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lyuenger · 5 months

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** Authors note. Obvious C3E91 spoilers.

[[ update, thanks to @ReaderOfDragons sending me an invite I'm now on AO3, and it's posted! I did make a few changes/updates/fixes - so read it there for the updated/better version ]]

Also, my first fan fic (and I don’t have an Ao3 invite yet, so I’m sharing here). The moments after played in my head, and the players didn’t act it all out, so I figured I would share tge version in my ''mind palace'. I’ll be sharing more art soon, now that my main job is on summer break.

Note that it switches perspectives. Also, pasting it here messed with my formatting (but I think I fixed most of it).

Faithful End

Chet couldn't hear the sounds of the metal clanking around him, only the ringing in his ears, as he stood in shock and disbelief. The air tasted of blood, sweat and red earth. Quickly his world snapped back into focus and he began to survey the battlefield. What remained of Otohan was charred and strewn about near the freshly made crater on the cave floor.

Orym.

Orym lay still and limp, covered in blood (surely both his and his foes), his sword in the nearby dirt.

A slight rise of his chest showed he was still alive, somehow.

He's alive.

Ash..

A quick look to where he had finally fallen at Otohans blade showed Imogen and Laudna rushing to aid him.

Chet rushed to Orym, knelt down, and fumbled in his pockets until he touched the cool glass of his last healing potion. He uncorked the bottle, pulling the limp Orym up and cradling him into position. “You did good, my boy.” He quietly croaked, as he carefully poured the red fluid into his mouth.

Orym’s chest rose, filling with air, and fell again as he started to exhale, then cough. Green, tired eyes opened and looked up into his own. Chet sighed in relief.

******

Orym coughed, the metallic taste of iron and the familiar herbal taste of a healing potion filled his mouth.

He hurt.

Everything hurt.

He just wanted to sleep, but he felt someone gently holding him, stroking his hair. He lazily opened his eyes, and saw the blue eyes of Chetney looking at him with concern.

Otohan. I have to kill Otohan and get everyone back safe.

With a new burst of adrenaline flowing through his veins he quickly, albeit unusually clumsily, pushed onto his feet. Intense green eyes, framed by the fresh blood that smeared his face, darted around.

There was an odd stillness on the battlefield.

Laudna and Imogen were clutched together.

Shaking.

In fear?

No. Crying. They were crying. Sobbing.

He lowered his eyes and saw an empty glass bottle abandoned near Imogen.

Alert green eyes shifted slightly, resting on Ashton. He was sitting next to them, face buried in a large stoney hand. He couldn't make out his words, but he knew Ash… “Fuck. Shit. Piss.” Surely.

His eyes shifted once more and discovered a newly formed crater, and the charred and bloody remains scattered around the red and now sparkling earth. The sight caused his heart to skip, until he recognized the features… Otohan.

Oh thank the Gods.

He hadn’t believed they would survive that fight, but his friends had pulled it off. He closed his eyes and worked to catch his breath… slow his heart rate. It was over.

It would be okay… he gave himself a moment to let the adrenaline subside, and opened his eyes again.

The sparking red soil caught his eyes now. Pieces of metal? Where did all the metal pieces come from?

The gears in his head began to put the information together, but it didn’t seem to want to click into place. His shifting eyes scanned the cave once more and fell on Fearne. His Fearnie…

He watched those big eyes of hers filling as she stepped into the crater bent down.

Wait, what happened… why was she so upset otohan was dead? Why were the others so upset. They won, somehow.

At least this fight. He knew it wouldn't be their last.

He scanned the cave again checking on his friends. Immogen and Laudna were looking pretty battered and drained, but not quite as rough as Ash. Then again, Ash always looked pretty rough. Chet (who had moved over to check on Everoa) looked real rough, but he had went down hard. Luckily FCG had helped him.

FCG. Did he escape? He had been running…

Movement caught his eye, and he looked over in time to watch Fearne stand, clutching a large metallic chunk… what remained of FCGs smiling face. The eyes were cracked and FCGs smile was now disjointed and crooked, but it somehow still felt… warm.

“Letters?” He heard the words croak out of him, as he looked into Fearne’s and then Chets eyes. He read their faces. Tight, with wet eyes. Feeling his heart shattering, he knew.

“No. Nonononono.” The words softly left his lips. Fearne, barely holding back tears, rushed to him. Her comforting arms gathered him up and Orym buried his face into her.

****

Ash woke up, feeling like he had been ran over by a dragon, but that was nothing new. He always hurt. Although he didn’t always feel this weak.

Having friends, with concerned faces, helping him up was new though. So he sat up, and then stared wide eyed at scraps of metal that had settled across the ground.

Why was there metal on the floor?

That color…

The same color as… The color of FCG.

He scanned the room, quickly taking in the destruction. The crater. The remains.

Why?! Why did he do that. We talked about that.

He knew that damn automaton was going to sacrifice himself one day… he had hoped he would get through to him, but no.

No one gets left behind.

But Letters was gone.

His friend was gone. Gone.

Bits spread everywhere across the cave.

He tucked his face into his hand.

“Fuck.

Shit.

Piss.

Damn it.

You self sacrificing litt….” The words that escaped his mouth registered in his brain, and his eyes flew wide with panic.

Wait.

Orym. She got Orym. I have to help Orym.

Eyes darted to where he had seen him fall, and saw Chetney holding him as he set down an empty glass bottle. Orym’s tiny body shuttered as he coughed awake. Ash felt his body exhale in relief.

Orym will be okay. He's a little guy, but the toughest guy I know.

He's okay.

He took a deep breath in an attempt to steady himself, wiped his eyes, and looked around the room again. So many metallic scraps littered the rusty red floor.

“Fuck. Shit. Piss.” He muttered angrily to himself, and punched the ground in frustration.

He vaguely took in Ferane running to Orym and Chet, and the other two witches clinging to one another for another moment before jumping up and rushing around to look for something.

He stood dumbfounded and unsteady, leaning against his hammer and lost in thought, until his eyes caught on an unnaturally bright glint of metal in the cave wall.

No one gets left behind.

The words echo in his head on repeat, but all that escapes his lips is “Fuck.”

He takes several slow strides as his feet lead him to the rocky wall near their exit.

The piece of metal, a distinct shape…

The coin. That. Fucking. Coin.

That fucking coin that he always trusted.

What a lot of damm good it did him.

He jammed his fingers into the rock around the metal, gripped firmly and yanked. The rock crumpled away easily and he palmed the coin, staring at it for a minute before slipping it into his pocket.

“We have to make this count” Chets scratchy voice stated matter of factly. Ashton looked over to see him snatching up the backpack.

“Right.” Ash muttered to himself, and he moved to help the others gather anything they could.

***

The blood and dirt covered halfling wiggled out of Fearne’s arms, so she reluctantly set him down gently, making sure he was steady enough on his feet before fully letting him go. His eyes darted around the debris littered on the ground. He knew, deep down, it was futile, but he helped them gather all the pieces they could.

Fresh Cut Grass.

His body may have been weak from exertion and damage, but Orym’s perception didn't fail him. He could sense Fearne following near him, as he maneuvered towards a shiny chunk that had caught his eye. He wearily crouched and picked it up, turning it over in his small hands carefully, avoiding the sharp edges. Familiar slash marks arched across it. Like blades of grass reaching for the sun, or swaying in the wind. Tiny, calloused fingers, stained a brownish red with the soil and dried blood, carefully caressed the recessed lines in the smooth metal.

Letters.

He closed his eyes and hugged the piece of metal tightly to his chest.

FCG.

Faithful Care Giver.

FRITA. Fuck.

What am I going to tell FRITA…

Unconsciously he gently rubbed the moons on his shoulder. The physical pain taking a backseat to the anguish that burned through him. It was not a new feeling. He didn't like it. He would rather feel the physical pain.

It should have been me…

Letters should be with FRIDA, and I would be with Will. And Dad.

Oh Dad, I failed.

Again.

This is too big, and I'm, I'm too li….

A firm hand gripped his shoulder, breaking him away from those spiraling thoughts. He glanced up, first to the hand, then up Fearne. Her expression was full of concern, her voice soft, warm, and comforting, “You okay?”

He didn't think he knew the answer to that yet, and he knew he couldn't talk without falling apart, so he simply flung himself around her in a tight hug. If she could feel the tears soaking into her skirt, she didn't say anything.

*****

Fearne was barely holding it together. FCG was gone. She had never lost anyone she loved like that. But her best friend needed her, so she focused on him. Orym was a hardened soldier, the Savior Blade of the Tempest. He fought steady and bravely. He was a little guy, but so strong and agile. She had never seen anyone do so many sit ups, or wield a sword with such grace and control.

But his heart was fragile, having already been broken, and not yet fully mended.

Not that it ever could be. Some wounds never fully heal. She was starting to understand that. Her heart began to crumple under the weight of their mutual loss, compounded by seeing the pain in Orym’s face. She could feel his rough, gasping breathing as he clung to her.

She couldn't fix their broken hearts.

So she gently rubbed small circles onto his back instead, pushing away the sad thoughts, and focusing on comforting him.

I can't fix this, but I can remind him that he's not alone.

Orym suddenly jerked his head away from her to look down the cave entrance. She could see the damp (and blood and dirt stained) spot he left behind… Although her clothes were already quite soiled before that. Chet had also glanced over his shoulder at the same time. They must have heard something.

Quietly but firmly Chet informed them “We have to move, we won't be alone here long.”

She watched Orym nod, his face now stern and determined.

A soldier's face.

Orym slipped the hunk of metal he had been gripping into his bag as Fearne lifted him, easily swooping him up and onto her shoulders. Man was he light! And so drained, his grasp weak as he held on. Being so drained from the fight, she was sure he couldn't move as fast as they needed to. And they needed to move fast. They needed to find a safe place. They all needed to rest.

***

“Let's go!” Chetney growled.

“On it!” Ashton raged and punched the wall where the exit was.

“We still need to find the …” Laundna’s frustrated statement was cut short.

“Found it!” Imogen exclaimed, briefly holding up the staff FCG had been carrying. Laudna stopped her search with a sigh of relief, and they made their way to the others.

Smart.

Imogen was smart. Orym had known for a while that she was leadership material. They would need the staff for it's ability to teleport everyone. Soon. Too bad it needed to recharge first. Not to mention, someone would need to attune to it.

Because…

Letters.

Letters was gone.

I failed. I failed Letters. I wasn't enough, even with the powers Nana Morey gave me.

Orym felt a firm squeeze on his leg, grounding him. Fearne kept one hand gripped firmly on his leg to make sure he didn’t slip off and she rushed down the tunnel.

He held onto her with as much strength as he could muster, as the remaining Bell’s Hells fled for their lives. He looked at his friends, all beaten and tapped out, but pushing themselves past their limits once again. Helping to steady one another and make sure everyone was keeping up. Orym hugged Fearne’s head tighter and nuzzled it a little. He had great friends. Weird, but great.

I couldn't save FCG, but for now I need to focus on getting the others home.

Home safe.

Alive. Somehow.

Dad and Will wouldn't stop fighting, and neither will I…

#critical role fanart #cr fanart #lyuenger #my art #bells hells #critical role #bg3 spoilers #bg3 fanfiction #cr spoilers #orym of the air ashari #cr fcg #rip fcg #letters #critical role spoilers #c3e91 spoilers

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mikeyswayy · 6 months

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(UPDATED INTRO POST)

(𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨...)

DNI'S are literally only like MSI fans.. oh and if your homophobic, transphobic, racist. anything like that.. oh and if your possibly one of my family members

⚰︎

I don't have a name, call me cunt or something I don't care

•

MCR is my favorite band, I like fob too and I forgot but I love any of Frankie's bands too! And Gees solo music!!!!!

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My favorite movies are (these aren't in order btw) Donnie Darko, star Wars, life on the murder scene. (I like the Chucky movies too, I was raised on them but they're not my favorite)

Favorite TV shows, the walking dead (all the spin-offs too) , umbrella academy, Chucky (I'm a big nerd for child's play and Chucky btw) / (I can't think of others right now but I think I have some more maybe..)

Favorite comics, the walking dead, the true lives of the fabulous Killjoys, the true lives of the fabulous Killjoys: national anthem, umbrella academy (I have more but like I forget a lot so..)

Favorite games, the walking dead telltale games (I have others that I'm not gonna name here bc I wanna say it somewhere else.. But you'll probably know soon enough)

Favorite colors are red and black

My favorite YouTubers are jake webber and Johnnie guilbert but I have a few more and they do pranks but like I don't think anyone that's here probably likes them so.. Well carry on.

Favorite album is I brought you my bullets, you brought me your love

Favorite songs are, my way home is through you, not that kind of girl, Emily, black dragon fighting society, all the angels and tomorrow's money

⚰︎

𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗠 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗦 :

I've always wanted to play bass

I wanna make comics, draw and maybe write some.. :D

I'm a minor, don't be a Creepazoid.. but i dont care if your over 18 :P

Literally obsessed with Mikey way..

I like sour candies, war heads I like a lot. Sour candy also isn't sour to me..

I like vampires (𝘪 𝘢𝘮 𝘰𝘯𝘦) and that stuff, bats too I guess

Blood is cool too

I draw sometimes (𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘐'𝘮 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦?)

I edit sometimes..

I'm awake all night listening to MCR, and all day almost too..

Petekey.. ♡

Frerard ♥︎

My favorite soda is root beer

I'm running out of things to say now.. Let's carry on..

⚰︎

This is the end.. So.. Bye? I don't know.. Want the lyrics to the foundations of decay? There, it's down there ↓

See the man who stands upon the hill

He dreams of all the battles won

But fate had left its scars upon his face

With all the damage they had done

And so tired with age, he turns the page

Let the flesh submit itself to gravity

Let our bodies lay, mark our hearts with shame

Let our blood in vain, you find God in pain

Now, if your convictions were a passing phase

May your ashes feed the river in the morning rays

And as the vermin crawls, we lay in the foundations of decay

He was there the day the towers fell

And so he wandered down the road

And we would all build towers of our own

Only to watch the roots corrode

But it's much too late, you're in the race

So we'll press and press 'til you can't take it anymore

Let our bodies lay, mark our hearts with shame

Let our blood in vain, you find God in pain

And if, by his own hand, his spirit flies

Take his body as a relic to be canonized

Now, and so he gets to die a saint

But she will always be a whore

Against faith (cage all the animals)

Against all odds ('cause the message must be pure)

Against change (you can wander through the ruins)

We are free (but the poison is the cure)

You must fix your heart

And you must build an altar where it swells

When the storm, it gains and the sky, it rains

Let it flood, let it flood, let it wash away

And as you stumble through your last crusade

Will you welcome your extinction in the morning rays?

And as the swarm it calls, we lay in the foundations

Yes, it comforts me much more

To lay in the foundations of decay

Get up, coward

Now, so long and goodnight...

(I'll probably be adding more once I remember more shit, but for now Run, run, bunny, run)

(𝘈𝘴𝘬 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧...)

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#intro post #my chemical romance #my chem

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sirenjose · 8 months

Text

Thoughts about Season 30 Essence 2

Updated to include comments about the Essence Design Notes.

We know Matthias' essence is connected to Checkmate (Galatea's S), as we see her appear in his showroom.

Checkmate mentions "castling" (when the king moves two squares to either side, with the rook moving to the other side of the king).

Matthias is a king. Louis is a rook.

Checkmate's description involves asking if "castling" will be the winning move. Based on Matthias' showroom, Checkmate seems to be the "player" while Matthias' essence are her pieces. We don't know if Checkmate wins, as her design notes do mention her suffering a loss in the past.

It's possible Pawn (Galatea's B) could more refer to her past loss, while Checkmate could be her when she's trying to make up for her past loss. Maybe that could mean the game in Matthias' essence is when she wins. Though I'm unsure as the end of the trailer shows Matthias down.

Despite the lighting, I think the downed king piece behind Matthias is the black king, based on an earlier scene showing Matthias and Louis in place of the King and Rook piece (likely king side rook if Matthias is at h1), so I doubt they'd show another White king piece.

Though if both the White and Black kings are down, that makes it difficult for me to tell who won. I assume the last scene of the trailer, with all the downed pieces, is meant to connect to sacrifice since Louis mentioned "sacrificed piece" earlier.

Louis may be the "sacrificed piece", potentially tying to how Matthias tried to burn him to ashes in his story, as we see Louis about to get attacked in the trailer. Louis was on the opposite end from Matthias, who was by his chair being guarded by Weeping and Sangria.

Louis was the 1 about to be attacked, while Matthias wasn't near an enemy, yet Matthias is the one we see down while Louis stands over him. I wonder, like how Matthias and Louis swap in-game, if maybe Louis swapped with Matthias here too? Maybe even in terms of roles sorta?

The crown was knocked off Matthias' head, but it fell right before Louis, who could wear it himself to become the king. Matthias could swap with Louis to instead become the "sacrificed piece", taking the hit we saw Louis about to take?

That could potentially explain how the black king as well as Matthias, who should be/was the King, could be down but how there could still be a winner? I could be wrong, but this is my best interpretation so far.

I did wonder if the chess game in this essence could be based on a real chess game that took place. I haven't found a perfect fit that lines up with the positions of the pieces given in this essence, but I did find 1 that involves castling being the winning move for White.

While researching, I found a chess game that occurred in 1850 between Paul Morphy (White), a genius chess master, and Alonzo Morphy (Black), his father.

Paul wins via castling despite giving himself a handicap (rook odd, meaning he played without his Queen side rook).

I also found a number of games that teach the value of sacrifice. Like the Immortal Game in 1851 between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky. Anderssen (White) sacrifices 2 rooks, a bishop, and his queen at the end to win. No castling is used here though.

The Opera Game in 1858 uses both castling and considerable sacrifice. Paul Morphy (White) was against both Duke Karl and Count Isouard (Black). The game was played while they attended a performance by the Paris Opera. Morphy sacrifices most of his pieces yet still manages to win.

The Opera Game is also a bit ironic considering the next essence (Season 30 Essence 3, with Vera's S-tier) is based on an opera (and Sangria is in both this and that essence).

Other thoughts: Matthias is a King. He’s the most important piece in the game, valued. S-tiers sometimes seem to tie to people’s desires. So in this essence Matthias may get what he wants, which is to have people care about him.

Yet if Louis switches with him to be king while Matthias is sacrificed, that makes me think of when Matthias tries to destroy Louis by burning him, a fire that also causes damage to himself as well as causes his parents’ (and others’) deaths.

So in this essence, Matthias is the 1 people care for, while Louis is just a rook, a piece that can be sacrificed. Yet the story in the essence is reversed from canon, as now it seems Louis is the one to essentially take out Matthias, rather than Matthias trying to take out Louis.

(I could be wrong. These are just a few thoughts I had while trying to think about any meanings that come with this essence.)

EDIT:

I'm happy I was correct that Louis takes the crown from Matthias!

Backstory adds something about Checkmate being cursed to carve a chessboard with a will of its own? Having their own will would explain what we see in the trailer and why Louis acts how he does.

Not quite sure about the translation, so please feel free to correct me if you know better!

It also mentioned Lily thinking she could control everything, but "not realizing the hand of destiny is closing in on her". That feels like a line that could parallel her story somehow 🤔

#idv #identity v #matthias czernin #puppeteer #idv matthias #idv puppeteer #identity v matthias #identity v puppeteer

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jeysbvck · 2 years

Note

Update on the boyfriends please bc I keep seeing things and I need my Shanny to explain what it all means 👀

hiiii my ash, my babe!! i would be more than happy to update you, buckle up bc it's me talking about buddie so this will get long🤭

to recap; last week buck got hit by lightning (after working two lightning strike calls, one father, one woman in labour on her way to hospital 👀) AND DIED. BUCK WAS DEAD IN CANON FOR A WHOLE WEEK. before buck got hit by lightning, we had eddie call him cowboy (the last thing eddie said before buck died was "go get em, cowboy" so i mean...) cue eddie running up the ladder screaming buck's name, asking him if he can hear him, ATTEMPTING TO PULL HIS HANGING LIFELESS BODY TOWARDS HIM before lowering it down where bucks dad i mean captain could rest him on the gurney. cue eddie flying down the ladder (all while he'd just been yeeted off the controls by the same lightning strike), pushed captain out the way to get to buck, but captain wouldn't let him see buck and instead told him he's driving.

cut to last night; we had eddie take over cpr after getting to the hospital, he got bucks heart started again, then he shouted at the nurses to "DO MORE" when they said they'd "do their best" 👀 now, we didn't see eddie too much this episode, because it was all about buck realising he is enough thru his coma dream, but we got some GREAT buddie stuff regardless (and i will die on this hill!!!) SO...the first thing buck remembered when he woke up in his coma dream was Eddie having his back, most notably, calling him cowboy. then we have a lot of unnerving scenes to do with Bucks backstory (which i would happily get into but rn it's Buddie time!!) we spend the episode flipping between coma Buck world and the real world, and in the real world we see that Chris (buddies son) has forced Carla (a care aid & friend), to take him to the hospital because he HAS to talk to Buck, even tho they don't allow kids in the icu. So Eddie and Carla sneak Chris into Bucks room and cue the tears as Chris tells Buck "wherever you are, you have to come back now." and the camera flashes to Eddie, who has tears streaming out of his eyes, who can't even look at Buck and his son.

back in coma world, Buck is at his loft, this is not his world and he knows it. (like it's a wonderful life, although i haven't seen it). He notices there's a statue of the ferris wheel from the pier in his loft, and he hears Chris screaming his name as he flashes back to the tsunami that he and Chris were in at the start of s3 (one of the best story arcs ever and integral to Buddie/Buddifer). A few more things happen, blah blah blah, he goes to find Chim (brother in law in the real world, also works at the 118), and he doesn't know him etc, but he tells Chim "I know why everyone calls you Chimney" and that makes Chim basically believe him (we don't know why they call him Chimney, they've teased it so much tho!). we find out a couple of heartbreaking things, but ive rambled way too much so the main one for this point is - Eddie lost Chris to a major custody battle with his parents, and they took Chris back to Texas.

This is a major thing for the Buddie of it all, because in 4x14, Eddie confesses to Buck that he made him Chris' legal guardian a year ago, after he almost died (3x15), but he didn't tell Buck for a year. We know from 3x15 (Eddie Begins) that after his wife and Chris' mum left, his parents tried to take Chris from him, and he alluded to Buck that they would probably fight Buck for custody, but that "nobody would fight for my kid harder than you, and that's what I want for him." So the fact that in Buck's subconscious, Eddie's parents went for a custody battle, and won, because Buck hadn't joined the 118, Eddie hadn't met Buck (or Bobby the captain, for reasons I haven't gone into right now), and that Buck hadn't introduced Eddie to Carla, is a MAJOR thing.

Then, we have Buck trying to escape his coma dream, he wakes up and everyone's happy. He knows he's enough, and that he's the heart of the 118, and that even though he had his parents love and attention (the way he SHOULD have it) in the coma dream, it wasn't worth the sacrifices that came with it (his sister still being in an abusive relationship, Bobby being dead, and Eddie not having Chris), and that HE is the heart of the 118 (which we all knew anyway, he just needed to know it!) But during the trying to get out scene, they have Chris, who even isn't in LA in coma world, ask Buck if he can "help him look for his dad" (Buck replies, "I can't, you're not real. I'm always gonna feel guilty for this" although i am paraphrasing)

This got way off track, yay ADHD🙄 but basically the entire episode was centered around family (parents & siblings), and it's very telling in an episode where they confirm in canon that Bobby (captain) and Buck ARE father & son (Bobby's stepdaughter says; "Mom brought two kids into the relationship, you brought one." & Bobby laughed and replied, "Yeah, I guess I did"😭😭) that they basically confirmed that Hen and Chim are adopted siblings to Buck (add in that Chim is his brother-in-law, technically), that Chris was also in the dream, BUT THERE WAS NO EDDIE. Because, Buck IS Chris' dad. and EDDIE does not fit into the box of "siblings or parent" in Buck's life. And when we did see Eddie in the real world, he was barely holding it together, and he was dressed in all black. 👀

I could literally talk about this forever, and there are more theories and thoughts I have for what we could possibly see/foreshadow for the next episodes of Season 6, but instead I'll leave you with this adorable picture of Buck looking at his sister while he hugs his son.😭😭😭

#ash tag💖#shan shouts into the void #buddie update for my fave!!#buddie #911 #idk if this makes any sense and im so sorry i went completely off the rails😭😭

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coridallasmultipass · 3 days

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[ Nikke spoilers for mid September 2024 update mini story / my comments on it. ]

Closeted trans dudes dressing up at the family function like:

It's such a familiar scene, for family to see you dressing up out of obligation and then being like, 'Oh, NOW you're so beautiful, you should do this more often.' And internally, your body is screaming that it feels so wrong, why did you perform your perceived gender for this event! Or like, for me personally too, the whole missing the vibe of the event and dressing up way more than anyone else, and then feeling so out of place. I've joked before about Red Hood having older brother vibes, maybe she has trans vibes for me too now, lol.

Also, strange that Liliweiss is saying 'for the future' to Red Hood. Who, y'know, is basically terminally ill (corrupted). Red Hood doesn't 'have' a future, she just has the present and past. At this point in this mini-story thing (I'm assuming it takes place around the time of the Red Ash event), is Liliweiss aware of the plans to integrate Red Hood into Rapi, and therefore 'have' a future? Or am I just reading into this way too much? Lol. Just sounded like a really weird and inconsiderate thing to say to her.

That aside, why the fuck did y'all vote the dress over the other two Red Hood skins?! I'm so disappointed, the other two were way cooler and not out of character:

((I mean, I guess it's technically in-character since it's canon now, and has to do with 'old music' but c'mon, man...))

Image description below cut:

First image: Red Hood from Nikke: Goddess of Victory is in a strappy and revealing dress. It's the same colour as her hair. She's embarrassed and standing next to a gramophone, while holding a champagne glass. She is also wearing fingerless half-palm leather gloves. Text: Red Hood: Oh jeez, I can't do this! I just can't!

Next two images: Text: Dialogue:

Commander: You did well in that outfit.

Red Hood: Anything was better than staying at that party, even fighting raptures. I've never been so glad to have a bunch of them show up.

Rapunzel: Your dress is all dirty, though. And the hem is all torn...

Red Hood: Who cares? It's not like I'm going to be wearing this ever again.

Liliweiss: Why not? I thought you'd be keeping it for the future.

Red Hood: No thanks. Not a chance.

Snow White: That's too bad. At least I finally got to see you all dressed up. Can I at least take a picture for posterity?

Red Hood: Absolutely not. I don't want to leave any evidence of this humiliating sight.

Last three images are the Red Hood skins/appearances that we voted on. First image is the feminine dress with the gramophone mentioned before, which won the poll. Second image is Red Hood on a motorcycle with a leather jacket, crop top, mini shorts, and thigh highs. Third image is Red Hood standing next to a wolf, and she is wearing form-fitted high-rise pants, a strappy harness bra-top and collar, and a cropped blazer.

#we couldve had a better mini story than performative femininity #nikke #red hood #red hood nikke #goddess of victory: nikke #nikke goddess of victory #nikke spoilers #CoriPlaysNikke #Cori Plays Nikke #idr which tag i use lol #Cori.exe #Post.exe #Image.exe #long post #i cant remember if i voted bike or wolf lol the vote i cast was on june 27 and its currently sept 21 so it was a while ago...#...and the link i RTed doesn't tell me which one i voted (usually i try to put a screenshot as a reply but i must have forgotten)#i DEFINITELY did not vote the out of character strappy dress lmao wtf #tbh im keeping her default skin on but its nice they gave us a mini story for it at all #also lmao @ rapunzel looking for the commanders mags. neon already found em (neons personal story) and theyre gay mags (bless)#i mean unless im misremembering that im super tired rn and ive been typing this post for a while and have more to say on another post #other post TBA im too tired to make that one rn. actually i have a lot of nikke things i want to post but i keep forgetting lol #just expect more i have a lot i wanna commentate on but its 1am and i still gotta shower tonight #lol lemme stop nitpicking this post #but yeah the story was like. oh man. ive done that before. countless times. it sucks. i got hella secondhand embarrassment...#...bc ive been there before. in feminine clothes and shit. and ppl suddenly like u a lot more...#...and its like. guys. this is basically a costume. its not who i am. no im not gonna wear a fucking dress all the time.#and it sucks bc it aint safe to come out to justify why you dont wanna look like that all the time. (not that ppl should Have to justify it)#let ppl wear stuff thats ooc and treat it normally dont hound them about it like this bc then it becomes a nightmare

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trendagon · 1 year

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Coco Gauff Makes History with Thrilling U.S. Open Victory

Nineteen-year-old American tennis sensation Coco Gauff secured her first Grand Slam title by winning the U.S. Open women's singles championship in a thrilling three-set match against Belarusian player Aryna Sabalenka.

Gauff's remarkable victory unfolded with a scoreline of 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, and it marked her as the third American teenager to clinch the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, following in the footsteps of tennis legends Serena Williams and Tracy Austin. The last time an American woman won the U.S. Open was in 2017 when Sloane Stephens triumphed over her compatriot Madison Keys.

In an Instagram video, Gauff expressed her feelings about the win, stating, "I feel like I'm a little bit in shock in this moment." She continued, "I'm just thankful for this moment; I don't have any words for it, to be honest."

Following her victory, Gauff rushed into the stands to embrace her parents, coach, and other members of her support team. Gauff revealed that it was the first time she had ever seen her father, making the moment even more special.

The young tennis star took a moment to address those who may have doubted her, saying, "Thank you to the people who didn't believe in me. To those who thought they were putting water on my fire, you were putting gas."

Gauff's triumph not only marked her as the 10th teenager to win the U.S. Open women's singles championship but also made her the youngest American to claim this title since Serena Williams did so in 1999 at the age of 17.

Gauff's impressive journey to the U.S. Open final was part of a historic moment for American tennis. She was one of four Black American players, along with Frances Tiafoe, Madison Keys, and Ben Shelton, to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament, a significant achievement in the sport's open era that began in 1968.

This victory is a significant milestone in Gauff's burgeoning career, and it places her in the company of tennis greats. In an interview, Gauff expressed her gratitude and hopes for the future, saying, "It's an honor to be in that stat with Althea Gibson, Serena, Venus [Williams], Naomi [Osaka], Sloane [Stephens]. They paved the way for me to be here… I hope another girl can see this and believe they can do it and hopefully their name can be on this trophy too."

President Joe Biden also extended his congratulations to Coco Gauff, emphasizing her inspiring journey and determination, stating, "Congrats to U.S. Open Champion @CocoGauff. You electrified Arthur Ashe stadium and the entire nation – the first of more to come and proof that anything is possible if you never give up and always believe."

Aryna Sabalenka, despite her loss in the final, will ascend to the No. 1 ranking in women's tennis when the Women's Tennis Association's rankings are updated, while Gauff's ranking will rise to No. 3.

For her remarkable victory, Coco Gauff will receive a prize of $3 million, while Aryna Sabalenka, as the runner-up, will take home $1.5 million.

In reaching the championship, Gauff overcame Karolina Muchova in a two-set match. The match was briefly delayed when climate change protesters disrupted the event, resulting in the arrest of two of the protesters.

Sabalenka's path to the final involved defeating Madison Keys in a hard-fought three-set match that included two tiebreakers.

#coco gauff #sports #tennis

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1kook · 4 years

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card swiped (4)

→ jeon jungkook x (f) reader

→ “I’ve known Jungkook was a virgin since he first tried to tell me he wasn’t,” you tell him, arms crossed over your chest. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows.” GENRE romance (romcom?), eventual smut, teensy angst WARNING mentions of a hand job, talk of virginity OTHER college crushes, volleyball player!jk, student council president!oc, idiots to lovers, besties to lovers, childhood friends au RATING m (18+) bc brief sex ment WC 1.6k

NOTES (!) sorry for taking so long to update </3 school be kicking my ass. anyway here they are! an idiot couple. lmk what u think!!

[ masterlist ]

In the past, whenever something had bothered you, the first person you ran to was Jungkook. Low grades, fights with your parents, boy drama— as your best friend and number one confidant, Jungkook was always your first choice. He was always willing to lend you a shoulder to cry on, even if that meant staining his white t-shirts with streaks of your mascara. He was always ready to go beat up a mean boy who had hurt your feelings during lunch, even if he’d miss his favorite special. And he was always down for some good old fashion i hate my parents ranting, even if he adored your parents. He was a great listener, an even better best friend, and had rightfully won you over from a very young age.

That being said, how were you supposed to talk to Jungkook about something that bothered you when that something was him?

You could easily tell any of your numerous girl friends, those of which would probably understand your predicament better than Jungkook or any man ever could. But after years of vehemently denying any notion of a romantic relationship between the two of you, you get the feeling your call for help will be met with more unimpressed glares than actual assistance. Besides, as much as you bring up Jungkook, none of them really know Jungkook to truly offer you any worthwhile advice.

Your next option: Kim Taehyung. Now, Kim Taehyung held a similar background as Jungkook (translation: he also went to the same high school as you). He knows both you and Jungkook—frankly, more than you’d like him to—so he would be able to dissect the issue easily and offer trustworthy advice. The problem with Kim Taehyung, however, is that aside from knowing you at your embarrassingly dorky teenage prime, he doesn’t know how to keep a secret. Anything he knows, Jungkook knows. So if you were to, hypothetically, ask Taehyung for advice on Jungkook, well. Chances are, you’d probably get a rather confused text from Jungkook two minutes later.

Which leaves you with one option— Park Jimin. There’s a reason Park Jimin isn’t your first option, and that reason presents itself now as you glare at him from across the empty room. For as long as you’ve been in university, Jimin has always lingered around the student council meetings, giving everyone he sees the prettiest, meanest stink-eye. You suspect it’s because he waits around for Min Yoongi, your Vice President (which isn’t an issue; Jungkook also frequents student council meetings while waiting for you), and doesn’t really care for anyone else. Your problem with Jimin doesn’t lie there but rather with the fact he’s adamant on taking up space and not lending so much as a finger to help.

Today he is sitting with his feet on the table, dirty volleyball bag tossed on the floor. He’s watched you for the last fifteen minutes wrestle with the broken copy machine and hasn’t said a word since. He pretends he doesn’t see you struggling, because if he does, he’d be obligated to help you.

To summarize, Park Jimin may be the fastest libero your university’s volleyball team has seen in years, but he’s a good-for-nothing bum everywhere else.

And despite all that, he’s your best choice. There’s no one quite as blunt and honest as Park Jimin. There’s no one in this world who truly doesn’t care enough about anyone’s problems to gossip about them as Park Jimin. You plop down beside him, rumpled papers in hand. Without warning, you jump straight into it. “Jungkook is going to take my virginity,” you announce, like it’s the most casual thing in the world. If any of your fellow student council members heard you, you’re certain you’d shrivel up and die.

Jimin hums. “That’s nice.” His eyes don’t leave his phone, thumb hovering over his screen. It’s a testament to how much he truly does not care. His extended silence plants a seed of doubt in you— was this the right person to tell? you begin to worry. But after a beat, Jimin’s thumb taps against his screen and he says, “Jungkook is a virgin.”

You clench your jaw. “I know.”

The thing about Jimin is, with the right wording, you can get him interested in something. Not interested enough to genuinely care, but interested enough to at least listen and offer his own piece of straightforward advice. His thumb comes to a standstill over his phone, eyes momentarily going blank. It’s a minute gesture, one that’s taken you four years of paying attention to catch. Just as quickly as it appears, it’s gone. “Really,” Jimin sighs, back to, you now realize, playing CandyCrush on his phone. “You’re gonna let a virgin take your virginity.”

Not a question, but you nod anyway. “Yup.”

There’s sweat building on the back of your neck, nerves at an all time high, but you’re trying to play it off. Just a little bit more and you know you’ll have caught him. Beside you, Jimin’s jaw twitches.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity of trying to act calm, Jimin clicks his phone off and turns to you. He’s as intimidating as ever, ash blonde hair pushed back today to reveal his forehead and dark eyes. “You’ve known Jungkook was a virgin this whole time?” he asks, has this calculating look in his eyes that makes you feel like you’re being questioned by an officer of the law and not the shortest person on the volleyball team.

With a practiced air of nonchalance, you shrug. “I have,” you confess, and it’s the truth.

While you may have been initially fooled that night two years ago, you weren’t that oblivious. Oh, you knew clear as day that Jeon Jungkook was still a virgin, just as well as you knew that he religiously washed his sheets every weekend or that he had a specific color coded system for his underwear drawer. Jungkook was a fool to try and lie to you, not only because you had found out, but because you had found out that very next morning.

It had been subtle. The night at the party, you had watched on with a throbbing heartache as some pretty girl led Jungkook up a set of stairs, had barely fought off a wave of emotion when he returned twenty minutes later, his hair a rumpled mess. “Did you… ?” you had mumbled, pressed closely against him by the back door. Your eyes had been glassy, from your emotions and from the drunken stupor you had gotten yourself into while he was away, wondering what he was doing. A sense of jealousy you would never admit to had curled around your heart. His hand had landed on your hip then. He smelled like flowers and vanilla, a smell unlike his own. Your heart clenched, hand mindlessly reaching up to cup his jaw, so drunk and heartbroken, you couldn’t stop yourself from trailing your fingers along his pretty cheekbones.

Jungkook had graced you with a simple nod, and then, “do you wanna leave now?”

You’d left, stumbling down Greek road on your way back to his dorm. Jungkook had held your hand the whole way, tucked you into his twin bed, and then promptly knocked out on the floor between his and Taehyung’s beds. The latter was nowhere to be found, wouldn’t appear until the next morning when he’d accidentally step on Jungkook’s ankle and wake both of you up.

Jungkook had yelped, and your eyes had fluttered open. You remember debating rolling over, checking on him like you wanted to, but Taehyung was already there doing just that. So you had laid still instead, listened as the two boys clattered around the room. They chatted mindlessly, about the party and tomorrow’s practice. Taehyung had been bragging about some girl he’d slept with last night. “What about you?” he had asked, and your breath caught in your throat. “Did you and…”—a pause, the distinct ruffle of fabric—“finally?”

“What— no,” Jungkook had said, and you felt the bed dip as he sat down on the edge beside you.

Taehyung pushed on with a snort. “Well, did you get lucky at all?”

Jungkook groaned, placed one warm hand on your back soothingly. You tried your best to level out your breathing, relaxed your facial expression as you clung to the sound of his voice. “Just a handjob. Some girl I didn’t even know. Does that count?” You could hear your heartbeat in your ears, felt it beneath your fingertips when you fisted the sheets.

And that curt admission sat in the back of your mind everyday for two years.

You turn to Jimin. “I’ve known Jungkook was a virgin since he first tried to tell me he wasn’t,” you tell him, arms crossed over your chest. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows.”

Jimin lets out a low whistle. “You’re smarter than I thought,” he grins, this conniving little smile that is a genuine cause for concern. “So you’re letting him think you don’t know?” You nod. Jimin’s smile grows. “My, my. If I had known you were this evil, maybe we would’ve hung out more.”

You roll your eyes. “I’m not evil,” you insist, flicking him on the nose. Jimin huffs indignantly. “I think what he’s doing is sweet…” you confess, feel your entire body heat up as you recall that wide-eyed look Jungkook had given you just yesterday afternoon, your kiss print fresh on his cheek. “And, well,” you look down at your shoes. “I used to dream about him being my first.”

Jimin groans. “You two make me sick.”

#networkbangtan #kwritersworldnet #jungkook smut #jungkook fic #jungkook #bts jungkook #jungkook x reader #jungkook x reader smut #jeon jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook x reader smut #bts fic #bts smut #bts #jeon jungkook #jeon jeongguk #jjk #mine

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crystalelemental · 2 years

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Hoenn Villain Arc! It’s over now, and that means it’s time to talk about it, and boy...oh boy, do I have a lot of opinions.

We’ll start with this: As a self-contained story, I like it. Hoenn is just obsessed with meteors and space, so I guess it was inevitable that we turned away from the whole Groudon/Kyogre thing to focus on space when it came to Rayquaza. I wasn’t fully expecting Deoxys, or at least expected it as part of the meteor we blew up, but instead it’s just...around? And hostile toward Steven’s Rayquaza exclusively for some hilarious reason? This is legitimately comical to me. I expected them to have an explanation for its hostility but no, it’s just out for blood for no reason other than it can be. And now Steven has both of them together on the same team, and it’s like...alright.

Zinnia’s whole thing of unlocking mega evolution is touching, if a bit rushed. I really liked Maxie and Archie’s attempts to stop Courtney and Matt, and their recognition of how far out of their control things have gotten leading to them once again stopping their plans works out well. I’m also kinda on board for Team Rocket using this diversion as a means of carrying out their plans without interference. It does work well, though it’s a bit simpler than I would’ve anticipated. And with that, I’m now going to talk a lot about over-arching problems with the villain arc.

It is literally just about Giovanni. I had gone into all this with the expectation of Team Rainbow Rocket’s development, and the collection of all the villains toward a united goal. That would’ve been great! And made sense. And been an opportunity for Lusamine to actually be part of it instead of a damsel in distress who’s unconscious the whole time, I will never forgive USUM for that. But Cyrus didn’t really join, he just stepped down and went to find an alternate solution, and now Maxie and Archie have actively discontinued their shenanigans and are more or less on our side. In four regional villain arcs, Giovanni is still the only threat.

And that...really blows. I was really hopeful that this story arc would actually be a big focus on the regions, but we’re starting to dip back into a Kanto Dick-Sucking Competition again, insisting Giovanni be the dead center of every problem. I really, really dislike this approach. And considering he’s also getting a free alt now, it’s like...okay. Great. Giovanni’s up to three alts. We’re pretty sure Red and Pikachu, with probably Ash and Pikachu as well, is happening somewhere in the next update, meaning half of all anniversary celebrations are now Kanto-dominated. That sucks. I don’t like it. Kanto isn’t that interesting, talk about other stuff for once, Pokemon.

I just...feel like unless Giovanni is an active antagonist, the villain arcs return nil. Sinnoh’s arc was just plain boring. Nothing was accomplished, and it just didn’t go anywhere interesting with its characters, which is a tragedy considering how cool some of the sync pair concepts really were. Hoenn’s at least better off, stuff happens that matters, but this was overall a pretty pointless interlude that resulted in Maxie and Archie ending hostilities, and Giovanni being the clear winner thanks to the unchecked theft of many Pokemon on Pasio. Great, glad we’re just amping up Giovanni’s activities.

If it seems like all my complaints are about Giovanni, it’s because they are. I’m full-on bothered by his presence in this arc. I wanted an emphasis on each region, and Hoenn’s at least doing better, but it just bothers me that all of this was Maxie and Archie getting played rather than their presentation as antagonistic forces. Unlike a Cyrus or Lysandre, who absolutely cannot win due to how extreme their goals are, these two could’ve won. They wouldn’t have because of how their story always goes, but there was at least the chance to, like...antagonize? Cause problems on purpose? But they don’t. They didn’t even want to fight, or carry out any specific plan. They were literally just vibing and suddenly their Pokemon are fighting and that turned out to be a big old distraction from Giovanni. Also Deoxys is around and is trying to kill Rayquaza.

My point being, Hoenn villain arc is solid, because it does have solid character moments and something to work with, but its place in the grand scheme of the arc bothers me. I don’t like that we seem to be setting up that every antagonist exists for Giovanni to outplay, and putting all actual threat on Giovanni alone. If they are going sequentially, Unova should be next, and I swear to god there should be no way they can make Ghetsis underwhelming as an antagonist.

#pokemon masters

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theladyofdeath · 4 years

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The Ranch {10}

An A Court of Thorns and Roses, Nesta x Cassian, Modern AU, fanfiction.

Collaboration: @throne-of-ashes-and-beauty x @tacmc

Summary: Nesta had spent years in Paris, living her dream and drowning in riches as a gourmet chef, capturing the hearts of the city and its people. But, after her father passes away unexpectedly and leaves his cozy, countryside B&B to his oldest daughter, Nesta is moving back home to the tiny town of Velaris, where the ranch, her sisters, and her father’s unfulfilled dream, awaits.

Sidenote: Being posted between two blogs, it is too chaotic to keep up with a tags list, so all chapters will be tagged with “#TheRanchNessian” & “#SharaCollab”.

A/N: enjoy!

The Ranch Masterlist

Cassian threw open the closet in the bedroom of his cabin. Sure, he’d spent quite a bit of time on minuscule dates and hanging out at the bar through the years, but it had been a while since he’d taken a woman out on a proper date.

And here he was, about to take Nesta, a fucking gourmet chef, to dinner. With an hour before he was supposed to “pick her up”, he still had no idea where they were going. He’d run through the list of restaurants in their little town a hundred times through his head as he went through his work that day, but none of them seemed good enough.

What also didn’t seem good enough were the shirts he was staring at. Maybe he’d just stay in what he was already wearing - the towel around his waist. She seemed to prefer him in such, anyways, considering the night they had spent together the day before.

And what a damn fantastic night it had been.

No, Cassian wanted their date to be perfect.

Once again, he stared at the line of shirts hanging in his closet.

He groaned and dragged his hand down his face before he walked across the room and texted Elain.

You busy?

He waited a minute, no reply to his text, and he was both impatient and short on time.

So he called her.

“You couldn’t even wait for me to text you back and tell you that I’m not busy?” Her voice was full of laughter as she answered the phone.

“Sort of in a rush and also freaking out,” he said, beginning to pace.

She was instantly on red alert. “What? Why? Are you okay?”

He shook his head, realizing he’d worried her for no reason. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m taking your sister out on a date tonight and I have no idea what to wear.”

He was met with silence on the other line.

“Elain?”

“I’m here, I’m...trying to make sense of what you just said.” She stuttered a second. “You said you’re taking Nesta on a date tonight?”

“Yes.”

“My sister, Nesta?”

“Yes,” Cassian said, with no chill. “And I’m in a hurry.”

“Taking Nesta out makes you cranky,” Elain muttered. “Okay, I’m here, what is it you need?”

“I don’t know what to wear.”

Another stretch of silence.

Cassian sighed, impatiently. “Elain.”

“Sorry,” she said, tone laced with laughter. “I just...You’re worried about what you’re going to wear?”

“Everything I have looks the same,” he mumbled.

“Then wear one of your fifty plaid shirts,” she laughed. “And your one pair of nice jeans.”

“Really?” He asked, grabbing one of his more expensive shirts from the closet. “But I wear this every day-.”

“She’s seen you everyday and has she ever had a problem with it?” she interrupted.

“I- No,” he admitted. “What kind of food does she like? I asked her to dinner and then I realized that she’s a chef and that nothing around here would be up to her standards.”

Elain paused, but finally said, “Do you trust me?”

Cassian hesitated, unable to hide the question in his voice. “Usually?”

She chuckled. “I’m going to send you an address. Don’t look it up, just trust me, okay?”

He blinked. Well, it was a better idea than he had. “Okay, sure. Yeah, I won’t look it up.”

Elain squealed. “Yay! Alright, stand by. I’ll text it to you now.”

Cassian breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Lainy, you have no idea how grateful I am.”

He could tell she was being genuine when she said, “Anything I can do to help! You both deserve to be happy, to have someone to cherish you and treat you right.” She sighed. “How’d you convince her to finally go out with you?”

Cassian debated on beating around the bush, but knew their families would find out anyways. “We, uh, sort of hooked up last night.”

Not to his surprise, he was met with more silence.

This time, Cassian waited it out. He put his phone on speaker then dropped his towel.

“And by hooked up, you mean…”

“Sex?” Cassian supplied, pulling on his boxers. “Yeah, and it was-.”

“I don’t wanna know.” The words rushed out of Elain so quickly that Cassian knew her cheeks were turning pink.

Cassian chuckled. “Fine. But, it was nice.”

“Were you drunk?” Elain asked, hesitantly.

Cassian rolled his eyes. “No. And she was still there when I woke up this morning, so.”

“Wow, I-.” She paused and repeated, “Wow. You know you’re supposed to take her out before you sleep with her, right?”

“Oh, ha ha.” He said, stepping into his jeans and buttoning them up. His voice was wistful at first. “I can’t help it, I just had to have her. And she actually made the move this time, not me.”

“I still don’t want to know,” she said, laughing. “Have fun, make good choices.”

“I’ll try,” he promised before saying goodbye and tossing the phone onto his bed. A moment later, when he was buttoning up his shirt, her text came through with an address.

He had no idea where she was sending them, and he was almost too scared to look it up, even if he hadn’t promised. After brushing out his hair with his fingers, he tied it at the back of his head and pulled on some socks, then his boots, and sighed.

“Beau!”

Beau came hurrying into the bedroom and up onto the bed, wagging his tail.

“How do I look?” Cassian asked, brows raised.

Beau barked.

“I assume that means you approve. Alright,” he said, grabbing his wallet off his nightstand and shoving it into his pocket. “I’ll be back in a little while. Don’t chew up anything...that’s not already chewed up, okay?”

He gave Beau a quick belly rub before strutting toward the front door.

He grabbed his keys and drove over to Nesta’s, hopping out and knocking on her door.

It only took a second for the door to swing open and Cassian’s mouth began to water.

The blue dress she wore was nothing fancy. On the contrary, it was its simplicity that let Nesta’s beauty shine.

Her golden-brown hair was in a simple braid, her brown sandals showing off her painted toenails. A soft pink, the same shade she wore on her full, beautiful lips.

She raised her brows as she said, “You’re staring. You’ve seen me every day for a while now. You can’t stare.”

“I can and I will,” he protested, meeting her eyes. “And it’s not the first time I’ve been caught staring at you.”

Nesta rolled her eyes as she grabbed her bag off the hook by the door. “Where are you taking me?”

She stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind her as he hesitated. “Uh, it’s a surprise.” To us both.

She laughed quietly but said nothing more as they descended the stairs. Cassian opened the passenger side door and held out his hand to help her up, but she ignored it and hauled herself inside. With a chuckle, Cassian closed the door behind her and made his way behind the wheel before making his way down the long driveway.

Once they were out onto the main road, Cassian said, “You look beautiful.”

She didn’t look over at him as a small smile played on those pink lips. “Thanks. You don’t look too bad, either.”

Cassian grinned and turned on the radio, soft music filling the truck. He had already put the address into his GPS, but kept the volume down. He glanced at his phone every few seconds to make sure he was going the right way. The last thing he wanted was for Nesta to ask why he needed directions to know where they were going. What would his reply be? Oh, I called your sister because I was freaking the fuck out, thanks for asking, no big deal.

It was a conversation he wanted to avoid.

“What all did you do today?” he asked. “I didn’t see you around.”

“I was in the main house, prepping for painting,” she said, nodding. “That place needs to be updated before any guests start coming in. So, I taped, covered the carpets in plastic, and moved all furniture to the middle of the floors. Which, I should probably get a few new things there, too. I swear we grew up on shit made in the 1950s.”

Cassian snorted, then looked her direction. “You should’ve asked for help. I could’ve helped with the heavy lifting.”

She rolled her eyes. “I am perfectly capable of doing things on my own, thank you.”

Cassian shook his head as his eyes went back on the road ahead of him. “Trust me, I know.”

Her amused grin was radiant. “What about you? Any fun ranch stuff today?”

“Ranch stuff?” He chuckled. At her own laughter, he continued, “Nothing too crazy. Mostly made sure there was enough hay left for the horses over the weekend. And checked on Barb. She’ll be having her calf any day.”

“What? Really?” She turned to him. “It’s way too late in the year for calves.”

He nodded. “Yeah, that’s why I’m keeping such a close eye on her.”

His phone lit up, alerting him that they were approaching their destination. He looked around and chuckled, shaking his head. Leave it to Elain.

He pulled into the little parking lot of an old diner. The sign that read The Starlight Diner was lit up in neon lights. He parked in front of the little building before looking at Nesta to see her reaction.

She was staring at the diner before she turned to him. “You talked to my sister, didn’t you?”

Cassian hesitated, and she laughed. “We used to go here all the time,” she said, shaking her head. “I used to love this place. I can’t tell you how many milkshakes I’ve downed within these walls. And the chili cheese fries? I mean, there��s nothing like them.”

Cassian had been to the diner before, but not since high school. It used to be a popular hangout, one they went to after they won a big game or smoked too much pot under the bleachers.

“So you’re telling me,” Cassian began, turning off the engine. “That a woman who became a famous chef in Paris likes to go to ancient diners and drink milkshakes and eat chili-cheese fries?”

“Yes,” she said, simply. Then she smiled, softly. “Shall we?”

Cassian, completely speechless and a little bit turned on, opened his door and met her on her side of the truck as she got out. They went inside and sat at a table by the window. Old music was playing and waitresses were going about their business on roller skates.

“So, I assume you already know what you want,” Cassian began, flipping open his menu. “And I assume it’s more than a milkshake and chili-cheese fries.”

Nesta was glancing around the restaurant, looking for someone or something, but she didn’t miss a beat when she answered. “Bacon cheeseburger, with extra pickles, chili-cheese fries, vanilla milkshake, with no cherry, and a water.”

He raised an eyebrow, and let his menu fall shut. “I know what I’m ordering.” She laughed and he felt like his heart was going to burst. The sound of her laughter was quickly becoming one of his favorite things. “So why no cherry? Are allergic, or what?”

She scrunched her nose as she moved the silverware around in front of her. “I used to drink the Shirley Temples made with the cheap grenadine. You know the one that’s pretty much just cherry snow-cone syrup?”

Their server came to the table at that moment and took their drink order. They both know what they wanted, but neither was in a rush. She promised to return with their waters and to get their food order in just a moment and they fell right back into conversation.

“Long story short, one night we went to dinner and I had four or five of them.” She laughed and shook her head. “Neither mom or dad noticed how many I’d had, which was awesome to me. I was only allowed to have two before I had to switch to water. When we got home, I got so, so sick. They freaked out because it was dark red and they thought I was bleeding internally.” She began laughing even harder. “Neither of them told me that was what they were worried about, and I wasn’t about to tell on myself. They took me to the hospital and I finally told one of the nurses. Nineteen years and a sixteen hundred dollar hospital bill later, and I hate cherry and cherry flavoring now.”

Cassian just stared at her, barely registering when the waitress came back and gave them their waters. And then he began howling.

The waitress looked at him like he was crazy and mumbled that she’d be back in just a minute for their orders.

“So you were a rebellious child,” Cassian said, laughter dying down but his smile remaining.

“Considering that’s the most rebellious thing I’d ever done, I’d say not,” Nesta said, chuckling. “No, Feyre was the rebellious one, which I’m sure you already know. Elain was the perfect one. And I….I don’t know. I was just there.”

“That’s impossible,” Cassian said. “Give yourself a little more credit.”

She shrugged, and a shadowy look crossed her face that had Cassian clearing his throat. “Well, you didn’t miss out on rebellion. Coming from someone who landed himself in the local jail fifteen times his senior year in high school, alone.”

That look in Nesta’s eyes faded as she shook her head, humored. “Fifteen times? In under a year?”

“Yeah, I swear at some point the cops just started following me when they were bored until I did something they could call me out on,” he laughed. It was a little town. The crime rate was low. “Shoplifting a few times. Mostly underage drinking. One time they caught me peeing into the dumpster behind the corner market. Which, I was drunk then, too….Actually, that night was rough.”

Nesta laughed as she rolled her eyes. “Good thing to know such a classy man has taken me to dinner.”

Cassian’s grin widened. “You live, you learn.”

Nesta nodded her agreement. “What about your parents? Weren’t they furious?”

Cassian’s eyes softened as he said, “Don’t know my dad. My mom died while I was in middle school, lived with Rhys and his mom after that. And, yes, she gave me hell every damn time. But, she always came to pick me up and break me out.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said, but he was already waving her off.

“Don’t be,” he shrugged. “From what my mom told me of my dad, he wasn’t the greatest guy. Found out she was pregnant from one of his friends and skipped town. He was a bull rider, and he jumped on the rodeo tour and she never saw him again. And my mom…” he blew out a deep breath. “We should probably save my mom for a less depressing conversation.”

Nesta nodded, completely understanding.

“But Rhys’ mom was great,” he went on, taking a sip from his water. “I love that woman.”

The waitress came back and Nesta ordered.

Cassian said he’d have the same, but with a chocolate shake, then she was off.

“So,” Cassian went on, leaning his elbows on the table. “Tell me something I don’t know about you.”

Nesta took a moment to think. “After last night, I think you know everything there is to know.”

Cassian smirked. “About some things, maybe. But tell me something I don’t.”

Nesta chewed on her lip, mind going completely blank. Everything either seemed too personal or not personal enough.

“I can’t whistle,” She laughed, shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t know, this is one of the things I hate about dating. This whole interview process.”

“How about this,” he smiled. “Tell me about your favorite thing in the world.”

He was expecting her to start telling him about cooking, about how she’d ended up in Paris, Rome, London, all the places he’d seen when he did a quick google of her name. But she surprised him.

“Riding horseback,” she said, eyes bright.

Cassian raised a brow. “Riding? That’s your favorite thing in the world?”

“Does that surprise you?” She asked, leaning back in the booth.

“Yeah, a little,” he confessed.

She stirred her water with her straw, watching the ice cubes spin around in her glass. “It was my one escape growing up. The one thing I could do that didn’t result in a sneer from my mother and a lecture about my future from my father.” She sighed. “I used to ride Phoenix for hours to just...get out of the house. Have you ever ridden back on the hills to the west of the property?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You mean the property that isn’t ours, that’s marked No Trespassing?”

Their waitress brought their milkshakes to the table. There was a bright red cherry on top of Nesta’s, but before she could say anything, Cassian snatched it up and popped it into his mouth. She rolled her eyes, thanked the waitress, and took a huge sip. Her eyes slipped closed instantly and she moaned quietly. “Oh my god, I can’t get a milkshake like this anywhere else.”

She opened her eyes to find him watching her, and when her tongue peeked out to get the little bit of melted ice cream left on her bottom lip, his eyes tracked the motion. They were dark, the shining hazel almost completely swallowed by his pupils.

Without a word, Cassian pulled something from between his teeth and dropped it on the table between them.

The stem from her stolen cherry was tied in a knot.

Nesta said, “That’s both hot and cheesy as hell.”

Cassian’s low laugh skittered across her skin. “You already know what my tongue can do, but I thought I’d give you a little reminder, just in case you somehow forgot already.”

Nesta swallowed. No, she definitely hadn’t forgotten what his perfect mouth could do, but she had forgotten how to speak, especially when he was looking at her the way he was.

He plucked the cherry from his own milkshake, eating the cherry - sans stem, this time - and motioned for Nesta to continue. “So, what about the land that we do not own, Miss I was never rebellious?”

His imitation of her was spot on.

Nesta pursed her lips and said, “Yeah, that land is ours.”

He dropped his spoon, splattering the table in chocolate ice cream droplets. “What?”

She took another drink of her milkshake, not moaning this time, thank the Cauldron, and nodded. “It’s only another few acres. I knew the previous owners. Armand and Colette Lavigne.” The way she said their names, with such familiarity and adoration, Cassian knew she must have spent a lot of time with them. “They were from the Bordeaux region of France. They moved here in their fifties to open a vineyard.” She chuckled, shaking her head. “They didn’t do any research and had no idea the soil here wasn’t good for wine. But they fell in love with the area. And they’re the ones who taught me to love cooking.” She smiled fondly, her eyes misting slightly. “I bought it when Colette passed a few years ago and Armand returned to Floirac. He didn’t want it to go to someone who would just sell it for profit and turn it into another apartment complex or a shopping mall. It's been my land for about four years, but I finally signed the deed to have it put in my name, rather than Armand’s, when I signed the ranch’s deeds.”

Cassian blinked, processing the information, slowly. Then he said, loudly enough to earn a scowl from the elderly couple two booths down, “What the fuck? I’ve been purposely avoiding that land, and now you’re telling me I should’ve been working it?”

Nesta rolled her eyes. “No. Not yet, anyway. I haven’t decided what I want to do with it yet.”

Cassian was slowly shaking his head. “I have a feeling you’re never going to stop surprising me.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” She asked.

He smiled at her. “No, it isn’t.”

They fell into a comfortable silence. Nesta finally asked, “Have you even tried your milkshake yet, or are you just going to keep stirring it?”

He pointed his sticky spoon at her and took a big sip through his straw. He pulled back, staring at the thick liquid. “That’s pretty damn good.”

“Pretty damn good?” She repeated, shaking her head. “It’s fucking delicious.”

“You’re fucking delicious,” he muttered, taking another drink from his straw.

Nesta’s cheeks turned a bright shade of pink, which only made Cassian's small smile turn into a wicked grin.

Before she could come up with a retort, a display of beautiful, greasy food was laid out before them. Burgers and chili-cheese fries.

As the waitress turned to leave, Nesta said, “Excuse me, but is Alis still here?”

“Oh, no, sweetie, I’m so sorry,” she said, and Nesta nodded. “She’ll be back in for the morning shift tomorrow, though.”

“Okay, perfect. Thank you.”

The woman smiled warmly and left them to enjoy their burgers.

“Alis?” Cassian asked, eyeing the massive plate of food in front of him and its twin in front of Nesta, then her tiny form. There was no way she’d be able to eat everything in front of her.

Nesta already had a forkful of hot, cheesy fries and was diving in. She closed her eyes and made a contented noise. She took a drink of her water, setting it down before answering. “She owns the Starlight. I came here so much that she and I became pretty close. When I…” Ran away. “Left town, I stopped in for a cup of coffee, trying to talk myself out of leaving. Alis is the one who pushed me to follow my dreams. She even paid for my bus ticket out of town.”

“Really?” Cassian asked, popping a fry into his mouth. “She sounds nice.”

“She is,” Nesta agreed. “One of the best this town has to offer. Now, look away because I’m about to bite into this burger and it’s not going to be attractive whatsoever.”

Cassian didn’t look away and Nesta, eyes on his, took a massive bite out of her bacon cheese burger.

He blinked, and she covered her mouth as her eyes lit up at his expression.

“I can honestly say I’ve never been so attracted to you,” he said, taking his burger into his hands. Before he took a bite, he asked, “So, Alis is the one that pushed you out of town, huh?”

Nesta nodded, taking another bite and swallowing before saying, “If it wasn’t for her that day, I probably would have stayed here, ended back up with Tomas, and lived to regret every fucking day that followed. So, I am very grateful to Alis.”

Cassian hadn’t pressed Nesta anymore on the subject of Tomas, and he knew now wasn’t the time, no matter how many questions he had.

“Well, then I’m grateful to her too,” Cassian said, taking a bite so massive nearly half of his burger disappeared. He chewed before saying, “Although I’m pretty grateful you came back, too.”

Nesta took another bite of her own burger. “You’re just saying that because I’ll have sex with you,” she laughed and dove back into her fries.

Cassian’s eyes lit up in amusement. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a perk. But I think you’re going to be good for the b-n-b, for the ranch as a whole.” Nesta’s eyes softened and she smiled. Until he added, “And ‘I’ll have sex’ implies that we’ll be doing that again, right? That wasn’t a one and done?”

Nesta rolled her eyes, mouth full of food. A second later, she said, “I’ll have to think about it.”

Cassian had the audacity to look offended. “Ouch. Was I so bad?”

Nesta just grinned as she took another bite of her fries.

Cassian’s laughter filled the air as they finished their food. He paid, and then they made their way back into the truck.

“Thanks for dinner,” she said, as they pulled out of the parking lot. To his surprise, she had finished every last bite of her food and downed her milkshake. Even Cassian had left a few fries, claiming he couldn’t eat another bite.

“Anytime,” he said, meaning it.

“Um, home is the other direction,” she said, when he turned left onto the main road instead of right.

“I know,” Cassian replied, shortly, and when it was obvious he wasn’t going to say anything more, Nesta shot him a look.

“Where are we going?” she asked, slowly.

Cassian just grinned, one hand on the wheel, the other sneaking over the middle console to hers.

The ride was comfortably quiet, the rumble of Cassian’s truck the only sound. Nesta didn’t mind though, not as he drove through the square, where people bustled about. Velaris was a city best enjoyed at night, and the people milling around every restaurant and park and store front proved it. She also didn’t mind the feel of his hand in hers, so the longer drive was fine by her.

Until they pulled into a parking lot.

“Why are we here?”

Cassian only grinned and hopped out of the truck, rounding the hood and helping Nesta down. “Don’t feel like a walk down memory lane?” They began to walk and, as casually as she could, she slipped her hand back into his. His fingers intertwined with hers and he glanced down at her. She was staring forward, refusing to look up at him, but he knew color was staining her cheeks. Could tell by the way the tips of her ears were a darker shade of pink than normal. “I thought, rather than talk about who we are, cause that always sucks and no one likes doing it-.” He was rambling and Nesta giggled. He laughed at himself and cleared his throat. “Right. What I was trying to say, is that talking about who you are sucks. But talking about who you used to be? I don’t know, for me, it’s always been easier.” Nesta looked up at him, but he shrugged and carried on. “Even if I wasn’t always proud of who I was, I can at least learn something from who I’ve been.”

“Fair enough,” she said, quietly, as he led the way.

They were at their old high school, but Cassian didn’t walk toward the building, which was undoubtedly locked. Instead, he took her to the football field, where Nesta could count on one hand how many times she had been there through the four years she had spent at Velaris High.

“You played football?” She asked, as they walked through the gates.

“I did,” Cassian confirmed, as they walked onto the green field. Velaris Knights was painted into the end zones. “Yeah, I tackled a lot of guys on these fields. And, over there,” he pointed to the bleachers, “is where I used to get high and drunk, referring back to the jail conversation we had earlier tonight.”

Nesta laughed as she looked around. She had never been on the field before. Everything looked different from standing between the bleachers.

“You came to games, right?” He asked, gazing around the field. The lights were on, thanks to the evening practice that had only ended an hour or two before. The lights ran on a timer, just like they had when he played on this field. They had until just before ten-thirty before the lights would go out.

Nesta shook her head. “I was never a big fan of school events. I always preferred to stay home and read or more often than not, I was with Tomas. Going to some roping.”

There he was again, taunting Cassian from the past. But again, he wouldn’t bring up Tomas tonight. “Wasn’t Elain a cheerleader? Didn’t you come to at least support her?”

She shrugged. “Come cheer on the cheerleader? No, and she knew I hated it. She would actually convince Feyre to go to the games so I could have an hour or two of silence.”

Cassian snorted. “Well, I lived on this field. And I kicked ass. While you were being a nerd, apparently.”

Nesta’s eyes narrowed. “I was not a nerd, asshole.”

Cassian held his hands up in surrender. “I never said it was a bad thing.”

Nesta couldn’t help but laugh as she shook her head. “Looking back, I would’ve done some things differently. Maybe not the staying home with a book, but with the whole Tomas business.”

Cassian stayed silent. He wanted so badly to ask, but knew he shouldn’t. They were having such a good time. He didn’t want to ruin it.

So, instead, Cassian said, “I wish I would’ve known you then.”

She chuckled but sat down when they reached the center of the field. “No, I don’t think you do.”

He followed suit, sitting down in the turf leaning back on his hands. “Why not?”

“It was true, what you said before. I constantly had a stick up my ass.” She laughed and continued. “And I was a bitch.”

Cassian laughed, but he didn’t correct her. “You were cute, though. I’m convinced I would have loosened you up.”

Nesta shook her head, unable to stop her smile from spreading. “I’ll let you think that.”

Cassian looked over at her, at the way her golden-brown hair shone in the lights. She was a beauty, and yes, she had been cute in high school, but now she was stunning, in her little blue dress and her simple braid.

“You’re staring again,” she mumbled.

“Let me stare,” he pleaded, eyes soft.

She blushed and he leaned over, tilting her chin up and softly brushing his lips against hers. When he pulled away, he whispered, “Please tell me I can do that whenever I want now.”

Nesta thoughtfully tapped her chin and said, “Whenever? I don’t know about that.”

“Damn you, woman,” he laughed and kissed her again, laying down on top of her.

She chuckled against his mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck. “We’re not kids anymore, Cassian, we can’t fuck on the football field. Just because you like being tossed in jail doesn’t mean that I do.”

He grinned, resting his elbows in the grass on both sides of her face. “I’ll be nice, I promise.”

She kissed him then, tugging on his bottom lip with her teeth. “Good.”

“Until you did that…” he muttered, kissing her again, pressing his body down against hers as he did so.

She let his hands roam her body, let him grab and squeeze and pull. He tugged on her hair lightly, tilting her chin up and exposing her neck. He nuzzled his face into it, and lightly ran his tongue along the long column of her throat. He pressed soft kisses along her jaw until he returned once more to her lips.

Pulling back to look at her, her lips swollen from his bruising kisses and her hair a messy halo around her head on the grass, Cassian brushed a thumb along her cheekbone. He breathed, “You are so damn beautiful.” She blushed and tried to turn from his gaze. “No,” he whispered, gripping her chin so she couldn’t look away. “Why do you do that? Why won’t you let me tell you how beautiful you are?” He asked, quietly.

“Taking compliments isn’t one of my strengths,” she said, running her hands down his arms, feeling his muscles beneath the fabric.

“Well make it one,” he mumbled, “because I’m not going to stop. I’m going to tell you how beautiful you are, always, because it’s the truth.”

She shook her head, slowly, but didn’t say anything else. She simply grabbed him by the face and brought his lips to hers.

After a few minutes of languid kisses, and some strong, strong willpower, Cassian rolled over and laid on his back, staring up at the sky. He tucked a hand behind his head and the other found Nesta’s next to him. His thumb rubbed small circles on the back of her hand and he gazed up at the stars.

It was quiet for a few minutes, neither one of them wanting to disturb the stillness. But eventually, Nesta asked, “You about ready to head home?”

He turned his head and looked at her, those stormy eyes seeing every part of him. “Just a minute. It’s almost time.”

Her brow furrowed. “For what?”

He smiled, looking back to the sky. “You’ll see.”

They laid there in silence, Nesta loving the feeling of his hand in hers.

The lights shut off, plunging the field into darkness. Nesta started, looking around, wondering if they needed to go, to get back to the truck, before someone-.

“Look,” he breathed, still staring upwards.

Nesta gazed toward the sky. Her breath caught in her throat.

The lights above them, surrounding the field, had gone off, and the starlight above them burned brightly, lighting up the night sky.

There were no trees, no nothing to block the view of the series of shooting stars that shot across the speckled darkness.

Only in Velaris.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered. She had always known her hometown was famous for its starlight, had always snuck a glance or two up at the night sky throughout her childhood, but had never taken a moment to simply watch, to wait, to explore with her eyes the beauty of creation.

“It is,” Cassian agreed, softly. He wasn’t only talking about the night sky. “I used to lay out here all the time, in high school. Captivated by it.”

“Were you high?” Nesta asked, quietly, jabbing him in the ribs.

Cassian laughed, breathlessly. “Sometimes.”

She glanced over at him, but he didn’t notice. He was entranced by the wonder before him, by the sheer enormity of the sight above him.

“You love this town,” she said, and it wasn’t a question.

He nodded and looked over at her. “I do. It’s not much, but it’s...home. I’ve never wanted to be anywhere else.” He paused. “Well, except on the road, but that didn’t exactly pan out.”

“Why not?” She asked, before she could stop herself.

Cassian hesitated. “It’s a long story.”

“Is it?” She asked. “Or is this one of those times you say it’s a long story because you don’t want to tell the story.”

Cassian laughed, glancing sideways at her. “Maybe a little bit of both.”

“Well,” she said, smiling softly. “I have time.”

He tried not to let it sound harsh when he said, “Another time.” He turned and laid on his side, brushing the loose hair framing her face behind her ear.

He could see the stubbornness, could see that Nesta wanted to push. But she nodded and leaned forward to press her lips against his.

After a soft smile, he climbed to his feet and held out a hand. “Come on, beautiful. Let’s get home.”

She took his hand, happily, and let him walk her back to the truck. The ride back to the ranch was quiet, but not uncomfortable. He caught her looking at him from time to time, and every time he caught her, that look of annoyance from being caught captured her face.

When Cassian pulled up to her little house, he turned off the engine and got out, walking her up to the porch. They stood, hand in hand. He looked down at her and kissed her, softly. “Is this the part where you invite me inside?”

She made a show of acting like she was thinking, and took a step back. “I don’t know, this was only our first date…” She opened the door and took another step back until she was inside. “I’m not that type of girl.”

There was a playful glint in Cassian’s eye and he stepped forward, bracing an arm on the door frame. “I don’t know what type of girl you’re talking about.”

She chuckled and said, “Goodnight, Cassian.”

The smirk on his face faltered and she shut the door in his face.

He took a step back and blinked. “Wha- Are you kidding me?”

The door swung open just a few seconds later and Nesta stood inside, still laughing. She grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him over the threshold, her lips immediately meeting his.

#theranchnessian #sharacollab #nessian #theranch #au #modern au #fanfic #fanfiction

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crownjimin · 3 years

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✰ 099 | no takesies backsies

la vie en rose ━ in which lee aera, a girl who has been crushing on choi soobin for a long, long time, is starting her junior year and her friends decide that its time for her to make her move.

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A/N: whoop! one more update + the epilogue and we’re donezo!!

“I can’t believe it’s really red—,” He flipped and shuffled his hands through her hair as he said this.

“So bright, so pretty,” Soobin muttered to himself, going as far as to bend down and push his nose into her scalp, taking a long, dramatic sniff. “Oh, it doesn’t smell like strawberries.”

Aera laughed at this, shoving her not-boyfriend away from her softly. “Of course not. That’s like me saying your hair should smell like chocolates.”

Soobin had recently dyed his hair back to brown--well, dark brown, and as much as it made Aera sad to see the purple gone from his hair, it was well past due. His roots had grown out terribly, meaning that he was either going to have to redo his roots or retreat back to his natural brown. Also, the purple was less purple and more of a faded ash gray, from all the washing Soobin did to his hair.

For a while, he was set on just letting his hair grow out, then cutting it at the brown once the ash gray was to the tips of his hair but Aera told him he would look crazy. They debated about it for a few days, but one day Aera showed up at his house with a kit with brown hair dye and a few hours later his chocolate brown locks were back.

“Well, if you used strawberry shampoo it would smell like strawberries.”

“I will when you use chocolate shampoo.”

Soobin pouted. “I bet Ariel’s hair smells like strawberries.”

“Go sniff her head then,” the red-head quipped. “And I actually highly doubt that is true. She lives in the ocean, you know. The place where fish pee--that ocean.”

“Is there another ocean that I should be thinking of?”

“Yeah,” There was a teasing lilt in Aera’s voice. “The one I’m going to toss you in if you keep sassing me.”

The two were currently sitting in Soobin’s living room on Saturday morning, Soobin having asked Aera on Friday night if she wanted to spend the next day with him. Of course, without hesitation, Aera agreed, telling him that she would be there by ten, and now they were there.

Soobin had suggested watching YouTube in his living room until his mom got home from the gym, and Aera found no issue with the idea. During the past hour and a half, they had watched way too many Girls’ Generation music videos, and even attempted to learn the choreography to Catch Me If You Can. After forty minutes of them attempting to get past the first verse, they called it quits. Soobin claimed that he was too talented in girl group choreography to continue and further embarrass Aera with her lackluster movements.

But if you asked Aera, Soobin just didn’t want to have a dance battle, because he knew he was going to lose.

At noon, Ruha walked through the front door, her arms loaded with three market bags, filled to the brim with groceries.

“Soobin-ah,” Ruha yelled, a little too loud since she hadn’t realized he was right there in the living room. “Come help me with my bags!”

Both Soobin and Aera rushed to help Ruha, the older woman being slightly startled by Aera being there but she quickly perked up and said, “Oh good, Ae Ae is here. More hands to help!”

Everything felt so natural with Soobin and his family. Aera had spent a lot of time at his house since the picnic, and his parents seemed to love her. Soobin’s dad was obsessed when he saw how small Aera was, often leaning his elbow on her head whenever he stood beside her as a way to ridicule and tease her about her height. Then when she turned up with red hair, he almost had a better reaction than Soobin, dubbing her Strawberry Shortcake and hasn’t stopped calling her that since.

Aera had also gotten Soobin’s parents’ phone numbers, Ruha often texting Aera at random times throughout the day whenever Soobin talked about her.

ruha-ssi

he said you brought him lunch to school today. says that he loves how much you care about him

i’m sure he cares about me way more than i do him

ruha-ssi

does he show it well?

that he cares for you.

wouldnt ask for him to treat me any better than he already

does ruha-ssi.

Or the time Ruha told her that Soobin was sleep talking and had muttered her name.

ruha-ssi

he’s napping.

[picture attached]

ruha-ssi

he just grumbled your name and had the biggest smile

aw that’s so cute

ruha-ssi

i know :)))

Soobin was aware that Aera had his mother’s number, but he didn’t know that his mother was revealing just how lovestruck he was. Aera didn’t plan on mentioning it to him either, thinking that Ruha is godsent for giving her so much dirt and content to tease Soobin with whenever he decided to get too sassy with her.

Plus, Soobin has had Dongmin’s phone number much longer than Aera has had Ruha’s, and she is one-thousand percent positive that her mother lived to embarrass her, so Soobin for sure had some dirt on her.

It’s a win-win situation, all is fair in love and war.

“So, Soobin-ah,” Ruha spoke as she walked into the kitchen. “What time do you want to head out?”

Aera was busy placing things where they belonged from the market bags (yes, she knows where their groceries belonged—she’s been over there that much), but she raised an eyebrow at Ruha’s question.

“Head out where?” she asked.

“Soobin wanted to take you to an early dinner today,” Ruha paused, with a nervous expression on her face. “I-I don’t know if it was supposed to be a surprise or not-”

“No, mom, it’s fine,” Soobin waved it off. “It wasn’t really a surprise, I was gonna mention it to you later, Pouts.”

Aera walked out of the pantry, an excited glint in her eyes. “Will there be steak at this dinner?”

“Do you want there to be steak?”

“Yes.”

“Then there will be steak.”

━━━━━━━

The restaurant Soobin had chosen was very dark, Aera noted. The only light that was supplied was from a single candle lit in the center of the table, which left everything as shadows and tinted orange.

It seemed super expensive, and once Aera picked up the menu, her suspicions were confirmed.

“Soobi,” her voice seemed hesitant. “How are you affording any of this?”

She should’ve realized that the meal was going to be an expensive one when Ruha had offered Aera one of her old dresses, seeing as Aera had came over to their house in a pair of ripped jeans and a tattered t-shirt. The dress Ruha lent her was a dark blue, high-necked dress, where the waist tapered in and then flowed out to mid-thigh. Luckily, Aera had worn black flats that day, those being the shoes closest to her front door when she left for Soobin’s house.

Soobin was dressed in a simple button up and black slacks. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and the top button of his shirt was undone—if Aera hadn’t known better, she would’ve thought Soobin was a young adult that worked a nine-to-five office job and not a sixteen year old boy taking his not-girlfriend out for an early dinner.

Everything was fancy, and the two of them were tucked into a corner booth where once they sat down the hostess had wished ‘Mister and Missus Choi’ a nice evening.

“Months of allowance that I’ve saved up,” Soobin lifted his gaze from the menu and once he saw how worried Aera was, he rushed to reassure her. “Plus, I work a summer job! Don’t worry, Pouts, I promise it’s not too much.”

“You don’t have to spend your allowance on me, Soobi,” she spoke softly. “You should spend it on something you really want-something to make you happy.”

“Seeing you happy makes me happy.”

Aera blushed. “Don’t try to flatter me into running your pockets dry.”

“Ae Ae, seriously,” Soobin put down his menu and reached his hands across the table to touch her hands, which laid on the table. He tugged her index fingers once, attempting to soothe her and get her to not worry. “It’s fine. If it makes you feel better we can just split something, so that way I won’t have to spend much.”

The crease in her eyebrows gradually faded and she nodded in agreement. “Are you okay with splitting a steak?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded. “Just order whatever, I’ll eat anything.”

Aera looked over the menu, her eyes skipping over the more expensive items but honestly the cheapest things were the hor d'oeuvres and even those weren’t cheaper than 74,000 won.

“How about I choose one, you choose one, then we pick something together?” she suggested. “That way we can both enjoy something.”

By the time the waiter came to the table, they had decided on their personal picks and their combined choice, and once the food came to the table, Aera knew it was more than enough. The steak she had chosen ended up being as big as her face and had the both of them gasping in surprise once it was set on the table. Soobin decided on a rose pasta, in a dish large enough that it could feed a family of five. And their combined choice was a large platter of American-style french fries, but the way the menu phrased it made it seem like they were ordering a fancy potato.

Soobin offered to have the kitchen take it back, but Aera refused to give back french fries--she’d be crazy to ever turn down french fries (plus it came with a gravy boat filled with a white sauce that Aera could literally guzzle down in one go, so she was more than happy to keep it).

The moment the waiter told them to enjoy, Aera was shoving her fork into the steak, which was thankfully pre-cut, and the second she bit into it, juice ran down her chin and she had to squeeze every muscle in her throat to not let out a moan.

Soobin noticed her expression, the way her eyes fell close and she paused mid-bite. “Is it good, Pouts?”

“Tho goof,” she attempted to speak around her bite but she just gave up and nodded enthusiastically.

“It’s so juicy,” she said once she swallowed.

When they were ordering, she wanted to get the steak cooked well-done, but Soobin had told her to get it medium preaching something about it being more tender and juicer as if he knew everything and anything about steak. Aera argued and said she didn’t want to cut into her steak and hear it mooing back at her, and Soobin chuckled but promised if it was too raw for her when it came out, they could just send it back and she obliged.

She most definitely was not sending back this beautiful piece of heaven, and shoved another piece into her mouth. The scene from Ratatouille when the rat fused together strawberry and cheese and had color swirling around his head played inside Aera’s head the second she took another bite of the steak. Her eyes were closed, her head lolled from side to side as she swayed euphorically to the warmth of the steak and the flavor on her tongue.

Once she noticed what she was doing, she sat up stark straight and opened her eyes, watching as Soobin recorded her and laughed silently at her actions.

“You seemed to be enjoying yourself alot there,” Soobin ended the recording and set his phone on the table.

“Delete that.”

“I won’t. Here,” Soobin held out his fork where some of his pasta was twirled on the end. “Try it.”

Aera opened her mouth, letting him guide the fork inside and once she closed her mouth around the fork, the Ratatouille scene played again. She pulled away from the fork, her hand shooting over her mouth as she chewed and her eyes shot wide.

“Good?” Soobin asked, stabbing his fork in a piece of steak and eating it, much less dramatically than Aera had.

“Is amayshin,” Aera muttered. “Why ish ev-wee-shing hwere sho amayshin?”

Soobin swallowed and laughed. “It better be with these ridiculous prices.”

“Oh, yeah,” she nodded and swallowed her bite. “It’s so worth it.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“I’m glad I like you,” Aera giggled, shoving some fries into her mouth. “You buy me expensive steak.”

“Only because of the steak?”

She nonchalantly shrugged. “Pretty much.”

Soobin faked a scoff, halfway knowing she was joking, but once he watched her pick up another piece of steak, and then kiss it before she ate it, he wasn’t so sure if she was joking anymore.

━━━━━━━━━

Thirty-five minutes and an entire steak later, Aera and Soobin were slouched over, bellies full, with their plates cleared.

“I am going to sleep so well tonight,” Aera grumbled as she rubbed her stomach. “This was so amazing.”

The waiter came to give the receipt and return Soobin’s card, wishing ‘Mister and Missus Choi’ a good night, and left them to their vices. Aera chuckled at being called Missus Choi, because did she look old enough to be married?

Did married people dye their hair red? She didn’t know but did she look married? Did her and Soobin resemble a married couple? Oh god, that just fueled her fantasy of marrying Soobin and she knew that she would never let this go.

“Alright,” Soobin groaned, shoving the receipt and card into his pocket as he stood and rounded the table, reaching his hand out to help Aera up from her chair. “You okay?”

Aera blew out a breath. “I’m stuffed.”

They both stood in place, Aera swaying a bit from standing up too quickly and Soobin attempted to stabilize her by setting a hand on her waist. “Careful.”

“I’m fine,” she tapped his hand on her waist. “I’m okay, just stood up a little too fast. Let’s go.”

They walked out of the restaurant hand-in-hand, Soobin somewhat leading Aera as she momentarily closed her eyes as a way to wheeze out air around her full belly. This was the best meal she has had in entire life, one that she never imagined having unless she was filthy rich and drank gold for breakfast, lunch, and dinner but here Soobin was taking her on a date just because he wanted to see her happy.

When they made it outside, Aera tugged his hand, causing him to stop and turn to her. She eased her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder as she softly hugged him. He returned the gesture immediately, cuddling his head on top of hers and they just existed in the moment, in each other’s arms.

“Thank you for this, Soobin,” Aera squeezed him tightly, nuzzling her head further into his shoulder. “You made me really happy by doing this—you make me happy always.”

“I’m happy to make you happy,” Soobin chuckled, pulling away from the hug. “But the night isn’t over, we have one more stop!”

“Is it far?”

Soobin nodded. “My mom is going to take us there. She’s on her way here now.”

“Where is it?”

“The beach.”

“The beach?”

Soobin nodded again. “The beach.”

“The beach,” Aera said flatly. “I like the beach.”

“That’s why we’re going.”

“Hm,” Aera sighed happily. “The beach.”

━━━━━━━━━━

Upon their arrival, Aera realized that when Soobin said the beach, he actually meant the boat dock by the beach. Well more like the yacht dock by the beach, because as they made their way to the end of the dock, they passed massive yachts, the type that only rich people could afford. Ones with balconies and two-stories that have some corny name etched onto the side that were either named after an important woman in their life or something like Old Betsy.

“What are we doing on a dock,” Aera giggled, swinging her and Soobin’s hands where they were connected. “I’m almost positive we aren’t supposed to be here.”

Soobin laughed as they came to stop in front of one of the smaller yachts, which wasn’t exactly small (but in comparison to the other yachts it was more compact), where a man was waiting for them.

“Choi Soobin?”

“Yes sir,” Soobin nodded, then gestured behind him. “And this is my mother, Ruha.”

The man extended his hand to Ruha, giving it a firm shake. “Yes, we spoke on the phone. Everything is set, if you guys want to climb on in, we’ll head out in about ten minutes.”

“Thank you,” Ruha said as the man helped her onto the yacht by her hand.

The man then lent his hand to Aera, but instead of grabbing it, she took a step back, a conflicted look on her face.

“Wait,” Soobin placed his free hand on Aera’s wasit, causing her to look up at him. “You aren’t afraid of water, right? Boats or anything? Because I was just trying to surprise you, that’s why I didn’t as-”

“No, no,” Aera shook her head. “That’s not it, but Soobin how much was this?”

Soobin raised an eyebrow at the question, confused as to why she was asking this. “What?”

“It’s just—” she sighed. “You’re spending a lot of money today, and I don’t want you to think you have to blow a bunch of money just to make me happy. You could’ve just given me a bottle of water and I’d be happy that it came from you, so I don’t get why you are taking me to all these expensive places and things.”

“I just want to spoil you,” he softly replied. “Even if it’s just for a day. I want you to have some of the best experiences with me, so I don’t mind spending a lot of money on you.”

“But, Soob-”

“And plus,” Soobin smiled wide. “My friends chipped in to help, they wanted to make us both happy so they offered to help. You don’t have to pay them back, I don’t have to pay them back, they were just doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. Me as well.”

Aera stood there frozen.

“I just want you to be happy.”

“But I’m already happy with you.”

Soobin leaned down to rest his forehead on Aera’s. “Yes, but you’d be even more happy on the boat, so let’s go!”

Aera laughed as she reached out for the man’s hand, him having stood there and watched that whole sappy ordeal, and he pulled her into the boat. Soobin followed and guided Aera to the very front of the yacht, where Ruha sat with a blanket over her legs.

“Choi Soobin, this will be the last time you spend a shit ton of money on me, do you understand?” Aera scolded, her finger pointed at Soobin but a smile was on her face.

“Yes, ma’am, never again,” Soobin spoke jokingly, totally not meaning a word of what he just said.

“You’re not going to listen to me are you?”

“Nope.”

The yacht got moving a few moments later, things feeling a bit shaky for a few minutes, but Aera acclimated to it quite fast. She and Soobin had taken to roleplaying the scene from Titanic that nearly everyone does when they are at the frontmost point on a boat.

Soobin held her waist as Aera held her arms out to her side, feeling the wind whip on her face and the smell of salt infiltrate her nose.

“The ocean is kind of stinky,” her nose scrunched up as she said this. “Smells like raw fish and high cholesterol.”

Soobin cackled, tightly wrapping his arms around Aera’s waist as he pulled her into his chest, her back to her front. “You ruined such a good moment.”

She giggled, placing her hands over his arms and squeezed. “I was just telling the truth.”

“Kids!” Ruha called out. “Come sit down for a few minutes, you’re making me nervous by the ledge.”

They obliged, walking to sit across from Ruha and they talked amongst themselves for a few minutes, playing a few rounds of rock paper scissors to pass the time.

“So are we just going to cruise around the ocean for a few hours or what?” Aera asked, peering over the side of the boat to look down into the water. “Because no offense to the ocean or anything, but this is a bit boring.”

Soobin pulled out his phone, checking the time before he answered, “Actually, no. Just seven minutes until what we came here for happens.”

Aera looked intrigued now, “Oh, is it fireworks? Are we looking at fireworks?”

“I don’t think lighting explosives on a yacht would be smart.”

“A yacht,” Aera chuckled. “Never thought I’d see one of these in my entire lifetime.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything.”

“I’m glad my first time was with you,” she softly spoke, her voice almost a whisper.

“Me too,” Soobin smiled. “We’ll have many firsts together, hopefully.”

“Hopefully.”

At the moment, they were sitting side-by-side with their waist turned to face one another, but Soobin pointed behind Aera as he muttered, “Look.”

Aera turned her body around, to face the ocean, a gasp leaving her mouth as she absorbed the breathtaking scene in front of her. She watched as the sun burned a hypnotizing orange and pink hue, reflecting on the ocean’s surface. Slowly, the orb lowered to meet the horizon line, kissing it softly as the glares glittered across the rippling water.

She had seen nothing like this, ever. Mother nature and the Earth’s natural occurrences never appealed to Aera, they were never something she found interesting or attention-catching, but this—this was so worth it.

Her awestruck trance was broken when Soobin rested his chin on her shoulder, whispering, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“It’s-I-” Aera searched for the right words but there were none that could accurately describe exactly what she was witnessing. It made her speechless, her jaw going slack as she once again watched the sun move lower and lower.

They sat in silence, taking in the scenic view before them. Ruha sat opposite of them, snapping pictures of the sunset as she oh’ed and aw’ed at the scene.

“Pouts,” Soobin muttered into her ear, keeping his voice low so as to not ruin the moment. “I, uh-”

“Hm, Soobi?”

“Please, be my girlfriend.”

All of Aera’s breath left her body, all of her blood seemed to run cold. Was she hallucinating? Was she hearing things?

“Huh-” Oh god, she sounded so stupid. Who responds to the boy of their dreams asking them to be their girlfriend with ‘huh’.

“I-” Soobin sat up straighter, Aera being able to feel so behind her. “I really like you-no, love you, and I want to be with you. Officially. For a very long time.”

Aera eased her way around, turning to face Soobin who looked like he was going to pass out any second if she didn’t give him an answer within the next millisecond. So she carefully raised her hands to his cheeks, cupping his face softly.

“I’d love to be your girlfriend, Choi Soobin,” she breathed. “I’d kind of be an asshole if I said no after all of this, am I right?”

Soobin held onto her wrists. “I hope that isn’t the sole reason you are saying yes.”

“Lucky for you, it is not. It’s probably one of the lower list reasons.”

“There’s a list?”

She giggled. “There has always been a list.”

The sound of her giggle seemed to have him smitten, his eyes zoning in on her lips which caused her heart to skip a beat. She wasn’t dumb, she knew what he was thinking of, what his eyes were asking for, and for some reason, she had no qualms about complying.

Her first kiss was always something Aera fretted about, thinking about how awful it was going to be, how she was going to mess everything up. But for some reason, right here, right now, with Soobin, she knew for a fact it was going to be amazing. This is maybe the first and only decision Aera didn’t hesitate to make, and so she leaned in.

The touch of their lips was soft. Simple. A measly, quick peck.

When they pulled back, both of their cheeks were colored rose, a look of fondness between the two of them and Aera leaned in to kiss the the corner of Soobin’s mouth before pulling away and dropping her hands from his face.

“No takesies backsies, Choi Soobin.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Lee Aera.”

#choi beomgyu #choi soobin #choi yeonjun #hueningkai #kang taehyun #kpop #choi soobin x female oc #social media au #txt #txt social media au

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laur-rants · 4 years

Text

Fic Update: Blood Wolf

Chapter 4

Fandom: Dishonored Ship: Daud/The Outsider, but I’ll heavily focus on the Daud and his Whalers relationship

Rated: Mature to Explicit, Strong Violence and Gore Ahead!!

Synopsis: Daud-Centric Prequel to Wolfbann. Origin Story, pre-canon. Centers on how Daud turned, and his subsequent marking by the Outsider and his formulation of the Whalers. Notes: There probably won’t be nsfw content in this fic, but it WILL be… violent. I want to play with my own boundaries of written violence and also Daud’s start wasn’t nearly as clean as Corvo’s. Their contrast on dealing with the werewolf transformation is one of the things I want to really explore, and Daud gets very close to falling off the wagon.

CHAPTER TAGS: His hands do violence, but there is a different dream in his heart. Alternatively, Daud talks to the Outsider, saves a girl, frightens a medic. AO3 link

Previous :: First :: Next

—————————————————

Midnight, ???

The Month of Songs -- 1820

Daud drew breath and it burned cold in his lungs. He checked himself; somehow, his clothes remained intact, untouched by… whatever had just happened to him. He lifted his gaze and when he inhaled again, it felt like gaseous seawater at the back of his throat.

Where there once stood the Fink Manor, the house was now splintered, cracked, and floating into a vast, sky blue expanse. Though he was still standing in the pantry, the shrine humming next to him, the other two walls and the roof were destroyed as if by a bomb. A whale breached next to the stone platform this all stood on; it's massive eye met his briefly before disappearing down again. Daud felt his heart lurch.

His hands flexed. He whirled back to the figure still watching him so adoringly.

"What kind of game is this?" Daud asked, his chest still fighting to find air, still unsure if he was breathing water or not. The atmosphere was thicker here than it ever was in the waking world; not even the Serkonan summer had settled so heavily in his chest. Daud met those black eyes and refused to flinch. "Who are you?"

The entity just frowned, and something about that disappointment hit him like a carriage. He immediately regretted saying anything at all, especially something so pitiable, and he bowed his head in apology. A cold hand lifted his chin, forcing him to look back up into those glassy eyes.

"Oh, Daud, you know who I am. Even if you never were the worshipping type…" A slender thumb ran over those wounds on his cheek and he shivered. "No, you're the gambling kind instead, aren't you? Betting with your life instead of coin. You've always been like this. Perhaps that's why I took such a liking to you in the first place."

"I don't understand," Daud said, his head feeling clouded under the touch of such an ancient being. "The Outsider is just a myth, a fantasy to keep children at home, to give nobles something to jerk off to, or to give the Abbey a scapegoat while they piss on the Strictures." He shrugged out of the Leviathan's hold, grabbing at the hand with his own. The Outsider watched the motion, his face full of glee at the contact.

"Oh? It's not that complicated with me, Daud. You had a bet, remember? And I so wanted you to keep it."

Daud frowned. He racked his brain, searching for the memory. As he did so, the Void around them warped, unbidden, and the Outsider smiled as a forgotten vision burst forth. Daud's eyes widened, looking up at two massive monsters fighting in a sewer. One was grey and malnourished, covered in boils and scars. And the other was a snarling mass of black fur, it's face glistening with dark blood that poured from fresh wounds that looked exactly like--

"What the fuck?" Daud's lip curled and he mirrored the black, wolflike creature of his memory. His tongue touched his teeth and found them sharp. The Outsider just grinned all the more.

"I needed to save your life, or I would lose you before your story even began. So, I gave you the gift of your power a little earlier than others who have had the misfortune of being attacked by such a void-touched creature. Yes; you were cursed the moment those claws broke your jaw and split your throat, but I knew your tale wasn't so easily finished." The Outsider gave him a once-over, the gaze was so hungry it made Daud squirm. "You do not know your own importance and it is so splendid to behold."

There was a reverence there that Daud didn't trust, but it stirred something in his soul. "I'm just an assassin," he managed, taking a step away from the god of the Void. The Outsider just watched, but made no move to follow.

"You will move the tides of the entire Isles, Daud."

"You sure about that," he sneered, his fists clenching. "I am cursed now, you said it yourself. Cursed. I am doomed to go mad, just like the beast before me."

The Outsider held out his left hand. The smile he held was deadly.

"Will you be worth my time, Daud?"

Daud's lip twitched, wanting to refuse, but in the end, curiosity won. He relented.

"Bet," he growled, then gave his hand over to the Outsider to shake. As soon as he did, the back of his hand burned, seared as if branded with an iron. He hissed, not breaking his grip even as he turned his palm to see the back of it. There, glowing bright and smoking with arcane magic, a Mark appeared, one of an intricate arrow-and circle design. He stared at it, transfixed, as a new sort of power flowed through him.

"My Mark," the Outsider said casually, running his hand over Daud's soothingly. "It will keep the beast of you at bay, give you the control you so desperately seek." He grinned, his eyes glittering maliciously. "But how long can you keep up that control? I wonder…"

The god pulled Daud closer, dragging him in like the riptide. The Outsider smirked against his ear and Daud felt the shiver all the way down his spine.

"Can you shape the world to your will, Daud?" He whispered, holding the statement between them like a secret. "Or will you be ruined by it?"

The Outsider pulled away, his smile far too knowing.

"Until we see each other again."

Then, as suddenly as he appeared, the Outsider was gone. His cold, suffocating presence fled from Daud and when he opened his eyes, he was no longer in the Void. Instead, he was in the very real Fink Manor, the weight of reality far heavier than the pressures of the deep. Daud swallowed, first retrieving the runes from the shrine before stepping back across the pantry threshold.

The house was in ruins. The rampage he had caused nearly razed the building; a pipe from the kitchen was spitting water, the pantry wall was burst and the dog and handler were lying dead at his feet. Down the hall, he could see evidence of his huge body crashing through doorways with little remorse and forethought. Blood splattered the walls and limbs settled in places far and away from their original owners.

It was the sight of a massacre, one of Daud's own making. He choked on the bile clawing up his throat.

This wasn't his handiwork. It couldn't be. Assassins were meant to be clean, quick, quiet. A good assassin left no trace of themselves behind; a great assassin could even clean and dispose of the body before someone found the scene of the crime. The City Watch was founded to try and protect the streets, but they could do nothing against men and women like him. The best of them were, in all ways, untraceable.

If anyone saw this house, they wouldn't see the work of a trained killer. They would see a contained storm, or perhaps a Tyvian fanged bear set loose on a dare.

They would see the work of a monster.

Daud silently stepped through the wreckage, spotting a woman -- a maid, by the clothing -- with her throat ripped open, the lines jagged and unclean from where her trachea was bitten into. A wolfhound, ripped in two; the other half, he could not find, no matter how hard he searched for it. It left him light-headed, slightly nauseous, considering he vaguely remembered Eustace's arm in his mouth, the blood in his jaws --

He retched dryly. He fought the sick that threatened to come up, not really wishing to repeat what happened on the roof earlier. Certainly, he didn't want to know or see what would come up if he succeeded in vomiting. With a monumental effort he kept it down, gasping for breath and running a shaking hand over his face.

The fingers of his left hand traced over the new scars on his cheek and the sensation sent an intense shiver down his face and neck, all through his arm. He jerked his hand back away from his face, hissing in discomfort. The Mark on his hand burned for a moment, reminding him of his newest annoyance. He flexed his hand; the Mark lit up, itching, begging to be used.

He pulled curiously at the power beckoning to him. His fingers immediately morphed into long, black claws; he yelped, shaking his hand out in surprise. The claws disappeared-- but the power remained. He frowned, trying again. He focused on one spot near the stairs; the Void grabbed him at his request, pulling him forward in a rush and leaving a trail of ash in his wake.

Daud's eyes went wide and his mouth hung open. He had traversed 10 meters in just a moment, the Void whispering in his ear as he did so. It was heady, thrilling; he grinned, feral, and tried the power again.

He landed in a nearby living room where he had ripped a couch in half and knocked a woman in fine jewelry into a wall, breaking her neck. He was about to jump through space again when he heard a squeak, a yelp; he froze, looking to the sound.

What he saw brought a vice around his heart. A child, a girl, trapped under some fallen wood and plaster from the ceiling above. She caught sight of Daud and when Daud caught sight of her, her eyes shone with tears, threatening to spill over.

"Sir…" she said weakly, her voice bubbling up, full of pain and fear. He rushed over, pulling his glove back over his left hand. She squirmed, choking in sobs. "Is it gone? Is-is...where did it go? That beast…"

Daud shushed her gently, trying not to let shock set into his features even as his limbs ran cold. Of course the child didn't recognize him as the monster she witnessed slaughtering her whole family. "Don't use too much energy now, I'll get you out of there." He gently moved some plaster and she squealed in pain; he shifted a joist to the side and clenched his jaw tight.

A large nail had impaled her tiny calf, the wound covered in blood, the color of it darkening her slacks. He looked at her carefully; she was staring at her leg and when she went to grab it, he caught her hand in his.

"Do not touch it," he told her quietly. "You'll make it worse. How long have you been injured?" She just gripped his hand tight and shook her head as her chest heaved with swallowed cries. Void, she couldn't be older than eight.

"I don't know… it just hurts," she wept, her hands bloodied, her face pale. "My mother, she-she…" the child gulped, fighting for air.

She was spiraling. Daud put a hand on her head, trying to ground her. "Hey, I'm here, okay? You aren't going to die. Did--" his mouth went dry, and he tried again. "Did the monster touch you?" As he asked the question, he dug through a pouch on his hip, his eyes darting down to look for a familiar lime-green vial.

"No, I got trapped and then the dogs came and then…" her face screwed up in agony, and Daud had a feeling not all of it was physical.

Did it have to be a child? He hated this, hated thinking he had let a kid see something so needlessly brutal. "It's going to be alright. I'm going to get you out of here. I'm not going to leave you to die on this nail."

Her eyes met his for the first time all night, searching for the truth. He didn't waver, opting instead to hold her little hand tighter. He swallowed, and when he saw the returning trust in her eyes, he pulled out a small dart and showed it to her.

"This is a sleep dart," he told her, holding it out for her to see. "It will put you to sleep for an hour or so. It will sting a little, but it will help lessen the pain, and it will help me get you off the nail without it hurting. Do you trust me with this?"

What other options did she have? He knew she had very few, and there was nothing she could do on her own. She would die of infection here.

She nodded, but grabbed his hand before he could administer the dose. "Wait," she said. "What is your name first?"

He blinked. "Daud."

She smiled. "Daud, like Dad." That settled very unpleasantly in his stomach, but he did not correct her. "I'm Emma, it's nice to meet you."

He nodded. "Likewise. Now, are you ready?"

She let go and nodded. He adjusted the dose in the dart and then stuck it in her arm. Her eyes drooped; in the next few seconds she was asleep, and completely unaware.

Daud moved as quickly as he could. He had some bandages on him, as well as a few rags for quick wound wrapping, but nothing sustainable. He got up, using the Void to rush through the house and find the bathroom. He looted it swiftly; the first aid kit would have to do for now. He transversed back to where she lay, still stuck to the nail. He breathed, then got to work.

Daud had a very strict policy on children when it came to assassination jobs, one that put him at odds sometimes with his colleagues in the business. Other assassins would happily off a whole family to prevent leaks or future loose ends. In a way, it was self-preserving more than anything; a dead child could not speak of what they witnessed. Sometimes, the hit was on the child itself; easy to poison an unwanted heir, for example.

But Daud… he wasn't in this line of work to slaughter kids. He left kids alive; he took parents away from the home if he had to, so that it looked like an accident. He had even dropped a child off at an orphanage, an unfortunate leftover from a hit he and Rulfio once conducted. Rulfio had argued with him about it, but they both decided it was better than ending up dead, abused, or in the Golden Cat.

Never kill the kids. Not if he could help it. Whenever he saw a child, he saw a young Daud, stolen from his home, made to kill and perform for coin until he finally roused the courage to off his own abuser.

Then Daud had run off to become a killer of bastards just like the one who abducted him.

He frowned as he tightened the tourniquet and eased Emma's leg off the nail. The wound spurted with blood and Daud quickly staunched the flow as much as he could, before quickly wrapping the leg with bandages soaked in disinfectant. Through it all, the girl slept, and Daud sighed. This would not be enough, he knew; he worked his jaw, the scent of the blood and rubbing alcohol strong in his nose. He packed back up, lifting the girl carefully before shifting her so she was cradled in his right arm. His left fist clenched and he ignored the claws itching their way free as he jumped through the Void once again. He traveled back up the stairs, back to Eustace's room; the whole time, Emma slept. He kept a bead on her heart, the beat of it steady in his ears.

The bedroom was even worse than the rest of the house. Eustace Fink's body was wretched apart, nearly unidentifiable. Daud neared the pile of human viscera, trying not to think of how he had lost control, bursting forth and slaughtering the man.

Never again, he thought to himself, but even as he held the girl tight, he did not know the long-term validity of those words.

He spotted his whaler blade and mask; he grabbed both, carefully sheathing the sword, then, after a moment of hesitation, he clipped the mask to his belt. He then pulled the audiograph from Fink's remains and carefully swept the room for anything else of value.

A safe with gold ingots and 500 coin. A few choice books, stashed away. Notes from his brother-- Daud paused at these, frowning down at the ledgers.

Eustace,

Jerome changed last week; he will be ready for challengers soon, so get those hound fighters excited for our next event! The first week of the month of Clans will be best. I will test this brute against the others; as a former assassin, I cannot believe how strong his killer instinct is! Brimsley was right; the stronger the person turned, the more likely they are to survive to put on a show! I don't expect the others to fare so well, but now we know that we at least have a sure-fire way to lure Dunwall assassins into a trap.

Be careful if you come down to the ampitheatre to see this dog, however. I can hear it in my mind… it taunts me, hates me, tries to overpower me. I always just shock it back into submission; it's so weak it can't carry out it's bigger threats. But Eustace… please. Your mind is not as strong as mine. Do not be swayed. These monsters of the Outsider are no longer human, like you or I, no matter what it says to you.

Here is the list of the next possible brutes I have selected, and also the date for the next Hound Pits fight. Don't forget the fliers, we need the noble's coin to keep this up!

The snarl that ripped through Daud was so strong and loud it shocked even him. The girl stirred but did not wake; he looked to the body of Eustace Fink and no longer regretted his fate.

They truly had found some giant monster, one like him perhaps, that had attacked someone and then that person had turned. And then the next person, and then the next until they trapped an assassin -- Spirits. He knew Jerome, had seen him in passing; he was from Potterstead, was raised into the profession, was cleaner than all of them. Surgical, even.

And he had been tortured into blindness, forced to fight dogs, and then Daud himself had…

Daud bit down on his cheek until he tasted blood. He scoured the room once more, then pulled out a bolt from his satchel on his belt. Carefully, he set the girl down in a chair, then readied his wristbow. Three incendiary bolts flew through the room, igniting expensive fabrics, flammable wallpaper, the remaining useless documents on the table. He watched the fire spread, pulling a cigarette out and lighting it. He pulled the drag, then threw it into the growing flames.

Then, he secured his belt, carefully lifted Emma back into his arms, and left the burning wreckage of the home he single-handedly destroyed.

------

It was another late night, one that Misha knew he would not be walking home from. It was well past midnight and even with the Watch prowling about, the Hatter's were likely to jump anyone unsuspecting, stealing money for months rent, or worse. So instead, he just sighed and closed the downstairs shutters, pulling the curtains in and locking the door. The one lamp still illuminated the front desk where his assistant had been sorting paperwork earlier; end of month books, on top of end of year numbers. His numbers had seen better days. Between the gangs clogging up the streets and his brothers getting caught up in hound fight gambling, he had lost more than he had recuperated.

He missed his brothers. He did not miss them asking him for more coin every week of every month, effectively bleeding him dry.

He had tried a few times to dissuade them, but all in vain. They were his brothers, two versus his one. They knew how to guilt him, especially with the death of their mother hanging over the practice like a cloud. So he had given them what they asked for, knowingly enabling them like a bar enables a drunkard, and hoped everything would be okay in the end.

It wasn't okay. His brothers were presumed dead and he had no money for a dying practice. All he could do was try to set the remaining things right. Hiring the assassin gave him a grim sort of satisfaction, some twisted sense of justice. After the deed was done, he'd file with the Watch, see if their bodies couldn't be recovered. The hardest part was between step one and step two; waiting for the completed assassination.

As he headed up the stairs to retire to his office for the night, he stopped at the calendar on the way up. He looked at the final week of Clans-- then put an X over the 28th day, the last day of the month. Four other angry Xs precede the 28th, all counting down from when he and Daud had come to their agreement. He frowned, flipping the calendar to Songs.

Daud had said that his job took time, but gave no frame of reference to ease Misha's worries. He sulked for a bit at the calendar on the wall before finally moving on, entering the office and lighting the desk lamp easily. He then -- as he had done so every night for the past four nights -- went over to the terrace and moved to unlock it, just in case Daud returned with news and wished to enter the way he had initially done.

He didn't expect the man to suddenly appear before him in a swirl of ash and smoke. He also didn't expect the small, pale body Daud was carrying in his arms, either.

And he certainly didn't expect Daud's face to be visible, his eyes burning, long scars cutting valleys into his otherwise young face.

Misha gaped. He fumbled with the latch, pushing the door open to give Daud more access. The assassin pulled in a ragged, tired breath.

"Daud--" Misha started, following the other man as he swiftly entered the office. "What happened? Is Fink--"

"Dead," Daud said, the roughness of his voice contrasting how gingerly he handled the body in his arms. "I need your expertise. Do you have a table?"

Misha glanced towards the small figure and nodded, pushing open the far door; it led to a small operating room, separate from the others and one that he used for special cases. He turned on the light over the table as Daud placed a small child -- Void, a child -- down onto it. She was asleep but her breath was shallow, sweat beading on her brow. Her leg was bandaged, but it was already bleeding through, the blood dark and angry.

Misha immediately let himself still, evaluating this new, sudden patient. His emotions detached, and his brow furrowed in focus. He quickly grabbed gloves and sharply demanded, "Tell me what happened."

Daud hesitated, then, "Nail. She impaled her leg on a nail. Got trapped in the home."

"And you just took her?"

"Everyone else was dead." He said it softly, as if full of remorse. Misha knew the time for questions was now past. Instead, he got to work. He unraveled the leg and pulled over a bowl, cleaning solution, and a syringe.

"I used a sleep dart on her," Daud explained. "I don't know how much longer the sedative will last."

Assassin sleep darts, he knew, were usually sodium pentothal, and at the dose Daud probably used, the girl would still be down for a while. Still, a local anaesthetic wouldn't be a bad idea.

"Here, be useful. My usual assistant isn't here so I will need your help cleaning this." Daud complied, then began the task of fetching anything that Misha asked of him. Sutures, clamps, saline solution, scalpel, magnifier, light. The girl whined in her sleep, and Daud, surprisingly, was there for her, holding her hand in a heavy glove. It wasn't long before her leg was properly cleaned and closed, the sutures staying as he carefully bandaged the leg back up.

"If all goes well and the wound stays clean, her leg will survive," Misha sighed, pushing tiredly away from the girl and removing bloodied gloves. Daud just nodded, watching the girl carefully as she slept. A whisper tickled at the back of Misha's head and he grimaced, scratching at his hair. The movement made Daud's head jerk to look at him, inhuman and unnatural.

It was now that Misha was actually able to get a good look at the face of his hired hitman. He had short black hair, styled back and out of the way, though now it was tousled and out of place. His eyes were a striking blue, but not in the way that left him feeling flustered. Instead, they were like ice, splintering into his chest and making him feel as if a wild predator was evaluating his continued existence. The scars on his face tugged as he frowned; the longest line cut from his right forehead all the way down over his throat,a and the second longest also sliced through his cheek alongside the first. The last two sat partially hidden under his chin, over his throat, and Daud's frown deepened as he caught the doctor staring.

Misha's face flushed. He was never one to hide his feelings well, and definitely not as easily as a hardened assassin.

"Daud..." he started, trying to cover the intrusion. The assassin suddenly stood up, his hand flat on the table, challenging and threatening Misha to continue speaking.

"Go on, say it," Daud said, dangerously soft. "Others already have. They didn't have to be a doctor or an assassin to know I shouldn't have survived -- this." He waves at his neck, as if disgusted by the scars.

Upsetting an assassin seemed to be a poor life decision. Misha chose his next words carefully.

"You need to clean up, and you seem invested in the child. Would you like to stay the night, to at least be there when she wakes up?"

Daud's face immediately closed off. Again, something itched at the back of Misha's head, and he tried to rub it away. A whisper, almost… indecision? Misha had not expected an emotion to come forth. When he questioned it mentally, it disappeared, so still he shrugged it off as imagaination. He watched Daud as he pulled his face out of the lamplight and back into shadow, his eyes still bright in the gloom. His fist clenched.

"No, no, I'd rather not. I've already done enough to ruin her life." He looked around the office and then, finding what he was looking for, went to fetch it.

Misha almost missed it; Daud's left hand twitched and then suddenly, in a rush of ash, he was across the room, and then back. Misha gaped as Daud scrawled words over the paper he had fetched, then handed the paper to Misha.

"Outsider's eyes," he breathed out, but the look on Daud's face silenced him.

"This address; when she's well, take her there. Tell them Daud sends his regards, and hopes Jason is well. Also--"

He pulled a purse from his satchel, setting it down. "That's for the girl." Then he pulled out a whole gold ingot and handed it to Misha. "And this is for you."

Misha gaped. He'd never seen so much gold -- he shook his head, holding his hands up. "What--! I can't accept this-- Don't tell me that you are paying me for--"

"Don't worry, I have another," Daud assured. "I made sure I'd be paid well for this too. Besides, I told you, 'half now--'" he pushed the ingot to Misha more insistently. "'half later.' Here's your half, later."

Misha gulped. He had a feeling that Daud was not going to take no for an answer. He acquiesced, gently taking the gold, and the assassin relaxed. He stood back, giving Misha some space.

"Don't spend it all in one place," he suggested, a dry attempt at humor. Misha managed a tired smile in return.

"Am I allowed to offer my appreciation, now?"

Daud said nothing. He looked away.

"May we be blessed to never meet again, Misha Romanov."

Misha, personally, did not see that as a blessing-- but perhaps, given Daud's line of work, it was for the best. He nodded, not wishing to argue with a man who could so easily murder him.

"Regardless… Thank you, Daud."

Those prickled whispers returned, just as Daud met his eyes. There was something mildly astonished in his gaze, and Misha tried not to push away the foreign white noise that invaded his mind. Instead, somewhere in there, he thought -- imagined, he reminded himself -- that he caught the faintest expression of " You're welcome."

As quickly as it built up, the emotion was gone-- and so was Daud. Misha blinked, putting a hand to his ringing ear. He looked to the open terrace and was suddenly filled with the urge to follow, to rush out to the balcony so he did, throwing the doors apart in his wake. He breathed the night air and there he was, on the opposite rooftop, eyes and scars burning, even in the dark. Daud looked back at Misha; their eyes met.

Daud's left hand raised, smoking and black. His fist clenched.

And in a flurry of ash and wind, he was gone.

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fizzingwizard · 4 years

Text

Alright and now for episode 23! Which was a lot more interesting. Still lacking in pertinent ways but at least it got some stuff moving, and there were a few small but very nice character moments.

I took a LOT of Taichi spam this week you guys. The animation was slightly better than normal and my boy was just so good.

At parkour. He’s good at parkour.

More below!

We pick up where we left off last week, with Devimon arriving in his true form and picking a fight over Poyomon. He’s so threatened by a wad of jelly.

He does seem a bit weird though. More on that later.

The quintessential Taichi picture.

And just a cute one.

So okay, Devimon makes mincemeat of MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon. Like he wipes the floor with them. Even though they should be a level above him. I was like what’s going on. Clearly dark powers are giving him extra strength, but this still seemed like too much...

Yamato yells for Takeru to go hide. Taichi then yells for Yamato to go hide xD However Devimon has no trouble destroying all their possible hiding spots and attacking them.

Takeru worries about his brother :’<

Taichi quickly tries to think of a strategy but yup “Hide” is all he can come up with.

They communicate via digivice and Yamato has something of a better strategy but... it still just amounts to hiding.

Meanwhile their partners continue to get their butts kicked.

MetalGreymon: Hey watch it I just got this painted!

WereGaurumon: My nails! I just had them done!

Taichi: Would you two stop fussing, you’re so vain!

Taichi: We’ve got more important things to worry about! Like my hair!

Meanwhile in the real world... the four are together and Koushirou updates Jou and Mimi on the situation, which boils down to Not Good. The tank ships are still on a collision course. On top of that, Koushirou notices that the data being absorbed by Calmaramon’s... idk what to call it, data collection tower? thing, is being sent directly to the digital world. He guesses it’s going to be used to power the creature whose name I forgot they fought before.

This guy.

Koushirou also guesses this probably means Taichi and Yamato are in some deep shit rn.

Taichi is pretty smart too... he’s able to tell that Devimon is able to manipulate the dark mists and that’s how he’s able to find their hiding spots and attack them so easily.

Here’s the evil crystal that I would have thought was from Sailor Moon. Ahhh evil is so beautiful. And purple. Hmmm, the Crest of Knowledge is also purple, and absorption of data is converted to power.... GUYS KOUSHIROU’S GOING TO GO DARK.

Kidding, kidding. I would totally watch it though.

So the others go to fight Calmaramon and destroy the tower to help Taichi and Yamato. But, uh, they didn’t count on Calamaramon’s tentaclesx ;D

Kabuterimon makes the classic amateur mistake of DRAMATICALLY ANNOUNCING HIMSELF when he swerves in to rescue the girls...

... and he gets his just desserts. :P

Meanwhile Taichi and Yamato... are still losing. So who steps up to the plate but...

Takeru and Poyomon! Lol!

No seriously, this scene SCREAMED of the one in 99 where Hikari sacrifices herself to protect Yamato and Sora. I was really expecting Takeru to do the same thing here. “Leave my brother alone! Take me instead!”

But, I guess, since he’s a boy, he’s less self-sacrificial and more just... irrationally strong...

His conviction results in evolution!

Poyomon becomes Tokomon! THANK GOODNESS. I could not handle another “poyo, poyo!”

Devimon takes one look at this pink-cheeked thing and FREEEEEEAKS OUUUUUT.

“You remind me... of someone I once knew... you have... the same eyes... GRRRRRRRRR!!!!”

he didn’t say that but he totally should have lol. Now someone please make an edit of Angemon where he takes off his helmet and he has Tokomon eyes underneath x’D

Data readings on Koushirou’s computer start going haywire! The data is being sent somewhere fast!

I was expecting some kind of power up but I wasn’t expecting full on evolution. Because yup. That’s what goes down. Devimon evolves.

And here’s where he gets weird. His evolution seems painful. Unnatural. He doesn’t seem exactly pleased with it, to be frank. He’s really agitated by Tokomon but he doesn’t do much in the way of monologuing and it’s not even clear that the evolution is by his own design. It just kind of seems to happen. Then, once he does evolve, he’s much less talkative. This is generally not the sign of sanity or even sentience. It’s like Devimon is imprisoned by his evolution, which goes on a rampage.

Neodevimon. Actually, original Devimon is scarier but :P

Lol and then Tokomon gets blown out of Takeru’s arms and goes for a tumble while Takeru runs frantically after him xD Great moment.

Rollin rollin rollin, though the streams are swollen...

NeoDevimon is very powerful but y’know... WereGarurumon just STOOD there. This... this is totally his fault that he gets hurt here x’D

Taichi is displeased with this development, and yet, still cute in his displeasure.

Finally Koushirou manages to get through! Taichi is too preoccupied to jump for joy or anything but you can see that he’s excited. “Koushirouuuuu please save us!!!” basically that’s what’s going on

However he’s right away blown over and his digivice scatters and the signal drops...

Yamato is very Stressed.

However, contact with Koushirou has rejuvenated Taichi.

LIKE THE PHOENIX HE RISES FROM THE ASHES

Taichi: “FUCK THIS SHIIIIIIIIIT!”

His renewed conviction becomes power. Yeah, that’s a thing, we know.

Meanwhile, in the human world, the others have worked out that Taichi and Yamato are fighting and need help, and they combine the powers of their own passionate hearts in a classic shonen anime trope.

Koushirou gets a special moment all to himself! It’s really fast but still, the episode makes a point of focusing on Koushirou’s desire to connect with his friends and help them. I choose to believe this a nod to Koushirou’s significant role in the show and a way of saying “Sorry they’re not all together right now but they will be soon and characters other than Taichi and Yamato will get to do cool things in the not so distant future!”

Their partners are then able to defeat Calmaramon and destroy the data collection tower.

BOOM, baby.

Meanwhile our heroes who never sleep manage to defeat Devimon. Which, I figured, meant he’d retreat for now, but...

He freaking dies! Yup, that’s right! Disintegrates!! I was like what the heck?? This was a Boss Battle???? It had none of the signs of being a boss battle other than the boss being present and it wasn’t even that hard...

However, it’s not over till it’s over...

... Tokomon looks on NeoDevimon’s death kind of creepily. Like, the episode makes a point of showing us Tokomon’s reaction, not just the group’s. So... I feel like this is gonna be relevant. I COULD BE WRONG. But I just personally wouldn’t stick this bit in without it meaning something. But that something could be pretty much anything so we still don’t know much.

The sailors aboard the tankers whose control systems are restored at the last second are pretty darn relieved anyway.

This was my favorite moment in epiosde, Mimi flinging herself over Koushirou and knocking Jou out of the way to hug Sora in her enthusiasm over their victory xD awww Mimi

Yamato wants to know what’s with Taichi. Taichi’s like, “The others helped us from afar, I just know it...” AND THAT’S WHY HE’S BEST BOY.

Yamato gives Takeru an adorable pat on the head and tells him good job. Only thing that could have made this moment cuter would have been if he also patted Tokomon’s head. BECAUSE HELLO. KID JUST EVOLVED. SAY HI AND TELL HIM YOUR NAMES AT LEAST.

But then! Darknightmon uses the dark crystal thingy and...!

Le gasp! NeoDevimon’s corpse emerges from the ground...

Taichi has a flashback to another time they thought they won only for their defeated opponent to be infused with dark energy and resurrect...

... uh I forgot this guy’s name too >_>

Taichi: “Wow I never saw this coming!”

Well, I did. :P Due to being over ten years old...

We end with NeoDevimon’s mask cracking off!

Creepy!

Final thoughts... it now kind of looks like Darknightmon is the one pulling Devimon’s strings rather than the other way around. But my guess is that’s not the case. It could also be that Devimon told Darknightmon to do this - after all, Devimon used the stone’s power to evolve Darknightmon before, and this is just the reverse of that. Or it could be they are equals and in cahoots with each other. I definitely think there’s an even greater, bigger Bad out there that they either work for or are afraid of etc something like that, I think we probably all feel sure of that at least. But Devimon in this episode really surprised me in the ways he seems to lack agency. He seemed like a pawn of evil rather than the chessmaster himself.

So next week! Looks lit!

Devimon’s new evolution? or power up? whatever is creepier than NeoDevimon so that’s a relief.

BUT THIS IS EVEN CREEPIER HOLY CRAP TAICHI! Get some sleep, your eyes are all red! (And he’s injured. His hand is where he got hurt two weeks ago fighting Splashmon right? He got hit with miasma. I wonder if this is the same wound and if it’s somehow controlling him due to the dark energy getting into his system... But everyone’s more or less been hit with the dark energy at this point so maybe not. Anyway, CREEPY EYES, CREEPY CREEPY EYES.)

Also Yamato DIES. He DIES y’all. *funeral march plays* Hmm, Tokomon looks hungry...

Then we got this bit which in case you can’t tell is Takeru being awesome. So I figured, ahh, THIS is the boss battle, and we’re gonna see Angemon again already... weird as that sounds :P

HOW-E-VER

We also get this???? Taichi silhouetted against a brilliant light????? What does it mean? I mean we know Takeru has healing powers so I’m fully expecting that to happen but uhh are we also going to canonize Taichi next week? lol. Saint Taichi. I love him the best but I will be a bit miffed if next week IS the big boss battle and Takeru’s role is “power up Taichi so he can kill it” and that’s it... But I guess we’ll have to see.

It does rather look like they saved the animation budget for next week, the preview was nuts x’D Can’t wait.

#digimon adventure:#digimon adventure 2020 #digimon adventure reboot #fizz watches digimon 2020 #digimon

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asaletad · 4 years

Text

The 100 weekly update: the final season.

Directed by: Lindsey Morgan BRAVO 👏🏻 she was supposed to be on for only a few episodes, and tonight she gets to direct the episode!

Gabriel is as stupid and naive as Jordan.

Dude on white robe is weird.

“Dead is life” THATS A LEXA THINK!

CLARKE IS THE KEY TO EVERYTHING! SHE HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE OUT OF ALL!

Emori knows really well how to control Murphy.

Jackson been the cool understanding uncle to Madi is adorable. Poor Madi. She just wants to be a normal kid. But what is normal in this world? Also her wanting to play soccer, drawing, it’s reminds me of a clexa family fanfic.

And we are now on the past. Bellamy without a beard is sort of weird. So that’s how Echo and Bellamy connected.... over how sad their stories are.

"When Lincoln died, I beat up my brother. I wish I could take this moment back."

“You are my family too”

Octavia and Echo bonding, this Octavia knows to love others and that it’s time for forgiveness. Lincoln would be proud! Also This looks like something else (super gay) but whatever.

Diyoza and Hopes mother-daughter dynamic is something else. “You’re just mad because I turned out to be a killer like you.”

Nikki telling Emori she’s glowing whilst looking at her belly??? somebody’s pregnant???

“Then there’s the whole Lexa thing. Knowing that she is everybody’s favorite and they hated you. Then again she did unite the clans.”

“LEXA WAS EVERYONE’S FAVORITE” my feelings, my tears!

THERE SHE IS. “LEXA THING”

AHHHHH DAMNIT ROTHENBERG WHY ARE YOU PLAYING WITH MY HEART LIKE THIS "the hole Lexa thing" "everybody's favorite" AAAAAAAAHHHHH

Terrorist Mother and Daughter duo fighting. Mommy won.

Oh oh Echo is losing it. Once an azgedan always an azgedan.

Oh Emori what did you get yourself into. Nice gestures in this show means someone dies.

Yeap someone died. And really bad trouble stared.

Gabriel in white clean clothes.....

AND THERE IS THE KRU! LIKE A SWAT TEAM!

13?!

“From the ashes, through the bridge, the shepherd will rise.”

Who is this old dude?

“We have the key”

New world, same problems.

Also: LEXA DESERVED BETTER

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hateswifi · 5 years

Text

Rising from the Ashes: Of Revelations and Mistakes

So this is Part Eight here is to my Master List and Part Seven.

------------------------------

She got up the next day and went to work for the half-day of work. Diana only opens the boutique from seven to one. Marinette also asked her to stay after the store's closing to work on some design because she needs to borrow the sewing machine. She drew an off the shoulder ribbed sky blue long sleeve shirt, she sewed high waisted ripped black jeans. Diana had stayed back to check out her work and close up after she was done. She loved the outfit it was simple but nice. Luka's solo had inspired her to make the outfit and she couldn't wait to show him.

When she finished cleaning up and showing off her outfit it was three-thirty. She headed to the grocery store to pick up stuff to make Chicken Cordon Bleu Skillet. She needs to buy penne, butter, garlic, heavy cream, ham, parmesan, and chicken. Her mama used to make it for her when she was young and she hasn't had it in forever.

After she was almost done cooking, she heard a knock at the door. She answered it and saw her prince. She smiles while saying. "Hello, Prince, come on in, foods almost finished baking, only five minutes left."

"Hey, Angel," he said, kissing her cheek. "I love your outfit. Is it new?"

"Yes, I made it after work. Would you be able to set the table?" Marinette asked, holding out two plates with forks on top.

"It would be my pleasure," Damian said taking the plates then placed them. "So what inspired you to make the outfit, was it Nightwing?"

"No, it wasn't Nightwing. I watched Luka play yesterday, he won the best guitar solo," Marinette called over her shoulder as she opened the oven, taking out the skillet.

"Luka is the bluenette, a bit older than the rest of your friends, and is in a band, right?" Damian asked, looking for cups in her cabinet.

"Yes. I'm surprised you remember that" she said, putting the skillet on the table. "He played at Uncle Jagged's competition with his band and by himself yesterday. He won the best guitar solo."

"That's great," Damian said, pulling out her seat.

"Thank you, such a gentleman, prince," Marinette said, serving both of them. "Bon Appetit."

"This is delicious. Where'd you learn how to cook?" Damian asks taking another bite.

"This is the meal my mother made me when I was young. I haven't had it in forever and I wanted to give you a taste from something of my childhood," Marinette explained. They chat as they eat. When they're done eating they clean-up which ends up in a water fight after Marinette flicked water onto him as he was drying dishes.

Damian won the water battle or so he thought. He had caught her in between the sink and himself. She leaned up and kissed him, he thought he had the victory in the bag until she broke the kiss with a splash and a giggle.

"I win," She says, bopping his nose. She then walks into the living area and sits down on the couch saying. "Want to watch a movie?"

"What do you have?" Damian asked, sitting down beside her.

"My friend gave me Tangled before I left, would you like to watch it?" Marinette said, snuggling into his embrace.

"I've never seen it before," Damian said.

"Well we were making jokes about Rapunzel being Adrien due to his blonde hair and being held practically as a prisoner in his house by Gabe," Marinette said, turning on the movie.

Halfway through the movie, they both fell asleep on the couch. Marinette's alarm went off the next morning, but she didn't hear it. She didn't wake up till twenty minutes later when Damian's alarm went off. They woke up in a confused blushing mess.

"I guess we fell asleep," Damian yawned, stretching.

Marinette checked the time cursing. "Crap, I'm almost late for work."

"Would you like me to drive you?" Damian said standing up and grabbing his keys.

"That would be wonderful. I just have to get change real quick," Marinette said, walking down the hall. She throws on one of her older Jagged Stone shirts, which was worn by Uncle Jagged, ripped jeans and converse. She put her hair up in two small buns on her head.

She runs downstairs and jumps into Damian's waiting cars. Marinette smiles. "Thank you so much for the ride."

"Thank you so much for dinner last night," Damian said, driving the car. When they got there Damian got out of the car quickly and opened the door for her. She then opened the boutique door for her.

"Hi, Diana, sorry I'm late. I woke up late because we fell asleep watching a movie," Marinette said, walking to the back to put her stuff down.

"Hi Diana, it's been a while. How have you been?" Damian asks.

"Pretty good. Life has been easier since my little spot has entered my life," Diana said, sweeping the floor.

"Life has been brighter since my Angel has entered my life. Thank you for sending her to do my measurement," Damian said, with a smitten smile.

"What do you need me to do?" Marinette asked, emerging from the back.

"Well, the suits you took measurements for are done, why don't you go with Damian to tailor them?" Diana asks.

"I have a class right now and my brothers have work. Marinette, can I pick you up after work so you can tailor the suits?" Damian asks.

"That would be more efficient anyway. We have a couple of clients coming in today to get measurements and maybe an original design," Diana said, checking her agenda.

"Ok, Prince, I'll see you after work," Marinette said, going on tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"Bye, Angel," Damian said, leaving the boutique.

"So what happened to being no one's girlfriend?" Diana teased with a smirk.

"Well Damian is just so sweet and he asked me out on Friday," Marinette recalled with a smile and butterflies in her stomach.

"You got one of the coldest people in the city to be your boyfriend and you've only been here for a week," Diana said, picking up the dust in a dustpan. "I like your shirt, but I don't recognize the artist."

"My Uncle Jagged, well-adopted uncle, he is popular in France and Western America. He gave this to me because he wanted me to fix a hole. I left it in Chloe's room for when he would be back in Paris but he didn't come back in time. I did design some of his merchandise, including this one."

"Well, that is lovely. Oh! I almost forgot to tell a customer came early this morning, she had seen you leaving in your outfit and she asked where she could find the outfit. I told her to come back later to talk to you," Diana said, excitedly.

"That's awesome!" Marinette said, folding a shirt. They work on little things until a woman walks in. "Hello welcome to Lucky Spot, I'm Marinette, how can I help?"

"Were you the one wearing that beautiful blue off the shoulder shirt yesterday?" the small redhead asked, looking Marinette up and down.

"Yes, I made it before I left the store. My friend, Luka, inspired me. So what's up?" Marinette said, stepping out from the counter.

"Could you design an outfit for my bridal shower?" she asks.

"Come to the back and I'll take your measurements and you can tell me what you're looking for," Marinette says, beckoning the woman to follow her to the back. They talk and the red-head woman, who was named Scarlette, told Marinette a blue shirt and white skirt. Marinette finished taking the measurements, she started drawing out the design.

"I'll this done at the end of the week and I'll text you the price tomorrow," Marinette said, leading Scarlette from the back. "Have a good day, I'll keep you updated."

"Thank you, Nette, have a good day," Scarlette said, leaving the shop.

"So, it sounds like that went well," Diana said, waving goodbye to a customer.

"It went so well! I want to talk to you about the money. I'll give you a cut of it," Marinette said. "I'll pay you for the material and a bit extra."

"That sounds great. So for this upcoming week, we are closed for the day before Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve, and Christmas," Diana said, closing her agenda. "Also I just bought a new sewing machine. I want you to take the sewing machine from the back as a Christmas gift."

"Seriously! Thank you so much!" Marinette exclaimed, hugging Diana. "I'm sorry I didn't get you anything."

"Don't worry about it you're starting your new life here in America," Diana said, breaking the hug.

The rest of the day was uneventful. At the end of the day, Marinette packed up the sewing machine and grabbed the completed suits she needs to tailor. When she was done taking the needed materials for Scarlette's outfit, a car was waiting outside, presumably to take her to the manor. Damian got out of the back and opened the door.

"Hey, Angel, I'll grab this if you open the trunk," Damian said, taking the stuff. She opened the trunk and then got in the back of the car.

"Hey, Alfred, how have you been?" Marinette asked, buckling her seat belt. Damian slid in the seat next to her, closed the door, and buckled.

"Pretty good, Miss Marinette. I'm going to make dinner when we arrive at the manor, so we can all eat when the suits are finished," Alfred explained, pulling out into the street and traffic.

"How was your day, Angel," Damian said, holding her hand.

"It was good, someone saw my outfit yesterday and commissioned me to make her a bridal shower outfit," Marinette said with a smile.

"I'm so proud of you," Damian said, kissing her head.

"Thank you, Prince," Marinette said, hugging him.

"Angel, would you join us for Christmas?" Damian asked, kissing her hand.

"I... I would love that. I thought I was going to be alone," Marinette said, tears forming in her eyes.

"Yes, Angel I would love to spend Christmas with you. Please never cry again," he said, wiping her tears.

"Thank you so much. You are a prince," Marinette said, hiding into his shoulder.

"We've arrived Master Damian, Miss Marinette," Alfred said, pressing the button to open the gate. When they park Damian opens the car door and the manor door for her.

"Sunshine! I didn't know you were coming today," Dick screamed, looking down on them from the stairs.

"I was asked to tailor the suits to make sure they fit fine. What are you guys wearing these for?" Marinette asked, holding them up.

"I'll go get the rest of the young masters," Alfred said, walking down the hall.

"Can I go first?" Dick asks, running downstairs three stairs at a time.

"I guess," Marinette said, turning to Damian. "Prince, you coming?"

"I'll join you in a minute. I'm going to wait for my brothers," Damian said, kissing her hand.

"Ooooh! Prince! I prefer Demon Spawn," Dick teases as Marinette blushes. She slaps his arm and starts to walk down the hall. "Wait, you don't know where you're going!" he called after her."

"Then show me. I have to get these done," Marinette says, pausing her walking.

"Follow me. Damian we're going to be in the parlor," Dick called back over his shoulder. "So you're dating the Ice Prince."

"I don't know how he got that name, but he isn't as mean as people said. He's so sweet, kind, and such a gentleman," Marinette said, reminiscing of their time together, a smitten smile spreading across her face.

"Awww! You like him a lot!" Dick cooed, opening the door to the parlor.

"He is my boyfriend. Would you get changed quickly so I can tailor your suit," Marinette said, handing him his suit. He left to get changed.

"Did I hear that right?" Jason exclaimed, bursting through the door. He hugged her and spun her in a circle. "You, an actual angel, is dating Demon Spawn?"

"Put me down," She giggles. Once she was safely on the ground, she confirmed what he had said.

"I'm happy for you guys," Tim said. sitting down on the couch.

"That is quite exciting," Bruce says, opening the door.

"Father, this is my girlfriend, Marinette," Damian said, introducing them. "Marinette this is my father, Bruce."

"Hell, Mr. Wayne, it's a pleasure to meet you," Marinette said, sticking out a hand.

"Hello, Marinette, please just call me Bruce," He responded, shaking her hand.

"Ok, I'm ready," Dick says, entering the room again. "Hey, Bruce. Can you believe that Demon Spawn got a girlfriend."

"I had faith in him," Bruce said, he then left the room.

"Ok, Dick stand over there and the person going next please go get changed. Dick, is there any place that is to lose?"

"Could you make the biceps a bit tighter along with the ankles," Dick asks, holding out his arms.

She starts working immediately and she finishes what he asks quickly and precisely. Jason goes next, he asked for the shoulder to be a bit tighter, which she completed. Half-way through Tim's fitting, a bang from the door interrupted her.

"Oh my gosh! Jason wasn't lying!" a boy with black hair, and blue eyes burst in. He was wearing a red hoodie, ripped blue jeans, and red converse. He also was wearing black glasses. "I'm Jon Kent!"

"Who?" Marinette asked, standing up.

"I'm Jon Kent, Damian's best friend, and I'm disappointed he didn't bother to tell me he got a girlfriend," Jon said, plopping down on the couch next to Damian.

"My friends are in a different country and I already told them! Do best friends have different traditions in America?" Marinette asked, sitting down on the other side of Damian.

"No," Damian said, pinching his nose. "It's just I knew he would pester me."

"Aww, I knew you loved me!" Jon said.

"Well, I have to get back to tailoring. Damian, please go get in your suit," Marinette said, sewing the last bit of Tim's sleeve. When she was done with Tim's fitting, Damian walked in his suit. She blushes seeing him all dressed up.

"Angel, like what you see?" Damian smirks, looking at the flustered girl.

"J..Just get over her... here," Marinette stammers. "Where does it need to be tighter?"

"Just the biceps and shoulders," he said.

She starts working quickly. Her fingers dance across his arms as she sews them a bit tighter as he asked. When she was standing in front of him to sew the last part of the sleeve he leaned down and kissed her head, which made her smile.

"All done, Prince," She says smiling up at her boyfriend. She then hugs him. Little do they know Jon took a picture of that moment and sent it to Jason.

Jason immediately posted this tweet with the picture Jon took.

@realJaSonToDd

'Look at it! They're official thanks @JonKent2015. They're adorable together. Love the Sunshine that stumbled into our lives! <3 #Daminette #DemonSpaw'sgirlfriend'

"Thank you, Angel. I'm going to get changed, Alfred will be here in a couple of minutes to show you to the dining room," Damian said, leaving the room. The rest of the boys, except Jon, had left to do other things before dinner.

"So how'd you meet the Ice Prince, "Jon asked, turning towards her.

"Titus tackled me when I first moved here. He then bought me breakfast to say sorry. Diana, my boss, sent me here to do Damian's measurements. Then he took me out to this small cafe the next day. Then he asked me to be his girlfriend," Marinette smiles, thinking about her boyfriend.

"You love him don't you," Jon says, looking her in the eyes.

"I only met him a little more than a week ago, but I really like him," Marinette said not meeting his eyes a blush spreading across her cheeks. A knock came, she and Jon stood up to follow Alfred.

"I already knew Master Jon, was coming. I could feel it," Alfred said, opening the door to the dining room. Most of the family was already sitting down. Damian walked in behind them.

"Sit here, Angel," He said, pulling out a seat.

"Wait that's not fair I want to sit next to her too!" Dick said, shoving Jon out of the way. "Sorry, Jon, but I want to sit next to this Sunshine.

"I get it," Jon shrugs sitting on the other side of Dick. "She's nice and pretty sweet."

Dick takes out his phone to take a selfie with her. "Smile!"

"Make sure you don't post that please," Marinette said after the selfie was taken.

They ate dinner together in a surprisingly happy chatter. The dinner seemed so homey. "I haven't eaten a family dinner in forever. It's so nice to see you guys so close and together," She smiles, collecting plates to bring to the kitchen.

"You don't have to clean up Angel, you're our guest," Damian says, taking the stack of dirty plates from her hands.

"But I want to help," she says, collecting the silverware she also took the stack of plates before he could object.

"Damian, I need to talk to you," Jon said, pulling him aside before he could follow her into the kitchen.

"What?" He groaned as he was dragged into the hall.

"There's something wrong about her," Jon started, Damian stiffened. "She is very injured. I saw it when she was tailoring your suit, with my x-ray vision."

"What do you mean?" Damian asked his voice stern.

"She has recent burns, which is normal if they were on her hands, but the scar tissue was all over her back. She has remnants of a stab wound in her side. She also has multiple broken bones that looked healed ridiculously fast," Jon explained. "I want my dad to take a look at it."

"You will do no such thing. Here's the thing about her, she is a hero of Paris. There is only one problem there's something called Miraculous cure that heals everything. Maybe it doesn't heal everything," Damian said.

"How'd you know?" Marinette said closing the door behind her she opened her purse. "Ya know what, I gotta get going. No one was supposed to know. Tikki, Spots on." After a flash of pink light, they heard footsteps and they look just in time to see her jumping out the closest window.

"Marinette!" Damian screams, running toward the window she had jumped out of. "What have you done!?"

"I was trying to help! I was worried about her well being," Jon exclaimed backing up.

"We heard screams, what happened? Where's Marinette, she was coming out to ask if you guys wanted dessert," Jason asked bursting through the doors.

"She's gone! Jon made her leave," Damian screamed, shoving Jon.

"It's not my fault I was worried. She looked broken," Jon said, shoving him back.

"I can't lose her over this! I... I really really like her. I invited her to Christmas dinner and everything," Damian said, falling to the ground. "I didn't even say good-bye. I swear, Jon if I don't see her again, you'll be answering to me."

"I was worried about her well being--" he started.

"But you wanted to call Clark, just freak her out more, why don't you?" Damian said, slamming the door shut

"Damian, she told me herself she really likes you! Her face was so pink when she was talking about how much she liked you! Dude, I don't think she will leave you over this," Jon said, following him.

"You don't know that though! I can't lose her, she makes my life brighter," Damian said through his bedroom door. He was sitting on the ground looking on his phone. He screamed Twitter was blowing up again.

"Jon! You sent a picture of Marinette and me to Jason!" He exclaimed, slamming open the door.

"Ya, why? I couldn't believe that you were being kind and I wanted to show Jason and how'd you know?" Jon asked, backing up.

"He posted that picture! The hashtags DemonSpawn'sgirlfriend and Daminette are trending!" he said.

"Her face isn't in the picture," Jon reasons.

"It doesn't matter look it!" Damian said, holding out his phone with Twitter opened.

@GotahmOfficialNews

'It only makes sense that Sunshine as @realJaSonToDd put it would melt the heart of Damian Wayne a.k.a. Ice Prince and only blood heir to Bruce Wayne. Who is she? How did they meet? Does she have a cute nickname for him? These are things we need to know!'

"I didn't realize he was going to post it! I just wanted to show him how sweet you were being with her!" Jon reasoned. Damian slammed the door again and started punching his punching bag that his Father had added in when he turned thirteen and had to replace it when he was fifteen.

Marinette arrived home at eight in the night crying, knowing that she would have to leave. No one was supposed to know about her being Ladybug because it endangers them. She decides to put on the Notebook at least they had a happy ending. It hadn't been this hard getting over Adrien, why does it hurt so much right now? 'Because you stupidly fell in love,' her mind supplied.

After she finished watching the Notebook, she transforms and flies across the cold winter night. She lands on a building that isn't Wayne Enterprises and faces away from it. She sits out in the cold for a while thinking about where she could go. She was sad because she had already started building a life here and she already had to throw it away not even two weeks into it. Her thoughts were brought back to the present by the sound of feet crunching the snow behind her.

Big oof of a cliff hanger. Haven’t done one like these before, enjoy.

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