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betawooper · 3 years

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rating every demon fight in kny bc i can

non-biased, completely objective rating (more or less) of every significant demon fight in kny based on a number of factors, including:

cleverness of fighting tactics

placement in the story’s timeline

integration of character backstories

cohesive themes between characters

etc

by non-biased and objective i mean i’m not skewing the rating if a death felt fair or whatever

everything past where the anime ended will be under a read more so anime onlys who havent watched mugen train, youre safe lol

oh and i reread the manga like 20+ times (reread the latter arcs at least 40 times, haha hyperfixations am i right?) so be rest assured im not pulling these ratings out of my ass

also ill randomly be bolding certain phrases just to improve readability

anyways let’s gooooo

VS NEZUKO

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kamado Tanjirou and Nezuko. Tanjirou is fending her off by putting the axe handle in her mouth, keeping her from eating him. End Image Description.]

10/10

i like how realistic it is, because yeah tanjirou would react the way to he did with zero fighting skills against a demon

very clear why tanjirou is fighting nezuko and shows a bit of worldbuilding on how normal people react to their family becoming demons

always nice to see worldbuilding

giyuu is the perfect example of a seasoned demon slayer who’s good at his job, and he juxtaposes tanjirou very well in that aspect

my only complaint is not directly in this fight itself but how nezuko is handled throughout the story as a whole

like bro, it is literally never explained why nezuko is different from demons

could have been easily explained if maybe her family’s ghosts like slapped her hand every time she wanted to eat a person but nope

she’s just built different lol

so yeah youll see future ratings get points docked off bc nezuko unlocks some secret power with no prior explanation other than she angy >:3

VS TEMPLE DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of a demon. The demon has a sharp-nailed hand over his neck and there are four text bubbles around him saying “But a wound like this... will heal in no time! See? The bleeding already stopped!” End Image Description.]

10/10

may be more forgettable compared to like rui but still good

tanjirou did exceptionally well in this fight and his ability to think on his feet is once again beautifully illustrated here (trapping this dude’s head against the tree trunk with the axe)

very clever

again, establishes more demon worldbuilding regarding regeneration and still being able to move without their head

and the demons burning in the sunlight thing since nezuko wasn’t able to show that

the ending where tanjirou hesitates to kill the demon also serves to show his sympathetic nature towards demons that will last throughout the entirety of the first 60-ish chapters

we’ll talk about what the hell happens to tanjirou after that

or not, it could honestly be its own post

VS HAND DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of a many-handed demon. He has six hands around him, three of them covering his mouth while he chuckles, two of them grabbing his cheeks, and one holding on to the top of his head. There are two text bubbles saying “That’s how many of Urokodaki’s students I have eaten! I’ve decided to kill all of his students!” End Image Description.]

10/10

ooooh probably the first big fight against a demon in the series

oh yeah not doing the two random demons tanjirou one shot in a single blow bc eh

anyways hand demon’s pretty goddamn scary, considering the fact that this is the 5th demon or whatever tanjirou has had to face so far

very nice way to show us how much tanjirou’s innate intuition and all his other random abilities (sense of smell, hard forehead) can come together and help him decapitate this guy

i liked the mini history with urokodaki this dude had and why he had beef with our favorite mentor figure, it establishes that urokodaki was in fact a super good demon slayer and its cool to see that actually shown

i also liked that small moment of compassion tanjirou gave this demon, staying consistent with tanjirou’s established kindness

the demon’s sad tale with killing his own brother very much humanizes him when all the reader has seen up to this point is that this guy is a monster who eats people

sets up the theme of demons just being humans but being victims of circumstance that unfortunately doesn’t hold up as well in arcs past mugen train

VS SWAMP DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kamado Tanjirou fighting off three horned demons as they appear from below. There is a spiky text bubble saying “Three of them!!!” End Image Description.]

10/10

not my most favorite fight but it still portrays everything alright and im not allowed to let my personal opinions mess with the rating so

i like how tanjirou mentioned the fact that he trained in conditions similar to the bog and explains how he pulled off the whirlpool form

using past experiences to aid him in the present, nice nice

tanjirou and nezuko dont quite work together very well but its yknow the first mission so ill chalk it up to simple inexperience

also the way the muzan curse thingie was hinted at here? fantastic way of showing that little bit of demon worldbuilding

...

oh god, it mentions nezuko being stronger than normal demons

ok its not a problem here per say since i can still suspend my disbelief, but later on it just becomes a glaring problem that gets worse over time

VS SUSAMARU AND YAHABA

[Image Description: Manga panels of Susamaru and Yahaba. The first one is a joyful Susamaru about to throw a temari ball. There is floating text saying “Is she one of Kibutsuji’s minions?!” The second image is an annoyed Yahaba, holding one of his eye-hands to cover himself. There are two text bubbles around him saying “My kimono got all dusty. Tch!” End Image Description.]

9/10

why dont these bitches have a good looking panel together dammit

anyways amazing entrance, the way yahaba used his hand eyes to track down tanjirou is really neat

the synergy yahaba and susamaru have is incredible, its awesome dude, they work extremely well together and it shows

tanjirou actually mixing his water breathing forms together is a god tier move and i absolutely love how he can show off his ability to think on his feet once again

establishing how yushiro’s bda works early on is really well done

establishing tamayo as a fugitive this early on is also super well done

not to get into spoiler territory but both these things pay off

how tamayo ended up defeating susamaru is literally awesome in so many ways

shows off both how smart she is by exploiting the muzan curse

and speaking of the muzan curse, we actually get to see what happens to demons who even say his name, back when it was hinted with the swamp demon

tamayo is amazing dude, and we get some real evidence of the horrible suffering demons go through if they even accidentally attempt to betray muzan :D

...

now heres what keeps this fight from being perfect

nezuko somehow grew stronger against susamaru’s temari

with no explanation

which could have been easily explained if tamayo was like “oh yeah the drug also boosts a demon’s strength temporarily”

but nope

god, i just dont like how gotouge handles nezuko’s power boosts throughout the series bc like i said before

no explanation is given anywhere

this is a huge issue, this isnt a pokemon game, you cant just kill demons and get exp at the end of every battle, level up, get some sweet stat bonuses and move on

(actually if gotouge established that this is how nezuko grew in power, than all my complaints about this would be gone, im not even joking)

anyways i get that nezuko is supposed to be “special” but thats too vague of a descriptor

how the hell is she special? ya gotta be more specific and stick with that explanation or that suspension of disbelief is going to disappear

VS TONGUE DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of a four-eyed demon with horns and a long tongue. He is crawling in an awkward position, one foot in front of his tilted head. There are two text bubbles around him saying “Heh, heh! I’ll slurpy slurp your brains out through you ear!” End Image Description.]

10/10

not much to say, showcases zenitsu’s true abilities really well

nicely done

VS HORNED DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of a big, single-horned demon. There are three text bubbles saying “You dodged! You’re awfully lively for a human! It’ll be a treat to carve away your flesh!” End Image Description.]

10/10

would have ignored this fight if not for the fact we havent seen inosuke fight before

it definitely shows how very fast-paced and wild inosuke is

no complaints here lol

VS KYOGAI

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kyogai, a demon with tsuzumi drums attached to his shoulders. There are four text bubbles around him saying “Why?! Why does everyone keep sneaking through my house? It’s so aggravating. It’s my prey! It’s my prey! Found in my territory!” End Image Description.]

10/10

establishes marechi blood pretty early on, once again expanding the worldbuilding of kny which is always cool

interesting terrain where it’s always shifting, tanjirou once again proves his ability to adapt really quickly by altering one of his forms to work with the turning room

(man, i wish the form mixing/form modification thing carried on throughout the rest of the story, but it really didnt which is just a shame)

the injuries tanjirou had prior to this mission actually affecting him was a nice touch

oh yeah, kyogai gives us more worldbuilding (which is always nice) regarding the 12 kizuki, and the aspect of him being cast out due to being weak shows a lot about muzan’s indifference towards his own demons if they arent strong

his backstory being a failed writer once again humanizes kyogai as a former human being and not just a monster

tanjirou shows his sympathy and compassion again by not stepping on his written work and complimenting his bda

well, tbh tanjirou’s actions kinda came out of nowhere but its a very minor thing and not enough to dock a point off, like it didnt affect the outcome of the fight that much if at all

(so if you see future battles where points are docked off for things not logically making sense, its bc whatever nonsensical concepts were integrated into the fight actually turned the tide of the battle and thats a big no-no)

very good fight and if you remember how kinda bad tanjirou was at accurately slicing the swamp demon, you can see that he’s already improved leaps and bounds

im so proud of him

VS MOTHER SPIDER DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kamado Tanjirou and the Mother Spider Demon. There is a light shining down from the top right on to the demon as Tanjirou slices her head off, rain following in his wake. There is floating text saying “Water Breathing: Fifth Form - Blessed Rain After the Drought!” around them. End Image Description.]

10/10

i mean does anyone disagree?

all the demon slayers getting their necks snapped by her threads was pretty horrific, probably more horrifying than anything else we have seen in the entire series if im gonna be honest

the death scene is probably the most beautiful one in the series

it reveals a water breathing form that we havent seen before thats the 5th form

as far as i know, no other breathing style has this merciful sword stroke so it shows a lot about the original water breather and what they might have been like

but enough about them, really the focus is on tanjirou bc this is like the best example by far of how kind and sympathetic he is to demons

dunno what else to say, its perfect

VS SON SPIDER DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Agatsuma Zenitsu performing Thunder Breathing 1st Form: Sixfold on a spider-like demon. Zenitsu is crashing through the roof of a shed, and a zig-zag path is left behind. There are sound effects all over the panel, saying “Bam!” in large font. End Image Description.]

10/10

chose a picture without a huge spider on it bc i would like to not scare myself half to death

anyways extremely amazing fight, showcases zenitsu’s immense talent and skill, adapting the 1st form of thunder breathing to be a more versatile move

theres a moment where his backstory with kuwajima and kaigaku were revealed and his hidden insecurities are out in the open which is super nice and further develops a character weve only considered as comedic relief until now

the anime made the backstory scenes and the killing scene so much cooler

while there is no thematic connection between zenitsu and the demon, it really isnt necessary to keep this fight interesting

anyways another pretty much perfect fight

VS FATHER SPIDER DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kamado Tanjirou and Inosuke slashing at the Father Spider Demon. The demon has blocked Tanjirou’s sword with his arm, and Inosuke is slamming both his blades down on the demon’s other hand. End Image Description.]

10/10

again, not my most favorite fight but it does everything right

i do have to say it was excellent how gotouge hyped up the father spider demon to be the big bad, only just so the plot twist later takes the readers by surprise

nicely done

VS DAUGHTER SPIDER DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kochou Shinobu and the Daughter Spider Demon. Shinobu’s back is seen and her haori looks like a butterfly’s wings keeping her afloat as she holds her stinger blade out to the side. The demon looks surprised as blood gushes from her side, arm, shoulder, chest, neck, and forehead. There is floating text on the panel, saying “Insect Breathing - Butterfly Dance - Caprice!” End Image Description.]

10/10

first time weve seen shinobu and her fighting style

what i love most about this is how much it shows her true character, appearing as a carefree and naive individual so she seems underwhelming

then bam, reveals exactly how dangerous and uncaring she is of demons, listing out the specific ways she would torture the daughter spider demon in grotesque detail

her using poison to take demons by surprise is also super clever and brings back the worldbuilding established way earlier about wisteria being poisonous to demons

amazing integration of that concept

anyways this fight really encapsulates who shinobu is as a character and thats why it gets a perfect score

VS RUI

[Image Description: Manga panel of Rui holding his hand out directly towards the viewer. There are two text bubbles around him, saying “Give me your sister. If you hand her over quietly, I’ll spare your life.” End Image Description.]

8/10

not only is it a super scary fight but there is a deeper conflict between rui and tanjirou, what it means to be family

they are opposites in the sense that while tanjirou believes love is what makes a family, rui’s subconscious desperation for an unbreakable bond drives him to use fear to keep his “family” together

excellent juxtaposition of their values, and this is only further emphasized when rui expresses out loud what he was going to do to nezuko

i also like the symbolism regarding rui’s bda, how he uses threads or the “familial” bonds to cut up his fake family with it if they act out of turn or annoy him

super neat detail

alright what i dont like about this fight is nezuko (again)

mostly her unlocking her bda to turn the tide of the battle bc her mom was like “yo, wake up, your brother is going to be killed”

feels... forced ig

her bda in general is confusing and not consistent

man, i wish i could make a stronger argument for this but i do believe the problem stems from the fact that we dont ever know what nezuko is thinking, and what she thinks of tanjirou specifically

if she even cares for him as a sibling or if shes only going along with what her family is saying to her, things like that which would have been fixed if gotouge actually gave her thoughts some screen time

so the action feels pretty shallow

im also conflicted over tanjirou somehow remembering how dance of the fire god works

on one hand, hes using past information and applying it in the current setting so he doesnt die, which is understandable

but on the other hand, this was a teeny bit random?

i think what could have fixed this is if there was a scene in the beginning of the series where tanjirou was performing it himself, like practicing before he actually had to do it for new years

so that when the rui fight rolls around, it would have felt less like throwing dry spaghetti at a wall

but yeah

overall super good fight, giyuu ending up having to kill rui instead of tanjirou was super good in that tanjirou didnt become a pillar this early in the series and to show how strong giyuu is

there are some odd bits regarding the ultimate “beheading” of rui using nezuko and tanjirous supposed bonds but it doesnt kill the fight entirely so it deserves its pretty high score

***under read more is manga-only fights so beware***

VS ENMU

[Image Description: Manga panel of Enmu holding his hand out directly at the viewer, with a mouth on the back of it. There is floating text to the top right of Enmu that says “Whispers of Forced Unconscious Hypnosis!” End Image Description.]

9/10

id say this fight is definitely overshadowed by the dream stuff prior to this but its pretty good in its own right

enmu fusing with the train was kinda confusing, like when was it established that demons could fuse with objects?

this worldbuilding element doesnt even appear again so yeah thats why it loses a point

how the kmbk gang end up defeating enmu is pretty sweet though, tanjirou using dance of the fire god to sever the neck bone was really nice and shows that him using the breathing style in the rui fight wasnt a one time thing

while kyojuro’s role was smaller in this part, the next part makes up for it so i cant complain

anyways ye, almost perfect score but its pretty good

VS AKAZA (MUGEN TRAIN)

[Image Description: Manga panel of Akaza holding his hand out to the viewer’s left. There is a text bubble saying “Why don’t you become a demon?” End Image Description.]

10/10

this encounter is literally amazing okay?

after the crew kills the big bad, it seems like everything is fine

but plot twist, upper moon 3 appears out of nowhere

this is the first time the reader has seen an upper moon, let alone the 3rd/4th strongest demon in existence and the way gotouge handled this twist is fucking amazing

kyojuro’s death scene really shows just how human even the strongest pillars are against demons with incredible power

its just

amazing

VS OBI DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panels of the obi-like demon. The first image shows the obi hung in the air and strung over each other like decorations, with women-shaped patterns in its folds. The second image is Hashibira Inosuke fighting the Obi demon which now has lips and eyes. There is floating text in that panel saying “Breath of the Beast: Sixth Fang - Jagged Gnaw!!” End Image Description.]

10/10

on to red light district

this fight is admittedly super forgettable and not very interesting at least compared to the main fight with daki and gyutaro

but it wraps up the sub plot of the women and uzui’s wives going missing so it gets a perfect score for not messing that up

oh and it establishes the stretchy neck thing daki has going on which is very good

VS DAKI AND GYUTARO

[Image Description: Manga panel of Daki and Gyutaro. Daki is sitting on Gyutaro’s shoulders. There is a text bubble on the top right that says “The two of us are one, after all.” as well as floating text that reads “The power of the irregular siblings...!? Next issue lead color and the fight reaches its climax!!” End Image Description.]

8/10

love how this battle challenges tanjirou’s sympathy and kindness towards demons, just simply bc daki and gyutaro are horrible people

(too bad nothing came of this, which ill explain in the hantengu portion)

daki and gyutaro are very good villains and kept this fight super interesting from start to finish

uzui acting as a foil to gyutaro is nicely integrated and properly shown with how jealous gyutaro gets over seeing uzui’s perfect form and stature

tanjirou not only mixes forms but mixes breathing styles as well, which is so fucking awesome

(too bad it was only used like once throughout the entire series, its quite unfortunate)

the super high tension right after inosuke gets stabbed and tanjirou wakes up was expertly portrayed and handled, it felt like the kmbk gang and uzui were actually going to lose

super awesome

the tanjirou and gyutaro parallels are expertly portrayed, with how gyutaro taunts tanjirou over failing to protect his little sister, and the more visual thing where tanjirou imagined his own neck underneath his blade, that was super duper nice

the ending is extremely tense and emotionally gripping, gotouge did a really good job with that artistically too

the demon mark acquisition scene was surprisingly not frustrating, considering that it wasnt really explained prior to the battle

i do think it has to do with how it was explained later just exactly how they worked so its not just some random thing gotouge pulled out of their ass

so pretty good

what i dont like is nezuko and her full power demon form

first of all where the fuck did that come from? she just got angry and suddenly shes as powerful as an upper moon

how?

that doesnt make sense???

her extremely quick regeneration makes no sense

her ability to manipulate her blood’s properties makes no sense

and it doesnt even appear again so what was the point of that existing

none of this is even explained later which annoys me

that one part where tanjirou sings a lullaby to her to calm her down was alright ig but nezuko in this fight makes me extremely irritated and frustrated

just ugh

VS HANTENGU

[Image Description: Manga panel of Hantengu opening a shoji door. He is crawling inside, his hand in a gnarled, unnatural position. There is a text bubble saying “Eeeeeeek.” End Image Description.]

1/10

swordsmith village

this fight can go fuck itself /j

no but seriously it has so many problems that it would be shorter to name its redeeming qualities (which ill do later)

first off, the nezuko full power form thing again

i hate it so much with a passion

again, where did her ability to regenerate instantly even come from???? this is never explained, ever

and why did she cut herself on tanjirou’s sword anyway

did she somehow know that it was going to turn red if she burned it?

gotouge what the fuck, there is literally no reason why nezuko would do that and we cant even read her mind to see her thought process

gotouge hates nezuko, i swear

remember when i said uzui is meant to be a foil to gyutaro in the rld fight? its pretty obvious that those two are opposites, it was nicely done

... what the hell does mitsuri’s insecurities about strength have to do with whatever the fuck hantengu has going on (which is basically nothing)?

so no meaningful connection between mitsuri and hantengu

theres no meaningful connection between tanjirou and hantengu other than tanjirou getting pissed off for like the second time

also tanjirou’s thing with being kind and sympathetic to demons was entirely dropped at this point

but instead of it leading up to a corruption arc of some sorts, it just doesnt

like honestly if something actually came of that anger he exhibited in this arc and from red light district from this point forward story-wise, i would have counted this as an amazing writing decision

but it literally doesnt so who cares

(god, i really start to hate what happened to his character after this )

and genya’s revealed motivation also doesnt fit at all with hantengu’s thing, he’s not a foil, not a parallel, nothing, there is nothing

tanjirou being the catharsis for development for mitsuri and muichirou, who he has only talked to like twice

theres definitely a better way to handle those two’s developments without his help

like gotouge, you have a big cast of characters, use them lol

i want to kick hantengu in the face for being boring as fuck (at least his clones have cool looking weapons)

doesnt even have a proper backstory, just a single spread of him being blamed for shit as a human

like... thats it? this is upper moon 4 what the hell

theres no clever form mixing here at all (regarding tanjirou) which probably would have helped with foreshadowing the 13th form for dance of the fire god/sun breathing better

also gotouge established that as tanjirou’s thing and now he doesnt do that stuff anymore which sucks

oh hey remember when tanjirou actually learned how to do zenitsu’s speed boost thing?

if you didnt, i dont blame you bc it literally doesnt appear again, ever

you could argue that he adapted it into his “waltz flash” technique or whatever the fuck that is but the way it was integrated into this fight was like throwing dry spaghetti at a wall

which is just a shame bc its meant to be representative of how tanjirou and zenitsu are good pals but the way it was utilized is forgettable as hell

i absolutely loathe the crimson blade concept as a whole and im mentioning this now bc its going to come into play why future instances where this goddamn thing comes up again causes points to be lost

its inconsistent as fuck ill tell you that

at least some yoriichi stuff appeared here and not shoved into the final battle with everything else

so the yoriichi stuff later didnt come out of absolute nowhere

genya and mitsuri’s unique fighting styles expand the kny worldbuilding just a little more which is always nice

tanjirou got a cool sword out of this which would have been cooler if him and yoriichi had a deeper connection that was actually explored

but we didnt get shit so whatever

other people getting demon marks being revealed here is also okay so that again, the final battle isnt filled with absolutely everyone getting their marks at once

demon marks have their own slew of problems but its not as bad as the fucking crimson sword shit

god i hate the crimson sword shit

...

dude this section needs a tldr, even i cant sit and read through my shit

TL;DR - this fight sucks and crimson swords are bullshit (more on this later)

VS GYOKKO

[Image Description: Manga panel of Tokitou Muichirou and Gyokko. Muichirou is looking to the left while Gyokko is looking to the right, both with their backs to each other. There are mist clouds billowing in the foreground and background, as well as a slash mark going across Gyokko’s neck. End Image Description.]

7/10

this fight suffers from the same lack of cohesive themes through characters like the hantengu battle bc the antagonist is given nothing

but its better

we havent actually seen mui fight before so theres no consistencies that the reader has to keep track of for now

and there arent like 10 characters in the fight so this fight gets a lot of points just for being a lot more coherent

i do like that this fight shows just how good mui is that he can defeat an upper moon by himself

mui’s backstory is neat

gyokko’s bda is very interesting too

... thats pretty much it lol

ye, anyways not the best fight but not the worst fight either

VS KAIGAKU

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kaigaku holding the hilt of his blade with one hand. There is two text bubbles around him, saying “...As usual, you’re still shabby. It’s been a while, Zenitsu.” End Image Description.]

9/10

alright on to final battle arc

theres some good fights and then some really sucky ones, but this one was pretty incredible and very emotionally charged

theres a clear reason why zenitsu and kaigaku are battling each other (kai betrayed the corps and inadvertantly caused the only parental figure in zenitsu’s life to die, and zenitsu is rightfully pissed off about that)

the visual yin-yang symbolism is awesome too

zenitsu winning due to using the 7th form he created himself (which i have reason to believe was inspired by tanjirou) was the perfect ending to the fight, really couldnt ask for anything better and is a perfect example of how much of an effect tanjirou has had on zenitsu

the 7th form is what tanjirou’s waltz flash should have been lol

what keeps this fight from being absolutely perfect is lack of development prior to this conflict

(since the final battle arc is basically a culmination of all the hinted developments through the series, im going to actually factor in how much and how well these conflicts were foreshadowed)

anyways if we had actually seen zenitsu, kaigaku, and kuwajima actually interacting with each other and showing how they were essentially a family (not just through flashbacks), it would have made zenitsu placing the responsibility of killing kai onto himself a lot more tragic

but like, apart from brief flashbacks where zenitsu actually met kaigaku off screen and that one thing all the way back in natagumo where both kuwajima and kai were introduced, thats pretty much it in terms of thunder family development

so yeah its underdeveloped for sure

also one random thought, i personally think zenitsu should have gotten his demon mark in this fight, it would have been cool to see

VS AKAZA (INFINITY FORTRESS)

[Image Description: Manga panel of Akaza’s face. There are two text bubbles around him, saying “Okay, let’s get started. It’s time for the feast.” There is also floating text saying “The inspection of the strong has begun...” as well as a simple box on the lower left, denoting its the end of chapter 147. End Image Description.]

6/10

oh god please dont hate me for this

ill list the good things first how about that

this conflict was foreshadowed perfectly in mugen train, you bet the readers were expecting a tanjirou vs akaza battle after the death of kyojuro and gotouge delivered

akaza’s power is shown extremely well with how many close calls tanjirou and giyuu had while fighting him

akaza eventually giving up on his own volition was really nice and fit into the context of the battle very very well, like sure tanjirou and giyuu wouldnt understand why he gave up but us readers do know

akaza is a really good character and a good villain

now notice how im only mentioning akaza and not giyuu or tanjirou in the good aspects

bc those two are eh

no form mixing at all from either tanjirou and giyuu

i know i said form mixing was kind of tanjirou’s thing but you’d think giyuu would have gotten more creative with his moves once akaza said that he was getting predictable

(well he said he “ran out of water breathing forms” but same thing)

so its kinda bland lol

speaking of giyuu, his whole thing with his insecurities of being weak wasnt handled well (it was sort of immediately brushed off in pillar training, and its unclear what part of his character arc he was in)

like sure him announcing that he’s going to protect tanjirou is cool but it feels like he was haphazardly dropped into the tanjirou and akaza conflict

isnt he supposed to be both their foils? that wasnt really explored that well in this fight and theres no deep meaning behind him even being here just analyzing what he did in it

he could have been handled better or even given more focus is what im saying

the anatta state came out of nowhere, im sorry okay? just bc inosuke like barely hinted at not being able to sense grandma hisa bc she had no fighting spirit and tanjurou magically taught his son how to achieve this state doesnt mean it was properly integrated into the fight

if the anatta state was actually explored prior to this battle, i would have given it a pass but it just feels like a cheap and poorly developed trick to get around akaza’s technique development (which is overpowered as fuck might i add)

gotouge should have just given akaza a plausible weakness to his technique development instead, especially since they dont use or even mention the anatta state after this

the transparent world shit makes no sense but ill elaborate on that in the koku battle analysis

oh and this thing doesnt affect the score but why wasnt there a “yoriichi visage overlapping” moment when tanjirou was fighting akaza? hes an upper moon, he should have gotten those visions but he didnt

for some reason

anyways this battle was alright and has good set up but the middle and end parts didnt hold up as well bc random concepts were thrown at us without prior explanation or development

VS DOUMA

[Image Description: Manga panel of Douma licking Shinobu’s butterfly pin. There are two text bubbles around him saying “Anyway, tonight is a good night. Such fine feasts keep showing up one after another.” End Image Description.]

9/10

damn, such an amazing fight

the build up to this was properly foreshadowed

shinobu finally showing her true anger after hiding it for so long is amazing

douma is a super interesting character and fantastic villain

shinobu showing off her true power and determination against douma was sooooo nice

shinobu’s poisonous body plan is so clever and so interesting

if i was to rate the shinobu part of the fight alone, it would have gotten a 10/10 no question

the reason why its knocked down a point is because of the kanao and inosuke part

dont get me wrong, the way kanao is able to hold her own against douma by herself is pretty cool, how shes meant to parallel douma with their similar struggles surrounding human emotions and demonstrate how she has grown as a person, how she regains the ability to cry

that shit is cool, inosuke also getting in touch with his emotions after learning what happened to his mom was super neat as well

however

bc this battle takes place in the final arc with everything else, there wasnt proper build up regarding many things, the kotoha reveal especially

so inosuke feels kinda forced into the kanao shinobu and douma conflict, similar to how giyuu felt forced into the tanjirou and akaza conflict

its quite unfortunate bc if the kotoha stuff was actually explored prior to the confrontation, this “forced” feeling would have disappeared

i know some people have suggested that the douma fight should have just been its own arc, and i very much agree, it would have certainly helped fix this problem regarding inosuke and kotoha

last random thought, i wish shinobu, kanao, and inosuke got their demon marks

VS KOKUSHIBOU

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kokushibou looking directly at the viewer, holding the hilt of his blade as if he’s going to pull it out. There are text boxes around him saying “This... is Upper Moon One... He’s so different compared to the other Upper Moons. He looks so dignified and majestic.” The text boxes are narrated by Tokitou Muichirou. End Image Description.]

5/10

this fight is... mediocre

at least theres a more tangible connection between muichirou and kokushibou

even though that was handled kinda poorly

tbh there really was no point to revealing that mui is koku’s descendant like at all, it just had no significant bearing to the plot of the fight

sanemi’s backstory being here is... okay ig?

idk the whole shinazugawa conflict has fundamental problems that i just cant think of any other place to put it without changing the entirety of canon

the marechi blood concept coming back was nice though

genya is there

him getting his bda was cool and helped turn the tide of the battle in a satisfying way (before kicking the bucket but thats not the focus here)

gyomei is a hollow husk of a character who barely got anything at all

but his fighting style is extremely cool and conveys his immense power very well

oh and him and sanemi are amazing at working together, like better than giyuu and tanjirou, and better than kanao and inosuke

theyre that good yet pretty much nobody acknowledges it which is sad

koku himself is pretty interesting and pretty tragic, very nice villain

but everyone together?

gonna be honest but this is such a random collection of characters, there was basically no foreshadowing that these four were going to go up again kokushibou, they are not that connected very well

i know there was this one post that focused on the theme of family that was common in all 5 characters in the fight but its just not enough

it would have been more cohesive if gotouge emphasized gyomei, mui, sanemi, and genya being like different aspects of yoriichi coming together to kill kokushibou hundreds of years after yoriichi failed to kill him

lmao its not like the 4 of them defeated koku with the power of family or friendship, they just smacked him over and over with a flail, shot him with magical bullets, and stabbed a crimson sword into his abdomen

wouldnt have been too hard to switch over to koku’s pov and go “damn these bitches are like my stupid brother”

...

speaking of crimson swords

i fucking hate the crimson sword concept oh my god can i complain about it now? im gonna complain about it now

unlike demon marks, the crimson blades werent even given any proper conditions, you just hold the stupid thing hard enough and it somehow imbues it with magical properties with no logic behind those properties

what part of crimson swords completely destroys a demon’s body in an instant? even muzan didnt go through that process when he was almost killed by yoriichi so where in the goddamn fuck did it come from

it could be explained bc the sword was left in the same spot for a long time but this tactic doesnt even appear again in a meaningful way (didnt kill muzan when tanjirou and giyuu held the sword together) so what the fuck was the point of having this even exist

its so underdeveloped and confusing and i hate it

the transparent world stuff is also confusing as shit and its pretty much never explained how they work aside from the vague “close your mind” advice, like why did it exist, it did nothing to help the present day demon slayers

its just so... poorly integrated

yeah anyways this is around the same rating as the akaza fight but a little worse bc there wasnt that strong set up beforehand

VS KOKUSHIBOU (SENGOKU ERA)

[Image Description: Manga panel of a bag getting ripped open, pieces of a wooden flute tumbling out. End Image Description.]

10/10

easily 10/10

this fight shows the tragedy of kokushibou giving in to his envy and hatred, when yoriichi cries over seeing his own family commit terrible attrocities against the people he wanted to protect

and yoriichi dies, now carrying the fact that he couldnt even save his own brother from the influence of muzan on his conscious forever

what a sad ending for yoriichi

and after koku angrily slashes apart yoriichi’s corpse, having him find and keep the flute he gave to him when they were kids to the present day gives him a small shred of humanity in the midst of his monstrous anger

VS NAKIME

[Image Description: Manga panels of Nakime. The first one shows a low quality version of her playing her biwa. The second one is a close up of her eye. There are spiky text bubbles saying “It’s Upper Rank... 4!” End Image Description.]

0/10

no nakime backstory

not even a goddamn fight

forgettable

useless

VS MUZAN

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kibutsuji Muzan in his white-haired, mouth-covered form. There are text bubbles around him saying “Not a single one was of use to me. I will crush the demon hunters tonight. I’ll massacre them all right now.” End Image Description.]

1/10

._.

i have many complaints but ill try my best to not make this another hantengu rant section lol

first off, obanai deserved better

im serious, this poor dude was forgotten until pretty much the end when we finally get a backstory out of him

and then he died

what a waste of a potentially amazing character

mitsuri getting taken out early was ehhh

pretty sure someone else made a post about her supposedly being extremely strong but she was nerfed in this battle which i agree with

literally none of the pillars work together very well, like remember how i praised sanemi and gyomei for being super coordinated? lmao that doesnt exist anymore

you could say this is caused by desperation though and you wouldnt be wrong, its just boring to sit through

that causes issues bc this now basically requires the crimson sword and transparent world concepts to be there to spice things up

but in this fight, they do nothing in the long run (except for tanjirou using the crimson sword at the very very end)

youve already heard me talk about why those two things are super shittily integrated and i cant be bothered repeating myself so moving on

kanao, inosuke, and zenitsu

they... exist? they didnt do much tbh, which i guess is the point but like, now its boring again

nezuko could have been used as a potential way to raise the stakes and make things interesting again (like “ah shit, muzan might actually be unkillable if he gets nezuko but its okay bc shes not here- oh fuck shes here this is not good”)

but nothing came of her running off except confirmation that she became human again so whatever

uzui and shinjuro are useless, why werent they at the fight?

like they could have followed nezuko and contributed to the battle even a little but they just didnt and now theres literally no point to them appearing in this arc at all

wasted potential

tanjirou

i wish him going absolutely apeshit had actual substance behind it, like it being a part of his character arc or something

i remember having this one theory that he had a corruption arc (due to dropping his kindness thing towards demons) and i wanted this to be true so badly

but it doesnt exist

not with how the series ended

god

the only thing that saves this fight from being complete trash is tamayo’s poison thing being amazingly executed

and the part where everyone got blasted away, losing limbs and shit, that made things a little more interesting again

but thats it

VS MUZAN (SENGOKU ERA)

[Image Description: Manga panels of Kibutsuji Muzan, Tamayo, and Tsugikuni Yoriichi. The first one has Muzan and Tamayo, while the second one has Yoriichi pulling out his sword. There are text boxes saying “And the moment I met him, I understood that I was born into this world to defeat this man.” End Image Description.]

9/10

finally something good again

while short, that’s just the nature of all of yoriichi’s battles with demons

anyways pretty nice, theres a clear reason why this battle exists (shows the scenario that made the original breather get super close to defeating muzan in detail)

adding tamayo here was a nice touch

my only complaint is that it seemed extremely coincidental that yoriichi somehow developed a breathing style specifically countering muzan’s multiple organs without even knowing prior that he had all those brains and hearts floating around freely in his body

like thats kind of ridiculous, even for yoriichi whos supposed to be “blessed by the gods”

could just be me though

VS TANJIROU

[Image Description: Manga panels of Kamado Tanjirou in his demon form. The first image has his eyes closed. The second image has his eyes opened and the tumor on his face almost completely faded. There are text boxes around him saying “You will destroy the demon hunters in my stead.” End Image Description.]

1/10

hoo boy

ok first off, demon tanjirou lasted for 2 chapters

thats it

2 chapters

so thats already a problem

i am aware its meant to parallel the beginning of the series but also its ridiculous how completely vague and rushed this entire thing was

nezuko doesnt do shit through not just this battle but this entire arc which i already explained so not gonna go into it further

kanao magically having a demon cure on her made very little sense

the scene where tanjirou leaves muzan in purgatory is pretty but if you look at it in the context of everything else, its ambiguous and confusing

(if someone could explain it and see how it connects to the original theme of “demons just being victims of circumstance,” i would love to hear it)

actually you know what makes me so mad about this “fight” as a whole? there was so much potential to do more with this concept

and im not talking about him escaping and nezuko becoming a demon slayer roleswap au (even though its a pretty cool concept)

him becoming a demon could have been a metaphor for his lost kindness and sympathy towards demons halfway through the series

it could have been a punishment for letting his anger towards muzan cloud his judgement

it could have symbolized literally anything about him losing his humanity as he got stronger

but those three things are just scenarios from my head, they dont exist in this series just based off of what weve seen from these two chapters

its disappointing

the only thing keeping this from getting a 0 is the one part where inosuke couldnt chop off tanjirou’s head bc he cared about him too much

that at least shows inosuke had grown as a character

everything else is just meaningless and convoluted garbage and “convoluted” is not what you should be aiming for if this is supposed to be the ending of your series

IN SUMMARY

early kny is very good, later kny is questionable and the ending is just a mess of wasted potential and disappointment

i get why gotouge had to have the transparent world ability, crimson blade ability, and the demon marks appear before they all appeared on yoriichi but theyre all just so underdeveloped and terribly handled in the battles they are used, it makes me want to kick a wall

like lmao, i could literally think of so many ways they could have been properly integrated, hell, im even writing a whole goddamn rewrite using my ideas for these three things (link to that is in my pinned)

just, god

if you want to debate over these ratings, my ask box is open ig? idk

#kny #kimetsu no yaiba #kny meta #demon slayer #my writing #long post

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herstarburststories · 4 years

Text

Devil, bring me to heaven

Kinktober day 5: Deep throat

Hauntober: Moonlight

Pairing: Demon!Dean x Reader

Summary: You suck Dean off under the moonlight and you both are interrupted.

Warnings: oral sex (male receiving), public sex, jealous!dean, kinda of non intentional voyeurism for a bit, hint of fluff bc yes

Your knees ached against the soaked cement. It rained earlier, making the situation more painful and you mind a bit more sickened with the realization that you couldn’t change a thing. Man, that would probably leave some bruises.

Then again Dean loved bruises on you. At least, this demonic version of the king of your heart did. He enjoyed love marks and hickeys before. It made Sam constantly call you two horny teenagers. It was rougher now, but this was still Dean.

It was Dean. That was all that mattered, even if you had to lose yourself to find him.

The cold ground was as unrepentant to you as the green-eyed demon's cock in your face. He was hard, his precum wetting your cheek as you dared to look up. The moonlight shined on his face as if it had always been meant for him.

You kissed his balls, already familiar with how he liked his blowjobs. You didn't have time to spare here, though. You two were in an open parking lot behind a forgettable restaurant — someone could easily walk through here. You had to make him come quick.

Dean's toughened hands caressed your head, tangling his fingers in the glossy strands of hair. You looked so beautiful like this, on your knees just for him. He may be a demon now, the Knight of Hell even, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate you — especially when you knew his body so well.

“Come on, baby girl. Take it slow. You know I love some good foreplay, no rush here.” He pulled you back once your skilled mouth became too spirited for his liking. Dean was relaxed tonight. Maybe he'd even go slow on you later. You could take your time here.

You did as he said like you usually do when it comes to sex. Your smart mouth and commandeering nature always melted away when he was like this, exposing you at your neediest. Dean, of course, was more than happy to oblige.

You teased at his tightened sac, enjoying the weight of the stiff cock pressed against your cheek. Your mouth got greedy as time passed by, starting to mouth at the soft flesh of one of his testicles while your fingers slowly rubbed the other one. Dean let out a quiet groan, fingers sunken in the ocean of your hair to lead you to his throbbing cock. You two were dwindling into the night, coalesced as one holy sin.

Your lips had barely been placed on the side of his velvety cockhead when you heard footsteps. You grunted after giving his dick an open-mouthed kiss and started to pull away, but Dean wasn’t having any of this.

If someone had a problem with his girl sucking his cock, then he'd simply kill them. Granted, he'd probably kill them anyway for seeing you in that position — this was only meant for his eyes, green or black.

The unfortunate person might’ve been lucky to die for this, honestly. Dean would say that seeing you blow him off was a pretty damn good last thing to see before being murdered. He was a man about Sam’s age; tall, yet not as tall as Dean; and muscular. Dark hair, hazel eyes, and tan skin. He was essentially the guy you'd call your type before you met Dean.

The Winchester had seen enough crappy 70’s flicks to know you had a weakness for it. He already hates this guy's guts. He was going to die or, at least, bleed enough to make unleash a crimson river under the moon’s pale radiance.

What? He was a demon, after all. He didn’t need much of a reason to hate, much less channel his aggression onto any Tom, Dick, or Harry that so much as looked at you twice.

The man's steps grew closer as Dean guided your swollen lips back to his cock. You whined and nuzzled his sweat-slick skin as if there was no better place to be. Still, you weren't sure about someone else seeing you suck Dean off. You've never minded some harmless public touching, but this is way more forward than anything you’ve ever done before.

The male stopped in his tracks, the hard pavement under your knees digging into your skin as you jolt. Your lips were gentle to the base of his shaft. You kissed your way to the top where the precum smeared your lips. Your hands on his hips dug in, winding him in closer while your tongue soothed the ache of his weeping head.

“Whoa, woman. You know I love it when you do that thing.” Dean grunted under his breath when you slipped your tongue into his slit. Your lips wrapped around the tip of his cock before swallowing him thickly, soaking up the warmth of his slick spill. “Yeah, honey. Go ahead. Take all of me into your mouth.”

“What the fuck?” The other male choked, taking in the scene with wide eyes. You didn't appear to be forced onto doing this, so he didn't rush to push Dean away, but why the hell were you two fucking behind an Arby's? This was his dad's restaurant!

You jumped a little when you heard his voice. Why didn't he just keep walking? You were so embarrassed by anyone but Dean seeing you like this. Even though you had your clothes on, you also had half of a cock inside your mouth. Contradictorily enough, it also turned you on. Someone was seeing that you were Dean's and he was yours.

The eldest Winchester could feel hesitancy in the tenseness of your neck, but he soon managed to wipe away your worry with his hand on the back of your head, caressing your hair with a gentleness that could only come from his human side.

“What? Haven't seen a hot girl sucking cock before? You should try a porn site, buddy.” Dean gave him a whimsy smirk, forcing himself not to moan as you swirl your tongue around the heat of his still-hard cock. You leaned in as he was coaxed with the promise of your tight throat. Just like you two trained.

Besides his flushed cheeks and obvious arousal despite his indignant surprise, the guy managed to speak: “Who the fuck do you think you are? This is a serious establishment.”

“I'm Dean Winchester,” the demon answered with a cocky smirk. The unprecedented third party to their fun might not know what his name holds now, but he surely would find out soon. “And this is Y/N Y/L/N. She's too busy to tell you hello right now, all hungry for my cock. My girl just can't let it go, not even for a minute.” Dean shook his head lightly, as if you were some poor, needy thing. Pursing his lips, he asked, “And you are…? Wait. I don't care. Get lost.”

“I'm Priestly Conner. Just the owner of this place.” The stranger, Priestly, groaned in fury. He was hiding the fact that his dad was the actual owner. How dared Dean to disrespect and degenerate his ego like this? The Winchester, though, couldn't care less. He gave the Priest dude or whatever was his name the chance to walk away and keep his life. You’d taken the time to swallow more of him, the glossy sheen of his swollen cock buried in your throat as you repressed the urge to gag. It was perfect. “Can she get up? And can you get your dick back in your pants and leave now?”

Priestly's voice was starting to irritate Dean's ears. Hurting his ego was good, but wasn't it obvious who had control of the situation here? Besides, he wanted to enjoy this blowjob, thank you. That man was nothing but a distraction. If you could talk now, you'd probably roll your eyes, slap Dean's puffed chest, and something along the lines of ease up and knock off the alpha-macho behavior, Winchester.

As usual, you'd probably be right. There was no reason to garner unnecessary attention to yourselves over a spoiled little man wearing clothes more expensive than Dean's car. He tried to take it easy and give Priestly one last chance.

“Yeah, sure. Just two problems: I don't answer to you, and my girl won't let go of my cock.” He grinned darkly. To prove his point, the green-eyed man moved back a little. You let out a sharp whine, nosing close enough for your nose to brush against coarse hair. His balls slapped your chin with the sudden jerk, your slippery tongue enveloping his hardness in a desperate effort to keep him close. Fuck, that felt good. “See? She's all about my dick, sorry. Don't worry, babe. It's all yours.”

Dean ran his fingers through your hair in a soft reminder that he wasn’t going anywhere without you. He murmured encouragement under his breath as you sucked his cock. His girl was so good to him.

“You… She…” Priestly was tenting in his pants, unexpectedly excited by the scene like it was live action porn meant just for him. Dean groaned. Couldn't this dude get the hint and leave? He was getting the best head of his life here. “G-get your bitch and get the hell out of here!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, both you and Dean knew he fucked up.

“Now, now, now. No name calling. It’s rich of you to call her a bitch and still get a hard on out of it.” Dean bore his cock down harder into the wet of your throat. It made you gag, but you kept going as if you were made to keep his dick in your mouth. When he howled, neither of you were able to discern if it was out of anger or pleasure. “Maybe that's why you don't have a girl right now, buddy. You don't know how to treat women, so you don't get a good suck.”

“You… ”

“I'm done with you.” With a waft of his hand, Pristley was thrown at the wall, hitting his head and falling unconscious on the floor. Weak. “Come on, honey. Make me cum so I can go wake up that son of a bitch and break his back for disrespecting you.”

A moan reverberated in your throat, causing a whimper out of Dean as his dick throbbed. He pulled your hair and started to move his hips, fucking your mouth as if he was fucking your pussy. He was tearing you apart, thrusting deep you like you had a sweet spot there too.

You felt so full like this. Sure, it wasn't like having him inside your cunt, but the warm sensation of his cock occupying all of your throat was heavenly even when you knew how inappropriate that sounded: the devil taking you to heaven.

You coughed when Dean’s rhythm hastened, thighs pressed together in a loose attempt to gain some relief for your wet pussy. Your hands cradled his balls, massaging them while your mouth swallowed his cock.

It didn't take longer for him to cum, shooting his load inside you as you took all of it. He tasted a little too salty, a flavor you’ve grown accustomed to since his transition into demonhood, but you found yourself quickly craving it. You loved how he tasted and how he came so much and all for you.

Dean kept his hands on your head, helping you remain standing until you swallowed all of his cum. You finally released his dick with an audible pop, looking up to him. The moon made the big tears budding in your eyes glisten marvelously. Dean felt so lucky. He helped you to get up, kissing you softly for once. The old Dean, your Dean, came in glimpses sometimes.

He tasted himself on your lips. It was a delicious proof that you were still his. He had to let Sammy go, but you were here. He still had family, someone to cling to. Someone who wouldn't change him. Dean licked your lips.

“So good, honey.”

Your legs still trembled as your pussy cried out for attention. Thankfully, Dean held you close. “What are you gonna do about him?”

You nodded at the breathing body on the floor, your voice gruff from taking him so deeply. He loved it.

“That son of bitch?” He groaned at the mention of the annoying interruption. You placed your hand on his heart, rubbing there. Dean placed his forehead on yours. “He disrespect you so he's gonna die.” His green eyes changed into black with a wink, showing the actual weight of his darkness. “And then I'll eat you out and fuck that pretty pussy that's already wet for me.”

“Dean…” You sighed, ready to try putting some sense in his head, but then his bruised hand slipped, fingertips touching your bare arm, your hand, and then your belly, hips, and pelvis. Dean pressed a single digit on your clothed heat. You managed to ruin your panties, yourself, and the silk skirt all for him. You gave in. “Okay. Be quick.”

“I wasn't asking for you permission to kill him, Y/N.” He raised his eyebrows as your hips chased his touch.

“I know, but you still need my permission to get inside me,” you said despite the situation. You didn't think talking so casually about killing a guy would somehow become your new normal. Although, in all honesty, it wasn't that different from the hunter’s life before.“Take it or leave it, Dean.”

“Yeah, okay. Whatever.” He huffed, rolling his eyes before he pulled away to walk towards Priestly. “You better go wait in the car if you don't wanna see some blood, sweetheart.”

“Make it quick. And Dean?”

“What?” his gruff voice asked, turning to face you. You were so gorgeous under the sequin moon.

“Cuddles later?” You beamed at him, as if he wasn't about to murder someone.

The single smile he gave you in return could convince any jury of his innocence. “Of course, honey.”

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liria10 · 3 years

Note

Favorite Benny books?

Ok so. Tumblr crashed as I was typing this on mobile. I am retyping it on desktop cause fuck this site, and I Have Opinions, and my friend I will let you hear them or so help me!

.... This got. Really. Really long. I am adding a read more to spare you guys from that.

Ok so! As a preface, I haven't read many VNAs with Benny in it, and of her solo books, I still have 2 of her Legion books to read.

I'm going to (re)start this with the VNAs!

Love and War: a very classic answer perhaps, but it is a really good introduction for Benny, even if the book has its flaws and can certainly show its age nowadays. Cornell absolutely nails her right off the bat, and from her very first page, Benny is just a character that keeps you interested. Not only does she work great as a counter to both Seven and Ace, but she also brings a breath of life to the whole range the way only a prose character can.

Plus, I think one of the greatest successes of that book lies in how Benny appears as a rounded and flawed person from the beginning. She’s not your ordinary girl dragged to a whirlwind of adventure and an universe of wonders, but an older, adult woman, with a good chunk of life experience and adventures already behind her, and while setting foot inside the TARDIS opens up a new and unexpected chapter in her life, it does also remain just that. A chapter. Benny had a life before the Doctor, and from that moment, while noone could have predicted it then, she would have one after him as well.

The Left-Handed Hummingbird: I just finished that one last week, so it’s obviously both fresh in my mind, and one I'm thinking highly of at the moment. Well I mean, it’s Orman! Or course I love it. She really is great at writing both intricate, large stories, and yet focusing on the personal, on the human side of things. And I find that this book does a great job at putting benny in the role of the grounding presence both for ace and the doctor, as well as exploring how time traveling as they do, and dealing with seven’s schemes can be frustrating for benny. That whole tardis team is a mess, and none of these people really… work well together, but it’s because they’re so dysfunctioning that they’re fascinating, and orman absolutely nails that.

Theater of War: A very different type of book, it is honestly a fun romp, and it has Benny being an actual archeologist, down to dealing with the academia side of things. And it’s the little things, but I love it when Benny books remember that about her tbh? Also, it has some nice theater theming, and well, as an introduction for brax, it certainly works well! It’s one of those VNAs that I think is just fun. A well crafted story with good takes on the characters, that’s always enjoyable to me!

Return of the Living Dad: Orman again?? What a surprise! But frankly, I love how this book is all about Benny and her daddy issues, be it with the Doctor or well, her actual dad. Between that, her budding marriage with Jason, and finding out so many old wounds reopened, I just. Really love how raw Benny can be under Orman’s pen? How underneath it all, she still has that side of the scared orphan that lost both parents to a war she was far, far too young to ever comprehend, and how that just left her rebelling against the world in general, and resenting deep down her parents for that abandon. I mean, it’s neat character stuff, but it can very easily be written as dull & cliche shitte you know? And Orman really… always get down to the heart of it all, and boi does it make for some great reading.

The Dying Days: It’s a very fun book, and well, technically works as the first round for Benny as the lead woman after all! It’s a joy all throughout, triumphant where it needs to be, and managing to both celebrate the Doctor and what he brought to the VNAs, as well as setting up the stage for Benny to go on to her own range. It’s basically one last run of the old team, and well. I do love Benny & Eight, and yes I am blaming Parkin for it. Also, big brained take to have Eight give her Wolsey because I love that cat and Benny deserves a cute kitty in her life. We all do.

Ok!! Now on to the NA, and my personal favorite era!

Dragon’s Wrath: It’s a fun one!! I do really like the story being centered again on archeology first and foremost, and it’s a good romp that has some really good take on Benny. Especially the trial scenes, I love how those one get down to Benny as someone who despite everything, loves history, and cares very very deeply about the artifacts she uncovers. Also, it introduces brax as a mainstay of the dellah era, and does so in a rather nice way. Overall, a very enjoyable book!

Beyond the Sun: Benny & students stranded on a planet with mystery to uncover, that’s already a fun premise, and then throw in all the various queer themes present, especially with Emile, and the whole scene of them all in drag performing on top of a bus, and it’s just a rather good book. Plus, I love how it mirrors the whole VNA Doctor mantra, except with a very Benny twist. Sometimes cruel, sometimes cowardly, but trying her damndest to do good. And well, that’s just Benny isn’t it? I always harp on about the very heart of Benny being her humanity, and if there’s something that book highlights, it’s that.

Deadfall: Jason takes center stage in this one, and well, I do really love Jason. It’s overall a fun book with some nice lore ideas, and I love how it works Cwej in the whole Dellah setting. Also, at least it’s a story with Jason in the lead that doesn’t end in utter tragedy, and that’s always nice!

Tempest: Ok so. That book isn’t great. The story’s cliche, the characters aren’t the best, and the plot itself? Forgettable, it’s another in the list of “sort of base under siege story in the dellah era” which you’d think wouldn’t be super common and yet! So… why am I listing it here? Cause the concept of the planet!! The idea of a world of storms and disaster, run through via a blind train as the only means of transport? The fantastic animal life described in it??? That book left an impression of me, and that’s not something I can say of all of the others.

The Medusa Effect: … Justin Richard writes a good Benny. Like, legit. I love how that one really works with the setting & history of Dellah, and gives further information on the planet’s involvement with the Dalek war. Plus, it also got some really, really nice aesthetics. I am soft for good aesthetics ok? Benny, dancing with a skeleton on the deck of an old spaceship made to look like a cruise liner in an hallucination/dream sequence type of thing? Sign me right up!

Beige Planet Mars: That one is a blast. I remember just, absolutely loving it when I read it tbh. Between the overall description of Mars, the further Lore Implication of the Mars invasion & all that, as well as it basically being one last round of more… Normal dellah books before everything goes to hell? It’s one i’d highly recommend if you want to have a good time.

Tears of the Oracle: Probably my favorite of that whole range? (apart from dead romance, which I am not counting as a benny book) I love just, how much overall… feelings isn’t quite the words i’m looking for, but i can’t think of a better way to put it… there is throughout the book? It was thought to be the end of the NA as it was written and well, that shows. I love how it weaves the whole mystery of “what happened to that legendary archaeologists?” with the whole side of what’s basically some of the only survivors from dellah going on one last round of discovery. The status quo of the range was destroyed quite a few books before that one, but imo, it’s there that they take the time to stop for a bit, and just. Deals with what that means in actuality. And ngl, I love the entire sequence of Benny & Brax walking through the wreckage of what used to be their home, it’s a scene that works really, really well.

And well, it does a great job at setting up the future as well after all! Yes, there’s still 3 books after it, but when you look at where Big Finish picked up… they went for what Tears of the Oracle was setting up. It really makes the transition flows well between those two, unlike my rambling for a full paragraph before going to “here’s the BF books I like”

The Doomsday Manuscript: A very good start for the range! Not only does it set up the whole collection, but it also introduces the Fifth Axis as a major threat, and does so in a wonderfully well paced book that keeps you hooked throughout. I like how it also sets up Jason’s loss as something Benny is still suffering over, as well as how she hasn’t lost hope in finding him again. Plus frankly, it’s also a really good story.

The Glass Prison: You’d think that for a book where Benny spends the majority of it in prison and not very active due to being near the end of her pregnancy, not much would happen, but the way Jacqueline Rayner builds up an atmosphere of unease, mistrust and a genuine disturbing ambiance throughout the book is just, fantastic.

Genius Loci: This book. This book!!! Ben Aaronovitch writes an absolutely powerful story of Benny as a young woman, lost and finding herself faced with far more responsibility than she ever thought possible. The way he writes the whole mystery, while also making Benny as a 20yo not only believable, but quite distinct from Benny as the adult we’ve all come to know and love is just. So good. My main grip with this book is how abruptly it ends, and how we’ll never get the sequel. I want to read Terra Incognita and more of Benny slowly finding herself damn it!

Dead Men Diaries: Just like Doomsday Manuscript, does a great job at establishing the collection as well as the recurring cast. I really enjoy most of the stories in it, and I think BF started out so strong on those books srsly!

A Life in Pieces: I love it so much. It’s pure brax at his most manipulative, and for such petty reasons. I really like how it both deals with the aftermath of the Fifth Axis occupation, as well as the repercussions Brax’s schemes have for the people living on the collection. Also, it’s just 3 very good novellas in a row that build up to something more, and I always like seeing that.

Nobody’s Children: That book has the best Draconian story in the entirety of doctor who and related. Like, yeah just that. It’s also nice to see the fallout of the Mim/Draconian war. It’s one I didn’t expect a lot out of, and frankly, I ended up really loving it.

The Vampire Curse: The middle novella is one I absolutely hated, but the other two are really good, and mixing benny and vampires is just, very fun. Also!! Predating the Predator is in it, and it is a really good take on vampires in a science fiction setting that also has some nice creep factor as well, and manages to be both a good vampire story, and a good sci fi story, which isn’t always an easy balance to find.

Life During Wartime: It’s a surprisingly hard hitting anthology about living under a fascist regime, and the compromises you have to make, the personal sacrifices and small rebellions. Honestly, there’s a lot I love about it, but certainly one of my favorite moment, is when Benny, having to dine with one of the officers, miss jones & jason, sees that the officer is nearly on to her hiding peter away, and that split second moment of “if I have to, I am willing to kill everyone in this room to protect my son” before he just laughs it off, it’s a lot of tiny moments that build up to a really well done ambiance tbh.

Something Changed: While it did the terrible, terrible sin of introducing Doggles to the world, I really love the concept of every chapter after the first being a different split universe, and how they’re all spiraling more & more out of control. It’s got some really good stories in between too, though they can also be rather hit & miss. An aspect I love about it too is how impactful Wolsey’s death ends up being.

Present Danger: That one is fun, I love how it’s basically everyone vs the deindum, a situation slipping more and more out of control, mixed with some neat stuff one the deindum’s whole temporal deal. It’s again a bit hit & miss, but it’s still a blast, and as the last anthology of the collection era, it does send it all off with a bang.

Welp. Far, far too many words later, and here we are!!! I love Benny a lot ngl, and I genuinely think that prose is the medium best suited for her. I have been rather disappointed with the more modern books, I find them far more bland than what I personally expect from Benny but ah well. Can’t always get everything.

And while it’s neither a book, nor even an official story in any mean, the fanfic “Sepelio” that’s an Hannibal au set in the Dellah era is great, and the benny story I have been enjoying the most lately. I would be remiss not to at least mention it!

#ask #ask tag #bernice summerfield #.... Look I love benny probably a bit too much for my own good

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vixenpen · 4 years

Text

Caged Hearts

Chap 26. Captured (we almost at the end omg)

((Hawks x Miku ((OC))

OK so I realize that a lot of you guys are missing parts of this fic and that’s because I have ADD and I ended up losing my count a couple of times and I’m pretty sure that I numbered the chapters wrong so I’ve been trying to go through and correctly number the chapters and link off to the next chapter in each previous part. So bear with me because that is a lot for my ADD brain to handle. But OMG GUYS WE ARE ALMOST AT THE END!!!

(Trigger warnings: restraints, non con touching, r*pe implications)

The surrounding forest was burning. The only reason the fire was contained as much as it was, was thanks to the abundance of water quirk users on the heroes side.

They kept the fire wielders at bay which allowed Keigo the room to slice and fly through the chaos and into the old temple.

Compared to the chaos in the surrounding forest, the inside of the rotting old temple was eerily still and quiet. It was massive with sagging tatami flooring and battery powered lamps. But at the center of it all was Dabi.

He stood cross armed in the middle of the messy temple.

“Hey hero. How’s that scar?”

“Ugly and annoying, but mostly forgettable after the ointment. Just like you.”

Dabi’s smirk widened.

“You’re as pleasant as ever, Hawks.”

At the sound of his hero name coming from Dabi’s mouth, Keigo’s lips twitched down and he softened his grip on his feather blade slightly.

“I wouldn’t let my guard down if I were you.”

“Oh trust me, I’m not. Unlike you, I don’t do half baked schemes. So what exactly was the plan, Dabs?” Keigo asked, drawing closer to his villainous ex. “You revive the nomu project and try to pick up where smarter more capable villains than you like Shigaraki and Stain left off?”

A deep scowl replaced Dabi’s smirk.

“I have more vision than both of them, asshole. Just because I don’t have half the resources they had—“

“Half?” Keigo let out an incredulous laugh. “Dabi, you don’t even have a quarter teaspoon of the resources or the vision that they had. You’ve been running around causing chaos with these under powered lackeys of yours while prancing around like the queen of England Letting everyone else do your dirty work. You’re a nuisance at best and a busy day at worse, but you are no Shigaraki and certainly no Stain.”

“Fuck you talk to much,” Dabi growled, his face was pinched in anger. “If you’re gonna do something then do it, hero.”

Keigo smirked. “Why don’t you make me Dabi? I’ll even give you a head start.”

Dabi planted his feet, but hesitated to do anything.

Keigo scoffed. In a blur of red, Keigo had the man pinned to the floor with his arms twisted behind his back.

“So that copycat quirk of yours can’t duplicate other people’s quirks, huh, Chiba Chidori?”

“You’re good.” Chiba chuckled as he struggled in Keigo’s grip.

“You’re obvious. Just like your leader.” Keigo shot back. “Now where’s Dabi?”

Chiba still in his Dabi disguise tilted his head against the dirty tatami flooring to face Keigo.

“Wherever your little girlfriend is.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cold metal cuffs kept Miku’s arms suspended above her.

Despite the heaviness in her head, her mind was still spinning. She blinked against the colored spots in her black vision until slowly, it sharpened.

The room was cold and dimly lit. Nothing but a dirty lightbulb swinging from the ceiling to illuminate a concrete floor.

The exposed skin of her arms and legs were pressed to a frigid stone wall. She couldn’t even attempt to move her wings.

Anxiety and dread swallowed Miku whole. Her legs felt gelatinous.

She clenched and unclenched her fingers as she forced herself to breathe deeply through her nose. More details about the room swam into her vision.

There was a cell that she thankfully wasn’t inside of and a set of concrete stairs with a heavy looking metal door at the end of them.

Fuck! Fuck, fuck!

Miku glanced up at her wrists and blinked back the tears stinging the corners of her eyes. She rattled the chains futilely.

Just then, the metal door swung open with a loud bang. Dabi’s tall, slender silhouette stood in the spill of light pouring into the room.

“Ah. So Sleeping beauty’s finally awake, is she?” He drawled, slowly descending the stairs.

“What do you want?” Miku hissed back at him, tugging against her restraints.

Dabi didn’t reply as he advanced on Miku slowly until his chest was pressed against hers. She could smell the stench of tobacco on him, and turned away in disgust.

“Relax, Angel Face,” Dabi chuckled, snatching her chin until she was facing him again, “this’ll be a lot easier for you if you do.”

Then he dropped to his knees before her.

“W-what are you doing?”

“Gotta Pat you down, Hummingbird,” Dabi explained with a lazy smirk up at her. “I’m sure your man is trying to keep tabs on you. Just a matter of finding the feather.”

His hands were warm causing goosebumps to rise on her skin as they trailed up her calves and between her thighs. Dabi stopped his touch just as his index finger brushed across the slit of her sex.

He repeated the action along her other leg letting his hands linger on her thighs and heating them slowly.

“Stop.” Miku whimpered.

His laugh was taunting as His hands worked the short dress up Miku’s thick hips.

“Not done yet, sweetheart.” His smile widened. “Ooh I see those pretty wings of yours flexing. Too bad, baby, those are quirk repressing cuffs.” He bit his lip as he eyed the trail of trimmed white pubic hair before him.

Standing to his feet, the man snatched the top of her dress down.

“Nothing here, either hm?” He squeezed her big breasts harshly.

A choked yelp escaped Miku’s mouth.

“Damn, Angel Face,” Dabi grinned, it was sinister and probing, and somehow felt even more invasive than his wandering hands. “Maybe I should do a cavity search. Hm? Gotta say, I like feisty types like you. So much more fun to break.”

She could only respond with Shallow, shaky breaths.

She couldn’t move.

She couldn’t fight.

She couldn’t fly!

Just as she felt her fluttering heart about to give out on her, the anklet she wore broke. He heart shaped charm attached, clattered to the floor as large shadowy tendrils manifested from it.

Miku blinked, dazed as she watched the pair of smoky, phantom like limbs snatch Dabi’s lanky body up like a rag doll.

The ghostly hands wrapped around his body easily and slammed him into the stone wall, just beside Miku. The woman shrieked as the impact of his head colliding into the wall echoed in the dank room.

Dabi slid to the floor unconscious and crumpled at her feet.

“Boss!”

She looked up at the stairs not recognizing the dark haired teen in the doorway. He looked like a mini Dabi with his piercings and black mop of hair.

His dark eyes widened at the sight of his boss and the shadow hands.

“What the—“

The large tendrils snatched him up too. In a fast, fluid motion, they knocked the teen unconscious as well.

And just as quickly as they appeared, they disappeared.

It took Miku a moment to process what had just happened. Konan’s protection charm. It had bought her some time.

Her captors were now sprawled unconscious at her feet, and a set of keys were attached to Dabi’s belt.

Miku was running blind through the halls of what she now realized was a lab of some sort. Fluorescent lighting lit up the cold, sterile floors. Medical rooms filled with machines, devices, and tanks could be seen through the glass panels.

She had no idea how long Dabi and his sidekick would be knocked out nor how long that locked metal door would hold them, but she wanted to put as much space between herself and them as possible.

As she ran through the labyrinth like halls, she pulled off her remaining shoe—the other had been ditched in the basement with Dabi—and pulled out the now sticky and ruffled red feather. She ran her fingers along the barbs and held it up to her lips.

“Keigo,” she huffed rounding the corners of the hallways, “Kei, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I really need you right now. Dabi’s got me at some...fucking...fuck.” She looked around the long halls and maze of locked metal doors, in a panic. “Underground lab or...I don’t know. I...just—Please, please come quick.”

With that final plea, she snapped the feather in two.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The distressed vibrations of Miku’s voice hummed through Keigo’s feathers. There was over 500 miles between them, but he could parse out the unique cadence of her voice easily.

Konan’s voice crackled through his headphones, her voice just barely cutting through the whistling wind.

“Keigo!” The Latina’s voice exclaimed.

“I’m here, Ko,” he pressed the headphone harder against his ear, trying to hear her better. “You got a read on Miku?”

“When her charm broke my signal showed that she’s at some location underground. On the far outskirts of Tokyo.”

Konan rattled off the coordinates, but Keigo didn’t recognize the location. Regardless, he pushed himself to fly harder.

“I should be there is less than fifteen minutes,” Konan explained, “you?”

“If I book it any harder maybe twenty or less. Ko, do everything to keep her safe.”

“No doubt. Over and out.”

The line went dead. Keigo couldn’t breathe.

The entire world blurred before his eyes.

This was his fault. Miku shouldn’t be in this situation.

His mistakes. His fuck ups. His negligence.

It was going to get someone he loved—

Fuck!

His speed tripled.

He was going to kill that son of a bitch. Fuck Tartarus. Fuck detaining. Fuck his years of training. Todoroki Touya was going to die today.

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thorne93 · 4 years

Text

The Stars Made Us (Part 31)

Prompt: In this world, you’re one of the “lucky” ones who got a soulmate, but what if the universe gives you more than you bargained for?

(Prompt challenge – You live in a world where your soulmate can write on their skin and you will get the writing on your own and vice versa. Where they can wash away the ink on their own skin, however, the writing is forever scarred onto your skin until you meet face to face)

Word Count: 2760

Warnings: angst and language throughout, death, torture,

Notes: This was supposed to be for @sorryimacrapwriter and their challenge like a year ago, I think? I still loved the prompt though and have been working on this story for quite some time. This aesthetic was made by @dontshootmespence thank you so much! Beta’d by @like-a-bag-of-potatoes, couldn’t have done it without you, as well as @carryonmyswansong and @arrow-guy and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo

Also, I’ve never really liked the whole soulmate AU thing idea, but this felt so right and it was amazing to write. I hope y’all love it too!!

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As they walked forward, on their left, a giant window came into view. Only this window didn't look outside. It was tilted away from them at a 45 degree view. A view into what appeared to be an operating room - with you in the center on a bed. You were strapped to an odd hospital bed as you looked up, you saw them and your eyes went wide. You couldn't talk, as this woman had covered your mouth.

You wanted to tell them to get out of there. You'd only recently woke up in this room, but you didn't want them to be here. Whatever was going on, they needed to leave.

"So lovely of you to join us," a woman's voice came over the speaker.

"Who's there? Show yourself," Charles demanded.

"Oh, what's the matter, Professor X? Can't stand not being able to read my mind?" the woman asked again, but this time she did step into their line of sight, right in front of your bed. She looked up at the two men.

Charles recognized her instantly. Stephen, however, did not.

"Rebecca?" he breathed.

"Who the hell is Rebecca?" Stephen asked, looking between Charles and Stephen.

"Typical of the great Dr. Stephen Strange not to remember me," she said. "Just can't fit anyone but that over inflated ego in your head, can you, doc?"

"She's an old student," Charles informed, almost to himself.

"Ah, ah," she warned. "That's not the whole story, is it, Professor?"

"Charles, what is she talking about?"

"Why don't you tell him? Tell them both," Rebecca urged before walking to your side of the bed. "I'll make it worth your while."

"Rebecca, let Y/N go. I don't know what you want, but you can let her go. You can have me," Charles said desperately.

"Oh, how sweet," she said with a pouting face. "I don't think so. I went through a lot of trouble to get her here. Years of watching her, watching you, watching the doc..."

Stephen and Charles traded a look of confusion and worry.

"Tell them about me, Professor," she encouraged. She hit a button and you began screaming through the gag she'd placed on you.

"Alright, fuck this," Stephen said, starting to conjure a portal but nothing was happening. "I don't... I don't understand--" He looked to Rebecca in horrified confusion.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that? Oh, yes. You can't portal your way in here or use the mirror dimension or any of your other cute parlor tricks, Dr. Strange. And, Professor, you don't go about trying to read my mind. I reinforced this room, this whole bunker the same way Sebastian Shaw did on his submarine. You won't be able to penetrate my mind or anyone else's for that matter, so give up."

The two men glared at her, their fear and anxiety spiking.

"Alright, what do you want?" Charles demanded.

"What do I want? I want my life back, but you two made that beyond possible. But what you can give me now... I want to watch you two suffer. So... tell them about me, about how we met, or--" She hit a button, sending more shocks through you, causing you to scream before crying. You glared at her, wishing you could just end her right then and there.

"Okay! Alright! I'll tell them." He sighed. "Rebecca came to me when she was 16. She wanted to learn how to control her powers. She'd gotten into trouble with the law, and I offered to teach her. But things weren't working out well. She can clone herself, and one day, at a store, she shop lifted. It was just a few snacks, but she did it using her powers, and she used them again to evade the police until they finally caught her and brought her back to my doorstep. I tried to ask her what had made her break the law again, when she didn't give me a satisfactory answer, I just wrote it off. But she kept breaking the rules, breaking the law. One night, she came into my study. I was focused on my work so I didn't hear her thoughts..." He drifted off, his eyes cast down in shame as if he couldn't bear it. "She came in trying to seduce me. She put her hands on me, she was dressed scantily. She'd turned 18 a few months prior to this and she must've thought it would be okay to come onto me." He gave her a look of anger and rejection. "I told her I cared for her as a student and that was all. When I rejected her, she became furious. She said that I wouldn't help her better her power, that I didn't care and the school was a waste of time. Given the circumstances of trying to harass me in my office, I accessed her mind." He looked at her, as if trying to get her to remember.

"And?" Stephen urged.

"And I didn't find a girl who wanted to learn how to control her powers, I found a girl who wanted to learn how to evolve her powers. She wanted to learn how to use them so well she'd be left undetected. She planned on moving up from stealing candy bars and chips. She had thoughts in her head of museum heists, bank robberies..."

"I was a bad girl," Rebecca suddenly said as she began pacing.

"Is this true?" Stephen asked, looking at the woman. "You seduced your headmaster and broke the law and you're mad at him?"

She stopped in her tracks to whip her face to Stephen. "I'm mad because I loved him. I thought he loved me. All the signs were there. Just because I wanted to do more with my power, he expelled me."

"With every right," Charles said defensively. "You were planning on killing if you had to, just to use your powers to do harm. I never once gave you the impression that I loved you."

"Oh, don't be so innocent. I saw the way you looked at me. I saw the way you looked in my bedroom at night. You saw into my head all the fantasies I had and never approached me."

"Rebecca, I checked your room because you snuck out after curfew almost every night. I never read your mind except for the night you tried to harass me, and I never, ever, looked at you like any more than a student."

"If that's what you want to believe."

"Wait, so you were expelled from a mutant school, what's the big deal?" Stephen asked. "That warrants abducting Y/N, hurting her?"

"Yes, it does. Charles knew I needed help, but he wouldn't listen, he wouldn't help me."

"I tried, Rebecca, I truly did, but you insisted on breaking the law and breaking the rules."

"You ruined my life. I could've had a good life if I'd graduated, but no, I was 18, with no high school diploma. I had to get a GED. But I tried to move on, tried to forget about how you threw me out like yesterday's garbage, so I enrolled in medical school. That's where Dr. Stephen Strange comes in. World renowned neurosurgeon."

"I've never met you," Stephen assured with a befuddled look, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes.

She let out a laugh, clearly humorless. "Ah, to be so easily forgettable. Not like you, Y/N." She looked back to you and hit that button on the small remote again. Your back arched off the table as you tried to move away from the shocking, but you couldn't escape it due to the restraints.

"Try to remember, doctor," she encouraged. "You wouldn't want a vegetable for a girlfriend." The shocks continued and you felt your eyes rolling back in your head from the pain.

"I--I--I--I don't remember," he stammered, upset, trying to think. "You're not a patient, you're not a family member of a patient, you're not a student--Wait, that's it. Yes you are, or were."

"Ding, ding, ding!" she called out and the shocking stopped. You were glistening with sweat as you took your first breath that wasn't wrapped in pain. "That I was, the was is all thanks to you."

"What happened? What did you do?" Charles asked curiously.

"She was a student, a resident student of mine that had made rounds."

"And? Tell them what else I did," Rebecca urged, walking slowly again around your bed, listening.

"She was a student, but a careless one. I'd ask her to cut right, she'd cut left. She disobeyed me almost constantly. During a procedure, I asked her to do something, and failure to do that almost costed a man his life."

She rolled her eyes. "He was fine."

"Yes, thanks to me, not you," he said angrily, facing her through the glass that looked down into the room. "I told you to tell me exactly what you were going to do, and you didn't do it."

"So what? No one else was doing it."

"Wrong," he deadpanned, irate. "Every one of your fellow students narrated exactly what they did during surgery. I let them make incisions, cut arteries, tie them off, because I believe the only way to learn is to do something under my strict supervision. I asked you to tell me everything you were doing, before you did it. You failed to do that time and time again. You were defiant, disobedient, and flippant. I had no choice to do what I did."

"What did you do?" Charles asked, wondering what could be so horrible.

"I'll tell you what he did," Rebecca interjected. "He failed me on my surgical rotations. He wouldn't sign off on work I'd done. He even went to my dean and gave them a long explanation why they should expel me from the program. And being who he is... they listened."

Charles and Stephen looked at each other.

"You two ruined my life," she all but snarled. "Now, I'm going to ruin yours. I never thought the universe could be so generous, and yet here we are. I have a 2 for 1 special. Two men, for 1 woman. You both love her so much, that much is clear. I've had the pleasure of waiting, watching. Imagine my utter delight when I find out you have the same soulmate."

"Rebecca, Rebecca, wait," Charles begged as he watched her move around the room. "Whatever you want, whatever you need, we can help you."

"The time is over for help! We are way past that! No, when I got expelled from school, again, I realized it was my life mission to destroy you two. You two who had so much. Both doctors, both living it up in fancy homes, both prestigious in your fields. You had so much and instead of helping people who needed it, you turn your back on them. You lie to them. You ruined my life. I could've had everything, but you took it away from me."

"Rebecca, there has to be another way," Stephen's voice said.

"No! There is no other way! In fact, I think this is the only fitting way to end things, don't you?"

"What? No, no, no, no, no," Charles began, pleading. "No, we can fix this. We'll do whatever you ask."

She laughed callously. "That ship has sailed, Professor, but good try. A+ effort." She rounded your bed and went to a cabinet. "No, I think it's time that your life looked like mine, looked like others that you've failed. I think it's time you two lost something you loved."

"Just take us! Don't hurt her!" Charles demanded, his plea erratic and heartbreaking for you. You began crying. Not for yourself, but to see them go through this.

"Oh, no, that'd be too easy. I don't want to kill you two. No, no, that's much too simple. I want you to watch as the one woman you love dies in front of you and your powerless. To feel that you can't do anything at all to save her, to fix your life. You'll get to know how it feels, finally. All your power, money, and status can't do anything. Fitting, seeing as all of that destroyed me."

She smiled as she held a crystal in her hand.

"I'd tell you to say your goodbyes, but frankly, I don't think you deserve them." She put the crystal in an odd chamber, almost like a birdcage and walked back to the back of the room and went into a smaller room, closing the door behind her.

You started to panic, trying to get out of the restraints. Stephen and Charles looked on in complete terror. They had no idea what was about to happen.

"Goodbye, Y/N," Rebecca said before something smashed the crystal in the birdcage. A mist began to fill the room and you fought and fought against your restraints. You wished you could tell Stephen and Charles to look away. They didn't need to see this, but you couldn't say a word. Your mouth was taped shut.

A small, selfish part of you though wanted them to continue looking at you. So the last thing you would see was their eyes, albeit full of tears and anguish, they were still the gorgeous blue eyes you'd fallen for.

You hoped and prayed that even though Charles couldn't read your mind, maybe he could read your eyes. You looked to both men and tried to convey the feelings of love and adoration that you had for them.

All of this happened in the matter of a few seconds, before you knew it, some sort of hard substance was making its way up your body.

You wanted to tell them you'd be okay, you wanted to make them feel better, but all they saw was you being covered in a cocoon of what appeared to be molten rock. They slammed their fists on the window, screaming your name, trying to get to you -- but it was futile.

You were covered with stone, from head to toe. You'd never see Charles and Stephen again, and the last thing you'd seen was them fighting for their life to get to you.

But it was too late. You were gone.

The two men, upon seeing your body covered head to toe in stone, felt their world implode. Charles screamed, incoherently as he turned around, his hands on his head. He slid down to the floor, tears running down his cheeks.

Stephen felt cold all over, as if the whole universe just disappeared for him. He'd faced Dormammu, an entity that was going to suck Earth away, consume it. This didn't compare to that. He felt numb. He knew he should be angry, he should be crying like Charles, but all he could feel was... darkness, an emptiness inside him.

Charles didn’t know how he was going to face another day without you. How he’d face the next five minutes without you. His chest felt tight, as if he couldn’t breathe. You two were just barely starting the journey of your lives together, fully, and now you were gone. Charles couldn’t get enough of you once you met. He hated himself for ignoring you for a year, and now that was a year he’d never get back, and he hated himself all the more. A flurry of anger, heartache, regret, and grief flooded his system. He wasn’t sure he was ever going to stop sobbing.

Stephen felt powerless, uselees. He was a doctor for God’s sakes and he couldn't save the one person who meant more to him than anyone else. He truly didn’t believe in all this soulmate nonsense when the scarring was showing up on him, but it only took a small bit of time near you to see exactly why the universe had cherry-picked you for him. You were strong enough to withstand his anger and his ego. You were gentle enough to get him to calm down and talk about things. You were funny enough to make him double over in stitches when he didn’t feel like even smiling. You were kind enough to make him want to be a better person, to save lives for more than just pomp and show. He wanted to be a good person for you, but also because of you. And now, all of that light, all of the good you did for the world and put into the world was snuffed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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#the stars made us #charles xavier x reader #charles xavier fic #charles xavier #stephen strange x reader #stephen strange fic #stephen strange

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imagines-hoarder · 4 years

Text

The Devil in the Dark- Dark!Steve Rogers

Warning: smut, murder, abuse, gaslighting, swearing, drug and alcohol abuse

Word Count: 6,400

Summary: 70s AU; When a handsome stranger rolls into town, you get caught up in being the center of his attention. You could never expect how falling in love with him would change your life forever.

Masterlist

*I don’t think I’m pleased by what I’ve created, and honestly no one asked for what I am unleashing. This is my first dip into the marvel universe and probably the darkest thing I have ever written so be warned; this is not for the faint of heart. For those of you who can get through all 6,000 words, I’d love to get your feedback. This may only be the beginning. xoxox*

The room has become muggy and sweat clung to your neck as you pawed the velvet sofa. Everything had felt fuzzy at the edges after you smoked a joint in one of the shady rooms upstairs. After a couple more shots, you hit the dance floor and everything else in the last 30 minutes had been a blur. Now you sat watching everyone laugh and feign geniality without your rose-tinted lenses. You were at a party that you should have been ashamed of. Cigarettes, booze, and coke had awoken something sinful in the partygoers and after getting your own fill, you just preferred to watch.

Mel had tried to sell it to you earlier that evening as something else entirely: “It’s just gonna be a small thing, okay? Brian wants to see everyone again before we go back to A-State.” She had called just after your mother and her boyfriend departed for their first barstools of the night. She knew better than to call any earlier.

“Last time I checked, Brian doesn’t really do small gigs. Remember when he put on your birthday party last year and invited all his buddies? I'm pretty sure his scrawny friend was the one who puked in your fish tank,” you responded, twirling the landline cord around your finger and picking at a slice of leftover pizza. “You know I'm coming anyway. It’s gonna get really quiet around here in a couple of weeks when you go back to school.”

“Not if you come with me,” she said with a singsong tone.

“That’s why I’m staying here in the first place.” The pizza didn’t sound too appealing as your stomach turned sour. “If I wash and style a couple more heads, I should have enough money to join you and the meatheads for the Spring semester. Then we can get hammered every weekend together… just like old times.” You find comfort from her laughter on the other end.

You had spent the last couple minutes recalling the last time you saw Mel before you started people watching from the sidelines. You're pretty sure she was the one who rolled your joint, sitting wasted on Brian’s lap. When your eyes ached from staring at crowded bodies, you laid your head back and shut your eyes, letting the beat of the music ground you.

It couldn’t have taken more than a moment for the couch to sink under the weight of another person. “You alright over here?” It was a dude; no doubt he thought you were passed out or an easy lay.

You rolled your head to get a good look at him, and it was like the Big Man himself had decided to serve you sex on legs, carrying a Miller Light and smelling like cigarettes. He wasn’t from around here and wasn’t in college, that much you could tell; no guy fresh from adolescence could grow a beard like his. He wore a button-down that was half open and exposed how warm he was as a bead of sweat trickled down his neck. You had been so ready to tell him to fuck off until you met that pretty blue gaze. You must have looked like some creep undressing him with your eyes.

“I’m steller. You probably think I’m a burnout that can’t control myself,” you shouted to him, though he was close enough to hear you just fine.

“Well, I never said that.” His low laugh sounded like music. “I saw you come from upstairs. Wanted to make sure you weren't choking on vomit.”

“That would make a fun story. Instead, I’m just people watching.” You turned your attention back to the bodies getting hot and heavy on a makeshift dance floor and hoped he wouldn’t notice the red blooming in your cheeks.

“I think that can be fun, especially when everyone around you is a stranger.” It was clear he wasn’t from Arkansas. His voice was as smooth as butter but lacked the draw everyone else in the room had.

When you looked back at him, he was still looking at you. You extended your hand and he took it into his own for a firm shake before letting it far to the couch. You introduced yourself and smiled when you were able to restrain your nerves. “Now we’re not strangers to each other.” He returned the gesture and gave you a smile so dazzling it nearly sobered you.

“Name’s Steve.” He gave the room a passive glance-over without ever indicating he spotted another familiar face. “I’m not from around here. Just met a guy in town today and he told me I should stop by; he said he was the host.”

“Brian?” He gave you a nod but you’re sure he couldn’t recall what he looked like. “Yeah I know him; we grew up together. I’m actually really close with his girlfriend, Mel.” You knew he was listening but didn’t want to lose his attention to small talk. “And I know you’re not from around here, Steve.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m a townie, born and raised. I would have noticed a man like you if you were kicking around any earlier than now.”

He rewarded you with another smile, stained with allure. “I’m just passing through Arkansas and thought I would stay the night. I’ve never even driven through Arkansas; kind of one of those places you forget is on the map.”

“How do you think I feel? I’m living in this unremarkable town in a forgettable state.” He joined you in laughing as the music became white noise. You pulled your legs under your body as you leaned in closer to him. You quickly realized you must have looked so young and so enamored; no stupid. You couldn’t move now but he didn’t seem to mind.

“You know, I like your style. You’re a beauty with a mouth on you.”

“Do you want to see what else my mouth can do.” It fell from your lips before you could stop it. You quickly looked away from him in hopes of returning to the conversation you were pursuing before you ruined it. His gaze burned into your face before he got up. You could have scolded yourself for how soon you played your cards. Before you could blame the substances in your system for your poor behavior, he stood in front of you trying to regain your attention.

When you looked up, his head jerked toward the door. “You wanna smoke outside?” Something about the question made you tense. You could use some fresh air and thought Steve could make good company, but you didn’t want him to think you’d be an easy lay he could fuck around the corner; you were sure that was the impression your lewd comment left. He must have sensed your reluctance. “We can stay here if you want but I can barely hear you over the music, doll. Promise I won’t try anything on ya,” he disclosed.

Maybe it was a bad idea, but you decided to go anyways. He offered you his hand as he detached you from the velveteen sofa. Before you were even out the door, he was pulling a have-full carton of cigarettes from his pocket and wedged one between his lips. No one else was outside, but you could hear the muffled rhythm of a Donna Summers tune starting up by the time you settled at the edge of the house. After supplying you with a cigarette of your own and drawing close to light it, you reached a comfortable silence that let you take your drags in peace.

“So why California,” you asked. You supposed his brusque appearance could sell magazines or movie tickets. “Trying to catch your big break in Hollywood?”

“Nah, just need a fresh start. I’ve been living in the cold all my life, just wanted a fresh start somewhere warm, you know?”

You give him an affirming nod. “The weather’s not too one this end of the country, I guess. Where are you coming from anyways?”

He just chuckled it off with an air of skepticism. “You sure ask a lot of questions.”

“Well we aren’t strangers anymore, right? We’re sharing a smoke, having a laugh...”

He just shrugged, deflecting the question in the process. “Maybe I wanna know more about you.”

“There’s not much to know about me.”

“Well, I don't believe that for a second.” You roll your eyes and lean against the brick wall, listening but refusing to give him the pleasure of seeing you blush. “You’re young, you're beautiful… girls like you aren’t born to both start and end in nowhere Arkansas.”

''I want to, but not all of us have the luxury of up and moving to California, Stevie.” When you looked over to him, he had a look that you hoped wasn’t pity. “Plus, I’m earning my Associates Degree at Arkansas State. I’ve got one more year of being tied to this place.”

“Stevie... Gosh, I haven’t been called that since I was a kid.” You smirk at him, taking his change in the subject as an olive branch. The air became quiet again, but you were thankful there was no ill-ease. You just closed your eyes and inhaled the last of the smoke warming your lungs. Maybe if you stood in the moment a little longer, you could convince yourself this handsome man was real once you sobered up.

All too soon, you had put out the cigarette butt under your shoe and took it as a sign to start walking back home. It had to be past four a.m. and it looked like the moon would make its departure sometime soon. “Well it was a real pleasure for you to meet me Stevie, but I should start moving before it gets any later.” You pushed yourself off of the wall and tucked your hands in the pockets of your jumper dress. “I hope you find what you’re looking for in California.”

He threw his butt out into some nearby rocks before stepping a little closer to you “Come on doll, let me drive you home. It’s late and everyone else is wasted out of their mind. Plus, I don’t think Brian even knows I was here; he just invited me cause I helped him jump his car this morning.” He was too nice to be true, but you didn’t think your mind was capable of creating something as beautiful as him. Maybe you wouldn’t mind it so much if he stuck his rough hands up your dress after all. He’d be gone in a day anyways.

“You know, young women aren’t supposed to take rides from strangers, right?” You started to walk down the driveway and tried to restrain your smugness as you heard his heavy footsteps trail behind you.

With the extra height he had on you, he caught up in no time, carefully tugging at your arm so you looked back at him. Your arm rubbed against his chest and you now knew for sure that he had more than just a pretty face on him. “I thought you said we weren’t strangers,” he retaliated. He didn’t seem like the type of man to take no for an answer, but you weren’t hoping to put up too much of a fight. As you looked at him in the moment, you saw him look you over and his cornflower blue eyes held a look that said there was something he desired about you too.

He let you pull away from him as you decided to make your final impulsive decision of the night. “Alright hotshot, which ride is yours?”

You had him drop you off a couple houses away when he drove into your neighborhood. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to invite him inside for a beer and a ‘farewell gift’, but you were sure that your mom and Pierce were already passed out and drained any bottles that were left in the fridge on their way in. Still, you spent a couple minutes steaming up the windows in his car as he slowly pushed up your dress.

You pushed at his chest and pulled down your dress when you thought the neighbors would start getting suspicious of the unfamiliar ‘73 Chevelle Malibu with the clouded windows outside their house. “Look, Steve, I gotta go. Drive safe.” You tugged at the door handle but he stopped you before you could get out, pulling you back into an attack of fervent kisses. “Steve!”

“Look, I’m staying at that Motel Court on Birchwood, Room 174. I want you to call me in the morning.”

“I thought you were just passing through...” You groaned as you pushed at his wandering hands again, trying to keep from giving him the pleasure of making you breathless.

“I am, but we can get breakfast or something? Shit, you’ll probably be passed out until noon so it’ll be lunch.” He finally let you pull away and you could see how his hair sat rugged from your needy gripping, a winded look splayed across his face. He looked around for an old receipt and pen and scribbled the name and room number of the motel on the back. He buried the sheet in your palm and you hesitated before accepting it. You reached for the handle again and he didn’t stop you as you stepped onto the sidewalk, only leaning over the seat and throwing you a wink. “You’ll call me, won’t you?”

You leaned into the frame so you could get one more look at his pretty face. “I’ll be up by 11… I’ll catch ya later.” You shut the door before anything else could be said and dragged yourself home.

After talking and teasing him at Kitty’s Diner the next morning, you let Steve take you back to his room where you got hot and heavy the rest of the day. You caught a case of Deja Vu when he dropped you off in the early hours of the morning again. You couldn’t hide your amusement when he said he planned to stay in town. “Just a little bit longer,” he professed. Steve had his arm around you as he pulled you towards him, almost tugging you into his seat. He wouldn’t say it but you had understood that he was enjoying himself too much to leave at the moment.

You spent the next five days in his motel room between your shifts at work, enjoying his body between listening to his stories and sharing your own. Mel had needed so much time to pack her life up for her return to college that you didn’t think she even took note of your absence around her place. You didn’t mind it though. He had been busy telling you about all the national parks he had stopped for and the best foods he’d tasted at 24-hour diners across the country. You’d mention your job at the beauty parlor down the street and your hope to travel cross-country yourself. He made even the bad parts of being on the road sound like an escape from your reality. You would talk about Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac and write down music recommendations to keep an ear out for on the radio. One day he pulled out a little book and a set of pencils as you laid naked and fatigued in the tangled sheets. He kept looking up at you as he scratched into the page. After keeping his head buried in the book for half an hour, he joined you on the bed and showed you the drawing he was working on. It was you in all your bare glory. After your face had run hot and asked if you could keep it, he didn’t hesitate to kiss his way down to your wanting body. He was over six years your elder, and it was clear that he had prior experience with female anatomy, not that you minded.

He was a man of passion in many ways. Between finding new reasons to hold you a little closer to him, he would talk about his favorite novels and the literary techniques of authors like Kurt Vonnegut. He knew so much about a world that you had barely seen, and it would have been difficult for any ordinary woman to resist the combination of his charm, good looks, and intelligence.

Every hour you spent with him only further suspended your disbelief that he was truly living in your presence. You were happy that he spoke toy you on Brian’s rundown couch that first night, and after a week of finding entertainment in one another, you help him pack up the trunk of his car with what little he had traveled with. Even though you were enamored, you weren’t stupid; he had been sweet on you, but you were sure he had a trail of women he must have left behind before crossing every state border. How could a man like him not? It made your chest tighten more than you cared to admit. A week after the party, he was dropping you off for the final time.

His lips worked slowly against your neck as you sat back in the passenger seat, enjoy the last moments of his attention before he became nothing more than a memory, “I’m sure that you’ll have a new gal by the time you get to California, but will you give me a ring when you’ve settled anyways,” you moaned into his ear.

Steve pulled his head back to get a clear look at you as if he’d sobered from his lustful haze. He relaxed back into his seat and ran his hand through his messy mop with a heavy sigh. You were sure you’d killed the moment before he spoke up. “What would you say if I wanted you to come with me?”

“What?”

“I wasn’t messing around when I said you deserved better than Arkansas. You were born here but you don’t have to spend your whole life here.” Your mind was moving rapidly but you could barely focus on a single thought. “I think I’m in love with you. If you can come to California, you can keep doing hair, you can finish your degree, anything you want.” By the time he finished, only silence sat between you and he fidgeted with his keys. He waited for your response and only got more nervous when you didn’t have one. “Shit, I shouldn’t have said anything, doll. I’m s-”

“I’ll come with you,” you said.

The words took a minute to settle before he could laugh out a sigh of relief. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, Stevie. I… I think I love you too. I wanna go with you.”

He pulled you back against him and toyed with the ends of your hair. “God, you’ve made me the happiest man alive, baby. I don’t think I could have left without you.”

“And I wouldn’t want you to.” You kissed at his beard and stroked his cheek. “I need to start packing if we’re leaving in the morning.”

“Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow?”

“No, just... Just give me 15 minutes and I’ll be fine. I can go back to the room with you and we’ll be good to go in the morning.” You knew there wasn’t much to be gathered in your room. Just some clothes for warmer weather and books. You’d grab your cosmetology kit, some family photos, and some cash that you’d hid before your mom could notice in her drunken stupor. There wasn’t much worth salvaging from your current way of living. “I’ll call Mel later and tell her I’m leaving. She can tell the salon that I won’t be in for my shifts next week.”

“I can wait out here for you unless you need help.”

“No, just sit here and I’ll be back soon.” You kissed him one more time before exiting the car, walking with haste to get into the house.

When you walked inside, only the T.V. lit up the front room and it was if every step you took awoke the house. You were quick to pack your bag once you reached your room, grabbing for things that you decided were necessary in the heat of the moment. Once you cleared through your desk and closet, you pulled at a loose floorboard and grabbed the wad of bills you’d been saving for your semester tuition. Once you emptied your smugglers hold of some photos worth saving, you replaced the floorboard as if nothing were ever there.

“And what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” You nearly jumped out of your skin as you caught a look at the figure in your door frame.

“Didn’t know you were home yet. Thought you and Pierce were still out for the night.”

“When I come home I expect you to be here. Do you know what goddamn time is?” Your mother was not and never had been a happy drunk, and when her boyfriend would come around it only made things worse. She started to walk towards you as you stood from your crouched position, hiding the cash and photographs from her sight.

“I was with Melissa. She’s going back to school this week and I wanted to say goodbye to her.”

“Don’t you lie to me,” she seethed. You knew this would not be the easy getaway you had wanted. “You were probably out whoring around again.”

“I’m not going to let you talk to me like that. I just told you where I was,” you challenged. You walked to your bed and filed away the contraband into your bag knowing that it was the last of the important items you could grab before leaving.

“You probably think you’ve been real clever coming in after we’re every night, but I’ve fucking noticed. You’ve never been all that smart.” She had stumbled into your room and the smell of whiskey was so strong it made your nose burn.

You weren’t able to offer her a retort or a farewell before you heard more footsteps from down the hall. “What seems to be the problem here,” Pierce said. Drunk. They were both always drunk.

“Little Miss thinks that she can just whore herself out and then come home without consequences,” your mother announced.

“Don’t worry, I’m leaving anyway.” You grabbed your bag and made an effort to quickly escape the room, pushing past Pierce in the doorway.

“Don’t you walk away from us, bitch!” Pierce’s shouting became incoherent hollers and you sped towards the living room, but you could hear her footsteps behind you.

By the time you could see the front door, you felt a tug on your hair so strong it nearly pulled you to the floor with a shriek. “You think you’re just gonna leave and move on, huh?” Your head throbbed as she raged in your ear. “You’re nothing and you’re worth nothing. Once you’re not useful for whoring anymore, you’ll end up in a ditch on the side of the road.”

You punched her in the face before she could see it coming, something you had only thought about doing to her in your wildest dreams, and it was enough to throw her to the floor. You took the chance to grab your bag and run outside without a care for your dignity or the grace of your departure. You could hear her screams from down the street and you knew that at any second, the neighbors would be looking to see what had happened.

You slammed the car door as soon as your foot was inside, startling Steve. “What the hell hap-”

“Just drive, Steve!” You all but shouted as your mom stepped onto the front lawn with blood dribbling down her chin. He didn’t need any further explanation as he put his foot on the pedal. Your mother was still screaming, that much you could hear, but her slurs were muffled as you flew past the house.

You hadn’t noticed a smudge of your mom’s blood on your knuckles until you got back to the room and you spent the next 10 minutes trying to scrub away the ghostly red specks. You couldn’t stand the feeling of it. Steve stood in the doorways with his arms across his chest the entire time. He didn’t look too thrilled about how everything played out but didn’t say anything about it.

“My mom and her boyfriend were home and fucking wasted. I didn’t even know until she came in screaming at me, calling me a whore and stuff.” He walked up to you as you dried your hands on an off-white towel. “Sad to say that’s not really an unusual encounter.”

“Are you gonna be okay, doll?” He looked concerned, maybe even a little angry for you, but the furrow of his brow did little to extinguish your distress. You just wanted him slightly closer and you held faith that he could obliterate the memory of this night.

“I’m fine... I just think that the sooner we get out of here, the better.”

“We’ll be gone before the sun even rises. Let's just get a couple hours of sleep and then we’ll be on the road.” He drew you nearer to him and you nodded as you looked past through him. “This will all be behind us in a couple of hours.”

He bent down for a kiss and you readily gave into him. In so little time he had made you feel alive. He made you feel wanted. You had so little in the world — your mom was a drunk and your father had long hit the road; you were low on friends and even lower on funds — and now you had even less. You were about to take any sense of stability that was left in your life and chuck it out the window in the morning. But it didn’t matter because even one more day with Steve would make you feel more alive and more loved than you had known in your entire life.

His mouth became eager and he pulled you even closer, working his way to your chest and down your stomach as his hand wandered up your skirt. Before you could think of touching him, he had you lifted over his shoulder with a squeal. He said nothing as he moved smoothly across the room and dropped you on the bed, casting himself over you. You tried to caress him, but he quickly pinned your hands under his and he sucked at your neck. You had transformed into a puddle of moans in no time.

“Please Stevie,” you choked out. You ground your hips against his jeans but the friction wasn’t enough.

“Please what, doll?” He reached between your legs and knew he could feel how wet you were. “You’re gonna have to use your words for me, baby.”

“Please… I need you inside of me.” You squirmed in hopes to pull your hand from his grip but it was pointless. You think he got harder just feeling you struggle under him.

“That's all you had to say,” he whispered in your ear and gave you a carnal kiss against the lobe. He shifted his weight to sit up as he pulled his shirt over his head. You didn’t have more than a moment you gawk at him before he was roughly pushing your skirt over your hips. All it took was him unzipping his jeans and he drove his cock all the way inside of you. You couldn’t find a sound to make as all of the wind was knocked from your lungs.

By the time you could find your voice, he was thrusting into you at a savage pace. You cried out in complete ecstasy and he held you down; your brain felt like it was turning to mush. He growled for you to open your eyes so he could so much you loved his cock and he looked back at you with something that could only be described as darkness. It was immoral and wicked, but you couldn’t find the will to care as the man above you grabbed you like he owned you and fucked you to oblivion.

He hissed as you came around him the first time but you knew he was not done with you. He didn’t let up on his strokes until he was mirroring your moans and he never looked away from your flustered face. One of his hands began loosely circling your throat as you clenched around him again and you could feel him throb as he came inside of you. With a grunt, he pulled out and let his hot cum escape your body onto the sheets. He let his weight fall to the bed without ever letting go, and you laid on his chest in post-coital bliss. If you could choose one moment in your life to relive, you were sure it would be this one, time and time again.

“Glad to know you can keep up,” you choked out jokingly. You felt his chest vibrate with laughter as he pressed his lips to your forehead.

“Always, doll. We’re only getting started.”

A heavy knock on the door had broken the silence. Steve cursed under his breath as he zipped up his pants, and he placed you back on the bed. He took his time walking to the door but it was clear that the person on the other side was growing inpatient. He looked through the peephole and cursed again before turning away. He unconsciously ground his death with his furrowed brow.

“Who is it,” you asked, trying to keep your fear at bay.

He pointed at you with a stern look and a firmer tone. “Stay right there. Don’t say anything.” Before you could ask him what was happening, he undid the chain door lock and pulled it ajar, just enough to let the unwanted visitor see his face. “What do you want, man?”

“Where the fuck is she?” Pierce. It was Pierce and you could tell he was still drunk.

“Look, I don’t know what fucking drugs your own, but if you start beating on my door again I’m gonna beat your face in,” Steve fumed. Your jaw dropped as you listened in on the conversation; you’d never heard him talk light that before. He was always the type to open the door for you and smother you with pet names. He tried to close the door but you jumped at the sound of it slamming into the wall as Pierce threw all his weight onto it. He was bursting into the room before Steve could catch him and your blood ran cold as he saw you on the bed.

“Your mother's right. You’re just some lying, ungrateful whore.” His grip on your shoulder was sudden and he threw you to the floor. Your vision was spotty but you had other things you needed to worry about. “Only God knows how bad she’s gonna beat you for busting her nose like that.”

You heard a loud crack as Steve’s fist met Pierce’s face and you grabbed at the bed, trying to gain your footing. Everything was still a little blurred at the edges, but you could see as Pierce pulled Steve to the floor with him. As they threw punches and swore for each other's misfortune, you could only clearly make out the dark blood dripping from Pierce’s mouth onto Steve as he gained an edge over him, swinging at his face a couple more times.

You looked around the room for something, anything to make them stop, but Steve had already taken most things to the car. You could hear Steve grunt as Pierce attempted to bash his face in. He had only tried to help you and now he was paying for it. That’s when you saw it. A butterfly knife sitting on the side table next to the cigarette dish and Steve’s wallet. You didn’t hesitate to grab it and before you could even understand the consequences of your actions, you plunged the blade between Pierce’s shoulder blades.

He dropped to the floor without hesitation as he howled in pain. “You fucking bitch!” He sounded like a wounded dog as he sprawled on the floor, and you could only watch with wide eyes. God, what had you done...

Steve pulled himself from the floor and every breath he took was heavier than the last. He had missed most of his opponent’s drunken punches, but his lip was busted and he was rattled by the brawl. He looked crazed, and as he rose to his full stature, he moved to stand over Pierce who could do nothing but cry out in the fetal position. The knife was still wedged in his back.

You ran to Steve and cried as you tugged on his arm. “Steve, I don’t… I don’t know how he found us,” you choked out between heavy tears. “He must have seen the car.”

Steve said nothing. He didn’t even look at you, and that’s what scared you the most. His neck and back were tense and your touch wouldn’t be enough to soothe him. In erratic movement, Steve reached down and pulled the knife from between Pierce’s shoulder blade with a grunt. You gasped as Pierce choked out a sob. He shook in pain, blood puddling onto the carpet under him.

It was like a nightmare. Steve crouched over Pierce, looking into the old drunk’s soul as he squeezed the knife in his hands. You wish you had done something, wish you had said anything. With hasty slash and a depraved glower, Steve slit Pierce’s throat and you couldn’t turn fast enough to not see it.

Blood. Blood poured out Pierce’s wound like a broken fire hose, pooling at your feet while it splattered on Steve’s face and chest. For only a moment, Pierce sounded like he was choking, and then there was no more. No more cries, no more movement. It was just you and Steve standing over a corpse. Everything felt frozen in time as the room reached an eerie stillness that could be described only as insidious.

Steve was the first to move. He stumbled to the bathroom and threw the knife in the sink, letting the faucet run until the steaming water cleansed the weapon of blood. He bent over the sink and he watched it with morbid fascination.

You stumbled towards him, knowing that you couldn’t look at the body on the floor or you’d lose the last ounce of your sanity. It was only when Steve looked at you over his shoulder, the craze in his stare having vanished, that bile rose in your throat. You bent over the toilet and released everything you had ate during the day and maybe a little more. You could hear the sink faucet still running but Steve moved to your side.

“Doll-”

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, Stevie,” you sobbed. His arm wrapped around your waist as his forehead fell to you back. Exactly where you stabbed Pierce. You flinched at the thought and Steve pulled back.

“Listen to me, okay?” He pulled you away from the toilet and directed you to look at him. There was blood all over his hands and on his torso. “Everything is fine.”

“He’s fucking dead.”

“I know, baby. But we had to do it”

“How are we gonna-”

“You don’t need to worry about that alright?” You nodded but it was a lie. You could do nothing but worry. “You’re gonna get in the shower. I’ll join you in just a second, but you’ve got blood all over your legs and I need you to get cleaned up right now.” You looked towards the ground and noticed that your feet were painted red; a trail of bloody footsteps led into the bathroom. “I need you to tell me you can do that for me.”

You took a breath in and tried to control the cry building in your throat. “I can do that.” You began taking off your clothes, looking for any bloodstains on the fabric only to be surprised when you saw none. You felt like you were covered in blood; there must have been a spot hiding somewhere. Steve had left the room when the saw you step inside the porcelain tub and you tried not to think about what he was doing in the other room. You let the lukewarm water run down your head and trickle down to your feet as you closed your eyes, willing you consciousness to hold on just a little bit longer.

Steve returned to the bathroom faster than you thought he would and was quick to strip his jeans and boxers. You could hear the curtain slide open as he joined behind you, pushing himself under the stream alongside you. He kissed at your shoulders and cheeks, as to tell you he had taken care of everything, and he scrubbed the crimson from his chest. You could only watch with a haunted expression as it all disappear down the drain. He turned off the water after he scrubbed both of your bodies to a level of cleanliness that you probably hadn’t reached in months. You threw on the clothes you had stepped out to close to the present and you felt dirty all over again. Steve must have retrieved his shirt from the bedroom earlier because he now looked like the version of himself from an hour back when he had nothing on his mind but loving you. Your sandals sat in the corner of the bathroom for you to toe on. When you fastened them both on at the heels, he opened the bathroom and your eyes snapped shut. You couldn’t see it again.

“You don’t need to look,” he whispered to you. “I’ve got everything in the car already. I just need you to take my hand and we’ll never be back here again.” You could want nothing more right now.

You felt for his hand and his calloused fingers wove between yours. He tugged you out of the bathroom and you could feel him navigate you through the mess you had both created. The irony stench of blood crowded your sense and you wished more than anything that you could protect him from having to see the sins that had been committed on this night. The layout of the room would be drilled in your mind forever and you were sure he wouldn’t forget either. Only when you heard him shut the room door behind you could you find the will to open your eyes but you never let go of his hand.

He put you in the car and got in on the driver's side, but he said nothing as he started the car and pulled out of the motel parking lot. You could feel it; the body was still in that room, soaking up a pool of blood. As you watched the hazy lights on the town dim in the dreary night, you got on the highway and knew that you would never see Arkansas again.

#steve rogers #dark steve rogers #dark! steve #dark!steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #dark steve x reader #dark steve rogers x reader #dark!steve rogers x reader #marvel #marvel one shot #marvel imagine #dark!marvel #dark!steve x reader #stever rogers imagine #steve rogers one shot #dark!steve #dark!steve rogers imagine #dark!steve rogers one shot

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prouvaireafterdark · 4 years

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Calm Like a Bomb

Here’s some BAMF Alex for @capmanes that your friend requested! Meant to have this done a while ago, but the whole Michael Sanders thing really hijacked my brain lol. Also, this is probably wildly inaccurate to canon, but I don’t know her so 🤷🏼‍♀️

Also on AO3!

***

Michael’s phone buzzes on the table in front of him. He’s at the Wild Pony, sitting at a booth with Isobel when hers goes off a second later. She looks at it immediately and frowns.

“What’s Max whining about now?” Michael wonders, taking a sip of his beer.

“Michael,” Isobel says quietly. “Check your phone.”

There’s something in her expression that makes him do it.

Stay calm, the message reads. It’s from Alex.

A second later he feels it, the nozzle of a silenced pistol against his side as a man joins them in their booth. Michael stiffens, reaching out with his mind to find himself cut off from his telekinesis. He locks eyes with Isobel’s and he can see it in her eyes that she’s powerless too.

“Howdy, friends,” the man says, his smile wide and friendly.

Michael takes a breath, trying to stay calm like Alex wants. He turns to look at the man. He’s half expecting it to be one of Alex’s brothers, but it’s a man with short blonde hair and a forgettable face, one he can’t be sure he’s never seen before. He’s dressed like any other townie, but Michael clocks the earpiece he’s wearing.

“Who are you?” Michael asks, trying harder to connect to his TK, his fingers clenching on the table top.

“A concerned citizen,” he says. “And you can try all you want, ET, you’re not even gonna be able to pass the salt with those powers of yours right now.”

“How?” Isobel asks, brow drawn tight in rage and confusion, and he’s right there with her. He can’t see any of the yellow pollen anywhere.

The man uses his free hand to take a small device out of his pocket.

“Technology’s amazing, ain’t it?” he muses before putting it away.

Alex suddenly appears and slides into the booth next to Isobel. There’s a cut on his eyebrow that wasn’t there when Michael kissed him awake this morning and his breathing’s a little labored.

“Who’s your friend, babe?” he asks Michael as he makes himself comfortable, keeping his hands below the table.

“None of your business,” the guy answers before Michael can.

Alex smirks.

“Now, that’s not a very nice thing to say to someone who’s got an M18 pointed at your dick, is it?” he replies. Michael feels pride swell in his chest and he can’t help but bite his lip to keep from smiling. Alex notices and winks at him.

Once the predicament he’s in registers, the man starts rubbing his ear with his free hand. Alex actually laughs at him.

“Oh, you can tap that thing all you want,” Alex says. “Your buddies aren’t coming.”

The man freezes. “What did you do to them?”

“For coming after my family?” Alex asks, leaning over the table, smile disappearing from his face. He looks deadly calm, even as an undercurrent of rage flows beneath his words. “What do you think?”

Michael’s eyes widen. He knows, in a sort of abstract way, that Alex has killed people before, that he would kill people again if he had to. And he knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if it was between Alex and just about anyone else in the world, Michael would pull the trigger without a second’s hesitation. To hear Alex all but admit to killing for him tonight, to keep him and his sister safe… it should make him sick, but it doesn’t. All Michael feels is love.

The stranger, though, he’s hit the third stage of grief before Michael blinks an eye.

“What do you want?” the stranger asks.

“For you to leave me and my people alone, for one,” Alex says, leaning back in his seat. “But you can start by taking that gun off my husband and telling me everything you know about Deep Sky.”

“You can’t be serious,” the guy says. “I can’t talk, they’ll kill me.”

Alex’s expression darkens. “When I’m done with you, you’ll wish they had.”

Chills run down Michael’s spine watching Alex talk like this, but he’s also a little inappropriately turned on by it.

With a resigned sigh, the man pulls his earpiece out and tosses it in Isobel’s cocktail to short it out before he slides his gun across the table into Alex’s waiting hand. He tells them everything he knows.

Max approaches the table once he’s finished, handcuffs out and Cam at his side.

“Sir, we’re gonna have to ask you to come with us,” Max says, official deputy voice on. Michael doesn’t even make fun of him for it this time.

“Right on time,” Alex smiles, passing Max the gun he confiscated.

The man scowls the whole time, but he lets himself be taken into custody.

“Keep a close eye on him,” Alex warns. “And get this to Liz,” he adds, handing Max the device he took from the man while he was talking.

“You got it, Cap,” Cam nods, tightening the cuffs to the point of pain.

Michael lets out a deep breath when they leave and takes a sip of his lukewarm beer.

“That was some serious BDE, Alex,” Isobel comments. “I’m impressed.”

“BDE?” Michael asks.

“Big dick energy,” Alex explains, amusement in his voice as he slips his gun back into his holster.

“Ah,” Michael nods, letting his eyes travel down the length of Alex’s chest, as far down as the table will let him. “Well, I can confirm that gun’s not the only heat he’s packing.”

“Okay, gross,” Isobel gags. “Let me out, I don’t need front row seats to you two eye fucking each other.”

Alex laughs as he slides out of the booth to let her out. Michael follows her lead, getting out of the booth and pressing right up against Alex’s side.

Isobel leaves with a wave and a promise to check in later so they know she’s home safe.

“So that was pretty fucking hot,” Michael says, his hand pressing into Alex’s lower belly, just above his belt. “You wanna take me home now? Feel like I should show you a little gratitude for saving our lives and everything.”

Alex nods, his tongue sliding across his bottom lip as he looks at Michael.

They make it to the car in under a minute, but they spend another five making out against the side of it, high on adrenaline as Alex presses him into the metal frame, his thigh wedged between Michael’s legs.

“Wait,” Michael gasps as he pulls away. “What about that guy’s friends?”

“Incapacitated,” Alex pants against his lips. “Kyle’s keeping an eye on them until we figure out what to do with them.”

“I thought you said—“ Michael starts, but Alex just grins at him. “You were bluffing?”

“Didn’t really need to,” he answers. “Nothing I could’ve said would’ve been worse than what his imagination came up with. All he needed was a push in the right direction.”

“Damn,” Michael says, amazed. “That’s somehow even sexier.”

“What, that I’m not a cold-blooded murderer?” he asks deadpan.

Michael shakes his head. “That you’ve got the skills and confidence to take out a squad of paramilitary soldiers and then fucking mastermind their friend into giving you what you want. That’s enough to make a man weak, Manes.”

“I think we both know I go by Guerin these days,” Alex reminds him, crowding Michael a little closer against the car. “And what about you, huh?”

“What about me?” Michael asks, eyes going a little unfocused with how close Alex is, how warm and solid he feels pressed up against him.

“You gonna give me what I want?” he asks in a low voice. Desire courses hot through Michael like a flame, his knees feeling like they’re about to buckle.

“Always,” he breathes, and the next thing Michael knows, Alex is kissing him.

#malex #malex fic #malex smut #michael guerin #alex manes #my fic #idk if the smuttiness was necessarily wanted here #but I feel like if you request a fic from me you’ve gotta know smut is a strong possibility #nay an inevitability #anyway here's some Alex Manes positivity #hope you like it!

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clanwarrior-tumbly · 5 years

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Headcanons: Crankegos ⚙️

Aight, we’re doing this so buckle up, because I got a lot to share!

Note: I consider Memento one, but he’ll be in another post with Mori where I’ll go more into-depth about them both.

Mad Mike

Runs both an ice cream shop and an ice cream truck (he changes outfits depending on which he’s working at).

Once owned a highly successive business.

But it was shutdown after Silver Shepherd discovered that the ice cream was being laced with drugs.

Since then Mike tries to stop doing that..but once in a while he’ll put a tiny bit of cocaine in a scoop or two (claims it’s “extra sugar”).

Loves to bake on his days off.

Contrary to his song, he’s got a soft spot for kids and never drugs their desserts.

Struggles with his own addictions from time-to-time, but he’s getting better at dealing with the withdrawals.

Very flirtatious.

Also fluent in French, so that gives him extra brownie (pun intended) points.

Somehow, someway..he’s evaded police ever since the encounter with Silver.

Not very good at talking about his or other people’s problems...so he usually just whips up some ice cream as a temporary solution!

His eyes turn to pink and blue swirls whenever his sanity dips or if he wants to hypnotize someone who insulted his business practices.

Mike’s just a bubbly guy all around.

Blank

One of Ethan’s less malicious dark egos.

Embodies his anxiety and nightmares (though mainly the former)

Blank himself has severe anxiety issues that tend to make him panic over small things.

Corroded teases him for being a crybaby sometimes, but he can’t help he’s overly-emotional.

Gets very self-conscious of his acne/black eyes/appearance in general, afraid of scaring people away.

Has bluish-pale gray skin.

Likes wearing baggy clothing, though it’s really only to hide the wilted vines and black veins that wrap around his arms and legs.

When he has a breakdown, black oily tears stream down his face, he shakes violently, the room get abruptly cold, and he mumbles unintelligible gibberish.

It can go on from a few seconds to almost 15 minutes straight. It's extremely hard to snap him out of it.

Has haptephobia (fear of physical contact), but he’ll let people he’s close with (like the other egos) make contact with him.

Hates being thrown in with the rest of the dark egos.

Corroded

The first of Ethan’s dark egos, albeit the more forgettable one.

He’s a rusted robot, with gray/brown skin that’s metallic in some areas (especially on his face and hands).

Completely hollow inside (physically) except for metal “bones” keeping himself together.

His eyes are also empty sockets instead of being purely black.

Like Anti he’s a glitching entity who induces paranoia in people with hushed whispers and clones of himself.

Bitter to Ethan about being used for the 5-year anniversary poster advertisement, despite that not being his intention at all.

Also resents Blank for becoming the more popular dark ego.

Regularly drinks oil.

If you call him an animatronic he can and will decimate you.

His biggest pet peeves are being taken for granted and being called a “dumb robot”.

A major weakness is his legs being so rusted they lock up and he can’t move for a long while.

Heapass

A punkish prisoner who’s best friends with Yancy.

He’s been arrested for smoking illegal drugs, dealing said drugs (with Mike, who managed to escape officers while ditching him in the process), and excessive speeding/reckless driving.

But he was sent to HTP for a fatal hit-and-run (while he was smoking grass behind the wheel).

Doesn’t talk a whole lot, but he likes to stand around and smugly grin like he’s got a trick up his sleeve.

Spoiler: He doesn’t, and if you were to ask Yancy about him he’d tell you Heap is one of the sweetest people he’s had the honor of meeting.

He did break his arm during a brawl (tho he told the warden he fell in the yard).

He’s good at keeping secrets. He has no reason to gossip unless you insult his family.

Also dyed his hair black. Just because.

Jake

Was among the many bright scientists trying to find a cure for the spontaneous zombie plague.

He was also Prof. Beauregard's assistant.

Though unfortunately he didn’t last long before he ended up turning.

Surprisingly he still retains much of his scientific knowledge.

But he can’t wrap his rotting brain around complex formulas.

So he’ll sometimes try to mix chemicals and write notes--both of which turn out to be huge messes.

With the other Crankegos, Jake has his own lab.

He gets agitated easily, so he’ll go there to calm down if he needs to.

Can still speak normally, though his voice is extremely scratchy and he hates repeating himself.

So Yahoo often translates for him.

Likes being with a group of zombies...humans not so much.

Though since the Crankegos aren’t exactly human, he doesn’t mind them at all.

Bernice

She’s the gothic mother hen of the Crankegos.

Though at the same time she’s a vicious mama bear if you dare cross her and/or her family.

She’s stern with Mike and Corroded, but very soft towards Heap, Jake, and Blank.

The prisoner often looks to her as a mother, since he didn’t have the best relationship with his own growing up.

Loved red, black, and silver makeup. Especially eyeshadow and mascara. She makes sure to visit the dye shop every so often to keep her hair a bright red.

No one knows how she pays for all those times. But she does it.

Very sassy and likes to show-off a lot, though she’s not a narcissist.

She’s very generous, too, and can’t stand the thought of being completely obsessed with only her own happiness.

Don’t ask her if she feels weird being the only female Crankego. She’ll break your kneecaps.

Cries at animal rescue/adoption commercials all the time.

Likes wearing meme shirts to be “hashtag relatable”.

She says it exactly like that and Ethan, Heap, and Mike groan every time she does.

Saint

He’s a very holy man, of course, with much dedication to the church.

While Saint doesn’t say what church (or even what his name is for that matter) he’s from, he practices good teachings.

Scolds people if they constantly curse/take the Lord’s name in vain.

He tried integrating memes into his teachings so younger generations won’t be as bored during mass.

But when Jeremiah (Priestiplier) proofreads his writings..he just shakes his head in disapproval.

So those never see the light of day.

Thinks Blank, Corroded, and Jake are horribly cursed and regularly tries spraying them with holy water.

He just gets three annoyed inhuman beings glaring at him.

Heap and Mike confess their recent sins to him sometimes. It helps them get stuff off their chest.

Though Mike always starts out by saying “I’ve been very naughty-”

And Saint has to stop himself from slapping him with the book.

Beyond that, he’s just an all-around good dude.

Yahoo

Like Bing and Google, he’s a search engine-based android designed to answer people’s questions.

Often speaks in a soft and sincere tone of voice, though he can be firm when necessary.

One of his eyes is more cybernetic than humanlike, and it’s capable of many functions including infrared and x-ray scanners, as well as being able to instantly identify any individual he sees.

That’s how he got to know all of the Crankegos so easily.

He’s on good terms with all the Googles...except for Blue, of course, since he thinks he’s just another rival.

But Yahoo still tries to be kind regardless.

Unfortunately some take advantage of that, though Bernice and Mike usually come to his defense.

He’s terrified of water and viruses..so he tends to stay away from Blank and Corroded.

When he’s recharging, both his eyes glow purple under his eyelids.

He’s got a lot of service features, including Yahoo! Finance (to help with personal finances), Answers (a q&a), and Mail.

Kinda misses the funky logo the company had from 1996-2013

#crankgameplays #mad mike #blankgameplays #corroded crank #dark crankgameplays #heapass #jake the zombie #bernice #saintgameplays #yahoogameplays #crankegos #crank egos #ahwm #headcanons

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sammysdewysensitiveeyes · 4 years

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Back again, with my opinions that no one asked for. This time, it’s my takes on the animated versions of Pyro.

1. X-Men: The Animated Series Pyro

This, this is my boy right here. Look at this dork with his terrible 70′s fluffy hair, hanging out at the bar with his not-so-hetero life-partner Avalanche. This was my first introduction to the character (in fact, the cartoon was my first introduction to X-Men in general, and sent me down the path of reading comics).

This version of Pyro is an established career criminal and professional lackey, usually working for Mystique but not above a bit of robbery or kidnapping on the side if he’s bored. He and Avalanche are presented as buddies who have probably been working together for awhile. They first show up in the episode “The Cure,” hanging out on Muir Island waiting for Mystique to give them orders, then completely screwing up Mystique’s plans when they decide to kidnap the scientist Dr. Adler for extra cash . Apparently Mystique can’t leave them to their own devices for even a day.

Pyro also hilariously tries to flirt with Rogue by setting a chair on fire and making a bad pun. It goes about as well as you’d expect:

Get your hands off of her, Pyro, she is too good for you. (The best part about this is, I don’t think he even used his powers here? He just tried to impress Rogue as “guy with a flamethrower,” rather than “fire-controlling mutant.” No wonder she throws his dumb ass through the wall.)

Pyro and Avalanche both show up again later, alongside Blob, creating a distraction so that Mystique can try to assassinate Senator Kelly in the animated series version of the Days of Future Past storyline. In a much later episode, the same trio cause trouble again to lure the X-Men out so that Mystique can try to win Rogue back to their side. That episode feels out of continuity to the rest of the series, since a flashback shows Rogue previously working with the Brotherhood (alongside Pyro and Avalanche), but none of them recognize each other when they “first meet” in “The Cure.” I can assume that maybe Rogue lost her memories in the trauma of absorbing Ms. Marvel, but I don’t know what Pyro and Avalanche’s excuse is. Frequent head injuries? Maybe they’re both just really dumb?

I am fond of TAS Pyro, and he’s probably the closest to comics Pyro out of the animated adaptations, despite being portrayed as British rather than Australian. He looks fairly similar to his comics counterpart, and fulfills the same role of being a hired pain-in-the-ass that annoys the X-Men, mostly for money, as well as being Avalanche’s BFF. He’s also clearly a full-grown, experienced adult who’s probably somewhere in his thirties at least, which is about the age I estimate for comics Pyro. He’s kinda dumb, but practical. He just wants to commit crimes with Avalanche, get paid, and run away before the X-Men can beat him up. That’s a reasonable dream, right?

X-Men Evolution Pyro:

Well, at least the guy loves his work. I give him an “A” for enthusiasm.

I have mixed feelings about this Pyro. He’s a lot of fun, but not really the Pyro I know and love from the comics. This Pyro is one of Magneto’s Acolytes rather than a member of the Brotherhood, working alongside Gambit, Colossus and Sabretooth. He really, REALLY enjoys setting things on fire, and doesn’t seem to care who gets hurt in the process. Or rather, he seems to also enjoy people getting hurt, and tends to laugh maniacally while torching things, to the point of seeming really unbalanced. I can’t tell if he’s completely detached from reality and is viewing things like a video game, without a real understanding of consequences, or if he knows exactly what he’s doing, and just likes to hurt people. Either way, Evo Pyro seems much less stable than comic book Pyro, who can also be pretty wild and over-the-top in his fights and probably enjoys fire a little too much, but still acts an an overall rational person.

Meanwhile, Evo Pyro repeatedly watches a video of Magneto seeming to die and laughs hysterically at it:

He is delighted when Wolverine shows up looking for a fight (because he was “bored out of his skull,”), and seems disappointed when Wolverine leaves abruptly afterwards. It’s interesting that, after Magneto’s apparent death (not really) in Evolution, the other Acolytes all go off on their own, but Pyro hangs out alone in their base, as if he doesn’t really have a life to go back to, or any real identity outside of being “Pyro.” When the series ends, he is shown in the future as having joined the Brotherhood (with Toad, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Blob and Avalanche), apparently working for SHIELD in some kind of Freedom Force style team. I’d like to imagine that he’s super cheerful and friendly when he first joins up, and they are all a little bit terrified of him.

The character design is different, but looks pretty good for a re-imagining of the character. They’ve remembered the most important aspects of Pryo, namely “scrawny,” “fire colors,” and “crazy blond hair all over the place.” He also seems to be actually Australian, judging by him using the term “down under” at one point. In fitting with the “teen X-Men” theme of Evolution, this Pyro looks very young. If the Brotherhood are all in high school, Pyro looks like he’s college age, like a couple of years older at most.

Like I said, Evo Pyro is fun, and surprisingly popular (I find a lot of Evo Pyro fan-stuff when I’m looking for comics Pyro), but it kinda feels like he got shafted, story-wise. In both this series and Wolverine and the X-Men, cartoons where the Brotherhood got a bigger role and more development, Pyro didn’t make the cut as a Brotherhood member and wound up in a minor role as an Acolyte. He feels kind of under-developed, and is mostly there to either be menacing or comic relief.

Wait a minute....menacing....comic-relief....under-developed.......laughs hysterically at violence......

Maybe Duggan has actually been writing Evolution Pyro in Marauders this whole time?

I don’t want to take anything away from fans of Evo Pyro, but I kinda wonder what we could have gotten if he’d been a Bayville high school student and part of the more sympathetic teen Brotherhood. Would he have a better developed character? Would they have made him an annoying twerp like Toad (I say that with great affection, Toad is probably my favorite Evo character) or a smug secretly-insecure hot-shot like Quicksilver? Or anger issues like Evo Avalanche? Would they let him keep his original name and nationality, or would he be an American teen with a cutesy on-the-nose name like Ash Embers or Flameo Hotman? We’ll never know!

Wolverine and the X-Men Pyro:

Again an Acolyte rather than a Brotherhood member, this Pyro has even less development than Evo Pyro. He shows up in the first episode being rescued from the Mutant Response Division (along with Boom Boom, Dust, and others). In that scene, he’s clearly meant to be Australian (saying “mate,”), and appears to be on friendly terms with Boom Boom and Dust. Later on Genosha, he seems to be one of Magneto’s guards/lackeys, and doesn’t appear to mind Dust being thrown in prison. He’s either a true believer, or is mercenary and practical-minded like comics Pyro, and has decided that following Magneto is his best chance for survival, Pyro does apologize to Nightcrawler and offer a quick “Nothing personal,” when Magneto sends the Acolytes after him, so maybe he doesn’t revel in his work the same way Evo Pyro does. The only other notable thing he does is get in trouble for telling Lorna news about Wanda going missing (Magneto is pissed enough to throw him into a cell for that), so I assume that this Pyro is also a massive gossip. It’s the best I can do with what very little we get of him. The X-Men don’t seem to have any issue with Pyro (or even recognize him) when they first rescue him, so I’m guessing that he didn’t have any criminal history before joining Magneto in Genosha? Unlike TAS series Pyro, who’s overall attitude is, “Be gay, do crimes! And by crimes, I mean arson and kidnapping!”

I’m not fond of this design. It’s a nice updated look, and really more stylish than what he’s worn in the comics, but the hair is too douche-bag frat-boy for me, and I can’t get past the little soul-patch on his chin. Shave that nonsense, Pyro, you can’t pull off facial hair. He looks older than Evo Pyro but younger than comics Pyro - maybe mid-to-late 20′s?

This Pyro is sadly kinda forgettable. I’m not sure why Pyro got largely skipped over as a Brotherhood member in later X-Men cartoons, but the fact that the character was long dead in the comics by the time the cartoons aired probably had something to do with it. Kinda sad that they wasted the potential they could have gotten out of teen Bobby vs. teen Pyro in Evolution, though.

(Come to think of it, Gambit got similarly shafted in Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men, since they pushed him into a minor recurring side-character role. At least in the original X-Men TAS, Gambit actually got to be an X-Man and main character.)

Obviously, TAS Pyro is my favorite out of these, but I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. Nothing wrong with being a fan of Evo Pyro or even the barely there WatXM Pyro, they’re all good!

#pyro #st. john allerdyce #animated pyro

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katierosefun · 4 years

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ever in our favor

Summary: Anakin Skywalker liked to think he wasn't afraid of anything.Ahsoka Tano liked to think no one was afraid of her.Obi-Wan Kenobi liked to think he was too smart to be afraid.[or: the Hunger Games/TCW AU. Three different tributes from three different districts. A tech-whiz, a thief, and the son of a Victor who was cast into the Games on purpose. Happy Hunger Games, everyone.]

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wc: 5509

Anakin Skywalker liked to think he wasn’t afraid of anything.

He wasn’t afraid of Peacekeepers, for one thing, not when he could easily outrun any of them. Not that he had had to, not in a long time. He had once had to outrun them when he was little, back when it was easier for his mom to defend him against his stupid little tricks with the electricity or the radio system. He hadn’t meant to mess around with the radios, but he had, and he was pretty sure he somehow transmitted some music from District 11. He had thought it was rather nice, but then Peacekeepers had started looking for him, and his mother had insisted that Anakin was just a “silly little boy” who played with the dials because he had nothing better to do so please, punish me instead—

His mom had been punished that day, in the end. Tied to a post and whipped, and Anakin had screamed himself hoarse, and one of the other women had tugged Anakin aside, forced him to not watch, but Anakin could still hear the whip fall, and he could still hear his mom’s just barely restrained screams. No one had been allowed to touch her even long after the Peacekeeper had finished. Anakin remembered that it was summer, and it was hot, and he remembered being scared only then, even after his mom healed with the help of some of the other men and women in the district.

“Don’t be afraid, Ani,” his mom had said to him later that night, brushing her thumb across his cheek. “Because as soon as you’re afraid, that makes them happy.”

So he decided not to be afraid.

He wouldn’t be afraid—he won’t be afraid, not even if his name had been cast into the lottery more times this year than ever before.

Just twelve times, he thought. Things could be worse. He could have his name put in there nearly forty times, fifty times, which he knew some unlucky folks did for their families. But Anakin just had his mom and himself—no siblings, no dad. Just the two of them. Shmi and Anakin Skywalker.

Just twelve times.

And there weren’t even going to be as many tributes this year—there was only going to be one chosen per district this year for the Third Quarter Quell. Unusual, Anakin knew, but the president had promised that fewer tributes would mean an even more exciting game. Deadlier traps, higher stakes. Draw out the game longer than they had in previous years. Make people more desperate.

“You should eat something,” Shmi said now, pushing bread Anakin’s way.

Anakin looked down and found that it wasn’t the brown, hard stuff that his mom and he had to have most of the time. He found a round, soft roll instead, one without burn marks or mold or anything. Anakin looked back up, surprised.

Shmi smiled. “A gift,” she said. “Our neighbors wish us well.” She pushed the roll a little closer to Anakin. “Now go on, eat.”

He wasn’t really hungry—he wasn’t sure anyone was, not on Reaping Day, but—

Anakin tore the roll in half and pressed one half into his mom’s reluctant hand. “We’ll both need it,” he said, flashing his mom a quick smile. He stood up, forced himself to take a bite. They ate in silence.

The bread seemed to clog itself in Anakin’s throat, and for a moment, he wondered if he wouldn’t be able to swallow—but he eventually did, and then he heard the bells sound across the district.

A quiet gasp—not from himself, but from his mother, who reached over and grabbed his hand in sudden desperation.

“It’s okay,” Anakin said. He squeezed back his mom’s hand. “Nothing’s going to happen to me.” He looked at his mom, smiled again. “What happened to not being afraid?”

A silence passed, and then Shmi gave Anakin a weak smile. “You’re right,” she said after a little while. She lifted a hand, brushed her thumb under his eye like he was a nine-year old again. “I’m not afraid at all.”

“That’s the spirit,” Anakin said. He tugged at his mom’s hands. “Come on,” he said. “After this, we can listen to that music again. The singing, remember?”

Shmi’s face faltered for a moment. “You really should stop…”

“They haven’t caught me yet,” Anakin said with forced lightness. Not since he was nine years old, at least. Seven more years of getting familiar with the technology and goings-on of his district had taught him to be nimbler and smarter with what he did when he did them.

“No,” Shmi said. “I suppose they haven’t.” She squeezed Anakin’s hand again.

And they headed out to greet the rest of District 3.

Ahsoka Tano liked to think no one was afraid of her.

She used that to her advantage—she always had, ever since she was a little girl. She was smaller than most of the girls and boys her age, both in height and frame. So that made her forgettable. Peacekeepers were less likely to be suspicious of a small girl, and the others were less likely to point fingers at someone as seemingly innocent as herself. But Ahsoka knew the truth about her own self: she’d known enough about herself to use that appearance to her advantage, starting from when she was old enough to work in the fields. Her baggy clothes made for useful ways to pocket more food and sneak back to her dad and her friends.

And she hadn’t been caught once—the Peacekeepers hadn’t ever noticed, and Ahsoka had always been careful to swipe only enough in haphazard places. The closest she ever got to getting caught was the time she stole a whole loaf of bread from a Peacekeeper, but by the time he had discovered the thieving, Ahsoka and the other field workers had already been long gone, and luckily, the Peacekeeper’s dog had been close enough to be the suspected thief instead.

She got away with those little things easily, and no one ever suspected her. So Ahsoka told herself that if she got chosen, then—

Ahsoka curled her hands over her lap.

But she didn’t want to be chosen—

She couldn’t be chosen. This was only her second year. She only had her name in three times. Her three older brothers—Wolffe, Boost, Sinker, and Comet—all had their names in more times than her, Wolffe with the highest: forty-two pieces of paper with his name would be in the lottery today. Eighteen years old and covering for all five members of their family. And Ahsoka knew that next year, Boost would be the one covering for all of the, and then the year after that, Sinker, and then Comet.

A part of Ahsoka wondered if her dad ever regretted having as many children as he did—they weren’t even technically related, not by blood anyways. But Plo Koon had always been a man with more heart than he probably needed, and there were many starving babies left on porches a decade or so ago, when District 11 got hit with an unexpected frost overnight.

The only real blood relations might be amongst Ahsoka’s brothers—they had been a whole set, Wolffe being the oldest and drifting along with his younger brothers when Plo Koon found them hovering near the market.

As for Ahsoka, she was told that she had just been dropped at Plo Koon’s doorstep in the middle of the night, and that had been that. Ahsoka didn’t try to figure out who her birth parents were—as far as she was considered, Plo Koon was her dad, and that was all that mattered.

Ahsoka curled her hands over her knees. She glanced around her room—really, the whole family’s room, separated only by curtains, but she liked her little space. She fingered the hem of her skirt: a pretty red thing that fell right above her knees. She had only worn it once before, on her birthday. She thought it was fitting that she should wear it on Reaping Day.

The slight brush of a hand against the curtain behind her was what brought Ahsoka’s head up.

“There you are,” Plo Koon said, sitting down next to Ahsoka on her bed. “I figured you might be here.”

Ahsoka smiled. Tried to smile. “Do we need to go?” she asked.

“Not yet,” Plo Koon replied. He turned around, and Ahsoka smelled the flowers before seeing them first. She smiled for real this time as Plo Koon tucked a red-orange flower right into her hair. “Do you know what this is?”

Ahsoka concentrated for a moment, trying to remember, and then she said, “Marigolds. Tagetes patula, to be exact.”

“Correct,” Plo Koon said, his eyes wrinkling a little bit at the corners as he smiled. He leaned back, tilted his head, and suddenly that smile turned sad, and Ahsoka knew what he was thinking, because she was thinking and dreading the same exact thing too.

There was the sound of rushing feet and curtains being batted aside, and suddenly, Wolffe and the others were crowded around Ahsoka’s little space, breathing hard but eyes bright. Ahsoka knew that they had just spent the last few minutes running through the district—they always did, to work off the nerves and, as Sinker once put it, “to piss off the Peacekeepers one last time”—even though all the Peacekeepers were busy with the Reaping Day preparations. (“Don’t,” Wolffe would always groan.)

“Look at you,” Comet was saying, flashing Ahsoka a grin. “Nice flower.”

“Don’t laugh,” Ahsoka said, flicking Comet on the shoulder. She nodded at Plo Koon. “He got some for you guys, too.”

“That’s true,” Plo Koon said. “Come here, boys.”

“Dad—”

“Come on, I think we’ll look pretty, don’t you think?”

Some grumbling and laughter later, and the whole family had flowers tucked behind their ears.

Boost and Sinker looked at each other, snickered, and then bowed their heads, nearly knocking their foreheads together. (“You look lovely, Sinker.” “No, you, I insist—”)

Ahsoka smiled at her family. They would be just fine, she told herself. She looked up at Wolffe last, who was watching their brothers with some restrained amusement. Wolffe caught her staring, and he smiled—rare, coming from him, but Ahsoka figured that they all needed it.

We’ll be fine, she thought again. She adjusted the flower in her hair and looked out the window, where people were already starting to trail out of their homes. They would be just fine.

Obi-Wan Kenobi liked to think that he was too smart to be afraid.

Being afraid made people lose focus, made them do stupid things like run or jump without looking where they were heading. That was what he had learned from his time watching countless games, ever since he was a child. He would watch them even when his father wasn’t, because even though his father was one of the many famed Victors of their district, Obi-Wan liked to be prepared.

Which was why he had taken to learning and quietly training on his own when he was little—and then his father had caught him, and instead of reprimanding him, Qui-Gon Jinn had only adjusted Obi-Wan’s grip on the makeshift spear he had made for himself (really nothing more than a large stick that Obi-Wan had sharpened to a point).

And of course, the Peacekeepers, had they seen anything, didn’t argue. Secret training in preparation for the games was commonplace enough in District 1. If anything, it would have been strange if the Victors didn’t train their own children, blood-related or not.

Obi-Wan pushed himself away from the back door of the house—mansion, really, but Obi-Wan always referred to it as a house in his own mind. He stepped across the backyard, looked at the lemon trees that made a semi-circle around the perimeter of the yard. Obi-Wan reached out for one, scratched at the peel. Rolled it between his hands. Wondered if there would be any trees in the arena. One time the games had been a frozen wasteland, which hadn’t been fun—most of the tributes had just froze to death, with lips blue and eyes still open. There had been a desert before too, all dunes of orange and yellow sand, and that had gone poorly as well. Most tributes either went mad with thirst or simply laid down and refused to get back up due to the heat.

“Here again?”

Obi-Wan turned to find Qui-Gon standing at the back door.

Obi-Wan held up the lemon in his hand. “This was about to fall off anyways,” he said, tossing the fruit over to Qui-Gon.

His father caught it one-handed. “So it was,” he said. He looked up at Obi-Wan. “What do you see?”

“Seven lemon trees,” Obi-Wan said. “One of the trees is growing sick. We’ll have to take care of it soon.”

Qui-Gon’s lips twitched. “What else?”

Your shirt’s looser than it was last week, Obi-Wan thought. Dark circles under his father’s eyes, skin paler than normal.

Obi-Wan said as much.

Qui-Gon smiled. “Good observations,” he said.

Obi-Wan didn’t smile back. He took another lemon from the tree, found the grey rot on its underside. He frowned, tucked the lemon in his own pocket to dispose of it properly later. He looked back to his father, found that Qui-Gon’s smile had faded.

“When you go into the arena,” he said, “you’ll have to make sure you’re always observing. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Obi-Wan replied, walking back to the back door. He started to walk past Qui-Gon, but his father caught him by the shoulder.

Obi-Wan looked up at Qui-Gon.

Qui-Gon looked back down at Obi-Wan intently. A moment passed before he said at last, “I’m sorry that it has to come down to this.”

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Obi-Wan said. He took out the rotting lemon in his pocket and stepped through the back door. He threw it in the bin, where it landed with a satisfying thunk. The bin had been meters and meters away, but Obi-Wan’s aim had been perfect.

He saw Qui-Gon nod—just the slightest tilt of his head to signal his approval.

Obi-Wan looked at Qui-Gon. “When she calls my name,” he said, “am I supposed to react in any particular way?”

“Don’t look afraid,” Qui-Gon replied.

“I won’t.” Obi-Wan turned to the hall mirror, adjusted his clothes: a white shirt, dark trousers. They didn’t need any actual adjusting, not with the clothes tailored specifically to his size and shape, but still. Obi-Wan made eye-contact with Qui-Gon standing behind him.

“I don’t suppose you have any idea what the other tributes will be like this year,” Obi-Wan said, moreso a statement than a question.

“They’ll be more desperate,” Qui-Gon said.

Everyone was going to be desperate.

Obi-Wan nodded anyways, straightened himself one last time. Then the bells were ringing over the district, signaling everyone to come for the Reaping. A part of Obi-Wan wished that they didn’t all have to gather in one place—really, there was no point, when he knew that he was going to get chosen anyways. Not that anyone else did.

Obi-Wan turned to Qui-Gon.

“I’ll see you on the train,” Qui-Gon said. “And remember: play the part.”

Play the part—be the triumphant, happy Career, son of the Victor that Panem expected. Proud to get a chance to prove to the rest of Panem that he was, in fact, just as much the talented and clever soon-to-be-victor that his own father was.

Obi-Wan nodded.

There were too many people clustered in one area, and there wasn’t enough space.

Really, Anakin wished that the Peacekeepers could have chosen someplace else to hold the reaping, but the Hall of Justice had to do, even though the inside hall was too small to fit everyone inside. There were a few children in the roped-off sections outside. Anakin didn’t know why they couldn’t all be outside, with at least more room to breathe, but there was something about apparently the back mural of the Hall of Justice—a ridiculous piece commemorating the Capitol—that was perfectly perfect for the rest of the Capitol audience.

Anakin didn’t like the mural. There were too many bright colors, and the faces looked all wrong.

He turned to find his mom. She was standing at the other end of the hall, where all the other parents were. Shmi caught his eye and smiled weakly, fluttering her fingers over at him.

Anakin smiled back, but then the sound of someone clearing a throat drew everyone’s attention back to the front.

“Welcome!” a man in a ridiculously flashy, ridiculously golden suit smiled blandly at the crowd. Anakin couldn’t help himself: he laughed a little to himself. Everyone knew who Threepio was, the escort well-known for his silly little tirades about nothing in particular. “Ah, there are quite a lot of you, aren’t there—yes, more faces than last year…” An awkward little laugh to himself, which no one responded to.

“Well, yes,” Threepio said, blinking down at them all. “Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds—”

Be ever in your favor, Anakin finished for him.

“Today, we are joined by—ah, yes, Miss Amidala, hello, ma’am, so good to see you today!”

There was a sudden rustling in the crowd as everyone lifted their heads at the name.

Including Anakin’s, as he watched District 3’s sole victor walk across the makeshift stage.

She wasn’t that much older than him—Anakin remembered her own games five years ago, back when she was eighteen and he was thirteen. He couldn’t remember much then, except that he thought she was the most beautiful person in the world, with dark hair and even darker eyes. The other tribute had been his age too. Another thirteen year old boy, who Anakin watched die with a spear in his chest.

“Thank you, Threepio,” Padmé Amidala said now, tilting her head at Threepio. She looked out to the crowd, and Anakin’s breath caught in his throat.

“Now we can begin!” Threepio said in that blandly cheerful voice. He turned to the little crystal ball full of leaflets.

Anakin turned to his mother again.

But Shmi wasn’t looking at him—she was whispering something into a crying woman’s ear, probably reassuring her of whatever was to come.

And then someone jostled into Anakin, and for a moment, all he felt was himself being shoved to the ground—someone had fainted, he realized, and he looked down to shake the person next to him awake, come on, get up, don’t do this now—

The boy—because it had been a boy who had fainted right into Anakin, blinked up at him with glazed eyes. “I don’t wanna go,” he whispered.

“You won’t,” Anakin whispered back. “Just get up, before you create a scene. Okay?”

The boy only whimpered, curled in on himself. He couldn’t have been that much older than twelve. Anakin looked around, wondering if he had any siblings, anyone who could—

“Listen,” Anakin said, looking back down at the boy. “Don’t be afraid. Okay?” He tugged at the boy’s arm, forcing him upright. “Because as soon as you’re afraid, that’s when you make them happy. And we can’t let that happen, can we?”

The boy’s bottom lip wobbled.

“Can we?” Anakin repeated.

The boy shook his head.

“Great,” Anakin said. “Good.” He tugged the boy up to his feet. “So come on. Don’t be scared now—” But then he realized that there were other eyes on him, not just the boy beside him. He could feel the shift in the air, the sudden turn of heads.

Anakin paused, and then he looked up.

“Anakin Skywalker?” Threepio’s voice called. He was craning his neck over the microphone, hand over his eyes. “Is that you over there, boy?”

Anakin stared.

Mom, where’s Mom—

Anakin looked to the side.

He found Shmi staring back at him, her eyes wide and fearful, hand clapped over her mouth because—

Oh, he realized. He hadn’t heard Threepio the first time, because he had been busy with the kid—

“Anakin Skywalker, if you can come up now please—”

Anakin slowly turned back around to the stage. He heard, rather than saw, the others shift around him. People slowly stepping out of his way, creating a straight path between himself and the stage.

Anakin took one step.

Two steps.

And then he was walking across the hall, to the stage.

He climbed up, hoping that his steps were steady. He wasn’t sure if they were.

“Ah, yes,” Threepio said from somewhere in front of him. “Here we are.”

Anakin lifted his eyes. He saw a blur of a face, realized then that there was a hand guiding his back so that he could turn to the crowd. “Our tribute from District 3!”

Anakin looked to the crowd. Mom, where’s Mom—

But he couldn’t see anyone’s faces. The lights were too bright, and there were suddenly so many cameras, and Anakin could only blink at them all. He felt a cold hand wrap around his wrist, hoist it into the air.

Our tribute from District 3—

There were too many people clustered in one area, and there wasn’t even a breeze to keep off the heat.

Ahsoka swiped at the sweat dripping down the back of her neck. She was glad that her clothes were relatively light, but still. She looked over at her brothers, who were all lined up together near the back. Ahsoka catches their eyes, and they all make a face at her. The joke is clear: bored already.

Ahsoka stifles a smile and turns to the front, surprised to find that there is a different escort than the one that usually greeted the tributes. Gone was the previous Capitol man with his strange assortment of clothing and wigs, but instead, there was a pale—remarkably pale—woman with long legs and a completely shaved head save for a few elaborate purple tattoos.

“Look alive,” the escort said, bored. There was a little bit of a rustling amongst the crowd at that—look alive hardly seemed like the appropriate greeting, but—

“Ah, yes, and welcome to the Hunger Games, Reaping, et cetera.” The woman’s sharp eyes surveyed the crowd for a full second before adding, “We might as well get started. Our dear victor isn’t able to make an appearance today, caught up with very important matters all relating to the games, of course, and et cetera.”

You already said that, Ahsoka thought.

“So let’s just get this show started, shall we?” The woman reached into the crystal ball faster than Ahsoka anticipated, and something in her lurched because she wasn’t ready for it to be done that quickly—

Ahsoka blindly turned to her brothers again, and they were already waiting for.

Wolffe mouthed something: it’s fine, and then—

“Ahsoka Tano.”

Ahsoka was still looking at her brothers, so she saw the horror on their faces before she felt her own.

And then Wolffe started moving forward, which was how Ahsoka knew that wait, this was happening, and wait, what was Wolffe doing—

“I volunteer,” Wolffe said quickly, stepping out onto the path between the boys and the girls. “In Ahsoka Tano’s place—I volunteer as tribute.”

Ahsoka’s ears rang. Wait, Wolffe, no—

A silence, and then the escort smiled. Ahsoka wasn’t sure how she could be smiling at a time like this, but the escort only lifted up the leaflet bearing Ahsoka’s name. “Sorry, sweetheart,” the woman said, “but president’s orders. No volunteers for this Quarter Quell.”

Another ripple through the crowd at that news.

“Wait—” Wolffe started. “But we didn’t—”

“Of course you didn’t hear it yet,” the woman said, folding the leaflet in her hands with a few deft strokes. “News gets around the districts slow, doesn’t it? But rules are rules.” Her sharp eyes combed through the crowd. “Now, Ahsoka Tano, do come up—we’ve got a long day ahead of us, and the day’s rather hot.”

Ahsoka didn’t feel hot at all. She was cold all over.

Ahsoka looked at her brothers again. They were all staring at her, pained and wide-eyed, and she saw a sudden burst of movement—but then Wolffe was holding them back because the Peacekeepers were suddenly closer now.

It’s fine, Ahsoka thought. She looked at her brothers, gave them a tight nod. I’ll be fine.

She wondered where her dad was. She didn’t know where he went or where he was located here—probably with the other parents, but what was he doing now? She dully hoped that there was someone around to comfort him, because no one could move until she left with her escort.

Ahsoka made her way to the front, hearing only the whispers of some of the other girls as she weaved through them. For a moment, she thought they wouldn’t let her get past. It was almost as though all the other girls were desperately trying to keep her in, keep her from entering the games, and the thought almost made Ahsoka stop walking altogether.

Someone squeezed Ahsoka’s arm. She wasn’t sure who, but then someone else was touching her shoulder, another was brushing the hair from her face, another was readjusting the flower near her ear. And Ahsoka emerged from the crowd with the ghost of touches from the others in her district, and then she was at the front of the stage, looking up at the pale, long-legged woman.

“Well, come on up,” the woman said, jerking her head.

Ahsoka straightened her shoulders. Headed for the stairs. She looked to the back of the stage—thought she saw something moving in the background, but then she was being turned to look at the cameras gathered around her.

A pat on her shoulder from the woman. Her hand was cold.

“Our tribute from District 11,” the woman said flatly to the cameras. She looked down at Ahsoka, nodded her head to the cameras again. “Anything in particular you want to say while the cameras are still rolling, sweetheart? Give a good first impression for all of us?”

Ahsoka stared up at the woman. This wasn’t usually how most reapings went—she wasn’t sure if this new escort was making fun of her or not.

Ahsoka looked to the cameras.

People aren’t afraid of you, a voice whispered at the back of her head. Make them keep thinking that.

So Ahsoka only smiled—her sweetest, most naïve smile, the kind that she only ever gave when she was trying to wheedle her brothers into doing something for her. She twirled a strand of her dark hair around a finger and waved at the camera until her wrist hurt.

Obi-Wan didn’t care if there were too many people clustered around the area. He’d be separated from the rest soon enough.

He saw some boys and girls toss curious glances his way. Some sneers, but most just watched him with a wary eye. Obi-Wan already knew most of them were running statistics in their heads: trying to guess whether or not he would be able to get drawn. He was eighteen—his name would have technically only been cast seven times, and he didn’t have any need to cast his name any more than that.

Obi-Wan didn’t bother meeting the stares of those who looked at him. Let them stare, he decided. He would be under the attention of the entire country in just a few minutes anyways, and in just a few days, he would be under the attention of the entire country for hours on end. He might as well get some more practice now.

Not that he hadn’t had practice before. Being the Victor’s son always got him an extra glance or two in school, in the streets. He remembered a boy had once asked him if his father ever told him stories of the games, so Obi-Wan had made one up on the spot, just so the boy could leave him alone.

The truth was Qui-Gon didn’t tell Obi-Wan too much of his own experience in the games. There had been some clips played, of course, during each reaping—clips of his father emerging victorious out of a dense jungle with mud and blood splattered across his face, but he had been standing defiant until the very end.

Obi-Wan figured he wouldn’t get a jungle, not for his games. The game-makers didn’t like repeating themselves, and from what Obi-Wan had watched from the recordings of his own father’s time at the games, he was a little glad he wouldn’t be stuck in a jungle. There had been great bugs that sucked their victims dry of blood, suffocating mists that left their victims choking on their own vomit and spit, vines that came to life and tried strangling their victims to death whenever things got a little too slow. Obi-Wan had watched a clip of his own father use one of those vines to his own advantage, somehow manipulating them into choking one of his pursuers instead.

Qui-Gon had shut off the television after finding Obi-Wan watching that recording.

They hadn’t spoken about it afterwards, and when Obi-Wan went to search for the recording of those games again, he found that they were deleted from the television. He was fairly sure the Capitol didn’t allow such behavior, but he didn’t ask questions, and his father didn’t give him any answers.

Obi-Wan watched some of the clips from the previous games play before him now: shots of his father, and then shots of the other victors from the past in their final moments. Most of the victors were from District 1, District 2, District 4. All of the more favored districts. But there was the occasional victor from the other districts—Mace Windu from District 7, Quinlan Vos from District 5, Luminara Unduli from District 8, and most recently, a young girl named Katooni from District 12. That had been a surprise to all—the girl was no more than twelve years old, and yet everyone had watched her confuse her opponent into falling off the edge of a cliff. There weren’t any other living victors from District 12—Obi-Wan tried to imagine this child now attempting to mentor and get sponsorships for someone who might potentially be older than herself.

And now, finally, the escort—a young, blonde woman who Obi-Wan knew as Satine Kryze, although he couldn’t be sure that was her real name—all the Capitol people made up their own names by the day, it seemed. He had only ever met her a few times, once in his own home. She couldn’t have been that much older than himself, and he remembered being confused why there was a random girl in the hallway, but then she had just given him a quick, appraising look before walking out.

Obi-Wan only found out that he was to be the new escort a few weeks ago, and now, if it hadn’t been for the fact that Qui-Gon had told him that the girl in their home was to be the escort, he wouldn’t have guessed looking at Satine now: she was dressed in a particularly voluminous blue dress, her hair piled atop her head in an elaborate headset.

“Welcome,” Satine said now, nodding at the crowd as though they were all good friends. “And welcome to the 75th Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your favor.” Her lips curled into a slight smile, as though she knew something that the rest of the district didn’t. For all Obi-Wan knew, she might already know what the game makers were planning. He didn’t put it past the escorts for his district to somehow already have some inside knowledge with the rest of the games.

And beside Satine, Obi-Wan saw his father. Still wearing the same loose shirt, loose pants that was only halfheartedly held up by a belt, but someone had applied enough makeup to reduce the dark circles under his eyes.

“May the odds be ever in your favor,” Satine repeated, and then she dipped her hand into the bowl.

And when she said his name—it didn’t matter if his name wasn’t actually on the leaflet she had pulled, she would say his name anyways, that was the deal, Obi-Wan knew, Obi-Wan pressed through the crowd without a second thought. It wasn’t difficult for him to keep his shoulders back, chin up.

Don’t look afraid, Qui-Gon had told him.

Only idiots get afraid, Obi-Wan thought. He kept his hands at his sides, mounted the stairs to the stage. Satine and Qui-Gon both looked at him, gave him a slight nod as he made his way to the front of the stage.

He looked at the cameras and smiled.

Let the games begin.

#tcw #tcw fic #star wars #the clone wars #swtcw #sw #anakin skywalker #obi-wan kenobi #ahsoka tano #thg #the hunger games #my fic #well HERE WE GOOO

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amuelia · 4 years

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I'm not sure if you've ever mentioned anything about this but how do you feel about show Roose? I was really sad to see his character get cut so much but I really like his voice,,,,it's a good Roose voice ( also it's CRIMINAL how they took away the Bolton's pink like they don't even wear anything but black in the show 😭😭 ) (( also also I absolutely love your art YOU MAKE SO MUCH GOOD ART OF UNDER APPRECIATED CHARACTERS ITS SO GOOD TO SEE 🥺😭♥️♥️ ))

I think the actor is very handsome and talented! I like reading his Interviews, he seems very intelligent and you can see the thought he put into his character and his scenes. He did a great job with the material he was given, and i think it’s very understandable and professional that he read the first books but then decided to focus his portrayal on the show scripts, because the way they wrote him was too different.

Did you read the books before you started filming? I read the books before I started. Well, I read two of the books, and then I stopped actually. Because the character in the books is very, very different to the character in the show. The core differences were he spoke with a whisper. He never raised his voice. He had no emotion on his face. I remember there's a [line] that joy and laughter were very similar. So you couldn't play that. It's fine if it was the Roose Bolton show, you could do something like that. The character was not written like that at all. So it kind of did me a disservice reading the books. So I put them aside and just concentrated on the character in the scripts. - Michael McElhatton, IGN interview

But also, in the end, what he mentions about the difference is part of why, as a book stan, the show version doesn’t interest me that much; it’s not even about him specifically, but just a general thing all the show characters share. Just like most other characters they adapted, they completely suck the fun out of the character grrm wrote - no leeches, no icy eyes or pale face, no pink house sigil; ending up with a character that pretty much looks and acts like every other dude. I don’t need Roose to look like Dracula (as much as i love it, the long dark hair for example is not book canon, since his hair is never described), but he should be memorable! Instead, i often hear that people new to the show don’t remember his s2 scenes, or mix him up with other regular looking dudes like Stannis, or otherwise don’t remember him. One of grrm’s biggest strengths is how with just a few traits he makes every character memorable and distiguishable; think about any random character and youll probbaly remember at least one “special trait” that sets their appearance or personality apart from the rest. The show completely falls flat in this regard, ironically making it so that the books make better use of the “visual medium” than the show does.

Apart from that, visually the actor is ok; Considering a Dance with Dragons came out at a similar time as the first season and the casting process takes a while, I don’t blame them for leaving out some details of his character descriptions (for example his “ageless” appearance or the small close-set eyes are only mentioned in aDwD). His height (175cm, influenced my hc for the book version) and body type are close to the book, though i wish they’d left him clean-shaven like in s2 for the entire show. He has a bit of a long face which fits with the book’s northmen. He’s no Supermodel but i heard him called handsome frequently, so idk if that fits with the book description “not handsome but not quite plain”; i love interesting faces more than conventionally attractive ones so i can’t really judge objectively. Voice is imo too deep (imdb also calls it “commanding”), i imagine him having more of a mid range voice; and the actor also just talks normally instead of being notably whispery/quiet.

In terms of characterization, as the actor hints at, I do not think they are written very similarly. Roose in the books is a character who is ruled by an underlying fear/anxiety that drives him to, at all times, ensure his own safety and health (I elaborate on this more in this meta); The show version the way i remember it does not show this a lot. He doesn’t have the leeching scene and if he has scenes about being obsessed with health they werent prominent enough for me to remember (maybe the Jaime scene included some book dialogue?). He is serious, but he does not act emotionless to hide his feelings (Though the show scene where he says he doesn’t drink was a nice touch; it is not completely congruent with book canon, but brings across the same idea that he wants to be in control of a situation and his feelings).

For a bigger example: Show!Roose’s characterization in the Red Wedding episode shows him acting very confident and in a great mood, bantering with Cat, and staying in the room the entire time while wearing chainmail; while in the books he barely eats and doesn’t talk to Cat, is shown exchanging threatening glances with Walder, and leaves early to ensure his own safety only to return fully decked out in armor to give Robb the final blow. In the books, imo, you can see that he is stressed out by the situation; because while he planned it very thoroughly with Lothar Frey, it is still a great risk for such a cautious man to take, and he needs to trust that Walder doesn’t backstab him.

Bolton had made a toast to Lord Walder's grandsons when the wedding feast began, pointedly mentioning that Walder and Walder were in the care of his bastard son. From the way the old man had squinted at him, his mouth sucking at the air, Catelyn knew he had heard the unspoken threat.

They are not necessarily great story-changing differences, but to me still paint a different picture of his character. People always say “oh a character doesnt need to look exactly like the descriptions as long as the actor works for the story, oh you dont need to adapt every little character detail as long as the story is intact”, but do this too much and somewhere along the way you lose what makes the character themselves. The small details and human traits are what makes me love a character, so if those are missing i end up not seeing them as a an adaptation of the same guy, even if the plot is similar. I do think there are scenes in the show where you can see the scriptwriter read the books and put in some of the book characterization, but the general direction of the character is still different.

I also loathe the s2 change that had Arya as Tywin’s cupbearer; it removes one (/two) of Roose’ best chapters and also the one that establishes a lot of his character traits and Red Wedding foreshadowing. The Tywin-Arya scenes are everything wrong with the show; changing scenes arbitrarily to prop up fan-favourite characters (later culminating in stuff the s7 wight hunt), bad “feminism” (like Arya saying “most girls are idiots”), having characters act OOC to be more “likable” or “sympathetic” (like that weird “fatherly” way Tywin acts towards Arya), ignoring how people in that time period and universe act (as if a man like Tywin would even glance at a servant), etc etc... here is a great post on that scene by @turtle-paced.

As far as the post-s3 scenes go I’m not a fan (though i did not rewatch those a lot, so feel free to remind me if i forgot something). i don’t like that they made Ramsay the main character of the plot, with Roose merely as a supporting role side character; the books give Roose a great arc starting in aDwD that imo is needed as a continuation of the Red Wedding plot. They pretty much cut out the Winterfell aDwD story (one of my fave storylines in asoiaf) entirely and replaced it with forgettable scenes. Replacing Jeyne with Sansa not only makes no sense for Littlefinger but also for Roose, since that makes him antagonize the Iron Throne. His death scene was so bad that it makes me hopeful he will have a bigger story in the books, and that they just culled him because they wanted to thin out plots like they did with Mance, Barristan, and Stannis.

Though in the end, while i don’t like the show’s writing and visual direction, i do still thank them for making the Boltons such prominent characters; They seem to have gained a lot of fans through the show, and are regarded as very important characters (i even see them in some “great houses” gifsets). They are of course also important in the books, but not as prominent/central as for example Ramsay was in s6. So even if they are adapted badly (Show Ramsay is especially bad), if they make people interested in their book counterparts, it’s still some sort of a win in my book.

(Also, thank you so much!! Glad you enjoy my art ❤️❤️)

#asks #asoiaf #roose bolton #meta #game of thrones #Anonymous #not art #long post

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atlas-of-a-human-soul · 5 years

Text

Fix Me (doctor/soulmate AU) {1}

Summary: She never liked the concept of soulmates, hoping to escape the ‘curse’, but Ethan had spent all his life searching for her. Will he be the one to fix her and show her soulmates are a blessing?

Warnings: angst, fluff, smuttish, swearing, drinking, death

Word count: 10.4k

A/N - heavily inspired by Grey’s anatomy, my own experiences and thoughts, but also by songs: Birdy - Not about angels, Bear’s den - Fortress, Matthew and the atlas - Out of the darkness, Harry Styles - Falling, Kodaline - Wherever you are.

I really hope you guys like it! Feedback is always wanted and appreciated, no matter how small or big it is!

Fix Me (doctor/soulmate AU) series Masterlist

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Koi no yokan (Japanese, noun) – premonition of love, a sense you will meet your soulmate, that the first time you meet someone you will fall in love.

Ethan hadn’t always felt her, a void growing inside him instead of love he saw around. Sure, not everyone finds their soulmate, some don’t even want to…at least not right away, but Ethan wasn’t one of them. Ethan craved the kind of love he saw bloom between his parents – the all-consuming, deep, passionate, do-anything-for-you kind of love. But he was left feeling alone for nearly a hundred years of his existence, beginning to fear an anomaly had occurred and he just didn’t qualify for a soulmate. Seeing his brother is without a soulmate made it selfishly easier as Ethan feared nothing as much as he feared loneliness, but at the end of the day, Ethan and Grayson would both be happy for the other if they found the one. Grayson did feel his soulmate. Grayson knew his other half was out there, yet he didn’t search for her at all. He wanted more time, more youth and more adventure. He was what Ethan considered an abuser of the connection, but he never pushed his brother to change his ways.

It was hard to navigate the world, this life, alone, much harder when you’re looking for your soulmate. Not growing a day over twenty is helpful, allowing you time to search the whole world if necessary, but people are wicked, using everything, even love, to their selfish desires. Most people don’t want to find their soulmate until they’re tired of living. Following your instincts should lead you to your other half, but these people do the opposite to essentially live forever if they please. However, when they meet the one, they’ll know by a single lock of silver hair that appears instantly, making sure the pair knows they found each other, giving them the luxury of growing old together and having children since it’s impossible to conceive with someone else. But it’s more than that – it’s a longing, an indescribable need to be with them, to feel complete, utterly happy even when they drive you crazy.

Ethan felt his instincts calling for him to go out that particular night, dragging him over to a bar he despised, but he didn’t fight the feeling. Since he felt he wasn’t alone twenty-four years ago, Ethan had followed every instinct he had to find her, him, them? But this feeling? This was koi no yokan – a sense that he is meant to meet someone he would surely fall in love with.

‘This must be her’, he thought as he showered and made sure to apply his perfume and cologne generously. The thought of smelling bad in the moment when he meets his soulmate made him grimace. If there’s anything he appreciated, it’s people with good hygiene and he wondered if she was a slob or immaculate like he is. If she were a slob, he already foresaw all the arguments they would have over the years, but he’d learn to love her flaw, just as he will love her. Even if it was something he would struggle with, Ethan appreciated flaws – they made people interesting.

While he was already moving toward the bar, a certain someone had been sitting alone, her blood turning to alcohol as she tried to drown out the noise. She was meant to celebrate, to be over the moon over the joyous news she received, but she couldn’t. In the past twenty-four years of her life, Y/N had seen more misery and pain than most people who evaded death and lived for centuries by running from their soulmate. She had been burned by life, her heart stomped on and she wasn’t in a mood to celebrate – not when she had no one to share her news with – not when she was all alone.

Not only did she never care much about her possible soulmate, but she was quite certain he didn’t want to find her either. She had seen the bad sides of what a soulmate kind of love brings, the bad and the ugly, and ever since, Y/N had hoped to avoid meeting the one. Sometimes, a soulmate kind of love means misery, toxicity and that scares her to death.

So, despite the indescribable butterflies in her stomach, Y/N downed a shot before deciding to slow down – she had all night to get drunk off her ass and find a guy to take her virginity. Most people who wanted to find their soulmate would wait, seeing sex with someone else as a betrayal and while she felt guilty even thinking about it, Y/N wanted to make sure her soulmate would walk away from her even if she stumbled upon them. She promised herself to go through with it only if she truly connects with someone, preferably a guy, and only if he makes an impression.

Little did she know that the next time she ordered a drink, her soulmate would pick up the tab.

Philophobia (from Greek "φιλέω-φιλώ" (love) and "φοβία" (phobia)) – fear of falling in love or emotional attachment

When she woke with an undeniable urge to pee, Y/N was annoyed to say the least. She turned to her side to see the handsome stranger she went home with that night, the man she deemed worthy of her virginity and the beginning of her new and improved life.

Unlike the romance movies, they didn’t wake up tangled in each other with gentle sunlight giving off warmth, a certain kind of feeling most don’t get when they have a one night stand.

No, this was real.

Y/N had woken up with her back to his, faintly feeling it rise with every breath taken, drawn to him - only now stealing a sneak peek of his crown tattoo that settled between his shoulder blades. It looked glorious on him, a true king in their bed and she didn’t mind going down on her knees for him either. He certainly earned it. The angel numbers just above had sparked her interest too, but she wasn’t quite as keen on talking once the clothes started disappearing the night before and she certainly didn’t want to stick around and have a chat now when she too needed to disappear. He seemed like a nice man, someone she might actually like and strangely enough, she truly did want to stay and see his gaze upon her once more as he did the previous night – almost as if he were mapping out her entire body to serve his memory.

His lips moved softly against hers and she hummed, relaxing into him as their torsos pressed together, his hands tight on Y/N’s waist and her back pressed against the wall behind them, his soft pants filling her ears. She didn’t know one night stands are supposed to be this gentle, this warm and comforting. It’s as if he could sense the fear running through her veins at the thought of losing her virginity and the soulmate she never wanted to have. It’s as if Grant knew she needed to take it slow and that’s why he’s holding back, caressing her with every touch instead of roughly squeezing her.

“This good”, he managed to murmur against her lips, barely holding onto the last thread of sanity he has left ever since she slammed her lips against his in the bar. And while she tasted like tequila and cheap wine, he savored the feeling.

“Perfect.” With that, Ethan pushed her back against the wall further. His hands trailing down to squeeze her thighs, the small growls he made as he nipped at the skin of her collar bone almost like a predatory warning that she’ll be claimed as his, and she didn’t mind it one bit. Not when her heart was driving her insane with the longing to hold this man closer and her body only yearned to be one with him.

The wall was pulled away from her back swiftly, his hands placed for support as he rushed toward his bedroom and she couldn’t help a small squeal from escaping her as he stumbled straight onto the bed and she was sat across his lap, legs on either side of his, her body instinctively grinding down. A rewarding moan welcomed her for listening to her instincts, repeating the torturous move as his eyes rolled back in pleasure.

“Oh, God! How are you so good at teasing me?!” Ethan exclaimed, watching her through his eyelashes, his eyes hooded until he saw her hook her fingers under her shirt, pulling it off in a single move before she quickly covered him with her body.

“Why so surprised? Not quite up to the task? Are you Grant?” As her lips found his neck, Ethan didn’t really care much about anything, flipping them over with a chuckle. Looking at her pouty expression only set him alight, allowing him to truly indulge in his craving for her flesh.

“We’ll see about that when days later you still feel me inside you, on top of you, all around you.”

It was so easy to get lost in the memory only hours old, but Y/N’s beautiful moment was cut short as she truly saw the reason why she needed to disappear, because that’s when she saw it - a streak of silver hair at the back of his head, previously hidden but clearly visible now. She couldn’t help the eye-roll as she laid on her back and turned her head away from him.

‘He has a soulmate’, she thought. ‘He has or had someone he loves, the one no one would compare to.’

She felt like just a fun, but forgettable night for him and while it dented her pride and dimmed the light she felt him wake within, Y/N reminded herself he was supposed to be just a one night stand anyway. He was never supposed to be hers. And no matter how badly she wanted to regret the previous night, she simply didn’t have it in her – not when a single look in his eyes had made her see galaxies.

But he was dangerous for her heart and staying any longer would be a mistake.

She sat up, careful not to make too much noise as the bed creaked lightly under her shifting weight. He didn’t even stir, not even a little. She felt grateful he was the kind to sleep like the dead, especially because she needed to both pee and get the hell out before he wakes up. He’s far too charming and she feared she might fall under his spell once more which would lead to a repeat of last night. It’s not the sex itself she fears, in fact, she’d love a repeat of that, but with sex come feelings and with feelings comes pain and she decided she had enough of pain to last her a lifetime…and that life might be really fucking long for her to just turn a blind eye to a future regret. She had seen what soulmate connections do to people and she swore never to suffer from the condition, even if she was doomed to walk the earth for however long it takes for her illness to return and ravage her body… Even if he would be a good distraction from her darkness.

So, she stands up, so slowly, so carefully she nearly chuckled in disbelief at her own stealthy movements, especially when she’s far from graceful.

She located her dress quickly, her shoes by the door, but her bra and panties? Those seemed to have vanished. Vaguely remembering how he ripped her black, lacy panties with his teeth, Y/N smirked before shaking her head. He can keep a small token, a reminder of her and the night they spent together.

Deciding to leave it all behind, she snuck to the bathroom and contemplated what she’d do if he woke up and asked her to stay. Sitting on the toilet of a man she didn’t even know by his first name, only the middle one, Y/N knew she needed to let this one go. But even with the constant reminder of what she had to do, she couldn’t understand why every part of her wanted to stay so badly. Grant had lived a lifetime and he clearly found the one, but she wasn’t her and that was something she found both relieving and yet oddly saddening.

At least she could leave peacefully, knowing he isn’t her one. And while her palms turned wet just at the thought of staying for breakfast, her heart was ready to jump out of her rib cage. Fully determined and with an empty bladder, she decided Grant wasn’t worthy of an unnecessary panic attack.

Not even looking at her reflection, Y/N sighed deeply and left the bathroom, walking on her tiptoes until she found herself outside his door looking ahead at the quiet street bathing in the just rising sun. The breeze had made her shiver, but that’s not why she felt cold. If she was being completely honest, the cold started when she left Grant alone in the bed. The cold began when she walked away from him, yet she found herself walking faster and further away, whispering to herself:

“Soulmates are for fools, anyway.”

Athazagoraphobia (n.) – the fear of being forgotten, ignored, or replaced.

As the coldness of the bed licked at Ethan’s skin, he couldn’t help but crack an eye open to see where his soulmate has gone. She had made the night unforgettable, but he planned on making the morning much better. He wanted to make her breakfast, something simple yet meaningful for years to come. He wanted to kiss up and down her arm before tucking his head in the crook of her neck, losing himself in the high pitched squeal giggle she’d likely make once he blows a raspberry into her soft skin. He wanted it all, the giggles, the kind gestures, gentle kisses, romantic whispers, dirty looks, and naughty smirks, but also the arguments, silence treatments, the glares, the death stares, pouting, apologizing, rough make-up sex, her virtues, and flaws – all of it. He wanted to know about every scar, every imperfection, every detail she thought he ignored or simply failed to notice.

But she wasn’t there.

Eyes wide open at the realization, Ethan sat up quickly, his heart in his throat as he looked around wildly, finding no trace of her or her clothes. In frustration, Ethan ripped the duvet from his body, tossing it to the ground as he let out a scream that died down almost immediately.

Ethan wanted to scream, to cry, to break things. He wanted to let out the pressure building up inside his chest, yet somewhere deeper than the human flesh - the immense pain deep inside his soul that had left him damaged, shattered like a glass window in the wake of her abandonment. His soulmate was supposed to be beside him as he wakes up. He was supposed to wake up first and have a chance to study her, to fully see all the little marks life left on her skin, the beauty in all she is. He had waited for so long, been patient even when most would have lost it, but he knew she was worth the wait. And when he finally has her…had her, he lost her.

Ethan wondered if she even saw the silver streak in her hair or his, and if she did, did she deem him unworthy of a soulmate? Did she hate him that much that she couldn’t even stay and tell him she doesn’t want him herself? Why would she dispose of him like trash after the night they had? After he poured all his love in every single touch of his lips against her skin. How was he supposed to live knowing what she feels like when she’s coming undone under him? When he knows the tender look in her eyes after he had finished and collapsed on top of her? When he felt the longing brushes of her fingertips at the back of his neck just as strongly as he felt her pull him closer to her when he was inside her?

Falling to his knees, Ethan had let his eyes fall back onto the mattress, watching the emptiness that settled instead of her. But then he saw it. Scrambling to his feet, he pulled himself up to the bed, right in the middle where he saw the mark - dry blood; a blood stain - a stark contrast to his white sheets.

He closed his eyes, his teeth sinking into his bottom lip as he swallowed thickly, praying it isn’t what he thinks.

‘Was she a virgin?’

“Fuck”, Ethan cursed under his breath, realizing he stole her virginity and while he was gentle, savoring each and every moment, he didn’t realize it in the heat of the moment. The initial feelings of fear she exhibited made much more sense now. And yes, he was happy he got to take her virginity instead of some asshole who wouldn’t give a shit about how she feels. But what if she wanted an asshole instead of him?

‘Did I hurt her?’

‘Does she hate me?’

‘Have I pushed her away?’

But out of all of those agonizing thoughts mixing with the memories from last night, Ethan mostly wondered how he’d find her again.

He didn’t really know if she had chosen him because she knew they were soulmates or because she didn’t and she didn’t even consider waiting to save her virginity until she meets him. He didn’t know if she was always meant to leave, if she was looking for a stranger or him. One thing he did know and it’s that he fucked up by not telling her they were meant to be the moment he saw her hair turn silver before his eyes. Sliding back onto the ground, clutching the sheet, Ethan chuckled dryly as his eyes found the torn up lace of her black panties and her bra only a few inches away.

At least he had something left of her, not just the ghost of what he lost.

Ethan knew from the moment he entered the bar that she was the one by the way his heart flipped inside his chest by the mere look at her hunched figure from the back. It didn’t take long for him to turn into a shaky mess, taking out his phone to take a photo of his head from all possible angles before he finally found what he looked for. It was a silver lock, hidden at the back of his head and once he realized he was right, he all but ran toward her.

Reminding himself to reel it in, he cleared his throat and spoke up.

“I’ll pay for the lady’s drink.” She turned to look at him with caution, not even hiding her wandering gaze as she looked him up and down. Kinking an eyebrow, she smirked, seemingly satisfied before she nodded at him in gratitude.

While she was busy checking him out, Ethan admired the way a lock of her hair had changed silver before his eyes – not quite as hidden as his, standing out as it was right at the midline where she parts her hair. It was all the confirmation he needed, his lips twitching before spreading into a wide smile, deciding to ease her into the soulmate talk. She seemed like she needed a shoulder to lean on, someone to be there for her, and he would be the one. Once he found her in the right mood, he’d tell her the undeniable fact. He’d tell her he had been searching for her his whole life, a hundred and twenty-four years to be exact, that he is the happiest when she tilts her head up to look at him with the curious glint in her lovely eyes.

“So? What could have possibly put a frown on such a beautiful face?” Ethan leaned on the bar, hoping to catch her gaze whenever she turned her head away from him, bolder with his approach since she accepted his drink and all but undressed him with her eyes.

“No, no, no. We’re not doing that.” She set her drink back on the bar, turning to Ethan before leaning her elbow on the bar, allowing her body to turn toward the hunk instead of away from him. Crossing her legs, she let a light smile soften her face as her eyes got lost in the hazel swirls of the stranger before her.

‘He has the most intense eyes, the kind that captivate a person, like dark hooks for a soul.’

“Doing what? Getting to know each other? Sharing our stories?” Ethan chuckled at her, almost desperate for her soft smile to turn brighter and wider, to see she’s just as happy to have him near as he is to have her. Ethan felt like a giddy child, wanting her attention only for himself and every bit she gave only awakened a need for more, immensely more.

“Exactly! I’m just a girl, no story.” She took the drink in her hand, slowly bringing the brim to her red lips before taking a small sip, never once breaking eye contact – his eyes had served like magnets, drawing her to him, keeping her glued to the gentle, yet intimidating flare they held. She’d call it magic if she believed in such a thing, but she felt an undeniable attraction toward this mysterious man, much more than she ever felt for anyone.

“And I’m supposed to be just some guy without a story too? Because I’m not. My story brought me here, to this bar on this particular night and seated me right next to you.” Ethan leaned closer, not too much in fear of scaring her, but enough to get his point across. He wanted to know her and while he appreciated her being careful with strangers, he needed her to trust him.

“How about this? If you’re so keen on it, you can tell me your middle name and maybe age? I want to know if you’re old like a vampire.” Her heart skipped a beat as she watched him chuckle, a perfect melody even if he sounded like he choked on his saliva for a moment there. But then he raised his eyebrow and his lips curled into a smirk, one that sent chills down her spine and she couldn’t deny how effortlessly sexy he is. Truly sexy, from the expressions of his face to the way he dressed, from the way he runs his hand through his hair to the way he smells. He felt like a trap meant to lure her in and she didn’t want to fight it. She knew he’d be taking her home that night – she had made her choice.

“Oh, I’m not nearly as old as the vampires, but I do have more than a few decades behind me…And it’s Grant. My middle name is Grant.”

She never gave him her name, Ethan realized and it made the whole situation that much worse. How can one find a single person in the city populated with millions of people?

“I found you once and I will find you again. I have to.”

Cingulomania - a strong desire to hold a person in your arms

People say time moves quickly, passing us by as if we’re all running through life and the trees are a blur we no longer see. Time might move quickly for them, but Ethan found himself on the other side of time where each tick of the clock is achingly slow, dragging on for eternity in his lonesome days. Ever since she left, he has been drowning, unable to breathe properly. His breaths are shallow and fast, draining his strength, never full and never satisfying. It’s as if he’s alive but he’s not living.

Ethan tried to find her, using every method he could. Hell, he even sent a plea to the FBI to find footage of surrounding cameras of places he passed with her on the way home, hoping to scan her face and use their database. He never heard back from them, naturally. But Ethan is desperate, has been for a while and he had to try even when he knew he’d fail. So many people spend hundreds of years looking for the one and he found her in his first century, yet he lost her all the same. And now he didn’t have the luxury of time to spend another hundred years looking for her. Not if he didn’t plan on dying alone.

To have had your soulmate in your arms and to have lost them? There are no words, no possible way to describe what that does to your soul. Ethan lived with a constant need to hold her again, to feel her heart beating in the darkness of his room, to listen to her soft breathing as he laid beside her. That need, that desire was driving him insane, especially when he woke up on this day, a year after she’s been gone. It was cingulomania at its best.

He was barely human at this point, drinking in his free time to numb the pain the best way he could or overworking himself to the point of passing out. He needed to keep his mind either busy or blank and all with the goal of never once letting his thoughts turn to her because even one more moment of her face before his eyes would have driven him insane.

Little did he know his soulmate was having her own crisis in the time they spent apart, from the very moment she realized she had found a soulmate.

When she saw her reflection for the first time since that morning she had left Grant in bed, Y/N had felt herself break. That silver lock of hair on her head felt like ice in her heart, the revelation tearing into her as she crumbled, falling to the floor. Her eyes shifted to the side and became glazed with a glossy layer of tears. As she blinked, they dripped from her eyelids and slid down her cheeks. She bit her lip tightly in an attempt to hide any sound that wanted to escape from her mouth.

“Damn it!”

She didn’t know if it was the handsome Grant she spent the night with or possibly some stranger she passed on the street or the taxi driver, hell, it could be anyone on the airplane she found herself on. But she didn’t know who her soulmate was nor if she was truly angry about that fact. Meeting her soulmate and not knowing it’s them is just supporting her theory that soulmates are nothing special. And while she felt her hips ache with every step she took back to her seat, she chuckled dryly.

“It can’t be him.” She told herself, convincing herself that the man she can still feel on her skin, inside her, around her, is the same man who had turned a lock of her hair silver. It would be cruel, to both Grant and her. But she wouldn’t put it past destiny. Besides, wouldn’t he have told her if he saw it happen? But what if he wanted to wait until after they had sex? What if he didn’t want to scare her away?

Leaning back, she let out a heavy sigh. Opening her eyes, she stared blankly through the window, aware she already left New York and chances for her to find him again were slim anyway. She wasn’t familiar enough with the city to retrace her steps and she wasn’t planning on going back. Not unless they were truly meant to be. And the worst thing is, he kept his promise – the ghost of his touch still lingered all over her.

“We’ll make a deal, okay?” She whispered under her breath, hoping whatever force invented soulmates is listening. “If he’s the one, I won’t fight it. But I won’t search for him either. If we’re meant to be, create a different serendipity moment and I’ll trust you.”

But when she looked around, Grant wasn’t there. He wasn’t there and she really fucking thought he’d magically appear as the answer destiny would have loved to rub her face in. And she wouldn’t mind if he did. If he somehow knew her flight information and just happened to be the one who was meant to sit in the empty seat beside her.

But he wasn’t and she never felt more alone in her life and that’s saying a lot considering what a pity party her life had been up to last night. But she was meant to be a lone wolf, that much is clear to her. All alone. She was all alone with half of her soul.

Serendipity - the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

“What’s with the scowl?” Grayson deadpanned, flicking Ethan’s shoulder. He was getting quite annoyed with his brother and his need to sulk. It was a sunny day, the beginning of their intern season and Grayson expected to deliver five babies till the end of his shift and that always put a smile on his face. The immature part of Grayson wanted to be a gynecologist because he thought he’d get more action, but it changed when he learned about ethics, yet what really got to him is when he delivered his first baby. That’s when Grayson truly fell in love with his job.

“I hate this. The worst part about being a doctor is teaching idiot interns and making sure they don’t kill someone.” Ethan sighed, placing his stethoscope around his neck, tucking the drum in his pocket, right behind his pens and I.D. badge – Dr. Ethan Dolan.

“Yeah? I love it! I get more fangirls and fanboys willing to bring me coffee and pick up the dry cleaning!” His brother’s enthusiasm always made Ethan smile, unable to keep the scowl going. It’s not just he who is suffering, it’s Grayson too. Now that Ethan had found the one, despite remaining single, he had started to age. Almost a year had passed and Ethan was no longer twenty. He would grow old and die and Grayson is worried he won’t be able to find his soulmate in time to grow old with his brother, the person Grayson saw as his original soulmate. After all the time he spent avoiding it, he wanted to find his own soulmate and grow older too. Sure, he could die from a disease even before Ethan does of old age, but he much preferred his death to be from an abundance of love.

“I might take a page out of your book. Time to have some fun?” Ethan wondered out loud, feeling a wave of serenity wash over him. The last time he truly felt like everything will be alright was a year ago and he was in bed with the only woman who had managed to ruin him. Her beauty may be unpreceded, but he needed to move on, now or never.

With a tap on Grayson’s shoulder, Ethan left to meet his new interns. They always come with glossy eyes and slight panic behind the excitement they exhibit. While it was fun at first, Ethan quickly realized most interns don’t make it through the process – some switch specialties, others quit medicine completely and some are asked to leave because they aren’t as good as they hoped they’d be. It’s usually one or two that make it to the finish line and there are always bets going around the attendee lounge on who it will be. The most annoying part was the fact most of the interns were actually male as surgery is considered a boy’s club and very few women choose surgery as their specialty. He expected a bunch of spoiled, entitled rich kids with trust funds or at the very least a few of those who like collecting degrees in their stolen immortality.

Glancing at his watch, Ethan took longer steps once he realized he’s nearly late and the chief likely gave his speech on what surgical interns are expected to do without him. Ethan liked giving that speech, scaring the crap out of them so he could size them up properly. That’s how he’d tell who makes it in the end and Ethan had never been wrong so far. The good ones have a healthy dose of fear but they’re mostly unmovable forces of nature.

Hands in the pockets of his lab coat, Ethan had strolled into the operating room the chief liked to use as show and tell for the eager interns, instantly attracting looks from all present. While the chief simply nodded, Ethan stepped beside him with a bored look on his face, especially when he realized he’s right about male predominance. And while he would have rather went to bed before his next patient, Ethan felt the kind of energy he hadn’t felt in a while. Wanting to ride it out, he looked at his interns carefully, finding only four out of five are present.

“Why are there only four of you?” He spoke up, interrupting the chief rudely enough for the older man to look back at him with a glare but Ethan didn’t pay him any attention. After all, he will be chief in a year or two. He watched the man grow old before his eyes, considering him a good friend. The glare was really more of a show for the interns, to make it clear who runs the hospital.

“I asked a question. There’s one missing.” Ethan smacked his lips as the clueless interns looked at each other nervously, already hating the fifth intern for making them all look bad. What one of them does reflects on the entire group and while they’re competitive amongst themselves, they usually present a united front in front of their attendees.

And just as Ethan wanted to rain hellfire on the trembling four, the missing link all but fell through the door and his world stopped spinning. Her hair is longer, pulled up in a messy ponytail, her mascara slightly smudged and her lips void of the red color he kissed off them the last time they saw each other.

She hung her head low, knowing everyone is looking at her as she buttons up her lab coat. Brushing her palms together, she took in a few shuddered breaths, needing air after all the running she had done. It took her way too long to realize the amount of sleep she was getting is suspicious and she checked her clock with the sole purpose of making the weird gut feeling that made her sick go away.

However, as Y/N looked up, she plastered the slightest of smiles on her face, half shrugging at her fellow interns who wanted to gauge her eyes out. Even more so after they saw how causal she appears to be about running late.

“Well, now that you’re all here, I’m sure doctor Dolan can take over.” Chief excused himself and that’s the first time she looked at him – truly looked at the tall man who had an unreadable, cold expression on his face, but she surely couldn’t mistake him for anyone else but Grant. His eyes held her captive ever since she dared to make eye contact, but they didn’t seem like the gentle swirls of hazel she fell for that night – they held a hardness, an anger, a need to make her life a living hell. Yet she couldn’t stop herself from muttering under her breath.

“Oh, shit.”

Ethan swallowed thickly, unsure if he wanted to push her against the closest wall and kiss her or if he wanted to scream at her for being so soulless that night, leaving him all alone with nothing but torn up lace panties and a bra to remember her by. It was cruel and he wanted to believe she didn’t do it on purpose, but he didn’t know what to believe anymore.

Breaking eye contact, Ethan cleared his throat before turning to the entire group instead of just the girl that confused him to no end. Three male and two female interns – a cocky ass, entitled brat, diploma collector, daddy’s spoiled little girl, and his soulmate, the girl who was late.

“I don’t have the time or will to learn your names today and it will likely take a miracle for me to ever learn them. That’s why”, pointing at the first intern by the door who had a cocky look on his face, “you will be doing scut. Ask the nurses what they need you for.” Turning to the other three before the cocky ass had a chance to complain about basically being the nurses’ bitch, Ethan pointed at them as well. “You’re on neuro, you’re on general and the fancy Littmann girl is on ortho.”

While the four of them just stared at Ethan who had failed to give any assignments to the only one who was late, Ethan decided to give a few rules of his own.

“I only have a few rules here: respect the nurses, BE ON TIME, call me only if your patient is dying and the patient better be alive when I get there. It’s pretty simple to remember. Now go!” He clapped his hands, scaring the four but neither moved.

“Sir, excuse me, but what will she do?” The cocky intern asked, unaware he’s only raising Ethan’s blood pressure. He wondered what she’d do too, but he had a much better idea than any punishment she could ever have. Especially as the silver streak in her hair taunted him. She flaunts her soulmate mark as if it means nothing and he would make sure to know if that’s truly the case.

“Miss fashionably late is with me.” Ethan declared, stepping closer to Y/N as the rest left. He leaned in, his head cocked to the side as she felt his cologne fill her nostrils, only making her chest rise faster as her breaths quickened. “Hope you brushed up on cardiothoracic surgery because we have a long double shift to get through.” Winking, Ethan jerked his head in the direction of the door, moving through them just a moment later, leaving Y/N dazed until his voice woke her up again.

“MOVE ALONG SLOWPOKE!”

Shaking her head, Y/N started speeding down the hall, trying not to stare at the silver lock at the back of his head. It’s easier to ignore it than actually face the meaning behind that lock and the last time she saw it. She couldn’t forget how her fingers moved through the same hair, likely dancing along the soulmate mark that may or may not bind her to Grant for the rest of her unfortunately short life. Some would say just because it’s short it doesn’t mean it can’t still be meaningless, but it also meant that all her plans were now gone.

How can she be a surgeon and also travel the world? How can she do all the crazy things she mapped out for herself during the most painful times in her life when she’s facing death AGAIN, even if this one is due to natural causes. She’s had enough encounters with death to last her a forever, but it seems she’s never going to get far in her race for life.

“You could slow down a bit, ya know?” She groaned, feeling the lack of air hitting her as she lets her mouth run wild. Ethan turned on his heel, his glare still very much present yet an odd, mystic hint of a smirk appeared as well once he took her disheveled looks into account.

“Not my fault you can’t keep up. A word to the wise, you better learn how to because surgery is ruthless, fast-paced and rightfully so. I’m all for equality but surgery is overrun by men who will belittle you every chance they get, so don’t give them that chance. Be quick, be precise and for the love of God, be careful when you run your mouth. I’m your boss, act like it.” Ethan’s explanation had resonated with her, nearly knocking the last of what’s caught of her breath out just by the way he looked at her, let alone with the deep tone he choose or the words he crafted. And while she understood it, aware of all he has said is the ugly truth, she also didn’t appreciate him being so cold with her.

She expected him to use the time alone to talk to her about that night, about the moment he realized she left…about the silver streak in their hair. But a different fear settled in – ‘What if he doesn’t remember me? What if I was right and he had the streak long before I came along? If he’s not the one, who is? And why the fuck do I want it to be him so badly?’

Swallowing her pride, she hardened her gaze and pressed her lips together as her thoughts settled and she found the courage to speak. She’s always been fierce, a true advocate for herself and she wasn’t about to fall to her knees because a guy she lost her virginity to is suddenly her boss who doesn’t seem to remember her or even like her one bit. In fact, if she had to bet on it, he quite possibly hates her.

“I’m very well aware of that, sir. I, however, plan on making my mark here by my actions and those actions will not be defined by what everyone else wants me to be. I will not let anyone make me feel inferior because of my sex nor will it make me cower in fear. What I do expect is for my boss to teach me how to swim, not just throw me in the ocean and expect me to tackle every wave on my own, but to guide me so I can be a proper doctor, a confident surgeon and hopefully a remarkable individual by the end of this program.” She wasn’t afraid to square up to him, proud of herself for speaking up and fighting for her own future. She was willing to talk to him about their past involvement, to even accept him as a soulmate, but if he wanted to pretend nothing happened, she’ll indulge him. But she refuses to let him tear her to pieces due to whatever ego complex he has. Surgeons are known to be incredibly arrogant and she hated that trait.

“And you will be.” Turning away from her, Ethan continued on as she walked after him, just a step behind even if it did make her legs and lungs burn. All the gym avoidance really humbled her today. Entering a patient room, the air of arrogance around Grant had disappeared and she all but rubbed her eyes to make sure it’s the same man she had argued in the hall a minute ago.

“How are you doing today Steven?” Grant smiled lightly, patting the patient on his shoulder as the old man chuckled. “Doing fine, doc. When you fix my ticker, I’ll be even better. Sue can’t wait for that trip we talked about.”

Y/N cocked an eyebrow in confusion, turning to the patient with a soft smile she practiced in front of a mirror because she’s the type to have a resting bitch face and she wanted to seem approachable to her patients.

“Excuse me, but Sue?” She wanted in on the conversation, to build trust, to be part of the team and have all the information, no matter how small and insignificant they seem. Patients are far less likely to lie to their doctor or sue their doctor if the doctor is friendly. They also have better outcomes and she wanted a better outcome for those she treats.

“She’s my wife and soulmate. Met her right before I turned twenty.” Steven’s eyes light up naturally with the mention of his loved one, the way most would melt at but it only brought up questions for Y/N.

“Before twenty? You never thought it was a bit early?” Her voice may have seemed even, but her heart wasn’t calm and her entire being felt on edge as she felt Grant’s eyes on her. She didn’t have to look at him to know, there was something about his gaze that both warmed her and scared her to no end. There was a fire of sorts burning in those devilish orbs and the intensity could drive anyone insane. She knew she’d never find it in other men, even if he wasn’t her soulmate.

“Early? Never! I was never much for those who abuse the connection and wander the earth like renegades. Their soulmate may die a thousand deaths by the time they decide to settle down and what does it all amount to? Growing old alone is a terrible fate, child. It’s never too early to find the other part of your soul. Until you do, you’ll never know what you’re missing and I think you know that too. I see the silver lock, you know? I’m not that old yet.” Pursing her lips, she stopped herself from saying something she might regret. The old man might be right, but she was far from ready to admit it to herself – that she would grow old alone and that as much as she feared being loved, she feared being unloved much more.

“It’s not real. Just a fashionable trend.” Y/N lied, pushing the streak behind her ear as she plastered a fake smile on her face to ease the patient who didn’t seem to believe her at all, but he wouldn’t push her.

“Give Steven a listen here and tell me what you hear.” Grant instructed her and she quickly pulled her stethoscope out of her pocket. It wasn’t a fancy Littmann stethoscope or a Spirit one most interns have, but a start-up stethoscope he had before he could make any money. It was likely a sign she comes from a poor family, if she had any family at all.

As she asked the man to take deep breaths, Ethan examined the way that silver lock had fallen back on her face. Her eyebrows knit together in focus, her teeth sinking in the bottom lip as she tries to hear every change. Then she moves from the lungs to the heart, asking Steven to hold his breath briefly, enough to hear the way his heart beats without the background breathing sounds that can interfere. But as she listens to his heart, she also listens to the carotid arteries on Steven’s neck and Ethan all but clapped in excitement because she clearly heard what he needed her to and is simply getting a confirmation before speaking.

“I hear a harsh crescendo-decrescendo systolic murmur at the right upper sternal border and it radiates to the carotid arteries, but also crackles in the lungs. It indicates an aortic stenosis with pulmonary congestion.” Y/N put her hands behind her back as she waited for Grant to speak, only to narrow her eyes at him when he does.

“Are you sure? Because I disagree.” Ethan barely contained a laugh as he watched her face turn bright red, hoping she doesn’t crack like many do when their attendees challenges them. It’s not something they do to embarrass their interns, but to teach them to trust themselves, building their confidence or tearing it down if they decide to back down.

“In that case you are in the wrong. I stand behind my examination.” Y/N lifted her chin proudly, defiantly. Such a small gesture, but enough for Ethan to want to place her chin between his thumb and index finger before he tilts her head upwards to meet his hungry lips.

“That’s impossible. Doctor Ethan is the best one in this clinic.” Steven defended, taking the exchange seriously, as if he forgot his diagnosis too.

‘Ethan? That’s his name?’ She wondered, blinking fast thus ending their staring contest inadvertedly.

“I was just testing my intern, Steve. No need to defend me, although I agree with you. I am the best!” Ethan chuckled, walking over to Y/N as if being in the same room with him wasn’t already driving her insane, as if his very existence wasn’t sucking all the air out of her lungs. Just a simple brush of his arm against her shoulder sparked electricity and she wanted nothing more than for him to either close the distance or to leave the room so she could fucking breathe.

“We’re doing a valve replacement in a few hours, so prep the patient and we’ll see how deep that confidence truly goes,” Ethan smirked, winking at her so casually as if it wasn’t effectively stopping her heart from beating normally, as if her face didn’t burn like he set a fire in her being.

With a curt nod, Ethan left her alone with Steven who couldn’t help but tease her.

“You sure he isn’t your soulmate?”

Scoffing, she glanced over her shoulder at the man in question, still visible through the glass window as he got himself a cup of coffee from the vending machine. He looked graceful doing that as well. It made her want to punch him in his handsome face.

“Not a chance.” She pressed her lips together, reluctantly taking her eyes off Grant…Ethan, and focusing her attention on the patient.

It didn’t take her long to prepare the patient with the help of a nurse and an anesthesiologist, making their way to the operating theatre where Grant was meant to be waiting for her…them.

“Why aren’t you scrubbing?” Ethan questioned, giving her a quick glance as she stared at the patient through the glass. He could tell she has something else on her mind, a worry of sorts he didn’t pick up on earlier but he did now and he wanted to know what it is that weighs on her soul.

“I didn’t meet Sue.” Y/N murmured, a frown etching itself on her face as a crease appeared between her eyebrows and her nose scrunched up ever so slightly with the gesture.

“They agreed she would say goodbye in the morning, but would come back once he’s in surgery. He didn’t want her to worry.” Ethan explained, continuing to scrub his forearms next. “Now, why aren’t you scrubbing? Not many interns get to come into the OR on their first day. Take the win and come see what you’ve signed up for.” Ethan finished, leaving Y/N to ponder.

The man she now knows only about twenty-four hours in total, including the night they spent together, has both made her angry and yet grateful, cheerful even as she realized she truly will have an experience the other interns would kill for. And while she can’t help but wonder if he’s doing it because he wants to reward her for getting the diagnosis right earlier or because he DOES remember her, she couldn’t let this chance pass her by.

And while the surgery was pretty routine and there were no hiccups, Ethan didn’t say much, only asked her a few things here and there to make sure she understands what is what and how to perform a valve replacement surgery. She didn’t do much, holding the retractor most of the time, but she smiled nonetheless because she got to HOLD THE RETRACTOR and the surgery was a success.

“Go and tell Sue everything went fine while I finish here and meet me in the ICU after. Your job for the rest of this shift will be to make sure he’s recovering well.” Ethan instructed and she nodded, taking off to the waiting room where only one older woman sat, the rest being far too young to be involved with Steven.

“Hello, mam’. I’m doctor Y/L/N and I was assigned to your husband’s case. I wanted to let you know the surgery went without any complications and they are moving him to the ICU as we speak. Once he’s able to take visitors, someone will come and get you.” Y/N barely finished before the woman threw herself at her, hugging her way too tightly for a frail old woman she seemed to be. And while Y/N stiffened at the contact, she kept a smile going even after Sue let her go, the woman not hiding her happy tears over the good news.

“Thank you so much. Steve always did say doctor Dolan is the best!”

Once she turned around, with a deep breath, Y/N wiped the smile off her face and headed back to the ICU. Sure, she got lost once on the way and a nurse was nice enough not to laugh at her for it, helping her find a way back, but once she came back, Y/N found Steven alone.

“Did doctor Dolan leave already?” Y/N questioned the nurse, her eyebrows furrowing. He did ask her to meet him, but why is he not there?

“He was paged to the ER.” The nurse shrugged, leaving Y/N alone with the patient who continued to sleep for the next eight hours. Sue was allowed to see him for a few minutes, but Y/N couldn’t risk anyone else finding out because the ICU is usually off-limits for visitations. Y/N made a conscious decision, even if it gets her in trouble. She wanted to give Sue a moment with her soulmate, even if Grant made her do scut for the remainder of her internship.

And as the day went by and night settled in, Y/N had no idea just how badly the situation would change. Within a few seconds all the monitors started beeping and the one that mattered, the line that signified a beating heart, it flattened.

Eyes wide, Y/N jumped from her seat and called the nurses for a crash cart to be delivered and for the attendee to be paged.

“Charge the paddles!” Y/N raised her voice, unaware how her calm exterior means nothing when her voice shows just how panicked she is.

“But the patient is in asystole.” One of the nurses spoke up, but Y/N didn’t want to give up.

“And we already pushed the adrenaline, now charge the damn paddles!” Y/N shouted and the nurses obeyed, aware the intern wouldn’t learn how futile her attempts are until she tries. They would let her try, at least. The paddles wouldn’t work on a patient flatlining, they all knew it.

But Y/N kept trying, for ten minutes straight, performing CPR once the nurses stopped helping. The feeling of guilt, of helplessness wouldn’t let her stop as sweat dripped from her. Hell, she was swimming in sweat. Her own breathing labored, her heart aching as she sang ‘Stayin alive’ in her head over and over to keep the rhythm of the chest compressions. She tried so hard, but the patient was gone. Everyone knew it, but no one did a damn thing to stop her. No one but Ethan.

“Hey, hey.” He whispered in her ear as his arms folded around her and pulled her into him, taking her off Steven.

“Time of death 1 am.” And as he called the time of death, he felt a strong push against his chest and Y/N stormed out, leaving him with a heavy heart. He had to go after her, to make sure she’s alright. So he did. Ethan ran after her, straight into the on-call room she rushed into, nearly slamming the door in his face.

Managing to get a foot in, Ethan walked in and locked the door behind him. He watched her back as it rose quickly and erratically, wanting nothing more but to hold her close and tell her it’s alright but his words are futile. She doesn’t even seem to like him, much less care about what he has to say. She doesn’t want his comfort and she doesn’t want him, or so he thought.

“You know there was nothing to do for Steven, right? He was in asystole from the start. It wasn’t your fault. He likely threw a clot.” Ethan tried anyway, for his own peace of mind. He had to try and comfort her, lessen the burden that comes with losing your first patient and especially on her first day.

But Y/N was upset, her entire body shaking even as she turned to face him with a wild look in her eyes that held pain, but no tears. She never did seem like a person that spends her tears easily.

“This is scary, okay? I’m no longer a student who gets to party and zone out whenever I want! This is real! I’m alone with a patient and I’m either the shield or the door to death and a simple mishap is the difference between the two. I feel like I fucked up.” She ran a hand through her hair in frustration, ruffling it into a sexy disaster Ethan wanted to commit to memory. But he had to reassure her.

“You’re not alone. Not when I’m here.” Stepping closer to her, Ethan swallowed thickly as she scoffed and he knew she had something more to say, to defy him in any way possible because she’s incredibly stubborn, looking for trouble everywhere.

“You weren’t there! I was alone!” She poked his chest with the tip of her index finger repeatedly, searching for someone to blame, anyone but herself.

“HE WAS FINE! He and Sue were supposed to go on a trip!” She shouted only to stop herself with a new realization. “Oh, God! Sue!” That’s when Ethan saw her eyes fill with tears. None of them had fallen, but her vision blurred as she thought about the poor woman who felt the moment her soulmate left this world. She felt deeply for her as she knew how painful that is, just how it affects people and the outcomes of that hurt. She saw it firsthand with her parents.

“Just breathe.” Ethan placed his hands on her face, cupping her cheeks as he leaned down to be at eye level with her. She was spiraling too quickly and he had to calm her down. They teach the students about everything life related – how it starts, how it runs its course and how it can be complicated by disease. Not many teach what happens when the patient dies.

“Breathe with me, okay?” He kept his voice steady, feeling her hands on his chest as she nodded, taking each breath in perfect synchronization with Grant, her heart slowing down.

Leading her to the bed, Ethan laid on his back, allowing her the freedom to choose if she wanted to keep sitting or lay down beside him. It took her a minute before she decided to tuck herself closer to him, her head resting on his chest as she stared blankly.

“This was the first death you had to deal with, but it won’t be the last if you choose to keep practicing medicine.” Ethan’s voice rumbled through his chest as he spoke, the vibrations soothing her mind more than she thought was possible.

“This wasn’t my first death. It’s more than that. It’s not even about the patients we lose. I mean, sure, that gets you because you were supposed to save them, but it’s not them. Once you’re gone, you’re gone, but what really gets me is the reaction of their loved ones. They’re the ones you failed the most. How am I supposed to tell Sue? After seeing how happy she was when I told her everything went fine?” Y/N’s voice cracked, startling Ethan who had only seen her strong in this day and this moment of weakness she decided to share with him meant more to him than anything in this world.

Placing an open hand on her back, he rubbed it gently in circles, needing the touch as much as she does. Although she’d never admit it.

“It’s always hard, but you learn to turn it off after a while. Some patients and their stories hit harder than others, but the key to getting over it is getting back up and healing someone to restore the balance.”

Letting out a heavy sigh, he whispered softly. “Sleep. I’ll be here.”

But her words truly made his heart ache. “I’m scared”, she whispered back, her fingers playing with the fabric of his scrubs, tugging at it.

“Of me?” The hand on her back stopped moving, his body turning rigid under her. She didn’t mean that, because for the first time in forever it felt quite the opposite.

“No, not you. It’s just… When you fall asleep, do you see the faces of all the people you didn’t save?” Her question carried significant weight and while he could have lied to her just to make her feel better, Ethan didn’t want them to start off on the wrong foot. It was time to build trust.

“Sometimes. But I swear I’ll be here with you. I won’t leave and if you need me, just nudge me, okay?” Ethan looked down at her, hoping she’d look up and meet his gaze because even if he did love the back of her head, those eyes of hers were much dearer to his heart. But she didn’t turn around, closing her eyes instead.

“Thank you, Grant.”

And while she fell asleep, for the next few hours all Ethan could do is smile as he stared at her lovingly. She did remember after all and he had every intention of proving their soulmate bond is real, even if it takes him the rest of his life.

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

Tags: @beinscorpio @peacedolantwins @heyits-claire @dolandolll @godlydolans @dolanstwintuesday @ethanhes @iwastornsincethestart @graydolan12

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#ethan dolan #ethan dolan x reader #ethan dolan soulmate au #ethan dolan angst #ethan dolan fluff #ethan dolan smut #ethan dolan series #ethan dolan au #ethan dolan doctor au #grayson dolan #dolan twins

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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The Three Caballeros Movie Review: Rejoice Now Donald’s Been Laid (Commission)

It’s time at long last we talked about those three happy chappies in snappy serapes. Who say so? @weirdkev27 say so! He’s planning on funding an ENTIRE retrospective on the boys, so in addition to my Tom Lucitor Retrospective (Expect that to return very soon as one of the episodes in it is time sensitive), Road to Just Us Justice Ducks, and look at “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck”. I’m proud to announce a new recurring feature on this blog “The Ride of the Three Caballeros!”, a look back at these birds of a feather who flock together and their wild and wonderful history cumulating in “The Legend of The Three Caballeros”. Honestly I thank Kev for the idea as it’s a damn good one. Ever since seeing them on House of Mouse, which I both really need to cover and Disney needs to add already as we’re a year into Disney plus already, I’ve loved Jose and Panchito, and reading barks story years ago, and again recently, gave me a lasting love of these goofs. They have great snappy designs are the rare pre-ducktales 2017 non duck bird character, and have wonderful personalities. There’s nothing not to love and thus nothing not to love about covering their adventures. So i’m excited for this and not just for the much needed christmas money. Naturally we’re starting the adventure here with the founding of the trio, though Kev, for now he could change his mind, choose to start with this movie instead of it’s predecessor Saludos Amigos, on this date for two reasons. The first is it’s Friday the 13th, which besides being the basis for an utter classic of a Hey Arnold episode

Which yes for those unfamiliar with Hey Arnold features Arnold dealing with a spell of bad luck, some bullies and his grandmother dressing up wlike a black cat to rescue black cats, which is sweet.. and training them into her horrifying army of the damned, which is somehow still sweet as it is awesome. It’s also the day this guy barges into my house thinking it’s camp crystal lake

I swear to gods Jason GET A FUCKING PHONE WITH GPS. We are not clearly not teenagers. And he’s always so embarrassed and the stab wounds always take so long at the hospital to treat. It’s just a mess. But it’s also, according to this film Donald’s BIrthday! This was during an earlier point in his career, that will be important in a bit, so Disney hadn’t yet settled on their tradition of having their characters birthday’s being the same date as their first appearance. For the record that would make Donald and Della’s current birthday June 7th. I did a special on Donald Duck shorts for it this year. Not sure what i’ll do the next. We will see. And for fun and my own curiosity I looked up the birthdates of some of the other Ducktales castmembers as well as my boys here They are:

Jose: August 24th (World Premier of Saludos Amigos) Panchito: December 21st (The Mexico City Premiere Date for this very movie) Scrooge: November 14th (Thank you INducks seriously it’s a massive help with this. Daisy: June 7th (Debut of Mr. Duck Steps out) Huey, Dewey and Louie: October 17th (First appearance in Donald’s Newspaper Strip) Webby, Beakley and Launchpad: September 18th, thanks to launchpad’s driver’s license as well as all three characters debuting in the opening arc. Though to separate them i’d likely try to find different dates for both. For now i’m going with October 12th for Mrs. Beakly (The airing date for the Ducktales 87 ep maid of myth) and October 29th for Webby (the airing date for another 87 episode, this one about webby and a horse). Gladstone: August 15th, as while it was released in january there is no firm release date for it. Plus a summer birthday fits him better anyways. Thank you Inducks for that. Magica: September 28th, finally a firm publication date. While there’s a creation date unlike Gladstone I see no need to use it. Darkwing Duck/Drake Mallard: September 6th GLOMGOLD: July 26th Was that entirely necessary? No Would I do it again.. absolutely. It also means I really need to do something for Scrooge’s Birthday in two days. But that’s future me’s problem. Current day me has his own problems specifically a movie review to continue. The films genesis was a in a good will tour Disney did in South America, as part of America’s Good Neighbor Policy. FDR started it in order to try and strengthen ties between Latin America and North America, to prevent any sort of war with our close neighbors and to foster good economic ties between both as well as integrate Latin culture into americans lives to make them care about those countries more. And given it was started as HItler’s rise to power grew, and America knew they’d inevitably be dragged into World War II, and thus wanted to put the kibosh on several Latin American’s Nazi Ties. So in exchange for Money, since Disney was struggling due to overextending itself and the big animator’s strike at the time, The US sent Walt and some of his animatiors to South America, where MIckey Donald and Goofy were big and to make a film based there. Hence we got Saludos Amigos which is .. kind of forgettable to be honest, though the Gaucho Goofy segment is fantastic as the “How to” shorts with goofy around the time usually were. But the film gave us Jose, hence why Donald and him are familiar with each other here, and was a moderate success. This lead to the Goverment, who’d already contracted a bunch of propaganda, one of which I covered in my Donald Duck Shorts Birthday Marathon because it contained prototypes for Gladstone and Scrooge, so another feature for South America was a win win: The US got another way to strengthen ties between the Americas, and Disney got a film they could put out during said war to lift spirits, as well as on that would likely be a hit in South America due to them not being under wartime money crunch or the misery of having a war looming overhead. As a side note. I found out after looking at the wikpiedia article on The Good Neighbor Program.. it eventually and sadly collapsed as the US post WWII shifted to the Cold War and thus threw away non interference if it meant beating the Russians. Classy. So yeah.. this film and i’ts predecessor are technically propaganda pictures. There was also another disney full length propoganda picture about fighter jets, I only learned about this thanks to the slashfilm article I found on the movie that told me a lot of this in the first place. It’s not avaliable but it should be.. though at the very least unlike say House of Mouse, Wander Over Yonder, Penn Zero: Part Time Hero, American Dragon Jake Long, The Weekenders, Pepper Anne and MANY more, it’s absence from Disney + makes sense. And I will continue to bitch about this till Disney actually starts adding more legacy animated shows, or at least makes a few of it’s own, though I will concede reviving the Mickey Mouse shorts that Disney Channel started up is a VERY good first step and i’m sure What If and Proud Family: Louder and Prouder will be fine. I just want more animation content on the streaming platform of one of the biggest animation studios in the world with one of the most storied histories. I’m REALLY not asking a lot.

That bit of bitching aside I will give Disney+ credit where it’s due. The service offers MOST of the Disney vault for a very reasonable price a month, in crisp HD, and thus allows someone like me, who hasn’t really dived into the disney vault and slept on watching three cabs despite borrowing it from some friends, to dive into beautiful animation like this any time. It also allows me to explore disney’s older films, the ones I want to anyway, at my leisure and it’s a REALLY nice feeling. It’s also nice to have all the various animated shows in nice clean copies. So while there are sizeable gaps in the library, many of which as highlighted above have no reason for not being there and some like Song of the South have DAMN GOOD reason for never being there, I still apricate the service for being a vast, glorious digital library of Disney content as well as stuff they’ve acquired like the marvel show library, and this review would not have been as easy to do without it. So with my opinions on D+ and the exposition for WHY this exists out of the way, as I couldn’t find much else on this flim’s background, join me after the read more for a full review of the film! Who says so? I says so!

We open with.. the Disney+ content warning again. In my review of the last part of “Catch as Cash Can” I went on about how much I apricated it and it stands: while i’m not blind that it’s a blanket statement to cover disney’s rears, it’s still apricated for them to care enough to force the content warning on the viewer. Given how bad they usually are at falling on the right side of history, this is very admirable. Though thankfully this film isn’t as offensive as the last content warning I got for the last part of “Catch as Cash can” aka “Watch registered White Guy Hamilton Camp play a bad indian sterotype for 22 minutes while my soul slowly dies”. Here there are bits, which i’ll get to now to save me the trouble later: The Littlest Gaucho’s side characters are all drawn pretty carcturish and a bit cringe inducing. The other is of course Panchito our Mexican representative.. who wears a sombrero and shoots two pistols around. And there’s just a tinge of white man going ot another country to get laid with the way Donald behaves throughout the picture. Basically little touches here and there but nothing that spoils the picture overall or makes whole scenes unwatchable. Still worth having the warning up, but not worth getting too worked up over. So onto the film itself and as mentioned i’ts Donald’s birthday! And I will say the film has lots of great little gags here and there.. I won’t be pointing all of them out because this film was 70 minutes long but their very charming. HIs first gift is a projector and screen.. which he naturally has to fight to get working and which first projects on his ass, already a good start. And a general thought I like is how receptive Donald is to soaking in another culture. He just seems joyusly enthralled by the various films, gifts and places his friends bring him..

But again we’ll get to that. Point is it’s very nice to see Disney portay learning about another culture so positively and with such a hot head as donald. Even if i’ts in part to appease the US Goverment, ther’es a genuine feeling that they truly fell in love with these countries and aren’t JUST shilling them because it’s in their contract, but because they genuinelly liked it there. So with that we get to our first segment. See the film is one of Disney’s Package films, anthology films taking a bunch of short segments and pasting them together, but here it’s framed through the narrative of DOnald’s birthday, so there is KIND of a plot.. but it’s mostly an excuse for musical numbers, short films, and more musical numbers.

Dammit Elmo, we will get to it! So naturally i’l lbe dividing up this review into various pieces. First up...

1. The Cold Blooded Penguin: Life of Pablo, The Good Version This is a brief but endearing short about a Penguin named Pablo who dosen’t like cold weather, can relate, and wants to move to some tropical paradise, again can relate. It’s BARELY related to the theme of hte movie, celebrating Central and South America, but it’s so damn charming I can’t help but love it. And Pablo is so damn adorable, as are his friends. I mean look at him.

He’s just so precious and you just want him to finally get to his paradise with the help of his friend, his boiler there smokey joe, and root for him as his farewell party dwindles from a bunch of penguins to just bob and gary here.

I may love Gary, the tall one, more than I love Pablo honestly> His sad eyes or the way he’s the ONLY one who sticks it out to the end, seeing Pablo off at last. Pablo’s first attempts, going without his boiler, which just ends iwth him freezing and attempting to carry smokey joe on his back both fail, he eventually decides to go with a boat and cleverly simply saws the ice berg he’s on so it’ll drift with his house and possessions, and has Gary hit it with a bottle both to christen it and to send it flying. Plus having bags on the bags on my eyes myself, I can relate to their tired expressions. As can we all after this year. Just a month and a half and it’s finally blessedly over.

Pablo makes his way through, finally finding his island only to nearly have his iceberg melt before he gets there. But he persevers and gets his paradise, even adorably eating a banana> Though it ends on a mealoncholy yet still funny note of Pablo missing home even though he has a pet turtle/butler now. Man I want one of those. One final note is that the short is narrated greatly by Sterling Holloway.. aka the future WInnie The Pooh using that exact voice which while a little weird in hindsight, just makes the short that more adorable if you imagine Pooh is reading a story to you. Just a really damn cute short with some good and intentive gags, and penguins. I mean i’ll be honest I have a soft spot in my hart for those tudeoxed boys thanks to the comic strip BLoom County and it’s lead character Opus taking up a LOT of real estate in my heart and brain. Here’s a few samples of him just so you get why.

Just a sweetheart. Though his honker would grow exponenitally with time. And once get grabbed by a card carrying MAGA asshole. But I can talk about my boy here and this strip again another day. Point is I may love pengies but even that aside this is a good short and a good way to start things off. Sadlly the pacing then lops out a bit as the next two bits aren’t QUITE as entertaining.

2. Birds Birds Birds: Of Arcuan BIrds and Toucan Sex Donald then watches a film on birds, and i’ts basically just a bunch of short funny gags with various tropical birds. There are a FEW notable bit sin the short, and I will get to them now, but otherwise it’s just okay.. not great but not exactly memorable. I honestly forgot there was anything BUT the Arcuan bird in this bit. Speaking of which A) The Arcuan Bird, a hyperactive pink little guy who makes a little “yatatata” noise, and boops donald a bit and later shows up in the film to steal Jose’s Cigar. Easily the most entertaining part of this section and there’s a reason why he became a massive fan faviorite, as well as got a more expanded roll in Legend of the Three Cablleros. He’d also apparently later return for another Package Film. What a bird. B) There’s a bit with Toucans, which I remember because I freaking love Toucans, the big colorful beaks look neat contrasted with their black and white bodies and they seem friendly and the one fictional one besides Toucan Sam I can rmemeber is Tuca of Tuca and Bertie. Nuff said. And because they mention the Tucan’s making love. First off this is how a Tucan makes love.

And secondly, clealry the term has evolved considerably, but it’s still chuckle inducing to have that term in a disney movie, especially since it makes me think of a number of things most notably this.

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Which, fun fact, is the song that will likely be sung when Donald and Daisy finally have sex in the Ducktales Reboot. Della didn’t buy those choir robes for nothing. Though the joke here is simply that they can’t kiss because they have big noses. GET IT. Though I have seen incompatable noses end marriages.

See I told you his honker got bigger. Okay onto the 3rd thing from this bit.

C) The Flamingos, who retract into themselves while Donald adorably copies. What a boy. With that I can move on from this segement thankfully and onto... an even worse one!.. wait...

3. The Littlest Gaucho: The Boring One This one’s a leftover from Saludos Amigos, likely because that one already had a Gaucho Bit with goofy and because it’s not very good. But Disney was strapped for cash so use everything you got. And yes I advocated for using everything in my review of life and times part 1.. but that’s more for a shared universe and left “Oh hey I found this short in our garbage let’s put it in another movie to save money” way. I appreciate being cheap, I myself am unemployed and right now these reviews are my source of income, but you could’ve just you know.. let the film be shorter? You didn’t have to waste animation leading inito this bit. This one is the story of a young boy, as narrated by his older self who can somehow see through the veil of time and yell at his younger self. How?

But it dosen’t really help the story as i’ve seen far better interactive narrators and ones clearly editing history. Especially since, despite ending on a VERY sour note, How I Met Your Mother was a pro at this. It’s not the film’s fault, but even back int he 40′s I swear they could do this better.

It’s the simple story of the little Gaucho finding a flying Donkey, befriending him, and then entering him in a jockey race which they win. There’s one or two good gags here, but it dosen’t have the cutness of the previous segments and only one or two good gags. It just feels like filler and if I watch the film again, which I probably will, I will fast forward past this. Thankfully after this we finally get a break.

4. A Song For Bahia: They call him JOSEEEEEEEEE.. and he’s Donald

Jose enters! Donald’s next gift is a book from Brazil that’s smoking..mostly because so’s Jose. The two friends reunite, with Jose in a story book asking Donald about , what I assume is Jose’s home state of Bahia, one of Brazil’s 20 states and spelled Baia in this movie for some reason. We then get an absolutely beautiful sequence of Jose’s voice actor singing about Bahia and showing off how beautiful the country is through gorgeous animation. It’s a really marvelous segment and really pretty to look at. And once that segment’s done the film starts to pick up in energy, though unlike the Gaucho segment, the Bahia song is actually good.

5. Os Quindins de Yayá: The Sleeper Has Awakened.. and by the sleeper I mean Donald’s Penis. There’s a few bits here. We start with the wonderful song, “Have You Ever Been to Bahia?”.. which is almost entirely Jose asking that to donald who says no, with some fun mindscrewy animation.. the film has not BEGUN to mindscrew, but we’ll get to that.

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Also for this segment Jose apparently has Jamie Madrox powers.. or he’s from Cragg.. either way, Donald hasn’t been to Baia so let’s go. The boys take a train, the Arucan messes things up again, etc etc and soon their in Baia where two major aspects of the film show up: Blending Live action with animation, and Donald being really horny. It’s not to a creepy degree outside of one segment, we’ll get there, but Donald being really into live action women is a major part of three segments of this film. If your wondering while Daisy had debuted, she wasn’t the ETCHED IN STONE, presence she’d become for Donald. Which I don’t have a problem with, I love them in Ducktales 2017, their one of the few tolerable aspects of the quack pack’s i’ve watched, and they were great in House of Mouse. I”m just saying some works don’t really have her around in them (Donald’s spy and papernik adventures), while other more charming and eligible women are, while others have her as outright abusive (Legend of the Three Caballeros). I’m not against Donsy when done properly, again huge fan of the Ducktales 2017 version of the couple, I just dont’ think it has to be mandatory. The fact the Italian comics made Donald a fairly likeable alien queen as a love interest proves it.

But yeah here Donald’s thirsty as fuck, can relate, and thus we get our next musical number.. and that blend of live action and animation. I will admit, especially on second viewing.. it’s pretty obvious their mostly using a green screened animated backdrop with the charcters on it. The other segments are much more integrated. That being said.. i’m perfectly fine with it, as Disney was on a really low budget, only able to get financing for package films like this since their main financer wouldn’t given them money for anything but shorts, so it was a workaround, not to mention having a mass talent exodus over the strike and World Fucking War II to contend with. So cheeping out on ONE segment in a large film, and STILL having it come out good is fine just fine. And it truly does, the segment centers around Yaya, a cookie seller and the object of Donald’s affections, though he gets mad when a guitar man slips in and woos her instead for a bit before eventually leaving her alone, with Donald getting a kiss. But while parts of that clearly haven’t aged well, it’s an utterly joyous and fun musical number in an already fun musical, and Aurora Miranda who plays Yaya, and is sister of Carmen Miranda something Disney actually put in promotional materials.... come to think of it I didn’t watch the trailer.. I’ll get to it in a moment. Point is, Miranda is very talented and it’s VERY fun number. Have a listen since the sequence itself is WAY to long to put video of up on youtube.

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And having watched the trailer during that music break, it’s not bad, I expected more cringe. The most I got was them calling the women “latin american lovlies” which.. seems.. wrong. But with the romance of Bahia setting and Donald dragged out by Jose, we can get into our next segement as, over halfway in, we finally get our third Cabllero

6. The Three Cablleros: Who Say So? We Say So!

HERE COMES THE PANCHITO Ladies and Gentleman and Others! HERE COMES THE PANCHITO! the moment you’ve been waiting for! HERE COMES THE PANCHITO! the pride of Mexico! HERE COMES PANCHITO! Panchito Pistoles!

When then meet Panchito who joyfully shoots guns around, because stereotype but thankfully he’s also joyful, jubilant and likeable much like his pal Jose. Panchito’s just a thoughtly likeable character and next to his smooth talking pal, it’s easy to see why the two became huge fan favorites. And thus we get our title track.

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IT’s a beautiful, fun segment, that while some portions, such as Panchito’s yelling or “some Latin baby’ haven’t aged particularly well, is still a fun colorful number with amazing music and great gags, that utterly sells our boys camaraderie. I have no notes, ten out of ten flawless classic number. Who Say So? I SAY SO! Also given both boys kiss Donald at some point.. yeah these boys are bi as fuck and damn i’ts awesome.

7. Mexico: Bored Again, Naturally. Donald then gets a pinata and we get a short story about a bunch of kids going around to places only to be told “no shelter no posada”. Like the Gauchito bit.. it’s pretty boring and nonconesquential and only gets a leg up due to being far shorter and a little adorable versus not really as adorable as the segement thinks it is. The kids end up at a party with a pinata. We do get a fun sequence after this nothing of a story of Donald batting a pinata around while the boys mess with him a bit. It’s fun stuff. Out of the PInata we get another storybook, and another slow segement of Panchito singing about mexico which is a less fluidly animated, and thus far less entertaining, version of the Bahia song.. diffrent song, same premise of a bird melodically and beautifully singing about his home land, but less engaging because it’s just still images. I get they were low on budget but while I can forigve that for the Yaya sequence.. this one.. I just can’t as they not only already did this, but did it less good the second time around. The song is lovely though, and I do miss a time in our culture when we looked at Mexico with fondness and didn’t have a FAR too large portion of our population think anyone from there should go back where they came when they come to our brave country to find shelter, aslym and opportunity just because they didn’t go through “proper channels’ even though that’s difficult. WHat i’m saying is fuck our immigration policy for the last 4 years, and bless the president-elect for planning to fix that ASAP. I felt it was worth mentioning in a review ABOUT a Mexican character who, in the reboot, is an immigrant to America.

8. Everybody Dance: Another fun number.

We’re onto Mexico and it’s time for another musical number

So our heroes dance, Donald hits on some more women.. stuff we’ve seen before but it’s still a fun beautiful song and unlike the last bit while the animation has clearly aged enough to be more obvious, it still looks great next to the various live action dancers and blends real well. A fun time that gives us more great music and another reminder from donald that...

I mean I get being thirsty as shit, again can relate.. but the next segment takes it from Donald and the Boys being kinda horny to.

9. The Beach: Donald Gets Creeptacular

Yeah this bit is .. less endearing. The boys fly the serape over to a beach, and divebomb the girls, which isn’t a sex act.. that i’m aware of. But yeah chasing around several women, and donald leaving the Serape to chase them around old beach movie/benie hill/trying my patience style. It’s cringe is what i’m saying as a man literally chasing a woman around is considered flirtitng here and that’s all kinds of EUGGGGHHHH. The previous segments had Donald be kind of respectful in his woman chasing: while he was pretty horny, he also tipped his hat, flirted a bit, asked to dance you know, normal shit.. not decided “let’s chase them with a serape that will turn them on!’ jesus.. yeah not much to say here either just.. really creepy. But we have not reached peak horny donald yet.. oh no.

10. Donald’s Surreal Revere: WHAT EXACTLY THE FUCK.

Dora Luz appears in the sky of Mexico after the boys exit the book and flip to Mexico’s night life... just go with hit and Donald swoons over her before joining her int he book and after getting a kiss from her and swooning over her.. has an acid trip. I .. I don’t know how else to describe Donald’s surreal reverie. It’s clear Walt just told the animators do whatever. I will TRY to describe this sequence as best I can, but I make no promises except what I describe is exactly what happened, see for yourself.

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Okay so after Dora’s magical floating kisses, just go with it, kiss donald he explodes, in a rocket blast clearly symbolizing his errection, then becomes a neon sign and a hummingbird, just go with it, tries to kiss Dora’s image appearing on a flower, then Jose and Panchito BURST out of the flower with tiny chipmunk voices and gun violence, a SCREAMING TECHNICOLOR TRANSTION, dora singing the song in the middle of a flower again , donald making out with the flower but it turning out ot be panchito with a giraffe neck saying “Some fun eh kid?”, donald falling through a sea of ladies, donald chasing the ladies on a serape. Donald’s disembodied head looking at the ladies before bursting out of the picture to chase them GOOD GOD DID WE NEED MORE OF THAT?! The boys ending up on female bodies and them some sort of horse abomination. Then we get into what must of inspiried a young david Lynch as donald kisses the flower agian, then ends up in one as they replay a creepy whispery recording of either Jose or Panchito saying pretty girls while we see still images of the girls from the beach. Hummingbird Flower Donald then has a romantic duet with a lady because WHY NOT at this point, then multiple donalds before he spins away. We get one last number with donald dancing with living cacti that turn into mini donald’s that’s slightly more sane and finally this bit is done. IN conclusion.

I just.. I have no words. The giant mess of text up there should explain it and I purposfully didn’t divy it up as i’ve been trying to do more often, as it deserves to be one long string of nonsense. I just.. it’s beautiful to look at but what the hell was that. Is this going to happen every time Donald and Daisy have sex? Is this what Donald’s brain is like all the time? Did Panchito inject him with pure liquid acid?

So yeah we thankfully conclude the film after that with

14. The Wrap UP The boys horse around with a bull and then heartwarmingly watch fireworks together.. there isn’t much to add it’s jsut fun to watch and a nice pallete cleanser after loosing my sanity. Isn’t that right keith david?

You always say that! So...

Final Thoughts: I’ve made my thoughts on the various segments clear, but what of the film as a whole? As a whole.. it’s pretty fun. Is it the best film Disney’s Produced? probably not. But it’s a fun, brisk 70 minutes, hampered by a few slow spots and some weird horny bits, and various segments feel like an acid trip despite having never taken acid. But our boys easlly anchor the surreality and thirst and all three have great chemistry both comedically, friendship wise and romantically. It’s also very easy to see why this film and it’s cablleros got big in Mexico and Brazil as the film seems like a love letter to both, and is fairly respectful. WHich for the time, sex tourism aside, is pretty damn inspried. So yeah in conclusion, this is a really fun memorable film, it was even better on a second watch and it’s an enjoyable colorful reminder of Disney’s package film era, which I might dig into a bit.. I just may have to borrow a copy of make mine music.. guess what just got added to my list of “why the fuck isn’t this on disney plussss?”

Regardless this was a fun review and auspcious start to the ride of the Cablleros. if you’d like to comission your own movie or tv review, hit up my ask box or submit box or shoot me an ask to get my discord. You can also join my patreon, patreon.com/popculturebuffet, Until then you can check this space for the various ongoing series mentioned and regular Ducktales coverage every monday. Until then, Adios, with a christmas message from my personal fourth Cabllero

#the three caballeros #donald duck #panchito pistoles #jose carioca #bahia #mexico #donsy #opus the penguin #bloom county #ducktales #aurora miranda #disney #disney plus #disney +#disney+#comissions #ride of the three cablleros

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laughing-with-god · 5 years

Note

QQ has me shaking in my boots ✊🏻👏🏻 but I’ve had a lingering question for the last few days; if the rest of the BTS members were in QQ, what districts would they be from? Love your work 🥺❤️

oh my god, okay here me out; an alternative Quarter Quell Fic were all past victors must play again and all the bts members are victors who come to play the quell but they somehow all become yandere over Y/n.....Lemme know if that’s something ya’ll would like to read. Anyway, here ya go;

(Btw I’m gonna base these profiles on the crackhead idea I stated up above, except I’m not going to do Jungkook and Tae bc they’re already in my Quarter Quell Fic and their games are being played right now so I don’t feel right doing profiles for them...it’ll deadass confuse me.)

BTS as Victors (Hunger Games AU)

Kim Seokjin- District One (Luxury)

Jin originates from district one, most would say that he figuratively hit the birth lottery by being from this district.

The first district is essentially the crown jewel of the capitol, it’s by far the most favored. The main job of district one is to provide the capitol with all luxury items, so most people make their money by creating jewelry and makeup. (Both of which are in extremely high demand in the capitol, so 1 is by far the most economically flourishing district.)

Jin never had to suffer food outages or abuse by peacekeepers because of 1′s good status with the capitol. To further his prosperity, Jin’s father was actually the mayor of district one.

Which makes Jins’ reaping all the more scandalous.

There was a rumor that Jin’s father expressed sympathy towards the damaged and less favored districts (11 and 12).So when Jin’s name was reaped, people suspected that the system was rigged and Jin’s name was going to get called out either way. Because after all, how would the capitol keep a loud-mouth mayor in check? By putting his son in the games, of course.

No one volunteered in fear of interfering with the capitol’s plans and getting in trouble.

However Seokjin fancied himself an actor and practically skipped to the stage with a big grin on his face, announcing his name proudly and even stating that it would be an honor to compete on behalf of his district.

His strategy was to get on the good side of both the audience and the gamemakers. Unlike other tributes who sometimes couldn’t help the look of terror they had, Jin made sure to constantly look happy and would even compliment the gamemakers in his interview by saying things like, “This game is going to be the best one in years, I could already tell.” “I caught a glimpse at the makers during my assessment and let me tell you...they’re not playing around this year.”

Because of this Jin wasn’t the target of any foul play or natural disasters bc the makers held no ill will towards him, if anything a lot of them actually wanted him to win.

He earned himself many fans and thus sponsors, mainly due to his good looks and partly due to his surprisingly goofy nature.

Jin was always sure to keep his attitude light. He constantly made jokes and did impressions in the arena, showcasting his humor bc the last thing he needed was to be painted as the bad guy. His number one rule was to always keep his fans satisfied. That kept him alive.

He stuck to the career alliance; teaming up with his district counterpart, two and the girl from four. He stuck with them because he knew he would need the numbers and the supplies. But a bit more than halfway through the games, when the careers took down all the main threats, Jin zipped up all the tents that his sleeping allies were in, took a good amount of supplies and set the camp on fire; effectively killing the career pact.

For two days after that he wandered alone but was having trouble with basic survival skills. Unlike more than half the tributes, Jin grew up in a city with no true sense of nature. He was struggling.

That’s when he came across a boy from 11 and a girl from 7. They both were rather weak and Jin offered them protection in exchange that they let him stay in their hideout with them. But when 11 and 7 were under attack, Jin fled and let them be killed.

Jin eventually had to go against the last tribute standing; a girl from 6. She was also frail and only lasted that long because of her hiding skills. Jin overpowered her and threw her off a mountain. Thus, he became victor.

He still is to this day one of the most popular victors and a really good mentor (although he mainly just advocates for having allies, using them, then killing them before they can kill you.)

because of his good looks, he is often sold off to elite women and men for a night with a handsome victor. Jin has no choice, it’s the only way he was able to make the president forgive his father. (Think of Finnick Odair).

Choice of weapon; spear, betrayal (all his allies will eventually end up killed by him)

Arena

Min Yoongi- District Six (Transportation)

District Six is responsible for all methods of transportation the capitol has. The hovercrafts, the high-speed trains and advanced cargo ships are all products of 6.

Citizens from six are heavily oppressed by the peacekeepers. Although not as poor as 11 or 12, they are one of the more rebellious districts. It’s also the largest district and the most unstable, lots of the population suffer from a morphling addiction which is party responsible for the citizen’s disobedience.

Yoongi came from a lower middle class background, raised by a single working mom who fell victim to the morphling epidemic. Needless to say she was very absent from his life.

Life at six is so bleak, when Yoongi’s name was reaped his first thought was ‘well, at least I won’t die in this shit hole.’

He was very numb due to shock so he appeared very aloof when he went up to the stage; a total contrast to his counterpart who was bawling her eyes out.

He managed to keep this stoic act up for the entirety of his time in the capitol, his thought process was that he never wanted to give the capitol the satisfaction of seeing him break.

He mainly enjoyed all the food and luxuries the capitol had to offer, thinking that he had no chance of winning and might as well enjoy his last days.

It wasn’t until his interview where even the host forgot his name that he realized that he might have a secret weapon under his belt; no one knew who he was, he was forgettable, someone who other tributes overlooked and even underestimated.

He went to his mentor with this revelation and was told to go the ‘Joanna Mason route’.

Ie; play weak and stupid until there’s only a few tributes left, then release your inner crazy and kill them all before they ever even saw you coming.

Yoongi figured it was better than nothing and decided this as his strategy.

Yoongi had no help of sponsors or allies, all he had was himself. But that’s the way he wanted it.

He hid for more than half the game, his small stature making it easy for him to hide into small nooks and crannies. He survived mainly on small plants, insects and any rainfall he was able to get.

It wasn’t until he witnessed someone die near one of his hideouts that he allowed his murderous side to snap.

It was a fight between a girl from 5 and a boy from 9. The girl had knives while the boy had an ax, the girl managed to get him in the throat and he fell over dead. After the girl searched his pockets for supplies, she turned around to stalk off, unaware Yoongi was only yards away.

Yoongi silently got out of his hideout, took the ax and ran up behind her before chopping her head off.

There was only four tributes left and Yoongi hunted them all down, tired with how long this game was taking and desperate to get home.

he managed to kill them all, the tributes being caught off guard bc of his excellent hiding skills

He became one of the youngest victors of all time, he was only 14.

As a mentor, he’s actually pretty absent.

Yoongi doesn’t like to get too close to the tributes because it becomes too emotionally crushing to eventually witness them die.

His general advice for them is to lay low and never draw any attention towards you, the factor of surprise is the ultimate weapon for those with patience.

Yoongi has never been the same since the games, he isn’t proud of it but he’s also become dependent on morphling; it’s the only thing that keeps his nightmares and depression away. (Like Haymitch, except Haymitch was dependent on alcohol and Yoongi is dependent on drugs)

He despises the capitol even more now, hating the fact that they made him a murderer and he was forced to play into the very game he promised to never have a part of.

He lives with that guilt everyday and doesn’t think he’s any better than the ruthless career kids he sees every year

He’s quite belligerent too. He is almost never given mentor interviews or screentime because he’s blown up one too many times that the hosts know to avoid him. (Think Joanna Mason and the one catching fire scene where she flips shit on national tv).

Weapons; hiding, ax

Arena

Kim Namjoon- District Three (Technology)

District three has some of the smartest tributes, and Namjoon was no different.

District Three is responsible for all the high-end technology the capitol has; the people may not be as strong as two or as flashy as one, but their intellect alone runs the capitol.

Kids from three are good at creating functional tools, codes, wires, ect. But sadly, these traits don’t translate well into the games given the clear advantage towards physical superiority over intellectual superiority.

Namjoon was determined to show the capitol how far a smart kid can go.

Like most tributes, Namjoon went into a little bit of a shock when his name was reaped.

He walked up, void of any emotion and avoided any eye contact with the district representative or the female counterpart.

When he was escorted into the room to say his goodbyes to his family is when he finally broke.

But his mother made him promise to do anything to get back home, she didn’t care how dirty he had to get she just wanted her boy to live

This encouragement/promise was enough to motivate him to become the last one standing, he didn’t care how gory he would have to get.

He utilized his mentor heavily, talking their ear off and asking countless questions. Soaking up any information/advice he could get, knowing it could very well be the difference between life and death.

His mentor advised him to choose the Beetee Latier strategy, telling Namjoon that if he just got his hands on some tools and put his mind to it he could be the most dangerous tribute in that arena.

During his training days Namjoon spent all his time in the rope stations, net stations and hook stations, knowing that his future plans would require him to be good with these skills.

During his interview, he hinted to the audience that he was very smart. He was careful to not make it obvious enough to make him a target of the careers but enough to raise the interests of the sponsors.

His personal score was also good, making the act of getting sponsors a little bit easier.

When the game began, he ran off from the blood bath but not too far. He stayed close enough to watch who left and with what supplies. With this knowledge, he began to track the people who had the tools he would need to play out his plan.

He would track these people very slyly, waiting until their guard was down to swipe their supplies.

With these supplies he would build traps and set them up for tributes to unknowingly walk into. His favorites were bear traps, snatching nets and digging up 8 ft deep holes then covering them up with debri for tributes to stumble into.

He managed to kill a decent amount of tributes before killing off what was left of the career pact.

However, Namjoon wasn’t able to avoid hand-to-hand combat forever.

When it came to the end, it was between a male tribute from 5, a girl from 2 and Namjoon himself. Both tributes had weapons while Namjoon didn’t.

He fought with them and got stabbed and sliced a good amount, but even with his fatal blood loss and fading consciousness, his brilliant mind came up with a plan.

He staggered over to one of his traps, making the tributes think he was just trying to run away when the truth was he was trying to lure them to their deaths.

They took the bait, got strung up into a net before being electrocuted to death.

The last words Namjoon heard before he blacked out was the head gamemaker announcing him victor.

Namjoon is now one of the greatest mentors of all time. Whenever it’s his turn to overlook the tributes of his home district the chances of 3 winning goes up 50%

He is very good at strategy and has even helped the gamemakers create certain arenas for future games.

namjoon teaches his students the importance of staying calm and sticking to a plan. “When kids are scared, starving and fighting for their lives they’re very easy to pick off. Utilize that.”

Weapons; stalking, traps

Arena

Jung Hoseok- District Eight (Textiles)

Hoseok was a victim of the reaping gamble. (The process in which kids will enter their names in the reaping bowl more times than required in exchange for food)

Hoseok is the oldest of four children, his mother died with the birth of the youngest child and his dad died years later due to poor health via the unlawful work conditions in the factories. (District Eight is responsible for all the clothes the capitol has, this means the vast majority of citizens work in factories. Eight is also very oppressed so peacekeepers beat citizens and hand out punishments often.)

Hoseok dropped out of school in order to help provide for his brothers and sister. He is the only one working and he refuses to let the second to oldest child drop out of school to help him. He just wants his siblings to get their education so hopefully they can end up with manager positions at the factories and wouldn’t have to suffer the awful conditions/abuse average factory workers go through.

Hoseok is used to putting his name in more times than needed. Of course it means his panic is through the roof when reaping comes but when the names are called and he’s not one of them, he walks away with a relieved heart and bags full of food for his siblings.

Hoseok depends on that food, because it saves him up to three weeks of salary and he can use that money to get his siblings some new clothes that they had to wait all year for. Along with some small gifts in order to make up for the birthday’s Hoseok wasn’t able to afford.

Since this was his last year of being eligible for the reaping, Hoseok made sure to add his name more than usual, hoping to get more food so he could spread out the money for even longer.

So in a way, when his name was called, he wasn’t completely surprised.

But he was heartbroken, realizing that in his effort to provide for his siblings he may have robbed them of yet another caretaker.

When it was time to say goodbye, he tried his hardest to be strong and promised them he’d come back.

On the train ride over to the capitol he was completely inconsolable, unable to sleep at the prospect of his siblings having to watch him die on national tv.

He went through the motions of the first days at the capitol, but it wasn’t until the training days begun that he was approached.

it was a girl from 10 and she was only 13 years old. She asked him if he had an ally and if he would be interested in working with her. Hoseok was about to say no when he fell silent, the girl reminded him so much of his younger sister that he couldn’t help but want to protect her.

They made an alliance.

And it was working rather well. Turned out the girl from 10 was very handy and knew how to keep her and Hoseok alive. The arena was a freezing arctic and she skinned polar bears in order to keep her and Hoseok warm, later cooking the meat for them to eat.

Most tributes that year died via freezing to death, very little fighting was done.

Not the career pact though.

They found Hoseok and the girl from 10, holding him down and forcing him to watch as they tortured her.

Eventually she died but he would never forget her screams for help.

This was enough to make Hoseok snap.

So he did.

Hoseok became a monster, broke free and killed the pact. There was only three (two boys, one girl), he stabbed one in the throat, strangled the other and tracked the fleeing girl down before holding her head under the freezing water till she drowned.

Hoseok won.

In a way he’s glad because now him and his family live on victor’s row and no longer have to worry about their next meal.

But his sanity will never be the same....

He is the kindest mentor, mainly because he knows that the majority of them won’t be coming back so he’s sure to be very nice and always offers to look out for their family when they eventually die.

Arena

Park Jimin- District Four (Fishing)

Jimin volunteered for the games, an act that was surprising to everyone and anyone in four.

It’s not that Jimin wasn’t strong, it was just that he didn’t seem like the type to hurt people and he was mainly just known as a really sweet local fisher boy.

People wondered how such an angel could even think of volunteering, much less actually win the games...

(Rumors even spread that he must’ve been suicidal or in serious debt, why else would he volunteer?)

But he strutted up confidently and announced his name, holding a certain benevolence that made him seem self-assured in his own ability.

Jimin was already acting like he won the games before he even got to the capitol.

He never really showed any anxiety or distress, he talked to the escort and mentors very casually....as if they were all old friends.

He also was extremely close to his designers/stylists, he allowed himself to get spoiled by the pampering and new clothes/makeup. (This also could’ve been part of his strategy. Most tributes could care less about their team but by Jimin becoming close to them, they most likely were more motivated to get him the best clothes, jewelry, makeup and overall helped him get more fans.)

Needless to say he became popular very quickly, he was by far the most attractive tribute and his laid back/flirty personality was infectious. For the first time ever a tribute’s concept was sex appeal, something that was unheard of for tributes to do because of their young age.

During his interview when asked about his strategy, Jimin just shrugged cutely and said “I’m a very lucky person, I doubt this will be all that hard.”

he buttered up the careers very nicely, they all basically just saw him as eye candy with lots of sponsors, not an actual threat.

Little did anyone know, Jimin was actually playing a very intelligent game that requires lots of manipulation.

His main objective was to stick with the careers until more than half the tributes were gone, then he would turn the careers against each other.

It would start off really slow and deliberate; going to one career and saying “This isn’t any of my business, but I heard (blank) talking in their sleep about offing you.” Or going to another and saying, “Don’t you think it’s weird how (blank) is acting? Maybe they’re thinking about killing us and winning this thing for themselves.”

He creates chaos and distrust and watches as they slowly turn against each other.

Eventually the careers would begin to kill each other, the alliance crumbling all thanks to Jimin.

Jimin would wait until only him and another career remained. At this point the career would realize that it was Jimin who destroyed the alliance...but it would be too late.

It was a girl career and although she was strong, she was no match for Jimin who dragged her to the swamp and held her head under water until the cannon sounded.

He would then kill the remaining two tributes, a piece of cake since he only kept the careers around to off the bigger threats, only weak kids remained.

Wins the game and becomes one of the most popular victors of all time. (Although it’s still a mystery as to why he volunteered, a lingering question Jimin has always refused to answer.)

Because of him a new strategy in the games was born; The Jimin game (ie; get in an alliance, use the alliance for supplies/food/protection, then when all the big tributes are gone plant a seed of deception into the allies so they all turn against each other)

Also because of him tributes began selling a more sexier side of themselves. (Esp tributes from four bc Jimin mentors them into it so that they can get more sponsors)

Jimin also frequents the capitol often, being an A-list celebrity and receiving special treatment whenever he comes around. Unlike Yoongi, Jimin fully embraced his role and is always ready to give out interviews or guest on shows.

he also sells himself to elite capitol women, not because he was forced to but because he enjoys the sex and gifts that come with it (sugar baby)

Although there is one catch to sleeping with the infamous Park Jimin.....you have to tell him a secret worth his while.

What he’s planning to do with these secrets....no one knows.

Arena

#bts

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