#and we had to tone down things a bit for the campaign

[blanketempress]

What is your favorite vtm clan? 🦇

oooo i fell into the giovanni rabbit hole and I can't get out

love the rest of the Hecata too but it's just that the giovannis have such potential for drama they're disgusting little freaks I love it so much,,,,

malkavians have a special place in my heart as well, playing with the Network and auspex is always pretty fun

[wandasfifthwife]

teasing doesn’t win gold medals

paring: CEO!Wanda x fem!reader

tw: 18+ MDNI, established relationship (dating or married, up to you), dom!Wanda, bratty sub!reader, fingering (r receiving), strap in v sex (r receiving), Wanda’s a bit mean (but we love her for it), degrading terms (bitch in heat lmao), oral fixation?, orgasm denial, Wanda uses magic during it

a/n: not proofread, sorry loves— promise I’ll come back and revise (so for now excuse any grammar/spelling errors lmao), sorry if this is shitty, enjoy!!

If there were a cliff nearby, Wanda feels as if she’s standing at the edge with her feet halfway off the crevice. It’s hard enough trying to balance a work life balance, and even harder when you kept looking at her with lust in your eyes.

You took your time whenever you felt you had a moment of her attention. Maintaining eye contact and adjusting your shirt, smiling like you’ve won when she’d look. Brushing against her when she’d leave to refill her glass, breath stuttering in your chest when she’d kiss your neck. A shiver crawling down your neck when she would return your lustful looks. It drove you crazy.

You sat beside her on the couch while she logged onto an online meeting. You begged her to stop, explaining how she’s only ever been giving her attention to anything but you. Even after your whine, she still picked up the phone.

“Campaign ideas are hard to come by, especially if you’re wanting a more risky approach for these print ads—“ you tuned them out, crawling off the couch and heading into the kitchen. You pulled out the cake you got from an event you both attended a day ago. Wanda barely paid you any mind, eyes only looking to you for a moment.

It wasn’t initially meant to be anything more than a simple way to pass the time. When it got your index finger after a lapse of judgement you should’ve known that cleaning it off with your tongue would’ve caught her attention.

You were quick to catch on and continued your ministrations, too lost in riling her to care what could happen. The voices on the call echoed between the space, reminding the both of you that it was the only thing holding her back. It enabled your actions, a smirk on your face when you put two fingers in your mouth.

Having had enough Wanda ends the call and you feel your thighs clench together as you imagine what she could do. You lick at the remaining frosting on your fingers, not looking away when she comes to corner you into the counter.

“Having fun?”

You moan around your fingers dramatically. She pries your fingers away, replacing them with hers. Her fingers push further back, intentional in their movement so she can watch your eyes tear up.

“Can’t help presenting yourself to me anytime I’m around, acting like a bitch in heat.”

You whine around her fingers and she’s quick to shush you. She’s both gentle and stern in her tone and it’s shutting your mind down.

“Could’ve been verbal, asked what you wanted but instead you have to parade around,” she takes her fingers out and holds your jaw, “why do you feel the need to? Who are you trying to satisfy? Yourself or me?”

Your mind’s a mess and it was hard to think clearly, causing too much time to pass by.

“I asked you a question baby, I expect an answer—“

“You.”

“Such a stupid answer. I don’t think you know how to satisfy me.”

“Then let me.”

She walks you back to the couch, patting her lap to signal for you to straddle. Wanda pulls at your shirt, not in any rush. You quickly grow impatient, hands coming to grab at her but she stops you. Tendrils of magic wrap around your wrists, pulling them behind your back.

“Thought you said you wanted to please me? Did you forget that already?”

You shake your head but she doesn’t look like she believes you. She takes the rest of her time removing your clothing one by one until you’re completely bare on top of her.

“So pretty,” she whispers against your lips before pulling you into a kiss. You tilt your head to comfortably deepen the kiss. Her hands are sliding up the back of your thighs, grinning when you moan into the kiss.

The room was cold, a stark difference from the warmth in her hands. Everything about her had you pressing further into her. Two fingers slide into you, catching you off guard.

“Poor baby. I’m so sorry that taking care of me is proving to be so difficult. You can barely sit still.”

“I want to please you,” you cry and she coos. She thrusts her fingers particularly rough, pulling a strangled sound from you.

She pushes another finger in, “you’re so wet.”

“Because of you, it’s all for you.”

Her lips find yours again as she adjusts herself against the couch, hands coming to pull you right over her strap. A quiet moan sounding from her when you’re pressing back on her already, magic enveloping the strap to allow her to feel you wrap around her.

“You okay, baby?”

You smile and she takes it as an invitation to help guide you down on her. You bite down on the inside of your mouth as you adjust to her size. It feels like she’s everywhere— a hand on your waist, one on your face, wiping your tears, her clothed chest pressed against your bare one.

An unusual amount of time passes, but you still sit patiently, though slightly lost on why she hasn’t started to move.

“You wanted to please me, I’m giving you an opportunity.”

You grasp the situation and pleads for help are already spilling out from your lips.

“Either this or I leave.”

Your thighs shook when you first lifted your hips. It took a minute to start a steady rhythm, whiny moans coming from you cause with each thrust she got deeper.

“Oh—” you shiver, head thrown back when she hits that spot within you, “fuck Wanda I’m going to come— ah, please. please let me come.”

And oh what a sight you were bouncing on her dick with tears in your eyes. It was almost enough for her to take pity on you.

“You’re not coming tonight.”

A gasp sounds from you when she pulls you down, meeting your thrusts with her own, chasing after her own high. A shaky breath sounding from her when the stimulation pushes her over the edge. You watch in adoration as she comes down from her high. You whimper and clench around her making her wince.

Her hands were tight in your waist, pulling you off her despite your efforts of keeping her there. She presses a gentle kiss to your lips, “you’re so good for me. I promise I’ll treat you so well in the morning, but you can’t tease me and think you’d continue like nothing happened.”

You peck her cheek in understanding, body growing tired to speak. Not to mention with how stimulated you were, you’re not sure if the words that would come out of your mouth would help your current cause. You’d dig a further grave.

Wanda took care in wrapping you in her arms, bringing you to come sit in the shower with her. You sat between her thighs, relaxing as soon as the warm water hit your body. She laughs softly behind you.

“Tired baby,” she asks, continuing her sweet but random kisses over your shoulders.

“Very. You know you can be so cruel sometimes.”

“Says you. You can be a little minx. Getting me turned on during a meeting is crazy.”

You playfully slap her thigh, “not like you didn’t like it.”

“Never said I didn’t.”

[luvneymar]

(1) LOVE TO HATE ME — NEYMAR JR

— SUMMARY: You & Neymar both were booked for a suggestive underwear photoshoot, the only problem? You both hate each others guts.

PARINGS: young!neymar x female!reader & young!lucas paqueta x female!reader

NOTE: any examples doesn’t not represent the race, body type or skin-tone of the female lead.

— “Yes! Just like that! A bit more slutty and you’ll be perfect!” The casting director yelled at you from the background of your Calvin Klein campaign, You laughed hearing the last part as you posed on the set strutting your body in different ways.

In the recent years of you becoming a rising star in both the athletic world & the modelling world you’ve been booked & busy with these kinds of activities & activities. The one thing that sold the most was your partner shoots with another male athletes or actors.

The first time it happens it was by total accident when the director doubled booked 2 models at the same time but seeing how much money it brought in for you & the companies, you had to basically expect for some handsome famous guy to come & sweep you off your feet.

As you were posing the casting director stopped the photographer as he walked onto the set to whisper something into your ear,“Darling you know how much I love your smile but, we don’t need it here. Look fierce! Look alive! Look sexy!”

He begun to adjust your facial expression by pulling your bottom lip out just a bit to create a naughty but nice type of pout along with curling your eyelashes a bit more to make them look “doe-y” at one angle then “siren-y” the next.

Once he backed away and resumed the shoot you took his advice & begun to pose is much more suggestive ways; ways that your mother would’ve smacked you for if she saw the magazine you’d be front & center in.

“Lovely! That’s what I’m looking for!” He yelled out waving his hands around in an attempt to hype you up.

Soon the flashes stopped as he turned to the photographer looking at the photos he took to approve them, he sent an approval nod his way signalling the standby staff to clear the set & hand you a robe.

As you walked off the casting director engulfed you into a hug patting the back of your head, “You did great today, your next set is in your change-room. As you know that’ll be your collaborative project. Get excited”

You both exchanged cheek kisses before your waddled to change-room feeling exposed & quite cold actually. As you opened the door you immediately searched for the clothes you were going to wear.

Except you only found a pair of pants & the iconic Calvin Klein underwear, not a shirt in sight. You begun to look around trying to see if your shirt was misplaced. Or at-least a bra; you never signed up for a topless shoot.

“My set missing a—!” As you walked out of the change-room holding the “outfit” you were supposed to wear you locked eyes with non other than— Neymar Junior. Neymar fucking Junior.

The Neymar Junior who broke your nose in Secondary School, The Neymar who cut your hair in middle school, The Neymar Junior Santos who tripped you in the halls. That Neymar Junior.

“He’s the super hot athlete? Oh, just kill me now.” You yelled out throwing your arms in the air as you spun your heels speed walking towards your change room grabbing your manager by the arm digging your nails into his arm.

As you slammed the door you shoved him into the couch throwing the clothes on the table as you flopped down beside him, “Seriously? Seriously! You hyped this up so much I thought I was gonna do a shoot with the Stephen Curry.”

“Just listen—” He tried to explain, you slammed your finger onto his mouth signalling him not talk as you shook your head side to side very slowly with an evil scowl on your face.

“I’m having a moment here! I specially said anyone but him! Did you know he broke my—!” You explained flailing your arms in the air as you fell over on the couch resting your head on the armrest.

“Yes I know you’ve told the story a million times and more, to be fair you weren’t all the kind to him either.” He cut you off as he stood up from the couch, “I tried to reason with them but you both are very popular on the internet. You even have fanclub—”

“Ew! Don’t even mention that to me. I’ll just suck it up & hold my breath till I die on set & blame him for 1st degree murder.” You grumbled swinging your legs off the couch as you sat back up staring right at the wall blankly.

“Your loss. I personally think he’s kinda cute—!”

“Get out!” You shrieked throwing your pillow at him as he rushed out of the room laughing at your reaction. You got up & begun pacing around the room chewing on your thumb nail as you pondered about how you could even do this.

You weren’t even worried about Neymar as much as you were worried about your long-term boyfriend Lucas Paqueta seeing this. You half naked pressed against another man; his best friend according to the concept photos you were given.

“I’ll just explain it to him later. He knows how much I hate him anyways!” You took a deep breath shaking off any negative thoughts you had lingering in your mind as you begun to get dressed.

It didn’t take long since all you had to put on was a pair of underwear, jeans, & a pair of nipple covers. Thankfully they ate last provided you with that seeing as how you felt as if you were about to film a porno.

You walked towards the mirror hands held on your breasts as you looked up and down at your attire embarrassed look melted onto your face. “Neymar Junior is going to see my boobs.” You muttered out, in disbelief.

“Neymar Junior is going to see, my boobs! As you took in the fact you begun to laugh uncontrollably at the irony of the situation, your arch enemy since your birth is going to be touching your boobs; a place only a select few were even allowed to see.

You wiped the small tears forming at the corner of your eyes due to excess laughter as you pulled out of your phone from your pocket feeling it vibrate from a text that read.“We’re ready for you.”

You sighed saying a small prayer before walking out of the change-room hands covering your chest, as the shoes you were wearing made noise the casting director along with Neymar turned their heads to look at you. “Woman of the hour!”

“Yeah.” You nervously chuckled as you slowly made your way to the edge of the set, despite taking literal baby steps you made it there in a shorter time than you’d like, as you stood there staring straight ahead right past Neymar’s eyes that didn’t leave your body.

“Did you look at the concept photos?” The casting director asked you as you completely zoned out all the background noises, your heart begun to pound as you took in that this was really happening.

“Yeah I did.” You muttered out as you turned your head slowly towards the director awkward smile on your face as you felt Neymar’s gaze being branded onto your skin.

“Well we’re scrapping that one, this is what the first pose will be.” The casting director handed you a photo face down already making you suspicious, when you flipped the photo your eyes nearly flew out of your sockets.

“What the fuck is this!” You whispered shouted in disbelief as to what you were seeing, not only were you going to be literally topless, Neymar’s head was going to be resting: on your breasts.

You hadn’t even noticed that his hands were going to be resting on your ass. “We are not filming a porno! You’ve gotta change this now.”

“This is what is going to sell. It sold back then it’ll sell now. Come one darling, just this once. For me.” He pleaded with you grabbing you by your shoulders.

“No! Not unless you pay me millions! Even if you can You’re gonna owe me. Big time. largely.” Hearing that the director smiled at you before ushering you onto the set where you stood awkwardly beside Neymar who had a stupid smirk on his face. “Alright places everyone.”

Once you heard that you grit your teeth and furrowed your eyebrows as you eased onto the floor of the set, you hesitated before crawling into Neymar’s lap hands hovering just centimetres away from his waist with him doing the same cringing away from your body.

Just before the photographer begun to take photos the director begun to yell once again,“Ugh no no no! Hands on her waist, hands on his waist, look seductive, look like you want to fuck each other!”

You grew goosebumps just hearing that as you muttered under your breath “ew”, you rolled yo ur eyes looking away from Neymar’s annoyed gaze, “This is an underwear company! you’re advertising underwear! hands off your sides and pose!”

“Don’t think I’m enjoying touching your repulsive body, I’m doing this because I have too.” He muttered under his breath emphasizing the “repulsive” making your skin crawl.

“Your breath stinks.” You replied pinching him in his side as hard as you could, seeing him wince in pain gave you a weird boost of satisfaction, as you both bickered with the occasional pinch coming his way you both tuned our the director till he yelled.

“I’m not paying you both millions to look like constipated scorpions! Positions! Now!” He yelled out using the paper in his hand to fan his forehead which was sweating quite heavily, hearing him be so angry out of nowhere frightened you enough to relax just enough to look natural.

Once you both had relaxed easing into each other the rest of the set had gone smoothly with minimal arguing from both of your sides; especially your side since you were quite literally topless. “Wonderful Job guys! Your cheque’s will be emailed to you shortly.”

Once the set was clearing out you stood there waiting for your robe to be handed to you as you shivered, the studio was a lot colder than you had realized. As you were standing around you noticed Neymar hadn’t left quite yet & he was looking a bit red.

“Ew, Are you blushing? I know I have great boobs, but no need to get embarrassed y’know? I’m sure your girlfriend—”

“My God, Will you just shut up?” Neymar shouted at you as he begun to scratch his skin, little blotches of red begun to show on his skin— not that you’d notice them of course.

“Shut up? Did you just tell me to shut up? Do you want me to rip your jaw off? Or did you forget who you were talking too? You turned your body to face him as you looked him up & down with disgust & annoyance in your eyes.

As you were cussing him out you didn’t even notice he hadn’t given you a snarky response back or just pushed pasted you like he always did confusing you, as you took a closer look at him you noticed he was developing a skin rash; hives.

“What the fuck? What type of rash are you developing?” You asked as you backed away wrapping your robe around your body tightly, watching him scratch his body frantically grossed you out enough to just leave the set & go back to your change-room.

Just before you were able to set foot into your room you heard a loud boom, along with a shriek alarming you greatly. As you rushed towards the noise you were met with Neymar breathing heavily on the floor with his assistant all over him trying to find out what was wrong.

A crowd gathered around him as some people were calling the ambulance while others were helping in anyway they could, as you stood there looking at him try to take in a breath you spun your heels turning back to your room.

“What the absolute fuck is going on?” You muttered out backing away from the crowd as you slipped back into your change-room slamming the door before locking it, you slid down the door trying to figure out why that was happening.

As you wondered it had finally hit you, recently you were gifted a body-care set that was based upon real strawberries giving you a long lasting strawberry scent all day— the only problem? Neymar was severely allergic to them.

TAGLIST: @watersquirtpewpewboomm @neymaruposts @aniya7 @foolsarehome @abluvions 💕 (send a reply to be added to the taglist!)

ON HOLD

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[trcpicoz]

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦

masterlist

author’s note: this was a little rushed but i hope y’all enjoy it, there’s a little bit of shy and reserved ruben in here🤍

warnings: smut 18+

working in the football world was fun but one thing that bothered you was the constant moving. you had gotten a job offer from manchester city to work as their social media manager. this was something you were excited for however, you weren’t excited to move and have to deal with the task of making new friends and building a new life in manchester.

on the first day of the job you were tasked with directing a campaign for the men’s first team which you were nervous about because of the man that would be there, ruben dias. you had seen ruben on the tv before and fancied him but you never thought you’d meet him let alone be together. the second you walked into the room you both caught each other’s eyes. “oh you like her, don’t ya?” said john playfully shoving ruben and egging him on to talk to you. “she’s beautiful don’t get me wrong but i don’t think i’d have a chance plus i don’t think we should be…ya know…” ruben scratched the back of his neck nervously “what, fucking your colleagues?” said erling laughing at how red ruben’s face had gotten. you were two introverts that were meant for each other but you didn’t know if he would ever make a move.

just two weeks later ruben finally built up the courage to introduce himself "hi my name is ruben, i'm a defender on the team and i just wanted to introduce myself since you're new here." he shook your hand, you both being nervous barely being able to hold eye contact "im y/n, it's nice to meet you ruben. the other players haven't said a word to me i was worried they didn't like me" your head bowed down with a look of sadness "that's a shame, i certainly don't dislike you, you seem really sweet and by the way i noticed you have an accent where are you from?"

"i'm from america but i moved to london for work and then i moved here. it's my first time in manchester, i've been in england for a while but i never ventured out to other cities" ruben’s eyes locked on your face as you struggled to even look at him "well i could take you out around the city-NOT LIKE A DATE, i mean i'm not opposed to a date necessarily but-" he stumbles over his words scared he's going to say the wrong thing and make you uncomfortable "ruben that sounds nice i would love a tour of the city" he shrugged his shoulders and sighed out of relief blushing knowing that the two of you got to spend some time alone.

as ruben walked you around he was nervous to get close to you. he walked with his hands in his pockets head down barely being able to keep eye contact because of how nervous he felt. it started to get dark out and you got scared because you haven’t been to manchester before and this was a completely new environment to you. scared and nervous you grabbed ruben’s arm and pulled your self close to him so you could feel safe. “are you okay?” ruben looked at your worried face “yeah i’m okay i- i just-” ruben stopped and held your hands “it’s okay, you’re with me i won’t let anything happen to you” you felt so safe with him, you kissed him on the cheek to show your gratitude for how much he wanted to protect you. ruben stepped back with a face as red as a strawberry, he fell in love. he smiled at you with dough eyes “do you want to go back to my place and watch a movie?”

you walk into his apartment and take off your jacket so you can sit on his couch. ruben joined you sitting on the opposite side to avoid any contact. as the night went on you both could feel the tension in the air, it was so thick you could cut it. “y/n are you cold?” “yeah actually i am can i get a-” ruben interrupted you “come here, i’ll warm you up” you got closer to ruben and he held you in his arms while you rested you head on his toned bare chest that was exposed from his button up shirt. you grabbed his face initiating a passionate kiss, your tongues danced and you swallowed each other’s whimpers. “we need to stop this” you said pulling yourself off of his soft lips. “we can’t be together, at least not like this. maybe we should take some time away from each other outside of work” ruben looked at you upset because he knew you liked him and he knew he like you but he understood the complications of fucking his colleague. “it’s okay i understand, i’ll drive you home” you arrive to your apartment and as you walk in ruben yanks your arm to pull you into his torso using all of strength grabbing your waist to keep you still in front of him, he kisses you. “i love you y/n” you held back your tears “i love you too”.

months had gon by since you talked to ruben in private. you both wanted to just say fuck it and be together but you were both too afraid to pick up the phone until one night ruben texted you. “hey y/n, i know you probably hate me for not reaching out sooner but i miss you so so so so much and i want to be with you, please text me back” you tested up reading his message and responded “ruben come over i need to see your face”

ruben arrived at your apartment with flowers blushing with excitement “i missed you so much i’ve been thinking about you for the longest” he said caressing your cheek. “i missed you too baby”. ruben picked you up and carried you to your bed where he undressed you and himself “are you sure you want to do this?” says ruben “i’m sure”. he climbed on top of you and inserted himself inside your pussy slowly stroking himself in and out while you whimpered trying to adjust to his thickness. the room was filled with noises of your wetness and orgasmic moans. “do you like this” ruben said as started to rub your clit “yes baby right there it’s so fucking good” you gripped the sheets getting closer to release until he came inside of you and you came at the same time.

“so much for professionalism” he held you in his arms kissing your forehead.

for @moodkvller & @anifffff my favorite ruben fans🤍🪽

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

opinions on erivris? (canon + potential)

Friendship! This one's a bit weird to answer because I personally feel like canon pretty much shows us what's up with their relationship, but I can still talk about it!

So we know that Vriska initially got Mindfang's journal from following a meteor she saw shortly after leaving the caverns. This journal eventually led her to a ghost ship, where she found the Flourite Octet during a roleplaying campaign. Eridan mentions getting his crosshairs from a ghost ship too, implying that the two found it together while FLARPing. Since Vriska was explicitly led there by the writings of her ancestor, and she always wished to be like Mindfang, and Eridan also believes that his inheritance of the gun was a sign that he was meant to follow in his ancestor's footsteps/finish their unfinished business, it's heavily implied that the two's kismesistude was largely the result of both of them feeling obligated to pick things up where their ancestors left off.

Now, Karkat's speculated before about Vriska's fucked-up psyche from all the murders. I'll probably just post that, because, to be honest, I trust Karkat's opinion:

CG: OK, MOST PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T HAD THEIR LOBE STEM CAUTERIZED ARE CAPABLE OF FEELING THE TWO PRIMARY EMOTIONS, HATE AND PITY. CG: PITY IS OF COURSE JUST THE TONED DOWN VERSION OF THE CENTRAL EMOTION, HATE. CG: AND ALL THE NUANCES OF PITY MANIFEST AS VARIOUS OTHER KINDS OF FEELINGS LIKE WHATEVER CHEMICAL REACTIONS TRIGGER MATING FONDESS OR THE MYSTERIOUS FORCES THAT ARE BEHIND MOIRALLEGIANCE. ... CG: A WELL BALANCED PERSON IS IS GOING TO HAVE A GOOD DISTRIBUTION BETWEEN HATE AND THE VARIOUS PITY HUMORS. CG: HAVING A GOOD BALANCE KEEPS ALL THE EMOTIONS SHARPER, SEE I THINK THAT'S YOUR PROBLEM. ... CG: BUT SEE, YOU'RE TOO HEAVY ON THE HATE SIDE, OR AT LEAST YOU PRETEND TO BE WHICH IS MAYBE WORSE. ... CG: AND YOU THINK YOU'RE HATING UP EVERYONE HARD WHEN YOU'RE REALLY JUST BURNING OUT THAT ENTIRE EMOTIONAL HEMISPHERE. CG: IT'S LIKE LUKEWARM HATE. PRETENDER'S HATE, WITH NO COUNTERPOINT AT ALL. CG: AS SUCH THERE'S NO REAL SUBSTANCE TO YOUR HATE, IT'S LIKE A CARDBOARD MOVIE PROP. CG: WHICH IS WHY YOUR BRAIN IS BROKEN, KIND OF LIKE TAVROS'S BUT ON THE OPPOSITE HEMISPHERE I GUESS. CG: OR MAYBE YOUR BROKEN BRAIN LED TO THE IMBALANCE IN THE FIRST PLACE, I DON'T KNOW. CG: WHATEVER THE CASE IS, YOU'RE KIND OF EMOTIONALLY SCREWED, SORRY TO SAY. CG: YOUR HATE'S TOO DULL FOR A PROPER KISMESIS, IN MY OPINION. CG: AND I DON'T SEE ANYONE CHOMPING AT THE BIT TO BE YOUR MOIRAIL HONESTLY, UNLESS THERE'S SOMEONE OUT THERE WHO WOULD ACTUALLY BOTHER PITYING YOU. CG: AND LANDING A MATESPRIT? HAHAHAHA! CG: SERIOUSLY, LIKE THAT WOULD EVEN INTEREST YOU. CG: BASICALLY ANY FEATURE OF YOUR EMOTIONAL PROFILE THAT USUALLY MAKES SOMEONE VIABLE IN THE REDROM DEPARTMENT MUST BE TOTALLY FRIED. CG: YOUR BLACKROM POTENTIAL'S PROBABLY TOAST TOO.

So basically, what Karkat is saying is that Vriska's a sloppy mess. Because of her personal suite of issues, caused by a demanding and "intense" "sym8iotic" relationship with her lusis and all the child murders she's had to do (many thousands), she functionally doesn't have enough emotional effort to muster up for pretty much anybody.

And this all makes sense, because Vriska's entire suite of problems stems from having to be tough as nails and justifying her actions. No weakness, no kindness, no mercy, no pity. And since she's closing herself off from the rest of her emotions, all she has left is a "dull" hate, insufficient for a proper kismesistude. Frankly, according to Karkat, she just can't hate anybody hard enough.

Now, Vriska and Eridan have a lot of parallels, between their ancestors' shared history and the similar demands made by the lusii in their lives. However, Vriska is far more successful at fitting into the highblood mold; since she's better at closing herself off from feelings of guilt or pity, and - Team Charge debacle nonwithstanding - capable of forming and maintaining friendly relations, if not friendship, with other trolls (Equius, Kanaya).

In contrast, because the two kind of serve as foils for each other, Eridan is really bad at managing his feelings. Between expressing guilt about the kid he just orphaned:

That should keep her happy for a while. And make a freshly orphaned troll somewhere pretty sad.

And the fact that he's generally known for his "exaggerated emotional theatrics," which generally stem from genuine deep-seated anxieties he holds towards his position in society and the weight of a seemingly inescapable future (check out my Eridan essay for more), I think it's safe to say that he kind of represents the opposite of Vriska's personal suite of issues: where she closes herself off from her feelings too much, and is thus constantly projecting an air of being tough and mean and scary, Eridan expresses his emotions too much, and is thus seen as cringe and overbearing and attention-seeking.

And this equal-but-opposites kind of thing crops up in other facets of their life - Vriska's murders are motivated primarily by self-preservation, as her lusus dying means she dies, too; meanwhile, Eridan's murders carry with them the survival of the entire species, as well as his friends specifically. Vriska's lusus is described as intensely demanding, and their relationship symbiotic (read: codependent); Eridan's is described (by proxy, via Cronus's lusus) as "stern and fatherly," with an implication that he's provides pretty much no emotional support whatsoever (which I expand upon here).

So, if Vriska's relationship problems are caused by the fact that she's so removed from her own feelings that she has no emotional effort to spare, then it stands to reason - and indeed seems to be the case - that Eridan's emotional problems are that he's far too emotional, and thus, going in too hard, and in too messy a direction, no matter who he's attempting to pursue. (Nepeta calls his flushed advances "cr33py and insincere," Kanaya finds his ashen advances "indecent," and Equius expresses feeling uncomfortable with his flirting.)

Indeed, Eridan strikes up flirting astonishingly quickly, as seen when he shares only a few words with Rose before asking if she wants to go pitch with him. There's several factors involved here.

The first is that his emotions run fever-hot at all times, to the point that he has difficulty parsing both their origins and their aims; if you asked him point-blank if he was really in love/hate with whomever he was flirting with, he would answer you with a firm "yes," even if it's obvious to everyone around him that he probably isn't.

The second is that he's desperately lonely, and likely sees a relationship as a form of alleviation from that loneliness, so he's over-eager to get into one. A romantic partner isn't supposed to leave you alone, after all, and we can see from Vriska accidentally ghosting him to mercy kill her lusus that he tends to assume people ignore him on purpose. Because he has anxiety. The boy just craves attention.

And finally, establishing a relationship, especially a pitch one, is tied up in his general problems regarding duty and obligation. Not only is there pressure from the empire to fill both concupiscent quadrants by adulthood, but Dualscar had a kismesis, so Eridan ought to have one, too. We see from the way he treats killing angels as a duty he has to undertake, the same as killing lusii, that he has great difficulty divorcing his current situation from the anxiety that motivates him to complete his work, so it's likely that he's still moving according to this feeling that he "has to" fill these quadrants or else Something Bad Will Happen.

And, with Vriska specifically, here's the thing - there's never a point where he genuinely describes hatred for her. The most we get is him using some colorful slurs to describe her to Kanaya, but he never goes into specifics, like "I hate her for X". So the question that all of this begs is, did Eridan ever hate Vriska at all?

And the answer is probably no. Personally, I don't think their kismesistude was ever really serious, nor did they ever actually hate each other. Both of them, feeling obligated by their bloodlines, entered into the kismesistude on the grounds that it was their duty, an obligation, and at some point, Vriska realized she wasn't really into it, and Eridan got the rejection through his thick, woeful skull. Their interaction in [S] Past Karkat: Wake up. pretty much says it all.

VRISKA: Hey. ERIDAN: hey VRISKA: So........ ERIDAN: wwhats up VRISKA: Nothing. VRISKA: Standing by the old horn pile I see. ERIDAN: yup VRISKA: Yeah........ VRISKA: Ok then. Carry on I guess. ERIDAN: god damn vvris wwhys it still got to be so flippin awwkwward like this come on ERIDAN: wwe used to havve a good thing goin remember our campaigns ERIDAN: that shit wwas epic wwhere are you evven goin to find a rivvalry like that VRISKA: It was fun, Eridan. While it lasted. VRISKA: 8ut it ran its course! I don't know what else to tell you. ERIDAN: oh as if im not so ovver it please spare me your disdain mindfang ERIDAN: im wworkin on findin a neww rivvalry wwhichll make ours look like a kiddie game ERIDAN: wwhich oh by the wway IT WWAS VRISKA: If you say so, Dualscar! 8est of luck with that. VRISKA: Too 8ad the luck's all mine now! Hahahaha.

To paraphrase:

-Awkward foot shuffling- ERIDAN: I really enjoyed what we had, when you paid attention to me. Are you sure you don't want to go back to that? VRISKA: I guess it was fun, but I'm not interested, like I've told you a bajillion times already. ERIDAN: Yeah, I know, I just figured I'd ask. ALSO I'M TOTALLY EMOTIONALLY FINE AND NOT SAD AT ALL BECAUSE SADNESS IS WEAKNESS AND I'M NOT WEAK, SEE? I CAN BANTER. I'M NORMAL ABOUT THIS. I'M TOTALLY OVER YOU. VRISKA: Hahaha. Yikes. Good luck, dude. Genuinely no hard feelings on my end.

And there really aren't hard feelings. Before the retcon, Vriska mentions on the ghost pirate ship that she wishes Eridan was there; post-retcon, she's the one who's willing to go to bat for him a little when she and Terezi are discussing who to bring back with their extra kernelsprites. Eridan is doing his usual thing of "well, I've accepted their rejection... but am open to them changing their minds, crazier things have happened" thing with her, but that DOES mean that he has accepted the rejection. (More about the way he handles rejection and flirting here.)

So pitch is toast for them; they've been there, done that, and probably never even hated each other in the first place. On the other quadrants:

The thing with pale is that it's about keeping each other calm. Given that Eridan seems to puff up whenever Vriska is involved - because, even if he never hated her, the fact that she could do the Highblood Thing more naturally than he could probably fuels his general insecurities about his inability to meet that ideal - I don't think it would be successful on that count alone. Even without that, I highly doubt Eridan would be capable of reining Vriska in, nor would he even particularly care to (and vice versa) - the two of them both struggle with empathy for other people.

Flushed is, hmmm... well, the thing is, both of them have been shown having flushed tastes of "nice" - Vriska's weird vascillatory thing with Tavros, and then her fond feelings for John, and Eridan's interest in an idealized version of Feferi. In fact, Karkat outright says he thinks Tavros is broken in such a way that he doesn't feel hatred for anybody, and Eridan says to Feferi that he thinks she's too nice to hate anybody; whether or not that's true, we can extrapolate that the two of them tend to be interested in people who are just really really nice. And unfortunately, the two of them are not particularly nice at all.

So personally, I think the best possible ending for these two is friendship. The incompatible aspects of their personalities - Eridan's desperate need for attention and emotional support, and Vriska's difficulty with providing it - wouldn't be a problem in a casual friendship, and they clearly hold each other in fairly positive regard. For their own sakes, I don't think they should be in too much contact - Eridan is painfully sincere and emotional even at his best, and Vriska is tough and badass even at her best, and I think she'd wind up hurting him, and he'd wind up exhausting her - but as, like, casual buddies that see a movie with each other or do extreme sports or something every so often? Not bad!

[revnah1406]

Operation Kingslayer: 3/?

OCs:

Hannah "Sparrow" Clayton - @revnah1406

Alyssa "Aly" Martinez - @alypink

Mandy Macfie - @alidravana

Charlotte "Jade" le Jardin - @sleepyconfusedpotato

Captain Arjun Dhingra - @welldonekhushi

Annabelle "Gremlin" Pham - @applbottmjeens

Damien Whitlock - @kaitaiga

Captain Lachlan Jones - @kaitaiga

(so many OCs! 👀 I would thank specially to all my mutuals and people who participate in this fic to help me with the writing and their ocs! thank you so much guys. I love you so much <3)

Spotify playlist!

Warning!: This chapter contains specific violence, and a detailed description of torture methods. Non-accurate medical procedures.

(All locations and places that appear in this Fic are fictitious and based on the Ghost Recon Wildlands video game)

NOTE!: The events of Op Kingslayer take place before MW3, so there are no Spoilers. This chapter was written before the Call of Duty MW3 campaign was released. Despite the little relevance it has, you may find differences between the fic and the campaign.

<- previous chapter

The bullets flew like an intense rain of fire. The team could barely hold the position. Arjun was shot in the leg and little by little his vision began to blur due to blood loss.

"Mandy! Where the fuck are you?! We need an emergency evac now!" Aly exclaimed over the comms.

"I'm trying to! But I'm taking heavy fire! I can't get close!" Mandy responded over the radio, from her tone of voice she seemed to have problems too.

"Shit. We have to get away from here as soon as possible"

How had they ended up in a situation like this? Well the story is a bit long, but long story short, the team finally found El Yayo. He seemed to be a reasonable man and someone who could be negotiated with. After all, he was just an old coca grower trying to survive under the feet of an empire. Rodolfo Yana didn’t like the idea that his grandson Gonzalo was on his way to a federal prison in the United States. But in the end he came to his senses knowing that it was the safest place for him, away from El Sueño. He also didn’t overlook the fact that his grandson had been tortured. Jade did a great fucking job, despite the torture, Gonzalo Yana was still alive and even though he was missing some nails there would be no permanent physical damage.

Bowman managed to negotiate with El Yayo, assuring him immunity and protection from the CIA, if he collaborated with them, of course. And this is how they managed to end the first pillar: Production. Now it's the next one's turn: Influence.

El Yayo didn’t seem to have great friendships with the rest of the leaders of the Santa Blanca Cartel. But he managed to give information about the head of the pillar of Influence.

His name was Gustavo Serrano, better known as El Cardenal (The Cardinal) . He was the preacher of the Santa Blanca Cartel, the greatest devotee of La Santa Muerte. He was also one of El Sueño's closest advisors. Gustavo Serrano was in charge of the propaganda and philanthropy strategy of El Sueño, and he is the one who gives the sermons on the radio and in the churches of Santa Blanca. As responsible for its public image, he encouraged El Sueño to participate in charitable events and develop educational and humanitarian activities for NGOs.

And if they managed to catch El Cardenall and make him talk. Maybe they got a direct pass to El Sueño. The interesting thing about El Cardenall is that deep down he was a good guy. He tried to do charity work to help Bolivians, build schools and churches, but neither the church nor the politicians were going to help him. He was aware of the damage caused by the cartel, but he believed that all the good he could do would outweigh the bad...

In summary, El Cardenal wasn’t really a cocaine drug trafficker, just someone who wanted to spread the word of God and La Santa Muerte. And in a way, maybe the team underestimated him a little bit.

How did they find it? Well, that was a masterpiece on Aly's part. Thanks to the information Sparrow got from that cocaine lab. Aly found a large network of trafficking in people and especially children, which extended throughout South America. Aly made this information public on social networks, using fake profiles. Staining the history of the Santa Blanca cartel.

All this scandal forced El Cardenal to come out of hiding and hold a mass in the Church of Santa Blanca in the Malca region. To explain to the people that child trafficking was pure lies and false rumors.

The team thought they had El Cardenal by the balls. That they could capture that bastard before he said mass but everything went wrong too quickly. In the blink of an eye the church and the entire city of Malca had been filled with Narcos armed to the teeth ready to shoot down anyone who looked suspicious. El Cardenl was nowhere to be found and their chances of making it out alive were significantly reduced.

"Shit Aly! Keep your head down!" Sparrow forced Aly to lower her head. Before a burst of gunfire could hit her. Alyssa was too busy looking for possible escape routes and getting to the extraction point without being gunned down.

Sparrow didn’t hesitate to counterattack by shooting in that direction. The entire team was behind a barricade of ruins and debris caused by the explosions and grenades. Jade and Sparrow held the position, shooting any mercenary or narco who got too close or dared to stick their head out for more than two seconds.

Arjun gave orders while putting pressure on the leg. The captain grunted as he tried to get up but fell back to the ground. His leg didn't respond.

"Sir, you should stop moving. You will bleed to death if you continue like this!" Sparrow looked away for a moment to look at his captain.

"Keep your eyes on the firefight, Sergeant." Arjun ordered groaning. He was in a terrible mood at that moment. He had his reasons, he was about to captureEl Cardenal, he was a few meters away, everything seemed to be going perfectly, until a sniper bullet pierced his leg. And that's when the chaos began.

Aly hurriedly approached Arjun to try to make a tourniquet around Arjun's leg.

"Shit! They're surrounding us!" Jade exclaimed when she saw more armed vehicles appearing behind them. "Fuck!"

"Jade! Take care of those vehicles. Sparrow hold position!" Arjun ordered grabbing a grenade from his vest and throwing it right under one of the cars.

"Shit..." Hannah turned away for a moment. All that was chaos. It was practically impossible for them to come out alive. At least all of them.

Adrenaline coursed through his veins, his pupils dilated taking in everything that was happening. Jade shooting at any enemy that moved, sweat sticking her red locks to her forehead. It was clear that she was exhausted. They had been like this for hours, and since they arrived in Bolivia they didn’t have a single day of rest. Aly seemed to be on the edge. On the verge of collapsing, no matter how much she searched on her mobile device and maps for escape routes, she couldn't find anything. She tried to contact Mandy but there was no response. And if that was enough, she also had to help Arjun with that injury. Damn, Arjun. He was bleeding to death. The blood coming from his leg was beginning to create a worryingly large puddle.

Hannah had to do something. If She didn't do anything…they would all die.

"Fuck..." Sparrow closed her eyes trying to think.

"Hey sergeant." Arjun called her after a few minutes of silence. "Can I ask you something?"

Sparrow opened her eyes. She realized that she was sitting on the edge of a cliff near the safe house. It was night, the full moon was shining in all its splendor high in the sky. Everything was silent except for the crickets and insects around. Sparrow looked down at the abyss that the cliff provided, a drop of several dozen meters, full of rocks, stones and dirt.

They had returned from detonating a cocaine warehouse and now they had to rest, at least a couple of hours. But Sparrow couldn't sleep and decided to go out for some air. Apparently the captain soon noticed her absence and went in search of her. When he found her, they were both sitting there, looking at the moon and having deep conversations, about their dreams, ideals or simply things from the past.

"What is it about sir?" Sparrow asked, confused.

Arjun looked at his sergeant for a few seconds.

"What do you think is the hardest decision you've ever made?" He asked with his eyes fixed on the landscape.

Sparrow thought for a bit and then smiled sadly.

"Cut the rope."

Arjun looked at her without understanding what she was talking about.

"Cut the rope?"

Sparrow nodded. "It's the hardest decision for any climber." She sighed as she swung her boots that were hanging from the cliff. "When you have to climb, it’s better to do it with someone. If something happens to you, your partner can help you and save your life. Normally when climbing, both have to be connected with a rope. If one of them slips and falls, the other will be able to hold it. But…” She paused and looked at the moon. "Imagine that when your partner falls, he hits his head on the ice or rock and is unconscious and very badly injured. His body is hanging from the rope that you are holding and you aren’t able to lift him up. If your partner were conscious and in good shape you could both do it. But being alone? No, impossible. Then you stay there, with your half-dead partner hanging from a rope that you are holding. You won't be able to hold it forever, you will end up getting tired and you will both die, both of you falling. into the void or dead from the cold. So the decision is... Will you cut the rope? Would you cut it to save yourself? You know that if you don't cut it you will both die. But if you cut it you will kill your partner."

Arjun thought for a few moments and nodded. He seemed to understand the situation. Being alone up there, with your friend's life and yours in your hands.

"Did you cut the rope?" Arjun asked.

Hannah pursed her lips and looked at her boots. She unconsciously stroked the scars on her face.

"On K2... Before the avalanche hit me and my brother. I cut the rope. If the avalanche was going to hit me, I didn't want my brother to be swept away too. I didn't think about it much. I cut the rope to sacrifice myself and save my brother. Let's say that... I was the injured companion and my brother was the one holding the rope. And I made the decision for him. I accepted my fate and decided to die alone on that mountain."

"I understand."

There was another long silence.

"Sir," Sparrow looked at her captain this time decisively, "if it’s necessary. For the good of the entire team. Don’t hesitate, and cut the rope."

Arjun didn't know what to answer. He was very capable of giving his life for the team, but… sacrificing one member of the team to save the rest? He didn't know if he was capable of giving an order like that.

Sparrow opened her eyes decisively. She knew what she had to do. She took out her sniper rifle and handed it to Aly, who was clearly very confused.

"Hannah what...?"

"Jade, I need you to do me a favor!"

Just then, the redhead took cover behind the wall while reloading.

"What is it about?!" She asked, shooting again.

"I have to get to that armored truck!" she pointed to a vehicle that had a turret attached to the roof of the truck. "I need you to cover my back. I'll use the turret to divert their attention!"

"Hannah…what are you talking about?!" Jade asked worriedly. What was she up to? Whatever it was, it was suicide.

"Aly. Have you found an escape route?"

Aly checked the maps once again "huh… yes, from the south-east we can reach the forest and lose them off among the trees." She said pointing to a road on the map, not sure if that was the most appropriate route, but there was no time to confirm it.

Arjun sat up leaning his back against the wall.

"Sergeant. What are you up to…?" Arjun didn't like what Sparrow was trying to do.

"I'm going to cause a distraction. I'll use the turret to take out most of the enemies and–"

"No." Arjun interrupted her. He had a dead serious expression. "And leave you behind? Have you gone crazy?!"

"Sir, it's the only way for you to get out of here alive."

"There has to be another one. Hannah, we can't leave you here alone. They'll kill you!" Aly grabbed Sparrow's shoulder as she shook her head repeatedly.

It broke Hannah's heart to see her friend like this. But that wasn't going to make her back down, she was willing to do whatever was necessary to move them forward.

"I can't let you die here Aly…" Sparrow put his hand on Alyssa's.

"Sparrow." 

Arjun grabbed Sparrow by one of the straps of her vest and pulled it until Sparrow looked him in the eyes.

"Listen to me soldier, open those fucking ears because I'm not going to repeat it again." The tone of voice Arjun used and his piercing eyes were able to make Sparrow break out in a sweat. Oh, the captain was pissed. "Follow my fucking orders. Hold your position and don't even think about doing anything crazy of yours." Arjun couldn't believe that Sparrow would take such a drastic decision. "Can't you trust your fucking team?! Are you that selfish?!"

"Fuck the orders!" Sparrow couldn't bear to watch his captain bleeding out on that floor for another minute.

Sparrow swallowed and grabbed Arjun's wrist, which was holding her tightly by her vest. She showed determination and hid the nervousness caused by her angry superior. "It's not about selfishness or distrust. I trust this team can get out of here alive without me, I trust you can kill that bald son of a bitch."

She tightened her grip making Arjun divert his attention to Hannah's hand.

"Captain…"

Arjun looked his sergeant in the eyes again.

"You have to cut the rope."

Arjun gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, the mere thought of leaving Sparrow behind made his chest ache. "No. I'm not going to do that."

"You have to do it. We have to sacrifice something to save something even greater."

"Hannah..." Jade interjected. She had a worried and serious expression. What her friend was saying was completely crazy. Jade shook her head.

Sparrow rested his hand on the former MI6 agent's shoulder, "I need you to cover my back so I can reach that vehicle."

Jade frowned and shook her head determinedly, "I'm not going to send you to the gates of hell, Han."

"You have to do it. I'm not going to die, not today. I won't give those sons of bitches that pleasure. I'll just be a little late."

Jade sighed and looked away. She knew Sparrow was a tough nut to crack.

"Don't even think about dying halfway, Sparrow."

"With you covering my back? I doubt it."

Both women shook hands, like two Spartans ready for war. Jade nodded determinedly.

Aly took out a small locator from one of her vest pockets and placed it inside Sparrow's vest. She hit Hannah's chest with her fist and took a deep breath.

"I'm going to find you."

"I know you will, you always do."

Sparrow looked at her captain determinedly.

"I await orders sir."

Arjun looked at his team. Even though he didn't say it out loud, he was proud of that team. He looked at Sparrow, she had that determined look, ready for anything. Arjun understood, he had to cut the rope. But he no longer feared for his sergeant.

"If you die I'm going to go down to hell and drag you here. And I won't be merciful."

Sparrow chuckled and patted Arjun's shoulder.

"You'll have to get out of here alive first, sir."

"Do you think I'm that weak, Sergeant?"

Sparrow laughed and shook her head.

"Negative, sir."

Arjun sighed and nodded.

"Jade, get ready. Aly, help me up. Sparrow, on my signal."

Jade and Sparrow nodded. Aly helped Arjun up while he grabbed his rifle.

Everyone was in position. Ready and waiting for the captain's signal. Arjun threw a flashbang grenade and waited for it to detonate.

"NOW!"

Sparrow jumped over the barricade with agility, Jade hurried to take cover and shoot any enemy that had not been affected by the flashbang.

Hannah ran with all her might, shooting anyone who got in her way. Jade's bullets flew near her, but never hit her. The narcos fell on Sparrow's feet.

The sergeant reached the armored vehicle, jumped on the hood and then onto the roof of the truck. She stood behind the turret.

"In position! Come on, get out of here!"

Sparrow used the turret against the enemies. Shooting at anyone in sight, no one was able to get close to where the team was.

"Let's go!" Jade exclaimed, giving the signal to Aly to help Arjun get up and run away from there.

The plan worked. The Narcos turned their attention to Sparrow. She devastated anyone who got in her way.

The team managed to flee and move away to a safe distance, eventually entering the forest. Between Jade and Aly they managed to carry Arjun.

"I have your visual!" Mandy's voice sounded over the communicator while the noise of a helicopter was heard nearby.

"Macfie! Are you okay?! What's your status?" Aly responded worriedly.

"The helicopter has received some damage but will hold up for extraction. Sparrow may have to take a look at the engine."

A silence fell on the team. Jade and Aly looked at each other, Arjun simply closed his eyes in frustration and tried to bear the pain in his leg.

"There is a clearing about a kilometer to the east of our position." Arjun spoke over the communications, "Wait for us there."

"Roger."

Jade suddenly stopped, causing the rest of the team to do so as well. She looked back, her eyes lost as the wind swayed her red locks.

"What happened?" Aly asked.

"There aren’t more gunshots..."

____________

"Shit." Arjun exclaimed through gritted teeth as Mandy finished removing the bullet from his leg.

"You've been very lucky, sir. You're going to limp for a few days but it won't be a big problem. I'll bring the painkillers from the medicine cabinet." Mandy reported after stitching up the wound.

"It's not the first time I've been shot. I'll be fine." Arjun sat on the side of the helicopter.

The team was trying to recover in the clearing where they had agreed to meet. The helicopter had suffered serious damage but appeared to still be able to fly. Mandy knew how to pilot gracefully through all that hell.

Jade had gone out to explore the surroundings, to make sure they hadn't been followed. While Aly tried to use the computer to locate Sparrow.

"Mierda. There's no signal..." Aly cursed after trying several times. "We need to move places. I can't find Sparrow here."

"She'll be fine. She can handle herself well." Mandy commented.

Arjun was still deep in thought, debating whether they could have found a better solution.

"You guys made quite a mess back there huh?" An unknown voice appeared.

Without thinking twice the team raised their weapons in the direction of that voice.

The unknown man raised his hands.

"If I were you I wouldn't pull the trigger."

Suddenly a bunch of Bolivian guerrillas came out of the bushes. Surrounding the helicopter, aiming their rifles at them.

"If you know how to count... you will know that you are at a clear disadvantage." The man lowered his hands.

Aly frowned.

"Eres Pac Katari ¿verdad?" (You're Pac Katari, right?)

Aly recognized the man Laswell mentioned at the bar and then Bowman at the first briefing. Aly had found little information about him. He knew how to hide his tracks very well.

"Veo que has hecho tu trabajo, chica.." (I see you've done your job, kid) The man began to walk towards them. "Then you'll know we're on the same side."

Suddenly all the guerrillas turned around, upset, looking towards the tree line. Pointing in all directions, shouting orders but not really knowing where to aim.

A red dot appeared on Pac Katari's back. There was a sniper, somewhere hidden in the trees, aiming for the heart of the leader of the rebel forces.

"I decide if we are on the same side." Arjun spoke seriously.

Pac Katari turned to see the red dot that was now pointed at his chest. He laughed lightly.

"If your sniper shoots, my men will kill you all"

"If my sniper shoots. We'll cut off the head of a snake." Arjun corrected him with a stone attitude. He wasn’t going to let himself be trampled on by an amateur guerrilla fighter.

"That snake can be a very good ally if you let it live"

"What can a snake offer but bites and poison?"

"It can offer information. Valuable."

Arjun pondered for a moment. He couldn't trust that man, not even a little bit. But as much as it angered him to admit it, they needed help, the team was at a dead end.

"What is it about?"

"First order your sniper to stop aiming."

"No." Arjun responded quickly and firmly.

Pac Katari sighed in defeat.

"It’s hard for you to trust huh? And I respect that. Bowman already told me about you." He slowly put his hand in his pocket, which upset the entire team who adjusted their grip on their weapons. "It's okay. I'm just going to take out my cell phone." The man reported.

Pac Katari took out a cell phone and showed a photo. Because of the distance they couldn't see very well what it was about. Arjun looked at Aly for a second and nodded.

Aly approached slowly, lowering her gun but still holding it. When she arrived next to the guerrilla, she looked at the photo he showed her. Aly frowned, feeling a whirlwind of emotions rise from the pit of her stomach.

"What is it about Alyssa?" Arjun asked, when he saw how his partner's expression changed drastically.

"It's about Sparrow." Aly didn't look away from the photograph.

"Your Sergeant is alive." Pac Katari informed, looking at Arjun with a serious expression.

The photograph showed Sparrow kneeling, with her hands raised. Surrounded by drug traffickers who pointed their weapons at her. But that wasn’t the most worrying thing.

"She has been captured by El Cardenall and… El Sueño." Aly couldn't believe it. The man they were looking for, the man they had to put a bullet in his head... they had him so close... And now that piece of shit had Sparrow hostage, pointing at her head with a gun. El Cardenal seemed to have a victorious smile on his lips.

"Vishta..." (shit...) Arjun cursed in Marathi.

"I propose a deal, Captain." Pac Katari spoke again "We both have the same goal: End the Santa Blanca cartel. We can help each other."

The captain thought for a moment. Weighing the options, the pros and cons, the risks and benefits.

"You have the strength and the skills. I have the knowledge and the necessary men." Pac Katari continued.

"We have to go after her, sir." Mandy spoke.

"I know."

"What do we do?"

"We need a plan. And more soldiers..." Arjun's mood only worsened. He tried to handle the situation as best he could, take care of his subordinates and achieve the objective. "We have to contact 141."

Arjun sighed and with the help of Mandy got up.

"I'll tell you what we'll do." Arjun spoke in an authoritative tone. Straightening his back and lifting his chin. Showing who was in charge. "You will have our services. We will help you in your fight against the cartel. In exchange we want resources, ammunition, radios, vehicles, information and protection." Arjun approached Pac Katari, imposing his height. "If you show me even the slightest suspicion of treason. I'll have my sniper pull the trigger while you sleep." Arjun threatened in a chilling tone.

"In exchange for El Sueño’s head? I can offer you much more." Paco Katari offered his hand.

Arjun looked at the hand for a few seconds and then looked towards the tree line. But not in the direction where the sniper's red dot came from, but in the direction of one of the guerrillas' flanks.

"That's enough! You can stop aiming."

Noises were heard in the bushes, a dark figure emerged from the trees. The frightened guerrillas turned towards the silhouette.

Jade came out of the trees still carrying the sniper. And with a look that was capable of making any guerrilla who was nearby retreat.

"Do you have more than one sniper?" Pac Katari asked

Arjun looked over his shoulder at him, "no."

That's right, Jade used the laser sight of her weapon as a decoy to make them believe she was hiding behind them. But she was really aiming from one of the flanks. Waiting for Arjun's signal to open fire if the situation got complicated. The guerrillas wouldn’t know where they would be attacked.

The snake had fallen into the jaws of the lion without knowing it.

Jade approached Aly and Mandy. She nodded to both of them in greeting.

"The perimeter is secured too. How are things going around here?"

"It seems they are negotiating the terms of a deal." Aly mentioned.

"Arjun’s angry." Mandy added.

"We all are." Jade sighed.

Arjun spoke for a few more minutes, with the leader of the rebel forces. Until he decided to return to his team.

"And?" Mandy asked.

"We have a deal."

___________

"Be careful with that! Can't you see that the blades are delicate?!" Mandy was trying to keep an eye on the guerrillas who were in charge of fixing the damage to the helicopter. "Jesus Christ... Sparrow would have fixed the helo in half the time..." Mandy murmured, placing both hands on her hips.

She sighed and looked around. The place where they were was incredible. She would never think that a place like that could be the base of operations for the rebel forces.

It was like a small town inside a mountain. A huge cave that had no roof, a huge hole where there were supposed to be huge rocks. It was like a hollow mountain with a huge hole through which sunlight came in, allowing vegetation and trees to grow inside. There were small wooden houses and cabins on the stones, walkways and bridges that connected them to each other. A stream crossed the cave and came out like a waterfall that fell who knows where.

It was the perfect lair.

Mandy still remembered how bad it was to get the helicopter down there. The hole was big but if a helicopter blade hit the rock, it could be fatal. But Mandy was too good to make a mistake like that.

She heard footsteps. She turned and saw Arjun approaching.

"How's your leg?" Mandy asked as she saw him limp towards her.

"It hurts like hell. But I can walk."

"It's an unusual place isn't it?" Mandy commented as the captain reached her side.

"It is. Although it’s a very good place to hide, I have to admit. There are families here, everyone helps each other. They are better organized than I thought." Arjun sighed.

"Mhm..." Mandy nodded. "How are things going there?"

"You don't want to know... Alyssa is angry."

Mandy raised her eyebrows "then I was right to stay out here."

"You're right…"

While inside one of the largest cabins, the one that was used to organize the operations of the rebel forces. Aly walked from one side to the other, nervous, furious.

"Aly, love. I understand your situation but–" Price tried to stay calm.

"But what, John?!" Aly put both her hands on her hips looking at the screen where the video call was running.

Price pursed his lips and shook his head, pacing the briefing room. When his wife got like that it was difficult to reason with her.

"It was her decision. She assumed the consequences, she knew she was going to be alone in this." Price was beginning to lose patience. He had been arguing with his wife for a long time, he wasn’t able to make her understand his situation. Price had water up to his neck, flooded with shit. He already had enough problems, and now Aly added one more.

 "Are you really telling me this?!" Aly approached the computer, placing both hands on the table, she was about to tear off a piece of the furniture with just her nails.

"I can't be in two places at once."

"Sparrow is your sergeant. She is part of the 141." Aly emphasized the last word.

Price sighed and looked away. He knew where that speech was going to go.

On the other hand, Jade was behind Aly, with her arms crossed listening to the conversation. She shared a look with Ghost who was in the same situation with Price. Listening and observing.

Jade showed a small smile of compassion towards Ghost. It was an awkward moment for both of them. Jade didn't even know when the atmosphere had gotten so heated. Simon nodded slightly without moving from his spot, also not really knowing what to do. But intervening was the last option. They both knew their difference of opinions. Ghost was in favor of Price, the 141 had too many problems currently. Hannah wasn't an idiot, she knew what she had gotten herself into and what the consequences were. But Jade thought differently, she wasn't going to abandon her friend. They were going to find her, no matter what, with or without Price's help.

"Jonathan Price! Look at me when I talk to you!" Aly caught his attention again.

Price pursed his lips and took a deep breath. Reconnecting his gaze with Aly.

"I know you didn't choose Sparrow personally. She's not as close to you as Soap, Gaz or Ghost. But she's still your sergeant, she's still one of your subordinates." Aly continued talking, trying to control her anger. She still couldn't believe that Price had refused to help. That really made her angry and disappointed. "You were able to do all that for Laswell. When you found out that Kate had been kidnapped you were able to burn the entire world to save her."

"Aly..." Price sighed.

"Don't start John. You know damn well I'm right." Aly struggled to maintain her composure, a lump beginning to form in her throat. Anger had turned into helplessness. For having to crawl like that and ask for help because she felt like she wasn't capable of protecting her team. That she couldn't protect her friend. "You were able to do all that for Laswell and now you're going to stand by while they slowly kill Sparrow in a chair?"

Price listened to Aly's voice gradually break. And that broke his soul. He knew that both women were very close, they had been through a lot of shit together. Hell, Sparrow had helped Aly with the pregnancy, and even when Price was on mission, Sparrow had stayed with Aly to help raise Lily. Even when Hannah was still recovering from injuries from her accident in the mountains and couldn't go with the 141, she was there, helping Alyssa take care of her daughter.

"My hands are tied, Aly…" Price had a tired, even helpless expression. John wanted to do something, if it were up to him they would already be on their way to Bolivia. But the situation was different from when Laswell was kidnapped, very different.

Aly could see it, she knew that what Price was going through was also hard, very hard. But Aly had to try anything to save Hannah. She wouldn't forgive him if he didn't do anything about it. She shared a look with Jade. Charlotte had a look of concern for her friend. Aly looked mentally exhausted. Jade was too, but she had to stay strong. For Aly, for the team.

"If your hands are tied then find someone who has their hands free." Aly looked back at the screen.

Price knew who she was talking about.

"They are a bit far away. It will take them a while to get to Bolivia."

"You're old friends right? He'll listen to you."

He finally sighed.

"I'll make a call." Price nodded, not very convinced. That was a big favor to ask without warning.

"Good. We'll keep in touch, over." Aly hung up the call without even saying goodbye.

The room fell silent. Price sighed. He was cornered, Makarov, Shepherd, Sparrow… Every time he felt like he had less hair on his head. He felt Ghost's silent gaze on his back. He knew Ghost would support him in this, he wasn't so sure about the rest.

"I need a fucking smoke." Price murmured, patting Ghost's shoulder and ready to leave the base.

When the fresh air from outside hit his face he felt like he could breathe again. He hated arguing with Aly, he always had. He would probably have to sleep on the couch for a while.

He took out a cigar and placed it between his lips, lit it and took a long drag. Feeling the nicotine run through his veins. He watched the place, how the world revolved around him, ignoring what was happening.

"I sense that the conversation hasn't gone very well." Laswell's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"You sense well."

"You told her no." Kate stated.

"With the bloody mess we have here… I think it would be worse for them if we go there. We can't risk their mission anymore, we can't bring our shit to them."

"You haven't told her then."

"I didn't want to worry her anymore. She's had enough with Sparrow." Price responded by taking another drag of the cigar.

Laswell sighed, took out a cigarette, and Price offered her the lighter. She nodded in thanks, taking a drag as well.

"I got her into this." Laswell shook the cigarette lightly to knock the ash onto the floor.

"You didn't force her. It was her decision." Price justified. "Sparrow is all grown up."

"Now you defend her? A month ago you flatly refused to give up Sparrow for this operation." Laswell raised an eyebrow.

"Well..." Price smoked a little more "You know how Sparrow is, she would have gone even if I forbade him."

"That's true."

There was silence. Finally Price grunted and threw the cigar to the ground.

"What are you going to do?" Laswell asked.

"Place a call to Australia. You take care of calling Sergeant Pham."

Aly was right. Hannah was his soldier, he had known her since Task Force 141 was formed years ago, and she may not have been one of his chosen ones but they went through hell and back on more than one occasion. So he wasn't going to sit idly by and do nothing. If his hands were tied, he'd find someone with his hands free who could break that bastard of El Sueños' nose. That was personal.

"I don't think Anna is up to it John."

"It's Sparrow who's tied to a damn chair. She'll accept it."

______________

The curtains were drawn. There was almost no sunlight coming in. It was noon and she still hadn't gotten out of bed. So that? She didn't want to face the world, and the world wasn't going to care one bit about what she was going through. The world could go on fucking spinning without her. Fuck the world. She could also roll over in bed. Trying not to let her thoughts flood her with another existential crisis, she spent the day sleeping so she didn't have to think and even then, she found herself terribly tired.

The overwhelming silence of her room was interrupted by the buzzing vibration of her phone. Damn she thought she had turned it off. She lifted her face from the pillow and checked who the hell was calling her.

Her eyes tried to adjust to the brightness of the screen when she could finally read the name that appeared.

"What?" She was confused, why was she calling her? In the end she picked up the call and put the cell phone to her ear. "Yeah?"

"Anna?" Laswell's voice came over the phone's small speaker.

"That's me..." Annabelle sighed and rolled over on the bed, staying in the middle looking at the ceiling.

She didn't seem to want to talk much. Where was her endless energy? That pyromaniac gremlin attitude. Where was it? Probably under all that mountain of dirty and used tissues.

"It's urgent. I need you to get equipped and prepare. I'll send you the plane ticket and the exact coordinates." Laswell began to explain.

"Wait wait. Just a moment" Anna frowned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "What are you talking about?"

A sigh was heard from Laswell. She seemed tired, was it something very serious?

"It's about Sparrow."

"Birdie? But wasn't she on a super secret mission in Bolivia with Jade and the rest?"

There was a pause.

"She has been kidnapped. The team lost contact with her more than 24 hours ago."

"What?!" Anna sat up suddenly. "Are you sure about that?!"

Suddenly a feeling of worry washed over her. One of her closest friends was in danger, and she was there. Rolling around in bed non-stop.

"We have visual evidence. She has been seen as a hostage." Laswell explained.

"Shit, biride..." Anna rubbed her face with her free hand.

"I know. But there's no time to waste. The team needs reinforcements, and the 141 is up to their necks in shit, so you're joining the 2nd Commando Regiment, as soon as possible."

"With the Aussies?" Anna asked, "Has Price called his old friend again?"

"He's in it. You know it's hard for him to ask that man for favors. They're like brothers."

Anna nodded as if Laswell could see her. Then she sighed.

"Alright, I'll do it."

"Great. I'll send you the details and exact coordinates. I'll also keep you informed about the team and reinforcements."

The conversation lasted a little longer. Anna asked about the task force. Especially for Gaz, his brother of another blood. She really missed them but her situation was complicated.

In the end she said goodbye to Laswell and hung up the call, remaining silent in that dark room. Then she looked to the side. Towards one of the corners of the room. The luggage bag, with all her gear and clothes completely disorganized and lying around.

Anna groaned and got out of bed.

"Fuck, Hannah..."

_________

Laughter filled his ears. His two daughters were playing and prancing in the park. Enjoying that weekend with his father. Not every weekend they could spend it with him.

Ava, the eldest daughter, about thirteen years old, was chasing Mia, her eight-year-old little sister. It wasn’t cold that afternoon in Perth, the sun warmed the grass and there were no clouds in the sky.

Even the stoic Captain Lachlan Jones smiled as he watched his daughters play and laugh. Those small moments are what he treasured most, those moments of calm. It was like entering a paradise inside a bubble, to recharge his batteries and return to hell later. But Lachlan didn't want to think about that. He was sitting on a bench enjoying the sun while supervising his girls.

When they were tired of playing he would buy them each an ice cream. And maybe for him too.

"Oi! Come on dad! Come play with us!" Ava called to her father, waving her hand in the air.

Lachlan's smile widened a little more and he raised his hand, signaling that he'd better stay on the bench.

Mia complained when she saw that her father wasn’t paying attention to them.

"Don't be a grumpy old fart! Come on! Come play with us!" Ava insisted even more.

Lachlan sighed and stood up. He couldn't say no to his daughters. Both girls laughed excitedly and happily, but just as Lachlan stood up his phone started ringing.

Ava's smile faded a little as she watched her Father pick up the call and start talking to someone.

"Who's calling Dad?" Mia asked.

"Dunno..." Ava frowned trying to listen to the conversation but her father was too far away to hear.

She saw Lachlan shake his head several times, sigh, pinch the bridge of his nose, and frown. Ava didn't like where this was going.

Lachlan's expression showed discontent. But after a long conversation and arguing he ended up agreeing. He had given in to something and neither Mia nor Ava had any idea what it was. But they wouldn’t like it. 

He approached his daughters with a serious expression.

"What's up, dad?" Ava asked worriedly.

Lachlan thought for a moment what to say.

"Dad’s got work." He said it in the softest tone possible.

Suddenly the expression of both girls changed to one of disappointment.

"But how come? you promised we'd spend the weekend together!" Ava complained.

Lachlan pursed his lips and nodded. He knelt in front of his daughters so he could be at their height.

"I know love... and I'm so sorry." Lachlan tucked one of her locks of hair behind Ava's ear. "I promise to make it up to you when I get back."

Both girls were insisting to their father for a long time. But Lachlan could no longer change his mind. He had accepted. He couldn't turn back anymore.

Lachlan ended up taking his two daughters to his ex-wife's house. Both girls complained non-stop about their father's work and the little time he spent with them.

Lachlan sighed as he drove. His head was starting to hurt. His daughters had a lot of perseverance and too much energy.

"If you keep quiet I'll convince your mother to buy you ice cream when you get home."

"Chocolate ice cream?" Ava asked.

"Yes…"

Mia and Ava looked at each other for a few seconds, silently discussing whether it was a good offer.

"Deal."

They ended up arriving at Lachlan's ex-wife's house.

An incredibly beautiful woman answered the door, tall, with long blonde hair. With a lioness gaze on her face.

The woman looked at the girls and then at Lachlan.

"Has something happened?" She asked, confused.

Both girls went inside the house.

"Ask dad!"

The woman looked at her daughters and then at Lachlan. She tried to understand what was happening but soon discovered it in her ex-husband's eyes. She sighed and closed her eyes.

"You’ve been called in, yeah?"

Lachlan nodded slightly.

"Sorry. It's an emergency that—"

The blonde woman raised a hand stopping the captain's excuses.

"You don't have to tell me anything. It's not my heart you’re breaking, it’s theirs." The woman had a stoic attitude like her ex-partner.

Lachlan glanced at his daughters who were already sitting on the living room couch with long faces. He snorted a little sadly, but didn't show it.

"I know…" Lachlan replied. "Breaks mine too."

They both looked at each other for a few long seconds. Without saying anything. Expressions that said nothing but that hid deeply buried feelings, and that for the good of both of them, should remain that way.

Damn, that was the most beautiful woman Lachlan had ever seen. No matter how hard he tried, that look always managed to awaken his stone heart. He still loved her, that was clear. But he didn't want to complicate things more for her.

So he put on his cap and cleared his throat a little.

"I'd better go."

"Yes. You have work to do. As always."

Lachlan pursed his lips and hid his gaze behind his cap. He turned to leave, but his ex-wife's voice stopped him.

"Just…" she hesitated for a moment whether to say it or not, "be careful. And… come back in one piece."

Lachlan didn't know what to say. He was mesmerized by her eyes.

"Our daughters need a father. I can't do all the work alone." The woman looked away.

Lachlan gave a small smile and nodded.

"Yeah, ‘course."

The woman nodded, and also smiled slightly. Almost imperceptible, but Lachlan knew it was there.

In the end Lachlan left. Leaving his family behind once again, so he could do his duty. For a few seconds his heart sank, it always hurt him to leave everything, to stop being a father and become the captain from B Company of the 2nd Commando Regiment again.

But as soon as he got into his car, his stoic personality returned. He grabbed his phone and called someone.

A phone rang on the other side of Australia.

A young man was fixing the engine of one of the farm's tractors. It seemed to make strange noises. He had his hands inside the engine when he heard his phone ringing somewhere in the garage.

"Fuuuck me, the fuck is it?" Damien growled morosely. The tractor was giving him problems.

He got out of the tractor and walked to the work table, where his cell phone was. He kicked some tools that were laying on the floor while he wiped the motor oil from his hands with a dirty rag. He slung the rag over his shoulder and answered the phone.

"Yeah? What?"

"Whitlock." His captain's voice was heard on the other end of the line.

"Boss?" Damien asked, confused. Lachlan didn't usually call unless it was extremely important.

"Listen, I know we just got back from a mission but…" Lachlan began to tell his sergeant the situation.

Damien walked out of the garage listening to what Lachlan had to say, breathing in fresh air, looking out over the farm and the fields. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon. A chicken that had probably escaped from the coop was pacing and pecking around Damien's boots.

Then Damien frowned.

"Hey? Didya just say that Hannah has been kidnapped? Sparrow? The Sparrow we know? Our bird? From 141?"

"Deadset."

"Fuck me dead…." Damien massaged his forehead. "She always ends up gettin’ into trouble like this, her and her reckless decisions."

"Well, reminds me of a certain someone, ay..?" Lachlan responded wryly. Knowing perfectly well that Damien was just like Sparrow or even worse.

Damien chuckled. "Bugger off! You're exaggeratin’, sir."

Then he sighed and his expression became serious again. He looked at the ground, at the chicken that was walking around without a care in the world. Damien and Sparrow were close friends, damn, almost like siblings. Since what happened to his best friend Daniel, Sparrow has been the closest thing to a best friend that he had, Alyssa was too, but Sparrow was the one who followed him in all his craziness. Aly was there to scold them every time. 

He touched his shoulder where he had the gunshot wound. An old scar from a couple of years ago. That afternoon in Afghanistan, the ambush, the sniper. Daniel died in front of him, trying to heal Damien's wound. And he could do nothing but be dragged away from him. It was incredible how quickly your life slipped through your fingers. One second you're alive and the next you have a bullet inside your brain.

Damien remembered how much the death of his best friend hurt. Damn he still hadn't even recovered yet, despite the years. And to think that the same thing could happen with Sparrow made him sick to his stomach. Hell, maybe he wouldn't be able to get back up from a second hit.

Damien clicked his tongue. He had returned home just less than a week ago. And now he had to return to the battlefield. But for Sparrow he would go to hell and back. She would do the same for him.

"When we headin’ off?" Damien asked.

"Now. Grab your shit, we're goin’ ‘gainst the clock."

"Rog.".

_______________

"Anna." Lachlan called her. "Your turn."

The woman nodded and stood in front of the armored door. She placed the explosive charge and activated it.

"We're going to blow up this fucking building." Anna murmured with a smile on her face.

"Oi, this is gonna upset all the fucking drug dealers in the building and for miles around." Damien whispered, looking down the dark hallway they had come down.

"I didn't think you were a coward Damo." Anna raised an eyebrow and smiled as she finished preparing the explosive charge.

"I’d like to get back to the HQ in one piece." Damien counterattacked, narrowing his eyes.

"And you will! You just have to trust me. And this beauty right here." Anna finished off the explosive.

"They’re gonna catch us with our pants down and they’re gonna leave us like strainers if you lot don't shut up." Lachlan scolded them both. Damien and Anna had been arguing like siblings since they started the mission. And both the sergeants were starting to get on Lachlan's nerves.

Arjun sighed, trying to stay calm. This whole situation tenses his muscles and stresses him out too much. Arjun could swear he was starting to lose his hair because of the stress. He just wanted to get Sparrow out of there alive. Hell, he didn't even know if Sparrow was still alive. But he would soon find out.

The team had infiltrated what appeared to be a military base of operations for the Santa Blanca Cartel. A huge base located in a valley between mountains. It was literally the devil’s cave.

After the call with Price, Aly managed to find Sparrow's locator. The coordinates indicated a fixed location. It seemed like they had Sparrow held somewhere. Thanks to the help of the Bolivian rebel forces, they found the place. It looked like a damn impregnable fortress. Only someone with suicidal instincts would want to go in there. But luckily, reinforcements arrived a few days later. Lachlan, along with Damien and Anna, joined the team.

They managed to enter with the help of the guerrillas. They created a distraction by causing an explosion close enough to the base for the narcos to direct their gaze there. Giving the team the perfect opportunity to sneak inside the base. Arjun, Lachlan and Damien were in charge of eliminating the Narcos and guards inside the base in a stealthy manner. Checking all the floors, room by room, looking for Sparrow. Anna had the same job as the rest, but she was also in charge of placing explosive charges at key points in the building's structure, so that when the time came for extraction they could demolish the building and hit the Santa Blanca cartel right in the balls. Show those bastards what happens when you mess with the wrong team.

Finally they reached the underground levels. Aly reported that there was a shielded room without cameras. The team wasted no more time, suspecting that they might be holding Sparrow there.

"Alright. Everything is ready." Anna announced, proud of her work.

"Right. Sort yourselves out!" Lachlan announced, placing himself with his back to the wall next to the door. "Damien, you make first entrance."

"Bet your fucking arse I will." 

The team stood on both sides, with their backs against the wall.

"On my signal, Pham." Lachlan ordered. There were a few seconds of tension. Lachlan assured that everyone was ready. He glanced at Arjun who nodded. "Now!'

Anna pressed the detonator. A strong wave of heat hit everyone but not enough to hurt them. Damien wasted no time, with his rifle raised he entered, pointing in all directions. Arjun followed him and then Anna and Lachlan.

They checked the entire room and realized that no one was there. The room looked like a dark warehouse lit by a single, sad light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

"Clear." Damien muttered.

"Where are you Han…?" Anna murmured.

"Well… She's definitely been here." Lachlan kicked a corpse, turning it over. He had severe bruises, a broken nose and a broken glass stuck in his neck.

"There are three more," Anna announced, looking around the room.

Arjun turned over another dead body of a narco. He had a broken arm and neck.

"It was Sparrow's job." Arjun recognized his sergeant's fighting pattern.

"Damn... did our bird do that?" Damien looked at the other bodies.

"We call her Sparrow but she charges like a fucking bull..." Anna muttered.

Arjun was starting to get impatient, finding those corpses was a good sign. Sparrow was alive and had the strength to fight, but it also meant that she was moving, and they had to get to her before someone more dangerous did it first.

"Arjun." Lachlan called him.

The captain approached the other captain.

"What is it?" Arjun asked.

"Have a gander at that." Lachlan pointed his chin at a work table full of torture tools, some of which were bloody. There was a battery with cables and clips and a cattle prod.

"Fuckin’ hell…" Damien approached the table.

"Mh?" Arjun turned to Damien with a raised eyebrow.

"That's a cattle prod. It's an electric wand. Some farmers use it to push cattle and make cows move forward. Not me of course. If that thing is used on a person you can cause significant damage." Damien muttered with a frown. He touched the object carefully. "It's still hot..."

"They used it recently. Sons of bitches..." Lachlan growled.

Arjun tightened his grip on the rifle. The knuckles turned pale and the veins on his arms began to stand out more than usual.

"She has been tortured here. There is no doubt about that." Arjun muttered.

"I don't see the chair." Anna asked, looking around.

"They didn't use a chair." Arjun pointed to some chains hanging from the ceiling. Blood was dripping from them. "They hung her like a fucking animal ready to be skinned."

Lachlan looked around.

"Look at the size of those chains. How did she get free of those?" Anna approached, amazed.

"Those corpses are still bleeding. She shouldn’t be far." Lachlan reported.

Arjun was still immersed in his own thoughts when suddenly something lying in a corner caught his attention. He approached and crouched in front.

"What is that?" Anna approached curiously.

Arjun was holding Sparrow's bulletproof vest, now bloody and with empty pockets. It had the locator still attached. Arjun took a deep breath trying to stay calm. He tore off the patch and stared at it. That patch with the skull of a king and a sword piercing the skull, the word "Kingslayer" was embroidered at the bottom. The patch was stained with blood of course. That sight of his sergeant's patch covered in blood only altered his calm and professionalism. At that moment Arjun was like a ticking bomb. If he found El Sueño right now...

Arjun grabbed the radio button and contacted Aly and Jade.

While the rest of the team had checked the entire building, Aly and Jade went up to the upper floors, looking for the control room. Where Aly could have full access to the cameras and electrical systems. Jade escorted Aly there, stealthily finishing off whoever crossed their path.

"Alyssa. We have news." Arjun's voice was heard over the Comms.

"Go ahead captain." Aly replied. It was difficult for her to hide her nervousness. She just wanted to find Sparrow and get out there.

"We have found the torture room but there is no sign of Sparrow. The guards are dead, and judging by the wounds Sparrow has recently escaped."

Aly sighed. Sparrow was alive, that was a huge relief.

"We will notify the rebels to establish a search perimeter."

Jade spread a map on the table. They both looked at it for a few moments. And they agreed where the perimeter should be established. Jade nodded.

Aly looked at the map, Sparrow could be anywhere. She sighed in defeat, it was like finding a needle in a haystack. Suddenly a hand landed on her shoulder. Aly looked up to see Jade giving her a comforting smile.

"We'll find Hannah. Don't worry."

Aly tried to smile and nodded.

"Thank you Jade."

The redhead nodded.

"I will inform the rebel forces." Jade announced, and quickly contacted Pac Katari.

Aly nodded, and looked back at the cameras.

"¿Dónde chingados estás Han?" (Where the fuck are you Han) Aly murmured worriedly.

After chatting with Pac Katari, Jade returned to Aly.

"The rebels report that the Narcos have heard the explosion and are on high alert. They are clearing the entire building."

"Understood. We will meet you as soon as possible." Arjun announced. "Alyssa, it's time to turn off the lights again. We'll take care of those bastards."

"I'm working on it" Aly was in charge of turning off all the electrical systems, thus the alarms and communication antennas of the drug traffickers were completely unusable. They couldn't call in reinforcements. "All systems disabled."

"Roger that Aly." Arjun replied. "Keep us informed of your situation at all times. Understood?"

Suddenly she heard something. It was almost imperceptible, it came from outside, on the other side of the door. It was as if…

"Alyssa?" Arjun asked Aly again after not receiving a response. Aly seemed to ignore him.

Aly frowned and looked at Jade.

"Have you heard that?"

Jade looked at her confused.

"Hear what?"

They both remained silent, listening. It was heard again, it was a sharp, fast, melodic sound.

"I think it comes from outside, from the forest." Jade tried to guess.

"No, no..." Aly paid more attention. Closing her eyes and listening as much as she could.

She waited a little and then heard it again for the third time.

"It's like…" Jade frowned.

"Like a..." then Aly's eyes widened. "a whistle."

As soon as Aly discovered it, she didn't hesitate to run to the door and throw it open.

"ah?! H-hey! Aly wait!" Jade tried to stop her. 

It was too dangerous to start running through the hallways! The building was full of guards! What was happening to her now?!

Jade followed her trying to catch up.

"Aly!" Jade tried to follow her, making sure no one was following them.

Oh my God. Had she perhaps gone crazy?

A group of three drug traffickers appeared from another hallway. Jade growled and pointed her gun. She shot all three between the eyes.

Screw discretion.

Aly stopped at an intersection of hallways, listened again.

"Come on, come on..." she murmured, panting.

"Aly, my god, what's going on?!" Jade finally caught up to her.

"It has to be around here." Aly looked in all directions.

Jade heard the voices of the drug traffickers who began to get closer and closer. Judging by the sound of the boots, there were many of them.

"¡Vamos cabrones! ¡Tienen que estar por aquí cerca!"

"We have to get out of here. We can't hold them off for long. I'm low on ammunition too." Jade stood in front of Aly, with an expression of complete concern for her friend. "Aly, what are you looking for?"

"I just need a little more time, I just..."

"We have the narcos breathing down our necks. We have to get out of here and return with the rest of the team."

Another whistle was heard.

Aly turned her head towards the sound as if she was an owl. And without saying anything else she started running again.

"Aly!" Jade followed her again.

They both walked through the hallways. Shots could be heard coming from the lower floors. The team had come into contact with the enemy. Over the radio, Arjun and Lachlan could be heard shouting orders between gunshots. But shots could also be heard coming from further ahead, right where they were heading and that worried Jade.

Aly opened an emergency door that led to a narrower, darker hallway. It was illuminated by red emergency lights. Jade reached her.

"We have to lock the door, now." Jade grabbed the ax and emergency fire hose on a nearby wall and managed to bar the door. "We have an army of Narcos on the other side. And if we don't hurry they're going to—..." Jade's words were interrupted by pained moans coming from the dark hallway.

Aly and Jade stared into the complete darkness, dimly illuminated by the red emergency bulb. Listening to someone dying of pain. That situation seemed like it had become a horror movie. Jade pulled out the gun slowly, Aly did the same, loading the gun trying not to make too much noise.

Suddenly they saw something moving on the ground. Something was crawling in the distance. It didn't have a specific shape. Until he got close enough to the red light and they realized he was a drug trafficker who was crawling because his legs didn't work. He was bleeding to death, but still he was fighting with all his might to run away from something.

"Perra asquerosa, maldita zorra…¡El Sueño te encontrará y va a hacerse un abrigo de piel contigo!" (You filthy bitch, you fucking slut...El Sueño will find you and make a fur coat out of you!) The drug trafficker cursed whoever he was fleeing from.

Suddenly a whistle was heard, which sounded much darker thanks to the echo generated by the narrow hallway.

The drug dealer raised his head and looked back. That was his fatal mistake, as a deafening gunshot was heard and a bullet flew down the hallway until it pierced the man's skull. The corpse remained motionless, staining the floor.

Jade and Aly's breathing was heavy. They didn't expect something like that. Footsteps were heard, a pair of heavy boots approaching them.

"Do you think..." Jade finally understood, but she still remained alert, holding the gun.

"She's here." Aly smiled. Her hands were shaking, from the adrenaline, from the tension, from fatigue. Everything had accumulated at that moment.

She put her fingers to her lips, took a breath, and whistled too. She whistled, creating a short little melody, just two notes, but it was enough to make the footsteps stop for a second.

Aly stood expectantly, waiting, waiting for an answer.

The silence became endless until finally, from the depths of that dark hallway, the song of a sparrow was heard. Incredibly sharp and fast.

Aly covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes filling with tears. Her lower lip was trembling and her heart was pumping rapidly.

At last.

A dark silhouette appeared, tall and large. That person had one hand supported, they seemed to be limping. The silhouette whistled again, another sparrow.

Aly couldn't stand it anymore, and started running towards that silhouette. She ran and ran until her body collided with the other, she didn't care. She hugged them tightly, hiding her face in the other person's chest. Aly ended up collapsing, tears streaming down her cheeks as a pair of arms wrapped around them lovingly. A heavy hand rested on her hair and stroked it lightly.

"I told you I would find you." Aly murmured, resting her forehead on her chest.

The chest vibrated with a light laugh. Aly looked up, seeing a smiling Sparrow.

"And I never doubted you" Hannah widened her smile.

Aly smiled too and wiped away her tears.

"You are an idiot." Aly joked between sobs.

"Well someone has to be." Sparrow responded with a chuckle.

They hugged for a few more seconds until it was time to separate. Sparrow watched Jade slowly approach.

"Hannah…" 

Sparrow smiled.

"I'm glad to see you well Jade."

"Oh, shut up." Jade hugged her too, tightly. "You made us very worried. We thought we had lost you."

"I'm sorry I kept you waiting." Sparrow reciprocated the hug.

"Don't say that."

They both separated.

"Jesus, Sparrow, you don't look good." Jade commented worriedly. "My God, you're bleeding."

Despite Sparrow's tired smile, her body was covered in bruises and she limped on one leg.

Aly lifted Hannah's shirt and opened her eyes in horror.

"You have been shot."

"Yeah, one of the guards managed to catch me when I tried to run away."

She had a gunshot wound to her lower abdomen, and it was spitting out dark blood, slowly but constantly. On the sides of her torso there were burns, small and surrounded by reddened skin. Surely from when the torturers used the cattle prod.

Jade took one of Sparrow's hands. The wrists were mangled, covered in bruises, marks and dried blood.

"How many nails have they pulled out?" Jade asked, looking at Sparrow's hands in terror.

"Four... It wasn't enough to make me talk." Sparrow looked exhausted, swaying from side to side, it was as if she would collapse at any moment.

"We have to get out of here. Now." Jade ordered.

Aly had Sparrow put one of her arms over her shoulders.

"Let's get you out of here Han."

"I'll inform the rest." Jade pressed the button on her radio. "Captain. We have found Sparrow. I repeat, we have found Sparrow."

"What?! Are you serious?" Lachlan replied. Although his voice sounded distorted by the gunshots. They seemed to be in quite a bind. "Take her out of the building and we will meet at the extraction point."

"And leave you alone with that army of Narcos?!" Jade exclaimed.

"It's an order. Getting Sparrow to safety is a priority. Dami—..." Interference cut off Lachlan's words.

Jade was going to answer but suddenly knocks and gunshots were heard on the other side of the door. Someone was trying to open it.

"Get ready." Jade ordered, taking out her karambit and gun. "That door isn't going to hold up much longer. Aly." Jade called to her partner.

"I know." Aly pulled out her gun with one hand and held Sparrow with the other.

"Let me help." Sparrow took a step forward but Aly stopped her.

"Are you crazy? Have you even seen yourself?! You've been tortured for days Hannah, you're bleeding to death and you can barely stand."

"I can still fight, I didn't get here by pure luck. Let me do it."

"Aly is right." Jade answered, she had returned to her serious attitude, ready to murder whoever came her way. "You're in no condition to engage in combat. Besides... We already trusted you once, now it's your turn to trust us."

Sparrow tried to reproach again but Jade's look was enough to silence her. Sparrow sighed.

"Then kick those sons of bitches' arses for me."

Jade smiled and nodded.

"Aly?" 

"ready.."

Jade leaned her back against the wall of the door. She adjusted her grip on the gun and knife. Aly did the same and pointed towards the door.

They waited, the gunshots and screams continued until suddenly everything was silent. The three looked at each other. The atmosphere was tense again. A heavy silence that squeezed everyone's lungs. Suddenly there were loud, heavy knocks on the door. Someone was trying to knock the door down.

Everyone was on alert until the door finally gave way and burst open. Jade didn’t hesitate to stick the barrel of her gun into the temple of the person who had just burst in. She was about to pull the trigger when she suddenly recognized the blonde mullet.

"Whitlock?!" Jade asked, confused.

"Fuckin' hell, Jade!" Damien exclaimed.

"Damien!" Aly sighed in relief and lowered the gun. "Shouldn't you be with the rest of the team?"

"Yeah, well, the captains sent me to look for you as soon as you didn't respond to Arjun."

"Damien fucking Whitlock… What in the bloody hell are you doing here?!" Sparrow exclaimed with a frown. Then she looked at Aly. "Seriously?!"

"We couldn't rescue you alone. We needed reinforcements." Aly shrugged.

"And of all people... it had to be him?!" Sparrow pointed at Damien.

"Oi! Drop that shitty attitude and show some appreciation that I even bothered to show up!" Damien took a step forward, clearly pissed.

Sparrow removed her arm from Aly's shoulders and straightened her back so that she was level with Damien. Holding her abdomen because of the wound.

"Appreciation? I don't owe you anything! I didn't ask you to come! I could get out of here all by myself!" Sparrow took another step forward.

They were like two dogs ready to fight and tear each other's throats out.

“Guys please…” Aly sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Clearly tired of both of their attitudes.

Jade simply watched the two of them as if she were watching a tennis match. What was happening here?

"You know, I was so comfortable back home, enjoying my days off when suddenly I get a fucking call that a certain little bird needs to be rescued on the other fucking side of the world."

"And they really thought you were the best one? You're always getting in the way of people with your huge butt!"

"And you can barely even walk with those huge duck feet!"

They spent a few tense seconds looking into each other's eyes, being only a few centimeters away. But in the end they both couldn't help it and a smile escaped their lips.

"C’mon, come ‘ere..."

They hugged each other tightly and patted each other on the back. The two chuckled.

"Don't scare me like that again..." Damien murmured, patting Hannah's head.

Sparrow snorted, trying to hold back a smile. She was really happy to have Damien there, she was able to trust him with her life without even thinking about it. She just liked to annoy him, and he liked to do that too.

"Sorry Damo." She rested her forehead on her friend's shoulder.

Aly sighed in relief and smiled. They always behave like this. Like two siblings who hate and love each other at the same time.

"What has happened?" Jade asked.

"Eventually you get used to it." Aly shrugged.

Damien and Sparrow chuckled. But suddenly Hannah's expression changed completely, she had turned completely pale and seemed dizzy again.

"Oh bloody hell…"

"Hannah!" Aly tried to reach her before she collapsed but Damien was faster and reached her first.

"Sparrow, what's wrong with you?!" Damien held Sparrow as best he could.

Hannah was slowly losing consciousness.

"She's losing too much blood. We need to get her out of here and have Mandy take a look at her." Jade ordered.

Suddenly interference was heard on the radio again.

"We have a visual of El Cardenal!" Lachlan's voice came over the radio amidst the gunshots and noises of the gunfight. "He's running away! Third floor! Right next to the east windows! We can't reach him with the mess here. You're going to have to take care of it!"

"Third floor? That's two floors down, we won't reach it. Much less carrying Sparrow."

"You go... I'll stay..." Sparrow muttered barely.

"I would rather die than leave you here." Damien answered with a completely serious look.

Jade was thoughtful the whole time.

"Take care of Hannah. I'll take care of El Cardenal." She put the gun back in its holster.

"You won't have time, there are too many stairs." Damien shook his head.

"I'm not going down the stairs." Jade answered determinedly, checking the harness that surrounded her thighs and hips. She took down a rappel rope from across her chest and tied one end to the harness and the other to a pair of carabiners.

Hannah looked up and chuckled weakly as she understood.

"Sometimes I think you're crazier than me..." Sparrow replied. "Just make sure the knots are tight."

Jade smiled and rested her hand on Sparrow's shoulder.

"You worry about staying alive, Han."

"I'll try not to disappoint you." Hannah laughed weakly.

Jade snorted, trying not to laugh in a situation like that, and looked at Alyssa and Damien.

"I leave her in your charge."

"Good luck, Jade." Aly nodded.

Jade nodded back and left. She started running down the hallways they had come through before. In one hand she held the gun and in the other the rappelling rope. She encountered several enemies who didn’t even have time to raise their weapons. Jade didn’t hesitate to shoot them in the head the moment they appeared in her field of vision. A very big guy stood in her way, trying to stop her. But with a quick pirouette she managed to throw him to the ground, rested her knee on his neck and shot him point-blank in the temple. Evidently the shooting had attracted more drug traffickers, so Jade hurried and ran.

She ended up reaching the end of the hallway, which opened onto some huge windows. Jade listened to the Narcos hot on her heels. She slid nimbly along the floor until she reached one of the concrete columns that supported the ceiling. She had arrived at the right place. She wrapped the rope around the column and secured it with the carabiner. As best she could, she measured the rope and did the calculations in her head. Was it a suicide? Yes. But there was no time to think about it. If she thought twice, El Cardenal would escape from under her nose.

The drug traffickers arrived, the bullets began to fly near her, threatening to pierce her body at any moment. Jade didn't waste any more time, she got up and ran towards the windows, without stopping for a second. She covered her face with her forearms and hit the glass. It went through the window, breaking the entire glass. The small pieces flew through the air, they remained suspended in the air, like Jade, for a few milliseconds, as if everything were in slow motion. But gravity soon did its work, the weight of the world hitting the pit of her stomach as she began to fall. She descended until the rope was completely taut, and like a pendulum the rope made Jade go from falling in the air to about to hit the windows two floors below.

Jade frowned as soon as she saw El Cardeanl near the windows. With her boots first, she burst into the building again, breaking the windows and taking El Cardenal with her. The sole of her boot impacted his cheek.

They both rolled on the ground. Jade got up as best she could, shook her head trying to get rid of the dizziness. From the corner of her eye she saw Gustavo Serrano, El Cardenal himself, who had already managed to recover from the kick that Charlotte had given him in the face. Jade pulled out the gun as soon as she realized it. But El Cardenal pulled out another gun and also pointed it at Jade.

"Mr. Serrano. Drop the weapon." Jade ordered firmly. "If you don't I will be forced to pull the trigger."

The man didn't say anything, he lowered the gun but instead of letting it go, he raised it higher.

"Sir." Jade threatened again.

Now the barrel of his gun rested on his own temple.

"Santa Muerte will come for all of us sooner or later." El Cardenal spoke in a sinister tone. "We are all sinners. Responsible for our actions. Only La Santa Muerte can bring us before the Lord."

"Drop the gun. You don't want to do this." Jade shifted her weight from one leg to the other nervously. They needed El Cardinal alive. And that son of a bitch was willing to take his own life without even blinking.

Where did she have to aim? To the leg? No, even if she fired, that wouldn't stop him from pulling the trigger. To the hand? It was too close to the head.

Shit…!

"Sacrifices must be made for the common good. To preserve what is good and what is pure."

The Cardinal closed his eyes and looked at the ceiling. And he pulled the trigger.

"¡NO!" 

But the bullet never went through Gustavo Serrano's head. In fact, a punch hit El Cardenal directly on the cheek, causing the bullet to deflect and hit a wall. Gustavo Serrano rolled on the ground from the impact.

Jade looked at the newcomer. Arjun shook his hand trying to relax his fingers.

"Captain…"

Jade realized that Arjun's eyes radiated anger, contempt and even madness.

Arjun had had enough of that fucking game. Could that man really take his own life after what he did to his sergeant? No, he did not deserve such a merciful fate. He deserved to suffer, just as he had made Sparrow suffer.

El Cardenal rubbed his sore jaw from the blow. He grunted and tried to get to his feet. But Arjun didn't let him. He kicked him in the mouth with his boot, causing him to fall to the ground again.

"Santa Muerte is not interested in you yet.Motherfucker." Arjun growled. "Do you think you can torture one of my soldiers for days and not suffer the consequences?"

"Sacrifices are necessary to—..."

Arjun hit him again.

"Sacrifices?! You are fucking genocidal. You bring hell to the innocent. You cheat, steal and kill for your own benefit without giving a shit. And you want to talk to me about sacrifice?!"

Arjun hit him again and again. Leaving the gloves soaked in blood. He didn't care about anything anymore. The chains, the torture tools, the cattle prod, Sparrow's Operation Kingslayer patch so stained with blood that the colors could no longer be distinguished. Just imagining that they had used all this on his sergeant made his blood boil. Arjun only saw red. Blood was splashing on his face, he didn't hear anything, his ears were ringing.

"Arjun!" Jade untied the rope still tied to her harness. "It's enough!"

Jade tried to grab Arjun by the shoulders but she didn't have enough strength to push him away.

"We need him alive!" Jade tried again. "Come on!" Jade's blood ran cold as she saw El Cardenal's disfigured face, all swollen and full of blood. He had to hurry or Arjun would beat him to death.

Suddenly another pair of larger, stronger arms appeared and between the two of them they pushed Arjun away from Gustavo Serrano.

"Arjun! Calm down, mate!" Lachlan pulled Arjun along while Jade went to inspect El Cardenal's condition.

"Let me go Jones! This bastard has to pay!" Arjun exclaimed terribly angrily.

Lachlan placed his body between Gustavo Serrano and the other captain, and put his hand on Arjun's chest.

"I understand your pain, Dhingra. But right now we need him alive. He is the right hand of El Sueño. We cannot waste this opportunity." Lachlan spoke calmly while still looking Arjun in the eyes.

"You've seen the torture room. What he's done to Sparrow…" Arjun closed his eyes and took a deep breath. No… he already lost a very close friend, and he still blamed himself for it. He had to be a better leader, he had to protect his people. It had to be better.

"I would have done the same in your situation. I am capable of burning the entire world for my own people. But you know perfectly well that this is not what Sparrow wants."

Arjun sighed and shook his head. He should have been the one to sacrifice himself for the team. Unconsciously he held his leg with that bullet wound, it hurt like hell but he could walk. He just had to ignore it. A punishment for his actions.

"What is the status of Serrano?" Arjun asked.

Jade checked El Cardenal’s pulse and pupils.

"He's unconscious. He's barely breathing but he's still alive."

"Okay, I'll deal with him later." Arjun came closer. "And Sparrow?"

Jade looked at Arjun with a worried expression.

"She is alive but needs immediate medical attention. She has been shot in the stomach and some of the wounds appear serious." Jade reported standing up and holstering her gun. "Damien and Aly are with her."

"Good. They have to go immediately to the extraction point."

The burden on his shoulders eased a little. Still, Arjun couldn't relax until the entire team was safe and sound at the base.

Hurried footsteps were heard and Anna appeared.

"The explosive charges are already placed and activated." Anna reported. "Fuck me! That's El Cardinal?! What the hell happened to him?!"

"Divine justice." Arjun replied seriously without looking at her.

"Alright guys. Time to go" Lachlan informed. "I’ll carry Gustavo Serrano."

Jade nodded.

"Aly. Sparrow needs to be moved to the extraction point as soon as possible. The charges are already placed and active." Jade reported over the radio.

"Understood. We're on our way. Damien is holding Sparrow. She doesn't seem very happy." Aly answered.

Anna laughed.

"Typical Sparrow."

"Come on guys, time moves on. We have to move." Lachlan ordered, carrying Gustavo Serrano's unconscious body on his shoulders.

The team made their way through the different floors of the base. Shooting all the guards and drug traffickers who stood in his way. And finally they managed to leave the building.

"To the truck! I'm driving!" Arjun ordered, after killing the drug dealer who was driving the said vehicle.

They all went up. They left El Cardenal lying in the back seats of the truck next to Lachlan. Jade took over as co-pilot and Anna jumped into the bed truck that had a turret attached.

"Oh fuck...!" Anna cursed as she saw more Santa Blanca Cartel vehicles approaching along the roads. "More reinforcements are coming!"

"Shit!" Lachlan stuck his head out of the truck window. "We have to hurry! The explosive charges will soon explode! Pham! How much time do we have left?!"

"A minute at most!" Anna responded.

El Cardenal raised his head in confusion. It seemed that he was beginning to come to his senses. Lachlan noticed and with the butt of his rifle hit him in the back of the head again.

"Sweet dreams you piece of shit." Lachlan groaned "Where the fuck is the rest?!"

"I think I see them! Shit they have a fucking army behind them..."

"Use the turret!" Arjun ordered, starting the car.

"A pleasure!" Anna grabbed the turret with both hands and began shooting at any Narco that threatened those who were just arriving.

Damien ran out of the building carrying an unconscious Sparrow fireman's lift style, Aly ran next to him, protecting Damien as best she could.

Anna motioned for them to run in that direction.

They both jumped into the bed truck. Damien left Sparrow on the floor of the truck and joined in the firefight. Aly put pressure on Sparrow's wound. Hannah complained weakly but barely had the strength to speak.

Anna made sure everyone was in the truck. She hit the rear windshield of the truck to warn Arjun.

Arjun didn’t hesitate to step on the accelerator and speed away from there. Just then there was a series of explosions inside the building, the entire area had been filled with dust and dirt. And shortly after in one last explosion the building collapsed, like a titan that had been defeated.

Mesmerized, Anna watched the building fall. That always left a strange feeling.

"Anna, help me with this!" Aly asked, breaking Anna out of her thoughts.

Anna knelt down along with Aly.

"Sparrow doesn't look very good." Anna mentioned, worried, seeing her friend's state.

"The wound must be packed. We have to reduce the bleeding as soon as possible."

Sparrow opened her eyes and realized that Anna was there.

"I've been calling you for several days…" Hannah murmured weakly. "You didn't answer."

Anna smiled sadly, and cupped Sparrow's cheek.

"I didn't want to bore you with my dramas, birdie."

"Looks like I'll have to do this more often so I can talk to you." Sparrow smiled and closed her eyes.

Anna chuckled and shook her head.

"Don't even think about doing this again, idiot."

Aly smiled listening to the conversation between both women, but then returned her gaze to the wound.

"Anna keep Sparrow awake, don't let her fall asleep for a second." Aly ordered, ripping off a sleeve of her shirt and then tore it into strips.

"Hey hey. Hannah! wake up!" Anna lightly patted Sparrow's face. But she didn't respond. "Shit she’s not opening her eyes."

"Hit her harder."

"What? Really?"

"You heard me. Slap her like some asshole grabbed your ass without permission. Hannah's a big girl. She can take it.”

Anna smirked. 

"Very well. You asked for it."

Anna raised her hand and slapped Hannah's cheek with all her might.

"Fucking hell!" Hannah's eyes snapped open.

"That's my girl! Now keep your eyes open Sparrow!" Anna exclaimed, patting Hannah's chest.

Aly began to insert the pieces of cloth into the bullet wound as a plug to reduce the bleeding. Hannah complained again.

"Guys…" Damien interrupted them. He grabbed the switch on his radio. "We got visitors. Enemy vehicles approaching. There’s heaps of ‘em."

Several armed cars appeared behind the truck, chasing them at full speed.

"Roger. Let's try to throw them off." Arjun responded over the radio.

He turned the wheel and drove down a road that wound through a very narrow valley. A dangerous road that was on the edge of a cliff between two mountains that looked like giants that wanted to pounce on them.

"Okay guys. Get ready to engage!" Lachlan ordered as he pulled his body out the car window and pointed his gun.

Jade did the same.

"Pham to the turret. Now." The Australian captain indicated.

"Rog!" She looked at Aly. "Can I leave her in your care?"

"I'll keep her awake as long as I can. Go." Aly nodded at the turret.

Anna nodded and moved right behind the turret.

"Let's teach those pieces of shit when to fucking give up!"

"Fuck yeah!" Damien responded, placing one knee on the floor of the truck and aiming his rifle.

The first enemy trucks appeared on the road. Chasing the truck at full speed.

"Contact!" Jade screamed as the drug traffickers began shooting from their vehicles.

The team soon responded with fire and heavy artillery. Making sure to keep the narcos at bay and that they won't get too close. The road was already dangerous enough without now adding a shootout.

One of the trucks from the Santa Blanca cartel came too close, becoming parallel to the team's vehicle. Arjun looked towards the window realizing that a narco was pointing a gun at him.

"Back off Captain!" Jade exclaimed.

Arjun obeyed and leaned his body back giving Jade room to shoot the driver and co-driver of the truck. Arjun swerved to the side and pushed the other truck over the cliff, causing it to fall into the void.

"They're called traffic laws for a reason, idiots!" Arjun groaned as he watched the truck crash into the bottom of the valley.

Suddenly his attention shifted to his ears. The engine of a helicopter could be heard approaching from a distance.

"Is it Mandy?!" Jade asked, trying to make her voice heard over the gunshots.

A second helicopter was heard approaching and suddenly a rocket hit the road a few meters ahead. Arjun had to make an effort to prevent the truck from overturning.

"I do not think so!" Arjun replied.

"Shit...! Anna! Grab the RPG!" Jade screamed, sticking her head out of the window.

One of the armed helicopters launched another rocket that hit the mountain wall, causing huge rocks to start falling onto the road. Arjun could dodge them with difficulty.

"Hurry up Gremlin! We have to shoot down those helicopters." Jade exclaimed watching the rocks fall dangerously close to the vehicle. Some rocks crushed the drug traffickers' trucks that were still chasing them.

Anna grabbed the RPG, dug her knee into the ground.

And she placed the rocket launcher on her shoulder.

"I only have one shot!" Anna grunted in annoyance.

"Then make sure you don't miss. And take one of those helicopters to fucking hell." Damien said as he shot at one last enemy truck.

"Fuck it." Anna pulled the trigger and the rocket was launched at full speed, hitting the tail of one of the helicopters, causing it to lose control and crash into the mountain wall in a large explosion.

"Way to go Grem!" Damien shook Anna's shoulder euphorically.

"I wouldn't celebrate victory this early, Damien. There's another helicopter to shoot down." Lachlan spoke on the radio.

"We'll use the turret." Damien grabbed the weapon with both hands and pointed it at the cockpit of the remaining helicopter. "If we hit the pilot—..."

But a rocket appeared out of nowhere, flying through the sky at high speed that collided with the remaining helicopter.

"What the fuck?!"

Some interference was heard over the Comms.

"Sorry I'm late guys." Mandy's voice appeared.

A third helicopter appeared flying between the valley walls. This one had the Operation Kingslayer symbol painted on the front.

"Mandy! You don't know how happy I am to hear your voice!" Jade exclaimed in relief over the radio.

"I'm sorry for the delay, these bastards haven't left me alone for a single moment." Mandy answered.

"How's your new toy treating you?" Arjun asked.

The helicopter that Mandy previously used had received too much damage in the last few missions. And now with the new additions to the team they needed something bigger and more armed. Luckily Pac Katari got a new helicopter for Mandy.

"Wonderful, sir. I think I'm growing fond of it." Mandy joked.

For the first time in days Arjun chuckled lightly.

"Good to know Macfie" then returned to his serious demeanor. "Proceed to extraction point B. Sparrow needs immediate medical attention."

"Roger that captain." 

Finally the team managed to escape from the cartel and those facilities. As soon as they reached the extraction point, Arjun and Damien took Sparrow to the helicopter while the rest boarded.

"Aly I need you here with me. We have to find a safe route to return to the base." Mandy asked as she sat back down in the pilot's seat.

"Hannah needs help." Aly informed.

"I know."

"You're the team medic Mandy." Aly responded worriedly.

"I have to pilot the helicopter too, I will give instructions so that you can treat Sparrow's injuries or at least hold on until we get to the base." Mandy justified, understanding her friend's anxiety and concern.

"Alyssa." Arjun called her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sparrow is going to be fine. We will do everything in our power to save her."

Aly looked at Sparrow, who was lying on the floor of the helicopter while the rest of the team tried to tend to her. She then returned her gaze to Arjun.

"Take care of finding a safe route so we can all get home." Arjun spoke softly and understandingly. "Clayton will be fine."

Aly sighed and nodded. She sat next to Mandy and with the help of the maps and her laptop she began to search for routes in the satellite images.

"I have a route."

"Good. Let's take off." Mandy answered using the controls to lift the helicopter into the air again and fly in the direction Aly was pointing.

While in the back of the Helicopter they tried to make sure Sparrow was still alive.

"Jade, I need you to put pressure here." Lachlan was giving orders. "Damien, get the first aid kit."

Both attended and obeyed orders.

Arjun knelt next to Lachlan.

"Macfie. We need instructions on how to remove the bullet." Arjun said.

"The bullet is quite close to the liver. You have to be very careful. The blood is red at the moment. That's a good sign, it means it hasn't damaged the liver yet." Mandy explained. "But if the blood comes out black. Sparrow's countdown will have slowed down significantly."

"Why?" Damien asked worriedly.

Mandy was silent for a while, thinking about how to explain it.

"The liver is in a way responsible for purifying the blood, as are the kidneys. But the liver extracts toxins and residual substances from the blood. If the liver is affected, these toxins may go into the bloodstream again in high quantities and poison her own blood." Mandy explained. "We don't know how close the bullet is to the liver, but what we do know for sure is that if Sparrow keeps moving and the wound gets bigger, it will eventually hit the organ."

"We have to remove the bullet as soon as possible." Arjun summarized.

"But if we do, we run the risk of Sparrow bleeding to death." Aly added.

"That's why we need to have a blood transfusion ready in case things get complicated. Jade, Sparrow and you share a blood group. O negative is quite unusual, you're the only one who can give her blood."

"Understood." Jade nodded.

"We have to make two groups. One will be in charge of the blood transfusion and the other will be in charge of removing the bullet and cauterization."

"The sergeants and Jade will handle the transfusion. Me and Captain Jones will handle the extraction. Understood?" Arjun ordered and everyone nodded.

Without wasting any more time, following Mandy's instructions while she piloted. One group was tasked with preparing the intravenous lines and injecting serum into Sparrow's veins. While the other group was in charge of preparing the scalpel and forceps to extract the bullet.

Meanwhile, Sparrow was barely unconscious. Blood stained the floor of the helicopter. Her vision was blurry and sounds sounded like she was underwater. For a moment she locked eyes with Aly, who was unable to look away. She had a terrified and worried expression. Sparrow wanted to raise her hand, tell her that everything was okay, and that she would get through this, like she always had. But she didn't have the strength to do it.

"Starting with the incision." Lachlan reported after lifting Sparrow's shirt enough to show the gunshot wound. It didn't look good...

He brought the scalpel closer and made a cut along the wound. Sparrow grunted and shook hard in pain.

"Hold her!" Arjun exclaimed, grabbing Sparrow by the shoulders and pinning her to the ground.

Damien did the same, pinning her legs.

"I proceed to remove the bullet."

The moment Lachlan pushed the forceps into the wound, Sparrow began to thrash about in pain again, grunting, screaming, and trying to twist her body.

"Fuck Sparrow!" Damien exclaimed, trying to keep the sergeant still.

"The head! Hold her head!" Arjun exclaimed as he saw Sparrow unconsciously hitting her head on the floor of the helicopter.

Anna quickly knelt in front of Hannah and held her head with both hands preventing her from hitting the ground once again.

"Shhh everything's going to be fine Han, it's almost out. Hold on, just a little longer." Anna tried to calm Sparrow by caressing her cheeks with her thumbs even though her hands were shaking and she was having trouble hiding her fear.

Sparrow's life was slipping through her fingers and she could only tell her that everything would be okay.

"Shit, the bullet slips too much." Lachlan was having trouble removing the bullet.

"There is too much blood." Jade murmured worriedly.

"HANNAH!" Aly jumped out of the seat and tried to get closer, she was on the verge of hysteria as she heard Sparrow's screams and grunts of pain.

"Aly no!" Damien quickly stood up and stopped her by grabbing her torso.

"Damo! She—!"

"She's not going to die!" Damien looked Aly in the eyes. He was just as scared as she was. The hands holding Aly were shaking. The thought of losing another friend in front of his eyes terrified him. It made his legs fail and he didn't know how to respond. But he had to stay strong.

Sparrow screamed as Lachlan pushed the forceps deeper into the wound.

Anna closed her eyes tightly fighting not to let the tears fall and rested her forehead against Sparrow's.

"I'm sorry birdie... I'm so sorry"

Aly tried to go to Sparrow but Damien stopped her again. Alyssa could only collapse in the sergeant's arms as she watched her friend suffer.

"The bullet is out!" Lachlan reported as soon as the bullet came out.

"We have to stop the bleeding and cauterize the wound. Now!" Mandy ordered from the pilot's seat.

"Shit she's bleeding to death."

"Hannah, don't fall asleep!"

"Jade the blood transfusion!"

"We're losing her!"

________________

The intermittent but constant beep was the first thing she heard, followed by the light passing through her eyelids. A feeling of dizziness and nausea hit her like a wave. The last thing to wake up were the pain receptors, absolutely her entire body hurt.

For a moment she thought she had returned to K2.

She opened her eyes with an enormous effort. The light bothered her terribly, she had to blink and keep her eyes squinted for a while. The first thing she saw was her body covered in bandages and lying on a medical bed.

She made another effort and looked around. It looked like a field hospital, a huge tent with several medical beds. There were other wounded people, nurses and doctors walking around. People she didn't know.

Where the fuck was she?

She looked to the side. There was a small table, on the furniture there was a glass of water and a couple of pills, there was also a patch. Her patch. It had been washed, no longer completely stained with blood, the colors could now be distinguished, but there were still traces of red in certain areas.

Her ears became accustomed to the noise, she could hear more and more things. It was even starting to get overwhelming. She heard a breathing, deep, calm. She looked the other way and found Jade, she was sleeping, her arms and head resting on Sparrow's lap.

Hannah didn't know how she couldn't notice Jade's weight on her. Maybe her body, despite the pain, was still numb.

As best she could, she stretched out her arm towards Jade, her hand trembling exaggeratedly. It seemed as if Jade had stayed there, for hours, waiting.

"I wouldn't wake her up if I were you." A familiar voice was heard. "More than half a liter of her blood runs through your veins, she’s absolutely buggered."

Hannah finally looked up and realized she had a visitor.

"Damo...?" Sparrow's voice sounded dry. Her throat hurt, she even coughed a little.

"Hey hey." Damien stood up from the chair he was sitting in and carefully brought the glass to her. "Drink up, c’mon."

Hannah obeyed and drank some water as best she could. She felt that her body absorbed that water like a sponge. How long had she gone without drinking water? And without eating?

"That's it. Slowly. It has cost us a lot to keep you alive, we don't want you to die now from choking on some water." Damien joked lightly.

Hannah nodded when she had drunk enough water. Damien put the glass away and sat back down.

"What the hell happened?" Hannah asked, resting her head on the pillow again.

"Well... I asked a mutual friend to have a little chat with the devil and tell him that your time hasn't come yet." Damien smiled.

Hannah tried to smile too.

"Did you tell Daniel to kick me out of hell?"

"I reckon Dan would’ve dragged me into hell if he realized I let you die." Damien answered.

Hannah chuckled but it made her ribs hurt more.

"I have to admit, using the defibrillator was fun but scary at the same time," a female voice said.

"Gremlin." Sparrow stretched out a hand and Anna didn't hesitate to grab it.

"Hey birdie." Anna smiled sadly.

"It's nice to see you again." Hannah replied weakly, "I wish circumstances were different."

"Shut up." Anna rolled her eyes and ended up hugging Sparrow without much force.

They separated and looked each other in the eyes. They knew each other well, they had been through many missions together, Las Almas was no exception. And Hannah could still see in Anna's eyes that what happened there still affected her deeply. There were cracks in those cheerful eyes. And although Hannah couldn't quite figure out what it was, she knew something was broken.

Anna sat in a chair next to Damien.

"You look like shit." Anna joked.

"If you ask me, I reckon she even looks better than before." Damien answered.

They both laughed and bumped fists. Hannah just rolled her eyes.

"How nice it is to have you as friends..." she said ironically.

"The best you will find." Anna smiled.

Sparrow shook his head and looked back at Jade. She was still fast asleep. Sparrow took one of her red locks and tucked it behind Jade's ear. And to think that she had only been saved because she and Jade coincidentally shared a blood type...

Death really liked to play with her.

She would have to treat Jade to breakfast or something as a thank you for saving her life. She would have to ask Ghost what food she likes.

"How long has it been?"

"Since you came back to life? About ten hours." Anna checked her watch.

"You had a good nap." Damien crossed his arms and leaned his back against the back of the chair.

"I think we all need a good nap after this." Anna stretched her arms and yawned. "Or a fucking coma. Sleeping for a few days wouldn't be bad."

"I vote for an alcohol coma." Damien answered.

Anna laughed.

"Amen brother."

Hannah watched them in silence. Happy to see them there. They were able to cross half the world just for her. She had a lot to thank them for.

She noticed that they were both wearing Operation Kingslayer patches on their vests as well.

"So you've joined the crew." Hannah pointed to the patches.

"Well considering the fucking disaster we've encountered we couldn't let you do it yourselves." Anna shrugged.

"Lachlan has spoken to Arjun. The Regiment will stay in Bolivia for a while." Damien rested both hands on the straps of his vest.

"Just you two?"

"That's all ya need." Damien smiled confidently.

"And Arjun?" Hannah asked, looking around. Wondering where her captain was.

"Taking care of El Cardenal." Damien answered. "He hasn't woken up yet."

"Woken up?"

"Oh yes. When Arjun finally saw Gustavo Serrano, he gave him the beating of his life in your honor." Damien explained.

"He looked so hot." Anna bit her lower lip.

"Annabelle Katherine Delgado Pham what in the actual fuck is wrong with you?" Damien raised an eyebrow. 

"What? It's true. And you can't deny it." Anna crossed her arms.

Hannah laughed but said nothing. She just watched them talk and argue. She had really missed them.

Footsteps were heard approaching. The three looked up. Mandy and Aly walked over.

"It seems that sleeping beauty has woken up." Mandy joked.

Sparrow smiled.

"How many beers do I owe you for saving my ass again Mandy?" Sparrow asked.

"Well, enough already." Mandy walked over and quickly hugged Sparrow. "I'm glad you woke up. How are you feeling?"

"Like hammered shit." 

"You look like one too." Mandy laughed.

"Ha! told ya." Damien added and earned a furtive glance from Sparrow.

Mandy rolled her eyes and returned her attention to Sparrow. "You're going to stay in bed for a few days. You're out of danger but you're still pretty weak. It'll take you a few weeks to recover. But you'll get out of it."

"Under your care I have no doubt that I will recover Doc." Hannah smiled.

Mandy did the same and patted Sparrow's shoulder.

"Rest for now. I'll inform the captains and the 141 that you've woken up."

Hannah nodded and Mandy walked out of the tent.

Sparrow turned his head and saw Aly.

"Hey…o-oh–! Wow! Haha! ouch!" Sparrow was surprised when Aly rushed into her arms. "Aly, you're going to wake Jade up. Hahaha."

Aly ignored her and hugged her tighter. Sparrow sighed smiling and returned the hug as well. Not caring about the pain that the hug caused her.

"If you scare me like this again, I'm going to tie you to a chair." Aly muttered.

Sparrow chuckled.

"Sorry."

Aly pulled away from Hannah, she had a sad smile on her face. Dark circles rested under her red, puffy eyes. Hannah felt bad for scaring her so much.

"It would have been too hard to tell Lily that she would never see her favorite aunt again."

"Hang on!" Damien intervened. "I thought I was her favorite uncle!"

"Know your place Damo." Sparrow gave him the middle finger.

Damien did the same.

Anna just laughed and shook her head. Knowing perfectly well that she was the favorite. Or maybe they all were? Lily would never confess.

Aly laughed. Their expressions seemed more relaxed than before. At least everyone had returned safely, and that eased her heart.

"Can I have a moment alone with Sparrow?"

Everyone turned their heads towards where that deep, masculine voice came from.

Arjun came closer with his hands inside his pockets. He seemed serious and not in a very good mood.

Everyone looked at each other debating what to do. In the end they got up and left except Jade, who was still sleeping peacefully, she had donated more blood to Sparrow than was allowed and that had left her completely exhausted, not to mention everything she had gone through during the mission.

"I'll come back to check on you later." Aly said goodbye, kissing Sparrow's head. "Now I have to go talk to John."

"Is Price in trouble?" Hannah raised an eyebrow.

Aly sighed, she didn't seem very happy with her husband.

"I'll tell you later."

Aly left with the rest, leaving Arjun, Jade and Sparrow alone.

"Hasn't she woken up yet?" Arjun asked, looking at Jade.

"No." 

Arjun took a jacket from a chair and placed it on Jade's shoulders.

"She's been up all night with you. She wanted to make sure you were okay and the rest of the team was rested. So she stood guard." Arjun sighed and grabbed a chair and sat next to the medical bed. "She cares too much about the team and not about herself."

Sparrow nodded.

"They told me that you beat up El Cardenal for me." Sparrow tried to joke, trying to relax the atmosphere between the two of them.

"I did what had to be done Sergeant." Arjun replied, "I wasn't going to let someone else die for me. At least… not again."

Sparrow tried to decipher Arjun's eyes, there was something hidden, a story that had never been told. A deep pain that had not yet been released. But Sparrow didn't ask, it wasn't her place, at least not for now.

"I wasn't able..." Arjun had his eyes fixed on some point. "I wasn't able to cut the rope. I couldn't leave you there, pretend everything was fine and continue with the mission."

Sparrow thought for a bit about what to say.

"It was crazy, maybe one of the craziest things that I ever did." Sparrow nodded a few times. "That's why I'm glad you didn't cut the rope."

Arjun looked into her eyes for a few seconds.

"It took us too long to rescue you."

"You did what you had to do sir."

"As captain it is my duty to protect my team."

"And you have done it. We are all here, we are all alive and we have achieved our objective. We have El Cardenal and valuable information."

"I doubt Gustavo Serrano wants to talk." Arjun shook his head.

"No, El Cardenal won’t speak."

"We're still going to try. My way this time." Arjun leaned forward, resting both his elbows on his legs. "You mentioned that we have obtained valuable information. Do you have anything?"

Sparrow was slow to respond but nodded.

"Did you see him? El Sueño?" Arjun raised his head.

Sparrow nodded again.

"He spoke to you?"

"Yes but he didn't say anything important. Just threats and attempts to buy my loyalty."

"He didn't get it."

"Of course not. He can shove his money up his ass. But I learned to listen, to pretend I was unconscious at the right time."

"Did you get another name?"

"That's right."

Arjun thought a little. They hadn’t yet lost track ofEl Sueño. They still had a chance to hunt him down, and now that they had the Bolivian rebel forces they could hit harder. But for now, they had to rest and keep a low profile. At least until things calmed down a bit.

"This war isn’t over yet." Arjun stood up and patted Sparrow's shoulder. "But for now rest. We'll take care of the rest."

Arjun left, he left the tent, once again finding the base of the Bolivian rebel forces. In the distance he saw Lachlan talking to Pac Katari. Lachlan realized that Arjun had left the tent, and raised a hand indicating Paco Katari to wait a moment and walked until he reached Arjun.

"How's your sergeant?"

"She's awake, she'll be fine." Arjun replied. "Do we have any news?

"Gustavo Serrano has woken up."

Arjun sighed and cracked his neck.

"Good. There's work to do."

___________

EXTRA!

drawing made by the beautiful @alypink. I'm crying so much!! I'm in love with this drawing!! T^T <333

[mikhailwrites]

MWIII vs Bury your gays

I really, honestly think people should just take a deep breath and take a step back for a bit.

Spoilers past this point.

Yeah the ending ain't good but please, before you start spewing stuff about "they killed Soap because of the ship!" just...

Did you see the rest of that campaign? Was that ending really the only badly written/forced thing in it?

We now know for a fact that the game was developed in little over a year (that is crazy!!!!), the development was rushed and full of horrific, stupid executive decisions. The developers were spending nights and weekends at work. I honestly don't think they had time and capacity to go "oh yeah, a negligible portion of people in the weird parts of the internet are writing/drawing our character in gay way, let's off that character."

Take a look back at MWII, that ship didn't appear out of nowhere, the campaign got called "The biggest bromance of the year" by mainstream videogame media for a reason. People at Activision wrote that script, multiple people reviewed and okayed it.

I know you're angry, I know you're disappointed, I am too, but if they wanted to scratch the (b)romance, they could simply tone down Ghost's and Soap's constant bickering, which they very much didn't do, quite the contrary.

That campaign is bad, Activision deserves to be called out on it, but please consider if accusing them of homophobia really fits the bill here, because if it doesn't, then you're not only diverting attention from the root cause of the issue, but also downplaying a very real problem concerning LGBTQ+ representation in media.

TL;DR: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

[sleepinginpanic]

I feel like if Charlie had actually ran as himself and not Gegg than he would be winning in a landslide. He’s so smart and actually makes such great points, the only problems are the bits he has committed to.

Because he has to only use signs and only say a few words at a time, his freedom of speech is very limited making it harder to make his points. He has to constantly be writing things down and if no one decides to read what he wrote it can be completely ignored. Seen when he was trying to argue with Celbit and him just not reading any of the signs (mostly because he was busying arguing with others at the time and probably just didn’t notice them.) Charlie has a really good voice it’s strong and he’s very charismatic. We’re not seeing a lot of that with Gegg though, Gegg’s voice isn’t commanding like Charlie’s can be, it’s scratchy and hard to understand (which is the point but still) it makes it difficult to want to listen to it. Charlie has played several characters and has the ability to make his voice very loud, or threatening as well as soft and very happy go lucky. This can be very beneficial for his campaign as he can participate in the debates more.

The other bit is the whole we are Gegg thing, which I understand is more of a we are all one but it comes off as weird, kinda culty. It just struggles to come across as Charlie wants it to because of Gegg, his constant referring to stuff as Gegg-something or something-Gegg makes it hard to understand the point. If Charlie wasn’t Gegg then this point could be better construed.

The last bit that really damns him is the whole burn the world. If toned down a little of not the whole world but mostly the government then it might come better across or at least explained better. Also by him running as Gegg a lot of people have taken it as a joke, meaning they might not even consider Gegg to be a real opinion.

On the other hand if Charlie has run as himself it would make winning harder too, especially when going against the others.

People shut up when Gegg gets his turn because he writes it all down, if it was just Charlie speaking there is a lot more of a likelihood that he will be talked over or interrupted like the other candidates.

Also being an egg gives him more of a sense of security, despite everyone knowing that he’s Gegg, they still treat him like an egg when it comes to certain things. They jump to his aid a lot faster and have more of an instinct to protect him.

Maybe it’s Charlie himself or Gegg but a lot of people also just go with the bit with him. He’s funny to them and it makes them play along more. No one’s calling out the whole burn the world thing because it funny, it’s this little egg that wants to burn shit. It makes his actions less questionable.

All together both of them have their ups and downs. Which is why it would have been cool to have them be co runners. In all actuality it would be hard to pull of especially with Charlie not wanting people to know he’s Gegg but if they could have Charlie sometimes talk in his actual voice at least for arguing parts or explaining things better it would be a lot more helpful. Listening to Charlie talk to BBH and seeing how easy Charlie seemed to get him on the same page makes me think if Charlie was talking then they could convince a lot more people of their standing.

Also I wish that they would have everyone speak in their actual languages and have the translators fixed. It would solve a lot of issues. People would most likely listen more and they have to read what’s said like with Gegg and it makes it more comfortable for those who don’t speak English. It’s hard to get points across when you don’t know the right words.

[vibratingskull]

Hello! So I'm gonna go an try my first request. If for any reason it is to much or you just don't feel like it, it's ok!

It might seem strange, but I would like to see your take on a Thrawn and reader (female) reunion and thrawn is insecure. It's been a while since the last time they saw each other. Does the reader still love him, has she moved on, will she like him like he is now (old and a bit out of shape)?

Maybe the reader would feel the same insecurities.

I'll leave it too you for an ending. (But I was wondering if you would do a bit of angsty fluff? If it's not to much to ask of course!)

And thank you so much for your time 💙

I'm not gonna lie, we were that close to a bad ending😶 😶 😶 Those bitches really need to learn to communicate

ThrawnxF!reader

Thrawn is walking in the corridors of the stone citadel, thinking.

Brooding over the earliest moments.

You are finally here!

But at the same time it feels like you’re not here with him. Something is missing. Terribly missing.

He thinks about that moment he walked down the stormtroopers aisle to meet his rescue time and he saw you. In all your glory. His wife. But while everyone seemed content to be here, you remained cold, with a hard expression, arms crossed on your chest like you closed yourself to the world. He saluted everyone, thanking them to come save him from his exile but you just nodded without a word when he greeted you.

He had this infantile, fleeting fantasy that when you would have seen him you would have runned into his arms, embracing him with all your might. He knew that would not happen, of course, you are an Empire officer, not an angsty teen. But at least he hoped for a smile.

Elsebeth seemed enthusiast, but you remained silent and aloof, almost disinterested, annoyed to be here.

After that he hoped that you would open in the map room, when time to strategize had come. You used to strategize together all the time, hidden in his office you would make plans and campaigns all night long until morning came. You really thrived in this environment and he hoped you would open up a bit, but you remained stoic and cold, only speaking when he asked your opinion. You looked bored all day long with him.

And that pains him.

Did he do something wrong?

Did your sentiments for him vanished?

Oh no…

Did you find someone else to console you during those ten years?

Did your marriage ended without his knowledge?

It stabs his heart when he realizes this possibility. He held on to his sentiments for you during these ten years but maybe you didn’t and replaced him. Maybe you finally find someone who could give you this family he promised you but kept postponing all those years.

He digs his nails in the flesh of his palms. If he didn’t do that… If he honored his promise maybe he would not be torturing himself right now.

He gulps.

So is it truly over?

He will not try to hold you back, you are free and he could never chain you to him against your will. He would rather let you go and be happy and him desperate and alone than having you to himself, but unhappy and resentful. This is the least it could do.

But he still would like an explanation. Know where you stand. It is not unreasonable to ask.

He winces in pain as his old spine wounds act up again. This is another unfortunate thing too, since that day Bridger took them to another galaxy, that tentacle broke several of his vertebrae, leaving him disabled for those ten years.

He sighs.

He had to abandon his former lifestyle, and say goodbye to his daily long training sessions to remain in a wheelchair for years. He only could start to walk again three years ago, but he still has difficulties walking properly. In result it took on a few pounds. He is not especially ashamed of it, but he remembers how you used to praise his toned, athletic body each day.

Maybe… He repulses you now…

You kept training all those years and it showed. You were glowing in his eyes , with your fit body and mature face, you’ve never been so gorgeous in his eyes… You aged like fine wine, while he feels old and tired.

He always was your elder of a good decade, maybe he’s out of your league now. Your tastes changed and didn't include him anymore.

He feels suddenly mentally exhausted, like he was holding on a string all those years and that string suddenly snapped today.

He finally reached your assigned room. He gather his thoughts, he will return you his wedding ring and let you walk free from him. That is for the best…

He knocks, ready to say his farewell.

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

You sigh, spread on your hard bed. 

This day has been really mentally daunting. You’re exhausted.

You had… hopes?

Hopes that he would show you his love like the good old days, a little smile, a light touch of the hand or a word only you two understood…

But no.

You hoped he would ask you to stay in the map room after dismissing everyone, but he didn’t. He kept his stoic demeanor and send you to your room.

It took you all your willpower to not burst into tears of joy when you saw him alive, walking down this aisle. It took you all your energy to not betray the secret of your marriage. You took care to never wear your ring in presence of Elsbeth or the other members of the team.

You definitively hoped for more.

But it didn’t happen.

Maybe he forgot about you during those ten years.

Hell, maybe his injuries gave him amnesia and he truly forgot you were married to one another.

Or maybe he just fell out of love like it happens so much in everyday life.

You curl up over yourself in the covers, trying not to weep when you hear a knock on your door.

You open to see Thrawn, straight and stiff, his lips pursed in a thin line. He truly doesn’t seem happy to see you.

“May I enter?”

“Yes…” you mumble, taking a step to the side.

He enters, walking past you in a brush of air. He looks around the room like he can’t look directly at you. Your heart bleeds. You would give everything to feel his burning red gaze on you one last time.

He sighs, like he’s annoyed. You pout behind his back.

“Is everything alright?” You ask, trying to reach him.

“Yes.” He answers absentmindedly, aloof  “Everything is quite fine.” 

He clearly doesn’t look like he tortured himself like you did. His mind seems set, focused on the future.

The question being : do you have a place in this future?

“May I sit?” He asks again.

“Of course.” You gesture to the table in your room with rustic chairs.

He winces as he sits down.

“Are you hurt?” You inquire worried.

“An old wound. Nothing important.” He shortly responds “Please, sit with me.” He invites you.

You sit down, almost grazing his hand on the table, but you take care not to touch him, he would surely take his hand away.

“I am happy to see you.” 

“You are?” You try not to appear to surprised, he didn’t look that happy earlier that day.

“Of course. Why would I not be?” 

“I don’t know.” You just answer.

You’re slowly dying. Before he welcomed you with a languorous kiss and a warm hugafter each mission. Those days are long gone, now he looks like he can’t wait to be out of this room of yours.

“Elsbeth told me you spared no effort to find me.” He continues with a distant tone.

“It’s true. We all did.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” 

Silence takes place. Nobody dares say the words that will end it all, but they resounds in the bedroom like a loud bang. You lower your gaze on your fidgeting fingers, not knowing how to bring the subject. He clears his throat, a bit embarrassed. you let your eyes run on the table to his hand, his left hand is hidden under the table, impossible to see if he wears his ring. He probably took it off long ago.

“You are not wearing your ring.” He placidly notices, with a tremor in the voice.

“Yes, I… Took care not to reveal our marriage to anyone.” You explain.

“You did well.”

You bite your cheek. You did well because he will not have to explain to the other that it ended? You feel a hard pinch at your heart.

It hurts like hell.

“Listen.” He finally starts “I think we have to talk.”

Here we go…

“I would not force you to remain with me, you are free.”

“Oh… Okay…” You can just utter.

So that is how it ends?

“I just wished we...” 

He shakes his head.

So he’s not even gonna fight for it? Tries one last time to salvage the marriage?

It is truly over.

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

You look so disinterested.

Like you can’t wait to kick him out of your room.

He manages to not shiver in your cold behavior and keep his stoic mask in place. He’s not gonna impose his whims on you now, you are used to him being in control, after all. He just regrets those little instances where he could be vulnerable with you, missing your warm embrace that appeases his heart so well.

Under the table he rolls his ring on his finger, reveling in its presence for the last time. He tries to start  a conversation but you seem out of this room, like your mind is fixated on your lover back at the Empire. someone younger and more handsome than the old man he is now. His heart bleeds at that thought, you who plagued his mind day and night have no thoughts left for him. He keeps his calm and cool, with a detached expression. He burns to graze your hand, he would just need to extend his arm to touch your soft skin, but you will evade him.

“...Nevermind.” He finishes.

He lowers his gaze, the room is already filled with your scent, burning his lungs. He used to revel in it at night, holding you close in his arms to keep his doubts at bay. Now it is just a painful reminder of what is lost.

You finally bless him by looking in his eyes. He lost his next words in them. He can only gulp, feeling how unwelcome he is.

“Do you have something else to say?” You bite, bitter.

You seem really pissed off now. He definitively overstayed his welcome.

“No.”

He takes the ring out of his finger and looks at it one last time, hidden from your gaze. He cherished it for years, now it is time to set you free…

“So that’s it? That’s all?” You ask in an acidic tone.

He raises his gaze to see with tears on your cheeks.

Why?

Isn’t that what you want?

“You’re just gonna leave now? And end things like that?” you continue, filled with a contained rage.

Okay, he’s lost now.

“I do not understand.” He just says, stopped mid-movement.

“Oh, it’s you who doesn't understand now? I work my ass off to find you back and you’re gonna leave me in the dirt like that? Without a single explanation?” You’re fully trembling now, nails buried in the fabric of your clothes.

He looks at you at a loss for words. He hates seeing you cry, long ago he promised himself he would never make you cry, ever.

“Are you okay?” He tries, reaching for your hand.

“I don’t know?! Should I be okay?! I came all this way to find my husband and he doesn’t have the dignity to look me in the face to tell me it’s over!” You shout before hiding your face in your hands, broking down. “Tell me, how am I supposed to feel?!”

He remains still, shocked. 

Did he misunderstood the situation? Did he completely over analyze the situation and drawn the wrong conclusions?

Could he ?

“Cha’cah…”

“Don’t “cha’cah” me like that!” You cry “At least have the balls to properly tell me you don’t want me anymore!”

“Cha’cah, please look at me.” He tries to soothe you.

Dear Maker, he was that close to making the biggest mistake of his entire life.

“Look at me, my love.” He stands up to graze your arm, “Nothing is over.”

You shiver under his touch. He kneels in front of you and delicately takes your hands out of your face.

“Nothing is over, my love. I am here.”

You’re shaken by spasms, unable to calm down but at least you are listening.

“I appears I misread the situation. I thought you did not want me anymore.”

“Not want you?” You repeat like it was the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard.

His heart jumps in joy at your reaction.

He was so wrong.

And he was never so happy for it.

“Oh, Cha’cah. I am terribly sorry.” He caresses your soaked cheek with his large warm hand “I still want you. I want you more than anything. The hope of seeing you one last time was the only thing keeping me going. Oh, my sweet love…”

He presses his forehead to yours as you try to calm down, sniffing.

“I am not going anywhere. Not without you.”

“I thought you wanted to break up with me because you found someone else” You choke.

“I thought the same about you. That you did not want me anymore that I disgusted you.”

“Oh Thrawn…” You circle his neck with your arms, “You could never disgust me. You are what I want the most.”

He peppers kissed all over your face before kissing your lips. 

Finally. 

How he missed the soft touch of your lips on his…

“I love you so much.” He confesses, “I was about to make the worst mistake of my entire existence.”

You press yourself against him in a tight hug, both kneeling on the ground of the bedroom. You were so close to a catastrophe.

“Never leave me again!” You order between shakes.

“Never, my love, never.”

You remain like that for long minutes, reveling in the presence of the other, of its warmth and scent. You finally calm down and he wipes away your last tears with his thumbs.

“Do not leave me tonight.” You plea.

“I will not. I will remain with you, always.”

He is so relieved…

You almost slipped away but you managed to escape a tragedy. 

He took you for granted all those years, but starting now he will remind you everyday why you fell in love with him.

He will allocate it his whole energy.

@bluechiss @thrawnalani @justanothersadperson93 @al-astakbar@thrawnspetgoose @readinglistfics @elise2174 @debonaire-princess @twilekchiss @pencil-urchin @ineedazeezee @mssbridgerton @dance-like-russia-isnt-watching @Cortisolcosplay

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[screemnch]

The Pathologic Russian and English analysis: Clara Saburova the Changeling.

Time is a flat circle, similar to a frisbee, and the world is using it to wack me repeatedly on the head with it. So anyway, I finally got my shit together and made another addition to this madness project. This time including images of both English and Russian text. Let us begin

It’s a bit… difficult to pin down what kind of person Clara is in the English translation - partially because you don’t always know for sure which Clara you’re talking to, as well as the fact that she is, most of the time, an obstacle. She seems to shift between “mean child who’s acting like she hasn’t learned about empathy yet”, “kind earnest and trying her best”, and “ominously inhuman and deceiving”. This is, obviously, because of Clara’s main schtick - the fact that there’s two of them (and also because she knows a lot more than the two other healers). Most of the time, however, she comes across as someone with either good or dubious intentions. It’s like she’s trying to help (or acting like she’s trying to help), but things keep going horribly wrong. Since we’re not playing as her, we don’t get nearly as much insight into how frightened she is and how shaky and unstable her current situation is, so she is judged by both of the healers in a very harsh way. She seems a bit verbose for a kid/teenager, however that is nothing out of the ordinary in the town on Gorkhon. Her lines, a lot of the time are either indirect or very direct jabs, so there is an impression that she thinks she is smarter than the other two and is quite fed up with them. It’s difficult to say much else about it without getting into specifics, so here we go.

As the bachelor: Clara only gets interactions on days 3, 6, 11, and 12. You might think that that would make it difficult to write about her, but wow did they put so much stuff in the very few conversations she gets to have with Daniil. There is a level of consistency between how she speaks in English and Russian here, though she seems a bit more earnest in this campaign. Like she’s trying to help, but she also thinks that Dankovsky is unable to receive the help she’s trying to give. Or unwilling. Mainly, however, in Russian there is a very weird quality to her way of speaking that I’m not quite sure carries over well to English. See, (and this is where it gets the tiniest bit anecdotal) I’ve had my fair share of hearing religious talk in Russian (but not in English, which is why I’m not sure if this is even a valid point) - I’ve been to orthodox churches, and in general Christianity is very largely propagated in the part of Russia I grew up in. So I, like presumably many others, am familiar with the very distinct way that religious figures speak. It sounds ancient, but not the same “fairy tale” ancient that I talked about before. Instead of changing the sentence structure, they utilise more biblical words in places where any other person would use regular modern words. Best way I can explain it is how someone might say “t’is” instead of “it is” but like… Religious? “For” instead of “because.” And that is the tone that Clara takes on sometimes. It meshes really well with her “divine messenger” persona, even though she still acts like a child every now and then. It’s a very unique combination that gives her way of speaking a distinct sound that exists outside of time. Overall, however, the translation was pretty close to the original Russian version, so let’s look at where these two diverge.

What’s a little weird to me here is that umm… This is the conversation Daniil has with Clara on day 3 about the Taglur and when I read this in English I was a little confused, because it sounds like the Bachelor is asking a question about Clara’s plans for making a new world or whatevsies, but… This dialogue option is one of those that immediately ends the conversation, which didn’t make sense to me at all. In Russian it’s a bit more akin to “And who’s bright idea was it to place this miracle here?” (or literally “to whose head did the idea to place this miracle here come?” A bit more confusing, but yeah) See, the word here for “miracle” is “чудо” (pronounced smth like “choodo”), which can mean miracle or wonder, but can also be a shorthand for “чудище” or “чудовище” which is a word used to describe monsters. You know. Wonder-creatures. In this context, the word “чудо” when aimed towards a person (Clara) is meant to signify someone either ugly, eccentric or nonsensical. So to sum up, the best way to understand this line is “Who’s bright idea was it to bring this weirdo here?” in which case… Yeah, I can definitely see why that would end the dialogue.

Here’s a fun little thing: I’ve mentioned before how the Haruspex defines Clara in very vague terms. Here, when the Changeling (the real one, guys, trust me) is asking the Bachelor to deal with the Changeling pretending to be her(yeah, go figure), in English she calls her a “loathsome creature”. However, in Russian she calls her (according to Google translate) an “abomination”, “filth” or (in my own translation) “grossness”, which - you guessed it - is indeed a very vague term. Regardless of who you think is talking to the Bachelor at the moment, it’s still very interesting to see, for various reasons. She also does this later in the dialogue (and the English translation ignores it again)

More out of the same dialogue tree where the Bachelor is trying to get Clara’s blood. I’ve made a point in the analysis of the Bachelor from the Changeling’s perspective, where he calls her “darling”  where the original was something like “sweet/dear creature” and almost had a sombre mood to it. In this one, however, it is the complete opposite. Not only does the word he uses here actually translate the best to “darling” (or dove), but it also has the same kind of ironic connotation to it as I mentioned. In this particular scenario he almost sounds… Thuggish? The words he uses, as well as the use of the “-ка” sounds similar to the snarky, confrontational way that thugs and bandits speak in cartoons. Something like “c’mere, dear” that makes it clear you’re about to get beaten up.

Two things here: firstly, in this dialogue line Clara refers to Daniil using the informal version of “you”, while the lines said by the Changeling whose blood he doesn’t get uses the formal version. In the interaction on day 3 Clara doesn’t address him directly at all, but I think in other dialogues she also addresses him informally (It isn’t surprising to see Clara address Daniil of all people informally, because not only does she see herself as, at least in part, a tool of divine whatevertheheck, she also rightfully believes that he is an idiot. She does not need to be polite to the stupidest man this side of the Gorkhon (I say this lovingly, of course).

Secondly though, I’d like to point out the way Daniil talks to her in here, because when I did my analysis of his lines I talked about how the English translation dials down the intensity of the stuff he says. This here is a prime example, as the Russian version is not only more curt, but also uses a much more cutting insult. Of course, people are well aware of the Russian language’s rich curse word vocabulary, but it also has the wonderful capability of making non-curse words sound like the most humiliating thing ever. I think maybe it’s the way Russian combines rolled “r”s and multiple consonants (which is less prominent in English) that allows its words to have that added weight to it. Here he calls her essentially “trash”, specifically - something that’s been so torn up and worn out that it's become useless. The way the word rolls off the tongue when you say it out loud is almost like a spit in the face, and it’s not softened by calling her “little” or anything. He calls her trash. How dare.

I’m bringing this up because it has me genuinely confused? The English version makes sense, or so I thought until I read the Russian version? Because the Russian version kinda states the opposite. It says “You can’t come up with a better knife for this than a conversation - of course, only if you’re in a hurry.” Which is very different from “unless you’re in a hurry” because those meanings are like… The opposite? The English implying that a conversation is a good way to see what’s going on in her soul, but the Russian one alluding to the fact that it’s only good if you’re in a hurry? Or is she agreeing to give her blood because they don’t have time for a conversation? I don’t know. I’m confused. Help.

I think the metanarratives of pathologic are very cool, so when I read this line in English I got really excited, because I thought it might be implying that Clara is aware of the fact that the player may have died a few times during the bachelor route alone (similar to how she calls the other healers her past or future). Then I realised that it simply could’ve meant “dying” as in being close to death. Then I got excited again, because I thought the Russian version might elucidate the issue for me. And… I think I was right? I think she implies here that Daniil has died several times, although it was probably just left vague for this specific purpose. Either way, the fact that it can be read this way and was probably worded like this just to confuse the players (and reward those who may have been on the lookout for it) is really cool to me. Also in response to that (where in English Daniil says Clara has “a shrewd eye for human condition”) he calls her a psychologist, and then brushes her off as trying to charm him, which means we don’t get to gauge the meaning of what she was saying through his response either.

This one has a couple of fun differences. Firstly, instead of referring to the town in its “true form” Clara refers to saving it “the way that the town turned out.” This, to me, is a slight difference that paints the contradictory nature of the town in a different light. The English version claiming that it’s the town’s “true” form almost makes it seem like a design from an outside force, both bringing up vibes of intelligent design and the fact that the town was made this exact way by the children. The Russian version’s implication that the town “turned out” this way has a more “nature is a chaotic force with no purpose” vibe to it, that would more suit a person unaware of the whole “we’re dolls for a children’s game inside of a video game” thing. Maybe I’ve just gotten used to being picky about the tiniest word choices because of my studies, but I feel like this difference changes the overall vibe. Like painting with the same colour but using a different brush.

Secondly, in Russian Clara calls Aglaya’s mission “simply a performance for fools” which to me is a wonderful choice of words, given all the theatre themes included in the gameplay.

I’ve kind of set a precedent where I make all of these “translation differences” have some sort of significant meaning for the narrative, but I just think this one is genuinely cool? It’s a bit of a “same colour, different brush” situation, where the sentiment is the same, but the word choice carries a different vibe. Focusing on the last sentence here, the Changeling specifically says “You were supposed to bribe him with your honesty” instead of “get at him”. And I just think that’s neat, because like. I always thought of “getting at someone” as like… An attack or provocation? But “bribing” someone has a bit more of that slimy vibe, which clashes with “honesty” so well, and… I guess it’d technically be an oxymoron.

During the conversation in regards to Clara acknowledging Maria as a mistress, in the Russian version she frequently switches between formal and informal “yous” when talking to the Bachelor. However, as it becomes clear here, this is an instance in which instead of a sign of respect, it seems that she is referring to several people at the same time. Namely, that she is directing her words both at Daniil and Artemy. During the Bachelor’s campaign she seems to think that the Haruspex is a lost cause and they seemingly don’t interact (and she even believes that he is dead during this day), so I doubt she actually ever spoke to him about this. It’s interesting then that she still tries to convince the Bachelor, even though she often calls him a fool. Makes you wonder what the differences are between this scenario and the Changeling campaign (in which she can invite Artemy to the Cathedral on the final day fully knowing that he chooses to stay oblivious).

Here’s some silly Clara on day 12 (right after giving a whole speech about the Polyhedron) and I just wanted to point out this very fun change. Instead of saying “pretty face” she instead says “мордашка” (pronounced “mordashka”)  which is a diminutive of “морда” (“morda) which is usually the word people use to refer to an animal’s face. Except it can also be used to refer to a person’s face if you’re calling them ugly. The addition of the diminutive adds a little mischievous tone to it, which turns it from ugly into a “cute” kind of thing. Like… Derpy, I guess. Anyways, I think it’s absolutely hilarious that Clara says that while also talking about the eldritch concept of being a multitude of people, or perhaps just one person controlled by the will of different people at different times (which they all are, by the way).

Big difference here that I found absolutely odd as in why they cut it out of the English version? This is from the “did you know we are toys?” dialogue tree and if you look carefully, you’ll see that there’s a bit here in Russian that for some reason wasn’t included in the English version. The last sentence after Clara says that she has an advantage. She adds “and I intend to use it.” Which like… I feel to someone who hasn’t played patho before would sound antagonistic, but to those who know - this is a direct indication to how it feels like playing as Clara in the campaign. You know a lot more about the game and the characters from other campaigns. And you already know that the kids are there and that they are toys. While playing you use all this knowledge to your advantage to play the game better. So yeah, don’t know why they cut that out of the translation.

Alright, I think that’s about all I’ve got for Clara’s role in the Bachelor’s campaign. I’d say the biggest differences that I notice is, of course, the biblical language (which I didn’t get good examples of unfortunately, but the whole “your eyes are white for you are blind” is a good example) and the subtle ways in which the words Clara uses hint to her knowledge of what is going on. As always, it’s something that’s also present in the English version, but there are also things that are characteristic to the Russian language that allow her to break the fourth wall. Like, with the change to a formal “you” we can get a bit more clarity on whether the Clara we’re talking to is real or not. With the specific verbs she uses we can almost see the outline of a false bottom to everything she says and I think that’s really cool. Outside of the translations, I think it is genuinely fascinating to get a better glimpse into Clara’s story during the Bachelor campaign - I feel like if we got more of her, it would give the whole game away. In what she says already, talking about the wills behind her, behind the Bachelor (although she does count Artemy as part of the “special toys” camp, she always says it with such disappointment. Cuz she compares herself to him, but is also frustrated that he refuses to get it) she alludes to being aware of not only the stagehands, but also the player and the power that they have. It’s also really cool because you can almost compare her to Aglaya, what with all the knowledge, sacrifice, and being doomed by the narrative. Except Clara’s approach is entirely different, although it’s difficult to glimpse through her frequently changing attitude. They both know “the Law”, both talk about how miracles should not be captured - except Aglaya seeks to undo what has been done, while Clara wants to forge ahead, accept the changes as part of the world. They both seek to fix what’s wrong, but what to them is considered “fixing” is so directly opposed that they have to destroy each other. I don’t know. I just think that both of them are really cool characters that totally don’t make me wanna scream, cry, and throw up, and you know… They deserve just as much love and obsessive analysis as the men in the story (speaking of which, in one of the dialogue trees where Clara talks about Block essentially becoming a crusader she can also admit that she knows it’s not true and that he’s also doomed, but she feels so bad about it that she pretends that he isn’t. And who knows, with a miracle worker like her it might just become the truth).

Also I'm thinking of maybe at one point or another making a name pronunciation, meaning, nickname, and literary references guide? Idk, sounds like it'd be fun.

I feel like a weird little bog creature whenever I emerge with one of these. Have fun and remember to engage your critical thinking skills, fact check, and let the media you encounter change you (be it through vulnerability or empowerment) instead of just being fodder for your consumption.

[munsons-maiden]

Yes selling ketamine to a vulnerable teenager is bad but Eddie is a worse person for the way he treated Lucas and encouraged Lucas' friends to act.

Even if you hate jocks and hate sports and hate parties and whatever.... it's pretty obvious Lucas didn't have friends outside of Hellfire Club and the fact Eddie scheduled the campaign final specifically on the night of the championship game (he wouldve known the exact date, there wouldve been posters and announcements for months prior and hes not stupid) had to have been on purpose. And if he was trying to make Lucas choose a side? That's fucked up. Let a kid have a hobby outside your realm of interests you gatekeeping prick.

If by chance he genuinely didn't know the date? He could've postponed. People postpone D&D campaigns all the fucking time and it's not like Eddie had a job so he had to worry about scheduling issues. It's clear why you can't just move the date of a championship basketball game for 7 nerds to play a boardgame. No, he did this on purpose. To weed out the jocks in his nerd club. To ostracise Lucas specifically.The way Eddie interacts with Mike and Dustin shows he knows the people in Hellfire Club. He would've known who Lucas is. He wouldve known he loves D&D as much as the rest of them but because he also has a different interest that Eddie dislikes (not even for a moral reason but just because its popular), he's forced out. A group supposedly for outsiders is excluding one of their own for *checks notes* being an outsider? It's fucked up and just plain mean.

And Lucas will never forget that none of his friends NOT A SINGLE ONE went to the championship game that he won.

What say you, Kiki The Maiden?

Okay first of all, a disclaimer: I disagree with about everything you said. I love analyzing things, and everyone has different headcanons and interpretations, but the writers took great efforts to canonically exclude these arguments. I mean if it were like you said, I'd agree, but it canonically isn’t. I rewatched the key scenes for this reply and transcribed the relevant dialogues for the following analysis. Again, this isn't meant to be rude - you asked about my honest opinion, I'm giving it.

1.”Eddie selling ketamine to a vulnerable teenager”:

The scenes:

Eddie bumps into Chrissy in the woods, sees her obvious distress and asks whether she's okay, obviously concerned. From the context, it's obvious Chrissy initiated the deal and made him come to the woods because that's how most drug deals work and Eddie himself is obviously surprised that Chrissy asked for this deal.

They sit down, Eddie takes off his leather jacket and denim vest, his "shield" against the world as the costume designer Amy L. Forsythe calls it, thereby taking off his guard like he did in the D&D sequence. He canonically makes himself less intimidating because since people think he's mean and scary because he's a metalhead who plays D&D and deals drugs, and he wants Chrissy to see she doesn't have to be scared.

Chrissy asks how the deal works, Eddie explains it. His tone is neutral, the little quip about "and for obvious reasons...no receipts" meant to set her a bit at ease by making a little joke. He then proceeds to ask her whether his conditions - 20 dollars for the half - are okay, giving her control over the situation.

Chrissy stays jumpy and distressed. Eddie relates it to himself, takes the drugs away, out of her line of vision, avoids eye contact as he tells her "we don't have to do this. Just say the word and I'll walk away." He's defensive that she sees him as a danger because that's obviously how most people conceive him and it hurts. And since he doesn't want to pressure her into anything, he offers her a way out - no consequences, no questions asked; he puts Chrissy in charge again. He moves to go to show her he means it - and he does mean it, what he sees is that Chrissy obviously doesn't want him there from his POV - until Chrissy says: "No, it's not that. I don't want you to go."

That's where Eddie realizes she isn't scared of him, and does what she asked him to: he stays. He tries to build a connection, a common ground to talk about and set her at ease. He does. He yeets himself off the bench, making her laugh AND giving her more physical space. He's a little self-deprecating in a charming, sweet way (the yeeting off the bench and rolling on the ground, "we actually got a crowd of about five...drunks") and they get along well. Whether you ship them or not doesn't matter: they both are at ease with each other and laugh together, both sides have their guards down and the interaction is genuine and void of any ulterior motives, as the Duffers as well as Grace and Joe confirmed in various interviews.

Eddie offers Chrissy a 25% discount, which reaffirms he's not interested in the money. I mean, yes, he deals because he needs the money, but he wants those deals to be consentual and in Chrissy's case, he likes her. Again, no matter whether you ship them or not, he wants to be nice, no ulterior motives.

Chrissy asks him "do you have anything maybe...stronger?"

Eddie reacts shocked/surprised.

Chrissy is smiling very hard when she steps out of the van and follows Eddie into the trailer, which implies she didn’t seem nervous on the way or anything like that. (she only starts to get nervous/panic when she starts hearing Vecna’s clock - and even then, she doesn’t try to escape the trailer, but she tries to get to Eddie)

At the trailer, Eddie stars searching for the ketamine, which implies - as well as his "no, no, no, I got it. Somewhere." - that he doesn't often sell other things than weed. His confusion as to where he placed the ketamine is genuine.

Chrissy dies. Another thing: even while Chrissy is in her trance, Eddie respects her boundaries. He stays a few feet away, dancing, snapping, clapping to wake her up and only when she doesn't and he realizes she's in actual danger from something, he crosses into her personal space to grab her shoulders and as a last resort pat her cheeks to wake her up. If we compare the whole scene with that of Eddie and Steve in the UD, we can see the glaring contrast: Eddie sways in and out of Steve's personal space.

Ketamine isn’t classified as a hard drug, btw; its risk of causing addiction/dependency is as high or low as that of weed, and the risk of a deadly overdose is so low there’s not even a statistic for it.

Yes, Eddie sells ketamine to a vulnerable teenager (bear in mind that Chrissy is canonically 18 and Eddie is 20, there is no power imbalance, they're both seniors) - but he doesn't know Chrissy is vulnerable. We, the audience, know it, because we see Chrissy's POV, her ed, and we see her getting targeted by Vecna and we even get a glimpse at the abuse she suffers through her mother.

Eddie, from his POV sees: Chrissy Cunningham, the Queen of Hawkins High, from a good middle class/upper middle class family, the most popular girl of school, on top of the hierarchy. He doesn't know she even has struggles. We see the picture Chrissy paints for everyone is a perfect one (the little kiss she blows Jason at the Pep Rally symbolizes that). For all he knows, Chrissy is the Queen of Hawkins High who wants to be a bit rebellious before her graduation in one and a half months, the good girl being nervous about her first drug deal, or she’s simply having a bad day. The last time they canonically interacted was in middle school, and Eddie doesn’t know her. He doesn’t know how she usually acts or how to tell that she’s vulnerable.

Chrissy asks him to do the deal in the woods, Chrissy is the one who tells him she doesn't want him to go vehemently enough to make sure she means it, and Chrissy is the one who asks him for something stronger than weed (he never offers it!). Chrissy is initiating things, and she's her own autonomous person capable - at least from Eddie's POV - of making her own decisions, having her own agenda; she’s not some helpless little vulnerable girl. She’s a senior, just like Eddie. Stop vilifying Eddie in this situation. It wasn’t a good thing to do, it’s a flaw, but he never had ill intentions or ulterior motives and he had no way to know that Chrissy was vulnerable.

And selling drugs is what he does. It's a flaw, and one that makes him a complex character. He's a person, and sometimes people do stupid things. It be like that.

2.Eddie not postponing the campaign:

I'll sum up all four scenes relevant for this because again, what we see in canon and what is obviously canonically implied are the facts.

The Pep Rally: At the pep rally, during Jason's speech, we find out that the Hawkins tigers won the game "last night" which means that they're in the championship finale "tonight". Dustin and Mike react shocked that the championship game is "tonight", and Max explains "they call it a tournament. you win one game, you go on and so on until only one team is left." It's canon that they only knew 24 hours beforehand that the championship game would take place because they only won the final game to enable it the night prior.

Walking back from the rally, Lucas tells Dustin and Mike to "just talk to Eddie", which they both at first refuse, instead trying to coerce Lucas into not attending the championship game but the end of the D&D campaign, a campaign which has gone on for the "past semester" as Dustin points out, "we need you." To which Mike adds, "Yes, and the Tigers don't. You've been on the bench all year."

Lucas tells them that the point isn't only the game but "I'm getting good with these guys. I'll be in the popular crowd, and then you guys will be, too. Mike: "Has is ever occured to you that we don't want to be popular?" Lucas: "So you wanna be stuck with the nerds and freaks for three more years?" Dustin: "We are nerds and freaks." Lucas: "But maybe we don't have to be. Look, I'm tired of being bullied. I'm tired of girls laughing at us, I'm tired of feeling like a loser. We came to high school wanting things to be different, right?" - Dustin and Mike nod. Lucas: "So now we have that chance. I skip tonight, that's all out the window. So I'm asking you guys, as a friend, talk to Eddie. Get him to move Hellfire. Come to my game. Please."

The cafeteria scene begins with Eddie reading out the article linking D&D to satanism, sodomy, suicide and murder, poking fun of it before launching into the table speech during which he shows and states that he's tired and defensive and angry at his hobby being not only labelled as "less" than band, science, parties or basketball, but as evil, once again painting him as mean and scary, a freak "because we like to play a fantasy game."

When Dustin asks Eddie to postpone the campaign in the cafeteria, ALL the rest of Hellfire protests before Eddie yells "STOP" so he can speak and say he won't postpone, telling them to find a sub for Lucas.

Those are the relevant scenes. Now, on to your comments:

Even if you hate jocks and hate sports and hate parties and whatever....

he resents them for kicking him down, for having hobbies which are deemed good while his own, absolutely harmless hobby, is called less and even dangerous. The resentment of someone who got bullied and still gets bullied and scorned upon all his life simply because he dresses differently and his hobby is different. We see what those little pricks in season 1 did to Mike and Dustin and Will for being nerds and playing D&D - we all know for Eddie, it hasn't been any different. He jusged people the same way he gets judged and doesn't realize it, which, yes, is a character flaw, and one he very quickly strips after his encounter with Erica who, rightly so, absolutely roasted him to which he realized he didn't act nice and did the shitty thing people were doing to him and owned it and did better, genuinely welcoming him to Hellfire even though he just got roasted and insulted ("long-haired freak", the name freak something Jason calls him and which in the cafeteria scene is revealed to be a very sore spot for him) by her in front of his friends. Flawed? Yes. Learning and doing better? Yes.

it's pretty obvious Lucas didn't have friends outside of Hellfire Club

Canonically wrong. It's not obvious. It might have been if he and Eddie were close, but they aren't (later a bit more on that but bear with me.) The canon facts:

1.The costume design already shows Lucas, at the start of ST4, belongs more to the jocks than the nerds: he wears his basketball attire while Dustin and Mike wear the Hellfire Club shirts. It's the game of the pap rally where everyone wears their club's outfits (the Cheerleaders, the Jocks, the Nerds) so it's not the common outfit but it already separates Lucas from the rest of Hellfire/his friends Mike and Dustin.

2.Lucas is sitting with the basketball players.

It is canonically implied, in two instances, that Lucas started sitting with them regularly, leaving Mike and Dustin to sit alone with each other even before they joined Hellfire/met Eddie. a) in the cafeteria scene when Eddie remembers the moment he invited Dustin and Mike into Hellfire: "You were sitting on that table right there, looking like...looking like TWO little lost sheep" and b) in the scene where Dustin tells Max that Eddie has to be innocent: "When we got to High School, Lucas made all his sports friends. Mike and me? I mean no one was nice to us. No one except Eddie." -> Lucas had started leaving Mike and Dustin behind for the jocks long before Eddie invited them to Hellfire. Implying that Eddie as Hellfire's leader invited Lucas, who was already starting to join the crowd of jocks Eddie dislikes, into Hellfire despite him becoming one of the jocks.

3. Lucas canonically never hangs with Hellfire and Dustin and Mike because the jocks didn't know Lucas was friends with Eddie or anyone in Hellfire. They didn't even know he was friends with Dustin and Mike.

At Benny's when Jason rallies his mob:

When the mob shows up at Corroded Coffin's band practice:

Lucas: "Hellfire isn't a cult. It's just a D&D club. D&D? Dungeons and dragons? It's like a...it's like a game. It's fantasy."

Andy Warren: "And how exactly do you know all of that, Sinclair?"

Lucas: "Uh...well. It's my sister. Yeah. She's like...she's like a total nerd."

DISCLAIMER: Lucas lies here because he wants to find out what the jocks plan, not because he means it. He's a double agent already if you will, I'm only quoting this because obviously the jocks don't know Lucas is in Hellfire or even affiliated with any of its members, canonically implying that Lucas takes care not to be seen with anyone in Hellfire at school. When Jason attacks Garreth and forces him to tell him where Eddie is and Gareth says "Dustin Henderson" there's no indication that the jocks know Lucas is even friends with Dustin, else, they'd have asked Lucas about him.

Gareth: "Lucas? What are you doing with those douchebags?"

Jason: "You know these freaks, Sinclair?"

Lucas: "Uh. They know my sister. They tried to recruit me to their club, cult."

Lucas has friends outside of Hellfire, and he chose them, and it's canonically implied that he doesn't even hang around with Mike, Dustin or the rest of Hellfire during school. His reasons are totally relatable, I'm just saying your point is canonically wrong.

Eddie scheduled the campaign final specifically on the night of the championship game (he wouldve known the exact date, there wouldve been posters and announcements for months prior and hes not stupid) had to have been on purpose.

As per the dialogue in the episode with Max, Mike and Dustin didn't know, and Eddie had no way of knowing since he wasn't at the pep rally where it was said. There can't have been announcements etc because as I said, it's canon that nobody knew until 24 hours prior that the championship game would take place that night. If anybody had known that the game might take place at that date, it would have been Lucas, but since Mike and Dustin didn't know, I don't think Lucas thought about telling them, if he even knew. Canon is only that Mike, Dustin, Eddie and the rest of Hellfire didn't know because the whole school didn't know until 24 hours earlier.

And if he was trying to make Lucas choose a side?

Eddie never threatened to kick anybody out of Hellfire and as we got to know him in the later episodes, he never would have. It was about ONE night, the finale of the campaign, not generally about being part of Hellfire. Plus, Eddie never put Lucas to the test to see which side he'd choose, and he never even implied that he would've kicked Lucas out of Hellfire. It was about one single night. Again, petty and definitely selfish - but there was no ulterior motive, no mind games or power play going on.

That's fucked up. Let a kid have a hobby outside your realm of interests you gatekeeping prick.

Everything in canon implies that it wasn't Eddie's intention. He didn't know the date. He learned that day in the cafeteria. There were loads of equipment for the game and the setting - candles, chalices, all that stuff, and since Hellfire shares the room with the theater club (which is canon by the scenes and the lightning etc. that it's the theatre room) it means he needed to book the room to make sure it was free, meaning that it took work and time to organize everything so the campaign could take place. It never once is even implied that Eddie tried to gatekeep - and from everything we know, the one time when he did try to gatekeep D&D with Erica, he realized the mistake and stopped gatekeeping immediately, holding no ill will.

If by chance he genuinely didn't know the date?

He didn't know the date, that's canon, as I pointed out.

He could've postponed. People postpone D&D campaigns all the fucking time and it's not like Eddie had a job so he had to worry about scheduling issues. It's clear why you can't just move the date of a championship basketball game for 7 nerds to play a boardgame. No, he did this on purpose.

Eddie is the leader of Hellfire, but he's not the only one calling the shots.

The three others - Gareth, Jeff and Freak#3 as he's called in the credits - protested VERY loudly and vehemently as soon as Dustin asked to postpone, before Eddie even got to react. Eddie called them to stop protesting, and it was evident that out of 7 people (Eddie, Lucas, Mike, Dustin, Gareth, Jeff, Freak#3), 3 had already made it clear that they were firmly against postponing, Mike and Dustin wanted to postpone, and Lucas - who wanted to postpone - didn't even go to the trouble to show Eddie the courtesy of asking him himself whether he could postpone the game. Yes, Eddie is Hellfire's leader and DM, but it was 3 against 2 without Eddie and Lucas and 4 against 3 with them, a clear democratic decision not to postpone.

Part of Hellfire are Dustin and Mike who never, not once, asked him to postpone because they wanted to be at the championship game to support Lucas, but because Lucas couldn't be there because of the game. Eddie never knew it was important, Mike and Dustin never voiced that they wanted to support Lucas at the basketball game because they didn't want to and they made it clear with Lucas, only being swayed briefly. It's easy to point at Eddie and say "he didn't want to postpone, we had no choice!" when Eddie didn't even know Mike and Dustin wanted to go to the basketball game (which, again, they didn't make clear was something they wanted).

Had they told Eddie they wouldn't make it to Hellfire alongside Lucas, because they wanted to support him, Eddie and the rest of Hellfire would have had no choice but to postpone, with three missing players. Dustin and Mike had a choice here, and they chose against Lucas.

About the 7 nerds...yes, Eddie doesn't have a job. But what about the other three, Gareth and Jeff and Freak#3? We don't know whether they had jobs, other scheduling issues. You tend to forget that Hellfire isn't just Eddie, but 5, (without Dustin and Mike 3) other people who are included in scheduling decisions. It doesn't work this way that the DM is calling the shots and everyone else follows - no club works like this, except when it's a cult.

To weed out the jocks in his nerd club. To ostracise Lucas specifically. The way Eddie interacts with Mike and Dustin shows he knows the people in Hellfire Club. He would've known who Lucas is. He wouldve known he loves D&D as much as the rest of them but because he also has a different interest that Eddie dislikes (not even for a moral reason but just because its popular), he's forced out.

No, he wouldn't have, because Eddie wasn't close to Lucas, canonically, he didn't know him outside of the D&D games where you play and don't talk a lot about anything outside of the game. It's already been established that at school, Lucas was with the jocks, never with Eddie or Hellfire because else the jocks would have remembered seeing one of their own with one of the "freaks". And Lucas left before Mike and Dustin joined Hellfire, which implies Eddie never ostracized anyone, he never was responsible for Mike and Dustin growing apart from Lucas. They simply had different interests, like teenagers do. People grow apart, interests change. Lucas (and Mike) didn't show much interest in D&D in ST3 - that was Will's whole storyline! - and it is in no way implied that Lucas is sad to miss the campaign (he's sad that Mike and Dustin would miss his game, not that he wouldn't be able to play D&D, judging by the entire dialogue) or that he still loves playing D&D as much as he did. We don't know how he was during the campaigns when there were no jocks around to criticize Lucas and Lucas was free to be himself at Hellfire, but since Lucas never stayed Eddie and the rest of Hellfire during school, while Mike and Dustin did because Lucas was with the jocks and they didn't want to be with the jocks, it's canon that Lucas and Eddie weren't close, and maybe not even friends before the events of ST4. Another proof: Lucas at first actually believes Eddie killed Chrissy (which is relatable since everyone not knowing Eddie, Max included, came to that first conclusion until learning of Vecna and getting to know Eddie):

Again, relatable and Max showed the same reaction but Dustin knew Eddie didn't do it because Dustin was very close to Eddie, much closer than Lucas was.

Lucas: "You guys know he (Eddie) killed Chrissy, right?"

Dustin: "That's bullshit. Eddie tried to save Chrissy."

Lucas: "Then why do all the cops say he did?"

Not once was it implied that Eddie didn't want to postpone because he didn't like Lucas having other interests. It was, however, implied in several instances that it was the moment a whole semester-long campaign had been leading to.

A group supposedly for outsiders is excluding one of their own for *checks notes* being an outsider? It's fucked up and just plain mean.

It would have been, would it have been the case, yes. Canonically, it isn't the case, and Lucas is no outsider. He is an insider with the jocks (Jason: "I should've never let you in." - Lucas:"I shouldn't have knocked."), albeit within the circle of jocks, he's an outsider. We don’t know whether Eddie knows that.

And might I remind you that Eddie's last breath, the last moments of his life after sacrificing himself "for a town that hated him", were spent to make Dustin promise he would look out after all the lost little sheepies because he couldn't anymore? Yes, he did gatekeep (with Erica, not Lucas) but he had a lot of character growth during the series regarding his us-vs-them perspective (with Chrissy not being mean and scary, with Erica being a D&D nerd despite being an eleven-years-old girl, with Steve not being a douche, with Nancy Wheeler having guns, plural, in her bedroom) - but Eddie did never intentionally ostracize anyone. His entire character was written to embody exactly the opposite in the narrative: someone who founded a club for those who'd been ostracised from the rest of high school hierarchy. That was a canon core of Eddie's character and narrative.

That was the canon. Here's my opinion, based on those canon facts and implications I listed:

It was a fucked up situation for ALL of them, and that it went the way it did is their fault, all together, and I'm sorry for all of them that it went this way.

Lucas' POV is relatable: he's tired of being bullied and sticking with Jason and the jocks is his ticket out, and he genuinely believes sticking with the jocks to become part of the popular crowd will benefit Mike and Dustin as well, in the long run, to not being bullied anymore. He never has any ill intent towards anyone.

Mike and Dustin's POV is less relatable than Lucas', in my opinion: They want to play D&D instead of watching the basketball game they're absolutely not interested in even if it's their best friend on the bench and maybe even playing (nobody could have known he'd be playing, he only was because another player was injured, but Mike’s jab at Lucas being a benchwarmer is mean) - they wanted the old times back, they wanted to play D&D alongside Lucas but they chose to play without him instead of supporting him. Eddie never threatened to kick anybody out of Hellfire and as we got to know him in the later episodes, he never would have. It was about ONE night, the finale of the campaign, not generally about being part of Hellfire - they could have opted to support Lucas and Eddie would have needed to postpone. They didn't.

Eddie's POV: He doesn't know Lucas as well as he knows Dustin and Mike because Lucas never spends any time with him outside of the campaigns outside of school. Lucas doesn't even ask Eddie himself to postpone, which, in my opinion, is a bit rude. There has been a lot of work involved for Eddie, preparations for the setting as well as planning of the campaign since he's the DM. By not asking him himself, Lucas didn't show Eddie it was important to him that he could partake in the campaign so no, Eddie didn't know it was important to Lucas, who was sitting with the jocks while he let Mike and Dustin do the talking so he wouldn't be seen with Eddie and the other "freaks and nerds" as Lucas called them. Eddie was petty, yes, but he didn't have any ill intent either, neither towards Lucas nor towards Dustin and Mike - he simply wanted to play D&D and didn't know it was important to postpone because the only explanation Mike and Dustin gave was "we need Lucas as a player", to which the obvious solution was "get a sub". Plus, Eddie never put Lucas to the test to see which side he'd choose, and he never even implied that he would've kicked Lucas out of Hellfire. It was about one single night. Again, a bit petty and definitely selfish and a flaw - but there was no ulterior motive, no mind games or power play going on.

I'm not saying Eddie doesn't have flaws: he has, and that's important because they make him relatable. He acted selfish and ignorant because it was about basketball, and he did gatekeep with Erica until he realized he was and corrected the mistake immediately without being childish about it. Yes, he judges people prematurely and stacks them in neat little boxes just like they do him, and he learns it later on and stops doing it because he’s self-aware. Yes, he was stupid to sell Chrissy ketamine. But canonically, none of these things happened with ulterior motives or ill intent, and the narrative and writers went out of their way to show that because else, they would have failed to depict Eddie as the lovable character he was meant to be.

[player1064]

kate for someone reason thinking jamie is homophobic not sure why or how but she does (sara has me obsessed with the idea that they can’t stand each other now lol) and then him introducing her to gary and she’s like 🤯 ft. micah in the corner like you didn’t know he never shuts up about him???

god Kate and Jamie literally CANNOT STAND EACH OTHER!!! I'm OBSESSED with that dynamic tbh!!!!!!! As always. this one is much longer than intended...

Also, don't need to have read it but this is technically intended to tie in to my fic Happy wife, happy life (but tldr Jamie regularly calls Gary his wife partly to keep their relationship under wraps but mostly bc. he finds it funny to call Gary his wife.)

---

“Obviously we’re done for the season right before pride month kicks off,” one of the CBS producers is saying, eyes darting over something on an iPad. “And since you four have been pretty popular we were thinking of including you in some of those ad campaigns, so if I could just get some dates off of all of you –”

“No,” Jamie says immediately.

All three of his colleagues snap their heads up to him, but only Kate looks at him coolly and says “no?”

Micah, because he’s Micah, chuckles and slaps Jamie in the shoulder, trying to diffuse some of the new tension in the air. “Not like you to turn down extra cash, Carra.”

Jamie rolls his eyes, pretends not to notice the way Kate’s eyes are burning into him. “Check my contract. Wish I could, honest,” he says to the producer, feeling very very glad that he had a clause added to his contract specifically so that he doesn’t have to take part in things like this, “But it just wouldn’t be do-able. You lot ‘ave fun, though, with yer rainbows and yer glitter.”

Kate just looks at him incredulously. “This is one thing you decide to take a stand on, mister ‘I don’t care about politics’?”

Rainbows just don’t really suit Jamie, is the thing. Nor does the extra scrutiny that comes from wearing rainbows.

Doesn’t really matter to him what Kate thinks of him, though, so he just shrugs and continues packing up his stuff for the day.

*

“Jamie – Jamie, I finally got onto Raya, can you have a look at my profile?”

Jamie looks up at Micah with a frown. “What the fuck is a Raya?”

“It’s a dating app,” Kate says from her end of the desk, in that unimpressed tone of hers that makes Jamie wonder why she’s bothering to insert herself into the conversation at all.

“An exclusive dating app,” Micah corrects, wiggling his phone in front of Jamie.

“Weren’t you already seeing someone?” asks Jamie, but he accepts the phone with a sigh and puts his glasses on. “I don’t – I’ve never used one of these things, what am I meant to be lookin’ at?”

Micah shrugs. “Didn’t work out,” he says breezily. “How have you never used a dating app, you’ve not been married that long. And look at yourself, you can’t tell me you weren’t a player before Mrs Carra came along.”

Jamie had got around a bit, in his playing days. Not much, mind, because he’d had to be careful, but he’d done alright. Unfortunately – and this is not something he’ll ever admit to anyone, even under duress – any thoughts of that had gone out the window the moment he’d walked onto the Sky campus after retiring.

“You’re right,” he says with a wink, “look at me. As if I��d need an app to find myself a bird. Why’d you want me to look at this, I’m not exactly your target audience. ‘less there’s somethin’ you’re not tellin’ us,” he adds, elbowing Micah and waggling his eyebrows.

Kate looks on unimpressed as the two of them double over in laughter. “Not that any of us would have a problem if you were, right Jamie?” she says haughtily.

Jamie catches Micah’s eye and has to fight back another bout of laughter. “Dunno,” he says, “I can think of one or two problems I’d ‘ave if Big Meeks here suddenly tried hittin’ on me.”

Micah bursts out laughing again, his hand clapping to Jamie’s forearm, and Jamie can’t help but join in – it’s infectious, okay?

“God,” Micah says, wiping a tear from his eye, “can you imagine how your missus would react. I’d never be able to work in television again.”

“Nah, she’d prob’ly send you a fruit basket, thank you for taking me off ‘er hands.”

Kate clears her throat and the two of them sober immediately at the sight of her raised eyebrow. “Maybe cool it with the outdated banter,” she says, “or do I need to remind you boys that you’re not in a dressing room anymore?”

She storms off, he heels click-clicking away as Jamie and Micah look at each other and try (and fail) not to start laughing again.  

*

“You didn’t want to bring your wife to the end of season party, then?” Kate asks politely, looking slowly around the room.

“Huh?” Jamie says eloquently, because he’s had a couple of glasses of prosecco and he’s not thinking as quickly as he usually might. “Oh, the missus. Yeah, she’s here but  – I dunno, she’s a bit shy, like. You didn’t invite Malik?”

Kate rolls her eyes, the way she always does when Jamie mentions her boyfriend. “Well, he lives in America. So.”

“Carra,” an annoying voice calls from just behind him, “Carra, come over ‘n meet Schmeichel? I’ve not seen ‘im in years, d’you know, I think I’d forgot how tall he was.”

Jamie puts a hand on the small of Gary’s back to keep him from bouncing around too much (the man is such a lightweight, it’s embarrassing), and says “I’ve already met Peter, you dolt. I work with ‘im, remember?”

Gary squints at him for a second. “You drag me all the way down to London, and then y’can’t even be bothered to –” he finally seems to realise that Jamie had been talking to someone, because he quickly shakes his head around a bit and holds a hand out to Kate with a smile. “You’re Kate, right? I love what you do on the show, honest, I’m always sayin’ people need to be meaner to James here.”

Jamie thinks he sees Kate blush a bit, like she hadn’t realised anyone else had noticed her dislike of Jamie, but she takes Gary’s offered hand anyway. “And of course you’re the famous Gary Neville, I’ve heard a lot about you,” she greets. “But aren't you still with Sky? What brings you to our little operation here?”

“Scopin’ out the competition,” he says with a wink, then turns back to Jamie. “Carra – Peter?”

“I said no! I’ll talk to him later, stop badgerin’ me.”

“Did you two travel down from Manchester together?” asks Kate, “You know, Jamie seems so invested in my relationship but none of us have ever met his wife, do you know where she’s got to?”

“Ah, his fuckin’ wife,” Gary mutters, smirking up at Jamie. Jamie winks in reply and slips his hand down a bit to pinch him on the arse.

Micah comes over, his tuxedo strained against his biceps, and he pulls Gary away from Jamie to throw an arm around his shoulder in a half-hug.

(Gary squirms a bit at the unexpected contact, but he still gives Micah a friendly pat on the chest.)

“Big Nev! It’s been ages, man – Jamie told us you were coming, but he’s promised that before and not delivered.”

“Been pretty busy, up in Manchester,” Gary says with a shrug, carefully extracting himself from under Micah’s arm and returning to Jamie’s side. “But I’m obliged to do the plus one thing at least two –” (“Three,” Jamie corrects,) “—fine, three times a year, and I figure there’re worse places to be.”

“Aw, you love it really,” Micah says. “I’ve always kind of wondered what it’s like to be a WAG.”

Gary rolls his eyes. “It’s a thankless job, to be fair.” He pokes Jamie in the bicep and adds “I’m going back to talk t' Peter, you miserable old twat. Honest, I’m always talkin' to Scousers fer you.”

“I already know –” Jamie starts to protest, but Gary’s already wandered off. “Ugh. Sorry about ‘im. You can’t take Mancs anywhere, can ya?”

The two Mancs he’s talking to look at him, unimpressed.

“He seemed nice,” Kate says carefully.

“He’s not,” Jamie replies.

*

“Good summer?” Micah asks, their first show back after the break.

“Brilliant,” Jamie replies with a grin. “It were my turn to choose the destination, so –”

“Ibiza?”

He nods. “Ibiza. The house was done just in time, too.”

“You know, I can’t really imagine Gary in Ibiza.”

“Oh, he hates it. Complained the whole time, but he does that wherever we go.”

He becomes aware that Kate is watching them from across the desk, not trying to hide that she’s listening to their conversation with curiosity. Jamie nods to her, all polite like. “Hows about you, Kate, good summer?”

“It was fine, I –” she shakes her head. “Sorry, you’re saying you go on holiday with Gary Neville?”

Micah scoffs. “Who else would he go with?” he asks, and Jamie points to him in agreement.

“I dunno, his wife?”

Jamie blinks.

He thought he’d got all this out the way, dragging Gary along to the party a couple of months ago. Apparently not.

“Gary is my wife,” he says, then suddenly feels very stupid saying that to someone who’s not already in on the joke, so he corrects to “my husband, I mean. Obviously he’s not – he’s a man. Obviously.”

Kate’s eyes are wide, unblinking. She looks between Jamie and Micah, lips pressed together while her brain seems to be buffering.

“You’re married to a man?” she says eventually. “But you’re not gay, I mean – you’re –”

Jamie, who last time he checked definitely was gay, raises an eyebrow, amused. “I’m what?”

“You’re a footballer,” she attempts, and oh, this is far too easy.

“Bit ‘omophobic, that, sayin’ footballers can’t be gay,” he replies, holding back a smirk.

“Oh shut up, you know what I – you’re a lad! You’re always with the banter, and the…”

Thierry wanders over, freshly brewed cup of tea in hand. “What have you two done this time?” he asks, looking pointedly at Jamie and Micah.

Jamie raises his hands to protest his innocence.

“Thierry,” Kate asks, reaching a hand out towards him, “did you know Jamie’s married to a man?”

Thierry rolls his eyes. “Ugh, fucking Neville,” he replies, and goes to sit down.

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

Here we go again. Another institution, brimming with self-righteous faux outrage, is trying to airbrush JK Rowling’s name out of history. This time it’s the turn of the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle, Washington, which has removed the world-famous author’s name from its Harry Potter exhibition. Last week, the museum announced that while it will continue to display memorabilia from the Harry Potter books and films, it wants no association with their supposedly problematic creator.

Explaining the decision in a 1,400-word blog, the museum’s exhibitions project manager, Chris Moore, brands Rowling a ‘cold, heartless, joy-sucking entity’. Moore, who identifies as trans and uses ‘he / them’ pronouns, takes exception to Rowling’s ongoing interest in preserving women’s hard-won rights over the ‘right of anyone who insists they are who they say they are’. Once again, Rowling’s reasonable and rational defence of women’s sex-based rights is being presented disingenuously as ‘hateful’ or ‘harmful’ towards transgender people, and therefore deserving of cancellation.

Moore even seems to think it would be better if Rowling had never existed. ‘We would love to go with the internet’s theory that these books were actually written without an author’, he writes, ‘but this certain person is a bit too vocal with her super hateful and divisive views to be ignored’.

Strikingly, Moore goes a few steps further than most of Rowling’s critics. He doesn’t just accuse her of transphobia. He also accuses the Harry Potter books of peddling ‘racial stereotypes’, promoting ‘fat shaming’ and, perhaps most heinous of all, lacking ‘LGBTQIA+ representation’. Surely to goodness there must have been a few pansexual / nonbinary students in the imaginary, magical school of Hogwarts? Shame on JKR for not giving them a voice, eh? The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, might have been gay, but apparently that’s not enough in our world of 764 genders.

I find myself torn about this particular non-event, to be perfectly honest. On the one hand, I realise this is simply the latest in a long line of attempts to shut Rowling up. ‘I saw Goody Rowling, in the barn, consorting with the devil!’ is the tone of every such outburst. By now, these tricks have become cheap and obvious to anyone observing closely. The smears are always baseless.

On the other hand, the attempts to erase Rowling are deadly serious. Each attempted takedown inevitably leads to her receiving the vilest, cruellest abuse. Abuse which, if you’ve ever taken the time to read it, contains some of the most horrific things one human could say to or about another. Rowling is no doubt a tower of strength and resilience, having been on the receiving end of this bile for years. But it’s probably still having an effect on her, deep down.

Perhaps there is an upside to this stunt by Moore and the MoPOP, however. Removing Rowling’s name from the museum, and condemning her as ‘super hateful’, is so infantile that most right-thinking people will likely see it for the foolishness it really is. Sunlight, on occasions such as these, has a remarkable effect of highlighting the absurd and often cruel behaviour of the gender ideologues. People are getting wise to these smear tactics now that they are so regularly churned out. The problem is it is difficult to get people to speak out against them.

Sadly, most people are still too scared to speak up. This shouldn’t surprise us when the extremist factions of the trans movement use threats of rape, violence and torture to bring people into line. They doxx people’s addresses and workplaces, so the heretics can be hunted down and vilified, resulting in the loss of earnings, jobs, reputations and more. There are countless examples of this. And no doubt there will be many more to come.

Faced with this, we cannot simply stand by and shrug. We have to stand up to the smears. The truth is that Rowling has never said anything untoward about trans people. She has been critical of the behaviour of some trans fanatics. She has been vocal in her support for single-sex spaces for women and girls. And yes, she has vociferously defended herself against hourly abuse. As she damn well has a right to do. But she is not the bigot she has been made out to be.

It’s time we all speak up for what is right. It’s time to break the cycle of fear. It’s time we called out this public assault on JK Rowling – and on all the other gender-critical feminists who’ve been similarly maligned. We need to put a stop to this authoritarian movement.

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

James Dreyfus is an actor who has starred in Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Absolutely Fabulous and The Thin Blue Line.

[eddievanhammettmunson]

Eddie Valentine.

Eddie Munson x plus size female reader

Authors note- okay ghouls, goblins, and fellow gremlins this may be a very self indulgent fic of me working through my hatred for Valentine’s Day and it may or may not be somewhat based on true events on things that have happened in life so let’s just go with it <3

Warnings- mentions of bullying, swearing, fluff, smut. Oral f receiving. Protected p in v. Wrap it before you tap it ghouls

Summary- for Eddie’s first Valentine’s Day with his girlfriend he wants to make it as sappy romantic and special as possible. Until he finds out she hates Valentine’s Day. 4.8k words

February 14th. The day for couples to show their love for each other, the day Arizona was accepted as a state, and the day of the Saint Valentine’s Day massacre. Whoever you are wherever you are there’s something to do on this day.

Eddie Munson had the day marked on his calendar for weeks and he was all too excited for it. Valentine’s Day was tomorrow and he was determined to make it special. Being the freak of the town meant that Eddie had never truly celebrated Valentine’s Day with someone special before. Hell even in elementary school when kids would pass out candy and cards to the whole class, Eddie was always somehow left out or forgotten. That was until he met you.

You two had started going out within the last year and this is your first Valentine’s Day together. He was nervous to say the least but mostly just excited to have a day where he gets to show all his love for you.

Eddie sat at the head of the lunch table lost in thought daydreaming about his girlfriend and how special he wanted Valentine’s Day to be for her. Valentine’s Day was on a Tuesday this year which meant they’d both be spending the day at school but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to make it special. He sat there thinking about the gift he had gotten you and the candy he knew you’d love. In the morning he’d pick you up some of her favourite flowers.

He’d been so lost in thought that the rest of the hellfire table was now sitting around wondering why the dungeon master wasn’t being his usual self. He felt the eyes of the table on him and finally looked up to see their faces.

“What?”

“What do you mean “what” Eddie we’ve been here for like 5 minutes and you haven’t said a single word” Jeff said in a confused tone as he bit into his sandwich.

“Sorry, I was just thinking. Hey Jeff, where's y/n?”

“Last period she said she had to drop a book off at the library so she’d be late to lunch.”

“Well while I have you guys to myself for a second can I run a couple ideas for Valentine’s Day by you guys?”

“Seriously man, you're worried about Valentine’s Day? I thought you’d be more concerned with our next campaign?”

Eddie threw a pretzel at Gareth

“It’s our first Valentine’s Day together and I want to make it special.”

Dustin raised a hand to interject “Eddie we’re sure whatever you have planned she’s gonna love because she loves you and it’ll be special because it’s you two.”

Eddie opened his mouth to speak again but quickly closed it and snapped his head around to the other side of the table next to him where you had suddenly appeared and pulled the chair out to sit down.

“What’s gonna be special?” You asked as you made yourself comfortable.

Eddie didn’t say anything as you looked at him so you looked back to Dustin.

“Valentine’s Day of course!” Dustin said with a megawatt smile.

As soon as he said it your entire body tensed and you grew quiet. The smile slipping from your face.

Eddie however didn’t notice this as he threw a pretzel matched with a death glare at Dustin. Eddie began to speak quietly before looking at you.

“Yeah sweets since it’s our first Valentine’s Day together I was thinking I could pick you up for school and then immediately after we can go on a date”

You swallowed the lump in your throat and looked down at your hands in your lap instead of facing Eddie.

“I’m not coming to school tomorrow. Sorry Ed’s.”

You stood up fast from the table. “I think I left something in the library. I’ll see you guys later.”

You were gone from the cafeteria before Eddie could catch you but honestly he hadn’t even tried to.

He was too stunned. You’d never rejected him for a date without reason before and you’d especially never rushed out of a room like that before. What confused him even more is why you wouldn’t be at school on a Tuesday. You were a great student and he’s never seen you miss a day of school. But to reject him for Valentine’s Day plans? Had he done something wrong? Eddie's mind was racing a million miles a minute.

He stood from the hellfire table and made his way out of the cafeteria and to the library. Only when he got to the library you were nowhere to be found. He made his way out to the parking lot to see if you’d gone to get something from your car only to find your car missing entirely.

***

As you sat in your car on the way home you couldn’t help but feel guilty for what you’d done to Eddie. You knew he meant well but honestly since he hadn’t mentioned it at all recently you were hoping he’d forgotten about Valentine’s Day altogether or maybe didn’t want to celebrate it.

You knew you should have just told him the truth of why you didn’t like Valentine’s Day and why you wouldn’t go to school but deep down there was a part of you that thought he’d be angry with you for being upset over something so stupid that happened so long ago. Yet you continued driving home.

Once you got home you ran straight to your room and shut the door. Collapsing on the bed and running your hands over your face from exhaustion.

Later in the day you’d gotten multiple phone calls from who you were assuming was Eddie but you did nothing but lay in bed and watch the time pass. Hoping you would wake up and it would be Wednesday and everything could just go back to normal.

***

Back at Eddie’s trailer he was absolutely losing his mind wondering what on earth he could have done wrong to screw this up so badly. But he was determined he wasn’t going to let this day go to waste and he certainly wasn’t going to lose you on Valentine’s Day of all days.

The later it got the more defeated he felt when you didn’t answer any of his calls. He flopped down on the couch and threw his head back and groaned. He looked over at the clock that read 12:53 am and he decided fuck it.

He went to his room and grabbed his leather jacket and the gifts he’d gotten you for Valentine’s Day and then his keys and rushed out the door.

***

You were sound asleep in bed when a brutal tapping began to work its way into your dream, eventually waking you from that dream when you realised the tapping was real. You looked over at your clock that read 1:15 am and then you turned to find the source of the noise.

As you turn towards your window you can see Eddie standing outside as he knocks his rings against the glass. You sigh and stand up from your bed walking over to the window and sliding it open.

“Eddie, what are you doing here? It’s 1 in the morning!”

“Well when my girlfriend rejects me and runs off and stops answering my phone calls I get a little concerned sweetheart” he said with a sort of lopsided smile to where you could tell he’s a little hurt.

You move out of the way and he crawls into your room and you can’t help but notice the bag of items he has with him.

“Eddie please can we not do this? Everything will be back to normal on Wednesday I promise.”

Eddie dropped the bag of items gently on the floor of your room and stepped closer to you.

“Sweetheart what is going on? Please just talk to me. I want to spend Valentine’s Day with my girlfriend and I can’t help but feel like you don’t want that?”

You sighed and stepped away from him, walking back towards your bed and sitting on the edge of it. You pull your knees up to your chest and hug yourself.

“It has nothing to do with you Eddie I swear. I just hate Valentine’s Day is all.”

Eddie walked towards you at the edge of the bed and sat beside you.

“Why do you hate Valentine’s Day?”

Sighing you begin to fiddle with the end of the shirt you’re wearing as you begin to tell your tale.

“As a kid I got bullied a lot for being fat and nerdy Eddie. But when I got to middle school boys were ruthless. They’d pretend to ask me out and then laugh in my face and then run off to tell their friends and I’d sit there watching them all laugh at me. Then one year on Valentine’s Day my school did this event where you could buy time on the morning announcements to send a love note to somebody. Only the guy I liked at the time was very popular and apparently knew that I liked him. So he had bribed a few of his friends on the morning announcements to read a humiliating statement about me in front of the whole school and I got laughed at. Even by teachers. I tried not to let it get to me but then the next year for Valentine’s Day I got a candy gram which had a note of someone confessing that they liked me on it and as soon as I read it and smiled a group of boys laughed at me and told me it was fake. I couldn’t take being the butt of the joke every year on Valentine’s Day so I just stopped celebrating it and showing up for school on that day. The public humiliation just isn’t worth it.”

You didn’t look at Eddie but you could feel as he grabbed your hand and rubbed soothing circles on the back with his thumb. He used his other hand and brought it to your face as he gently guided you to look at him.

Once you finally forced your eyes to look at his you could see the tears brimming in his eyes. He brought you closer and laid the most gentle kiss possible on your forehead.

“Sweetheart, I'm so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. You didn’t deserve that. But I just want you to know you can talk to me about this. I’m the town freak, remember. Valentine’s Day has never been very great for me either. I’ll say it's not as bad as yours but still.”

You knew he was right. And you began to sniffle a little bit as you fought and lost to hold back your tears but Eddie’s fingers were there to wipe them away.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner Eddie it’s just- well it’s just something I don’t like to talk about or think of often.”

“If it’s alright with you sweetheart I’d really like a chance to make Valentine’s Day special for you. If you’ll let me.”

You nodded your head yes and he gave you another kiss on the forehead.

“Okay sweetheart. How about we go to sleep and when we wake up we can spend the whole day together. We’ll both skip school and then we can do whatever you want.”

“That sounds really nice Eddie.”

The two of you got comfortable in bed and drifted off. Staying asleep well into the day.

When the two of you wake up the sun is streaming through your room and you can feel Eddie’s arms wrapped tightly around you holding you against him.

“Morning sweetheart” he whispers in a husky morning voice and you can’t help but feel slightly aroused upon hearing it.

“I’m pretty sure it’s past noon Ed’s” you say in a slight giggle as you pull yourself from his arms and swing your feet over the edge of the bed.

“So sweetheart what’s on the agenda for today?” Eddie asks as he rolls over in your bed.

“How about we spend the day here and make it special? I was thinking we could go downstairs and bake some cupcakes then we can watch a movie?”

He smiles over at you and gets out of bed.

“You had me at cupcakes babe.”

The two of you go downstairs into the kitchen and you pull out the ingredients to bake the cake and you begin.

Of course having to correct when Eddie gets eggshells in the batter and having to take the bowl away when he starts stirring too vigorously and gets batter everywhere but you can’t help but giggle. Eventually you get the cupcakes in the oven and they come out perfect.

As you’re icing the cupcakes together Eddie takes a dollop of frosting onto his finger and swipes it on your nose.

“Ah! Eddie What are you doing!”

You take some frosting on your fingers and smear it across his face and he pulls you into him laughing and kissing the frosting off of your nose before placing a kiss on your lips. You can taste the frosting as you kiss him and you wrap your arms around his neck as you two deepen the kiss.

Eddie leans down as he kisses you and lifts you up in one swift motion as you wrap your legs around his waist as the two of you continue to make out in your kitchen.

After a few minutes of making out you pull away and drop back down to the ground smiling like an idiot. The two of you turn your attention back to the cupcakes and finish icing them.

Once done you each lift up a cupcake but Eddie insists that you two feed each other. As Eddie feeds you your bite you give a nice gentle sigh. As you feed Eddie his he lets out a loud moan that sounds like he just came in his pants and it makes you laugh.

“Good?”

“They’re heaven baby. Heaven. You’re magic.”

“Hey, you helped. If anything were magic together.”

He pulls you into him and kisses you with a mouth full of cupcakes. “Oh we definitely make magic together baby.” He finishes the sentence with a wink.

You slap his arm lightly and begin to clean the kitchen from your cupcake adventure. Once the kitchen is clean you head to the bathroom real quick and tell Eddie to go to your room so the two of you can watch a movie.

Once you walk In the room you see Eddie sat up against the headboard of your bed with a movie already in the VCR on pause. You see the case for the movie sitting on your side table and immediately recognize it as your favourite movie and your heart swells a little bit at just how well he knows you.

You jump into bed next to him and curl into his side as you enjoy the movie. Laughing together and enjoying each others presence. As the movie plays Eddie’s hands rub up and down your spine and every once in awhile he runs his hands gently through your hair and cradles your head. It’s almost like he doesn’t even know he’s doing it but the small touches make you feel so loved. So you hug yourself closer to him.

You guys stay like that for most of the afternoon, just watching movies and cuddling together. Until Eddie declares its present time so he runs to your room where he left the bag of goodies and returns to the living room.

He sits next to you on the couch and watches as you open your gifts.

First is a large bag of your favourite type of candy. Then you open the bag with the main gift and find a little brown Teddy bear with curly fur that’s wearing a little guitar pick necklace. You grab the card that sits beneath the bear and you begin to read it.

“Teddy from your Eddie I love you so much baby. Spending this life with you is all I could ask for and I hope we have many more valentines days together- love your teddy Eddie.”

Eddie begins to worry as he watches your face contort and then he sees the tear running down your face.

“Oh baby what’s wrong? Do you not like it?”

You sniffle again and wipe your nose.

“No! No! Eddie I love it. I love it so much. I just. Well. Nobody’s ever done something this sweet for me before.”

Eddie leans forward and captures you in a hug that you accept. Once the tears stopped falling and you stopped sniffling you pull away from the hug ever so slightly so that you can look at Eddie.

When you look at him and see those big brown eyes staring back at you so lovingly you just can’t hold back as you tackle him back onto the couch in a kiss.

Eddie makes a noise of surprise as he’s pushed back down on the couch and moves to where you two can comfortably make out. As you continue to make out your mind begins to drift onto an idea. A way to repay Eddie for making your day so special and something that would solidify today as a great day for the both of you. Eddie begins to realise you seem lost in thought so he pulls away from the kiss leaving your mouth feeling empty.

“What’s going on in that pretty head of yours sweets?”

You move to straddle him on the couch and you brush some hair out of his face.

“Well I was just thinkin. Maybe we could…well I wanted to….I was thinking we could maybe take things further today.”

Eddie's face wasn’t what you were expecting. You couldn’t quite read his reaction. He knew what you were asking and it’s not that he didn’t want to. He’s just surprised. You guys had done other stuff like giving each other head or handjobs but you guys had never done that.

Gradually a smile appears on Eddie’s face and your nerves begin to dissipate.

“Well sweetheart if that’s what you really want I think we can make that happen.”

He grabs your hand and intertwines his fingers with yours before he moves and stands from the couch with you. He guides you back to your room and closes the door.

Once he closes the door he turns to see you in the middle of the room undressing yourself and he just can’t have that.

“Nuh uh sweetheart hands up.”

“What?”

“Hands up sweetheart. That’s my job.”

You drop your hands to your sides. And wait as Eddie approaches you from across the room. When he gets to you he puts his hands on your waist and trails them down to the hem of your shirt before he ever so slowly lifts it up your body and fully removes the garment. Next he moves to your pants. He looks at you and raises a brow just to ask for confirmation. You give him a nod and he slides the pants down your legs. Getting close to the floor he lifts each leg in his hands and slips the pants fully off your body and discards them.

He returns to his full height towering above you as he slowly strips himself down to his boxers. Once you’re both standing there in nothing but your underwear he moves forward and kisses you as he guides you to the bed to lay down.

As you lay down on the bed you pull him to fall on top of you and he groans as you spread your legs for him to lay between and the two of you make out and begin to grind on each other.

Having so few layers between the two of you was making you even wetter. Feeling his growing erection rubbing between your folds was making you lose your mind as you two whine and moan into each other's mouths until Eddie begins to trail kisses down your neck to your torso. He gets to your bra and looks up at you for confirmation and when you nod he slips it off your body and throws it off the bed. Eddie then massages your left breast with his hands as he takes your right breast into his mouth causing a loud moan to slip past your lips. He then alternates between the two until your nipples are so hard they could cut glass.

Once he’s satisfied with his work on your breasts and can feel that you’ve soaked through your panties he travels lower and leaves kisses along your hips and stops at the waistband of your panties.

He looks up at your already fucked out expression. “Sweets look at me real quick”

You look down at him between your legs.

“I’m gonna eat you out to get you ready first okay baby. Give me an orgasm and I’ll give you what you want okay baby?”

You nod your head yes.

“Come on sweetheart I know you can give me words.”

“Yes Eddie.”

He grabs hold of your hips and takes your panties between his fingers and slides them down and off your legs. He then settles back on the bed and spreads your legs. Settling them over his shoulders. He makes himself comfortable (With ample room to grind into the mattress) and dives in.

He starts by wrapping his lips around your clit and sucking gently just to get you going before upping the pace. The more you moan the better he knows he is doing. He knows your body almost as well as you do at this point so he knows what you really want. He moves his fingers up and down your lips and parts them before dipping one finger in your entrance. But he knows it’s not enough for you. Yet he takes it slow and moves his lone finger in and out a few times listening to your little gasps before he pushes in that second finger. Two fingers is as much as you two have used together before. But Eddie knows he has to prepare you for what’s to come.

He lifts his head up for a moment. “Baby I’m gonna use another finger to get you ready for me okay. You want me to stop or if anything feels uncomfortable you tell me okay?”

“O-okay Eddie.”

He goes back to sucking your clit and moving his two fingers in and out until he feels that you’re ready for a third. When he adds the third finger he hears you wince a little and he slows down.

You feel his fingers deep within you pumping in and out. After the stretch of the third finger you’re hungering for more but you promised him and orgasm first so you know he wouldn’t agree to fucking you first. As you lay there and take everything he’s giving you, your body suddenly convulses. Eddie had curled his fingers and found just the right spot. You’re practically seeing stars Every Time he hits that spot.

Eddie meanwhile is in heaven. Grinding on the mattress trying to find some relief for his hard on but he doesn’t care when he can see the way your body is reacting above him. He knows you’re getting close and he wants to push you over the edge.

He uses his free hand to travel up your body and pinch one of your nipples between his fingers as he speeds up the pace of his fingers and his tongue swirling around your clit and your back arches off the bed and your thighs clamped around his head as you cum crying his name.

He works you through your high and then when your thighs release him he moves back up to your face where he places a gentle kiss upon his lips. You open your eyes and look up at him.

“Hi Ed’s.” You say with a dopey smile.

“Hey pretty girl” he says as he moves the hair from your face. He leans down and kisses you again but gasps when he feels your hand wrap around his still clothed cock.

He swallows and looks down at you. “Are you sure about this sweetheart?”

You squeeze him again and say yes. He moves back and slides his boxers off and tosses them off the bed. He then reaches over to your bedside table and grabs the box of condoms that you knew was there but you didn’t know he knew they were there.

You swat his arm. “Eddie!”

“What?” He says with a Cheshire grin.

“You’ve been snooping in my room!”

“I wouldn’t call it snooping sweetheart I was investigating.”

“Oh really? Investigating what? My panties?”

“Exactly.” He leans down and gives you a kiss.

He takes the wrapping off of the condom and slides it down onto his cock. Fisting himself a couple times before leaning back down and grinding against your wet form.

You spread your legs a little further and he settles between your legs. He rests both his arms next to your head bracing himself and looking into your eyes before he pushes just the mushroom tip into your entrance. You gasp and reach for him grabbing onto him for dear life the further he pushes in.

“Geez Ed’s shoulda used 4 fingers. Maybe 5 Jesus Christ.”

He laughs and kisses your forehead before bottoming out. Once he’s bottomed out he rests there and gives you a moment.m to adjust and gather yourself before you nod. He pulls out almost completely and pushes back in. The force of it makes you gasp like all the air has been knocked out of your lungs.

The pleasure of it is intense but you know it could be better.

“Harder Ed’s. Harder.”

He snaps his hips a bit rougher and changes the angle and he knows he’s found that spot again when you whine fairly loud and he feels you gush wetness around his cock. He keeps snapping his hips at that pace and he looks down at you to study your face and finds your eyes closed. Suddenly everything stops. You whine very loud and open your eyes to look up at him.

“Keep your eyes open for me sweetheart.”

He kisses your forehead again and starts up with his unrelenting pace. Your moans and whines are getting louder and louder.

You push on his ribs and flip the two of you over with him still inside you. This takes Eddie by surprise but he’s not complaining in the slightest. He watches you adjust yourself and find your pace as you begin bouncing on his cock.

As he watches your lovely tits bounce in his face and the way you squeeze around his cock so perfectly he knows he won’t last much longer but he wants you to come with him. He snakes a hand down between the two of you and finds your clit and begins to move in figures around your clit in the way he knows you’ll like. He begins fucking up into you so the even more ferver.

He moves his face to your breast where he begins sucking hickies onto your sensitive breasts. He takes your nipples into his mouth and massages your other breasts with his free hand.

Just like that you’re coming undone on top of him crying his name into his neck and hanging onto him for dear life. It doesn’t take long after that for Eddie to give a few final thrusts before he’s spilling himself into the condom and whining your name into your ears.

He lifts you off of him gently and places you onto the bed and gives you a kiss on the forehead. He then stands up and puts on his boxers and goes to the bathroom and disposes of the condom before grabbing a towel and heading back to the bed where he wipes between your legs and then crawls back into bed next to you.

You’re looking up at him with the most lovestruck eyes you could possibly muster and Eddie feels like his heart is going to explode.

“Happy Valentine’s Day sweetheart.”

“Thank you Eddie. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

[flam-burr]

Mama bear - Yautvember day 4

Content: Yautjas are a very religious species, which leads them to have a high respect for anything that goes beyond the living plane and cannot be hunted the traditional way. Too bad you learned it too late.

Tag: Fluff, gn Yautjaxgn reader

A/N: Hello fellas! Not gonna lie, this prompt was difficult af... I'm just not the best at writing fluff things, but I hope it passes. Thank you for all the feedback from the previews stories and check out @jacklycan for the original prompt list!

You always liked to spend time with children, so when you arrived on Yautja Prime you felt naturally driven towards the pups that roamed the village’s streets.

Of course you never approached any of them without the explicit consent of their mother -your mate had warned you of how protective they could be with their offsprings. Maybe it had been your soft and non threatening body or the submissive and calm nature, but eventually you made your way to the Matriarch’s heart and were trusted with the role of caretaker.

That day the pups were misbehaving while their mothers were out, slowly driving you crazy, and when they almost broke your instruments, you decided you had enough. You screamed you would have called the Boogeyman if they didn’t calm down.

Being pups, the new word attracted their attention like a magnet and stopped their campaign of destruction long enough for you to tell them the same story your grandma used to tell you when you were little.

You expected those little pests to laugh at your silly rhyme: they weren’t sucklings anymore and they were in that particular stage of childhood where there is no ruler outside of their mothers.

Instead, they froze on the spot and after a few seconds of silence they tidied up your instruments with surprising efficiency.

They became angels for the rest of the day and you baked them some cookies, once you calmed yourself, like any other day of babysitting.

Their mothers came to take them home by the evening and you just took a little me-time before your mate came back.

They laid down by your side after a nice and rough “cuddle”, their breath a little heavy in your ear as you slowly drifted away in sleep.

“How was the day with the pups, my star?”, they asked.

“Up and downs.”, you muttered, fighting to stay awake enough to answer. “They made me crazy… and I told them the story of the Boogeyman.”

“The Boogeyman?”

“Yeah.”

You could feel your mate adjusting themself, their attention all for you. They liked to listen to your stories, both because they got to focus on you without you being shy about it and because they were just as curious about your culture as you were of theirs.

You sighed, stirring a bit to focus, but giving up quite fast on the idea of repeating the whole rhyme with the right tone, so you resolved yourself to paraphrasing the legend.

“The Boogeyman is a wraith that is all pitch black and hides under the bed.”, you say with a yawn. “He takes the naughty pups and eats them.”

You felt your mate stiffen to your words and you patted their shoulder.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a kids’ story.”, you said, finally falling asleep.

The next day you found all the pups quietly waiting for you in the common tent you used as a daycare.

It was such a rare sight you almost didn’t see the front of mothers watching you with killer eyes right outside.

You knew better than to keep staring at them and lowered your head, stopping a few steps from them.

The biggest of the females approached you, covering you with her shadow.

“Hi Cithi.”, you said with a feeble voice. “How can I help you?”

The female’s chest rumbled with a growl, low enough to reverberate in your bones and cover you in goosebumps.

“You can start by not threatening the pups while we are not around.”, Cithi snarled.

You blinked, trying to remember when that happened, but kept quiet as the female resumed.

“I don’t care what you think of our pups: if I hear you call your monster, you’ll meet your end before the sun rises again. DId I make myself clear?”

You held your hands together to prevent them from shaking, yet something in her words felt… off.

“I have no… ‘monster’, Cithi. I barely have a hound- “

“Don’t try my patience, ooman.”

You fell silent, crushed under the threat in her voice, and swallowed as she approached another step.

“Your Boojimen won’t touch any of our pups.”

You lifted your gaze on Cithi and the females behind her: you finally noticed they were wearing their hunting gear and watching with careful eyes the trees around the village. They weren’t here just to talk with you, they were moving to hunt a shadow.

“I see…”, you muttered. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding here.”

Explaining what happened hadn’t been easy, Cithi was terribly stubborn when it came to protecting her offspring, but after a few tries you managed to convince the hunting party not to engage a hunt over a non-existing entity. Cithi insisted on a few adults still patrolling the borders that day and night and stayed with you and the pups to keep an eye on you, still suspicious even giving you the benefit of doubt.

After that, you learned an important lesson: Yautjas don’t make light of ghost stories, even the kid’s ones, especially mothers.

[josefavomjaaga]

Larrey and his family

A while ago I came across a discussion about Dominique Larrey’s family life, in particular, about him treating his two children (daughter Isaure and son Hippolyte) rather badly. I hope people are still interested in the topic, as now we’ve rediscovered the book this bit of information came from. It’s a 1902 biography by one Paul Triaire, "Dominique Larrey et les campagnes de la Révolution et de l’Empire (1768-1842)". Just as a disclaimer, while I will cite some not so nice passages about Larrey, the overall tone of the book is very positive, if not outright adoring. As a matter of fact, I’ve come across a book review from 1902 that vehemently reproached the author of being too uncritical of his hero and of not – as we would say today – fact-checking his sources (often letters and texts by Larrey himself that the author took at face-value).

All credit for this goes to @northernmariette who found the book on Gallica first, I’m merely the translator (or rather, DeepL is, and I’m typing it down).

I had the impression on browsing the pages that Larrey was, as far as family matters are concerned, an extremely conservative man, and had probably always been. For example, he seems to have been very disappointed in Cairo on learning (from the one and only letter from his wife that made it to Egypt) that Madame Larrey had given birth to "only" a girl:

[…] This single letter filled him with a joy that was not unmixed. It informed him of the birth of a girl, instead of the boy, already named Hippolyte in advance, that he had been expecting. […] We shall see later that this daughter, whose arrival Larrey greeted so coldly, was, on the contrary - as is often the case - the delight and consolation of his life.

Unfortunately, we cannot ask daughter Isaure if this was also true the other way around.

And just to show the other extreme: When in 1809 he learned in Spain that Madame Larrey finally had given birth to the long awaited little Hippolyte, Larrey claims to have been so beside himself with joy that he ran from door to door and even tried to disturb King Joseph during his siesta in order to share the news.

At this time, in 1809, young Isaure (who must have been around ten) had already become her father’s preferred correspondent - apparently regardless of whether the topic was suitable or comprehensible for a child. Among other things, Larrey instructed his daughter about how to treat her mother during and after the pregnancy.

[...] One has to look at the letters he wrote, not to his wife, whom he did not want to worry, but to his nine-year-old daughter Isaure, who became his confidante. It was an extraordinary peculiarity of Larrey's character that he had such a way with this child. He obviously lacked the faculty of discerning the ages, and his recommendations were of the kind that are usually addressed only to a grown-up. By the same mental transposition, he was later to send his son, a young schoolboy of six or seven, his "Mémoires et campagnes" (Memoirs and Campaigns), instead of the short stories we are accustomed to having children read. However, these strange methods of early education did not prevent his daughter from becoming an accomplished woman, and his son from one day becoming one of the most distinguished men of his time. He sent Isaure detailed instructions on her mother's hygiene, bed rest, diet and finally the baptism. The child, who was to be a boy - Larrey did not even intend to consider the possibility to the contrary - was to be called Félix-Hippolyte. [...]

This sounds all a little weird, but surely not extraordinary for the time. Apparently, the real problems only started after the Empire, with Larrey now staying home, with his family. Over whom he dominated rather severely. Severly enough, in fact, for the author to use the word "tyrannique", tyrannical.

It seems at first sight, from what we know of his character and the tenderness he showed towards his wife and children, that he must have been completely happy to live among them. He had always hated the extended separations that had kept him away from his family for so long and so often, and he had long wished for peace. In all his letters to his wife from the farthest corners of the world, from the banks of the Sprée, the Danube, the Elbe and the Niemen, he expressed his ardent desire to be reunited with her and to live peacefully as a family. [...] However, it does not appear that he enjoyed this longed-for reunion with his wife and children, as one might think. [...] He had difficulty adjusting to the demands of family life, which was so new to him, where a woman's wishes and desires had to be taken into account, as well as the many delicate conditions of raising children, and, without realising it, he brought the authoritarian aspects of camp life into his home. With his wife, the sweet and charming Laville, whom he had adored and whom he still loved, - but in his own way, - with Isaure, a charming child who had been his correspondent during the last campaign and who had become a beautiful and charming young girl, he was imperious and domineering. He was no less tyrannical and authoritarian with his son, this Hippolyte whose birth he had so ardently wished for, who was to become the joy and pride of his old age and who bore so proudly the heavy heritage of his father's name. [...] His daughter Isaure suffered the most from this despotic yoke. In 1815, she was at the peak of her youth and beauty. [...] Many suitors sought her hand in marriage. This went on for a long time, because Larrey, jealous of his daughter's affection, could find no suitor worthy of her and eliminated them all one by one.

Followed by a longer story about one of her suitors, Antoine Clot aka Clot-Bey, a French physician who would become important for the modernisation and the development of a medical service in Egypt during to 1830s and 1840s. Larrey seems to have originally estimated this man greatly, but immediately dismissed him on realizing that he and Isaure had taken a liking to each other. This story must have caused a bit of a stir as it is also eluded to in an eloge after Hippolyte Larrey’s death.

If Larrey's hand was too forceful for his daughter, it fell no less heavily on his son. But this was a man's education, and its rigour had fewer drawbacks. It is even probable that Hippolyte Larrey owed to this inflexible and authoritarian education, but imbued with the lofty ideas which had governed the entire life of the surgeon of the Grande Armée, a large part of his solid qualities and, in particular, the uprightness and elevation of character, the delicacy of conscience, the spirit of justice, the unalterable feelings of honour and loyalty, which like his father he possessed to a high degree and which made him one of the most remarkable men of his generation. However, this restrictive upbringing had its drawbacks, and it must have robbed him of some of his individuality. It is remarkable that it was by abusing the prodigious originality of his temperament that Larrey attenuated that of his son. This was perhaps not a misfortune; the times were indeed very different, and the dominating energy, the absolute will, the tenacity and the almost superhuman fortitude that Larrey had first shown during the wars of the Revolution and the Empire, could not have been used under the peaceful regimes of the Restoration and the July government.

This lack of individuality in Hippolyte Larrey also is hinted at in the same eloge.

So, that’s the story. I am still of the opinion that of all those men whose entire lives were spent in war, not a single one returned without harm.

But hey, Larrey for once seems to have been the opposite of a henpecked husband, quite contrary to all the marshals 😁.