#and with lis it’s always a three year gap between main games

[camscendants]

The way we’re gonna have Beyond the Spiderverse, Arcane season 2, and the next life is strange game next year

[descendantofthesparrow]

One-shot - Harry Hook x Reader - Colorless - soulmate au!

i made this cuz i was having minor writers block from rewrite and wanted to do a soulmate au oneshot. enjoy!

=

He had never believed it, the idea of soulmates. Someone who made in the stars just for him? That would love him no matter what? Someone he would love till the end of his life? Someone perfect to him in every which way?

Yeah right, he was not that dumb to believe something like that, villains didn’t get happy endings, or someone to love.

They didn’t need it, or deserve it.

His father's world had been black and white since he was born, he had been told that color erupted around him the first time he stepped onto a ship out on the open seas, but Harry wasn’t inclined to believe him after the 30th time he had asked what the color of something was and his father refused to answer.

Some days he looked out across the strait of Ursula to see Auradon, wondering if he did have a soulmate and if they lived there.

Somedays he dreamed of someone with a laugh that sounded like the soft bells you would hear in those Auradon commercials around the holidays, not the ones he would find that sounded like a little metal ball hitting against cheap plastic.

Sometimes he would dream that he was on a large great pirate ship, walking along the deck with someone as they sang a sea shanty with the most beautiful voice he had ever heard, he akined it to a siren that sang to sailors about their deepest loves and wishes.

Deep down he knew it was dreams of his soulmate, hinting to him so he could find them easier. But he had already convinced himself that he didn’t have one, so he did his best to ignore those dreams.

He never thought that he would be proved wrong.

When he kidnapped King Ben and informed Evie, Jay, and Carlos about the deal Uma wanted to make with Mal. He didn’t expect to look behind Carlos as see a flash of color in a pair of eyes he had sworn he had seen in his dreams.

He ignored it, turning and walking back to the crew and escorting King Ben back to the ship. It didn’t mean his mind wasn’t on those curious sparkling (e/c) eyes for the entire night.

The entire day leading to the trade for Ben, he saw flashes of (e/c) everywhere, a bead on Bonnie's bracelet, a cloth hanging from the clothing lines, a shimmer from the sea below the revenge.

He forced himself to think that it was a fluke, that those hypnotic eyes hadn’t been the ones belonging to the one that would be called his soulmate.

He threw that out the window when he was chasing after Ben and slammed into someone, his mind screamed at him to drop his weapons and catch them before they hurt themselves, he listened. His hook and sword clattered to the deck as he wrapped his arms around their waist and tugged them back on their feet.

Their colorless hair bounced a bit as they shook their head to clear their frazzled mind and looked up, Harrys breath stopped as the (e/c) eyes looked into his, the world now exploding into color.

Time froze as the two newly found soulmates started into each other's eyes, Harry's grip around their waist tightening as he started to look at them. Soft looking (h/l) (h/c) hair, blush tinted (s/c) decorated with (freckles, scars, beauty marks, whatever), (chapped, scarred, soft, plump, thin) lips agape as they stared back at him.

His soulmate…was everything the stories had said. They were perfect to him, truly made in the stars just for him.

As time resumed, Harry flinched a bit as he heard the frustrated screams of Uma and Mal. He looked up, gritting his teeth as the traitors and Ben backed up near the tunnel, calling out for someone's name.

(y/n)…that was his soulmate's name.

“Yeh have ta go” he whispered to them, releasing his grip on their waist and sliding it up to their shoulders, giving them a reassuring smile when they protested “we’ll see each other again, I promise…I’m Harry” they stopped, whispering their name back before grabbing one of his hands and pecking his palm, turning and running towards their friends, glancing back at Harry the entire time as the core four and Ben made their escape.

Harry gingerly picked up his weapons, starting at his reflection in his hook. So that’s what his mother meant when his eyes had reflected the colors of the sea. He hooked his hook on his belt and went to sheath his sword, watching as the red fabric he had tied to his sword handle fluttered in the wind.

He sighed, rolling his neck and watching as Uma stormed off, watching as her colored hair flew around her as she took the long way around the wharf to get to the other side of the tunnel. He had always told her that her hair was beautiful, but now he knew he had never lied.

-

He perked up as his soulmate walked on screen, wearing a crimson dress/suit with delicate details on the chest that reached down to their waist. His brow twitched as some of the crew booed at his soulmate and chucked food at the screen.

(i made three of these so be prepared)

He ignored them, keeping his eyes on his beautiful soulmate. Their sparkling (e/c)s looked straight at the camera, looking as if they hoped they could see him through the lens.

They looked away a moment later, tuning and walking onto the ship for cotillion.

Every time the camera panned over them during the main event, Harry felt his heart flutter, just wanting to hold them in his arms again.

When Uma turned into the giant cecaelia, the water from her emerging from the sea had destroyed the cameras, cutting off the crew from watching her take over, and Harry from seeing his soulmate.

He cursed to himself, wishing he had told Uma of (y/n) before she left Uma wouldn’t accidentally hurt her.

All he could do now was wait.

-

It was two years before he saw his soulmate again, only getting glimpses of them through a cruddy screen, but their eyes always seemed to shine through the fuzzy and fading tv.

He and Gil snuck up behind the unsuspecting core four, leaping through the closing gap of the barrier and for the first time, stepping outside of the prison they called home.

“We did it!” he and Gil hugged each other for a moment before remembering the vks next to them, who were staring at them bewildered and apprehensively.

“uh, hey guys~!” He sang, giving a small wave before turning to Gil and gesturing towards the other end of the bridge “we were just coming for a wee visit~!” and to see (y/n) but they didn’t need to know that.

As he and Gil tried to push past the core four, Carlos and Jay pushed them back, Harry growled a bit and shoved Carlos, the younger teen bumping back into Mal and making her drop the small blue crystal in her hand.

“hey-hey!!” as she ducked down to grab it, harry swiped down with his hook and then threw his arm to the side, sending the crystal into the sky and dropping down into the sea. “no!” Mal screamed, stilling as a large turquoise tentacle reached up and grabbed it.

Uma rose from the sea, Harry and Gil looked at each other as they realized their captain and friend had returned “Drop something~” Uma purred, the tentacle holding the crystal opening to show it to Mal.

“It can't get wet, give it back before it goes out!” Uma cackled at Mal's plead.

“Uma?!” Harry and Gil yelled, the sea witch looking at them with a smile and wave.

“that’s my name~!” moments later she ducked back under the waves, Mal screaming out another objection.

The water rose up in a tunnel, rising higher than the broken bridge the vks were standing on. It burst out, spraying them with water.

Harry and Gil looked back over the edge, looking for their friend “hi boys~” they spun around, Harry grinning and holding his hook up as Uma grinned back at him.

He cackled as he walked toward her “welcome back~” Uma’s smile diminished for a moment as Gil looked at her with sad eyes.

“Uma, you swam off and forgot all about us” Mal scoffed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

“yeah, planning a revenge no doubt” Uma laughed a bit, stepping away from her boys and giving a nasty smirk to Mal.

“it's not all about you Mal” Mal seemed surprised and appalled at the comeback “I was looking for a hole in the barrier, to let everybody out?” she turned back to Harry and Gil, who grinned at her “and you know what I found boys? It’s way better out there than we thought” she walked a bit closer to them, an excited spark in her eyes. “there's this thing that looks like a furry rock, called a coconut. And fish so big you can dance on their backs!” Uma looked back at Mal. “and they’ve been keeping it all for themselves~” Harry clicked his tongue in disappointment, shaking his finger a bit.

“Whatever, Uma I need that to break a spell” Mal held her hand out as if expecting Uma would just hand over the crystal with just her word.

“Cast by sleeping beauty’s daughter Audrey” Carlos continued, watching as Uma pursed her lip in fake concern.

“so, the good guys the bad guy huh?” she let out a soft laugh “well I might not give it back, just to see what happens~”

“Uma it's not the time for games, people’s lives are in danger!” harry felt his heart stop as an image of (y/n)s body came to mind, unable to move as darkness swirled around them. He shook his head, forcing his mind to pay attention to what was happening right in front of him.

“Guarantee me, that every single villain kid who wants too, can get off the isle” Mal glared a bit and shook her head.

“I can't do that” Uma just gave her a ‘really bitch’ look and walked towards the edge of the bridge.

“can't do that huh, well how bout now!” she held her hand over the edge, dangling the crystal between her fingers.

“Deal!” Mal yelled, a satisfied smirk growing on Uma’s face as she watched Mal panic “Deal.” Uma faked a stumble, Evie calling out her name to stop her from dropping the crystal.

“Uma!” Uma looked over to Evie with a satisfied look on her face “her word is good” Uma stepped away from the edge, bringing the crystal to her face and glancing from it to mal before shaking her head

“I’ll still keep this, for the time being,” Mal scoffed, crossing her arms again “because if you think I trust you to save the world on your own, think again” Uma turned back to Harry and Gil, a wide grin on her face “this is a job for pirates!”

And with a ‘friendship’ suggestion from Evie, the vks were off to Auradon in an attempt to save it.

Another two hours, finding a courtyard of sleeping students, fighting spelled suits of armor, and then finally being sent off to find Ben, Harry was…bored.

He, Jay, Carlos, and Gil had been walking for thirty minutes through the enchanted forest but had noticed the colors around him had started to brighten, unlike they were on the isle.

‘the farther you are away from your soulmate the duller the world will be’ he remembered his mother telling him when was a babe, and it proved to be true after he met (y/n) and when they left the isle was dull again, he could see the colors but they were so drab and grey that it felt like he never found them at all.

He glanced down at his hook, smirking as his ocean blue eyes seemed to awaken with color again, the grass below him fading into that fresh green he had only heard about, looking up to see Jay and Carlos’ colors standing against the earthy tones of the forest.

He was close to his soulmate, he had to be, all he had to do now was find them as he promised.

If only a cursed beast Ben hadn't interrupted him. Jay pulled his arm out of the way, Harry spinning on his heel and sending a right hook at beast Ben's face and yelping as he turned and leaped at him.

Jay grabbed his jacket and forced him to bend back and leaned Harry towards himself, Harry spun himself back around, standing just behind Jay.

“yeh need some serious nose adjustments!” Harry snarled, flinching back as Ben roared. Ben looked between him and Gil, and snarled, leaning back on his haunches and about to leap at them.

Harry and Gil stepped back as he leaped forward, reeling his claws back to slash when a silver hilted cutlass flew between them, sticking into a tree just next to them.

The boys turned, Harry's world exploding into bright color again as he laid his eyes on (y/n). then his breath stopped as he looked at their clothes. A black button-up shirt, unbuttoned down to the middle of their chest, black ripped pants that had belts and buckles on the right leg, tall dark brown worn boots, multiple necklaces hanging between the open sides of their shirt, silver and gold rings, leather bracelets, and red and black skull stud leather fingerless gloves. “wow” Harry croaked, taking another step back as Ben swiped at (y/n).

They ducked under the swipe and ran towards the silver hilted cutlass, flipping it in their grip and blocking a couple of swipes from Ben's claws. Within moments they trapped Ben down on his front claws, raising their brow as a sharp dark object caught their eye.

They quickly ripped out the object out of Ben's paw and leaped back as Ben roared in pain and swiped his claws up “Jane now!” (y/n) called, backing up near the boys and looking at Harry, a smile growing on their face.

Suddenly a spray of water hit Ben, a soft glow and sparkles appearing as the beast form shrunk down into Ben's human form. Jay ran forward to go help Ben as (y/n) and Harry stared at each other.

The world around them blurred away and it seemed like it was just them. Gil looked between them and smiled, turning to go join the boys and Jane as Harry and (y/n) stepped closer to each other.

“I told yeh we’d see each other, again didn’t I?” Harry hummed, letting out a soft chuckle as (y/n) bit their lip and nodded.

“yeah…how’d you get off the isle?”  Harry shrugged, looking down at (y/n)s hands and wanting to hold them.

“Malsy and the others wanted ta get the crystal or whatever n’ Gil and I took the chance to escape” (y/n) giggled, smiling at him.

“well, I’m glad you took the chance” Harry smiled back, eyes glancing back and forth between (y/n)s eyes and their lips.

“Harry, (y/n), come on, we’re heading back to Evie’s place” Gil forced them out of their little world, scaring (y/n) a bit as they snapped their head to look at Gil “sorry, but we’re leaving now” Harry sighed, closing his eyes a bit and nodded.

“Alright, we’re coming”

-

Uma blinked in surprise as she stared at Harry and (y/n)s intertwined hands “alright I missed something and I would like to be told what I missed” Harry looked around, sighing in relief as Gil entered the back room they were occupying.

“um, so yeh remember when we were fightin’ the others over Ben ‘n the wand?” Uma slowly nodded, her eyes glancing from their hands to (y/n) “um, well, um….yer hair is turquoise” Uma stared at him as if he was insane before it hit her.

“no.fucking.way~!” Uma squealed, a bright grin blooming on her face. Her hands flashed up to cup her cheeks “aww how cute!...why am I talking like this? Why can't I stop?” Uma continued to talk in a high pitched voice, looking from Gil to Harry slightly confused.

Harry snorted a bit and covered his mouth, looking away as Gil just started to laugh “you sound like you ate a lot of that balloon stuff” he chuckled.

“inhaled, you can’t eat helium Gil” (y/n) supplied, giving a soft smile to the sea three “I’m glad you approve Uma”

“Why wouldn’t I? you’re his soulmate. If I didn’t approve, I’d look like an asshole” Uma laughed “even if you are an Auradon kid, I can tell you’re one of the cool ones” Uma gestured to (y/n)s skull-themed clothing items, such as the gold coin necklace with a skull in the middle.

“oh” (y/n) snorted “that, yeah, I’m technically an Auradon kid I guess, but I’m different for one reason” Uma, Gil, and Harry looked at (y/n) with raised brows “I’m the descendant of the two most legendary pirates in the world~” Harry's eyes sparkled in excitement, tightening his grip on (y/n)s hand and bringing up, forcing (y/n)s attention to him.

“Who are they?” (y/n) giggled at his enthusiasm.

“Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner.”

Harry's jaw dropped, and he just stared at (y/n) for a minute “wh-why is he staring at me like that?” (y/n) chuckled, slightly unnerved with the look in Harry's eyes.

“he’s just happy that you have such bomb ass parents” Uma laughed, patting Harry’s back and walking out of the room with Gil “yall get to know each other better, we’ll be with the others”

(y/n) nodded, looking back at Harry and reaching up to cup his face. He shook at the touch and blinked, a smile replacing his awed look “yeh are so damn cool”

(y/n)s cheeks turned dark at the compliment “so um-“ they quickly thought of a way to turn the attention off of them “do you have any siblings?”

“aye, two sisters, Harriet and CJ, Harriet’s the oldest and CJs the baby” (y/n) smiled and took Harry's hand again, leading him to the window seat in the room and making him sit.

They sat down next to him and continued “I have an older brother, his name is Henry, and a soon-to-be sister-in-law, Carina. Um, what's your favorite food?”

“oooh battered fish fries, Uma makes really good ones”

“I’ll have to try them sometime.”

-

(y/n) watched with sad eyes as the limo with her soulmate drove back to the isle, twisting the ruby ring Harry had given them before he left.

It was slowly losing its color the farther the limo got.

“I’m sorry (y/n)” Ben muttered, trying to comfort them as they both watched the limo drive off “If I knew…I would have invited him to Auradon a long time ago”

“there's no point in saying that now” (y/n) muttered, shrugging off Ben's arm and walking back inside the dorms, ignoring the tears that were trailing down their face.

-

(y/n)s heart pounded as their shoes slammed against the bridge ground, just across from them as Harry, who was running straight towards them.

“Harry!” (y/n) screamed, feeling tears once more burn at their eyes and stream down their face. Harry screamed their name back, opening his arms as they finally reached each other and held onto (y/n) tightly, picking them off their feet and spinning them around.

“I’m here love, I’m here”

(y/n) pulled back for a moment, staring into Harry's ocean blue eyes, before they grabbed the lapels of Harry's jacket and pulling him in for a kiss.

Harry hummed and tilted his head, his hands drifting from (y/n)s hips up to their face, gently brushing his thumb against their cheek.

“I think our (y/n) is in good hands” Elizabeth hummed, watching from the Auradon side as her child was finally reunited with their soulmate.

“I think so too” Will muttered back, grabbing onto Elizabeth's hand and pressing a kiss to the back of her knuckles.

Harry pulled back from (y/n) and looked down, grinning at the black and red outfit they were wearing “I like yer look”

“Thanks, I got inspiration from my soulmate” (y/n) laughed, pressing a kiss to Harry's cheek and pulling him to Auradon.

-end-

hoped yall liked it, personally some of it went pretty fast but i was just trying write something to warm up instead of making everything make sense lol

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[laboratorioautoral]

The original outline and why it is still relevant to ASOIF

Since the original outline for A Song of Ice and Fire was leaked there’s been a massive effort, both in fandom and mainstream media, to discredit everything that was revealed there as a potential clue for the future of the story.

Although I agree that some changes happened, I don’t subscribe to the idea that the outline is irrelevant at this point. This little essay is my attempt to analyze the outline and compare it with what has already happened and still could happen in the future books, how much was changed and more importantly, how it was changed. I won’t say this is an impartial analysis (because I don’t believe that such a thing exists) but an honest effort of textual interpretation.

Here we go:

“Dear Ralph,

Here are the first thirteen chapters (170 pages) of the high fantasy novel I promised you, which I'm calling 'A Game of Thrones.' When completed, this will be the first volume in what I see as an epic trilogy with the overall title, 'A Song of Ice and Fire.'”

First things first. A Song of Ice and Fire was first imagined as a trilogy and the fact that GRRM extended it to 7 books obviously has an impact in terms of structure. It seems quite reasonable to assume that a lot more would have to happen to fill the gap occupied by 4 additional books. That alone is a huge influencing factor, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the essence of the story was changed as we can see in the following paragraphs.

“As you know, I don't outline my novels. I find that if I know exactly where a book is going, I lose all interest in writing it. I do, however, have some strong notions as to the overall structure of the story I'm telling, and the eventual fate of many of the principle characters in the drama. Roughly speaking, there are three major conflicts set in motion in the chapters enclosed. These will form the major plot threads of the trilogy, [unclear] each other in what should be a complex but exciting (I hope [unclear] tapestry. Each of the [unclear] presents a major threat [unclear] of my imaginary realm, the Seven Kingdoms, and to the live [unclear] principal characters.”

Here we have Martin admitting that he usually doesn’t outline his novels over fear that he will lose interest while writing it. However, he also clarifies that he has “some strong notions” for the story he is telling, especially in which concerns those he considers to be the main characters.

In some of interviews Martin already said that the ending he had planned many years ago is still in place and he has known the characters’ endings ever since. It’s safe to assume, I think, that the core of his plans hasn’t changed much. What might have changed is the path that leads the characters from one point to another.

“The first threat grows from the enmity between the great houses of Lannister and Stark as it plays out in a cycle of plot, counter-plot, ambition, murder, and revenge, with the iron throne of the Seven Kingdoms as the ultimate prize. This will form the backbone of the first volume of the trilogy, A Game of Thrones.”

Can anyone say that this didn’t happen? Of course not. This is the spark that lights the fire that will consume the Seven Kingdoms throughout the story, with major and minor consequences that will shape both the narrative and the characters’ development. The conflict between Starks and Lannisters is the first of three conflicts that represent the core of the story.

“While the lion of Lannister and the direwolf of Stark snarl and scrap, however, a second and greater threat takes shape across the narrow sea, where the Dothraki horselords mass their barbarian hordes for a great invasion of the Seven Kingdoms, led by the fierce and beautiful Daenerys Stormborn, the last of the Targaryen dragonlords. The Dothraki invasion will be the central story of my second volume, A Dance with Dragons.”

Here we have the second major conflict and with this one in particular I’ll have to take my time to elaborate some points. First of all, A Dance With Dragons became the 5th book of the series instead of the second. So far everything we saw about Daenerys was her preparing to take her place at the center of the stage.

Dany has her own arc which hasn’t integrated to the events in Westeros so far given to her geographic location. That doesn’t mean that Daenerys has no relevance to what’s happening in Westeros, but her existence wasn’t directly noticed by the seven kingdoms yet. Daenerys is preparing for her role in the main story: She is gathering a military force based on the Dothraki to invade Westeros.

We already know that Daenerys will have more than just the Dothraki on her side. The Unsullied were added to the plot and my guess is that they exist to humanize Daenerys and make us sympathize with her cause as she creates the great narrative of “Breaker of Chains”. This makes Daenerys sound heroic and noble, but I would like to point that Martin is very specific about one thing: The fierce and beautiful Daenerys Stormborn is first and foremost a threat. She is ready to invade Westeros and invasions are not peaceful.

At this point we already know two things worth being mentioned that are related both with Daenerys and the title of this book: The Dance of Dragons was a civil war involving two Targaryen claimants to the Iron Throne. On one side we had Rhaenyra, firstborn of the king and rightful heir if gender wasn’t an issue in Westerosi succession laws. On the other side we had Aegon, a son born from the king’s second marriage. His claim was mostly based on gender norms that favor male heirs in detriment of primogeniture.

It isn’t much of a dance if we only have one dragon, is it? Yes, Daenerys is the first half of this equation, but there is another half that Martin hadn’t created yet (or didn’t mention) when he wrote the outline. There is a second Targaryen, or at least someone who claims to be one.

Aegon VI, or Young Griff, is actually the first one to arrive in Westeros with invasion in mind. Does it mean that Dany is less of a threat or that she was suddenly placed in a heroic position? Absolutely not. No one with three dragons is a harmless creature and Dany is even more dangerous now that she has a direct enemy in position to take away everything she fought for.

I know that there’s a lot of speculation on whether Aegon is a Blackfire or not, but honestly I think his true lineage will be irrelevant as long as he has at least a drop of Targaryen blood and the right looks. Legitimate or not, Aegon looks like a Targaryen, has the house’s ancestral sword and a story that is convincing enough. More than that, by posing as Prince Rhaegar’s legitimate son, Aegon makes his claim stronger than Daenerys’. On top of that, he would be the Targaryen male heir in opposition to a Targaryen woman, repeating at least a part of the scenery that led Westeros to the Dance of Dragons.

Aegon and Daenerys are bound to become enemies because of their own ambitions. I don’t see Dany accepting him as a suitor or even the rightful heir. She doesn’t need Aegon to take Westeros and a queen without a king is, historically speaking, more powerful.

Everything said about Aegon can also be applied to Jon once his true parentage is revealed. Jon and Daenerys are a threat to each other and only one will survive this.

“The greatest danger of all, however, comes from the north, from the icy wastes beyond the Wall, where half-forgotten demons out of legend, the inhuman others, raise cold legions of the undead and the neverborn and prepare to ride down on the winds of winter to extinguish everything that we would call "life." The only thing that stands between the Seven Kingdoms and an endless night is the Wall, and a handful of men in black called the Night's Watch. Their story will be [sic] heart of my third volume, The Winds of Winter. The final battle will also draw together characters and plot threads left from the first two books and resolve all in one huge climax.”

The third and greatest danger also remains just the same. The Others are still the core of the last book and the major battle. There isn’t much to elaborate on in this part except for the title of what was supposed to be the last book, The Winds of Winter.

I don’t think A Dream of Spring will be some sort of extended epilogue, but most of the action and conflict should take part during The Winds of Winter. At the very least the center of the whole debate will be both the North, with all the plots there, and what lies beyond the Wall.

“The thirteen chapters on hand should give you a notion as to my narrative strategy. All three books will feature a complex mosaic of inter-cutting points-of-view among various of my large and diverse cast of players. The cast will not always remain the same. Old characters will die, and new ones will be introduced. Some of the fatalities will include sympathetic viewpoint characters. I want the reader to feel that no one is ever completely safe, not even the characters who seem to be the heroes. The suspense always ratchets up a notch when you know that any character can die at any time.”

Needless to say anything about this. The books are well-known for these hallmarks. Now we are getting to the juicy part.

--

“Five central characters will make it through all three volumes, however, growing from children to adults and changing the world and themselves in the process. In a sense, my trilogy is almost a generational saga, telling the life stories of these five characters, three men and two women. The five key players are Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and three of the children of Winterfell, Arya, Bran, and the bastard Jon Snow. All of them are introduced at some length in the chapters you have to hand.”

I would like to make a point here. The five characters will grow from children to adults, changing the world and themselves in the process.

Although I believe that Martin made a bit of a mess in which concerns the characters’ ages, I think we can understand that the characters will not only be forced to act like adults, but also will be perceived as such by those around them and given positions of power or leadership.

Specifically in which concerns the female characters, both Daenerys and Arya will be perceived as adult women by Westerosi society and this is important for several reasons, mainly in that being an adult noblewoman is a relevant component to form political alliances via marriage. In Arya’s case in particular, it reinforces the idea that she won’t be a nine year old girl forever. This impacts her relevance in the political game (something people usually overlook or ignore) and also makes it possible for Arya to have romantic interests.

“This is going to be (I hope) quite an epic. Epic in its scale, epic in its action, and epic in its length. I see all three volumes as big books, running about 700 to 800 manuscript pages, so things are just barely getting underway in the thirteen chapters I've sent you.”

Can anyone say it isn’t an epic? Sometimes I wish it wasn’t so intense so the books would come earlier, but here we are.

“I have quite a clear notion of how the story is going to unfold in the first volume, A Game of Thrones. Things will get a lot worse for the poor Starks before they get better, I'm afraid. Lord Eddard Stark and his wife Catelyn Tully are both doomed, and will perish at the hands of their enemies. Ned will discover what happened to his friend Jon Arryn, [unclear] can act on his knowledge [unclear] will have an unfortunate accident, and the throne will [unclear] to [unclear] and brutal [unclear] Joffrey [unclear] still a minor. Joffrey will not be sympathetic and Ned [what appears to say] will be accused of treason, but before he is taken he will help his wife and his daughter Arya escape back to Winterfell.”

Here we have proof that Ned and Catelyn were doomed from the start. Basically everything in this paragraph happened, even the part in which Ned helps Arya to escape by giving her position to Yoren. The only problem is that Arya never reached Winterfell and her mother had left the capital before Ned was arrested. Also the part that says that “things will get much worse for the poor Starks before they get better” makes me think that it’s quite clear that the Starks (or some of them) are the main protagonists of this story.

Why am I saying the Starks (or some of them) are the main heroes? Because being a charismatic character, created with the intention of getting the readers’ sympathy, isn’t necessarily what makes this character a protagonist. You can like whoever you want in the story, this doesn’t make a secondary character a main character, nor does it make a likable character the ‘hero’. The structure of the story and who are the main players is already given.

“Each of the contending families will learn it has a member of dubious loyalty in its midst. Sansa Stark, wed to Joffrey Baratheon, will bear him a son, the heir to the throne, and when the crunch comes she will choose her husband and child over her parents and siblings, a choice she will later bitterly rue. Tyrion Lannister, meanwhile, will befriend both Sansa and her sister Arya, while growing more and more disenchanted with his own family.”

Tyrion and Sansa were set to be the ones with dubious loyalties to their families. This also happened with slight differences. Tyrion befriends Jon and is somewhat sympathetic to Sansa and Bran. Sansa didn’t marry Joffrey, but she did choose him over her own family  the moment she went to Cersei to tell her Ned’s plans to get Sansa and Arya out of the capital. This might or might not indicate that she will have the chance to repent and atone for this, but her dubious loyalty is consolidated. Also Sansa has no children so far.

“Young Bran will come out of his coma, after a strange prophetic dream, only to discover that he will never walk again. He will turn to magic, at first in the hope of restoring his legs, but later for its own sake. When his father Eddard Stark is executed, Bran will see the shape of doom descending on all of them, but nothing he can say will stop his brother Robb from calling the banners in rebellion. All the north will be inflamed by war. Robb will win several splendid victories, and maim Joffrey Baratheon on the battlefield, but in the end he will not be able to stand against Jaime and Tyrion Lannister and their allies. Robb Stark will die in battle, and Tyrion Lannister will besiege and burn Winterfell.”

Bran’s arc is pretty much the same. We saw all of these things happen to him. The biggest change is in Robb’s part and even so most of it remains untouched. Robb did win splendid victories and in the books he even strategically beats both Jaime and Tyrion. What changed is that Robb and Joffrey never fought each other personally. Also Robb’s death was not on the battlefield but during the Red Wedding and Tyrion wasn't the one to sack Winterfell and burn it.

Tyrion’s first act of explicit villainy in the outline was transferred to Houses Bolton and Frey with participation of Theon Greyjoy. Still it was all part of the Lannisters’ plot and it was executed by their allies.

“Jon Snow, the bastard, will remain in the far north. He will mature into a ranger of great daring, and ultimately will succeed his uncle as the commander of the Night's Watch. When Winterfell burns, Catelyn Stark will be forced to flee north with her son Bran and her daughter Arya. Wounded by Lannister riders, they will seek refuge at the Wall, but the men of the Night's Watch give up their families when they take the black, and Jon and Benjen will not be able to help, to Jon's anguish. It will lead to a bitter estrangement between Jon and Bran. Arya will be more forgiving ... until she realizes, with terror, that she has fallen in love with Jon, who is not only her half-brother but a man of the Night's Watch, sworn to celibacy. Their passion will continue to torment Jon and Arya throughout the trilogy, until the secret of Jon's true parentage is finally revealed in the last book.”

Here we have some changes. What doesn’t change is that Jon becomes a member of the Night’s Watch and ultimately ascends to the position of Lord Commander. Benjen is a famous member of the Night’s Watch and I believe he was the first choice to take the position of Lord Commander after Mormont, but Ben’s disappearance accelerated Jon’s ascension.

Catelyn and Arya never fled Winterfell, since their paths had already taken them somewhere else, but Bran did and his first impulse is to go to the Wall. Given the fact that the three eyed raven calls him, Bran’s magical journey leads him to go beyond the Wall before he can be reunited with Jon.

Arya and Cat had completely different journeys, or at least partially. Cat seeks her eldest son and stays by Robb’s side during his campaign. Arya, on the other hand, is stranded all over the Riverlands trying to find her way to either Winterfell or the Wall, although she explicitly says that she prefers to go to Wall, where she can find Jon. There was a clear intention to send both Bran and Arya to the Wall, but as the story progressed this decision might have been abandoned temporarily.

Thanks to his vows, Jon can’t take part in the realm’s politics. When news of Ned’s fate arrive at the Wall, Jon is devastated by the impossibility to help his family and fight side by side with Robb. Jon’s moral boundaries and his code of honor become a huge issue for him in the books, and they are tested the most whenever his family is involved. This seems to be his main dilemma in the outline as well.

Jon’s relationship with his family is also ambiguous in some aspects, especially when it’s revealed that his greatest dream since he was young was to be the Lord of Winterfell. This implies a level of rivalry and envy of his true born siblings. Jon repressed these feelings as much as he could out of love for the Starks.

Now I’ll make some guesses here, I don’t think it’s impossible for Bran and Jon to have some bitter estrangement between them, but it won’t be because of the Night’s Watch: If Jon is released from his vows once he is resurrected and takes back Winterfell along with the titles, it will undoubtedly lead to a succession crisis involving not only rights of conquest but also Robb’s will. Bran’s rights are directly affected in this scenario and, unlike the show, Bran never once questioned his position as Robb’s heir. It’s not impossible to imagine that factions will gather behind both claimants and this can cause another crisis in the North and bitterness between brothers in a moment when union is crucial.

Arya has a close relationship with both Bran and Jon and she is someone both of them feel inclined to listen to. I think Arya will be the bridge between them and the one to diplomatically avoid a rupture in the North, but it doesn’t mean the bitterness between Bran and Jon will disappear.

Now we reach the hugest taboo of the outline and the main reason why people claim “it’s no longer relevant” or that “Martin changed his mind”. Jon and Arya falling in love.

Let’s get one thing very clear, Jon and Arya already love each other in the books. This is not my opinion, this is the literal text.

Jon’s best friend was Robb and still Jon affirms that he missed Arya the most. Just go back to the books and count how many times and how affectionately they think of each other. They repeatedly say how they miss finishing each other’s sentences and how Jon loves to mess Arya’s hair. “The memory of her laughter kept him warm during the long journey north.” and “Needle was Jon Snow’s smile” are two small quotes that speak volumes of how deep this love is.

Am I saying this is a romantic sort of love? No. I’m not saying this. What I’m doing is  highlighting the fact that this particular relationship stands out as one of the strongest (if not the strongest) bond in the books to the point where it’s not even questionable that Jon and Arya love each other the most. It’s strong enough to make Jon forsake his vows and decide to march to Winterfell to rescue a girl he thinks to be Arya. It’s strong enough to make Arya lie to Ned because she would never betray Jon.

Jon didn’t break his vows for any other sibling, no matter how much he wanted to, but he did it to save whom he thought was Arya. His love for her is the cause of Jon’s death in the books. He committed treason the moment he received the pink letter and decided to march against Ramsay Bolton. Jon’s last thought is “stick’em with the pointy end”.

I think it’s safe to assume that Jon will be resurrected and Melissandre is probably the one to perform the ritual. We already know that resurrections have some side effects in the asoiaf universe, the most evident one being some sort of obsessive thought that keeps guiding the resurrected’s actions (like Beric Dondarrion’s obsession with keeping the king’s peace, and Lady Stoneheart killing Freys to avenge Robb’s death). Jon’s last thought was directly related to Arya and there’s no other possible interpretation. His last thought is likely to become his obsession.

I also think it’s safe to say that Jon’s memory will stay inside Ghost at least for a while and we will have to wait and see the effects that will have on Jon’s personality once he comes back to life.

Varamir said that Ghost would be a second life fit for a king and I think this is a clear foreshadowing of Jon’s true identity. There are also some other aspects of wolf pack dynamics that deserve some consideration: Wolves are social animals that have hierarchy and well divided roles inside the pack and although Ghost is a lonely wolf that was separated from his original group, it would only take one female for him to start his own pack. Curiously Nymeria is an alpha female already, leading a pack of regular wolves, but she rejects her smaller cousins as potential mates. Ghost and Nymeria are the alpha male and female of a new pack. The wolves of Winterfell will come back; stronger and more dangerous.

I think all of these elements will play a significant role in how Jon and Arya’s love will change once they are reunited. It won’t be immediate, but as the story goes the sexual tension will become evident. Jon’s perception of Arya as a sister will be blurred as a teenage Arya starts to see him as a love interest. At this point Arya will already be perceived as an adult woman according to Westerosi society, as I pointed out before. My guess is that she will be close to Daenerys’ age when she married Drogo. I’m not judging if this is right or wrong by our own moral standards. What I’m saying is that it’s acceptable in the world created by GRRM.

As the outline says, their passion will continue to torment Jon and Arya throughout the trilogy, until Jon’s true parentage is revealed. This necessarily implies that: 1) they are not siblings; 2) their passion brings a lot of moral issues and they are not comfortable with it; 3) their agony has an end when Jon’s parentage is revealed. Jon’s true parentage is a moral free pass for them and, at least from what we can read in the outline, this is more relevant than any potential succession rights.

This moral free pass wouldn’t be applied in a romantic relationship between Jon and Daenerys for example. It would actually have the opposite effect, giving Jon reason to question his moral choices and torment himself with doubts. This plot point is not applicable to Sansa either, mostly because Sansa and Jon don’t have a close relationship that’s already been established. They have a distant one and don’t even think much about each other. The whole point of Jon and Arya’s strong bond is to lay the foundations for a romance, establishing a relationship based on love, mutual loyalty and respect.

Do we have any indication that Jon and Arya’s romance was scrapped based on the books? No. Do we have any conclusive evidence in the text that Arya was replaced by any other female character? No. Why do I think Jon and Arya are endgame? Because we have only two books left and a lot of events that must be covered by them. It’s way easier to use an already established loving relationship with 5 books of consistent development and make it a romantic one (and make it believable as an epic romance because all the dramatic elements are already there), than to write a brand new one from scratch and make the reader believe that this is the ultimate love story.

“Abandoned by the Night's Watch, Catelyn and her children will find their only hope of safety lies even further north, beyond the Wall, where they fall into the hands of Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall, and get a dreadful glimpse of the inhuman others as they attack the wilding encampment. Bran's magic, Arya's sword Needle, and the savagery of their direwolves will help them survive, but their mother Catelyn will die at the hands of the others.”

Catelyn was meant to be killed by the Others. It’s not hard to conclude that she would have become one of them. The major difference from the outline to the books is that Catelyn died elsewhere, however she was brought back to life by fire magic as Lady Stoneheart. I can also see Bran and Arya fighting against the Others with the help of their direwolves in the event of a great battle by the end of the books. There’s nothing indicating that this part was cut, it just hasn’t happened yet.

“Over across the narrow sea, Daenerys Targaryen will discover that her new husband, the Dothraki Khal Drogo, has little interest in invading the Seven Kingdoms, much to her brother's frustration. When Viserys presses his claims past the point of tact or wisdom, Khal Drogo will finally grow annoyed and kill him out of hand, eliminating the Targaryen pretender and leaving Daenerys as the last of her line. Danerys [sic] will bide her time, but she will not forget. When the moment is right, she will kill her husband to avenge her brother, and then flee with a trusted friend into the wilderness beyond Vaes Dothrak. There, hunted by [unclear] of her life, she stumbles on a [something about dragon eggs] a young dragon will give Daenerys [unclear] bend [unclear] to her will. Then she begins to plan for her invasion of the Seven Kingdoms.”

Daenerys’ arc here didn’t change much. What changed was her motivation to kill Drogo and how she gets the dragons. Everything else that happens to her since the second book is her preparing to invade Westeros.

“Tyrion Lannister will continue to travel, to plot, and to play the game of thrones, finally removing his nephew Joffrey in disgust at the boy king's brutality. Jaime Lannister will follow Joffrey on the throne of the Seven Kingdoms, by the simple expedient of killing everyone ahead of him in the line of succession and blaming his brother Tyrion for the murders. Exiled, Tyrion will change sides, making common cause with the surviving Starks to bring his brother down, and falling helplessly in love with Arya Stark while he's at it. His passion is, alas, unreciprocated, but no less intense for that, and it will lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow.”

There’s only one character that was replaced, I think. The Jaime Lannister of the outline seems to have been replaced by Cersei in the books, and it makes much more sense.  The Baratheons are briefly mentioned and we know Joffrey to be officially one. We know that Tyrion and Jaime are Lannisters and that Tyrion and Jaime are brothers. Unless Joffrey’s official father was a Lannister, Jaime would have no place in the line of succession to the throne whatsoever and this is important even when you want to use the rights of conquest. Cersei could have one, by becoming her son’s heiress in case there’s no one else left.

Also, although Sansa didn’t marry Joffrey, her wedding to Tyrion still makes her a Lannister and ties her to the enemy. Her loyalty was put to the test because of Joffrey, but her ties to the Lannisters were consolidated with Tyrion. Her arc is still in place. Her marriage wasn’t declared null so far and I don’t think it will happen anytime soon. As far as public knowledge goes, Sansa is Lady Lannister.

As for the love triangle Jon Snow x Tyrion x Arya, I don’t think it’s impossible at all. While it’s true that so far Tyrion hasn't interacted with Arya and I doubt he even remembers her face from the short time he stayed at Winterfell, the Arya he will eventually meet will be an educated young woman that had many intriguing experiences in Braavos, is very charismatic and makes friends with everyone and anyone. Tyrion, being a man profoundly affected by his physical condition would gravitate towards her. I don’t think it’s hard to imagine him falling for someone capable of seeing him as an individual as Arya is.

There’s also an argument to be made that this love triangle might have been replaced by Ramsay x Arya x Jon in some ways. After all Tyrion didn’t burn Winterfell, Ramsay did. He also married a fake Arya (Jeyne Poole) to claim Winterfell in her name, leading to a violent rivalry between Ramsay and Jon.

This plot point might have just been either altered to replace Tyrion with Ramsay, or it hasn’t happened yet.

“[The next graph is blocked out.]

But that's the second book ... 

I hope you will find some editors who are as excited about all of this as I am. Feel free to share this letter with anyone who wants to know how the story will go. 

All best,

George R.R. Martin”

With everything said so far we can conclude a few things:

1) The three major conflicts remain the same.

2) Ned, Cat, Robb, Viserys and Drogo’s fate didn’t change.

3) Bran still went through a coma and can’t walk anymore. He also developed magical abilities. An eventual strained relationship with Jon is still possible.

4) Tyrion and Sansa’s dubious loyalties to their families weren't removed from the books and Sansa still got tied to the enemy via marriage, although to a different character.

5) Tyrion continues to travel, to plot, and to play the game of thrones. He didn’t kill Joffrey, but was blamed for it anyway. Eventually he will make alliances with enemies of his house.

6) Jon joined the Night’s Watch and became Lord Commander. His vows are constantly challenged, especially when his family is endangered. His incapacity to help them keeps torturing him and in the books it leads to his death.

7) Jon and Arya share a strong bond, based on love, mutual trust and loyalty, and respect. This relationship remains one of the most important ones in the books. This relationship was consistently developed throughout the 5 books already published and turning it into a romantic one is still possible.

8) Jon’s true parentage is super relevant.

9) Daenerys’ arc didn’t change.

10) The love triangle Jon x Arya x Tyrion was either replaced by Jon x FArya x Ramsay, or could still happen in its original form once Tyrion and Arya have the chance to interact with each other.

This was my lengthy analysis of the original outline and why I think it’s still valid. I hope you enjoyed it.

[yoon-kooks]

Blood to Spare

Pairing: Prince!Jimin x Knight!Reader

Genre: Angst, Smut, Royal!AU

Summary: When a malicious threat is made against Prince Jimin’s life just hours before Garreg Mach’s annual ball, it is your sworn duty to accompany him as his date and ensure he makes it through the night unscathed. For as the Prince’s personal guard, you must be willing to cut down any blade that takes aim at him, even if it’s your own heart.

Word Count: 6.7k

Warnings: blood, death, fingering, unprotected sex, it’s honestly super vanilla

A/N: wooooooo 2020 is finally here and so is prince jimin;;;;; this fic is based around fire emblem three houses, but you don’t need to know anything about the game to enjoy the story! but if you do love fire emblem like me, you’ll pick up on some references here and there. also lmk if you guys are interested in a prequel and sequel! ++special shoutouts to @d-noona and @scalbra​ for the love and support💖

-

You examine the bright red trail streaming down the set of ribs in front of you. The boy lies there in pain, but you offer him no sympathy. It’s his own fault, after all.

“Agh!” He tightens his fists as you press the weight of your body down onto the wound. And if the pressure alone is not enough to make the boy beg for mercy, you know what is. Alcohol and ointment seep into the depth of his gash until the burning sensation draws the response you’re looking for. “Is all of the pressing and stinging really necessary, Y/N?” he yelps.

“It wouldn’t be necessary if you had been more careful like I advised, Jimin,” you shake your head, bandaging up the boy’s disinfected ribs. “But we can’t afford to have our beloved professor and future ruler of Fodlan bleed to death after a mock battle with his students. Especially not with the ball tomorrow evening.”

In the land of Fodlan, an annual ball is held during the Ethereal Moon to celebrate both the year’s end and the founding of Garreg Mach Monastery. For this year in particular, it is crucial for Fodlan’s Prince Jimin to be present and act as a bridge that unifies the continent’s three main nations: Adrestia, Faerghus, and Leicester.

And although you despise formal gatherings such as this one, it is your mission as one of the Knights of Seiros and Jimin’s personal guard to ensure that the Prince is well and able enough to fulfill his political affairs for the night.

“Speaking of the ball, I have yet to find myself a date,” Jimin says as he reclothes his upper half. “It seems no one is interested in sharing a dance with me…”

You know that’s a big fat lie. Jimin may not be the only professor at the Officers Academy, but he is certainly the most popular one amongst both students and faculty due to his charm and royal status. Even back when he was a student himself, he always seemed to have everyone wrapped around his finger. Everyone except you. Though you suppose that’s the reason you were appointed to be his personal guard since becoming a Knight of Seiros.

“That’s too bad,” you say. Again, you offer no sympathy or solution to the boy’s misfortune.

“Well since all of the Knights of Seiros have to be at the ball anyway, I wouldn't mind if you were my date, Y/N.” He tilts his head to the side and smiles, as if that’s going to make the offer any more tempting.

“No thanks. My job at the ball is to protect you, not dance with you,” you shake him off. This isn’t the first or last time he’s tried to make a romantic advance on you. The naïve teenage you might’ve been swooned, but ever since devoting your life to protecting Jimin, romantic affairs have become of little significance to you. “And besides, if you’re not in immediate danger, it’s better for us to keep a distance at the ball.”

Jimin’s smile fades because he knows you’re right. It would reflect poorly on Fodlan’s future ruler to be associated on an intimate level with someone who lacks nobility and a crest. With a heavy sigh, there’s nothing the boy can do but concede defeat to your rejection. You, on the other hand, have more to say.

“Rather than worrying about finding a date to dance with, keep in mind your responsibilities as the prince. Tomorrow is an opportunity to build a stronger relationship between-”

“-the three nations,” he interrupts your scolding to end the conversation. “You don’t have to remind me, Y/N.”

It is not often that the Prince speaks with bitterness towards you. You don’t take personal offense from it, though, because you know it comes from a place of built-up stress and frustration. To be born into a position of power has its cons too, and you know better than anyone that this isn’t a path Jimin would’ve chosen for himself.

Still, it’s your duty to make sure the Prince is properly fulfilling all of his duties. And sometimes he needs to learn to set aside his personal feelings, just as you’ve done with yours.

“Very well,” you say, stepping out of his room. “I’ll see you in the morning, Your Highness.”

-

When morning comes, the walk to the Knight’s Hall feels exceptionally long and quiet. Students are rushing to set up last-minute décor and finishing touches before sundown when the ball is set to begin. However, all that chaos and chatter is drowned out by the piercing tension between you and the boy you’re escorting.

It’s clear he’s still mad at you. Probably because you last referred to him, not by name, but by status. Ever since you became his personal guard years ago, he’s always encouraged you to simply call him Jimin. It took a while, but you eventually picked up the habit and noticed the delight on Jimin’s face whenever he heard his name. As far as you know, you’re the only one who drops the formalities with him.

But because you had purposely called him “Your Highness” out of spite, you’ve now reopened the gap between you and him. Like cutting back into an old scar.

You’re thankful when you finally reach the Knight’s Hall and your fellow Knights of Seiros waste no time in filling the void of silence that had followed you into the room.

“Early this morning, a student found this letter posted on the doors to the Entrance Hall,” Seokjin hands you a torn parchment paper to look at.

“We cannot allow the nations of Fodlan to become one under the absolute rule of the Central Church here at Garreg Mach. We urge the Archbishop to consider canceling the annual ball, and with it, the meeting between Adrestia, Faerghus, and Leicester. If not, we will have no choice but to burn the bridge that seeks to unify Fodlan as one. Peace shall never be found in an allegiance that blindly sides where power lies.”

It only takes a second for you to piece together who the target in question is—the bridge that seeks to unify Fodlan, Prince Jimin.

“They want the ball cancelled or they want the Prince’s head,” you grind your teeth.

To an extent, you understand the point of disagreement between political views. The current rule, for example, does not exactly favor the Crestless or have plans of changing that any time soon. Even if Fodlan were to unite as a single nation as it had hundreds of years ago, the divide between nobility and the Crestless would only continue to increase.

That being said, a threat on the Prince’s life is enough for you to set aside your own feelings as a Crestless. If someone is willing to go as far as point their blade in Jimin’s direction, they are already dead in your eyes.

“I’ve already spoken with the Archbishop and she wishes for the ball to proceed as planned. For all we know, this could be an empty threat. I doubt the enemy has the means to break through our defenses,” Namjoon says. “However, we, the Knights of Seiros, will still need to be on high alert to ensure the night runs smoothly.”

“Understood,” you say, glancing at the boy whose life is on the line. “I will not allow anything to happen to the Prince.”

“Actually,” Namjoon continues, “the Archbishop has requested for you to act as Prince Jimin’s date for the night as a precaution to any assassin that may be lurking from within the monastery.”

“Understood,” you say again, but with an awkwardness far worse than the silent void from earlier. The last thing you need is to act all lovey-dovey with the boy you just rejected and are not on good speaking terms with.

Once the other knights have left to stand guard and investigate the origins behind the letter, your mind starts spinning. You don’t want to formally attend the ball, you know nothing about the proper etiquette of nobility, Jimin probably hates your guts, you don’t know how to dance, you have no gown to wear, and Jimin probably hates your—

The boy motions for you to follow him, pulling you out of your daze and into town to grab all the essentials for the Garreg Mach annual ball.

-

Several hours later, you sit in the Prince’s quarters, staring at the long flowy gown you’re supposed to be wearing. As a knight with a commoner upbringing, the occasion to wear such a fancy garment never arose, so you feel a bit perplexed with what to do next. For starters, you don’t even have a clue how to get it on.

“Do you need help?” Jimin raises an eyebrow at you as he straightens up his royal blue uniform, one very well suited for a prince.

“I got it,” you shake your head. Succumbing to the Prince’s assistance would only be a sign of weakness. You’ll find a way to figure it out on your own if it means avoiding Jimin’s gaze as you struggle to get the dress on. “Just turn around for a second and don't watch me from the mirror either.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” he hums, lowkey throwing shade as he turns his back to you. You haven’t yet apologized for calling him that, but he’s definitely making sure you’re aware of it.

You bite your tongue until you’ve stepped into the dress. It still feels a bit loose, but you put it on to the best of your ability. When you give him the okay to turn around again, the first thing he does is crack a smirk.

“What?” You shoot him a dirty look.

He gestures for you to come closer and spins you around. As he reties your dress’ complex ribbons from behind, you feel the gown becoming snugger in the appropriate places. Very slightly, you feel the cold tips of Jimin’s fingers tickle your skin as he ties the last ribbon at the back of your neck. You don’t say anything, but your body reacts accordingly.

“Oh? Someone has goose bumps,” he snickers, spinning you back around to face him. Before you can blame it on his cold hands, he gives you a good look from head to toe. “The dress looks pretty on you, by the way.”

“Thank you, Jimin.” More than his compliment, you’re thankful that he’s at least speaking kindly to you again. “And my apologies for yesterday.”

The chilling tips of his fingers have since wandered up to your cheeks, and the only reason you don’t swat him away is because it’s something he’s done since the two of you were little. He cups your cheeks and gives them a gentle squeeze before jumping back to the conversation as if it were nothing. You’ve never questioned him about it, but given the context of all the times you can recall, you assume it’s his way of showing forgiveness.

“I should not have lashed out at you in the first place. The thought of becoming Fodlan’s ruler is just… a lot for one person to bear,” Jimin finally releases your cheeks and backs away to the edge of his bed. “But that’s why it’s a relief to have you with me at my side tonight.”

“That’s what I’m here for. Not just tonight,” you remind him. “Always.”

“Yeah, but it’s not every night I get to see the cold-blooded Y/N all dolled up and without a swor-” He cuts himself off when he sees you lifting up the skirt of your gown as if you’ve forgotten a (handsome and needy) boy is still in the room with you.

You’re so focused on trying to hide your trusty Hero’s Relic sword, Blutgang, beneath your dress that you do not realize how much of your lower body you’ve exposed. “A knight can never be without their blade.”

“What if it tears the gown open…?” Jimin’s question gives the illusion of concern, though he probably would not be opposed to that scenario.

“It would be embarrassing, but I’d rather be embarrassed than unprepared,” you blink at the boy.

“I suppose you’re going to stick the whole Aegis Shield down there as well then?” He blinks back. You know he’s trying to clown you, but it’s also no secret that you’ve never been without the shield since it was gifted to you from the Prince himself.

You shake your head. “It’s too big to hide. I don’t want to stand out anymore than I already will.” Because amongst a crowd of nobles and royalty, a Crestless like you will be no more than a fish out of water. Even the most beautiful gown cannot hide that reality.

“If anyone says something about you, I’ll-”

“You’ll smile and move on because you have a reputation to maintain,” you finish the statement for him.

“Will you really be okay with that?” Jimin frowns.

All you do is nod. You don’t need protecting or for your feelings to be spared. It’s your job to defend him; not the other way around.

-

As the sun sets later that evening, you follow the Prince’s lead into the glamor and prestige of Garreg Mach’s annual ball. Aside from keeping an eye out for anything suspicious, all you need to do is act pretty and proper. You’ve learned at least that much after observing the event from afar all these years as a Knight of Seiros.

You don’t hold his hand, but rather, you hook your arm around his. If you were truly in love with your date, you’d much prefer to intertwine your fingers with his and never let go. That, to you, would feel more comforting and secure. But love is not the game you’re playing.

As Jimin makes his rounds to greet each and every guest, you evaluate their individual intentions. Fortune, luxury, reputation, power. From years past, you recall that many female guests had also made romantic advances on the Prince through not-so-subtle caresses, bedroom eyes, and the like. The way you stare at them with such intensity of judgment must be quite intimidating because not a single romantic advance is made on Jimin this year with you beside him.

Even through the casual, yet all important, gathering of Fodlan’s leaders, you observe no sign of suspicious activity and sense no danger to the Prince’s life. The King of Faerghus, the Emperor of Adrestia, the Leader of Leicester, and Jimin all chat as though they are one big happy family, each expressing interest in moving forward with the unification of their nations.

If the letter turns out to be an empty threat as Namjoon suggested, perhaps the unification of Fodlan can be settled without any casualties. That would be the best case scenario, though you’re still skeptical that anything could ever be that simple.

Once handshakes are exchanged and the meeting is adjourned, Jimin sends his fellow leaders off with that charming smile of his, and you try to do the same. You wouldn’t exactly describe your own smile as charming—“forced” is probably a better word for it—but it seems to be satisfactory enough for all but the Adrestrian Emperor.

She doesn’t say anything, but her long stare in your direction tells you she knows something. Whether it’s that you’re the only Crestless in attendance, or that you were once a child of Adrestia, she finally returns a smile similar to your own before heading back out of the meeting room.

“That went pretty well, didn’t it?” Jimin pulls you in closer to him as the two of you step back into the lively reception hall where most of the guests are gathered. When you turn to face him, he radiates. Part of you wants to mention the off-putting vibe you got from the Adrestian Emperor, but a larger part of you wishes not to put a damper on Jimin’s high spirits. So you keep your mouth shut.

Besides, you believe the Emperor’s intentions, if any, are not directed toward the Prince. And that assumption is quickly confirmed based on the gossip now floating around amongst the noble guests.

“What business does a Crestless have with the Prince?”

“Prince Jimin can do so much better.”

“I heard that’s the one who slaughtered an entire army with a stolen Hero’s Relic.”

“The one also responsible for Prince Hoseok’s death?”

“Such a sinful Crestless exists?”

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who he’s fooling around with. As heir to the Fodlan throne, there’s no way anyone would allow him to marry below nobility.”

You do your best not to roll your eyes at the comments made about yourself. They don’t upset you, but you are annoyed. You certainly do not need to be reminded of your worth, your sins, or that Jimin would be better off with literally anyone else as his date. You don’t need to hear the very thoughts that have haunted and tormented your mind for as long as you can remember.

They don’t know your whole story, and you don’t care to share it with them either. Let them think what they will.

You suddenly spin Jimin in front of you, close the distance as much you can without kissing his ear, and whisper, “Can we get a change of scenery?” The boy agrees and pulls you away from the festivities of the ball.

“I wish you didn’t have to hear all that nonsense,” he says after closing the door to his quarters. Luckily, his room is not too far from the reception hall.

“Oh, I wasn’t bothered by that,” you shrug, unhooking the sword from the garter on your thigh and leaning it with the unused shield. “I just wanted those foul guests to believe we eloped or something. Maybe they’ll start a rumor about that too.”

“Y/N,” Jimin sits you down on his bed, “I can tell when something bothers you, you know.”

“How?”

“You start acting petty out of spite.”

He’s not wrong. Your pettiness is one habit you’ve never been able to shake from your soul. “Regardless, those nobles can think or say whatever they please about me. Nothing will ever change the worth of a Crestless anyway.”

“It shouldn’t matter if you bear a crest or not,” he says softly.

“It shouldn’t, but it does. It matters plenty to the nations of Fodlan. Crests hold a lot of power, which means bearers are not exiled from their own bloodline, they are not expendable objects, and they do not have to fight for their right to exist. If not for the Central Church, you and I-”

“You and I would not have met.” He’s wrong.

“We wouldn’t have met under these circumstances, but we would’ve met,” you say, “as enemies of war.” Because had the church not taken you from your birthplace of Adrestia as a child, you’d surely want to stop Fodlan’s unification like the ones who wrote that letter.

“Then I’m forever grateful we met the way we did,” Jimin leans over you until your back is down against the bed. From above, he has you in a place of vulnerability. “Because I will always fancy you more than any bearer of a crest.”

From below, you look up into his eyes and find solace in the one person you want to trust. It’s just a matter of accepting that solace and allowing yourself to trust enough to let him in.

Before you know it, soft caresses of the Prince’s lips invade your skin. He starts just below your cheek and works his way down your neck, leaving a trail of kisses as he goes. Your chin lifts and tilts on its own, as if to uncover more skin for the boy to please. He thankfully picks up on the cue and tends to your needs.

At the same time, you struggle to downplay the desperation in your body. You shouldn’t be having an intimate moment with the Prince when you’re supposed to be protecting him. After all, it’s wrong to be so lustful for a forbidden affair.

But the feeling of him against your bare skin is painfully addicting. The more he kisses, the further you want to go.

“We shouldn’t… be doing this…” you manage to say against your desires.

“What should we be doing then?” Jimin’s fingers run through your hair as he waits patiently for a response, but even the most innocent touch is making it hard to think. You only have one thing consuming your mind, and it isn’t what you should be doing.

You reach for his ruffled collar to pull his body down closer to you, practically reducing the space between you and him to nothing. To answer the boy’s question, you start unbuttoning his uniform from top to bottom. After tossing the princely uniform aside, it only takes him a second to rid you of the gown that had seemed so difficult to get on.

Without thinking, you pull him back on top of you. You’re aching to be touched, you need to be relieved of this unbearable heat, and you’ve reached the point of desperation where your legs are spread out as wide as they can go.

“You poor thing,” Jimin teases, staring right between your thighs for the longest second until finally swiping a sample of your glaze. He makes it a point to show you how wet you’ve made his fingers before sucking them off with a naughty smirk. “Is this what years of lusting after me tastes like?”

You hate that he’s very much aware of the feelings you had for him at one point in time. However, those feelings have since become much more complex. You’ve done your best to block out any romantic feelings and channel those lost emotions elsewhere for the sake of protecting the Prince. So what does that really leave you with?

“Aah…!” A moan escapes your throat when Jimin’s fingers give you another pleasant surprise down there. Only this time, he strokes you in a circular motion, over and over again. Your breathing quickens to the rhythm of his touch—he’s taken control over your body’s sensual instincts. And every time he casually brushes against your erect little bud, a wave of sensitivity makes you gasp out in pleasure.

Though your eyes remain shut for the most part to cope with the immense pleasure, you do catch a glimpse of the Prince’s now swollen cock. Either he’s been multitasking while pleasuring you, or the sight and sounds of your feverish state were more than enough to get him hard. When he stiffens and moans upon your sudden touch, you know it’s the latter.

As you glide your hand up and down his length, you angle yourself right beneath him to be in the optimal fucking position. With your free hand, you use your index and middle fingers to spread yourself open, and, with the other, you direct and ease the handful of cock into your entrance.

Once Jimin’s in deep enough, you let go and soothe the throbbing of your excited clit. As you take your time in building up the intensity, you glance up at the boy to make sure he’s watching you play with yourself. The sheer arousal reflected in your eyes seems to encourage him to start thrusting in and out of you to build up his own climax.

As your fingers continue to tease your clit and Jimin’s length continues to run through you, the sensations become so overwhelming that you can no longer tell where they’re coming from. Your entire body feels hot and tingly as if the sex were a wildfire that spread from head to toe. The only difference is that you wish the flame would never go out.

Based on how much Jimin’s moans have increased in volume and frequency, you can tell he’s as close as you are. You at first try to keep your fingers in rhythm with his quickening thrusts, but the rhythm is lost when the fucking becomes driven by total lust and no thought. Still, you manage to hit your high just before he reaches his.

For a long while, you lay there, waiting for your heartbeat to calm as Jimin does the same from above. If there was ever any tension, sexual or not, between you and the Prince, it’s certainly gone now. Looking up at the boy now, after the waves of sex have finally settled, you feel at peace. Even if it’s short-lived, you have to be content with the intimacy you were able to spend with the boy you once loved.

So when he goes in for the long-awaited kiss, you have to interrupt him. A kiss from the Prince would be asking for a little too much on a forbidden night of many other sins.

“I should go back to being your guard now,” you say softly, scooting your ass over to change back into the gown. “Then we need to return to the ball. I’d hate for assassins to attack over there while we’re here in the middle of… this…”

But before you can hop off the bed, Jimin stops you in your tracks. “Don’t worry, the assassination attempt won’t happen.”

“How can you be sure?” you ask in genuine curiosity because there must’ve been something you missed.

“Because I was the one who faked the letter this morning.”

You freeze. Why would the Prince ever want to fake an assassination threat on his own life? You can think of one reason, but you really hope that’s not the case. “Jimin, if you faked a dangerous situation for the sake of getting me to attend this damned ball with you, I won’t forgive you.”

When he fails to give you a response, you ball your hand up into a tight fist and start putting on your usual knight uniform as opposed to your gown. You can’t believe you allowed yourself to be so foolishly deceived.

“Y/N, wait-”

“Do you really not give a damn about your own life or duties as the future ruler of Fodlan?” you snap. “I’d rather give my life for someone who prioritizes their responsibilities for the sake of the entire continent than an entitled little prince who’d forgo all of that for someone born without a crest.”

You’re mad at not only the Prince but also yourself. You thought that after being so blinded and betrayed by trust once before, you’d never forget the fatal consequences of opening your heart to anyone. Trust and compassion have only ever brought you despair.

“If the assassination threat was all a hoax, I suppose my protection is no longer needed for the rest of the night.” You pick up your sword and slam the door behind you, leaving the shield behind once again.

-

You escape to the woodsy outskirts of Central Fodlan south of the monastery. The area may be recovering now with young saplings and shrubs as small animal families return home, but you still remember the scorched land from years ago when the first war you fought in took place. No matter where you walk, you stand on the soil once soaked in the blood of your enemies and allies.

But before the war, you had often paid visits to this secluded part of Fodlan whenever you needed time and space away from the monastery. There, you had first encountered a kid around your age who was kind enough to befriend you, despite your differences. It’s a shame you can no longer go back to the time when you could ignorantly trust in people without worry. And even if you could go back, you’d do everything differently so that the Prince would not have had to suffer the desolate fate you bestowed upon him.

It’s all your fault for carelessly putting your trust in others.

When you find a tree tall enough to lean against, you unsheathe your sword and examine it under the moonlight. The reddish brown sheen that reflects in the light is not rust, but your sins. It seems the blade will never be rid of the blood that tainted it on that day.

“It’d be best if we could lure the Prince and his guard away from the festivities.” Your sharp ears pick up on a small troop of rogue soldiers headed in the direction of the monastery. It sounds an awful lot like an assassination attempt.

From behind the tree, you try to figure out what the heck is going on while also deciding on the best course of action. Why are there foreign soldiers going after Jimin if he said the threat was a fake?

…Unless he was lying about that too.

You groan silently to yourself. For as long as you’ve known Jimin, he’s always been quite unpredictable to you and his actions are often questionable until you get an explanation. Perhaps there’s a better reason for his lie this time. But for now, you have to find a way to lure the soldiers away from the innocent guests at the monastery.

Just then, you swing your sword around at the slightest brush against your shoulder, but it turns out to only be the foolish Prince everyone’s looking for. You lower your blade.

“What are you doing, walking out here without a guard?” you hiss.

“Actually, I’m looking for my guard who seems to have abandoned me,” he says with the Aegis Shield you had left behind.

“That’s what you get for being an irresponsible Prince.” You keep your eye on the soldiers. “But before I smack you in the head for that, we have to do something about that troop over there.”

“They don’t look really tough, though.” Jimin takes the opportunity to lean right over you against the tree, but you aren’t quite ready to start accepting his flirtatious antics again.

“But that’s what makes it suspicious,” you blatantly ignore his failed kabedon. “They know they won't stand a chance against the Knights of Seiros, so why even bother?”

“It could be a trap?” he suggests. “Or maybe they have other intentions.”

“Whatever the case, we’ll stop them here and now.”

You make sure the Prince has a sword of his own before shoving him out from behind the tree. If the rustling of dead leaves did not already capture the attention of the soldiers, your shouting and waving at them does.

The alarmed soldiers quickly shift their sights from the monastery to you and the Prince. As soon as they begin to charge, so do you. Unlike many royal guards who stick close to their highnesses, you do not. Jimin may have lived a life of luxury as Prince, but you’ve made sure he learned how to fend for himself. In fact, he was the one who suggested that you teach him proper swordsmanship in the first place—perhaps one of his many elaborate schemes to get closer to you.

As soon as you clash blades with a soldier brave enough, you recognize the enemy troop is no pushover like you and Jimin had anticipated. Though they have the appearance of commoners who’ve never held a weapon in their life, the power behind their swing is comparable to your own. And it doesn’t quite add up.

When you’ve suppressed several soldiers, you glance over to Jimin exchanging blows with an assassin who has a more proper handle of his blade. Jimin’s golden shield blocks many of what could’ve been fatal blows, but its weight also hinders his movement against the nimble assassin.

You rush over, whipping your sword at the assassin to push him back from Jimin’s vicinity. Once you engage in a long drawn sword exchange with the assassin, you’re taken back by the familiarity in the energy he emanates. It somehow feels like the power from the Crest of Fraldarius, the very crest that Jimin bears. But that can’t be the case when crests are inherited through specific bloodlines by chance. And as far as you know, this random soldier has no blood connection to Jimin or House Fraldarius.

Either way, you eventually gain the advantage and pierce the enemy as the curved blade of your Blutgang bleeds once more. Crest or no crest, the enemy nor the Prince can keep up with the mercilessness in your every swing. In what feels like minutes, you’ve cut down the entire troop aside from the few that Jimin could handle himself.

You stare down at the body of the soldier who had given Jimin an exceptionally hard time. “Did you notice that this one had-”

“The Crest of Fraldarius,” Jimin nods. “There’s no mistaking it, but somehow it felt off.”

“Like it wasn’t the real deal?”

“Like it was a crest that didn’t belonged to him.”

The boy’s suggestion gives you something to think about. You wonder if the other soldiers also had crests of some sort—crests that were not rightfully theirs. It’s as if they were once Crestless who somehow extracted and obtained the power of a crest. Perhaps by the means of the most sacred and darkest of sorcery.

Just when you’re finally able to lower your sword, you raise it again to guard against another unwelcomed guest. With a stream of dark magic striking the earth in front of the Prince, you dash over to shield him from any other potential impacts. What you get instead is a mysterious hooded mage who doesn’t seem interested in challenging you. The magic that radiates off him is far stronger than any of the other soldiers.

“Well done on putting a stop to our little assassination plot,” he says. “But it seems we’ve already gathered a lot of valuable intel on our real target.”

“Who’s your real target then?” Jimin asks.

“Someone who can wield Hero’s Relics and slaughter crest bearers despite bearing no crest of their own.” The mage looks first at the bloodstained blade in your grips and then directly at you. His eyes are not so different from your own—empty.

Rather than the Prince’s head, they wanted you.

But why?

Before you can ask the man, he disappears into the unknown along with the bodies of his fallen soldiers. And although the outskirts are quiet once more with only you and the Prince, you keep your eyes peeled and wait a good ten seconds before sheathing your weapon.

You try to make sense of the enemy’s true intentions from a rational perspective, but the mage’s words still do not sit well with you. What exactly were they planning on doing with you, a Crestless who can wield Hero’s Relics and slaughter crest bearers?

“I won’t let them have you,” Jimin nudges your side, whilst holding the Aegis Shield out in front of you and him. “I’d even die for you.”

“Oh, how the tables have turned,” you play along with his dramatic scene just for a moment. Something about the boy makes you forget about your worries, your pain. “But please never die for my sake, Jimin.”

“Then how about I live for you?” he asks.

“Live first for the people of Fodlan,” you respond, hooking your arm once more around his. “Shall we return to the ball now before everyone wonders where their Prince ran off to?”

“No need. I already properly excused myself from the ball for the rest of the night.” Jimin frowns when you unhook your arm faster than you can swing your sword. “But I would like you to escort me back to my quarters.”

“Fine,” you agree. “But on the way back, you need to tell me why you lied about faking that real assassination threat.”

So he does.

“I still think it was a stupid move, Jimin.”

“I just wanted to take your mind off of your knightly duties without worrying about my safety for once! I thought you’d feel more comfortable with me if you knew my life was not in immediate danger,” he waves his hands in defense. “I didn’t think you’d actually abandon me.”

“Well sorry for thinking you made up the threat just so I’d sleep with you. You made me believe you weren’t taking the nature of your job seriously, and that the future of Fodlan was doomed with a ruler who thinks only with his cock,” you jab lightly into his ribs, forgetting all about the wound from the day before.

“Worry not. The future of Fodlan will always be my first priority,” he assures you. “But you are also part of Fodlan’s future, aren’t you? Doesn’t that still make you my first priority then?”

“When you put it that way, I guess so,” you say, though you genuinely wonder about that. Because as a Crestless, you’ve never felt like you belonged in Fodlan. “But just know that you needn’t go that far for me, Jimin.”

“And you needn’t act so tough all the time, Y/N.” He wants you to know that you can rely on him, that you can be vulnerable, and that he’ll protect you just as you protect him. You understand all of that, and yet, it’s still easier said than done.

Once you safely escort the Prince back to his quarters, you think you can finally relieve yourself of guard duty for the night and put some real thought into the mysterious mage’s intentions. But you’re wrong.

“Let me clean up that wound on your cheek before you go,” Jimin air-pokes the high point on your cheek.

“I didn’t realize I was cut there in battle…” you say, letting the boy reel you back into his room.

You sit patiently on his bed as he searches for a bandage, but you wouldn’t put it past the senseless Prince to not have any medical supplies lying around his quarters. You’re the one who’s usually tending to his wounds with your own first-aid kit anyway.

When not a single bandage is found, Jimin walks back over to you and pinches your cheeks together just as he had earlier in the day. You don’t quite understand the context this time, and especially not after he sneaks a kiss onto where your supposed wound was.

“That should heal the wound.” The smile on his face is too smug for your liking.

Very quickly, your face turns into a big fat pout. “If you continue to lie and fool around like this, you’re going to end up like the boy who cried beast.”

“For as sharp as you are in sniffing out an enemy, you sure are gullible around me, Y/N,” he teases.

“That’s because I want to believe that everything with you is real,” you say, “even if it can’t.”

The boy’s smile is quick to fade.

“Just kidding,” you shrug, getting up from the bed. “Anyway, I should get going now. Goodnight, Jimin.”

He doesn’t stop you. He can’t stop you because he knows you weren’t kidding about wishing for a fate that wasn’t meant for you. And that’s not something a kiss could ever change.

While you’re glad Jimin will be taking responsibility in prioritizing Fodlan from here on out, you still have much to be concerned about. Your presence has only complicated matters when the Prince is someone who thinks with his heart, not his head—to the point where he’d give up everything for you.

You’ve tried to make him set aside his personal feelings for the sake of Fodlan’s future, but it’s apparent that he cannot separate you, the one he wants to protect, from Fodlan, the land he needs to protect. He cannot see that, no matter how much he wishes for things to be different, you and all the other Crestless will never truly belong in the future of Fodlan—the Fodlan he will soon lead.

If you were to leave his side, perhaps he would be able to see that he’s trying to make the impossible possible. After all, unless Crestless are able to prove their worth to the nobles of Fodlan, they are worth nothing at all. The only way to prove your worth is to be merciless, tough, and to spare no blood. And maybe only then would Jimin be able to fully realize that this is where your two paths diverge.

It’s only after you’ve walked out and closed the door that you leave the Prince with one last thing to consider. “I know my place in this world, and it’s never been with you, Jimin. Even I’m not that gullible.”

[hyliangrace-a]

oh, i ended up spending so much time on this, but - it’s done ! it’s far from perfect but i’m pretty satisfied that there’s a visual guide to my idea of hyrule, post-seven years war. & now, god help you all, i’m gonna talk about it lmao. click here if you want to see a full-sized version of the map, but i’m also gonna put it under the cut in this post with the original map for comparison, & go on for a bit about how hyrule has, in my interpretation, changed under zelda’s rule.

( this gets long. like, really long. like, over 4,500 words long. read at your own risk. i’d say i’m sorry, but i’m really not. & fuck drawing water features forever. )

first thing’s first - the map !

( apologies for the giant watermark underneath it all but i’ve had my shit stolen before & i’m not enthused at the idea of having it happen again. clicking it open in a new tab should make it bigger if the link above doesn’t work. )

so, it’s slightly bigger than the original map which is featured in the game, haha. here’s a comparison of the two, actually, with my map over the top of the original so you can see what’s been changed or added & where. i’ll talk about what got added & why in a bit, i want to speak just about the actual map, first.

i did my best to keep the main locations of hyrule as specified in the game in the same place, & i think did an okay job, tbh ! my biggest nitpick was just how many dang cliffs & rockfaces there are on the original map. i know they serve a purpose in-game, which is completely fair, but they limited worldbuilding a little by making the map so small, so i took some liberties. not with every cliff, of course - i kept some in the southwest to keep the border between gerudo valley & hyrule field intact, & kept the ridge the river runs through - partly for the sake of continuity, & partly because i’ve always loved the fact that falling into the river in the valley washes you down to the lake. expanding them into a new area was fun, too, because at least then they go somewhere, rather than just locking you in to a certain place.

my main point of contention, to be honest, was the giant rockface in south hyrule field. again, i understand why it was there, but, come on ! so i ended up just doing away with it all, letting it lead a path to two new areas i’d like to work into zelda’s canon. the map just fades out in certain places, too, particularly the gerudo desert, so i ended up expanding that a little more & having it lead into the cliffs above lake hylia - the river already runs from the valley to the lake, so why not have more of the desert lead into the mainland ? the mountains, too, got their range expanded, because they just seem so ... small, in canon, when they aren’t being used specifically as dungeon locations. i’d say the only place on the map i didn’t expand in some way is that little gap between zora’s domain & the kokiri forest - the forest is so hemmed in & the domain is literally inside a mountain, hidden behind a waterfall, so i was happy to just let that be empty space. if you manage to climb over the cliffs surrounding the domain, or break through the treetops in the forest, you get a view of the ocean, & that’s that !

it was fun to look at the maps of the games that came chronologically before this one & see how the position of things in hyrule change, but i’m kind of glad that there was only the three before ocarina of time, because the mountains alone move across the map at their leisure, good god. there was a bit of freedom in it, too, because in zelda’s canon timeline, the gods are going to flood hyrule anyway, so i could make whatever changes i wanted because it’s all gonna end up underwater & unseen in the end - plus, it meant i could add in more mountains to take up empty space on the map, because the hylians have to flee somewhere to escape the flood, & i don’t think the peak of death mountain could hold them all. most of the new locations were inspired by the minish cap, more than any other, so i’m going to start at the top of the map & move down to talk about them.

i always loved royal valley & the royal crypt in the minish cap, to be honest. it was spooky & cute, & i’m surprised it, or a concept like it, hasn’t made much of a comeback in later zelda games. the royal family’s tomb being in kakariko village never bothered me much as a kid ( other than the fact their headstone gets utterly destroyed & you get assaulted by what we can only assume are the zombies of previous hylian rulers ??? & then it’s just left open for anyone to stumble in & possibly loot slash get murdered by said zombies ??? actually, y’know what, this bothers me a lot more as an adult, what the fuck - ) but kakariko was a village founded by the sheikah, originally for the sheikah, so i did always find it a little strange that at some point, a ruler of hyrule went ❛ that’s cool, you do you, but make space for us in your graveyard. ❜ i know the history between the hylian royal family & the sheikah is implied to be murky ( thank you, shadow temple ) but that’s a meta for another day, so i’m not gonna go into too much detail, but it’s still something that sticks out as strange to me. call it the sheikah continuing to guard the royal family in death or whatever, but, hm. weird. anyway !

the point is, after the seven years war ends, zelda decides that what originally belonged to the sheikah should be given back to the sheikah. kakariko village was opened up to non-sheikah by impa prior to the rise of ganondorf, & that’s her perogative & not something zelda would ever dream of interfering with, but that applies to the living, & those who die within the village deserve to be buried in the same place. it takes time to get around to the rebuilding of hyrule castle & its’ town, but when it’s time to plan for it, zelda chooses to utilize the abandoned valley which lies behind the castle as the new home for the royal crypt, but not solely for that ! she establishes & sponsors a university on behalf of the royal family, with special consideration going to the preservation of hylian history ( a lot was lost in the hyrulean civil war prior to her birth, nevermind the seven year war following that so quickly, & we can see in other zelda games, such as twilight princess & breath of the wild, historical preservation within hyrule is ... terrible, to say the least. of course, it will all be washed away when the goddesses flood hyrule, but fuck, at least she tries. ) the university also covers a range of other subjects, but history is the one zelda takes an active interest in, & she spends a lot of time with scholars who specialize in it. the royal crypt lies at the very back of the valley, the university being closer to the castle, & then ... watch this space ! i’m likely to add more things to areas around the map in the future.

hyrule castle & hyrule castle town i’ve left in the same spots, pretty much - i imagine the castle is rebuilt to be something like the one we see at the bottom of the ocean in wind waker, but i intend to put my own spin on that, too. zelda wouldn’t be focused too much on getting a castle up agaiin ( i’ve mentioned in a thread before that two years post-ganondorf, she is still sheltering at impa’s house in kakariko village, as rebuilding for the civilians is her main priority, & whilst i haven’t figured out exactly how long that lasts for, it’s a safe bet to say a good few years ) & she definitely wouldn’t want to be living anywhere especially y’know, grandiose & opulent, if her people were still struggling day to day. the castle town bounces back better than ever, expanding a little more to the left over time, but that’s a gradual thing. no real change except a distinct lack of redeads, which is always a bonus !

death mountain & its immediate surroundings, i was happy to leave as they are - it’s marginally wonky in place compared to the original map but it’s not a severe drift from canon, so lets just pretend it sits a little more to the left, shhh. it’s a volcano built into a mountain with a network of caves both inside & adjacent to it, plus a place of worship built into the heart of it, & you can’t really go wrong with that, so i focused on all that empty space beyond them left on the map. minish cap came in clutch again, because by fuck, did they have a mountain range, so i ended up dipping in to it for the names of this one. the gorons are clustered at the forefront of the mountain because everything beyond their city has been mined to the absolute death by those who came before for its resources, & abandoned by the same in turn, but they still send patrols to make sure it’s fine. 

there’s a story of how, before the gorons settled into the mountain, a man of great strength climbed the mountain alone to make his home within it - he faced eruptions from a then-hostile death mountain, fought off the creatures who called the range home & weren’t fond of sharing, & forged on to what was said to be the edge of hyrule itself. it wasn’t, not quite, but it was far enough away from the central provinces of the kingdom that the mountains became capped with snow, contrasting the temperate mountains to the west. the story goes that the adventurer decided to call the furthest reaches of the mountain home, & singlehandedly carved out what would become the beginning of the mines, in order to gather materials for his forge. it’s been disputed whether said man was hylian or goron, as the biggoron family claim lineage from him, but the mountains he once inhabited are named for him now, & are one of the places zelda hid whilst on the run & masquerading as sheik - despite the extreme temperatures playing havoc with her & nearly killing her, it’s one of the harder to reach spots in hyrule, so it provided a measure of safety that other places could not. melari’s hold lies in the northeast, but the cold spot on the mountain travels further south than would be expected, resulting in a cold spot - the ice cavern - to the north of zora’s domain.

real quick, fuck zora’s domain. there was no way to make the water feature coming from here look decent, or properly portray the types of cliffs it’s surrounded by, so please don’t judge it too harshly. at the end of ocarina of time, zora’s domain is still said to be frozen, but recovering from the curse ganondorf placed on it, which, great ! i’m gonna say, i could be completely off here in how it works, but i wanted to change things up a little, so if i am, i don’t mind that much. i like a bit of artistic license. also, if we can have literal fish people, a genderless species made of rock, children who don’t grow up in a magical forest which horrifically warps those who don’t belong, & a giant fucking overworld field where the skeletons of what look like fucking children come out to fight you at night ? i’m okay with this reckoning being off a little.

so, eventually, zora’s domain unfreezes. i personally imagine, as ganondorf’s power ebbed from hyrule, that the process started slow, until one day, it wasn’t. it’s said that zora’s fountain is the source of all water in hyrule, with the domain lying under the mountain it rests on top of, & a few secret passageways here & there, which is fine, usually - the fountain never froze, just the domain beneath it. that becomes a problem, though, when the magical freeze put in place by ganondorf wears off, & the excess water from the melt ends up flooding the domain. not a problem from those who live within it, with the zora being essentially amphibian in nature, but when that excess water begins seeping out into the fountain, through cracks in the mountain, through the entrance granted to those affiliated with the royal family ? that all goes over the fountain, down the sleepless waterfall, through the river, & that river completely bursts its banks. the water level of the river rises significantly, washing away much of the path previously taken by those who wished to go to the domain on foot, causing minor flooding in hyrule field as it travels downstream, & resulting in the waters of lake hylia rising when the overflow reaches it, hence the lake being larger in my version of the map. the rebuilding of a path to zora’s domain ends up becoming one of the earliest projects zelda undertakes as queen but it’s a bit of a logistical nightmare for a while, considering that, with princess ruto ascended as a sage, zora’s domain is now in a succession crisis. does it have much bearing on zelda’s life ? not especially, but i thought it was a nice bit of worldbuilding, so here it is.

kokiri forest, the lost woods, & everything within doesn’t change much. with the dark magic vanquished from the forest, & the great deku sprout able to thrive, the forest continues to grow, & overgrow. it’s still dangerous to outsiders to go within, still dangerous for anyone to enter the lost woods without a fairy companion to guide them & save them from a grim fate, but the children of the forest do grow somewhat braver about stepping out from their home to see the rest of hyrule. it never lasts long - not all of the kokiri are as brave as link was, after all, & hyrule is so vast compared to what they’re used to - but it sparks their curiosity & their desire to explore hyrule which eventually trickles down to the wandering koroks.

the area to the south / southwest of the kokiri forest is entirely my invention. as i said, in-game, it’s just cliffs to hem you in & prevent you from breaking the boundaries of the world, but there’s none of that in roleplaying, so i just … did away with them entirely. part of this is lake hylia not being as hemmed in by these walls as it is in-game, opening up into a new river & streams which travel through the south & southeast. crossing this river leads to three paths - take middle path, & you may find yourself in what’s known as the rito village. now, i’ll say here, i know that the rito don’t technically appear in hyrule until after the great flood, when the zoras somehow sprout wings, but nintendo’s strange decisions don’t change the fact that there are many wonderful people in the zelda rpc who play rito characters with crossover verses that let them interact with those who play characters in other parts of the timeline. in order to better facilitate interactions with these roleplayers, i decided fuck it, rito village in ocarina of time. canon can be easily bent. if, however, i’m writing with someone who wants to adhere to strict canon, then it’s just other hylians who live within the village, & rito is just the name chosen for the village, with no connection to the as-of-yet-unevolved race, just a nice little coincidence. regardless of who lives in it, though, the village & its name are fixed here in a southern woodland, with the village nestled amongst the hills within.

cross the bridge to the south & take the third branch in the path, you’ll find yourself inside the bremen woods. i honestly haven’t got much to say about the bremen woods here, but it’s not because i don’t have ideas for it - i have another headcanon brewing concerning myths, fables & fairy tales within hyrule, because … i am just that type of nerd. about eighty percent of my blogs before this one involved fairy tale characters in some way. it is, as the kids say, extremely my shit, & i’d like to tie the bremen woods into that, so i’m going to save what i have to say for that headcanon, but don’t worry. it’ll probably be a lot smaller than this one. ( thank god, i hear you say. i know, i know. i’m still not sorry. )

cross the bridge, then, & take the first branch in the path, & you better have a sword with you. the castor wilds are a lawless place, which is fitting for the corner of the world where the last remnants of ganondorf’s forces lie. any that weren’t killed during the restoration of the kingdom were beaten back to the edge of the world, & it’s not a friendly place. the last of the monsters shelter in a run-down settlement known as dragmire’s hold, the last place where those who sympathize with the king of evil can speak freely, & it’s murder to get to. the entrance to the wilds is a marshy swamp, thanks to the run-off of lake hylia, but if you manage to get through the mire, the land begins to dry out until you reach the hold, where the earth struggles to bear fruit & it seems the grass refuses to grow. it is, in a few words, fucking grim, & as a result, the go-to place for banishments within the kingdom. zelda isn’t a fan of harsh punishments, but she’s no fool, not anymore, & she won’t abide those who plot to throw the kingdom back into chaos, be it in service of ganondorf, or their own selfish natures. it’s rare that anyone actually finds themselves wandering the castor wilds, unless they actively choose to adventure there, but it is a very good threat, considering its reputation as the land where the devils live.

jumping across the map entirely, we come to the cliffs of coroa to the left of lake hylia. another spot on the map which is notorious for being hard to reach, the cliffs are an inviting challenge to those who want to boast of their climbing skills & durability. if getting up the cliffs doesn’t kill you ( & there is a very real possibility that it will, especially if you fall, ‘cause this water ain’t soft ) the journey down might do it instead, & that’s if you survive your trip at the top. there has been rumours of a great treasure hidden away in the cliffs for years, though the debate on what it might be was pretty intense, if you got into it. for a time, some thought the legendary blade rested within the cliffs, & only those who could brave the rockface would be able to lay a hand on it; others argued that it contained more mundane, but still desirable, treasures, such as a great haul from a band of thieves, left behind when they were hunted down by the crown, growing only more valuable by the minute. some, with sense, said that the only thing atop the cliffs was certain doom for the morons who tried to make their way up them. the truth ? there’s nothing up there. sometimes, cliffs are just cliffs, & those who try to scale the ones facing lake hylia truly are fools. the gerudo people, however, had the right idea of how to get to them.

again, another aspect of canon i was happy to leave as it was. the gerudo desert is a vast, harsh swathe of land, continuously assailed by sandstorms, bordered to the north by what is called ❛ the great sand sea ❜ & to the south by the haunted wasteland, & it’s not hyperbole. spirit guides appear to those who seek the temple of the goddess of the sand, but very few have ever made it through the wasteland if they enter in pursuit of something else. one of the few who did was the gerudo heroine, ashai. a well respected warrior amongst them, ashai was the younger sister to the exalted rishika, the chief of the gerudo at the time, & one of the first to vow to conquer the wasteland & see what lay beyond the storm. though her sister cautioned against it, as tales of people becoming lost in the wasteland were not uncommon, ashai was a headstrong young woman, & she could not be swayed. she took with her a party of twelve, & in time, three returned to tell their story. ashai had forged a path through the ever-shifting sands & left it well enough marked that her companions were able to find their way back. it’s said that some succumbed to madness during the journey, tormented by the ghosts of the wasteland, whilst others fell ill whilst they traveled, choking on the sand which gathered in their lungs. seven of them made it through the wasteland to the valley which lay beyond, but ashai had grown sick during the crossing, & knew she would not make it back. instead, she spent the time she had left exploring the valley, & found a way through it to the peak of the cliffs of coroa. the legend says that is there she died, watching the sun rise atop the cliffs, speaking only of her sister, & her companions laid her to rest within the valley, which her sister then named in honour of her. whilst the gerudo are happy to let those who have proven themselves attempt the journey to the desert colossus, no outsiders are permitted to walk the valley of ashai, where a shrine was built for its namesake - it is considered sacred to them, & the journey to pay respects to ashai is now part of the trial given to those who wish to become chief of the gerudo, should the bloodline of the previous chief die.

that covers just about all the main areas & landmarks of hyrule, i think, so to move on to the last thing, the various settlements, villages, hamlets you see across the map. hyrule is a big place. yes, quite a few of the races are localized to certain areas, & yes, it’s entirely plausible the hyrulean civil war could have decimated the population, with the seven years war exacerbating that problem, but hyrule field just looked so … empty, once everything else was finished. so, rather than stick to a number of locales i can count on one hand, i threw a few more settlements across the map to try & make hyrule feel more like a real kingdom. not to breath of the wild’s extent, of course, but just something a little more than what was given. all those who survived the fall of hyrule castle town apparently fled to become refugees in kakariko village, which was opened to all by impa, which is fair, but i imagine as the world returned to something close to normality, & families started growing again, the village would quickly find itself overwhelmed. as queen, zelda would make it a priority to make sure none of her subjects go homeless - she knows all too well that struggle - & so she would begin a program to make sure there was enough villages or townships for every one of her subjects. those who volunteered would be given a set amount of money & plots of land across hyrule to build a home, which zelda would then personally visit to inspect, to make sure her people were thriving.

there’s little to say in detail about them all as of right now, as i’m still fleshing them out, but i have a few basic ideas. most of the settlements were named after the first to attach themselves to the project, but the names have the potential to evolve over time. they certainly won’t retain the hamlet / settlement status, that’s for sure. the offer wasn’t restricted to hylians, either - any other race in the land was free to join, though only a small number of gerudo accepted it, the others preferring to stay in their homes & travel as they need. ciela’s settlement was the one spearheaded by the gerudo who accepted zelda’s offer, hence its proximity to the valley. a lot of young men volunteered to go to this settlement, but zelda was happy to let ciela make her own call, & many were knocked back - only those with what ciela deemed viable skills were allowed in, & still, it’s very much a female dominated settlement, but it is thriving under her leadership, & blossoms into a successful village as time goes on. lon lon ranch is, well, lon lon ranch. with funding from the crown, talon was able to take on more staff & expand it at his leisure, but it is one of the very few places in hyrule which has stayed constant over time, & he was quite content to keep it that way, & zelda content with his decision. 

to the south of lon lon ranch lies damia village, the largest of all the settlements from its inception. led by a fearless young man who gave his name to the village, it is a hub of activity which could rival hyrule castle town. with damia came many like-minded people, all eager to forge their own path in the world & prove themselves as he had, as he had been part of the group which volunteered to help beat back the remnants of ganondorf’s forces. many of the families within damia village are the families of soldiers who work at the castle & it has gained a reputation for being a village full of strong, capable, trustworthy people. arborwood, which lies further to the south in a more rural location, is an outlier in that the one who volunteered to lead in this settlement didn’t wish to put their name to it - they didn’t want glory, just a place to call home where they could finally live in peace. arborwood is an agriculturally focused village, filled with farmers & those who possess green thumbs. a lot of trade is done between arborwood & all the other villages - everyone in hyrule became proficient at growing & hunting their own food in the past thirty years, as was necessary to survive, but it’s nice to have a place to get food from which specializes in high quality meat & crops. why hunt rabbits, when arborwood can provide venison ? 

last but not least, lynna’s hamlet, which settled at lake hylia at the request of the owner of the lakeside laboratory. as he was getting on in years, he wished to find someone to continue his work, & so specifically requested that any like-minded hylians settle close to the lake so that he could impart his wisdom & let them take over. he got quite a few more people volunteering than he bargained for, be they scientifically inclined, interested in cataloguing the history of lake hylia, or just desirous of a change in scenery. the smallest of the new settlements, lynna’s hamlet never truly flourished the way others did, but the buildings were never empty - as time went on & people began to move elsewhere, it became a popular spot for those who traveled the land to rest at when they came to the lake, with a very successful inn eventually being run by the lakeside, its doors open to any who wished to visit.

it’s not a lot of worldbuilding when it all comes down to it, compared to other things, but this is something that i’ve wanted to do for a long time. as i’ve mentioned in the section regarding the bremen woods, more headcanons are likely to follow regarding places on the map & how they change & evolve as time passes during zelda’s rule, but for now, there’s this ! something which makes hyrule feel less empty than what it was before, whilst still respecting canon, somewhat which was the goal all along. if you’ve made it this far, holy shit, go outside & feel the sun on your face. it’s been eighty-four years - but i can’t thank you enough for reading ! at least next time, the headcanon won’t be so long. i hope.

[gascon-en-exil]

But What If You Want to Come Out on Vers Bottom?: A “Coming Out on Top” Review (Part 2)

Part 1

The main substance of Coming Out on Top - and around 80% of its wank material - lies in its main story love interests, so each of them deserves a dedicated section for review and...erotic evaluation, if you will. It would be much too cluttered to try to cover all six in one post however, so this one will only include the first three with Part 3 to follow with the remainder. Note that I’ll be doing these in alphabetical order, except for the sixth who was added in an update and whose route comes with some mechanical differences that warrant leaving him for last. I wouldn’t want to seem biased, would I? But I’ll be ranking them from most to least favorite at the end anyway.

Also, if anyone is wondering why most of my screenshots are from dialogue scenes rather than CGs, it’s because there are remarkably few CGs in this game that are both interesting enough to include in a review and tame enough for Tumblr’s censorship standards.

Alex: Mark Makes the Grade (With His Ass)

And how fitting it is that I get to start with Alex, fresh off over a year of involvement in the fandom of Fire Emblem: Three Houses and all its exaggerated pearl-clutching over that game’s teacher/student relationships. That’s exactly what Alex’s romance with Mark is, begun under more innocuous circumstances wherein Alex judges Mark’s alcohol preferences (the uncultured barbarian favors whiskey, and has nothing to say if you have Mark order a glass of presumably passable cabernet) but then progressing rapidly to hot for teacher territory once Mark discovers that Alex is his anatomy professor. As expected a handful of jokes - and one sex scene, kind of - hinge upon Alex’s field of expertise, but compared to the other routes of CooT this one is remarkably tame. It’s the only one in which it’s impossible to have sex with the love interest during the game and still get his ending, and the story requires the player to thread a fine line between expressing attraction to the man and respecting his professional boundaries. Alex is nothing if not ethical, almost to a fault, and the game also doesn’t allow you to lose sight of how strange his connection with Mark is...allegedly, anyway. I personally don’t see much issue with it, when Mark is of age (this isn’t even the largest age gap of the main love interests) and about to graduate. Eh, I’ll chalk it up to a cultural difference and move on.

The plot of the route also pivots around the potential scandal to be found in some hot one-on-one anatomy lessons, as Mark finds himself embroiled in the cutthroat world of tenured professorships and overworked postgraduate toadies moonlighting as paparazzi. I guess I lucked out in my much more reasonable graduate advisors, but I think I would have taken well to snooping around in men’s locker rooms looking for hot gay action/blackmail material. With all that going on it’s little wonder that there’s no real sex to be had on the full route, and that the one potential steamy encounter Mark can have with Alex in the professor’s office swiftly ends the romance then and there. I suppose it’s worth noting that Alex is also the only primary love interest who will never bottom for Mark in any encounter the player gets to see, so props if you’re looking for a total top. He’ll give head though, so that’s nice.

That said however, I can’t help but feel as though CooT wants to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to the teacher/student fucking. Amidst everyone being reasonable and ethical about the situation Mark can have a dream in which Alex fingers him and gives him a prostate orgasm as a live demonstration during a lecture - unquestionably hitting some of those teacher crush buttons even as it comes with the easy out of being a dream sequence. I’ve also seen reactions to this route labeling it as an example of the type of lover/beloved relationship found in ancient Greek pederasty, in that Alex is lowkey masc4masc and that he and Mark bond over the ancient and manly sport of, er, racquetball (I don’t know, just go with it). You also have to keep Mark’s grades up to get Alex’s full ending, which is both entirely logical - Mark is trying to date his professor after all, even if he doesn’t fully get there until the semester is over and he’s ready to walk the stage - and an extension of the idealized pederastic relationship as an educational one for the beloved younger man. If you’re into that kind of thing, Alex’s route is among the better options in this game to find it.

There’s also this obscure random line, which triggers an unusual extra CG added in an update that might be pet play? It’s honestly hard to tell - and I say that as someone who likes pet play. Something you may notice in my review is that, while the five romances included in the game on initial release are all fairly mundane, the writers clearly felt more free to get weird in the later additions. 

Brad: Frat Boys Gone Wild Parts 2, 5, and 7

Do you like beefy jocks, and huge dicks, and harsh but realistic indictments of the unequal attention lavished upon athletics departments at most American universities? One of these things is not like the others, but thankfully the route knows where to place most of its priorities. This is the story that puts Mark to work in his job as a writing tutor, tasking him with saving a hunky frat boy from failing his composition class and losing his scholarship in the process. Much unlike my own time as an undergraduate writing tutor however Mark is required to make house calls, setting him on a collision course for Brad’s burgeoning homosexuality and almost getting his ass kicked by the other equally hunky - but tragically straight - members of the frat. Brad is indeed the only one of Mark’s love interests who struggles to any degree with his sexuality, but it’s a muted part of this storyline and only really comes up in one scene involving Brad’s overbearing older brother. Despite some heavier moments here and there CooT is still a lighthearted dating sim at its core, so don’t expect too much in the way of angst even for a character who under more realistic circumstances would likely have to keep his inclinations on the DL.

Where there is plenty of intensity though is in those tutoring sessions, because, well -

- Mark ends up with a serious case of blue balls from all the UST and frequent teasing of Brad’s behemoth cock. Disclaimer: despite years of professional phallus measurements, this reviewer is unable to determine if Brad’s endowment is measurably more impressive than those of the other love interests based on his CGs alone; all pronouncements to this effect may thus be taken as the hyperbole of a horny size queen.

An even bigger source of tension in this route is the cheating angle: during their first meeting Brad will attempt to pressure Mark into writing his paper for him, remarking that American football players at universities get this kind of preferential treatment all the time and that their grades are basically irrelevant. Mark can actually take him up on this offer, and end up quite a bit richer for it via a little bribery (a nice perk if you’re angling for Ian’s friendship ending). Doing so will make it impossible to obtain Brad’s good ending but will instead lead to an alternate storyline with its own set of CGs, culminating in some saucily unethical fellatio as Mark proves to Brad that he can provide just as many perks as the rival female tutor who’s been capturing the jock’s attention with blowjobs and amateur porn. Incidentally, while it very quickly ends the route I like that Mark has a dialogue option to offer those exact services to Brad in front of the other tutor. It’s almost as funny as the earlier option about rimjobs that also ends the route but results in a dream CG of the straight frat guys having their way with Mark. That’s like wish fulfillment Inception, or something.

But no, to finish this route properly you have to keep both Mark and Brad honest, and convince Brad to write his own essay with Mark’s help...and provide genuinely good help, so I hope you know the basics of how to structure an academic essay just kidding you can save scum through that stuff. Many heartwarming life lessons are learned through all-nighters, ruminations on long-term career prospects, and mutual masturbation, until at last the two of them succeed and celebrate their victory with full penetration. How exactly you prefer the penetration to go down isn’t the most intuitive set of dialogue options in the world, but bear in mind that on initial release the only possibility was Brad splitting Mark open with that ginger club swinging between his legs. As I brought up in Alex’s section, the later additions usually get rather freakier. In this case that means an extended dream sequence with football role play (which is a thing that exists, I guess?) followed by some actual sex, with Brad bottoming in both scenes and much loving detail lavished upon his meaty ass. It’s...clever, I suppose, but I think I prefer the original version. Maybe that’s just because I always thought American football uniforms looked ridiculous; where’s the sex appeal to be found with those ridiculous shoulder pads?

Ian: Oh My God They Were Roommates

Even years later I still don’t know for certain whether including Ian so casually with the other love interests counts as a minor spoiler. He’s introduced alongside Penny as Mark’s longtime roommate, and in that first scene it’s also established that he has an on-again, off-again girlfriend. I’m going to err on the side of it not being a spoiler however, because well before his route proper begins the game drops hints that there might be more to Ian than a goofy slacker best friend with appalling personal hygiene. His route progresses as might reasonably be expected from Mark’s coming out, with Ian as the fantasy gay-friendly straight guy who turns out to be not quite as straight as initially advertised. 

There’s just one very large problem with that and it’s not the size of his dick. Because Ian is first and foremost Mark’s roommate he has the privilege of appearing as a supporting character in routes other than his own, and in fact there are CGs featuring him in some of those routes. This results in Ian receiving the most overall development of any of the love interests, ranging from the oddball humor that he injects into situations all over the story to his raging and, er, adventurous libido leading to all manner of masturbatory mishaps for Mark to, most jarringly, poorly-disguised jealousy over the other love interests should Mark choose to pursue them. One would expect this to result in a fantastically fleshed-out character and an excellent foundation for a route of his own that builds off Ian’s simple charm and manic energy to craft an excellent best friend romance.

Yet...it kind of doesn’t? It took me until my most recent playthrough to appreciate this properly, but more than any of the others Ian’s route is written as the most conventionally romantic. It incorporates a host of romcom staples - UST, misunderstandings, miscommunication, more than one romantic false lead, a wedding at the end, mood lighting for its softcore bondage scene - and while most of the other routes include one or two of those elements as well this is undoubtedly the only one that ever comes close to feeling cheesy or maudlin. Unfortunately however that kind of writing just doesn’t play well with Ian’s over-the-top comic relief antics, and so for most of the latter part of his own route he comes off as oddly bland. The writing mines some jokes out of his growing jealousy of the other men Mark expresses interest in dating, and it offers Mark a devastating early sex scene bad ending opportunity in the form of Ian coming onto Mark while drunk and forcing the player to choose between a rimjob now or double oral and/or flip-fucking later. Sure, that setup and some of what comes before it plays right into who Ian is as a character - a well-meaning idiot with a lot of insecurity surrounding his relationship to Mark - but after that point whether you take the rimjob or not Ian practically fades into the role of generic romantic lead as Mark must work to repair their friendship and then guide it into uncharted territory.

To illustrate the point I’m trying to make, contrast these two CGs. The first is from Ian’s friendship ending (something only he and Penny get, based on spending time with them on weekends among other factors); the second is from his romantic ending.

Which of these images tells you more about Ian’s characterization, or about his dynamic with Mark?

I’m not going to deny that Ian has sex appeal, or that he doesn’t have a slew of genuinely funny lines all over the game’s script, or that there’s nothing satisfying in watching Mark and his best friend fall in love with each other - but it’s the lack of integration between Ian the comic relief roommate and Ian the love interest that doesn’t sit well with me. When I was reviewing Chess of Blades I name-dropped Ian in comparison to that game’s own best friend love interest Arden. I’ll do the reverse here: Ian may be sweet and a ton of fun, and there may be far more options for which pegs go into which slots in this storyline, but Arden’s character and story stick in my mind more because they’re never at odds with one another. Ian in the earlygame and outside his own route is so goofy that it’s very hard to take him seriously as someone who could be a romantic partner for Mark, and unfortunately that comes across all too well when the occasion finally arises.

[tibbinswrites]

Hi! Could you do #9 for Destiel? Thanks for sharing your awesome work with us :D

Hi Nonnie! You’re so very welcome, thank you for sending in a prompt!

So this is shameless fluff. You might want to brush your teeth after reading ;)

(prompts are open. Send me a number between 1 and 635 and I’ll write a thing for you)

I’ve now done prompts for: #1, #2, #4 and #16, #9, #10, #78, #170 and #502 

and I have prompts in progress for #33 and #77 but all the others are fair game :D

Enjoy ^_^

Prompt #9: “It’s fine.”

“What do you think?” Cas asked after calling Dean into their bedroom. His eyes were too-bright, frantic almost, and Dean tried not to feel uncomfortable under the unhinged intensity of his boyfriend’s stare as he looked at the dresser.

Cas visibly deflated before Dean even had a chance to react. “You hate it,” he said dolefully, his face scrunching up like he was about to cry and Dean was definitely not panicking. “I messed it up and you hate it.”

“No! Don’t you dare! It’s done. You did it and it’s done and I’m proud of you.” Dean said quickly. Cas had locked himself up here six hours ago, after their trip to Ikea ended with a purchase that Dean had been very much against in the first place. The dresser was large, with drawers of different shapes and sizes and opening mechanisms and colours. Of course, Cas had fallen in love with the thing on sight, saying that it looked magical, like it contained a different secret in each compartment. Dean had argued that it was impractical. It wouldn’t fit most things that people put in dressers, like clothes, nor would it go with the rest of the room. But Cas had pouted and pleaded and Dean was a weak man and folded after about twenty seconds of those blue eyes, though he had joked that he wouldn’t help assemble the thing… he was regretting that now.

“It’s horrible.”

“It’s fine,” Dean insisted, ignoring the way that one side was longer than the other, and how none of the handles looked the way they had on the assembled one in the store, or how there were large gaps where Dean was pretty sure something was supposed to be and at least seven ‘spare’ pieces that had been hastily shoved back into the box.

“I ruined it!” Cas wailed, falling into Dean’s chest, clearly exhausted and past the level of frustration where he was capable of being reasonable.

“I think it looks great,” Dean lied, kissing the top of Cas’ head. “But if you like, I’ll take a look at it after dinner and see if I can polish it up a little.”

Cas sniffed and pulled back to look up at him, the hope in his eyes turned Dean’s insides into a gooey mess. “Really?”

“Come on, sweetheart,” Dean said, guiding Cas out of the room he’d been sequestered in all day (at his own insistence; Dean had been trying to coax him out since hour three, offering his help, and food, but Cas was a stubborn son of a bitch when he’d made a deal). “I made lasagna.”

Cas cheered up a little during dinner, though he kept rubbing at his eyes so Dean insisted he go and sleep in the spare room while Dean worked on the dresser in their bedroom so he wouldn’t be disturbed. Cas was too tired to argue and headed to the downstairs bedroom after two helpings of lasagna and assurances that Dean wouldn’t stay up too late.

Xxx

Cas awoke the next morning in a bed that was too soft and without Dean’s warmth next to him. He sat up and looked around. The spare room was nice, if a little cramped, what with the double and the twin bed shoved in, just in case Sam and Eileen and Gabriel converged on them at once, or indeed if Charlie showed up (in which case they’d all cram in together, Charlie was a huge fan of sleepover-style gatherings and although Cas had thought it strange at first, he’d soon grown to love those evenings as much as the other two). Cas had definitely slept in worse places, but he hated waking up alone.

It hadn’t used to bother him much. He’d never been the clingy type, even prided himself on his independence (which had caused a whole host of problems with previous boyfriends), but when he met Dean, with his disarming smile, those forest-deep eyes that spoke of mischief and safety, and the kind of ‘all-in’ attitude that had terrified him since Dean let it show on their fourth date, Cas had never before so badly wanted to be included. Dean was funny and charming and cared so deeply and so fast that it was impossible not to get sucked in. Of course, all that openness hid a whole bunch of insecurities that Castiel had blundered into without realising, which made for a difficult few weeks and several uncomfortable conversations with Sam before Cas realised that this thing they had was too important to him for him to be able to cut and run like he had done so many times before, that Dean was too important to him.

They’d learned to navigate each other, slowly. Cas learned that Dean needed a lot of reassurance, especially after or during an argument, and Dean had figured out how to draw Cas out of his own head when he was scared and overwhelmed and get him to talk rather than run away when things got hard and six years later Cas had never been happier. Even after all this time Dean’s smile set off butterflies in his belly, his laugh still warmed something inside him and his presence was grounding and safe. He’d never relied on anyone the way he’d come to rely on Dean, and though that sometimes sent his head into a downward spiral, Dean was always there to help him through it.

They just fit together seamlessly, filling in each other’s empty spaces. Dean made him laugh until he snorted milk out of his nose and then laugh even more at that, he made Cas feel reckless and brave, willing to try things that he normally wouldn’t even consider and had started to dismantle the cocoon of indifference he’d been wrapped in his whole life. Cas in turn had been privileged to watch Dean’s bravado bloom into confidence, to listen to him talk without fear of being interrupted or told to shut up, to watch him sink into calm moments rather than trying to make them large and important, to hear him ask for what he needed rather than trying to be strong for everyone else.

Cas smiled as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up, the other side of the bed was cold and unmade; Dean must have slept in their bed once he was done with the dresser rather than coming all the way downstairs.

The dresser… Cas buried his face in his hands in a moment of self-indulgent embarrassment. He’d loved the dresser in the store, how whimsical and thrown together it looked, like something made by the fair folk. He’d always loved stories about magical portals and something in him had just reached out with a childish wonder that had surprised him. He didn’t care that it wasn’t practical, didn’t care that the wood was the wrong colour and that they had nothing to put in the thing, he had wanted it, and Dean, because he was a selfless, wonderful man who did everything he could to make Cas happy, had indulged him. Dean was the handy one out of the two of them, but he had said that in exchange for purchasing it, he wouldn’t help put it together and Cas had agreed. He had wanted to honour that promise.

Of course, there was a reason that Dean was the handy one. Cas was pretty sure he’d lost his mind somewhere around hour four, abandoning the instructions completely and trying to cobble together some parts from memory alone.

Cas padded up the stairs to the bathroom, grimacing in the mirror at how red his face was at just the memory of his mini-breakdown. Dean had been so sweet about it, telling him that it just needed tweaking when Cas knew very well that Dean would have to pull the whole thing apart and start again.

Once he’d taken care of business and brushed his teeth, he made his way to the main bedroom and opened the door.

The dresser was the first thing he saw, placed on the far wall directly opposite the door. It looked just as magical and full of secrets as it had in the store, each compartment a beautiful mystery. It clashed horribly with the rest of the room but Cas didn’t care, it was perfect.

He turned to look for his boyfriend, to thank him for fixing it and to apologise for his overreaction the night before. But Dean wasn’t there, he wasn’t curled up under the covers, sleep-warm and soft—in fact, it didn’t look like the bed had been slept in at all.

“Dean?” he called, expecting to hear a reply, from the bathroom, from the kitchen downstairs, from anywhere, but there was only silence.

Maybe Dean had gone out already? Cas glanced at the clock, it was barely 9 am. He looked back at the dresser, frowning, and then noticed a small, yellow square of paper stuck to one of the compartments on the top row. Curious, Cas bent down to read it.

Open last.

Cas tilted his head and scanned the other compartments for any other instructions, but there weren’t any. So, leaning back a little, half-expecting one of those fuzzy snake things to leap out at him, Cas opened the top left drawer.

Inside was a mixtape. Cas picked it up to look at the label. Dean’s Top 13 Zepp Traxx. Still confused, but smiling a little, he opened the next compartment along, this one didn’t pull out like the previous drawer, but instead there was a small shutter to lift, revealing another mixtape. This one was labelled Cas’ Happy Tunes.

Cas knew that Dean liked to make tapes. He’d spend hours on them and listen to them only in his car. He didn’t show them to Cas, or let him riffle around in the box on the floor of the passenger seat. They were, in fact, one of the only things that Dean didn’t share with him, his only secret hobby. Cas had always been insanely curious, and sometimes Dean would play one of the tapes on long road trips and get him to try and guess the title Dean had given it. So far, Dean said that Cas hadn’t got a single one right. Not that he was allowed to check.

Cas moved on to the next compartment, pressing on the wood gently so the door popped open. This tape was labelled Why I Love Him. Cas felt the smile on his face creep ever wider.

He kept on opening the compartments until there was only one left. There were eleven tapes in total, not including the first three, they were titled:

Second Date Mix

Songs That Sound Like Him

Valentine’s Day 2017

He Loves Me Too

Dean’s Sad Music

Holiday Tunes

Cheer up, Grumpy-Butt

When I Knew

He laid them all out carefully on the carpet next to him, and stared at the small cupboard with the yellow post-it on it for a long time.

“Open it,” came Dean’s soft voice from behind him, though how long he’d been there Cas couldn’t say. He didn’t look back at him. This one would be important, he knew; when he opened the final piece of the dresser, everything was going to change. He stood—as the indicated drawer was a little too high for him to comfortably open from his knees—and reached forward with a shaky hand to flip up the latch to open the drawer. There was a slight rustle behind him that he barely heard as he peered in. It was empty. Cas drew in a breath as he turned to ask his boyfriend what was going on and found Dean on one knee, a mixtape in his palm, the label face-up and clear as day and the breath caught in his throat.

Our wedding playlist???

“Dean,” Cas exhaled, tears pricking his eyes. Dean looked unsure for a moment, and fumbled with the tape, almost dropping it as he scrabbled for his pocket.

“I’ve got a ring too,” he said quickly, pulling out a black velvet box from his jeans. He was still in last night’s clothes, his jaw unshaven. Had he slept at all? “I know you hate the idea of a proposal without a ring.” He flipped open the box to reveal a simple, elegant band of white gold and Cas was still struggling to kick his brain into gear or indeed do anything but gape at Dean like a confused fish.

Apparently, his silence stretched on too long for Dean, who swallowed, looking nervous. “I’m sorry it seems kind of thrown together,” he said, beginning to ramble. “I bought the ring months ago. I wasn’t exactly planning to do this over a dresser, but you said it looked like it was full of secrets, and you’ve always said my tapes are like a secret and I just thought it was different, you know? A bit more… us?”

“Dean,” Cas said again, falling to his knees and taking Dean’s stubbled chin in between his hands. He felt tears beginning to fall from his eyes and he couldn’t care less. “It’s perfect. Yes, I’ll marry you. Of course I will. I love you so much.”

“Love you too.” Dean countered, his voice raspy. Cas pulled him in and Dean reached for his left hand, slipping the ring on without breaking the kiss. They kissed and kissed until Cas tasted the salt of their mingled tears, until he felt so giddy that he had to laugh, and his laugh set Dean off laughing and soon they were just holding each other, Cas’ face buried in Dean’s neck, Dean clutching him as though he never wanted to let go.

“I’ve never been more glad to be useless at carpentry,” he mumbled.

Dean chuckled again before pulling back, his eyes shining and happy and beautiful. Cas felt joy swelling within him, filling up every dark corner that Dean had found light in. Yes, of course he would pledge himself to this man forever; this brave, kind, thoughtful man who listened to him like he was interesting and loved him like he was worthy. Truth be told, he already had a long time ago.

[fire-the-headcanons]

Follow the Beacon Raven—They’re On to Us

[Link to Masterpost]

[tw: this chapter is disturbing. I’m putting up several today, so skip if you need to]

Qrow was avoiding her.

He cowered behind their teammates, never more than a few steps away and always within earshot. Made sure Taiyang sat between them during Grimm Studies, worked next to Summer in the forge.

She thought she’d be able to corner him on their way to history but as soon as Professor Mikado dismissed the class he vanished like morning fog. When she reached Lionheart’s classroom he was already sitting attentively on the first row, surrounded by students, refusing to meet her eye.

If he thinks this is going to work, she scowled, then he’s even weaker than I realized.

She turned heel and stalked from the classroom, storming through the empty grounds to their dorm. As soon as their door closed behind her she let her bag fall to the ground, reached for Qrow’s lifeline, and pulled.

A tear opened near the ceiling, and he plummeted through with a yelp, landing on the floor with a heavy thud and a crackle of red lightning. He jumped to his feet in an instant, knife in hand and panting as he stared around the room.

"Thought you stopped carrying it," Raven snapped. He straightened up, but didn’t lower the weapon. "What the hell do you think you’re doing?" Her fists tightened. "Carrying a knife to protect yourself from me?"

"Thought you were taking me to Vanta."

"The great Huntsman, pulling a knife on his big sister. What a hero."

"Oh, shut up," he snapped, finally putting it away.

"No. I think you’ve forgotten who we are, and where we are." She folded her arms to hide her shaking hands, fingers aching with strain in her fists. "You’re acting like this is some comic book. We came here so we could get strong enough to survive, and you’re playing stupid games with a farm tool while the teachers close in on us."

He paled. "What do you mean?"

"Professor Mesánychta keeps trying to get me alone on the hunting trips, asking about how we learned—where we came from— they are on to us, Qrow. This is about to fall apart!" She stood up straighter, staring him down. "If you don’t wake up from your stupid little fantasy soon, you’re going to die in it."

He scoffed, unconvincingly. "What fantasy."

"You’re not a Huntsman!" she shouted. "You’re not a hero!" He stiffened, a half-grimace frozen on his face, and she knew she’d hit a nerve. "Who have you saved since you got here? You’re no better than the rest of us, you’re the same liar and killer you’ve always been! Everything you’ve done here, you did for yourself. We have to leave , Qrow. Now ."

All the defiance drained out of him, shoulders and head sagging. Raven sighed in silent relief. She’d expected him to put up more of a fight, but—

"No."

She stiffened. "What?"

"...I want to die here."

"What?!"

"I am weak. And a coward, and…" he shook his head. "If our mission fails, I want to die here. I already told you, I want a bullet and a burial." Rubbing his shoulder, he grimaced. "Not this. Not again."

White-hot anger boiled in her stomach. What did he expect her to do at home, on her own, with only Vanta as an anchor? You don't have the right to kill us both! "They wouldn't have hurt you if you just—"

"Just what?!" he snapped. "What could I have possibly done?! They don't want me, Raven!"

This wasn't working, and she had a pretty good idea why. "But Tai and Summer do, right?"

His eyes widened. "I—I didn't say th—"

"You didn't have to," she growled, taking a step closer, forcing him a step back. "Did you take her last night, or did you just let her have you?"

His face twisted with a rage Raven hadn't thought he was capable of, and he leapt forward to shove her against the door. Their auras crackled against each other where they made contact. "I WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO HER!"

It was a bad angle for a punch, and she couldn't get any weight behind it, but that didn't matter. One solid hit to his bad shoulder and he was down with a whimper. "So you rolled over, then. Got it. Should have known when you suggested this plan that you'd end up as a Huntress's plaything."

"N-neither of us did anything!"

"I have to say, though, I thought you'd end up under Tai, the way you've been staring at him all year."

"Shut up!" he whined, dragging himself back to his feet, still clutching his arm. "You don't know what you're—"

"Do you really think they like you? They don't want you either, Qrow. Do you really think either of them could stand to look at you if they actually knew you? As soon as they find out the truth, they're going to cheer along with everyone else at your execution." He cringed away with a dry sob, and Raven smiled at a new idea, knowing she'd won.

"Maybe they'll even ask if they can pull the trigger." His face slackened, eyes wide and mouth hanging open in horror. She had him. "I bet it'll be Summer, she's stronger than Tai. The team leader. I wonder what it feels like to be shot with a sniper rifle at point blank range? Probably not much. Bet it looks pretty impressive, though." He shrank away as she advanced, cowering like a beaten dog. "Do you think they'll do it in the main courtyard, or maybe the auditorium?"

"Stop," he whimpered, back hitting the side of his bed.

"You're right, the auditorium makes more sense. That's what it's for, isn't it? Everyone in the school should get to see you fall. You lied to all of them. They'll drag you out with your hands behind your back, shove you down on your knees, and if you're lucky Summer will put a bag over your head before she puts a bullet through it."

He stumbled back, onto the mattress, and pushed himself away from her until curled with his back against the wall. Shivering, he reached down into the gap and drew out a familiar ceramic jug.

"Where did you get that?"

"...Vanta gave it to me. When I told her I wasn't coming back." He stared at it, running his thumb over the glaze. "Remember when Cinereous got stabbed?"

She did. Bones had kept her drinking until she forgot she was injured, and when the infection had run its course he dragged the body back out of camp.

The cork came free with a hollow pop and Raven could smell the fumes from three paces away. "That's all you're going to say?!"

There was a moment of deliberation in his face, and then he looked up and met her eyes. "Goodbye, Raven. In case I don't get to say it later."

Her fists clenched. Qrow raised the little jug, pausing when it was halfway to his mouth with an almost silent laugh. "Good luck."

Next Chapter: Qrow—A Way Out

[afictionaladventure16]

Could you do an imagine of peter Parker having an older sister and is dating Bucky Barnes (maybe make her personality all shy and clumsy)

Sorry, this took so long!! I Kept editing it!! Anyways, hope you enjoy it!! 

Bucky Barnes x Peter Parker Sister!Reader (Imagine) 

“Come on, Y/N!” you heard your little brother Peter say as he ran up to the building ahead of you guys, he’d been wanting to show you the famous Avengers building ever since he himself has become one. You were one of the only ones to know about Peter’s secret, after all, Peter couldn’t keep any secret from you. You would instantly know if he were hiding something. That’s just how close you two are, even with the six-year age difference.

“Slow it down, Parker! I’m an old lady!” You could already tell Peter was rolling his eyes.

“I’m just excited to show my older sister off,” this made you roll your eyes.

“I got a bad feeling about this,” you muttered to yourself.  You followed Peter into the building, he called out to his friends or co-workers, you’re not sure what to call them.  

“You’ve got a bad feeling about everything,” Peter whispered, “come on, Y/N, I just want to show off my older sister, you’re never around anyway.”

That stung you for some reason, you always tried to be there for Peter but since you’ve been traveling for so long, you have been distancing yourself. “I know and I’m sorry for that, Peter. But I promise all that’s going to change now, especially since I’m home now.”

Peter smiled at you, “I’m so glad you’re home,” he walked up to you, engulfing you into a brotherly hug.

“That was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!” An unfamiliar voice said, you quickly turned around and noticed a man with a goatee staring at you and Peter, a man known as Tony Stark.

“Mr. Stark! I want you to meet someone!” Mr. Stark made his way over to the both of you.

“I’m assuming you’re Peters older sister, the one he won’t stop rambling on about,” He gave you a small smile as you shook his hand.

“That’s me,” you said as you gave Peter a small glare.

“He speaks so highly of you, trust me, spiderboy won’t shut up about it. Get’s annoying sometimes,” Tony said with a sigh.

“I had to live with him, I know how annoying he can be,” you said with a small smirk.

“Hey!” Peter defended.

“Anyways, Vision wanted to speak with you,” Tony said to Peter. Peter looking over at you, “don’t worry, I can give her a tour, honestly, I give the best tours here.”

Peter rolls his eyes, “I’ll see you later for lunch, sis!” he looks over at Tony, “take care of her,” he said softly as he walked off.

“Charming young man, isn’t he?” Tony said as you both watched him walk away.

“Yeah, he sure does act like he’s older than me, though,” you scoffed, you always thought it was annoying, but you knew he only did it because he cared.

“He cares,” Tony smiled, “Come on, let me introduce you to some friends.”

I followed Tony towards what looked like a living room but it was so spacious. “Wow,” I mouthed as I looked around the room, I noticed a group talking amongst themselves.

“Well, well, well, who is this fine young lady?” I heard a voice say,

“This is Peter’s older sister, Y/N,” Tony said as he gestured towards me.

I saw a man walking towards me, gently grabbing my hand as he placed a small kiss on my hand. He sure was a charmer but not my type, “It’s very nice to meet you, Y/N.”

“And you are?” I asked as I gently yanked my hand away from his grip.

“Sam Wilson,” he grinned.

I gave him a simple nod, “rejected,” I heard a lady’s voice say. I couldn’t help but stifle a laugh, “this is Nat,” Tony said as he gestured towards her. “Famously known as the Black Widow.”

“It’s so nice to finally place a face with the name, you know your little brother doesn’t stop talking about you,” Nat said as she walked up to, giving you a firm handshake.

You smiled, oh how you were going to use this to your advantage later with Peter, “so I’ve heard,” you said.

“Hi, I’m Steve Rogers,” An all too familiar looking guy said as he came up to you, giving you a handshake.

“You’re Captain America,” you whispered. You noticed that you were about to fangirl, I mean, how couldn’t you? It’s freaking Captain America for heaven’s sake! “Sorry,” you quickly apologized but he just grinned, “it’s perfectly fine,” he said.

He turned to a dark-haired man, that stood behind him, “this is Bucky.” He seemed shy, from everything you had known about Bucky Barnes from all the history museums on Captain America, you had thought that Bucky would be more extroverted in a way. Never shy.

“Nice to meet you,” you gave him a small smile and for some reason, you didn’t know why but you just felt so shy in front of Bucky. He gave you a smile, and you swear you felt your heart melt.

Tony introduced you to the rest of the Avengers. Nat was the first to suggest drinks, of course, you couldn’t help yourself to a drink though.

~

“She’s cute,” Bucky said to Steve as they stood a distance from Y/N.

“Who?” Steve asked as he looked around.

Bucky rolled his eyes, “Peter’s sister.”

“Ahhh, explains why you went all shy in front of her,” Steve mumbled, “Why don’t you go talk to her?”

“talk to her? You crazy?”

“Hey, the Bucky I remember would’ve had her number by now.”

“Yeah, well this Bucky is different, plus girls now are different… Also, I haven’t been on a date in a… A LONG TIME,” Bucky sighed, “What would I even say? I don’t have any pick-up lines…” He wanted to go over and talk to you, but he noticed that you were deep into a conversation with Nat. So instead Bucky just stood there as Steve began to have a conversation with Sam about who knows what.

Bucky couldn’t help but notice the way you threw your head back as you laughed. He found your laugh to be the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. He thought of what Peter might do if he found out that he had gone and asked his older sister out, I mean the kid was strong enough to beat him in a fight. But it was worth the try.

“I’m going to do it,” Bucky smirked,

“You don’t even got game,” Sam said.

“What does that even mean?” Bucky looked at Sam with a confused expression, Steve just shook his head, knowing exactly what his best friend was about to do as Bucky walked up to you. Bucky leaned his elbow against the counter and winked at you, “How you doin’?” You stifled a laugh.

“Oh Buck,” You heard Steve mumble.

But you found Bucky attractive and charming, and you knew his story, so you found it adorable that he used a Friends line on you, “pretty good baby, how about you?” you winked. You don’t know why you did that, you felt so embarrassed inside for doing that. Bucky looked at you shocked, surprised that you had responded that way, “don’t test me, boy, I’m a huge friend’s fan,” you defended

He was still in awe, “I just finished it! Peter actually got me to watch it.”

“Oh yeah?” He nods.

“He’s a good kid,” Bucky said.

“Yeah, well, I helped raise him, I mean yeah Aunt May put in most of the work but for a while, it was just me and him and well… after what happened to Mom and Dad… Peter and I needed each other more than anything.” You chuckled, “I’m sorry, I tend to overshare when I’m comfortable.”

“It’s okay.”

You got up from the stool, but your foot got caught in the bottom of the stool, you were expecting the impact of the floor meeting your face but instead, you felt someone’s arms catch you.  

“Should be more careful next time,” Bucky breathed out.

You chuckled as Bucky helped you to your feet, “yeah, I have the tendency to trip over the air.” You grabbed your glass that sat on the counter, “want to join me on a walk?”

“S-sure!” Bucky seemed surprised you had asked him to join him. You guys began to walk down the hall, “So, how big is the age gap between you and Peter?”

“Six years,” You said softly.

“So, that would make you-“

“Twenty-two going onto twenty-three.”

“Any boyfriend?”

You blushed and shook your head, “No,” You whispered, “absolutely not.”

Bucky wondered why you were so negative about it, “any particular reason?”

“Have you seen me?” you chuckled, “it’s the main reason as to why.”

He shook his head, “I have seen you and trust me, I am so surprised you are not taken.”

You blushed again, “you’re just saying that to be nice.”

“No, I’m not,” Bucky said, “You’re gorgeous, I mean, Sam instantly hit on you as soon as you walked through those doors.” You shrugged but you knew he was right, “You know, I went over to you with the intentions of asking you out,” Bucky said as a small blush flooded his cheeks.

“Really?” You couldn’t believe it. Bucky nods, “so, why didn’t you?”

“Well, I remembered what Peter can do and I kind of got scared,” he chuckled, “but-“

“But?”

“Ah, fuck it,” He sighed as he stopped walked to turn to you, “Y/N, would you go out with me? I would love to know more about you because I find you to be the most gorgeous girl, I have ever laid eyes on.” You could feel your cheeks warming up, you instantly covered your face, but you felt Bucky’s hands on yours as he pulled your hands down so you can look him in the eyes, “what do you say? Go on a date with me, doll?”

Your heart melted even more at that nickname, you smiled, “yes.”

“Whoaa! I leave for like thirty minutes!” You heard Peter say, you rolled your eyes, “it was an hour and I’m a big girl, Peter.”

You could feel Peter glaring at Bucky, “you hurt my big sister.”

“I know what you’re capable of, no need to warn me,” Bucky said as he let out a small chuckle, “and trust me, I have no intention of harming your sister in any way.” Bucky looked at you and winked. You didn’t know what lied ahead of you, but you had never felt so happy in your life. So excited for the adventures ahead of you.

[aqvarius]

[HAPPY ENDING WALKTHROUGH + REVIEW] HLITF: Toru Kurosawa MS1: Meeting Him + MS2: Falling in Love

Oh, Kurosawa. Sweet Kurosawa. How I loved you. Honestly I was kind of fine with just his My Sweet Bodyguard route back in 2014. See this review for more and also for noob Tea writing back when 18 old me thought that constituted critical analysis (now I am self-aware enough to just call this a standard review/thoughts haha, what analysis…). So anyway I was kind of fine not playing Kurosawa’s routes until I started writing batch headcanons and then got a couple of asks about Toru and felt like I needed to get a better understanding of his actual character.

Expectations:

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I’d heard from a few people that his MS1 was not that good and/or straight up infuriating so naturally I was intrigued. I was writing a review at the time (Takado from Romance MD) and looked back my old reviews to see how I did the structuring and I stumbled across that Kurosawa MSB review (and my scathing Goto MSB review lol) and I liked him well enough! I just had some issues with the pacing of the story and general lack of MC involvement. So I kinda thought it’ll probably be a similar sort of route where Toru has to sort out his issues and I guess his MC will help him get through them.

I already knew from MSB that Kurosawa has a dark side so I already didn’t go into it expecting the genki type (e.g. Sora from MSB/Hiro from Love Letter from Thief X/Nagito from Scandal in the Spotlight). Well even though I thought I knew what I was getting into, this sweet and naïve girl was not expecting that rollercoaster ride of a route.

Click below to read my thoughts (spoiler warning!!) and scroll all the way to the bottom for the happy ending walkthrough

Reactions:

I wrote at the end of my notes that I’m surprised actually how similar his route is to his MSB route. I definitely want to address this in more detail but I’ll start with Toru’s character.

So Toru starts off very genki and chipper and like how he usually comes across as when you see him in anyone else’s route. He’s friendly and supportive and encouraging and he helps you out. Actually parts of his MS1 are quite similar to Soma – the way they treat and use informants in particular. I made a joke that Kurosawa is like Soma but darker and then he more or less confirmed it in MS2 so… I’m just bragging about how well I know my Boys lmao ignore me. The main difference here is that his MC isn’t the most competent, unlike Soma’s MC who is “the best suited for Public Safety” (sorry I’m like flexing here cause I love Soma’s MC so much) and actually good. That’s when Toru steps in to give you handy advice and a cheery smile since Ishigami is really good at cutting you to the ground. There’s always something jarring about going back to reading MS1 routes for any character because you always forget how noob MC is at the beginning haha. Except Soma’s MC who is a boss and a half. That being said, she does get better when she puts her mind to it.

Anyway, it takes seeing him deal with informants that makes you realise that there might be something a little more insidious about his character (but this is the same tactic as Soma so it’s not quite unique yet). But you only really get a sense of how dark he really is right at the very end of his MS1, like literally only right at the end of his Happy Ending. That also brings me to something I don’t like which is you have a whole chunk of story missing if you only get his Good End. The only thing you get is a warning from Soma that being involved with Kurosawa will make you cry and then you have to figure out from context clues in MS2 that Toru pulled a good old fuck n chuck on you. And that officially makes him the biggest asshole in HLITF. Going back and reading the MS1 special stories is tragic cause MC really believes Kurosawa is her destiny like a total fool when he’s just played her like a freaking triangle – that’s how easy she is to get played. I hope you’ve already played when reading this or weren’t planning on reading it or don’t mind spoilers because it was seriously a shock when it happened. Like I knew something was gonna go wrong because no way would it be that easy but I was not expecting that from a game like HLITF. Even when reading through his MS2, I really thought he wasn’t just playing her for sex and that there was affection there somewhere that he was just trying to tamp down. I think this is where my preconceived ideas of him from MSB were playing up because that’s maybe what would have gone down had it happened with MSB MC.

I wrote in my old MSB review that Kurosawa’s character is made of contradictions and that even at the end of his route, I still don’t quite understand him and that I found him realistically human that I felt like he could exist outside of the gamespace. Interestingly, I feel the exact same way about him in HLITF. Even after finishing his MS2 and epilogue, I don’t quite get him. Granted, I may be feeling this way because with the other Lis that I’ve read, I’ve been able to read enough to get a better sense of their characters the more I play. But I feel like Toru is someone that even after you’re together, he still keeps himself quite hidden; actually, this is far more so the case than in MSB. I joked that he wears a condom over his feelings at all times and it’s TRUE. That’s what he has on: an emotional condom.

However, this feeling of not quite getting him may be due to the dynamics between Toru and his MC and the confusing nature of their relationship and its development. The thing feels weird about Kurosawa’s MS1 and 2 is that it’s different from the other routes (except Namba’s maybe? I haven’t played him yet) in that you’re not his aide. Toru is your ‘same age friend’ rather than an instructor (although he’s 25 and Shinonome is 26 so it’s kind of interesting that there’s such a HUGE gap between you and Shinonome even though there’s only one (or maybe two) years between you). So first off it’s absolutely tragic how little Ishigami cares about you in this route lol. But I think one of the things I enjoy the most about HLITF is that instructor-aide dynamic (sorry Ayumu but dw I still love you even though we’re peers now) and that’s definitely missing in this route. You do get some guidance and stuff but it sort of comes across more as friendly advice from a neighbour rather than instruction from your mentor. I think Kurosawa had more of an instructor vibe in Soma’s Adversaries route than in his own routes.

I guess it’s that MC idolises Kurosawa as a senpai who she thinks is better in every way and she’s always fawning over how sweet and helpful and funny he is, which is why she becomes so disillusioned when he has no problems completely fucking her over. It’s quite entertaining how much this MC hates Kurosawa after he plays her. Like, she’s SO pissed. Even Ayumu’s MC never hated him even when he messed her about and somehow she kept loving him with the persistence of a parasite. No, our dear friend MC despises him.

Her anger is actually quite comical. I think personally I relate more to the type of MC that Kaga/Soma/Ishigami have, so playing Kurosawa’s routes definitely felt like more of a ‘third person perspective’ thing for me. If you have a shorter fuse than I do and like to act on your emotions then you’ll likely feel satisfied reading this route. That this MC’s personality is so different from MSB MC is probably what makes their dynamic so different. Kurosawa would never treat MSB MC like he did HLITF MC. Speaking of their dynamic though, I’m a little confused by the idolisation vs rival thing. At one point towards the end of MS2, Ishigami basically tells you to stop putting Kurosawa on a pedestal and treat him as a rival because you’re the same age – but has MC really been idolising him in MS2? Hasn’t she kind of been hating him?  

Kurosawa’s MC is also fairly different from the other HLITF MCs that I’ve played. They all generally have good instincts and a strong conviction and sense of justice and so much empathy for their men and their issues. However, there are some notable differences: for example, Shinonome’s MC is optimistic, almost to a fault. Even when she feels like she’s been betrayed, she still loves Shinonome unconditionally. Shinonome’s MC is very genki and a bit more shameless haha. MCs like Soma’s and Kaga’s (and I imagine Ishigami’s) are a little more hesitant(?) and sweeter, possibly because they’re more easily led around by the demanding Kaga and the manipulative Soma. While still having the base HLITF MC traits, somehow Kurosawa’s MC seems a little more pessimistic and more cynical than the others and overall not as cute/sweet. But also she seems to have higher 女子力 (not sure how I can translate this… like feminine aesthetic ability? Google it or google joshiryoku) since she describes wearing makeup three whole times in the route!! Which is three more times than I’ve ever in my life heard HLITF MC talk about wearing makeup. I bet Ayumu is wishing his MC is more like this lolol. Essentially I think all the other HLITF MCs trust their instructors and their relationship with their whole being (except Ayumu’s but she’s optimistic enough to get through it) whereas Toru’s MC really does not lol.

One of the issues I had with Kurosawa’s MSB route is how abruptly or inexplicably they fall in love. I have the exact same problem with this route. I’m thinking maybe they tried to do the ‘betrayed by a guy you thought was your friend and started developing feelings for and then falling in love even after seeing his true self’ thing but the problem is you don’t see them falling in love! Especially in MS2 which is literally called “Falling in love”. In fact, you just see MC getting more and more angry and annoyed at him. Okay I can sort of excuse that, maybe since I think her anger stems from the fact that he just played her like that even while she liked him so much. If she didn’t like him then she’s probably think “wow he’s an ass and I’m a terrible judge of character” but overall wouldn’t give a fuck. Even then, the MS2 Good Ending chapter seems to indicate that you’re not fully aware of your feelings for him. But when does Kurosawa start falling for you? You literally don’t know. He just plays you and plays you and treats you the same as always and then BAM episode 10 and he’s suddenly confessing his love and saying he’ll keep loving you even if you hate him (but only in the HE). I’m trying to figure out when exactly he falls for you because I don’t know that he’d do the good old ‘lie to a girl to have a one night stand’ manoeuvre if he already liked you; in fact, he even admits that he couldn’t stand you at first. Maybe he starts liking you when you start treating him coldly haha. But it also seems like he likes your soft-heartedness? I guess we won’t know for sure until his PoV is released. Voltage is getting good with making money lol.

I think I actually kind of enjoyed the MS2 GE more than the HE because I think getting Ishigami’s acknowledgement and approval (and his schedule!!!! Finally!!!!) somehow meant more to me than getting Kurosawa’s love. But this is also because Ishigami is at least respectful to you in other people’s routes usually but he’s so scornful in Kurosawa’s routes it makes me so sad haha please love me Hideki-san.

But yeah anyway I got serious déjà vu over two things: the first being the sudden random confession. The second is Kurosawa just going AWOL. I basically SCREAMED when he went AWOL cause that was an issue I had in his MSB route (you spend like 2 whole chapters just looking for him and texting him and calling him to no avail l m a o). And then the exact fucking same thing happened in his MS2!!!!! Granted, it didn’t take 2 chapters to resolve but o m g, it’s like the writer consulted with his MSB route before writing this lol. At least HLITF MC actually gets to contribute to Toru’s development this time. Similar to how Goto’s MSB and HLITF routes have some minor differences in the details of his back story, Kurosawa also has some small changes in his history with regards to what happened between his father and his uncle which is kinda nice because the story will still feel fresh and new even if you’ve played his MSB route.

ETA: another thing I forgot to mention is that Kurosawa’s low self esteem really comes through in a very similar way as in MSB. See here a quote from MSB:

and then in HLITF:

(Toru is actually Very Precious when he takes off that emotional condom) 

One thing that every single HLITF route gets right is the plot. I don’t know what else to say, the plots are always just really good. Detailed, intriguing, suspenseful, the perfect amount of action. The reason I love this whole title so much is because you have the romantic aspect but you also really feel involved in uncovering these grand schemes through investigation and it always thrills me towards the last third of the route when the action and drama really pick up. So good. The one thing that always clues you in on the possible perpetrators though is that they have sprites. Every time there’s a sprite you just KNOW they’re somehow involved in the plot lol.  The quality of the writing too has improved so much compared to other titles that were written and/or translated a few years ago. There’s a lot of contemporary slang and references that makes me feel like it’s definitely a native English speaker who’s doing the translation, and someone who’s really clued into contemporary English-speaking media and online culture.

The epilogue was kind of cute but I didn’t feel super immersed because I was upset at my boy Shinonome for going to goukon when he has me waiting around to hang out with him. Kurosawa’s MC is definitely a lot more forward than other HLITF MC (bar Shinonome’s, but Shinonome’s MC is cuter about it) which is great and she seems to be a good and mature communicator. You get a really sexy CG (which by the way can we just thank the HLITF artist because she never fails to deliver incredible art) and Kurosawa is surprisingly human in bed. You can definitely sense that their relationship is more balanced than that of instructor-aide overall; MC is more proactive rather than in some other routes where it’s always your instructors who are doing all the work lol. Maybe this is because you’re peers/same age friends.

In general, I think Toru’s a great character, really interesting, there’s lots of nuance and detail to his characterisation and I think the writers did a good job. I just prefer a different type of guy when I play otome games. I bought the ending set just to write this review for some reason thinking that it was the PoV stories but I made a mistake and it’s just the .5 stories rather than his PoV (I’m thinking it’s the sequel maybe? Where the PoV is in the Special Stories) so you’re welcome. There’s this whole water bottle/flower plot running through the special stories which is actually quite sweet and it makes me a little annoyed because it’s way cuter than the actual MS. You’ll definitely like it if you’re a fan of Kurosawa though. It’s also kinda funny cause it just goes and undoes the whole soulmate-debunking thing because I guess it turns out that you were destined to meet, just way before you two ever even knew of each other’s existence. Both the action plot and the romantic plot of Kurosawa’s Season 1 are really set up for continuing on in Season 2 and getting closer both to him and the truth behind the mysterious hospital death/cult investigation so it would be nice to see how the relationship and the story develop in the years to come. Voltage you’d better not cancel HLITF or I’m gonna beg outside your headquarters every day for 5 years and/or until I get arrested for trespassing.

If you want to get Happy Ending for Toru Kurosawa’s MS1: Meeting Him and MS2: Falling in Love, read on below for the walkthrough.

Toru Kurosawa MS1: Meeting Him Happy Ending Walkthrough

Ep 1

B. “Definitely.” A. “Definitely.”

Ep 2

C. “He’s a funny guy.” A. Nod

Ep 3 (no change)

A. “Toru with an S.” B. Try to figure it out.

Ep 4

A. “No!” B. “No way!”

Ep 5

C. “I’m doing this for myself.” B. “You’re awful.”

Ep 6

C. “Kurosawa.” A. “No, that’s it.”

Ep 7

A. “Namika, the nurse.” C. “I want to be your number one.”

Ep 8

C. Kiss him. B. “I’m not interested.”

Ep 9

B. “I’ll shake things up.” A. “He’s kind.”

Happy Ending

———————————–

Toru Kurosawa MS2: Falling in Love Happy Ending Walkthrough

Ep 1

“Congrats again.” “Basically.”

Ep 2 (I wanted to call him a lying bastard)

“We’re only coworkers.” “Ask yourself that.”

Ep 3

“Didn’t need it.” “My liaison.”

Ep 4 (You can tell him to shut the hell up lol)

“What’s this mean?” “Fine.”

Ep 5 (no change)

“No thanks.” Ignore him.

Ep 6 (“He’s a liar, but hey”)

“A few things.” ‘Everybody likes him"

Ep 7

“Yeah.” “Don’t lie.”

Ep 8

“I respected you.” Avoid his eyes.

Ep 9

“I’m fine with that.” “You think?”

Happy Ending

[hopeymchope]

So, I'm trying to understand this, from a person who has next to no knowledge on the series. What exactly is going on with Attack on Titan? And I'm more than willing to read a long rant if it means I get an explanation.

If you’re wondering why the tag for the manga blew up in recent weeks, that’s one specific thing - a character “death” (or at least, character-serious-injury) that’s got fans freaking out.

If you’re wondering why everything has been sucking for like two straight years of manga and people like me keep making very salty posts about it, that’s a whole other topic.

And that’s what I’m gonna cover in this rant: How Attack on Titan has been shitting its own bed for more than a year now.

Basic Setup: Attack on Titan takes place in a world where the remnants of humanity live in a walled city. The city’s walls protect them from gigantic, grotesque “Titans” who attempt to devour people on sight.

…but naturally, as the story went on, it got way more complicated.

Most of the problems with the manga began circa the time-skip (which is also where the Anime is going to catch up to once the current season 3 is finished). Rarely has there ever been a time-skip in fiction that’s been wonderfully received, but the four-year gap between “Return to Shanganshima” and the “Marley” arc has to be one of the worst.

But the whole crash-and-burn kind of starts right before the time-skip, when we first learn the name “Marley,” begin to learn the true origin of Titans, and uncover true enemy opposing our heroes via a forced flashback. For the purposes of this little essay, let’s just put all of the Marley-related information into one big collection - I’m not gonna separate the last couple chapters pre-timeskip from all the tons we’ve had afterwards. All things dealing with the aforementioned “enemy” will just go into one big fuckpile.

SO. The time-skip jumped forward fouryears into an arc that lasted almost a year without letting us see any of our established protagonists. Instead, we follow… the enemy I just mentioned.

And since Attack on Titan begins and goes for most of its duration without any clear enemies outside of “TEH TITANS” and “general assholes within the system,” this is where I have to put a spoiler cut.

A Rant on Titan

So the enemy of the characters we know so far is Marley, the actual source of the titans. The world isn’t destroyed at all, naturally. Our heroes just live in one isolated place on the planet, which is forced to be surrounded by Titans because Marley shoved them into that walled city and then created Titans on the regular.

Marley is a nation of………………

…*SIGH*…

okay, look. I could try to call Marley  a “Nazi Germany allegory,” but the allegory is so thin that they’re basically just incredibly overt Nazis. They’re a military-focused nation of incredible genetic pride where purity is celebrated and where one particular race - a group of both different genetic descendancy than them AND of different religious beliefs - are treated as inferior garbage. The Marley government sees “Eldians” as disposable. They are forced to wear armbands with stars on their arms (YES, REALLY) to identify them in public, and they also make them lived in fenced-off, separate communities.

Marley’s science experiments on Eldians (yup, they tossed that in, too) resulted in the creation of the TITANS. It turns the Eldians into mindless prisoners of their own bodies who grow in size, deform, try to eat people instinctively, and long only for their own deaths.

If they made a third AOT video game, it’d have to be something like this. …. So maybe we shouldn’t.

ANYWAY. During this Marley story arc, we mostly follow child soldiers. They’re of “low birth” because of their race. They chose to enter military service in exchange for having their families treated like regular human beings one day, if they earn their way to become titan-shifters. Nevermind that titan-shifters all die within seven years because of the power of turning into a titan - it’s worth it to raise their family’s status beyond just your regular Jews Eldians, right? Nevermind that they’d never really be seen as equals. Even those who have elevated their own rank by becoming shifters are shown to still be subject to some snark and disdain,but yknow - you were just born that way, so you’re shitty regardless, right?

Through this horrific scenario, we follow a few kids in particular - most notably Falco, who is gradually seeing reality and realizing how they don’t deserve to be treated like shit and that this is all a work - and Gabi, who is becoming increasingly militant and more zealous over time.

RELEVANT SIDE NOTE: Gabi’s character design is based upon a sketch Isayama once did of a gender-shfited Eren Jeager (Eren Jaeger is the main protagonist of the series). For that reason, you might be inclined ot think that Gabi is some kind of alternate/parallel Eren.

Except that’s fucking ridiculous, of course!

Gabi is shown to only care about her own rage against the people within the walls of “Paradis” (the sarcastic name for the walled city where all of our heroes come from) above ALL else. She doesn’t care about her family at all, never noticing her brother’s suicidal tendencies and pain even as Falco is acutely aware of it. The fact that her parents are pained by her following her brother’s dark path to becoming a shifter. She doesn’t notice or care. The more evidence that is put in front of her that the other side might not be as evil as she thinks? That just makes her want to commit murder MORE.

Oh, and she DOES murder people. And try to murder more. A lot. She even successfully murders a fan-favorite character - a character who shows her mercy by pointing a gun at her, seeing she’s only a child, and opting to let her live. Gabi repays this mercy by shooting that character in the back later and boasting excitedly about it to anyone who will listen for multiple chapters in a row.

She then tries to top that by attempting to murder that character’s little adopted sister, who is like, maybe 10 years old, tops? Gabi is then protected from harm by Mikasa and now seems to be on the path towards some kind of “redemption arc” because… uh…………..

………………..because Isayama is shitty?

By contrast, Eren struggles throughout the ENTIRE NARRATIVE to bring harm to people who betray him/those he cares about or those who try to kill him/those he cares about, but often runs into incredible challenges when fighting these douchenozzles. The entire time we followed Eren up until now, he always prioritized his family and friends above EVERYTHING. He would risk ANYTHING to protect them and his comrades in the Paradis military… this was true from when he was a young boy at the start of the story up through him being a young man at this point. And he is ESPECIALLY intense about protecting his closest friends, Armin and Mikasa, who he’s known for nearly his entire life. They grew up together.

That’s set in fucking stone for like 90 chapters, so we’re good. Yeah?

Oh, sweet summer child. Perhaps you were so unprepared for Isayama’s Nazi mallet that you didn’t see his secondary weapon coming?

See, the post-timeskip Eren treats his friends like shit. He lies to them, betrays their trust, runs off and starts a literal war on his OWN, and then tells them how much he hates them. Claims he always hated them.

So in the course of just a couple chapters, he goes from saying this:

To swiftly saying THIS:

Note that devastated look in her eyes. Wonderful.

And yes, he’s GOT to be lying, because I don’t think Isayama would juxtapose those two scenes so closely together in some unwitting fashion. But he’s doing so much damage to them by now that I honestly don’t even know if it matters?

Take Hange.

She’s the intelligent leader of the team, the one who always has a wild, unlikely plan. She’s a science whiz and comes up with longshot plans that always seem to weirdly… work out.

We’re told that, three years ago, she was presented a plan to overthrow Marley by Zeke - a fucking bastard who is clearly a member of the enemy, he’s lived with them his whole life, as a child he betrayed his parents to them and had them executed for being disloyal to Marley, and he’s killed COUNTLESS comrades of our heroes - and Hange decided Zeke’s plan was the only possible option and came up with no alternatives for four years. So she made them ally up with the least trustworthy person IMAGINABLE for a terrible plan,b because Hange’s… a stupid sucker now, I guess.

And why is it a terrible plan — aside from the fact that there is literally zero reason to ever believe anything Zeke says to you, since he’s the most evil fucker in the world? Oh, because it hinges HEAVILY around forcing another member of the team — Historia — into a pregnancy to churn out a baby they intend to use for the country’s gain.

Historia’s big character arc in “Attack on Titan” has been her coming to terms with her own identity and OWNING it. She’s been hiding under another identity or been controlled by other people much of her life. She finally comes out under her true name, declares that she’ll never leave in fear or be maniuplated ever again, and then—

… oh wait.. she’s manipulated into being barefoot and pregnant against her own wishes, because their greatest enemy asked for it.

There’s a lot to hate about the post-”Return to Shinganshima” Attack on Titan, in short. From characters becoming inversions of themselves to full fanatical Nazis being treated like redemption babies to complete destruction of self-actualization of other characters and the fact that, even if this is part of some larger plan being manipulated by multiple players (which seems likely), it still won’t really make up for much of the damage… and for that matter, how plausible would it even be?

But basically, there’s going to have to be quite an 11th-hour ass-pull to make this turn out decently in my eyes by now. And that’s not IMPOSSIBLE.

But it’s looking pretty unlikely.

[wewillwriteyou]

Friends Will Be Friends || Chapter 25

You are my best friend

A few elements from the main plot: A very special group of friends: early days, drama, laughter, booze, success, rock stars life, girl power, friendship, love, sex, music, misunderstandings, some more drama, family. Pairings in the tags

Summary Chapter 25: John has a hard time processing everything that’s been happening and he has an inspiration for a song...

Word count: 3.1K

Warnings: None! A part of THE HELLA LOAD OF FLUFF. Some curse words and maybe some reference to sexual times eeh what’s new?. You’re safe folks 💕

A/N: Hi folks! This is the last chapter dedicated to songs from A Night At The Opera. It's about our favourite softie, Mr John Deaky Deacon and asdfkfhdkkhs isn’t this the cutest. Let us know what you think, lovesies 💖😏 and as usual, if you like what you read, comment, like, reblog and share this with others! For everyone who follows and supports this story, thank you guys (you know who you are)! You are real stars!⭐💗

The heat of the day had already passed by, leaving its place to a cool breeze that gently stirred the grass fields and made the boy shiver. John was sitting on one of the armchairs in the small patio outside the house, a blanket on his legs and what seemed like a dozen paper sheets surrounding him on the floor.

He sighed huffily and angrily scribbled on the one he was holding and threw it on the floor with the others. He put down the pen on the coffee table beside him and brought his hands to his face, fervently rubbing his eyes.

“Is everything alright, Deaky?” Freddie’s voice brought him back to reality and he turned his face to watch him walk up to the patio and take a seat next to him. Freddie gave him a warm smile and John smiled slightly back before moving his gaze to the garden in front of him, almost completely in the dark.

John tried to think of what to say, a million thoughts running through his mind: Roger and Chrissie, Chelsea and Brian, Melissa and the baby… it all twirled and twisted in his mind and kept him from concentrating on the music he also had in his head but somehow couldn’t manage to get out.

“You’re upset about something, I can tell” Freddie spoke up again, shifting in his seat and crossing his legs, then resting his fist against his temple and the elbow on the back of the chair. He was studying John’s change of expression and John knew he could read him like a book.

He sighed “No Fred, I’m fine” he lied and gave him a small smile “I’m just frustrated I can’t seem to get this song out of this head and into lyrics”

He chuckled slightly and bowed down to pick up some of the sheets he had thrown on the floor, handing them to Freddie.

“Well, do I know what you mean…” Freddie picked them up and started dashing his eyes, then read out loud:

“You're my sunshine and I want you to know

That my feelings are true

I really love you”

John shushed him and whispered “Fred, please tone it down”

“Shit sorry” he whispered, then kept reading as those same words repeated themselves in other phrasings, highlighted or crossed out by the utterly self-critical John.

Freddie looked up to him “It’s about Melissa, isn’t it?”

John nodded “I had the tune to this song stuck in my head for the past week and I’m trying to develop the lyrics but I always come back to those three verses and I don’t have a title yet”

“I guess it’s normal a bit of confusion, Deaky” Freddie fondly smiled “It doesn’t mean the song’s not good”

John looked up to him “You think?”

Freddie chuckled “I do, darling. It’s very sweet and it fits the two of you perfectly” he smiled again and watched him blush a little and look down, smiling to himself.

Freddie wondered what was going on inside his head: he was sure he had more to what he was showing. However he knew him well enough to know that John never answered to direct and abrupt questions and the more you pushed to find out what he was hiding, the more he would close down and push you away. He could be quite stubborn and Freddie knew he would reach out when he felt like he was ready to share.

“How about You’re my sunshine?” he suggested to break the silence.

John thought about it “I guess it works and it makes sense…” he picked up the pen and quickly noted it at the top of the page which contained most of the words “Thanks, Fred”

“No need to thank me, dear” he smiled “How’s it going with you two? You and Melissa I mean… You seem very happy together”

John smiled and Freddie saw his eyes sparkling “We are, Fred. These last few months really soothed the distance we had felt because of the touring in the past year and a half.” John forced down the grin creeping up on his face “We are closer than ever now” You have no idea… he thought.

Freddie looked at him, so immensely proud of the man he had turned out to be. They had known each other for the past four years and they only had five years of age gap, but Freddie had always felt the need to protect him, as an older brother would do. John certainly was the most introvert of the group and Freddie had learned to realize that only with Melissa he could really see him let go of himself.

Freddie patted him on the shoulder “It shows, Deaky, and we couldn’t be happier for the two of you” he smiled sadly to himself: he and Mary had not been that lucky… The spark between them seemed to have had flown by and even if they still loved each other like crazy and surely had a lot of fun together, he could feel that something was going the wrong way.

He turned his attention back to John, who was now studying him thoroughly: please don’t tell me you have something wrong as well, cause I’ll lose it, John was thinking to himself.

Freddie decided not to bother him and just smiled “I’m here when you’ll be ready to share the mess that I’m reading inside your head, Deaks”

John gratefully smiled back and placed his hand on Freddie’s “Thanks Fred”.

“You two look very cute together”

Melissa startled them both appearing from the kitchen door, only wearing her large, pink and white nightgown.

“Geez Mel, I almost shitted myself” Freddie exclaimed, bringing a hand on his chest and abruptly ending the touchy moment with John.

The girl chuckled “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you two lovebirds”

The boys chuckled too “You know, I’m telling Mary, right?” she added in the end and Freddie forced a giggle.

John’s smile grew wider when she leaned down to place a small kiss on his lips. She then turned to Freddie and jokingly said “See? He’s mine”

Freddie shook his head and chuckled “I would never even dare, my dear”. He got up and stretched his spine, letting out a big yawn “Well well, I think I’ll head to my rooms, lovesies”

“Goodnight Fred” John said chuckling, as Melissa blew him a kiss. He waved at them while entering the house and closing the door behind him.

Melissa turned to John and walked around the chair to seat in his lap and circle his neck with an arm. John had managed in the meanwhile to gather the paper sheets and lay them on the table with the last page on the front, so that she couldn’t read it.

“What were you writing?” she curiously asked.

“Just some papers, and something I’m working on for the album…” John knew her too well and had prepared such an answer, expecting her questions.

The girl grinned “Can I read it?”

“Of course not” John chuckled seeing her pouting like a child “Honey, you’ll read it as soon as it’s finished. Now it’s just garbage…”

Melissa squared him up and down “Deacon, you’re telling me something that’s not right… Do you have any confessions to make?”

John chuckled “I only tell the truth, dear, I swear” he crossed his fingers in front of her face. But there are so many things I haven’t talked to you about… he thought. And he realized he could take that chance to ask Melissa something: whether she had an idea of any sort about what could have possibly gone wrong with Chelsea and Roger to the point that he had looked for comfort in Chrissie.

He almost didn’t say anything, but thought that after all, Melissa was the one person he could truly trust and to whom he could tell anything.

“Actually, I have something to tell you… well to ask you” Mel’s giggles stopped.

“What is it, honey?”

John took a deep breath “Okay, you have to promise not to tell anyone about this, alright?”

Mel chuckled “I think I’m pretty good at keeping secrets” she placed a hand on her belly and cheekily smiled at him, earning a soft chuckle from the boy.

“Right right…” he began “Have you talked to your brother recently?”

Melissa frowned “So this is about Roger?”

John nodded.

“Not that much, no… What should have we talked about?”

John was staring at her intently, pondering whether to accuse him directly or gradually let her get to the problem “Do you know that he and Chelsea are gonna move in together?”

“Yes of course he’s told me that… and if he hadn’t, Chelsea practically only talked about it for days after she had seen the house”

“Right…” he brought a hand to his face and mindlessly rubbed his chin, looking for the right words.

Melissa puffed and broke the silence “John will you get to the point?”

“What do you know about him and Chrissie?”

“Roger and Chrissie?” Melissa had thought of any possible thing John was about to say: she had not expected that. “What do you mean? In grade school? Yeah they kissed one time, Chrissie told us on Christmas’ Eve two years ago, remember?”

John regretfully nodded “Yeah I do remember that… game” he chuckled and she followed suit “But I was wondering if you knew more to that story and…” he gathered the forces “…if you had noticed something unusual about them.”

Melissa furrowed her eyebrows “I don’t know anything dear” she studied his face “Did you notice something?”

John locked eyes with her and bit his bottom lip, suddenly regretting having brought it up “I kinda… uhm… kinda saw them really close lately”

Melissa was speechless. He continued “I’m feeling awful just saying this out loud, but I had to confess it to someone”

“It’s okay, dear. I’m here to hear you out but… Are you actually saying… Roger’s cheating on Chel? With Chrissie?”. She couldn’t believe her ears “Honey, that’s a pretty though accusation… are you sure?”

John sighed “I’m not sure of anything anymore, Mel… all I see is confusing and I’m always afraid I’m misunderstanding something…” he covered his face with his hands “I just want to see through all this, I want to spare everyone from any possible danger or suffering” he thought out loud, surprising even himself of the sudden, openhearted revelation.

Melissa’s frown melted and she grabbed his hands in hers, smiling kindly to him “John you can’t always hold the weight of it all on your shoulders… things are gonna clear out without you worrying about it” she said, cupping his jaw with a hand.

“Besides” she added “I think this might just be a misunderstanding… they are gonna sort it out anyway, you’ll see” she concluded, hoping she was right. She knew Chrissie well enough to know she would never interpose with such a strong relationship as Rog and Chelsea had. She also knew Roger and, although he had been quite the player in his early twenties, she knew he loved that brunette with his whole heart (and possibly even more). I really hope you’re wrong darling, she thought, because if you’re right this will end in a bloodbath.

“I hope you’re right my love” John voiced her worries, but she smiled again, forcing her doubts to retreat inside her mind and convincing herself she had to be right.

She leaned down to place a long, soft kiss on his lips. When they parted she rested her forehead on his and cupped his cheeks with both her hands “Will you come to bed now?”

John slightly nodded and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, before letting her down his lap and getting up from the chair.

“Go ahead, I’ll get rid of these papers”

She tilted her head “If you don’t come to bed, you know I’ll come out here again to drag you by the ear, right?”

John chuckled “Yes Miss” he saluted her and earned another passionate kiss.

When she pulled back he was quite surprised “I should definitely call you Miss more often” he grinned and leaned in for another kiss, but Melissa soon broke it off, stepping away and playfully grinning back.

“Come with me and we’ll see what happens” she stepped inside the house without looking back.

John chuckled again and shook his head, blushing at the thought of how much she enjoyed playing… who’s in charge. While he gathered the stack of papers, he thought that conversation with Melissa had actually helped him getting rid of some of the tension he had stored in the last week, since he had found out about the baby, he had almost confronted Roger and had caught Brian and Chelsea in a perfectly odd situation but had missed the chance of telling them what was worrying him.

Looking back, he thought it had been better that way: Melissa had the strange power of always calming him down. She always made him feel like home. I’m so happy when I’m with her. When I’m home, he thought and something in his mind clicked.

He hurried to seat down at the coffee table and began jotting down lyrics as they came to his mind like a river flowing. The melody had straightened out in his head and he wrote down some chords to keep track of it.

Once he was done, he picked it up and smiled to himself, taken aback by the ecstasy of the moment. He took the papers from the table and headed inside the house.

***

When she opened her eyes the room was already fully lighted by the morning light. Melissa lazily rubbed her eyes and stretched out her arms, letting them fall on either side of the bed.

In that moment she realized she was alone in the room: John had followed her suit to bed the night before and had fallen asleep hugging her from behind. His side of the bed was cold so he must have gotten up quite some time ago, she thought. She seated on the mattress and looked for her watch: it only was nine in the morning so she had not overslept. She thought to herself that John must have had gone to the barn to get some breakfast.

She got up from the bed and wrapped a long-sleeved cardigan above her loose nightgown, she wore her slippers and headed to the ground floor. The house was completely absorbed in silence and she wondered where the hell was everyone.

She crossed the small yard and entered the barn, walking down the corridor that led to the kitchen. Some muffled voices were coming from inside the room and when she opened the door she found nine pair of eyes staring at her.

She felt like a deer under the flashlights of a car “What’s going on?” she nervously asked to the people who couldn’t seem to take their eyes off of her. She instinctively curled up more inside the cardigan.

“C’mon guys why are you all staring at me?”

They exchanged quick glances but nobody spoke up. She looked for John’s eyes and she found him with the biggest smile on his face. He climbed down the stool he had been sitting on to walk towards her; Brian took his seat and adjusted his guitar on his thigh: he was smiling as well.

“Okay do you all have a paralysis? Why the hell are you grinning like that?” she asked again and some chuckles lifted from the small group.

John placed his hands on her shoulders “I have something for you” he said once again with a smile.

Melissa moved her gaze among the group of people and they all were staring at her with dreamy eyes and stupid smiles on their faces. Do they know? She wondered, as her blood froze inside her veins, a hand instinctively going to her belly to cover it with the cardigan.

John realized what she might have thought and ever so slightly he shook his head, hoping the others had not noticed “You have to listen to something…” he said instead.

He made her sit down on a stool and went up to Freddie to pick two paper sheets and handing them to Melissa. She was soon surrounded by the girls, who patted on her shoulder and squeezed her arms in excitement, looking at her with loving eyes.

“You all are scaring me, I hope you know that” Melissa exhaled and she made them chuckle.

She focused on the words written on the first line and underlined three times: You’re my best friend.

Brian started playing and she looked up to meet his smiling eyes, Roger beside him blew her a kiss and fondly smiled at her. Freddie was next to him and he had some sheets in his hands: he winked at her and started singing:

Ooh, you make me live

Whenever this world is cruel to me

I got you to help me forgive

Ooh, you make me live now honey

You're the first one

When things turn out bad

You know I'll never be lonely

You're my only one

And I love the things

I really love the things that you do

I'm happy at home

Ooh, you're my best friend

Melissa followed the lyrics on the paper and as she listened to the beautiful song and Freddie’s wonderful voice, she brought a hand to cover her mouth.

When the song ended, she had watery eyes and she couldn’t stop staring at John. He walked towards her and the girls stepped back to give them some space.

“What do you think?” John asked with a big smile.

Melissa sniffled and smiled back “It’s beautiful, honey” she wrapped her arms around him and he held her tight, nuzzling his nose on her neck and inhaling the scent of her hair.

“I’m so glad you do” he whispered pulling away from the hug to place his hands on both sides of her waist.

When she leaned in to kiss him, she realized the whole group was still staring at them. She glanced at the small party that was crowding the kitchen and raised her eyebrows “Do you mind guys?” she asked, hoping they would get the hint and piss off.

“Not at all darling” Freddie replied and gestured them to go on.

Melissa rolled her eyes and gave John a small peck on the lips, too embarrassed by the inappropriate amount of eyes looking at them, among which there also were her brother’s.

The group went ‘aww’ anyway and they all started chuckling and chitchatting, bringing things back to normality.

As Melissa scooped her eyes around the kitchen, with John by her side, she realized that in that very room were concentrated all the most important people of her life and in that moment she felt like she had everything she needed.

-

Chapters: ⤎ previous | next ⤏ 

A/N: We know. We’re crying as well. Hope you liked it folks 💗 we’re gonna tag the lovely people who read, liked and commented the previous chapters. If you want to be tagged in the next one, comment under this one or leave us a message. Our inboxes are always open for you beautiful people

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Cheers, folks! ✌

[segadores-y-soldados]

Reunion: Shadows at High Noon

McCree: This is all your fault, Reyes!

Reyes: I’m never gonna hear the end of this, am I?

McCree: I’m sure I’ll get over it…eventually.

Reyes: Good.  Because I’m gonna need you, Jesse.

---

Ashe: …Jesse McCree.  Been awhile.  You promised you’d write.

McCree: Well, Ashe…I’ve been kinda busy.

---------

Sombra has always been a core component of the “Reaper is a double-agent looking to enact retribution on Talon” theory (or “Masquerade theory”, if you want a snazzier name) - in fact, I’d argue that Sombra is the core component of the theory.  While most of my analytical content in the last year has really focused a lot on Gabriel Reyes/Reaper, Moira, Jack Morrison/Soldier: 76, Akande Ogundimu/Doomfist, Talon, and their respective connections to Retribution, Sombra has never stopped being relevant to the discussion.  If anything, she is the network, the axis, the center that keeps it all together.

And that is a pretty literal description of her and her role.

In most of these posts, I’ve avoided discussing McCree directly because, well, there simply wasn’t as much evidence about his connections to the “masquerade” that Reaper, Sombra, and likely Soldier: 76 and Ana are playing with Talon.  Prior to “Reunion,” this is the evidence we had that McCree was at least on Sombra’s radar:

A picture of him along with a picture of Jack Morrison in Sombra’s room.

An image of him connected to Overwatch and Ana (who is unmasked, by the way), and the word “Escanear” (Scan).

And a comic panel of him maybe meeting Sombra at the Calaveras bar in the Castillo area of Dorado.

Granted, this isn’t poor evidence by a long shot.  The evidence around Soldier: 76 and Ana is much more ephemeral, but with logic, there’s enough ways to sleuth through the contradictions and outright lies by Reaper and Soldier: 76 to deduce that there is something going on (again, this says nothing about how much Soldier: 76 and Ana approve of Reaper and Sombra’s plan, just that they’re aware of it in the present (Recall-Masquerade-era)).

The last piece of evidence that seemed to hint at McCree’s role in the Recall-Masaquerade-Searching-era was a key interaction from Retribution:

McCree: This is all your fault, Reyes!

Reyes: I’m never gonna hear the end of this, am I?

McCree: I’m sure I’ll get over it…eventually.

Reyes: Good.  Because I’m gonna need you, Jesse.

---

The final line by Reyes certainly implies he had plans for McCree after the Venice Incident - that he would need McCree to do some sort of work for Blackwatch...and for Overwatch as a whole.  However, it was hard to say exactly what Reyes had in mind.  For example, it could be argued that Reyes anticipated more openly aggressive moves by Talon or other extremist groups, such as Null Sector:

And we know that he specifically used McCree as the agent to sneak into the hot zone of London and get ground-level views and images of the situation.

But with “Reunion”, we now have much more overt evidence that McCree is “up to something” -

That “something” being that he’s actually doing work either for Reaper (through Sombra) or following Sombra’s own objectives.

(An extremely long post under the cut.)

(TL;DR: Jesse McCree appears to still be operating under a set of mission orders from either Gabriel Reyes himself, or he is cooperating with Sombra who is effectively coordinating former members of Blackwatch (such as McCree and Reaper) and Overwatch (Soldier: 76 and Ana Amari/“The Shrike”) either on her own terms or on her own “objectives” that she was given by Reyes.  While no specific parts are set in stone, the story of Overwatch is implying that Sombra is running a massive network of coordinated roles between characters like Reaper, Soldier: 76, Ana Amari, possibly Zarya and/or Symmetra, and Jesse McCree himself.)

Again, this says very little about how much McCree approves of the plan, just that he’s in on it.  Like all of Sombra’s relationships - canon or implied - there’s a level of ambiguity about how much each character fully trusts her, how much they want to work with her, and if there’s some sort of compromising, deal-making, or blackmailing going on.

Personally, I believe that all the characters Sombra is connected to - canon or implied - are willingly working with her.  Michael Chu’s exact statement on how Reaper “views” Sombra is that he knows she is “effective” at what she does, which is a part that has three main roles.

The first role Sombra has is:

Reaper: Try to stick to the plan, Sombra.

Sombra: Look, someone has to be ready when all your careful planning doesn't pan out.

Be his backup.

You know.

In case he gets himself trapped again.

The second:

Play “the fool” to Reaper’s “loyal commander” act.

By this, I mean that Sombra provides the “distraction.”  Like any good “smoke and mirrors” act, Sombra is the distraction for Talon members to focus on while they start to increasingly rely on Reaper and continue to pull him into the fold and chain of command.  By pretending to undermine each other, Sombra and Reaper do a tactical sleight of hand on the other Talon members to effectively boost Reaper through the ranks while still passing information to Sombra herself.  Both Sombra and Reaper achieve what they want while still being able to cover each other’s back should something go wrong (you know, like Point 1 above).

Sombra does this role very -

Very -

Very -

Sombra: Isn't it a little embarrassing to get beaten up by a monkey? Doomfist: Have you ever been hit by a giant, genetically engineered gorilla? I could arrange it for you...

---

Moira: Started any wars lately? Sombra: I'd have to check my schedule.

---

Sombra: Ah, my favorite spider. I wonder what sort of web you're spinning now. Widowmaker: It'd be a shame if something happened to you on our next mission. A real pity.

---

Very well.

Note how in the second image shown that Sombra says, “You’re making me think you don’t trust him,” and Doomfist immediately replies with, “I don’t trust anyone.”  It’s pretty clear the implication of his words are directed towards Sombra herself (though we miss whatever her reaction is), but this is followed up with the in-game interactions between Sombra, Doomfist, Moira, and Widowmaker, which makes it much more blatant that no one in Talon trusts her, but that she’s too “effective” to not work with.

(Additionally, note how different her interactions with Reaper are:)

Sombra: What are we doing today, Gabe? You don't mind if I call you 'Gabe,' do you? Reaper: Stick to the mission. --- Reaper: Try to stick to the plan, Sombra. Sombra: Look, someone has to be ready when all your careful planning doesn't pan out. --- (On Oasis) Sombra: So what are we doing here, boss? Reaper: I need to pay a visit to a friend. (Moira)

---

Reaper “tolerates” Sombra much better than the other Talon characters, which again, plays back into their dual-roles of the masquerade they’re playing.

The third role that has been hinted at but not shown outright in canon story events or materials is:

Sombra’s “network.”

Again, while this isn’t shown or stated outright, there are too many details in-game and in the comics that show Sombra having connections with at least three other characters: Soldier: 76 (Jack Morrison), The Shrike (Ana Amari), and Jesse McCree.  This is partially due to Sombra being the “ultimate plot convenient” role and also due to actual canon which demonstrates she’s been in contact with certain people.

Lynx-17 knows that Sombra has an established connection with Soldier: 76, though they do not seem to be fully aware of Sombra’s connections to Ana (probably because Lynx doesn’t realize Ana is still alive and is hiding as The Shrike).

In-game, both Sombra’s room and the Necropolis are littered (quite literally) with evidence that implies Sombra is managing a network of rogue Overwatch and Blackwatch agents (again, to stress, this does not imply how much anyone likes working with her).

She knows who Jesse McCree and Jack Morrison are.

She knows Ana’s masked persona of “The Shrike.”

She appears to either be establishing or facilitating connections between McCree and Ana.

And on Necropolis:

She’s giving Soldier: 76 and Ana updates on Reaper’s movements.

Note that since the Necropolis map was made before “Masquerade” was released, Reaper’s (and Sombra’s) visit to Venice isn’t included in the map.  However, the other locations all have actual events or connections to them:

Los Angeles, California: “Reflections”

Numbani, Nigeria: either the “Museum Heist” or retrieving Doomfist from prison

Watchpoint: Gibraltar: “Recall”

Oasis, Iraq: visiting Moira’s lab

Volskaya Industries in St. Petersburg, Russia: “Infiltration”

Again, the game makes it pretty clear that Sombra is the one doing this.

All the shots are from “Infiltration”.

This exact shot is from Sombra’s perspective.

(She might even be sending Jack and Ana live footage from the Volskaya mission.)

Like I said above, it’s easier to logic out that Sombra is working with Soldier: 76 and Ana than it is that she’s working with McCree directly.  So much of Overwatch’s in-game details of environmental storytelling are tantalizing and imply a significant amount, but rarely do they show anything super concrete.

For example:

Does Sombra know who McCree is?

Yes, she does.  We can say this with certainty.

Is she working with McCree?

Prior to “Reunion” the answer to this would have been “I can’t really say one way or the other.”

But then “Reunion” came out.

And the evidence got much more overt.

---------

On the fringes

Like the Recall-Masquerade-era Soldier: 76 plotline, the implications of Sombra’s work and information is easier to suss out when we work through “Reunion” logically.

In Soldier: 76′s plotline, there are numerous gaps where the easy answer to the questions are “Well, Sombra.”

How did he know Ana was “The Shrike”?

Well, Sombra.

How did he possibly coordinate “the trap” with Reaper to lure Ana out of hiding (to come protect him)?

Well, Sombra.

Why would he and Sombra work together?

Well, Reaper (okay, that one’s a little different, but still.)

Obviously, this is a simplistic summary of things: there’s a lot more going on with the Reaper, Soldier: 76, Sombra, and connected characters plotline (such as Moira, Doomfist, Talon, Retribution, etc), but basically...

We have been shown Sombra knows who Soldier: 76 is, that she knows what his motivations and interests are on a personal level (Reaper), that she knows how to “bargain” with him somehow (re: the Lynx-17 panel), and that she appears to have facilitated the “trap” between him, Reaper, and “The Shrike”.

This applies to McCree almost to a tee - 

Down to literally helping him “set up” a situation where he can recruit an ally.

As I wrote in “Reunion: Quick Bites” and “Echo Notes”, even though the short only has two main chunks of dialogue, there’s so much going on in the details that it’s actually a pretty sizable burst of expanding McCree’s plot and his character.

Taking it step by step:

1. Echo: the crate and key.

Again, just repeating what I said in “Echo Notes”, Echo’s crate is currently being transported by some sort of military train (which is also hauling more munitions and weapons).  It appears to be moving roughly east to west (we’ll get into that again later).

A train this fully-armed would never have a public timetable or schedule - if it’s even on one.  It may very well be an infrequent, single-trip transport.  That means finding this information requires digging deep.

Or, you know.

Hacking some sort of confidential military system.

Don’t get me wrong - McCree is smart, and I have no doubt he set up the whole situation in “Reunion.”

But he’s consider a vigilante and is wanted by the United States law enforcement.

Gonna be a little hard for him to just walk into a military base and do the intel-digging by himself.

Good thing that’s something someone else is very, very effective at doing.

Like Soldier: 76′s story, Sombra fills in the first big “plot hole” in “Reunion”.  In fact, it’s almost unfair to even call it a plot hole, because it really isn’t one: Overwatch has been slowly building the implication and connections in Sombra’s network for two years now (since her release).

The team doesn’t want to tell you that she’s helping McCree: for starters, that’s the worst way to do a story (“show, not tell”).

Secondly, the lead writer himself wants you to figure this stuff out:

“One of the things we really like doing with Overwatch is playing with perspective.  We utilize perspective when we analyze or when we tell stories about characters, what they’re thinking, what their goals are.  And we have a lot of unreliable narrators.  We want people to pay careful attention to what characters think about in particular situations.  We want them to use their judgment and their knowledge of a character’s thoughts to come up with their own ideas about the universe.” (Bold for emphasis)

- Michael Chu, GDC Spring 2017

The stuff about McCree has been in Sombra’s room in Castillo since the map was released in May 2017.

The animated shorts take several months - likely up to a year - to make in advance, but even then, this means the Castillo map and all its easter eggs and lore details existed well before Story and Franchise started storyboarding “Reunion”.  I would argue that “Reunion” was actually specifically written to help build these links between Sombra and McCree, again, with just enough specific “gaps” in the story and just enough tantalizing wording by McCree to “show, not tell” those connections.

If Echo’s crate is being held by a military branch, institution, or a security force contractor like Helix Securities, it’s likely that her key was also being held by that same group, but in a different location.

This is obvious from the fact that McCree already has her key at the beginning of the short.

It has to have been in a different, separate location than Echo herself.

If what McCree implies about Echo is true (“they want me, but really, [Overwatch] needs you”) then Echo is being set up to be a strong character.  Keep in mind that game balancing means she will never be, you know, unkillable - even Reaper dies in-game - but she’s certainly important to the former organization, and likely will be a powerful ally for the small, ragtag Recall team from a lore perspective.

This is a standard “spy thriller”/“secret treasure” trope in media: the “key” to unlock something Really Super Special is in a separate location.  It’s especially common in video games, where a developer can quickly expand a quest by making the key a separate object to locate and retrieve first.

And if Echo is as powerful as McCree implies, then it makes sense that the organization “safeguarding” her physical body would remove the key and put it in a separate, secret location, especially if it’s another military base.

Because who’s going to be crazy enough to try and physically infiltrate a hostile, militarized base all on their own?

(It’s almost like there’s a pattern here.)

And this leads to:

2. “Well, Ashe...I’ve been kinda busy.”

So Sombra figures out the location of both Echo’s crate and her key.  As I said in “Echo Notes”, we don’t exactly know where either of these are, just that the train is moving from east to west.

Given that we know now for sure that Deadlock Gorge is in Arizona, this means - in extremely broad terms - that Echo’s key was closer to Arizona (or even in the state) than her crate at or around the time of “Recall”.

Or at least -

That the key was closer to McCree than the crate was.

Granted, it’s possible McCree already had the key or was given it by someone else, but considering again that a non-Overwatch organization is in command of Echo’s crate, it seems unlikely that the U.N. or organizations like Helix Securities would just let an Overwatch agent hold onto the key after the formal disbandment of the group.

And it seems especially unlikely that they would let a former Blackwatch agent and currently-wanted “outlaw” like McCree to hold onto it.

I think it’s much more logical that Sombra found the information for both Echo’s crate and the key, and then passed this intel onto McCree.

After all -

McCree is actually really, really good at sneaking into places and/or fighting his way back out.

And he specializes in heists.

Specifically heists of military-grade goods.

McCree had already made a name for himself as a member of the notorious Deadlock Gang, which trafficked in illicit weapons and military hardware throughout the American Southwest, when he and his associates were busted in an Overwatch sting operation.

- McCree’s Hero Profile

In fact, the covert ops mission that McCree is actually really, really bad at is:

Moira: McCree...we need to talk about your...Italian accent.

McCree: Well, I watched a bunch of old Spaghetti Westerns.  I thought it was pretty good!  Bone-a serr-a, signora.  Can I-a get chu-a somethin’ ta drink?

Moira: Please, never do that again.

---

Reyes: This mess was all worth it to see McCree try and pass himself off as a waiter!

McCree: I thought I did just fine.

Reyes: ...You got fired from your cover job, Jesse.

McCree: The lady was being rude!  She had it coming.

---

Going undercover.

(We’ll come back to this.)

Basically, I think it’s a lot easier - and actually pretty decently established in McCree’s character and lore - to reason that Sombra got the intel about Echo, handed it off to McCree, and let McCree do what he does best:

Steal stuff.

But then something interesting happens.

Recall occurs.

It’s possible McCree gets the key after Recall, of course.  The timing of him actually getting the itself isn’t super important - just the fact that he already has it at the start of “Reunion” really implies a lot.  But because most of the Recall-related shorts happen within a few days to a few weeks of “Recall” itself, it seems pretty likely that everything is kicking off all at once.

(In fact, I’m of the mindset that Reaper intentionally botched the “steal the Overwatch agent database” mission in order to push Winston into making the decision - the little clip at the end is very vague but seems to imply that Reaper is actually quite pleased with Winston’s decision.  The entire mission is pretty pathetic in its design, and Reaper has several opportunities to kill Winston but never does.  Yes, I am aware that Winston has plot armor, but it’s real weird that Talon’s using tasers when electricity puts Winston in super charged mode.  But this is tangential, tbh.)

Again, while never stated, it is implied that several things begin moving and happening all at once, either directly because of Recall (e.g. Genji’s confrontation with Hanzo in “Dragons,” Mei’s awakening in “Rise and Shine,” Reinhardt’s decision in “Honor and Glory,” and now McCree’s shootout in “Reunion”) or as an overall consequence of Recall.

One of these is:

Soldier: 76 beginning a series of attacks and thefts from “multiple former Overwatch bases”.

So this is something that a few followers pointed out (and yes, something I had been considering for awhile):

Are Soldier: 76′s movements and attacks on former Overwatch bases being coordinated by Sombra, possibly in tandem with McCree’s work in the Southwest?

The answer is, possibly disappointingly, “I can’t say for sure either way.”

But it is interesting.

We already know that Sombra has some sort of connection to Soldier: 76.  When exactly that connection is established is tricky to place: it could come after “Hero”, when she’s potentially able to strike a deal with him to get him to leave Dorado (e.g. “Ana Amari is alive.  Want to know where she is?  Get out of my city and I’ll send you the info.”).  It could also come before that: we know Jack Morrison is pretty restless in the time between the fall of Overwatch and Recall (a span of 6 years), so they could easily have made contact with each other during that period.

There’s also the very tantalizing - if a little bit shoehorned in - possibility that Olivia “Sombra” Colomar is a Blackwatch agent.

There’s a single line in the second page of the Blackwatch Venice Mission dossier which states:

“Agent [REDACTED] also secured a position [REDACTED].”

There is the possibility that this line reads something like “Agent [McCree] also secured a position [as a waiter at Antonio’s restaurant]” or something...

But I don’t think it is.

For starters, McCree’s name is actually declassified in the memo:

In fact, the four main agents in the mission are completely declassified, so while it’s definitely possible that one of their names is in the Redacted spot, it seems unlikely.

It’s also possible that there is a future Blackwatch character we haven’t actually seen or met yet in the story.  I’m not counting that out yet.

But I think a lot of people miss a few critical details about Sombra:

Sombra’s teddy bear Arturito has an Overwatch logo on it.

And though she absolutely was associated with Los Muertos:

Her relationship with the gang is more ambiguous and ambivalent than her Hero Profile implies.

And this is something I’ve said with stuff like Moira, and which is now pretty clearly demonstrated by things like Wrecking Ball and Ashe:

Team 4 deliberately leaves large gaps in character stories so that they can potentially fill those gaps with other connections or characters in the future.

People were shocked when they revealed that Genji was explicitly a Blackwatch agent and not just an Overwatch agent, but prior to that moment, nothing in Genji’s Hero Profile or his known backstory explicitly said that he was not a Blackwatch agent.

Similarly, in all the teasers, messages, and lore details that we knew about “Hammond”, nothing ever stated he was an ape or a monkey.

With Moira, her Hero Profile actually implied she was a Talon agent before she ever joined Blackwatch.

“...The shadowy Talon organization had already been supporting her for years, aiding her experiments in exchange for utilizing the results for their own purposes.”

(And frankly, I take a good deal of pride in having read the clues correctly for this well before the mode was playable: [Tweet 1] [Tweet 2])

And now Ashe.

Personally, I think Ashe is complicated because it’s pretty clear she wasn’t actually intended to be anything more than a single-short character (which has been stated several times by Story and Franchise and Team 4 alike), so while she was never originally part of McCree’s backstory, there was enough room in his story for her to be placed in.

Point is:

We go through this song and dance every time a new hero or plot twist is revealed.  Sometimes - like with Moira or Wrecking Ball - the implication is already there, or the absence of evidence does imply something more.  Sometimes - like with Genji and Ashe - there’s enough of a gap in a character’s history and backstory that something can be developed in a way the fans weren’t expecting.

So here’s the thing about the idea of “Blackwatch Colomar”:

Is there space in Sombra’s backstory for this “plot twist” to exist?  Yes.

Will Team 4 actually do it?  Only they know.

But as this entire post has shown:

Sombra has numerous connections to numerous characters - many of them Talon-aligned, yes, but several of them are former Overwatch or Blackwatch agents.  Hell, she’s even connected to Zarya at this point, and Zarya is effectively a non-aligned character at the moment.  She is implied to be the only character Reaper trust remotely genuinely in Talon, implied to be giving information to Soldier: 76, and is now implied to be working outright with McCree.

People seem to think that unreliable narrators can only work if they’re forcing a limited perspective on a situation or concealing “bad” truths from the audience.

But that isn’t necessarily true.

An unreliable narrator can conceal good intentions just as much as they conceal bad ones.

McCree: Is this what we’ve become, Gabriel? Gabriel: Blackwatch has always had one purpose: to do the real work of keeping the world safe.  I thought you had the stomach for it.  Looks like I was wrong.

And, as storytellers, the Overwatch development team is not beholden to tell you the truth - good or bad - either.  They’re creating a story: they would much rather show you Sombra’s intentions - or Reaper’s, or Soldier: 76′s, or McCree’s - than tell you outright.

They’re not going to tell you that Sombra has a soft spot for Overwatch.

They would rather show you.

And to loop this all the way back around:

They’re not going to tell you how McCree got the information about the key -

And they’re not going to tell you how McCree knew the crate was on the train because -

"All I want is that crate.”

The dialogue shows more about his character and the situation than literally stating it.

So before we move on, just to summarize:

How did McCree get Echo’s key?

Well, Sombra probably told him after hacking some Helix or military system for it.  McCree’s covert ops specialty is conducting heists and thefts, particularly in military bases, cargo, and supplies.

Where was the key located?

In the Southwest United States, or maybe somewhere on the West Coast.  Just in the west, I guess.

Why was Echo’s case being transported?

Probably because whatever organization was “safeguarding” it started getting nervous about Soldier: 76 locating her first.  Or because Recall was initiated.  Either way, the organization runs the risk of her getting found and effectively rescued by either Soldier: 76 or Recalled Overwatch.

Why would Sombra help McCree and/or Soldier: 76?

Because it’s entirely possible for a character to be both ambitious, chaotic neutral, and renegade in nature while also being nostalgic, sentimental, or entertained by “the good guys.”  It is canon to Sombra’s character that she actually does her hardest to motivate others to change themselves, to see the truth, or to find empowerment through information.

“Which brings me…to ‘Perspective.’  One of the things we really like doing with Overwatch is playing with perspective.  We utilize perspective when we analyze or when we tell stories about characters, what they’re thinking, what their goals are.  And we have a lot of unreliable narrators.  We want people to pay careful attention to what characters think about in particular situations.  We want them to use their judgment and their knowledge of a character’s thoughts to come up with their own ideas about the universe.  You know, I’m asked often - with characters like Sombra or Soldier: 76, you know, ‘Are they anti-heroes?  Are they villains?’  And I think, you know, you look at someone like Sombra, and it’s all about looking at, ‘What does she want?  What is she willing to do to get it?’

“And you have to remember that when she’s telling you something, she’s serving her own ends too.  So you know, you have to kinda make the decision for yourself.  And I think you can take a character like Soldier: 76 - like obviously, he has this mission that he is on that he believes is good, he seems to be sometimes willing to do things which are… maybe not super heroic, and so it makes him complicated.  We always have a lot of fun, uh - every once and awhile we’ll try and plot all the characters on like the traditional D’n’D alignment scale, and I think, you know, it’s fun exercise, but at the end of the day, I think what’s interesting about characters is that those alignments change depending on what situation you put them in, what’s important to them, and what decisions they have to make.”

- Michael Chu, GDC Spring 2017

Sombra can be and is the same character who has the ability to tease Reaper with a nickname only his “partner” has been allowed to call him, both as a reminder of what she knows about him and a callback to his internal motivations (protecting Jack).

In this regard, this aligns Sombra with characters like McCree, Soldier; 76, and Ana in methods and ideologies more than people realize.  In the Recall-Masquerade-Searching era, none of these characters have any qualms about “breaking the rules” at this point, and yet all of them still find their motivations to be unified by a few things:

A sense of personal, often ambiguous justice.

A belief in protecting the innocent - but also punishing those who commit crimes.

The adaptability to work well “in the shadows”.

And mixed emotions on the newly recalled Overwatch.

And all this harkens back to:

Gabriel: Blackwatch has always had one purpose: to do the real work of keeping the world safe.

3. “You’ve never been one to shy away from a good tip.”

Let’s say that Soldier: 76′s actions - regardless of if they’re being coordinated with McCree’s via Sombra or not - do actually drive Helix Securities or whatever organization is holding Echo to desperation.  They fill up a train with military weapons and her crate, hoping to transport it east to west to the other side of the country.

Perhaps they’re concerned that Echo’s key has gone missing, but they’re significantly more worried about the dude with an autoaim visor who just got the upgraded version of his favorite gun back.

This plays into McCree and Sombra’s hands pretty ideally -

Because what’s McCree really, really good at?

Heists.

And why is he good at heists?

Because even when he’s working alone, he still knows how to orchestrate them.

Because even though it’s been decades since they’ve actually last met -

McCree can still read Ashe like a god damn textbook.

Big train full of big guns, big bombs, big weapons?

That’s the kind of “merchandise” Ashe just can’t resist.

Work smarter, not harder.

The dialogue between McCree and Ashe implies that he was the one who “tipped off” the Deadlock Gang about the train:

McCree: Well, Ashe…I’ve been kinda busy.

Ashe: We’re pretty busy ourselves, so it’s awful convenient you showin’ up today.

McCree: …Yeah, you’ve never been one to shy away from a good tip.

Ashe: Hey!  We worked hard for this score!  You best move on now.

---

And even though it’s been decades, McCree still manages to get under Ashe’s skin right away.  She doesn’t realize what McCree was actually implying (that he was the one who tipped off the gang), but instead bristles at what she thinks is the slight in his comment (that they get “easy tips” and therefore do “easy work”).

However, the whole conversation is meant to show you that McCree deftly set up the gang to basically do the whole heist for him.  He rolls in after his phone call to the diner (which is actually operated by the Deadlock Gang), and thinks he has a enough time for a slice of pie and a cup of coffee.

He’s just a little bit off, though, because he only has time for two bites and one sip.

(But to McCree’s credit, maybe that’s all he wanted.  He thinks the coffee at the diner “tastes like boiled dirt” anyways.)

So just a short one:

Who tipped off the Deadlock Gang? 

Probably McCree, because he needed a way to get Echo’s crate off the train and he’s not really interested in repeating “Train Hopper”.  Also because it looks like the military train was automated and running on a fast schedule.

4. “I’ve got some business to attend to.”

McCree: Well, that’s a story for another time, but I got a call.  They want me, but really, they need you.

(McCree starts to walk away.)

Echo: Jesse, wait!  What are you going to do?

McCree: I’ve got some business to attend to.

(McCree takes Ashe’s bike.)

McCree: Say hi to the monkey for me.

Echo: Monkey?

McCree, laughing: Scientist.  Whatever.

---

At the end of the short, we get one last hint about what McCree’s been up to, where he’s been, where he’s going, and - more importantly - who he’s been around.

Again, just like Soldier: 76′s story, the timeline of McCree’s story skips ahead from the end of “Reunion” to this particular scene:

This is just like Soldier: 76 in that Soldier is literally shown in Dorado -

And then this is his next actual appearance in the plot.

The only thing that appears to have occurred in between “Hero” and “Old Soldiers”?

It’s hinted at in “Searching”, Sombra’s room in Castillo, and the Reaper sightings image in Necropolis.

Either Sombra is already connected to Soldier: 76 before “Hero”, or - like Zarya - she makes some sort of deal with him to get him out of Dorado and put him on the path to find The Shrike.

We can only guess at what McCree does in the few month span between “Reunion” and “Reflections”: perhaps he messes with Deadlock and Los Muertos some more.  Perhaps he tracks their trade routes and arms-purchasing partners.  Perhaps he keeps an eye on Helix-run facilities in the U.S.  Perhaps he collects a few bounties.  We don’t know for sure, but again, he leaves “Reunion” on Ashe’s bike and appears several months later in Dorado.

Again, the story isn’t going to tell you why he’s there or what he’s doing, especially if the Masquerade subplot is steadily being built up, but at this point, the evidence is pretty strong.

All in all, when we phrase it as a series of questions and look at the details provided throughout the game, comics, and shorts, we get a few straightfoward answers:

How did McCree get Echo’s key?

Sombra probably found the information and passed it off to him.  McCree did what he does best and snuck into some sort of base and stole it.

How did McCree know Echo’s crate was being moved?

Again, the simple answer is that Sombra found the information.  The group keeping Echo may have been worried about Soldier: 76′s actions or Recalled OW making moved to get her back, so they shipped her crate off with a bunch of other weapons.

What has McCree been “busy” with?

And

What is the “business” McCree has to “attend to”?

This one goes all the way back to “Retribution.”

McCree: This is all your fault, Reyes!

Reyes: I’m never gonna hear the end of this, am I?

McCree: I’m sure I’ll get over it…eventually.

Reyes: Good.  Because I’m gonna need you, Jesse.

---

The straightforward answer is that McCree is still working as an underground Blackwatch agent.

As a reminder, another core component of the “Masquerade theory” is that Moira was the traitor who sold out the Venice Mission to Antonio, his forces, and probably the whole of Talon.

A key part of understanding Retribution is the realization that only four people knew the mission was occurring in the way that it was happening.  These people were: Gabriel Reyes, Jesse McCree, Genji Shimada, and Moira O’Deorain.  Jack Morrison and Fio the Blackwatch pilot knew the mission “was happening” but they did not have the details about it, and therefore are unlikely to have been the ones to have compromised it.

In fact, there are several interactions in Retribution that pretty blatantly imply this:

McCree: Aww, even though we snuck that surveillance system into Antonio’s office, our intel’s a little spotty. Genji: Next time, you should leave it to me.  I can spy upon our enemies - unseen…and undetected.

A surveillance system was secreted into Antonio’s office and yet the Blackwatch team still missed key intel - because it is implied that someone on the team warned Antonio that his office was bugged.

Through the interactions with McCree and Genji, the player is meant to learn that both these characters are genuine and did not betray Talon.  McCree is 100% furious about how the mission goes sideways, and Genji shows time and again that he hates criminals to a very personal and actually pretty harmful level (the implication being that a lot of his lingering resentments over his own family and brother are still present on his mind and emotional state).

That leaves Gabriel Reyes and Moira O’Deorain.

The game wants you to believe that Reyes somehow betrayed Blackwatch and Overwatch, but again -

What it shows you is actually very different:

Moira: Pity we’ll miss the masquerade - I have the perfect costume. Reyes: Didn’t think that would be your scene. Moira: There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me…

(source)

Moira: You did what needed to be done, Gabriel.  Don’t apologize. Gabriel: I never have, and I don’t intend to start now.  Someone has to be the one to get things done.

McCree: Better to kill them now than wait for another surprise attack! Moira, to herself: …ha, ironic.

McCree: …You seem awfully calm. Moira: I take it all in my stride.

---

The game wants you to play the detective and figure out the actual story being broken up and semi-concealed by four different, limited-perspective, unreliable narrators.

In fact, this is exactly why McCree becomes the lead narrator of the event, even though Reyes himself was the narrator in the comic.

This narrative shift has been used multiple times in Overwatch story events.  The other obvious one is Uprising, where the comic is from Morrison’s perspective but the event shifts to Tracer narrating the intro and outro.  However, you can see similar shifts in narratives in comics like “Old Soldiers” (starts with Soldier: 76, switches to Ana mid-way through), “Reflections” (starts with Tracer with interjections by Winston), and “Binary” (starts with Bastion, switches to Torbjörn).

And there are also many, many instances where a secondary POV character is implied but not explicitly told.

The list includes:

“Legacy”: main POV - Ana; implied POV - Widowmaker

“Masquerade”: main POV - Doomfist; implied POV - Reaper

“Searching”: main POV - Zarya; implied POV - Sombra

“Retribution” (the game mode) itself is effectively one of these, but with two implied POVs: McCree has become the main POV, but Reyes and Moira are the secondary, implied POV, and it is up to the player to sort through the mess of interactions and heightened emotions to realize the truth.

However, even if you don’t unlock the best interactions that show this, the ending by itself literally does:

It’s also pretty easy to figure out that - well - despite his anger, McCree doesn’t actually leave Blackwatch after the mission.

In fact, something Reyes says in his debriefing - to Morrison, Amari, Lacroix, and McCree (through the window) - convinces all of them that: 1) Reyes himself can still be trusted, 2) McCree and Genji can still be trusted, and 3) something much bigger than Antonio is threatening to undermine them.

Again, the game doesn’t tell you this, but it does show you what it is, 8 years later:

Moira: Our courageous cowboy… The years haven’t changed you much, have they, Jesse? McCree: Well, they certainly haven’t changed my feelings about working with you.

---

McCree: Always thought hiring you was a mistake. Moira: The best mistake one could ever make.

---

Soldier: 76: You were a disgrace to Overwatch.  If I had known what Reyes had been planning, I would never have allowed it. Moira: It seems to me that it was convenient for you not to look too closely into Gabriel’s business… (Audio link)

---

McCree and Soldier: 76 believe that Moira betrayed Blackwatch.

Soldier: 76′s statement is clear, McCree’s is more vague but still gets to the point.  Interestingly, neither Soldier nor McCree ever state directly that they think Gabriel Reyes betrayed Overwatch and/or Blackwatch.  Soldier: 76 alludes to “what Reyes had been planning”, but he never says what that “plan” actually was, and if you’ve followed this blog long enough, you know that I believe Soldier is referencing Reyes’/Reaper’s plan is his reverse-infiltration of Talon.  

But here’s the other thing about McCree and Soldier: 76′s awareness of Reaper’s goals:

It doesn’t actually imply their respective approvals of this method.

And we come back to the “issue” with Sombra again:

Connected characters don’t actually have to 100% like or approve of another character’s ideas, methods, plans, and strategies to cooperate with them.

It does not mean Sombra is or isn’t blackmailing them (or Reaper or Ana).  It does not mean that they do or do not like Sombra or Reaper’s methods.

It is entirely possible for characters to have the same “good” intentions and the same aligned objectives without actually liking each other’s methods and tactics.

Like I said above, I personally think all these characters do actually get along, even if they occasionally frustrate or irritate each other (or disagree over methods).  Taking “Retribution” and “Uprising” as windows into the different characters’ personalities and interactions before the fall, we see many examples where characters who are still allies or friends after the fall disagree or banter around with each other.  Canon character who will eventually cooperate with each other in Recalled OW are Tracer, Reinhardt, Torbjörn, and Genji, and again, if this Masquerade theory is correct, then Reaper, Soldier: 76, Ana, and McCree are also still working together.

That said:

There’s a lot to imply that what Reaper and Soldier: 76 are doing in the present-day is simply a more extreme version of the roles they have always played with each other:

They’ve both gone “rogue”, yes, but one of them (Reaper) is playing “the bad guy” in order to convince Talon he’s 110%, totally serious about being part of their organization, while the other (Soldier: 76) is playing “the fallen hero” in order to convince characters like The Shrike (Ana) to join their plans.

I can’t really stress how much McCree’s actions in “Reunion” effectively parallel Soldier’s in “Old Soldiers”.

Everything from getting intel from Sombra, “setting up” a trap with a “rival” (personally, I think Ashe was 100% unwitting about McCree’s intentions, whereas Reaper’s actions and words in “Old Soldiers” are so blatantly out of place that it’s pretty easy for the informed reader to realize they’re fake at this point), down to the actual recruitment narrations.

“But I got a call - we’re getting the band back together.  They want me, but really?  They need you.”

The twist though?

(“You need me, Jack.  You need someone to watch your back.”) Ana is not Echo.

And she quite literally “flips the script” on Soldier, to the point where he even jokes about it.

And like, even the last “conversation” in both the short and the comic parallel each other:

Ana: Just tell me one thing.  What around you going to do when the fighting’s over?

Echo: Jesse, wait!  What are you going to do?

Soldier: 76: I’m a soldier, Ana.  Our war’s never over.

McCree: I’ve got some business to attend to.

I’d say that Sombra’s network of characters currently works like this:

“In the shadows” half: This half is composed mainly of Reaper and Sombra.  This group is reverse-infiltrating Talon.  Sombra runs the distraction element in order to get the other Talon member to trust Reaper more.  Meanwhile, Reaper passes on information to Sombra that she either can’t access or isn’t “digital” (e.g. the identities of the Talon leaders).  Because Reaper is deep undercover, he can’t be caught being “friendly” with Soldier: 76, Ana, McCree, Winston, and/or Tracer, but because Sombra is effectively passing (or stealing) information from Soldier: 76, Ana, McCree, and Recalled OW, Reaper is still able to coordinate missions with them.  Many times, Reaper does something that “accidentally” causes these missions to fail (e.g. bringing tasers, not killing Winston, stepping on Winston’s glasses, etc).  This group is an extreme version of Blackwatch.  

Characters with a decent likelihood of joining this group in the future include: Widowmaker (if she can break her brainwashing), Moira (depending on if she picks Reaper over Doomfist), possibly Sanjay and/or Symmetra.

“Rogue vigilantes” half: This half is composed mainly of McCree, Soldier: 76, and Ana.  This group has ambivalent feelings about both the plans for reverse-infiltration and recalling Overwatch.  They’re not really for or outright against either plan.  These characters have their own sense of justice and either do not agree with Reaper and Sombra’s methods or are not capable of enacting them.  However, this group still has a massive pool of shared and individual skills that can still be effective in other situations, such as heists and thefts, information collection, bounty hunting, and “fringe support” in case something goes wrong.  This group is an extreme version of Overwatch.

Characters with a decent likelihood of joining this group in the future include: Zarya (who is “lost” after “Searching” and looking for a new purpose), Hanzo (who rebukes both Genji’s offers and Doomfist’s, but who is interested in Ana’s methodologies), Symmetra (who will likely defect from Vishkar in the future)

In fact, while it isn’t 100% canon, I don’t think it’s a surprise that one of the OWL finals sprays included this group:

The other three sprays include two “canon groups”: Winston, Mei, Tracer, and Emily, and Reinhardt, Brigitte, Torbjörn, and Bastion.  So while the above group of Hanzo, Zarya, Sombra, and McCree isn’t confirmed canon, it is definitely an interesting clustering of characters.

And this brings me to the very last part:

5. “Scientist...Whatever.”

McCree: Say hi to the monkey for me.

Echo: Monkey?

McCree, laughing: Scientist.  Whatever.

If the rest of the short didn’t implicate McCree’s connections to Sombra and Reaper, then this part sure as hell did.

There are only two other characters in the entire playable Overwatch cast who call Winston the incorrect and joke term “monkey”:

Athena: Winston!  He’s going to have all agents’ locations!

Reaper: I’ll be sure to send them your regards, monkey.

Winston: I’m not a monkey!

Reaper: (laughs)

Winston: I’m a scientist!

Reaper.

And:

Sombra: Isn’t it a little embarrassing to get beaten up by a monkey? Doomfist: Have you ever been hit by a giant, genetically engineered gorilla? I could arrange it for you…

Sombra.

The inclusion of McCree calling Winston “the monkey” wasn’t just a cute joke: it’s a pretty blatant reference to Reaper’s dialogue with Winston in “Recall.”

Considering McCree isn’t supposed to be in contact with his old commander and is also supposed to be mad at him, this is a pretty telltale sign of what he’s actually doing.

I went back and looked over Michael Chu’s statement about Reaper and McCree’s interactions in the Recall-Searching era and perhaps unsurprisingly, he doesn’t actually state that they’re not in contact with each other.

(source)

Question: “Some time back you said that McCree and Reinhardt don’t know that Reaper is Reyes.  Do they not know because they’ve never met face–errm, mask-to-face, since the incident? I get the feeling that if McCree and Reaper met, McCree would know almost immediately who was under the mask, and Reinhardt would figure out if he fought Reaper in battle (because his only quote, “Traitor!”, is triggered when he kills him).”

Michael: “To clarify about the Reaper/Reyes thing, yes it is because they have not met in the “current day” of Overwatch. The interactions in the game are meant to be what ifs. I do think that McCree would know that Reaper was Reyes if he encountered him.”

What he says, quite literally, is that “they have not met in the ‘current day’ of Overwatch.”

And this is the exact type of vague wording that allows the team to do things like Blackwatch Genji, or Retribution Talon Moira, or hamster Hammond, or create Ashe.

Michael does not say “they haven’t met since the fall of Overwatch.”  He does not say “they’re mad at each other.”  He doesn’t say “they never communicate after the fall.”

This gives him a lot of room to change this situation as needed.  McCree and Reaper could have met before Recall.  They could have met up two, three, four years ago.  They might not have met at all since the fall, and only communicate through Sombra, in which case, McCree picked up Reaper’s bad habit of calling Winston “monkey” through her.  

They just literally haven’t met since Recall, through Reunion, through Reflections, through Masquerade, and probably through Searching, a time period which spans roughly one year to eighteen months (Recall occurs in Spring 2076 to Masquerade in Feb-March 2077 to Searching which is after Orisa is built in 2077).

And the final possibility:

Michael Chu just straight up lied about it.

Because again, the team has no obligation to tell you the plot of their story.

People seem to think that the developers have to be honest with them, especially when answering direct questions about the character or the game.  This isn’t true at all.  In fact, literally only a month ago, Bill Warnecke blatantly stated that “This patch does contain some balance tweaks and bug fixes, but it isn’t large due to any secret data preloading.” when that exact patch actually contained Ashe for the PTR.

Michael Chu has every right to be cheeky and vague when answering plot questions, and he actually does that pretty frequently:

Just like a magician has every right not to spill their secrets, writers and development teams have every right to keep major plot points, characters, and gameplay changes secret until they’re ready to share them.

Granted, this in turn means that you have every right as a customer not to support them.  You shouldn’t take inappropriate or poor taste answers as replacement for good customer service or good fan interactions.  If you find answers or statements unsatisfactory, you have every right to stop supporting the game or its developer.  I’m saying this specifically because there’s one Big Name Game and Developer currently generating a ton of talk about horrific customer service and complete disregard for fans.  Activision-Blizzard itself is not free from criticisms, and several aspects of Overwatch are part of that larger discussion.

But over the last two years of playing this game and becoming deeply invested in the story and world it is building, I’ve come to realize that many fan expectations for the team and for Michael in particular are extremely unfair.  You wouldn’t expect your favorite book author or show runners to spoil their own content, and you shouldn’t expect that from a video game writer either.  As I said in the paragraph above, this is separate from criticisms about poor fan interactions or poor customer service, or even separate from discussions about game design and game writing.  I think there are arguments to be made that the writing in Overwatch struggles in many spots, or is too vague, ambiguous, and ambitious in other spots (such as Retribution, which had several subplots which went directly over most of the fandom’s heads), but expecting the lead writer to just tell you if McCree, Sombra, and Reaper are still paling around or working together to bring down Talon and help Recalled OW is in poor taste on part of the fans.

Summary:

To bring it all together, here’s how McCree fits into the Masquerade theory:

Eight years ago, the Blackwatch Venice Mission goes wrong.  Reyes discovers that his “new doctor” Moira O’Deorain has betrayed Blackwatch and is a double-agent for Talon.  He convinces Morrison, Amari, Lacroix, and McCree that Blackwatch and Overwatch as a whole are at serious risk of being compromised and endangered.  Morrison suspends the Blackwatch division but allows Reyes, McCree, and Genji Shimada to keep operating as agents.

Reyes - with or without the other characters’ approval - beings making plans to reverse-infiltrate Talon to enact retribution on them and bring them down.  At some point, he makes contact with Olivia “Sombra” Colomar.  She may or may not be a Blackwatch agent herself.  

However, the Venice Mission has shown Reyes something else:

McCree: Is this what we’ve become, Gabriel? Gabriel: Blackwatch has always had one purpose: to do the real work of keeping the world safe.  I thought you had the stomach for it.  Looks like I was wrong.

McCree is not the agent capable of going deep undercover to protect Reyes’ back.

As I’ve written in “Long Reasons” and “Retribution and Reapercussions”, there are multiple instances in Retribution where McCree isn’t fully “in” on the delicate cat-and-mouse game Gabriel and Moira are playing.  Gabriel is balancing a very difficult situation where he must keep Moira on his side because she is quite literally the only person who will keep McCree and Genji alive during this mess, whereas Moira doesn’t realize her cover has actually been blown and is still willing to go along with Gabriel and the team because she thinks she can still slip back into Overwatch without a hitch.

McCree, however, is sort of stuck in the unfortunate spot of being our “main protagonist” so he gets all the narrative clues without really figuring out what’s going on.  In a classic spy thriller trope (or perhaps better as an ironic Holmes and Watson moment), McCree is the Watson or Lestrade to Reyes’ Holmes in this event (particularly funny given that McCree got a Sherlock Holmes skin for the Anniversary event immediately after).

What this does show, however, isn’t that McCree somehow isn’t smart or isn’t clever - “Reunion” very clearly shows he can be and is both.  Instead, “Retribution” shows that McCree just isn’t very suited for the “real work” of going deep undercover and stringing smart, intelligent, ambitious, and uncompromising characters like Moira, Akande, Maximilien, and Sanjay along.

McCree “plays the fool” well in Retribution because he doesn’t fully get it in the moment.

Sombra, on the other hand, is much better suited for this role: she “plays the fool” well enough to distract other Talon members and draw their attention while letting Reaper “reap the rewards” and make the organization rely on him more and more.  They need him to keep an eye on her, they need him to be an unkillable commander, and they need him to help shore up the slacking and ineffective Talon leadership.

And it works.

Reaper gets a spot in the council.

Sombra gets more critical intel about Talon’s structure and its connections to other organizations - such as Sanjay and Vishkar, which she can use to potentially turn characters like Symmetra away from Vishkar’s control.

Again, we don’t know exactly when this cooperation between Reaper and Sombra began, but it’s plausible it started just before the fall of Overwatch or shortly after.

Reyes needs someone to cover his back because as he goes deeper and deeper into Talon’s clutches -

His “partner” Jack Morrison cannot follow him.

(Not that Reyes wants to jeopardize Morrison, to be honest.  Protecting Jack is Gabriel’s whole motivation to begin with.)

And one of his most trusted agents is absolutely terrible at going undercover:

Moira: McCree...we need to talk about your...Italian accent.

McCree: Well, I watched a bunch of old Spaghetti Westerns.  I thought it was pretty good!  Bone-a serr-a, signora.  Can I-a get chu-a somethin’ ta drink?

Moira: Please, never do that again.

---

Reyes: This mess was all worth it to see McCree try and pass himself off as a waiter!

McCree: I thought I did just fine.

Reyes: ...You got fired from your cover job, Jesse.

McCree: The lady was being rude!  She had it coming.

---

Instead, between “Retribution” and “Uprising”, Reyes starts putting McCree back on the types of covert ops missions he’s good at: sneaking into militarized hot zones, conducting basic reconnaissance, and setting up heists and thefts.

By “Uprising”, this appears to suit both the commander and the agent just fine.

But in the timespan between “Uprising” and the fall of Overwatch (approximately 1 year), things take a dramatic turn for the worse.

Reinhardt his forced to retire, a decision Torbjörn is furious with.  We don’t know if Jack was forced by his own superiors to make the decision, or if he made the choice to potentially protect Reinhardt (either from double-agents or from harming himself in battle, tbh).  However, this begins to isolate Gabriel and Jack from a support network that kept them secure from Talon.

And then at some point:

Ana loses a critical sniper battle against Widowmaker -

And Gabriel and Jack’s greatest ally is suddenly “dead” to the world.

Either shortly before or shortly after this, McCree leaves Overwatch.

It’s likely that McCree left for his own protection, otherwise he could’ve easily ended up “like Ana”. 

...Or worse.

(It is strongly implied that Jack Morrison survived the Swiss Base explosion because he is genetically “enhanced”, something which McCree doesn’t have.)

Again, it isn’t surprising that McCree’s story effectively parallels both The Shrike’s (sharpshooter disappears and returns later as a bounty hunter) and Soldier: 76′s (commander and soldier loyal to BW/OW disappears and reappears later as a vigilante pursuing his own idea of justice).  The three characters are unified by this trope and have connections to Sombra.

It also isn’t surprising that Sombra is essentially "a shadow” of the roles that Morrison and McCree had for Reyes prior to the fall: she is a reminder of all that Reyes stands to protect (Jack, the partner who called him “Gabe”) and the agent he considered “effective” and saw great potential in (Jesse, the agent he recruited).  But in many ways, Sombra is far, far better suited to operate as Reaper’s partner-in-crime - the shadow to his smoke and mirrors - as he goes deeper and deeper in infiltrating Talon than either Soldier: 76 or McCree is.

Both Soldier: 76 and McCree are much better at blunter approaches to intel collecting and reconnaissance, and both are better at recruiting allies than Reaper’s “masquerading” persona.  They appear to be operating on the fringes of both Talon and Recalled OW, searching for other methods that can work in tandem with Reaper and Sombra while not compromising either character’s cover.

And just to really hone it in:

[Such a short statement belies its astonishing truth: We have not seen the last of Overwatch. Being dismantled by the UN only drove them into the shadows.]

We really should have expected this from the moment Overwatch launched.

I mean -

The developers told us to pay attention to the shadows.

[barpurplewrites]

Enjoy your trip

@a-monthly-rumbelling Non Lemon prompt - One falls on top of the other.

For some reason Gold has become Belle’s personal safety net.

-x-x-x-

Granny's Dinner.

Gold had opted to eat his breakfast in the diner this morning. The mood struck him to do so about once every two weeks, and since he had a new trade magazine arrive with the day's mail and today felt perfect for a lazy breakfast before he opened the shop.

He placed his order and claimed his favoured table by the door. The trade magazine, Modern Antiques, had an interesting article on establishing an on-line presence. Gold had a website for the shop, but he knew there was always more he could do to increase sales. He was puzzling his way through the section on something called Instagram when it happened.

In rapid succession the diner door opened, he heard a yelp of pained surprise, and he found himself with a lap full of librarian. Instinct had moved his hands to catch her, and it only took three seconds for him to realize that while one hand was respectable on her waist, the other had was on her bottom. He snatched both away as if he had been burned.

“Wow, thanks for the save Mr Gold.”

Belle was still sitting in his lap. He offered her a hand to set her on her feet again. Once his brain was no longer occupied with the warm, soft weight of Belle in his lap his ability to speak returned.

“Tis no matter, dearie. Might I suggest lower heels?”

She laughed, actually laughed at what he had meant to be a snide comment. Incredible.

“But if I wore lower heels I'd become a trip hazard for other people.”

He had no reply to that, even with her ridiculous heels she was even shorter than him, many of the elementary school children were already taller than her. She gave him a sunny smile and skipped away to the counter. Gold watched her until his view was obstructed by Granny bringing him his breakfast. He nodded his thanks and dug in. He put the strange start to his day out of his mind and returned to the mysteries of Instagram. It made a little more sense with the help of coffee and bacon.

Corner of Cherry and Main.

Gold had forgotten it was Spring Break. At least he had until the streets were filled with groups of kids. How had he missed the explosion of chocolate eggs, bunnies and chicks in the windows of every store but his? Easter always managed to sneak up on him, he wasn't sure how but it did. This year he blamed the sudden increase in temperature. The weather had opted to skip the usual spring showers and set the sun to a gentle broil. He was going to have to switch to his lighter-weight suits sooner rather than later. He was considering switching his wardrobe over this evening as he rounded the corner from Main Street into Cherry lane.

The cheerful noise of children had been a background noise all day, so he didn't pay them any mind. The sudden frantic ringing of bells and whoosh of air as half a dozen shouting kids whizzed by him on their bikes paled a little as he stumbled back into the wall of Tink's Toys with an armful of librarian.

“Ooff. Sorry Mr Gold. The kids are crazy today.”

He'd dropped his cane and grabbed her again. And his damn hand had found it's way to her bottom again. He was going to have to have serious words with his left hand, it was clearly trying to get him slapped.

Belle pushed herself away from him and he took a deep breath, which promptly caught in his throat as she crouched down in front of him. His left hand twitched and tried to reach for her hair. What the hell? Never mind serious words, he was going to cut the damn hand off, better safe than sorry.

He didn't have time to pull his wayward hand back to his side before Belle glance up.

“Oh thank you.”

She took his hand and rose to her feet. She was holding his cane, that was what she had bent down for. He took it with muttered thanks.

“I appear to be making a habit of landing on you, Mr Gold.”

He managed a small laugh; “Ah but this time the fault lies with the bicycling hoard.”

Belle giggled; “Oh Henry and his friends will love being called that. They're all into knights and dragons at the moment.

“They need some lessons on chivalry towards other road users.”

“I'll have a word with them in the library this afternoon. See you later Mr Gold.”

He returned her cheery wave and stood for a long moment after she had disappeared around the corner trying to remember what he was doing. Ah yes, going home to change into a lighter-weight suit. It was much warmer today than he had thought.

The Beach

Gold enjoyed the beach of an evening. It was cooler, less crowded, and the chances of him getting sunburn were zero. Perfect. He found himself a convenient outcrop of rock and sat down to watch the waves. A little way along the sand a group of people were tossing a Frisbee back and forth, he recognized their voices, but that wasn't much of a surprise, it was still a bit early in the season for tourists. He paid them no mind, happy to sit and let the evening breeze ruffle his hair and blow the cobwebs of the day away.

“Go long Belle!”

The shout from Ruby made him turn his head towards the Frisbee game. The moment he saw Belle running backwards towards him he just knew what was going to happen. Unlike the other time he had a split second to brace himself be fore she stumbled and fell into his lap.

The Frisbee sailed to a halt a few feet to his right. Belle brushed her hair out of her face and gave him a grin.

“We meet again, Miss French.”

“Yeah, sorry, Rubes was a bit enthusiastic with that throw.”

At least his damned randy left hand was behaving itself this time. It had placed itself demurely on Belle's back, just between her shoulder blades right were the crochet of her beach-cover-up stopped and her warm bare skin started. Damnation! With a gentle nudge he encouraged Belle back to her feet. She bounced up to her feet. With a graceful kick she managed to catch the Frisbee with her bare toes to flick it into her hand. She'd painted her toenails a warm gold.

“Come on Belle!”

She shot him one of those ever-ready sunny smiles of hers and scampered back to her friends.

“Catch you later Belle,” he called after her.

She turned as she ran and called back, “Not if I catch you first, Gold.”

He sat smiling at the sea, rubbing the fingers of his left hand with his thumb and wondering if she really meant that.

The Pawnshop

Gold had spent a lot of time over the past few days thinking about Belle French. Her golden toenails, her sunny smiles, her playful banter, and her habit of falling into his arms. Could he call that a habit? As far as he could tell there was no planning behind her tumbles. He'd not noticed her to be a particularly clumsy person. She'd not once given him the horrified look he'd expect from anyone else if they suddenly found themselves in his lap. Nor had she cursed him out for his inability to control his left hand. He frowned at the offending appendage as he positioned the ladder.

“Downright sinister the way you keep reaching for her.”

He laughed silently and wondered if Belle would like the wordplay of that thought. Perhaps next time she fell into his arms he would ask her for coffee, and then they could talk, and see if … if what? The sensible part of his mind said to see if they could be friends. The part of his mind that was clearly in control of his left hand said to see if they could be friends and lovers.

“Give you credit Lefty, you do aim high.”

He squared the ladder up and made sure he had placed the spare bulbs in the handy little pouch that sat over the top handle. Why did the bulbs always blow when Dove was away? Dove didn't need the ruddy ladder to reach the chandelier, that man must have spent his formative years sleeping in a green house with his feet in compost. Gold took a deep breath and started up the ladder. This was always a bit of a production for him, but long years of practise  meant he had it mastered now.

Until today apparently. The shop door jingled open and the ladder shook. His foot slipped transferring all of his weight onto his bad leg. He spotted Belle and tried to shout her out of the way before he toppled over. Panic caused the air around him to turn in to syrup, he felt forward into Belle's arms, and his left hand caught the back of her head just in time to cushion it from the floor as they crashed backwards.

He was only inches from her face. That little stubborn lock of hair that always refused to stay tied back was fluttering in time with his gasping breathing. He really should move, but Belle's hand was brushing his hair out of his face.

“Are you okay, Gold?”

“Yeah,” even though he knew he wasn't, his leg would be complaining merry hell once it caught up with recent events, his back would probably join in the choir of pain just for kicks, but right now Belle was caressing his face and all was right with the world.

She gave him a smile, sunny as usual, but softer, more intimate like a sunset rather than the blaze of full day.

“I told you I'd catch you.”

“That you did, now what are you going to do with me?”

“Claim my prize.”

He didn't have time to ask her what she meant before she'd raised her head just enough to close the gap between them and kiss him. It was delightful, and so of course that was the moment his leg chose to register its formal complaint about the fall.

“Aahh ow!”

Belle pulled back so fast she almost crushed his fingers which were still behind her head. With wide panicked eyes she asked; “What's wrong?”

“Fall caught up with me.”

“Okay, okay let's get you up.”

It took much careful movement, a bit of untangling, a small amount of groan muffled swearing but they made it into the back room where Gold gratefully dropped onto the cot. That left hand of his took over again and he tugged Belle into his lap. She settled carefully with a giggle.

“I believe you were claiming your prize?”

“Hum, yes I was, wasn't I?”

Over the next half hour or so Gold decided that Belle's kisses were better than his pain killers, and maybe he should let his left hand lead the way more often.

[fulcrum-agent]

Shipping Meme

Answer the following for your muse so people know how shipping works on your blog.

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER?:

Ashla is currently in a formal courtship, though it's a bit tricky because the person plays a character using the same name and concept on both Balmung and Mateus, but they're not the same timeline - the one on Mateus was a sort of reboot, so to speak, while the one on Balmung has history dating back to the start of the game. We're still trying to figure out how to handle the new server visiting thing, since the Ashe on Balmung and the Ashe on Mateus are the same person, from an RP standpoint.

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO WRITE WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?

I prefer longer term build-ups than a lot of people do, and they have to be organic. I'm willing to pre-plan some things for shipping RP, but most of it still has to stem naturally from the RPs.

As far as sensual/sexual RP goes, that really varies from partner to partner, and usually takes a long while to happen, as I have to really know the person OOC before I'd be comfortable with it. Till then, if such is supposed to occur from RP, it's fade-to-black and handwave discussions.

I'm also favourable to non-romantic ships. Not everything has to be a romantic paring to be fun.

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?

Given that Ashla is an adult, ten or eleven years is about the upper limit, though something close to that could be negotiable for a romantic ship. My own parents in real life were midway between that distance in years (10.5-ish), so it's not a wholly foreign idea to me. A lot of people on my dad's side of the family had similar age gaps.

Non-romantic ships are way more negotiable, especially if there’s a hardset “it’s not going to become romantic ever” involved.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?

Hellaciously.

Primarily, my concern lies in communication between partners, as all too often, there's not enough communication, and someone gets burned. Often, both parties end up feeling burned, because the lack of communication inevitably leads to some sort of argument. This, of course, makes it harder and harder for a person to be willing to do any kind of ship, with romantic ships becoming too dangerous of ground to walk on.

This post here that I reblogged covers a lot of how I feel about shipping/having an RP partner. If you can't live up to this, then it just won't work.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED NSFW?

Near the point where clothes start coming off. There're times when even some sensual RP where the clothing hasn't come off will cross into NSFW territory, depending upon the actions being done.

WHO ARE OTHER THE CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH?

A courtship between Ashe and my RL boyfriend's character on Mateus was started, but it's sort of in a stalled state right now. He's long been on Balmung with a character of the same name, and their stories are completely separate. The one on Balmung is even married, with a kid or two, and his mind has been shattered a bit.

Given that I was playing the Ashla on both servers as the same character, that's become rather complicated rather fast. With the upcoming server visits, it'll become significantly more complicated and weird. He's talking about changing the character's name, so once that's done, this may work out better.

There's some sort of ship going on with Ashe and Jurien Ashur. They're becoming good friends. But interesting overtones are happening there. It sort of oscillates and melds between Estelle and Yuri from Tales of Vesperia, Kōsei and Kaori from Your Lie in April, and Rapunzel and Flynn from Tangled.

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?:

There's this thing about consent and role-play, and this'd fall underneath that. While shipping can occur during RP, if you turn up and have that intention from the beginning, for the love of all that his holy, you better tell me about it. I don't mind if it's something that develops organically from two characters who we don't intend for that to happen to. But if that's the premise from the start, please own up to it.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?

I'm not entirely sure how to quantify that question, because the first near five years I was around in XIV, I had a steady RP partner who had three of four characters shipped with two or three of mine.  I've had one actually played, predominantly platonic, ship since then (prior to sort of starting something with the boyfriend's character, and the new thing with Jurien).

Prior to that, in GW2, I didn't really have much of a ship going on; my Sylvari chilled out with this other Sylvari, but we never had it go anywhere - it was mostly to keep people from hounding us for relationship RP. In SW: TOR, my main character (I didn't really play any other much) was with the same person for my time in the game, and the two and a half years leading up to that, when we were creating backstory and our guild there (the character was played by my ex-fiancee). Aion I started something with someone I knew from EQ2, but they got immensely weird OOC, and that ended by the time we were working on TOR stuff. Prior to that, I had a like two ships with the same player on different characters, and then I had a two ships over the entire first three expansions of Star Wars Galaxies. I didn't really have much of one in EQ1, because I was kinda often too busy for it.

It either could be considered "not often", or more like frequent "steady, long-term" ships?

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?:

I'm not to preoccupied with getting characters into a ship - the fact Ashe keeps falling into them is super weird to me. I can get a little hyper focused on a ship (platonic or romantic) due to weaving into my storytelling, but it's not some sort of goal I have. I've kept most of my characters out of them, especially since the abusive ex was tossed out.

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?

I'm going to assume this question is about romantic shipping.

I've done it before. My original main was in a relationship with two of the abusive ex's characters (one male and one female character). She later had a relationship that was heading towards a Buffy and Spike dynamic, that started before the ex was kicked out, but didn't go far due to not playing much after the breakup.

Generally, it'd depend on the character, and the people involved. If things pan out with the guy courting Ashe, and ICly he doesn't want her to see other people, then that's how it'll work. If not, then it'll be more open-ended.

Now, if we're talking more than romantic ships, I'm chill with multiple platonic ships, so long as the communication is good, and they don't conflict unless it's something hat makes sense and is fun for everyone. Should anyone not be having fun, then things get changed so everyone can still have fun. That kinda goes for either type of ship.

WHAT IS/ARE YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP(S) IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?:

I always loved the "Haurchefaunt is adventurer sexual" thing. Where basically, Haurchefaunt has a thing for adventurers in general, and since the WoL is the consummate adventurer, he falls hard for the WoL.

I also really liked Ysayle and Estinien, and I will never forgive SQEX for that kick to the feels.

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?:

As mentioned above, if you're interested in that from the beginning, please just be up front about it. If the interest develops after RP, but the RP itself hasn't gotten that far or given much signs of it, talk to me about it. If it starts looking like it's heading that way, I'll talk to you about it - possibly even mid-RP, if the RP suddenly takes that turn.

Tagged by Stolen From: @alisaie-leveilleur

Tagging: Anyone that hasn’t done it and wishes to.

[adlhomestudy]

Verticality in Small Gardens

I recently inherited a small garden to work with which presented a slight conundrum. For one thing, it was a bit late in spring for heroic amounts of germination and bringing plants on, and for another, there are limitations on the amenity use of the garden. The largest parcel of land is lawn and (regrettably) must remain so in order to service a role for testing tents and camping equipment. Additional to this, there are three medium sized trees at the edge of the garden and sitting right above the flower border. The rest of the garden (borders, fences, and any surface in sight) is fair game. So, let the gardening commence!

The main aims of the garden, I reasoned, should be to compensate for the reduction in biodiversity a lawn imposes. So I am looking to attract many bees, birds, moths, butterflies, etc by encouraging as many colourful and perfumed plants as I can. As the garden is quite close to a natural piece of woodland, I also feel there should be some continuity between the species, aiming for a “semi natural” appearance rather than going off the deep end with exotics and oddities.

Build it and they shall come! Last week’s esteemed visitor was a Lime Hawk Moth.

Image by Dr. A. Patterson.

Given the constraints of space, the possibility of growing any large amount of food is off the cards for this venture. Cats have littered the borders and slug pellets have been used extensively in the past, so the risk of contamination precludes significant amounts of food plants. That said, there is always the chance to grow some cheeky lettuce in plant pockets.

The basic structure within which defines the border area. Image by Dr. A. Patterson

As you can see, the trees lead the way in this garden. And that way is UPWARDS! In such a small space with an abundance of sides, edges, fences and walls, utilising verticality in a growing design is essential. That should include:

1.    Pot plants arranged in tiers, from the lawn layer, up to small trees and bushes. 2.    Using ledges and surfaces as much as possible for ‘lone’ pot plants. 3.    Using hanging baskets, hanging buckets, and pocket planters 4.    Making maximum vertical use of a mini greenhouse. 5.    Using garden netting against the fence for climbers. 6.    Arranging plants in the borders in a tiered polyculture to capture light.

The complication of the border sitting right under the tree presents three significant complications;

1.    Less water available due to leaf cover and root losses 2.    Less light available due to shading 3.    Excess of organic matter being shed into the border, including leaf matter, blossom, seedlings, etc.

In short, siting a border under trees so closely is a bad idea, and it is rarely seen in nature for the above reasons. As a result of this, (plus the addition of cat litter), the border needs to be quite intensively managed and looked after, particularly if bringing on germinating seedlings.

In this case, the design has led to an overgrowth of slugs and snails, which needed to be controlled by organic slug and snail repellent. Actually, this did the trick pretty well.

Designing for verticality: In this design, the canopy layer lies in reverse to the rest of the herbaceous layers.

Provided the canopy is open enough with good sunshine, this is possible.

Layer: Contains

1: Climbers: clematis; passionflower; sweetpeas; holly hocks; honeysuckle

2: Umbellifers: parsley; fenugreek; fennel; sweet cicely; coriander

3: Tall ornamentals; poppies, echinacea;

4: Native herbs; borage; lemon balm; sage; oregano;

5: Ornamental flowers; nemesia; asters; petunias; bleeding hearts

6: Ground layer; strawberries; pansies; clover;  thyme

7: Established trees; apple; cherries

I also have plans to make three troughs out of repurposed wooden pallets and site them by the small pond and at the far end of the garden. In these I will plant Comfrey, Marshmallow, and (in autumn time for next year) Mullein. All of these are large native architectural plants which will attract wildlife and provide some foliage and pretty flowers (a) to cover up fences and (b) to promote the feeling of every vertical space being used within the garden. The plants will be in troughs so as not to damage the mulch mat which underlies the far borders.

Having planted up and as I watch the plants grow, we shall see how this garden design develops throughout the year. Whilst many of the aims of the floral wildlife garden can be achieved in one season, it is really next year when the design will settle down and gaps can be plugged. If you are interested in horticulture for personal or professional reasons, ADL have a variety of courses suited to your needs. Please check out the website to see how high you can grow!