#and to be able to stream with my brother because he MUST experience this

[waywardvagabonds]

My god, that was soooooo good, holy shit!

[sadburntbread]

BATFAM X NEGLECTED! MALE READER

----- Warnings before you read ----- Child Neglect, Bullying, Death, Violence, Slight swearing, Angst

"My child, my pride and joy" your mother's voice was soft and quiet, she touched the side of your cheek still chubby with baby fat "should there ever be a day when I am not here with you, then you must learn to care for yourself. You must never give your heart to those unworthy". Her words carrying the weight of years of personal experience. She was the wife of the Bruce Wayne, although it was because of an unwanted arranged marriage. her long hair framed her face as she sat in the bay window, overlooking the rain falling down on Gotham, the moonlight casting a soft glow on her face.

"Mama?" your confused face caused her eyes to soften, she picked you up and sat you in her lap. She casted a sad look at you and hugged you tightly.

"M/n, listen to me" Her voice turned stern, you nodded and focused your childish doe eyes on her "you are only eight my boy, you do not yet understand how cruel this world is.", She let out a sigh "I pity you; your father is a busy man, who never spares us the time of day. Your mother is weak in both will and heath. You only have Alfred to truly rely on". Tears were streaming from her eyes as she looked out the window, no longer being able to look you in the eyes. "I wish for you to break out of these chains that bind me. Live a life where you can smile freely. promise me that, m/n".

Over the next few years Bruce brought in many children. Dick was nice, he was cheerful but never had time for you, much like father. Jason was the best brother, you two always spent time together, however, one day he died. Tim... was ok... you were still grieving from Jason's death, and Tim never cared to look your way. Cas and Steph were just... there, Bruce was always training them, and they didn't think you were worth their time. After all, you were simply the spoiled young master Wayne. Lastly, Bruce, he never spent time with you other than at galas. When you went to the galas with your parents and adopted siblings, Bruce would treat you as his precious son. However, your mother could never look at the scene for long, knowing the true neglect that you didn't even know you were experiencing. Aside from that, life was fine. You still had your mother who loved you more than anything, and you had Alfred. Alfred thought of your mother as his own daughter and treated you as his grandson. You did good in school, always wanting to see your mother's smile when she saw your grades.

However, your whole life turned upside down the year you turned 12. Your mother died; her health had been deteriorating ever since you were born.

"Baby..." her voice was shaking, you held the had she reached out, watching as her dazed eyes couldn't find you. The only other person in the room was Alfred, " 'm sorry" Her voice broke into a sob "I'm so sorry for bringing you into this terrible place, please... Please forgive me". Her hand trembled in your grasp; tears streamed down your face.

"I could never blame you mom" you promised, at your words she smiled. With the last of her strength, she spoke again.

"Remember.... don't give... your heart to... these people". Her voice faded and her hand went limp in your hold.

"MOM!", you yelled "MOTHER PLEASE!" Alfred pulled you away from your mother, you cried in his shoulder. Your sobs echoed through the halls of the manor.

Your light was gone.

Her funeral was miserable. Bruce and your adopted siblings came, but only for appearances. As soon as the basic courtesies were over, they all left. You stayed there for the whole day and deep into the night, until Alfred made you get some rest.

After your mother's death, Bruce had you train like all your adopted siblings, it was grueling. He never taught you one-on-one, he had you watch him train the other then practice on your own. He always got so disappointed when you couldn't match pace with the others. However, you wanted to please them. Make them proud. "Foolish child" you could hear your mother say

It was around this time when Jason returned, you were so excited. finally, someone who you could spend time with, you were so lonely. But he was never the same boy you once knew, he was now cold and distant. He looked at you in annoyance... Just like the rest of them.

Days in the Wayne manor passed slowly, you followed your regular routine day by day. Wake up, got to school, go home, do schoolwork, do night watches, sleep and repeat. Things changed when father brought in your half-brother, Damian. Sure, at first you were upset that your father cheated on your mother, but now you had someone you could spend time with and relate to. You thought he would go through the same neglect, instead, he was loved, welcomed. Nothing like you.

"He's had a hard life", they'd say "you wouldn't understand, you've had everything handed to you and all the love you could want". It repeated in your head, all you did was ask why he got more love than you.

It wasn't fair... IT WASNT FAIR!

No... Calm down, take a deep breath. Hold it. Release it. Repeat.

Your mother taught you that when you'd start throwing fits, she was right. There was no use in getting upset over something you couldn't change... You'd just have to prove them wrong, be the best vigilante there ever was.

Damian was the worst. He thought of you as competition, you just wanted to be his friend.

"You know", Damian began, you had asked him to hang out, he was your younger brother after all, and you have to be a good brother like Jason used to be "It's your fault your pathetic mother died".

"...What" It wasn't a question. It was a dare, "Say that again. Do you have a death wish?" Now you were standing right in front of him, your frame towering over him. The empty living room became even more silent.

"I said", He didn't back down, instead, he stood tall "You caused your mother's death. I mean, think about it. If you hadn't been born than your mother wouldn't have fallen ill". you pushed him against the wall, pinning his shoulder with enough strength to break it, if he were a normal person. "Never mind, it wasn't your fault" Oh? was he back down? No... his smirk spread "it was your mother's fault for being so weak"

WHACK

you punched at his face; he moved but you still hit the side of his cheek, then he started punching back. it became a back and forth of fists. The two of you scuffling on the floor before a voice rang out.

"What the hell is going on here!?", you both looked over. It was dick, he was followed by the rest of your adopted siblings. Both of you let go of the other, your breathing ragged. You noticed Damian's breathing was steady, as if he hadn't just been fighting. Monster

'"He-" You tried to explain yourself, but Dick cut you off. He stormed up to you, his expression was furious, and he smacked you...hard. You stood shocked, your head turned to the side and your eyes wide in disbelief, you put your hand to your burning cheek.

"You are older than him! I don't care what excuse you have, you should know better!" Dick yelled, he grabbed you by your wrist and began pulling you. "We're going to see Bruce, you can explain yourself to him". Dick dragged you to Bruces's office, his grip was painfully tight. When you two stood Infront of the doors to his office you felt dread fill you. It wasn't your fault. It was Damian's. you repeated in your head. Dick pushed the doors open quickly, Bruce looked up at his arrival, waiting for an explanation. He always just ignored you; he'd say that he was too busy and to come back later. "He was fighting with Damian. The kid just started punching him." Dick explained. You froze as your father's disapproving eyes turned to you.

NO! that's not how it happened! You had to defend yourself, say something...ANYTHING. "He-he said mother was weak! That I was the reason she died!" You stuttered as you tried to explain. He'd understand, surly. However, your hopes were crushed when Bruce's expression didn't change, when it didn't soften in understanding.

"Dick, Leave us. I'll talk with him". Bruce instructed. Dick sent you a quick disappointed glare then left, the door closed with a slight slam. The office was quite before Bruce let out a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "I understand that you were upset. However, that is no reason to hit your younger brother". His gaze turned to you, then back to the papers on his desk. "Aside from that, I've been meaning to talk to you".

Oh? He wants to talk to you? That has never happened before. You felt yourself getting excited, forgetting all about the scuffle with Damian.

"I have decided to make Damian the heir to the Wayne Enterprises". Bruce didn't even look at you. He never does.

"...What?" You couldn't stop the question from slipping out. No, you had to defend your position, Mother's position. Consequences be damned. "No, you can't! He is an affair child; I am supposed to take over the company!"

That was a mistake. Bruce glared at you, his piercing eyes shutting you up quickly. "Do not fight with me child. The decisions already been made. Now go get ready for your night watch". That was it. The conversation was over. When you walked to your room you passed by the living room full of your adopted siblings, all joking with each other. You watched them for a moment before made eye contact with Damian, then, he smirked.

After it became public that you were no longer going to take over Wayne Enterprises, people outside the manor stopped being kind to you. After all, you were no longer the heir to the company, why should they care about you?

That leads us a couple years in the future, to tonight, the night was hauntingly beautiful. On this night Batman and his crew of sidekicks were all out because the Joker had gotten a new toy. Some beasts with something akin to tendrils. You all had to split up, Cass and Steph, Dick and Jason, Tim and Damian. you were sent off on your own, like always. But it was fine, you were used to it. You had gotten stronger, both emotionally and physically.

but tonight was different, you couldn't handle it. you and Batman were in the same general area; however, you were both distracted with your own fights. Then a quiet voice could be heard, one that was not the joker's, you looked over and saw an elderly lady in the middle of the shopping district you were fighting in. A tendril flew at you before you could run to her, you blocked it and turned to the lady.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?", you yelled at her, she looked at you, a helpless look in her eyes. She was confused. "EVACUATE!" At your yelling, Batman looked over to you two, his eyes widened as he noticed the lady. Batman quickly finished off the beast he was fighting then turned to the lady, a tendril rushed towards her. Batman rushed to grab her first, it was close, but he successfully caught her and dropped her nearby safely.

However, the tendril turned and rushed towards you. Too fast for you to react, all you could do was yell. "DAD!" The first time you had said that in such a long time.

It was too late. The tendril pierced through your stomach.

It went quiet. You couldn't hear or see anything. Couldn't hear Batman's yell of your name, couldn't see him rushing to you. All you could see was the black tendril in your stomach. your vision got hazy, and you dropped.

You were caught, but you couldn't see who. It was terrifying, the cold you felt. Did mother feel the same way?

There was a voice... Who's? Their tone was begging. Was there anyone who cared enough to beg you to stay?

You were so, so tired... Then you saw her....

Mother

"DAD!!" Your voice cut through the air; Batman looked to you. His eyes widened at the sight of you being pierced through.

"M/N!!" Batman didn't even know he could sound so desperate. His son was going to die, just like Jason. He rushed to your side, pulling off his cape to wrap the wound. when the cape was tight enough, he grabbed you, carrying you to a distant building, one untouched by the enemy. He had to fight his way through the area, it was difficult with you in his arms, but he made sure you didn't get hurt any more than you already had. "Don't you die on me, m/n! I promise to treat you better. Don't leave me, not like your mother". He mumbled pleas as he carried you, and even more after he set you down. After he was sure you were still breathing (Although shallow and rough) Batman spoke into the communication device all of his children shared. "M/n is injured. Clear your area and hurry to [-----]. I have him resting safely in an abandoned building, we need to take him back to the manor, I'm not sure how much longer he'll last". It was less than a minute before multiple worried voices came though the mic, promising to be there soon. Batman pushed the hair from your sweaty face, "I won't let you die". With that he rushed back to the thick of the battle.

It was less than 20 minutes later when the rest of the Batfamily arrived, with them all working together they were able to take down the beasts and the joker relatively quickly. As soon as the battle was over Nightwing turned to Batman.

"Where is he!? Where is M/n?!" Nightwing's voice was rushed and out of breath from the fight, the others behind him listened closely for Batman's answer, they were all in a similar state as Nightwing. Batman pointed to an abandoned building, still untouched by conflict. No words needed to be spoken; they all took off in that direction. However, they paused as a laugh cut through the air, they all looked over to the source, it was the Joker. In a weak voice, Joker spoke.

"Boom" At his word many nearby buildings exploded, including the one batman set you in.

"NO!" Red Hood yelled, he felt terrible, he took his anger for Batman out on you, his baby brother. The same brother he swore to protect. They all took off, rushing to the building, holding onto hope that you somehow survived. The building you were set in was completely destroyed, but they all keep searching, they needed proof you were truly gone.

Damian paused his search, before quickly moving stones. His sudden hurry caused the others to all join him. they found something...

bits and pieces of batman's cape, then.... an arm... your arm...

You were gone, and they never had the chance to apologize, to spend movie nights with you, to take you out to eat, to celebrate your birthday.

It only took your death for them realize they failed you.

TO BE CONTINUED

[abitcaughtinthemiddle]

The Hypocrisy of Vex'ahlia

Before you all come for me, I am a Vex stan and I will defend her until I die - she is my favorite Critical Role character and I'm so glad we're getting a deeper dive into her psyche.

The complexities of her character cannot be overstated. She has a lot going on under the surface, and the breadcrumbs of her deep-seated insecurities have been there the whole time.

I'm really excited we get to explore those in season 3 through her relationship with Percy, in a way different than what we've seen in the actual play streams. I want to commend the writers for being able to convey so much in so little time.

We are introduced to Vex as a sexy, confident woman who uses her looks and charisma to her advantage. She takes charge most of the time, being the unofficial "leader" of Vox Machina. She presents herself as someone who doesn't really need anyone else and does not care about anyone outside of her brother. Keyleth even comments on this in the first episode, "Vex and Vax only care about themselves".

This, of course, is a complete fabrication, a mask she wears to hide her insecurities. A mask, she wants no one to see through. The irony here is that she can so easily see behind Percy's mask - "Darling, take off the mask". It takes one to know one, after all.

She so badly wants to get underneath Percy's mask, for him to show himself to her fully. There's something inside of her that sees the guilt and shame inside of him and that resonates with her belief that she is deeply broken. Vex truly believes that something must truly be wrong with her. And why wouldn't she? Saundor, who said he knew everything about her, saw this, too, after all.

Saundor says plainly, "you will never be enough."

So it must be true, right?

Why wouldn't something be so wrong with her? It would make sense. Her father carries no love for her, her mother died, and Vax had to sacrifice his life for hers. She knows Vax loves her, and she believes he is the only one who does. Even Kamaljiori, an ancient and all-knowing Sphinx, fed into this during their test when Vax fell: "you have no family left who cares for you".

Her hypocrisy lies in the facade she built as a woman who does not need anyone or anything. She presents herself as someone who does not need the love of others, when in reality, she desperately wants to be loved.

Saundor saw this as well.

Vex longs to love and be loved. And yet, she cannot allow herself to give up her facade and let Percy love her and admit her love for him.

The last person to see through her walls was Saundor, and we know how that went.

What he said really cut her deep, as we see after the Kevdak fight when she brushes off Pike's inquiries about her experience in the fey realm.

As we see her relationship with Percy move from harmless flirting to physical intimacy at the beginning of season 3, we see her embrace the physical closeness to Percy but starts to block him out the moment he wants to cement their relationship. But she can't let herself tell him how she feels because that would mean admitting her heart is his - and that would be doomed to end in tragedy, as Vex admits later in the cave.

Putting up this emotional wall between her and Percy will not give Vex what she wants: love.

Love is that emotional intimacy. Vex loves to point out the importance of love between other people- in season 2, pushing Keyleth to tell Vax how she feels ("it always matters"), assuring Allura that Kima's love for her will help her endure after Vorugal's attack, and putting faith in the rest of Vox Machina.

Vex understands what makes love so special, and how important truth and intimacy are to real, lasting love.

And while she comforts others and pushes them to be vulnerable and embrace love, her own fears prevent her from fully doing the same. It's ironic and sad, how one of the only people who can see through her mask is the one she's pushing away.

Trauma makes hypocrites of us all.

Image credits @blorbologist @aq2003

[ahedderick]

Oral History

@quite-quirksome got me thinking about oral history. Some years ago a man who lives nearby and was, at the time, in his late seventies, called me and asked if I would help him with an oral history project. This was more than a little bizarre to me, because, while I've known him all my life (he was a friend of my parents) we weren't exactly close. And he has two or three children? Why did I get elected to the position of transcriptionist? However. I gathered up my son's laptop and went over to his house. We sat for several hour-long sessions while he told the story of how he built his house, Stonestack. I can type rather fast, although not well. I had a lot of editing to do after our sessions.

He had an amazingly sharp recall of every detail of the construction of this house, and was able to tell the story very coherently. At times, however, he'd think of a side story, and go off on a tangent. Those stories were, to my mind, even more interesting. So, for your edification:

Roger at the swimming hole

  Growing up on this farm I didn’t have many playmates. Early on in life I always had the interest in building huts. The first was on the back side of Slippery Ridge, a lean-to type structure. My cousin Larry and I dug out some dirt to create a level spot, which was a challenge because the ridge has a 25% grade! But, when you’re ten years old, so what? One day Larry and I had our great friend of a horse Old Roger, a 1600 pound Belgian sorrel, at the hut. Roger stepped on a 4 inch pole we had cut for the lean-to. He went down, rolling downhill and mashing saplings as he went, until he rolled against a larger tree that stopped him. We were in a panic like you never saw, “He must have a broken leg, he acts like he is in pain!” I ran as fast as I could back to the farmhouse to get my older brother Bill and old George M. They grabbed ropes and raced to the lean-to. By then, Roger had gotten up. He was favoring his back leg, but it was okay. We got some none-too-favorable comments from Bill, “Why did you boys have Roger in such a place?!” We walked Roger back to the barn unharmed, with great relief.

Swimming hole

   Just below the lean-to is a mountain stream with pools. We created a swimming hole with the addition of some old corrugated tin. The mountain water never seemed to warm up even on the hottest days of summer. It was a great place to hang out under the giant native pines with the blanket of pine needles on the ground next to the swimming hole. There is a birch tree nearby with my initials carved in it in 1953. One day I looked down from my lean-to and some girls were swimming in my swimming hole. “Look, a little boy is up there!” I left the hut and would come back from time to time after that to find the water all cloudy from those older girls using it. The birch tree still stands to this day, the only mark left on this farm of my ten-yr-old self. [note: photo of tree above, the initials are faint, but readable: F G]

   Other huts were built, but they were near the farm buildings. Roger, my pal, died at Fort Hill stadium. He and Pattise were pulling a covered wagon in the celebration of Cumberland’s early history called “the Pageant.” The culprit was moldy hay. This was my first experience of real grief, losing something I really loved.

[Note: Old newspaper photo of Roger and Patisse hitched to a parade float.]

After we did the oral history, he took me and my son on a hike to see the site of the old swimming hole and the tree he carved his initials on. As you can imagine, the creek in the photo was beautifully clear and cool.

His house, his son's house, and the barn are all "in" this picture, but hidden by trees or the curve of the hill. It's a three-generation farm, but likely won't have a fourth.

[inglourious-imagines]

Yes, sir. (Joe Toye x Male!Reader)

Requested by: @gaypiratesandangels - Heyaa, I just started watching band of brothers again and felt like requesting something 😌 I was thinking reader with he/him pronouns and prompt n⁰21 with Toye :)) could be nsfw if you're comfortable, (dominant reader) no pressure at all ❤️ And thank you for writing band of brothers fics it really lights my day :)

Prompt: 21 - I wanna see how you lose control.

Summary: George challenges you to tease Joe because little does he know that the two of you need to get over yourselves and finally admit the mutual affection.

Warnings: none, just some swearing (nothing too much)

Author’s Note: Took me ages to write this, as usual, and I’m so sorry! To be honest, I was really struggling with this request, cause I’ve never written for Toye and damn, was it hard. This is not nsfw, I don’t trust myself enough to write it haha, but there is some implied stuff at the end so feel free to let your imagination go wild! Thank you so much for your kind words!!!

Taglist: @alienoresimagines @teenmagazines @meteora-fc @eugenesmorphine @band-of-brothers-cz @real-fans @not-john-watsons-blog @tealaquinn @ok-roemanov @mrseasycompany @punkgeekchic @wexhappyxfew @hellitwasyoufirstsergeant @rayofshanshine @mavysnavy @easynix @georgeluzwarmhugs @easy-company-tradition @immrsronaldspeirs @snafus-peckuh @curraheewestandalone @warrior-healer @justamadgirlinabox @happyveday @order-of-river-phoenix @whoahersheybars

Masterlist, Taglist, Prompt List Links can be found in the bio.

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“Give me a few days of peace in your arms – I need it terribly. I’m ragged, worn, exhausted- after that, I can face the world.” – Henry Miller

 

Earning those jump wings was one of the hardest things Y/N ever had to do. Undergoing the drill under Sobel, putting up with Sobel’s poor leadership skills, having to endure all the pain, sweat and blood so that it could all come down to this: being a paratrooper. Finally. It was in that year of 1944 when these thoughts were running through Y/N’s mind; what he didn’t know was that worse times were to come. Normandy, Market Garden, Bastogne, the run to Berlin. However, none of these future experiences Y/N was yet to endure were plaguing his mind and he was fully enjoying himself amongst other paratroopers, fellow soldiers, as well as his brothers.

The night proceeded; Y/N was laughing hard with Lewis Nixon in the corner of the pub. He befriended the officer during his early days in Toccoa, quite accidentally it must be said, when he was looking for some food in the kitchen at 3 in the morning and he found Nixon getting drunk in said place. From then on, the two of them were nearly inseparable.

Being friends with Lewis Nixon had many perks. One of them was the never-ending stream of alcohol coming Y/N’s way during the celebrations so he was fairly drunk, more than most of the men in the pub, but not so much that he would not remember a single thing in the morning.

The two of them were just discussing the reason behind Winters’ non-drinking attitude, when George Luz stumbled in front of them, his cheeks flushed from the amount of alcohol in his body, as he grinned at them. “Might I steal Y/N for just a moment, sir?” Hiccup. “It’ll only be a minute. Well, depends on how this thing goes.” Hiccup and a mischievous wink.

Nixon just shook his head in amusement. “Of course, Private.” It never stopped astonishing Y/N throughout the years, how Lewis was still able to lead a meaningful conversation without a single sign of alcohol.

Y/N got up from his chair, the world swayed for a moment, but as he steadied himself against George’s shoulder, it was all fine again.

“Fuck you, Nix.” he threw the remark without the need to turn his head because he very well knew Lewis was about to make a snarky comment about him not being able to hold his liquor. The officer’s laugh got lost as he and Luz made their way across the pub to the bar.

“So,” George said in a singing voice, a hint of mischief tinted his voice, “I’ve got a challenge for you.”

Y/N looked at his friend in disbelief, but it quickly turned into amusement, because what else could he expect from George Luz? “What kind of challenge?”

Y/N was careful to get as much information about Luz’s ridiculous proposals as possible, because the last time he agreed to one of his bets, he ended up with three-week latrine duty from Sobel.

George smiled. “See Toye at the bar? If you get him all riled up, all your drinks are on me.”

Y/N did not know what he expected but it surely wasn’t this. It sounded easy, perhaps way too easy, to just talk to a person in a certain way. Then he imagined the situation – actually walking up to Toye, teasing him, God flirting even, and suddenly the bet didn’t sound all that comfortable. And George knew it.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Y/N breathed out, “what kind of a challenge is that?”

“The best one I’ve thought of so far.” Luz grinned at him, puffing his chest. “So you’re up to it?”

It took him too long to answer but Y/N knew he simply couldn’t refuse a chance like that. If things go wrong, he can always blame it on George and his bet and things can go back to normal and if things go well, then…  actually, he had no idea what would happen then.

“You’ve got yourself a deal, Luz.”

- - -

Striking up a conversation with Joe Toye wasn’t the hard part, despite feeling all flushed and nervous. But taking the conversation to another level was the real obstacle. Y/N felt his hands getting all clammy, his throat dry; his nervousness was getting the best of him.

Just get over yourself, goddamn it.

He moved his stool closer to Joe’s. Their legs were nearly touching and he was very well aware of that.

George drafted another beer and passed it on the counter towards them. Y/N quickly grabbed it and placed it in front of Joe, so it seemed it was from him.

Toye laughed in the sweet way of his Y/N secretly loved and he wished he could get drunk solely on the sound. “Are you trying to get me drunk, Y/L/N?”

Y/N didn’t know what made him say the next thing, and then, there was no way back. “What if I am?”

Joe turned to him. “Then you’re doing a pretty good job but you still need to try a bit harder.”

Y/N smirked, feeling confident all of a sudden (all the alcohol that Lewis poured into him during the evening was finally kicking in). “Harder you say?” he said as he brushed his leg against Toye’s.

Joe was lost for words for a moment there, his cheeks turning another shade of red, as he stared at Y/N. But then he blinked, and the usual cocky Joe Toye was back.

“Oh, c’mon.” Y/N laughed, “live a little.” He leaned closer to his comrade, their breaths intertwining, “I wanna see how you lose control.”

Joe simply grinned. “Sweet Y/N, you don’t wanna see me lose control here.”

This was it. And he was enjoying every second of it. “Then show the way, Private.” It wasn’t a request but rather an order.

“Yes, sir.” was all Joe was able to get out of himself as he stumbled on his chair while trying to get up.

Just as the two of them was exiting the pub, Y/N managed to turn around and catch George’s gaze and wink. He knew he won but probably something way better than a bet.

[heymeowmao]

2022.07.08 - https://weibo.com/l/wblive/p/show/1022:2321324789011045811088

Come~ Let’s chat a bit~~

LYN: Hallo everybody, good evening! I am Modern Brothers’ Liu Yuning. WELCOME! LYN: I seem to have come earlier than usual and you’re not used to it, right? Well, I was thinking I would stream earlier and leave earlier, so that I wouldn’t affect everyone’s sleep.

LYN: ZSX is here, really? Does he have some show that’s going to air soon? This is a true friend, everyone. He came even faster than my fans did. // Alright, ZSX- since you came into my stream so quickly today, I’ll send you my autograph tomorrow. 

C: You don’t have any scenes to shoot today, so you came to stream? LYN: I’m not sure what you mean by that. In my mind there are two meanings. 1. I don’t have any scenes to shoot, so I came to stream = Ning-ge is so nice. OR 2. Ning-ge, don’t act anymore, just come and stream for us all the time.  

- Chengdu’s a little hot & Ning-ge can’t take the heat XD LYN: It’s nice though. It’s rare, so I’ll indulge in this warmth.

C: Are you selling your autographs again? LYN: What do you mean? I’m not selling my autographs. No- I said I was going to send my friend ZSX my autograph. You all know him, don’t you? You don’t know him? It’s alright, that’s normal. XD As his friend I also wish for his national recognition to rise. No- I’m sure you all know him. Zeng Shunxi! I was talking about him! I was going to send him my autograph, not SELL him my autograph. What? You think I can’t support myself and need to sell my autograph in my streams now?? LYN: Did he leave? That’s alright- he’s been quite busy in his new drama crew. He has a tight schedule and it’s been hot over in Hengdian as well. Shooting a guzhuang drama in this weather is hard work. Of course, the hard work is expected. 

- promoting The Truth - made an appearance on The Oasis; will probably air as one of the later episodes... but don’t worry bc when it airs, he’ll make a post about it

C: The Truth is going to air soon, can you do a reaction video? LYN: Do you mean to react to it on stream while it’s airing?? You can keep dreaming. LYN: Excuse me, I didn’t mean to talk back at you. This is a copyright issue- because the episode is only open to VIP members, and you want me to show it to you for free? I must be crazy.

- people complaining that the video quality is not clear enough LYN: Maybe it’s not the video, but that my beauty filter is on too high. It’s on so high that the video looks blurry? That can’t be, right? C: Turn off the filter. LYN: Why should I? Give me one good reason. C: You look better without the filter. LYN: Stop lying to me. Do you think I’m three? I’m thirty+! Do you think you can trick me? I know I’m a little foolish, but not to THAT extent...

- ppl complaining that the bgm is too noisy LYN: This is exactly the mood I want. You must not go to bars very often; I don’t go either, because I used to work in a bar so if I go to one I’ll feel like I’m at work. But the sound in bars are loud, so that you can have the mood. The bgm of my stream serves the same purpose. If you have a good home environment, try to watch my stream with your headphones. One, so that you don’t disturb other people; and two, so that you can hear what I’m saying more clearly and it'll feel more intimate. C: I don’t have a good home environment.  LYN: What are you telling me for?? If your conditions aren’t great, you should work hard- study well and work well- put in the effort so that you can make your environment better for yourself. What are you telling me for, I was only giving you a suggestion. I can’t help you. Or did you mean that you wanted me to send you some headphones? And al so- don’t you all usually watch my stream on your phone? When you buy a phone it comes with a pair of earphones, doesn’t it? C: Do you have Dolby sound? LYN: I do. Did you want to experience it? Type ‘1′ into the comments and I’ll let you experience Dolby sound. // I have to sing a song for you to be able to tell the difference. Let me sing something at random.  -- Zhao Lei - 少年锦时

C: My sister said you’re in your early twenties. LYN: She could be looking at the state I’m in right now and saying that... um... I’m happy~ First of all, I’m happy because I’m already in my thirties. So for someone to say I look like I’m in my twenties... means I’m still young. Secondly- isn’t she your sister? Go get her some glasses. If you really can’t afford it, I’ll pay for her. Get your sister some glasses. C: I need some glasses. LYN: Do you think this is an optometry? What are you telling me for? This girl’s sister said I was young- she was complimenting me, so I should get her a pair of glasses. - ppl in the comments saying “my sister” and “my brother”, so in the end he takes it back. “To be fair.” XD

- re-visiting the Vietnamese song from last stream: HKT - TẢI THÊM MỘT LẦN ĐAU LYN: People have really come to my stream to learn music, isn’t that frightening? We learned the first two lines, and today we’ll learn the next two. In a total of four streams we’ll be able to perfectly sing the chorus. - teaching the next two lines of “misheard” lyrics ;; [t/n: he did his homework! XD] C: I don’t understand. LYN: We don’t need to understand, as long as we know how to sing it. -  C: Ning-ge, I don’t really want to learn... LYN: Hasn’t your teacher ever told you, “If you don’t want to learn, get out. Don’t influence the other children’s learning!” Have you ever heard that? -  C: My mom thinks I’m crazy. LYN: Explain it to her, tell her, “Mom, I’m learning a foreign language. I’m learning Vietnamese from Liu Yuning online.” // First, explain it to her. Second, ask her if she wants to learn, too. We don’t have an age limit here, anyone can learn. C: She wants to know what I’m learning for. LYN: Humans don’t learn all their lives for nothing. One day you’ll find a use for it.

- comment telling their friend to stop watching LYN: What’s wrong if she watches? // You can watch my stream a bit, or if you have some work to do you can go do it. It’s fine.

C: Ning-ge, I’m about to be a high-school senior. LYN: And then? But, congratulations. You have to study well, alright? Cherish the opportunity to learn in school. I told you last time, right? My friend got into an arts university... and then had to spend the next two years in online classes. He doesn’t even know his classmates. So I think that being able to GO to school and have the experience is a happy thing. 

C: Is it hot in Chengdu? LYN: It really is. But I’m okay, because I’m not the type of person who hates the heat. I’m more afraid of getting tan. I went to an event the other day, and wore a suit, right? People asked me if I was hot. I saw the pictures and everyone else was wearing short sleeves and shorts but I was there in full a suit. I was just missing a tie. It was fine, though. Not that hot. It’s a heat I can bear. C: You wore a cap, too. LYN: If I didn’t I’d be done for. Likely to get sunburned. I’m glad I wore the cap... and glad I wore some light foundation. I went for fun and to experience some glory but I didn’t know there’d be so many cameras there! I came back and saw all the photos of me- and I was glad that I has some light makeup on. If I had gone there with a bare-face I’d be done for. 

LYN: I saw the Cang Lan Jue dongman has released an announcement of its voice actors, and I’m one of them, right? I saw you were happy about it; I had told you about it before, that I might have an opportunity to do some dubbing. But it’s not because I think I;m so amazing or anything! I just wanted to try something new. Of course, every new challenge I will take seriously, because I have to be responsible for myself. I’m sure that no matter how well I did, I’m not better than the professional VAs. So I just want to say that if you happen to watch the dongman and find my dubbing lacking, please don't take it up with me. I know it was just so-so. There’s a difference between me and the professionals. It’s just a start for me- a start so that I have room to do more and learn more. LYN: I had a meal with the company CEO, and we were just chatting and I mentioned that I have a yearly plan- something I want to accomplish each year, and they asked me what my goal was. It was to voice-act for a dongman, even if just a supporting character, so that I would feel that I reached my goal even a little. It just so happened that I mentioned it at that dinner, and the CEO said, “Okay! We happen to have something coming up for CLJ, why don’t you come?” And I was like, “Are you for real?? What a coincidence!” They went back and asked the VAs to see if there was a small part I could take, and that’s how it happened. It’s my honor to be able to partake in this, and I know that there are a lot of criticisms and I accept them all.  LYN: There are people who are saying, “If  you didn’t act well and also accepted money for it, then you SHOULD be cursed at.” They’re saying that it’s justified to yell at me if I do a bad job. I just want to say, I didn’t accept any payment for this- it was just fulfilling my own personal wish. So if you want to yell at me, could you be a little less critical?

- Trending @ #44 in the Entertainment Tab

LYN: I like to set goals for myself- even when I’m shooting a drama. Other than bringing the character to life the best I can, I like to set smaller goals for myself. It started with my second drama- no, the third, with CGX. Other than finishing the drama and doing well in the role, I set a goal for myself, which was to- understand what it was to... how to... uh... forget it, I won’t say. I won’t talk about CGX. C: How to ride a horse. LYN: No, that’s not it. Well- it’s okay if I say it. That was my first guzhuang drama, so the small goal I set was to 1. understand how to shoot a guzhuang drama... and do certain things. >.> With SYXSSYX my goal was to understand how to act as a villain. With Zichuan my goal was to understand how to act as a B-King (??). ALZ’s goal was playing an infatuated (?) man. TXJ’s goal was to improve my fighting skills, because I play the number one swordsman in the world and the first thing he does when he sees someone is to fight them. I wanted to improve my skills so you can see that I (as an actor) am improving. Be Your Own Light is currently filming, and my goal here is to understand how modern dramas are shot. C: What about Hei Ye (UN)? LYN: Honestly at that time I didn’t really know how to act at all. Of course, now I still don’t, but I put a lot into that role- only because I was essentially new to acting.  LYN: I can’t discuss in depth about shooting dramas and acting itself because honestly I don’t know very much. I just have my own takeaways and I turn them into my goals in order to fulfill a role. 

C: Ning-ge, is someone teaching you how to cook? LYN: Is anyone teaching me to cook? You must be worried that I don’t eat well and have gotten thinner, so you’re asking this question, right? You must be new here. I’m not a professional in acting or singing, but I have a cooking certification. I graduated from culinary school! C: Then, when are you going to cook me a meal? - /changes the bgm to reply to this comment -> Princess Pearl OST “當”/ LYN: The lyrics to this song will tell you the answer: “當山峰沒有綾角的時候 當河水不再流” (when the mountains have no tops, and the rivers cease to flow) “當時間停住 日夜不分 當天地萬物化為虛有” (when time stops and there is no distinction between day and night, when all things under the sky turn into nothingness). THAT is when I’ll cook you a warm meal. LYN: Wow, I didn’t sing that well at all. I proved I was a cook, but my identity as a singer just fell by 20%.

LYN: I saw some things people sent me.. saying that SYXSSYX might not have had very high ratings because the 2ML (LYN) has too many scenes. I don’t think it didn’t do well- I think it was alright. But my problem here is that the drama has already finished airing, and NOW they’re looking to give me a reckoning? Who do they think I am??? But why are they starting to throw me under the bus? It’s because there are rumors that I’ve signed with Yuekai Entertainment- that my relations with the CEO are so good that I’m already one of their artists, so they’ve given me more scenes. LYN: People always ask me if I’ve signed with so and so, and I’ve said before- I’m not signed and with anybody. It used to be that I COULDN’T sign with anyone, because I used to be under YY- it’s also a live-streaming platform. It used to be an all-encompassing contract- any sponsors, appearances, etc. would all be handled by them. At the beginning of last year my contract with them ended, and since then I haven’t signed with anyone else because I don’t WANT to sign with anyone else. C: Is “YY” Yang Yang? LYN: NO! It’s a video-based streaming platform, a lot of people who use the ‘net know it. But our five year contracted ended last year, and I considered signing with a company but after everything I had experienced I decided not to. It was just too complicated, so I just made my own studio, so I can manage myself. I’m very simple- if someone gives me a job, I go. If I don’t have a job, I’ll... sit here “picking at my toes”. LYN: So I won’t sign with any company. As for the Yuekai rumor, I’ve already explained. The first time I held a concert was in collaboration with them, because I couldn’t pull off arranging a whole series of concerts with just my studio alone. My fans enjoyed the concerts, I thought it was a successful collaboration, and it was comfortable working with them. So my second set of concerts I also let them handle. They were also starting up a music company, so I gave them my second album, too. I let them handle it, because I can’t do everything by myself. It’s just a collaboration; however, I do know that CEO Kai treats me very well. But even so, I haven’t signed with his label. LYN: So you don’t need to take this rumor and slander me. Whether it’s about the drama or anything else, it’s not up to one person to make the decisions. There’s the production company, the platform, and all the staff- it’s not that simple. I can’t just do anything because I WANT to. Also- when I was playing BCF I was nothing. I’m still nothing! When I signed the contract for SYXSSYX only one of my dramas had aired, and that was Hot-Blooded Youth. Have you heard of it? I’m sure not many people have- it was a drama I was in with HZT.  A Linghe Production, and Bai-laoshi asked me to be in it. At the time that was my only drama, so why would anyone give LYN more scenes just based on that?? I was able to play BCF because I happened to have the time right after CGX shooting wrapped, and they gave me a chance. I haven’t relied on any connections, only that I’ve met very good people. LYN: So don’t try to make the fact that I’ve signed to a company as hate material, because it’s not true. On the flip side, if I had the chance to sign to the company, that is my honor. I have my own studio, my “big tent” and all of my fans are the ones keeping it up. Some of you have been here for me since the beginning, and of course some of you have left me to start loving other people on the way. That’s normal. But there are a group of you who have known how I got to where I am today. My new fans are a part of this as well- no matter how “new” you are, you must have been here for at least a year or a few months. A lot of people wonder why I am worthy of some of the jobs I pick up, and I don’t even really believe it myself. But I have so many wonderful fans, and they are my backbone.

C: Have you been working out lately? LYN: Yeah, I have. C: Do you have abs yet? LYN: /laughs/ No. But even if I did it’s not like I could lift my shirt and show you on stream. That’s not PG. Maybe one day when I do have them I’ll make a post. Give me half a year’s time. I don’t think I’ve ever made a bare post. Give me a year and when I have the muscles I’ll make a post for you. Wait for me. 

-- bathroom break -- [t/n: new fan-edit! ohh it’s fun. XD] C: Ning-ge, where did your glasses go? LYN: Oh, I went to go stop a fight and you think they hit me so hard my glasses went flying? Why can’t you wish me well? I went to tell them to stop fighting and got hit?? My glasses are here... /spills his drink/ /cleans up the spill and puts his glasses back on/

C: I want to hear the handsome guy LYN’s songs. LYN: :) The “handsome guy” part of it makes it hard for me to refuse. C: What do you think, handsome? Can you sing us a song? LYN: Um... I can. :) LYN: I was in hair and makeup the other day and I heard this song... It’s been a long time since I’ve heard it, but I knew how to sing it. It went like /reading lyrics/- do you know which song it is? Anyone?  C: “Enough”? LYN: Yes! I think that was it. You must all be singers! How is your ability to search for lyrics so much better than mine?? Alright, let’s go~ -- 闹够了没有 - /sings the wrong part in the middle, blames it on the mic/ LYN: If my makeup artist didn’t play this song I would never have thought of it again. C: What an old song. LYN: /sigh/ This isn’t old I have something even older...  -- 舞女泪 LYN: I’m sure other than your parents, no one has even heard of this song- is it old enough?  -- 梦驼铃 LYN: Is THIS old enough? C: My dad’s singing along. LYN: So that means this one isn’t as old as the one before it. 

C: /more comments that their parents are getting excited/ LYN: Alright~! Next let’s play a song that all the Uncles and Aunties can sing along to! What shall we sing? How about 水手? LYN: All the Uncles and Aunties sing along! /enters the song late/ Sorry! Let’s start that over. -- 水手 (Sailor) LYN: What do you think, Uncles and Aunties? C: My dad says “Old songs are the best!” LYN: The classics will never be surpassed.. also, it’s just a great song. C: My dad doesn’t care for it, but my mom is hyped! LYN: I’m going to take a bold guess here, but has your mom ever dated a sailor when she was younger? XD

-- 再回首 - he’s trending! :D

- everyone’s parents are requesting songs now, haha C: Do you charge for requesting songs? No, no. I charge for OSTs, and I make you buy tickets for my concerts- but here in my streams the songs are a perk for you. -- 爱我你怕了吗 (Love Me If You Can) [requested by an Auntie] LYN: But this song can go really high, so if later the mic breaks, let’s just pretend nothing happened.  - /as expected, his voice cracks/ /clears his throat/ LYN: Did something just happen, friends? The mic just had an extremely unacceptable fault. It had nothing to do with me. If you don’t believe me I’ll sing it for you again and prove it was the mic. - /breaks again/ LYN: That’s just how I prefer to sing this song. Look at the lyrics: “Willing to love, willing to hate, willing to lose it all. I don’t want the world.” Look at this- they’ve already given up on everything. So at this point in time, this is how I chose to express this emotion. Every song and how you sing it is different. This is how I choose to sing this song. :p Of course, I could choose to sing it the normal way- here, I’ll demonstrate and you can tell me which version you like better. - “normal” version vs “emotional” version LYN: “Are you afraid of loving me?” Are you? “Have you forgotten the tears?” Have you? “My heart is waiting, and the rain is falling.” That type of feeling. Anyways- that’s about enough of this song, you get the point. If I continue it will affect my streaming condition later. There may be a group of you out there who don’t really understand music and think that my voice cracked just then- but no, that’s just how I sing the song. You have to remember this. That was just my personal style. >.> It wasn’t a mistake- those don’t exist here. C: You’re rambling out of embarrassment aren’t you? LYN: You probably don’t understand me. Here in my stream I have never been embarrassed. I’m sure I’ve been embarrassed when I went on some variety show, but never here. Do you know why? Because this is my territory, my home. Have you ever felt embarrassed in your own house? No, but maybe in someone else’s. Even if you’re wearing your pajamas and someone comes to your house, you still won’t be embarrassed by it. It’s the same principle.

C: How much can you make from a stream? LYN: Why are you asking about my income? I think you’re trying to set me up. There have been some cases regarding songs and whatnot. You want to see how much I make and report me, is that it? I’m telling you now- I don’t receive any income from streaming, nor do I have any agreement with weibo. This is a free service for everyone, and I do not use it for business. In fact when I stream I invest 20RMB in electricity and also three drinks. Sometimes when the connection is bad I open my own hot-spot, and that incurs a charge, too. The clothes, glasses, caps, and hair and makeup- all of this I pay for myself. I don’t make a cent from streaming or from weibo. In fact, I even have to pay weibo every month- for the membership fee. 

LYN: Oh, I’m trending on the main tab? Then I have to trash this kazoo- the last time I was trending I played the kazoo and I dropped five ranks. You’ll never hear from it again. LYN: Alright then, Aunties and Uncles- do you have any old songs you want to hear? I can sing them to you using my own style. //  一帘幽梦? That’s certainly old enough, but I do know it! Just because I know how to sing these songs, does not represent my age, okay? It’s just that as a person in this industry and a consumer, I need to know all types of music.  --  一帘幽梦 (A Curtain of Dreams) LYN: I’m not off-tune, it’s just that I’m singing too low of a key, because this was originally in the female key... --  迟来的爱 (Love That Came Too Late) LYN: /off to a rocky start/ I think I know how to sing this song, but why can’t I find the right key? I used to know how to sing this, but I’ve forgotten. Excuse me. What else was there? --  新不了情 (New Everlasting Love) [LYN: Ok, I REALLY know this one.] C: Somehow I’ve heard all these songs before.  LYN: Of course you have. If not you, your family members have listened to these songs. --  当爱已成往事 (When Love Was Gone) --  暗香 (Subtle Fragrance) [switches to this song bc the previous one reminded him of it] LYN: That’s about enough. I can’t sing anymore.

LYN: Someone said Zhu Xiaoyao (Zeng Yixuan) is here? Welcome, welcome. LYN: So everyone, do you need to be act as Bai Choufei and give her an apology? I don’t need to, right? All our grudges ended with the drama, we don’t need to take it into reality, right?

-- bathroom break #2

- he’s got a trending topic, but there’s a “Variety Show” label tacked on to the “LYN Livestream” LYN: Is that so? I’m considered a variety show now??  LYN: People have actually come to me asking if I can sponsor their products during my stream and I always turn them down. I don’t want to use my stream for business. I just want it to be pure/transparent. It’s just a simple perk for everyone, that’s all. I don’t want to turn something I use to chat with my fans into something for business- there’s no need for that. If I turned it into something for business, I wouldn’t be able to sing some of the songs I do- so there’s really no need to trouble myself. C: I came in from the trending topic. LYN: Welcome, my new friends. This might be the first time you’re watching. Actually, my streaming style has changed a lot from before. They say I used to talk back at my fans a lot, but that was just a joking style. Now I do that a lot less. It’s not that I’ve changed, but that now I don’t dare. I’m afraid that if people who don’t know me come in and see me back-talking at the viewers it’ll leave them with a bad impression. I’ll be done for. So I’ll lightly joke with you, but not as severely as before. C: You’re a little famous now and got scared? LYN: You’ve got something there... you’ve hit the nail on the head, a little. Because before when I was nothing and no one knew me they didn’t care what I said. But now I’m too much in the public eye. I need to be more reserved, because there are a group of people out there watching me like a hawk, waiting to get something on me. I don’t know what I did to make them hate me so much. I just want to say to people who have something against me: Do you want to meet up somewhere we can talk it out? How did I anger you or make you uncomfortable? Can we find some way for you to accept me? We can have dinner- of course, I’m not paying for you. We’ll go Dutch. You can choose the place and I’ll meet you there. We can talk it out. C: Give them a scrub. LYN: There’s no need for THAT. They’re hating on me and you want me to scrub their back??? I’ll perform some cupping (ba guan) on them and we call it even? See- this is why you need a skill. It will always come in handy. C: Scrub them to death. LYN: How are you so cruel?! LYN: But yeah, I used to joke and backtalk and chat with my fans, but I’m not as relaxed as back then. It’s okay, we’ll slowly adjust. My fans always knew I was joking with them.

- 平安河西 (a policeman (?)) has dropped by the stream

LYN: But if you’d still like me to joke around and backtalk you that’s alright too, and we can go back to doing that. Sometimes I come across old videos of myself and I think “How was I so mean?”  C: Let’s go back to before. LYN: I can do that. As long as you’re happy. 

- might have a makeup brand spokesperson contract coming up, but it’s not confirmed so he can’t say what it is yet C: I don’t know how to put on makeup. LYN: You can learn. // LYN: It seems like for your daily necessities, if it’s not associated with me you’re not going to buy it, is that it? Then, what brand of tissue do you use? Disposable chopsticks? It’s like if it’s not related to me you can’t live. XD LYN: I have a plan for myself, and part of it includes not signing too many collaborative contracts. Honestly, in all forms of work there are things I really dislike doing. For example, I really dislike taking photos. I’ve told you this before. All the making poses and whatnot- I don’t like it. You’ll notice that with other artists every so often they’ll release a set of photos, but with me- for me any event or album cover or ost cover- all the photos they use were shot in 2018. It’s not that I can’t afford to take new ones, though. Everyone just uses my old photos because I really dislike taking photos in the first place. The shoot with ZSX and YCY- actually that was my idea. It was just because my hair was long and I wanted to take pics. I brought it up to my team and even they were all dumbfounded. “What’s wrong with you? Did you drink too much? We’ve worked together for so many years and you’ve never once mentioned wanting to take pics. What’s wrong?” I just wanted to have the memory of having long hair, because I don’t think I’ll get the chance to grow it out again. I got to take some with YCY and ZSX, so I was happy. But regularly I don’t like taking photos.  LYN: But when you’re working with a brand you have no choice BUT to take photos. A few sets of photos, even. Plus an ad. I don’t really like ads, either. I’m alright if I’m just.. holding the item, but I really don’t like the... “go with the flow” ones. I like the ones that have a story-line I can follow. I hate the ones that are just a bunch of poses, where the director tells you, “You’ve used this product and now need to show us that it makes you feel like you’re flying.” You’re so happy to have used the product that you can fly into the sky like a bird, like a cloud~ How do you want me to act that??? I know I’m an actor but if you want me to act as a cloud, I don’t think I can do it. Those ~artistic~ ones, I am ill-equipped to handle. There are other ones- “You’re doing a performance and have to show us you’re enjoying yourself!” I’m looking at the mic and it’s like this- cordless. /acts it out/ But you still have to interact with the camera.  C: Ning-ge, maybe you’re using a wireless mic? LYN: But the problem was the bottom had the prongs! I just showed you!! When those are there that means the mic needs a cord! It wasn’t wireless, it was just- /cuts himself off/ C: Bring your own cord. LYN: When I shoot MVs in the future, I should bring my own cord, is that what you’re saying? If I see the bottom has no cord, I can tell them, “I brought my own to connect it, and the end I will stick into my pocket.”???  C: Just act, right? LYN: Right, but I just don’t like it. Another thing I don’t really like is for some products they want to do the “boyfriend pov”- you know what I’m talking about, right? Like the scene is interactive, and I’ll pat your head. I can’t take it! I can’t convince myself of it, and I'll get goosebumps (for being too cringe). It’s fine for everyone else! I can watch theirs, but I, myself, am unable to accept them. I’ve shot these types before, yes, it’s just that in the process I will feel easily awkward/embarrassed. I just like the ones that won’t make me feel that way better. - acts out two of the ones he did that made him feel embarrassed. (one for pore cleanser; one for coffee where he “feeds” the camera a cup and has one cup for himself.) LYN: I’m sure my fans are all happy to see such a commercial, but it’s just that I feel embarrassed seeing it. - says that next CFs will be ASMR-type, VR-type is for even later in the future XD LYN: This is likely to come back and slap me in the face, because my future collaborations are probably going to be of this “interactive” type. C: I want to see it. LYN: Then I guess I’ll have to shoot some.

C: How’s HZT doing these days? LYN: Go ask him, what are you asking me for? I’ve been busy too, we’re not much in contact. He has his work- I guess he’s also shooting a drama.

C: Ning-ge, don’t shoot a drama for now. LYN: What do you mean by that? Why don’t you want me to act? Give me a good reason. Do you mean “Don’t act, just come stream for us.”? C: Release more albums. LYN: /sigh/ My album... why don’t I release my album... because a lot of people release albums and find themselves frustrated... A lot of singers are like this...“I’ve put in so much effort to released my music, but why isn’t anyone listening to it? D:” Also, a lot of money goes into it. But you still have to do it. But when you do it no one listens. Do you know that feeling?? LYN: You may not be familiar with the industry, so you can’t understand. It’s like if you invest a lot of your time, effort, and money to open a restaurant you’re convinced will do well. After being open for a week you’ve only gotten two customers. Will you be able to handle it? I’m sure you would cry and have a breakdown, because you’ve put in all the effort will little result, you know? You’ve opened for a month and have only made 500RMB- not including your investment, those two customers totaled to 500, let’s say. If you had kept working a normal job you would’ve made 3000RMB in income for the month. If it were you, which path would you choose? That’s why a lot of us choose to work for others.

- if he’s going to release a song or album he wants it to be for free, because it is his honor that people are listening to his music. - if he’s going to stream it’s going to be without the option to send him monetary gifts, because he doesn’t use streaming as a way to make an income. - still though, he does charge for his concerts- it’s just that it isn’t convenient to hold one right now.

C: How much do you weigh now? LYN: I haven’t really been weighing myself, but I have lost a little weight, and have started to exercise. I made you a pie in the sky earlier, didn’t I? I asked you to give me half a year’s time and when the time comes I’ll post a shirtless photo to my weibo. It’s 7/8/22 right now, so around the new year I’ll be posting a shirtless photo. I’ve never posted anything to show my figure- because the truth of the matter is that I HAVE no figure. But this time come the new year, I’ll post a bare photo- of course, only the top half of my body. C: What if you don’t post it? LYN: I’ll do my best to post one, but if I don’t what are you going to do about it? You’ll just have to wait longer. But I’ll try. I go online and watch all these exercise videos- and then after I watch them I feel like I’ve had a workout. XD No, I watch to learn. First I have to understand it, and THEN I can start to do it for myself. Maybe in the future I’ll be a workout instructor. Not only will I be able to sing and cook, I can teach you how to exercise too.  C: GJ posted some. LYN: I know, I saw them and started wondering if I should start holding myself up to some standards. Nowadays being thin isn’t enough. You have to be thin but also have muscles. I’ll start with crunches. C: It’s fine as long as you don’t end up making your neck thicker. LYN: Yes, I saw that some friends were saying if you workout too much you’re likely to gain a thicker neck (neck muscles?)- I looked it up on baidu. Some people have gained thicker necks, because some workouts require you to use a lot of strength. /demonstrates/ But when you’re lifting, where else is (other than the arms) are you using strength? The neck. See? /demonstrates again/ So the neck muscles do get worked out; I think the explanation is reasonable. When you have a thicker neck, it looks like you don’t HAVE a neck and that’s a bit... but aren’t we going for the “swan neck” aesthetic nowadays? If your neck is thick you’re a giraffe, but if it’s thin then you’re a swan. C: Then exercise moderately. LYN: Moderate exercise won’t work. If you’re just moderately exercising then that counts as “being mobile/active” (and not “working out”). That’s like how my mom takes a walk around the neighborhood after dinner- that’s just being active. If you want to gain muscles you have to lift weights- grind your teeth and grunt with pain, work until your face is red and your muscles are straining. Where do you think the good figure comes from? You have to put in the effort. LYN: Anyways, I’ll try to post a pic by the new year and if it doesn’t happen... then I’ll PS you a photo. I have a lot of talented friends- they can PS one for me. Just pretend I made it. I have friends who can draw- you can draw me with abs too. LYN: I’m not joking this time, I’m going to do it. Even though I’ve told my fans this same thing about seven times since I’ve made my debut. It’s been four years now... but THIS time. I promise it’ll be true. I have the audacity to say that this time, do you know why? It’s because I already went online to buy some protein powder. With anything I do- whether I do it or not depends on if I buy the products necessary to accomplish it or not. Like for streaming- if I want to stream well, I have to buy a light, camera, and a good computer. Do I want to work out well? I do. Therefore I bought some handsome clothes, cool shoes, gloves, and protein powder. I’ve got all the equipment ready, now I just have to start making use of them. I never accomplished it before because I wasn’t prepared- my stuff hadn’t arrived yet. XD It’s the equipment that gives me the motivation to get to work.  C: You bought gloves in 2018 already. LYN: I threw those away. Because I threw those ones away and my feelings for them were so deep, that’s why it’s taken me until now to get new ones. :p C: Find an instructor? LYN: I wanted to, but the problem is I’m not just sitting around all the time. Not to say I’m very busy, but sometimes with filming I only get off at 11p-12a. If you want me to work out after that, I’d “die”. You understand? I don’t have a set daily schedule, and there’s no way to determine when I’ll have the time. So I decided I would try by myself first - I’ve watched all the videos and I have a plan for myself.  C: I don’t like musclemen.  LYN: I can’t make myself into one anyway. Not everyone who exercises turns into the musclemen you see on tv- if that were the case then every man in the world would be a muscleman. It’s not that easy. LYN: I can’t become one of the thick/strong guys- because even though I’m tall I have a small frame. People with a small frame are likely to look very thin, like a bamboo pole. Another disadvantage for people with small bones is that if you’re NOT thin- I’m talking about actors- if you’re not very thin, then when you’re on camera your face comes out looking rounder. Because your bones can’t hold (don’t have the space) for all your flesh. But with big-boned people, their faces have the space and even if they have that excess flesh they will still look thin. But their bodies are of a bigger frame, so if they have more meat on their bones, they are likely to look more sturdy/robust. I am one of the small-boned people, so there’s no way I can turn into the sturdy muscleman type.

LYN: You know who I know who counts as having big bones? Fang Yilun. He’s very broad-shouldered and his features are very well defined- so he looks very handsome.  C: Who? LYN: Wei Shuyu! When I say “Wei Shuyu” you know who I’m talking about, but not when I say “Fang Yilun”?? Wei Shuyu you all know, right? C: Ning-ge, are you going to work with Wei Shuyu again on your next drama? (A Journey to Love /  一念关山) LYN: What’s it to you?! Don’t ASK! I’ll tell you when I tell you- I’m not telling you now for a reason. Stop making blind guesses. Some rumors are just nonsense. But if I had the chance to work with Fang Yilun again, I’d still yell at him! As long as he’s in the drama, no matter what he says I will reply, “Shut up! Why are you EVERYWHERE? Stop talking!” XD LYN: If I’m in a drama with him, no matter what he says I will only reply with “Shut your mouth.” -“You’re so handsome.” -“Shut your mouth.” -“I’m serious.” -“Shut up!” LOL. LYN: Then I won’t have to remember any lines if I have scenes with him. // I’m joking, I’m joking.

C: When is ALZ coming? LYN: I really don’t know. Someone asks me this every time. I don’t know- I’m just a supporting actor. oTL First of all, I swear to all the people watching my stream- I didn’t get any added scenes. I don’t have any sort of connections with the production company. I swear that I only acted out whatever was in the script I received and nothing more. When it airs later, know that what you see is what I was given in the script. They might even delete some of my scenes, it’s possible. But please don’t say that I had scenes added in for me. I’m not worthy. Also, who’s watching it to see me? Other than my fans, who wants to see me? D: C: Ning-ge, just because you say that, doesn’t mean people will believe it. LYN: What do I care if they believe me or not?! It doesn’t matter- you can choose to believe me or not. Just know that I only acted the scenes I was given in the script. It’s that simple.  C: When will it air though? LYN: It’ll air... it’s still early. Right now it’s in editing. All great dramas go through a great editing process. Let’s all just wait for it together.

C: Then what if people say you’re overpowering someone? LYN: Who can I overpower? Based on looks alone in this entertainment industry, if LYN is said to overpower anyone, then that rumor itself is a joke. If you were talking about my humor or my height, then that is acceptable and I’m bound to overpower someone. But based on acting? It’s a joke.  LYN: I have a feeling... because I know that in the future I could possibly play a male lead role... if I am worthy of receiving the ML.. then I will be the one overpowered. Let’s not talk about me overpowering anyone else, and just focus on not being overpowered by others, first. It’s super easy to suppress me- just give a little pressure and I’m down. For now let’s just try not to step on any toes. Because I firmly believe in “what comes around goes around.” - Ning-ge believes in doing things he considers “good” to receive “good” in return. -- For example, all his albums and music are free- he may not be making any money from it, but by doing so (making his music accessible), he is now open to the possibility of being contacted to sing OSTs. -- For example, he was invited to sing at the Rattan wrap party, and made himself available and got himself to the venue out of his own pocket to show up for his friends... and ended up walking out of there with a contract for ALZ. C: Ning-ge, didn’t you say you went there and got a meal out of it? LYN: ...Are you saying that you think my appearance fee and the cost of one song is only equal to one meal? You think that’s a fair exchange?? -  C: Ning-ge, wipe the oil from your face. LYN: ! You must be one of my staff members...  - - makes a request to all his future co-stars to please not overtly overpower him, and even if they ARE, not to say it in so many words. X’D LYN: If anyone tries to play me, I’m going to blast them for two hours in one of my streams. I’ll set them straight. 

- saw that some fans are already PS-ing his face onto muscular bodies LYN: I noticed that some people are already making edits. Don’t do that. Make it more realistic, don’t give me pressure. I see some of you are already editing my face onto a muscular body. I was only joking. You’re going to make me lose my motivation, because I believe I already succeeded. I’ll hypnotize myself into believing that I’ve already succeeded and that this is how my fans see me. “In the eyes of my fans, I’m already this handsome!” And then I won’t actually go work out.  - shows the camera an example of a fan-edit LYN: What is that?? >A<

- introduces Be Your Own Light LYN: It’s a great new experience, and my first modern drama but there are really a lot of things I haven’t gotten used to. Like how since it’s a modern drama, I have to be filming on the streets. I have to be out in the world. I’ve been an actor for three years now and have done 6-7 dramas already, but most of those were all filmed in Hengdian. I’ve practically never left. Other than Ultimate Note- which was shot in Xishuangbanna. We were filming in the deep mountains and forests, and other than the wolves, our film crew were the only people there. There were only snakes, wolves, and our drama crew, and no one else was able to get to our location. Filming in Hengdian is a bit more enclosed, since each drama crew will rotate through the spaces on any given day. They’ll close off the area, in order to film with more privacy and so as not to cross lines. Because with a guzhuang drama you’re only shooting in a particular space/setting/location, but with a modern drama there’s no way to CREATE a city. LYN: We’re just filming on the street, because it’s not like they’re going to MAKE a street for you to shoot on. OMG, the people- I feel like- I’m not saying I’m popular, I’m not. It’s Tao-jie that’s famous. People will see her shooting and they’ll call up all their friends and relatives to get them down to take a look. I remember one scene we were filming in a small neighborhood. When I looked up, every household had their window open, looking down at us. Do you know how strange that felt? It’s like there was a fight downstairs and everyone else looked out their windows to watch it go down. They were all leaning on their windows, and some even had fans, just fanning themselves and watching us. Oh my goodness. That was so strange an experience. It doesn’t feel like you’re shooting a drama, it feels like you’re just a monkey in a zoo. I felt like a monkey, and I couldn’t even have a temper. You know how if you throw the monkey something it doesn’t like to eat it will glare at you? Or how if it doesn’t want you to take its picture, it will hide away? But I couldn’t. If I showed any displeasure at all, and those pictures made it online I would be cursed to “death”. 

LYN: There was a fan who came to the site to see me. I’ve already told you the rules for coming to see me at my job. But they came and they kept screaming my name. -__-; I didn’t respond to them, and they stopped being my fan. They made a post about it, from what I heard, saying how disappointed they were, and there were also a whole bunch of comments to that post indulging them! “I always thought LYN was a good person and so nice to his fans. I can’t believe he ignored you! I didn’t think he was that type of person!” LYN: I’ve already told you the rules for this. 1. You are free to go where you want, because I don’t have the power to stop you. But I advise you not to come. 2. Ok fine, you came. But I am working, I’m not here for fun. If I were here for fun and you called me but I ignored you, you can have a problem with it. But I am here for work, and I can’t respond to you because I am not the only person in the crew. When I am walking, there are other staff or actors beside me. If I respond to you, what are they going to think of me? “Yes, you have fans. Yes, you’re famous. So what?” If I respond to everyone who calls my name, it will seem like I ENCOURAGE you to come and disrupt filming. Do you understand? 

LYN: Filming a modern drama is a really new experience for me. Yesterday we did a take filming inside a home, and I have to open the door and greet the person on the other side. We started the take and I opened the door and said my lines, but then I made the mistake of looking up. I could see people on the floors above recording us with their cellphones. Someone even had a camera. It was supposed to be a nice and kind interaction, but after I saw those people my tone changed into more aggressive territory. LYN: I’m just joking, please don’t take that seriously. I acted how I was instructed, but I just told you how I was feeling on the inside.  Isn’t that overstepping?? I didn’t feel like they were my fans, I felt like they were trying to play me. It really affects my mood/way of thinking. - gives another example, of 20+ people crowding behind the main camera with their phones out, because they can. LYN: It’s a new experience- a totally different environment.

- Talks about how, when filming on the street sometimes the crew will need to block off a walkway or an intersection in order to get a shot without people in the background. People only have to wait one or two minutes for the crew to get a take, and they can continue on their way, but there's always going to be someone who gets offended. “You won’t let me walk??? You’re BLOCKING A PUBLIC WALKWAY?!?? WHO GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO STOP ME??? Celebrities can do anything they want, huh??” LYN: Whenever this happens I run. Well, I don’t RUN, but I do my best to make sure they don’t know it’s me who’s blocking their way. They get SO offended, and there’s no room for negotiation. It’s... fun.

LYN: I hope at the very least my own fans can be kind and tolerant. For example, if I’m driving and someone comes up behind me and wants to pass, under safe conditions I will let them. As long as they don’t scare me and make me curse, I will let them pass. But usually if you miss your turn and need to get into a different lane, you’ll roll down the window and stick your thumb out. I guarantee 80% of people will let you pass, you can try it. It’s a negotiation. - talks more traffic hacks XD C: Do I give them the middle finger? LYN: ! Do you want them to smash you car?! You’d better watch yourself.  C: I can stick my hand out for a left turn, but what about a right turn? LYN: Then you’ll have to trouble your driver’s side passenger. C: What if you don’t have one? LYN: If you’re alone in the car then you’re not going to be in a rush. What are you negotiating lane exchanges for?? Just drive normally! When you hit a red light just turn back on course. Take your time. C: Sticking your hand out the window isn’t safe. LYN: It’s not. But we’re going normal speeds, not breakneck speeds! We’re not on the HIGHWAY, we’re just on the streets. Just give the next car over the signal at a stoplight. If you stick your arm out on the freeway it’s gonna get taken off. LYN: Alright, forget everything I just said. Why don’t you go online and buy a doll- a plush doll and stick it out the window as your signal that you want to change lanes. C: What are the turn lights there for, then? LYN: Still use them!! I’m talking about when you need to negotiate. Some people will let you pass with your signal light alone, some people don’t want to let you pass. But sometimes you can negotiate. C: How about a foot? LYN: Shush. C: How about a broiled chicken foot? LYN: ?? You want stick a chicken foot out the window in place of a thumb or plush? Let’s not say whether this is acceptable or not first. The visual seems a little poor. Like you’re trying to throw your trash out the window. The other driver is probably thinking, “Do you think my car is trash or that I am trash?” LYN: Anyways, I like to observe people. The one from the previous example (”Offended Pedestrian”) is super intriguing. 

- talks about how his PD for The Truth wrote a post about what it was like to work with/for LYN. LYN: He’s really a nice kid, and sometimes acts like my assistant, even though it’s not his job. Technically he’s part of the director’s crew, only supposed to tell me the show program, and what I need to do that day. But if he sees that I am feeling uncomfortable, he’ll also bring me water and leave it for me, even when I tell him he doesn’t need to. He act like my assistant sometimes. C: Is he your male fan? LYN: The first line of his post was “I have no clue about Modern Brothers’ Liu Yuning.” But maybe after the program finished recording he made the post because he had good feelings about me. LYN: I don’t know if Southern China has this custom, but in Northeastern China we wear five colored strings for the Dragon Boat Festival. You wear the strings and they will collect your bad luck, and when it rains you can cut the strings and let them flow away with the rain water and it will wash your bad luck away. - talks about more customs, like dumplings at the new year and having a coin hidden inside. LYN: IDK, people from Northeastern China like eating dumplings for EVERY occasion. LOL. // I found out that Chengdu people eat dumplings a lot too! I’ve had some recently, and dip them in the hot oil. There are dumplings and also wontons, I know.

-- bathroom break #3

- his PD sent him a message, clarifying that he IS LYN’s fan. XD

- ppl asking him about second seasons to The Truth, and Ultimate Note, etc... Whether things get a second season depends on the its viewer ratings.  LYN: I think it’s getting pretty good ratings for a completely new show and compared to the variety shows that air around the same time, too! Like Sisters Who Make Waves and Keep Running; the fact that we’re able to keep up with their ratings is already good enough. Since it has decent ratings, I’m sure it’ll get a second season. LYN: I think the Truth is really cool, though- first of all, because the players are cool. :) I really like it though. I’ve shot very few variety shows since my debut, but even so they’ve all been related to my interests. Like Fresh Chef 100 and Chinese Restaurant, which are cooking related. Our Song, which is musically related. Other than that the varieties I’ve been on have been as a group with other people, like TTXS and Hi!6. But The Truth is something I look forward to, precisely because it is unpredictable. I’m just there to play the game. Secondly, it’s a game I can play for free. Think about it what Murder Mystery or Escape Room can you not only play for free along  with hundreds of crew members and celebrities, but actually pays YOU in return? XD - starts promoting the show, and tells people to go watch the episode after his stream, because he has streamed during its airtime. >.< C: This episode is scary. LYN: You think it is, but later you find out it isn’t. It’s actually the only episode that ISN’T scary in some way. You all know if you watched, so this isn’t really a spoiler- but in yesterday’s episode Bai Sanwan and I went missing together. I wasn’t afraid because I was with him. But if I were with Zhou Shen in a dark room... we’d piss ourselves. C: Do you refill your own meal cards? LYN: Um... no. All the money in that card is deposited at random. The thing about this program is... you’re not going to go to shoot it with money in your pocket, we can’t just whip out cash when we need it. Secondly, we don’t have our phones. If we have a phone, it’s one that we picked up from investigating, or if it’s needed for the plot the crew will slip it into your bag without you even knowing. Think about it- if we had our phones with us all the time we wouldn’t need to be afraid. We could just turn on the flashlight whenever it got dark. In Ke Wuku’s episode, remember how we collected a bunch of phones in the beginning? But then when we got to Fei-jie’s spa, she collected and locked them up. We were confused at first, but then realized she locked them away because the next segment was a dark room! LYN: In any case, when the lights are on I have the IQ of a normal person, and might even come across as manly. But when the lights are off I’m... lacking.

C: Ning-ge, do you turn the lights off when you sleep? LYN: Yeah. You can’t think that I sleep with the lights on just because you see that I am afraid of the dark in the show, right? I’m afraid of the dark because it’s an unfamiliar place! What do I have to be afraid of in my own home?? Because I know no one’s going to be jumping out at me at home. According to your logic, I can’t close my eyes. Because when I do all I see is darkness and I’d scare myself to death. That’s no good.

- will work with ZLY eventually... in this industry all there is is opportunity. the time will come. - most likely to be a second season of The Truth, and asked his PD to work with him again if it happens :’)

C: Do you eat the most? LYN: I think I’m alright... Usually I’m too lazy to eat. I’m the type of person who will order takeout instead of sitting down in the restaurant, unless I’m already out. So my takeout is usually soup, noodles, or dumplings. When shooting for the show they prepare rice and main dishes for us. It’s there, so I eat it. I eat all of their apples and bananas, too. Because I’m thinking if they leave it for the next day the fruits will go bad, so I might as well help them out. C: Takeout isn’t healthy. LYN: Your mother must have told you that. There is no “healthy” or “unhealthy”. When I order takeout it’s usually ginseng chicken soup. /being flippant/ Ginseng and chicken soup- is that unhealthy to you? It’s not about if the food is healthy or not, but more about the how sanitary the food is. But we still eat it. Sometimes you’ll order from a place and then have an upset stomach. The next time you’ll think that the food was good, and order it again, to have an upset stomach again. Then you know not to order from this particular place, and to find something more reliable. Young people these days are busy with work and have a fast-paced life, so takeout is more convenient for a meal. Who doesn’t wish for the time to prepare their own meals? But we don’t have that time. LYN: Try not to eat too much takeout, though and eat a proper meal when you can. A lot of people are living at home with their parents, so have a proper home-cooked meal. I count as a “wanderer” (liu lang)- I’m always out so I tend to eat takeout more. It’s not like I can grab a wok and fry some rice for myself in the hotel- it’s not convenient. I’m open to eating takeout and honestly I’m used to it.  I have experience with it too, so I can differentiate between which shops are tasty and which aren’t. C: What about hiring someone to cook for you? LYN: I don’t have a WOK, let alone any RICE to put in it. How can I, when I live in the hotel? I can only order takeout.

LYN: I don’t like taking too many people with me (his staff), either. I know some who have a whole group in the tens- that’s just how they operate, and it’s normal. But when I see the big group, I tell myself not to have so many people. Imagine I go to shoot a show and I bring a nanny, a acting coach, and an exercise instructor, a nutritionist- what for? Who do I think I am??  C: Add an herbal doctor. LYN: What are they going to do? Give me acupuncture every day? Check my pulse? C: A bodyguard. LYN: You must not know how I usually introduce myself on variety shows- I learned martial arts when I was young! Have you heard the expression, “The Wanderer knows martial arts, no one can stop him?”  C: Didn’t you learn “healthy” (exercises and stretches for a healthy mindset and active body) martial arts though? LYN: I did, but the point is I know the basics- I pretty much practiced flexibility. Even if I meet a bad guy it has an effect. Since my legs are so flexible, I can get to my knees faster [to kneel to the bad guy and beg for mercy, I’m guessing]. C: Ning-ge I want to be your nanny. LYN: There’s no need. I can take care of myself, thanks. C: Then, what do you need? LYN: Honestly, I really do need a workout instructor. So I can be prepared to show you that shirtless pic by the new year. C: Need any stylists? LYN: I have two already, it’s like your trying to take their jobs, which I find very disagreeable. I don’t like people who try to take another person’s work, because I’ve BEEN the person who got their work stolen from them. C: You need a janitor? LYN: I don’t need one, because my bro is Janitor Hao (the character Hao Baojie, on the The Truth).

LYN: Alright, it’s about time I wrap up and grab a bite to eat. You can go watch the latest ep of The Truth. If you’re watching my stream for the first time and haven’t subscribed to my weibo already, please do so. When I have free time I come to stream and chat. I hope you got some happiness and a sense of accompaniment, even if you only watched for a little while. Honestly, all young people are lonely. But you can think of me as your friend from far away. You can make comments in my stream, but please no curse words. You can chat with me. Sometimes people listen while they work and do other things, and I hope you feel like you’re in a better mood for having listened. I wish everyone a relaxing and wonderful night. It was great to have you, and because of you we had a happy night. I’ll see you the next time. Good night~

[crystalk17]

This is my super late submission for the MCYT gt gift exchange. I am really sorry for it being so late. I hope it is up to your standards!!!

This gift is for @leetlezeetle

Their promt: Giant dragon hybrid kidnaps a tiny/human to watch its young while they hunt.

As soon as I read this I thought "OMG PHILZA!!!"

So here is a fatherly, Giant, halfbreed dragon named Philza. Who kidnaps a young knight in training named Tommy. Maybe he can handle the young ones? Or maybe he will become the next meal. Who knows?

Tommy remembers the first day he was brought here. The teen was working on his stances and swings. Not even hours ago his face was shoved into the dirt by Dream. "You will never be a true knight. You can't even strike down Niki and she's a woman!" Tommy felt a heavy boot across his back shoving his body and pride even further into the mud. "You will quit or be killed."

Picking his body up the young-looking blond whipped the mud all over his front and face. If he was rebellious he would flick it at the superior, but now was not the time. After cleaning the brown thickness from his eyes he saw Dream holding his silver sword out to him with one hand. Tommy didn't say another word, even though so many were boiling under the skin to be screamed out. With a swipe of his hand, he grabbed the sword storming off.

Now he was in the field making sure he was perfect. Every swing of the sword, every shift of his body, had to be just right or he would restart with a deep growl. He would not leave until he got this perfect.

At least that was the plan.

Instead, he swung the sword jutting it straight out. The invisible enemy crippled back from the fatal stab. He was holding the wound begging for mercy.

"No foul creature. This is your last day on earth." Sliding his foot back he prepared for the final blow. Ramming the sword forward with such speed he had to close his eyes. He knew this was not the correct way to stab someone, but he was just practicing and he would try again. He expected the sword to slide through air. He would open his eyes and he would be holding his sword with one hand straight out and a perfect stance with the ghost enemy on the ground. But...but...he struck something.

Opening his eyes just a peek, his blood ran cold. Standing inches away from him was a black dragon with dark green scales sprinkled in. He thrust his sword forward hitting only the beast's clawed hand. The beast was humongous. Tommy had to look straight up into the air to even see the Creature's surprisingly blue eyes. What startled him, even more, was the fact that if the dragon wasn't looking its head over Tommy then he wouldn't even be able to see his eyes very well.

He could feel his body freeze. It didn't want to move. He felt the sword drop from his hands when the creature got even closer sniffing at his head. His hair flew up a bit then landed on top of the sweat already traveling down his face. The ground seemed to be shaking...oh wait that was his feet shaking back and forth. His pupils went wide when the blackish dragon nudged him with its claws. Maybe to see if he was alive?

Faster than he thought the creature could move, its clawed hand struck out grasping the young knight. It easily encompasses the human hiding it from the world. Tommy's whole body was encased by leather and claws that were larger than his own body. Was he seriously getting kidnapped like a princess? For what seemed like five minutes, most likely longer, Tommy banged against his rock-hard prison. He looked down seeing the monster made the mistake of allowing him to keep his sword. As if it was an instinct he grasped it in two hands and shifted his body forward. One. Two. Three hits. Even a stab and nothing happened. He wouldn't be surprised if he looked at the to and it was bent. He was going to be here for a while. -------------------------------------------------------

That very day was three months ago. On this very day, Tommy was sitting on the dusty ground of a cave, light reflecting off the walls from the fire he built. There was always plenty of food and the cave even had a small stream running through it. He was always surprised no other creatures tried to claim this area as theirs, but at the same time, he understood why.

Behind him, the sound of running feet hitting rock made his head turn. At this point, he was used to this. Looking outside it seemed about that time when the young ones started to stir.

"You can't catch me!!" Running up behind Tommy a child with short brown hair and a rugged jacket came into view. The child decided to run right behind Tommy's back even though his body was way too big to be covered up by the teen. The child looked like he could be a very young adult in stature, but in fact, this was a young halfling.

Two other forms came running out, but instead of humans like this child one was an actual dragon the size of a horse and the other human-looking but with dragon features. These three were young dragon halflings. Tommy found out through experience and reading in books halfling children had no control over their body. The younger they were the more dangerous they were.

When halfling babies are born they are very small compared to their parents. They are the size of a human, some can even be the size of a human toddler. As they got older their bodies morphed into the proper size. This is the exact reason why most halflings do not survive. They have dangers around every corner because of their vulnerable size and accidents do happen between the older halflings and their young. Throughout the years, the children would get used to their shifting abilities, so it wasn't uncommon for siblings, like these three, to look completely different.

The human-looking child keep moving back and forth so he was covered up by his 'shield'. The human with dragon features was trying to get around the sitting human to get to his sibling. With every movement, Tommy flinched a bit because the dragon halfling had claws that were digging into him every time he touched Tommy's skin while trying to get around him. He knew it was an accident, probably didn't even think about it, but he had to learn.

"Michael" he winced once more as his claws touched his shoulder. "Michael." he raised his voice a bit more to get the child's attention. The volume seemed to get his attention cause he froze in his actions. "Michael. What did we talk about playing."

"To be careful." Tommy watched as the pink flaps he had for ears drooped down showing he was upset.

"Yes, kid. You unlike your brothers have claws, wings, and these cool horns." Tommy grabbed one horn and shook the child's whole head making him smile. "I can't have your dad coming back and I'm filled with holes from your claws. He would kill us both. Just make sure next time-"

As he was talking the third child jumped right on top of Tommy. The Third was a black dragon like his father but had specks of dirty yellow scales on him. Somehow the third child learned to turn into a full dragon, but couldn't control turning back very often. He was the size of a horse and as heavy as one. "Tubbo! Tubbo get off!" Tommy was using all his strength to push the little dragon off, but all it accomplished was a face full of dragon licks.

This was how it was every single day. Tommy was left in the cave with three halfling children named Wilbur, Michael, and Tubbo. Every day it was him watching as the three played tag or roughhoused with each other while their father was gone. Who was the father? That was the black dragon who kidnapped him three months ago. Every day the giant black dragon would go out hunting, leaning poor Tommy to watch and protect his young. At first, he hated it and wanted to escape himself, but after a few days of being stuck here, the seventeen-year-old fell in love with Phil's children. Anymore he couldn't picture it any differently.

"Tubbo this is the last time I'm asking. Get off." his face was drenched in dragon slobber. The most he could do was push against the black dragon's body but he wouldn't budge. All it accomplished was the young one started to nuzzle and push up against his face to show affection. Michael ran behind Tommy's head and put all his weight on the human's arms. He was pinned to the ground and he was not going anywhere. His legs would flail up and down, but that was about it. He couldn't even do this much in fear of kicking one of the halflings.

"Get off!" Through his shouting and torturous affection, Tommy heard wood breach at the opening of the cave. The three children must have heard it too, because all three of their heads whirled to the opening as well. Tubbo started to growl and Michael's eyes grew wide. Tommy could feel the young dragon slowly stepping off his body, but he had to be ready for action now. Gently pushing him all the way, Tommy grabbed his sword from the ground. This was why he was brought here. His job was to protect and help with the young ones when their father was gone. All this training had to come into play. His heart started to beat faster as he watched the three halflings hide behind his body as if they weren't bigger than him, as if he could protect them from whatever dared to come into a dragon's den. His grip tightened on the hilt as his eyes glared at the opening. Tommy put one hand out to assure the young ones behind him.

Tubbo started to sniff the air, then his tail wagged like a dog's. He was excited about something. He ran forward with a determined speed. Tommy tried to reach out and grab his neck, but he was just dragged forward when the pup ran at full speed. Tommy dug his feet into the ground, but it didn't seem to help.

Tubbo came to an abrupt stop, flipping Tommy's body onto the ground. He frowned in irritation. He couldn't even stop a running five-year-old, how was he supposed to protect these guys?

Walking into the entrance of their hidden cave was the same black dragon who grabbed him all those months ago. With the creatures massive body in full view Tubbo ran full speed towards his father wagging his tail. Tommy had to just release or be dragged with him. He watched as the dragon very carefully dropped a dead cow, probably stolen from the villagers. The sheer black beast very carefully nuzzled Tubbo with the end of his snout getting a small squick in response.

Michael and Wilbur ran over, but straight to their dinner. Tommy watched in disgust as the two would burn the carcass with their fire than eat the pieces they tore off like hamburgers.

"Not hungry?" a deep rumbling voice asked with a surprising gentleness to it.

Tommy's scrunched up in disgust. "I'll stick to my berries and properly hunted meat. He looked up to see where a black dragon was standing was now an adult half breed human. The half dragon was smaller then the dragon form, by 20 feet to be exact. He still had black dragon wings, his tail, razor teeth, even his claws on his hands, but everything else was the perfect imitation of a human.

Tommy grabbed his sword to head out and find his own food. He would allow the family their time and he could practice with his sword. He marched to the opening when the tail curled around him blocking his path. In irritation, he looked up at the smug blond-haired male who looked 30 with horns. He had his wings tucked away, but Tommy knew they were there. He attempted to climb over the tree truck-sized obstacle until it started to move dragging him closer to the half-breed.

"What! I'm just getting food unless you want your protector to starve." The tail didn't stop herding him until he was right back to the other three dragonlings. Tommy knew he didn't need his sword so he let it drop while he yelled up at the beast. "This isn't funny Phil."

"You know I appreciate you right?"

Since he was close enough now, Phil gently picked the young knight up with two fingers. He could feel Tommy squirming, but both knew nothing would happen.

"If I didn't think you could handle yourself, I wouldn't have chosen you to watch my young."

Tommy looked back in those deep blue eyes before he spoke. "Yeah well... I know."

Phil put the human back down beside the other three. He curled his tail closely around the four. His four kids.

[imherongraystairstrash]

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, do you think Charles,Barbara, Eugenia and Anna were close? Anna maybe less because she’s closer in age to the merry thieves set and she probably ghosted Charles after the Ariadne engagement. Would you consider a fic of them all growing up, starting with them 4 as little kids and then slowly becoming teens and adults and then dealing with Barbara’s death. I think it would be a fun idea since nobody ever considers them to be a older merry thieves.

You can thank my social anxiety for this one bc I stress wrote it in school 🙃

TW: panic attacks, death

Title: When we were young

Characters: Barbara Lightwood, Anna Lightwood, Eugenia Lightwood, Cecily Lightwood, Gabriel Lightwood, Alexander Lightwood, Sophie Lightwood, Gideon Lightwood

Anna was sitting by the fire when Charles came into the room. She hated him. She truly did. But, somehow, at that moment, she felt strange. He looked at her and it took her many years back, to when they weren’t exactly friends, but  they were far from what they are now to each other.

…

“And that was how Consul Wentworth fixed the crisis of 1687.” Charles said with a satisfied smile to himself.

The Lightwood girls were his audience. Well, sort of. Eugenia’s cheek was resting on her fist, squishing the right side of her face as her lidded eyes approached shutting completely. Anna was slumped against Eugenia, her lips pressed together tightly and her eyes opened wide, staring at a fixed spot on the floor. Their luminous dark blue glittered in the witchlight, looking exquisitely uncanny. Barbara was mid-yawn, leaning on the leg of a sofa.

“Wow, Charles. Thanks for the history lesson.” Eugenia said, monotonously. It was evident that she’d inherited her mother’s sass from the day she was born, when Barbara had woken her up by exclaiming at the sight of her newborn sister, and Genie responded by pulling her sister’s hair.

“Oh, and in 1690-“

“NO!” All three Lightwood daughters shrieked.

“I’m still not done, though.” Said Charles.

“Yes, you are.” Eugenia said, standing up and settling the matter. “We are positively bored. There is absolutely nothing to do except listen to Charles talk about politics, and if those are the only two options, frankly, I’d rather be bored.” 

Charles crossed his arms. “Being an intellect is not boring.”

Little two year old Anna looked at him with one eyebrow raised. 

“I swear, Thomas is having a better time than we are,” Eugenia said glaring at to where their parents were, with the tiny, almost invisible baby nestled in Gideon’s arms, his fingers wrapped around Sophie's thumb. The parents were all laughing about something, which made Eugenia scowl even more. 

“To be an adult.” Barbara said, with a martyred sigh. 

“We needn’t be adults to have fun.” Charles said.

“I suppose you’re going to torture us with more political trivia.” 

“No,” Charles said. “I was going to suggest we go through the attic.” 

The girls looked up at this and Charles smirked, clearly proud of himself at having come up with a good idea. For once. 

“What is in the attic?” 

Charles shrugged. “I don’t know, but there’s probably strange and obscure things. There’s a lot of that kind of stuff in our house.” 

Barbara and Eugenia exchanged a look before the eldest Lightwood sister turned to him. 

“We shall go and discover this mysterious attic you speak of.”

…

“What could this even be?” Barbara said, holding up a loose gear-like contraption. 

“Papa sometimes builds things out of clockwork.” Charles said, sitting cross legged. “Or, he used to at least.” 

 “That’s…” 

Genie and Charles looked at Barbara as she trailed off.

“Nevermind, I have no comment.”

Charles nodded as though that was a common reaction people had in terms of his father’s experiments. 

They rummaged through boxes upon boxes, finding momentos they didn’t understand such as papers upon papers of things that said many difficult words. They could distinguish a couple of words such as “infernal” and “devices”, however there were many that made no sense to them.

“What is a Mortmain?” Asked Genie.

“I think it’s an undead horse or something along those lines,” said Charles.

“Oh,” said Eugenia. “That’s disgusting.”

“Quite,” agreed Barbara.

Anna was toddling around the room, giggling. She almost tripped over a loose floorboard, and would have, had Charles not reached out and grabbed a hold of the back of her dress. 

“This is too dangerous for a small child like Anna,” Barbara said, ever the mother-goose. “I shall take her downstairs before she hurts herself.” 

Anna protested at first, but acquiesced once Barbara bribed her with the promise of dessert.

…

“What are you doing here?” Anna asked.

He looked up, his green eyes meeting her blue ones. 

…

Charles remembered that day like it was just yesterday. 

He and Eugenia had stayed behind rifling through boxes, which wasn’t unwelcome, as Eugenia and Charles had an easy, lighthearted and, at times, profound, friendship. Despite their age gap, they enjoyed each other’s company, though neither could say why. Perhaps, it was simply because they mocked each other. Or perhaps, it was sometimes they would occasionally talk about things such as philosophy, and whether what they were seeing was true, or the world was just a figment of their imaginations. Or a mixture of the two; they’d never really discussed it. 

Eugenia surprised him when she said, “do you ever feel… different from your parents?” 

Charles furrowed his brows, “in what aspect?”

“Love.” 

“Have you a suitor?” Charles inquired, intrigued.

“No. Actually, that was my question. I find that, sometimes, I don’t only enjoy the idea of a male suitor, but perhaps, I also enjoy the company of a woman. Perhaps.” She pressed her lips together tightly, as if forcing herself to stop speaking.

Charles looked at her, his bright green eyes wide. “I-um-…”

“But I’m not sure, of course.” Eugenia blurted out. “It’s not as if shadowhunters are precisely fond of that particular preference or-“

“Do you really think they wouldn’t like it?” Charles asked, softly. “Do you believe they will reject those who are like that?” 

Eugenia looked down. “I’m afraid I’m most sure of it.”

Charles had then realized that he couldn’t have both. There was no way around it. 

He knew his parents were happy and that love made them complete. However, they didn’t have to choose. They could be married and the idea wouldn’t affect their respective occupations. Charles, on the other hand, couldn’t be Consul and have the kind of love he wanted. He almost resented them because of it. They were able to do what they loved and nobody forced them to pick between one or the other. 

It was unfair. So incredibly unfair.

“I guess you better get rid of your feelings towards women than.” He said simply, “unless you’re willing to let something as simple as love get in the way of your dreams.”

“Dreams?” Eugenia asked, looking confused and a tiny bit hurt. 

 But Charles got up to go back downstairs to his parents, aunts and uncles.

… 

Charles slumped down in a chair and dug his fingers into his hair.

“She was just here.” He said quietly. “Babs, was just here.”

Anna felt sudden rage. “You are not allowed to mourn her.” 

Charles looked up. “Just because you don’t like me doesn’t mean I can’t be sad. She was my cousin too. Perhaps not by blood, but she was still a cousin.” He pressed his lips together angrily and stared fixedly at the witchlight stone that was illuminating the room. 

Anna, however, couldn’t find it in her to be diplomatic; she got up and left the room. 

…

Anna had never seen Eugenia look this way. She was always put together, posh. But now, she looked hollow. Like a shell of who she used to be. Anna wanted to go up to her, to say something, but she felt lost for words. What did you tell someone who lost a dear sister? If Anna felt sorrow, she couldn’t imagine what Eugenia was feeling. 

Her head was tilted upwards, looking up at the pyre where the corpse of her sister lay. Tears were streaming down her face, rolling down her cheeks, throat and chest, leaving streaks on her face that looked like the roots of a tree.

Sophie had her arm around her daughter. The sight of the four of them was very strange. There was a gap missing where Barbara should have been. She suddenly felt a hand take hold of her own. She looked to her right and saw her mother looking straight ahead, squeezing her daughter’s hand. Her father was looking down, holding Alex. Her baby brother was one of the few who looked up at the cousin who’d taught him to play simple songs on the piano, and had always let him sleep in her arms on New Year's eve.  

She didn’t know what he must have been thinking now, staring up at the pyre. 

Though, to be fair, she didn’t quite know what to think herself, as she looked up at the cousin who’s life was cut far too short.

…

Eugenia’s body didn’t feel like her own. She hadn’t felt this body was her own for a while. Even since Augustus and the secret she’d kept to herself.

This was somehow worse. To be torn away from your best friend, whom you’d shared a room with almost your entire life. Eugenia didn’t know how to live in a world without Barbara. Sometimes, in the rare moments when she forgot about her sadness, she’d call her sister’s name, ready to tell her about what had happened in her novel. Or find herself walking to Barbara’s room without thinking and then staring blankly at the door that has remained shut ever since the day she passed away.

A couple of weeks ago, she’d found a letter Barbara had sent her when she’d been in Idris. It was in between her copy of Jane Eyre. She couldn’t bring herself to read it in its entirety, but she stared at the signature blankly. 

Suddenly, she got the urge to run. So she ran. That’s how, an hour later, she’d gotten a small tattoo under her ankle that said “Sincerely, your favorite sister Babs.” 

It felt right to have Bab’s signature there, we’re only she could see. It made her feel accompanied everywhere she went, even though nobody else could see. 

Now, looking up at the pyre, her face tight from tears she’d left to dry, her mother weeping silently, she could almost imagine that her sister was there, simply caught in a slumber and that she’d wake up at any moment and come tumbling down, throwing herself in Eugenia’s arms.

Any moment now, she thought when the pyre burst into flames. 

“Ave atque vale, Barbara Lightwood.” The crowd said at once.

Eugenia shook her head and swayed on her feet. Her breathing became heavy and her fingers began prickling. Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. No nononono. 

She felt a hand on her shoulder, vaguely that it was her father’s. 

Not Barbara.

Not Babs.

“Calm down, Genie.”

Not her sister. Her sister couldn’t possibly be up there.

“Breathe Eugenia.”

She wanted to scream that she couldn’t, that she’d never breathe again, as long as her sister wasn’t breathing with her. Why did she have to live? She would have much preferred that Barbara live in her stead. 

The world was numb and fractured, never to be fixed again. 

…

(Don’t worry, Gideon was able to help Genie after the fic ends bc he’s the best dad)

Tagging: @tsccreatorsnet  @atla-lok143  @rinadragomir  @youngreckless  @autumnangel20  @julemmaes @cupcakesandkittens  @no-scones-allowed  @ninacarstairss  @stxr-thxif  @writeforjordelia  @icouldnotask @jordeliasupremacy  @cordelia-cardale  @will-effing-herondale  @axoloteca @heronstairs2014 @ilovemanicures @ti-bae-rius @alastair-esfandiyar-carstairs1 @readersconfessions812 @nightshade3465 @livvyheronstairs @zemiraa @proudtobealuthor @neurogliadudette @theenchanteddreamer @cheeseandmacarons

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[ick25]

Net Navis and Backup data.

Uh...Rockman...

And didn’t you delete Plantman just a few episodes before?

Or are Darkloids not Navis?

Hear me out, this post is not to show how hypocritical Axess was compared to the first season ( even though it is), its to give one last look of how hardcore Rockman was back then, and how Navis can be revived with a backup data, as well as trying to solve the mystery of how Rockman came back after being deleted, because it didn’t made much sense if you think about it.

First, though, let’s see why these Navis count as deleted and how were they able to come back in later seasons.

Bombman and Stoneman.

The “Miracle Net Navis” could be able to fight using chips without the help of a human operator, but they can’t revive by themselves. True, in episode 21, Stoneman was able to regenerate himself with a program he had hidden inside of him, but if said program is also destroyed, then Stoneman can’t regenerate anymore.

Random fan: “But Blues couldn’t have deleted Bombman and Stoneman then because we see them again in episode 23 and 25.”

I said that they can’t revive by themselves. Meaning that if Blues DID delete them, Wily could’ve brought them back with a backup data and even used that same backup to make copies of them. It would be until Rockman used the new style change to delete them completely because they don’t come back until Stream, and it has been established in that season that Duo revives Navis who have been deleted by Rockman and friends.

 Airman.

Ok, the only reason I say Airman was deleted was because of the defragmentation effect after Rockman blasted him with the Heat Guts Style, which is something we’ve already seen twice, when Rockman was deleted and in the uncensored version of episode 24 when Gutsman got crushed under a boulder to save Roll. Luckily, Gutsman’s data was recovered along with the Scilab servers. 

This also means that Airman was brought back with a backup data only to be chow for Gospel, and I still think that’s funny. XD

Even though he came back along with the other Navis eaten by Gospel, Airman returning in Stream could mean that he was eventually deleted by something or someone else. Who knows?

Cutman.

One can not be sure about Cutman since we clearly see him disappear with the Log Out animation, but in episode 36, the elder Cutman says that Cutman was deleted by Rockman and we don’t see him again (canonically, at least). 

The brief cameo as an army of Cutman in Stream wasn’t because of Duo, it was because Shademan changed the past, and being a Navi without an operator technically makes Cutman a Darkloid, even though I still think Darkloid origins make NO sense. The Cutman we see in Beast was from a parallel universe, where he was ironically deleted again by Rockman with the help of a friend.

Napalmman.

It was never established if Napalmman had an operator or not, or if he was deleted, but there was no way he could’ve survived a direct Electric Royal Wrecking Ball attack to the face! (The defragmentation effect helps too). Napalman is revived by Duo as an Asteroid Navi, which was a clever way of paring him with his actual operator from the 5th game. BN2 postgame might not be canon.

Planetman.

Just like with Planetman’s origin, whether he was deleted or not is a real mystery. I just assumed he was deleted because his body turns into stone and it then crumbles away releasing what looks like a shooting star.

Wish I had more information about Planetman, but a program advance powered up by the Aqua Custom Style doesn’t seem like something you can avoid. Speaking of that...

Magnetman and Elecman.

The actual scene where Rockman deleting Navis is confirmed. After Magnetman was brutally kicking Rockman in the floor, Elecman fights him while Rockman recovers with the Extra Code, and the Style Changed Rockman starts beating the ever-loving c*@p out of Magnetman.

Obviously cut from the dub.

The bug affecting Rockman during this was interfering with his aim to finish off Magnetman, but Elecman steps in and holds Magnetman in place so that Rockman won’t miss. Both Magnetman and Elecman are deleted because the Count’s PET said Deleted on screen, meaning that Rockman deliberately deleted two Navis to save his friends.

Sometimes heroes have to make tough choices, not everyone can be spared, we have to remember that Navis are computer programs that can be brought back easily because we see Elecman and Magnetman again after this episode meaning that they must’ve had backups.

How does the backup data work?

Both the games and the manga mention repairing Navis with a backup data, every computer program must have a backup to prevent the loss of important information. In a Navi’s case, a backup can be used to restore defragmentation of limbs by using the copy of the Navi’s structure as a base.

However, we’ve seen in later seasons of the anime that many operators are against using a backup when a Navi is deleted, because humans can get emotionally attached to things, bringing a Navi back from deletion wouldn’t feel the same.

Its not confirmed in the anime that backup datas are a thing, but if they were, then why would they not use it to bring back Silk or Nenjiro who sacrificed themselves to save their operators? 

My theory is that their memories and experiences wouldn’t go beyond the last time the backup was made, so if a Navi was revived, it would have the same personality, but it wouldn’t have any memory about being deleted or of anything it had learned prior the deletion.

For something as important as a Navi, and the Net being established as full viruses, the PET should automatically copy the Navi’s data at the end of each day, so if a Navi is deleted, it would only have the memories of the day before. If this was the case for Rockman, then why wouldn’t Netto bring back Rockman with the copy his PET made at the end of the previous day? The only difference would be that Rockman would have no memory of his battle with Blues. One can argue that it just wouldn’t feel right because the Rockman that experienced everything along Netto until his deletion was gone forever and that he would only have a copy of his dear friend instead. It could be that, or that PETs just don’t save backups and it is something an operator is supposed to do, but knowing Netto, doing this would also feel wrong because he would never see Rockman as just a program.

I think there was an argument about Silk being corrupted by the dark aura and that it prevented her from being restored, but I don’t buy that, unless the PET was corrupted as well, the backup would still be intact. The anime was simply making an excuse for teaching children about moving on after the death of a love one, but that just doesn’t work for Navis knowing how computer programs function. 

The anime wanted to follow the end of Battle Network 3, when Rockman was thought to have been deleted and Netto had to move on, but in the games, Rockman was Netto’s dead twin brother back as a Navi ( Which I don’t like), and that made him unique and irreplaceable because he was basically human. Since that relationship doesn’t exist in the anime, they had to change things a little, the viewers had to see Rockman as a person so they made it that only his body was destroyed, his memories were placed in Netto’s PET, and for some reason he had other pieces of memories in his friend’s PETs. So Rockman’s personality and memory datas where still intact, and that all they needed was his structure aka his body which was a back up that Netto’s dad had, unfortunately, save in a Scilab server because Rockman was created there.

I personally dislike it when shows change the rules that were stablished in previous seasons just because they wanted a story that the viewers can relate to. To have a fantastic story have one idea and have it suddenly change because we need children to learn about real life topics, even if the show is not about that. So I want to know what others think about this idea and inconsistencies in a story, in the meantime, here are some images of Rockman possibly deleting security Navis.

I’m starting to think this is the real reason why Rockman doesn’t Style Change anymore.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 291: The Endeavor Pamphlet

Previously on BnHA: Dabi showed up atop Gigantomachia’s back and was all “you’ll never guess who I really am!” and the readers humored him and were all “who?” and he was all “TODOROKI TOUYA” and we were all “WOW └(・。・)┘ OH MY GOSH I WOULD NEVER HAVE GUESSED”, except for Shouto and Enji who were GENUINELY SHOCKED. Anyway so Touya was all “and guess what I’m doing right now!” and before anyone could even try, he was all, “STREAMING MY EMMY-NOMINATED MINISERIES ‘HELLO, I’M EVIL BUT ALSO TRAGIC AND SEXY, NOW LET ME TELL YOU ALL ABOUT MY DAD WHO SUCKS’’, THAT’S WHAT.” And everyone was all “oh my god” and Touya was all “ヽ(⌐■_■)ノ♪” for basically the rest of the chapter, and that’s pretty much it! Oh, wait, except for the part where he also doused himself in bleach in a fit of pure theatrics, which is actually pretty much the main takeaway from the entire chapter really because it was just wild af. ANYWAYS.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi introduces Baby Touya, the world’s most enchantingly sweet character, and is immediately all, “I sure can’t wait to tell you guys all about how his fucking jaw burnt off.” Thankfully he doesn’t (YET), and we cut back to the present pretty quickly, where Dabi explains how he took all of his brain cells that should have been used to stop him from pouring bleach over his head, and instead put them all toward his big brain plot of releasing an elaborate video detailing Endeavor’s various abuses and crimes, and even throwing Hawks under the bus as well because WHY NOT. He then leaps off of Gigantomachia’s back (like I said, no brain cells) all set to blast them with a Prominence Burn, only to be stopped by none other than THE LEGEND HIMSELF, MOTHERFUCKING BEST, PRETTIEST, NICEST, MOST OUTSTANDING MOTHERFUCKING JEANIST. Who’s no doubt outraged by the crime against hair he witnessed only moments earlier. GO GETTIM JEANY BOI.

so I haven’t had time to answer any of them because this has been the stupidest week, but I just wanted to tell you guys that I received no fewer than nine asks about Dabi’s hair. which, in a week filled with election memes and tumblr’s most cursed fandom briefly rising back up from the dead, is a pretty impressive feat for him if you ask me. like, I know I was making fun of it basically nonstop, but it sure did generate a lot of discussion so maybe I should rethink my opinions on Dabi’s PR strategies now, idk

anyway. it’s Saturday. time to catch up on this shit. let’s see how fucked the Todorokis are

OH NO HE’S CUTE

HOLY SHIT THIS IS TOO MUCH TO FUCKING PROCESS. I’M JUST TRYING TO ENJOY MY DAY HORIKOSHI, ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO TRAUMATIZE THIS POOR CHILD RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY SALAD

“thanks for being all right” the fuck

who allowed this child to be so cute. I’m serious. who signed off on this

how could a child this adorable possibly want to murder his equally adorable baby brother. please, your honor. there must be some mistake here

guess how prepared I am to read all about Touya’s tragic past. mm. that’s right. zero ready. none ready

anyway. TWO THOUSAND DEGREES LOLOLOL. NO TRACE OF A CORPSE HOW CONVENIENT. A PIECE OF HIS LOWER JAW BONE FFFFMSGHKLSh. LOVELY. LOVELY

LMAOOOOO

listen you guys. I just want to take a moment to appreciate that Horikoshi Kouhei did one of two things here. either (1) he planned it out FROM THE VERY START that Touya would be born with red hair Because Fire Powers, but would then have his hair turn white due to trauma, thus making the Dabi/Touya connection very slightly less obvious, although Let’s Be Real Who Are We Kidding. OR, (2) the anime got it wrong and gave him red hair, and rather than allowing this plot hole to continue to exist, Horikoshi took it upon himself to concoct this elaborate storyline and pretend it was never a plot hole at all! in which case I sure hope someone at Bones is sending him a VERY nice Christmas card this year. got this man sweeping up all your messes for you. you’re just lucky he has some sort of wild compulsion to address these things

anyways!!

FATHER AND SON. how sweet. :| still zero percent ready for any of this btw

STOP BEING CUTE

THIS IS RIDICULOUS. I’M SO MAD RIGHT NOW. HE IS THE SINGLE CUTEST CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRE SERIES, and do you even know how many other baby characters I’m betraying in order to say that?! baby Kacchan, baby Deku, baby Ochako, baby Shouto, Eri, baby Hawks. I’M LOOKING YOU DEAD IN THE EYE RIGHT NOW AND TELLING YOU THAT BABY TOUYA IS CUTER THAN ALL OF THOSE PLEBS. AND YOU’RE LOOKING BACK AT ME RIGHT NOW ALL “YEAH IT SURE IS A PITY ABOUT HIS JAW MELTING OFF THOUGH.” THAT’S IT, I QUIT THE SERIES

and Enji’s smiling at him. he’s so proud of him. but then Touya won’t be able to do it, and Enji’s gonna stop training him, and Touya’s gonna feel like a failure and keep pushing himself in order to try and win his dad’s affections back, because that’s all kids fucking want, all they want is just love, that’s fucking it, you couldn’t just give him that?? and then he’s gonna immolate himself fflkdlskfh THERE YOU SEE HORIKOSHI, I KNOW THE WHOLE STORY ALREADY, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THE WHOLE “SHOW THEM THE DEAD DOG” THING YET AGAIN YOU PIECE OF SHIT

OH SNAP THERE GOES THE TWIN THEORY. R.I.P.

BABY FUYUMI. PRETTY CUTE. NOT AS CUTE AS TOUYA THOUGH. HEY LOOK, NO REASON TO GET MAD AT ME I’M JUST STATING A FACT HERE

YEAH THIS IS GONNA GO REAL WELL OH BOY

I keep pressing the emergency stop button but this industrial tragedy machine just keeps on chugging along anyway, I’m pretty sure this thing is not up to code

:| I am so sorry sweet boy, Horikoshi is only getting started with you

FUCKING HELL WITH THIS NARRATION

but he wasn’t actually a child to you, he was just a little puppet child for you to live vicariously through!! and then you went and did the same fucking thing with Shouto afterwards and never learned your lesson until just six months ago!! fucking hell, Enji

so now he’s all “Touya is dead, that’s an unforgivable lie” fflkdhflk motherfucker does he look dead to you. if you really think that, tumblr and twitter have got a little over five years’ worth of archived theory posts to show you

oh shit Touya’s countering with “it’s an unforgivable truth”, which, damn. I actually think Horikoshi’s dialogue is one of his weaker points as a writer a lot of the time, but that comeback was snappy as fuck

actually guys, now that I’ve seen how ridiculously fucking cute baby!Touya was, I can almost understand why Shouto and Enji never put the pieces together before lol. any passing similarities would have easily been dismissed on account of he’d need to be at least 10x more adorable in order to get the full resemblance

OH MY GOD

NOW YOU SLEEP??? SO YOU POINT BLANK REFUSED TO PASS OUT WHILE YOU WERE BUSY MAIMING ALL OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS, BUT NOW THAT THERE’S AN OPPORTUNITY TO SEE YOUR REACTION TO THE “YOUR LIEUTENANT WAS SECRETLY RELATED TO ONE OF YOUR WORST ENEMIES THE WHOLE TIME” BOMBSHELL, YOU FINALLY DECIDE TO GET YOUR FORTY WINKS. I SEE

WOW DABI

I’M SURPRISED YOU DIDN’T ALREADY HAVE YOUR ANCESTRY.COM RESULTS PRINTOUT READY TO FOLD INTO A PAPER AIRPLANE AND ZOOM ON DOWN TO HIM

LOL NEVERMIND

gotta say, so far The Endeavor Pamphlet is just about as spicy as I could have hoped

(ETA: Natsuo’s face as he watches his beloved dead brother come back to life only to literally and metaphorically set everything on fire in one fell swoop is :/. why must you do this to me Natsu. can’t you see I’m trying to throw a Welcome Back Jeanist party here.)

HAVE YOU READ THIS?! TODOROKI ENJI ABUSED HIS OWN HEIR, AND DABI WROTE IT DOWN RIGHT THERE

WELL HE’S NEVER GON’ BE NUMBER ONE NOW / NEVER GON’ BE NUMBER ONE NOW / THAT’S ONE LESS THING TO WORRY ABOUT / THAT’S ONE LESS THING TO WORRY ABOUT

btw I neglected to mention this last week, but yes I do recognize and appreciate that this is Can’t Ya See-kun himself whom Horikoshi has chosen to be the face of this existential crisis which the general public is about to experience. rip CYS-kun

OOF

excuse me. putting aside the implications of Dabi sharing this context-less murder video of Hawks with the entire world for a moment, I just have to pause for a sec here, because when exactly did he get a chance to edit this all in?? complete with voiceover that seamlessly ties in with the prerecorded footage of him with DNA test results sans shirt?? you’re telling me this motherfucker, with all the smoke that was in the room thanks to his own quirk, somehow got a PERFECT SHOT of the PRECISE MOMENT when Hawks drove his feather knife into Jin’s back, using his MAGIC CAMERA THAT HE I GUESS HAD THE ENTIRE TIME IN THE POUCH RIGHT NEXT TO HIS BLEACH BOTTLE, and then immediately somehow got this very next shot as well FROM AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT ANGLE

ALL THE WHILE IMMEDIATELY RUNNING THROUGH SCRIPT REVISIONS IN HIS HEAD, WHICH HE THEN PROCEEDED TO RECORD... WHERE, EXACTLY?? WITH SKEPTIC, WHILST RIDING ON MACHIA’S BACK??

AND THIS IS ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF???

and this after I just wrote that whole long paragraph positively GLOWING about this man’s ability to plug up a plot hole. jfc. just scratch out every damn word I said lol. just forget all of it

are you fucking kidding me, the footage was from the cameras Skeptic planted on Hawks??

that’s... actually... okay you know what, it still doesn’t make any sense in the slightest, but the determination to address it nonetheless... just, dammit... I feel like I’m constantly at war with myself over whether or not I want to shake this man’s hand or slap him lmao. whatever, then!!

anyway, since Shouto and Enji can’t actually see the damage that Touya is dealing to the hero industry even as they speak, Touya is taking it upon himself to give them the highlights

I think it’s a testament to how much Endeavor cares about Hawks that he managed to zero in on that comment even amidst all the craziness of his eldest son returning from the dead to announce how he’s been carefully plotting their destruction for years and years. like, he heard “Hawks” and his face immediately went like that. you think he’s worried that Dabi did something to him? because he’d be right to worry lol

so the Endeavor Pamphlet narration is now explaining all about how Hawks totally killed the Number 3 Hero Best Jeanist as well! yep... he sure did... totally...

OH MY GOD WE’RE CUTTING TO HIM AHHHHH

Hawks, that is. lol. not Jeanist. NO, JUST MY POOR HALF-DEAD WINGLESS BABY SON

NOOOOO HIS LITTLE WING STUMPS. BUT SOMEHOW HIS FACIAL HAIR IS STILL INTACT. OH TO BE AN ANIME PRETTY BOY BEING SET ON FIRE. “HEY, TAKE IT EASY, WATCH THE FACE”

EXCUSE ME WHAT

interesting! we suspected as much, I think, with the clues that Ending dropped, and the little flashback right after the name reveal. still not clear how Dabi found out about it though!

looooool okay here we go, breaking out the heavy-handed holier-than-thou shit now

you know, I do find it interesting how trying to model themselves after All Might’s noble Symbol of Peace image has kind of ended up being the heroes’ undoing here. like, I could write a whole essay on this, but what it basically boils down to is that they were all trying too hard to be perfect. All Might went out there and did his thing and was amazing, and so the powers-that-be built an entire system centered around this seemingly-infallible person, and they acted like the system was infallible as well. and so most of the population ended up becoming complacent over the years, and meanwhile the people who were unfortunate enough to fall through the cracks understandably wound up disillusioned and perceiving the heroes as these false idols

anyway, but I think one positive takeaway from this is that the new up-and-coming generation of heroes represent a breakaway from that system. like, imo what we’re witnessing is the downfall of the Perfect Hero, and the rise of the imperfect hero. and this new generation doesn’t shy away from their failures or pretend like they never happened. they pretty much can’t pretend, because their failures are all right out there in the open for everyone to see. Bakugou Katsuki, just to name one example off the top of my very biased head, has had his own personal character journey basically play out right in front of the media’s eyes. his humiliation at the sports festival, his kidnapping by the League, and all of the fallout afterward. this isn’t someone who can ever go out there and convince the world that he’s perfect. but what he can do, instead, is show the world that he’s trying. that he’s trying with everything he has to do his best, to be the best. rather than this untouchable godlike image, it’s instead the image of someone painfully human who is nonetheless striving with everything he’s got to keep moving forward, flaws and all, and work his way to the top

and ultimately I think that’s going to be a much more positive image to send out to the world when all’s said and done. because rather than merely inspiring awe, heroes like that inspire people to take action themselves. or at least that’s what I hope! and not just Bakugou, but the others as well. we’ve got Shouto, whose own personal trauma is being aired in front of the whole nation even as I sit here ranting. we’ve got Deku, who cries at the drop of a hat, and who fought to become a hero despite being quirkless (and I think it’s only a matter of time before that eventually becomes public knowledge as well). tl;dr because I’m getting way too long-winded here, but these kids have effectively been humanized in a way that the old generation never was, and I think that’ll go a long way towards building trust between them and the people they’ll someday be protecting, and inspiring the next generation in hopefully a much healthier way

anyway so where were we. ...oh yes, Dabi was explaining that heroes only protect themselves, and is presumably building up to his grand conclusion of “therefore you should all just let the villains take over and burn down the world”

omfg. YOU GUYS

DOES CAN’T YA SEE-KUN’S SHARK FRIEND ACTUALLY CALL HIM “CAN’T YA SEE-KUN.” HE HAS A NAME YOU KNOW!! UNLESS HE LEGALLY GOT HIS NAME CHANGED TO CAN’T YA SEE-KUN. OH MY GOD

ALSO, IS THAT CAN’T YA SEE-KUN CRYING IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT THERE OMG. GIVE THIS CHILD A HUG. EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING RIGHT NOW AND HUG HIM

BAKUGOU IS BARELY HANGING ON THERE LOL. GOTTA STAY CONSCIOUS... SO MUCH TEA BEING SPILLED... FOCUS... CONCENTRATE

IIDA’S ANGLING HIS HEAD IN A WEIRD WAY, LIKE DUDE. LOOKING SUSPICIOUSLY SNUGGLY THERE. MMM THESE IIDABAKU CRUMBS

HADOU IS ALL “WHAT EVEN IS ACTUALLY GOING ON” LMAO

LASTLY, POOR SHOUTO OMFG. WHEN YOU’RE ALL FINISHED HUGGING CYS-KUN THIS CHILD NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION!!

so now Dabi’s leaping off of this ninety-foot-tall gargoyle man like that’s a normal, smart thing to do. unless he can fly too now? saw his dad doing it back at Fukuoka and was all “hmm”

OH MY GOD SOMEONE TELL ME RIGHT NOW WHAT WORD SHOUTO IS USING TO ADDRESS ENJI, THESE TRANSLATIONS LOVE TO MESS WITH MY HEAD

ENJI GET MOVING DO YOU NOT SEE THOSE TEARS!!! SNAP OUT OF IT YOU BIG TREE

AHHHHH

OH KACCHAN YOU WOKE UP A LITTLE MORE THERE, HUH

lol he and Deku both look so determined but they’re basically sitting ducks. their “oh shit” faces do look remarkably like their “TIME TO SWING INTO ACTION” faces but don’t be fooled, they have one good arm and about six pints of blood left between the two of them. looks like this one’s all on you Shouto

-- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH --

BAH GOD... WHAT’S GOING ON HERE... THAT’S BEST JEANIST’S MUSIC

y’all. can’t even talk right now, my brain has completely shut down lol. just. ...

  °˖✧◝(￣▿￣)◜✧˖°

[maddogofshimano]

The Woman Who Dyed a Black Stain to White

Major Y0 Spoiler Warning

Lee got a sugoroku event! Look at his chibi sprite!!! 

There’s several foreign names and groups mentioned in here that I don’t know the ideal romanization for, but I will try to at least be consistent on them.

This one is seriously heavy. I’m actually going to put a trigger warning on this: it’s about sex trafficked women, and Makoto’s backstory. There’s the start of an attempted sexual assault and a lot of dehumanizing language about the women who are being trafficked. Nothing is shown explicitly, but it’s rough. Additionally multiple people in the mafia commit suicide.

Summary: Lee is ordered to assassinate the boss of the Songyoung, a mysterious crime syndicate behind the disappearances of multiple women in Sotenbori. They operate in complete secrecy, and Lee finds himself facing a terrible choice between his orders and his morals.

<1986--two years before a man's corpse would be found in Kamurocho's empty lot--Iwao Bridge, Sotenbori>  Makoto: Excuse me, I'm looking for my brother. Have you seen the man in this picture?

Man: No, don't know him at all. Sorry... Makoto: Excuse me, have you seen the person in this picture?

Woman: I don't know him, sorry... Oda: That woman... she's not bad... I think I'll have a little talk with her...

Oda: Pardon me miss. You're looking for your brother? I've got an idea of where he might be...

Makoto: Really!? Please, take me there right away! Oda: Of course. If you wouldn't mind coming with me then...

<One Year Later--Sotenbori Hogushi Kaikan>

Voice on the TV: The case of the repeated disappearances of women in Sotenbori clearly seems to be--

Lee: Young women bein' targeted for abduction... Must be the Omi Alliance, or maybe some foreign group... Lee: The police are stayin' awful quiet on it though. Hard to feel good about all the movement that's happenin' around it... <phone rings> Lee: Ah, the phone... Lee: Hogushi Kaikan speaking. What treatment may I help you with? Voice on the phone: I have a job for you, Lee Wen Hai Lee: Well, sounds like ya aren't after a massage, are ya... Wong, who'd'ya need taken care of this time? Wong: That's cruel, Lee. Do you know the Korean mafia faction, the Songyoung? Lee: Aah, I've been hearin' some things about them. I was gettin' a real bad vibe off of that group... Wong: We haven't been able to pin them down effectively because they don't do anything themselves, they use hired thugs for all the dirty work... Wong: It sounds like they outsource their income streams. That's how they keep everything a secret. Lee: So you're tellin' me this for a reason... right? The Songyoung are my next target? Wong: Mhm, that's right. Wong: These days their thugs are rampaging all over our organization's territory... Wong: If they keep making waves like this, they're bound to bring the Omi down on our heads. Wong: The current pressure the Omi is putting on us is more than enough, and they'll only use this as an excuse to squeeze harder. Lee: Is the big bad mainland mafia's Kotou and the Omi that scared? (Tl note: this gets clarified way later, but Kotou (虎頭) is the Chinese mafia group Lee works for) Wong: Don't tease... Sotenbori is the Omi Alliance's most treasured territory... Wong: There's no advantage to putting the Omi in a bad mood or inflicting damage. But, how much do you even understand that? Wong: Anyways, the more the Songyoung keep rampaging, the more foreign organizations like our Kotou will suffer. Wong: Your assignment is to assassinate the boss of the Songyoung. I'm sure you know the usual payment from Kotou... Wong: For this one, it'll be double. Lee: Well ain't that generous... So what's the catch? Wong: Like I said, the Songyoung is a thoroughly secretive organization. Wong: Naturally, their bosses current whereabouts are unknown, as are the group's hideouts... Lee: So I gotta figure out where the guy even is... Wong: So? Will you take on the assignment? Lee: Well of course. I'll take it. You can transfer the payment to the usual account. Wong: Understood. When I get it, I'll fax you a picture of the boss of the Songyoung. Use it for verification. Wong: Well then, I'll leave you to it. Don't forget to keep in contact, okay? Lee: I'll remember... See ya later then? <Hangs up the phone> Lee: Well then, first things first is collectin' information on the Songyoung... <Prologue End> <A few days later--Shofuku Street, Sotenbori> Lee: After all this time pokin' around I still haven't gotten any info on the Songwong...

Lee: I thought Wong was just cuttin' corners, but even that pro I listened to didn't know shit... Lee: Information fees have gotten jacked up with the current economic boom, and it's hard to rely on anything they say... Lee: This place then. Today I'll pay it a visit... <Lee enters the mahjong parlor> Lee: Let's see, where is that guy... Oh, there he is....

Lee: Hey, been a while... how's things treatin' ya?

Information Broker: Well, if it isn't God Hand-sama himself... Broker: It'd been so long since I heard from ya that lately I'd been thinkin' about closin' up shop and pickin' up massage instead. Lee: Shut it, smartass! All you've been doin' lately is sittin' on your ass playin' mahjong... Lee: ...But, I'll let it slide. I'm here to get some info from ya. Lee: Tell me everythin' ya know about the Songyoung... Broker: ....And if that information isn't cheap? Lee: How much? Broker: Give me... 100k upfront, and we'll see how much it'll cost. Lee: Tch... Ya better watch yourself after this... Here, take your cash! <a wad of bills thumps onto the table> Broker: Of course. So, what do you want to know about the Songyoung? Lee: Their main hideout, and where their boss is at right now. For that information I'll pay as much as ya need. Broker: That's some real problematic info, ya know. These guys are hardcore on their secrecy... Lee: Seriously, I paid out the ass upfront already... So what, ya don't have that info? Broker: I do have a list of their lower rungs... Broker: If ya wanna find the main group, you'll have to squeeze it out of the branches... Lee: Sure, hand over that info then. Broker: You sure? It's gonna be another 100k. Lee: Jeez... Here. We good now? <another wad of bills hits the table> Broker: Thank you for your patronage... Alright, here's the list. Lee: ....This, you're sure there's not some sort of mistake? Broker: I absolutely guarantee it. Welllllll some of them might have cut ties with the main group already I suppose... Broker: The lower rungs are nothin' but nasty, muscle-headed imbeciles, though with your strength it won't be a problem... Lee: Heh.... I can't understand why this information is goin' for only 100k.

Broker: Ha... Findin’ a buyer for that kind of thing ain't easy. Broker: If you're makin' a move on these guys... Well, there's not gonna be a point to holdin' on to that information afterwards, right? Lee: ...That's pretty smart of ya. I'm off then, I'll be back later. Lee: Well, time to get goin' through this list with a fine toothed comb. <Lee goes to the park> Lee: Every one of these organizations is tied to the Songyoung somehow, but I just don't know what's connectin' them...

Lee: Do I really gotta go trompin' through this whole list and hope I stumble onto where the boss is at? Goon A: Hehe... Hey, let's go do some damage today!!

Goon B: It's great havin' the backin' of a big, influential group like that... Looks like our luck is finally turnin' around!! Lee: Well there's some assholes... I wonder what kinda info they might have... <Lee kicks the shit out of them. Like I don't even do the fight it just fades to black and Lee takes care of it himself> Goon A: Hhhh... Please forgive us.... The Songyoung already cut us off! So please don't kill us!!

Lee: Ya better not tell me you've cut ties again, okay? Just tell me all the info ya got on the Songyoung. Goon A: I-I really don't know anythin'! The contact we had, we never even saw their face. Lee: Seriously you guys... This is the tenth time. These Songyoung are damn serious about this secrecy crap, huh... Lee: These bastards don't have any information neither... Goon B: Th-That's true, but it is possible... Lee: What? Ya got an idea or somethin'? Goon B: There’s some guys that have turf near Iwao Bridge, they do way worse dealings than we do, I think... Lee: Worse dealings? Goon B: Yeah, they abduct young women that've just come to Sotenbori, and the Songyoung takes em for a shit ton of cash. Lee: Wait, wait, you mean... That's what's causin' the "vanishing women case" right now!?

Goon B: Yeah... That's right... It's all just rumors, but they go after runaway girls to kidnap... Lee: Then that means, this "disappearance case", it's all the Songyoung's doing... Lee: Now that's the kind of details I want to hear!! Goon B: Y-Yes sir!! Though, there is one other thing you should know... Goon B: In the past there was a real famous gang that was doin' this kind of job, but that gang left Sotenbori just when they were about to take over... Goon B: The organization that's currently makin' bank off of abducting women is called... Well, it's gotta be "Ganryujima". (Tl note: Ganryujima is the island famous for the duel between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro. Also of note the first kanji in ganryujima is the same as the first kanji in Iwao Bridge) Goon B: That's the full extent of what I know... Lee: So near Iwao Bridge there's turf belonging to "Ganryujima"? That group's also on the list.... Seems like I got plenty to go on. Lee: In light of this info ya gave me, I'll let ya go. Hopefully this'll've been a learnin' experience for ya, and ya won't got gettin' involved with any more groups like that. Goons: Y-Yes sir!! Thank you very much!! Lee: Iwao Bridge is right up there.... I was gonna ask the Garyujima about the Songwong but... this feelin'...

Lee: This ain't just another punk, is it... someone else in the same profession? Lee: Hey, I know you're there. Come on out. If you're gonna tail someone, put a lil more effort in on stayin' hidden... Menacing Man: Are you the one who's been crushing all of our lower rungs? No hard feelings, but I'm going to kill you here...

Lee: As if I'd fall so far as to get killed by some third rate hitman who can't even hide himself properly... Lee: Though, ya did save me the trouble by showin' up. It was gonna be a pain in the ass to get the info I was after on your kinda organization. Lee: I'm just gonna beat every last drop of info about your group out of ya!! Menacing Man: Heh.... Come at me then!! You're going to regret messing with the Songyoung!! <the fight happens for real this time, fittingly Misery Comes On Beat plays and Lee clobbers them> Menacing Man: G-Guh........ Lee: Alright, you know what I want, ready to spill it on the Songyoung? Menacing Man: Heh.... You think I'm going to talk? Lee: Oh, so you've decided I gotta make you talk then... Menacing Man: The organization's secrets are absolute... Letting that kind of things slip, it's just not something I can do... <stabbing sounds> Lee: You! What the hell did you do!! Menacing Man: Guhh..... fool!? Lee: What idiots... All of them went and slit their own throats... Lee: All that to protect their organization's secrets... Finding their boss's location is gonna be a real pain in the ass.

<end part 1> Lee: You bastards are Ganryujima boys, ain't ya?

Goon: Who the hell are you? You got a problem if we're Ganryujima? Lee: Nope, my problem is with all the women you've been ordered to kidnap for the Songyoung. Goon: You... where the hell did ya hear that? Lee: Ya think I'm gonna say? Goon: Heh..... 's all good. If ya knew any better, ya would have gone home to keep on livin'... Goon: Oi, everyone!! Let's end this geezer!! Lee: Sure are a lotta hotblooded assholes... Ah well. I'll just have to convince ya to talk. <once again, Lee crushes them without me even doing the fight> Goon: Haa... Haa... Wh-What the hell's with this old man...

Lee: From now on, be selective when you pick fights. If you pick the wrong opponent on this street, are you ready to lose your life? <metallic noise of something being drawn, presumably a knife or the acupuncture needle, it's unclear> Goon: A-Aahh!? P-Please don't kill me!! Lee: Are ya ready to tell me about the Songyoung then? What's the guy look like that you're handin' these girls over to? Goon: Sorry... we just leave the women we kidnapped in a pre-designated abandoned house on a regular basis, I never seen anyone... Goon: The money just gets wired into our account... I really don't know the guy's face at all... Lee: ....Tch, you fuckers are another dead end. Goon: I-I'm sorry I'm so worthless!! But please, my life... Lee: Fine, whatever.... Actually, one thing! Goon: Wh-What!? Lee: In exchange for me lookin' the other way on this, I'm givin' ya a job to do. Goon: A-A job... What'd'ya want us to do? Lee: It's easy. I'm gonna bring ya a girl, and you're gonna sell her to those guys... can ya do that? (Tl note: misread this at first as "I'm gonna be the next girl ya sell to those guys" and was pogging) Goon: Y-Yeah. I think we should be able to do that... Lee: Good, then I'll be back when I've finished some preparations. <Lee goes to a bar to speak with an anime girl because there is exactly one base sprite for all women> Lee: Yo, it's been a while. You haven't changed a day...

Lee: Makes sense, given nobody knows the number of guys you've swindled out of their cash then bumped off... Woman: .....You know, Lee. Isn't it a bit cruel to call someone out to meet you and then speak about them like that? Lee: Sorry, sorry, I thought I was payin' a compliment to your heinous modus operandi, it's very skillful.

Woman: Sigh~... so what is it? Why'd you call me over so suddenly? I came because I owe you one, but I'm not here on a leisure trip. Lee: I was hopin' to get us squared away. Think ya can handle one bothersome task for me? Woman: Bothersome? Lee: Yeah, I'm trying to get a hold of information on this organization... Stuff like where there hideout is, but since no one's talkin' I'd like to borrow your power. Woman: ....And what do you want me to do? Lee: I want ya to pose as a runaway and sneak into this place as one of the girls gettin' traffic'd. Lee: I've gotten a hold of the sales route they're usin'... Lee: You'll get bought wearin' a tracking device and a hidden mic, and that'll let us infiltrate the hideout. Woman: This is going to be dangerous, isn't it? I know I owe you, but is that enough to risk my life over? Lee: When you're a professional killer, isn't there always a risk of death, that someone will turn the tables on ya? Well, as soon as I know where the place is I'll go and help ya. I'll protect this body you've altered... What d'ya think, will ya help? Woman: ....Ha, I guess so. After this, we're even, right? Lee: Yeah, of course. Honestly I'll feel indebted to ya! <Lee goes back outside> Lee: Right now, you're in the abandoned building in West Shokufukucho. Great, the transmitter just moved into the kitchen...

<radio static> Lee: I can hear her voice through the bug. Sensitivity is good... Lee: Now then... After that woman gets taken to the main hideout, everything will go flawlessly. <footsteps> Voice over the mic: "This is the collection team. The cargo of women has been confirmed. We'll be returning to HQ shortly, via our transport." Lee: They're speakin' korean... "Recover the woman and take her to headquarters".... huh.... Lee: Seems like it's going well. I hope it keeps up.... Voice: "Be careful not to be seen on the way back! Hurry up and return to HQ!!" Lee: They're not aware of the bug or the tracking device... <Lee gets into a car> Lee: And now I just follow em right to their hideout. <He gets out after a drive> Lee: Looks like the transmitter stopped in this building...

<radio static> Voice: "The shipment of women has arrived. Where's the boss at?" Voice: "Right now the boss is inspecting the warehouse..." Voice: "Aah, that place is crammed full of women isn't it... So, will you deliver this woman there too?" Voice: "Nah, no need to do extra work. We'll just put her in the usual room until the boss gets back..." Voice: "Roger on that!" <radio static> Lee: So this is the main hideout then. However, the boss ain't here... Lee: Ah well, I'm bound to hear where he is sooner or later. ...Ah, afterwards though, I did promise to help that woman out. <Lee kicks in the door> Songyoung goon: "Wh-What are you doing!?"

Lee: "My bad, but I was hoping to retrieve a woman I left here?"

Goon: "W-Woman!? Who do you think you are!? Do you have a death wish!?" Lee: "How about you tell me the location of the warehouse you've got the other women in?" Goon: "Wh-What!? Did you plant a bug on that woman!? Shit!! Everyone! Don't let this man leave here alive!!" Goon: "For the sake of protecting our organization, this man must die!! Kill him and sink his body in the harbor!! Let's go!!" <Lee crushes them and two of the three hit the floor> Goon: "That man... so strong..." Lee: "Well, the place where you've got all those women locked up, ya better tell me where it is.." Goon: "Heh... you really think it's going to be that simple?" <gunshots> Lee: Shit... Shot himself right in the head... Lee: The other two drank poison to kill themselves too. What a commitment to secrecy... It's sickening.... Lee: And even still, I just gotta investigate this place and I'll figure out where that warehouse is. Whoops, gotta help that woman first... <back outside> Woman: Seriously... I'm sorry for this again, alright? (Tl note: extremely in the weeds here, I don't really know what she's talking about)

Lee: Heh.... Searching the house would have been rotten without your help. Woman: I'll send a bill for that information later! Lee: And I'll send ya a whole mountain of gold as payment! Woman: Haa~... That's what I like to hear.... Well then, don't you go and die until you pay me, okay? <She leaves> Lee: Hmm, I need to keep in contact with Wong.... Was there a payphone around here? <He goes to a payphone and dials Wong>

Wong: ...Lee? Lee: Yep, just keepin' in touch. I found the group's hideout. Wong: Oh, good work... Several of their members are dead there. They won't be able to use it. Wong: So? Have you brought down their boss? Lee: No. He wasn't at the hideout... Lee: But, I do know where he is. The warehouse with all the imprisoned women. Wong: Heh... Going to sample the wares? Always was a nympho... Wong: Regardless you've done well. You should head over to the warehouse right away.... Lee: ....? Got it. Once I deal with the boss, is it okay if I release the women? Wong: No, all the captive women should be erased. It would be problematic if this income stream got leaked to the police. Lee: What....!? <end of part 2>

Lee: I'm not gonna kill kidnapped women who have done nothin' wrong! Don't be ridiculous!! Lee: Is that the kind of orders the top mafia Kotou is handin' out!? Wong: Calm down, Lee. This was a decision by the organization. Lee: These women were kidnapped by punks with more lust for gold than humanity and are getting preyed upon by the main branch with their wicked intentions. Lee: And after all that shit, I ain't gonna just go in and kill them!! Wong: If the police find out about this source of income from the Songyoung, the crackdown in Sotenbori is going to be very strict... Wong: If that happens, it will be harder for us to operate in a lot of ways... So these women continuing to exist is problematic. Wong: You do understand what will happen if you go against direct orders from the group, don't you? Lee: (Have they really made up their mind on killing these women? Even though these women, they haven't done anything wrong, they're the victims?) Lee: (But if I go against orders, I'll be the one killed... Either the lives of those women, or my own, I have to choose.) Wong: There's high expectations on you for completing this job. Are you going to betray everyone? Lee: (If I try to run, I won't be able to catch the boss. If I want to bring him down... There's no time to hesitate...) Lee: (That's how I have to think. I'm a pro. An assassin. And... up till now, I've devoted myself fully to this path, just as expected.) Lee: ...I understand. I'll take the lives of those women. That is part of my job... Wong: Is that so... Well then, I'll be waiting to hear good news. <hangs up phone and goes back to the Songyoung hideout> Lee: Shit.... That asshole, handin' out such a sickening order. Lee: Fine!! I'll sink the corpse of that boss, all those women, and anyone else into the damn harbor!! Lee: I'm already black hearted, and this time I'll be stained as black as can be... Lee: With this blood on my hands, I'll just get em even dirtier with more and more. <Lee goes to the warehouse> Lee: This is where the main branch's hideout said the warehouse should be, so the boss and the kidnapped women should be inside...

Lee: (Looks like they got two guys keepin' watch... The entrance to this place is well defended... It's gonna be tough takin' out the boss and those women by myself...)

<stabbing noises>

Goon A: Gah!? Goon B: Guhh!? <they hit the floor> Lee: ...There's probably more guys keepin' watch. I'll have to be careful killin' the boss and women... <Lee moves into the warehouse> Lee: Since there's a guard over there, there's no mistake that this is the main group's warehouse...

Lee: The real question is, where is the boss... Hm? That's... <A man walks by with a woman> Lee: Just now, that guy that brought a woman into that room... There's no doubt about it, that's the guy from the photo Wong sent... Lee: When I go into that room... Lee: I'll lose my chance to run. I'll commit myself to seein' this job through and stainin' myself pitch black. <Lee heads in> Young Woman: Stop it... d-don't come any closer... someone!!

Songyoung Boss: Heh, no matter how much you scream, no one is coming to help you... Lee: Mind if I step in and have some fun?

Boss: Who the fuck are you!? ...Are you an assassin sent by Wong?

Boss: He never gets his own hands dirty with jobs like this... Lee: You figured it out quick. No hard feelings, but I'm going to kill you now. (Tl note: same line that the Songyoung assassin used against Lee) Boss: You're a moron. I'm not going to be killed by some wannabe assassin. I'll kill you first!! Boss: Let's go, assassin!! I'm going to send your stinking corpse to Wong!! <fight, Lee wrecks shop> Lee: Say your prayers... <Stabbing noise> Boss: Guah!? <he hits the floor> Lee: That handles my primary goal... Now I have to... Lee: (Now I have to deal with the women... First I should have her guide me to where they're all being imprisoned...) Lee: Were you bein’ held captive in here?

Woman: Yes!! Please, please help!! There's a lot of others that are being held captive here besides me!! Lee: ...Got it. Could ya bring me to the room they're all in? Woman: Yes! This way!! <they go> Woman: Just ahead is the room we were all held in! We had given up all hope on being rescued, everyone will be so happy!!

Lee: Sorry for the trouble, Miss Guide... Lee: (She looks delighted... Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be killin' someone lookin' like that...) Lee: (... If my daughter were still alive, she'd be just about the same age as this woman.....) Lee: (This blameless woman that I'm going to sink into the sea... This really is the most depraved job...) Lee: (It would be troublesome if she started screamin' here... Guess I'll take care of her after I handle all the other women...) Lee: ...Ah, that's right! I got a request for ya, miss... Woman: Yes! What do you need? Lee: There's still a lot of thugs around outside... Could ya make sure no one leaves till I confirm it's safe? Lee: Would ya go and close off the entrance and the exit to the warehouse? Woman: Y-Yeah! On it!! <she leaves> Lee: Miss, forgive me... I ain't really here to save ya... <Lee goes into the inner room> Woman A: A-Again... Who's coming in here now?

Woman B: That's not it! The door is still open!! Woman B: R-Run for it! We're finally free from this nightmare!! <the women flee> Lee: (With the door open like that... It's natural that they'd all run off in a panic...) Lee: (All these run away girls, now about to get killed, they really are the unluckiest women in the world.......) Lee: (But if I don't kill them, the organization's gonna kill me... This really is the most abysmal job...) Lee: (I can't save even a single one of them... It's a weight I'll have to bear for the rest of my life, no matter what excuses I try to make.) <knife drawing sound> Lee: Hm? That woman, what is she... Lee: ...Why didn't she run? That's weird... Is she hurt?

Lee: Hey, are you alright....?

Lee: (She's feelin' her way around... This girl, is she blind?) Makoto: A-Are you the one who's helping everyone? Lee: N-No... I'm... <music cuts out> Makoto: Thank you so much... Thank you..... Thank you so very much... thank you....

Lee's daughter: "Hey, dad... are you there...?"

Lee: "Yes, I'm right here!! I'm here!! You're gonna be okay, the doctor's on his way!! Just stay with me!!" Lee's daughter: "....Dad, even with this frail life of mine... thank you so much for raising me..." Lee: "Nonsense! Sayin' stuff like that, raisin' you was only natural!!" Lee's daughter: "Thank you for everything, dad... I love you..." Lee: (Ah... She also, said the same thing......)

Lee: (......) Lee: (No way.... There's no way... I could kill her......)

<end of part 3>

Lee: (For the time bein' that girl's gone to sleep in that room. Everythin' is still chaotic though...) (Tl note: the word Lee is using for girl here is 娘 which is the same one used for daughter) Lee: (Helpin' that girl means disobeyin' Wong's--no, Kotou's orders...) Lee: (If I'm already goin' against my orders... I might as well save every woman in this damn place!!) Lee: (But what am I gonna do? If I don't kill the women, then Wong's just gonna send another hitman after 'em.) Lee: (If I want these women to live, my only options are gettin' Wong to let them go, or if Kotou was totally annihilated.) Lee: Damn it... There's no way Wong would look the other way on this, so my only option is to wipe out Kotou myself... Lee: Of course, I gotta figure out how to even do that... Lee: I'm gamblin' on a long shot. At least I'm gonna save as many women as I possibly can!! Lee: Alright, then I need to get the women out of here before Wong catches onto what I'm up to... Woman: Kyaaaaaa!! Lee: What!? That voice, did someone get into the warehouse!? <two women are facing a menacing man> Man: ...So you women didn't get killed? I see, I see...

Woman: W-Who are you!? Oh no, are you one of the people that locked us all up in here!? Man: No, I'm not a part of the group that did that. (Tl note: He's speaking very politely, it's kind of unsettling) Man: That being said, I do have a job to do here, so... No hard feelings, but I'm going to kill you now. (Tl note: the third instance of this line, I guess hitmen are very fond of it) Woman 2: You're going to... Why would you kill us!! Man: It's nothing you've done personally... however there are people who would be very inconvenienced if your confinement was ever known about... Man: Well then, let's start off with you... If you're going to hold a grudge, please hold it against your own bad luck... Woman 2: W-Wait... don't kill me.... Lee: Hold it, jack ass!! Lee: Ladies... stay back...

Women: S-Sure... Man: Hmmm... you're the one Wong sent to kill the Songwong boss, aren't you? Lee: What about it? I already took care of that boss a while ago now... Man: Is that so... Thank you for a job well done. ....Though, I have to ask, why are these women still alive? Man: Surely you were ordered to eliminate the women as well? Woman 2: Eh!? Lee: All these women did nothin' wrong... killin' them is completely unnecessary. Man: So you intend to turn against Wong? Lee: .....Yeah, I do. Man: Ah ha ha! I see, I see... You know, Wong-san seemed worried this was the path you'd take. Lee: ...Who are you? Man: I'm the contingency plan Wong-san prepared to handle this if you couldn't bring yourself to kill these women. Man: My orders from Wong-san were to come here and kill any woman left alive. Lee: Hah... Awful conniving of Wong to pull somethin' like this... Too bad that I decided that all these women are gonna live!!

Man: So that's how it is... what a shame. Well, you've made your decision to die here with these women. Man: But that's good! A killer like you will die alongside all these young ladies!! <they fight, Lee tears him up> Man: I'm finished... You're a skilled hitman... Lee: Your arm can probably be saved... Man: But... Wong-san will never forgive you for going against the organization like this... You'll be killed, won't you? Lee: Seems that way... But I'm gonna fight it all the way to the end... Man: I see... In that case, I wish you good luck... <man collapses to the floor> Lee: Hoooo~.... I need to make sure all the ladies are still alright... Lee: I'm gonna wipe all traces of you being enslaved from the records here and in the Songwong hideout... Lee: That should throw em off all your trails... Woman 2: Eh? D-Does that mean... you're helping all of us? Lee: Yeah, that's right... Lee: It'll be best if all of you forget about everythin' that happened here and go back to your old lives... Lee: After that leave everythin' else to this geezer!! Woman 2: Th-Thank you so much!! Woman 1: But, are you going to be alright? That person said that you would be killed too... Lee: The fate of a killer who goes against his organization is set in stone. But, I don't intend to be easy to kill... Lee: If it means savin' all of you, payin' with the life of a killer like me is a hell of a bargain, right?  Woman 1: But that's... isn't there something you can do? You could run away with us... Lee: I've got to go smash up my employer... I got a lotta obligations in front of me... Lee: If I run away, other people are gonna end up payin' for it. Woman 1: But... Lee: It's fine... Don't you go worryin' about me none. Lee: Though, sorry to keep askin' things of ya miss, but could I ask one more favor of ya? Woman 1: What is it? I'll do whatever I can!! Lee: In the room ya were locked up in, there's a lady that can't see waitin' there... Lee: As much as ya can, could ya take care of that kid and keep her out of trouble? Woman 1: I-I should be okay... I'll do as much as I'm able-- Lee: Yeah!! Seriously, I'm grateful! Lee: I know it's a lot to ask of ya miss, sorry. Woman 1: No, this doesn't even begin to pay back how much you've helped us... Lee: Alright, you stay healthy miss... <Lee leaves> Woman 1: Ah!? That's right, there's a mafia called "Kotou", please stay safe from them!! Lee: W-Wait a minute!! Miss, what did you say just now!? Woman 1: Umm... To please watch out for a mafia called "Kotou"... Lee: You said "Kotou"... miss, where did you hear that name!? (Tl note: I had been reading it wildly wrong as “Toragashira” until now and had to go back and correct every instance of it. When she says it it’s in katakana, but Lee had been saying it in kanji, so I was just guessing on pronunciation) Woman 1: Earlier, while we were still imprisoned, I heard it from one of the people here... Woman 1: "My group "Kotou" is a Chinese mafia. You can rely on us for backup if you encounter any trouble" is what they said... Lee: H-Hold on... But wouldn't that mean... Kotou and the Songyoung are workin' together...!? Lee: What the hell, what the hell is goin' on....!?

<end part 4>

Lee: You're sure they said "Kotou"?

Woman 1: Y-Yeah... That's definitely what they said. Lee: Seriously.... hm? Wait... Thinkin' back on it... Wong did say somethin' strange... Lee: (Back when I first found out the boss was in the warehouse....) Lee: ("Heh... Planning on sampling the wares? ...Always was a nympo...") (Tl note: I had to go back and edit the earlier instance of this to be more vague like this, I confused on who it was directed at but I was looking at it as between Lee or Wong and couldn't see how it would make sense to be self directed since Wong wasn't going to the warehouse. Lee seemed confused by it too, so the vagueness seems intentional, but I’m very glad it wasn’t actually directed at Lee like I initially thought) Lee: (It's like he knew the Songyoung Boss before this...) Lee: If that's true, then that means the same goes for the Songyoung boss! Lee: (In that room where I took him out, he said to me "He never gets his own hands dirty with jobs like this")  Lee: (So that means he also knew Wong before all of this...) Lee: It's possible... but what does it all mean? Woman 1: ...Um, is there something I can help with? Lee: Aah! Thank to you miss, I might have figured out a way to avoid dyin'. Woman 1: Really!? Lee: I do have one job to take care of first though. Lee: When ya get out of here and forget all this to get back to your life... I want ya to forget me too... okay? Lee: Oh, and avoid dealin with strange men, okay? Woman 1: Yes sir! Thank you again!! <she leaves> Lee: If I believe her story, then the Songyoung and Wong are connected... Lee: If that's the case, there might be evidence of that here and in the Songyoung hideout... Lee: If I can find it, I might be able to use that to keep Wong silent on this whole thing. Lee: First things first, better start searchin' the warehouse... Lee: Haa~...... I can't find anythin'.... Well, findin' somethin' like that was never going to be easy. Lee: Next is the room where all the women were confined...

<rustling noise> Lee: Hm? Hold on... this is it!! <screen fades to black> Wong: Lee... You just keep betraying my faith in you...

Lee: Ha, you're soundin' awful full of yourself... Wong. Lee: You'd probably tell me I was wipin' my own ass wrong... Lee: Aren't you betrayin' our organization too? I don't think you're in any position to talk about my betrayal. Wong: Lee, you piece of shit...... Lee: Heh... Of course, since you and the Songyoung are in bed together... Lee: Didn’t you let them make money trafficking these women so you could have a little slush fund? Lee: It's all written in this set of orders ya fax'd em anyways... Wong: Are you an idiot!? Get rid of that like you were ordered to!!

Lee: You stopped trustin' the Songyoung boss, right? Lee: Nothin' will poison a relationship faster than cash, it's a common story in this line of work. Lee: Seems like for the most part the Songyoung hated the tight leash you had them on and decided to betray you and be more bold about things, yeah? Lee: Then, when the disappearance of women started to become public knowledge, it lit a fire under your ass to hurry up and stamp out this whole operation... Wong: ........... Lee: That's why ya sent me to find the Songyoung hideout that had moved and you had lost contact with... Lee: With myself on the job, it'd be easy for ya to nonchalantly show up and snag the evidence of your betrayal... Lee: And if I failed you had prepared a contingency to get the job done... then ya'd be able to muzzle the aforementioned organization. Have I got that right? Wong: ........... Lee: Hah... Seems like that's a bulls-eye... Lee: If ya don't want this fax bein' sent off to Kotou, I got a condition for ya to accept... Well, Wong? Wong: ....Heh, pffhahaha... you really are a dumb fuck... Lee: What!? The hell's so funny!! Wong: If you had turned over that evidence right away, you might have been fine... Wong: But you're hopelessly stupid if you think you can negotiate with me face to face and I won't just kill you here and now. Wong: If I erase you and the evidence right here, I won't get caught for my betrayal!! Lee: Hmm... So you... are turnin' down my condition? Wong: Of course I am!! I'm going to kill you!! That's why I brought my best men with me!! Wong: Lee, my blood ran cold when you told me you had found evidence of my betrayal... Wong: So I must thank you for being such a dumbass!! Wong: Rest assured, Lee! After I'm done killing you, all those women you saved will be killed too!! Wong: Go to hell alongside the women you risked your life to protect!! Let's do it!! Your certain death!! <they fight, Lee crushes them> Wong: Stupid... even my best men...?

Lee: Heh, bad luck for you Wong. I've been survived more lethal battles than you can count... Lee: Well, that's all been with your help...

Lee: So, are ya ready? This is the endin' you asked for..... Lee: .........You know, it didn't have to end like this if you had just put up with my one demand. Wong: W-Wait!! I'll do it!! Your life, those women's lives, I'll look past it all!! So please... Lee: ....What you're sayin', you really mean it? Wong: Yes! Of course!! I'll talk to the organization myself about the women...

Lee: ......I've owed ya a lot. So if ya say that--

Wong: You truly are the stupidest mother fucker on earth!! <gun cocks>

Lee: Guh! Wong, you bastard!? <Stabbing sound> Wong: Guah--... Leeee.... you.... fucker!!

Lee: Idiot... Why'd ya make me do that, Wong.... <Some days later, Kotou confirmed that Wong has gone rogue.> <Lee's killing of Wong was considered a "purge" and his actions were left unquestioned.>

<end of part 5>

<A few weeks later> <Sotenbori's Hogushi Kaikan> Customer: Ah, just what I'd expect from the chief! Everything feels great!!

Lee: Hey, Makoto! Could ya grab my needles for me? Makoto: Eh? N-Needles...? Those are, ummm.... S-Sorry, I don't know... Lee: Ah, that's my bad, don't worry. Here, I'll show ya... Makoto: S-Sorry, chief.....

Lee: ....Wanna grab my hand? Makoto: Y-Yeah.... Lee: The needles we use for acupuncture are... right here. For you that'll be about 5 steps past the entrance to the treatment room. Makoto: Got it... S-Sorry... Lee: Hey, I already said it was my bad, don't worry... Lee: Some day you're gonna be able to see again. Until then, it's perfectly fine to get used to things slowly. Lee: We'll start at a slow pace for you... Then when you can do that, we can step it up. Makoto: Yes sir. Customer: The chief sure has changed since Makoto-chan showed up, huh? It seems like he's really happy now... Lee: Sh-Shut it, smart ass!! You say more dumb shit like that and I'll run your tongue through with my needle!! Customer: A-Ahhh!? Please forgive me!!

Customer: Nonetheless... Makoto-chan's been here for a few weeks now. Customer: I was really surprised at first! How'd a cute girl like Makoto end up as your apprentice... Customer: I thought the chief had gone and kidnapped you. Lee: Hey! Don't go startin' nasty rumors like that!! Lee: Geez... You know, I think I won't do the acupuncture! You're not stiff enough to need any hot oil neither... Lee: But it's fiiine, you can scram!! Ain't like you'd appreciate the pain of this needle anyhow... Customer: Ahaha... well then, I better get out of here before the chief starts stabbing. Customer: See ya, Makoto-chan. Be safe... and I hope your vision comes back quickly. Makoto: ...Y-Yeah....... Customer: See ya chief, till next time! <he leaves> Makoto: Lee-san, I'm sorry.... I don't know how to do anything... even though you've allowed me to be your live-in apprentice...... Lee: It's all good, Makoto. Don't fret. As long as ya don't panic and take things slowly you'll have no trouble doin' all sorts of stuff... Makoto: .........Yeah. Lee: Makoto, I'm gonna smoke for a minute out back..... Makoto: Ah, sure... Have a good day, Lee-san. <he leaves> Lee: "Have a good day" huh.... 

Lee: That look she gave me... I'm going to protect that to the bitter end.... Lee: To protect that girl... I'd do anything... Anything at all....

<epilogue end> Bonus time: first of all OOFA DOOFA this was huge! and intense! and very difficult to translate god damn all this politicking and kansai-ben. In good(?) news, I learned a bunch of fun new vocab like abduction, kidnapping, human trafficking, betrayal, etc. You know, the essential stuff. Also it’s extremely unclear if the femme fatale that Lee leveraged here is the same one he plans to kill to fake Makoto’s death in Y0, or if he just knows multiple women that swindle money out of men and kill them. Here’s an actual bonus: Lee’s thoughts on things from the board game! Let’s see if tumblr explodes from all these images or not.

Sotenbori Our city. It's got good and bad and everythin' else all mixed together. Of course, that's why they call it the city that can't be satisfied.

Acupuncture Needle The acupuncture needle I use. Custom made, but ordinary needles. By using this, it'll start feeling good instantly.

Smokes  An item vital to any acupuncturist. If you gently take a drag, the customer's meridians will appear on their back. Don't believe me?

Iwao Bridge A lot of young guys here trying to be pick up artists. A little while ago, one of my customers was an idiot who had jumped into the river after the local baseball team won the championship

Cabaret Grand This place has become the topic of conversation lately. I don't really go to those kinds of places, but, well, I kind of want to head over and take a peek

The Man with the Bat Tattoo I don't have any connection to him, I don't even know his face or his name, but if I ever meet him... I'm really going to enjoy it

Hogushi Kaikan My massage shop in Sotenbori. All ages of men and women, mafia and civilians, come here to get their muscles relaxed. (Tl note: Hogushi means to relax/loosen)

Rumor of Shakedown A shakedown? That ain't gonna happen. Still, some idiot wanting to try to shake me down is just the kind of thing that happens in Sotenbori

Mahjong Parlor I go to the mahjong parlor often. There's a lot of chinese people there. Though, japanese people go there too sometimes. Either way, by the time I go home I'm flat broke.

One Eyed Fella I've started seein' this guy around Sotenbori recently. I got no clue as to why he's here, but he's got the eye of a beaten stray dog.

I didn’t intentionally leave the Majima one for last, his was just the last one I found! I didn’t think there’d even be one, since this takes place a year before they even met, but I’m really glad there is. Now he’s just a fun bonus for anyone who made it all the way to the end. I kind of hoped the assassin that Lee sensed right in front of the Grand was just going to be Majima walking by or something.

Lee’s also got a character story that I’ll translate once I get his bond up, so look forward to even more Lee content!

[lifeofroos]

A/N: After some neat discussion with @godsofhumanity I have decided to write some experimental pieces on Dionysus and Ariadne where he díd order Theseus to leave her on Naxos. Just a heads’ up: It’s not the cute, fluffy stuff I usually make. If you’re looking for that, perhaps skip this one :). This is also an experiment, so to say. I want to see if I can properly write this story. 

AO3 - KoFi

First scene: The island

Ariadne looked up at the strange, not-entirely-human man who just arrived on the island. ‘Please just leave me alone.’

He shook his head. ‘I can’t. Then you’ll die.’

‘Perhaps that is…’ her voice faltered. No. Death wasn’t for the best. Not yet. 

‘It isn’t. It really isn’t.’

‘I know.’ She sighed. ‘You aren’t human. Care to explain what made a god, or a daemon at least, so interested in coming here? You must have noticed that I don’t feel all that happy.’ She felt her lip quiver. No, no, stop it. ‘Do you even know why I am here?’ 

To her surprise, the god hesitated. He took a deep breath. ‘I would call myself the reason why you are here.’

‘...What do you mean?’

‘You were left here by the Athenian hero because I told him to.’

Ariadne jumped up. ‘You whát?’ 

He didn’t look her in the eye. ‘Exactly what I am saying. I told Theseus to leave you behind when he left this island.’

Ariadne held her hands over her eyes as the tears streamed down her face. What does it even matter if she cries or not? ‘Who in heaven gave you the right?’

‘It’ll be for the best in the end.’

‘That doesn’t answer my question!’

‘It’s the only answer I got. Your grandfather, Helios, told me it would have been better if you were separated from your hero, and I found enough reason to believe him.’

‘That is the vaguest shit I ever heard!’

‘And you are well within your right to think that.’ The god shrugged. ‘I didn’t… I didn’t expect you to like me after this.’

‘Is that supposed to make everything better?’

‘Ariadne...’ He took a step closer, which made Ariadne put up her finger. ‘Don’t.’

‘But...’

‘Stay away. It’s that easy. I’d be happy if I never have to see you again.’

‘I…’ She could see her words hurt him. ‘That was also expected.’

‘If you expected me to be hurt, then why did you do it?’

‘I already told you. It is for the best in the end.’ 

Ariadne shook with anger. ‘And what now? You want me to come with you? Because I swear I’d rather…’ She stopped, knowing that she would still do whatever it took to survive. She fought for too long to give up now. 

‘You’re free to go where-ever,’ The god said. ‘With one exception, of course.’

‘Of course. Yet, I can’t really do that on my own, now can I? So I’d still be stuck with you. And don’t try to lie. You’d love for me to stay forever.’

The god couldn’t entirely dispute that. Yet: ‘I thought... Perhaps you want to stay with my sister Artemis, for some time. You can’t join the hunters, but she could get you anywhere in the world. Then you wouldn’t have to see me…’ He didn’t have the guts to say ‘ever again’ out loud. 

‘Anywhere in the world, but still with one exception.’ Ariadne violently kicked the sand. ‘Get me there, then. As quick as you possibly can.’

‘I’ll have to touch you.’

She jerked his arm towards her. ‘You heard me.’ 

Carefully, he laid his arms around her shoulders. ‘I’ll teleport you straight to her.’

‘Hm.’ 

Dionysus, she realised, as soon as she puts her head on his shoulder. Only he would be able to calm her down like this. Perhaps that was also the reason that despite herself, she was the last one to let go when they arrived in the forest.  

‘So that’s her?’

Ariadne turned around. Artemis looked more normal than Ariadne had expected her to, although that could be said of Dionysus as well.

Speaking of which, the god nodded. ‘Yes.’

The goddess slowly shook her head. ‘Young woman, what did you get yourself into…’

‘More like what did he get me into.’ Ariadne stalked over to Artemis. 

The goddess was stunned for a few seconds. ‘... well, yes, that too. Come with me, now.’ She looked at her brother. ‘I’ll see you soon enough.’

‘Yes.’

Artemis gave him a small smile, before she and Ariadne dissappeared into the woods. 

A/N: Just a little experiment. I’ve got two more of these snippets lined up. 

[bunni-bino]

Home » With Ace

A/N : AAAAHH I KNOW IM NOT DOING REQUESTS BUT I CAN’T HELP BUT WORK ON MY OWN IDEAS— T^T

Inspired by the New Years ep. of Fruits Basket! :)) and a little bit by the song, Home.

note : modern! AU, Husband! Ace

Summary : Having encouraged Ace to go home to spend the new year with his family, you spend this special occasion alone, only for a unexpected visitor to come. Idk

-

“Are you positive, [Name]?”

Chuckling a bit at his paranoid persistence, you couldn’t help but smile at him for it. You thought it was cute how much he cared for you.

“Yes, I’m positive. Go spend some time at home with Pops, for the holiday, okay? I’m sure Marco, Thatch and the others miss you.”

Ace pouts as he looks up at the sky, leaning against the stop-sign at the end of the block, the bright moon shining down on him with the lightest snow sprinkling down.

“It’s not too late come with.”

He hums, a softer smile presenting onto his face as he exhales out, the puff of smoke erupting from his lips due to the cold.

You snuggle under your blanket and glance to the picture frame standing on your bedside table. “Tempting, but I’m okay. Go spend it at home with your family, Ace. I’ll see you a couple days after New Years?”

Ace’s soft smile turns a bit bitter and sad as he nods, regardless of you not being able to see it.

“Yeah.. see you after New Years.”

“...”

Unable to hold your smile any longer, you just fidgeted with the brand new ring on your left finger a bit before hearing him again.

“Hey, I love you.”

“Yeah.. I love you... see you.”

With that, you hung up on him and set your phone down, staring blankly in your lap.

Ace, almost sensing the weak and sad tone in your voice, felt his heart break just a little bit as he closed his eyes and brought his phone down dejectedly.

Staring down at his ring wrapped around his finger on his left hand, he glanced at the time on his wrist and sighs once more.

“Time to go.”

-

“Home.. the place where I can go.. to take this off my shoulders.. someone take me home..”

Singing the soft tune, your fingers unknowingly grip the picture frame tighter, every note weaker than the last.

Glossy eyes looked down at the photo, seeing a happy family together. Two parents, their children in front of them and bright smiles plastered across their faces.

And in the back, if you flipped it, marked a date. The date of when you last saw them, before the accident. The accident, that costed their lives.

Tears dripped onto the picture frame in your lap, wetting the glass. Sniffles can be heard from you, as you sat in silence in your bed.

“Someone.. take me.. home.”

-

“Ace! I’m glad you could make it, it’s been a while since you visited!” Thatch grins widely, patting his shoulder once the raven-haired male entered the home.

“Yeah.. how’ve you been?” Ace, still feeling a bit skeptic of leaving you at home all alone, just plasters the best smile he could to his brother.

“Been great! Where’s your partner? You just got married right? Congrats, by the way.”

“.. they didn’t want to impose so they’re at home.”

“Alone?” A new voice questions, and the two men turn to see another fellow brother, with a pineapple yellow and style hair.

“Marco.” Ace nods, greeting and acknowledging him which Marco does the same. “Your significant other is home alone? They don’t have family?”

“Yeah. They died in an accident a few months ago..” Ace mumbles, sliding off his jacket and Marco exchanged a glance with Thatch.

“Spending New Years all alone without family? Not even any friends?” Thatch frowns softly, pulling away from Ace.

Ace pauses to think a bit, his coat halfway off his arms.

“I can’t imagine what the feeling must be like, having to spent New Years all alone.. going through a new year all by yourself, must be a terrible way to start it off.”

Slowly, realization was filling Ace inside, worry and panic slowly seeping in, as he pulled back on his jacket.

“Spending and going through New Years with family every year, just to experience the first one without them?.. must be heartbreaking.”

Scrambling to zip up his coat, Ace nearly tripped as he ran back over to the front door to pull on his shoes, shocking the two other males.

“Ace? Where are you going?”

“I’m going home!”

With that, Ace pulled open the door and slammed it shut behind him as he began to run. Even if his legs have out or he slipped on ice, he didn’t stop running.

Whitebeard, who was listening from behind the corner, smiles softly to himself at the little plan his two boys Thatch and Marco came up with.

“Clever.” Whitebeard comments, revealing himself to the two.

Not surprised, Marco and Thatch simply smiled and turned to their Pops.

“I didn’t think any of us would allow Ace to spend New Years away from his significant other.” Thatch hums, stretching his arms and let them lay behind his head.

“I’m sure you would have gave him a beating if he actually chose to stay here after leaving them at home alone.” Marco adds, crossing his arms as he smiles softly.

Whitebeard chortles as he turns away. “You’re damn right I would. Leave him be. It won’t hurt to have one New Years without him.”

-

Playing the same song on repeat, you were laying down, enjoying the music softly playing in the background and continued to stare at the picture frame above you in your hands.

“Someone take me home... someone take me-“

There was a loud, pounding knock on your door.

Startled, you sat up on your bed and sniffed, wiping any tears that gave yet to dry, and walked over to the door, leaving your room.

The knocking didn’t stop.

“It’s New Year’s Eve....” you mumble to yourself, wondering who the hell was at the door, and finally making it, you pull open the door.

And there he was.

Standing on your porch, right outside your doorway, stood someone you very least expected.

“Ace?”

“Hi..”

Brows furrowed as you watch him standing there, clearly out of breath and covered in the snow that was falling.

“Hi?.. Ace... what are you doing here? I thought you were going home to spend time with—“

Dropping his bag, Ace lunges himself towards you immediately, pressing his lips with yours, cheeks being caressed and cupped by his hands.

Your eyes widen as you stood frozen, still processing what he was doing and what was occurring.

His cold thumbs successfully wiping away at the teardrops that were streaming down your cheeks from your silent crying earlier.

Though his lips were chapped, they weren’t at all cold.

All they gave you was love and warmth, which was more than enough to block out the cold since the door was still wide open.

Soon enough, your arms stretch themselves around his neck desperately, more tears streaming down your wet cheeks as you eagerly kissed him back.

It didn’t take long for Ace to pull away, looking down at your glossy, tear-filled eyes with his lips still centimeters away.

The softest whisper came out as he wiped your tears once more.

“I am home. You are my home.”

And so, he presses his lips against yours once more.

-

A/N : AAAAH I THOUGHT THIS WAS CUTEEEE!

okay but Fr, I know the song didn’t make too much sense..? But. I wrote it and I didn’t wanna change it because I’m lazy.

I hope you enjoyed this!! And I’m SO SORRY requests aren’t coming out- TuT

[bonjour-rainycity]

Double Heart | Chapter Six ~ Haldir

|previous part|

Pairing: Haldir x OFC

Rating: PG

Word count: 4044

Warnings: None

**Read on Ao3 under the user “bonjour_rainycity” if you prefer!**

A/n Happy Thursday! Thanks for all your responses so far -- I’m so grateful! Alright, time to see what Haldir thinks of all this!

We are sixteen days into our journey when we reach the mountains.

We made good time, considering all the stops and adjusting for our human guests. Now that I know they are more capable than I anticipated, I will be pushing us to clear the ranges in five days. I do not want to travel these mountains any longer than necessary.

Everyone feels the tension. My right hand never leaves the hilt of my sword and I know my brothers travel in a similar fashion. While I am always careful when traveling through the orc-infested mountains, this time more so than usual. The stakes are higher. Lavandil is trusting me to deliver her betrothed to her in one piece. My brothers and Baranor are trusting me to guide them safely on this treacherous journey. And the humans…

Well. They can’t possibly know what they’ve gotten into, so that’s on me, too. They have no experience in battle, nor do they seem ready for a fight. I worry they’ve never even seen an orc, at least not that they can remember. I am as responsible for them as I am for the kin that accompany me.

I turn on Faervel to face my companions, trusting Orophin to watch my back as I take in those that follow me. My brothers are watchful like I am, one hand on a weapon, one hand holding the reins. Their eyes constantly observe our surroundings, never lingering on one spot for too long. Baranor looks mildly nervous — this is only his fifth pass through the mountains and I know his mind is running through his previous journey, remembering the warden we once nearly lost to a poisoned arrow. A dull ache throbs in my left shoulder. The wound is long ago healed — the memories, however, are not.

Cosima holds tight to Rumil, looking around worriedly. I never told her what we might face in the mountains, and maybe that wasn’t the right decision. Every sound makes her jump — she’s obviously expecting to be attacked at any second.

My eyes shift to Alexander, the most recent addition to our group, and I fight the urge to narrow my eyes. I don’t trust him. Not that I automatically trusted Cosima, but she hasn’t given me any reason to be suspicious. She helps with the chores and talks with us freely, even if she has been pulling back a little lately. Alexander can’t boast the same. He’s been nothing but standoffish and keeps himself isolated from the group — dragging Cosima with him.

He glowers at me, and I return his glare. Of course, mine has the force of nearly three thousand years as Marchwarden behind it, and the human quickly looks away.

I return to my inspection of the group. Cosima’s cloak is a beautiful, vibrant red—obviously made for style rather than the stealth and durability needed for travel. I haven’t the faintest idea why she would choose to dress that way if she knew she’d be traveling, nor what kind of leader wouldn’t catch it and make her change. This only serves to irritate the thought that’s been budding in the back of my mind since her arrival. Maybe she really isn’t from our world. Stranger things have happened. Alexander, too, has an unusual cloak, though not as bad as Cosima’s. His is a deep forest green — expensive, the kind that would take months of precise dyeing. Still a suitable color for travel, but not at all practical — already, it’s darkening with mud kicked up on our journey, ruining the maker’s handiwork. I don’t understand it and the mystery of their origins are too much to ponder on the road. So I resolve to deal with what I can now and handle the rest later. At present, Cosima can’t travel through the mountains in that bright red cloak.

I get her attention. “Put your cloak away in your bag, it’s too noticeable. If you get cold, someone will lend you theirs.” She visibly blanches at my words but balances herself atop Roch to do as I say. She is so clearly frightened and part of me wants to reassure her, to tell her not to worry, it’s just a precaution. But I can’t. Lying might make her feel better, but it would also set her at a disadvantage. It is better for her to be on edge. It will keep her sharp, and staying sharp can be the difference between life and death. I wouldn’t sugarcoat it for one of my wardens, so I won’t sugarcoat it for her.

Still, I can’t help myself from offering her some measure of security. I instruct Rumil to take position behind me and send Orophin to guard the back of our line. Perhaps Cosima will feel better being towards the middle of the group rather than at the very back — it is safer.

I put on my most well-practiced fortifying look and address the group. “Remember to ration your water — we won’t come across another stream for some time. With luck and perseverance, we will reach Imladris in five days. Cosima and Alexander — if we are attacked, stay on your horses. Rumil and Baranor will protect you.”

Rumil chuckles lowly and leans back in his seat to whisper to Cosima. “I can’t keep you safe if you strangle me first. Relax.”

Cosima laughs sheepishly and seems to make a concentrated effort at loosening her arms around Rumil.

I pull my eyes away, turning to look the right way down the path.

And off we go.

{***}

Weather in the mountains is unpredictable. There’s a faint breeze hinting at the possibility of rain, and I pray against it. Humans are so fragile compared to elves and I worry the two newcomers won’t do well in another day of downpour. I don’t mind the harsher conditions, my brothers, either — Valar knows how many drills we’ve run, battles we’ve fought in the extremes. But the humans, even Baranor, aren’t so conditioned.

I stop our company a little later than usual and send Rumil and Orophin to take first watch. Baranor pulls Alexander aside to redress the wound on his leg. Cosima and I stay to tend to the horses.

She glances at me from where she brushes Roch’s coat. I raise an eyebrow, cleaning my own horse. She purses her lips and I can tell that she’s scrutinizing me.

“You don’t like the mountains.”

There’s no point in lying. “No. Too many places for the enemy to hide.”

She’s silent for a moment, likely thinking through my words. Unexpectedly, I feel the bite of regret — I probably just scared her again. I should have kept my mouth shut.

Thankfully though, she doesn’t seem frightened. She smiles, a sort of serenity settling on her. “It’s kind of pretty though, if you can find a moment to enjoy it. Did you see the sun sinking over that peak way in front of us? It turned the sky purple and gold.”

I did notice the sky, but only briefly. I hadn’t even stopped to ponder its beauty, only checked to ensure no one hid on the horizon.

She sees the answer in my face and grins, shaking her head. “Maybe you’ll be able to relax once we reach Imladris. What’s it like, there?”

Now it’s my turn to smile, recalling my second favorite place in the world. “Beautiful — much more so than these mountains. There are waterfalls taller than any I’ve ever seen and they cast rainbows at sunrise and sunset. The main city rests on those falls and you can see the water sweeping under you, falling over the cliffs.”

She stares at Roch’s coat, a distant look in her eye. “How long are you planning to stay?”

You. Her question hangs between us as I analyze her use of the word. She didn’t say ‘we’ or make any reference to herself and Alexander. She’s making no promise to stay. That realization shouldn’t bother me, but, nevertheless, I feel discomfort settle in my stomach. I try to distract myself by answering her question. “A month or two, three at most. The journey home will take about three weeks and I want us in Lothlórien well before winter sets in.”

“What’s your favorite food?”

I blink, trying to follow her line of reasoning. I’ve got nothing. “How does that relate to what I just said?”

She closes her eyes, the peace leaving her and morphing into a pleading, distressed look. “Please just answer the question.”

The feeling in my stomach worsens and I hurry to say something to try and put her more at ease. “Honeyed breadrolls,” I blurt, not even sure if that’s my favorite.

She laughs weakly, looking at me from the side of her eyes. “That’s not a balanced meal.”

I grin, relieved to see the stress beginning to fade from her face. “You said favorite food, not healthiest.”

“Oh right, my bad.” She rolls her eyes, a playful light there that wasn’t present before.

Evidently annoyed with the lack of attention, Roch bumps his head against Cosima’s shoulder, snorting noisily. She giggles and pets the horse affectionately.

“He likes you,” I observe, the sight of them bringing a smile to my face.

Cosima shrugs. “He just wants snacks.”

There’s a pause and I feel a sense of urgency, needing to fill the silence before the conversation can come to an end. “What’s yours?”

She furrows her eyebrows. “Hm?”

“Your favorite food.”

“Oh.” She pauses, looking at the ground in thought. When her eyes return to mine, she looks a little lost. “I don’t know. I don’t mind the lembas bread and fruits, though I couldn’t say for sure if it’s my favorite because I can’t remember much from my homeworld. I guess—well, I do remember some food here and there, but nothing stands out as my all-time favorite.”

Her admission seems to make her sad. I can understand that — it must be terrible to not know who you were or what your life was like. Once again, I feel the need to make her feel better. “Elrond won’t let us go hungry. There will be many new things for you to try.”

She opens her mouth, a spark lighting in her eyes, ready to respond.

The loud, heavy footsteps give away Alexander’s approach. Cosima hears it too and turns to see her incoming friend.

I let my face fall into a neutral expression, not entirely pleased with Alexander’s arrival. He is a lost human in need of help, just like Cosima, so I will offer him my protection and aid, just as I did to the woman at my side.

But that doesn’t mean I have to like him.

From what I’ve observed, he has a manipulative streak that I do not trust. I can understand not being ready to accept his new reality, but Cosima is trying to move on. He shouldn’t try to interfere with her progress.

He addresses Cosima only. “I’ve got dinner for us both. Meet me on the rock when you’re done?”

She shifts her feet, looking uncertain.

“No, you will stay with the main camp.” I hear my voice before I make the actual decision to speak. Cosima nods automatically—and, is it my imagination, or does she look a little relieved?Alexander only grimaces.

“Why?”

A muscle twitches in my cheek. I’m used to leading wardens that follow my every order. In this environment, one that is fraught with danger and requires constant attention and strict regimentation, I don’t like my orders being questioned. It’s not only a waste of time, but a danger to us all. I know well from the battlefield that hesitation—that single moment of questioning—can be the difference between life and death.

I raise an eyebrow, meeting the human’s challenging gaze. “The danger is heightened in these mountains. While you travel with my company, I am responsible for your safety. I will not have you all spread out — it makes it more difficult to protect you should the need arise.”

“I don’t want to sleep on a rock, anyway.” Cosima surprises us both by speaking up.

Alexander squints, looking quite caught off guard that she’s sided against him. “What—“

“Haldir’s right. It’s too dangerous and besides, the grass is softer.”

Alexander opens and closes his mouth a few times, then exhales, shaking his head and stomping back to camp. Cosima turns to Roch and resumes brushing his coat, a new tension in her jaw.

I try to broach the subject delicately. I’m not entirely sure it’s my business, but I suppose any information into the pasts of these mysterious humans is useful. “Do you remember much of your relationship with Alexander from before? Do you know what he was like?”

She closes her eyes—something she does when she’s stressed, I note—and sighs before opening them again. “I’ve been asking myself that a lot recently. I get that this whole…whatever it is, is impossible. I know that. And he does, too, which is why he’s having such a hard time adjusting.”

I bristle at the insinuation that I and my world aren’t real, but then make myself relax, putting myself in Cosima’s shoes. How would I feel if I woke up in a world completely different from the little I could remember?

She continues. “But I like it here. It’s beautiful and exciting and there’s so much to explore…I’m making friends.” She smiles up at me shyly, and I immediately return it. We are friends. I don’t know when or how it happened but we are. I like having her around.

“But with Alex…” She shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know. I’m having a hard time not accepting my life here because it’s all I really know. I don’t have anything else to hold on to. Alex can’t seem to do that…I wonder if he remembers more than he lets on.”

I keep my expression carefully blank. I’ve been pondering the same thing. Something she said does bother me, though. She didn’t say she’s having a hard time accepting our world, but not accepting it. What’s holding her back? I try to dig around. “Cosima, this is your world now. Why wouldn’t you want to accept it?”

She shakes her head slowly, the sadness creeping back. “I can’t accept my life here because there’s no way it’s possible. I trust you and your brothers and Baranor, but something about this place is off. It’s completely unnatural—from what I remember of my world, we don’t have elves. We have cars instead of horses and ways to communicate that stretch across the globe.” Her voice rises in pitch, the first misty hints of tears entering her eyes. “And there’s only one world. There’s no way to go back or forward in time or hop to another planet or—”

“That you know,” I correct, unable to keep my mouth shut any longer. Seeing her struggle is not only upsetting, it’s frustrating. She is here, and this world is as real as she is, as real as I am. All this back and forth is pointless. “You said it yourself—you don’t remember much about your home world. And even if you remembered everything, who’s to say that you could know everything? For all you know, you fell asleep in your world and woke up in mine. And, at present, I don’t know of any way to send you back. Elrond or the Lady might, but that’s not a question we can answer until later. So for now, you need to accept this world. Because you are here. This world is real and your life here is real.”

She takes in a shaky breath.

I freeze. Oh Valar. I’ve made her cry.

I hurry to try to undo it. “Cosima—”

“No.” She cuts me off, wiping the corner of her eyes with her sleeve. “I needed to hear that. You’re right. I’m only wasting time and stressing myself out with all this. Because regardless of what I think is logical or possible, the fact remains that I am here in Arda and I feel real and alive. And so does this world. And so do you.” Her eyes, still shiny with tears, meet mine and she offers me a watery smile.

I accept it with a breath of relief and work consciously to soften my tone. “I’m sorry. I did not mean to make you cry.”

“Oh,” she chuckles softly, still wiping away her tears. “I don’t think it’s your fault. I’m just tired and stressed and—what was it you said again?” She throws me a teasing look and I know she’s about to bring up my earlier comment. “You said I was sensitive. That’s right.”

I hold back a groan. Probably not the most well-advised thing I’ve ever said. “I only meant that you are more expressive with your emotions than I or others that—”

“Nope. I’m gonna stop you right there.” She holds up a hand, thankfully still in a joking mood. “You’ll only make it worse for yourself.”

She’s probably right. So I halt my attempts, shaking my head and laughing at myself. “I suppose I should apologize for that too?”

She shrugs off-handedly. “Nah. Because for the record, about the time you decided I was sensitive, I decided you’re way too serious.”

And, with that, she sets Roch free to graze and jaunts back to camp.

{***}

Aside from the brief interlude with Cosima, I don’t allow myself to relax as we continue through the mountains. There are too many peaks and rocks and caves and crevices where the enemy can hide. All it would take is one well-aimed arrow to fell one of my companions, or myself. I have to be vigilant. They’re trusting me, and I must not let them down.

{***}

On the third night in the mountains, Rumil and Orophin stage a sort of intervention, trying to force me into a full night’s rest.

“Brother, you have stood watch every night for the past five nights and most of the nights before that.”

“I am fine,” I retort, straightening my back. “I am perfectly capable of sacrificing rest to keep watch of our surroundings.”

“But without rest you will grow weary and slow,” Orophin adds, planting himself to stop me from walking past him. “You will not be at your best and cannot keep us safe as you could if you had proper rest.” He raises his voice to drown out my protests. “Rumil and I will stand watch all night—we will be vigilant.”

“Now, go lay down and get a full night’s rest willingly, or Baranor is prepared to drug you.” At this, Rumil smiles broadly. He is only joking. And, capable though Baranor is, I have no doubt in my ability to stop him from forcing herbs into my mouth.

But my brothers have a point. Though I am used to many restless nights from battle and my patrol of the borders, I have not slept for more than a few hours in many nights. I feel the heaviness in my eyes, the weariness in my bones, and, though I know I could push through, it is of no benefit to my company. So, reluctantly, I sheathe my sword, nodding to my brothers. “Wake me if there is any trouble.”

Orophin agrees readily. “Of course. You’ve trained us well.”

At this, I must grin, remembering the countless hours I put into developing and perfecting their skills. “I know.”

I leave the outcropping of rocks that has become our watch station and jog the short distance back to camp.

“Wow, look who’s decided to join us for a change,” Cosima jokes. There’s a note in her voice that tells me she had knowledge of, if not a hand in, my brothers’ plan.

I roll my eyes, matching her teasing tone. “I couldn’t leave the three of you unattended for long—who knows the trouble you could have gotten in?”

“Oh, yeah. Baranor  was about to redress Alex’s wound — troublesome, indeed.”

I sit on the empty mat in between her and Baranor, greeting my elven friend with a nod. Alexander doesn’t acknowledge me, so I don’t acknowledge him.

Cosima passes me a bundle of leaves containing a ration of lembas bread and a handful of blackberries. I smile my thanks and take the food eagerly—I haven’t eaten since morning.

“Glad to see you resting, mellon nîn,” Baranor nods in my direction then returns his attention to Alexander’s leg. The herbs and healing power in Baranor’s spirit have done wonders, but the traveling aggravates the wound. Really, he should take a few days to rest, but we do not have that luxury.

Cosima breaks a piece off her own bread. “How long until we reach Imladris?”

“Within three days, I imagine.” It’s an estimate, but a fairly accurate one, I’d wager. After many journeys, I know these mountains quite well.

She smiles. “That’s not too bad.”

“Agreed.” Baranor sighs and nods, indicating that he’s done dressing Alexander’s wound. He returns to his mat on the other side of our bags, completing the circle we lounge in.

A particularly strong gust of wind blows my hair around. Cosima shudders, pulling her blanket tighter over her shoulders — her cloak is still in her bag. Temperature doesn’t bother elves in the same way it does humans, I remember. I shed my cloak of deep grey, holding it out for her to take. “Here.”

Her eyes go wide, and she shakes her head vehemently. “Oh, don’t worry about it. I don’t want you to be—”

“Take the cloak, Cosima.”

She bites back a smile, and I know why. Even as I was trying to be nice, I still ended up making it an order. Oops. But it did the trick. She takes the cloak, wrapping herself tightly in it and then adding the blanket for an extra layer of warmth. “Thank you.”

I only nod in response. After all, it’s my job to see that each member of my company is cared for.  That includes fragile humans who could possibly die from exposure to the elements. And, thankfully, she does look much warmer now — her shivers have subsided and the wind only has the chance to bother her face, as the rest of her body is encapsulated in a cocoon of cloth.

“So Haldir, what do you do?” Alexander’s direct question catches me off guard, as well as the suspicion behind it.

I bristle. “Pardon?”

Alexander raises his chin, eyes narrowed at me. “What is your job? Because you seem awfully comfortable ordering people around.”

I forget how immature humans can be. I push against the annoyance that rises within me. “I am charged with the protection of my realm.”

“So you left it unguarded?”

I speak through clenched teeth. “I took leave.”

“So if you’re on leave then why are you still in charge? We’re nowhere near your realm.”

I feel my pulse quicken. “The others have accepted my authority. I am the most experienced—”

“Have I accepted your authority? Has Cosima?” He raises a challenging eyebrow.

“Uh, don’t bring me into this,” Cosima practically yelps, pulling the fabric tighter around her.

“Yes, this is a good time to stop,” Baranor interjects, looking completely serene — the exact opposite of how Alexander and I must look.

“It’s getting late,” Cosima agrees, darting nervous looks between me and her human friend. “We should all get some sleep.”

Alexander and I stare each other down. I feel no small amount of pride when he breaks his gaze first, then admonish myself for my immaturity. I should have handled that better — I know better than he does. Unbidden, my eyes dart to Cosima. Has my arguing with her closest friend upset her?

But thankfully, she smiles at me when my eyes meet hers, then reclines on her mat. Her voice rings over the small clearing, effectively ending any discussion between us all for the evening. Probably for the best. “Goodnight.”

And, though I am still angry, my body and mind cannot ignore how exhausted I am after days of insufficient sleep. It doesn’t take long for me to find rest.

A/n Thanks for reading! Likes, comments, and reblogs make my day :) Let me know if you would like a tag! And if you’re having trouble being tagged, try subscribing on Ao3! That will notify you automatically when I post there. 

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[mimisempai]

Home is where our story begins

Summary:

Mobius and Loki will finally move in together, will the cohabitation be as natural as the rest of their story?

Notes:

Still not having the real name of Hunter B-15 and the story taking place post canon, I found it odd to keep calling it that. But I didn't want to invent a name for hher, so I chose HB, if Marvel were to give him a name later, I would change it here of course.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32628412

2871 words - Rating G

"So, soon the big day? I hope you're happy about it, even if it's new for you."

Mobius sipped his Josta, wondering what the best answer was. Yes seemed too restrictive, but it wasn't as if he wanted to go into details about his new living arrangements with Loki. Yes, he was happy to move in with Loki, of course, but...

"Mobius?"

"I'm... cautiously optimistic. You know me."

HB nodded. "For you, it's practically effusive." Chuckling, she took another pretzel. "I'm happy for you and Loki." Her smile faded briefly, "If our variant condition has taught me anything, it's to take happiness where it lies. I'm glad you decided to give your relationship with Loki a chance."

"There was nothing to decide because everything happens naturally between us," Mobius mumbled.

HB frowned. "Hm?"

Mobius cleared his throat. "It's nothing. I've talked too much."

"Talked too much?" HB laughed. "When it comes to explaining the logic of a mission strategy that sounds crazy, yes you could be accused of talking too much, but when it comes to your personal life... but I understand what you mean and to me who has been watching you a bit since the beginning of this relationship, it is clear that things are natural between you. Although I am curious about one thing."

"Which one?" Mobius prepared himself.

"How will you manage living together, as you both have your single habits, not to mention your lifestyles which were rather... different".

This question kept going round and round in Mobius' head. He was ready to compromise, but he wasn't going to change who he was either. With the personalities they both had, it might seem insurmountable from the outside, but Mobius had a deep conviction that it could work.

"I guess we'll see as we go along," he replied confidently.

"You know where to find me if you need to talk."

The friendship he had formed with HB, was one of the surprises that had come with Loki's arrival in his life.

Before they were just colleagues who worked well together and had the same dedication to the TVA and now having shared the same experience of losing everything, a real friendship was born.

"Thank you. But let's stop talking about me, how's it going with the new recruits and training?"

The TVA, purged of old influences, had returned to its primary function: to monitor realities across the multiverse and attempt to reduce temporal interference as much as possible. Mobius was the leader. Loki, Hunter B-15, now HB and other agents formed the core team.

They had completely restructured the organization, recruitment and training.

"Well, there are several young recruits who are promising, and I must say Mobius, that Loki is not only a very good teacher but also very well liked."Loki had volunteered on his own to handle the training of the newbies on the field.

Mobius, however, was not surprised at his success. As he had told LOki in the early days, he could be anyone he wanted.

Once HB left, the afternoon passed without surprise for Mobius, who was eager to get home. He found it hard to concentrate, looking forward to the changes that were coming.

**********

Loki was waiting in Mobius' living room when Mobius returned home.

"Mobius!" he exclaimed happily as he stood up and walked over to Mobius to kiss him. Mobius thought he wouldn't mind this kind of action if it became part of their routine in the future.

As is often the case when they haven't seen each other in a while, things heated up quickly between them and they were both panting when they parted.

"How was your day? HB told me she told you about my work? Is everything okay?"

That, too, was something nice -even if he found it annoying at first, this talkie-talkie thing, this incessant stream of words from Loki. He had realized that Loki's questions were always sincere, his lover expected answers and never asked them out of politeness.

"A lot of paperwork as you can imagine, I miss working in the field, fortunately once this is over I will be able to accompany you again and see the excellent work you provide with my eyes, if I believe what HB told me", Mobius said quietly while pushing aside a strand of Loki's hair that was falling on his forehead. "What about you? How was your lunch with Casey?"

Another unexpected relationship, for who knew Loki. He had formed a bond with Casey, an ordinary administrative employee. Loki had told Mobius that it was nice to have a friend whose reactions he didn't have to weigh, because Casey was spontaneous and naturally trusting.

"Fun. He's excited for us, well for me because I'm going to live with the great Mobius." Loki chuckled before continuing, "I expected the opposite, but you're his idol, I'm just the god of mischief who taught him what a fish was."

Mobius raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes, I swear." Loki smiled. "He even offered to help us move our stuff in once the apartment was ready."

Mobius shook his head. "He's really supportive."

"Absolutely," Loki smiled, "He always surprises me with his candor."

Loki pulled Mobius to the couch and sat him down. Then he lay down in his favorite position, with his head on Mobius' lap. Mobius, as always, couldn't resist the impulse to put his hand on Loki's silky black hair and began to stroke it gently. In response, Loki made a sound that closely resembled a purr.

**********

Turning his head to Mobius, Loki asked, "Are you really happy that we live together?"

"Of course Loki," Mobius murmured as he ran his hands through Loki's hair, enjoying sliding the strands between his fingers. "I am, but you know it won't necessarily be easy right?"

"Hmm." Loki nodded and smiled sheepishly. "I know I'm not easy to deal with."

"Hey Sweetheart! That's not it at all." Mobius protested. "I just think we're from two different worlds and it's going to take a little adjustment and patience."

Loki nodded.

"Besides, we're going to be together a lot. Between work and home," Mobius said.

"Yeah." Loki looked up and smiled at Mobius. "This is going to be great!"

"We'll see," Mobius said, finally realizing that it wasn't he who was afraid of being disappointed, but that he was afraid of disappointing Loki.

After a few moments of silence, he decided to put his fears aside and enjoy the moment.

"Now, have you thought about what you want for dinner?"

"No." Loki pressed himself against Mobius, "But I know what I want for dessert."

"What a coincidence," Mobius muttered as he slipped his hand under Loki's shirt, "I think we both have the same idea.

These kinds of little moments between them, these little habits, made Mobius think that maybe he didn't need to be anxious about their future shared life.

**********

A few days later, Mobius was up to his neck in paperwork and couldn't take it anymore. He threw his pen away and leaned back on his chair.

"Mobius?"

"I'm here."

When Loki entered and saw the state Mobius was in, he locked the door behind him. He walked up behind Mobius, put his arms around his neck and kissed the top of his head. Mobius leaned back even more and closed his eyes.

"It's going to be hard to keep working if you make a habit of doing this," he whispered.

Loki's hands slid over Mobius' shoulders and he began a firm massage. "How about this?"

Mobius sighed, "It's not good for concentration either... " as Loki's skilled fingers had encountered a particularly knotted muscle.

"Oh, is that so?" Loki rhythmically pressed his thumbs into the back of Mobius' neck and it felt so good that Mobius moaned, "It doesn't seem to bother you that much."

"You and your distracting hands mustn't be around too often," Mobius said, "or I'll never be able to work properly, a massage like this, on the other hand, is... effective. I didn't know you knew how to give massages." Mobius was always happy to learn new things about Loki.

At Loki's silence, Mobius turned his head and was surprised by the sad expression on his face.

"Loki?"

"Um... this is something my mom used to do for me and my brother..."

"Oh Loki... I'm sorry." Mobius reached for the hand that had remained on his shoulder and squeezed it.

"I miss her..."

"I know, sweetheart, believe me, I know." replied Mobius gently.

After a moment of silence, Loki kissed Mobius' head again, "Sorry, I didn't mean to distract you. It's just so nice and strange to have you just a few steps away from me all the time."

"Why strange?" Mobius turned in his chair to look at him.

Loki shrugged, "I usually store all the things I want to tell you later in my memory, but now that we're in our new home, and we both work together a lot, I feel like I have access to you all the time and it's..."

"Different."

"Yeah. And tempting. And distracting." Loki licked his lips. "I want to see you all the time, not just talk to you, if you know what I mean..."

"Yes, I know exactly what you mean" Mobius cleared his throat, fighting the mental images that Loki's words evoked. "However, I think we're going to have to set some rules, no matter how nice it is, we're both still at work."

Loki nodded, "Yes, we really should, if only for my sanity." He bit his lower lip, and when Mobius saw him do it, he thought that it wasn't just for Loki's sanity that some rules had to be set.

"Maybe later, if you want Mobius? Or tomorrow?"

"Why tomorrow?" Mobius raised an eyebrow. "Why not now?"

Loki smiled "Because I'm excited now, and you're tired of paperwork and I think you need a good distraction."

Mobius rolled his eyes "You're insatiable."

Loki pretended to walk away, saying, "I can leave, I wouldn't want to distract you from your duty..."

Mobius grabbed him and pulled him against him. "You think you can light a flame and not blow it out?!"

"And what about rules and work?" asked Loki, raising an eyebrow.

"That can wait until tomorrow." replied Mobius, pulling Loki's head to his and silencing him in the most effective way he knew how.

**********

For some time, Mobius had been catching scrutinizing glances from the recruits, some even giggling after running into him.

"I feel like they're staring at me," Mobius said one night as he sat on the couch with Loki in their usual position.

"You can't blame them for being curious. After all, the God of mischief and the famous Agent Mobius, we're legends. And also... um... I may have been showing off a bit for a moment or two about your... prowess. Nothing graphic, just little details," he hastened to add when Mobius' mouth opened.

"Little details," Mobius repeated.

"Oh, but nothing, just that I'm satisfied, that's all."

Hiding his face in his hands, Mobius groaned, "Loki, tell me you didn't discuss our sex life in front of your students!".

"Uh... you want me to lie?"

"Loki!"

"Mobius, people think I'm not mature enough for you. That you're too serious and I'm not enough, that you have more integrity and I don't. Personally, I don't care what other people think. But I want people to know that you are as good to me as I am to you."

"And that requires you to tell them the intimate details of our sex lives..." Mobius mumbled.

"No, no, you don't understand," Loki said, clearly struggling to express himself. "I tell them little things that humanize us. That you like my cooking, that you like jet skiing, that I think you're sexy in the morning when you wake up, nothing too intimate..."

"Only in the morning when you wake up?!"

Count on Mobius to have kept only this part of Loki's answer.

"Even sexier than usual."

"Aaaah, that's the reason for these morning quickies," Mobius replied.

"You don't like it?"

"That's not the point, Loki."

"I know what the point is. The point is, I just want people to know the real you. Let them see you the way I see you."

"And for that, you have to tell them we screw every morning?"

"It was just one time, and it was Casey's fault. He said he didn't picture you as a sex beast."

"It gets better and better."

"Mobiuuuuus. I didn't say anything more than what I just told you, I promised! Now they know why we're perfect together."

"Because I give you satisfying orgasms when I'm barely awake."

"Because you're brilliant, and caring, and yes, incredibly sexy."

Lifting Mobius' hand to his lips, Loki kissed his fingertips and whispered, "And because I love you."

Just like that, Mobius' irritation disappeared. He took Loki's face in his hands and ran his thumb over his lower lip. "And I feel the same way. But Loki, I also wish you wouldn't talk too much about our intimacy, even with your closest friends."

Loki replied with his most mischievous smile, "You think I want to tell them how perfectly your lips fit my mmph."

Mobius had just closed Loki's mouth with a kiss and after that, Loki wasn't articulate enough to list Mobius' bedroom qualities and Mobius unapologetically left his book aside.

After all, it was important that he lived up to his reputation.

**********

"You're looking fine, Mobius. I guess everything is okay with you and Loki? I feel like the cohabitation is going great," HB said as she walked into his office.

Nodding his head, Mobius couldn't help but smirk, "Everything is going very smoothly, yes."

"Clearly." HB smiled. "You look... satisfied."

Mobius' eyes narrowed.

"However, given the bags under your eyes, may I recommend that you rest tonight?"

Mobius widened his smile. "I'm sure I'll rest... someday, even if it's not tonight. As I told you before, Loki can be... enthusiastic, and we're enjoying a bit of a second honeymoon right now."

Chuckling, HB shook his head. "And like I said, enjoy the moment. Even the enthusiasm of youth is wearing off."

"Indeed, it is." He paused before continuing, "Do you need anything?"

"Do I need a reason to visit a friend?" asks HB.

"No, of course not. I even enjoy our little early week dates. You know I like talking with you. After all, you and I have pretty much the same background. We've done well."

HB nodded, "Yes. You're right, but I admit I also stopped by because I need you to validate the latest new recruit evaluations."

Mobius chuckled, "I'll look at those afterwards, and send them to you when I'm done."

"Take your time, you can return them to me next week.

They chatted about various things, then HB got up to leave.

"I'm going to start reading these evaluations, unless my insatiable partner decides to show up...I'd hate to disappoint him you know...."

HB shook his head. "Lovely. And since I'll see you Monday to pick them up, You can give me all the details then. Don't let him tire you out too much!"

"That' s not up to me..." Mobius said, and smiling he pulled the first evaluation toward him. He raised his head and looked at the door, aware of a presence in the room.

Loki, standing in the doorway, was grinning from ear to ear.

"Aha! So it's not just me. You do it too!"

Mobius raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Reaching up to him, Loki touched Mobius' chest with his index finger.

"You also tell your friends intimate details about our relationship!"

"I certainly don't."

"Oh, I think you do. I just heard HB teasing you about my 'youthful enthusiasm' and telling you to rest because you look tired." Loki's eyes danced with joy.

"I-" Mobius sighed, "Okay, I guess I told her a couple of things about our life together - Hmph!"

Loki threw his arms around Mobius and kissed him deeply. Mobius, surprised at first, put his hand on his cheek, answered the kiss with the same passion, carding his fingers in Loki's hair. Once things calmed down, they parted, breathless.

"What was that for?" asked Mobius, tucking a strand of hair behind Loki's ear in a gesture so familiar now.

"You're talking about me to people, bragging about me." Loki's eyes glowed. "That means you're proud to be with me."

Mobius blinked. "Of course I am. How can you doubt it?"

Loki pressed another kiss to Mobius' mouth. "You can be quite a hard man to read sometimes."

"Not at all," Mobius whispered, as he gently patted Loki's butt. "I'm an open book."

"You are..." laughing, Loki rolled his eyes. "You're not at all." His expression softened as he looked Mobius in the eye. "But I think I can read you."

"You're the only one who can do it," Mobius acknowledged softly.

He wondered how long it would take Loki to see in his eyes the infinite love he had for him, and if he would be able to surprise him with the ring he had in his pocket.

________

Whole series of one shot here : Together, for all time, always

As always, bear with me as it is not beta'd I hope you enjoyed it 🥰

[fireemblemtcg]

“The Cipher Frontier!” Issue 58: “Cipher Will Never Die!”

"The Cipher Frontier! With Emma, Shade, Yuzu, Randal, Alice, Val, Niamh & Poe" was a regular column on the Fire Emblem Cipher website which summarized upcoming news concerning Cipher and other Fire Emblem materials. It was presented by the eight mascot characters. The following is a full translation of the 58th and final issue of the column, which was originally published on 31 March 2021.

More Fire Emblem Cipher translations!

Hello, everybody!!!!!!!!

It's been over five years since Cipher launched - and, for that matter, The Cipher Frontier! itself...

And today... we bring you the last one!

Sniff... So this is really it...

Aye, it certainly is a bitter occasion.

With the moment upon us, I find myself overcome with emotion. Yet at the same time, I cannot help but sorely wish that this day had never come at all.

Well, it... It doesn't bother m-m-me... Not... one...

BWAAAAAAAAAAAH! I C-C-CAN'T TAKE THIS!

E-easy, milady! You swore before we began that you would not cry!

I, too, owe very, very much to all of you, so... I am very sad.

Where there is a beginning, so too shall there be an end... It is an inevitability.

Still, one might argue that as long as there are still decks to play with and opponents to challenge... Cipher may be played for eternity. So think not on this as the end, for this is but a milestone of life.

Sniff... So this isn't farewell?

Not in the least! All of our players can still continue to get together to play Cipher. So as sad as you might be now to see the game end, the feeling won't last! And I, for one, would like to close out our final day with a smile.

To that end, I propose that we all share some parting words. You first, Emma!

Alrighty! Well, I've been here since the beginning, but... Back then, I was an absolute noob, wasn't I? I didn't have the faintest idea what a "Tea See Gee" even was!

But then I learned so much from Shade, and I presented news, participated in Tryout and Gathering events, and watched Live Broadcasts - and all of that gave me the chance to grow so much.

And then as the days went by, we got to meet Yuzu and Randal, Alice and Valjean, and Niamh and Poe, and we all always had a riot of a time playing Cipher together... It's all been like something out of a dream!

Lastly, I just want to say thank you...

To all of you who've been reading our column to date, thank you tho thuch!

Ha! Is that a slip of the tongue I hear?

Why, I do believe it was... And of all the words to flub, at that.

H-heh heh heh! I guess I am still just a kid after all... But mark my words, I'll be working even harder to become a mature, full-fledged knight! Okay, let's try this again... Thank you all!

Well, I'm next! I was primarily tasked with hosting this column and presenting news.

But the work introduced me to more and more friends, and to a constant stream of announcements that were news to me myself... To lose it is like I've also lost my reason to exist, but at least I am left with fond memories of it all.

My desire to convey the appeal of Cipher to others hasn't wavered in the slightest, but... this is the last time it will ever happen here. Alas. Still, I will always be rooting for all of you, even if we don't see each other.

There will always be a bond between us - always. Remember that whenever you play Cipher and see our cards. On this, you have my word! This has been Shade, shepherd of wayward lambs, saying farewell!

Alright, then. You're next, Yuzu!

...

Huh? Yuzu! What's gotten into you? Would you just get out here?

Er, forgive me. When everybody's gaze turned upon me, I could not help but immediately seek shelter...

Oh, yeah. You never did like public speaking, did you, Yuzu?

Of course! We had a devil of a time convincing you to come out at all for your very first column.

E-enough! That was many years ago: a d-d-difficulty that I have long since moved past!

Hrr-hrr-hrr... heh-HEM! L-l-let us, er, begin anew.

I am Yuzu. My contribution to this column was to introduce cards that afforded new styles of play... only to let a haze of utter passion promptly consume me and hence spend my every waking hour crafting decks from them and trialling them in matches.

You always were one to cry, "I must test these cards at once!" and throw yourself into obsessive research.

As such, I have acquired an eye for strategy, forged in the fires of Cipher, to incorporate into my prior mastery of the martial arts - and with that, at long last, I have come to an understanding of the very heart of warcraft.

Further, as a consequence I may declare with confidence that, should I ever find my brother, I shall be able to hold my head high for all that I have grown in his absence. For that, you have my most heartfelt gratitude. So end my parting words!

Thank you, Yuzu. Right, it's your turn, Randal!

Huh? Oh, right then!

I've got a motto: always take your games deathly serious, and always make your own fun on the job… And, well, this has been my chance to prove those words true.

I mean yeah, I'm a wanderer at heart; I might've stuck around a bit too long... but that's just because this was all a hell of a lot of fun.

Oh, I agree... It was a HELL of a lot of fun!

GAH! It's... It's you!

Well, well. We have a stranger among us!

Pah! "Stranger," indeed. This hair, this face, this ribbon... None of this ring a bell?

Eh? Do you... do you mean Randal?

Indeed! I am...

...His son, no? It is nice to meet you!

OI!

What are you on about?! I AM Randal, just from the past - younger than the one you know!

It's happening again! The exact same argument!

This really must be the end, if HE'S here...

This is how you treat me? I have to hear that the last column is happening at the eleventh hour and make a mad dash to make it in time?! Bloody hell...

What is this? A being under the thrall of the Boundless Chaos? How intriguing. I must conduct a thorough examination at once...

H-hey! What are you doing, Niamh?! You look deathly serious... Oi, that's enough! Stay back! I... I've got a sword!

Well, er, I'm just about all out of time, but I just want to say it was a hoot being on the Frontier. Hope I see you all again someday. Adios!

He vanished?! Still more intriguing...

Sigh... What a pain in the arse, if I do say so myself. Although... I must admit, we do agree on one thing: I'd also be glad to see you all again.

This might be one farewell, but here's hoping we cross paths once more! And if we do, hey, why not play a match with this old fart? And that's all she wrote from ol' Randal!

Thank you. Next, let's hear from Alice and Valjean!

Heh heh! At last! Shall we, Val?

Yes, milady.

The two of us made our debut circa Series 10, and ever since that day, the Frontier never failed to be a most thrilling time. Would you agree, Val?

Yes, milady.

My objective in making this journey was simple: to experience much in my travels, such that I might someday return home and become a great ruler indeed. But instead, I first became a most superior, most brilliant Cipher player! Utterly invincible! Favored by fortune! And whatnot. Didn't I, Val?

Yes, milady.

I remember... that every time a Cipher release day came, I would be up all night from their eve, crafting decks and playing matches with the others. Oh, it was such fun! Wasn't it, Val?

...Yes, mi... mi... milady! Sniff...

V-Val?! What is the matter with you?

I am most moved. That my most capricious liegelady could at last find in Cipher such an engaging hobby, such good company, and such a source of training - and that she could grow so greatly as a woman.

Val...

We have been truly blessed to have had all of this: all of you, who welcomed us so warmly into the Frontier fold, and all of the Cipher players out in the world. I wish to offer you my gratitude for everything.

To be honest... I have something to say on that matter myself. Thank you, truly, for everything. I will never, ever, ever, EVER forget even a single day that we spent here together!

Nor shall I!

...Having said that, milady, I fear that you are still yet unready for the throne! From today onward, we must redouble your original leadership training efforts! I fully intend to prepare for you an intensive study regimen.

I-I-I beg your pardon?! You will not speak to me so! If I see even a single incorrect mark, you would do well to prepare yourself, for I will work you to the very bone for the rest of your days!

By all means, do it. But be prepared, for I have a lifetime's worth of admonishments at the ready.

Heh... Best of luck to the two of you!

Your turn, Niamh!

I was present from the 37th column onward... To be precise, it was in the "Love and Bonds Special Talk CD" audio drama that came as a set with an artbook, sold at Comiket 93.

My inquiry and research into the miscellaneous phenomena of this world, and the Boundless Chaos in particular, shall continue, but...

...

Well?! Don't tell me that's all you have to say!

...No. To me, my inquiry into Cipher represented the introducton of a new, major challenge into my life. Cipher decks... Gameplay... Which solution is correct, and which is optimal... As yet, I still have found no answers. As such, it is vital that going forward, I collaborate with a broad sample of Cipher players and find an answer...

So what you're saying is, you enjoyed playing Cipher with everyone, and you're gonna keep playing forever!

That, er... Ahem! That's pretty much it.

Cryptic remarks if I ever heard them, but certainly Niamh-ish.

Right, let's keep this going with Poe!

Only a year and a half has passed since I was welcomed to this column, and sadly, in the end our association has been brief. But I was able to have a very fulfilling time with you.

Attending that Winter Comiket thing with all of you, playing the "Recite and Play: Heroes Iroha" card game being sold there... They were very happy days.

And in all of that, I have always been monitoring Niamh...

...

Hee hee... You have been a good girl here, have you not? I do nothing to good girls.

If one of you becomes wicked, at that time I shall... Heh... Heh heh heh heh heh...

So, I pray that we never have an unpleasant reunion, and end my speech. Thank you. This has been Poe!

Heh... Let's keep that warning in mind.

...With that, have all of us spoken?

Tsk tsk... We aren't actually finished just yet! Since this is our last column, allow me to call upon a special guest!

...A guest? Wait, you don't mean...

Ta-daaaaa! Here he is!

Hello, everyone! I am Kawade, the producer of Fire Emblem Cipher.

K-K-KawadeP!

My, what a surprise!

The publication of the final Frontier coincides with, at last, the end-of-March termination of event support for Cipher. So I thought I would share a message for all of our readers and Cipher players.

If you count from when Cipher was first announced, roughly six years have passed. That's a long time, yet it's just flown by... These have been very busy years, but also wonderful ones, absolutely full of memories and events.

In that time we've constantly taken on new challenges - not just the production of Cipher itself, but Twitter content, live broadcasts, and staging events all around Japan.

And through all of that, we've had the chance to meet so many fans of Fire Emblem and Cipher... That was not only the most fun part of all, but a part that made us happy.

Although, we were unfortunately unable to hold any of our planned events for our final year, and for that I am truly sorry to all of you.

Still, we staff stuck with it to the very end, and as a result were able to complete Cipher as a fantastic game that can be played for years and years to come. For that, we are proud of ourselves.

It was thanks to all of you, who kept on supporting us, that we could continue our work to this standard all the way to the final series. I am overcome with gratitude to you all!

Production might have come to an end, but Fire Emblem Cipher will never die! It would make me happy if, every now and then, you might bring your cards out and play with them. Thank you all, truly, for everything!

And that concludes KawadeP's remarks!

Whew!

That, I believe, is everything that we wished to share.

Aye, I've got nothing to add.

So I suppose this is it: the end of the Cipher Frontier's long run.

Er... Shade? Can I say one last thing?

Hm? What is it, Emma?

Thank you for taking the lead in hosting this last one... And thank you so much for all the things you've taught me!

(Emma...)

H-hey! That's enough of that! You're about to make me cry, and that wouldn't be ending this day with a smile, would it?

Heh. I guess not!

So hey, let's give them one last, enthusiastic That Thing before Shade bursts into tears!

Very well, then. That Thing it is! This has been The Cipher Frontier!

With Emma...

Shade...

Yuzu...

Randal...

Alice...

Val...

Niamh...

...and Poe.

Now, then...

Let's do it, everyone!

One...

Two...

CIPHER!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING, EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!

...

...

...

...

FIRE EMBLEM CIPHER The Cipher Frontier! With Emma, Shade, Yuzu, Randal, Alice, Val, Niamh & Poe

Emma Emma continues to train in order to become a full-fledged pegasus knight. Her tireless Cipher training also continues, but she has yet to show much improvement at the game.

Shade Veteran mage that she is, Shade continues to teach the next generation. Many seeking to become almighty Cipher players have come to her, only to struggle bitterly under her tutelage - yet at the same time, to Emma and the others, she remains a nurturing guiding hand.

Yuzu Yuzu embarked on a journey of martial training, all the while following whispers of her brother's whereabouts... although evidently, she does return from her travels from time to time, bearing souvenirs, to partake in Cipher matches with all of her friends.

Randal Randal made a truly once-in-a-lifetime wager, only to go into hiding thereafter. Some rumors attest that he won, and that with that windfall he secured for himself a carefree life of quiet leisure in some southern land - others, that he met with a catastrophic loss, and was hence forced into labor in someplace.

Alice Alice's travels continue, as she seeks all the experience that she needs to become a true leader. Although at first she struggled, she grew to thoroughly enjoy it, and so she will persist in her journey without ever taking a break to return home... Or so she tells herself, at least.

Valjean Valjean continues to travel all across the land with his liegelady. Witnessing Alice grow ever stronger and wiser by the day, he cannot help but feel conflicting feelings of joy and loneliness beneath the privacy of his helm.

Niamh Even as she continues in her pursuit of wisdom, Niamh silently carries out research into Cipher. Her seminal monograph, "A Compendium of Cipher Decks," is over 100 volumes in length, and by all accounts is still in print to this day.

Poe Poe vanished in her hunt for evil, and her whereabouts remain unknown. However, according to the afterword of "A Compendium of Cipher Decks," she and Niamh have since fought to the death on many an occasion.

The End...???