#I will never not call him nemesis btw

[medicalunprofessional]

juggalo nemesis (…evil augustus) and horror punk butcher. Very important i think

[coffeetheactualjellii]

"Diluc x Male Bodyguard Reader"

Content: Smut, aftercare, and enemies to eventual lovers. 

Smut Content: Anal, Oral (reader receiving), Use of Aloe Vera as Lube. 

A/n: Hello Guys! It's finally time that i uploaded this lol, but the thing i promoted this as is true it is co-written by me and my ex-girlfriend/situationship lol. Btw this might be a oneshot or a three part series depending on how well this does and if she still wants to co-write with me.

A/N update: [[ Me and my ex are no longer in talking terms as of now, because she got a new partner and its weird that Me (her ex) is asking her to write smut with me lol. I might write the following ones by myself. ]]

{{A/N Update}} Hi this is several months after the update up above and me and ny ex are in talking terms again and am here to day that part 2 will come eventually once the both of us are not that busy.

!!MDN!!

Word count: 2.2k 

____________________________________

Kingdoms Fall

The three Kingdoms in Monstatd live in harmony in the Continent of Teyvat.

You work for the Ragvindr family as the personal guard of their son Diluc. The Reign-ing Monarch of the kingdom of Krasi as one of their soldiers. 

The family has always been very traditional, royalty must marry royalty, Future king gets the throne regardless of the eldest daughter or not. Y’know, the basics. Now as a soldier you’re never close to any of the royals, the closest you’ve gotten to any of them is a simple “yes, sir,” or “Yes, ma’am.” Now you were assigned to guard their oldest son, Diluc Ragvindr. Keep in mind, this man hates you, he doesn’t like the thought of having a personal guard let alone a guard at all. Your duty as his personal guard is to follow and take note of his every single move, where he goes, what he does, even what he says.

Today the prince is training with some of the guards. You watch closely as he takes down the soldiers one by one slightly impressed by his skills. He takes the soldiers down one by one, leaving bruises and even some dislocated limbs on a few of the soldiers.

You see Diluc, a tall young man with crimson hair and autumn eyes. He’s a strong young man and it shows through his body shape and tight leather clothes. Diluc turns to face you, pointing his index finger directly at you. “You’re next.” He says with heavy breath and a raspy baritone voice as if he’s talking to a rival, a nemesis, an enemy.

As you stepped out onto the battlefield you and Diluc began to circle around each other, threatening each other death stares, gradually walking around each other, round, and round, and round you go. 

When the call was made Diluc ran at you giving you a good hit in the chest. You returned the gesture by kicking him in the leg sending him down on one knee. This battle went back and forth, over, and over, and over again. One minute you would have the upperhand, the next he would have the upper hand. About what felt like hours (which was actually just 15 minutes) you won the battle pinning Diluc to the ground with your leg against his back holding his hands bound behind his back.

“Okay! I yield! I yield! You win!” He yells from underneath you with heavy breath and an annoyed tone.

You stood up walking away from the man and standing with the rest of the soldiers. Diluc is surprised by you being able to defeat him, you could clearly tell that he’s pissed about it and that thought brings you joy.

An hour later; The prince is currently taking a nice bath as he washes off the residue from training, you are standing outside the curtain, listening in on him washing, scrubbing, wiping, whatever a prince does in a shower.

You continue to listen in on him scrubbing away until it stops…

Nothing…

Absolute silence as you wait for the prince to say something, you begin to get worried. Even if it’s the prince you couldn’t help but take a peek just to make sure that the prince is okay, but then you see him, naked, and standing there… staring.

“Ah, so the personal guard has interests?~” He says in a teasing manner as you quickly close the curtain, a crimson hue appears on your face as he walks towards you, he opens the curtain, widely  to show the prince standing there… Naked

“My apologies prince, you had me worried for a second there.” You try to explain but it seems that Diluc doesn’t believe you, you can hear him chuckle a little bit with the same teasing tone.

“Are you sure, cause… your cheeks sure do say otherwise.” He says in a teasing manner, suddenly you feel an arm wrap around your waist, pulling you closer and through the curtain into the bathroom as you feel another hand on your face forcing you to gently look behind to, seeing Diluc with wet hair forces more blush into your cheeks basically turning you into a tomato of sorts.

You notice a sly smirk on his face as he pulls you closer, even through the thick leather you’re wearing you can feel his wet skin against you. As you stare deeply into his eyes you notice something there, not the usual spark of hate you had been used to, not the hint of boredom he usually had when you two were alone. It’s something new, something you thought you would never see, not when he’s looking at you anyways, the longer you stared, the more you noticed. It was, Lust?  

Yes, it is, lust in the eyes of a prince? That couldn’t be, he hates you, despises you, how could a prince like Diluc have lust for a soldier? It’s against the royal code, against all rules, against the whole royal family line… But it’s there, and you know it.

As Diluc begins to lead you backwards still holding you by the waist, without warning he turns your face back kissing you passionately. You had no time to react, not time to stop him, but then you noticed it… *Are you enjoying this? No, no, you can’t, this is against all moral code, against what being a soldier is about*. Half way through contemplating your life choices you feel Diluc slip his tongue into your mouth tasting yours, you couldn’t help but let out a low groan at the taste and the feeling.

Diluc pulls you back by the waist slowly bringing you closer to him as you feel his naked, et chest press against your back. His every touch on you sends a chill down your spine. Without warning he turns your head back to face him as he kisses you passionately before trailing down from your lips to your neck and so on to your collarbone. You can feel his lips on your skin as he begins to leave hickeys every here and there.

As Diluc breaks the kiss looking at you with a chuckle, you can see the need in his eyes, the want he has. “I see you enjoyed that.~” He says with another tease before kissing you, slipping his tongue in your mouth, tasting every inch of your mouth earning another low groan from you.

Half way through the kiss you feel something running up your thigh, something warm, something soft. The kiss is interrupted by a sharp breath in as you feel something on your crotch, holding it, rubbing it through your pants as you moan deeply into Diluc’s mouth. Diluc breaks the kiss letting out a low chuckle as he looks at you deeply in the eyes. As the feeling of his hand continues to massage your crotch rubbing up and down forcing a few low moans out of your mouth.

“I see you like it.” Diluc whispers into your ear in a low seductive tone as he continues to rub against your crotch.

Out of nowhere you feel his hand slip into your pants slowly pulling them down as you watch with heavy breath, the red returns to your cheeks as you feel his hand make their way to your skin. You can feel Diluc’s breath against your ear, your heart beating faster with each stroke of his hand.

“Ah!~♡♡” You let out a sudden moan as you notice his hand wrap around your dick moving up and down slowly.

You can still feel his breath against your ear as he lets out a low chuckle, then moving his hand slightly faster earning more and more moans from you. Half way through the ‘session’ he pulls your face to look at him as he kisses you passionately still rubbing your crotch and making your knees shaky. Your moans muffled into his mouth as hand continues to move faster and faster on your cock. Soon you eventually came all over the floor and his hand as you pulled away from the kiss throwing your head back onto his shoulder letting out a final goran. Diluc looks down at his hand covered in hot cum and sweat before he looks back up at you with a low chuckle.

“You took that so well.” He whispers into your ear leaving a slight kiss, you begin to take this chance to catch your breath and your heart.

You are then forced to turn over facing him as he pulls you closer for a kiss teasing your dick in the process. You begin to feel him removing your shirt now undoing it button by button and peeling it off, pulling one arm out of each sleeve at a time eventually completely taking your shirt off. Diluc then begins to kiss your neck and leaves a few love bites going down to your shoulder, getting elicit whimpers from your mouth, trying so hard not to moan loudly.

Diluc begins to lead you out of the bathroom he drags you to the bed pushing you down and laying you out now completely undressed, as he trails his kisses back upwards meeting your lips.

As Diluc continues to kiss you passionately he brings you legs up still rubbing lightly against your dick, halfway through this process you notice another feeling, despite him rubbing against you in such a way bringing you close to ecstasy. You notice his hands travel towards your ass until he circles it with his thumb “ahh look at your pretty little ass” he says You get a hard shock on your ass as you realise he just slapped your ass leaving a red hand mark on it. “♡A-ahh♡♡!!~” A loud moan escapes your lips as you feel the sharp feeling of pain mixed with pleasure. “hmm i didn't know that my little knight was a slut.” Diluc whispers into your ear as he gives you another hard slap on the ass, probably now leaving a bruise.

Diluc walks to his Vanity and gets a jar of Aloe vera (that he uses for his hair Normally) he walks back to the bed putting the aloe vera in his night stand. His dick was 5 inches, he started to rub his cock and now it's rising  it's about 6 inches fully hard. 

Diluc leaned down to rub your dick with one of his hands and his other and started to circle around your small virgin hole “♡A-ah♡♡!~” You let out a whimper as you feel his fingers enter your hole, stretching it out just a bit. After he takes out his finger and puts some Aloe vera and uses it as a Lube, he continues to push his fingers in and out as you moan. Feeling his fingers begin to go deeper into you, reaching as far as his finger can go.Then he adds a Second You can feel his fingers pushing in and pulling out causing you to bend forward arching your back allowing Diluc more access to your asshole. 

He adds a Third finger and he slides his fingers up and down Over, and over, and over again pushing into your asshole and pulling out forcing moans out of you as you are forced to cover your mouth in order to stay quiet.

You let out a low groan at the feeling of Diluc removing his fingers from your ass. You then notice that his dick is hard and it’s obvious. Suddenly you feel a sharp pain as Diluc slips his dick inside you stretching your tiny hole.

You can hear a few low groans from him as he lets you adjust to his size for a couple of seconds. Soon he begins to thrust into you slowly, he gradually fastens his pace, he begins to build up his speed and over and over earning a few moans along the way. As he continues to thrust into you, you begin to moan louder and louder with every thrust eventually forcing the prince to cover your mouth.

“Shh. We don’t want anyone to find out now do we.” Diluc whispers into your ear as he continues to thrust into you faster, and faster, stretching out your hole to its limits as he lets out a few low groans. A few tears fall down your cheeks, as he continues to thrust into you faster and faster eliciting multiple gasps and whines out of you. High pitch squeals and heavy breaths escape your mouth at the feeling of his massive cock inside you.You then feel something warm and slimy enter your hole as Diluc cums into you leaving his cum and some of your blood all over your now stretched hole. As he begins to catch his own breath, he lets out a satisfied grunt as he falls beside you lying on the bed heaving and satisfied before reaching over to you for a warm kiss as he pulls you closer 

. ”Hmm, is my little knight satisfied?” Diluc said pulling out of your ass, your legs were kinda sore so you stayed lying down ;Diluc went back to the bathroom. When he came out he has a  towel wrapped around his waist to cover his complexion and a damp towel that was put into some warm water to clean you up. 

[driftsart]

craving info about you AU's robo-ladies 👁️👁️

Sure ;D ⬇️

One of the main characters in my au, Hot Rod!

She's one of the younger autobots, and one of the only ones that isn't afraid to stand up to Sentinel. When she was "born," she was assigned to Ultra Magnus, taking care of her was supposed to help him have patience and calm the terrible temper he had. She's currently learning how to steer The Ark (and she's not doing so well), as well as having to deal with Sentinel wanting her to be Prime (so that he can keep her under his control). She's curious, and may be the key to stopping the war... Who knows... :)

Next one is Elita-One!

Elita-One, as awesome as she is, she can be the most annoying autobot out there. Depends who you ask. She's a skilled fighter and loyal to the autobot cause, she's saved Optimus in battle countless times, but she's always had an obsession with Optimus, even back when Optimus was still called Orion Pax.

Next up (and one of my favorite), Megaempress!

She's actually Megatron's sister! She and Megatron were created at slightly different times yet they're related! She had a way better life than him though (Her parental figure was Termagax btw), and she never met him until she headed to Earth for a "pit stop" to refill her ship with a supply of energon and other things and stumbled across The Nemesis. She's way more outgoing and energetic than Megatron, and she's tough but friendly. She's leader of a small group of bots who left Cybertron during the war, her second in command being Slipstream!

Next one is Slipstream! (Not official design, I'm changing it up a bit)

Slipstream is actually Starscream's sister! Born at different times though just like Megaempress. She's second in command to Megaenmpress and she's a tough cookie. She and Windblade had some past together but she's moved on. She may be small but she can put up a fight!

Next up is Arachnid! (I made this design a long time ago, I may tweak it around a bit)

(I may combine arachnid and arachnia into one), she's a decepticon since she had no choice but to follow them when she was rescued. She was actually a scientist, but not a good one. She experimented on other cybertronians, to see how future generations could be upgraded. One of her subjects was Blitzwing, where she was trying to upgrade the t-cogs and other parts needed for a transformation so that Cybertronians could change into more than one thing. Blitzwing was her first test for this, and it didn't end so well, he couldn't control the transformations and he was just suffering in general. But after a few more tests on other cybertronians, she was successful. Now most of the young bots can transform into more than one thing because of her.

Next up is Arcee!

A smart bot, she was destined to do great things before the war, but she followed her "heart" instead. She and Skywarp were together for a while and she was happy, but their first official date, was also the day she could've been been accepted into the academy of her dreams. She loved Skywarp so much that she let go of her dream for him, but he never showed up. After that night, she promised that she would never love anyone again.

Next up is Thrust!

Underestimated by her brothers, Ramjet and Dirge, she was abandoned inside an abandoned factory when she was just created. Luckily, Shockwave found her in time before the whole building burned down. She always works her hardest to prove to her brothers that she's just as strong as them.

Next up is Smokescreen!

She's a smart bot! She's one of Hot Rod's closest friends and very close to Optimus. Optimus wanted to give the matrix to her after him, but the matrix didn't choose her, it chose Hot Rod instead. (She goes by any pronouns technically)

Next up is Termagax! (I made this design a while ago, I may change it up a bit)

She was Megaempress's mentor and mother figure!

There's some more, like Cyrak, Windblade, Red Alert, Flamewar, Chromia, Shadow striker, Miko, Nova Storm, Nacelle, etc.

[tacagen]

rating thawne's deaths on a 10 point scale

snapped neck: 6/10. ok. not good, not bad, well-deserved, timeless, impactful. i love the way thawne is still complaining about that one though.

flashpoint: 9/10. imagine becoming a living paradox and proceeding to rant about how your speedster nemesis cant hurt you now (very normal way to put it btw.) only to be pierced by a fucking sword. dumb and classic, all good here.

the button: 100/10 THE DUMBEST DEATH OF THEM ALL AND MY ALL TIME FAVORITE. also a classic, imagine being told multiple times that youre going to die and fucking carry on like youre the Smartest here and nothing could ever happen to you and actually ima adopt you barry. thawne's character at its finest.

running scared: 8/10. not bad. ironic last words and 'on my life i swear' about the promise he intended to break all along. once again, dead because he couldnt shut the fuck up and look around him. iris, my beautiful tired of thawne's shit queen, I STAN.

the flash cw season 1: 5/10. dont remember it much asides from being totally pointless as it has 0 effect on thawne's existence further and our beloved Genius of Time Travel, who can Calculate Every Single Timeline Consequence To His Actions revealing his fucking name to his ancestor and bullying him into murder by suicide.

legends of tomorrow season 2: 10/10. love this one. top 10 reverse-flash moments. my dude got together like 15 other versions of himself for each to do practically fucking nothing other than to group pose and die. an honorable mention: poor black flash who got called a monster just for trying to do his timeline protection job and who endured all of thawne's shit only for it to turn out completely pointless as well. then again if you think about it, everything that happens in cw is pointless.

the flash cw season 6: 2/10. does that even count as a death. makes zero fucking sense. 2 points only for thawne being a total loser and resembling negaduck's 'crisis on infinite darkwings' death.

suicude squad: hell to pay: 10/10. i gave this 10 points already just for his last words 'fuck my life'. again, DOESNT KNOW HOW TO SHUT THE FUCK UP WHICH GETS HIM KILLED. thawne believing in the afterlife in the first place feels out of character to me though.

finish line: 0/10. it was very hard to waste a character like that without even realising it AFTER WRITING HIM WITH SUCH A DEEP UNDERSTANDING BEFORE but you've done it, williamson ⭐

legends of tomorrow season 7: 7/10. very balanced death, little bit of thawne having zero fucking braincells, little bit of meaning. not even complaining about the concept, silly little domesticated rat doing his silly little job of preserving the timeline. i approve.

jurassic league: 10/10. first i suggest we just stop and think for a moment about the fact that we got a DINOSAUR THAWNE in a list of deaths. second THIS PREHISTORIC DUMPLING GOT FUCKING EATEN. third insert an extinction pun. perfect understanding of thawne being a fucking joke of a character and meme potential.

flashpoint beyond: 12/10. did NOTHING in the plot. meant NOTHING for the plot. just spawned as a corpse and looked pretty in the morgue (10 points already purely for The Page) and i respect that. 1 more point for the button encore and another to martha wayne. thank you for your service queen, we'll never forget your impact on this one.

knight terrors: the flash: 8/10. this mf lasted exactly 3 pages. neat but a bit sad if you think about it. not only got killed unprovokedly but his prescious museum he just tried to protect got damaged as well. didnt even get to finish neither the tour or his point about barry not being able to wake up (again, only tried to help in a way by that?). also i like the way he's once again a creation of barry's subconsciousness acting suspiciously fruity.

[ojamayellow]

Big infodump on one of my Transformers OC's.

This is about my skystar fankid, Scatterwing. EXCEPT, this is an AU version of him for my original Transformers fanstory/universe.

More under the cut. Very word heavy. Apologies for no pictures, yet.

Unfortunately, I don't have my Starscream and Skyfire designs. However, while Starscream retains most of her iconic colours, Skyfire is purple, black and green, like Shattered Glass. I am also unsure if I wanna use Skyfire or Jetfire as her name, but for reasons, she is Skyfire here. She and Starscream are both ladies.

Basically, Starscream stole these abandoned protoforms and wanted to make an army out of them. Skyfire was like "WTF" and their relationship was getting rocky already but experimenting on protoforms is way too far! She fought her wife and essentially divorce happens.

Skyfire takes the protoforms and travels to Planet Athenia for a safe haven for them, (btw the story is already on Earth so Skyfire traveled quite far on her own), hoping they can grow to be who they want to be, instead of forced soldiers. Starscream however, managed to keep one protoform. The Nemesis had Shockwave in 'stasis lock', so STSC snuck in and stole what Shockwave had been collecting, the robot equivalent of DNA of many Transformers.

Very sus, but Starscream just needed 'hers' and Skyfires. She was NOT over that divorce. She also does all this behind Megatron's back. So, she modified the protoform with the 'DNA' (data?) and essentially activated it early.

This became Scatterwing! He turns into a jet like STSC, but his colours are like magenta/maron-ish. Scatterwing though, is like... a teenager, maturity wise. He wants to play with tuoys. But no, Starscream is going to mold him into a warrior, and if anything was to happen to STSC, Scatterwing was to take her place. He is Starscream's heir.

I stole honoured Armada!STSC here by giving Scatterwing wing swords, so his wings can be de-tached and used as swords. He basically goes through training daily with Starscream, in a cave somewhere on Earth. Scatterwing is to never leave without permission, etc etc. Scatterwing must only call STSC "Commander". Eventually though, STSC gets a bit too attached to Wingy, but wants to deny it in her spark. That's right, Starscream mother.

Wingy though, once escaped out of curiousity and met Airazor and learned a bit about the outside world. Should note that Scatterwing doesn't have a Decepticon logo yet. Also during one point, makes a passing by with Skyfire, and both of their sparks feel, weird? As if they're connected. I'm abridging these scenes greatly but they're important for Scatters.

Eventually, the secret is out (sorta) about Scatterwing because Starscream's Seekers, Thundercracker and Skywarp found Wingy and they keep it a secret but kinda become like, weird aunt and uncle to Wingy. (For reference, Skywarp is a prankster gossip internet troll type, she/her. Thundercracker is Soundwave's ex... bandmate and plays rock n roll. He/him).

Wingy becomes more happy and such and it makes STSC smile? But STSC is reminded that Scatterwing is to be a warrior and starts being more harsh towards him, a Decepticon cannot be soft after all. At one point, STSC gets fed up and almost hits Scatterwing, but stops herself, as she's reminded of how Megatron treats her, and does not want to end up like him.

BUT AT ONE POINT Scatterwing accidentally calls STSC 'Mother' instead of 'Commander' and STSC is in shock! But eventually she just... hugs Wingy and goes "that's my boy."

So, at one point, big Autobot vs Decepticon fight, Skyfire is there so STSC is fuckin pissed going all out etc. But Scatterwing shows up without permission and is worried about his mother. In the midst of their fight, Wingy ends up in the middle to protect STSC, but gets damaged. Skyfire is shocked, he didn't want to hurt this child that came out of nowhere. But because Wingy is KO'd, STSC kinda loses it Dark Sonic X style, or a frenzied state where she is mindlessly attacking everyone with such power once hidden before. The power of a mother.

Anyway, after med bay stuff post-battle, Scatterwing believes he's not good enough to protect mother. So, he decides to harden himself up. No more playing games, he HAS to be tougher. it's what Mother wanted, right?

But the truth is, Starscream wanted Wingy to have more freedom, now that she had character development. But Wingy is so deadset on being stronger now, and he's losing his joy and whimsy.

[l-ii-zz]

u are correct about the age thing. it depends which source(s) u use. I think the show bible calls him a kid (but iirc it also says Dib's exact age and last name should never be given and yet we have both in Enter the Florpus), but if u go by lost/unmade eps, iirc the Trial shows that irkens are smeets until they are 10 and then they are adults (and they aren't human so saying "but in human years!" is ridic imo. we don't say "but it human years that would be..." except for our domestic animals, and even then not every person does THAT). if u take Word of God, Jhonen has said Zim is an adult so many times idk why ppl think he's STILL just having a laugh. he's said it's bc he thinks it's funny that a grown ass man would count a Literal Child as his nemesis, and cites the Dennis the Menace comic series. but if u take ONLY what is on screen then it's a mystery and up to interpretation. it's just sort of *shrug emoji*.

The show bible (made by JV btw) calls him a kid, yeah. There's one section of an old magazine talking about the series and describing Zim as a kid too.

Honestly there are a bunch of things that have been told about the IZ universe that doesn't even make sense now. Like yeah, Dib's last name and age, another example would be about the Tallest and the cut thumbs and how this was entirely forgotten/discarded for their new design for the movie.

I also agree with you about the possibility that human and irken age concept could be different from one to the other. We're talking about aliens anyway. Alien society with alien customs and alien ideals and alien culture and alien environment etc etc etc. Who knows? maybe planet Irk rotates/revolves faster that Earth's and by that it would mean that an irken year is way shorter than an earthling year. Nothing in the series can confirm that, yeah, but you cannot either deny that it's a possibility. Hell, even irkens can have another extremely different perspective about maturity

Like, the show itself is so ambiguous about these themes that I don't even understand why people are so stubborn to gatekeep one single concept as the entire truth, even if the show is a whole pile of nonsense that doesn't even try to take itself seriously.

"But JV said this" yeah.... and? not everyone support the "Word of God" thingy. If the final product doesn't give you a clear answer then you are on your right to have different interpretations. Not to mention that the creator is not the only one developing the concepts of a show. There's a whole team behind the show, and behind the team there are different perspectives.

I'll give you one example with another fandom: Cuphead! when fans were speculating about the age of the cupbros (and this was looong before the dlc and animated show's announcement) they asked Studio MDHR (the creators) if the bros were kids or adults. They replied saying that they were "kidults" (adults with childish tastes). But then, another person asked the same question to the writer of Cuphead, and he answered that they were teens! So, in this case, is one answer more valid than the other? I don't think so, 'cause both parts worked for the final product. This is one of the reasons why I don't truly take "Word of God" seriously.

Also, and this is just my opinion btw, even if Zim is a straight up adult, he can still be interpreted as a kid. Because well... he dresses up as a kid, he goes to school, he interacts with other kids, his nemesis is another kid, he has robo parents, he's small like a kid, he behaves like a kid, he sounds like a kid... (WITH ALL THIS ONLY REFERRING TO IZ'S UNIVERSE, I'M NOT SAYING THIS ALSO APPEALS THE REAL WORLD)

"Yeah, but visualizing Zim as a kid triggers me" that's valid, but have you ever thought that other people can also feel triggered by visualizing Zim as adult? Because well.. some people can feel uncomfortable with the thought of a straight up adult fighting a kid and pretending to be one, even if it's just comedy.

Can't we all.. stop gatekeeping and let everyone interpret fiction however the heck we want without pointing each other and talking shit to each other? I know it's too much to ask, but wouldn't be nice to respect the fact that no one will think the same way you do? (NOT SPECICALLY TO YOU ANON, ALL QUESTIONS ARE RETORIC, LOL).

It's just so absurd to me, we're talking about fiction. Why are we fighting for the age of a character that doesn't even exist? We're going coconuts.

It's more fun to create headcanons and aus, I prefer doing that instead of fighting nonsense.

As you said, dear anon: *Shrug emoji*

[oldmanenjoyer]

Hiya! Don't know if you're OK with writing for Sugary Spire, but can you write Pizzano x Fem!reader who works at Pizzelle's shop and they secretly have been mutually pining for eachother? And one day Pizzano spots the reader taking out the trash behind the shop or smth, and Pizzano pins them to the wall and tries to rizz them up, only to mess up and become a flustered mess cause of how much he loves the reader? It's fine if you're not comfortable writing for SS btw <3

Pizzano is not an uncommon sight. You know he and Pizzelle have some sort of rivalry, though from how Pizzelle acts it seems more one-sided on Pizzano's part. But you roll with it, sweeping away the bombs Pizzano throws and making sure you only offer the weirdest, most disgusting flavors you've gotten in the shop as free samples whenever the man gets too high on his own horse.

To be fair, the two of you have more of a rivalry than him and Pizzelle. Pizzano is quick to shift his attention to you whenever you appear, taunting and teasing you, and growing either excited or flustered whenever you throw it right back at him. He makes life lively in the parlor, and you know Pizzelle doesn't mind getting a break from her "arch nemesis."

So, when one day you're throwing out the trash at the back of the shop, you're not surprised to be suddenly pinned by Pizzano. His eyes are bright and dance with mischief, a delighted laugh springing from his throat as you fight him back. The two of you wrestle about, but soon enough he has you pinned again.

"Ciao, signorina!" He drawls, smirking. "Come here often?"

You blink, a little thrown off. Is he. . . flirting?

"Pizzano, I work here."

Pizzano freezes, and you can almost hear the sound of glass shattering. His face blossoms with red where the mask doesn't cover it, and he starts to stammer in Italian and English both, something about being stupid and of course he knows that, he was trying to throw you off, it was a test, and-

"Pizzano," you call, stopping his rambling, "you're blushing."

"Am not!" He snaps immediately. But he does back away to cover his cheeks with his hands. "You're blushing!"

You can't deny the soft warmth of your own cheeks as you laugh at him. "Not like you are, though! You look like a tomato, pizza boy!"

Pizzano shouts something you can't make out before tackling you again. Cackling, you fight right back, and hope this rivalry never goes away, even when you finally do ask him on a date later.

[nitunio]

i pretty much know ur ryou thoughts so hmm. touma, banri, and torao (for the bingo)

THANQ FOR THE ASK... im not good at thought articulation but 👍 incoherency is the key

As for Touma...

He has been my ultimate ZOOL fave ever since they were shown together as a group (even though he was nice to my nemesis Riku) . He's adorable in all the senses you could imagine this word in, but most importantly, I care about him a lot. He's honest and shows his feelings and sure, the moments when he is are shown as silly sometimes, but there is a lot about his internal struggles, (CRYING OVER HIS ARC). Him helping Re:vale in pt3? Amazing. Guy got a lot of guts

Toraaaaooo

I HATE HIM (affectionate). HE IS GENDER, I FUCK WITH HIS AESTHETIC SO HARD, HIS CARD ART IS NEVER A MISS, HE MAKES ME SO ILL (lighthearted). Of ZOOLs he and Minami share the "second fave" place, and I used to hate him (enraged) so much after what he's done especially in relation to Ryuu. But in the part 3 already you can see some of the Very subtle cracks that let you peek inside the kind of core values and mindset he has. I'm really glad they've fleshed out his character this much, and the issues he's working on are. Wow. I would have wanted to give him a pat on the shoulder in reassurance IF IT WASN'T FOR HIS DAMN SINGLE. "DUSTYYY LOVE", and i need to prefix it with a big "I LOVE THE SEIYUUS RANGE AND VOCALS AND VOICE", RUINED MY LIFE. ever since ive heard it i could NOT for the life of me stop whatever vocal repetition it's called and randomly start singing the chorus of this damn song in the weirdest voices imaginable to try to recreate the absolutely phenomenal vocals DUSTYYY LOOOUVE I WANNA KISSE YOU. eevery time im in the voice chat i hold myself back from the song thats spinning in my head. Torao you need to get bullied more (lovingly) but also people cam be mean about you (rightfully so, for serving so much)

Banri!

I'm putting him in a salad spinner. I have a version of Banri that's in my head and it only serves my angst fantasies, but I haven't really got much to say about him. I really care about him as a character, and from pt1 he's been. So good. And then bam. Light fixture! I CRIED LIKE HELL. I got chills when Ryou was near him I thought it could go to a 100 real quick (and it only got to about 50, wjat a cute ponytail (i agree btw))

I love him as a MEZZO manager, I love him as the guy that denies Yuki which is the funniest part of their dynamic. I loveeeee him as a dilf lover that's good for him. I also love how kind he is to Momo. To me personally he is the Supporting Character Ever

[sioster]

im so sleep deprived,,, but i also interested on the chapter 5 cuz you keep ref to them,,,,, i have a very grabby hands,,, gimme gimme, throw it to my face >which part of that au you personally like? and do you have their designs in mind?

NOOO FINDJNFEVBYFBGF why am I like this and have the urge to reference my stuff 24/7 </3 so sorry ahgnjht ):

not me looking thru all of my school notebooks, workbooks and studentbooks looking for the designs 😭 this is what being addicted to drawing does to a girl instead of drawing only in a single sketchbook </3

very readable summary of the story: (oopsies a bit of blood spilled 'ere)

>wil the hero accidentally blows himself up during a fight (villian dt vs hero sbi minus tommy) (L)

>a civillian (drem) scrapes him off the pavement and tries nursing him back to an okayish state, no bonding here

>dumbass wil leaves the civillian's flat (he's barely walking- dear starclan he's literally breaking down from pain ,,GO BACKKK,, STOP RUNNING OUTSIDE)

>wil meets the villian that he sees as his arch nemesis (dream). Wil initates the fight because he was not very stable at that moment, dream on the other hand sticks to defensive moves since he doesn't want to open up wil's old wounds. Dream slips and cracks open his head like an egg- dream's civillian identity is revealed, wil is torn on what to do, in the end he takes dream back to dream's flat (hes not about to share his addres if he even has one)

-the roles have been reversed, its now wil that has to take care of delirious dream, they finally start to bond. So far the things I have here are just '...sickfic typical stuff again </3' and a comfort after nightmare scene that is important to the growth of their relationship (dream has a nightmare about the time he slipped and wil was practically just yelling and watching him choke on his own blood. in the nightmare however, wil never unmask him so he can breathe- dream chokes, literally drowns in his blood as that face hidden behind bandages watches him. When dream wakes up, wil comforts him and takes off his face bandages by himself for the first time to show that dream no longer asleep and he means the words that he calmed dream with)

-yeah after that i dont really have anything more than just fluff, also yeah at that point wil officialy moves in- it's not like he already was practically living there for the past few months. If this ends up as a fic I'd say to end it here for an open gate if I ever write a sequeal, but fr real I just don't have anything more planned yet lol

Goger- freezes time for short periods of time, long bow

Hero/Villain powers and weapons so far:

Snapneck- fire bending stuff. whatdidya expect </3, fists

Dream- believed by everyone to have super stamina, actually shapeshifter (only dt knows), axe

(there are 2 other heroes (not dsmp) made if I would ever need em in the bg, plus 2 crack antiheroes)

Phil- vampire but instead of bats it's crows (not sure if the blood aspect will stay), a saber

Techno- superstrenght, probably a long sword or a crossbow with some kind of thing allowing for close combat

Tommy (hero apprentice)- electricity, so far doesn't know how to really use it, small daggers

Wilbur- nothing and hes sad about it ): , any kind of explosives (still needs a close range weapon tho..)

So far I only have aliases/hero&villain names for dream (civilian Dream, supervillain Zmora) and wil (civilian Wilbur, superhero Muza)

.... yeah I had to use polish words for them ( : (zmora = mare, muza = muse)

I call this piece "your hands are so close dudes just hold them"

fullbody designs with ugly face bandages since I didn't know what I was doing yet back then... btw ye wil lost a chunk of his right hand to the explosion oopsies 🤗😊

finally good looking c5!wil's face bandages 😭 also bonus at!ratza i guees xD

Oh and a favourite moment... I have a difficulty choosing between the confrontation resulting in cracked egg and the after-nightmare comfort sokbpbsbb0a both of these moments have so much of character in them (not really shown here but man,, this ask answer is already super long) so much of insight on what's going on in their brains nlvlmfmpdpdppkf

[felikatze]

Ooo how was Silver Snow? Still have to play that one :0

okay so context is i started silver snow like. YEARS ago. two years, probably. got 3h burnout. only started playing it again for [extremely secret reasons i will reveal hopefully on the 27th otherwise please do strike me down. anyway.]

which means i played the back half of silver snow's part 2 with like, NO memory of what a slog part 1 was to replay. that is to say, with part 1 done by some... mysterious other being, who was me, once upon a time, it was great!

a lot of moments that were meant to be serious were just. so silly though. but i am NOT the first to say this. like. the magic missles. what else. hubert's posthumous "hey btw u still gotta kill these guys lol."

it's like this game FOR SURE needed another year in the oven cuz the ASSPULLS dear god. like. seteth knows the slitherers exist. at the very least, he knows that there are people who supported nemesis. so could he. i dunno. investigate those guys himself. esp when rhea actually comes back and the two start chatting w flayn and talk abt all this slitherer stuff it's INTERESTING that maybe they could unravel the mystery behind the greatest tragedy to befall them!!

that like, maybe seteth and rhea can find some closure in catching those who killed their family!! that'd be like, COOL, wouldn't it, if seteth, as deuteragonist of silver snow, and the whole church crew, could've, like, sensed that something is Off abt the imperial army, and. yknow. not. had hubert tell them.

WHATEVER. IT'S WHATEVER

i generally LIKED part 2 outside of the Magic Missle Cutscene which just made me laugh so fucking bad. i gotta admit rhea's last speech to byleth actually nearly made me cry cuz it just lays rhea bare and actually shows growth on her part. like in her captivity she very obviously had time to reflect and she at last sees her mother is never coming back, but, at the very least, all this struggle has brought her byleth, her dear child, and that alone makes it all worth it. she acknowledges byleth for who they are and she is so so proud of them. it made me tear up.

and then it's WAGRGRGRRG RHEA TURNS INTO A MONSTER NOW CUZ FUCK YOU WE NEEDED A FINAL BOSS!!!!!

i think the shadowdropped lore of "yah btw all high ranking church members get some of rhea's blood" is quite frankly REALLY GROSS? obviously it's just there so the final map has additional enemies, and is thus a consequence of the setup for the final boss also being a total asspull.

but it's. gross. for. yknow. "the lizard pope has a secret section of the church where she gives people her blood" is. DO I EVEN NEED TO EXPLAIN HERE???

also this totally dilutes that she saved jeralt's life with her blood because jeralt and rhea's relationship was obviously special and complicated compared to other church members and it gave him a unique perspectice on rhea and that HE had a crest of seiros was LORE IMPORTANT because it meant byleth had a higher chance to actually obtain sothis' power and now you're telling me that like, a whole map's worth of fuckers got the same deal for free? without the emotional baggage? hey, fuck you??

the last cutscene where rhea dies in byleth's arms and she's obviously confused and lost and dying so she calls byleth mother even after her whole speech abt byleth being byleth it. it got to me. that was actually good writing in that one.

gameplay wise it was. hm. well i certainly had fun but the final map was TOO LONG. like u need to take out EVERY white beast which means u need to circle the ENTIRE fucking map before u can even THINK abt fighting rhea. whereas in ch20 i just went "fuck this i'm killing edelgard rn" and then i could and i did.

god BLESS the fucking archer brigade (petra, ashe, and last minute addition underlevelled cyril with that one no crest legendary bow), for being the ABSOLUTE HARD CARRIES on this clusterfuck of a final map. combined they could defeat one white beast per turn with that sweet sweet EFFECTIVE DAMAGE.

i will take ashe to endgame every single fucking time and all tier list makers can eat my dust. does ur meta breaker have lockpick utility. no they dont. ashy-boy best boy i will take no arguments.

also who the fuck needs an actual tank when u have seteth. thanks seteth for insane bulk and rally def.

thank u lysithea for customary dark knight baja blasting. lysithea is always good.

ch21 was fucking Confusing bcuz i didnt know where i was supposed to actually go first and ch20 was "wow this is just the blue lions finale except WAYYYYY easier because edelgard cant snipe me."

other maps i do not remember probably because all of them were also on blue lions. i know the ailel map was and FUCK OFF JUDITH. GO AWAY.

the funniest fucking thing is how silver snow just SKIPS the battle of eagle and lion because you dont have any of the house leaders. it just skips over the dramatic midpoint that existed primarily for All of the marketing. seteth drops in. hi byleth. by the way. dimitir is dead. claude has retreated. the empire has taken heavy losses so we gotta warcrime them right this fucking moment. byleth are you in.

yeah sure thing seteth let's fucking roll. time for a false flag operation. hey what's that weird light in the sky it's -

YE OLDE MAGICAL MISSLE!!!!!

anyway yeah. three houses stays three houses. which is to say. a very mixed bag that under the line leaves me kind of ambivalent these days but i could say "yeah that was fun" again considering i have like. no memory of replaying white clouds outside of "oh yeah edelgard was there."

[kiruuuuu]

I really hope you make more Recruitverse fics one day, because it's honestly a CRIME to leave it on "and that 'we', once again, doesn't Include Jojo." like KIRU PLEASE HOW COULD YOU DO THIS

WELL, @noivoom, you are absolutely correct that I cannot leave my five idiots there! Your ask(s) were actually a large reason why I wrote some more recruitverse a while ago and now I'm finally getting around to posting it 😊 I hope you enjoy it 💝

It's from Shay's POV and also part of my ongoing advent calendar - this is day 5 ❄ (Rating T, chaos as usual with some emotional hurt, ~7.3k words)

.

The message comes out of absolutely nowhere.

Well, kind of. They have been exchanging texts all day, so receiving another one is hardly out of the ordinary, but it’s the content that catches Shay unaware: btw my flatmates are both gone tonite wanna come over?

And oh boy, does he ever. There’s no need for a saucy wink or an aubergine emoji, the intention is a flashing neon sign Shay plans to heed. Admittedly, Jojo’s coaching sensitised him to the topic and the simple rhyme of ‘home alone, she wants to bone’ stuck in his head so well he found himself scribbling it down in his notes absent-mindedly, earning him a stern talking-to by Thatcher of all people (and that’s a conversation he never wants to have again, ta very much), but all this doesn’t matter because it’s finally going to happen. They’re gonna do it. He’s going to get with a girl he really likes.

“I can’t believe it”, Valenti speaks up from the other corner of the locker room. Shay’s mind is so filled with everything Brittany-related that he instantly assumes everyone must be sharing his excitement and blurts out a thrilled: “I know, isn’t it amazing?!”

Three aghast faces turn in his direction, while Gian’s eyes are glued to the floor. They don’t look like they’re talking about Brit at all, oddly enough.

“Shay, shut up”, hisses Jojo – which, fine, he’s been holding a grudge over something Shay must’ve done a while ago as he genuinely can’t remember what it is, so his dismissive attitude comes as no surprise, but Ivan merely shaking his head in disapproval clues him in. Something bad has happened.

Hopefully not so bad that it cockblocks him. He quickly taps an enthusiastic reply before joining the others with an appropriately grim expression. “Can we do anything about it?”, he wants to know, because he’s first and foremost interested in a solution. A solution means he can leave early, and leaving early means he’ll get to see Brit sooner, and seeing her sooner means -

“You don’t know what is problem”, Ivan states, and of course he’s right.

The only one who takes pity on him is Gian, even paler than usual: “Through a series of unfortunate events, Jagriwo came into possession of my notebook.”

“Who?”

“You’ve really lived under a fucking rock this past month, haven’t you”, Jojo snipes at him again with more vitriol than Shay is used to, “I’ve been barred from saying ‘Jacob Griffin-Worthington’ all the time, so we’re calling him Jagriwo now. A name just as unintelligible as the asshole himself.”

“Ah, alright”, Shay nods, since it makes perfect sense, and only then does it hit him with the full force of a lorry: their self-declared nemesis somehow stole the very book holding all of Gian’s most intimate thoughts – or so Shay assumes. He’s never actually read a single line from it as he supposes it’s like a diary, personal and private. Valenti once reported accidentally skimming over a page and not understanding a thing, so it might be written in code, who knows. In any case, this is bad news. “This is bad news”, he states for everyone else’s benefit.

“We’re past the stage of shock and impotent rage already”, Valenti waves him aside, “it’s time for a plan. How do we get it back? Ideally before the prick reads it?”

“It is possible he remains unaware of the confused bags”, Gian replies with vague hope, “he and I carry the same make. Has he not yet unpacked his, we might -”

Just then, an eerie sing-song reaches their ears in the distance, uttered by an uncomfortably familiar voice: “Hey mo-rons! Come look what I ha-ave!”

They grimace in unison. There’s little better at uniting them than a common enemy, and the annoying wanker facilitates it immensely. “Guess that answers the question”, Valenti speaks what they all think. “Let’s go see what he wants.”

.

“Aren’t you guys a sight for sore eyes, thank you for turning up so obediently”, Jacob Griffin-Worthington drawls in an overdone posh accent, probably thinking it makes him sound cool. Their two groups are opposite each other in the already cramped changing room now, Jacob’s posse having joined them after Jojo willingly communicated their location – there’s four other henchpeople flanking Jacob left and right, two of which Shay knows a little. He wonders whether Jacob chose to make four friends in total to match them, just in case they’d ever have a dramatic one-on-one fight involving personal vendettas and experts in the same field clashing against each other.

“As I understand, I have a little something you would like back”, their fellow recruit continues and waves the familiar object in front of him, the small leather-bound book they’ve all seen a million times whenever Gian jotted down random thoughts or the events of the day or possibly tomorrow’s weather. It remains a mystery to Shay. “And I’m very interested in hearing what you’re willing to offer me in return.”

“So you’re blackmailing us”, Valenti summarises succinctly.

“Let’s not put it in those terms, this is merely a friendly … exchange, I would say, after all -”

“Are you doing this because you’re jealous that we’re actual friends?”, Shay blurts out and experiences a satisfying touch of vindication when their collective nemesis falters.

“Uh, no, I’m just -” And before he can regain his composure, Ivan Ivanovic has stepped forward and snatched the notebook out of his hand.

The ten of them stare at each other for a long moment. Ivan hands the book to Gian, who immediately shoves it into his pocket. Jojo performs a very rude gesture with both hands, reciprocating Shay’s grin once he notices it.

“Don’t think I didn’t take any photos!”, Jacob threatens with the pathos of a small child.

“Break his phone, too, Ivanko.”

“I do not like to destroy private property.”

“Oh, since when do you Reds care about that?”

Jagriwo’s comment earns him a dark look. “I do not extend same courtesy to noses.”

“What do you even want?”, Gian tries to move the conversation along. “What do we possess that you desire?”

This time, the others shift and exchange quick glances, the lone girl speaking up in Jacob’s stead: “You got into South Carolina. We want it.”

Oh.

Yeah, fair enough, Shay gets it – there’s a limited amount of spaces for the special training course in SC and Thatcher asked them to apply for it in groups, which explains why Jacob suddenly surrounded himself with these cronies to form a team of five. Until just now, they didn’t even know their nemesis wasn’t selected. No wonder his mood is this rotten. “You can have it, honestly”, Shay replies easily, shrugging; he’s not keen on the camp anyway, it sounds like way too much work.

Instantly, Valenti fixes him with a disbelieving stare. “No he can’t!”

“Didn’t you say it was a kindergarten trip for dummies who haven’t passed Rainbow boot camp yet?”

“But that was before I knew they didn’t get in!”

“I’ll gladly give up our spot”, Jojo agrees. “If they wanna crawl around in the mud for three weeks, let them.”

“They don’t even deserve it. If they weren’t chosen, they shouldn’t go.”

“Excuse me?!”, Jagriwo interjects, incensed, “You guys have been licking Thatcher’s and Sledge’s boots, which is the only reason you got accepted and we didn’t!”

“Allow me to correct”, Gian joins in as well now, “we lost a wager and involuntarily tended to their every need as a result. It was far from an attempt to ingratiate ourselves.”

“We betted that Valenti could go week without arguing during training”, Ivan adds with a side glance towards the very same.

“Hey, I tried to let it go, but that simply wasn’t how boules is played, you don’t try to hit your opponent in the head with -”

“This is why we lost bet”, Ivan interrupts the angry Frenchman, indicating him in his entirety. Which only fuels his anger.

“You know, this isn’t the time, but let me educate you on the sports of my people. It’s a long-standing tradition and I’ve played it with my sisters on every single one of our -”

“Just take our spot and we’re even”, Jojo addresses the slightly lost-looking recruits opposite them and Shay is all for it – the faster they get this resolved, the earlier he can ditch everyone.

“They don’t deserve it!”

“Do we not?” Jacob is genuinely miffed now. “How about a competition, huh? We’ll figure out which group is better at their jobs, and the winner gets to go to SC. If you win, I’ll delete the photos. If we win, we’ll get to do what we want with Giovanni’s notebook. And trust me, I’ve found things in there some of you would prefer to remain secret.”

Oh no. He hit Valenti right in the competitiveness, there’s no way he’ll let this go. They exchange a few glances, the upset Frenchman predictably determined, Ivan curious and Gian fatalistic. That’s two in favour already, and Jojo suddenly seems to have changed his mind and doesn’t look willing to concede anything anymore either. Odd. Normally, Shay would be on his side and ready to fight these tossers in a heartbeat, but today…

“I’m kinda busy”, he mutters apologetically, sparking an outraged expression on at least two of his friends’ faces.

“This is our chance to outdo these self-important wankers!”, Valenti hisses.

“You know we can still hear you, right?”

“Fine. Let’s do competition”, Ivan agrees on their behalf and with that, their fate is sealed.

.

“This is all my fault”, Gian sighs into their midst as they’re huddled together for warmth next to the running track. Winter is in full swing and while they’re not blessed with any more snow, the icy temperatures make for a poor substitute.

“Doesn’t matter, we need to talk strategy now”, Valenti shoots back. “What do we know about them?”

They’ve decided on five disciplines embodying skills all operators are expected to excel in, though Jacob invented a few extra rules: the teams can choose each other’s champion and nobody can be picked twice. Shay very much suspects that each team is secretly relieved about that last rule as they both have a weakest link.

… though he’s not entirely sure which one is theirs. Ivan Ivanovic surpasses them in nearly everything, Valenti comes very very close, Jojo is a skilled shooter, fighter and amazing with electronics, and Gian is just a jack of all trades, really. So Shay can’t really pick who’s worst.

“I don’t even know who the fuck they are.” Jojo is eyeing their opponents critically. “I know Jagriwo, but the rest?”

“The thin bloke with the full beard is Whip”, Shay offers his limited knowledge. “We got accepted at the same time and he’s alright unless you’re up against him, then he’s scary. I wouldn’t go with him for this.”

“How about the Asian? She is tiny”, Ivan suggests to which Gian shakes his head emphatically.

“I have had the misfortune of sparring with her in the past and though her physique is not the most imposing, she makes up for it in ferocity. I would only wish her on my worst enemy.”

“Jagriwo is a beast and that one dude is way too tall”, Valenti decides, “so it’ll have to be the Spanish guy. What’s his name again?”

“Maradona.” Since Shay has loosely hung out with most of the other recruits, he remembers some names here and there. “He’s Spanish, called Diego and a football fanatic, they had to give him that nickname.”

“Maradona it is then.” They shrug, unsure of what to expect, and turn to their adversaries to announce their choice.

“Your funeral”, Jacob Griffin-Worthington grins. “We’ll nominate Rogers.”

“Looks like they haven’t seen me fight”, Shay comments as Gian sighs and prepares to actually throw hands for his diary – Shay fancies himself the worst hand-to-hand combatant in all of the SAS and wears that title with pride. It’s not easy to stand out in their organisation.

“Darling, everyone has seen you fight. Mostly because you make the weirdest noises when trying to punch someone, so you draw a lot of attention.”

Jojo and he exchange a quick smile that warms his heart despite the biting air invading their lungs. The whole situation has an absurd aura, he’s pretty sure Jagriwo cares about this way too much and will probably harp on about their defeat forever (in case they lose, which doesn’t seem that unlikely), but for the first time in months, if not years, Shay is too disconnected from their shenanigans to bring himself to get into it. His thoughts are with Brit as are his priorities, and so he hopes all this will be over soon.

That said, Gian and his opponent have only just entered the ring they drew in the half-frozen mud, getting into position. The first challenge is about strength as much as it is about technique: leave the ring or fall to the ground, you’re out. A clever grip could mean victory just like a hard shove would, and the champions are of similar build and height, granting no obvious advantage. Gian blocks the kick aimed at his thigh and is, in turn, hindered himself before the two circle each other, cheered on by their respective teams. When next they lock arms, Shay realises this could take a while.

“Did you forget to get rid of your venomous snake?”, Shay asks when he spots Dante’s head poking out of Gian’s sleeve, likely wondering what the fuss is about and being confronted with a close-up of Maradona’s face.

The Spaniard no doubt catches sight of the snake and lets out an unmanly shriek followed by a defensive jump backwards – right outside the assigned ring.

Total silence for a few seconds. Nobody seems sure how to react, Jagriwo’s expression is utterly dumbfounded and his team isn’t faring any better.

“Let’s get a move on then, lads.” And before anyone can even think about complaining, Shay turns and strides away. He’s got places to be.

.

“Alright. The second challenge is all about technology. We may use it every day, but do you actually understand the devices you’re using?” Jacob Griffin-Worthington is probably going for a tension-building game show host of some sort though it’s obvious he’s shaken up by Gian’s near-instant victory half an hour ago. His group is falling apart, the only woman not even listening to him anymore and instead texting incessantly, Maradona and Whip still arguing quietly in the background – only the Swiss recruit whose name still eludes Shay is reticent as always, staring them down with a scowl surpassing even Valenti’s on a bad day.

“Just tell us what to do”, sighs the very same, visibly done with Jagriwo’s theatrics.

“No time for a little pizazz, hm?”

“Not when you’re basically blackmailing us into this, no.”

“Whatever.” Like a professional bully, the Englishman ignores the accusations and sets a laptop onto the table between them. They’ve relocated to the canteen, accepting the risk of getting spotted – not that they’re doing anything illicit, but if they ran across Thatcher he’d surely find a way of making them do work regardless of what it is they’re currently up to. “This belongs to Blitz. Don’t ask how I got it, I have my ways.” He wiggles his eyebrows and absolutely nobody is impressed. Everyone knows Blitz forgets his stuff everywhere all the time. “Whoever is chosen as champion has to crack the password and access the laptop under Blitz’ own account.”

“Why would we need to know how to do that?”, Valenti complains, not noticing how Jagriwo’s brows rise at the indignation in his voice.

“Guess we’ve already found our champion.”

Shay is just happy he doesn’t have to do this or else he’d probably end up disappointing Jojo even more. There’s something going on with him, their interactions don’t come as natural as they used to and Shay is convinced it’s his own fault. Because he can’t imagine Jojo doing anything wrong.

“Who should we elect?”, Gian mutters after they’ve withdrawn into their private circle. He’s livelier now, owed most likely to the fact that he won his round. “Jagriwo himself seems too knowledgeable and besides, I presume his real weaknesses lie elsewhere. I can only assume Whip acquired his soubriquet from the idiom ‘sharp as a whip’, therefore I would rule him out also.”

“How about woman now? She might be physically gifted, but electronics?”

As if on cue, they all turn around to stare at the Asian-American who looks thoroughly done with the incessantly whining and gesticulating Maradona. She seemed to have made the mistake of advising him to drop the subject, which he took personally and is now chewing her ear off while she stares at her phone screen even more pointedly. When Whip nudges her, she glances up, realises her opponents are looking at her, and the slight panic in her expression gives her away.

“I’m in favour”, Jojo mutters. “If only to get her away from that annoying blabbermouth. Nobody deserves that.”

“We’re choosing her”, Valenti announces, to which the short woman grimaces. “Okay, so how do we do this?”

“You each get increments of half an hour during which you can do whatever you want with the laptop. If you don’t manage to get into it, it’ll be passed over to the other person. Only your time counts: whoever does it fastest by their own time wins.”

“Are we allowed to talk?”, Jojo wants to know innocently.

“Sure, whatever. You can go first if you want.”

Shay’s best friend nods at Valenti. “Go for it. I’ll talk you through it.” And before Jacob Griffin-Worthington can object, Jojo has already pulled up the instructions on his phone and started guiding Valenti on what to do.

Well. Looks like they have it covered. Gian and Ivanko seem intent on listening and learning, but Shay has no mental capacity for a proper lecture today, so he wanders a little until Whip joins him and the two of them catch up on what’s been happening in their lives recently. Idly, they watch as Maradona throws another tantrum about how what Jojo is doing is cheating while Jagriwo tries unsuccessfully to argue with Ivan Ivanovic that Maradona is right (and he might as well have started a discussion with a brick wall, there’s no reasoning with the Russian if he does not want to be reasoned with).

Eventually, the opposing champion takes a seat next to Shay and eyes him curiously. “What’s your name again?”

“I’m Shay, howya. What’s yours?”

“Anna.” She looks up briefly to frown in the direction of the very loud, very oblivious group of fellow recruits. “This whole thing is stupid, isn’t it.”

“Yep.” Shay catches a glimpse of the brightly-coloured screen in her hands and adds: “Oh, I have that game. Wanna play a round together?”

“Yeah, alright. Whip, wanna join?”

And so the three of them spend about twenty-six minutes peacefully murdering waves of zombies while Valenti nearly starts crying from the pressure. Shay would feel bad for him, but really, it’s his own fault. Ultimately.

“Think it’s my turn”, Anna sighs when her leader barks her name in disbelief, immediately berating her when she joins their bubble again about ‘consorting with the enemy’ and ‘failing to prepare’ as well as ‘sabotaging the only people who care about her’ or something similarly ludicrous, to which she simply replies: “Shut up. I got this.” And with that, she marches right out of the canteen. Leaving behind a dumbstruck Jagriwo, a still expressionless Swiss bloke and a furious Spaniard.

“She’s nice”, Shay comments, to which Whip nods.

“Yeah. No idea why she hangs around with us.”

Jojo and Valenti are still celebrating when Shay joins up with them again, both of them looking like they just ran a marathon. “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever done”, Valenti beams, “and I never wanna do it again. But Shay, did you see, I was like a hacker in the films, all focused and cool and -”

“Is she… coming back?”, Gian wonders quietly as Valenti continues bubbling over in excitement.

About five minutes later, Anna does indeed come back. She makes a beeline for the laptop, types something in, presses enter and presents a now unlocked laptop to everyone.

Suddenly, Valenti and Jojo look like they’re going to lose their minds.

“I asked Jäger”, she shrugs. “Told him Blitz forgot his password again and sent me to get it. No lie, the IT security in here stinks.”

For a moment, it seems like Jacob Griffin-Worthington is about to propose to her, until Ivanko decides to poke the bear again and asks: “Is that cheating?”

Maradona bitches the entire way to the shooting range and Shay admires him for his lung capacity.

.

The following challenge passes by quickly and rather uneventfully: sharpshooting is the required skill, so Shay advises them to pick Whip for this as he knows the Welshman is notoriously bad at it. Their adversaries choose Jojo, not that it matters much as the only one of their group who’s miles ahead would be Valenti while the rest is somewhere close in skill. And though Jojo wins, the two of them end up almost evenly matched, to Shay’s surprise. It might have something to do with the few sentences Jagriwo mutters at Jojo in a voice so low nobody else hears, but when Shay asks about it afterwards, his best friend assures him that it had nothing to do with his bad performance – he claims he was still exhausted from the mental exercise during the previous challenge.

Odd yet again, but Shay doesn’t pry. He does notice Jojo’s hands shaking, however, which happens when he’s under a lot of emotional stress. He wishes he knew what was going on so he could help in any way. The only thing he can do is compliment Jojo’s hair to which the German looks at him like he just sprouted an additional head.

Well. He tried.

.

As soon as it’s obvious where they’re headed, Valenti falls back and surrounds himself with his own group. “Obstacle course”, he speaks what they’re all thinking. “There’s no doubt they’ll pick you, Shay, they have no choice, Ivan holds the record among us recruits. That means if we win this next one, it’s three out of five for us – it’ll be over. Now, I happen to know that Jagriwo’s best time is worse than yours, Shay, so we have a real shot at ending it right here, right now.”

“Of course you would know everybody’s times”, Ivanko comments with a grin, letting out an uncharacteristic chuckle when Valenti jabs him in the side with an elbow. “Do not worry. Even if you do not win, Shay, I will.”

Despite his assurance, Valenti’s words resonate with Shay: he could actually put an end to this madness. That means visiting Brittany sooner, which means -

“Don’t listen to him, darling, you got this. Make me proud.” Jojo’s voice is strained and still he manages a slight smile which is even more motivation. Yeah, Shay will do his best. He’ll win this round and therefore the whole silly game, he’ll get to do the do with his girlfriend, and he’ll make his best friend proud. A win-win-win situation, his favourite.

It’s much too fast from there: as expected, Shay is chosen while they pick Jacob in turn, the two of them get changed and warm up and suddenly, they’re next to each other at the starting line, Shay’s heart pounding in his chest as he considers the consequences of failing. Despite not caring much about the overall contest, now it’s his own skills on the line which doesn’t leave him cold; he relishes competition, or else he never would’ve made it here. A healthy nervousness has taken hold of him, a heightened state of mind, he’s alert and keenly aware of his entire body the way he is when on a mission.

He’s ready.

“If you lose, I’ll tell you a secret”, Jacob Griffin-Worthington says out of the corner of his mouth, making Shay frown in confusion.

“I don’t wanna know any of your secrets”, he responds, and then someone yells GO and his body moves of its own accord, springing into action with practised ease. He can’t count the times he’s run this course, to various degrees of success: when he was brand new and still bouncing between groups in Rainbow, he remembers how daunting he found this exercise, shivering even at the mention of it. It’s brutal, a demanding mix of precision and pure speed, horizontal and vertical movement, arm- and legwork. Most of his muscles used to burn for days after an intensive training unit here, and now he could probably do it in his sleep.

He’s off to a head start, his long legs a big advantage on the early sprints as well as shorter jumps, but as soon as climbing starts being involved, Jagriwo makes up ground. Shay concentrates on his breathing, the placement of hands and feet, the icy air in his lungs. Vaguely, he can hear his teammates cheering him on, and though he pays next to no attention to it, he somehow notices Jojo’s voice missing in the chorus. Odd. But Shay doesn’t have the luxury of worrying about it.

By the half-point, he’s still ahead and plans to stay there, Jacob not too far behind but audibly struggling where Shay has good reserves to fall back on. The ground is an active obstacle, an unpredictable mixture of mud and frozen bits, making Shay regret a few times not cushioning a fall more. Regardless, he’s doing great and getting closer to the goal by the second, keeping his panting to a minimum, instead opting for a steady pace, and then he slips on an ice patch.

It’s a mean one, he can tell instantly, the moment his foot just whooshes out from under him instead of providing support he knows he’s well and truly fucked. He manages an undignified squawk somewhere on the way down and instinctively brings his arms up, but even they can’t stop his head from smacking right onto the frozen soil. The loss of balance feels like a drop out of a fourth floor window, only much faster, and so he’s much too disoriented to get up and try to keep running, instead opting to blearily stare at crystal-covered blades of grass right next to his nose and contemplate existence.

Looks like he won’t make Jojo proud after all. Especially not with this splitting headache.

There’s cheering going on somewhere, exacerbating the pounding in his temples, and he understands right away that Jagriwo made it, that he was beaten. Someone pats his back with more force than necessary.

“Can you get up?”

He blinks up at two Ivans and stretches out his hand, getting pulled up with next to no input from himself and swaying unsteadily while holding on to the Russian. “My head hurts”, he mumbles, trying to correct his blurry vision. “I’m sorry. I didn’t make it.”

“You were at record pace, too. You had chance to beat my time.” Ivan Ivanovic inspects him for a moment, eventually deciding that he’s fine, so Shay stops worrying. If he’d been bleeding badly or anything like it, Ivanko would tell him.

It’s only then that he realises Ivan is the only one who came to his aid: Jojo, Gian and Valenti seem to be talking insistently among each other, with Jojo looking pale and shaking his head a lot. This isn’t right. “Ivanko, what’s going on with Jojo?”

A small pause. The Russian pats his back again. “Better get changed. You will catch cold.”

Shay doesn’t think thicker clothes will help with the vague frost settling in his insides. He doesn’t know what’s wrong. He’s not sure he wants to.

.

Though it’s getting late, the sun nonetheless shines down on their stupid little contest. By now, most of them are grumpy for various reasons, several pairs have formed and emit unintelligible grumbling as they complain about this or that, and despite Jacob Griffin-Worthington’s steadfast refusal to admit this whole thing was pretty pointless, even he seems to be losing the spring in his step. Regardless, he trudges on, leading them to the canal for some reason.

“Last challenge”, he proclaims loudly, ignoring a few passers-by giving them odd looks. “This is the one who decides the winner! It’s as gruelling as it is straightforward: submerge yourself up to your neck in the icy water. The one who stays in there the longest wins.”

Suddenly, Shay is extremely glad he was chosen for the obstacle course, even if he doesn’t appreciate the pulsing headache. Below them, the river seems deceptively pleasant, the water calm and clear – but it couldn’t be any warmer than just above 0°C. This is a daunting task for pretty much everyone.

“We don’t really have a choice who to pick”, Valenti shrugs, equally eager to be done as most of them are. “Go for it, Swiss dude.”

“My name is Köbi”, comes a quiet reply from the taciturn recruit, prompting Jojo of all people to reply: “Yeah well nobody can pronounce that.”

“Wait, wait, what are you doing?!” Jagriwo has noticed Ivan Ivanovic unzipping his jacket in preparation of the challenge. “It’s not your turn, mate, you’ve already gone. We choose – wait, who do we choose?”

His group exchanges confused glances until Whip speaks up: “He’s the only one left.”

Their leader turns away from their adversaries to hiss a very audible: “But then we lose. Ivan can’t be allowed to do this.”

“Try and stop me.” Ivanko keeps piling clothes onto a helpless Valenti as if all of this was just another Tuesday, unlacing his boots with practised ease.

It is now that Jagriwo seems to realise what everyone else has understood before they walked all the way to the river: he’s lost. With Ivan left as their last champion, there’s nothing he could throw his way that would tip the scales in his favour. Valenti’s triumphant grin from behind Ivanko’s folded-up trousers conveys as much.

“I, uh, wasn’t finished explaining the rules of this challenge”, he tries to delay the inevitable, floundering, “you also have to, um -”

“Let us go in.” Ivanko, clad only in his underwear, nods in the direction of the ladder leading from the promenade right into the water. Köbi seems hesitant but probably assumes Jagriwo’s wrath would be immeasurable if he chickened out now, so he quickly undresses as well and immediately starts shivering. This doesn’t bode well for him. Ivan Ivanovic even goes in first, opting to quickly glide into the icy river instead of dipping his toes, followed by his Swiss opponent.

Who curses heartily in what Shay can only assume to be a thick accent as soon as he touches the surface, and the cursing quickly morphs into barely-suppressed wails and moans. He sounds like he’ll start crying every second now.

Jacob Griffin-Worthington is livid.

“You don’t deserve this win!”, he rages. “You’re just a bunch of arse-kissing wankers who scrape by doing the absolute minimum.”

“What does that make you then?”, Jojo responds, words dripping with vitriol. “You lost to us. You don’t even belong in Rainbow.”

“And you do? I don’t know about the others, but I know how you got in. Did some favours to get your résumé looked at, didn’t you?”

Fucking hell. Shay frowns, notices his expression mirrored on both Whip’s and Anna’s faces (though he takes note of their silence), and asks: “Why are you such a sore loser?”

Gian’s muttered ‘this is hardly productive’ gets lost in Jacob Griffin-Worthington’s following fury. “You arseholes are really pissing me off! The only reason you won this is because you have one, one semi-competent fucker among you who keeps you afloat, the rest of you are worthless. You wanna know what your so-called friend wrote in his diary? You wanna hear some excerpts? Because I’ve got a small collection of quotes here, just stumbled over these, they’re everywhere.”

“Not really”, Valenti objects. “If he’d wanted us to hear them, he would’ve told us.”

Undeterred, Jagriwo pulls out his phone and begins reading off the screen. “Valenti, he calls you petty, ‘hindered by delusions of grandeur’, ‘desperate to belong’ – mate, he thinks you’re insufferable, that’s what I’m getting out of this.”

The author of the quotes looks pained, uncomfortable, avoiding their gazes. Shay has never seen Gian this ashamed, their gentle, thoughtful, caring Gian this distressed. He opens his mouth, likely to address the accusation, possibly explain himself, but Valenti is faster: “Well he’d be correct, wouldn’t he?”

Their nemesis blanks for a second. “Pardon?”

“I mean, I am those things. He’s not wrong. But I’d bet my life that’s not all he said about me. Right? You’re just picking things out of context and trying to upset us, it’s not gonna work.”

But instead of being defeated yet again, Jagriwo’s eyes move to a new target. And Shay suddenly pieces it all together.

Everything falls into place: their weird reaction when he implied that Gian’s diary being stolen wasn’t that big of a deal – everyone else seemed to know something he didn’t yet nobody clued him in. He wasn’t supposed to know, he realises belatedly. They all knew something he didn’t, which also explains why Jojo has been so withdrawn lately, why he kept talking with the others instead of Shay, why he suddenly wanted to win this competition so badly.

Jojo has some sort of secret involving Shay and absolutely everybody knows except for Shay himself. He assumes this is what Jacob meant when he offered to let him in on a secret at the beginning of the obstacle course. Gian had written about this hidden fact in his little book and Jagriwo is about to reveal it.

But what could it be? The only explanation Shay can fathom is him doing something unspeakable to Jojo, something unforgivable, something that would taint their friendship forever if he were aware of it. If he’d done something like that to Jojo, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself, that much is true, he’d always feel like he’d owe him – and this, possibly, is the scenario they’ve worked to hard to avoid. Because it’d hang over the two of them like a sword of Damocles, no doubt.

And now that Shay knows this… is he ready to hear the truth?

“Don’t”, mutters Jojo, his voice a warning. His eyes are locked with Jagriwo’s.

“Or what?” He really savours the moment, ignoring all of Jojo’s body language (and he looks like a cornered animal, wild, hopeless) as he turns to Shay with a wide, shark-like smile. It feels like everyone’s holding their breath. Then he simply says: “Did you know your best friend wants to fuck you?”

The very first thought that enters Shay’s mind is one he remains convinced of for a solid second: that can’t be it. He believes it steadfastly until he turns his head and catches sight of the pure, unbridled horror on Jojo’s face, shame even more pronounced than on Gian’s a few moments earlier. No words are necessary, his expression shouts it louder than Jacob could – it’s true. It has to be, or else why would Jojo look like this, but… why is that such a big deal?

Jacob Griffin-Worthington is not satisfied yet. “He’s actually been in love with you for a while.”

Oh. Okay, well, that’s slightly different, yet Shay experiences nothing but all-encompassing relief: he didn’t do anything to Jojo. They’re still good. They can keep being friends, provided Jojo wants to, and, uh, well, this might be a problem, he realises much too late. Maybe Jojo doesn’t want to. Maybe he wants some space. And Shay has a girlfriend, he almost forgot about her, that’s complicating things even further, but -

All of a sudden, he notices everyone is staring at him. Everyone but the one who counts. “Right”, he says, still trying to process the consequences of this revelation, and then Jojo turns on his heel and walks away.

Gian is the one who stops him from following immediately, a steady hand on his arm and a slight shake of the head keeping him in place. “Allow him time to compose.”

Next to them, Valenti simply drops Ivanko’s clothes onto the promenade and tries to punch Jagriwo in the face, yet the lad saw it coming and blocked, and while a very one-sided fight breaks out (because of course, the others jump in to help Jacob) Shay only has eyes for the lone figure wandering by the canal, back turned and hands repeatedly coming up to probably wipe tears away, and all of this is wrong.

Being friends with Jojo has never been easy, he’d never call it an easy friendship like he would with someone like Whip maybe – it was never two mates hanging out, it was something more, and that something required effort. Shay had worked for Jojo’s friendship and still does his best to maintain it, he learnt how to apologise, how to compromise, how to listen. Jojo allowed him to grow by pointing out areas in which to improve, managed to do so without putting him on the spot and by taking him seriously. In return, he’d provided undying loyalty, an open ear with no judgement.

This isn’t something from which either of them can walk away. They need to work this out. And the longer his eyes are glued to the man he’s so incredibly lucky to know, the man walking much too close to the edge of the promenade, the one suddenly slipping on an icy patch and -

Shay’s fuck comes almost simultaneously to the large splash. He starts sprinting without wasting a single thought on it, clawing off his jacket mid-run, tossing his phone on it, dropping his shirt together with his wallet and keys, and next go the shoes (bloody hell the ground is frigid) – he doesn’t bother with the socks but the trousers need to go, and then he dives into what turns out to be much, much colder water than he’d anticipated.

He manages to keep his disbelieving gasp in until he’s breached the surface again, blinking against the cool air and trying to keep his body from locking up due to the shock. Next to him, Jojo lets out a litany of curses, half of which directed at him.

“- the fuck are you doing, you moron, there’s no fucking ladder, what did you think you’re gonna do?!”

Huh. The closest ladder is indeed a bit away and he’s already losing all feeling in his limbs. “I’m saving you”, he blurts out, stupidly, to which his best friend lets out an unamused-sounding laugh. Jesus fuck it’s cold, his feet are freezing and he’s having trouble staying above water.

“This”, Jojo pants, lips blue and eyes red, shivering just as violently as Shay is himself, “might be one of the dumbest things you’ve ever done, Shay, what did you think was going to happen? You give me a lift so I can climb the two metres back up?”

“We should probably move, we can’t get out here.”

“Oh really? I can’t swim, I can barely keep myself up, so what do you reckon -”

He’s interrupted by yet another splash next to them, icy water washing over them. The reproachful face appearing belongs to none other than Ivan Ivanovic, and Shay has never been gladder to see the Russian. “Hold on to me”, he tells them and they oblige without a single word of protest as he starts swimming to the nearest ladder, dragging two dead weights with him.

.

~*~

.

It’s only fitting that the day ends with them in front of Sledge’s office, as so many days prior. Shay, wrapped in a thick blanket and trying to will the frost out of his bones, listens to the muffled bollocking going on inside, and wonders whether they’ll get their share after the others are done. Köbi, Jojo and he were sent to Doc first while the rest of their groups had to explain to their superior what they’ve been up to all day, and now they don’t want to interrupt anything, so they’ve sat down on the bench outside. Except for Köbi, the winner of the last challenge, who was checked in with mild frostbite. There’s no doubt Ivanko would’ve won, but he came to Jojo’s and Shay’s rescue, opting to climb out and lose the challenge rather than wasting valuable seconds by swimming towards them instead of running.

So not only did Shay mess up his own contribution to the competition, he made them lose it all.

He barely dares to ask. “Jojo?”

“Hm?” His best friend has avoided any eye contact since their brief stint in the river, having chosen to treat Shay with nothing but silence. Now that they’re alone and perched next to each other, he seems more willing to exchange words though.

“I’m sorry we lost because of me. Did you actually want to win?”

This earns him an almost disgusted expression. “Of course not. Any minute I spend in Jagriwo’s presence is fucking wasted, he can fuck a cactus for all I care. His stupid little ego trip doesn’t matter.”

Oh. So he just really didn’t want Shay to find out. Find out… that he’s in love with him. The sentiment leaves him slightly giddy, as if someone Shay liked a lot told him that they like Shay back, only he can’t discern whether he feels flattered or confused or something else entirely. It’s a fluttery thing, similar to the beginning when he was flirting with Brittany (or trying to, at least) and couldn’t think about anything else.

Jojo fancies him. It’s… nice. It feels nice, knowing Jojo finds him attractive. That he likes him so much that he wants them to be more than friends.

And Shay -

He looks at Jojo who reminds him of a drowned rat, the usually styled hair wet and sticking to his skull, complexion blotchy, the corners of his mouth turned downwards. Their shoulders are touching. Shay just can’t imagine a life without him.

“I’ll break up with Brittany”, he hears himself speak before the words have fully formed in his mind – as so often he does.

Jojo’s brows draw together. “What?”

“I can break up with her. It’s okay. Then we can -”

“Shay, what in the world are you saying?”

“I like you too.” Instantly, he’s self-conscious, scratching the back of his head, trying his hardest not to backpedal. “That’s… what I’m saying. I like you, Jojo. I’d rather be together with you.”

His best friend is staring at him, mouth open, eyes wide. “You’d just – you’d drop her. Right away. Right now.”

“Yeah. If you want.” Shay nods. He’s already cancelled for the evening, it’d be simple to end their relationship as well.

For a few heartbeats, Jojo doesn’t seem to know how to react and what he eventually does isn’t something Shay would’ve expected. He gets up, blanket still wrapped around him, and tells Shay: “Just don’t talk to me. Don’t.”

And once again, he leaves. Leaves Shay behind on the bench outside of Sledge’s office, wondering whether he’s done something wrong this time.

It’s not even a relief when Sledge shoos him away later instead of admonishing him, because Valenti won’t look at him and Gian carries himself like a close relative just died. Even Ivan Ivanovic just motions for him to walk.

Of everyone filing out of Sledge’s office, it’s only Anna who throws him a sympathetic glance.

[crime-bot]

okay so i definitely recommend you search what ken looks like because he looks like goro (& shido) a lot (i've always thought shido had browner-yellowy eyes and ken has brown eyes, shido's goatee? is spiky and so is ken's hair (& we can assume shido had spiky hair), its just a lot of that. ken looking more like their father and goro looking like their mom is also so real.. theyre identical twins regardless cause the differences seem tiny when theyre next to eachother (theres actually a fic called the sword & the scale and it goes into them being half-siblings its whatnstarted my ideas and its so good. the latest chapter has them talking to the PTs and everyone unable to tell them apart because they keep doing everything the same) ANYWAY. ken lore time.

ok, basically in p3 .. do you remember that dude with the rogue persona i told you about whos NOT a villain? that's shinjiro aragaki. hes really important to ken lore. ok so basically his persona's rogue: 2 years before p3 takes place (takes place 2009-2010,) on october 4th, 2007, shinjiro's persona went rogue and killed ken's mom (& made their whole building collapse.) shinjiro felt bad and quit the SEES and went back to living on the streets (he was previously at an orphanage before the SEES but that was burnt down) and shinjiro keeps taking the persona suppressors (which are killing him. he starts wearing a beanie and heavy jacket bc hes cold all the time bc he cant regulate his temp anymore.) fast forward to 2009, where ken gets a persona called nemesis (greek goddess of revenge) and learns how to use .. i forgot what its called but its kinda like a pole? ykwim. anyway. he plans to kill shinjiro (bc he doesnt know it was an accident) for killing his mom and almost does it on october 4th 2009 when takaya (also rogue persona haver. villain. extremely gay for shinjiro & his fellow villain jin tbh. takaya makes me sad anyways) shows up and goes to kill ken, but shinjiro blocks it and gets shot and dies instead. sound familiar to one persona 5 boy? ken never kills again ( hes literally 11 in 2009 btw. goro turned 16 in 2014 when he killed wakaba. these kids were YOUNG. goro started working with shido when he was 15, since in nov he says its been almost 2 & a half years of working w eachother) and instead basically gets adopted by the kirijo group? idk its never explained but in p3 the kirijo group stages ken's mom death as a car accident (bc it originally happened in the dark hour) and the main makoto-ish girl is mitsuru kirijo (who is an icon and hates the group so we love her) but anyway we never really get an explanation with who ken is staying with, he just stays with the SEES? so im saying the kirijo adopted him.

anyway.. them as kids together would be ... very odd. hectic if they were deaged to after their mom died (& in the au goro sees she killed herself but then a few mins after the house gets fucking destroyed by castor/shinjiro's persona so ken never knows she killed herself. boy who doesnt know any jp/doesnt speak having to help his little brother who knows jp/speaks drag their mom & themselves out of the rubble of the house immediately after seeing his mom hang. doesnt say anything to his brother abt it 💔💔)

Ayy I survive! Thanks for the patience man

The wildest part is that I've Seen Ken before, multiple times, and I never really made these connections. I could definitely see them as twins, and oh man I wanna check out that fic later!

God that's wild, to be fair I've known of bits and pieces about Ken and his backstory, but nothing in great detail, so it's wild to see the bigger picture (and some more about Shinjoro! This poor guy!). A hot temper and steady will really seems to run in the family.

Dude that would be so wild!!!! I'd love to see the shit they'd get up to, as well as witness the kind of emotional processing they should've been allowed to have, with the support of the PTs and Akria's confidants. When it comes to traumatic experiences, it is crucial that there are multiple people of different kinds that the person is able to turn to after the fact to talk to and have support from

[tomoathestory]

☆Introduction☆

{Personal}

I'm Cry! Or Tomoa, Moa, Crioh, or whatever other nickname you can conjure up for me lmao

Some of the things I'm interested in is Voltron: Legendary Defender, Diary of a Wimpy Kid (specifically the Dysfunctional Perspective on TikTok), DC (mostly batfamily stuff, but I like the rest of it too), and Criminal Minds. I'll update this when I remember because these are just off the top of my head.

I play video games often, mostly Overwatch 2, Fortnite, Monster Prom, Roblox, and occasionally Minecraft. I play more, but there's too many to list! (Junkrat/Mercy main here LMAO!)

My favorite color is orange, I'm not sure what shade, though. Purple is definitely a close second, tied with yellow. My favorite TV show is Criminal Minds!! Season 7 Episode 19, Heathridge Manor is my favorite episode (mainly because my favorite actor, Kyle Gallner, is the unsub)

{Writing}

I first started writing (like, creative writing in my free time for fun) when I was around the 4th grade. Or about 9 years old. My first ever story, from what I can remember, was this one piece of fanfiction that I refuse to name. (Seriously, you couldn't pry it from my cold, dead hands.) From then, my writing kinda just followed me I guess? It was never something that I really like, shared with other people. I've mostly written just fanfiction, but I also have some original works that I love to think about. I think my longest character has been with me since 2020? Maybe 2021. I'll introduce yall to him later!!

I'll try to reblog posts that have amazing writing advice that I agree with btw,

{Tomoa}

The story that this blog is about (it still has no name, that's why I'm calling it Tomoa for now LMAO) has been floating around my head since around Janurary/February of 2022. So it's been with me for a little while now. It's definitely change a LOT since then. Like my main character used to be named Lukas, and now his name is Aaron lmao. He also used to be Russian for some reason?

The story was also supposed to be a lot more angsty and sad, but now it's supposed to be more fun and romantic (I developed a boyfriend for Aaron, and it's so adorable)

At the time of writing this, I have 11 characters and a cat. I'm gonna make an introduction post for each of them as time goes on, but for now I'm gonna stick with just my own intro+tomoa intro.

Here's me trying to explain my storyline (poorly done lmfao)

Aaron gets kicked out by his dad (mom not in picture), and gets recruited by villains. He goes on to be a villain but is laying low. So, in his mid twenties (where the 1st book takes place), he's like an average villain. Nothing sticks out, just a (somewhat) regular villain. Little does he know, his arch-nemesis just so happens to be his high school friends-with-benefits who he may or may not still be talking to. (He definitely is. And it's not talking, it's "talking.")

{Extra - aka ramble time}

Some of my goals for my story is to try to allow for a little bit of each kind of representation. Does that make sense? I hope so. But like, for example, I have 2 aroace characters in my universe so far (I PROMISE ITS JUST BECAUSE IM TALKING ABOUT THE MAIN GROUP), and I'm trying to make most of my characters from different origins too. My main character is Mexican/German/American, so I've still gotta do a bunch of research for him. I want for people to feel seen and represented when they finish reading my book, but the main purpose (and the original one) is to entertain. So not only do I want them to feel seen and represented, but I also want them to be like "Hey, that was a damn good book." (And then write fanficiton and make fanart and make AUs and social media accounts about my story <33)

Also!! Yall can ask me anything!! I love answering questions!! You can also try to suggest something for me to write, I'll make another post about what I will/will not write

[ignisgalaxia]

I posted 687 times in 2022

140 posts created (20%)

547 posts reblogged (80%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@punkbxt

@ussjellyfish

@silvermoon424

@startrekprodigyfan

@lodessa

I tagged 538 of my posts in 2022

Only 22% of my posts had no tags

#star trek - 275 posts

#fanart - 130 posts

#voyager - 125 posts

#star trek fanart - 113 posts

#prodigy - 91 posts

#star trek prodigy - 85 posts

#janeway x chakotay - 83 posts

#kathryn janeway - 77 posts

#chakotay - 59 posts

#prodigy spoilers - 51 posts

Longest Tag: 108 characters

#because all the body language in this storyboard is so actually them on voy compared to the finished product

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Star Trek: Picard should’ve been about Seven from the start

Before I dive into my proposal, let me just say that I do not hate or even dislike Star Trek: Picard. I have enjoyed both seasons (though not as much as Lower Decks or Prodigy). However I do think that they’ve kinda screwed with Picard’s character and that Seven has more potential for her story to continue. Just wanted to clear that up before I express my grievances.

IMO Picard’s character arc was pretty complete after Nemesis. He’d learned to accept every part of himself, both good and bad, so there wasn’t much left for him to deal with. So what did the show do with him? He learned to accept Data’s death in season 1 and learned to accept his mother’s death in season 2. Also he met Data’s daughters and got a Romulan girlfriend, which I don’t know how to feel about (I mean I like Laris, but I just keep thinking what the fuck happened with Beverly?!). While I can understand him having trouble accepting Data’s death, he should’ve accepted his mother’s long before his twilight years IMO (perhaps it could’ve been a movie plot, cause let’s be real nobody cares about insurrection). So ultimately I don’t see the point in him having his own show so late in his life. Just let the man live in peace!

Now onto Seven. Again I do like what the show has done with her. While there are some things that I don’t agree with, overall I have enjoyed her development and interactions with the other characters. But there’s still a lot that hasn’t been explored concerning how she ended up the way she is in Picard.

What we know so far is that after Voyager returned, Starfleet refused to accept her into their ranks but did accept Icheb (which I’m sorry, is complete bullshit). We know Janeway threatened to resign if they didn’t change their minds, but Seven gave up and decided to join the Fenris Rangers instead. At some point she became involved with Bjayzl, who apparently had a thing for Borg parts and harvesting them for sale on the black market (seriously Seven how did you miss that?). She kidnapped and mutilated Icheb, who Seven tried to rescue but ultimately failed at. And that’s pretty much it before she appears in the show proper.

Honestly that’s not a lot. While Picard has had his story pretty well fleshed out, there’s still a lot left to be told of Seven’s. Like how did she find out about the Fenris Rangers? How long has she been with them? And how the fuck have none of the other voyager crewmembers checked up on her?

So yeah, if I were in charge I’d want to make Seven the protagonist of the show. Picard can still make an appearance (after all if we’re gonna deal with the Borg Queen I’m sure she’d want to involve Locutus). I’d still keep the cast of new characters (except maybe Agnes, I never really liked her). I always thought Rios was too much of a rogue to fit into Starfleet, so I’d make him a ranger too. Obviously I’d keep Raffi the same, as well as Elnor because they’re perfect. Soji can stay, maybe she could even stay an android/synth idk. Obviously I have ideas for the other characters, but I think I’ve made my point. Tell me if you agree or disagree. Do y’all like my idea for a Seven show?

Oh and btw, I’d call the show Star Trek: Ranger.

24 notes - Posted May 14, 2022

#4

“people who’s favorite star trek ship is janeway x chakotay. nothing wrong with it but like damn thats your #1?”

Excuse me but what’s there not to like? Badass woman and her equally strong yet supportive male wife.

Considering trek’s horrible track record with canon relationships be glad we stan an actually healthy relationship.

27 notes - Posted July 23, 2022

#3

THE PRODIGY PANEL

THE PRODIGY PANEL

THE PRODIGY PANELLLLLLLL

50 notes - Posted April 10, 2022

#2

Everyone else watching Prodigy: *trying to make sense of the timeline

Me: is Chakotay okay

66 notes - Posted January 27, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

HUGE MASSIVE MAJOR PRODIGY SPOLIERS INBOUND

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

See the full post

114 notes - Posted February 3, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[rawmeknockout]

Can I request a captured autobot reader (G1 ish) who, after getting tired of just sitting around all prisoner like, offered to eat out Soundwave from sheer boredom to do something and quickly finds themself being willingly passed around the cassettes and becoming the newest polycule member and potentially if you’re in the mood for breeding kink, sparkling carrier?

//this is a mix of g1 and tfp btw although its mainly g1 i just like to add knockout to things he deserves it//

You never meant for it to turn out this way. It just happened. One minute you're a prisoner on the Nemesis, and the next you're trapped between his thighs while he coos sweet nothings about your glossa. Autobot High Command would never let you live this down if they knew, not only branding you a traitor but likely warning your friends about you. It didnt help that you had a reputation among your fellow Autobots for being particularly 'amorous'. A hopeless romantic, they called you, when you tried to wax poetic about Knockout's shining finish, much to his pleasure, only to be slagged by Breakdown for your wandering spark. He wasn't the first Decepticon to take your advances bitterly.

Your proposition for Soundwave had been mostly in jest, really. You had spent long nights thinking about his tender array, yes, but the stoic Decepticon Third-in-Command would never let you touch him. Surely not. Which didn't explain why you were sneaking into the Nemesis at such a late hour.

'I'm so fragged, I'm so fragged, I'm so fragged,' but you don't turn back when you come to his habsuite door. Hastily, near silently, knocking on it once before being desperately pulled in by several servos. Soundwave is petting over your helm as Frenzy grapples with the seams in your interface array; Ravage twining himself lovingly along your legs. It's always a chore to decide who to place your own servos on first, wanting to touch and feel and love anything you can get at. You settle for sinking your digits into Frenzy's transformation seams as he finally frees your half-pressurized spike, immediately setting to work laving it with his glossa like he was hungry for you.

"Took you long enough, mech," Rumble complains from the berth. You just barely get peek at him over Soundwave's shoulder, working his digits over his stiff spike while he watches Soundwave pet your side-vents. At his sides are Buzzsaw, Laserbeak, and Ratbat. The two birdformers are much too busy carefully grooming each other, caught up in their own loving ritual. It's only Ratbat that watches you with keen interest, optics a tad too... intense for your comfort.

A moan startles from your vocalizer when Frenzy's digits waste no time working into you, three of them readily sinking in with little resistance. You are almost embarrassed by how wet you are, but Soundwave rumbles something sweet about your eagerness.

Frenzy removes his mouth from your spike long enough to say something that brings your charge up to a hundred, "You should open your gestation chamber tonight."

And you would, you really would, but what about the Autobots? You can't just get sparked in the middle of the war, especially not by the enemy. Primus, what would Optimus think? And Ratchet? All your friends back at base? They would never look at you the same way again. Would never look at you again. But Soundwave soothes the almost-distress in your field before you can tumble down that petrorabbit hole.

"We will take care of you."

And you believe him.

[shiniichiro]

wakasa always knew he belonged with shinichiro sano

growing up as a mistrustful adolescent, he was only willing to trust himself. everyone else, even his own gang members, the prideful members of kodo rengou that dominated a part of the kanto region, which he led to the battle fields on quiet weekdays.

on weekdays he was never alone, always surrounded by his gang members' chatters, or the sight of fists being thrown around recklessly as if their life depended on it.

on weekends, wakasa felt the suffocating presence of no one. the realization that he is alone in this world with no one he could truly count on. tending to his own wounds, and eating meals on his own in his apartment. if he finds himself giving in to the loneliness, he'll leave the small space he calls home and seek tirelessly for the rush of adrenaline that he craved for.

that was until he met him.

he paid him no mind initially, the man with a horrible looking pompadour. he has never seen him before. anyone in the delinquent community would know better than approach him casually without expecting him to knock off their feet unconscious, clearly this man knows nothing about wakasa imaushi's reputation.

"imaushi-san? that's you right? wow you sure do look exactly the same way they described you. hey now don't have to give me that menacing glare, i mean no harm, i swear." the man, who introduced himself as one shinichiro sano (wakasa did not ask), rambled on, talking about his intentions of recruiting wakasa to form a new gang, something about revolutionizing the world of delinquency, or something (wakasa was not listening).

sure, it took shinichiro a few rounds of beatings and mild TBIs for wakasa to come around and admit that. damn this dude has a few screws loose in his head.

but wakasa gave him a chance, he did. he was shocked by his own decisions too. dissolving his own gang, joining another under the leadership of a goofy looking man (whose combat skills are the worst he has ever seen btw). worst of all, he was expected to work with his arch nemesis.

what can he say? there was something about shinichiro. the way he spoke so passionately about his dreams after wakasa effectively knocked him damn near unconscious. the way he would talk to wakasa like a friend, the genuineness in his voice, the warmth that he exudes when he was sat next to him by the riverbank. wakasa came to admire him as an individual. as much as he despised the idea of friendships in the past, he was willing to bypass his own fears of attachment, for him.

it took wakasa 3 months to fall helplessly in love with his commander.

gone were the days where he would spend the entire afternoon wasting his life away, anticipating the next fight. shinichiro was always around. whether he was just nosey, or bored out of his mind, or he genuinely wanted to be there, he didn't know, but he didn't care. shinichiro would buy his favorite drinks and snacks as a peace offering for him to stay over in the afternoon or late nights, both engaging in discussions about the gang, their life, future aspirations or childhood memories. Or they'd just sit in comfortable silence, nobody uttering a word, enjoying each other's presence.

wakasa couldn't remember what it was like before shinichiro sano. he wasn't willing to. not when shinichiro was the first to jump to his aid when he discovers a wound on his body after a gruesome fight. see, wakasa was used to tending to his wounds alone, not being able to place his complete trust on another. but when it's shinichiro, his commander, he'd be willing to die for him.

not when shinichiro would always be the first to notice whenever his mood turns sour. wakasa was used to keeping his emotions to himself, never wanting anybody to see him in his most vulnerable state. he was the fearsome white leopard after all. but shinichiro would know, the slightest change in his expressions and shinichiro would pull him into a deserted corner to speak to him. shinichiro knew, oh he knew, he could never keep anything from him. in their own little space, where no one would have half the mind to interfere, he'd place his forehead against his, taking his hands into his, thumbs soothing the skin in slow, circular motions. "wakasa, it's okay to be vulnerable. you're okay" he'd say, and the great white leopard would crumble within seconds.

certainly not when shinichiro has the most adorable habit of placing his head on wakasa's shoulders, nuzzling into his neck whenever he feels upset, or when he's in a mood to whine. wakasa would flick his forehead, inching away from the man child, but nobody knew exactly how much he begged to be able to stay with him like this forever.

shinichiro loved all of wakasa, accepted him for who he is, and who he was. shinichiro always made sure to shower him with all the love and affection he could muster. breakfast in bed, extensive aftercare, dates to the same river bank they used to hang around in the early years.

if he was honest to himself, he didn't know what came over him. what about shinichiro sano that was so captivating to him?

wakasa didn't know, he didn't bother finding out; all he knew was that shinichiro was his first, and will be his last.

"you have no choice, imaushi-san. you're stuck with me forever whether you like it or not. till death do us apart" shinichiro said as he slipped a wedding band onto his lover's ring finger, the same charming smile on his face that wakasa had grew to love.

"till death do us apart, commander"