#and kept adding a bunch of unnecessary detail

[frosteee-variation]

found a good few beads lying around and decided to make a little robot out of them!Probably going to paint it later after it dries, but so far it’s looking pretty funky.

I do not have the hand stability to work on any sort of delicate small scale but! Good enough!!

[shewhopats]

Thoughts on Overwatch character designs (Tracer edition)

The energetic and optimistic young lady that the franchise always seemed to be trying to frame as the main character.

Overwatch 1: Orange and blue (complimentary colors) are used to draw your eye to her important aspects. Her orange goggles make you focus on her eyes. The tights emphasize her sleek design. Also invokes the speed and fragility she is known for in the game. But most importantly, it makes you immediately notice her chrono-accelerator (I think that's what it's called). Even if you've never heard of the game, you know that the glowing device is something important. And I love her hair (it always looks ruffled up by the wind as she zips around) and her flicked up collar. The boring browns are kept in the background, so we can focus on what's important. The only things I don't like are the weird fins on her forearms (makes an otherwise sleek design look more clunky) and those plastic-looking crocs (I imagine they are suppose to invoke moon boots, but it does not match well).

Overwatch 2: Most of my original points still stand, and they fixed the awkward forearms and ugly shoes. But I don't like the extra bits of orange added to her fingertips, shoulders, etc. And i dont like the fonts and stripes added to her tights. It makes her design a bit too busy. When I look at her, my eyes are drawn all over the place. They also took away the scuffing you can see on her OG skin, which I thought added character. But worst of all, the made her chrono-accelerator, arguably the #1 aspect of her design and lore, smaller and less noticeable, and put a jacket over some of it. It's also surrounded by some weird white bits, and the blue is more faded and neutral as opposed to sharp and eye-catching.

Overall, I rate her OW1 skin as 9/10. Couple small things I didn't like, but it does an excellent job of hinting at her character and lore.

OW2 skin is just a 7/10. They fixed some things I didn't like, bit also added a bunch of unnecessary details that I feel takes away more then it gives.

[bikwin5]

pikmin 4 assorted thoughts

The Setting - we kind of already saw it in the initial teaser from september but 4's world seems to be set in a more human developed location with many items and structures remaining perfectly intact. i actually really like this choice and i think it sets it apart from the previous games pretty well.

some seem to not like it because of the notion that pikmin might be on an earth so far in the future where humans are extinct, or maybe just evolved into something else. but pikmin 2 and 3 always felt so anachronistic that i think worrying about finer details like that is unnecessary. the previous games were full of human made items that would absolutely not survive the millions of years implied by the continents shifting in pikmin 3-- hell, even 1 had cardboard boxes, not exactly an item known for remaining the same when left untouched in nature.

Ice Pikmin - they are shaped like snowmans which i think is FUNNY. they seem to have both utility for combat and progression, much like the rock pikmin that their body shape derives from. letting them freeze water pretty much lets them function like winged pikmin in that regard except even better, so it makes me wonder what role the pink guys are going to play. all 8 types of pikmin are on the key art btw if you even cared

now in terms of combat ice pikmin seem to function kind of like the ultra-bitter spray from 2. you can freeze a guy, it doesn't drop a body but it does drop nectars and stuff. that's neat. it also seems really strong which makes me wonder if they are going back to alternate methods of getting pikmin. ice pikmin's intro cutscene was in a cave so they might be candypop bud only again, who knows. i also saw some speculation that ice pikmin are upgraded blue pikmin since you never see them in the same place in the trailer but i can't help but wonder why they just wouldn't let you have both types. i think they just kept them separate for clarity's sake. there are also weird blue crystals scattered around the maps that people seem to think is related to them, i have no idea what they would be used for

The Dog - ok this is the one aspect i feel the most mixed about. it took them 20 years but they finally added the famed Nintendo Marketing Powerup to pikmin. it's right there in the key art, you can't tell me they didn't make this for hecking goodest doggo pupper appeal points. i think it's kind of weird you just have this big guy following you along with your pikmin squad in place of other captains but it seems you can also control it by itself, much like the grinch in the grinch game when he summons max to run around. ok maybe not but you get what i mean

dog's most significant looking thing is that you can bunch up pikmin on top of it. this makes me wonder if they're still ditching the c-stick controls of the gamecube titles and using this to control your squad instead. it could also be a replacement for the dodge whistle from 3 which is something i always forget about. it seems useful enough but i'd really have to see more to know if this dog is actually a fun mechanic or just needless fluff. one more thing is that i noticed the dog can react to enemies like getting knocked over by the long legs boss. i highly doubt the dog can die but if it could and you had to get a new one i would be genuinely shocked that nintendo would pull that. maybe at worst it would have a health pie like the leaders.

The Caves - the ones from pikmin 2 are back? i think? we saw so little of them it's hard to tell what purpose they serve. i noticed there was no treasure collecting in caves but there was a mission to rescue a castaway so that might have me thinking the caves will be smaller, more linear challenges that are focused on rescuing guys. i also think they won't be time-sensitive once again because they seem to be focused on fighting bosses. my guess is that these rescue missions in caves are the main story objectives while collecting treasure on the surface is what keeps you going, like how pikmin 3 had collecting fruit but finding bosses was the main objective. i could be so off the mark with this but who knows. also the empress bulblax is back, GO QUEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Characters - this is the aspect that i see the most divisive opinions on. and that's only expected honestly, olimar is a pretty recognizable guy and nintendo fans have a hard time comprehending a game series that has more than one protagonist. the pikmin 3 crew got some scrutiny upon reveal and now we have 15 year old kinnies who would die for them. anyway the interesting part is that we only saw gameplay of one leader (and the dog) while there's what seems to be a supporting cast at home base.

having only one controllable leader at a time seems weird to me especially considering how huge the maps looked. having 3 to use in pikmin 3 felt great considering the map size and the number of things to do but it concerns me a bit if the multitasking aspect were hugely diminished in this one considering that 3 did it really well.

as for the actual guys? they're alright. i think it's neat that we have a female main character this time around. or at least i assume she's female, i don't think nintendo has figured out that boys can have eyelashes yet. we also got shepherd (seen above) who is the first pikmin humanoid character with dark skin, also took nintendo long enough. i think their hairstyle is neat. and then there's dr. andonuts from earthbound and colin, the guy with the weird pinnochio ass face. he has grey hair but the face of a little boy. what's his deal

while there was only gameplay of one character i assume the other three will be playable at some point. i say this because we saw footage of the onion and ship pod leaving the base with pink hair and dog while the other three stay behind. which i guess brings us to the last bit of the trailer

The Night Time - this is the thing that's been in pikmin fan ideas for years. it seems for once you can actually explore the surface at night with nocturnal predators to boot. going off the last point i think the crew that gets left behind will have to fend for themselves, which is interesting as they would be both pikminless and dogless in this situation. this makes me wonder if night time is a different sort of gameplay style like a challenge mode where you have to find pikmin in ways other than growing them. we also saw glowing bits of rocks that people have likened to star bits, maybe those will be involved?

i also can't help but wonder if the night time gameplay is every night or only at certain key moments. having to alternate day and night all the time seems a bit cumbersome unless there was something that integrated the two styles of gameplay together really well, but as it stands i think night time will be reserved for special interactions.

Final thouts ummmmmmm its pikmin. there was a lot of really nice stuff in the trailer even if i'm skeptical of some of it. the controls seem to be a lot like 3 deluxe which is good, i like how that port revamped the targeting system. i think "ICE PIKMIN" are neat even if they're the only new type. it makes me wonder how the other types on the box are going to be incorporated into everything.

[twilitty]

Ok forgive me for the essay, but I'm thinking about the story of the Chief's wife in Eclipse (and how Bella mimics it.) And like...ok. I would normally dismiss fatally stabbing yourself to draw blood (vs just pricking your finger) as a stupid, edgy detail added for drama yknow?

But knowing Stephanie's...biases...it just feels really ugly. Like the implication that a grown ass woman in a leadership position was incapable of acting under pressure without killing herself?...While a hormone-ravaged, mentally unstable teenager who kept trying to die (badly) just months prior handled the situation better?

Like..why not have the Chief's wife also just cut her arm? It would be easier (it takes a lot of force to stab thru your own abs,) quicker, and the same goal would be accomplished. It made no sense for Stephanie to fridge this woman and it's honestly smelling a little Mormon to me.

Hello Anon!

Apologies for it taking me so long to get to this! Alright, let's dive in...

First, I completely agree with your assessment. If it was any other form of media I would right that off as the author trying to be edgy and add some depth to the story. But, as you said, knowing this authors biases it's likely safe to assume that this was added into the story with some level of prejudice.

We can see a similar trend taking place with the other Indigenous characters in the Twilight Saga. There is unnecessary amounts of trauma and hardship for these characters, and the white characters seem to have it much easier despite also being supernatural.

The vampires (white) don't experience the trauma of having to turn into a ginormous wolf and fight to protect your community. The vampires may not always enjoy their current situation (e.g., Rosalie disliking immortality and it's implications on her inabiliy to have biological children), but they do not have to continue to re-experience the trauma of it every single day.

The Wolves (Indigenous) are immediately isolated from friends and family- depending on whether those individuals are aware of the Wolves or not. They then undergo massive bodily changes that have them look nearly a decade older than they actually are. We have fifteen year olds who look twenty five, you cannot tell me this isn't at least a little bit prejudiced.

The physical aging in such a short period of time allows for Meyer to villanize these youths without feeling as though she is villanizing a bunch of children. "These Wolves are volatile and dangerous! They all look 25 so I can totally place this judgement on them, it's not like they are teenagers with hormone changes and a completely unstable social and family life due to their newly supernatural traits!" See what I'm saying?

I could go on about this for ages, just comparing and contrasting how the Indigenous characters are constantly receiving all of the hardships that the white characters don't have to experience.

So, yes, I fully agree with you and your views on the Third Wife story. I believe that this is just another example of Meyer placing trauma and harm on Indigenous characters. If this story instead had a white individual having to make this decision, I doubt it would have had the same outcome. AND, when Bella (white, main character, basically just Meyer's characterization of herself) goes to act in a similar way to the Third Wife she acts in a way that minimizes the harm to herself.

She gets to act selflessly and still live to tell the tale.

All in all, thank you for sharing your thoughts! Feel free to jump into my inbox anytime!!

[rubysunnday]

artemis and apollo

Requested by Anon - Hello! I love your bridgerton sister fics! I totally get if your too busy with requests but I would love a fic where the sister is put in some kind of danger (a guy is harassing her or something) and her big brothers save the day

A/N: this isn’t a part of my 1.5K celebration but I’ll shove it in with them. I throughly enjoyed writing this.

It was terrifying.

Eloise was with her - and complaining about it every other second - but that didn’t change just how terrifying it was.

Everyone was looking at her.

Which, considering she was a Bridgerton and was, apparently, the ‘Diamond’ of that season, was understandable. 

It was still terrifying.

“They’re not going to eat you, Y/N,” Colin whispered, a cheeky smile on his face as he leant closer to his sister.

“They might,” Y/N replied, shifting fractionally closer to Colin. She felt safer with her brother’s around (mainly because they intimidated any man who came within five feet of her). “Men could be predators. In fact, I think they are.”

Colin chuckled and grabbed her hand. “Stop panicking. I won’t leave your side, ok?”

“Unless Mother makes you,” Y/N replied, ever the pessimist. “I just... I don’t trust people I’ve never met. Especially men I’ve never met before. It’s a woman thing,” she added, noticing Colin’s slightly blank look. “I trust you and Anthony and Benedict to look out for me but once I’m engaged in a dance with a man, there’s no escape.”

Colin nodded. “Message received - do not leave you alone with strange men and do not let you dance with strangers.”

Y/N elbowed her brother in the stomach and he let out a grunt that turned a few heads. Colin coughed but straightened his waistcoat and cleared his throat.

“I think that was slightly unnecessary,” he muttered.

“I disagree,” Y/N replied haughtily. “I think it was entirely deserved.”

Y/N let out a soft sigh and tried not to let her disappointment at being forced to attend the ball obvious.

“Oh, hello,” Colin whispered into her ear. “Prince Nikolai is coming this way.”

Y/N perked up. Prince Nikolai was a distant nephew of Queen Charlotte and, perhaps, one of the sweetest men she’d ever met. Whilst Y/N and Nikolai had reached an understanding that neither one wanted to marry the other, they were still good friends and often danced with one another at balls to pass the time.

“Miss Bridgerton, Mr Bridgerton,” Nikolai greeted.

Y/N curtsied. “Your Royal Highness,” she said, standing up. “How are you tonight?”

“I’m very well, thank you Miss Bridgerton.” Nikolai looked at Colin. “I was wondering if you I could do you the honour of being your first dance tonight?”

Y/N smiled and nodded. “Of course, Your Royal Highness.”

Y/N took her arm out of Colin’s and accepted Nikolai’s. She gave her brother a brief, fleeting look as she headed for the dance floor and Colin gave her a reassuring smile in return.

“I do hope you don’t think me to forward, Miss Bridgerton, but I’ve heard some rumours regarding the Earl of Suffolk.”

Y/N closed her eyes momentarily. “Oh, yes. Him.”

The Earl of Suffolk was a presumptuous, prick of a man. He thought himself better than everyone else and assumed he could have whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

Y/N, being the diamond of the season, had attracted the Earl’s attention. He’d put himself forward as a potential suitor and had even proposed and whilst a more naive girl than Y/N would be attracted to his title and money, Y/N suspected something wasn’t quite right with the Earl.

All it took was Anthony and her mother to ask around before discovering that the Earl’s ex-wife had died under mysterious circumstances two years previously. They'd only been married a year and it was rumour that his wife was barren.

Anthony had immediately put his foot down and refused the Earl’s proposal. Y/N had been grateful for her big brother but with the Earl still lurking around - and apparently very angry at the Bridgerton's - Y/N dreaded running into him.

“Did I speak out of turn?” Nikolai asked, looking at her in concern as they slowly danced around the room.

“No, no,” Y/N said, shaking her head. “My brother, Anthony, took control of the situation but something tells me that the Earl isn’t going to give up so easily.”

“If there’s anything I can do to assist you, please let me know,” Nikolai said, flashing a smile at her.

The song ended and Y/N smiled at him. He escorted her off the floor but was immediately overwhelmed by the debutantes and their mothers.

The mention of the Earl of Suffolk had put Y/N back on edge. She kept to the side of the room as she tried to make her way to her brothers, keeping her head down and hiding amongst the numerous guests.

She spotted Benedict in the corner with Eloise and turned to go in his direction when she spotted the Earl obviously looking for a Bridgerton. He spotted Benedict and began marching over to him with a furious expression on his face. Not wanting to be caught up in the argument that was sure to follow, Y/N turned on her heel and headed outside onto the terrace.

Outside was significantly cooler than inside. The sun had only just set and the moon was lighting up the terrace in a cool glow. Dotted around the terrace were numerous fire pits that lit up the gardens and provide enough light for an unchaperoned walk around. There were also a few footmen and servants outside including a lone violinist who was playing a soft tune.

Taking a chance - and assuming she would be watched by the few people and servants outside - Y/N descended the stairs to the garden and walked around it.

It didn’t have tall, sprawling hedges, merely short ones dotted with flowers or bunches of holly. There was a beautiful statue of Artemis set in the middle of the rose garden and Y/N found herself staring up at it in admiration.

Y/N and Colin were both big fans of the Greek mythology. Colin, being a man, got to study it in detail at university and upon his arrival home had imparted everything he knew on to his younger sister.

The two had spent hours together reading numerous stories and staring at paintings of the gods and goddesses.

Y/N had found herself relating to Artemis. The goddess of wild animals, the hunt, chastity and childbirth, Artemis had become a symbol of protection to Y/N and she’d tried to model herself on the myth.

“Miss Bridgerton, there you are.”

Y/N froze. She closed her eyes and forced herself to turn around and look at the Earl of Suffolk.

“My Lord,” she said, forcing herself to curtsey to the man. “What can I do for you?”

“I wondered if we might have a word?” The Earl said, stepping closer. “It’s just... your brother -”

“The matter is settled, Your Lordship,” Y/N said, stepping back. “My brother made my wishes, and his, very clear to you.”

The Earl tilted his head. “Do you think yourself... better than me?”

Y/N sighed softly, not wanting to take the bait and incite the man. “I think I should head back to the ball.”

She tried to walk past him but he snatched her wrist and pulled her to a sharp halt.

“Let go of me!” Y/N exclaimed, trying to pull away.

“You will marry me, Miss Bridgerton,” the Earl snarled, pulling her closer. “Because you will have no other choice.”

Y/N felt herself panicking. Panicking so much she wasn’t sure what to do. She tried to wriggle out from his grasp but his grip was tight and painful.

The Earl held her tight against him and Y/N did the only thing she could think of.

She kicked him in-between the legs.

The Earl grunted and immediately let go of her as he fell to his knees.

“Y/N!”

Y/N turned around saw her three brothers running towards her from across the garden. She quickly made distance between herself and the Earl and all but flung herself into Anthony’s arms as he reached her side.

“Are you alright?” He asked, looking her in the eye.

Y/N nodded even though her entire body was shaking. “Yes, I am now.”

Anthony nodded and gave her a quick squeeze. He handed her over to Colin as he and Benedict approached the Earl with matching steel cold looks on their faces.

“Are you sure you are alright?” Colin asked, tilting her head up to check she wasn’t injured.

“I’m fine, Colin,” Y/N promised, resting her head on his chest. “A little shaken but still in one piece. He didn’t get far enough to do anything,” she added.

Colin hugged her to him tightly and kissed her head. Y/N turned her head slightly and glanced behind her at the statue of Artemis.

The sound of a fist hitting someone’s face turned her attention back to the Earl and she tried not to look too pleased at the beating his face had taken from her two brothers.

“Come on,” Anthony said, shrugging his coat off and wrapping it around Y/N’s shoulders. “Let’s go home.”

Y/N reached over and grabbed Benedict’s hand as Anthony guided her across the garden and towards the side gate. Her three bodyguards protected her from anyone who was watching and soon they were walking down the front stairs to their carriage.

Benedict helped Y/N in and then sat on her right, Colin on her left. Y/N, who usually nagged her brothers about personal space and forced them to sit opposite her, said nothing. She shifted down in the seat and dropped her head on to Benedict’s shoulder, pulling Anthony’s coat tighter around her shoulders.

Anthony climbed in and sat opposite them with unhidden fury on his face. He glanced at his sister and it all disappeared, replaced by a soft and concerned expression.

Y/N smiled at him and nodded once. She reached out her foot and bumped his leg with her toe, reassuring him a bit more.

Benedict moved fractionally closer to Y/N and she felt herself feeling ever so thankful for her brothers.

Just like Artemis had Apollo, Y/N had Anthony, Benedict and Colin to protect her until her dying day.

[tsuki-here]

So I had a bunch of ideas for a possible Transformers Prime fanfic where Starscream, Soundwave, and Knockout switch sides because I just want them to be on the good side and maybe actually happy, but unfortunately I have way too many fics already and haven't touched them in forever, so here's just a bunch of bullet points of some of the ideas I had instead, in no particular order

Soundwave

-He's the only Decepticon that has no issue befriending the kids, likely since he respects all lifeforms ever since he developed close bonds with his minicons, which most Cybertronians discredit just because of their size.

- He bonds with Miko through music, Raf through computers and programming, and he just likes that Jack is quiet, easy company. He plays video games with all three of them on weekends

-Miko abuses Soundwave's massive databanks any time she has a research project or essay for school and convinces him to write her papers for her. Her teachers all know she didn't write them, considering he goes way overboard on the details, flowery language, and never makes anything less than 20 pages, but they also can never catch her on plagiarism, so she never gets in trouble and always gets 100% on the assignment

-He never fully forgives Wheeljack for planting a grenade in Lazerbeak

-He and Ratchet both insist on helping the kids with their science projects, though it's become more about trying to outdo each other than actually helping the kids. This always ends in something far too extravagant and teetering on the edge of deadly

-He doesn't break his vow of silence to Megatron for several months after joining, and even once he does, he still communicates through recordings and images on his visor more often than not. It's a mix of old habits, and he also just finds it more comfortable and familiar

-Miko introduces him to the social media side of the internet which he had always glossed over as unimportant before. Now he uses memes, terrible grammar, and text emojis as part of daily life. None of the other bots understand what hes trying to say half the time. Miko couldn't stop laughing off and on for about an hour the first time he displayed "uwu" on his visor. Jack nearly choked when Soundwave said in his deep voice, completely dead serious, "look at all them chickens". Jack didn't have the heart to tell him the were seagulls. Ratchet always catches him watching cat videos on the base's main computer. Miko is very proud to be the cause of these changes

-Soundwave and Ratchet end up arguing over use of the base's main computer fairly regularly. Of course, Ratchet feels it's still his responsibility and is still a bit wary of the ex-Decepticons for a while, and Soundwave is a busybody who constantly wants to be doing something. It's become an unofficial race to see who can open a ground bridge first whenever one's called for. Both are smug and rub it in the other's face when they do it first

-He doesn't trust Optimus for a long time and is upfront about the fact that he doesn't. No one's really sure when this fact changes, since he was always polite and courteous to him anyways, but Optimus eventually won over his loyalty

Lazerbeak

-Though he rarely interacts with any of the others himself, he's still forms bonds in his own way through Soundwave's interactions with them

-He's very fond of Raf, and even detaches from Soundwave to spend time with him every so often

-He holds a grudge against Wheeljack much like Soundwave does

-The Autobots still regularly forget to refer to him as his own being, often calling him an "it" or "a drone". Though he doesn't mind much, Soundwave gets overprotective on his behalf, as well as Raf after they become friends, and even Knockout stands up for him from time to time

Knockout

-He takes a little bit to warm up to the kids, but once he does, he often watches TV with them or takes them out to drive-in theaters

-Miko once spilled a slushie on his interior at a movie and he didn't speak to her for a week

-He and Ratchet rarely get along. He thinks ratchet's too bossy, and Ratchet says Knockout's too difficult

-He goes out racing with Bumblebee and Smokescreen at least once a month

-He never really learns to get along with Bulkhead

-He likes Optimus's take on leadership more than Megatron's; the Decepticon leader was always too strict and rude

-Knockout eventually finds he can confide in Arcee about the loss of Breakdown, which he still was internally struggling to cope with, and she slowly opens up to him about her own grief over Cliffjumper's death. No one else knows they're basically counseling each other

Starscream

-He takes by far the longest to adjust to the Autobots, but he starts to make more steady progress once it finally starts to set in that it isn't any sort of trap

-He never really befriends the kids, but he does learn to not treat them as inferior beings after enough warnings and corrections from the Autobots [namely Optimus and Bulkhead]

-At first he tries to suck up to Optimus much like he would to Megatron, partially out of hoping to gain his trust so that he could always turn on him if it became necessary and partially out of fear of being punished for not being respectful and submissive enough. Optimus remains patient and friendly, hoping to ease him out of his instincts of always being in survival mode

-Optimus constantly has to remind him that calling him "lord" is entirely unnecessary, and expresses concern any time Starscream flinches or jumps around him. Starscream starts to feel internally guilty about the obstacles Optimus goes through for his sake, not that he'd ever admit to it. This guilt fades as he becomes more at ease and breaks out of the old habits Megatron had instilled in him

-Though no one would have expected it, Arcee is actually one of the first Autobots to really start giving Starscream a chance at friendship, after Optimus and Bumblebee. It started off simply because Knockout claimed Starscream was technically his best friend within the Decepticons, and she wanted to try to be nicer for Knockout's sake. She hadn't expected that Starscream would actually be nice in return, and made for a witty, albeit sarcastic, friend. Starscream, Knockout, and Arcee often end up on missions together from that point on, as they actually work very well in a group

I'm sure I could keep adding to this forever if I kept thinking for long enough, but yeah- Maybe one day I'll write a Transformers fic, but life is far too busy at the moment, haha. I hope at least someone found this interesting, or inspiring for a story themselves! Maybe I'll make a part two or other similar posts in the future

[daily-dose-of-imagines]

ʙᴀʀɢᴀɪɴꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴇᴀʟꜱ | 𝘏𝘢𝘪𝘬𝘺𝘶𝘶!! Hitmen AU! 19+ [Daichi x F!Reader] One-Shot | NSFW

Dedicating this one-shot to @heartbeat-art  for drawing my rendition of Daichi in this AU ;; This be for you bb! 

I literally feel like I gotta write Daichi to bring it full circle now man, I hope you all enjoy this and literally thank you precious bean, for inspiring me to write for my AU again man ;; I’ve never had anyone want to make art for anything I’ve written for and I jsut ahng;aoehgow;h I’m wallowing in feels --- ಥωಥ

TW; Manhandling ; Slight choking ; Dirty talking ; Just Daichi being a whole daddy--- I mean what  Σ(´・ω・｀) ; idk ahsoigaheroig I’m just plain old sinning

» » Admin Ko

»»————-　♔　————-««

A ping echoed throughout the empty foyer room. A lone figure sat glimpsing over the information provided as she couldn’t help but let a small chuckle escape her lips. Her form was seated rather comfortably in the large chair as her legs were pulled in tight to allow her chin to settle atop her knees as she finished the transaction and bargaining details on her end.

It was a corrupt. Something she should’ve never considered, but after the blatant jab to her company and the clear hit on her COO and CFO there was nothing else she could really revert to that wasn’t morally corrupt. 

“Besides...they were the one’s who started this game, and now it’s time to remind them who owns what.”

Dark (e/c) eyes narrowed at the mere thought of how her co-workers had been exterminated. Perhaps her enemies had hired the same hitmen, perhaps they didn’t. All she knew was that the planned meeting for details was within the next 24 hours, and she wasn’t going to miss a single thing. 

Her choice to step into the corrupt field was forced, though she thought it was unnecessary, the desire to rightfully bring vengeance for her subordinates reigned supreme. 

“They’re just a bunch of lecherous perverts anyways...”

Though at this point, she wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince herself that her choices were right; yet no matter what she thought now, the nail on the coffin had been slammed down with no remorse.

»»————-　➴　————-«« 

Simple and clean cut, he sat calmly within the well lit diner. Though for the price and bargain he was given, he had to admit he was rather surprised at the quaint meeting place that was set. He was used to the extravagant restaurants, the loud highly populated clubs, the dark sinister bars with their own shares of secrets, but a small diner? It was a first, and immediately his interests in the client had piqued. 

“Sawamura, correct?”

Soft, yet clearly pronounced, his attention fell onto the woman who approached the booth he was situated at. He offered a nod before gesturing to the seat before him. His deep bronze eyes focusing on her entire being as she settled in the booth across from him.

“Before we begin, I have to ask. Why here? It’s rather...”

“Different?”

A knowing smile formed on her lips as she waved a hand up for the waitress to swing over to take their orders. Her (e/c) never leaving his as a hint of mischief twinkled at him.

“Let’s just say I’ve been to many functions similar to this, and since it is my own I wanted a...change of pace, if you’d like to put it that way.”

The smile never left her features as she finally allowed her gaze to move from his own strong one as she looked up at the waitress, her order falling flawlessly from her lips before the woman turned to him.

Simply ordering a black coffee, the waitress left with the common phrase that their orders would be out shortly. Once out of earshot, he shifted to lean back, his eyes never leaving hers as he took in her calm stature as she met his gaze head-on. 

“I will say it is out of the norm, though not unwelcome. But let’s get to business, Shall we?”

“Ah yes, the order I have is simple. I understand that in your line of work you don’t necessarily care for the personal details so I won’t bore you with that, but I’m sure besides that you’re also wanting to discuss the payment methods, yes?”

“Eloquently said. You’re right on the dot Ms. (y/n). I have no qualms in your personal business, however I am rather curious over your bargaining chip you added. I will say, when that specific order came in my men were...more than shocked.”

A soft groan escaped his lips as he finally closed his eyes as he remembered how utterly chaotic that day had been.

“And? Are you opposed to it Sawamura?”

Her tone was sharp, quick witted as she tilted her head at him, the look of mischief never leaving her jovial (e/c) eyes as she watched him release a breath.

“No, not at all. Rather, I’m curious as to why you’d offer yourself. It strikes me as odd, and I can’t help but feel as though you’re aiming for something more than what is to be anticipated.”

With that, he leaned forward his gaze stormy and heated as he rested his elbows on the table, fingers intertwined with one another as he quirked a brow at her, almost as if teasing her to continue with her explanation. 

Meeting him halfway, she leaned forward, her body mimicking his own as she had a coy smile on her face as she gently rested her chin atop her intertwined hands. 

“Simple things really, after all I’m a woman who has desires, and I would’ve either changed the bargain if the person I was meeting wasn’t what I was expecting. As for that last statement...I’ll share that upon your completion of our deal.”

“Oh? And what was your expectations, Ms (y/n)?”

“A handsome, strong man who looks as though he could fuck me the way I want him to.”

The tension between the pair was high, amusement dancing in her eyes as his gaze practically darkened with heat and curiosity as he smirked. Though, with the sudden appearance of the waitress, the tension eased albeit slightly as the orders had been set down before them.

Yet neither broke eye contact, even as the waitress had asked if they needed anything else. 

“I believe we’ll be fine for the time being, right Ms. (y/n)?”

“Correct, I’ll wave you down if there’s anything we may need.”

Their voices overlapped one another smoothly, as if planned as she briefly broke their little staring contest to ensure that the waitress was completely out of earshot. Once she was, the young CEO relaxed and leaned back into the booth as she began to dig into her food, a little hum of joy escaping her lips at the first bite before she spoke once more.

“Well, do we have ourselves a deal Sawamura?”

Taking another bite, she took her time to chew the morsel before finally bringing her fiery gaze up to meet his own as she set one elbow on the table, and resting her chin against the palm of her hand as she waited patiently for his answer.

His response wasn’t immediate. Though he kept his gaze with hers, he only broke it momentarily as he grabbed the cup of coffee before taking a calm sip. A low sigh escaping him at the comforting cup before he raised his eyes to her own waiting ones.

“As long as you uphold your end of the deal and explain your ulterior motive after, then we have ourselves a deal. I’ll send you the results once it’s over.”

“Excellent. Your reward will be worth it. I guarantee it.”

»»————-　➴　————-««

It had been a hectic week. With working through the two deaths in the company and dealing with the publicity, she was ready for a nice glass of wine and a long night’s rest of the unnecessary stress that was given to her by the opposing corporation. 

At the last meeting she had met eyes with the CEO. His grimy eyes raking over her form, and the unnerving smug smirk on his face when the deaths in her company was mentioned in private. It had her utterly pissed off and hoping for the damn bastard’s execution even more.

And, to her surprise it came as a beautiful text message. Despite the unknown number, she knew exactly who it was.

xx-xxx-xxx-xxxx

Neutralized. 

Grinning from ear to ear, she felt the copious amounts of stress wash away. Though even to her, she wasn’t sure if she should’ve even felt this way. It was immoral, wrong. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to be upset. The amount of corruption and perverse things the CEO of her rival corporation had gotten away with was absolutely sickening, and finally he was gone.

xx-xxx-xxx-xxxx

8 p.m. xx/xx

375-1250, Sodeyachi, Ogawara-machi Shibata-gun, Miyagi

The response was simple, her eyes now hooded as she sent the message before getting herself up from her place on the couch.

“I suppose I should give him a treat.”

With that, she set her phone on the table before heading out to prepare for her visitor. 

»»————-　➴　————-««

The light knock at the door brought a sense of joy through her veins as she slowly got up from her seat on the couch. The room had been dimly lit, a glass of wine already downed and settling into the fiery pit of her stomach as she answered the door. The long transparent lacy robe she wore only added to her appearance as she gave her visitor a coy grin.

“Welcome, please. Make yourself at home.”

With that she shifted to allow the built man into the rented space as she closed the door behind him, locking the door. Though before she could turn to address him she was slammed up against the door, her thighs resting on either side of his waist as one of his arms coiled around her waist as he nipped at her ear.

A light gasp escaped her parted lips as her fingers found purchase against the deep royal blue dress shirt he wore as her thighs clenched around his sturdy waist. 

“Impatient, aren’t we?”

Though her words were light and wispy, the low growl in his throat had her shiver in anticipation as he planted a firm kiss to her jaw.

“You leave yourself looking like an entire treat for someone like me, and of course I’m going to take what’s due.”

“Then take it big boy...show me how badly you want it...”

There was no hesitation as his lips surged forth to claim her own. Passionate yet clearly skilled, his tongue dove forth as he swallowed every gasp and moan that escaped her lips. Her fingers tightening around the soft fabric of his shirt as his hands had slipped down to her thighs, caressing them lightly-- almost tauntingly before his fingers slipped past the thin fabric of the robe, and roughly grasped her ass as she was hefted up into his arms.

Another moan escaped her as his lips began to attack her neck. Unrelenting as each kiss left a mark on her skin. Each earning a groan of pleasure  from her as her fingers moved from his shirt to his hair as her fingers roughly ran through his hair, nails trailing down as a low moan was coaxed out of the large man, and the next thing she knew, she was thrown onto the bed. 

Though the sight gifted to her next was something she was sure she would desperately be wanting to see again in the near future. The grin that graced his features had her tauntingly spread her legs as she licked her lips. Though as he practically ripped his shirt off to reveal the mass expanse of muscle and unmarked territory to her, she couldn’t help but let out a sudden whimper as her fingers clutched tightly around the sheets beneath her. Practically ready to pounce onto the male before she was suddenly lying flat on her back, the robe doing well in restricting her movements as he seemed to pin down just the right areas to keep her in place.

“That desperate huh?”

The rasp and growl that coated his words as her softly groan before she tauntingly brought her head up to peck his jaw, though the action brought a large hand down to her throat, lightly squeezing as a spike of adrenaline surged through her. The dark hungry look in his eyes and the dominating aura he possessed had her practically sopping wet as she gyrated her hips against the heat that was pressed against her.

“Trying to ride my thigh now? Well aren’t you an impatient little girl...”

His taunting had her let out a raspy moan as he squeezed lightly once more, allowing his thigh to rub up against her throbbing cunt as she struggled to get air into her while alleviating the throbbing in her cunt.

“M-More...”

Desperate for more, she struggled to grasp his wrist as she felt her eyes roll into the back of her head at the immense sensations she was feeling, though had to bite back a cry as he pulled back. Vanquishing the rush she was feeling as he relented his hold on her. Confusion was written all over her face before he spoke once more. Heat flooding her cheeks as she couldn’t help but immediately do as he asked.

“Finger yourself for me, pretty girl. Let me see you prep yourself for when I fuck that wet cunt of yours.”

Leaning back, she did as she was told, her fingers daintily removing the thin piece of fabric that covered her as she began to slowly spread her legs side, her fingers slowly working their way around the juices that flooded out of her throbbing pussy before she began working and stretching herself for him.

As she did so, he slowly unbuckled his belt and began removing the last bits of clothes he had on. The look on his face practically having her forgo her assignment to just crawl over and take the hit man’s rock hard erection into her lips. 

“Stay and do as you’re told, pretty girl...”

The sheer amount of lust that coated his words had her gulping as she continued to stretch and fuck herself open for him, pushing as deep as she could as his gaze stayed strong on her.

“That’s it...stretch yourself good for me....gonna fill you and fuck that cute sopping cunt of yours...”

Another whine came from her as the thought of being filled flooded her mind, her ministrations slowing slightly before she was jerked back into the present as her hands were halted by a larger pair. Strong copper eyes bore deeply into her own before she was suddenly lifted up and set over his lap as he nipped at her neck.

“Work yourself on my baby girl...and before you even ask I’ve got protection on. No time to be a dad...”

Despite the comment, she couldn’t help but not care much as the comment really slipped by her thoughts before she slowly worked herself down onto him. His girth and size stretching her much more than what she had expected as she let out a sharp gasp as her fingers dug into his shoulders, marking up his skin as he eased her onto his cock.

“That’s right, good girl...you’re doing so well princess~.”

Gravelly and slightly slurred, his words began to jumble at the heat that was wrapped around him as he forced himself to wait until she had completely eased herself down onto his cock. Once settled, he gave an experimental jerk of his hips and she let out a shaky gasp and mewl as she pressed her forehead against his shoulder as she tightly clung onto him.

“Go on baby girl, let’s see you bounce.”

The teasing tone in his voice left no room for arguments as she shakily nodded before slowly moving herself up and down. The feel practically euphoric as she continued to quicken her pace, though when she thought she was about to tire out, the position had suddenly shifted and she was staring down at him, her body suddenly upright as he grinned cheekily at her before he jerked his hips up, helping her along before his fingers dug into her hips, steadying her only slightly as he began to meet her pace.

The coil of heat that formed between the pair grew even more as she felt her body begin to tense up. A string of curses left her lips as she tightened herself around him, before she came. Exhaustion hitting her soon after she felt him come straight after her. The bruising grip on her loosening as she felt herself lay on top of him in exhaustion.

At one point she had remembered laying on his chest, the next she was by his back was facing her as he seemed to be skimming down his phone.

“Mmmm...lay with me Sawamura...”

Broken and raspy, her voice was soft as she carefully got up to wrap her arms around him from behind.

“I believe I’m due for my explanation (y/n).”

“I suppose, you did fuck me rather well...I want a sort of business deal Sawarmura...finding other hit men can be so....annoying. Plus, I’ll be able to pay you in any way you want. Not a bad deal isn’t it?”

The silence that came after had her pouting slightly as she pressed her lips against his neck as he finally stopped scrolling through his phone to set it aside before turning to lay her down on the bed before laying next to her on his side.

“...I’ll discuss this with my team first--”

“I only want you.”

A light laugh came from him as he lightly flicked her forehead.

“Idiot, you think I’m going to share my client like this with those idiots? No. If it happens to work in your favor...then you can expect a message.”

“Oh? Then let’s hope that it works out in everyone’s favor~.”

»»————-　➴　————-««

Least to say, the next week she went in to work a brand new phone sat awaiting on her desk with a new message waiting for her.

xx-xxx-xxx-xxxx

What’s the next assignment?

[nose-bandaid]

the fragility of a petal

do you have any plan to write a sequel for camellia? i really love the plot and hope the story could be developed a little bit more where they become official then something angst happen (idk maybe something like a thirdwheel? lol) but they'll figure it out anyway

prince!Shinwon x princess!Reader | royal kingdom AU fluff + a little angst | 3k words

sequel to: camellia

synopsis: you can only go for so long without another tedious party in your schedule, but thankfully this time, you have your fiancé shinwon by your side to keep things interesting. however, your childhood friend seems to be wedging themselves into the equation, and now someone seems a little jealous...

a/n: my camellia anon,, for you !! thank you for being so kind and patient, i hope that this is what you imagined:) i was also looking back on camellia and was like wow,, my writing was quite something back then huh. i’m not so sure why i used stage names so i fixed it up here (except for hui though i think of it as a nickname),, so i’m sorry for the inconsistencies! maybe one day i’ll go back and edit camellia cause i’m a little unhappy about it idkidk BUT NOT TO TALK ABOUT THAT I’LL SHUT UP LOL ily and i hope you enjoy this<3

===== You found this situation oddly familiar as you were once again, standing in front of the mirror, checking out your outfit before entering the party.

But this time Shinwon was standing by your side.

“You look beautiful love, I promise.” He placed a gentle hand on your shoulder to pull you towards the doors down the hallway. “Stop worrying about it.”

You frowned a little at his words but allowed him to guide you away from the mirror. “Sorry, it’s just a habit I guess. I’m going to be seen by a whole bunch of people after all.” Being the daughter of the hosting family also didn’t do any good in helping you escape from the countless people who wanted to meet you.

“Well, if you keep your eyes on me, I’ll give you all the compliments you need! Just ignore the others.” He quipped loudly with a wink and held the door open for you to enter the ballroom. The music was already echoing within the large room, people milling about, chatter all around you.

“Gosh, why did I fall in love with someone so cheesy.” You laughed as you headed towards a less crowded section in a nearby corner. It was always nicer to not be surrounded by people who didn’t seem to have a sense of personal space. But then again, if you were caught up in dancing and laughing, you probably wouldn’t have cared as much about that either.

You and Shinwon didn’t get too far into avoiding the attention when you heard someone loudly call out your name, competing with the strings who were beginning to play their minuet and trio. Your head swivelled around, trying to find the source of the voice, but all you saw was a mass of colourful clothing.

“Y/n!” The voice called again, and this time, it sounded much familiar.

“Changgu…?” You muttered under your breath, eliciting a hum of interest from Shinwon.

And sure enough, there was Changgu, dressed in a tux — which was a mix of cream and white that suited him well — rushing towards you with a wide grin. Behind him was his father, walking leisurely to eventually join you guys as well (though he stopped for a moment to grab a glass of wine). Without even giving you a chance to register the situation, Changgu engulfed you in a big hug, almost tipping you over with all the energy.

“Y/n! I’ve missed you so much! How have you been doing?” He exclaimed after he pulled away to scan your face, eyeing every single detail.

“I’ve been doing great!” You smiled back. “How about yourself?”

“Oh, you know, same old, same old.” He rolled his eyes and returned to his bright smile. “But let’s not talk about me — it’s your party after all, and we don’t need that small talk. Anything special happen while we’ve been apart?” He then lowered his voice and added not so subtly, wiggling his eyebrows. “You didn’t run off and find a special someone, did you? You can’t do that to me.”

It took you a moment to find a response. You swore you sent him a message about your engagement months ago, but from the way he was acting right now, it didn’t seem like he had any knowledge of it at all. In the corner of your eye, you could see Shinwon cast a confused glance in your direction. 

Before you could respond, his father passed by to join in on the conversation. “It’s been so long since you guys got to meet, if you plan on marrying each other then we’ve got to plan more dinners like this. Though of course, a little more intimate where we don’t invite all the kingdoms over.” He joked with a hearty laugh. 

Oh. So they didn’t know about your engagement.

You chuckled along awkwardly as you watched him leave the conversation to go talk to another guest.

“He’s right, it’s been so long since we last met, we should do something together again! Like those ballroom classes, remember how we did that when we were little? We should take another class so that we can see each other often again. I love dancing with you.” Changgu rambled on excitedly and took your hands into his. His touchy antics typically weren’t unusual at all to you, having been best friends for as long as you could remember, you weren’t bothered by his love for physical contact. But today, your hands felt like they were on fire as he held them tightly, and it was probably because you could feel a certain someone staring at the two of you.

Shinwon spoke before you could. “Actually,” He put a tight grip on your shoulder and pulled you closer to his side, making Changgu step away from you a little. “Y/n already has a fiancé and the wedding will be happening this summer.” He declared boldly.

You saw the first sign of jealousy when his other hand clenched into a fist.  Now, Shinwon would never get physical, nor would he ever hurt a fly, but you could tell that he was doing so to relieve his anger. He had to do something to calm himself down.

“Ah…” Changgu stared at the two of you, mouth slightly parted as he slowly connected the dots. Then, that confusion morphed into a smile and he playfully nudged you. “You didn’t tell me you had something going on.”

“Did… did you not receive the letter we sent out?” You managed to stammer out.

“Hm? There was a letter?”

“Yes we sent one out a long time ago, it may have gotten lost I guess.” You weakly concluded. The Yeo family didn’t interact much with the other kingdoms — they hadn’t even gone to Shinwon’s party, and instead spent most of their time in the peaceful solace of the forests.

“Ah, oh well, it would’ve come to me as a surprise either way. So,” He shrugged it off and turned to look at Changgu. “You’re the man? What’s your name?” He held out his hand to shake.

“... Ko Shinwon.” He replied flatly, and firmly took his hand and squeezed it.

“My name is Yeo Changgu!” He responded back, seemingly unfazed by his cold attitude. “Me and y/n have been friends ever since we were little.”

It was a harmless comment, maybe a little unnecessary, and from the look on Changgu’s face, you weren’t sure why he found the need to say it, but his eyes still twinkled with friendliness. Shinwon, on the other hand, didn’t seem to take his statement the same way you did, and he tightened his grip on your shoulder.

-----

Shinwon seemed to lighten up a little bit when you busied yourself with talking to other guests and he kept a loose hand in yours, gently playing with it. Though wasn’t long before Changgu approached you again, now with a rose in his pocket and you silently wondered who he got it from.

“Would you care for a dance, my princess?” He joked but held his hand out in all seriousness for you to take. You hesitated, trying to peer into his mind before looking to your right to check on Shinwon, only to realize that your fiancé had already struck up a conversation with one of his friends. No matter how much you stared, he didn’t look your way. 

You huffed at his pettiness and gratefully took your friend’s hand. “Why I’m definitely up for a dance.”

The two of you swayed to the beat and you tried to get your mind off of Shinwon. You could tell he was starting to sulk a little bit and couldn’t stop the feeling of concern bubbling within you. But at the same time, his stubborn attitude unwillingly irked you a little and you wanted to push aside his unnecessary jealousy. No matter how much you tried though, the setting still reminded you of when you first danced with Shinwon. How he was the only one to understand you that day, how stunning he looked even with the mask on, how nice it felt to kiss him for the first time— 

“Ah—!”

Pulled out of your thoughts, you brought your focus back to Changgu and followed his shocked gaze to see your foot stepping fully onto his. That must’ve been a little painful.

“I’m so sorry, I got distracted.” You quickly apologized and fumbled a little as you tried to get back into the rhythm of the dance.

Your best friend lightly chuckled, though there was a slight hint of discomfort in his smile. “You haven’t changed a bit, have you?” He reminisced. “Always getting distracted during dances and stepping on people’s toes.”

He was right, ever since the beginning of your lessons, you found it hard to not get lost in your thoughts and had always ended up misplacing your steps or bumping into those beside you. As your go-to dance partner during those times, Changgu had always experienced that clumsiness first-hand, and recently, Shinwon was also starting to realize that for himself. Clearly, you only harboured so much love for dancing.

The music picked up its tempo, signalling the time to switch partners and Changgu bid you off with a happy wave. Spinning around, you almost bumped into someone else and looked up to see the one and only Shinwon who seemed just as shocked as you were.

You quirked an eyebrow. “Well, not going to invite your own fiancée for a dance?” You tried to create some sort of amendment with him through your joking tone but his eyes averted from your gaze as he licked his lips.

That was the second clue to his jealousy. He always played with his lips and looked away when he was distracted and thinking about something else. After an awkward beat, he brought his hands into position and pulled you onto the floor for a dance without a word.

In the midst of the music, your little dance was silent and disappointing to say the least. Usually, they were filled with stories and laughter — that aspect came naturally to the both of you. Though you still shared this quiet sense of heartfelt affirmations, there were still so many things missing. Like his smile. 

You wanted to draw out a smile from him so badly to ease your heart, but none of your efforts seemed to work and his posture remained rigid, strictly following the music like he was worried about others criticizing his skills. The dance continued like that until you heard your father calling the two of you to take your places at the dining table.

You gave Shinwon a quick peck on the lips before making your way to your seat where many other notable guests were already gathering. When you sat down, you spotted Jinho in the spot in front of you and gave him a small nod of acknowledgement. As the son of the neighbouring kingdom, he was a familiar face at your palace. He leaned onto the table and smiled sweetly. “Y/n, you’re looking beautiful as usual.”

As you returned the compliment with a polite reply, you flinched a little when Shinwon set down the glass he was holding a little too forcefully and he muttered a small “sorry.”  When he chose to talk to the guest beside him instead of returning your stare, you turned back to Jinho who sent you a sympathetic smile.

The night wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.

Earlier, a small part of you admittedly had the intent of playing his own game by ignoring his hints of jealousy, but now, as you watched him sulk to himself, your heart melted and you sucked up your own pride. Your dignity was the last of your worries now — your new goal was to cheer up and remind him that yes, you still loved him and that there’s no reason for him to get jealous over a childhood friend. Even if that friend was a little too overbearing.

You spent a good chunk of that dinner glancing around the table, from one end to the other, trying to see if anyone else noticed Shinwon’s sour demeanour, or if there were any opportunities to cheer him up. However, everyone was focusing on either the food in front of them or the other guests they were conversing with, and there still wasn’t an outing for you to be able to take Shinwon outside. When you looked to your right, your eyes locked with Hui’s, just like they did the last time you saw him, and he stared back at you, slowly chewing the steak in his mouth. You couldn’t tell what he was trying to convey in his expression (and you silently scowled at his ambiguousness), but one thing was sure — there was no ounce of friendliness in his eyes, and you wondered why he wouldn’t leave you alone. You just needed an excuse to be alone...

“Gifts!”

All the attention was diverted to you when you suddenly stood up and blurted out the random word. Brushing off the crumbs that had fallen on your outfit, you let out a small sigh in relief when you noticed that they didn’t leave a stain and cleared your throat, trying to compose yourself.

“I mean,” You awkwardly looked at your father. “I’ve prepared some gifts for the guest and need some time to prepare them before the dancing starts again, so may I be excused to go do that right now? I’m done eating.”

You really weren’t done eating, but that was fine. At least you weren’t lying when you said you had gifts prepared.

“I’m going to need Shinwon to help me though.”

You felt the attention shift towards him now and took a peek at Changgu, who busied himself with his drink, paying no attention to the situation. Shinwon also didn’t look at you. He almost did, but caught himself before his eyes could wander to you and opted to cast a lost expression in the other direction.

Your stomach felt queasy when you sensed his hesitation. You caught onto the idea that he was still holding onto his pride and wanted to get back at you by staying at the table out of spite, but he simply let out a small sigh and then stood straight up, giving you a moody look.

Smiling at his cuteness, you acted like everything was fine for the sake of the guests, and grabbed his hand to lead him to your bedroom.

When you arrived, you gestured at the bows and ribbons that needed to be attached to the gifts and gave him some instructions: tie the gifts up, make sure they’re secured, double check that they looked presentable — pretty straightforward. You then headed towards your closet and pulled out the first boxes full of gifts to slide them over to where Shinwon was standing, ribbons ready in hand. You caught Changgu’s name on one of the gift tags after Shinwon received the box from you and grimaced at the unlucky coincidence.

“Thanks for leaving your food to help me,” You started, trying to prevent him from reading the names in the box. “I promise I’ll get the chefs to make your favourite dessert later.”

“Sure thing, y/n.” He brushed off your thanks with a nod and you stopped pulling the gifts out of the boxes to look at him.

That was the last indicator — he said your name. 

Shinwon hardly said your name when he was talking to you directly, it was always love or princess, or some other cheesy term of endearment. But just now, he had looked at you straight in the eyes and said “y/n” like it was a challenge.

Placing the box in your hands onto a nearby table, you faced him fully and rested your hands on your hips with a sigh. “Alright, what’s going on Shinwon?” 

You played the game back by saying his name, but approached the topic gently.

“Nothing’s going on, I don’t know what you’re getting at.” He muttered with a small pout, trying to avoid the conversation by going back to sorting the gifts, but you pulled him away to the other side of the room and leaned on one of the dressers.

“Nothing’s going on? So the past how-many-hours have been the usual Shinwon I know and love? Or is there a good explanation for it?”

When he didn’t answer, you cut to the chase. “Are you jealous?”

He was pouting even more now, finally giving up on any attempt to act indifferent to your confrontation, and you almost couldn’t take him seriously anymore. “Is it because of Changgu?” You pressed.

That got him to answer. 

“When you said you were good friends before, I didn’t think you were that close.” He hesitated and then continued. “He was being too touchy, you’re my fiancée and I don’t think he got that memo. It’s either that, or he’s taking advantage of you, and it kind of hurts to just watch you know?” 

You gently took one of his hands and traced your thumb along the back of it. “I know what you’re getting at, we’ve always been pretty close, and he’s always been a naturally affectionate person… but he might’ve stepped over some boundaries earlier. I just want you to know that those advancements don’t mean anything to me though, alright?”

Standing straight up, you went in to place a soft kiss on his lips, lingering for a while as the tips of your nose brushed against each other lovingly. 

“I love you the most, and I have no plans on leaving you.” You added.

Shinwon’s smile was a little fuller this time, and he whispered back an “I love you too” before pulling you into a warm hug, hair tickling your face as he leaned into you.

“Now let’s get these gifts all packed up, shall we? Everyone’s waiting for us.” You offered, patting his back a couple times to get him out of the sappy mood.

He didn’t miss a beat. “Will I get a dance with you later in return?”

“No, you’ll never get to dance with me ever again.” You replied sarcastically while pulling away and laughed when he went back to pouting again.

“I’m kidding darling, you can have all the dances in the world with me.”

[vanveronicango]

if you don't mind me asking, what aspects of s2 did you dislike? bc for me, although i liked it a lot better than s1 (mainly for the increased focus on sibling dynamic scenes). i also kind of realized that it had kind of a Lot going on, that although i appreciated, didn't get enough equal attention? idk

i agree that the dynamic scenes this season were pretty great. we got some great interactions between characters that didn’t have much last season (personal fave being klaus/allison/vanya and every individual combo in that trio). 

i personally love reading other peoples’ opinions on shows/movies, even if they don’t match my own, because a lot of the time they open my eyes to some stuff i haven’t seen, and i love to see work affecting others the same way it does me, even if it has a different outcome. 

so, i know  i said i wouldn’t, but since you asked, under the cut i’m going list out some of the stuff i wasn’t a huge fan of, and some of the stuff i really liked. 

(edit warning: this shit is LONG. but please don’t take this as me absolutely hating the season - I didn’t. there was some genuinely enjoyable stuff. but, in my opinion, it didn’t have the spark and intent that s1 did. it wasn’t the caliber of the season i fell in love with. i think it’s still rewatchable though, unlike a certain godawful season of a certain hit netflix show...... coughstrangerthings3cough)

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

1. not enough characterization/development in most of the characters (this will be the longest point, so I’ll get it out of the way first) - for one, the siblings - save maybe vanya & allison - really... did not develop much this season, and weren’t explored as heavily as in the first season. hell, even in vanya and allison’s cases, i still think s1 did a better job at delving into their characters and psyche, even though they still had a bit of it in s2. but especially in the other siblings cases, i feel like SO MUCH of this season leaned into trivial things the fans liked, that it either (at least) took time away from or (at worst) was an active detriment to the characters’ development and plots. they said oh you like banter? we’ll give you unnecessary arguing and jokes that go on for 20 minutes too long when we could be delving deeper into these interesting situations we saw on the surface. here’s some fart jokes and forgettable music when we could be seeing more of how these characters are coping with the literal end of the world/being sent back in time/facing the prospect of never seeing their families again. 

in s1, we got luther’s immense internal struggles in living up to his “name” and only existing to please his father... diego finding his relationships through his jaded nature towards his siblings and himself, and grappling with feelings of inferiority... allison’s coping with the effects her powers have had on her life, and trying to become someone without rumoring everything into existence, which is a new feeling altogether that she isn’t quite sure how to cope with... klaus going through intense development as a simultaneously self-obsessed and self-destructive drug addict that gets thrown into a gruesome war for a year, only to watch the person he loves most die, grappling with his ptsd from war & his abusive childhood, and discovering new powers... five coming back home after decades of solitude and then being used as a weapon, trying to reestablish himself within the group while dealing with an eating feeling that he doesn’t belong in his body or in this group.... vanya, oh vanya, with her depression, anxiety, feelings of loneliness and betrayal, feeling invisible and utterly ordinary, gripping to whoever makes her feel special (and dealing with that fallout) before suddenly being slammed with unbelievably powerful abilities that she can’t control.

in s2... yes, we get lesbian!vanya who becomes truer to herself, and - through intense struggle - finds a way to harness her abilities so she isn’t so out of control and can finally feel extraordinary herself. but much of the latter was given up for a vast majority of the season bc she literally didn’t know who she was (there was a positive in that though, which i’ll list in my positives list), and so we lost a LOT of potential coping and learning time, which easily could have mingled with her sissy storyline! allison’s storyline i actually dug, i don’t have too much gripe with it except that i wish her throat injury didn’t just kind of magically heal, and they could’ve addressed it more. the end of ben’s story was interesting, but still lacked depth imo. as for the other siblings.... it all just felt like a TON of jokes that were funny at first, but quickly became stale and had me wishing they would take the story a bit deeper. that said, a lot of the gags, jokes, and quips were great, but they could’ve been incorporated WAY more intelligently, and allowed for characterization at the same time. loads and loads of banter, not being balanced with poignancy like s1 did very well.

we could have seen luther’s descent into the criminal underworld, and why he felt the draw and obligation to go that route. a more detailed look at klaus’ beginnings and relationship with the cult, his motivations (which s2 kept super shallow), more of diego’s life inside the asylum and even beforehand. but no, we got five and old five farting.

2. the music - man, the s1 soundtrack was iconic, was it not? effortlessly cool scene/music combos, countless iconic music moments, brilliantly and thoughtfully done. this season felt like they said “music? oh ok throw music EVERYWHERE” and it was just. not. good. instead of music that intertwined with each scene like it was a character itself, amplifying the tone and adding a new layer (like in s1), the music this season was mostly just distracting, forgettable, and felt like they were this close to just making a bunch of music videos. i even found myself hating a couple of their choices (the rest i just kinda... forgot). i did like the vanya/allison/klaus dance scene, but other than that.... eugh.

3. the handler - I HATE. HATE HATE HATE. when shows/movie franchises do shit like make a big deal of killing off a villain or lead and then just being like “hehe jk uwu” and bringing them back with some totally bs reason that they lived. a metal plate? really? and she magically awoke... how long after? not to mention how unbelievably lazy and lame it is. they could’ve done so much more with carmichael and the swedes, but they had to bring back... the villain we already had? don’t get me wrong, i LOVEEE kate walsh, but come on. it’s season 2. give us something fresh.

4. the swedes - in s1, cha cha and hazel had personalities, wants, desires that were all explored. we knew their motivations, their doubts, their fears. we liked to watch them. then the writers threw in the swedes... who were completely devoid of any and all characterization (they could’ve gone in my #1 point too heyo), personality, backstory, anything. it was so painful that when each one died, it was clear that we were supposed to feel something for the others, but did any of you really feel anything? no. because we didn’t know these characters at all. they were walking guns, pretty much. nothing substantial.

5. ben & klaus - being someone who loves these two characters so, so much (hellloooo, my old url?), this one breaks my heart. i was so unbelievably disappointed with them this season. all either of them were was horrible to the other. in klaus’ case, he just decided to keep ben’s presence a secret, not even telling the group ben loved them, or that he was there. he called him his ghost bitch, he used him as a personal pet, he lacked sympathy or compassion. we saw a glimmer of hope when he allowed ben to possess him, but that’s where ben’s issues start. seriously, possessing your brother past his breaking point, fighting him out of his own bodily autonomy, until he is in a state of complete exhaution? then saying he “regrets nothing”? and then the show playing it off as ~comedy~ bc that’s almost all they cared about this season... no... there was nothing in their relationship this season that compared to last’s. no moments of tough brotherly love, where ben tries to help klaus through his drug/alcohol desires or ptsd flashbacks, no moments of teamwork (besides the brief moments of consenting possession before that was ruined), no tender moments between brothers in general. all just REALLY FUCKING LOUD “comedy”, anger, resentment, bickering, and cruelty, all played for laughs. not about it son

6. “we’re not blood related!” - and, once again, getting played for laughs... for a show that became uncomfortably self-aware with trivial fan desires (but not the deeper stuff...), they sure do lack a lot of common sense of realizing what we don’t want

7. hazel (& agnes) - they went through the trouble of saving hazel and agnes just to have agnes die off-screen before the season started, and for hazel to die five minutes into his only appearance? lame. lame lame lame.

8. plot pace - i don’t really recall any moments in s1 that i thought “this scene doesn’t need to be here”, “this is moving so slowly”, or “this is being really rushed”. there was plenty of all three of those in s2. s1 was constant, everything was either towards the main goal or was filled with private and fascinating character moments. i love just watching characters live and do their thing if it’s done properly... but those scenes this season really weren’t very entertaining (save one or two), didn’t really seem to serve a purpose or hold weight, and didn’t give us any character insight.

9. klaus - the reason he’s listed specifically even after i mentioned him in the first point, was because of how personally saddened i was by his “arc”, if you could call it that. i know, him being my favorite (along with vanya) in s1 isn’t an original thought. but the writers, directors, and robert created a character so entertaining, charming, layered, and multi-faceted that it was hard not to fall in love with him. for all his goofiness, he then got a shit ton of characterization and development in the war, in dave, in his ptsd and discovering his power. his poignant moments were so powerful because of how different it was from his typical outward appearance. and fuck if he didn’t develop! this season, klaus felt... shallow. the cult stuff had no depth, no real reason to be there at all (the show really wouldn’t be much different without it, besides it being how five and allison found klaus), and it was kind of a throwaway point anyway, just another tool to get - shocker - more laughs. those touching, serious klaus scenes were completely absent in s2... he was just the ~quirky~ and/or ~high/drunk~ guy. there was literally no depth to his character at all this season. yeah, he crawled from behind the desk in e9.... and what else? nothing. robert did all he could this season, but something tells me even he was probably disappointed by just how one-dimensional klaus was. he was really no different at the end than he was at the beginning of the season, which is a no-no. 

10. klave - this is kind of an expansion of #9, but i was so disappointed by it that it needed its own spot. the only stuff that was supposed to be serious in klaus’ story - the klaus/dave stuff - was really not good. the moment the shopkeeper said “david?” in the store, i literally gasped bc i was so excited... but that was the last of any excitement i felt for the two, which, if you know me, is BONKERS considering how much i adore s1 klave. but this new young actor had ZERO chemistry with robert (fuck if rob wasn’t trying, though. it looked painful for him, but this guy really was just not well casted) (cody and rob were phenomenal together and had a fraction of the screentime this new actor had), and klaus being 30 and this actor/character being a kid was just... weird to watch. plus... so many white actors look the same, they really couldn’t find someone who looked like cody ray thompson? c’mon now ...... also, was there any point to it? at all? dave just wound up going anyway and there was literally no differences made in that situation. i think the writers thought they were catering to the audience by adding dave, but you need actors with chemistry (cody! cody!!!) and a good plot to do so.

11. s1 fallout - there really was none. that’s it. you’d think there’d be more after the explosions in the relationships of these siblings, but everything was just kind of glossed over.

12. sparrow academy - mostly here because... does this mean 7 more characters? meaning MORE time taken away from our og siblings, who already (mostly) didn’t develop well this season? i’m not gonna lie, i’m worried/

WHAT I LIKED

1. the chestnuts - i absolutely loved ray, loved allison, and loved their and their group’s work this season. the issue of race is so important all the time, but in the 60′s the tensions were so high and it would’ve been a joke if the show hadn’t addressed it or just kind of went with little racist remarks. these two had some of the most touching scenes of the season, and the sit-in scenes/every police scene had me incredibly anxious. that was well done, imo. which is proof that they still know how to do a good storyline, which makes me even more upset that the show was overall lacking that this season. i’m also so glad they didn’t go the “oh sry ray i still love luther’ route bc i literally don’t know if i would’ve kept watching. ANYWAYS im gonna miss ray sm :(

2. vanya & sissy - lesbian!vanya is all i want and more. vanya/sissy was all i want and more. these two, much like the chestnuts, breathed so much life into an often-dull season. so in love!!! vanya connecting with harlan even in just the most human ways!!! sissy finally standing up to carl (and carl d*ing god bless).... little found family oh my GOD!!! super devastated that sissy didn’t come back to the future with vanya, but because of harlan’s ending, something tells me we haven’t seen the last of them. oh and i am so conflicted about vanya’s amnesia, bc while i think so much more development could’ve happened without it, i also don’t think a lot of what happened with her and sissy could have happened, at least as quickly, if vanya was bogged down by guilt, anger, and lingering feelings of self-hatred and anxiety.

3. sibling dynamics - okay, this one is a contradiction, kinda sorta. i know i said the ben/klaus relationship was horrid. and i didn’t dig absolutely everything with all the siblings.... but they had some REALLY strong stuff this season. i know i’ve already mentioned it multiple times, but vanya/allison/klaus was everything to me this season. i knew i wanted klaus/vanya stuff happening, but adding allison to the mix gave it a whole new layer and they all just worked SO. DAMN. WELL. i just kind of wish it was vanya with her memories getting that bonding time, because i feel like the trio really could’ve gone in with how they all related to each other, their struggles, etc. but still, just some Happy Time was much appreciated. in addition to them, i really did dig a lot of almost every sibling dynamic this season. not every relationship got the attention it deserved, but it wasn’t too bad, it would be really hard to get all of that into 10 eps. plus, the fact that almost all of them grew so much closer was everyyyything. it’s odd, because good dynamics usually come with good development but uh..... nvm im keepin this section positive

4. the humor - another kind of contradiction, maybe. for some of the humor, i thought it went too long, was extremely heavy-handed, often took away from the plot, and some of it even degraded certain characters and situations (see examples throughout my points above). however, the stuff that didn’t fall into these categories was so, so good. some favorites: olga foroga, “think of batman, then aim lower”, “you look like antonio banderas with that hair” “thanks man”, i’m t h e  d a d d y  h e r e, “not everyone here likes you” “sounds ridiculous but go on”, klaus’ little pop culture quips to his cult, “being smart doesn’t make you interesting” “neither does that beard”, klaus calling ben to manifest and ben being like ”...nah”... there are plenty more, but these were the first i could think of in 60 seconds off the top of my head. some of it really was laugh out loud funny, which can be hard to do, especially consistently. if only they didn’t lean into it so damn hard, and put in WAY too much heavy-handed humor that it dampened the experience

5. old five - although i don’t love all of the stuff in the five/old five scenes, old five’s actor was fantastic! he got aidan’s mannerisms down really, really well. it’s always cool to see actors do that kind of thing when they play a character at a different age, or a character’s sibling, etc.

6. time period bigotry - i’m really, really glad they didn’t gloss over the intense racism and homophobia of the era. it was mostly brought up with allison, vanya, and klaus, and all three actors did a great job in their respective roles when expressing their reactions to the hatred. the scenes were really hard to watch, but well done.

7. pogo/grace/reggie - don’t get me wrong, i still hate reggie with a burning passion. but i actually found his scenes with these two really interesting, and it gave us great insight as to why pogo was always so loyal to reggie, and how grace was more than just a face on a robot to hargreeves. (which actually makes lack of development in our mains even more infuriating... they clearly knew to put some in there, where is it for the rest of the sibs who got nothing this season!!!)

alright, i’m gonna stop here. i’m sure i can think of more for each section, but i’ve been thinking this out and typing for an hour (holy shit) and it’s 2am and i need sleep xoxo

[thatguywiththecoydog]

Anpanman: Apple Boy and Everyone's Hope (2014)

Introduction

Fox's primary free-to-use streaming service, Tubi, had announced that they would be picking up at least 10 of the Anpanman movies to be released in English and Spanish back last October, with them slated for a fall 2020 release. This never happened, so many fans of the Anpanman franchise that spoke native English or Spanish would have to wait a little longer for dubs of these movies to come out.

The delay of these movie dubs went unannounced, leading fans to speculate that the dub was either in limbo or just silently canceled. This was until the first of them was released on April 15, 2021, with no announcement, or even complete details on who is dubbing them or the cast list. This had fans believing for a short while that the dub had taken a bit longer to assure its quality, but as you will soon read, this was most likely not the case.

Naturally, fans were excited as this was the first time these movies would see an official dubbed release in the west. There were other dubs of the franchise in English and Spanish, such as an English dub of the television series made for India that aired on Pogo, and a Spanish made in Spain sometime in the 1990s. However, these dubs are hard to come by and there are no official ways to watch these dubs in North America, as far as I'm aware.

Promo for the Indian Pogo dub posted by @doraedoramichan2021 on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oxAx5EEdX_4

So now we have an official dub of one of the movies that can be watched at no charge with ads. Joy!

Plot synopsis (spoilers below)

The plot starts with Dokin (spelled as "Dokeen" in the dub) and Horrorman (dubbed as "Horror") as they read a book of fairy tales, landing on Snow White. They end up accidentally releasing a shadowy figure from the book as it flies off into the darkness.

Meanwhile, Melonpanna's and Creampanda's (spelled "Cream Panda" in the dub) class are making sketches of the ocean. This is where Baikinman comes in to cause trouble for them with his giant crab robot. Anpanman rushes in from the blue to beat the tar out of Baikinman to save the day as the theme song plays in the background.

After that, we cut to the movie's other titular character, Apple Boy, attempting to fly his hot air balloon over the ocean. After the balloon falls to the ocean, he is swept away by the current.

A whale finds him dehydrated and floating lifeless in the ocean, where he gives him to Anpanman so he can help. After offering a piece of his anpan head to Apple Boy, he takes him to Uncle Jam's bakery, where Uncle Jam and Batako let him stay while they wait for a new shipment of apples from SL-Man.

Back at Baikinman's lair, he discovers that the book of fairy tales was being read by Dokeen and Horror. Looking very worried, he explains to the two of them that he was told never to open that book.

Anpanman, Melonpanna, and Cream Panda find SL-Man with the apples, Baikinman comes by to ruin the apples with his giant caterpillar robot. After Anpanman slows him down, Melonpanna and Cream Panda take SL-Man to the bakery.

Uncle Jam and Batako receive the apples and make them into apple juice. They give the juice to Apple Boy which he quickly drinks and rejuvenates from.

As Anpanman is still fighting Baikinman, Melonpanna and Cream Panda come back with Apple Boy for assistance. Apple Boy ends up beating him by planting an instantly-growing apple seed on the robot's tongue, where Anpanman then punches him into the next time zone.

That evening at the bakery, Apple Boy explains to the crew, with Shokupanman (dubbed as Bread-head Man) and Currypanman there as well, that he needs his balloon to search for the fabled magic apple seeds that can apparently grow the biggest apples anyone has ever seen. Anpanman, Mellonpanna, and Cream Panda help him search for the tree that gives off the magic seeds, while Bread-head Man and Currypanman search for the Apple Balloon. With no luck in finding the tree, they return to the bakery.

As the heroes in the bakery are setting off to find Appleina, an apple girl who might have clues as to where one can find the magic seeds, Horror informs Baikinman and Dokeen of the whole situation through a mock TV newscast.

Once at Appleina's, she shows the crew (and by extension the young audience this movie caters to) how to grow large apples. After many hardships of growing the trees, they finally blossom. Just as they are admiring their hard work, a bunch of bats swoop in and suck the life out of all the other apple trees around them. Unrelated to this, Baikinman attempts to steal all the apples for himself.

At this point, the bats go together to form the wich from the Snow White book that Dokeen and Horror were reading at the beginning of the film, revealing that she was the shadowy figure at the beginning of the movie that escaped from the book.

The witch turns everyone into moldy apples for no other reason than she is evil. The only ones left standing are Apple Boy and Appleina. Uncle Jam and Batako rush to bake Anpanman a new anpan head so he can turn back from apple form and be powered up enough to beat the witch. However, the witch destroys the Anpanman Blimp's oven, meaning they can't bake the head. Apple Boy stuns the witch with the power of a magic apple that he ended up growing. This also bakes the cold head into a perfectly cooked one, giving Uncle Jam and Batako the chance to turn Anpanman back to normal.

They successfully do this and Anpanman beats the witch back into the storybook, as the movie ends and everyone sings about apples.

My opinions

Before you say it, I am fully aware this movie is made for young children, but that is no excuse not to have a quality movie in my opinion. If anything, kids deserve more good content so they can learn and remember seeing that content for years to come. It just makes me feel bad for these children who watch movies that don't have much substance purely because they are "made for children."

The movie itself

The movie is average at best, and boring at worst. I did type out a pretty large plot synopsis for this movie, making it sound like a lot, but there really was not as much as you would think. This movie is only 46 minutes in total too, so there really should have been more here. Like, there was some emotional stuff going on with Apple Boy back on the Apple Planet he came from, but it's never really relevant to the story, nor the series as a whole because of him being made for this movie and only this movie. The movie also has a surprising amount of filler. Like, the part where I briefly mention Anpanman looking for the tree is a montage in the movie that lasts about two minutes, along with a scene where Apple Boy falls off a cliff, which is also not relevant to the main plot. I want to say a good quarter of this movie in total was filler, so we only have about 33 minutes of actual plot.

The writing that is there is also broken. I believe that the most entertaining part about this series is the series villains, Baikinman, Dokeen, and Horror. They don't make too many appearances in this movie to serve as comic relief, rather, Baikinman feels shoved in here to serve as more padding to make that over-40-minute time slot. There are also parts of the movie that make absolutely no sense under any perspective, not just an outsider's. Like, why does giving Anpanman a new head suddenly transform him from a moldy apple back to normal?

Overall, I feel as though both adults and children would be bored to death by this movie. 3/10.

Dubbing quality

If the movie itself wasn't soleless enough, the dubbing somehow makes this worse.

The movie was dubbed by Macias Group, a Florida-based studio that is best known for dubbing English shows into Spanish but does have some English dubbing in their catalog.

They had hired voice actors that I have not even heard of, nor do I think anyone else has. This doesn't make the dubbing automatically bad, in fact, a no-name cast can be quite good if given the right direction. However, this cast I feel did not give enough life to the characters. Some characters sound fine, like Horror or Dokeen, but others sound like the actor is struggling to put on a good performance, like Baikinman.

The characters also tend to speak in a way I like to call "Dora the Explorer Syndrome." It's kind of hard to explain what this is over text, but characters will talk extremely slowly for the young children, along with sounding considerably condescending. Watch the first two minutes of a Dora episode and compare it to this movie and you'll hear what I mean.

The voice acting itself sounds a bit bland and flat, almost like the actors didn't really care for their roles and were just doing it for a small paycheck. I don't blame them, really. An obscure series that they most likely haven't even heard of streaming exclusively on an unpopular streaming service most likely won't pay too high certainly wouldn't get me motivated. To do something like this, it needs to pay high enough or be on a service where it will get more notoriety, and most importantly, the people need to have a passion for the project and voice acting in general, neither of which sounded like they were here. I also heard a bit of recording echo, but I'm going to chalk that up to the actors recording at home rather than a booth due to COVID restrictions. If the dub had a bit more heart, then I probably would have liked it that much more.

I feel as though some of the name changes could have been better. Like some were unnecessary like Dokin to Dokeen or Horrorman to Horror, but things like Baikinman and Anpanman were kept the same, which probably needed the most explanation to an English audience.

The iconic songs from the Japanese version were also translated to English, which is a rarity in 2021 dubbing land. However, the songs sound off from their Japanese counterparts. If you were to listen to the theme song (https://youtu.be/3qSiSWTJkzw) or the closing song (https://youtu.be/c4DY7xmLlQI), you hear that they are bouncy, happy, and catchy. The English versions sound a bit off-beat to the rhythm these songs are supposed to be in. Now, I don't mind if the rhythm is a bit different so it can be optimized to the English language better, but here, it's so off it makes the songs sound worse. Most likely, the singers were given no direction and only listened to the Japanese version a few times. Not only that, but the lyrics are nearly directly translated from Japanese, also messing with the flow of the songs. When listening to the Japanese musical tracks, it almost makes you wonder what could have been.

Overall, the dubbing is not too good and probably could have done better either with a different cast with more motivation, or a whole 'nother studio behind the wheel.

Final thoughts and other recommendations

If you do want another English dub of Anpanman that I think is miles better, watch the fandub by Thomas Blue on Fandubbers Unite, starring myself as Anpanman (renamed to Bean-bun Man) and @clwsblog as Baikinman (renamed to Cavity Creep). It has better writing, better acting, and better songs. Both kids and adults alike will enjoy this version. Before you ask me, no, there is no bias here. I truly believe we did it better and for no pay!

Here is a link to Thomas Blue's dub:

https://fandubbersunite.weebly.com/beanbunman.html

If you really want to watch the official English though, even after my warnings, then go ahead. Here's a link to the Tubi listing:

https://tubitv.com/movies/592033/anpanman-apple-boy-and-everyone-s-hope?start=true

[resslawx]

Soo here goes my first post on tumblr :’D I’m not very familiar with it since I’m more active on my the blacklist fanpage on Instagram but I’m working on it! Normally I’m doing edits - mostly keenler ones - but some days ago I’ve written a keenler oneshot that takes place in the current blacklist universe :) I‘m not much of a writer but I tried my best! Lemme know if you want part 2 since this is only half of it. Also, English isn’t my native language so I’m sorry for any mistakes!

[Keenler oneshot pt. 1]

It was around 11 pm on a Friday night when his phone started to ring.

“Ressler?”

It had been a pretty long day, if not to say it had been hell of a week. They had to chase their current Blacklister all over the country, which is why they had to travel a lot. Given those circumstances it wasn’t hard to imagine how tired he was.

“Ressler, hey, it’s me.” By the time he’d realized who’s familiar - yet kinda hesitant - voice reached out to him through the phone, Ressler became much more awake.

“Liz? Is everything okay? Did something happen?”

“No, no everything’s fine. Well, almost. But since the word 'bad' has a pretty heavy meaning in our lives, I can’t use it in this case.”

Ressler could tell she’s been smirking slightly while saying her last words and automatically let out a relived breath. Over the last years it had become a typical habit of his to get worried about her when she called him at unusual times, duo to no work reasons.

She was right, the word 'bad' had another meaning for them and everyone in the Task Force than it hat to most people. But still, there must’ve been a specific reason she called him. He could tell by the sound of her hesitant voice.

“Well, I’m glad to hear it’s nothing bad, but uh, what’s the reason you called me then?” he answered, clearing his throat to hide the sleepy undertone of his voice. He definitely needed to catch up on a bunch of sleep. “Already missing me after traveling around almost 14 hours a day with me all week long?” he added, grinning softly.

On the other end of the line he could hear her chuckling a bit. Damn, he loved hearing those sounds she made, no matter how quiet they were.

“Of course Ress', I’m calling you at 11 pm on a Friday night, after being 2 hours at home and barely spending any time with my daughter because I’m bored.”

It was as if he could hear her rolling her eyes in amusement.

“No, to be honest that’s not the case. But uhm, the real reason might seem just as unnecessary.” she sighed “I just didn’t know what else to do.”

His heart skipped a beat as her last sentence made its way to his kinda slow-working brain. Once again it reminded him on the evening she told him how much she relied on him. How much she needed him. It was already some weeks ago but to him it seemed like it was yesterday.

“Just tell me” was all he said, making his way to the fridge to get some cold water.

Liz bit her lip. “Agnes has been sleeping calmly as I came home, which, honestly I’ve been really glad about. I just went in to give her a quick good night kiss and that was it. Until like half an hour ago..” she paused for a moment, as if she still wasn’t sure if this wouldn’t sound too.. dumb. After some seconds, she spoke again.

“I was just about going to bed, when Agnes ran out of her room, screaming in fear. Clinging to me, she told me she saw a... gigantic spider. Like really gigantic.. at first I thought she did have a nightmare or something but when she described her seeing in detail I started to believe her because to be honest, I’ve already seen a one like this in here but never told her. So anyways, I looked up her whole room but couldn’t find anything for like twenty minutes. Agnes is still freaking out, not wanting to calm down at all till we found that enemy..” Realizing she had spilled out half of her home story in like 15 seconds, she became quiet.

Ressler put down his water bottle, smiling slightly “lemme guess, the munchkin doesn’t want to sleep somewhere else either?”

“Yep, she truly isn’t up for any compromises. Won’t sleep in my bed, won’t believe the spider is more afraid of her than the other way around... won’t calm down at all.”

Ressler could tell Liz was just as exhausted as he was, not only by hearing the third heavy sigh leaving her body in a minute.

“I just uh.. you know.. Agnes always relaxes if you’re around and..”

“And you thought I’d come over to try to calm down your kid - at a time we can already call midnight?“

“I- I don’t know what I thought..” she went silent for a moment, clearly even more unsure about the whole thing than she was in the beginning. “You know what, forget it, I’m so-“

“Of course I will. Just gimme a minute to make my look at least a bit more bearable.“

He was already on his way to the wardrobe when Liz finally found her voice again.

“You really don’t have to, Ress’..”

No matter how tired he was, there was no way he wouldn’t notice the slight note of hope that had joined her voice.

And he wouldn’t let that slip away.

“It’s fine Liz. Let’s see if my charming aura is able to turn the munchkins head - preferably with her eyes getting closed again.”

——

Fifteen minutes later, Agnes was still hiding under a pillow on the couch, not wanting to get up and possibly face the terrifying spider.

“Honey, I’m sure your little guest left already. Through the window, the door..” Liz said sitting down next to her, stroking her daughters little arm.

Her eyes shifted to the clock. It was already half past 11 and her eyes became heavier with every minute that passed. But not only they did. She could feel every single bone in her body aching, pleading for at least some hours of sleep. Some hours of rest. 'To hell with Reddington and his cat and mouse games' she thought. The main reason why they had to travel that much to follow their target was Reddington - what a surprise. They had been so close, already close enough to catch the guy. But Red decided to do the man a favor and play his own game.

Again.

“No mommy, the spiwder didn’t go awawy...” Agnes answered in a muffled voice, the pillow still pressed on top of her face.

It was only when they heard a gentle knock on the front door when she abruptly pulled her protection shield away and looked up at her mother, the eyes wide.

“Can spiwders knock on doors???”

“No, they can’t. I promise” Liz said getting up “But I know someone who can.” she ran her fingers through her daughters hair and walked to the door.

When she opened it she was immediately greeted by the warmth her partner - who was leaning on the doorframe - always was surrounded with. At least to her.

He looked good and bad at the same time. Wearing a dark blue sweater and a black pair of jeans he looked so different than she was used to. And she loved it. She could hardly believe there was anything he couldn’t wear - she just still wasn’t sure of the imagination of him in tights yet.

But she could tell he was exhausted, even more than her. They had to do most of the traveling by car and while she got at least some hours of sleep in their endless car driving sessions, Ressler always insisted on being the driver.

Suddenly Liz felt even worse for calling him.

“Hey you” Ressler said, tilting his head slightly and offering her a smile. “Your knight on the white horse has come to save the day.. Okay, more like the night.”

Smiling softly, Liz placed a hand on his upper arm.

“I can’t believe I really did this to you.. you look pretty bad.”

“Thanks, that’s what I love to hear. Guess my attempt to look bearable has failed, huh?“ His eyebrows raised in seriousness but Liz could catch a small grin on his lips.

Why was she even looking at his lips?

“Nah, your look is.. okay” She said with a quick wink “But you deserve at least some hours on your own, getting some sleep, before we have to go out there again..”

Resslers grin turned into a caring smile “And so do you, which is why we’re doing this together now.”

With these words he entered the apartment, just to be immediately seen by the reason of his showing up herself.

“Donnie!” Agnes let go of the pillow, standing up on the couch. Still afraid of touching the ground again, she reached out to their visitor.

“Heyy sweetheart, there you are!” Ressler was with her in a few steps, picking her up. The kid reflexively wrapped her arms around him and snuggled her face into his neck.

Liz heart warmed at the sight of her daughter cuddling into her partners arms like this. It always did. Every time Agnes was with him she seemed happy in a way she rarely was. Both of them did.

She could tell the little girl felt safe with Ressler, especially when she was in his arms. That was something mother and daughter had in common.

“I’ve heard there’s some intruder who’s sneaking around here?” Ressler said, loosening himself a bit from the munchkin to be able to face her. Still clinging to him Agnes nodded.

“There‘s a biwg spiwder..”

“Eww, we don’t want spiders in our rooms, right?”

She shook her head in agreement “But mommy saiwd it’s gone.. it‘s hiding somewhere!“

“Hmm.. Let’s take a look then” He leaned closer to her ear “See if mommy’s eyes aren’t so good anymore.”

Agnes giggled, while Liz gently slapped Resslers arm, before folding her own ones. “Hey, I heard that! It’s not like I’m 80 or something - in fact you are the oldest one here.”

“The older the wiser.” Ressler simply said, already moving to Agnes’ room.

He quickly scanned the room for its best hiding spots and looked them up. The little girl still refused to get on the floor again, but since she could stay in the arms of one of her favorite playmates, she stopped whimpering. Liz went through the room herself once more, with as less luck as before. And so did Ressler.

Ten minutes later they gave up.

“I told you..” Liz sighed, rubbing her eyes. 'Stop burning' she thought. Her daughter kept looking back and forth between the partners, clearly expecting them to come up with a solution.

It was just when she was about to start complaining again that Ressler sat down on the edge of her bed.

“You know what sweetheart?” placing her on his lap, he looked around. “Your bed is the perfect place for a fortress.”

“A fowrtress?” Agnes followed his gaze.

“Yeah. Look, when you don’t know where the enemy you’re fighting is hiding, you protect yourself. You’re simply hiding better - just as if you would play hide and seek.”

Nodding slightly, but still being a bit unsure, the girl looked up at him again.

“In this case, the enemy we’re fighting is soo weak, you’re way stronger than it. And smarter all the way.” He poked her nose and earned a smile “So, if we build a cave on top of your bed - like a little fortresses - you’ll be safe and win the game.”

Liz couldn’t help but smile. ‘Good move, mr. Iamjustdoingmyjob. You know how much she loves building caves.’

Soon after, Agnes eyes were full of excitement while she was happily throwing every pillow she had on top of her bed. Liz and Ressler didn’t need to do much, they just brought her some of the bigger pillows which belonged to the couch so her cave would be build on some stable ground.

Leaning in the doorframe the adults watched their little one finishing her work.

“Done!” Agnes called proudly, crawling into her safe space and looking at them.

“It looks amazing honey” her mother said, kneeling down in front of her daughters bed so she wouldn’t destroy the building.

“You think you can sleep now?”

Snuggling into her blanket, Agnes nodded, her eyes suddenly becoming heavy again.

“Looks like someone’s adrenaline rush is over now” Ressler went over to them, sitting down next to Liz.

It was kinda hard to decide who he should watch in this moment. The adorable little girl who was laying in front of them and showed him one more time how much she trusted him, or her mother - his partner - who looked so lost in thought that he could tell she wasn’t in this room anymore.

Both seeings were cute in his opinion.

“...And you’re suwre it won’t hurwt me..?“

Liz flinched a bit, clearly getting ripped out of her deep thoughts she was in. None of them had realized Agnes wasn’t fully asleep yet. Before she could even react, Ressler made her heart swell once more.

“It won’t. Pinky promise.” He gently brushed a strand of hair out of the munchkins face and leaned over, placing a lovely kiss on her forehead. The girl smiled, satisfied, and finally drifted into a deep sleep.

[omgthatdress]

How to make Cats a good movie.

I watched Cats, and once I got over the initial horror, I was actually pretty entertained and found myself enjoying the shit out of it. Like god bless it, for as nightmare-inducing as much as it was, Tom Hooper was clearly *committed* to his vision and you gotta give him credit for that. The scenery was actually really beautiful and the cinematography was frequently breathtaking. Like it really did have a lot of elements that really worked for it. But for every bit of genius, there was something terrible that the movie just couldn’t overcome. So let’s dive in.

First of all, you kind of have to understand Cats: the musical. It’s an adaptation of poems that T.S. Elliott of nihilistic lost generation fame wrote for his godchildren about cats. And the poetry is charming af and totally captures the nature of cats and why they’re so lovable. In the in the 1970s, Andrew Lloyd Webber did a shit ton of cocaine and decided to make a musical out of these poems. As a result, Cats has no plot. It’s a bunch of cats singing their songs about who they are and doing a lot of dancing. The thinnest of narrative devices is created with the “jellicle” ball and the deciding of which cat gets to ascend to heaven or some shit. So yeah. Cats is actually pretty controversial among theater nerds, it’s very much a you either love it or hate it thing. Is it stupid? Yes.  Is it going to make everyone happy? No. Does it lend itself well to film adaptation? fuck no. I get the feeling that Tom Hooper was really going for deep, meaningful poetic cinema here and trying to make another Les Mis (which was way overly long and ultimately sank under its own sheer weight as a movie and probably is better viewed as a play). I’m operating under the assumption that Hooper was going for ground-breaking cinema that would have made millions and swept up during awards season and cemented him as a legendary director and gone down in movie history, because every little detail of Cats is clearly meant for maximum impact. You kind of need to drop all expectations going into Cats, so once you’re there, you can have fun with it. So how do you make it a good film?

1. The HORRIBLE hyper-realistic cgi human-cat hybrids. YES, it’s a technical marvel, and the CGI artists who made it all deserve a ton of credit for the work they did. And I understand why the actors were kept in their human shapes: live dance is a huge part of what makes Cats work. One of the smart decisions made was hiring theater veterans for the filler roles in the cat chorus, so when you have the choreographed numbers, it’s really spectacular. It’s just the end result was way too uncanny valley and bizarre for any of the film’s good parts to ever rise above it. I think a minimalist approach would have actually worked best. Cat ears and simple costumes with clean lines that show off the dancer’s bodies. Go for the suggestion of cats, and kind of let the viewer’s imagination take over, and showcase the cat’s personality. A huge part of what I enjoyed was hearing the poetry and imagining these cats and how they all relate to cats I’ve known. The dance and the music helped heighten this experience, but hybrids kept reminding me of the joke: what do you get when you cross a human and a cat? An immediate cessation of funding and a stern rebuke from the ethics committee.

2. The schlocky, honestly amateurish attempts at slapstick humor. I’m gonna come out and say it and say that Hooper is pretty deeply entrenched in *dRaMa* and has no sense of how comedy works. There was a lot of added in comedic bits from Rebel Wilson and James Corden, and it was honestly terrible. I mean really, a crotch hit? That kind of lowbrow comedy is so crude and base that it’s actually really hard to pull it off well. Slapstick comedy actually lends itself to the whimsical tone, and slapstick done well can be utterly sublime, but Cats seemed satisfied that fat people falling over is the height of comedy and should be left at that. And a second note on the comedy? Weirdly fat-shame-y. A saw a post about how odd it is to see James Corden, who has been very frank about how he’s struggled with dieting and come to accept that his body is fat and can’t be made not fat, playing this role where fat is added to his body, his CGI vest strains at the buttons, and he’s literally stuffing his face with garbage. The theme of fat people as lazy, stupid, and slovenly carried over from Rebel Wilson’s role, in which she also plays a fat lazy cat who is leaned on heavily for comic relief. I know the role is about a fat cat, and gently laughing at a fat lazy cat who loves to eat is fine, but, speaking as a fat person myself, this felt like a gleeful exploitation of a nasty and cruel stereotype. James Corden and Rebel Wilson are both extraordinarily funny people who happen to be fat, and their comedic gifts were tremendously mis-used here, reducing them to simply two fat bodies to be laughed at.

3. Jennifer Hudson. She’s a talented actress who can sing and emote like a motherfucker. And emote she did. She was clearly GOING for that second Oscar. I really don’t want to call her performance bad. The same level of emotion, tears running and snot flowing, in another movie, would have been devastating (Hello, Viola Davis in Fences). But this isn’t Fences, it’s fucking Cats. You need a level of character depth and development that Cats doesn’t afford to make those tears hit. All the crying and misery was an odd maudlin and over-dramatic break in the fun and whimsy. With a subtler performance and a hint of self-awareness, it could have actually brought in an emotional anchor for this light-as-air film, but Cats doesn’t make any attempt at nuance, and as a result the scenes just hit you out of nowhere like a load of bricks. 

4. Francesca Hayward. Okay, before we go anywhere, I want to say that this girl is not un-talented. She’s the principal ballerina of the Royal Ballet, and has a very long list of ballets that she’s lead in. So it makes sense that she’d be hired for a role that’s primarily ballet. This girl is a really really great DANCER. But Cats was clearly trying to make an A-list actress out of her. They tried to make her into Florence Pugh, who has been acting for a while and is blowing up right now because she’s very talented. Like everything about Francesca’s role in the film said “This is a star-making role.” A new song was written just for her to sing as an addendum to Cats’s show-stopping signature song. But the song was just okay, it didn’t carry nearly the emotional weight or all-around beauty of “Memories,” and all in all felt wedged-in and totally unnecessary and really just felt like a grab at that “best original song” Oscar. Francesca’s voice is high, thin, and child-like. It’s not unpleasant, but next to the richness and depth of Jennifer Hudson’s voice, it crumbles, and it’s not the sort of voice that I want to seek out to listen to over and over again. As for her overall performance, she largely keeps the same look of wide-eyed wonder throughout her numerous close-ups, so much so that I found myself thinking of the the MST3K “dull surprise” sketch. But I don’t know if that’s really entirely her fault. There was an attempted romantic storyline with the magic cat, but again, because of the nature of Cats and its lack of real character development or depth, the chemistry fell flat. There really isn’t much of a chance to show off a lot of dramatic range, so to keep going back to her character, it kept reinforcing the one-notedness of her performance. Really, I just kept wanting to see Francesca dance. Ironically, I think they really blew an opportunity trying to make an A-list actress out of her. All she really need to make people want to see more of her is one spectacular dance number, but for some reason, she never really gets that show-stopping moment. 

5. Dignity? I guess this goes back to the whole CGI cat thing, but there were a lot of moments when I felt this tremendous wave of second-hand embarrassment hit me on behalf of the talented actors in this film. Watching Gandalf lap up milk from a saucer was a wholly uncomfortable experience, like come on, grant the great Ian McKellan some fucking DIGNITY here. Which goes back to whatI said earlier that a suggestion and interpretation of cats would have worked better than all-out just being a cat. Or it could again just be how much Cats just fails its attempts at comedy. But then again there was no fucking reason at all for Idris Elba to be that fucking NAKED. I guess they were trying to make him sexy? But his sexy smolder and just being Idris Elba wasn’t enough they had to make sure that we all saw his chiseled pecs and thick thighs. And then at the end when he’s dangling off of the rope of a hot air balloon and what’s supposed to be a funny scene, I think, I kept thinking “I’m so sorry this is happening to you, Idris.” 

There’s a bunch of other small, nit-picky things that I could go into. Those cockroaches would have worked so much better if they weren’t humans with an extra set of arms. Watching them get eaten was some horror movie shit. Taylor Swift’s Macavity song would have worked a lot better if the cat chorus full of cats we’ve gotten to know had sung it, but instead Taylor Swift is brought in as a new cat we don’t know whose only purpose is to sing the Macavity song? but of course a big oscar-bait movie needs to have that pop star that draws in the people who wouldn’t otherwise see it and making her a part of the cat chorus would have had her performing throughout the whole movie and she would have floundered the way pop stars tend to do when performing musical theater around a bunch of musical theater actors. So I guess I get why she was thrown in.

So.... yeah? Is there anyone else who found themselves enjoying it in spite of everything? I’m glad I have dogs and didn’t have to watch this mess with actual cats around me.

[squeeneyart]

Breathe in the Salt - Chapter 3

AO3

Martin tells the researchers about his experience with the lighthouse.

Sound travels far.

Martin managed to convince the others that perhaps waiting until the rain let up a bit would be best before taking them to the other side of town. They might want to take notes, he had suggested, and maybe it would be better to wait until the end of their work day, since they would have to head to the local inn, anyway?

They conceded, though Sasha seemed antsy after her apparent discovery. Martin couldn’t deny that the questions she had had about the windows bothered him in the same way, but talking about it with no expertise seemed like it would invite something unpleasant. Instead, he led the way back down. Tim kept to the side from the beginning this time, firmly holding the handrail, and when the vertigo hit, he asked the group to stop for a moment before continuing down to the ground floor. At the back of the group, Jon was a different sort of quiet from before. Was he more irritated than before, Martin wondered, or was he taking this as seriously as Sasha? Maybe both. The guy seemed like he could hold a lot of irritation in him. Okay, that was mean, Martin thought. It wasn’t as if there wasn’t at least one thing to be rightfully irritated by.

When they reached the bottom, Martin shook off the thought and went back to his desk in the corner to gather his things. He would be ready the moment it was time to leave. The rain was still pounding against the outer walls of the lighthouse, so he was, for the moment, stuck. Once he finished packing up, he headed toward the kitchen to wait the rest of the day out.

Before he could make it there, Sasha said, “Martin, can you bring your chair over here? We have some more questions for you.” Martin shut his eyes tight, opened them, and turned right back around, plastering a sheepish smile to his face.

“Oh, sure. Don’t think I have much else to say, though?”

“That’s fine,” Tim said, taking his own seat. “At this point we’re just killing time.” Sasha shushed him halfheartedly and motioned at the small open space between Tim and Jon. Catching Martin’s concerned look, Jon rolled his eyes and scooted his chair over to make room, causing the knot in Martin’s stomach to tighten. Martin carried his chair over and willed himself to be just a bit smaller to no avail.

“So, Martin, how long have you lived in the area?” Sasha asked, settling her notebook in front of her, tapping the open page with her pen.

“Gosh, since I was born? Never really been anywhere else unless you count the town over, and only a few times,” he replied, picking at the sleeve of his shirt, holding himself back from looking at any of them. All those years all spent in this dreary town, they must’ve been thinking, what a bunch of nothing. He wouldn’t disagree.

“Okay, great,” Sasha said. “How long have you worked in this building? And how did you come to work for Mr. Lukas?”

“Just a few months now. I had been working some smaller jobs when an opening came up here and Peter picked me. He’s supplied the town with a lot of work the last few years since the fishing’s been not so great. Don’t tell anyone I said that, though!” He added the last bit quickly and then coughed. “People get defensive about it? Like-”

Jon interjected, “Yes, I’m sure there are many opinions on the subject of the local economy, but these details are unnecessary.” Martin flinched.

“Right, sorry. Um, yeah, I applied for the job and I guess it was a good fit. Kept me on this long, right?”

“Right,” Sasha said, her mouth twitching a bit as she gave Jon a look. Martin felt very much like there was a silent conversation happening that he was not privy to. “All right, next. Martin, if we could get an official statement regarding the… strange attributes of the lighthouse, that would be very helpful. Just something quick so we can get an outside description.”

“Yeah, yeah, I can do that.” Martin adjusted himself in his chair as Jon dug out an old tape recorder. “Wow, that’s-”

“Very old, yes, we know,” Jon said, his tired voice echoing a sentiment they must’ve received a thousand times. “Speak into this part here. Statement of Martin Blackwood, regarding the old lighthouse where he works. Statement taken by Jonathan Sims, further questions by Sasha James. Statement begins.”

“R-Right okay, well. The first time I noticed it, I was still quite young, maybe nine or ten? Somewhere around there. Anyway, I had walked up to grab something for- yeah, it was when I started grabbing groceries for my mum. I had walked up the hill and made it to the top, at which point I see, as usual, the big old lighthouse on the other side of town. A really easy landmark for me to follow. I walked down the street as usual, but this time around, I watched the lighthouse as I went. And just like I told you before, as I walked, it began to get bigger somehow. Not like a normal amount, but as if the thing was growing with my steps, and before I could even make it to the shop, I suddenly got hit with this dizziness, and next thing I know, I’m on the ground, being roused by the local florist.”

“And this had never happened before?”

Martin shook his head. “No, not that I remember.”

“And it’s happened ever since?”

“Yeah, though after a while I learned to just… stop looking? I knew it would make me sick, so why look?”

“And the weather discrepancy at the top of the building, was this something you’d ever noticed?”

“No, not really. I was always busy with work and for the most part the view tended to be pretty much the same. Staring out to sea loses its charm pretty quick, especially since by the time I get up there, the dizziness would set in hard.” Martin looked at Tim who nodded sympathetically. “But it’s weird, yeah, once you pointed it out.”

“Okay, great. One more thing: Are there any other strange occurrences, related or not to this building, that you know of in this town?” Sasha stared at him hard. The hairs on the back of his neck begin to prickle at the intensity.

“Not personally, no,” he said easily. “Lots of the older folks around town could probably be helpful, though, with stories they like to tell. There are some I could point you towards if you’d like.”

“That would be great, yeah.” Sasha looked at her notebook, tapped the pen twice on the page, and then closed it. “That’s all the questions I have. Jon, Tim?” Tim shrugged and Jon shook his head. “Okay then. Statement ends.” Sasha nodded at Jon who clicked off the recorder and left it on the table. “Now we wait for either the weather or the day to end, I suppose.” Martin nodded and stood up, finally able to escape to the kitchen.

He had barely managed to get the kettle back on the stove before he heard what seemed to be Sasha’s attempt at a whisper in a place that wouldn’t allow for it.

“Are you really going to pout about an accident this whole week? It’s not like we’ll have to work with him that long.” Martin, who had been about to tell the others about how easily sound traveled, froze.

“We’ve been here less than a day and he’s made it very clear that he’ll be of little help to us,” Jon whispered back, though not as quiet as Sasha was trying to be. “I’ll go along with him leading us to nothing to get it out of the way, but I think it’ll be best if we leave him out of the work otherwise.”

“Elias clearly wants us to check out this place or else he wouldn’t have wanted us working here. Sure, the guy seems pretty simple, but that’s no reason to be rude. Besides, he’s worked here for months. There may be other things he’s forgotten.”

“Yes, ‘forgotten’. He seems to do that a lot, like when I asked him to print something off earlier and he just ‘forgot’. It’s not my fault he’s either forgetful or just plain lazy. I don’t believe for a minute he managed to finish all of his work so early. He might even be making up this extra thing to seem important. We’ve seen the type before.”

Martin didn’t make a sound, electing to pick his nails and keep his eyes on the stove. He knew he had missed something, hadn’t he? Of course it was something Jon had asked for.

“It’s not like he’s our office assistant,” Tim said pointedly. “He seems nice enough. Not his fault we came in here and took the place over.”

“Either way,” Sasha said, “just cool it a bit? He helps us out when he can, we collect some information, and then we’ll be done. We might even get the go-ahead to leave by next Friday if we work at it, and after that you can get back to whatever it is you’re so anxious to get back to. But honestly, I’m going to enjoy doing field research without Elias breathing down my neck.” There was a grumble.

“Fine. But this still feels like a waste of time. All of it.” Footsteps echoed and Jon appeared in the kitchen, making a beeline for his jacket without making eye contact. Martin acted as if he were considering the different tea options and didn’t let up the charade until he heard the front entrance open and shut. He breathed out and then jumped as the kettle brought his full attention back to itself.

He could try harder, really. It’s the least he could do.

-

Martin knew the nerves were plain on his face as he reached the end of the road. Tim whistled.

“So, that climb doesn’t do anything to you?” Tim asked, hands in his pockets, staring down the steep path leading home.

“Never. Just makes the mornings a little harder than they need to be,” Martin said in a tone he hoped was lighter than he felt. Sasha and Jon had their gazes set on the lighthouse.

“Okay, I’ve got the camera running,” Sasha said, holding up an old camcorder. They really didn’t have the latest tech, wherever it was they worked. Not that Martin judged too harshly. He wondered if the recording would feel like a home movie when they finished. “Let’s see for ourselves, shall we?” She said, and began to walk with Jon and Tim close behind and Martin waiting at the start.

“I definitely don’t feel anything,” Jon said, his tone curt and arms crossed. Martin’s stomach churned as he waited for the three to turn and look at him in disappointment. He had wasted their time, of course, with his own stupid-

“Oh,” Tim said, beginning to wobble. “Oh that’s fucking weird.” Sasha and Jon looked at him in confusion and annoyance respectively. Tim stopped, walked himself back a few steps, and then walked forward again, doing his best to consistently look at the lighthouse. “You weren’t lying, Martin, that thing is growing.” Jon snorted disparagingly.

“Tim, please don’t make jokes-”

“I’m not! It’s the same as before, on the stairs! My head feels like it’s, I dunno-”

“Full of fog?” Martin said weakly, still standing back where the others had left him. Tim turned to nod at him in encouragement, and Martin continued, turning his eyes up to the lighthouse briefly before flitting them between the ground and Tim for support. “You stare up at it, but your head can’t make sense of what’s going on, and then you can’t focus at all, and it’s like your stomach is dropping out of you. At least, if you do it for too long.” Sasha and Jon looked at the two of them, and Sasha stopped recording to look back at the video.

“Oh, shit,” she whispered, pressing a few buttons before handing it to Jon.

“You’re kidding,” Jon said quietly. All Martin could tell from a distance was that, when Jon pressed play and turned the volume up, the only thing coming from the camcorder was a horrible static.

[inspirationdivine]

And Cut! || Lydia, Simon, Winston

Timing: Thursday afternoon

Parties: @inspirationdivine, @inconvenientsimonstrocity, @danetobelieve

Summary: Winston has a possible solution to Lydia and Simon’s sticky problem

Lydia paced backwards and forwards in the living room, her heels clicking on the wooden forward. She’d started when Winston had messaged them, and had barely even spoken to Simon in the interim time, except to tell him that they were going to solve this, tonight. She could hardly wait. The doorbell rang, and Lydia jumped, looking to Simon with an inconsiderate eagerness. “They’re here. “ She barely waited for him to begin moving with her before she darted to the front door excitedly. The door swung open so fast it rattled on its hinges. Lydia clasped her hands. “Come in, come in. What have you found?”

Winston was glad that they had taken Natalia’s offer on working at Castillo’s Crafts. It gave them access to resources that they would’ve previously never dreamed of and more importantly it gave them the ability to act when they needed to. “Oh hi Lydia, nice to see you too, yes I did come with a solution to your problem,” Winston raised an eyebrow and shook their head in exasperation, “do you want me to just tell you or should I tell the person you’re also bound to, that seems pretty fair.” The stress of the whole third eye situation had proven pretty overwhelming and it was nice to have a distraction of some kind. The air between the two of them was filled with an unnecessary tension as Lydia and Simon waited for Winston to arrive; suffice to say, she was a lot more high-strung about this than he was as she paced around. He attributed it to his being a calmer person altogether. When the doorbell rang and she looked to him expectantly, he got to his feet in a manner he hoped was quick enough for her and she virtually pulled him to the door in her excitement. Fortunately, it seemed Lydia had the conversation under control though he easily remembered Winston from their incident in the Morgue and he gave a small wave with an equally-small smile.

Lydia pursed her lips, nonplussed. She was hardly apologetic for skipping right past the small talk. Stepping aside to let them through, she looked back at Simon with a small shrug. “I am not so interested in you telling us as I am in you doing it. Do you need a work surface? We can use my work stations, my kitchen counter, or we could go outside if you prefer it.” 

Spotting Simon, Winston couldn’t help their bemused smile and wave in their direction. “It’s Simon?” they asked somewhat surprised. Quite the unlikely duo. Looking around, Winston frowned and nodded. “I need to assemble a few things and then we can cast the shape of the scissors, fortunately we won’t have to melt anything.” Luce wasn’t here to be a human furnace this time. “Do you have like a garage or somewhere you don’t mind us making a bit of a mess in?” Adjusting their glasses, Winston shrugged the bag into a more comfortable position and looked at Simon. “So, how did this happen?” Though he was literally strung along for the ride, Simon felt the need to speak up at Winston’s request. “Uh, sorry for… asking but--” He cleared his throat and scratched his neck. “Oh, um… We walked past each other then we suddenly couldn’t.” He felt like he should’ve gone into greater detail but that was exactly how it happened how he recalled it and there wasn’t anything else TO mention. “We’d only ever talked once before, and it was online.” He looked at Winston as he explained, hoping they would be able to tell that he wasn’t withholding any information from them.

“Yes, the pottery room,” Lydia said, leading them both to another side of the house that she hadn’t taken Simon to before, this time on the ground floor. It was a converted garage, effectively, with carefully crafted ventilation system to accommodate the huge kiln. “It’s rather frustrating. It was like we were lassoed together by something, like we stepped onto a trap or something.”

“The pottery room?” Winston couldn’t judge too hard, Ricky had set up a workshop that was essentially his own personal sculpting studio. “Oh, so, that’s kind of weird, usually these things don’t happen spontaneously, I didn’t find a bunch of info on that but I guess it would be worth a second look if you want to know how this all happened, guess it doesn’t change anything”. Following Lydia through to the pottery room, they nodded and began unpacking their bags. Pulling out a large vial of a silvery liquid, a mould for scissors, a number of powders and other such similar items that you’d expect to see in your standard fantasy kit. “Okay, I need water and I need like a hook or something because these are going to literally be invisible and although I’ve got something in mind to help, probably a good idea we keep it on one thing.” Simon was good at definitely good at keeping up with Lydia at this point though he had to admit, it was a little unusual for her to be so quick about her movements this time. He understood, of course but he still found himself curious when she took them to yet another room he hadn’t seen before… it was like one big surprise box sometimes. He paid attention to everything Winston said though he couldn’t keep his eyes from wandering and he took small steps here and there to observe the area, glancing over at Lydia when they asked for the few things they needed - he hadn’t been there before, obviously, so he didn’t know where anything was or what he was allowed to touch.

“I certainly hope that doesn’t change whether the scissors work or not,” Lydia replied, raising a sharp eye brow. Although she knew Winston didn’t immediately know the answer for that. Lydia watched him unpack anxiously, bouncing her knee until Winston asked for things. Lydia picked up a nearby bucket and handed it to Simon. “The sink’s over there, if you don’t mind. There’s a hook in this cupboard, I’ll grab it.” Just about nine feet apart. Perfect. 

“I’m not exactly an expert, so I guess we’ll just have to try and hope for the best.” Winston didn’t really see any alternative and it wasn’t as if this could end them up with any additional body parts that they may or may not have full time. “Simon, grab me the water please, I’ve got to start mixing this stuff together.” Their hands were already unscrewing caps, popping corks and mixing together various ingredients. They crushed some brightly coloured minerals into a fine powder, adding it to the silver liquid which was actually mercury. This was apparently a recipe for quicksilver which they would then enchant. “Lydia can you please measure out three tablespoons of sulphur, two teaspoons of salt peter and 100 ml of the mercury.” Winston nodded towards a small ring of kitchen measuring spoons. They’d changed everything to cooking weights, it was easier. 

Once he had the bucket and was told what to do, Simon acted accordingly, making sure not to pull on their bond too much to reach for the faucet to retrieve the bucket of water - there was a little bit of stretching involved. As the water filled the bucket, he listened to the ingredients Winston was naming off and he found himself more curious, forcing himself to ask questions as the room filled with unpleasant noises and scents; was magic something that you had to have proficiency for? Could you learn through hard work and patience? When were the scissors going to turn invisible? Was that part the magic part? He kept his questions to himself and took the now-full bucket of water over to the intern, offering it out to them in such a manner that they could take it whenever they were ready for it.

Setting the hook in front of Winston, Lydia watched them beginning to arrange their ingredients. Pots scraped against the stained work surface, sending shivers down her spine. The popped bottles had a pungent aroma and Lydia’s lip curled when Winston asked her to handle Sulfur. She worked carefully and diligently, scraping the heaped teaspoons of salt Peter perfectly flat, before leaving the ingredients for Winston to handle it. “What else can I do?”

“So, now we just mix everything together, Simon will add the water, you can add the mercury and I’ll add the dry ingredients. We’ve just got to pour slowly and stir it all together and then we set it.” Winston was glad that there wasn’t an extensive and gruelling forging process here. Winston set about pouring the ingredients together and the mixture. Once everything was ready they poured it into the pre-prepared mould and looked at them. “I need to enchant this obviously, but it’s going to be draining, with your consent, I’d like to use your energy as well to do it properly, I don’t want to make a mistake.” Like passing out. He wasn’t about to say ‘sounds simple enough’ but Simon continued to do what he was told, waiting for the correct prompts before adding the water. He did, however, feel his eyebrow raise at the mention of ‘using energy’ and though part of him thought he should’ve kept quiet as he had been the entirety of this exchange so far, he felt the need to ask. “Sorry, dumb question but… what’s this about ‘using your energy”?” He wasn’t particularly worried about the concept - he’d be happy to help in whatever way he could - but he was curious about how that was going to go. Was Winston talking about HIS energy? BOTH their energy? Lydia knew magic… her energy specifically?

All at once, Lydia’s eagerness dropped like a brick to the floor, scowling. Impetuous little human. Always asking for more, like all humans She grit her teeth together, her eyes meeting Simon’s searchingly. “You wouldn’t take more than you needed, would you?” She asked Winston, but she was still looking at Simon. Perhaps properly for the first time since Winston had arrived. “Spellcaster bodies don’t always have the strength to tame the magic they use.” They are only human, after all. “I would also like to know precisely what you mean, though.”

“Magic takes up energy, if I cast a spell that lifts something that’s a hundred kilos then I’d feel it, it would take a toll on me. It burns calories, leaves you feeling exhausted and tired.” Winston shrugged. “I wouldn’t have anywhere to put the energy if I did take more then the spell required, you don’t need to worry about it.” Winston looked at them. “We’re going to place an enchantment on the scissors, that requires a fair amount of energy, I’ll be the focus and actually cast the spell, but you’ll assist.”

Perhaps Simon was just being dumb that day or perhaps somethng else was weighing on his mind more but he wasn’t quite grasping the concepts that were being laid out in front of him. So Winston could just… siphon energy from them? He wanted to ask but instead, he just gave a small shake of his head accompanied with a shrug. “Do what you have to do,” He responded. “I have energy to spare.” He wasn’t lying - even though the moon was new, he realised he was still a reservoir of adrenaline just waiting to kickstart.

“Whatever it takes.” If this worked, after all, Lydia had living, breathing energy stores of her own walking around upstairs. She stepped to stand beside Winston. Her wings shifted under her glamour, briefly causing the gentlest breeze around them. Whatever it would take to be free again.

“Give me your hands,” Winston instructed as they reached out and gestured for them to take their hands in their own. Stretching out for them, Winston began the ritual enchantment. Latin words spilled forth and they could feel the energy siphon from themselves and the others as they offered it forth. Winston watched as the mould shimmered and the liquid inside began to gradually fade away. Sweat beaded their brow as they completed their work. “Should be ready now, if you want to carefully pick it up. But don’t drop it because finding it again will be beyond difficult.” Simon offered his hand obediently, a flash of doubt crossing his mind that they were about to do something illegal - he’d only seen magic used once before and he was still finding remnants of that fight while he cleaned the morgue, it seemed like. The latin wasn’t entirely helping but he held still, deciding to keep his eyes on the tool that was being enchanted before them, remaining vigilant even after the scissors turned invisible. He exhaled when Winston finished, almost feeling as though he had run up a flight of stairs. “That’s it?” He asked, not out of dismissal but affirmation.

Lydia nearly dropped to her knees when the drain came. The strangest thing - it was something she’d felt before, in a dozen different people. It wasn’t through a hand but a kiss, fed side by side with the creative burst. She’d felt this a thousand times in the hearts of the humans she kept, and the way they’d sagged in her arms after. The thought churned her stomach, for all the wrong reasons. 

 Lydia looked at Simon, then Winston, and carefully reached into the scissor mould. Her fingers touched cool metal, drawing a gasp of air out of her. “They’re here!” She gasped, and picked them up. It was strange to see her flesh contort to squeeze around thin air, but Lydia would rather feel them tightly in her than drop them and risk losing them forever. She walked backwards, until the bond tightened around her belly. No point getting excited yet, she thought, looking Simon in the eyes as she held up the invisible scissors and snipped them in the air between them. 

Nothing changed. The tension was still taut around her belly. “No, come on,” Lydia whined, snipping it again, and again, her lips curling down in disappointment as nothing changed. Nothing changed! Lydia was almost at the point of throwing the scissors in contempt when something snagged. It pulled her forwards, just for a second, and then the tension vanished.  Lydia stumbled back, her mouth gaping right open. 

Bemused, Winston watched their handiwork. Watching Lydia apparently snip at the open air was something to say the least, but the way that she held the scissors was more then enough to convince Winston that they were doing what they were meant to. She seemed frustrated and then she cut through something and Winston exhaled. “So it worked?” The werewolf watched carefully as Lydia collected the scissors, invisible though they were and Simon opted to stand as still and sturdily as he could while she tried to cut the line, which didn’t seem to work at first until it did and he felt as though a belt had fallen from around his waist. He glanced down, then at the distance between himself and Lydia… then took a generous, slow step backwards, finding that he was able to do so. Nora was right; invisible scissors worked and the bond had been successfully severed. “I believe it did,” He remarked mildly before giving a single clap. “Splendid job, Winston! Brilliantly done.”

“That’s absurd,” Lydia breathed, watching Simon step away from her. It had been what, nearly ten days? Ten days where they couldn’t even stand that far apart. Twelve feet now, and when Lydia took another step, it was one the same size as Simon’s. Thirteen feet. There was barely space in the room to contain her excitement, as she walked back to the table and carefully set the scissors back in the mold. Or she tried to - these things were far from simple. “Human magic makes no sense whatsoever. I am incredibly grateful, Winston. If you give me your bank information I will repay you as you deserve.” Lydia bounced her leg, looking from one to the other, wondering how quickly she could push the both of them out of her home. 

Raising an eyebrow, Winston shrugged. “Magic is … magic I guess.” They reached out their bandaged hand (after all they didn’t want people to see the weird eyelid on it) and carefully scooped up the scissors, placing it on the hook before attaching the hook to a string and beginning to carefully place it into a cloth bag. “I’m going to keep this if that’s cool, unless one of you want it.” Winston wasn’t sure what they would need invisible scissors for but just in case right. “But, you don’t have to … should I be getting people to pay me for this?” Winston frowned, they’d never really thought about it. “Maybe you could just owe me one? I’m not sure what the going rate is...” Winston shrugged. “Cool, Simon, you want a lift somewhere or you gonna stick around for a bit?” Though he could virtually sense the excitement radiating off of Lydia as the latter stepped further and further away, Simon felt decidedly… different. He glanced between Lydia to Winston and gave a noncommittal shrug, acting almost as if he hadn’t been tethered to the woman in the first place. “You know what they say about being good at something and not doing it for free,” He mentioned, turning to give Lydia an unintentionally decisive look. “N-no, I’m… yeah, I could use a lift,” He spoke to Winston as he looked at the Fae, long, almost longingly but covering it with kindness before it lingered too long. “Thank you for your patience throughout this ordeal,” He gave her a small nod accompanied with a vague smile. “I’ll, uh… get out of your space now.” And that was it; he backed away slowly towards the door, turning his head to face Winston now as he waited for them to depart with him.

“By all means, please do keep it,” Lydia said. “I have little use for something I can’t see, normally.” She looked to Winston, and nodded. “You should be repaid justly for your work.” That, and Lydia would rather not owe another human a favour. Her eyes drifted to their bandaged hand, and back to them. “I will pay you significantly above whatever the going rate is. Money is not a concern.” At Winston’s question, Lydia felt a chill run down her spine, looking to Simon expectantly. The last thing she wanted was for him to linger, and that was as clear on her face as the longing was on his. “I would be very grateful if you could. It has been lovely getting to know you, but if I saw you again within the week it would be too soon.”

Nodding gently, Winston quickly gathered their things up, packing everything away as efficiently as they possibly could. “Okay, I’ll send you my details when I get home and you can decide the price.” Winston had never really thought that this was something that they could just do and get paid for. Maybe they would have to start looking at doing more of this, a little more money wouldn’t hurt and it had kept them from worrying about the nightmare visions. “I’ll let you name a price or we can discuss it later,” they turned to Simon as they shouldered their rucksack and headed towards the door, calling over their shoulder to Lydia. “Let me know if you get tied to someone else in the future, I’ll see if I can help again.” As they stepped into the sunlight, they turned to Simon. “Where do you want to go dude?” Simon saw Lydia’s expression out of his peripheral vision and he blinked after a pause, shaking his head and focusing on Winston. “Uh, just-- home’s fine. I’ll tell you how to get there.” He put his hands in his pockets, his own expression plaintive as he looked to the ground in submission once more. Home… it might be nice, maybe.

[uncrownedqueeen]

Animals (C.H)

Summary: Car sex with Calum… Nothing more to it.

Words: 4,2k (I am sorry.)

“I’ll be at your place in ten.”

The message was sent a few minutes ago but still there was no answer from her which he found odd. It usually didn’t take her too long to get back to him.  Calum was about to reach for his phone and maybe try calling her this time when it finally buzzed.

“Don’t think I can go out tonight. Dad is still pissed. Sorry, babe. x”

“For fuck’s sake,” Calum let out a disappointed groan and one of his hands hit the steering wheel roughly.

It wasn’t like he was upset with her. It wasn’t her fault. He knew her parents and how they could be. Still, he couldn’t stop the disappointment from kicking in.

“I’ll meet you at the park in a bit.”

This message brought a smile to his face, and he was glad that he hadn’t turned the car right away.  It didn’t come as a surprise that he got there before her and he spent the time waiting by pacing back and forth. His hands were hidden in his pockets, and he was looking down at his sneakers, realizing it wouldn’t hurt to clean them a bit.

Suddenly, two arms wrapped around his torso, sliding through the loops his arms made.

“Hello.” The familiar soft voice cooed next to his ear.

He turned around to face her, greeting her with a kiss before anything else.

“Your dad calmed down this quickly?” He asked amusedly, even though he knew that it most likely wasn’t the case at all.

Her explanation caught him completely off guard though, and he blinked at her in the dark.

“Are you serious?”

“Absofuckinlutely,” she said with a grin. “Mum’s already asleep, and he has plenty of paperwork from work. He didn’t even hear me when I knocked down the bike when sneaking from the back.”

His expression started to change from a surprised to an amazed one and a large smile grew on his face.

She was the one to bring their lips together again while she was stepping back. He had to smile against her lips slightly at that, noticing where exactly she was guiding them. There was this one particular bench, far away from all the street lights and hidden by a bunch of trees. Not even someone on a late night jog around here could see there. Or at least they both hoped that no one saw any of those things that took place there during their little get-togethers.

“Stop,” he muttered, interrupting her.

She released the grip on his shirt as she pulled away to look at him.

“I got a new car.” Calum beamed. “Wanna go on a ride?”

On their way there he shared plenty of unnecessary details about the car with her. Details she simply didn’t understand but which somehow made him super excited, and that was something that made her happy too.

“What do you think?” He asked when they got into the car.

She took a look around. “Well, it is a car…. Very nice car,” she added when she heard something that sounded like a gasp come from him.

That had to be enough for him and it seemed like it was. He started the car and set out. She asked him where they were going but the only reaction she got from him was a shrug.

They could go anywhere.

There was a little smile playing on her lips as she watched him, his head bobbing gently to the rhythm of the music they had on a low volume. Maybe there was more to the vehicle than she had seen originally. Because somehow, she found the view she had from the passenger seat incredibly attractive. Did he always look this hot while driving? If so, it had definitely slipped her attention.

He had one of his hands reached out, manoeuvring the steering wheel while the other was placed on her thigh, his thumb rubbing small circles into her skin.  His mouth grew wide with a grin when she mirrored his actions and he felt the pressure of her hand on his leg. Since the roads were mostly empty at this hour, there was no harm done when he kept his dark eyes on her a little longer.

Calum could be hard to read sometimes, but right now she felt like she knew exactly what was running through his mind. This was nice, and she wouldn’t want to be just driving around in the middle of the night with anyone else but him.

An idea how to make this whole thing even more pleasurable popped into her head, and she wondered if somewhere in the back of his mind, Calum was thinking of the same thing.

It didn’t matter whether he was figuring out where to park up the car, or he was entirely focused on the driving. Her hand had already started moving up his thigh and before he got to say anything, she was practically palming his crotch.

Their eyes met, and he couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the innocent expression she wore. He knew her well enough to not be fooled by this anymore. She was the one to break the eye contact, advising him on how he shouldn’t get anything at the place they just passed. A friend of a friend was supposed to get a part-time job there, but left after seeing the horrific conditions of the kitchen.

Calum scoffed a little. What a ridiculous topic to bring up while she was slowly but surely making her way into his jeans. He pressed his lips into a thin line in an attempt to keep himself composed once there was nothing more than just the thin fabric of his underwear separating his hardening cock and her confident hand.

“Everything all right?” She checked casually with a small smile when he took in a sharp breath in a reaction to how she was touching him.

“Everything’s perfect,” he assured her, the pitch of his voice changing towards the end of the sentence since she squeezed him a bit tighter.

“You are awful.” She simply laughed at his complaint, not minding the fact that her amusement was the reason he had said it in the first place.

As a peace offering, she suggested she could stop. She even got to a point when she truly started pulling her hand away and in that moment Calum’s eyes grew wide. The thought of her leaving him rock hard like this was more upsetting than anything else. The last thing he wanted was for her to stop. Concentrating on the road in front of them was becoming more and more difficult, however, and while her small but very skilful hand got back to work, Calum tried to think of the closest spot they would be able to stop, so he would get to enjoy everything this angel had to offer without worrying he will kill them both in a fucking car crash.

How embarrassing that would be? Getting pulled out of the car later with buttons open and his cock out?

This was not going to happen. Not on his watch.

But man, she definitely didn’t make it any easier for him. Not when she was suddenly leaning closer to him, heading straight towards the crotch.

He hadn’t even noticed her put away her seatbelt, but that became the last of his worries when her tongue teased the tip of his cock.

She pulled her tongue right back into her mouth. Both of them getting just a little taste of what they both craved. Her lips brushed against the sensitive skin, causing Calum to squeeze the steering wheel tightly, almost to a point that his knuckles turned white. A hissing sound came with that, one that made her chuckle even with the cock pressed against the bottom lip.

Calum looked down at her. His jaw tight and his eyes rolled to the back of his head when he got to see the head disappear in her sweet mouth.

When her tongue moved side to side, pleasantly rubbing against the sensitive spot under the head, he gulped.

They really needed to stop the car. Soon.

“Fuck,” he grunted as her cheeks hollowed, and she drew her head up only to sink down again, taking him deeper.

His foot stomped on the brakes a bit too quickly once she took him out of her mouth. Simply dragging her lips down his cock and then he could feel her soft, wet tongue on his balls.

If it wasn’t for the arm that he had securely placed over her back, holding her close, it could have resulted in a pretty nasty fall.

This dick move on the road made the driver that was behind him honk the car horn loudly in dismay. Calum lifted his hand up in an apologetic gesture, looking at the man in the review mirror while he apologized by simply mouthing the word sorry.

The road was empty, and the man decided to drive past them, clearly way too annoyed to be dealing with this. In any other situation, the manoeuvre would be dangerous, and truth be told, forbidden as well. There were no other cars in sight though, nor was there the police.

The man could get away with this without any problems. Calum was honestly relieved to get him off his back.

He looked down to his lap, gently brushing away some hair from her face so he could get a better look. It took him a second to form up any coherent sentence. Who could blame him when she was pumping his length as if there was no tomorrow and her tongue and lips worked magic bellow?

Calum was on the verge of cumming right there.

“You can’t just do something like this,” he pointed out but his words could hardly be taken seriously. She could tell how much he was holding himself back. As soon as he got those words out, a loud groan erupted from his throat and he sent her a disbelieving look.

“I mean it. You can’t just make me cum in the middle of the road.” His voice was hushed now, sounding as helpless as he was feeling.

Her eyes stayed glued on him when she dragged her tongue up, and he could swear that she muttered out the words ‘watch me’ just when she started to take him all the way into her mouth again.

No matter how much he would like to, he couldn’t really watch her. Not in this setting when he needed to get them off the road.

He dared to glance down to her every once and then though. Usually after a particularly hot sound she made and even just the sight made his cock throb a bit harder.

“Fucking Christ,” he stammered out and then winced slightly when her nails dug into his thigh, stopping him from tilting his hips upwards.

Calum’s hand moved up her back and neck before his fingers tangled in her hair. He didn’t really push her, but she thought of it as a request to take him deeper anyway. Calum actually whimpered, informing her that he was going to come soon.

Hearing that, the girl in his lap sucked a bit harder while dragging her head up. Her tongue teased the sensitive tip, making Calum swear a bit more while her hand rubbed the part of his cock that was still wet from her spit.

It hadn’t taken long before the warm treat entered her mouth. It left a slight, burning sensation on her tongue when she was pulling away, a playful smile plastered on her sweet lips.

The car just stopped near the trails and Cal’s hand sprung out towards her almost immediately.

He could taste himself on her tongue as they kissed passionately, his fingers digging hard into the back of her neck as he held her close. His other hand freed him from the restricting seat belt and then he was finally able to lean towards her, making her back press into the seat.She sighed softly when his lips left hers, and he nipped lightly at her neck.

His lips and tongue were leaving a wet trail behind them as he made his way to her chest. A gasp left her mouth when he sucked on the delicate skin of her breasts. She could still feel his hot breath on her skin when he asked her to take her top off. He didn’t need to ask her twice. Soon, he was able to sneak his hand up her back to get rid of her bra as well.

He took his time with caressing, tasting, and sucking on every inch of the newly exposed skin, making her nipples harden with a treatment like this one.

When his tongue finally flicked against one of them, she squirmed in the seat, pressing her legs tightly to each other as she tried to relieve her throbbing core. Calum didn’t leave this unnoticed and went to separate her thighs with his hand providing some pressure in those places himself.

“How about you get on the back seats?” He suggested, a pause between each of the words, which he used for marking her chest with lovely, little bruises.

She agreed with just a nod of her head and he pulled back to give her the space to move there. He watched her carefully as she started to tug down her shorts. His tongue peeked out of his mouth to wet his bottom lip when he noticed the visibly damp stain on the fabric of her underwear. Clearly, he wasn’t the only one having a great time.

“You coming?” She asked him, feeling like it had been taking him too long to move over here.

“Pretty sure I did just a little while ago.”

She rolled her eyes at the smug smirk he wore, lifting her hips up, so she could take down the panties. If this wasn’t going to make him hurry, then there was nothing that would.

Thankfully enough, it did work.

The poor boy almost hurt himself as he rushed to join her. The amused laughter got interrupted by an unexpected moan, a reaction to his finger sliding between her wet folds. When his finger brushed over her entrance, barely just the tip slipping in, her hips automatically thrust forward, asking for more. Instead of pushing deeper, or adding another finger to press against her, Calum pushed her thighs farther apart.

Enough for him to dip his head right between them.

With just a one, long lick he got to taste her excitement. It took one more lick to send shivers down her spine, and he smiled up at her. She had watched his eyes shut before he buried his face into her heat.

Her fingers tugged on his hair, and he moaned against her. His nose was rubbing against her clit as he continued eating her out, and she couldn’t help but cry out when his tongue slid inside her.

The way she wriggled underneath him, moaning into the palm of her hand as she tried to not be so loud, as if anyone could hear them, was definitely enough to make his cock start hardening again.

Not to mention the delicious taste his mouth was surrounded with. His tongue lapped at her core, taking every drop of what she could possibly give him before he closed his lips around the sensitive bud at the top.

“Calum,” she whimpered and when he looked up he saw her eyes were closed blissfully. He gently dragged his fingertips up over her inner thigh before he pushed two of them inside.

Her hand fell from her lips then, and he got to hear her reactions without any obstacles.

She sounded so hot.

Calum was sure he could do even better than this. Encouraged by the sound of her soft cries and moans he flicked his tongue against her clit, his long fingers moving in and out of her. With the passing time, the pace at which he was going picked up.

If there ever happened to be any walls of modesty between the two of them, they were surely nothing more than just ruins by now.

Gone were the moments when she was worried about coming off as too loud. Calum was more than happy to let her use his face to get herself off. It really seemed like she was doing most of the work right now, rocking her hips against him as quickly as she wanted to and as hard as she needed to reach her orgasm.

When her legs started to shake, Calum’s hand were there to grip on one of her thighs. Stopping it from closing when the pleasure simply seemed too much for her to handle.

He held her still, curling the two fingers that were inside her.

Calum’s face didn’t pull away for even just a second as she came undone, her hot moans luring some groans out of him as well.

The change in her behaviour after she came was endearing. Her hand that was gripping on his hair tight just a few seconds ago was now running through the curls softly before it moved to his cheek.

He leaned into the touch, smiling slightly as he could still hear her breathing heavily.

With her beautiful pussy glistening pretty much right in front of his face, Calum couldn’t help but think about how amazing it would feel to have those soft, warm walls wrap around his cock. Even just the thought of it made him let out a soft sigh, and he didn’t even try to fight the urge to stroke himself. She would need a moment to recover, though.

He was horny, but he wasn’t a dick. He was going to give her all the time she needed. Finding a comfortable position on the seats, Calum pulled her closer to him and ran his hands over her naked body.

That was until she pointed out how unfair it was that it was only her who was freezing their ass off here.

She was right. While all of her clothes were laying on the car floor, Calum’s shirt was still on and so were his pants. They were pushed down just enough for his cock to be free.

His eyes were smiling when she trailed her hands over his chest before finally gripping on the hem of his shirt and helping him to take it off.

As soon as his chest was bare, her nails dug lightly into his skin and he could see the little smirk that started growing on her lips.

She leaned closer, kissing the spot right below his ear, and he shivered when she whispered to him how she cannot wait to have that nice cock inside her.

There was no need for convincing.

Set of chuckles erupted from her chest when he gently nudged her away. Calling her a fucking animal after she went to further detail about how hard she came last night while masturbating to the memory of him fucking her in the bathroom during the party last weekend.

She turned around and propped herself up on her forearms, her ass up in the air.

Calum groaned a little at the sight and when that little tease sneaked one of her hands in between her legs to rub herself, he simply had to curse.

He made her pull the hand away with a firm spank across one of her cheeks. After, he kneaded the sore flesh for a moment before he slid his hand to spread the wetness around, preparing her for him.

When he finally pushed his cock inside, they both let out a low sigh. Calum’s mouth was falling open as he watched his cock disappear inside her. The movement was nice and slow even though she seemed to be more than ready for this. He simply wanted to savour it, but then she fucking clenched her walls around him and he almost gasped.

Another smacking noise sounded through the car as his hand hit her ass and now it was her time to suck in some breath. Calum kept his hand there now, squeezing her body tight as he pushed into her with more force.

“You feel so fucking good,” he muttered out, but she barely noticed. She was way too focused on how nice it felt to have him filling her up like this, hitting all the right spots her fingers simply couldn’t reach. It had been just a few days since the last time she got to feel him like this. And yet she was going to bed thinking of how amazing it felt to have his body pressed against hers every night.

She moaned loud and clear when both of his hands held her hips in place as he thrust forward, making sure she felt him as deep as she possibly could.

“Fuck,” she let out in a shaky voice when he drew back only to push in just as hard again.

Even with his hands holding her still, she tried pushing against him as she wanted to keep him inside her for the most part.

Calum decided to let her do her thing after a while. Enjoying the view and feeling of her fucking herself on him the way she liked the most. He leaned his face down and placed a small kiss on her back before suggesting she should ride him.

He loved having her on top. The way she rolled her hips made his head spin. Not to mention the great view of her bouncing tits right in front of his face. They were basically asking to be put into his mouth, and he always obliged.

Tonight was no different. His tongue was flicking over her nipple while his hands were squeezing her perfect ass. Calum remembered to reward it with a spank every once and then while she was doing her own incredible thing.

From the pitch in her voice and the way how she was desperately holding onto his neck, he dared to say she wasn’t far away from cumming.

Suddenly, her movements stopped. She was sitting on his lap, his cock buried deep inside her. Honestly, this was not something he had a problem with at all, but something about how her body stiffened confused him.

“What?” He asked, keeping his lips as close to her breast as he could.

“Did you hear that?” She wanted to know as she pulled her chest away, looking down at him with her eyes wide.

“Hear what?”

“I don’t know what that was. Just… noise. It was weird.”

“Babe,” he murmured and pecked the hard bud in front of him. “It was just wind or something. Don’t worry,” Calum tried to soothe her, stroking her ass that must had been bright red by now.

The expression on her face didn’t look too convinced, and he sighed.

Slowly, he kissed one of her tits and then the other. “Just forget it okay?” He smiled a bit and moved one of his hands to her front, starting to play with her clit while his own hips began moving slightly, so they could get back to where they had left off.

“How about we keep going, and I will then eat you out, cleaning up all the mess?” His voice was low as he was suggesting that, his lips brushing against her burning skin. He smiled when her walls tightened around him when she heard that suggestion. He didn’t forget how much she had enjoyed that before.

“Would that help to calm down your nerves?” There was a bright smile as he looked up at her and she had no other choice than to simply mirror it while nodding her head in agreement.

Her worries vanished as quickly as they had appeared. The circles he was drawing on her clit and his mouth that was closed around her nipple was a great help.

She rocked her body on top of his quickly, making him groan out on more than just one occasion. No matter how much Calum liked to let her be in charge, with the pressure in his lower abdomen, he couldn’t stop himself from thrusting upwards, making her body jerk up.

She smiled through her moan the first time it happened, and she opened her eyes to look at him.

“You like that?” He hummed out when their eyes met, a tiny smile tugging on the corner of his mouth.

“Of course, I do,” she breathed out quickly, moaning again when his hips thrust up roughly once more. Slowly, she took her eyes off him.

Another hard thrust.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, fuck…,"Calum got out, his voice slightly muffled by her chest where he had excitedly pressed his face.

"Fuck. Fuck! No. No. Not like that,” she started to stammer, making him pull away by tugging on the hair on the back of his neck, way harder than he liked. He actually winced from pain this time.

“The noise! It was a fucking car!”

Quickly, she covered her chest with her arm, getting off of him. Calum blinked.

“Okay… It was a car. You blew me in the middle of the road. Since when do you care about cars?” He laughed.

“It’s my dad.” She had motioned out of the back window before she quickly reached down to get her shorts.

“What?!” Confused, Calum took a look over his shoulder. The door of the familiar, silver vehicle opened, and he gulped.

“Fuck.”

[mizu-writes-kumo]

Things are kinda depressing. Could you please write more of your lion king 2 au or that alternate dark shance au were shance is like hagger and zarkon. Please I'd really appreciate it.

I am sorry things have been depressing anon.  And I am sorry it took me so long to fill this prompt, but I hope you and everyone enjoys it. I really actually like writing it and I can’t wait to see what ya’ll thing.

You can read it here on AO3: Chapter 3: Seein’ Double Vision

----

Shiro was in a throne room.

He didn’t exactly know how he got there.

Well, no, that was a lie.  He knew how he got there.

They were trying to find the Paladins, who disappeared in the middle of space.  Only to find a ripped hole to another reality in their last recorded location.  One the Atlas could very much go through, so they could find them and give the Paladins aid.  Because apparently they had gone to an alternate reality before and narrowly escaped.  Shiro wasn’t going to leave it to chance they would do the same again.

So they had gone through, only to arrive in a swarm of warships that look similar to Atlas...perhaps more sleeker though.  And a huge bulking mothership-looking version of the IGF Atlas trapping them in a tractor beam.  They were hailed by...well humans...and given an audience with the leader.

Which had lead Shiro, and a small security detail, because something was very very off and it was the only way Commander Iverson would agree to Shiro leaving the Atlas, to the main ship.  And, well...the giant throne room Shiro was forced to enter by himself.

That was how he got there.

“Captain Takashi Shirogane of the IGF Atlas, sire.”  The alternate, fitter, rougher-looking, version of Iverson introduced Shiro with a deep bow toward the throne seat in the room.

Shiro, himself, took to bowing.  

He had learned a long time ago in strange situations with alien species it was just best to mimic what Allura, Coran, or the alien race did.  It lowered the chances of accidentally offending someone, even if it could all relatively be smoothed out.  So he figured it was best to just copy the alternate Iverson, that way he wouldn’t offend the royalty that still held power in this reality’s human society.

“Hmm…”  A new voice hummed.

The sound made Shiro peek his head up towards the throne room’s seat.  Where just before the seat stood a figure Shiro hadn’t gotten much of a good look at yet.  

He had been too busy making sure his security detail didn’t try to start something as the doors closed behind them, before glancing around the rather sparsely decorated room.  He didn’t recognize the crest on the flags that hung along the walls, even though it seemed vaguely familiar.

But he could see they were dressed in a black, gray, and golden uniform that was fashioned with an armor.  It looked similar to standard Garrison uniforms...yet completely different with the hard armored plating that covered everything vital. From what Shiro peaked, it looked like a combination for Altean Paladin armor, a knight's armor, and tactical armor were all missed together.

“Just a Captain?”  The voice of the person that hummed sounded.

Shiro’s blood ran cold at the sound.

Because that was his voice.

His head snapped up quickly, pulling out the bow to look at, an alternate version of himself.  He still had the two toned hair Shiro did from after his capture with the Galra.  Shaved in the undercut still Shiro use to have as well.  Only he had no scar across his face.  His hands were held loosely behind his back, as he looked down at Shiro and the alternate Iverson from a top his raised throne area.  A chilling grin grew on his lips at the reaction, and his glowing purple eyes narrowed a bit.

And there chill down Shiro’s spine.

The look reminded him of Zarakon.

“That will be all, Commander Iverson.”  The alternate version of Shiro state flatly.  Not once moving his gaze from Shiro.  “Leave us.”  Iverson hesitated in the corner of Shiro’s vision.  “Now, Commander.” was the Alternate Shiro’s sharp command.

Shiro found himself staring in disbelief at the version of himself before him, as Iverson quickly seemed to scramble away.  In a hurriedly, panicked manner, like he already delayed too long and didn’t wish to angry his leader any more.  Not that Shiro blamed him, there was something about this version of him that was putting Shiro off as well. He heard the door open and close with a smooth whoosh before the other him hummed again.

“I must admit, you are not what I expected when I first heard you, an alternative version of me, were here.”  The alternate version of himself stated as he moved towards Shiro a bit.  In a slow manner that felt like he was an animal stalking his prey.  

Shiro felt himself tense as the other neared.  But he hid it under the guise of straightening up with an air of authority.  It doesn’t quite measure up to the level the other was giving off.  Nor does it seem to be well hidden given the way the other’s grin skewed in a knowing way.  But Shiro doesn't really care. Shiro just glared back however.

“I don’t think I’m what most expect.”  He returned.

The other him hummed in acknowledgement, as he started a slow circle around Shiro.  “You have the scars to prove it, it looks like”  The other said with a small click of his tongue.  “They are the scars of a good champion fighter, in my experience.”  He continued as he circled behind Shiro.  “Though the white hair is a surprise I didn’t completely expect.  Graying early are we?” He chuckled out in a way that felt dangerous, before Shiro suddenly felt him flick at his prosthetic hand.  “The prosthetic is Altean, correct?”  

Shiro pulled his hand away with a sharp glare as the other him circle in front of you. 

“Altean did always seem to prefer creating prosthetics with negative space.”  The other Shiro continued when he was given no reply.  “The design is too bulky to be Altean.  So that must be Human.  Though I haven’t seen anything like that since...well, Dr. Samuel Holt was still around.”  He added as he started to walk back towards the throne.  “But I know an Altean touch when I see one.  An incomplete, unnecessary glowing bright arm is one of them.”

“It has it’s pros and cons.”  Shiro returned levely, but he more than lets his thankfulness poor through his words.  “I am very thankful for Princess Allura’s contribution to it.”

The other him turned to look back at him for a moment.  Clearly not expecting such a reply from Shiro.  His glowing purple eyes narrowed into a sharp glare, before he turned back towards the throne.  Shiro watched as the other him made his way to a small table with some simple glass and metal wear on it.

He watched as the other him lifted what look like a pitcher, and carefully pour a red colored liquid into one of the metal cups.  Mindfully filling up to a certain point, before he pulled back and moved to another.  He paused with the pitcher over the second cup, and turned back to look at Shiro.

“Would you like a drink?”  The other asked, with a sort of shine in his already glowing eyes.

“No thank you.”  Shiro said firmly from his spot.  He waited for a moment as the other to put the pitcher back down on the table, with a small ‘suit yourself’ shrug.  “I would like to talk about your fleet releasing my ship, King--”

“Emperor Shirogane.”  The other him corrected darkly before he took a drink from his cup.

Shiro flinched at the word.

He really did not like this one bit.

Things were really starting to remind him of Zarakon and the Galra Empire now.  It was too eerily similar to just a chance happening.  And it is leaving a very uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

But he stayed strong.

“Emperor Shirogane,”  Shiro said levely with a small swallow.  “Please have your fleet release my ship from it’s hold.”

“Why should I do that?”  The emperor asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Because, we mean your fleet and you no harm.  We simply wish to find a small number of crew members that accidently slipped through.”  Shiro said levelly in a firm manner.  His voice not wavering as the emperor looked at him sharply.  “I wouldn’t be surprised if you actually stumbled across them and took them aboard.  But I assure they mean no harm to you.  If you release them and their vessels to me, we will return back to reality peacefully and without issue.”

Shiro is quite certain the other Paladin’s where there.

With how right out the gate the other ships where there.  They and the lions had to be aboard one of the ships.  If Shiro couldn’t get them release, everyone back on the Altas was figuring out where they for a jail break.

The alternative version of himself looked at him carefully from behind his cup.  Before he walked over to his throne.  Sitting down cooly like he was actually considering what Shiro was saying.  

It gives Shiro some hope.

That this version of himself isn’t like Zarakon. 

That despite the eerie similarities, it wasn’t that way. The other him was good and kind, and not some power hungry tyrant everyone feared.

“I will do no such thing.”  The emperor said after a moment of that.

“Why is that?” Shiro asked in a firm but polite manner.

Hoping it was something like Keith attacked someone, or something minor like that.  Where it was just a misunderstanding that Shiro could talk them out of.  Even though his gut sinks in a very bad away.

“Your lost crew members came in the lions of Voltron.”  Emperor Shirogane said as he lounged back in the chair and glanced into his cup.  “I’m not about to hand over the most powerful weapon in the universe to...an alternate version of me.  Not when I finally have Black Lion again.  Plus, their Paladins were a very interesting bunch.  I hadn’t seen most of them in over ten thousand years.  It was a rather fun little reunion.”  He added with a chilling grin as he looked back to Shiro.

Shiro growled at the words, quenching his fist as he tried to keep a level head.

The other still needed time to locate where the Paladins and Lions were being kept.  Once Coran radioed Shiro the location, he would screw all pleasantries with this version of himself.

It would be a hail mary move for sure.  But Voltron and the Atlas had been through worse and came out on top.

“And then of course there was the added bonus of Paladin in the blue armor.”  Emperor Shirogane continued with a hum as he stood up again from the seat.  Shiro felt his blood ran cold.  “He was so very different from the Lance I know.  So much so, I gave him to my warlock, Imasu, to examine and experiment on some.”  The grin on the emperor’s face widened.  "Though, to be fair, Imasu would have taken him any way, me giving him permission or not."

Shiro launched his prosthetic at the emperor.

It caught the other square in the jaw before he could move to dodge.  

And it took him by surprise too.  Causing the other to stagger a bit with the impact of the blow.  Before he sharply turned to glare at Shiro darkly at the gesture.  Watching as Shiro’s prosthetic came back to Shiro’s side.  Sliding into a fighting stance as Shiro readed to charge on the attack.  

Waiting be damned.

If Emperor Shirogane’s warlock was anything like Haggar.  

Well Shiro wasn’t going to stand for any of the Paladin’s to be their new experiment.

“One of the Pros of the prosthetic.”  Shiro returned smartly with a wicked grin as the emperor straightened up from the blow. 

He took on something of a fighting stance as well. Gleaming a bit at the challenge a fight with Shiro was likely present for him.  A glow of something flashed into his hand, before it shifted into a sword.

“Let’s see how much a pro it is.” The emperor smirked out.

Suddenly a pain tore through Shiro from behind.  

The familiar feeling of dark quientense magic he grow far to use to feeling.  Both from Haggar and the other druids.  It felt slightly different, but the was like do to the fact that it wasn't the same person doing it.

Shiro dropped to his knees with a pained shout.

But he managed to turn and look behind him.  To see a figure dressed in a fine blue and gold cloak like clothes.  With ornate jewels and metal jewelry coming out from under the hood he was wearing.  Though Shiro doesn’t miss the glowing blue eyes pierced through the shadows of their face.

Shiro assumed that was the warlock, Imasu.

But before Shiro could move to attack them, they shocked him again.

Sending Shiro down to the floor in pain with a loud shout.  And there was something of a shout that sounded playfully annoyed in his voice.  Followed by the accented return of someone else.  But it is muffled in his ears by the crackle of magic.

Numbing his limbs in the process.

He could feel himself fade away into unconsciousness from the blast.  

Shiro could only watch as the figure and the emperor made their way towards him.  Just helplessly stare up at them from where he lay limply on the ground.

“He has white hair.”  The cloaked figure observed, tilting their head as he looked down at Shiro.

“Yes, just like you.”  Emperor Shirogane returned with a chuckle.  Shiro watched as he moved his hand to push the hood of the figures cloak back some.  Not enough to fully reveal the person under it, as he angled their head, and leaned in to peck them on the cheek.  “Just like you, my dear sweet, Lance.”

Shiro slipped into darkness.

----

AN:Dun dun dun!  Left it on something of a cliff hanger.

I know I ventured away from how I pictured Shiro and Emperor Shirogane meeting. I did try to keep it the same, but the idea of Emperor Shirogane just stepping through a portal, or rocketing out of a rift just didn't feel right. So there was no immediate face off between the two Shiros. There was about to be, but I like idea of the Evil!Lance making himself known and blasting Shiro down. Mostly because there plans just don't have the time.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed.