#“why is the us so fucked up” have you ever tried to get 333 million people to agree on anything

[the-final-sif]

There's a post from someone outside of the US about how people in the US don't put their country down and just put down their state and something about US people being US centric, and part of it has always kind of bothered me because I think that people outside of the US don't really understand how states work for us or why people think their state should be enough. Some of it is being US centric for sure, but I honestly don't think that's the main reason.

It's because the US is a bunch of countries in a trench coat. I've compared it before to the EU, and I really do think that's accurate. It's literally a union of states. Each state has it's own government and laws and we have the federal government too but day to day a lot more of your life comes down to the state laws. Your driver's license, license plate, wage and a lot of employment protect (and enforcement), vast majority of court experiences, etc all go through the state. Moving to different states can mean being subject to wildly different laws, tax rates/methods, and forms of discrimination (ie florida trying to ban queer people while other states are explicitly adding protections for them).

Like, you'll notice that streamers often tend to be clustered in certain states in the US, and a lot of that has to do with certain states not having an income tax. Depending on what state they're registered in, companies can be subject to wildly different laws. Hence why Delaware is so popular for businesses. Bankruptcy law works differently in every state.

Lawyers are licensed to practice by state, and while they can move to different states, it's difficult and depending on their area of law they may be totally out of their field. Even small states like Delaware have totally different laws from a place 15 minutes to the left like New Jersey.

The largest single state by population is California which has nearly 40 million people. That is more than the entire population of Canada. It's roughly on par with Poland. Give or take a million people.

Ohio has about 11 million people, about 1 million more than Sweden. Florida has 22 million, over double Greece's population. New York and Romania both come out to about 19 million each.

Our smallest state by population, Wyoming, which has about 500k people, still has about 200k more people than Iceland.

Fucking Russia literally does not have half the population of the US. It sits at 144 million while we're at 333 million.

To give a sense of landmass/scale, France is the largest EU state by landmass with 630k square km. Texas alone is 695k. Alaska is 1.7 million square km. The US in total is 11.3 million square km. The entire EU has 4.2 million square km.

The US is 1) fucking huge and 2) so much less cohesive than a lot of non-Americans assume.

So why would someone from the US just put down their state? For the same reason that most people from the EU don't write down "Germany in the EU". Your state is where you're actually from, the USA is the weird umbrella you live under.

[uglypastels]

okay getting to the other stuff now that i’ve said my piece about the heart-wrenching cliffhanger you’re going to keep me up at night with lmao

- he was scared of losing her and was just gonna go be sad in his room by himself🥺

- even though he’s a good pirate (can’t believe i’m a pirate apologist now) he’s killed people before but what sits heaviest with him is that he’s hurt her!!! stfu that’s so pure

- as soon as he said to just call him eddie… oh babeyyy i knew shit was abt to go down in a sinful way. but no! poor eddie was blue balled, reader had a terrifying dream, and us (actual) readers were on the edge of our fucking seat

- the crew said they’d miss her!!

- hellfire shot first, right? (i kept getting interrupted trying to read that part so it’s fuzzy to me) WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE THE RED TAIL SANK I NEED THIS BACKSTORY OH MY GOD

CAN WE TALK ABT THE SMUT JFC. cause you rly fucking delivered on that

- ‘Really? The princess had thought of me, a filthy pirate?’ ‘I’m not a princess.’ You rolled your eyes playfully. ‘Out of all the things to dispute, you argue my words of affection?’

- ^fucking swooning over these lines

- ‘So you can be good for me.’

- ^this one too

- him admitting he lost his control due to jealousy!!! idec if it’s toxic (only cause this isn’t real life) jealous eddie is so hot

- as a tit (wo)man myself, i have to give my thanks for including boob stuff *chefs kiss*

more comments of after the smut cause i apparently have a million fucking thoughts abt this chapter i’m sorry😭

- they comforted each other after their nightmares that is so goddamn sweet im SICK

- ‘I had honesty considered just locking you away and keeping you forever, but I am a man of my word, am I not?’ HE SHOULD HAVE JUST KEPT HER THERE FOREVER. TURNED TF AROUND AND NEVER LOOKED BACK

- reader writing the ransom note and changing the whole story to try to spare eddie/hellfire was so smart oh my god u rly had me fooled that they weren’t gonna get in any trouble and be seen as fucking heroes or smth

- the comment abt him not having carpet fr cracked me up

- he read her mind and shut the idea of staying with him down:(( that son of a bitch (still love him tho)

- and he didn’t tie her hands tight so she could start swinging at any moment!! (c o m e o n reader…we’re fucking waiting! punch ur dad in the face!)

- ‘governor, i see we meet again’ again!!! AGAIN?!!?!

amazing fucking chapter. ur updates always make me so excited, and i’m eagerly waiting for more<333

Dont mind me just giddily giggling over all of this 🤭 but its really hard for me to reply bc i am just rereading your comments and kicking my feet with joy. You really know how to butter me up lmao and i wish i could write rn but i'll be at the beach the whole day so i will have to do with daydreams and the notes app- which, btw, do not ever again apologise for sharing your thoughts!! I as a professional attention whore absolutely thrive off of this so please do not stop

Well, ya know the title of the fic, and it is eddie so you know he's a sweetiepie at heart. He's just been through stuff (and yessss we will find out what. All questions will be answered i hope (unless people have questions to things i did not even consider but so far i dont think that has been the case???).

And listen, with [fan]fiction, there is no such thing as red flags 🫤🙄 only black ones with skulls on them 🏴‍☠️ and toxicity is what makes everything that extra bit spicy.

I am a bit sorry for blueballing yall at the beginning, but if i hadnt then we would not have gotten the rest of the chapter as it is now?? And that counts for something suuurely

plus, i tried to hold off on the smut as long as i could bc i really really do not like writing it, as much as i am an avid lover of it, which brings me to my next point of i really appreciate all the comments on the smut bc i honestly dont know what in doing most times and it was probably the main reason why it took so long to write this chapter because i just freeze up at the mention of genitalia lmao. My brain just becomes that cymbal monkey.

Hehe i was really proud of that pirate/princess line. And the carpet one. Just gotta break up the heaviness sometimes ya know. And you just know these two have that kind of "deprication as love language" affair. Is that a even a thing? Well i made it a thing. Especially since its basically canon for this au that eddie has a major degradation kink.

In a perfect world, they would have been welcomed as heroes, but in a perfect world they also would never have kidnapped her so 🫠

And yes Again 😌

[unfinshedsentec]

Can I ask to add onto the seriously injured series with Shinichiro, Hakkai and Izana?

request 2: can you do sanzu and the Haitani brothers please?

Hey love! Thanks you so much for requesting❤️❤️I’ve gotten a lot of requests for pt.4 of seriously injured, so it’s kinda mixed with this other request (I’m so sorry I really hope you don’t mind)

Anyway, I basically did sanzu instead of shin, but if I ever do a pt.5, it’ll be with shin! Hahaha I really hope you like Thai anyway <333

when you get seriously injured pt.4

reader is gender neutral and there are manga spoilers (obviously)!

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

characters: sanzu, hakkai, and izana

tw: cursing, blood, guns, injury, drugs, and death

Sanzu (future)

You met Sanzu when you joined under him as his assistant in Bonten. At first, your relationship was tense, and you were fully terrified of him, but as time passed and you spent most of your days by his side, you began to warm up to him.

Soon enough, you had a one-night stand. And then, you began a relationship. Albeit a closed off one.

You mainly stayed under the radar because of the dangerous work Bonten does. Yes, you were still well known as Sanzu’s assistant, just not as his s/o. Sanzu wanted to keep you safe, so you both intended to keep it that way. But, one of the hard parts of working at Bonten was there was always somebody else watching you. There were always enemies on the look out for weaknesses.

You happened to be Sanzu’s weakness. And the enemies found that out.

The moment they did, they were ecstatic. Not only had they found a way to weaken Bonten, but they also found a way to RUIN Bonten’s vice president.

It was pretty much the perfect opportunity, and the enemies naturally took that opportunity. That’s why you were trapped in a dark room, bound to a chair and gagged, while being recorded.

“Look who we have here~” the guy in front of you began, talking to the camera. “It’s THE Sanzu Haruchiyo’s precious s/o”

“FUCK YOU” you tried yelling, but it was muffled by the gag.

“Awwww poor baby, are you angry?” he mocked laughing at you, before delivering a harsh kick to your gut. You coughed; the wind being knocked out of you. “Shut the fuck up”

Another guy then walked in, and delivered more blows to your face, stomach, legs, etc. Each hit became progressively more painful, and as time passed, it went from the normal punch in the face, to a broken leg. It only stopped when the guy standing in front of the camera spoke again.

“Now, to the famous Bonten…” the guy began, talking to what was going to be Bonten, and your boyfriend. “You guys are either going to give us $300 million dollars, or” he continued, pointing at you “The Vice Prez’s s/o dies”

“MMMMMM”

“Get it here by 7, or else”

Then the camera turned off and the guys left, leaving you all alone, beaten up in the dark room.

It stayed that way until what you presumed to be a couple hours later, some more guys came in and started stabbing you in nonlethal places like your legs, arms, feet, etc.

You screamed in pain with each stab they made, feeling the cold metal pierce your skin. A horrible burning pain spread throughout your body and as time progressed, the pain got worse. Being able to see all the blood and your wounds only made things 10x worse.

Then they left, leaving you alone bloodied up, bleeding out, in excruciating pain. You were left like that for what seemed like days, when finally, someone came into the room again. You quickly recognized this guy to be the guy you first saw, and the one who recorded everything.

“Welp, it looks like your little boyfriend doesn’t care enough about you” he began, pulling a gun out and putting bullets in it. He then pointed it directly to your head, and his hand holding the trigger.

You screamed hoping to get him to stop. The feeling of the cold metal against your head was more than enough to make you freak out. You cried, and silently begged for Sanzu to save you, but he didn’t. And the guy holding the gun to your head, only held the trigger.

“It’s too bad really” he said, sighing. “You would’ve been a good toy”

*bang*

The man shot you, the impact blowing you and the chair to the floor. Blood poured out from your head and mouth, soaking into the carpet below you.

He sighed again, thinking about the mess he’d have to clean up from all the blood that surrounded your head, when suddenly someone came rushing in the room yelling.

“BOSS, WE HAVE AN EMERGENC-“ that guy fell on the floor dead. And behind him was your boyfriend himself, covered in blood, smirking.

“Now what do you think your doing to my precious Y/n?”

“Ha, it’s too lat-“and then Sanzu shot the guy and killed him, in true Sanzu fashion. Then, he made his way into the room, only to find you lying on the floor with blood covering you. Multiple wounds were on your body, your face was extremely pale, and there was obviously blood pouring out of your head.

Sanzu stared at you, before waltzing over to you and kneeling down.

“What’re you doin’ Y/n? You can’t die so easily” he muttered, stroking your hair.

“……”

“Get up Y/n!”

“………..”

“GET UP!”

“………..”

Sanzu yelled and yelled and yelled for you, but he never got anything in response. All he heard after his yells were silence, or the sound of gun shots outside of the room.  Your skin was shade of blue, and your body felt nothing but cold. Your expression lacked any life, and the smell of the room you were in was full of the sickening and all too familiar smell of pure blood.

Sanzu was too late; and now, you were dead.

That day was the day Sanzu lost any normalcy he had. Any last sense of being human, and having morals was gone. He was nothing now expect a murderer. It was like he wasn’t even a person anymore. Just someone who was an empty shell that happened to be living.

And to think, it all happened because he lost you, the most important person in his life. And now, he would never be the same again.  He would never be a person again, at least not without you.

 Hakkai

In your relationship with Hakkai, you were the brave one.

You would be the one to start fights, do reckless things, and just be much more violent. At first this scared Hakkai, but after he got to know you, he saw how sweet you were, and he quickly fell in love.

Soon enough, you started your relationship with Hakkai. And, of course, with Hakkai came along with Toman.

Often times, you’d help out Toman, going along with the in fights and helping them win. You weren’t an official member, but many of their members acknowledge you and your strength.

That was exactly why you were here, next to Hakkai, fighting off some guys.

It was a brutal fight. The other gang had more members, but they weren’t as strong. In a way, that made Toman and them more even. Of course, their main focus was Mikey too, so they failed to recognize the other insanely strong members.

Needless to say, the battled field was even.

Until the other gang started playing dirty.

You were knocking out guys left and right, Hakkai behind you watching our back. The other team was quite startled by you, so you quite easily took care of guys. Soon enough, more people started coming for you, and you and Hakkai knocked out more and more guys.

While, at first this was fun for you, it quicky became tiring. You were constantly fighting guys, you weren’t getting a break, and now, the stronger ones were showing up.

And as I said, they were playing dirty.

When the strongest one you had met walked up to you, you presumably just did your usual kick in the dick and punch in the face. However, the guy caught your foot, and threw you across the area. Hakkai, went up to the guy to give him a good punch, only to get an insane punch in the jaw, effectively knocking him out.

The guy then waltzed up to you and straddled you, only to pull out a ridiculously huge brass knuckle and began punching everywhere from your face to your stomach, namely your ribs and throat.

It didn’t take long till you could no longer breath.

You wheezed for air, but nothing happened. You coughed and coughed and desperately tried to get anything in, but you got nothing. Your heart was beating in your chest and pounded in your ears. All you felt was pain, pain in your chest every time you tried breathing.

“Hmm, looks like I’ve done enough” the guy beating you said, before getting you up and walking away, leaving you alone gasping for air.

Your vison was blurring. You could see the guy walk away, and slowly you gained hope! But after you found yourself unable to move, and you blurrily saw you boyfriend laying in the pavement unconscious, you lost all hope.

You were going to die.

Your body was going numb, you couldn’t breathe, and you could feel all strength in your body go away. Nobody was there to help you either. Everyone else was unconscious around you; so, there was no one to help you. You couldn’t even scream for help.

Slowly, darkness surrounded your vison, and as your lungs burned from the lack of breath, your eyes closed. The last thing you heard, was Hakkai’s screams of help.

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

Hakkai spacely woke up only to hear complete silence around him. There were no yells of anger, no groans of pain, no crazy laughs. It was just quiet.

He was dazed from the unusual silence, especially considering that he vaguely remembered being in a fight. All though his vison was blurry, he could vaguely make out unconscious bodies around him.

It took him a bit, but he eventually made his way onto his feet, hopefully to look for you. He looked around but found nothing.

Until he heard a faint wheezing.

When he turned around, he saw you, lying on the pavement, covered in blood, crying and wheezing. Blood covered your mouth, and your eyes were a horrible bloodshot red. Your skin was a sickly blue too.

Hakkai immediately panicked and made his way toward you. He could tell you were unconscious, because as he went to pick you up, you went limp. However, your chest still lightly went up and down, and your skin was still warm.

Immediately, Hakkai screamed for help. He scrambled around looking for anybody to help, but the area was almost dead. He reached to his pocket to look for his phone, but it was broken, likely from the impact of his fall. So, he continued screaming, hoping someone would come.

And someone did.

A tired Draken came trudging around the corner after he heard screaming. At first, he was just purely confused, but after he saw you lying there, unconscious and covered in blood, he rushed over and check on you. You were still alive, to Hakkai and his relief.

Immediately, Draken called the ambulance, and waited them out alongside Hakkai who was crying and loosing his shit. He calmly tried comforting him, but Hakkai was worried for you.

Hakkai didn’t want to lose you, he couldn’t. It was only natural for him to be hysterical.

Luckily, the ambulance came pretty quickly, and you were saved!

You woke up to your family, friends, and of course, Hakkai, all being happy hugging you and telling you how much they love you.

It turned out you had a collapsed lung, and it took you awhile to recover, but with the help of the doctors and love from your family and Hakkai, you recovered! Now, you’re alive and well! Of course, you’re happily living with Hakkai, who is beyond ecstatic, and you have a happy future ahead of you!

Yay!

 Izana

As amazing as dating Izana is, it’s also one of the most stressful things there in the world.

You’re constantly worrying about him, his safety, and his happiness. You know he cares for Tenjuku, but you also worry that it will corrupt him even more and make him someone beyond saving. You worry that being the leader of a gang full of crime could potentially make him even lonelier. And as far as you were concerned; you weren’t going to let that happen.

That is exactly why you hung around Izana A LOT.

As his s/o, you often joined him in random meetings, beat ups, or just little things where you could be with him. Obviously, you just wanted to spend time with him and just be in his presence, but you also wanted to make sure he wouldn’t get corrupt.

Some of the Tenjuku members didn’t mind this. In fact, most liked you. Others however, not so much.

Some of those members just hated you with a passion. They hated that you were a weakling who was at the top solely because you dated Izana. They hated that they had the ability to be in your position, but they weren’t because someone who has no idea what they’re doing is there instead. And they thought you were using their boss for power.

Obviously, that wasn’t the case, but it was still what they thought. In fact, they were sure that it was the truth.

They were so sure they thought you had to be eliminated.

So, they did what they thought was best. They came up with a plan that would “save Tenjuku”. And today happened to be the day it was executed.

You were just walking home from a Tenjuku meeting. Izana usually would walk with you, but he had some things to talk to Kakucho about, so you offered to just walk home by yourself. While he was hesitant, Izana let you go seeing how confident you were.

So, you were walking home by yourself, simply humming along to the song that played in the headphone that was only in one ear. You groaned, a little tired from the busy day you had, but deep down, you were happy too as you got to spend more time with your boyfriend.

Briefly, you thought you heard a resulting sound behind you. Immediately, you shot around.

“Who’s there?!” you asked, only to get nothing in response. You were wary, but ultimately you just figured it was a racoon looking for trash or something.

So, you continued on your way. And it was quiet this time.

Too quiet.

You almost started to get scared, simply from the burning feeling in your gut telling you something was wrong. In a way, you had a feeling you should run. But you saw no reason too. You just figured you were overthinking again, so you continued, just periodically looking over your shoulder to be sure nothing was there.

Of course, nothing was there.

Until you looked over your shoulder again and saw someone behind you, just smirking.

“Well, well, well” the guy in the Tenjuku jacket said, approaching you. Each step he took toward you, you took one back though. “If it isn’t the famous Y/n L/n”

“Ummm hello?” you mumbled still backing up.

“You know you shouldn’t be all alone” he replied, walking faster.

“Yeah…well Izana’s busy”

“Really…” he began, his body language quickly becoming more violent. “That means I’ve lucked out”

“Huh?” you said trying to run away but… you weren’t fast enough.

“Get em’ boys”

Suddenly, you were tackled on the ground by a Tenjuku member, one that was much bigger than you. This one had brass knuckled, so each and every punch he landed on your face and body hurt a billon time more than the usual punch.

Suddenly, another guy appeared, heading towards your legs. At first you thought he was going to touch you, but instead, he broke your leg.

“AHHHHHHH” you screamed in pain. You could already feel your vison blurring for the beating your face and eyes were taking, but the feeling of your bone being snapped in half and poking at your skin hurt even more.

By now, you had no idea how many guys were there, but there was a lot. Each and every one was either watching you get beat up or were throwing punched at you left and right.

You could feel another punch to your face, a kick to your ribs, a crack of your bones going out. Sticky, cold blood covered your body, and you screamed.

You needed help. Or else, these guys would kill you.

But no one came.

With each scream, you begged  for your boyfriend to come and stop this, but you still felt all these insanely painful punches on your body. You feel the excruciating pain of multiple bones being broken and at this point you couldn’t see anything.

Hell, you couldn’t breathe anymore.

It was like being in hell. It was just pitch blackness and pain….at some point you weren’t in pain.

You were just numb. There was no pain, no hope, no nothing. It was just numb.

Until you heard one voice.

“HEY, WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” you heard a familiar voice yell…one that was beyond angry.

It was then that all the punched stopped. You no longer felt the impact of people kicking you around like a rag doll. Instead, you heard screams. There were screams of apologized, screams of pain, screams of regret, etc.

There was just screaming, until there was nothing. Then, you felt warm gentle hands hold you, and a soft comforting voice.

“It’s okay Y/n…you’ll be okay” Izana whispered, stroking your hair while he lifted you had Kakucho drive you and him to the hospital.

“….I-Izana? ” you mumbled, barely able to get anything out.

“Shhhh love, don’t talk. Just relax”

“I-izana….I don’t feel so good….” You felt a burning liquid come up your throat as you coughed…and coughed and coughed and coughed. Izana, meanwhile, was still holding you and stroking your hair while you vomited blood all over him.

“No. You’ll be fine, just fine”

“Nooo...Izana” you said, chocking up.

“You promised me, remember?” Izana began, his grip on you tightening. “You promised me you wouldn’t die…and you would stay by me, remember?!”

You could feel a certain light begin to enter vison, and slowly your body in a way, felt painless.

“….Kakucho” you mumbled, calling for the man driving you through the bustling Tokyo.

“Hmmm?”

“You better take care of Izana for me”

Suddenly, your body went limp, and the horrible smell of death filled the air. Your face was a grayish-blue, and your expression was blank.

Izana gripped onto you, yelling. He kept yelling at you to come back and be with him. He kept telling you about your promise, but it turned out you couldn’t keep it.

You ended up dying that night, leaving Izana alone and leading to the exact corruption you wanted to avoid.

At least you met again when he died!

“I’m on my way, Emma” vibes

//end!

masterlist || reblogs are very appreciated <33

[mfingenius]

Heyy!! You're posts have been motivating me through this quarantine. Thank you for writing so much and spreading joy. I loved the Dreville and Laurent/Nik fic you wrote recently. A prompt i was thinking of: Like what if soon after their parents die ( Laurent is 14 and August 19), August gets into a lot of partying etc, at college, and kind of pushes away Laurent when he asks to visit, only to find out later that during that period the regent abused him. Lamen optional Thank you so much !! :)

Ahhhh thank you so much <333 I’m very glad I’m helping at least a little... I hope you’ll like this :D

TW: MENTIONS OF CSA

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

Auguste finds out when it’s in the news.

He wakes up, same as always, hating everything and with a pounding headache; he doesn’t remember the name of the girl in his bed, and he doesn’t care, either. He’ll kick her out as soon as she wakes up.

He goes to the kitchen, searching for some painkillers; he swallows them down with tequila - a bad idea, he knows, but he doesn’t think he has any water left - and sits on the kitchen table with a groan. It’s barely seven - he never sleeps for more than a few hours at a time - and he enjoys the quiet of it.

His apartment’s a mess, but he doesn’t particularly care; he’ll call a service to clean it up later, and it’ll be trashed tonight again, and he’ll have maids coming in tomorrow, again. It’s become a routine. 

He’s seriously considering going back to sleep with his forehead against the kitchen table when his phone begins to ring. He groans, jerking upright and beginning to look for it among the clothes thrown over the kitchen floor. When he finally finds it, he checks the name on the screen to make sure it’s not Laurent, feeling a pang of guilt as he does it; it’s not that he doesn’t want to see or talk to his brother, it’s just been - hard. 

Their parents died three years ago, when Laurent was eleven and Auguste was seventeen, and they were both sent to live with their uncle; Auguste had left just a few months after that, after getting into college on a football scholarship - not that he needed it, since his parents left their entire fortune to him and Laurent and he’s currently wasting it away in parties and anything that makes him feel good for three minutes - and Laurent is... different now.

He’d wanted to visit Auguste a lot, at first, seeming desperate to get away, but Auguste had brushed him off whenever he could; he didn’t want Laurent to see what a mess he was. After a while, Laurent had stopped asking to visit, but he still calls. Auguste picks up sometimes, and though he usually ends the call as soon as he can, he is trying.

He knows he’s not doing very well, which is why he’s immensely relieved when it’s only Jord; he’s one of Auguste’s best friends from Arles, before Auguste moved to Delpha to go to college, but they haven’t talked since Jord called him an irresponsible dick for getting drunk every day for three months after his parents died.

“Jord?” he asks, picking up. It must be important if Jord is calling him; he’s never apologized, and Auguste hasn’t either.

“Turn on your fucking TV,” Jord snaps. “The news.”

“Which channel?” Auguste asks tiredly, walking to the living room and searching for the remote. It has to be here somewhere...

“Any fucking channel, Auguste!” He hasn’t heard Jord sound this angry... well, ever.

He gives up on searching for the remote, instead clicking the button to turn the TV on and stepping back to see the screen properly. It’s already on a news channel, and Auguste is about to ask why Jord has decided to call him at seven in the morning to tell him to turn on the news when he catches the headline.

Laurent DeVere, second son to billionaire DeVere family, taken away from his uncle because of alleged child sexual abuse

Auguste stops breathing.

“Get on a plane,” Jord snaps. “Now.”

Auguste is booking a plane ticket on his laptop before Jord has even finished the sentence.

*

The plane ride to Arles is only an hour and a half; he’s back at his Uncle’s house before ten, swallowing and knocking on the door. He’d scoured the news obsessively while on the plane. It seems no one knows who tipped off the police, but that they’d gone to their Uncle’s house to question him and seen it, seen him - doing things to Laurent; Auguste can’t think about it.

He already threw up twice.

The reporter had said their uncle had been arrested immediately, and now Laurent was awaiting for a word on what would happen; Auguste doesn’t want to think about his brother, sitting there all alone, just waiting.

The door opens, and he expects to see Laurent, but it’s not; there are three men in police uniforms there, and behind them, Auguste can see many more; the house had been swarmed by reporters, yelling and taking pictures, so Auguste had had to sneak in through the back of the iron-wrought fence, an old spot he’d quickly learned of after he’d begun sneaking off to parties at night.

His uncle might’ve known, and simply not stopped him because it was convenient for him.

Auguste nearly retches again.

“I’m Auguste DeVere,” he says. “I’m here to see my brother.”

“No one is allowed in or out,” one of the officers tells him. “You have to get off the property.”

“He’s my brother,” Auguste snaps. “And he’s fifteen. I’m here to see him.”

“You’re the brother, then.” Behind the officers, steps up a woman; she has olive skin and long, wavy brown hair. “I’ll take care of him.”

The officers leave, and Auguste tries not to sound too impatient when he says, “Yes. And who are you?”

The woman smiles grimly. “My name is Kashel. I’m your brother’s social worker. We’ve been trying to reach you for hours.”

Auguste had forgotten his phone in the apartment after kicking the girl he’d slept with out. He grimaces.

“Social worker?” he asks. “Why does Laurent need a social worker?”

Kashel looks at him like she’s not entirely sure if he’s dumb. 

“Well,” she says, careful. “Seeing as your brother’s fifteen and his current guardian is awaiting trial for child abuse, we need to find him another one for the time being, and then someone permanent.”

“I am,” Auguste says, without hesitation. “I will be. His guardian.”

“Mr. DeVere, we don’t give children to anyone-”

“I’m his brother!”

“You smell like alcohol,” Kashel says bluntly. Auguste rears back, surprised. “And tobacco, and it’s nine thirty in the morning. You look like you haven’t slept, you didn’t answer any of our insistent calls for two hours, and, if I’m not wrong, you’re a university student. You’re not exactly in peak condition to take care of another human being.”

Auguste can’t find anything to say; he cannot - Laurent cannot go to someone else, he just can’t. Sure, Auguste hasn’t been the best brother these past few years, and he’ll have to change everything about his life before it’s even acceptable for Laurent to be near, but he has to take care of him, Laurent is the most important person in the world to him.

He doesn’t know how he seems to have forgotten that.

“I-” he tries. Then again, “I-”

“Right now, you can see him,” Kashel says kindly; she doesn’t look to be older than him, must be only twenty one, and yet she seems calm, entirely put together. Auguste feels like his life is falling apart. “I’ll take you to him.”

Auguste steps inside numbly, watching as a dozen people walk around the house, each doing different things; he doesn’t know what they’re all doing, and, quite frankly, he doesn’t care. He wants to see his brother.

Kashel takes him upstairs, to Laurent’s room - walking through his uncle’s house is a surreal experience. Auguste never thought he’d be back here - and, before she opens the door, she looks at him sternly.

“Do not promise him anything,” she says. “Don’t pressure him to tell you anything, and don’t push for details-”

“I don’t need an instruction manual to talk to my brother,” Auguste snaps.

She purses her lips. “As I’ve heard it, you wouldn’t know, seeing as you haven’t spoken to him for a while.”

Auguste pales, but she does not look in the least apologetic.

“I devote my life to these children, Mr. DeVere,” she says. “My priority here is keeping him safe and not to make this any harder than it already has been. If I have to keep him safe from you, I’ll do that, too.”

Auguste nods.

She looks him over once again, and then knocks on the door softly.

“Laurent,” she says, opening the door slightly; her tone is nothing like the one he’d used on Auguste before. She steps through and then closes the door in Auguste’s face.

He waits impatiently, listening to her talking to Laurent; he can’t quite make out the words, but he assumes she’s asking him if he’s willing to see him. He doesn’t hear Laurent’s response, but, a second later, the door opens, and Kashel steps aside with one last menacing look towards him.

Seeing Laurent is more surreal than walking through the house was; he looks unbelievably thin, somehow exactly as Auguste remembers him and not like that at all, dark bags under his eyes and a look on his face that Auguste has never seen before and wishes to never see again.

He tries to smile. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Laurent is impossibly quiet.

They’re both silent for a while, and it seems maybe Auguste did need a manual on how to talk to his brother; he wishes he’d paid more attention to Kashel. Don’t promise him anything. Don’t pressure him.

“I-” he tries. I’m sorry? Laurent would have every right to kick him out for saying that. Why didn’t you tell me? Did you try to tell me and I didn’t answer the phone? When you wanted to visit and I said no, why didn’t you insist more? 

That wouldn’t be fair; Laurent had made countless efforts to talk to him, to be with him, and Auguste had felt bad about pushing him away, but now... knowing what was going on while he was at parties and refusing to talk to Laurent, it’s a million times worse.

“I-” He doesn’t know what to say. He sees it clearly in Laurent’s face, how uncomfortable he is in the room, and though fury boils inside him, he ignores it. “We can go somewhere else.”

Laurent nods immediately; as they go from room to room, Auguste watches him. They don’t step into Uncle’s rooms, because Auguste assumes most of it happened there, but he searches Laurent’s face for any sign of discomfort any time they go somewhere; the dining room doesn’t work, and neither does the kitchen.

Laurent grimaces in the living room, and wraps his arms around himself warily in Auguste’s old room; the Laundry room doesn’t draw as big a reaction as anywhere else, but it’s also noticeable, so Auguste doesn’t want them to stay there. When he is considering giving up - this was happening, after all, for three years in this house - they walk into the library, and Laurent’s face is sweet relief.

Auguste exhales.

“You’re here,” Laurent says, after he curls himself into the big armchair. 

“I am.” Auguste swallows. Laurent doesn’t look at him, and Auguste swallows again. “Laurent, I’m sorry-”

“I’m sorry,” Laurent says, at the same time, and they both look at each other surprised.

“Why are you sorry?” Auguste asks, surprised.

“I-” Laurent’s cheeks are red, suddenly, stained as though he’s been slapped. “I tried to - I didn’t want to give you any trouble - and I’ve made you come all the way here - and now Uncle’s in jail and it’s my fault-”

“What?” Auguste asks. “What?”

“I swore I wouldn’t-” Laurent’s eyes are bright, wet, and he blinks quickly. “He told me I would just bother you and he was right - I swear it wasn’t me who called the police, I didn’t mean for any of this-”

“Laurent, what are you talking about?” Auguste asks, heart beating wildly. “I’m not angry at you. I don’t care if it was you who called the police. Fuck, if it had been you I would’ve said well-done. I’m sorry I left you here, I made it so hard to reach me-”

“It’s not your fault,” Laurent says; he’s nothing like Auguste remembers him; he’s clothed from neck to wrist to toe, everything tightly fitted and dark, nothing like the child Auguste remembers. “I know I’m - a bother, and I really didn’t-”

“Laurent, you never bother me.”

“You didn’t want to see me.”

And isn’t that just perfect? Auguste had been unknowingly helping along a narrative their Uncle had been telling Laurent, about being a bother, about being unloved, Auguste had made him feel all those things.

Fuck; he doesn’t know how he’s fucked up so severely.

“I-” Auguste swallows. “Laurent, I’m not... perfect. I wasn’t - I’m not having the easiest time, and I didn’t want you to see me like that and I was selfish, I never once thought about-”

About what might be going on with his brother, never once saw the signs that were probably already there.

“I’m so sorry,” he repeats, hollowly.

“I-” Laurent wipes at his eyes desperately, and sounds oddly fragile when he speaks. “Can I - stay with you? I don’t want to go anywhere else-”

“Of course,” Auguste says immediately. “Fuck, Laurent, I’d never let you go to anyone else, I - I love you, so much, I’m so sorry-”

“Promise me, please, promise I-”

Don’t promise anything, Kashel had said. You’re not exactly in peak condition to take care of another human being.

Auguste doesn’t care; he’ll get custody of Laurent, whatever he has to do, however he has to change his life for it.

“I promise,” he says.

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

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[babbushka]

Cabin

Flip Zimmerman x Reader 

word count: ~3k warnings: N*FW ;^)

This is for y’all! <333

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

Your first time together had been…awful.

But awful in an endearing way, the way everything about Flip was endearing. Flip was more than eager to try again and get better, and so were you – except there wasn’t much opportunity when the both of you lived at home where parents were a very real danger to killing the mood.

Flip had been talking to Jimmy, who had never been shy about the number of women he dated and slept with, and Jimmy had given him some honest pointers and tips that Flip was dying to try out – one move in particular.

“So did you go down on her yet?” He asked one day while the two were grabbing lunch together, making Flip choke on his sandwich.

“Jesus Jimmy we’re in a diner.” He hissed, looking around to see if anyone overheard.

He was thankful that the diner was way too loud and busy for anyone to be paying any attention, but still, it definitely wasn’t the sort of place to have this conversation. Flip had hoped he could bring it up to his best friend on the car ride back home or something.

“Look, all I’m sayin’ is if you haven’t yet, you need to. She’ll go nuts for it! If you’re half as good a kisser as you say you are – ” Jimmy said, making Flip roll his eyes.

“Fuck you, I’m a great kisser.” He interrupted, to which Jimmy just ingored.

“Then she’s gonna freak out for it.” Jimmy finished, shoving a big bite of his burger into his mouth.

“I haven’t yet, we’ve only fucked the one time.” Flip explained lowly, making Jimmy nod in understanding. “But I am taking her to the cabin this weekend finally.”

“Oh yeah?” Jimmy asked with excitement in his eyes and a waggling eyebrow that made Flip laugh and blush into his pop as he took a sip.

“Yeah, we took the weekend off work and my parents gave me the key to the cabin so I’m gonna drive us over to Aspen, and hopefully not leave for three whole days.” He grinned, and Jimmy literally got up enough to smack Flip on the shoulder happily.

“This is perfect then! Okay, here’s what you do.” Jimmy started, sitting back down and gearing up for what was sure to be a graphic conversation.

“Jimmy really it’s okay – ” Flip tried, but Jimmy had already started.

“Don’t spend all your attention on her clit, okay? It stops being fun for her after a while and just hurts. It’s like the same feeling as sticking your dick in a vacuum cleaner, it ain’t fun.” He jabbed a fork in Flip’s direction, took an angry bite.

“Why the fuck would I stick my dick in a vacuum cleaner?” Flip asked, and Jimmy looked very much like he just realized what he said.

“Anyway,” He continued, “Obviously she’s gonna like it however she likes it so the best thing is to ask her what she wants when you’re down there – for the love of god do not bite – communication is so sexy. Tell her how good she tastes too, it’ll make things less awkward.”

“You know, I don’t know if I like you talking about my girlfriend’s – ” Flip started, but Jimmy just waved him off.

“You’ll be thanking me on Monday man, I promise you. Now, when you’re down there, you can either go up and down or around in a circle but my secret weapon is I spell shit out.” Jimmy said, leaning back in his seat and looking like the most proud piece of shit Flip’d ever seen.

“What like with your tongue?” He asked, trying to figure out how that would even work.

“Yup. Drives girls nuts – and you got one thing I don’t got.” Jimmy said mysteriously.

“Oh yeah what’s that?” Flip just had to bite.

“Facial hair.” Jimmy pointed the fork in his direction again. “That goatee of yours rubbing against her thighs is gonna be fucking crazy. I gotta admit, I’m jealous.” He said, making Flip grin.

“Of her or of me?” He teased, and the both of you laughed.

“Oh fuck off.” Jimmy tossed a fry in his direction as Flip just laughed again.

 That talk had only been a couple days ago, and now the two of you were on your way to the cabin. You looked so fucking cute all bundled up in your sweater and Flip’s jacket, munching on bugles and singing along to the radio. It was too cold up in the mountains to roll the window down, but Flip was sure you would’ve on any other occasion to get the wind in your hair.

It was dusk already, somehow. Flip was driving his truck and you’d been on the road for just about three hours now, which meant the cabin should be right around the corner.

Just like magic, it was, and your eyes went wide when you saw how big it was. You had an image in your head of a tiny log cabin perched in the woods somewhere, not at all the thing of beauty before you. The A-frame cabin was the size of a regular single-story house, and it sat on a flat piece of land that was right next to a pond. So close in fact, that a deck had been built with a small ladder for Flip’s family to swim in the pond if they wanted.

He had called ahead to the neighbors who looked over the cabin when the family wasn’t using it, and asked if they could turn all the lights on to make it more of a welcoming arrival. They had, and the soft orange light from lanterns made the cabin glow and look more homey and comfortable than you could have thought possible.

“Do you like it?” Flip asked, and you nodded, beamed a big smile at him.

“I love it, it’s gorgeous!” You gave him a kiss on the cheek before getting out of the car and grabbing your dufflebag from the trunk.

“Good.” Flip said, taking the bag from you so you wouldn’t have to carry it.

 The two of you went right up to the bedroom, wasting absolutely no time. Flip dropped the bags right near the door and locked up, then carried you to his room. He couldn’t get his hands off of you, didn’t want to part from you for a moment, even as he dumped you onto the mattress with a nervous chuckle.  

“Flip!” You laughed back, pushing your hair out of your face as his hands were already working on getting your clothes off.

“Fuck you’re so pretty.” He sighed against your lips, revealing your skin to him underneath all your layers.

Never in a million fucking years did he think he’d have such a woman in his bed, such a perfect woman as you. You reached for him, hands grabbing at air as a sign that you wanted him closer, and he shucked off all his clothes as fast as he could before climbing onto the bed with you.

“Touch me?” You asked, breathless and desperate as he kissed you, his hot mouth warming your skin and bringing the most beautiful noises from your throat.

“Oh I’m gonna do a helluva lot more than just that baby.” Flip grinned, thinking about what Jimmy had told him. “Do you trust me?” He asked, as he began kissing and kissing and kissing down your chest, stomach, thighs.

“Of course I do ohmygod – Flip!” You tensed up instinctively, shy about something you’d never done before.

“It’s okay, just relax, relax for me.” He kissed along your inner thighs as he pushed them open, ran his nose in the crease where your thigh and your hips met, breathed you in.

You smelled like pure sex, and this close, he could see just how wet you were for him. It made his whole body on fire, and he hadn’t even done anything yet. Tentatively, he licked up your slit and you let out a gasp, a hand already flying down to tangle in his hair.

He looked up at you, had to look over the sight of your perfect tits to see you biting your lip, eyes shut, waiting waiting waiting for him to do more.

“You have to tell me, tell me what you like.” Flip said, as he pushed his tongue to part your folds, used his hands to hold you open while he started stroking your pussy with his tongue.

He started with just the up and down motion of his tongue, careful not to be too rough on your clit when he got up to it. He did give it a gentle swirl of his tongue before moving on, not wanting to fuck anything up. You moaned, and your thighs twitched around his head, and he could feel his cock starting to leak just from the sounds you were making.

“You taste fucking fantastic.” Flip groaned against your skin once your slick really started to collect on his tongue. It wasn’t a lie, he hadn’t experienced anything like this and wasn’t anticipating it being so sweet the way that you were.

You didn’t answer, but a lot of the tension dropped from your hips, and that made Flip smile against you. He moved on to the circling of his tongue for a little while, before starting to spell shit out the way Jimmy told him to.

He went down the alphabet and when he got to the letter F your fist tightened in his hair.

“Do that again! Flip please do it again.” You begged, and he grinned, happy that he was able to elicit that sort of response from you.

That encouraged him, he was so eager, so so so eager to please you, and he buried his face between your legs and wrote the first letter of his name in your cunt over and over again until you were starting to gasp for air and shout out.

“Oh, oh holy shit – yes, yesyesyesyesyes – !” Your back arched, you literally pushed your hips into his mouth, and Flip couldn’t help but grin.

He finally gave a hard suck to your clit and he could feel it when you came. Your thighs clamped shut around his head and the hand in his hair was almost painfully tight as your chest rose and fell in rapid succession, eyes screwed tight. He tasted it too, the way you gushed – gushed! – onto his tongue. He stayed down there and lapped it up, swallowed down every drop you gave him, not wanting any of it to go to waste.

He leaned back and admired your pussy, admired the way there were scratch marks blossoming from his beard on your thighs. He kissed them, tried soothing them with his tongue, but you were pulling him up to kiss him deeply.

“I’m sorry.” You panted against his lips, but he couldn’t figure out what for.

“Don’t be! Don’t be, I’m not finished with you yet.” He promised, kissed you while he made a show of stroking his cock.

“How do you want me?” You grinned, making him shake his head.

“Just like this, I want to see you, let me see those tits of yours.” He sucked one of your nipples into his mouth, squeezed your other breast in his big hands. “Fuck they’re so perfect, how are you real?”

“I’m real, I’m yours; I’m only yours.” You laughed, blissed out, as you let him touch and taste.

His cock pressed against your thigh, and you wrapped a hand around it, jerked him off just a little, just enough to keep him hard and leaking.

“Do you feel that? Feel how fucking hard you make me?” Flip asked against your skin, groaned into your mouth.

“You’re so sexy I can’t – I need you now.” You whined, making Flip’s brain short-circuit.

“You need me?” He asked, heart beating fast. He loved you, fuck he loved you, and he needed you more than anyone – to hear you say it back was like a dream.

“Yeah, I need you, please? Please Flip fuck me.” You begged, and he didn’t need to be told twice.

Because you had already came, you were relaxed and he slid in so easily, worked his cock into you with no problem and bottomed out with a deep groan.

“Oh. My. God.” His hips had a mind of their own, needing to move and be as deep inside you as he could, as he could possibly manage.

“Good?” You asked with a laugh, as he leaned down to kiss the spot between your breasts, rest his forehead on your shoulder, being completely enveloped in the wet heat of your pussy.

“Yeah, shit you’re tight.” He gasped with a laugh of his own, one that dissolved into a moan as his hips moved faster and faster.

He corralled your legs around his hips, yanked you down the mattress to get deeper, get a better angle. He knew he was big, he knew you liked how big he was, fuck the way you were crying for him had his blood boiling, had him losing himself in his pleasure.

“Right there, oh fuck, don’t stop!” Your eyes flew open when he found your g-spot, and Flip never felt more proud in his whole fucking life than he did when your mouth dropped open, feeling that fucking good.

“(Y/N), holy shit (Y/N).” He couldn’t believe any of this was real, any of it was happening as he fucked you. His hips found a rhythm that worked, not too brutal but not slow and sweet either. He swore he could see the buldge of his cock in you, but that was maybe just him being so out of it.

You were clinging onto him for dear life, your toes curled against his back from where he had hooked your legs around him. He sucked on your neck and you dug your hands into the meat of his shoulders as he slammed the headboard against the wall, dragged the prettiest moans and cries and shouts from your lips.

“Flip I’m gonna come I’m gonna, fuck I’m so close I can feel it – ” You started, but he just turned to kiss the corner of your mouth, wanted to let you know it was okay.

“Come for me, come on, let me feel you let me make you come – ” He babbled, he bit down onto the spot where your neck and shoulder met, reached a hand down and rolled your clit between his fingers and you came so hard that you accidentally jackknifed and headbutted Flip right in the face.

“Oh!” You were dizzy with your orgasm, so much so that you didn’t even realize you had collided with your boyfriend.

“Oh shit – ” Flip came in you just from the surprise of it all, not registering any pain, just so overwhelmed with the feeling of your cunt clenching around him.

He fucked you through it, milked the both of your orgasms for everything he could, before his arms gave out and he collapsed on top of you.

 Flip was breathing hard when he finally pulled out, and looked up at you with hopeful eyes.

“Was that – ” He started but you pushed a hand to his mouth to silence him.

“’Wait.” You said softly, desperately, eyes still shut and biting your lip like you were concentrating.

“…Are you okay?” Flip asked, suddenly concerned that he had done something wrong, that he had hurt you in any way.

“Yeah, I just…didn’t know it could feel like that.” You said, before breaking out into a fit of blissful giggles.

“Yeah?” He asked, realization dawning on him with a grin that you were savoring that feeling, the feeling he gave you, that he made happen.

“Yeah.” You laughed, rolling over him and bracing yourself on the mattress as you caged him under your arms, “And I get this for three more days?” You asked as you kissed him.

“If you want it.” He nodded quickly, arms looping around your back and pulling you down to be flush against his chest.

He wondered if you could hear how fast his heart was beating, from pure joy and satisfaction.

“I’m never gonna not want this.” You propped your chin up on his chest, and pressed gentle smooches to his chin, laughing at the way the skin of his neck bunched up when he tried looking down at you from that angle.

“I’ll give it to you whenever, you just gotta ask and I’ll fuck you just like this – even better next time.” He promised, as snow softly fell outside.

Nothing felt more perfect in the whole entire world in that moment, with you in his arms, in his bed.

“I love you.” You said, so sure of the words you were saying, so completely confident in them that Flip didn’t even have to pinch himself to believe it.

“I love you too.” He said back, making your whole face erupt into a grin.

He rolled you both over onto your sides, kissed you some more and then with the softest press of a kiss to your eyelids, he asked,

“Can I eat you out again?”

Making the both of you erupt into giggles that soon turned into moans once more.

It was going to be a long weekend, but Flip couldn’t be any more excited.

[queenmercurys]

hey love :') ALL the odd numbers for the ff asks??

NOTE: I realize now that this said all the ODD numbers, but me being an idiot, I just read “all numbers” and went for it. oh, well. here’s answers no one asked for :P and the ones you asked for, thanks, ems ;))

this is why you’re the greatest friend in the entire world ;D okay, here we go!! i’m gonna skip the ones i already got asked, but there’s still plenty to do ;P thank you so, so much, I love you!

2. Least favorite game?

well, out of the ones i’ve played, i’m gonna have to go with type-0, at least for now. it’s pretty good, i like the story, but the gameplay is crazy hard (and this is coming from someone who has played final fantasy since she was 8) and i’m not like crazy in love with any of the characters. they’re all good, but there’s not that thing that i have with basically every other final fantasy. but i’ve not finished it yet, it has plenty of time to change my mind!

3. Which games have you played?

i have played vii, viii, ix, x, x-2, xii, xiii, xiii-2, lightning returns, xv, world of final fantasy, type-0 and dissidia nt. however, i would like to note that i’ve watched crisis core so many times that i have basically played that, too. and i would, if i had a psp. anyway, i recently bought vi, so i’ll be playing that next, and then going backwards. the only ones i am not actively trying to play are xi and xiv. i’m not into multiplayers. but anyway, i also know the stories of the dissidia games, and i know the stories from i to vi, so nothing is really unfamiliar to me. it’s an amazing franchise and i love it.

4. Most underrated game?

i have to say x-2. it gets so much hate and for no reason whatsoever. it’s such a joyous, beautiful game with wonderful characters, the best turn-based gameplay and surprisingly fun minigames and sidequests. i stan x-2 100%.

5. Most overrated game?

if i were less biased, i’d say vii, but i’m not perfect, so i’m gonna go with my other pick: vi. i am sure it’s absolutely wonderful, and everything seems great based on what i have heard, read and watched. however, the fact that the cast is literally cramped with 20 million different characters throws me off a tiny bit. i can’t see it being that easy to give good character development to all of them, and i guess that hasn’t happened. but yeah, i honestly can’t say much before actually playing it. but i suppose part of the praise is largely due to nostalgia - as it is with vii, too. 

6. Favorite protagonist?

that would be my perfect darling, cloud strife.

7. Favorite antagonist?

this was a bit of a tough one, but i’m gonna go with ardyn izunia. 

12. Best looking male?

cloud strife for sure. he’s really, really handsome, okay.

14. Character you would most like to marry?

well, this may come as a shocker, but cloud strife.

15. Character you hate the most?

i appreciate him for everything that he is, i think he’s a totally epic villain, but after everything he’s done to cloud, to aerith and to everyone else, i am definitely gonna have to go with sephiroth. but he is iconic and the franchise wouldn’t be the same without him.

16. Which game had the best cast of characters?

even though it’s not my favorite game, i’m gonna go with vii. it has such a large, engaging multiverse to itself that it’s had a lot of time to develop the characters and make them more interesting and fleshed out. and i love so many of them so much. like my darling cloud, or sunshine boy zack, or aerith, or tifa, vincent, yuffie, cid etc etc. i think the cast of characters is really awesome. but that’s not to say i don’t love the other casts, because i do, very much so.

17. Which game was the saddest?

crisis core. what made it worst was knowing from the start that zack was going to die, and then living through it all, seeing how happy he was. watching him fall in love with aerith, befriend cloud, and even hang out with sephiroth and genesis. it’s so heartbreaking watching that boy try so hard, and then eventually die protecting his best friend a few miles away from his goal. it’s really not fair, and watching the ending always breaks me. that’s not even counting the pain that cloud had to go through in crisis core, but if i take that into consideration, it just strengthens my argument: crisis core is definitely the saddest game.

18. Which game was the funniest?

x-2. i know it’s a bit cliche and maybe even a bit cringe, but i love every bit of it. it’s pure joy, and watching yuna be happy and carefree even for a bit warms my heart. and personally, what i think makes it even better is that the game also has so many heartbreaking, sad moments. it balances itself out very nicely.

19. Which game had the best love story?

i am definitely gonna go with x. the story of yuna and tidus is well fleshed out, it’s romantic, it’s tragic, it’s sweet and above all (because i love this aspect in couples) it’s angsty as fuck, and that is exactly what i want from any fictional couple. they are a big part of why i love x as much as i do.

21. Which game would you sooner die before doing the above ^?

since i picked x-2 for the game i’d like to insert myself into, i am gonna go with… xiii for the game i would not like to be in. the world is gorgeous, but the divide between the people of cocoon and the people of pulse, and the dictatorship-like way the world is ruled, yeah, no thank you. besides, i could never replace lightning, i have literally none of her good qualities.

22. Which game’s world would you most like to live in?

this was really hard for me to pick, but i think i would actually go with the world in viii. it’s a world that has technology (which, as a child of the 90′s, i do need), and it still has many fantasy elements to it, not to mention some really, really gorgeous locations, like fisherman’s horizon, balamb town etc. 

23. Which specific location (e.g. Besaid Island) would you most like to live in?

if we’re going with specific locations, i think i would like to live in tenebrae from xv. it seems like such a gorgeous, peaceful place, i think i would be very happy there.

24. What’s your favorite job/class? Is this the same class you would want to be if you entered a class-based Final Fantasy game, or would you rather be a different one? If so, which one?

my favorite class is probably summoner, but i also have a fondness for the white magic, the black mage and the knight/any other variation of that job class. i think i would probably be a white mage myself.

25. What is your favorite ability?

summoning is always something i find very useful, obviously, but i also like noctis’ warp strike in xv. using weapons with abilities like stone strike is also really satisfying in x, too.

26. Favorite boss fight?

i really love the final boss battle against ardyn in xv. the main reason for this is because in the fight, ardyn doesn’t have an elaborate second form (tho i don’t mind those either), it’s literally just two men fighting each other. and the end, how ardyn loses because he can’t summon up the sword of the father, i think that’s really meaningful and i’ve always liked it a lot.

28. Your favorite spell?

well, i sure have grown very fond of curaga over the years, but in terms of something that i just consider really cool… i’ve always liked holy quite a bit, not really sure why.

29. Favorite summon?

the knights of the round from vii. other than that, probably shiva. i also really like alexander and bahamut.

30. Least favorite battle/boss fight?

i am not a huge fan of the fight against cid raines in xiii. i don’t know why, but that fight took me forever, and multiple tries. just… nope.

31. Do you have any theories or headcanons you swear by (e.g. Rinoa as Sorceress)?

i used to swear by the “squall is dead” theory just because it seemed super interesting, but nah, i love squall too much. he ain’t dead. i think the theory i am very fond of is that vii and x are connected. the theory that the kid shinra in x-2 eventually started developing a technology that would eventually lead to the shinra company in vii. it’s grim, but it’s entirely possible. 

32. Are there any fanon theories/headcanons you just can’t believe?

i mean, there are a lot of weird ones that i don’t buy into, but i guess one that i don’t believe is that cloud actually killed aerith (aka he killed her by drowning her because sephiroth’s sword didn’t actually kill her, but paralyzed her instead, or something). i am pretty sure he checked if she was breathing, give him some credit. 

34. Which canon couple do you think is most likely to break up sometime after the credits roll?

umm… well, considering that they weren’t really even together, ever, i guess it doesn’t qualify, but i’m gonna say cloud and tifa. i just don’t see how it would work, romantically. i get that there are feelings there, but actually as a functioning couple? idk about that. everyone can think what they want, though, what do i know? my second pick would probably be snow and serah. i find them very cute, but that’s another ship where i can’t see how they would actually work in everyday life.

36. And your least favorite non-canon couple?

please don’t throw cloud and sephiroth at me, i really can’t. i have literally nothing against m/m ships, my favorite non-canon ship is strifehart. i just don’t ship these two and i think cloud deserves soooooo much better. again, just my opinion though. 

37. What do you think makes a game a “quintessential” Final Fantasy game? (In other words… some people say the new games don’t feel like Final Fantasy games to them. What FEELS like a Final Fantasy game, to you?)

well, since my first final fantasy was x, i might not be the best one to answer this because my first one wasn’t one of the “classics”, really, but… to me, they all feel like final fantasy. the games don’t have to all be same, nor should they be. but for the sake of the question (which is a very interesting question btw), i think that there needs to be a big bad, and a group of mismatched, troubled heroes who do what they can to defeat that big bad. that’s literally all i need from a final fantasy game for it to feel like a final fantasy. plus, at least one engaging character who i can root for.

38. What things did/would bother you when/if they were put in the games (i.e. what things DON’T belong in Final Fantasy games)?

nothing’s bothered me much yet, but i guess what i don’t really care about are those weird collabs, like xv + assassin’s creed or something. i get why they do it, but ehh. i think those rather “pointless” dlc additions are just that: pointless. i am, however, on board useful and important dlc additions, like story additions or new fighting arenas, like with dissidia nt.

39. What is your favorite prequel or sequel?

my favorite prequel is definitely crisis core, and my favorite sequel is x-2 (does advent children count? if it does, then ac, too). 

40. Square-Enix hands over the reins to you, to make a prequel or sequel for any game of your choice, even ones that already have those things. What do you make?

first i make a sequel to vii to see what happened to cloud after advent children, then i make x-3, and then i make a sequel to viii. it absolutely doesn’t need a sequel, but i want it in glorious hd.

42. Worst character design?

no one looks bad, to me anyway, but i guess some characters are pretty weird, like cloud of darkness’ design for dissidia nt. i get that she didn’t really have any clothes on in the original, either, but that crap must be very impractical in battle.

43. What is your favorite weapon?

cloud’s buster sword, and cloud’s fusion sword.

44. What cutscene do you wish you could cut out of any of the games?

the date scene with iris and noctis in xv. why did they do that???

45. What creature do you most wish was real? (Chocobo’s, moogles, etc.)

oh, moogles would be so adorable. so would moombas.

46. Best soundtrack?

i think all the soundtracks are freaking fantastic, final fantasy music is the best music ever created, but i am gonna go with final fantasy xv. my close second pick would be final fantasy viii.

47. Favorite overworld song?

the one from viii, just because it brings back memories of me wandering around for hours, grinding for magic spells and items.

48. Which game had the best opening cutscene?

they are all freaking amazing, honestly. like honestly, all the games are so beautiful and perfect in this aspect, but i guess if i have to choose… probably x. the destruction of zanarkand is pretty powerful stuff, especially for an opening cutscene.

49. Which game had the best ending?

i’ve always said this, and i will always say it: final fantasy x-2. it’s called the perfect ending for a reason. and yes, i mean the ending where tidus comes back and he and yuna are reunited. 

51. Favorite non-vocal song?

somnus and somnus ultima from xv. honestly the most gorgeous song i have ever heard in my life.

52. Favorite limit break/overdrive/trance/you-get-the-picture mode and/or ability?

cloud’s omnislash for sure. can’t wait to see that in the remake.

53. Are there any plot-holes or questions you have about any of the games that you wish would be resolved?

nothing that bugs me too much. i guess the one that bothers me the most is that, why was ultimecia’s summon called griever?? has anyone ever explained this? if ultimecia isn’t rinoa, then why?? it worries me. i don’t know why, but it worries me.

54. What scene had the most impact on you?

there are plenty, but here is the top 5: yuna and tidus’ goodbye at the end of x, aerith and zack saying their final farewells to cloud in ac, noctis calling the kings of lucis to help him bring back the dawn and they all proceed to kill him in xv, luna and noctis getting married in the afterlife in xv and that scene at the end of viii when rinoa is pointing to the sky, we think she’s alone and then she turns and squall’s there, smiling for the first time in the entire game. okay, no, i’m cheating. also the ending of crisis core, for sure. 

55. Which game did you play first, and when (how old were you, etc.)?

i played final fantasy x when i was around 8 or 9. i got introduced to it by my friend’s sister. we watched her play for days and weeks until i finally asked my dad if i could have the game, too. and i got it, and i loved it. i still do. what a game. 

57. What game that has yet to be released are you most looking forward to?

*laughs nervously* final fantasy vii remake. square… please? 

58. What do you think of the Final Fantasy fandom in general? Do you think it is a good one? Any complaints?

oh, i think it’s a very good one! i’m not one to get too involved in fandoms anyway, so if there is bad blood, i don’t know about it. but everyone i’ve met has been super friendly, very talented and just genuinely wonderful. no complaints :) ok, maybe one. it doesn’t matter if you ship clerith, zerith, cloti or whatever you want. everyone can ship in peace. it’s all good.

59. Do you have any favorite works of art or fanfiction that you always go back to, and/or basically accept as canon?

i have no shame in admitting that i basically consider it as canon (tho this goes into the kh story, too) that squall and cloud are basically the fathers of roxas and sora, and they’re the best, happiest family ever. i go back to a lot of strifehart fanfiction, and plenty of awesome fanarts i’ve seen.

60. If you got the chance to work at Square Enix making Final Fantasy games, at any job, regardless of your skill set (they offer you paid training), what would you most like to work on or do?

hmm, i think i would like to be a character designer, but i would also really, really love to be involved in the story creation and writing, too. maybe i could do both?

thanks so much again, hon, you’re the greatest and i had the best time answering these :D talking about final fantasy makes me so happy! love you