#I have been watching false’s videos out of order on accident so I have no idea what the briefcase is actually about

[leapdayowo]

some false doodles :3

I also have planned out a loose storyboard of an animation with false :3 who ever knows if I’ll get to it, but I would love to!

[andydrysdalerogers]

Following Team Orders ~ Abu Dhabi

Pairings: Steve Rogers x OFC Olivia Williams

Summary: Olivia Williams is Formula One royalty. Her father is a racing legend and all Liv wants is to be one of only six women in the world to have raced in the most elite racing division in the world. When she finally gets the chance, she has to not only take on a male dominated sport, but her past, her teammate and a life beyond the track that she was not ready for. She just has to follow team orders but what happens when one man challenges her on and off the racing line...

Word Count: 3.5K

A/N: This is it! The last chapter of Following Team Orders. There is an epilogue. Let me know if you want it sooner rather than later. Its been a joy to write this and I'm super sad its over. ~ A.D.R.

Warnings: A-N-G-S-T!!! eventual smut, slow burn, enemies to lovers, love triangle (if you squint) misogamy, fluff, racing accidents, an asshole Steve Rogers (you'll see what i mean); parental death

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Series MasterList - Main Masterlist

Andy Barber has never been a smug man.  He was loyal and humble, working hard to be the best principle leader in F1. Sure, it was hard to leave his son Jacob during the school year but his ex-wife made sure he was taken care of.  He was only proud when his son and his crew did well.  

Except today.  

Today, Andy was a smug little shit as he watched Lloyd Hansen squirm like the little weasel he is. The dirtbag has been a pain in Andy’s ass since he stole his way into his principalship with Mercedes away from Levinson three years ago.  It really was a shame.  Ari was a four-time world champion and knew his way around the tracks. Mercedes may have won with Hansen at the helm, but their integrity was ruined.  

“Mr. Hansen,” the FIA official, Coulson, started, “we have some questions for you concerning video presented to us by Red Bull Racing.”  

Lloyd looked like a trapped cat, eyes darting back and forth from official to Andy to Drysdale.  He was looking for a way out. His heart stopped when security was at each door.  He stood up straight and looked at Andy.  “I’m sure that Mr. Sunshine here has something that is completely false.”  

Andy smiled.  “I thought you might say that.”  He pulled out the tablet and hit play, spinning the screen around so Ransom and Lloyd could see.  

“Well, the car is here,” Ransom said, looking it over. “Any idea on what to do to it?” 

“We need it to fire and run like normal in the beginning.”  Lloyd looked around and found a screwdriver.  He uncovered a panel and pulled a hose. “So, what I’m thinking is to poke a hole in the fuel line and cover it with cheap tape. It’ll fire but as the race goes on, the tape will melt and fuel will leak.  If we are lucky, the entire engine blows.”  

“Could that kill him?” 

Lloyd shrugs and smiles.  “Do you care?” 

“Not really.” Ransom gave him a devious smile. “I was practicing my fake concern.  We should make sure we wipe down the car for prints.”  

“Finally, you’re thinking with your brain instead of your dick.  Good job, little buddy.”  

“Anyone ever tell you, you’re an asshole?” 

“All the time.” 

“That is so interesting,” Coulson said.  “A formal complaint was filed by Red Bull and Ferrari concerning your actions, Mr. Hansen.  We’ve also contacted the owner of Mercedes and he will be meeting with you and us in a few minutes.  Security will escort you there and your passes have been revoked to all garage and paddock areas.  If you could follow Mr. Odinson, please,” gesturing to the blond security guard.  

Lloyd sneered at Andy. “This isn’t over, Barber. The only reason that little bitch is even racing is because she has her daddy’s name, she has Rogers’s cock in her, and she was Drysdale’s whore. You know it and I know it. She wouldn’t be here, unless you are also tapping that ass.” Lloyd smirked and puffed his chest. “You, that pompous prick and slut princess will not take away all my hard work.  I am Mercedes.”  

Andy didn’t blink.  He reared his arm and punched Lloyd in the face.  Crimson billowed from his nose as Lloyd falls to the ground. “Don’t ever talk about my little girl like that ever again,” Andy growled.  “She may not be my blood, but she is mine and you will do well to remember that. She earned her place here and when she becomes a champion, I hope you get to see it from a cell, serving time for attempted murder.” 

The security guard hauled Lloyd up and took him out while he yelled in pain about needing a Vicodin.  Coulson turned back to Ransom, who had gone pale.  “Mr. Drysdale, concerning your actions...” 

“I never touched the car,” Ransom started. “That was all Lloyd.”  

“We can see that Mr. Drysdale, but you also didn’t say anything.  The FIA directors don’t want an uproar with the fans with the last race of the season coming. Therefore, you are still racing but any award monies, perks, etc, will be void at the end of the season.  If you win, your name will be listed as a champion, with an asterisk.  However, the following season, you will be suspended for the year.”  

“That’s not fair! I didn’t do anything!” 

“You tagged three drivers this year that caused some serious injuries. Then this.  You are lucky that is all that is happening to you.  Mr. Wolff is waiting for you to join them.”  

Ransom glared at Andy. “I will beat him tomorrow, and my name will be in the record books again.”  

Andy smirked. “We’ll see about that. Have fun in that meeting.”  He watched as Ransom’s face fell again and walked away with another security guard to the Mercedes area.  Andy let out a breath and turned to Coulson. “Anything else?” 

“No we just need statements from Adler, Storm, Stark and Barnes about their involvement in the set up. I’m glad that you had a spare car to set up and catch them.  Makes me wonder who else they have tampered with to gain an edge.”  

“I’m just happy that Fury is a conniving son of a bitch who thought of it.” Andy chuckled as he shook his head.  “I need to talk to my drivers and oversee the packing to Abu Dhabi.”  

“Not a problem.  Thank you, Mr. Barber, for your cooperation.”  The men shook hands and Coulson left.  

News coming from the Mercedes camp that principal Lloyd Hansen has been fired effective immediately due to a change of direction within the team.  This is coming from left field as we had not heard of any dissent from the team this year.   

Drivers Ransom Drysdale and Lance Tucker are up for contract negotiations at the end of the season and with Hansen leaving, we’ll have to keep an eye out to see if this will impact negotiations or if the team decides to completely change their drivers.  Especially since Drysdale is still in the hunt for his third consecutive championship as we end our season in Abu Dhabi. He and Steve Rogers are just one point apart, so the winner takes it all in our season finale.  

Olivia has been woken up in different ways in her life. With water by her best friend, by being jumped on by her sister, sweetly by her parents.  But her favorite way is the current way, with Steve currently lapping at her entrance. “Stevie,” she moaned.  

“Morning Doll,” she could feel him smirk as he went back to work. He tasted, teased, took her apart with just his tongue. She squirmed and he pinned her down. “I’m just congratulating you again on your pole.”  

“Stevie, please, I need to cum.”  

“Let go beautiful. I love watching you cum.”  He kept going, wanting to feel her channel clench around his tongue.  

“Need. More,” she panted, crying out when Steve buried two fingers into her. He curled them into her spot, and it sent her flying over the edge.  He worked her through it, slowing down gradually to make the orgasm lasts.  When the tension finally released from her thighs, he kissed her skin until he was between her legs.  He kissed her, knowing she could probably taste herself on his lips.  

He grabbed his cock and swiped through her folds, catching her clit and she jolted. He chuckled before sliding in, watching her face contort with pleasure.  He was slow, letting her feel every ridge, every vein of his cock against her walls but thrusting as deep as he could.  She choked at the force but sighed at the mounting pleasure. Steve began to kiss her neck and behind her ear, knowing it was starting to drive her wild.  

What he wasn’t expecting was for her to flip them over, never letting his cock out of her pussy, and begin to bounce on him.  Her hands ran up her torso, stopping at her nipples and tweaking them, making her moan louder.  “Hey,” Steve exclaimed.  He batted her hand away from her chest.  “Those are mine.”  He thumbed them softly before pinching them hard, causing Liv to wail.  He took one hand off and grabbed her hip to keep her moving.  

He felt the familiar heat flash across his belly, signally his end was coming. “Fuck Liv, Doll, tell me you are close,” Steve pleaded with her.  

“Just let go,” she panted as she sped up her hips.  

“Baby, not before you,” he growled.  He got both hands on her hips and pulled her down hard and he thrusted up, making Liv see stars.  She cried out from the sinful pleasure as the coil in her belly coiled even more tightly.  “Just. Let. Go,” he growled, punctuating with a hard thrust up on each word.  Liv was lost, sobbing as her orgasm washing through her, gripping him tightly.  She sagged forward, Steve quick to catch her to slow her fall onto his chest.  Just a couple more snaps and he was done, his cum flooding her, making her warm from the inside.  

The room was silent, bar the pants of breath coming from the couple as they calmed their hearts. Steve looked down his chest to see his favorite brown eyes looking back at him.  “I’d say that’s the best way to start the season finale, don’t you think?” 

Liv giggled as she pressed a kiss to his sweaty chest.  “Couldn’t agree more, love.” He was still in her, leaving her feel satisfied and full until her phone rang.  She groaned at the sound and Steve chuckled, moving carefully to reach for it.  

“It’s Andy.”  

She grumbled at the interruption but didn’t allow Steve to pull out.  She gave him a wicked grin and answered.  “There had better be a good reason for calling so early, Boss.”  

“You’re wake up call is in 30 Olivia, don’t sass me.  And don’t roll your eyes,” as she proceeded to roll them.  

“You are worse than my dad sometimes.” She swiveled her hips slightly, make Steve close his eyes and clench his jaw to keep from moaning.   

“I love you too.  I need you to come down and meet with the officials again for about ten minutes.  They need a statement about Drysdale for his case.”  

Liv sighed.  “Alone?” She bit her lip as Steve grazed her clit with his thumb. 

“I’ll be there but yes.  They need to speak to Rogers alone as well right after you.”  

“Fine, I’ll shower and dress. But I want coffee.”  

Andy chuckled. “Will have it ready.”  He hung up and Liv looked at Steve.  

“We have to give statements about Ransom. Separately.” She sighed. “I guess you have to get out of me now, which by the way, I now hate the feeling of you pulling out.” She sat up on his lap.  

“Trust me, I know the feeling.  I like you keeping me warm.”  He jutted his hips up slightly, hearing her gasp at the fact that he was still half hard in her. “So, let’s shower.”  He sat up and grasped her hips.  She giggled as she wrapped her legs around him and he carried them into the shower.  “No reason to separate just yet.”  

As Steve walked into his own interview with the officials, Liv made her way to the café inside the lobby, looking for a refill on her coffee.  She was in line when a cup was put in front of her.  “Mocha?”  She followed the hand to see Ransom standing next to her, a sad smile on his face.  

“I can get my own,” she replied, turning back to face the line and counter.  

“Please, Livie, I just want to talk,” Ransom pleaded with her.  

Liv rolled her eyes. “Fine, you have two minutes.”  She snatched the cup from his hands and headed to a table in the corner. She sat facing the door to watch for Steve. 

“Have you talked to the FIA?” 

“Yes.”  

Ranson grimaced. “Can I ask about what you said?” 

“The truth. About our relationship and how you asked me to come back.  How I refused.” Liv took a sip to see if Ransom would say anything else. “What is it?  Why can’t you leave me alone?” 

“I just wanted to ask for a chance Liv. I know I messed up.  I know that I ruined what we had but I’ve changed.”  

“You’ve changed?” She scoffed.  “You are exactly the same.  I know you helped your sister get to Steve.  I know that you saw Lloyd try and kill Steve by tampering with his car.  I know that, somehow, you weaseled your way to stay in the race this weekend.”  

“Liv, please.”  

“No! Fuck you,” she seethed. “You broke me when you cheated with those moto-hos. You broke me when I was planning our future and you were flaunting the girls you were with. You are a selfish prick who helped someone try and kill the love of my life.” She was raging but trying to keep her voice low. “I forgive you for the past but not for that.  Please don’t ever speak or approach me again unless it is for work. We are not friends, we will never be lovers again. Good bye Ransom.”  

She pushed out of her seat and dumped the coffee in the trash.  Steve was standing in the entry way, having seen Liv with Ransom. “Everything ok?” 

She ran into his arms and buried her face into his chest. “I told him to fuck off and never speak to me again unless it was for work.” She looked up at him. “As I don’t have a ride for next year, it shouldn’t be a problem.  I’ll be your cheerleader not a driver.”  

Steve smiled softly.  “Ya, you will.”  He kissed her gently. “C’mon beautiful, we got a race to finish.”  

Abu Dhabi was the final race of the season and it was under the night stars. Fitting since it seemed like fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it was calling.  The air was tense as Team Red Bull and Team Mercedes were batting for those final points and declare a champion.  

Liv threw a wrench into the plan by qualifying on pole, Steve and Ransom right behind her.  She knew today, she had to help Steve stay ahead of Ransom so he could earned more points and win his first championship.  As she walked along the garages for the last time as a driver, Liv felt peace.  She had done what she had set out to do.  Win in Formula One.  She didn’t have a ride, that was harsh but she did find love.  A true love that she had studied and read about.  And while their start was unconventional, their ending was just the beginning.  

She walked and waved to the drivers that had become friends.  Charles, Johnny, Chase, Sebastian, Lewis, Max, so many who stood by her during the darkest time of her career.  It wasn’t a forever goodbye, as she planned on traveling with Steve, but it was a farewell to a dream.  

As she approached her garage, a deep timber called out to her.  “Miss Williams?” 

“Yes?” She spun around to see Ari Levinson in front of her.  He was a legend, a four time champion of the sport and the new head of Mercedes after Lloyd was dismissed.  “Mr. Levinson.”  

“Please call me Ari.”  He offered his hand, and she took it.  

“Olivia.”  

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve been watching you all season Olivia. You are fantastic.  A champion in the making.”  

Liv blushed.  “Wow, that means a lot, coming from you.  My father was a fan of yours.”  

“I was a fan of his.” He smiled.  “I want to offer you something.”  

“Ok,” she said.  “What is it?” 

“A spot. For next year.”  

Liv was stunned.  “I’m sorry Ari but...” 

“Ransom and Lance are being let go of their contracts this year.  We are rebuilding the team and I want you to be our new number one driver.”  

“Me?” She squeaked. 

Ari smiled. “I see a lot of potential and I think it would be a good fit. I’ve spoken to Andy, and he agrees. If he had a spot, it would have been yours already.”  

“I’m honored, really, I just, I don’t know what to say.”  

“Have a good race Olivia. We’ll talk after you have a chance to think.  But, the future of Mercedes is yours. Especially since we are looking at Charles LeClerc as our second driver.”  They shook hands again and Liv started to walk, no, float back to the garage.  

Steve could see the faraway look on his girl’s face. It wasn’t her angry, thinking face, no, he’s seen that plenty of times this past year.  No, this one was closer to the one he sees when she is about to reach her peak.  That thought made him frown.  Who was making his girl this happy?  He took a step towards her until Sam stopped him and told him to get into the car.  Guess that conversation would have to wait.  

Bucky straps in Olivia, checking to make sure she’s ok.  He clips on the radio.  “Bug, can you hear me?” 

“Copy.”  

“Remember to breathe.  If you can block safely, do it.”  

“I got it Bucky.”  

“But if you can win, then do it.” She twisted her head to look at him and he smirked. “It's been an honor to be your crew chief.”  

“Couldn’t have done it without you,” she replied.  The engine was fired up and they were off to start the final race of the season.  

It's smooth for the most part.  Liv keeps everyone behind her until the pits stops when Ransom manages to get ahead of her.  But not in front of Steve.  Liv has a front row seat to the battle of the season as Steve and Ransom duke it out to be called the Formal One Champion.  Liv is close but not close enough to pass.  She sees a flash of a move. “Bucky?” 

“Go Bug.”  

“I think Ransom is getting ready to tag Steve.  He’s drifting on the line.”  

“Copy.”  

Bucky relays the information to Sam. “Steve?” 

“Go Sam.”  

“Watch your six.  It looks like Ransom might try and tag at the end of turn 12.”  

“Shit. Copy.”  

Steve watches his mirrors and can see what Liv saw.  He’s off the racing line, just a fraction but into turn 12, it will hit his wheel and spin him.  He’s three corners away when he sees what he can do.  He accelerates through turn 11 and cuts the corner at 12, making a “mistake” but not really as Ransom hits the curb at an angle, spinning himself in the process.  Liv misses the chaos from behind as Steve is forces to give us his spot as it was an advantage and gives Liv back the lead.  

“What is he doing?” Olivia asked.  

“He’s winning fair Liv,” Bucky replied.  “He wants to claim first place on even strength.  Show him what you got Liv.”  

Head down, pedal to the metal and Liv and Steve are fighting it out for first.  Ransom’s spin put it back on third but if he is not able to catch up, Steve wins, and its all over.  If he can catch him, Ransom can pull head and win.  

Its close, too close and Andy can barely watch.  But on the second to last lap, Liv over corrects and Steve tries to maneuver around.   

Checked flags.  

Steve Rogers has won his first Formula One Championship.  

Pulling into the winner's circle, Steve takes a moment before climbing out. He closes his eyes and reflects.  Everything he went through, every moment of heartbreak and pain, love and happiness, fear and regret was all worth it.  He unclips himself and stands on top of his car, shaking his arms in the air in celebration.  He looks to see Olivia climbing out as well, her mistake costing her the win but the smile on her face would never tell you otherwise.  

Steve jumps down and jogs over to her as she pulls off her helmet.  “Did you do that on purpose?” 

“Hell no,” she replied. “You may have won today but next year, I’ll own you.”  

“Next year?” 

“Ari Levinson is the new principal at Mercedes.  He asked me to be their number one driver.  Can’t think of a better way to spend the year than kicking my boyfriend’s ass.”  

He smiles wide.  “Bring it on Williams.”  

“Congratulations Rogers.” She stood up on her tippy toes and Steve leaned down to kiss her.  

Championship: check 

Got the girl: check 

Happily, Ever After: well, he’ll see when he brings out the ring he bought for her in Paris and ask her to be his wife.

Taglist:

@patzammit @jennmurawski13-writes @texmexdarling @slutforchrisjamalevans @firephotogrl74. @tinkerbelle67

[impy96]

HC Server-wide event featuring many laughs and fun moments? Hell yes I’m here for it! The Hermitcraft Easter Egg Hunt is genuinely an incredible idea and so far super well executed by Jevin, so here’s a quick recap of what we know!

Participants - 19 in total! In alphabetical order;

Bdubs, Beef, Cleo, Cub, Doc, False, Grian, Hypno, Impulse, Iskall, Jevin, Joe, Pearl, Scar, Stress, Wels, xB, Xisuma, Zedaph

17th April was the deadline for eggy hiding, and now the participating hermits all have until Tuesday/Wednesday to find as many hermit eggs as possible around their bases. 

Scoring system works as follows; Number of eggs hidden (18 max) minus the number of eggs found by other hermits. Jevin has also planned a tiebreaker if multiple hermits end up with the same score!

Several of the hermits have shown some of their hiding shennanigans in recent videos, so I’ll link all those with some of my favourite moments under the cut for spoiler reasons! And I’ll make another post after all the hunting videos have been posted with a recap roundup!

Also, Hermits who have worn their egg as a hat count; Cub, Grian, Iskall, Scar, Impulse, Xisuma

Bdubs - Showed a little bit of hiding in his video! Had a brief interaction with Cub about it, and fell for one of Iskall’s “good” hiding spots that he made to trick hermits lol.

Beef - Didn’t show any hiding, just signing up and collecting his easter basket. He also made an interior for his starter base at spawn to make it more fair for the other hermits trying to hide eggs and actually didn’t create any good hiding spots.

Cleo - No hidey, just sign up. 

Cub - Showed quite a few of his hiding places. Also showed his side of the interaction with Bdubs and found Xisuma stuck in his cactus farm trying to hide an egg. 

Doc - Both sign up and collection for hiding shown in his video. He hid a few, called his egg Lil Doccy, said he felt fatherly towards it, made some extras for himself, and then fed one to Garry the Goat. 

False - She was the first to collect her basket and hid a few on camera, also held her eggs in her hands (Calling them a girl group, maracas, bees, and maggots...). Definitely wanted to keep one for herself.

Grian - Signed up and collected his easter basket (it was named Grain). Hid a couple on camera and his little egg is now a manbun. Followed in Keralis’ footsteps of claiming that this was the best day of his life, better than when he got married lmaooo.

Hypno - Only has his sign up in the video. UPDATE! New video hidey hide. Jevin named Hypno’s instruction book as “Smelly boy”...rude. He also shows a few examples of where he has hidden his eggs. 

Impulse - Sign up only. UPDATE! New video shows that he is the third last to hide his eggs, but hide he does! Only shows a few examples on camera. Also wears his little egg as a manbun. 

Iskall - Please watch the chaos of his and Stress’ interactions around signing up for the egg hunt. Oh my god I was in stitches. Also collected his basket and showed some illegal sneaky hiding. (Jevin clarified the rules and made him change one, please don’t go and give out in his comments). 

Jevin - Didn’t show any hiding of eggs but his last two videos have explained rules etc for the actual event. Would highly recommend checking them both out!

Joe - Has both sign up and collecting the basket in his video, but no hiding. Apparently Iskall paid the commissioned artist extra to make the Joe eggs as his normal skin instead of the Rick Astley april fool’s skin hahaha. 

Pearl - Doesn’t show anything in her latest video, however her vibes are very this season so I would reccommend watching it regardless.

Scar - Collects his easter basket and shows a few hiding spots on camera. His main aim is to make the other hermits laugh when they find his eggs rather than trying to win. Also accidently blows up something under Cleo’s base while Hypno just watches and laughed. 

Stress - Signed up in a previous episode (and showed her POV of the Iskall interaction, again 10/10 would recommend watching) and collects her easter basket. Shows all of her hiding places on camera taking some hints from the Iskall school of cheating sneaky hiding. She wants to win really bad. Does almost get caught by Zed, but he is a good sport and gives her 5 minutes lmao.

Wels - No video from Wels, but he is signed up to play so hopefully we will get a video of the easter egg hunt!

xB - Collects his easter basket and shows a few places where he hid the little eggsB eggs. He also, like a madman, gave the coordinates for his mega base as the place where other hermits can hide eggs. This man lives in a massive cave. I admire him a lot. 

Xisuma - Signs up for the hunt, and then shows a montage of him changing his skin a few times to some “egg” designs (he didn’t specify easter eggs lol) from the community to become Egg-suma. He will be hiding them in the next episode. UPDATE! Xisuma has uploaded a new video where he shows him hiding some of his eggs! He forgets to use his checklist at first and hides eggs in Keralis’ and Gem’s bases lol. 

Zedaph - Just shows his collection of his easter basket, no hidey hidey. 

[ravennm84]

Marinette Family Court Reveal

After the overwhelming resonse I received from Marinette Family Court Circus, how could I not write a sequel? This story focuses more on what was going on with the class and what they’re seeing on the news. There will be some salt coming, so have a glass of water on hand. Anyways, Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!!

The class was in a state of shock. In the span of 24 hours, there was so much joy and tragedy. Gathered at Alya’s apartment, they watched TVi news as Hawkmoth and Mayura were unmasked as Gabriel Agreste and his assistant, Nathalie. The class was in an uproar for a while, wondering if Adrien had been involved.

Lila shed tears, real ones, at the loss of her modeling job and the chance to keep Adrien as a trophy boyfriend. Now, he was useless to her. Anything to do with him would be toxic to her reputation, her only chance was to use her tears and claim that she’d had no idea that he was involved in such things. That he must have been trying to use her to get close to her mother to have international backing. Luckily, her classmates were such sheep that no one questioned what she said. They just comforted her, even ignoring the announcement of Adrien being exonerated of any charges, beyond a reasonable doubt, a few hours later.

The following day in class, Mme. Bustier came in and announced that not only had Adrien been pulled out of school for his own safety, but Marinette would not be attending for a while. “I’m afraid that she was in a terrible accident and has been put in the hospital.”

“How bad?” Alya asked, standing from her chair.

“She’s alive, but I’m afraid that her parents and grandmother were killed in a fatal car accident.”

From there, gossip flew all around the room. How bad had it been? How hurt was Marinette? Do you think the accident was Marinette’s fault?

What?

They weren’t sure who asked that question, but it brought up other things. How she’d been acting strange the past few months. The way she’d distanced herself from everyone in class. How she’d been bullying Lila when she thought no one was looking. Always calling Lila a liar even though she had no proof. It was clear to everyone that she was a troubled girl, but the idea that she’d caused the accident and killed her parents and grandmother? That didn’t seem like the girl they knew.

Still, they weren’t sure. So, no one really reached out to her in the hospital. No one called or went to visit to see if she was alright. Except Lila, she put the fear of her bully aside and went to check on her, only to call Alya crying an hour later.

“I don’t understand why she hates me so much.” Lila sobbed on Alya’s couch and the spectacled girl rubbed her friend’s back. “All I did was tell her that I was worried about her, but she yelled at me and told me to get out of the room. But I can’t blame her. I think she’s just scared.”

“Of course she’s scared, she just lost her family-”

“No, she killed her family!” Lila stressed, looking freaked out. “She admitted it to me, like she didn’t think anyone would believe me! She said she distracted her father while he was driving and caused the crash since they were starting to get wise to how she really is, and that her grandmother was just ‘collateral damage’. I didn’t think anyone could be so cruel!”

Alya was in shock. She hadn’t thought that Marinette, someone she used to think of as a friend, would ever do something like that. Especially to her own family. But… Lila had never lied to her, why would she start now? “Do the police know about this?”

Lila shook her head. “I’m not sure. But I do know that she’s talking to a lawyer, she’s probably going to get her inheritance and disappear before anyone figures out what she’s done.”

“Don’t worry, girl. I won’t let her get away with this.”

“What are you going to do?” Lila asked, her voice trembling.

“Whatever I need to do to get justice for Tom and Sabine.”

~oOo~

To say that the reaction Alya got from the Paris Police Department when told them that she had a source that Marinette had killed her family in order to collect her inheritance and disappear… it hadn’t been well received. Officer Roger came to the interrogation room personally, seeing as how she was in his daughter’s class, as Alya sat with her extremely angry parents.

“Do you want to explain why you just tried to file a false police report?” Officer Roger asked her.

“It’s not false! I have a source.”

“And who might that be?”

She hesitated at that, Lila had begged her to keep her name out of it. “I’m not really comfortable saying.” 

“Then how exactly did this source of yours, gain this information?”

Thinking it over for a moment, she decided that was okay. “It was someone that visited Marinette, she admitted to my source that she purposefully distracted her father while he was driving and caused the crash.” When Officer Roger looked even angrier, she knew that must have been right and he didn’t want to admit that he’d been wrong.

At least…

“Mlle. Cesaire, as this has been made public knowledge, allow me to tell you exactly how wrong your source is. Firstly, Tom Dupain was not driving the car, Gina Dupain was driving. As for Marinette causing the accident, that’s also untrue. Street cameras confirm that four university students ran a red light and struck their car. The driver of the other car even confessed to having been drinking and causing the accident.”

Alya was in shock. Tom hadn’t been driving and Marinette hadn’t caused the accident… that would mean…

“Hate to break it to you Mlle. Cesaire, but whoever your source is has lied to you and caused you to be charged with filing a false police report.”

All the way home, Alya’s parents were scolding her for even thinking that Marinette could do such a thing. “She has always been such a good friend to you, and don’t think we don’t know about all the times you had Marinette watch Ella and Etta while you went off on dates with Nino. I bet you never even offered to pay her for babysitting the girls, did you?” Her father snapped as he parked the car outside their apartment building.

“And what about all the dresses and handmade gifts she gave you, some for no reason at all. Did you ever even thank her for those? And still, you accuse her of killing her entire family and almost getting herself killed for money? Why would you ever believe that?”

Seeing no reason to keep it to herself anymore, she told them. She told them how Marinette seemed to change when her new friend, Lila, came to school. How she had been calling her a liar just because she was jealous about the glamorous life she lived, the celebrities she knew, and her crush on Adrien. How she kept on accusing Lila of lying and faking injuries, even to the point of hurting her when Marinette threw a napkin at her and strained her sprained wrist. And then, when Marinette had been expelled, how she had accused Lila of being behind the whole thing.

When she was finished explaining, she thought for sure that she’d convinced her parents. Then she saw the looks on their faces.

“Alya, at any point, did you ever look up any of Lila’s claims?” Her mother asked in a slow, even voice.

“Now you sound like Marinette!”

“You do not talk to your mother like that!” Her father snapped before taking a deep breath to steady himself. Even without Hawkmoth around, it was difficult for people to express themselves as they used to. “Alya, I want you to take out your phone and look up any articles that have to do with Jagged Stone and Lila Rossi.”

Realizing how upset her parents were, she did what her father told her, knowing that she would find the proof in a couple minutes and they would see that Marinette…

Her phone read 1 result found: the Ladyblog.

Confused, she looked up any connection between Lila and Bruce Wayne. She said that she was practically a member of the family and that she and Damien Wayne were…

1 result found: the Ladyblog

Her hands were beginning to shake as she did her search for Lila and Tony Stark, that had to be true! She had talked about meeting him over video chat in class and how they’d talked about…

1 result found: the Ladyblog

Search after search, it was all the same. Lila and Clara Nightingale, Lila and Prince Ali, Lila and XY, Lila and the Avengers, Lila and Ladybug: 1 result found: the Ladyblog.

“I-I don’t understand?”

“Did you, at any time, check your sources before posting them?” Her mother asked, but Alya didn’t answer. She’d thought that Lila’s word had been enough, but… “This Lila girl has been lying to you, and apparently she’s been bullying someone who you used to think was a real friend. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

And she really was. She’d turned on Marinette, accusing her of being a jealous bully that had killed her own family, all on the word of a liar. So when her parents grounded her and told her that she was to shut down the Ladyblog, she didn’t argue. The blog was so full of lies that she would never be able to use it as a credible source for work experience in the future, if she even had a future in journalism anymore.

~oOo~

The next day at school, Alya could barely lift her eyes to meet anyone around her. Her mother said that she should be ashamed, and she was. She was ashamed, mortified, depressed, and all together hating herself after spending the entire night thinking of all the cruel and terrible things she had said to and about her former friend. She wasn’t going to delude herself thinking that she and Marinette could ever be friends again, she didn’t deserve her after throwing her aside for a bunch of fake stories and glittery lies.

But there was still one thing she could do. It wouldn’t make things right but it would probably be something Marinette would have done if she could have. So Alya got to class early and connected her laptop to the overhead projector. When everyone, barring Adrien and Marinette got to class. She got down to business.

“Everyone, I’ve got something very important to tell you, it has to do with Marinette.” She could already hear the murmurs around the classroom, Lila must have messaged them the lies while she’d been at the police station. “I want to start by saying that we have been misinformed. After speaking with the police and doing a ton of research, I can say with close to 100% certainty that Marinette never bullied Lila and that Lila has been lying to us since she got here.”

Before Lila could say anything, Alya brought up her first powerpoint slide. “I did a search last night on all the connections that Lila’s told us about with Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark, Prince Ali, and many others; and they all came up the same thing” The slide showed a screen shots of her searches, showing the only result being the Ladyblog. 

“Lila also told me the other day, how she went to visit Marinette and she confessed that she distracted her father while he was driving to cause the accident and kill her family so she could collect her inheritance.” Alya switched slides to the news article on the accident. “Yet the police report, traffic cameras, and witnesses all claim that to be false. Marinette’s grandmother was driving. The other driver admitted to running the light and causing the accident. And seeing as Marinette has never hid her dislike of Lila, it’s highly doubtful that she would even let Lila into her hospital room, let alone tell her something like that.”

The class had been staring at the slides in a state of shock until Alya finished speaking. Then all of them were whipping out their phones to do their own searches. Lila looked to be in a state of panic, unsure if she could bring anyone back to her side after showing all this evidence and everyone suddenly looking things up themselves.

“Oh, and Lila,” Alya said in a slightly sweet voice that made the italian glare. “So you know, my parents grounded me when the police charged me for filing a false police report after what you told me. They also decided to call the embassy to talk to your mother directly. I hope you at least get into as much trouble as you tried to do to Marinette.”

The girl didn’t want to stick around to find out, she was about to run out of the class but Mme. Bustier entered a second later and told everyone to take their seats. Lila tried to get herself excused multiple times, but the teacher just said “I understand that you must be upset by everything that has happened, but please know that you don’t have to leave the room to cry. This is a safe place again, and we are here for you.”

Before Lila’s 4th attempt to be excused, M. Damocles’ assistant knocked on the door and said that Lila was required in the office. The girl shot Alya an if-I-could-kill-you-now-I-would look before gathering her things and stomping out of the classroom. Alya hoped that she would never see the girl again. 

Then just before lunch, Markov came on and alerted everyone that the news was talking about Marinette. Mme. Bustier turned the projector back on and plugged Markov in. Sure enough, there was Marinette, looking much worse for wear. She was in a wheelchair with her right leg and arm in casts. They could see cuts healing on her exposed skin and she was much more pale than the last time they saw her. But what really caught the class’ attention, was what the bar read at the bottom of the screen. “Custody battle between Stark, Wayne, and Stone”.

The camera switched from Marinette to Jagged Stone. “Tom and Sabine were like family to me, some of the most rock’n’roll folks I’ve ever met. When I got the call saying that they were gone and Marinette had no one else, all I could think about was being there for the rockin’ little lady. She is the kindest, smartest, and most talented girl I’ve ever met. Whatever it takes, I’m going to do what I can to help her.”

Then the camera went to Tony Stark. “Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng were the kind of people others should strive to be; they stood up for what was right and let you know if you were wrong. I was on the receiving end of their lectures more than once, and they’re probably one of the reasons why I put on the suit over and over again. They helped make me a better man… and now they’re gone. I can never repay them for how they helped me, the least I can do is try to give their daughter a safe environment to heal.”

Finally, the camera came to Bruce Wayne and his sons. “I know the pain of losing one's parents when you’re young, it’s not something I would wish on anyone. But I had a support system when I was young, one of those people was Gina Dupain, a wonderful woman that forced me to see that there was still good in the world. She passed that goodness and strength to Tom Dupain and was lucky enough to find a good woman like Sabine. The fact that they are gone from the world… all I could think when I heard of their passing was how dark the world would become without the three of them. But there is also so much goodness in their daughter, Marinette. If I can have the opportunity; I just hope that I can do for Marinette, what Gina did for me.”

When the camera switched again, it came to Nadja Chamack, who looked a little teary eyed. “This story has been admittedly difficult for me to remain objective, as I know… knew the family personally. I do agree with Jagged Stone, Tony Stark, and Bruce Wayne in saying that Tom, Sabine, and Gina were wonderful people and it is a great loss that they are no longer with us. TVi news will continue to follow this story as it develops. Back to you, Alec.”

Mme. Bustier’s class watched the news in total shock. They’d had no idea that Marinette knew Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne, but how could they have forgotten that she knew Jagged Stone and Nadja Chamack. Hell, Alya had even watched Manon with her more than once. 

All the things Lila had promised them, Marinette probably could have done and more. She could have introduced Kitty Section and Nino to Jagged Stone and given them an in to the music industry. Computer programming and robotics for Max, there was no one better known in the industry than Tony Stark. Business and charities, an introduction to Bruce Wayne could have done wonders for Chloe, Sabrina, and Mylene. If Alya had even asked while they were still friends, Marinette may have asked Nadja if they were offering any internships at TVi for her. And even if her former friend didn’t have any obvious contacts in sports for Kim, or art for Alix and Nathaniel; with the way her name was getting out there with her fashion designs, she’d have probably made connections within the next few years.

A look around the room told Alya that the class was thinking the same thing. If they had just listened to their friend, instead of calling her jealous. If they had looked into a single thing Lila said instead of blindly following her. If they had even just gone to visit Marinette in the hospital rather than leave her alone during the hardest time of her life… No, they had no right to ask anything of her and all of them knew it.

Later that day, just before school let out for the day, Markov alerted everyone that Marinette was leaving the courthouse and the little robot was reconnected to the projector. What they saw was Marinette giving a small smile, her lawyer looking relieved, and the three men smiling fondly at the teenage girl. When the reporters started firing questions at them they were silenced when Marinette raised her good arm and motioned for everyone to calm down before pointing to Nadja.

“Has the judge come to a decision on the subject of custody?” Nadja asked, pointing her microphone at Marinette. Only to be answered by her lawyer, the bar listed his name as M. Contere.

“Mlle. Dupain-Cheng and I have presented a proposal to the judge, it has yet to be finalized but I will say that it holds potential.”

Marinette pointed to another reporter, who had been politely raising his hand. “Mssrs. Stone, Stark, and Wayne seem to be in high spirits, does this indicate that the final decision will allow for all parties to have interactions with Mlle. Dupain-Cheng?”

M. Contere kept a straight, professional face, but everyone could see the happy crinkle at the corner of his eyes. “Although I cannot, at this time, comment on the specifics of the proposal, I will say that it is in the best interests of my client.”

Marinette chose a young girl who looked a bit overwhelmed but smiled gratefully. “This question is directed to Mssrs. Stone, Stark, and Wayne. What kind of accommodations are you planning on making if receiving custody?”

The three men shared a look before smiling at the young reporter. 

“Anything Marinette will need to heal and make a future for herself,” Bruce Wayne began.

“And probably a bunch of things she’ll say she doesn’t need, but will end up giving her anyway, since she deserves everything.” Tony Stark smiled down at her, earning a you-better-not look from Marinette, and caused a few reporters to chuckle.

“All of us here see this rockin’ little lady as family, these custody hearings will make it official. I can say with great certainty that, no matter what the judge decides, myself and these two men will do everything in our power to help her in any way we can.” Jagged said, as he placed a gentle hand on top of Marinette’s head.

M. Contere pointed at a different reporter this time, and was visibly surprised by the question. “There has been a rumor going around that Marinette purposefully caused the accident to collect her inheritance, any comment?”

The three powerful men that were standing behind Marinette became visibly upset and Marinette began to cry. Before Jagged Stone, Tony Stark, or Bruce Wayne could advance on the reporter to demand where he had heard such a claim, their lead lawyers stepped forward. The intimidating force that the three of them exuded was enough that all of the reporters took a few steps back.

“That question is a blatant falsehood that was founded by rumor, not facts,” stated the Stone lawyer in a cold voice as he stared down the reporter who asked the question.

The Wayne lawyer continued, speaking clearly so no one would mishear or misquote what was said. “As stated in the police report and other sources, the accident was caused when a group of university students failed to yield at a red light and struck the Dupain-Chengs’ vehicle. The driver has already pleaded guilty to charges of DUI, three counts of vehicular manslaughter, and vehicular assault.” 

The camera panned over to Tony Stark’s lawyer, as he finished speaking quietly to the three men before turning back to the camera. “These comments have also come to the attention of the Paris Police Department, as someone attempted to file a false police report on the matter. After a brief discussion with Mssrs. Stone, Wayne, and Stark, they have agreed to work together, along with the PPD, to find the source of these rumors and see the individual brought up on charges of slander, harassment, and defamation of character; among other charges.”

“No more questions,” M. Contere said as he and the other lawyers escorted their clients away from the courthouse. The reporters tried to ask more questions, but were met with icy looks and ‘no comment”.

Alya couldn’t help but smile at that. After school, when Officer Roger came to pick up Sabrina, she would tell him exactly who her source was. She would tell who her “source” had been and all the things she’d said about Marinette since she’d started attending school. She would show him all the recordings on her blog before it was shut down and send him video copies of Lila’s interviews as evidence. If she was lucky, Lila would also be charged for slandering Jagged Stone, Tony Stark, and Bruce Wayne; as well as Marinette.

Again, Alya knew that this wouldn’t fix her friendship with Marinette, but it was also the right thing to do. And for the first time in a long time, she was going to be on the side of good.

Taglist:

@whydoexamsexist  @geekydragonyt  @thornalchemist23

@maribat-is-lifeblood  @ironspiderstark  @miyla-lokidottir

@futursworld  @luveverything12  @dreamkitty25

@smolplantmum  @imablinkmarvelarmy  @moonlitiiminie

@chez-pezeater

[arrozaurus]

Thank you for talking about pink diamond/rose in a more positive but analytical way. I go on tiktok and twitter for su sometimes and it’s so mentally exhausting to see how people see her in such a demonizing way and say she’s a horrible person and that everything in the series is her fault. I try sometimes to explain her character or correct some inaccuracies but it always falls on deaf ears or they keep mischaracterizing her or flat out say false things to prove their point (someone said PD punched Pink pearl in the eye and i was so confused by that statement) or say stuff like “oh but she left spinel”. I like to watch the youtube videos that show pink diamond rose quartz clips in chronological order because people are level headed about her and I can read the comments without feeling frustrated.

its no problem, ive been doing this for years. personally i cant have a peaceful interaction with the general fandom either because of this exact thing, so i avoid it whenever i can, i trust very little people with this ú_ù.

i have a google doc with quotes and stuff related to her which is really cool if you want to check it out! pls read it its my lovechild.

also this blog reblogs posts that resonate with her character, also posts memes sometimes.

in no moment there is an indication that she punched volleyball or that she abused her, in fact the canon is very poignant in the fact that pinks frustration wasnt directed at anyone specifically and it was something that she found hard to control because of the traumatic nature of these intense reactions, the outbursts. it is clear when you pick apart the themes of steven universe future and specially stevens actions in that very episode, hes not really in control either when he breaks the whole building, right?

most people are simply not bothering to pay attention to what the narrative is trying to say and the conclusion comes from an unrelated event in jungle moon (it is not a metaphor, pink punches a window with her fist and the glass is literally broken in the physical present kdjfjdjf).

the way i see the relationship between pd and volley is that is one of someone with a mentally ill or a mentally struggling friend who they care about and because friend has it worse they end up downplaying how much the violence of the environment is affecting them and finding hard to set up boundaries when the friend ends up hurting them by accident. this is even more amplified by the fact that homeworld is an inhuman world, a world of lovelessness, where the individual is encouraged to be supressed by and for the status quo of state perfection.

pinks performance is practically the only thing that prevails in defiance of that, shes the only one that cannot be controlled in the ways that white demands. in a world of greys her colorful influence and her open attitude is intoxicating to other gems, giving them the power to be themselves and show their wants.

and this is, i think, especially true for volleyball, who is a pearl, a servant, an object even. with pink she doesn't need to play that role—pink has no interest in that, she just needs a person to be friends with. its this relative freedom that the situation brings what is so precious to her, i suppose.--

sorry for the rambling LMAO you activated my hyperfixation

[angelsarts]

Hey I'm sorry to ask, but do you have updates for korean dramas? I can't find the link to your old one but also maybe some newer suggestions? (It's okay if you don't!)

It’s cool, I can do a new one! These are all in the order that I watched them in!

WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD

1. Coffee Prince ( A great choice for a first k-drama)

Choi Han-gyul is the grandson of chairwoman Bang of Dong-in Foods, a company that has a thriving coffee business. He has never had a job and does not care for responsibility. Han-gyul is hung up on his first love, Han Yoo-joo, who only sees him as a friend. Go Eun-chan is a 24-year-old tomboy who is often mistaken for a guy. Her father died when she was 16 years old and since then she has taken over as the breadwinner in her family. When Han-kyul and Eun-chan meet, he, not knowing that she is a girl, decides to hire her to pretend to be his gay lover so that he can escape the blind dates arranged by his grandmother. 

2. Cinderella with four knights

Eun Ha Won is a bright college student who dreams of becoming a teacher. Unfortunately, she loses her mother in a tragic accident, moves in with a cruel stepmother, and has no money for her education. One day, she helps an old man and as fate would have it, moves into a gorgeous mansion with three equally gorgeous men, who also happen to be billionaire cousins and heirs to the Kang family fortune. Between the rebel-minded loner Kang Ji Woon, playboy money machine Kang Hyun Min and the super-sweet singer Kang Seo Woo, Eun Ha Won finds herself in the middle of the hottest love quadrangle to ever befall a modern fairy tale princess. Rounding out the mansion’s chaebol lifestyle are Lee Yoon Sung, who serves as the cousins’ handsome bodyguard, and Park Hye Ji, a gorgeous girl who has her own interests in the Kang family and is not above manipulating one cousin to get closer to another.

3. Bride of the century

Taeyang Group is the largest conglomerate in South Korea. The Choi family who runs Taeyang has supposedly been under a curse for a hundred years that the first bride of the eldest son will always die. When the wealthy heiress Jang Yi-kyung disappears right before her wedding to chaebol heir Choi Kang-joo , Na Doo-rim , a lookalike impostor, is brought in to take her place. Unlike the cold and calculating Yi-kyung, Doo-rim is sweet and sunny, and Kang-joo genuinely falls in love with her. As the wedding plans progress, Kang-joo and Yi-kyung’s mothers both scheme and plot behind the scenes will the romance gets more complicated with the secret of not being the real Jang Yu-kyung.

4. Strong woman Do Bong Soon

Do Bong-soon was born with superhuman strength. Her strength is hereditary and passed along only to the women in her family. Her dream is to create a video game with herself as the main character. She desperately wants to become a delicate and elegant woman, which is the ideal type of her crush, In Guk-doo, a police officer. Thanks to her strength, she gets a job as bodyguard to rich heir Ahn Min-hyuk, the CEO of a gaming company, Ainsoft. In contrast to Guk-doo, Min-hyuk is an eccentric man who is playful, a little spoiled, has no regard for rules, and dislikes policemen. He has recently received anonymous threats and has even been stalked, leading him to hire Bong-soon as his bodyguard after seeing her beat up a bunch of men after they threatened an old man who was an elementary school bus driver. A series of kidnapping cases soon happen in Dobong-dong, the district Bong-soon lives in, and she is determined to catch the culprit, who targeted her best friend. With help and training from Min-hyuk, she manages to control her strength to use it for good causes. Min-hyuk and Bong-soon find their relationship growing into something more.

5. My secret romance

Jin-wook and Yoo-mi meet at a Gangwon-do resort and get caught up in a series of misunderstandings and accidents. Yoo-mi is there to attend her mother’s second wedding while Jin-wook is there working as a bellhop (a position given to him by his Chairman father to teach him responsibility.) Yoo-mi is charmed by Jin-wook’s sly and playful personality, and they unexpectedly spend the night together. However, Yoo-mi disappears in the morning, leaving Jin-wook feeling perplexed and insulted. Three years later, the two meet again when Yoo-mi becomes a nutritionist at the company cafeteria where Jin-wook works. It seems that once a playboy Jin-wook, has given up his carefree life and works at the company owned by his father. He has feelings for Yoo-mi and has kept her bra-pad as a memory of the night that they spent together. At first, he is strict toward her, though it is only because he is looking for reasons to be near her. He later confesses this to her and agrees to wait for her.

6. Scarlet heart ryeo ( One of my all time favourites) 

During a total solar eclipse, a 25-year-old 21st-century woman, Go Ha-jin, is transported back in time to the Goryeo Dynasty. She wakes up in the year of 941 in the body of Hae Soo, among the many royal princes of the ruling Wang family. She initially falls in love with the gentle and warm-hearted 8th Prince Wang Wook, and later Wang So, the fearsome 4th Prince who hides his face behind a mask and is given the derogatory label of “wolf dog.” As the story develops, Hae Soo finds herself unwittingly caught between the rivalry and politics among the princes over the fight for the throne, an she stay alive long enough for a happy ending?

7. Falling for innocence

Min Ho is a cold-blooded corporate raider who takes no prisoners. He is a scoundrel investment banker for Gold Investment, seemingly the world’s largest financial service firm. As a cynical, self-defensive, suspicious sociopath, he wears down people with his tenacity and takes advantage of them with his delusions of grandeur. However, Min Ho has his own story of how he became evil - it was because of his uncle’s betrayal. His father was overthrown by his uncle and it caused his family to hit bottom. As Min Ho vows to get revenge, he meets Soon Jung, the daughter of his father’s former secretary who betrayed him and whom now works for his uncle. One day, he has a heart attack and is taken to a hospital. He miraculously survives his heart attack after undergoing a heart transplant. His heart is actually from Dong Wook, a young detective and Soon Jung’s fiancé who suffered from brain damage from a mysterious car accident. After receiving a new life thanks to the new heart, he is no longer the cold and callous person that he has been and undergoes a profound change to his personality, talking differently and warming up people. But he still pursues his plan to get revenge on his uncle even though his emotions get in the way at times. He gradually learns the meaning of happiness when he finds Soon Jung, whom he wants to cherish and protect. His heart becomes tender and his eyes swell with tears when as he works with her. He falls in love with her without realising it.

8. The bride of Habaek / the water god

When the narcissistic water god Ha-baek visits earth in order to find three stones powerful enough to help him claim his throne, he seeks out the help of his servant and destined bride, psychiatrist So-ah, whose family is fated to serve the water god for generations. The problem is that she has no belief in the gods and initially mistakes him for suffering from delusions. Things get even stranger when the wind god Bi-ryeom, the water goddess Mu-ra, and the semi-god Hu-ye show up to complicate things

9. Weightlifting fairy Kim Bok Joo

Kim Bok-Joo is a promising collegiate female weightlifter. Her father runs a small chicken restaurant and her uncle wants to become an actor. She has a bright personality and strong sense of justice. Kim Bok-Joo and her friends on the female weightlifting team are not popular with the guys and they don’t have boyfriends. The weightlifting team and the rhythmic gymnastic team also don’t get along at all. Meanwhile, Jung Joon-Hyung is a collegiate swimmer plagued with numerous false start disqualifications. He is 21-years-old and has a free spirit. His uncle and aunt raised him along with his cousin Jung Jae-Yi. One day on campus, Kim Bok-Joo bumps into Jung Joon-Hyung while he is riding his bicycle. Her face looks familiar to Jung Joon-Hyung. After he leaves, Kim Bok-Joo picks up a handkerchief left behind by Jung Joon-Hyung. The handkerchief is very important to him and he begins looking for it. Later, Kim Bok-Joo cleans and irons the handkerchief. She goes to the school’s swimming pool and gives back his handkerchief, but he explodes with anger when he sees that she cleaned it. Kim Bok-Joo then falls into the swimming pool and Jung Joon-Hyung jumps into the pool to save her. At that moment, Kim Bok-Joo and Jung Joon-Hyung realize where they have seen each other before. When they were both children, Kim Bok-Joo saved Jung Joon-Hyung’s life by catching him before he fell to the ground.What happens now they know each other?

10. I’m not a robot

Kim Min-kyu lives an isolated life due to a severe allergy to other people. He develops extreme rashes that rapidly spread throughout his body once he makes any form of skin contact. Jo Ji-ah is a woman who is trying to make it in life by creating her own businesses. Kim Min-kyu who owns the KM Financial company which owns Santa Maria team headed by professor Hong Baek-kyun. Professor Hong’s team has created a humanoid robot called Aji 3 which looks like his ex-girlfriend Jo Ji-ah. CEO of KM Financial, Kang Ki-young, and his father try to sell the Santa Maria team to foreign investor, Martin, who secretly knows about the Aji 3 and wants to use it as a weapon. Hong Baek-kyun sends the robot to Kim Min-kyu to convince him not to sell the team. Before Aji 3 is delivered, the robot’s body is accidentally damaged. Hong Baek-kyun approaches Jo Ji-ah, asking her to pose as the robot, giving the team time to repair Aji 3. Jo Ji-ah agrees, and impersonates the robot under the supervision of the Santa Maria team and the robot’s computer brain, can she survive without being caught out?

11. Goblin / Guardian the lonely and great

Kim Shin is a goblin and protector of souls. He is the landlord of the grim reaper, who is in charge of taking deceased souls. Wanting to end his immortal life, Shin has been looking for his human bride, the only person who can end his life. Meanwhile, Ji Eun-tak is a high school student who remains optimistic despite the tragedies and difficulties she has experienced in her life. She summons the goblin by chance, and through various encounters, ends up falling in love with him. Sunny is a chicken restaurant owner, whose beauty is undeniable, but what has she got to do with the goblin and reaper? These four characters’ lives took a series of twists and turns when they intertwined.

12. Terius behind me (Another favourite!)

Go Ae-Rin suddenly loses her husband left to take care of her two children on her own. A mysterious man, Kim Bon, that lives next door ends up getting tangled into their lives. Kim Bon is a legendary NIS agent and 3 years ago, he was involved in a failed secret operation and the woman he loved died. He has since become disconnected with the world and lives alone quietly but that soon changes as he helps his neighbor Go Ae-Rin with her children and uncover a conspiracy, which her husband became involved with all the while trying to keep his secrets by the nosy neighbours in the building.

13. 100 days my prince 

Lee Yool is the Crown Prince of Joseon, a perfectionist who disregards the majority of those in the royal palace and appears to be cold and demanding, when in reality, he is lonely. He then passes the law that all women must marry before they reach the age of 28. Hong Shim is head of the first detective agency in Joseon, a strong, intelligent figure who takes on multiple jobs to support herself and her father. She is also the oldest unmarried woman in her village, and begins to look for a husband to avoid trouble from law officials. In an attempted assassination, Lee Yool develops temporary amnesia and wanders around aimlessly as a commoner with no name or identity, until he meets none other than Hong Shim, who takes him under her care. Hong Shim is then forced to marry Won Deuk to save her village from drought, due to beliefs in that era where natural disasters are a result of an unmarried woman’s misery. This drama depicts how the love story of Hong Shim, ‘Joseon’s oldest unmarried woman’ and Lee Yool, the amnesiac Crown Prince, develops over the span of 100 days.

14. My ID is Gangnam beauty

Kang Mi-rae decides to get plastic surgery after years of being bullied because of her looks. Her “rebirth” seems successful at first, but as her life at the university unfolds, her plan starts to backfire. The pressure of being a “pretty girl” begins to pressure her and, worse, those who can see through her surgery ridicule her and tag her as the “Gangnam plastic surgery monster.” The drama follows Mi-rae’s story of recovering self-esteem as she figures out what a two faced friend is and gets to know her coursemate, and former schoolmate in middle school, Do Kyung-seok

15. The secret life of my secretary 

Do Min-Ik works as a director of the mobile media 1 team at T&T, he’s smart and excellent at his job however he doesn’t like to attach himself to people or his secretary. His secretary is Jung Gal-Hee, a diligent and motivated person that does whatever it takes to keep her job and feed her family. Do Min-Ik often does childish things like calling Jung Gal-Hee continually, Jung Gal-Hee carries out Do Min-Ik’s orders without complaints but though she may look soft, she hides her tough side. The tough side soon comes out as she is fired, much to Do Min-Ik’s regret he soon discovers that he’s going to need her more than ever and discovers a new side to her in the process.

16. W - Two worlds ( Really recommended!! )

A love story of two people split apart in different worlds connected by a webtoon. The series focuses on the eponymous fictional webtoon entitled W, written and illustrated by its legendary author and illustrator Oh Seong-moo. W became famous in the entire South Korea, the storyline of the webtoon W starts with the younger years of its main character Kang Chul, a handsome and intelligent boy who is also skilled in shooting. He becomes famous as he won a shooting competition during the 2004 Athens Olympics but this fame gets ruined when his entire family was killed by an unknown Murderer, and then framed for it. Another villain Han Cheol-ho  handles the case to gain political popularity, pronouncing in court to impose death penalty upon Kang Chul. Nevertheless, Kang Chul was deemed innocent of the crime. Depressed over losing his family, he attempts to commit suicide over the Han River but he stops himself and chooses to move on with his life.Ten years later, Kang Chul becomes a multimillionaire, starting his “Project W” in his continuous efforts to catch the real culprit behind his family’s death; part of the project is his television broadcasting company dubbed “W,” after the initials of the interrogatives “who” and “why” (hence, the title of the webtoon). One night, he receives a suspicious phone call and gets severely injured by the same mysterious Murderer at the rooftop of his penthouse, only to be saved by a mysterious girl, none other than the authors daughter. How did she get there? Why is she there? How will they become entangled?

17. My contracted husband Mr Oh

Han Seung-Joo (Uee) is a single woman in her mid 30’s who works as a PD at a broadcasting station. She does well at her job, but is not nearly as good when it comes to housework. Han Seung-Joo has a hard time dealing with social prejudices about single women but still refuses to marry at least until an incident that occurs leading to a dramatic change in her life. She seeks to find a husband thinking it would help her situation but to get the position of a “married woman,” Han Seung-Joo marries Oh Jak-Doo as a contract husband who lives in the mountain that she just happened to own. Their marriage is not based on love, but their relationship develops romantically after several twists and turns.

18. Marriage contract ( For those who love to cry, seriously heartbreak ahead )

Kang Hye-soo is a single mother who struggles to raise her daughter while paying off her late husband’s debts. Han Ji-hoon is the son of a chaebol who seeks a contract marriage in order to save his mother, who needs a liver transplant. When Hye-soo is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, she agrees to marry Ji-hoon and donate part of her liver to his mother, in exchange for enough money to provide for her daughter until she reaches adulthood. Han Ji-Hoon is driving along when Hye-Soo is almost hit saving her 7 year old daughter Eun-Seong, He rushes her to the hospital as she faints however while she is being tested the Manager of the restaurant Han Ji-Hoon owns Ho-Joon tells him might be a scam and to make sure she is really hurt. Han Ji-Hoon has Hye-Soo’s phone and receives a call from a mysterious man which turns out to be the debt collector who comes to the hospital after hearing it being said in the background. He chases Hye-Soo when she is leaving, where he almost catches her but she in the end hides in Han Ji-Hoon’s car with Eun-Seong. Han Ji-Hoon’s mother has been rushed to the hospital where they find out that if she doesn’t get a liver transplant she will die but she is way down on the list so Han Ji-Hoon decides to marry a Hye-Soo she agrees so she can pay off her debt and also make sure Eun-Seong has money to grow up on as she gets the results back from when she fainted and she has a brain tumour. Eun-Seong in the beginning doesn’t like Han Ji-Hoon but she warms up to him as the pretend relationship blossoms into something real.

BONUS

19. 200 pounds beauty

Han-Na is a very large girl with a warm heart. She also possesses an unbelievable voice. Han-Na wants to become a pop-singer, but due to her extra-large appearance, can only work as a faceless singer. She provides the vocals for a popular singer named Amy, a beautiful young lady that can’t carry a note to save her life.Han-Na is also in love with Amiys music producer, Sang-Joon, but it’s a one-sided love. One day, Han-Na is invited to Sang-Joon’s birthday party and receives a red dress from him to wear to his party. Han-Na is excited, yet scared. The dress is revealing and quite extravagant. With her very large figure, she is not sure if she can wear such an outfit. Han-Na does eventually go to the birthday party in the red dress, but is mortified when petite Amy appears in the same red dress. During the course of the birthday party, Han-Na absorbs more emotional trauma and she simply disappears for one year. Han-Na then returns as the beautiful Jenny, a beautiful stunner who decides to make it on her own in the industry but encounters her once sided love. Will she be a success? Will her feelings get in the way and can she keep the guilt of the consequences of what her change brings?

20. Takane to Hana ( Japanese )

A tv show adapted from a manga ( that I particularly loved).  After her older sister refuses to go to an arranged marriage meeting with Takane Saibara, the heir to a vast business fortune, high schooler Hana Nonomura agrees to be her stand-in to save face for the family. But what happens when Hana meets Takane is an unexpected pairing of utter opposites! Although it seemed a little rushed at the end it was a nice tv show!

[archetypal-archivist]

Sky’s Limit- Hermitcraft- Worldbuilding

Heyo! This was the product of a plot bunny I got while watching the newest animated music video by Porter Robinson, and it features pretty much all the hermits. Long into the distant future, there is a city of gleaming white and technological marvels. Electricity is entirely clean, its people are always happy, and life- as it has always done- goes on. However, for all it seems like a utopia, there is one facet that may seem out of place. The city is truly, utterly silent. Sure, there are voices and happy chatter, laughter on street corners and children running in the streets. But there is no hum, no electric buzz that most crafters of the past would have been familiar with. There is no redstone. For indeed, the red dust is entirely illegal and those who work with it are relegated to the city’s dark underbelly. And not all of them are happy to be there. It is in this city, the city of Sky’s Limit, that I have dropped our hermits. Time will tell what happens next.

----

A story in which the world has been… purified. Think skyblock, portrayed as a world of natural wonder, soft angles and high rises that scrape the clouds above, all in shimmering shades of pearlescent white. The only noise is the rushing of the wind through the grass far, far below and the distant echo of passing conversation and laughter. There are no cars, no chatter of coms, no hissing creepers or vroomping, thieving endermen. Just peace. And sometimes, if you listen carefully enough, the flapping of wings as the most blessed of the city’s inhabitants fly  overhead, the celebrity darlings and envy of everyone below. For some of the hermits, life is good. Bdubs, Xisuma, Grian, and Jevin are all upper nobility. Xisuma and Grian are some of the lucky few with wings (bee and bird respectively for X and G), while Jevin is blessed simply for being sky blue and transparent- and a being so like the sky must surely be worthy of high ranking. Surely. Xisuma is an administrator of the city, one of those who keep track of the nitty-gritty bits, like how much food each sector goes through a month, the efficiency of the watering systems in the fields, etc. Grian is just a straight up celebrity darling, beloved by the people for his pranks and personality. Late at night, he runs a TV talk show. Jevin has a seat on the city governance, one of thirteen “elected” chancellors. Bdubs is another chancellor, low-key the one in charge, as it was his idea to create a city of white, one that ran on clean energy and lawfulness, who drew up the first blueprint and built much of the city himself. It’s said that there’s no corner of it he isn’t aware of, no part that he didn’t have a hand in designing. While this isn’t quite the case, one thing is certain- BDubs certainly has “designs” and they are very grand indeed. After these hermits fall the ones who are upper to middle class. Stress is a well-trusted doctor in the city’s finest hospital. She believes in the system that saved her life so long ago with all her heart and does her best to keep the city and its people running as best as they possibly can. Compassion and lawful goodness fall into the same boat for Stress, which can sometimes end poorly for criminals who go to her for medical care, thinking that surely a doctor as kind as Stress would never turn away someone, even if they have broken the law. What they forget is that becoming a doctor takes a spine of steel, and Stress has gone one step above the rest- she has a spine of chrome, and she will do what she must to keep her city running strong. (Incidentally, that chrome spine of hers? Not hyperbole, an “accident” at 6 made sure of that.) Vintagebeef runs a butcher shop and is mid to low ranking. He serves the best sandwiches in the city, as attested to by his best customers, Rendog and Falsesymmetry. Rendog is a happy go lucky reporter who spends equal time chasing skirts as he does chasing his next scoop. False is a beat cop, one of the best, and she’s gone viral at least once for dumping criminals who think that just because she's a girl that means she can’t fight. She’s particularly embarrassed (and a bit proud) of the video of her literally picking up a criminal and dumping him the nearest trash chute. Welsknight, the unfortunate garbage man, was quite unhappy to have to remove the criminal from the chute, as for all of False’s strength, she wasn’t quite strong enough to pry the man loose again. He now low-key follows False around to clean up all of her messes as while the media at large is quite fond of her feats, the local infrastructure isn’t.  Somehow, he always ends up at the right place at the right time. Scar is a bit down on his luck, but overall is doing pretty well for himself. He’s one of the architects for the city, was in fact famous for a time for creating a specific style of sheer white skyscraper that allowed for more solar panels to be placed along its side. However, 2 years later and people are starting to realize that for some reason, his buildings aren’t as efficient as they ought to be and his designs have since fallen out of favor. Rendog had taken great joy running his name through the muck, unfortunately, as a man’s got to eat and for all the Scar is a nice guy, a renowned architect falling from grace makes for quite the scoop. The two don’t like each other much, but they’ve actually seen each other’s faces. Anyway, Scar has been living off of his savings, hoping that someone up top would care enough about him to fix the issue and find out what went wrong. After 2 years of nothing, however, he has realized that if he ever wants to figure out the mystery of his buildings’ lack of efficiency, he’ll need to find out himself. Little does he know, Keralis, the architect that replaced him, has been doing quite well for himself and the last thing he wants is to lose his position to the guy he had replaced. While a generally nice guy, Keralis has had a taste of the high life and now there’s no going back. He knows what Scar is up to, and is quite… invested in keeping the status quo. No. Matter. What. Joe Hills runs a bookstore. A completely normal bookstore. Yes, really officer, I promise. Just like how XB, his best friend and right hand man, employee of the month, every month, is entirely average in every way and has never done anything wrong in his life, ever. There is one more among the hermits who has wings- Etho. Or rather, had. Etho had his wings cut off for undisclosed crimes against the city and now works in a toy shop on the outskirts of town. He’s thoroughly mysterious and always looks tired, but his toys and trinkets business does surprisingly well and he always seems happy, behind that mask of his. The only hint that this isn’t quite the case is the tightness around his eyes. A secret? When they told him that the pain would never stop, that awful night when they burnt his wings off? He didn’t believe them. (Oh god, the way it smelled.) He really, really should have. 

You’ve heard about the shining white walls, the perfect healthcare, the love the people hold for the city and the rigor with which they defend it. The quiet, the peace, the wonderful golden silence found in its streets and reflecting from its windows. Even the light seems quieter there. If you’re smart, you may have picked up that something isn’t quite right with the city, that 2/3s of our cast seems to be missing. You’d be right, almost. Mumbo, Cub. Cleo? They aren’t missing- they’re hiding. And they have very good reason to do so. 

The city’s name is Sky’s Limit, and it is built on a foundation of marble and hard, cold law. It is a city of white… and black. And lurking in its shadows are all those that do not belong, those whose colors do not fit, those who can’t afford the brilliant marble towers or the plastic smiles popularized by the rich and famous. It is a city choked into silence by its secrets and one thing it cannot abide is the humming electric whine of redstone. And those who practice it are criminals in the eyes of the law, to be persecuted to its fullest extent and often, even beyond. Even to the grave, if needs must or the council orders such. And BDubs is so very, very fond of his restful, quiet beauty sleep. Not everyone agrees with these laws however, and brewing in the black, sunless shadows of the city’s underbelly are those determined to see the city shine red. Zedaph is the closest to legal of the underground hermits- he has to be when he has two more mouths to feed, Tango and Impulse. Although the latter two are redstone geniuses and do well in making food stretch and and make their ramshackle rented apartment livable, it is Zedaph alone who  fake any marketable skills. While Impulse and Tango do their best to keep the lights on and use redstone wiring to steal power from the city’s solar- and wind-powered electrical grid, Zedaph peddles the doodads and toys he makes to the poorest children of the city. Many of them still contain some measure of redstone, as it's nigh-impossible to ignore its thrumming call entirely if you are born to do the stuff, but his target audience is usually too young, too uneducated, and too scared of the law to recognize it or say anything about it. And if a bit of redstone Impulse or Tango put together can help someone make it another day, and Zedaph can make it look passably legal? Well, some of the poorest housewives and mothers can look the other way The trio are happy together, but making ends meet is hard and with summer coming, resources are soon to be harder to get than ever. (A city of light and pure white? Things start to heat up fast, and water becomes more precious than ever. And with summer coming, it means less water gathering in puddles and drain pipes in the city, and thus less water for the underground redstoners and hybrids to tap into.) Little does Zedaph know, however, he’s caught the attention of another toymaker in the city. In addition to this, Tango is getting restless, frustrated with the trio’s lot in life. Even under normal circumstances he can’t sit still, and being cooped up inside all the time because his glowing red eyes give him away as being both a hybrid and really in tune with redstone? It sucks. A lot. Impulse tries to keep his buddy distracted, but there’s only so much he can do, and now, Tango has been disappearing at odd hours, frequently when he and Zedaph are trying to sleep, and coming back with an odd look in his eyes. Just a few days ago he had found the remains of a charred pamphlet in their dumpster out back. Something is coming to head, and Impulse isn’t sure he’s going to like the outcome. Not that he’d ever mention the mounting tension to Zedaph, of course. His buddy has enough to worry about. ZombieCleo… runs a speakeasy/burlesque show underneath Joe’s bookstore. She has his full approval of course, and they’re fast friends under the merits of he’s one of the only decent men she’s ever met. It helps that he’s hardcore aro-ace and has no interest in her or her girls. Cleo, being a zombie hybrid, knows all too well about the tough life being a hybrid is and how it can make people turn to awful things just to make ends meet. She knows that doing sex work is the last thing her girls want to be doing, not that they have a choice, and she does her best to do right by them. She protects her workers viciously, and if any of her patrons try to treat her girls too roughly, or try to skip out on payment? Well, being a hybrid comes with a few perks and a nice pair of teeth and nails is all part of the package. Coincidentally, Joe is awfully good at hiding a body. Doc is perhaps the most down on his luck of the hermits. As both a redstoner and an obvious hybrid, he can’t find work, he can’t find anyone willing to rent to him, he can barely even find food enough to eat. He’s resorted to petty theft and squatting, and if it wasn’t for his ruthless determination that this city would not be the death of him, he would have laid down and given up long ago. Not even the occasional rendezvous with the local garbage cans is enough to deter him (courtesy of the local beat cop. That woman has no right to be as strong as she is). It’s on one such day, trying to pry himself out of yet another trashcan far too small for him, that Doc finally gets his lucky break. The old man to whom the trashcan belongs to comes out, hoping to dispose of his waste for evening, and instead finds the creeper hybrid there, cursing up a storm and angry enough to kill. The sight would almost be threatening to TFC if, you know, he hadn’t seen worse and the hybrid in question looked like he hadn’t had a good meal for years. TFC invites Doc inside after helping to pry him loose, and Doc, while suspicious, accepts. TFC low key makes Doc move in with him and treats the man well, seeing as the poor hybrid reacts to every little thing as if he had never seen kindness. TFC also begins to tell stories to Doc about the time before the city was built, before redstone was outlawed and hybrids were looked down upon as lesser beings. And Doc, utterly enchanted by the concept, begins to have… ideas. Iskall was in the same position as Doc for a while, but they too get their lucky break. They get picked up by Mumbo Jumbo and is introduced to the Cotillion, the rebel group who are out to shake the city to its very foundations and bring about an age of redstone dominance. Mumbo and the hundreds of people under him plan on breaking the social order and instating redstoners and hybrids as the top dogs, and Iskall finds themself shocked that the rebels seem to have the organization and resources to actually do it. Mumbo is witty and charismatic, seemingly always having a plan and a silver-tongued speech to go with it. He also installs Iskall as second in command, much to their shock. Time will tell if the Cotillion is going to succeed. Cub is living in one of Scar’s buildings, along with many other redstoners. Just... Not entirely legally.

This is pretty much the end of the world-building section, I’ll come out with a post on the general plot as soon as I can. TBC :)

[miracul0us-multishipper]

Welcome to the Back (Part 13)

First Chapter  Previous Chapter  Next Chapter

I said I’d update slower now, ‘cause I want to reduce my phone time. Well. I failed.

- - -

Life was finally going her way again. Lila had known all her research and efforts would pay off in the end, but damn! Was she happy the end was finally here! 

“I don’t get it.”, Alya - poor, stupid Alya - asked her. Lila stood in the middle of the room, clinging to Felix who did a decent job looking fine with it. She hadn’t left him out of her sight the entire morning, except for going to the toilet. “I thought you two didn’t like each other.”

The rest of the class - minus Marinette, who was late again - had gathered around them as well. Lila gave Felix a kiss on the cheek. 

“Do you want to tell them, darling?”

She was the only one to notice how he cringed and leaned away from her touch, he tried hard enough to look happy. Marinette’s future depended on how convincing he was, after all.

“We already met in London, as children.”, he repeated the lie she’d told him earlier. “And we were... friends. That fell in love.”

Geez, for someone this clever he sure was lacking in the acting department.

“It was magical!”, Lila chimed in. “His mother had spotted me in the crowd of one of her shows, and she was so impressed by my looks that she wanted me to model for her. I was paired with him for the shoot and we clicked instantly, didn’t we? As if we were meant to be!”

“Yeah”, Felix choked out, “As if we’re meant to be.”

She laughed and waved her hand through the air.

“We lost each other when I had to move back to Italy, where I lost my memories of him in car accident. But Felix never stopped searching for me, right?”

He nodded.

“Yes, I just... didn’t recognize Lila when we met again, here. She had changed so much.”

“And she changed her name as well?”, Nathaniel doubted with raised eyebrows. She shot him a glare, before smiling brightly again.

“Of course! See, I had turned Queen’s evidence in a case back in Italy, where my testimony helped to bust a dangerous mafia family. The whole ordeal was kept under tight wraps, and I was hiding under a false name in England for a while. For my own safety, I called myself Lara Rouge when Felix and I met.”

She gave Felix a subtle push.

“That’s why I couldn’t find her, after she moved back to Italy when it was safe.”, he forced out. “And why I was so rude to everyone. Because I was”, he gulped, “heartbroken.”

“I only regained my memory yesterday, when Ladybug visited me.”, she hurried to continue. “She used Miraculous Ladybug on me when I told her I had forgotten my time in London, and then my Amnesia was healed! I immediately called Felix to tell him who I was, and now we are a couple again!”

“Wow!”, Mylène gasped. “That’s so romantic!”

The rest of the class seemed to buy it as well. Except Adrien maybe. Some part of him might have realized this couldn’t be true, and maybe he was actually bothered she had replaced him this quickly. But he kept quiet anyway. What choice did he have after all? She almost pitied him.

But alas, she had found someone that was more useful to her, and she didn’t plan on letting Felix go anytime soon. He was hers now. She had won.

As if to sweeten her victory, Dupain-Cheng entered the room.

“Marinette!”, Lila faked a smile. “Have you heard the news already?”

Her smile turned malicious.

“Felix declared his love for me!”

God, she wished she had recorded the look on Marinette’s face. This was just too great!

“W-What?!”

Revenge couldn’t get any sweeter.

“We are in love.”, she repeated. “Felix is my boyfriend now. I’m his girlfriend, the most important person in his life.”

She looked at Felix.

“Aren’t I, Darling?”

He closed his eyes in defeat, but it could be interpreted as devotion so she let it pass.

“Of course, Sweetheart. It’s true, everything you said.”

Marinette was paler than the wall.

“F-Felix, what are you talking about?”

Oh hell yes. She had expected this, anticipated it! And had told Felix exactly what she expected from him, should the moment come. His shoulders dropped. He knew what to do.

“I’m saying that there’s no one I care more about than Lila.”, he said slowly, visibly hoping for any kind of interruption. “Please...”

She shoved him when he trailed off, his next words were especially important. He looked as if he might cry. Drama queen.

“Please don’t make a scene just because you’re jealous!”, he spat out quickly, every word seeming to burn on his tongue. She almost squealed with glee.

As the class fell deadly silent, Marinette took a shocked step backwards. Oh jesus, were those tears in her eyes? And was her lip really trembling?! Lila had to use all of her self control to stop herself from cackling. This was simply delightful! She’d bet that Pigtails regretted trying to expose her now!

“Woah, Felix, what was that supposed to be?!”, Alya snapped and stepped next to her best friend. “Just ‘cause you have feelings for Lila all of a sudden doesn’t mean you get to say stuff like that to Marinette!”

“I’m sorry.”, Felix said sincerely. “That was uncalled for.”

Lila shrugged. It wasn’t necessary to elaborate on the lie of Marinette’s jealousy, and his apology would make him look better. It wouldn’t do for her to have a boyfriend nobody liked, after all. And now that the idea of Marinette being jealous was out in the open, it was going to fester in her classmates minds. Lila didn’t need to do anything, Marinette was going to bring herself down. Her attempts to save Felix would only further the image of her as a crazed stalker.

As for Felix... He didn’t have to like Lila, right now. Sooner or later, he’d get tired of hating her and give her a chance. They were inevitable! She only needed to keep him in line for long enough to let him see that. 

She was ecstatic when she sat down on her seat. Yes, everything was going to be perfect.

Lila was so caught up in her own triumph, she didn’t notice how Marinette gave Felix the tiniest of smirks.

-

They changed the seats, now that Felix was under her thumb. Alya was sent to sit with Marinette in the back, Adrien with Nino, and Felix next to her. She clung to him the entire lesson.

-

She took Felix’ phone. Lila didn’t believe he would text Marinette - any sign that Pigtails knew what was up would result in the video being published! - but better safe than sorry. 

-

She went through Felix’ book again, to see what else he had written since the last time she’d had it. When she found at least a dozen poems that could only be about Marinette, she ripped them out when he wasn’t looking and threw them in the trash, where they belonged. She comforted herself with the knowledge that soon, he’d only be writing about Lila. 

-

She made Alya take a few pictures of her and Felix to put on the Ladyblog. The reporter was delighted to, but had to ask her for her signature first. A ‘Declaration of consent to be published online’ had to be signed so Alya wouldn’t get in trouble, now that Lila was going to be famous. Lila gave it to her happily. It would be the first autograph of many, she knew.

-

She took Felix to the Eiffel Tower, on the date she had planned the very first day. It was perfect, even if the poem she made him write wasn’t as heartfelt as the ones he’d made for Marinette. It was good enough to put on her social media though, where she sent it to everyone in their class. Unfortunately, Marinette wasn’t akumatized when she saw it.

-

She received her invitation to the Awards ceremony at the TV1 tower, and an E-mail from Bordeaux to remind her of their deal. Now was the moment she upheld her end of their bargain and delivered him Felix. She smiled. Time to shine!

-

All participants would be allowed to witness the awards show, as it was the center piece of the contest. They were wasting their time, of course. Officially, there may be a vote, but René had already assured her of her victory. 

She clung to Felix’ arm when they arrived at the tower, waving into the camera’s that flashed. Tomorrow, the news would be full of Felix Leanne’s new girlfriend, diplomat’s daughter and winner of Journalism Junior. She was electrified with anticipation! 

The studio the contest would be filmed in was huge, cameras pointing at the stage from every angle. The participants whose reports had made it into the final selection were guided to the stage, where make-up artists put finishing touches on their assigned student. Lila shooed hers off, knowing she already looked flawless. She’d checked at least a dozen times.

“I’m so exited!”, Alya squealed next to her. The poor girl had no idea she had already lost. “I can’t wait. Hey, Marinette!”

Lila’s stomach turned when Alya waved at the pigtailed brat. Ugh! She had forgotten about that. Everyone who had participated could join the live audience, even if they weren’t published. Damn, why had René forgotten about that? She was sure he’d said Marinette was uninvited!

She inhaled to calm her nerves. It didn’t matter. Yes, Felix as her plus-one was on the other end of the audience, and he had strict orders not to interact with her. Everything was under control. All the better if Marinette was here to witness her soaring victory!

“We’re live in ten seconds!”, Alec Cataldi, the host of the show informed them and looked nervously on his watch. “Where’s Nadja?”

“I’m here!”, Madame Chamack replied swiftly from the other side of the room. She had exchanged a view words with Marinette - Ugh! - and was now racing to the stage. “Ready to go!”

“Alright!”, Alec announces before flashing his brightest grin at the camera. The lights went on.

“Hello and welcome!”, he beamed. “The wait is over; here we are again with this year’s Journalism Junior contest!”

“Over 300 students have sent us their reports.”, Nadja continued. “300 glimpses into the life of Paris’ youth! But only ten of them have been chosen to face the final jury.”

“And that is you! Our amazing viewers from all over France!”

Lila almost yawned while Alec explained the concept in his exaggerated voice. The participants would be introduced and interviewed, then, after the first ad-break, their reports would be shown. The viewers could vote for the report they liked the most, and in the end, the winner would be announced. This year’s price was a backstage ticket for Jagged Stone’s next concert. A perfect chance for Lila to make her lie about knowing him come true.

“Now let’s get started! Who is it whose life you’ll get to know? Any volunteers? Ah, just kidding, you’re all volunteers after all!”, Alec jested when some of their group made a move to step forward. “Hey, how about you?”, he then pointed to Lila, as René had told him to. “The girl with the cute hairdo!”

“Why, thank you, Alec!”, she said in her sweetest voice. “I’m Lila Rossi! My report is called ‘The true secret behind designing’.”

“Secrets, I love it! What did you focus on in your video?”

Lila smiled into the camera.

“The truth!”

Marinette in the last row coughed, and Lila continued.

“My video is supposed to give you a clear and genuine view into my life. At first, I wanted to film my family and all our travels - they are diplomats and ambassadors, you see? Or maybe my wonderful boyfriend, Felix Leanne - Hi, Darling! - but then I thought, instead of showing all the glamor around me, I could show the glamor inside of me. The spark in me I express through my designs!”

The interview went smoothly, and longer than any of the others after her. Bordeaux had made sure she was the center of attention.

Still, she was bored out of her mind as the others hectically introduced themselves before Alec hopped on to the next. It took about 15 minutes, but felt like forever. Finally, Alec turned to the camera again.

“Now, we’re all very excited to see more of our lovely candidates!”

“And we will!”, Nadja chimed in. “Right after the next few ads!”

The spotlights went off and a sigh escaped her. That had gone well! 

“Lila!”, her classmates called from the audience as she walked over. “Here we are!”

Before she knew it, she was surrounded by her groupies again, Felix among them out of necessity. She put on her happiest smile and linked arms with her boyfriend again. Lila loved doing that! Sooner or later, he’d stop flinching away from her.

“You were awesome!”, someone - who cared who it was? - cheered and Lila giggled.

“Oh, thank you! I was really nervous, being the center of attention is always so intimidating! But Felix grounded me, we practiced a lot together.”

She looked on her watch, disappointed that she couldn’t shower in their admiration a little longer.

“Sorry to leave you guys hanging so soon, but we have to go.”, she excused them. “My mother wanted me to give her a call when my report is on, so she can watch it too. She’s with Prince Ali right now, but I’m sure he’ll want to see it too. See you later, guys!”

Not waiting for their reaction, she pulled Felix with her, out of the studio.

“I’m sure he’ll want to see it too!”, Felix mimicked her as soon as they were out of the room. “Seriously?”

“They bought it.”, she shrugged. “It’s not my problem if they don’t have the brains to figure me out. Besides...”

She smiled.

“You did see through me from day one! Now we’re the only ones that know the truth, just the two of us. Kinda romantic, isn’t it?”

His scoff broke her good mood.

“Not really. And Marinette knows it as well, in case you forgot!”

Lila’s face turned sour.

“Just ‘cause she’s a nosy brat doesn’t mean she’s clever.”, she hissed. “Otherwise her future wouldn’t be in my hands, right now, would it?! Now shut up and follow me.”

He didn’t ask where they were going. Smart as he was, he’d likely figured it out already. A bit smarter, and he might finally get Pigtails out of his head! God, she hated that girl. 

Sighing, she pushed up the doors towards an empty room. ‘Jagged Stone’ was written on the tag next to it, since this was the studio he used for music videos. He had filmed in here just a few minutes ago, which is why they had chosen it for their meeting. It was close to the main studio, not accessible to anyone else that might be around, and impossible to prepare with bugs or cameras, since it had been in use the entire time. She wouldn’t put it past Felix to try to record them, but not even he would be able to sneak into this room while Jagged had used it. That, and the fact that she’d had him under her supervision since Monday, calmed her paranoia.

She gave an appreciative nod when she looked around. The room was stuffed with cameras and equipment, and the walls were still covered with black curtains for the background, but that aside, it was empty. No one except her, Felix - and René Bordeaux.

“You’re late.”, he remarked with an arrogant raise of his chin. She sighed.

“We’re here now. As promised.”

She gave Felix a small shove and Bordeaux’s attention shifted to him. A predatory grin spread over his face.

“Ah, my treacherous offspring. It’s been quite the long time, hasn’t it?”

Felix gulped, but his voice was steady when he spoke.

“Not long enough.”

“Careful.”, his father warned, grin widening. “If you forget your manners, I’ll forget my promise to spare your asian little friend. Mademoiselle Rossi here told me all about her.”

“She’s a liar!”, Felix snarled and her shoulders dropped. “I don’t know what she told you, but it’s just a pretty tale! Rossi has never met Jagged Stone, she doesn’t know Prince Ali or Steven Spielberg, and Ladybug hates her guts. Whatever it is she promised you, it’s a lie.”

Lila groaned. Why was he still so hung up about these... details? To their shared surprise, Bordeaux started laughing.

“Oh, Felix, Felix.”, he chuckled. “This just shows how unfit your mother is to raise a child. Stop embarrassing yourself with this idealistic nonsense and get real! That’s how the world runs!”

He gestured through the air.

“People do you favors, you return them; in this case I’ll give Mademoiselle Rossi a lift to popularity. You think I care about some petty lies? Newsflash, boy: The truth doesn’t sell! And once everyone believes her stories, it doesn’t matter whether they’re true or not. I made them reality.”

Felix growled.

“You are despicable.”

“And you a living disappointment.”, Bordeaux snarled back, his grin turning into a furious scowl. “How much time did I waste on raising you ungrateful brat? And you just threw all my lessons away as soon as I was out of the house. You got yourself into this mess, now live with it.”

“I don’t even know what you are talking about!”

“Don’t play even stupider than you are, boy!”, his old man yelled and Lila rolled her eyes. Couldn’t they speed this up a bit? “I’m talking about you going to a public school like a peasant! About you surrounding yourself with penniless scum! About you cozying up to that worthless baker girl!”

“Marinette has more talent than you and Rossi combined!”, Felix shouted. “And both of you know it! Otherwise you wouldn’t have copied her report, and you wouldn’t have cheated her out of the contest!”

“Now, now.”, Lila chimed in before Bordeaux could reply something even nastier. “I don’t want to interrupt this touching father-son reunion, or quality bonding time or whatever, but we don’t have the whole evening.” 

She gave Felix a jealous glare.

“Also, I only copied Dupain-Cheng to spite her, not because she’s that skilled. Geez, if Monsieur Bordeaux hadn’t rigged the vote to let me win, this video would have been a complete failure! I’m doing her a favor, honestly.”

Felix’ eyes seemed to burn holes into her head, but Bordeaux only sighed and regained his composure.

“Oh, whatever. Let’s talk about business, children.”

His faked stage-smile returned.

“Now that young Miss Rossi here has provided me with intel on you, Felix, our time has come. See, not only can I expose this Marina-Girl as a copycat any time, thanks to your girlfriend I also have a steady stream of blackmail material.”

He stared at Felix with an arrogance that made even Lila retch.

“Any disobedience on your side, Felix, will result in immediate consequences for Baker MacDoublename. There’s so much potential for scandals, believe me. If I want to, I can ruin her parents bakery before my first coffee! Or I’ll make her famous as a the shallow user she is, trying to milk the children of rich and noble families like ours or the Agreste’s for fame! Or I’ll-“

“We get the picture.”, Lila hurried him. His monologues were even worse than Hawkmoth’s, for god’s sake! Bordeaux cleated his throat.

“Yes, well. You get the picture.”, he repeated.

“And what do you want me to do?”, Felix hissed. “Play model son? Let you use me for attention to your pathetic shows?”

“Felix, don’t be so rude.”, she scolded him with a pout. “It’s for your own good-“

“You can tell this bullshit to Agreste, Rossi. He might be stupid enough to believe it.”

She crossed her arms, insulted. He just wouldn’t listen to her!

“Adrien doesn’t believe it.”, she said, just to correct him on something. She hated his self-righteousness. “He’s just smart enough to enable it. He knew from day one, and keeping quiet didn’t do him any harm, did it?”

“I don’t even care what you are talking about.”, Bordeaux snapped. “Shut up, both of you! The adult speaks now.”

Lila huffed, but let him have his way. He was just a means to an end.

Satisfied, Bordeaux looked back to Felix, leaning down to his angry spawn.

“You will help me get custody of your ungrateful self!”, he ordered, emphasizing every syllable. “The judge will respect your wishes, and that spineless Evelyn as well. She’ll know something’s up, and when I threaten her with restraining orders - Karma is a bitch! - she’ll have no choice but to annul the divorce if she wants to keep seeing you. That way, I’ll set our family on the right path again.”

He grinned smugly, likely expecting some sort of applause for the plan Lila had thought of. She sighed and put on another smile.

“Very thoughtful, Monsieur.”

“Isn’t it?”, he fished for praise, an eager smirk on his face. It vanished when Felix let out a sigh. No angry, frustrated sigh. No, it sounded relieved. 

“There’s just one problem.”, he said with a wide smile. His entire posture changed from aggressive, helpless to confident and calm. Lila’s stomach twisted in panic. “That’s not going to happen.”

Both Lila and Bordeaux flinched when a slow, clapping sound echoed through the room and the curtains lifted, revealing Marinette.

“Excellent, excellent! An Oscar for Felix Leanne, please!”, she exclaimed cheerfully, the beret she’d made in her video on her head. “And cut!”

The remaining curtains went up as well and Lila whimpered in shock. There, at the wall and with faces varying from angry to triumphant, stood her classmates, Jagged Stone, and Nadja Chamack with her entire camera team.

“You were right about one thing.”, Felix said smugly and patted his father on the back, who was frozen in fear. “Karma really is a bitch.”

- - -

Ya wanna know how they did it? Stay tuned for Part 14!

[lobster-mobster-aq]

A Deep Dive Into the SAO I Thought I Was Watching

Read below the cut or here.

Have any of you ever read or watched a thing and thought it was well written and executed? Have you ever looked back a few years later and realize that you put way more thought into that piece of media than the author did? That perhaps maybe it was more of an accident that it was enjoyable than any real skill from the author? That the themes and symbolism and characterization weren’t really what you thought they were at all? That the elements that you thought were interesting and unique where just copy pasted from things that did them more cleverly but you just didn’t realize because you just hadn’t seen those things in other pieces of media before?

That was me with Sword Art Online.

The first part of season one at least. I unironically loved it. It wasn’t like I thought that it was perfect, but there was just something about it that I really enjoyed. I couldn’t help but wonder why people were so hard and down on it. It was a bit stupid but honestly name one anime fantasy show (or I guess SAO was technically sci-fi) that wasn’t stupid in some regard. And then there came the Alfheim arch and I um…kind of realized what everyone was talking about. I still held out for a bit. This was adapted from novels after all. Clearly they just rushed this part in order to get it to be the correct number of episodes.

*sigh*

But this isn’t going to be another essay about why SAO is…not objectively great. To be honest I still really like the first part. I recognize at this point, since I don’t really like anything else by Reki Kawahara that it is more chance and luck that I like the first part of season one of SAO than the fact like I like his writing. No, what this essay is going to be is an analysis on the show that I thought I was watching. A deep dive into the themes and ideas that I had assumed this show was about. I put tons of thought into watching the show, somewhat in defense of all the complaints it was getting. No guys, you have to realize, its actually good. Okay, here we go.

 Our world has been shaped by electronics. The fact that the internet exists has completely and radically changed our culture. The way we communicate, the way we think, and the way we experience relationships have all changed dramatically due to it. There have been many pieces of media that have explored it’s affect on culture, some mourning the change, some fearing it, and some embracing it. Today I want to talk about a show that touches on all three.

Sword Art Online, at it’s heart, is a show about how the things that happen online, in the digital world, mean something, whether those things be positive or negative. Any of us who have met people, or have internet friends, been bullied, or spent time in a video game have probably been told that it doesn’t count, since it is online. They’re not real friends, why bother spending time decorating a fake house in a game, it’s all just fake, why don’t you go outside and experience real life?

SAO is an unassuming, light hearted stab at that argument, and it does it by making the digital world a horrifying reality.

The premise of SAO is by no means unique. People get stuck in a video game, in this case the name of which is Sword Art Online, because the game is online, and they fight with swords. I’ve seen this trope before, you’ve probably seen this trope before, but SAO is the first time I’ve ever seen it where the stakes feel so real. Where the fun fantasy game takes on the harsher sides of real life, striping away the sense of safety that online interactions usually have, you don’t die for real, you have the ability to pretend to be someone you’re not. If the characters die in the game, they die in real life.

The main character is Kirito. Total loser nerd, real “you just don’t understand me” otaku, can’t talk to real people type. At first the main character throws himself into the world, instantly getting close to people and participating with others, becoming fast friends with another person Klein. Kirito seems to not care about his image, just loving to live in the world. Others buy the fact that he is an emotionally mature, competent, and cool individual.

Then blood drips from the ceiling of the game and some creepy, giant, cloak dude announces that you can’t log out of the game, and if you die in the game you die in real life. That the only way to escape the game is for at least one person to clear all one hundred levels. Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of the game, has for some reason no one can figure out, trapped everyone there. Oh, and also you no longer look like what you chose your character to look like, you are yourself. The aspects of the digital world, the safety net, the training wheels, are off.

Kirito flees. In the face of having to interact with people without the veneer of playacting, he falls into old habits, withdrawing into himself because he’s too scared to interact with people, he’s frightened of real human interaction. He puts on a front, claiming to himself it’s because he can’t be held back by the weaker characters, that the reason he flees from real human interaction is because he needs push himself to the limits of his character, and he can’t do that with all the dead weight. But it’s clear that’s just the lie he tells himself to cover up the truth. He, like many people, can’t stand his own self, and the internet was a good way to hide who he really was. He abandoned the connections he made at the start of the game, and he never fully repairs some of them. Klein was set to be a close and important friend, instead he becomes, at most, a distant acquaintance.

Kirito goes about his life, keeping himself from others, becoming incredible at the game, putting himself on a pedestal and telling himself that’s why he can’t interact with the riff raff, because he’s better than them. He is set apart from them because of his skill, and not because he has horrible interpersonal skills and doesn’t know how to actually interact with people without a false persona to hide behind. But then one day, he finally breaks, and a rag tag team convinces him to join their guild.

And everything goes to shit and everyone dies except Kirito. And these people are dead, for forever. This isn’t just something where they can log into the game again. Real relationships can hurt, because the consequences will have lasting effects, your can’t just log in later with a new avatar and start over. True, the consequences of a real relationship usually isn’t that the people you’ve come to care about die horrific deaths, but the point is still made. This world, which Kirito had entered in the hope of escaping a reality that he hated, had all the things of the real world he had been trying to escape. The fear of connection, the fear of being known. Even if he is a skilled and talented person now, instead of some hopeless loser good at nothing, somehow all the pain of real life still followed him. It doesn’t matter, this wish fulfillment is shallow, it doesn’t fulfill the wishes that Kirito actually cares about.

So Kirito withdraws even more, more convinced than ever that the only way to return to his reality, to get away from the hell that is the game is to set himself apart. Still playacting the part of some noble and untouchable genius, too advanced and cool to deal with the riff raff. He has a couple other adventures, where he denies himself real human interaction and keeps a cool appearance. Never getting too close to the people he interacts with. He keeps them at arms length. They look on at him as some distant and noble hero that can’t be understand, and Kirito wants to keep it that way, so that no one can meet the real him, the him that is weak, and pathetic, and a loser, and doesn’t know how to talk to people. Let them think he’s quite because he’s thoughtful, not because he doesn’t know what to say, let them think that he’s too far above them to form a connection, not that he’s terrified of vulnerability.

But then he meets a girl. She goes by the name Asuna and she just, kind of, doesn’t seem to get it. She just sort of acts like an actual person, and doesn’t seem to get the memo that she’s supposed to treat Kirito like some anti-hero loner. From an interaction that he actually had with her earlier on in the game, Kirito knows that she didn’t have much experience with video games before SAO. She has come into her own though, and she’s come into her own by acting like a reason person. In a way, she represents the exactly opposite of Kirito. Kirito hides his true personality and feelings behind a bit, because this world is too real to him, has all the aspects of real life he fled from. Asuna treats SAO like a game. She’s a pragmatic person who just wants to defeat the final boss so they can get out and get back to her real life. She doesn’t feel like the relationships here are real. Sure, they could lose their lives, but everything else is fake. The people you meet, the time you spend, just all twiddling your thumbs. Fake, not real, just a silly pass time for silly people.

This difference is driven home at the end of the show, where Kirito shares his real name, and asks what Asuna’s is so that he could find her. Surprised, Asuna says that she has been using her real name. The whole time, Kirito had been playacting a character, where as Asuna had just been herself.

They filled in a void in each other. Asuna get’s Kirito to really interact with people again, instead of keeping them at arms length, and Kirito helps Asuna see that the relationships you form online do matter, that, even in a silly game, the things you do and the people you meet have a lasting effect even when you log out.

There are a couple of arcs where Kirito and Asuna interact. The arcs continue to explore the idea of the difference between the importance of the digital world and reality. Including one of the best arcs of the entire show, where Asuna and Kirito have to solve the mystery of how people are dying in a safe zone, an area of the game where people aren’t supposed to die.

Kirito and Asuna predictably fall in love. Kirito showing Asuna that the relationships formed in the digital world do actually mean something real, and Asuna bringing Kirito out of his edge lord shell that he made for himself, to reveal that in truth he’s kind of an awkward dork. Once they actually fall in love the show takes an interesting turn. Their relationship looks nothing like that of two teenagers both experiencing a romantic relationship for the first time. It looks like an idyllic old married couple. They even do get married and adopt a child in the show. At first glance it may seem too unrealistic, but was actually one of the most clever character developments about the show. This development was meant to show case the effects that living in a “fantasy world” had put on these two young people.

Both Asuna and Kirito were living in the kind of world that teenagers dream about. What had been a fantasy and a form of escapism for them both was now reality. And it was awful, when the fantasy world had real stakes and real consequences. So what do these two do when they fall in love? They create for themselves another form of escapism. That of an old suburban married couple. In a way their marriage is an act, a way to lessen the stress of living in a dangerous world. Just two simple people, living a calm, unexciting, but never the less content life, because they had each other. The show never addresses how aware they are they that they are in fact acting out a part. Do they realize that they are playing parts? Or have they convinced themselves this is how a normal couple acts. The show never really gets into it, merely using this time to show how desperate the two are for a “normal” life, after the pain and horror of their escapism becoming reality. These few episodes, where they take a vacation after getting married, more clearly illustrate how much they have suffered more than any dramatic wailing, or desperately pained speeches they could give. Every moment they snuggled in bed, made food for each other, and took walks in the forest, spoke of the desperation they felt, even if it was for only a little, to get as far away from the world that they lived in.

After Kirito and Asuna live their escapist fantasy of being an old married couple we come to the climax. They are only on level seventy-five of one hundred, but they still barely pass. During it though, Kirito finally realizes something.

The person who had designed the game and trapped them all in there, Akihiko Kayaba, was playing. Kayaba was playing a character with all the skills, one of the best players in the game. Kirito realizes that Kayaba is living out his own fantasy, that this world was created, not for some grand purpose, not for a political statement, or to accomplish something grand. Simply to live out his fantasy. Who Kayaba is as a person is never really explored, all we know about him is that this world was for him, a way for him to make reality the world he always wished to live in. A world where he was important, a world where he was the leader and people respected him, and he lead others bravely.

Kayaba becomes the final boss, and predictably he is beaten after a grand fight of a lot of sword thrusts and sparkle animations. Once Kayaba is defeated, the world begins to slowly fade, as if to reaffirm that, yes, without Kayaba alive, the world has no purpose, since it was created for him.

Kayaba even speaks with Kirito and Asuna. A meandering, pandering discussion, where Kayaba tries his best to hold onto some remnants of the man he was pretending to be. We see a brief glimpse of the kind of limp, spineless jerk Kirito would have become if he hadn’t grown up. We see Kayaba in his real form, not his game avatar, but still he speaks in vague poetic language, he talks about having a dream about a city in the sky and makes his base and selfish desires to be important sound like some noble hope. He claims he “doesn’t remember why” he trapped them all in there. In a way that’s true. Because until the very last moment, SAO was real to everyone trapped in there, except for Kayaba. He had the power to change things, to hack the system, to live as a god. For him, the game was his personal fantasy manifest into reality.

After Kayaba dies, and is defeated, he realizes this, and covers his own disappointment of his project with his pretty language. He didn’t “forget” he just realized that it was pointless. None of the attachments he ever made were real, the life he led in the game had, for him, merely been a game. The only real moment was when he let Kirito kill him. He could have hacked the system and made it so he didn’t die in real life but he didn’t, in some desperate attempt to live something real as the world he had created crumbled apart.

Kayaba leaves, and Asuna and Kirito promise they will find each other in the real world. They will meet the real versions of themselves. What they experienced in the digital world was real, and they will cling to it in the real world too.

The world continues to fade, and then Kirito wakes up. His real body thin and weak. The show ends with him getting out of bed and walking through the hospital. No epilog, or final comments. We don’t know if Kirito is looking for someone specific, or simply looking to tell someone he is now awake, he’s come back, and he’s ready to become the real him.

…

But that wasn’t the end of the show and every episode after that one just reaffirmed the fact that I probably thought a bit more about the themes and the characterization that Reki Kawahara did. He seems like a nice enough guy but…after reading some of the books and watching more of the material, I don’t think he meant most of what I just described. Maybe a bit of the whole, what you do in the digital world matters and is real, but not much of anything else. I’m thinking that Kirito was supposed to be taken literally, not as an antisocial teenager terrified of real connection putting on a front. I’m pretty sure that the relationship between Kirito and Asuna wasn’t supposed to be seen as a form of escapism fantasy, and that they actually weren’t putting on a front when they acted like an old married couple. Also I might have read way more into Kayaba’s motivation than I was meant to.

At the end of it all, I still like the first part of season one. I like my interpretation. Yes there are still problems with the pacing, the end feels like it just sort of…happens, instead of getting to it naturally. Kirito just, suddenly realizes the truth. The second half doesn’t carry nearly the weight it should in terms of “holy shit this world is real if you die in the game you die in real life” which lessens the strength of the themes. There are, of course, a few other small things I thought could be changed, but that’s not really what this article is for. Perhaps in a way this is my defense for liking that part of SAO, or at least an explanation for why I’ve watched it multiple times even though I’m not fond of the rest of the franchise.  

 Bonus:

This isn’t really big enough to have it’s own post so I’m just gonna put it here, the way SAO ends in my head.

This, of course, takes place at the end of the first part. Pretty much everything stays the same all through the credits as Kirito takes his painful and slow time walking down the hospital hallway. Then the music end, and instead of going black, we see Kirito stop. He looks to his side, where one of the hospital doors are open. Inside the room is a frail looking girl staring at a NervGear helmet, her hair is chestnut brown. She looks up and her eyes go wide as she sees Kirito. We switch back to Kirito, his eyes are also wide. They tear up the slightest amount, and a faint smile touches his face.

We cut to black.

The end and nothing is ever done with this franchise again.

[snowdice]

Study Fic Chapter Names

Hi everyone. I want to have chapter names for the current study fic and I have some ideas I want your opinions on for when I’m editing them. I’ll put chapters 1-3 under the cut so you can see them easier. Feel free to suggest any other names for the chapters! I’m not at all decided.

I decided to name the fic Folds in Paper (for reasons yet to be made clear).

Chapter 1: 

Burnt Rubber Poptarts (Because Janus saying how he can’t even tell the difference between the burnt rubber and other flavored poptarts really brought home his current mental state.)

Chapter 2:

Paper Faces on Parade (Line from Masquerade from the Phantom of the Opera. Wouldn’t work well with the Eye of Gold chapter 3 title because they’re both from the same song)

Green Light (Green lighting the mission as well as Janus saying he had ‘all green’ which we’ll talk about in chapter 4, but basically means he’s had no incidents unlike the yellow, red, and black designations. Also alludes to the green light in Great Gatsby which symbolizes Gatsby’s love for the unattainable Daisy.)

Chapter 3:

Eye of gold; thigh of blue. True is false; who is who? (Line from Masquerade from the Phantom of the Opera.)

It’s a lopazoo. (Line from The Charleston. There isn’t really a strict definition for ‘lopazoo,’ but you can kind of get the vibe just from reading it.)

Our dance is surely a comer (Line from The Chareston except “our” replaces “that.” Comer means a person or thing likely to succeed.)

Chapter 1

The words in front of him seemed to squirm back and forth across the screen as he watched, despite the fact that he’d bought this screen to prevent that exact thing from happening. The ‘d’s and ‘p’s and ‘b’s seemed to blur together into a sludge of incomprehensible nonsense, just like the voices around him seemed to. He wasn’t quite sure how long he’d sat there staring at this report. Time itself seemed almost like the words and the people, it swirled past him in a blur of sounds and colors, but he never could quite grab ahold of it.

 Something smacked him in the forehead, and he startled, looking up. “Remus,” Janus sighed. He picked up the projectile that had just been lobbed at him. “Did you steal paper from the 20th century supply again?” he asked, staring at the folded-up piece of white paper in the shape of a crane. It was one of Remus’s favorite designs. “That’s not what it’s for.”

“There’s a message inside!” Remus replied, happily.

Janus glared at him and carefully unfolded the paper. He squinted at it, and yeah, that was way worse than the screen. Maybe it was worth his money. Or maybe Remus’s handwriting was just horrendous.

 He squinted at it for a few moments and then looked back up. He blinked at his surroundings. The note had said ‘Go home. Work ended three hours ago.’ and that certainly seemed accurate considering he and Remus were the only people left in the office.

“I still have to finish this report about the New Easter Island mission,” he said to Remus.

“I’ll do it,” Remus said. “You’ve been working without a break for hours, and I probably owe the agency some time since I took a coffee break to 22nd century France this afternoon.”

“You what?” Janus asked.

 ”They have the best coffee,” Remus said, and then grinned wolfishly, “and the best guys.”

“Stop doing that stuff,” Janus hissed. “Your lucky I haven’t reported you already.”

“You wouldn’t,” Remus said, very sure of himself. “You like me too much. Plus, without me, you’ll forget to go home and sleep every night. So, it’d be a loose-loose. Now up! It’s time for you to go home.”

Janus sighed and stood. “Fine,” he said. “I’m going, but that report better be done like you said or I will report you for your coffee excursions.”

“Sure, you will,” Remus said. “Now shoo.”

 Janus spared him one more glare before standing from his desk and waving his hand through the air. The machine at his wrist buzzed softly and the display screen lit up around him. He jabbed a finger at the last of the three pre-set locations and, with a feeling like he’d just stepped into a pool of softened butter, he was home.

He groaned and fell back onto his couch immediately. “Time?” he asked.

“1:57am,” a soft voice said from his ceiling. He groaned. Considering the agency liked to keep their schedules aligned even though his house sat almost 2 millennia before the agency even existed, he’d have to be up in 4 hours to head back to work. They said it was to ‘stop them from experiencing time jet lag’ and ‘maintain their circadian rhythm,’ but with Janus it usually just ended up with him ‘not getting enough sleep’ and ‘suffering greatly.’

 Sure, he had been fine with it, encouraged the policy even, when the agency was created, but that had been before he’d had to live it.

His stomach suddenly grumbled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since before the mission he’d been on earlier that day. He was exhausted, but he also knew trying to go to bed this hungry would result in him not being able to sleep at all. He dragged himself to his feet and into one of the barstools at the kitchen island. He didn’t want to wait for the auto cook feature to cook him something and he especially didn’t want to cook something himself, so he pressed a few buttons on the side of the counter and a protein infused, still cold pop tart popped out of the table.

 He thought it might be a Hot Fudge Sunday one, but he honestly couldn’t tell. The protein infusion made all of them taste rather horrible. For all he knew, it was one of the Burnt Rubber pop tarts Remus had once snuck into his pantry. To be fair, he hadn’t even noticed until he’d went to go stock his pantry and realized that there was half a box of those things. It was just another example of Remus using time travel for things he shouldn’t. They were a year 2513 delicacy.

The 2510s were an odd set of years.

 He chewed on the possibly chocolate, possibly rubber flavored pastry and glanced out the window. Though it was dark, one could still see the water of the man-made lake his home sat on thanks to the floating lights that hovered above it. Each agent working for the TPI received a home and alternate identity in a time and location of their choice. (Within reason, that is. Remus’s request to live among the dinosaurs was quickly denied and new rules were put into place immediately after.) Janus had chosen the late 24th century with a moderately sized home on Lake BlueBox. He didn’t have many close neighbors, but the ones he did know thought he was an accountant who went by the name of Declan Banks.

 No, he had not chosen the last name. Yes, everyone got those types of names. The Agent Management Office had a sense of humor or were just not creative. Janus only knew one employee in the AMO and he’d been avoiding him for the past three years as much as possible. Cowardly, maybe, but he knew if he gave the man too much information about his general lifestyle, he’d be dragged into the AMO to talk about his mental state and feelings, and honestly, that would make everything worse.

 As soon as he finished the poptart, a glass of water popped up from the table making him jump despite the fact that he had been the one to set it to do that automatically years ago. He downed half of the water and picked up the glass to take it to his bedroom. He should probably clean himself off before bed, but he couldn’t be bothered today, and just stripped off his uniform and collapsed into bed in his underwear. The morning was going to come far too soon, he knew. Yet, his mind would not quiet. His brain kept filling out the report he trusted (well, hoped he could trust) Remus had already finished by now.

 He eventually groaned and rolled over in bed. “Play something,” he requested. The screen by the side of his bed lit up.

“Randomizing the ‘Something’ video playlist,” the soft voice said from the ceiling.

A dance recital which he knew had been recorded in 2033 started playing. The images moved on the screen in front of him, but the sound drifted from all around him. He let his eyes linger over the way the dancers’ bodies moved as the sounds washed over him. The image of elegantly twisting limbs remained in his head long after his eyelids drifted shut and he finally fell asleep.

 Chapter 2

The morning was just as torturous as Janus had expected it would be. He chewed through another poptart, this time bothering to actually check and see that it was a cinnamon-sugar one and drank three cups of caffeinated orange juice. Then, he waved his hand through the air and selected the 1st saved location on his device. He popped up directly behind his desk where he’d been standing the night morning before.

Someone, probably Remus, had shut his integrator down. He swiped a finger across the power button, and it flickered back on, scrolling through its morning start up routine.

 The machine scanned through all of the data in the three main system it was connected to and sorted all information into things that concerned him, could concern him, and did not before then sorting the first two categories into order of importance. As it did, he set up his screen reader so he would hopefully not start the day with more of a migraine than he already had. It took about 3 seconds for everything to turn on and settle.

Sitting down in his desk, he dismissed the notification that Remus had finished and submitted the report from their mission the day before.

 A mission had been scheduled for him today, and the details were in his inbox. A piece time travel technology had been accidently dropped by an archology student in the 1890s during a trip. It was an earlier model of emergency time travel given to time travels that would dump them back into the Registration Office in the year they originated. It wasn’t extremely dangerous, but could pose some problems, especially if someone who didn’t know what it was activated it.

Surveillance agents had tracked it down and found that it had been picked up by a local and sold. Though no one from that time had known what it was, they had identified that it was made out of a precious metal and it had been crafted into an expensive necklace. Janus and Remus were supposed to retrieve it today. It had been pinpointed that the most opportune time for the extraction was 1923 during a masquerade ball held by those who had bought the necklace.

 It was a fairly low stakes mission. He wasn’t set to leave for another couple of hours, so he clicked through the rest of the important notifications and then set off to meet his missions coordinator, Rhi, in her office.

Rhi and Janus got along fairly well. She was a well put together woman who took her job incredibly seriously. It was fair as her job was to organize all information and materials from every other department and make sure the agents she was assigned to got and understood all of it. A mistake from her could lead to an agent’s death or something far worse.

 This, of course, made her relationship with Remus… interesting to say the least. Janus could never place whether they were nemesis, frenemies, or mortal enemies, and he doubted he would ever know.

“Okay, but it’s the 1920s America,” Remus was already in her office arguing when Janus arrived. “There were so many gangsters! I could be a gangster. I would make a fantastic gangster! Just give me a gun, a snazzy suit with a white hat, and a buttload of alcohol. I will be running Chicago with Al Capone in five minutes.”

“Al Capone didn’t become a crime boss until 1925 and you are going to 1923,” Rhi said, sounding bored, “you aren’t going to Chicago, and as I have already stated, your cover is already decided.”

 “But-”

“It is nonnegotiable, Agent Clockson,” she said firmly. Remus pouted, but seemingly accepted his fate.

“May I come in?” Janus asked.

“Please do,” Rhi said. “You have been to the 1920s before, correct?” she asked Janus.

“Yes ma’am.”

She tapped the screen on her desk in response. “In the last two years?”

“About two months ago,” he responded. She tapped something else.

“Any blacks, reds, or yellows?” she asked.

“All green.”

“Great. Do you need a refresher course on basic cultural or linguistic procedures?”

“No.”

She pushed one more thing and then swiped the check-in document over to him. He glanced at the report stating he’d had no incidents of any level the last time he visited the 1920s and had opted out of the optional refresher course, and then pressed his finger against the screen to sign it with his fingerprint.

 The document returned to her side of the desk automatically. “Okay,” she said swiping another document from her left over to be in front of her. She twisted her wrist to copy it and slide copies to Janus and Remus. “Here are exact details on the time, place, and event you are going to, as well as details about your cover.” Janus scrolled through his quickly. It wasn’t as detailed as some he’d had considering this was a brief in-and-out missing, but he still took care to memorize everything on the page.

As he and Remus read through their things, Rhi got to her feet and turned to the storage compartments behind her desk.

 She grabbed out two packages and when they’d both signed that they’d read and understood the paperwork, she slid them across the desk to them. “These have everything you need,” she said. “Clothes, money, and an invitation to the party you’re off to attend. You are to get changed now, have a last check in with costuming to make sure everything is in order, and then report to decontamination in 23 minutes. Your set to leave in 38 minutes. Any questions?”

“How much-?” Remus started.

“None, agent,” Rhi said.

“But-”

“No alcohol,” Rhi said. “It is the prohibition era in the United States anyway.”

“Like there’s not going to be alcohol at the rich people party,” Remus said sullenly.

She pressed her lips together. “It is an in-and-out mission,” she said to both of them, and then turned to glare at Remus. “Do not get arrested.”

 “I don’t know,” Remus said joyfully. “I think I still have room for a 1920s mug shot on my wall.”

“Behave,” she said, “or I’ll report you for the cat you smuggled in from the 1800s.”

“You’d never,” Remus said. “You enjoy the cute pictures of Diesel Fuel I send you every day too much, and you know it!”

“Just… don’t get arrested.” She turned to Janus. “Don’t let him get arrested.”

“I’ll do my best,” Janus promised, standing. “Now come on, Remus, we need to get changed.”

“You just want to see me naked,” Remus replied with a wink, but he did stand.

 “If I see you naked one more time in my life Remus, my eyeballs will fall out of their sockets,” Janus said, waving to Rhi as he pulled Remus out of the door.

“Kinky.”

Janus’s eyeballs almost did fall out right then and there with how hard he rolled them.

They got changed quickly, Remus complaining and saying if he couldn’t dress like a gangster, he should at least be allowed to wear a flapper dress. Janus had long ago learned to ignore his ramblings. He did seem enthused about the included mask for the masquerade. It was a silver fox shaped mask with green accents that reminded Janus of the Egyptian God Anubis.

 Janus’s own mask on the other hand, was only designed to take up the left half of his face. It was mostly golden with a black swirled design. Attached to the side there was a plume of golden tipped white feathers. He had to give it to the costuming department, they did have good taste.

Once they were both dressed, they were poked and prodded by one of the costumers to make sure everything was accurate, fit right, and had been put on correctly.

After that, they went to the decontamination area to have themselves and everything they were taking with them sterilized so they didn’t accidently take any pathogens to the 1920s. They also received an oral vaccination to be sure they didn’t pick up anything from the 1920s and bring it back.

Then they were ready to go. The correct time-space coordinates had already been sent to their timepieces. With a push of a button, they were off.

 Chapter 3

Janus and Remus both appeared at the same moment a couple of feet apart in what looked like the inside of a garden shed. There was already a man waiting for them a few feet away. “Sup babes,” Remy said, just like he always did. The T-Agent looked their costumes up and down and whistled. “Now that,” he said, “almost makes me want to be one of you time jockeys.”

“They wouldn’t let me have a gun or a canister of moonshine,” Remus pouted.

Remy snorted. “Sorry, babes, but that makes my job a lot easier. If I’ve gotta fish you outta the 1920s criminal justice system, I’d rather it not be because you shot someone on accident ‘cause you don’t know how to use the safety.”

 Remus groaned dramatically. “Everyone is lame.”

Remy just shook his head. “Meet back here when you’ve got the necklace,” he said. “Don’t make a move until after 11:05pm and before 11:17. That’s your window.”

“We know,” Janus said. “See you then.”

“Have fun at the party boys,” Remy said and then lowered his shades to look at Remus, “but not too much fun.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Remus, already towing Janus out of the garden shed. The way had been specifically cleared for them, so they met no other people before they’d rounded the house the party was taking place and had gotten onto the driveway in front of the house.

 Without missing a beat, they strolled up to the front of the house, just as a car pulled into the end of the driveway. Janus rang the doorbell, and a few moments later, a man who was clearly the butler answered the door. They handed over their invitation, and the man immediately let them in.

The party had already started when they slipped into the medium sized ballroom that had been decked out in streamers and other decorations. Janus’s nose immediately wanted to scrunch as the smell of sweat from all the dancing already going on as well as the too strong perfume meant to cover that stench wafted over him. It was by far not the worst smelling time period, but he was pretty sure some people still weren’t aware deodorant had been recently invented.

 He checked his time piece which had been disguised as a fancy wristwatch for this trip. “Okay,” he said. “We have about two hours before we need to make our move. We should…”

Remus’s attention was already being dragged away by a young man who seemed to be providing guests with food. “I’m going to go ‘mingle’,” he said, winking.

“No!” Janus hissed. “Re- Richard! No!”

Yet, he was already disappearing into the horde of stinky bodies, likely to go scandalize a bunch of rich folks, and leaving Janus alone. Janus mumbled a curse under his breath that he was sure no one around him would understand even if they could make it out.

 Unsure what to do with himself, he wandered over towards where the live musicians were playing jazz music, being sure to keep out of the way of the dancers. He was edging around the makeshift dancefloor, when one of said dancers must have misstepped and knocked into another one. The second man stumbled right towards Janus, arms pinwheeling. Janus reached out on instinct to catch the man as he fell.

There was a moment where the two of them just stared at each other, surprise evident on the other man’s face. He was wearing a mask that just covered the area around his eyes and the top of his nose, revealing a smattering of freckles across his cheeks that Janus imagined extended to his nose.

 The mask was a light blue velvet with a flower stuck on the side near his right ear, and a trail of curled golden ribbon bobbed down around his chin. The party continued on around them, a blur of movement and sound.

“Are you alright?” Janus asked.

The man blinked up at him and then tilted his head slightly to the side as though confused, before a smile slowly grew on his face. “Oh, I’m fine Dove.”

“Dove?” Janus asked.

He giggled. “You have dove feathers on your mask,” he explained, reaching up a hand to touch one. His finger brushed the tip of Janus’s ear, “and I don’t know what else I am supposed to call you.”

 “My name is Lee,” he automatically lied.

“Is it?” he asked, sounding amused. “Doesn’t seem to fit you well. I like Dove better.”

“Oh?” asked Janus. “And what’s your name so I can not call you that?”

The man chuckled. “Call me Pat.”

“Hello Pat,” Janus said.

“I thought you didn’t want to call me by my name.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Hmmm,” Pat said, finger tracing idly across Janus’s forearm which was when Janus realized with a start that he was still holding the man in his arms. He quickly went to release him, which Pat allowed with clear amusement.

 Yet, instead of completely stepping away, Pat grabbed Janus’s arm. “What are you doing all the way over here by the way?” he asked. “Don’t you want to dance.”

“Oh,” Janus hesitated. “I don’t really dance.” Or at least not in the way the people around him were. He’d had basic training for this style, but it had been a while and he was a bit rusty.

“Everyone dances Dove,” Pat claimed. “At least if they know the steps and have the right partner.”

“But I don’t know the steps,” Janus said with an eyebrow raise.

He hummed. “Well, I know the dance pretty well by this point,” Pat said. “Why don’t I teach you how it goes.”

 He was agreeing with the soft beseeching tone before he even realized it. Pat pulled him into the middle of the throng of people. He seemed to think, bopping his head to the music playing for a moment, before looking back at Janus. “Heard of James Johnson?”

Janus inclined his head.

“Well, have you heard his new song? Because there’s a dance that goes with it.”

He took a few steps away from Janus and started to dance. Despite his claim to know the steps, he wasn’t particularly good, but he made up for any loss of rhythm with pure enthusiasm.

 Janus found himself smiling at the man, and after a few moments, joined in with the dance. Despite his lack of practice, he ended up having a better natural rhythm than Pat. Pat didn’t seem to mind that he was being outperformed, however. On the contrary, he giggled at himself the couple of times he stumbled.

When he fell into Janus’s arms for the second time that night, Janus decided he’d probably had enough dancing for the moment and pulled him off to the side to get something to drink and cool down a bit.

He watched the man take a snack and some punch from one of servers and thank him happily before turning back to Janus. Pat was easily able to keep Janus’s attention as they chatted. He was bubbly and soft, and Janus found himself enchanted as they talked.

 He was explaining the steps of a different dance, a couples one. “Knowing how to perform the tango will entrance any girl you want,” Pat said, something mischievous sparkling in his eyes. “Assuming you’re that type of fella.”

“As opposed to what?” Janus asked.

Pat leaned in a bit closer. Not too much, but enough that he was definitely in Janus’s space. “A different type of fella,” he said simply, before smiling and leaning back.

Janus let out a shaky exhale and took a sip of punch. He glanced over at Pat. “Tell me about yourself, Pat,” he said.

Pat hummed in contemplation. “Well, I went to France recently.”

 “You did?”

“Oui, c'était amusant, mais j'ai eu des ennuis”

“What kind of trouble?” Janus asked curiously.

“Oh, the kind with a pretty boy and crepes that were way too sweet. Anyway,” he continued. “Other than that, I mostly help out my friend. He’s an inventor.”

“And how do you help him.”

He shrugged, “Running errands mostly, and making sure he gets enough sleep, because otherwise he gets distracted and forgets. And you?”

“I’m a banker,” he said, remembering his cover, but felt compelled to add, “but I like to travel as well.”

“You do look the type?”

“And how is that?”

   Pat shrugged. “I can always tell a wandering spirt from the masses, and you are easy to spot.” Pat looked at him then with a secret smile on his face, and Janus felt suddenly known, like the man in front of him had known him for years even though they’d only just met. Looking at him then, he wanted suddenly for that to be fact and not a flight of fancy.

He was brought firmly back to reality in the next moment. “Lee,” a pointed and familiar voice said. Janus’s head snapped up to see Remus, staring at him. He tapped his wrist. Janus glanced at his own wrist: 10:58pm. He just barely managed not to curse.

 “I,” he said looking up at Pat. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

“That’s okay,” Pat said easily. “It is getting rather late.”

“Yes,” Janus agreed. “Well… goodbye.”

Pat, titled his head, a half smile on his face. “I’ll be seeing you around.”

Janus nodded, and turned away from him towards Remus. He didn’t look back as they excited the ballroom. They snuck into a small side closet for coats that wasn’t being used as it was summer.

“So,” Remus said when the door closed behind them.

“Don’t,” warned Janus.

“I’m not one to judge,” Remus said.

“Shut up.” He glanced at his watch. It was 11:02. “We’ll go in 5.”

 “I have to give it to you. He was very cute.”

“We’re not talking about it.”

Remus just laughed joyfully, and Janus did his best to halt the blood rushing to his cheeks.

At 11:07, well into their window, they slipped back out of the closet, and towards the stairs as the party raged on.

Despite how Remus usually never shut up, he was able to be quiet when it counted. They snuck to the master bedroom of the home’s owners in silence. The door was already wide open by the time they got there, and Janus didn’t think anything of it. At least, he didn’t until they entered the bedroom, and there was someone already there.

 He turned from the dresser he’d been standing in front of to face them, sending Janus the same smile he had down in the ballroom. Janus and Remus both froze. “Sorry, sweetie,” Pat said. “Were you here for this too?” he held up the necklace they’d been sent for. He closed his fist around the charm made out of time travel tech.

“What?” Janus said.

Pat giggled and winked. “Unfortunately, I need it a bit more than you at the moment. So, I’m gonna have to go.” Janus stepped forward, not really sure what he was intending to do, but Pat just smiled. “See you some other time, my Turtle Dove.” With a snap of his fingers and loud crack, he disappeared. The mask he’d been wearing fluttered to the ground.

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Vince and the Phone

A phone call between Vincent Shield and his girlfriend, Tara. Tara belongs to @fairybean101 and is used with permission! Thanks for letting me use your girl to talk some sense into my poor movie star.

This post references Who’s the Better Box Boy by @shameless-whumper heavily, so please read that if you haven’t yet to understand Vince’s reactions

CW: Referenced past violent assault, and referenced psat and current noncon

Tagging: @maybeawhumpblog, @pepperonyscience, @haro-whumps, @18-toe-beans, @burtlederp, @finder-of-rings, @giggly-evil-puppy, @lump-of-whump, @whimpers-and-whumpers​

He can’t stop fucking watching it.

Vince finally gives up and calls her - one benefit of their relationship for him has been Tara’s simple willingness to pick up the phone so he can ask her to yell at him any time, day or night. Tara never seems to sleep, she’s burning herself out rescuing all those poor Box Boys and Babes, and so she’s never more than a few moments of ringing away.

And she always picks up when Vince calls.

When Eli had initially asked him to consider acting as some kind of go-between for the pet lib people - he’d known Eli for a while, they ran in some of the same circles sometimes - he’d nearly said no.

But he wanted to help; even then, he’d understood something was really, really wrong with the whole human pet system. He hadn’t been able to put his finger on it, then, because why not let people sign their lives away? Vince did that every time he signed a contract for a new film and had to stop doing anything but working out and eating stupid plain chicken for months.

But Eli had known more than he let on, at first, and a couple of years later Vince was sitting up in the middle of the night, half-plastered, replaying a video of some poor son of a bitch with Vince’s face laying on his back, ankles flush to thighs, legs spread. 

The red in the poor thing’s face, embarrassed and ashamed of something that, according to Tara, he couldn’t have refused to do even if he’d wanted to. 

And to Vince, it looked like he wanted to refuse.

He caught the look the other one - the one that the Host kept - gave, presumably, Owen behind the camera. Flat and controlled, an attempt to stay expressionless, but Vince could read the helpless fury there.

“Yeah, you and me both, buddy,” Vince muttered, raking a hand back through his hair as he pulled up Tara’s number. “Both of us get pissed as hell and both of us do fucking nothing about it. At least you have an excuse, I guess. I’m just a goddamn coward.”

Tara’s number was next to an icon of her face, a serious scowl with her red hair a halo around her head. She hadn’t wanted Vince to take the photo, but she’d been the one to choose which of the seven he took got set as her icon on his phone.

It took four rings for Tara to pick up.

“What dumbass thing are you doing now?” Her voice is sharp as ever, but laced, he likes to think, with friendly affection. “It’s two in the morning, Vince.”

“Don’t yell at me for being up, I’m between projects and I always get all weird with my sleep schedule when I’m not working. What are you doing up?”

“Handling some new reports from another group,” Tara replies, and Vince can hear her shuffling papers in the background. “They got word on an upcoming raid, managed to split up their documents and records before the cops found them. We took in a few of their rescues, a couple of other groups took some. All the rescues are taken care of, which is what matters, but shit.”

“Shit…?”

“They’re hitting too many groups. I think someone is talking. But you don’t want to hear about my shit tonight… what’s up, Vince?” There’s a pause and before he can answer, Tara asks softly, “You’re still thinking about it, aren’t you?”

Vince glances down at his laptop, where the video is currently paused, right on the shot of the look of pure unadulterated trying-to-hide-it murder Colton - who is apparently Dustin Anderson, pet liberation activist, and oh shit what a fucking ominous soundtrack that knowledge starts up inside his head - is giving Owen Grant. He moves the timer back and sets it up to replay the look on the Kauri kid’s face the second he heard the Host say Position 34.

The red flush, humiliated and nervous, the subtle sidelong glance to the other pet only to see the confusion on his face and realize oh shit, I’m the only one of us who knows this.

Did pets judge each other? Did Kauri leave and the other one, the Dustin one, think oh, that one’s a whore when they left?

Probably not. 

No, the reaction shots gave too much away for Vince to even think unkind bullshit like that. No, the pets clearly cared, at least a little. The rescues they brought in mostly avoided each other at first, while all the conditioning was in place, but these two look like maybe they wouldn’t. Or at least not as much. 

He rewinds again right to the start, watching for the moment Owen Grant looks up, surprised, those green eyes on the camera so soft and friendly.

“He’s such a fucking liar, Tara,” Vince says, and his voice shakes.

“Yeah, okay, so you’re watching it.” Tara sighs, and he can picture it - rubbing the spot between her eyebrows with her index finger and thumb, taking a deep breath. “Vince, you shouldn’t. You shouldn’t punish yourself this way.”

“He’s a liar. He goes on camera - what fucking right does he have to do that, by the way - and he stands right fucking there and lies about what happened between us, lies about what I, what I did with him-”

“No.” Tara’s voice is sharp, and it cuts through Vince immediately. His mouth snaps shut. “What he did to you, Vince. We’ve talked about this. You didn’t do anything but go to see your friend one night when he seemed down. Everything after he put the drink in your hand is what he did to you.”

There’s a silence and Vince tries to tell himself she’s right. She’s always right.

Eventually, he gives up to the pull of just letting Tara run the show and smiles, wondering if she’ll hear the expression in his voice. “Yeah, okay. But still… you know he didn’t get someone like that Box Boy by accident. You know he lied about that, too.”

“Yeah, I know.” Tara’s voice is clipped, and goes slightly quieter. “We got a potential informant in the company, and I’ve just seen Grant’s custom order form.”

“What?” Vince’s feet thump to the ground and he sits up. Around him his home is perfectly silent, pure white, and kind of cold. He likes it better when Tara has to stay over, pretend she’s sleeping with him that night. Then this place feels like it has life in it. 

Mostly, even when he’s home, it just feels... empty.

“Yeah. We had someone come through and offer to get us some info, and Owen Grant’s order form was in the documents he gave us to show he was good for it. This is… this is the most detailed custom order form I’ve ever seen, Vince.”

“Did he-...” Vince tries to swallow back the question, but it tumbles out anyway. “Did he really just want him for-”

“No, it’s more fucked than that.” Tara’s quiet - Vince can hear his own blood, his heartbeat, his breathing. “Are you sure you want me to tell you?”

“Yes. No. I don’t, I don’t know… will it make me feel better or worse to hear it?”

On screen, Kauri is shocked and Vince watches his flinch, the tears standing in his eyes, still pleading and wide in some hope that Owen will rescue him. Vince grinds his teeth in anger at the way it looks to see his own face, so perfectly broken and needy, looking always to Owen to be saved.

Exactly how Owen had always wanted to see him.

���Probably worse,” Tara answers, and there’s a hint of gentleness there. Tara isn’t gentle with very many people - with him, with Eli, maybe a few others. Always with the rescues, the broken men and women hiding from the system under fake names and with forged documentation, pulled from homes and those two-bit emporiums selling bullshit knock-off Box Boys and Babes. She doesn’t have a lot of gentle left in her, after her own ordeal - but she always finds a little for Vince.

And he doesn’t even try to be ashamed of himself for needing it.

“Tell me anyway. That poor kid probably feels enough like shit, I might as well join him. I’m the only reason he’s even in this mess.”

“Well, okay, it might make you feel better to know he was already in the system. They called him 645898,” Tara reads the number out loud with real hatred edging her voice. “He was already in training before Grant put in his order, but I have a hunch they new Grant had been sniffing around the site and picked him up to have him ready for the order. And fuck, what an order. I don’t know what we’d even do with a rescue like this one, Vince.”

“What? Why? We’ve rescued others that are, that were, that… um…”

“Got their brains fucked out of them?” Tara asks with bitter near-humor.

“Yeah. That.”

“Yeah, he’s definitely seeing his share of that-” Vince winces, closing his eyes, trying not to remember Own’s hand pressed over his mouth, the look in his eyes as he’d whispered I’m so fucking tired of hearing you say no all the time, Vince, the way the ropes had dug into his wrists until they were rubbed raw and bloody. “-but it’s worse than that. He wouldn’t even go with us if we showed up at Grant’s front door.”

“Let me guess,” Vince says heavily. “He wanted the pet to love him.”

I just want you to fucking love me, you piece of shit! Is that so much to ask, Vince? Huh?! Is that so much to fucking ask?!

“Yep.” Tara doesn’t try to soothe him, to paper over old wounds with pretty words. That’s what he loves about her - Vince’s world is one of fake comfort and false friends, and Tara never gives comfort she doesn’t drag out of herself with real sincerity and she’s the truest friend he’s ever had. “If we tried to take him, he... he wouldn’t go. And that’s just the fucking tip of the fucking iceberg, too.”

“Perfect.” Vince sighs. “This kid had no idea what he was signing up for, huh?”

“Vince. You and I both know hardly any of them actually sign up for anything. You and I both know how they get the pets to sign our contracts.”

Vince licks his lips, hesitating, his blood running a little cold at the thought. “Yeah. Yeah, I know, I know how they do it. I know it.”

“Close your laptop, Vince. Go to sleep. This kid won’t be any less or more fucked over if you do. We’ll work on his case, I promise, he’s just… he’s going to be tough. He’s not in a house where we can walk up, he never leaves so we can’t catch him in a vulnerable, open place. And if we did… he wouldn’t go. The conditioning is thorough, Vince, and I’ve no doubt he loves Grant and is terrified of the idea of being taken away from him.” Tara sighs, again. She has a whole library of sighs, and Vince loves her for each and every one of them. “I have to talk to Eli about it, we need a better plan for dealing with this one, but trust me - I’m going to figure this shit out. Your clone and Dustin, we’re going to figure it out.”

“If you don’t, Tara? What if you can’t figure it out, for either of them?”

“Then…” Tara trails off. “Then it’s like I said. They’re no more or less fucked over than they were before I knew about them.”

It’s Vince’s turn to snort. “Tara. We both know that’s not how you operate. You never stop thinking about any of the ones you couldn’t rescue.”

“Hm. Maybe I’ll make it work this time if I try hard enough. Go to sleep, Vince. Eli’s on my other line. He took in a rescue and he’s been calling me for advice about her.”

“That’s funny. Me calling to ask you about this Kauri kid, and Eli’s right in his house, at the exact same moment, calling you for advice about, uh, whatever her name is.”

“Keira. She asked him to call her Keira.” Tara is quiet. “Kauri and Keira. Funny, the two names together like that. Eli even says her hair is dark and curly... Anyway, you need sleep and I need to keep moving.”

“Right, because you’re a sleep shark, if you sleep you’ll die,” Vince teases her. She laughs on the other line, and he relaxes all at once. 

Did the people who kept Tara, in the shadowy past she only rarely opened up about, ever make her laugh? Did they have any idea how wonderful it was to hear the sound? Did they know her laugh was nearly as gorgeous as the red of her hair? If Vince had ever been remotely into women, someone like Tara might have been just his type.

As it was, his fake girlfriend was probably his best friend. And the only person on Earth who knew what Owen Grant had done to him, when he was 20 years old and looked exactly like the Kauri kid that Vince was watching, once again, lay on his back on the screen.

Ankles against his thighs, legs spread apart, the flush of shame in his eyes and his skin and in the way he moved when Owen yanked him back to his feet moments later. 

“You have meetings tomorrow,” Tara says, softly. 

“So do you,” He counters. He scrolls down to look over the comments, staring at the array of usernames and inane babble. Mostly just people praising the Host’s cleverness, how funny they are, what a great idea to have two Box Boys face off like that.

Then one catches his eye.

@finder-of-rings: Kauri seems really sweet. God I hope owen isn’t hurting him. It’d be so, so easy to do just anything he wanted to him! They’re all alone and he can’t say no to anything, right??? God, that’s so scary… imagine being all alone with someone like Owen Grant and he can do literally anything to you and no one will stop him and no one will help you! Someone should do something!

There’s a slew of replies telling the commenter they’re making a mountain out of a molehill, that the Box Boys signed up for this, it’s all part of the system, whatever. 

Vincent just stares at the words as they go in and out of focus.

“Vince?” Tara’s voice seems a little fainter. “You listening?”

Imagine being all alone with someone like Owen Grant and he can do anything to you - and no one will stop him - and no one will help you.

“I don’t have to imagine it,” Vince whispers. “I’ve been there, Finder of Rings. I’ve fucking been there.”

“Hey, no, are you reading the comments, Vince?” Tara’s voice is sharp again, cuts through the fog and the way his throat has gone tight, his heart beating fast, a dizzy fear pounding in his mind all the way down to wrists that still remember how it felt to be tied down. 

A throbbing pulse of phantom pain in the rib Owen had broken, in the eye he’d punched. Some of Vince’s teeth are fake because of Owen Grant.

“Never, ever read the comments, Vince. Never. That’s… we have people who read the comments just to troll for info and even some of them get freaked out. Don’t do it. Or…” The softness is back in her voice, again. “At least let me be there with you when you do.”

“Yeah… yeah, no, you’re right.” Vince’s voice is shaking as he closes his laptop screen, shutting away the vision of Kauri and the Host’s boy carefully not looking at each other as the episode ended. I hope the other pets don’t judge the ones like you, little clone, he thinks. I hope, I hope, I hope.

“I’m going to bed, Tara. You’re right and I should take your advice and just… just fucking shut off for a while. Are you going to take my advice and do the same?”

“Fuck no. I’m calling Eli to see what help he needs with his rescue. She’s a sweetheart, she’s been really put through the worst the system does to people. I’ll sleep when I’m dead, Vince.”

“And you’ll die if you sleep,” Vince says, and both of them laugh this time. 

She hangs up and Vince sits in his quiet, empty house, thinking of the comment he’d read.

Someone should do something.

He thinks of Owen screaming in his face, holding him by the chin, the way he’d choked on his own blood and the tooth down his throat as he cried and begged Owen not to kill him. Thought of what it had been like when Owen’s mom had found out and Vincent had stumbled out of the old apartment where Owen used to live, beaten half to death and unable to tell a single living soul what really happened.

It’d hurt his career, if he did. He was just getting real acting jobs meant for adults, then - he’d signed Carlotta Grant’s legal shit and taken a year to recover and then come back and become a fucking superstar. It had felt like enough for a while.

He couldn’t have risked his career, then, when it was only getting started. And now...

It’d murder his career to step one foot out of line, now - and put the pet lib people he worked with at risk, if he publicly said a fucking thing about Owen Grant keeping what amounted to a blow up doll with a pulse that looked just like him.

He had to trust Tara, and the people like Tara - the people braver than him.

“Someone should save that poor kid,” Vince mutters, alone in the dark. “Someone should do something. But it’s not going to be me.”

[bluesey-182]

We Have To Stop Meeting Like This– Chapter 4

holy shit i did it, i finished chapter 4. what?! oh my god. 

important notes on this chapter, please read: so as some of you may know, I have a seizure disorder and it’s been getting out of hand again lately which is part of the reason this update took so long. i’m saying this because i needed to vent about my frustration and it ended up being in this chapter in the form of a character having a seizure. i know it doesn’t have anything to do with the story but, hey, it’s my fic. it should be noted that because my seizures are a result of trauma they present differently than a typical epileptic seizure, so the writing in this is drawing solely from my own personal experience. 

I hope you enjoy this chapter because (while incredibly difficult) it was a lot of fun for me to write.

Here is chapter one, chapter two, and chapter three, as well as the link to the fic on ao3.

Jude was not a fan of Sundays. Sundays meant family dinner, which meant seeing her adoptive father (Vivi’s biological father) which always resulted in a screaming match between him and Vivi. Sundays meant seeing their judgemental step-mother who was convinced the twins would corrupt her son who Jude knew from experience was not as innocent as he seemed. 

Sundays meant dressing up and proper behavior and bit-back anger and–the oldest and most tiresome charade of them all–pretending like she didn’t know that no matter what she did, Madoc would always be at least a little bit disappointed in her.

This Sunday, however, would be made worse by the fact that Jude was not talking to Taryn after the previous night’s events. 

She had, of course, confronted her twin about her weasel of a boyfriend (as well as about the fact that Taryn had left Jude in the dark about the existence of said boyfriend) when Taryn returned home early in the morning. Jude raged to her sister about Locke playing games with them, expecting her sister to take her side and hate the manipulative prick as a team, and watched with satisfaction as her sister cringed away from her words. She had believed, for a moment, that Taryn now hated Locke just as much as she did and together they would destroy him. (As you do with your sister.) But then Taryn had simply said, “I know.”

Jude was speechless for a long moment. “I’m sorry, you what?”

“I knew what he was doing,” she admitted, “he wanted to see if I was loyal enough to stick with him even if he messed with you, and if I could be trusted not to tell you whatever he asked me to keep secret for him.”

“Taryn, do you seriously not see how fucked up that is?!”

“He’s just a little weird.”

“Weird?! He’s straight up a freak! How could you let him do this to us? How could you do this me?”

Taryn’s face was turning red but she refused to look Jude in the eyes. “Don’t call him a freak.”

“So you’re really just gonna take his side on this, then.” It was a question, though Jude didn’t say it like one.

“He’s my boyfriend.”

“And I’m your sister! Are you serious right now?!”

“Jude, stop.”

Jude’s anger was boiling over and choking her. She did as Taryn asked, but only because she was too angry to think of anything else to say. She stormed out of the room and slammed her bedroom door with enough force to rattle the doorframe. 

Hours later as the two were getting into the Jeep to go to their dreaded family dinner, Jude still refused to speak to Taryn.

They pulled up to Madoc’s large estate in silence. Before the car even came to a complete stop, Jude was hopping down from the passenger seat and stomping up the walkway to the front door. She let herself in, kicked off her shoes, and went in search of Vivi while Taryn tried to catch up. 

Jude found her oldest sister playing video games with her half brother Oak in his expansive room on the first floor. Vivi flashed her a quick smile before returning her attention back to the screen. There was a lot of aggressive button smashing and shouting from the both of them and it was clear they had no attention to spare for her. Still, Jude leaned against the doorframe and watched until GAME OVER flashed across the screen.

“You know,” Jude said as Vivi finally turned her full attention on her, “you could have at least given him a chance to win this time.”

Vivi flashed her teeth in an evil smile. “Nope. I was the undefeated champion against you and Taryn in every game we ever played and now I have to be the undefeated champion against Oak.”

“You were only undefeated because you were a cheater.”

“Was not!”

“Hm. And what do you call all the times you tripped Taryn in every race we ever ran?”

Again Vivi flashed that wicked grin before rising from the bean bag currently consuming her on the floor. “That,” she said, “was an accident.”

Just then Jude felt the presence of someone else joining her in the doorway and looked over her shoulder to find her step-mother Oriana eyeing her suspiciously, as if Jude’s proximity to Oak had tainted his being already. With an inward groan, Jude forced herself to face away from Oriana before she could see her eye-roll. Vivi gave her a sympathetic smile that felt more like pity.

“Dinner is almost ready,” Oriana said.

“Already?” asked Vivi.

“Yes, well,” Oriana was not looking at Jude in a way that was obvious she wasn’t looking. “The twins were late.” This time Jude did roll her eyes in full view of her step-mom and Oriana noticed it. “Come, Oak, let’s get cleaned up for dinner.”

Jude moved out of the way as Oak skipped passed her into the hallway with his mother in tow, leaving Jude and Vivi in the vacated space.

“Spill,” Vivi demanded once the two were out of ear shot.

“What?”

“Something’s bothering you. Spill.”

“I’m fine.”

“No. You’re not.” Vivi closed the space between them, pulled Jude the rest of the way into the room, and closed the door. Nevermind the fact that this wasn’t either one of the bedrooms. Against her best protests, Jude was still pulled down into one of the bean bags on the floor as Vivi moved the second one to face her. “Talk to me,” she said more softly this time. 

Jude told her everything. By the end of the story there came a knock on the door. As if summoned by the use of her name too many times, Taryn peeked her head around the cracked open door.

“Madoc wants you guys in the dining room,” she mumbled without looking at Jude.

“Sure thing, Beetlejuice,” Jude shot back.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Jude shoved passed her twin rather roughly and tried to bury the pang of guilt that arose when her sister stumbled into the wall upon having her balance thrown off. 

Madoc was already at the table when Jude entered the dining room. Oriana sat beside him with her back perfectly straight to the point of it looking uncomfortable, but that was Oriana–a perfect portrait of propriety. Oak, on the other hand, was throwing bits of dinner roll at the dog lying on the floor beside him. The dog didn’t seem to mind as it caught the food out of the air time after time with perfect accuracy, much to Oak’s delight.

Following her entrance came Vivi and Taryn. Their heads were bent conspiratorially but whatever words were being exchanged quickly cut off upon their arrival to the room. While Taryn slipped passed Jude with her gaze set determinedly to the plush carpet, Vivi looked at Jude with an expression that promised they’d be talking later.

That should be fun.

With a huff, Jude threw herself down into the seat beside Oak at the table and quickly became the new target of his food throwing. Oriana pretended not to notice.  

“Oak, that’s enough,” Madoc ordered. The boy immediately stopped, though Jude saw him sneak another piece of bread under the table for the dog. “Stop feeding Bosco table food, too.“ 

So he had noticed that after all. 

Oak deflated ever so slightly but not before Jude caught the flash of his adolescent smirk.

"Now, shall we eat?” Madoc asked, though it wasn’t a question. As if they had been waiting by the closed kitchen door for a queue, the cooks Madoc employed (he was that kind of rich) swooped gracefully into the room with trays of food. Plates of chicken and bowls of some kind of soup were set before all of them, as well as central platters of roasted vegetables and potatoes. All of it was fancy and unnecessary and Jude found herself wanting to just eat McDonald’s instead. At least then she wouldn’t have to deal with family dinner night.

While Madoc attempted to wade through the usual topics of conversation–how is school going? what’s new in your lives? have you been taking care of yourselves? yada, yada, yada–the girls responded with only mild interest while shooting glances at each other across the table. Vivi, either being oblivious to the awkwardness or simply not caring, only shoveled food into her mouth happily while occasionally throwing food back at Oak when he attempted to get it into her water glass. 

“Alright, that’s enough.” The abrupt clatter of Madoc’s silverware against his plate brought Jude suddenly out of the fog she’d been stewing in since dinner began. Madoc leaned back in his chair in a show of false calm and he darted his calculating gaze between the twins. “Talk." 

When neither girl supplied a response, Madoc raised his eyebrows and leaned forward to steeple his interlaced hands on the table. "Talk,” he demanded louder.

They began speaking at the same time. Their voices collided together and fought for dominance as Jude raged about Taryn’s betrayal as well as her douche of a boyfriend, and Taryn yelled about Jude’s disrespect for said douche of a boyfriend. Vivi and Oak watched with amusement, Oriana pretending nothing was happening as she continued to eat, and Madoc narrowed his eyes as the girls turned their words from him to each other.

“-so disrespectful!” Taryn shouted. 

“I can’t believe you’d do this to-,” Jude shot back. 

“-just jealous!”

“-is a massive prick! Why can’t you see that?”

“Shut up, just shut u-!" 

Finally, Madoc broke up the shouting with the clearing of his throat. Though it wasn’t loud, it was a sound the girls had grown familiar with over the years and they quickly lapsed into silence. "That,” he said calmly but authoritatively, “is quite enough of that." 

"You’re the one that asked,” Vivi grumbled under her breath. 

“What was that, Vivienne?”

“I said you’re the one that asked. You can’t tell them to talk and then decide they’re done right after.”

“Really? You’re giving me the attitude again tonight?" 

"I don’t recall ever stopping." 

As with every previous dinner the two quickly dissolved into an argument. Vivi resented Madoc for running off when he found out their mother was pregnant with Vivi, and she resented him even more for only deciding he wanted her after their mother was killed in a car accident along with Jude and Taryn’s father. Years of anger still had no resolution and so the two fought nearly relentlessly. 

Completely ignoring the volume already rising in the dining room, Taryn began shouting at Jude again. The noise from all three voices crowded in her mind and her anger and frustration continued to build. She hated these family dinners, hated the years she spent in this house, hated that Vivi could treat Madoc like shit and still have everything handed to her while Taryn and Jude had to claw for every ounce of respect and attention from their adoptive father, hated how Taryn had hurt her, hated how Locke had used her. Suddenly the room began to grow warm. Tremors started in Jude’s fingertips and spread up her arms. Taryn was asking if she was listening to her. Vivi was mocking Madoc in the way of a child, throwing his own words back at him. Madoc was telling her to stop acting like a child, Oriana was telling Oak to go to his room as he continued to throw food from the table at the dog. And then–in a single heartbeat– the voices stopped making sense. 

Jude vaguely processed the sound of Bosco beginning to bark as the old familiar feeling like her brain was turning to ice and melting down the side of her face finally made her realize what was happening. 

"Fuck,” she whispered.

Oriana scolded her for swearing in front of Oak just as Jude collapsed to the floor and the seizure pulled her under.

——–

Sometimes the worst part of a seizure was the reaction from everyone else afterwards. It also didn’t help that this was Jude’s first seizure in over eight years.

When they returned from the hospital Madoc announced that Jude would not be going home. Instead she was forced to stay at Madoc’s where he could keep an eye on her in case she seized again and, although she tried to protest, Jude was in too much pain to win an argument over it. 

She hated being babied. Hated how she was hardly allowed to get up to use the restroom without Madoc jumping to his feet thinking she was going to collapse right there. More than anything she hated having to sleep in her old room that she had spent so many years trying to get away from. The room had that odd feeling of belonging to someone else. She hadn’t slept in this bed since she turned 18 three years ago but she could tell everything was still regularly cleaned. This was her room, but it also wasn’t.

The Jude that slept in this bed wept for her parents every night for years. The Jude that slept in this bed fought for Madoc’s approval before realizing she’d never get it. The Jude that slept in this bed used to lay side by side with her twin sister on most nights, talking and laughing and crying until they fell asleep. She was not that Jude anymore. This was not her home.

Finally, after hours of Madoc watching her like a hawk, he relaxed enough to let her be alone. She collapsed onto the old mattress and stared up at the plastic stars glued to the ceiling above. Every part of her hurt. Parts of her she didn’t know could hurt were aching in a constant, throbbing pain. She wanted to sleep. She wanted to be in her own apartment. Instead she was here.

Madoc didn’t let Jude leave the next day. Nor the next. By the third day she was losing her mind. She was fine, she insisted–but Madoc refused to listen. She was under his watch until he was sure she wouldn’t have another episode, but as the hours went by it felt like he would never be convinced.

——-

Jude was going stir crazy. It wouldn’t be long until she started climbing the walls.

She had to get out of here.

Thankfully her chance at escape came around when Oriana insisted on Madoc accompanying her to pick up her customised dress for some event or another they were attending in the near future. Oriana, having her odd dislike of Jude, insisted that the trip be a couple’s only outing. They seemed to take forever to put their shoes on and find the keys and do all the other BS that came along with leaving the house, and by the end of it Jude was ready to shove them out the door and lock it behind them. 

Finally, blissfully, they left. For the first time in days Jude found herself alone and free–now she just had to get out of this infernal house. She ran up the stairs two at a time to get to her room and dove for her phone before she realized she had no idea who to call. She didn’t want to talk to Taryn or go home after everything that had happened, Vivi would be just as bad as Madoc watching her and treating her like she would break, she didn’t have many friends. She did not want to discuss the events of the last few days and anyone who knew her well would ask about it.

There was one person she could call… Someone who wouldn’t know enough to see something was off and pester her about it, someone who probably wouldn’t even care anyway even if he did notice something was off.

Stealing herself, she scrolled through her contacts until she found the one he had put into her phone and clicked CALL before she could change her mind.

The phone rang once, twice. By the third ring Jude was starting to lose her nerve and was about to hang up when she heard the other line go live.

“Hello?” His voice sounded sleepy, like he had just woken up despite the fact it was nearly four in the afternoon. She tried to ignore the way her stomach fluttered at the gravel of his morning voice.

“Uh, hi,” she said lamely

There was a long pause and she imagined him pulling his phone away to look down at the odd number on his screen before he finally said, “Who is this?" 

"It’s Jude.”

“Oh,” she heard his voice shift into a lighter tone, though she couldn’t place exactly what else she was hearing in his words. “Well, hello there. I see you finally called me.”

“Yeah, I just thought I should probably check in on you and make sure you haven’t crashed into anything else lately. You know, for public safety reasons.”

His laugh was immediate and unrestrained. She heard rustling on the other end of the line like he was sitting up in bed. “I’ll have you know that I’m a perfectly adequate driver when I want to be.”

"I don’t believe that for a second.”

"Ouch. That hurt me, dear Jude. I have been wounded to my core.” 

"Oh please, you don’t have feelings.”

Cardan laughed again. It definitely didn’t make something in her chest flutter.

“So why are you really calling?” Jude would deny till the end of her days that her heart didn’t sink a bit at the thought that perhaps she was bothering him, that perhaps the other night was a fluke and he didn’t enjoy her company enough to see her again. That maybe she shouldn’t have called at all. 

But what did she care, right?

“Uh,” she started again, “Well I think you should buy me some fries again.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“Because you clearly have money and I’m hungry and if I have to be in this house for a second more I’m going to set the curtains on fire.” She hadn’t meant to be so honest with that last bit but there was no taking it back. Her cheeks heated.

“Interesting,” he said with no indication to his thoughts on the matter. She cleared her throat in the long silence that followed and was about to hang up when Cardan finally spoke again.

“Alright,“ he said, drawing out the word. "I’m also hungry, so I’ll meet you at the diner in an hour." 

“Uh, actually… Could you pick me up?”

“Aren’t you afraid you’ll die in a fiery accident with me behind the wheel?” He teased.

“Terrified. But I don’t have a ride.”

He chuckled on the other end of the line. “Fine, I’ll see you in an hour still.”

She tried to suppress a smile. “I’m sending you an address now.”

"And Jude?” he said as she was about to hang up the phone. 

She brought it back up to her ear. “Yeah?" 

There was a drawn out pause like he was considering his words. For a moment Jude wondered if he had hung up already and she had just imagined his voice. But then he said, quietly, like a confession, "I’m glad you called." 

Before she could say anything, the arrogance had slipped back into his voice as he teased, "It’s a relief to know that I’m still irresistible.”

Jude barked a laugh that surprised even her. “Intolerable, more like.”

“Keep telling yourself that, dear Jude.” And with that he hung up the phone.

——–

An hour and a half later–turns out that along with being a terrible driver, Cardan was also not punctual–a dented BMW pulled up in front of Madoc’s house blasting some indecipherable music that was quickly turned down as the car rolled to a stop. Through the windshield Jude could see Cardan lean over and pop open the passenger side door with ease.

Must be nice to have long arms, she thought to herself because, owing her official height to just under five feet and three inches, she would have had to crawl into the passenger seat to open the door from the inside. Needless to say she would not have looked as graceful and at ease as Cardan had.

“I hit a cat on the way here,” Cardan said in way of greeting as Jude bent her head to duck into the car. At his words she froze in horror. The bastard had the nerve to laugh at whatever expression was on her face and suddenly she remembered why she hated him. “I’m kidding,” he laughed. 

“You’re an ass.”

“So you’ve told me. Now are you going to stand there halfway out of the car or are you going to get in?”

Jude made to answer when headlights down the street caught her eye. “Shit,” she breathed as Madoc’s car began pulling into the drive. Quickly she hurled herself the rest of the way into the car and slammed the door. “Drive.”

“What’s going on?”

“Drive, Cardan!”

He floored it without further questioning. That is, until they were a few blocks away from the house. “So you wanna tell me what that was about?”

“I didn’t want to deal with my dad.”

“Ah, I see,” he replied in a way that said he really did see. Jude studied his face for a further reaction but found only a carefully blank face. Too late she realized she had stared for a second too long and Cardan’s lips quirked up in a smirk. Heat flooded her cheeks as she quickly tore her gaze away and stared out the window. Ignoring the awkwardness she was feeling, or perhaps not sharing in it, Cardan simply turned the stereo back up to near deafeningly volumes and began to sing along horribly. She turned to inform him he had the musical talent of a dying seal when he flashed his eyes in her direction in a conspiratorial sort of way–he was singing that bad on purpose in an attempt to make her laugh.

Well too bad. He’d have to try harder than that.

With the music up so loud she almost didn’t hear her phone going off. If it hadn’t been for the vibration of it she would have missed it entirely. Cardan apparently noticed it too for he reached for the stereo to turn down the volume but, seeing the caller ID flashing on her screen, Jude waved his hand away and rejected the call from Madoc. Though he didn’t say anything, Cardan raised his eyebrows at her before returning his attention back to the road.

“Wait, is this guy saying he’s the original loser?” Jude inquired as she finally started processing the ruckus playing through the speakers.

“Yes, he is. And if you have a problem with my music then you can take it up with my assistant.” With this he motioned his hand towards an oddly shaped skeleton figurine balanced on the dashboard–his assistant, apparently–and the volume, much to Jude’s irritation, increased even more as Cardan took a sharp, heart-stopping turn into the parking lot of the diner while simultaneously cranking the radio and head-banging. 

Jesus Christ, she was never getting in a car with him again.

The car came to a stop off kilter in a parking space and Jude quickly vacated even before the engine was turned off. Cardan soon followed through the driver’s side window. Like the first time she saw him do it, Jude gave him a weird look over the top of the car and he reacted with only a wicked grin. 

“It’s charming,” he said, indicating the window.

Jude rolled her eyes. “It’s something.”  

The inside of the diner was surprisingly empty. When the hostess approached Jude and Cardan at the door she explained why. “Sorry kids,” she rasped with a voice that was clearly deteriorated after years of heavy smoking, “we’re closing early tonight. We’re not seating anyone else.”

“Oh, no problem,” Jude responded automatically even as her stomach rumbled in protest. Through the corner of her eye she saw Cardan’s eyes flick towards her stomach before jerking back to her face as he tried to suppress a laugh. Apparently the sounds of her stomach were louder than she thought.

Once back outside Jude was trying to console herself about the failed attempt for food when she felt Cardan’s hand gently grasp her arm. She spun around, confused, but instead of looking at her he was looking at something over her shoulder.

“How old are you?” He asked out of nowhere. 

Jude was confused as all hell but answered, “Uh, twenty-one. Why?”

“Because we,” he spoke while backing up towards the car, “are going to the bar.”

“And what if I don’t want to drink?”

“Then I will get smashed alone while you eat bar food.”

She hesitated while weighing the pros and cons of the situation but as her stomach began to rumble again it was decided that bar food was better than no food, and drunk Cardan couldn’t be all that more annoying than sober Cardan, right?

Jude got in the car.

——–

In contrast to the near empty diner, the bar was packed. Given that it was a Wednesday night it would have been surprising had the bar not been located in the center of a college town. Cardan managed to snag a high-top table in the middle of the room as soon as they entered and proceeded to order a complicated drink order that Jude followed with a request for nachos.

“You sure you don’t want anything to drink?” Cardan asked as the bar waiter wrote down their orders. “Your mood when I picked up was practically shouting for a mixed drink.”

Jude stared him down, contemplating his words, while he watched back with a crooked, lazy grin pulling at the corners of his beautiful mouth. “You know what?“ She answered in challenge to his look. "Fuck it. I’ll have one of whatever he ordered, please,” she directed this last bit to the waiter because she could, in fact, use a drink after the events of the last few days.

"Oh darling,” Cardan teased with his low sultry voice. “I don’t think you’ll be able to handle what I’m drinking.”

Egotistical dick. “Stop being an ass." 

Cardan simply winked when Jude rolled her eyes at him. Oh, how she hated how her heart skipped a beat.

When their drinks were delivered minutes later Cardan took his glass and threw all of its contents back in a single go. His eyes, still holding whatever challenge they had issued between them, held steady to hers until his drink was gone. With a clatter he slammed the glass back onto the tabletop and leaned forward with his chin cradled lazily in his palm, elbow on the table, eyebrows raised in anticipation of her response.

God, she really did hate him. Leaning across the table so their faces were inches away from each other, she whispered, "I hate you.” Once again his mouth split into the wicked grin and, before she could second guess herself, she took her own glass and took a hearty swallow of the foul drink. Fire shot down her throat, closing off her airway for an uncomfortable second, before the liquid settled in her stomach like a burst of flames, but she refused to give Cardan the satisfaction of seeing her choke. Instead she returned his raised-browed look across the table and set her features with stubborn determination.

After a moment, Cardan laughed. It was the most irritating response he could have made and yet the sound of it made the liquor dance in her stomach. 

“You’re something else, you know that?” His voice was playful. Still, the words rubbed her the wrong way.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She growled defensively.

Cardan leaned back with his hands spread out in surrender, though the grin on his face took away the effect of the action. “You’re the scariest person in any room and you’re not afraid to make sure people know it." 

Was she the scariest person in any room? It was some comfort to know that she gave off "don’t fuck with me” vibes. Still, she didn’t know how to respond to Cardan’s words. So instead she saved herself from having to respond by taking another shot of her drink. Somehow it burned more the second time. She coughed.

“God how can you drink this shit?” She asked once the coughing fit subsided. Cardan, on his part, laughed through the whole thing. 

“I’m a trained professional.”

“Sounds like a pretentious way of saying you drink too much.”

“Maybe so.” A shrug. “But you can’t prove anything." 

"Oh yeah?” She waved the waiter back over to their table and requested two more drinks–never mind the fact that her glass was still a quarter of the way full. “If you get drunk faster than me then you’re obviously all talk.”

“Jude, are you challenging me to see if I can outdrink you?" 

Instead of a verbal response Jude narrowed her eyes at him and tilted up her chin. A burst of laughter came from deep within his chest.

"It’s your funeral, then." 

——-

Hours later they were several drinks in. Jude was teetering on the edge of wasted. Cardan, on the other hand, was putting his money where his mouth was and was only slightly tipsy. Jude hated to lose. 

"So, Jude,” Cardan started conversationally, “do you have a last name?”

“No it was stolen by faeries.” She slurred only slightly.

“Oh, you little liar,” he purred.

“You little… prick. How are you not drunk?”

“I told you.” He jammed his thumb towards his own chest. “Professional.” In spite of his otherwise carefully composed behavior his arm slipped off the edge of the table when he tried to lean against the surface. Jude laughed, a bubbly but taunting laugh that she would never have made while sober.

“So you are drunk!” She didn’t know why but this brought her a great sense of victory.

Cardan frowned down at the table like it was personally responsible for his slip up, making Jude laugh harder until a few small snorts escaped. “Perhaps a bit,” he muttered.

“Did you eat all my nachos?!” Jude gasped as she became aware of the empty plate sitting in the middle of the table. 

“No, I’m afraid that was all you.”

“Liar.”

“I don’t lie." 

"No?" 

"Nope.” That grin that had been making Jude’s stomach flutter all night returned to his face where–she thought–it belonged. 

“Prove it,” she challenged.

“How?" 

"I don’t know. Tell me a truth.”

“My name is Cardan.”

“Obviously.”

“I’m a little bit drunk." 

"I can tell.”

“And you’re beautiful." 

At that Jude was completely caught off guard. Trying to recover quickly before he noticed she stammered, "Well… now I know you really are a liar." 

"And why is that?" 

Was the bar getting warmer? “Because,” she started but realized she was too drunk for this question. Hoping he was also too drunk to notice her avoiding the question Jude drank the dregs in her near empty glass so she wouldn’t have to answer. When she finally worked up the courage to look back up at Cardan he was smiling at her. This smile was different than the others. It was the smile of someone who didn’t know they were smiling–completely unrestrained and goofy in nature. The bar definitely was getting warmer and Jude’s face was on fire.

“Duarte,” she said into the silence.

Cardan was appropriately confused by this random outburst and (sadly) his smile slipped as he furrowed his brows. “What?”

“You asked if I had a last name. It’s Duarte.”

“Jude Duarte,” he tried it out, dragging her name out in a way that felt like a caress. “Hello Jude Duarte.” His smile came back. “I’m Cardan Greenbriar. Would you like to dance with me?”

“What?” 

“Dance with me.” This time the smile that came back to his face was the cocky one she wanted to slap off his face. Or, possibly, do other things to get it off his face. “I promise not to step on your toes.”

Jude felt at a loss. She looked around her at the other patrons of the bar. At this hour everyone else was just as drunk–if not more so–than her and Cardan. They were shouting and moving around and throwing things at each other and paying absolutely no mind to the two of them. Still. “No one else is dancing.”

“And?” When she spun her head back around to face him he was again leaning on the table with his chin cradled in his palm. Watching her with the single-minded focus of a cat. He was challenging her. But something in his eyes made her heart flutter.

Fine. She wasn’t going to back down from another challenge. “Fine.”

A crooked grin much like the Cheshire cat’s dominated his face. Without a moment’s hesitation he was on his feet, taking her hands, and pulling her up with him. Before she could process anything, Cardan had her in his arms, his face inches away from hers reeking like alcohol as his breathing got heavier, pupils blown wide while he looked into her face. He really was quite tall and having to tilt her head so much while this intoxicated was making her dizzy. Without thinking, she rested her head against his chest as they danced to the song playing too loudly over the bar speakers. 

“If I let go, would you hold on? Would we fly?” Sang the song.

Cardan rested his head on top of hers. The feeling was both pleasant and overwhelming and she had to close her eyes to keep from falling.

“Why were you upset when I picked you up?” The words were so quiet, spoken into her hair like a secret, that she almost missed them.

“What do you care?” She murmured while lacking all of the challenge she’d been using all night.

“I’m not a complete ass, you know.”

No. He wasn’t.

“Is it safer if we just say that we tried?”

“Family dinner ended in a trip to the hospital.” She shouldn’t have said that.

“What?” The alarm was clear in Cardan’s voice as he put enough distance between their bodies to see her face. But she didn’t want to explain and she didn’t want to look at him when his eyes were that full of feeling. Didn’t want to analyze what was in that look. More forcefully than intended, she pulled their bodies back together and wrapped her arms around him to keep him in place this time.

“And I’m stressed about school.” Although this wasn’t a complete lie, it had nothing to do with why she had been upset. It was only a way to steer the conversation away from her confession. “Statistics is kicking my ass.”

When he laughed it was low and she heard it from where she had her ear pressed to his chest. 

“Are we laughing at the danger? Are we dancing after death?”

“I can help you with that tomorrow after classes.”

“No, it’s okay.” By now her words were nothing but a whisper.

“Nonsense,” his replied softly. “We’ll meet at your place.”

Too drunk to protest anymore and too desperate to pass the class, Jude reluctantly agreed.

“Are we laughing at the danger? Are we dancing after death, you and I?”

As the song came to its end Jude disentangled their bodies. The heat spreading in her cheeks made it difficult to look him in the face. Her eyes settled instead on his throat. “It’s late.” She pulled out her phone in a desperate need to have something to do with her hands. The screen announced there were four missed calls from Madoc and two messages to punctuate it. Not bothering to see what he had said, she shot him a text saying “i’m fine i’ll call tomorrow” before slipping the device back into her pocket. “I should get home.”

“Let me walk you?” Cardan asked tentatively.

They walked back to her apartment in silence. Whether it was from their drunken state or something else, the silence wasn’t entirely unpleasant. Halfway to her building Jude shivered from the chill wind and, without much thought, Cardan shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. The fabric consumed her both physically and in its warmth. The world was swaying. Jude tipped to the side a bit before Cardan reached out and righted her.

Upon the arrival at her door Jude turned to lean against the wood while she faced Cardan. His hair was a mess from the wind and from running his hands through it. His eyes shone from the alcohol and she imagined something else. He was beautiful and she couldn’t deny it. Also undeniable was the feeling inside her of want. She wanted in a way that almost scared her. The words slipped out of their own accord–embarrassing in their obvious meaning, “Would you like to come in?”

Cardan gave her a small smile–but it was sad. Taking a step closer to her he reached for her hand and brought it to his lips. All it was was a gentle brush of lips against knuckles but it felt like so much more as his eyes never left hers. 

“Ask me again when we’re both sober,” he said softly.

And he was gone.

——–

songs mentioned in this chapter:

in the car they were listening to original me by yungblud and dan reynolds, and they were dancing to dancing after death by matt maeson.

[mobius-prime]

143. Sonic Super Special #12 - Sonic & Knuckles

Turnabout Heroes

Writers: Ken Penders and Karl Bollers Pencils: James Fry and Andrew Pepoy Colors: Josh and Aimee Ray

So this issue is a bit strange. As you can see, Zonic is up there being all sideways and whatnot, and while he doesn't actually appear in the first story, nonetheless we're invited by him to turn the book sideways to read it, as it's all rotated clockwise. We open to Sonic waking up confused in the hospital, with Dr. Quack and his friends standing over him. They ask him if he remembers anything, and he proceeds to give them a quick rundown of his life story, which seems like a strange thing to do until they hold a mirror in front of him - and, shockingly, he sees Knuckles' face! Meanwhile in Echidnaopolis a similar situation is happening with Knuckles, waking up to Julie-Su and his father and describing himself only to see Sonic's face in the mirror. Now what could have caused such a bizarre thing to occur?

Now I know what you're thinking. What the hell is original Robotnik doing up there? Well, essentially, this story exists in a really bizarre gray area in the timeline. Depending on where you look for the answer, it takes place anywhere in between StH#71 to KtE#29, which as you might have noticed, is a huge timeframe. No matter where you try to fit it in that gap, it doesn't make sense for a variety of reasons, ranging from Julie-Su's location during the plot, to Knuckles even having reunited with his father in the first place, to Sonic's growing knowledge of the new Robotnik's plans. Once Ian Flynn took over later in the comic, his opinion was that this issue couldn't have even taken place at all due to the discrepancies, but regardless, we'll be covering it and just pretending that somehow it makes sense.

The two body-swapped heroes decide they need to go to each other's homes and try to work out what has happened, so Sonic, in Knuckles' body, hops aboard a shuttle to the Floating Island with the other Freedom Fighters, while Knuckles, in Sonic's body, hops aboard a shuttle of his own with Julie-Su to Mobotropolis. However, before either of them get far, they're both shot down, Sonic's shuttle by a legion of swatbots (which look significantly upgraded from regular swatbots, but not quite like shadow-bots, though no one acknowledges their new intimidating design), and Knuckles' by the Dark Legion. Knuckles, climbing out of his downed shuttle and seeing Sonic's going down, realizes he can't glide as normal due to the body-swap, and  instead picks up Julie-Su and uses Sonic's speed to race to Sonic's rescue. Everyone groups up just in time to face the combined threat of two evil fighting forces.

WhaaAAaaAAaat? You mean to say ROBOTNIK is BACK? Come on, Sonic, you've seen several different false comebacks by now, you shouldn't even be fazed at this point. Robotnik and Dimitri give the group an ultimatum - Sonic and Knuckles must surrender immediately, or else they will never swap their minds back into the proper bodies, and they'll also kill all their friends. Well that's a choice all right! Sonic and Knuckles allow themselves to be teleported to… uh… whatever facility their enemies happen to be in. Honestly, my assumption would have been that it was the orbital platform from Robotnik's comeback or something, but Sonic didn't give any indication that he'd ever seen it before when he and the others went up there to investigate the Robians' disappearance, so who knows where they actually are right now.

Sonic and Knuckles are forced to agree to go along for the moment, and are quickly teleported into the island's Chaos Chamber, with the Master Emerald (still containing a frozen Mammoth Mogul) inside. Knuckles is loathe to hand over the emerald since removing it will cause the island to fall, whilst Sonic is mostly just irritated at the idea of Knuckles getting to be in his totally awesome body forever. Robotnik and Dimitri watch a video feed of the two from their base, but just as Sonic and Knuckles touch the emerald the screen goes to static. Robotnik and Dimitri, suspecting treachery, immediately hit the button to bring the two back, and are surprised to see them holding the emerald after all. They gleefully instruct them to insert it into their Chaos-Cannon, and activate it for a test run on the Great Forest…

Who knows how the hell they faked such a large gemstone on such short notice - hell, maybe the Brotherhood made a fake copy for just such an occasion and hid it within the chamber somewhere - but the two heroes get to work beating their enemies up. Knuckles goes for Dimitri, who vanishes in a puff of smoke, and Sonic punches Robotnik only for Robotnik to explode violently, revealing himself to be a robotic duplicate. Gee, I'm sure that means that he was just a fake, and not a literal robot version of Robotnik himself, right? Sonic and Knuckles cheerfully walk out upon their victory, amiably arguing over whether it's cooler to be a hedgehog or echidna.

Zone Wars: Giant Robotno

Writers: Dan Slott and Karl Bollers Pencils: James Fry and Nelson Ribeiro Colors: Josh and Aimee Ray

We're back to the present now, with a story that actually fits into the timeline. Sonic is taking a day off to relax and get away from freedom fighting, fishing in a pond in the forest, when suddenly a shuttle emerges from an energy portal in front of him. A strangely-dressed being within informs him that she is Sally from another zone and needs his help, but Zonic then arrives and warns Sonic that this version of Sally, called Sallactor, is evil and trying to deceive him. He calls in the rest of her zone's Freedom Fighters, the Sonicaman: Chaos Ninja Team, who are basically dressed like Super Sentai heroes (fittingly, they're from the Sentai-Zone). Zonic is surprised to see Sonic sigh and walk away from the action, as the others defeat Sallactor and drag her back to their own zone, and Sonic says he's getting sick of all this inter-zone action, that he has a hard enough time keeping track of his own zone's shenanigans. He challenges Zonic, asking how he keeps track of it all and accusing him of using others to get what he wants.

Manipulative little bastard. Sonic goes along reluctantly, and finds himself in a city full of panicking Overlanders all running away from a gigantic, mutated Bunnie, fittingly called Rabbot-zilla. Of course, as soon as Sonic tries to turn around for answers, Zonic pops out of existence.

Sonic uses his super-speed to melt the asphalt under Rabbot-zilla's feet, gluing her to the ground, and this zone's version of Robotnik, who is of course just named Julian Kintobor and wears a white coat instead of red, runs up to thank him. He explains that he tried to stop her from rampaging with a robo-virus, presumably explaining her half-roboticized state, and points to a frozen, robotic Uncle Chuck looming over a different part of the city to show its prior effectiveness. He guiltily continues to recount how he had a hand in this entire disaster…

So to be clear, Knothole Island was clearly inhabited by sapient Mobians. Those aren't ordinary animals being mutated - they're wearing gloves and shoes the same as any other Mobian from Mobius Prime. This guy knowingly detonated an atomic bomb on an inhabited island, and he's trying to pretend like it was all an accident? Sorry, Kintobor, but I don't believe you one bit. He then built giant juggernauts which basically attempted to reenact Pacific Rim against the mutated creatures, but there just wasn't enough energy to power them, as the two halves of the split Chaos Emerald used in the experiment were left on the island inhabited by the mutants. Sonic decides to go along with his plan, using his own speed on a treadmill installed in one of the doctor's Jaegers, the Giant Robotno, a name which pretty much describes how I feel about this whole thing. Clearly Sonic isn't too thrilled about working with him, however.

He blasts off, using the robot's rocket feet to fly to Knothole Island, where he encounters all his friends as mutated monsters. He has no choice but to fight them in order to search for the emeralds, and happens to spot this zone's version of himself, mutated as well, with one of the emerald halves affixed to his chest. However, at that moment he's attacked by his mutated father, also with an emerald half in his chest, and tries to shove him away and block himself from being hit at the same time, clenching his fist as he does so.

Horrified, Sonic flies away from his dead father, as the mutant Sonic approaches and cries in grief. That's right! Sonic was accidentally forced to kill an alternate zone version of his own father to save everyone. That is brutal. Later that night, Sonic stands quietly and sadly next to Kintobor as he celebrates the acquisition of the emerald, saying he can finally protect his city properly, when Zonic shows back up to check on Sonic.

Zonic congratulates Sonic on a job well done as he drops him off back in his home zone, but Sonic angrily confronts him about having known all along that he would have had to kill his own father (albeit from a different zone) to save everyone, accusing him of not understanding how it feels to him right now. In response, Zonic simply takes off his helmet.

Is anyone surprised? Anyone? Did anyone not see it coming that the hedgehog-sized being named Zonic who constantly involves himself with, well, himself, was an alternate version of Sonic? He vanishes, leaving Sonic with even more questions, but alas, we'll have to delay those for now, as it's time to jump into the comic's adaptation of Sonic Adventure!

[valiantthewriter]

This is Part 2 of my Puppy Peter Series

This program contains: Puppy Play, Dirty Talk, Daddy Kink, Peter in Lingerie, and Watersports.

“Woof, woof!” Peter barked, wiggling his bottom causing the tail attached to the butt plug to wag along with him. He licked at Tony’s hand, trying to get the man’s attention away from his tablet and on him. He got all dressed up in Daddy’s favorite white, lace crotchless panties and matching bralette. He even put his puppy collar on and tail in all by himself. He knew for a fact Daddy would be so proud that he would want nothing more than to play with Peter.

Except Tony ignored him. Peter frowned and barked louder, nosing insistently at Tony’s hand.

“Little brat. Fine,” Tony said, setting his tablet down and bringing a hand to the nape of Peter’s neck, scratching it gently, “I see we are feeling like a little puppy today. Well, Daddy will make time to take care of you but he has to get some work done first. Wait here for a moment and be good.”

Peter could do that. He was always good. He loved being good and loved pleasing his Daddy. Peter could do this all day.

Tony stood and went into the direction of the kitchen. Peter watched with bated breath, woofing once more when Tony came into view carrying his puppy bowl. Peter loved his puppy bowl; it was baby blue and covered in little white paw prints. Essentially, it matched all of Peter’s puppy gear and the young man liked that.

The bowl was set before Peter and to Peter’s dismay it was full of water and not treats. He whined a little, looking up at Tony in confusion.

“Drink all that in the next couple of hours. Let Daddy finish his work and then we can play.” And with that Tony turned to his work and the room was silent. Peter bit his lip and looked at the big bowl of water in front of him. Daddy said to drink all of it, but if he did then he would have to pee. If he had to pee then they probably wouldn’t play right away. Daddy would never let him hold it…

Dismayed, Peter obediently lapped at the water like the sweet puppy he was. He followed Tony’s instructions completely within the first thirty minutes and once they were an hour and a half in he really needed to pee.

Peter whined pathetically. If he had to pee then he would have to be a boy again and not a puppy. Would Tony be disappointed? Peter couldn’t help it though, he really had to go, so bad that he was in near tears.

The two hours went by and they were now going about 30 minutes over. “Just a little longer, baby. Daddy’s almost done here,” Tony promised, reaching down to caress Peter’s back. Peter whimpered at the contact, wincing as Tony leaned down to feel his tummy. His bladder was so full that it hurt.

Suddenly, Tony pressed down on his tummy and Peter was so surprised that a little bit of pee came out. The dam broke and Peter began to whimper in earnest, trying to show how sorry he was by licking Tony’s arm and nuzzling it.

“Tsk, tsk. Naughty puppy. You had an accident on Daddy’s floor. C’mon now, let me take you out,” Tony admonished, standing as he grabbed Peter by the collar, leading the crawling boy outside. Once they were on the deck Peter saw what Tony meant. He whimpered in confusion, pawing at Tony.

On the deck was a small section of rubber grass that must have been put out earlier in the day without Peter noticing. It was the kind of fake grass used to train puppies to go outside. It didn’t take long for Peter to put two and two together. He whined, trying to back away but Tony’s grip on his collar kept him from going anywhere.

“Nuh uh, baby boy. I need to take you out to pee like a good puppy. With me, now,” Tony commanded in a voice that Peter could never say no to. It was the tone of voice that Daddy used sparingly, that promised trouble if Peter even thought about misbehaving. So, like a good boy he followed Tony to the grass, whining and whimpering as he looked at it. “Get on with it. I don’t have all day.”

Peter took a shaky breath and slowly crawled to the grass. This was so degrading and embarrassing and so...fucking hot. The rubbery grass tickled Peter’s palms as he got into position. He knew exactly what Tony wanted, but it was so embarrassing. How could he pee like this with Daddy watching? It wasn’t the first time they played with pee, mostly Tony watching Peter piss in the shower or into a toilet. This was different altogether.

Tony huffed with impatience and came over, positioning Peter on all fours over the grass mat. “Potty like a good boy or you won’t like what happens, pup. Get on with it,” Tony demanded, tapping Peter on the ass to show he meant business.

With a deep breath, Peter forced himself to pee on the mat. The sound of light splashing and the hiss of Peter pissing was so humiliating and arousing. By the time he was done pissing he was unbelievably hard.

“Dirty puppy. Your little cock is all hard from peeing outside? Naughty. We ought to take care of that since you were so good for Daddy,” Tony cooed at Peter, ruffling his curls and tugging at his tail. Peter barked happily, lapping at Tony’s hand and wagging his tail. “You think I’m gonna fuck you, huh?” “Woof, woof!” Peter barked in an affirmative tone. God he was so ready to have his Daddy in him.

“Not right now,” Tony said, his tone dropping into that register that gives Peter shivers. This tone promised filthy, depraved rewards in exchange for obedience. Peter always got his reward because he was always obedient. “You’re gonna rub your little cock on the ground right there and that’s the only way you get to come.”

Peter whined, wiggling a bit in hesitance. He wanted to be good, he did, but he was a little nervous. They never played like this before.

“It’s ok, baby. You can do it. Do you remember your words?” Tony asked, petting Peter’s back in a soothing manner. Peter nodded and looked up at Tony with trusting eyes. He trusted his Daddy and if Daddy thought he could do it then he would.

Without another word Peter dropped low to the ground and began to hump the piss soaked mat. It was so warm and slippery and wet, the blades of false grass tickling his cock deliciously. He began to hump the ground faster and faster until Tony’s voice broke through the cloud of arousal.

“Stop!” Tony commanded, causing Peter to tense then whine from the loss of pleasure, “Slow down. Make it pretty for me.”

With the command given, Peter began a slow, sensual role of his hips, teasing himself by pressing the head of his cock in a slow glide against the wet grass. He moaned wantonly, looking at Tony with pleading eyes. All the man did was take his cock out and start to stroke it. Peter began to work harder, occasionally looking up at Tony for the man’s approval.

“You look so slutty like that, baby. Your sexy little ass out for Daddy, your cute little nipples. God, I love when you dress up for me,” Tony muttered, teasing his hand over the head of his cock, “Go faster. Now. But don’t you fucking come until I say you can.”

With the green light given, Peter began to chase his pleasure against the mat, spreading his legs for leverage. He whined and yelped and barked and kept looking at Tony and his cock with begging eyes. Tony noticed.

“Stop,” Tony ordered, walking over to Peter, “Lay down and grab your little cheeks and spread them.”

Peter moved quickly to obey, relishing Tony’s approving hum. The older man wiggled Peter’s tail before slowly teasing the plug in and out of him. The teasing lasted for a few good minutes and Tony let Peter get away with tiny ruts against the floor.

“Is puppy ready for his Daddy now?” Tony asked, pulling the plug out with an obscene pop. Peter felt a little lube drip out of him and over his balls. He whimpered from the tickling sensation and readjusted his grip on his cheeks, wanting Tony to view his hole like the older man wanted.

Tony dipped his thumb into Peter, moving it in and out very gently before spitting on Peter’s hole. “This is Daddy’s. Always Daddy’s. Puppies don’t put their tails in without Daddy from now on,” Tony said, dipping his thumb between Peter’s cheeks to rub his spit into Peter’s hole. “Hold still, baby boy. Daddy’s gonna fuck you now.”

The older man took off his suit pants and straddled Peter from behind, the head of his cock nudging behind Peter’s balls, causing the little puppy to squirm. Peter whined again, his whole body clearly begging for Tony to fuck him, from the desperate tension in his limbs to the way his hole that was clenching around nothing. It didn’t take long for Peter to get his wish as his Daddy slowly pushed into him.

Once Tony bottomed out he gave a few gentle thrusts before setting a brutal pace, draping himself over Peter as his hips pistoned in and out. Peter all but screamed at the sensation, doing his best to hold himself open for Tony to wreck. Everything was perfect. The way Tony was roughly fucking his hole? Perfect. How Tony’s thrusts caused Peter’s hips to grind into the piss soaked mat? Perfect. Daddy’s dirty talk? Perfect.

“That’s right, pup. Cry for Daddy. Come on Daddy’s dick and be a good boy. God your hole is so slutty. You should see how greedy it is, sucking me in. Maybe one day I’ll take a video of it,” Tony growled into Peter’s ear, continuously fucking Peter silly. With a high pitched whine Peter came on the mat, adding his release into the mess of piss all over his cock and tummy. Tony came with a grunt and harsh “Fuck” inside Peter, so much that it started dripping out of Peter.

After a few moments Tony pulled out of Peter with a sigh, sitting on his haunches to admire his handiwork on Peter’s backside. Ever so gently, Tony wrapped his arm around Peter’s middle and pulled him up so Peter’s back was against his chest.

“You did so well, sweetheart. Daddy is so proud of you. Such a good little puppy. Let’s get you all nice and clean and then we will cuddle. Sound good?” Tony asked, running his hand through the mess on Peter’s tummy, rubbing it in.

“Woof woof!”

[lusilvas]

💐 Luana’s introduction !! 💐

so big oopsies, this got long but this is my baby which is kind of an old muse by now but I just can’t let go of her, i hope u enjoy all of her !! also if u wanna plot just hmu or like this and u know ill be sliding into ur dms !!

❛ Is that Bruna Marquezine walking down the streets of Blackrock Cliffs? Oh no, it’s just Luana Silva, a twenty-two, female that works as a video game designer. They have been around for ten years and she seems to be emphatic and daring. Someone said they can also be oversensitive and clingy. ( sarah, 20, gmt+2, she/her)

tw; car accident, alcohol

PAST

⤷ born in São Paulo, Brazil on the 12th of February but moved to Blackrock cliffs at the age of twelve because her parents died during a car accident and she had no other choice but to move to her aunt and uncle

⤷  she had quite the troubles just integrating with learning the English language and having to be away from the friends she made back in Brazil

⤷  her uncle owns a known video game company while her aunt owns a bakery in town

⤷ has four cousins which ultimately were like brothers to her because of how close they grew up together

⤷ has always been a very bubbly child which didn’t change much in the future, she’s still bouncy and spry and is energetic at all times ??  

⤷ got into a lot of mischief as a kid because of her cousins plus being clumsy made it hard on the parental figures

⤷ broke a lot of bones as a child mainly because of that

⤷ has always been very cherished by her family and is therefore so loving and affectionate ?? LIKE she did get the special treatment more often than not because of her situation but she always knew to be the better person and care for the people she enjoys being around with

PRESENT

⤷ her uncle really opened up her love for video games and also being with a bunch of guys at all times, quickly made her interested in all the designing and programming there was to be had

⤷ that was kind of an issue, because as the only girl in the large family, her aunt obviously expected her to follow her career path instead of her uncle’s and did force her to work at her bakery a couple of times

⤷ as an attempt to soothe her, Luana did end up in the bakery for a few years in order to help but it quickly became a realization that it wasn’t the way she was going to go

⤷ that’s why she started to go ham at her Dad’s company and with being the right hand of the ceo, her ideas quickly gained a lot of traction which made her enjoy what she was doing even know

PERSONALITY ⤷ not much has changed with her, she’s basically just very affectionate and loving, energetic and open

⤷ is very open with her emotions and is very easy to read when something irritates her or makes her feel down

⤷ is usually a couch potato, doesn’t clean her room much and loves a messy bun and just a shirt as a daily look and doesn’t really care too much about her appearance

⤷ really in nowhere fancy but boy if she tries she may be 10

⤷ however, WHEN she wants to go out, she fuckin goes ham y’all like to an extend where she needs friends to carry her home when she’s drunk and probably goes farther than she can handle ⤷ will watch a horror movie with you but will probably have her eyes closed 89% of the time

⤷ falls in love 14 times a day, will probably have a crush on you when you open the door for her

⤷ inserts needy by ariana grande ⤷ very dreamy, kind of has a disney princess brain where everything is just jolly and cotton candy until something bad happens

⤷ pretty easy to take advantage of / be manipulated considering she wants to make everyone feel validated and is pretty selfless

⤷ loves, loves, loves plants, especially cactus and roses

⤷ kisses her friends on the cheek during every greeting and goodbye

⤷ very trustworthy

⤷ still visits Brazil whenever possible because it’s just where she grew up and she doesn’t wanna lose herself at a different place kinda thing

⤷ breaks her own heart on a daily by false hope

⤷ loves outdoor activities as far as the eye can reach !!

⤷ also loves baking and will probably make you muffins

⤷ has Lepidopterophobia

[aquarianwisp]

what do you do when you feel youve made the wrong choice and hurt someone? Do you think one can atone even if they are arent able to apolgoize directly to the person?

Hey hun,

I’m sorry I did not answer for a couple of days, I like to think about my answers sometimes.

I feel that this is a karmic lesson for you. You seem to be someone who ruminates over your errors and feelings of guilt for long periods of time, but never really deals with them because it is painful. You just wait usually until the feelings stop and they only stop because you bury them. This can be very detrimental to our health. When we hold on to negative feelings and then bury them we can become very anxious, we lose our sense of who we are, and due to these feelings we often develop coping mechanisms that are harmful to the body. This is how emotions can become a disease. Interestingly, once we become anxious from holding on to emotions, we start triggering the hypothalamus in the brain during situations we perceive as threatening, and this causes the hypothalamus to trigger hormonal responses. Over time, this can disrupt our hormonal balance and lead to more circumstances where disease can flourish. So it is really important that you deal with the root cause of emotional pain as soon as you can. 

I want you to know that you are not the worst person in the world. I feel that you are someone who feels such guilt when making a mistake that you might punish yourself with negative words and actions. But you are not alone. There have been many occasions in my life where I have made a bad choice or said the wrong thing and that person has never wanted to speak to me again. I’ve never had the chance to say sorry to them. And I felt guilty for years over those. But I cannot change that now, no matter how much I might want to. There is nothing I can do. All I can do is accept the situation, accept my actions, and let it go.Karma is not the same concept as sin. There is a lot of misunderstanding around that actually. I notice that you used the word atone, which to me feels very much like the black and white thinking of some churches (SOME churches- definitely the one I grew up in), where if you have committed a sin you are no longer loved or approved of by god and you need to atone in order to win love back. Karma, on the other hand, is very different. Karma is simply a law of nature, that what vibrational energy you put into the world will be given back to you at the same vibrational frequency. But it is something that keeps us from unifying with the source or with god- not because that is an inherent attribute of karma, but because we hold on to it and use it as an identity. When the vibrational energy comes back to us and we suffer, we hold on to the suffering and use it to define who we are and we build a false identity around it. We are taught through many religious texts that karma is something we build up over time, and it takes many millions of lives to work through it. But we are also taught that we are not separate from god or the source at all, but that we are actually the universe and have been all along. (I can give sources for this if anyone is interested) And this separates us from seeing god or the source (whatever you wish to call it) leaving us feeling that there is a big gaping hole inside of us- which many people try to fill up with worldly things. These actions all go against the natural law of karma, which just explains the flow of energy. When we do these things, we block the ebb and flow of karma.So, when I say this is a karmic lesson, I mean that this is something you need to learn to let go of as you move toward finding out who you truly are, which is a soul-self that is directly come from God or the source. Karmic lessons are not paying back for doing the wrong thing, they are opportunities to learn and opportunities to look for the true self.

So what is your lesson here? Acceptance. You cannot change what has happened no matter what. Acceptance though is not a quick and overnight lesson where you just drop things and let them go with ease. Acceptance is a practice and an ongoing process in most cases that you need to be willing to dedicate yourself to. It's basically restructuring your thoughts and emotions around a situation so that you do not hold on to painful things. It gets easier with time. Sometimes you’re going to wake up not feeling so great, with negative thoughts and guilt eating away at you. This is what I do when this happens. I take a few deep breaths and close my eyes. I go looking for or try to sense the soul self. And I notice that the soul self is unreactive, it is free of labels, it is essentially a blank canvas. It is unchanged by my actions, it has not lost worth, and it is still sacred and holy just like the universe source. And I say to myself “I accept my actions, I forgive myself for my actions, and I let them go.”And sometimes, I need to do this several times a day. You can do this too, you can do it as many times as you like, every time you start feeling dread or sadness. Remember who the world thinks you are, and who you think you are is just the identity of your body. When you sleep you become identity-less because your consciousness has gone back to the soul self. Your soul self is completely unchanged by your actions and has no real identity other than being of god/universe. So you are not worthless or horrible, you are a human having a very human experience just like the rest of us. You are here to learn your karmic lessons in a journey of discovering who the soul self is. I leave you with a quote and a video of my spiritual teacher talking about attachment to others. This quote is from the upas tree of disease.“Evil is not an accident, not an arbitrary punishment, not always an "error of mortal mind."It is the natural and inevitable result of violations of nature's laws.It is instructive and corrective in purpose, and will remain with us only as long as we need its salutary lessons.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfqNRqJ-iMI