#And even if they did leak the info about the child's existence as long as they don't know the child's name it might not do that much damage

[moongothic]

You know I wasn't going to post about this, but the more I think about it the more it drives me up the walls

So when Luffy and co release Crocodile from jail, it's specifically under the threat that if Crocodile tries anything funny, well, Iva-chan has a trick up their sleeve to put Crocodile back in-line.

So what the fuck was that actually about? What is Crocodile's secret weakness? I'm specifically looking at the way this is phrased in the manga, because the anime's added dialogue kinda messes with what's implied here. But what Iva specifically says is that Ivankov in particular holds the key to one of Crocodile's weaknesses, but they'll stay quiet about it as long as Crocodile behaves himself ("Vataashi wa koitsu no yowami wo hitotsu nigitteru", a very clunky but literal translation could be "One of his weaknesses is within my grasp". The way Viz translated the line is a bit different so I'm not bothering with getting a cap of the panel, you wouldn't be able to tell how these lines were phrased in Japanese based on Viz's translations anyways) (The dialogue Toei added was Crocodile furiously shouting at Iva-chan, telling them to not say anything and Iva-chan reminding Croc to watch his tone or else they'll reveal Croc's past to everyone. A lot of people don't remember this was in-fact added by Toei, hence I wanted to clarify/remind what happened in this scene originally)

And now. Obviously. When Oda went out of his way to introduce a brand new character whose entire personality is being queer and their power is giving people magic HRT. And then like five chapters later re-introduces Crocodile. And tells us that these two have Secret Beef. And never proceeds to fucking tell us what the hell that was about. Yes, the natural conclusion one would come to would be that Crocodile is stealth trans. That is basic, good storytelling. You (re)introduce two characters, tell us they have beef, one has a very specific ability; you're supposed to connect these dots in your mind. So that now, if Oda revealed to us tomorrow that Crocodile was canonically trans, it would not surprise anyone because it's already been set-up in the story, by this very scene. It's a logical conclusion.

But. I'm becoming more and more convinced that Iva-chan's blackmail might actually not be about Crocodile being trans.

Like the general fandom assumption for the past 15 years has been that Crocodile's stealth trans, but we actually don't know he's stealth. He could be openly trans, and between that being a borderline requirement for Crocodad to be real (since he would've been a Shichibukai for years before Luffy was even born) and the possibility that his earring could specifically be a gay earring, like. Yeah. Crocodile could be openly trans. If Crocodile's perfectly happy to let the whole world know he's gay, then him being trans shouldn't have to be a secret either. We the readers could just be unaware of it because it wasn't relevant information to us, and his transition would be old ass news in-universe and not worth bringing up.

And thus, if Crocodile isn't stealth, then Iva-chan can't blackmail him by threatening to out him, becaus he can't be outted.

Now for a while I did considder that Iva-chan could've been actually threatening to detransition Crocodile if he tried anything funny. Surely he would hate that, so much so that he might not have wanted to even hear Ivankov suggest it. But thinking about it. Unless Iva-chan can use Armanent Haki or get Crocodile moisturized, they shouldn't be able to hit Crocodile actually. Like Croc's Logia makes him impossible to hit unless he specifically allowed himself to be touched. So even if Iva-chan tried to surprise attack Crocodile with Estrogen, Croc should just turn to sand automatically, the attack should not land.

Meaning Iva-chan shouldn't be able to detransition Crocodile against his will, at least not without Haki and we don't know if they can use it, so that can't be Crocodile's weakness either.

And so we have to ask the question. What the fuck is that weakness then that Ivankov mentioned?

All we really know is that Crocodile doesn't want this weakness to be brought up, it's a secret. And for all we know Iva-chan might be the only person in the world who knows about it.

And I just. Like.

There is one weakness, kind of a universal one that many people could have, one that has been brought up time-and-time again post-timeskip, one that has become more and more relevant in the story, especially now at the begining of the Final Saga.

A secret weakness.

If pregnancy is what cracked Crocodile's egg and he transitioned immidiately/soon after giving birth, then it's entirely plausible Iva-chan could know Crocodile had a secret child. And surely he'd want nothing more than for his child to be safe, not end up in trouble because of him. And Ivankov most certainly could put that child in danger, especially now that Crocodile was officially no longer on the World Government's side, there'd be no protection for the baby. All Ivankov had to do was leak the information out, that Sir Crocodile had a child, and anybody who had beef with him could get their revenge by attempting to find the child.

Like I'm just saying. This could line up nicely, actually

[opinated-user]

(note: it's ok if we disagree, i admit i might be jumping to conclusions due to lack of info that is currently unknown)

I respect your skeptical approach to any new info about LO. However I can't not point out that most structured info about her is based on what she does or says, or ppl's stories that are/was around her. Plus, fun fact about internet - no one is truly anonymous. Like everyone's, LO's personality slowly leakes in public through her lies, jokes, preferences and other forms of media she interacts with. It's quantity and quality, gathered together, creates a stable believable trend in which Courtney's story fits right in. It feels like one of those "final" pieces that connect everything else and that's why I don't think it could be specifically made up or imagined by someone genious.

What I'm trying to say - in my opinion, it fits all too well with what was already known. It isn't just disturbing, it screams!

To this point, I personally believe that LO doesn't seek popularity and plays it low on purpose. She had whole childhood to learn how to be a sneaky predator under everyone's noses. That's a skill.

i don't disagree with any of that, anon. the biggest reason why i try to remark that all of that are allegations and we have no strong evidence that it happened is an attempt to avoid people asking "then why she isn't in prison", "why nobody has called the police" or similars.

taking out of the way for a second that the police are many times ineffective, that many crimes go unpunished for many reasons, even with evidence behind it, and lack of a police record doesn't mean that someone hasn't done something wrong in their life, the truth of the matter is that we don't have anything from Courtney but allegations. this is not Courtney's fault either because she was a literal child when all of that happened, but it is what it is. do i believe those are credible enough considering the kind of person LO is and her actions? yes, just like i also believe that the sankaku accounts are or were hers. but that's not ever going to work as evidence in a court of law or for a police officer to do anything. i can't offer to anyone any other stronger evidence that maybe she did those things beyond fanfictions or posts or maybe some stream clip, and i can't blame anyone either if none of that is enough for them to change their minds about whether LO actually did those things or not. i bet anything that at least a portion of the people who read this blog won't ever believe Courtney's word without a direct confession of LO, which we also know won't ever happen, and i can't blame them either because nobody wants to believe that someone would be so awful of a person and kept living comfortably without any major issues for so long. we don't want to believe that such a person could exist right under our noses and we just didn't see it before. just like many just refuse to believe that LO would go so low as to lie about having cancer. just like many don't believe that LO did enjoyed images made with actual CSA of real children knowingly. some of it will always seem "a step too far" or "not even LO would go that far" to some people, even if LO hasn't actually done anything to give anyone that impression, and there's nothing i can do about it. so i can only talk about that as allegations and claims, because i have nothing else.

[aliensunflower-fics]

Marinette The Perfect Daughter In Law: A Prompt

[ I've seen a few ‘everyone loves Marinette AU’s’ and a couple Marvel DC ‘all the mentors want THEIR kid to end up with Marinette AU’s’ and well frankly! I felt inspired! So I present to you my new prompt / AU thing! In which all the most powerful / rich / popular people in Paris decide to play matchmaker… ]

It starts when Adrien and Kagami have a less than AMICABLE break up according to their parents and the media anyway in reality it was a really REALLY dull break up. The pair have been ‘dating’ (using each other as an excuse to go out and experience normal teenage stuff) since they were 15. Now at 17 soon to be 18 the pair decided to publicly break up in order to pursue other people and interests. The problem is they never told their parents the truth so both Gabriel and Kagami’s mother Tomeo feel protective and concerned about what must surely be an upsetting first heartbreak for their child. And okay maybe both parents take that out on each other and both get a bit defensive and protective. And MAYBE it ends with Tomeo vowing to get revenge for her daughter. Enter, Marinette. Up and coming fashion designer for the rich and famous! She’s single, talented, and as far as Tomeo knows Gabriel is interested in the girl for her talent. So what better revenge could exist but having Marinette take an interest in Kagami!

Kagami has no idea why her mother suddenly has an interest in Marinette but she wont complain about having more time with her very cute designer friend. And all the outfits Tomeo is paying Marinette to make for Kagami is giving the young fencer plenty of up-close and personal moments with Marinette. And okay Marinette is VERY cute and Kagami wont question why she suddenly has all this tine with Marinette, eating ice cream with the girl and having brunch. But she knows shes absolutely head over heels when Marinette shows up at her fencing tournament gives her a luck charm and cheers her on wearing HER colors. Obviously Kagami wiped the floor with all the competition she cant be seen hesitating in front of Marinette!

On Tomeo’s side of things she makes sure that the paparazzi still lurking around after Kagami and Adrien’s breakup catch photos of what could easily be interpreted as dates between the girls. After all this is a revenge ploy but also Marinette is fantastic so Tomeo is 300% down with Kagami ‘bringing her into the family’ something she tells Kagami after the first paparazzi ‘date photos’ leak into the news. Kagami still has no idea this was an orchestrated affair and just thinks her mothers caught on to her feelings and is overjoyed that Marinette is approved of because after the cheek kiss Marinette gave her for winning the fencing tournament Kagami was preparing to fight her mother for the right to pursue the young designer seriously. After all she never hesitates! 

But Tomeo never realized Gabriel isnt the only one interested in Marinette. Audrey Bourgeouis has been keeping an eye on Marinette trying to find a way to get Marinette on to her side and away from Gabriel. So when she sees the photos of Kagami and Marinette she sees an opportunity. After all if Marinette isnt exclusively into men (and those photos of her flushed cheeks as Kagami cleans ice cream off her bottom lip are a clear indication shes not) then Audrey smells opportunity. After all Marinette was Chloe’s first crush! How cute would that be! The next day Marinette is being offered yet another opportunity to intern under Audrey this time with much looser restrictions. When Marinette accepts she suddenly finds herself working with Chloe… A LOT. The pair are modeling together, often paired together for shoots in perfect complementary clothes that screams ‘opposites attract’. Chloe is also helping manage Marinette’s brand and the two start to get along very well. The model photos and their business lunches are soon plastered alongside the Kagami and Marinette outings with parisian gossip blogs finding their interest picked by this potential love triangle.

Chloe for one, was confused at first. Sure she knew her mom was interested in Marinette but she never thought SHE would be working so closely with her first crush. And Chloe tries to ignore it, after all those are dead feelings! And Marinette woud never forgive her anyway so why even- Wait. Is that Marinette in a downright gorgeous golden dress? A-and she will be posing right next to Chloe for their shared shoot? Well… Chloe always thought herself deserving of royalty and damn if Marinette aint the princess of her dreams. Sorry Adriken’s you had your chance to get the girl, but now its winner keeps all and Marinette is the only prize shes interested in. For the record Alya is freaked out by Chloe being nice, but shes more weirded out by Chloe being protective and handsy and downright shamelessly flirty with Marinette. Audrey is pleased when she hears the news and is quick to give her daughter encouragement acting as if none of this was premeditated at ALL.

Oh but they have no idea that this is just the beginning. Because guess who's moved back into town. Adrien’s favorite cousin and aunty. And Felix’s mom is quite the busybody and dammit Felix needs friends! And maybe a cute girlfriend! And oh whos that pretty girl on the magazine cover? Marinette? The one her celebrity connections have nothing but praise for? Perfect! Shes invited to lunch with Felix and herself on friday to discuss movie costumes! And oh Audrey dear dont you think Marinette would look fabulous sandwiched between TWO blondes! Felix hasnt modeled in a while but come now. So suddenly Marinette is being spotted with Felix guiding him about paris and modeling with him AND Chloe under AUDREY’s brand NOT Gabriels.

Felix thought hed really hate Marinette; he tried to ignore her he really did. But shes funny, witty and sweet. Not to mention trustworthy, so a good candidate for a business partner. And thats it, but then he has to admit hes impressed when he rolls up to a photoshoot and Chloe! The definition of brat personified is acting… Bearable. Yes, somehow Marinette has done the impossible! She has tamed the beast known as Chloe. And yes fine he will admit shes drop dead gorgeous and how intelligent of her to learn all sides of the fashion industry and boost her rep with modelling! Soon hes spending more time with her, he tries to argue he needs a guide, that shes the most bearable person to be with! That she is just a friend- Oh god. No it cant be! He sounds like-! Like ADRIEN! And Chloe already told him about THAT mess! No! Absolutely not! He will not lead on Marinette like his idiot cousin! Marinette is a rare and beautiful woman! She could be his queen! And god he has to admit it much as he loathes too Marinette’s smile is enough to make him thank every non-existent god. He will win her heart, show her that she deserves better than his brain dead cousin! Felix is sure mother will approve of his decision to pursue the girl, now he just needs to do more shoots with Marinette...

And that's what finally gets Gabriel to snap. Because REALLY Felix!? Is there no loyalty to FAMILY. Not to mention he was totally drafting a potential contract for Marinette when Audrey snapped her up the witch! But its fine! Marinette has always been interested in Adrien! Surely she still is? Surely she's not been swayed by any of her new suitors! Right? Gabriel knows he can't mess with Audrey’s contract so he goes through Adrien, freeing up his sons schedule and telling him to spend time with Marinette to help her ‘adapt’ to the harsh world of fashion and modeling. He uses Adrien’s heroic nature to make it sound like hed be saving her from Chloe and Felix. And sure enough Adrien bites, using his friendship with Chloe to worm into fittings, meetings, and photo shoots. At first hes just there to make sure Chloe and Felix arent hurting sweet Marinette. But when he sees the blondes fighting for her attention, flirting with her, posing with her in some rather romantic settings. Suddenly hes less worried and more… Jealous? No! Not him! Hes concerned, confused, suspicious! Obviously he needs to spend more time with Mari- Wait! When did Kagami get here to take Marinette to lunch! And why are they all ignoring him!!!

Now Marinette is fully in the public's eye. Gossip blogs are being fed bits of info writing up each ‘candidates’ appeal as THE romantic partner to the Marinette Dupain-Cheng paris new darling, the girl with a heart of gold too oblivious to see the trail of hearts following her around! But there is still another contender yet to enter the game! Jaggeds been away on tour teaching Luka his up and coming protege all the tricks. And lets not lie Luka has his own fans now, enough to rival all the others. Jagged sees Luka as his own son, even calling him as much! Hell hes even adopted Luka and Juleka and when I say adopted I mean Jagged literally got shared custody of the kids when their real dad tried to start trouble once Luka started gaining fame. Luka and Juleka for one love their adopted father and his wonderful fiance Penny. But back to Jagged, being Jagged. 

The moment Jagged is back in Paris he's checking up on his favorite designer and hopefully future daughter in law! When… WHAT'S THIS?! All the other ritchies in Paris are playing his game! Trying to get Marinette married into THEIR families! Not rock and roll at all! He was here first! And so being Jagged he decides to make Luka’s stake in the race for Marinette’s heart clear! By spamming social media with photos of Marinette being cute with Luka, taking his measurements, going out with him, the pair babying Fang, the two passed out against each other after a long concert. And he has photos going back at least a year or two! Soon Luka’s fans pick up the hype starting a trending hashtag finding the pair cute! Jagged feels confident that hes won! When Audrey retaliates, and from there its a complete train wreck. Before long each pair has a hashtag filled with cute moments and arguing over whos dating the model / fashion designer! 

Meanwhile Adrien is drowning in denial as he goes through each hashtag seething about how many MORE photos everyone else has with Marinette, when HE is her very good friend and was here first! Felix, Chloe and Kagami on the other hand have declared open war after they tried to talk to each other about the hashtags reasonably only for it to devolve into “so you agree Marinette is best with me!” - “WHAT! No! Thats not what I said! Besides she clearly is best with me!” - “Ridiculous!” And so on. Poor Luka is having an entirely different reaction hiding in shame unsure how to face Marinette because he WAS going to ask her on a proper date now that she seems over Adrien, because even with everything she's the melody playing in his heart and he had a plan! But now his mom and sister are texting him and teasing him and apparently he has MORE competition! Who do these people think they are to deserve Marinette! No! Luka won't lose Jagged has been teaching him to be bold and confident! And Marinette is worth all of his efforts! Jagged REGRETS NOTHING even if Penny confiscated the tv remote!

Marinette meanwhile has no idea what's going on because the whole class made a dumb bet on when the designer would notice with one of the bet conditions being that no one could tip Marinette off and that they have to keep her away from Paparazzi so they dont spoil it either. And sense Alya is helping manage Marinette’s social media Marinette hasn't looked at it yet so she has NO idea what's happening. But her birthday is coming up next week and Chloe definitely didn't get dibs on planning a surprise party for her all so she could spoil the girl and RUB her GREAT relationship with Marinette into her competitions FACES! The competition however (and Adrien JustAfriend Agreste) have decided that they really aren't going down without a fight!

[ Wanna Support Me? Donate HERE! ]

[ Wanna Read More? Masterlist HERE! ]

[razorblade180]

Interdimensional Moms pt4

Part 3 here! <-

The tales had be interesting. The tales had even been emotionally gripping, yet all of them so far didn’t seem to register at the moment as Ruby’s teammates looked at her with the same excitement she used to give her own mother during story time. Ruby couldn’t help but give a little smile.

Ruby:I take it you’re ready for my turn? You do know it’s not exactly a sunshine and rainbows story, right?

Weiss:We figured as much, but....

Yang:You’re so different! From the moment you showed up I could just feel it in my gut. You have this...presence about you. Not to mention intsene confidence.

Blake:Yang is right. You said you beat your Salem when your seventeen. That’s...scary if I’m being honest. Such a drastic departure from any of our worlds.

Ruby:*red* Hehehe ummm I guess I’m just awesome? Really I don’t think it’s the most outstanding feat. At least by my worlds standards I suppose. I mean sure, I’m consider cream of the crop there too but there’s talented people and challenges all over that would put me through my paces still. I’m just...me.

Weiss:Sigh...honestly, I suppose that means our own skills must pale in comparison to our counterparts.

Ruby:Mmmm I wouldn’t say that for sure. My Yang would kill me if she heard this but there’s something about the one right here that has spark I dig.

Yang:Really?

Ruby:Uh huh. Can’t put my finger on it but I think you take her if you want it bad enough. As for Weiss....couldn’t tell ya. Haha, I know better than anybody to not underestimate the power of mother, and you pumped twins out.

Weiss:Not sure if those are pity points or real ones but thanks either way.

Blake:You don’t even have to tell me I’d lose. Just gave an entire story about me an my condition.

Ruby:Don’t feel too bad about it. I can’t imagine much reason for you two to fight for any reason. You’re both too reasonable to not reason with yourself.

Blake:Aw I’m touched.

Yang and Weiss:We aren’t....

Ruby:Hahaha I’m just saying! So, I guess I take things from the top like you all? From what I learned from all of you our Beacon experiences really are more or less the same, not counting certain interactions between a bookworm faunus and an adorkable blonde knight. Enrolled early, blew up the entrance, Weiss was rude, Yang ditched me, all the same beats.

Yang:There’s no super badass change like you beating Cinder the night of dance and making our entire lives easier?

Ruby:Ha! I wish I was that legit. No, I was very much the young girl tripping in heels that night. Vytal festival came around and was attacked, then Beacon fell. Pyrrha was lost and so was Penny. Difference being that was my last time seeing her, unlike Weiss’s story apparently.

Weiss:Yeah that...that’s a little bit of shock to be frank. Sorry.

Ruby:No worries. Not like you did anything and it was decades ago for me now. After that day is when I started to get a bit more serious I think. I had always taken being a huntress seriously and never slacked of in trying to live my dream. However, my perspective may have honed in on just how do or die life his when you’re the one choosing to walk into unknown danger. Team RNJR’s first and only mission, save the world!

Yang:Sub mission: Flirt with Jaune Arc.

Ruby:*blushing* We do not choose who we fall in love with it. But yes, that may have been a personal pseudo mission for me. He’s my first friend at Beacon for crying out loud and I you know.....thought he was cute then too.

WBY:Yeah that checks out.

Ruby:What does that mean!?

Weiss:Ruby, even my Ruby admits to finding Jaune attractive and having a crush on him back in the day.

Blake:Same.

Yang:I already went into enough detail on how my little sister feels about Jaune. Your just the reality where you pounced on the opportunity and never let go. Struck when the iron was hot and none of us were around; sly fox.

Ruby:Gee you make it sound underhanded. It isn’t like I intended to actively pursue him. Everyone was really sad and stressed traveling to Anima. There was a tension in the air. One that really strained us. I did my best to keep focus, but a leader is only as put together as team. Ren and Nora confided one another as usual and I tried being there for Jaune because seeing him emotionally shut down was rough; so I did my best to be there for him. Then...he ended up being there for me and I was the one who needed comfort. All the airing out and late nights just...led to....*red*

Blake: “Breaking the tension?”

Ruby:I guess that’s one way of putting it. We were lonely. I hid my feelings best I could under the veil of comfort in the moment. Not that needed to. He made it pretty clear that he wanted me in the same way I wanted him. I just the two of us were too scared to ask for promises we weren’t sure we could keep so we loved in the moments we could, so to speak.

Weiss:If it wasn’t under dire situations, all that sounds oddly romantic.

Ruby:Right!? Looking back at it makes the entire thing seem romantic but I definitely wouldn’t wish a similar experience on anybody! I guess it’s what I wished for when I fantasized huntress life huh? Things obviously got better along the way. Our relationship got a bit more serious right before we got to Haven. Then Tyrian and other crazy stuff happened that threw all of us into panic mode again before slowly getting better again by a lot.

Yang:We showed up?

Ruby:Bingo! You and Weiss, met Oscar, and then eventually Blake came back. Things were on the up and up.

Weiss:Uh, Haven attack?

Ruby:We lived, up and up. Yeah you got stabbed but you know...that’s not new I’m sure.

Weiss:Yeah I have the scar and I’m still little pissed.

Ruby:Valid. Anyways, so my Atlas experience was different as hell. There was no formation of Remnants armies like Weiss spoke of or even between two kingdoms like Blake. Yang, what happened yours again exactly?

Yang:Nonsense. Cinder showed up with lackeies but not Salem’s lackies. Those people showed up separately, then Adam came back from wherever the hell he- a lot! A lot of people showed up for different reasons but also the same reason and to be frank, we all almost got shot by the military for being in bases that quote unquote, “didn’t exist.”

Ruby:Man I wish we traded. That at least sounds crazy enough to be fun. Just a rollercoaster in the dark basically. My experience was probably as hectic, but also way more streamlined. We showed up, and then all hell broke loose. Specially a mass grimm invasion lead by Cinder and her annoying associates. We were there for about three weeks updating General Ironwood and getting our barrings together when it happened. I wanna call it a hit and run tactic but it was clearly planned in advanced. Mechs were hacked again, traitors in the military, grimm lying in wait before hand; it was chaos! All for the relic.

Blake:Who was the maiden?

Ruby:Never met her. By the time we got there, Ironwood was panicking because she had vanished, taken right from under his nose. It was some young girl apparently, really young. The attack on Beacon looked like child’s play to this. Mantle got attacked, grimm were on the chains, they tried dropping Atlas to the ground; all a diversion for a relic. We all should’ve died, and yet, we didn’t. Winter and Weiss weeded out traitors, huntsman and military held the line, Yang bested Hazel with Nora, Qrow and I cut down Tyrian! Ren, Blake and Jaune helped the kingdoms while Ironwood struck down Watts. Nobody was in the mood to die that day. There wasn’t gonna be another Beacon. By all means, we were pissed. Even Raven showed up of all people.

Yang:What!?

Ruby:You can’t attack a kingdom without the world knowing. Especially when traitors leak info. Honestly she came for you though, or she never left to begin with. Couldn’t tell ya. Thanks to Maria I had a bit more handling with my eyes. That helped a lot. Without them and Os-

She stopped herself, choking on the words. The zest and excitement of recalling the heroic feats of her friends dimmed slightly with her smile. Her joyful smile became bittersweet like the memory.

Ruby:Then there was Oscar, the real warrior on that flamed filled night. That battle had to have been three days at least. We were so driven, and so tired. I was tired, but Cinder, Neo, and the others with her at the time weren’t; always showing up at the worst time. I managed to push Cinder back in a fight but grimm and others still swarmed. We were at a point that grimm very well might’ve did us in and the villains didn’t have to push any harder. But Oscar changed that. Hehe, what’s it about country folk that makes people like him and I not hesitate to grit our teeth? That dork looked at me, gave me the biggest smile on the the steps to Atlas, and then he left. His hair went white as he twirled the cane and then he left, forever. Oz came out, and he left nothing to the imagination. “Limited magic” my butt. He obliterated grimm and made a barrier aroma Atlas while everyone else cleared Mantle long enough for the world to send reinforcements. Salem didn’t get the relic, but she got the maiden and thousands of casualties. Oscar being one of them. Also, Whitley....he was in critical condition for a very long time.

Weiss:What do you mean...critical condition?

Ruby:Everything happened so fast Weiss. Panic was high, buildings fell....a piece on him. I wasn’t there but when I eventually found you, you were nearly hysterical and banged up. By some miracle he lived even though we could not reach him and he did not get aid for awhile. We thought him dead. It was only after everything we learned somebody got him. Being rich never paid off more than with medical bills. Thanks to youth and medicine he can still walk, but he can only do so much before being tired. He also left Atlas. The cold hurts.

Weiss:So, I run the company because he can’t?

Ruby:I wouldn’t put it that way, but it was one of dozens of reasons that made that goal stronger for you. Relax though, both of you get plenty of time to be witty siblings like I told you earlier.

Weiss:I know. It’s just, I guess it’s hard imagining Whitley hurt like that. I don’t think I could handle it.

Ruby:You definitely teetered in the moment. Knowing that happened though probably gave you anger and grit to fight the entire battle. You were a beast. Scarier than Winter. Anyways, that hollow victory was a real wake up call for the world. They didn’t know about Salem and we never told society in earnest. Cinder and other conspirators were enough to make Remnant work together to boost defense. Relief went to places that needed it and I, became the face of hope. Haven, Argus, Atlas, even people from Vale got to chattering of a particular group of people who always seemed to answer the call for help. Then the towns in between chattered. Yours truly had been carving a name in the history books and was only gain popularity the moment I stepped into Vacou, alone.

Blake:Alone!?

Weiss:What!?

Yang:Where were we!!!!!?

Ruby looked at surprised faces around the table, smiling tenderly. She looked down her dress and pulled out the cross she wore around her neck. Her thumb traced its edges as her mind began wandering down an old path paved with emotions raw to the core.

Ruby:I’ve always felt different. Not just because of my eyes but that there was just...a certain spark that never stopped going off for as long as I remember. There are plenty of people who can’t bare to watch others suffer, but there are fewer people I believe that truly feel the agony of other people’s pain. Beacon, Haven, Atlas, Argus; there was no place I went that I didn’t see the faces of others lamenting, and I didn’t make me want to grieve. Atlas took so much out of all of you and I just felt so....driven to stop that ache. For everyone’s sake, but mine as well. I wanted the world to finally get to the happy ending. Enough trauma had be sowed for a hundred lifetimes, so I went on ahead of everyone. I never doubted you all would follow but I wanted to get ahead of the curve and take on as much of the suffering I could do others wouldn’t. If the world wouldn’t give me a miracle than I’d be it myself for everyone else.

Yang:That’s suicidal! Salem wanted you specifically!

Ruby:It’s not like I went marching up to her door and said “1v1 bitch, I’m here” no, I just chose to move forward quicker than what we were all doing. Believe me, all of you were upset when you caught up, after I had already saved Vacou. *smiles* I really like that place. I told the people it was the next target and all they did was double down on pushing back. I managed to pin down the Summer maiden before the villains and thanks with the city on alert, there wasn’t a shift in the sand that didn’t go unnoticed. I got the jump on Mercury and Emerald, personally paying them back. Can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. It didn’t take long before they realized how screwed they were with them being outed like this and Cinder having the nerve to retreat before hand. Both of them threw in the total, outing the plan against Vacou. A wipeout of a win. Not to mention they told me the location Salem’s little hiding hole.

Weiss:We missed all of that?

Ruby:That’s what happens when I leave in the dead of night and running on adrenaline. Like I said before, people were tired. As much as all of you wanted to hoof it, other’s were relying on you. Atlas almost dropped for gods sake. Eventually when you all caught up it was at a good time. Soloing was rewarding but difficult. Fortunately Sun, Neptune, Ilia, and a few other familiar faces were close by if I needed an extra set of hands. My little stunt earned the anger of everyone for awhile.

WBY:Yeah no shit...the leader left.

Ruby:Yang was the most upset, followed by Uncle Qrow, and you Weiss. I was ready for the blowback. Jaune and Nora saw me though and bursted into tears. Hehe, wasn’t ready for that. Felt terrible and cried back. To prevent that stunt again, my Yang convinced Raven to link me. A couple days of apologizing and rest smoothed things over. It also gave time for just a few close friends and colleagues to get together for an assault on Salem’s castle. A few were apprehensive about it at first but at the end of the day I was going. That attitude was infectious apparently. You guys, actually everybody, they started getting this hunger to end it all. Maybe it was the high of victory? Regardless, it sent me racing to the end with those that I loved most.

Yang:You’re a real “my way or the highway” kind of Ruby. I don’t get how that explains what made you so...elite.

Ruby:I’m not sure what to say. A fight needed to to fought so I fought it. A cry for help was heard so I ran to it. A grimm needed slaying so I slayed it. People needed me to win so I didn’t dare think of losing. Dying was never option, even when it stared me right into my eyes. I had things I wanted to do and people I wanted see for years to come. I guess...I am strong because of the fact I want things my way. A moment I’m not giving it 110% is a moment wasted. After all, a huntress is all I ever wanted to be.

A single dream she wanted since birth. The never ending desire to be the hero in stories told to her many nights ago. That’s all it ever was. That’s all it’s ever been. Even in meadow of beautiful red roses, one would be the rose that captured the eyes of many, that bloomed stronger than the rest. As simple as it was, that had to be the answer here. Weiss, Yang, and Blake were in front of that flower. The Ruby Rose that simply bloomed stronger than the rest. The one that clung to her dream as if letting go meant dying itself. The devotion was inspiring, yet also overwhelming. If this was Ruby they had lead them that day in the Emerald Forest, could they have kept up? Could she be the leader they followed? No, they couldn’t have. Something deep down inside them gave them that answer. No matter how she looked and how much she loved, this Ruby Rose was cut from a cloth they simply weren’t off. The same as others, but oh so different.

Weiss:You’re....kinda a monster, you know that right?

Yang:Seriously, I’m so...floored. It’s intimidating.

Blake:Not to mention humbling. I used to think I gave it all I had. Now I’m not so sure.

Ruby:Oh don’t be like that you three! You’re all living proof there was more than way to go about life, this war! Everything you gave was enough because you’re done with it! Nobody failed. Besides, I...am far from ideal. The assault was challenging. Getting around hoards of grimm and making it to Salem was hell made real. Neo tried taking another shot at me but Yang held her off with help. Everyone pushed the obstacles in front of me out of the way as I went to Salem herself. Cinder had been abandoned by her and stripped of a lot of her powers. Angry and desperate, she tried killing me again as a way to prove worth. I beat her. However, I let her walk away.

Yang:What!? Why would-

Ruby:Naive, I was...naive okay? She was all spent and though I hated her, I just couldn’t. Not when I looked into her eyes and saw that same hunger I had to claw and scream at my dream until it was in my hands die inside her. We both knew from this point on there was absolutely nothing she could do where this ends her way. All she worked for turned burned to ash. So I gave her the choice to not burn up with it. Cinder swallow her pride and then fled. A part of me couldn’t help but rationalize killing her didn’t solve or justify any of my beliefs or desires. It would’ve done it because I hated her like she hated me. That was the dumb logic of a seventeen year old who never quite learned to take things slow.

Blake:....I don’t think it’s dumb. Naive for sure, but maybe that’s good? Even my Ruby, she never wanted to act on hate. She didn’t. Salem lives.

Weiss:Mine sent her soul to be at piece instead of passing a cruel judgment.

Yang:As a person who’s seen what you looked like with nothing but vengeance inside, I can say it doesn’t fit you. Before that day you had a warmth inside you to even foes that were somewhat admirable. You chose to leave Cinder’s fate up to those who had that hate and Salem was undone by her own doing at the very end. That’s what really makes you special Ruby. That’s why you’re called an honest soul. Good will is your nature.

Ruby:....Hmm, you sure know how to butter me up. *scratches head* I guess that part of me is uni-I mean multiversal. Strangely, that makes me feel better, to a degree.

Weiss:Do we even have to ask what happened to Salem at this point? I doubt the story ends with you loosing and having to retreat.

Ruby:Who’s to say it doesn’t? I could’ve been beaten to death before the gods themselves descended down to revive me with awesome power.

Yang:....Did you?

Ruby:Wh-No! Haha, I made her an immortal statue.

Blake:I-It was that easy?

Ruby:Well I wouldn’t call rushing into hell’s castle easy, or Salem. I lit her up at least a dozen times. My head pounded from each use, I was tossed around a bunch, magic is annoying, and not to mention running out of ammo. I left nothing to the imagination in that fight. If it were easy then I wouldn’t be rooting my horn and my age doing it. I was so tired I blacked out afterwards. I woke days later with a sore body and the title of “Remnant’s Savior.” Apparently beating Salem had weakened the grimm everywhere and all of you made sure who was to be thanked for it. That’s the tale of how I saved the world with my friends. Love, trust, elbow grease, and a lot of bullets. Before the final battle, Ozpin had struck a deal with everyone involved. In return for saving the world, he’d cut ties with us.

Yang:Seriously? What brought that about!?

Ruby:Good or not, he lied and was a schemer. Sure I was gonna try to save the world regardless of his interference but there wasn’t a person alive that didn’t to finally take a step towards the future after all this. All of us finally had time chase dreams and help the world the way we wanted to before all of this. Blake begin mending hate, Weiss took back her company, if Yang wasn’t with Blake then she was seeking more answers to Raven on wild adventures.

Yang:You mean Raven still left after all that!?

Ruby:In her defense, both of you made everything fucking awkward when she was around. It’s like you both wanted to talk about something but knew any subject was a land mine so you all you ever did was...stare, like weirdos. Glad that’s in the past. She just lives with dad now and you two now to hold a conversation. I dare not ask for more. I’d be a granny by the time I did.

Yang:Sigh...I don’t know what I expected. Shit it the fan several times and children were born before mom and I found solidarity and understanding. What did you do afterwards? Your goal was already met.

Ruby:Like hell it was! I started busting my butt traveling around the world, visiting every place to help in anyways I could. Ren and Nora tagged along for awhile before going off to make an orphanage in Anima near Ren’s old village. That left Jaune and I to do our hero thing.

Yang:As well as other things....

Ruby:Hey, what can I say? We were young and going up in the world. By the time I was nineteen, I was now a married to my partner and best friend.

Weiss:Uhhhh-

Ruby:He’s my partner on RNJR and you’re my BFF, gosh did I really need to explain that hehe?

Weiss:I just had to make sure. Crazier twists could happen.

Blake:Wow you married young. Not that there’s a problem but I’m surprised. Then again you also dated earlier than my Ruby. Hehe, weapons were on her brain for a long time.

Weiss:No kidding. When I learned about you crushing on my brother I was shocked to find out you liked anybody in general. Especially a person who isn’t a weapon nut in the slightest.

Ruby:*shrugs* All you’re telling me is I’m clearly the most impatient or impulsive Ruby you all know. Don’t know how that happened. Maybe I was dropped as a baby or had one too many coffees growing up?

Weiss:I’m willing to bet it’s both.

Ruby:Ruuuuude. So yeah, that’s...the story of how I saved the world and married Jaune. We even built a home just outside Vacou, overlooking the kingdom and neighboring town in the distance where Maria grew up. Yeah, that’s me....more or less. All the triumphant parts anyways. Anything later on is......

.......

Blake:R...Ruby? You okay?

Ruby:Nope, not really. *clenches cross*

Yang:......You know, I never really got religion, especially after learning the truth. It just seemed completely hollow when you learn of the real gods, ya know? However, I changed my tune a bit after being a parent and then some more when uncle Qrow died. It was never really about the truth behind if those other gods were real-

Ruby:It’s the piece of mind in believing in a better place for loved ones and having people watch over you. It’s truly based on blind faith in every sense but that’s okay as long as it gives peace of mind, to stay strong. Yeah....that’s why I wear this.

Yang:If that’s the “why” then I guess the unavoidable question is what happened?

The reaper leaned back in his chair, letting out a long sigh. Ruby brushed her hair out of her face while her face went pale. Then, Ruby’s eyes, her teammates watched a pair of stunning silver eyes dim, becoming akin to a clouded mirror.

Ruby:Being a huntress was all I wanted. The plan of having a family and settling down never appealed to me much. I feel, I felt like being in the field was where I was meant to be. It’s where I was most myself in a way. So the day I learned that I was pregnant was more than a little upsetting and terrifying, until dad and time itself filled me with the most genuine joy I may have ever experienced. Dustin Arc Rose, my first born son. He opened a door to a world and life I never knew I wanted to be apart of. Then...that door was shut minutes after, when Cinder and Neo stole him right from my arms. I couldn’t do a single thing about it other than blackout. That single act of good will I showed, it did nothing but kill me inside. The same way I did to her.

WB:.....

Yang:Ru-Ruby....your eyes.

Ruby:Hmm? Are they clouded? Funny, I would’ve thought your Ruby would’ve had a similar change. Maybe that’s a world exclusive thing, or a testament to the will you Ruby has to endure. Clouded eyes on a silver eyed warrior means the person has lost the desire or rather the mindset of persevering life. Be it their own life or wanting to end another’s life out of resentment, strife. My entire world fell apart when I woke up and learned nobody was able to retrieve Dustin. I was in pieces, Jaune was broken, nobody was the same. There wasn’t a soul we didn’t know that hadn’t tried to find a lead, but we never did. He was just...gone; and I couldn’t cope at all.

Weiss:I don’t think any mother could. Ruby, I’m so sorry that happened to you.

Ruby:I’m sorry too. I lashed out in anger, and shut people out. My eyes clouded and I dove into my work for a little over a year doing nothing but searching aimlessly as I took and every job back to back. The more time went by meant the more people eventually had to go back to their own, and it drove me up a wall inside. No one could reach me. I didn’t want anybody to. Not even Jaune. I....*teary eyed* I left him alone in house. There was no part of me that could even attempt to understand his pain because I was drowning in mine. I was told he tried his best to catch them at the hospital. I never hated him for not succeeding but I...he... I just, I can’t. I don’t know what I thought. All o knew was I didn’t even want him to touch me. How cruel is that? *hugging herself* I made him drown in despair in the same way I was. I wasn’t home so often that I never realized he eventually left it abandoned to live with dad. Yang and Blake I didn’t even show up to your wedding. Jaune did that much. Hell, Raven attended. Ruby Rose as a person didn’t exist any more. I was only a wandering huntress looking for answers or the challenge that might’ve ended me.

Blake:What changed?

Ruby:Oz, he did what nobody else dared to do. He fought me. I don’t think he thought twice about it. He was prepared to accept all the anger I kept inside until I eventually broke down into tears like I’m trying not to do right now. Thinking about that time is still, extremely difficult. Oz let me lament, encouraging me afterwards to finally except the fact Dustin was gone and that I needed to process it properly. First I went to you Yang, in order to have a my big sis to lean on. Can you guess how that went?

Yang:With me holding you tighter than I ever had before.

Ruby:*smiles gently* I don’t deserve you. You and Blake then came to patch with me where everyone else waited for me and helped me face Jaune. That may have been the hardest thing I’ve done. Grieving or not, the fact that I left him in such a state. I know what that does to people firsthand and yet I left. For the first time in over a year we embraced and finally grieved together. The next two years were spent trying to heal and cope. During my time away the world had fully acknowledged me. I even got a proper nickname, but it all felt hollow. Imagine that, achieving your dream but not caring? If that’s not salt in a wound then I don’t know what is.

Weiss:What’s your title?

Ruby:I am the person people want to see when evil comes to cut their story short. I am a symbol that their tale still has more to tell. Remnant has named me The Storyteller. Curtsey of Maria, who spread the name around. Healing was slow and most nights I felt a pain in my heart, but then everything changed. One moment made me dare to try again to open that shut door in my life. *looks at Yang* I held your son in my arms. Sweet little Kovu.

Blake:*smiles* Kovu? Now I wonder who named him?

Yang:*red* Huh...how about that? Hehehe, wish I could meet him. I know he isn’t technically mine but I can’t help but feel all warm now. Also I can’t believe I named him that!

Weiss:I can. Veronica’s middle name is Nala.

Yang:Okay, maybe not marrying Blake was a win? Clearly I can’t be trusted to not name my children after other cats.

Blake:The wrong kind of cat too. I’m a panther faunus, not a lion. Even if they’re blonde that’s still false advertising of what they are.

Ruby:Well Yang was the one giving birth so you lost a majority of the option to complain.

Blake:That is fair.

Weiss:You gave birth to Vee, so I think that solves who picked her first name.

Ruby rested her head in her propped up hands that rested on the table. She felt exhausted reliving that chapter of her life mentally. Still she managed to smile, then smile bigger. Her eyes unclouded and a warm feeling filling her again. What Ruby said earlier about what made her different may have reign true, but her friends could since that there was now more to it. Ruby had spiraled into an unimaginable tragedy, yet was able to bounce back thanks to loved ones. To smile as she does, it was truly a strong sight to see. Even if she wasn’t fully aware of that.

Ruby:Carmine Arc Rose, my second born and the first child to call me mommy. Followed many years later by itty bitty Garnet. He’s my little man, five years old while is big sis is seventeen now.

Yang:Damn! That’s a gap. Oh, also congratulations. Almost forgot that part. I’m glad you got to be the super awesome mom that-

Ruby:I am easily C-teir.

Yang:Oh come on! What!?

Ruby:Listen, I know I got on you all for calling yourselves bad parents, but I will hear no debate about me understand!? I flop a lot of times.

Weiss:That doesn’t make you a C-teir. That makes you a new mom, silly.

Ruby:*grumbling* I agree to disagree but thank you. It’s just a lot okay. Too much to dive into honestly.

Blake:Summarize. Give us an abbreviated version.

Ruby:Ummm so Carmine is real special kid. The absolute love I have for her is unbreakable but gods damnit if she isn’t the most... “me” I could be! In a way similar yet different from myself, Carmine has always had this sense of urgency in her and a love for the world around her. She recognizes that it’s a fragile piece we have and just how hard I’ve worked with everyone to make it. I could tell that from her when she was five. I’d sound crazy, but the fact she used her eyes at the age proves I’m not.

Yang:She has silver eyes!? Why didn’t you bring that up?

Ruby:I thought that was obvious. All of my kids were born with then. Unlike her baby brother though, Carmine was a weird little kid. She didn’t socialize well. Still doesn’t, she’s kinda comes off rude and cold because of her bluntness. She doesn’t really express all her feelings or understand others fully. One might call her a little cold but the passion she had to protect life itself is a testament to how much she cares. Carmine is also a genius fighter. To put in perspective, people use the same nickname for her that they used for Pyrrha.

WBY:Oh....

Ruby:Yeah! It’s not hyperbolic to say ever since Carmine is far beyond any skill I was at her age since she turned thirteen. You called me a monster earlier but no, I merely gave birth to a beast. I mean she could pass the huntsman exam at fifteen if I didn’t make her wait. I can’t call her arrogant, she talks with confidence because she has that right by all means. Still, besides her face, that’s where the similarities start separating; besides terrible grades in general stuff. We’ve never been in step completely. To put simply in her own words, “What I am is a hero, while she is a huntress.” That good will and mercy I try to give everyone isn’t how she rolls. It drives a real wedge that has resulted in us not going on missions together.

Blake:Is she...killing?

Ruby:She has before, and it had valid reasons entirely, but I also know for a fact she is more than capable of bringing down people without taking that step. Not all cases are that intense thank goodness. Her overall aggressiveness is the root of the problem. You don’t have to put you back into it when handling thugs. They aren’t Hazel.

Yang:Ooo okay, yeah I’m seeing what you mean now. It’s like that one comic you always read!

Ruby:Sigh...yeah she channels a bit of Batman energy and I need her to not do that all the time. I suppose being an honest soul isn’t particularly hereditary. It always feels like we aren’t enjoying each other’s company these days. I can’t blame her though. So....you know how all of you have had one serious problem that has both destabilized yourself as well as the kids and their relationship to you? *clouded eyes*

Weiss:Wait...you loosing a child wasn’t that?

Ruby:Oh it was. It just so happened that it never ended. It grew day by day. Night by night. Jaune and I were cautious with Carmine. Going as far to give her contacts and giving birth to her off the record and not at a hospital. Just in case Cinder came back. Well, Cinder and Neo came back, with my Dustin.

Nobody said anything. What do you even say to that!? All they did was let out a stifled breath and tried to gauge Ruby’s look of guilt.

Ruby:Yet again we had gotten too comfortable. It happened when Carmine was thirteen. I don’t think Garnet was even one yet. That’s when the cruelest realization hit me. My son had been alive and hearing about how his so called mother being a person who saves everyone, yet she never came for him. She had moved on, letting his eyes become clouded with such seething hate for the world she did save; the children she had after. It’s been four years since the day he attacked Carmine and helped grimm try to invade Vacou. To this day it’s been a life of staying on gaurd, searching for them as they popped up countless places to tear Remna- to tear me down and I can’t decide what part hurts the most. The amount of anger that prevents me from killing Cinder in a blink of an eye, or looking at my daughter who has told me herself that she is going to kill her older brother because I’m too weak to do so. That I’m in no way as good as the world believes me to be. *puts hood up* Like I said, C-teir mom, at best.

Blake:That’s- you can’t- there’s no way for you to reach him? Maybe if you-

Ruby:He looks at me the same way Neo and Cinder do, Blake. They raised him to hate me. Besides, he hurt Carmine. She’s just not gonna let that slide and frankly I shouldn’t either. Carmine acts tough and for the most part is, but gets terrified like everyone else. In many ways she’s still just a young girl that I wish had never chosen to become a huntress. If I had it my way she’d just be a normal girl with normal knees; but her mother’s weakness and inexperience wrapped her up in yet another war. It’s ironic. I barely remember mom and yet I ended up putting my family in very similar situation as if she lead instruction. Happy endings, I’m not sure if I get-

Yang:You’re better than mom....

Ruby:......

Yang:Yeah I said. Look I love Summer Rose but at the end of the day she wasn’t around, not that she didn’t want to be, but it’s the truth. Several years of pleasant childhood memories and a lifetime of grief is what she left me, and all you got were tales you should’ve experienced first hand. Ruby you have spent seventeen years loving your daughter unconditionally and being there for her no matter if it’s for better or worse. Yeah you might not being doing it perfectly and I have no idea how to even fathom your predicament, but at least you are there trying. Take it from me, that’s all a daughter ever wants from their mother. It’s also what makes a pretty kick ass dad. *smiles* Chin up, hero. Your story isn’t over yet after all.

Silence filled the air and Ruby’s throat ran dry. Ruby pulled out her scroll to go to her pictures and displayed one of her favorite photos for everyone to see. It was Carmine’s fifteenth birthday. Ruby didn’t lie about the resemblance. the girl had short blonde hair that stopped halfway down her neck in the back and was longer in the front, reaching shoulders. Like her mother, the tips of her hair transitioned to red. The beautiful young woman tried to her hide her smile but her gleeful silver eyes were practically twinkling with joy as Ruby hugged her tightly from behind and a tall, more solid version of Jaune was smushing one of Carmine’s cheeks with an overly dramatic kiss to it. A tiny child no older than three at most was in his big sister’s arms. Garnet had his mother’s hair and eyes but something about the chubby face definitely showed Jaune’s features. The child had red frosting on his face and was reaching eagerly for more cake somewhere out of frame.

Yang noticed the girl took page from her father and wore some regular cargo shorts, but clearly didn’t lack flair by wearing a red crop top that showed off a fresh tattoo of the Arc crest on her toroso. Knowing her sister, that tattoo was most likely practical. The family looked happy, proud; and the mother of it currently sat across the table crying with her head face down in her hands cwhile Weiss and Blake hugged her from each side. Roses may have thorns, anyone who knew roses knew a simple truth. They’re still fragile flowers.

Yang:(Carmine Arc Rose. For you and your mother’s sake, I hope things go well)

xxxx

Though Carmine seemed cold by nature, people were quick learn the opposite. The most recent learner of this was a scared little girl that held on for dear life. It was nighttime, nothing but the sound of pouring rain and the distant glow of red and the warmth of Carmine holding the girl against her body while she sprinted through a mud ridden forest. The little payed no attention to the pain in her side, but the glow of roses, eyes, and flames through her tear filled eyes.

Beowulves chased frantically but then severed immediately by something the girl couldn’t understand, but it looked like the person carrying her. The dead beasts brought no comfort. Not when more followed close behind.

Girl:I-I’m sc...scared!

Carmine:Don’t look at them sweetie, it’ll be fine. Just keep being a brave little girl.

Girl:M...Mommy was back there.

Carmine:.....I know, she’ll be just fine. Your village, there are plenty of people there that will be just fine! Huff..... You got a name?

Mary:Mary.....

Carmine:Oh that’s a beautiful name, Mary. You know I was almost a Mary? Yeah my grandma was a really amazing person and I almost got named something similar to her. Mary is a very strong name!

Mary:You’re a liar! I’m sad, not strong. I want my mommy! Everything his dark and hurts and I want her!

The girl began painfully crying as Carmine followed her trail of roses to avoid getting lost. Things were getting worse. The storm raged and she could feel this girl burning in her arms. Not to mention the unsettling warmth the mixed with the cold rain against her body and dripped to puddles below. Any grimm near by could only be dealt with by many copies of her nearby, but that would only go so far when fear was out full force. Carmine’s boots felt like cement, but she still ran.

Carmine:Mary, you know what do when I miss my mommy? I sing! Yeah, my mom sings the best lullabies that made me feel super strong when I was little! It’s a magic song that makes everyone strong. How about I sing it you and they can sing it your mommy later okay!? But you have to close your eyes to really focus on the words!

Mary:*sniffling* Okay....

Baby deathstalkers swarmed the path made ahead as small Nevermores dove at her. Out of options, Carmine broke from the path, trying to rely on memory to go towards the safe zone while also singing lyrics to her favorite song.

Dream of anything; I'll make it all come true.

Everything you need is all I'll have for you~

Carmine never wavered. No matter how badly her lungs her or nearly slipped, she kept singing all the way to her destination where several other clones were seen racing towards with more civilians to injured or young to go themselves. An orphanage where Nora and Ren stood outside rushing people in while Jaune was keeping the grimm at bay. The sight brought a little ease.

Don't worry, I've got you; nothing will ever harm you.

I'm close by, I'll stay here; through all things, I will be near~

Carmine finally reached Nora and passed off the girl who’s grip weakened overtime. A few lyrics in and Carmine knew she was singing mainly for herself.

Carmine:Get her medical attention! I’m gonna go and find more! There’s still-

Jaune:Wait, it’s too dangerous!

Carmine:I know! That’s why I have to go! That fire is spreading and there’s stragglers pinned down! Dad.....I’m pinned down!

Jaune tensed up and looked at Carmine. No scraps on her and her clothes only soiled by others. It didn’t take long to realize. The man resisted the urge to run out to the ruined town and stood firmly.

Jaune:Carmine...end it. We’ll worry about the consequences later.

Carmine:....Okay.

Across the woods amongst the flames the real Carmine stood bleeding and bruised in front of two Beringel that charged over the vanishing corpses of their fallen with more grimm, her sword stabbed into the ground supporting her weight. Behind all living people that remained finally managed to flee. All except for a woman trapped by house debris. The woman watched this young huntsman stand proudly again. She wasn’t sure what happened next. All she heard was one sentence.

“Close your eyes...” before everything went white. Next thing she knew, Carmine was lifting debris off her as rain and wind washed away any evidence. A relief she didn’t care about in the slightest. She neither had the strength, or the time too. Much like Carmine, who began to pant and teeter. It was clear to the woman that whatever just happened didn’t come without cost as she watched the girl fall to her knees. Though she tried moving, Carmine was spent.

Carmine:Don’t worry...we’re safe....let’s-

Woman:Go...

Carmine:Huh?

Woman:I...my legs. Everything...I can’t move. Just go. I d-don’t think I’d las-

Carmine:Don’t talk like that! The hard parts over! I can-

Woman:Barely walk. *smiles* It’s okay. I don’t blame you. You fought hard.

Carmine:.....I...I’m sorry. *teary eyed*

Woman:Say, I know that face anywhere. Your Lady Rose’s kid. Funny, I thought your eyes were red? My daughter, Mary, she loves your mother. Makes me kinda jealous hehe, but hey I love her too. *crying* Do you know if Mary made it? She was wearing-

Carmine:A black dress, pink ribbons in her hair...

Woman:Yes! Is she safe? I saw you- one of you carry her off.

Carmine:...She’s just fine.

Woman:Good. That’s all....that.....

The woman never finished her sentence. Carmine’s body fell limp on the ground, facing the rain. Even with the cold downpour she could feel the warmth of her own tears, containing her emotions best she could as she looked through her clones eyes to watch Nora take Mary away from the survivors and out of sight to not stir further panic.

Carmine wasn’t sure how long she layed there, but it was long enough for Jaune to find her. The man didn’t say a word. The town was in shambles. Grimm were still fading and his daughter looked tired, but not in serious condition. Unlike the those who didn’t make it. Jaune put Carmine in his arms, carrying her away to safety.

Carmine:......Does mom ever save them all?

Jaune:No, but that never stops her from trying; or mourning.

She clenched her father’s shirt and let herself be fragile, to be a Rose.

Carmine:Next time. Mom and I, we’ll both get it right next time. A happy ending for all!

Jaune:Yeah, I know you will. Together....

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

Breaking down the “leak”

It seems the leak from back in April is on everyone’s minds lately. While I don’t really see anything to suggest it is legit, there’s not really much else to talk about. I think what I’d like to do is go down the leak, bit by bit, and give my thoughts. I’ll be going through the points in the order I see them in a series of screengrabs, so it may not be the order the original post had them. A lot of this seems like it would be from a single episode, likely the first one.

The first thing I see is Steve applying to Hawkins PD, but being rebuffed for his previous vandalism in Season 1. This seems odd considering we never saw the police get involved in that. Steve being a police officer is something born out of fan theory, which further casts doubt in my mind. While it could simply be a nod to fans, it still comes off as out of place. Steve was last shown getting a new job at a video store, and we’re going to see him going for another job already?

The next bit is that Max is depressed and sees the school counselor. She has a fight with Lucas and then dumps him. Working in the school counselor from the earlier reported new characters could have been an attempt to make it seem more legit. I don’t know if that casting report was truly legit since it had more info than I’d expect. Max and Lucas fighting is not terribly surprising. Their relationship was not shown to be all that great in Season 3. Saying Max would be depressed links onto the end of Season 3, so, again, nothing too shocking. This could just be good guesswork as opposed to a leak.

Next is a new character Fred (an orphan, but more on him later) talking to Dustin. Fred tells Dustin that he believes his dad, thought to be dead, is actually alive. He was allegedly experimented on by the lab and then thrown into a mental hospital after he went nuts and killed Fred’s mom. This is a rather big piece of info for a leaker to have. The idea that there were adult test subjects was covered in the Suspicious Minds novel, so it could be a tie-in to that, but this part of the “leak” could also just be fan theories based on that same novel. I can’t see Brenner taking any chances with his work being exposed by throwing a subject into a mental hospital.

Next, we have Dustin having lunch with Nancy and Robin, while Lucas and apparent new character Eddie watch Mike be friendly with a cheerleader. If true, then Season 4 occurs immediately after Season 3, otherwise there’s no way Dustin would be in high school with Nancy and Robin. I was never too clear on what grade exactly Nancy was in, but she could potentially be a senior now. Robin had mentioned being in class with Steve though, so I would’ve thought she’d be his age. Still, it’s possible I suppose. Dustin having lunch with them seems to clash with his Hellfire Club status though, unless this occurs before he joins. One would think he’d eat with his new friends, especially if he ISN’T eating with his old friends. Meanwhile, said old friends are also split, with Lucas hanging out with Eddie and watching Mike be “friendly” with a cheerleader.

The next bit is where we’re told Dustin joins the Hellfire Club (set photos confirm this). It’s described as an elite group of nerds formed by the previously mentioned Fred. Dustin apparently is interested when they play D&D, but Lucas and Mike decline. This both clashes and fits with Season 3. Mike is bothered by Will seeming to move on from D&D, but it could still fit if Mike just doesn’t want to play without Will. Still, this seems to be building a rupture of the Party right after Season 3 showed how good they are together. Yes, it’s normal for kids their age to look to reinvent themselves, but it also goes against what the show was apparently building. Each season does have elements where there’s strife in the Party that gets resolved, but this takes it to an absurd level.

Dustin is then described as being seen as a “runt of the litter” in the Hellfire Club. That’s not really unusual treatment for a freshman in a high school club. His D&D skills and link to Robin gain him cred, apparently. This leads to him getting close to Fred. There’s not a lot here, but this “leak” does spend a lot of time on the Fred/Dustin dynamic.

Next is the “shocker” where Mike and El have a phone/walkie call that doesn’t go well. Mike is losing interest, El picks up on it. She says “I love you” and he says “I know.” Considering the level of detail on some of the other parts, this is rather brief. The exchange is verbatim Empire Strikes Back, and, while that isn’t totally out of the ordinary for this show, it makes me see it as something more fanfiction-y. The idea of them having a “meh” phone call isn’t too weird since we saw at the end of Season 3 that they were definitely not on the same page. It wouldn’t be hard for a fake leaker to come up with something like this. Should it be true, then it could spur El to go back to her possessive and distrustful ways. She may be driven to find out how to get her powers back in order to spy on Mike.

The “leak” specifically mentions there being no plans to include Chernobyl. This is an odd thing to say. I’m not sure how popular a fan theory this is, but it’d be in bad taste to work a real-life deadly disaster into a show like this. I don’t know why the person who wrote this felt the need to specifically debunk this unless they just wanted to seem more legit.

A flashback to Joyce, Hopper, and Lonnie in high school. That’s reasonable, especially since we know Lonnie is back this season in some capacity. I have no doubts that Hopper will be having flashbacks/memories during his captivity. This being believable doesn’t necessarily make this real though, as it’s another thing that’s reasonable to predict.

Despite most of the leak seeming to be from an early point in the season, the leaker goes on to say that there’s 5 major deaths (2 new characters, 3 previously existing characters), one of whom is one of the kids who dies in the final episode. Now perhaps there’s parts of the “leak” that I just don’t see in these screengrabs, but this is very odd. Prior to this is just looks like maybe someone got their hands on the first script somehow, or parts of it anyway. I don’t know how many people would be entrusted with every script, particularly the end, for this very reason. A single script getting out is at least somewhat believable, but this is where I lose any faith in this “leak.”

Finally, the leaker mentions this season taking place over the course of months, ending with the end of the Party’s freshman year. This would indeed be a change from the usual storytelling, and it would have to mean a slowly growing threat as opposed to one already striking in the first episode. That would kinda sorta work now that there’s no superpowered character to fend off the supernatural, but it would leave a lot of skipped time that I’m not sure would work in a show like this.

Will is mysteriously left out of this “leak.” There’s literally no mention of him that I can find unless there’s missing parts I don’t have. Someone who knows who dies would have something to say about Will, but there’s just nothing. It’s especially odd considering that if this is indeed the Party’s freshman year, then Will would have started school with them. The Byers don’t move until sometime in October, so Will would have spent at least a month at Hawkins High. This would also make Season 4 start with the shortest potential time skip, or perhaps no skip at all.

So, IF this leak is genuine:

There is a small, if any, time skip, with Season 4 beginning shortly after the Byers move in October.

Given the above statement, Mike must quickly lose interest in El, possibly even before their planned holiday visit.

The Party falls apart despite them all seeing how good they are together at the end of Season 3.

Max is going through depression, likely related to Billy’s death and everything else that happened (the end of S3 supports this).

Max and Lucas’ relationship gets even worse.

Mike and Lucas don’t want to be seen as nerds

Steve is still just a lost man child, or at least suffering the consequences of having been one for so long.

Robin and Nancy hang out together, and with Dustin until he joins the Hellfire Club

Will is a nonfactor, at least in the episode the bulk of this comes from?

I really have trouble believing this “leak” simply due to how the poster claims knowledge of the ending while the details all seem to be from the first episode. I suppose it’s possible they did legit get the first episode and made up some other stuff, but that seems pointless. For now, I’m just going with the idea that ANY legitimacy in this would be that it’s a real fake “leak” created by someone on the show to mislead fans or create buzz.

[bciwasinlove]

Hi. I have not been on twitter or even in the fandom long enough so i came here to ask you about something. What's with the song claiming thing? Suddenly ziams are claiming songs that have been claimed as larry song. No I'm not gate keeping. Pardon my word choice.I'm not English. But I'm just curious. As long as i have been in this fandom, no control was a larry song the moment it came out and everyone was ok with it and even ziams never claimed it before.now suddenly they are like oh liam also wrote it? Home has always been larry song considering the timeline, him leaking and all, ziams never claimed it before, now suddenly home is a ziam song too? 18 was taken as a larry song from the moment ed said it was written from 1D perspective and everyone was ok with it considering how Louis used to literally serenade Harry like turning his whole body,changing pronouns etc. No one had a problem untill now. Suddenly in 2020/21 ziams are claiming it. Why didn’t they do it before? Why now? I'm just curious.

Warning selfies have been a thing with Louis for years. Now suddenly it is linked with liam too? How? Did he do it before or something? I genuinely don't know. So let me know plz.

The whole devlin thing, devlin album came out in 2017 i guess and they comparing Louis tweet with zayn tweeting that is from 2016. How does that make sense?

Also some people say larry closeting didn’t work but ziam did...awful thing to say. If it didn’t work then there wouldn’t be so many antis and they are still going through so much. People wouldn’t believe Harry dates every woman that breaths around him. And they claim there are two bbg in ziam relationship right? Why did they need two bbg if it worked? I mean if the closeting worked? Bbg has nothing to do with relationships.

Idk if ziam was real or not but I'm sure gigi was pregnant, she had that symptoms, pregnancy glow,tired face and all. Now whoever the father may be..idk.

I'm not convinced about ziam and how does that make me hypocrite? Also there are some "if this counts(larry),this counts too(ziam)" thread. what's with the comparison?

Sorry about the rant.

Hello anon wow this is long a lot to unpack so I'll start with your song questions.

Idk why ziammies are suddenly trying to claim songs that have ALWAYS been larry related. Especially when Liam said in an interview that Louis and him were a song writing duo for 1D BUT that he wrote the melodies and it was Louis who wrote the song lyrics. Last I checked melodies don't equal meaning of a song so how are these songs about ziam?

Some examples of this....

They are trying to claim Home but Liam said the song was personal to Louis and how when he read the lyrics he didn't want to change them. Home is also a direct response to If I Could Fly with ONLY Harry on the credits. Home was leaked by Louis the night of Belfest when Larry found out BG was being taken pasted the birth of a kid and it pissed off Louis so he leaked Home as payback bc it was clearly a loud song management didn't want on the album.

They are trying to claim 18 but the song was written by Ed who said [compared to other 1D songs he wrote for them] he wrote 18 with a 1D member in mind. [That is why we claim the song at all.] Ed was closeted in the band to Harry next being Louis and Niall he was the least closeted to Zayn and Liam. Side note Ed has a song called Friends that he said was about 2 friends of his who fell in love and when a fan yelled L&H he laughed/smirked and said init so it makes the most sense 18 was written with Harry in mind. Plus 18 is about meeting/loving someone sense they were 18 and it was only Louis who was 18 when they all met and it was Harry who would scream NO 16 when singing the song. Also larry changed the lyrics to HIM and would stare directly at each other when singing 18 livem According to ziam MPs ziam weren't a couple until at least 2 years into the band so why would 18 make sense for them also given they were both 17 when they met & none ever went NO 17 when singing it.

They are trying to claim No Control but that song as we know is about the morning after sex and the second round they end up having. Like stated before Louis wrote the lyrics to 1D songs and Niall plus Larry always made it DAMN CLEAR what that song was about. Also remember when Harry would always jam out hard core when Louis would sing his part in No Control aka majority of the song. Yeah that song is Louis song no doubt.

They try to claim Alive which makes no sense bc Zayn nor Liam is on the credits at all only Louis. They say it's bc Liam said he related to the song ok I see that but still he didn't write it and still how does this song equate to ziam? Alive is more a song used as proof Louis isn't straight bc it's about self exceptance of who you are even tho others around you for along time made u feel there is something wrong with you. It's about Louis who is more confident part way through the story being told and then helping his lover [who seems to be a bit insecure about themselves] except and love who they are. Since Liam didn't write on it the relationship aspect couldn't be about him and Zayn. Since he said he just relates to Alive at BEST it could mean he might not be straight but it can't be used as proof of who his partner is when he didn't write on it.

There's others but I think you get the point they have always been larry or hinting at Louis sexuality songs so I don't get why or how they are suddenly saying their ziam songs? Myself @lovemylarents and @fearlessmoon09 think bored people in quarantine is what happened to change the landscape.

To your next question warning selfies...

So warning selfies was something Louis did everytime something BG stunt related was going to happen. He started it and did it a ton back in 2016/17 when BG stunting was massive for him. Liam never had anything to do with warning selfies and Louis warning selfies were ALWAYS like I said BG related so suddenly ziammies going Liam does warning selfies for things involving Maya or Gigi makes no sense. It was ALWAYS a Louis thing.

For the Devlin thing...

You hit the nail on the coffin with that one the album with the song Cold Blooded that had the lyrics "so is it true XXXX fathered a baby? I don't really think so, if you ask me he don't like ladies. Could have been HARRY, yeah, I bet it was HARRY" [emphasis on Harry bc I saw a ziammie change the lyrics to Liam] came out in 2017 while Zayns tweet was done in 2016. Unlike Louis tweet which was specifically about this album not just the artist and tweeted during the height of BG stunting. So not the best comparison. They really should fact check before making these "larries are hypocrites" threads bc veteran larries know and fact check everything.

Next thing you mentioned what I call their slogan "larries closeting didn't work but ziams did that is why less talk about/believe in ziam then larry" piss me off so much and what you said it right. If larry's closeting didn't work then we wouldn't be here complaing about how the GP sees Harry as a queerbaiting womanizer, how solo henries who want to have sex and suck Harry's dick exist and how some locals don't want to join Louis fandom bc they think Louis and his fans are homophobic or that twarries exist thinking Louis is a deadbeat dad. Tell me again ziammies how their closeting didn't work? It is so invalidating to everything larry has been put through. Also if larry's closeting didn't work but ziams did then why did they need 2 BGs for Ziam and only one for Larry? Myself @kaybutlarry @babyhoney-28 and @onlythebravestan are still waiting on an answer to that question haven't gotten one.

As you said about Gigi yes she definitely looked more pregnant then Briana ever did. The reason I don't believe in their BG with Gigi is bc their story is inconsistenent. Side note back when Liam had a kid no one besides a few on tumblr ever said it was BG 2.0 they didn't start saying BG 2&3 until Gigi happened. Back to inconsistenences so their original story when we first learned Gigi was pregnant was it's fake just like Briana there's no kid, then when Gigi did the livesteam showing she had a bump and a round face you get when pregnant the story changed to she's pregnant the kid is just not Zayn's.

Then I recently saw some who [after the kid was born] went back to the story the kid is fake there is no kid OR they are using a child actor. Unlike Louis BG they don't have a consistent story that makes sense. Also the kids are never shown unlike with Louis kid F gets posted every damn day with creepy and bad photoshop, and a million articles about how he is Louis twin to shove it down our throats the kid is Louis. The situations have NEVER been the same with Louis vs even just Liam kid.

To your last point ziammies keep calling and making threads about how larries are hypocrites bc we don't believe what they do which is damn annoying bc they constantly say just leave us alone why do you care we exist but then constantly make threads like that getting mad we aren't all ziammies. If your going to make threads against us then yeah were going to say something and respond to your threads the way we would to a debunking larry anti thread. Their threads like that are either using funny coincidences of larry that we don't use as concrete proof to compare to ziam OR their ziam version of our proof has been debunked already like the Ziam Levine Stylinson sticker on the bears. [If you want more info on that ask @lovemylarents.]

They constantly take what is a larry proof and say it's also about ziam [Example the songs] or have a ziam proof that mirrors a larry proof. [Example the devlin thing or selfies] In their threads they always compare miniscule larry things that aren't our MAIN proof. See the miniscule proofs are the house and the big proofs are the concrete foundation that without it those miniscule things would not be able to really count as proof of larry and the larry house would fall. Ziammies ONLY have miniscule proof not a very solid foundation so I'm unsure how long their house will last.

I have been in this fandom for 10 years I have seen MANY ships come and go [Examples: Ziam, Ziall and Narry] but the one ship that has always been here was Larry. Larries have been here for 10 years, Larries are the ones who are talked about in the media, Larries are the ones constsntly gaslighted, Larry is the one ship that needs to be denied a bunch [poorly might I add] there's NEVER been any other ship or ship group people have hated, gone against or talked about this much besides Larries/Larry.

Funny [not for us] but funny that Liam goes through all the trouble of gaslighting Larries and talking about EVERY Louis stunt but he never mentioned Ziam which is a ship that actually involves him or the Ziammies who say Bear isn't his kid. Why did he talk about US and not THEM which involve him? Also funny Liam can easily say the word Ziam but Louis can't pronounce an EASY @ just bc it has the word Eroda in it.

My mutrals and I all agreed we didn't give af that ziammies existed until they kept talking shit about how we aren't ziams to and then go why are larries acting like antis hating us. First off it was NEVER larries hating on them it was toxic solo Zsquad and solo Liam stans who were. We didn't get involved until the entire tl was LARRIES ARE HATING US AND BEING HYPOCRITES. Second off and my last thought it's easy if you don't want us in your replies then don't make threads about us being hypocrites and use easily debunked ziam proof or miniscule larry proof to mirror bc we will point it out bc you think were hypocrites thank you.

[triforceangel13]

The Royal Guard’s Secret Ch. 9 (A Sidlink Omegaverse Au)

Chapter 9: The Truth

Link sat on the bed of Sidon's room, his arm cradling his stomach as Sidon sat in front of him on a chair, holding one of his hands as he waited for Link to speak.

Link was nervous, that much was clear. He hadn't spoken about this ever to anyone before and he was scared to let the information be released. What if it would come back and bite him so to speak? What if something wrong happened?

“I...I...” Link started but he looked back down to the floor once more. Sidon's large hand came to rest on his shoulder, squeezing it gently in support.

“Take your time Link,” Sidon told him “We can take as long as you need to. This is something that is hard for you to talk about. I'm proud of you getting this far with wanting to tell me in the first place. In a way I am honored.”

Though if it was this hard to tell him Sidon felt a little bad for making him tell him. But he also needed to know everything. He wanted no secrets between them any longer. He wanted them to lead a happy life with trust in one another. He planned on pursuing a life further than just a fling with Link. They were having a baby, he knew that he couldn't just ignore that. He wanted to marry Link and give him a life he deserved.

He trusted Link, he just hoped that Link would one day trust him. Maye this day would be the day that Link fully did.

“That man who runs that...place,” Link began. “He forces me into being one of his best objects so to speak, though you already knew that. But there is a reason. Everyone there but myself is there for the extra money, happily willing to give him what he wants to have a steady flow coming in even if they have to give him a cut of the share. I'm the only one that is there against my will. I never even see a piece of that money.” Sidon held his hand a bit tighter. All that money that Link made from having his body used in such a way and never to gain anything of it was terrible. Not that Link really needed the money being a royal guard to the princess, but the act of it was still so wrong.

“I'm very glad that you had stopped doing such a thing, but Link, why did you stay there? You were clearly unhappy there,” Sidon said softly.

Link squeezed his hand and brought his knees up a little closer to him as if to protect the baby even though there was no type of danger at all.

It was more of a coping mechanism.

“He has info on myself and the royal family that could ruin all of us. It would...it would mostly ruin Zelda's life,” Link finally admitted. It felt like a huge weight had been pulled from his shoulders. He had never told anyone about this aside from the parties involved, which happened to only be himself and Zelda. But even she didn't know that he was being black mailed, nor by whom was doing it to him in the first place.

Sidon's other hand came to rest against his cheek, smoothing his thumb over the skin there. Link leaned into the hand and he could feel that Link was trying not to break down again. He felt for him. He had been going through so much lately.

“The queen had...had an affair shortly after Zelda had been born,” Link finally said. “She ended up with child...”

Sidon froze a bit at that. Did that mean what he thought it meant...?

“She wasn't able to hide if from the king but he had loved me like his own son,” Link whispered, tears finally leaking down his cheeks. “But the kingdom couldn't know that the queen had a child that wasn't with the king. I look nothing like him.”

“So instead he made you Zelda's royal guard,” Sidon finished for him, wiping away a few tears from his face with his finger. Link was the prince but if his lineage ever got out it would ruin the royal family. So hide he must.

It was a most painful existence to have. To not be allowed to be fully who he wantd to be. To not have the rights that were his but also were ripped from him from a choice that wasn't even his. Sidon hated seeing this kind of pain.

“Yes,” Link said softly, clutching his hand to his face. “But that isn't even the worst of it. No matter or not of me calling myself a prince or taking orders from my sister, it's not the worst part of this whole situation.”

Sidon pet his face, slowly understanding what was going on. But he didn't want to stop Link from opening up to him. He had learned not to assume too much. He could be wrong and that wasn't the situation at all.

“You can tell me what it is Link. I'm all ears,” he promised him gently. “You have trust in me that I won't let this information out.”

Link took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “The man who runs that place had found out about this information a few years ago. He kept threatening to out the princess and the king for this situation unless...I became the star.”

“Have you told them this is going on? Surely they can put a stop to this if we know who it is,” Sidon begged.

Link shook his head. “I haven't told them that much. I told them that we had to be careful and that...well maybe having Zelda marry would take away the leverage this man had on us. But you see how that is going.”

Sidon smiled a bit. So that was why that messenger had arrived in his home in seeming such a rush. Why the wedding was meant to be so soon. The king wanted Zelda to marry to help save them all from the black mail.

But what had happened was something they hadn't expected at all. Sidon and Link had fallen for one another, Sidon even finding out about Link's most kept secret.

Zelda was in love with Urbosa as well and the ultimate problem rose the situation as well. Link and Zelda were both with child of the person they were not meant to. That would just open up even more ti be used against them.

“But I found the man I'm meant to be with,” Link said. Aand it's so wrong I'm afraid it's going to be used against me...and you.”

Sidon's eyes widened “I hadn't thought of that.”

The man there would have seen Sidon there and knew exactly what was going on. He could use this information to ruin Sidon no matter what and even ruin the marriage between he and Zelda that they were meant to play.

It would not look good for him to know that the prince that had married the princess was seen in a place like that and had slept with an omega that wasn't his own. But to top it off had gotten him pregnant as well.

“What do we do?” Link asked softly. “I don't want to go back to that place. I'm so sick of doing what he wants and doing that sort of thing...But if I don't it could bring down everyone here. Lives would be ruined...”

“Link the first thing to do is to find out who it is. You need to tell me who it is that way we can tell the king. He must have the power to be able to stop this whole mess,” Sidon urged him but Link looked away from him, fear in his eyes.

“I can't...” he said softly.

“Link,” Sidon said, tucking a finger underneath his chin and urged him to look back up at him. Link turned to look at him with tears rolling down his cheeks. “Try to be brave. Not just for you, but for our child. Our child to have a happy life with us together.”

Link cupped his stomach with his hand and looked down at it again. He was right but that still didn't stop the fear that gripped him like vines around his neck.

“It wouldn't be so easy to do that,” he told him. “He is one of the closetst people to the king. It would be a miracle to get him to listen.”

“Link, please,” he said to him.

Link looked back up at him, his lip worrying itself between his teeth.

“It's...it's...,” Link said slowly, his body starting to shake a little bit. “It's Ganondorf.”

Sidon's eyes widened slowly.

*

A scowl crossed Ganondorf's face as he pushed off from the door. He crossed his arms, thinking over what he had just heard.

So Link really was pregnant with the prince's baby but now he had just told him everything. It would be hard to use the old information over him to get him back into his establishment. He should have seen this sort of thing coming.

Ganondorf was not one to take things lightly. If he wanted to remain in this position and have Link wrapped around his finger he'd need to do something different.

Knowing that Link was with the prince's child made things a little easier. Those supressents that were given to Link before hadn't been strong enough against the Zora. He'd have to be careful with his other workers in the future just in case. Though Sidon was the only Zora that had ever come through their little area.

But the question was how did he end up using this information in a way that would work for him? Telling Link that he must return wouldn't solve any problems. He would be defiant as he had been for the past couple of months.

He needed something new. Something to get him under his control again but also to keep his mouth shut.

Though his pregnancy posed as a problem as well. There were some that were into that sort of thing but they were rare.

A grumble passed his lips as he made his way down the hall, rubbing his head as he tried to think of what to do with this situation. He needed to kep this position of power if he wanted his plan to work. His final plan to become king himself.

His original plan had been to marry Zelda but with the prince of the zora around he needed to try something else.

He would need to get step one back in order again. Get Link back under his control and possibly take care of that baby. It was a problem and it would get in his way. It wouldn't be easy especially with the prince knowing what he had done. He had to act fast.

A small body soon collided with his and he looked down at the small zora princess that stumbled back several steps.

He reached out, grasping her arm to keep her upright and smiled down at her.

“Goodness,” Mipha said softly but smiled up at him. “Thank you Sir Ganondorf. If you hadn't caught me I would have fallen.”

“It was my pleasure princess. Are you alright? You seem to be a bit distracted.” Ganondorf said an idea brewing in his mind.

He could use Sidon's sister to keep the prince away and gain control again. A smile stretched across his face but Mipha deemed it friendly and smiled in return.

“I am a little. I'm looking for my brother at the moment. He had said he needed to talk to me about something. He said it was important,” she said thoughtfully. “Have you seen him recently? I can't seem to find him.”

The idea brewed even more in his head and Ganondorf offered his arm to the Zoran princess which she took with a smile on her face.

“I saw him in the library recently. Come, I'll escort you there,” he said to her. Mipha smiled and walked with him down the hall again.

Yes, she would do nicely. If he got his way he could end up using her more than he had expected originially.

“That would be wonderful,” Mipha said with a warm smile, unknowing of the danger that she was putting herself into.

I’m open for written commissions

want to support? my patreon and kofi (both triforceangel)

my a03 (triforceangel) as another place to read my fics

[brightengale]

Plotted thread with @barnes-and-noble

Alison prided herself on being a kind person. A patient person. A forgiving person. She was a saint by no means but most would say she was a genuinely wonderful person to interact with. Which made Bucky’s coldness baffling. 

As an occasional superhero and straight A student in all her classes, including AP US History, she was well acquainted with the surface level specifics of his past. As newly appointed SHIELD agent with the title of Mutant Liaison she was even privy to some further details not common knowledge. And as a relatively good friend of Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson she got informed about jokes, stories and info involving one Bucky Barnes in the modern era. Yet none of this had given her one iota of credit in his book, apparently. 

Because even when she was hanging around with two of his best friends, in his presence, the man never went out of his way to interact with her. Hell, anytime she tried to break the ice using her usually well received sunny disposition, it seemed to prompt an elevated disdain for her. 

Yet, Alison still tried. She gave him space but still remained polite and friendly whenever she saw him at work or visited the Avenger’s compound space. Ignoring someone wasn’t her style but she did her best not to put any pressure on him. At least in her opinion. Maybe if she was younger and still filled with the intense need to be liked by everyone. But luckily she had matured past that naive notion. 

When the hullabaloo of Kobik being thrust into their universe happened Alison wasn’t immediately notified. She wasn’t a fellow mutant so she wasn’t in her jurisdiction. But once Ali learned about the horrendous way SHIELD chose to handle the situation she couldn’t just stand by. Confronting Director Hill took guts. Which Alison always had in large supply when the safety of a child was at stake. Even if that child was a physical manifestation of relics of immense power. Especially when that fact gave the child the ability to rewrite reality however they saw fit and had been used as a weapon by one of the most vile villains to exist. 

Hill sanctioned Alison’s suggestion to enroll Kobik in the Xavier Institute for Mutant Education and Outreach. Sure she wasn’t technically a mutant but Alison pleaded the case that it would be one of the best places for her to practice her powers while also being surrounded by other students also learning about their own powers. Kobik would have the opportunity to build positive relationships with other young people as well as adults that actually cared about nurturing her personal growth and seeing to her all around well being. Plus, it would be another building block in establishing a better foundation with the mutant community. 

Since Kobik and Bucky had bonded throughout the aforementioned hullabaloo he had been consulted over suggestion as well. Or more aptly stated, Alison first discussed it with Sam (who had a social work background and helped her build then supported her case when approaching Hill) then had Sam also back her up when approaching Bucky about the idea. Although it had already been cleared with SHIELD management. Perhaps, the case could be made that she should have looped Bucky in originally, given he was filling the role of guardian for Kobik. But in the grand scheme of things it was really the best option in the long run anyway! 

But that was in the past. Now, nearly a month since Kobik had started attending the Xavier Institute, with Alison and Bucky working together toward Kobik receiving the best care possible, one would think he would be more cordial. Yet for some reason he continued to give the barest of graciousness. Not that she expected continuous platitudes and accolades. But a damn thank you would be nice! Not to mention that his continued standoffish nature was being replicated by Kobik, who looked up to him immensely. This was impeding Alison’s ability to do her job properly and finally something had to give. 

After another check-in with them both that consisted mostly of her asking questions which received overly concise, non detailed answers Alison’s patience finally snapped. 

Alison was sitting in a comfortable chair across from the two of them who occupied similar seats in the office. She’d rounded the desk to consciously attempt to dispel any barriers, physical or otherwise, that could be preventing a deeper connection during their meetings. Although, she held a pen and pad of paper in her lap she’d made very little use of them. Final question briefly remarked on Alison sported a wistful smile. “Well, if that’s all the updates you have for me I guess we’re done here Kobik. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me again today, it’s always nice to talk with you.” 

Ali’s voice was gentle and sweet. She meant everything that she was saying. Standing, she set her pen and paper on her seat before moving to open Kitty’s office door. Kitty generously allowed her to use it for these meetings. “I need to talk some extra things over with Bucky but why don’t you go meet up with some of your friends for free period and he’ll find you when we’re finished?” The young girl gave Bucky a big hug before skipping out the door to find her new friends. Alison’s smile grew brighter as she watched the interaction and waved the girl off out the door. 

When Kobik was out of sight Ali’s smile shrank away as she closed the door and faced Bucky with a practiced poised expression. “I’ll do my best to be professional and straightforward and would appreciate you do so in kind.” Her fingers ran through strawberry blonde hair that hung just below her shoulders. A tick of agitation she failed to notice as she circled back to her seat, setting the pen and paper on the nearby desk’s edge. With a heavy sigh she returned her attention to Bucky’s. Bright electric blue leveling on his icy hued gaze. “What is your problem with me? Because whatever it is it’s impeding my ability to build trust with Kobik, which hinders me performing my job. And that is a bigger problem than you not returning my greetings in the hallway. So please tell me so I can hopefully rectify it.” 

She did her best to tamp down the inner tizzy of emotions swirling within. Hoping they didn’t leak through in her tone.

[crashdevlin]

Doc and Sir 1- What Are We Waiting For?

Doc and Sir Masterlist

Author’s Note: Written for @spnkinkbingo, filling my Dom!Sam square

Summary: Y/n had a crush on Sam at Stanford, but she was sure he’d never look at her because of her weight. When he walks into her ER eleven years after the fire in his apartment, he reveals she’s actually more his type than she would have thought: sweet, innocent and corruptible.

Pairing(s): Sam X Plus size!Reader

Word Count: 4382

Warnings: Dom/sub training, bondage, oral (male rec), 18+ HERE BE SEX DON’T READ IF YOU’RE A YOUNG’UN!!!  protected sex, fingering,

Wanna enhance your fanfic experience? Get Sam’s hydrosol from @scentsfromthebunker

When he walked into your ER, your breath caught. He was unmistakable. Dressed to kill in a dark blue suit, but under it? Sam Winchester, with the light fluffy hair and the brilliant hazel eyes and the smile that felt like sunshine. Sam Winchester, who disappeared not too long after the fire in his apartment, who obviously couldn't handle coming back to Stanford after Jessica Moore passed. Sam Winchester, who you had the biggest crush on and never knew you existed. You had three classes with him in ‘02-‘03 and you spent every class trying not to stare at him. He was never going to notice a woman like you. You had a hundred pounds on any of the women you'd seen him turning that smile on for.

“Hi, I'm looking for Dr. Y/l/n,” he said, walking up to you.

“That's me. How can I help you?” You didn't let on that you knew who he was, but you couldn't help the way your eyebrows shot up at the FBI badge he presented you.

“I'm Agent Simmons. I wanted to talk to you about a patient you saw last month and- what?” You shook your head. You didn't want to call him on it. “Wait. Y/n? Y/n y/l/n? From Stanford?”

You blinked at him several times. He knew who you were? “Yes? You remember me, Sam?”

“English II, Art History and Pre-calc, right?” He gave you that bright smile.

“Uh, yeah. You, um, change your last name when you went into the Bureau, Winchester?”

He chuckled, a bit nervously. “Um, it’s not… Winchester’s a distinctive name, so…”

“So you go by ‘Simmons’. Okay.” That still didn’t make much sense, but you’d let him lie if he kept smiling at you like that. “So, Agent Simmons, what patient did you need to talk to me about?”

Sam launched into questions about a man who’d come in with an infected dog bite on his leg. You gave him all the info you could while adhering to HIPAA regulations, but you could see that it wasn’t what he wanted to know. “Well, thank you, y/n. It was, you know, it was great to see you again. A blast from my past.”

“Yeah, you got me wanting to go grab a coffee from the Co Ho and hit the library,” you joked.

“Well, I can’t help you with that, but I could take you for coffee.”

You looked up into his bright hazel eyes, shock filling you. “What?”

“Or, you know, dinner if you’d prefer. I… I haven’t gotten to talk to anybody from The Farm in years. When’s the end of your shift?”

“Uh… I get off at eleven… a little late for dinner.”

“But not too late for coffee at the diner across the street,” he said, a hopeful tinge to his words.

“Make it a beer at the bar on the next block over and you’re on.”

“Pick you up at eleven?”

“Make it eleven-fifteen. I never get out of here on time.”

He smiled and nodded. “See you tonight, doc.” You bit your lip as you watched him walk away. He sure did get big. Those wide shoulders and thick arms barely contained in that suit… oh, what a lot of difference a decade made.

You shook your head. He was just happy to see a familiar face. There was no way he was interested in anything except nostalgia. You remembered, vividly, what Jessica Moore looked like. You remembered the tall brunette in Pre-calculus who always wore mini-skirts and the redhead you saw him making out with at a frat party the year before he met Jessica. Sam Winchester didn’t fuck with fat chicks.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“I remember, once, I was jogging the trail around Lake Lag and you were just laying in the mud with your headphones on, dead to the world.”

“I remember that!” You laughed. “It was Dead Week, man! I was out of it. I think I was running on, like, four hours of sleep over the whole week and I went for a walk to clear my head and I tripped into the lake and just… couldn’t be bothered to get out.”

“Well, you looked comfortable.” Sam pulled his beer to his lips.

“Yeah. I think I fell asleep in the mud, the dulcet tones of American Idiot in my ears.” You laughed, shaking your head. “You know, I honestly didn’t think you even knew my name, Sam. The fact that you recognized me in the mud and remembered it?”

“Of course, I knew your name. You were the smartest girl in class… in all of the classes we shared,” he said, smiling. You opened your mouth to argue with him. “You know, I always thought you didn't like me, or something.”

Your eyebrows scrunched together. “Why would you think that?”

“You never talked to me!” he exclaimed. “Not even in class discussions. You always kinda talked around me. And you glared a lot.”

“I wasn't glaring, Sam.”

“Yes, you were.”

“You’re hot. I was staring, not glaring.”

He smiled, pushing his hair behind his ears. “You shoulda said something, y/n.”

“Why? You weren't giving me a second look in a sea of sorority girls in short skirts. Brady tried to get me to talk to you a couple weeks after he dropped pre-med, but I figured he was just fucking with me.” You shrugged, not missing the fact that Sam tensed at the mention of his old best friend. “I mean, I could tell he was high when he suggested it and it wouldn't have been the first time someone set me up to fail with a hot guy just to get a laugh outta the fat chick who doesn't know her own league.”

“I didn't know you knew Brady,” he said, tightly.

“Yeah, we were both pre-med, had the same Advisors. I mean, ‘til he dropped out.” You kept it to yourself that you knew Jess, too. Better to keep the topic on something lighter. “I thought we were okay ‘til he came to me, hopped up on whatever he was taking, and said I was just your type and that I should let him set us up on a date. Knew he was an asshole after that… and of course, he went to work for big pharma after so that's a confirmation of his place in hell.”

“You have no idea,” Sam said under his breath. He put his hand up for another round of beers and licked his lips. “But he was right. You were just my type.”

“What? Every chick I ever saw you with was a stick with tits, Sam.”

He laughed, visibly relaxing. “What?!”

“Ya know, huge chest, tiny waist, long legs? The triangle body type, not the… what would call this?” You gestured at yourself. “Apple? Pear?”

“I'd call it a thick hourglass and it’s sexy as hell.” He smirked at the way your eyes went wide and looked away from his. “But I think it was more your personality type Brady was focused on, y/n.”

“W-what about my personality?”

Sam rested his gigantic hand over your denim-covered knee and smiled, but this smile didn’t feel like warm sunshine. This one was a wildfire threatening to burn you up. “Brady knew I liked sweet girls. Shy, innocent, pure ones that I could corrupt.”

You tried to swallow, but it seemed Sam’s fire had burned up every bit of moisture in you except what was leaking onto your panties, because your mouth was suddenly dry. “Sara Parsons wasn’t any of that,” you somehow managed to say with a steady voice.

Sam smirked. “I didn’t date Sara Parsons. I just let her give me a blow job at a Delta party… and she didn’t even do that well. I wasn’t gonna reward her by fucking her, let alone dating her.”

“Fucking her would’ve been a reward?” you asked, quietly.

He nodded. “And I don’t reward poor performance.”

His words made your pussy clench around nothing. It all seemed a bit kinky; talk of corrupting pure girls, sexual rewards for how well they pleasured him… but what would you know about it? You hadn’t had a boyfriend since the summer before you went off to Stanford and nothing kinky, or even remotely satisfying, happened on his Star Wars bed sheets. The guy who used you as stress relief during your residency didn’t do any better. Vanilla was too exciting of a flavor to describe your sex life thus far.

Your sex life was flour.

“You know what I like about you, doc?” You shrugged and he squeezed your knee. “Even all these years later, you’re still innocent, still sweet.”

For some reason, you weren’t offended by the assertion. Somehow, it turned you on that he saw you that way, but you had to correct him. “Wasn’t innocent at Stanford, Sam.”

“I didn’t say ‘virginal’. Common mistake, but not the same thing.” He ran his hand up from your knee to settle on your thigh and leaned closer to your ear. “You can’t even imagine all the things I wanna do to you, y/n, and that is innocence.”

You took a deep breath to calm your pounding heart rate and suddenly heavy breaths. “Tell me.” It came out a panting whisper.

He pulled back, smiling. His hazel eyes were dark with lust. “Can’t just tell you, y/n. Let me take you home and I’ll show you.”

You stood, on suddenly shaky legs, and grabbed your purse from the back of your chair. “What are we waiting for?”

~~~~~~~~~

“Are you nervous?” Sam asked as you pressed the button in the elevator that would take you to your floor.

“Kind of. Yeah,” you answered, honestly.

“Don’t worry. We’ll start soft.” Sam pulled you back against his chest, wrapping his arms around you.

“You’re not gonna hurt me, are you?”

“Not unless you want me to. I think you’d probably want to work up to that.” You nodded. “You ever given it a thought, though?”

“Pain? Yes. I’m a doctor. I think about pain a lot.”

He chuckled. “I’m talking about sex and pain, y/n. Have you ever thought about someone spanking you?”

“Not since I was a child, actively trying to avoid it.”

“Maybe next time.” He squeezed you as the elevator doors opened. You led him down the hall to your apartment and unlocked it.

You dropped your keys in the bowl on the table just inside the doorway and hung your coat and purse on the hooks on the other side of it. “You want a drink?”

Sam closed the door behind him and grabbed your hand. Your breath caught as he grabbed your face in both hands and leaned his face down to yours. You could feel his breath on your lips, but you were focused on his eyes. “What I want is for you to go to your bedroom and take off all of your clothes and lie on your bed and don’t move. Can you do that for me, y/n?” You nodded, slowly. “Good girl. You keep being good and you’ll see how I reward good girls.”

He smirked as he stepped back from you, releasing your face. You blinked at him a few times before shaking yourself out of whatever trance he put you in and turning on your heel to walk toward your bedroom. You kicked your sneakers off into the corner, pulling your t-shirt off over your head and unbuttoning your jeans. You didn’t know where Sam was, he hadn’t followed you to the bedroom. Something told you he wanted to see if you’d follow directions without eyes on you. So, you did exactly as you were told. You stripped to your skin, lied on your bed, crossed your legs and placed your hands, with your fingers entwined, over your stomach… and you waited.

As minutes ticked by, your anticipation grew, a knot twisting in your stomach. When Sam walked in, you wanted to look at him, but you didn’t. He said not to move. “Damn. Look at you.” He approached the bed and put his hand on your ankle. “You know how hot you look, y/n?” He ran his hand up your leg, his touch feather-light, twisting his fingers to skim along the inside of your thigh, but skipping over the place you wanted him to touch. His fingertips drew circles around your nipple and you couldn’t hold in the gasp, immediately stiffening about the noise. “I want to hear you, y/n. I never said to be quiet, did I?”

“No.”

His face went stern. “I want you to call me ‘sir’. Can you do that, y/n?”

“Yes, sir,” you whispered. At least he didn’t want you to call him ‘Daddy’... but you probably would if he requested it.

“Good girl.” His hand continued its trek up your body, dipping along your collarbone and wrapping very lightly around your neck. His hand was so large that only the part of your neck in contact with the pillow was kept from contact with his palm. You whined, flushing at the thought that he could easily choke you out with one hand. Sam smirked down at you. “We’ll come back to that.”

His thumb swept across your jawline and up to your lips. “Open,” he commanded and your jaw dropped immediately. He pushed his thumb into your mouth and you stuck your tongue out to lick tentatively at the pad of his thumb. You were rewarded with a groan, which emboldened you to close your lips around his digit and suck lightly. You watched his eyes close as you continued sucking and laving your tongue across his thumb. It filled you with pride. “Y/n…” He pulled away and stepped back, hands going to his belt buckle. “On your knees, sweetheart.”

He pointed to the carpet at his feet and you rolled off of your mattress. You crawled the few feet to the area he indicated and looked up at him. He seemed even taller from that position. He moved slowly as he undid his belt, each motion exaggerated and overblown, slow and torturous. He popped the button and dragged the zipper down. “You know how to earn your reward, don’t you, y/n?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell me.”

“I have to give you a blow job better than Sara Parsons gave you, sir.”

He chuckled. “That’s not hard, sweetheart. No, I think that you need to aim a bit higher than just better than Sara. You need to suck my cock like your life depends on it.” You swallowed and nodded. “Say it. Say ‘Yes, sir, I’ll suck your cock like my life depends on it’.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll suck your cock like my life depends on it.”

“Good girl.” He smiled as he dragged his jeans and boxers down his thighs. Your eyes went wide when his cock bounced free. No wonder Sara had trouble, it was huge. You licked your lips and leaned forward, your mouth watering a little. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

You wrapped your hand around the base and opened your mouth, giving the head a kitten lick. He hissed through his teeth and you ran your tongue along the thick vein on the underside. You took him in your mouth, analyzing how every motion made him react as the head slid across your tongue toward the back of your throat. You stopped short of gagging yourself, wrapped your lips around the velvet skin and pulled back. You bobbed your head a few times, taking him just to the brink of your limits and pulling back to the head, before you surged forward, taking in as much as you could, past your gag reflex kicking in, until the head was nestled in your throat.

His hands both came to grasp at your head, holding you in place for several seconds. He pulled back long enough to let you breathe before thrusting back into your throat. “Fuck! You are…” He grunted, low in chest, as he twisted his hands in your hair. You could tell he was holding back the desire to tug, but he didn’t hold back fucking your throat. Once you got his rhythm down, timing your breaths and swallowing when he was in your throat, you started running your fist up and down the base of him that wouldn’t fit in your mouth, the mucus-thick saliva from your esophagus a perfect lubricant for your touch.

He almost growled as he pulled back, pushing your head away from him. You looked up at him, panting breaths making your whole body sway. “W-was that… was it good… sir?”

“You did so good, baby. Go ahead and untie my boots.” You leaned forward and did as he told you, untying and loosening his bootlaces. “Now stand up and take my shirt off.” Your legs were numb from being down on your knees for so long, but you jumped up to your feet and eagerly started to unbutton his flannel. You bit your lip as you revealed his tanned, muscular chest and you whimpered when his abs showed themselves. You ran your hands up and pushed the fabric off of his shoulders and he let it slide down his arms to drop to the floor behind him.

He stepped out of his boots and jeans and quickly toed his socks off before reaching out and wrapping his right hand around the back of your neck, yanking you forward. You braced yourself by grabbing his forearm as he spun the two of you around and walked you toward your bed. “I’m going to tie you to your headboard, y/n. You’ve been a good girl and you’re going to get your reward, but you’re going to be restrained, understand me?”

You nodded, excitedly, the thought of being completely at Sam's mercy sending shockwaves through your body. “Yes, sir.”

Sam smirked. “Looks like someone likes the thought of being completely powerless.” He pushed you to the bed and stepped toward your closet. “The Intro Psych class I took makes me say it’s a control issue. You spend all day with people’s lives in your hands, having to be in complete control of yourself and everything happening around you, so there must be something intoxicating about just letting it all go, right?”

“Wouldn’t know, sir. Never get to let it go.”

Sam plucked a scarf from a hanger and pulled it taut, testing its strength. When it passed his test, he turned around. “Lie down, hands above your head.” You did as you were told, pressing your hands together like you were praying. He ran his finger along the seam where your palms touched and smirked. “Good girl. Didn’t even have to tell you.”

You smiled. “I’ve seen a few movies.” He raised an eyebrow. “Sorry. I’ve seen some movies, sir.”

He ran the scarf under and around your wrists, twisting and tightening the bind. “What kind of movies, y/n? You like watching other women get tied up?” You nodded. Being tied up had always appealed to you, even before you had people’s lives in your hands, you just hadn’t ever been able to indulge the fantasy. “So, you like being powerless, but you don’t want to be hurt. We’ll have to work on that, y/n, because I would love to mark you up.” He ran the bind up to your headboard and tied it tightly, yanking to make sure it was secure.

He looked down at you, smiling that wildfire smile again that sent a shiver up your spine, and placed his hands on your collarbone. “Ligature marks…” He started to run his hands down your body. “And handprints…” He took your breast in his hands and rolled them against his palms, making you whimper. “And bite marks…” He lightly tweaked your nipples before moving on. “Bruises on your thighs, or maybe on your neck.”

His left hand dipped between your legs and you eagerly spread your thighs. You moaned loudly when the tips of his fingers rubbed down your slit. “Fuck, you are so wet, y/n. Is this from being tied up, or is it from choking on my cock?” You started to answer, but he slipped his thick middle finger in your pussy so all that came out was a strangled moan. Sam gave an airy chuckle as he started to pump the finger in and out of you. “Come on. Answer me, y/n. What’s got you so slick, baby?”

“You, sir. Everything about you.”

He smiled and added a second finger. “You’re so responsive. It’s gonna be so easy to make you cum.” You whined and he flicked his thumb across your clit, making your body jerk. “But I don’t want you to cum, yet. I want to see how long you can hold it back. Can you do that? Can you hold it back?”

You bit your lip. You hadn’t ever tried to stop an orgasm. That was the point of sex, even solo, wasn’t it? “I-I don’t know, b-but I’ll try, sir.”

“Good girl.” He added a third finger and scissored them open, preparing you to take his massive cock. “Do you have any condoms or do I have to dig one out of my jacket?”

“Yes, sir. Side table, buried in the back.” He kept his fingers inside of you as he leaned his long body over to jerk the drawer open and shove his hand past your lotions and errant jewelry and many, many pens to pull out a strand of condoms. He ripped the top one off, threw the others on top of the side table, then pulled the condom open with his teeth. He curled his fingers against your inner walls, dragging them along that special patch as he pulled them out. He took his time rolling the condom up his shaft, making you squirm in anticipation. “Please, Sa- sir. Please.”

He smirked and knelt down between your legs, pushing your knees wide and running the tip of his cock from your clit to your entrance. “I know you don’t want pain, baby, but this next part’s gonna hurt. No avoiding it.”

He wasn’t lying. Even with him preparing you, even with how wet you were and a lubricated condom, the way he stretched your pussy was painful… but you liked it. Even after he gave you time to get used to it, it hurt… until he started to roll his hips. There was no pain once his cock started the push and pull, just pleasure. He moved slowly at first, leaning back to watch himself disappear into your pussy, but it wasn’t long before he was draped over your body, fucking into you with abandon.

“I-I can’t… sir, please, I… I can’t… I’m gonna…” you babbled, tugging at the scarf, feeling a need to touch him.

“Don’t,” he grunted into your ear.

“But I… I can’t…”

“Yes. You can. Just a little longer, baby.” You closed your eyes tight and tried to take deep breaths but every time he thrust into you, he pushed the breath from your lungs in a loud moan.

“Fuck, please, please, please, please…” He slammed his hips forward, making you scream as his cockhead rammed against your cervix, before pulling back to do it again.

“Now. Cum.”

Your vision behind your eyelids filled with multicolored stars, your body going rigid as the most powerful orgasm of your life spread like fire through your nerves. Sam must’ve been right on edge, too, because the fluttering of your vaginal walls made him groan and spill his cum into the condom. You rolled your eyes as you tried to get your eyelids to cooperate, trying to look at Sam as he sat up and pulled out of you. The condom was quickly discarded and the scarf released from the headboard with a deft flick of his fingers.

Sam flopped to the bed next to you, both of you panting heavily and covered in a thin sheen of sweat. “So… am I allowed to call you ‘Sam’ again?” you asked, looking at him from the corner of your eye.

His chuckle shook the bed. “Yeah. I'll tell you when I wanna hear ‘sir’ again.” He turned on his side and took your wrist in his hand. “You okay?”

You nodded. You were more than okay. You felt great. Amazing sex, with your university crush who happened to have become this Adonis in the interim? ‘Okay’ was definitely not a strong enough word for it. “I should’ve talked to you… in college, I should’ve talked to you. I shouldn’t have shut Brady down so quick.”

“You have a thing about your weight. It’s understandable… and Brady was… an evil prick. And it was good for you that you shot him down.” He dropped your wrist and buried his fingers in your hair. “If you had talked to me, I probably would’ve fallen for you and you would have been the one in that fire. So… for you and everyone whose lives you’ve saved since you’ve been a doctor, it’s better you didn’t.”

“Sam…” You trailed off as you looked into his eyes. Thinking about Jessica had filled them with sadness.

“You’re still my type, doc.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to yours, his fingertips gripping your scalp tightly. You rested your hands on his chest and leaned into it, opening your mouth to let him snake his tongue in.

“How long are you in town?” you whispered when he pulled away from the kiss.

“I'm not sure.”

“Can we do this again before you leave?”

Sam smiled. “What do you work tomorrow?”

“I'm off… on call, but off.”

“Lucky us. Me, too. We can do this again all day tomorrow. Assuming you don't get called in.”

You chuckled, pressing your lips to his before snuggling into his chest. “Someday, you’ll have to tell me what you really do for a living, Sam, because… I know a fake badge when I see one.”

He ran his fingers through your hair and pulled your bed sheet over your bodies. “Always were the smartest girl in the class, doc.”

KITCHEN SINK TAGS @heyitscam99 @wonderlandfandomkingdom @unlikelysamwinchesteronahunt @mrs-meghan-winchester @henrymorganme @lonely-skys @allykat2108 @mogaruke @flamencodiva @team-free-will-you-idjits-67 @pisces-cutie @paintballkid711

HUNTER TAGS @letsby @mrswhozeewhatsis @adoptdontshoppets @spnskinnyballs @deansenwackles @gayspacenerd @thewhiterabbit42

[mahkaria]

headcanon: atsushis mother is an assassin her toddlers life was in danger due to some leaked info about his ability his mother knows he isn’t safe anymore so she takes him to the same place she was raised, the orphanage, and begs for his child to forgive her in a distant future where they meet again. she is hired to kill the ada’s president. (love your writing!!)

SO... It’s probably a bit angsty... only a bit??? But I hope you’ll enjoy it

I had written something a bit better but I deleted it. Clumsiness is great...

(Thank you !)

-She had never wanted children. She was one of the most efficient assassin of the government with more blood on her hands than anyone had any right to.

- During the night, when she’s awoken by kicks in her stomach she wonders why she decided to keep them. Maybe because of loneliness, she thinks. Apart from her kouhai she’s not really close to anyone.

- The baby is premature. That’s what happens when you’re pregnant and still take life threatening missions. He’s little but alive so she guesses it still counts.

- She can’t help being worried. When he was born his hair had been brown. The same as hers. But as month passes by, they get clearer and clearer. It reaches a point when they become as white as bones.  He didn’t inherit it from his father. She had been drunk out of her mind when they had slept together but she still remembered his red eyes and black hair.

- Because of her work, she’s not really positive when it comes to estimating how long she lives. She decides to name the said kouhai as his godfather.

“Listen, Yuki, you have to take care of him, okay.”

Fukuzawa is very confused when he sees a toddler in his senpai arms.

“So... You’re a mother?” “Thanks for trying to be polite but I’m as surprised as you are.”

He agrees to be the godfather/ reluctant babysitter. It helps Atsushi is probably is one of the calmest baby ever. The kid sure knows how to take a nap. If she doesn’t wake him up he’ll sleep all day long.

- She discovers her son’s ability when she comes back from a short term mission. A cub is playing with a very confused Fukuzawa and she understands quickly she’ll have to do something about it. The government will learn about it and when it happens (not if) her kid will be as trapped as she is. Yeah, not happening. She knows she’s a rotten human being but not enough to subjugate her son to that.

- She brings him to the only other person she trusts. (they don’t like each other but they know they can count on the other). They had been raised together and gone through war. Ryuu is not like the boy she remembers. He’s stoic, cold. She explains to him her son’s ability.

“He’ll have to be strong.” She says. All ability users are condemned to a life of fear and pain. She can at least make sure Atsushi will survive.

“I’ll train him.”

She hates herself for feeling relief at those words. Considering their childhood, “training” corresponded more to physical and psychological torture than real training. She smiles and leaves without turning back.

(Sometimes, she thinks she could have just left the military. It wouldn’t have been that complicated. However, she also knows Yukichi also wants to escape. To abandon blood and murder and help to improve Yokohama. There is no way they’ll let two of their best assassins leave. So she sacrifices and if Fukuzawa knows about it, he nevers says anything)

-Seventeen years later, a young man enters the Agency. He has the same face as his mother but lacks the determination she always carried. He looks tired and scared. Fukuzawa wants nothing more than to take care of him. He can still remember the baby who always liked holding to his scarf and who could giggle for hours. -He doesn’t follow his desire. Instead, he breathes deeply, mentally apologizes to Atsushi’s mother and carries on the entrance exam. -His role as president is to be impartial toward his employees. He knows it, that’s why he leaves the final decision of him joining to Dazai.

(He doesn’t sigh in relief when Atsushi finally joins. Not at all)

-When Ranpo first meets Atsushi, his first reaction is to stand up and gives a lecture to Fukuzawa. He doesn’t really care about the kid (yet) but he won’t let his father figure act like a coward. -After their first case together, Ranpo starts bringing Atsushi with him more often and explaining him some stuff (when he feels like it) about how to solve cases. To the members of the ADA who know Ranpo, it’s a real mystery to see him act this way with their newest member. They mainly go together to restaurants. Fukuzawa sometimes join them. (Dazai isn’t jealous to see the detective kidnap his subordinate not at all)

(Ranpo keeps sending him smug looks and it pisses him off)

-One day, as they’re going back to the dormitory, Fukuzawa stops himself and asks the two young men to leave without him and walks toward an alley. Without thinking, Atsushi follows him. Ranpo stays behind, an usual grim expression on his face.

-Atsushi finds Fukuzawa fighting… Well, he’s not sure. His opponent is a swift and unreachable as water. They’re holding a sword and judging from how they fight, they’re just as dangerous as Fukuzawa. - He doesn’t hesitate and activates his ability to stop them. Before he can do anything, they jump away, something akin to panic in how they hold themselves. Atsushi intends to follow them but Fukuzawa stops him.

“They were trying to kill you, president !”

“It doesn’t matter, don’t follow her, Atsushi-kun.”

“But-”

-After this, everyone can see how Atsushi is staring at Fukuzawa. The man doesn’t know how to react. On one side, he wants to tell him but on the other he just doesn’t know how to formulate it.

How could this conversation even go? Yes, your mom is alive, she just couldn’t keep you because she’s an assassin. You’re the result of a one night-stand

(He can almost hear Mori making fun on how socially inept he is)

-At the end, he doesn’t really have the choice. She just arrives at the agency once everyone has left. Their reunion doesn’t go as he wished. Quite the contrary.

“I’m here to say goodbye.” Is the first thing she tells him.

“What’s going on?”

“Some of the higher ups have ordered me to kill you.” The answer is short and concise, just like her. “It’s either me or you.”

“What about-”

“He never knew I existed. He’ll keep living just like before.”

“Ake-”

“Goodbye, Yukichi.”

-At this moment, Atsushi is busy helping Lucy to improve her coffee-making skills. He goes out and sees her outside. Thanks to his ability, he recognizes her without any problem.

“Did you try to kill the president again?”

-It stopped hurting a long time. She only feels numb. She watches this kid who could have been hers had she not taken the wrong decisions, how he doesn’t hesitate to threaten her. She doesn’t have the right to be angry at him so she smiles.

“Believe it if you want but we’re friends. Or used to be.”

Then after a few seconds, she decides to change the subject.

“You’re the kid who saved this city, aren’t you?”

It makes him blush which looks endearing on him.

“Not really. It was a group effort.”

“Well, still. It’s good to see someone like you is here to protect the city.”

Pink turns into red and against her will she feels her smile soften. A dark feeling curls into her stomach. If she doesn’t leave right now, she’ll never be able to and if she doesn’t…

“You won’t have to worry about me anymore, Atsushi-kun. Goodbye.”

“Wait, how do you-”

And once again, she leaves without turning back. She’s good at this kind of thing.

[amianannn]

Well! I haven’t posted art on here in... quite some time. But that’s okay. I’ve just been kinda busy, kinda stressed, but this was a stress reliever doodle that I’m really happy with! So I’m gonna post it.

I don’t have a name for this story, I was thinking “Hello Starlight Angels” maybe? Not too sure.. lmk what ya’ll think.

More info about this character and the design under the break. You don’t need to read it, but if you wanna know who she is/why her design is like this feel free to read c: ((I also mainly needed a place to write it down so uh thanks Tumblr)) /// Sorry for the long post oops,

Angel! My baby girl! I don’t believe I’ve posted about her here... or anywhere besides DeviantArt and Facebook, really. Until today, at least, aha. This is Angel! She’s technically a Hazbin Hotel OC, but it’s sorta an AU in the sense that it combines multiple universes (including Hazbin Hotel) and also includes a bunch of my own stuff in there... yeah idk man. Also Angel is indeed an OC x canon child, ya’ll can fight me.

Alright, where do I begin with this. This is her post-attack form, I guess? After she got attacked by Metatron. He sorta... broke her Gem again, which happens so often at this point that her entire family is surprised that it’s not shattered yet. He cracked her eye (I took some heavy inspiration from Pink Pearl there because I love her baby), and somehow?? Affected her existing cracks?? So now every single crack on her body (her eye, arm, leg, stomach, and back) all glow. Constantly.

Uhh after the attack she doesn’t smile 24/7. She’s just so tired of everything and sorta breaks down after 20 years of smiling (takes after her dad there) and so uh yeah. Not many smiles coming from this psycho.

The wings are... later than the attack. But not much later? She gets her hands on some archangel power somehow, haven’t figured out how yet. It doesn’t enhance her powers until they fix her Gem, but literally right after that she gets mind controlled by Metatron so oops on their part. It does fix her wings, so they’re no longer glitching, and she can actually fly! Plus instead of two angel-like wings she gets these. ((Inspired by a CEILING-STARS design))

- - -

Anywho, onto the greyscale designs! As I mentioned, she gets mind controlled by Metatron. He doesn’t really mean to, but in the process of mind controlling Angel, he literally makes her go greyscale? No one knows how he did it, not even himself, but he doesn’t really care.

So, after she’s possessed, she always smiles. A weird, creepy, unnatural smile. Again, major inspiration from Pink Pearl here. Also, her glow colour becomes black instead of white. I dunno why, I guess since Metatron’s glow colour is black, I decided to make Angel’s glow colour black? idk man. Anyways, since Metatron knows that LITERALLY everyone wants to kill him, he has Angel supervise Heaven and basically do everything for him so that no one can hurt him! So, yeah, basically White Diamond and Pink Pearl.

As for that last image. I may not have a design for Metatron, but the one thing I KNOW he is going to have is like. Black goop that constantly runs from his face. And I decided to add that in here! Whenever possessed Angel (or as I call her, Starlight Angel, because y’know, White Diamond/Pink Pearl) is seriously stressed or injured (or upset), or when the mind control is weak, the black goop will just. Leak from her eyes. Yeehaw : )

- - -

Whoo boy I talked. A lot here. But that’s alright because now it’s out there.

I am actually!! Fully working on this story! I’ve written quite a bit about the demons/angels, I have a lot in mind for the Heaven/Hell system and shit like that, and I have quite a few short stories about it written in my notebook that I have yet to write on the computer.

I also have a lot of short stories on the computer but those are borderline fanfics so those aren’t getting posted anytime soon oops.

Anyways!! Enjoy this stress-reliever and also the ramblings of a tired 9th grader who should be doing her homework!

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Double Decker 12 - 13 (FINAL) | Golden Kamuy 23 - 24 (FINAL) | Merc Storia 11 - 12 (FINAL) | Zombieland Saga 12 (FINAL) | Gridman 12 (FINAL) | Cells at Work! 14 (OVA) | Shield Hero 1 | Boogiepop 1 - 2 | Egao no Daika 1

Trigger warnings for rape and slavery in the Shield Hero commentary.

Double Decker 12

Deana’s actually kinda tsundere…that’s kinda amazing to see, really.

I noticed Doug’s phone says “Dr. Apple”. Haha.

Kirill’s special. But why? You never answered that, people! Update: It’s because his antibodies are an antidote for Anthem.

There appears to be a Shell logo on one wall of Derick’s bar…LOL. Shell exists in real life. Why do we want it in an anime, now…?

I laughed so hard when I saw the landlady with what remained of Seven-O, hahaha.

Travis and Sophie, huh? Is it a ship or a working relationship? Who knows?

Oh! This didn’t make sense until Derick declared the bus was a bar. Rigggggggggght.

Kirill, believe in the Doug that believes in you…or something like that…

Kirill’s holding two guns, so when Cooper says, “Put down the gun,” which one does he mean???

“And Then There Weren’t None!” – Parodying (Agatha) Christie again, I see? (Referring to Hyouka’s Why Didn’t They Ask Evans parody, Why Didn’t She Ask Eba?.)

Golden Kamuy 23

How did “pig food” in a sentence become so terrifying???

Why is Tsurumi’s head leaking???

*Sugimoto bashes the earless twin with his prosthetic foot* - Well, that’s one way to get a leg up on someone…okay, I’ll see myself out.

Merc Storia 11

If Orthos is complaining about rain, why is he a water-element unit in the game???

This show is gorgeous. Not to mention the backgrounds look like they’ve been ripped out of the game…

Aw, Orthos is kinda cute. Kinda tsundere. I wonder if he wanted to hear “happy birthday” from Raviol…?

Every time I watch through the ED, I think Raviol’s going “Geddof me!” to Yuu.

Zombieland Saga 12 (FINAL)

The Yuugiri slap returns!

The 21st of December seems to have been the original airdate of this episode…

Karatsu-jou is Karatsu Castle, quite obviously.

Wait…does this mean Kotaro Tatsumi’s real (last) name is Inui? Or was this a “I changed my name bcause my mother/I (re)married” thing?

There’s an end of episode segment…keep watching.

That was…such a non-ending! This definitely needs a season 2 if it wants to finish its storyline! Plus, Yuugiri, Tatsumi and Tae never got their focus episodes!

Gridman 12 (FINAL)

What the heck was up with that smoke cloud? It looked so real, and yet so out of place!

Ooh, I see Anti now has the ability to transform by himself…although I should’ve figured that out last episode, since I think that happened then as well.

*Anti gets stabbed with Alexis’s sword* - What the hck just happened to my garbage son??? (refer to This Week in Anime for how that nickname came about for Anti)

Eyy. So you’re saying Gridman was a magical girl robot all along? Haha…hahahaha.

So basically, it’s Boueibu LOVE! but with less meta. With lessons of mortality instead of the Kabuki Rule. Akane’s basically female!Kinshiro, right down to the hairdo…

Wow…someone really ran out of budget. It’s literally just a slideshow, but with black and white over it.

Oh, there’s actually a nice piano song in the background. So maybe I was wrong about the budget…? I don’t really want to go and watch the slideshow again, y’know.

There’s a random live-action segment at the end of this show??? Wuh??? What do I need to expect next, a talking meteorite??? (referring to Dimension High School)

Okay, seriously??? What was up with live-action Rikka???? I don’t get it… Update: Okay, so the live-action girl was Akane, not Rikka. That’s why it was so confusing…

Double Decker 13 (FINAL)

I laughed really hard at the explosions. Probably because I Photoshopped someone into a picture of an explosion and the scene with Kirill being shoved forward by an explosion reminded me of it…

I wanted Max to slap Travis, as weird as that might be for a show like this (but not for a show like Zombieland Saga). A punch in the gut’s good too, though.

“To be continued?” – Oh. Ohh. Ooh…Heh. I already knew there were some extra episodes, but at this point, there’s no ruling out a season 2, either…hmmm. I really wouldn’t mind a season 2, y’know.

Golden Kamuy 24 (FINAL)

For some reason, I’ve ben referring to Hijikata as “old fart” for the length of this episode (meaning “not long”). He’s an impressive old fart, to be sure, and he was hella nice-looking in his heyday, but in the age of Golden Kamuy, he’s still an old fart.

I thought “Say hello to my little friend” was from Scarface, not…whatever Tsurumi’s pulling here. (commnt made in jest with straight face)

Seriously, what happened to ruin Nopperabo/Wilk’s face, anyway?

Someone make me a Civil War poster with Golden Kamuy characters, stat!

Wait, so Kiroranke, Asirpa and co. are headed north to meet up with Kiroranke’s allies, which could cause a civil/national war. Hijikata and Blockhead Dick-sensei (forgot his name) are headed south due to the info they got from Inudou’s hut (the chapel). I’m pretty sure that’s what just happened, but…I could have missed a bit and then I’d be wrong.

“Send the beloved child on a journey” is a Japanese saying, by the way. That’s (probably?) what Sugimoto’s referring to when he talks with the boat captain (the elder Koito). Oddly, the elder Koito seems to drop the last O from “-dono”, which seems to be a Satsuma thing…?

Cells at Work Special Ep (Ep 14)

Oh, you can see the effector cell amongst the other T Cells! Hello there!

I remember studying stuff about how a cell divides…man, that was at least 2 years ago! You’re making me feel old…

*Helper T Cell appears* - Gaddangit, Kazuma! (from Noragami)

Merc Storia 12 (FINAL)

There’s just something too awfully cute about a brother leaving the “nest”.

Even birds need to learn to fly. I wonder why Orthos didn’t…?

Ah! It’s one of those low-level hooting monsters! I’ve seen them in the game but I don’t know what they’re called…Update: They’re called Goldories. Spoke too soon…

Well…that’s a bit frustrating. That’s the second non-ending this season…hey! I’ve seen that elephant in the game! Plus that slime! (LOL, I’m so easily distracted…)

Ooh, that non-ending. I’ll give it a piece of its mind by giving it an average rating on my AniList!!! Rah!!! Anyways, see ya later…for 2019 anime.

Shield Hero 1

First anime of 2019 and it’s this one. Hoo boy – I’ve read one chapter of the manga, courtesy of CR. It’s gonna get nasty down in here, judging by the buzz that seems set to replicate Goblin Slayer’s…

Oh…that’s not a very favourable opening, the “It was all a dream” opening. Sure, it was gripping and showd Raphtalia (saw her name in promo material from ANN), but f*** if it weren’t overused at this point in time…

I always thought Shield Hero started out like Fushigi Yuugi…speaking of which, is that no longer on Crunchyroll?

Motoyasu’s got his own spinoff, so I’m hoping I’ll get to know him well over the next 12 weeks or so.

I find it interesting that they put the heroes together to reveal they’re from different versions of Japan so quickly. I’m pretty sure that didn’t happen in the manga.

Honestly, that “NOOOOOOOOOOOo!” could be an awesome reaction GIF. Just sayin’.

Sigh…Myne, Myne, Myne…you and your ways with Naofumi…

(Trigger warning: rape discussion) See? As I said, I knew this was going to happen. The thing is that it played out a lot more clearly in the anime than it did in the manga. As much as I don’t like the trope of “rape as accusation” enough (enough to have never encountered it before), it would be hypocritical of me to say I haven’t used it before – it appears in Half-Paid Heroes. However, one year out from having written it (due to the #MeToo movement), I can only say “rape is so not on”. I do not condone rape, but from a storytelling perspective it’s the perfect trope to make a character look like a monster and it makes a clearly false accusation have more oomph behind it, so…let’s just say Shield Hero’s doing its job here, making me despise Myne and the system in this world. Besides, I only stand on the side that does the better story.

For some reason, Naofumi’s “You can shove it all up your a***!” demand reminds me of when I’m angry and doing unreasonable demands…which means it’s won me over now.

I just realised…there hasn’t been much music until now…

(Trigger warning: slavery discussion) Oof. Now they’ve gotten to a new low of depravity in this show. Naofumi’s probably gonna buy a slave…again, I don’t condone this, but I assume Raphtalia is here.

Yep, even without knowing past ch 1, I was right on the money. That’s Raphtalia!

Poppies, huh? The symbol of bloodshed. What a perfect flower for this show, which demonstrates Naofumi’s blood, sweat and tears…

As much as I don’t condone some of the acts done in this show, I see some huge potential. Even if it’s got controversy flying around it like flies, I’ll stand with it. Are you with me?

Boogiepop 1 – 2

Double length premiere…oof, this’ll be tough on my spare time. Lately, I’ve been told to clean up the house a bunch and doing all manner of other things, so it’s just eating up time on all sides.

OP start is…for some reason, never a good start. For some reason, I just don’t like it. Maybe that might be the fact I was taught to start with a compelling opening scene when I was a fiction writer, though.

The subber got so bored they even subbed the Dengeki Bunko logo in the corner…wow. (sarcastic)

For some reason, the art style reminds me of Banana Fish (or Parasyte). Must be the chara designs.

This seems to be coated in a fine film of 90s edge. Or maybe the early 2000s, because that’s when this really comes from. C’mon, Takeda doesn’t even seem surprised when his mouth hangs open!

Notably, Boogiepop uses boku.

Wait, I don’t get why Boogiepop is called that. They pop the boogie(men)? That right?

I started zoning out and fiddling with my wrist in the middle of this episode. That’s another bad sign…

Wow, that ending’s really minimalist.

Currently, this episode raises more questions than it answers. Its overall impression level is trending slightly towards the negative. There must be a double premiere for a reason, though…let’s move on.

Wait - Kirima Seiichi? Is he Nagi’s father??? How did I not notice that earlier?

That manticore business seems to be correct…according to Wikipedia.

This doesn’t add up. Taniguchi. Kirima. Maybe Taniguchi is the name of the mother/father and Kirima is the name of the other parent? Update: Spoke too soon on this point and a previous one.

Kirima’s OS appears to be Windows 10 with a few adjustments.

Wait, but isn’t Suema meant to be the girl’s surname? Or is it Kinoshita? Update: It’s Suema. Kinoshita is another girl.

This white-haired man is the one from last episode, right? I didn’t really recognise him since there’s always terrible lighting plus he was wearing orange then, but yeah. Can’t believe I didn’t connect the dots there either.

White-haired man seems to be like Anti from Gridman. I presume he’s Echoes…? Update: Yup, Echoes it is.

Egao no Daika 1

This sounds like it’s outside my field of expertise, but I’ve been proven wrong before with Planet With, not to mention Toshiki Masuda is a character called Huey Malthis. It seems to be pretty standard Princess and the Pauper fare though…

There’s just a bunch of tablets with fancy-looking English on them…the heck?

Is it just me, or did the mecha game have the solitaire success sound effect…?

Ooh, I sense animosity regarding Japan’s emperor abdicating within this show (in a metaphorical sense)! I could analyse this show to bits, maybe…

The CGI in this actually ain’t that bad. Then again, we are talking about mechs here…

Oh, end of episode segment. Keep watching…

Well, I noticed the characters go off model if you’re paying attention to something you shouldn’t be, but otherwise, it’s a respectable first episode…respectable, but fairly average.

[murasaki-murasame]

The moral of :re episode 21 is that Hide is The Absolute Best, and I refuse to hear any objections to that fact :)

Seriously though, this episode was really nice, and actually fixed some of the issues I had with this part of the manga.

The rest of my thoughts will be under the cut [including spoilers for the whole manga]

I already figured that I’d like the Dragon arc a lot in the anime, since I already more or less liked it in the manga [at least conceptually], but even then, this episode still kinda surpassed my expectations in certain ways. At least in terms of writing. The art was sorta iffy at times, but I can’t really hold that against them too much. The background art was consistently great as usual, though.

Anyway, to begin with, I liked how they handled the first scene, with Dragon continuing to emerge. I like how they kept the framing of some of it being televised by news reporters and stuff. And as I expected, not much time needed to be spent on it.

We also got to see the culmination of how the anime has replaced the plot-line of Ui getting manipulated by Furuta with more focus on Mutsuki and him getting steered down this path by Furuta, and I really love that writing choice. It helps tie everything together surprisingly well. I always kinda disliked how everything about Kaneki killing the Oggai and becoming Dragon felt like such a string of perfect coincidences and contrivances, but I actually really like the explanation of ‘Furuta intentionally put Mutsuki in charge of the Oggai so that he’d inevitably lead them to Kaneki’. It doesn’t actually change anything about how things played out, but it gives a way more clear and understandable explanation for why things ended up the way they did, and it makes Furuta’s plan seem less obnoxiously perfect. And I think they did a good enough job of setting up the fact that Furuta would know about how Mutsuki feels towards Kaneki, since we saw him visiting him in the hospital earlier in the season.

Overall it’s just a way more interesting and effective version of the ultimately weird and pointless sub-plot between Furuta and Ui that the manga had. It’s also worth noting that this also recontextualizes Mutsuki’s feelings in this episode slightly, by having him be forced to realize that he was at least partially responsible for everything that just happened, because he’s the one that lead the Oggai to Kaneki. It helps set up the emotional stakes of this episode a lot, and it continues the anime’s trend of portraying Mutsuki as a victim of a corrupt system, which is nice. I’ll talk about the scene with him and the Qs later in the post, but there’s other things to talk about first.

Such as Hide! We finally get to properly see him in the anime, and let’s just say that my thoughts during his scenes mostly consisted of ‘my SON. my fucking SUNSHINE CHILD!’. It was pretty great, lol. There’s not actually much to say about his scenes, other than that I’m happy they kept the scene about his feelings for Kaneki. I don’t really mind how the subs translated it since that was just their decision alone, and I could tell that the actual Japanese line was unchanged, so there’s no big deal, although I have a feeling that it’s still gonna incite some gross neckbeards to be like ‘the subs said ‘like’ not ‘love’ so obviously it’s just BRO LOVE hurr duurrr’.

I do wanna point out that I really like the way the anime is handling how his voice sounds, since he’s using an electronic assistive device to talk now. It’s nothing particularly noteworthy, but I think they handled it nicely. He actually sounded a fair bit less creepy and robotic than what I thought he might sound in the anime, lol.

His entire presence in the story is definitely just inherently weird, but let’s not ignore the fact that his reappearance was just as sudden and unexplained in the manga. If anything, it was MORE jarring in the manga, since in that version of that story we already had the whole flashback to him asking Kaneki to eat him, which made his death seem a lot more definitive. And just to be blunt, even after he came back into the story in the manga, Ishida never actually did anything to explain how he survived getting part of his face eaten, how he managed to go into hiding, how he managed to find out about Rushima and rescue Amon from there, how he knew about the secret of the RC Gates in order to give that info to Marude, etc etc etc. There’s just this complete void of nothingness between ‘Kaneki apparently eats most of Hide’s face’ to ‘Hide pops back up in the story several years later and nobody really comments on it’. So I can’t really hold this against the anime at all. It’s not THEIR fault that Ishida never explained any of that. And honestly I’m growing more appreciative as time goes on of how the anime cut out the flashback to Hide rescuing Amon from Rushima, and how they cut the reference to him leaking classified info to Marude. It’s a slightly disappointing way to go about it, but it’s a valid choice to deal with the topic of ‘questions that never get answered’ by opting to not even raise them in the first place.

It does make me really curious to see how they handle the next episode, with Hide and Kaneki finally having their big reunion. Since they’ve kept the detail of Hide’s facial injuries, but haven’t explained how they happened. I think the two main possibilities are that either the anime will make up some separate reason for why it happened that doesn’t involve Kaneki, or they’re gonna have it be that Kaneki only remembers having eaten Hide’s face once they actually reunite. I’m leaning more toward the latter at this point, and I think I’d at least prefer them to handle it that way compared to how the manga handled that whole reveal. It’d feel more appropriately timed, and it’d probably lead to Kaneki at least expressing actual shock and remorse over it, instead of being bizarrely nonchalant about it like he was in the manga. In general I hope they flesh out their reunion scene a bit in the next episode, since it always bugged me that it was just like three goddamn pages long in the manga.

I still don’t like how the story in general handles Kanou as a character, but again that’s more Ishida’s fault than anything else, and I kinda like how the anime changed the timing of it slightly so that Marude’s group only think to try and find him right when they find out that he killed himself. It shortens the scene a fair bit, and it makes it feel less ‘hyped up’, if that makes sense, which makes Kanou’s suicide feel at least somewhat less anticlimactic. It’s still a lame way for his character to go out, though. At least the anime kept the details of how he cares mostly about furthering medical science in relation to studying ghouls, and how he knew that Furuta was planning for this to happen, and that it will lead to humanity being pretty much forced to further medical science to deal with Dragon. It’s still overall a clumsy plot point,  but it gets the point across well enough. It’s at least a bit more subtle about the point of Furuta creating Dragon in order to ultimately benefit mankind than how Ishida just had Furuta lay out basically all of his plans to Kaneki right at the start of the Goat arc, lol.

It’s also worth noting that, along the same lines, I’ve always been really disappointed by Kurona as a character in :re, since she just loses any real purpose and only exists to be focused on an even more clumsily handled character, but overall my biggest issue with everything to do with Kanou is how it feels like such a missed opportunity that the topic of his involvement in Kaneki’s surgery doesn’t really become relevant. Specifically what I mean is that the two of them only ever have one face to face confrontation in the entire series, and that was way back before :re happened at all. It just feels like there was so much room to explore that conflict. I understand why it ultimately ended up being unimportant compared to all of the bigger issues at hand, but still.

I still have somewhat complicated feelings about the entire topic of how humans and ghouls end up more or less joining forces against Dragon, but at the very least it feels like the only real way that the story was ever going to achieve anything close to actual peace between them.

Anyway, onto the whole scene at the end with Mutsuki fighting Saiko and Urie, I really liked how that scene was handled. At least compared to how it was done in the manga. It was much shorter, for one thing, which I appreciated. Cutting out Aura and the other second gen Qs helped it go by a lot faster, and it also made it feel more personal in scale. They don’t really bother spelling out why Mutsuki is lashing out at the Qs, but at this point in the story I think everyone watching it knows that fucking EVERYONE just winds up expressing their feelings through punching and stabbing when they’d really be better off just talking to each other, so I at least don’t think this scene stands out as being any more glaringly weird than most other random fight scenes in the series. It is worth pointing out, though, that with the anime original stuff at the start of the episode I mentioned earlier, it’s very easy to piece together the fact that Mutsuki is blaming himself for this entire thing, and so he’s just lashing out because he doesn’t know how to handle his self-hatred, and he has a lot of complicated feelings about the fact that everyone is trying to save Kaneki.

Even if it kinda muddies his motives a bit, I honestly quite like how they completely cut out the whole obnoxious ‘if I can’t have him then nobody can!’ way that Ishida tried to spin this whole part of the manga. At least this version of events doesn’t make me roll my eyes in exasperation. I’ve said it before, but I do really appreciate how they’ve cut out like 99% of how the manga tried to frame him as some kind of generic psycho yandere character. It works a lot better that in the anime, this whole scene was almost purely focused on Mutsuki just lashing out at his friends because he’s dealing with way too many emotions and he doesn’t know how to handle it. [fake edit: before I forget, they also cut out the part where he attacks Touka while she’s searching for Kaneki, which is a nice change. That whole bit was just super unnecessary and obnoxious in the manga]

His aborted suicide attempt also felt a fair bit less jarring than it did in the manga, since the anime did a better job at showing exactly how much self-hatred Mutsuki feels.

I don’t really wanna bother touching too much on the references to Mutsuki’s sex here, but at the very least, if the anime really wants to convince me that he’s a cis girl, this is at least a much less overtly offensive and off-putting way of going about it. It’s not gonna change my stance on things, though. But I still gotta give the anime props for at least handling everything about Mutsuki with infinitely more respect than Ishida did.

Also, I actually just double-checked my imported copy of volume 15 to make sure I wasn’t forgetting something, and I can confirm that the references to Shirazu at the end of the episode were actually anime-original. I can also confirm that they fucking tore my heart to shreds :) It almost makes me wonder why Ishida didn’t think to bring Shirazu up like that in the scene originally. It’s such a perfect way of really hammering in the emotions. It also does a really nice job of further tying up Urie’s character development, and showing how much respect he feels for Shirazu.

As I expected, it looks like the next episode will cover volume 15. Or rather, the rest of volume 15, since this episode actually ended about two chapters into volume 15, after having gone through all of volume 14. Again, the whole confrontation with the Qs took WAY less time in the anime, and I’m grateful for that. So I think the next episode should be able to easily adapt the rest of volume 15, and presumably end with Kaneki and Hide’s big reunion scene. Hopefully this will give them time to flesh that scene out a bit.

Since we’re already partway into the second to last volume with three episodes to go, I think the rest of the season will be paced really well, so that’s nice.

All in all, this was a pretty fantastic episode. It’s still hard to avoid some of the really fundamental issues the manga had, but the anime’s honestly doing a GREAT job of patching things up and actually making it all feel cohesive and reasonable, while also removing the more offensive and shitty parts. I’ve been thinking of the :re anime as a sort of second draft of the manga’s story since it started, and episodes like this really cement why I feel that way.

[thethinkingman]

PTSD and First Responders – The Thinking Man

The Thinking Man

 Posted on December 8, 2020 

PTSD and First Responders

By now we all have heard about PTSD, what it is, but not what causes it. Most people automatically think of our troops and veterans when the topic of PTSD comes up. Rarely does anyone equate First Responders with PTSD.

What is it? According to the Mayo Clinic PTSD is a mental condition triggered by a terrifying event, either experiencing it or witnessing it. Under risk factors they list “having a job that increases your risk of being exposed to traumatic events, such as military personnel and first responders.”

What are traumatic events? The list can be long and several factors can fit under one. I’m going to condense the list a little. They are combat, abuse, assault, threats to life & limb, accidents, fire, natural disasters, torture, life threatening illness, terrorism and stress. Stress accumulates and builds up increasing the PTS.

From here on out I will refer to PTSD as PTS. There is a move, I whole heartedly agree with, to drop the “D”. Disorder implies something is wrong with you and no one wants to admit that. There is a stigma of weakness with the word disorder. There’s also a stigma of dysfunction due to media malpractice. If we truly want those grappling with PTS to get treatment, council or help we have to change the approach.

The term first responder appeared somewhere around Jimmy Carters term in the White House. Society typically agrees that first responders are fire, police, EMS yet they often leave out the person who answers the phone when you call 911. In some publications they use the phrase “to include EMS” or “to include paramedics” when referring to first responders.

Let’s face it, EMS (EMT, Advanced or Intermediate EMT and Paramedics) is often forgotten. They don’t share the limelight with police and fire. No one thinks about the person answering the phone and what they relive hearing. EMS crews tend to get the worst of it. Fire and police don’t get sent to every EMS call, but EMS gets sent to most fire calls and numerous law enforcement calls. Once EMS has stabilized the person, loaded them in the ambulance, they are still working on the patient while fire and police are on to other things. EMS has them until they reach the hospital or the morgue. They carry the guilt if the patient dies.

EMS often run calls in multiple police and fire jurisdictions or beats. One EMS crew can run 20 calls in a 24 hour shift while police and fire in the same area only run a couple calls. Sometimes the EMS crew make several trips past the local firehouse while the fire crews are sleeping. EMS is entrenched in high stress life or death situations every shift.

I’m not saying fire and police don’t have valid claims of PTS, what I am saying is EMS is treated like the red headed step child of the first responder world. People rarely think of the ambulance crews until they can’t breath or grandma is having a heart attack. Then they expect them there lickity split. You then expect personable and friendly care. It never crosses your mind at 3 AM that the crew showing up has been on shit since 7 AM, has 4 hours until their shift ends, has run 6 calls since 8 PM. They are tired and hungry and might not be as friendly as a Chick-fil-A worker.

There’s a lot of cross over in the first responder community. In your less populated and rural areas many also volunteer with the local volunteer fire department or rescue squad. Many work part-time jobs with other agencies. It’s not uncommon for an EMT to work part-time for a fire department, or a cop to work part-time for EMS. Due to the unjustifiable low wages they receive 1, 2 and sometimes 3 part time jobs are needed. So even on their days off from their full-time job they are still exposed to PTS events.

We need to look at our first responders as much as we look at our military and veterans for PTS. Vets and service members get a break from the trigger events. Even with numerous deployments to a combat theater they still have days they aren’t on patrol or not being engaged by the enemy. Eventually they rotate back to the states and most never see a situation like that again. Our first responders endure the triggers every shift, every part-time shift and on many calls to their volunteer service. They don’t get weeks, months and years to recover and regroup. They are immersed in it.

Let’s look at some numbers. In an Institutes of Health article “PTSD in First Responders ” they write that more than 80% of first responders experience traumatic events on the job. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) states that about 1 in 3 first responders develop PTS whereas about 1 in 5 of the general population does. In a Sage Journal study PTSD is present in 15 % of emergency personnel (EMS), 13% of rescue teams, 7% of fire fighters and 5% of police officers. An estimated 400,000 first responders in America have PTS. Personally I believe that number is much higher. They can only track the number of respondents and info from EAP programs.

37% of EMS personnel and firefighters have contemplated suicide. This is about 10 times higher than the general population. 6.6% of those have attempted suicide. In some locals EMS is not considered an essential government service leaving EMS personnel and / or volunteers on their own to deal with PTS. Due to the low, or no wages, professional help is often unattainable to them.

I want to address the church for a moment. The church is a place to heal, be encouraged and built up to face the evils and rigors of the world. Many first responders feel unwelcome and judged at church. Consequently they stop going. The general populace has no understanding of their shifts nor how tired they can be come morning when they get home. 24 hour shifts for fire and EMS are common. Law enforcement tend to work 8 or 12 while being on a rotation like the other 2. Some of these rotations mean the person will work every Sunday in a month. Some Sundays they get off at 7 am, get home with every intention of going to church only to be so tired they crash and wake up in the afternoon.

When they come to church and people smell cigarette smoke or notice they are struggling or even questioning the existence of God they are judged and told to have stronger faith. That’s as stupid as telling someone dealing with depression to just be happy! They are told “if you just came to church more” or “pray more”. These are not helpful. They are told to mingle more and they shouldn’t be so closed up. You don’t realize that is a by product of the job and a PTS symptom. Like many vets, first responders developed unhealthy coping mechanisms and humor darker than used motor oil to cope. A vast majority of those at church don’t understand, don’t want to understand and cluck their tongues at what they deem to be inappropriate. Many first responders decide they don’t need that added stress and guilt and would rather hang out with others like them who understand and accept them.

First Responders are like vets in this, they are often uncomfortable with praise. Some thank them for their service to the community or call them heroes. I haven’t talked to one that considers themselves a hero. The opposite is often true. Just as you replay failures in your life, even when nothing you could of done would have made a difference, they do the same but their replays often involve a lost life, someone crippled, a lost home or rapist that can’t be found. Telling them they shouldn’t feel that way is as useless as you being told not to also.

Taking one 2 hour service on First Responders Day or week to recognize and praise them makes them as uncomfortable as it makes vets. We didn’t ask for it and only go along with it at the prompting of a boss or spouse. It feels fake, a phony effort to make you feel good. The church is not seen the other 364 3/4 days a year. If you want to make a difference and show your appreciation get to know them. Build a relationship with them. Over time they will become comfortable with you and open up. Until then you have no right, authority or permission to drop advice or judgment.

Lastly, stop asking them about their worst calls. The church is a place to grow, heal, strengthen and be readied for the coming week. The last thing wanted is to relive the horror, the evil, the smells of the worst call at church. I know many that stopped going to church because of this. A young lady asked a young EMT visiting a church what he did. He told her he was an EMT. She thought that was cool and asked about his worst call. He was so tired of that question that he gave very descriptive details down to collecting leaking brain matter from an exit wound. He never saw that young lady again. Not long after that he stopped going to that church. The other thing that’s hated is “oh, you’ve seen some bad stuff, you must have PTSD.” You don’t know them well enough to throw that out there. Regardless of how you meant it, it comes across as nothing but highly judgemental.

If the church truly wants to show it’s appreciation start by routinely, diligently and deliberately praying for them. Learn some of their names and call them out by name in prayer. Build relationships with them and keep an open eye as to how you can serve them. Yes, even when you get nothing in return. As you build a relationship, earn friendship and trust they will start to open up. Be an ear to listen without offering advice unless it’s asked for.

First responders have an unrelenting job that causes unique problems and dynamics to relationships and marriages. Their spouses don’t want to hear your advice either unless the relationship is established, trust is solidified and advice is solicited. The only exception is from someone who is walking in their shoes or has walked in them. Most importantly, keep your local first responders in prayer.

Andy