#and I was like 'yeah I didn't like that character either which is very strange to me because of how much I like river who isn't exactly

[qsphyxias]

sticker

if you fetishize mlm relationships, get the fuck out of here!

synopsis ; light fluff, light angst with bruce wayne

warnings ; male!reader, beating up, blood, bruising, some humour, i need to work on my writing a bit—i don't put enough detail rip

note ; i feel like it was a bit out of character seeing as how i didn't expand on how bruce would feel like it's too dangerous for s/o and bruce to be together, but then again it's fan fiction ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

words ; 1.5k+

⊱ ────── {⋅.on the street - good morning.⋅} ────── ⊰

You chuckled underneath your perspiring breath, your elbows using the railing as leverage as you gave yourself some well-needed rest after the fight.

It was maybe around midnight, you were exhausted and bruce was stiff, standing next to you. As usual, he had that strange look on his face that almost resembled one of someone who had left the stove on and just realized—yet he was just standing there.

"Gotham city, saved again." You spoke with withering sarcasm, eyes darting over to Bruce's bruised knuckles with a small wince. "Y- you need help with that?" you got off the railing and offered a hand, reaching into one of the many pockets in your utility vest for some gauze and disinfectant.

He waved you off, stepping away from you with his heavy shoes against the green tinted and wet floor. "We can do this back at the cave, we should get out of here."

You felt guilty; not for being swatted away by the man whom you've pined over for months, but for feeling mad at him for it. "Y- yeah, you're right." You dropped your arm and put away the supplies, stuffing your sore hands into your pockets.

Curiously, yet cautiously, you glanced at him, trying to read his expression underneath his cowl—he either didn't notice you, or was aware but indifferent to your gaze. However, it did get uncomfortable.

"You go on ahead, I need to..." He paused. "I need to be alone... for a bit."

You frowned, realizing something he may have realized years ago; he's been alone by choice for a while, hasn't he? Despite the slight feeling in your heart that you may never be as close to him as you wish to be, you respected his wishes nonetheless, and left the station to head back.

On your way back, your frown seemed to worse as you wondered if Bruce's responses had been getting more robotic in nature. 'Maybe I've disappointed him somehow?' That idea alone had caused you to stumble and nearly fall to your death from a cliff above Gotham's skyline. With a pause and a shake of your head, you snapped out of it and focused your mind on getting back to the manor; hoping Bruce had already gotten back to the manor safely. He did look upset.

A couple lengthy swings and a small jog into a maze-like tunnel later, you finally made it to the bat cave. Although slightly out of breath from the way there, you seemed to light right back up the moment you saw Bruce standing there with his cowl off, messy matted hair standing up in every direction possible. It made him look beautiful.

Perhaps you were the odd duck for thinking his afterglow of beating a group of men up was beautiful, but— oh, never mind he's taking his armour off, and suddenly you feel very justified.

You had to bite back a giddy smile as the man before you turned around, revealing his painted face, which always seemed to have an expression of disgruntlement. As if 24/7, he was just constantly constipated. Even so, you've grown to like his face; despite seeing it covered by a cowl half the time.

"What took you so long?" Was the first thing he said to your face that seemed to drop a little. "Ah... You know, traffic, birds in the sky and whatnot." You gave a lopsided smile, hand raising up to scratch the bridge of your nose; something you always did when you lied. A habit you didn't know Bruce had taken note of during the period of time of knowing you.

Rationality seemed to knock on the gates of your brain too late, as you let yourself lie for no big reason, you just didn't want Bruce to know he was the reason you took longer than usual.

His eyebrow twitched but nothing was heard except for a small noise of doubtful acknowledgement and the turn of his head back to the screen in front of him. "Come here," he beckoned you over, moving to the side as you approached the table with gadgets and notes scattered everywhere. Eyes narrowing on the red tinted focalized image of a tattoo on one of the men you both had fought.

"Does this logo look familiar to you?" he pointed at the dark ink of the goon's arm. You hummed, uncertainly, trying to think of where you recognized that logo from. "Yeah, but I can't pinpoint where I know it from... You think it's something to be worried about?" You faced the bat in thought, to which he met your stare with his dimmed ones. "No... at least not yet."

He paused, seemingly lost in thought before he broke out of it the moment he saw your footsore, yet smiling face. "He looks tired." A thought followed by a twinge of guilt shot through him like a dart as he realized he may be keeping you from your bed.

With a quick stretch and a sigh, he broke the short silence with his voice as soft as sidewalk chalk. "You should get some rest... S/o."

You nodded, turning to leave before unknowingly letting your eyes fall to his hands; a bruised one being cradled by the other. "Oh right," your eyes lit up in realization as you fished through your pocket for the small med kit, walking into Bruce's personal bubble to reach for his bloody hand with one hand and med kit in the other.

Bruce suppressed the pain of his hand moving into yours with a sharp inhale, "I can do it mysel-" You interrupted him, "I know you can do it yourself, Bruce. You've done so much by yourself, just let me bandage up your hand? Please?" You pleaded, awaiting his answer despite already having your mind fixed on his hand anyway.

With his lips pursed, and a small nod, he let you sit him down and fix his hand up for him. "It's not much to fret over, S/o. Plus... You should've seen the other guy." You failed to stifle a laugh, "I did. His face was more broken than my humour." You stole a glance of his face to see if he had given you even the mercy of a smile to your joke, flushing when you were met with a little lop-sided grin.

"Hey, about earlier when we were in that alleyway, um, what was that about?" You had a rough idea of what he may be brooding about, but you wanted to hear it from him. His eyes flickered up at you, before settling back onto the gauze used to wrap his hand.

He bit his lip, unsure if it was really worth expanding on. "It was just about what you said... 'Gotham saved again'; I wonder if things will change for the better, or if… I even want it to change." Not knowing why, Bruce seemed hesitant to look at you.

You had to muffle your surprise at Bruce sharing his feelings with you, subsequently giving him a little pat on his hand for assurance. With the raise of your eyebrows and the tilt of your head, you settled for encouragement; but even so, at that moment you really did mean it. "Gotham will change. I'm sure of it; because it has you to protect it."

In a timely manner, Bruce's hand was all cleaned and wrapped up, tied with a little bow and a small buzz light year sticker, a little speech bubble above his head saying, 'You're my entire galaxy!'

"What's this for?" He looked up at you, unable to take even the sweetest of hints. "Well, I was going to settle for a kiss, but I felt like that would've been too much." You said in a half-joking tone, giving yourself an exit route in case he takes it the wrong way.

For a second there was an unreadable look on his face, eyes following your every move, studying your expression and body language before he rose from his seat. The colour seemed to drain out of yours as he wordlessly took his hand out of yours, lips sealed— you had no idea what he could possibly be thinking, but even before the ever-present that was a rare occurrence.

Taking his actions the wrong way, you backed out of his space, ready to leave and shoot yourself to mars, only to be pulled back forward by your chin. With his thumb grazing your cheekbone, and his gentle eyes grazing your features, you only seemed to get more terrified of him; this was frightfully out of character yet not a single bone in your body was protesting.

There was a second of hesitation, a second where he realized he wouldn't really know what would happen after he kissed you. The truth was, there was an entire future of uncertainty and danger ahead of you both… but even so— "Bruce-" He couldn't help himself.

"Mmph!" Wide-eyed at the sudden sensation on your lips, you struggled to find the composure within you as your hands awkwardly hovered around him, shakily settling on the nape of his neck.

He pulled away after a while; funny how he was more out of breath when it comes to a kiss from you rather than an actual fight with 28 grown men. "Well, now we have the best of both worlds."

⊱───── ❝ thank you for reading! ❞ ─────⊰

[i-am-megalodonna]

Collector's Curse AU - Liar Revealed

I'm typing all of this out on my phone because I don't have a computer anymore.  Pray for me.

Anyway.  After rotating this issue in my brain for a few weeks, I’ve decided how I want to reveal the Collector to the other characters.  Remember when I talked about all that mindscape stuff?  That’s the plan now.

I don't have an exact time in mind, but let's just say somewhere in season 2a.  In my journal I wrote somewhere between Yesterday's Lie and Elsewhere and Elsewhen.  I don't remember why I wanted that specific range but yeah sure.

The exact situation I have in mind: during an unspecified event someone is suddenly under threat of falling debris.  Who it is doesn't really matter, but it's someone who cannot immediately defend themselves against falling debris.  So really anyone except Willow and Amity.  In an act of reckless desperation, Luz throws herself in front of them and the Collector uses their power to neutralize the threat.  However this happens, it's enough of a strain to put them out of commission.

For a while people around Luz have been noticing odd behaviors and occurrences, and this one is the final nail in the coffin. They had a good view of the entire thing, and they saw Luz use magic - powerful magic - without the help of glyphs.  There's no denying now that something's going on.  So why does she keep trying to do exactly that?

They get to worrying that Luz is being manipulated somehow.  Luz isn't always the most open about her struggles, but it's getting a little ridiculous at this point.  What if something, some force they can't see, is keeping her quiet somehow?  They're in the Boiling Isles, it's not like it's a huge reach.  So, after considerable consideration, they hatch a plan to go right to the source - Luz's mindscape.  If something is wrong, they'll surely find it there.

As far as who actually enters the mindscape, Amity and Gus are a definite, and Willow is a maybe.  If Willow goes in then we have her and Amity working together, and I'm not sure how that would affect their arc.  Also, either Eda or Lilith goes in with the kids.  As long as they have two adults on the premises, there's no reason to not have a chaperone.  I can see benefits to either one being on either end, so that's still up in the air.

They take the walkie talkie to have a constant line of communication on both ends.  The spells are prepared beforehand, and the second Luz falls asleep it's go time.

I've already described what happens when they enter Luz's mindscape.  In short, everything looks fine and normal until they find the inner Luz, who's looking a little jacked.  Just like the outer Luz, the inner Luz is evasive, but eventually relents, realizing there's no way out.  The group is led to the split between the two mindscapes and told that beyond the split is where they'll find what they're looking for.  She refuses to elaborate any further, citing that they chose to enter the mindscape, so they can figure it out themselves.

As a final note, the inner Luz tells them that Luz will be mad at them for doing this, but that she understands why.

With only the inner Luz's cryptic descriptions to guide them, they make their way into the strange new mindscape.  There they meet the inner Collector.  He is significantly less friendly.

Unbeknownst to them, all their running and hiding actually does them a huge disservice.  Not knowing their identities, the Collector reacts to them as unfamiliar intruders (plus, if they're in his mind that means they initially invaded Luz's).  Which is to say, he quickly becomes hostile.  He only realizes the identities of the intruders at the very last second, and at that point they're leaving and it's far too late to rectify his mistake.

Luz wakes up the second they get out of there.  As the inner Luz says, she is very displeased.  She knows her friends were worried but what the heck guys you can't just waltz on into someone's head.

They apologize and don't blame Luz for being upset.  They didn't need the inner Luz to know she would be.

But now that they've seen first hand what's really in there, there's no longer any way out for Luz.  She needs to come clean.  So come clean she does.

[thebusylilbee]

I didn’t like No Way Home either. I didn’t really like it at all. I found a really good article that explains the flaws with the movie: collider*com/spider-man-no-way-home-spoiler-review/

Ooooh thank you for sharing that article with me anon, I love shitting on this vastly overrated film ! "Spider-Man: No Way Home largely feels like bad fan-fic" yep yep yep, it feels like something written by the most uninspired teenager ever, with tons of meme references forcefully inserted into the blandest story because who cares about substance as long as we can wink at the audience to make them laugh, right ? the important part is that the public can go "omg he repeated 'I'm something of a scientist myself' so funny haha !!!" or "oh yeah Tobey Maguire is repeating 'you're amazing' because Andrew Garfield's movies were called The Amazing Spider-man haha, get it ?! get it ?! it's not cringy I swear" like truly the writers are geniuses...

Not to mention the Daredevil cameo played in the most idiotic way possible because super-protective-of-his-secret-identity Matt Murdock is apparently dumb enough to bother catching a brick (thrown inhumanely fast at a window on the last floors of a high building btw ?! the Hulk must be the culprit) when it was targeted at a superhuman who could have stopped it just fine with no injuries. okay... logic and coherence deserve to be sacrificed for a wink at the audience, that's the rule !

And don't get me started on Electro's little "I thought you'd be black" moment which was the laziest and weirdest way to hint at Miles Morales ever. We already saw Miles' uncle in Homecoming and it was years ago, and fucking nothing since ! give us something bigger and better written than "*wink wink wink* where is the black spidey lol", like actually introduce Miles Morales or at the very least his uncle again or shut the hell up !

But the worst reference has to be aunt May saying "with great power comes great responsibility" after so many years, when Peter already expressed this exact same idea during his first scene with Tony Stark... What a way to show that no character development happened since ! As the article says "you could stroll into No Way Home having never seen Homecoming or Far From Home and not have missed anything important about who Peter is as a character. He doesn’t grow between movies as much as he’s just got a different conflict, and it’s a conflict that frequently overshadows his personal stakes." But it's the movie of the decade right 🤪🤪🤪

The very foundations of this movie are weak as hell too. In the comics the erasure of people's memories is done by Mephisto, a literal demon, who does not care about fucking up with people's minds and lives, and it's done when Peter feels cornered and desperate because people are coming after his family now that his identity is public and aunt May just got killed ! It was still a stupid decision in the comics but at least he had a good reason to panic ! But in the film Peter decides to mess with humanity's memory because of... FUCKING M.I.T. ??? Are you kidding me ?!! What a privileged moron !!! And grown ass adult Dr Strange thinks that's a good reason to mess with innocent people's lives ??? Unreal. Absolutely unreal and completely immoral. Garbage story telling. Beyond stupid characters.

Also the article makes a GREAT point here: "the notion that Peter feels compelled to “save” [the villains] doesn’t feel rooted in anything because, again, the MCU Peter Parker isn’t rooted in anything. He loves the people in his life, but nothing that’s happened so far says that Peter feels like he must save supervillains, especially when he didn’t seem too broken up about Mysterio’s death. It’s not so much that I believe Peter would be indifferent as much as it’s a dramatic inconsistency in the way he’s written across this series." Like for real, why didn't they exploit Peter's trauma of having to fight people and watch them die ? Why is Peter not traumatized by his near death experiences (and real death with the blip) and the people he couldn't save ??? THAT would have helped explain his irrationality in No Way Home ! But god forbid we have emotions other than "i'm kinda sad that Tony Stark is gone" in our marvel movies !!!

And the visuals don't save any of it. As the article says "No Way Home solidifies for me that [Jon Watts] is a deeply uninteresting filmmaker." Totally agree. The action scenes were generic as hell, like how many times are we going to get a bland fight scene on a bridge good god, enough is enough. There isn't a single iconic shot in this film and the colors are fuck ugly, the last half hour is exactly as described in the article: "brown-grey dishwater".

In conclusion: "is this all movies are supposed to be ? Is it nothing more than recognizing the thing ? [...] The only point of No Way Home is to make the audience nod and smile at the things they recognize before the film ends." This film is soulless.

[desultory-novice]

About your post with Fecto Elfilis with the Kirby villians not being as messed up as the real things in the world, when do you think there will be a villian like that in Kirby? That stuff is not always away from series directly made by Nintendo.

....Oh boy...

[WARNING!!]

This post does NOT shy away from talk of horror, violence, death, death ideation, mutilation, cruelty, gore, etc, etc, ETC. If you're sensitive to any of that stuff, STAY AWAY!

...That said, I generallyl talk about the violent results of said actions being inflicted on the antagonists/rival characters, rather than examples of a villain who does such things to the good guys, because the most borderline gorey stuff in Kirby most frequently reflects back on the villains.

But there is some “Injury to the Waddle Dee” motif within.

So, just to start us off, in my Marx Soul ask, I made note of the supposed plot of the scrapped (?) horror-themed Super Star mini-game in which the villain (Proto-Marx?) was supposed to sew Kirby's mouth shut (?! yikes) to render him powerless and, you know, just going by how these stories turn out, the game was probably going to have the same thing happen to him in some kind of twisted "you get what you deserve" conclusion, with Kirby leaving a helpless proto-Marx to fly away just as he does in MWW, and I think that's pretty awful.

(Not that you can't read some fridge horror in Marx's canon defeat. The earlier documents point out that Kirby can't(?) or at least doesn't kill people with their powers, but is being left "alive" in the bleak vacuum of space with no way home, potentially with enough injuries he can't move of his own power anymore that much kinder of a fate for Marx?)

"...Eventually, Marx stopped thinking..." /JJBA

Of course, we didn't actually get that - either of those things, thanks to Star Allies - but the potential for real horror and someone dying a gruesome or cruel death has seemingly always been a part of Kirby!

Now, I don't think (at least, now that Sakurai is no longer in charge of the series, lol) we will GET an overt depiction of graphic, semi-realistic horror. And I don't think we should. Be direct with it, I mean. Mind you, it's very fun to watch Sakurai's Sephiroth video and then look at Smash Bros. Marx and go "How were you going to make that WORSE?!"

(...Blood, is my assumption. I recently watched Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, a movie that barely skirts an R-rating (probably) solely because they use very little on-screen blood. Plenty of blood substitutes though!)

Anyway, would making it more graphic be something anyone wants? I’m not talking about an issue of “mature” storytelling (although I vehemently DENY the idea that violence is necessary to portray mutarity.) I recently had a chance to rewatch the original TV ad for Kirby's Dream Land. It pits Kirby up against this buff parody of an action game protagonist and, one second in, you can already tell where this is going to go: Kirby is going to inhale this guy. 

But, when he does...he immediately spits the dude out NOT AS A STAR, but as a slimy, dripping ball of flesh colored GOOP that still looks vaguely human.

Uh...

....YUCK.

(Is that where Kirby TMK's "bloody remains of a Waddle Dee" came from?)

Now, I say this because there is plenty of violence/horror to be found in the Kirby games as is. It's just not brought to the surface. Which is what I think I was getting at with my Elfilis ask. Marx is a cartoon villain because he looks like a cartoon. He's still creepy in an uncanny valley kind of way, like what I was saying with Spinel, and they did eventually add some green goop to his splitting apart, but he didn't look real. Which saves him from that special kind of horror that comes from contrasts. From pairing something real with something unreal. Now if Marx had his mouth sewn shut? Yeah. He'd be a LOT creepier.

But again, that was a scraped idea! Similarly, the rest of the horror in Kirby, up till now, has not REALLY been fully instituted/not been spelled out. 

I saw a lot of this idea/request going around in regards to the RtDL novelization: "WHAT are they going to do with the Magolor fight? Is it going to be awful?" It's a good question, because it’s a narratively focused book. They would have to describe Magolor (either soul form or not) and presumably describe "...The Transformation" (said in the tone of "The Fly").

I'm not going to spoil anything about the novel here, but going strictly by the fanwork, I've seen plenty of pieces that boil down to a gurgling, dripping, teary-eyed Magolor Soul crying/begging Kirby through a twisted, half-melted mouth that's not even fully his with the words, "....KiRbY...it hUrtS...it HurTsssss..."

...That's pretty messed up, right?! (:cough: I'm an angst fan so I like said depictions of Magolor but that's neither here nor there :cough:) It's like, a quarter-step away from the horror cliche of the abomination burbling "...Kill me..." as it begs for death. And, just as a reminder, that's one of the more POPULAR reads on Magolor/Magolor Soul!

A number of fans actively see Magolor as being in such excruciating pain, his shell of a body twisted and writhing under the metal fetters of the crown, he would rather DIE than continue to go on this way. And, while it's become kind of popular to draw cute little Magolor with the Soul mouth and eye intact like he always had it, you have to consider, what if that isn't how he looks underneath the scarf? In which case, the Master Crown split his face open and stuffed an eyeball the size of HIM in there. It's horrible. It's HORRIBLE!

And, geez, look at Planet Robobot! The fridge horror in that game is off the charts! Oh, sure, none of the mechanized Waddle Dees seem to really mind or pay attention to the fact that parts of their bodies have been REMOVED without their consent and replaced with cybernetics. (I'm reminded of "The Terrible Secret of Animal Crossing" and "...THEY TOOK MY EYE!") But...Meta Knight...?

I got a friend to start playing Planet Robobot recently and they came to me after the first encounter with Mecha Knight in shock, "Did Meta Knight just throw himself off that building?" I mean, to me personally, he looks more like he's malfunctioning, but the point is, you can read that fight as Meta Knight choosing to kill himself rather than keep living as a mechanical monstrosity.

Meta Knight! One of the strongest characters in Kirby! The same Meta Knight with a psyche sooo powerful, he can fight off otherworldly possession! But in the face of the HWC's cybernetics, he may have decided in desperation that "death is the only way." And then Susie brings him back to life anyway! And she remakes him so he's even more horrible!

"You have a scorpion tail now. No, we don't care if you didn't ask for it."

And that's just the quick-to-come-to-mind “I want to die...” stuff! There's an implication of the PR-era HWC encouraging (...haha...) or more likely forcing their "employees" to work themselves to death. No on the job relationships means no seeing your friends again. It's a dystopian work-culture-company-store NIGHTMARE. And it's frighteningly close to things we're fighting a protracted and exhausting battle against in the real world!

But if "implications" don't do it for you, there is plenty of stuff that IS visibly horrific, they just don't linger on it long enough/lovingly enough to bring us to a state of fear: I'm talking about Sectonia Soul having to rip her own head off of the Dreamstalk. There is no reality in which tearing a limb off is not a gorey, awful thing. Yet it happens in a Kirby game! Ahh, but she's a cartoon bee! And it's a giant flower! So we don't stop to think about it too hard.

...I did, obviously.

I bring up these examples because, unlike the still scary "The Thing"-esque jumpscare of Dedede's stomach turning into a mouth with shark teeth in DL3, or Haltmann's mind being absorbed by a computer that seems to be inflicting REAL PAIN to him whenever it takes damage, it's a lot easier to find immediate real world parallels to Magolor and Meta Knight's "...I'm begging you, please, just kill me"/"I'd rather kill myself than continue to live like this" or Sectonia severing a limb to escape a "trap."

And THAT's as far as I'm going to go into that.

...But all these things are below the surface. It's only as horrible as you want to/can imagine them. Or for as long as your mind lingers on it. A lot of people have pointed out a lot of the horrible things going on in KatFL. Dedede's possession and his being made to turn on the people it was his self-appointed duty to protect.(*) Elfilis's extended torture. But one thing that sticks with me is having all the Waddle Dees run on treadmills...

Look at how high up they are. They CAN’T get down from there on their own. The fall would kill them. There's not even a safe way to exit those things, once the crows (presumably) drop them off in there. And is the machine ever NOT running? If it's to keep the lab operating then I would say...no. FL gives us a brief flash of what amounts to hundreds of Waddle Dees being forced to run themselves to death. None die on screen while we're watching, true. But the game lets us know that the stuff with the beast pack and Waddle Dee village has been going on for a long time before Kirby got there.

Did you rescue 100% of the Waddle Dees via all those in-game challenges? Great! ...Did you REALLY rescue ALL of the Waddle Dees though...?

(*)Also, I've noticed, at least on Twitter, there's a small theory starting to go around based on the fact that FL Dedede is only being fed fruit where as 64 had him as a conssumate meat eater. And some fans have adopted this idea that there was maybe... possibly... potentially forced/unwilling cannibalism going on during his possessed phase, and that Dedede can no longer stand to eat meat because he still has the physical memories (taste, sensation...) of eating some of the Waddle Dees...!

...Phew...

Okay. Even I'm running out of spoons to keep talking about this, as it is very exhausting, mentally and emotionally. I also feel like maybe I got off topic. If this ask boils down to, "are we ever going to get a villain or plotline that more directly parallels the various horrors going on in the real world right now or in our none-too-distant past?" then the answer is...maybe?

But said villain/RL cruelty-parallel plot will be handled in the same Kirby-like way they've always been handled. The way that made me say, "Kirby has never really given us true RL horror quite like Elfilis." 

Which IS still the very same horror that you can look closely at, like the Waddle Dees, and go, "Oh no. That’s actually really horrible when you think about it."

Now I don't think we will have a boss that audibly begs you to kill them - or holds another character hostage in such a manner that they beg for death. Or a boss who chops up another character or bleeds gore when you sever a limb. (...Unless they remake DL3 or give us 03!) Or a boss who eats another creature on-screen by any method other than consuming evil goop.

...But you will be able to find those things, if you look for them.

[dabifixation]

the importance of knocking

dabi x fem!reader

summary: When Dabi told you to wait at the bar because he was going to "Take care of things" you shouldn't have humored him. You shouldn't have gotten drunk on a mission. And most of all you shouldn't have ignored your gut feeling by looking for the blue flame user and discovering exactly what he meant by taking care of things.

warnings: nsfw, smut, voyeurism, unprotected sex, squirting, MINORS DNI

word count: 2.4k

~

You really didn't like villains. They were temperamental bigots who were hard to work with and cared very little about their environment.

Blue eyed, flame wielding, two-toned nuisances were not the exception to this.

If anything, having Dabi tag along on your mission didn't really help with your dwindling impression of the man.

Said mission was going downhill very fast, losing your chance to achieve funds from your organization's formidable benefactors, all because somebody thought it was funny to set Mr Park's hair on fire after the man passed a comment on somebody's unprofessional attire.

You hated him for that. Truly hated him. However you knew he wasn't just messing up your mission for his own amusement. You weren't stupid, you knew a field test when you saw one. This mission was set up to see how well you'd do now that the Meta Liberation Army was under siege from the League of Villains. Dabi was your examiner.

And you failed the test.

So it came as a surprise to you when the bane of your existence suggested that he'd take care of things, which made you wonder if he was a comedian in his past life cause what could he possibly do to fix things.

You spent the next hour by yourself with an endless supply of whisky in hopes of coming up with a good plan in order to leave Japan undetected.

When the next hour passed by you began to wonder where your flame wielding partner went and how long he'd be. You were convinced that he was just hunting down one of the benefactor's and stole their suitcase filled with money. But you doubt killing someone took a full two hours, so you began to worry.

Not for him of course. That would be out of character for you. You were just worried about disappointing Shigaraki by coming empty handed and not on time. At the end of the day, you were a sucker for praise and didn't mind getting it from someone who ruined the goals and reputation of the Meta Liberation Army.

You had a serious problem.

Checking your wristwatch one last time, you decided now was a good time to phone Dabi. Snickering to yourself when you saw his contact was saved under 'If Menstruational Pain Was A Person'. You clicked on his contact, hoping he wouldn't be those annoying people who answered after the fifth ring on purpose.

He wasn't.

"Whoever this is, it better be important. I'm in the middle of something." He sounded slightly out of breath, and from the soft rustling of something in the background you could tell he wasn't in any danger. It made you sigh in relief.

"Where the fuck are you?"

"Oh it's you. Miss me already?" You didn't need to see him smirking on the other end, cause you knew he was.

You ignored his question, "Where are you?"

There was pause that lasted long enough for you to hear a muffled cry in the background and an unknown squelching sound. You didn't take him for someone that tortured his victims.

You learn new things everyday.

"Room 3406." You heard a groan this time, making you frown. Why was he dragging his torture session out so long, the least he could do was put the poor person out of their misery and take their money.

Wait.

"You're still in the hotel. You damn asshole I thought you were dead in a ditch!" You raised your voice, not caring that people passing by gave you concerning looks.

"Didn't realize you cared so much about little old me." He let out a sound crossed between surprise and a laugh, which caught you off guard.

He hung up before you could give a response.

That was weird.

You looked down at your naked arms, noticing the goosebumps.

Yeah, very weird.

❦

It didn't take you long to find the hotel room, thanking your lucky stars when you found out the room was unlocked and didn't require a key card.

Once you entered the room, you glanced around noticing that nothing was out of place or broken. There was no signs of struggle, which was a good thing. It made cleaning up easier.

Your eyes landed on a pair of familiar boots placed adjacent to a pair of red bottom heels that were laying on its side.

You picked the heel up, examining it to see if there was any blood on it. There wasn't.

That's strange.

"Uhnnnggg~"

Your head snapped in the direction of the main bedroom when you heard the sounds of someone whimpering in pain. The warning bells in your head grew louder when you decided to check out what was going on.

The bedroom door was slightly ajar but not enough for you to see what was on the other side. You heard a deep groan as your fingers brushed the doorframe, your heart in your throat at what you'd find. So you pushed forward expecting everything but what was in front of you.

You didn't dare move.

There Dabi was, hands gripping tightly on some woman's hips. The muscle in his arms flexing, and his legs out stretched beneath her. Her hands were buried in his obsidian locks as he set the pace for her, bouncing her up and down his cock. Each time he brought her down, she'd let out a R-rated moan. She swiveled her hips as best as she could, but from the way her thighs trembled from the pleasure, you could tell it was too much for her.

Dabi's eyes were shut in bliss, letting out a breathy moan when she opted for grounding on his cock instead. From her quick movements, you could tell she was close.

"Yes, yes, yes –oh fuck!"

Dabi immediately flipped her over, preventing her from reaching her climax. His heavy cock slapped against his abdomen, smearing moisture against his defined stomach. You quickly looked away, focusing on the woman instead.

It immediately clicked in. You knew who she was.

Yui Murukami, the 34 year old heiress and CEO to the company that supplied our friends in capes with support items. She was a rich and powerful woman known throughout Japan, and one of the benefactor's that pulled out their sponsorship after finding out that the Meta Liberation Army was infiltrated with "heretics."

The same heretic that's narrow hips she currently had her long milky legs wrapped around.

What a hypocrite.

You got a good look at Dabi for the first time tonight. Your eyes traveled down his lean form. What he lacked in muscle, he made up for in flexibility. The position he was in was a testimony to that.

The subtle red hair trailing down towards his impressive length caught your attention. So he was a natural redhead? That or he had some weird hobby of dyeing his pubes.

It made you shudder.

He pumped at his veiny cock, gathering the pre-come dripping from the pink and angry head, and used it to lubricate himself further. The golden piercings keeping his two skin types together stretched as he did so.

You thanked whatever God was out there for Dabi not noticing you. They surely had your back. Now was the perfect time to escape. Dabi was clearly lost in the throes of pleasure. But just as you stepped back, the floor beneath your feet decided now was a good time to announce your presence.

Dabi's eyes immediately snapped open in your direction.

Those ocean blues stared at you intensely without a hint of shame. You were frozen in place as you held his heated gaze, eyes falling to his lips when his tongue jotted out to lick them. It had you entranced and you almost missed the way his lips broke out into a full grin when he knew exactly what position he had you in.

Hook, line and sinker.

He was taunting you, waiting on you to storm out of this room in embarrassment and anger. Dabi was a sick individual who'd take any and every opportunity to test you and your loyalty to the Paranormal Liberation Front. If you walked out now, despite how badly you really wanted to, that would be the same as failing. You weren't about to fail twice in one night.

He raised an eyebrow when you didn't barge at his challenge. Shrugging, he guided his cock back inside the woman with a soft sigh. He broke eye contact first, looking down at where their bodies joined and bottomed out into her. She let out a ridiculously high-pitched moan.

He kept her thighs far apart as he continued his ministrations despite knowing you were watching.

Your face was hot as you clenched your fists tightly.

Slapping and squelching sounds filled the room as their movements picked up. The air growing heavy with the smell of sex. Dabi was rutting into her in a way that had her breasts bouncing in a particular rhythm.

There was something so enticing about the way she pushed herself back onto him every time he gave short deep thrusts. She clawed at his chest, trying to push him away but he wasn't having it. Instead he drove into her faster and more ruthlessly as a warning.

This moment was too intimate and private, but you couldn't bring yourself to look away either.

It was intoxicating.

Suddenly a long keening sound left her lips, hands digging into the once pristine sheets, almost tearing them apart. Dabi hit a special spot inside of her that neither of you could see.

Heat rushed to your belly in an all too familiar feeling.

He continued hitting that spot, her body violently shaking and writhing. The way his hips were angled, it brushed against the little button at the top of her mound perfectly.

That was the last straw.

She came so hard, no doubt clamping tightly around his cock. Causing him to throw his head back in eye rolling pleasure with a deep throaty groan. His movements began to filter in order to prolong the feeling, but he quickly regained his composure and picked up where he left off. Triggering her into squirting all over his abdomen. Not once, twice but thrice.

His abdomen glistened with her juices and his added sweat. The way his hair fell into his eyes and clung to his neck had your heart skipping a beat.

"Does this make you feel good?" He asked her as his hips bucked up. Voice deep, too deep.

Fuck yes.

She responded in a tired moan.

"I could have you like this underneath me every night if you just–" he snapped his hips into hers to accentuate his point, "–begged nicely."

Jesus.

She continued to mewl, clawing into the sheets as she neared her second orgasm.

"All you got to —fuck— say is please and I'll be scratching every itch inside of you that those fingers can't reach." He toppled over her, dropping both hands on either side of the her head.

"Uh huh." She let out, eyes squeezed shut in concentration.

"I don't like being ignored." He looked at you this time, making you jolt. One of his hands reached out to grip around her throat, making her gasp as he controlled her airway.

When she responded in a broken moan, he ignored her and kept his eyes focused on you instead. He narrowed his eyes, something dark flashing in them before he looked back down at her. A deep growl in his throat.

Oh.

He was talking to you the entire time.

You rubbed your thighs together to ease the aching between your legs.

It didn't go by unnoticed, as much as you hoped. Dabi gave you a look that made him seem so vulnerable at that moment. All his walls came crashing down and for once you could read his facial expression. He desperately wanted you to be the one underneath him.

"Touch yourself." He commanded, hips bucking in urgency.

He was close.

Yui was long forgotten as it felt like it was just the two of you in the room. You did as he said, ignoring the voice in your head that was calling you a 'fucking idiot.'

You unzipped your pants, enough to give him a view of the shape of your pussy and the increasing wet patch at the center of your lace panties. You pushed your hand into your pants, while the other bunched your shirt up. The moment your fingers brushed against your drenched folds through your panties, you closed your eyes and let out a silent moan. Everything felt hypersensitive. You didn't care that this wasn't enough to send you over the edge, all you cared about was imagining it was him touching you like this, rubbing your clit in tight circles as he fucked you into next week.

"Fuck." He let out after a long time of being silent. "Good girl, just like that–"

A loud groan ripped out of his throat before he could finish his rambling.

Not too long and the rhythm Dabi started with began to stutter when his hips bucked up irregularly. The woman underneath him putting on a whole performance but he continued to ignore her in favor of you.

He gave you a needy look as he gave one last sloppy thrust, waves of pleasure being sent to your pussy.

Dabi let out a moan that was so guttural and so deep as he came inside of her wishing it was you instead. He chased his high in quick juvenile thrusts, making sure every last drop was emptied inside of her.

His hips continued to twitch from his intense climax, a pained hiss leaving his lips. The oversensitivity finally catching up to him.

He gave her a slow open mouthed kiss after they regained their breaths. Pulling his softening cock out of her with a wet pop. He nuzzled his face into her neck, causing her to giggle and hug his form closer to hers. And he allowed it.

He looked back up at you, an indescribable look passing through his eyes. It was quickly gone as it had come, being replaced by a smirk and knowing wink that said everything you needed to know.

Bastard

Dabi was an incredible actor and you were just another one of his victims.

You left just as Dabi started getting hard again, obviously he could go for another round, a round you wanted no part in witnessing.

You weren't going to be used by him again in order for him to find a quick release. To hell with him and his twisted version of testing someone's loyalty. You felt utterly humiliated and dirty. All you wanted was to go back to the PLF hideout and crawl into your bed and forget this all happened.

How could you be so stupid. He had this all planned out from the start. No wonder he was so quick to help you when the mission started going downhill.

You hated him so much.

You wanted to scream when you realized he told you the room number on purpose despite being in the middle of that. He wanted you come up and catch him in the act, and that's why he had no problem in you watching him do those things to her. He wanted to see what you'd do in that situation. This was all one big joke to him.

Yet you couldn't understand why you were still so horny and soaking wet.

[cas-rivaille]

HELLO, DEAR!

Undertaker here! How are you today?

I was thinking the other day and I remembered an idea of mine I requested some time ago to another blog and I wanted to see your point of view as well, if you're comfortable with it ofc! I'll change it a bit because I have more ideas about it than before.

What if, hear me out, Obey me!MC was Sukuna's vessel??

I was thinking about a Female!MC but if you want you can keep them gender neutral (I don't mind!). So let's get into it, shall we?

Some facts about MC before the Devildom:

- They've already eaten all Sukuna's fingers

-But they are able to keep him calm inside themselves because over the year they've been together, MC decided to approach him more (Ya know if you have to die with/for someone, at least know them better)

-Sukuna took a liking to the MC, even though he would never admit it. (I mean- They always visit him in his domain to talk to him, read together, play cards (yes. You heard me. The king of curses loves Poker and UNO) or chess, they always ask him where would he like to go eat something, offer him some of their food to let him try new things, ect. Sometimes, but only SOMETIMES, they let him take control (not fully but they both can talk from the same mouth and he has control over one side, while MC has control over the other one))

- Having said that, Sukuna's still a stinky sassy bastard King. He's still rude, acts like he doesn't care about them and always finds a way to let them down when they're too happy. If they're sad though, he doesn't hurt them more. Sometimes MC even asks him advice whenever they're in doubt and after his bulling he actually gives pretty good advice (if you consider extreme violence a good advice that is)

Anyway, MC was going to get executed when suddenly they fell into Devildom. Their file didn't mention Sukuna at all and MC noticed that because when they arrived covered in talismans and chains the demons were confused about it. So, they kept the King a secret until lesson 16.

After Belphegor's crushing hug, while MC (the one from the original timeline) is in Mammon's arm, before Barbatos Thanoses the other timeline, Sukuna heals them and takes fully control of their body (the tattoos, the fangs, the long black claws, the other pairs of eyes and arms appear).

Now, HOW would the brothers, Diavolo and Barbatos react?

If it is too much or I did something wrong, feel free to ignore this! It's okay! Love you and have a good day!

OH MY GOD ?? THIS IS FANTASTIC THANK YOU OMG !

(i think i'm gonna do it hc style for the individual characters feelings but also some dialogue n stuff and each hc thing for each character is written as like in the game like they all like MC except belphie for obvious reasons)

tags: swearing, lesson uhhh smth spoilers ?? i think like 16 ?? (lmk if i need to tag anything else)

also hi ‘taker🥺🥺 i’m good today,, had a bit of a rough morning but i got to see my partner so i feel better !! how are you ? :D

and without further ado..

MC who is Sukuna's Vessel

- hold up

- hold the fuck up

- it was confusing enough when there were two MCs and one of them was near death in mammon's arms

- but now the injured MC gets healed and comes back to life ? but has another set of arms and eyes and is covered in strange tattoos ?

- then the other MC disappears ?

- when the demon MC starts talking, their voice is different and what-

--

"What the fuck did you to do MC?" Sukuna hastily spits out, checking the body for any other injuries. MC's voice is back and talking out of the same mouth.

"Sukuna, stand down," MC says.

"But he almost killed you ! Without me we wouldn't be standing here right now !" Sukuna argues back.

"I'm aware of that, but we have to be civil about this and talk to them," MC responds sternly.

"Then I want to be present for it. I'm not letting anything happen to you- I mean me. Yes me because I die if you die and I'm too godly to die," Sukuna rambles out before retracting the other set of arms but leaving the tattoos. He opens one of the eyes and forms a mouth on MC's right cheek to watch and participate in the conversation.

All the brothers and Divolo looked stunned at the scene that just happened.

"Questions ?" MC jokingly asks.

--

Lucifer -

- what ?

- questions ? is MC joking ?

- who the fuck is talking out of MCs body and what jurisdiction does he have

- isnt MC supposed to be human ??

- what does this mean for their relationship ?

- why did MC keep it from him ?

- he looks at dia and barbatos with the most confused face

- looks back at MC equally confused

- def hurts his pride that he didn't know

--

"Explain"

Lucifer's confusion turns to anger because that's the only way he knows how to cope/react to this.

Sukuna starts talking.

"Show a little more respect. I'm a king after all."

"Don't be an ass," MC shoots back. MC looks at Lucifer a little embarrassed.

"Uh, so this is Sukuna. He's the king of curses ? We kind of share a body because... uhh... it's a very long story but i mean the gist of it is I ate his thousand year old fingers ? There was 20 of them because he had two sets of arms like you saw before- it was very gross- but i had to because of the energy they posses ? When you brought me here and I was covered in seals and chains, was when I was about to be executed because I have all of Sukuna in me. So,, he can do stuff like heal my body and give me cool powers ? I don't really know what else to say." MC rambles using awkward hand motions and finishes by scratching the back of their head.

"Way to make me sound like a total fucking loser," Sukuna glares at MC.

"For the love of god stop talking-" MC shoots back.

--

Mammon

- huh ? someone has been sharing a body with his MC the whole time ?

- were they present the whole time ?

- did they see him acting like an idiot in love ?

- was sukuna there during e v e r y conversation he's ever had w them

- never felt more insecure and betrayed tbh

- why wouldn't you tell him ? he was your first

</3

- wants you all to himself

- doesn't want to share you with some four armed idiot

--

"So he's just, there all the time ?" Mammon asks.

"Not really? He has a headspace and he usually just chills in there but he can watch what's going on if he wants to." MC responds.

"That makes me sound lazy," Sukuna complains.

"Well if you don't like how I describe you then maybe you can talk about yourself. You're very good at it," MC smirks.

"Fine. I can do whatever I want. We can trade who has control over MC's body. I have a large supply of cursed energy and will beat the shit out of the next person who touches MC," Sukuna glares at Belphie.

"Yeah beat them in poker maybe. But not mariokart. You suck at video games in the headspace," MC laughs.

--

Leviathan

- was that how MC was so good at video games ?

- because they spent hours on end with this guy in their head playing video games ?

- why didn't MC come to him to play games ?

- why is MC okay with sharing a body with Sukuna ?

- why can he be the one to share a body with MC ?

- why was MC playing video games with literally anyone else ?

--

"So let me get this straight, you are his fingers and now you share a body ? How does that even work ? That sounds like something out of the manga 'My best friend ate some ancient object and now shares a body with an immortal warrior'" Levi questions MC.

"Okay so, Sukuna lived a really long time ago. When he died, the only thing that survived were his fingers. They each hold an incredible amount of cursed energy and it's only his fingers so from there you can imagine how powerful he was with the rest of his body," MC explains.

"Okay but that doesn't tell me why you ate the fingers ?" Levi raises an eyebrow.

"Oh. So I went to a high school for Jujutsu sorcerers, which are people who can manipulate cursed energy, and once I ate the first one to save my friend from dying, my choices were to die now or eat all of Sukuna and then be executed because he would die with me," MC says as if them dying was nothing.

--

Satan

- why has he never heard about Sukuna in any of the books he's read ?

- he historically doesn't exist in anything the devildom has book-wise

- so who is he ?

- needs to find out everything he can about him

- is there a way to separate MC and Sukuna ?

- his blood is boiling at the thought of MC sharing a body with someone

--

"So you've basically had super human powers this entire time and elected to not tell us ?" Satan glares at MC.

"Well, when you put it like that it sounds bad. I just didn't want you all to meet Sukuna because he has a lot of anger issues and is quite an asshole and I was trying to avoid this entire conversation that is happening," MC sighs.

"Rude," Sukuna says.

"Anger issues. You think we couldn't deal with this ? Are you serious right now ?" Satan asks.

MC shrugs their shoulders nervously.

"How much do you actually know about what sharing a body with him does to you ?" Satan asks while looking at the small mouth and glaring.

"I mean, I get these marks because he had them when he was alive. He was also so powerful to the point he had four arms and another set of eyes, like you saw before. I get those when he takes over mostly, but I can kee him restrained. But the eye thing is why I've always had slits under my eyes because the eyes are the most common thing to show up. The arms don't really. But it's entirely painless so don't worry," MC somewhat calmly explains.

--

Asmodeus

- those marks make MC look so good wtf-

- not the time

- so this Sukuna person lived a thousand years ago ?

- what was this about jujutsu sorcery ?

- what even is that ?

- asmos not the brightest on the block but from the looks on his brothers faces none of them know what the fuck MC is talking about either.

- they've explained a little bit of it b there's still some missing info

- what is sharing a body really like

- how much of MCs body can change to be like Sukunas ?

--

"So how much of your body can he control ? What can he heal ? Could he bring you back from the dead ?" Asmo curiously asks.

"He can't control much because it's my body and I have a lot of raw power by myself. I don't know if he can bring us back from the dead. I don't think so though or else the Jujutsu school wouldn't have tried to execute me. He used to be able to bring us back when I hadn't eaten all of his fingers, but now I don't think he can," MC explains.

"So why do you let him live in your body if he can't do much for you ?" Asmo questions.

"Well one, I don't think there's a way to get him out-"

"I'm still here you know," Sukuna interrupts.

"You've made that clear," MC says before continuing, "And two he can do stuff for me. It's like a symbiotic relationship. I give him a host and he protects me."

--

Beelzebub

- protects MC ?

- that's his job

- why is someone else protecting MC ?

- overall confusion

- even tho MC has gone over it multiple times, he doesn't get how or why Sukuna is in MC's body

- maybe it's the shock

. was this why MC could challenge him to armwrestling and almost win ?

--

"So how long has he been in you ?" Beel asks.

"About a year," MC responds.

"Can he make you live longer aside from healing you ?" Beel asks hopefully.

"I'm sorry, I don't think so..." MC says while looking at the ground. They cross their arms. They look small, as if they aren't small enough compared to him already.

"So, what does this mean ? Now that your secret is out... are you going to stay in the devildom with us ? Or do you have to leave ?"

" If I leave I'll surely be executed when I go back to the human world. If I stay I don't know what will happen to me, but it's not up to me. It's up to you guys if you want me to stay. I understand if you want me to go, I was harboring a big secret and it's probably unnerving to know that you're never truly alone with me, but Sukuna actually cares about my boundaries even though he acts like he doesn't. There are some pluses and there are some drawbacks but ultimately you have to decide." MC responds, looking from brother to brother then at Dia and Barbatos

--

Belphie

- MC ? dead if you back to the human world ? doesn't bother him

- he doesn't care

- he hasn't known MC long enough to care

- diavolo may have told everyone that MC was a descendant of human Lilith and he told everyone the events that actually happened, but why should he have any attachment to MC

- MC isnt Lilith, and MC sure as hell doesn't like him after the events that happened today

- from what he's heard, MC dying would be good for the human world

--

"I say send MC back. What happens to them isnt our problem any more," Belphie says while under his magical restraints Diavolo put on him.

"Of course you would say that," Satan glares at him.

"Shut up Belphie !!" Mammon and Levi yell.

"You don't have any right to an opinion in this matter." Lucifer states.

"Belphie that's mean," Asmo says.

Beel frowns.

"I vote they stay. I like MC regardless, and if all I have to do is adjust to Sukuna then I'll do it," Beel says while looking Belphie dead in the eye.

There's a beat of silence.

"Me too," Mammon says.

"Hey ! I was going to say that !" Levi protests.

"Oooh~ Count me in !" Asmo says with a smile.

"I also think they should stay," Satan says and looks at MC.

"My personal preference is also that they stay, but Lord Diavolo it's up to you," Lucifer says and looks at Dia.

--

Diavolo

- he knew there was something off, but couldnt place his finger on it

- he also constantly got a powerful vibe from MC and this explains it

- he was very fond of MC and enjoyed their presence

- he knew what he was going to do

--

"Barbatos, what do you think ?" Dia asks him.

"The decision is up to you m'lord," Barbatos responds.

"Well Id also like the input of my trusty all knowing butler," Diavolo laughs.

"Then, I see no reason to send them back to the human world. They can live out their lives here and safe from the school that wants to execute them. It also wouldn't be an issue to get anyone from the human world here if MC so desired," Barbatos replied.

"Then it's settled ! Welcome to the devildom for the rest of your life MC!!" Diavolo smiled and welcomed MC with open arms.

MC smiled and accepted the hug.

--

Barbatos

- he didn't know all along, but he know when the timelines crossed and he had to erase the other

- MC was very near and dear to his heart though and he wasnt about to let them be killed

- just wants to keep MC safe

--

I HOPE I DID A GOOD JOB AND THANK YOU FOR THE REQUEST REMEMBER TO FRINK SOME WATER ILY TAKER <3

- mars :)

[starssoblue]

responding to this here because i don't have anyone but my sister to rant about nancy drew stuff and i find that twitter and tumblr and reddit all have such weird takes that clash with each other and my own thoughts and i like discussions.

so someone made this strange post on reddit that ace this season (which you have to understand has been 11 episodes so far!!) doesn't feel like himself anymore, but idk as a big fan of alex saxon (i've seen him as supporting characters in tv shows for years!) and a nace shipper since season 1 when it was my fun little crack ship i didn't expect to ever happen, i disagree.

i'm actually very confused what this person is trying to say. season 1 ace was a very minor character until the last few episodes when we started seeing him pair up with nancy. yeah, he had one or two fun quirks in some episodes but the overall tone of the season was different, as was what ace was going through. he has done tech things the entire time - that and out of the box solutions were his specialty and he still has a gift for thinking outside the obvious, and the group relies on his intellect a lot. he was less open as a character, less used to confiding in anyone, if you see how he took a while to feel like part of the group and how he isn't always the best at expressing deep emotions, the way he used anger to hide from the attachment he feels to his new group of friends and how in season 2 you could tell he was already deeply respecting and admiring nancy but conflicted because he had just started to feel like he has a purpose, which was actually an important part of who he was since the beginning. he wanted to belong somewhere. that said, season 2 focused on bess, george, and nancy's personal conflicts, more heavily about nancy's feelings of inadequacy, so i see season 3 as ace's own journey since he actually hasn't had one. but the hints of these conflicts have always been there. in seasons 1 and 2, you see tense interactions with his father, despite loving him dearly, so that conflict eventually erupting, as things tend to do when you put them off and push them within, made perfect sense. throw in his own struggle with wanting to find his own place and his father shouting insecurities at him that he's always had, his sad mood half this 11 episodes so far season makes perfect sense. we had a lot more episodes to balance some of the other characters going through their own conflicts but ace's has had less time to be buried in the midst of talking to florence and saying funny jokes or whatever you want from him. also, as i said, the tones of the seasons as well as the stakes are so different. in season 1 a murder had already happened but there was more of a "figure out what happened and save carson's life" focus than a we are all going to die focus. ace isn't mr fun and sunshine the first few episodes of season 2 because their lives are at stake. most of season 2, nancy was the one surrounded by a dark cloud as characters like ace could "be in bloom," unaware to her struggles. season 3 places ace at the forefront in a way that he wasn't before. he has plots away from the crew and nancy, he almost ends up in jail, he has amanda shout to him that he's not the good guy he thinks he is and you see this literally go through his head and make him question everything. this on top of his father shouting his deepest insecurities at him and him not wanting to lose the drew crew, multiple people telling him his feelings for nancy are obvious and you know he doesnt want to lose her either...this poor guy is going through so much. and they have bigger stakes than they've ever had so the atmosphere is already different. that said, he still had moments early on in this season where he was bess's escape from bad dates or that entire episode of him babysitting carson and ryan. i just think overall the season has less time for silliness and ace himself is dealing with a lot so his behavior makes sense.

i'd also like to add that the grant story always seemed limited though i doubt is the last we hear from the road back, and idk what he's meant to do about grant when he's such a taboo topic in his family and also in witness protection. i don't see any strain with ryan at all minus that one fun scene where his personal insecurities led him to snap at ryan and he called him out for it. it wasn't because of a bad relationship with ryan but rather that ace is stressed and self deprecating, and ryan just happened to be there. additionally, it makes no sense for ace to seek his father while trapped in liminal space. his dad doesnt deal with the supernatural, would not be able to read any of the signs he would try to give him, and it would be a waste of time when they had no time they could waste. i didn't find that ooc at all.

ace didn't have much of a life outside of the drew clew since season 1, and even then it was nothing. he literally does a whole speech about how it was the first time he felt like he had a real crew, and other than secret police work or when he was with laura i haven't seen him have much of an outside life at all. even while he was dating amanda we rarely saw them alone since nancy was almost always around.

anyway i find it strange this is even a complaint for this season's ace because he has VERY MUCH been on his own this season in a way he wasn't last season or in the first. his errands for mr bobbsey, doing investigative work for carson, that stuff with the cipher, having to defend himself with carson, a whole episode he spent with amanda trying to find her dad, babysitting ryan and carson, working at the historical society with ryan... he has had so many solo plots all season. despite this season being so short they've focused a lot on ace, and we are getting more insight into his feelings than we ever have. sorry that his actual thoughts aren't just fluff and he has insecurities like all humans but i personally like this. all the great characters that seem happy go lucky and carefree seem to be haunted by self doubt and are afraid, and it adds a lot of depth to his character for there to be more to ace than meets the eye.

nancy has already seen this by realizing he isn't just a vapid pretty boy but an intellectual equal too. there is a reason she seeks out his company when she would have once preferred to go alone.

this is actually SO unfair idek what to say. nancy put herself on the line in all of season 1 that the crew had to tell her to stop doing things alone. in season 2 she sacrificed herself for everyone re: the wraith. not to mention her taking it personally when he was in that coma in season 1, or her literally sacrificing her own safety by acquiring the help of celia to save his life. ace and nancy have both sacrificed themselves for each other a few times and nancy is constantly trying to save everyone. i personally don't think either owe each other this and would like their relationship to start not with personal sacrifice but just a sincere heart to heart. idk i don't think it's necessary for love to begin out of pain. and personally think nancy and ace don't deserve more of it.

that said, i am terrified for these last two episodes. but my theory isn't that nace are sacrificed and i am more worried for ryan....which is a whole other thing.

[muffinrecord]

Yachiyo and Iroha I could understand, they're main characters. Holy Mami I could maybe see, she's an OG character and was a semi-major character in the anime (bigger in the game). But RENA???? That... doesn't feel like a good trajectory for these Anime Versions? If they'll just make any of the side characters into Anime Versions, it feels even grosser and cheaper, and it makes me sad and angry. The more come out, the more I worry for the game's lifespan and the devs' integrity.

This is something that Raz Anime discussed in one of his news sections a while back (I think it was either for the Anime Iroha announcement or the Anime Yachiyo one). I'm going to really badly summarize what I remember.

What is probably happening here is that the higher ups at the company want to promote the anime, and that's why these units are being made.

This next part is my own speculation built on what Raz said:

You'll note that these anime units don't come with their own respective events and they reuse animation. They're pretty cheap to make basically. Additionally, something really important to note is that the Anime Iroha unit reused animation from... season 2? And not season 3, which might seem strange at first, but I think is a sign that there are a bunch of pre-made anime units that the game will bust out whenever there is downtime... such as during ranked (Iroha) or during Kimochi (Rena).

Anyone who got a transformation scene in the anime can probably be assumed to get an anime version at some point.

So... yeah.

Personally, I've kinda made my peace with the anime units but I also feel really burnt out on all the limiteds lately. Remember when we didn't have a shit load of limiteds right after another? There used to be a period when you had unlimiteds in a row! Ugh. I know that's kind of rich since Himena just released, but I feel like my wallet is being attacked here.

The anime units don't really bother me since they're basically filler and give us something interesting (I guess???) during downtime BUT what I don't like is how damn good they are. Anime Rena looks to be a great aqua unit and that kind of pisses me off. From what I can tell, her gameplay looks like it's going to be fun. Her limited memoria from the gacha look great. I'm kind of mad though that this fun gameplay is being attached to an anime ver while unique characters like Himena have more lackluster gameplay.

And also: I can understand making Anime Mami. Her original version had some flaws, and the new anime version is more inline with how she is in the story. Anime Yachiyo also fits this-- she's become very powerful and strong, just like how she is in the story. Anime Iroha...? She works too I guess?

But Anime Rena...? I feel like her original version's gameplay already suited her character well enough, you know?

I don't want to doompost about the game though. I think that the new step-up gacha thing is probably bringing in lots of money, so I feel like the game is probably doing alright...? I dunno. augh.

But also, I'm glad that Rena fans are getting a new variant at least! Kind of a shame it's an anime version but...

[arinbelle]

TW: slavery, racism

Now I'm really thinking about the concept of human slavery in SJM books and overall slavery in CC and how glorified it is. Idk if that's the right or good word for it, but that's how it comes off. Because in the end, it's used to further plot for the sake of things, angst for the sake of plot, but there isn't a solid conclusion to it. We kinda just hear, oh yeah the Fae like to hunt humans for sport and don't think anything of them, but it is what it is. Or the fact that we are told even though the Fae ENSLAVED humans, both sides are to blame for eventual conflict.

I would like to translate that to today's world. You go tell a black person in America right now "Yeah slavery was bad, but like...all of you fighting back eventually against it and then killing your oppressors was not right either. Like you added to the problem." That is the rhetoric.

And I think the more it hits me, the more bothered I'm getting, because at least with ACoTaR, it kinda becomes a low level brushed over problem, which, fucked up, but it at least gets covered up with the wings and the sex. But in CC we have BLATANT slavery. Literally SLAVES, with slave tattoos branding Fae. And ofc in the end, Hunt is freed bc he's our MC's love interest, and she can't actually end up with a slave, just be there for the initial moments of angst and trauma bonding, but not later on when it's actually problematic. And then there's Lehabah who dies a free Fae but doesn't even get to experience that freedom? And the whole time she's always complaining about how messed up their world is for even having slavery, she's shut down and told to get back to work. By our main character, WHO IS HALF HUMAN!!!!

And Bryce? Strangely both concerned for humans and yet also very apathetic. Gave me vibes of "Yeah it's wrong that we treat humans and slaves like this but maybe if they didn't fight back against their oppressors like this they wouldn't be mistreated." And no, her trying to save humans in the end doesn't forgive her for not caring much in the entire book, because she's doing the literal bare minimum.

And obviously, this isn't me shitting on these characters, because the characters aren't real, but it says something about an author who constantly employs these themes and has no greater message or plot for them outside of what furthers the MC's narrative.

Of course someone can argue, "Oh it's not that deep, it's just a fantasy novel." And yeah probably. But considering that racism and its roots in slavery run very real and deep even today, it clearly sends a very messed up message.

Also! If you say that it's a fantasy book and we don't need to bring the real world's problems into it, then you're coming from a place of privilege where you can afford to not think about problems like these.

[h50europe]

Why the myth about Steve's PTSD doesn't add up and other inconsistencies

In the last few episodes of H50, PL tried to sell us a mentally broken Steve suffering from PTSD. Only the whole thing came a bit too late. The clip you see is from season 4 and ended up - no, not in the series - but somewhere on the floor of PL's editing room. And why? after Kurtzman and Orci departed, along with their writers, PL took the helm and started turning Steve into a super-soldier. He stylized him into something that wasn't meant to be. Instead of developing the characters, PL began to incorporate more and more hair-raising action sequences into the series and then let Steve fight on the front lines. There was no mention of Steve's mental state, and a lot was explained by PL with: it just happened "offscreen." Yeah, sure. PL can't create a decent character. He can only produce stereotypes and one-dimensional beings. Like Adam. What potential would that character have had had he been turned into Five-0's antagonist? But no. So his role remained diffuse and monotonous. Sometimes even tragicomical.

Back to Steve. When SEAL Team started on CBS, PL also lapsed into SEAL mania. If someone who writes fanfiction were to produce as much garbage as this man did, he would be chased away from every writers' platform in disgrace. PL's Super SEAL also had to rescue his team members from a blazing inferno. Not man by man, no, he flew a helicopter right into the danger zone and lifted a whole cabin out of the burning jungle. If lunacy had a name, it would be PL. While the action became more and more exaggerated and unrealistic, the same happened to the protagonists. After the departure of Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, PL completely lost his mind. And please, don't blame the writers for the nonsense that was thrown at you. A series stands and falls with the showrunner. He dictates what he wants and passes it on to his staff.

And so, lovable Steve became a soulless robot who only showed feelings here and there. Danny diminished more and more into a sidekick. McDanno became a ship that drifted anchorless through a stormy sea and threatened to capsize again and again. From season 8, it became a reboot of the reboot. PL tried an ensemble show and failed more than miserably. Often the actors just stood around bored. At least that was the impression. The only highlight was episode 8.10. A feast for all McDanno fans. But even here, the outcome of "who shot Danny" was more than insubstantial.

Wait, there was something about SEALs... Oh, yes. Junior appeared on the scene and became Steve's lapdog. I really wondered when there was going to be an episode where he would fetch sticks for Steve. Luckily we had Eddie for that. And because he thought he was so clever, PL invented the episode speed dating. How many subplots can you squeeze into one episode at the same time? In some episodes, you couldn't even take a look at the bag of potato chips without losing the thread.

The case of the week became the yawn of the week. There were so many loose ends that PL then came up with something called retconning. That's what you do when you're no longer satisfied with what was once established in the series years ago, or it no longer fits. But PL went one step further and did the same with the characters. The more the series was dragged out, the more the characters deteriorated and became OOC. It means, often, they were not recognizable at all. And that's where we come to Steve. Because PL, in his desperation, didn't know what else he could do to Steve, and so he killed Joe White. He did it in such a cheesy way with a fake sunset that it made you sick.

Of course, one episode later, there had to be another gig of PL's favorite Barbie. He stuck a fake beard on poor Steve/Alex, so he couldn't even hug Danny/Scott properly. The episode also raised more questions than it answered any. And Steve? He still didn't suffer from PTSD, even though he had now lost Joe White and a fellow SEAL. Everyone is dropping like flies, except for Steve, who is standing like a rock. No matter what. He doesn't need in-depth talks with Danny, nor psychological care, nor any sleeping pills. No, he's doing great. He also opens a restaurant with Danny because apparently, the carguments are already getting on PL's nerves. Unfortunately, this plot device leads into nirvana. The idea was nice, but nobody thought it through to the end. And the merry-go-round continues. Until we get to season 10, where it gets even more absurd. Now PL is almost bombarding us with McDanno episodes, or at least it should seem that way. Oh well, he's already planning for season 11, so a new character has to come on board quickly. While in the beginning, Steve's mother, Doris, dies.

Alex was allowed to take on the subject. Of course, only under the strict eyes of PL. He then nullifies Alex's idea that Steve kills his mother. Because a good soldier and Super SEAL won't do that. Little does PL know. THAT could have been the opening of a PTSD scenario for Steve. However, apart from that, this episode would have had any potential for a multi-arc. Just imagine Steve chasing his mother across multiple episodes. Again, PL stepped in and butchered Alex's episode. You can really feel sorry for the guy. PL at his best or worse? He just can't help it. And then, on the very last meters of the series, he brings someone new, who is allowed to cruise around with Steve most of the time. Because Danny was kidnapped by Wo Fat's widow, PL also invented quite late to have some villain at his disposal. This wannabe mastermind must really have been living under a rock somewhere if she wasn't even mentioned by her husband or appeared earlier.

Because towards the end, PL obviously ran out not only of steam but also of ideas, everything culminated in a wildly illogical scenario. Steve has to live through a dramatic day with Eddie, who stands as a metaphor for Steve (as I said, PTSD was never a thing for Super SEAL), Danny bangs his brains out in a ladies' room with a complete stranger, who dies shortly after that in an accident with Danny's rental car. Apparently, there was no budget to turn the Camaro into scrap metal. Danny then also goes home alone, ignoring the incoming emergency vehicles. Everything remains open at the end of the episode. While Steve expresses his gratitude to Tani and Quinn and says, he would be just as lost as poor Eddie without the dog and all of them. The strange thing is that you never notice anything until that sentence. A few forced dialogues are supposed to make the drama visible, but they all happen way too late or are so poorly written that you miss them.

PL had decided early on to make Steve a Teflon hero. That also means he didn't need to put much substance into the character. Which you can clearly see if you compare the first three seasons to the rest of the series. But towards the end, PL wanted to turn the tide and forcefully rewrote Steve's past. There is a huge difference if you compare Steve from seasons 1 to 3 with Steve from season 10. It is only a sparse remnant of what made this character so great. This change in Steve's personality also affects his relationship with Danny. The witty, affectionate banter degenerates into a snappy, humorless bitch-fest that takes all the joy out of it.

The final two episodes could have been written for any other crime show. As mentioned, we have Cole, who even gets a book'em Cole from Steve, which can only be described as out of line. And it begs the question, was that what Lenkov originally had in mind? Danny out of the show and Cole in? Was the last episode, which mainly featured McCole, something of a test run? Did all the McDanno moments happen only to tear the two apart eventually? Was the real final scene the one where Steve and Catherine take Danny's coffin back to Jersey? Was Danny not supposed to survive? Was that the real reason Steve wanted to get out of Hawaii because he wanted to pay his respects to Danny? And would he really have returned to Hawaii later? Or would he have turned his back on Hawaii? To me, this ending is more plausible than what PL served us. Then, Steve handed over his credentials to Cole instead of Danny, his second in command. Honestly, you can't make the end of a series any more sloppy and dumber than that. And I won't even lose a word about the last 1:30 minutes because I think everything has already been said.

No PL, mission absolutely not accomplished. You created Teflon-Steve. You never wanted him to show any weakness. You turned him into a superhuman who can survive anything. Only to pull the rug out from under him on the last few meters to the finish line and spit on his legacy. How can you dismantle such a great series and its characters like you did? How much do you have to hate something to do that? In the final interviews, the showrunner didn't exactly cover himself in glory either. Everyone who grew up with the series from day one knows that its end was wrong on all the possible levels and that the showrunner is solely to blame for that. It takes a fair amount of egoism and carelessness to drive 10 years at full throttle against the wall. Not many people can do that. Whether you can be proud of that, however, I doubt.

My respect if you have made it this far. Each of you gets 10 extra brownie points for it.

[delaber]

Coming Home

Note: The fic no one asked for but I still wrote because I had to. Pretty sure this will be my last Rafa fic. It’s been a ride. Thank you!

Words: 7.7K

It was one of those blisteringly hot days where all you wanted to do was to laze about in front of a fan with your feet up and eat popsicles in the hopes of cooling just a tiny bit down. The sun was scorching and there was little to no wind at all, making it close to unbearable to be out of the shade for more than two minutes at a time - but unfortunately, you found yourself stuck in the middle of a very sunny lawn at Nat's garden-themed birthday party. Several times during the day, you had caught yourself looking jealously towards the enticing pool area at the end of the lawn but unfortunately had to settle for self-administered time-outs in the shade under various palm trees that were lining the garden.

At one of said time-outs, the birthday girl Nat approached you with a huge smile and two drinks in hand, "oh, there you are!" She exclaimed happily as she reached the same tree as you and handed you one of the piña coladas she was holding, "I've been looking all over!"

"Sorry," you smiled at your best friend and accepted the cocktail she was offering you, "I needed to cool down for a bit," you said while fanning your hand in front of your face

"Ooh, great idea - make room for me," Nat too stepped under the shade of the palm tree and immediately started fanning her top, "Jesus Christ, it's hot today!"

"Well, you were the one to insist on not having gazebos for your party," you shot your best friend a small smile, "it ruins the aesthetic," you mimicked her words from a few days ago with a laugh.

"Oh, shut up!" Nat let out a chortle, "I clearly made a terrible decision."

"Yeah, you should always listen to me and Diggs," you chuckled while having a sip of your tropical drink, enjoying how it slowly seemed to lower your core temperature as soon as the cold liquid hit your oesophagus.

"Hey, speaking of; have you seen him?" Nat squinted her eyes while shooting her phone a glance, "he's not answering any of my texts."

"I talked to him over by the snacks a little over an hour ago," you pointed over your shoulder, "he said he had to take off for a bit."

"He had to take off?" Nat furrowed her eyebrows, looking directly at you with disbelief written all over her face. From her expression alone, you could tell what was going through her head; as Nat's long-term boyfriend, Diggs knew exactly how important her birthday was to her. "That's seems a bit out of character..." she mumbled sadly.

"Aww, don't worry - he'll be back in a bit."

"What was so important for him to do on today of all days?" Nat sounded crestfallen.

"Come on Nat, what kind of an errand could he possibly have to run on his girlfriend's birthday?" You rolled your eyes.

"...But he already got me a present," she fiddled with the shiny new bracelet around her wrist.

"Maybe he's getting you a surprise," you shrugged mysteriously.

"Really?" The sad look on Nat's face was quickly replaced by wide eyes accompanied by a broad smile, "A surprise?"

"Don't tell him I said anything!" you laughed.

"Well, did he tell you what it was?"

"Nope... He probably knew we'd end up having this conversation," you chuckled.

"Slick bastard," Nat muttered under her breath before her voice returned to normal, "well, I hope he gets back soon. Of course I'm excited about the surprise but I don't want him missing out on the party."

As if on cue, a loud clanking noise coming from the shrub-embedded gate at the other end of the lawn had both you and Nat whip your heads around; Diggs had stepped inside the closed-off garden with a huge smile plastered on his face, stopping as soon as his feet hit the soft grass. He scanned the area for the birthday girl, and when his gaze finally landed on Nat, you watched how his face immediately turned soft as their eyes met across the lawn.

"Ah, there he is," Nat sighed happily as she took in her handsome boyfriend.

"...yeah, but he's empty handed," you added with a sigh after a quick scan for a birthday present in his open palms.

"Oh, you're right. Must be something he can stow away in a pocket..."

"Or something that's too heavy for him to carry alone," you added.

"Either way I'm just glad he's back," Nat said dreamily and send Diggs a small wave to which he replied with a sappy smile and a wink.

"Ah, I'm third-wheeling so hard right now," you gagged and with a grin turned your back towards Diggs in the hopes of making it less awkward for yourself.

"Yeah, sorry babe," Nat was biting her lower lip, trying to contain herself as she gazed at her handsome boyfriend over your shoulder.

"You look terribly confused all of a sudden," you laughed as you took in Nat's furrowed eyebrows.

"Yeah, he's just... standing there - why is he not moving?"

"What? He's standing completely still?" you arched an eyebrow, looking at Nat who still wasn't sparing you a glance.

"No, he's... looking for something on the other side of the hedges. And he's talking to someone - I think?"

"On the phone?"

"No... - oh wait, looks like he brought someone along."

"He brought someone?" you repeated curiously, "who?"

"I don't know. I don't recognise him..." Nat looked confused as she squinted her eyes, trying to focus on what was happening at the other end of the lawn. Then suddenly, her face changed, "- hey, is that...? No - wait... - Oh my god! It is!" She finally whipped her head around, looking directly at you with huge eyes, "he's here."

"...Who is?" you looked at her confused.

Nat didn't have time to answer your question before a male voice that you didn't immediately recognise rang from behind you, "Ey yo, Nat!"

"I'm sorry..." Nat whispered, "- but I have to..." she shot you a pained look before she moved past you with a squeal as she briskly walked away from the shade under the palm tree.

Confused, you spun around and scanned the lawn for Diggs and his mystery companion. Diggs had put on one of his more colourful outfits, and your eyes were immediately drawn to him and the smug smile he was wearing as he took in Nat who was now running at full-speed towards a sharp-dressed man to his right.

"Rafa!" Nat exclaimed loudly as she fell into the well-dressed man's arms, "you're here! I can't believe it!" she squealed.

The mere sound of his name made the hairs on the back of your neck stand while the blood quickly drained from your face. You instantly felt your throat go dry and your head dizzying as Nat's words rang in your ears. Rafa was here? Rafa as in Rafael? No, it couldn't be...

You adjusted your gaze slightly but sure enough; there he was. In the middle of the lawn in a tight embrace with your best friend. None other than Rafael Casal.

That. Fucking. Prick.

"You're kidding me..." you mumbled under your breath.

What the fuck was he doing here?!

You immediately felt your heart rate increasing and your palms getting sweaty as you took him in. He had grown a beard and cut his hair short, making the area above his forehead strangely lonely without its familiar swoop of hair that he had been so fond of back when you had known him. Your eyes travelled across his face that was plastered with the toothy grin you had once loved, and down to the strong arms that you had once known every vein of. There weren't any tattoos on his arms that you didn't recognise but he had definitely built more muscle mass since the last time you'd seen him.

You had to admit that even though you were more than regularly annoyed with him, he looked good - he just didn't look like Rafa. Not your Rafa at least. He looked more man than jokester, a ghost of the boy you'd once called yours.

When the tight embrace in front of you finally ended, Rafa straightened up and looked over Nat's shoulder, his green eyes immediately piercing through you. He did a quick scan of you from the tip of your sneakers to the top of your head, and if it hadn't been for the fact that you knew that you looked good in your new dress, you might have grown flustered under his intense stare - but you didn't. He could stare all he wanted and meanwhile use the opportunity to think about what he had let go of - what he was missing out on!

He looked you up and down a few times and when his eyes reached yours, he sent you a tentative look and a careful smile that you didn't reciprocate. After all, pretending that Rafael Casal meant absolutely nothing to you was something you had perfected over the years.

When he finally realised that your face would remain stone cold and without the smallest trace of friendliness, he quickly looked back at Nat and sent her a broad smile as she began mumbling something to him about how he was the last person she'd expected to see today.

Meanwhile, you used the opportunity to march over to Diggs and pull him aside; "what the hell do you think you're doing?!" You hissed at him, your voice so low that only he could hear.

"Oh, I'm just watching my best friend and my girl reconcile after years apart," he smirked, his eyes still locked on the two friends talking excitedly in the middle of the lawn.

"Don't get smart with me, Diggs!" You said through gritted teeth, "why the fuck didn't you tell me that he was coming? You know how I feel about him! He's a snake!"

"Jesus Christ," Diggs rolled his eyes, "This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you. If you'd known that I was picking him up at the airport, you would've ended up faking an excuse to leave before I'd returned."

"And with good reason! You know what he did! I don't want to talk to him!"

"You need to resolve this shit between the two of you," he shrugged, "You need to learn to be in the same room as him. It's been way too long already, and it cannot go on like this forever."

"Oh, watch me!" You huffed childishly, looking over at Rafa's dumb smile as he said something incoherent to Nat.

"Bruh..." Daveed cocked his head and sent you an unimpressed look, "He didn't come to mess with you. He came for Nat... He misses her."

"- but," you tried to interject but Diggs immediately cut you off: "- And before you say anything -" he continued, "- look at how happy she is!" he gestured to Nat who had now gone back to hugging Rafa tightly, "I know that her loyalty to you dictates that she has to hate him or whatever, but she has clearly missed him too. So if you can't do it for yourself, please just behave yourself for Nat."

A guilty pang hit your chest when you looked at Nat's happy smile, and you realised that she had cut off all contact with Rafa for your sake. "For the record; I never told her she couldn't talk to him," you mumbled.

"I know," Diggs nodded, "that's just how good of a friend she is."

"Alright... I'll behave for Nat," you sighed with a slight scowl before you quickly continued, "- but I'm not going to talk to him! No way!"

Diggs shot his hands in the air in a surrendering manner, "hey: normal, regular behaviour is all I'm asking for! You can ignore him for all I care - just be civil."

You didn't answer Diggs but instead continued to scowl as you watched Rafa and Nat having a giggle about something. The sound of Rafa's obnoxiously loud laugh swimming in your ear canals made your stomach go annoyingly warm, and for a millisecond you actually wished that he was laughing at something dumb alongside you instead of Nat - or at least you wished for it until you reminded yourself of what he had done, and the familiar anger towards him soon returned.

"Aw, come on," Diggs let out a laugh when he saw your angry face. He gave your shoulder a playful shove before he put his arm around you, "let's get you a drink - you look like you need it."

"Yes, I need it!" you groaned as he led you away from Nat and Rafa, "- and a big one too 'cause my dumb friends had my nemesis fly in from New York behind my back."

Diggs laughed a little at your miserable tone of voice, "cheer up," he chuckled, pulling you a little closer, "...and to be fair, I did the inviting. Nat had nothing to do with this."

"God, you're the worst," you mumbled as you reached the self-service bar, "I cannot believe you'd spring this on me after what he did!"

"Come on. It's been three years," Daveed shrugged and smiled down at you before he pulled out two clean glasses.

"That's easy for you to say when you weren't implicated in it," you mumbled sourly without looking directly at him.

"I may not have been directly involved, but you know I still got caught up in the middle," Diggs sent you a short look before he poured both of you a drink, "- and I still am."

"How?" You said incredulously, "I literally never talk about him."

"Exactly," Diggs shot you a sideways glance as he screwed off the cap of a tonic water, "you never talk about him. It's forced."

"It's forced? Since when is not talking about your asshole of an ex-boyfriend forced?"

"I know you miss him," Diggs said softly and sent you a careful look.

You forced yourself to scoff as you accepted the gin tonic from him, "I have no idea what you're talking about! I literally could not care less about Rafael at all," you looked across the lawn and immediately caught Rafa's gaze that was aimed directly at you. His eyes were huge, his gaze soft and longing. You thought to yourself that he looked as if he was the one who'd been wronged all those years ago. As if you were the one who had disappeared off to New York before royally fucking everything up. Which you absolutely weren't!

-

Rafa had been annoying as hell all night! Whenever you were no more than a few milliseconds away from letting down your hair and forget about the fact that your nemesis was attending the same party as you, you could hear his annoying foghorn of a laugh in the group of people next to you. And although you were trying your absolute best to avoid him completely, he still seemed to be all over, somehow always within a ten-foot radius from you, his cutting-torch-like voice constantly poking at your eardrums.

You were successful in avoiding him up until around midnight when you unfortunately were careless enough to lay down your guard for a few seconds too long, not realising that he had approached you at the self-service bar while you had been looking around for a lime for your drink. "Hey," you heard a low growl behind you as you were cutting the citrus into wedges.

You didn't have to look up from the table to know who the voice belonged to. "Rafael," you said neutrally while screwing off the cap of the tequila bottle you were holding, pouring up a couple of ounces of liquid without sparing him a glance.

"Hmm... Ra-fa-el," he repeated slowly, dragging out the name and smacking his lips as if savouring how it rolled off his tongue, "you know what? I don't think I've ever heard you call me Ra-fa-el before."

With your gaze still firmly placed on the tequila-filled glass in front of you, you arched an eyebrow but didn't say anything as you continued working on the cocktail, desperate to not give in to his antics.

You could feel his gaze burning on your skin, his eyes following your every move as you poured Cointreau into the cocktail glass and quietly waited for him to leave you alone again. He didn't budge, however, and when he realised that you intended to keep your silence, he quietly asked, "...How are you doing?"

"Great," you said and pressed your lips firmly together.

"Good..." Out the corner of your eye, you could see his head bopping up and down as he took you in, "I - uhm - I always liked you in green, you know," he grinned cockily. You knew he was just acting this way to get your attention but annoyingly enough; it was working for him. His comment made you dart your eyes towards him, shooting him an unimpressed sigh that he reciprocated with a careful smile, anxious to see if his compliment had tugged at your heartstrings. But even though his words had made your head dizzy and your diaphragm contract considerably, you still managed to keep a straight face as you took him in. His gaze was soft and satisfied, and a strange feeling hit your guts when you looked into his green eyes for the first time in over three years. Seeing the familiarity of his overly confident gaze made you realise that he hadn't exactly turned into the destructive villain that you had made him out to be after he had moved to New York three years ago. Behind the masculine beard and the buzzcut, the jokester with the soft chin and the long quiff was still in there. Your Rafa was still in there, and for a tenth of a second it made your heart ache as you wished for a time that he had long ago ruined.

He had clearly realised that you were checking him out because slowly, yet surely, his smirk grew considerably while he maintained eye-contact. It made you furious! He. Did. Not. Have. The. Upper. Hand. Taking in your angry expression, he shifted the weight on his feet while giving out a low chuckle, "I guess what I mean to tell you is that you look good. Like really good! - even when you're fuming."

"You look old," you stated flatly to make him stop feeling so overly confident.

To your dismay, however, he wasn't the least bit hurt by your comment but instead spluttered happily and let out a loud laugh, making the crow's feet around his green irises dance around as his eyes squinted tightly together in amusement. He looked irritatingly handsome, and it made you even more annoyed with him; he wasn't supposed to be amused by your low blow, he was supposed to be devastated!

You chewed your bottom lip as he annoyingly confident ran a hand through his beard and took you in with his forever playful smile. The fairy lights surrounding the self-service bar caught something shiny around his wrist as he caressed his chin, and you recognised the piece of metal immediately. It made you scoff, "you really still have that?" You nodded towards the golden band around his arm that you had given him for his 25th birthday some years ago. Even though it had been quite expensive, you'd figured that he had thrown it out long ago.

"You're kidding me?" He said incredulously, furrowing his brows and fiddling with the shiny links around his arm, "of course I still have this! It means a lot to me, I wear it every day!" He sent you a tentative smile, once again checking to see if he was so lucky that his words had defrosted you.

He wasn't.

"What?" He asked with an amused twinkle in his eyes when he took in your unimpressed face, "I swear; It's one of my most treasured possessions."

"Rafael... Just..." You let out a small sigh and folded your arms across your chest, "- just drop the pleasantries and tell me why you're really here," you demanded, "I highly doubt you're here to small talk."

"Aw come on - I'm just here for Nat's party. I didn't come to stir shit up. I promise!" He looked at you with honest eyes, still with a trace of a smile on his lips.

"Then why are you attacking me at the drinks table?" You were surprised to hear how steady you managed to keep your voice when it felt as if your entire body was shaking.

"I just wanted to say hi," he shot you a careful look, taking in every movement of your facial muscles, "You've been avoiding me all day."

"Wonder why," you clicked your tongue against the roof of your mouth, looking away from him.

"I know it seems like an unnecessary question but are you still angry with me?" He asked, his smile still in place but suddenly a bit stiff.

"I was angry at first. Now I don't really care about you anymore," you smiled overly-sweetly.

"Yeah okay," Rafa's stiff smile faltered a bit and it looked as if you'd finally managed to knock him slightly off his course. This probably wasn't how he had imagined the conversation to go. It was a nice feeling to see him slightly panicked. "Ehm..." he smacked his lips, "would you like me to leave?"

"Yes," you breathed, but even you could hear the thickness of the lie in your throat. Even though you were keen on keeping your distance to him, you were still terribly curious as to why he had passed you up three years after your horrible break-up. After all, it had ended in lies and angry tears.

His smirk turned amused, and he could barely hold back a triumphant chuckle when he spoke, "I can tell you're not being serious," he tilted his head to the side.

"My God, you are insufferable!" you said through gritted teeth, "just tell me why you're here!"

"Well..." he licked his lips before he slowly stated, "Sofía's pregnant."

He had barely finished pronouncing the word pregnant before you felt the blood immediately drain from your face. "You're... having a baby?" You breathed and blinked a few times, bracing yourself for his answer. After everything that had happened, you couldn't believe that the mental image of Rafa with someone else was still able to make your stomach ache horribly, and you were immediately reminded of the fact that you hadn't left him because you had fallen out of love with him.

"Am I having a...-? Oh God no!" He laughed when he understood, "Sofía as in my sister! My sister is pregnant! I'm about to be an uncle. Tio Rafa."

You felt a wave of relief wash over you when his words finally settled, and the blood quickly returned to your cheeks making them unbearably hot. "Well, congratulations then, I guess," you mumbled, trying to conceal your flustered face.

"Thanks!" He smiled proudly and put on a goofy expression.

"I still fail to see what your sister's pregnancy has to do with me."

"Well, you see..." he licked his lips, "Sofía and her boyfriend are constantly talking about baby-stuff, and who in their lives are important to them, and insurances, and dying wills, and things like that - and I guess it kinda made me think about stuff in my life too," he gave out an awkward shrug, shooting you a careful look, "you know... Unresolved matters and so on..."

"...and then you thought about me?" You scoffed.

"Yeah," he nodded carefully, "I miss you."

"Rafael..." you closed your eyes and sighed in disbelief.

"Oof," he winced and it made you open your eyes and look at him. "- could you stop calling me that?" He looked pained, "It's - it's weird!"

"Well it is your name, isn't it?"

"I know, I know... Hearing it from you is just - it's just weird..." he mumbled while rubbing his neck, "only strangers call me by my first name."

"We're practically strangers."

"We are?" He looked taken aback.

You shot him a sideways glance, "yes, we are Rafael," you sighed and watched how his nostrils did an involuntary twitch at the sound of his given name.

He merely grunted while shooting you a weird look.

"What?" You asked incredulously, "you don't agree?"

"No. No, not at all," he shook his head, "I know you."

"Not anymore you don't," you turned back to your drink, stirring it a little just to give your shaking hands something to do.

"I know every freckle of your body..." he said quietly, his voice so full of emotion that it made your heart ache. "I know why you have a scar on your left knee," he continued, "I know all your guilty pleasures. What makes you tick. Your likes. Your dislikes. Of course I realise that we didn't end optimally but you can't pretend that we don't know each other," he ran a hand through his beard.

As soon as the words had escaped his mouth, you shot him an angry look, "we didn't end optimally?!" You hissed at him, "well, it was your fucking choice to end it that way, wasn't it?"

"Ah, so you are still mad at me," He stated flatly, taking in your expression.

You managed to turn off some of the fire you felt in your eyes before you spoke, "No I'm not, Rafael. As I said, I don't care about you at all," you said coldly, "Is that all? Can I go back to my best friend's birthday party now, or are you in the mood to ruin yet another one of my nights?" You shot him a deadpan look.

"I can't force you to talk to me," he said quietly, his eyes huge with disappointment.

"What do you even want to talk about?" Your voice was laced with frustration, "it's been three years! I've moved on - I don't need this, Rafa!" You wanted to smack yourself when you realised that you had let his pet name slip.

"I just want to apologise. Properly..." he said quietly while awkwardly rubbing his elbow, decent enough to let the use of his nickname slide.

"Apologising is not going to change what happened."

"I know... but you still deserve a proper apology from the guy who hurt you."

You gave out a scoff but didn't say anything.

"Look," Rafa continued, "can you please just give me ten minutes alone with you? Some place quiet. Ten minutes and I swear, I'll never talk to you again if you don't want me to. I just want to tell you how sorry I am. I think we both need it."

You weighed the pros and cons. Maybe it would actually be good for you to get some closure so you could finally forget about him? You decided that you might as well try. It'd be nice to stop thinking about him for good. "Fine! You have ten minutes and not a second more!" you said sternly, "but let me be very clear about one thing: I am not doing this for you!"

"I know," he nodded slowly, and followed you to a deserted bench a little away from the rest of the party.

He sat down next to you with a content sound, "Cig?" he asked while holding out a crumbled package.

"I quit," you pushed the package away, your fingers briefly brushing over his. It made him smile slightly but he quickly concealed it by clearing his throat.

"Good for you," Rafa nodded while lighting a cigarette for himself, taking a long drag while looking at you. "So..." he said quietly, "I hear that you finally landed that job you used to work so hard for."

"If you just wanted to smoke cigarettes and small talk, we didn't have to go all the way back here," you crossed your arms.

"Tough crowd," he laughed, "come on. Just humour me for a bit... I miss talking to you."

You scoffed, "you have nine minutes and fourty-five seconds left, Casal."

"Nine minutes and fourty-five seconds," he nodded in agreement, "so... that job of yours - congratulations! Your hard work finally paid off, huh?" He tried again.

"Have you been stalking my linked-in?" You said sourly.

"Nah, Diggs gives me little updates," Rafa chuckled awkwardly, "-or he did for a while at least. Up until about a year ago when he got real angry with me," Rafa clenched his teeth tightly together, looking uncomfortable.

"Diggs got angry?" You said in disbelief. Out of the two, Rafa was definitely the hot-headed one.

"Oh shit, yeah!" He nodded with a laugh, "I know it's hard to believe because it's such a rare occurrence but that just made it so much scarier! For a second, I thought he would punch me in the face!"

"Well, that should teach you to keep your abnormally large nose out of my business," you scoffed slightly.

"That's what he said too," Rafa chuckled, "-and that if I wanted to know how you were doing, I should give you a call myself," he sent you a small smile, "- but I knew you would have my balls in a wrench if I suddenly called you up out of the blue."

"Correct."

He smiled, "yet here we are. Talking quietly without screaming at each other. My balls free as ever."

"You're lucky I left my wrench at home today, Casal."

He let out an amused snort and took another drag of the cigarette, "yeah, I can't believe my luck this evening," he smiled without looking at you, "hey, while we're on the subject of updates; I - uhm - I also want to let you know that I heard about your dad. I was very sad to learn about his passing."

You felt a sharp pain in your chest, and you held your arms a little closer to your chest, "Diggs told you about that too, huh?" You mumbled, unable to look Rafa in the eye. Even though little over two years had passed since your dad had died, thinking about him still hurt.

You felt Rafa nod beside you, "Yeah. He called me right after it happened... I know your dad meant a great deal to you. Meant a great deal to me too to be honest..." he sighed.

"I know..." you thought of the special bond the two men had always shared. Even long before you and Rafa had fallen in love, your dad had hoped that you would end up together.

"I was seconds away from flying home to see him off at the funeral, you know - but given how you and I ended things, I didn't think you should deal with me on top of losing your dad..." he shot you a sideways glance.

You decided not to tell Rafa about how you had woken up on the morning of the funeral, wishing that he had been there. Wishing that everything had magically gone back to normal overnight. Instead, you merely mumbled, "you should've come. My dad would've loved that... He always liked you."

"Yeah, I liked him too," Rafa nodded, "I still think about him every time I hear a terrible joke or see someone in a Laker's shirt."

"Oh god, all those fucking shirts," you groaned and thought of the hundreds of basketball shirts that your dad had had stacked neatly away in his closet. You couldn't believe that you had completely forgotten about them.

Rafa chuckled, "what did you end up doing with them? I imagine that you donated them in your dad's spirit."

"Naturally," you nodded and felt yourself uncross your arms for the first time since you'd sat down. "My mom kept one, and the orphanage got most but we auctioned off the rarest ones and gave the money to charity. That was what he wanted, you know."

"Ah, what an icon," Rafa sighed, "well, you should be proud of him and the work he did for the community. He was a great man. A proper role model for the bay."

You nodded in agreement while scanning Rafa. It was nice to talk about your dad with someone who knew him but who hadn't seen him fragile and sick. Someone who didn't think of him as his diagnosis, and you realised that for the first time since his passing, things actually seemed fairly back to normal. Sitting side by side with Rafa actually felt welcome and normal. Maybe you'd grant him a couple of minutes more of your time.

Rafa's eyes skirted away from you, and he nervously cleared his throat before he continued, "Uhm... not that it matters but did you - did you ever tell him about what happened between us?"

"My dad? No..." you shook your head with a sad sigh, "he loved you like his own son, and I didn't want to break his heart. So I just told him that we couldn't make the whole long distance-thing work."

"Oh, right... Thanks," Rafa nodded.

"I didn't do it for you."

"Still... I'm glad he didn't get to know that side of me. I'm not so sure he would've liked me if he'd known the truth about how I broke his daughter's heart."

"I'm not so sure either..."

"I - I hated myself after, you know," He looked over at you with a pained expression after a couple of seconds of silence, "I have never regretted anything more in my entire life."

"What? Not going to the funeral?"

"No. You know... What I did..." he said sheepishly.

"Oh..."

"The minute I woke up I - I wanted to undo everything," he looked at you pleadingly, "I felt so fucking terrible. Still do. I can't even think about it without wanting to stab myself. It is without a doubt the worst thing I have ever done, and I am so sorry for the pain it caused you," he said softly, "please understand that I didn't do it because I didn't love you. It wasn't because you weren't enough or something like that. You were perfect to me. I take full responsibility for the fuck-up, and I am so, so horribly fucking sorry!"

"Rafa, it's..." you gulped, the words somehow stuck in your throat. You were having a hard time acting as if his words meant nothing to you.

He carefully put his hand on top of yours before he continued, "do you think we would've been able to work around the long distance if I hadn't...?"

"Please don't..." you whispered and sent him a soft yet warning look, "I don't want to talk about what might've been."

"No, no of course not..." he nodded quietly, "I just - I can't believe it's been three years... Fuck baby I've missed you so bad," he carefully moved his thumb over the back of your hand and searched your face with furrowed eyebrows, "You have no idea of the relief I felt when I finally saw you today," he said quietly.

"Don't do this..." you closed your eyes and whispered.

Rafa continued as if he hadn't heard you, "I know we didn't work out the way neither of us pictured it but that doesn't mean you weren't the best thing that's ever happened to me..." he sounded desperate, and you couldn't look at him. The words he was saying was making you want to fall into his arms, "...I never should've let you go."

"Rafa," you sighed and summoned all your strength and looked into his glossy eyes, "you didn't let me go," your voice barely a whisper, "I broke up with you."

"I know, I know," his voice was oozing with pain, "but I hope you realise that I would've done everything to win you back. I would've come back to California if you'd only asked me to. Fuck the record deal."

"There was a reason why I didn't ask you to come back," you shot him a glance in warning, "you know that."

"Still, I should have done... something."

"You did exactly what I asked of you."

"Yeah... I stayed the fuck away from you," he mumbled. You could tell that he was replaying your last tearful conversation in his mind before he heaved a big gulp of air and glanced over at you with a valiant look in his eyes, "but I've come back to remind you who I really am."

"You don't have to remind me of anything... I remember who you were. What we had."

"Then let me be that guy for you again," he looked at you pleadingly.

"What's the point when you're still 3,000 miles away?" You sighed, "It's not as if we'll happen upon each other at the supermarket and go out for spontaneous coffees."

"Could be," he said with a small shrug, "I - uh - I'm moving back," he nervously ran his fingers through his short hair, "I want to be close to Sofía and the baby - and you."

"You're coming home?" You gulped. You couldn't believe him. Was this a good thing?

"Yes," he breathed, "And I want to try things out with you again. Please give me another chance..." his fingers moved from your hand to your knee. You briefly considered his words while you felt his thumb caress you through the green fabric of your dress. Right now, you were fighting hard to not give in to his embrace and the familiar set of lips in front of you, but you weren't sure how you'd feel about it come morning, so you remained poised.

He sensed your hesitation, however, and carefully put his forehead to yours "come on, baby," he said quietly and softly kissed your cheek, his lips warm against your skin.

"I don't know," you gulped as you involuntarily closed your eyes and breathed him in.

"It's okay," he said with whispered words, the stubble on his chin rough against your cheekbone, "you don't have to give me an answer right away," he gently kissed your jawline while his hand travelled from your kneecap to your fingertips, clearly desperate to remind you of what you could have back if you only agreed to let him in again.

"Rafa, I don't know," you said quietly although it was becoming harder and harder to remain steadfast and ignore his burning lips on your skin.

"Just consider it," he kissed the corner of your mouth, "I'll crawl. I'll beg," he whispered and pursed his lips against yours, "I'll do anything," he moved his body closer to yours, "just consider it," he whispered and placed a particularly gentle kiss to your already buzzing lips, "please baby."

You couldn't help yourself any longer and you involuntarily twitched your lips against his before you felt yourself being completely engulfed by him. The passionate kiss you shared was soft and bittersweet, reminding both of you of what had been.

His hands were caressing your neck and hairline and he hummed into your mouth as he savoured the feeling of finally having you kiss him back. "Fuck I've missed this," he gulped when he broke away and put his forehead to yours, his hand still on your cheek, "does this mean you'll at least consider it?"

"I'm still angry with you," you whispered without really answering his question.

"I know, love..." he caressed your cheek, "I was stupid," he searched your face, "it was a stupid mistake."

"Don't reduce it to a stupid mistake, Rafa," you whispered.

"Poor choice of words," he mumbled, "what I mean to say is that I hope you can forgive it," he placed a soft kiss to your jawline, "- forgive me."

"Even if I did forgive you, how do you expect me to ever trust you again?" You said quietly, and you knew that you couldn't dance around the elephant in the room any longer. "Rafa you had another girl's lips wrapped around your dick not even twenty-four hours after crying in my arms at the airport," you said with a heavy heart and watched him cringe his face at the harsh truth, "twenty-four after you'd sworn you'd do anything to make our relationship work despite the distance."

Rafa was still wincing when he spoke, "not that it's any excuse at all but I was exhausted and drunk and heartbroken," he croaked, "I had just left the love of my life behind in California... and this other girl was suddenly there and she got me high as balls and she-" he sighed without finishing his own sentence, "trust me when I say that it was the worst night of my life," he closed his eyes in a sad attempt at holding the tears at bay.

"Well at least you got a nice blowjob out of it." You smiled humourlessly, "I just wound up with all the lies you threw in my face."

"I never lied to you..." he mumbled, "I came clean as soon as you confronted me."

"How big of you!" you scoffed.

"Baby... I didn't tell you because I was so embarrassed," he gulped, the tears now evident under his green irises, "I wanted to throw myself off a cliff! I knew that if I told you, it would be the definite end of us," he looked at you with huge, bloodshot eyes, "I couldn't do that."

"I need you to understand that the worst part of it wasn't that you cheated on me. The worst part was that you pretended that nothing had happened at all," you couldn't tell whether the tears you felt in the corners of your eyes were from being angry or sad, "Imagine how dumb I felt when Diggs finally broke down and told me what you'd done," you said and Rafa suddenly couldn't hold back the tears any longer either.

"I wanted to tell you. Trust me, I wanted to," he sobbed.

"You had three weeks to say something to me for fuck's sake!"

"I'm so sorry," he whimpered.

"We facetimed every night for three weeks and you didn't say anything! You made a complete fool of me!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" his eyes fixed at his own feet.

"Rafa, look at me!" you said in a harsh tone of voice.

Immediately, his red eyes found yours. He looked as ashamed of himself as he possibly could, "I was a coward," he whimpered, "-and I knew didn't deserve you."

"Then what makes you think you deserve me now?" You said coldly.

"I have spent the last three years trying to forget about you and what happened but no matter what I do, you still linger in the back of my mind. Even after all this time you're the only one I can ever see myself with. I always return to you. On sleepless nights, you're dancing on the back of my eyelids. I see you in other girls when I pass them by on the street. You're in all my poetry. All my songs. I think about you constantly. Maybe I don't deserve you but I at least had to try."

"Rafa you broke my heart," you looked him dead in the eye and he visibly gulped, "you betrayed my trust and you did it in the most despicable way I could ever imagine. It's been three years and I still cannot believe that you of all people would do that to me. You were my ride or die."

"I can still be that," he said desperately, clinging on to the last bit of hope he had in him, "I'm still that guy! The guy who cheated on you that wasn't me! I wasn't myself! I'm aware of the agony it caused, and trust me: I've learned from my mistakes," he looked at you resolutely before he whispered, "I'm still your ride or die."

His words made your stomach hurt and you felt the heat rise throughout your body as your throat clenched tightly together. You felt suffocated and stood up from the bench so fast that black spots distorted your vision. "I can't do this!" you said desperately, "it's too much!"

"Okay," he gulped, looking up at you with desperation written across his face.

"I have to go back to the party. Nat expects me to be there for her."

"Alright," he gulped. He was having a hard time concealing his obvious disappointment.

"Don't look at me like that!" you whimpered, "what did you expect? That you could shed a few tears and everything would be alright again?"

"No, of course not..."

"Then don't look so fucking disappointed! You're making me feel like the bad guy and I haven't even done anything!"

"I know," he gulped.

"Yet you still think a drunk conversation erases everything? That I will take you back just because you're feeling sorry? You obviously don't realise the damage you caused."

"Then tell me!" He too stood up from his seat, "I want to make things alright again," he pleaded.

"I don't need you to make things alright again! I was doing just fine before you showed up!"

"Okay, I'm sorry," he sheepishly picked at his own elbow, "I just thought that maybe you felt the same way about me."

"I don't want you back!" You said roughly.

As soon as the harsh words had escaped your lips, you could see the heartbreak on his face; his cheeks paled, his lips quivered, a single tear left his right eye as he looked away. He ran his hand over the corners of his mouth, unable to look directly at you, "right," he said as a fresh set of tears formed in his eyes, "I'm sorry... I - uh - I had to try,” he sobbed although he was fighting to hold his voice steady, “I - uhm - I don't know what to say…”

"Don't say anything..."

"...so this is it?" His eyes found yours, "...for good?"

You nodded slowly but didn't say anything.

You watched how he opened and closed his mouth repeatedly without any words escaping him. He looked flustered, panicked almost when you turned around and stepped away from him. You could hear him panic-shift around behind you but he still didn't talk. He had probably expected you to take him back with open arms - anything but this!

Good. He deserved to fry a little.

And maybe you'd call him tomorrow. Just maybe.

[the-glorious-evolution-fanart]

What are your least favorite parts of the 2016 lore rework? And if you had the power to remove/change those parts, how would you go about doing so?

The parts I like the least are those which alter Viktor's personality either without good reason or to illogical behaviour!

Maybe someone thinks it's cool to give Viktor an amazing wunderkind status by having him revolutionize Zaun's industry before he even enters college. Before age 19. In my opinion that's an overkill because it does nothing to hype up his actual achievements. Guess what, his inventions becoming apparently widespread in Zaun are never mentioned again in 2016. lore. Which means that bit was added just for flair and instantly forgotten. And it was added for only one other reason:

To show how Viktor apparently since birth didn't like human errors and viewed them as inferior for some reason. This was never present in his original characterisation. Why did the writers put this in 2016. lore? Did they think that was a logical reason to *explain* why Viktor turned himself into a machine? But not only does this undermine Viktor's original character, it also forgets that he actually had a very well defined reasons why he originally became the Machine Herald - it was a means to an end for him. He built his inventions into himself to prove his brilliance and to ensure credit for them could not be stolen again. Was this deemed too complex of a reason for average League player to understand by the 2016. writers? I don't know and I have no insight. I can only speculate.

2016. lore takes every opportunity to show how strange Viktor was, how he detested human involvement in systems and avoided "uncertainty". This in my fully honest opinion is a very poor reason why he would turn into the Machine Herald. Blitzcrank gained sentience, something characteristic for humans, the very thing which Viktor is supposed to dislike in 2016. lore. Yet he tries to replicate Blitzcrank's sentience (and fails.) Remember, in 2016. lore he didn't even create it, it arose from a Brackern crystal. Remember his wunderkind status? Yeah I guess that's out the window. The character handling is lopsided and it doesn't move into good development for Viktor.

It moves him into a full villain with good intentions, depending on how you'd define his intentions.

2016. lore has him consider removing free will from humans a good thing for them. He doesn't experiment on himself first; he experiments on dying patients (granted to try to save them, but giving this reason still clashes with his overall depiction making it feel like it's just what the narrator is insisting.) And in the end he gives kill orders and sends drugged thugs and robots to ransack Jayce's lab with disregard for human life. Then this is contradicted by how well mannered he is towards Naph, the kid in his colour story. But I'd like to point out how Silco in Arcane also acted nice to little Powder when he found her, viewing her as a tool for future use. The fact that he ended up viewing her as his daughter is another thing.

It's a mystery if Viktor can catch feelings in 2016. lore and that's touted as the prime angst target. What do we see in original lore Viktor however? Anger, frustration, pride, happiness. He never removed his own emotions, that's a false reading in my opinion. He was rid of what he perceived as his emotional weaknesses - he was no longer shaken, depressed to the point of self-isolation and so on.

And lastly there's Jayce. A character so irrelevant to Viktor's own story that he didn't even exist when Viktor was made x) I personally am not a fan of friends to bitter enemies as it's overdone in media I consume, but more importantly it eats away precious focus. It drags the reader into wondering about "will they won't they" about Jayce and Viktor, and kicks all the fundamental characteristics of Viktor's person somewhere into a dark corner. This is not good.

~

In essence, if I could I would just stick to original lore. 2016. lore merged Piltover and Zaun and forced Zaun to just be Piltover’s slums. As consequence I think most of their champions suffered to become vessels just to support this worldbuilding. But if I had to salvage the 2016. lore, I’d remove any descriptions saying Viktor viewed human involvement as problematic. I’d remove him obsessively working as a child. I’d have him still attend Zaun’s college of techmaturgy then as a transfer student meet Jayce in Piltover. Later as a PhD student back in Zaun create Blitzcrank, suffer a mental breakdown because Pididly stole credit and none of Viktor’s colleagues stood on his side to verify. In the end Viktor would become the Machine Herald and then start helping unfortunate Zaunites. I would remove his patients dying, his technology being described as only for the desperate. He would enter conflict with Jayce because Jayce refused to give him the arcane crystal.

[coolfire333]

Tasque Manager is weird in general: She shares the same element to Spamton Neo and Spamton’s items all can defend against her as they ward off cat element attacks, She’s the only other one to know or is aware of Jevil besides Spamton and Seam with her reacting to Jevil’s items, She has a voice that can be heard in battle which only the secret bosses and Rouxls who’s also weird himself can do

Yeah, I'm very interested to see what happens with her with the next release of the game! It would still be cool if she was just in the background but she has a lot of weird things surrounding her so I hope that we either get better ideas as to how she's able to do some of these things, or maybe she'll keep getting weirder and it'll just spawn more confusion

The whole thing with certain items protecting against her and Spamton's attacks is still so strange, I remember reading someone else's idea that they share the same element because the element is "order" and I liked that idea a lot. I don't have anything new to theorize in response to that, so I'm just gonna jump to the other weird things about her

Seam knowing Jevil is normal since they're both living in the same dark world, and it's reasonable to assume that since both Spamton and Jevil were given knowledge the average darkner shouldn't possess, they might have learned about each other through whatever channel gave them that info. Maybe they'd even talked directly to each other, maybe there was a mediating third party, or heck, maybe Spamton was told about Jevil but not the other way around.

Kind of thinking off of that point, if the only way for darkners to communicate between dark worlds when a fountain isn't opened is to speak to that weird source that Jevil and Spamton spoke to, then if Tasque Manager knows more than she's letting on she's doing a great job of keeping her sanity.

If she didn't speak to the mysterious source directly, the only other explanation that makes sense at this point is that she learned about Jevil from listening to Spamton, but even that's weird because she never references Spamton in game.

Yeah, they probably both lived in the mansion at the same time, but Spamton is...Spamton. I can't imagine seeing Spamton's bigshot arc firsthand and not wanting to at least be like "that guy was weird" to someone else. Swatch and one of the swatchlings comment on Spamton without being directly asked about him, so why not Tasque Manager?

Speaking of Swatch, Swatch knows a lot about Spamton (and about the light world...their contact with lightners and the whole neo body thing is bizarre and moderately worrying too but that's a whole other can of worms). Swatch seems close enough to Tasque Manager that they might have told her info about Jevil coming from Spamton, but once again there's the other oddity of Swatch never mentioning Jevil themself.

This is totally just me tossing out ideas but your whole thought about Rouxls also being weird in ways that suggests there's more going on with him makes me wonder if Tasque Manager is like the "Rouxls" of the cyber world. She works directly under her dark world's monarch, not much is known about her, and only a few characters from her world directly mention her...these exact same things are true with Rouxls too

Maybe she'll get to come along in the next chapter (despite Rouxls turning to stone I don't expect him to be happy staying behind either so maybe he'll come too). Other than that I guess I'm just excited at the idea that we'll get to see her again!

[cinnamonest]

I got these and more asks regarding the post from last night so I wanted to elaborate and explain some things, and also make another point about the anniversary thing and clarify for anyone confused. After this I promise I'll shut up about this lol sorry

1) yeah please do NOT come after the VAs for any of this, not even the actual developer side either is at fault. This is largely an issue with the PR and marketing and higher up people. It's really awful that some people are harassing people who have no responsibility here. And thanks to the original asker's reply, I feel like I'm really bad at conveying my thoughts so I tend to overexplain lol, but thanks that means a lot.

2) I have seen people confused on this so if you didn't already, you should know that this isn't just about the anniversary so much as the anniversary was a final straw. While Honkai has similar rewards/exchange for irl money as genshin, mihoyo itself has some of the worst in comparison to other gachas from other developers. Games like Arknights, Granblue, Azur Lane, Dragalia Lost, hell even a cutesy casual gacha app like LoveNikki have much better real money to game currency ratios, huge anniversaries where they give out tons of free shit, and much more generous systems (such as Arknights giving free 10 pulls with a lot of events/new characters/etc). All despite being smaller, less profitable games. There's major glaring issues with the game that have gone unresolved for a long time despite people asking over and over to change it. It's a combination of the rewards, general stuff, and mihoyo's refusal to solve certain issues for a long time that has people upset.

In any industry, any company is going to be held to the standards set by the mainstream industry, which is what is happening here. It is natural to hold a company to it's competitors for comparison and expect them to match standards, especially when the company that is lacking is the richer one and could easily meet the standards if they were willing to.

This is especially true for people who put money into the game. Due to the nature of gachas/online games, companies that produce these games are usually very adamant on rewarding players because whales/P2Ws, people who buy welkin and similar stuff, etc keep the game alive. When they do not match the standard of the industry, those people will feel unappreciated and go elsewhere eventually, which means they will not be able to afford much progress, then even F2Ps won't have content, and the game will burn out.

3) I probably should have clarified this last post but, I know review-bombing does seem like a kinda shitty tactic at first and I get that, but the reason people are doing that now is because mihoyo has completely ignored people complaining for months normally, and even now has started to censor and ban people, deleted critical posts, etc. Basically it's clear that mihoyo will just ban and censor criticism until people do something that actually forces them to listen, hence review bombing. Banning/censoring criticism is a really, really bad move for any company, historically speaking, it's insulting to players who keep the company afloat and results in losses. The review bombing + a lot of people uninstalled the app apparently + people who usually pay refusing to do so anymore, all of that hits them to where they can't afford to ignore it when people do it en masse. Because it will cost them money/players.

What people are kinda really upset about, even more than rewards itself, is just the silence and censorship on their end, which is more frustrating than the lack of rewards itself. I did have some sympathy for them up until they started censoring and deleting criticism on their site. At that point they're doing this to themselves by doing that.

4) Also, notably, this has worked with plenty of other game devs. You may remember the disaster that was Fallout 76. Bethesda also responded poorly at first, but spamming bad reviews and horrible coverage for Fallout 76 got Bethesda's attention, and they went the whole nine yards formally acknowledging the complaints and more or less apologizing to the whole world of players at E3 and even gave refunds, which is a very surprisingly humble thing for a company of their level of fame to do. The situation calmed down because people felt listened to, and while Fallout 76 was kinda a lost cause and didn't get fixed, the idea is that the refunds/open and honest communication restored the consumer base's relationship to Bethesda. That was a big blow, but Bethesda was willing to take that hit to maintain the sense of communication and mutual respect/value between players and devs.

In contrast, with mihoyo, what most people have been trying to beg/bargain for for an anniversary rewards is a free permanent banner 5 star, which would cost mihoyo essentially literally nothing.

So far they have responded by banning people for literal years on hoyolab, deleting posts, banning people from various social platforms etc, for criticism. Even putting whether or not that's ok aside, it's very unusual and not how game companies usually handle these things, and can only end badly for them.

Also mihoyo has had time to fix this -- it's not like Fallout 76 where they released the game and then the backlash came very suddenly and they had to scramble to prepare a response/plan and needed time. People have been complaining about these rewards for well over a week, so they could have easily fixed it by now if they had any intention of listening to people's complaints, especially considering the proposed fix of a single free permanent 5 star would be very simple and quick to implement.

5) also? it's extra unfortunate and really a marketing team issue bc they could have *profited* from giving more, if they opened rewards to new players as most gachas do. Genshin is incredibly popular right now, to the extent that a lot of people in the gaming/weeb sphere who don't play it, but still know of it, and even know a bit about it.

If you were someone who had never played genshin but had been considering downloading it for a long time, but just kept putting it off or forgetting, and heard "hey join now and you get free Diluc/Keqing," that would have convinced a lot of people to go ahead and join, and they would inevitably get sucked into the game and bring mhy profit. So it's a little strange imo that they chose not to do that, it would have been beneficial to them.

6) also, be aware that the glider we're now getting was supposed to be paid originally. Releasing it free now is damage control. It's also, well, a glider. Again, while it is pretty, it's paltry in comparison to the industry norm and does not have much use to most people.

Finally, criticizing all of this/the game/mihoyo does not mean people hate the game. I do see some people lashing out in defense of mihoyo and I get that bc they produce something we all really like. I really really do not want to see genshin become "that one game that was super popular for a year or so and then died" -- that's why people want improvements, because if improvements aren't made, that's where it's headed. What people are asking for right now is stuff that is very easily in mihoyo's capability and would not cost them much of anything. It would be one thing to ask them for something that would cut their profits or take time to develop, but that's not what's happening. People are asking for very little in the scope of their capabilities/the norm.

[waokevale]

Sanders Sides

-The Snow Queen AU-

[In this ver. The Frost King]

I just had to do this one after I reconnected with the book, yet...I made some major changes (big ones) for the roles to be more interesting and fitting, not just random I suppose.

[ If you haven't read the book, and wish to do so...I suppose it does quite matter for you to understand more but do as you wish from that point.........]

This version of the story is happening in the beginning of The 18th Century, and the characters who play the roles of the ones from the story, or have changed/replaced roles with suposedly similiar Input here are:

• Kai - Remus - (The boy who was the victim of the broken mirror’s fiendish shard.)

• Gerda - Roman (The main protagonist, i suppose)

[In the original story Kai and Gerda are not quite related but are as close as siblings can be, in this one although, of course the twins are, well...the twins.]

  • Instead of the Grandmother we have the father of the boys, that no one, literally no one would guess who plays the role of him.......Patton...!

• After that, there is also Logan, who gets the role of being The Frost King, The Cursed Frost King in fact (and by cursed I mean he literally pissed someone off [or broken their heart...] centuries before and they turned him into an ice dude)

• Speaking of curses and magic, Janus is the young Sorcerer instead of the Elder Sorceress from the canon story. And in this verse, let's say that Sorcerers are Immortal beings like vampires, because I felt like it, and let's say he's like... approximately 957 y.o

Janus in this version does not keep Roman for a while, because he is a really bored selfish prick, but because he is desperate and genuinely still sad from the time he lost his own kid (guess who that might be...If you know my obsession with familial anxceit you already know who I’m talking about, yes..) Virgil. 

[And no, Virgil is not dead as you see in the fanart, he is cute, alive and well.]

• Speaking about him, he is intended to replace the role of the robber girl. But in this version he was stolen from his Pa/Ma one Summer night...

He didn't age at all because...Well, I just said it, Janus is immortal and Vee in this one is actually his biological kid, so Virgil himself is like 53 y.o

• Pryce and Valery are the Prince and the Princess in the upper corner of the picture. (They are meant to be siblings here)

In the other corner are Thomas and Talyn playing the roles of these magical Finn and Lapp people. (I honestly have no idea how else to call them)

And the Crow and the Raindeer are Remy and Emile, because why not.

[To put it simply, like in the canon of TSS no one here is evil (well except the douchebags of Virgil's kidnappers, but they are not canon characters)]

Also before all of that, I wanted to have a little summery and explanation of some of the situations and short stories from this au

-Remus at first is quite a dork (heh) but really he is a pretty friendly and goofy kid, sure he is quite strange in general but he does show love and affection towards his family (well until the shard of The Mirror got stuck in his eye)

-Logan used to be a Prince from the 10th Century who supposedly felt no emotions and was like a stone husk, or a living statue as people used to say, which made his father desperate enough to the point, he literally set up a very great award for anyone who would make him.. feel something in that matter (The emotionlessness was more of an odd and quite unrealistic version of depression, as to be portraid) 

-There was one and only one person who succeded in the act and in which fell head over hills for him in the process actually (before the magic mirror of evils broke into pieces, one of the first ones then fell into his own eyes, destroying all the progress and hurting the one who loved him the most, who was the very exact person who freed him from his deep shelled abyss before.) 

[I’m not going to say who that was, you’ll have to figure it out by yourself, if you even bother, that is of course]

-Patton is a single father (wow)

He actually managed to find a way into the Garden of Enternal Summer when he was a kid and... As I quote myself:

 “ As a faint Memory, The boy saw the most Elegant and quite The most Beatiful man he’d ever seen, yet with a face halfly scarred with scales as if one cursen upon his soul, his outfit too as his posture spoke was vastly gorgeous, painted mainly in golden and black, but what was yet even more so intriguing, was what he held under his arms, ever oh so gently as it were a small and fragile feather. It in fact..quite was at some point, as it was a small child, very young actually from what it seemed...An Infant it was. The man then walked up to him and offered him his hand, one that wasn’t either of his main two, but nonethless he did so and shared one of the warmest of smiles too, no living creature, no beast nor no man would at this point decline and reject his proffer.”

[Yeah...I’m not good with poetry, especially as English despite it all is my second language...I’m even worse with my main one, so eh.]

Buuut he eventually left either way, so..

[Almost no one could find the secret pathway into the Garden of the Enternal Summer as it was well hidden behind the forests, lakes, caves and mountains. So Roman and his family were quite lucky at this point.]

That is all for now I suppose, I have only one question though...

-Roman is a very sweet kid who talks with animals and plants (but let’s make it a bit more realistic here, the plants do not respond in this version and he is confused but still continues to do so) He is although flawed because a character without flaws is like...A Pizza without the Sauce or a Knife without its blade, blunt and boring that is. Yeah...He has anger issues and is quite impatient and stubborn which is interpreted in both good and bad ways.

-Virgil was gifted with a flower magical hair clip (to help him whenever he was in trouble), a violet scarf and a guardian pet Goliath Birdeater Spider shafed like a Purple Pinktoe Tarantula to protect him from any dangers.

Do you think this is an interesting AU?

[ihopesocomic]

Tbh I’ve always preferred Watership Down over Felidae sense the former had better writing and characterization even if it is somewhat traumatic for anyone under the age of 10. Felidae went over the top with it’s shock gore and s*x scene. (Bobsheaux and Unshaved Mouse explained it’s problematic elements in they’re respective reviews better than I could honestly) keep in mind I only read the book Watership Down was based on and not Felidae’s and I have not seen or read The Plauge Dogs sooo. :/

tw discussion of sex and just general adult themes

While I don't approve of the random sex scene in the middle of the movie either, it did serve a purpose in the essence that it allowed Francis to realise how wild and dangerous the new breed of cat he had encountered was.

The book goes into more detail but, in the book, he describes how weird the behaviour of Nhozemphtekh is as opposed to other female cats he had courted in the past. So, while it's a bit tmi and random in the film and doesn't make for comfortable viewing, it is there for a reason. It's just not very well explained in the film and that is why it’s pretty problematic on its own.

There's also the fact that Felidae is essentially a psychological thriller but with cats. It's very much an adult book and movie. You could argue that children could maybe read Watership Down: I would never recommend Felidae as a book to a child. Not because it's violent but because it's very adult in its writing. Francis is a complex and thoughtful narrator and he tends to go on for paragraphs and paragraphs. This strange, rambling narrative works because... he's a cat. Cats are very proud, intellectual creatures in the world of Felidae and perhaps our world too, if you want to look at them in that way. They are philosophers.

Akif Pirinçci didn't just want to write a standard detective story with a cat but he wanted to construct an entire world and lore of the cats as a stand-in for our world. So, unfortunately, sex is part of that world.

Especially when eugenics is an important part of the killer's motive. It's ultimately unavoidable. I wouldn’t have minded the sex scene getting cut or obscured but then you still have the problem of the characters talking openly about things like sex, selective breeding and so on. Which still makes for awkward viewing.

As gross as it is, the sex scene is part of a mature, complex and violent story anyway. One that children should not watch. For God's sake, there's one scene where kittens are sliced out of the mother's womb so yeah, I feel super bad for anyone who got this in their Youtube recommends and thought it was going to be a Warrior Cats-style story because that's not the tone. At all.

Unfortunately, there wasn't really a ratings system on Youtube when this movie was first uploaded there so many kids were free to watch it and be traumatised. I remember one uploader putting an annotation before the movie started warning its viewers of graphic content but 1) it's not like kids are gonna listen and 2) annotations were eventually phased out some time ago.

This is why adult animation is a thing and why 'animation is just for kids' belief needs to die a quick death already. That hasn't been the case since the 60's/70's. lol

As adults, we can theorise why the scene was put in there like it was but children? Yeah, they're just gonna be grossed the fuck out and I don't blame them.

So, it’s a hard one for me because, yes, I feel it is there for a reason but, on the other hand, the movie was too easily accessible for those who were not its intended audience and it’s never a good thing when that sort of thing happens with any sort of adult content on the internet.

As for The Plague Dogs, I don't find it any more disturbing than Watership Down (which is quite a bit). Is it desperately sadder? Yes. The book at least has a nice ending that many prefer to hold as canon over the movie's ending because... damn, it's depressing as all hell. - RJ