#and yeah every part where she can't fight someone off is just because they're all in the same power league

[swan2swan]

Ariel: the Strongest Disney Princess

[zeroslashsix]

Following my Gambit post, I love love love the way Rogue's powers are handled in X-Men Evolution. Like Gambit, Rogue tends to have a certain set of 'roles' when she's in a show/movie: she's focused on inner torment about her powers, on being a Spicy Southern Belle, or her romantic connections. Which is to say, her stories are usually about emotions and relationships, which is fine, I love those parts of her as much the rest. But if she's not fighting, her powers are only really viewed through a lens of how she feels about them, and how they impact her ability to connect with others.

And here's X-Men Evolution, fully leaning into the fact that Rogue’s power is one of the most dangerous in the entire show. I love the s3 ep "Self-Possessed" so much because it takes the brakes off her, and really commits to the idea that stacking powers is catastrophic when you consider she can wield multiple omega-level powersets at the same time. Her main limitation is that she doesn't want other personalities in her head, she limits her power usage because she just doesn't like it, and yeah, totally fair, but Rogue could absolutely wake up one day, go through the mansion and decide to be an omega squared. X-Men Evolution is about teenagers who are still figuring out their abilities, even at the end of the series when they're a year (two years?) older. By the finale, they have more control and training, but they are absolutely still growing into adulthood and have not reached full potential.

Which is why I think "Self-Possessed" is such a fascinating look at Rogue's powers. Every iteration of Rogue imposes a time limit on her absorption, meaning that any powers she absorbs will only stay with her for a short time. But in that episode, when she's succumbing to all those personalities in her head, her time limit stops existing. She can access powers for months, maybe even years after the initial absorption. Mystique's powers couldn't have given Rogue that ability; the only way Rogue could do such a thing is if that potential already exists inside of her. This implies that when she absorbs a power, that power stays inside her as long as the personality does, and her "time limit" is just a matter of control, or lack thereof.

This seems to be backed up by the s3 finale, where Mesmero and Mystique mind control Rogue to gather powers, and Rogue proceeds to SWEEP the X-Men, Brotherhood, Acolytes, and Magneto in less than 24 hours. By the end of it, she seems fully capable of using any and all their powers at will, ignoring any sort of time limit. Mesmero can mind control others, but he can't enhance them. He cannot give someone powers they don't already possess. The only reason Rogue could do all that is because she was already capable of it, and the fact Mesmero could mind control this out of her seems to imply that Rogue's limitations are entirely self-imposed, mostly mental/emotional, or maybe a lack of experience. (Similar to the season four finale where Rogue seems to use Leech’s power better than he does, probably just because he’s a little kid and she’s an adolescent so has a better grasp on powers in general)

Like, no wonder Mystique and Destiny wanted her powers. No wonder Magneto was so thrilled to have her in the ranks in the first season. No wonder so many people in the world want to use her; she is the all-mutant, the living multi tool that can gather multitudes of power in one place and then combine them. The only reason she isn't considered omega-level is pure technicality; in terms of destruction she could actually lay down, Rogue is absolutely as dangerous as plenty of omegas. The requirements for an omega are 1) infinite power, and 2) limitless power. Rogue has the first one; she can stack an infinite number of powers. But she lacks the second; all her powers must come from the outside, and she cannot generate them herself. But if she has access to multiple omega powersets like she does in Self-Possessed, that technicality kind of stops mattering once the punches actually start flying.

Which all leads into Rogue's main emotional journey through X-Men Evolution, which is perhaps my favorite she's ever had: being used. That's why she was adopted. That's why she was raised being unable to touch, being lied to by both her moms. That's why she was taken into the Brotherhood, and it's why Mystique will never leave her alone. Extra fascinating because after the reveal in season one that Mystique is Kurt's mother, Mystique leaves Kurt completely alone for the rest of the series, while simultaneously stalking and manipulating Rogue. Why the difference? Because Kurt is not a useful tool. Not compared to Rogue. And I think Rogue sees that difference, which makes for such a juicy dynamic when Kurt is so interested in actually loving Mystique, for insisting that Rogue should forgive their mother and 'let hatred go,' because he genuinely thinks that anyone can be saved with enough love. Whereas Rogue, who has seen Mystique's 'love' up close for her whole life, is desperately trying to get away from that, with good reason.

One of the reasons I wish we’d had more seasons, or at least more episodes in the last season, is how seamlessly Rogue’s feelings about her powers flowed into her feelings around being used, her feelings around family, and being dehumanized to the point of mind-wipe by her own mother. Yes she’s sad about the no-touching thing, but that’s nothing compared to being seen as a literal object in the eyes of others, because her powers are utterly perfect—for someone else to use. Which flows into questions of bodily autonomy, of who her powers “belong to” vs. who they “should belong to.” Especially considering that Rogue is only at full power when she loses control/is under someone else’s control, which could lead someone to conclude, “Well of course Rogue should be under someone’s control, preferably mine. She’s so powerful when someone else is controlling her, and so weak when she controls herself. It’s honestly such a waste for Rogue to be her own person when she could be so much more. She needs to be used to reach her full potential.”

In a perfect world, we’d have way more X-Men Evo than we got. More seasons, more episodes, more time to explore whatever the hell Rogue had going on. And if I was allowed to pick, I would have loved to see Rogue with a character arc of self-ownership. In particular, it would be so cool to see her powers develop to the point she can have a “Self-Possessed” crisis and control it, fully aware of herself and all the powers she holds. I’d love to see her use those powers for her own benefit, on purpose, independent of both her mother and the X-Men. I’d love to see a self-serving Rogue in the XMenEvo. Not necessarily evil (though it would be a fascinating villain arc) but a Rogue who chooses selfishness as an act of rebellion. Who can use all those powers simultaneously, consciously, and disobediently. Vengeance, maybe? Or something that heightens humans’ fear of mutants? I’d love to see Rogue become inconvenient to the X-Men, at the very least, either physically or philosophically. Certainly nothing so dire as the Phoenix saga, but something that uses her powers to their fullest extent. (Damn could you imagine Rogue as the Horseman of Death if this went in the opposite direction. How fucking overpowered would Death!Rogue be, how the hell would the X-Men deal with that)

Anyways. Fanfiction is the folklore of the now or whatever. And XMenEvo was already a crazy high school AU anyway.

[firegirl888101]

Hi

I was wondering if you can do a head cannon if Y/N introduced Among Us to the harbingers. What would their reactions be like to the game and how chaotic would the emergency meetings get.

(also this is my very first ask ever, you don't need to responded if you don't want to)

(I've never played Among Us before, I'm basing my knowledge off of one livestream I watched during the height of the pandemic... and memes.)

Chaos.

The way I see it, Pierro and Pulcinella would likely sit out to stop any arguments from getting violent. They don't want to play the game because they can already feel the amount of arguments that will follow and don't have the patience to engage in them. Pulcinella's argument is that he's a mayor so it would be cheating if he joined, meanwhile Pierro just walks away when asked.

Scaramouche and Childe would 100% settle a debate with a fight to the death. Oh? We can't decide who's actually telling the truth and who's lying? Let's settle this in another way. Even Pierro and Pulcinella won't be able to break this fight up, it's better to let Childe tire himself out until the other Harbingers make their decision.

Y/N would regret introducing them to the game because now they can't have any peace in the house. Whenever someone suggests playing the game, they're either forced to join in or forced to sit out and watch from afar by Pulcinella and Pierro's side.

I can definitely see Arlecchino and Childe fighting over colours. (They both want the red character but only one person can be a colour at a time)

Capitano is always the first to be voted out because he doesn't take part in the discussions, he finds them pointless considering everyone is going to vote him out first anyway. It got to the point where he forced Y/N to play for him if they were just watching since he was tired of wasting time.

Columbina is strangely good at the game. Somehow, she can trick every single Harbinger into thinking she's the imposter when in actuality, she's not. She just wants to start drama. That, or she's bored and wants to do something else - she gets voted out then leaves the room to go back to what she was doing before. What was she doing before? Don't ask her, she won't tell you.

Rounds with the harbingers will probably last 20-30 minutes. All the Harbingers are technically diplomats for Snezhnaya so they know their way around debate and deciding who to vote off for 'the sake of the ship'. Yeah, none of them really buy into the bullshit story, they just enjoy taking the piss of eachother without being scolded by Pierro since that's technically what the game is.

^ Also, the Harbingers definitely whisper to eachother and form alliances in each round no matter whether they're a crewmate or imposter. Don't be surprised to find a few crewmates knowingly defending an imposter, they have an alliance after all! You can usually find Arlecchino and Columbina in a pair, and Dottore and Pantalone in a pair.

Pantalone is also good at this game, not as good as Columbina but he's a good manipulator when it comes to making his opponents believing what he wants them to believe. If Columbina and Pantalone form an alliance, all the Harbingers know they'll be on the winning side at the end of the round.

Sandrone and Signora aren't too bothered about the game. They have fun laughing at the others when they're ejected from the ship and painfully screaming that they're not the imposter, but other than that, they're quite neutral. Everyone who plays the game is insistent they join and play because each round needs neutral players who will listen to both sides and determine the best solution to the argument. Although, Signora sometimes likes to pick Childe over Scaramouche if he annoyed her in particular during the session.

Also Columbina is always the pink character. Don't argue with her about this, Sandrone once picked pink before Columbina sat down and almost got her eyes ripped out her skull. After that, it was quickly made a rule that everyone sticks to their own colours and doesn't swap. Apart from Columbina panting in anger, it did solve the whole Arlecchino and Childe fighting problem. Childe took dark blue and Arlecchino kept the red.

This was really fun to imagine! <3

[your-turn-to-role]

is there a canon reason why percy and vex broke up? did tal or laura ever say why exactly?

not to my knowledge? they mentioned a lot about the secret wedding, but the break up was mentioned offhand in the campaign wrap-up talks machina, when they were asked if there was anything anyone did during the year off that never came up in the campaign

i will say though that in quite a few talks machinas tal and laura talk about perc'ahlia like a celebrity relationship (or specifically say "yeah we're one of those couples"), and that's a thing you tend to see fairly often with celebrities that end up in tabloids - they have a complicated life, they break up and get back together quite a bit, so i think part of it is tal and laura having fun playing that drama and letting them be those disaster celebrities

if you want my speculation on an in-canon reason though? i think the commitment freaked them out

like vex has always had issues surrounding stability, she's not had it in her life since she was a little kid, and she's just made excuses to herself her whole life that she's fine because she doesn't want stability - she just wants her brother and to keep moving and to never have to worry about putting down roots or forming emotional attachments because it hurts less that way. it's why she gets so jealous and snippy when vax starts showing interest in keyleth, and why she keeps shutting down his attempts to tell her he's moving to zephrah - she can't keep being flighty and only attached to her brother if he wants to settle down with someone else

as much as she loves percy, and they're good for each other, we know from the grey hunt trial that the idea of settling down with him scares her, because it's new, and because it means for the first time in a long time she has something to lose

percy is almost the opposite, he lost his entire family once already and he doesn't ever want to do that again. it's why he gets so vicious when scanlan leaves, because vox machina is his new family, and no one's allowed to tear that apart again (also why we get the really tentative "i know we don't always agree and i know i can be unkind, but... you know you're family, right?" to grog immediately after)

but a relationship is a whole new step, he trusts vex about as much as he does anyone, but this isn't just trusting her with his anger issues, or trusting her with his city, this is trusting her with the future, with his future, with always being around. i don't think he's confident enough to believe she loves him that much, that anyone could, and if he lets himself take that step fully, he has so much more to lose if something happens like it did last time

so it's all well and good when the relationship is new, when they're still trying things out, when it's flirty and it doesn't have to be serious if they don't want it to

even in moments where it's emotionally heavy, like percy's resurrection, it's still new and in the moment, they're not looking past what's immediately in front of them

(and even after that heavy moment, vex got nervous percy didn't like her back and decided to push it all to the back of her brain and not think about it - vax straight up told her to go chase him bc she deserved to be happy and she instead got drunk and changed the subject)

but then the fighting's over. they're not worried about their lives every day. no one died, they're both still here. and it starts to sink in with them that this isn't going anywhere. that this can be their forever, if they choose it. and that scares both of them, and when they get scared they tend to either wall themselves off or lash out, and both would cause a schism in their relationship. and then one day it turns into an argument and in the heightened emotion one of them says they should break up and the other agrees

and now they're emotionally safe, because if they cause the relationship to end on their terms it can't be pulled away from them unexpectedly

but they're not actually happy

and maybe they come to that realisation on their own, more likely they talk about it with their friends and vax and keyleth tell them they're being idiots

and then the question is what to do about it

it's possible they went slowly back into it

or, since we know their first marriage proposals were a dare, maybe they weren't even together again yet

i could see that being exactly the sort of thing they'd do if they wanted to get back together but they didn't want to be the first one to admit that they wanted to

skip the dating phase we already did that i dare you to marry me

and maybe they talk about it much later, maybe they don't

but i think by the time they got to the marriage, they'd realised they wanted this to be more than a casual thing, and it's still probably scary, but there's no one else they'd trust to get them through that fear and come out the other side

[fandom-shitposter]

Why do we have to slog through 50 layers of heavily applied references in every current Star Wars show?

Because it's a smokescreen trying to make us dismiss the ones which point out the actual underlying story. Which is the exact same story we already know only from a slightly different angle and using clones and technology instead of Jedi since, you know, that's not really an option anymore

The story of a child living on a backwater planet who lives solely with their mother, a child who has an amazing talent for machinery and builds their own droid(s), who gets to run off with a bunch of men (their new 'family') for a far more exciting life which ultimately leads to devastation after they made some really bad life choices because they don't want to accept death as a factor of life

And yeah, I do realise how basically stripped down that description is

First we meet the small child, then we meet them again when they're older and getting all trained up (even if it is done as more of a Dooku/Ventress thing second time around)

And then they hit their final stage where they never ever take their helmet off until the very end of things, and neither of them are using their own speaking voice

Cue the supposed 'shock' ending and a bunch of Disney execs patting themselves on the back for no one seeing it coming

-

Each OG role has been divided up between 2-3 current characters so Omega can help Mommy out by building a cyborg to mimic Anakin building C3PO but she hasn't had the opportunity or ability to do the equivalent of killing the Jedi in the temple, that part was farmed out to someone else regardless of whether they stated it on that specific show yet. It already happened and we saw it previously

Tech can stand in for Obi-Wan disliking her flying style, teaching her the skills she'll need to survive and dealing with her on an emotional level (with the assistance of the rest of the 'family' like the Jedi would have supported Anakin), but the big Anakin vs Obi-Wan fight at the end of season 1 was acted out by Hunter and Crosshair instead and since Echo already lost the appropriate number of limbs which that fight claimed before becoming a cyborg there was no need to repeat it

-

Unfortunately they've spent so much time on cramming in the surface level references into all of these shows, bending existing characters into shapes that don't fit them (*cough* Ahsoka show *cough*), obscuring the details and dropping any inconvenient parts of former canon they don't like that it's all become a little bit overblown and boring.

The makers of Star Wars just can't get past the Anakin Skywalker story no matter how big the SWU is or how many far more interesting tales there are to tell in it. How many promising looking shows have been cancelled or lost to development hell to focus on this instead?

Just last year Dave Filoni claimed that Anakin was the best Jedi ever (or something like that) and we all laughed at him for it. So why did he claim it in the first place? Who was he trying to convince? Are we just supposed to watch these shows and decide that Disney are doing it better than Lucas ever could? Just what is the point here?

Apart from money, obviously

[queen-of-deans-booty]

Girls, Girls, Girls: Final Part

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.2k

Warnings: canon angst and violence, extra angst

Summary: You run into the witch Rowena who is taking recruits for her coven, and it doesn't go exactly to plan.

Season Ten Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. I love seeing any and all comments <3

x

Dean asks to talk to the waiter who was involved in the death of the man whether he did it or just witnessed it, that's what he's here to find out. Sam stays outside to make a few phone calls so it's just you and Dean together.

"In the middle of my shift, Marty is falling down, clutching his head, and stroking out right there on the floor. He was sweating and turning red like..."

"Like his brains were boiling?" The waiter nods. "Was there anything else unusual?"

"More unusual than our head waiter dropping dead in front of me?"

"Before that."

"I don't know, I mean I thought getting two hookers in here was pretty damn unusual, but that was before Marty keeled over."

"Two hookers?"

"Based on what they were wearing, yeah."

"Were they alone?" Dean asks.

"No. They came in with a lady."

"Thank you for your time." You and Dean leave the restaurant and join Sam's side who just got off the phone. "So, it looks like our witch was here with two new friends."

"Really? Raul's girls? What does she want with them?"

"I don't know. What'd you get from the Hunter network?"

"This guy Darrell's been working a case, a series of grisly hotel murders with one at the Kensington and another at the Waldorf in Cleveland. Bodies are stabbed and impaled on the ceiling."

"Sounds a little more homicidal maniac than witchy."

"That's what Darrell thought, too, until the autopsy came back. The actual cause of death is boiled brains, the same as our waiter."

"Well, I'll give this to the witch, she's got deep pockets. The Kensington, the Waldorf, and this restaurant? That can't be cheap," Dean scoffs.

"Yeah, let's go."

"Where are we going?" you ask.

"To check out every five-star hotel in the area."

The first two hotels were a bust but the third one seems to be right up the witch's alley. You're not even sure what you're supposed to be looking for because you have no idea what this witch looks like or if she's even here anymore. Still, Sam and Dean insist on roaming the halls until they run into something witchy.

You turn the corner and see four women on the other end of the hallway. The shorter one, the redhead, has tape over her mouth and is being escorted by someone who doesn't care if she's being aggressive or not. If you had to guess, Blondie is a demon and the redhead is Rowena. The other two girls, you're not sure who they are, but they might be Raul's girls if they're dressed like prostitutes.

"You're in for a world of hurt when we deliver you to our boss," Blondie says.

"What about us? I'm not going back to that place," one of the prostitutes says.

"Operation Skank has been terminated. The only place you two are going is the dumpster out back."

The demon faces forward and sees you, Sam, and Dean. The brothers don't give her a chance to attack because Dean is already stabbing her with an angel blade. She yells out in pain and falls to the ground, and Rowena takes her girls and scurries back to avoid the line of fire. Two more demons come in as if they were waiting around the corner, giving Sam and Dean no break between fights. You don't care about this fight so you let them handle it. You step around the fight and continue towards Rowena who has removed the duct tape.

"I've read about witches like you. You're trash and pretty useless without herbs and a spell book."

Sam and Dean kill the final demon and watch you with Rowena.

"What do you know about witchcraft?" she drawls in an Irish accent.

"Have you heard of the Sapphire Witch?" you smirk.

All the blood drains from her face and she becomes rigid. She is a very powerful witch, if not the most powerful one, but there is one witch who surpasses her in every way. The Sapphire Witch. She's heard about them but has never had the pleasure of meeting one in person. For a split second, you see fear in her eyes, and that brings you so much joy knowing she is scared of what you can do--what you have done.

"Ladies, the fourth kind of witch is one who can disrupt the timeline and reality. Witches that don't need spells and herbs," Rowena says to her girls.

"What, are you afraid?" you smirk and step forward.

She visually flinches back, expecting her to be blasted back into the wall. She watches you with careful eyes until she turns her fear into confusion.

"Well? Aren't you going to hit me with your best shot?" You don't answer her but you do narrow your eyes slightly. She starts to laugh knowing you're no threat to her. "You can't, can you?" Again, silence. "Some witch you are."

"Who are these guys?" one of her girls asks.

"Hunters. Let's get out of here."

"Don't worry, ladies. Our beef's not with you. We're here for the witch. Rowena," Dean glares and joins your side.

"Always nice to be recognized," she smirks.

"Do something!" one of her girls urges.

"That's an excellent idea." She grabs a hex bag she always keeps on herself and places it into the hands of one of the girls. "Impetus bestiarum."

The girl who was given the hex bag doubles over in pain and screams.

"What did you do to her?" Dean asks.

Rowena only laughs just as the girl lifts her head up. Her eyes are red and blood is dripping down her nose. She snarls hungrily and punches Dean in the head, and then Sam. Amid the chaos, Rowena and the other girl escape past you. You could stay and help Sam and Dean or you can go after Rowena who is pissing you off.

You choose the latter.

"Go after her!" Sam says. "I can handle her."

You go after Rowena with Dean following behind you and Sam still in the hallway with the rageful girl. You walk into the alley behind the hotel just in time to see the girl punch Rowena in the face. She must be tired of her shit because she walks away, scott-free. You approach her from behind with your gun out, and she takes out a hex bag to use on the woman. Before she can say anything, you place the barrel of your gun on the back of her head.

"Witch or not, I bet you won't survive a bullet to the brain."

Rowena freezes and turns around to see you and Dean with both your guns pointed at her.

"Lady, your luck has just run out," Dean says.

Her eyes move from the two of you to someone behind Dean.

"I'm pretty sure that's not true," she laughs.

A gun is placed on the back of Dean's head, and he freezes in his spot. The man holding the gun whistles at Dean who turns to face him. You vaguely remember who this man is. His name might be Cole? Cody? He's been obsessed with Dean and trying to kill him. You're not sure why nor do you care, but he's here now which is a problem.

"Pal, we got to work on your timing," Dean sighs.

"Drop the gun, Dean-o."

"She may not look like much, but letting this one go is a big mistake."

"Drop. The. Gun."

"You heard the boy," Rowena smirks.

Dean has no choice but to drop his gun but you still have yours trained on Rowena. She diffused one of you, now she can focus on you.

"Do not let her go, Y/N," Dean warns.

You keep your eyes trained on Rowena but think about Dean's words. He wants you to kill her. He wants you to hold her hostage. He would absolutely hate it if you were to let her go.

"You were right, Rowena. I don't have access to my magic. I was the Sapphire Witch once but now she is dead. Why don't you go and spread that word around? You'd be doing me a favor."

"Gladly."

"Y/N," Dean says in a warning tone.

You lower your gun and toss it to the ground where Dean's is.

"Get the hell out of here before I change my mind."

Rowena blows a kiss at Dean before she leaves. You walk over to a broken-down car and sit on the hood as you watch Dean and Cole in their standoff. Dean will deal with you later but right now, he has Cole.

"Look, man, I am sorry about the last time we met, okay? I'm sorry about a lot of things. I'm not the same person that I was."

"You're not a person at all. See, I know all about your kind now."

"My kind? Listen--" Cole throws holy water in Dean's face expecting his skin to sizzle. However, he's confused when nothing happens. "I'm not a demon anymore."

"So, were you a demon when you murdered my father?"

"No."

"Then you're still a monster."

Cole hits Dean in the face with his gun, and even though Dean takes the punch, he grabs Cole's hand to get the gun. You would help your husband out but you're kind of curious to see how this will end. Dean manages to get the gun and throw it on the ground, and he punches Cole in the face to put some distance between them.

"Let's go," Cole says and raises his hand, ready to fight.

The two men run at each other but Dean is more skilled than Cole. Cole tries to hit him but Dean blocks his attacks easily. Dean grabs his legs and throws Cole to the ground right next to the discarded guns. Cole tries to reach for his gun but Dean kicks the gun away.

"Come on, Cole! Beat his ass!" you yell. Dean ignores you as he grabs his own gun and points it at Cole. "Boo. This is boring. If you're not going to beat his ass, then at least kill him."

"Shut up," Dean hisses at you.

"What are you waiting for? Do it," Cole glares.

"No. Now, I'm gonna clean this mess up once and for all. You're gonna give me five minutes and we're gonna talk. Get up." Cole does. "After that, if you don't like what you hear," Dean turns his gun so that the handle is facing Cole, "and you still want me dead, you take your shot." Cole takes the gun and points it at Dean. "What I do is hunt monsters. Your dad, Cole, was a monster."

"Yeah, you say that now, but the last time we fought, you couldn't even remember his name."

"Ed Trenton. 2003. Nyack, New York. I was working a case. Three dead with livers ripped out and eaten by your father."

"Livers?"

"Yeah, I tracked him down that night to your house."

"You say he was a monster? What kind of monster was he?"

"I don't know. I've never seen that kind before and have never seen it again. All I know is that he came home that night looking to kill. It could've been you and could've been your mom. The only reason that didn't happen is because I was there to stop him."

"I heard his voice. It was a human voice, and he begged you to stop!" Cole yells emotionally.

"It's a ploy. It's a monster's trick. I know what you heard, but know this, that was not your father, Cole. Your father was already gone."

Sam is done dealing with the rabid woman and finds you three outside. He raises his gun at Cole from behind, and Dean immediately tries to shut that down.

"Put it down. Sam, put it down!"

Cole turns around to face Sam, and he points the gun at him.

"Shoot him, Sam," you urge. "He was gonna kill your brother."

"Put it down, Sam!"

"Shoot him, Sam!"

Dean reaches into his pocket and presses the remote that controls the thing in your neck. Your entire body goes rigid, and you slide off the car as high volts of electricity course through your veins. Dean leaves the device running while he deals with this situation.

"Sam, I have got this handled. Put it down."

Sam lowers his gun but is on standby if his brother needs it. Cole turns back to Dean once he knows Sam isn't going to be a problem.

"Cole, hey, right here. We're talking, okay?"

"How can I believe you, huh? How can I believe you?!" Cole shouts.

"I get it. That was your story. Look, man, I got one of those, too. Okay, but those stories that we tell to keep us going? Man, sometimes they blind us. They take us to dark places--the kind of place where I might beat the shit out of a good man just for the fun of it. The people who love me pulled me back from that edge. Once you touch that darkness, it never goes away. Now, the truth is I'm past saving. I know how my story ends. It's at the edge of a blade or the barrel of a gun. So, the question is, is that gonna be today? Is that gonna be that gun?"

"You've got a family, Cole," Sam adds and walks closer. "I heard you on the phone that night. I'm guessing they need you to come back, and they need you to come back whole."

Cole is sobbing but hands the gun back to Dean who disables it. He needs time to think so he leaves once he assures Sam and Dean he isn't going to do anything stupid. 

"What happened to Rowena?" Sam asks.

"In the wind. Because of this one," Dean says and points to you.

"What you said earlier, back there, about being past saving, were you really...?"

"I was just telling the guy what he needed to hear." Dean walks over to you and turns the remote off. You gasp in pain and shake from the aftershock. "We need to deal with this one first."

"I'm gonna kill you," you bark out.

"Into the dungeon, you go. You've been a bad girl."

x

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[training4theapocalypse]

Finders Keepers Ch 7. (Cormac McLaggen x fem!reader)

Rating: Explicit 18+

Word Count: 6.1k

Warnings: SMUT, Romance 🥹, Finger fucking, PIV, Unprotected sex

Summary: It's Valentine's Day and Cormac knows a secluded spot.

A/N: 800 words of plot, 5.3k words of smut. Can someone please help me budget? I can't feed my family. PS I was updating weekly when a chapter was 2k but they're getting longer and longer so it will be more like every 2 weeks.

Masterlist

Tag list: @pretendfan, @countlambula, @ratsys, @aweidlich, @navs-bhat, @stainedpomegranatelips, @chiaraanatra

Chapter 7: Fine

“Did you see who the Ravenclaw Captain is going out with?”

“Does McLaggen know she’s a lesbian?”

When you returned from the holidays, murmurs surrounded you and McLaggen when you walked down the corridor with his arm around your shoulder. Even tonight as you and the other last few remaining students are ordered out of the library by Madam Pince, a few of them give you both a backwards look as you leave.

“Does it bother you?” you ask, as he scowls at a couple of fifth-year boys.

“Nah,” he says unconvincingly. “I’m more annoyed that it’s interrupting the only time we have together.”

The second part, at least, is true. Between McLaggen’s detentions with Snape every Saturday, Ravenclaw Quidditch practice and the ever-increasing demands of your N.E.W.Ts, the two of you had hardly spent any time together - never mind time alone. Potions was the only class you shared and it required so much concentration these days that it was hardly conducive to intimate conversation.

The two of you lag behind the other students, trying to take as much time as possible to return to your respective dormitories. 

“They’re probably wondering what you’re doing with me,” you scoff.

He stops in his tracks, adjusting both yours and his book bags on his shoulder. “What makes you say that?”

“Don’t be daft McLaggen, you’re you. Ridiculously good looking, well-connected…”

“You’re mental. Genuinely bonkers.”

“I’m not sure if you noticed but I was hardly fighting off suitors before we started going out.”

He puts a hand on each of your shoulders and looks into your eyes. “Listen, you are so fit. I think that was more to do with…” He hesitates.

“My personality?” You suggest with a grin.

“I was going to say your reputation but sure, let’s go with that,” he laughs. “And I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but it’s all lads who have been staring at us. I mean, the first thing Eddie Carmichael did after he saw us together was ask me how I’d managed it.”

“Yeah, right.” 

“He did, I swear! I think you’ve annoyed a lot of blokes here by being secretly bisexual.”

“It wasn’t a secret! I-”

“God, you’re so easy to wind up.” He brings his free arm around your shoulder again and you continue walking towards the entrance hall. 

“I’m not used to it. Nobody’s usually brave or stupid enough to try. Except you, obviously.” You slow down as you make your way across the courtyard towards the entrance hall where you’ll need to bid each other goodnight. “Speaking of stupidity, when’s your last detention with Snape?”

“This Saturday. Just as well because it means I’m free on Valentine’s Day. You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Yeah, good shout - the pitch will probably be free.”

“I was actually thinking we could do something together that wasn’t Quidditch practice.”

Oh.

“What kind of thing do you have in mind?”

“Well,” he takes a deep breath as you reach the marble staircase. “We could go to Madam Puddifoots? Get coffee? And dusted in confetti, probably.”

You come to a halt, thinking about Cho’s previous experience there with Harry Potter. “I can’t think of anything worse.”

“Oh, thank god.” He grins. “Me neither.”

“Now you mention it, I wouldn’t mind being alone… just the two of us,” you say, taking a step towards him and looking up at his face. “What about that room on the seventh floor you guys used for the D.A. last year?”

“Pfft, yeah right,” he laughs. “Carmichael said he had to duel about twelve other blokes for the Room of Requirement last Valentine’s Day. Too many people know about it now.”

“Scared you’ll lose?” You ask, thinking that that would be something you’d enjoy watching very much.

“Carmichael managed to get the room last year but spent the entire night with his legs stuck in the jelly legs jinx. Not worth it.” You both crack up laughing.

“I meant to ask,” you say, thinking about Marietta. “Does he have a date this Valentine’s Day?”

“Carmichael? I’m not sure, why?” He gives you a confused look.

“Could you maybe hint to him that Marietta might be interested in going out with him?”

“Eddie and Marietta? I dunno…”

“Why not?”

“I mean, she’s a bit of a…” He hesitates. “She’s sort of a goody-two-shoes, right?”

“So? Eddie’s Head Boy.” You bristle, ready to defend her.

“Yeah because he’s clever but he’s still a bit of a geezer. I suppose Dumbledore doesn’t know he runs a black market. He made a mint last year selling Baruffio's Brain Elixir to fifth years doing their O.W.Ls.”

This is news to you. Carmichael’s obviously good at keeping his illicit activities quiet. “Well, maybe she likes a bit of edge.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll tell him to ask her out. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Not as a double date or anything,” you add quickly. “I spend enough time with her as it is.”

“Yeah, I’m not keen on being around Carmichael working his magic either.” He screws up his face in distaste. “The two of us could always just go to the Three Broomsticks?”

“Eh, too crowded. What about the Quidditch stands again?”

“No way. It’s far too high and exposed for what I’d like to do to you.” He moves his arm down your back and squeezes your bum.

“Cormac,” you tut, pretending to look scandalised but he just responds by tilting your chin up to kiss him. Standing on your tiptoes to meet his lips, you grab his shirt, pulling your body in as close as you can to his.

There’s a hiss behind you and you pull apart to see Mrs Norris, the caretaker’s scruffy old cat giving you a reproachful look. That could only mean that Filch wasn’t far behind. 

You kneel to try and scratch her head but she hisses again and bats your hand away before running in the opposite direction.

“I’ll think of something,” says McLaggen, returning your book bag. “Something good.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of weeks later you stand at the edge of the Quidditch pitch with your broom at your side, as per McLaggen’s instructions. The winter sun is low over the loch in the distance. His last detention should be finished by now. 

You soon see his broad figure walking down the path towards the pitch - his broom in one hand and his book bag in the other, looking like it’s ready to burst at the seams. You pull your scarf around you tightly against the cold evening air.

“Oi oi,” he grins, you hear the bag clinking with what you hope is a bottle of Firewhisky as he gets closer. “You ready?”

“What am I meant to be ready for?”

“A secluded night alone with your favourite git.”

“Inside I hope?” You ask, shivering.

“Nope.” He mounts his broom and kicks off into the air. “Are you coming or what?”

You twist your mouth into a reluctant smile and kick off from the ground

He grins over his shoulder and accelerates towards the loch. Where is he taking you? 

You soon catch up with him as he flies low over the water. Just as he turns to see if you’re close yet, you dip your hand in the water and speed past, splashing him with freezing water as you whizz by.

“Oh, you cheeky…” His voice trails off as you get further away, laughing into the wind whipping at your face. He catches up with you again and cuts in front of you, forcing you to stop abruptly. “Wrong way. Follow me.”

You behave yourself this time and follow him as he flies towards a tiny island in the middle of the giant loch. He descends onto the pebble beach and dismounts when he’s onshore and you do the same.

“Here?”

“A bit further back, away from the lake.”

“Loch.”

“Hm?” He takes your broomstick to carry it for you.

“We’re in Scotland so it’s a loch, not - ah, never mind.” 

You hold your tongue - the name of the body of water wasn’t the issue you saw here. Firstly, it was freezing cold tonight and secondly, you could make out the castle from the island. Anyone looking out a window would see any fire you lit to keep yourself warm, potentially drawing the attention of the teachers.

You reach a grassy verge at the edge of the stony beach and McLaggen conjures a blanket from thin air which spreads itself out on the ground. He gestures for you to sit down before walking around the perimeter in a circle muttering spells.

“Shield charm, disillusionment charm,” he says in answer to your silent question. “And a few more to make sure nobody can see us from the castle or sneak up on us unexpectedly.”

You tilt your head. “You’re good at all this defensive stuff.”

“Don’t sound so surprised. I’m doing the N.E.W.T. in Defence Against the Dark Arts, remember?”

“Rather you than me,” you say, watching as he turns his attention to his book bag and extracts not a bottle of Firewhisky but a large jam jar, inside which he conjures a blue flame. He puts the jar at the edge of the blanket and you feel instantly warmer. 

Joining you on the blanket he laughs at your stunned expression. “Not bad, eh?”

Not bad? 

The sun sets on the horizon, casting a red glow over the island. Birds chirp their final songs of the evening and the gentle lapping of the water on the stony beach combined with the surprisingly intense heat from McLaggen’s Bluebell Flame Charm make you feel like you’re somewhere much milder than rural Scotland on a February evening.

“Cormac, this is…” You search for the word. You’d never expected him to be romantic. Thoughtful. It’s entirely out of your realm of experience. You swallow. “It’s good.” You go to kiss him but stop in your tracks when you feel his wet jumper. “Oh, sorry.” You say and quickly cast a hot air charm, drying off his clothes that you soaked earlier.

“Thanks,” he grins. 

You look out at the castle across the water. “So… nobody can see us from up there?” He shakes his head. “You’ve really thought of everything,”

“Ah, it’s not even the best bit.” He rummages in his bag again and pulls out two bottles of butterbeer and a bag of Honeydukes cinnamon-flavoured marshmallows. 

“I love a toasted marshmallow. Good thinking.”

“They’re not toasted. Just normal.”

“Don’t tell me toasted marshmallows are a muggle invention,” you say in disbelief. “Watch this.” You pull two marshmallows out and levitate them over the large flame in the jar, spinning them so they crisp evenly. You draw them back to you. “Wait a minute, they’ll be molten hot.”

When they’re cool enough to touch, you pull one from the air and feed it to him. 

“Mhm…” he says, eyes rolling to the sky. “I can’t believe I’ve been eating marshmallows cold my whole life.”

You laugh and eat yours. 

You both chat for a while as the sun continues to set, toasting marshmallows, talking about Quidditch, speculating how Marietta and Eddie’s date went and of course the upcoming exams.

“So you never fancied doing Defense as an N.E.W.T.?” he asks.

“I couldn’t. It was my only A at O.W.L. The rest were - “

“O’s and E’s, obviously, seeing as you’re a know-it-all” he smirks. “Is that why you didn’t join the D.A. last year then?”

“To be honest, I only considered it in the first place because Cho fancied Potter and didn’t want to go alone. But then Marietta agreed to go with her. I guess I just don’t like fighting.”

He puts down his butterbeer. “Look, don’t take this the wrong way but…”

“I know, I know. I’m probably the most aggressive person here. But when it comes to curses or duelling, I just… freeze up.” You look at him seriously and take a deep breath - you’ve never told anyone this before. “And then with Cedric being murdered… It all just messed with my head. I mean he was great at Defence and it never helped him. That was all I could think about during my exam.”

McLaggen nods. “I never really knew Cedric but I heard he was a decent guy.”

“He was. And he was a really good boyfriend to Cho, y’know? Like he was never really afraid to be…” You lean back on your elbows looking at the scene in front of you, trying to find the right words. “He was good with stuff like this. The romantic stuff. I like that you’re not afraid of that either.”

He joins you, leaning back casually. “It’s easy when it’s with you, I guess.”

“You know, you’re nothing like I thought you’d be.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, in the spirit of not taking things the wrong way, I’m not the only one with a reputation.”

“Yeah? Go on, what do they say about me then?”

“Full of yourself, kind of a pig, talks about his dad’s connections all the time…” you rhyme off, counting on your fingers.

“You say all those things too,” he smirks.

“Well, maybe you are what they say.” You turn on your side to face him, propped up on your elbow. “Maybe I’m just surprised that I like it.”

“I’ll take that.” His thumb brushes your lip as he cups your chin to tilt your head up. “Whatever makes you moan my name again.”

“Pig,” you whisper, lips barely touching his as you both smile. You don’t really believe it- he’s kind of a sweetheart even if he finds himself funnier than he actually is. You kiss him and his hand brushes your inner thigh just below your skirt.

Fuck, those hands. You love how small they make you feel. His fingers trace their way up and under your skirt. 

“These feel nice,” he murmurs, toying with the lacy hem.

“Oh god, promise you won’t laugh when you see them - I don’t know what I was thinking.” He pulls back and raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t want to get you a gift, I’m not romantic like that but Marietta and Cho suggested… Ugh, I’ll just show you. Don’t laugh.”

You slip off your skirt and pull your jumper off over your head. When you disentangle yourself, you see McLaggen staring at you open-mouthed at your dark red lacy lingerie in the dim firelight.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

You throw yourself back on the blanket and cover your face with your hands, feeling intensely embarrassed. “Stop! I changed my mind about ten times.” You tell him between your fingers. “The girls convinced me to go through with it in the end.”

“I might have to send Cho and Marietta my thanks because… fuck.” He moves your hands and brushes your hair from your face. “You are so, unbelievably hot.” 

“Well, you’ve got a lot to thank them for,” you whisper, looking up at him leaning over you. The familiar expensive scent of him intoxicates you, the heady amber and jasmine lighting up your synapses. “They were the ones who told me how to… like what to do with - I mean when we were in the Leaky Cauldron.”

He pauses. “Damn. Then I’ll definitely have to give them my undying gratitude.”

You give him a mischievous smile, feeling goosebumps on your skin as his fingers leave your face to trace up and down your arm. It might be warmer thanks to the blue flames but you’re significantly chillier in your new state of undress.

McLaggen seems to notice. “As much as I’m enjoying seeing you like this, do you want my jumper?”

It’s sweet of him but you shake your head. “Just your body heat.”

“I can manage that.” He shuffles closer to you but impatient for him to understand your meaning, you quickly pull him on top of your body, feeling his warm weight on you. “Fuck…”

He inhales deeply into the crook of your neck and you close your eyes, tilting your head to the side, allowing him to kiss the bare skin of your neck. With satisfaction, you feel his hard cock pressing against you from under his jeans when his hips slot perfectly into the opening of your legs.

“Cormac?”

“Hm?” He asks your neck, his lips sucking the sensitive skin just under your ear.

“I like this.”

He stops his kissing to look down at you. “I mean, let me get started first before you give me such unusually high praise.”

“I’m serious. I mean tonight. All of this.”

“I am too. It’s nice to hear you say something nice about me for a change.”

“Take your top off or I’ll run out of nice things to say,” you tell him, tugging at the bottom of his jumper.

“There she is,” he says grinning before kneeling between your legs to pull off his sweatshirt, exposing his bare chest. 

“Shit…” you say, looking up at his muscular figure in front of you, every contour of his body illuminated by the blue firelight. 

“You’re welcome.”

He really is unbearably full of himself. 

But with good reason. 

Your skin prickles again with the absence of his warm body against you but you’re less certain it has to do with the cold, considering the heat emanating between your legs.

“Shut up and come back here.” You pull at his waistband, urging him to return to you.

McLaggen closes in on you, resting his arms on either side of your head. His warm skin feels divine against you, even better than his soft jumper. “I don’t think so… I know you like hearing me talk.” 

And for some reason his high opinion of himself makes your pussy ache. This is a man who has never been told he’s bad at anything. And it’s beyond irritating that he’s correct on this occasion. He knows exactly how to turn you on - how to make you weak for him. And what’s worse is that he knows he knows it.

“I’d like it more if you stopped talking and kissed me,” you say, succumbing to the urge to put him in his place. But it spurs him on even more.

“Too much for you to handle?”

Before you can argue back, his mouth meets yours. His tongue enters your mouth and you taste the sticky sweetness of butterbeer and toasted marshmallows. The kiss is slow - different to the last two times he’s kissed you like this - you’ve got all the time in the world on this little island. No rush to explore each others’ bodies with fervent urgency. The only ticking clock is your own arousal, incredibly eager for him to hurry up.

Your legs draw around him again as you wriggle against the bulge pressing against you, silently begging for his attention below your waist. But instead, he massages his tongue over yours, making you whine softly, surrendering your pride. He deepens the kiss, holding onto your jaw and you thread your fingers through his hair.

McLaggen’s hand slides down your body, groping your breast through your bra on the way down. He stops at the crux of your inner thigh, touching the hem of your underwear again.

“Is this okay?” His tone is sincere for a change.

You blink up at him. “Yes,” you breathe.

He moves your underwear over and slips a single finger inside you. Your breath hitches in your throat as your walls clench around the new intrusion - you’ve never been with anyone with fingers so large. Your arousal coats his fingers - it sounds so obscenely wet and sticky that your cheeks burn.

McLaggen watches closely for your reaction. He’s being so gentle with you that it makes you want to roll your eyes. What you want is for him to pin you down and take you here on the blanket. You can handle it.

“I’m fine, McLaggen.” You rock your hips in encouragement, trying to prove just how completely and totally fine you are. 

“Oh, so it’s McLaggen again, is it? I must be doing something wrong.” He grins. “But you’re so wet for me…” he says pushing his fingers in and up. You gasp at the sudden sensation of him hitting that spot. “So something must feel nice.”

You grab hold of his face and kiss him fiercely, sucking his lower lip and grinding against his palm, trying to instil a sense of urgency in him. Maybe you can goad him into fucking you.

“Aww, my poor baby’s impatient.”

Your thighs squeeze together in response to his teasing.

“Don’t-” You cut yourself off. You almost told him to stop calling you baby. But that would be cutting your nose off to spite your face because you, really, really like it.

“Don’t what?” His finger taps against your G-spot, making you squirm under him. 

“Fuck, nothing. Never mind,” you huff.

“This is so sweet,” he says as he pushes his palm against you, rubbing against your clit. 

You sputter. “I - what’s sweet?”

“Trying to get me to hurry up by pretending you’re annoyed with me.” He removes his finger and for a second you’re about to complain, that is until he brings two fingers to his mouth and sucks them, slowly, purposefully tasting you before running them along your folds. “You’re not gonna provoke me into anything. I’ve got you to myself for the first time in weeks. I’ll do this all night.”

Oh, shit.

He slides his two digits out and back into your pussy and you arch your back at the new stretch. You squeeze your muscles, feeling every ridge of his long fingers inside you. You feel your climax blossoming inside you already and you untense your thighs, trying to stop your orgasm in its tracks but that just allows him to press his fingers deeper.

“Fuck - wait, Cormac. I don’t want to cum like this. I want you to - ah, fuck,” you pant and he halts his movement, keeping his fingers still inside you.

“There’s no way you’re only cumming once tonight.”

“Pr - promise?” You choke, desperate for him to start moving again.

“I promise.” The heel of his hand feels perfect against you as he curls his fingers. You grip the blanket. “C’mon, be a good girl. Stop fighting and cum for me.”

You hate that you love that.

You lift your hips as much as you can, leaning into his hand pressed between your bodies, feeling the precision with which he’s attacking his target. Everything pulls up in your lower half, burning and aching, teetering on a knife’s edge. 

“Mhmh.” You bite your lip, trying not to cry out into the silent night air in response to his relentless finger fucking.

“There we go, thaaat’s it,” he says and the way his voice is dripping in smug self-satisfaction sends you over the brink. Bliss floods your body, spreading through to your every extremity by the incessant pressing of his fingers into your core. 

And it’s like you’re flying through the air - not on a broom like before. Like you’re hurtling towards your own end, plummeting at breakneck speed into your orgasm.

You gasp for air as the last wave of ecstasy crashes over you and Cormac slowly draws his fingers from you, grazing your swollen clit.

“Still ‘fine’?” he teases.

“Yeah… I’m fuck. Yeah, I am… I’m fine.”

“Good.” Cormac trails kisses down your chest all the way to your lower abdomen but you interrupt him.

“Wait -” He lifts his eyes up at the interruption, lips still touching your stomach. “- Aren’t we going to have sex?”

“What, right now?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Are you sure you’re ready? I know it’s a big next step.”

“Oh. Aren’t you?”

“God, yes.”

“C’mon then, don’t make me beg.”

He pushes himself to rest back on his knees and bites his lip, looking at your pink cheeks and the way your chest rises and falls as you try to bring your heart rate back to normal. “Yeah, go on then, beg a little bit.”

Your stomach twists - you were being facetious. Your instinct is to spit a scathing retort back. But shit, you want him.

“Cormac, be serious.”

“Yeah, say my name too. I know you’re turned on when you say it like that.” He undoes his belt buckle with one hand and pulls his cock out. 

God, it’s everything you remember and more. 

Cormac takes himself in his hand and slowly jerks his length up and down. “If you want it, use your words.”

You’re not used to anyone telling you what to do like this. That was your job - always. In the bedroom, on the Quidditch pitch - you’ve always had to be in control. 

You blink up at him with wide eyes as he kneels between your open legs, stroking his cock. 

Dimples appear at the corners of his mouth as an infuriatingly brazen smile crosses his face and he pulls off your underwear. 

“So pretty and wet for me, baby,” he says, drawing two fingers along your soaking wet slit, the rough pads of his fingers pausing at your still sensitive clit.

“I thought you were going to fuck me,” you pout, although the feeling of his fingers dipping between your folds sends pleasant tingles down your spine.

“Beg,” he whispers, withdrawing his hand to coat his cock with your juices. There’s total silence apart from the crackling of the blue fire and the wet, slick sound his hand is making as he uses your wetness to pump his fist up and down.

You stare at each other, both daring the other to crack first. Fuck, why is he drawing this out? 

“If you don’t want it, I’ll do it myself,” you bite, unhooking your bra and tossing it aside. You can make him beg too. You lie on the blanket and run your hands down your body, your right hand finding your clit.

He releases the grip on his cock and leans over you again, for a second you think you’ve got him exactly where you want him and that he’s finally going to fuck you but instead, he flicks his tongue across your hard nipple. 

“Fuck… Cormac,” you whine, and your hand works quicker between your bodies. You can feel his erection pressed against your inner thigh as heat envelopes your nipple and he sucks gently on the pebbled nub of skin.

Everything below your abdomen is hot, sticky and swollen. Your fingers work in rapid circles as your writhe under him, your chest heaving under his mouth. He lifts his head, exposing your nipple to the cool night air again and you gasp.

His lashes dip from your face to your hand moving shamelessly between your bodies.

“You’re so beautiful. I could watch you do this forever. Guess I’ll have to…”

You swear at him, feeling your orgasm rear its head again. There’s no turning back now. You pant, trying to squeeze your legs together but they meet his hips, preventing you from making the tension you need.

Without warning he grabs your wrists and roughly pins them on either side of your head. Your pussy twitches, furious at the sudden absence of friction.

“Fuck, I was about to -”

He pushes his hips on top of yours, rubbing the underside of his cock on your now throbbing clit. The pressure is much too light. You try and push up against him to get relief but he moves his hips back in retaliation, not allowing you to grind against him. 

“You’re… you’re a nightmare,” you breathe, helplessly, your orgasm still glimmering just under the surface.

“You’re a dream.” And there it is again, that stupid, arrogant look on his beautiful face. He’s so… fucking hot like this. You want to hit him but your wrists are still pinned. You briefly consider headbutting him. “Come on, baby. You can say it. You can ask nicely.”

Fuck.

Your hips meet the blanket again as you squirm. It’s wet. Soaked in your arousal. His mouth returns to your chest, paying attention to your other nipple. This change of tactic means he moves his body again and the only relief you had on your clit disappears completely as he adjusts his position.

“No! Fuck.” You try to bring him back to you, struggling against his grip but ou’re no match for his strength.

Cormac pauses, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

“Cormac, please, fuck me,” you whimper.

“That’s more like it -“

“I - I need you. Like, now,” you interrupt.

He laughs and kisses your forehead. “Was that so hard?”

Cormac releases your wrist, grabs his cock and holds it against your entrance, his head resting between your folds.

Holy shit.

He brings his mouth to your ear. “I’ll be gentle.” He sucks your earlobe softly.

“I’m fine.”

You don’t want him to treat you like some delicate thing he’s scared to break just because it’s your first time with a man - scared to fuck you the way you know he wants to.

“So you keep saying. But I’ll be gentle anyway.”

And he lowers his hips towards yours. 

You are not fine. But not in the way he means. You’re sober but your thoughts are clouded by an undeniable thirst for him. Right now all that matters is Cormac, his body, his cock pushing slowly into you. 

If you thought his fingers felt big, it’s nothing compared to this. There’s no pain - you’re so fucking wet you feel him slip inside you with relative ease - there’s only pressure, beautiful and all-consuming as his cock fills you up.

“Shit, Cormac…” You bring your free hand up to his shoulder and grip onto it for dear life, your nails digging into his back.

“Are you-?”

“Fine - yes, Cormac. Fuck, yesyesyes,” you groan, squeezing your eyes shut.

Cormac releases your other wrist as he finally bottoms out so you can wrap your arms around him, feeling the muscles in his back flexing as he holds himself up. You open your eyes when you hear him groan.

His face is frowning in concentration. And you realise, he’s not as cool and cocky as he was pretending to be. He’s trying - really hard - not to lose control the moment he’s buried inside of you.

“Cormac?”

“You feel so good, baby... fuck.”

He drags his cock back out of you and you feel every inch before he slides it back in again, the base of him grinding dangerously against your clit.

“Are- are you close?”

He grits his teeth. “I’m fine.”

He’s not fine either. You realise he’s not going slowly for your benefit at all - if he picks up pace he’s going to succumb to his end. And so, he continues his torturous crusade of rolling his hips into you slowly, pushing sweetly into that spot in your centre that makes your breath catch in your throat.

It’s harrowing. Nothing like you imagined all those nights in your four-poster bed, curtains drawn as you fantasised about his cock, mercilessly fucking you hard, fast and quick. This is measured. Determined. Slowly breaking you down thrust by thrust.

His hands slip behind your shoulder blades as he pulls you close, pressing your face into his muscular neck. He’s all-consuming. You’re drowning in the dark, spicy scent of him as if you’ve plunged yourself headfirst into a cauldron full of Amortentia. You can’t take full gulps of air without choking on his pheromones. Although you’re not sure you ever want to breathe fresh air again.

He’s perfect. You firmly push back against the words floating on the surface of your mind - the urge to choke out between moans of pleasure that you’re maddeningly, irredeemably in love with him. Fuck.

You’re surprised to feel tears swimming in your eyes- you’re not sure if it’s from the intimate closeness of the way he holds you tightly or from the sensation of his cock filling you up, throbbing and sliding in and out of your soaking wet pussy. 

Everything lifts and tightens up inside you again when you hear him groan, hot breath tickling your neck. You whisper his name right into his ear and he jerks his hips up unexpectedly in response. Then the next thrust is so deliciously deep it makes you squeeze your eyes shut and all you can see is the dancing blue flame behind your eyelids.

“Fuck… there,” your moan is stifled by the way your mouth is pressed against his shoulder, tasting the salty sweat on his skin.

Cormac’s low exhale is like grit. His back muscles tense when hears your plea but he keeps going, hitting the exact same perfect angle. Euphoria floods through your veins as you hit the point of no return.

“Cormac,” you pant as your pussy clamps down around him involuntarily. “I’m gonna-”

“Thank god,” he lifts his head from the crook of your neck. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold out - oh fuck.” His expression changes when he sees your face - flushed, lips parted and your eyebrows knitted together. He curses helplessly and can’t help himself when he feels you tighten around him like a vice.

He fucks you through your orgasm, forcing noises from you you’ve never made before - something between a sob and his name is ripped from your throat. The blue flame in the jar is barely an ember compared to the wildfire running wild through your body.

It reminds him distinctly of those beautiful expressions you made on the Quidditch pitch last year when you were watching your team lose and he couldn’t take his eyes off of you. “Fuck, that’s it, baby…” He sucks through his teeth. “Such pretty faces for me.”

The aftershock makes your muscles twitch around his cock, giving him silent permission to finally lose all self-control as he gazes into your out-of-focus eyes. You feel his cock pulsing as his release paints your insides and with a final, shuddering gasp he slumps on top of you, his heart beating furiously against your chest.

You both lie there for several moments. You feel like you’re glowing. Maybe you are - he certainly is. You trace your fingers on his back, watching as the light of the blue flame glistens on his sweat-soaked shoulder. You could fall asleep with him on top of you like this - you don’t even want to think about returning to the castle even though you know you have to.

“Sorry, I’ll stop crushing you,” exhales Cormac eventually, sliding his leaking cock out of you and heaving himself over onto his back. The absence of his body makes you realise how warm and comfortable his dead weight was. 

“I didn’t mind. Hope the offer for your jumper still stands though.” You sit up and pull it over your head, and the smell of his aftershave on the cosy wool makes your skin tingle as it envelopes you.

“Looks better on you than me anyway.”

You draw your knees to your chest, looking out across the water. The sun has set and the only light comes from the small jar and the torchlit castle in the distance.

“Filch will have locked the front doors by now,” you think out loud.

“Fly to the astronomy tower, disillusionment charm to get us back to the common rooms - easy.”

“If I end up getting a detention and have to miss Quidditch practice I’ll kill you.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

“You’re uncharacteristically stoic, Cormac.” You turn to look at him, lying with his hands behind his head. You tenderly run your fingers through his hair, pushing it back. “What’s going on in that pretty little head?” You smile at him fondly.

“I’m all good.”

Oh. Your stomach drops. Was it bad for him? “Should I be worried?”

“No, I just -  I need to wait for the blood to return to my brain,” he says, staring up at the clear night sky.

“If you’re sure…”

“Otherwise I’d blurt out something very stupid. Like I was falling for you.”

“Well… I guess that would make us both idiots,” you sigh and grab the leftover marshmallows. He watches as you levitate a couple of them over the fire. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” you smile and carefully send one of the marshmallows to hover above his face. “At least you didn’t blab it out when you were inside me like I almost did.”

“It was that good, eh?” He gives you a cocky smile before biting the marshmallow in mid-air. He regrets this immediately. “Ah- hot!” He sits bolt upright with his mouth open, full of the molten sugar burning his tongue, making him look considerably less cool than he was trying to be a second ago.

“I’ve changed my mind.” You say between giggles at his expense as he fans his open mouth. “I take it back.”

“Yeah, you wish,” he chuckles after he finally manages to choke down the marshmallow.

You don’t. 

You don’t wish to take anything back at all.

Chapter 8: Incendio

[antisociallilbrat]

What Polyamory Does For The It Fandom VS In The St Fandom.

These are some brain worms I've had for a while and I've decided to share, regardless if it makes some people mad. Although that is truly not the intent of this post. Anyways. If you haven't been in the It fandom and only have stayed in the St fandom this post may not make sense but I do encourage you to read it.

I joined the It fandom in 2017. I'm one of those few people who were in the It fandom first before moving over to also join the St fandom in late late 2017/early 2018. I had a blog for consuming content but I didn't start making content until 2020 for the It fandom and more recently and regularly for the St fandom. Anywho what I'm trying to say is that I've seen a lot.

I loved many ships in the It fandom and one of the main ships is Poly Losers Club. This is the first fandom I've seen where a poly ship was one of the more popular ones. Even if someone didn't ship all the Losers, throuple and quatrouples (is that how you say it?) have always been popular in this fandom.

Because it is almost unanimously agreed across the fandom, that whether platonically or romantically, all the Losers love each other. Even the most die hard of reddie shippers, the fandom's most popular ship, can often agree on certain fanon headcannons, Stan and Richie practiced their first kiss on each other, Eddie's first crush was on poor oblivious Bill. And that comes back to the agreement that all the Losers love each other. Ships in this fandom have never had an issue coexisting. If someone shipped something different from someone it was always more like "oh that's not my favorite but I definitely see where you're coming from'" OR they're like "yeah no they're in love too," Hardly ever any belittling or any superiority complexes.

That's what makes being in this fandom fun and easy.

Poly Losers even often features a gay man and a women and I've read many beautiful fics where this is explained as they're more best friends than lovers but Eddie doesn't love Bev any less because she's a woman. This fandom allows Eddie and Bev to have an amazing and emotionally intimate relationship because I feel like this fandom does understand, for the most part, that platonic love is just as important as romantic love.

Now on to the St fandom. There are some poly party shippers out there but they are far and few. And there is SO MUCH shipping discourse. Yes I could talk about Mileven and Byler but come on, it goes beyond that. It's with Jany and Stancy, Ronance and Rockie. Elmax and Lumax, and Steddie and Stonathan. Just about every ship you think of there is an alternate ship that people will fight for. They will belittle you for shipping something they don't, and insist that your ship is nothing but platonic. That,,,that just doesn't happen in the It fandom. You know the joke, "All the Losers had a crush on Bill at one point," I think that in itself says a lot. Bill, the arguably least liked character, (my poor bb), has the joke that all the losers had a crush on him at one point.

I'm getting off track. Anyways I'm not saying that shipping everyone together in a poly sense would fix everything with these shipping wars but i do believe why there was never any shipping wars in the It fandom was because of Poly Losers. Also when I talk about poly in St I mean it like Poly Party and Poly teenage crew. Not together, I hate that I have to clarify that.

In the St fandom, it's just not as universally agreed that everyone loves each other, even in the basic platonic sense. All anyone seems to care about in the St fandom is romantic love. A lot of shippers want to be right, they want to prove that their ship will be cannon which just,,,sucks the fun right out fandom spaces.

Canon, fanon, why can't people just make cute fan art and talk in babbles about thoughts they have on a ship. Why do you have to be right about what's going to be the canon ship? Why do certain people feel the need to put down and even to the extent as far as bullying people who ship something different? I've never seen a fandom so focused on 'canon pairings' like the st fandom. (Side note I was never in the sherlock and supernatural fandoms, I knew to mention this)

The party, like the losers, are friends who have been through turmoil that have bound them together for a lifetime. I don't care what pairing you give me from st, whether it be a platonic or a romantic one, I will tell you that those characters deeply care for each other.

Side note: it's worth a mention that the Duffer brothers originally wanted to film the It remake and when they didn't get it, we got Stranger Things. It can be argued that the Party is based off the Losers club so you know what that means? THEY ALL LOVE EACH OTHER. Take it as platonic or romantic idc.

Again, I don't think that poly party is the answer to ending the shipping wars. I do think however that if people could remember how much the party members mean to each other, that that could make less tiring fandom spaces.

Okay I'm done. I just thought this was an interesting point on how it's been like in the It fandom vs the St fandom.

Wait I was doing tags and I forgot to mention that there are few people who ship Elumax and Stoncy, two throuples and kudos to them. They're just worth a mention, I didn't forget about ya'll

[windupaidoneus]

the workplace drama in the modern AU must go crazy.

under the cut w the highest hopes that makes it not show up in the searches. no one look at me.

it is downright infernal. the scions & the ascians are coworkers. fourchenault is there. nero is there. yotsuyu is there. asahi is banned from the workplace. the zeroes can be here if you all wish them to be. somehow zenos & emet coexist at similar ish ages. siblings? can you imagine? horrifying prospect. i think it's funny if it's the case. fandaniel has no reason to take on asahi's appearance anymore but he does it to uh, piss asahi off, i guess. guy who puts himself in a situation he doesn't like ("double date" with zenos & hilde/emet. no one is happy about this. he's not at all into zenos or anything this is purely a self destructive act that everyone involved either agreed to to humour him hoping for some reason this was an actual thing he wanted to do, went along because who give a shit or went along because someone begged them to try & humour him. yeah that's hilde zenos & emet in order) to be a nuisance to someone else. maybe he's friends with yotsuyu. maybe that's why he's trying to ruin asahi's life. compels me. on that note i wonder what fandaniel would go by. amon perhaps? seems to be what he'd favour at least like. from what i can tell. he's probably a system. in fact i can't imagine him not plural

i havent decided if athena is alive or dead in that scenario. athena being alive would be horrifying probably. i feel like she would somehow find a way to make going to work as high stakes as endwalker is. due to her problems. it's very scary to think about! emet steals thancred's lunch & gives it to hilde as a "gift" (he is NOT eating that himself & he knows hilde needs to eat more than he does so. he gets the free lunch) every single time someone steals his own lunch. doesn't matter if thancred isn't the one who stole it because emet does not like him

i think estinien steals the lunch more often than not & it's entirely bc he forgot what he brought/if he brought anything at all. causing the eighth calamity by being forgetful & he's just sitting there eating the food without a care in the world

there most certainly is some evil shit going on there but tbh a lot of it is everyone being exposed to cid & nero doing whatever the fuck it is they do. because they're both there. yeah this office has five billion employees (ok some of them are just there in the AU due to their connections w other characters who do work at the office. but i'll work out who does what at a later date). when haurchefant brings pastries for everyone it is a beautiful day where no one fights WRONG!!! all out war. even though he made sure to bring enough for everyone. also hilde & haurche probably dated in high school then parted on good terms at some point. of course bc of hildes #problems. they're still good friends

i like to think the whole thing w hilde & emet is being like. followed with bated breath by a lot of them. because they really dance around it for so long it just becomes the office's sports to watch them will they wont they lmao. nero doesnt give a fuckkkk hes usually mostly here to do repairs & whatnot until he hears thancred complain about it at which point he makes a completely uncalled for remark toward him in which 1. he probably has 0 stakes in 2. he may not even have any room to speak on the matter in question he's just ready & willing to be a bitch to the guy being a bitch abt his brother. yes they are still brothers in this au. good luck to this office

the ascian/ancient beef is unparalleled though. i shudder to think of what nabriales brings to the table.

[ben-talks-art]

Why I like Nimona

There are a lot of reasons to enjoy Nimona's character.

Her spunky nature, her fast-talking, her awesome design and powers, her charming personality and chemistry with other characters... Everything about her just screams "perfect character" to me. She's the kind of main lead I can just watch for hours and never get bored.

I was going into this thinking she was going to be like, say, the Genie from Alladin, or Bill Cypher, or The Mask, or Beetlejuice, you know, one of those fun characters who act like they're in their own little world while spitting some sassy funny lines and basically taking full advantage of the fact that they're cartoons by using shape-shifting to have some cool shenanigans.

But then I saw her motivations and her backstory, and started to look back at the way she behaved through the movie and... Yeah, no, she actually has a lot more depth and weight to her character than I was expecting, and it's handled in a surprisingly simple way.

(Possible spoilers for the movie)

The thing that really intrigued me about Nimona, which I don't see often, was the fact that she's basically a character who already learned the big important moral of the story but is stuck in a world where nobody else has.

The big message of the movie is that there is nothing wrong with her but people refuse to see that and keep making up problems that don't exist in order to justify creating distance from her simply because she's different.

And she knows that! She knows that they are the problem and not her, she knows she has done nothing wrong, she knows that they are the ones that need to change, she knows that being different isn't a crime... But it doesn't matter because that's still what everyone else thinks.

Her big tragedy is the fact that even though she has all these amazing powers to turn into anything, which basically makes her the most overpowered being in this whole story, and even though she knows she is on the right side of the situation, she still can't always change how most people feel about her, and even though she knows that she shouldn't let these negative feelings get to her, they still end up affecting her in a way she can't do anything about.

The whole movie is basically Nimona trying to convince us and herself that she's happy about who she is and about her life because she knows what the lesson is, she knows that she has all the reason in the world to love herself... But she just can't, because everyone and their moms keep telling her that there is something wrong with her, and after so long listening to this over and over it starts to pile up inside of her and becoming a part of who she is, a pain that she fights back against every day of her life.

Something that took me a while to understand was why she wanted to be someone's sidekick and not the boss herself? Why is she trying to make the movie about someone else when a story solely focused on her would be more than enough? Why when she gets an arrow to the leg she doesn't flinch in pain and just endures it in silence?

Why is she trying so hard to not be a bother? To not steal the spotlight? To let her pain show?

Because she wants to be accepted that much... Because the pain of being rejected hurt her that much.

Her going around being all "I have super useful magical powers that can greatly help your situation! I'm on your side! I accept you the way you are! I understand you!" are all a desperate cry for help in the hopes that her last chance at a true friendship won't end up ruined again.

She's doing everything she can to not give her one friend any reason to cut her off from his life because he's all she has.

Even though she's powerful enough that she probably doesn't need anyone in order to survive, she still needs others in order to be happy.

Nimona is that one friend who we think has everything they need to be happy, but for some reason, they don't have the one thing they want because it's out of their control whether they get it or not.

We can't make people love or like us, not unless we change who we are in order to fit their tastes, but she knows that changing who she is isn't the answer.

We see her trying to go from animal to animal in the hopes of finding one other animal she can get along with but they all keep finding problems with her since she doesn't match what they're used to.

And when everyone keeps acting like there's something wrong with you, you start to wonder if maybe they're right, even if you're not hurting or causing trouble to anyone.

I love how they make her look like this young child even though she's meant to be this immensely powerful being who's been alive for several years and who understands human nature better than humans themselves, showing that no matter how skilled or wise you are if you don't have anyone on your side you can still end up feeling empty inside, and that just because you have the ability to be strong doesn't mean you don't also have the ability to be vulnerable.

Nimona reminds me a lot of Lake in the sense in the sense that I feel you can write a whole book about how many themes her character explores.

Isolation, need for validation, discrimination, understanding, insecurity, sympathy, empathy, acceptance, self-hate, self-love, need for control, need for accepting that there are things you can't control, and probably many more that I didn't even think of.

I like Nimona not only because she's a fantastic and enjoyable character to follow, but because she shows why we need to try our best to be better as well, so that innocent people like her don't end up getting needlessly hurt due to the most idiotic of reasons, showing how harmful ignorance and groundless hostility can be.

She's the kind of character that makes me go "I want to be more understanding. I want to be more accepting. I want to try harder to embrace other people's differences." because it teaches me that if I do, I might get to hang out with a girl that can turn herself into a dancing shark!

And I would literally have no complaints in life if I was able to achieve that!

Favorite Character List>>

[basedkikuenjoyer]

The mood feels right, it's that time without light. Who's up for a lil late-night Togashiposting? Because there's one that has me thinking about a few concepts we've been on about. Which means we get to talk baby's first foxboy blorbo again. This was always one of my better posts that still generates interest today, but for the basic idea we talk a lot about the Akazaya as throwbacks and particularly Okiku's ties to Eiichiro Oda's own history on Rurouni Kenshin. There was another two-faced redhead in popular manga at the time, and we get Oda referencing the iconic clash with Game Master in interviews as a big moment he liked. But also just in One Piece canon it's interesting how Ryokugyu with a similar power intersects with Kiku's tale to bolster the connection. Likewise with the parallel story of the thieving fox spirit and how it intersects with Kiku's past.

For this part of our examination though, we're going to look through the lens of another meta concept we've been on about. Poking at the nature of "filler" and how much strict canon really matters? This is the finale of Kurama's last fight in the anime, something really glossed over in the manga as YuYu Hakusho tragically came to a close in the hurried Three Kings Saga. To me though, the anime at least salvages this arc into a worthy conclusion. I don't actually mind the idea of our quartet squaring off their personal arcs underneath the bigger show of the Makai Tournament. Kurama's fight with Shigure is so well done for that. One thing you have to give me, being filler or noncanonical is not an impediment to being an inspiration or an influence on someone else later.

The whole fight is a great finale for Kurama & his demonic past. We meet him distanced from it, they're reconnected in the Dark Tournament, he embraces it to answer the call in Chapter Black...then here after reconciling it he rejects the old self. Importantly though, he only wins through taking advantage of seeds planted by his old self. I love the final line to Yomi about it "I never leave anything behind." That reconciliation of past and present for a brighter future is where I really see Kiku picking up this torch. Himura Kenshin has a lot of similarities in his arc, but Kurama's with themes of reincarnation and parent/child bonds feel like the ways this gentle redhead seeped in. Of course, Kiku is still her own take on the idea. The trans aspect and cloaking it in a lady caring about her reputation is an excellent evolution.

Can't ignore the antagonist here either, this is why I was thinking this part in particular after all. A surgeon with a samurai vibe, choosing an honorable death after defeat. The way Shigure shaped the tone of this climax for foxboy's saga was giving me some big feelings. I honestly haven't rewatched the Three Kings Arc in years. The montage of core scenes though, showing us how Kurama grew into someone so willing to choose this new life, it had a big one I didn't really think about in this context:

How it all starts between he & Yusuke the MC. The story of the Forlorn Hope. That dub name is way cooler because the Funimation dub of the YuYu anime is a national treasure. But yeah...that's where this entire relationship started. It's an artifact that demands the user's life to grant a wish. An empty, unfulfilled Kurama was so casually willing to throw his life away to return a mother's love...without getting the point. Too busy turning over every possibility he hasn't realized how much he's grown. There's no way his mother would be happy with that trade because she doesn't see some legendary thieving fox demon...and if you told her she'd probably just say that explains a lot.

How does Yusuke solve it? Stepping in and sharing the burden. Very similar tone we'd see later with Usopp and the samurai. Even with the little dash of levity and that fine line between nobility and senseless self-sacrifice. Not to mention the big moment of Kiku's fall being Kin's final push to evolve and strike down Kanjuro. That's not unique to YYH but it's one of the biggest pillars of that series. But Bakura Town ends up being a lot like this in tone. The sumo match. Luffy jumps in because Kiku's putting her body on the line to amp up the crowd's panic. The two working together, Luffy stepping up and playing the hero for a moment, opens a new path. Just like the Forlorn Hope here and it letting them slide for being such good boys.

Then from there Kurama's story arc has the same structure we'll see out of Kiku later and Himura Kenshin around the same time. You've come so far by the time we meet you that we can do an arc about confronting that past. But that story can't end with going back to it, can it? No matter what it may mean, it's still so wild for me to see this connection over time. Kurama really was one of my first major anime characters I could latch onto and I've been a One Piece fan for so long. Just can't believe the cutesy waitress we met early Wano had all this in store.

[oathofkaslana]

hi hi hi leeeee :] as a colleiwarrior it is my duty to ask about collei o7 and if you want to do it id like to hear your thoughts about xiao too hehe

HAI PLUTO!!!! ill do collei and then xiao :3

Collei:

First impression:

OHHH I LOVE HER ALREADY SHE'S SO SNARKY AND HER LORE IS SO COMPELLING....... very very excited to see her in game i hope she comes out soon (<- had to wait like what. two/three years????)

Impression now:

gives me brain worms my God. i think i've thought about her too much bc theres so many lil symbols that i associate w her that just aren't intentional in the slightest. she has so so so much lovea nd heart in her and i wishhhh people understood her better. also extremely disappointed in her in-game writing for multiple reasons but like. the ableism and misogyny being a big one. :( colleination could fix her...... i wish she were more mean in the game.

Favorite moment:

her fight w kaeya and the subsequent "confrontation" w amber....... makes me so so sick in the head that was The original collei trio to me. i looove how it plays w all three of their characters even if it isn't shown very well. it's also the basis for a lot of my interpretation of collei since it shows the extent of her beliefs/lack of belief. dear god..... it's so so good.

Idea for a story:

i've talked abt wt spin off au and windblume rewrite a bunch on this blog so let's go with amber and collei liyue trip!! :DD someone comes and tells amber they heard something about her grandfather in qingce while collei's in town and obv collei's like i can't hold you back on this! so they jsut decide to go together bc collei's packed a bag anyways and they're both adept w survival skills surely their different skills will come in handy for liyue. going to qingce leads them to going to yilong port (i'd do qiaoying but i feel like its too close) and amber's like. kinda stumbling w her broken canto-mando and feeling weirdly emotional and she and collei both bond w "coming back" to a generational homeland while feeling like a stranger and its an important moment to both of them bonding as friends and a pivitol point of collei changing her idea of amber as a savior as more of amber as a best friend yk :''). also ga-ming....... i don't know if he'll stay for long bc honestly i do want it to focus on amber and collei but i think it'd be fun for him to at least make an appearance or sm yk!! the narrative there could be so compelling.

Favorite relationship:

........................okay yeah obv it's amber and collei aksjbdkbsdja BUT. her and cyno are a close second :]

Favorite headcanon:

SNAKE MOMENT. i have a moment in my wt spin off au where she tends to a snake in spite of a phobia of them and it's representative of her first step towards healing AND her caring for her younger self even if she's still wrapped in so much hatred of her. also trans (she/her) lesbian.

Xiao:

First impression:

he's so sad :(( i want him please come home.... he has so so much heart and he doesn't even know it because of his own grief and guilt and objectification of himself :(( he's bruce-coded FUCK.

Impression now:

MAKES ME VIOLENT. i love him so so bad i miss him all the time. his story is soooo entangled with grief and acceptance and every little step he takes reflects that. he's such a fun character bc it's kinda a study on what comes after the tragic hero's story yk? except the tragedy is in part because he lives! he feels so so much and has such a big hear tbut denies it any priority bc it's easier not to. :((

Favorite moment:

PERILOUSWS TRAILS CUTSCNEe......... MY GOD. DERA GHODDD. FUCK. it makes me so so sick in the head that entire quest. xiao so readily sacrificing himself for the others because it's his duty to and because its what all his loved ones did. him closing his eyes and accepting it and finding comfort in the fact that he knows what happened to bosacius and that he's following his footsteps. him being saved and being surprised but That being such a key moment to his grieving process. also the poem from the waterborne poetry event :'') (aka the only part of that event that matters). it referencing all of the yakshas :'''''') and talking of him missing them

Idea for a story:

i don't have an actual story w xiao in mind... i would loooove to see another story quest w him and the other adepti though :''') i wanna see him in the past so so bad :C

Favorite relationship:

him and zhongli! :] they're both characters whos stories are about grief but both have different timelines to it and i think that's so so interesting especially when you remember how zhongli showed no emotion during the archon war and how his depart from his duty was his final stage of grief (acceptance) whereas xiao plunged himself into duty and emotional repression as a means to cope with all the grief and guilt and pain that he feels.

Favorite headcanon:

i think the wangshu inn staff gives him li xi sometimes and he's just like "i am literally older than you please stop i have no need for this" but he keeps it anyways. they have a small room saved for him at all times just in case he ever wants it (he never takes it but he appreciates it). <- its small bc he'd die if it was an open space.

[aprillikesthings]

HELLO EVERYONE

it is Thursday night which means it's my weekend which means IT'S SHE-RA TIME

On a related note a bunch of the stuff for my cosplay (like, clothes) gets here tomorrow and then I can put it all together and look in front of the mirror and make weird noises at myself and take terrible selfies, so stay tuned for that yeah? Yeah!

OKAY

I'M STARTING SEASON FIVE oh god

s5 ep1 Horde Prime

My semi-frequent reminder that these are a re-watch, spoilers ahoy, I make a lot of dumb jokes

I'm going to tRY to scale back on how much of the episodes I like, describe. Those last two eps of s4 I ended up just telling the whole thing, to the point of copy/pasting a shit-ton of dialogue from the damn fan transcripts.

BUT THERE WAS SO MUCH LORE AND STORY AND SHIT and I want to remember everything uggghhhhh

okay I just noticed the rating, and I can't screenshot it bc it disappears when I pause, but the show is rated for age 7 and up and says "fantasy violence, fear"

Fear??? I mean that's...not wrong. But it feels like a weird way of wording it?

This was pretty, but then the damn Horde Prime ships showed up.

you broke the sword, girly

(for good reason! but still. also the music actually starts the little rah-rah transformation tune and then cuts off)

I hate it when creepy dudes watch me via bot soldiers

I remember reading that there are parts of the intro that change multiple times across this season, and I know Daci and I just skipped the intro every time when we marathoned this season back in 2020, so I'm watching them all this time, and

O_O

And she's not She-Ra! Just Adora!

the shards of Narsil....wait wrong fantasy story

Ohhhh they're all hiding under some kind of invisibility/protection shield constantly maintained by sorcerers. That makes sense.

ALSO I remember noticing this the first time, but you can tell they got a higher budget this season.

ugggh let it go

Everyone else says the same thing lol (along with "literally we can't because we don't have She-Ra anymore")

Adora's obviously still engaging in her self-sacrificial bullshit and Perfuma's like "no u gotta take ppl with u" but then

NOT. HELPING.

I mean Glimmer's room on the ship is nice (if sterile and too brightly-lit) but oof

oh, are you also lonely? do you also long for someone at least a little familiar? Hm????

;_;

Horde Prime just like "yo my bro hated your guts when I showed up lol did u know that"

(referring to the Heart of Etheria) yeah sweetie that's not gonna save your ass for long

He's so fucking creepy!!

Also I know they were inspired by megachurches and conservative Christian stuff when making Horde Prime's ship, but the music here even sounds kind of like an organ!

(...which is funny when you remember that megachurches usually have, like, rock bands)

Stop doing your self-sacrificial bullshit....without us!!

Does anyone else always wonder what they use for bathrooms?? The ones in the Fright Zone didn't have obvious restrooms either. Anyway.

So I know people were shipping Glitra for obvious reasons before this season but this whole storyline was just fucking great on that front lol

But also look at how fucking SMUG she is!

bahaha the "how's it going, Princess?" line is said almost as unnecessarily sexy as the "hey, Adora" thing

HAH. Glimmer is RIGHT.

Catra: nah man I'mma kick my ass to the top like I did last time Glimmer: u will get crushed like a BUG you DIPSHIT Clones: COME TO DINNER

oh sure, NOW you're looking at her for sympathy pfft

Clone: PRAISE THE LORD Everyone else: oh please shut the fuck up

("April aren't yOU Christian" yes but like, not that kind.)

Who else read A Wrinkle in Time? Remember that meal they had on Camazotz where everything tasted like sand to Meg because she was the only one who was completely resistant to the hypnotism bullshit IT did? Anyway that's what I'm reminded of.

the little she-ra doll :(

Even Catra's not thrilled to see this. (That or she saw Scorpia fighting and feels guilty)

When says "Adora," Catra scratches the table

GLIMMER GOD DAMMIT (but also look at poor Catra's face)

OH RIGHT because if he knows this he has no reason to keep Catra around.

But she can't stop looking at the screen where Adora just was ahahah

YOU COULDN'T DO IT ALONE BEFORE

lol Bow says it. "You're not alone. You've never been." But he's nicer about it than me.

Catra: oooh, princesses and their *~feelings~* Horde Prime: lol you're not any better

I am actively resisting the urge to make a BBC Sherlock reference. IYKYK.

"Adora means something to you." 👀

His little speech about "you Etherians are all alike, such strong connections to each other...it's what makes you weak," is such a great way of contrasting him to the actual Good Guys. Empathy and compassion, caring for others--those aren't weaknesses!

But if your goal is ruthlessly destroying everything in the universe for your own power, then yeah, they would be.

And of course, Catra does think her connections to others is what makes her weak, at this point in the story.

augh

"Now that I know about She-Ra and the weapon, what purpose do I have for you? Your little ploy of parsing out information like a bartering chip was never going to last long out here... I see all. I know all. But fear not. I have great plans for you. Every part of the machine is of value. Even you...little sister."

AAUGH

(and that's why the rating for this show warns for "fear" lol)

And then Adora has one of her weird dreams about She-Ra and shattering the sword but while awake, and clearly it pains her--and then she passes out, end of episode.

Anyway I managed to make it all fit in one post but only barely, I had to go back and delete a few, lol

TBH I should probably just assume these are all gonna be two-parters, there's so much plot.

[alexdelray1]

Hobie x Reader Part 2!

Last part:

-What if your old man found out that we are dating?- Hobie asked and looked at me with a stupid smile.

-He would kill me first, then you, and then himself. Why are you so eager to speculate? - I answered the question with a question. We sat on the roof of my dad's base. Right on the glass to which we are attached.

-I just can't? By the way, who is your favorite singer? - he asked while looking at the sky.

-Of course Rihanna. Even if Beyonce and Gwen St-- I didn't finish because Hobie interrupted me.

-Stacy?- he asked with a hint of hope.

-No, Stefani. In our universe, Gwen Stacy maybe doesn't exist. - I answered for him and made a bored face.

-It's a pity, Gwen was my favorite rock star in my universe.- he said and started playing with his mask.

-Was? Did something happen or did you find a new mentor? - I asked him and put my hand on his shoulder.

-She died, but that happens all the time. Someone from another universe dies and someone is born. - he said and squeezed my hand on the shoulder.

-It happens or doesn't happen and it still hurts so much. I hope I'm in a universe where I won't be another tragic death for my dad. - I replied and sighed.

-It would be a tragic death not only for him. You're not alone, baby girl. - he said and took out the guitar behind his back.

-What are you doing?- I asked and moved my hand away.

-Do you want to sing something? - he asked with a banana up on his face.

-What about it?- I laughed.

-I don't know. Maybe choose. Don't worry, no one will hear us. - he said and started to fix his electric guitar.

-Maybe Zombie by Cranberries?- I asked him and he started playing without a word. After a while of introduction, I started singing.

Another head hangs lowly. 

Child is slowly taken. 

And the violence caused such silence. 

Who are we mistaken?

The first words were like a warm-up. Hobie lightly pointed at my mouth with his finger, telling me to open it more.

But you see, it's not me, it's not my family.

In your head, in your head, they are fighting.

With their tanks and their bombs.

And their bombs, and their guns.

In your head, in your head, they are crying.

I watched the sun set slowly. It was difficult for me to sing without one point of view, so I took it as one of the clouds.

In your head, in your head, Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie. 

What's in your head? 

In your head, Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie.

I remembered how whenever I sang in my room, my dad never complained about it. Because he was always somewhere else.

Another mother's breakin', heart is taking over. 

When the violence causes silence. 

We must be mistaken. 

I understand that being Spiderman is an important job, but being a dad is also important. I always didn't like the babysitters he changed for me every year. They were always extremely nice to me just because they wanted to sleep with him. Disgusting.

It's the same old theme, since 1916. 

In your head, in your head, they're still fighting. 

With their tanks and their bombs. 

And their bombs, and their guns. 

In your head, in your head, they are dying. 

I met Hobie shortly after I turned 16 and wanted to work in my father's 'company'. The guy always knew how to get into the heart. He encouraged me to do many things, such as singing in front of an audience, riding a motorcycle, jumping off the Statue of Liberty. It was always fun with him.

In your head, in your head, zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie.

What's in your head?

In your head.

Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie.

About 3 months later we started dating. Everyone on the base knew about it except my father. I didn't want to know what would happen if he found out that two people from different universes were dating. For now, I can rest assured about this because we don't have any snitches at HQ.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, hey, oh, ya, ya-a... 

I finished the song and leaned on Hobi's shoulder.

How about we stay here forever, away from everyone? - he asked philosophically and stroked my head.

-I would like to, I would really like to, but it's not possible…-

[symbioticsimplicity]

This post by @ellewritesandrants got me thinking about Will and Billy bonding, which is something I don't see often enough.

I think it would be really awkward to start. Honestly I think Billy bonding with any of the Party members would be incredibly awkward to start with. But Will and Billy have a lot of common ground tbh. Finding their way to it would just be...hard.

In an Billy Lives AU I'm imagining El and Max are the most likely to visit him in the hospital. Max learned how much she actually cares about him when she nearly lost him, and El has seen some of the deepest parts of his mind and knows hes more like a kicked dog than an actually horrible person.

They go keep him company almost every afternoon, to the point where one if the others, probably Mike makes a comment about it. Something something why are you wasting your time on Billy Hargrove of all people something something He's really not that bad when someone isn't constantly attacking him something something.

It gets brought up, probably by Dustin, that technically he killed a bunch of people, almost including them. That's when Will chimes in, because hey no Mindflayer murders shouldn't count against the Flayed. Dustin realizes his mistake and tries to backpedal, while maintaining that Will was different since Will was fighting it, obviously.

This does not have the intended effect. If anything Will seems more upset because how do you know he wasn't fighting it??? Fighting a mindflayer looks like your body sitting in place for hours while you're scratching at the walls of your own mind, screaming and trying to get back to yourself. None of them knew Billy well enough to know if he had just given in to the mindflayer. Or in Max's case, she hadn’t been home enough to know.

Someone, probably Lucas (which from his perspective is absolutely justified, btw, wanna be very clear on that), mutters that given what he was like before, he can't really picture Billy fighting being evil.

That pisses off Max, El, and Will.

Max snaps about how none of them knew what it was like for him at their house, for either of them for that matter. While he was a dick, yeah, he wasn’t just like that. He isn't evil any more than Max herself is, even though she can be a little much sometimes.

El is frowning when she explains what she actually did to get him to break the mindflayer's control, and it was essentially just reminding him that someone has cared about him at one point in his life. Reaching out to show him the smallest bit of kindness had been enough to let him break the mental hold of a creature that El herself had had trouble fighting.

And Will. Will storms out of the house, now determined to actually ask Billy himself because he's starting to get the sense that no one really ever has.

Billy is surprised to see Will when he gets there, having not ever really talked to the kid. From what he'd seen, he was shy and soft spoken, non-confrontational. It was almost alarming to see him roll up with a fire in his eyes.

His voice is still soft when he talks though, when he apologizes for storming in and asks if he can ask him some things. Billy is bored out of his mind and decides, what the hell, lets see where this goes.

So they talk.

It starts off just being about mindflayer stuff, given that they're really the only two people who can understand what that's like. Will never realized how...good?? It would feel to have someone to really talk to about it?? Billy is obviously still a little gun shy about it, but hearing that that's what happened to Will when he went missing, that he had to go through an experience that horrific at such a young age, immediately vaults him over a lot of Billy's walls. Its the worst kind of common ground, the kind found between vets after a war has ended.

Will attempts to place a hand over Billy's, which garners a flinch, and another piece of common ground is unearthed. Will knows that reaction, has seen Jonathan do it, has done it himself, knows his mom makes an effort to keep her own flinches under wraps.

He wants to hug him, if he's honest. Knows he could probably use it, but also knows that now isn't exactly the time.

Will doesn't mention the flinch and Billy doesn't either, but Will files it away for later.

After that, Will starts joining the girls when they go to visit Billy. They talk more, and for longer as Billy starts getting his energy back. Its weird to Billy, who's not had anything resembling an actual family, but he starts to develop affection for these kids who keep choosing to spend time with him.

He's still slow to truly trust, especially people who he should be able to trust like family, but hes learning. Its slow and its made of small steps like a newborn fawn learning to walk, but Billy starts to open up to them.

He tells El how he misses his Mom, but at the same time he thinks he hates her. El tells him how she feels about her own parents, and how she's still not fully sure about it.

He finally tells Max what Neil did to him when she asks. Little bits and pieces, never anything graphic, but enough that she can understand why he acted the way he did. He apologizes again, and this time when she hugs him and tells him she forgives him, its not with the looming knowledge that he's about to die hanging above them.

He tells Will how scared he's always been about someone catching him looking at his friends for just a little too long. Will hadn’t told him how he feels about Mike, but Billy isn't stupid. He could hear it in the way he talked about him, the way he smiled. He takes the leap first since Will took the leap to get close in the first place. Billy ends up being the first person Will properly comes out to, and Will cries for a good ten minutes because its as relieving as it is terrifying. Billy swears to take the secret to his grave. Its the first time Will hasn't felt like a freak because of something about himself that he can't change, and its the first time Billy hasn't either.

Just....Billy and Will being really ride or die for each other.

[bitter-sweet-coffee]

before my melatonin kicks in, here’s a notes app wip excerpt about my purple bisexuals below the cut! it’s not done, nor is it proofread, but i like them a lot so (: enjoy the scraps while i suffer over real world things

The swallow began fiddling with Omega's back panel, but found herself pausing every few moments due to the undesired attention she was getting. Her client didn't seem to be aware of how obnoxious his staring was, so Wave didn't feel justified to snap at him... but that didn't make things easier.

"Have you ever worked with robots before?" she asked, turning to look at the chameleon.

Espio shook his head, but approached the now exposed wiring; "I've only ever been inside the cyberworld," he explained, trying to make sense of the robot's innards.

Wave blinked a couple times in disbelief, growing more uneasy as the chameleon's statement seemed less and less like a joke.

"It's a long story; Shadow karate-chopped a computer that I couldn't seen to hack and I followed him in," he elaborated, holding back a laugh. Espio knew he sounded insane, but it was amusing to watch the rogue silently ruminate over this bizarre information: it was cruel, but her expressions were priceless.

Turning back to continue assessing the damage, Wave began mumbling nonsense under her breath about the panel being tampered with, which piqued Espio's interest. He didn't ask, as the swallow looked focused, but he was impressed with how familiar the mechanic was with robotics, considering extreme gear was her specialization.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

"The order doesn't matter to me."

Wave sighed, pinching her beak; "Don't be a smartass, just answer my questions. Anyways, I just need to resolder the connections on his panel, and hope there was nothing erased... especially software. I don't fuck with software," she groaned, glancing warily at the exposed wires.

The chameleon raised an eyebrow, "Where's the bad news?"

"I uh, don't really... okay, maybe I don't like soldering." Wave stated, crossing her arms.

Espio was far from amused; "You mean to tell me that your personal preferences are going to cost us the war?" he enquired, biting back as much aggression as he could.

The swallow scoffed, "Us? For the record, I hate it because I have to keep my hands steady, which is hard to do when someone is staring through my skull."

"Us as in the resistance, not you and I, as I'm well aware your team is not aligned and has chosen to ignore the fight entirely," Espio clarified, trying to mask his frustration. Sensing that his misstep was uncalled for, he backtracked with a softer tone, "But I do apologize for making your work environment hostile. I made a promise to Rouge, so I can't leave Omega unattended. If there's another way for me to be less obno—" he started, but was quickly cut off.

"No, it's fine," Wave said quickly, backpedaling. "I can fix the robot, you can stay here, it's all fine.”

Whether she was telling the truth or not was debatable, but they didn’t have the time to think about it in more depth. In fact, there was no time at all, as Espio was already receiving an incoming transmission from his communicator.

“I won’t be able to work with that beeping,” she scolded, but the smirk on her face indicated this was a joke. Nonetheless, the chameleon apologized anyways and answered the call.

“Listen up, we just got word that Eggman’s forces are undermanned at his headquarters in Metropolis!” a familiar voice cheered through speaker.

The swallow perked up and leaned back on her work table to commentate; “Huh, I guess Clifford is still hanging around that group after all… wait, is he a commander? Him, seriously?!”

Espio rolled his eyes and shushed her before unmuting; “They're probably staging somewhere else as part of Eggman's plan. This could be our only chance to take the city,” he replied.

Wave snorted and shook her head; “Yeah, sure he is: he’s fucking with you 100%, are you seriously gonna fall for that?” she jeered as the detective frantically re-muted and prayed her comments weren’t picked up by the crappy mic on his wrist.

Thankfully, Knuckles hadn’t heard the girl, and was too swept away in agreement to question Espio’s willing cooperation; “Exactly!” he cheered, “That's why we're focusing on a full frontal assault on Metropolis: I'm calling it ‘Operation Big Wave.’”

“I bet he’s still mad I’m taller than him,” she chimed back in, this time loudly crunching on some chips that were stale in her desk for who knows how long.

Espio raised an eyebrow, “You know Knuckles?” he asked, flinching at the loud crunching. “Also, this has nothing to do with your hei—“ he started, but eventually deadpanned while Wave snickered, successfully duping him again.

The swallow shrugged and nodded, still smirking from her joke, “Yeah, he’s not the brightest bulb, but then again neither is Storm so I guess we’re even. Who put him in charge?”

“Who cares what it's called? What's important is to have a well thought out strategy,” a different voice chimed in, and the swallow’s attention was quickly refocused once more.

She used this as an opportunity to brush her gloves on her pants, and walk over to Espio in an attempt to peer at the communicator’s visuals; “Oh, I like him! I dunno why he sounds familiar, but the dude has a point.”

Espio tried to move his arm away from her, but it was pointless: Wave wanted to snoop, so she’d get to. “I thought up this strategy in about a minute and a half,” Knuckles started, which earned a groan from both mobians.

“I bet his brain only has 4MB of storage, and half of that is dedicated to remembering how to aim when punching: 90 seconds is probably a personal record for him!” Wave jeered, but this time the chameleon couldn’t resist laughing.

“You have a point, but your commentary isn’t funny enough to drown out the discussion, so save you insults until AFTER they’re done talking.”

“Rude, but fair. If you talked over my meetings I’d probably concuss you.”

“You’d die trying.”

Before the swallow could continue the banter, Vector’s tendency to eat the mic proved its comedic timing, cutting the two off with a boom; “Ha! Great speech! Let's give Eggman an old-fashioned beat down!”

Wave glared at the auditory assailant, “What an irritable teammate, I’d hate to put up with him.”

“That’s my boss,” Espio admitted, failing to keep a straight face, but managed to disguise his laugh by clearing his throat.

The mechanic raised an eyebrow, stepping back in disbelief.

“You… work for HIM? You’re fucking with me, no… seriously? In what universe would someone like you work for an airbag like him?”

Espio shrugged, opting to not take offence or enable the notion that Vector was an idiot; “He’s usually more insightful than this, a method to his madness if you will. It’s irritating and unconventional, but he could be worse.”

“They have more in sheer numbers, so the idea of a quick, focused attack isn't bad. We also have Sonic— I mean, the other Sonic— so I have no doubt we can do this! Also, if we can destroy the Phantom Ruby, we should be able to send the other Sonic home… at least I hope so, this is all new territory for me!” Tails rambled out.

The chameleon was surprised Wave had no insults for the kitsune, turning back to figure out why— but her expression was unreadable.

Espio inhaled, “I am aware that you have somewhat of a rivalry with Tails, but—

—he sounds okay,” the swallow affirmed, almost relieved.

“Did you… know otherwise?” the chameleon prompted, but he was hesitant to say anything at all.

Wave shook out of her contemplative state and made her way back to Omega’s exposed panel, removing herself from the shift in tone; “It doesn’t matter, anyways. He’s just a kid,” she muttered before pushing her glasses down onto her face.

Opting to change the subject, Espio joined her by the robot and pointed to her lenses; “Are those also protective eye gear? I figured it was a style choice, or something for debris when flying… but soldering, too?”

She scoffed, “What do you think this is, Vogue runway? 73 questions with Wave? Seriously, just because I’m the girl of the team it doesn’t make me the vain one.”

While the mechanic knew Espio hadn’t implied anything superficial, and was actually being more insightful and polite than anyone else who entered her workshop, she couldn’t resist berating him.

If he was any less observant, this would have been the end of their agreement. But Espio was far too good of a detective to fall for deflection, and far too stubborn to lose at his own game.

“I bet it’s Storm, then.”

“Huh?”

“You said you’re not the vain one, so that means it has to be Storm.”

Wave, perplexed, turned away from her work again to stare inquisitively at the chameleon. “Go on,” she promoted, “State your reasoning.”

He inhaled, “Well, you ruled yourself out which leaves Jet and Storm— presuming there are no secret rogues and you only intend to include members of this generation. It seems too easy for me to point the finger at Jet; he’s vain to an extent, but he’s also rich, 14, and in a position of power. Some of it is inevitable, but leadership requires a level of humility so that one does not assume their position: his virtues are not a result of leadership, as that would be affirming the consequent. Rather, he is a leader because of his inherent virtue,” Espio explained.

To his surprise, the swallow didn’t cut him off, instead nodding for the analysis to resume.

“Okay,” he began warily, not used to getting this far, “Storm gets to fulfill his role as second in command, which most likely means he completes more tasks. Whether it be manning the airship, completing chores, going out on missions, cooking, being a yes man, personal fitness training— which I’m guessing purely based on his stature— he’s doing a lot, especially for Jet. Am I right in presuming this?” he paused for approval.

“Yes, but go on, I’m invested in where this is heading.”

Espio had to resist smiling, continuing to explain his reasoning; “In Storm’s mind, he does a lot more than you, and way more than Jet. He’s the man keeping everything together in his eyes, so even though people look down on him for not being the brightest, Storm knows in his heart that he’s more important than anyone will ever know. But he’s okay with that, because he’s the bigger person— literally and figuratively— so their assumptions don’t matter anymore. Even if no one else knows it, he is the backbone of the Babylon Rogues, the cogs that run the machine, and his ability to do it without recognition makes him the most valuable member. He’s quiet about it, but that’s precisely what makes him more vain: Storm thinks he’s above the petty feud between you and Jet since he doesn’t fight for the recognition. That’s my thought process.”

Wave began slowly applauding as she approached the chameleon, who had unknowingly paced around her workshop and grown more passionate and outspoken with every word, spiralling into the rambles of a madman. Hell, he was still completely oblivious to how quickly he lost all composure, basking in the pride of completing his monologue.

However, as the swallow became a concerning level of close without uttering a word, Espio started returning to his senses, realizing how far he overstepped.

At this point, Wave was inches from his face, merely held back by the chameleon’s horn.

Cheshire grin overtaking her vaguely amused expression, she spoke lowly,

“I lied.”

Espio, uneasy, backed away ever so slightly in confusion, “What?”

“I lied,” the mechanic repeated. “I’m the vain one, wanna know what gives it away?” she asked, still speaking ever so slowly.

When he didn’t respond, Wave barely held back a giggle and jabbed the chameleon’s shoulder with her finger;

“I just got you to ramble out justifications to take the heat off me and put it on Storm. You didn’t even see it coming,” she admitted earnestly, yet her condescending and mocking tone remained intact.

Espio, although flustered, was too stubborn to let this reasoning slide; “Maybe, but that doesn’t make you vain. Vain people don’t need external validation because they already know their worth: just like I noted about Storm. If you want attention this badly, you’re not vain, you’re desperate.”

Almost immediately after opening his mouth, the chameleon was certain he had fucked things up completely this time. Perhaps this was a good reminder to why he stopped going on arrogant, thrill-seeking battles of wit, and became the stoic voice of reason for his team.

He expected a heated comeback of sorts, or perhaps a slap to the face, but the mechanic did neither.

Sneer melting into smile, Wave managed to surprise the chameleon again:

“Oh, I like you. You’re not leaving this workshop anytime soon, so get comfortable,” she commanded, gently bonking his horn before gliding back to Omega, solder in hand.

Still in shock, Espio shook his head and blinked repeatedly before reluctantly accepting that what just happened really did occur, “I’m sorry, what?” he rasped out, bewildered.

The mechanic, who was now resoldering the motherboard like it was nothing, couldn’t resist giggling this time; “You’re smart, stubborn, sarcastic, and socratic. Where else am I gonna find discussion like this!?”

Laughing nervously, the chameleon wondered how he could politely reply; “Well, I appreciate the um, compliments? But I should really be getting back to the restoration— Operation Big Wave and all, he explained.

“That’s going to fail and you know it,” she retorted, “Just stay here and pretend you showed up! They won’t know the difference.”

Espio could have argued against her logic, but he not only knew better, he knew that Wave knew he knew better. And that, in itself, was an inescapable position.

“Can you at least put some music on?”

“Only if you’re in the mood for Warped circa 2008.”

Yeah, this would definitely be a better use of his time.