell me your name choreo is sexy omfg omfg rip there are cameras in the stage pointed up at SHINee and they are thrusting towards the stage (and the cameras)

SHINee really worked so hard to pull this concert together and they gave it their 110% despite the circumstance, i'm so thankful and proud

The concert was such a roller coaster ride of emotions... Tell Me Your Name will haunt me forever.. and i'll see it again tomorrow [ cr: keyoemi ]

Everyone screaming for Onew so loud when he's on the screen

Minho being extra lol Love it

They're showing OLD photo shoot footage while they talk about each member

During Juilete Minho was playing around with the band too. So cute & Key and Taemin were playing with each other XD

Minho is making fun of the way Jjong talks AGAIN LOL

Minho covered some of Onew's lines!

MINHO WAS AMAZING. WHAT EVEN. GET IT FLAMING CHARISMA. Minho is giving hearts like crazy

They showed Minho's face when Taemin was talking. He looked totally confused LOL

Key and Minho started singing and dancing to All Night as they left the stage Lol

Taemin and Jonghyun took off their jackets! Sleeveless shirts

NEW VERSION OF KEEPING LOVE AGAIN. Minho had an extra rap?

Jinki is in the ending practice video [ cr: @justrolyn ]

Jjong mentioned Onews name but rly just stated he wasn't there. They don't cover his parts and ther a lots of vcr with him too

There's a backup dancer for Onews part during Sherlock

The most important fact for today's dome: Key cried in the end because of sadness. Not happiness. They were SAD. Genuinely sad. [ cr: @Myuux2 ]

At the end of Diamond Sky the camera showed a fanboard saying "SHINee FOREVER

Minho did his best today to make us laugh, he was showering everyone with love, throwing even more hearts and smiles than ever! ♡

Tell Me Your Name was definitely the highlight of this concert. They started on the floor, then took off their jsckets showing low V cuts.

During one ment Taemin tried to say something but was struggling with words and he looked so cute that Minho hugged him XD

Key and Minho danced a bit of SNSD's All Night during MTTM dance break and at the end XD [ cr: @anneaviel ]

I cant stop crying when i hear Jinki's voice n the members were so emo during Melody

They are always leaving a space on the stage for Jinki

For ABOAB, we were facing Jinki's placeand it was empty

Makes me emo cz they left a gap where Jinki stands and no one covered for his voice.. it was there loud n clear but only he wasn't there

During Melody idk i think all the members got emo u could see it in their face n Key really emphasized the line "keep waiting for u

But the 4babies really gave in 200% to make up for Jinki .. i am sure Jinki will be so proud [ cr: RealUnkle1932 ]

Minho was so cute and did a lot of aegyo. Key was sexy as hell. Jjong was so passionate about signing.

Tell Me Your Name is extremely epic. And sexy. And Taemin was too much to survive.

Today's queueing was extreme. My first time and I understood how hard is to get goods. [ cr: RealKasik91 ]

the bond between shinee and shinee world just makes me cry so hard

MINHO TOOK THE PHONE AND SAID SHINEE WORLD I RLY LIKE U

MJNHO SAID I LOVE U AND DID A HEART HUHU

MINHO IS SOAKED IN SWEAT OMFG

STAGE HOVERING OVER ARENA SECTION

SHAWOLS LAUGHED WHEN THE BACKUP DID THR SHOULDER SHAKING PART OF JINKI LMFAO

Taem: 1st floor people are u having fun Taem: 2nd floor people are u having fun Taem: 3rd floor people are u having fun Everyone: YEEEEE

THE SCREEN FOCUSED ON A FANBOARD SAYING 5HINEE FOREVER

[ pic cr: @pressitmvs]

MINHO JUMPED TO SAY HI TO OUR AREA HUHU

They were saying "lets go lets go" while running to our side looool

minho looks like hes holding back so hard huhu

theyre bowing to every side too :(((

[ cr: @blancbutter]

#shinee #SHINee Tokyo dome #fanacc #TT #170902

452 notes · View notes

kpopreactionstoruinyourlife · 8 years ago

Text

Song Girl - Preview - Part ? - Sungjin Fan Fiction

Song Girl Masterlist

Part ? - Missing You

Summary: It’s the eve of their Letting Go release and Sungjin can’t sleep for more than one reason...

Our second stage and Sungjin couldn't sleep.

Above him Wonpil snored.

It was these moments that he slipped, when he could think. He knew He hadn't let go.

He picked up his phone and plugged in headphones. He selected my relaxing music playlist, not failing to remember most of the songs made him think of Ella or were shown to him by her. Then He clicked over to messages. He scrolled up to just after Ella left last year in early August. Right after they discovered they would debut.

Ella: landed in us safely. I miss you. Break a leg!

Sungjin: I miss you too. Thanks.

They were supposed to end things. After almost a year it wasn't supposed to hurt. They were supposed to be able to let go. But he couldn't.

The next was dated for our debut.

Ella: Im so proud of you! You're incredible!

He hadn't replied. He'd wanted her there. He could barely look in the crowd knowing he'd see her face and it's be nothing more than a delusion.

Then it was when Junhyeok had his contract terminated.

Ella: I'm sorry about Junhyeok. I know you can get past this. Fighting!

Again he didn’t reply.

The last was from a couple days ago.

Ella: good luck with your new album and promotions! You're so talented!

Once again h hadn't replied.

Sungjin: I miss you. I love you.

Delete.

Sungjin: i can't sleep. I want you here

Delete.

Sungjin: thanks

Delete.

Sungjin: come back

Delete.

With a heavy sigh he clicked over to my Keepsafe app and unlocked it heading into his secret shame.

Their old photos.

He scrolled up to the beginning.

Their first date. When she wasn’t looking he’d snapped photos of her and the big, awed eyes she got looking at stationery, books, and animals. He’d even managed to catch a brilliant smile she’d given him looking over her shoulder, before she realized he’d been taking a photo. He’d convinced her to take a selca too, while they were sitting in a cafe. She was laughing since he was whispering stuff into her ear, his face obscured since it was buried in her hair.

Then photos from the next time they spent time together. These were mostly shots of her studying, tongue between her lips, messy hair and wearing his sweatshirt. He’d wanted to chronicle every moment.

Our second date. They went to a traditional neighborhood and he’d snapped photos of her with beautiful background, sights he’d not paid attention to because of her. He even had some of her in a pink Hanbok.

The next were from a time they’d watched movie at her apartment and she’d fallen asleep curled against him.

Then came photos she’d taken with his phone. Me curled against her, a blissful smile on her face. Her kissing his neck and making suggestive eyes to the camera while he was supposed to be practicing the guitar.

Their third date when they’d just gone out to eat.

Our fourth date when they’d gone to a movie, entertaining themselves before it started by taking couple selcas in the back of the theater.

Another time he was at her place and she was working while he practiced. He’d filmed her overjoyed reaction when she found out her research team’s first paper had been accepted and she would be credited. They’d had a lot of celebratory kisses that night.

They’d managed to capture many of our moments together.

The cake she’d made for his birthday in January. His birthday party.

Her playing in the snow that winter. Them kissing while it snowed behind us.

A collection of winter themed sugar cookies she’d made and the guys destroyed.

The rings they’d gotten for their 100 Day anniversary.

A photo of them kissing atop Namsan after putting up a lock.

Her with her eyes closed and her hair blowing in the wind while they drove south for what was a surprise trip for her. Then she’d made him stop taking photos since he was driving.

Her awed reaction to the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival. Them kissing under the trees. Her with petals in her hair throwing hearts to the camera, to him. Her dancing and spinning through the pale pink snow of the petals.

Her with his parents.

A selca she’d sent him on her first day of teaching undergraduates, looking professional.

Her in his lap while he tried to teach her guitar.

Their dates together.

A thousand photos, more, ten thousand memories.

Then he clicked over to Instagram and over to her profile scrolling down to the picture he thought might kill him.

It was her, wearing a floor length red dress with petal-like cap sleeves. Her hair was twisted up. In the background were twinkly lights, tables and flower arrangements.

None of that was the problem.

The problem was she wasn’t alone.

Next to her was a tall, stylish man in a suit with a tie that matched her dress. He had a smug smile and his arm over her shoulder. She was smiling, brightly.

SongGirlElla: Couldn’t think of a better date to a wedding, thanks for keeping me company @bobbysongy. Congratulations Angela and Ryan, you’re perfect together <3

BobbySongy: what can I say? You’re not all bad ;)

AngelaWong: And you thought you wouldn’t look good together in the photos, tsk.

RyanWong: Thanks Ella! We’re glad you could be in the wedding!

AmandaChoi: so cute! Love ya girl!

SongGirlElla: Love you too! And @bobbysongy, you know I’m a delight

BobbySongy: debateable.

Sungjin had scrolled through the rest of her feed, to make sure she didn’t have any photos of Bobby. She didn’t. She still had photos of Sungjin up. Nothing that really showed his face, just bits and pieces of him, so he couldn’t be recognized.

He clicked over to Bobby’s profile.

He had a photo of him and Ella, this one less posed. He was smirking at her and she was glaring at him, her lips pouted.

BobbySongy: the look she gives when you step on her toe while dancing XD. Had a great time at your wedding; congratulations @AngelaWong and @RyanWong.

He’d had another picture of the wedding, too. It was the wedding party. Front and center were the bride and groom, Angela and Ryan, their rows of bridesmaids and groomsmen to their sides. Ella and Bobby were midway down their respective lines. Ella was the most bridesmaid if you asked Sungjin; she was the most beautiful girl in his eyes. The problem was that she still was and it’d been months since she’d left.

And here he was, 4 AM, unable to sleep and stalking through her social media when he was supposed to wake up and prepare for their stage at 6 AM.

Wonpil still snored above him.

#day6 #sungjin #day6 fan fiction #fan fiction #scenario #sungjin scenario #angst #park sungjin #day6 scenario #mine #kpop #fanfic #song girl

3 notes · View notes

owlpilotingaspaceship · 8 years ago

Text

Tips for People New to Fate/Grand Order

Been playing the Japanese Version since 2015 and thought I’d share some things I’ve learned/ would be awesome to know in advanced.

I’ll give this another check over in the morning x_x EDIT: made a few fixes and added a little more details to noble phantasms

I will NOT post spoilers for the main story, and I’ll keep spoilers for game mechanics, (ex. Boss fights), future servants, etc. to a minimum. Can look up on the FGO wiki for more information regarding these.

If you love your account, Bind it. Go to your room and do it. This will protect your account and if you ever need to switch devices, just put in the code and password (and then once logged into the new device, go to your room again to generate another one since they are one time use).

If you love your servants and Craft Essences, lock the ones you use. Select them and on the left of their profile will be a lock, if its blue click it, if its orange you are good. On their small portraits should be a lock image on the left indicating they are locked.

Lingo-

CE = Craft Essence

NP = Noble Phantasm (ultimate move)

SERVANTS

--Keep at least 1 copy of every servant you get. The biggest reasons for this are because of events and interludes. It occurs more often than not that an event will give you bonuses (usually more item drops) for using particular servants. Usually the higher star rating = better drop rate BUT dont count the lower stars because

1. They are more common and easy to get

2. Events often come with event CEs that will grant you nice benefits, BUT will eat up your cost [see section on cost for info on what cost is]

Interludes can give you things like saint quartz and materials, more on this later.

--You can also have that servant eat copies of itself to make their noble phantasm (powerful/ultimate move) more powerful. Lower star servants are cheaper to level up and if you really like them, you can raise their level cap through “grail ascension” (palingenesis). Grails are not a common item, and I would look to the wiki for more information.

Who you level is up to you. The game is based around you who can get from the gacha, so everyone’s team composition will be varied. There are guaranteed servants from the story and 4 stars that can be obtained from events. But things to keep in mind:

1. Mashu/Mash may not seem like much in the beginning, but she has 0 cost and her skill set down the road will probably come in handy (again depends on your team composition). Personally I can say that her costing 0 is VERY VERY useful and I still use her occasionally- esp events.

2. [see cost]

Keep in mind that when you get to higher levels it will be MUCH easier to level up servants. I do suggest in the beginning focusing on a team that works for getting you through the story, and eventually, 1 of every class (but maybe not so much berserker in the beginning)and later look at adding different roles (ex. aoe np and single target np). Experiment and see who works best together for you and your master level.

Also note that (inregards to should I re-roll)

When I started, people’s first servants were probably 3 stars (unless you rerolled/ were super lucky) so my first servant was Caesar who I leveled with Robin (gods his np used to be OP). Though I started a few months after release and was able to get away with riding coattails through the first part of the main story (all hail Gil). Point is, who you start with may or may not be in with you for the long haul in your main group- and thats ok, also your friends are important.

There will be events that will allow you to get 4 star servants by participating. It does require effort though so the higher level you are and the higher level your main team of servants are, the easier it will be to obtain them.

My first event happened less than a month after I started and I ended up getting the servant, but not their special ascension items so I couldnt level them passed 40. Fixed that during the re-run though xD

Interludes- Interludes unlock as you progress through the story and raise your servant’s bond level. They can grant you quartz, items, and some will make your servants (the one featured) more powerful.

MASTER LEVEL- AP, COST, FRIENDS

AP- is your energy which you spend to do missions. you recover 1 every 5 minutes. When you level, you will be given points that WILL carry over your cap if applicable. You will not recover ap until your points are once again below your cap. The cap increases with leveling, but not with each level and the same goes for friend points and cost.

COST- Cost limits what star rank servants and craft essences you can use for your level. AS OF WRITING THIS THE CURRENT LEVEL CAP DOES NOT HAVE A COST HIGH ENOUGH TO SUPPORT A FULL TEAM OF 5 STAR SERVANTS AND 5 STAR CRAFT ESSENCES (and thats on the Japanese side which is about 2 years ahead). Ok with that out of the way. This means that you will need to use 3 star, and maybe lower, to have a complete team. while this isnt necessary, it will more than likely be helpful..

costs:

* -- servant -- CE

1 -- 3 -- 1

2 -- 4 -- 3

3 -- 7 -- 5

4 -- 12-- 9

5 -- 16 - 12

To give you an idea, at level 100 your cost cap is 98.

Max number of your servants on a team is 5 + 1 support who DOESNT count towards your cost cap. Point is all the shiny 4 stars and 5 stars costs will add up, especially if you are lower level, so keep some lower star rank stuff (and Mashu/Mash) on hand.

my front row would change but for the longest time my back row consisted of (in this order)

Mashu/Mash, Hercules, and David -cost of my back row = 19

Ces- I usually gave Herc a 4 star and Mashu/Mash and David’s would change depending on need. 19+9 = 28

FRIENDShip is magical. seriously.- As stated above your friend limit cap will increase as you level, but not every level. and you will want friends. You can find friends by:

1. using people’s servants as support and after the battle ends, send them a request.

2. tell a friend your friend code

3. tell the internet your friend code

Setup your support team- AND KEEP IT UPDATED. If a servant or craft essence is on support you can still use them and best of all there is no cost limit so you can attach your best craft essences to them. Got a better higher level servant? remember to add them to your support team to help out your friends. There an event going on? give your support servants the event craft essence and if applicable switch out servants to the event servants (up to you as sometimes a high level non-event servant can be more helpful than a low level event servant- but it really depends. When I was low level I looked for servants that could help me through the battle, as a high level, my team is beefy enough that I can usually move my support to my back row and I look for who gives the biggest bonus). Some people also enjoy trying out new servants (esp. if they are released without a way to try them out), so switching them temp. or otherwise can be fun too.

What friends do for you:

1. If you use the support servants of your friends, you will be able to use that servant’s noble phantasm

2. You gain more friend points by using their servants and by them using your servants. Friend points can be used in the friend gacha. -see GACHA

3. Because of the gacha, events, etc. Your friends will likely have different servants than you and this is to your benefit.

What you can do for your friends:

1. keep support list updated

THE GACHA

tips:

Saving quartz for limited gachas is probably for the best. (I would also argue if you really like a servant on rate up or need that class, BUT limited servants are well limited).

single rolls are fine and dandy.. but really should be done with tickets.

a 30 quartz 10 roll guarantees that you get a 4 star something. single rolls do not.

the rates on getting a 4/5 star servant are lower than craft essences...but both are about single digit percentage tiles if I recall correctly...either way its pretty low. But patience is rewarded eventually. I have, in 2 years as f2p, drawn 9 5 stars and numerous 4 stars

New years is famous for its paid gacha. You can buy quartz and use that to get a guaranteed 5? star. NOTE: the bonus quartz you get from buying larger quantities is seen as FREE quartz NOT paid.

rate up means that IF the gacha determines that you are to get a particular 4/5 star something. that it is more likely that it will be whatever the rate up is, not that there is an increased overall chance to get them.

When rate up a gacha occurs, sometimes the rate ups change though out the time the gacha is available, so be sure to check the rate up times.

The friend point gacha has a free daily spin. Max of 3 star rank on things pulled, i.e. you cant get 4/5 star things from this gacha.

Also note worthy- there is a servant in the friend gacha that is probably about as rare as a 5 star... if not rarer, not sure if they will be in the gacha upon release or a later date, but if you pull a servant not in the ‘regular’ classes, then you are VERY lucky. I can’t recommend trying to explicitly pull for this servant though...

taping your screen during a summoning will advance it to the results. This also works when feeding exp cards.

The community currently has a term called “Getting spooked” this happens when you get a 4/5 star servant of the same class as the rate up servant, but end up getting a non-rate up servant.

Ex. I wanted Iburaki (4 star berserker) from a gacha where she was on rate up. I got Beowolf (4 star berserker). I proceeded to amuse my fiance with my cries of agony. (For added salt this was my 2nd beowolf and my fiance has Iburaki. For the record am pretty happy with my collection of servants, I just like her design)

LEVELING SERVANTS

Fou-kun cards that give a bonus to hp and atk are cheaper to feed to your servants at lower levels. On the same token it is possible to critical with only fou-kun cards so I recommend throwing some exp cards in the mix just in case since crits save you qp (esp higher levels)

SKILL- In the beginning, dont worry about leveling skills. Seriously. Leveling skills takes a TON of qp and requires a variety of materials. How much depends on the star rank of your servants. To max out a 5 star’s skill set takes millions of qp.

ex. My Waver (Zhuge Liang) has maxed out skills and it took months to achieve this as he was my first 5 star that I got about 2 months after starting. To max 1 of his skills was 54.5 million qp x 3 = 163.2 million qp total.

Qp can be earned fairly easily (esp higher levels) so its just a matter of time. The real drain is materials, which is why I recommend only leveling the skills of servants you use.

Again, I recommend using your qp and materials to level your servants in the beginning and waiting on skills.

LEVEL INCREASING

3 star and below exp cards start seeing a decline in effectiveness around level 30, and esp once 50 is reached.

servants have a level cap that can be expanded 4 times by ascending them. You will need statues of the servants class and materials* The amount and type varying on class and individual servant. The overall level cap depends on star rank with a 5 star at 90 and 1 star ~60. As mention earlier all servants can increase their level cap up to lv. 100 by using grails.

(classes such as ruler dont have their own class statues; Mashu/Mash ascends automatically with the Main story)

NOBLE PHANTASMS

Noble phantasms can be unleashed once you have 100% (or more) gauge. Np level and charge are very different. In general Level increases the primary affect and charge increases the secondary affect.

For example Cu Chulainn’s Noble phantasm deals damage to a single target (primary) and has a chance of instantly Killing the opponent (Secondary).

Feeding him copies of himself will up the level of his np and increase the damage and his maximum charge*. Charging his np gauge more in battle and/or using his noble phantasm directly after another noble phantasm (or two) will increase the charge. The higher the charge, the more likely he is to instantly killing his opponent. The additional charge that consecutive nps receive increases as follows:

100% for 2nd position and 200% for 3rd position.

The gauge can be charged to a maximum of 300% and when put after 2 nps will be at 500%. Note that the charge operates at a 100 benchmark so a charge of 150% will act as 100% and 298% will be 200%.

*np 1 servant can charge to 100%, np 2 up to 200% and np 5 can go all the up to 300%. Np level will go up by one with each copy fed, to a total of 5 (4 copies).

MISC.

utilize storage to declutter your inventory. Not as much of a problem in the beginning.

Events will usually require you to have cleared the main story up to a certain point. most common are the first and second areas.

Events have re-runs so dont stress too much if you were unable to get everything that you wanted. Downside is you will have to wait another year. HOWEVER I would like to note that the Saber Lily, and collaboration events have NOT had a rerun.

Burning exp cards, craft essences, and servants of 1 or 2 star rank will give you a little bit of extra qp. 3 stars+ will give you mana prisims. Do note that craft essence exp cards are rare and I’ve only seen them in a handful of events so i recommend using them to increase the level of your craft essences rather than burning them.

Burning 5 stars will give you a special item that once you have 10 you can use them to get a 5 star of your choosing from a list, and limited servants will appear on that list when they are available in the gacha. BUT this mechanic is really for people who whale- spend money, usually large amounts- so they can put the extras/servants they dont want towards a servant they want. Or for people who keep getting the same 5 stars. 5 stars are normally pretty rare. In 2 years my fiance and I, free to play players, both individually have drawn about 9 5 stars.

Some servants (ex. cu chulainn lancers, stheno, more down the road, etc) Have noble phantasms, etc. that have a chance to instantly kill your opponent. Be aware that enemy servants are SUPER resistant to it. The odds of it happening are near astronomical, while it does happen, dont count on it. Against just about any other opponent that is not a servant, it should happen infrequently.

Bond points-

unlock interludes

above level 5 they earn you rewards (quartz) and at level 10 grant you a servant specific craft essence.

There’s also a (very) late game mechanic that will utilize bond. But if your favorite servants have bond 5+ they should be fine, but the more the better.

The main story (and free quests???) seem to give the most bond. there are 2 craft essence that have been released in Japan that help increase bond gain a little, one will be given for free (if memory serves). The other will be a limited craft essence from Da Vinci’s shop for mana prisims (NOT cheap).

Buy the tickets from Da vinci’s shop each time its refreshed. Currently that might not be for awhile, but that should change in the future.

Da vinci’s shop refreshes with the same items, but sometimes will have limit craft essences and esp around new years more “bang for your buck” deals and bundles.

Just started and have time? dailys are good at getting your servants off the ground. Farm for exp cards and throw in qp daily as necessary. dailys give more exp than the main missions and will give you exp cards as well. You will gain a ton of ap through leveling, which again, wont start regenerating until you use it up.

#fgo

2 notes · View notes