#also i lied it’s merced which i think is worse

[brutefury]

uc davis’s asl club follows me on instagram cuz my cousin used to lead it but he graduated and now it’s just a random uc schools club following me

[vro0m]

Brocedes hasnt been brocedes all year. Its just a lot more ovi now. We got a certified nico lewis situation at merc. Toto picking the wrong guy once again. Whats new?

Okay first of all I wanna say this can't be a Nico - Lewis situation. There will never be a Nico - Lewis situation again. But I guess what you mean is there's an open, direct rivalry at Merc again. Which. Yeah sure. That's usually what happens. I'm not surprised it's happening, we mentioned it before.

(long post)

I'm not sure what you mean by 'Toto picking the wrong guy once again'. If you mean in the context of hiring George, I disagree because George is a very good driver. If you mean in the race, I highly doubt Toto is the one making the strategy calls in the middle of things. At the very most, the strategists tell him the options and he might green-light one of them.

They've been having strategy issues for a while now. That's also something we've talked about before. If anything, I'd say the issue lies with the strategy team rather than Toto or George. We've said the bad calls were hidden by the good car performance before but also I do think it's gotten worse. Back when it was announced that Vowles was leaving, I said not directly replacing him was bullshit. They claimed the rest of the department would just divide Vowles' workload between themselves. Toto said they'd been doing it already during the '22 season (when did the strategy issues ramp up? idk). What I said at the time was "someone is going to have to make the final decision on strategy" and "otherwise it's not gonna work". It might just not be working.

One thing I'll give credit to George for is that he's trying things. Hasn't there been a convo in the last few weeks with people (including me iirc) saying Merc is too conservative with the strategy? That they need to stop acting like they're at the front, defending rather than behind, chasing? Also isn't it kinda boring when the team doesn't give the car that's qualified behind a chance and only uses it to support the other? (Also with his quali performances lately, wouldn't that do more harm to Lewis than George?) I guess it's just the way being a fan goes, but I feel like every race weekend I see fans of either driver defending what or complaining about what they were complaining about or defending the previous race, depending on who they're rooting for the most. It's okay when it's their blorbo only (which again : just being a fan).

Anyway props to George for being a driver, and asking for more. That's his job. Sometimes it annoys me ngl. Sometimes I feel like he's acting too entitled during the races. But as I also said before, it's not particularly unexpected from a young driver. Lewis was really not that different in his days lol. They all have a chip on their shoulder and they are all essentially starving egotistical cunts. The older ones might just have learnt to hide it slightly better through the years. Slightly. Is Lewis being more of a team player? On track, probably so, props to him for that. Don't know how long it's gonna last in these conditions though, given that he's also a starving egotistical cunt. Off track, he's complaining very loudly and unsubtly about not being prioritised by the team in a not-so-great way imo. I'm repeating myself yet again but it's not as easy as just saying here's what needs fixing with the car, then claiming they're not listening to him when it doesn't suddenly work. Merc is truly fumbling with the development, and patience is not Lewis' greatest virtue lol. He's clearly getting frustrated with the performance, understandably so. I'm simultaneously pretty sure that's true for the whole team, not just him. So him saying they're not doing their best and voluntarily just not doing what he wants is probably not helping.

I do think that the team is gonna have to find a way to make it work between them two on track before they take each other out or straight up disobey team orders out of hunger or frustration. But well. Do I have to link the essay again? (Sorry for bringing it up 10 times a week.) It's not that easy managing intra-team rivalries and I see some people claiming they should pick a n°1 driver but how? Right now, Lewis and George are on par in quali (8-8). George has less points for sure but you also gotta take into account that he's had four terrible races in the year, not always by his fault (although sometimes yes). Outside of these four races, their results are very similar. This is not a Max-Perez type of gap by far. Lewis is most probably not gonna stay for 10 more years despite what he sometimes likes to pretend, George might. I'm still rooting for Lewis first and everybody else second but if you look at this realistically, it's not as simple as saying to George "look we're betting on you for the future, someday, but until Lewis retires you'll always be a second thought to us. But you know, still stay with us and take it lying down. Toodles!" He's completely right about it, but it's easier for Lewis to say "we're fighting for the team not for driver points" when he's the one ahead in the standings. Because what? You always always have to do better than your teammate. (Again, sorry for bringing it up constantly.)

In some way the issue with both of them is impatience. Lewis is impatient to have a good car again and he's starting to somewhat take it out on the team which isn't ideal. For all they looove saying we win and we lose together, that's not a supportive behavior claiming publicly they're just not listening to him. George is impatient to get track position and to beat his team-mate and he's rushing the racing too much, making rookie mistakes in the process (see Singapore) and demanding sometimes more than his due during races.

So yeah I think they need to rein them both in — one off track, one on track — but also without rejecting all new ideas and all questioning, both when it comes to the car and when it comes to the race strategy. It's not gonna be easy, but it's definitely gonna be very interesting.

[xxrainbowvibezxx]

"Jerrod gives off malewife vibes, not in a bad way. He seems like a nice family guy who loves his wife and daughters. Sucks that his Canon event in every timeline is death." - for real, though. His and Sindel's marriage is literally girlboss x malewife. I just know he was a mess when he found out that he and Sindel were having twin girls. He's a proud girl dad.

At least this time,the girls got him back.....more or less. Sindel only got like an hour of quality time with him before she got merced,which sucks because his death clearly broke her in half emotionally(well,that combined with Li Mei getting hemmed up for it and leaving before things got worse).

(Also, I feel like Tanya's not the first Umgadi to break her vows by getting involved with a royal family member. My theory is that Li Mei was the first to do so,but since she had Sindel's favour, she got away with it. Plus she did a much better job of hiding the situation than Taleena did.)

Yes, I love the girlboss x malewife dynamic that Sindel and Jerrod had. Bro literally said, "i am yours to control," when he reunited with Sindel. Jerrod and Sindel are Gomez Addams and Mortcia Addams coded, and no one can change my mind.

Before the game came out, I was hoping Jerrod was gonna be alive and that we would have family moments (and maybe have him as a playable character). We finally got Mileena and Kitana as actual twins with Sindel being their mother, Jerrod deserved to be alive in this timeline, tbh. We should've got flashbacks or something.

I can imagine him being ecstatic during Sindel's pregnancy. Was 100% by her side, helped her with whatever, and made sure she was comfortable. Definitely cried when Sindel gave birth to the twins and held her hand as she did. (Omg, this makes me want to write family headcanons).

Also, I agree with Tanya not being the first umgadi to break her vows. The umgadi have been around for thousands of years. I wouldn't be surprised if more women broke their vows. Like you said, Tanya's case is different because she's with a royal, and they're not discreet AT ALL. Li Mei was way better at hiding things and also had Sindel's favour. Li Mei knew how to play it safe, whereas Tanya, to me, seems a little more rebellious (or she just THINKS that she's being secretive when she's really not).

[dapayeora]

below lies tf2 mercs as korean soups

so walk away if you don't wanna see a bunch of korean soup pics

Scout - Bean sprout soup

Scout's thin and young, like beansprouts.

Ohh look little shrimps are there too.. basically the Scout Soup amirite

You can whip it up in no time, and later when you come back home from the work, you don't even bother to reheat it (which is a very Scout thing to do). It's very commonly eaten cold, even ice cold.

Something that will provide minerals and water after a day of running around under scorching badwater sun. It's like Gatorade but soulful and fibrous (sounds even worse)

Soldier - Seaweed soup

Koreans got the US ARMY SOUP but hey it'd be too easy if i did that for soldier...

This soup is so thick it's not going to steam when it should be steaming hot cause the steam literally can't escape this thick shit and I think it fits dumb(thick) and temperamental(hot) soldier so well..

I can imagine soldier trying to gulp down this thing and get burns all over

It is called May Saying E Guk (not a standard romanization but it does sound like that) like the VA... Rick May.. ok..?

Pyro - Soft tofu soup

Hey it's red, spicy, and will be still boiling on your table.

Plus the soft part. The Pyro Soup.

at this point i wanna quit but will just push through

Demoman - Spicy seafood soup

You know how Demo has a pirate/seaman theme going on, like the Swashbuckler item set, Tide Turner, Loose Cannon, Pirate Bandana and so on?

You could drink endlessly to this soup, eat the soup again for hangover, and start all over again.

This soup often has Styela clava, I can't explain what it is but it's an animal, it's pointy and full of sea water that's gonna explode in your mouth if you bite on it, possibly burning your mouth.

Heavy - Red bean porridge

Ok this is technically not a soup

Koreans eat this thing in the winter solstice to ward off evil spirits and winter solstices tend to be pretty cold?? like Russia??

Red like communism.

It has hundreds of red beans like heavy shoots hundreds of bullets in a minute (600 rounds/min in-game)

This porridge is often eaten sweet, and Heavy is a very sweet guy to his family and Medic.

Warm & sweet in a cold day sounds very like Heavy

People eat this soup also in North Korea(obviously..?), Japan, China, and Vietnam. Hey wow look 3 other communist countries I've already told you this thing is red

Engineer - Ox bone broth soup

To make this bone broth soup milky, you want to first soak the bone for several hours while regularly changing the water, and then boil it, remove the first broth, and then boil it again for hours and hours on high heat.

It requires so much patience like playing Engineer does.

You would typically make this soup in a huge pot - and everything is bigger in Texas, I hear.

Medic - Hangover soup

There are quite a few types of hangover soups in Korean cuisine, and I'm talking about the hangover soup with blood pudding and intestines.

Blood pudding here is basically just clotted blood so I think med's gonna love the idea.

Sniper - Oden stew

Sorry I can't come up with anything Korean with Sniper so here's a Japanese cuisine

Spy - Chicken and octopus stew

It's a mystery how korean food offers dishes so fitting for tf2 mercs

This stew has tentacles (Spy) and a chicken (France)

It is called Hae sin tang that means the Sea god soup, and the name's so pretentious I think Spy would love it.

It's not a traditional dish. It was only invented in 2005 so it's pretty new, like how Spy carries weirdly high-tech gadgets like disguise kits and invisibility clocks.

Hey it even disguises as a traditional food so there's also that.

[shadowflash]

One of my favorite things to get into with 3Hopes / 3Houses are the comparisons between the English and Japanese scripts! In the past, I’ve seen people go over the difference between scripts, and discuss how some changes that happened were for the better or worse. For example, some of you reading this might recall all the talk of unfortunate mistranslations the team for 3Houses made some years ago. That sorta talk is what I’m going to try to get into but not from the angle of criticism in this case.

Like, I’m gonna be trying my hand at comparing the ENG and JP scripts. Mind you I'm not a proficient Japanese reader, and often rely on tools like DeepL + referring to dictionaries and language forums to fill in the gaps of my understanding (which is to say that I'm a super amateur), but I am able to at least note that there are some slight tonal differences here and there in 3Hopes plus I have seen other people do comparisons of their own between scripts.

Again: I’m not writing a criticism of the ENG vs JP stuff. What I’m going for is more like... “Oooh these differences are nice. Having both scripts on hand is good for supplementary understanding reasons!”

For this post, I'll be looking at a couple of differences between Claude's letter to Shez in English and Japanese under the cut.

ENG screenshots of the letter:

And the JP transcript of these same lines:

“お前には、いつも助けらてきたよな。愚痴を間いてもらったこともー度じゃない。”

“この節目に、改めて礼を言わせてくれ。ありがとう、心から感謝してるよ。”

“先のことはわからない、これかわも俺を支えてくてると助かる。いいよな？”

The differences between the last lines across both languages, I think, are the most interesting.. And as you might have seen, I tagged this as "claudeshez" as this is the lens I'm looking at this letter from. Anyway...

In ENG, we get this really nice page writing metaphor that Claude uses in his attempt to persuade Shez to continue fighting by his side. Which itself is so good. Love it.

And in JP, the equivalent line is pretty direct:

(very roughly): "I don't know what lies ahead, so it would be helpful if you could support me. Okay?*" * -> "いいよな？" = "ii yo na?" // It's literally the word "okay" (also “good” or “[it’s] nice” depending on its usage. Think: positive sort of context.) followed by the particles ‘yo’ and ’na’ which basically turns it into something like "Okay? :D" or more accurately “[Does that sound] good? :D” (cute). A plain “Okay? :D” might read as weirdly ambiguous in ENG, and so I think the ENG translation team made a good call to have it be "What do you say? :D" (also cute) since it acknowledges the meaning of those previously mentioned particles!

To me, the usage of "いいよな？" gives the impression that Claude already anticipates that Shez will continue to support him. To access this letter in the first place, the player would need to have had Shez give him the merc whistle. So the very context of this circumstance, I think, lends this line some deeper meaning.. A very sweet one underneath the surface:

"I already know your answer, but I'm going ask anyway after telling you that I would like to have you by my side."

Cuuute. Yes, this question sounds like something he would ask of any reliable ally who fought by his side. But, in receiving this request through a heartfelt letter (as a result of their gift exchange) rather than whatever else, this idea that 'naturally, he would be requesting this' is pushed toward a special direction! Like: "Why this letter.. It's such an intimate medium to communicate through. Hmmm!" Well... The letter is special for a reason. I feel like I’ve said "so cute!" a million times, and I'll say it some more because it's true. To me.

I love sentiments like, "Even if it's just for a little longer, please stay by my side." It's so, sooo cute. And watching Claude say this to Shez, it shows players how he can happily lean on them at this point... Again, it's not like he doesn’t depend on his other friends, but in the context of the two’s relationship, something like this expressed in a private letter is very good. It's not like he's opening up about something groundbreaking, but he's exposing emotional vulnerability as he has been to Shez: by being frank about his feelings. Like, there are times in GW where the metaphorical wall between their hearts is pointed out to be The Problem** (it's why they don't get too close close in a traditional sense) so "smaller" gestures like this are a bigger deal between them than it typically would be..?

Like, these (whatever Claude and Shez are doing whenever they're basically alone together) are fairly normal ways of being emotionally vulnerable with someone. Plainly saying how you feel and telling your friends that you are grateful for them is something that's pretty "d'awwww", but it's not a particularly 'out there' way to express your feelings to them. But in the context of two characters who both impose some kind of distance between their hearts and those of other peoples' while craving the very closeness they habitually reject, any gesture that suggests emotional vulnerability or emotional intimacy carries more significance.. If that makes sense. I don't have all the words to get into exact details while maintaining what little coherency I am able to write with. But I am trying. Argh.

Another line, this time from the second pictured dialogue box:

ENG: “Thank you. Thank you for everything.”

JP: “ありがとう、心から感謝してるよ。”

(very roughly): “Thank you, from the bottom of my heart thank you.”

UGH.. Both of these are really good..!! They both repeat the ‘thank you’ sentiment which is beautiful, and the differences in phrasing are just wonderful. The ENG version gives me this impression that it’s a ‘grand’ sort of thank you where we can feel a great yet gentle sense of relief float in the air, the sort that comes at the end of a long journey. Like a ‘thank you’ hug.

The JP version is... a little more... flowery?? fluffy (not in the light-hearted way but like.. really SOFT)?? sweet?? It’s also like a hug, but different. <- losing his fucking mind (I'm not a creative writer). For lack of better words: it’s dripping with a kind of sentimentality that feels more intimate from Claude’s end of this interaction. It’s wonderful.

BOTH VERSIONS ARE GREAT... Guys, I like it here. Claudeshez... yas.

If someone with better proficiency with Japanese happens to come across this post and would like to point out any of my misunderstandings and/or add more to this, please feel free to do so!

** -> The easiest example to point out from the top of my head is the cutscene that takes place after you watch Claude cut down Shahid. There, Shez notices that Claude is missing from the festivities and attempts to reach out to him.

Here’s a link to an imgur folder that contains screenshots of this exchange!

[the-archangel]

V's Diary Part 5

[Notes: This diary entry works as a stand-alone piece if you've not read the rest. Also, it's pretty racy in the middle, though the end is more melancholic, so pretend you're reading that bit if anyone's reading over your shoulder!]

V, typing:

I really love it when Kerry sends me cute little messages while I’m at work. Last week, I’d just dealt with a real harrowing sich at a BD editors, it was one of the few times that I didn’t have to kill someone, but I did it anyway because they were bottom-feeding scop. I was sat on the fire escape, taking a breather and a message from Kerry pops up, he misses me, he’s been thinking of me, it just makes my day a whole lot better....

“Y’know what makes my day a whole lot better?”

“Not really Johnny.”

“Cigarettes, I need a smoke before I can deal with this ‘stuff I need to remember’ journal crap again.”

“Fine, but maybe you should try writing stuff down instead of blowing stuff up!”

“....”

Another time, I was just about to start a race in the Badlands with Clare, I was leaning on the car, scrolling through my feeds whilst she dealt with some noise in the engine. Kerry was clearly bored as a perfectly normal conversation about his shitbag manager took a sudden filthy turn – I snorted my lemonade through my nose and Clare was so surprised she hit her head on the hood, I lied and said something bit me, don’t think she bought it though. I drove home so fast that night... Then there’s the truth or dare game he started while I was visiting with River’s family – that also turned filthy now I’m thinking about it....

Thing is, I don’t want to forget how good it makes me feel, that a fucking gorgeous, successful rock star takes time out of his day to send messages to me, a lowly merc with a crappy apartment...

“Don’t put yourself down V, you may be a lowly merc with a crappy apartment, but you also have, what 20 cars? One successful rockerboy in your head and another in your bed – things could be worse.”

“Sure, they could also be better, like, I’m not dying any more after all type better.”

“Oh yeah, I forget sometimes.....”

Anyway, I need to remember how he makes me feel. That he’s sat at home taking gonk personality tests and needs to tell about it makes me feel special, thought about, it’s... nice. Unusual.

 So this morning, I was picking up some work on the NCPD scanner, staying close to home as I wasn’t feeling great, and he sends me a text picture puzzle thing to cheer me up, 69<3, so far so obvious, also very Kerry (and very true!), follows this up with a string of Christ-only-knows-what, (tech’s not really his thing) no idea what it was about, but my man sure is shit at puzzles, so that’s what I answer. I’m busy for a couple of hours, then remember to look at my phone, there are the usual fixer requests to work through, even one from Rogue which is rare, and one from Kerry saying I’ve won a prize for being so shrewd and that he’s left a present for me at my apartment, sounds nova!

I’m done with work and need to do some chores anyway, so ride over to Little China to find that he’s left a record player and a vinyl record, left a message throwing shade at my housekeeping skills, and then, just, left. I put the record on while I was feeding the cat and putting some clothes away, it was sleazy rock with heavy guitars and Kerry’s instantly recognisable throaty voice poured over the top, I loved it, apparently it was worth a mint too, but it’ll never be for sale – best present ever.

Kerry called as I was leaving, asked if I’d got the gift, said it was time to pick up my prize back at his....

“Don’t you remember what it was?”

“Huh?”

“The prize V, you tell this goddamn diary everything, why haven’t you told it what the prize was?”

“Oh... yeah... Coming to that. Heh”

I was on the bike, so made it back to Kerry’s in no time – not that I was rushing or anything – parked up and went in the side door.

Immediately I noticed that something was different, someone had tidied up and I knew it wasn’t Kerry.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like tidying up either, and we’d given it a go over the weeks, but next day, it never seemed to look any better, so we let it go more than we should’ve. I was stood stunned, marvelling at all the empty floor space and clean surfaces when Ker came sweeping theatrically (apt description as it turns out) down the stairs in his robe, gestures around and asks,

“Waddyathink?”

“I think, I like it. I think it’ll be nice not to crunch every time I walk over the flooring and I like that the stairs are no longer a lethal trip hazard, I especially like that whoever the poor girl is who came to a party 8 months ago and turned out to be, I quote, ‘allergic to her bra’, she can finally get it back.” He squirmed a bit at that one, but it felt good to be on the giving end of a jibe for once.

“So, you getting in the shower while I get your prize ready?”

“Sure, you coming?”

Indecision flashed across his face, this wasn’t a question that usually needed much thought, ‘specially when I’d been out all day, getting dirty and sweaty, needing a good scrub. But he surprised me,

“No, I’m saving myself,” he said before kissing my cheek and bouncing back up the stairs.

Shower done, blockers taken, I curse that my clean clothes are upstairs, so still dripping I wrap a towel around my waist and pad up the stairs to the bedroom....

Kerry is lying on his stomach, chin resting in his hands, facing me as I come up the stairs. He pats the space on the bed next to him,

“I was about to have a power-nap, wanna join me?” he purrs with an arched eyebrow.

A grin spreads over my face, this is exactly what he said to me the first day we met, but then he was joking (I think), this time he’s deadly serious.

“Sure”, I walk over and sit next to him on the bed, placing my hand on his rump and looking him in the eye, daring him to carry on.

His hand slides up my thigh, under the towel, and strokes in wide circles until his fingertips brush my balls, I let my head drop back and instinctively open my legs a little wider. He grins up at me and begins to kiss along the path his hand had followed, opening the towel as he goes until he can pull it out from underneath me and throw it across the room. He licks a line up my stomach and my chest, leans over me, his robe sliding off his tanned shoulders, and holding onto my chin with his thumb beneath my bottom lip, he kisses me, slowly sliding his tongue between my lips and running it around my teeth before licking around my mouth and leaning back a little to look into my eyes.

“You ready?” he asks, his eyes flashing.

“Oh yeah.” I reply, before pushing his shoulder down until his back hits the bed letting me nip and suck at his neck and allowing my hand to roam down from gripping his throat, to sweeping over his chest to tracing the lines of his abs before resting over his semi-hard dick. He’s already slipped his hand down between us to grab my own growing cock, I can’t help but thrust gently into it, finding the warmth and roughness of his hand both comforting and hot as hell.

I give Kerry’s cock a couple of open handed strokes, then run my tongue down the side of his throat implants, over his sensitive nipples, across his stomach and finally, flick it over the tip of his now fully erect shaft. He groans and lifts his hips in the most debauched, sexy way, God I love this man, and I slide my lips over him making involuntary wet, sucking noises as he leans up onto an elbow to grab my hair and slowly fuck my mouth. I take as much as I can, eyes watering but unbothered I hold onto his balls and base with one hand and stroke myself with the other.

“V, stop, I’m getting too close,” Kerry pants, I begrudgingly let his glorious dick drop from my mouth and trail lines of spit from there up his body and to his mouth, kissing him wetly and deeply until teeth clash and we pull apart for a breather, linking fingers and studying each other’s eyes.

With a lick of his lips, Kerry slips over the bed and stands, slowly pulling on the belt of his robe and allowing it to fall to the floor by his feet, I can only kneel on the bed and stare. I’m pretty sure he’s noticed the feral smile on my face and my raging hard-on. He faces the bed with his feet apart, hands resting on the edge before looking me in the eye and sliding his hands forwards until his head is buried in the sheets and his glorious ass is wiggling in the air. I lean over his back and slap one cheek, then the other grinning as I hear him groan, then slip onto the floor behind him. He loves having his ass played with, and I love to oblige so I give him a couple more slaps before kissing the red marks and running my hands over them, brushing the tips of my thumbs against him and following up by running my tongue down from the small of his back to flick over his hole. The muffled moans he produces with each flick turn into growls as I work the tip of my tongue inside and then slide in the tip of a finger, using my other hand to gently work on his dick. There’s a cute, mew of disappointment when I move to sit back on my heels, but when he feels the cold lube it turns into a sigh, then as the tip of my cock slides in, another muffled growl. I slowly rock in and out until I’m buried in his beautiful ass, he opens his legs wider and I push harder, I can tell by the way he’s moving against me that I’m hitting his sweet spot with every thrust. Holding onto his hips tight enough to bruise I give a thrust and stop, “Don’t move Ker, seriously...” He looks at me from under his arm, a beautiful, sweaty, mascara stained mess, and gives a sly smile, but keeps still long enough for me to carefully pull out without mishap and collapse onto the bed next to him.

Chests heaving, covered in sweat and looking into each other’s eyes, I gently stroke his mussed hair out of his eyes and we roll over on the bed until I’m on my back with my beautiful Rockerboy between my thighs, he moves my right leg over his shoulder and slides the flat of his hand from the back of my knee downwards until his thumb slides gently over my hole, he sucks on his thumb lasciviously to wet it and reapplies it, this time with some pressure until the tip slides easily inside and I groan, melting into the bed and opening my legs like a Novigrad whore. Grabbing the lube from the floor, he coats his fingers and wastes no time in sliding first one, then two into my stretched, twitching hole. He moves inside me and the feeling is almost unbearably intense, my cock jerks, dripping pre-cum onto my stomach, I can barely focus, but manage to catch the satisfied smile, and devilish glint in his eyes as in one swift movement he slides his fingers out and the tip of his cock in. After a moment to adjust, the rest disappears inside me and we both moan, hands push on the backs of my knees as he thrusts first gently, then increasingly frantically.  In this position, every thrust hits the spot, incoherent babble is spilling out of my mouth, some pleading, some thankful, all nonsense, I’m nearly wrecked and he knows it.

He leans over me, never slacking the pace and growls into my ear, “D’you wanna cum?”

“Mhm, Ker...please,” I manage with a pained, hopeful look.

He lets my legs drop while he reaches around to grab more lube, I watch, still catching my breath as he coats my twitching dick and slides his hand once, twice up the shaft, then, his amused gaze never leaving mine he swings his leg over and lowers himself down onto me.  Leaning back with his hands on my knees he begins to ride, it’s almost too much watching this breathtaking man bouncing on my grateful dick, but I’m holding it together – for now. He changes position slightly so that I can thrust up into him, I grab his hips and pound upwards, no longer with any rhythm but with frenetic bursts of action.

Kerry lifts his head and with tiny a flicker in his eyes, music fills the room, the same music on the vinyl he’d given me, his music.  Our foreheads touch, Kerry’s soaked hair drips into my eyes, he gives me a look that says ‘let’s finish this.’

Clinging onto him I thrust upwards, the movement pumping him into his hand between us, I gasp with every wave of pleasure that‘s released as my twitching balls pump cum into his adorable ass. He leans back into me, gasping and grinding down giving me the opportunity to finish him off with a few quick tugs, he sighs gruffly tenses then relaxes as his spurts hit my stomach and drip down my hand. We hold like that for a moment, before falling down exhausted onto the bed.

“That’ll give you something to think about whenever you hear that song,” he smiles, his Kiroshis flicker blue again and the BD cameras dotted around the room turn off. “D’you want to watch it back...?”

-----------------------------------------------------------------

So before I ever met Kerry, a load of stuff went down to do with Arasaka, the relic, Johnny and shit, most of which I’m happy to forget...

“Oh really? We had some good times in the early days.”

“Did we though Johnny? In between the times you tried to kill me, more than one of my friends died, the Voodoo Boys wanted me dead, Arasaka wanted me arrested and the Aldecaldo’s boss nearly busted my guts for helping to steal a tank.”

“We did OK in Pacifica at the Pistis Sophia, thought we were getting along...”

“Yeah... yeah, I do want to remember that part, you know I still wear the tags, but the rest of it was a pile of crap.”

But there’re some things that I’m forgetting that I need to remember. There’s always something at the back of my mind telling me that there’s somewhere I should be, an appointment that I’m missing. I think the key is old friend Goro Takemura, but a lot of his story is being lost to me, probably because it all happened so close to the relic starting to eat my brain. I can remember it was him that saved us from the garbage yard – or at least I think I can , maybe it’s Vik that told me , I’m not sure now. I can definitely remember that there is someone that he really wanted me to talk to, someone who could help. I know that we went to a lot of trouble to meet them, I can recall something about taking out snipers and a parade, but it’s all fading.

I don’t feel like I can move on to the next part of my life until I can unravel this part. Like I’m living on borrowed time that’s being reclaimed back as soon as I’m done with it. I asked Johnny if he can remember, he says he can’t. I guess I’ll have to keep thinking and hope it comes back.

[alexalblondo]

When it comes to Red Bull I’m always amazed at how they manage the whole team. They’re for sure a top team but when I put them next to Mercedes they lack strategy. What’s going on with the car? What’s up with the strategy? How come a top team like them make a same mistake as two years ago in Hungary??? I was scrolling on Twitter and no one really was critical about the way Red Bull is doing their job. It’s always the second driver bullshit or the car is just too slow. Well what about Christian and Marko?? What are they doing to get this win? At this point I feel like they want to show us how good they are at fucking up their race and throw away a good chance to win. Because even when Perez wasn’t their to help I’m sure Max could’ve won from both Mercs.

But Max also need a little more media training and stop blaming his teammates when things aren’t going his way. Last year he was shading Alex and today he made a sneak diss to Perez talking about: “I’m always alone in the front”. Can he please save these things for the team and not the whole world. 😭 I’m not a Perez fan but that was not necessary!

Damn I typed a whole book here. Well enjoy and I’m looking forward to read your answer. Ciao!

Okay, damn, this is a really well thought out book right there and deserving of better answer than "I agree!" which I can offer cause it's Sunday and my braincell allowance for the week is up ... but I can offer you some medium cooked and bullshit takes if you want them?

Cause tbh, I think the problem lies in the fact that in their glory years (2009 and Brawn GP aka fetus!Mercedes that secsi bitch aside) RedBull's main competitors where McLaren - which was too busy claiming reliability as its nemesis - and Ferrari - which make RB strategists look smart - so now RB is convinved they got this cause they used to got this, right? Except they only got this cause no one else got this ... and cause Seb back then had the same uncanny ability Lewis has now to just 💕make it work💕 ... whatever it is in any context

Like, yeah, okay, thanks to my weird sexuality made up of finding confidence so hot and having a teacher kink combined with Christian's ability to sound smart even when he is sprouting more bullshit than a pig farm I regularly blank when he speaks but I'm still sooo very much fascinated by the way this man looks at the 8 titles RB won with Seb and go: Ah, yes, I did that!

No, buddy, SEB DID THAT! like, lmao, Abu Dhabi 2010? Fam, Seb was never meant to win there like AT ALL ... it's just that as I said earlier FERRARI has even worse strategist and Seb just ... made it work then because he is Seb and he's brilliant when he wants to be ... not always when he needs to be ... but definitely when he wants to be

Anyways, these are my lukewarm takes to agree with you:

- RB bases their confidence on beating lesser opponents and now faced with Mercedes they are at a loss but they don't see it and they blame their drivers when it's really a them thing because while the car IS there this year the team clearly isn't and that's one of the main parts of why Seb could make it all work because the team and him worked together and it kinda feels like currently they aren't

- Christian Horner sadly kind of hot tbh

- Max should take some lessons from Yuki

- I miss Brawn GP

- drivers should stop airing their dirty laundry for everyone to see unless it's Pierre and Esteban in which case Idc but also tell me more

- we need to save Rocky

[lumi-klovstad-games]

Fallout 4: the case for Father being a damn liar telling Damn Lies who is NOT who he claims to be

Oddly, I find that people seem very keen to take the Director of the freaking Institute at his word that he’s actually Shaun for some reason.

This is a man with all the motive and opportunity to lie about that in the world.

At no point does he actually offer any sort of hard evidence, and his attempts at “affection” are cold, distant, and unconvincing. While his remarks about “until today, I have had no love to share” could plausibly explain that, his interactions with the Sole Survivor are overwhelmingly manipulative and he definitely sees you more as an asset (and possible successor) than as family; his behavior in general is detached and similar to a high functioning sociopath, which also as a bonus explains why he treats Synths the way he does. To some extent, genuine humans are no different to him than Synths: everything and everyone is merely an asset to secure the Institute’s future dominance in the Commonwealth. He says what he needs to say to provoke the reaction he wants out of people and doesn’t necessarily stand behind a word of it.

So, I don’t think Father is actually Shaun. Of course he can claim this all he wants, but the Sole Survivor has no way of independently verifying this: Father has a vested interest in remaining an unreliable narrator, and also literally controls all paths to the truth that don’t involve going to the Brotherhood of Steel (who likewise can’t be trusted to give an honest answer if that honestly has potential to interfere with their mission).

From what we see of the Commonwealth, paternity tests are VERY DIFFICULT to pull off. Likely, the Brotherhood could do one. The Institute sure as hell could do one, but Father’s goal is manipulating the Sole Survivor into replacing Kellogg, and eventually, himself. It’d be like asking Stalin to conduct an ethics investigation on himself. OF COURSE HE’S GONNA SAY WHAT HE’S GONNA SAY.

But consider the actual evidence. What happens in this lead up to meeting Father at all?

Why, quite a lot, and if Father’s “plan” as described was actually a plan, he’d have to be a goddamn prophet.

He’d have to know that you wouldn’t get mauled to death by Yao Guais and Deathclaws, eaten by Feral Ghouls, killed by raiders, or any of the other fun and exciting means of death that the Wasteland has on offer, and then meet EXACTLY the right people who point you in EXACTLY the right direction about a half dozen times, that you’d somehow kill Kellogg (who has a well earned reputation as a One Man Army the mere mention of which makes some of the most hardened mercs in the Commonwealth shit themselves with fear) and THEN have access to the tech to use his brain as a film reel to poke through his memories to find out that the Institute uses teleportation to get in and out.

He also has absolutely no guarantee that you wouldn’t just mini-nuke Kelogg in the fight and that there’d be anything left to salvage.

Then he has to be able to predict that you can track down Virgil, kill a Courser, DECRYPT THE COURSER’S BRAINCHIP SOMEHOW, build a fucking teleporter INTERCEPTOR out of scraps, and come meet him in the first place.

How could ANYONE have reasonably predicted all that in advance?

There are simply way WAY too many points of not even possible but MOST GODDAMN LIKELY catastrophic failure in that plan. Had even a single thing happened slightly differently, had the Sole Survivor been 0.001% less lucky, the whole thing would have been shot to hell just like America was about two minutes after the bombs fell.

Maybe the Sole Survivor takes one too many bullets. Maybe Kellog’s Hippocampus doesn’t survive his death. Maybe Skinny Malone decides to finally trash Nick Valentine once and for all instead of locking him up. Maybe Dogmeat gets killed by literally ANYTHING in the Commonwealth that could kill a German Shepard (which realistically means everything – the place is somehow more hostile than all of Australia’s wildlife put together). Maybe Glory errs on the side of pragmatism and blows you away with her minigun when you first meet the Railroad.

Tons of stuff could have gone wrong that nobody could have predicted, but Father acts as though you followed his plans to the letter. That all that was meant to engineer a meeting with you. There would have been a ton of ways to do that in a simpler manner with a much lower risk of failure, starting by beaming a Courser right outside Vault 111 to say “Looking for your son? Come with me. We have a bit of explaining to do, but you can see him right now if you like.”

So either Father is either a future-seeing prophet with a magic mirror or something, or he’s actually even more shocked than you are that you actually made it to the Institute and is just trying to cover it up by saying “Sure yeah I’m your son and psssht yeah of course I totally meant to do all that.”

The alternative to that particular Occam’s Razor is that he’s simply so addicted to complexity that he’d get dizzy if you asked him to walk in a straight line.

He’s (probably) not Shaun.

It’s just a lie he told that grew bigger and bigger with each telling as he grew convinced that the Sole Survivor was so dangerous that they had to be harnessed by the Institute instead of someone else (or worse, being allowed to remain a free agent), and, preferably, molded into his replacement.

At least, that’s my read on the situation.

If he is Shaun, the game does a TERRIBLE job of convincing me, since we know that Father is a man of “rather flexible morality” depending on how he can justify things, meaning he can reasonably break any of his own rules and claim he didn’t actually break those rules.

Added to that, Doctors Sun and Crocker (independent medical authorities with no known ties to any faction) both confirm that surgery can change eye color, skin color, skeletal construction and musculature in the Fallout universe and is therefore not just a gameplay feature, meaning Father’s physical resemblance to the Sole Survivor means less than nothing in and of itself as the Institute is likely to have even more advanced capacities for surgery (they literally BUILD wholesale human beings on a factory floor, I mean c’mon). Deacon also supports the notion that surgery can change literally everything about a person’s appearance, but, admittedly, he’s…. Deacon and his word isn’t worth much unless it’s confirmed by independent authorities in the field… like Crocker and Sun would have already done by the time you meet Deacon.

Everything Father sets up can actually be knocked down by something else you’ve encountered in the lore of the game, so this leaves his ultimate parentage ambiguous at best. He might be Shaun. He might not be. It’s up to the player, ultimately, to decide (at least unless Fallout 5 somehow addresses it, which would cement things in canon) whether he is or not.

And I remain unconvinced that he is.

[kaaras-adaar]

Kaaras and Stenn

// Before Kaaras’ romance during Inquisition, he’s only ever been in one serious relationship. I wanted to talk more about who that was, so--

Meet Stenn (now that I have pics of him!):

Stenn is a Tal’Vashoth warrior, who was a Sten under the Qun. He was a fair few years older than Kaaras, in his 30′s when they met (Kaaras was in his early 20′s).

Having met at a young age, and a troubling time for Kaaras, Stenn became a very solid and stable part of Kaaras’ life. Struggling through depression and alcohol addiction, as well as a lot of self loathing and other issues Kaaras was going through because of having left home and the loss of his father when he was a child, Kaaras was a mess. He’d often drink himself into a stupor and then sleep around. While Kaaras never lost his penetrative virginity (and it’s something he doesn’t lose until his Inquisition LI), he did fool around quite a lot no thanks to his liquid courage.

That stopped when Stenn took a shining to him, and in turn, Kaaras grew feelings for him back. Stenn was a kind, compassionate and almost a fatherly figure in a sense as well for Kaaras. Kaaras does have a thing for older men, and it’s quite a weakness, so I think that worked to Stenn’s advantage, but it was not his intention. Stenn just saw the mess that Kaaras was, and thought this was a person with potential to be much better once he figured himself out and set himself straight. He ultimately wanted to help him.

Things started small, just being able to spend time together during and in between missions. Kaaras looked UP to Stenn a lot, because of how set in stone he was, because of how much he already knew himself, despite having changed his entire life as a Tal’Vashoth. From a younger point of view, Kaaras saw hope in that, because he was a mess with a big hole in his life, and he needed to change that, to make it whole again.

The first step, Kaaras knew he had a drinking problem, and with the help of Stenn and a lot of withdrawing and pain, he was able to get off the alcohol. He still had his slips here and there, but everyone has those. But it was Stenn who got him through that, and he was by his side the entire time he was in withdrawals. Kaaras suffered the whole lot, the night sweats, the physical agony of coming off alcohol, the shaking, the irritation–all of it, and Stenn was there the whole time while he detoxed. He was there to remind him how far he’d come, of what he could achieve.

Not just that, but Stenn helped Kaaras understand himself sexually as well. Due to the PSAS/PGAD (more meta in his tags on his condition), sexual contact could oftentimes be painful. Kaaras hated his body and everything to do with it. His PSAS/PGAD was probably a lot worse as a younger man due to hormones going haywire as well, but he still suffers the condition to this day. Stenn took things slow and encouraged Kaaras to ENJOY sexual stimulation, and remind him that it wasn’t always to be associated with pain. Kaaras is and will remain a shy person. Despite his past, he was drunk during those times, and without the alcohol, it brought on a whole NEW bunch of insecurities and AWARENESS to him. He could no longer drown himself in flesh without the aid of that courage, so going slow for him was a MUST, and something that Stenn was able to do.

While the two of them certainly were able to explore with each other, the time when they were going to have sex was unfortunately interrupted. Kaaras, having worked up so much courage only for it to be shot down again, took a blow. While they were still romantic with one another and in a relationship, it was like working up from the bottom again, and unfortunately, never reached that far before things started to decline for them.

Both of them have ALWAYS been stubborn. Kaaras was beginning to come into his proper manhood and adulthood now, and he was beginning to form his own opinions and morals, particularly because he was now sober. He was his old self again, and yet a new person as well. He’d grown and he’d learned. He was developing emotionally and maturing fast.

Stenn, already in his mid 30′s, was never going to change. And unfortunately they had conflicts of interest as time went on. Kaaras had started to question the leadership of the mercenary company they were a part of (Kaaras had not originally been a part of the company while Stenn had been an original member). Of course, you can see why there would be conflict there. Kaaras has extremely strong morals, and that doesn’t always work to his favour, especially if he is to follow orders he does not personally agree with. Stenn didn’t want to hear it, and knew that their leader was getting work for them and therefore that was good enough. Unlike Kaaras, Stenn’s morals were lower and he didn’t mind breaking the law for coin.

While the two of them tried their best to work through it, unfortunately, it took a turn for the worst when Kaaras’ mentor (who was the reason they’d joined the merc company in the first place) was killed during a questionable contract. Kaaras had had enough. It was the last straw, and he told Stenn that he was leaving, and if he wished to follow then he was welcome to. Unfortunately, Stenn was already set in his ways, and did not want to break away from the company he’d been a part of for years. Even though Stenn did not want to break up, Kaaras made the decision for him, and broke it off with him despite it being so difficult to do.

The split was somewhat mutual and there was no hard feelings between them, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t difficult. Kaaras will NEVER forget what his lover had done for him, and he even informed and thanked him for the support he’d given him over the years and the personal growth. In saying that, though, leaving was the best thing Kaaras had ever done for himself. It wasn’t just him who had been questioning orders, but some of the other mercenaries as well, who followed Kaaras when he left and named him the leader of their new company, the Beres-taar. Even though Kaaras was a young mercenary captain, he’d proven himself a good leader over the years and people were willing to follow him.

Having moved to Starkhaven for a more permanent position, Kaaras did struggle with alcohol a little bit after the breakup, but his own personal growth allowed him the strength to keep control of himself (and with the support of his company and sister). This was a massive breakthrough for Kaaras and who he is today. He knows he has the strength and the will. He also now can’t be selfish, as he had responsibilities as a leader. This is also why he fell into the role of Inquisitor with more ease than some. He had the experience of being a captain for the last few years before Inquisition. The responsibility does have it tolls, though. Kaaras began to stress eat, which is why he’s a little softer around the midsection these days compared to his previous figure. He’d always been short and stocky, but he also used to be a fair few kilos lighter.

While he and Stenn attempted to write here and there, the wounds were just a little too raw for Kaaras to always get in contact with him–and his duty as Captain took priority. Only when Kaaras was invited to the peace talks did Kaaras see Stenn again while they moved south and made their way through Kirkwall (where Stenn and the company were based). While Stenn proposed that they could perhaps get back together again, Kaaras had grown too much and the divide between them had simply gone on for too long. Kaaras may always love Stenn in a way that he’d never forget, but he knew that it would not end happily, and he also didn’t respect Stenn as much as he used to, therefore he could not be in a relationship with him. They’d simply grown apart too much, and that was fine.

Unfortunately, during Inquisition, Stenn does die on a mission for his company, and the captain of the Ralshokra writes to the Inquisitor explaining what had happened. Kaaras is devastated and heartbroken to hear that Stenn has died and that he never quite told him that he had loved him when they were together. Kaaras will never forget him, or what he did for him. In a way, he feels that it’s because of Stenn that he was able to be where he is today. That he was able to grow, to sober up, to explore and learn so much about himself, and because of that, he will always love him.

[cornholio4]

Smoking!

Author’s note: this is based on the Mask from the violent Comic but it doesn’t get really violent here. The Mask has the origin from the movie though. Some of this is just me indulging.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng sighed as she was with her class at the field trip to the museum where Alix's dad and brother worked, things wereworking well with her and her class despite the fact that Lila kept up with her false stories with the class eating them up. She was on better terms with her class though she refused to indulge in listening to her lies or forget the threats that she had made.

Alix's brother Jalil was giving them a lecture at their Norse exhibit and was excited to tell them they were the first visitors to get a look at a new artefact sent to their exhibit. This got the class excited but it quickly died down when he took out an old plain looking wooden mask with eyes and a mouth hole.

Jalil stated they studied the connections between it and the Norse God of Mischief and Lies himself Loki but everyone had drawled out when they saw the mask. Lila began whispering to the classmates about some made up trip discovering lost artefacts of a probably made up nation. This got Marinette a bit annoyed but then found Tikki peeking her head out of her bag and was shivering with fright.

Marinette whispered to her asking what was going on not noticing Adrien running to a nearby pillar, before the Kwami could say anything Jalil asked if anyone would want to try it on for fun. Chloe pretty much pushed Marinette out to be in front of the group.

Marinette glared at her but then Jalil went to her asking if she was volunteering, Marinette jumped but then found her friends encouraging her. She slowly walked up to the table and picked up the mask. She put it to her face but then found it seaming like it was pulling herself to it.

Everyone immediately grew concerned and terrified as they saw the mask jump on Marinette's face and looked like it was expanding itself to cover her face while turning green...

Adrien Agreste had been watching the lecture with his class and was about to make a joke with Nino about how plain the mask looked but then had Plagg whispering while in his shirt pocket. Adrien then sneaked to a nearby pillar to ask Plagg what he was doing risking himself being seen. However he was taken aback by how uncharacteristically terrified Plagg looked.

"Adrien, listen to me... You have to transform right now and Catacalysm that mask right now! It's dangerous and I will never forget when a Norse warrior I was with at the time had to fight a Viking who wore it. It was awful and the nearby villages pretty much would have preferred Ragnarok! I curse the day Loki created that awful thing! Never did like those Norse gods! Still Odin's trickster brother was pretty much better than that Cronus guy from the Titans but that's not saying much!" Plagg told him and Adrien looked at him in disbelief.

"Plagg, that things looks like a cheap prop and you say it is some sort of dangerous artefact? That it's like Miraculous?" Adrien asked unconvinced as Plagg looked at him dead serious but then Adrien noticed something. "Wait did you say brother? But isn't Loki the son of Odin?" Adrien asked and Plagg slapped his face.

"They were brothers, I can assure you! Despite what those comic books and movies would have you belief, but let's focus and prioritise!" Plagg snapped right back and Adrien found this hysterical. Plagg lecturing him on priorities, this was something for the history books.

"Now, we have to transform and do something before anyone gets close enough to that mask that..." Plagg told him but then heard a whirling sound and then looked and saw that Marinette was standing there with a crazed look on her face. She was wearing a yellow suit version of her usual clothes and her face was a bit bigger while colored dark green. "Too late..." Plagg muttered and then realised the implications of Marinette in particular wearing the blasted mask, Adrien now realised too late that Plagg may have been onto something.

"Plagg, Claws Out!"

*PB*

Marinette had transformed and found herself feeling... free! Her friends looked at her all worried wondering if this was some weird Akuma and they just didn't see the butterfly. Marinette then found herself smiling gleefully.

"Look, Dupain-Cheng finally got a makeover and I think it was an improvement..." Chloe started only for Marinette to take out a big glass cage out of seemingly nowhere and put her and Lila in it while shutting it tight.

"Wow, my two biggest tormentors together at last! They really deserve eachother as friends, to think that fanfic writers thought Chloe you would be the lesser of the two evils despite you know never even apologising for almost getting my parents killed!" Marinette said with a big smile looking at them both trying to force the door open. Marinette then continued her tirade "yes I am breaking the fourth wall like that mouthy merc and I don't care. He wasn't even the first Marvel character to have the gimmick, She- Hulk (big fan as a green faced heroine myself) did it before him! Besides Deadpool will have no chance to complain as he is too busy writing his will before his end is met when Ipkiss wearing the Mask takes him down in Deadpool's 3rd Death Battle!" Marinette then noticed the class and staff heading for the doors.

Marinette then pulled out a lasso and then roped them into it while dragging them back, "come on friends, as you're Everyday Ladybug I can't let you miss what is a good show! I can promise you it will be something, there are fanfics of me Akumatized to deal with Lila but this is something special! This is not the Mask from the funny movie starring Robotnik from the upcoming Sonic movie (which you should see when it comes out) or the funny cartoon that spun off from it but the original Dark Horse comics! I promise you, they were not for the faint of heart! They were basically a reverse of that stupid Banana Splits movie or the upcoming Fantasy Island movie: so instead of taking something light hearted or at least nice into a horror property, they turned a horror property into a family friendly comedy! Can't say I disapprove but I got the powers from the comics, where the cartoon physics extend to only me. So if I fed you a bomb then well..." Marinette stated but then noticed Chat Noir was there.

"Sorry Princess, but can I ask please ask if you can handover that mask and sorry but I don't think the green face look suits you." Chat Noir told Marinette charging with his staff only for Marinette to take out a large mallet and send Chat Noir flying right through the door.

"Marinette girl, please! This isn't you! I don't understand a word of what you are saying or what happened to you but please! Give the mask up and get help!" Alya asked but Marinette shook her head as she looked at her.

"Wow Alya you are trying to be a good friend unlike in other salt fics, like those recent ones pairing me with Damian Wayne. I dont really understand that as...I am just not into Gotham City guys!" Marinette exclaimed pretty much singing the last part of what she just said. She then smirked as she just got an idea about what to do with her two prisoners.

She then got out a dressing cubicle and skipped right in. Not a second later she was now in a stag magician's outfit complete with a cape and a top hat. She then got out a box for the 'sawed in half' trick.

"Now, the first trick of the Great Big Head will be familiar to those you watched that Banana Splits movie I mentioned, the one where they took an old and highly underappreciated cute fun variety show and turned it into a lame FNAF rip off! But I will be pulling it off better because the movie version didn't use this!" Marinette said pulling a chainsaw from her cape.

She then got form the cage and pulled out Chloe before locking it again, she put Chloe in a box as she looked terrified and Marinette said with glee "remember what I said about the cartoon physics only affecting me? I guess you can also see this as a rip off from the trailer for that Fantasy Island movie? The one about getting revenge on a childhood bully? A scene in a trailer of a movie that wants to use the name for it's stupid horror movie? A show that was parodied by a Daffy Duck movie and an episode of Teen Titans Go that were better adaptations of the show!" Marinette asked darkly and Chloe was now screaming in terror as Marinette's classmates closed their eyes fearing the worse.

Marinette then dropped it and used another lasso to barely catch Chat Noir, "You know now that I mention it, I somehow seem to know a whole lot about a comic book and a TV show that were both made before I was even born! I mean Fantasy Island is decades old and I am just acting as a mouthpiece for the author at this point and hopes this works by acknowledging he is doing this." Marinette shrugged pulling Chat Noir in.

"You have been a great sparring partner and partner in general Chat Noir; here is a free copy of the first issue of my new comic!" Marinette told him patting him on the head like a kitty and then tucking into the lasso the first issue of I Pledge Allegiance to the Mask.

Then Marinette went to the box where Chloe was still in but then had Lila scream out "Marinette please let me out! I am sorry for the threats i made to you in the bathroom! I am sorry for threatening to steal all your friends away! I will stop lying, I promise! I will help you with anything! I will even tell you what I know about Hawk Moth when working with him! I promise please!" Lila was now in tears but everyone in the class were now speechless as to what she had just said.

"Lila admitting to save her own skin; would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic... It's thanks to you and your anonymous posting that the anonymous comments on the AO3 version of this story will have to be disabled! I will get to you in a second but first I already have a volunteer..." Marinette said picking her chainsaw back up again.

"Marinette, this isn't you! I know Chloe is a pretty terrible bully and I don't know what Lila had been saying to you behind our backs but you are better than this! You go through with this I know you will hate yourself when you are back to normal! This will scar you and destroy you! Think of your parents and us, we care about you! My brother Luka thinks of you as the song in his heart!" Juleka suddenly shouted and this gave Marinette pause.

"Using not only your brother but my parents to convince me to drop this. Low blow Juleka but I can't argue that like a good Pokemon move... It's super effective!" Marinette said quietly as she managed to force the mask off her face. She then suddenly shrieked as she then let everyone out of the lasso and they hugged her greatly.

However an Akuma came akumatized Chloe into a villain called Jack in the Box. Marinette helped get all her friends, classmates, the staff and Lila through the exit and then transformed into Ladybug to help Chat Noir once he was free.

*PB* Hawk Moth was in his lair observing what happened and was in shock and a bit scared, something other than his Akumas were capable of creating powerful villains it seemed. Ones he doubted he could control even if he was wearing that Mask. That Mask took one of the nicest girls in Adrien's class (the one he had yet to Akumatize) and turn her into a twisted cartoon.

He took a while before sending out an Akuma; too busy contemplating everything that this could mean. This Mask could destroy everything he had worked to achieve and if his Akuma brought it to him, he would have it thrown into the farthest waters.

*PB* Marinette was pretty horrified and scared about what happened when she saw the CCTV footage and heard the stories from her classmates. Ms Bustier personally escorted Marinette back home and she was forced into a big hug by her parents. Once she got a chance to be alone Tikki explained to her about Loki's mask.

The news broadcast said that the Mask would be taken to a secure facility outside of Paris, so hopefully she would not have to deal with it again. She had gotten a few days off from school as unlike most Akuma villains, she had to deal with the knowledge she was close to murdering a classmate with a chainsaw.

What she had almost done terrified her as she never wanted this on either of them, she can't say she had much positive feelings towards them but this was overkill. She doubted she could even use any lethal action against even Hawk Moth who was an evil Super Villain of his own volition.

She got messages from her friends checking in to make sure she was alright, her grandfather Roland came by with a special cake he had made from an old family recipe and there was Luka who looked more worried than she had ever saw him.

In the mail she ended up getting a letter from an American police officer by the name of Kellaway inviting her to join an online support group for those affected by the Mask. Apparently it had gotten around in the US ever since it was bought by a man called Stanley Ipkiss. Hopefully that Mask doesn't bother anyone again...

[radreactions]

Mandalorian Kellogg

Courtesy of our one and only Master of The Force - @saintlyguy!! 

Kellogg as the Main Character Instead of the Sole Survivor (inspired by The Mandalorian)

Sent to retrieve an asset for the Institute from Vault 111, Kellogg discovers that the package that’s been under ice for almost 200 years is really just a baby still fussing in the arms of his already dead parent. Rediscovering his paternal instincts and discovering a chance of redemption, Kellogg dispatches the scientists with him and decides to protect the boy and raise him as his own. On his journey to escape the Institute and find a new home for him and his new son, he stumbles upon a unique cast. Are these people potential allies, or just obstacles to his new found family? Ada: Years of experience and overall distrust of any sentient machine due to his experience with 2nd gen synths have led to a preference Kellogg wishes to satisfy in any situation: NO DROIDS. Be it a synth or Protectron (after a certain unpleasant experience with one back in the Mojave), Kellogg prefers to work with those who haven’t been programmed to think the way they do. But with enough whining and teary eyes from his adopted son, Kellogg came in charging to save a lone automatron that looks like a mess of parts. “First that Mr. Handy in Sanctuary, now this.” Ada had no one left and sought to avenge her family. Above all she wished to not be alone. All 3 desires are satisfied with this grizzled man and his son- “No droids. Get lost. No need to thank me. Didn’t want to help in the first place” But he did. Surely that must mean this man must have some shred of compassion. That would be enough to go on at the moment since Ada has nothing. She’d follow this man until he’d take her with him. “I could be of much assistance to you and your son. I’ll protect the two of you. I’m well equiped for scavenging and building. I can even create a nursing subroutine and care for your son.” “ALRIGHT! I’ll take care of this Mechanist for you. Just stop talking. Take point.” “Wonderful. Now that we’re on our way, I’d like to tell you all that I can do for you-“ You ever hear a robot get their head ripped off without a sound? No. That’s because you gotta be Kellogg to pull something like that. “Finally” the exasperated merc exhales as he looks down on his napping son. “Finally he’s asleep.” Cait: “Get outta here you junkie! Don’t show your face ‘round here til you get that psycho out of your system!” Tossed out of the Combat Zone, Cait never thought that putting on a good show and gouging out a raider’s eyes would get her tossed out. “Your loss Tommy! I’ll just put these guns to work somewhere they’ll be appreciated!” Tommy sadly sighs at how Cait doesn’t realize she’s beating herself to death. Eventually Cait made herself a name as yet another Commonwealth merc, one that even the Gunners stay clear of in fear of getting their head smashed in. Cait would take the most dangerous jobs not just for the hazard pay, but to have an excuse to need psycho. She’d go after a raider boss with nothing but a bat and rage fueled by the poison. She can be found in Goodneighbor at the Third Rail where she’s claimed the counter for herself. She’d drink from the top shelf in between jobs with her own space. Until the infamous Kellogg took a seat at the other end. “Oy cunt! This here’s my bar! Piss off!” First that wannabe shakedown, now this. “Don’t see your name on it. I’ll finish my Nuka-Cola and be on my way. You won’t even notice.” “Oh but everyone else will notice the stain that balding head will leave on the counter!” A brawl breaks out. Well I wouldn’t call it a brawl. More like Kellogg just tiring Cait out by just dodging all while having something bundled beneathe his jacket. Almost out of breath, Cait pulled out  a psycho she didn’t think she needed. Knowing how much damage a psycho user can inflict, he puts her into a vice and forces it out of her hand. “That stuff could kill you.” Cait was just about to explode as a small hand reached out from Kellogg’s jacket and touched her on the nose. Now you don’t boop Cait on the nose without losing that hand. Unless you were a swaddled baby with big puppy eyes. For the first time in her life, Cait felt...soft. Her rage subsided and she eased up, causing Kellogg to finally release her. Cait felt at ease. Actually more than that. She felt...at peace. She felt better than she ever did in her life. “Holy Shite!” Cait was amazed to see that her arms were no longer veiny or pale, she could see and hear clearly, and she wasn’t as angry! She yanked the psycho from her pockets and threw them in the trash. She doesn’t know what happened, but she’s now healed and free from the psycho. “That kid... Could they have...?” Cait looked back at Kellogg to see him fussing over the kid now knocked out. Codsworth: The butler’s sensors had picked up a familiar lifeform coming from Vault 111. “It couldn’t be.” Then he heard a familiar coo from the end of the street. “It could be?” Anticipation was replaced by fear upon seeing young Shaun in the arms of a rather unpleasant looking stranger. Whoever he is, he has clearly abducted young Shaun and it’s up to Codsworth to save him and deliver him back to his masters. “You! I don’t know who you are! But you will unhand the lad or I will contact the authorities!” Oh blimey, there aren’t any authorities left. This may boil down to fisticuffs, but Codsworth will save Shaun no matter the cost! “That’s not gonna happen Mr. Handy. Now why don’t you go clean something. I gotta get this kid to a safe-“ TALLY HO! Codsworth charges Kellogg with his saw aimed at his head and his claw ready to catch Shaun. Soon Codsworth will have one piece of the family he lost when the bombs dropped. Then he’ll go find his masters and reunite them all. Finally he’ll have the life he had lost serving- SKKRRRRRRR Kellogg let go of the robot’s saw after it had cut clean through its armor and he was sure to have destroyed its cpu. “Ma-Ma-Master Sh-Shaun! Wo-Wo-Would you li-like to see Mu-Mu-Mummy and Da-Da-Da-“ As the Mr.Handy’s voice died out, the child reached out to its lifeless hull. Kellogg had connected the dots. This wasn’t just some malfunctioning Mr. Handy, it somehow knew the kid. All sorts of feelings swelled in Kellogg. Finally he looked down at the child. “So. Your name’s Shaun.” Curie: What’s the perfect place to ride out a radiation storm? The very same vaults that protected its inhabitants from nuclear annihilation. The sky turned green and thundered like never before. The closest place was Vault 81. Although it wasn’t too keen on allowing outsiders in, Kellogg needed to get Shaun out of the storm immediately and he knew he had plenty of worthwhile Institute tools he could trade for shelter. After bargaining his into the Vault, Kellogg was able to finally get a warm meal and rest for himself and his adopted son. That is until this Ms. Nanny came bubbling and insisting on seeing to Shaun. “S’il vous plait monsieur! I only wish to give your little one an examination and any treatment he may need! Free of charge. Just let me-“ “NO!” Silence in the cafeteria except for the humming from Curie’s thruster. “If I need a doctor, I’ll go to the real one. Just let us eat our meal so we can go rest.” Curie complied, hiding her disappointment and hurt. She only wants to help... She’s ashamed to admit, but she had hoped to get in the good graces of the man and convince him to allow her to venture out with him and his son (whom she greatly adored and worried about). Curie wanted more out of her life than being Vautl 81’s Ms. Nanny, she wanted to leave her mark on science! She knew she couldn’t do that in 81’s confines. She also knew she wouldn’t be acheiving her goal anytime soon. Danse: “Brotherhood, better sneak around.” Kellogg maneuvered through College Square as to avoid the ferals only to run into a Brotherhood of Steel outpost and they’re not the biggest fan of the Institute. Kellogg’s pretty sure that saying he betrayed them won’t give him a free pass but a trip to a holding cell and Shaun being taken from him. He couldn’t risk that. While slithering on by, Kellogg halted at the sound of ferals screeching then running towards his direction. Kellogg almost drew his revolver but saw a small squad of Brotherhood soldiers come out to deal with the ferals. “Good a distraction.” Kellogg was almost home free until Shaun pointed back at the Brotherhood with the same damn puppy eyes Kellogg has yet to find the strength to refuse. The ghouls nearly overan the soldiers until a civilian charged in and singlehandedly dispatched then despite their overwhelming numbers. “We need him for the Brotherhood” Paladin Danse thought. Before Danse could thank him, Kellogg hushed him with a finger. “Your welcome. No thanks needed. And no I won’t be staying for long. Also I don’t want to work with a machine.” That last part confused Danse. Maybe he doesn’t like tech, which wouldn’t sit well with being a Brotherhood soldier. Danse then saw a tiny body appear over the civilian’s shoulder which waved back at him. Deacon: Oh crap oh crap oh crap. “I’m in the same room with Kellogg. Worse, he’s got a kid! Where did he get them from? Did he kidnap them?” Whatever the case, Deacon needed to conduct some espionage. “So... you come here often?” “Hmm.” Not much of an answer. “Oh my stars! Your kid is so cute! Mind if I held him.” “Hmm” aggressively as Kellogg turned away. Uh oh, I’m losing him! Better think of something quick! “So I’m guessing a busy man such as yourself needs all the help he can get when raising the little one.” “Hmmm” “Well you’re in luck! I am the Commonwealth’s best, if not the only nanny! I’ll watch him while you go do...stuff! I’m a great cook! My bloatfly jerky is hard to pass up! I’m great with kids and I can entertain your kid for hours. Does your kid like songs? How’s this? Ahem.” “Toss a coin to your-“ Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! “Oh great! Your awful singing upset him!” Dogmeat: A faint scent passed Dogmeat’s nose, waking him from his nap at Red Rocket. Standing at attention, Dogmeat spotted a human carrying a small human. Tail wagging, Dogmeat wanted to run up to see the small human. He wanted to follow to see them all the time. He wanted to PROTECT. But that big human may be dangerous. MORE REASON TO PROTECT TINY HUMAN. So Dogmeat followed at a distance and helped where he could. A pack of hounds too close? They’re gone before the humans get a wiff of them. A yaoi gui looking for a meal? Dogmeat stands his ground and gives the humans time to get far. Dogmeat was a good boy. And good boys get rewarded! One night when the humans rested, Dogmeat was invited to join them by the fire with a hunk of meat thrown in front of him. Kellogg dropped a few more hunks to get Dogmeat to come close. After enjoying his meal and a bowl of water, Dogmeat was finally able to see the tiny human up close. Gage: How could one guy get through the gauntlet with a baby strapped to his chest? And how could he defeat the Overboss without the water gun? BY CRUSHING HIM WITH HIS MIND! That last part seems unreal but it’s the truth! Colter was crushed within his power armor when the bald guy went to fight him! Every raider ran out of there except for Gage, who was still in shock. He didn’t notice the man approach until he was asked “What’s the fastest way back to the Commonwealth?” “R-right this way sir.” Now Gage didn’t like being subservient to those he disliked, but he wasn’t looking to die today. Gage had brought him back to the train, sending the man on his way. Just as the train pulled away, through the window, Gage saw the man’s baby peek out and reach out to him. Gage was confused and was further puzzled when he saw that his pants had fallen out of nowhere. Wait. “Did my pants just- Because of that kid- What the hell is going on?!” Hancock: RIP to the bastard Finn, who thought he could shakedown the guy who looks like he could kill with a stare AND carrying a baby. Now Hancock enjoys seeing bullies get their just desserts, but he wasn’t so sure seeing someone’s jaw get ripped off and shoved down their throat. Sure Hancock has killed his own fair share, but never that brutal. And the guy who just did that is taking care of a BABY. “Now hang on a second. I’m all for not seeing Finn again, but I can’t just let a guy who can do all that carry a baby. Goodneighbor is my town, so everything that walks in is my business. Including you two. Now tell me why I should let you hold on to the little tyke-“ Kellogg retorted without halting “Unless you wanna taste what’s left of your jaw just like him. Leave us alone.” Hancock can’t stand a brushoff threat like that, but he can’t do anything with a baby in the crossfire. So he let the guy go for now, gesturing to Fahrenheit to do surveillance on him. Longfellow: 

Kellogg’s journey to find a safe home will take him all over the Commonwealth and to Far Harbor. After hearing of a rumored synth refuge exiting there, Kellogg thought that Maine may be perfect for him and Shaun if the Institute hasn’t found it. Upon arrival, Kellogg realizes that the fog brings all sorts of monsters and that he’d need some of those defogger contraptions if he’s to settle on the island. Asking around the bar, an old man in a trench coat speaks up. “You’re gonna want to get them defoggers from Arcadia, the synth refuge up over yonder.” Kellogg didn’t want to have to interact with the synths, especially since he’s ex Institute. “Are you serious.” With a nod and arming of his rifle, the old man confirms. “I have spoken.” MacCready: Waiting for business in the Third Rail seems like a safe move until Cait gets into a fight. Just like any other fight, Mac was gonna sit this one out. Expecting to hear a loud climatic crack on the bar, Mac was caught of guard to hear Cait happily laugh. Peeking out he sees Cait looking better than she ever did. He then looked over to the man she’d tussled with. He was fawning over a baby?! Mac’s daddy instinct kicked in and he was gonna help the fellow parent. Mac knew something was up with the kid. A sleeping kid doesn’t look like that. As the man tried shaking the kid awake, Mac put a hand on his shoulder only for it to be squeezed and twisted. “Owowowowowow. Hey I just wanna help your kid! I’m a parent too! Just let me help!” “Don’t need it.” “Are you sure about that?” The kid was barely moving but still breathing. It was clear that he needed something more. “I’m gonna buy some meds for him, then a room for the two of you.” Kellogg let go, allowing the help of fellow parent. Mac delivered. Fruit gummy meds for the kid and the cleanest room in Hotel Rexford. Not a single word of thanks. But a hefty sack of caps. Which Mac denied. “This one’s on the house.” Maxson: The Brotherhood’s arrival in the Commonwealth is preceded by reports of Institute teams becoming a more regular occurrence. It’s as if they’re looking for something. Or someone. Scribe Haylen of Paladin Danse’s team mentions that this began shortly after an encounter with a skilled civilian carrying a baby, probably nothing but they’re still worth looking into. Whatever or whoever they’re looking for, Maxson declares that the Brotherhood must find it first. Of course, Maxson wishes to put his best man in charge: Paladin Danse. However, Danse refuses only stating that “I’m not the right person for this job. Please consider Captain Kells to lead the search. Maxson reluctantly agrees but is confused at Danse’s answer. Once again he states that “I’m not the right person” and excuses himself. “I may not even be a person” Danse thinks to himself. Nick: Called out on a case for his old friends the Nakanos, Nick boards a boat to Far Harbor in search of their missing daughter who believes she’s a synth and is escaping to a supposed synth refuge in Maine. “Holy smokes. For a refuge to be out all the way there untouched. Wow.” “Perfect.” Nick sighed as he heard a deep voice and gun click behind his head. He already knew who it was. “Didn’t think I’d run into you out here. Kellogg.” “I see my reputation precedes me. I’m flattered. Now step away from the controls.” Nick does as he’s asked then spits that the most dangerous man in the Commonwealth has a baby strapped to his chest. He has to get the baby away from Kellogg, he doesn’t know how but he has to. Hours pass as Kellogg stands at the control, gun still aimed at Nick, and trying to comfort a fussy Shaun. “I know you got a gun pointed at me, but I’m still decent enough to be willing to take that kid off your chest and give you a break. What say you?” Before Kellogg could refuse, the boat is roughly shaken and makes both lose their balance. In this small window of opportunity, Nick lunges at Kellogg in hopes of getting the kids from him. Nakano’s boat arrives in Far Harbor and is greeted by a welcome party. “Come out where we can see you!” Kellogg emerges from the controls, gently bouncing Shaun in his arms. “Anyone else on board?” “No. Just me and my son.” Piper: Through the town of Diamond City rode a stranger one fine day. Hardly spoke to folks around him. Didn’t have too much to say. No one dared to ask his business. No one dared make a slip. For the stranger there among them had a BABY! Piper has a weakness for babies, whether it be their tiny hands or feet, their coos, or giggles. She just wants to look at the cutie hung from the grizzled man’s chest. Why did this little cinnamon roll have to be with this sort of guy? Why couldn’t he been with some masked stranger in shiny armor? Or hanging in the arms of a well learned woman? “Why do we always get the scary ones?” Suddenly, she felt her hat slightly rise from her head and fall forward. But before reaching the ground, her hat began discreetly floating towards the scary dude. Piper looked up to see a small head and hand over the man’s shoulder. The cutie was reaching out towards...her hat? ............... GASP “Magic baby hands!” Preston: It would take a miracle to deliver him and his friends from Concord. It would take some angel to come from above to save them. But no, they got Kellogg. An unexpected but welcome assistance. “I’m only here because of my kid.” Preston never thought that he’d be saved on the whim of a kid, but here he is on the museum’s rooftop providing cover for Kellogg as he eliminates the raiders. And Mama Murphy and the baby are on the roof watching- MAMA MURPHY AND THE BABY ARE ON THE ROOF WATCHING “Mama! Take the kid and go back inside! It’s too dangerous!” “Aww, don’t be a sourpuss Preston. The little man just wants a front seat.” A front seat to a deathclaw emerging from the sewers and knocking Kellogg a couple of meters back. “Oh crap!” Preston thought as he began to crank his musket in hopes of nailing the deathclaw in a single shot. Just as he thought Kellogg was gonna be deathclaw chow, the big lizard was lifted into the air! As the deathclaw thrashed in the air, Preston felt his jaw drop. “Nice one kid.” Mama Murphy complimented. To which Preston turned his head, seeing the kid’s arm outstretched. “Holy crap the kid is lifting the deathclaw with his mind.” Strong: Nothing gets Strong excited more than a good fight. His favorite by far is when him, human, and tiny human fought Sean. Human had been knocked out with tiny human trying to wake him up. Strong stood between them and Swan to protect them. Just before Swan had brought his anchor down, it was knocked out of his hand. Confused, Strong needed a moment. A moment short lived when he was lifted into the air up to Swan’s head. Looking down, he saw that the tiny humans was doing it! Feeling pride in his tiny brother, Strong knocked Swan’s head clean off. After that fight, Strong would always ask “Tiny Human! Do the magic hand thing!” X6-88: “Kellogg has gone AWOL and intends to keep the asset from us. Eliminate Kellogg and return the asset to us alive X6.” The courser had been given his most important assignment as well as his own long awaited desire: to kill Kellogg. Ever since he had heard of Kellogg’s skills, X6 had wanted to put him to the test and even beat him. Delivering the child is just a bonus. Cornering the two at Greentech, X6 was about to get his wish. “I’ve been waiting to go toe to toe with you, Mr. Kellogg.” “Sure. Fight me. That’s actually easier than the second part of the mission.” “Oh please I’m pretty sure I can handle a baby.” A small head peeks through Kellogg’s jacket and lets out a coo. *Software Instability Detected* “Oh! YOU’RE RIGHT! GET THAT OUTTA HERE!” How could X6 give a baby with such soft cheeks to the Institute?

[huntsman-ash]

RWBY LiveThoughts: V8E7

Since I finally have time for it today, lets make sure Im all caught up for the hiatus. 

Before we get fully started, an idea; Its not a war crime if they’re Grimm. Then its just self defense. So break out the napalm, the cluster bombs, the chemical weapons, the fun stuff. Make em regret it, yeah?

And we start off...on a farm. Looks like my moms old farm in South Dakota. Even on Remnant, hay is best used in bales.

Waiiiit. Thats the place the Whale set down isnt it. I see a Sayber running. Ah, and the Atlas military! Surely, the vanguard of a massive force to hold the line! Also Im glad to see a close up of the helmet for once, I want to make my own. Also, the gloves, and the rifle itself. Not sure why it doesnt have a stock, seems kind of silly...

And airships too, so they got some fire support...whats that wall behind them though?

Also it TOOK US 8 FUCKING SEASONS to get a close up of these FUCKING Weapons. 8. FUCKING. SEASONS. Okay maybe more like 5 cause they didnt first appear till 3 or so but come on. Im so picking this shit apart later. 

Pfft, bros got some nerves going on. Come on man, its just some Grimm, you’ll be FINE.

Atlas field harvesters resemble Halo’s JOTUN Farming equipment. As wel as our own. No surprise there.

Alright, bunch of Saybers, not seeing much of a threat here.

Hey, Paladins! Damn, they...look way different than I remember them to be. 

I wont lie, I dont like the Paladin design. Way to much visual noise, I cant tell where anything IS. 

Also that is the most 2D grass I have sever seen in my fucking life. What the hell are they growing here...

Huh, the whale has two sets of teeth. Wait, its just there? And its wpewing out Grimm. So...why isnt the air force firing on it? 

Yeah its not moving, its just raising its head and slamming down and vomiting out more Grimm. Im not sure what the issue is here, just...seal the mouth. 

Oh, huh. Apathys. Let me guess, RTs gonna try and tell us depression is going to kill most of Atlas. Oh for fuck sake. IM NOT IMPRESSED RT. IM REALLY NOT. IM MORE FUCKING ANNOYED THAN ANYTHING

Okay so...I see what this is. Its farm land outside of atlas proper and there’s an additional wall behind them, plus the power lines I guess? Seems like a viable place to make a stand. 

...thats it. Please tell me this is just a single detachment of the Atlas military because there is less firepower here than a NATIONAL GUARD UNIT ASSIGNED TO ONE CITY

Im fairly certain there are more people assigned to ONE UNIT attached to JBLM then I amm seeing here. 

Not to mention this is an OPEN FIELD the Grimm have to run through. This is a literall fucking TURKEY SHOOT. Running across an open field anywhere is a ticket to DYING.

Just ask the poor fucks on D-day.

Also uh...why is everyone in line formation? What is this, fuckin’ 18009s combat Napoleon style?

And did the distance suddenly change, I feel like the whale suddenly got a hell of a lot closer.

Just...I dont get this. This makes no sense. Did Ironwood learn how to deploy forces from a fairy tale book? This is legitimately some fuckin Lord of the Rings shit here.

RIP that one specific trooper hit by that Behemoth though. Dont worry friend, the thing walked next to a Paladin. Its getting its eye blasted out

And cut back to Ironwood. Doing...fuck if I know what.

Staring angrily it seems.

“Dammit, my tactical deployment by line formation and parade ground tactics isnt holding back the Grimm, curses!”

Well MAYBE IF YOUD THOUGHT TO INVEST IN SOME FUCKING AIR SUPPORT...Seriously.

I know people have told me why this is. I understand myself why this is. But it really just...does...not...jibe with me. At all. 

Okay so more details; first, apparently Atlas has a subway. Makes sense, its a big island. Inter-system transits probably a given. Second; Was that Mantis Squad Omega? Some kind of unit maybe...interesting.

 Also I love how this guy just questions Ironwood. Like, bro, if the General says do it, do it.

Hold the fuck up, why is everyone outside? It looks like fuckin’ Cali during our lockdowns...what ever happened to martial law huh?

Also “underground subway stations”. Yes, thats...kind of what a subway IS. I guess maybe they have overhead ones like New York does. Mass transit be weird like that.

I mean HELL the signs on it are almost identical to the ones in NYC too! Even with the colored circles and train cnumbers. 

According to the sign here they’re at Pickens Square Station. 

Oh boy. Ironwood just fed these poor bastards into a meat grinder. Anyone here ever played the Metro game series, or read the books?

Remember the Dark Ones? The Nosallias? Yeah. Tight corridors and monsters only work out well for angry vodka fueled Russians.

Didnt see it very well but I THINK those Mantas had some kind of wing gun. Either thats new, a separate armament setting, or RT forgot what ind of weapons they gave their ships AGAIN.

Cant get the shields back up, yeah, no shit, they DETACHED ONE OF THE FUCKING PILOTS YOU IDIOTS.

Also hah, they arrested Yang, Ren and Jaune. Not surprised.

Beta squads apperently been hitting the whale. ‘Bombs, missiles, we cant make a dent, sir.” ...while Im not surprised by this, I also hear shades of the opening of Halo 2s level Metropolis. “Where’s the rest of your platoon?” “Wasted, sarge. Blew right through us. Rockets, fifty cals, didnt do nothing.”

Honestly they could have SHOWED THAT too. Them just saying it feels like a cop out to me. Take that as you will. But if you want us to see the things hard to kill, show it. 

Not that I figure Atlas’s rockets are much more than Dust in a propellent tank. Not exactly a Hellfire or TOW.

Nice to see proper military talk for...a moment anyway.

Or what I figure RT figures is proper.

Oh so now the whales moving. Okay...huh.

Jaunes commentary is the same as mine. Though I guess the size seems to shift depending.

Ohhh. Its MANTA. As in the gunships. Alright, sure that works. And this guys making a good call. If you cant hit the big one go after the smaller. Of which there seems to be a HELL of a lot. Actually holy fuck that Grimm spew is across like...ahlf the fucking island right now. Time to fuckin torch and burn people.

Ahhhhhh and they get to the proper idea.  If you cant punch it from the outside, hit it from the inside.

I knew a crew...three madmen, names of Keegan, Lahni and Mac. The Hivebusters. Something tells me a Venom bomb would do the trick...if it can rip apart Swarm creatures as big as a Snatcher or a Swarmak and reduce them to green slime, I think it’ll work on Grimm. 

Something tells me RT isnt gonna give em a bomb though. Too obvious.

NEVER MIND. “Science team is putting together a bomb.”

Also I LOVE how Winter’s pupils expand and retract in fear as she realizes what Ironwoods asking her to do.

Awww now shes getting the shakes too.

Salem directing this shit like shes some kind of orchestra leader. I mean it FITS but...I dunno.

Ah so the command deck is directly behind the whale’s glowing nose. Basically inside where the spermacetiy organ would be in a real sperm whale.

What the fuck is Emerald doing there?

Sneaking I guess. Huh. Why’s she sneaking around the whale. Also, huh. guess seeers can get fooled by Emeralds semblance.  Is HE STILL BEATING UP ON OSCAR? Jeez dude. Take a breather.

Honestly if this was TRUE I would be okay with it. Replace the Huntsman with, I dont know, a massively overequipped military for each Kingdom, let them run rampant...stomp the Grimm out or push them back to nonexistence...everyone lives happily ever after

Lets be real here, the idea of the academies? Really really fucking dumb. Its cute. Fairy tale like.

But if theres one thing this show has taught me its that fairy tales SUCK. Reality...tends to be worse.

Ah theres one of those torture hooks they mentioned a few episodes back. Nice of the whale to have a specific interrigation room.

And at last we get some information on how Salem works. Alright so...what happens if you seperate the parts then? Sink one in the ocean, launch one into space.

Sounds like Oz/Oscars telling the fans what we’ve been saying forever, Companion Book be damned; Salem wants to die.

These mind games bore me. Its cute, but I dont like it cause I cant follow that shit. Give me a straight up fight any day, fuck this sublty backroom fuckery

No lies from them both here honestly.

Medical supplies in Atlas seem almost the same as here on earth interestngly. Also, soup. Or...coffee, tea?

Blake with the obvious here. But I mean thats not really saying much cause...well. Not hard to outfight the Atlas military it seems like.  (Long suffering sigh)

Im gonna make a seperate post about my frustrations with that and leave it there. But dont expect me to stop fully complaining about it because everyones gotta have something to bitch about with this show, and I’ll be DAMNED if I start joining the BB whiners.

Good question, Ruby. Might be that YOUR NOT LIVING IN A FAIRY TALE

I’d like to see these people dying in Mantle. I refuse to believe that there isnt SOMEONE in the nation that once brought Remnant to its heel that wont stand and fight. Unless Im wrong about that too...

May backstory? May backstory. Yeah.  Not amazingly complicated but it works. Cant tell if shes Henry though...or was. 

Dramatic lightning flash

Cute you think that Ruby. Theres sides. Always are.

Further proof honestly.

Hazels look of though is amusing. Cant tell if he doesnt believe Oscar, or if his tiny peabrain is runing full bore to think this through.

Coordination between farm boy and professor.

Oh. OHHHH. Plants the seed of doubt in Hazels tiny mind, he uses the last question for himself, sees the truth... Clever, Oscar. Clever.

Hazel peabrain go THUNK

Ah so Mercs going off to Vacuo. Guess that means everyone else is going there next too. Eat that, random Discord person, I called it.

Course, CFVYs there so...maybe we get to see Yats beat up on him.

Oh hi Tyrian. Do you just...randomly roam the halls of the whale waiting to DRAMATICALLY REVEAL YOURSELF and give violent expositon? Im very much okay with that.

Also I love how he just...accepts this. Totally fucking bonkers, totally down with it. 

Oh shit, Tyrian and Mercury going to Vacuo? Damn thats gonna be INTERESTING. I guess Tyrian’ll fit in well enough honestly.

Flying Beringal literally out of the roof. 

I remember back when this season first started and I said those weird bone platforms looked like VTOL launch bays. Guess what? They are.

Merc and Em emotion blah blah DONT CAAARRREEE

Jaune thinking tactically for ONCE IN HIS FUCKING LIFE. An I mean military tactical of course.

Also I like how the Aces say they dont let emotions cloud their shit WHEN THEYVE BEEN DOING THAT THE WHOLE FUCKING TIME.

This ENTIRE PLANET is emotionally run. Thats why the Grimm are such an issue! Makes small note to make Remnant Adeptus Mechanicus cult

Seriously though...

I wont lie though, Hare isnt wrong. Wonder what happened to that Tortuga guy. Tyrian, is my guess. Love how Ren interrupts the moment they almost mention Clovers name.

Expendable, yes. Replacable, no. You should have a talk with squadron leader Grey from Star Wars Squadrons Ren

ANNNNDDD SEMBLANCE EVOLUTION. Or the edibles just kicked in.

This is cool and all but its really fucking dumb and hamfisted. Explain all you want. Mention emotions all you want.

The Aces are fucking huntsmen. HUNTSMEN. FUCKING. SUCK. They always have. Its a dumb idea. Yes, lets stop the hordes of monsters invading this world BY SENDING IN SINGLE OPERATIVES WITH FUCKING MELEE WEAPONS

I’ll make this clear to you, Ren, right here and now. If you faced a REAL elites, you wouldnt have stood a chance. Nor would RWBY. Their bodies would have been three-shot from 20 meters out with a breach and clear and stacked against the wall like cords of wood, one final shot to the dome to make dead sure they were down. None of this stupid flipping and acrobatic crap, none of this clashing weapons and Dust and semblances...no. 

You’d be dead before you knew they were there and they would move on. You’d just be another body to the pile, one more faceless corpse to add to their kill count. A meatgrinder in human form. 

Professionals. Dont. Lose. AND THE ACES ARE NOT PROFESSIONALS!

Because thats not what RWBYs about, never has been.  And that is what annoys me slightly. That and the fact I cant distangle what I know of other universes and our own from RWBY’s. Its hard to hold a universe on its own when everything they make points towards it being like ours, but they change it when they see fit. 

I feel like thats bad writing.

Hehehe. Winter touched Elms boob.

Glad to know that Winters got her priorities right. Course, that bomb probably aint gonna do shit cause its Dust based.

...again, hoping its a chemical weapon...

Wait, the Atlas forces from earlier are STILL FIGHTING? Damn, these Grimm must suck if they couldnt wipe them out in that little time...

Also I cant tell if its getting dark cause of the storm or if its the dawn of the next day.  Or did...they shift time around? I lost track. I SWORE the sun was setting the last time we saw everything.

Also return of the shitty 3D grass...

Marrows gonna defect.

Awww poor Winters got emotions. HEY MAYBE DONT SEND A MENSTRATING WOMAN OUT ON A FIELD OP, ATLAS!

So according to May there’s still front lines. Cool. 

AYYY ITS KLIEN! HES BACK

Oh, I guess hes a doctor too. Oh he MAD.

Ayyy Whitleys being USEFUL for fucking once in his shitty life.

Shes gonna hug him isnt she.

CALLED IT. For fuck sake...whatever. Cute. But whatever.

Oh annnnddd now Grimmquake?

No. It stopped...Bolide?

No. PENNY.

Annnnddd shes leaking coolant. And sparking. And dead.

RIP Penny.

The concept art of the beached whale looks so fucking silly. Seriously, just...detach the whole section there. Drop the fucking thing. 

Oh well.

And thats it for almost two months! Be prepared for me to BULLSHIT MY WAY THROUGH ALL OF IT and continue on with my military fanwank because THATS HOW IM SURVIVING 2020!

[kaaras-adaar-a]

Kaaras and Stenn

// Before Kaaras’ romance during Inquisition, he’s only ever been in one serious relationship. I wanted to talk more about who that was as an updated post because I’ve got some old ones floating around as well that are incredibly outdated.

Meet Stenn (now that I have pics of him!):

Stenn is a Tal’Vashoth warrior, who was a Sten under the Qun. He was a fair few years older than Kaaras, in his 30′s when they met (Kaaras was in his early 20′s). 

Having met at a young age, and a troubling time for Kaaras, Stenn became a very solid and stable part of Kaaras’ life. Struggling through depression and alcohol addiction, as well as a lot of self loathing and other issues Kaaras was going through because of having left home and the loss of his father when he was a child, Kaaras was a mess. He’d often drink himself into a stupor and then sleep around. While Kaaras never lost his penetrative virginity (and it’s something he doesn’t lose until his Inquisition LI), he did fool around quite a lot no thanks to his liquid courage. 

That stopped when Stenn took a shining to him, and in turn, Kaaras grew feelings for him back. Stenn was a kind, compassionate and almost a fatherly figure in a sense as well for Kaaras. Kaaras does have a thing for older men, and it’s quite a weakness, so I think that worked to Stenn’s advantage, but it was not his intention. Stenn just saw the mess that Kaaras was, and thought this was a person with potential to be much better once he figured himself out and set himself straight. He ultimately wanted to help him. 

Things started small, just being able to spend time together during and in between missions. Kaaras looked UP to Stenn a lot, because of how set in stone he was, because of how much he already knew himself, despite having changed his entire life as a Tal’Vashoth. From a younger point of view, Kaaras saw hope in that, because he was a mess with a big hole in his life, and he needed to change that, to make it whole again.

The first step, Kaaras knew he had a drinking problem, and with the help of Stenn and a lot of withdrawing and pain, he was able to get off the alcohol. He still had his slips here and there, but everyone has those. But it was Stenn who got him through that, and he was by his side the entire time he was in withdrawals. Kaaras suffered the whole lot, the night sweats, the physical agony of coming off alcohol, the shaking, the irritation--all of it, and Stenn was there the whole time while he detoxed. He was there to remind him how far he’d come, of what he could achieve.

Not just that, but Stenn helped Kaaras understand himself sexually as well. Due to the PSAS/PGAD (more meta in his tags on his condition), sexual contact could oftentimes be painful. Kaaras hated his body and everything to do with it. His PSAS/PGAD was probably a lot worse as a younger man due to hormones going haywire as well, but he still suffers the condition to this day. Stenn took things slow and encouraged Kaaras to ENJOY sexual stimulation, and remind him that it wasn’t always to be associated with pain. Kaaras is and will remain a shy person. Despite his past, he was drunk during those times, and without the alcohol, it brought on a whole NEW bunch of insecurities and AWARENESS to him. He could no longer drown himself in flesh without the aid of that courage, so going slow for him was a MUST, and something that Stenn was able to do.

While the two of them certainly were able to explore with each other, the time when they were going to have sex was unfortunately interrupted. Kaaras, having worked up so much courage only for it to be shot down again, took a blow. While they were still romantic with one another and in a relationship, it was like working up from the bottom again, and unfortunately, never reached that far before things started to decline for them.

Both of them have ALWAYS been stubborn. Kaaras was beginning to come into his proper manhood and adulthood now, and he was beginning to form his own opinions and morals, particularly because he was now sober. He was his old self again, and yet a new person as well. He’d grown and he’d learned. He was developing emotionally and maturing fast.

Stenn, already in his mid 30′s, was never going to change. And unfortunately they had conflicts of interest as time went on. Kaaras had started to question the leadership of the mercenary company they were a part of (Kaaras had not originally been a part of the company while Stenn had been an original member). Of course, you can see why there would be conflict there. Kaaras has extremely strong morals, and that doesn’t always work to his favour, especially if he is to follow orders he does not personally agree with. Stenn didn’t want to hear it, and knew that their leader was getting work for them and therefore that was good enough. Unlike Kaaras, Stenn’s morals were lower and he didn’t mind breaking the law for coin. 

While the two of them tried their best to work through it, unfortunately, it took a turn for the worst when Kaaras’ mentor (who was the reason they’d joined the merc company in the first place) was killed during a questionable contract. Kaaras had had enough. It was the last straw, and he told Stenn that he was leaving, and if he wished to follow then he was welcome to. Unfortunately, Stenn was already set in his ways, and did not want to break away from the company he’d been a part of for years. Even though Stenn did not want to break up, Kaaras made the decision for him, and broke it off with him despite it being so difficult to do.

The split was somewhat mutual and there was no hard feelings between them, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t difficult. Kaaras will NEVER forget what his lover had done for him, and he even informed and thanked him for the support he’d given him over the years and the personal growth. In saying that, though, leaving was the best thing Kaaras had ever done for himself. It wasn’t just him who had been questioning orders, but some of the other mercenaries as well, who followed Kaaras when he left and named him the leader of their new company, the Beres-taar. Even though Kaaras was a young mercenary captain, he’d proven himself a good leader over the years and people were willing to follow him. 

Having moved to Starkhaven for a more permanent position, Kaaras did struggle with alcohol a little bit after the breakup, but his own personal growth allowed him the strength to keep control of himself (and with the support of his company and sister). This was a massive breakthrough for Kaaras and who he is today. He knows he has the strength and the will. He also now can’t be selfish, as he had responsibilities as a leader. This is also why he fell into the role of Inquisitor with more ease than some. He had the experience of being a captain for the last few years before Inquisition. The responsibility does have it tolls, though. Kaaras began to stress eat, which is why he’s a little softer around the midsection these days compared to his previous figure. He’d always been short and stocky, but he also used to be a fair few kilos lighter.

While he and Stenn attempted to write here and there, the wounds were just a little too raw for Kaaras to always get in contact with him--and his duty as Captain took priority. Only when Kaaras was invited to the peace talks did Kaaras see Stenn again while they moved south and made their way through Kirkwall (where Stenn and the company were based). While Stenn proposed that they could perhaps get back together again, Kaaras had grown too much and the divide between them had simply gone on for too long. Kaaras may always love Stenn in a way that he’d never forget, but he knew that it would not end happily, and he also didn’t respect Stenn as much as he used to, therefore he could not be in a relationship with him. They’d simply grown apart too much, and that was fine. 

Unfortunately, during Inquisition, Stenn does die on a mission for his company, and the captain of the Ralshokra writes to the Inquisitor explaining what had happened. Kaaras is devastated and heartbroken to hear that Stenn has died and that he never quite told him that he had loved him when they were together. Kaaras will never forget him, or what he did for him. In a way, he feels that it’s because of Stenn that he was able to be where he is today. That he was able to grow, to sober up, to explore and learn so much about himself, and because of that, he will always love him. 

[littlemisssquiggles]

Here's an idea: if Ruby+ Oscar are brought to the Dark Domain, their arc could parallel Dorothy's time as the Wicked Witch of the West's captive. Dorothy couldn't be harmed by anyone from Oz, so WWOW made her into her servant while trying to figure out a way to get the Silver Slippers off her. Salem wants Ruby alive, possibly to learn about the Silver Eyes, and while she hates Ozpin, she wouldn't pass up the chance to torture him now that he's in her clutches. (To be continued)

“So borrowing from your headcannons, Oscar would be held captive but in luxury, watched over by MEH (Since Hazel hates Ozpin and would watch him like a hawk and Em and Merc don’t have emotional ties to him). Meanwhile in an attempt to learn more about the Silver Eyes, Salem inflicts dozens of grimm on Ruby, driving her near the brink of death too many times to count before being healed and forced back into the fray. Oh, and she makes sure Oscar and Ozpin can watch all of this via Seer Grimm…”

Squiggles Answers:

Hey Miki-chan! I actually quite dig thatidea.

I wasn’t aware of the part of the Wizard of Oz story where Dorothy wasmade a servant of the Wicked Witch. I knew about her being kidnapped by theFlying Monkeys along with the Cowardly Lion while the Tin Man and the Scarecrowwere destroyed but I didn’t know about this plot detail until you mentioned it. Now thatI know, I think it’s perfect. It’s an excellent way to blend both of Dark Domain headcanons—Oscar becoming a prisoner of Salem and being forced to becompliant with her demands and Ruby and Oscar being kidnapped together—and do them both, killing two theories with one season which can pay homage to its fairytale counterparts.

Remember in my Oscar’s Grimm BuddyPinehead headcanon, I mentioned Oscar being forced into behave himself while incaptivity since Salem was also holding innocent Atlesians, abducted during theFall of Atlas hostage and would torture them unless Oscar acted obediently? Ican definitely see Salem using Oscar’s bond to Ruby as blackmail him in a similar fashion.

Like pictureSalem promising to torture Ruby or worse kill her unless Oscar behaved himself and did what he was told like a ‘good little boy’. 

It can even be a thing where she manipulatesboth Rosebuds—forcing them each to comply to her wishes as a means of keepingtheir partner safe. So Salem tells Oscar to stay put, locked away within his confines of his lonely tower as ameans of protecting Ruby. Whereas with Ruby, Salem provides the Silver Eyed Warrior no other option but to play her servant and take part in her little experiments with the Grimm battles otherwise Oscar would fall victim to punishment on her behalf. Soon both ends, Ruby and Oscar have no choice but to do what’s necessary to protect eachother from any cruel fate Salem could deal to them while under her imprisonment. I can see Salem playing that type of vicious mind games with both youngbuds.

The only thing I’m not sure about isthe inclusion of Team MEH being around. I always figured that those three wouldor…at least, should’ve been off on their own little adventure— assigned to retrieving the Relic of Destruction in Vacuo during the events of the Atlas Trilogy.

I mean I don’t mind if they stickaround. It could give them a purpose in this potential Dark Domain standalone season.

Do you know what would be interesting?If while watching over Oscar, in their own way, Mercury, Emerald and Hazel go through a moment with Oscar that results in them turning a new leaf andopting to help him and Ruby escape.

Perhaps Hazel will find a means to forgive Ozpin through Oscar and will come to wish to protect the young boy since he reminded him of his sister. Technically, there was a witch in Hansel and Gretel and my memory of the fairytale serves correctly, Hansel and Gretel met a witch who locked them away and attempted to fatten them up in order to eat them. However Hansel and Gretel managed to trick the witch in letting her believe that they were all skin and bones. Then at the end of that story, Hansel and Gretel managed to escape the witch by trapping her inside her own oven—I think that’s how that story ends.

Perhaps Hazel is assigned to be Oscar’s caretaker. But during his time with the young farm boy, Hazel comes to slowly care for Oscar as he sees his beloved sister mirrored in him in spite of his vendetta against Ozpin. And when Hazel learns that Salem plans on killing Oscar, he winds up tricking Salem and helping Oscar escape? Or perhaps he helps Ruby? I dunno. I could see Hazel helping either one of the Rosebuds.

As for Mercury, he’s a tough case. Like you said, he and Em have no ties to Oscar and thus no real reason to care about him. However I do have one idea with Oscar that could appear to Mercury. Remember my theory for Oscar’s semblance being magic? As I’ve said previously, magic seems to be a power of infinite possibilities in RWBY. 

That being said—in V6 C9, Mercury said that his father stole his semblance and never gave it back. Losing his semblance seemed to be pinnacle turning point in Mercury’s past. So…what if...and this is a big if…Oscar could restore Mercury’s semblance using magic?

I’m actually curious how exactly did Mercury’s father ‘steal’ his semblance. Quite frankly I’d like to believe that it’s impossible for one to steal another’s semblance since it’s an extension of their aura—their very soul. 

So my guess is that Mercury’s father never stole Mercury’s semblance but in actuality, used his semblance to repress it. My theory is that Mercury still has his power but since his father made him to believe he had lost it, he created a sort of mental, spiritual block that’s been keeping Merc from tapping in his power for a long time. At least that’s what I think. It’d be interesting to see Mercury’s reaction to learning that his father had lied about stealing his power and used the fib as another means to abuse and keep Mercury down. Papa Black was a living hurdle that Mercury always felt he needed to jump over. Even now, he probably still is. 

This is another reason why I think it would be awesome if Oscar was raised by his father. This could be something he and Merc could potentially bond over. Both being sons raised by fathers. The only difference is that Oscar’s father would be the complete opposite of Mercury’s. Still it could be interesting for Oscar and Merc to interact on this particular topic which could then lead into talk about semblances. Who knows? 

As for Emerald. Perhaps she stumbles upon the Relicof Knowledge and gets to ask the final question from Jinn? And what Emerald learns from the being of the lamp results in her making a choiceto where she wants to go moving forward.

Do you know what would be pretty cool too? What If…Salem sort of coincidentally played a part in moulding all of her pawn’s stories?

Like for example, Hazel’s sister’sdeath? Somehow I have this small theory that Salem had a hand in that. Like tome, I pictured Hazel formerly being a close friend of Oz— someone who knew and trusted him dearly thatSalem wanted to turn to her side. So the wicked witch targeted someone that Hazel loved the most—his beloved little sister and spun it in a way that Oz would end up taking full responsibilityfor the ill fate that befall the poor child which would’ve made it easier for Hazel to come to her side. Orsomething to that end. 

I know that theory feels like a stretch. However, it somethingI wondered out of curiosity. Like a whatif? We’ve known from the get-go that Salem is a master manipulator and israther adept at swaying the hearts of man to do her bidding. Somehow I like theidea of Salem targeting each member of her inner circle and silentlymanipulating their stories, creating the scenarios that turned them into the people we know them now to be, praying on their vulnerability and need for revenge or some other kind of vendetta. Doubt this is the case butit’s worth thinking about.

Perhaps this is the truth Emeralduncovers from Jinn. Perhaps… Emerald becomes like Ruby in this case where she asks Jinn to showher the truth about what Salem is hiding from her Inner Circle.

And similar to how Jinn showed theheroes all the skeletons in Ozpin’s closet, perhaps at some point later in the series’ narrative, she might show the otherside of that coin that portrays what happened to Salem and all the things shedid after killing Ozma and their past family?

I think it would be cool to get aglimpse of what Salem did throughout all those years after she killed Ozma. That could be fascinating to seeunveiled. And similar to how the heroes were instantly conflicted against Ozupon learning the truth, maybe it’ll be a similar ordeal for our main team of villains—the surviving members ofSalem’s Circle.

After all, I’ve always been curious toknow how much has Salem disclosed to her minions. How much do they know about her and herpast? Does WTHEM even know about the God’s Judgement or similar to Ozpin’sgroup, have they too been blindly following their leader, too engrossed by thepromise of achieving their own selfish desires to see the full truepicture. I wonder. I guess we’ll only know in time. 

Back to the Rosebuds—like I said Ireally like this idea you presented Miki. It does present a chance to blendboth Dark Domain headcanons. Imagine Ruby and Oscar both becoming Salem’sprisoners; separated and forced to adhere to her rules as a means of keepingthe other alive. But through her wit, Ruby manages to successfully escapes hercaptivity. She then makes her way to the lonely tower where Oscar is beingheld. Ruby then battles her way through the tower before being reunited with Oscar. 

The two share a heartfelt reunion before escaping the tower as a whole. But in spite of being free, the two aren’t out of the ball park yet as they must now make thetrek across the Dark Lands in order to make it back to their friends. All thewhile this is happening, Salem has sent her pawns and Grimm to recapture ouryoung heroes.

I also like the idea of Salem secretlyplanting something inside both Ruby and Oscar as a means of tracking them. Likemaybe she attached some kind of leech-like Grimm that is connected to the SeerGrimm and that’s how she’s able to know where both children are at, at alltimes.

What could even be cooler is if thesestrange Grimm provide a means for Salem to mentally toy with Ruby and Oscar’sminds? Planting doubt in either of them as a way to pin them against eachother.

Part of Salem’s tactics hasinvolved some form of dividing those who stand against her. With the BrotherGods, she swayed First Remnant’s kingsand queens against their very creators and with Ozma as Ozpin, she turned his ownallies against him which in turn,caused a domino effect that ended with mistrust from the very people who had fate in Oz.

This could be cool. 

Although…if I had to place my bets on which Dark Domain story I could see the CRWBY doing—

A) Oscar getting kidnapped by Salem alone with RWBY forming a search party lead by Ruby to make the perilous trek into the Dark Domain to rescue him (and possibly some abducted Atlesian citizens from the Fall of Atlas).

or 

B) Ruby and Oscar both becoming Salem’s prisoners to be tortured by her individually only for the two to escape together and traverse the Grimm-infested Dark Lands alone to make it back to civilization and their friends.

…Either can work but…I’m gonna have to go with Oscar captured alone. It’s honestly my favourite between the two ideas now and it’s also the only option that doesn’t result in seperating the main four girls again which I heard from the FNDM is something the CRWBY Writers might not try again. 

If the Writers are open to separating Ruby from her team for a second time in a much more dire life and death situation and just have the story revolved around her relationship and development with Oscar as our two youngest huntsmen and smaller more honest souls. If Ruby and Oscar are made to be key driver for one standalone season then YES, I’d be open to seeing something like that done given the uniqueness of the scenario.

We’ve seen Ruby with her team. We’ve seen her seperated from her team but joined with another team of friends with the thought of her reuniting with her original team never being off the table. But never have we seen Ruby completely isolated from the people and the world she once knew. Far far away without knowing whether or not she’d survived to see her loved ones again—granted that they even survived.

This is why I love the theory of Ruby and Oscar being on their own in the Salem’s Domain. I like the idea of it happening during the Fall of Atlas with neither being clear as to whether or not their friends are alive. All they knew for sure is that Atlas fell and maybe their friends are ok. Thus they cling to that hope and we watch of story of two kids on their own in a very dark world clinging desperately to hope. Hope is the only thing that’s driven them with each other being the only person they can turn to. This is why I LOVE the Ruby and Oscar Prisoners of Salem headcanon.

It’s my second favourite of the two but I love it for that potential for compelling character driven story. And what could make it even better is that it’s a condensed story. It doesn’t have to be about the writers juggling focus between more than one characters.

The story is just about seeing how Oscar and Ruby would fare on their own against impossible odds with only hope and their friendship on their side. The story, for the first time, will be just about them and thus the audience gets a chance to see how either of these two kids think and interact with each other when everyone else is out of the way. 

That could be cool to observe. But…alas, like I said, the Writers might not do this because I feel like they’re most likely to come back to what’s comfortable for them—Juggling a story with multiple characters with Team RWBY leading the charge.

Such a shame. A simple standalone story with just Ruby and Oscar with the audience joining them in being left unknowing of the fates of all the other characters so that we can feel the tension and desperation with them as we follow their story—that could’ve been great. 

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[lockwoodlitherland]

LITE

“Okay what is happening, you are never late.” Her sister's voice came crackly through the dashboard speakers. 

“I’m driving, I fucking hate driving in this city.” 

“Oh, we’re swearing too? Late and swearing-“

“Anni I don’t know where I’m going, I’ve just come out of Little Portugal, where can I park in Downtown?” Lil whined, charcoal blue eyes wide with mild panic as she looked left and right and left again, making a calculated last minute turn in the traffic. 

“You know the only time I think I’ve ever seen you properly angry was in traffic. It was horrifyingly violent, I loved it. I think you called a really old man in a Merc a ‘wank sock’.”

Annika’s laugh rang through the speakers, warmly familiar. It calmed her slightly in the midst of her burgeoning road rage. No matter the situation, it always came as a relief to Lil, hearing that sound now; there had truly been a moment last year when she worried she’d never hear it genuinely again. 

“I stand by what I said, he was a wank sock and a danger to society. Annika, I don’t know where I’m going and it’s icy and it shakes me to my core that people are still speeding. Also, I shouldn’t be talking to you while I’m driving.”

Anni laughed at her again and Lil couldn’t help but join in despite herself; she was serious about the Highway Code. 

“Okay, just park opposite mine between the churches, I’m pretty sure it’s free, I’ll meet you there.”

“Anni, it’s not gunna be free, it’s like a block away from City Hall.” 

“You’re telling me that these God honouring folk don’t provide free parking? Shocking. Anyway, I don’t fucking drive here, how am I supposed to know? I’ll see you in a minute.”

A few stressful minutes later Lil turned into the car park off Bond Street, carefully reversing into a space directly opposite St. Michael’s. She clocked Annika immediately, who stood outside her apartment building on the other side of Church Street. Anni was leaning against the sandstone, heel of her right boot braced against the wall behind her. She held a cigarette in one hand and her phone in the other; the screen lit up her graceful features in the dwindling daylight of the late winter afternoon. It always amazed Lil, the juxtaposition between Annika’s nature as a force of chaos and the very precise and pristine way that she presented herself to the world; never a hair out of place, all clean white lines. 

Anni looked up from her phone and spotted Lil’s silver Toyota 4Runner. It was still splashed up the sides with dirt and snow sludge from the two hour drive she’d embarked on this morning, from just outside The Park in Peterborough and into Toronto. Anni took a quick glance up and down the road before jogging across the traffic towards Lil. She took a last drag from her cigarette when she reached the safety of the pavement, flicking what was left of it into a metal trash can and quickly blowing the smoke out the side of her mouth before reaching Lil, who climbed out of the 4x4. 

“Lite!” With a huge grin Anni put her arms out and hugged Lil tightly, kissing the side of her face with glossed lips. The familiar scent of Annika’s signature perfume filled Lil’s nostrils as she returned the hug and leaned into the kiss, scrunching up her features. 

“It’s good to see you Anni, even if you have just made my cheek sticky.”

“Just rub it in, it’s moisturising. You’ve changed your hair!” Anni replied, pulling back a little from the hug to brush her gloved hand across the shaved side of Lil’s head. She had a short back and sides now, the length on top pushed up from her forehead and to the side in a lazy quiff. This wasn’t particularly new for Lil. 

“Yeah, but I change my hair all the time, you on the other hand.” Lil raised her eyebrows at Anni and nodded towards the others scalp, her hands held Anni’s upper arms proudly as she took her in. 

Anni’s delicately curled hair lay over the left shoulder of her long white woolen coat. Lil took note of the red roots and strawberry blonde fade into Anni’s customary pale blonde at the ends of her hair; for as long as the two had known each other, Annika had never let her natural roots grow in. In fact, she remembered Anni actively panicking about how much they showed and getting so desperate as to ask a pre-teen Silvie to help her bleach them- chemical burn city. 

Anni moved a hand to her hair consciously “Out with the old and in with the older, ey?” 

“You look great Anni.”

The two women linked arms as they walked the wintry streets of Church and Wellesley, rainbow flags decorated red brick, glistening with frost or frozen solid and unmoving in the breeze. They made their way to Second Cup, chatting about everything and nothing; the minutiae of their week. They got to the coffee shop and sat with their drinks in the gentle yellow light of the lamps above the counter. 

“I still can’t believe you drink black coffee, and without sugar too, you psycho.” Anni said, smiling as she took off her lilac scarf and set it over the dark wooden back of her chair, “It’s like how Lloyd used to-“ 

Annika sucked in a sharp breath, stopping herself before going any further, the light of her smile dying in her eyes after she realised what she was saying. She was looking at Lil with frightened doe eyes, like a child that had just accidentally told a secret. Lil was about to take a sip of her plain black ‘psycho’ coffee but she didn’t. Instead, she put the cup down and reached across to hold Annika’s hand, which had balled into a fist at the table.

“It’s okay.”

Lil felt Anni relax with her touch, the woman slumped her shoulders a little- they had tightened after she spoke the name aloud. 

“It’s okay.” 

Anni pursed her lips and closed her eyes, taking the hand that Lil had offered, locking their fingers. Lil could see that although time had passed and Annika had really taken steps forward, away from the trauma of her past, of that night, the toll still weighed heavily on her. 

“It’s about getting to the point where the edges of the pain aren’t as sharp Anni. It will start to hurt less, you’ll catch yourself doing that a lot, it’s normal.” 

Anni opened her eyes, the pale green glistening with tears that had welled up. She didn’t cry though, Lil knew that Anni never let herself cry in front of people. Anni sniffed and squeezed Lil’s hand before pulling hers away and gathering herself. 

“Last night I couldn’t sleep,” Anni said, ripping a brown sugar sachet “so obviously, I thought why not give an orgasm a try?” She poured the contents into her cup and began to swirl the liquid with the wooden stirrer. “But the guy in the video I was watching reminded me of Lloyd, so, I just cried myself to sleep instead, and that’s not even a joke.”

Lil sucked in her cheeks as she tried to swallow a laugh. 

“You can laugh, it’s funny, I’m pathetic.” 

“I’m really sorry.” Lil stifled her laugh through her fingers. 

Anni gave a painful, sarcastic smile and shrugged, taking a sip of her drink.  

“It will get better, I promise you. After Matthew died, I would just forget he wasn’t here anymore, all the time. Even years later. I still sign cards from both of us and I feel him behind me sometimes. It’s like he’s just sitting in the next room but I can’t go in... It gets easier with time, but sometimes something will push the button and it’s just as painful as it used to be, that just happens less and less.” 

Lil thumbed at the wedding ring she still wore on her finger, twisting it round and round by the stone it bore proudly. This was a nervous habit she got into after Matt had first proposed. 

“Matthew and Lily Teller… my Lily Teller. Lite of my life, ha! Li-Te. Do you get it? Cuz you’re sugar-free?” Matt’s voice rang in her ears, it was like a warm hug. Lil smiled, remembering his big, proud, dumb grin. The sadness was still there, it would never leave her, but neither would the light he brought to her. 

“Lite…” 

“It’s fine.”

“Thank you. But, you really lost Matthew. Lloyd’s still around and what happened was my fault. I deserve to feel like this, you don’t.”

“Stop it Anni. You don’t deserve it and just because he’s not dead doesn’t make your grief any less valid.” 

Annika shifted uncomfortably in her chair and moved her cup up to her lips again, “I did sign your birthday card from both of us and then had to bin it.”

“Just give it time. Are you going to your therapy?” Lil asked, already knowing the answer. 

Anni rolled her eyes as she swallowed, “No. I’m not, I can’t cope with that yet. Maritza rides my arse enough.”

Maritza Ramirez- Annika’s narcotics sponsor. The woman worked loosely in the same circles as Lil professionally; she’d referred a few of her kids to Maritza’s service. She did great work, the progress Lil could see Anni making in recent months was a testament to that. Lil could see the fog that hung thickly around Anni when she was using, and it had been absent for nearly a year now. 

“Anyway, how was your day? How’s Silvie, is she excited about ESA? God, what grade is she in now?” Anni asked, shooting out the questions, unsubtly changing the subject. 

Lil visited the city periodically for work, to see her Umbra kids. Today she’d been busy. One of her kids was undergoing their first Theriomorphic Metamorphosis and she had only just found them a placement at High Park zoo, where the Veil facilities were sketchy at best. Luckily, it turned out to be a peacock -just like Mitchell’s first time- as she had predicted, hoped to all hope, so it worked out. Lil spent time with him this afternoon after dropping Silvie off for this weeks block of classes at Etobicoke school of Arts; after what felt like months of auditions she got onto the dance programme she wanted most. Lil had already talked to Anni about most of this on the walk over here of course. 

“You’re worse at deflecting than you used to be.” 

“I just don’t have the effort in me today. Please talk to me about anything other than my shitty life or I’ll just stab myself in the eye with this.” She waved around the wooden stirrer. 

“Are you done with that? I’m gunna recycle it.” Lite reached across and took the stick from her. 

Anni groaned, “Look, see, you’ve just got your shit together. You’ve got a fucking travel cup, you recycle, you’re literally a social worker and every day you’re out here all saintlike helping our lost, sad, disadvantaged shifter kids have a better life. Most people are roaming the world with a cause, I don’t have a cause, my only cause is me.” 

Lil burst into a laugh, that was perhaps the most Annika thing she’d said all night. There’s my girl. 

“You’re one of those rare people Lite, that does something once and doesn’t like it, or makes a mistake and learns from it, and simply doesn’t do that thing again. How the fuck do you do that? I think you were just born into this world knowing that it was bullshit, but you somehow push through it all with your compassion.”

“And I think that you don’t give yourself enough credit. I think that you were born into this world knowing that it was bullshit too, but you had a tougher time of it than me, Anni. Plus, I’ve had a lot more years of doing some intense spiritual growth and it’s not all roses. As you and your porn are discovering.”

“Don’t!” Anni put a hand to her forehead. 

“Anyway, did you really just ask me what grade Silvie is in? Eleven, she’s seventeen, you know this.” 

“I don’t have a clue, it was all just ‘Years’ in England and Russia.”

“Anni,” Lil laughed and stared at her sister across from her who had a blank, dismissive look on her face “you went to school here from grade eleven.” 

“Oh, so what, she’s in lower sixth? Jesus…” Anni looked reflective, staring past Lil for a second at something else. Lil waited for the question to come. 

“...How’s Cass? I mean, officially.” Anni’s perfectly gelled plum nails rapped on the dark wood of the table nervously as she took another sip. 

Lil ground her teeth “I’m sorry Anni I-“ 

“I know, I know. Confidentiality, Department of Integrations and all that. I thought I’d just as and see.” 

“You should ask her yourself.”

“Mmm, I’m building up to it, there’s a lot of people I wanna ask about.”

“Jay’s here too you know.” Said Lil, testing those waters. 

“Oh, I know.”

Lil let out a frustrated breath. Those two had been poison for each other continuously in the past. Encouraging each other’s bad behaviour, always forcing shifts together. There was nothing inherently wrong with the practice, it was a tradition in some of their communities. But the way that those two did it, to get away from themselves, to lose themselves more and more, their humanity, for the sake of unresolved issues and words left unsaid. It was unhealthy. And now Anni was in a place where Lite felt she could tell her that, and Anni might take it in, instead of telling her to fuck off. “Anni, I say this as your sister and your friend, please do not start sleeping with him again. For both your sakes.” 

“Ugh! Ye of little faith. You know I’ve not been with Jay like that since…”

Since before Lloyd. Lil finished the sentence in her head. It would keep coming back around to this subject until-

“Do you know anything about how he is? It’s just that I know that Jay was tailing him for a while after the wipe and-“ 

“Anni you know I can’t, you shouldn’t even know that much. Plus, I don’t even know,” A lie, Lil hated to lie, “and if I did I wouldn’t tell you anyway.”

“I just want to know if he’s okay... if it’s holding. I did so much damage to it after the wall was put up.”

Lil sighed, “I don’t suppose you’ve spoken to Jamie at all?” She already knew the answer to this too. 

Annika scoffed, “Ha, actually I have.” 

Lil looked at Annika, stunned. Lil brought strays home regularly, but when she brought Jamie into the household it caused more trouble than ever before. Annika and her had severely butted heads. 

Okay, maybe I'm not as omniscient as I thought I was. 

“I left her a voicemail.”

“And exactly how inebriated were you at this point?” 

“I was actually relatively lucid when I had the initial idea, part of the programme an all that, but I was really drunk during its execution.” Anni raised her eyebrows at Lil over her cup as she took another deep swig of her coffee. 

“Did she reply?”

“Nope.”

“Probably for the best.” 

“Uh-huh.” Anni unzipped her boots and placed them neatly next to her chair so that she could comfortably sit cross-legged, tucking her feet between herself and the seat. “Can we talk about something else again please? I just don’t have the stomach for an impromptu counselling session from my, no offence, know-it-all older sister with all her shit together. I know that I’m messy.”

Lil would usually fight Anni on this and get her to talk about what was bothering her, what had happened, but she could see that today wasn’t the day. 

“Are you working tonight?” Lil inquired politely, back to basics.

“Yes, at the hotel, I’m accompanying a singer. I actually haven’t read the music sheets yet.”

“Oh! Is it Hollie from the band? How did your date go with her? I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Oh GOD!” Anni threw her hands up in the air before resting her head in them, elbows on the table, she was groaning. 

“Not great then I’m guessing…” 

[madkingtrashking-archive]

((This took me a good while, but i always wanted to write this story about some of the things that happened on Gangrel’s 2 years on Zath’s ship. This one would be more or less the beginning, the tipping point for when Gangrel becomes the man we meet on his paralogue still would take a few more things to happen.))

DISCLAIMERS: NSFW, Non-con

Hellship

People always are busy when they are sailing a ship. Making sure the sails were in right place, if the ropes where not chiffed and tied tightly in places, being sure the cannons were functional and clean, check the ammo, count the booty, make food and...Clean.

Maybe the worst part of it all, because in a ship with roughly 30 plus people, all consisting of hard boiled, sea salted pirates they could't muster a single fiber of caring to cleaning or stay clean.

And, thus, being one of the worse chore to do around here, of course Gangrel had to be the man for the job.

The deck was buzzing with it's usual energy, since it was around noon most of the sailors were on the deck, waiting for the food to be made.

He went down the narrow stairs of the ship to the first floor, where the 'pearls' of the 'Terror of the sea' lied.

The whole first floor was used for Zath's canons. Big cannons. Big enough to bring down a adult wyvern mid-flight, or so he said, distributed between two neat columns on each side of the ship and propped by a small platforms.

The ginger walked to one of the sides and unlocked one of the cannons windows and pulled it to the outside, locking it on a piece of metal that would make it sat out and he put his head outside the window...Only to be greeted by the terrifying sight of  the sea about 2 stories high from where he was.

He quickly went back inside the ship.

Why it had to be so tall? Why this fucking piece of trash ship had to be so big and tall? Urgh! He gave it a time, breathed deeply, counted to ten... Exhale...Ok, everything is fine now.

The trickster studied the spatula he holded for a second and ventured outside the canon window, where sat on it’s  edge and started his mission to painstakingly scoop out the barnacles from the side of the pirate ship.

Just the worst job by far in this place, those sea creatures seemed glued to the fricking wood and scooping them out with the puny spatula thingie just seemed like cleaning a bathroom with a toothbrush! The whole ordeal was made extra hard by having to twist and turn around on the edge of the windowsill trying not to fall.

In his defense, this wasn't his first idea, there was a little chair tied to some ropes where he could descend upon and do his job more easily on the outside but...Some of his 'mates' thought it would be hilarious to shake the rope holding his thing...It was then and there he decided he would find a better way to scoop these fuckers out that didn't involved him being out in the open.

It seemed to take an eternity just, position the spatula under the barnacle, shimmy and push it forcefully under the damn thing for about 10 seconds or more (depending how much of a son of a bitch those filthy animals are feeling to be at the moment), pull it back in full force in a carefully manner so he’s not fall backwards and start anew with another one.

It was boring.

It was more than boring, it was so painfully repetitive and dull, repetitive and dull, repetitive and dull, repetitive and d-

What was that sound?

Quick as a arrow he went back inside the ship, inside a duo of pirates where looking at him.

" 'Wondering wha'cha were doing there Maggot." The smaller one (in comparison to his compatriot by his side) with a dirty blonde hair said, voice full of boisterous confiance.

"Working. You know what that is?" Gangrel didn't felt like amusing the mercenary pirate there, which he probably should remember his name, being that this guy seemed keen on nagging him lately but ,he really didn't gave a fuck.

"Ha! Funny guy ,huh? Huh? Just the funniest don'tcha think buddy?" The mercenary elbowed 'buddy' on his rotund sides, which in turn, pretend to not listen (or maybe his fat reached his eardrums, Gangrel though in amusement) and kept glaring at the former king.

"What do you want?" The ginger sighed in exasperation. "I'm busy."

"Are you going to make dinner tonight?" the mercenary asked.

It almost felt like he didn't had heard him right.

"Excuse me?"

"You going to make dinner? Later?" The mercenary asked again.

"W-- Why , yes, of course! I'm catching it right now!" He said as he pointed outside with a exasperated smile.

Just for their faces, just for a split of a second, the sass almost feel worth it.

But of course then the two stepped forward,and their faces were far from looking amusemend about that burn.

"I'm not. I have to finish it until tomorrow. Someone else is in change of the food today."

He emended quickly, trying to sound calm.

Both of them shared a glance before the merc mumbled something along the lines of  'just what i needed to know' and exited the room, a eerie feeling creeped up the trickster spine but he decided to brush it off.

As Gangrel watched them go he wondered if he should feel proud of that, because apparently,despite having the worse temper to handle he was the best worker in here! Fastest to finish his chores and doing them well (or at least as well as they deserved), the best healer ,made the best food (not that hard honestly)...It almost would be a good thing if that didn't meant that he had to do most of the menial work around here.

Of course he wasn't the 'only one' doing menial work, there where other people doing it too, but it wasn't rare if someone just leave their post or passed to him what they were doing, it wasn't like it didn't had a reason though...Urgh...Let's  stop this line of thought yes? Let's get rid of these barnacles? Yes, let's.

The plegian got back to his place on the window and continued his boring task to scoop out barnacles.

It continued for almost 2 or 3 hours, maybe? He was still getting the hang of telling the hours at the ocean without a clock.  But it was around sunset, so probably he was right.

He proudly could say that the whole left side of the ship was clean! Well...At least the part he could reach,now he just needed to finish the other side.

And all of that just took about a day and a half of work and extremely sore arms, ain’t that something?

He propped his arms on the rim of the cannon window and went back inside,his eyes had to adjust to the darkness of the room but it wasn't something he was particularly worried about at the moment. He needed to stretch out, by gods! Everything felt sore. Each time a 'crack' or 'pop' would come out his body a small sound of relief was let out of his lips, augh, was this what getting old was like? Terrible, just terrible.

He only needed to keep up the speed, if he did, there was still a chance to get something from the kitchen before going to sleep, that's the plan!

...Or was.

A noise coming from the back of the room which made the trickster turn around fast as a lightening, only to find the two other crew mates that he had talked to.

This...Was not good.

"I think you guys missed the mess hall by a floor there guys."

He tried to sound nonchalant and a little humorous, but the two visitors seemed less than interested to continue the chat.

The thought of if the spatula he was using was sharp enough to serve as a weapon rolled through his Gangrel's head quite quickly as the two of them approached.

"Oh nah nah nah rat boy, we're in the right place all right."

Yep, time to strike and run.

The trickster lunged forward towards the smaller one ,going for his left side, away from 'Buddy', after a quick slash the shock is going to give him enough of a window to run up the stairs he reasoned quickly. Yes, that's the plan.

He indeed managed to slash the mercenary's side before a monumental force smashed him face first on the floor boards.

Buddy was faster than he thought.

"Fuck! The fucker shivved me! That porcupine's mungoberry shiT!!--"”

Porcupine's mungoberry shit? If his head was not being squeezed against the floorboards by that neandertal he would ask to that hillbilly how does that kind of shit looks like so he could also use as an insult. Too bad that Buddy's hand seemed keen to crack his skull like a egg, otherwise the thought would had stayed in his head for longer.

Another hand grabbed roughly the back of Gangrel's shirt and lifted him up and managed to prop him back on his own two feet (Oh, it was Buddy again...Does that mean that hillbilly was the 'brains' by exclusion? He should laugh at that notion if he didn't felt like his head was going to split if he did).

"You just sealed yer fate y'lil' shit!"

The injured pirate mercenary pointed angrily at him while holding his sides, trying to prevent his blood from spilling out. Buddy makes a cavernous interested grunting sound which makes the other's eyes lit up a little, he reached for the other's pocket and produced a healing herb from there. Oh, come on.

"Hrn...How beautiful is friendship pffheh..."

Of course he had to make fun of it, of course he had, but Buddy didn't lost a second pull him up and slam him against the ship wall.

"Shut it you goombah!" The smaller one shouted near him (did he had to shout so much? Urgh,it's going to give him a headache) and Buddy promptly smashed Gangrel against the wall again and the ginger could feel somewhere on his forehead he was bleeding.

“Tsk,such a pain all the time...L-Let’ do it already.”

The trickster still felt dizzy ,but even so he could feel himself being lifted quite effortlessly from his feet.

And then being shoved out the window.

Just the glimpse of the blue sea feets away from him made his shaken brain kick into gear (or was it pure survival instinct?) and hold onto the window corners as his life depended on it, which it kinda did at the moment.

"Come on come on wait on a second! We can talk about it yeah?!"

The struggle between the monstrous strength trying to pushing him out of the window against the pure primal grip of terror the trickster had on the windowsill was ferocious one, and the noises of instigation the other pirate was making didn't helped matters not one bit.

Gangrel kicked and tried to twist away from the grip of the giant but it was to no avail (yeah, not the most 'graceful' sight ever but the trickster had no qualms on trying to look cool while he tried not to fall off the ship, oh gods it's so high so high so hIGH!)

"Wait! S-stOP N-"

The pirate pulled back for a brief second before shoving him back outside the window, this time the trickster’s hand didn’t had the strenght to win the engage. His torso was fully out the ship in less than a second.

“IAARGH!!”

Like a snake, Gangrel twisted around and managed to grab the ‘door’ of the cannon window he had opened. Unfortunately it only made him slide a bit further outside. He was panicking  at this point.

“Pull me! Pull me inside! Pull me inside a-AAHGK-!”

The ginger´s yells were cut short by Buddy’s large hand gripping on his neck. Fuck,this was not good.It was getting worse!

“Jeez, just shut ya trap already. ‘Don’t wanna get the whole ship coming down here do ya’?”

Forcefully, his silent assailant managed to turn him around, making him face down to the relentless height and waves of the sea ,while his big burly arm gripped the back of his neck and his elbow digged painfully on the lower part of his back.

“PULL ME BACK!!!”

The ginger yelled again. With the girth of his body and the arm on his back, the threat of falling wasn’t much as present as before,but he was still kind of hanging half outside tall ship in the middle of the sea, the arm was almost serving as a plug, impeding his fall.

“Bark bark bark, that’s all you do?”

The (rather annoying at this point) blonde said behind him.

“Kinda expected better from the ‘king’. ”

The blood on his veins ran cold when he felt something hold onto the waist of his pants. Suddenly, this whole situation came to a very dark understatement.

The plegian kicked back with all his might, and he was meet with something solid hitting the back of his foot and a very satisfying yell coming from the man behind him.

He didn’t had enough time to commemorate his small victory or struggle away as he heard the sound of skin being cut and a feeling of sharp pain on the back of his thigh.

“h-FUCK!”

“You try that again, you bastard, and the cut is going to be higher.”

The feeling of something sharp touching his lower parts made a shiver go down his whole body,he couldn't see the man inside but he just knew they must be grinning like well fed cats.

What he is going to do? How will he get out? How can escape? All these questions were bombarding the plegian’s head at high speed. Well the first and most obvious option was to just leap forward and fall into the sea but...He looked down again, the several meters down seemed to increase at each glance, his acrophobia won quite effortlessly and he he had to close his eyes tightly shut to recuperate from the sickness he felt just by glancing down.

He felt his pants drop to his knees. Even in his daze his head shoot up and tried to look back at his attackers.

“E-Hey! Y-You guys want the whole ship know you’re fruitcakes?! We are going to be back in land in a week--3 days with this wind for sure!! Just- You guys can hold for a while yeah? I can even pay for some nice woman at the shore! I swear on my life!”

There was an unnerving minute where the only thing he could hear was the waves crashing onto the ship’s hull and the seagull squawks above in the distance, a short laughter soon could be heard even through the window being muffled.

“There ain’t ‘bout get ‘er dick wet.”

The hillbilly pirate laughed again (That. Stupid.Fucking. Laugh.) and lowered Gangrel’s briefs. The ginger tried to swallow the sour lump of anxiety in his throat, this was not going to happen, no , nope nope! He tried to wiggle forward and outside the window but Buddy’s hand got hold of his hair, pulling it back and leaving him on the same place.

Gangrel felt something being pressed softly against his backside, but quickly the pressure became greater and ‘what’ that was became clearer, that bastard was going to shove it raw?! The ginger let out a yell and tried again to drop into freedom again, but Buddy’s hand was firm and made him stay in place while that Billy forced the tip of his penis to enter his asshole (it’ not going to fit. Not like this not like this not like this not like this!).

Suddenly, a low voice talked. Gangrel could barely make any word from that because of the timbre and diction but the accent did reminded him of the plegian cities near Regna Ferox and their indecipherable dialect. Unless someone else walked to this scene the owner of the voice was ‘Buddy’.

“Oh yeah...What now?” Billy said in mild annoyance, another string of gruffed out words followed. “What?! Ew fuuck no! No way in all the seven hells im using mah fingers on his dirty arse!”

“Because yours is such a staple of cleaningness” The trickster muttered under his breath. Why? What doing this going to even accomplish? Did he really needed to have a high ground at any time to feel even a little better?

Yes.

Yes he. did.

He heard another sound (whatwas that?) and something else continued the pressure where Billy’s dick once was. It was wet and...Bigger?

Oh fuck.

Gangrel braced himself but even so he couldn't suppress a small yelp to pass through his lips when the giant berserker put his thick calloused fingers inside of him.

It hurt. It hurt so bad. Probably he wouldn't feel any difference between Buddy’s fingers or Billy’s dick, but he could feel the impatience in which the larger pirate was trying to get him prepared. He barely had put one in when the second joined soon after, scissoring him open and trying to make him lose quickly. Fuck, why he had to have such big hands? They digged deeper as he became used to the former’s king insides. In one particular bad trust something akin to a grunt and a moan got out the ginger’s lips.

“Bwahahaa! Holy shit, damn ol’ bastard is reeeeeely digging it huh?!”

Gangrel attempted to kick the sad excuse for a human being again, but Buddy was quick to bury his two thick fingers knuckle deep inside of him, inadvertently making him buck forward and getting dangerously close from falling from the window, he tried to back up but the other’s finger where still in place, pressing forcefully against his prostate.

“O-ooh…” He tried to bite down that moan,for naught unfortunately.

“Hohohoo~ Ya wanting it huh?” a trail of painful scratches  went down the ginger’s back making him welp in pain (maybe at this point he just should be grateful the other's nails weren’t as sharp as his) but the brief pain wasn't enough to distract him of what was happening.

“Ok ok ok ok it’s enough, g’ittit done already!” The smaller mercenary slapped his taller consort on the arm again, seemingly his patience had come to an end in this whole preparation stage. The fingers inside him slowly made their way out to be replaced again by an urgently shoved in dick. Even with that work out of loose the ginger up there was still a sharp distinct pain as he felt the Mercenary’s member enter him.

From there on Gangrel was blessed with a little silence while the blonde pirate fucked him.

Well ‘silence’ , the other still grunted and muttered things to him in a voice he must have thought it was intimidating but the ginger made an effort to focus on the pain and half-assed pleasure it was been given to him.

A silent mental note so next time he isn’t a pussy and kill those bastards before things even begin (next time? There isn’t going to be a next time because he is going to make Grima damn sure to cut whoever tries this again).

Pathetically, the blonde pirate comes first.

Quick and sloppy,hah, maybe Gangrel was doing him a favour! He can’t imagine there is a high demand for ‘fumbling bad teenager like fucks’ in the market.

This time he had the good sense to not say what was on his mind this time.

“OOOoooff~” the blonde sighed satisfied.

He took himself out and slapped Gangrels backside one last time with a crackle.

“Ya kno? If you were like this more often people here would like ya much better!”

Again, the trickster managed to bite his tongue and not to answer back. He was too close to the end to just fuck up right now.

He moved a little and managed to get down from the cannon window, a sharp pain and rawness of where he had laid on the metal ache on his abdomen.

“Where d’ya think yer going?”

The mercenary tried to shove Gangrel back again out of the window without much luck.

But Buddy did it in one second flat.

It happened so quick and with such ferocity Gangrel was sure he just been thrown out of the window and couldn't help to scream.

“Shut up.”

The deep gruff voice heavy with a feroxian accent cut like a knife through the air and made things stay silent for a second, Gangrel swore even the sea sounded quieter now.

The silence resumed as Buddy began to murmur something,something along the lines of ‘this being annoying, or something (Grima be damned,even without the accent his voice was hard to figure out, it sounded like he gargled with gravels every morning!)

“Quiet or done will sho’off “ The berserk said annoyed.

Gangrel didn’t need a translation for that.

He could hear Billy giggle like the shit gremling he was while Buddy hold onto his hips and began to shove himself inside.

Even with the remains of the last altercation still warm in his crevice his new assalariant dick was hardly a ‘snug fit’.

It hurt. Worse than before. His pace was violent and constant even from the beginning, he could feel himself stretched painfully and he sure that he started bleeding and that his hips would be abhorrent shade of purple tomorrow from the others grip.

Like before, he could hear some words mixed between the sounds of flesh on flesh and the gods damned seagulls screaming above ( though they were great to focus his attention on last time and try to forget what was happening, at this point they were getting on his nerves) but he heard something in between in that thick indecipherable accent that made his blood freeze in his veins.

‘War’

His grasp on the windowsill tightened. Suddenly the former king was scrambling in his brain to piece together through that accent more words.

“Farm”

“Family”

“Send”

“Capital”

“Destroyed”

There was more but at that point the berserker’s speech became more raw and angry thus any sense to piece together the rest of his words flew out of the window (Haw haw HAW HAW!)

Each thrust the pirate did was strong enough to sent him flying off the window if he was not being held in place. The taste of blood filled his mouth from how much he was chewing his lips in order to stay quiet (when he started doing that? Fuck, now that he stopped to notice ,he must have broke one or two nails from his grip and clawing of the windowsill).

After what felt like an eternity Gangrel felt the other start to twitch inside him, and with a last strong thrust, the giant pirate spilled inside him (Again. Of course, just keep rubbing that salt in huh?).

A moment of utter silence was shared, for the both participants to catch their breath and ,apparently, Billy must have had understood his Buddy’s speech to not have talked or made any noise during this all.

Without warning Gangrel was pulled inside the ship again and his face was slammed against the wall, his legs wobbled but he made a superhuman effort to stay up, something in his mind told him that falling down now would be a worse fate than the one right now.

The pirate hand stood in place, not crushing his skull like before, but just as a mean to make the former king to stay in place.

Gangrel felt the other get closer to him, his hands clenched to the windowsill and his body tried to arch away from the other with no avail.

“It’s your fault.”

The sheer anger in his voice made Gangrel shivver.

“Should be the one...To change.”

He could hear the strain in his voice, either if was for the monumentally effort to speak normal tongue or his retraining to not break his skull like a rotten watermelon was anyones guess (though he knew the one he was betting on).

“You deserve this.”

The pure hatred in his voice made Gangrel’s heart freeze.

His head was slammed against the boards one last time before he was let go,his leg shook but due to his white knuckle grip on the window the trickster managed to stay up.

The silence was maddening, but after a few sounds of clothing being moved they finally start to move, the ginger kept silent the whole time, ears perked in order to notice their every movement and his eyes burning holes into the ship’s wall, he had the feeling he would throw up if he saw the two right now.

The sound of the door being closed shut came just in the right moment because the plegian’s legs couldn't take anymore and just buckled under his weight.

Just now he realized how everything hurt, hurt so bad, fuck, he wanted to shower, ha! Shower where? Gonna need to jump in the sea if he wanted to get anything clean at this hour...This hour...What time it is? Fuck, he needs to finish it, the ship!Then...Food and…

Even with that in mind, his legs couldn't seem to find strength to move. He looked down and...Well at least one last thing to worry about, though he wasn't all the way soft in a few it would just die down, he didn’t want to think about jacking off after what happened...He didn’t want to think about that kind of thing for a while now in retrospect.

After a minute or two (or five or ten) he grabbed the spatula on the floor and finally managed to get up, now he could feel how much it really hurt all throughout his body, and he moved to the other side of the ship in order to finish his chore, i mean, what else could he do? Take a nap for the day? The barnacles are not going to just disappear in the night and the ship overseer don’t give a fuck about whatever the fuck happened to him, if the barnacles weren't off this ship tomorrow he was sure to get rough up again and he didn’t want the prospect of that on top of what happened today.

He sat on the windowsill (it hurt) and continued to scoop, like nothing had happened like a minute before, like he didn’t just became the biggest bitch in this ship! No, no...Calm down...They were in bigger number (just two of them) they had a vantage (you had escaped of situations worse than that before, there was just no excuse) they not going to tell (can only hope) no they are not, Zanth get all weird and angry with things like that remember? (oh yeah…) they not going to tell, they are not going to tell.

With that mantra and a tight grip, he managed to finish the first window quite quickly and moved to the next.

He just needed to endure, just endure a few more weeks and he could…

(What? Run away?)

He stopped. Yes, that was the plan, next time they were ashore he would just slip by the ship guards and disappeared.

(Disappear where?)

Somewhere! It didn’t mattered, just way from here!

(Do you deserve it though?)

He stopped in this tracks, what did he meant ‘did he deserved it’?! Of course he did! Have to endure God damn beatings and hunger, lack of sleep and psychotic dirty disgusting pirates for almost six months now h--

(Don’y you think it’s karma?)

He stared at the deep blue ocean, well dark blue now it was almost night now, and chuckled. Karma? That Cho’sisean thing? That whole spiritual soul nonsense? Why he was thinking such idiotic stuff right now? He must really have hit his head hard.

(Not like that! You can’t expect to think that mostly the things that happened in here were because of the shit job you did as a king)

He fumbled the spatula on his hand, well…

(How many you recon that had they loved ones killed when you ruled? How many had their houses wrecked and fortune down to scrap with your taxes?)

That voice echoed through his skull like an annoying fly, he wanted to squash it away but…

(And that just talking about Plegia! What about Ylisse? Oh, i bet the people living in the border would have many many words towards you if they knew you still alive and kicking.)

It’s not...Wrong.

“Shut up…”

(You can’t even say everything was for the greater good! Remember when you decided to up the price of bread in order to get that sweet statue of you done?)

“Fuck off!”

He stabbed the spatula on the wood of the ship. He was talking alone now, no better yet, screaming at nothing. Today just gets better and better.

He waited something more, a snarky comment or another jab to make him feel horrible again but things stayed quiet in his head for a while which gave him enough time to finish another window and go to the next.

(You do deserve it.)

These words cut like a sword in his heart.

(Dying by the little princeling sword would be too nice towards you.)

He tried to concentrate on his chore.

(You deserve every little bit of pain and despair you are getting here)

He was sure he was chipping the wood at this point.

(It’s payback. You. Deserve. It.)

He ascended through the stairs and, to no surprise, a few people were still awake and they were just there for their shift. The kitchen was closed by now, the only thing he could do now was going to his cabinet (he used to have a hammock once, wonder what happened to it) and got under the sad excuse of a cover and pillow he had. Tomorrow he is going to wake up early to get a dip in the ocean and get cleaned up, then maybe start to plan his revenge towards those two.

...Not like they were in the wrong though, he did deserve that.

He deserve this. This all was his comeuppance.

He deserve it.