#We were aiming for 85% though. For reasons.

[shiningwonderland]

Otoya Ittoki (Repeat)

Translator: Raz (Twitter: agnadance)

Editor: Mae (Twitter: itoshikimaegirl)

QA: Rei (Twitter: wolfe_raine)

True Love Ending — Musica that Transcends Love

The moment that Otoya-kun starts singing, the crowd goes wild.

Everyone's moving their bodies to the beat, clapping their hands, and having a great time.

I feel the core of my body heating up and my adrenaline pumping, so much so that I feel like I'm going to start moving at any moment.

That's the kind of song he's singing. Everyone in the hall beams with delight.

There were some performers who were breathtakingly good at singing. There were other songs where the audience would be so moved that tears would fall from their eyes. At other times, the whole audience would stand up in applause.

Everyone's giving it their all because we're all aiming to debut. The audience can feel that intense passion. 

But Otoya-kun… He's the only one who's not trying to put on airs. He's singing from the heart. 

In turn, the audience has livened up and are smiling. 

Of course, we'll be expelled and chased out of the entertainment industry if we don't pass.

But… That doesn't matter.

Otoya-kun is enjoying singing. He's thoroughly entertaining the audience.

Once he finishes singing, cries ring out and there's a roar of applause.

Otoya Ittoki: Thanks, everybody!

Otoya-kun answers with a bright smile, earning him another cheer from the audience.

Otoya Ittoki: Haruka! Come on, let's go! I want to hear the results together!

Even though he has just finished singing, Otoya-kun runs backstage to me and reaches out his hand.

Haruka Nanami: Yeah!

Without hesitation, I take his hand and run to the stage with Otoya-kun.

While waiting at the corner of the stage, we hear that the last person has finished singing.

We quietly wait for the announcement.

The winner of the graduation audition is decided by a group of nine judges, including the principal, and votes from the audience.

The nine judges can give up to ten points each.

The audience votes for the student they believe had the best performance. The student who receives the most votes from the audience gets 10 points, the student with the second most gets nine points, so and so forth until tenth place.

Then the person with the most points total wins. The winner becomes a new idol in the Shining Agency whose next goal will be to become the top idol.

For the students who don't get first place, any student who scores over 85 points can join Shining Agency.

Also, there are employees from other agencies who have come to watch the audition…

For example, even if there are students who don't get into Shining Agency, there's a chance they can be recruited into a different agency.

However, in our case, if we don't win, we can't debut at all.

I'm so nervous waiting that I feel like I'm going to faint from my heart pounding out of my chest….

The warmth from Otoya-kun's hand holding mine gives me strength.

Shining Saotome: The winner of this year's graduation audition is…

As he speaks, he surveys everyone in front of him.

Oh please, please let us win!

We grip each others' hands tightly and pray.

Shining Saotome: Otoya Ittoki!

Otoya Ittoki: YEEEAAAH!!! We did it, Haruka! We won!

Haruka Nanami: Yes! We… we won!

Ringo Tsukimiya: Congratulations! I was so moved by how good the song was. Your song was bright and open just like you, Oto-kun!

Ringo Tsukimiya: I felt warm from the bottom of my heart  and I wanted to support the love between you two. I could feel how much you love her right here in my chest.

Ringo Tsukimiya: For some reason, when I was listening to your song, I recalled my first crush. My love for her was so bittersweet.

Ringo Tsukimiya: But I couldn't stop feeling so excited! That feeling of pure love revived in me and I felt my chest getting hot.

Ringo Tsukimiya: You're such an odd couple. I'm not saying that out of spite, mind you, you two are a great match. Your refreshing attitude came through the song!

Ringo Tsukimiya: Get along and do your best forever and ever, okay?

Haruka Nanami: Yes!

Shining Saotome: You pass for now! Ahh, your song was full of heart!

Shining Saotome: This song was meant to be first place! You're one impressive guy, but this is where the real challenge begins.

The principal pats Otoya-kun on the back.

Otoya Ittoki: Yeah, I know!

Shining Saotome: Come to my office later. I need to speak with you.

He whispers in Otoya-kun's ear, then returns to center stage to begin his speech to conclude the ceremony. 

Shining Saotome: Occupied!

Haruka Nanami: Excuse me.

Otoya Ittoki: Excuse me!

Shining Saotome: To start things off, congratulations on your victory!

Shining Saotome: Everyone in the hall could agree that MISTER Ittoki's song was fantastic, BUT you couldn't have achieved that alone.

Shining Saotome: MISS Nanami, you were able to bring out MISTER Ittoki's full potential because you composed the song! You are a great pair!

Haruka Nanami: T-thank you.

Shining Saotome: BUT it's still too soon to relax. This is where things start getting tough.

Otoya Ittoki: You're not going to tell us to break up again, are you?

Shining Saotome: … No need to worry, I won't say that ever again. I'm sure that you two won't end up going down the same path I did…

Ah, the principal is talking normally again…

Otoya Ittoki: I knew it. Something happened to you, huh?

Shining Saotome: Yes, but it was far in the past.

Otoya Ittoki: Will you tell us?

Shining Saotome: Okay, I'll tell you… Before I debuted, there was a woman I loved, and she loved me back.

Shining Saotome: But… when it was decided that I would officially debut, my agency told me that I needed to put my personal affairs in order.

Shining Saotome: An idol is not only meant to be looked up by people, they are also meant to fuel people's dreams. Most importantly, they must be every fan's lover. You understand that, right?

Otoya Ittoki: Yeah, I get it.

Shining Saotome: Yes… You can't exist just for one person. That restriction was much stronger back in the day.

The principal looks far off into the distance, as if his heart is far in the past.

Shining Saotome: I worried about what to do, and ended up choosing my dream over my lover.

Shining Saotome: At the time, I was engrossed in my songs, the heat of the spotlight, my connection with the audience… I just couldn't let go after getting a taste of it.

Shining Saotome: My heart fluttered every time someone would praise my music. I kept thinking how I wanted more and more people to listen to my songs. 

Shining Saotome: That's when I realized… she noticed too.

Haruka Nanami: What happened to her?

Shining Saotome: When she recognized that I chose my dream over her, she disappeared. I don't know where she is now.

Haruka Nanami: Oh no…

Shining Saotome: My debut song "Ai yue ni…" is about my feelings for her.

Shining Saotome: The composer was credited to be me, but she was the one who wrote it. She gave the song to me.

Shining Saotome: It was born from weaving our love together. The song was the miracle of love.

Otoya Ittoki: Is… that so… That seems like us…

Haruka Nanami: Yes…

Shining Saotome: I didn't want my students to go through the same pain I did.

Shining Saotome: When you are stuck between your dream and your love, you will suffer. No matter which one you pick, the only thing waiting for you is hell.

Otoya Ittoki: Hell…? That's how much pain you went through?

Shining Saotome: Yes… After she left, I tried to forget her by drowning myself in work.

Shining Saotome: But I couldn't fill in the hole that opened up in my heart and my heart still yearns for her.

Otoya Ittoki: Then why don't you search for her?! There's no one to stop you from loving her now!

Shining Saotome: Even now, I'm still looking for her, but there's only a slim chance that she's still alive. Fifteen years ago, she was in a plane crash…

Otoya Ittoki: Fifteen… years ago?

Otoya-kun whispers in shock.

Shining Saotome: There is some hope because her body was never found, but…

Shining Saotome: There's a very low chance she survived.

Otoya Ittoki: …

Shining Saotome: Why didn't I choose her that time? If I chose her, maybe she would've never ended up in that accident.

Shining Saotome: I kept regretting and regretting, and I'm still regretting my decisions even now. 

Shining Saotome: I don't want you two to suffer like me. Love creates dreams, but dreams obstruct love.

Shining Saotome: If that's the case, then one shouldn't love in the first place. You might as well not allow love until the situation permits it. 

Shining Saotome: I thought that I should prohibit love to prevent any blunders caused by young naivety like what I did in the past. 

Shining Saotome: But instead, you two faced that hell head on.

Otoya Ittoki: Yeah, it was no big deal.

Shining Saotome: Foolish little boy! But anyway, you did well.

Shining Saotome: No matter what trials I put you through, you defeated them all! … So that's why I wanted to gamble on you. 

Shining Saotome: If I had the guts to attain both my dream and love, then the result may have been different.

Shining Saotome: I realized for the first time, seeing you two, that there aren't just two choices–there are actually three.

Shining Saotome: It's not about choosing your dream or love, it's about winning them both. That choice existed from the beginning.

Shining Saotome: If you manage to overcome all of that and achieve happiness, I'll take away the rule that forbids romance.

The principal grins. 

Haruka Nanami: Principal…

Otoya Ittoki: It's a promise, old man.

Shining Saotome: HA HA HA! You better keep your promise!

Ah, he's back. It's the usual principal again.

Shining Saotome: AND this is a farewell gift from me!

The principal gives us an envelope.

Otoya Ittoki: What's this?

Shining Saotome: HA HA HA! It's a travel ticket!

Haruka Nanami: Travel…?

Shining Saotome: Once spring vacation is over, you're going to go on production.

Shining Saotome: Once you're a professional, you'll be too busy to go on trips. So…

Shining Saotome: You should enjoy your spring vacation while it lasts!

Haruka Nanami: Thank you!

Otoya Ittoki: Thanks, old man!

Shining Saotome: HA HA HA~! It's the springtime of life!

Shining Saotome: I think you two will be able to achieve the dream that I couldn't.

Shining Saotome: Achieve happiness and take hold of your dreams and your love! Understand?!

Otoya Ittoki: Yeah!

Haruka Nanami: Yes!

We depart for our trip the day after graduation.

In the early morning, the train is empty. There's no one in the car but us.

Otoya Ittoki: This train is so nostalgic!

Haruka Nanami: Ah, that time… You really saved me that morning before the entrance ceremony. Thank you very much!

Haruka Nanami: If you didn't save me then, I have no idea what would've happened…

Otoya Ittoki: I was so worried about you because you were acting strangely. I didn't imagine you were going through that.

Haruka Nanami: … But that was how we met.

Otoya Ittoki: No, that's not how we met.

Haruka Nanami: Huh…?

When did we first meet then?

Otoya Ittoki: Ohh, you probably don't know this, but I met you during the entrance exam.

Haruka Nanami: The entrance exam?

Hmm, I can't remember.

Otoya Ittoki: Yeah, it was a snowy day. I was so worried because I'm not that smart. I was about to give up.

Saotome Academy has a day for auditions for the practical exam, as well as a paper entrance exam.

I went to go take the exams but the snow piled up from the day before, so it was difficult to reach the exam site.

Otoya Ittoki: You were on the slope right in front of me, Haruka. You were clumsy back then, too!

Otoya Ittoki: You tripped on the snow and slipped back down the slope, but you weren't discouraged.

Otoya Ittoki: You kept trying and trying. Every time you took a step, you would trip on the snow and slip back down, and yet you still kept attempting to climb the snowy path.

S-so he saw me that time… I remember now that I kept sliding back over and over, and would end up stuck in the snow. 

I finally arrived at the Saotome Academy after a great struggle, but… Wow, I'm so embarrassed now!

Otoya Ittoki: I was inspired after watching you! Normally, I would go help immediately, but for some reason I kept watching.

Otoya Ittoki: As I cheered you on in my heart, you finally managed to make it up the slope by yourself.

Otoya Ittoki: I was so happy for you and felt so encouraged! Then that day, somehow, my worries cleared up and I managed to pass the test with flying colors! It's all thanks to you.

Otoya Ittoki: Usually, I'm completely hopeless with tests, but that time, I felt enlightened!

Haruka Nanami: No, I didn't do anything… That's all you, Otoya-kun!

Otoya Ittoki: No, you did! If you weren't there, I probably would've failed. I'd always wanted to meet you again, and that day…

Otoya Ittoki: I saw you board the train wearing the Saotome Academy uniform. I kept watching you, wanting to talk to you, but then that guy started groping you.

Otoya Ittoki: That's when I thought I had to save you! After that, I was so glad to find out that you were in my class!

Otoya Ittoki: You even became my partner! I was so lucky!

Haruka Nanami: Is… that so?

Otoya Ittoki: Yeah, it's kind of an embarrassing story. I assumed you didn't know all of this, so I kept it a secret…

Otoya Ittoki: I think I fell in love with you the first moment I saw you. Of course, I love you even now!

He briefly pecks me on the cheek.

Haruka Nanami: U-um, we're on the train, so…

Otoya Ittoki: Yeah, I know. I wouldn't do this if there were people around, but… we're the only ones here!

Haruka Nanami: N-no, you can't. Someone might see us through the window… This is too embarrassing…

Otoya Ittoki: Ahhh! I want to hug you so bad! But… it's okay, I won't do that.

Otoya Ittoki: Once we reach our destination, I'll give you all the hugs, okay?

He cracks a smile.

"Okay"? What is he going to do to me once we arrive???

Otoya Ittoki: The sea at night is extraordinary… It blends into the sky, making it seem that it's part of the stars.

He whispers to himself as he gazes at the dark ocean.

Haruka Nanami: Yes, but… if I look at it too long, I become scared that my heart may be swallowed by the night…

Otoya Ittoki: I get it, but… the night doesn't last forever.

Otoya-kun gazes at me gently.

Otoya Ittoki: Dawn will cut through the darkness of the night and shine through. The heart is no different.

Otoya Ittoki: You light up my darkness and give me hope, Haruka.

He speaks to me in a melancholy, mature voice…

It's on the border of boy and man–as if teetering on the edge of adulthood.

Before me stands a youth with a mature expression. 

Haruka Nanami: I… I'm not a light at all. I'm weak and fearful…

Haruka Nanami: Even now, I'm a coward who's afraid of melting into the darkness…

Otoya-kun pulls me in by my shoulder.

Otoya Ittoki: I won't give you up to the darkness. If you're scared, I'll be your light…

He confidently reassures me and gently kisses me on the cheek.

His arm around my shoulder is warm–his touch alone comforts me.

I feel like as long as he's with me, there's nothing I'm afraid of.

Otoya Ittoki: If you're going to melt, melt into me…

He hugs me from behind, just like he did back in May… but his embrace is much stronger and warmer than that time.

Haruka Nanami: Ah…

Otoya Ittoki: I won't let you go. If we melt together, we'll become one of the stars in the night sky.

He whispers into my ear and buries his face into my shoulder.

Haruka Nanami: I believe one day you'll become a star… a famous star.

Haruka Nanami: You'll surely become a renowned star with your singing that is second to none.

Otoya Ittoki: Yeah… I'll become a star… I want you to be by my side when that time comes.

He grabs my shoulders and turns me towards him.

Otoya Ittoki: But… only you… only your music can make me shine, Haruka.

Enveloped in Otoya-kun's tenderness, I gently close my eyes.

He softly kisses my eyelids.

Otoya Ittoki: Don't close your eyes… Always look at me… Don't look at anything else.

Haruka Nanami: … Yes.

Otoya Ittoki: Only look at me from now on… Nn.

Haruka Nanami: Nn…

My heartbeat melts into the sound of the waves and plays a unique rhythm. The music is endlessly overflowing from my heart. 

Otoya-kun is the same. He sings into my ear as he embraces me.

I sing along with him. The warmth of his arms wrapped around me is comforting as well, but…

We are melting into the music, which feels so much better–a moment of time I'll cherish.

Otoya Ittoki: I feel so strange… Music keeps overflowing from me when I'm with you.

Otoya Ittoki: The best way for me to convey how much I love you is not through words or kisses, but with my singing, isn't it?

Haruka Nanami: Yes, I think so.

Otoya Ittoki: We're connected by song… by our music. Let's keep singing together forever, just the two of us.

Once we become professionals, we may not be able to spend such a peaceful time together anymore.

There are so many obstacles we have to overcome.

But I believe as long as we're together–as long as Otoya-kun is with me–we can solve anything!

I LOVE YOU!

Thank you for playing.

Fin.

[bookqueenrules]

18, 18, 18…..Symbolism and the number 18 in the DD spin-off.

In episodes 2 and 3 the number 18 is specifically mentioned.

In episode 3 the “walker experiment” lasted 18 seconds.

To have TWO prominent mentions of the same number can not be a coincidence.  So, I went back to the first 18 in TWDU.  When interpreting symbols there is the rule of "first mention" meaning that you should go back to the first time something is mentioned in a work in order to determine its symbolic meaning.

Season 2 episode 10 was titled “18 Miles Out”.  First, the episode starts out of chronological order(like WHWGO) with a scene of Shane and Rick trying to get away from a herd of walkers that were set loose  when Shane throws a red hatchet into a glass because he was aiming at Rick but misses.  Shane seeks cover in a school bus. We get our first shot of a bus AND a fire truck.  LOTS of symbolism and foreshadowing in just the sequence.

Then, it flashes back to Rick and Shane on the road before the opening. Shane and Rick are supposed to take Randall 18 miles out and drop him off. They blindfold him, tie him up, and put him in the trunk of the car.

The episode focuses on conflicts between Shane and Rick and Maggie and Beth.   I won’t do a scene by scene breakdown, but there are two themes running through the episode.  The first takes center stage in Rick and Shane’s story. It’s the theme of “being too far out” meaning you have lost your humanity in order to survive. Rick wants to let Randall live and Shane not only wants to kill Randall, but will make his first attempt to kill Rick.  He argues with Rick telling Rick that he won’t do what it takes to keep Lori, Carl, and the baby safe.

This crossroad is about 18 miles out.  It is at the crossroads that Shane explains how he had to leave Rick in the hospital in order to save Lori and Carl.  He had no choice.  He explains that there were military personnel at the hospital killing the living and the dead. The best he could do for Rick was to block the entrance to his door and leave.  I believe this was a direct foreshadow of what TF had to do with Beth’s body at Grady.  Then, Shane says that after leaving Rick, “I didn’t keep Lori and Carl alive.  They kept me alive.”  This parallels Daryl’s experience after leaving Beth’s body.  Daryl was needed to help keep TF alive, but it was really them that kept him from “going too far” into his grief for Beth. 

Then, they both get in the car and have the STRANGEST conversation. Rick starts talking about winter and how it might slow the walkers down if it is as cold as last winter.  He tells the story of his cousin being stuck on 85 for 24 hours and having to eat the birthday cake he was taking to his girlfriend in Virginia. I believe this was a coded story. 85 was code for 5X8 aka Coda. I believe the 24 hours might have been how long Beth was “stuck in the car” before they could come back to her.  It also foreshadows TF going to Virginia after Beth being “stuck in the car”. 

In this episode, Rick and Shane pass the crossroads symbolizing going “too far”. Shane shows this by the end of the episode.

This connects with the walker experiments in DD episode 3.  Experimenting on walkers is Genet’s going “too far”.

The second conflict is Maggie trying to convince Beth not to “lose hope” and kill herself. So, the second theme of 18 miles out is that each individual must find their own reason to live despite facing grief and loss. Beth says that is “pointless” to keep going.  Maggie says that even though they lost their mother, Beth still has her, Daddy, Jimmy, and Patricia. Beth says something like “I’ve been dating Jimmy for three months and now I’m married to him?” Then, Andrea and Lori have an interesting argument in the kitchen.  Andrea tells Lori something to the effect that maybe she should tell that girl(Beth) that she will have a husband, a son, and a baby one day just like Lori. This foreshaow’s Beth’s “happy ending” at the end of her arc. Sound familiar?  

Next, Beth tells Maggies that their farm will be overrun with walkers and, “We’ll lose each other anyway, and I couldn’t stand that.”  Beth doesn’t want to be gutted by walkers. She wants Maggie to commit suicide with her so that they can end things on their own terms.  SO MUCH foreshadowing in this conversation.  Pretty much everything Beth feared happened(except the gutted part, but that must haunt Maggie). Yet, when Beth does cut herself, she instantly regrets it and decides to live, showing that you can decide to cross a line, but come back as long as you aren’t “too far gone”. You can lose your hope but find it again.

The 18 reference in DD episode 2 was a call back to Beth and her arc.  Lou symbolized Beth even down to her hair.  Her taking care of the kids was much like Beth for the kids at the prison. It was a call back to Beth and the theme of not losing hope despite loss.  It is interesting that the marriage theme was also brought through Daryl and the kids watching that Mork and Mindy episode. I believe this reference shows that Beth and her arc are still alive.

In episode 3, there are 64 people in Fallou’s community.  Another specific number call out. This calls back to 6x4.  This is a standalone episode about Morgan being taken in and brought back from being “too far gone” by Eastman.  I believe it may be referencing in DD to show that Beth was taken in by someone who helped her keep going after the loss of TF. Interestingly 4X6 is a standalone about the Governor and what happens to him after he is “separated” from his people. He too finds another group with which to connect, but in the end he is “too far gone” to change.

I would love to know if anyone else made any connections with these numbers. 

[victoriabyrnearth101]

My favorite animal when I was a child was a duck. My dad and I used to go for early morning runs on the Erie Canal and pass by ducks in the morning sleeping or just waking up. I love them because they are cute and just mind their own business unlike geese which will chase you if you come anywhere near them. Something I found out about ducks is that they cannot feel cold in their feet because they have no nerves or blood vessels in their feet.

During the fall for some reason I am always in the mood to listen to American Authors. When I played travel softball in middle school and high school, my mom and I would listen to their album “Oh, What a Life” on our way to my tournaments. For some reason, that album always reminds me of fall. My favorite fall movie is the Thanksgiving Charlie Brown movie. I am a big fan of horror movies, but overall that is my favorite fall themed movie. I love Linus dispensing his wisdom on everybody, Peppermint Patty making Charlie play football, and Snoopy and Woodstock trying to cook the meal. It just puts me in the fall mood!

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was established in 2002, the year I was born. This is a very important act for businesses as it aimed to make financial statements more accurate and reduce fraud. It increased the standards for companies as the company leaders now are required to sign off on their financial statements, making them personally responsible if there is any material misstatement. This came about because of mostly the Enron scandal where the company was knee deep in fraudulent activities, as well as some other large companies that were doing similar activities. I found this interesting because this comes up a lot as an accounting Major, and these big accounting standards came into place the year I was born.

The song “You are my Sunshine” (the Norman Blake version) was my favorite song as a child. I absolutely loved this song and still do. I made my parents play it on repeat during car rides until they became sick of it. It really is a sad song, but I have always loved it. The lyrics “you make me happy when skies are grey, you’ll never know dear how much I love you” always made me feel comforted, even though it is a song about a man’s wife leaving him for another man. It is a song about unconditional love as the man is pleading to his wife to come home and he will spend the rest of his life trying to make her happy and love him. As a child I saw it as a happy and sweet song, and even though I now know it’s meaning, it still resonated with me in the same way when I hear it. To me it means unconditional love and not giving up on someone.

Attendance Prompt:

“Gold has always been the color of reverence and revered itself. Part of its allure lies in the mineral’s scarcity and uneven distribution. Although mines have been discovered all over the world, gold rushes mean that they are quickly exhausted and abandoned in favor of those that have been newly uncovered.” (Page 85, The Secret Lives of Color)

I chose this quote because it reminded me of the Taylor Swift song “Gold Rush”. It is one of my favorites of her songs because it relates to this concept of people flocking madly to something desired. The song is about a guy that all the girls are in love with, which is like how people treat gold. They see or hear that there is gold and they rush to make it theirs. The scarcity factor of gold also reminds me of the economic idea of scarcity. In economics we face scarcity of resources, money and time, so gold reminded me of that and how the limited supply of it makes it a good form of money.

[shamazingwrites]

My Shs Life

"Hindi naman maganda sa school na 'yan, sa iba ka na lang mag enroll" I often hear them say that. But why should I listen? I'm the one who's studying, not them. You know, truth be told, I wasn't really supposed to enroll at PHCM, but I enrolled really late, and this was the only school still open for enrollment. Besides, I don't have a choice. It's either I study here or I won't study at all.

At first, I didn't quite vibe with the regulations at PHCM, maybe because I wasn't used to them? Especially the grading system. That was the real game changer. Coming from a public school in junior high, I got used to getting into honors just by hitting a 90 average. But here, it's not just about having 90 average, you need a consistent above 85 grades in every subject to stay in honors. At first, I was really scared because I was used to being in honors. I was afraid I might lose that status in senior high school. "Huwag mo kaming i disappoint" "Sayo na lang kami umaasa" Those are the words I always hear. The words that make me so scared that I might not be able to do what they want. So, I promised myself I'd give my best shot, work even harder, and be more diligent in my studies to achieve what I wanted.

I also struggled to adjust to the environment here at first. I didn't quickly make friends with my classmates. I didn't immediately find my circle. But as time went on, life at PHCM became enjoyable. I found a group I could share moments of joy and even sorrow with. Friends who were always there when you needed them. I also realized that our section, 11 - Quezon, was the happiest section in HUMSS during our Grade 11. I came to understand that within our section, it's not about one upping each other. Sure, there's competition, but it's healthy. We all support each other, ensuring that no one gets left behind. We all aim to succeed together in the direction we want to go.

My Grade 11 life became incredibly fulfilling. But it wasn't always sunshine and rainbows. Of course, we faced challenges. The toughest challenge my classmates and I encountered was being separated into different sections. We tried everything to convince the teachers to keep us as a block section, but we couldn't do anything. All we could do was accept the reality.

Now that I'm in Grade 12, I'll admit, I'm happier. Not that my Grade 11 life wasn't happy, but now, meeting new people and having a new environment, life feels incredibly joyful. This made me realize that I'm adaptable. I'm capable of adjusting to new environments and situations. Honestly, Grade 12 Sapphire is similar to Grade 11 Quezon. It's about healthy competition. We're just happy, no one upping each other. Even though the guys at the back can be super annoying sometimes, it doesn't affect our section's solidness (though they can be a headache sometimes). But truth be told, we wouldn't be Sapphire without them! LMAO.

Apart from that, my SHS life became more enjoyable. Thanks to the guy I met back in grade 11, who's been by my side ever since, making life sweeter every single day.

From Grade 11 until now, I've been an honor student. It's pretty cool, you know? At first, I was really scared because of this school's grading system, but it's satisfying to know that despite their high standards, I managed to make it to the honors list.

Another reason why I aim for honors is that I know I need high grades for the field I want to pursue: law. That's what I want to become. But we're not wealthy, so for now, I'll pursue psychology. But I plan to make psychology a pre-law course because, until now, I can't let go of my dream of becoming a lawyer. That's why I chose HUMSS; I want to prepare myself for the things I know I'll be doing in the future.

I'm happy. Extremely happy. I thought I'd become an introvert in SHS because that's how I was in Grade 9-10 when classes went online. I became so shy, avoiding interactions and almost never went out. I almost deleted all my social media accounts. I stopped posting, which used to be a regular thing for me. So, I've really grown during my senior high school years.

And that's my Senior High School life in a nutshell. A journey of challenges, growth, and discovering my resilience in adapting to change.

[authoralexharvey]

🍀 - What thoughts or emotions that didn’t make sense to your past self make sense now that you know you’re queer? & 🧡 - How has the way you presented yourself (ex. Clothing, hairstyle, etc.) changed since you realized you were queer? pls!!

Hey Andi!! These are great questions ^^

🍀- What thoughts or emotions that didn't make sense to your past self make sense now that you know you're queer?

Sooo I'm kinda conflicted how to answer this one. I was heavily sheltered as a child. Like, I had homeschooling centers I went to, but in a group of like. Ten kids max there's not a whole lot you talk about that isn't video games. It's not until I went to public school in seventh grade that I even knew what being gay was or that it was an option. And it's not even like I was I'm a homophobic environment, either. I just had such little interaction with other kids, especially of my AG, that I didn't have a chance to feel those feelings, let alone explore them.

Anyway. Middle school. I pretty much realized I had Queer Emotions (at least in terms of sexuality) at the same time that I was in an environment where people could help me understand that.

Gender was a little,,, weirder.

I was always considered a tomboy, to be honest. All my friends were men and we all played video games or make believe in the yard. My barbie phase lasted like... 6 months and typically involved brutal scenarios and storytelling when I had it. Aside from my presentation, I was never ever "stereotypically feminine". And like. I didn't have much of a need to question things as a child. Once I hit puberty, it got weirder. I'm not binary transgender, but it's like the moment puberty hit my body no longer made sense to me. For the longest time, I attributed it to it being puberty and NO ONE being happy to be in that phase of life etc.

It's not until like. My junior year of high school that I knew what being trans was? Let alone being nonbinary. But once I learned about those concepts it was a pretty neat transition of "oh okay that makes sense. That's what I am"... just been a matter of OTHET people accepting this about me.

On the whole, though, like I said I was ignorant for a lot of my life and tended to have realizations and understanding at almost the exact same time. I'd say I had more "Ah that makes sense" moments about my neurodivergency, if I'm being completely honest.

🧡 how has the way you've presented yourself changed since you realized you were queer?

A couple of different ways. I HATED skirts and dresses as a teen, and as an older kid I think. I really had a very lengthy and awkward ugly duckling phase and was dealing with a lot of dysphoria and dysmorphia (thanks, eating disorder)... I still don't like skirts or dresses, tbh, but take the approach of "my aim is to be hot however that feels on a given day" now that I like. Feel better about myself. I also wore a lot of baggy clothes as a kid and whatnot and wear less of that now that I feel less of a need to "hide" myself, I think. Also also, I lean way more masculine now that I'm in environments where I can do that. My default outfit is a t-shirt and jeans with a MTV button up shirt I have (that is too tight to button up BUT looks great open)... I'm actually wearing that tomorrow for pride.

I don't know I think in general I avoided things as a kid for discomfort reasons and now that I'm no longer so uncomfortable, I feel better about dressing more fem or whatever. That said, 85% I'm going for as neutral or masculine as possible.

[adeathsentence]

Difficult Person Test

You are a very difficult person to get along with (67.14%).

tagged by: @demcnsinmymind​ - Thanks!

tagging: @thegoldenheiress, @cursedbcrn, @triagenera, @hiybrid, @founderscouncil (Elijah), @stcnehaven (Freya), @otherwoofs (Paige), @theivashkinator, @zeppimpala (Dean), @oblitcm (Bryn), @therebekahmikaelson, @theunburntprotector

Explanation of Facets:

Callousness is characterized by lacking empathy or concern for others. People high in callousness typically have deficits in genuine social sentiments and are often experienced by others as coarsely uncivil. In other words, they often make people feel uncomfortable.

Grandiosity can be described as having a grandiose sense of self-importance and the thought that one is better than others. People high in grandiosity often tout their abilities and their accomplishments while downplaying the contributions of others. They tend to put themselves on a pedestal and have a sense of entitlement about them.

Aggressiveness is the tendency to behave rudely and with hostility toward others. Aggressiveness may be doubly hurtful to others if combined with callousness, since the aggressive person may thus be both intimidating and unfeeling in their demeanor.

Suspicion is the tendency to harbor a strong and unreasoning distrust of others. Suspicious people often question the motives of even those who act loyally and devotedly toward them. Such people are often reluctant to open up to others and may interpret kind-hearted gestures as attempts to deceive them.

Manipulativeness is the inclination to exploit others to derive benefits for oneself. Manipulative people take other people for granted and use them to realize their own wishes and goals, thinking little of interpersonal reciprocity or the rights of others. Such people often exhaust and frustrate those around them, since they give little in return for the services and favors they extract from others.

Dominance is the tendency to put on airs of superiority and talk down to others. Domineering individuals have a strong desire to be seen as leaders and often react with combativeness when they cannot get what they want. They frustrate others by meddling in their affairs and with their attempts to control the decisions of those around them.

Risk-taking is the propensity to engage in risky behavior for the sake of experiencing thrills. People high in this trait impulsively seek sensations to overcome boredom, and often get pleasure from shocking others with their adventures and stunts. Risk-takers often make those around them ill at ease since their actions may have consequences for others as well as themselves.​

[softinkshadows]

Hot spring tales (Hisoka x female reader)

A Hisoka x female reader one-shot, with a sprinkle of Chrollo.

Situated in the HxH universe with canon timeline.

Disclaimer: nsfw, contains smut and explicit sex (but we know you're here for that)

Word count: 5000++ (wow did i just write 5000 words of smutty smut)

----

Pale, slender fingers tap against the phone screen. He finds the contact he is looking for and dials the number, raising the phone to his ear. Around him, dusk settles over the ragged terrain of the Gordeau desert. The wind gains in strength, almost pushing his combed black hair free.  The phone rings for a few seconds before the person on the other end picks up.

“Did you figure it out already?”

“Probably,” he says, his grey eyes catching the last wisps of fading light to the west. “The nen exorcist may very well be on Greed Island, which is East of York New. It seems you will need to enter the game as well.”

“Shall I procure one of Battera’s? He did buy all of the ones auctioned this time round.”

“No, that risks complicating things. What we need is a game privately owned by someone who is easily contactable, allows us to stay untraceable, preferably one who we wouldn’t have to kill and is reasonable towards helping…” he trails off, realizing that there is indeed someone who matches the conditions, someone who he would very much like to avoid for the time being… The irony of fate, he thinks, grimacing in irritation.

“It seems we will need to pay a visit to her.”

“Her?”

“I will send the address over to you. It’ll take me at least a day to get there, so you should start moving first. It would be better if you were the one handling negotiations this time round. And avoid mentioning my name, or the troupe’s.”

“Oh?” the voice on the other end piques with curiosity.

“We have… history. I’ll trust that you can strike a deal by the time I’m there?”

“Of course. After all, the chance to fight you is on the line.” He can almost hear the other man smirking gleefully through the phone.

“It’ll be dangerous, so try your best to be good, or our deal is off. Consider this a warning, Hisoka.”

----

You find yourself back at your quarters after dinner, alone in the large dressing room. Looking in the mirror, you arrange your hair neatly around your bun, making sure to tidy it for the next wave of customers tonight.

The underground auction has recently ended, and more people are flocking to your establishment. Kurohasu Onsen (Black Lotus Onsen) is renowned as the gathering-place for anybody who is somebody: a bathhouse that functions as neutral ground for politicians, powerful members of the mafia and hunters who have ties to the underworld to carry out business negotiations. A safe haven for murderers and thieves. All are welcome, although at a hefty price. The exorbitant entry fee is itself a gatekeeper of accessibility, and many have brought treasures and precious artefacts in the hope of gaining your favour. As weapons are allowed for protection, fights inevitably break out, but rarely do they erupt into something serious. All staff at the onsen are strong nen-users who pay close watch to customer behaviour. They have nen-restrainers on hand to subdue feisty ability users, and if not, there’s you, whose mysterious yet formidable presence is enough to elicit compliance. It is not uncommon to see off customers with missing limbs and near-fatal injuries, a warning punishment for breaking the establishment’s regulations. Furthermore, it is the iron-clad rule that the onsen is the one place where truce is enforced, upheld, respected. And you, the infamous proprietor, the black lotus of Kurohasu Onsen, are not someone to be crossed. Your customers are well aware of this.

You get up, ready to leave, when you turn to look at the mirror again. Your black onyx hairpin fits in and across your bun, easily reachable within seconds. Your eyes travel down to look at the black shimmering contours of your silk robe with its ornate floral embroidery, opening at two slits that end above the knee, the garment tied fittingly at the waist with a scarlet obi sash. Presentable, you hum in approval, before walking out the door.

Your secretary Esa is already waiting. “Give me updates,” You demand.

She follows you briskly down the corridor as you make your rounds to greet notable clients. Esa does this every three hours, reciting the list of new guests checked in since the last report, the rooms they booked, the meetings they have arrived for, and the fees paid. You remember everything, noting the ones who offer presents not entirely up to standard, or troublesome ones with a sketchy behavioural record.

“A while ago, a Hisoka Morow checked into the deluxe room. 50,000 Jenny a night for 2 nights, with a possible extension.”

The name catches you slightly off guard. You have never met the man, but from your intel he’s one of the most sought-after fighters at Heaven’s Arena. And a dangerous murderer too. But as far as you know, the man works alone and doesn’t get involved with politics. Why would someone like him be here?

“He has a meeting?” you turn to Esa.

“If he had, he did not say. Most likely for leisure, though. The onsen is famous for its baths too,” replied your attendant matter-of-factly.

You pause for a while to think, before calling over a male security staff with a wave of a finger. “Keep tabs on Hisoka. Let me know if he’s up to anything.” The staff bows and immediately embarks on fulfilling your order. You return to your duties for now, but the seed of suspicion and uneasiness does not go away.

---

“Ahh… now this is not bad,” Hisoka smiles to himself as he climbs into the water. He rests his head against the smooth stone edge of the outdoor bath, watching the steam lift gently from the softly rippling surface. When Chrollo told him about this place, he expected it to be dim and grimy, trawling with underworld scum. Instead, what greeted him was the pure luxury of mineral-rich baths, large clean rooms and 1000 thread-count sheets. He could get used to this. Not to mention…

His eyes wander over the bath, taking stock of the situation. Being quite late at night, most guests have retired to respective meeting rooms for drinks and negotiations, with only a smattering of visitors, mostly individuals or pairs, left lounging in the outdoor section. The only other people are the ever-present security staff, including one particularly persistent male staff standing at the private viewing balcony above. At least the nen users here are stronger than usual. A slight tremor of pleasure runs through his body, and he runs his fingers through his wet hair to shake the feeling before it builds into bloodlust. It’s been a while since he killed. He is still riled up from two days ago, thanks to the blond runt. And Chrollo, that damn bastard.

He observes the nen-users with half-closed eyes. 75… 80… 85… He evaluates. Not too shabby. Then he senses it. 97!! He feels the sudden presence, an impeccable zetsu with a tinge of icy smoothness and fiery calm toiling beneath its surface. It is enough for him to widen his eyes and sit up straight, a hot tingling sensation travelling down his spine, pleasure surging into his body for a split second, almost goading him into a fight right there and then. Well, what do we have here? He looks to the source of this pressure, golden eyes flashing and meeting yours, as you look down at him from the balcony above.

One look and you know he clearly lives up to his reputation. He is suppressing his power by default, but his presence leaves a slight prickling static in the air which only stronger nen users can detect. He also seems to have noticed you, judging by the slight shift his posture, the electrifying gaze beneath his damp red hair and the sudden tension in the air with his nen flaring, almost breaking its zetsu. Despite the distance, both of you lock eyes for a moment, each one feeling out the other, gauging abilities, locating motives. What the hell is his aim? You face the sheer intensity of his gaze with your own cold, calculating glare, both of you guarding your intentions yet attempting to penetrate through the other’s guise, staring each other down as if in a challenge. No one relents. But you can’t help but feel a rising irritation, that the man sitting naked in the outdoor bath three floors beneath you is getting under your skin, and a distracting kind of warmth creeps in... You look away. You nod to the staff to continue strict monitoring and return to your room.

Hisoka watches you leave, and instinctively his fingers run through his hair again, this time harder than the last. Oh, Chrollo… Don’t tell me that’s her? A smile tugs at the corner of his lips. Oh, you were right. This is going to be dangerous.

---

You don’t hear any more concerning updates on Hisoka until later the next day. Besides using the baths for extended periods of time, and mild complaints from other guests of his lengthy and uncomfortable stares, he hasn’t caused any trouble. He hasn’t physically contacted anyone either.

“Come again?” you stop abruptly, mid-way through scanning the paper records of this month’s taxes and bills, glancing up at your secretary.

Esa clears her throat and speaks again. “Madam, Hisoka Morow has requested for a meeting with you today.”

Hmph. You scoff a little, your eyes narrowing to ponder the next course of action. You had expected something like this. There is no way someone like him would travel all the way here just to use the baths, let alone without engaging anyone. If his aim is to negotiate matters with you, it must be something quite serious, given that neither of you have gone out of your way to meet with each other previously.

“Shall I cancel?” Esa asks, ready to deliver the order and reject the fool that had the nerve to request a meeting with you on such short notice.

“No. Make it tonight at eleven, after I complete my usual rounds.”

“Understood.”

---

It is night, and the onsen quietens for the day. Only the soft rushes of spring water from the outdoor baths and the muffled sounds of late-night negotiations drift by. You find yourself finally seated across from him in one of your private meeting rooms, both of you silent but never once taking your eyes off each other, quietly assessing one another.

Now up close and clothed in a blue yukata, accentuating the red hair that falls close to his shoulders, you can’t help but find him just a little more attractive than you imagined. His golden eyes are calm, steady, even confident, a rarity for anyone for finds them in a room alone with you. Most people would have bowed their head in submission long ago. You keep your own icy composure. But the force of his nen suppressed under zetsu, his incredibly toned body beneath his yukata and that arrogant way he looks at you make your body feel warmer than usual.

When he sees you for the first time that night, seated on the far end of the room, he feels it again. That powerful presence that keeps goading him, that sends electrifying jolts through his body. You’re seated comfortably on the floor, almost reclining, yet the hard, murderous edge of your gaze shows you are constantly on guard. Simply exquisite. He almost licks his lips but controls himself. A fine opponent… to kill? No, no, much too soon… that would be a waste. Chrollo comes first.

The meeting hall is much too large for two people, spanning over 24 tatami in size. On both sides, paper screen doors open out into an elegant view of the autumn trees in the estate, shedding its red delicately in the wind. A long, low black lacquer table in the center of the room separates you and him, each of you seated on either end. Silence continues to hang in the air. A staff gracefully pours a luxurious blend of sencha into the cups, before she places the tea pot and tray on the floor, bows, and takes her leave quickly. You notice Esa hovering by the doorway to the room.

“Esa, you may go.”

“But Madam-” your secretary protests but stops as you give her a glare. She of all people would understand you’re probably the last person in the establishment who needs any form of protection. As her footsteps recede down the hallway outside, you turn back to the man in front of you.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you today?”

“It has come to my knowledge,” Hisoka finally speaks, and the slow, sly curl of his tone lights another fire in you, “that you are in possession of one of the most sought-after items in the world of late. I have a pressing need for it and would like to negotiate a deal.”

“I’m a collector of the rarest treasures, so you’re going to have to be more specific,” you scoff, taking a sip of your tea.

“I’m talking about a certain game.”

“Ah, Greed Island,” you retort indifferently, although inwardly puzzled. Why would he go to such lengths just for a game? Didn’t seem like the type. “What makes you think I’ll agree to your request? What is in it for me?”

Hisoka pauses, contemplating something before pushing onwards with a slight smirk. “I’m not sure if you know of a certain man by the name of… Chrollo Lucilfer?”

He waits for the intended effect and sure enough, you react. Immediately, at the mention of the name you’re hit with an unpleasant sensation that makes you grit your teeth, and your eyes blaze with a hint of fury. Without realizing, a cracking sound fills the room as the cast iron tea pot on the floor dents with the force of your nen.

Hisoka looks at the pot quietly before he smiles, lifting the tea cup to his lips, his eyes only growing darker as he trains his gaze on you. Interesting. “May I know, if it’s not too much to ask, the reason for your disdain of the man?”

“I’ve known him for a long time. He tried to kill me twice, once on purpose and the second time by accident. Clearly, he did not succeed,” you say, finishing your tea.

Beautifully exquisite. Another thrill runs through his spine, almost making him tremble with excitement. Perhaps it would be safe to suggest…

“I’m looking for Chrollo. He’s been running from me for a while now, and last I heard he has been spotted hiding out in the game. I would very much like to settle our score soon. Of course, perhaps to your advantage I fully intend on killing him, with pleasure,” Hisoka continues, waving his hand in the air with dismissive complacency.

“If only it were so simple,” you retort, knowing the full potential of Chrollo’s abilities. “And how can I take you for your word?”

“You can’t.”

You look up in mild distaste at Hisoka. What a bastard. You could slit his throat right now, with that cocky expression of his. And yet, your body feels a little hot when he’s looking at you, his gaze ruthlessly penetrating and his nen just on the edge of flaring.

“Name your offer, Hisoka.” You say his name for the first time, aware of how his gaze hardens when you do so, and your body burns with a strange desire which you suppress under the guise of irritation.

“I’m not offering.”

“What?”

“Allow me to use the game, or I will go on to kill everyone in this establishment, including your precious secretary and all your guests. It’s been a while since I had fun and I won’t stop when I do.”

The audacity. You slam your cup on the table and glare at him, your nen bristling beneath the surface. It was a mistake to let him into the bathhouse. And the worst part is that he is right. He could take out everyone except you here with ease, and you’d lose your manpower, your reputation, your business. Everything you worked hard for since leaving meteor city years ago. Perhaps it’ll be wise to dispose of him right here, right now.

In a split second, you draw the long onyx pin from your hair, leaping across the length of the table with such grace and speed that the tea in Hisoka’s cup barely ripples, as you aim for this throat, slicing the air in front of you. He dodges at the last moment, his eyes wild with a feral look as you nick of a few strands of his hair and the sharp edge of your hairpin draws a faint red line along his throat. He grins. He’s clearly enjoying this. He moves to land a counter-attack but you jump away. You’ve put distance between the two of you again; you grip your hair pin, calm and poised for another strike, while he similarly crouches, one hand reaching to stroke the mark you made on his throat.

“Now you’re just getting me excited,” his voice drops to a low purr.

Here you are, seconds after nearly killing him, and you feel your body reacting to his voice and his unapologetic desire. You know you have the power to end him, yet a tingling sensation creeps over the lower half of your body. You can feel sweat starting to gather around your stomach, while another warm wetness pools further below, between your legs. It’s been so long since anyone made you feel this way. Not since… Your thoughts are interrupted as he appears behind you, aiming for your head.

“Pay attention, darling.”

There’s barely any sound in the meeting room as you and Hisoka continue to spar in near complete zetsu, restraining nen to avoid alerting the attention of other guests and the security staff. His eyes gleam more with your every strike, his moves maintain its strength but do not get more forceful, and neither do yours. You feel the exhilaration of the near-misses, of your bodies brushing against one another before pulling away, the light friction of fabric against fabric, as if locked in a graceful dance that neither of you want to end. Moonlight cascades through the open balcony, and there’s a glint in Hisoka’s eyes.

“Let’s stop pretending we’re serious about killing each other, shall we?” he quips with a smirk.

His words register, and you halt. You weren’t noticing it before, but he is right. You weren't trying. You falter for a moment too long. Then he rushes you, pinning your body down onto the floor with his own weight, brute force mixed with excitement to the point that his nails dig into the straw of the tatami below, ripping it slightly. He raises a hand, about to spill your blood, when your control slips. Before, your brief exchanges saw your body feeling hotter, winding tighter as it did more cautious. But now, with him pressing down onto you from above, not pulling away, gripping with a strength that few possess and with a wicked look in his eyes, you can’t keep it down anymore. You let out a throaty moan as his holds you hard, feeling your underwear getting more soaked with every passing second. His eyes widen in surprise, and he pauses. You and him remain quiet like this for a while, the wind from outside gently caressing both your bodies, teasing out an answer.

Then, as if on instinct, both your mouths crash together. Neither of you are ashamed at the pure lust that erupts between the two of you, bloodlust still not completely abating which spurs you and him on even more. His tongue slips into you mouth, determined on stealing your breath, your hand clasped around your hair pin still trapped within his, his ferocious strength barely just surpassing your own as you do not back down, struggling against the restraint. It is still a fight, after all. Yet his other free hand trails down your silk robe, slithering between the open slits to your thighs before raising one of your legs to wrap around his torso. You moan into his kiss and move against his clothed body, desperate for friction.

"Patience, my dear." He pauses, giving you a sadistic grin.

You’re not going to let him keep staying in control. In a surge of strength you topple and roll over him in a flash, slamming him to the floor and stabbing the pin right into the tatami next to his head, at which Hisoka lets out a loud groan. You press and rub yourself against him, leaving small bites along his neck, your hair starting to come loose and fall to the side of your face from the exertion. The warmth between your legs grows, and it’s not just you. Hisoka is only wearing underwear beneath the yukata, and you feel his erection, hot and hard beneath your rolling hips. You feel your own slick starting to run down your inner thigh, and you ache to be filled.

You pull away and gaze down at Hisoka, who’s just starting to get a little breathless with desire, his eyes clouded with lust. You pull the hairpin from the floor and aim it at his throat. You command, your voice cold and edged with arrogance.

“Stop wasting my time and just fuck me already.”

At this, Hisoka lets out a low growl, flipping you on your back, almost tearing the obi around your waist to shreds with his hands. His mouth latches onto your neck and you cry out, as his hands reach under your bra to free your breasts, rolling your nipples between his fingers, alternating between gentle strokes and forceful pinches. Your body shakes with pleasure and you grind against him, your hands fumbling to move his yukata out of the way. You cover your palm over his bulge, which is already straining hard against his underwear. He bites a little harder on your skin as you do, goading you on. You reach beneath the fabric, stroking his most sensitive spot, and you feel him shudder against you. Oh, to have such a powerful man like him at your mercy.

Before you have time to think, your pleasure increases ten-fold, white-hot and surging through your body as his fingers find their way to your slit, obscenely slick with your honey.

“Oh? This wet for me already?” he murmurs into your ear, sending shivers down your arms and making you moan.

He sits back a little, his piercing gaze boring into you as he lifts his fingers to his lips, licking it clean. “So sweet,” he whispers, his eyes never leaving you, almost taunting your state of helplessness before him, and you twitch with pleasure.

“Shut u-” you demand, stopping short with a intake of breath as his tongue circles your nipple and he thrusts two fingers into your aching slit, expertly thrusting, stroking, caressing, hitting all the right spots as you can’t help but moan and fist his soft, red locks. His thumb finds your bud and rubs, with increasing pressure, matching the circling motions of his tongue. Hisoka pulls away and looks down at you, panting and wriggling beneath his touch, your words incoherent but eyes still fierce with power and control, and he finds himself growing harder, unbearably hungry. You feel his desire through his nen, bristling with lust, fingers coaxing you to bliss and eyes ravishing you unabashedly for everything you are and you feel yourself pushed nearer to the edge.

“I’m close,” you gasp, and you see Hisoka smirk dangerously as he pulls his fingers out of you. The pleasure that builds now cuts short, tapering off.

“Kisama,” you mutter in annoyance as you ram his body against the side of the lacquer dining table, pushing him into an upright, sitting position. He chuckles at your urgency and vexation yet remains turned on as you clutch your hairpin over his throat as a warning. His golden eyes are glazed over and quivering, a sign he is properly riled up, his hair now a mess, and his breathing is slightly heavier than before. You pull his large erection free from his underwear.

“You bastard. I’m not going to give you any time.” You growl, and his eyes grow more piercing.

You lower your soaking, aching pussy onto him. The stretch makes both of you groan in unison, and you almost come immediately from his entrance. He is huge in both girth and length, and it takes a while before you’re accustomed to his size. It was so long since you had proper sex with anyone. After he is buried in you to the hilt, you pause, glaring at him with a look aggressive with lust and a need for control. He moans in pleasure and you feel his grip on you tighten considerably. Then you move, slowly first, then quickening your pace, rolling and rubbing against him so his cock enters you at the best angles. His hands reach up to grab your hips, steadying you while he snaps up into you, pounding with such speed it makes your mind go blank with pleasure.

“Ahh-h—h!” you moan, louder this time, shaking with the mounting pleasure as he enters you fast, viciously, more than you can keep up with. You get wetter with each of his thrusts, squelching and slapping sounds filling empty room as he pulls out and fills you completely again with each punishing stroke. You feel yourself nearing your climax, your body swaying and jiggling with the rhythm as your bounce on Hisoka's cock, pressing your fingers harder around his body.

He senses it too, and growls, refusing to take his eyes from yours. You feel his nails rake your hips, grabbing your ass, pain and pleasure intermingling as your near your end. Waves of white-hot pleasure wash over you as you moan into your orgasm, your eyes closed in bliss as you tremble violently, clenching tightly around Hisoka, muttering curses as you come completely undone.

Before you have time to come down from your high, Hisoka pulls out, his rock-hard cock dripping with your honey, before grabbing you and laying you down on the table, towering over you once more. Then he fully sheaths himself inside you in one go, making you cry out at the jolt of oversensitivity as he pushes towards his own end. Using the slick from your orgasm, he goes even faster now, relentless, his hands holding your legs wide apart so he can have unfettered access to you while he slams into you without restraint.

"You like this, don't you? You like being punished like this?" He purrs with forcefulness, a sign he is close, lustful gaze boring into yours while he pummels into you.

You can't help but shudder at his words, but you spit out through gritted teeth. "Don't get cocky. And don't you dare finish inside, or I'll kill you before you are even done."

His control snaps. You feel his cock twitch inside of you. Then he pulls out and comes, moaning with deep satisfaction in your ear, his warm load spilling onto your stomach. After he finishes, you both gaze as each other for a while, barely out of breath, sweat glistening against skin. Your clothes are both in a mess and disarray, his hands are still spreading you wide and bare torso pressed against you as you both bask in the afterglow, sharing a moment to take in the surreal pleasure of what was an extremely unplanned but steaming hot round of sex.

"So with this, do we have a deal?" He breaks the silence with a devious smile.

"I'm not that cheap if you think once is enough." You retort as you clean up, pulling your clothes back on. "At least three more times, with an additional fee of 300,000 Jenny."

"Aren't you a greedy one," Hisoka smirks, tying his yukata back in place. "Alright. It's a deal, not like I'm complaining. I might deliver more than you ask for." His golden eyes travel across your body once more before meeting yours, and you can still see a faint glimmer of lust, ready to be reignited.

"Enjoying yourself?" An icy voice comes from the darkened doorway.

You don't even need to look to know who it is, recognizing the voice immediately. Cold grey eyes gaze at you from a figure leaning against the entryway.

"Chrollo," you almost spit out.

"Ah," says Hisoka naturally, "you're finally here."

You turn to scowl at Hisoka, realizing his blatant lie from earlier. You wonder for a moment how Chrollo even got in to the onsen without your notice, given that him and the troupe remain high up on your guest blacklist. Then you sense his nen, or rather his lack of it, a blur void except for the vague tinge of someone else’s foreign nen around his chest. A contract, then. He's harmless now.

Chrollo steps into the room, dressed elegantly in a black yukata, his hair let down comfortably. "Seems like you taste in men hasn't changed. I took a gamble on that." His steely grey gaze, piercing, calculating and formidable in confidence, still make you tremble a little, despite knowing him for years.

You take a while to understand and chuckle, looking from Chrollo to Hisoka. "Seems like we both got played."

The latter narrows his eyes at Chrollo before running his hand through his hair, sighing. "Well, as expected of him. Again, not like I'm complaining."

"Hisoka, leave us for a moment," you order.

"As you wish." You feel him step out but loiter along the corridor, waiting to pick up on the following conversation. Now it's just you and Chrollo left in the room. He doesn't move closer to you.

"It's been long. Too... long." Chrollo speaks, his voice calm but you detect a tinge of nostalgia, affection, regret and caution all entangled in one.

You know what he means. You can even see it now, the times he drove you wild, nearly killing you with nen. You can see all the times his lips met yours, growing a steady fire with a kiss, his fingers grazing your skin and making you moan and whimper while you grasp his hair tight in your hands, your mind blanking and feeling the universe come apart and stitch right back together...

"You won't be able to handle me now, in your current state. I would break you. It wont be pleasurable for any of us," you reply coolly. You catch the sound of a stifled laugh from the hallway outside. "Once you get your nen back, I just might reconsider."

You stand up, letting your silk robes fall gracefully past your knees once more. You arrange your bun and slip the onyx pin back into your hair.

"You can use the game tomorrow. I'll have it prepared. Tonight, I'll be busy receiving my payment. In full." You pause a little next to him, giving him one last, long look, before walking out the room and towards your quarters, Hisoka trailing behind.

Alone, Chrollo's eyes are deep and unreadable. Unconsciously, his hands are balled into tight fists by his sides. Then he breathes deeply, chuckling to himself.

What a woman. "Hisoka, you'd better get the job done. Fast."

---

Notes: omg this took way longer than i expected to!!! I’m quite proud of this one ;) I got inspired by a mobage card of hisoka, chrollo and the phantom troupe at an onsen and decided to do this imagine piece! Hope you enjoyed my fellow hisoka simps, it was so fun to write ;)

[secretsfromwholecloth]

💋⚡️⛺️❤️(👀👀👀👀xD)🔞?

(From these asks.)

💋: favourite romance?

Like 85% of Lann’s romance is aimed squarely at me, and the rest is certainly nice enough to enjoy in its context. Like I said on Discord, it’ll probably continue to be my comfort romance that I go for when I have no other plans, like Tekēhu in PoE. That said, I’ve also quite enjoyed what I’ve seen of Arueshalae and Daeran’s romances over the virtual shoulders of you and others on Discord, and they’re both very much in my queue. (Especially Arue, who I saw the first part of anyway when Ounai blundered into flirting with her—time to see the rest!)

⚡️: favourite (or current) mythic path?

Gold Dragon is delightful, especially if you like being nice and helpful enough to want to play Be Nice And Helpful: The Mythic Path. (And Hal’s a great dad, plus he comes with some fun dragon aunties and uncles.) What I saw of Angel on the way there I really liked, and I want to ride it out all the way to the end one day for additional himbo time, if nothing else. Azata would be awfully saccharine in isolation, but within the context of the otherwise rather grim events of the game, it’s a lovely breath of fresh air, and its Friendly Hug spell is the closest thing to a hug button I’ve seen in any RPG I’ve played, plus Aivu is terminally adorable. I’m also looking forward to ripping out my own heart and stomping on it with Aeon, plus maybe giving Trickster and Legend a look at some point. We’ll see which path I end up using for the secret ending.

⛺️: what’s your favourite camp banter?

Oh dear gods, there are so many. There is so much of everything in this game, it’s huge. a) Nearly all of the intra-party dynamics are delightful, and b) there’s so much it all kind of runs together, so it’s really hard for me to single one out, though Woljif’s jealousy banters (plus his one where he’s so desperate for family connections that he speculates that his demon grandfather may have been a cousin of Arue’s and she tells him it’s for the best that he takes after his human side more), Nenio expounding on her “high fluffiness quotient and aesthetically pleasing hue”, and Greybor grousing about how he’s turning into a goody-two-shoes crusader all leap to mind. Also Regill grouchily declaring his utter lack of interest in either naked people or people faking desire for him put a huge smile on my face for obvious reasons.

❤️: any npcs you liked, or even wished you could romance?

Yes, my dear, we all love the himbo. I’m not, like, desperate for a Hand romance or anything, but if there were one it would’ve gone right into my queue—he’s our friend, despite that one bit where he Does The Thing, and intense friendships the way I understand and experience them generally map best onto romances when it comes to RPG relationships. Beyond him, I love Aivu very much, Anevia and Irabeth are great and I’m so glad I got them a happy ending on my first run, and I sure do love Red Mask for reasons that definitely don’t involve the word “aspirational” at all, where would you get that idea. *eye-twitchies* 

🔞: do you have any nsfw headcanons, either for ocs or canon characters?

...I don’t not have them? It’s not the sort of thing I think of until I know a character quite well, and I have specific tastes that tend towards the “deadly boring” end of the spectrum, so I’m not the best source unless you’ve got specific questions. Besides, I get pretty uncomfortable about telling on myself publicly, so anything I post will be very vague. That said (putting a cut here to spare my readers’ delicate sensibilities):

Everything about celestials is beautiful, down to their bodily fluids smelling like perfume and looking like liquid gemstones and body parts that aren’t aesthetic-looking on anyone else somehow being so on them. Whether aasimar get a touch of this is down to the genetic lottery, I suppose. (Ounai got just enough to be weirdly alluring even when she’s objectively a filthy mess.)

Speaking of celestials, if the Hand is half again to twice as tall as your typical human, then assuming average proportions, it ought to be on the far upper end of what you find in human-sized humans. Do with this information what you will.

Back in the late ‘90s or thereabouts, I read someone’s homebrew D&D supplement online—I want to say it was “The AD&D Guide to Sex”, and you know it was the ‘90s because the AD&D label was still a thing—that included a feat where high-level paladins would urinate pure holy water. Was it probably put there by someone with a piss fetish? Yes. Is it hilarious enough that I immediately adopted it as my personal headcanon despite that? Also yes.

I remain mostly agnostic on the Lann genitalia controversy except that I put my foot down about him having scales on there, because ow. Human skin only, please.

Speaking of Lann, I’m sure dating norms aren’t the only thing he does intensive research on before his romance finale. I leave as an exercise to the reader who exactly he asked what questions.

Riftmarked tieflings are supposed to be fucking weird-looking. Where are my tentacles, Owlcat? Visekot could be using them for such delightful things. Just imagine. I’m not even going to try pinning down her genital situation, either. Enh, she and Lann will figure something out.

[shipskicksandgiggles]

85, Parkner

dude, I love you, but your past two prompts have made me put the boys through some shit. I love you tho

side note: someone needs to give me a word count this is getting insane. at some point I started picking up on Harley’s mannuerisms too, so it’s been a fucking day

prompt: “Don’t lie to me.” (from this list)

Read (Don’t) Talk to Me here on AO3

~

Peter was avoiding him. There was no other way to put it. Every time Harley walked into a room, he walked out, and if he couldn’t, he wouldn’t look at him or even acknowledge he was there. It was infuriating.

“Is he okay?” Tony was asking him. He’d walked out again, this time while the other Avengers were in the room.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“He’s avoiding me like the plague, it’s not like I’ve had the opportunity to make sure he’s okay.”

“Need one of us to talk to him?” Natasha asked. 

“1. Your version of talking typically involves someone getting their neck broken, and 2. asking one of you to talk to him for me sounds so middle school. I think I’ll pass.”

“And you have no idea what this is about?”

“Nope.” Harley was starting to get really annoyed with his team butting into his private life. “If he doesn’t want to talk to me, he doesn’t have to talk to me.”

“As long as you don’t jeopardize any missions, it’s your business” Steve told him. “Just make sure it doesn’t interfere with your jobs, otherwise we will have to have a conversation.”

“Yes sir.” 

He walked out, fully intending to go down to his workshop and work on his suit. There had been damage from the last mission after a boulder fell on him, and he had yet to finish up hammering out the dents. And while he was thinking about the suit, he needed to recode his interface and his repulsors could use an upgrade.

He and Peter shared a lab space. According to JARVIS he wasn’t there, so he could work in peace. Thank god. 

~~~

A few hours later, all the dents were gone. The suit needed a paint job too, he realized. Not until after he finished the repulsors though. It could wait. He was close to finished with this anyways.

Before resetting them into the suit, he slipped the gauntlets over his wrists. There was a target on the other end of the room. The sight from his desk was clear, and unless something went very wrong he doubted he would hit anything anyways. 

“Hey.”

Harley acted before he had a chance to think. He was up and out of his seat, keeping one gauntlet at his throat as he slammed him against the desk and aimed a repulsor at his head. 

“Woah! Dude, what the fuck?” Peter, to his credit, looked absolutely fucking terrified. 

“Shit!” He released Peter and yanked off his gauntlets as fast as he could. “Fuck, I’m so sorry.”

“Are you okay?”

Harley rubbed at his chest. “I was just about to shoot you with a repulsor beam at point blank range, and you’re asking if I’m okay?” He caught his breath. “Don’t fucking scare me like that.”

“Sorry.” At least he sounded genuine. 

He turned back to his work bench and started reassembling the suit. “Did you need something?”

“I need an excuse to talk to you?”

“Well given the fact you haven’t spoken to me in days, I figured you oughta be here for a reason.”

Peter made an offended noise, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He wasn’t going to get anything else done today, so he might as well put away the armor and set JARVIS up to get the paint job done. 

“Are you mad that I haven’t been talking to you?”

“I don’t give a shit about what you do, Parker. Just fucking warn me if you’re in the room while I’m working.”

“So you are mad at me.”

“I just told you that I don’t give a shit. Why the fuck are you following me?”

He just wanted to go upstairs and take a nap. God, he was tired and all he wanted was to be alone, but Peter was walking with him to the elevator.

“I want to spend time with you. Is that a crime?”

“What are you doing, Peter?” It was barely a question. He didn’t deserve days of nothing only to be tailed by him. 

He didn’t say anything for a moment. “C’mon. You have grease on your shirt. JARVIS, apartment level please.”

The elevator dinged open and Harley debated whether or not to step in. 

Peter shoved him. “Don’t be a brat.”

“That’s fucking rich coming from you.”

He rolled his eyes, but didn’t contest the point. They made it up to their floor, and Harley walked to his door, expecting Peter to walk down the hall to his own apartment. 

When he didn’t, Harley sighed and unlocked his door anyways. “You don’t live here,” he commented. “You did your job. You got me upstairs and I’m not planning to go back down until tomorrow.”

Peter turned on him. “What the fuck is your problem, man?”

“You show me yours and I’ll show you mine.”

“Why are you so pissed at me right now?”

“Why have you been avoiding me?” He knew he was yelling, he just didn’t care anymore. He was so sick and tired of feeling ignored by his best friend, and he wasn’t willing to let go without an explanation. “Was it something I said? Something I did? There had better be a reason you’ve walked out of every room I’ve been in for the past week.” He moved to the other side of the room, intent on getting away from him. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

“It wasn’t intentional-”

“Don’t lie to me!”

Peter sighed. “You want the truth? Fine. I couldn’t look at your fucking face because I kept replaying the moment you almost died. You got trapped under that boulder and I heard you screaming, and I couldn’t do anything. I don’t know what Mr. Stark told you about me, but the moment I realized I was a hero was the time he took away my suit and a building fell on me. I was stuck there for what felt like hours, screaming my lungs out, just waiting for someone to save me. I almost died because of my own ignorance, and to see you in those same circumstances? To see you trapped under solid rock, screaming my name, Tony’s, Rhodey’s, Steve’s, anyone’s name? That was so much worse.”

“But I made it out!”

“What if you hadn’t? How could I have lived with that?”

“You have a real fucked up way of showing your emotions, you know that?”

“Says the guy who almost fucking shot me!”

“That’s different, and you know it.”

“Yeah? How.”

He didn’t have to deal with this. “I think you should leave.”

“No.”

“Get out.”

Peter tried to walk up to him and place his hand on his back. “Harley-”

“Don’t touch me.”

“Listen-”

“I don’t have to do shit. Just leave. You’ve been practicing so much, why waste your skills? Here, can you not find the door? Let me show you out.” He started to open the door for him before Peter slammed it and trapped him there. 

“Can you stop?”

“Why, because I’m irritated that you ignore me, and then when I say I want to be alone you do everything to get closer? What’s next? You gonna shove your tongue down my throat?”

“Only if you want me too, but god would that make it easier to get you to stop talking.”

“You- What?”

Peter still wasn’t letting him go. “I’m sorry that I’ve been avoiding you. I should have been honest from the beginning. That wasn’t fair, and I definitely want to make it up to you, but please don’t get pissy with me when I try to do that.”

“Work on your communication skills and maybe I won’t be mad next time.”

“Maybe you should work on not dying so that we don’t have a next time.” 

“In our line of work? Please.”

“Could you at least try? For me?”

“Fine, I promise I will try to not die in a world where we fight gods and aliens and monsters all the time.”

“Bastard.”

“I promised didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but don’t be a bitch about it.”

“You’re the worst.”

“How do you figure?”

Harley looked down at him. “You pinned me to the back of my own apartment door, you threatened to kiss me quiet, and I keep telling you to leave and somehow you’re still here.”

“I didn’t threaten you, I offered. I’d only kiss you if you wanted me too.”

He snorted. “It probably wouldn’t even work to shut me up.”

“Is that a bet?”

“What are we betting on?”

Peter considered the question. “If I’m right and you do stop talking, you can buy me dinner. I will buy you dinner if I’m wrong.”

“All over you not being able to communicate like a normal person? Wow, you must really be- mmmph.”

Peter pulled him down into a chaste kiss. He tasted sweet, Harley noticed. 

“If you really think that’s going to work, you’ve already lost.”

~~~

The next kiss was more intense. Harley preferred it to breathing. 

Peter still had to buy him dinner.

[lostsoulaltair]

OnS Theories (16S). Fourth Theory - Reason why Shikama was able to possess Shinoa easily and the mission of the Sinful Keys

Hello everyone, good morning, I hope you get to have a great day, remember to stay safe!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vfcrC87v8A

One of the things the fandom has been wondering it’s related to why or how Shikama was able to pop in the middle of the conversation between Krul and Shinoa; therefore, let’s talk about said topic, shall we?

But, before we start wondering why he possessed her easily in chapter 98, let’s recall some events to explain why such event happened

As far as we know, Shikama Doji was able to possess Shinoa by taking Yu and Ashera as hostages back in chapter 74:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 74

Of course Yu and Ashera weren’t rivals to the First due to the inmense amount of power he has; thus it lead to Shinoa go in opening her heart and rescue them; this only allowed the First Progenitor to fulfill one of his many tasks to do to fulfill or achieve his dream of revenge or whatever he seeks within the story. As far as we know, his past and all his actions are shrouded in mystery.

But now, returning to the main topic, we might recall that Shikama took total possession of Shinoa in chapter 76 after Ferid aimed to make the First appear in a “weakened state”, and you might wonder how I can state that.

For that, let’s recall that the First was taking Shinoa’s possession at his own rythmn, but of course Ferid didn’t allow such thing:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 76

Within this, the First Progenitor slowly started to “play” around with the vampires that sided with the humans; until Rigr Stafford came in and started to have a serious fight against the First; eventually, the events on which Guren used 3 sinful keys to restrain the First Progenitor came in; but within this, the First Progenitor stated something rather curious:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 85

He stated he could resist the effects of the Sinful Keys but that’d be harmful to Shinoa since she was still a human that didn’t go through a vampire transformation state.

Therefore, does this mean the sinful keys failed?

No. But why or how can I state such thing?

The Sinful Keys alone were used for one sole reason asides from buying time, what could it be?

Correct. The sinful keys used against the First were used mainly to seal him or trap him within one sole body but, how can I be so sure about this?

Back in chapter 57, Kureto got possessed by the First, though, his demon Raimeki managed to withstand such event, allowing the First to roam freely; but then again, how can I be so sure about this?

That’s easy:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 61

Shikama’s shadow heading towards Shinoa’s location, that can be displayed in chapter 66 and 67

The shadow that is circled in the picture above, it’s actually Shikama Doji’s shadow; same issue happens in chapter 73

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 73

Shikama heads to visit Asuramaru

Therefore, it can be said that Shikama had freedom to invade other hearts easily in order to achieve his goals or seeking ways to invade and finally possess Shinoa’s heart; therefore, this shows that the Sinful Keys held down certain effect, and that was to restrain his freedom:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 84

We can state that if Guren had the 7 Sinful Keys, the effects would have been much bigger compared to 3 sinful keys; but that alone was something Guren and Mahiru aimed; and that is to save Shinoa’s life from the First Progenitor without the need to kill her or sacrifice her.

But now, why did Shikama reappear after they used those 3 Sinful Keys?

That’s easy, if many might recall, Shinoa and the First Progenitor might not be close in terms of fondness compared to Yu and Asuramaru’s bond as wielder and demon; but, their link goes in a different form; what do I mean?

It means that whenever Shinoa would be endangered, Shikama would protect her even if it’s focused for own personal selfish objectives and of course, that’s awfully displayed in the next panel:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 98

But of course, about how this change happened will be explained in another theory.

Returning once again to the main theory, it can be concluded that the Sinful Keys were only there to stop the First Progenitor from roaming freely to his own will; hence why when Mahiru used a special drug, they delayed even more the moves of the First Progenitor to track down the demon Mikaela.

As for Shinoa and the reason she was possessed easily, it’s because the door to her heart was left open when she went to save Yu; despite supressing her emotions, she already stated the side effects of it:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 86

Correct, her body no longer belongs to her alone after the possession and her rescue; therefore, for the First Progenitor is easier to take over her when there’s something that catches his interest forehand; such as tracking down the demon Mikaela.

But now; many might wonder why Shinoa is so easily to possess and perhaps the conclusion is because her desires alone were released but, in fact, that’s not the issue; what do I mean?

Shinoa Hiragi doesn’t views herself as someone worthy to save.

Perhaps readers might dismiss the idea of such thought but Shinoa has been carrying a sense of guilt for a long time; and that is something visible in the last volume of the Catastrophe at 16 LNs; after Shikama returned to her; Shinoa learnt that her sister sacrificed herself so she could live up a more peaceful life; to add more to this, in chapter 72, after realizing that her sister was protecting her from a monster, she deemed herself as the only one that held down the path of happiness to her sister and Guren Ichinose; furthermore, the fact that she allowed Shikama Doji possess her alone, it was something that despite she aimed to save her family, it also caused damage to the outside world.

Those emotions alone, make her doubt if she should keep going or not.

But well, the story must keep going, and we can only wait to see how this girl will eventually evolve in future chapters.

What do you think guys? What are your thoughts?

Let me know!

NOTE: Theories don’t involve ships. Theories are written within a neutral view

[thelordofdarkreunion]

A List of Things the Scoundrels Are No Longer Allowed to Do

So, I have recently read “A List of Things Skippy Isn’t Allowed to Do in the Army” and “A List of Things Dr. Bright isn’t allowed to do at the SCP Foundation”, and I decided to do a version of my own.  Some of these are taken from these other two lists.  If anyone who reads this you has any ideas for the list, feel free to add them.  

The group known as the Magnificent Scoundrels has gotten a bit out of hand.  This list was compiled by Admiral Hackett of the Systems Alliance, Admiral Kelly of the GA, Fleet Admiral Hood of the UNSC, Inquisitor Vail of the Holy Inquisition, Commander Briggs of the Frontier Militia, Princess Leia of the New Republic, and Director Fury of SHIELD in order to curb the Scoundrels’ more dangerous or inappropriate behaviors.  These rules apply to all Scoundrels and their teams/crews.  

1.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to call SPARTAN super soldiers “big boys”.

2.  The Better Business Bureau is not the correct agency for handling people who smuggle Sith holocrons.

3.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to say the phrase “I am in need of a new host body” within earshot of Imperial Inquisitors.

4.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to bargain personnel for their “souls”.  Even if they say they can get you a good deal.

5.  Government equipment is not to be used to bootleg pornography.  

6.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to cite Kevin McCallister from Home Alone as a credible source for anti-personnel tactics in official documents.

7.  The rumor that Adam Vir wears heelies while in official dress uniform is a blatant lie.

8.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to send spam emails to Ceberus.  Even if it is funny.

9.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to apply mind control devices to major political figures.

10.  Thomas Drake is no longer allowed to use time travel devices.  Especially if his reasoning is to “screw with those history nerds.”

11.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use telepaths to alter or affect the outcomes of reality based television shows.

12.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to trade government property for liquor.

13.  “I was bored” is not a valid excuse.

14.  The Scoundrels are not allowed to begin a crusade without the written permission of the Imperial Inquisition.

15. Thanos is not to be referred to as “Biggy T”.

16.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use fan conventions as recruitment drives.

17.  Any proposal which includes the phrase “metric fuck load” is to be denied.

18.�� The video game Doom is not a credible source.

19.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to allow Starfleet red shirts to be possessed by daemons or ancient Sith Lords.

20.  When researching time travel, please refer to the work of the IMC’s ARES Division or the Starfleet, not Doctor Who, Back to the Future, or Call of Duty Zombies.

21.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to to accept or use any of the following as currency:

           Your soul

           Anyone else’s soul

           Firstborn children

           Memories

           Memes

           Blood

           Organs

           Virginity

           Ponies

           Eldritch Artifacts

22.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to join any communist party for any reason.  (Note from Thomas Drake- Hell yeah.  Those guys suck.)

23.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to join any fascist party for any reason. (Note from Thomas Drake- Hell yeah.  Those guys suck too.)

24.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to join the Imperial Cult, unless they are an already practicing member.  (Note from Thomas Drake- LONG LIVE OUR GLORIOUS LEADER THE GOD-EMPEROR OF MAN AND IF YOU ARE AN INQUISITOR PLEASE NOTE I HAVE NEVER SAID ANYTHING BAD ABOUT THE EMPEROR EVER.)

25.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to taunt the Asari about how bad they are at fighting wars.

26.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to chew gum during staff meetings, unless they brought enough for everybody.

27.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to chew gum during staff meetings, even if they did bring enough for everyone.

28.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use Volus’s as bowling pins or bowling balls.

29.  While we do not have jurisdiction over him and thus cannot prevent their sale, none of the other Scoundrels are to purchase or proquire experimental drugs from Thomas Drake.  

30.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to imply that their superior officers served in World War II.  They aren’t that old.

31.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use military vehicles to “squish” things.

32.  Surprisingly enough, or, perhaps not, considering what’s on there, downloading the entirety of 4chan into a Geth Colossus did, in fact, shut it down.  

33.  Loudspeaker systems are not to be used to broadcast the soundtracks of porno movies.

34.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to drink copious amounts of food coloring before urine tests.

35.  When operating military vehicles, the Scoundrels are no longer allowed to attempt “something I saw in a cartoon”.

36.  Do not dare SERE graduates to eat bugs.  They will always do it.

37.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to make s’mores while on guard duty.

38.  The Illuminati are not a part of the chain of command.

39.  Pants are not optional parts of a dress uniform.

40.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to trade military equipment for “magic beans”.  (Note from Peter Quill- They were pretty cool though.)

41.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to call medics “Dr. Feelgood” unless Feelgood is the medic’s actual last name.

42.  The God-Emperor of Mankind is not to be referred to as “Big Daddy E” or “The Lord of Bling”.

43.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to take the batteries from other peoples alarm clocks.

44.  Unless you are a certified Titan Pilot, you are not allowed to pilot a Titan.

45.  Camouflage body paint is not a uniform.

46.  “Challenge accepted” is not a valid excuse for anything.

47.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to claim that they are reincarnations of famous historical figures without proof.

48.  Thomas Drake is a human mercenary.  He does not possess any of the following:

          Laser eyes

          Laser nostrils

          Laser [CENSORED]

          An adamantium skeleton

          A map leading to “all of the Nazi gold”

          Mjolnir

          The Kronorium

          The Necronomicon

          The Book of Magnus

          “The touch”

          “The power”

          “The secret”

          “The 6th sense”

          The ability to distinguish between butter and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!

49.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to start theological debates between members of the Imperial Cult and the Covenant.

50.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to mock Stormtroopers of the Galactic Empire over how bad their aim is.  Even if their aim is bad.

51.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to hold “Jamaican vacation giveaways”. 

52.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to sell counterfeit Infinity Stones.

53.  Pictures of other Scoundrels in compromising positions are not to be put on the internet.  Or the extra- or holo- net.

54.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to “water” Vrul.  While they do get their energy from photosynthesis, they are not plants.

55.  The Scoundrels are not “the final bosses” of anything.

56.  The Scoundrels must try not to antagonize SPECTREs, Inquisitors, or ODSTs.

57.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to purchase anyone’s soul on government time.

58.  There are no evil clowns living under your bed.

59.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to form press gangs.

60.  The Scoundrels are not the kings or queens of cheese.

61.  If the thought of something makes you giggle for more than 15 seconds, you are to assume you aren’t allowed to do it.

62.  Crucifixes do not ward off superior officers, and you should not test that.  

63.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to mount bayonets on heavy machine guns.

64.  Try and keep all mockery of the press at an appropriate minimum.  

65.  You cannot imply your CO is possessed by anything.

66.  You cannot trade your CO to the Covenant.

67.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use government resources to waterproof dirty magazines.

68.  Radioactive material should not be stored in the barracks.

69.  Two drink limit does not mean first and last.

70.  “I was drunk” is not a valid or appropriate excuse.

71.  Mandalorian armor is not part of any of our governments’ full dress uniforms.

72.  You should not yell “Kobe!” when blowing up enemy starships.  

73.  The “revolution” is not now.

74.  Unless you are in extremely dire circumstances, you are not allowed to eat your uniform.

75.  Body checking General officers is not a good idea.

76.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to tell police officers that belt-fed machine guns are “medicinal”.

77.  If you check the box marked “Other” on official documents, you have to fill it out.

78.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to fill prescription drug bottles with M&M’s or Mike and Ike’s.

79.  None of the Scoundrels possesses a name that, when spoken aloud, can kill.

80.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to challenge anyone to a duel.

81.  The proper response to a briefing is not “that’s what you think”.

82.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to end official reports with Sabaton lyrics.  Or lyrics from any metal band, for that matter.

83.  The phrase “to conquer the Earth with an army of flying monkeys” is not to be said.

84.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to appeal to humanity’s baser instincts on recruitment posters.

85.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to refer to N7’s Iron Eye Soldiers Space Marines janitors anyone as “the cool kids”.

86.  None of the Scoundrels have “won the internet” and are not authorized to declare that they or any other individual or individuals have done so.  

87.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use redacted data in official reports as “mad-libs”.

88.  The following are not appropriate sources for new crew members:

          Temp agencies

          Reality show talent pools

          “Orphans”

          “Urchins”

          “Ragmuffins”

          “Those sons of bitches who I know had a stacked deck”

          Ex-girlfriends

          Ex-boyfriends

          Ex-partners of any variation whatsoever

          Forum trolls

          “Angsty teens”

89.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to sneak links to Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up into official reports.

90.  None of the Scoundrels possess “voodoo powers”.

91.  “Why not?” is not a valid excuse.

92.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to make masturbation jokes when in the presence of official dignitaries.

93.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to play the song Thriller when in the presence of anything that could be considered a zombie, which includes but is not limited to Curse of Unbelief victims, Vrul Zombies, and Reaper Husks.

94.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to say the phrase “elephant sauce”.

95.  “No shirt, no shoes, no service” does not imply that undergarments are unnecessary.

96.  The following words and phrases may not be used in marching cadence:

           Budding sexuality

           Necrophilia

           I hate everyone in this formation and wish they were dead

           Lubrication

           Your mama

           All Marines are latent homosexuals

          Tantric yoga

          Gotterdammerung

          We’ve all got jackboots now

          Any references to squid

97.  You can’t have flashbacks to wars you weren’t in.

98.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to ask for the day off due to religious purposes, on the basis the world is going to end, more than once.

99.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to take or place bets on what would happen if the Tyranids fought the Flood.

100.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use the Enterprise’s transporters to steal things.

101.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use the phrase “We fight for Mother Russia!”

102.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to sing the National Anthem of the Soviet Union when entering or exiting buildings.

103.  Adam Vir is no longer allowed to claim that “PTSD is just spicy nostalgia.”

104.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to try and get kidnapped by the Dark Eldar.

105.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to try to figure out a way to bring back the Protheans and the Forerunners so they can fight each other.

106.  Drax the Destroyer is no longer allowed to claim that he can become invisible just by standing still.

107.  Please do not confuse the primarchs of the Turian Hierarchy with the Primarchs of the Imperium of Man.

108.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to refer to Admiral Ackbar or any other member of the Mon Calamari race as “those calamari boys”.

109.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to address their superior officers as “bro”.

110.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to try and sell major political figures to Trazyn the Infinite.

111.  Peter Quill is not a god.

112.  Please refrain from using nicknames when referring to the Avengers, which includes but is not limited to calling Captain America “the spangly dude”, Thor “sparky guy”, Iron Man “my homie”, and Captain Marvel “Her”.

113.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use Titans as personal valets.

114.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to attempt to contact the Shadow Realm.

115.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to to steal artifacts from any of the following:

          Luke Skywalker

          Shadow Revenant

          The Collector

          Trazyn the Infinite

          General Marder

          The Adeptus Mechanicus

116.  Thomas Drake is not allowed to be near any weapon capable of producing an explosive force greater than ten megatonnes.

117.  Do not ever challenge a Klingon to a duel.

118.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to flip off Force ghosts.

119.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use the phrase “It’s boogaloo time!”

120.  The Scoundrels are to stop introducing A.I.’s to the teachings of the Cult Mechanicus.

121.  The Scoundrels are to stop referring to Thomas Drake as “Our Glorious Overlord.”

122.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to send porn to the Shadow Broker.  This is the ninth hit on you guys we’ve had to stop.

123.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to refer to the crewmates or superiors of any of the other Scoundrels as “extremely hot”.  Even if they are.

124.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to say that they are “super gay for Loki”.

125.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to pit a biotic, psyker, and Force-sensitive against each other just to “see what happens”.

126.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use this list as a resume.

127.  The Scoundrels shall not may not begin their sentences with “thou shalt not”.

128.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to send videos of “the sax guy” to the Borg.

129.  Jack Cooper does not have “tons of gold” hidden somewhere on the destroyed planet of Typhon.

130.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to tell Jedi or Astra Telepathica recruits “You’re a wizard, Harry”.

131.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to stand in the corner and twiddle their thumbs.

132.  “YOLO” is not a valid excuse for anything.

133.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use this list as a to-do list.

134.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to attempt to replicate the experiments of Edward Richtofen from Call of Duty Zombies.  Or the experiments of any other insane fictional doctor.

135.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to throw themselves through windows “to prove that the glass is unbreakable” for any reason whatsoever.  

136.  “Because reasons” is not a viable excuse.

137.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to refer to anyone else as “peasant” or “plebeian”.

138.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to tell new personnel fictional horror stories involving their families.

140.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to tell new personnel factual horror stories involving their families.

141.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to taunt eldritch beings imprisoned within artifacts.

142.  Speedos are not part of formal attire.

143.  If Ciaphas Cain is telling you a story about his exploits, he is exaggerating what he did, downplaying what he did, outrageously lying about what he did, and telling the complete truth about what he did all at the same time.

144.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to attempt to sell fictional stocks to the Tesraki or Ferengi.

145.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to attempt to defraud the stock exchange.

146.  No religious deity is allowed to contradict orders from a superior officer.

147.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to dress up as each other.

148.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to make pin-up calendars.  Especially of each other.

149.  Vulcan nerve pinches do not work on Chaos Space Marines.

150.  Shepard and Agent Coulson are not allowed to form a “Technically Undead Club”.

151.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to attempt to unmask members of the Mandalorian extremist cult known as ‘The Watch’.

152.  Unless you want to lose nine months pay in twenty minutes, do not play cards with Han Solo, Ciaphas Cain, John Shepard, or Thomas Drake.

153.  At all times, you should try and stay away from Revenant, Loki, and Cypher.

154.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to re-create scenes from Pulp Fiction.  

155.  Do not fake heart attacks around Dr. Krill.  The poor guy is stressed enough as is.  

156.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to challenge Thomas Drake and Liara T’Soni to a “who knows more secrets” game.  Lord Inquisitor Hector Rex was very displeased when Drake stole the Grimoire of True Names.  (Note from Amberley Vail-  How the hell did he manage to get his hands on that?)

157.  Thomas Drake is no longer allowed to steal things from the Imperium of Man or the Jedi Order, considering the consequences of such artifacts being in the wrong hands.  (Note from Thomas Drake-  Of course.  I would never…)

158.  It is not a good idea to piss off any Scoundrel that considers themselves an information broker.

159.  Introducing the Black Templars to heavy metal was, in retrospect, a bad idea.  

160.  Any ancient alien technology should be submitted to the proper authorities, not sold on Ebay.

161.  Challenging a Klingon, Sangheili, or Drev to a duel is a horrible idea.  As already mentioned.  However, challenging a Custodian to a duel is suicidal.  

162.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use Tony Stark’s nicknames for anyone.

163.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use telepaths in casinos.  

164.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to start “prank wars”.

165.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to sell themselves or any part of themselves to Trazyn the Infinite.  

166.  Be warned.  If you challenge any of the Scoundrels to do something sexual, they will most likely do it.  

167.  Do not challenge John-117 or John Shepard to a drinking game.  They cannot get drunk.  You will die of alcohol poisoning before they’re even a little tipsy.  

168.  While several of the Scoundrels are members of highly elite military forces, none of them are members of any of the following:

          The Swiss Guard

          The 101st Airborne Division

          The Winged Hussars

          The Immortals

          Napoleon’s Imperial Guard

          The SAS

          The 62nd Red Army

           Spetznaz

          The CIA

          The KGB

169.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to kidnap penguins.

170.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to mount bayonets on bayonets.

171.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to hand over annoying journalists to the Borg.

172.  Do not ever say the phrase “What’s the worst that could happen?”

173.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to hold contests to see who can cause more of these rules to be created.

174.  Adam Vir is to stop bringing new alien species onboard the Omen as pets.

175.  The Scoundrels are surprisingly creative when it comes to revenge. Don’t piss them off.  

176.  Unless you are a Space Marine or Sister of Battle, “Deus Vult” is not a valid excuse.

177.  If you need upgrades to your weapons and gear, please use the engineers on your team or other government approved individuals. 

178.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to host their own version of the Hunger Games.

179.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to quote Monty Python.

180.  No matter how good they are with technology, the Scoundrels are no longer allowed to get any members of the following species to upgrade their gear:

          Protheans

          Forerunners

          Necrons

          Eldar

          Rakata

181.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to attempt to summon any of the following beings to the material universe or into space ruled by any of our governments:

          The Nightbringer

           Darth Nihilus

           Lord Vitiate

           The Old Ones

           The Kwa

           The Reapers

           Deus

           The Dominion

           Any C’tan

           Any individual or entity associated with the Ruinous Powers

           Shadow Revenant

182.  If you ask them to, most of the Scoundrels will, in fact, “draw you like one of their French girls”.

183.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to bring members of extremely logical-minded species to modern art museums.  

184.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to seduce diplomats.

185.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to yell “Ramming speed!” when at the controls of their starships.

186.  There is only one God-Emperor of Mankind, and none of the Scoundrels are it.

187.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use Batarian soldiers as target practice.

188.  The Imperial Inquisition encourages the Scoundrels to use heretics as target practice.  

189.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to initiate random fire drills.

190.  Shepard is no longer allowed to lord his SPECTRE status over Alliance enlisted personnel or other “lesser beings”.

191.  Adam Vir is not allowed to tell fictional horror stories about Operation Steel Eye.

192.  Adam Vir is not allowed to tell factual horror stories about Operation Steel Eye.  

193.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to say the phrase “We ride at dawn!”.

194.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to pool their resources to buy any starship over a kilometer long.

195.  THE SCOUNDRELS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO STEAL STAR DESTROYERS OR ANY OTHER STARSHIP OVER A KILOMETER IN LENGTH.

196.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to make clones of each other.

197.  None of the Scoundrels have holidays named after them.  (Addendum: Cain does, on the planet of Perelia.)  

198.  The Scoundrels are encouraged to stay away from the planet Perelia.

199.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to refer to their crew as “my glorious minions”.

200.  John-117 is no longer allowed to attempt orbital reentry with nothing but his suit of armor.

201.  Do not imply that Caiphas Cain and Amberley Vail are in a relationship, because, no matter how probable it may seem, Amberley will kill you.

202.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to sell toasters to the Adeptus Mechanicus.  

203.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to hold “Casual Fridays”.

204.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to use jetpacks.

205.  Don’t try to blackmail Drake. The last time someone tried to do this, it was with his sexual history. He laughed in their face and personally published the video on the internet.  His public approval rating then went up 30%.  

206.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to attempt to replicate the experiments of the Vault-Tech Corporation from the Fallout video game series.

207.  The Scoundrels are no longer allowed to play Triumphal March whenever they enter or exit a room.  

208.  None of the Scoundrels are to be allowed anywhere near a lightsaber.  

209.  None of the Scoundrels are allowed or authorized to knight anyone. 

210.  None of the Scoundrels are allowed to edit this list.  

[vow-upon-a-star]

Stupidity

It is so clear cleriths do not understand what Cloud’s false identity was. I have seen all of them say “Why does Cloud remember Aerith when he regains his true self if he was Zack”   He WASN’T Zack. Nowhere is it ever stated he was Zack.  “His facade is him pretending he’s not in love with Aerith”  Ok. Why does he have a facade before even meeting Aerith? Why does his facade break down around Tifa when he doesn’t even know her name. Why does he very clearly not want anything to do with Aerith when she’s trying to give him a flower. He still had his facade there huh? And her telling him not to fall in love with her you’d think that’d be the start of this “facade” in which he’s pretending he isn’t.  Cloud’s facade exists independently from Aerith. Cloud’s false identity is not because he’s pretending to not be in love with her because she said not to (wtf they actually think this omfg) 

Cloud’s facade/false persona was created before the game even started. The Remake ultimania does not confirm he “is pretending not to love Aerith” it’s saying what the past ultimanias have always said. Cloud’s true self only emerges around Tifa, not Aerith, he has a false persona around Aerith and she is acknowledging this. Both in OG with her “I want to meet you” admitting she has not met the real Cloud, and with the Remake in which she says any feelings he may feel towards her wouldn’t be real because he is not truly himself. 

Sources: 

Enigma of the voice As Cloud is trying to place the bomb, a mysterious voice speaks to him. Later, this same kind of mysterious voice resounds in Cloud’s head in the scene where he and a voice have a conversation, and it offers him reminders. These voices are the original Cloud, as – due to Hojo’s Sephiroth Clones experiment –Zack’s personality merged with his, creating the present day Cloud, producing a conflict of multiple personalities- FF7 Ultimania Omega, pg. 68 

When staying at a private house, the mysterious voice echoed inside Cloud’s mind again, asking him why he didn’t see Tifa before leaving to the Mako reactor 5 years ago. In truth, Cloud didn’t want his identity known as a regular trooper/soldier and avoided Tifa, but this memory is sealed. Does the voice trying to awaken him belong to Sephiroth, who made Cloud his puppet? Or is it Cloud trying to return to his original self? – Judging from the dialogue, “It was a great chance for you two to see each other again,” it seems to be the latter. The voice also says things that see through to Cloud’s hidden feelings. -FF7 Ultimania Omega, pg. 110

Cloud had been stricken with Mako poisoning on two separate occasions, once in the 7th Street slum train station, and again in Mideel. Both times it had been Tifa’s voice calling to him that had restored him to consciousness.- FF20th Anniversary Ultimania Vol 2: Scenario pg. 206 

Due to the influence of the Jenova cells implanted in his body he acted out a false persona, but with the support of his friends he regains his true self and grows as a person.- FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Cloud’s profile pg. 36-41

At first he calls himself “ex-SOLDIER, 1st Class”, and affects a condescending attitude towards the people around him, but this is a false pretence born from Cloud’s own desires. - FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Cloud’s profile pg. 36-41

At the age of 16 Cloud was sent on a mission to his hometown of Nibelheim, where Sephiroth went out of control (what is commonly called the “Sephiroth Incident”). Cloud, having suffered heavy injuries during the incident, was injected with cells from Jenova, an extraterrestrial life form. These cells, which Sephiroth also had in his body, controlled Cloud’s thoughts and created a separate personality, and tried to manipulate Cloud into joining with Sephiroth. Even the Meteor crisis was indirectly caused by Cloud having become a puppet to Sephiroth. In FFVII Cloud finally regains his true self and defeats Sephiroth, but this doesn’t mean he’s completely freed from the will of Jenova, and in AC he is tormented by the Remnant’s call for the Reunion.- - FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Cloud’s profile pg. 36-41 

While still just a grunt, he aims to be in SOLDIER. He strikes up a friendship with Zack, a SOLDIER 1st Class; what influence will he have on Cloud, that would lead to Cloud imitating Zack’s personality - FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Cloud’s profile pg. 36-41

What Cloud Inherited from Zack

Under the effect of Jenova’s cells, Cloud mimics his best friend Zack and creates a new persona, but the mental aspects weren’t the only things he received from Zack. - FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Cloud’s profile pg. 36-41

Zack’s personality had a heavy influence on the formation of Cloud’s personality when he was under Jenova’s control. -FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Zack’s profile pg. 82 - 85

He lost his life trying to escape from the clutches of ShinRa, who had been performing experiments on the bodies of Cloud and himself. Although Zack was already deceased before the start of the story, Cloud confused himself with Zack and in the process of recovering his original self, Zack’s character is also brought to light. -FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Zack’s profile pg. 82 - 85

The photo taken with Tifa and Sephiroth prior to the departure to the Mako Reactor. It provided and opportunity to expose the falsehood in Cloud’s memories. -FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Zack’s profile pg. 82 - 85 

First love Zack Aerith’s first love was Zack, a young SOLDIER 1st Class who she lost contact with 5 years ago. He was Cloud’s best friend, and his personality has had a great influence on Cloud’s behavior. Aerith is unaware that the two were best friends, and takes an interest in Cloud because she sees Zack in him. -pg. 197 of the FF 20th Anniversary Ultimania File 1: Character

Aerith’s first love is Zack, the object of Cloud’s basic personality of being an “ex-SOLDIER.” . We could say Cloud’s speaking and acting like Zack is a big reason why Aerith started to have good feelings towards Cloud. -pg. 29, FFVII Ultimania Omega

"I’m looking for you."…"So you won’t have a beakdown." - what Aerith told Cloud had many deep meanings. Aerith detected that the present Cloud is not the real him during their encounters. She knows it because of her mysterious, inherent ability. -pg. 29, FFVII Ultimania Omega (Aerith knows the real Cloud bit cleriths in the ass because in the remake she tells Cloud his feelings aren’t real.)

Jenova's mimic ability Jenova has a mimic ability which allows it to read the memories and feelings of others, then adjust its appearance, speech and behaviour accordingly to immitate what it has seen. Jenova once used this ability to get close to the Ancients and infect them with its virus, which killed many of them.

This ability is not limited solely to Jenova itself, for those who have its cells within them possess it as well, though in an incomplete form. Immediately prior to the start of the game, when Cloud's mind was shattered, he ran into Tifa and seemed to immediately return to "normal" (-->P.13); this was because the mimic abilities of the Jenova cells inside Cloud read her mind, seeing her memories of him, which were then combined with his own ideal vision of himself, fashioning a new personality for him. -FF7 Ultimania Omega

Why does Cloud remember Aerith after regaining his true self?

Because the real Cloud was never gone, it was always there trying to regain control. That’s why the voice speaks to Cloud throughout the game in OG, the real Cloud is TRYING to come back. The real Cloud has memories because he wasn’t blacked out throughout disc 1. He’d remember Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge too. His flashbacks in AC also show he has memories Shinra exploding, and has memories of Zack when he was in his mako poisoned comatose state!  Tl;Dr

What Cloud’s false persona/facade was/is: A combination of memories and Cloud’s own desires with Zack as a basis--brought about by the Jenova cells in his body. His true self emerges only around Tifa, and Tifa is the one who helps him regain his true self.  What Cloud’s false persona/facade is not: Aerith told him not to fall in love with her so he’s putting on a facade that he’s not in love with her.

P.s. As for Maiden and Dismantled, they were both written by a man who was never involved with the development of FF7 or its compilation, and funnily enough cleriths claim Aerith knew the real Cloud but cite Maiden--in which Aerith admits she doesn’t know the real Cloud and can’t help him regain himself. Ironic.  

[narratornavigatorstoryteller]

hi this is a mello-centric account but here's my matt analysis

general 

smoking

often, people who smoke do so as the result of pressure or as a coping mechanism. he's clearly smart enough to recognize what is and isn't a good idea, so i don't believe he'd start smoking just because someone else said he should. instead, i'd say he smokes as a coping mechanism. i'm not sure what exactly he'd be coping with, however, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume stress, anxiety, and the environment in which he was raised are all contributing factors.

interest in technology

i take this to be one of a Few things that could point to him possibly having adhd or autism, likely with technology as a hyperfixation. will expand on this farther down.

was smart enough to be in 3rd place

i feel as though he could've ranked higher in the wammy's system, not because he "didn't apply himself," but more because he didn't Care. as someone with interests (and potentially, an ideal career) outside of becoming L's successor, i wouldn't be surprised if matt were on level with or even above mello. maybe it's respect or simple lack of wanting that keeps him in third.

comparable to a dog

for matt, this would be a different meaning than mello. where mello's dog comparison takes on a sharper, more assertive tone, i personally see matt as being much more responsive and analytical. where mello has a set plan in place that can be adjusted accordingly, matt has a much looser set of major goals and prefers to analyze the situation as it progresses.

i also feel like he is a leader, however he lacks the motivation to apply it. instead, going back to the dog comparison, he'll take what he's given within reason. if mello says to answer when he calls, then matt will. if wammy's house says to get ranked as high as possible, he will. at the same time, if he feels something is unnecessary, he won't even consider it. why aim for top two if third is good enough? why genuinely try to become L's successor if he just doesn't want to?

long story short, matt's what i'd like to call a selective follower; he has the qualifications to be a strong and good leader, but is very picky about where and why he applies them. as a selective follower, he'll do what he's told, but only when he actually believes in whoever is trying to instruct him. he is loyal, but might not be above playing traitor if he saw good reason to.

i doubt he was very well liked at wammy's, and was often misread by other students

as number 3, matt prevents number 4, 5, 6, etc. from even having a chance at the top. additionally, he likely presents himself as an awkward loner (with his social skills being 3/10) with a nic addiction and a love of video games. this presentation alongside his obviously high intelligence might cause people to resent and misunderstand him, seeing matt as nothing more than another obstacle between them and a higher position. social awkwardness is now read as conceitedness ("he thinks he's too good for us") and the video games and lack of rank progression are read as refusal to apply himself (which, while true, would now be read more negatively due to the situation)

goggles

i personally like to think he wears them because of light sensitivity, but at the same time i want to see them as a symbol of his constant personality masking. i can't see him as anything other than deeply thoughtful and extremely loyal. in times of stress, he projects confidence and pride, possibly to mask a fear of failure and being seen as weak. i also see a potential fear of vulnerability in him, though whether this is with himself, with others, or just in general is debatable (by obscuring his eyes, it makes it harder for them to be read, building up a wall between him and whoever he's with).

neurodivergence

i have no doubt that he is either autistic or has adhd. To start: boredom. it’s a recurring theme in death note for characters to experience boredom and have strange means of dealing with it (e.g., ryuk, light [debatable], and L). for mail, i’d say that this points even more in the direction of him being neurodivergent coded, as boredom is also a symptom found in various neurodivergencies. next; video games and electronics. hyperfixations are used as a way to relieve stress, or as something that a person simply enjoys and thinks about in ways that go far beyond their control. in chapter 85, while “watching mogi and misa” for mello, matt is shown actually playing video games instead, and states that he found his original task boring. some neurodivergent people may find it hard to complete certain tasks, especially if they don’t find them interesting, and it makes sense that he would turn to his hyperfixation instead. for now i’ll end on his social skills. in the offical stats, matt’s social skills are rated at a 3/10, which, if i’m not mistaken, is second lowest for the human death note characters at least, with near and L tying for absolute lowest at 1/10. while not everyone experiences this, its a common symptom to have “trouble” socialising, or to not be very good at reading social cues. due to his high observation skills, i’d say that a lot of what builds up his social interactions is mirroring; things he picked up from watching others, especially those at wammy’s house. i know i said i’d end with that, but some smaller points that i won’t talk too much on are his goggles (possible light sensitivity/sensory issues, also potentially a comfort item), his gloves (could be a sensory thing, or even a strong aversion to germs, though the latter is less likely due to the next point), and his environment (from what we’re shown, his workspace is very cluttered and disorganized)

relationships

mello

mello’s the only one we ever see any interaction with. They’re officially described as “friends," and stayed together for a bit before takada's kidnapping. they seem to hold mutual respect and trust for each other, with matt being willing to assist in mello's plans and mello calling matt to work with him after the explosion. when matt slipped up while spying on misa, mello was shown to be a bit annoyed, however he didn’t mention it and simply carried on with things the best he could. their relationship overall seems to be a very good one, even after all their years apart.

[tinyshe]

Story at-a-glance

There are 10 steps that every tyrannical government has followed. We are now at step 10. Once the 10th step locks into place, there will be no going back

The 10 steps toward tyranny start with the invocation of a terrifying internal and/or external threat. From 2001 onward, that threat was terrorism, which was used as the justification for stripping us of our liberties

With the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, we entered step 10, where emergency powers and laws are used to strip remaining freedoms from the people, censorship is enacted and certain kinds of speech is criminalized

We must get involved and fight to enact state legislation that protects against continued erosion of freedom and reestablishes rights and liberties

The Daily Clout platform was created for this purpose. It allows citizens to lobby already drafted, turnkey bills to their legislators

This is the article in full:

Naomi Wolf, a former adviser to  the Clinton administration, is a prolific author and Yale University graduate.  She also received a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship that allowed her to complete  her Ph.D. in English and literature at Oxford University in 2015. Eight years  before that, she wrote a book called “The End  of America,” which is the topic of this interview. “The End of America” was published  in 2007. At the end of this article, you will find a playlist of three videos  in which she reads select chapters of the book. You can also download  the first and last chapters for free on the publisher’s website,  chelseagreen.com.1A Prescient Warning Already in 2007, Wolf warned us of  where we were headed. In her book, she points out that would-be tyrants are  found on both sides of the political spectrum. We must not get locked into  generalizations about political affiliations, because they simply do not give  us a truthful picture of who the enemy is. While Wolf and I could be said to  be on opposite sides of the political spectrum, Wolf being a long-time  progressive while many would view me as a conservative, our views are in  perfect alignment when it comes to the issues of protecting American freedom  and liberty.We are [now] at Step 10. I've been trying to warn people,  tirelessly, as much as I can, that we are at Step 10 and that once Step 10  locks in, there is no going back. ~ Naomi WolfIn “The End of America,” Wolf lays  out the 10 steps toward tyranny. These steps have been followed by virtually  all would-be tyrants, be they on the political left or right. They were  followed in Italy in the '20s, Germany in '30s, East Germany in the '50s, Chile  in the '70s and China in the '80s. “They all took the same 10 steps, and they always work,” Wolf says. “I warned people  that when you start to see these 10 steps, you have to take action, because  there is no way to recover once things go too far without a bloody revolution  or a civil war. We are [now] at Step 10. People have said, since I wrote that book   in 2007, ‘Tell us when we're at Step 10.’ I've always said, ‘Things are bad,  they're getting worse, but there's still hope.’ We're literally at Step 10 now.  I've been trying to warn people, tirelessly, as much as I can, that we are at Step  10 and that once Step 10 locks in, there is no going back.”We’re in the Final Step of  the Implementation of Tyranny.The 10 steps toward tyranny start  with the invocation of a terrifying internal and/or external threat. It may be  a real threat or an imagined one, but in all cases, it’s a hyped-up threat.  From 2001 onward, that threat was terrorism, which was used as the  justification for stripping us of our liberties. Ultimately, that wasn’t effective   enough.“There was still freedom in the world. People were not saying, ‘ISIS  exists; therefore, I'm going to give up my First Amendment liberties, my Fourth  Amendment liberties, my Second Amendment liberties and so on.’ Sadly, this  medical crisis — which is now not a pandemic in many states and countries, it's  an endemic; it doesn't meet the formal definition of a pandemic — was the  perfect excuse for leaders to usher in Step 10,” Wolf says. The last and final step in the  implementation of tyranny, Step 10, involves the creation of a surveillance  state where citizens are spied upon, and critique of the government is  reclassified as dissent and subversive activity. Step 10 The surveillance state is now  being rolled out in the form of vaccine passports, while certain kinds of  speech are said to be dangerous and freedom of speech is being criminalized. Needless  to say, the mainstream press is an important part of this scheme. “The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have essentially bought up  the western press and coerce them, bribe them, into following the party line,  brought up by the CDC and so on,” Wolf says.“Toward the end of the steps, which is Step 10, is emergency law,  [which is a] subversion of the rule of law, also called martial law. We're  here. I'm [in] New York State. We're under emergency law. Every 30 days, I get  an email saying that tyrannical Governor Cuomo has extended emergency powers,  even though in Columbia County where I live, there are only eight deaths a  month with COVID, average age 85, which is older than the average American life  span. It's not a pandemic where I live, but I'm living under emergency   law, which means the legislature has no power. The governor can do whatever he  wants. It’s the same in Massachusetts, same in California — 49 states, all  states except Alaska, are technically under emergency law. This is terrifying. You get what you're seeing, which is governors   deciding, or the federal government deciding, that you can't assemble, you  can't worship, you have no medical choice, the coercion of vaccine passports,  your child can't go to school, your young adult can't get a college education  if they don't agree to an experimental vaccination. You get suspension of the right to property. You can't run your   business — 110,000 restaurants have closed. You get a suspension of freedoms of  speech. People are being deplatformed left and right and there are movements in  Congress to criminalize what had been First Amendment protected speech. You get the invocation of martial powers and there's no end to it.   Literally, with Massachusetts emergency law, I have no rights. I have no  ability to lobby the governor. With New York’s emergency law, I have no  representative with the power to end emergency measures. The governor has to  end emergency measures, [and] he's the one who benefits from them. It's  catastrophic. We're seeing a complete takeover of American rights, freedoms and   bodies by Big Tech, which is up double digits to triple-digit billions since  the pandemic began. China has moved in to … establish its role as the global  superpower under the guise of this pandemic, buying up community groups,  elected officials and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which are flooding  K through 12 education … community groups [and] universities with money to  engage in COVID education — which means a strict party line [narrative] that is  aimed at destroying what's human about us and what's free. That's it in a  nutshell. It's unbelievably terrifying.”What the COVID-19 Passports  Are Really AboutWolf was recently interviewed by Fox News’ Steve Hilton  (above), in which she warned that mandatory COVID-19 passports will spell  the “end of human  liberty in the West”:2,3 In essence, they’re a  precursor to the social credit system that has already been implemented in  China. The vaccine passes have already been  rolled out in New York, where Wolf lives. Surveillance is nothing new, of  course. We’ve been digitally surveilled for years, through social media  platforms, Google and all manner of “smart” technology. Since the early 2000s, Google and  Facebook in particular have been data mining online users. These data, then,  have been applied to deep learning computers, giving them unprecedented ability  to predict the type of messaging triggers that will create the maximum amount  of fear — and thus compliance. There’s also every reason to  assume that this information has also been shared with people like Bill Gates,  who largely controls the World Health Organization. If it wasn’t for the WHO,  we would not be in this situation, because it was the central organization with  the authority to declare a global pandemic, and keep it in place long past its   natural expiration date. They actually changed the  definition of “pandemic,” removing the requirement of mass casualties, and if  it wasn’t for that, COVID-19 simply would not qualify as a pandemic. The Pandemic Is Hypothetical  at BestWolf points out that COVID-19  dashboards, such as Johns Hopkins’ COVID-19 tracking project that mainstream  media keep citing, cannot tell us anything about who’s actually getting  infected, or who’s dying. We don’t even know if they are showing real or made  up data.Wolf, being the CEO of a tech  company, builds digital dashboards based on government data, so she knows what  she’s talking about. You have to have the raw datasets. Since none of the  dashboards provide the raw data, nothing can be verified. “Basically, they can  dial up cases, which are positive PCR tests, or dial them down,” she says. So,  the entire pandemic narrative is unverified.We do know, however, that the CDC  has shifted influenza and pneumonia deaths to COVID-19 deaths, and tens of  thousands of Americans die from these conditions every year. When lawmakers in  Minnesota audited death records, for example, they found a 40% over-attribution   of deaths to COVID-19. Then there’s the PCR test scandal.  Not only have laboratories everywhere been using excessively high amplification  cycles resulting in staggeringly high false positive rates, but they also do  not account for duplicate tests. If you get a positive test, and test once a  week until you test negative, each positive test result you obtain is counted  as a separate “case.”“We literally can't know if there's been a pandemic, there's so  much faulty attribution, inflation of numbers, and so on,” Wolf says. “Those numbers, I  can't stress enough, have never been audited ... We have to do a freedom of information request in Britain to take  a look at the raw data sets that are being fed into the Office for National  Statistics, COVID dashboard. We looked at where the data were flowing from for  the Johns Hopkins dashboard, which again, was used by every major university,  every major news outlet. One of the data providers was a hedge fund! … I know something else about APIs. It is virtually impossible to,  in real time, get hundreds of thousands of reports from hundreds of thousands  of doctors, hospitals, CVS and Rite Aid, feeding into a live digital dashboard.  I keep asking the developers to show me, ‘How did you do this? It's virtually  impossible.’ There's no answer, there's crickets. Literally, we don't know if the dashboards are just dialing up and   dialing down infection rates. Everyone's taking for granted that these must be  real numbers, but there's no evidence that they are real numbers. I'm willing  to stand corrected if there's a FOIA and we see the raw data sets. But right  now, it is a hypothetical pandemic.”Collusion by Tech CompaniesTech companies have also engaged  in what Wolf likens to criminal collusion. She explains:“In March of last year, for the COVID-19 response project, Zoom, NASDAQ, Nintendo, Microsoft, Amazon — all the people who benefited from the lockdown  — coordinated so that wherever you go on the internet, across platform to  platform, you see these alerts about COVID-19, warnings about COVID,  instructions about COVID, and of course, censorship … if you run afoul of the  narrative about COVID. I run a tech company. The question, when you run a tech company, is how do you get people to not do things in the real world, and do things on your  platform? That's the business model. If people are gathering in churches, gathering in real school   rooms, if they're going for walks together, go on picnics, having dinner  parties, going to clubs, that's an opportunity lost to Microsoft and Google and  so on. But if they can drive you indoors, terrify you from being around other  people, or make it unlawful to be around other people through these emergency  powers that restrict assembly [then they can profit] … Digital learning curriculum were turnkey, ready to go. Suddenly,  it was like, ‘Oh, kids have to be at home and do distance learning.’ That's a  $300 million industry for just one company that creates digital curriculums.  They're not going to let go of that. I think we are in a small loop of six tech companies [and] the  Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, having bought legislators in China, who's  up 32% while the economies of the West have crashed, and that's the fight that  we have to fight.”The Legalization of Tyranny. Few people realize that dictators  such as Mussolini and Hitler came to power in legal working democracies. They  became subverted and rules of law were rewritten in such a way as to allow  these leaders to legally take over. That's one of the primary dangers we now face  in the U.S., because at the end of step 10, the leader obtains the legal   authority to become a tyrant.“This is especially true of the National Socialists,” Wolf says. “They kept  passing a set of laws called the Enabling Acts that are very much like the laws  that are being passed now. They criminalized certain speech, created a  surveillance apparatus for citizens … and they did this lawfully. They were  elected, and they passed restrictive law after restrictive law. Then, once democracy was fragile enough, it really only took six   months for thugs to beat up opposition leaders, union leaders, the outspoken  and clergy. After that, everyone was too scared to speak. We're seeing the same  thing happen now, but faster. It's very scary that China has created a white paper — the World   Economic Forum has it on its website — that maps how biofascism, as I call it —  vaccinations, the managing of people's bodies, biometrics and health — is being  launched as a way to control civic engagement, governance, private life,  assembly and every other aspect of human life, to bring about super-fast  totalitarianism. That's why focusing on legislation is something I've been doing   with my company DailyClout, very seriously, because if we don't pass laws  immediately to make unlawful some of the things we're seeing, there will be no  more hope for us.”Using the Legal System to  Save the Law. One strategy of totalitarianism  that must be fought through legislation is the requirement of vaccine  passports. “Once these are launched … people like you and I, Dr. Mercola,  will be switched off of society. ‘Oops, my vaccine passport is positive. I   guess I can't go food shopping for my family.’ ‘I said something critical of  biofascism on Dr. Mercola's show, so now my child can't get into school.’ Just  as in Israel, people who are critics are being surveilled [and] marginalized  from society. It has turned into a two-tier society. If you choose not to get   vaccinated, then you're really in a marginalized minority in an apartheid  state. The more we know about these vaccines, the scarier it is to have  coercion that is social. It's also illegal. In America, we have the Americans  with Disabilities Act. It means it's illegal to even ask me anything about my  medical status. You can't ask me if I'm pregnant. You can't ask me if I'm  disabled. You can't ask me if I have diabetes or HIV. You cannot ask me   anything. By definition, these intrusive measures are unlawful. We have to use  the law to save the law, basically. In Michigan, there's an edict from the  governor that 2- to 4-year-old children have to be masked. This is child abuse.  Science doesn't support it. Unlawful, tyrannical laws are being passed across the country  under the guise of emergency measures, and stupid people going along with it,  like in Congress, I'm embarrassed to say, because I voted for Biden. We have to  fight before we are living in fascist regime where every move is tracked and  we're marginalized from society.”The Courts Are Our Last Hope,  And They’re Now Under AttackOne area in which “The End of  America” excels is helping you understand is that the United States was founded  by people who had repressive societies. Their goal was to prevent such a  repressive society from emerging again. The founders had to personally reckon  with criminalized speech, arbitrary arrest, state sanctioned torture and even  murder.So, at great personal sacrifice,  they signed the Constitution. Had they lost the Revolutionary War, they would  all have been executed, so the stakes could not have been higher. As a result,  our founding fathers constructed a carefully balanced system to make sure no  tyrant could ever come to power. We’re now facing a scenario that  could obliterate that delicate balance, namely the Biden administration’s call  to “pack the court,” i.e., add, in this case four, additional Justices to the  Supreme Court. We’re now facing a shift in our  legal structure that will allow for the legalization of tyrannical reign and  “legally” override the carefully constructed governmental balance between the  legislative, executive and judicial branched that has previously served to  prevent tyranny in the U.S.This three-tier branch, constructed to safeguard  our freedoms, is under direct attack, and this is NOT a partisan issue. Not by  a longshot, and everyone needs to wake up to this fact. It’s an issue of  freedom versus tyranny.“Absolutely,” Wolf says. “Sadly, this is clear. That's why I'm saying progressives have to  wake up … I worry very much about the role of China in this, because I think  we've seen that some people connected to the Democratic Party have close ties  with members of the Chinese Communist Party. That is just established fact. I'm not saying that the tyrants are on the left. In Britain, it's   Tories cracking down on liberty, holding the country under house arrest. In  Australia it's conservatives, in Canada it's Trudeau, a liberal. This isn't  partisan. But in America, we do have to face the fact that this administration  is drunk on power and has some bad actors aligned with it, including Silicon  Valley. They are crushing conservative voices, kicking them off of public   platforms in addition to voices critical of the COVID narrative. They're also  moving at warp speed to use their own phrasing about something else to lock in  power in a way that is against everything our founders set in place — the most  beautiful, delicate system of checks and balances any human beings have ever  created; an ideal of people all over the world who want freedom and balanced  accountable government. Yeah, packing the Supreme Court is a horrific tampering with some   of the last checks and balances that we have … I can't believe I keep saying  thank God for the conservatives on the bench. But these days, I have to say it,  and I'm ashamed. But thank God, because they were the ones who in California  said ‘No, you cannot keep people from assembling to worship. That is a  violation of the Constitution.’ They're our last hope. The courts are our last hope. It is   catastrophic, and I see other scary movements against accountable democracy  that are being put forward by this administration. Among them, President Biden is not saying to the blue states: ‘You   have to give up your emergency powers. You have to open up. You can't control  people in their homes, you can't force people to have vaccinations and you  can't keep people from assembling and worshipping.’ These are all violations of their constitutional liberties. He's   not saying that. That's a complete failure of leadership, if not worse. My  people have to rise up and face it. Conservatives have to face cleaning up  their own houses … What's at stake is everything, and we all have to unite  across party lines and save our Constitution and make these people accountable,  whatever their party [affiliation].”Urgent Call to Action The good news is, the would-be tyrants have not won yet. That said, we have no  time to spare. We have no time to remain idle, hoping it will all just go back  to normal on its own. The answer is peaceful mass civil disobedience.“There's hope in mass peaceful civil disobedience … when things  are really dire,” Wolf says. “My favorite story is about the singing revolution of Latvia,   Lithuania and Estonia, in which they were under the grip of the Soviet Union, a  massive tyrannical monolith. They all decided to just peacefully gather on a  highway that extended the length of their three countries and sing. They kept peacefully disrupting business as usual in their cities,   making it impossible for work to continue, for traffic to go on. They sat down,  they linked arms and they sang. Over time, they just wore down the Soviet Union.  That's a beautiful model. Same thing with Dr. Martin Luther King. His was a  peaceful revolution of civil disobedience.”This strategy is time-consuming,  however, so be prepared to stand your ground for as long as it takes. It can  take months, years even, when you have nothing else in your arsenal. Peaceful disobedience  is the primary strategy in armed countries as well. As mentioned, we must also  rally behind legislation that prevents the alteration of laws that safeguard  our freedoms.Join the Five Freedoms  Campaign!To that end, Wolf has started the Five Freedoms Campaign, which you can find on her Daily Clout website. The campaign focuses on creating legislation to preserve key  freedoms and prevent emergency laws from infringing on our freedom to assembly,   worship, protest and engage in business. Legislation is also being crafted to  open schools, remove mask mandates and eliminate requirements for vaccine  passports.“We've had overwhelmingly high levels of support,” Wolf says. “I hope your  followers will also join us. We hired a really distinguished lawyer who is drafting  model legislation. She has finished the new vaccine passport bill and we've  gotten state legislators in Maine, New Hampshire and Michigan to sponsor to  pass that legislation. I'm sending out the request for 47 other state legislatures to   adopt this model legislation. Contact me, I'll come out, I'll speak to your  legislature. We'll do a rally, we'll do a press conference, as we're doing in  Maine on April 27. We've got to pass these bills. Then she's going to work on an omnibus bill to make all five   freedoms inviolable so that no one can pass mask mandates as they did in  Michigan today. No one can force vaccine passports as they're doing in New York,  so that we can get our freedoms back.”Wolf and her team are making this  interactive process as easy as possible by posting good model bills on  dailyclout.io, and proactively drafting much-needed bills. Many state  legislators are not lawyers, and they don't have lawyers at their beck and  call. Citizens can now send these model bills to their legislators, knowing  that they’ve undergone legal review and are ready to be passed. You can also go  even further than that:“You can tell us the bill you want. We can upload a campaign for that bill. We can hire our lawyer to draft a model bill and then you can pass  it. What we've been doing is gathering names and zip codes, so that we can add  real voters to this piece of model legislation in real states and send it to  real state legislators and say, ‘Look, the supporters are all there. All you  have to do is pass this.’ It's a fantastic intervention in the political process, restoring   real democracy. It's why we founded Daily Clout, but it's beautiful to see  hundreds and hundreds of people from all walks of life rushing to give us  support and resources, to become members and give us donations, which we  appreciate, so that we can keep our lawyer busy creating these draft bills.  It's not just for this issue. Once we get our rights and freedoms back,  whatever [citizens] want, we can draft a bill for you, and you can [call on  your legislators to] pass it.”Limiting Emergency PowersAnother facet  that needs to be addressed is governors’ emergency powers. Some states have  been locked down under emergency power for more than a year, which is insane,  considering we’re not in an emergency and haven’t been for many months. These  emergency powers need to be limited in some way, as they are at the heart of  all this unlawful behavior. As explained by Wolf: “Emergency law basically suspends  the Constitution of the United States. As I've said elsewhere, the Constitution  doesn't say all this can be suspended if there's disease. We've been through  typhus, cholera, smallpox, HIV, Spanish flu, polio, tuberculosis — disease   after disease, without ever having emergency law extended without review month  after month. We've had world wars fought  without emergency laws. We were attacked on our soil without emergency law  being declared in New York state after 9/11. There's no justification for it. It's  against everything we believe in. It's unconstitutional.” So, one of the  five freedoms Wolf’s campaign focuses on is the restriction of emergency laws.  New Hampshire has become the first state to pass a bill that accomplishes this.  It reforms emergency law such that the Governor’s emergency powers cannot be  indefinitely extended without review by the legislature. They also passed a  bill that guarantees freedom of worship, and another bill that ensures  emergency law cannot be invoked indefinitely in any future crisis.4“We've now passed along our model ‘No vaccine passport’ bill to   the New Hampshire legislators,” Wolf says. “If they can do it in New Hampshire,  with our help, with your help, they can do it across the country. But we need  to get that model legislation out to every legislature and mobilize that  grassroots movement to pass the end of emergency law. I mean, look what's happening in New York State. It's insane. Fourteen  state legislators are trying to get Governor Cuomo to end emergency law. But as  our laws are written, Governor Cuomo has to be the one to end his own emergency  law. There're a huge amount of lobbying that has to happen for these   legislators to understand that there are eyes on them, that they're accountable.  I'm going to be reporting and … hopefully millions of people will be following  and helping to pass these laws to get back our rights.”Daily Clout Empowers Citizens  to Lobby for Freedom. To be clear, the Daily Clout is  not a lobbying group. YOU are the ones lobbying your legislators. Daily Clout  simply provides the needed assistance so that you can do that easily and  effectively. “It's such a beautiful effort, because you'd have to come out and  say, ‘The people of New Hampshire have no right to pass their own legislation’  in order to oppose an effort like this,” Wolf says. “We're not a special interest. It's just the  people. It's the people of New Hampshire, people of Maine, passing their own  legislation. I do hear, consistently, that Democrats won't help, that in many   states with their democratic majorities, it's going to be difficult if   Democrats don't reach across the aisle and add their names. I'm sending out the  call to Democrats to support this legislation. I'm going to warn everyone, speaking as a former political   consultant, that the party that embraces the restoration of freedom is going to  be the party that wins in 2022 and 2024. There's no question about that. This  is going to be a winning issue. People know something is terribly wrong, but they don't know what   to do. This is a completely unprecedented assault on liberty. With my many  years in national politics, I know what to do. This is why we developed Daily  Clout. If you show up with a turnkey piece of legislation and some turnkey  supporters, that's a very quick fix for a really catastrophic crisis that has a  legislative solution. As long as there's still legislatures, we can pass good  legislation at the state level. At the federal level, it's going to be harder,   because there isn't any balance right now. I'm very inspired there's so many people serving at the state   legislature level who are really decent citizens, who are not partisan hacks. People  who really ran to help their neighbors and help their communities and who are  not wholly owned by China, Big Tech or whatever, and who want to do the right  thing. I could be wrong, but in two weeks [since we launched the Daily   Clout site] we've already been invited to address state legislators and draft  legislation for three, and that's without any marketing budget or anything but  platforms like this, where I say it's available. We started Daily Clout because citizens didn't have a platform to   be effective at lobbying for their own issues. This is a turnkey platform that  does that for them. I designed it that way. I designed it, as a former  political consultant, knowing that the way things are set up, ordinary citizens  don't have a seat at the table. There is no easy way to engage in civic action.  

This makes it easy, makes it digital and people are using it.”How to Use the Daily Clout Site.So, how do you get involved?  First, go to  dailyclout.io and sign up to become a paying member or free subscriber. You will then receive an email explaining how to use the Five  Freedoms Campaign.

Presently, there is a model “no vaccination passports” bill   that you can send to your state legislator.There’s also a feature called  BillCam, where you can see who your state legislator is by entering your zip  code. Daily Clout will also email you links and explain how to find your state  legislator. If you provide your name and zip code, which will remain  confidential, your state legislator’s contact information will be included in  the email.“We're creating a widget right now to attach your name and zip   code to the model bills so it goes right to your state legislator, showing that  the bill already has support,” Wolf explains. “But in the meantime, you can look up any bill on BillCam. Those are  bills that have already been introduced or passed. There are ‘No vaccine passport’ bills, for instance. We're   showcasing them on BillCam. It's already set up, so you can just tweet it to  the sponsor, tweet it to representative. You can Facebook it to your community.  It already goes through social media and you can show support by ‘voting on it’  in the widget on BillCam as you share legislation with your community.”Once you’re a subscriber or  member, you’ll get regular updates about happenings around the U.S. and  community events. They’re also installing a widget that will allow you to meet  with like-minded people in your state who want this legislation passed. Lastly,  you can write to Daily Clout and ask them to draft a bill. A lawyer will then  be assigned to draft it for you.“Right now, we're focused on the Five Freedoms Campaign, but there  is that functionality. You can write a blog and explain the bill that you want.  You can send us a video and explain what your issue is, and all of this goes to  shining a light on the legislators. They're not used to having a light shone on  them. That really does drive outcomes. Those are the steps that you can take,” Wolf says. We’ve already seen how effective  this strategy can be, with New Hampshire passing three bills to protect  citizens’ freedoms. “I never want to take credit away from legislators working hard to  pass bills, but I know that we helped,” Wolf says. “I know that our lawyer has been in close  touch with some of those state legislators in New Hampshire and provided  language that we pay for, so that those legislators would have a turnkey bill  to act on.”Hundreds of people also wrote to  New Hampshire’s Governor Christopher Sununu, urging him to lift the mask  mandate, which he recently did. Knowing that the Daily Clout would report on  the outcome of that campaign, he not only felt the political pressure, but he  also knew he had support from his constituents. So, please, use this unprecedented  opportunity to get involved, in any capacity that you can. Your freedom, and that of future generations, hinge on  our getting involved and fighting for it. Last but not least, to understand  where we are and how we got here, I strongly recommend reading “The End  of America.” In the video below, Wolf reads select  chapters from the book. You can also download  the first and last chapters for free on the publisher’s website,  chelseagreen.com.5 

[wangxiangiftexchange]

Winter Solstice Gift for sweetlittlevampire

Happy exchange to @sweetlittlevampire! You have no idea how much pressure I felt when I realized I was tasked with putting together your gift - your art is always so beautiful and detailed! I hope this checks the boxes for you: I aimed at driving home 'non-sexual intimacy' and 'found family', with lots of heavy fluff tones. Enjoy!

A quick note: because I have next to no familiarity with Chinese culture, either modern or ancient, I have set this story in modern North America. This means the wedding planning and cultural references adhere to North American styles.

Read on AO3

*****

The Award for Best Man

It’s an unusual time of day to be this exhausted, even by Lan Wangji’s supposedly early sleep schedule. The sun hasn’t finished climbing the sky yet and Lan Wangji can’t think of a single thing he’d rather be doing with a rare day off than this:

He and Wei Ying are together, lumped in the vertex of their L-shaped couch which sits directly in the morning sun. They have the apartment to themselves today, until this evening, when A-Yuan and Wen-popo will return their rabbits from babysitting. Wei Ying was still convinced that Bichen and Suibian would have been absolutely fine with them gone all yesterday to tour wedding venues; Lan Wangji had insisted they not be lonely.

Now he wonders if he subconsciously had the foresight to rid himself of anything that could have distracted him from an exhausted Wei Ying. He becomes so sweet and pliable when he’s tired, needy only for Lan Wangji’s affection and attention. It’s one of the only times Wei Ying lies still.

Usually.

Out of nowhere, Wei Ying springs out of his lap to sit upright on the couch. He must not be as tired as Lan Wangji thought.

“I just realized –” he says, turning back to Lan Wangji with a striking look of alarm on his face. “I can’t ask you to be my best man. Lan Zhan! You’ve ruined my wedding plans!”

Lan Wangji blinks, a little surprised. ‘Ruined’ seems a touch dramatic – if anything, he thinks recasting his role as ‘bridegroom’ is an upgrade over ‘best man’.

But because he’s tired too, his only response is: “Me?”

“Yes, you! Silly. What did you think I was gonna do? Get married at an altar where you weren’t there beside me and, wow, oh my god, that seems too revealing now that I say it out loud.”

Lan Wangji’s heart glows and he tucks a loose hair from Wei Ying’s face. The gesture makes them both smile. “I pictured you, too.”

“Aawww!! You did??” Wei Ying’s cheeks are flushing and his eyes are tearing up, but Lan Wangji is 85% sure it’s for dramatic effect. “Wait, like, always or...?”

Lan Wangji boops his nose, a private joke between them for every time he deems Wei Ying to be ‘nosy’. He knows it used to be a gesture exclusive to Jiang Yanli, his future sister, and every time Wei Ying lets him get away with it, bubbles simmer in his chest.

“Since Gusu,” he admits.

“Gusu Elementary?! Lan Zhan, you flirt! We were twelve! I waited until at least Qishan High to fall madly in love with you.” Assured, as he always is after successfully fishing for flattery, Wei Ying starts settling back into his sprawl inside Lan Wangji’s arms. “Ugh, remember Wen Chao, the principal’s kid? He’s a dad now. Facebook told me earlier.”

He isn’t pleased to have the memory of such a vile personality sour their cuddle time. He shifts, gathers Wei Ying closer, and switches the topic. “What about Jiang Wanyin?”

Wei Ying startles up again, though not all the way out of his arms, eyes wide with anxiety. “What about Jiang Cheng. Lan Zhan. Do you know something I don’t? When did Jiang Cheng get a kid – where did Jiang Cheng get a kid?! I KNOW Wen Qing has an IUD!”

Ah. He sees the problem now. “For your best man,” he explains, coaxing his fiancé back down. It marvels him how much one can struggle to relax.

“Oh, thank god,” Wei Ying says, slumping back into the pillow that is his betrothed before smacking a sweatered pec. “You worried me! We’ve both seen how A-Cheng is with Jin Ling, I shudder to think how he’ll be with his own.” He really does shudder, from his head down the base of his spine. Then he fidgets, rolling up his hands in the folds of Lan Wangji’s minty blue sweater. “But yeah, I suppose he’ll do for a best man. I’ll never hear the end of it if I ask Wen Ning over him.”

He sends a grin up at Lan Wangji, happily sharing the mental image of Jiang Cheng blowing a fuse. It’s a thought that never fails to tickle him.

“What about you?” Wei Ying asks. “I assume you’ll ask your brother but isn’t he still in the arctic?”

He was. Three weeks ago, a Waterborne Abyss had somehow broken loose from the ocean floor and wound up on the surface of the Pacific Ocean. When Xichen had first gone to cleanse it, it escaped the pre-set array and fled. Xichen had been tasked to pursue and had chased the demon around the north pole for nearly eight days now with scarcely a word of update.  

Lan Wangji doesn’t like worrying about his brother. Luckily, it’s an even rarer occurrence than a truly exhausted Wei Ying.

Still...

“Mm...”

Wei Ying cuddles closer. “Ahhh, don’t worry too much, Lan Zhan, he’ll be back before you know it. He certainly won’t let some puny abyssal keep him from his didi’s wedding! I can’t wait to see him cry actual tears, I’m going to bribe Mianmian to take so many pictures.”

Lan Wangji flushes a little. He loves his brother and he knows Xichen loves him, but they never make a show of it in public. He suspects Wei Ying is correct in thinking their wedding will be an exception. Xichen has requested time to make a toast, after all.

“Hey, not to jinx it or anything, but who would you have as a best man if Lan Xichen couldn’t be? Not for a sad reason! Like, uhhh, say his wedding was on the same day, at the same time as ours. Yeah, that works.”

Lan Wangji raises an eyebrow. “Who is he marrying?”

Wei Ying’s smile goes crooked to match his brow, bemused as he is every time Lan Wangji indulges in these kinds of playful hypotheticals. “Does it matter?”

“Indubitably.”

Wei Ying laughs so hard he snorts. He is so exquisitely beautiful. “Well, if my future husband insists, I’ll paint you the whole picture. Um. Let’s say he marries... Jin Guangyao.”

Lan Wangji hums, a little put-off by the idea. It’s nothing against Jin Guangyao as a person, but he’s always been singularly difficult for Lan Wangji to read. All his favourite people – Xichen, Mingjue, Jiang Yanli, and of course Wei Ying – don’t make their thoughts or feelings hidden the way Jin Guangyao does. It leaves Lan Wangji with a very unstable opinion of the man – more than once he has badly misread a situation and felt insecure about the cues he must have missed.

Not to mention the history the man has with Wei Ying. They never talk about it, and Lan Wangji has never pried, but he knows the two were close friends as children before something fell apart between them. Wei Ying still sends a birthday wish to Jin Guangyao every year, in part because he always receives a card on his own. The card always includes a sheet of red stickers – anything red: anatomic hearts, parrots, chilli peppers, firetrucks, Santa hats, and ladybugs. Lan Wangji has never asked why he sends them or what Wei Ying does with them. It’s enough of an intrusion to watch that wistful smile play out.

“Mingjue,” he answers, refocusing on their game. “To spare the heartache.”

Wei Ying nods appreciatively at his wisdom. “Yes, yes, I agree. He’d cry, get sappy drunk, and trash the cake just to be a torturous mess at a Xiyao wedding, wouldn’t he? Best have him at ours, where he’ll cry, get sappy drunk, and sing all the worst love songs at karaoke with Nie Huaisang.”

“‘Come What May’,” Lan Wangji suggests, to Wei Ying’s delight.

“Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’!”

“‘Your Song’.”

Wei Ying’s smile turns sweet. He nuzzles into Lan Wangji’s chest and mutters quietly, “I already have one of those.”

They fall into peaceful near-quiet for a minute, Wei Ying softly humming out the score Lan Wangji composed for him years ago when it was the only way he knew to publicly dedicate his heart. During the last measure, Wei Ying’s stomach growls and he loses himself giggling. Lan Wangji smiles, rubs his stomach for him and lightly shushes it, which makes Wei Ying laugh harder.

“Alright, alright,” he says, whipping out his phone from between the seat cushions. “Time for lunch! Sushi okay with you?”

Lan Wangji nods, sneaks in a quick peck to his forehead, and says, “Whatever you want.”

“Sweet-talker,” he chides, but a flash of teeth betrays his happiness. “What rolls do you want?”

He can’t help himself. “Volcano roll, seared salmon roll, and spicy tuna bowl, extra wasabi and spicy mayo.”

Wei Ying gives him the sweetest side-eye and Lan Wangji swears the next words past his lips will be ‘I love you’: “Then I’m ordering yam rolls, cucumber rolls, low sodium miso soup, and tamago nigiri with no wasabi whatsoever.”

He knew it.

He pulls his fiancé up into a kiss, chasing down that ‘I love you’ with his tongue, certain it must taste as good as it had sounded, maybe even better than it feels, right now, against his lips and zinging down his body like welding sparks.

Wei Ying looks absolutely dazed when he releases him. “Happy with that?” Wei Ying asks, referring to the rolls.

“Besotted,” Lan Wangji confesses, absolutely lost in this man.

“Damn right,” Wei Ying whispers, voice breathy with reciprocation. It’s another fifteen minutes of playing kiss tag before their stomachs overrule them and get their lunch order placed.

With nothing to do but wait the thirty-five minutes it will take for their delivery to be made, Wei Ying brings them back to their earlier game, before the kissing.

“So what if Lan Xichen was marrying Nie Mingjue? Who would be your best man, then?”

It’s a slightly harder question than the last. Since he can remember, Nie Mingjue has been a brother by proxy, which means Lan Wangji must consider best men that aren’t brothers. Surprisingly, a person comes to mind rather quickly.

“Jin Zixuan.”

Wei Ying may have fallen to the floor if Lan Wangji’s arms weren’t such a secure tether to the couch. “WHAT?! WHY? Don’t tell me you’ve become friends with that Peacock behind my back! Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan, how could you betray me like this!?”

Lan Wangji frowns. “We were already friends.”

Wei Ying scoffs, “You were not.”

“We had coffee last week.”

“YOU HAD COFFEE?!” Distressed, Wei Ying drops his head into Lan Wangji’s sweater, whining about the slew of injustice. “Unacceptable... already friends... didn’t even rub off on the peacock at all, stupid... without telling me , Lan Zhan... such betrayal, much scandal, wow...”

Despite the energetic upset, Lan Wangji feels a yawn against his chest. Wei Ying’s exhaustion is finally catching up to him. “There, there,” he comforts, patting his head.

“Mmmm...” mutters the mess of hair. “Feels good, keep doing that. It eases my betrayed and deceived heart.”

Wei Ying’s requests are never difficult to fulfill – this one, especially so. Lan Wangji lets his posture relax further, content to sit in the sleepy energy of Sunday. Wei Ying keeps purring against him, breaths slowing and lengthening. They’ll both sleep through the food delivery at this rate.

Lan Wangji adds a light scratch to his pets and says, “Take a nap, Wei Ying. I’ll wait for lunch.”

Wei Ying hums in disagreement. “You’ll get bored, Lan Zhan. Here...” He rouses himself enough to stretch for the coffee table and grabs Lan Wangji’s reading glasses and latest novel. “Read. I can prop it up for you, like an actual supportive fiancé.”

Lan Wangji chuckles under his breath as he unfolds his glasses. “You are undoubtedly the best fiancé.”

Wei Ying bats blindly at the hand that pets him. “Shush, you! I’m sleeping now.”

Later, when their stomachs are stuffed full of too much rice, Lan Wangji thinks he’ll request they return to the couch. This is a day full of rarities and he’s determined to savour every minute of this sleeply, perfect man that it will gift him.

[marvel-redemption-omega]

Of Outlaws and Family

Chapter One: New Beginnings

A/N: So I have RDR2 beat to 85% completion (the compendium isn’t finished but the story section is) and I CRIED when my precious Cowboy died! I had high honor and helped John so there was that at least I suppose... This has eight parts so uhh be prepared for this. It’s a helluva ride. It follows the story in the game for the most part, I changed some missions and added in a few for my own personal reasons (OFC x Arthur) so yeah... Don’t worry, there’s gonna be a happy ending! I promise. I have a lot of the story already planned it’s just a matter of getting the next chapters cranked out. Also Hosea and Dutch are a thing in my eyes... Dutch never corrected nor denied Hosea when he said “the curious couple and their unruly son” soooo I took it and ran. 

I am from the south and I drop ‘d’s, ‘g’s and do a buncha (<- example) other stuff when talking irl so I’ve added that into the story and tried to keep the same type of dialect (is that the word I’m tryna think of?) as they have in the game with accents. I also am trying (and editing) the Irish accents I have for Sean and Molly! If you think anything can/should be changed, please lemme (<- another example) know! Or if you can’t figure out a word/phrase I’ll help or have it in parenthesis if I know some people might have a hard time getting the accent if they’re trying to speak it aloud to hear it for themselves (my friend does this occasionally).

Warnings: Cursing, typical gang violence (shoot outs/shoot ups/gangs,bushwhacking. etc), mentions of death/dead gang members

Please enjoy! Hearts and repubs are appreciated!

My work is not to be posted elsewhere; I will post it to my AO3 and dA if I so choose.

Word Count: 3,246

“Faster, Girl, faster! Go! We gotta get home before them!”

“You think you can outrun us? You owe us, Little Lady!”

“Get her!”

“Don’t let her get away!”

“Fancy, let’s go! Hyah!” She urges her horse on and leans forward, stirrups tied high on the sides of the saddle. The brown mustang tosses her head and breaks from her gallop to a flat out bolt. “Atta girl, c’mon.” The trees and rolling land all blurs as she and Fancy run along the road, she barely registers the white blip of a horse at the four way cross.

“Whoah!”

“Sorry, Mister! Can’t talk! Gotta run!” She turns slightly in her saddle to call the apology over her shoulder as her mare continues to carry her back home. The small band of people, behind the man she narrowly missed, watch her in curiosity.

“There she is!”

“Don’t lose sight of her again!”

“Try and cut her off before she gets over that hill!”

A group of seven men, each on their own horse, fly by as well, sparring not even a glance their way. The owner of the white stallion is stunned for a moment before he calms his horse and turns around.

“Bill, Micah, go after her and help with those damned O’Driscolls. We’ll continue on to get settled. Once we’re good, if they’re not back yet, we’ll go search for them. Come on,” he instructs and watches as aforementioned duo break off and tail the lady’s assailants.

“Dutch, why did you send them? You know how he acted with Mrs. Adler. Was it really wise to send both of them unsupervised?”

“Arthur, are you doubting me? We’re almost there and it shouldn’t take too awful long to set everything up so we won’t be too far behind them,” Dutch turns his horse back and clicks his tongue as they continue on.

“Looks like that was the last one, Ma. Want me to go start the bonfire?”

“Yes please, James. Take Fancy out to the paddock on your way. I left her hitched to the porch,” she answers and leans her gun against the wall. “I’ll get the horses that didn’t spook and start dragging these guys around back.” The boy runs out the back door and she can hear murmurs to her horse and the soft nickers in a sort of reply as he does as told. She sighs and opens her front door.

“Hello, Ma’am, we just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Seems like we didn’t need to come help.”

Two men push their way inside as she darts back towards her table, picking up a rope lying on it. She lassos one of them and yanks him to the floor, hog tying him as a shotgun clicks as it’s cocked. The other man holds his hands up at the boy who is aiming the gun at him, startling back a few steps.

“Bill! Don’t just stand there! Do something! Untie me!” the hog tied man grumbles as he rolls onto his shoulder to look at his friend.

“And end up shot or like you? No thanks, Micah. I’ll stay here,” he snips and glances down. She uses the moment of interruption to her advantage and lassos Bill too, dragging him closer before hog tying him as well.

“James, hun, go start that fire. We might have more than I thought,” she orders and takes the gun from him as he passes. He shoots a glare over his shoulder to the strange men and dashes out the back door.

Dutch and Arthur look at the house where Bill and Micah’s horses are grazing. Arthur gives him a pointed look, which Dutch sighs at. They climb down from their horses and lead them to the porch and try to quietly walk up, checking around them for any traps or followers. The door is slightly ajar and a women’s voice, the same from earlier, filters out.

“You two have some nerve. Now tell me, what does Colm want now? I done told him I ain’t joining his stupid gang and I won’t warm his bed. If you think that I’ll do it for either of you then you’ve got another thing coming and not even half a mind between the two of you!”

“Well, Darlin’, you might be right about that. There’s not half a brain betweenst those two, but I do take offense that too you think we’re with that dirty, yellow bellied scum, Colm O’Driscoll.”

“Who the hell are you?” A shotgun is pointed at the two newcomers, and Arthur’s lips twitch up as his and Dutch’s hands go up.

“Dutch Van der Linde and this here is Arthur Morgan. I sent Bill and Micah here to help you with those fools, after you nearly trampled me,” Dutch smoothly states, walking forward as he speaks. She backs up to the other side of the table and raises her brow.

“Ma! Ma! There’s two mo-” James freezes at the back door, eyes wide as all attention focuses on him. “They’re already here. What do you want with my Ma?! She ain’t got no money! She don’t want no dirty O’Driscoll!” He shouts and moves so he’s beside his mother, eyes narrowed.

“That’s a tough little boy you have there, Ma’am. What’s his name? And yours?” Dutch stands just on the other side of the table, hands still up, no move made to untie his men, nor is there anyone else in the house, and he hasn’t reached for his pistols either.

“James. His name is James. And I’m Scarlet. Scarlet O’Hara,” Scarlet lowers the shotgun and places it on the table. “So if you’re not with Colm, why are you here? My…” she hesitates and glances at James,” his father isn’t in trouble is he? He’s not part of a gang.”

Arthur and Dutch share a look, glance at the grumbling duo on the floor, and back to Scarlet. They shake their heads and James wraps his arms around his mother’s waist, head resting on her stomach. She wraps her arm around his shoulders and leans down to press a kiss to his mop of dark brown hair.

“Considering we don’t know his father, by name or otherwise? No, we aren’t here about him. When I realized you we’re running from O’Driscolls, I figured you might need help. So I sent these two men to try and help you; though from the looks of your yard and what you’ve done to poor Bill and Micah, well, you didn’t need our help.” Dutch has a way with words, Scarlett will admit that. He’s charismatic and charming, easy on the eyes too. She likes him.

“Well, Mr. Van der Linde, care to help me drag the bodies out back to the pit? We burn any ones that manage to get too close,” she offers and hands James a knife, motioning to the men on the floor. “Cut ‘em loose, but don’t cut them or yourself, James.” The boy nods and cuts the rope on their wrists and backs up to Scarlet, leaving them to cut the rope on their ankles. He sets the knife on the table.

“Damn woman put these too tight to slip out of,” Micah mutters under his breath as he slices through the rope on his legs. He gets to his feet and helps Bill up as well.

“I think we can help with that. Any chance of more O’Driscolls coming this way?” Arthur leads the group out the front door, glancing at Scarlet over his shoulder.

“Maybe. I planned on burning down the house and headed out tonight. I have a wagon down yonder with our stuff and a horse. I was gonna saddle up Fancy and Shamrock and sneak there with James,” she admits and ducks her head a little in embarrassment. Dutch studies her for a moment as they gather the dead men and move them to the backyard.

“I have an idea. You’re free to say no of course, but we could always use more people. We could help give protection to not only you, but to your boy too. James seems like a smart kid, we’ve got another boy just a little younger than him. I’m sure Jack would love to have someone his age to play and hang out with.”

Ooooh, curse this man’s charisma. He’s bound to know I’ll do anything for my boy. Curse him, Scarlet thinks, hesitating in kicking her guy into the small, dug out pit. James helps roll the guy down then busies himself with the O’Driscolls horses, leading them to the pasture as he talks to calm them. There’s kindling starting to catch the logs and clothed bodies of the dead already in the pit.

“I always said I’d never run with a gang, though I fear as I don’t have much other choice. Not now anyway. They won’t stop coming after me and it’s not like I can hide here forever. They’ll find me eventually. I can’t have that. They can’t find out about James,” she confirms, voice filled with conviction. She nods to herself and turns to face the four men. “Dutch Van der Linde, you have yourself a new member. Just tell me all I need to know.”

They finish up the litter of bodies as Dutch and Arthur list the rules of the gang and all it entails, or what they feel they can share around James, with some protest from Micah, then all head back inside. Scarlet ushers them to sit around her table as she fixes them lunch, sending James to feed and water the horses when he’s done with his plate, which he obliges without protest. She keeps busy by cleaning the dishes and packing them as the men talk amongst themselves.

When James comes back inside, having fed and watered the small groups’s horses too, Dutch suggests they head out. He volunteers Arthur to stay behind and drive the wagon when she decides to leave and join them. Scarlet thanks them and sends them on their way with a promise to not be too long with the last of the packing.

It doesn’t take too awful long to get three full double-saddlebags put on the horses. James is sent to lead all the horses to the fence and hitch them to posts in preparation of saddling. Arthur offers to help James and Scarlet nods in thanks as the males head out the back.

Once the trio of horses are saddled, Scarlet ties Shamrock’s reins to Fancy’s saddle horn so he doesn’t spook when she lights the house. She helps her son get into Fancy’s saddle and rubs the brown mustang’s nose, up the white blaze between her eyes.

“Stay, Girl. I’ll be right back. Calm,” she coos to the horse and steps away. Arthur is waiting in his saddle, Fancy’s reins in hand to keep her calm, though Scarlet is positive she won’t spook and tells him as such.

It takes less than two minutes for her to grab her hidden cash and light the bedroom on fire. She leaves the door open as she walks down the front porch and towards the five horses, two being ones from the O’Driscoll members. She climbs into the saddle and Arthur hands her the reins, James sitting in front of her.

“Let’s go get your wagon and then head out. I think we can make quick work of the trip,” he suggests and James tilts his head up to look at his mom.

“Can I ride by myself please?”

Scarlet bites her cheek and hesitates a moment before nodding and slipping from behind him. She unties Shamrock’s reins and tosses them over his head and neck before hopping to his back and adjusting in the barely used saddle. He startles a little but settles down once Scarlet gives his neck a pat and reassures him it’s only her.

“Alright. I’ll lead you to the wagon, and then we can tie those extra horses to the back side of it so they can’t run off. I can ride your horse or lead him back if I ride Fancy. James can ride in the back of the wagon. Shamrock will follow wherever his momma, Fancy, goes,” she plans, though she’s talking mostly to herself until the end, and walks Shamrock to the hitching post to take the reigns of the O’Driscoll horses. They toss their heads and nicker softly as she ties the reins to the horn, leaving plenty of slack so her legs don’t get caught. “That should do it.”

“Lead the way,” Arthur gestures for her to lead and watches as James clicks his tongue and Fancy prances up behind Shamrock. He follows behind the boy and mother, smile on his lips.

“You know, I gotta admit, that was some fine handling of gang members. You sure you’ve never ran with someone before?”

Arthur’s question startles Scarlet slightly and Shamrock spooks, prancing to the left and pulling the two tied horses with him. She rubs his neck and soothes him before straightening in the saddle and kicking him slightly. James lets the reins rest on the horn, hands rubbing Fancy down as he sings her praises.

“No. My brothers are part of one, or were. I’m not sure anymore, haven’t heard from them in awhile. My parents weren’t too happy bout it but they were grown and both could handle their own with the best of them. Last I heard from them, I think they was in Blackwater. But that were years ago. Long before I were even pregnant with James,” her eyes stay trained on Shamrock, blinking back the withheld tears.

The thoroughbred-mustang cross tosses his head and neighs at her discomfort, slowing from a gallop to a trot despite her order to sped up. He pulls enough so the reins are from her hands and he turns to look at her, nickering softly. Fancy speeds up to trot as close as she can beside them, gently nipping at Scarlet’s boot.

“Mama?” James inquires, concern and fear in his quivering voice. She slouches in the saddle, hand going slack on the reins. She leans forward and whispers something to Shamrock before sitting back, looking at her son with a sad smile.

“Just miss my brothers, your uncles….that’s all, James. I wish you coulda met them. I wish I knew what’s happened to them or at least where they are,” she admits and reaches into her shoulder bag. She drops one sugar cube into her right hand and leans forward to feed it to her stud. She holds her palm out for Fancy who happily eats it, then turns to each horse tied to Shamrock, coaxing them softly to take the sugar. She holds her hand out to Arthur who hesitates a moment. “It’s just a sugar cube, ain’t gonna poison your horse. I’d be stupid too,” she chuckles as he accepts the horse treat. His horse tosses his head as he pats his neck.

“Well, I guess you’re right. Can’t be too careful though,” he huffs a small laugh as he rubs his horse’s neck as it nickers happily.

“Mm. That’s the wagon, just ahead,” she nods to a wagon stashed between several trees and bushes. Arthur moves his horse to her other side to get a better look at where she’s pointing. It hadn’t been a far ride, and there’s a horse already tied to the front, pawing at the ground in wait.

“How did you get to own three horses? If you don’t mind me asking,” Arthur asks as they slow to a walk until they reach the tied wagon. Scarlet shrugs as she slips easily from the saddle and leads Shamrock to the back to tie him to one of the trees and undo the other horses.

“My mom. Fancy was hers. Well, technically my grandmother’s but when she couldn’t take care of them my mother offered to take them and well, when I was ready to leave she said I could have Fancy since she don’t ride no more. Said it would be good for her to be with someone she trusts and who would actually ride her and take care of her. She’s pretty old, thirty five or six I think,” she admits and kisses Shamrock’s nose when he puts his face in hers.

“Shamrock was born a few years after I was, so he’s roughly my age. Maybe five years younger. That,” Scarlet points to the horse on the wagon, “asshole is Shasta. He is a moody jerk who I sometimes have to fight just to put up for the night. I got him in a race. Before I were pregnant with James, I would race Fancy. Bets for money or horses were traded, depending on my opponent.

“So I beat the guy who owned him. I felt bad though cause Shasta was young then, only two at the time. His owner, a real rich prick, hit him in the face with the butt of his pistol. So I lassoed the guy off Shasta and hogtied him. Fancy just let me do my thing since she’s seen almost everything, my old girl.

“Shasta spooked so I tossed the guy on Fancy and caught Shasta, lassoing him and calming him. When I climbed into that man’s saddle, I swear he didn’t even have him broke, just listening out of fear. He immediately started bucking and kicking like crazy. I wore him down and tied him to Fancy so I could rid him of the horrid saddle. It was too big for his back! I beat the guy up a bit and yelled at him about his abuse of the poor horse and made him swear to be better. Then I looted the saddlebags and the guy for all he had on him and dropped him and his saddle on the side of the trail we were on after cutting his wrists free. I rode with Shasta tied to Fancy back to my old place and have had him since,” she recalls, chuckling at the memories of that day.

“Sounds like you like gettin into trouble, or at the very least, causin it. Should I ask Dutch to rethink this invitation? We don’t need any more trouble,” Arthur jests, climbing off his horse to help unsaddle the O’Driscoll horses.

“Nah. I’m not gonna be the cause of it. I usually just wind up pulled into it. We can change Shasta with these two so they can’t break away and run off on us. I’ll ride him and my two will follow. Unless you’d feel comfortable tying him to the back,” she rambles as she helps James into the back of the wagon before moving to help Arthur with the saddles.

“Two horses work better than one. I think I’ll let you handle unhooking Shasta though. Sounds like he’s a right brute when he wants to be,” he hefts a saddle and puts it in the remaining room in the wagon, ruffling James’ hair in passing. James sticks his tongue out at the man before clambering closer to the seat and waiting for them.

“Aha, yeah. You’re right. He’s a brute alright,” she chides and rounds the front of the wagon after adding the second saddle on top of the other one. “Go ahead and slip their bits out and I’ll settle Shasta, get him dressed in Fancy’s saddle.”