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nerdzzone · 3 years

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-More Hearts Than Mine-

Summary: Raising a child is hard. Raising a child with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars is even harder. And raising a child with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars who you’re not actually in a relationship with is even harder still.

Especially when a global pandemic is sweeping the world.

With lockdowns and stay at home orders looming on the horizon, the uncertainty of their situation becomes almost too much for Whitney Taylor to handle. Chris suggests that they quarantine together to avoid any potential separations but, given what happened the last time they spent more than a few brief moments in each other’s company, that could cause more problems than it solves…

Chris Evans x OFC

Sequel to: Once Bitten - Twice Shy

Note: Again, just a reminder that all the information I have about covid restrictions in Massachusetts is from google, not first hand experience, so if something seems wrong please just go with it.

Part Three

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Part Four

If avoiding difficult conversations was an Olympic sport then it's pretty safe to say that I would have earned myself a gold medal by the end of the following week. It wasn't all that hard to do though as the exhaustion from parenting during a pandemic was hitting us both. Especially because the weather for the first couple of weeks of April was abysmal. It was cold, stormy and raining almost every day and we were all getting quite stir crazy from being inside constantly - especially our lively and spirited child.

So, it was a massive relief when the sun finally came out.

It was also a relief that it lined up with Grayson's third birthday.

He was going to have a very different birthday than previous years - as most people would over the next few months - but we wanted him to have fun and he was quickly tiring of all the indoor activities that we could come up with.

We set the living room up the night before after he'd gone to bed, putting up a birthday banner with several clusters of balloons, and there was quite the mountain of presents in the corner as most of our family members had sent their gifts in advance. I had hoped to wake up before him, but when I woke up to excited cheers and Dodger barking from downstairs, I knew I was too late. A quick glance at my phone told me that it was only six thirty, but clearly the excitement had gotten him up earlier than normal.

"Whoa, Dodger, Grayson, shhhh," I heard Chris warn the pair of them, his voice still raspy from sleep. "You'll wake up the whole neighbourhood."

I smiled and quickly climbed out of bed. Chris wouldn't let him open any presents without me, I knew that, but I didn't want to keep him waiting for too long.

When I got downstairs, a very excited Grayson was bouncing on the couch as Chris sat next to him, watching him closely with a smile on his face.

"Happy birthday!" I cheered, catching his attention.

He sprang off the couch and bolted towards me.

"Thanks, Mama," He shouted, throwing his arms around my legs and looking up at me. "I'm three!"

"You are!" I smiled as I knelt down in front of him and pulled him into a hug. "You're such a big boy now."

He let me squeeze him for another moment or two before wiggling free.

"Can I open presents?"

Chris laughed at his clear priorities, shaking his head as I stood up.

"Let's just wait for Uncle Scott," he suggested before glancing up at me. "He's putting the coffee on."

"Very smart," I nodded. "I think we're all going to need plenty of that today."

Grayson proved my point by grabbing at his balloons and waving them frantically, setting Dodger off barking again.

"Dodge!" Chris scolded. "It's just a balloon, buddy. Chill."

The poor overwhelmed dog hung his head and came over to me for some sympathy. I happily obliged, cooing some comforting words and rubbing his back.

"Gray, leave the balloons, okay?" I requested. "I don't think Dodger likes them."

Grayson frowned, but instantly let go of the balloon in his hand.

"Sorry, Dodger."

"It sounds like we have quite the party in here already," Scott commented as he sauntered into the room. "Shall we see what's in some of these boxes?"

"Yes! Yes!" Grayson cheered, running over to the presents. "What first?"

"Whatever you want," I told him, smiling as I went to sit on the couch next to Chris. "Do you need some help?"

"No, I can do it!" He insisted, making a bee line for the biggest box and quickly ripping the paper off.

We watched as he opened gift after gift, an ear to ear grin on his face the whole time. Just as he was at Christmas, he was incredibly grateful for every present from the Paw Patrol Lookout Tower that was almost as tall as he was to the dinosaur books that were more educational than flashy and fun.

But there was one gift at the bottom of the pile that Chris wasn't particularly impressed by. The one that my brother had sent.

Grayson opened it, pulling out a t-shirt first.

"What does it say?" He asked, holding up the shirt towards us.

Chris' jaw dropped as I stifled my giggles and Scott burst out laughing.

"It says 'Team Iron Man'," I read. "Remember how Uncle Rob was in a movie with Daddy where they had a big fight? Iron Man was Uncle Rob's character and I think Uncle Jack wants you to be on that team."

"Oh," Grayson smiled. "Okay!"

"Okay?!" Chris protested. "You don't want to be on my team?"

Grayson shrugged as he pulled something else out of the box from my brother.

"Look!" He shouted, his excitement clear as he held up a very fancy electronic Iron Man helmet. "I love it!"

I wasn't even sure that he knew what it was as he hadn't seen any of the movies yet, but his enthusiasm compared to Chris' displeasure was killing Scott and I.

"Oh, it's such a shame that your brother wasted his money," Chris said, his words dripping with sarcasm as he had a forced look of pity on his face. "Those things are expensive and Grayson is never going to wear it."

"I'll wear it!"

Grayson's insistence was followed by him putting the helmet on his head and another howl of laughter came from Scott as a look of betrayal crossed Chris' face.

"Your brother is a jerk."

His words were quiet so Grayson wouldn't hear and I smiled.

"What can I say?" I shrugged. "We're an Iron Man family..."

Chris shot me a glare, but turned his attention back to Gray.

"Well, if you don't want to be on my team then I guess I'll just have to find someone else to have the last present that I got for you..."

Chris was teasing, but Grayson whipped off the helmet faster than we could blink. He looked around, a puzzled expression on his face when he couldn't see anymore boxes on the floor and I shared his confusion as I wasn't aware of anymore gifts either. But the Evans brothers exchanged a knowing glance and I knew they were up to something.

"Maybe Miles would like it," Scott suggested. "He loves Captain America."

"Me too!" Grayson insisted, tossing the helmet aside as if it hadn't been his new prized possession moments ago. "He's my favourite!"

"Oh, is he now?" Chris laughed. "Doesn't take much to make you change your mind, does it?"

Grayson shook his head, oblivious to the fact that he was being teased, but Chris didn't torture him for too long.

"Alright, do you want to see what it is?"

"Yes, I do!"

Grayson leapt up, bouncing up and down with excitement, making Chris laugh as he stood up from the couch.

"C'mon then," he told Grayson, nodding his head towards the door. "It's this way."

Grayson scurried after his dad and I followed, my own curiosity piqued as well.

"What is it?" I asked Scott, but he just shot me a smirk.

"You'll see in a second."

I narrowed my eyes at his secrets and paused at the front door where Chris was waiting for us, his hand on the door knob as Grayson practically vibrated with excitement.

"Okay, close your eyes," Chris instructed. "No peeking!"

"I won't, I won't!"

Grayson covered his eyes as an extra assurance and Chris' grin widened even more as he swung open the door. I put my hands on Grayson's shoulders and guided him through it, seeing a shiny blue bike with a big bow on the handlebars. I felt a flash of worry at all the potential ways for Grayson to get hurt riding it, but there was no time to dwell on that as Chris told him to open his eyes and he gasped with excitement.

"A bike!" He squealed with joy, leaping off the doorstep and running towards it.

He circled it for a moment as if he was really trying to take it all in while I looked up at Chris.

"There better be a helmet with this present," I warned him. "I'm already imagining broken bones and missing teeth."

"He'll be fine," Chris assured me with a chuckle. "It has training wheels, but of course I got him a helmet."

I opened my mouth, ready to share some more potential disasters that could come from this - because even with training wheels he could still fall off or lose control and crash into a tree - but Grayson cut me off.

"Help me, Daddy! Help me!"

He was trying to climb onto the seat, but as I took in the sight of him barefoot in his pyjamas standing in the driveway, I stopped Chris as he moved towards him.

"Wait, why don't we have breakfast first?" I suggested. "We have all day to play on your bike, but you're not dressed or even wearing shoes..."

Grayson's face fell and I felt bad being the mean parent, but Chris nodded in agreement.

"Your Ma's right, Gray," he told him. "Let's go get ready and then we can come right back outside, okay?"

Grayson looked sulky, but reluctantly agreed as he walked back over to us.

"Hey now," Scott said, catching his attention. "No pouting on your birthday! We've got some chocolate chip pancakes to make! Unless that sad face means you don't want them anymore?"

His previous smile slid instantly back onto his face at the promise of such a sugary breakfast and the pep returned to his step as he grabbed Scott's hand before dragging him into the house.

I had no evidence to prove my theory, but by the time breakfast was over, I was almost certain that it would have been more relaxing to be in the middle of a hurricane. There was pancake batter all over the room and we practically had to pin Grayson to his chair to stop him from sprinting around the room with food in his mouth. It was a miracle that he got through the meal without choking.

It was impossible to be mad though when he was having such a good time. He'd had so much to adjust to lately, seeing him happy on his birthday was all that I wanted and I was willing to put up with a little more chaos than normal if it made that happen. Within reason, of course. I did stop him when he suggested that we put the entire bag of chocolate chips in the pancake batter and I did make him help me clean them up when he dumped them on the floor in protest of my ridiculous restrictions.

Once the breakfast circus was over, Chris whisked him off to get him ready to play outside while I helped Scott clean up the kitchen before going upstairs to shower and get ready myself.

When I came back down almost an hour later, I felt considerably less frazzled, but the sound of excited squeals and giggles echoing from outside told me the energy levels hadn't died down much. It really was a relief that he was having such a nice day though so I braced myself for more chaos and headed out to find them.

The sight that greeted me melted my heart completely.

Chris was running backwards across the driveway as Grayson rode towards him. He shouted encouragement the entire time, reminding him to keep pedaling and to look where he was going and cheering as Grayson rode past him before turning around and circling back.

"Look, Mama!" He shouted to me as he spotted me by the door. "I'm doing it!"

"You are, baby!" I smiled. "Good job!"

I sat on the doorstep and watched him ride in circles, proud of how fast he'd figured it out, but after a few moments, my attention turned to Chris.

There were few times since I'd known him when I'd seen him look as happy as he did in that moment. When Grayson was born, when he took his first steps and when he first said 'Dada' were probably the only comparable moments I could think of. He looked absolutely gleeful as he chased after Grayson, laughing as he passed him before dodging a different way and waiting for Gray to catch up before bolting off again. The sound of their giggles and shouts filled my heart so much that it genuinely felt like it was about to burst out of my chest and a feeling of contentedness hit me so hard that it almost knocked over.

It was a feeling that told me that they were all I ever needed. Those two boys, making each other dizzy as they ran in circles. Their happiness and love was all I could ever hope to have and moments like these were all I ever wanted to see. I wanted us to spend every weekend soaking in this kind of joy. I didn't want to fight and argue and transport Grayson back and forth every other week. I wanted to give Grayson what he deserved, I wanted us to be a family.

But as fast as that clarity hit me, the knots in my stomach were there to remind me that it wasn't just about what I wanted. It wasn't about what would bring us the most moments of delight, it was about what would provide Grayson with the most stability and being a family might do more harm to that goal than good.

It was a constant battle between my heart and my head, but I was starting to realize that my head was losing. I was clinging to my resistance with all I had, but it was slipping away. I knew I needed to talk to Chris, to sort out the fog in my brain, but for the time being, I pushed it out of my mind. This was Grayson's day and we didn't have time for anymore heart-wrenching conversations.

I was snapped out of my thoughts as Scott appeared from the side of the house on roller blades and the unexpected sight pulled a laugh from my lips as he sailed past Chris and Grayson and headed down the driveway.

"Gray, follow me!"

Gray nodded, frantically pedaling to catch up with his uncle as they sped off down the long drive. Chris watched them for a minute before jogging over to me.

"He got it so fast," he puffed as he fought to catch his breath. "He's a natural."

"The training wheels help," I pointed out, shielding my eyes from the sun as I looked up at him. "But it's fine because he'll be keeping those on until he's at least eighteen."

Chris barked out a laugh, shaking his head.

"No way," he smirked. "We'll have them off by next week."

"Not a chance. I need at least six months to get used to that idea."

"How about we meet in the middle and aim for three?"

"Hmm, maybe," I bit back a smile. "We'll have to see how many injuries he gets with the training wheels on first."

"He'll be fine. He's a champ," Chris grinned proudly. "We've got a pretty great kid."

"We do," I patted the step next to me as I made room for Chris to sit down. "I can't believe he's already three."

Chris accepted my silent invitation and sat down next to me.

"I know," he sighed. "It feels like just yesterday that he was born..."

"He was so tiny," I reminisced. "And you had those huge Captain America muscles."

Chris laughed as he nodded at the memory.

"I was so scared to hold him in case I accidentally crushed him."

"I was so scared of everything," I admitted. "It wasn't until he was actually born that it really hit me that we were completely responsible for his well-being and keeping him alive."

"We've done well with that though!"

"We have," I agreed with a smile. "He's alive and thriving."

"We make a good team."

He flashed me a warm smile that made my heart beat stutter and it almost stopped completely when he stretched out a hand and placed it on mine. His touch was gentle and the warmth of his skin flooded through me even more than the sun streaming down on us. It was a simple gesture, but it eased the heaviness that had been hovering between us lately and I was grateful. I carefully flipped my hand over so our palms pressed together and let our fingers interlace. His smile widened as he looked back out at the driveway, his eyes settling on Grayson in the distance who was laughing at something Scott said.

"Thank you," Chris sighed, his voice quiet and filled with genuine appreciation. "I don't think I've ever said it, but thank you for making me a dad."

His words almost brought tears to my eyes, but I shook my head.

"Chris, you don't need to than-"

"I do," he insisted, cutting me off. "He's the best thing that ever happened to me and he wouldn't be here without you."

"I could say the same," I pointed out, trying to ignore the way his thumb was stroking the back of my hand. "He gets most of his good traits from you too. His kind heart, his sensitive little soul, his loyalty."

"His infuriating stubbornness."

"He gets that from both of us," I smiled. "He didn't stand a chance with that one."

"Well, I hope he gets some of your selflessness," Chris informed me, glancing over and looking a tad sheepish. "Because, as much as I disagree with it and I wish you'd be a little selfish, I get that you're trying to look out for him."

I felt my palms start to sweat and I wondered if he could feel it. I resisted the urge to snatch my hand away from his, trying to play it cooler than I felt. He was watching me closely as I mulled over his words until I found the strength to speak.

"I'm not so sure that it's just him that I'm trying to look out for," I admitted, exhaling a breath that I didn't realize I was holding. "I do think we have more to talk about, Chris, but I don't think this is the right time."

"You're right," he nodded. "I just felt like I owed you an apology after the other night. I let my feelings get the best of me and I came across a little harsh."

I was about to reassure him that he hadn't when the sound of honking interrupted our conversation. Our attention was pulled to the end of the driveway where two cars - belonging to Chris' mom and his sister - were pulling in as Scott moved Grayson and Dodger off to the side to let them past.

"Did you know they were coming?" I asked, surprised by the little motorcade.

"Nah, I had no idea," Chris shrugged. "We'll stay outside though, keep our distance."

I wasn't worried about that really, I knew all of Chris' family were staying very isolated and being smart about staying safe and we were technically allowed to have outdoor gatherings of up to ten people anyway with the current rules in place. I was surprised to see them though as we'd warned Grayson that he would only get to see most of his family over FaceTime. His excitement at that being untrue was clear as he frantically pedaled back up the driveway to greet his guests.

"Mama! Daddy! Look!"

I let Chris' hand fall away from mine as we stood, smiling at Grayson's excitement as everyone started getting out of their cars. They burst into a rousing chorus of 'Happy Birthday' making Gray's grin grow even more.

"Happy birthday, Grayson!" Lisa beamed as Grayson ran towards her full speed. He threw his arms around her legs before we could even remind him to keep his distance, but Lisa seemed unbothered by it. "Have you had a good day so far?"

"Yes!" Gray smiled up at her. "I got a bike!"

"I saw that!" Lisa matched his enthusiasm. "You're a lucky boy!"

Grayson shot her another smile before turning his attention to his cousins.

"Wanna try?"

His older cousins were probably too big, but Stella's hand shot up first and beat them to it anyway.

"That's really nice of you to share," I called over to Grayson. "But share your helmet too, okay?"

He nodded and struggled with the clip for a few minutes before Lisa helped him take it off and placed it on her granddaughter's head.

Once they were all happy, chasing Stella and Dodger around the drive way, the adults moved over towards us. Lisa was the first to speak, a guilty look on her face.

"I hope you don't mind us just showing up like this, but we couldn't stay away on his birthday..."

"It's great!" Chris assured her. "Don't worry about it."

"And Grayson seems thrilled," I added. "It's nice for him to have other kids to run around with for a bit."

We all turned to watch them as they played until Carly let out a laugh.

"Are Grayson's shoes on the wrong feet?"

I hadn't even noticed, but I laughed as well when I realized that she was right.

"Some days just getting him in shoes at all is a victory," Chris defended himself. "And today was one of those days."

"He's like the energizer bunny this morning," Scott joked. "I can't imagine what he'll be like after we get some cake into him."

"Just think how well he'll sleep tonight," Carly pointed out. "He has to crash eventually."

"I hope so," Chris smiled. "He had me up at six o'clock this morning, I need an early night."

That earned a laugh from the group as his siblings teased him about being such an old man, but I felt a pang of sympathy for him, knowing that he'd been up early with Grayson a lot lately. Maybe it was because we were at his house so it was what Gray was used to, but Chris was definitely the favourite for the early morning wake up call.

We stood in our little circle for a while, just catching up as we watched the kids, all of us enjoying conversation with someone other than the people we were locked up with twenty-four hours a day. It was nice for me to have some female company as well even though Lisa was very pleased to hear that her boys were pulling their weight around the house and not just treating me like some kind of live-in maid.

It didn't take long for the kids to get tired of sharing the bike, especially the older boys who were too big for it anyway, and soon they were swarming around us demanding that we all play a game. After being cooped up for so long, it didn't seem like a bad idea to get us all moving around a little so we agreed and set about the daunting task of finding something everyone was willing to play.

Eventually, we settled on capture the flag - girls against boys. Lisa decided she'd make a better referee than a player so the boys team had one extra member, but they had three children to our one so it hardly seemed like the extra person would cause any unbalance.

The rules of the game were simple: each team had three flags in our 'end zone' at opposite ends of the large grassy part of Chris' yard and the other team had to try to steal those flags. We had to grab it and run it all the way back to our own end zone to score a point, but once it was safely 'captured' it couldn't be stolen back. If someone managed to snatch a flag, but was tagged on their way back to their end zone then they had to give the flag back.

Lisa was very firm in reminding her children that tackling was not allowed as the Evans siblings were fiercely competitive and it had apparently led to trouble over the years. Once the rules were all set, we took our places and started the game.

The teams were fairly evenly matched. The boys had more strength, but we had more agility and were much better at communicating and working together which led to us easily scoring the first point. While Stella distracted Scott, Carly snuck past him to snatch the flag and she tossed it to Shanna who faked a pass to Stella before throwing it to me to get it to the safe zone. It was a beautifully executed play that showed the boys we weren't messing around.

"Oh, it's on now," Chris called out as he sprinted past me.

Shanna bolted after him, but he managed to grab the flag and throw it to Ethan before she caught up. With all the other boys guarding him, he made it all the way back to their end zone without getting tagged.

"I think having a super soldier on your team is an unfair advantage ," Carly huffed, but Chris shook his head with a smirk.

"Nah, because we have Scott too so it balances out."

"Hey!" Scott protested. "I'll switch teams if you're going to be rude!"

Stella jumped for joy at that idea, pleading with him to come onto our side, but the rest of the boys voiced their protests and he decided that, as long as there was no more hurtful comments, he would stick to his team for now. I used their bickering as a distraction though as I snuck closer towards their unguarded flags. I managed to grab one before Scott noticed and called out a warning to the rest of his team, but when I took off running and Grayson charged towards me, I didn't have the heart to out run him on his special day. I slowed down enough that he wouldn't realize I was letting him win and groaned dramatically as he tagged me, making me give up the flag.

"I did it!" He cheered. "Daddy! Did you see? I did it!"

Stella had a disappointed scowl on her face, but everyone else was understanding as they watched Chris scoop him up onto his shoulders, chanting his name as if he'd just won the World Cup while he carried him back to replace the flag.

Their celebration was short-lived though as we managed to steal the flag again almost as soon as Chris and Grayson were far enough away from it. After another perfectly executed play, the score was sitting at 2-1 for us. The pressure was on after that as we only needed one more point to win, it ramped up the competitive spirit.

We were off to a great start in the next round. Shanna got the flag quickly, but Scott had her cornered almost immediately so she tossed it to me. I got about ten steps before Chris was on my heels and I was forced to throw it over to Carly. Chris turned and went to chase after her instead and without even thinking, I leapt on his back to stop him.

"Hey!" He protested, slowing to a stop despite how he was clearly unaffected by my weight. "Is anyone seeing this? This has got to be a foul! She tackled me!"

"I did not tackle you!" I insisted, clinging to his shoulders with my legs wrapped around his waist. "If it was a tackle, you'd be on the ground."

Chris wiggled around, trying to throw me off his back as Carly sauntered into our end zone with the flag.

"The only reason I'm not on the ground is because you're too weak," Chris argued before shouting to his mom. "That doesn't count!

"No, Mama," Grayson joined in, running over to us looking very disapproving. "No cheating!"

I laughed, but slid down from Chris' back.

"Sorry, I'm sorry!" I held my hands up as I apologized. "I can't outrun Captain America, I had no choice!"

"Well, now you lost the point," Chris teased me, shoving me playfully and making me stumble a step away from him. "So, lets keep it fair and stop trying to cheat."

I swatted back at him as I stuck out my tongue while Lisa made the official call that the point didn't count and Scott took the recently captured flag back to the boy's end zone.

Chris had a new twinkle in his eye as the next round started. He hadn't let me get very far away from him and I quickly realized that I'd made a mistake by antagonizing him. I would be useless to my team if he was on my tail the whole time, but he was a tank and incredibly fast so getting away from him was next to impossible. I watched helplessly as Scott and Miles easily took our flag and dashed it back to their end zone to tie the score.

"Chris!" I whined as I tried to get around him like I was a cornered puppy, trying not to get caught. "Get away from me, you big oaf!"

"Oh, wow," Chris chuckled. "Let's not start calling names and being mean."

I tried to dart past him again, but groaned as he blocked my path.

"You're infuriating!"

"It's all part of the game."

The smirk on Chris' face had my competitive side firing up as I could see behind him that Miles had snatched our last flag. Stella was hot on his heels though, so he had no choice, but to pass to Grayson who was coming our way. Was I going to stop my three year old son from scoring the game winning point on his birthday? Probably not. But I had to at least make my attempt genuine so I came up with a plan.

"Is that..." I squinted off into the distance on the other side of the yard. "Is that Dodger chasing a cat?"

My Oscar worthy performance had Chris spinning around to check out what I saw and it gave me enough time to bolt away towards Grayson who wasn't far away from winning the game for his team. I made it an impressive five steps before Chris figured out what I'd done and came after me. Grayson saw what was happening and dodged to the left so I followed, but my change of direction gave Chris an opportunity. The next thing I knew, I felt a crash against my hips before I was lifted from the ground and found myself dangling over Chris' shoulder.

I let out a squeal of surprise as I kicked my legs, trying to get down, but Chris had a tight grip on me and there was no getting away. The ease with which he threw me around wasn't at all distracting and there wasn't a single part of me that was revelling in his strength. Not at all.

"This is absolutely a tackle!" I protested, focusing my mind back onto my predicament. "Put me down!"

"If this was a tackle, you'd be on the ground," he mocked me. "This is payback."

I had a nice view, my head only inches above 'America's ass' so, swept up in the moment of playfulness between us, I reached down and gave it a smack. He yelped and jumped, shaking me as he did.

"Chris! Put me down!"

My demands were weakened by the giggles that I couldn't hold back, but thankfully Scott stepped in to help me regain some dignity.

"Alright, you two," he called over. "Can we get back to the game now or would you like us all to give you some time alone?"

A blush covered my cheeks as I remembered that his entire family was around us and was relieved when he lowered me to the ground.

"Games over," Chris called back. "Grayson scored!"

Grayson jumped up and down happily, but Stella had a scowl on her face.

"Nuh uh! When Whitney tackled you, it didn't count!" She pointed out. "Grayson's point doesn't count too!"

The joy on Grayson's face fell into a look of anger as he stomped his foot at his cousin’s claim.

"It does!" He insisted. "I did it!"

"Now look what you've done," I playfully scolded Chris quietly before shouting to the rest of the group. "I think we're going to have to let them have the point, ladies. I wouldn't have been able to catch up to Grayson even if Chris didn't cheat..."

Stella's jaw dropped in clear shock that I hadn't supported her protests, but to stop the war before it could start, Chris chimed in.

"Grayson didn't need my help to score that point, I shouldn't have interfered," he started. "But why don't we call it a game and go have some cake?!"

The promise of sugar seemed to quash any animosity between the teams as all the kids let out a shriek of approval at that suggestion and took off running back to the house.

"Oh, yes," Carly sighed. "Because what my children clearly need right now is more energy..."

"It's Gray's birthday," Chris shrugged with a smile as we all followed the children at a much more reasonable pace. "We have to have cake!"

"And if it wasn't his birthday then I wouldn't have let you win."

My taunting earned a bark of laughter from Chris.

"Let us win? Yeah, sure, okay. You just keep telling yourself that you're faster and stronger than me," he teased. "Whatever makes you feel better."

I shoved him, but he was braced for it and I ended up more affected by the impact than him which proved his point, putting a smirk on his face.

"Asshole," I muttered as I shook my head, but I couldn't hold back a smile at how nice our affectionate teasing felt.

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted. It had been a fun and very special day for Grayson so we were thrilled for him, but exhausted nonetheless. Gray fought his bedtime with all the will power he had, eager for the day to go on just a little bit longer, but we won out in the end and he made it to bed on time. Scott had gone to his own room while we were fighting with him and Chris and I parted ways shortly after to get some much needed quiet time of our own.

I found myself distracted though, when I was finally alone, as the importance of the day had me feeling sentimental. Watching Grayson grow up and hit these milestones was a joy, but it left me feeling a bit reminiscent of the years gone by. Years when he was even smaller than he was now, just starting to figure out the world and how to speak, walk and be a part of it. The time was really flying by and as I began to scroll through old videos of his first year of life, the nostalgia was almost too much to bear.

Eventually, I stumbled on a video that had distinct parallels of today.

It was a video of Grayson's first birthday when we'd given him his own little cake and let him go to town on it. Of course, as many babies do, he'd stared at it for a moment before smashing his face directly into it. It was adorable and tugged on my heart strings considering how comparatively neat his cake consumption was earlier that day. He'd grown so much in such a short time and I felt compelled to share my discovery with Chris so I dragged myself out of bed and crept down to his room.

There was a fluttering of nerves in my stomach as I knocked on his bedroom door, the feeling only growing as he called out an invitation to come inside. I did as he'd asked and let myself in, finding him leaning back against the headboard of his bed - wearing nothing but his pajama pants - with his own phone in his hand.

"Hey," he smiled. "What's up?"

"I found a video," I told him, standing awkwardly near the foot of his bed. "I was feeling a little sad about how fast Gray is growing up so I was looking back, watching old videos and I found one that I thought you might like to see."

Chris’ smile widened and he eagerly patted the bed next to him, encouraging me to sit. I took him up on his offer and settled in as I unlocked my phone and started the video.

"He was so little..."

Chris' observation came as the camera settled on Gray where he sat in his high chair. Chris was right next to him, a grin on his face as he chatted happily to our son despite the nonsense babble that he got in response. I appeared on the screen after a few moments, carrying a tiny cake as everyone started to sing Happy Birthday. Grayson had a look of confusion on his face as he looked around at the crowd, but his eyes widened when the cake was placed in front of him.

"Go on, Gray," I prompted once the singing had stopped. "You can taste it."

He needed no more encouragement and simply face planted right into it, popping up a moment later with blue icing from the tops of his eyebrows to the bottom of his chin. He had a huge, cheeky grin on his face as he looked at us and, just as he did in the video, Chris laughed next to me.

"Oh, man, it kills you, doesn't it?" He questioned before clarifying. "How cute he is."

I hadn't realized that Chris' arm had found its way behind me when he leaned in to watch until I felt his breath on my hair as he spoke and I couldn't resist leaning back, tucking myself under his shoulder. The whole day, the knowledge that my baby was growing up, had me needing some comfort. It was exciting, to see him learn and shift from a baby to a little person, but at the same time, I felt the overwhelming urge for time to stop.

"It does," I agreed, letting my phone fall to the bed beside me. "I can't believe how much he's changed since then."

"In some ways," Chris agreed, looking down at me with a smirk. "In others, he's still that goofy, reckless baby."

"If he's anything like you, he'll probably never grow out of being goofy and reckless."

I felt Chris' shoulders shake as he chuckled at my teasing and I was reminded of the last time we'd been cuddled up, in a similar position to this, in his bed. I felt a flood of warmth run through my body at the memory as I was suddenly aware of how close we were, aware of how good he smelt and how strong his hard muscled arm felt as I leaned against it.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"I meant it as one," I assured him. "I like that you're goofy. Your recklessness used to give me anxiety sometimes, when you'd always insist that you just had to do your own stunts on Captain America as if you really thought you were a super soldier, but I like that you're willing to take risks."

"Awe, gee, Whitney," he teased, squeezing me closer against him. "It was nice of you to worry about me."

"Of course I worried," I rolled my eyes. "Your muscles are bigger than your brain sometimes."

"Not anymore..." Chris held up the arm that wasn't currently around me and flexed his muscles, showing off a bicep that was still much larger than most even if it wasn't quite up to the Avengers standard. "I'm out of shape."

Against my own best interest, I turned slightly, letting my hand drift up towards his arm as my head fell against his chest. I traced over the bulging muscle and watched as tiny goosebumps rose up on his skin at the sensation. Skin that felt so soft under my touch and I felt his breath shift as he clearly felt the mood between us change the same way that I did. I felt emboldened by how amorous our emotional day had left me as I let my head tip back to find him looking down at me with the same intensity he had a few months ago.

My breath caught in my throat and I couldn't help myself. Despite every alarm bell going off inside my brain, I stretched up just enough to press my lips against his. For a moment, he relaxed. His shoulders dropped as my fingers curled around the arm they were just stroking, but then suddenly his entire body tensed as if he'd been shocked by a bolt of electricity. He jerked away, sliding out from under me and off the bed before I could even realize what was happening.

"No," he said firmly, pointing his finger at me the same way he did to Dodger when he was being naughty. "No, no, we're not doing this again. Not until we talk about it what's going on here."

I felt the sting of rejection so harshly that it almost brought tears to my eyes, but I knew he was right.

"I'm sorry," I squeaked out, my cheeks burning. "You're right. I shouldn't have done that."

My voice was shaking as I scrambled to stand up, the stunned look on Chris' face only adding to my embarrassment. We stood there, staring at each other with the bed between us, but he didn't speak and after a few moments of silence, my shame was overwhelming, kicking my flight instincts into gear.

"I'll go," I mumbled. "Sorry again."

I didn't wait for a response before darting towards the door, but Chris' voice stopped me before I could make my escape.

"Whitney, stop." He didn't shout, but his tone was firm and demanding enough that I froze on the spot. "We need to talk about this. We can't keep going on with it hanging above our heads."

I turned to face him, discovering that he'd moved closer and was standing by the foot of the bed. He was still a few feet away from me, but close enough that it felt almost suffocating and I bit my lip as I stared at his feet, unable to look him in the eye.

"I don't know what to say..."

"I can take it," he insisted, a hint of resignation in voice as he continued. "You've had plenty of time to think it over since our last conversation and you said earlier today that we needed to talk. If you're gonna turn me down, put whatever this is to bed, just do it now and get it over with."

I furrowed my brow in confusion at his words, my heart beating in my chest so fast that I could hear the blood pumping through my ears.

"Turn you down?" I questioned. "Why do you think I'm going to turn you down? I just kissed you."

"That didn't mean much at Christmas."

He had a very valid point and I felt another pang of guilt at how badly I was treating him. I was hot and cold, affectionate and withdrawn, unwavering in my decision one minute and unsteady the next. I hadn't spared much thought to how cruel that was and now that I'd realized, I couldn't hold back the frustrated groan that fell from my lips.

"I don't know what to do, Chris! I think I know what the right decision is. It's what always felt like the safer choice, but then there are times when that's just..." I paused, taking in a deep breath to work up a dash of courage. "It's not what I want."

Chris watched me closely as if choosing his next words very carefully.

"If the safer choice isn't what you want then it sounds like maybe you need to take a risk. You can't live your life making decisions out of fear."

My eyes narrowed. He was over simplifying the situation. That way of thinking might work if it was just the two of us, but with Gray in the middle, things were more complicated.

"It's not that straight forward."

I shook my head as I spoke, but Chris countered with a nod.

"Sure, it is," he shrugged before asking a question that almost stopped my heart. "Do you love me?"

I stared at him, opening my mouth to speak and then closing it again when the words didn't come. I stood there, gaping at him like some kind of ridiculous puffer fish, until I finally got a word out.

"What?"

A smirk slid onto Chris' face at my floundering as he repeated the question.

"Do you love me?" He asked. "And don't say it doesn't matter or it's not important. Just yes or no."

I stared at him for a moment longer as a war between my head and heart raged inside me. Deny, deny, deny was what my head was screaming, but in the end the quiet reminder of now or never from my heart was what won out.

"Yes, I do," I admitted, proud of my voice for not breaking. "I always have."

There was a grin on Chris' face now, but my stomach churned because it didn't mean anything. As I said, I'd loved him all along and yet here we were, no better off.

"That's all that matters then," he insisted. "We can figure out the rest."

"But what if we can't figure it out?" I protested, crossing my arms as if I could somehow fold into myself and disappear completely. "What if it's nice for a while and then it all comes crashing down around us? What about Gray?"

He shrugged again. His whole demeanour miles away from my own. He seemed confident, hopeful, almost excited while I felt nauseous, terrified and paralyzed by fear.

"But what if it doesn't? What if it all works out nicely? Why are you so convinced that we wouldn't last?"

"Because you're you," I reminded him, my tone flat as I stated the obvious. "Hollywood super star, Chris Evans. And I'm me, a boring nobody. You could have pretty much any famous actress you want, the only person who wants to be with me is the creepy maintenance worker in our apartment building."

Chris looked taken aback as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What? I've never heard about this guy."

"He's just some weird guy who does the repairs," I shrugged. "He comments on my outfits and looks at me in this way that makes my skin crawl, but he's harmless."

"Doesn't sound harmless to me," Chris argued, crossing his arms as a thunderous look settled on his face. "Does he have access to your place?"

"No!" I assured him, but after my quick answer I realized that I wasn't so sure. "Well, I don't know. He might have a spare key, I guess. If most maintenance people do? They have to give me notice before they enter the apartment anyway."

"Unless he's sneaking in to perv on you."

"Chris! That's gross!" I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Why would you put that thought in my head?!"

"I told you that you should have let me buy you a house," Chris huffed. "You're moving when all this covid shit is over."

"Oh my god," I groaned having flashbacks to our conversation a few weeks ago about him buying me a car. "All of this is so beside the point! We're talking about how you'd get bored of me and leave me heartbroken for some flashy Hollywood babe, remember?"

"Right," Chris nodded, letting his arms fall to his side. "But that's such a ridiculous idea that I thought it was hardly worth acknowledging."

His dismissal of one of my biggest fears sent a flash of anger through me.

"How is it ridiculous?" I snapped. "It's true!"

"You know me, Whitney," Chris sighed. "You know that my team had to practically force me into doing Captain America because I had one foot out the door of the whole acting gig and I hated the way Hollywood made me feel. Do you really think that I would give up a chance at a having family with you, someone who I really care about, for some wild, short-lived fling?"

His tone conveyed his disbelief, but he hadn't quite accurately interpreted what I meant.

"I think you'd regret it," I clarified. "I think that once the initial excitement wore off, you'd see that I'm nothing special and that I don't fit in your world."

Chris was looking at me as if I'd grown an extra head and I crossed my arms a little tighter around myself.

"We were friends long before Grayson came around and I've always thought that you were something special. Where is all this insecurity coming from, Whitney? Because I just don't get it."

I swallowed hard as I bit my lip. I felt incredibly vulnerable and the urge to run away and continue ignoring all my feelings seemed much preferable to standing here and analyzing them all, but I stayed strong. We were both adults and this was the only way to move forward. Whether it ended how Chris wanted or not, he deserved to know how I felt.

"I spent a long time convincing myself that you didn't care about me as anything more than a friend. I told myself that it was an insane idea because we're in two very different leagues so there was no point getting my hopes up. Then that night happened and I thought that maybe I'd been wrong, that it could be the start of a really good thing, but then you were gone by the time I woke up and you never called."

I barely choked out the last few words as I fought back the tears that were swimming in my eyes. An unmistakable look of guilt flashed onto Chris' face and he opened his mouth to comment, perhaps to defend himself, but I held up a hand to stop him. I needed to get it out or I never would.

"Then three weeks later, I found out I was pregnant," I continued. "I assumed from your silence that you didn't want to be with me and I knew that we were good together as friends so I kept my feelings to myself and spent the last three and a half years beating myself up for thinking for even one second that you would want to be with me."

"I did want to be with you..."

Chris was looking at me with those puppy dog eyes that he'd mastered and I sniffled as a tear slipped down my cheek.

"I know that now, but I can't just turn those thoughts off."

Chris sighed and rubbed his hands over his face before holding out his arms.

"C'mere."

I shook my head, wiping my tears as I worried that I'd fall apart completely if I stepped into his arms, but when he persisted and gestured me over again, I couldn't resist. I took the few steps needed to close the space between us and let my arms slide around his waist. He hugged me close to his body, burying his face in my hair as pressed mine into his muscled chest. We stayed like that for a few moments until Chris broke the silence.

"I'm sorry. I was an idiot," he apologized, his words muffled by my hair. "I should have fought for you. At the very least, I should have stayed until you woke up and I should have called, but I was scared too."

I felt more tears fill my eyes as I choked out a soft "I know".

Another silence fell between us before Chris spoke again, his words making my heart almost stop completely.

"I was going to propose." I pulled back at that confession, my eyes wide as I looked up at him unable to process his words fast enough to speak before he continued. "I called my mom up as soon as you told me you were pregnant. I wanted her to help me pick out a ring, but she talked me out of it. Said you'd think I was doing it for all the wrong reasons."

My heart fluttered back to life at the sincerity in his admission, but I nodded my head.

"Your mom is a smart lady," I told him. "I absolutely would have thought you were only doing it because you felt you had to."

"It wasn't out of obligation though," he insisted. "Maybe I was getting a bit ahead of myself leaping straight to marriage, but I cared about you. It was an opportunity to make it official, make that commitment and be a family. That's what I wanted."

I stayed quiet, resting my head back against his chest as I tried to take in all this new information. It was a lot to process especially when it directly contradicted the belief I had clung to for so long - that Chris and I would never work and for Grayson's sake we were better off apart. That assumption was so deeply embedded in my brain that it was hard to find the courage to take such a risk.

As if Chris could sense my lingering indecision, he continued.

"It's still what I want," he said softly. "Being here these last few weeks with you and Grayson as a family has been a dream come true. I wouldn't give it up for anything or do anything to jeopardize it if you'd just give me a shot."

The word 'okay' was so close to the tip of my tongue that it shocked me.

That was all I had to do, just open my mouth and agree and he would be mine.

My heart was pleading with me to do it, to take that leap and ignore any of the arguments against it that were running through my mind - especially now that those arguments seemed much less sound than they had a few short weeks ago. I was so conflicted that it almost physically pained me to have to make a decision and I couldn't help, but wonder how he could be so certain.

So, I leaned back and tilted my head so my eyes could meet his.

"How can you be so sure?" I questioned. "After how things have been these last few years, how can you be so confident in your feelings?"

"Because I love you," he told me plainly and with unwavering surety. "If you tell me right now that it's not what you want, then I'll accept your decision. But if there's a hint of a chance, then I'll wait as long as I need to. I've been waiting for years, thinking that I didn't even have a shot, I think I can wait a little longer now that I know that I might."

It was another heart wrenchingly honest explanation, another vulnerable admission, and something in the openness with which he spoke made me realize that over the last three years he had done nothing to earn any distrust from me. Even after the fallout from Christmas, he'd put his hurt feelings and pride aside to make things easier for me. He'd been sincere during every discussion we'd had since then and hadn't been cruel or impatient about my indecision. I had no reason at all, other than my own fear and insecurities, to assume that he was going to break my heart and tear apart our family.

He deserved a little bit of trust from me as well and a clarity washed over me as I finally knew what I had to do.

There were words I could have said, probably should have said, but I didn't feel like there was anything that would accurately portray how I was feeling. I settled for a more direct approach as I pressed up onto my toes and let my lips fall against his.

He tensed at first and for a brief, heart stopping moment, I thought he might push me away again, but he didn't. He relaxed, pulling me closer as my hands slid to cup his neck.

It was a soft kiss. A gentle, loving kiss, that I hoped conveyed what I couldn't figure out how to say. But when our lips parted and he leaned down to rest his forehead on mine, there was a concern in his eyes that told me I wasn't going to get away with it that easily.

"What does that mean?"

I bit my lip, staring up past his long eyelashes into his eyes. There was still a tiny voice in my head telling me to run, to stop being so foolish and leave now before I made a mistake, but my heart had found its footing now and wasn't going to back down. Listening to my head all this time hadn't made things any easier, so it was time to try something else.

"It means," I started, taking in a shaky breath. "I don't want to keep you waiting anymore."

Chris let out a breath of relief as a tentative smile slid onto his face.

"Really? You're sure?"

I swallowed hard and nodded my head.

"Yes," I breathed out, my voice thick with all the emotions swirling through me.

He dipped his head a touch lower until our lips were reconnected. It was a deeper kiss, more desperate than the first as his tongue slid against mine and his grip tightened on my waist, my nails scraping against the fuzz of his recently cut hair. I caved into him, clinging to him like he was a lifeboat in a storm until he pulled back to take a breath.

My chest heaved against his, the adrenaline of his touch and what this finally meant, almost too much to handle. I settled back down, flat on my feet and nuzzled my face back into his chest as I fought to calm my racing mind and just enjoy the moment.

"You really mean it?" Chris asked again, the shakiness of his voice filling me with another pang of guilt. "You really want to give this a try?"

"I mean it," I nodded against him. "Doesn't mean my concerns have all vanished in the last five minutes, but I...I think I need to trust you."

"I won't let you down," he murmured into my hair as he pulled me even closer. Another silence fell between us until I broke it with an embarrassingly large yawn and Chris' chest shook as he chuckled. "Do you wanna sleep down here tonight?"

As soon as he'd asked the question, it suddenly hit me how exhausted I was. Even just the thought of walking upstairs seemed like an impossible task when there was such an inviting, comfortable bed only steps away from where I stood. But a thought popped into my head that I couldn't ignore and I turned my head slightly so I wasn't speaking directly into Chris' muscles.

"What about Gray?" I asked. "He always comes to you in the morning..."

"Would it matter?"

His tone wasn't accusing or annoyed, but genuinely curious as sharing a child did add a strange new element to all this. I didn't really know what the best way to handle it was since Grayson didn't really understand our relationship or know how a typical family was set up anyway, but it didn't seem like the best way to introduce him to the idea.

"I think we should talk to him about it instead of just letting him stumble on us in bed together," I suggested. "But I think maybe we should wait a while?"

Chris' face fell as the look of worry returned.

"You want to keep this a secret?"

"I didn't mean it like that," I shook my head. "You can tell whoever you want, but I think we should figure things out, make sure things are stable between us before we try to explain it to Gray."

"Alright, that's fair," Chris agreed before leaning down to place another soft kiss on my lips. "I'll wake you up before he comes down."

"Okay," I nodded as I let my thumb stroke his cheek.

We reluctantly slipped out of each other's arms, but it was a brief separation as we climbed into opposite sides of the bed. Once we'd turned the lights off, we met in the middle and he pulled me back against his chest, letting me hook my leg over his hip as we settled against each other.

Chris ran a hand up and down my spine as he nuzzled in my hair.

"This feels nice..."

"It does," I hummed. With the darkness around us, the quiet that had settled in, I felt encouraged to say something that I'd felt I should have said long ago. "I'm sorry, Chris."

I felt him tense.

"For what?"

"For messing you around so much," I admitted. "Especially at Christmas...that wasn't cool."

"If I had expectations, I should have laid them out before anything happened." His answer sounded rehearsed, as if he'd spent a long time convincing himself of that fact. I wasn't entirely sure it was a fair statement, but he continued before I could question it. "I can understand where you were coming from, but I promise I won't hurt you."

I felt a pang of uncertainty because that wasn't always a promise that could be kept, but the sincerity in his voice gave me hope. I placed a soft kiss against his chest as his hands slid up under the loose shorts I was wearing to cup my bum.

"I love you," I mumbled against his skin.

"I love you too," he replied, making a feeling of warmth flood through me. "Thank you for giving me a chance."

I sighed happily as my exhaustion had my eyes fluttering shut. I wanted to stay awake, to keep this moment before the brightness of the morning could bring any doubts or second guesses, but I was powerless to resist as sleep overtook me.

Part Five

Tags: @maggotzombie @moonlacebeam @mizzzpink @zaylaugh @flowery-mess @flowerjewels @njrronaldo7 @hockeychick10

#chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fanfic #chris evans fic #more hearts than mine

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thoughts-on-bangtan · 3 years

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Tbh i find it rly funny how other shippers have started to feel threatened ever since lets bts and have started camping on vminie twts. Like it was a sincere statement from tae and even us vminies wont take it as a love confession or anything. But these other shippers, i get feeling threatened or sad but how does attacking other shippers make their ship anymore real. I m also seeing some toxic taejinners which i m shocked i didnt know they were like that. Anyway i guess even vminnies need to be

More level headed and not go into delusions. Yes it was a very sweet and very genuine statement but that doesnot prove that vmin are a real couple. It jist proves what we always knew that vmin are precious to each other and have a very deep bond. So i hope vminnies wont become cocky and be toxic to other shippers. Please do consider posting this ask bcoz i m seeing some vminnies getting swept up in their own thoughts.

I do mostly agree, and I’ve also seen this new very aggressive wave coming at vminnies from other shippers in the last two days, though admittedly that wave has been steadily building for quite a while now. I’ll never understand that mentality, since ship w*rs are one of the most pointless things you can engage in since, like you pointed out anon, even if one shipper camp “wins” against another, that won’t change reality and their ship won’t magically become real or more valid or anything like that. As ARMY we should appreciate every bond within BTS, regardless if it’s a bond we think has potential of being romantic or is “merely” platonic. All their bonds are wonderful after all.

But, what Admin 2 and I find even more alarming in all of this is the literal tsunami of hate and toxicity that’s been happening against Tae since Let’s BTS. It’s happening on all sns platforms and it’s just truly vile and crosses all the lines and then some. When you check the profiles to which those posts belong, it’s quite easy to tell that they are either solos or “believers” of other ships who very much did not enjoy Tae’s words, or Jimin’s to Tae.

What can we do? Well, we can’t police how people will behave on sns, can’t police and watch every Vminnie and somehow get them to “behave”, that’s simply not realistic. The bigger a “fandom” grows, the harder it becomes to control it and make sure everyone stays rational and doesn’t get swept up in petty fights and other stupid things. The bigger the “fandom”, the more likely it is that you’ll find a few bad apples even if the bigger part of it all is rational and chill. The only thing we can do, realistically, is pay attention to our own mindset, to not allow ourselves to drift off into delulu land in such a manner that we, too, turn into “believers” preaching conspiracy theories and spinning crazy speculations. If we want to be delulu, we should always remember to put our hats on (just in case), make that clear to the people reading our posts/tweets, and remember that none of us, regardless of whichever ship we like, will ever know if any of our thoughts are true unless the members themselves tell us.

As long as we remain rational, stick to facts and quotes that we have sources and actual, factual “evidence” for, instead of just making things up to fit our narrative, we should be okay. Besides, even just taking Tae’s words to Jimin about how he likes him the most at face value is overwhelmingly sweet, genuine and impossibly sincere, and shows how beautiful their bond is.

The only true advice I have is this: don’t give in to any ship w*rs. If other shippers come into your space and try to mess with you, ignore them. The block button is truly your best friend, or if too many come at you, go private and wait it out. Don’t try to argue or reason with them because regardless of what you’ll say, and how solid your “proof” is, they won’t care. They just want you to react, want your attention. They want to feel powerful by seeing you bow down to them, by getting you to eventually give up. Or, which I’ve also seen, they’ll take your observations about vmin and make them their own, claim their ship does that, too, or that they’re the only ones with which that’s true. Even if it isn’t. And if you see something that crosses the line into pure hate, or purposeful(ly) misleading/misrepresentation of things in a way that is really harmful, report it.

Eventually, if you don’t give them attention, they’ll give up because it’ll stop being entertaining.

A little addition from an anon we just received and I agree with:

what is saddest for me is how those people who claim to be fans do not accept tae’s sincere words and decide twist it to fits their narrative. for how many years tae and jm have been talking about how they like each other. Are they calling them them false and liars? it’s unhealthy. it's about respect. people are crossing boundaries. If vmin are all over the place is their choice. The same goes when they keep their private time to themselves.

Or when tae and jm are “always” with other members. And what we as vminie do? We respect that. Why people think they can decide what the members should or shoudnt feel about each other. They know each other for 10 years while those people claim to know them better lol. People should think more how that is insane. Anyway let’s enjoy VMIN they want us to enjoy it. because tae said 95z are love so let’s love and ignore the rest 🥰

#answered ask #answered ask by admin 1 #vmin

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Final Fantasy’s Multiverse Fan Theory Will Change How You Look at the Franchise

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Many beloved video game franchises try to maintain a semblance of continuity and worldbuilding. Usually, those attempts consist of linear a-to-b narratives across sequels, but there are times when the connections between games in a franchise can be a bit perplexing. For instance, each Legend of Zelda game seems insular at first, but they actually take place in a shared world and timelines. The timeline barely makes sense, but it’s there. Final Fantasy, meanwhile, seemingly reinvents its wheel with each entry. Every title takes place in its own world with its own history and lore that is, on paper, completely separate from the rest of the series.

If you scour Reddit and other internet forums, though, you may eventually find theories that claim the Final Fantasy franchise utilizes one big, interconnected multiverse. A popular variation of that belief purports that Final Fantasy XIV sits in the center of that universe or that other titles sprung from that game’s world.

In fact, many players who have extensively explored Hydaelyn and the other worlds of Final Fantasy (not to be confused with World of Final Fantasy) eventually reach the same conclusion: Final Fantasy exists in some kind of multiverse. Do those claims and theories have any merit, though, or are audiences letting their apophenia take them for a joyride? Let’s try to find out together.

Final Fantasy’s Familiar Faces

We might as well get the most obvious evidence for a shared multiverse out of the way first. If you’ve played more than one Final Fantasy game, you probably know the series has a lot of recurring elements (such as Chocobos, Behemoths, and engineers named Cid). However, some common elements go deeper than shared names. Sure, every now and then unrelated characters will sport the same moniker for the sake of references and callbacks (such as Zeromus from Final Fantasy IV and Zeromus from Final Fantasy XII) but some recurring faces who only seem like they exist for the sake of tradition actually help tie the games together.

The first recurring character we have to talk about is everyone’s favorite pillar of buffoonery, Gilgamesh. In virtually every entry, he is portrayed as a bumbling wanderer who seeks power through collecting weapons. Moreover, most Gilgamesh incarnations sport the same red hood, kabuki face paint (sometimes a mask), and awesome battle theme that transcends music genres, but that isn’t because Square Enix is lazy. The majority of Gilgameshes tend to appear and/or disappear into an Interdimensional Rift (more on that later). That implies they’re the same character in an unending, world-hopping obsession for new weapons.

Indeed, after Gilgamesh is beaten in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, he cries out the name of Final Fantasy V’s protagonist, Bartz. In Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, Gilgamesh claims to have dueled “strange opponents” countless times. If that’s not enough for you, consider that in later entries, Gilgamesh wields replicas of weapons from past Final Fantasy games. Gilgamesh doesn’t just talk about the Final Fantasy multiverse; he almost literally beats players over the head with it. However, Gilgamesh isn’t the franchise’s only cross-dimensional tourist.

Whenever you finish a Final Fantasy story and beat the final boss, each game offers additional challenges in the form of “superbosses.” One of the franchise’s most consistent superbosses is the quadrupedal robot known simply as Omega. Throughout its various Final Fantasy appearances, Omega’s physical appearance is portrayed with a startling amount of consistency. However, the robot’s true nature is a bit more up in the air. As some fans have discovered Omega has two possible incarnations: shards left behind to collect data and demi-knockoffs created by local geniuses who drew inspiration from the original Omega. Either way, Omega is a dimension-hopping robot whose sole purpose is to defeat its arch-nemesis, Shinryu. According to lore provided by games such as Final Fantasy XIV and Dissidia Final Fantasy, every Shinryu that players face is also actually a minor fragment deposited to help the original grow stronger.

It’s certainly harder to argue against a multiverse when you have three recurring characters that practically rely on it for their motivations and design.

Dissidia Final Fantasy Wouldn’t Exist Without a Multiverse

When Nintendo set the world on fire with the Super Smash Bros. franchise, other companies started making their own mascot fighter game that they hoped would print money. Square Enix’s Dissidia Final Fantasy set itself apart with a vastly different combat system. However, Dissidia’s bigger claim to fame is its story, which breaks from mascot fighter tradition by leaning on and expanding its source material’s canon (especially the parts that concern the multiverse).

Since Dissidia is a spin-off, you’d probably assume it exists outside of the Final Fantasy canon with character facsimiles standing in for the original protagonists. After all, that tends to be the industry standard (Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto once confirmed that Super Smash Bros.‘s characters are actually toys). However, Dissidia’s fighters are surprisingly the real deal. That’s because, according to the narrative, the real Final Fantasy characters have been summoned from their own worlds to fight on behalf of the gods in Dissidia’s World B. Every Dissidia game starts off with this statement, and, in fantasy properties, disparate worlds usually imply a multiverse. Since there are three Dissidia games (four if you count the mobile entry), the entire franchise is arguably one big multiverse confirmation.

Moreover, Dissidia goes several steps further since World B is a near-geographic replica of the first Final Fantasy’s setting, World A (albeit dotted with arenas ripped from the fragmented memories of its characters without rhyme or reason). For instance, one of the battlegrounds in World B is a blasted moonscape. Why is a location like that on a planet with an atmosphere? Well, it’s because it was pulled from the memories of Cecil Harvey: a character who traveled to the moon in Final Fantasy IV. Without a multiverse, there would have been no memories to pull from.

Now, since characters die left, right, and center in Dissidia, you might wonder how the series canonically fits into the Final Fantasy franchise without shattering the space-time continuum. Well, time works differently in World B, and that plot point is used to insert new canon into older titles. Everyone is caught in an endless cycle of battles, death, resurrection, and amnesia. They barely remember where they came from or why they are fighting and just know that they need to fight. But, after what is implied to be countless cycles worth of combat, the first game’s ending explicitly states that the various heroes and villains return to their respective worlds. Everyone except for the Warrior of Light, that is. He was created on World B by Cid of the Lufaine (a character retroactively added to rereleases of the first Final Fantasy) and retconned into one of the World A’s heroes from the original Final Fantasy. From there, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT pulls them all back for one more round.

Without a Final Fantasy multiverse, Dissidia wouldn’t make a lot of sense and would certainly be a very different spin-off series from a narrative standpoint.

Games

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By Matthew Byrd

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Final Fantasy XIV and the Collaboration Connection

Now that we’ve established the general existence of a Final Fantasy multiverse (or the strong possibility of its existence), it’s time to address a particularly popular fan theory question: Is Final Fantasy XIV the root of the Final Fantasy multiverse?

It’s no secret Square Enix loves to stuff Final Fantasy XIV full of collaborative content. Players have gone on quests and collected equipment ripped out of properties such as Yo-Kai Watch and Garo. Square Enix also tends to collaborate with…well…itself and place the results in Final Fantasy XIV. For instance, Lightning and Noctis showed up for limited-time events in the game, but those instances hardly prove that the game sits in the middle of some kind of Final Fantasy nexus. After all, Lightning can don the iconic getups of characters such as Cloud, Yuna, and Lara Croft in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Does that mean her tailor lives in the center of a Final Fantasy or Square Enix multiverse? Probably not since those crossover costumes are all optional DLC (and ultimately probably meant to advertise different Square-owned games). All Lightning and Noctis demonstrate in their Hydaelyn vacations is how the different Final Fantasy worlds are connected.

Lightning and Noctis visited Hydaelyn thanks to the Interdimensional Rift (the same one Gilgamesh, Omega, and Shinryu use to get around), and they aren’t the only characters who have taken an interdimensional tour. The Stormblood expansion introduced the Aetherial Rift: a raid dungeon hosted by a surprisingly friendly Omega (friendly in that he tests players before trying to stomp them out of existence). Thanks to Omega’s control over the Rift, gamers can square off against recreations of past Final Fantasy game bosses, including Chaos, Kekfa, Exdeath, and the Phantom Train. Again, you might assume these crossovers imply that Hydaelyn rests at the center of the multiverse. Instead, they most likely suggest that Omega either visited or used networked knowledge of different worlds to create these arenas, which lends credence to the theory that most Omegas seen throughout the franchise are either the same killbot or are linked in some way. Square Enix also apparently just loves to reference/advertise its older titles.

Now, some of you might ask, “What about Ivalice? Doesn’t Ivalice’s presence in Final Fantasy XIV prove the game is smack dab in the middle of the Final Fantasy multiverse?” Again, no. The Ivalice you’re thinking of is the world from Final Fantasy XII, while Ivalice in Final Fantasy XIV is just a kingdom. Confusingly, both Ivalices share certain elements, such as the Viera and Yiazmat, but those shared elements don’t necessarily demonstrate worlds colliding. Instead, they are likely indicative of design singularities you usually see in multiverses from other franchises (multiple Marvel universes have a Spider-Man/Woman, and multiple Final Fantasy universes have an Ivalice).

Final Thoughts on Final Fantasy‘s Multiverse

Considering the Interdimensional Rift and characters such as Gilgamesh and Omega, you really can’t argue against the likelihood of some kind of Final Fantasy multiverse. However, is Final Fantasy XIV really at the center of it all? Elements from different entries (as well as unrelated games, such as NieR:Automata and Monster Hunter: World) are certainly more likely to bleed into Hydaelyn, but does that make it the center of the multiverse? Signs point to no. Odds are Final Fantasy XIV’s above-average interdimensional crossover rate is merely a result of its MMORPG nature and good old-fashioned marketing.

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At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which Final Fantasy world, if any, spawned the others. They all are clearly interconnected through countless narratives and world-building elements, so unless Square Enix reveals the identity of this fabled origin world, all we can do is speculate. Then again, if we knew which Final Fantasy universe spawned the others and exactly how the game’s multiverse elements work, that might suck some of the magic out of the series.

The post Final Fantasy’s Multiverse Fan Theory Will Change How You Look at the Franchise appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3nvYjNk

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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risingsouls · 3 years

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Recruited: Chapter 11

[Another chapter in the books! This one runs parallel in time to the last (which will be pretty obvious) and has a little more action! So enjoy, have fun, etc.

And don’t forget: you can find the rest of this series and soem of my other BS for this blog here!]

Nabooru

Their trio of space pods burst through Noya's atmosphere and slammed into the surface, a triangle of craters left in their wake. Nabooru replaced her scouter on the side of her face, a press of the button causing the yellow characters to flash across the orange glass as it started back up. She opened up the door and floated out of her pod, touching down on the maroon dirt. A teal, creeping vegetation sprawled over it as far as the eye could see. In the distance, she noted the silhouette of a city or village and a range of mountains beyond it.

She stretched and glanced to her side as Nappa and Raditz joined her, both working out the kinks in their own joints from the long trip. "Awfully quiet here. Where do you think that team is? Hope they didn't kick the bucket before we got here," Nappa said, popping his knuckles. "Maybe it means we'll get a good fight out of these guys if they're calling in reinforcements."

The repetitive pings of a scan sounded from Raditz's scouter. "I wouldn't get my hopes up," the other Saiyan replied, turning around to check the other direction. "I'm not getting a single reading, save for five decent ones off in that direction."

He nodded opposite the mountain range. "Make that three."

Nabooru raised an eyebrow and began her own scan, Nappa following suit with a huff. "You're fucking with us. Why the hell would we be called here if they didn't need us?"

"No, he's right. I'm only getting those three readings, too. That must be the team we're meant to rendezvous with."

Raditz flew up several meters and gazed around. "Looks like something went down over there," he called down to them. "Might have been a settlement or something. Doesn't look like there's much left now."

"Let's go check it out. Something feels off here."

Nabooru followed Raditz and Nappa to the site of what could have potentially been a compound of sorts, a decent sized village, or something else entirely. The damage sustained in the area made it difficult to tell, the edifices reduced to little more than a half foot of wall at best. Scorch marks and craters dotted the area, and they could hardly walk a few feet without finding a corpse or the remnants of one. Each had a variant of blue skin, ranging from near white hues to navy. A few wore what she guessed were plain clothes, while most sported a sort of white armor. Soldiers. Most of the bodies were heavily mutilated, physically torn or shot with concentrated ki blasts to pieces, others sporting deep gashes as if from claws. Maroon soil was stained with emerald blood. Fresh.

"I thought I recognized that power level." Nappa squatted down next to a corpse missing every limb. The lower half of its skull had been crushed as if beneath someone's foot. "Looks like Shikoo and his team's work, don't you think, Raditz?"

"Seems that way. Doesn't seem like they need our help, though. And they never have before." His frown deepened. "Maybe it's some kind of trap."

Raditz vocalized Nabooru's growing fear as each piece of evidence seemed to confirm the theory. "Who's Shikoo?" she asked, turning her attention from the massacre and back toward the direction in which their scouters pinged the readings. Two of the power levels weren't much and would hardly be a challenge for even Raditz. But the third was more powerful, and while only around Nappa's power level, her insides squirmed. Why would they be sent here if this team had everything under control? Was there some secret of this planet they weren't privy to that presented a danger they couldn't handle?

"One of Frieza's favorites, and I'm sure you can see why. What the guy lacks in power he makes up for in brutality and dirty tricks," Nappa told her, folding his arms over his chest. "Makes us Saiyans look soft. But I'm sure you've seen the guy. He's bigger than me, looks like a cross between some kind of reptile and a dog. Red fur and scales. Loud and brags constantly."

Nabooru's brow furrowed and she clicked her tongue. "Mm, yes I've seen him around the base once in a while. Never considered him important enough to learn his name, especially after he and his idiots tried to force themselves on me back when I first started on the force." The corner of her lips quirked upward in a malicious smirk. "He didn't take being turned down very well. But I took care of him and made it clear he should leave me alone."

Raditz chuckled. "Good. The blowhard deserves all the beatings that come to him. Especially for that shit. Nappa and I may have heckled you for a romp in the sack, but he's so full of himself, of course he would try to force his ugly ass on you. I hope these guys took him down a peg or two."

"Confirms the rumors anyway," huffed Nappa. "Guy's disgusting. Pretty pathetic when you gotta resort to force to get off. Guess he ain't much of a charmer, no surprise there."

She kept her surprise about their stance on rape to herself. Considering the violent nature and disregard for life, their history of taking what they wanted by force, rape didn't seem like it would be far off the table for them. Both the Saiyans with her had taken her refusals without much hassle, so she supposed it shouldn't have with at least these two. A point of respect for them, at least, considering the rampant trouble they had with men attempting such with her people back home. As a race of all females and how their style of dress revealed far more skin than Hylian garb, men had a sense of entitlement to Gerudo women, and seemed to believe that meant they were asking for it.

"I suppose we should contact Frieza," she said at last, reaching up to her scouter and selecting the proper channel. "Let him know what we found and what we're meant to do instead."

Once the scouter connected successfully, Frieza greeted her before she could open her mouth to speak: "Ah, what good timing, Nabooru. You have landed on planet Noya and met with the other team there?"

"Yes, my lord. But we are confused. When we landed, we found the planet had already been successfully purged of its in--"

"Yes, yes, I am aware of the success in purging the planet. The instructions to rendezvous with the soldiers sent to Noya were...purposefully vague. The task for you and the Saiyans is to kill that team. Don't worry your pretty head over why, dear. It's unbecoming of a soldier. Their punishment has been a long time coming."

He broke the connection before she could confirm her understanding, but by the questioning expressions in her comrades' faces, her own revealed her opinion on the troublesome news. Surprised wasn't the right word for what she felt. Frieza was known for orders that felt out of place or cruel. Unwarranted and harsh. But piecing together their situation, Nappa's words, and the fact that they had been split from Vegeta only further impressed upon her a sinking feeling of dread. She less suspected a trap for them than viewing it all as one for Vegeta, a "favorite" of Frieza's like Shikoo. Or if it was one for them, was this a precursor to the orders Vegeta would be handed? To end his team and allies in the rebellion they plotted?

"What'd he say?" Nappa asked at last, snapping her out of a spiral of paranoia and back to the task at hand.

"He means for us to kill Shikoo and his crew."

"Really?" Raditz's brow furrowed. "What did they do?"

"He didn't say. Just that their punishment was a long time coming."

The Saiyans exchanged a look of disbelief with a hint of concern. Nabooru wondered if they considered the same possibilities as her. If they wondered if some other team or Vegeta and Frieza themselves lay in wait to off them, too. As much as she wanted to ask, she didn't know who could be listening. And they had a job to do. If anything followed this, they would have to face it once they dealt with Shikoo and his cronies. The memory of them offering to help her find her way back to the barracks and then cornering her, how they tried to touch her anywhere they could reach and tugged her hair, their taunting words from how pretty she was and how good she probably felt to insulting her lack of control of her ki yet. Maybe she didn't back then, but her strength proved enough to subdue the three of them and send them to the hospital ward. She escaped their disgusting behavior, but how many hadn't, if what Nappa said rang true?

Back then, she still tried to cling to her no killing rule for her sanity and her ignorance to the sort of backlash killing fellow soldiers would have. But now she not only had permission, she had the will to do it. If not only for her own revenge, but for the horrors they inflicted on others, too. This time, she wouldn't hold back. She didn't have to.

Three scouters beeped to signal approaching power levels, and Nabooru couldn't help but snort as the hulking beast Shikoo and his cohorts landed before them.

"Come to see how real soldiers work, apes?" Shikoo grinned at Nappa and Raditz, showing off sharp, yellowing teeth in his elongated, canine-like muzzle. A forked tongue flicked out to taste the air. "Where's your diminutive leader, huh? Someone finally give the prince with no subjects the licking he deserves?"

His cohorts snickered and Nabooru noticed Nappa's fists and jaw tighten with the flare of his temper. "You idiots won't be laughing in a minute." The Saiyan general smirked and cracked his knuckles. "I've been waiting for a chance to stomp you."

The smaller two--an orange skinned male with a too-blonde Mohawk and a weedy, birdlike soldier with beady black eyes--shifted in obvious discomfort under Nappa's threat, but Shikoo remained unperturbed. "Please. You wouldn't dare. Not with my favor with Frieza. The alliance my people have is too precious for him to allow a couple monkeys to pick a fight with me."

Nabooru snorted, but his claims had her mind shifting back to her people. The fate of the Saiyans. "That explains a lot. But too bad for you, Frieza seems to think killing you is more important than whatever deal you and your people have with the empire."

Yellow eyes snapped to her, slit pupils dilating for a moment in recognition. His hackles rose and hair surrounding a line of spikes along his back stood on end. His aggravation melted back to sick amusement and he laughed. "Well, well. I remember you. Come crawling back for that fun I promised you after all, huh?" His attention fell back to Nappa and Raditz. "Taking orders from women now? You Saiyans really are a joke. Guess it is a step up from short, angry, and overcompensating. Easier to look at, too."

"Can we get this over with? This guy's voice is making me sick," Raditz complained. "I'll take the two wimps in the back alone if I have to."

"You're still on that?! What did I tell you?!" Shikoo snarled. "Frieza will have your heads if you try anything!"

"And what did I tell you? Frieza himself sent us here to kill you." A smirk curled Nabooru's lips and she turned her attention to Nappa and Raditz. "You mind if I take him? I'm really kicking myself for not finishing him off all those years ago."

Nappa huffed and folded his arms, making a show of his indignance. "Damn, guess I can't argue with that. Much as I wanna bury this mutt myself, I think you've got a bigger stake." He nudged Raditz. "You take the orange one and I got bird brain." Without waiting for a response, the larger of the two surged forward and slammed his leg into his opponent's side, sending him sailing with a squawk. The general laughed and swept after him. "Try and make this fun for me, birdie!"

Raditz shot a series of magenta blasts toward the other minion who, more prepared for the onslaught than his companion, dodged backward nimbly and blocked what he couldn't with raised arms. "Give him a few good ones for me, won't you Nabs?" He shot her a wry grin and pursued his opponent with ruthless abandon.

“Stupid move on their part, leaving you alone with me,” Shikoo snarled, vicious grin back on his mug. “You don’t have the stomach to kill me. I saw it in your eyes then, and I’m sure you’ll falter again now. And that’s when I’ll finish what I started all those years ago. Maybe I’ll make your monkey friends watch.”

Nabooru rolled her eyes skyward. “Please. I feel so bad for you, I’ll give you a free first hit.” She beckoned him with her index finger. “Come on, big guy. Let’s see if you can do more than just flap your ugly mouth.”

As she hoped, Shikoo snarled at her taunt and lunged. Black claws extended outward and he swiped them toward her throat. Nabooru’s hand shot up and she grasped his wrist, her hand barely covering half of its circumference. He grunted and struggled against her strength. “So you’re a whore and a filthy liar…”

Her grip tightened, and bones crunched beneath her hand. “I’ve kind of proven the first one wrong by turning you down, haven’t I?” She caught his opposite fist. Her smirk widened when his eyes flashed in rage. “But I suppose you’re right about the liar thing.”

"I'll kill you, bitch!" he roared, tugging back in an attempt to free himself.

She held fast, orange energy flaring up around her. After a few more tugs, she released him, forcing him to stumble backward when he lost his balance. Nabooru shot forward and buried her fist in his scaled belly. Shikoo wheezed and doubled over. Head at her level, Nabooru wheeled back and kneed him in the face with bone-crunching force, whipping his head back and sending him wheeling backward once more. Blue blood oozed from his nose and mouth.

"This has been fun." Shikoo seethed as he raised his head again and spat blood on her boots. He shook with his rage, and Nabooru only wished Nappa and Raditz had remained with his crew to witness his embarrassment. She flexed her hand, forming a cylinder of ki in her palm. She wrapped her fingers around it like a hilt and willed it outward, curving and widening it into the shape of a blade similar to those she favored back home. "But I'm tired of playing. You're not really worth breaking a sweat over."

Using his shock at the sight of her ki blade, she shot forward again. She swept the blade downward, tip aimed at the ground between his feet. She brought it back up in a swift arc, between his legs and through his skull, splitting him vertically in half. His responding punch halted mid-swing, and his body fell apart with a stomach-churning squelch and a pair of thuds as each half fell to the ground.

"Geez, Nabs. Did you have to go crotch up? You made me cringe."

Her ki blade dissipated and she rested her hands on her hips. She turned to face Nappa as Raditz rejoined them, neither appearing to have taken too much damage. Raditz looked slightly ruffled with a bloody lip, but otherwise, both defeated Shikoo's goons without issue. "Of course. A disgusting bastard like him deserves it. If I wasn't supposed to kill him, I might have stopped at around his belly button."

Raditz wiped his mouth and grumbled. "Has anyone told you you're terrifying? You've been around Vegeta too long."

"I didn't realize you two were so squeamish," Nabooru snorted. She glanced at Shikoo's split corpse, the glee from her victory short lived as she remembered his claims. How Vegeta was within the tyrant’s clutches and, if Frieza knew what they planned, could be in danger.

"Speaking of Vegeta, what do you think Frieza has him doing?" A subtle attempt to probe their thoughts on the matter while potentially gaining some reassurance. "He's done this before right?"

“Sure. And I didn’t realize you were such a worrywart.” Nappa and Raditz exchanged knowing glances. “I thought Vegeta was just messing with us, but you two really are up to more than just training when you’re left alone with free time, huh?”

Her posture stiffened and heat rushed to her cheeks. “What is that supposed to mean?” She narrowed her eyes and marched over to them. Their grins only widened and she prodded both of them in the chest with her index fingers. “Just because the two of you can’t keep it in your battle suits doesn’t mean we’re a couple of horny teenagers who can’t handle being alone together. We actually want to get stronger unlike you slackers.”

“I have noticed he’s been in a better mood than normal once in a while,” added Raditz, ignoring her. “Sort of confirms that his smug attitude when he told us ‘maybe, maybe not’ last time we asked wasn’t just him messing with us.”

“Makes him a damn hypocrite though. He told us to quit trying. Guess he didn’t want to share.”

“We’re not sleeping together! Ever! Not even once!” Nabooru could kick that idiot for basically bragging to the other two Saiyans. She had faith neither of them would spread it around whether they believed it or not, but their insistence still pissed her off. “We train. That’s it.”

“It’s not a big deal. In fact, I approve. It’s about time the two of you got laid.” Nabooru slapped Nappa’s hand away before he could plop it on her shoulder. He winced. “Besides, it’s beneficial for us all because, like Raditz said, it puts Vegeta in a better mood for a little while. We all win.”

“Maybe he’s just in a better mood because you two aren’t bothering him as much.” She flipped around on her heel. “Can we please just get out of here? Seeing that ugly bastard again did nothing for my mood, and if you two keep this up, I’ll do the same to you as I did to him and make up the most embarrassing stories for your deaths I can think of.”

She heard the two snigger, but they joined her in flight without more of their incessant teasing. It at least distracted her from her paranoia and concern for the prince’s wellbeing outside of the usual sort of abuse or inanity he would suffer in Frieza’s company. A premature assumption, perhaps, but she decided to take at least Nappa’s lack of concern as a good sign. Or enough of one to keep her from fretting until she knew otherwise.

#fic: recruited #tw: rape mention #tw: violence #probably not my best work here #but it was fun to write #nabs beign a bad bish is always good

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atopearth · 4 years

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Higurashi When They Cry Part 8 - Ch 8 Matsuribayashi-hen

So, the reason Takano is obsessed with the Hinamizawa disease is because she wants to prove her grandpa's theory that there are parasites in our brains affecting our emotions and thoughts, and the different parasites in different areas etc are what causes cultural differences and clashes in thoughts across the world? And it's these parasites that "control" humans. It's saddening to think about the idea of orphanages that operated as a way to claim money "for the children" rather than actually taking care of the children. Like, I can understand being overworked and unappreciated considering the amount of war orphans and others like that, but the thought that people could take advantage of these children to get money and just treat them like prisoners to be beaten or punished when they don't act the way they want them to is just terrible... I guess the fact that the Takano back then who ran away from the orphanage and even bit off the finger of her pursuer to escape shows how bad the place was and how desperate she was to leave. It probably was literally a do or die situation to her.

It's kinda interesting to think that the reason why Takano's grandfather's research was ignored wasn't because it was useless, but because it might have actually been credible in a sense. Due to a war that had erupted because of the mystery behind whether a soldier from Hinamizawa shot the other side or not, this caused a neutral pact to fall through and make the two parties go to war. In the end, since Japan insisted that they weren't at fault and China insisted the same, if Takano's grandfather's research were to come to light, then the fault could be insinuated to be from the Hinamizawa soldier and therefore Japan's fault, and that's why the research was unsupported. I guess it's nice for Takano that her research is getting sponsored properly, by the SDF even since they would probably want to use it as a weapon if the research comes to fruition properly. On the other hand, child Takano got caught huh? Even though Dr Takano saved her later, I'm sure her trauma is something difficult to come to terms with. Personal note, I have to admit, I don't really care for Takano though haha, but I understand why her story is necessary to unfold now. It's saddening to watch how excited Dr Takano was over presenting his research to potential sponsors and then having it all shattered with their cruel allegations that it's all his own delusion and that he was so consumed with the research that he's just making it seem as if it's credible because he wants it to be and not because there's enough evidence or whatever. It's terrible to hear people say something like that for something you sacrificed your whole life to research..and imagine taking those doubts to the grave, like maybe he was delusional blah blah, that's crappy... Psychosurgery is something I never really thought about though! The idea of severing certain connections between the frontal lobe and the rest of the brain sounds really interesting yet dangerous, I can see why it was ethically challenged later on and even caused Dr Irie to kinda be cast aside from the industry considering his persistence on it when they're trying to swerve away from it. At least he sticks to his beliefs I guess haha.

The connecting fragments thing is rather interesting, I like getting more information on what exactly happened behind the scenes with all the discussions they had and everything. It's quite sad and sweet to see how Rika's conviction towards saving Satoko allowed her to accept the idea of people researching her brain or whatever since she's the "parasite leader". It's also saddening to see Hanyuu heartbroken over everyone fighting because of the dam project. Seeing Tomitake smitten with Takano is rather saddening too. Anyway, for context, connecting the fragments is to make way to the ultimate "ending" where they can win against Takano (since Takano has accumulated a lot of support from organisations such as the SDF and has "won" in every world before this because of it + her indomitable will to spread her grandfather's research making way for it to be "fate" I guess). Although it should have been expected that Ooishi has a particular reason to be so adamant about finding out the mystery and murders in Hinamizawa, I don't know why but I actually found his reason to be rather contrived when it was revealed that the dismembered dam construction head guy was someone he sort of respected as a second father after he lost his real one. I guess it's kinda because at this point, I've forgotten how I felt about Ooishi haha, and also because it's just a short segment I guess so it's hard to feel much for it.

As someone whose not a big fan of Satoko (blasphemy, I know right haha), I definitely relate to Satoshi's situation much more and I always wanted more insight into his feelings. It's actually really sad to think about his situation. He loves Satoko, but he's also super tired, he'll always try to protect her whether it be from his stepfathers or his aunt and uncle, but regardless of whose fault it is, anyone will get tired of having to do this all the time. It was heartbreaking to hear that he hated himself for wanting Satoko to stay at the clinic longer just so he could have some peace away from his aunt and Satoko arguing all the time. As someone who also hates the sounds of arguing, I can understand a little bit of that and just how stressful it can be. I...wonder how Satoshi would react if he knew Satoko pushed her parents off the cliff on that trip. Like yeah, she was affected by the Hinamizawa Syndrome and that caused her to kinda go crazy from paranoia, but Satoshi was sane, he knew his parents really wanted to make amends, even the stepfather took courses to try and fix their relationship and Satoshi saw that, so I feel like if Satoshi found that out, he would break. Anyway, I'm not sure how I feel like the story is painting the Hinamizawa Syndrome. On one hand, I understand that yes, if it's caused by a medical condition exacerbating emotions that they can't control, it can't be helped that so many worlds turned out the way it did, but at the same time, it feels like a lot of it tries to apportion all the blame to the Hinamizawa Syndrome as if it never existed, then everything would be fine? Maybe I'm interpreting it wrong, but it makes me feel like that which I don't agree with, since I feel that even if things wouldn't have turned out so drastic with the clawing of the necks etc, I still think that with the way a lot of characters were treated and how they felt, things were inevitable whether the syndrome was there or not.

It's sweet to know that Tomitake was sincere with Takano and really tried his best to be her ally, it's just that even though he knew her, he couldn't really help her, and I guess that's something a lot of us struggle with. No matter how well we can know the people close to us, it's not necessarily true that we can "heal" them. Of course we still try, but as it was with Satoko, if they don't help themselves, then outside help can never truly help them. On the other hand, it's interesting that Keiichi's father was able to see Hanyuu and Rika play together when he first visited Hinamizawa hoping to change his life and environment for Keiichi. He's right though, as we grow older, I feel like we do slowly lose our "innocence" as we know more things and "sin", so when we look at children, we always think back and look fondly to that and to them as representative of what we lost and what we hope we still had. I guess it's kinda amusing to say that Takano had a strong will when she nearly gave up and drank her sorrows away after Koizumi (main backer who was friends with her grandpa) died and she couldn't convince the new people to believe in her research until some people under Koizumi's faction came along to "help" her. In a sense, Takano is just trying her best to make sure to tell everyone and her grandfather that he didn't waste away his whole life on useless research, but at the same time it's unsettling to watch her be so consumed by it. Anyway, as I said, it's amusing that Takano is considered to have a strong will, when in a sense I feel like Rika being able to live through all those worlds again and again should be "stronger" but at the same time more weary I assume haha. Regardless, I guess what Rika lacked was concrete support, since even if Takano is being used, she still has support, whereas Rika was always by herself with Hanyuu who doesn't really encourage her since she doesn't believe that fate will change and I guess that didn't help Rika haha.

Akasaka becoming super capable after his wife's death is interesting, like will he be able to reach the same heights in martial prowess if his wife doesn't end up dying? On the other hand, Hanyuu can transfer in as a normal kid?! Cuteee. It was so cute how Hanyuu tried so hard to tell them that she wanted to join their club, and I loved how Rika refused to say it for her, and told Hanyuu that if she wanted it, she had to say it herself. Believing in something is like a gamble huh? When you think about it like that, I guess in a sense, it is. Our beliefs are beliefs because it's not a fact or the "truth" after all, it's basically what we have chosen to think "exists" after we thought about it. The sad thing though is that what we believe in isn't always the "right" thing, but I guess that's fine since we chose to believe in it? Not gonna lie, when they were talking about how they "sacrificed" Hanyuu and her mother(?) back in the day to like cleanse their sins, all I could think about was Jesus, so now I'm just thinking about Rika's ancestor being Jesus and now she's met her in the flesh lol.

Anyway, I love how Hanyuu and Rika pitched their whole situation to Keiichi and them like it's a manga. I think it was really cool to see the whole group bounce ideas off each other with Rika piping in trying to get them to figure out what she couldn't about the whole situation. I really liked it since I feel like the biggest reason Rika is unable to find a way out of this a lot of the time is because she's the one experiencing it, and she's experienced it many times, so it's difficult for her to think outside the box when she feels like she's done that. So I think it's great to see her give the group details to try and see from their perspective what the reason could be for Takano to destroy Hinamizawa, and well as expected, she's most likely being used by the higher ups as she gets revenge by killing Rika and the village. It also feels so great to see Ooishi, Akasaka, Tomitake and Irie get to talk everything out and try to solve things, everything just feels like dang, we've really come such a long way for the final world! Btw lmao at Hanyuu teasing Rika about not trusting her friends enough, it's time for Hanyuu's revenge on Rika!! Or not, lmao at Rika making spicy food (Hanyuu hates it lol) and dumping the cream puffs lolll. On the other hand, omg I love the group's strategic meeting, Hanyuu fits in so well hahaha. I love the 48 hour strategy though, I didn't get it (just like Rena and Rika) initially, but once they explained it, I was like whoa, that is actually a great idea to blow away the presumption that everyone in the village goes crazy in 48 hours! If Rika's corpse appears and is proven that she had been dead for more than 48 hours and yet no one had gone crazy in that time, then their hypothesis about the queen carrier causing them to go crazy would be wrong and everything could sail much smoother, it's nice!

I guess it's really interesting how in the end, many people in Hinamizawa actually do understand and think that the dam construction war is over now and that things should start facing forward and moving properly again; whether this be Oryou or Mion and Shion's mother Akane, they're all tired of being stuck in the past and want to move beyond that, so it's nice to see that Akane and Shion actually visited the dam construction leader guy's grave every year (just like Ooishi) as a way to remind themselves but also tell him that the past is the past and they hope he rests in peace. I quite like Akane and Ooishi, I found it hilarious when Ohtaka was trying to get info about whether Rika was really dead and pretended he knew Sonozaki Saburou (higher up representative) right when he and Akane came in to the police station lol. On the other hand, I want to feel sorry for Takano, but whenever I think about how she was willing to sacrifice Tomitake in every world for her revenge, I don't really pity her lol. Honestly, it was only a matter of time until Tomitake would get captured since everyone knows how important he is, but I was so worried for Irie. No one needs to worry about Akasaka because he's obviously too strong haha. I didn't expect Shion to pick Irie up when he was injured, I was so relieved! But I will be so sad if she and Kasai die. It's nice to know Shion's true feelings and that even though Mion feels bad that she took Shion's place as the older sister, Shion also felt bad for taking Mion's place as the younger sister. Despite everything, they both know how hard it is to be in either place because of the burdens they have. Honestly, I nearly cried when Akasaka came to save the day, he really is Rika's hero, the one who will finally save her after regretting leaving her to die in so many worlds, it was so heartwarming to see. He's ridiculously OP but I guess that's what happens when you train for so long haha.

Satoshi being alive and in the basement if the clinic undergoing treatment is nice for Irie, Satoko and Shion. I personally think it fits the story better if he's dead, but if we want a true happy ending, then he needs to be there so that Satoko can truly apologise to him, Shion can properly tell him how much she cares and Irie can feel less guilt over having to kill or use terminal patients. The mountain fight between the kids club and the Mountain Dogs was pretty fun but expected, I still think in terms of excitement it pales in comparison to their usual games haha, but Mion as commander is always such a highlight, I love seeing how confident she is. It was nice to have the group pitted against Takano as a last battle kinda thing, but I do admit that when Takano was the "main loser" out of all this, I was like, can this really be a happy ending if they characterised her so much but gave only her a bad ending? So yeah even though Tomitake is too good for her, I was happy that he came back to save her, since he's just that kind of person. Honestly, whether Takano has the Hinamizawa Syndrome is something to think about since scratching herself could be stress too imo, but I guess it doesn't matter anymore. Anyway, I honestly wanted Takano to be a much more formidable opponent for them, but I guess not lol. What I really enjoyed though was Rika calling Akasaka "papa" at the festival and his wife was about to kill him over it🤣 and I'm glad that Hanyuu got to stay and play with them since she's part of the group after all. The possibilities of forever where Ryukishi07 talks about how we as readers could create our own abundance of fragments and stories etc was interesting I guess haha, I do wonder though, how would Takano's life have been if she went with her parents to the mall and they didn't end up dying? Wouldn't that be nice? But I wonder what would have happened with the Hinamizawa Syndrome like that.

Overall, the last chapter was as I expected? Honestly, I took a long time to read it because I knew it wouldn’t be my favourite or as enjoyable as the others so it was difficult to “end” my journey with Higurashi but yeah I still liked it regardless I guess haha. Anyway, yeah, I knew it wouldn't be as fun and interesting to me as the other chapters, especially since Keiichi and the others aren't as prominent here due to the adults helping out to obtaining the good ending with all of them. But I did enjoy Akasaka and everyone working their hardest in their own way to save the people important to them. I kinda thought Ooishi would have a better role but I guess it's okay that he and Akane are pretty funny together lol. However, I do think that Okonogi of the Mountain Dogs was more lacklustre(?) than I thought? I think he could have been pretty cool, but I guess they spent more time humanising Takano haha. The battles weren't as exciting as Keiichi's club battles but I guess that's because Keiichi is a funny and cool guy haha. And I think I just didn't care for all the god stuff with Hanyuu and everything, so I think it would have been better for me if everything was solved by everyone uniting together without the need of supernatural stuff but that's just me. I'm just glad that we got to see the fruits of all their efforts and see everyone believe in the miracle that they could win. It was really satisfying to see everything come into place.

Overall review

Higurashi is a solid VN. Honestly, when I first read Onikakushi, I wasn't sure if I would like it or not even though I was intrigued, but it was crazy how much I loved Watanagashi and the others. The way they set out the mystery, how they had the staff room talks to discuss with you the possibilities and everything, it was just so much fun. I loved the endless possibilities of each different world and how it showed really well how living in your own bubble, not trusting your friends and not communicating with others could make things go so wrong. Of course a lot of it was attributed to the Hinamizawa Syndrome, but at the same time there were a lot of real problems that each character had to go through in order to grow, and I think I personally loved Rena's arc the most. I think her emotions were portrayed so well, and I loved how everyone in the group united with her in Meakashi. I loved how the theme of friendship felt so real, and I think going through the various chapters really helped to build that. Honestly, the slice of life parts used to be so long and annoying for me in the first two chapters, but it eventually became the highlight for me, and it was better than the mystery itself haha. Overall, I think I would give the whole story (all the chapters) an 8.5/10 and would definitely recommend it over the anime (the new one at least haha, I haven’t watched the old one), I think what makes Higurashi so good is how detailed it goes into a lot of the feelings and actions of our main characters and I feel like a lot of that is lost in the anime. Anyway people say the PS3 sprites and voice patches are needed to enjoy this, but I played it like the original sound novel it was and I still loved it. I think it's actually kinda crazy how music and character sprites can enhance the experience of reading a novel so much haha. So yeah, I don't doubt that maybe the patch could make it even better (I guess I can try it in the future haha, since I do think I would like to read it again) but I think it's fine either way. I also bought it in Japanese for the switch so maybe I'll read it in Japanese one day!😆

#higurashi #higurashi when they cry

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nyeh-sureiguess · 4 years

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CB Theory: Aku Aku’s Guardianship (and the Brothers’ Human Past)

Out of all the characters in the Crash Bandicoot series, I've always found myself drawn towards Aku Aku and Uka Uka respectively. Not only for their unique designs, characterization, and outright whimsical concept (the spirits of two recognized witch doctors immortalized through floating wooden masks? Sign me up!) - but also for the possibilities their characters open up within the franchise's lore.

Below would be one of those possibilities that I like to theorize about; the very reason why Aku Aku devotes himself to protecting our little orange marsupial alongside the archipelago they reside in.

As a disclaimer, I'd like to state that what I'm about to describe will all be grounded in fiction (we're talking about a denim pants-wearing bandicoot around here) and are purely on headcanon territory. I'll be tackling some massive "what if" scenarios that have little to no evidence canonically but are fun to think of personally.

With that out of the way, allow me to go on a full-on I'm-desperate-for-more-lore-and-overall-content-of-these-masks-and-therefore-I'm-making-this-up-as-I-go-to-satisfy-those-needs ramble.

Let's start with Aku Aku. He's a being of high intellect, for sure - usually filling in the role of an advisor to the rest of the characters when they find themselves faced with tricky situations. This aspect of his could only be rivaled by his power, as he not only grants protection to other beings when summoned but has also shown the capability of sealing other mystical entities (such as his brother) away when he sensed that the world would be in peril otherwise.

So with these in mind, why in the world would he go and devote his guardianship role to Crash? The dude's another failed animal experiment from none other than Dr. Cortex; someone who had been planning a worldwide takeover for god-knows how long. Surely with how ancient Aku Aku is portrayed to be, he would have some previous experience encountering Cortex's other specimens (Ripper Roo, Dingodile, Pinstripe- you name that boss battle) and know of how dangerous they are. Heck, Crash himself is unpredictable right from the get-go. His life cycle had only just started by the time he had washed up on the beach and his first-ever conscious decisions are to flail around, breaking boxes and any enemies that happen to cross his path. Sure, he has a good heart. That's something that we come to know throughout the game, as he actively goes out of his way to choose the greater good and stop Cortex from fulfilling his evil plots. But something like that requires the luxury of time that Aku Aku didn't have when Crash decided to spin right into one of his crates on that fateful day.

So what was Aku Aku's thought process upon meeting the bandicoot and deciding to be his protector?

I like to think that it was first out of obligation. Aku Aku's crates seemed to exist alongside the others found within the island, far before Crash had come into contact with any of them. Perhaps - when his spirit was first incarnated into the mask, he made it so that any living creature in dire need could summon him when needed (even if this proved to be a little impractical, given how rarely any of the other creatures break his boxes). So that takes care of their meeting encounter on the beachside in the first game and one could even argue that this logic stretches into the second game, given his absence from the bandicoot duo.

What I'm far more interested in would be the reason why he stays in the third game and beyond.

We're talking about an all-powerful being here who could travel anywhere in the universe in the blink of an eye (and even across universes, taking Twinsanity into account), and for whatever reason, he decides to stay with the bandicoots in their own household, watching over them even as they do something as mundane as figuring out new yoyo tricks and watching Uncharted 4 on their laptops.

So why?

To answer that, I have to take a moment to talk about an aspect in Aku Aku's life that we all barely know about: his human incarnation. He couldn't have been a magical floating mask for the entirety of his life, after all. So let's say that centuries ago, he was the witch doctor of one of the tribes on the archipelago, appointed by the chief leader to be at his side and care for the rest of their people. A powerful yet humble witch doctor, at that, as he would never abuse his power for the sake of self-gain. Let's say that - aside from his position in the tribe, he lived a relatively normal life and even had a family to care for, including his twin brother, Uka Uka, who had also been a witch doctor in their village (but we'll get to his part later down the lane).

Let's say that - one day, Aku Aku's wife bears a child. Someone to help carry on their legacy of practicing medicinal magic, ideally. But the child themselves is born with mental disabilities, ones that have shown to only worsen as they grew up. The child found it difficult to communicate properly, to control their movements outside of impulse, and with the limited resources their world was faced with at that time, no one in the tribe seemed to understand what was wrong. Aku Aku would try his hardest; trying to use his magical abilities to help the child in any way he could in hopes of "fixing" him and finding himself at a loss whenever he was unable to.

Now here enters Uka Uka.

I imagine him to be the more practical of the two, wanting things done immediately even if it entails harsher, extreme means. He was matched with his twin brother in terms of their magical prowess, with the difference between them being his lack of empathy towards others. He seems like the type to charge the tribal folk with favors in exchange for his services, that coupled with his malicious demeanor being the reason why the chief hadn't appointed him as the witch doctor of the tribe despite being on par with his brother. This event struck jealousy within him, soon spiraling into an unquenchable need to knock his brother off his perch at every opportunity he got in order to show who the better between them truly was.

That child was his opportunity - because if there's one thing that Uka Uka was also good at, it's making people believe every word he said, as ill-intended as it were.

Uka Uka claimed that the child's behavior was the result of the ancients cursing their family bloodline, aligning his statements with spiritual beliefs that the people of the tribe shared. He linked the ancients' frustration to his brother, saying how they were being punished for how unworthy Aku Aku was to handle such a high-stakes position and even citing instances of the other's failures in saving lives (as he often spent too much time trying to work around the use of force and violence). He further claimed that the curse could be spread across the entire village unless the source itself was purged, that of, the child.

Aku Aku was outright against the notion, still holding onto the belief that he would one day be able to cure the young one of their problems. But it was already too late then; his brother's words had naturally stricken fear into the hearts of the rest of their people, and it was out of their own selfish greed that they pushed for the child to be executed in order to free their village from the wrath of the ancients. It came down to the point that Aku Aku found himself helpless as the chief took the matter into his own hands, having no other choice but to follow through with Uka Uka's theory in a means to appease the restless people.

This was the breaking point in the twin brothers' relationship. The grief of losing a loved one so unfairly made something snap in the witch doctor that day, the result of which being an all-out battle between the two. With how evenly-matched they were, however, the battle had only succeeded in slowing draining each other of their energy until they both reached their final breath. In was in that very breath that they had used the remainder of their powers to seal their souls away into the mask forms, allowing their spirits to live forever and their fight to continue on for the centuries to come. Aku Aku later found the redundancy in fighting and decided to lock his brother away in the temple, keeping his malice hidden away from the world (insert his speech at the beginning of Warped here. His fear of his brother's return stems from how he's well aware of the lengths Uka Uka would go to achieve ultimate power - meaning that countless of innocent lives could be lost in the process).

That brings us back to the main concern of why Aku Aku decides to stay with the bandicoots.

I'd like to imagine that, to some degree, Crash reflects some similar characteristics of that child Aku Aku lost all those years ago. From his inability to properly communicate (outside of actions and limited words and sounds) to even the childlike innocence of the mutant when looking past his chaotic exterior. He learned from his previous mistake of trying to fix the little one of his faults and found value in just being with him; accompanying him along his journey of righting Cortex's wrongs and slowly adapting to the unique way Crash acted (which could lead to why he's shown to understand Crash's gibberish throughout the years).

In doing so, Aku Aku was not only providing the world's only hero with the necessary means and power of stopping an evil scheme - but was also hoping to fulfill his role as a fatherly figure; something that he had once failed to do years ago.

TL;DR: Aku Aku decides to be Crash's guardian as the bandicoot reflects the behaviors of a son he had lost back in his human life due to Uka Uka's doings.

#crash bandicoot #crash bandicoot fandom #crash bandicoot theory #crash bandicoot headcanon #cb #cb theory #cb headcanon #theory #headcanon #aku aku #uka uka #past lives #past life #Aku Aku is a sad dad he's trying his best

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itawonka-creates · 5 years

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Seabourne Burnouts: Part 10 - No Longer Adrift

Maribat! On Deck AU

Thank you @particularlygeeky and @imfreakingmagical for beta reading and @particularlygeeky for chapter name idea!

Start [Here] [Part 9] [Part 11]

Bruce was getting more and more frustrated as the days passed. The surveillance videos from the boat and from the jail didn’t give him anything to work with. He passed through each video, frame by frame, countless times. He watched as the pirates seemed to materialize out of nowhere, there was no other ship passing, they were in the middle of the ocean and were suddenly being invaded.

He rubbed his eyes, watching the oddly similar henchmen rampage through the halls. They didn’t even look to be looking for something like the gunman said, they were just going through the ship causing chaos. He slammed his fist on the table re-watching the pirates in the jail cells suddenly disappear without a trace, leaving behind two young boys. One was injured in his leg, shot. He slowed it down and watched as the camera seemed to glitch and show a purple-black screen before the camera came back into focus and everyone was gone.

Bruce was running through the list of known villains in his head. The gunman said joker was a part of this, didn’t he? He mumbled to himself, “Is Scarecrow a part of this?” He shook his head, “No. No. He messes with minds, not cameras.” He let out an exasperated sigh before sitting back down in his chair. He rubbed his temples and groaned, “None of my theories make any sense, all the villains are in Gotham. They wouldn’t come all the way to Europe to rob me. It would be easier just to raid the manor while it was empty.” He ran his fingers through his hair, “None of them are that stupid.” He thought for a moment before laughing to himself, “Okay, maybe Harley.”

“So are you gonna keep talking to yourself in the dark or are you going to actually join us on this cruise?” He quickly turned to see Tim in the doorway.

Bruce allowed his eyes to adjust to the hallway lights and pinched his nose, “Tim, don’t do that.”

“When was the last time you slept?”

Bruce rolled his eyes and smirked, “Isn’t this conversation usually the other way around?”

“Bruce I’m serious. We haven’t seen you in days.” Tim narrowed his eyes, looking at the footage on the screen, “Oh, that’s what you’ve been up to.”

Bruce closed the footage and turned off the computer, “Barbara and I have been looking at this footage forwards, backwards, frame by frame.”

“And?”

Bruce looked disheartened and bitter, “Nothing. They just disappeared. No one saw anything, no residents ever reported anything, nothing. They vanished.” He shook his head, “Usually they leave a clue or lead or something I can work with. This time? Nothing. I’ve checked back in with Gotham and no one has heard anything about a job to overtake a ship. All the villains are accounted for too.”

Tim hummed, “But the one guy had Joker’s laughing gas.”

“I know.” Bruce stood up and stretched out his back until he heard a crack, “What day is it?”

“Bruce, seriously?” Bruce looked at Tim with a very serious expression and Tim rolled his eyes, “It’s Wednesday.”

Bruce’s eyes widened slightly, “I’ve been down here for over a week?”

“Apparently.” Tim went over to Bruce’s side and looked over his mentor, “I swear, Alfred would’ve never let this happen.” Tim straightened out some of his clothes and Bruce yawned, finally letting the exhaustion hit him. Tim sighed, “Have you been keeping up with everything?”

“I know about the Akuma attacks if that’s what you’re asking.”

“No, I meant with your son.” Bruce raised an eyebrow at Tim and Tim just smirked, “Come on, you’ll want to see this.” Tim opened the door and motioned for Bruce to follow him, “Besides, you need to go back to your room. Seriously, you need to bathe.”

Bruce rolled his eyes and walked out into the hallway, letting Tim lead the way as they walked out of their little maze below deck up to the higher floors. Tim continued up until they were walking towards a balcony overlooking the main deck, Jason and Adrien already there. Jason turned back and grinned, “He’s alive! Who knew?”

Adrien turned around and smiled, “Nice to see you again, sir.”

“Bruce is fine, Adrien.”

Adrien smiled and nodded before turning his attention back over the balcony. Jason led Bruce over to the balcony and pointed at two figures standing closely together by the railings. “What am I looking at here?”

“That, my dear Bruce, is your blood son actually bonding with someone.” Jason grinned and did everything in his power to not burst out laughing at Bruce’s shocked expression. The bags under his eyes only made the look more exaggerated, making it even harder not to laugh.

“That’s not Damian.”

Adrien snickered, “It is and that there next to him is our little Marinette.” He sighed and leaned against the rails, “They’ve gotten very close.”

Tim let out a small ‘Ha!’ before turning back to Bruce, “We found out they do this practically every night after they’ve visited the captain and think everybody else has gone to sleep. They don’t do anything but talk, sometimes they lean on each other, but it’s still cute to see.”

“I’m more so surprised you three haven’t interrupted them.” Bruce turned to see Jason and Tim look slightly offended before the two shrugged and nodded, knowing damn well Bruce was right. “So why aren’t you guys crashing the party?”

“Because I won’t let them.” Bruce turned to see Alya, Nino, and Dick walking up the hallway. All of them were in pajamas and looked amused. “I refuse to let your sons ruin this for my best friend.” She nudged Dick forward, “Just caught this one trying to interrupt.”

“I just wanted to know what they were talking about!” Dick smiled nervously under Bruce’s tired glare before the old bat turned his attention back over the balcony. Dick relaxed and looked at the couple, “You know Damian is doing a lot better.”

“Is he now?”

“Alya, can you show him the photos?” Alya chuckled before handing Bruce her phone. Bruce scrolled through the feed before landing on a few photos. It was mainly of the group of classmates, but Damian was one of them. To a stranger, you’d think it was just a photo of friends. They all looked like they were having fun, even in the photos where some were squabbling with each other or where Damian looked like he was in the middle of scolding someone, and it looked natural. To Bruce, it was like looking at a different child altogether. He found a photo of the three boys holding bags from the day they first docked and smiled. “He looks so normal. It’s crazy, right?”

Bruce nodded and handed the phone back to Alya, “Make sure I get a copy of all those photos.”

Alya smirked, “Only if I get my interview, Bats?”

Bruce tense and Tim jumped in, “She thinks you’re Batman. Don’t humor her.”

Alya glared at Tim, “You’re just mad because I have way more leads than you do.”

Bruce blinked and turned to Tim, “Leads on what?”

Nino snickered, “He thinks Marinette is Ladybug.”

Bruce looked back at the girl next to Damian, “Is she?”

“She has to be. No one is that badass without some kind of history of crime-fighting.” Jason turned to Bruce and shrugged, “Plus, she took that night of the raid. She came up with a plan on the spot and, most importantly, bossed you around.” Jason watched as the gears in Bruce’s head begin to turn and smiled, “I’m telling you, she’s Ladybug.”

Adrien rolled his eyes, “Uh-huh. And I’m Carapace.”

“Who?”

“The turtle one.” Tim frowned and turned back to Alya, “Hey, where’s Chloe?”

“She said she needed to catch up on her beauty rest tonight.” Alya walked up to the railing of the balcony and pointed the phone at the couple below, “It’s fine. She’s not missing much.”

Bruce took a step back and looked over the group. He didn’t realize how close the Françoise Dupont kids have gotten with his own. If he were to take a picture, nothing would seem out of place. The group looked so comfortable with each other. It was jarring, but not bad by any means.

Dick turned back to the group, “Alright. Enough spying. Let’s leave them be.”

“You’re just bored.”

“Yes, I am.” Dick began herding the group away from their vantage point and laughed, “It’s late. Let’s go.”

Bruce watched as the rest of the group groaned, but complied with the eldest. He hung back and walked next to Dick, “What have I missed?”

Dick chuckled, “You want to adopt five more kids?”

Jason shouted over his shoulder, “At least can we adopt Marinette?” The kids shook their heads and laughed and Bruce realized it was part of an inside joke.

Bruce looked surprised, “You’re all very close aren’t you?”

Nino turned back to Bruce and smiled, “Your kids are great company, my dude. Seriously.”

Adrien snorted, “You sound like a parent or something. ‘Oh, your kids are great!’” Adrien turned to Bruce and grinned, “He’s right though. This is the most fun any of us have had in who knows how long.”

Bruce frowned, “Really?”

Alya stretched and nodded, “Hardly any Akuma attacks, new friends, new theory, and I see my girl find romance? Best. Vacation. Ever.”

Tim rolled his eyes, “You’re theory doesn’t stand.”

“You’ve seen the evidence I gathered.”

“All substantial.”

“So is yours.”

Bruce watched in amusement at the two glared at each other, both determined to out investigate each other. It was rare Tim found someone to compete with, but he seemed to have fun. Alya reminded him of Tim when he first came into their lives; spunky, smart, stubborn, and fired up. “I’m Batman, huh?”

Alya nodded, “I’ll prove it. I know I can. Every bone in my body is telling me I’m right.”

Jason laughed, “You sure you aren’t constipated?”

Alya blushed and pushed Jason playfully, “No!”

The group laughed at the antics and Bruce turned to his oldest, “So what’s happening with those two? Any progress?”

“You mean Damian and Marinette? They’re inseparable.” Dick chuckled, “It’s actually kind of cute. They hang onto each other, but I don’t think they realize it. The way they bicker with each other is hilarious to watch, too. It’s like an old married couple.”

Alya laughed, “Plus, she’s the only one who can calm him down if he starts to get too annoyed.”

“It is getting harder for him to say no to her.” Adrien hummed in approval, “He gives Marinette a run for her money. He’ll randomly say things that just make her light up and embarrass her, it’s kind of great.”

Jason nodded, “Oh my god, what did he say yesterday?”

Nino thought for a moment, “Wasn’t it something like ‘I’m not leaving her’ or something?”

Tim laughed, “Oh yeah, the guide for the last city we visited wanted to separate them! He got so mad and wouldn’t leave her alone.”

Bruce couldn’t believe most of the stuff he was hearing, “This is Damian? My son Damian? Damian used to be al Ghul now Wayne, that Damian?” The group all nodded and Bruce scoffed, “She’s magic isn’t she?”

“If we’re right, she’s magic.” The group came to a split in the hallway and the group went their separate ways. The family waved goodnight to the classmates before walking through the halls towards their own rooms. Tim broke the silence, “So Bruce still can’t find anything on the videos.”

“Really? Did Barbara-“

“She looked through them, yes.” Bruce pinched his nose, “We can’t figure it out. How does a whole crew of raiders just disappear?”

Jason frowned, “All I know is if I find the bastard that threw Marinette overboard, I’m killing him.” Bruce sent a warning look to Jason and Jason didn’t even flinch, “What? I’m serious. He could’ve killed her.”

“So you think killing him is the answer?”

“It’s an answer, one I’m going to enjoy a lot.”

Bruce sighed and stopped walking, making the other three pause as well, “None of this is making sense. They disappeared, Akumas have popped up in a few of the cities we’ve visited, what is going on?”

“Have you tried letting Alya watch the video?” The group turned to Dick who only shrugged, “Out of everyone in Paris, we got the one person who knows all things Miraculous and Ladybug. If you think it might be an Akuma, she’ll be the one to confirm or deny your theory.”

Tim groaned, “Then she’ll actually know he’s Batman. The girl might’ve been naïve when it came to Lila, but she’s not dumb.”

“That reminds me, what happened with her? That Rossi girl?”

“Still a liar, but at least now Marinette has her friends on her side.”

Bruce did not miss the small scowl Dick sent Tim, “What happened?”

Tim flinched and Dick nudged him to talk, “I may have snapped at Alya and completely outted Lila to her.”

“That’s a bad thing?”

“It is when you yell at her and her friends to prove a point instead of just protecting your friends.” Dick sighed, “You still can’t figure out why you were so mad?”

Tim groaned, “No, I can’t. All of a sudden I got so pissed and then next thing I knew I was shoving my phone in her face. Everyone was yelling. And then the migraines-“

“Migraines?”

Jason nodded and frowned, “Migraines. I’m pretty sure everyone on the ship had them.”

“Everyone except Marinette, Adrien, Damian, and Lila.” Dick hummed, “I don’t get it.”

Jason snickered, “It’s the power of love. Damian is so head over heels for Marinette he wouldn’t notice if he was having a migraine anyways.” Jason sighed, “Adrien probably gets them all the time from the flashing cameras at his photoshoots. I wouldn’t be surprised if he just wasn’t bothered or didn’t even notice it.”

“And Lila?”

“She’s just a bitch.”

Bruce turned to scold him, “Jason!”

Tim and Dick shrugged, “True.”

Bruce was about to say something to his sons before noticing Dick’s shirt, “Where did you get that?”

Dick looked down and smiled, “Marinette made it for me.” He did a quick spin, “Red and black and Nightwing themed. It’s perfect.”

Bruce’s expression deadpanned, “You’re really walking around like that while a junior reporter is actively investigating our family?”

Dick shrugged, “She’s investigating you, not me.” The four stopped in front of Bruce’s room and Dick looked over Bruce one last time, “Get some sleep. Me and Tim can look over the video again tomorrow. You need to rest.”

Bruce’s shoulders fell, but nodded. He knew they were right. He went into his room, locking the door behind him, and headed for the shower first. All the while, the two teens at the center of attention continued to talk against their spot on the railings.

“So let me get this straight, Dick was part of a circus?”

“It makes sense why he acts like a clown now, doesn’t it?” Marinette snorted and lightly hit Damian’s arm. Damian chuckled, “Don’t act like I’m the only one with weird people in my life. You know two famous singers.”

“Jagged and Clara don’t count, they’re family now.”

“Mine are family too and I still make fun of them.”

Marinette smirked, “I noticed.” She sighed and looked over the water, “Where are we landing next?”

“Well, it seems we’ll be in Portugal soon. I suspect we’re visiting Lisbon next.”

She nodded, “You think there’s going to be another Akuma attack?”

“I hope not.” Damian sighed leaned against the rails, “Who do you want to investigate next?”

“I don’t know.” Marinette looked over at Damian and looked back at the past week. After the second Akuma in Pontevedra, they decided that Hawkmoth had to be on the ship. The only problem was he wasn’t talking to any of the Akumas. They couldn’t figure out what he was trying to pull, but Damian figured he couldn’t be losing all of these corrupted butterflies. It had to be coming from somewhere and considering it was only happening in the cities they visited, Hawkmoth had to be on the boat. “Have you noticed the mood recently?”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone’s been on edge.”

“Makes sense, there are Akumas on the loose.”

“No, no, no. Like everyone is upset. I get being paranoid because of an Akuma, Paris is like that all the time, but this is different. It’s like everyone’s worst emotions are being amplified.” She sighed, “Alix and Kim went into a full-blown argument over something, Alya wants to kill Lila-”

“Still don’t know why you won’t let her have a go at Lila.”

Marinette frowned and nudged him before continuing, “Tim snapped at us, the staff gets frustrated easily. It wasn’t like this in the beginning.”

Damian sighed and thought it over, “Tension is rising and everyone is stuck on this boat. You can’t run from your problems here, you have to deal with them.”

A sudden breeze made Marinette shiver and she glared at the water, “Too cold!”

“You’re yelling at the sea.”

“I know.” She stuck her tongue out at the ocean and, as if to respond, another gust of wind nearly froze the poor girl.

Damian laughed, “You’re having an argument with water and loosing.” She glared at him, shaking from the cold, and he just rolled his eyes. “Come on. You want to go to the den?”

Marinette’s eyes lit up and she nodded before scurrying off inside the hall, away from the wind. Damian shook his head and followed her, close behind. Marinette looked over her shoulder and laughed, “Wanna race, baby bird?”

“Let’s do this Bug.” The two smirked and suddenly started running full speed up the stairs and through the halls. Damian looked over at the girl, he was impressed she could keep up with him, unbeknownst to him she was thinking the same thing. The two locked eyes and started laughing as they continued to sprint through the ship. He admitted to himself he felt odd. Doing things with this girl and her friends, talking together, doing things as mundane as racing for no reason, it made him feel some kind of way. Nothing bad, just unusual. He wondered if this was how a normal kid was supposed to feel like playing with their friends. He refused to say it out loud, but he considered them friends despite knowing them for such a short amount of time.

Then there was Marinette. The nicknames started as a joke due to the theories being thrown around. Marinette decided if he kept calling her Ladybug then she should call him something. Without much thought, he told her to refer to him as Robin - Batman’s sidekick. He hoped she didn’t think too much of it and, unlike him, she didn’t pry the way he did if she was suspicious about something. Now, they had themed nicknames they’d say to each other in private, away from everyone in their own little world when they spent time together.

Marinette and Damian skid around a corner, but Marinette lost her footing and slammed into the wall. Damian came to a stop and ran back over to her. He helped her up and looked her over, “I’m fine.”

“Let me just check.” The two stood there, panting from the run, while Damian quickly examined her. “No bruises.”

“I’m telling you I’m fine. I’ve had worse falls than that.”

“Chloe’s right, you’re a walking accident waiting to happen.” Marinette pouted and Damian just smirked at her, leaning in, “What?”

She sighed, putting a finger on his nose and pushing him back, “You suck.” She felt an odd sense of deja vu after doing the gesture but didn’t pay any attention to it when she saw how his nose scrunched up. She giggled, “At least you’re cute.”

“I’m cute?” Now he was the one pouting, “I am not cute.”

She poked his nose, causing his nose to scrunch up again, “Cute.”

He shook his head, “You’re becoming worse than my brothers.”

“Yet you still want to hang out with me.”

“Yeah, because out of everyone you’re the least annoying.” She snorted and pushed him playfully, causing him to chuckle. “Come on, we’re close to the den.” She nodded and absent-mindedly grabbed his arm. He’s gotten used to her gestures, noticing very quickly she’s someone who likes to touch and be touched. He noticed that with everyone, with Alya they would link arms, same with Adrien and Nino. With Chloe they would at most hold hands as one dragged the other around stores and Marinette would hug Chloe when Chloe did something particularly good-natured. With his brothers, she’d give lots of hugs but never grab onto them. If she didn’t feel comfortable holding someone’s arm or hand, she’d unconsciously stand very close to them.

He wondered if it was a way for her to keep them close, which to him made sense after the isolation she felt before the ship. Still, she didn’t do things like this with his brothers. She didn’t grab their arms or hold their hands or lean on them the way she did with him. He’d never admit it, but he liked being the only one she’d do this with.

She leaned on him and he smiled softly as they made their way to the den. Marinette loved the den. It was the one place on the ship where she could work out her feelings without issue. No one went up there except the captain and Damian. The captain turned into somewhat of a familial role, like a grandfather or an old uncle, and she trusted him. She worried for the man, she could tell his mood has also gotten worse, however, he wasn’t mad or frustrated. Captain Staller was just extremely sad and gloomy without the influence of the two teens. She wondered if he was depressed and if Anne’s anniversary was coming up, then this behavior would make sense.

Then there was Damian. Damian became someone very close within the first few days of knowing each other. She knew there was something odd about him, even Adrien told her about his thoughts on the four brothers and their abilities, but he was honest. He allowed her to vent to him and helped her sort through her feelings and she would do the same for him. She sympathized with him, saddened by his past and lack of childhood at the hands of his mother. Bruce’s influence was clear to see, but she wanted to see him. Not the child molded to be the future head of the family, not the boy trying to live up to the legacy of his brothers or father, she wanted to know more about Damian. She could tell he wasn’t used to sharing or letting his walls down, making her feel special when he would around her.

They had a routine; change for bed, meet at the den, and then talk by the railings. They both knew they were being spied on half the time but were thankful for none of them interrupting their time together. Still, there was a small sense of uncertainty surrounding the two. While both wondered what their relationship was, neither wanted to ask and break the new bottle they found themselves in. It was safe, they were content, and they were together.

Damian pulled away from her side and opened the door for her. She walked in and noted how dark the room was, it made the moonlight seem that much brighter. She stopped Damian from turning on the lights and led him over to the big chairs that the two sank into. She laid down and placed her head on his lap, something they both just allowed to happen a few nights after the raid when her anxiety spiked. She was comforted by the company and he felt soothed by the warmth and the act of petting down her hair. The intimacy was something both lacked and this time together felt like they were making up for it. She sighed, “I think we should investigate Charles next.”

“Why him? I thought he was your friend.”

“He looked really out of sorts the next day and this week he’s just seemed out of it and paranoid. He would get jumpy if I accidentally snuck up on him.”

Damian hummed, “You think he’s Hawkmoth?”

“No, I just think he might know something. No one acts like that unless they’re hiding something.”

“Or hiding from someone.”

Marinette turned her head to look up at him, “You think he’s hiding from someone?”

“He could be, or maybe he’s worried about being akumatized.”

Marinette turned onto her back, looking up at him, “I don’t know. I don’t know how any of these people act. I’m grasping at straws at this point.”

Damian sighed, “Well, all of your classmates and Ms. Bustier have all been akumatized, so it can’t really be any of them. Unless we have another French passenger, we’ll have to look into everyone else.”

After a moment Marinette’s eyes widened and she suddenly sat up, almost knocking her head into Damian’s. “Another French passenger, of course!” She turned to Damian with a newfound spark, “Is there any way to get a list of the passengers? We’ll need a list of every French passenger outside the class.”

Damian smirked and sent out a text, “I’ll tell Drake to get that to me by tomorrow.”

“Tim?”

Damian sent out the text and locked his phone, “Drake is the best investigator out of the four of us. It could take us a bit to look through all the passengers, but he’ll take seconds and do a background check as well.” Damian let out a tired sigh, “Grayson’s the beloved oldest, Todd’s the strongest, Drake’s the smartest, and I’m-”

“You’re wonderful.” Marinette grabbed his head and turned it so she could look him in the eye, “Don’t compare yourself to your brothers.”

He rolled his eyes, “I was going to say I’m still the best out of the four.”

She relaxed and sighed, still not letting go of his face, “You really do have a superiority complex.” She squeezed his cheeks, earning a playful glare.

“You going to let go?”

“No.” She squeezed his cheeks one last time before letting go, “Okay now I’m good.”

Damian snorted, “You remind me of my best friend Jon.”

Marinette sat up straight with peaked curiosity, “You just called someone friend. Best friend. Tell me more!” Marinette shook his shoulders, “Come on, tell me!”

Damian moved her hands away, “I won’t until you calm down.”

She stopped bouncing in her seat and frowned, “Can you really blame me?”

“No.” He scrolled through his phone before finding an old photo of them when he was 13 and Jon was 11. He handed it over to Marinette and she smiled.

She sat back down next to him, leaning on him, before saying, “You guys are so cute. So he’s a childhood friend?”

“Yeah, we’ve known each other for some time now.”

“Is he older than you?”

He let out an exasperated sigh, “Just because he’s taller doesn’t mean he’s older. Everyone thinks that.” He looked back at the photo and pointed, “I’m 13 there and he’s 11.”

She giggled, “You look like a baby.”

“I did not.”

“Babyface.”

“Marinette-”

“Cute baby face.”

He huffed and poked her side, making her squeak and jump away. He took the opportunity to grab his phone, “No.” She narrowed her eyes at him and he smirked.

“You’re too cocky.” She looked between him and the phone before lunging for it. “I want to see more photos!”

Damian leaned back and held his phone away, “Never.”

Marinette huffed and struggled against him, “Come on! Let me see more babyface photos!”

“No!” He sounded angry, but his face held a big smile as he watched the girl try to figure out a way to get the phone. “This is actually very entertaining.”

“Shut up.” She blew the bangs out of her face and sat back down. “Come on! You’ve never mentioned your friends before.”

“I’ve mentioned my team.”

“Yeah, but you’ve never once said ‘friend’. This is exciting!”

“Me and you have very different definitions of exciting.” She frowned before lunging at the phone again and managed to knock Damian over, “Marinette!”

“Let me see more Jon photos, then I’ll get off.”

Damian narrowed his eyes at her before flipping them over. Marinette let out a small “oof” before looking up at a very smug Damian. “You were saying?”

She huffed, “Killjoy.”

Damian raised an eyebrow at her, “Really? Maybe I should get Lila in here. I was just assaulted.”

She glared at him before pushing him off, “Don’t even joke about that.”

Her serious tone made him frown, “Too soon?”

“It’s always too soon with her.” She frowned and rubbed her temples, “Should I just let Tim do it? Should he just out her to everyone in my class?”

“I would love that because I want to see her face when he does it, but considering there’s a chance Hawkmoth may be on the ship I wouldn’t want to have her become an Akuma.” Damian shoulders fell, “I really don’t want you being the target of that.”

She sent him a small smile, “I can handle her.”

“As Ladybug, maybe. As Marinette, no. I’m not risking that.”

“Be careful, you sound worried.”

“I am worried.” Marinette turned to him and found that he was staring at her, “I don’t want you getting hurt. Especially not while we’re on this trip.”

“And after it’s over?” He didn’t answer and she sighed, “Damian-”

“I know.” He turned to her and he looked her over, trying to figure out their next steps. “First let’s figure out what’s happening on the ship.”

Her shoulders fell and nodded, “Yeah.” She scooted closer to him and leaned on him, “Damian?”

“Yeah?”

She bit her lip before finally asking, “Are you actually Robin?”

He thought for a moment before finally closing his eyes and breathing out a soft, “Yeah.”

She hummed, “Makes sense.” She turned to face him, “You’re right. I know you know, but I thought I should say it.”

Damian snorted, “Thanks. Good to know.” He took a deep breath before shaking his head, “No. Actually, that’s not good. Nothing about your situation is ‘good’.” Marinette nodded and nuzzled into his neck, “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. Find Hawkmoth, keep the city safe, fix everything.”

“It shouldn’t be your job to clean up the mess he makes.”

“What about you?” She frowned, “You don’t even have powers. You’re just human.”

“You’re human.”

“With magical powers, not the same.” She linked her arm with his and gave his bicep a comforting squeeze, “You shouldn’t be out there.”

“It’s not the same. I choose to go and fight, you were randomly given magic earrings and had to fight.”

She paused for a moment before admitting, “I almost wasn’t Ladybug.” Damian turned his head slightly in her direction and she took it as a sign to continue. “Stone Heart was the first Akuma we ever faced. He caused a lot of mayhem and I thought it was my fault for not stopping him the first time.” She let out a small bittersweet laugh, “I put the earrings in Alya’s bag.”

“What changed your mind?”

“Alya got hurt and Cat Noir was in trouble. I couldn’t stand there and do nothing. I had to help.” She sighed, “In a way, I chose it too.”

“That’s not fair. You have a good heart, of course you were going to save them, but to just put that responsibility on a kid?”

“What about you?”

Damian smiled bitterly as he thought back to when his mother dropped him off with a father who didn’t know he existed, “When my mother left me I was full of rage over those who killed my grandfather. I wanted revenge and nothing was going to stop me. Batman took me in after Nightwing stopped me from almost killing a man who had a connection to the murderer. I told him I wanted to help like Nightwing used to, as the new Robin, and he agreed.”

Marinette listened before pulling away, “You almost killed someone?”

Damian realized his slip and tensed before turning away from her, “Like I said, there’s a lot of stuff about me you won’t want to know.” He looked down at his lap and scowled, “I’m not a good person. I did a lot of bad things, even as Robin I’ve done really bad things.”

He didn’t want to look up, he figured she would run away like a sane person. He figured she wouldn’t want to talk to him anymore. “I didn’t know you before, but I can tell you’re a good person. Even if you did some bad things in the past, what matters is that you learn from them and be a better person now.” He wasn’t expecting that. She put her hand on his cheek and turned his head to her, “I think you’re a good person, Damian.” Damian didn’t respond outwardly until Marinette wrapped her arms around him. Her hug snapped him out of the initial shock and he wrapped his arms around her. This was only the second time they’ve hugged, the first time being when she first had a panic attack below deck, and he was grateful for it. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, “What’s going to happen now?”

Damian gave her a small squeeze, “I don’t know.”

He felt her hot breath against his skin as she let out a soft laugh, “I don’t know either.” She moved herself to be sitting in his lap, not releasing the hug. “I’m scared. What if the reason Hawkmoth is on this ship is that he knows Ladybug is on it? What if figured me out?”

“We don’t know that. We don’t know he’s on this ship.”

She rubbed her cheek against the fabric of his shirt, “Damian, these Akumas are coming from somewhere. They don’t wander this far out.”

“Are you sure? Has it ever happened before?”

“It has. The first time we brought Pegasus into the mix was because an Akuma made its way onto the train we were on. We were definitely outside of Hawkmoth’s range by that point.”

“Okay, so the option that he’s letting them wander isn’t impossible.” He knew it was farfetched, but he didn’t want her to think her identity was compromised. He didn’t want to think about a terrorist following her around and attacking her for some earrings, magic or otherwise. He could tell she was getting stuck inside her own head, upsetting thoughts taking over, and pulled out his phone. “You want to see more pictures of me and Jon.”

She quickly turned and looked at the phone, “Seriously?”

He chuckled, “Yeah.” She turned, back resting against his chest as he leaned back and they looked through the photos together. He pointed out different places they’d been, different pranks they’ve pulled on each other, their different pets, all the while making fun of his best friend. “He has this southern drawl sometimes and it’s so annoying.”

“He sounds fun.”

“He can be, but I’ll never tell him that. It’ll go to his head.”

She held his phone and made a confused face, “I’ll never get these fancy new phones.”

“You sound like a grandma.”

“Makes sense if everyone keeps calling us an old married couple.” She laughed, “You sound like an old angry grandpa.”

“I do not.”

“You are totally the type to yell at kids to get off your lawn.”

“I’ll take away the phone.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” She tapped on the screen and grumbled, “What the heck?”

Damian reached for the phone, “Hey, I can just-” All of a sudden the phone screen lit up, indicating a call had been placed and before either could do anything, a boy with messy hair and a tired look answered.

The boy yawned and rubbed his eyes, “Damian it’s like 6:30 am and its summer. There better be a goo-” The boy stopped talking and his eyes locked onto Marinette, who was still sitting on top of Damian, and he narrowed his eyes. “Damian, who’s this?”

Marinette awkwardly waved and Damian snatched the phone away, “Kent, if you tell anyone I’ll-”

“Oh my god.” Jon’s smile grew, “It’s late, it’s dark, and you’re with a girl! DAMIAN YOU ACTUALLY FOUND A GIRLFRIEND?”

Damian groaned and glared at the boy in the phone, “Say it louder why don’t you! You’ll wake up the entire city!” Damian was silently praying to whatever god he didn’t wake anyone. Jon decided to stay with the Titans while Damian was on the ship and Damian was grateful, but now he just wanted to wring the boy’s neck. “Now please don’t-”

Jon was already up and running through the tower, “Hold on! I’m hooking you up to the big screen!”

Damian sat up, nearly throwing Marinette off by accident, “You wouldn’t dare.” Suddenly the point of view changed from him looking at a phone to him looking up while a large living room came into view. Jon ran away, undoubtedly waking the others, “I’m hanging up.”

“Wait no! I wanna meet your friends!” Damian gave Marinette a pained look before giving in.

“Fine, but get up for a second so I can turn on the lights.” She quickly moved off and noticed a few people coming into view, “Oh! Hi!” The lights turned on, making her flinch as her eyes adjusted, and she smiled sheepishly at the other kids. “Damian’s told me about you guys. I wanted to meet his friends.”

She realized these kids weren’t normal, but then again neither was her. She figured they were probably other heroes and realized she was meeting his ‘team’. Damian sat back down on the couch and without thinking she took her place back on his lap to make sure they were both in the shot. Everyone looked stunned before the green one finally spoke up, “No way. Deep fake.”

Marinette tilted her head, confused, before turning to Damian, “Deep fake?”

“He doesn’t think you’re real.” He gently took the phone out of her hands, “Hey, Beast Boy, please tell me you haven’t made too much of a mess.”

“He said please, completely fake.”

Soon a woman with fire red hair entered the room, “What’s going on?” She looked up at the screen, “Oh! Damian?”

“That’s Kory, by the way.”

Marinette’s eyes lit up and she turned her attention to Kory, “Dick’s told me so much about you! You’re even prettier than I imagined!”

Kory looked confused but flattered. “I’m sorry, who are you?”

Jon smirked, “This is Damian’s girlfriend.”

The room stood still for a few seconds before everyone went up in arms. Damian groaned and pinched his nose before shouting, “Enough!” The team stopped and Damian gestured to the girl, “This is Marinette.”

Jaime narrowed his eyes at her, “I don’t trust this. Why the hell is she with you?”

Marinette made a face, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Raven shook her head, “She’s real, but I have to admit I was not expecting this.”

“No way! What the hell? You leave for like two weeks and when you finally decide to call you have a cute girl with you!” Garfield narrowed his eyes, “Why are you both in your pajamas?”

“Because it’s 12:30 am around here.”

Jon wiggled his eyebrows, “Why are you alone with a girl late at night? In a dark room no less.”

Marinette lit up bright red while Damian groaned, “I didn’t mean to call, idiot. I was showing her some old photos-”

“You keep photos of me? Aw, Damian, I knew you cared!”

Damian growled and felt his blood pressure spike, “Jon I swear-”

Marinette grabbed the phone back, “Hey what are your names? I know you’re Kory and you’re Jon, but what about the rest of you?”

“Jaime.”

“Raven.”

“Garfield.”

“Victor.” The team turned and Marinette watched a half robot half-human came into view, “I was wondering what the commotion was about.” Marinette didn’t react, but her eyes were trained on Victor. He rubbed the back of his neck, “If it’s too jarring-”

“You’re incredible! How does that even work? How do you function? Can you still eat? What do you do in the rain? Can you even be in the rain?” Marinette’s eyes lit up as she quickly rambled on more and more questions. Victor felt a wave of relief and chuckled when Damian grabbed the phone away from her. “Hey!”

“Sorry, she gets excited easily.”

Marinette pouted, “Come on, he’s half robot! How am I not supposed to be excited for that?!”

Jamie laughed, “She’s not what I expected you’d go for, but it works.”

“I know right!” Jon turned his attention back to Damian, “I’m assuming she knows-”

“She knows.”

“You actually told someone!” Garfield pinched himself, “Nope not a dream. Just really, really weird morning.”

Damian sighed and Marinette snorted, “Your friends are funny.”

Damian looked over at her and smiled, tired but happy to see her so excited. “Oh my god, he feels.”

“Why does everyone say that!?” Damian glared at Jon, “When I get back I’m going to-”

“So you are coming back! Marvelous!” Kory flew up to the camera and smiled, “We were worried there for a bit. You never contacted any of us after you left. We were starting to wonder if you left us.”

Damian’s lips pressed into a fine line, but before he could answer Marinette asked, “Is he a good hero?” Everyone looked surprised by the question and she shrugged, “I don’t know a lot about America’s heroes and if I asked him, he’d just inflate his own ego.”

“I would not!”

Her face deadpanned, “Yes you would.”

“I am the best Robin there is.”

“You literally just said your brothers-”

“I refuse to let that comment leave this room.”

She rolled her eyes, “You’re impossible.”

“You’re too excitable.”

“Rather be excitable than grumpy all the time.”

“I am not grumpy!”

“A-hem!” The two turned their attention back to the phone and noticed everyone watching them with an expression that was a mix of amusement and disbelief. Jon chuckled, “I’ve never seen anyone else argue with him. I’m the only one who can usually get away with doing that.”

Damian frowned, “Only because I can’t wring your neck when you get too annoying.”

“What’s stopping you from wringing her’s?” When Damian didn’t answer him, Jon’s smug smile only grew. “I’m telling my mom.”

“You are not telling Lois! It’s bad enough all of you met her!”

“Lois? Didn’t Tim mention her once?”

Damian nodded, “Yeah, but I’m surprised you remember that. You were knocked out in the arcade machine.”

“Not my fault none of you know how to whisper.”

Jon chuckled and turned to the team, “I can’t believe this. He actually found a girlfriend.”

Kory clapped her hands together, “We should celebrate when he gets back!”

“No! No celebration! She’s never going to the tower!”

“Why not?”

Damian turned to Marinette, “Because you’ll be back in Paris and I’ll be in Jump City.”

Marinette blinked and sighed, “Oh yeah, right.”

“Great now you upset her!” Jamie stepped up, “Hey, sweetheart, if you ever need a shoulder to cry on-”

“Don’t even think about it, Reyes.”

Raven sighed, “You’re all idiots.” Everyone turned to the girl who rolled her eyes, “Yes, this is exciting. Still, what if someone notices a normal girl coming into the tower and hanging out with us? With Robin? You all realize she’d be a target in a heartbeat.” The room fell silent and Marinette turned to Damian, only to notice his expression hardened. “Either we go to her as discreetly as possible or it’s not going to happen at all.” Raven turned her attention to the couple on screen, “If I were you Marinette I wouldn’t get too attached. You guys make a good match, but you just knowing our real names is going to get you into serious trouble if we aren’t careful. You don’t want to be sucked into this.”

Garfield frowned, “Raven, harsh.” He turned his attention to the screen and noticed the two thinking about what she said.

Jon tried to sound reassuring, “Hey! We can figure it out! I mean, I can tell you’ve been good for Damian.” That brought Marinette’s attention back to the boy and he smiled, “Yeah. When he left he was like a walking shell. Just talking to him now, I can tell he’s back to his old self and looks like he’s thriving over there. I can only guess it’s because of you.” Damian turned his attention back to his best friend and Jon sighed, “Look, Raven’s right. It could be dangerous, but it’s not unheard of! I mean, look at my parents! One’s a civilian!” He smiled encouragingly at the couple, “Damian, she’s good for you. I can tell. Marinette?”

She blinked and forced herself to respond, “Yes?”

“Do you want to stay with our little hot head over there? I know he’s a handful, but he’s worth it!”

Before Damian could say anything Marinette let out a firm, “Yes.”

Jon smiled, “Then I think you’ll be okay. If anything comes up, we’ll figure it out. We’re friends now too.” The group nodded and he waved, “You guys will be fine. Anyway, it’s getting late for you guys over there. Sleep. Think about it. Damian, check-in more often. We worry.” Damian gave a small nod, still reeling over the girl’s answer, and Jon nodded back. “Goodnight you guys.” The screen went black after Jon hung up and the two sat there in silence for a bit.

Damian spoke up first, “You meant that?”

Marinette gulped and nodded, “Yes.”

Damian thought for a moment and forced himself to ask, “Marinette, what are we?”

Marinette turned to face him, opening and closing her mouth, and answer struggling to come out before the door burst open. The two jumped and Marinette quickly left Damian’s lap as the two turned to the door. The captain stumbled in, seemingly unaware of the two teens inside the room. He stumbled to the bar and nearly fell over. The two teens shared a look of concern before walking up to him, “Captain Staller?” The captain didn’t respond and she turned him slowly to face her. She noted his glassy eyes and calm expression, “He sleepwalks?”

“I guess so.” Damian started to lead Captain Staller away from the bar and gently laid him down on the couch. The captain seemed to relax and fell right back to sleep on the cushions. Damian relaxed knowing that the captain was safe and asleep, “I think he’ll be okay now.” He turned back to Marinette who was staring at one of the bottles on the shelves, hugging herself and biting her lip. “Marinette?”

She jumped at the sound of his voice and turned to him, “What are we going to do?”

Damian’s brows furrowed, “What do you mean?”

“I’m a liability. You’re a liability. We’re liabilities to each other.” She shook her head, “I can’t go to Jump City because I could be used as leverage. You can’t come to Paris because you know who I am and if Hawkmoth akumatizes you we’ll have to fight.” Her nose turned pink and her eyes watered, “I didn’t even think about that, Damian. I have to think about these things. What was I thinking?” She ran her finger through her hair and started pacing, “I can’t believe I told you. I can’t believe I said that. I can’t believe I thought-”

“Thought what?”

She stopped and turned to him, “Damian, how would this work?”

Damian knew she knew he was worried about the same thing. He also knew she knew he didn’t want whatever this was to stop. “We don’t see each other as heroes. Just civilians.”

“That won’t matter if you get akumatized!” She sniffed and let out a shaky breath, “And you’re Damian Wayne! That alone is going to bring attention to me! Damian, I can’t let that happen! My advantage is that I’m a nobody! I can sneak away and no one suspects a thing! I can’t do that if there are cameramen waiting outside the bakery every day, waiting to get a picture of Damian Wayne’s girlfriend!”

Damian gulped, he agreed with her. He really wished he didn’t. So instead of arguing with some solid logic, he decided to do the next best thing. “My girlfriend, huh?”

She tensed up and shook her head, “I’m sorry, it slipped out and-”

“I thought we were already married.” She froze for a second, watching as he awkwardly stood there waiting for a reaction. She laughed, it started out small and full of disbelief and grew into a heartfelt laugh. Damian relaxed as she wiped her eyes, still laughing at his joke. “Marinette-”

“How is this going to work?” She sniffed and let out a small laugh, tears streaming down her face despite the smile on her face, “How will any of this work?”

Damian shrugged and ran his fingers through his hair, chuckling. “I don’t know.” He leaned against a table and felt himself be bombarded by the same emotions overwhelming Marinette. He sniffed and laughed, “I have no idea!” He wiped his nose on his sleeve and laughed more, “What is happening?”

“I don’t know!” She wiped her cheeks in vain and her body shook with another fit of laughter, “I don’t know!” She turned to Damian and ran to hug him, he immediately reciprocated this time and squeezed her. He picked her up and spun her around, making her laugh even more, before putting her down in the middle of the room. She sniffed, looking up at Damian, “Are we going crazy?”

“I have no idea.” Damian snorted, “I have no clue. This is out of my range of knowledge. None of this makes sense to me. You don’t make any sense to me!” He let out a shaky breath, “Every time I’m with you I feel out of character. I don’t know what I’m saying or doing half the time. It’s all impulse with you.” He sniffed and chuckled, “What the hell is wrong with us?”

Marinette thought for a moment, letting out a shaky breath of her own, “We’re teenagers, I don’t think we’re supposed to have all the answers.” She giggled, “Which is ironic because Ladybug is supposed to have all the answers.”

“And I’m supposed to know what to do in any situation. My training equipped me with the knowledge on how to deal with enemies of all kinds, superhuman or otherwise.” He laughed. “My training didn’t prepare me for you. I am an expert in martial arts, I can wield almost any kind of weapon, I’m a capable businessman, I have advanced engineering skills, I’m trained in forensics, acrobatics, criminology, disguise and escapology,” he paused and scoffed, “none of it prepared me for you.”

Marinette and Damian stood together, in the middle of the den, panting as they struggled to catch their breath from laughing, and just stared at each other. Marinette bit her lip, “I don’t know a lot about you.”

“That’s a good thing.”

“Will I ever know more about you?”

“Yes.”

Marinette sniffed and smiled at him before pulling him down. The kiss was awkward, neither really had any experience in any of this, but neither pulled away either. Despite the lack of skill, the two felt alive again. Every little cell felt electrified, any negative feels clouding their minds didn’t matter, and the world around them faded away the longer they stayed together.

“Well, I was wondering when you two would figure it out.” The two pulled away and looked at the couch to find Captain Staller stretching on the couch. He chuckled and scratched his beard, “Now, will either of you tell me why I’m here?”

Marinette hid her blushing face in her hands and Damian sighed before pulling away to help the man up, “You were sleep walking. You came in here and almost knocked over the alcohol at the bar.”

Staller looked confused, “I don’t sleepwalk.”

Damian shrugged, “Are you stressed?”

The captain thought for a moment before sighing, “My mood has taken a turn for the worse.”

Marinette turned to face the captain, worried expression on her face, “Anything we can do to help? We’re good listeners.”

Captain Staller smiled and shook his head, “No, you just continue to be yourself. I enjoy our visits. Although, I do think you would’ve fared better had I not interrupted tonight.”

Marinette’s eyes widened and her face flushed. Damian just rubbed the back of his neck before leading the captain outside. “Hey, you sure there isn’t anything my family could do?”

“Damian, you’re family has been nothing but good to me. If I ask for anything else, I’d be getting selfish.” The captain placed a hand on Damian’s shoulder, “You two were meant to cross paths, I can tell.” His voice got low as he held steady eye contact with the boy, “Don’t mess this up.”

Damian gulped and nodded, “I wouldn’t dare.”

“Good answer.” He patted Damian on the back and nodded at the couple in approval. “I’ll see you two soon. Goodnight.” The captain walked away and Damian closed the door, leaving the only two people in the room embarrassed.

Damian watched as Marinette grabbed a pillow and screamed into it before letting herself fall onto the couch. He walked over, confused, and she took the pillow off her face. She looked like she drank three cups of Tim’s expresso, vibrating with energy. “This is happening.”

“Yes.”

“We just kissed.”

“Uh-huh.”

“We know each other’s identities.”

“Marinette-”

“I’m dating Damian Wayne.” She sat up and threw the pillow at him, “Oh my god, I’m dating you. We’re dating. This is happening!” Damian caught the pillow easily and laughed at her, earning a short raspberry and a glare.

He sat down next to her, “Yes. Yes, it is.” He sighed and shook his head, “What the hell am I thinking?”

“You? What am I thinking? Tikki is going to be so mad-”

“Tikki?”

She bit her lip before sighing, “Tikki come out.” All of a sudden, a red blob flew around the room before stopping in front of his face. He blinked, wondering if he was hallucinating for a second as the being examined him. “Tikki, meet Damian. Damian, meet Tikki.”

“Hello?”

Tikki smiled softly at the boy before turning to Marinette, “This is against a lot of rules Marinette.”

She groaned, “I know.” She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed, “I trust him though.”

Tikki nodded before falling to rest on top of Marinette’s head. Damian just chuckled, “Honestly, not the weirdest thing I’ve ever come across.”

Marinette snorted, “That’s a new reaction.”

“I’m serious.” Damian smiled at Tikki, “When you live in Gotham and work under Batman you see a lot of stuff.”

Tikki flew around Damian’s head a few times before landing on his hair and nodding, “I approve of this one.”

Damian smiled, “That’s good right?”

Marinette closed her eyes and giggled, “Yes, yes it is.” She rubbed her eyes, “I’ve only known you for a little over a week and look at us.” She shook her head, “We’re crazy.”

“I mean we’re talking while a small red fairy thing watches over us. I’m pretty sure if we went to any hospital they’d say the same.”

Tikki giggled, “I like him.”

“I’m assuming you’re the reason Marinette orders so many sweets?”

“Smart too.” Tikki grinned at her chosen, “He’s a keeper.”

Marinette nodded, “I mean I’ll have to figure out a way erase your memory if I don’t.”

Damian raised an eyebrow at her, “Funny, I was thinking the same thing.” She nudged him and the two sighed, “Marinette?”

“Yeah?”

“How are we going to tell my brothers?”

Marinette’s eyes widened, “How are we going to tell Alya?” The two looked at each other, realizing the chaos they were about to unleash on this ship when they go public. Marinette groaned, “We’re going not going to live any of this down will we?”

“No, I don’t think so. Dick is a crazy romantic, Jason will tell everyone else in the family if Jon already hadn’t, and Tim will work with Alya to spread the news all over the internet.” He groaned and leaned back in the couch, let his head lull back, “Can we not tell them?”

“And risk death by reporter? No thank you. If Alya doesn’t kill me for hiding it, Chloe definitely will.” She giggled before leaning on him, head on his shoulder and arm draped around his torso. “But we don’t have to tell them right now.”

He wrapped his arm around her and relaxed, “No, I guess not.” He looked down at the girl who finally relaxed enough that she actually looked tired, “Hey you want to go to bed?”

“No.”

“Still a bad liar.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to sleep, I said I don’t want to go to bed.” She looked up at him, “I don’t want to leave.”

Damian groaned, “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Puppy dog eyes. You’re the only person to successfully use that against me.” He groaned and hung his head before he looked around the room. “Hold on.” He got up, turned off the lights, grabbed a blanket from one of the cupboards from a counter and draped it over her. He sat back down, arms open for her to lay next to him if she chose, and he glared. “Damn you.” She snorted and snuggled up next to him, his arms wrapped around her torso and her head on his chest. He could feel himself relax with her weight and body heat against him. She threw the covers over him before yawning.

Tikki watched as the two teens fell asleep together on the couch. She giggled softly before nestling on a pillow nearby, out of view from anyone walking in the door. She looked at the couple one last time before closing her eyes and smiling. Marinette was healing, as far as she could tell so was Damian, and she couldn’t be happier.

*******************************************************************************************

I’m waiting for the screams of the maribat community because it happened. It’s happening. And from here on out? Brace yourselves.

To those who want more Seabourne Burnouts content, @itawonka-creates is specifically dedicated to my writing (which is just this story rn) so you can just follow the blog and set it up to be notified just in case the tags do not work!

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Let me know if I missed anyone!

#maribat #Seabourne Burnouts #maridami #daminette #marinette x damian #damian x marinette #fanifiction #au #idea: maribat! on deck

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her-world-on-fire · 5 years

Text

Stargaze {Leo Valdez x Reader}

MASTERLIST

REQUEST: Hi! Would you consider writing a Leo Valdez x reader one-shot where they sneak out at night to go stargazing and they make out after some cheesy remarks and random thoughts about the universe from both of em? Thanks in advance xoxo

WORD COUNT: 2,294

A/N: My Love by Sia is recommended. :)

"Leo?" I called, I walked to the forge, the campfire's glow still illuminating my path. His shirt was on the floor in a ball, it was surprisingly untouched. He was working on his new project, it seemed to take a lot of time lately. He had to sneak out to work on it since his last little prank, Chiron banned him from the forge. It was the best punishment, he couldn't work on more pranks or do anything he loved until he learned his lesson. He had been engaged in a prank war with the Apollo and Hermes children. He had built a machine that made them appear in the strangest places.

Leo had built a replica of him and kept it inside his room. There was no need to answer back because he was so grumpy he wouldn't want to talk. His siblings were too busy to notice him and even if they did they wouldn't snitch. Having a bone to pick with Leo? Not a good idea. Especially if you're in the same cabin you're always open for an attack. They didn't dare mess with their cabin counselor.

"Down here." He replied, he got up from the floor and greeted me. He gave me a kiss and then brought his hands to my face. Soon it was covered in oil, I glared at him and he laughed as wiped his hands and collected his shirt off the ground. He knew it was time to head back to camp. He grabbed his tool belt and placed it around his waist again. He made sure to make it look like he hadn't been working on anything. "You sure you want me to put my shirt back on?" He asked, "You seem like you want it to stay off." He winked and I smiled, "I can see you without a shirt anytime I want Valdez."

"However you're covered in grease, Chiron might not like that." He looked down and groaned, Leo didn't like wearing clothes. He was always very warm due to his pyrokinesis, add in the fact that it was summer, and sitting in front of a campfire. "Well, now we're both covered in oil. We could always sneak in the shower?" He teased kissing my neck, it was very tempting indeed. I thought about it for a moment, rules were meant to be broken. Leo always said it to try and convince me to do something we shouldn't. Most of the times I was the impulse control, but every once in a while he was just too damn convincing. Especially since he's been on house arrest lately. The forge was close to the campfire, so we would have to take a long way around.

Soon we arrived his cabin hand in hand. His room was isolated which was very convent for us. As suspected it was empty. He smirked and wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into a deep kiss. His lips moved away and he began leaving a trail of wet kisses down my neck. I knew exactly what he was doing. Leo loved to leave hickies. He loved them during the summertime because they would be especially hard to hide. His shirt was already off, so he went to work getting mine off. He pulled away and took my shirt off and threw it across the room. He pulled me to his bed and climbed on top of me. I took the opportunity to leave a few marks of my own. He began pulling my shorts off, and as I ran my hands through his mess of curls we pulled away the only thing that mattered was getting each other clothes off.

We took a shower before arriving at the campfire noticeably late. Everyone was there gathered around, we spotted the group and sat down with them. Annabeth leaned against Percy. Piper and Jason sat next to them, Jason's arm around Piper. Behind them was Hazel and Frank's hands were intertwined, having an important conversation. We sat next to them and got the attention of the group. "You two couldn't be more obvious." Jason sneered, and Leo punched him. Chiron was too busy to notice how late we were. "Gods, What happened to your neck, Leo?" Hazel gasped, genuinely concerned, earning a snicker from Percy and Annabeth. Frank's eyes widened, and Leo went to answer shooting me a look, "Well |Y/N| here-" Frank cleared his throat, desperate for Leo to keep his mouth shut.

He held his hands up in defense, and Chiron began announcements. It was Thursday, so he reminded the cabins of capture the flag the next day. The two teams were the Hephaestus cabin vs Athena's. The group had already split up, Percy, Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel were playing for Athena's cabin. While me, Leo, Jason, and Piper were with the Hephaestus cabin. Percy turned around and smirked at Jason, the friendly rivalry evident. Annabeth smacked Percy lightly, whispering at him to pay attention. Soon the Apollo camp began singing, their instruments turned into coins, I turned to Leo and he shook his head. Hermes had gotten their revenge, they found a way to improvise, with acapella. By 10, everyone was sent to bed.

The day passed by slowly everyone was ready to play the game. Piper, Jason, Leo and I stayed at the armory and began planning. As head of his cabin, Leo already had a few ideas. Due to his nickname Latino Santa's Elf by Jason, they decided he should be the one to capture the flag. He was sneaky, fast and mischievous. However his serious ADHD proved a problem, so Jason would follow behind just in case. Piper would stand guard to use her charmspeak. I would be the next line of defense. We all strategized having been on the same team and predicted possible outcomes. They didn't imagine one, however.

"Go get Y/N now!" Jason called out to Frank as he struggled to hold Leo back. He began to get hotter, and soon Jason would have to release him. One of the kids from the opposing team decided to distract Leo. He was a fast runner, "Didn't mommy teach you it's not nice to steal? Oh, wait-" Leo dropped the flag and turned his attention to the boy. Jason wasn't far behind and he pulled Leo away but not before he got in a few punches. Jason couldn't calm him down at all, he knew how Leo felt about his mother's death. Now Percy had to hold him back as well while Annabeth tried talking sense into him. "Leo he's not worth it. This is what he wants don't give it to him." Frank and Hazel ran across the field in search of Y/N. Piper and Y/N were guarding their flag unaware of the events by the border. "What he wants," Leo growled, "Is to have his ass handed to him!"

I heard Frank and Hazel shouting my name from a long distance, I looked to Piper. They wouldn't do this unless it was important. We left two others in charge and we ran to meet them. "It's Leo. We can't calm him down." Frank breathed and led them to where he was. I saw Percy, Annabeth and Jason gathered around him. It wasn't hard to piece together what happened Leo was pleading with Percy to let him go. The fire was spreading throughout his body. I stepped in front of him and the fire began subsiding, "Leo," I said and took his chin and made him look in my eyes, "Breathe." He shut his eyes an inhaled deeply. He was fighting it, he did not want to calm down but he listened. Chiron arrived and looked at Leo and the boy with the bloody nose. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Valdez, care to explain?" I winced and took Leo's hand in mine. "Someone's a sore loser," He spat through clenched teeth, "He thought it was funny to make a joke about my mom." Chiron looked up and his eyes darted to the boy. He held his bloody nose, he knew he deserved it. "You know the rules, no dessert for a week, I want to talk to you." He said and looked at the boy, head counselors as well. Holly and Laurel Victor stepped up, "I will talk to you separately." He told Leo and parted.

It was announced that Cabin 9 took the victory. Leo was absolved from his other punishment. I could tell that the comment really got to him. He was off for the rest of the night. Chiron sent everyone to bed for the night. Leo and I approaching the cabins, "How do you feel about breaking a few more rules?" I suggested, a small smile formed on his lips. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. I led him to Half-Blood Hill. I had been saving this date for a rainy day, this qualified.

"What are you doing?"

"You'll see." I had left his presence and went to Talia's tree, Leo was very clingy. He hated being apart, especially when he didn't have anything to work on. There was nothing to occupy his time. It began to get a little bit colder, as night approached. Thanks to his cabin mates I had the perfect hiding place. "A rock, baby really?" I rolled my eyes and placed the rock. We had made a sensor, and when the rock touched it, "Holy shit! I love you." Some logs came together for a campfire. Nearby there was an air mattress with blankets and a telescope.

He walked to the mattress and threw himself down. The mattress surprisingly didn’t falter under his influence. I couldn’t help but laugh. “What? I have to make sure it’s sturdy enough to-” I interrupted him and grabbed the collar of his shirt. Our lips were close, I smirked, “Only one way to find out.” We kissed for what seemed like hours before I realized why I brought him. I pulled away and he pouted, “There’s a meteor shower tonight.” He gasped, and grabbed my face and gave me a quick peck. He moved off of the mattress and to the logs.

He wouldn’t stop whining about missing the last one and I didn’t want to put up with it again. Leo was crazy about space. He wanted so desperately to understand how the world worked. He clung to theories and ideas as if they were his lifeline. The universe was his favorite machine. I watched him he gazed at the sky just waiting for the showers to begin. I joined him and my arm brushed against his. Once again I was reminded of his intoxicating warmth. To just be near him was fulfilling. “Hey, you’re cold.” He cooed, we had forgotten to light the fire. Leo didn’t feel the temperature drop like I did. He put an arm around me and used the other to light the fire. I felt better immediately and breathed a sigh of relief. Amused, he chuckled, “I can still remember how my mom used to scold me for never wearing a jacket. It didn’t help her case that I never got sick.”

The fire reminded him of his mom, it used to really make him uncomfortable. He used to think of it as a curse until he learned to control it. He realized it could help people. I found it best not to interrupt him, it was hard to get him open up so I just listened. “I really hope she knows I’m okay. She must’ve been so worried.” I could see he was replaying that night, I put my head on his shoulder. “She knows Leo. She’s with you always.” He gave a smile and nodded. As if on cue the shower began. We watched astonished, “My gods, so many events had to transpire for us to be able to see this.”

“First, there needs to be some kind of chain reaction. There has to be an explosion or a collision. As parts of a machine, this is what gets the whole thing started. Meteors are pieces of debris that float through space. After that chain reaction happens they are sent through space. Some find their way to Earth. The atmosphere-” I looked at him and was just so overwhelmed with love. Hearing him explain just a little bit about the universe made my heart swell. I could tell he was really eager to explain. He looked down at me and paused, “What?” I shook my head and smiled, “Nothing. I just love you, keep going.”

“You know all of this already don’t you?”

“It’s okay, I like your explanation better.”

He rolled his eyes and kissed me, “Why waste my time when we can be doing something much more fun?” The shower had died down and a lot of the excitement had passed. He grabbed my hand and led me back to the mattress. “Gods, I love you,” He said right before kissing me. This time it was gentle, unlike this morning. He was trying so desperately to show his love. We pulled away from each other, a little out of breath.

“Chiron is not letting us get away with this one.” He smirked, “That’s if he catches us, mi amor. We can be very quiet.” He said, and once again brought our lips together. It didn’t matter that we could be caught. It just added to the thrill. We could get into so much trouble but nothing could outweigh this. Being in his arms, warmed by his body heat and the fire, nothing was better than this. I laughed a little, Leo smirked into the kiss. It was like he read my mind.

#Leo Valdez #leo valdez imagine #team leo #leo #leo valdez x reader #percy jackson #pjo #pjoverse #Heroes of Olympus #The Heroes of Olympus

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unordinary-analysis · 5 years

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Episode 159

So apparently “later in the week” means ‘literally next week’ for me digiudgg

Also, I won’t be able to post the day the comic comes out because christmas and all that and family idk so I just want to say HAPPY HOLIDAYS :DD hope you guys have a nice time :))

Honorable mentions:

Very happy that the theory is thriving

I love Arlo with all of my heart and soul there i’ve finally said it

Do we know yet if Arlo knows that Cecile is working with John? I can remember the superhero posse knowing it, but did the info ever reach arlo? Comment if i forgot something lol

I’ve talked about all of the possibilities of a joker impersonator in recent posts, so I won’t go into all of that again here. You see, it’s laziness. I’m sure you guys understand lol.

I literally don’t know how to write this in a detailed way which is why it’s in the honorable mentions, but I just feel that Cecile has to just snap soon right? I’ve been hyped about her character as a whole for so long ugh, I just need some developments

I say “anyways” a lot. Is it too much? lol

Okay, first of all: Elaine:

Elaine, elaine, elaine, elaine, elaine, you’ve finally done it. You’ve interested me.

Harsh, I know, but honestly, she hasn’t really been doing much. I thought her character was cool to read a couple of times when she was literally terrified to death of Joker, but now I feel that her intrigue is actually due to her own self if that makes sense? Anyways-

Moving past the obvious difference in her hair (only because I’ve already pointed that out lol), In this episode, WE GET TO SEE ELAINE IN OFFENSE MODE OEIRHGIWUHIWUH

I’ve been hungry for some good developments on people’s powers ugh. It’s been dry ever since we saw Isen fight like forever ago. Or maybe Cecile. I don’t know. I just like to see people fighting oof. Anyway, we don’t even get much of Elaine fighting, all we see is like a block and a punch, but that’s not even really the only thing I’m excited about seeing.

More so than other characters, Elaine has always been this docile type, you know? She’s just there whenever anyone needs healing and whenever someone needs someone to yell at them for being stupid. All Elaine ever is is worried, scared, and submissive. Well, not counting the beginning of the comic because I’m still not over that loss. Her character at the beginning of UnOrdinary? Superb. She was bitchy and yet weak at the same time. Classic combo. Anyways~ ;-;

Elaine is usually terrified of something and rarely stands up for herself or anything else, so seeing her stand up for herself, kind of, in this episode was really something to see. It wasn’t something big but, it was just a breath of fresh air to see a defiant side of Elaine. I wonder, is she growing more and more fed up of being weak? Is she done being scared? I don’t even know if she has the power to stop being scared, but, I don’t know. I’m kind of intrigued by the possibility of Elaine just snapping, aren’t you?

My main man: Arlo:

It’s got to be so weird going back to school after everything that went down, huh? Yet, the way that the safety of the school is still on Arlo’s mind? Even after he was publicly dethroned and now that everyone is staring at him wherever he goes? That’s the real evidence of what a true leader Arlo was. The best king we’ve seen in the UnOrdinary world I said what i said. And now he’s not even king anymore? Sidfhsiufhsiguh

And the fact that Elaine went straight to him when she found a problem? It’s obvious that everyone still thinks of Arlo as the king.

I’m just in awe that Arlo’s first priority seems to be the school. It really… just helps paint Arlo in this different light. I’ve made countless posts talking about how he is obsessed with order because of the influence left on him by Rei and Rei’s failure, but now that his hierarchy has fallen apart, he hasn’t exactly reacted in the way I always used to think he would. And, yes, this is very late considering how long ago John ruined the hierarchy, but I haven’t talked about it yet I think so I’m here now.

I used to think that Arlo loved order so much. That maintaining it was his ultimate goal. I’m positive I’ve said that a few times before at least. But, it’s easy to see now that it goes deeper than that. Arlo really loves his school or at least he feels he owes it something, something that runs deeper than the surface hierarchy. And I’m not even sure if he’s always been like that or if it’s changed over the course of the story. I can’t ever seem to tell, no matter what, if Arlo’s character really has developed, or if I just never saw an aspect of him. It’s infuriating and yet so interesting at the same time…

Anyway.

Arlo’s rage is also something I want to touch on. It’s not exactly something new, but compared to the beginning of the story, it’s definitely something much more common recently, even though he usually is able to maintain a cool now as well. In this episode, Arlo punched a wall hard out of anger, which wouldn’t exactly be news for characters like Blyke or John, and maybe wouldn’t be for Arlo either, but I can’t help thinking about how out of character it would be for the Arlo of the comic’s beginning, at the beginning of season one. I feel that anger is something that we’re only being introduced to in regards to Arlo, like easing yourself into cold water, you know? Yeah sure, it doesn’t feel too out of character for Arlo to get so angry he literally decimates a wall, but it feels like every time he loses his cool, it either gets more over the top or it is incited by smaller and smaller things. His tendency to turn to anger is getting bigger. Arlo is angrier now than he’s ever been.

But, Just as I just said. I can’t tell if this is a totally new thing for Arlo, the anger, or if it’s been inside of him all along, just brewing beneath the surface, repressed in a way, similar to John. Except John knows what he’s running from. I don’t really know what I’m saying I just really love that uru-chan is tapping into Arlo’s emotions more and more as the story goes on because I can’t tell if they really are new things for Arlo or if they’re finally getting the best of him.

Wording is hard so I have no idea if that last section makes sense.

So: summary: I’m currently waiting for some sort of enlightenment on Arlo’s emotional state and character growth because damn

We love our dark king John:

So, um. John.

He’s really something, isn’t he.

I can never just hate him… no matter what he does… because everything he does is just so interesting.

Anyway back on topic. John’s current motives are actually really interesting. I’m not sure if I’ve talked about this yet because to be honest every time I write one of these, I rarely ever go back to see what I’ve already written in previous weeks and I never just remember because once I post one of these, you can bet that it’s out of mind. I know that John really just wants to create chaos. That’s clear enough. He stated basically that Arlo when he said he was taking down the hierarchy. But the thing is, I really don’t get why John is so for chaos? Like? I understand taking down the hierarchy because everything John hates about life, about his life, it really has stemmed from this system, the hierarchy. And finally after Arlo proved once again that the hierarchy could do nothing but hurt him, John vows to destroy it. Makes sense. And when the hierarchy is destroyed, obviously chaos is going to occur. That’s inevitable. We saw something similar with Rei and just basic sense seems to suggest that people do not not know how to function when there aren’t rules to follow. That’s chaos. Got that. But while John’s hate for the hierarchy and motive to destroy it make sense and the natural path that follows that leads to chaos, it’s John’s particular want for this chaos that keeps throwing me off.

I don’t get why John wants chaos. I don’t get it. I don’t, okay? You know, he was a lot easier to understand when the only things he had going on were a. Lie to sera and b. Take down the hierarchy. But, yay, he’s achieved those things (some more successfully than others), and now..?? Why would John want chaos?

I’m just repeating myself in hopes of making sense of my own thoughts but I can’t. I really don’t know why John seems so keen for Wellston running itself into the ground.

So I’m deadass going to leave this here until I can think properly or something iuwfisuhg. I don’t know. It’s kind of late and I have to be up early tomorrow.

Some developments on the imposter Joker theory:

Yeah, so, this isn’t really a theory aymore. It’s kind of proven now, but still it’s an easy way to refer to the whole situation. Anyway, on my longer post before specifically on this, I pointed out that because it used to be a common belief among low-tiers that Tuesday (back when he still was Tuesday) was Arlo, even though Arlo’s eyes glow blue and John’s glow orange. So: I said that it was likely that students can’t see the color of the eye glow or whatever through the mask.

This was only supported by this episode because not once does Elaine mention the color of the imposter’s eyes when determining that it is indeed an imposter. She thinks, “Wait a minute…! Something isn’t right here! That’s not John! …. This imposter’s ability level is nothing compared to the real Joker!” And that’s about it. So. Yeah. I think I was right about the eye thing. Not much else to say lol.

Something else I want to say about the Joker imposter thing is that it really doesn’t matter who each imposter is. We wasted breath trying to think of who the first imposter was and if they don’t keep the same one, it doesn’t really matter. So because this imposter was not the same as the last, I think we can move on from this particular guessing game.

#unordinary #webtoon #unordinary webtoon #uru-chan #episode 159 #official

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aspoonofsugar · 5 years

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Hi! :) What are your thoughts about the latest chapter of SNK and Eren specifically? Do you think he's out for more bloodshed and the full power rumbling? I'm still really shocked!

Hello anon!

I have talked about Eren here and in the post tagged in the one I linked. The last chapter has not changed my impression of him, but simply strengthened it.

In short, I still think what I wrote here:

However, Eren might be willing to use the power of the Coordinate in an offensive manner instead of in a defensive one like Armin suggests.

Or he might be willing to use it more than what Armin thinks (he states he thinks it would be sufficient to free the Titans in Shiganshina and Eren might be willing to free more). Given the power of the Rumbling it is possible that Eren choosing to do one of these two things might leave a huge impression on the characters and on Armin especially.

I will now admit that I am partial to this theory simply because I really think that a major conflict between Armin and Eren should happen.

I think so for different reasons and I will say that some of them are rooted in me reading some interviews made by Isayama (which I usually don’t use as evidence) which coupled with what happened at the beginning of the arc made me develop specific expectations. Now, I don’t really wanna use the interviews as evidence, but simply to convey the fact that I may be biased also because of things not related to the text, so I might be completely misdirected here, but I can’t really force myself to let go of these expectations I developed.

The reason why I can’t is that I really think that by this point a major conflict among EMA is really one of the best writing choices possible for several reasons.

First of all, as I stated in the metas I linked Armin and Eren taking different paths is something which seems to have been foreshadowed in the story itself:

These panels suggest that Armin is starting not to understand Eren anymore, but so far this difference in perspectives has neither been explored nor has it been resolved. It is simply something which is mentioned and stays in the background. On one hand Eren doesn’t care about others’ pov. On the other hand Armin has not done anything constructive to make his ideals concrete and has tried to compromise with Eren’s actions. In other words nothing interesting has been done so far with these two points of view and I think it should be done instead.

Finally, I think that for the ending of the story both Mikasa and Armin should have more of a role than the one they have had so far in this arc. They have been framed since the beginning as important characters, so they should play a role in the resolution of the story. The problem is that in order to do so they need a conflict which lets them shine. I think that the one between Marley and Paradis is not really the one since if Eren manages to use the Coordinate Paradis has basically won. As far as the conflict with Zeke goes, I think that the conflict between the two brothers will be almost completely settled in the current chapters. After all they are fighting over the control of the coordinate and whoever wins manages to do what he wants. It is true that Zeke might temporally win and Eren might ask the others for help, but this is not the feeling I am receiving from current Eren and we have already been told that Eren’s wish is the one which will come true:

In other words, even if potentially other conflicts could give Armin and Mikasa the room they deserve, I think that a conflict among EMA is by far the most interesting option.

This is true also considering the current conflict between Eren and his friends. Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of characters growing distant because of miscommunication and then overcoming the misunderstanding and growing in this way. However, I don’t really see the 104th’s current situation being built to be settled in this way. After all:

We have already seen Eren’s friends accepting to trust Eren despite everything, but we have yet to properly understand Eren’s goals and reasons. As you can see, the “reconciliation” of chapter 118 is not really the result of a climax where all the characters involved grow and manage to understand each other, but it is a one-sided effort where one side is doing its best to understand and justify the behaviour of the other without being given any explanation and after having been treated poorly for no apparent reason. In short, Armin, Mikasa and the 104th’s growth can’t lie in them understanding and trusting Eren simply because they have clearly shown to be able to do it already and they have done so without being given any guarantee in return. If chapter 118 is the apex of the 104th’s growth as a group, then I think it is underwhelming and not really meaningful considering that all they did was to do what they have been doing since early on aka trusting in their bonds as comrades. At the same time, so far Eren has more or less managed to obtain what he wants without much psychological struggle that we can see. What I mean is that we have been shown him struggling physically, but we have not been given any access to his head, so we know he is struggling and suffering, but for some reason we are not experiencing it with him. However, we need to see this struggle and not just to know that it is probably there. In short, Eren is in the middle of a series of conflicts among which the one with his friends is one and before he can solve all of these conflicts we should be shown more of his internal world. This is why I think the conflict between him and the others is still not solved and that it would be more interesting for it to escalate before it can be solved.

I tried to explain why I like this hypothesis, but all in all there could be different ways to approach the whole matter I am not considering, so I am open to be happily surprised. However, as it stands, I favour this idea and so I will theoryze that something among the lines of a major EMA conflict is going to happen. This is my starting point.

Now, it is obvious that if such a conflict must happen Eren can’t be thinking of simply using the Rumbling like Armin suggests here:

This is simply because this action won’t make the conflict escalate, but will simply settle it and prove that Armin was right. At the same time, it is really not enough to explain why Eren was so cold with Mikasa and Armin.

In short, Eren’s actions will most likely create a major conflict and different reactions in different characters and I can see each character taking a different choice in reaction to Eren’s.

We have already been told that what Eren wants to do is terrible:

What is more, Grisha asks him if in this way Eldia will be saved:

So, from this chapter we know that Eren’s objective is to save Eldia and probably to protect his loved ones, but that in order to do so he will do something terrible.

Now, we must discover what this something terrible is and how the others will react to this.

I can see two main options that can be declined in different ways.

1) Eren will do something terrible knowing what he is doing and choosing to do it anyway. In this case he might have pushed his friends away because of some complicated inner feelings he has towards both them and himself and so the reason of his behaviour towards them is mostly psychological.

2) Eren will do something horrible knowing that he will be stopped and this might explain why he acted the way he did towards Armin and Mikasa in order to push them away.

Let’s highlight that these two options are generic and can be combined in different ways.

For example, Eren might be missing some major pieces of the future:

After all, it has been said that the Attack Titan’s power has its limits and stories of a person who misread or misinterpreted the future are very common.

This leads us to what is the real new revelation of the chapter aka Eren’s power to see the future and how it is clearly linked to some time-paradoxes the fandom has been wondering about since forever. One of the most interesting things about this chapter is that it did not solve the most famous ones:

So, they might become important later on.

That said, I really like the Titan’s power for different reasons.

First of all it is interesting to me because it is used to create time paradoxes of the kind I talked about here:

I would like to propose an alternative (definately crack) theory: the time paradox may actually be a “virtuous” loop i.e. the events we assisted, despite their violence and sadness, are actually necessary to arrive to a positive ending and Eren’s final decision will be to actually accept everything that happened to him and to “send his will back in time” to influence the past events and to be sure that everything goes as it is supposed to go (i.e. as we have seen in the series). Basically I am proposing a time paradox like the one we get in the third book of Harry Potter where the characters going back in time and interfering with the past don’t actually change it, but are used to explain details the protagonists saw the first time and couldn’t understand (like the person saving Harry from the Dementors who turned out to be Harry himself).

Now, by using this quote as reference I don’t mean to say that what Eren did in this chapter is a part of a virtuous loop, but simply that the kind of time-paradoxes which are happening are similar to the ones I talked about above. What I like is that this mechanism has been used in a completely different way than the one I proposed. I was imagining it used to highlight Eren’s free will to choose his own destiny and to accept every single horrible thing which happened to him as necessary to reach a positive ending. It would have been very powerful to show the boy whose Titan was imposed on him by his own father choose to make sure that this actually happens for everyone’s sake. This is something which can still very well happen and I think Eren might see his actions in this light. However, the chapter frames what Eren is doing in a different way. It is not about choosing one’s own fate, but about imposing one’s will on others:

This is paradoxical especially because of how Grisha describes the power:

Grisha links the ability to foresee the future to the ability of being free and of not being controlled. The ironic thing of course is that Grisha and the other shifters before him have actually been manipulated through Eren’s future memories:

This is not the future Grisha has chosen, but the one he has been shown by Eren and so the one he has come to accept.

All in all, the person who is supposed to embody freedom is also presented as an individual who manipulates others. One could also say that Eren is doing something very similar to the first King just on a smaller scale. The first King wanted peace, but his manipulation and brainwashing led to Marley becoming a nation built on war. Eren wants freedom, but he is imposing his own point of view on others. The first king wanted a peaceful heaven and to create it he imprisoned people and left the rest of the world to fight each other. Eren wants to be free and is ready to take others’ freedom to do so and also to move war to the world. The manga has kept presenting concepts like peace and freedom and has shown us that they can both be extreme. It is probable that they’ll need to balance each other out in the end.

Let’s now briefly consider the conflict between Frieda and Grisha. All in all the two of them are both being manipulated by family members and both are conveying an ideology which is not really theirs, but which they came to accept because of the influence of another shifter. For Frieda it is a previous one, while for Grisha it is a future one.

Let’s also highlight that both Frieda and Grisha eshitate. They are two people who are able to emphatize and would probably prefer not to kill each other, but they are both told to do so by their families (Frieda is told so by her father, while Grisha by his son).

All in all it is very interesting on multiple levels.

On one hand the father-children relationship is a very important one for the series and we have seen that so far children have kept paying for their parents’ mistakes. Eren is a character who is clearly trying to change the system and him embodying the future against the first King (and Rod Reiss) embodying the past is clearly symbolic of this.

However, at the same time, his idea of freedom is one which does not consider others:

If everyone were to apply this concept nobody could be really free because everyone would be too much busy fighting each other to actually be free to live as they want.

In other words there is no doubt that what Eren is doing will be fundamental to change the current corrupted system, but at the same time I think his pov needs to be integrated. I think Eren is missing a piece of the puzzle and that someone else should give it to him.

Let’s now consider this:

The ideas of “moving forward” and of “looking forward” which have been present since the beginning are now acquiring a different meaning when one considers the Attack Titan’s power.

These ideas have always been connected with freedom. The SC kept considering the future of their people and realized that if they did not act they would have been doomed someday.

So, a titan who sees the future given to a character who represents freedom is a pretty coherent choice.

However, the ability to foresee the future might very well become a binding ability under certain conditions.

1) For example, knowing the future will definately influence you and this will lead to your possibilities being reduced. We have seen so in the chapter itself where Grisha can’t oppose Eren’s plans because of the memories he has been seeing. He talks of future events as if they are the past and asks Zeke to stop Eren (and in this way the cycle of a father leaving his own burden on a child is repeated). This behaviour is ironic because if Grisha really thought of Eren’s scenery as terrible he would have been in a much better position to change it compared to his other son. However, he didn’t.

Now, we don’t know if Eren is being influenced by some future shifter and I honestly think he is not and that he will be the last Shifter of the Attack Titan. However, he too has seen the future and it is probable that he has been acting in a certain way because of what he saw. If Eren had not seen that scenery would he still be acting the way he is? Would he have attacked Liberio? In short, it is obvious that Eren himself has been changed by the future.

2) The ability to see far away is precious, but it can be dangerous if it is coupled with the inability to perceive what is close to you. What is more, it can lead to a disaster if it is coupled with narrowness. You might be able to see the future, but if your vision is narrow you might misread and misinterpret what is going on.

Eren has developed the ability to see what is coming, but he might need a broader vision if he really wants to succeed.

To summarize, I think that what Armin says here might become important:

1) Is freedom connected to hurting others?

2) Is Eren sure that he is not a slave?

I think the story needs to answet these two questions.

These are my major thoughts on the chapter so far. Thank you for the ask!

#snk #snk 121 #snk meta #eren jeager #asksfullofsugar #anonymous

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starsailorstories · 4 years

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So! Given, uh, everything, any chance you could talk about how various Astraea cultures deal with sicknesses and quarantine? Especially since some (especially Bell Town) are extremely or entirely genetically identical, and so more at risk?

Also, how would the cast members react to self isolation and social distancing?

FIRST OFF, sorry this took 10 years to answer, I was super busy and there’s kind of A Lot Of Spec Bio to discuss here

Also, this question made me feel very Seen lol…why yes i DO use worldbuilding as a coping mechanism for the stress of watching the wet tissue paper my country calls a social safety net dissolve

Most sickness that astraeas deal with day to day isn’t actually contagious*, but more a result of individual reaction to the environment (in terms of public health response, think seasonal allergies, although physiologically speaking it’s nothing like that). Communicable, infectious disease tends to be a less frequent problem but purely for that reason is more feared, especially as the most common source for novel diseases is interplanetary shipping (like, astraeas on one planet who have immunity to something unknowingly ship contaminated goods to another planet where people don’t). All that is nowhere near as devastating as it could be in a human context–for one thing astraeas’ bodies are hella dry compared to ours, so if a microbe isn’t airborne it’s almost a non-issue (on the other hand, infection is almost a guarantee if you have an open wound)–but most planets, stations and orbiters have a list of OTHER planets, stations and orbiters categorized by how long it’s been since first contact and how long shipments need to be in quarantine based on that, and that kind of thing runs the same gamut from “rigorously evidence-based” to “completely political and petty” that it does on earth.

Speaking of which, the issue of genetic similarity as a disease risk is as politicized as you’d expect in a society where people said “oh, with our genetic technology we can just design the working class to be however we want.” The Hyperians, being, you know, A Rigidly Hierarchal Interstellar Empire In A Space Opera as they are, tend to present the genetic homogeneity as sort of a good thing, what makes Us Us and Them Them, and the royal family themselves subscribe to the very historically royal (and also very eugenicist) idea that genetic “purity”–which for astraeas mostly just means having children in a very chemically controlled environment–helps keep em’ royal or something. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t it just makes hemophilia, and the more conservative Basileans minimize the environmental variance that keeps them from wiping each other out like some kind of aggressively graceful banana monocrop, the easier it is for epidemics to escalate in general because whole colonies become vectors together.

You won’t read about it in your galactic history book til after the revolution, but the dangers of genetic homogeneity were actually observed by lux units, who noticed that “variant” and “off-order” clones were a bit more likely to survive outbreaks of disease. Supervisors in clone factories have tried HARD to excise the superstition that variant units who remain un-decommissioned into adulthood are good luck to have on your cabin crew or manufacturing-plant shift, but it’s never completely gone away, and once Bell Town goes topside their medics and scientists immediately get to work testing, peer reviewing and proving the mechanics of diversity as a factor of public health because it’s a helpful argument for legitimizing their seizure of the means of their own reproduction and fighting the prejudice against “defective” lux that don’t fit the mold.

To really get into your question, Bell Town at least has the advantage of being small and having a busybody mom friend for a de facto head medic, so I don’t think they’ve ever had a quarantine situation get much bigger than four or five people just because Bolt is very up on how everyone’s doing and very very persuasive–the medics know that that’s just a matter of luck though, and I’m sure a factor in the push to go topside is the potential for tragedy involved in having a settlement of mostly/nearly genetically identical people in somewhat adverse and scarce conditions. That’s not to say there’s no plan–the shortages in Bell Town tend to be of immediately consumable raw materials, like air and fuel and very basic multi-use medicines, whereas raw materials for manufacturing specialized equipment are a lot easier to get because organized factories in DT’s network can have them smuggled out. And a majority of the town’s population, at least by vol. 2, are former manufacturing-plant labor with working radio receivers in their heads, so it’s fairly feasible to expect even a small portion of them, with an emergency push, to manufacture A Lot of vaccines, or intensive care equipment, or whatever was needed practically overnight with the direct guidance of the medics to ensure as much safety in the process as possible (they do just that with medical and defense supplies in vol. 2 for various spoilery things).

Up top, the aula’s responses to any and all large-scale social crises tend to be erratic but sweeping. There are some advantages–in terms of expertise, there are certainly things that well-paid doctors with fully equipped research hospitals can accomplish that a dedicated crack team of self-educated medics can’t, including proactive study of new strains of disease. There’s also feudal insanity–technically individual hospitals/institutions aren’t supposed to issue info without the aula’s permission, though legally local nobles can give it on the Hyperians’ behalf if they’re willing to risk Drama. The internal weirdness of the court both logistical and interpersonal (which I need to make a post about) can sometimes mean, in any emergency, that different parts of the empire receive conflicting information, or an edict followed after a day’s delay in the satellite network by a retraction. Public trust (among citizens of relative status at least) that the Hyperians know what they’re doing tends to decline exponentially as you move out from the inner Rings for this exact reason.

Derafior City on Caesura B dealt with a wave of multiple epidemics a couple hundred turns before the official rise of the empire that still affect how the city is laid out–leaders at the time issued quarantine orders in cooperation with individual colony matriarchs, and as those orders became enforced in physical “zones” neighborhood identities, reputations, and rivalries became increasingly defined (Crater culture being what it is, quarantine boundaries were often pretty literal battle lines as the situation became desperate). A lot of historians trace the factionalism of the Crater to this era, although outside imperialism was also a major instigator of both factional conflicts and disease exposure. Keep in mind too that while outsiders like to portray Derafior as violently fractured and there’s a grain of truth to that, there are just as many deep loyalties between neighborhood/colony factions as there are rivalries and as we see in vol. 3, Caesurans are certainly not allergic to closing ranks when shit really hits the fan.

I don’t have specific canon examples from other ante-dome cultures but another thing of possible interest that I’d like to talk about is that in places touched by Basilean culture, a lot of what we consider “social distancing” is just normal because cleanliness is highly ritualized and valued. Although platonic adult friendships tend to be very cuddly by American and British standards, at the same time, hand touches between strangers outside specific social rituals are seen as quite inappropriate, so things are more thoroughly designed to prevent them–for example, most trading of goods is done purely on paper at the point of sale and nothing actually passes from hand to hand, you go get it out of the crate or pick it out of the field yourself (which is also a practicality of the relative non-ubiquity of flexible currency–and actually, one of the complaints about the use of currency among more traditional astraeas is that it spreads germs). Basically everyone who can afford it wears gloves in public, which are changed and washed every time a person re-enters her home (disposable gloves are mostly limited to medical and laboratory settings, although it’s not unheard of to use them in a pinch if you don’t have a place to launder gloves at home. Side note, if you’re translating directly Altamaian actually refers to manual labor that makes it impractical to wear gloves as “barehanded” labor and the summary conceptualization of such as unhygienic represents a MAJOR vein of classism among Basilean citizens). The reason for the glove thing is that for a species with an exoskeleton regular hand washing can be kind of involved (You know how sometimes it takes a lot of scrubbing to get the dirt out from under your fingernails? Now imagine you have fingernails all over your hands).

Oh and to answer your second question: out of the main cast the one you’d think would suffer most with self-isolation is Bolt, but being a healthcare worker she’d still see people. Rugsy would complain the loudest but also paradoxically be secretly kind of relieved to not have to worry about People for a while. DT experiences virtually no change from her normal lifestyle lmao

*There’s two kinds of disease that can affect astraeas–what they call “miasmic”, and infectious. Miasmic disease (which as you might guess I named after the precursor to modern germ theory–it’s kind of true in this instance!) is basically when an individual’s body and light chemistry can’t maintain its normal balance in certain atmosphere conditions. A big reason for the kickoff of the artificial atmosphere industry after the settling of Altamai is that the cloud cover tends to trap a lot of carbon dioxide, and for i.e. Basillans and Sitherians (who have come to be based on G-type stars, like the sun, and K-type stars, slightly smaller and cooler than the sun) there’s just not enough hydrogen atoms in there to run their bodies optimally. This mostly affects very young children, the elderly, and those whose cores were formed in suboptimal conditions (comparable to a human who has a chronic health condition because of a birth defect) and if it can’t be remedied by a move to more hydrogen/helium rich air, it’s treated by sucking the pure hydrogen out of a water electrolysis device through a hose on the daily, which side note, is also a reliable hangover remedy for them.

#sweet chariot #worldbuilding #onwardmotley #ask me to tag

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entamewitchlulu · 5 years

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Can We Trust Keppi?

This is a question that’s been in my head since episode 6 -- is Keppi...a good guy?

I think considering this is an Ikuhara show, the answer is definitely “probably not because NO ONE is a straight up ‘good guy’”. But in comparison to many of the other characters, Keppi is one that we know surprisingly little about. Even Reo and Mabu have been getting a lot more development, especially in recent episodes -- even without having ALL of the details, I think we have a pretty solid gist of what’s happening with those two.

But as for Keppi? What do we know?

We have a few facts:

Keppi is the prince of the kappa kingdom

He fled during the assault of the otters, and was at some point sealed inside the statue in Asakusa.

He is (presumably) one of the last, if not the last, survivor of the kappa kingdom.

He can turn people into kappa by taking out their shirikodama. He can also consume the shirikodama of kappa-zombies.

He is the only kappa who can create the dishes of hope.

But....

Aside from the kappa transformation, which we’ve witnessed...who told us all of this information?

Keppi did. And so far, the show has done very little to corroborate his facts.

Under the cut, I’m going to discuss a couple of points: 1) the fact that Keppi never actually told the boys what he was getting them into, 2) the curious framing of the shirikodama and desire energy, especially in reference to the kappa trio, and 3) Keppi’s uncertainty as a reliable source of information.

Bear in mind while reading this (ungodly long) post that I like Keppi. I don’t want to believe he’s an antagonist, and to be honest, I don’t necessarily believe he is. But I do absolutely believe that there is a lot more going on than he is telling, and if I know an Ikuhara show, there’s going to be plenty more secrets every episode -- and I have no doubt that Keppi has his own agenda, which may not align with what we thought it did, much less what the boys thought it did.

So, my first point: when Kazuki and Toi first awakened Keppi, he asked them for their help.

But....with what?

With dealing with the kappa-zombies? As far as it seems, there haven’t been any kappa-zombies in this city until the night after Keppi is awakened, otherwise, the boys probably would have noticed that these strange occurrences in the news are happening all the time.

Toi even says in episode 6 on seeing the sachets in the news that “we’ve never seen the incidents two days in a row, have we?” If the kappa-zombies were a regular occurrence, and weren’t obscured with some kind of dream mist, Toi would not have made this assertion. These incidents would have been happening every single day.

So what was Keppi going to ask them for help with before he got mad and turned them into kappa? Was he going to ask them to help him reclaim his kingdom, burned down by the otters? If that’s the case...why did it take him so long to bring up the Imperial Army? If the incidents are happening every single day, which I don’t believe they necessarily are, that’s a good five days of this where Keppi has said nothing -- and probably, a little longer. Maybe even a week or so. Why did it take Keppi this long to tell them why he wants their help? He dragged them into this and forced them into it without so much as an explanation of where the kappa-zombies come from in the first place.

And in the end, he didn’t even have to. The boys were more than motivated enough by their own needs, and by the prospect of the dishes of hope, to keep becoming kappa and fighting the kappa-zombies without even asking what was going on. They were distracted enough by their own problems that they didn’t even think to ask what Keppi is really getting out of all of this.

On the topic of the dishes of hope, as well...how convenient it is that they get a gold dish first, one that grants an ill-mentioned wish to prove that the wishes CAN be granted...and after that, he only produces silver dishes, for which you need five of to get a wish? You can’t get a better carrot on a stick than that.

Keppi didn’t need to explain, because the boys didn’t bother to ask -- they were more than concerned with their own problems. And maybe that’s just how it happened, maybe Keppi wasn’t intentionally hiding the truth from them -- after all, he more than willingly gave up all of the information about the Imperial Army and Haruka’s whereabouts when Haruka came in danger...

Except, here’s a good question:

How does Keppi know where the otter’s hideout is?

I’m going to briefly skip the above second point to move to the third one: Keppi is not a reliable source of information. For one thing: no one questions that he knows where the enemy is hiding. For another, he tells the kappa trio about the war between the kappa and the otters, but he’s the only one telling us about it. Outside of the ReoMabu flashback, we don’t actually know what happened during that battle -- we don’t know who was at fault, who the “bad guys” were, if indeed there were any at all. But we can’t prove a THING about what he says, because again -- he is the only one at the moment who can claim to have been there. He could tell them anything. It’s not like Kazuki or either of the others were in any state of mind to demand details, either.

One more thought on Keppi’s unreliability as a source of information: the very, very first encounter between him, Kazuki, and Toi.

When Kazuki and Toi first accidentally awaken Keppi, their entire memory of the encounter is wiped. Even once they rejoin Keppi, called back by him, no actual memory of the conversation they had is shown to us.

So...what did they talk about?

It could be, of course, that this was just a means to keep the story flowing, to add in the funny bits where Kazuki and Toi show kappa tendencies, and to make sure that the actual encounter happens at night so they can go straight into fighting the kappa-zombies. But...why was no memory of their conversation kept at all? This is one point that I could certainly see myself reading into a little too much, but there’s one part of it that makes me wary: the confirmation that Keppi has the ability to suppress memories.

Which means...if at any time a conversation goes where he doesn’t like, all he has to do is erase the memory. If the boys learned anything he didn’t want them to know, poof, memory gone. I can’t be sure if this was just a first-episode gaff, but the possibility remains, that Keppi is more than capable of performing a memory wipe. That, once again, lowers his credibility as a reliable information source.

So now I want to get back to the second point: the shirikodama. This could be a mixture of me not knowing enough Japanese to understand, or me simply reading too much into things, but what concerns me the most is the scene where Keppi tells Kazuki that he can give his shirikodama to Haruka.

First of all...it seems very odd to me for Keppi to offer this so quickly and willingly. Doesn’t he need the boys for help? For either fighting the kappa-zombies or whatever other mystery request he first had at the beginning? But he seems to have no problems with informing Kazuki of this means of essentially killing himself. He could have easily kept this possibility to himself, and Kazuki would have never known that it was possible to save Haruka, and Keppi still has his fighters. But he makes the offer, immediately. Did he have a back up plan? Did he intend to have Haruka replace Kazuki on the team?

And my second question on this scene is...doesn’t Keppi already HAVE Kazuki’s shirikodama? Why does Kazuki need to go into the pit to sever his connection to his shirikodama, if Keppi already has it in his stomach?

My current theory: Considering the shirikodama automatically returns to the boys after Keppi swallows the shirikodama of a kappa-zombie, there is evidence to state that the boys still have a connection to their shirikodama even if it is removed. Since the kappa-zombies are dead, once their shirikodama is removed, the desire that keeps their “ghost” in the world dissolves, leaving the shirikodama only left for Keppi to eat, and he doesn’t have to worry about it going back to the person it belongs to, because that person is gone. In that case, it makes sense that Keppi would need to sever Kazuki’s connection in order to give it to Haruka...but it does feel very nervewracking to me, because this implies that you can take someone’s shirikodama from a living person, and erase them...if they agree to willingly give it up.

I don’t know if Keppi would have saved Haruka with the shirikodama, or if he simply would have eaten it, and found another troubled teen to add to the kappa trio. For that matter, the whole concept of the shirikodama and desire energy is fraught with uncertainty -- what does it do for the kappa? Is it food? Is it a delicacy? Do they actually use that energy to power things? Why does Keppi want them?

That leads me to my final thoughts on Keppi’s trustworthiness. First, as someone has pointed out...there’s a strange pair of eyes in the background of Reo and Mabu’s desire extraction dance

Keppi’s eyes are, so far, the only ones the same shape as this pair of eyes. Does that mean Keppi is involved in the creation of kappa-zombies and desire extraction? He did know where the factory was. Of course, there’s the fact that Reo didn’t know where Keppi was, and clearly plans to try and kidnap him for the plates -- but Reo is also clearly a grunt in the otter hierarchy more than anything, so if Keppi was involved, he absolutely would not be told.

There’s also Keppi’s involvement with Sara. They appear to be....dating?? I guess?? Sara has been noting exactly which items are the object of desire for each episode with her Lucky Selfies since the beginning -- not only that, but she’s inextricably connected to Reo and Mabu, as she was their adopted daughter in the prequel manga. Her current connection to them is unknown, but it is curious that she predicts the object of the week every single time.

And finally, there’s that ReoMabu flashback, the one that freaked EVERYONE out -- where Reo and Mabu burst into a throne room, and confront a strange human-like person with a crown...in a kappa kingdom with a throne room, if Keppi is telling the truth, this shadowy figure can be no one else other than the prince of the kappa, Keppi himself. And something very, very strange happens to Keppi in that scene -- a black shadow with glowing red eyes expels from him as he yells about his desire being stolen.

Glowing red eyes? Sounds a lot like the eyes we see inside the desire extraction machine -- and indeed we do see the creature yelling “DARKNESS” seen inside the factory once again in episode 7. Could the similarity of those eyes to Keppi’s have something to do with that shadow once being a part of Keppi?

One way or another, Keppi benefits from the kappa-zombies. Without them, he would not have a constant source of shirikodama to eat, whether that’s nutritional for him, or simply a delicacy. He’s actually the one benefitting the most from the current state of events. Sure, the boys are getting some free therapy out of it and potentially a wish or two, but they have to put in far more work for far less results. Keppi does nothing but turn them into kappa, watch them finish off the kappa-zombie, and gobble up the shirikodama afterward.

At this point, I have one major theory: that Keppi is not as innocent as he would like as all to believe in the kappa-otter war -- either by his own will, or through possession. And he has a vested interest in not yet revealing that lack of innocence yet. Again, I don’t necessarily think he’s a villain! After all, he was just as willing to get kicked around to save Haruka as he was to offer a shirikodama transplant.

But Keppi has an agenda. I think something was stolen from him, and I think it’s his goal to get it back -- and if he has to use a few people along the way, I don’t think he’ll shy away from that. The characters in this show have been proven to be nuanced and gray in their morality -- I have no doubt Keppi will be revealed to be the same.

#keppi #toi kuji #kazuki yasaka #sara azuma #reo niiboshi #sarazanmai #homura metas #long post

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wordsturnintostories · 5 years

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we're pack, moonchild.

Masterlist

Summary: You know Min Yoongi is a werewolf. He has to be. [a drabble in which you go to the same school with the Bangtan gang and are tiring to figure out if that's what they really are. a gang? or a pack?] Word Count: +1,7k Note: Yoongi. I love writing Yoongi. Makes me feel focused and introspective. This one has such a long "wolf part". idk why, Yoongi is special somehow. ✨

Gif not mine, credits to the owner.

You know Min Yoongi is a werewolf. He has to be. If he isn’t, this entire concept you’ve created about your school’s society (or more precisely, the Bangtan gang) is for the trashcan. Oh, and the faith in your own ability to judge. It’s not that there’s evidence stacking up against the quiet senior student, not officially at least, because not one teacher complains about him. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. They favor him. Maybe that’s due to the fact that Min Yoongi doesn’t disrupt the class with incessant and unnecessary chatter. To be honest, you don’t think you’ve ever seen Min Yoongi “chat” in a vivid manner. Of course, in the presence of Jimin, but Jimin is an exception, with that magical ability (and laugh) to coax words out of people, but that’s always inside the safe confines of the Bangtan gang.

GBut even if you’re not sure about Kim Namjoon or the other boys within the gang, you’re sure about Min Yoongi. Living in the same neighborhood as you, just a few streets over, there’s been incidents you’ve heard of. Incidents as ominous as the word incident itself. As a child, there have been numerous times you’ve witnessed a growl, a baring of teeth, long canine teeth at that. Back then, it hadn’t mattered, you were a child with enough fantasy to spin some wild story out of this, but looking back you realize things for what they really were. Teenage years had brought new issues not only to you but also to him, as it seemed. People rumored about massacred bunnies and chickens, whispered about a hunter’s mysterious experiences one night in the local woods. Those weren't stories you would tie to the pale, stay-inside type of boy back then. Now, you’ve seen him run (even though it doesn't happen often, and if it does, he's probably going after a cheeky Taehyung), you've even seen him almost break a particularly nasty kid from his grade in half - hadn’t Jimin and Hoseok been there to stop him.

Even in school, the lazy attitude of Min Yoongi just hides the reality of a wolf shimmering underneath that milky skin. Or maybe it’s exactly the laziness that lets the wolf attributes show through. You’re not sure. You’re not even sure if others see it too. However, you spot the animal behind those eyes. In a blink, it tells a story about a burning rage that almost eats the boy up from the inside. In another, it shows you how gratefulness spreads through him as the younger gang members plus Seokjin gather around Yoongi (and as Jimin brazenly plops into his lap with a giggle). And whatever the rest of the school rumors and believes, you know the truth. You've seen the facts. (Additionally, you have witnessed an ab slip and there’s no one on this earth who can tell you

But despite knowing this truth, your relationship with him happens from a distance. It’s quite different than with Jimin or Taehyung, or even Jungkook. From a distance you observe and from a distance, you draw conclusions. And while your friends babble about this or that, you take notice of how on some days, Yoongi’s head turns towards every sound, just very very slightly, but visibly if you pay a lot of attention. And then he groans, which in turn attracts Jimin’s attention, who puts his small gentle hands on the elder’s face and ears. Obviously, there’s some complaining involved when Yoongi grumbles, but it’s clear that the wolf is irritated by the hectic bustling of the students, by the enormity of the sound landscape inside the cafeteria. To prove your assumption that he must be a werewolf, Yoongi does bare his teeth a little but then his eyes rise, meeting yours and you quickly look away, heart pounding. Your friends don’t notice. You hope Yoongi doesn’t know what you’re doing.

Even though the Bangtan gang is rarely ever doing anything gang-like, you see how Min Yoongi could be genuinely scary. Not to you, not scary at least, because you’ve walked past (and stopped) the young man sitting in front of a white piano in the music rooms during breaks. His hands know chords that make you cry. But out of all the Bangtan boys, the rumors about gang fights and violence kind of fit best with his cool outward attitude. He’s a fighter, no doubt, always ready to defend the young ones under his wings. Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook seem to know it well, and still, annoying the elder is one of the first things that comes to their minds. Considering he wouldn’t mess up a hair on their heads - because he hasn’t - you figure that behind that scowling mask, there must be a sweet person.

There’s only one time you think he might come for you and your stupid nosiness and that’s when you’re standing by the school’s vending machine, watching him under the pretense of waiting for a friend. Since the morning bell, Yoongi has acted strange, not that anyone around you has really noticed. Yoongi has been hanging out with Namjoon instead of Hoseok and gripping Jimin’s hand tightly with a newfound record-worthy clinginess. At one point, Jimin shrieks and pulls away with shock in his eyes. There’s a drop of blood running over his hand that’s visible for a second before they cover it up. Still, you see it. It’s highly suspicious and worth a note in your Bangtan-related research.

Before you can even build theories and collect your previous assumptions to come up with a good explanation, Yoongi is gone. It’s a blink but Yoongi’s gone. And Namjoon and Jimin look more than worried. When your friend grabs her drink and talks to someone next to you, you can’t focus. So, when they leave, you stay. To wait and see what will happen next. What Namjoon and Jimin will do. And boy, does something happen next. It takes a breath to be pressed into the wall behind you, another to realize this is Yoongi with his forehead against yours. It’s all so sudden, such a pee-in-your-pants-moment that you can’t help but gasp, but let your heart pound and pound. Yoongi’s hands just grab your shoulders, and then there’s something he mumbles before leaving. You don’t understand it at first, but it comes back to you in a dream.

“The moon, pup. Next moon.”

It doesn’t make sense at all, just like this encounter that essentially has you be scared more in retrospective than it did in the present. Whatever issue Yoongi had that day, you hope he got it figured out. When you ask Jimin in a note, he draws a valerian flower and says, “Don’t worry about hyung. I hope he didn’t scare you. He's really embarrassed too.”

After that, your eyes meet Yoongi’s a couple of times in hallways and through the fence at the basketball court, but there’s never an indication that he wants to talk to you. He’s occupied with the younger ones and you’re occupied studying them.

As a wolf, Yoongi approaches you directly. He comes after Taehyung leaves and doesn’t waste a second before his snout travels over different parts of your body. Maybe it’s about safety, maybe it’s curiosity, but Yoongi is thorough. When he is done, there’s a second of eye contact, a nod from him, a lick at Namjoon’s muzzle, a lick at your mouth (a promise of protection), and then Yoongi leaves.

His presence is nice, a presence of safety and a thrumming of saved up strength. You learn later that he’s the packs’ primary speed dial contact.

When the pack welcomes you in their midst as the Alpha’s companion, it’s Yoongi who guides you through the process side by side with Jimin. It’s Yoongi who stays by yours as the younger wolves play in the dark. It’s Yoongi who licks Jimin clean after the younger one returns and presses him delicate body into the elders’. It’s Yoongi who ushers the other wolves together, who is granted the first howl to announce the Alpha.

The second Yoongi’s jaws close around your wrist for the pack bite, a blurriness creeps into your vision. The white wolf’s mouth is hot around your arm but all you can focus on are the movements in front of your eyes. You make the mistake of looking straight into Yoongi’s eyes. His intense gaze draws you in completely. It’s like looking into a laundry machine through the glass door. As everything gains momentum, colors, textures, even fabrics melt into each other.

The same kind of storm rages in Yoongi’s eyes. It spits out films worth of images that seem to be memories from Yoongi’s point of view - a heaving scene with puffs of winter breath in front of your eyes, a dead deer bleeding away under your nose, the warm and iron-y smell of blood dancing around you while the animal’s heart slows audibly, then trees that pass, nights of warmth, nights of icy cold darkness, finally other wolves, a pack, a boy - Jungkook - who goes through the first shift with tears of unimaginable pain, a young wolf who runs in freedom for the first time, who pants against Jimin’s flank later. It’s all there, you see it all through Yoongi’s eyes, how the family grows, how he secures the borders.

And then you realize. Yoongi is a beta. The Pack’s protector, the first-rank warrior.

And with the fall of a shooting star, there’s a rising of new wonder inside of you. It comes with the realization that Yoongi was born this way, alone for such a long time, alone with that burning rage you’d seen a couple times. Uncontrollable it had been, but with a pack of seven, the intensity of that loneliness and pain divides into seven parts, leaving behind a tiny burden to carry.

When you finally look up from where you had fallen to your knees as Yoongi's visions overwhelmed you, you find his soft gaze. He's a precious friend, loyal to the end, worthy of keeping. His cheek feels warm next to yours, his tongue like a welcoming kiss on your neck. “I’m looking forward to teaching you everything, pup,” he says.

Thanks for reading! :)

Masterlist | moodboard masterlist

taglist: @xmagicxshopx, @jiminnies-baby, @inappropriatepirate, @dope-boss

#myg #min yoongi #bangtan #drabble #jun06 #werewolf!bangtan #bts #wolf!bangtan #wolf!yoongi

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thomasjefferson1318 · 6 years

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UPDATED:Voltron S8 Predictions

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD BEWARE*

It’s been a couple of months since the S7 premiere and there have been a lot of theories going around about what is going to happen in Season 8. I had my own theory, but it wasn’t very specific about exactly what’s going to happen. I just threw out some guess based on what I had seen while I was watching, but I wasn’t exactly sure where a lot of it was going at the time. At this point I think I am just about ready to make an educated guess about the upcoming events in the final season of Voltron. The crew works so hard on this show and they try very hard not to make any mistakes, meaning every small detail is important. Not to mention, how much Voltron LOVES it’s character parallels. Here I will be covering both the future basic plot and what ships become canon, including all endings beyond this. This is all my opinion and my predictions, but IDK.

So who will be the new villain?

The answer to this question is actually pretty simple and I think that most of the fandom has figured it out.

Haggar.

Well, sort of. Because, this here^ isn’t Haggar. This is Honerva. Haggar was Zarkon’s second hand, a witch. She was totally insane and her memory was corrupt. But it’s obvious, even if just by her appearance that she isn’t Haggar anymore. She even confronts Lotor on the topic when she tries to get him on her side. She has accepted and embraced her original identity.

Either way, we haven’t seen her since season 6. We’ve heard that she abandoned her army of druids, but we have no canon mentions of her current whereabouts. We know she went to Oriande to learn the secrets of Altean Alchemy. Where is she now? We don’t know. But we can make pretty good guesses as to where she went since then. First stop, was the quantum abyss. She learned about the altean colony from Shiro’s Clone. She knows where it is, how to get there, what Lotor has been doing with their quintessence, their viewpoint on lotor- basically she knows everything that we do. Which is why they were gone when the blades went to go try to find the colony. It’s also why she abandoned her druids.

What is the dynamic between Honerva and the Altean Colony? Who is the mysterious Altean we see at the end of Season 7? What was with that random crazy robot that came out of nowhere?

Honerva and the Alteans are building fighter robots like the one we saw at the end of Season 7.

We get a glimpse of evidence pointing towards this at the VERY end of season 7, with the appearance of this mysterious Altean who was apparently piloting that crazy powerful Altean ship. Allura comments on the ships altean technology, but as of season 7 we have seen the blending of technologies from different cultures and there are vast differences between this and what we’ve seen so far of Altean technology. Personally, I believe that the robot is a mix of Altean technology and Galra technology, because of the purple quintessence powering the robot and just because of the robots general design. It just screams HONERVA WAS HERE. Like, we’ve seen Haggar build plenty of “robots” and it would be fair to assume that Honerva does have all of her memories from her time spent as Haggar. I do have more evidence behind this that I will explain later, but yeah.

Why?

Okay, so Honerva is building powerful AF robots. But why? We know that Honerva is a scientist and that she is obsessed with unlocking the secrets behind quintessence, but her current motives are unknown. Well we can examine the robot, the way the robot works, previous robots, and the Altean pilot and actually get a pretty good guess here.

So this Robot has the ability to drain quintessence from things using its double swords, which are actually really cool and unique looking. I love the purple translucent-

…

Yeah, okay, so obviously not an exact match. I know. Of course, it’s been around 6 years since Haggar built Shiro’s robo-galra arm and she did kinda half ass that thing at the time too. But my point is that the general design, color scheme, functionality line up. Also the purple lightning is exactly the same. I just wanted to put that out there to prove that the robot has Galran technology in it and that it’s very likely that it’s Honerva’s work. Anyway, so the sycle/ double sword blades can drain the quintessence from Voltron (draining quintessence from living beings was also a huge part of Honervas work back when when was Haggar, more supporting evidence!) and this thing is obviously built for fighting. It’s speed, agility, power, and self defence protocols are insane.

It has shapes very similar to that of Zarkon’s armor and Lotor’s robot, but it’s much thinner and more flexible than either of these two. In fact, Voltron wasn’t even able to beat this robot by itself, it needed help from ATLAS constantly, which just goes to show how powerful this thing is. In which raises the question, why did Honerva send it out to fight against Voltron when she did? It was completely random and sure there was an element of surprise, but it still lost and they didn’t even have any sort of robot recovery team or backup. There is no way that she would have assumed that it would just defeat Voltron straight out, even with the robots overwhelming power she knows Voltrons capabilities and to always expect the unexpected. She is smart, a literal evil genius scientist. A scientist. Which is why I believe that this robot was an experiment. She was testing the abilities of the robot she built, seeing how she could improve her creation, experimenting with its limits. That robot was expendable. A prototype, a test subject. Which makes it even more terrifying than it already was. Earlier you might have noticed that I said Honerva was building robots, in the plural, and that’s the explanation here. Honerva is building an army of these robots with the help of the Altean colony.

What would she need an army of quintessence stealing, all powerful robots for? What do the Alteans from the Colony get out of any of this?

Well there are lots of answers for those questions. Quintessence is the main powersource that the Galra have been using for centuries. In order to obtain this quintessence the galra had to extract it from planets and, in Lotor’s case, people. Let’s say that when Honerva arrived at the Altean Colony that she told them the truth about the second colony. Now I have in the past theorized that Lotor’s original purpose for extracting the quintessence from the Alteans in the second colony was so that he could continue to power their ship and that he had all intentions of returning quintessence to their bodies once he finally had access to unlimited quintessence (Hence the numerous number of healing pod like chambers throughout the small section of the second colony that we saw in Romelles flashback). If this is true and Honerva conveyed that specific to the members of the colony, if they are like Romelle, I think that they would want to shut everything down ASAP. Also, Honerva being their “savior” would probably give them a lot of trust in her. So they would probably turn to her for help. They don’t know anything about quintessence, where to get it or how to use it. And this is an entire civilization that needs to be provided for.

Honerva is smart, I know I’ve said this before, but like hear me out. Like, what if after they asked her about quintessence she then explains that most of the quintessence is controlled by the Galra race, who destroyed Altea, and that they dominate a good majority of the universe. The Alteans decide to go to war against the Galra, in attempt to free the universe from their reign and to usher the world into a new era of peace under purely Altean ideals, which is extremely possible given that it was kinda FORESHADOWED IN THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE EPISODE. Honerva then gets an army of quintessence thirsty Alteans under her finger without ever actually lying to them.

That’s exactly what I think happened. It’s all really simple and it makes sense, tbh. All Honerve even has to do is have fun with her experiment, build an army of super cool robots, and sit back and watch. And the craziest bit is that she could totally turn against them at any given moment once the army is built.

How could Honerva manipulate the Robot army and turn against the Alteans?

See, this is the part where I get to talk about how the robot is piloted. So at the end of Season 7 we get a good glance at our Altean Pilot in her cockpit.

The whole thing gives me major Attack On Titan vibes for some reason, but I just think that this is so cool. If you look at this small cockpit area you can see that her arms and legs are both restrained and that there don’t appear to be any controls for the robot. So how does she control the robot? Look at her head.

There are two glowing purple lights on her forehead and no they aren’t just there for decoration. We’ve already seen technology like this back in the Altean Castle.

The mind linking headgear that the paladins wore. Okay, so I just want to take a moment to say how cool this is. I mean, we’ve seen the paladins link with the lions and pilot them from inside prison cells using their minds, so it’s obvious that this sort of thing is totally possible in the Voltron universe and that it’s very likely that this is how the army is going to be piloted. I am just super excited. Anyway, with the way we’ve seen this specific technology work, multiple of these headgears could link together. I think that if Honerva built a piece of headgear, like IDK some sort of cool crown type thing, that could link to the robots and control them, that she would easily be able to overpower the pilots and take control of the army for herself. Like she needs people inside of each individual robot because they wouldn’t work otherwise, that’s how all of the robots work they need an actual pilot piloting them- plus they would totally act as extra batteries if quintessence is running low. And so yeah.

What does Honerva want?

Honerva’s research with quintessence has always been very focused/pointed in one very specific direction; using quintessence in order to change the laws of life and death. Although, not in the way Allura uses it to bring Lance and Shiro back to life. She has been in search of immortality, ultimate power. She wants to reopen the rift, but in order to do that she needs really powerful quintessence. Lotor discovered that the quintessence extracted from living beings, the Alteans, is far more powerful than regular quintessence that the Galra have used in the past. If Honerva can’t have access to the quintessence in the rift, then this is probably the next most successful course of action for her to pursue. But she is working with the Alteans, so she can’t extract their quintessence, like Lotor did. So who? Who will she be draining the quintessence from?

Voltron.

More specifically the paladins themselves. She wants to recruit the paladins to her side and use their quintessence in order to obtain ultimate power. After all, the quintessence of the paladins is off the charts. They have strong enough quintessence in order to power Voltron, the most powerful weapon in the universe. And even after being drained they are able to regenerate more quintessence. They don’t react the way the Alteans on the second colony do after having their quintessence drained. The difference in that might be that the paladins are willing giving their life force and it was being forcibly take from the second colony alteans, but even then the Paladins seem to have either an endless supply of quintessence or such a large amount of quintessence within them that the amount they need to power Voltron is about a chip of the block. And I know that’s not how that metaphor is usually used, shut up.

Would Honerva even be able to successfully corrupt one of the paladins and how?

Yes. We actually have one paladin specifically who is extremely emotionally unstable and has very little moral support. He has little confidence in himself and rarely ever turns to others for help. We know that he is going to be on edge frequently throughout this season, which makes him a pretty easy target for Honerva. Have a guess?

Honerva will get Keith to join her. Willingly. Keith has struggled a lot with who and what he is throughout the series. We’ve seen every single half Galra throughout the series have this inner battle, which is pretty much a battle between their inner “good” and “evil”. We all know that some Galra are born inherently good, like Krolia an Kolivan and majority of the blades. Which is actually why Keith ran away to join the blades in the first place. He was trying to prove to himself that he isn’t a monster or evil or a typical Galra that they’ve seen throughout the series. We’ve always known that Keith has been a bit of a hot head, aka he has a temper, but as of his battle with Shiro it seems a bit more as if that’s more of a primal instinct than it is typical anger. There is a scene during their battle where Keith has fangs and his eyes are very Galran with triangulated pupils/irises and yellow tinted backing.

And he takes on multiple galran features throughout this battle, walking away with the galran mark on his cheek at the very end of their battle, which I will talk about more later as well. But when keith becomes emotionally agitated, specifically during battle, he has the ability to channel his inner Galra. Literally. And he doesn’t even know he is doing it. He spent months trying to prove that he isn’t some feral beast and he almost lost it during this fight. It leaves the terrifying lingering thought of “what if he hadn’t snapped out of it?” and I totally think that we will be seeing more of this, specifically the inner turmoil with keith throughout the series. But Honerva (and probably only Honerva because she is the only one besides keith who witnessed this fight- she saw the whole thing through clone shiro’s eyes) knows about all of this, and I think that she is going to take full advantage.

Honerva will poke at Keith’s insecurities during a battle, similar to how Shiro’s clone did, and try to cut him off from the other paladins. But here, since Keith has nothing holding him back, he wont turn back once he starts to take on those Galran traits and become feral. It will probably happen a few episodes in, during which Keith becomes more and more agitated by the other paladins. And yeah, I am totally predicting a full on Keith Galra transformation once he get pushed over the edge by Honerva. After which, Honerva will convince him that he is a monster and that his friends won’t accept him like this. Keith, already believing this himself, goes with her. They don’t take the black lion with them, it will be left behind, because Honerva doesn’t need it and it symbolizes that Keith is leaving behind his life as a paladin.

Who will Pilot the Black Lion?

Not Coran. Sorry, that's a definite no. Just because everytime he has attempted to pilot a lion, it's been a big joke and giving that privilege to him now would just come across as a joke too. And I would love to say that Shiro will temporarily go back to piloting the black lion, but he needs to Pilot the ATLAS. So that leaves an opening for a pilot and we have several options for how things could continue. One of our current pilots could take on the position of being the pilot of the black lion. The most likely of our four remaining paladins to do this are Allura and Lance. Allura has been acting as sort of the leader of the group since the very beginning, but when it comes down to it she has made very little emotional growth throughout the series. She may make a good leader, but she isn’t mature enough to properly lead the paladins they way they need to be lead as Voltron. When is comes down to the tough decisions she tends to make the right decision overall, but her general actions are very volatile. Like when she was handling Lotor, her words were very harsh. She was attacking him verbally where she knew it would hurt, which is actually very childish. This would mean that she can’t actually talk Keith out of his current mindset, if anything she would only go to enrage him more.

Lance on the other hand has been shown to have made huge strides in his emotional growth. But is he ready to lead? He is the current pilot of red making it seem that if Keith were to run off that he would take over piloting the black lion, like how Keith took over after Shiro. I think that losing Keith again would ignite a change in Lance. But would it be enough?

Either way we still have an opening for a new pilot. Personally I think we have 2 possibilities. Lotor. JK. No, as much as I think it would think it’s awesome to bring lotor back and have him pilot one of the lions, with the probabilities of Keith leaving in the first half of the season being really high, there just isn’t a logical time to place Lotor being extracted from the quantum rift by either Voltron or Honerva. Yet. So our two actual options are probably going to be Acxa and Matthew Holt. They are the only two characters that have gotten enough devoted screen time to take a place piloting one of lions. We know that they are both talented pilots and warriors and their personalities would fit well with any openings in the dynamic.

Personally I believe that the best combination for this scenario would be with Lance piloting Black, Allura piloting Red, and Acxa piloting blue. Acxa is pretty cool headed, but she is also new to the whole “being good” thing. Although, I think that she would be willing to do whatever she could to help save Keith, because of how much of an inspiration he was to her. I’ve mentioned in a previous post that Acxa was originally save by Keith in the episode “Belly of the Weblum” and that was what inspired her to turn again Zethrid and Ezor. I specifically referenced the specific line “-but I knew that I had to find my own path. And it led me to you.” and how she looked at Keith when she said that. Keith means a lot to Acxa, but not in a romantic sense. He was a big part of her self discovery and as I said before an inspiration to her. Acxa piloting a lion also opens up an option to bring Zethrid and Ezor back into the scene and for the writers of the series to finally have them pick a side. Up until now Zethrid and Ezor have been more chaotic neutrals more than anything else, causing trouble for both sides. It would be nice to see our lesbian babies finally take a chill pill, join the paladins side, and get a nice happily ever after.

What about Allurance?

Hooray, I’m finally getting to the ships. That was sarcastic. Ships are always a very touchy topic for a lot of people, because there are a lot of different opinions out there and some people get really offended. I just want to say that I am not ship bashing, just speculating. This is my opinion on the logical course of action for the show to take. Anyway, so I have made a post before about why allurance shouldn’t become canon. But honestly? I think that Allura and Lances relationship is going to continue to go the way it’s been going. Allura and Lance are going to have several romantic/ flirtatious moments that will progress their relationship and maybe even a kiss. A lot of time passes at the end of Season 7 and so it gives them a lot of time to get closer.

Of course, I still believe everything I said before about this relationship being extremely unstable and it would have an effect on the team too. Particularly, I think it will seriously piss Keith off. Actually, all of the paladins will piss Keith off, but Allura and Lance specifically. Allura is the only paladin that stays focused on the mission and is always suspicious, but she puts her guard down and gets distracted easily when she is in a relationship. Keith is probably the only paladin who doesn’t actually have a life outside of Voltron at this point and is probably very focused on training and being ready in case another one of those random robots comes onto the scene, while everyone else is going to spend their time relaxing with their families or inventing, etc. and so on. So yeah. Boy is gonna be pissed (especially if you take into account his learning about everything that happened while he was gone, aka Lance dying). Hunk will probably think that it’s cute and Pidge will probably think that it’s totally gross. And the whole thing is just going to throw off the team dynamic, which will piss off Keith even more.

But then they are ambushed by Honerva and lets say two or three of those crazy Altean war robots or something and by the end of the battle Honerva retreats with Keith. See, I said earlier that Keith going away with Honerva will ignite a change in Lance and it’s true. Lance has always had a weird sort of obsession with Keith and he get easily pissed off/ hurt whenever Keith does something stupid. It’s a big part of their dynamic. It hit him pretty hard when Keith left to join the blades too, because Lance knows Keith. He can recognize that mullet anywhere. He knew why Keith was really leaving to join the blade and he was concerned.

Lance is going to become more hardened, in a sense, during his confusion with Keith leaving and probably the most determined to find Keith and kick his ass for being an idiot. Although, his obsession with Keith is going to be what finally breaks down his relationship with Allura. It was already really unstable and Lance and Allura will get into a fight, finally expressing their true feelings about their relationship. Allura will confront Lance about his fixation on finding Keith and Lance will blow her off, avoiding the topic, saying that she wouldn’t understand. Allura will continue to push Lance, concerned about what this means for their relationship. Lance will become overwhelmed and express that he feels that Allura is only in a relationship with him because Lotor is dead and he feels like a second choice. Allura will get angry at Lance for trying to compare himself to Lotor and Lance will take this in the wrong way, leading to him breaking things off with Allura and walking away from her. Allura will realize that she doesn’t actually feel hurt by Lance breaking up with her, because she didn’t have serious feelings for him. So yes, Allurance will be canon, but it will also be short lived, because of how unstable the relationship is.

What does this mean for Klance?

Well, there is an opening for Klance to happen, but its small and so they would have to play all their card right, but they are in a current position where they could make Klance canon. Although, it would be more towards the end of the show, as a resolve after having saved Keith from his own self destructive path, which is basically going to be one of the seasons bigger climaxes. But we will see some Klance pining moments, more specifically played out and hinted out through Lance. We will see some of this when Shiro comes out to the team as gay, but more of it when Shiro confronts Lance about his fixation on Keith after he breaks up with Allura. Although most actual Klance scenes will probably be more at the season finale so I will talk more about this later.

How to save Keith?

People have pointed out a lot of parallels between Lance and Alfor and Keith and Zarkon. So, some of the dedicated fans/ theorists probably have already figured out where I’m going with this. There has been a theory going around about there being a fight between Keith and Lance in Season 8, where Lance has his sword and him and Keith are doing hardcore one on one battle. And I honestly feel that this is going to be a necessary moment for the two of them.

This moment will likely be the first time any of the Paladins actually see Keith since his Galra transformation and Lance will immediately understand why Keith went with Haggar. Although, the two of them are terrible at communicating their feelings so they will have a full on battle. During all of this the other paladin and ATLAS will very likely be in battle with the Altean Robots, while Honerva is trying to open a portal into the quantum rift using the quintessence she got from Keith. And as everything explodes and the chaos goes down around the two of them are trying to beat the living shit out of each other somewhere on honervas ship. At some point, Lance will appeal to Keith’s emotional side and snap out of it telling him that he accepts him no matter what (and this would be a perfect opportunity to have them kiss, just saying) and the two of them walk out of there together.

How will they stop Honerva?

They won’t. With an army of insanely powerful Altean robots on her side, she will be able to successfully open the portal to the rift. So, what now? Well, I personally believe that Honerva will salvage Lotors ship from the rift and try to resurrect her son, but something will go wrong because of his overexposure to the raw quintessence in the rift. Which would cause Honerva to become overwhelmed with grief and she will either die or become incapacitated. I also believe that we will see a return of the dark monsters from in the rift and that the Galra (brought in by Zethrid and Ezor), Alteans, team Voltron, and ATLAS will have to team up in order to get rid of all the monsters and close the portal to the rift. It would be one big final fight to clean up the mess that started 10,000 years ago.

The aftermath:

The universe will be ushered into a new Era of peace. It will be a combined effort of the Galra empire, the Altean empire, the Blades, the Rebellion, Earth, and Voltron. Although, after 6-7 years of fighting in a war our Paladins would all finally retire from piloting the lions and the new team will take over, traveling the universe with the ATLAS and keeping peace, training under Shiro’s guidance. Wait, what new team? You know, these guys:

So yeah, they will be the new Paladins. But what will happen to our other Paladins? Well, Allura will take her place as rightful Queen of the Alteans with Romelle acting as her royal advisor, as Coran will be off with Shiro piloting the ATLAS and training the new paladins. Pidge will probably end up staying with her family on Earth, the Holts finally getting their peaceful happy ending, all of them together again. Hunk will end up with Shay living either on the Balmera or on Earth, which are right next to each other now so it doesn’t matter much. Krolia and Kolivan will continue to reestablish the Blade. And then, finally, there are Keith and Lance. I know, this is what everyone has been waiting for.

So I’m just going to straight up say that Keith becomes the next emperor of the Galra Empire. I don’t really have much for evidence for this besides the fact that Zarkon was the ex-emperor and that Keith has several parallels to him throughout the series and that him turning full Galra and his emotional growth throughout the series has made him into a great leader. Keith at the end of the series, doesn’t really have anywhere to go, because his mom is with the blades and he doesn’t really have any other family to go back to. If you think about it, it just kind of feels right, because Acxa already has a lot of respect for Keith and it would be pretty easy to persuade Zethrid and Ezor to respect him after everything that all of the half bloods have been through, Keith included. And so those three will act as his general as he brings order to the Galra empire.

What about Lance? Where is Klance? I am happy to say that I think that Lance will end up with Keith in the end and rule the Galra empire by Keith's side. Lance will be what reminds Keith of his humanity and keeps him balanced throughout his reign. He will provide Keith with the proper support that he has always needed, not to mention a whole new family to be a part of. And of course Cosmo would be the royal dog and blah blah blah. And yeah, just happy endings.

Hope you enjoyed, and feel free tell me what you think about all of this! Thanks for sticking with me!

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