#<3 * YEAH i have a thing for dragoons. not sorry

[astrxealis]

hi ffxvi is crazy the m rating is so real ... i havent played yet but i think i will be able to this december as a gift for christmas (INSANE... so happy) but the very few spoilers i know are very out of context and. sus. kinda funny

[sundry-whovengerslocked]

Snow and Dirty Rain (Merlin)

Richard Silken, "Snow and Dirty Rain" // BBC Merlin

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

-

it's finally here! the fourth and final part!!!

this one was hard, I had the most trouble with the last three pictures. I really wanted to include Elena and Mithian as well as Geoffrey, but they just... didn't really fit. it was objectively awful. sorry for that. so I reached out to @shana-rosee , and they threw me a few ideas! it was their call to have Geoffrey last - and they might not have realized it, but it turned out great for the symbolism, as I'll point out below. so thank you for that! (/gen) but yeah, today it was just bugging me and I NEEDED to get it done, and I think it turned out pretty good!

so the first image is alluding to part 3, where the line "if this isn't a kingdom, i don't know what is" is assigned to Arthur. for "the hunter's heart" I had the unicorn horn, because it showed that Arthur was pure of heart. for "the hunter's mouth" I had Leon, (yay! Leon!) because he's Arthur's advisor, and speaks for him.

I was DETERMINED to get Leon, Hunith, and Gaius in this one, and I'm so glad I did.

Tristan and Isolde have their line to represent, honestly, what they did in the show - a reflection of Merlin and Arthur, and how their great love (filled with magic, secrets, and war), ends in tragedy.

Hunith and Gaius are there to represent "the space between the trees", as they are Merlin's sanctuary, his parental figures, the ones who know about his magic and love him - not in spite of, but for it. and of course I had to have Gaius casting a spell for the gold line!

for the last three, it got a little complicated, but I figured it out.

for "the words frozen," I did the moment that Arthur and Merlin became officially forever connected - when Uther assigned Merlin as Arthur's servant after he saved his life. the knife in the throne, the speechless moment that followed.

for "the creatures frozen.", I had the most difficult time with. Shana suggested the Lamia, which was a great idea, but I didn't think that it quite fit with the rest. so instead, I did Dragoon at Camlann. that lightning is the moment that even a fraction of Merlin's true power is shown. Dragoon is representative of Merlin being allowed to be his true self, and the consequences that come with it. Merlin can literally freeze creatures using his words - a la spells, or, more fitting, dragonspeak. people also freeze in terror or awe at the very mention of the name Emrys. so yeah, I think it worked out quite well!

and lastly, for "Explaining will get us nowhere." as i said, Shana suggested Geoffrey here, likely because of his love of the library. that reason was actually why I considered putting him under "the words frozen," but I realized putting him last was much better. why?

well, because Geoffrey of Monmouth was a real person. who, you ask, exactly is he? well, just "one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur." yeah, in case you didn't know, Geoffrey the record keeper in BBC Merlin was an allusion to the man who helped carry Arthur's tale throughout the years.

so, why "explaining will get us nowhere?" well, because, if you accept BBC's Merlin as the true canon, then Geoffrey recorded it wrong! lol.

(in line with this, if you haven't read it already, go read @katherynefromphilly 's We Begin Again series. it's absolutely incredible, well worth the long read, and will leave you wanting more! in a good way, I promise. in it, Merlin in the present day goes out of his way to fix everything history got wrong, and it's incredible. also I distinctly remember there being fish in little pond things indoors, which was a super cute detail.)

-

so, that's the last of my Snow and Dirty Rain/Merlin series. I went a little overboard explaining things, but it was just so fun finding and linking the symbolism!! I hope you all enjoyed!

(p.s. I'm planning to make more of Snow and Dirty Rain, but with twelveclara/whouffaldi from Doctor Who. if you're interested in that or other things I make, check out my richard siken or original post tags in my blog.)

[where-them-kinomiya-at]

In Defence Of V-Force Takao/Tyson

I’m finally starting this and it’s probably my 50th V-Force post because lord- I do appreciate the season as much as G-Revolution. Season 1 doesn’t even come in the same light because it stands above both of them.

Thanks @meowstix for being in support of this character and my analysis.

So I have already talked about my opinions on Takao/Tyson in V-Force in the post below. I am going to add on to it now. Do read the following posts before you carry on.

All I hear about Takao in V-Force is: asshole, 0 character development, total dick, belittles his teammates, etc. Honestly, you’re not wrong. He can be like that at times. I do understand if you hate him, it’s your opinion and I have no right to object it. But let me just maybe explain what I personally think of it.

So I once read that Takao’s attitude/cockiness mainly arises due to his off-screen events post season 1, which in my opinion can be considered a very valid point (unfortunately I don’t remember who said it. Please do reach out to me so I can tag you). Such events can only lead to him being adored and pampered by his fanbase which explains why he’s so on about ‘I’m just too good, I’m the champ.’ It is obviously hated a lot by people but let’s be honest- Takao handled his first few losses so well, much better than he did in G-Revolution. He didn’t win a single match until the end of episode 4 and lost to Ozuma twice in front of his hometown, the people of which really looked upon and adored him. I feel terrible when I realize that he wasn’t even expressing how he felt about it and pulled it off with a smile. Kenny/Kyouju mentioned ‘he feels horrible about this, don’t talk about his loss in front of his him’ to his classmates. Hiromi used this against him and it really upset him, but watch that scene. My boy handled it like a pro.

In the English version of episode 3 when Tyson was guzzling his lunch down his throat, Kenny tells him that he’s glad that the losses aren’t affecting his appetite, to which Tyson responds, ‘Food has incredible healing qualities’ which once again says that yeah, he really was hiding how he felt. I actually felt so sorry for him. Takao also handled kids like Zeo and Daichi (in the movie) who were incredulously clingy so much better in comparison to other seasons. This brings me to conclude my first point: Takao/Tyson handled situations like these very well in this season.

I feel like Takao’s way of thinking differed vastly from his teammates, causing him to often clash with them. No one ever bothered listening to his point of view. Sure, he once wanted to cheat his way through the match with the PsyKicks, but it was only to protect their bit beasts. He knew it was wrong, he said so himself, but he really was panicking his ass off and took up unjust methods to cover it up. The pressure of facing strong enemies who were big threats to him started to place him in an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. When his teammates bashed him for planning on cheating, he says ‘you have no idea what I’ve had to feel to get to this point’ (Japanese version).

His personality got much better after episode 20. He calmed down a lot and began to show his soft side to the audience. So yes, there was character development for sure.

One of my favourite things about him in this season is his adorable bond with dragoon/seiryu.

A good build up for G-Revolution includes the losses Takao faced in this season:

1. He lost Kane: I feel like V-Force Takao always needed a serene and sweet person like Kane to lighten up his frustrated mood. His teammates are often as loud and grumpy as him and he cannot stand that. Takao’s meeting with Kane lightened up his day so much that he felt the need to build an immediate and positive perception about him, which is probably why he was so devastated when he found out that he is a part of the PsyKicks.

2. He lost Zeo: Zeo was introduced as an amiable boy who quickly built a strong bond with his fan Takao but turned his back as quickly, completely leaving Takao in shock and sadness. Heck, Takao was speechless and at a loss of words often when he came across him.

In both the cases, Takao was in a loop of trust issues.

This build-up for G-Revolution talks about the abandonment issues he faced in the season. Also, I’m not quite sure on the details but didn’t he lose Kyouju to the PsyKicks in the manga? Please fill me up on it.

Ultimately, I love him

As much as I love them

[shivasdarknight]

top 5 glams (for any of ur lil guys)

I'm logged into Surkie rn, so that's all I'm posting lmAO

u h.

1.

This outfit's fun because in in-game terms, it was originally supposed to be a dragoon glam that I didn't really vibe with but it wound up being an AMAZING paladin glam and just casual tanking thing that became part of Surkie's canon wardrobe. Basically it was her first dark knight look, it became her main look during stb and for anything that didn't involve heavy combat in post stb-post shb (that's where the behemoth king set comes in), and it remains her traveling and often casual clothes. I just really like how the Holy Rainbow shirts look <3

2.

THE ZONURESKIN LOOK okay so technically i made this in post shadowbringers, but it kind of backdated itself and became her Look through post-stormblood and shadowbringers if she dared to do stuff with dragoon, and tbh even into endwalker and now dawntrail. Obviously given the look's inspiration since it's a reprint of the Ala Mhigan set (fending but swapped to maiming), it's definitely something she got in Ala Mhigo and honestly probably something Lyse helped her get to better reinforce her side after the numerous injuries that threatened her ability to be a dragoon. Weapon for this is Dreizack Recollection, which was restored by her sister, Altan, and given to her and she Will Not abandon that spear because of that sentimentality. It continues the trend of maiming being white for her since it started as dragoon so it was just better for muddying up her silhouette when in the air (but also white to her is more the Death Color than black is because of her upbringing) but it's just become her Thing as the "Azure Dragoon Cloaked in Ivory".

3.

The Troian set >:3c This is Surkie's new heavy combat look as of post-endwalker when UT completely destroyed her old armor (not pictured at all). Admittedly, this has been in rotation the shortest but I got super attached to it. It's still on my WAR glam, but it just feels more in place with "active excursion in the void" versus "low stakes jaunt around Tural", hence the swap to the Edenmorn gear (also not pictured). I'm pvp pilled, so ofc the archfiend gauntlets are actually on the glamour plate. Love Cylva, so ofc we have the Deepshadow axe (modded somewhat), and it's just...a really fun look that I'm obsessed with since I could never wear something like this in other MMOs as a fem player. Lots of gender euphoria, you see.

4.

Ala Mhigan Striking my beloved. YEAH I love the Ala Mhigan/Zonure/Ovim set A LOT and I've used it quite a bit, and frankly the Ala Mhigan striking is SUCH a good piece for this. Also really love the Crystarium knuckles for this (the sam side is fine, just not as good without the knuckles but at least you can see the gloves), and the Moonward boots. Sorry, Edge, Surkie just wears your boots better 🤷 Also love how her arm and scars appear through the one sleeve, just TASTY. (yes the sword is modded, leave me be). Another thing Surkie likely got in Ala Mhigo that I'm probably gonna canonize, this time through W'khittri. It also continues maiming's trend of white relating to death, but it's got that balance of white And black (which she's always seen as more noble and benevolent due to Nhaaman influence)

5.

Deepshadow and Troian just the other way around now. Hat's modded, leave me alone, but yeah so uh. This is a modified form of one of Lillith's glams, it just wound up working better for Surkie. You could argue it's still the black = Nhaama stuff, but this honestly leans more into the conscious edginess she picked up from Eorzean influence around the colors. Also the most brown I use in any glam. IDC if the Shiva gun conflicts, it took me Way Too Fucking Long to get the damn thing (before enw came out and the coffers eased that process Considerably). Also she summons it, so it's not like she has it visible at all times. ...Yeah, anyways it's like an Amano cowboy and I'm here for it.

Also a sprout called the vanilla form of the outfit (which isn't too different) cool so I Win.

[meowstix]

RATING EVERY BEYBLADE DRAGON

IT'S APPRECIATE A DRAGON DAY AND OF COURSE, I AM ALWAYS APPRECIATING DRAGONS BUT TODAY I'M GONNA DO IT EVEN MORE! and well. beyblade sure does have many dragons! so i looked through em all (or atleast, as many as i have good pics of) and i am going to rate All Of Them. i'm also gonna be rating these out of 5 stars because i'm really bad at rating things out of 10

unfortunately, because i cannot find any high quality pictures of many bit chip-exclusive designs, some of them will not be mentioned. trust me i wish i had pics of em all

dragoon/seiryu: the azure dragon, the absolute og. i mean not THE original but i don't have any good images of ultimate dragoon or whatever it's called's bit chip. 5/5 it's fucking seiryu

cyber dragoon: i've literally been insane about the digital sacred beasts plotline for MONTHS now. not quiiiite five stars but almost.

dark dragoon: i only ever got halfway through the movie i'm gonna be real. nothing Bad about this one but if i want a seiryu recolor i'd definitely go for cyber dragoon instead, 3 stars

gaia dragoon/koryu: this is probably the closest bsb has to an average western dragon, not too much of note although the colors.. do not look very threatening to be honest. 3 stars, gets one taken off because i swear i had a render of it and i'm genuinely pretty bummed i couldn't find it

dark gaia dragoon: as i said before i never finished the movie so i have no idea how this thing is in that. looks sick as fuck in the concept art though, 5/5 stars

amphilyon/amphisbaena: yeah so for some fucking reason this is the only sacred beast besides the main 5 to have a name other than that of its corresponding bey. not sure what's up with that but honestly this thing looked way cooler when we saw it in season 1 than it is in full color. 3 and a half stars, i'd put it at 2 and a half but giancarlo is neat

DRAGOON VARIANT LIGHTNING ROUND

ice: it sure is dragoon and it sure is ice. not much of note here, 3 stars master: i'm not fond of any of the master variants but this is probably the second best one behind master draciel. 1 and a half stars spark: if the fact that i went and drew it once didn't tip you off i think this one goes fucking hard. 5 stars, wish we saw it in the anime death: i don't have anything to say other than yeah that's sick. 8/10 rock: it barely resembles seiryu but it DOES remind me of dire miralis from monster hunter so that's a plus, 3 stars metal: is it me or do the metal variants look slightly fucked up. i'm gonna be real i kind of wish these designs were used for the digital sacred beasts though ig that defeats the point of those being copies. anyway gonna give this one 3 and a half stars knight: this thing looks so generic it's insane i would see this in a set of fantasy-themed stock art. zero stars it's not even fucking blue kids: weird little freak. 2.5 stars

that completes bakuten shoot, leading into metal fight. i know almost none of these and if i missed any, it's because i'm mainly going off the ones listed in @mach-speed-spin's post on dragon beyblades.

L-drago: like the ONLY cool creature design i saw in mfb before i dropped it. 4/5 i don't care if it's evil i think it's Neat

orochi: this is just a skylander you can't trick me. it would make a damn good one though, 2.5 stars

leviathan: yeah this one goes pretty hard. 4 stars

i'm gonna be real mfb didn't have a lot in the first place but i hit the image limit so dragooon (three Os) and behemoth aren't here sorry to any fans of those

finally is burst, which i keep hearing has too many dragons, and to that i say fuck you there's no such thing as too many dragons. for the record because of how many variations some of these have across the seasons i'm only gonna be rating their original designs.

wyvern: that's a wyvern alright! 4/5

quetzalcoatl: i wasn't sure whether to count this one as a dragon but wikipedia says quetzalcoatl is a dragon so i'll take their word on this. 2 out of 5, it's fine i guess.

longinus: banger design but i would punt lui without hesitation given the opportunity. goes from a 5/5 to a 3/5 because of that.

fafnir: almost a pretty solid dragon design but idk man the beak is really throwing me off here. 2.5 stars.

bahamut: oh this is ABSOLUTELY a banger, and associated with a character who deserved more screentime. 5/5

kukulcan: another one that's apparently a dragon according to wikipedia. kurt's actual character is neat but his design made me go "wait this guy looks kinda like ghasem" and his avatar made me go "wait this looks kinda like quetzalcoatl". 2.5 stars

salamander: the only dragon introduced in cho-z and honestly i don't even have anything to say here just look at it. that thing's fucking awesome, 5 and a half stars

dragon: that's a dragon babe! 5/5

diabolos: this thing looks like it wouldn't be out of place in a hot sauce ad. decent design but the pattern on it's front kinda throws me off, solid 3 stars

genesis: I'VE HEARD THIS THING IS A DRAGON ENOUGH THAT I GUESS IT GOES HERE BUT LOOKING AT IT I'M NOT SO SURE ABOUT THAT. THAT'S A FUCKED UP MAN. 1.5 stars, i don't know yugioh much but this thing looks like it would probably be pretty at home there

apocalypse: it doesn't really feel like what i'd expect an apocalypse dragon to look like which holds it back, but i do prefer it over genesis. 3.5 stars

happy appreciate a dragon day, and remember to appreciate your local dragon, everyone!

i wanted to put a gif of seiryu here but since as i said i hit image limit here's a link to it instead

[charbunnies]

HBD GRIMSLEYYYYYY 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 u can use this ask to talk about ur blorbo of ur choosing if u want. I HOPE TODAYS GOOD TO U

TY VIXEN MY BELOVED!!! <3 i hope it's good to me too, we're watching advent children w/ my mom and that will be. An Experience

Anyway! i believe i shall talk about my current on-the-mind meowmeow, mr. vincent fowler who is living in my mind rent free because he's my focus for miqomarch. here he is!

i originally made him because i wanted a character in xiv to sexualize (sorry) because my main wol is a BABY teenager. and i wanted to play with mods. but then i got attached and now vincent makes me feel shrimp emotions

he's got like. four different verses but the main one i focus on is wol!vincent because Ough. he's a sharlayan moonkeeper miqo who had a special interest in primals as a kid and got scolded, put down and bullied for it for his entire childhood and he has a bit of a complex about it. when the sharlayan exodus happened (when vincent was 12), he broke into the great gubal library and stole a bunch of books on primals and ran off into dravania/coerthas in the middle of winter :^)

he got picked up by a young estinien and accidentally weaseled his way into becoming estinien's adopted younger brother. estinien renamed him to keep him from standing out as much around ishgardians so he just white-ified his name (vincent was originally named vincen'to fawhra. and estinien went "hhmmm how about vincent fowler". really creative estinien thanks). and then vincent joined the dragoons and, at 17, accidentally became the second azure dragoon. which he did not want! he became a dragoon as a cover for studying summoning/primals and then he got too good at it. so he wasn't exactly thrilled and got shoved into a position of power WHICH LED TO:

he got sent off to fight garuda alone when the ixal summoned her because the ishgardians wanted him dead, and because vincent's azem was the one who created her and risked a lot to save her from being destroyed as a creation, she recognized his soul and let him kill her to spare him. and because of the way smn works (yknow, have to have killed the primal to summon it!) suddenly vincent found himself able to just. summon her. he can't summon any of the other primals it's just her. they're best friends but they act like they hate each other and they make me cry so so much (it's the red-string-of-fate i-can't-let-you-go-even-though-i-can't-remember-why AGONY)

also he was childhood friends with g'raha and y'shtola but obviously lost contact when he ran away. g'raha had a kid crush on him that he never really got rid of and long story short, they end up together after shb but not without like, a LOT of agony

guys who make me really, really insane. vinraha my friends my meowmeows. i don't want to talk too much about their stuff because that's like. this reply is getting so fucking long but just know that they make me feel like screaming

but yeah. he's a weird drg/smn/drk combo where a lot of his attacks/abilities utilize garuda in some way. i call him a windcaller :)

UHHHH other than that, he's pretty and a little bit of a whore and extremely loyal to a fault and he puts on a scary face until you talk to him for like 5 minutes and realize he's actually very sweet. he gives good hugs and has wide shoulders and he's beefy and i want to kiss him on the face.

OH AND LAST THING: he and sidurgu had/have a weird relationship where they had a one night stand one time and sid thinks about it all the time and vincent never thinks about it at all. sid is still hopelessly in love with him despite the fact that it's been years. rielle likes vincent more than sid and also bullies sid about still being Like That with vincent. they permanently have weird sexual tension and also vaguely don't get along and it is so fucking funny to me. sid sees vincent showing raha around ishgard and vincent's making cat kissy eyes at raha and sid's like Oh. God Dammit. i think it's funny when grown ass men are weird like this.

anyway that is all <3 hope you enjoyed my ted talk and ty again for letting me talk about my blorbo

[yana125]

I just remembered that I started watching Beyblade with English subs sometime last year and stopped because of summer was getting too hot for me to focus on things like that and I was liveblogging it, so I’ll just share my thoughts about the episodes I’ve seen (01-33) then I’ll continue watching it sometime in the future (hopefully before summer).

So... Get ready for my unique kind of humour and way of making niche references X’D

Spoilers, of course. (And long post)

Episode 1

- Óóóóó, this is already so much more enjoyable than the dub!

- Why is it that in every merchandise anime the main character's parent/grandparent/anyone in their family is an archeologist?

- Also wow, they already mention Takao's brother in the first episode. Hiro in the G-Revolution dub came out of nowhere.

- I hereby pronounce Takao a disaster bi. Who else would ask the grumpy kid if he was about to ask him out on a date? Or according to the Himbo Diagram: kind and stupid, that's a decent man (boy, in this case).

- Also why did they make Tyson that annoying in the dub? One episode in, and Takao is a prescious kid!

- I don't miss Dizzi, not even a bit.

- I... I need to get used to Kai's OG voice...

 Episode 2

- I may slowly get used to Kai's voice.

- I was about 25 episodes in with the dubbed episodes when I found the subbed episodes, so it's interesting to see what the dub kept from the original.

- WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOT EVERYONE SEES THE BITBEASTS?! This changes EVERYTHING!

- Is Kai's voice the same in G Revolution? I just... I can't imagine this voice with that character design... You see, I saw the first season in Hungarian and the other two in German (okay, not all episodes, but most of them... mostly G Revolution), I'm used to those voices. But eventually I'll get used to this one too.

- I wonder what Rei's voice will be like...

 Episode 3

- I really like Kyoujyu's voice :D

- Yeah, Choppy, don't eat weird things.

- Óóóóóó! Max is bilingual!

- Choppy, this is Dragoon's revenge. You shouldn't have eaten it.

- And now Dragoon is plotting its next revenge under the water. You should be careful, Max!

- And Max has an accent.

- "Hi, Max! My name is Takao. I have abandonment issues and I use my Beyblade for coping. Don't feel bad that your mom lives in an other country, okay? :)" Precious kid.

- Kyoujyu is so smart! Why did they have to add Dizzi in the dub?

- The anime is smart! Everything is nicely explained! Why did they have to add that many stupid one-liners in the dub?

- Takao: "Hurr, hurr! Kai will be at the tournament! I'll beat him!" Max: "Who the hell is Kai...?"

- When the hell did Kai hear Takao's full name...? Well, probably he did some angry researching or something.

- Kyoujyu, of course he made up the special move. How did you not know about it? You're spending almost every hour of the day with your research material.

- Takao is smart too! Why did they make Tyson that annoying?

- Wait... Takao... Didn't you break Dragoon after it hit a hole through the wall and in that stone wall outside???

 Episode 4

- Didn't mention the opening yet, because it's not new to me. I really like the first season and the G-Revolution openings, V-Tech on the other hand ^^""

- Kyoujyu is so pure. A true cinnamon roll.

- Are... Are real blades on Bayblades allowed? Isn't there some rules and regulations about it? (Nooooo... Don't look into it too much Anita...)

- So there ARE rules! Looking at you chairman guy (OG Dickenson whose Japanese name I didn't memorize yet).

- I'm sooooo done with people licking things! First Grandpa and the sword, now Hiruta and his Beyblade... Think about the pandemic, people!

- I don't remember if Hiruta appears later in the series apart from the very last episode ending. He should. He's interesting.

- Ó! Let's hear Rei's voice!

- ......... I'll get used to it eventually...

- (I'm sorry, I watched this episode half asleep and therefore I didn't have much to comment about X'D)

 Episode 5

- The opening singer lady's voice is so similar to a Hungarian actress' (Hegyi Barbara)

- Max will finally find out what that much fuss is about Kai.

- Óóóóó, so it wasn't Max's grandmother's. It was his mother's. Well, that will add an other layer to the plot later.

- Is that a toolbox or a very manly lunchbox? X'D

- Okay, can Max be considered a himbo if it's not him who's beefy but his Beyblade? (Why do I want to fit the Bladebreakers into the Himbo diagram...?) (Wait... Are they even called the Bladebreakers in the OG series???)

- Kyoujyu with his angelic voice throwing shades at Takao... Cinnamon roll.

- Chairman not-called-Dickenson-in-Japanese sitting there like "I know these guys will be in my new team, but I have so much fun watching this!"

- Max is so smart! Everyone is so smart in this anime!

- Why did the dub leave out the mystic powers and fateful meetings aspect of the original? And the music is so nice when the other bits glow up TT_TT

- Max, you sunshine child! Don't mind Kai, he still has to go through a full season of character development X'D (Speaking of character development, I can't wait for the frozen lake episode)

- Okay, I was a bit afraid that Max didn't see his bitbeast, but he did.

- I wonder why that last scene was not included in the dub

 Episode 6

- Of course he's yawning. He knows this part of the competition doesn't really matter

- Kyoujyu is here to save the day!

- Okay, but what are the rules? How many parts can you replace during a match?

- Does Kyoujyu have a 3D printer somewhere in his toolbox?

- Also the sub changed 'Kyoujyu' to 'Professor' and I realized 'Kyoujyu' is not Kyoujyu's name, but I'll keep calling him Kyoujyu

- Also, how much time can you spend repairing your Blade?

- Why's every Bitbeast breathing fire in the eyecatch...? Only Dranzer should...??

- I know I will say it many times in the future, but I feel like I'm personally attacked by the people who adapted Beyblade. I am seriously invested in this fight even though I know how it would end. Dub version could never reach this level of intensity. (Óóóóó I can't wait for G-Revolution and the Brooklyn fights!)

- I like that Rei looks like a jerk and is actually a nice guy.

- I was thinking about making a cinnamon roll meme with these guys, and while Kai is 'looks like they could kill you, could actually kill you' and Rei is 'looks like a cinnamon roll, could actually kill you', nobody fits 'looks like they could kill you, is actually a cinnamon roll' because the other three are all 'looks like a cinnamon roll, is actually a cinnamon roll'.

 Episode 7

- Watching this opening and reading the sub I was thinking. I really like this mystery and spiritual aspect of the anime.

- Of course he wants to modify Dragoon, Takao. Think about the kids at home who we want to buy as many Beyblade parts as their parents' wallets can handle!

- Takao, you precious kid! Don't mind Kai, he still has to go through a full season of character development. (Still looking forward to the frozen lake episode.)

- Okay so, are those weighted arm guards? Like Lee's leg guards (or what) from Naruto?

- OG Japanese Grandpa would beat the sh*t out of Dub Grandpa with three words.

- Did I see a smidge of character development from Kai? Eff you Chairman (whose name I still didn't memorize yet) for showing up!

- Okay but how did nobody know about a World Championship?

- And how the hell did Kai NOT KNOW about bitbeasts around the world? Was his grandfather gaslighting him? (probably)

- Way to manipulate a child, chairman guy.

- Don't mind him, Takao. Kai still needs to get himself stuck in a frozen lake to get to the nakama part.

 Episode 8

- (I had a scare with this episode because it didn't want to load X'D)

- So watching the opening, I was thinking again... The premise is so good! Ancient spirits possessing the current most popular fighting tools (which luckily are spinning tops)... Maybe I should read the manga in the future too. Because like Yu-Gi-Oh!, Beyblade didn't start as a merchandise anime. Not the first season at least.

- So when I was watching the dubbed version of the first season on YouTube I realized when Kai's grandfather appeared in this episode, that I haven't seen the first half of the season, only the second. Maybe I didn't catch it when it was airing on TV?

- Takao, sit the f*ck down! You already made the plane wait for you, let it finally take off!

- Exactly, flight attendant lady!

- Takao, speaking from experience, this is not a realistic reaction to your first take off.

- Okay, so they're not the Bladebreakers, they are the BBA Team.

- I feel personally attacked by the people who adapted Beyblade because Rey's job in the dub was (derogatory) and Rei's job in the original is (respectful).

- Chairman person, Kai is still too early in his character development to fully embrace the team spirit. (Eagerly waiting for the frozen lake episode)

- At least he knows his manners, I guess? X'D

- Also Chairman person, I don't like how you're subtly manipulating these children. I think I remember you having this rivalry thing with Kai's grandfather? Heh... Gaslight vs manipulate.

- (Speaking of gaslight... Is Hilary, who I think is Hiromi in the original, a girlboss? Or is it Max's mom? Mansplain is the purple haired baddy at the end of season one? Is Max's father the malewife? What is gatekeep?)

- (Why do I want to fit everyone into memes?)

- Was that Nozawa Masako??!!

- It wasn't. Nozawa Masako has nothing to do with Beyblade.

- I can't believe in the dub Kenny put some kind of tracking device into Kai's Beyblade or something...

- I am VIBING with this anime. Bless you, streaming site!

- This Rai Nan or who looks like Rock Lee with Naruto's face markings.

- Maybe the OST is also why I'm vibing with the original Japanese version. It's sooooo calming at some parts.

- I would've screamed if a wok was yeeted in front of me out of nowhere in an abandoned alley.

- He's not Rai Nan, his name is Bruce.

- Yeah, right Kai. You know what? In Episode 8 I still believe you the Championship interests you more than your teammates' wellbeing.

- Yeah, Rei thinks that too X'D

- Kevin was soooooo annoying in the dub. I hope Kiki will be better.

 Episode 9

- I was about to wonder why I didn't remember seeing this market shot in the dub, and then I realized it probably has something to do with the snake in the pickle jar.

- Kevin was annoyingly annoying, Kiki is annoyingly arrogant. Miles better than the dub.

- I like when a main character is associated with Wind powers. Especially in anime, because Wind is not one of the five elements.

- I always read 'German' instead of 'Garman' X'D Garman jumping out of the Bit saying 'Guten Tag!' X'D

- Kai is just standing there, watching the drama unfold.

- Mariah is Mao, Lee is Rai, Garry is Gao... I knew Mao and Rai were siblings, but is Gao their brother too?

- Rai is calmer and cooler than Lee.

- And Rai is more honorable than Lee.

- RIP Wok. (Was it cut into pieces in the dub...? I don't remember...)

- I feel like if the dub was more faithful to the original, Beyblade would've had more fans.

- It takes one to know one, Kai.

- The people in the background staring at them, not understanding what a bunch of Japanese speaking kids are yapping about X'D

- I wonder around what time Kai will show a spark of nakama-ship in the original version. Maybe the Rai battle? Or in America?

 Episode 10

- "The things I can't do alone are not impossible if you're with me" +the spinning part is, hands down, the best moment of the opening.

- I'm sorry but I'm not sorry, I love this opening

- My fear of heights and crazy supportless balcony-like structures is kicking in looking at that arena tower...

- Gosh Takao... Show some respect to your opponents...

- Okay so I looked up Takao's voice actress because she sounded familiar and turns out Kumai Motoko was Tao's voice actress in Taiyou no Kou Esteban! O.O It's all connected! X'D

- Chairman person, I know you're a good guy but I don't trust you a bit.

- Okay, I know it's an anime, but how not-ordinary can a Beyblade be?

- Max, you sunshine child, and your built-in Kai-decoder X'D

- If there are three battles, and BBA won two already, why battle in a third? (Is there some kind of point system?)

- It's so nice to hear the team talking among themselves and Kai's every second word not being an insult

- MISTER TAKAO!

 Episode 11

- So this is the 'Kiki steals Kyoujyu's floppy disk' episode which works in the original, but in the dub? Do you think Dizzi with her attitude would've let Kevin steal anything from her?

- Okay, Kiki, it doesn't work like that. Rai is an Honorable Man(TM), and what you're planning is not honorable.

- So this 'thunder and lighting, it's getting exciting' is when I turn off my computer and unplug everything.

- Yes, I just made a Eurovision reference in my Beyblade liveblogging.

- Kiki never heard of the doormat.

- So you want to steal Rei's Beyblade or murder him with your Beyblade, because it seems like you're getting ready for the latter.

- A floppy disk TT_TT I don't know Kiki if you can put all that data on that single floppy disk. I couldn't put a lot of data on that back in elementary school computer classes.

- Rei should've shown up in his PJ's.

- So one of the few things I have no problem with in the English dub is that they aged up the characters. For example Takao is 10 while Tyson is 12. Rei and OG!Kai are 12 while Rey and Dub!Kai are 14. It just suits them better. They are too young in the original...

- Ohmygod I sound like an adult (said the 30 years old)

- I respect Rei and Mao for actually owning a sleepwear. Look at these kids! They're sleeping in their daytime cloths!

- Byakko be like "Bye bitches, I'm outta here!"

- Takao you precious kid! Show him the Power of Friendship(TM)!

- Kai, once again, standing in the sidelines, watching the drama unfold.

- Soooooooo... Kai's actually right?

 Episode 12

- Told you, Kiki. Rai isn't so impressed with what you did.

- Little sparks of character development, I see. There's still a long way to the frozen lake though.

- Guys, if you run to the mountain you won't have enough energy to climb it.

- Mao, chill...

- Is it a good idea to create a storm on top of a cliff?

- I don't know who made the animation for this one scene, but everyone suddenly looks like they are 6.

- I really wanted to see how they managed to get down the mountain X'D

 Episode 13

- Note to self: Hunger is bad for your Bitbeast. Always eat before an important Beyblade battle!

- Shibatta, indeed.

- Úúúúúúú, that guy was destroyed!

- Úúúúúúú, that guy was also destroyed!

- Is that man... a dog????

- Ah. The good old tale of reformers vs conservatives...

- Kai again, chilling in the background, watching the drama unfold X'D

- So there ARE rules and regulations! Hiruta should've been disqualified!

- Attacking first? Nope, bad idea.

- Takao, think of it as an F1 car. The down force pushes in down.

- When is it a good time to announce my ship? I'll wait a few more episodes, I guess.

- Yeeeeey! Byakko is back! :D

- Byakko be like: "Sup bitches! Thought you'd seen the last of me!"

- I said I will wait to announce my ship for a few more episodes!

- Is this Temple Run? Run or you will be crushed!

 Episode 14

- Knocked out by a paprika X'D

- I know Kai will battle in this episode, but why isn't there a rotation between the four of them?

- (Okay, it was a chilly pepper, but it's still a paprika)

- Traffic! in the mountains.

- Is that a spark of character development from Kai?

- 10 km...

- Takao, you precious kid <3

- Takao, you reckless kid! O_O Running down a mountain like this...

- Is this the first time Max called his Bitbeast as Genbu?

- I like OG!Kai. He's calm and collected. I got used to his voice too and I actually like it.

- (Though finding out that Takano Urara is also the voice of Miranda Bailey from Grey's Anatomy was shocking...)

- I like the Maldives guys.

- Guys you still have to wait for the frozen lake episode with the nakama thing.

 Episode 15

- They all have matching PJs! <3

- Kai be like "I'll have nothing to do with this battle, why bother listening?"

- (I feel like he wanted to be included)

- Is this an other route or the landslide was cleaned up?

- Why do they have this big bus for only a few people?

- (Probably because then Kai couldn't sit alone in the back.)

- It would've been soooo much better if Kiki was showing them the finger in the back of the bus X'D

- Kyoujyu getting aggressively serious.

- Meanwhile Rei appearing in the background like :D

- Is this cheering or booing...?

- Someone slap Kiki already. He may not be as annoying as Kevin, but he's still annoying.

- Why's everyone licking everything...

- Kiki being surprised about things about Gao like he didn't grow up with him...

- Kai: "Okay, but will this plan actually work?" Everyone: *ignores him* Kai: -_-

 Episode 16

- Dear audience, that girl is 10.

- Dear audience, that boy is 12.

- "When you're fighting, it doesn't matter whether you're a boy or a girl!" Disaster bi, I'm telling you.

- Mao is very supportive for an opponent.

- ...... *held back scream*

- And everyone is like "Did Kai just do that?! O_o"

- "You're right" But who did he listen to? (Was it Kai? Was it Kai.)

- And Kai is actually smiling!

- But Rai, was it really Mao who helped Rei regain his confidence?

- (Is it a good time to finally announce my ship or-- Oh. You probably already know X'D)

- I feel sorry for Mao... She just got nakama-zoned.

 Episode 17

- No, but seriously... Shouldn't they register their equipment before the battles start?

- Is Kai the team captain in the original version too? If not, he should be. He's throwing great advices left and right all the time.

- HaHAAAA! Great job, Takao!

- Thunder and lightning, it's getting exciting!

- Rai, I don't think fighting out of hate would make Byakko choose you over Rei.

- Battles won, bonds reforged.

 Episode 18

- (Oh, this is the filler episode)

- Why is Kai smiling on that picture........ This is sooooo OOC of him........

- I guess this scene was also made by the person who made that one scene where Rei looked like 6.

- And Dragoon is now planning its revenge against Takao...

- Btw, looking at all these kids, how connected are the original series and Metal Fight? If the anime takes place in 2001, then Ginga should be around 3. I've seen Metal Fight (in Japanese) but I didn't really catch any references... Maybe because I've only seen the dub version of the original series.

- Tell him, Kyoujyu!

- Takao, you dumb kid... If I were Dragoon I would pull a Byakko and go "Bye bitches!"

- Even if I didn't know it already, I could tell by only looking at it that this is a filler episode... It's a shame though. It has a pretty solid plot and character arc for a filler episode.

- You're a good kid, Takao. Fame just made you dumb for a hot minute.

- You should listen to your dad, Max. You'll get one hell of a jetlag flying around.

- This scene is 100 times better with the ending song than with the dub narration.

- Okay, so when you have a Bey, and you replace its parts, at which point does it become a completely different Bey compared to the original? This is Theseus' ship all over again...

- The Bey be like "You're tearing me apart, Kouji!"

- What are these stars they're putting in the water?

- What I like in animes (like Digimon Tamers) when they're showing a playground are these dome-like thingies. I haven't seen any in Hungary, but they seem to be fun to play with. (Though I don't know if they fit EU regulations.)

- I hate Kai's grandfather...

 Episode 19

- They have a plane that big only for themselves?! Chairman guy, your old rich man side is showing...

- Okay, so whenever Kai meets his grandfather, it resets his character development.

- I feel like without Rei the team is really out of balance. But now he's back and also is the balance.

- Once again, this huge ass bus for the six of them...

- Gandpa taking over the whole of the backseat... Kai is not impressed X'D

- Ohmygod the building looks like a Beyblade...

- 'Receiving the most funds by the US government'... So in other words they want to weaponize Beyblades for military purposes. Got it. Good old America! I know a guy who put real blade on his Beyblade, you might be interested.

- Aaaaand no name reveal for Kyoujyu. (I looked it up when I found out that 'Kyoujyu' was not his real name, and only in the second season will he be named by his name, but only his mother calls him by it.)

- Now NASA and the Pentagon is in it too... Expected nothing less from America...

- Well said Takao indeed! Believe in the heart of the cards-- I mean the spirit of Beyblade!

- So Judy basically disowned Max when she found out he was a member of the BBA team...

- This PPB facility is like the one we'll see in Russia and it's unsettling to say the least.

- I don't remember Judy's story from the dub, but right now I say fuck you! That's your child, damn it!

- I feel like beat boxing would sound better here :D

- Right in the face!

- HaHAAA! Rei getting all that experience while travelling around the world is finally paying off.

- You can't fool Kai, Judy. He knows what these facilities are all about.

- That was quick.

- Kyoujyu having a crush on Emily's brain is such a Kyoujyu thing X'D

 Episode 20

- Btw, is this Area-51?

- I wouldn't blame you, Max. PPB was playing with you.

- ...

- GATEKEEP! PPB is gatekeep!

- (Okay, maybe I don't use these words properly)

- And, once again, Kai is right.

- Also, Grandpa is right.

- And then Rei is like 'How the hell did I get here?' X'D

- What they hear: 'I'm not going anywhere'. What he means: 'I'll discover this place on my own'. Probably.

- How the hell did they get into the air vents without anyone noticing it?! This is a facility funded by the US military and the Pentagon. It shouldn't be that easy.

- Of course they're watching them -_-

- This looked like that one gif from the Breakfast Club. This one:

- Is that a crypto mine? It would be unfortunate if someone with a huge magnet just happened run around here.

- Told you he will go and look around on his own.

- Kai to the rescue! He was probably in the air vent or something.

- Okay, did they forget to add Judy's line or what?

- My sunshine child!!!! TT_TT

- What kind of ponchos these PPB guys are wearing? They look ridiculous...

- Rei, don't taunt them... You saw what Emily was like...

- Okay, as much as I don't like Judy now, I don't think that was her reason not adding Max to the American team. She probably wanted to distance him from her work.

- Rei, you're a little bit too eager to fight these guys...

- Rei, you're a little overconfident...

- Kai what is this all-according-to-keikaku face?

- Rei what the hell did I tell you about you being too overconfident?!

- Was that 'stop brooding!' addressed to Takao, or Rei who's actively brooding in the back?

 Episode 21

- (This is the episode where I stopped watching the dub version and restarted with the Japanese one. I only watched like the first five minutes or something. So after this until the end of the European episodes I'm going in almost blindly. I don't remember much from these episodes.)

- Why are you sleeping with your tie on?! Where are your PJs?!

- Nostalgic modem sounds.

- Training montage episode!

- Finally! A smaller car.

- I don't think so, Kyoujyu. All that money for a proper facility is probably wasted on transporting you guys around on those big planes and buses.

- I think I maybe remember Antonio being a very bad Beyblader...

- Yup.

- I can't believe the Dominican Republic only has this one Beyblader... Unrealistic.

- (Please, Anita, don't try to find realism in an anime...)

- (This is also 2000. People weren't that connected yet. Don't forget the older times.)

- (Ohmygod I sound like an elder...)

- Antonio here has a solid plan. It's like when Hungary won waterpolo three times in a row in the Olympics. A lot of kids started playing waterpolo.

- (Too bad it doesn't get as much funding as football...)

- (Anita, please, don't mix politics into your anime experience...)

- Kyoujyu, this was the Chairman guy's plan all along, chill.

- The key to the basement! Every secret is in the basement!

- Okay I feel bad for Kai. It feels like he wants to be included but the others already decided among themselves that he doesn't want to be included and actively not include him. So he's just hanging out in the background.

- Science vs nature, I see.

- Shouldn't Antonio train on a stable ground first...?

- Kai is like 'Yeah, I grew up like this.'

- Kaaaaiiiiii!!!!! TT_TT Character development! <3 Even though it probably happens without him knowing and noticing.

- Heheeee X'D

- Kai is, once again, 100% right. Everyone is so predictable.

- Yeah, right Kai.

- Also I guess Kai is starting to realize that he actually cares about his teammates.

- Poor PC...

- (Would there be a second ending, or this is the only ending?)

 Episode 22

- Who was the president in 2001? (...) Bush, of course... (Ohmygod Anita, you’re so stupid.................)

- Jesus, Rei, keep your hormones at bay...

- Being a fan of someone in a combat sport. A very bi thing of Takao.

- (Before you ask, it's a Supernatural thing.)

- I'm suffering in second hand embarrassment, guys...

- Emily is brutal.

- Hey, that's not Bush. That's the guy from the PPB facility. (Is he?)

- Ohmygod their Beyblades spell out USA......... How very American of them......

- Of course it's the White House.......

- (Also I'm looking forward to the European OST)

- I don't remember when Emily will change. She will change, but I don't remember when.

- Maybe PPB has the science, but they lack the team spirit.

- Emily you'll flop like that.

- The president should change his bodyguards. They should've tackled Takao the moment he touched the railing.

- BBA, standing together! <3 Supporting each other!

- Hey, weren't Takao and Kyojyu removed by the bodyguards?

- I knew there was a 'but' coming... Come oooooon, Judy!

 Episode 23

- Again with that gigantic bus...

- Takao stop Takao stop Takao stop...

- Okay, for a moment I thought he'd go to the reporter lady X'D

- Pff... Straight to the point, Emily...

- Okay, I'm looking at this screen trying to find out which team is from where, but nothing... JMK is Jamaica? AVS is Australia? What is a XES?

- Kai you seriously want the PPB to gather data of you or something...?

- Pffff X'D Giving them what they want...

- Good job, Kai.

- Pffffff X'D

- Yeah, Judy, you're clearly not worried about Max

- Max will get the next new upgrade, I guess.

- I don't know who animated this lipsync but it's horrible...

- Also Judy you focus on the numbers too much.

 Episode 24

- They sure do, Rei. Rich Americans funded by the government...

- There is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing the sunshine child sad... :(

- Once again, Max being the Kai decoder.

- Yeah, that guy is too friendly.

- Ugh... o_o

- I would like to see an iguana participate in the tournament now.

- This backstory is touching and over the top insane at the same time.

- Kai should be the team captain if he's not already.

- Max, please don't get too cocky.

- (I know Max and Takao will win, but I'm still concerned.)

- What the... What was that? O_o

- This team is so weird...

-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Grandpa jumps in to save the day.

- Yeeeeeey! :D

- The sub messed up and instead of 'Hiwatari-kun' it said 'Shiratori-kun' and I was like "Who the hell is Shiratori???"

- Jesus, he crushed that Bey into atoms O_O

- I don't think they excel in team work.

 Episode 25

- I want to see the conversation where they convinced Kai to go and celebrate with them :D

- I have a feeling Takao will be too sick to battle...

- Yep, he is.

- "Takao can't battle in the semi-finals! What should we do?" Kyoujyu, the fuck, Kai is right there!

- It causes me physical pain that they always forget about Kai... And they're always surprised when he says he will fight! UUUUGH!

- And they're putting words into his mouth... Of course he would've said that, but still! He's getting to a point in his character development where he's showing a smidge of care for the team! They really need to go on team exercises... Not to a training camp, somewhere they'll need to rely on each other. Like pulling one teammate out of a frozen lake or something.

- Chairman guy I know what you're thinking but that's still not the case here... -_-"

- Ó! This is the dancing guy from the opening.

- That's exactly what he would do, Kyoujyu.

- Judy, why are you trying so hard to push down your motherly instincts?

- And spend days in a car without coming across any settlements, only shady motels? No thanks. I have motion sickness anyway.

- Granpa what kind of dance are you talking about?

- Chairman guy too?!

- I have a feeling Max or Rei will lose their fight, but I don't know which one... Max probably for the drama.

- Why are they surprised that Kai is giving them advices???!!! He always gives everyone good advices!

- No, Max will win.

- Does Judy know anything about her pendant and Genbu?

- Nah, I don't think you'll meet again.

- Okay, then Rei will lose. But that would be too much loss in a row for him...

- Kai wouldn't lose, right?

- So probably it will be three wins.

- Or he can turn around and face you?

- Guys this is not Need for Speed...

- Oh yeah, illusions have not effect on Rei.

- Grandpa what kind of youth did you have...?

- Yep, there will be three wins.

- Wouldn't try to gather data about Kai again? No? Okay.

- I like this Maura girl. She's nice :)

- But does he really not need the support? ^^"

- Judy what the fuck?!

 Episode 26

- Okay so I mixed up the president and this Douglas guy...

- "No matter what circumstances arise, the BBA team will lose against us." Yeah, no. They are the main characters.

- I understand your logic, but maybe you should upgrade Max's Bey Kyoujyu?

- Okay, but who will now fight then? Kai again?

- Okay, Kai saying ‘he doesn't want to fight’ instead of them saying ‘Max will fight instead of Kai’ is better. Character development!

- Thank Kai too, damn it! He's warming up to you guys, notice it already!

- Okay, Takao or Rei WILL lose, because Max will win. My bet is now on Takao.

- Did Takao ever use that screen on his shooter?

- Why do I feel this 'all according to keikaku' vibe from PPB?

- "Will Takao win this set too?" No. He won't.

 Episode 27

- Nah, Takao will probably win. Then Rei will lose =_="

- Takao should lose a fight once in a while too, not just once out of three times...

- Kai is impressed with your strategy, Rei :')

- I was about to say PPB using that computer to analyze their enemy is cheating, but Kyoujyu is doing the same (:

- And now Kai is giving advices too! Co-captains! :D

- Yeah, and after this match you thank Kai for the help

- Good job, Takao! :D

- Yes! Good boy, Takao!

- This is a very complicated shoot...

- But does this Bey fit the 10 cm wide rule?

- Yeah, Rei will lose =_= Lose-win-lose.

- Steve is from Eyeshield 21, Eddie is from Kuroko no Basuke.

- NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a lose-lose!!!!!!!!!! REEEEIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Leave him alone, Takao!

- Yes! Kai! If all he cared about was victory, then he would've jumped at this opportunity!

- Aaaaaaaaw! He's smiling! You like your team, admit it!

- (The Russian episodes will hurt sooooo much after this <3)

- Okay, that somehow settles it. Judy has no idea about Genbu.

 Episode 28

- But let's not forget that he's also an attention whore.

- Does she though? She's an absent mother so no matter how much data she'd gathered, she doesn't really know her son

- I wonder how this scene would've sounded if Dizzi was in that 'cheap homemade laptop' X'D

- Okay that's unfair. Michael plays baseball and you chose a baseball field as the stadium...

- Okay, so it will be lose-win-win

- Harsh words, but true...

- It only needed a "B-b-b-bakaaa!" at the end X'D

- What do you mean Takao is the team captain????!!!!!

- When Kai tells you that you were too harsh it says something X'D

- That's the power of friendship

- That was the scariest glove drop I've ever seen

- Ó! Both eyecatch was Genbu! (I like guessing who would be in the eyecatch.)

- Aaaaaw, Kai having faith in Max :) You like your teammates!

- I can't believe Genbu was so powerful it crashed the PPB supercomputer X'D

- YEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- The elderly are seeing through you, Kai X'D

 Episode 29

- Oh, it's the clipshow episode...

- Oh yeah, Kai was a leader of rouge bladers who kidnapped you, Kyoujyu...

- But were they really set up as rivals? I don't see any rivalry here (yet)

- What will happen in Russia is not a rivalry. It will be pure heartache.

- Do I want to watch the clipshow...?

- Or I'll just speak to myself here and write down whatever I think about.

- Oh, Kai. You've come a long way.

- Oh, it's already the eyecatch!

- I like how each arc is set up for one of the BBA team members. The Asian Tournament was for Rei, the American Tournament was for Max. And Europe will be Kai's arc.

- I wonder what V-Tech/2002 will be about. I only watched the first six or seven episodes in German and didn't understand anything, so I'm looking forward to it.

- Also... Was it the filler season? Was it in the manga?

- I still feel bad for Rei... :'(

- Is Takao really the MVP of the team?

- Yeah... X'D

- Wait... Where are they? Where are they going with that ship? Back to Japan? To Europe? Where???

- The Russian episodes already hurt so much TT_TT

 Episode 30

- Okay, for a moment I thought they were already in Russia and wondered when they'd meet the European team then, but they're still on the ship ^^"

- Sunshine child! <3

- Guys, give him ginger.

- Give him ginger!

- The team is already united, huh? *looks around* You're missing a member.

- Kyoujyu throwing the truth into Takao's face with his angelic voice. Savage.

- 10 km again...

- Finally someone realized that a team member is missing... =_=

- ÓÓÓÓÓ!!!! That's... ugh... Robert?

- Takao no...

- ÁÁÁÁÁ!!!! Kyoujyu's eyes were visible for a moment! X'D

- He has very crazy looking eyes...

- That was a crazy battle...

- Ralph. Okay. Was he Robert in the dub?

- Precious child! TT_TT

- So why isn't Kai the team captain again?

- Team bonding! <3

 (Had to take a break here because the weather was too hot TT_TT)

 Episode 31

- (Okay! Let's continue! :D)

- Wait... The ship goes to Russia? Where exactly? Kaliningrad or some port at the Black Sea?

- Okay, I checked the map. UK -> Baltic Sea -> Saint Petersburg, probably.

- Okay, I'm surprised that Rei has a weakness for food. Well, I shouldn't really be. Who knows how diverse the diet is at the Byakko Clan. I can imagine him going around the world, fighting strong Beybladers, and eating every food he hasn't seen before :D

- IS THAT THE CHAIRMAN GUY???!!!!

- It's amusing how Kai is reluctantly power-walking after his team X'D He probably had enough of the food on the ship too X'D

- Chairman 'Manipulate' Guy...

- PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those faces X'D

- Okay Chairman guy, team building 'lost in Europe' experience or not, these children left their bags on that ship.

- Max, you ray of sunshine, you're so impressionable... X'D

- Where are they compared to London? Where are they? Thrumpton?

- ...

- WHERE THE HELL IS THIS THRUMPTON???!!! The only Thrumpton I found is in Nottingham =_=

- Kai is so done with this situation. I think he wishes he'd never gotten off that ship XD

- Wait... Ralf isn't going to the tournament? Then what was that battle where he and his teammates wore those armors?

- YOOOOOO!!!!!! Freaky guy!!!!!! O_O

- Move your hand, Kyoujyu! I want to see my country on that map!!! >_<

- I think it's okay, Kyoujyu. Just avoid the MÁV trains in Hungary, because they tend to be delayed by up to an hour or two. Well, it depends on the train I guess. I've never travelled on an international train. Maybe they have priority compared to the national railways. Although being a priority railway doesn't save you from cable thieves X'D

- Finally someone asked Kai about his opinion! Good boy, Takao!

- He doesn't care... Saying it with a face like that, it seems like you're okay with the whole European Vacation.

- Don't watch the suspicious VHS tape! There's a whole franchise built around it! D:

- Of course everything's connected. Takao's father is researching the Sacred Beasts. Kai wants to find the Sacred Beasts. Kai's grandfather wants the Sacred Beasts. And chairman guy is manipulating everyone and everything.

- But is it the Sacred Beast that's evil, or the human that controls it?

- (I am not leaving philosophy out of my anime experience!)

- I know I shouldn’t wear my shipping goggles, but was Rei directing his words to everyone or just Kai? XD

- MAX! SUNSHINE BOY! Of course you guys are manipulated! It was the Chairman all along! XD

- Oh, it's the freaky guy again =_= And there will be a whole team of freaky guys =_=

- Why aren't you guys listening to Kai...? =_=

- Pffff X'D And that's why you should've listened to Kai. Why isn't he the team captain again?

- "Europe might turn out to be a gathering place for evil spirits" ÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁ!!!!!!!!!!!! X'D

- It's funny how the encounter with the mummy made them excited about a European tour X'D

 Episode 32

- (Okay, quick question about the American episodes, because I just realized something: Did Judy find out that Genbu was from her? Will she find it out in Russia?)

- I have a feeling one of the creepy team members would show up in the window...

- Okay, almost X'D

- THERE IT IS! Hey Hungary ^.^

- What the hell happened to the Baltic Sea?! Is it a swamp in this universe? The ship would never reach Saint Petersburg like that. It's a good thing you missed that ship, guys.

- That's a very empty train...

- That's a very empty train for a reason...

- I didn't remember Les Mis had werewolves and vampires in it.

- You should watch the Velicopastor. It's a cinematic masterpiece.

- Kai, just admit you want to be included (I know, I know... We still need to get to the frozen lake part -_-)

- 1) Of course Rei went to get some food. 2) What was the reason of that coin flip?

- "There is no time to fool around, it seems... The fridge is empty!"

- Okay, did the creators forget to add a scene, or Kai and Rei just had some instantaneous telepathic communication...?

- How many tracks does the railway have? It would be unfortunate if the next train coming from either way crashed into them...

- The mummy be like "Bon jour!"

- You tell them, Kai! X'D

- Aaaaaand... we're still not at the nakama part ^^"

- This Blood guy's voice is familiar...

- Kamiya Hiroshi (Levi, Trafalgar Law) and his unmistakable breathy voice.

- Also he dubbed in two animes with 'bakuten' in their title XD

- Isn't Blood's Beyblade too wide for Bayblade Tournament regulations? Is it shorter than 10 cm?

- Takao, you can't assume people are evil only on your second meeting.

- No way Dragoon is only 5 cm wide...

- Beyblade Wiki, I don't care about the gramms! How wide is this damn Beyblade!?

- I'm pretty sure that's cheating Wolfguy.

- Look! These are the characters from Les Mis with vampires and werewolves! Quick! Get their autographs!

- (I just realized looking at the vampire that the BBA Team will meet Ralf in Romania. So they'll probably travel across Hungary. Though I can't remember how they'll get there from Italy...)

- This 'evil team' is too overdramatic to be really evil...

- The hell...?

- THE HELL???!!!

- That freakin' coin is the MVP of the episode =_=

 Episode 33

- I had the scare of MY LIFE! Because you know I stopped watching because it was too hot, again. And now I decided to continue, but the site was GONE! O_O And after a lot of denial I started to accept that I had to continue with the dub, but then I remembered this other site, and I'm KISSING this site, because I can continue watching the original version.

- Ohmygod! Rei, Max and Kai are sharing a bed X'D Neither of them wanted to sleep on the floor OR share a bed with Takao and Kyoujyu X'D

- You have nightmares because you forgot to take off your glasses! Everyone with glasses knows this.

- Kai be like: "Who disturbed my slumber!", but it's just Kyoujyu talking to himself.

- That's a very plausible way for the blanket to cover all of Kai BUT his Beyblade.

- I was about to say "Don't call Takao a glutton when you're no better than him" but Rei just said it also X'D

- Kai is gone. AGAIN?

- Takao: "Where's Kai? What if he gets in trouble? :(" Rei: "He can take care of himself :)"

- If this is really like your time in Hong Kong, then you should get in trouble to summon Kai.

- (But at least they noticed that one of their teammates is missing. Some progress is happening.)

- Am I remembering this correctly? Kyouyju becoming friends with the Shadow team? I haven't seen this series in a looooong time...

- Also since I'm kinda getting into Miraculous Ladybug... Be careful, guys, not to get Akumatized!

- Point out the flaw in this idea, point out the flaw in this idea, please, someone point out the flaw in this idea! There is no way you can see Kai from the top of the Eiffel Tower!

- Thanks, Max, but you're already in the elevator =_=

- "What's this building? What's that building? What's that guy on the window?" X'D

- How LOUD was that scream?! X'D

- The gang is in trouble, meanwhile Kai is having fun XD

- So Ralph won the battle AND Vampire guy's castle in Romania.

- Ohmygod, the blond guy of the Europen team has a strange voice...

- Who the HECK is this person speaking from the clouds?!

- Ah... So he got some upgrades from evil grandpa...

- YES! Go Kai! Help The Team!

- Wow, you got here really fast O.o

- Hey, Oliver! :D ..... Were you originally 'Oliver' too?

- The lead animator in this episode has an... interesting head design style.

- Max, the Kai whisperer, strikes again

- Olivier. Okay.

[one-kind-of-cosmos]

Yakuza 3: Filler or Plot, I’d rather see Kiryu be happy

 Somewhere around a year ago I completed Yakuza Kiwami 2 and at the time I thought it was neat (though, I don’t hold those opinions as much anymore). The Remastered Collection was announced for Steam and so I waited patiently up until it finally released, got my hands on the bundle and safe to say, all my hype for all three games, especially Yakuza 3 was rewarded handsomely, for context I was this excited for the game that I watched the intro every day just to keep the hype going, Fly always has my heart.

 When I first finished the game I thought it was pretty alright: banger as heck music, combat that isn’t from the Dragon Engine, chases, Rikiya :( and in general the Ryudo family, three notable members or ten, no number can changed how lovable they are, while Mikio is my least favorite but that's because the other two have much more to offer (If Mikio had more screen time, I'd talk about him, but erm.. Sorry bud):

Nakahara is a laid-back patriarch who doubles as a rad crime dad;

Rikiya with his puppy-dog eyes is such a lovable punk that I wish I could interact with him more just like with Haruka (i.e. karaoke, other minigames, etc.).

  On the topic of characters, I genuinely don’t mind seeing less of Majima, I love him don’t get me wrong, but if we just get those rare moments where he appears all glamorous and smexy to (yet again) fight Kiryu because of the “Nishitani affect” TM. Mine totally deserved more screen time, he’s way more interesting than say, Shibusawa, nuff said.

  Onto gameplay: Whenever I read/watch reviews of the game, they always make me confused on how they think this has the worst combat in any Yakuza game ever, whenever I look at some of their gameplay though, it’s always the same “repeatedly hit the enemy until something changes” which just, sucks, spicing up my style of play in 3 was what kept it fresh, it’s what kept it grand (unlike Kiwami 2, I have thoughts about all that for another time) folk like DanteDevil12 really helped with that, grateful for folk like him. Chases were first introduced in this game and I really love them, it spices up the gameplay in a way I can appreciate, turning Ryu-Kyu and Kamurocho into sorta obstacles courses was a sweet treat but I can understand their dislike for It’s chunkiness and such.

  I’ve in a way mentioned that the Soundtrack has bangers and I truly mean that, but I'll keep it short-ish with listing my favorites: Fly; Ryu-Kyu Humming; Crush & Strike; Urgency; Pure Malice; Clay Doll on The Cradle; Lyrism Without Tears; Ogre Has Returned; Encountered the Dragoon and Independence for Violence. Some that I haven’t mentioned like ‘Bruise’ are still good and all, it’s just that others do the job better.

  Onto the plot shortly, I do agree that some things could’ve been played out more naturally, for example when Date tells you about Hamazaki, Mine and Kanda, we totally could’ve had a more natural way of learning everything, same with the chapter “The Plot” where, I kid you not, they go over the plot for like, a long while with minimal interacting, least we get Majima and his pink truck the beautiful bi mess.

 I (usually) get where people come from, Yakuza 3 and 4′s plot is confusing/messy? Yeah, but I personally like it; the orphanage problems could’ve been substories? Yeah, but even so, those little fellas are part of Kiryu’s happiness and I like seeing that more. It’s just that stuff like that doesn’t bother me as much as it probably should, I came here for crime dads and funky combat, but I'll stay for wholesome slowdowns.

  In conclusion, for my first long post, it’s a mess but I liked writing something again; I think 3 has a fine story and for me it’s up there with 0, 5 and 7, fight me and Rikiya totally wasn’t pretending in the Love Hotel. At some point I might go into the characters a bit more, but this feels like it went on for long enough, so If you read the whole thing, even if it was hard, thank you, I appreciate it.

[ladylynse]

So it was recently pointed out to me (via reading someone else's tags lol) that there's only one DP/Merlin crossover on FFN (well, there's 3 but the other two are not in English). Sooo... since you're the queen of crossovers (imo), what would your take be on a DP/Merlin crossover?

aslkdjfalskjdf I’m flattered anyone thinks I deserve that title. Thank you!

I can easily tell you how I’d start a DP/Merlin crossover. Because that’s actually in my giant file of fic ideas. Here you go:

Danny could end up in Merlin’s world after touchingsomething in Clockwork’s tower. He goes to ask about Dani’s whereabouts,feeling guilty for not seeking her out and worrying about her, wanting toreassure himself that she is still safe, that the Ecto-Dejecto worked, thatVlad isn’t after her and that she is in no danger of destabilizing. Clockwork gives him a look. “Do you think I keep track of everyone’swhereabouts?”“Actually? Yeah.” Danny shifted on his feet. “I mean, you watcheverything, right? So even if you don’t keep track of certain people, you couldfind them.” He paused, waiting for some sort of confirmation fromClockwork. When he received none, he ventured, “Right?”This time, he was rewarded with a small smile. “It is possible.”“So you’ll help me find her?”There was a beat of silence.  Then, “And what if she does not want to befound?”Oh. Danny swallowed. “Then I won’t look, I guess. I’ll wait for her tocome back. Just…I want to know that she’s safe, Clockwork. Please?”A sigh. “Very well.” The ghost of time turned, and Danny took a smallstep closer to the table. He’d never seen Clockwork keep anything in his tower before. It made sense thathe did, but he just never had it out when Danny came around. Probably becausehe always knew when Danny was coming. Which meant it had to be strange forthings to be out now, but that didn’t mean there was any harm in taking acloser look. If Clockwork had left this stuff out, then maybe it meant he wantedDanny to see it.

Danny reached out to pick up the nearest object at hand, andClockwork’s voice floated back to him. “Don’t touch anything.”“Sorry,” Danny mumbled, withdrawing his hand. ———– caught hiseye, and he’d reached out again before he really realized what he was doing.Surely it wouldn’t hurt just to turn something over to get a better look at it,right? Clockwork just wanted to make sure he didn’t break anything.

Famous last words, right? *grins* So, I personally would set a crossover back in Merlin’s time, as opposed to showing Merlin in Danny’s time. There’s…just a lot more risk with Danny being the unwitting time traveller. (Also, he’s canonically time travelled, so there’s that, too. I mostly just like time travel, though. And a Merlin who’s lived through so much would be less surprised by everything with Danny than a Merlin who has not.) Then there’s the potential for initial misunderstandings, which is pretty much a given for any crossover fic of any length that I write. 

In this scenario, Clockwork allowed the time travel to happen, which would mean there’s something Danny needs to do. (This would also be my cop out for language differences not being an issue.) There would be something to do with the Veil and the Dorocha and–perhaps even more importantly, depending on the ultimate plot–the Cailleach, and possibly but to a lesser extent the Horn of Cathbhadh, since those are the most logical connections between the two shows, and those are the kinds of connections I use to build a stronger crossover. Something like the Cup of Life may or may not turn out to be a Ghost Zone relic in Danny’s time. 

Danny would also really misunderstand magic at first, since his reference for it is basically Desiree; that’s the only kind of magic that he knows is ‘real’, and not something out of stories/to do with technology/channelled by gems. He might not understand how the Sidhe staff works, exactly, but he’d pick up on it being magic a lot faster (and therefore be wary of it if he ever saw it) than he would figure out that the reason weird stuff keeps happening is not because his powers are acting up or because he’s being clumsier than usual because he’s nervous about this entire situation. (Who knew magic was ever banned in Camelot? He thought he knew the stories of the Arthurian legend as well as the next person. Apparently he does not. Or apparently the truth is a lot different than the stories.) He’s not particularly worried about being burned at the stake when he can just go intangible, but he’s changed the past by mistake before, and starting another witch hunt because he uses his ghost powers in front over everyone is not preferable. It would probably not be good. And he should figure out how the heck to get back home. Or even just to the Ghost Zone. He thought Clockwork would’ve popped in by now to explain something or at least berate him, but he hasn’t. 

Now, Merlin’s used to hiding his magic, even if he’s not always terribly good at it, just like Danny’s used to hiding his secret. And until Danny hears someone refer to Merlin as Merlin, he’d be expecting Merlin to look like Dragoon. Which would give Merlin a little bit more freedom when it comes to investigating the stranger that turned up in the courtyard of the citadel which apparently no idea of where he was and no guards reporting seeing him sneaking around until someone saw him and started ringing the bell to alert everyone that there was an intruder. Danny’s excuses, naturally, will be terrible. Merlin’s excuses are also terrible. I’d pretend that he could spot another liar, if only with Gaius’s help. Merlin would initially think Danny has magic, except he’s apparently never heard of Emrys when Merlin’s forced to ask out loud when Danny cannot hear him telepathically. Except Danny’s reaction when he does realize that Merlin is Merlin? That is unnerving. Really unnerving. Merlin might even call Kilgharrah and ask if there’s anything in some prophecy he hasn’t been told about yet about someone fitting Danny’s description.

I would probably set it once Arthur’s king–I like going AU between S4 and S5–but, uh, finer details would depend on why exactly Danny needs to be there. Which I haven’t figured out, which is why I haven’t written anything else for this idea. Morgana would probably get involved eventually, if only because she’s curious about the newcomer once she catches wind of him, and possibly because she thinks she might be able to use him. Poor Danny, still unable to escape from people who want to control him–and have the means to do it.

(unrelated idea but another idea for this crossover)

[sorio99]

Nintendo E3 Direct 2019: Reaction

I decided, for the second year in a row, to write my reactions to this years E3 Direct for all of y’all. Before the show starts, a couple predictions/guesses:

Obviously, we’re gonna get Smash Fighter Pack 2. I doubt it’s gonna be Banjo-Kazooie, just because that seems a bit too “Grinch-Leak”-esque to be realistic, if you know what I mean. That reveal will probably be either the first or last thing in the direct.

I imagine, like everyone else, we’re gonna be seeing a fair amount of Animal Crossing, just because there aren’t many other huge upcoming games we haven’t gotten exclusive directs about.

That said, we’ll probably learn a couple more things about Super Mario Maker 2, and maybe even Pokemon Sword and Shield. Nothing too huge, or game-changing, but a few additional details and maybe some later update stuff for SMM2.

We’ll probably hear more about the Link’s Awakening remake for Switch, just to tide over Zelda fans until Nintendo comes up with the next big 3D game (no disrespect to the 2D Zeldas, but the 3D titles are definitely big landmarks and game-changers).

Beyond that, some cool looking indie titles, even more ports, maybe a couple decent-sized 1st or 3rd party reveals, and that's about what I’m expecting. See y’all on the other side of the break.

So, before the show even starts, the YouTube live chat is memeing about tilt controls. Off to a fantastic start.

Ah, so mainly gonna be Switch. I’m down with that.

Like I said, starting with Smash. Though, this is definitely not framed how I expected.

Dragon Quest! Really? Okay! Wasn’t expecting it, but I’m sure this will make some people happy! Plus, as a sword myself, can’t say I’m too disappointed to have another.

Wait, are those three other skins? Like with the Koopalings? Cool.

And some magical abilities, looks cool to me, yeah! I imagine some will be disappointed, but I like it.

And, of course, they follow it up with the game the new guy’s from. So that's two characters who appeared in Smash before their game appeared on Switch. Odd.

Okay, starting with Mr. “Hired Just For His Name” himself. Gotta admit I found that entrance funny.

He’s...okay. Not the world’s most charismatic, but it’s fine. Koizumi is the hunk these days.

Ah, LM3. Should’ve figured.

Oh god, it’s Hotel Mario again.

Looks fun! I’m sure I’ll have fun with this.

Also, does this all mean Arlo was right?

Ah, so, Gooigi is an actually, like, thing? I guess that makes some sense.

And of course ScareScraper returns. It fits with the hotel theme.

Oh! It’s Tower of Terror! So, is this Rod Serling, or Jordan Peele?

Yeah, Doug Bowser is fine. He’s no Reggie, but then again, who is?

Ooh, Netflix? Whats this? Something from The Dark Crystal? Okay.

Ah, Link’s Awakening! This should be interesting.

I actually really like this chibi-esque art style. Seems like sort of an expansion on the style Link Between Worlds Used.

Wait, it’s Zelda Dungeon Maker too? Huh. That’s...unexpected. I dig it!

Alright, September! Sounds good.

Square Enix is doing a thing. What is this again?

Trials of Mana, huh? Fair enough.

...yeah, that’s about my feelings on the Mana series as a whole.

Okay, so Witcher? I guess. Why not? Seems weird to bring 3 over first, but I’ve heard good things.

Ah, more Fire Emblem stuff. Not much interest, and I feel like last FE direct did enough to advertise it, but I guess it makes sense. Odd we aren’t getting one of it’s characters in Smash soon, but I’m not complaining.

Yes, Mr. Koizumi, we all agree the Switch is an amazing piece of Hardware. No one is denying this.

So, play Resident Evil in an evil residence? Because it wasn’t scary enough to begin with? I guess?

Why does the guy sound surprised there are zombies in this game?

So they left went to a haunted house to play the haunted house game. Okay.

Why bother porting 5 and 6 over? 5 was generally regarded as average at best, and the less said about 6, the better.

I’m sorry, what?

No seriously, what the hell is this?

Wait, what? No More Heroes?

Didn’t we just get one of these?

Okay, so it’s officially 3. I guess that makes sense.

A Contra reboot?! Okay?! I mean, why the hell not?! Konami is officially insane.

Okay, seriously, what is up with Daemon X Machina? This is the third time I’ve seen this in a direct, and all I get is “Mechs blowing shit up.” Is that, like, just it? Whatever.

What the fuck, is this Joust or some shit?

Panzer Dragoon, huh? Looks like a Star Fox rip. Cool.

Ah, more Pokemon SW&SH. Pokeball Plus is always fun. 

Okay, so there’s more than one Gym Leader. It looks like things are still good. 

Okay, this is definitely a shift in gears.

So, there are just, like, two twins in this game? I think?

Looks like the Crash Titans games, but a sci-fi Hack & Slash ala other Platinum games.

Astral Chain. Forgot the name. Looks decent.

What the hell is Romero up to now? 

What? 

Ah. Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Still looks better than the new Avengers game.

Ooh, Ultimate Spider-Man AND Spider-Gwen AND Kamala Khan’s Miss Marvel? Looks cool!

Ah, Expansion Passes.

Ooh, Cadence of Hyrule. Nice to see Nintendo be friendlier with their IPs.

More Mario and Sonic Olympics? Was anyone asking for this? Wasn’t there a reason they didn’t make a 2018 one?

Holy shit! Already!?

So, there’s voice acting?

Deserted Island? This looks...interesting.

Okay, it looks like we can have at least eight players at once.

Ah, that Tom Nook. Always putting us in irreconcilable debt.

Damn, we have to wait until 2020? Ah well, as they say, a late game is eventually good, and an early game is always bad.

Woo! The quick montage! Yay

Spyro Seems fun.

Hollow knight sequel, natch.

Ni No Kuni, okay.

Can’t keep up, but wasn’t that the free-to-play Elder Scrolls game?

Alien Isolation anywhere, because we should be in mortal terror on buses.

Okay, was that a Stranger Things game?

The weird totally not Conker game, alright.

Just a few seconds of Mario Maker? Okay.

Wait, more DK? Smash?

Holy Shit, WHAT?!

No, seriously, what?!

Okay, I didn’t mention it, because it felt like that much of a long shot, but I figured they might reveal two fighter packs, since it’s been so long since Joker’s reveal, but...

BANJO-FUCKING-KAZOOIE?!

HOLY SHIT?!

Okay, so one last thing. Wonder what this’ll be.

Green squiggles?

Wait, is this...

Holy shit.

Holy Shit.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

WHAT.

NO.

NO FUCKING WAY.

DID THEY JUST.

ARE THEY REALLY.

OKAY.

NO.

I’M NOT RISKING SPOILING THIS BUT.

HOLY SHIT.

HOLY SHIT.

HOLY

FUCKING

SHIT.

...

So, yeah, I enjoyed that.

[boarix]

Wraith in the Ruins: A Fallout 4 Story Part X

Kinship

Trigger Warnings: Canon violence/language/gun, drug & alcohol use. Suicidal thoughts. Threat of drowning. Suggestive/mature content.

Bloody Mess warning!

Please enjoy!

 The Gunners had made their final, ultimate mistakes. Reports, over Radio Freedom, came in announcing the abduction of settlers from Somerville Place and the members of the provisioner caravan from the Murkwater/Jamaica Plain route. Wraith was deeply concerned when she was informed that there, oddly enough, were no demands for ransom. Four Minutemen had lost their lives during the simultaneous attacks.

Wraith was done.

With the threat of snow looming, she organized a full assault/rescue mission and mustered her troops. In addition to the standard Minutemen soldiers there were 3 full units of the 1st Commonwealth Heavy Dragoons as well as the Gae Bulg Hounds. Not wanting to risk attacks on the rest of her settlements, Wraith had accepted offers from both Piper and Hancock to borrow security from their respective cities. Provisioner caravans were temporarily halted as well.

“If you release your captives now, and surrender peacefully, I will personally grantee your safety…” Resplendent in the Minutemen General’s uniform, a figure stood on a raised platform while speaking into a microphone.  Flanked by Danse and two other Dragoons, with Hancock on the right and MacCready on the left, the person in the uniform was actually Curie. Although not as tall, there was enough of a resemblance to fool most people at a distance. As such, Curie had agreed to masquerade as Wraith and pantomime a prerecorded message of mercy.

Preston had been less than excited about being told to remain at the Castle. He had given her a lecture, reminiscent of Deacon’s, about a general fighting on the front line. Wraith had been adamant however, saying this was something she must do herself. Not wanting to potentially lose the two highest ranking Minutemen officers, he was left to literally man the fort.

 Wraith and Deacon moved through the plaza’s corridors like liquid shadow. Their intent was to locate and secure all hostages, after which, Wraith had ordered the systematic removal of all remaining combatants by “ANY means necessary.” Deacon led the way, having infiltrated the facility before. They had several Stealth Boys between them and were hoping to extract the settlers without any confrontations.

Wraith had low expectations of any organized response from the Gunners. Captain Wes was long dead, having been killed by raider tribal leaders attempting to gain the top position in the hierarchy. The distraction outside was clearly working and she had to wonder if she and Deacon couldn’t simply stroll down the hallways like they belonged there. She wasn’t going to try it though.

Her stomach was in knots over the condition of her people. Wraith was having trouble not killing Gunner-raiders as the duo passed them; chanting a calming mantra over and over in her head as she merged from one shadow to the next.

Once on the basement level, Deacon indicated a door and Wraith picked the lock with practiced ease. Her stomach sank as soon as she opened it however, when the sickly sweet smell of death hit her nose.

Only 2 people of the 15 reported missing were still alive and each was missing a limb.

She surmised that the victims had been cannibalized, limbs removed systematically to avoid rotting. The butcher obviously wasn’t very good and it seemed, from the state of the bodies, many had died almost immediately. Despite the cool temperature of the basement the smell of decay was almost overwhelming. With the dead and rotting left among the living, Wraith had to wonder if the Gunners weren’t eating the rotten meat as well.

“Deacon… I want you to take these two out…” Wraith’s jaw bulged as she spoke between clenched teeth, her hands claw-like as she flexed them, “take them up and out… I’m going to… Those bastards are going to DIE for this!”

“You should come with me boss, help me carry ‘em.”

“I can still walk, and I’ll help you with Ben!” The survivors clearly liked the idea of Wraith ripping the life from their abusers, and both nodded enthusiastically despite Deacon’s dirty looks.

Wraith set her pack on the ground and pulled on the hood of her armored Marine wetsuit.  Her voice came out as a muffled, menacing growl, “Up and out Deacon.” She disappeared as she turned.

“It’s highly irresponsible, leaving them with just me! Wraith?! God damn it!”

“Don’t worry about her; she’s General Wraith the Undying, right?”

With his back to them, the survivors couldn’t see the effort it took to wipe the panic from his face, “Sure guy, ‘Undying’, right…” Deacon stooped to retrieve her kit and after a brief tutorial on the Stealth Boys, the trio began their exodus.

As they slowly moved through the building, they could hear anguished screams that would end as suddenly as they began. Occasional explosions could be heard as well, shaking the foundation and causing a near constant rainfall of debris. Deacon, naturally assuming the use of grenades and other incendiaries, couldn’t decide if they were being used against or by Wraith. In any case, she wasn’t even bothering to try and be quiet. Whether it was a tactical choice, or she had gone full berserker, he couldn’t be sure.

Once outside, Deacon made sure he headed to the Gae Bulg group, as he really didn’t want to explain to Hancock why Wraith wasn’t with him. As soon as the field medics had the survivors, he went straight to Strong and Cait, tossing Wraith’s pack to the young woman, “Radio-in that some of the hostages are clear but I’m going back in for more. Hey Strong, ‘ol buddy ‘ol pal, you wanna come with?”

“STRONG NOT PUNY HUMAN PAL!”

“Yeah that’s great, but your alpha really wants you inside, so…”

Unexpectedly, the super mutant gave a furtive glance at Cait, “ALPHA WANTS STRONG TO COME SMASH? NO MORE SNEAKY-SNEAKY?”

“Oy, Strong, jus shift yerself.” Cait gave Deacon a hard look, recognizing the pack and doing the mental math, “Seems things have gone tits-up.”

“No! Not at all, just want to make sure…” He was interrupted by a particularly loud explosion.

“What in the goddamn is GOING ON?! Cait, has Wraith reported in back there?” Hancock’s irritated voice crackled from the walkie-talkie on Cait’s saddle.

Motioning for Strong to follow, Deacon literally ran away. Fighting alongside a super mutant, in a building full of explosions, looking for a raging berserker seemed safer.

It didn’t take long to find her: Wraith’s path of blood and body parts reminded Deacon of a macabre Freedom Trail. Strong ran ahead, laughing manically, to join in on the group she was currently engaged with.

Having tossed aside a large Gunner as if he had been a ball, another thinking she’d be off guard, attempted to bowl her over. Grabbing him by his arms she fell backward, hooking her foot into his midsection and flipping him up over her head. Using their shared momentum, she completed her backward roll to straddle her opponent and punched him with enough force his head appeared to pop like a balloon.

Her previously discarded opponent foolishly re-engaged her, charging in with a wicked-looking combat knife. Seeming to fall away from him, she brought her left leg up, her heel connecting with his hand and sending the knife flying. Now standing, she easily caught his right hook and ripped his arm off with an almost imperceptible effort. Swinging the limb back around, she clubbed him upside his head, his neck breaking with an audible crack.

Strong actually clapped for that one.    

Standing back, Deacon couldn’t take his eyes off of her face, which had somehow remained gore free. Somewhere along the way she had either ripped off her hood or it had been lost in a struggle, and the mad light in her green eyes shone with spell-binding intensity. She moved with such terrible, reckless power, it reminded him of the ocean, raging in a storm.

She was terrifying. She was beautiful.

She isn’t yours. You can’t have her. She doesn’t want you, never did. It could never have worked.

Lie. Lie. Lie.

The spell was broken when a section of celling collapsed. Luckily, Strong saw it coming and was able to partially shield her. Deacon ran to her side, holding his hands up to ward her off as she spun on him. “Whoa! It’s okay, it’s Deacon. It’s time to go now boss, I think the building lost!” Her eyes still filled with madness, she stepped around him to continue her search for enemies. When he moved to try and block her path, she lashed out at him. She had never actually attacked him before, not even when Hancock had dragged her frothing and screaming off of the Prydwen. It scared him. Badly. “Wraith! Snap out of it!”

“PUNY HUMAN CAN NOT STOP ALPHA.”

“Clearly…” Following behind her he racked his brain, there had to be something…

Oh… this is a bad idea…

“Pippa…” He swallowed hard when she stopped, “Pippa, you have to stop; you’re going to get killed if you stay in here. The building is starting to collapse.”

Spinning, she practically flew at him while screaming, “GHAAAAA! I HATE, HATE, HATE, THAT NAME!” The floor collapsed under them just as she barreled into him.

  Coming to, Deacon was aware that the weight on top of him wasn’t hard stone, but a warm human body. Wraith’s warm, firm but somehow still soft, body.

Oh no. Oh no. Ohhhhhh nooooooo.

“Deacon, are you awake?”

“No.”

“Ha ha. Are you hurt?”

“Just my pride, ego and head and my back and my left elbow and my lip…”

Don’t freak out. Don’t freak out. She can touch you like this, it’s okay.

“I think your lip is from my forehead. Hey, I’m sorry I can’t get up. We are kinda pinned together here…”

“It’s okay. Everything is okay. I’m okay. Are you oaky?”

Don’t freak out. Do not freak out! Donotfreakoutrightnow…

“Wow, Deacon… you… you’re really close to my face right now…”

“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that. How’s my breath?”

“It’s not bad. Not bad.” Understandingly uncomfortable, she began to try and rearrange her limbs, and ended up with one of her legs sliding between his. Turning her head she tucked it into the nape of his neck.

Nope. Nope. Nopenopenopenopenope…

“Is this okay?” Her breath against his ear made him shudder, “You’re shaking! Oh, I’m so sorry Deacon. I know you don’t like to be touched! Tell me what I can do!”

Kiss me.

“Just, please stop talking, you’re tickling my ear.” She continued to move; sliding her body along his in her attempt to separate them. “Wraith, if you keep wiggling around on top of me there is going to be a very obvious… male response that we both might be embarrassed about later.” He had wrapped his arms around her to stop her movement and was now too self-conscious to let her go.

“I’m sorry!”

Deacon was terrified of the silence that followed.

I can’t be here like this with her! I can’t! Her goddamn wetsuit! I can feel her she’slikeasecondskini’mnotgonna…

“Deacon, you’re breathing really hard and your heart is going a million miles an hour! Don’t tell me you’re claustrophobic too? I’m sure they’ll be able to dig us out…”

Got to get her to talk about something! I can’t trust myself right now…

“It’s awful dark in here boss; why don’t you turn on your light?”

“Um… I don’t seem to have my Pip-Boy anymore. I… I think I threw it… at someone.”

“Why do you hate being called ‘Pippa’ so much?” He could feel her stiffen.

“Why… what…” Figuring that he was trying to ward off panic, Wraith indulged him, “Pimple. The kids at school called me ‘Pimple’.”

“Did you have pimples?” He could feel her shrug.

That’s the stupidest, fucking, stupidassholemoron…

“Of course, everyone did. Everyone does. I have some right now, but when you’re a twelve-year-old…” She relaxed, laying her cheek against his chest.

“Take it back.”

“What do you mean? Take what back?”

This is good. This is good. I’m okay…

“You liked that nickname before the mean kids, right? And call me crazy, but it’s literally been over two hundred years… so…”

“I suppose I am being childish… But, I’ve already warned people away from it and everyone knows me as ‘Wraith’ anyway. Who’s left to call me that? Bear calls me ‘Wolf’; Hancock calls me ‘Sunshine’ or ‘sister’. You and Mac call me ‘boss’…”

“The settlers call you ‘Wraith the Undying’.”

“Ugh, no…”

“I could call you Pippa; see how you like hearing it.”

What the hell are you doing?! You idiot!

She smiled in the dark, nuzzling his chest, “That’s sweet but, no. Pippa died a long time ago and you’re right; two hundred years is a long time to hold onto something so silly, so childish.”

Deacon’s voice was soft, “But it didn’t feel like two hundred years.”

“No, it didn’t.” The emotional weight in her voice was staggering, “It was like a slow blink…” She cleared her throat, “I’m sure the others are digging us out right now. Only a matter of time, right? I hope Strong is okay.”

“You… really like that big green monster, don’t you?” He was grasping at straws now.

She tried to see his face, to see if he was smiling, but the darkness was total, “He’s my big green monster and I love him very much, thank you.” His breathing picked back up when she stopped talking so she elaborated to try and calm him down, “And I don’t know if you’ve noticed but he has started to mellow a little. Super mutants are very social after all, and I don’t think I was able to pay him the attention that he needed. He certainly didn’t want to pal around with random humans. The Hounds give him that feeling of… unity? Kinship? I don’t know. He really loves those dogs though!”

“I think he might have a thing for Cait too.”

“You’re kidding? Oh dish! What did you see?”

“He’s throwing eyes at her like a wild man!”

Wraith chuckled, not sure how much Deacon had exaggerated a simple glance, but she liked the idea that Strong could have a bond with another human. Returning her cheek to his chest she closed her eyes and tried to control her own breathing. Deacon wasn’t the only one who was on the verge of panic. “I’m sorry about going… bonkers.”

“What’s it like?”

Her voice was a low whisper, “You know what it’s like. You might know better than anyone.”

“You’re brain bursts into flame and you can’t hear anything but… feedback. If you’re lucky, you don’t remember what you’ve done…”

“You’re lucky if you don’t hurt the people you care about. Christ, Deacon I’m so sorry. I thought…” She sniffled as the tears started, “that I was doing… getting, better.” She buried her face into his chest, her voice a muffled sob, “Those poor people… I told them I would protect them. I failed them so miserably. I’m such a fucking disaster!”

Deacon’s laughter made her start in alarm. It was rare to hear him truly laugh and he gripped her tightly to him in what might have been their first real hug, “You’re a disaster?! Holy shit, join the fucking club!” He coughed, choking in his mirth, “You have had your moments, that’s for sure, but the rest of us are the ‘Pantheon of Flaming-Disaster’. Think of all the synths and settlers who have survived because of everything you’ve done, everything you’ve sacrificed. If it wasn’t for you, we flaming wrecks of the Commonwealth would have burned ourselves to ash by now. You’re our favorite little super nova. The trick is to make sure we aren’t standing in your way when you blow.”

Wraith sniffled as she tried to believe him, “I could have killed you earlier! In fact, I still might have; who knows if they’ll be able to find us!”

“You keep wiping your snot on me and I’ll happily welcome the sweet embrace of death.”

“Oof, I’m serious! I don’t know why you put up with me. In fact I’m still a little confused on why you are here; this mission had nothing to do with Railroad business.”

“Was that a question? I didn’t hear a question.”

Frustrated by her inability to glare at him she reached a hand up to pat his face, hoping to annoy him, “Why did you volunteer to come with me?”

“YEEEUKY! Keep your bugger hands to yourself!” He tilted his chin in an attempt to ward off her touch, laughing in spite of himself at the sheer ridiculousness of it, “I’m always going to want to help you because… we… we are friends, right?”

And I love you.

“Right.” Filled with new determination she pulled her arms from his, wiped her nose on her sleeve and reached up to touch the debris overhead, “Well, I’m done with my pity party, so let’s get out of here. I’m going to try to crawl over your head, okay?”

“I get a vote?”

She grunted as a response and pulled herself forward over his body. Unable to see and using her arms to both propel herself as well as hold herself up, she couldn’t feel ahead and proceeded to bash her head into low-hanging, immovable stone. She dropped heavily on top of Deacon, her breasts directly in his face. “OW!” She lay there for a second, stunned, before inching her way back toward his feet, once again sliding herself with unintentional provocativeness along Deacon’s length.

“Pippa, you are literally killing me right now…”

“Sorry, sorry! Wait… NO STOP THAT!” To her surprise she was able to scoot herself well past his feet, “I’m going to keep going… oh shoot! I wish I had my pack with me; I’d tie some string to your ankle and pull you along…”

“You had string in your pack? Wait, never mind; that’s a stupid question. I think I can flip over now and follow you anyway. Let’s hope that there’s someplace to go.”

As they pushed themselves along, the only sounds were their clothing scraping along the uneven floor and the occasional grunt of exertion. Deacon hated the near silence. He hated how much he missed her weight on top of him. He hated how badly he wanted to hold her in his arms again. He hated himself for wanting her.

She will never be with you. You don’t deserve her friendship, let alone her love. Besides, she already has two boyfriends…

“Deacon!”

He started guiltily, “AAHHH! What?! Don’t scare me like that!”

“Sorry, it’s just… the floor drops away…” She reached ahead of her toward him, “I want to hold onto your ankles and see if I can touch the next level down.”

“Down? Shouldn’t we be trying to go up?”

“I am trying to go anywhere we can! Gimme yer damn feet!”

Deacon rolled onto his back, letting her hang from him like playground equipment, “I haveta say, this might be one of the weirdest… This actually kinda hurts, can you reach?”

“Can’t… but it doesn’t feel like the floor is that far away…”

“Don’t you dare let g… WRAITH!” Fear surged through him as she released her grip.

It was much further than she thought.

Luckily, the wall tilted at an angle after about 10 feet and so rather than a dead stop, her initial fall ended in a chaotic tumble. She continued to slide and roll for several seconds before free-falling once again, 20 feet this time, into freezing-cold water. Confused and stunned she swam the wrong way and scrapped her face on the gravel at the bottom of the pool. Swinging her feet beneath her, she thrust upward powerfully. Breaching the surface, she blew like a walrus, gasping for air.

Treading water, Wraith spun herself in a circle. She had fallen into a cavern pool beneath the Plaza in which the narrow shore was illuminated by various types of glowing fungus. Backlit by their soft light, Wraith could make out the unmistakable silhouette of mirelurk nests. Lots and lots of mirelurk nests.

A hundred feet above her, Deacon was surprised with himself: with barley a second thought he pushed off the ledge to share in whatever fate Wraith had met.

You really are an idiot.

The sound of dislodged debris hitting the water proved to be sufficient enough warning for her to move out of the way. His tremendous splash when he hit the pool a second later, echoed throughout the cave. Wraith spun herself in another circle, checking for any sign of movement from shore. She was thankful that his rise to the surface was far more quiet than her own was, but was alarmed by the sound of both their teeth chattering. Pointing wordlessly at the ominous egg mounds, she swam as quietly as possible to a narrow, rocky outcropping with Deacon close behind.

As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Deacon was shocked to see blood flowing freely from Wraith’s nose and brow. Patting himself down he found one of Curie’s special, super stimpaks and tried to pass it to her. She held up her hand and shook her head, thinking to herself that if that was all the medical aid they had, it would be best to wait and see what would happen to them next. She accepted his Gunner bandana however, and wrapped it around her forehead.

They were both freezing. Shaking uncontrollably, Deacon could hardly stand. Walking as softly as possible, he peeked into the nearest mirelurk nest and was relieved to see it empty. Motioning for Wraith to walk in the opposite direction the two made a full circuit to verify they were alone.

Wraith started slapping her arms, “We need a fire ASAP! Please tell me you have your lighter.”

“Llliiighter yesss, sstuff to burn…” He looked around for the standard trash piles that were so common in the Ruins, “Thiss haas got ttto be the tttidiessst hohole-in-the-ground ever!”

They made another circuit, both trying to ignore the fact that there didn’t seem to be an exit. With teeth clacking they made a pile of their meager findings and Deacon set about trying to light it. Wraith watched him fumble for a second before taking over. Her wetsuit had offered her a little more protection than Deacon’s Gunner disguise, and she was able to gain enough stillness to be successful.

“Take off your clothes.”

Deacon’s shaking momentarily stopped from shock, “Excuse me?”

“Your clothes are going to give you hyperthermia regardless of our little teacup trash fire.” So saying she turned her back to him and unzipped her suit.

OH NO! OOOOOOHHHHHHHNONONONONOOOOOO!

“I dddon’t know Pppippa, I’m pretty ssshy...” He knew she was right and would normally be able to keep things in perspective, but after their closeness, he was having a hard time playing indifferent to the prospect of their being naked together, “mighttt pisssssss off those mmmuuummen of yours.” He turned his back to her as she began the process of shedding her wetsuit: there was a lot of wiggling and shimmying going on.

“I’m sorry… nuhhget off… but I’m not going to let a little thing like modesty stand in the way of your survival. I promise I won’t look. Just, put your clothes on those cinder blocks close to the fire and then lay down over here facing it.” She cleared her throat and her voice dropped to a murmur, “We, a-hem, are going to need to share body heat too sooooo…”

“Oh yyyeah, Hhhhancock won’t kikill me for this, I’m suuure.”

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt you. Now quit stalling!”

As soon as she lay down behind him, as soon as flesh met flesh, he started to hyperventilate. Wraith tried to calm him by stroking his arm, but stopped when he literally yelled at her touch. His anguished cry echoed through the cavern and she felt her heart might break in two.

“Deacon, I’m sorry you’re going to have to go through this. I can’t pretend to understand, but I’ll be damned if you die! I know it’s selfish but I can’t lose you! You are my friend and I love you!” Despite his weak struggling, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to her chest, “I’m so sorry I told you to leave; who knows what that did to you. And I know that’s not what this is about but…” She trailed off when he started to sob.

“I can’t. I can’t. I can’t…”

Deacon’s shivering soon stopped and his breathing evened out. Wraith resisted the urge to nuzzle him deciding that it would be inappropriately intimate.

“Boss, we are going to have to get back in the water.” His voice was unnaturally calm, “Have to figure that the mirelurks came in and out that way.”

“Yeah, you’re right. As soon as your clothes are dry, I’ll put my wetsuit back on and see if I can figure out where the exit is. Really missing my Pip-Boy right about now…”

“How long can you hold your breath? On top of the radiation we’ve both been exposed to, we might end up becoming mer-ghouls.”

Wraith was relieved by his attempt at humor, “I can hold my breath for a very long time if I have a second to prepare. As far as the radiation goes… we should just concentrate on getting out of here first and trim the fins off later.” She had a feeling he was aware of her ghoulish nature but didn’t want to have more heart-to-heart time with him while so literally and figuratively exposed.

Finally warm, Deacon wasn’t surprised when Wraith drifted off to sleep; she would have had to be exhausted. Rather than taking the opportunity to escape her clutches he tortured himself by enjoying the feel of her. Her breasts were pressed into his back and her hips and legs were tight against his own as they spooned: it was wonderful and horrible.

You don’t deserve to feel good right now. Why does this feel so good? Why do you get to feel her like this? You shouldn’t be touched. You can’t be. You can’t.

Time passes slowly in the dark, when you are alone with self-deprecation. Deacon’s mind would’ve had him flinging himself back into the water to drown but for the thought that Wraith, who had lost so many, might blame herself and be sad.

The fire soon burned itself out and Wraith woke up soon after. “Oh, I’m sorry I dozed off there. Why don’t you check your cloths, I’m going to get dressed over here…”

“It doesn’t matter if they’re dry, boss; we are out of time.”

“Well at least they’ll be warm…”

After a brief wrestling match with her damp wetsuit, she walked to the water’s edge and almost jumped in but stopped when Deacon called out to her.

“Hey wait, what’s the plan here? You’re not going to last long in that water; not at that temperature. We don’t have any more fire-food, so… strategy?”

“Deacon, almost every one of all my, ‘best-laid plans’ goes to shit. So, yeah, I’m going to swim around in freezing cold water, looking for a dark hole. Then I’m going to come back for you. Then you are going to jump back into the same freezing water that you just recovered from and we are going to try to swim down a dark tunnel for who knows how long, until we reach air, all the while absorbing an unknown dose of radiation. Sound right?”

“Always good to have a plan!” He gave her the finger-gun salute and a huge, fake smile.

“Oh, I just noticed your sunglasses are gone. I’ll get you a new pair… when were safe.”

“Oh, so like, never?”

The water hit her like a thousand needles. Gasping, she swam vigorously, doing laps back and forth across the narrow pool in the hope that she could somehow get used to the temperature. It was all rather fruitless. She returned to the ledge, took several deep slow breaths and disappeared below the surface.

Deacon paced.

Wraith had never been lucky so she knew her first dive wouldn’t yield results. However, it’s hard not to hope when your life is on the line. After a few moments she returned to the surface, took several more deep breaths and tried again.

Deacon paced.

She was under for much longer this time, and Deacon debated jumping in after her. She finally surface and with her teeth clacking together, she sounded remarkably like a mirelurk, “Fffound it! Lllulllett me bbbreath…”

Although Wraith was against it, Deacon insisted they tie themselves together somehow. In the end she relented and he used his bootlaces and old discarded fishing line to create a makeshift rope. She hauled herself out of the water and concentrated on breathing as he tied it around her waist. To her surprise he embraced her, holding her to him so tightly it was painful.

“You are not allowed to die. You do not have my permission.” He pushed her back from him and stared intently into her eyes.

“Gee, I ttthought I was the bbboss around hhhere.” She smiled and clunked foreheads with him, forgetting her injury, “Ow.”

“No mer-ghoul is my boss, no way.”

Tell her. Tell her right now that you love her. Tell her!

But he didn’t.

And then he was in hell.

Dark. Pain. Cold, so fucking cold! Can’t breathe! It burns! Going to die! Going…

After 2 minutes, Wraith felt the line grow taunt and she knew Deacon had lost consciousness and that she was pulling him along. She swam on and on, her lungs burning for want of air. Her brain numb from fear and cold, she sustained only the thought of saving him. Nothing else mattered.

Air, what’s air? Warmth, ha!

20 minutes: that was the longest Wraith had been able to hold her breath. She had done it to impress Hancock.

Hancock.

Mac.

Shaun.

Everyone.

She screamed her defiance inside her head and surged forward with new determination… right out into the light of day. The rays of the sun cut through the water and she swam upward to meet them.

Choking, she managed to haul Deacon’s lifeless body up onto shore. She started CPR immediately while having flashbacks to the courser incident. “I saved you then and I’ll save you now!” Plunging the stimpak into his chest, she hopped the slightly longer needle would reach his heart. She thumped his chest trying to jar him back to life but in her haste she was too forceful and she felt some of his ribs break.

He sat straight up like a jack-in-the-box and threw-up all over her.

 As it happened they had surfaced just downstream from Somerville Place. The settlers there were able to help them and radioed the Minutemen that their general was alive and safe. Wraith assured the settlers that the Gunners Plaza had been raised to the ground and that their friends had been avenged. She was embarrassed by their grim but thankful pledges of reaffirmed loyalty.

  MacCready and Hancock were snoring. Loudly. Rather than being irritated, Wraith smiled happily up at the ceiling. Back in their bedroom in Sanctuary, the three had fallen asleep in a naked pile after some good ‘ol fashioned I-almost-just-died-again lovemaking.

Hancock’s snoring stopped as he was so in tune with Wraith’s breathing that he woke up soon after she did. Wraith giggled when she looked over at him: MacCready’s left hand was almost completely covering the ghoul’s face. He narrowed is eyes briefly in annoyance then sighed as he gently reached up to remove MacCready’s palm from his forehead.

“Boy, he has you wrapped, huh?” Her voice was a low whisper.

“Heh. Yeah, almost from the start.”

“Something that I’ve been wondering; you had mentioned before that Mac takes up the whole bed…”

Hancock pulled himself out from under the other man, gently disentangling himself from limbs and blankets to edge closer to Wraith. He kissed her deeply then leaned back and propped himself up on an elbow, “I knew him for a little bit before you came into the picture. He’d… get drunk and end up in my bed. Never went anywhere, never minded much. It was nice to wake up next to someone that I actually gave a damn about, you feel me?”

Looking into his great, dark eyes she smiled as she cupped his cheek, “Yes I do.” She trailed her hand down to his chest, enjoying the feel of his warm, textured skin.

Hancock thoroughly enjoyed when she touched him like this: almost as if she was petting him. He made a deep appreciative growl, low in his chest, looking at her through half-lidded eyes. He opened them when she stopped and was surprised to see a look of intense pain on her face. It passed almost as soon as he saw it and she pulled her hand away, making it into a fist and staring at it. “Something weighing on ya?”

“Deacon,” She chuckled at his scowl, “I broke his ribs, felt them buckle under my fist.” She dropped her hand to the bed, “I almost killed him, again.”

“Again?” Hancock took her hand in his and brought it to his lips and gently kissed her knuckles, “Seems to me you saved him, again.”

“Yes but, who put him in mortal danger in the first place?”

“Deacon. Deacon put Deacon exactly where Deacon wanted to be.” He gently opened her fist to kiss her palm and fingers, “Besides, Curie’s tender ministrations will set him to rights, and he’ll be running around, flapping his yap, in no time at all.”

“He left already!” Feeling aroused, Wraith’s tone was somewhat harsh, “You know it’s really hard to focus with you doing… that.”

“Course, ‘swhy I’m doing it.” Sighing when she pulled her hand away, Hancock’s tone was conciliatory, “You know he just went back to Goodneighbor. He has Amari and that asshole Carrington if he still needs treatin’.”

“He doesn’t have anyone. He’s… alone too much.”

“Once again, Deacon is right where he wants to be.” He moved closer still, arching himself over her and trailing kisses from her forehead down her nose to her mouth. He growled lasciviously when she gave in, opening her mouth to his and then nipping his lip.

“Fuck you, YOU BUBBLY FISH!”

Both Hancock and Wraith’s eyes flashed open at MacCready’s shout. Leaning away from her, Hancock open-palm slapped MacCready’s bare butt, “Way to ruin the fucking moment, ass!”

“What the frick, man?!” Rubbing his reddened rear, MacCready blinked owlishly, “What did I do?!”

“Th’ fuck you deamin’ about, ‘bubbly fish’?”

MacCready’s eyes narrowed at Wraith, “What the heck is he even saying? What chems are you guys on right now?!”

Laughing helplessly, Wraith could barely speak, “I love you guys, so, so much.”

The two men shared a significant look then turned to Wraith, huge smiles on both their faces.

“What? What’s up?”

“That was the first time you said it. The first time you said you loved us.”

“No? Really?” She blushed, “I’m sorry! That’s kinda sad.” She sat up on her knees and looked into MacCready’s cerulean eyes, “I love you Robert Joseph MacCready.” She kissed him passionately while running her left hand up his thigh. She turned to Hancock, reaching to cup his cheek with her right hand, “I love you John Hancock.” The kiss they shared left them both breathless, and Wraith decided additional physical evidence of her love was needed.

Much later, Hancock lay on his back with Wraith and MacCready each tucked under an arm and sharing his chest for a pillow. The ghoul chuckled as MacCready was already snoring.

Wraith reached over to gently caress the young man’s face, “I love you guys.”

“Love you too, Sunshine.”

Thank you so much for reading! Like what you read? Looking for more? Please have a look-see in my bio for the  Wraith in the Ruins master-link. Normally i’d make it easy for ya’ll with a link right here... stuff is kinda weird on tumblr right now... If you do find yourself face to face with the master-link, please consider reblogging it, I could really use the signal boost. =^..^=

[rubywithin]

Guardelia Stones 18

-The group met up at the shop- (Kuzuiji) “Hello everyone it is nice to meet you all, I guess you could say I’m Shoma’s mentor”. (Shoma) “Ugh you taught me a few tricks but I’m not sure if you are my mentor”. (Maya) “He was joking Shoma, its nice to meet you too” (Kuzuji) “Sorry for my class mates before...” (Maya) “Its fine Shoma told me about them and if it wasn’t for them he wouldn’t of gotten back into Guardelia”. (Yoshui) “Yeah hahaha its crazy to think that one situation brought him out of retirement to win the tournament!”. (Wallace thoughts) “If he had not made that decision does that mean I could of won....”. I bought a pack and opened it....Rose Phantom Swordsman my evolution monster. (Yoshui) “Any luck Wallace?” I was about to say yes but stopped myself for some reason! (Wallace) “No just a few Plain Beasts” (Kuzuji) “Oh cool I could trade some Rose cards if that’s fine”. I nodded I felt bad for lying but for some reason I felt it was the right thing to do....for me!

I...I just felt out of place among them so I decided to leave, I was able to talk to them the other day but now...I feel distant. (Ogato) “Wow if it isn’t  the great Wallace Yoshiyo, is what I would say if you hadn’t fallen from grace!”. I know this guy he came second in the city championship, (Wallace) “So alongside Melvai you are spying on us?”. (Ogato) “Nope I wanted to battle you I hate the whole mind games rubbish Melvai is puling. I just want to battle you, if I win you realize you have no hope of reaching the top. But if you can win you regain that confidence knight boy took away from you”. (Wallace) “DON’T BRING HIM INTO THIS” ugh what is wrong with me?....I accepted that loss. (Ogato) “Let’s take this some place more private” we went behind the shop I let him have the first turn! “Sure thing even though its more beneficial for your deck to go first, I summon Blaze Lizard as my ace and then I place 2 back cards!

(Wallace) “I summon Rose Traveller as my ace and a Rose Performer in the defence area, I then attack your ace”. I put down 2 back cards and called it a turn, (Ogato) “I summon another Blaze Lizard and change my ace to Burning Dragoon and both my monsters attack your ace!” (Wallace) “I use Performers ability to bind your Lizard!” I lost 3 lives. (Ogato) “I will place another back card, you could of stopped both attacks how foolish”. (Wallace) “I summon Rose Musketeer Mask as my new ace and summon Rose Musketeer Kai and both my monsters attack your ace!” (Ogato) “I use two Flame Shields to block both monsters. (Wallace) “I activate Vine Bind on one of the shields” it didn’t matter which once since I bet 4 on both attacks. (Ogato) “I summon Flare Aura Dragon as my new ace and destroys all my other field cards and doubles his power now attack the ace!”. I took the damage over guarding but he had no shields now, (Wallace) “I summon Rose Paladin as my ace and a new Rose Musketeer Mask and attack your ace”. I hit him for 13 damage. 

“I now evolve Paladin into Rose Phantom Swordsman and call it a turn” he still looked smug! (Ogato) “I evolve my Aura Dragon into Ash Dragon who let’s me revive Aura Dragon, I then summon a second Aura Dragon and all 3 will attack your ace! I discard a shield to use Ash Dragon’s second ability which negates all cards of the same type this turn!”. (Wallace) “How foolish I use Phantom Swordsman's ability to bind your none ace monsters  as long as I bind my hand for 2 turns!”. He had no shield, “Rose Phantom Swordsman end this!”. I beat a pro and I did it with ease....but why don’t I feel proud. (Ogato) “If you want to get rid of the bitter taste beat the Knight user....I feel the same way about Guy defeating me in the City Championship”. I went to the front of the shop and looked inside everyone was still enjoying themselves. I was at my best before Shoma came along so next time I face him I will crush him!

[notspoondere]

Rocky Shocky Dracos - May 2018 Banlist

Banlist season is kind of savage when you think about it; everyone’s out for blood, and they turn to tournament results for donors.

Spoiler:  we didn’t get much blood, but this list was fairly solid nonetheless.

The best decks of this format were Pendulum Magicians (notable variants included the Magician FTK, which copied the effect of Lyrilusc - Independent Nightingale twice with Supreme King Dragon Starving Venom to burn for 4000 twice; and the Zexal variant, which used Chronograph Sorcerer to make Beatrice in order to dump Rank-Up-Magic Argent Chaos Force, then overlay Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger to add it back to hand, then discard it to turn Number 39: Utopia into Number S0: Utopic ZEXAL) and True Draco (almost entirely Demise, though the Metalfoes variant also faired well).  Almost nothing else came close to these decks, though the format was fairly diverse apart from that: 60-card variants, Dinosaur variants, 60-card Dinosaur variants (wow!!), SPYRAL, Burning Abyss, Zefra, Metalfoes, Mekk-Knight Invoked, and sometimes ABC and Trickstar all made significant tournament placements during the format, and for a while, it seemed like everyone was happy.

Of course, that’s ignoring the two legal FTKs.  In addition to the above Pendulum FTK, Gem-Knights got a Link Monster last set, and as a result, generated some easy combos to burn 8000 on turn 1 by making Lady Lapis Lazuli and copying her effect with Gem-Knight Master Diamond.  If you interrupt it, they end on True King of All Calamities instead, for an equally interactive experience.

Oh, and Draco was pretty uninteractive as well.  You could spend your entire turn building the biggest board of monsters ever conceived by man, but any board without backrow could more or less be outed with good old Rocky Shocky (Amano-Iwato + Raigeki), down to the point where it was the default answer to any “break my board” post on Zodiac Duelist.  Once they got in, or if they went first, they spiced up the experience by flipping two or three of the exact same floodgates every single time, so you’d have to deal with outing a Master Peace on top of obscenely powerful backrow.  Oh, and Amano-Iwato also prevents the activation of handtraps (except for Infinite Impermanence), so you can’t do anything about them drawing cards!!

Mind you, this is on top of an already GOOD archetype.  Imagine telling someone playing 2016 Monarchs that they made an archetype where all of the continuous spells were Eidos and drew cards, and all of the traps were Escalation, and one of them was also Monster Reborn, and all of the monsters went plus if your opponent tried to play the game, and every time you Tribute Summoned, you also destroyed stuff, and the field spell was BETTER than Domain, and...

But that’s over now, right?  Did they finally do Draco dirty this time?  We’ll see.

Forbidden

Astrograph Sorcerer

Astro, Astro.  It’s funny how long it took for this card to become good: it wasn’t played at all until Electrumite came out, but I guess that makes sense, since Electrumite is the reason this card had to go straight from 3 to 0.  Let’s get into why this card in particular is so ridiculous, and why it was obviously the best hit.

Astrograph Sorcerer does three important things.

You can destroy it in scale to summon Stargazer Magician from the deck or hand.  This makes half of Electrumite without a Pendulum or Normal Summon.

If a monster is destroyed, you can summon Astrograph from hand to search another copy of any monster that was destroyed this turn.  This isn’t even once per turn, and can activate even if Astrograph wasn’t in hand when it happened.

Astrograph is level 7, so you can overlay him for Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon, which can float into Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon or Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon when it leaves the field; this comprises about 1/3 of the ending board of any Pendulum deck.

Best part is that putting it to 1 doesn’t stop you from being able to loop it at all!  You can resolve it multiple times per turn with just one copy thanks to Electrumite’s effect.

Yeah, this was a great hit.

Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King

Yep, this is Luster Pendulum.  He’s now Zoodiac Drident crossed with Apoqliphort Towers, and naturally he’s on the banlist again.  Feel old yet?

To continue on that analogy, I fully expect this deck to go the way of Qliphorts and continue to see play as a stun variant.  Note that nerfed Draco is still a better deck than Qliphorts, unfortunately.

Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis

Woohoo, we won’t get Plant FTK!  With that, I have the feeling we’ll be getting the Aromage Link Monster next set, since that’s the card that enables this FTK.  Once again, a good hit.

Supreme King Dragon Starving Venom

Magicians lost two cards, it turns out.  Did I mention when you copy Independent Nightingale with this, it becomes unaffected by card effects?  And it’s a 3000 beater with piercing?  And you don’t even have to use Polymerization?

There were people making the case for Nightingale being banned instead of this, but I’d like to make the argument that copy effects limit design space even more than random Level 1 birds that can burn do.

I actually think the FTK more or less dies with Astrograph, but this helps to make that certain.

Ancient Fairy Dragon

Remember how everyone laughed at that Fairytale archetype and then, on the same day, an FTK was discovered off of the field spell?

Remember how ABC-Dragon Buster is a 1.5 card combo off of any Field Spell?

Remember Fieldspell.dek, which ends on UCT + Mechaba or Naturia Beast with no trouble whatsoever?

Yeah, you can thank this card for all of that.  There are people that think Ancient Fairy is innocent, but this card is absolutely the culprit.  I bought a copy not too long ago, but I’m glad I’ll be putting her into the “banned cards” page of my binder, hopefully never to see the light of day again.

Rank-Up-Magic Argent Chaos Force

And here’s the first case where I feel like they picked the card to hit at random, as Konami used to do.  The Zexal combo required a bunch of cards to exist within the game:

RUM ACF

Chronograph Sorcerer

Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal

Number S0: Utopic ZEXAL

Gaia Dragon, etc...

It seems like Konami spun a wheel for this one, since I can’t imagine Utopic ZEXAL coming up in any non-degenerate strategies, and it certainly prevents them from printing any searchable non-Quick-Play Rank-Up-Magics, but who cares, buy Links!

That Grass Looks Greener

F.

I’ve been a 60-card player since around this time last year, and Lightsworn is my favorite deck of all time, so I’m sad to see this one go, but it was absolutely responsible for 60-card decks’ most unfair hands.  “Oh, you decided to drop Ash Blossom on my Lonefire?  Here, let me just mill a third of my deck real quick and end on Naturia Beast or Void Ogre Dragon with Fairy Tail - Snow and Shiranui Spiritmaster in the GY.  Oh, and you only have three cards in hand.  Sorry, not sorry!”

Limited Cards

Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter

This is the best card in Draco that isn’t named Master Peace, and is the sole reason for why I think the deck isn’t totally dead.  Return and Apocalypse are still absurdly strong cards going first and this card searches them. 

Gem-Knight Master Diamond

Here’s another “spin the wheel” hit; the Gem-Knight that actually burns is Lady Lapis Lazuli, but hitting this hurts the deck’s attempts to play legitimately, too. Problem solved, I guess, but at what cost?

They can’t make Calamities anymore, either, but that matters much less when they can’t actually kill you, either.

Chain Strike

And there’s a strange hit!  Chain Burn has been a nuisance since, well, the release of Chain Strike, and this hit is kind of out of nowhere, but who cares.  Chain Burn is dead if you don’t draw an insane hand.  Better now than never.

Semi-Limited Cards

Apoqlihport Towers

Ring of Destruction

I’ll take “Cards that have seen no play” for 800, Alex.

Unlimited Cards

I’m doing these out of order so I can sort them into tiers depending on how much discussion they actually deserve.  Without further ado:

Neo-Spacian Grand Mole

Compulsory Evacuation Device

Fairy Tail - Luna saw no play and Solemn Strike is still at 3.  Who cares.

Grandsoil the Elemental Lord

The functional errata is effective already, though we won’t get it in print until FLOD: SE.  Elementsaber buff, though the deck really isn’t good anyways.

Mathematician

This is still a solid card, honestly.  I could see it seeing play again in decks that don’t need a Normal Summon, or if they finally unban Construct.  I don’t think that deck’s in the game right now, but it could be soon.

Atlantean Dragoons

Dragoons was tearing through boards years before SPYRAL Tough was, and honestly, there’s very little stopping it from doing so now with Light of Sekka in the game (Abyss-scale is a brick and chances are that you don’t run any spells that do anything more impactful than drawing two cards and fixing your hand).  This is kind of like when Charge of the Light Brigade came back to 3: It’s a fairly solid buff to a fairly solid deck.  Add onto that the imminent reprint of Moulinglacia and the new Mermail Link Monster, and the deck is looking like it’s soon to be in a very strong place.

Ignis Heat, the True Dracowarrior

This means virtually nothing compared to Dinomight coming back to 1.

...

Okay, hear me out.  Ignis was the deck’s best play going second since it grabs Heritage, which plusses off of disruption.  That’s fine, but:

Amano-Iwato stops your opponent from doing anything to stop you already.

You are going to search your spells with Diagram anyways, and you don’t need your opponent to be using effects on your turn to do that.

Heritage is still a disruptable card itself, and the proper play with Ignis is usually to let him hit the board and swing over him later in order to give the opponent Heritage on a turn when they can’t immediately use it.

For these reasons... yeah, Ignis doesn’t actually matter that much.  Draco would still be fine with Ignis at 1, and I don’t really expect that he’ll be run at more than 2 at MOST due to the way optimal ratios work with Card of Demise.

END OF LIST

And that’s it.  So what happened here?

Magicians nerfed.  FTK and Zexal builds murdered.  Pure deck is still viable.

Every other pendulum deck nerfed, though pure Metalfoes arguably lost the least. (Zefra didn’t use Astrograph at all, but really needed AFD.)

Draco nerfed.  Still viable, mark my words.

60-card is dead outright.  The best playmakers are still there, but Left Arm into Grass is no longer valid backup for Lonefire Blossom.  You may see 40-card Dino or Zombiesworn lists in the future given good enough hands, but there’s no good way to fit the Lonefire combo in 40 cards without bricking too often.

Gem-Knight FTK dead.

Plant FTK pre-emptively dead.

Chain Burn, for some reason, also dead.

Every deck that plays Destrudo into AFD is nerfed or dead.  I expect ABC and Zefra to survive through sheer power, though both lost much in consistency.

Invoked are fine, though invoked hybrids lost AFD, I guess.

World Chalice untouched.  If you think you’re good at this game, try this deck and realize how wrong you are.

SPYRAL untouched.  Easily a top-tier contender.

Burning Abyss untouched.  Still a solid deck with proper backrow.

Paleozoics untouched, though the worst part of their worst matchup is totally gone, and they’re very solid versus Altergeist.  Budget players, keep an eye on this deck.

Mermails buffed.  Remember to respect this deck, since anyone who’s still got it has probably been holding onto the cards for years (especially if they have Moulinglacia, that shit went straight up to $40 a pop).

...

...

...

Neo-Spacians tier 1, obviously.

EXTRA: Cards that Did Not Get Hit, Somehow

Card of Demise

Normal Amano-Iwato, set 3, activate Diagram, Demise.  Your opponent looks you straight in the eye as if you could respond, but he knows the truth.  In the pursuit of victory, he lost whatever part of his heart that was capable of compassion.  Even now, there’s no saving him.

This card provides way too much advantage in the right decks and has deserved a hit for like four or five lists in a row now.  I’ll be happy to see it gone, but Konami seems to think not.  Maybe LC Kaiba still needs to sell?

Trickstar ANYTHING

This deck has fallen off a bit, but Drollcarnation is still legal and the deck is still a threat based off of that alone.

Scapegoat

Free 1-card Borreload if your deck doesn’t SS on the opponent’s turn!  That’s fair, right?  Kill me.

[joulethieves]

deep breath remember when i said this would take me 5mins nevermind i wrote for an hour

tl;dr burmecian dragoon frately and his adopted hume daughter kipcha are hunters that speak several languages but speak french to each other. there’s a dog and a falcon involved that are kipcha’s weird pets. burmecians are an extinct race aside from frately after they defended marginalized groups across ivalice and slowly died off. kipcha and reddas probably have a Thing. kipcha yells at al-cid in rozarrian bc he owes her money cuz she was hired to spy with her multilingual skills before getting thrown into prison and recently broken out by the time the xii-timeline is close to an end , pre-pharos.

ok wheremst do i start with these two i’ll try to. keep it short. 

SPOILER I DIDNT KEEP IT SHORT 

kipcha is a hume in her late 20′s who is a huntress. she has a dog and a falcon has a pet. she lives in the mountains, i headcanon somewhere in rozarria, with her weird dad frately.

frately is , quite frankly, a ripoff of sir frately from ffix. like basically he is a burmecian. but in ivalice-verse, i headcanon burmecias/cleyrans as an extinct race. long long lonnnng ago, burmecians used to be protectors of sorts, of the downtrodden or endangered. they are dragoons so they slayed a lotta dragons threatening their land and the land of others. they were all around a super amazing good race of creatures. the viera, especially, consider themselves heavily indebted to them. many many years ago the burmecians defended eruyt from an attack from some force (i havent figured it out yet, either humes or wyrms) and thus helped build the barriers in golmore now. 

so in ffxii timeline, when fran sees frately, and frankly--when any viera sees frately, the only burmecian they’ve seen in many many many years (as they were rumored to be wiped out in some war)--she removes her helmet and bows her head in respect. bc even though the viera that he sees have left the wood, they still owe their lives to burmecians and there’s a deep respect for them as well as a quiet shock as to how he is alive. not sure if he’s the only burmecian who survived; i imagine there are others but perhaps he is looking for them

somewhere in the timeline after eruyt was defended long long ago, another attack on a village happened, a hume town in rozarria. savages were tearing through it, raping and pillaging and burning it to the ground. burmecians fought to eliminate the threat and save the people, but many were slain in their efforts. THE BURMECIANS WERE VERY BUSY FULL-TIME DEFENDERS OF ALL. they never slept. there was always shit to save. kipcha was a toddler at the time and her whole family was murdered, and frately saved her before hiding them both in the woods. maybe just about every burmecian was wiped out (idfk i really dont have it worked out in a timeline). basically, frately adopted kipcha, at a very young age. she was probably like 3. after that attack, they were both alone. he decided he’d take care of her.

fast forward and now kipcha is 20something and she hunts around ivalice with her weird dad. they have a giant big-ass cabin they both built on some lonely mountain and she doesnt get to talk to humans much. but she has her birb and her doggo and likes to kill shit with her dad. 

also frately speaks in a heavy french accent because i said so, and bc i headcanon burmecians as generally speaking french, also bc i created him as an OC in high school when i was learning french, also bc i do what i want and french is a language in ivalice altho it probably isnt called french it just sounds french. basically its a dead language its probably what the burmecians spoke.

 anyway they speak that to each other. she taught herself the main ivalician tongue and bugged him to learn it too. she doesnt speak with an accent but he’s lazy and old so he has a heavy one. also she speaks rozarrian and landisian and galtaean (what i headcanon as english i guess. she learned a lot of languages by books and travel and when she does meet other humes she loves to talk to them to test out her skills. she is very clever like that. languages come easily to her.

hmmm so anyway

reddas took over balfonheim 2 years pre-game. and there was an assassination attempt to get rid of him as he tried to make all these changes in balfonheim since he cleaned  a lot of it up. well, there was an attempt at an attempt for murder, at least.

 y’see, kipcha and frately were in balfonheim on a hunt and it was their first visit there. kipcha overheard two men talking in a foreign language no one could speak while in a bar, and understood they were trying to plot against reddas. she didnt know who reddas was but she’s literally so catty and didnt like how they looked at her so she snitched. basically she saved reddas’ life cuz it ended up being a huge plot to kill him. 

from then on kipcha got on reddas’ good side but was labeled a snitch by others. she doesn’t really care tho, but sometimes it grates her. lots of people call frately a rat bc of how he looks as a burmecian, and because of him partnering with kipcha to snitch, but i dont think the namecallers understand how tall he is cuz when he stands up from his barstool he is literally like almost seven feet tall he is so tall dude. 

kipcha is average like 5′6″ or something but frately is gigantic. he used to give her piggyback rides and jump around when she was a kid and she squealed in delight but he calls her too fat now (she isnt, but he teases her). kipcha is very sassy, outgoing, and mislabeled as “confident” when really she has no concept of how to act in public since she is never around people so she’s generally just a loud weirdo. she carries her dog around in her arms and ppl are like “omg is ur dog ok” and shes like “he’s fine i just like carrying him around like a baby” . she has a bird, a falcon named [redacted (im honestly so embarrassed by a lot of this)], she flies around sometimes and brings kipcha things like dead rats and random rings. kip has a bohemian sort of style about her and wears a bunch of shit the bird finds. 

because kipcha can speak a lot of languages she was then hired by al-cid to do some spying for something or other, shortly after the reddas stint, as word got out about her. she did the job, and got the info back to al-cid,  but she got caught and imprisoned. frately broke her out but it took over a year to figure it out. i also headcanon that the bird steals al-cid’s glasses in xii timeline during his brief stint in balfonheim. 

kipcha and frately are coined “fire ‘n ice” by most folks who are fond of them. kipcha is very hotheaded and loud. she is also a redhead. frately being of pallor skin and white hair and quiet temperament is therefore ice. whenever frately is embarrassed by her she likes to remind him he raised her and he likes to respond “i had nothing to do with this” in a very french accent.

 so reddas hasn’t seen her for over a year and a half before she shows up in the xii-timeline, broken out of prison, growing her hair out cuz they buzzed it off, and demanding money from al-cid bc he never paid her, but in his defense she was in prison. 

kip and frate show up late in-game and that’s the first time reddas sees her since she saved him, essentially i. sort of maybe ship her with reddas? but more like a “they totally banged once and she’s obviously nuts about him and clambers on his back and curls his sideburns around her finger while whispering in french in his ear” she’s honestly hilarious and frately facepalms a lot. frately and fran hang out. kipcha goes on a hunt with vaan and penelo and they becomes bff’s. hmmm. yeah anyway they show up late in-game to help with a hunt or an esper or like, they need kipcha and frately’s translating knowledge for something or other. idk kipcha is just happy to be out of prison and eating oysters and petting her dog. by the time she shows up in balfonheim ingame she’s probably been out of prison for a few months. oh no this got so long im sorry i think abt them every day they live in my head

[chimericarchitect]

kurvakiousSexekutionoir 2

-- kurvakiousSexekutionoir [KS] began trolling talentedSalad [TS] at 17:43 --

[05:43] KS: Hey! hoow are yoou?

[05:43] TS: Hey! Long time no see. :P

[05:43] TS: I'm good.

[05:44] TS: Whaddup?

[05:44] KS: I was woondering.

[05:44] KS: yoour having this party thing

[05:44] KS: hoow are peoople getting there? me foor example

[05:45] TS: Well, in your case I will be picking you up!

[05:45] TS: So there's nothing for you to worry about

[05:45] KS: .... where are yoou having it if we have too avooid yoour guardian?

[05:46] TS: Mmmm, not my hive!

[05:46] TS: I got a place though

[05:46] KS: which means were goonna use that weird jumpy thing...

[05:46] KS: doosnet it

[05:47] TS: You mean a transpotalizer...?

[05:47] KS: witchcraft

[05:47] TS: (eyeroll.exe)

[05:47] KS: technoocraft?

[05:47] KS: freaking freaky either way

[05:48] KS: but i doo it foor yoou kiwi

[05:48] KS: um alsoo

[05:48] KS: loots oof peoople?

[05:48] TS: Not a lot! ONly 9 so far.

[05:49] KS: 9?!!!

[05:49] KS: thats soo many...

[05:49] TS: The Halloween one I went to had 30 people ;D

[05:49] KS: .... ooh goog

[05:49] KS: Thats...

[05:50] KS: were there aloot oof scary peoople their?

[05:50] KS: there

[05:50] TS: I dunno! They didn't seem scary to me.

[05:50] KS: Yes but yoou a very sweet little shut in...

[05:50] KS: oor ex shut in?

[05:50] TS: Hey!

[05:51] TS: Look, no one was scary! They were all very nice.

[05:51] KS: then why was the party soome hoow saved by oone persoon oonly being there foor a few minutes?

[05:52] TS: Mmm, Probably because that person doesn't get along with the host?

[05:52] TS: Can't say!

[05:53] KS: *whine* soo whoo rsvped?

[05:53] TS: Hang on, lemme look

[05:53] KS: kay

[05:55] TS: 1. subborealcetacean 2. violetbard 3. kurvakioussexekutionoir 4. aesthetic-virtuoso 5. ad1ostoreador 6. wa2p 7. adeysia 8. feralvulpecula 9. solbee-captor

[05:55] TS: These are they

[05:56] KS: hoow many oof these are highbloooods? just oout oof curioousity

[05:57] TS: How high of a blood do they need to be in order to be highblood?

[05:57] KS: aboove teal

[05:58] TS: Not including teal?

[05:58] TS: Just one!

[05:58] KS: ah... im guessin viooletbard is... yeah

[05:59] KS: ooh geez oone sec. mooms chewing oon a roock

[05:59] TS: Your lusus is weird

[06:00] TS: You are what you eat, so she must be dumb as a rock

[06:00] KS: never mind it was a very red peice oof wooood.

[06:00] KS: hey!

[06:00] KS: shes smarter than yoou'

[06:00] KS: guess thats noot saying much :p

[06:00] TS: Prove it :P

[06:01] TS: You called a transportalizer witchcraft

[06:02] KS: looook, i knoow their coommoon. but anything that takes my parts disoolves them and refoorms them is fucking scary

[06:02] KS: what if it gets turned ooff half way!

[06:03] TS: Thennnnn

[06:03] TS: You die?

[06:03] TS: I don't know

[06:03] TS: Never happened! :D

[06:03] KS: .... Yoou die shoould noot be acoompenied by smiley face

[06:03] TS: Hehehe~

[06:04] TS: Well, I don't think it dissolves you anyway

[06:04] TS: That's a misconception

[06:04] KS: what is it then?

[06:04] KS: what dooes it doo?

[06:04] TS: Smoosh!

[06:05] TS: Space!

[06:05] TS: :D

[06:05] KS: NOONE OOF THIS IS A ANSWERRRRRRRRR

[06:05] KS: hndfjsdhfksdi im goonna dieeee

[06:05] TS: Eventually! ^_^

[06:05] KS: im goonna lick yoou...

[06:06] TS: Gross

[06:06] KS: right in the ear

[06:06] TS: Ew

[06:06] KS: really wet

[06:07] TS: UR Disgustin'

[06:07] KS: yoour a troollgladite

[06:08] KS: Are yoou ignooring my amazing wit

[06:10] TS: Yeah, "amazing" is one way to describe that

[06:10] TS: But I wasn't ignoring you

[06:10] TS: I was working on my Uni-Stitch

[06:11] KS: yoour croochet?

[06:13] TS: Hehe, yeah, let's go with that ;D

[06:13] TS: What're you up to?

[06:13] KS: ... what else coould that mean?

[06:13] KS: ooh um

[06:13] KS: i am attmpting too make my cloothes foor the party

[06:14] TS: :O

[06:14] TS: D'you want some help?

[06:14] TS: What're you going to wear? It's not a costume party

[06:15] KS: ive goot it moostly. im just having a hanioous time with the design

[06:15] KS: i knoow but i alsoo doont want too wear my ragged cloothes ya knoow?

[06:15] TS: :T

[06:16] TS: You sure you don't want me to make/get you something?

[06:16] KS: woorried ill embarass yoou?~

[06:18] TS: Nope!

[06:18] KS: truth is im recycling an oold thing i made foorever agoo.

[06:19] TS: Mmm? :3

[06:19] KS: yooull see ;)

[06:19] TS: Okay. So long as you are comfortable, that it what matters

[06:20] KS: ooh theres gooing too be aloot oof peoople.

[06:20] KS: im gooing too be freaking oout inside

[06:20] KS: ooutside ill be hoot as fuck

[06:21] KS: this isnt foormal is it?

[06:21] TS: Not formal, no.

[06:21] TS: Casual is fine.

[06:22] KS: ookay cooool

[06:22] TS: Are you excited?

[06:23] KS: i am alsoo scared but yea

[06:23] KS: but i have oone questioon foor yoou.

[06:23] KS: this is a human hoolliday oor soo has been said.

[06:23] KS: whats a human

[06:23] TS: Ohhh myyy GOOOODDDD

[06:23] TS: This again??

[06:24] TS: They

[06:24] TS: Are

[06:24] TS: Aliens

[06:24] TS: Pinky softy aliens

[06:24] KS: what doo yoou mean again?!

[06:24] KS: alsoo fucking ew what?

[06:24] TS: :O

[06:24] TS: Wait

[06:24] TS: I thought we talked about this?

[06:25] KS: ... i yoou "multiverseing" again?

[06:25] KS: are

[06:25] KS: noot i

[06:25] KS: wtf

[06:26] TS: I am always multiverse-ing!

[06:26] TS: You are too, now

[06:26] KS: ... i.. did i coonsent too this

[06:26] TS: Yep!

[06:26] TS: You're welcome

[06:27] KS: ... that soounds like yoou coonsented foor my kiwi

[06:28] TS: No way! You totally agreed.

[06:28] TS: You're in it now

[06:28] TS: :P

[06:28] KS: mmmmmmmmmmm

[06:28] KS: i knoow

[06:28] KS: soomeoone foolloowed my bloog

[06:28] TS: !! :O

[06:28] TS: Who?

[06:29] KS: succinctlysevered

[06:29] TS: aiylsihbvs'

[06:29] TS: BAD

[06:29] TS: OH

[06:29] TS: D:

[06:30] KS: ???

[06:30] TS: That guy is scary

[06:30] KS: they seemed ookay when we talked foor a sec.

[06:30] KS: but i was awkward soo we havent really talked again

[06:30] TS: He is really

[06:30] TS: REALLY

[06:30] TS: into killing and stuff

[06:30] KS: ....

[06:30] KS: troolls

[06:31] KS: oour whoole race

[06:31] TS: :(

[06:31] KS: sweet little shut in kiwi

[06:31] TS: >:(

[06:31] TS: It grew eyebrows just for you

[06:31] KS: such a precioous innoocent sooul

[06:32] KS: yoour gooing too be eaten alive

[06:32] KS: and noot in the fun way...

[06:33] TS: D:<

[06:33] TS: Kitty

[06:33] TS: STFU

[06:33] KS: oohhh sensitive

[06:33] TS: I can be tough

[06:33] TS: I'm trying

[06:33] KS: awwwwwwwwww

[06:34] KS: kiwi

[06:34] KS: im soorry yoour just too cute

[06:34] KS: like a baby meoowbeast trying too attack a dragoon

[06:34] TS: I will block you

[06:34] KS: noooooooooooooooooooooo

[06:34] KS: loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[06:34] KS: iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ccccccccccccaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[06:35] KS: dddddddddddddddddoooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnttttttttttttttttt leav me

[06:35] TS: stahp

[06:35] TS: garbage words

[06:35] TS: ew

[06:35] TS: I had to read this

[06:35] TS: SEVERAL times

[06:35] TS: in order to understand you

[06:35] KS: *whine*

[06:35] TS: (Squint)

[06:36] KS: doont bloock me

[06:36] KS: doont leave meh

[06:36] TS: Why are you being dumb

[06:36] TS: it was a joke kitty

[06:37] KS: mir

[06:38] KS: kiwi why doo yoou doo this too me

[06:38] TS: Do what?? Make jokes?

[06:38] TS: Now who's sensitive, you weenie?

[06:38] KS: blugh

[06:38] KS: shuddup

[06:38] KS: i am noot

[06:38] KS: hT{OO:GReyfjtmsrga

[06:38] KS: FYGUNLE

[06:39] KS: ,VKJOOUEFY8Wgab

[06:39] TS: (SquintX2 Combo)

[06:39] KS: cvgfkvm.

[06:39] TS: stop

[06:39] KS: moom was oon the keybooard again

[06:39] TS: Your lusus is dumb

[06:39] TS: XP

[06:39] KS: she likes yoou thoough

[06:39] TS: XPPPP

[06:39] KS: did the spit ever coome oout oof yoour shirt froom when she licked yoou?

[06:40] TS: I had to destroy that shirt!

[06:41] KS: why?

[06:41] KS: it was just spit.

[06:41] KS: and a little blooood..

[06:42] KS: ookay maybe there was moore blooood than their shoould usually be

[06:42] TS: YEAH

[06:42] TS: I had to destroy the evidence before Anista saw

[06:42] TS: Couldn't risk it

[06:42] KS: ooh... yeah thats fair....

[06:46] TS: So what're you doing?

[06:46] KS: well i just sewed part oof my finger too my dress... soo i seam ripping.

[06:46] KS: yoou?

[06:47] TS: You sewed your finger onto your dress? How??

[06:48] KS: stoopped paying attentioon and went throough the calloouse

[06:49] TS: Are you bleeding on your new clothes?

[06:50] KS: noope

[06:50] KS: im gooood doont woorry

[06:50] KS: cant see it anyway. im wearing black

[06:51] TS: Mm.

[06:52] KS: soo what will yoou wear? goobblebeast coostume?

[06:58] TS: No way! The event is CASUAL

[06:58] TS: I will wear something CASUAL

[06:58] TS: Not a COSTUME

[06:58] KS: ......

[06:58] KS: yoour a meme i doont belive yoou woont be extra

[06:58] TS: Holy shit

[06:58] TS: Called THE FUCK out

[06:59] TS: by my own friend no less

[06:59] TS: You absolute monster

[06:59] KS: if its private i think its just calling hoooofbeast shit?

[07:00] TS: >:O

[07:00] TS: I guess??

[07:01] TS: Well, either way, I am dressing CASUALLY

[07:01] KS: alright.

[07:01] KS: its gooing too be oon yoour shirt istn it yoou little turd

[07:05] TS: No!

[07:05] TS: I was gonna wear something normal

[07:07] KS: alright fine i relent

[07:10] TS: Good

[07:11] TS: Sorry, I've been pretty busy

[07:11] KS: its all gooood

[07:11] KS: whats wroong?

[07:11] TS: Nothing is wrong!

[07:11] TS: Not right now, anyway

[07:11] KS: yoou sure

[07:12] TS: Yep!

[07:12] TS: Just checking for cracks

[07:12] TS: Fixin' the place up

[07:12] KS: .... croochet doosnt crack...

[07:12] TS: :?

[07:12] TS: Sure it does?

[07:12] KS: earlier yoou said yoou were dooing croochet

[07:12] TS: :D

[07:12] KS: NOOOOOOOOOO

[07:12] KS: It disnt

[07:13] KS: what are yoou danceing arooung yoou degenerate lightning bug

[07:13] TS: Hehe! You're funny. ^_^

[07:13] TS: ZZip! ZZap

[07:13] TS: Lightning!

[07:14] TS: Don't worry about it. :P

[07:14] KS: fine....

[07:16] KS: hey

[07:16] KS: soo ive been looooking aroound gaming sites

[07:16] KS: any yoou coould suggest too me?

[07:17] TS: Sure!

[07:17] TS: I know a Karkat who plays the Sims

[07:17] TS: He enjoys it!

[07:17] TS: I could ask for a copy

[07:17] KS: sims?

[07:17] KS: and what doo yoou mean a karkat

[07:18] KS: ... theres moore than oone

[07:18] KS: multiverse

[07:18] KS: ooh good theres moore than oone

[07:18] KS: is there anoother me?

[07:18] KS: oof coouse theres anoother ma

[07:18] KS: hooly shit

[07:19] TS: I haven't met another you yet, if it's any consolation

[07:19] KS: doo yoou think there are peoople whoo goo betweaan these universes? noot just with a weird techmagic server

[07:19] KS: but like

[07:19] KS: peoople

[07:21] KS: what if thats what all these peoople can doo

[07:21] KS: am i the oonly oone whoo cant

[07:21] KS: am i really that fereal

[07:21] KS: am i crazy????!!!!

[07:24] TS: You are feral and crazy! :P

[07:24] TS: jk

[07:24] TS: But

[07:24] TS: I had to travel across the multiverse to go to that party you know

[07:24] KS: ooh my good transpoortalizers are actual fucking witchcraft

[07:29] TS: Well

[07:29] TS: Not all of them

[07:29] KS: ....

[07:29] KS: is this soome hoow linked with yoour brain poowers

[07:32] TS: My brain powers? Really?

[07:32] TS: A lot of lowbloods are psychic!

[07:32] KS: yes but i mean yoou seem too be... extra...

[07:32] KS: i dunnoo

[07:33] TS: :?

[07:33] KS: yoou seem really stroon coompared too oothers ive knoown

[07:34] TS: Oh. Really? :3

[07:34] TS: I'm flattered.

[07:34] TS: What makes you think so?

[07:34] KS: pfff oone persoon i used too knoow coouldnt lift a spoooon. yoou fly

[07:34] TS: Ohhh

[07:35] TS: Well, I'm not REALLY strong

[07:35] TS: But I'm decent!

[07:35] KS: impressive.

[07:35] TS: ^_^

[07:41] KS: blugables

[07:43] TS: What?

[07:44] KS: ooh thats the soound oof my incooming death because yoour cute as fuck

[07:50] TS: Why must you do this?

[07:50] TS: Oh hey

[07:50] TS: I just remembered

[07:50] TS: I met someone

[07:58] KS: what?!

[07:58] KS: wait

[07:58] KS: like

[07:58] KS: MET?????!!!

[07:58] TS: Face to face? Uhhh, yeah?

[07:58] TS: I went to a party!

[07:58] TS: But if you mean did I MEET someone...

[07:58] TS: ;)

[07:58] KS: quadrents bitch doo yoou have them

[07:58] TS: I do! :D

[07:59] KS: EEEEE WHOO YOOU BEST GIVE ME DETAILS

[07:59] TS: Haha

[07:59] TS: His name is Tulket

[07:59] TS: What do you wanna know?

[07:59] KS: tulket...

[07:59] KS: tulllket

[07:59] KS: Crestaciean?

[08:00] KS: the guy whoos handle soounds like shellfish?

[08:01] TS: !!!

[08:02] TS: subborealcetacean you brute

[08:02] KS: what even dooes that mean

[08:02] TS: LOOK IT UP

[08:02] TS: You language bound hooligan

[08:02] KS: nyaw looookit yoou

[08:02] KS: getting all prootective

[08:02] KS: cute~

[08:03] TS: Can it you trout >///<

[08:03] KS: canned troout? this reminds me

[08:03] KS: isnt he a fishy?

[08:03] KS: kiwi and guppy?

[08:03] KS: sitting in a tree?

[08:03] KS: k

[08:03] KS: i

[08:03] KS: s

[08:03] KS: s

[08:03] KS: i

[08:03] KS: n

[08:03] KS: g

[08:04] KS: ?

[08:05] KS: be right baclk ookay?

[08:12] TS: You are GARBAGE

[08:12] TS: XPPP

-- kurvakiousSexekutionoir [KS] is now an idle chum! --

-- kurvakiousSexekutionoir [KS] is now an idle chum! --

[08:31] KS: yes i knoow but still

[08:31] KS: alsoo after reaading anything and everything i coould oon his pages

[08:31] KS: ...

[08:32] KS: ill be woorried but yoou are ookay with him i think.

[08:32] KS: just knoow

[08:32] KS: if he ever hurts yoou, i will find him.

[08:32] KS: i will capture him

[08:32] KS: and i will make sure my lusus eats him in teeny tiny peices

[08:32] TS: Oh, you're back. Thanks for making this unpleasant. >:T

[08:33] KS: ~ just looooking oout foor my girl

[08:33] KS: anyway im super happy foor yoou

[08:33] KS: yoou deserve happieness

[08:34] TS: XPP

[08:34] TS: What were you doing, anyway?

[08:34] KS: ...

[08:35] KS: i may have goone and cyber staled him too make sure he wasnt a serial killer oor cannabal oor anything woorriesoome

[08:35] TS: O_O

[08:35] TS: Creepy

[08:35] KS: what?

[08:35] KS: i care aboout yoou

[08:36] TS: Okay, but Tulket is a good person!

[08:36] TS: You coulda asked me

[08:36] TS: OR

[08:36] TS: You could talk to him yourself!

[08:37] KS: ... i think ill wait oon that

[08:37] KS: but yoou shoould tootaly tell me aboout hi,

[08:37] KS: 'and yoou guys as a cooupel

[08:37] KS: wait

[08:37] KS: dooes he knoow aboout yoour blooood?

[08:37] KS: and if soo hoow did he find oout

[08:37] KS: was it inaproopriate?

[08:38] TS: >:O

[08:38] TS: You lewd thing!

[08:38] TS: YES

[08:38] TS: He knows about my blood color

[08:38] TS: HOWEVER

[08:38] TS: I don't think he gets it

[08:38] TS: He's a teal seadweller

[08:39] KS: thats deffinately oodd foor sure

[08:39] KS: still doosnt tell me weeather oor noot yoouve pailed

[08:39] TS: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[08:39] TS: NO

[08:40] TS: GODDAMNIT KITTY

[08:40] TS: I haven't known him that long!

[08:40] TS: D:<

[08:40] TS: What if I said we did, huh? Then what??

[08:40] KS: awww soo embarassed~ i bet if yoour emoojis were accurate im sure theyed have little lines

[08:41] KS: then id be impressed. maybe. id proobably ask hoow gooood he was

[08:41] TS: (SQUINT)

[08:42] KS: what? im curioous

[08:43] KS: hiding froom scoociety and coonstantly mooving doosnt give aloot oof "scoocial" time

[08:45] TS: (((S Q U I N T)))

[08:45] TS: Look

[08:45] TS: I gotta go

[08:45] TS: I'll talk to you later

[08:45] KS: ooh..

[08:45] KS: ookay

[08:45] KS: i wast trying too make yoou actually mad. soorry broo.

[08:45] KS: talk too ya later ookay?

[08:46] TS: Yep!

[boarix]

Wraith in the Ruins: A Fallout 4 Story Part X

Kinship

Trigger Warnings: Canon violence/language/gun, drug & alcohol use. Suicidal thoughts. Threat of drowning. Suggestive/mature content.

Bloody Mess warning!

Please enjoy!

 The Gunners had made their final, ultimate mistakes. Reports, over Radio Freedom, came in announcing the abduction of settlers from Somerville Place and the members of the provisioner caravan from the Murkwater/Jamaica Plain route. Wraith was deeply concerned when she was informed that there, oddly enough, were no demands for ransom. Four Minutemen had lost their lives during the simultaneous attacks.

Wraith was done.

With the threat of snow looming, she organized a full assault/rescue mission and mustered her troops. In addition to the standard Minutemen soldiers there were 3 full units of the 1st Commonwealth Heavy Dragoons as well as the Gae Bulg Hounds. Not wanting to risk attacks on the rest of her settlements, Wraith had accepted offers from both Piper and Hancock to borrow security from their respective cities. Provisioner caravans were temporarily halted as well.

“If you release your captives now and surrender peacefully, I will personally grantee your safety…” Resplendent in the Minutemen General’s uniform, a figure stood on a raised platform while speaking into a microphone.  Flanked by Danse and two other Dragoons, with Hancock on the right and MacCready on the left, the person in the uniform was actually Curie. Although not as tall, there was enough of a resemblance to fool most people at a distance. As such, Curie had agreed to masquerade as Wraith and pantomime a prerecorded message of mercy.

Preston had been less than excited about being told to remain at the Castle. He had given her a lecture, reminiscent of Deacon’s, about a general fighting on the front line. Wraith had been adamant however, saying this was something she must do herself. Not wanting to potentially lose the two highest ranking Minutemen officers, he was left to literally man the fort.

 Wraith and Deacon moved through the plaza’s corridors like liquid shadow. Their intent was to locate and secure all hostages, after which, Wraith had ordered the systematic removal of all remaining combatants by “ANY means necessary.” Deacon led the way, having infiltrated the facility before. They had several Stealth Boys between them and were hoping to extract the settlers without any confrontations.

Wraith had low expectations of any organized response from the Gunners. Captain Wes was long dead, having been killed by raider tribal leaders attempting to gain the top position in the hierarchy. The distraction outside was clearly working and she had to wonder if she and Deacon couldn’t simply stroll down the hallways like they belonged there. She wasn’t going to try it though.

Her stomach in knots over the condition of her people, Wraith was having trouble not killing Gunner-raiders as the duo passed them. Chanting a calming mantra over and over in her head, she merged from one shadow to the next.

Once on the basement level, Deacon indicated a door and Wraith picked the lock with practiced ease. Her stomach sank as soon as she opened it however, when the sickly sweet smell of death hit her nose.

Only 2 people of the 15 reported missing were still alive and each was missing a limb.

She surmised that the victims had been cannibalized, limbs removed systematically to avoid rotting. The butcher obviously wasn’t very good and it seemed, from the state of the bodies, many had died almost immediately. Despite the cool temperature of the basement the smell of decay was almost overwhelming. With the dead and rotting left among the living, Wraith had to wonder if the Gunners weren’t eating the rotten meat as well.

“Deacon… I want you to take these two out…” Wraith’s jaw bulged as she spoke between clenched teeth, her hands claw-like as she flexed them, “take them up and out… I’m going to… Those bastards are going to DIE for this!”

“You should come with me boss, help me carry ‘em.”

“I can still walk and I’ll help you with Ben!” The survivors clearly liked the idea of Wraith ripping the life from their abusers and both nodded enthusiastically despite Deacon’s dirty looks.

Wraith set her pack on the ground and pulled on the hood of her armored Marine wetsuit.  Her voice came out as a muffled, menacing growl, “Up and out Deacon.” She disappeared as she turned.

“It’s highly irresponsible, leaving them with just me! Wraith?! God damn it!”

“Don’t worry about her; she’s General Wraith the Undying, right?”

With his back to them, the survivors couldn’t see the effort it took to wipe the panic from his face, “Sure guy, ‘Undying’, right…” Deacon stooped to retrieve her kit and after a brief tutorial on the Stealth Boys, the trio began their exodus.

As they slowly moved through the building, they could hear anguished screams that would end as suddenly as they began. Occasional explosions could be heard as well, shaking the foundation and causing a near constant rainfall of debris. Deacon, naturally assuming the use of grenades and other incendiaries, couldn’t decide if they were being used against or by Wraith. In any case, she wasn’t even bothering to try and be quiet. Whether it was a tactical choice, or she had gone full berserker, he couldn’t be sure.

Once outside, Deacon made sure he headed to the Gae Bulg group, as he really didn’t want to explain to Hancock why Wraith wasn’t with him. As soon as the field medics had the survivors, he went straight to Strong and Cait, tossing Wraith’s pack to the young woman, “Radio-in that some of the hostages are clear but I’m going back in for more. Hey Strong, ‘ol buddy ‘ol pal, you wanna come with?”

“STRONG NOT PUNY HUMAN PAL!”

“Yeah, that’s great but your alpha really wants you inside, so…”

Unexpectedly, the super mutant gave a furtive glance at Cait, “ALPHA WANTS STRONG TO COME SMASH? NO MORE SNEAKY-SNEAKY?”

“Oy, Strong, jus shift yerself.” Cait gave Deacon a hard look, recognizing the pack and doing the mental math, “Seems things have gone tits-up.”

“No! Not at all, just want to make sure…” He was interrupted by a particularly loud explosion.

“What in the goddamn is GOING ON?! Cait, has Wraith reported in back there?” Hancock’s irritated voice crackled from the walkie-talkie on Cait’s saddle.

Motioning for Strong to follow, Deacon literally ran away. Fighting alongside a super mutant, in a building full of explosions, while looking for a raging berserker, seemed safer.

It didn’t take long to find her: Wraith’s path of blood and body parts reminded Deacon of a macabre Freedom Trail. Strong ran ahead, laughing manically, to join in on the group she was currently engaged with.

Having tossed aside a large Gunner as if he had been a ball, another thinking she’d be off guard, attempted to bowl her over. Grabbing him by his arms she fell backward, hooking her foot into his midsection and flipping him up over her head. Using their shared momentum, she completed her backward roll to straddle her opponent and punched him with enough force his head appeared to pop like a balloon.

Her previously discarded opponent foolishly re-engaged her, charging in with a wicked-looking combat knife. Seeming to fall away from him, she brought her left leg up, her heel connecting with his hand and sending the knife flying. Now standing, she easily caught his right hook and ripped his arm off with an almost imperceptible effort. Swinging the limb back around, she clubbed him upside his head, his neck breaking with an audible crack.

Strong actually clapped for that one.    

Standing back, Deacon couldn’t take his eyes off of her face, which had somehow remained gore free. Somewhere along the way she had either ripped off her hood or it had been lost in a struggle and the mad light in her green eyes shone with spell-binding intensity. She moved with such terrible, reckless power, it reminded him of the ocean, raging in a storm.

She was terrifying. She was beautiful.

She isn’t yours. You can’t have her. She doesn’t want you, never did. It could never have worked.

Lie. Lie. Lie.

The spell was broken when a section of celling collapsed. Luckily, Strong saw it coming and was able to partially shield her.

Deacon ran to her side, holding his hands up to ward her off as she spun on him. “Whoa! It’s okay, it’s Deacon. It’s time to go now boss, I think the building lost!” Her eyes still filled with madness, she stepped around him to continue her search for enemies. When he moved to try and block her path, she lashed out at him. It scared him. Badly. “Wraith! Snap out of it!”

“PUNY HUMAN CAN NOT STOP ALPHA.”

“Clearly…” Following behind her he racked his brain, there had to be something…

Oh… this is a bad idea…

“Pippa…” He swallowed hard when she stopped, “Pippa, you have to stop. You’re going to get killed if you stay in here. The building is coming down!”

Spinning, she practically flew at him while screaming, “GHAAAAA! I HATE, HATE, HATE, THAT NAME!” The floor collapsed under them just as she barreled into him.

  Coming to, Deacon was aware that the weight on top of him wasn’t hard stone but a warm human body. Wraith’s warm, firm but somehow still soft, body.

Oh no. Oh no. Ohhhhhh nooooooo.

“Deacon, are you awake?”

“No.”

“Ha ha. Are you hurt?”

“Just my pride, ego and head and my back and my left elbow and my lip…”

Don’t freak out. Don’t freak out. She can touch you like this, it’s okay.

“I think your lip is from my forehead. Hey, I’m sorry I can’t get up. We are kinda pinned together here…”

“It’s okay. Everything is okay. I’m okay. Are you oaky?”

Don’t freak out. Do not freak out! Donotfreakoutrightnow…

“Wow, Deacon… you… you’re really close to my face right now…”

“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that. How’s my breath?”

“It’s not bad. Not bad.” Understandingly uncomfortable, she began to try and rearrange her limbs, and ended up with one of her legs sliding between his. Turning her head she tucked it into the nape of his neck.

Nope. Nope. Nopenopenopenopenope…

“Is this okay?” Her breath against his ear made him shudder, “You’re shaking! Oh, I’m so sorry Deacon. I know you don’t like to be touched! Tell me what I can do!”

Kiss me.

“Just, please stop talking, you’re tickling my ear.” She continued to move; sliding her body along his in her attempt to separate them. “Wraith, if you keep wiggling around on top of me there is going to be a very obvious… male response that we both might be embarrassed about later.” He had wrapped his arms around her to stop her movement and was now too self-conscious to let her go.

“I’m sorry!”

Deacon was terrified of the silence that followed.

I can’t be here like this with her! I can’t! Her goddamn wetsuit! I can feel her she’slikeasecondskini’mnotgonna…

“Deacon, you’re breathing really hard and your heart is going a million miles an hour! Don’t tell me you’re claustrophobic too? I’m sure they’ll be able to dig us out…”

Got to get her to talk about something! I can’t trust myself right now…

“It’s awful dark in here boss; why don’t you turn on your light?”

“Um… I don’t seem to have my Pip-Boy anymore. I… I think I threw it… at someone.”

“Why do you hate being called ‘Pippa’ so much?” He could feel her stiffen.

“Why… what…” Figuring that he was trying to ward off panic, Wraith indulged him, “Pimple. The kids at school called me ‘Pimple’.”

“Did you have pimples?” He could feel her shrug.

That’s the stupidest, fucking, stupidassholemoron…

“Of course, everyone did. Everyone does. I have some right now but when you’re a twelve-year-old…” She relaxed, laying her cheek against his chest.

“Take it back.”

“What do you mean? Take what back?”

This is good. This is good. I’m okay…

“You liked that nickname before the mean kids, right? And call me crazy, but it’s literally been over two hundred years… so…”

“I suppose I am being childish… But, I’ve already warned people away from it and everyone knows me as ‘Wraith’ anyway. Who’s left to call me that? Bear calls me ‘Wolf’; Hancock calls me ‘sunshine’ or ‘sister’. You and Mac call me ‘boss’…”

“The settlers call you ‘Wraith the Undying’.”

“Ugh, no…”

“I could call you Pippa and you could see how you like hearing it.”

What the hell are you doing?! You idiot!

She smiled in the dark, nuzzling his chest, “That’s sweet but, no. Pippa died a long time ago and you’re right; two hundred years is a long time to hold onto something so silly, so childish.”

Deacon’s voice was soft, “But it didn’t feel like two hundred years.”

“No, it didn’t.” The emotional weight in her voice was staggering, “It was like a slow blink…” She cleared her throat, “I’m sure the others are digging us out right now. Only a matter of time, right? I hope Strong is okay.”

“You… really like that big green monster, don’t you?” He was grasping at straws now.

She tried to see his face, to see if he was smiling, but the darkness was total, “He’s my big green monster and I love him very much, thank you.” His breathing picked back up when she stopped talking so she elaborated to try and calm him down, “And I don’t know if you’ve noticed but he has started to mellow a little. Super mutants are very social after all and I don’t think I was able to pay him the attention that he needed. He certainly didn’t want to pal around with random humans. The Hounds give him that feeling of… unity? Kinship? I don’t know. He really loves those dogs though!”

“I think he might have a thing for Cait too.”

“You’re kidding? Oh dish! What did you see?”

“He’s throwing eyes at her like a wild man!”

Wraith chuckled, not sure how much Deacon had exaggerated a simple glance but she liked the idea that Strong could have a bond with another human. Returning her cheek to his chest she closed her eyes and tried to control her own breathing. Deacon wasn’t the only one who was on the verge of panic. “I’m sorry about going… bonkers.”

“What’s it like?”

Her voice was a low whisper, “You know what it’s like. You might know better than anyone.”

“You’re brain bursts into flame and you can’t hear anything but… feedback. If you’re lucky, you don’t remember what you’ve done…”

“You’re lucky if you don’t hurt the people you care about. Christ, Deacon I’m so sorry. I thought…” She sniffled as the tears started, “that I was doing… getting, better.” She buried her face into his chest, her voice a muffled sob, “Those poor people… I told them I would protect them. I failed them so miserably. I’m such a fucking disaster!”

Deacon’s laughter made her start in alarm. It was rare to hear him truly laugh and he gripped her tightly to him in what might have been their first real hug, “You’re a disaster?! Holy shit, join the fucking club!” He coughed, choking in his mirth, “You have had your moments, that’s for sure but the rest of us are the ‘Pantheon of Flaming-Disaster’. Think of all the synths and settlers who have survived because of everything you’ve done, everything you’ve sacrificed. If it wasn’t for you, we flaming wrecks of the Commonwealth would have burned ourselves to ash by now. You’re our favorite little super nova. The trick is to make sure we aren’t standing in your way when you blow.”

Wraith sniffled as she tried to believe him, “I could have killed you earlier! In fact, I still might have; who knows if they’ll be able to find us!”

“You keep wiping your snot on me and I’ll happily welcome the sweet embrace of death.”

“Oof, I’m serious! I don’t know why you put up with me. In fact, I’m still a little confused on why you are here. This mission had nothing to do with Railroad business.”

“Was that a question? I didn’t hear a question.”

Frustrated by her inability to glare at him she reached a hand up to pat his face, hoping to annoy him, “Why did you volunteer to come with me?”

“YEEEUKY! Keep your bugger hands to yourself!” He tilted his chin in an attempt to ward off her touch, laughing in spite of himself at the sheer ridiculousness of it, “I’m always going to want to help you because… we… we are friends, right?”

And I love you.

“Right.” Filled with new determination she pulled her arms from his, wiped her nose on her sleeve and reached up to touch the debris overhead, “Well, I’m done with my pity party, so let’s get out of here. I’m going to try to crawl over your head, okay?”

“I get a vote?”

She grunted as a response and pulled herself forward over his body. Unable to see and using her arms to both propel herself forward as well as hold herself up, she couldn’t feel ahead and proceeded to bash her head into low-hanging, immovable stone. She dropped heavily on top of Deacon, her breasts directly in his face. “OW!” She lay there for a second, stunned, before inching her way back toward his feet, once again sliding herself with unintentional provocativeness along Deacon’s length.

“Pippa, you are literally killing me right now…”

“Sorry, sorry! Wait… NO! STOP THAT!” To her surprise she was able to scoot herself well past his feet, “I’m going to keep going… oh shoot! I wish I had my pack with me. I’d tie some string to your ankle and pull you along…”

“You had string in your pack? Wait, never mind, that’s a stupid question. I think I can flip over now and follow you anyway. Let’s hope that there’s someplace to go.”

As they pushed themselves along, the only sounds were their clothing scraping along the uneven floor and the occasional grunt of exertion. Deacon hated the near silence. He hated how much he missed her weight on top of him. He hated how badly he wanted to hold her in his arms again. He hated himself for wanting her.

She will never be with you. You don’t deserve her friendship, let alone her love. Besides, she already has two boyfriends…

“Deacon!”

He started guiltily, “AAHHH! What?! Don’t scare me like that!”

“Sorry, it’s just… the floor drops away…” She reached ahead of her toward him, “I want to hold onto your ankles and see if I can touch the next level down.”

“Down? Shouldn’t we be trying to go up?”

“I am trying to go anywhere we can! Gimme yer damn feet!”

Deacon rolled onto his back, letting her hang from him like playground equipment, “I haveta say, this might be one of the weirdest… This actually kinda hurts. Can you reach?”

“Can’t… but it doesn’t feel like the floor is that far away…”

“Don’t you dare let g… WRAITH!” Fear surged through him as she released her grip.

It was much further than she thought.

Luckily, the wall tilted at an angle after about 10 feet and so rather than a dead stop, her initial fall ended in a chaotic tumble. She continued to slide and roll for several seconds before free-falling once again, 20 feet this time, into freezing-cold water. Confused and stunned she swam the wrong way and scrapped her face on the gravel at the bottom of the pool. Swinging her feet beneath her, she thrust upward powerfully. Breaching the surface, she blew like a walrus, gasping for air.

Treading water, Wraith spun herself in a circle. She had fallen into a cavern pool beneath the Plaza in which the narrow shore was illuminated by various types of glowing fungus. Backlit by their soft light, Wraith could make out the unmistakable silhouette of mirelurk nests. Lots and lots of mirelurk nests.

A hundred feet above her, Deacon was surprised with himself: with barley a second thought he pushed off the ledge to share in whatever fate Wraith had met.

You really are an idiot.

The sound of dislodged debris hitting the water proved to be sufficient enough warning for her to move out of the way. His tremendous splash when he hit the pool a second later, echoed throughout the cave. Wraith spun herself in another circle, checking for any sign of movement from shore. She was thankful that his rise to the surface was far more quiet than her own was, but was alarmed by the sound of both their teeth chattering. Pointing wordlessly at the ominous egg mounds, she swam as quietly as possible to a narrow, rocky outcropping with Deacon close behind.

As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Deacon was shocked to see blood flowing freely from Wraith’s nose and brow. Patting himself down he found one of Curie’s special, super stimpaks and tried to pass it to her. She held up her hand and shook her head, thinking to herself that if that was all the medical aid they had, it would be best to wait and see what would happen to them next. She accepted his Gunner bandana however, and wrapped it around her forehead.

They were both freezing. Shaking uncontrollably, Deacon could hardly stand. Walking as softly as possible, he peeked into the nearest mirelurk nest and was relieved to see it empty. Motioning for Wraith to walk in the opposite direction the two made a full circuit to verify they were alone.

Wraith started slapping her arms, “We need a fire ASAP! Please tell me you have your lighter.”

“Llliiighter yesss, sstuff to burn…” He looked around for the standard trash piles that were so common in the Ruins, “Thiss haas got ttto be the tttidiessst hohole-in-the-ground ever!”

They made another circuit, both trying to ignore the fact that there didn’t seem to be an exit. With teeth clacking they made a pile of their meager findings and Deacon set about trying to light it. Wraith watched him fumble for a second before taking over. Her wetsuit had offered her a little more protection than Deacon’s Gunner disguise, and she was able to gain enough stillness to be successful.

“Take off your clothes.”

Deacon’s shaking momentarily stopped from shock, “Excuse me?”

“Your clothes are going to give you hyperthermia regardless of our little teacup trash fire.” So saying she turned her back to him and unzipped her suit.

OH NO! OOOOOOHHHHHHHNONONONONOOOOOO!

“I dddon’t know Pppippa, I’m pretty ssshy...” He knew she was right and would normally be able to keep things in perspective, but after their closeness, he was having a hard time playing indifferent to the prospect of their being naked together, “mighttt pisssssss off those mmmuuummen of yours.” He turned his back to her as she began the process of shedding her wetsuit: there was a lot of wiggling and shimmying going on.

“I’m sorry… nuhhget off… but I’m not going to let a little thing like modesty stand in the way of your survival. I promise I won’t look. Just, put your clothes on those cinder blocks close to the fire and then lay down over here facing it.” She cleared her throat and her voice dropped to a murmur, “We, a-hem, are going to need to share body heat too sooooo…”

“Oh yyyeah, Hhhhancock won’t kikill me for this, I’m suuure.”

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt you. Now quit stalling!”

As soon as she lay down behind him, as soon as flesh met flesh, he started to hyperventilate. Wraith tried to calm him by stroking his arm, but stopped when he literally yelled at her touch. His anguished cry echoed through the cavern and she felt her heart might break in two.

“Deacon, I’m sorry you’re going to have to go through this. I can’t pretend to understand, but I’ll be damned if you die! I know it’s selfish but I can’t lose you! You are my friend and I love you!” Despite his weak struggling, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to her chest, “I’m so sorry I told you to leave; who knows what that did to you. And I know that’s not what this is about but…” She trailed off when he started to sob.

“I can’t. I can’t. I can’t…”

Deacon’s shivering soon stopped and his breathing evened out. Wraith resisted the urge to nuzzle him deciding that it would be inappropriately intimate.

“Boss, we are going to have to get back in the water.” His voice was unnaturally calm, “Have to figure that the mirelurks came in and out that way.”

“Yeah, you’re right. As soon as your clothes are dry, I’ll put my wetsuit back on and see if I can figure out where the exit is. Really missing my Pip-Boy right about now…”

“How long can you hold your breath? On top of the radiation we’ve both been exposed to, we might end up becoming mer-ghouls.”

Wraith was relieved by his attempt at humor, “I can hold my breath for a very long time if I have a second to prepare. As far as the radiation goes… we should just concentrate on getting out of here first and trim the fins off later.” She had a feeling he was aware of her ghoulish nature but didn’t want to have more heart-to-heart time with him while so literally and figuratively exposed.

Finally warm, Deacon wasn’t surprised when Wraith drifted off to sleep; she would have had to be exhausted. Rather than taking the opportunity to escape her clutches he tortured himself by enjoying the feel of her. Her breasts were pressed into his back and her hips and legs were tight against his own as they spooned. It was wonderful and horrible.

You don’t deserve to feel good right now. Why does this feel so good? Why do you get to feel her like this? You shouldn’t be touched. You can’t be. You can’t.

Time passes slowly in the dark, when you are alone with self-deprecation. Deacon’s mind would’ve had him flinging himself back into the water to drown but for the thought that Wraith, who had lost so many, might blame herself and be sad.

The fire soon burned itself out and Wraith woke up soon after. “Oh, I’m sorry I dozed off there. Why don’t you check your cloths, I’m going to get dressed over here…”

“It doesn’t matter if they’re dry, boss. We are out of time.”

“Well at least they’ll be warm…”

After a brief wrestling match with her damp wetsuit, she walked to the water’s edge and almost jumped in but stopped when Deacon called out to her.

“Hey wait, what’s the plan here? You’re not going to last long in that water; not at that temperature. We don’t have any more fire-food, so… strategy?”

“Deacon, almost every one of all my, ‘best-laid plans’ goes to shit. So, yeah, I’m going to swim around in freezing cold water, looking for a dark hole. Then I’m going to come back for you. Then you are going to jump back into the same freezing water that you just recovered from and we are going to try to swim down a dark tunnel for who knows how long, until we reach air, all the while absorbing an unknown dose of radiation. Sound right?”

“Always good to have a plan!” He gave her the finger-gun salute and a huge, fake smile.

“Oh, I just noticed your sunglasses are gone. I’ll get you a new pair… when were safe.”

“Oh, so like, never?”

The water hit her like a thousand needles. Gasping, she swam vigorously, doing laps back and forth across the narrow pool in the hope that she could somehow get used to the temperature. It was all rather fruitless. She returned to the ledge, took several deep slow breaths and disappeared below the surface.

Deacon paced.

Wraith had never been lucky so she knew her first dive wouldn’t yield results. However, it’s hard not to hope when your life is on the line. After a few moments she returned to the surface, took several more deep breaths and tried again.

Deacon paced.

She was under for much longer this time, and Deacon debated jumping in after her. She finally surface and with her teeth clacking together, she sounded remarkably like a mirelurk, “Fffound it! Lllulllett me bbbreath…”

Although Wraith was against it, Deacon insisted they tie themselves together somehow. In the end she relented and he used his bootlaces and old discarded fishing line to create a makeshift rope. She hauled herself out of the water and concentrated on breathing as he tied it around her waist. To her surprise he embraced her, holding her to him so tightly it was painful.

“You are not allowed to die. You do not have my permission.” He pushed her back from him and stared intently into her eyes.

“Gee, I ttthought I was the bbboss around hhhere.” She smiled and clunked foreheads with him, forgetting her injury, “Ow.”

“No mer-ghoul is my boss, no way.”

Tell her. Tell her right now that you love her. Tell her!

But he didn’t.

And then he was in hell.

Dark. Pain. Cold, so fucking cold! Can’t breathe! It burns! Going to die! Going…

After 2 minutes, Wraith felt the line grow taunt and she knew Deacon had lost consciousness and that she was pulling him along. She swam on and on, her lungs burning for want of air. Her brain numb from fear and cold, she sustained only the thought of saving him. Nothing else mattered.

Air, what’s air? Warmth, ha!

20 minutes: that was the longest Wraith had been able to hold her breath. She had done it to impress Hancock.

Hancock.

Mac.

Shaun.

Everyone.

She screamed her defiance inside her head and surged forward with new determination… right out into the light of day. The rays of the sun cut through the water and she swam upward to meet them.

Choking, she managed to haul Deacon’s lifeless body up onto shore. She started CPR immediately while having flashbacks to the courser incident. “I saved you then and I’ll save you now!” Plunging the stimpak into his chest, she hopped the slightly longer needle would reach his heart. She thumped his chest trying to jar him back to life but in her haste she was too forceful and she felt some of his ribs break.

He sat straight up like a jack-in-the-box and threw-up all over her.

 As it happened they had surfaced just downstream from Somerville Place. The settlers there were able to help them and radioed the Minutemen that their general was alive and safe. Wraith assured the settlers that the Gunners Plaza had been raised to the ground and that their friends had been avenged. She was embarrassed by their grim but thankful pledges of reaffirmed loyalty.

  MacCready and Hancock were snoring. Loudly. Rather than being irritated, Wraith smiled happily up at the ceiling. Back in their bedroom in Sanctuary, the three had fallen asleep in a naked pile after some good ‘ol fashioned I-almost-just-died-again lovemaking.

Hancock’s snoring stopped as he was so in tune with Wraith’s breathing that he woke up soon after she did. Wraith giggled when she looked over at him: MacCready’s left hand was almost completely covering the ghoul’s face. He narrowed is eyes briefly in annoyance then sighed as he gently reached up to remove MacCready’s palm from his forehead.

“Boy, he has you wrapped, huh?” Her voice was a low whisper.

“Heh. Yeah, almost from the start.”

“Something that I’ve been wondering; you had mentioned before that Mac takes up the whole bed…”

Hancock pulled himself out from under the other man, gently disentangling himself from limbs and blankets to edge closer to Wraith. He kissed her deeply then leaned back and propped himself up on an elbow, “I knew him for a little bit before you came into the picture. He’d… get drunk and end up in my bed. Never went anywhere, never minded much. It was nice to wake up next to someone that I actually gave a damn about, you feel me?”

Looking into his great, dark eyes she smiled as she cupped his cheek, “Yes I do.” She trailed her hand down to his chest, enjoying the feel of his warm, textured skin.

Hancock thoroughly enjoyed when she touched him like this: almost as if she was petting him. He made a deep appreciative growl, low in his chest, looking at her through half-lidded eyes. He opened them when she stopped and was surprised to see a look of intense pain on her face. It passed almost as soon as he saw it and she pulled her hand away, making it into a fist and staring at it. “Something weighing on ya?”

“Deacon,” She chuckled at his scowl, “I broke his ribs, felt them buckle under my fist.” She dropped her hand to the bed, “I almost killed him, again.”

“Again?” Hancock took her hand in his and brought it to his lips and gently kissed her knuckles, “Seems to me you saved him, again.”

“Yes but, who put him in mortal danger in the first place?”

“Deacon. Deacon put Deacon exactly where Deacon wanted to be.” He gently opened her fist to kiss her palm and fingers, “Besides, Curie’s tender ministrations will set him to rights and he’ll be running around, flapping his yap, in no time at all.”

“He left already!” Feeling aroused, Wraith’s tone was somewhat harsh, “You know it’s really hard to focus with you doing… that.”

“Course, ‘swhy I’m doing it.” Sighing when she pulled her hand away, Hancock’s tone was conciliatory, “You know he just went back to Goodneighbor. He has Amari and that asshole Carrington if he still needs treatin’.”

“He doesn’t have anyone. He’s… alone too much.”

“Once again, Deacon is right where he wants to be.” He moved closer still, arching himself over her and trailing kisses from her forehead down her nose to her mouth. He growled lasciviously when she gave in, opening her mouth to his and then nipping his lip.

“Fuck you, YOU BUBBLY FISH!”

Both Hancock and Wraith’s eyes flashed open at MacCready’s shout. Leaning away from her, Hancock open-palm slapped MacCready’s bare butt, “Way to ruin the fucking moment, ass!”

“What the frick, man?!” Rubbing his reddened rear, MacCready blinked owlishly, “What did I do?!”

“Th’ fuck you deamin’ about, ‘bubbly fish’?”

MacCready’s eyes narrowed at Wraith, “What the heck is he even saying? What chems are you guys on right now?!”

Laughing helplessly, Wraith could barely speak, “I love you guys, so, so much.”

The two men shared a significant look then turned to Wraith, huge smiles on both their faces.

“What? What’s up?”

“That was the first time you said it. The first time you said you loved us.”

“No? Really?” She blushed, “I’m sorry! That’s kinda sad.” She sat up on her knees and looked into MacCready’s cerulean eyes, “I love you Robert Joseph MacCready.” She kissed him passionately while running her left hand up his thigh. She turned to Hancock, reaching to cup his cheek with her right hand, “I love you John Hancock.” The kiss they shared left them both breathless and Wraith decided additional physical evidence of her love was needed.

Much later, Hancock lay on his back with Wraith and MacCready each tucked under an arm and sharing his chest for a pillow. The ghoul chuckled as MacCready was already snoring.

Wraith reached over to gently caress the young man’s sleeping face, “I love you guys.”

“Love you too, sunshine.”

  Thank you for reading! Like what you read? Looking for more? Please see my Wraith in the Ruins master-link in my bio. =^..^=