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littlenahsstuff · 3 years

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In love, I swear.

A/n Literally my first time writing actual fanfiction. This might be a flaming dumpster fire idk. I will persevere and cringe later, but for now, enjoy.

supreme!Cordelia Goode x reader

TW:nothing much, just a big old fluffernutter sandwich. A little angst. Swears I guess.

Synopsis: Cordelia has just recruited you to be a counselor at Robicheauxs and it's safe to say you are head over heels for the supreme. Unfortunately, you aren't the one to tell her.

You always thought that you weren't too special of a witch, you had the basic witchy spells down and specialized in the people who struggled on the inside... but in a more witchy sense. You also helped the witches who needed to get their powers more developed or who ones that are just behind in school. A sort of glorified counselor you suppose. It's sorta funny, especially since you aren't the most confident, how you can talk to all of the girls. When it boils down to it you are just a witchy gal searching for love. Specifically Cordelia's. It could never happen though.

Your love life wasn't the only area you lacked in before Robicheauxs, you had been struggling to find a job suited for your interests. Let's just say that you have a lifetime ban from one of the Mcdonalds in Louisiana. Fire and grease doesn't mix.

Of course, if it wasn't for dear, sweet, precious, Cordelia, you would be living on the streets. Luckily that didnt happen and so here you are today, three months in to your teaching position at Robicheauxs.

Oh, the moment, "You're hired. I look forward to expanding the academy's family and getting to know you better especially," left the Supremes lips, the better off you were.

And yet, even with all of the joy that comes with finally getting paid, there were the challenges as well. For starters, everyone was extremely nice to you, even though you kept mostly to yourself, there was this one person that made this heaven more hellish. Madison the bitch witch Montgomery.

You had been warned by Zoe, your closest confidante in this new place and also Madisons freaking girlfriend, that she was no pleasant peach. Never in all of your doubtful thoughts, had how bad it actually was crossed your mind. It was never the cockiness that got to you, you had a different appreciation for it than most. Found the confidence refreshing almost. No, no no no no. It was in fact, that she was constantly trying to dig up dirt on you.

"You're too much of a goody two shoes y/n," she once stated with a glare. The same day you had heard Zoe squabbling about something and your name came up. Your name and the fact Madison had stolen your wallet to look at your license. It turned up later on your bed stand.

Madison's a lover of Zoe and drama you've come to find out.

It's harmless though really, you dont mind the extra bit of attention that comes with it. Its flattering so no need to complain to anybody, especially not Cordelia.

Cordelia, mmm, yeah now shes the biggest threat here. She is the reason you got this job and might be the reason you lose it.

She once caught you with your doodle journal. It was a harmless question,

"Y/n, what're you drawing?" She looked over your shoulder. You almost jumped out of your skin and your sketchbook went flying.

"Oh dear, are you alright?" She worried her lips a bit. Her big, plump, kissable lips. Come on Y/n, get out of it.

"Yes," you squeaked. Sinking farther into the sofa. She chuckled her beautiful chuckle and sat on the couch arm.

"So, what was my favorite school counselor drawing just then?" She questioned. Glancing to the thrown book.

Your face went red.

"Uh-" you paused, come on you're making it a bigger deal than it has to be, "you." You couldn't look into her eyes.

She gazed at you at you and it felt like a hole was being burned into your skull.

"Okay," Cordelia said, leaving it at that. Stood up and made to walk away.

"Wait!" She paused and turned back to you, seeing you scramble to get your sketchbook.

"Yes?" Her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"I- don't you want to see it?" You said and you slapped yourself mentally for about the hundredth time she walked in.

She smiled softly at you, "Of course, I thought you didn't. You looked scared to death, like bambi."

"Okay," you flipped back towards the page and cringed. It wasn't your best peice. You could never capture her beauty right.

Her eyes scanned over it, widening before squinting with her grin.

"It's so good!" She gasped.

"Yes, that is Cordelia Goode," you joked in a monotone manner. She slapped your shoulder jokingly, making you snort.

"You nerd, I didn't mean it that way. Either way, you did a fantastic job! I wished I looked as good as you make me seem," she muttered the last bit, bit you heard it. It saddens you to remember the damage Fiona did.

"Hey, Cordy," you started. You realized that you used a nickname that Madison did, but she doesn't seem to care.

"You know what I think? I think that you're wrong. You see I just can't for the life of me get your soft proud loving smile right. Your eyes aren't as warm and glowing as they are in reality. I couldn't manage to picture the right placement for those worry lines or crowd feet you have. You might not like them, but to me they show that you worry and care and that you laugh at the stupidest of things, which is a trait I adore. You are more perfect than any Davinci or Van Gogh," you say. You don't like when your friends feel bad about themselves.

Cordelia's tearing up a bit and wiles it away. "Didn't know you were a goddamn poet too?" She joked with a giggle, "thanks y/n, sometimes I need to hear something like that."

"No problem Cordelia," I can't help it, you're my muse, is what you want to say.

"Well, I have some paperwork, but it was nice to see ya," she hurriedly excused and rushed out.

Unbeknownst to you, Madison was watching. She knew exactly how to get dirt on you now. She had something all along.

The next week you spent daydreaming about Cordy...elia, you couldnt help but go back to that conversation. You needed to be more discrete, way more descrete.

So you made sure to draw your crush no more. That didn't change the fact you forgot to destroy the evidence in writing.

You had slept in a little too late, so in a rush you were to get to your office. The reason you had being you daydreaming about Cordelia and yours faux life together a little too long.

A bunch of new juicy stuff for Madison as she snatched it from your bedside table. It was too easy really.

She opened it up to the first page. It acted like a normal diary, just stating checklists of things to do and things you did. The size was fairly large, so skipping a few pages till she got to the juicy stuff and the part where you actually did know Cordy wasn't harmful.

It was a barf fest of emotion. "Oh Cordelia is so awesome, oh I'm so lucky to work with Cordelia, oh my, I won't ever get a chance with Cordelia, she's the supreme!"

"Ew," Madison groaned, whipping out her phone.

Then she found it, the goldmine of confessions. It was all the way in the back, meaning you had wrote it recently.

"Dear, myself

Cordelia today caught me drawing a picture of herself and said something I didn't particularly enjoy listening about herself. I can't believe Fiona would send her into such a deep hatred of herself that even with her gone she's hurting. She's no mother. Cordelia is the love of my life, even if I'm not hers, she deserves all the love I can give. She's not broken, but she just needs someone to love her and I do. I promise to give her as much love as possible without her finding out what kind it really is, I'm in love, I swear.

Sincerely, Y/N."

So she snapped a picture of the page.

After school was over Cordelia was not expecting Madison to barge into her office. Let alone with something regarding YOU of all people.

"Cordy, I've got something to tell you about y/n!" Madison sang out, waving her phone in front of Cordelia's face as she sat on top her desk.

Madison was just careless with others and too carried g about herself. It was the perfect storm. The only person who could ever take it too far to just prove a point. That there was something wrong with you.

If Madison Montgomery had taken one moment to actually think about it, she was just jealous. Jealous that another person at the coven was better than her to Cordelia. She was one spoiled bitch growing up. Guess it backfired.

"What?" Cordelia questioned in concern, "Is she okay? Madison what did you do to her!?" Her thoughts raced, Madison's pranks often went a little too far. She did kill Misty.

"Now now Cordy, don't get your panties in a twist. Here read this," Madison demanded to her supreme, she shoved it into her face and Cordelia grabbed it.

Her eyes expected headlines on the news or a mugshot, but she realized it was just your writing.

"Madison," she warned.

"Come on, I know you can read!" Madison poked Cordelia's forehead, prompting a slap from the Supreme.

Ms. Goode exhaled, "Fine."

Her eyes fluttered over the words, brows furrowing with every sentence. She couldn't comprehend, could she read?? It seemed to her as if her brain was creating what she wanted to see, but no, you wrote it. Unfortunately.

Everything's silent. Then the thought flits across her head, you like her back.

"In love, I swear."

Oh she's mad. Not at you, no, she could never. Madison on the other hand better,

"Get out of my office right now," Cordelia whispered. Madison's smile faltered.

"What, didn't you want to know your feelings are reciprocated? Come on, I'm just trying to get you two to speed up the process." Madison hopped of the desk and sauntered out.

What has she done.

Cordelia was wracked with guilt for awhile, with no way to tell you either. How does one even go about telling someone they read their deepest darkest secrets. How!?

She couldn't, so she did what she could. She pulled away from you and into her work. All of those lunches spent together stopped. The nights in the green house gone. Reading together on the weekends by the fire, gone.

And it left you empty. You had no idea what you did, but you must've done something.

So you decided to confront her, you hadn't gone much sleep since, so you were literally and figuratively tired of all of this shit.

Your knock on the door startled Cordelia, but your presence startled her even more. Both of you looked like wrecks.

"Oh, Y/n! Please, come in," Cordelia gestured and you did, closing the door behind you.

It was then that you finally broke down.

"What did I do Delia!?" You sobbed, falling to your knees. Yes it was dramatic and not even you expected it but you were holding your emotions for so long.

"Oh," Cordelia briskly moved over to you, concern painted on her face. She was watching you carefully, you looked so fragile. Just like she had felt at times.

"I'm sorry," you whimpered, "What did I do?" Her hand tilted your head towards her, but you still couldn't look into her brown eyes, opting for the floor. If you did, you probably wouldn't be able to look away.

"Y/n look at me sweetie," the nicknames never failed to make your heart soar. It was your weakness, your eyes met and they were glued there.

"What did I do?"

"Nothing nothing!" She took a deep breath, "I saw a page from your journal."

You froze, terror crept up your spine.

"Oh my god. Um Cordelia I am so sorry, you, wow I- god I'm so creepy! It's perfectly fine if you want to not be my friend or fire me. I didn't do it to be weird, it was how I expressed myself. I was trying to hide it I promise, i dont even know what happened!?"

"I'm gonna kill Madison, faster than my mother did," Cordelia groaned.

"Wh-" your brain malfunctions. Is-Is Cordelia kissing you? Right now?

Indeed she was and just like you dreamed about, her lips were so soft and her kiss gentle.

Maybe Madison could be forgiven... but not without a harsh talk.

"In love, I swear," she repeated in a whisper against your lips.

#sarah paulson #sarah paulson x reader #cordelia goode x reader

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ruby-whistler · 3 years

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Hi, I just found to your blog and I noticed you are a dream apologist but also like tommy, which is rare to see, and even tho I dont agree with alot of your posts about dream it's still interesting to hear other people's perspectives anyways the reason I bring up Tommy it was because I was wondering what you think dreams see Tommy as?

Like does he hate him ?does he like him ?does he see him as a toy a pet ? I'm very interested to see what your perspective is

absolutely! i am so happy to see someone who isn't a full-on dream apologist stumble upon my takes, hello there :] always refreshing to see different kinds of people around!

i actually know quite a,,, couple who also like c!tommy! dream apologists don't inherently hate him, they dislike a lot of his fans more than anything because of,, personal experience, let's say, but most of them are quite neutral or sympathize w/ the character!

i myself really do like the character from a writing perspective! i don't like him personally despite relating to him (ptsd go woooo) because of his quite insensitive and extroverted personality (not saying that's bad! he's flawed and that's very cool of him!) but he's a good protagonist for his own story, albeit a bit stuck in bad mindsets.

as for the disc duo,, man, i am so sad every time i think about the two. during season one i used to be such a discduo stan, like their interactions gave me life, dream reminded me of myself back when i was willing to reach out to people like tommy.

and then uhh,,, stuff happened, as we all know

but from the beginning, i do believe the two were very rivalsduo-like. they'd tease each other but in reality they really were friends even if they didn't admit it. before l'manberg, after l'manberg, it really didn't matter that much, even through the initial disc wars it really was just a way to fight each other but it was not all that serious. they were being immature over a couple of worthless items. they were hanging out. and then war and trauma and revolution came, and everything went downhill at a 90 degree incline.

their relationship had just,, such a twist for the worse and it freaking hurt because now i had to choose between the two and i for the love of god couldn't. everything light about them turned dark.

of course, this is c!dream's fault. the reasons he did what he did are debatable to being a product of the environment, the effect others had on him and the situations he was put into, but he absolutely wrecked it and he made it awful in every way.

the thing is, dream when interacting with tommy - much like tommy had often said about people like dream, wilbur and techno - makes him somewhat the worst version of himself.

and i'm not even making this up, the way he interacts with literally anyone else is so much different from how he acts in front of tommy.

and it's??? so strange?? green man you ok????

like, contrary to popular belief, c!dream doesn't like to see people suffer, or play with them, or making them hurt.

the only times when he says stuff like this is in front of tommy.

my theory for this is what i think is the most supported by actual canon - he's falling into the villain-hero narrative.

the fact that c!dream is not mentally healthy and has been shoved into terrible mindsets is evident especially from the finale stream, and i think the whole vault scene definitely leans towards my theory about this. he keeps going on about sidekicks and pawns and - not only is he treating everyone else as a game, he also does it to himself.

it's important to note his actions have always been both outwardly and inwardly destructive, many being unhealthy coping mechanisms.

what i think is, he's purposefully playing a role. i think this might sound like a stretch but... it really is not if you consider everything?

it makes sense; dream is trying to make tommy (and tubbo, by extension) terrified, to view him as a monster, something less than human, someone to fight, someone to defeat, to bring down. he's taking every opportunity to make himself out as someone totally cruel, while actually acting completely different with other people.

so, as to answer your question? that's what i think dream sees tommy as. i think he sees him as the hero; or rather, someone who wants to play the hero. he wants to challenge him, wants to get tommy to play his game because it's the only thing c!dream knows how to play anymore and he's,, secretly scared, because he's forgotten how to be anyone but a villain, and on top of that doesn't see any other way for himself to achieve his goals and get back what he cares about.

like, dream cares, that much is obvious. he cares about people. i don't think he hates tommy and i don't think he likes him. he says they're friends, and in some twisted sense, i think he means it, and he thinks tommy is simply in denial. he's wrong.

the way he acts makes me think that he genuinely considers him and tommy the same at their core, and that if the roles were switched, tommy would do the same as dream and dream would do the same as tommy. this is untrue, of course, but dream believes things like this because his worldview is utterly shattered, much like his mental stability. i think he thinks the only difference between them is their role in the story. i think he buys into the narrative to the point when he fails to see it's,, incorrect, about him, tommy - about everyone.

but that's just my opinion! sorry for rambling, c!dream is such an enigma sometimes, and although i claim a lot of things in good faith, there are some i don't usually touch upon because they genuinely confuse me. the way c!dream acts around c!tommy is one of them.

#long post #my asks #tommy anon

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theunconcernedembalmer · 3 years

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ok i got the aesvic out of my system now time to pick apart the letter n why i wont really be following aesops diary exactly here. literally no one asked but i wanted to get my thoughts down somewhere cos i have. a lot

just gonna put a quick rundown of aesops diary entry as a refresher (mostly for myself so i dont miss anything): he dreamt that he was helping jerry with what was probably a murder n was affirmed n he thinks its a sign congratulating him on carrying out his duty. over the years, he carries out his duties as an undertaker n comes to the manor looking for a “fresh start” aka what sounds like his first victim. according to aesop, said victim should be quiet, n potential victim number 1 is victor. something about badly needing him to become his “silent friend” n he mentions he’ll get to wick n the 2 other survivors in due time, but for now he’s very eager to start his “mission”.

im generally okay with the letter (i have seen so many fights over this aha) cos there is no surprise he wants to kill ppl (ppl who r fighting over this point. did u even read his deductions?? guy happily killed his mentor??). but i didnt quite like the fact that he still looks up to jerry (although. i guess thats valid i just. dont like it). i was also initially kind of confused about the real reason why he would want to kill ppl since as u progress through the letter it sounds less like he kills for duty (cos of the whole dream thing at the start) but more “because i want to :)”, which is an okayish edgy kinda take imo. like not that u cant characterize aesop as Kill Kill Murder Die, but i kinda find that. pretty boring in the long term.

im just gonna put what my original take on aesop was, like all of it. first off, he hates jerry. u cannot tell me a psychotic serial killer like that can raise a child without emotional trauma. like any child, this isnt even counting the extra damage done because hes autistic. (n i also hc that aesop has read his moms letter to him at some point, n he should have come to the conclusion that it was somewhat also jerrys fault, whether through logic or denial that his mom would want to leave him, so that just adds to it.) but as much as he hates him, his teachings are the only ones hes been exposed to, n its been so ingrained in him since young so even if he hates jerry he would still subscribe to whatever twisted ideology jerry was feeding him, which ill get to in a sec.

going through his accessories, he has that origami that he folds for each of his clients, n it shows that underneath it all, aesop is still kind. this isnt expected of him n its definitely not part of his job scope as an embalmer. he (still?) has the heart to wish the best for those that have departed n takes the time n effort to fold one for each n every client he sends off, which is probably a lot. so going off on that, my hc is that jerry, being the manipulative asshole that he is (who probably definitely manipulated his mom into indirect suicide) probably used his kindness against him to make him believe that by murdering ppl he is helping them, framing all of his serial kills as a sort of mercy kill (like his mom). so the thing that aesop takes away from all this is the very twisted logic that by killing ppl he is helping them, therefore being a good embalmer and a good person in general. n everyone wants to be a sort of good person, or at least for aesop that is part of his job description to be a good embalmer. n we all know aesop is very serious about his job.

i also hc that he has killed several ppl between killing jerry n coming to the manor, cos i follow the story that he took the invitation from that poor lady n thats how he ended up at the manor. surely the lady didnt come to him right after jerry died?? but anyway, the way i see it is that he thought he liked to kill. like he finally truly understood why jerry kills so much (which is interesting now that i think about it. guy really just went along with all those murders without truly believing huh), because it felt good to kill. at least thats what he thought, the revelation that killing felt good n is good, but i say its because he hated jerry, n offing someone u kinda hate should probably feel pretty gucci. n its also so much easier to pick clients off the streets than in the manor, so i would think that he has killed ppl like his mentor did, but each time he did the great feeling that came with ending ppls life just. wasnt as good as the first time round. it just became a sort of normal satisfaction of a successful embalming.

this can go two ways: 1. he keeps on killing to try to find that great feeling again, which is cool i guess (n probably what canon would want, except canon states that he hasnt killed since jerry), but id like to go with 2. he just stops because jerry isnt around to enforce it whenever he isnt feeling up to psychoing someone to their death (which is probably how jerry got his victims, n damn if that doesnt take a lot of mind games that i dont think aesop has the mental capacity for since half of it is fighting with his social anxiety n other issues. dealing with alive strangers?? no thanks?? i doubt he would have learnt properly how to lure in clients as efficiently as jerry because of this, mostly cos he was only needed for the murder afterparty aka embalming n funerals). n as much as he stays professional, there is no. professional way of gaslighting someone to their death.

(n also since ppl have pointed out that his twitter replies n other kinda informal stuff have shown that aesop does have reverent respect for life, which also adds to him not being so blindly bloodthirsty as implied in the letter. i dont really see the twitter replies as very canon, but it does make sense that he would come to revere life with his unique take and obsession over death, for one cannot exist without the other)

so this leads me to the motive that aesop brings to the manor, at least how i see it. he isnt exactly coming to the manor to kill per se (like from the very early story, he came to the manor to return the letter to a relative of the deceased lady, something about respecting her last wishes. something like that, its really been a while since i saw that exerpt), so like killing ppl isnt his main purpose of visit. its more of hes always on the lookout for weaker (or at least those that take less mind games to kill) people to mercy kill, n it just so happens that he knows the manor n his mentor almost died from there, so theres a pretty good chance he can find some ppl that fall into this category n so it just so happens that he also has a job to do there. its still counted as a Job for him since no ones gonna tell him that embalmers dont actually. murder.

so in my version, aesop only tries to sway ppl that he knows he can convince, n these ppl would typically be those very sickly ones like his mom (andrew im looking at u) or those with an actual death wish/ very weak will to live. but here aesop is choosing his “first victim”, and the criteria for that is... quiet? never mind “not evading him” and “not cranky” being on the list too, but that isnt quite what i was expecting from someone so dedicated to their duty of murder. sure he wants an easy first kill, but like. i dont think its consistent if his motive was really to continue jerrys bastard legacy. especially when the next paragraph is essentially him gushing over victor, that... sort of implies something else. or at least in the way i see it, since i believe that canon wants us to think that aesop just really loves to kill.

aesop likes victor. very much so. so much till he wants to kill him. which i guess makes sense cos he likes death, n now he likes victor. so he just. puts the two things he likes together. whats better than victor? dead victor. anyway the rest of the letter is more like “whatever, i technically should kill the others too but my priority is victor” so like. he confuses his (dare i say) yandere tendencies with his duty since the end goal for both is a body in a coffin.

having said that. i know i have aesvic brainrot but i also know this is one sided as hell (at least from the letter alone, not counting the letter shaped cookies in his birthday art that apparently belonged to victors birthday cake aha) n lowkey alarming since. the goal is to kill victor. i kinda want to interpret it as him genuinely wanting to be friends with victor (really wanting him to be a “silent friend”, maybe cos he doesnt actually know how to be friends with living ppl n is better with dead ones? therefore victor should be dead to be friends?) but not knowing how to n throwing in his obsession with death ends up with. this minor disaster waiting to happen. but i uh. dont know if this is valid. its valid to me at least, with my original interpretation of aesop. n again cos of his ingrained professionalism, he also kinda sees this as part of his job to send ppl off, so its another plus. not for victor, tho.

idk if ill add this yandere side in my aesop. i mean my boi has technically tried to kill victor multiple times in the past HAHAHAHA. maybe like sometimes he can be a bit obsessive. as a treat. but generally nah cos thats definitely gonna end up in a murder somewhere somehow n i cant. just kill victors here on the ask blog scene lashjflkjhdlfkjhas

so yeah that kinda takes care of the last part of the letter, as for the first part. as much as aesop hates jerry, i would also think hes pretty starved for affirmation (like i said jerry isnt going to be a good parent figure ever) n i guess it makes sense if the only times jerry has ever complimented him was aiding him in his kills n hiding the evidence, which might (?) add to his desire to kill (but that probably dies with jerry aha). so the way i see it as aesop is getting affirmation n takes it as a good sign instead of. remotely liking jerry. idk if im stretching it a little but i really dont like the take where hes okay with jerry. anyway we are ignoring that he hasnt killed before entering the manor cos that doesnt quite make sense to me (i wasnt dreaming about the letter from a lady stabbed in the face 36 times or so right???? right???????)

im also not like. trying to defend him, im just trying to make sense of his diary. boi has issues n is a little too far gone (not as far as canon tho), in my take very deluded in his way of showing kindness. literally cool motive still murder (or in canon, just murder?), please get therapy. but i just dont really like the direction that the letter was originally trying to imply, with him really just hell bent on murder without like. a clear motive (at least to me it isnt very clear since the last part really doesnt sound consistent with his supposed intentions). i mean i love being edgy with aesop every now n then but i dont think it would make for meaningful characterizations in the long run so. ill still be sticking with my original take on aesop with maybe a bit of yandere for victor cos thats always fun

#unconcerned ramblings #mun rambles #its me the mun #im so sorry i talk so much. i was like Okay i should stop talking on my blog now. n then i didnt #i dont even know if this makes sense im still sleep deprived n tired as hell but i literally cant sleep cos this was bothering me so much #also cos i see a lot of ppl like. just nope the letter n somehow began to hate aesop after loving him as a character for so long. which is #interesting. cos this letter isnt exactly out of the blue. we been knew #just a few minor things that i disagree with. but generally i think it was an okay letter

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raveneira · 4 years

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Since Yashahime is such a dumpster fire Im just gonna rewrite the sequel to what I THINK would have been the better alternative to the whole SessRin situation and also some story elements that could really be improved and would make this series alot better.

For starters, if we HAD to go the SessRin route then I would make it take place 21 years after the end of final act, Kagome was 18 when she returned to the feudal era and 3 years had passed at the end of the final act which made her 21, Rin should have been about 11-12 at that point, if we count 21 years from then, Kagome would be 42 while Rin would be 32-33, meaning when the twins were born Rin was 18-19, I know that might make ppl a bit uncomfortable still but atleast she would be a legitimate adult where you can atleast say "alright...Im KIND of ok with this, I still dont like it but atleast she is technically an adult capable of consenting and not a literal child being taken advantage of"

Thats if they HAD to go the SessRin route, then I would atleast make it done tastefully where it doesnt promote pedophilia, plus the old gang being in their 40s wouldnt be that big a deal because they'd still be capable of fighting.

Now for my PERSONAL take on how the sequel should have taken place, SessRin wouldnt happen at all, because the beauty of their relationship stemmed from this ruthless cold hearted demon who hated humans, learned to love and care for a small child to the point of nearly crying when he thought he lost her for good, there are all different kinds of love and the love Sesshomaru had for Rin was pure and innocent. He was someone she adored as her savior and caretaker and she was someone he cared for and wanted to protect, to me that bond was far more impactful and meaningful than anything romantic or sexual building up between them, but simply two people whom the other simply cannot live without because they mean THAT much to eachother. Such a pure and sweet relationship did NOT need to be twisted into a romantic and sexual light. Rin could have continued to adore Sesshomaru and he could have continued to check up on her and bring her gifts as he did in the final act until Rin decided she wanted to travel with him again.

Now onto the rewrite, as I stated SessRin WOULDNT happen and their bond would remain as it was in the OG series, so who would be the twins mother? well if we HAD to go the half demon route to show Sesshomaru's development full circle, and we didnt wanna undo Kagura's death because it was a critical moment for Sesshomaru's development, there were several other routes that could have been taken.

1 Create a new character and develop her over the course of Yashahime through a series of flashbacks as we unravel the mystery of what happened to everyone through the girls travels. If you want to go the angsty route you could have her die giving birth and have Rin raise them as a sort of surrogate mother figure, kind of like Clementine with AJ.

2 Use an already established character, one possibility being Nazuna, a human girl that debuted back in the early OG series, she had black hair and black eyes but as we see from Yashahime, the girls clearly didnt inherit their mothers looks as in the OG series Rin's hair was black and her eyes are brown while Setsuna's hair is brown and she has blue/purple eyes while Towa has red eyes, features that neither of their parents have. They also have a random red streak in their hair for some reason.

So based on this, Nazuna would be a good possible candidate as she was a teenager in the OG series and would be an adult by the end of the series when she would give birth. [Correct me if Im wrong about her age but she looks like a teenager, but if Im wrong then I would just adjust the timeline to where she would be an adult at the time she gives birth]

Another potential candidate would be Momiji, true she may have been anime only but since this is an anime only sequel she is a plausible candidate. She has red/auburn hair which would explain the strange red streak in the twins hair. Like Nazuna, she was a teenager in the OG series so she would also be an adult by the time she'd conceive and give birth.

Another candidate would be Kaname Kururugi, a game exclusive character, but the fact that they went through the trouble of creating a complete OC and fleshed out her backstory to such a degree and allowed her to build relationships with established characters, including Sesshomaru, its safe to say they could have incorperated her into the anime canon considering they already had an established foundation they could have just built off of and meshed it into the anime. Plus she has brown hair and blue/purple eyes just like Setsuna.

Now that we have all the potential candidates, who's the one that seems the most plausible? In my opinion, I would personally go the Kaname route because she has such a deep and fleshed out backstory and they actually took the time to even animate scenes specifically for this game, so she does TECHNICALLY make an appearance in the anime, just not in an actual episode. And just like Kagome, she could have grown fond of the feudal era as well and wished to go back and somehow found a way to do so at the end of the Final act or maybe a month or year later after Kagome returned.

So going with the Kaname route, I'll begin my rewrite.

Being as Sesshomaru hasnt seen her since she was 15 like Kagome and vanished for several years, when he finally sees her again she will now be 18-19 when they reunite and a relationship would start to build and ensue.

Continuing where the game left off, Kaname would continue on with her normal life as Kagome did and eventually graduate when she is 18. She would still often think about her time in the feudal era and miss all the people she spent time with and bonded with there, one person specifically being Sesshomaru.

youtube

^ A refresher for those who forgot the Sesshomaru ending.

As she comes home from graduation, another Doll Festival of Wishes is being held and it reminds her of Sesshomaru whom she wishes to see again, she goes and buys one of the dolls and writes his name on it as she did when she first returned home, thinking to herself that its no use and is probably a waste of time, but with what little hope she has left, she does the ritual anyway.

Afterwards she goes over to her father to help him with the festival, who like last time asks her to go get something from the storehouse. As she enters the storehouse, the hole in which she fell through before has been patched up, as she walks through the storehouse, she walks on the patched up floor which caves in when she walks on it and she is once again transported to the feudal era.

She once again lands in a forest not far from where Kaede lives, as she wakes up, she is greeted by Sesshomaru, who had saw her unconscious on his way to visit Rin and watched over her till she woke up. Overjoyed and also in disbelief, she hugs him which surprises Sesshomaru who isnt used to recieving this type of affection but he doesnt push her away, nor does he reciprocate by hugging her back.

As she lets go she tells him how much she missed him and everyone there, then, noticing Rin wasnt with him, asks him where she was, worried that something might have happened to her. He reassures her that Rin is fine and that he was just on his way to visit her at Kaede's village which relieves Kaname. She goes with Sesshomaru back to Kaede's village where she reunites with everyone much to their surprise but they are all very happy to see her again.

Anyway Im not gonna do a play by play step by step storytelling so Im just gonna mention the main story beats and you guys can fill in the blanks for yourself.

Anyway after the happy reunion and catching up, Sesshomaru prepares to leave back on his travels which saddens Kaname who had longed to see him again and only got to be reunited with him a short time. Reluctant to be apart from him again, she asks, or rather insists he allows her to come with him on his travels. He tells her that if she comes with him it'll be a dangerous journey for her, she replies confidently that she can take care of herself and promises to not be a burden to him. Reluctant but not willing to argue, he tells her to do as she wishes and flies off. Kaname hops on A-Un and soon follows, and the two begin their travels together.

Thats pretty much how'd we leave off the final act, atleast a month or two after, you can decide your own timeline.

As for what happened on their journey and how their relationship developed will be shown through a series of flashbacks over the course of Yashahime as we solve more of the mysteries.

In episode 15, we'd get the same flashback but with Kaname being the one to give birth to the twins with Rin, Kagome, Sango, and Kaede there for her as support. It is said that when Sesshomaru and Kaname found out she was pregnant, he brought her back to the village where she could have a safe pregnancy and birth. Of course Sesshomaru isnt the mushy type to stay there with her through her pregnancy, but he does visit from time to time when giving gifts to Rin but also goes to check on her and see how she’s doing, although he doesnt admit thats what he’s doing.

After the twins were born, everything plays out relatively the same, but instead of just taking the twins without a word to her, he atleast reassures her that he's taking them someplace safe from harm, although he cant explain to her right now what that harm is, Kaname says she trusts him.

As I said, things play out relatively the same after that.

As for Rin, what exactly happens with her? well if we MUST pair her off with someone, it should be Kohaku, someone she has an established relationship and bond with that is closer to her age. Whether or not they have kids I'll leave up to you to decide, but I like the idea of Kohaku having a little demon slayer son to carry on their legacy. It would be interesting seeing his bond with Setsuna since Rin would essentially be like a sister figure for the twins although they dont remember her, it would be interesting and sweet to see Setsuna develop a bond with their son who for the sake of simplifying things, we'll call him Korin.

Korin, if we want Rin to be an adult at the time she gives birth, would be 4 years after Kaname gives birth to the twins when Rin is 18-19, making Korin 10 in the present. Like the twins, Korin has no memories of his mother since she was sealed away in a tree for whatever reason, so the only mother figure he's ever had has been Setsuna, which would be an interesting dynamic to explore since it would be similar to how Sesshomaru filled a parental role for Rin who didnt have anyone at the time.

Moroha would NOT be this uncaring about her parents, infact she would be insanely curious, maybe even furious wanting to figure out why they abandoned her and vanished without a word since nobody seems to have told her anything that happened. She would want answers and wouldnt stop until she gets them. The OG crew if we MUST have this mystery drawn out, would tell her that it would be better if she found out the truth for herself and that any answers they give her wouldnt be the answers she wants. So Moroha's driving force in the story wouldnt be about some stupid bounty hunting debt, although she could still be a bounty hunter, but her main motivation would be trying to discover the truth about her parents and why they abandoned her.

Also this BS with Koga giving her up would NOT happen, it just wouldnt, that is BEYOND OOC for him to do and I will not be having it. Instead, Koga would be IN character and not let Moroha out of his sight, he would treat her like kin like the rest of the wolf demon tribe, maybe even give her special treatment because of her connection to Kagome. Koga would train Moroha himself, not going easy on her because he wants her to be strong enough to fend for herself, concerned because of her being a quater demon and having her demon powers sealed, he’s hard on her to toughen her up to not have to rely on it.

If we must include Yawaragi, then she would be sort of a bodyguard assigned to watch over Moroha by Koga for when he cant. The storyline of the rat armor would still relatively be the same but instead of selling Moroha off to some shady bounty hunter which Koga would never allow or forgive her for doing, she simply introduces him to her as a long time friend, Moroha would take interest in the bounty hunting business as an opporunity for training, and potentially finding info on her parents since Jyubei seems to have alot of connections and intel that’ll be useful in her journey. Yawaragi instead of pursuing the key alone would bring Moroha with her when they are approached by the shady demon whos name I cant be bothered to remember, he blackmails her with the key telling her to fight Moroha if she wants it, Moroha scoffs at this telling him that she wouldnt do that and that they’ll both fight him together to get the key instead, but to her surprise Yawaragi attacks her.

Everything plays out relatively the same, Moroha is hurt at her betrayal and lashes out at her. Yawaragi, like in the episode uses this fight as one final lesson for Moroha, with full intention on dying by the end of it. Moroha is hesitant to fight her because she still cares about her as she was like a second mentor and somewhat mother figure to her. So to get Moroha to fight seriously she lies to her by saying that everything was a lie and that she never cared about her etc I wont go into a ton of detail, Moroha is reluctant to believe her but is eventually convinced when she attacks her full power, seemingly with the intent to kill her. This pushes Moroha to fight seriously as well, remembering what she taught her about using her clever thinking and successfully strikes her down.

After this she goes over to her and Yawaragi admits to lying to her so that she would fight because she knew chances are the shady demon wouldnt have given her the key and since the rat armor was close to killing her anyway she decided she would rather die by Moroha’s hands rather than being crushed to death by the armor. Moroha would be devestated and guiltridden since she is the reason she was in the cursed armor to begin with, but Yawaragi reassures her that it isnt her fault and that it was her own negligence to see through the trap that resulted in this outcome. As a reward for defeating her, she gives Moroha her sword [yes Moroha wouldnt have her sword until now] and tells her to get stronger with it so that she wouldnt have to rely on her rouge, but win using her own strength. Moroha promises her that she will and Yawaragi passes away shortly after that. Everything plays out relatively the same after that.

As for the twins their motivations can mostly stay the same, but they also wouldnt be so uncaring about their parents, or specifically Towa wouldnt. Towa would be furious at her father and want to find him and maybe even kill him for abandoning them and causing them to be separated with seemingly no regard for their safety. Setsuna can maintain her non caring attitude, but given Towa's upbringing in the modern era, it makes sense for her to be furious at her birth father's neglect after experiencing what a loving home and father feels like.

As for what happened to Kaname, like I said you could go the angsty route where she died giving birth, or you could have her be kidnapped and used as a bargaining chip to blackmail Sesshomaru into doing the enemies bidding. You could have it where Sesshomaru was able to prevent Rin from falling into the enemies hands but not Kaname. Or maybe Kaname sacrificed herself for Rin, agreeing to go with the enemy in exchange for them sparing Rin, which is what leads Sesshomaru to sealing Rin in the tree to prevent them from potentially coming back for her. You guys can come up with your own conclusions there, these are just some scenerios off the top of my head. But for the sake of the rewrite we'll go with Kaname being kidnapped and used to blackmail Sesshomaru.

I’ll make an actual rewrite in a separate post with how I would PERSONALLY make the sequel, this post is just me tweaking and making slight alterations to the way Sunrise chose to write the sequel, the separate post would be how I feel the sequel could have played out instead for the better.

#Anti-sessrin #anti sessrin #Hanyou no Yashahime #Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon #rewrite

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crescentmp3 · 3 years

Text

Precept One: Always Win Your Battles. Losing a battle earns you nothing and teaches you nothing. Win your battles, or don't engage in them at all!

Precept Two: Never Let Them Laugh at You. Fools laugh at everything, even at their superiors. But beware, laughter isn't harmless! Laughter spreads like a disease, and soon everyone is laughing at you. You need to strike at the source of this perverse merriment quickly to stop it from spreading.

Precept Three: Always Be Rested. Fighting and adventuring take their toll on your body. When you rest, your body strengthens and repairs itself. The longer you rest, the stronger you become.

Precept Four: Forget Your Past. The past is painful, and thinking about your past can only bring you misery. Think about something else instead, such as the future, or some food.

Precept Five: Strength Beats Strength. Is your opponent strong? No matter! Simply overcome their strength with even more strength, and they'll soon be defeated.

Precept Six: Choose Your Own Fate. Our elders teach that our fate is chosen for us before we are even born. I disagree.

Precept Seven: Mourn Not the Dead. When we die, do things get better for us or worse? There's no way to tell, so we shouldn't bother mourning. Or celebrating for that matter.

Precept Eight: Travel Alone. You can rely on nobody, and nobody will always be loyal. Therefore, nobody should be your constant companion.

Precept Nine: Keep Your Home Tidy. Your home is where you keep your most prized possession - yourself. Therefore, you should make an effort to keep it nice and clean.

Precept Ten: Keep Your Weapon Sharp. I make sure that my weapon, Life Ender, is kept well-sharpened at all times. This makes it much easier to cut things.

Precept Eleven: Mothers Will Always Betray You. This precept explains itself.

Precept Twelve: Keep Your Cloak Dry. If your cloak gets wet, dry it as soon as you can. Wearing wet cloaks is unpleasant, and can lead to illness.

Precept Thirteen: Never Be Afraid. Fear can only hold you back. Facing your fears can be a tremendous effort. Therefore, you should just not be afraid in the first place.

Precept Fourteen: Respect Your Superiors. If someone is your superior in strength or intellect or both, you need to show them your respect. Dont ignore them or laugh at them.

Precept Fifteen: One Foe, One Blow. You should only use a single blow to defeat an enemy. Any more is a waste. Also, by counting your blows as you fight, you'll know how many foes you've defeated.

Precept Sixteen: Don't Hesitate. Once you've made a decision, carry it out and don't look back. You'll achieve much more this way.

Precept Seventeen: Believe In Your Strength. Others may doubt you, but there's someone you can always trust. Yourself. Make sure to believe in your own strength, and you will never falter.

Precept Eighteen: Seek Truth in the Darkness. This precept also explains itself.

Precept Nineteen: If You Try, Succeed. If you're going to attempt something, make sure you achieve it. If you do not succeed, then you have actually failed! Avoid this at all costs.

Precept Twenty: Speak Only the Truth. When speaking to someone, it is courteous and also efficient to speak truthfully. Beware though that speaking truthfully may make you enemies. This is something youll have to bear.

Precept Twenty-One: Be Aware of Your Surroundings. Don't just walk along staring at the ground! You need to look up every so often, to make sure nothing takes you by surprise.

Precept Twenty-Two: Abandon the Nest. As soon as I could, I left my birthplace and made my way out into the world. Do not linger in the nest. There is nothing for you there.

Precept Twenty-Three: Identify the Foes Weak Point. Every foe you encounter has a weak point, such as a crack in their shell or being asleep. You must constantly be alert and scrutinise your enemy to detect their weakness!

Precept Twenty-Four: Strike the Foes Weak Point. Once you have identified your foe's weak point as per the previous precept, strike it. This will instantly destroy them.

Precept Twenty-Five: Protect Your Own Weak Point. Be aware that your foe will try to identify your weak point, so you must protect it. The best protection? Never having a weak point in the first place.

Precept Twenty-Six: Don't Trust Your Reflection. When peering at certain shining surfaces, you may see a copy of your own face. The face will mimic your movements and seems similar to your own, but I don't think it can be trusted.

Precept Twenty-Seven: Eat As Much As You Can. When having a meal, eat as much as you possibly can. This gives you extra energy, and means you can eat less frequently.

Precept Twenty-Eight: Dont Peer Into the Darkness. If you peer into the darkness and can't see anything for too long, your mind will start to linger over old memories. Memories are to be avoided, as per Precept Four.

Precept Twenty-Nine: Develop Your Sense of Direction. It's easy to get lost when travelling through winding, twisting caverns. Having a good sense of direction is like having a magical map inside of your head. Very useful.

Precept Thirty: Never Accept a Promise. Spurn the promises of others, as they are always broken. Promises of love or betrothal are to be avoided especially.

Precept Thirty-One: Disease Lives Inside of Dirt. You'll get sick if you spend too much time in filthy places. If you are staying in someone else's home, demand the highest level of cleanliness from your host.

Precept Thirty-Two: Names Have Power. Names have power, and so to name something is to grant it power. I myself named my nail Life Ender. Do not steal the name I came up with! Invent your own!

Precept Thirty-Three: Show the Enemy No Respect. Being gallant to your enemies is no virtue! If someone opposes you, they don't deserve respect or kindness or mercy.

Precept Thirty-Four: Don't Eat Immediately Before Sleeping. This can cause restlessness and indigestion. It's just common sense.

Precept Thirty-Five: Up is Up, Down is Down. If you fall over in the darkness, it can be easy to lose your bearings and forget which way is up. Keep this precept in mind!

Precept Thirty-Six: Eggshells are brittle. Once again, this precept explains itself.

Precept Thirty-Seven: Borrow, But Do Not Lend. If you lend and are repaid, you gain nothing. If you borrow but do not repay, you gain everything.

Precept Thirty-Eight: Beware the Mysterious Force. A mysterious force bears down on us from above, pushing us downwards. If you spend too long in the air, the force will crush you against the ground and destroy you. Beware!

Precept Thirty-Nine: Eat Quickly and Drink Slowly. Your body is a delicate thing and you must fuel it with great deliberation. Food must go in as fast as possible, but fluids at a slower rate.

Precept Forty: Obey No Law But Your Own. Laws written by others may inconvenience you or be a burden. Let your own desires be the only law.

Precept Forty-One: Learn to Detect Lies. When others speak, they usually lie. Scrutinise and question them relentlessly until they reveal their deceit.

Precept Forty-Two: Spend Geo When You Have It. Some will cling onto their Geo, even taking it into the dirt with them when they die. It is better to spend it when you can, so you can enjoy various things in life.

Precept Forty-Three: Never Forgive. If someone asks forgiveness of you, for instance a brother of yours, always deny it. That brother, or whoever it is, doesn't deserve such a thing.

Precept Forty-Four: You Can Not Breathe Water. Water is refreshing, but if you try to breathe it you are in for a nasty shock.

Precept Forty-Five: One Thing Is Not Another. This one should be obvious, but I've had others try to argue that one thing, which is clearly what it is and not something else, is actually some other thing, which it isn't. Stay on your guard!

Precept Forty-Six: The World is Smaller Than You Think. When young, you tend to think that the world is vast, huge, gigantic. It's only natural. Unfortunately, it's actually quite a lot smaller than that. I can say this, now having travelled everywhere in the land.

Precept Forty-Seven: Make Your Own Weapon. Only you know exactly what is needed in your weapon. I myself fashioned Life Ender from shellwood at a young age. It has never failed me. Nor I it.

Precept Forty-Eight: Be Careful With Fire. Fire is a type of hot spirit that dances about recklessly. It can warm you and provide light, but it will also singe your shell if it gets too close.

Precept Forty-Nine: Statues are Meaningless. Do not honour them! No one has ever made a statue of you or I, so why should we pay them any attention?

Precept Fifty: Don't Linger on Mysteries. Some things in this world appear to us as puzzles. Or enigmas. If the meaning behind something is not immediately evident though, don't waste any time thinking about it. Just move on.

Precept Fifty-One: Nothing is Harmless. Given the chance, everything in this world will hurt you. Friends, foes, monsters, uneven paths. Be suspicious of them all.

Precept Fifty-Two: Beware the Jealousy of Fathers. Fathers believe that because they created us we must serve them and never exceed their capabilities. If you wish to forge your own path, you must vanquish your father. Or simply abandon him.

Precept Fifty-Three: Do Not Steal the Desires of Others. Every creature keeps their desires locked up inside of themselves. If you catch a glimpse of another's desires, resist the urge to claim them as your own. It will not lead you to happiness.

Precept Fifty-Four: If You Lock Something Away, Keep the Key. Nothing should be locked away forever, so hold onto your keys. You will eventually return and unlock everything you hid away.

Precept Fifty-Five: Bow to No-one. There are those in this world who would impose their will on others. They claim ownership over your food, your land, your body, and even your thoughts! They have done nothing to earn these things. Never bow to them, and make sure to disobey their commands.

Precept Fifty-Six: Do Not Dream. Dreams are dangerous things. Strange ideas, not your own, can worm their way into your mind. But if you resist those ideas, sickness will wrack your body! Best not to dream at all, like me.

Precept Fifty-Seven: Obey All Precepts. Most importantly, you must commit all of these precepts to memory and obey them all unfailingly. Including this one!

#~Zote #for future reference #oreo.txt>hk_bullshit #long post

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katsukikitten · 5 years

Text

Ready Set COOK!

A/N have this random ass fic I cranked out cause I watched some food network. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did writing it!

"Y/N is arguable the best cook in the dorms." Mina says salivating over the thought of dinner as 1A figures out what they are going to try to convince you to make.

"Tch. Yea fucking right. I cook the best!" Bakugou chimes in suddenly flipping through the channels with fever.

"Ha!" You laugh dryly, "Maybe when I'm having a bad day."

He grinds his teeth as he glares at you, channel surfing forgotten.

"Let's settle this." He snarls although he barely moves from his lounging position.

"How do you declare we do that spicy boi?" A hush suddenly falls over the room at your most recent and his most hated nickname.

Explosions threaten to pop but the TV blares before he can.

"THIS WEEK ON COOK OFF!"

"OH OH!" Kirishima pipes in, jumping up to point at the TV frantically.

"Fuck no." Bakugou bites out, sending daggers the red heads way.

"Oh come on Bakugou it will be fun!" He whines only to be shut down again. This time with an explosion. The hot head jumps to his feet with smoking hands.

"I SAID FUCK NO!"

"Why? Too scared you'll get your ass kicked?" You prompt, looking at your nails as you speak. He stalks your way leaning over you as you sit on the couch.

"I'm too scared you'll lose so badly you'll have to commit seppuku to regain your honor." The tension is palpable in the large living room, making some of the students feel small from its weight.

"Oh so you admit you worry about me?" You say in your most flirtatious voice, placing your hand onto his shoulder because you love to get under his skin. He jerks back with crazed eyes.

"I don't give a fuck about any of you extras!"

"Good! Now we need judges. Todoroki?" You ask but Bakugou shakes his head.

"His palette is as expanded as a fucking toddler's." The ash blonde shakes his head, "Mother fucker eats cold soba for breakfast lunch AND dinner."

"Ouch." An invisible arrow pierces the two toned boy in the chest.

"Well..." You look around the room, "It can't be biased..."

"Deku? Oh no wait then you'll use him as an *excuse* when you lose." You giggle, his cheeks burn from the sound.

"Fuck you and fuck Deku." He snarls, "What about Shinso?"

"Aaahh that's a good one. He hates everyone equally." You chime in, placing your hand in your chin as you look over your peers.

"Wow glad you noticed." He rolls his amethyst eyes although he does not object.

"Oh Denki!" You point at the electric

"OMG YES MY TIME TO SHINE BABY!" He fists his hands into the pants of your legs, so happy to be included.

"NO! Not pikachu! His brain is FRIED!" Bakugou snarls and Denki let's out a sad 'hey' while a crocodile tear rolls down his cheek.

"Yes, that's what would make him the best wild card! You'll never know what he's gonna think!" You absentmindedly let your hand pet over the curve of his skull.

Part of you wonders if suggesting him is a bad idea. Your eyes flicker to the TV just to see someone asking the sweating chefs what they are planning.

"Kirishima can be the host!" You say with excitement, "Now we just need one more judge. Someone who likes to eat."

Silence settles over the room aside from the now low roar of the TV

"I've got it!" Your new ruby eyed host pipes in, "I'll ask Sun Eater senpai!"

"He's so meek. How are you going to get him to agree?" You ask as a some what devilish smile crosses his face.

"Oi, I forgot you came in after. Poor guy got pestered by shitty hair until he said yes to taking him to his agency." Bakugou crosses his arms.

"We'll compete tomorrow! I've got to prepare!" You stare after Kirishima who runs to get his phone, you cant see him bullying someone into helping him.

×××××××××

You had never been proven more wrong as you stand in the dorms over sized kitchen in front of the panel of judges.

Shinso who looks bored, Denki who reminds you of a kid hopped up on sugar and a petrified Tamaki.

"Welcome chefs!" Kirishima announces, it's funny how quickly he made the kitchen look much like the studio. Even forcing you and Bakugou into real chef jackets while Kirishima wears one of his suits.

"Oi, you really went all out." He growls, somehow making the compliment sound like an insult. You roll your eyes before you let them linger over Bakugou. Much like you he wears the black jacket with the sleeves rolled to the elbows, he has a towel resting over a broad shoulder.

Somehow this outfit makes your cheeks burn. You swallow, looking out over the "live" audience, aka class 1A with every chair they could find in the dorm piled into the smallest part of the kitchen.

Sitting on the edges of their seats.

"Today the two of you will be placed head to head agaisnt one another to become UA's top chef!" Kirishima announces with gusto even earning a small cheer from the audience.

"Tonights prize does not only include bragging rights BUT this!" He gestures widely to the obviously paper mache trophy, Bakugou snorts.

"Really? You could have asked Momo over there?" He points in the dark and Kirishima blushes a bit. Although he is saved as Momo walks towards the front, not breaking the attire with her long sleep dress that looks more like a ball room gown. Kirishima thanks her silently before punching the old trophy off with the new one.

"Who will when this amazing trophy and the title of UA's top chef?" Kirishima looks to the audience before adding, "Let's find out!"

"Contestants, today's challenge is broken down into three parts. Appetizer, entree and dessert! The three dishes must meld flawlessly with one another! You have ten minutes to look over the ingredients and come up with a meal plan. Starting.....now!"

The two of you jump, pulling open at the two large fridges behind you to be met with an array of vegetables and meats.

"Are they like timed?" Shinso asks, as he twirls his fork.

"Good question, Shinso. Yes each portion of the competition will be timed!"

As you begin to put together your game plan you rush towards the pantry. Fear making you hesitate, the pantry was mostly empty just yesterday.

"Oi! Open the fucking door!" A yell behind you before you rip open the cabinet with blatant rage.

Surprisingly the pantry is popping at the seams, ingredients pop out at you that you hastily grab.

"Chefs your time is up! You have fifteen minutes to begin prepare your first dish! GO!"

Excitement pushes your body into motion as you slice bacon strips down the middle. Your thoughts compete with the vigorous chopping from the station next to you as you delicately wrap sliced puff pastry around the now bacon wrapped asparagus.

"Chef Bakugou what are you preparing?"

"Use your fucking eyes." He growls, adding something to a bowl.

"Hey..." Kirishima sounds crestfallen, almost hurt and its hurt enough for Katuski to sigh.

"Alright alright. I'll tell you. Stop pouting!" He chops into a radish harshly to emphasize his point before going on.

"I believe its important to go a little on the lighter side for a starter. Almost refreshing cleanses the palette." Your ears perk at his deep voice as you pull your starter from the oven, "So I'm making a radish and cucumber salad with rice vinager and chili flakes for a small kick."

"It looks wonderful chef!" Kirshima comments before adding, "Five minutes to plate!"

"Shit..." You hiss to yourself as you delicately arrange your asparagus twists, while popping hands roast sesame seeds in an instant before tossing them into the salad.

The two if you plate, arrange and present until kirishima finally shouts

"TIMES UP! STEP AWAY FROM THE PLATES!" Both of you back away with raised hands.

"First up. Y/N-chan." Kirishima says happily as the judges look over their food.

Shinso takes a bite first.

"Flavorful. Savory. Its delicious." Is all he offers as he eats his second.

"Kaminari?" Kirishima prompts. Denki is smiling ear to ear before a rare seriousness washes over his features as he chews.

"I dont like asparagus." He states with a harsh tone.

"IM FUCKED!" You scream internally.

"But you've made me like it."

"IM UNFUCKED!"

Kaminari takes another bite, thinking it over

"The puff pastry is airy and buttery and surprisingly the bacon is crispy without your vegetable drying out. Very well done."

You glance at Bakugou who mouths

"Is he fucking Gorden Ramsey now?" To which you giggle.

"Tamaki senpai, please do not judge on usefulness for your quirk but by taste." Kirishima encourages as Tamaki almost shrinks away. He takes a bite before smiling.

"I..its delicious. Togata would enjoy this."

"Next up Bakugou!"

"Nice kick, cool cuc flavor. I like it." Shinso nods to Bakugou as he makes a mark in on the pad provided.

"Honestly, Chef Katsuki. I was really worried about the heat level when I saw your heavy handed toss of pepper flakes into the salad. But the flakes really bring out the tang of the rice vinager, the smoky flavor of the sesame seed while the radish and cucumber take the edge away *just* enough." Kaminari says before taking another bite, scribbling as he chews.

This time Bakugou looks to you and you laugh aloud at his bewildered scarlet eyes.

"Just got with it!" You call from your station. Struggling to keep your giggle.

Who knew confusion could look so cute?

"Its just the right amount of spice. Togata would enjoy this."

"Take your station, Katsuki as we will now begin the main course. You have thirty five minutes to prepare!"

Time ticks by faster than you'd like as your watched pot of water finally boils. You add in chopped golden potatoes setting a timer before butter flying your chicken breasts for a more even cook and better grilled sear.

Bakugou works furiously with his steak, pounding at it to quickly tenderize it, adding an aromatic garlic herb butter to a heated pan. He swirls the melting blob until it coats the bottom of the pan.

Both of you are about to start your meats before Kirishima breaks your concentration.

"Chefs! I've found an ingredient you HAVE to incorporate into your main dish." He presents a rectangular package that has you seething.

"KIRISHIMA WHAT THE FUCK?!" You both yell in unison, slamming your meats on your cutting boards.

"Dry packs of ramen noodles!" He announces in case either of you couldn't read the damn packaging!

"What the fuck?" Is all the two of you can say as you're tossed the package of ramen noodles. You stare at your dish, you couldn't easily shift your meal plan into Asian like Bakugou could thanks to his universal salad. The dishes had to be cohesive and you had fucking POTATOES BOILING TO BE MASHED

You stare almost stunned as the red rectangle stares back at you.

You hated ramen.

Meanwhile Bakugou grumbles to himself as he slices his steak into thin strips, adding ginger, a bit of sesame seed oil, green onion and some beef broth to boil.

He tosses in the package of ramen.

"This is cheap shit." He grumbles to himself before adding the steak in a few moments later slamming a lid onto the pan. He was lucky he picked a deep pan as opposed to his original idea of a shallow one.

"Half of the time is remaining chefs!"

"Perfect!" You slam your fist into your palm as you make haste. Quickly grabbing eggs, milk, flour and the food processor.

You begun to crush the noodles until they become a fine grain.

"Eji do we have to use the stupid flavor packet?"

"Fucking why would you ask?!" Bakugou snarls your way, ruby red eyes slide to the panel.

"Judges?"

"No." They answer in unison and you both sigh in relief. For you it would have been hard to incorporate to your sudden idea of fried chicken while the flavoring would be too salty and undercut the flavor building he had done for his dish.

You mash your potatoes, adding in garlic cloves, cubes of butter, a bit of season salt all before emulsifying it to a whipped state.

"Five minutes chefs!"

You begin to really sweat now, you didnt want to rush your chicken for fear of the batter not becoming crispy enough or worse yet an undercooked breast.

"Three minutes chefs!"

"Fuck! Cook chicky cook!" You mumble to the fryer, scarlet eyes shift to your bouncing frame, plating his own food, swiping juices that splatter.

"Come on plate damn it! It's done!" He shouts to you.

"You *do* care!" You tease, although your heart is in your throat as you place the chicken onto the plate, drizzling a honied mustard over the breasts.

"Like hell. It's just winning by default is boring. I want to watch them spit your food out." His voice comes out soaking in malice but his eyes say otherwise. Mischief and excitement dance along his scarlet iris.

"AND TIME!" You both step away from your plates. Breathing heavily as the two of you look down at your master pieces.

Bakugou places his hand on the small of your back to guide you in front of the panel as Kirishima grabs your dishes.

"Bakugou you're up first."

"This is not thirty cent ramen." Is all Shinso says as he slurps up the noodles before biting into the beef. No one misses his eyes flutter.

"Wow." Is all Kaminari can say chewing with delight, "Just wow. I would have thought the noodles were homemade. The beef is tender, all cooked evenly. The sauce flavorful, a hit of ginger and I'm surprised you hadn't added any heat. I would have loved to have seen a five alarm ramen from you."

Bakugou grinds his teeth to keep from shouting at his last remark.

"Togata would enjoy this."

"I'll be sure to make him a to go plate." Kirishima winks before presenting your dish.

"I never would have thought to use ramen as breeding." Purple eyes glitter as he devours the chicken.

"Me either. Its excellently light, you matured everyone's favorite honey mustard by making it with a sharper brown mustard and the potatoes are soft, beautifully whipped and garlicy!"

"This is 'southern food?'" Tamaki asks, "Togata would like it."

You smile warmly.

"Last round chefs! You'll have forty five minutes to prepare a dessert with *this* ingredient." He holds up a green can and your stomach sinks.

"Is that fucking wasabi?" Bakugou snarls, even the heat king is stunned.

"Yes chef it is. Please incorporate this ingredient into your dish. Starting...NOW!"

You stare at the green can. What in the actual fuck? Maybe you should have made a menu more geared towards Asian cuisine.

I mean you were in FUCKING JAPAN AFTER ALL.

You snatch onto the can, now was not the time to damn yourself. You could do this. You could beat Bakugou!

Even if it killed you.

You decided to taste it, youd never actually had it, just knew that it was potent.

"That's too much idiot!" Bakugou yells from his station just as your about to put a heaping teaspoon into your mouth.

"Like scoop with a chop stick." He says, showing you himself. His chopstick dips into the wasabi to return with the smallest of green.

You mimic him, popping it into your mouth as instant regret washes over you as you try to break down the components of the flavor.

It was hot with underlying notes of freshness, almost herbal as the heat began to fade.

But with that regret comes an idea.

You work vigorously grabbing all the chocolate you can find before making a batch of brownies, wasabi mixed into the batter.

Nothing was more southern than cake or a brownie.

"I'll fucking tell you what..." You finish the thought aloud as you worked.

All the while Bakugou glances to you with concerned eyes before he measures out the perfect amount of coconut milk to reduce with almond milk, a split vanilla pod, some sugar, honey and wasabi powder.

Soon his odd mixture becomes fragrant, the freshness of it competing with the richness of baking brownies.

Time ticks by too quickly as you snatch the wasabi powder from Bakugou adding the smallest amount to powdered sugar, cocoa and milk as you make the frosting to your brownies.

You feel like you're ahead of time as your plate, eyes looking over to Bakugou who is garnishing ramekins with edible flowers and flakes of coconut.

"Fuck." You murmur before pipping on some icing. Smoothing it out with a knife. Plating it as Kirishima obnoxiously counts down.

"Time!" He yells. You're shaking before glancing at Bakugou who seems nervous himself. Again he guides you to the panel, you lean into him for a bit of support.

Your heart was racing, sweat still dripping down the nape of your neck and beading on your brow.

You couldn't tell who's dishes they favored and there was a chance you could very well lose.

You'd hate to admit but Bakugou's station smelt fucking amazing all night.

"Y/N!" Kirishima smiles a wide tooth smile, "Wasabi brownies. Interesting."

"You mean fucking fire." Shinso says.

"Its astounding how the chocolate adds to the heat with out one overpowering the other. A delicate scale was balanced today."

You find Bakugou's hand by his side. giving it a squeeze to keep yourself form laughing. He leans towards you and whispers into your ear.

"Bet you're regretting adding Flavor Town onto the board."

A giggle escapes your lips that drives Katuski mad.

"Togata would love this! Please save a square for him!"

The judges cleanse their palates before moving into Bakugou's dessert.

"So delicate." Shino adds, looking down at the purple flowers.

"Watch it." He bites but you again squeeze his hand, this time whispering to him

"That means he likes it. You did an amazing job plating."

He watches you smile as you drink in their comments about *his * dish.

"I like that you start and finish things with a refreshing yet memorable dish. The edible flowers add immense color to this dish, the wasabi heightens the sweetness of the honey and the coconut flakes add a little bit of both crunch and depth. Excellent."

"So pretty..." Tamkai stares at his dessert before adding a small bite into his mouth. His eyes flutter and you know then that you've lost.

That's two different judges with different meals that he has impressed. He squeezes your hands, you look up to him expecting a smug smile only to see nervousness.

"The judges will now debate. Please sit in the waiting room while they discuss who will be UA's top chef!"

"Where the fuck is that?" The blonde snarls.

"The living room!" He whispers as you drag an agitated Bakugou with you.

The two of you sit in silence, sinking into the couches with tired bodies.

Adrenaline can do that to you. Minutes tick by before you sigh out.

"I'm pretty sure you won. You..." You gush, "Amazing. That salad looked so damn good!"

Katuski cannot help the smile that spreads across his face as he watches you sing his praises.

"Honestly your southern dishes were something new to them. That's far better and seriously ramen as a breeding? Innovative as fuck." He sags in the couch closer to you. The two of you half fighting over who really one by pointing out the best moves the other did.

Gradually gravitating closer to one another with heatedexcitement fueled by friendly competition. The two of you are butting foreheads as you argue.

"But the flowers were stunning...." The vigor in your tone dies down as you stare into something else that else stunning.

Scarlet eyes sparkle like gems in the low light of the side table lamps. Suddenly you are hyper aware of your proximity to him. You try to scoot back only for your hip to hit the arm of the couch, barely moving a centimeter. You were safely nestled between the couch and his amazingly muscular arms.

Bakugou swallows his desire as he drinks you in this close, having never realizing how pretty you actually were.

Add that to your ability to kick ass on the battle field and in the kitchen had Bakugou looking at you in a whole new light. He seems to choke on his desire as one strong hand finds the nape of your neck.

"I bet nothing tastes as delicious as your lips." He says before pressing his own to yours.

The saying alone has your body flushed and a small whimper erupts in the back of your throat as you closed your eyes.

Shit.

You liked arrogant, smart mouthed, excellent chef handsome ass Bakugou.

And now that you've tasted him, you'll never want to eat anything else again.

You kiss him back with matched passion and the two of you forget about the competition for a moment. Foot steps had the two of you breaking apart, cheeks burning brighter than the boy's hair whose entered the living room just missing everything.

"They are ready to announce the winner." He turns on his heel, expecting the two of you to follow. Both of you share a look before standing. Bakugou wraps his arm around your waist pulling you close to him so he can whisper in the cockiest tone he can muster.

"After they announce me as winner. Let me make you dessert."

@we-starlight-in-the-making @kiribakuho @babybakuu @zbops @crimsondream-1 @alwaysmy crazy ass did it. I made the fic I wanted

#bakugo x reader #katsuki bakugou x reader #bakugou x reader #bnha x reader #bnha imagine #bnha crack #bnha fanfiction #bnha fun #bnha cook #katuski bakugou #bakugou #katsuki bakugou #bakugou katsuki #bakugou fluff #bakugou x you

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macklives · 5 years

Text

session 81 end

wow, okay, first things first

AC!!!!!

shes so fucking cute holy shit i love her so much i dont even know where to begin??

i mean i guess its because im so used to troll snark and the way they just? banter constantly? seeing someone who is a literal ray of sunshine is so refreshing and wholesome and pure. god she’s great. shes a cat, she knows her stuff. she’s strong and theres also this guys???? who shes scared of?? and tells her what to do??? yeah no, idk who it is but let her make her own decisions lol

maybe its just over exaggeration or whatnot, and hes not bad but first impressions do a lot to me and right now the only thing i know about this guy is that AC needs his approval for everything. i guess ill see where that takes us. hopefully nowhere bad. but AC seems like she can take care of herself and knows how to be a good decent troll and i love her for that. wow it literally took me one dialogue to like her. damn, that was fast. jesus.

you know who else is great?

terezi.

yeah i know right. and that whole trial thing, which yeah i guess half the time i was confused by what the fuck is going on since i still cant grasp the idea of how alternia works, but i enjoyed myself with lemonsnout and how terezi roleplays and how much she gets into it. seeing a character that passionate about something is so sweet and nice.

god this was just a nice overall session

which i say, while i completely forgot about the banter TA and karkat got into

right, that happened. oh my god. they both literally stomped all over each other, dissed one another, still made up in the end because apparently thats their friendship and i guess it just works like that. depends on the friends you have, i guess.

its funny though, not gonna lie

and karkat as of now is just being a prick and honestly?

like more than usual, which i guess is weird to say but i mean from present time to beginning of hivebent karkat. not that its uncommon for him to be a prick, he is, but seeing him go through the non-linear pattern with john is mmmmh interesting to say the least. though we havent seen his first trolling, just him constantly going “oh god what did i say, i was dumb” u know, not in those words but thats basically what he means.

ooh im gonna analyze, i feel like analyzing right now my fingers have already typed so much as it is MIGHT AS WELL

and our candidate will be *drum rollll* karkat wow predictable (its below the cut because this is literally irrelevant now to the session)

okay, lets lay out the shit we have already. as i said before, the way he talks presently to john (meaning in the future) is so different than how he speaks to everyone now. of course the “i hate the world” personality is still there, and hes still just regular karkat, but karkat talking with john is patient to some extent and tells him what he needs to know for the game, lowkey kinda chills out once they started talking about movies or growing up as huh, didnt he say larvae or smth?

okay that whole grub thing makes sense now as i just wrote that but i am still confused as to what the FUCK that is implying because i dont think it crossed my mind this much, im repressing it for now until it comes up later.

anyways, back to what i was saying. he was so DIFFERENT than the way he’s acting now which is bitch and moan and like? stfu karkat lmfao. i mean, its not THAT big of a difference in character, because i know he’s still his grumpy old self, and theres a lot of potential.. for growth? not sure if we’ll get it but i like to assume we will get character growth from these characters with fucking 8000 pages talking about them. but a story needs that growth and with karkat being just a straight up angry dude, in MY EYES, he should.. have growth, no? idk HOW he will grow, but im basically just taking what i have right now which isnt much but i analyze things for fun sometimes so let me be.

that being said, because its so early on, im not sure where homestuck is gonna go and i dont have much to go on but being in the psychology course shit happens when you have limited information and you gotta pin point what makes a person a person and how do they cope with things to grow further into life. many of my assignments involve limited info so honestly, not that hard.

but it is something that ive noticed, the way karkat is different as he grows which possibly means the whole veil thing happens later later on in his life and we havent yet seen that small growth become patience and not whining every time he doesnt get what he wants. but growth is common and it mostly likely happens to everyone, so its not like wow this is a surprise and a plot twist, more of something that i just wanna write for the sake of writing it. i hope that makes sense? i dont exactly know where im going with this. i just mean that im basically going to analyse karkat a tiny bit so idk how to otherwise explain it but you’ll get where im going with this as i type more lmao.

anyways, so karkat literally said “pretend i dont think highly of my friend’s talents” as if he’s visibly trying to force himself from all emotions and bash on those who do (reference: “stop being sensitive, its repugnant” or whatever tf he said while TA replied with “hypocrite”) i take that as a key word. so honestly, while that was the smallest thing ive gotten from this session, its the thing im most curious about actually and i actually havent mentioned lol. because what ive learned in psych, which this is just common knowledge but i did an assignment on it so like?? could be useful?? is that people who hold off their emotions tend to hold off others as well, so there is no chance of mirroring each other. in other words, if someone is happy and starts to laugh and goof around with another, the emotions will mirror that other person subconsciously. like an addictive laugh. theres also another way to show mirroring, which is to mimic another person's actions, allowing another to establish a sense of empathy and thus begin to understand another person's emotions. in this case, im using TA and karkat as example. people who suppress emotions tend to see emotions as a bad sign and if somebody else portrayed any sign of it as well, they’ll basically say “gross what are you doing” because theyre so used to concealing it away, that they dont want others to think theyre into the whole mushy shit. so they pretend to hate it, pretend to not even be slightly affected by general sensitivity..

which basically means karkat is a softie, and even if he’s a prick right now, meeee thinks john, from earlier convos, is growing on him because john himself knows how emotions work and while i dont think troll culture does know much about it, considering the BLOOD AND CARNAGE thing, he is in fact growing and even if thats obvious, and you all know it, i am new to homestuck and am trying to see that for myself. its noticeable to some degree. he may always still be a jerk, but i am waiting to see how he slowly starts to accept things around him and to finally show what hes hiding inside. even if its just going up by a few percentages, i see its there and im hoping VERY HOPING he has the biggest character growth!

in other words, why else do i think this?? well nobody who watches romcoms can be that fucking aggressive. you need some sap in you to like it.

on that note, ill probably analyze alternia’s system and rules in another post later throughout these next few sessions because i feel it needs to be talked about and the way everything just.. is so different and doesnt seem right, you know?

thats it for now goodnight

#homestuck #homestuck liveblog #hs81 #hs81 end #tfw you get so into the analysis simple shit doesnt come to mind like tagging or putting a title

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completeotometrash · 4 years

Text

Matchup

@i-sleep-like-napoleon

I'm a female on the libra-scorpio cusp and a Slytherin, I'm kind of a mix of ENFP and INFP. Appearance-wise, I'm 5'2, i've brown eyes and caramel brown hair. I also wear glasses and I'm also quite tanned from being out in the sun all the time. Personality-wise: - I can be really enthusiastic about stuff I'm really interested in, such as history (especially world war history), sciences (but physics is trash to me) and anime (I'm a closet nerd hehe) . - I can be really ambitious and competitive, and I would sometimes place unrealistic expectations on myself, leaving me mentally exhausted and stressed, but like i place these unrealistic measures on myself to strive to be the best - I do try to chill and take it slow, but you know, sometimes i just can't 😅 - I'm quite an open book to all my close friends - I also tend to be really possessive, like I dont like people purposely trying to steal my friends (it happened a lot of times before) and i hate it when someone randomly butts into a conversation i'm having with anyone, especially if it's a deep conversation - I can be really awkward around people i don't click with, but around people i click with, i can be pretty wild and will be able to hold conversations with. - I tend to procrastinate a lot, and people say i look intimidating but i don't feel like I'm intimidating. - I can be really sensitive to other's emotions and i tend to put others before me, so like my close friend always told me that i'm too much of a giver, like I try to please everyone else and ignore myself - My love languages are physical touch and quality time - I can't stand people who are attention seekers or just aim to be public nuisances as i feel that they're just really irritating and it gets on my nerves, especially those people who are just doing stupid things to be popular (which is lowkey why i think tiktoks dances are dumb, like seriously i dont get the hype, but i do like tiktok meme videos tho) - I listen to a lot of different genres of music, but i especially love classics (mozart and chopin are my favourites) and pop. - I can really insecure at times, because i always feel that every other girl out there is better than me and i'm just a plain and ugly, and partially because i got bullied when i was younger about my appearance - I like dressing up and putting on makeup occassionally, but i do act like a tomboy most of the time (ie. I hate skirts, like i really dont like them and i have no idea why, but jeans are supreme). - I also love playing the piano and singing as well, even though i'm not that good at it :D - People tell me that I'm very curious and persistent, constantly pushing until i get answers, but i do know my limits. - I'm also very passionate about things I love, and i would do anything to protect people that i care and love. - I'm also very affectionate and supportive towards my close friends and people i love. - I do have trust issues and I often feel like i do not deserve love and that I hate people who betray my trust. - I'm ok with pda, but not anything overly affectionate, like hand-holding and kissing is ok, but not making out 😳😖 - I also tend to be pretty forgettful, and i'll not eat for hours to get my work on hand done (whoop pretty unhealthy but :0) - I'm also really sarcastic when i want to be, and i can't hold a poker face to save my life (i swear i always start laughing like 2 seconds in) and I tend to sass people a lot, especially if I've had a bad day - I'm also pretty fiesty and I hate people stereotyping me for my gender (i.e like when someone says that "oh you're pretty good for a girl") like what does my gender have to do with my ability? Like there is zero correlation - My sense of humour is kind of twisted at times but i really love memes and i tend to crack inappropriate jokes sometimes - I've been told that i come across as really flirty to some guys but it's because i can be really touchy feely to my friends - I'm also quick to anger, especially if i have a bad day, i hate people who nag and i hate people who put down others- I'm kind of touch-starved, so i really like hugs and cuddles, but I'm also ticklish so my friends tend to tickle me when hugging me - I can be a daydreamer at times, like I would get stuck in my own fantasy world when i shouldn't 😂😂 - I'm also a drama queen around my friends, I dont have a lot of them in real life because of some rumours that others spread, so i only have a close circle of friends i really treasure and would do anything for them - I also tend to bottle up all my anger and negative thoughts, and would sometimes like explode on others even though I don't mean to - Sometimes I don't really think before I say or act, which is why sometimes I can come off as a bit rude or unfeeling but it's just me and my impulsiveness 🤪 Fun Facts: - i really love food, especially sweets (dark chocolate and dango is my life) - i really hate horror movies (I'm usually pretty brave, but horror movies just get to me so much ergh) but i love chick flicks and adventure flims - I'm also a hopeless romantic, which is why even little romantic gestures can make my heart flutter - My hobbies are reading, writing and shooting (only air-rifle though) - I used to be pretty athletic, I still am, but to a lesser extend now, because i injured my left knee playing volleyball in the past. It's on it's road to recovery, but it still hurts quite badly when i overexert myself. - I love artic foxes and cats, dogs are too energetic for me 😅 - I'm also a sneaker hoarder and I love collecting and wearing sneakers hehe, heels are like torture devices for the feet i dont care even if they make me taller - Coffee over tea anyday, no offense to peoples who like tea, but a fresh cup of brewed coffee is one of the best things in the world 😚 - I'm really terrible at drawing, I'm not gonna kid you. When i was younger, my art teacher threatened to fail me because im really terrible at drawing. 😂 - I'm also very injury-prone and a bit clumsy, which caused me to have bruises occasionally - I'm kinda bad and math and physics, but like if you take your time to explain to me then I'll understand a bit more lol, my best subject is like chemistry

...........

Thank you so much for the request! Hope you enjoy.

Although I was deeply torn between another character, I believe the suitor you’d be best with is: Sasuke Sarutobi!

I honestly feel like a relationship between you two would be like an, “opposites attract,” type of deal. But despite this, you two still would share a lot of common interests! Unlike all of the other guys, he understands you. He was born and raised in the same time period as you! He knows everything a normal person would from the 2000′s, he’s watched movies, listened to similar music, enjoyed memes, and understands references! Sasuke has made it very clear that he too, is quite the history guru. His former job in modern times was being a scientist. (Although it was never mentioned, I strongly feel like he enjoyed anime before he was sent back in time.) And he loves to not only learn, but teach what he knows! You two have a relationship unlike any other, which is a truly special thing. If there would ever be a time where you want to rant or discuss anything about the future, he would gladly listen!

Sasuke is not very good with his emotions, and is very stoic and self-kept. Seeing you and your expressions and how different you two are is pretty refreshing to him. He doesn’t find you intimidating whatsoever! (More adorable than anything). If you were ever frustrated at him or the world, he knows how to take it without making things worse, (most of the time). Always stays calm and has no problem being the first to apologize. He listens to how you feel and gives his best advice. Rare of you to ever get mad at him, he’s a pretty chill person that doesn’t seek attention or act like they’re better than anyone. He’s not too sure how to help you with your insecurities. Shows his love through actions rather than words, but still gives the nice occasional compliment on how you look or on your personality. (He truly does love you, thinks of you as being better than perfect.) He doesn’t mind that you’re the same way. Also isn’t bothered by you being possessive at all. (Doesn’t really talk to girls other than you unless he has to.)

Loves going and doing things with you. Whether if it’s walking around town or playing games in the castle! (Thinks you being competitive is adorable!) Understands if you just want to stay home and relax. He’s very introverted and doesn’t really understand social ques, so just being alone with you is something he would take any day.

Although he doesn’t show it, he loves pampering you! Enjoys cuddles as well. (Everyone seems to discuss on how he and his s/o would recreate the upside-down Spiderman kiss.) Will just randomly pull up romantic movie or TV show lines, and vines. A secret softy! (But only for you).

Overall, I think this would be a really healthy relationship! Only problem being how bad he is at expressing himself. (Which can be fixed over time.)

Other Possible matches: Masamune Date (almost picked this one tbh), Mitsunari Ishida, and Kennyo.. (Fuck I can’t remember his last name. Someone please educate me.)

#ikemen sengoku #ikemensengoku #matchups #matchup #match up #sasuke sarutobi #ikesen sasuke

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koyurim · 4 years

Text

it’s okay to not be okay 1-2

i’m loving the story telling of this show; it’s a mix of genres from fantasy to horror to romance and the way the animation is tying everything together is smart and refreshing. to top it off, it’s all so pretty (thanks kim soo hyun and seo ye ji)

the show deals with mental illness generally, but i think that it would be helpful if they put specific content warnings before the show. luckily, i was warned in advance that some unsettling images would be depicted. since it was helpful for me, i’m going to add a content warning for the episodes in each blog post although i may not necessarily talk about these issues in the blog post itself

cw for eps 1-2: eating disorder, child abuse, suicide, attempted murder, blood

right now, i dont find our main characters very lovable, but i’m intrigued by their stories and find that they’re rich and complex human beings with lots of capacity for growth. kang-tae’s shouldered a lot from a young age, taking care of his brother (sang-tae must be protected at all costs), and the way he’s learned to cope with his responsibilities and traumas isn’t the healthiest. he runs away like clockwork and doesn’t let anyone in, only forming fleeting relationships, because he seems to perceive letting anyone in as a threat to him (and sang-tae).

moon-young scares me but i find her very compelling; even though i never want to get on her bad side, i also want to give her a hug (she would hurt me for even saying that). she’s had her own traumas with abusive parents and has formed her own twisted ways of shielding herself and finding ownership in who she is, but the way she wants to protect kids from the same abuse is endearing. she’s also just so extra, i really love the small details that point to how ridiculous she is like her throne chair and her over the top outfits. i love that her fairytales don’t shy away from gruesome and scary subject matter and even capitalizes on it because it’s important to not deny that these things exist and speak to kids about horrific things in a way that empowers them.

the two of them individually seem to be ‘stuck,’ but together i see a path forward in which they help each other heal and grow. (and GODDAMN the chemistry!!!) until moon-young said something, it seems like kang-tae hadn’t considered the ways in which he was using his brother as an excuse to run away for his own fears. moon-young is already stepping out of her normal apathy/cruelty to try and help kang-tae (although still in a twisted manner). i actually dont hate their childhood connection because it serves the story as their traumas are connected; he runs away rather than face his fears and she doesn’t believe her soul is good or lovable. i do hope they don’t romanticize moon-young’s obsession as she needs to respect kang-tae’s boundaries, but i think it speaks to how well written her character is as someone who’s unrelenting and cruel to get what she wants and i love that *she’s* the one driving this.

overall, i find the story telling very compelling. the trailers really confused me because i was unsure how the fantasy elements would be incorporated, but weaving children’s fairy tale with the reality of the story is very smart and adds an element that allows us to explore the depths of mental health and emotions on a visual level. i think in the premiere episodes, i was always weary of the ways in which the show utilized mental health because i was worried it’d be sensationalized or done in a shallow and casual way; however, the first few episodes seemed to manage to avoid this by treating these issues seriously and addressing the human feelings that underlie all these interactions. i also appreciated the way most of the scenes happened off camera (the puke and the father’s suicide, but not him attacking moon-young). i hope the show will be able to continue diving into mental health in a respectful way.

#its okay to not be okay #kdrama #psycho but its okay

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archer3-13 · 5 years

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Thoughts on Other Students in 3H

in no particular order

Hubert: evil snake boi, i kinda like you. i just wish there was more actual meat to ya then what there is. still, he does his role effectively and unlike edelgard plays into the whole evil empire thing with more gusto so i ironically find him more palatable because atleast the game isnt trying to pretend he isnt shady as fuck.

Dedue: oddly charming despite his straight laced attitude, he gets some interesting nuance in how well he highly respects (cough loves cough) dimitri and likes individual people from the blue lions, he doesnt have any particular fondness for faerghus as a whole which is definitely understandable given his history. hes essentially using the camus/murdoch aspect of undying loyalty and even borrows elements of the female camuses line of romantic interest in their liege however heavily implied it might be and applying that to a male playable character. Plus he just has some fun and interesting interactions with other characters in general.

Lorenz: I have difficulty saying whether i like him. on the one hand, he ended up being more multidimensional then i thought he was going to be with his internal conflict between keeping up appearances for the sake social status and societal order and his desire to pursue his own personal interests and ideals against the needs of his father and thus societal conventions. on the other hand, the game never really runs with this as much as it should and hes still treated as a bit of a joke character so... c+ to b?

Ingrid: the token heterosexual of the blue lions whos still kinda gay anyways, her whole struggle with being a knight over a housewife seems a bit odd on the surface considering theres plenty of female knights and no one throws much of a fuss in universe, until you learn that it isnt so much that society expects her to do it as matter of course and more so that shes struggling with whether to pursue personal duty to her family or personal desires and ideals kinda like lorenz. in that respect she hits the mark a bit better then he does.

Raphael: kinda insubstantial but i liked him anyways, his sheer exuberance can be kinda refreshing in the games darker moments and hes got a few angles of his own such as his refusal to consider his parents deaths as part of a larger conspiracy so as to not hurt his friendship with ignatz nor ruin his own life and his sisters. plus hes just generally a nice guy. like a big huggable bear. just a shame that being a nice kinda dumb huggable bear is all thats really done with him.

Ignatz: his painting stuff and personal insecurities about wanting to do it over being a knight which his parents want him to do, more of that duty over desires and ideals thing again, is well enough and his probably misplaced guilt over raphaels misfortunes is definitely a highlight of him but he never really grabs as a character for some reason. probably because theres a lot of other characters in the game that hit those same marks and do it better then him.

Sylvain: has a lot of aspects that never really feel like they get proper follow up, his big thing is less womanizer and more so that he covers up his own mistrust and personal feeling by pretending to be a shameless flirt and philanderer. basically, maybe the emotional pain will go away if i flirt with girls and act the fool. but again there never really feels like theres any proper follow up for all this, others comment on it and then its more often then not dropped in story. hes fun enough but never really realized if that makes sense.

Caspar: shonen protagonist is kinda an apt word to describe him honestly, and that idealism of his clashes with the more grey on grey morality of the world hes within which is never a particularly bad direction to take the shonen bois in if done well like hunter x hunter. And he is done well, or at least satisfactorily to the point that hes another one i ended up liking more then i thought i would. his problem is more so that his interactions with most other characters in the main cast which feel duller then they should on most occasions.

Dorothea: probably gonna get a bit of shit for this, but i have no interest in her. her insecurities about her future and getting a good husband is well and interesting but manuela does that better honestly and outside of that dorotheas a bit... not shallow but hazy and insubstantial if you will. she obviously has appeal to people but like ignatz she failed to grab me in part because others did what she did and better within the game itself.

Ashe: soft boi chose to be soft instead of hard, one of the characters i found liking and one i expected to kinda like to begin with. in game he gets accused of being childish and naive a lot but i dont see it personally, hes not naive but more so tries to look for the best in people and in life like lonato did all those years ago for him. that said, the speed with which lonato dies damages his identity as a character a bit by happening before we really get a chance to feel for his relation to lonato, its not to big a bug bear as it doesnt hurt his character all that much but it does feel a bit frustrating.

Felix: teenage angst personified, his main gripes seem to be a distaste of warrior culture and its glorification of bloodshed and sacrifice but instead of approaching it with sadness or pacifism, he lashes out against what he feels is the unfairness of the world. hes not exactly wrong in his feelings and as a character it makes sense and works for his abrasive attitude, and its an interesting twist to the navarre type to have their isolation come not from stoicism nor sheer blood lust or a combo of the two but rather from a rage against the machine of society mindset.

Ferdinand: he got more interesting as i got farther along, and i personally feel he works the best as a character when going against edelgard since thats where more of his personal drama comes from. hes eager to succeed and prove himself worthy of his title over time and holds a chivalrous mindset very similar to others in the cast but his growth is less about learning how to hold onto those ideals in the face of reality for the sake of personal fulfillment but more so about learning to define himself by himself and not by societies needs. ultimately he comes to value chivalry not because its what people tell him to value but because he truly values it and i enjoy that. but its also why i feel he works better on other routes then edelgards since there hes still valuing himself not for himself but for the expectations society or edelgard in this case is placing him under, one tyrant for another in a sense. i admit i dont remember much about him on edelgards route though because i just like him more on the others.

Leonie: poorly timed support aside, she has an odd charm to her that a lot of modern fire emblem characters just dont have anymore. but knuckling past jeralt senpai shes an interesting blend of stingy and work effort that goes to inform itself and her relations to others. and like a lot of the golden deer she has a lackadaisical attitude of ‘i might not know what the fuck is happening, but i do know someone needs an ass whooping!’ and it works especially well in her case since her character is very attuned towards focusing more on her personal matters then the grand scheme of things because she has rent due in a few months. if she was in a more traditional fe set up she would definitely be a beowolf archtype that you need to pay to recruit. in fact im surprised thats not an option on other routes to begin with for her.

Hilda: honestly suprised me by not being a pure serra type. she has aspects of that on the surface with the selfish almost vain attitude towards life and others bur well serra is more about puffing herself up to hide insecurity and contribute towards a desperate desire for grand social status, Hilda downplays herself and her abilities due to living in her brothers shadow if unintentionally and seeing the stress it can bring. they’re both lazy and vain, on the surface anyways, always getting others to do their work for them but well serra seeks more social status to escape it hilda seeks less social status to escape it. plus it was kinda funny to see hilda act as claudes unofficial number 2 you could still recruit.

Lindhart: Sleepy boi needs a nap and thats kinda it really. exaggeration maybe but unlike a lot of characters in the game and the series as a whole he really doesnt have a reason to be there as a character. as a unit certainly but not a character, in terms of motivation anyways. He hates blood, fighting and violence, hed rather sleep or pursue personal interests then work or politics, hes insightful and intelligent but the important players in the plot have other advisers and hes not interested in stepping up in that regard anyways. his only real reason for being there is academic interest and even then a pin has to be put in that when war breaks out. hes not a bad character overall though, his sleepiness and insight make for an interesting double act along with his blunt mannerisms, i just have trouble pinning down motivations for him.

Mercedes: big team mom energy, which i suppose goes along with the whole being older then everyone thing. a bit dopey and airheaded at first glance shes one of the more receptive characters to how others are feeling and well she does try to nurture shes not above scolding if she feels it would help someone more then praise and reassurance. of course shes also very detached to events of the world mostly just there to help the people around her from the bottom rather then the top which is not an insult and more one of the things i find fascinating about her. it all makes for a very interesting character and one of my personal favorites of the cast.

Annette: overworker, issues with her dad, magic bubbly, and hits things with axes. a nice recipe of a character but it never feels as if the game can get it all to blend properly. more so to the point is that most of these elements work independently of each other and not to inform each other despite the games insistence. theres a lot of dramatic potential involving her father as well and though the game makes the best use of those aspects its not to the benefit of the rest of her character. it doesnt hurt her either though and she has some appealing dialogue with other characters.

Marianne: I had trouble getting to like her, perhaps more so then any other character among the other students. not because i hated her but because shes, well, very boring. alot of the characters in the game are into the self deprecation thing already and well her personality aspects of acting quite and submissive to fall into the background from a lack of self confidence it also feels like the game came up with two different explanations for it and couldnt settle on whether it was because of her adoptive fathers pressure or her families history and instead of weaving both together decided to use them interchangeably. Sometimes shes a wallflower because of her father and a lack of confidence to state her mind and self loathing over that lack of confidence, other times its because of her lineage and self loathing over her cursed history. never really at the same time.

Bernadetta: another odd favorite for me. recent support changes aside, the basic gist of her history remains the same in that her father was a tyrant in regards to her future which caused her to grow up with no confidence and a crippling fear of society, so shes already off to a good start as a character by basically doing mariannes schtik but better. well its hard for me to definitely say she ever grows past that as a character, thats fine in my opinion because her development is less stop being a recluse because society demands you dont and more so about making actual friends and learning that not all people are garbage fires just most of them. in most of her supports anyways. she just feels the most rewarding to interact with alright, and she was the one i always felt the most upset to mess up a speak thing with. Let us hug and stay inside watching cartoons together.

Petra: i went in wanting to like her and really liking her at first, but shes hit a middle of the road for me now. her speech gimmick wasn't particularly egregious and gets even less noticeable after the timeskip, but her actual character is a very straight forward ‘national pride demands independence’ package and doesnt really escape past that boundary all that much. its very understandable motivation, id even go so far as to say that shes the one with the best reasons to betray the empire of the black eagles characters, so like ferdinand i feel she works better outside of the black eagles in term of her own character identity and motivation/development as she finally stands up for her peoples right to exist on their own in an fe6 echidna kinda fashion. outside of that though shes... foreign to the other characters. thats kinda it.

Lysithia: as a unit she hits like a truck, as a character shes functional but hardly revolutionary for the series. i mean i did like her since i have a fondness for her archtype of weird magic prodigy poor social skills, but more so that she doesn't hit any particularly new notes in that regard. Shes a lot of lute, with some delthea childishness in her, some of sanakis sharper political wit and dark history, and a bit of miriels scientist on top. that said its all blended very nicely and she has some nice scenes for herself that got me to feel and care for her, some kinda adorable moments, and a history well woven into the games background and more so then most of the other deer and a lot of the other characters from across the houses in general. for a minor character anyways.

you may now all stone me to death.

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #fe3h #fe16

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honeymoon-bear · 5 years

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ALRIGHT SO

i have a ton of opinions i wanna share on each of the characters and i guess i will do that with this post!! id love to hear other peoples opinions as well tho so if you have any you wanna write down dont be shy 👀

ill put this under a cut cause this is gonna be LON G

alright so!!!

Taako: honestly a very complex and complicated character? Although he’s arguably one of my two absolute favs from the show, i dont agree with all of his actions while 100% understanding others. Justin actually keeps reminding us that Taako isnt a hero, isnt a good person which is good cause i tend to forget that a lot :^)) its hard to not see people as either good or bad and i think taako is a fantastic character to highlight this grey area. He has very strict priorities which are easy to understand once you know his past. What may seem out of character sometimes is actually just. taako and his different priorities. And thats very interesting to me? Like being able to have a character that does good while being conscious of the bad things theyve done and still do, while knowing theyre not a hero makes them very human in my eyes and thats what i appreciate about him the most. Also: hes just super fun!!! his iconic quotes really add to the show and so does his very non-heroic behaviour. it especially contradicts nicely with magnus’ personality while not making their friendship suffer!! Magnus: just a through and through good guy!!!! i love him!!! hes way more of a black-or-white character (100% lawful good) which isnt a bad thing per se, cause he still has complexity and depth to him. While im usually not a big fan of the whole “oh i lost someone i loved and thats what defines my whole life” trope, Magnus’ backstory doesnt feel like that at all. Maybe because I know its very much inspired by Travis’ mother which is also why i wanna be very careful about this topic cause god, what happened is an awful awful thing. But also cause Julia isnt just “the wife”, she’s a fantastic character in herself and thats what sets this backstory apart from most others of this kind ive seen. Magnus has more to him than just that tho and i think his friendship with Carey is especially outstanding to me!!! Its just so refreshing to see a friendship develop “””on-screen””” and this friendship having no ulterior motive!! they just really like each other platonically!!! hell yeah!!! But what i like about him the most is probably that while his looks may be the most “conservative” out of all the main characters with him being this big and burly and masculine fighter, he’s so caring and loving and compassionate. And thats just such a nice twist? Lup: I love Lup. She is complex, has understandable motives and relationships and all in all is just a really good addition to the crew!!! Still, i think what made all of that suffer a little bit was her introduction to the show? I dont know, i wish we would have known she was there all along, cause just going “oops taako had a twin sister the whole time!!” was a bit?? sudden?? Also a weird thing for Justin I guess? Cause it interfered greatly with Taakos backstory and who Taakos was as a person. ALTHOUGH like Justin said, nothing really changed actually! I didnt change how Taako behaved or how he got to where he is, so thats all good i guess!! Back to her introduction: there was the whole umbrastaff spelling out her name of course, and the revelation was epic and i enjoyed it, but,,, idk!! it just felt like a shame that such a fantastic character was only added so late into the show through such a “”clicheed””” introduction idk!!! ANYWAY im super glad she’s here now!! Also, she really balances out taako (and the other way around) while not being a copy of him. Like, Im very glad shes not just Taako 2 while still having some of the same mannerisms, it sets them apart without setting them apart too much? She’s witty and confident and for a few episodes i was really scared she was just gonna be a manic pixie dream girl -like character for taako and barry hhh,, cause thats just how most pop media handles good female characters :^)) once again: really glad that didnt happen and Griffin let her be her own person with problems and worries and dreams and relationships of her own. i love her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (kinda wish we knew more about her as a person and not just what she means to other people tho yknow??) Lucretia: Probably my other fav character from balance, and like Taako a very complex and complicated person (you can see a pattern here huh sdjskdj). In my opinion, she’s maybe even the best developed NPC, with a character growth unrivaled by any other character on the show. Her action of deleting everyones memories is such a grey area move but one thats just so understandable and human? She saw how much her friends suffered and couldnt take it anymore, so like Travis i very much think shes a tragic hero, not a villain. The isolation she went through following this decision was a sacrifice she willingly took to just see her friends happy again and i actually think thats very noble? She even stopped the war on earth around the relics that would have otherwise destroyed the whole planet. Still, making everyone forget lup wasnt. the nicest thing to do :^)) especially cause lup sacrificed so much to get to the point where the 7 had finally accomplished their mission of hiding the light, cause yeah, lucretias plan for that would have been fatal and while lups plan wasnt perfect, at least it meant life could continue on the planet below. So i can very much understand Taakos dislike of Lucretia now that he knows the whole picture. All in all tho, Lucretia is a fanastically written character, incredibly human in her actions and someone who put the happiness of her friends and the world below above all of her own needs. She’s a strong leader and has a heart of gold!!!!!!

#OOF i just had to type these out sjdksd #especially after listening to the last ttazz which was super interesting as always and which i wish there was more of!!!!!#taz spoilers

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ultiwrites · 6 years

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October writing challenge 6-7

Following @horrificmemes ‘s list. And yeah, i’m still doing this lmao.

Day 1 : Revenge

Day 2 : Lookalike

Day 3 : Transformation

Day 4 : Scream

Day 5 : Creature, Night sky

Day 6-7 : Poison, Doll (Hollow)

He swallowed the sobs that tried to find their way out his throat, nearly choking in the process, vocal chords feeling raw and tender, aching from all the screams he'd had to swallow.

He curled even closer against the weight in his arms, plastering himself more to the wall and willing his breaths to be silent, soft, no matter how much he just wanted to scream and wail and curse.

This was all his fault anyway, he had no right neither time to feel pity for himself.

He slowly leaned forward, resting his forehead against his friend's, his breath hitching for a tick, then stopping altogether when he heard footsteps, loud and thunderous in the stillness that surrounded him as he hid in the crevice of a broken wall, curled into a ball and trying to be invisible.

The noises faded away in the distance eventually, but the panic remained, remnants of crazed eyes and twisted smiles making his skin crawl, making him clutch on his friend tighter as he held his breath, trying to listen for the other's, heart freezing when he thought he couldn't feel them.

They were too soft, too feeble.

Holding someone you loved in your arms while they struggled to breathe was nothing short of painful, and he couldn't take his eyes away from his teammate in fear that his chest stopped moving altogether.

His eyes were vacant and empty, staring straight ahead at nothing, looking like he wasn't there. His mouth was slightly parted, skin pale and clammy, body completely boneless and lax, looking like a marionette whose's strings had been cut. He could barely feel his heartbeat through the closeness of his hold, and it scared him to think it could stop and he would be none the wiser if he so much as leaned away.

If he didn't do something soon, he would be...

He wouldn't allow it.

Not his friend, not his family.

This had been his fault, and he wouldn't rest until he made things right, until he made sure he was safe. He wiped his eyes with the back of his gloved hand, clenched his jaw and bit his lip, inhaled through his nose and let the determination drown him, invigorate him, shroud his body like a second skin.

No matter what happened to him, he would protect his family.

It was the least he could do.

-5 hours earlier-

Lance walked out of his pod, yawning and blinking sleepy eyes in hopes of becoming more alert, squinting against the three stars that made the sky a vibrant green, hurting his vision with the intensity of it's color. He had been sent to planet Karakuri to seal an alliance with the natives there, the Kuria, whom Allura had said had been allies of Altea and her father long before Zarkon lost his mind, that they were agreeable and honorable people and it would be easy.

He kind of thought that she'd jinxed him, but she'd waved his hand and said that nothing bad could happen this time. Again, he'd thought that that was inviting bad luck to bite him in the ass, but she'd just glared at him and shooed him away towards the hangar, her frustrated expression becoming fond after a tick, waving him goodbye.

He used his helmet to analyze the air and see if he could take it away, sighing in relief when he did so, the gentle breeze feeling wonderful against his sweaty skin. The planet was humid as all hell, and his suit was doing nothing for him, it was plastered to his body and the sensation was uncomfortable.

He wiped his head around, looking for his partner in this mission, but it seemed like he hadn't arrived yet-

Ah. There he was.

Another pod descended and landed just besides his, the ramp opening as Keith strided forward, running to Lance's side and taking his helmet away when he noticed he didn't have his own.

"Sorry for the wait, Lance. My mom wanted to run our next mission by me again." He smiled at his friend, chuckling at his sheepish expression.

"Don't worry dude, it's all good. Let's just go to the castle, I'm sweating buckets here." He fanned himself with his hand, prompting Keith to snort and nod his head, both of them walking alongside the path and towards the big castle on the other side.

It took them only minutes to arrive, and the King and his advisors were readily waiting for them, slightly bowing - in respect, or as a salute, he didn't know which. These aliens were...To put it mildly, they made him uncomfortable at first glance. They were humanoid in form, with ashen skin and gaunt appearances, fuzzy spongy hair, long limbs and noses, with mouths that stretched from side to side of their faces and big eyes that shone too bright for his liking.

They also made a strange sound as they walked, but Lance wasn't anyone to judge by looks alone, and Allura had assured them over and over that they were allies. So he would be respectful and dutifully carry out his role as a diplomat.

He slowly approached the King and shook his hand, the skin cold as ice and just as hard, then proceeded to make idle chat that slowly devolved into talks about alliances, the coalition, weaponry and armies and everything Allura had instructed into him as the representative of Voltron.

From time to time, he would side glance Keith, who sometimes gave his input about something, his brow slightly furrowed with his hand constantly at his hip, right where his luxite blade was. It was a sign that something was putting him on edge or making him uncomfortable or wary, and it might had been the alien's appearance or the slight mechanical tone of their voice, but Lance could agree that he wanted to finish this quick and return to the Atlas as soon as possible.

"That is wonderful, Paladin Lance. But we should continue our talk while we dine, if you do not mind a small walk through the gardens first. My daughter, Luktar, likes to wander around there, it's her favorite place, she loves the flowers and the stone fountain." He nodded with a smile, and followed the King -Keith in tow- and his entourage as they guided them through the castle's hallways, slowly inching towards his teammate's side to whisper to him.

"Hey, Keith. You seem quite nervous, is everything okay?" The other looked at him through the corner of his eye, biting his lip, his hand never leaving the handle of his blade.

"I don't know, Lance. I'm just....something feels...off. My instincts are screaming at me and...I don't know why." Lance frowned, looking around for any sign of danger, noticing the small cracks in the walls and some withered plants, rusted armors and a slight coating of dust on the furniture.

It was nothing strange, every culture was different and, it was obvious that as wealthy as the royals were, they didn't care much about appearances, just enough to distinguish who was well-born and who was a commoner. But still...

Keith's gut feelings and instincts had never steered them wrong before, and he wasn't about to doubt them now. Although his feeling could come from many things, so they couldn't just ruin this mission before knowing that they were facing.

"Maybe the Galra are lurking on this planet..." He whispered. "...or maybe some bounty hunters will be after our heads like last time, who knows. Whatever the reason, just....stay on guard, and let me know if your 'feeling' gets stronger, okay?" Keith nodded wordlessly, and Lance straightened from his bent position, watching the light at the end of the hallway that eventually revealed a beautiful garden, full of exotic plants and flowers.

Someone was approaching them from the left, clad in bright pink clothes that matched their peach skin perfectly, sporting a veil that covered the lower half of their face, possibly to conceal their large mouth, their frizzy beige hair up in a big bun. It was a big difference from the pale demeanor of the other natives, and he wondered why that might be, only to lose his train of though as the newcomer spoke.

"Father! I see you've welcomed out guests already. I am so sorry I was late, I made some refreshments as an apology, I hope our brave paladins accept this small gift." He had the feeling that the...Princess? smiled under her veil, eyes crinkling as she handed some drinks to her father and his servants, then approaching Lance to do the same.

"I am sorry, Sir Paladin, it seems I miscounted how many drinks I needed, I only have one left." The Princess looked apologetic, staring at him although she was waiting for his disapproval. In all honestly, he didn't want to drink anything they gave him right now, but the others were enjoying it without trouble, some already having finished them, and he didn't want to be disrespectful in such an important mission.

So he smiled at the Princess and took the glass, watching her eyes lit up as she giggled softly, walking towards her father's side and chatting with him as she glanced at him from time to time, looking eager and nervous, as if she was seeking approval for the concoction she'd made.

Lance resigned himself to drink something that he knew was going to taste disgusting, and rose the glass to his lips, smelling the faint aroma of strawberries and milk, ready to take a gulp before-

A hand snatched it away, and before he could do anything, Keith had downed it in one go.

The black paladin sent a toothy smirk towards the Princess, who looked flabbergasted and surprised, but immediately beamed and bowed her head in appreciation and gratitude, her posture relaxed and expression happy as she spoke to her father.

"Keith..." He seethed under his breath. " Why did you do that? They might have taken offense or something, we dont know how their culture works." Keith gave the glass to one of the maids and took a deep breath, looking Lance dead in the eye, the fire that he was so familiar with begginig to burn brighter behind his eyelids.

"I don't know. Something just didn't feel right with me, you know how it goes. My Galra side detects something and urges me to act, but my human side doesn't have an idea what the problem is or what I was acting on, and I have to find for myself." Keith shrugged, annoyance clear in his face as he sported a small pout. His Galran heritage had given him trouble in a few occasions, and, although Krolia and Kolivan had tried to help him to the best of their ability, as he was a hybrid, there were many things they didn't understand.

So right now, his Galran side may have screamed at him to ' Drink the glass' but gave no reasoning neither an inkling as to why, and it left his teammate with a big ass question mark above his head, having to unravel the mystery by himself.

"Okay buddy, I get it. Just....try to hold back next time?" He hopefully asked, trying to be gentle, knowing how much Keith hated the things out of his control, specially things that had to do with his own body.

His friend nodded and they both followed the King again, finally ending in a big dining hall in which not him -neither Keith- ate anything, and used up their time to convince the King to join them instead while the Princess shared her input as to why they should.

Everything was going smoothly when Lance noticed that the sky was beginning to darken, and his clock read 9 pm Earth time, time for them to leave and come back tomorrow to discuss whatever matters they hadn't been able to today.

He rose from his chair and began saying his goodbyes when he felt fingers curl around his wrist, and he turned to the side to watch Keith curled up on his chair, hand on his stomach, parlor pale and lips a straight line as he shallowly breathed.

"Keith? Keith, what's wrong?" He kneeled before him, noticing the way his eyes were squinting and blinking continuously, shoulders shaking slightly as the grip he had on Lance's wrist tightened. He raised his hand and felt his forehead, noticing the icy feel of his skin and the cold sweat that dripped down his neck, internally panicking and wondering what to do, he looked to be in pain.

"Paladin, what's going on?" The Princess approached, brows furrowed and voice hurried and frantic, the worry palpable in her tone.

"I don't know, he just...he doesn't seem to be feeling well..." Keith coughed and shook his head, and his body began falling forward and right onto Lance's arms, the coldness and tremors making Lance's heart stop, drowning him in concern. " Keith! " He called his name, hoping for an answer, but he only got ragged breaths in return and a pained moan that broke his heart.

"Quick paladin, take him to the medical ward!" The Princess shouted, already running there as she trusted Lance to follow her, which he did. He cradled Keith close to his chest and stood up, holding him tight, then began walking as fast as he could, eventually running with all his might until he arrived at a hospital-like room, where the Princess instructed him to lay Keith down on one of the beds.

"I will have one of my doctors run a scan to find out what's wrong." She told him seriously, her voice grave and filled with the authority only a Princess could have. "You should go and contact your team." The Princess began tinkering with the many machines around, giving him his back.

"I am not leaving him." He said, determined to stick by and make sure nothing bad happened to him, make sure that they could help him and, if not, take him back to the Atlas for treatment.

"Paladin, I do not know if we'll be able to help, we have no knowledge on your species, he's here just for first aid. You need to contact your team, but this room is specifically constructed to block any kind of signal, because it interferes with our machinery and is dangerous for patients." She continued connecting cables and controlling the stats on a screen, continuously typing and moving around, even going as far as ripping her skirt to be able to go back and forth without restrictions, as fast as needed be.

Lance looked at Keith's pained face once, and knew that he had no choice, he needed to call Shiro and the others, he had to take Keith back home to find what was wrong, had to make sure he was safe. He approached his teammate and whispered comforting words into his ear, brushing his hair back from his clammy forehead, then leaning back.

"I'll be right back, Keith, you'll be okay. I promise." He nodded at the Princess, who returned the gesture, before striding away from the room, putting on his helmet and hailing the Atlas as soon as he was a corridor away, but only static welcomed him, so he ran further and tried again, and again, and again....

As his panic continued to grow, he noticed that no matter how far he got, his systems didn't seem to want to function, and in his haste to find a good spot, he'd returned to the garden, running right through the rocky path, breathing heavily as he wildly looked for a connection.

He turned towards the right and began running again, but his leg collided with something and he fell face first onto the ground, his helmet falling away while he let out a scream of pain.

He spat out dirt and pushed himself away from the floor, opening his eyes to search for his helmet in desperation-

Only gray greeted him.

He blinked once, twice, three times.

He rubbed his eyes and glanced around, uncomprehending.

What had once been a colorful, lush and vibrant garden was now nothing more than ashes and rot; the ground was gray- as was everything else- the trees and plants were withered and decaying, most of them dead, and the fountains and stones were cracked and broken with no water inside.

The air smelt pungent and sour, the smell of soot and rot and stagnation mixing together in a suffocating perfume that spoke of death. There wasn't even any noise; the previous chatter of bird-like creatures and running water was gone, no more rustling of leaves and wind chimes filling the silence, only a foreboding stillness that was broken by the wail of a desolate landscape.

Lance held his breath and looked at his foot, seeing the machine he had tripped onto, fumbling as he looked for some kind of switch, something- He found it, and pressed it, and in an instant, the beauty was back, like a dream, like paradise- He crushed the device under his foot, and brought back the reality alongside a feeling of dread that did nothing to his growing panic.

Something was really, really wrong here.

He needed to get Keith, right now

He scrambled for his helmet, with still no news from his failing comms, and ran all the way towards the medical ward, bayard in hand, eyes wide open and ears trained to catch any kind of sound. He arrived within a minute, but as he'd feared, when he opened the doors, Keith was nowhere to be seen, and Lance felt his gut clench with nausea and his head beginning to spin as he thought of the many horrible fates that could have befallen his best friend.

Neither Black nor Red could come because they were healing after an arduous battle; his comms were shot, Keith was missing and he was alone- god-

Just when he was pondering what to do, voices began seeping into the hall, and he hid under a bed just as a few soldiers passed by, muttering to themselves.

"Have you seen the Red one?" Their voices were monotonous, and made shivers run down his spine.

"No. Princess asked us to find him and bring him back, but he is nowhere to be seen." Another voice, devoid of feeling, speaking as if it didn't matter to them, as if it didn't concern them at all.

"Continue looking." Affirmative noises. Then their footsteps faded away in the distance, still emitting that strange sound, like the rattling of metal inside wood, heavy and loud admist the continuous noises in the medical ward, all of them making it hard for him to think.

Getting up from under the bed, he tried his comms one last time, and, seeing as he still got no response, he left a recorded message in case the signal came back, hoping that one of his teammates would receive it and come help them. When he was finished, he took out his bayard and drew his sword, peeking over the hallways and hugging the walls when he was sure there was no one near him.

His helmet's systems were all shot, so he couldn't look for heat signatures or try to pinpoint Keith's suit location, so he had to resort to look for him in the traditional way, which did nothing to his distress and agitation, his heart thundering inside his chest with fear.

What if he was too late? What if something horrible had already happened to him? He would never forgive himself. Tears sprang to his eyes at the mere thought.

He wiped at them before looking around, realizing that he was in a part of the castle that he didn't recognize, with dark walls and even a darker floor, all coated in a layer of velvet cloth that made it seem like everything was covered in blood.

It gave him the chills, but if they hadn't visited this area before, then there was the possibility that they had taken Keith here. He needed to look. And so he did.

Amongst the corridor, there were many doors, all of them closed with writing on them that he couldn't understand, but a few feet before him, one stood slightly ajar, a faint light illuminating the hallway. He stood glued to the wall, turning his head slowly and peeking inside, squinting to try and see through the haze and brightness.

At first, he couldn't understand what he was seeing.

There were....rows and rows of some kind of machines, seemingly made of wood with a slight humanoid form, giving him their back. He knew from Allura's info that these aliens's abilities consisted in making weapons that resembled dolls, battle machines that fought and followed their master's wishes, and that were pretty strong and durable.

Enough to fend off the Galra for ten thousand years.

He tried to get a closer look, but just then, a voice he knew echoed loudly from his right, and he whirled around to see another open door, this one far ahead, and strained his ears to catch what was being said, his fist closed tightly around the handle of his sword.

"This one's so pretty....not as pretty as the other one, but still exotic enough. It is sad that he has Galra genes, but I am sure I will be able to fix it, I just need the right tools." Lance's blood froze in his veins, there was only one person who the Princess could be talking about. " Guard him well. Not that he can go anywhere, but I do not want his companion to find him, understood?" A chorus of 'Yes, Princess' followed her words, and then footsteps grew nearer, and, in his panic, he ducked into the room, holding his breath and trying to calm the racing of his heart.

Thankfully, the room he'd ran into rattled with noise, creaking and rustling and the sound of wood being shifted around that seemed to be everywhere, all of those hopefully masking his harsh breaths and the tremble of his hands.

When he was sure that the Princess had gone away, he left the room and stealthily walked towards the other door, peeking in with his heart in his throat, praying to god like a mantra to 'Let Keith please be allright'. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the light, he froze on the spot.

Keith was sitting on a big, plush chair, his hair brushed back and tied in a small ponitail, his body clad in a white robe layered with a violet vest that covered him whole, his uniform thrown away on the floor by his side. He wasn't doing anything, eyes trained in front of him, head slightly tilted to the right, mouth open and hands resting on the sides, looking like he was in a trance, body so immobile Lance thought he wasn't even breathing.

And it was that thought what prompted him to move, barging in and taking the guards by surprise, managing to stab one in the heart. The other one jumped over him, his hands going to Lance's neck, applying force that felt like too much for someone their size and weight, making the cogs in Lance's mind begin to spin and slowly fall into place.

He kicked at the soldier with his legs and threw him off balance, then used the opportunity to bring his sword up, changing to his blaster and shooting him in the face, the other falling to the side and remaining unmoving.

He hurried to move the soldier away, and as soon as he was free, he ran towards Keith's side, hands going to his neck and wrist, trying to feel for a pulse, feeling the fear and anger rise in a deafening crescendo that didn't stop until he found a heartbeat; slow, feeble.

Too much to be healthy, too much to be normal, but there.

He sighed in relief and rested his forehead against Keith's chest, slowly looking into his eyes and tying to speak to him, get a reaction or even a twitch of his fingers.

"Keith, hey, it's me, Lance." He cradled his cheek and slowly patted it." C'mon can you hear me? Say something please, blink if you can hear my voice, do something- anything." But Keith remained a statue, empty eyes gazing at nothing, body a dead weight reclining against the seat. He didnt even blink once, his lashes didn't flutter and his lips didn't move, it was as if he was frozen solid, and Lance wanted to scream.

He had to get away. Had to get Keith help.

He struggled to move Keith the way he wanted, but eventually managed to carry him on his back, the sound of his breaths calming him somehow. He looked at the floor to sidestep the bodies of the soldiers, and stilled when he noticed that there was no blood at all, and that the way their bodies were strewn around was...wrong and unnatural.

He crouched down and touched the hole he made on the soldier's chest, freezing when he heard a small sound coming from it, like the ticking of a clock or the rotation of cogwheels. He turned on the lights on his helmet, and, gulping in a deep breath, looked inside the hole.

Something moved inside, and with a choked shriek, he backed away so fast he nearly dropped his teammate. The soldier fell to the side from the speed of his movement, and his robe fell open, showing his chest and arms-

Lance gagged and covered his mouth, whimpering.

All the way from his elbow to his neck, a big cut divided the skin in two, the edges broken and slightly green, stitched together with a thick thread that haphazardly kept the two halves together. On the center of his chest, there was another one that ran all the way down, disappearing under his shirt, just as badly stitched as the arm, a gaping hole in the sewing letting him see the inside for a tick, catching a glimpse of wood and iron, broken tissue and remnants of clogged blood.

He looked away and vomited on the floor, struggling to keep Keith on his back, tears springing to his eyes as he pieced together the mystery unraveling in front of him.

He stood up on shaky legs, staggering towards the soldier he'd shot in the face, nudging him with his foot to turn him around, eyes widening and stomach clenching at the sight of ripped skin and a wooden piece under it, the smell coming from it foul and nauseating.

He gasped and wheezed, looking at the many figures hanged on the walls with racks, the supposed weapons that the Kurians were so skilled at making, the battle dolls. But when he approached them and rolled up their sleeves, the same cuts and stitches on the skin greeted him, and a horrifying realization turned icy the blood in his veins.

He backed away slowly, looking around, remembering the many rooms with hundreds upon hundreds of dolls lined on the walls, and resisted the urge to scream. But then, a rattling sound began filling the room, louder and louder as the seconds ticked by. The dolls' eyes rolled on their head and looked at him, all of them at the same time, their mouths stretched impossibly wide into twisted smiles.

And he did scream.

He kicked the door open and ran with all his might, remembering to take Keith's bayard with him before he left, goosebumps rising on his skin when a myriad of footsteps began trailing his path, their voices distorted and mechanical- not human.

"Found him. Find him. The Princess orders it so. Do not let him escape. Retrieve the doll, retrieve the new doll." This was insane, the Princess was crazy. He needed to tell the King or- or one of the villagers, maybe the maids would be able to help him-

He crossed paths with the King just as he thought this, and was about to yell for him when he noticed his stance, lax and slumped, head twisted to look down the corridor Lance was running from, eyes rolling around abnormally until they finally settled on him.

The noise he made was shrill and inhuman, and Lance was fast to turn he other way and run towards the garden, looking for a way out. His legs burnt from the effort, and his chest felt like it was going to burst; both with panic and fear, but he couldn't stop, Keith needed him, he had to keep him safe, had to get them away from these...monsters.

On his mad dash throughout the castle, he met with villagers and soldiers, maids and children and royals, the cook and the gardener and the medic; all of them began pursuing him as soon as they saw him, and all of them sported the same cuts on their wrists, hidden by fine made clothes, their insides rattling as they ran after him.

Everyone had been turned into a doll, there was no one left alive.

And, no matter how far he ran or how well he hid, the dolls always found him, scratching at him like ferocious beasts, brandishing daggers and knifes and whatever they considered a weapon, forcing him to retreat and go back to running.

It was an endless hunt, and they never grew tired.

But Lance did, and he was getting desperate, taking twists and turns in different directions, trying to lose the monsters intent on catching him.

And it was on one of his blind turns on the castle hallways that he heard a voice he recognized; the voice of the Princess, scolding someone with a high pitched tone of voice, speaking loud on a room nearby. Lance glanced around, frantic, and noticed that he was next to the medical ward once more, catching sight of a hole in the wall behind a painting and hurrying to hide inside, holding Keith against his chest as he crammed them both in the tight space.

"You have not found them yet? How useless can you be? The potion he drank will only last until the stars have dimmed, and I do not know what kind of effects it will have on a Galran hybrid. You need to find my doll so I can complete the transition, understood? Failure is not an option." Lance held his breath and let the echo of her words drown him, a weight settling on his shoulders as he realized what had happened, and why Keith was suffering right now.

"Yes, Princess."

"Good boy. Now, focus your hearing and find them, the Paladin's vibrations should be enough for you to pinpoint their location, do not come back until you retrieved them both." Footsteps left towards the right, and the Princess' voice spoke again, filling him with incommensurable rage and disgust, his fists clenching with the need to squeeze the life out of her.

"Now, I should go back to the basement, this one needs a few adjustments." Her presence grew further and further away until she disappeared, and Lance slumped forward, depleted of energy but seething with fury, vision becoming blurry as he fought back tears.

God, this was all his fault. The potion had been meant for him, it was supposed to be him and not Keith, Keith had drinked his glass and saved his life, but....but the price he paid for it was too much.

The tears that fell down his cheeks rolled down Keith's own, and as Lance glanced inside his empty eyes, he found himself breaking, sobbing softly as he tried to think of what to do. He thought that bringing Keith along was the safest option for him, but if what the Princess had said was true and the dolls located them through vibrations and sound...then Lance was nothing but a huge red flag, a beacon for the flesh dolls to find him.

His very heartbeat was a loud siren attracting every single one of those vile things.

He had to go.

-Present time-

It was time to do what needed to be done. There was no two ways about it.

He needed to go, but he didn't dare leave Keith alone, just the mere thought was unbearable. His friend was vulnerable and defenceless, drugged to stay immobile and stone-like so the Princess could carve a doll out of him.

His throat burnt from the vile rising in it.

Is the flesh dolls really detected vibration and sound waves, then he had to hide Keith where there was a lot of noise, but the palace was but a tomb, still and lifeless, and the dolls wouldn't have trouble finding him since they didn't need to breathe.

The only existing sound right now was Lance.

He looked down at his best friend, eyes still empty and frozen, breaths and heartbeat so slow they seemed to court death, and he knew the dolls wouldn't find him as he was, if only he could find a place where he could pass unnoticed.

A gentle hum lit up a lightbulb inside his head, and he glanced at the door to the medical ward, remembering the whirring sounds the machines made, the beeps from the computers and the steady drip, drip, drip of several objects and fluid bags.

How he'd hid there before, and none of the dolls had found him.

He held his breath and ran as quick as he could, entering the empty room and searching for a good spot to hide Keith in. He found it on the far back at the end of the room, a big closet for storing supplies and medical tools that was mostly empty and dusty, looking like it hadn't been used in years.

Another piece to the puzzle that Lance couldn't yet understand.

He hurried to dig out boxes and sheets and cloth, took everything away and laid Keith inside on his back, taking his shield from both his armor's and his teammate's and putting them on his friend, creating a sort of force field that covered him like a small dome.

He leaned forward and looked at him through the shield, smiling sadly and wishing to see something, any expression on his face; anger, annoyance- even fear would have been welcomed as of now. But nothing showed, nothing moved, and Lance cried.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. That drink was supposed to be mine, this shouldn't have happened to you. But I'm going to make things right, she said the effects would wear off at night, and there's only an hour left at best." He tried to smile, sure that it came out more as a grimace than anything.

"She said she didn't know what effects it would have on a Galra, but I hope they aren't too severe. Keith....if you can hear me, when you wake up, run away from here as fast as you can, there's something really wrong with these people. Ask for help, then come back, okay?" He took in a deep breath, gripping his bayard as hard as he could, his blaster manifesting as per his wishes.

"Don't worry about me, and don't do anything stupid, okay? I'll be fine. See....see you later." Lance took all the objets he'd taken out and covered Keith with them, making sure he was concealed on all sides before hiding him behind boxes and other things, trying for it to look as inconspicuous as possible. He then took a rolled quilt and put a white blanket around it, tying it to his middle to realize the illusion that he was still carrying Keith.

Afterwards, he closed the doors and left the room, running as fast as he could, never looking back.

The more he looked around as he ran, the more he realized things were really wrong here. There were machines like the one in the garden everywhere, and, when turned off, the small coat of dust atop the furniture turned to inches of soot and ash, the slightly cracked walls became collapsed rocks and broken stone, and the small rusting on the armors turned into melted metal, nothing but a puddle on the grass covered ground.

Nothing was real. Not the castle, neither the sounds or smells, and he was doubting if even all the people were fake. So far, he'd only found dolls, their stench speaking of rot and long lost life, strong and overpowering now that the devices had been destroyed by him.

He nearly hurled everytime one of the flesh dolls attacked him, but he'd managed to avoid them so far and escape everytime, so he counted it as a win.

They were gaining on him, though, and he still needed to stall, or, alternatively, go to the root of the problem and see if he could do something about it himself, in other words-

The Princess.

He had no doubt that she knew what was going on, and that she was aware of who the mastermind behind it all was. He needed to find what was going on and stop whatever she was doing- he didn't know how the dolls worked, or who was controlling them, but if he found the Princess, he was sure he would find out.

So he set out to just do that, running amok through the infinite hallways and corridors, looking for any kind of stairwell that led down, screaming in frustration when he found none. His legs hurt from running around so much, and his chest was on fire; he'd been scratched a few times and kicked a bit, too, and his ankle was giving him grief from a bad dodge he'd done some time ago.

He had no time, the dolls were relentless, and if he didn't find the basement soon, he was sure it would be the end of him, there wouldn't even be flowers to put on his grave here-

He gasped.

Flowers. The garden. The King's words.

'But we should continue our talk while we dine, if you do not mind a small walk through the gardens first. My daugther, Luktar, likes to wander around there, it's her favorite place, she loves the flowers and the stone fountain.'

It was a long shot, but he couldn't think of anything else. With aching legs and a renewed determination, he stealthily sought the desolate gardens from before, and, when he finally arrived, he peeked over the edge of the fountain, and saw a stairwell that went down, down into the abyss.

It was dark, and ominous and scary, but he was still going to go down.

Keith needed him, and if Lance could defeat the evil guy behind all this, then maybe they could escape sooner and contact their team without the threat of danger lurking behind every corner.

He threw the rolled quilt behind a pile of rocks, gripped his sword tight, and jumped down and into the stairs, walking down and trying not to wince at the dim lightning and the smell of stagnant water and mold, the cold giving him chills.

There was a steady dripping sound around him, and the walls and ceiling were covered in moss and dirt, the decay showing signs of being old- although just how old, he couldn't say, but he had the feeling it was a lot.

When he reached the end, a long hallway illuminated with torches awaited him, and he hugged the wall as he walked the length of it, breaths harsh and short, his panic a constant thrumming that wouldn't leave him be. The door a the end was slightly ajar and, without further ado, he walked right in, sword at the ready, since he didn't want to take any chances.

He jumped when the door closed behind him, and frantically looked around, the fear getting hold of his heart.

"Ara? If it isn't the Red paladin? My, I rarely have visits, so this is a surprise." The Princess appeared from behind a pillar, the lights growing a little brighter and letting him see the circular room they were in. "Isn't the Galra one with you? How unfortunate, I wanted to make him into a beautiful doll, but I guess you'll do until I can find him. How about you play with me?" The alien took out two swords from her dress, and threw herself at him with the ferocity only a warrior could have, making him back away in surprise.

"Wait! Princess, why are you doing this? Where are all the people? What are those dolls?" He blocked her every swipe, dodging her attacks and parrying her hits as best as he could, but she was good. She smiled, rows upon rows of teeth making him cringe.

"Wouldn't you like to know. Tell me where your friend is, and maybe I will tell you." Lance seethed, remembering a frail body in his arms, breaths feeble and ragged, a heartbeat that could barely be heard.

"Not on your life! I don't know what kind of twisted game you're playing, but those were the lives of your family! I know what you did to them! I saw! You hollowed them out and made dolls out of them! Have you no shame, no heart?" The Princess shrieked and roared, coming at him with even more strength than before, her swipes and slashes relentless, no more words leaving her lips besides grunts and screams of rage, her anger visible in her eyes.

She cornered him against the wall, and Lance managed to sidestep and hit her on the back, but she merely staggered before turning around and resuming her onslaught, her force never ceasing, her attacks never wavering in strength.

His arms began to hurt, and he knew he had to end this now.

He waited until her movements had become like a loop to him, until he memorized every pattern and variation, letting her close even when she managed to cut him and keeping her at a distance to see how she behaved when afar. When she stepped back and prepared to dive at him again, he knew she would swipe down before slashing with her other hand, and so, when the swipe came he crouched, turning his bayard into the blaster, and when the slash went for his head he tilted to the right, pointed his weapon upwards, and fired.

The squelching sound the body made as it hit the ground was disgusting, but Lance kept it together long enough to get his breaths under control, trying not to look at the blood on his hands for too long-

There was none.

The choked gasp that left his lips was cut off by a searing pain through his chest, and he looked down in time to see the tip of a sword sticking out of it, coated in red and slowly dripping to the floor. A malicious voice, shrouded with grief and anger and fire sounded from behind him, slowly mixing with a booming one that seemed to come from everywhere at the once.

"No shame? No heart? I did this because I loved them, you wouldn't understand." The sword was taken out and he screamed, his legs failing him as he dropped to the ground, trying to cover the wound with his hand.

Another hand gripped him by the back of his collar, dragging him forward, and through blurry vision, he saw the figure of the Princess, eyes blank and smile twisted, the hole on her head showing him nothing but an empty casket.

She was a doll too- but then- who-

He coughed, feeling the blood fall down his parted lips, the grip on his neck nearly choking him, his battered body still being dragged but this time up a flight of stairs and towards the center of the room. He was thrown unceremoniously on the cold floor, the voice echoing throughout the stance no longer the Princess', but a deeper, rougher one, one that sounded older.

He looked up from his crumpled position, and his eyes landed on a throne, in which an alien sat, clad in pink with pale beige hair up in a haphazardly made bun, their face wrinkled and mouth twisted into a smile that didn't reach their eyes. From their hands and body, from every part he could see, thousands upon millions of strings flew towards the ceiling, some tugging, some lax, some moving and swaying as they moved their hands like a conductor, like a-

A puppeteer.

"You do not understand, paladin, I did this out of love." They said, standing up from their chair and walking towards the Princess' doll, slowly caressing her face.

"When the Galra came, many, many eons ago, they took away everything that I loved, they killed my family, my friends, the villagers and the children and destroyed every single smidge of life they could find. Our dolls were no match for them, no matter how skilled we were." The alien tugged on a string, played a few of them like a harp, closed their eyes and hummed a tune, smiling as if they had seen something funny.

" When I came out of hiding, everyone was dying or dead, and I was left alone. It was lonely, so lonely, I didn't have anyone to keep me company, neither a way to contact anyone or leave, my home was going to be my grave, and I was sad, so sad."

"But then I found father, he was agonizing, asking for relief, but I thought- what if i sewed him up instead? His wounds would close, and he would surely be okay, right? But father didn't like that, he screamed and cried and then slept, leaving me all alone again." The alien let out a few tears, patting the Princess' dolls head like she was a puppy, and Lance struggled to keep his vision steady, everything was growing blurry.

"But we were good at making dolls- I was good too, I only needed practice, and soon I found a way to keep everyone safe, to have them by my side again, and I made dolls- so many dolls, everyone was okay again, and I wasn't lonely anymore." They let out a small giggle.

"This one's my favorite, you know? I was so cute when I was young- I see through her eyes, feel through her skin, talk through her mouth- she is me, and I am her. Wasn't I pretty? I know I was, and my world is pretty too, and colorful, and lovely. But nothing ever happens, and then you showed up and oh- you would make such pretty dolls, another friend to add to my collection!" Lance fought to understand what she was saying, but although he pieced together some parts of her story, his mind was becoming muddled fast, and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

"My father and the others will be so happy, you'll see. You and your friend will keep us company, won't you?" Lance gurgled, then spat the blood on the floor.

"W-what- we just c-came here to help-why are you- d-doing this..." The one that he now knew was the Princess blinked, her child-like eyes growing darker until not a shadow of her innocence was left, being replaced instead by a darkness that felt as deep as it felt scornful.

"Help? Help? Where was your Princess when the Galra tore my city apart and dismembered everyone!? When was she when they killed my baby brother and tore my sister's head from her body!? Where was she when the city was decimated and everything burst into flames?! " She gripped him by the hair, making him whimper, seething in anger, hands trembling as they tugged at him with force.

" Help? Help? You are five thousand years late to help!" She threw him to the ground, and he watched in a stupor, pained and wheezing, as a look of confusion crossed her features, her stance changing to a more refined, curled one, like she was trying to look smaller, younger...

"Ah help...some people came to help, once, but then they wanted to leave when they saw my dolls....I realized that, if I wanted people to never leave my side again, the best way was for them to become dolls too, then they wouldn't feel pain or get hungry or anything! And we could all be happy together!" She giggled again, and Lance finally understood the state she was in, trapped in a past long gone, the madness of an abandoned lonely child, her fantasy of a happy home surrounded by her loved ones, made into puppets by her own hands, speaking the words she wanted to hear, inhabiting a replica of the body she once possessed.

A fake world moved by the strings she controlled. Denying reality, a pitiful fate.

It was heartbreaking- it was horrible.

"It will hurt a little, at first, but do not worry, the poison my blade has will take care to destroy your insides so I can empty you clean." Lance startled, shaking in both fear and pain, feeling the burn that was slowly traveling from his feet and up, now reaching his stomach. The Princess kneeled down and brushed her hands against his cheek, he could do nothing to bat her away.

"You will be so pretty, I just know so, we can be best friends, I'll even make sure to color your skin so you don't end up grey like the others." She laughed again, childish, soft. Evil without malice was terrifying, she was nothing but a kid inside her own mind, and her innocence, twisted by death and solitude, had turned her into a monster that had no salvation.

A searing pain in his chest made Lance curl into a ball, his hands clenching his neck, eyes wide as he fought for breath, the fire in his gut becoming an inferno, unbearable, agonizing. He couldn't breath through the intense sting that seemed to run through his bloodstream, and his vision was all but gone now, making his panic escalate, the world around him nothing but darkness.

The ground was cold, and it seemed to seep into his bones, making him shiver and tremble. He was so cold...but the pain was a furnace inside his chest, he couldn't breathe.

He didn't want to die here, didn't want to become one of the flesh dolls, eternally manipulated by a manic mad child. But he could do nothing about it. He just prayed that Keith had somehow gotten away and ran back home for help, that the effects of the potion hadn't hurt him anymore, he hoped that...he..was....okay...

He closed his eyes, and his hands fell, boneless, to the ground. The noises around him were distorted and faint, and he was pretty sure he stopped breathing at some point, but he was sure he heard a voice he recognized, and that there were the sounds of fighting and metal clashing; screams of anger and words that didn't register on Lance's mind.

And then, everything became still.

He thought he'd finally died, but then something touched him, carefully, slowly, arms sneaked around his back and legs and cradled him against something soft and warm, and another thing, cold and small, began slowly dripping down his cheeks, one at the time.

A hand brushed his hair away from his forehead, and another patted his cheek, he thought he heard a call of his name said in desperation, and struggled to open his eyes and see, although even his lashes hurt -just like every part of his body- but he fought the pain, and the burn, and eventually managed to squint to the shadow above.

He saw purple; purple eyes, purple skin, purple ears....a scar on the right cheek and black hair in a hideous mullet- it was definitely his best friend, although more colorful than normal.

He was okay, he was okay. He was alive and- and fine. Mostly.

Lance could have cried, if he'd had the energy to do so. But it seemed Keith was already doing it for him, small droplets of salt water dripping down his cheeks and chin, falling on Lance's own and his nose, making him shiver. His head lolled to the side.

Besides his friend, there lay the mangled body of the Princess, and through the hole on her chest, metal and wood peeked out, and he understood; she'd turned herself into a doll, too, to survive for such a long time. All around, the strings that had connected to her were lax, some of then completely broken or severed, shrouding the place in a deathly silence that gave him goosebumps.

He couldn't feel them, neither his body. Just the pain.

"Lance, Lance! Say something, please! God, you idiot, why did you come here? You should have just left me and look for help!" He saw Keith's hand go to his chest, but Lance couldn't feel it. "Shit- it won't stop bleeding, god, there's so much blood, you need- I need to get you home-" Home...yeah, that sounded good, that sounded great...

"Hey! Hey, no! Don't you dare close your eyes you hear me!?" Keith stood up, jostling him slightly, and Lance saw stars and felt his insides churn and melt, like he'd swallowed lava. "Shit, sorry, sorry! Don't sleep okay? I'm running back home, I'm gonna get you help, but you need to stay awake!" He thought he nodded, but he couldn't be sure. His eyes were failing again, and more often that not, blood would make him choke on his own breaths, and he would cough it up and drench both himself and Keith in it.

On one such time, he couldn't seem to regain his breathing or stop the blood from clogging his throat, and, to the sound of Keith's panicked fading voice, he felt the world dissolve and turn to dust, and his consciousness alongside it.

A whirring sound woke him up, back against something soft, warmth tucking him in and arms around his middle, holding him close to a warm chest, heartbeat like a lullaby that threatened to get him back to sleep. The arms tightened on his back, cuddling him closer, and Lance sighed in happiness, feeling safe and comfortable, his chest no longer hurting and his breathing no longer a struggle.

"Mmmh..." Someone sighed by his side, and Lance felt hair tickling his nose, making him sniff and whine, burrowing his head even closer to the softness holding him. He thought he heard a snap, then a clicking sound, and his mind became slighty more awake, automatically opening his eyes and glaring in the direction of the sound, an automated response.

"Awwww, look at them Hunk! I need to take like a thousand photos of this, they're going to be soooo embarrassed when they see this-" Even though everything was fuzzy and blurry, Lance recognized Pidge's and Hunk's forms, and knew he was back home at the Atlas, inside a healing bed. Looking to the side he could see that it was Keith holding him, with purple splotches on his skin that were rapidly fading away, looking content and relaxed as he lay besides him.

Lance continued to glare in Pidge's general direction. "Uh...I highly doubt that, Pidge. And you might want to- you know, hide your camera before Lance smashes it to bits." He saw Pidge turn and groan, hiding something on her back, but Lance just snorted and snuggled more against Keith, all the while maintaining eye contact, willing to make her either uncomfortable with watching, or so flabbergasted she left.

"Shame is not a word in my vocabulary, Pidgeon, you should know that. Besides, Keith is, like, my brother slash best friend, and I used to cuddle a lot with my brothers and sisters and Hunk back home, so this really doesnt matter to me." He heard Hunk give testimony to that, remembering their times at the Garrison. "I'm used to cuddle piles, and I greatly enjoy it, so if you don't mind, I'm going to get back to that." Pidge groaned and Hunk cooed.

"Aww, that's so cute. Keith was really worried about you, you know? Wouldn't even go into another bed, said he had to make sure you were okay. He was pretty out of it, saying he had to keep you safe, that it was his turn. In the end we let him because he wouldn't rest otherwise, he was all purple too, Allura nearly had a heart attack." Lance chuckled, imagining the face the Princess did when she saw Keith, then saw Pidge snap more photos and shooed hear away.

" Vaish, vaish, go away Pidge, I don't care how many photos you take -they might even tempt people to join the coalition, seeing how cute and cuddly we are- but, you're going to wake up Keith at this rate, and then he'll be all grumpy, so, shoo." Pidge laughed at him, but eventually listened to his demands, Hunk following after her as soon as he'd squeezed Lance within an inch of his life, gifting him with one of his brightest smiles.

He waited until he saw sure they were completely gone before he turned to Keith.

"Sooo....how long did you plan on feigning sleep?" No answer. Keith didn't move, didn't even twitch. Lance smirked. " I know you're awake, Keith, you can't fool me, c'mon." Still nothing, Lance's smirk widened and he chuckled darkly. "Well, if that's how you want t play." Lance plastered himself to Keith's chest, sneaking his hands around his waist before going up, up, up until he reached his back, then he burrowed them under his armpits and began to tickle.

For a tick, nothing happened. Then one of his eyebrows twitched, his mouth tilted slightly up, he scrunched his nose and small high pitched noises left his sealed lips. Lance tickled with even more force, among his siblings, he was feared for his skills, nobody could win against him, his fingers moved with dexterity and purpose, striking the weak points.

A small gasp. And then Keith burst out laughing.

"Ahahaha- s-stop, aha-hahaha, L-Lance!" He listened to him, smiling at the giggles coming from his friend and the small tremors raking his body, tears on the corner of his eyes.

"So, how long were you planing on faking sleep?" Keith sighed and frowned a bit, looking sheepish and hesitant.

"Until Pidge left and you woke up and followed, or until there was no one here." From this close, it looked like Keith's cheeks were tinted pink, and Lance rose an eyebrow, wondering.

"Was it because of the camera? Are you...embarrased?" Keith shook his head.

"It's just...when I came back from Karakuri with you, there was this...voice in my head, it told me to stay by your side, keep you safe and stuff. Even though we were back home and no one would hurt you here, the need to stay wouldn't leave. I remember refusing to go on a healing bed unless it was with you, and the others....well, they tried to convince me, but it didn't work. In the end they stuffed both of us together and called it a day." Lance laughed, smiling softly at his friend.

"So, you were embarrassed." Keith pouted, averting his gaze as his cheeks became even more red.

"....A bit." Lance understood his uneasiness, to some extent, but he really didn't have anything to be ashamed of, he was who he was, and there was nothing wrong with him.

"I'm sure that was just your Galra side acting up there. Instincts are very strong on Galra, and they are protective of their family aren't they? It's a good thing." Keith still looked doubtful, but eventually nodded his head, wiggling around under the blankets.

"Thanks, Lance, for....for saving my life, and for what you did back there." He jolted, remembering the events with a tightness on his stomach that filled him with dread.

"It's nothing, you would have done the same for me, yeah? Besides, I told Pidge already, you're like a brother to me, so of course I wouldn't abandon my family." Keith's eyes widened, and he bit his lip, eyes looking anywhere but at him.

"Do you....do you really mean that?" Lance laughed again, squeezing the life out of his friend while he answered.

"Of course I do, idiot. I mean, we argue about every little thing- but in a good natured way, and we always make up when we really fight, we annoy each other but got the other's back always, we've lived together for years, shared a room, a bed, food, a shower; we've been chastised by Shiro and allura, worked together to prank both of them- then took the brunt of their fury like a team- Yeah, we're pretty much brothers already, dude." Keith smiled again, and his arms finally squeezed Lance back, chuckles leaving his lips as Lance tried to rub his cold feet on Keith's ankles to annoy him.

"That's...nice, besides Shiro, I never had a brother, and it'll be cool to have...." Keith smirked, and Lance stared at him in confusion."...a younger brother." Lance screamed, outraged, his hands going to ruffle the other's hair, fighting to get on top of him. "C'mon Lance, I'm three years older, there's nothing you can do about that!" Lance continued his onslaught, shrieking like he'd been wronged, trying all his tickle tactics while he refuted the other's statements.

"That's not true! you're only one year older than me!"

"I'm not! I spent two years on the back of a space whale in an interdimensional rift, remember?!"

"Those don't count! It was just a few weeks for us! That time didn't pass for us!"

"But it did for me! So I'm three years older, deal with it, little brother!"

They continued bickering and wrestling inside the bed, tickling and fighting as they both laughed and made a mess of things, a feat that Allura would surely yell at them for later. Unbeknownst to them, from behind the slightly ajar door, Pidge continued to snap photos with her camera, and stored them in the folder titled 'Family pictures', a soft smile lighting up her features as she walked away.

The last thing she heard as she left, was the echo of Keith's voice asking a question and Lance's laugh following after, happy and bright and lively.

"Hey Lance, does this count as another bonding moment?"

#october writting challenge #promptober #lance mcclain #keith kogane #platonic klance #they are best friends #gen #genfic #VLD #vld fanfiction #vld fanfic #vld fic #lance pov #violence #horror #spoopy #my fics #friendship

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