#but he was apart of a whole different level of the fight and none of use could hit him b/c hen just wasn’t in range

[revvethasmythh]

live footage of me doing combat on tactician difficulty

[beanghostprincess]

Sanji pre-time skip : I'll protect my darling usopp. I'm the big spoon. He is sitting on my lap. I wear the pants in this relationship. I wrap my arm around his waist to assert my dominance and show off my protective prowess. He's mine and none of you are going to lay a finger on him >:[

Post time skip: usopp! My precious honeydew! Where are my cuddles and snuggles! I want to be held right now and I'm expecting a kiss on the forehead! I would do anything to be wrapped around you big strong arms right now!

I know this is a joke and all and perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but this is so fucking real.

Okay, let's say they start dating around Skypiea/Water 7 because those are our Roman Empires. And their relationship really is like that. I mean- They have that domestic/genuine energy in which they both understand each other peacefully on the same level and believe in each other's strength in both pre and post timeskip, but it's still different. Because Sanji still is trying to get used to loving a man and he's been all his life having this idea of dating a woman and worshipping her and protecting her so she doesn't have to do anything. And so when he starts dating Usopp, he follows that same pattern. Obviously he sees his strengths and lets him fight on his own when he can, but usually Sanji feels like his knight in shining armor. Usopp isn't bothered by this, he's living like a god-damned king, lmao.

Then, Sabaody happens. And Usopp kind of realizes he wants to be stronger and he shouldn't depend on Sanji. And Sanji realizes he's needier than he thought. And when they see each other, Sanji just confirms that sentiment because damn. He has missed his boyfriend so much, and Usopp looks so good and so strong and so much like a hero. Sanji just wants to be held right now after being apart for so long.

And their relationship changes a little bit, because they respect each other even more. And after WCI and Wano, Sanji learns to be a bit more vulnerable around everyone, but especially Usopp. And okay, we know this dynamic in Sanuso varies a lot and it's their whole point of "I'll protect you when tou can't" and all.

But there's just something about Sanji being taken care of after so much time dealing with his problems on his own, and Usopp being the one in control after being perceived as weak.

[fastcardotmp3]

I don't read a lot of soulmate aus just because it's not a genre that appeals to me much personally, but I kinda want one where the main love interests are very much not soulmates.

A world where finding your soulmate is actually as rare as it statistically would be, a world where your soulmate probably speaks a different language and lives in a different country and will likely never cross paths with you that makes the whole thing all the more newsworthy when someone actually does find their soulmate.

And what this means is that most romantic relationships? They're not between soulmates, they're just between people who love each other and choose to keep doing the work of loving each other (or don't! because just like in the real world sometimes it just doesn't work out like that)

There are (mostly scam) services to try and take advantage of desperate people who want to find their soulmates; there are people trying to get famous just so there will be more eyes on their [author's choice soulmark] and it might be recognized (and subsequent famous people who always cover up their soulmark to keep people from faking a matching/ complementary one)

There are rom-coms about the ideal soulmate meet-cute and dramas about a relationship split apart when one of them actually meets their soulmate and it's this ingrained part of culture while still being something SO DAMN RARE.

So here's the thing, right, is that Steve and Eddie aren't soulmates.

They're not born to fall in love, they're not meant to be, the universe actually does its level best to drag them away from each other in the form of near-apocalypses and regular old human conflict alike, but even still.

Even still, they see one another at the start of the world all over again, scarred and changed and new; they see each other as they reform themselves from scraps and they hold each other up as they learn to walk away from the wreckage of what they've lost in the process of winning.

And they do what so many have done before them, they choose.

Squabbles and complexities and incompatible natures made to fit with work and effort and a boatload of pure and simple love, even if none of the rest is pure or simple.

Years of it, onwards out of Hawkins and maybe even back again; years of it through further changes and versions of selves, always together in one way or another, even during the hard bits.

They are not meant to be.

They have marks that do not match and it doesn't matter because why chase after something like that when they have this right in front of them.

Because maybe here's the thing, right, is that there's something just as rare as finding your soulmate.

Creating one.

Choosing so much and so often with all the determination at the goddamn root of your person that the mark on your body actually changes to match the choice you've made. The love you have built rather than found.

Because the universe is a fickle thing, she finds the lives of humans short and is fondly exasperated with their impermanence, their altogether restlessness in the face of finding something never promised to them, but she's never claimed to always get it right.

The universe is in charge of a lot of things, but human choice is not one of them, and so when two boys stumble into each other's lives in the face of unspeakable violence and terror and blood, when they stay in each other's lives even after they are no longer fighting in the same war, well.

She's an ever-changing thing, and she has done this before and will do it again, not the removal of one soulmate but the addition of a second, because if someone is willing to create space within themselves for someone they're not intrinsically linked to, stubborn enough even, maybe she can honor that.

And if Eddie Munson wakes up one morning, catches sight of himself in the mirror after a shower and sees something new that he did not put their of his own volition; if Steve is still asleep in the bed on the other side of the hall, not yet aware of the way the universe has shifted to accommodate the work they have put into tying themselves together on the fucking journey of a life they're stumbling through...

It's all still just a choice they already made, isn't it?

[butterflydm]

wot deeper dive 2x5: damane

This specific post I am going to avoid any spoilers from the books! I will be doing another post later today that includes those spoilers and related thoughts.

Starting with a bigger introduction to the Seanchan. I love how much the show has worked to set them apart from our familiar Westlands characters. Everything about them -- their clothing, their mannerisms, their accents (their background music) -- all works together to convey the knowledge that they are different from the Westlands characters.

2. We learn some very important things in this first scene:

a. Suroth attacked that village on her own initiative (aka because of Ishamael), which means that Ishamael was having her search for Perrin under the cloak of ranging out for more damane and territory, and that specific attack was not ta'veren coincidence.

b. Suroth is not the leader of the invaders; High Lord Turak is. We also get to really see the dynamics of who is allowed to look at who and who is allowed to talk to who.

c. Ishamael lets Suroth take the fall for attacking the village before he reveals the thing that could have let her off the hook (the Horn of Valere). And Turak is definitely paying close attention to the dynamic between Suroth and Ishamael.

d. Turak, as a 'collector of ancient oddities' was able to open the box containing the Horn of Valere.

e. Loial and Ingtar are dressed up in a very specific and fancy style, and Suroth makes a point of mentioning that Ingtar is a 'lord' (and called Loial an 'Ogier slave').

f. We really see some different levels here, showing Seanchan society. I love the variety of styles! They're all in the same general theme (the shaved sides of the heads for the high status people and the longer fingernails) but they each have their own distinct style. And each of them has their own slave with a parasol and the slaves have individual styles as well -- picked out by their masters, one assumes. And none of the Seanchan sitting and watching the show here have nails as long as Suroth or Turak. Turak is the only one with the fancy gold nail protectors that extend all the way down the nail (Suroth has long nails but no extra protection behind the small band at the finger).

g. If Loial and Ingtar are dressed as some variety of slave, then the people standing behind Turak who are also dressed in that sort of seafoam-green clothing are likely slaves of the same rank. Looks like one of them is holding a tray of pastries, so that tracks.

h. Turak says that their mission here in the Westlands is to unite the people of the world to fight the Shadow, which means that he does not know that Suroth is a darkfriend and it makes it clear that the Seanchan as a whole are not actively fighting 'for' the Shadow. They believe that they are in the right, which is very important to know for their motivations going forward, I think. He's upset with Suroth because she's moving too fast -- Turak wants them to consolidate their position here first and only push out and take lands that they know they can hold (and we know that's true, because we will learn later in this episode that the Whitecloaks have taken it from the Seanchan).

i. The reaction when Suroth's nails get shortened is very telling. It makes it even more clear what a status symbol they are, as Suroth is basically told that Turak isn't going to let her be part of the ruling council again until her nails grow back out.

Great opening scene. Chilling. We learned so much about the Seanchan!

3. The chase scene between Rand & Moiraine and Lanfear is informative in so many ways. We see Moiraine's ruthlessness (she kills the horse and sets up the stable mistress to most likely be killed as a decoy); we see that she knows Rand better than she did when she was trying to convince him to follow her last season (she promises to tell him everything once they are out of immediate danger); we see how lethal and ruthless Lanfear is and how she enjoys causing suffering; and we see Moiraine's cleverness (the entire horse plan).

We also have the beginning of Rand getting devastating news that he needs to process -- last season, he dealt with that by going into severe denial for six episodes about what his father told him and what that might mean re: being the Dragon Reborn, but he's not doing that here. He has to come to terms with the idea that he's been having sex with one of the monsters from the stories that people tell about the end of the last Age but he doesn't try to pretend that it's not true at any point. Both Rand and Moiraine stay more grounded in reality here than they were last season (Rand hid in denial while Moiraine kept leaning on wishful thinking).

And we know from Moiraine's terrible wound last season that Aes Sedai cannot heal themselves with the One Power, so the fact that Lanfear CAN heal herself shows what an immense power gap was here even before Moiraine's ability to touch the Source was taken away. What Lanfear uses to heal herself also looks very different from the weaves of the One Power that we've been seeing all this time (including from both Ishamael and Lanfear).

4. Lanfear checking in with the stable mistress about who appeared to be in charge between Rand & Moiraine and noting that it was Moiraine and mentioning that she must remember how young Rand is. I was definitely thinking that she would probably place the majority (and potentially all) of the blame for what happened on Moiraine and not on Rand. Rand is young! He was led astray by this awful Aes Sedai 'bitch'. He just needs to be led back to the correct path! She can Fix Him (by breaking him). Lanfear can definitely still have her happy ending that she sold herself to the Shadow to get! I love her instant change in vibe now that she's not pretending to be Selene. "Is there anything slower than a horse?" And, of course, we know from the 3000 years ago flashback that they had some sweet technology back in the previous Age.

5. Perrin's scene here with Elyas is so good. We got hints in the previous episodes that Elyas is detached from humanity as a whole, but this scene really shows its... teeth about that. When Perrin realizes that Elyas lied to him and is leading him away from the caravan that kidnapped his companions, he immediately gets upset. He wants to learn more about what's happening to him but not at the cost of losing everything that he loves. Perrin's storyline in season 2 really has been absolutely fantastic.

We learn here that Perrin's eyes are going to completely switch over at some point.

6. Perrin has been getting progressively more and more upset after he realizes that Elyas lied about where he was taking Perrin (and Perrin had even mentioned last episode that he was worried they were going the wrong way and Elyas 'reassured' him by telling him that wolves don't get lost) but it's the mention of his wife that gets him to snap and leave Elyas behind. It must feel like a real betrayal, since he knows that Elyas is aware of his nightmares about Laila's death. That Elyas can know how deeply he grieves her and still dismiss her that way. She's 'not his pack' (she was not a wolf), so she doesn't matter.

7. We do get it fairly clearly stated here that the Forsaken were individually trapped by the previous Dragon and thus will be released individually as well (last episode implied it but now it's directly stated). I will note that for all that Moiraine mentioned she would tell Rand 'everything', she does not tell Rand that Lanfear was in love with the previous Dragon until the end of the episode, when she's decided that he needs to face Lanfear instead continuing to run.

8. I love that Hopper came back to try to help Perrin! I continue to love the way that they are showing how the wolves communicate with each other. Sad note: Hopper's actor doesn't get mentioned in the x-ray that pops up when you pause the show.

I love Perrin touching on the 'they didn't even bury him' idea after we had Ingtar showing respect even to the Darkfriend in the previous episode and giving him a burial. That Uno is being used as a prop, even after his death, to show how brutal the Seanchan are (and! being used that way by the Whitecloaks too, since they also didn't take him down and bury him).

9. Introducing... Aviendha. She gets a good introduction here -- she tries to help Perrin avoid running into the same danger she ran into, into coming into the wrong town at the wrong time; we learn about how dangerous she is (oh, Dain mentions that the last man who touched the cage got his arm broken -- we later see Valda with his arm in a sling). "You can't trust an Aiel," Perrin is told by Dain.

10. Dain Bornhald is another character introduction -- he survives the episode, so it's a safe bet that he'll be seen again. He's quite friendly with Perrin, and also quite observant -- he notices that Perrin is wearing a ring that looks of Two Rivers' make, he warns Perrin about not trying to help the Aiel woman, because he can tell that Perrin is uncomfortable with her being caged up.

There's also a lot of tension between Dain and Valda, once he shows up. Valda dislikes that Dain gave Aviendha water; Dain is amused when the small dog scares Valda (because he's got wolf-related trauma now); and Valda is of the opinion that Dain only holds power because his dad is important in the Whitecloaks.

11. This Verin plotline really is so delightful. It's actually a good parallel to Alanna's plotline in the last episode -- both of them are trying to ferret out information because they're worried about the current situation, and both of them encounter troubling hints that fellow Aes Sedai may be involved with the Shadow. But I love the comradery that we see here between Verin and her fellow Brown Ajah Sisters. Her two Sisters are just so instantly charming and I loved getting to see her talking with them.

12. Nynaeve and Liandrin's conversation is so good. Nynaeve figuring out that, all this time, Liandrin has been trying to recruit her for the Shadow and not for the Red Ajah. Liandrin has known from the beginning that Nynaeve was never going to pick the Red Ajah. But she had hopes about Nynaeve choosing the Dark...

We also get some nice history that expands on the lore of the Three Oaths from another (very biased) PoV.

Nynaeve sees right through Liandrin, though, and calls her out on trying to justify her choices, even now that they've taken her to places she genuinely dislikes.

13. Alwhin, Suroth's Voice, being ordered out of the room with everyone else (by Ishamael!) does imply to me that she isn't aware of who he is and doesn't know that Suroth is a Darkfriend.

We get our first (but not our last!) Darkfriend vs Darkfriend spat of the episode! I really loved that this episode is starting to explore the weaknesses of the Shadow, even as we're seeing how dangerous they are as well. They don't all agree on what they want or what means to take to get there. They hold each other in contempt (Suroth trying to tell Ishamael, leader of the Forsaken, that he's here on her sufferance because she's of the Blood and he's not... what an amazing moment that shows that as much as Suroth is a Darkfriend, she is still very much of her own culture as well).

Suroth is Big Mad at Ishamael for essentially throwing her under the bus. He was the one who ordered her to the village but she is the one who paid the price for it (as much as she calls Liandrin's Ishamael's 'dog' later in the episode, she is also very much on his leash, as he proves here when he yanks on it and she acknowledges that he's above her).

14. The second mention of a fight in the skies; Ishamael says that the Last Battle is going to happen here. Ishamael believes that the Last Battle is about to be won in Falme -- it seems like the reason that he believes that is because he thinks that Rand is about to fall over to their side. That's the first hint we have that he's confident to the point of arrogance imo (we'll get more later).

15. Everything about Aviendha and Perrin's conversation is great. "People shouldn't be in cages". The contrast between Aviendha's formal introduction of herself and Perrin just going "I'm Perrin... Aybara". And then the fight! We get to see Aviendha in action and everyone who might have forgotten about the fight in the cold open of 1x7 likely remembers it now. I love Aviendha's amusement over Perrin trying to be protective. "Perrin Aybara, do you like to dance?" and the confusion on his face every time she says something that he doesn't understand.

16. Moiraine does not tell Rand here that she can't channel (he may have guessed, but she didn't tell him). She only tells him that she can't use the One Power to keep them awake. We know that Moiraine is secretive and I think that a lot of the confusion earlier in the season over whether she's stilled or shielded also comes from both her and Lan being incredibly secretive and only sharing information on a need-to-know basis. She tells Rand about Tel'aran'rhoid because it is an active danger that he needs to stay wary of -- if he sleeps, then Lanfear will be able to reach him.

(I'm also hoping that show-onlys took note of what Moiraine said here and went back and rewatched the red coat sex scene with this new knowledge in mind)

I do not think that Moiraine told Alanna & co that she couldn't channel. All they know is that she doesn't want Lan around anymore and Alanna's plotline in 2x4 was all about the three of them trying to figure out why Moiraine dumped Lan (that plotline made so much more sense once I realized it was an Alanna plotline and not a Lan plotline). I think, out of necessity, that she told Verin & co that she couldn't channel and they likely assumed that she burned out, which is a known hazard (well, Verin may not have actually assumed that, given what she says to Moiraine in 2x2, but she let Moiraine believe that she assumed it). So I think a large part of the 'mystery' around Moiraine is simply because she doesn't tell anyone anything unless she believes that she absolutely has to. Now, luckily, she has realized that Rand NEEDS more information from her because it helps him trust her, so she is telling him a lot more than she did last season.

17. I am also going to note how incredibly similarly Rand and Moiraine are dressed here. The show did that a lot last season too (with the addition that Egwene was also dressed similarly to the two of them in s1, though that wasn't possible this season due to her needing to wear novice whites).

18. I loved the scene with Rand and all the Damodreds. Them mistaking Rand for Moiraine's Warder and her trying to will him to go along with the lie and her despairing, "This is.... Rand" when he reveals that he is not her Warder. Lady Anvaere revealing to Moiraine that she's already met Rand, which does not seem to be information that she shared with Moiraine over their tea session, given Moiraine's reaction. And Moiraine interacting so awkwardly with her nephew Barthanes.

We also get the information that the upcoming royal wedding will be in a few weeks.

19. Poor Rand is just getting so much new information thrown at him. Though at least he's had more sleep than Moiraine, he did just spend all night walking to Cairhien. Moiraine starts out with the idea that they just need to run as fast and far as they can, but Anveare makes her rethink her plans. She gets Moiraine to stop and think about the situation as a whole -- IS Rand actually in danger from Lanfear? If he is in danger, what kind of danger is it? And would running actually fix any of that when they know that she can get to him in his dreams? I think the show did a really good job of showing why Moiraine decided not to keep running here.

20. Verin and Sheriam's conversation is very good, how she feels out the situation with Sheriam and then sets up a reason for them both to need to leave the room together so that her friend can sneak in and check out Sheriam's book. And what we see of the confusion on Sheriam's face here tracks with Verin wondering about the possible of Compulsion later on.

21. Yasicca of the Brown Ajah is absolutely charming. I love her accent. I hope we get to see more of her in the future. If the show continues to follow up on the Black Ajah thread that they've laid out here, Yasicca could be a major player (... or she might be destined to be killed off because she gets too close to the truth. oh, that's sad! I like her so much already and I barely know her!). I also loved that we got to see the writing in the show. Verin is very good about starting conversations and letting the other person finish it, giving them prompts as appropriate.

22. Our second Darkfriend vs Darkfriend spat occurs as Liandrin delivers the Wondergirls into slavery. I do think that Liandrin was definitely holding onto the Power this entire conversation. The way that the damane who pointed out the girls in the village looks at her feels like she can sense it. She also looks mournful when she's caught Egwene, imo. I really like how this episode is showing the cracks in the Dark.

23. I'm not going to get into Egwene's (horrible, heartbreaking) situation too much here because it's clear that the next episode is going to go into a lot more detail.

24. Aviendha and Perrin continue to be a delight. She's very patient with him but she teases him too. We also learn here that she's searching for the Aiel's chief of chiefs, their Car'a'carn. Just a genuinely lovely scene. And Hopper just hanging out with them!

I love that Aviendha doesn't even ask why they're going to Falme. She goes where he goes! She owes him a debt! He'll tell her if he decides to!

25. Elayne trying to be helpful while Nynaeve is just spiky because she barely knows this girl: understandable! Good thing Ryma's Warder found them!

26. A great conversation between Verin and Liandrin here. Liandrin's attempt to ~casually lean~ against the wall when she sees Verin genuinely made me laugh. Verin, of course, is now following up on the thread that she asked Yasicca to investigate for her -- anyone who has left the Tower in recent days. Liandrin makes the big mistake of liars here in that she talks too much and gives too many details.

27. Seeing Moiraine's exhaustion here was so good and so important. She's so tired but she can't sleep! And I really love the conversation between her and Anvaere. We also find out here that their father was kind-hearted and Barthanes takes after him. I love that Anvaere knows Moiraine well enough to tell that she's at a loss for her next move. We really get to see Anvaere's perceptiveness here. And Moiraine trying to figure out how much is safe to tell.

28. Darkfriend vs Darkfriend spat number three. Though this one comes with a side of how much they both are desperately obsessed with Rand. Also, Lanfear & Ishamael imply here that Lanfear's big plan last episode was to reveal her identity to Rand. Given what he says in an upcoming scene ("You want me to pretend to be in love with a Forsaken?"), I'm... uh, not sure that conversation would have gone the way that she wanted. But, yes, Ishamael confirms here that he's our True Believer of the Forsaken/Chosen, while Lanfear just wants her ex back. Lol, the way they stare at their imagined Rand for a while cracks me up.

29. I also think this conversation gives us our second big moment of Ishamael being overconfident to the point of arrogance, in his assessment of the ta'veren five. He thinks that all of them are on the cusp of being broken:

a. that Egwene craves power (though the viewers know from last episode that she wants power explicitly to protect the people she cares about and not for its own sake)

b. that Nynaeve fears her power (not necessarily wrong, but it also doesn't mean that her fear will lead her into aligning with the Dark; an option that she just firmly rejected from Liandrin)

c. that Mat was 'born mine' which is following on a thread that was set up last season, where both Moiraine and Mat himself worry that the world would be doomed if Mat were the Dragon

d. and that Perrin is going to soon be 'more wolf than man' (but the viewers just saw him refuse to isolate himself from his friends and refuse to disconnect from humanity)

And Lanfear believes that if Rand sees that his friends have fallen to the Shadow, that he will break.

The only one of them that's actually under Ishamael's power right now is Egwene, captured by the Seanchan.

30. I find it fascinating that Alwhin, Ingtar, and Loial all appear as part of Ishamael's entourage when he's summoned to speak with Turak, even though Suroth isn't there yet. We get another name -- the Court of the Nine Moons -- and we learn that he's the one who saw the omens that led to the Seanchan mounting this attack on the Westlands.

31. We're only just barely introduced to Ryma and her Warder, but I'm looking forward to seeing more of them (probably next episode). She's going to be able to give them all the info on the Seanchan (that we are going to see played out with Egwene - ugh this collar scene is so heartbreaking).

The sul'dam who collars Egwene doesn't have the facepaint. I wonder if they only wear that when they're actively working as part of the armies or guard. Hmm, but the sul'dam standing on Egwene's other side does have the facepaint, so I don't know. X-ray confirms that her name is Renna. The magic of the collar itself has almost a sci-fi or steampunk vibe. It forms almost like gears. We see a 'leash' of the One Power going from Renna to Egwene and then she puts an actual leash, a chain, on Egwene's collar.

It really is hard to watch.

32. Moiraine and Rand. Going off to a bedroom together. Barthanes and Anvaere have a lot to think about in terms of hot gossip. I really do like Rand and Moiraine's conversation here. Rand's realization of what Moiraine is asking him to do here (catfish one of the Forsaken, as someone put it) is very well done. But, wow, Rand clearly has not had a chance to process any of his trauma from their relationship so him diving right in to confront her is definitely a dangerous choice.

Their conversation in TAR I'll save for when we actually get it in the next episode (I'm assuming). But Lanfear certainly knows how to set a scene.

[fryingpan1234567]

🎶drabble drabble drab-ble, drabble drabble drab-ble, it’s two in the mor-ning—🎶

they’ve consumed my brain. Timkon Thought™️

~ It’s no secret Tim Drake doesn’t like sleeping. Enough nights of insomnia, dream demons, and fear gas will do that to a person. But there are just some people who take it to a whole different level.

Tim goes to school during the day, works when he doesn’t have school, and patrols all night long— he’s known in the Batfam for staying out the latest of them all, often until the sun begins to rise and he has to go home to get ready for school. The only time he doesn’t do such a practice is when Conner visits, which fortunately is often, because Tim’s siblings get concerned when he hasn’t slept in over a week.

But still, even with Conner around, it’s a fight to get Tim to sleep at all. One almost nobody wins.

It’s late when Tim hears the living room window slide open, soft footfalls landing on the rug there. He’d be concerned, normally, if only for the fact that he’s already in his pajamas and would hate to have to fight without a mask, but he knows who it is. Maybe that person knows the sound of his heartbeat, but Tim knows the rhythm of his existence and no Kryptonian powers can match that.

Exactly as expected, Conner pokes the slightly cracked bedroom door open with the toe of his boot not long after. Tim was already in bed, but nowhere near sleeping. In fact, he had a near-full mug of the strongest coffee he could possibly brew sitting on the nightstand next to him, the laptop in his lap the only source of light in the room.

Having none of his boyfriend’s shit, Conner flicked the light on. Tim blinked hazily up at him.

“Hey,” he managed, slightly leaning forward and silently pleading for a kiss. Kon obliged, but flicked him in the forehead as he pulled away.

“Why’re you up?” he asked instead of answering the greeting. “It’s like two in the morning.”

“Uhh…” As Conner began stripping out of his patrol gear and unceremoniously dumping it all on the floor, Tim’s attention returned to the screen before him. “Couldn’t sleep.”

Conner threw a shoe at him. It bounced off Tim’s shoulder. He didn’t even look up.

Kon sighed in defeat. “Didn’t you just get back from patrol, though?”

“Mm. Just a minute ago. Nothing exciting.”

They both lapsed into silence, the only sound in the apartment being Krypto’s snoring in the corner of the bedroom and the clicking of Tim’s laptop keyboard. Finally, freshly ready for bed, Conner flipped the light back off, plopped down next to Tim, and promptly flopped over in front of him.

Tim peeked over the top of his screen.

“Uh… hi?”

“Sweetheart.” Conner’s voice is muffled from the blankets. “Put the computer away.”

Tim snorted, keeping his gaze on the work before him as he took a loud sip of his coffee. It was already cooling down, and cold coffee is nasty, so he drank more of it to avoid dealing with it.

“Sorry, love,” Tim said softly as he set the mug back down, poking at Kon with a socked foot. “I have too much to do. You should go to bed, though.”

Like a curious puppy, Conner suddenly popped up and peeked over the top of the screen for an upside-down view of what Tim was doing.

“Well, what do you have to do?” he asked rather pitifully. Tim smiled at him.

“I’ve got, uhh, two papers and a presentation for school, a stack of pitches to sign off plus schedule a board meeting later this week for Wayne Enterprises, and then… sixty-seven cases Oracle sent me to deal with, looks like.” Tim squinted at the painfully bright screen. “And… I’m pretty sure that says three hundred missed text messages, but I could be wrong.”

“Jesus Christ.” Conner flopped back down again. “Can you put it off for tomorrow? I want cuddles, Timmy. Cuddle your poor boyfriend for once.”

“Hey, I- I cuddle you lots,” Tim protested, typing away with ease. “Like, too much. Jason told me he’d shoot me if he caught us making out in the library again.”

Kon barked out a laugh, startling the dog awake. “That was a bit more than cuddling, though.”

Tim kicked him off the bed.

Just as Tim started to worry, Conner crawled back up into the bed, this time moving to his side. It took the time of him worming under the covers and getting sufficiently comfortable before he spoke again, looking up at Tim’s coolly illuminated face. He was pretty, like always, even when sleep deprived and bathed in blue light.

Kon’s sigh dragged Tim out of his trance, finally looking down to face him. An involuntarily affectionate smile pulled at his lips at the sight of his boyfriend all sleep-warm and snuggly.

“Please just try to sleep,” Conner said softly, absently tracing patterns on Tim’s lower back. “If you really can’t, I’ll leave you alone.”

Tim hesitated. There was a lot of work to be done, there was no arguing that. But… wasn’t there kind of always a lot of work to be done? Maybe some sleep would improve his problem-solving skills, even if only slightly.

Picking up on the resolve, Conner gently closed the laptop for him and pulled him down, pushing it down to the foot of the bed. Almost immediately, Tim yawned hugely, nuzzling into Conner’s shoulder and inhaling deeply. Without the computer screen, the room was comfortably dark.

“Better?” he whispered, brushing Tim’s dark hair out of both their faces.

Tim sleepily smiled up at him. “Yeah.” After a moment, he added, “Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

It didn’t even take twenty minutes before Tim tried to worm his way back out of Conner’s arms to resume his work, but fortunately, Kon was absolutely expecting that. His grip tightened enough for Tim to let out a surprised squeak and freeze, absolutely not expecting his boyfriend to not be awake.

Conner cracked an eye open. Tim blinked up at him guiltily.

“Nice try, sweetheart.”

“Kon—“

“Nah, I don’t wanna hear it. Sleepytime.”

“Conner—“

“Sleepytime, Timmy.”

Sufficiently and effectively stuck, Tim huffed in exasperation, admitting to himself that he may have to give up. Luckily not in the worst of places to be.

It didn’t take long before Tim actually did drift off, the quiet thrum of Kon’s heartbeat acting as a lullaby. He didn’t even have nightmares.

Until he woke up, that is. The worst of the worst.

The perfect amount of sunlight filtered through the curtains, warmly filling the bedroom like a wake-up call in a fairytale. Conner was awake before Tim, absentmindedly scrolling through his phone. Tim was still asleep on his bicep, like how they’d fallen asleep.

Kon noticed him when he shifted to stretch.

“Morning, sunshine,” he teased, watching as Tim did a full cat stretch, pillow kneading and everything. It was his favorite part of his boyfriend’s morning routine.

“Morning…” Tim trailed off with a yawn. “Hey, what time is it?”

Conner half shrugged. “Eh.”

Tim looked around for his phone before remembering he’d left it in the kitchen the night before.

“No, serious, Kon.”

“It’s, uh…” Conner squinted at his phone. “It is. Eleven-thirty. Almost.”

“WHAT—“

Before Tim could react much more than that, Kon promptly rolled on top of him to pin him to the mattress. Krypto poked his head up from his bed at the commotion.

“Absolutely not, pretty boy, you’re not going anywhere,” Conner declared gleefully. “That was much-needed rest and I think you should have some more of it.”

“nO—“ Tim shoved ineffectively at his boyfriend’s sides, trying and failing to haul him off. “I have— school—“

“We’re skipping.”

“But work—“

“Call out. I’m serious. You’re staying here with me and you’re gonna like it, He Who Never Takes Care Of Himself.” To aid his cause, Kon smushed a kiss into Tim’s forehead until he stopped struggling with a grumble about something that sounded suspiciously like Kryptonite. “Okay?” he added hopefully.

Tim seethed for a moment, but sensing there was really only one answer, his anger deflated almost immediately.

“Fine,” he relented. “This will not become a regular occurrence. I have things to do, asshole.”

“We’ll see, sweetheart.”

Tim skipped the next day, too.

~ not great, not proofread, whatever honestly

have a good day/ night/ 4am🥰

[hyenahunt]

Saga: Rivals - 21

Writer: Akira

Season: Winter

Characters: Jun, Hiyori, Seiya, Jin, Mika, Madara, Akiomi, Sora

Proofreading: 310mc (JP) & hyenahunt (ENG)

Translation: kotofucius

Akiomi: Ahaha… Oh, how I wish you'd told me that much sooner.

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Location: Reverse Live Stage

Time: Hours later. Reverse Live, at the start of the second day.

Jun: “♪~♪~♪”

“Lilith! The original heretic! The revolutionary who spoke against God’s deception when none dared to!”

Hiyori: “Lilith! The mother of humanity, flung into the depths of Hell! How she screamed of love and sang of hope, no matter how far she fell!”

Seiya: “Lilith! That is who we are! Buried in the depths of history, we are the true idols, long forgotten by the world!”

Hiyori: “How long it has been! How I waited to meet you again! In the darkness, you were the only light I could see!”

Seiya: “I love you! I’ve loved you since this world came to be!”

Jun: “Destiny split us apart, and yet, we’ve been brought together once more!”

Hiyori: “Never shall we part again! Your warmth is forever ours!”

Jun: “Now, let us embrace! Let us love together, even if the very world forbids it!”

Seiya: “We are Lilith! It is to love you that we’ve arrived…!”

“♪~♪~♪”

Jin: …Ooh, how passionate. Or maybe over-the-top. Kinda like Valkyrie, actually.

Mika: Hey, you ain't ever gonna catch us sayin' love, love, love over an’ over like that! We’re passionate but artistic! Even if we’re speakin’ about love, we’d be a lot more subtle 'bout it.

Madara: Hahaha. It does seem like a refined… or rather, popularized version of Valkyrie’s methods.

They’ve got extravagant production for their stage too, probably thanks to the big shots all wanting to suck up to Hidaka Seiya —

So, their melodramatic lines suit the atmosphere, actually.

But unlike Shu-san, they’re not drowning in their own world. Instead, they're opening it up to the public; they gaze into their audience’s eyes and actively pull them in.

Akiomi: Lilith… I’d been wary of what tactics they might use, but they've been taking an unexpectedly materialistic and straight-forward approach.

They maximized the promotion, stage production, and everything else they could; and even shamelessly used Hidaka-daisenpai’s fame to call in an army of fans.

War is essentially about numbers. With everything so perfectly coordinated like this, well, there's no way to fight back through ordinary means.

Hidaka-daisenpai has truly made the most out of his advantage as an active, highly popular, professional idol.

He is on a completely different level from us, who finance our own small-scale concerts within the confines of an idol training school.

Even budget-wise, he definitely has one or two more zeros on us, I'm sure.

Madara: Hahaha. Especially when we as Ba-barrier don’t really have that much work, so we have no funds for battle, either…

We've turned our lack of cohesion into our selling point, making a novel show with each of our unique charms and gaining an upper hand that way.

In other words, we resort to clever schemes to put up a semblance of fight, so we’re at a disadvantage against planned head-on attacks.

Mika: …They’re so vulgar. I don’t reckon I like ‘em. They’re totally different from Valkyrie, 'kay?

Sora: HaHa~♪ Yep, totally different!

Valkyrie paints a single color over and over until it reaches a density no one can reproduce —

But Lilith kinda takes a bucket of paint and goes “splash!” with it, I guess~?

…And by spilling that much paint, they erase all the other colours.

Jin: Ooh~… I thought I heard grumbling. Turns out it was the defeated Akiyan and his merry men.

Akiomi: You're truly something… We're your good rivals and comrades from the same school, who have been supporting you this whole time both behind the scenes and out in the open — Is that any way to talk to us?

Madara: Hahaha. I’ve got no comeback since we did lose spectacularly last night!

Smashed to smithereens, in a most dramatic death! If Rain-bows are rainbows, then we must be fleeting fireworks!

Mika: Why're ya havin’ so much fun even though we lost, Mikejima-senpai?

Madara: Well, when the opponent did such a fine job in gaining the upper hand on us, the loss felt conversely exhilarating, see!

I quite enjoy defeat, actually! Especially when it’s the result of an all-out fight!

Mika: I can’t understand that feelin’…

Valkyrie an' Lilith are totally different, but fer some reason it jus' reminded me of the time when fine kicked us down.

Madara: Hmm. Their methods indeed resemble that of the former fine…

If there's a quantifiable way to win, then pouring all you possess will bring definite victory.

In the war last year, Eichi-san used all the lofty assets available to him to invent a game board that worked to his advantage.

Well, he was only making the most of his perks as a rich heir with money and authority… so it wasn’t exactly a low move.

Akiomi: Hmm. In this case, all participating units are new groups formed specifically for Project-Saga…

More often than not, it’s the audience’s first time seeing them.

As it’s hard to tell everyone apart at a glance, Lilith ends up standing out due to their expensive costume and production. Their lavish extravagance only makes them all the more eye-catching to the audience.

Not to mention, the famous Hidaka Seiya is in the group. That’s more than enough name and power.

Though yes, of course, these things don’t decide the entire value of an idol.

But under these circumstances, it becomes a challenge to even put up a fight. Without a good strategy on your side, they'll simply overpower you.

Madara: Wow, how ruthless! I guess miracles don’t happen all the time! Hahaha☆

Mika: Seriously, why d’ya look like yer havin' the time of yer life? I’m right frustrated, personally~ Unlike you, Mikejima-senpai, I ain't a fan of losing!

Madara: Alright! Let’s turn that frustration into motivation, then! We might’ve lost yesterday, but let's win today!

Liltih may have wiped the floor with us, but we're steadily winning against all the other units we’re up against! We still have a chance!

Akiomi: That's right. The rule isn’t as simple as retiring with one defeat.

While we’re nowhere as active as Rain-bows, we're still one of the most senior players of Project-Saga —

As a result, we've amassed fans through all our activities. We won't lose so easily to newbie units.

Sora: Yeah! Schemes and tricks are Sora's specialty~ Magic exists for the oppressed minority!

Even if the conformist majority closes in on us, we'll sidestep them and make a miracle happen!

Mika: Ahaha. Everyone in Ba-barrier's so tough an' dependable~ ♪

Jin: Haha. Who'd have thought you'd get along so well, Akiyan?

You’re definitely having fun being an idol, aren’tcha? Unlike me, you retired with regrets.

Akiomi: On the contrary, I have left my regrets behind.

We had accomplished our role with the success of Rainbow Stage, so we could’ve dispersed right then and there…

But that performance garnered us a good reputation, with many fans requesting that we continue…

And I thought we might come in handy someday, so I continued on with Ba-barrier.

Compared to the other Mentors out there, I am a level below them in terms of achievements, so I did have my reservations. But well, I’ve always been the shameless sort, anyway.

Jin: Really? You’re more competitive than shameless, in my opinion… The more people look down on you, the more you fight back to prove 'em wrong.

I’ve always admired that side of you since long ago.

Akiomi: Ahaha… Oh, how I wish you'd told me that much sooner.

Jin. We are giving our all just to hold our current position; I do not believe we’ll have the leisure to protect you.

However, you are the main character of Project-Saga, so by all means, find a way out of this predicament with your own two hands.

Lilith may prove to be a much stronger opponent than we thought, but if it's you, then surely you'll be the one to win — I’ll say this even without anything to back it up, just as I did in the past.

Jin: Thanks. I think having you there to always tell me that… was what helped me to hold out much longer than I would've on my own.

[ ☆ ]

✦✦✦✦✦

← prev ✦ all ✦ next →

[mabaris]

i’ve said this before, but my ideal fix for magic in da2 would be the introduction of a stealth mechanic

in origins, you’re under more threat because you’re a warden than because you’re a mage, and honestly you don’t spend that much time in civilization that would care (lothering and redcliffe have bigger things to worry about; the dwarves, the dalish, and the people of haven have different views about mages; etc). in inquisition, the circles have fallen apart and everyone is technically an apostate, so none of it matters

but then there’s kirkwall. you spend the whole first act with the threat of templars hanging over you (or your apostate sister) when literally the first thing that gets you into the city is doing magic in broad daylight, in the middle of the gallows.

certain characters react to the fact that you or your companions have magic (feynriel, fenris, even meredith in later acts!!!) and it’s always hard for me to get invested in a mage hawke because of that dissonance. it’s not like you’re supposed to completely suspend your disbelief!! but in act 1 you can do magic in front of the knight-captain and i guess he just doesn’t notice

a stealth mechanic for magic would have a couple different factors:

does a character have line of sight on you (more directly incriminating) or are they otherwise within earshot (raises suspicion but may not immediately alert them)? is it day or night?

what is the disposition of the bystanders? for NPCs it could be easy enough to code something like “people are much more reactive in hightown, in lowtown/the docks they’ll only report you if you’re really obvious, and no one cares in darktown” but of course, it’s over if they’re a templar or a priest

how obvious is the magic? something like mind blast, horror, or even elemental weapons (enchantment exists!!) are much easier to slip under the radar, as opposed to something like firestorm or stonefist. are you casting at range? or are you fighting in melee with your staff blade, or with spells that could just be explained as an effect of your weapon, if it’s tricked out with the right runes. each spell would have a base value that indicates how noticeable it is, and how easy it is to hide that you're actually casting something

being too obvious or getting caught would lead to a game-over screen (or maybe a unique cutscene in act 3, where you get called into the gallows and have the chance to talk your way out of it, because you Are the champion)

if i'm just creating game mechanics for my own fantasy, this would also be the kind of thing you could turn on and off, if you don't actually care about that level of immersion and just want to play a cool magic user. if you use tactics, it could let you select certain behaviors for your companions, depending on the general Suspicion Level towards them

[sharonisthebettercarter]

Slipknot Vermillion Butchlander.

FUCK. YES.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH~<3<3<3 buckle in buckle in y'all cause this about to be a DOOZY<3!!

songs if ya hadn't heard them~<3 (def give them a listen, pt.2 is like an acoustic version, both lovely~<3, same general themes tho different vibes which-- ;))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

anywho~<3

FIRST OF ALL. YES. absolutable~<3

you beautiful beautiful little monster, this is PERFECT. okay, okay, yes, i'm getting too excited lmao. BUTT--

"I won't let this build up inside a me--"

this is an absolutely perfect opportunity for a deep dive into billy's psyche, psychosis, and an incredible exploration of psychological horror~<3

and it starts~?

with a *married* butchlander<3<3<3 OOH~<3!! (altho fair to use for for other ships with butcher, just doesn't get to the same level of psychological turmoil from the whole *husband is the villain* thing--;)))))))))) ANYWHO<3

basically butcher and homie are in a loving, *healthy* relationship. john is a good husband. maybe they even have ryan<3 or a little baby in billy's belly on the way<3<3<3 (or both~! lmao, always gotta throw that in-- ;))))))))))) a/b/o always an option, trans/intersex billy too, the world is the oyster~<3 any explanation like homie can just knock dudes up i guess lmfao--maybe that was the start-- :O ;)))))))) anyway, everything's perfect--except...

billy's having a bit of psychological... trouble. in which for some reason, his brain seems to be fabricating an entire reality with a loving and perfect wife, becca/becky--where his husband is the villain who tore them apart... and the situation in turn... starts to drive him and john apart...

and at first, of course, they'd be managing, between medications, care, brain scans, billy having nightmares and dreams, john trying to help, fighting and screaming, moments homie would have to hold billy down because he's having a meltdown, john having all the proof to keep billy from going nuclear/make it clear that he's... unwell, and that he's there for billy. maybe even a dna test to show that ryan is *theirs* and no one else's if a baby still in billy ain't enough--

but trust is wavering.

OOH, exploration into billy falling down that rabbit hole and believing it so much, he makes an effort to investigate and run away while homie always comes to get him/find him, drag him back home--and always *always*, refuse to hurt him even while billy is at his worst trying to force his hand, maybe even asking john to kill him so this doesn't continue--and again, his husband refusing.

now here's the kicker<3<3<3

this story could be done in two main ways (with expansive variations~<3, 3 if you count the middle road<3<3<3)

OOH! but before i dive into that, i should also mention that billy potentially being the *villain* in his own mind--in which he kidnaps and tortures and holds captive this *perfect* woman while john is none the wiser--ooooooohhhhhh... we'll come back to that one~<3 ;)

back on *john* being the villain in billy's mind.

"she isn't real. I can't make her real--"

and there in lies the *question*...

whether or not billy *is* experiencing psychosis and john is *actually* the villain, is it's own exploration~<3<3<3. depending on which version (regular or pt. 2), you channel the vibes of lmao

pt. 2 def feels like it could be more of a tragic rendition of this idea, where billy really *is* experiencing psychosis and john *is* a loving husband who *is* trying to help and care for billy<3

but the original...? mmm. let's just say there could be various... hints of a completely manipulated world around them--signs of a world *rewritten* or people silenced ,sides to john that he never *ever* shows to billy. certain... *things* that would certainly *imply* he is the *monster* billy's mind has made him--maybe it's billy's real memories trying to spill through whatever homelander did to him-- ;))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

mmmmmhmmmm~<3<3<3

BUTT, my personal fave?

*open. ended*

in which... there are... hints that might suggest one is true, and then the other, or even elements of both, but there's never truly an answer given... OOOH<3 FUCK YES. OOF, just the IDEA def gets me lol

i do feel the songs lean towards the 'she isn't real' factor (for obvious reasons lol) but for a fic~? ;))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

for variation in that exploration (and maybe an easy way to dig into the open ended vibes, but with a twisty lean~<3), maybe *most* of the 'hints' implicate one way with extremely *vague* BLINK AND YOU MISS IT hints for the *other* end, and one very *strong* hint/scene that ties together all the *vague* hints and makes them... impossible to ignore~<3

gawd i love psychological horror<3<3<3 lmao can you tell?

NOW. what about *billy* being the villain~<3?

OOOOHHHHHHH!!! now *that* one has some *real* hard potential for gut wrenching love from john<3<3<3 (i should also mention, *def* an option for psychosis with *john* there and OOF gotta stop giving myself expansions into this but it's just so FUCKING GOOD, LISTEN TO THE SONGS DAMMIT AND FEEL INSPIRED--)

similar enough deal, except with billy believing he's committed these horrible crimes to an innocent woman, a wonder of it might have been real or not and john trying to be by his side and settle his mind--and of course, the potential for a seriously covered up horrific crime because john's not about to lose his husband *for any reason*<3<3<3

maybe billy believes he committed the crime when it was really john and they covered it up together but billy--

this of course works just as lovely for the *canon compliant* show option with *john* feeling the full brunt of his psychosis--and billy trying to cover it up... *OR*... did it really happen at all? is billy right, is ryan really *their* son and there was no becky/becca?

;)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

oh i know i am absolutely TERRIBLE I KNOW-- but listen. LISTEEEENNNN... I FUCKING LOVE PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR, OKAY!?!?!

anywho~<3

there's also an element of serious *danger* involved with homie being the one to experience psychosis (powers and all, def one with billy too but not nearly as savage--unless a course ya give him powers too<3), especially if homie *convinces* himself that he *is* this *monster*, and therefore *must* act as this monster.

ooh, def some dives into comics themes but it go a little somethin'... like this:

"i think, therefore i am" or cogito, ergo sum (heeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyy that's a title if i ever done seen one for this one lmfao only if 'vermillion' isn't used i guess, alternatively 'cinnabar'<3)

and

"i can, therefore i must"

but the comics actually have a perfect set up for this too--OOH! it kinda goes back to that 'detective husbands' prompt lmao (expect a little different obviously) where instead of being a 'convinced i'm right when i'm wrong' dickwad billy or even *homie knows he didn't do it* (he would have to be on that edge of sanity/not know for sure for this one to work<3) we have a billy who actually legit *explores* and *investigates* what happened to becky because he *sees* that things don't add up *before* he starts actively making it worse. instead doing his own *solo* detective work~<3

maybe even stalking, meeting, getting to know homelander (*john*) personally. possibly even with the motive of finding his weakness, etc. and then tripping and landing on his dick and falling in love along the way~<3<3<3

lmao could be that billy even *abandons* the boys to get to the bottom of what really happened-- but also cause he ends up knocked up after realizing homie *was not* in fact the culprit<3<3<3

do feel the homie versions (show or comics) would deal less with the 'vermillion' vibes or i guess less chance for *open ended* horror themes, and more of a cut clean *he did it/he didn't do it* and is losing his mind sorta feel. in a sense, *becky* def *wouldn't* be real for comics homie because they never actually interacted (while the show version could be actively trying to remember her/struggling with who he *used* to be--OOH!! jason blood is def a place to look for inspo there~<3), so the tie in could be *exquisite* for sure, but it def is a slightly different feel lol

honestly might consider writing the comics/vermillion themed one (at some point, i have promised myself to other shit), it would explore billy instead of using homie as an excuse to be his worst self, homie becoming billy's excuse to hold onto what becky actually wanted for him/turn homie good (which is cute and sad in it's own way but could be SO fucking precious<3) and that would be some GOOD shit<3<3<3

FUCK! this is probably gonna build up inside a me i--

[tatzelwyrm]

After beating jedi survivor twice i have one issue with it. The villains are so boring!!

Dagen is an angsty whining final fantasy looking jerk

Bode was fun UNTIL HE WENT EVIL. And then he reminded me of dagen with his crappy attitude.

Rayvis had me very intrigued and couldve been a great villain… if he didnt have a collective total of like 15 minutes of screen time before dying.

Frankly after such a great antagonist in trilla when playing fallen order, it was really a disappointment dealing with these fools

I am with you on Dagan and Rayvis, but Bode haunts me.

Dagan in particular is very forgettable, which is a shame, because a 200-year-old High Republic era Jedi with a grudge is a fun concept. But, in the end, he might as well have remained a vision encountered entirely through Cal's psychometry. Him being there in the flesh didn't add much to the game apart from 3 boss fights.

Rayvis is your standard proud warrior guy with a life debt who lives for war. He sounds like the voice actor had fun, but there's nothing much to him that interests me. But then, as you say, it's not like he's really in the game all that much.

Neither of them is as fleshed out or has as much of a presence as Trilla.

But Bode just haunts me.

I suspected he was gonna betray us the moment he showed us a picture of his little daughter, but despite his betrayal being expected, I ended up enjoying the details a lot.

I've said elsewhere that I believe that the phrase "doomed by the narrative" is overused but that I believe that it fits Bode perfectly and that's why I enjoy his story.

[Detailed spoilers follow.]

I am compelled by how trapped he is. How he trapped himself long before we ever meet him.

He is so driven by his fears that he would rather live alone with his daughter on an empty planet than share it.

He is so driven by his fears that he can't trust anyone. In his eyes, anyone could be a spy, anyone could betray him and Kata to his masters. Why is he so convinced that anyone among the Hidden Path could be a spy? Because he is one himself and betraying people is his job. It's delicious.

Cal is also driven by fear of loss. His goal in this game is to gather everybody he cares about and hide them away in a place where none of the evil in the galaxy can touch them. It's a fantasy so naive that, a week later, I still can't believe he pulled it off, even if only on a surface level (which is my one problem with the game. The ending is too open. I kept waiting for the consequences for Cal's brief touch with the dark side. I kept waiting for him to realise that keeping Tanalorr a secret and the compass out of the hands of the Empire is going to be enormously complicated, maybe even impossible, especially given that he mentions making copies the compass... I hate when AAA games do cliffhangers, given how much time it takes to make one).

But one difference between Cal and Bode is that Bode can't trust anyone. Cal's goal is explicitly to share his mythical paradise planet with as many people as possible while Bode is so paranoid he apparently wants his daughter to grow up a hermit on an empty.

Bode assumes the worst of everyone because he himself is the worst vs. Cal who assumes the best of everyone and offers second chances like candy (to Caij, to Rayvis, to Trilla in Fallen Order, to Bode himself).

Bode is another dark mirror for Cal, like Trilla, like Dagan (nothing new here, it's a narrative staple, but a good one in my option, I enjoy it, and I like the way it's done in Fallen Order with Trilla and I like the way it's done with Bode here). Bode is what Cal could become if he lets his fears of loss consume him.

There is still hope for Cal though while there was never any hope for Bode. He was on that road long before we met him.

While I'm personally not a fan of stories that explore that whole "attachments are bad if you're a Jedi" angle (and I suspect we're getting a lot more of that in a potential sqeuel), Bode is actually a good example in my eyes.

Bode offered himself to the Empire. The game (in particular the Force Echoes on Nova Geron) makes it very clear that Bode is the one who approached the ISB, not the other way around. This wasn't a situation in which he was held at gunpoint and offered the choice to work for the ISB or die. He also wasn't tortured into working for the Empire like Trilla and other Inquisitors. Bode himself put Kata in the hands of the Empire because he was a slave to his fears.

It's what makes him so tragic. He never could have acted any differently. Nothing we could have done could have convinced him to truly trust Cal. Bode is simply in too deep.

By the end it's clear he doesn't even really care about Kata as a person. How is living alone on an empty planet good for her? How is living on an ISB base good for her while Bode is away all the time? He ends up hurting her over and over in name of protecting her, even physically, in the end.

By the time we meet him, all that matters to Bode is that she is alive and he can keep clinging to her and to the handy excuse she represents. It's the way he lives.

There is a Force Echo on the Lucrehulk in which Bode hopes that Cal is safe after they're separated. But once Bode remembers that he is going to betray Cal eventually, he buries that sentiment very quickly with the mantra of "I'm doing this for Kata".

Bode needs to keep telling himself that every horrible thing he does is for Kata, because if that ever stops being true, what does that make him?

Bode can't be saved just like the Ninth Sister couldn't be saved in the beginning of the game. Honestly, when we killed the Ninth Sister in the tutorial level I was wondering why she was even in the game, given how quickly we dispatched her.

But by the end it made sense to me. She was there to mirror Bode's fate. Cal hesitates a long, long time before dealing the killing blow to her. He talks to her (at her, rather, given that this is a very one-sided conversation). He calls her by her name, her true name. She never answers. She just stomps and snarls, too consumed by her anger to form words. Cal's final words to her are "it's time to set you free". He realises nothing he could do could make her turn from her path. She's going to keep fighting until one of them is dead.

It's the same with Bode. Cal begs him to surrender. Bode never stops fighting him, consumed by his fear. When Bode shoots first, Cal realises nothing he could do could make him let go of his fear. Bode is going to keep fighting until one of them is dead. Dying is the only way in which Bode could ever be free from his fears.

Perfect bookends.

I hate Bode because he killed sweet old never-did-anything-wrong-in-his-entire-life Cordova (right in front of BD-1, too!) and because he uses Kata as a cheap excuse for everything, including leading countless people to their deaths, betraying Cere's location and leaving Kata herself trapped on an ISB base (and, eventually, potentially, on a peaceful but empty planet).

But mainly I feel so sorry for him because he's so tragic. He dug himself a hole and never stopped digging...

[team7-headquarter]

Hatake-Inuzuka rant (Kakashi / Team 7 centered) for my Dogs Come In Packs au:

Teeth and nails might not be the most important thing in the world to mo st shinobis, but for clans like the Hatake and the Inuzuka, both have almost sacred connotations.

For the Inuzuka clan, clawns and fangs are things they must keep their eyes on when they learn how to connect with their dogs / canine companions— it is part of their kekkei genkai, of who they are, of how they interact with the world. It's also a more primal way of communication, inherited from the gens and the time they've spent among canines.

Meanwhile, it depends on the level of importance the members of the Hatake clan give to them and the user relationship with their own summonings.

That's because bites and scratches have many meanings, if you speak their language.

For example, it's common for young Inuzuka and Hatake kids to explore the world and satisfy their curiosity through bites, cataloguing through taste and smell. They can also bite their families out of affection, the playful pressure of teeth on skin to claim that person as theirs —instinct that can be extended to friends and people they like. Bites can come out of aggression too; they could be a sort of extreme warning to an enemy, if baring their teeth or snarling didn't work; they could be used as a weapon in a fight, a bite meant to tear apart skin and make the person bleed. Later on in their lives, as lust and sexual encounters become part of their routine, bites can mean a different type of claim, not meaning only possession of the person or companion, but also a reminder of the act or a form of connection. Romantic bites are similar to sexual bites —so it's the act of teaching the ones you love how to take proper care of their teeth.

You can apply most of that to the nails, but in a different sensory level. It's about touch, texture. That's why the state of the teeth and nails of an Inuzuka or a Hatake can tell you a lot about them.

As I said, for the Hatakes it depends on what is their own values and their connection with their summonings— Kakashi Hatake has a whole pack.

Those breakdowns of Kakashi after he killed Rin, when he tried blindly and obsessively to wash her blood out of his young hands, were intensified by the feel of dirt and death under his nails. The fact he wears a mask comes out of his desire to hide his teeth from sight, such a delicate part of him. He can't afford to bite anyone, he never allowed himself to, after his father died. He doesn't claim the people he loves, he protects with all he has as the loyal dog he is, a guard and a guide that only bite or scratch in the form of his jutsus or through his summonings, the manifestation of his instinct.

Like it's obvious that Kiba would bite anyone who tried to hurt his team or family. He'd go absolutely nuts if someone took a bite out of them, right?

So imaging Kakashi's reaction when he sees his cute genins emerge from the Forest of Death and realizes Sasuke has a freak-ass snake bite in the neck, one from Orochimaru —and he hears later from Asuma (of all people) what his kids told him about Sakura biting that shinobi from Sound out of pure desperation. He doesn't know yet about Naruto going feral against Orochimaru (again!) and Orochimaru messing with the Nine Tails seal.

I don't know exactly what I'll do at that point with the Dogs Come In Packs au, but I know Kakashi will be pissed. He's proud of how they fought and what they did to protect each other, but he's also upset in a different level compared to how he was in the Land of Waves mission. He knew that the Chunnin Exams were dangerous and they could end up in rough shape, but Orochimaru? He never saw that one coming. After that it was too late for them to pull Sasuke or Naruto out, 'cause it would be suspicious as hell, every nation was watching. Especially watching Sasuke. Kakashi knew that none of his cute genins would go down easy, so the only option left was to let them participate in the preliminary and properly train them after.

He'd have to stare at Sasuke's mark and Sakura's short hair and Naruto's serious face and resist to bite back. Well, he threatened Orochimaru when they saw each other. If one would ignore that tiny fact —Orochimaru showed him a fucking genjutsu biting his whole head off as if it was nothing— he's a smart man, a dog that's maybe younger than the snake, but certainly not completely stupid.

So he trains Sasuke himself and he asks Jiraiya to train Naruto and they and they do the best they can to redirect their instincts to something that's less lethal or self-destructive, while Kakashi allows Sakura to process the aftermath of the Forest of Deaths and the Preliminaries. Hmmm, something something about Kakashi being way too scared of hurting Sakura to ever train her like he trains the boys, because he could never break his kunoichi, only protect her —the instinct of a soft leader dog with the "weakest-prettiest" puppy of the pack. Or it could be that hurting little Sakura would feel too much like hurting Rin again... He's not prepared. That's all.

[floenz]

dfk 2023 thoughts in more orderly and english under the cut

dfk

- the whole thing feels sörta soulless and empty

- and in my amateur opinion the screenplay is nor very tight and even clumsy at points

- which im turn hindered the actors (Mrs Kreuzkamm falls victim to a bad script and Justus too at a slighlty lesser rate) and especially the kids actors

- regarding the kids: Jos characterisation is.....wrong

- like literally doesnt have anything to do with johnny

- nothing

- Matz and Uli were also just not it i cant explain it it just didnt hit

- but i actually enjoyed the martina storyline and execution

- but in general it did not feel like they were trying to tell the same story as the book

- like this doesn't feel like an adaption this feels like it wants to be something completely different

justraucher et al.

- justus is a math teacher and it bothered me at the beginning

- but thing is it fits this Justus vibes perfectly

- because he is kinda idk cold?? he doesn't feel kind so all the interactions with the kids fall flat

- "[...] you're not allowed to greet me for 14 days"~justus "thats all 🤨"~jo <- dragging two characters into the mud in one single exchange

- the nichtraucher tho holy

- ive read jinx say most bisexual nichtraucher yet and

- yes

- he sure has the vibes

- my only criticism for him is that he also doesn't really radiate kindness but ill allow it because he is kinds cunty and serves that so

- but yea his outfits, his ring, his nail polish

- king shit

- while we're on the topic: justraucher

- they are still very much dads but divorced dads which is actually an interesting interpretation

- when the kids reunify them the nichtraucher is sexy woodchopping in a sleeveless shirt and glowering at justus and im not saying the scene radistes sexual energy but slso it kinda did like at one point he is glaring at justus and ripping apart wood with his bare hands

- and then they meet again after uli fell down the wall and its like to exes meeing suddendly like fanfiction level of miscommunication but 👉👈 i enjoyed that

- justus gets angry and the nichtraucher goes like 🥺

- they make up over long and intense eye contacts during the play

- ok im done talking about justraucher

- the other ships:

- sorry cnka uli und matz is...not it in this movie none of them feel like fully realised characters and it's just very...distant

- matz just kinda stands there when they put uli in the rubbish on the cupboard

- martina and jo starts rough but they have some nice cute scenes in the end

- jo kinda mellows out in the end and then they start to get along

mis

- matz really does get one hit K.O.ed after saying its not fair to fight cos he's a professional.......

- "when i was five my mum abandoned me in a disco😔"~jo killed me i had to stop the movie to laugh

- uli climbs a wall to prove he's not a angsthase and everyone's like nobody managed that before but the wall is like 7 m high 🤡

- justus always goes like ⌚️👀 its so late i have get some work done ⌚️👀 when the writers didnt know how to end a scene hkkcgkkbgjjvvk

- the train cart looks really cozy and cottagecorey here and i like it so much

- the nichtraucher is honestly just living his live vibin and being bi its wonderful

- he plays chess with himself

[cboffshore]

⭐ for this part of small cuts!

She had honestly expected it to burn. 

She wasn’t kidding about that - a poison said to be the deadliest in the world, enough to kill with a single drop? How could it not feel like acid? It looked enough like acid when she transferred it into the dart back at the lighthouse, moving impossibly slowly to avoid spilling. It’s no different than working on delicate machinery, she had told herself, tiny funnel poised in one hand and vial of poison balanced in the other. She expected it to be difficult, and it was, but she’d done harder things.

After everything, she tried not to rule anything out, and then the cold snuck up and caught her off guard anyway.

At least it was quick. She was thankful for that. 

Shivering in Jay’s arms, cracking the weakest joke of her life as her vision blurred and her limbs started to go numb, and then - she hates the old cliche, but damn it, it was right all along - everything went black.

And then, out of nowhere: grass. So much grass, sun-warmed soil under her back, and the white silk of the wedding gown like a vise around her chest - she didn’t even get to die in her own clothes! Was she going to have to spend eternity like this? After everything she put up with, all the running and the fighting and the unwanted touches leaving her shaking even now, she didn’t even get to change into some pants?

Nya had only been consciously dead for less than thirty seconds and she was already hating it.

She felt like she knew the man who approached her. Black and gold robes, a face she couldn’t make out for the radiant darkness and shadowy light emanating from his face, and a suspiciously familiar rice hat, wait just a second, is that - ?

The figure knelt, bringing himself down to her eye level. Nya thought he might have been smiling gently, but she couldn’t tell. He studied her for a few seconds, unreadable.

From the center of a puddle of white and gold, she felt impossibly small. 

For a moment, she was aware of a presence far behind her - on the horizon, the feeling of thousands of eyes, some accusing, some sympathetic, and all thoroughly pained, stabbing into her back like so many poisoned darts.

She didn’t dare look over her shoulder to see who they were. Somehow, she knew , and the comprehension of it sent her into silent sobbing.

Then, a hand landed on her shoulder - feather-light and supernaturally, reassuringly cool - and the First Spinjitzu Master’s unseen eyes met hers.

“None of this should ever have happened.”

Did she say that? Did he ? Nya wasn’t sure, but there was a hurricane of orange mist around them both now, and the silk of her gown shifted back into the familiar cotton and embedded Deepstone of her old gi. The grass was gone then, too, replaced by -

- the feeling of a gritty concrete roof under her combat boots - she had somehow stood up, and the creator of her world was gone, replaced by blinding sunlight, a summer breeze, and the deafening sound of helicopter blades approaching -

first of all, MAD kudos for somehow preserving all the formatting in this excerpt. I don't know if you have a wizard doing your copy pasting or if you did that all by hand, but either way, congrats! Under the cut we go for ramble time!

GOD. Okay. This excerpt is a weird one, because the rest of Small Cuts follows a very steady flashback/present pattern when it comes to formatting. Flashbacks are all italics and set apart into their own paragraphs, bracketed by dashes like they've been torn out of a larger sentence (which.... they have, kinda), and the present is just regular writing. This is the only time the flashback BECOMES the present, and I still think it's kinda weird, but the weirdness of that does serve it in a way. I do remember experimenting with having the whole thing formatted more closely to the flashback appearance and it just DID NOT WORK. Looked awful, horrible reading experience. I like that it comes off as more of a complete, if condensed, experience than the other flashback snippets - it's a pivotal moment that I'm sad canon never even looked at.

Which brings us to what inspired me to work this in! See, when Small Cuts was written, OSSAS as we know it now didn't exist. There was ADA(DP), which was originally a solo piece. Small Cuts was my way of celebrating ADA(DP)'S first birthday, but while I was writing it, I thought it might be nice to expand on what ADA(DP) didn't get to, which is where the flashbacks come in. They actually start around the beginning of 62, when Jay and Nya flee to the lighthouse, and slowly trace Nya's path from there on out. Again, that was never meant to become a series at all, so everything after that is me working FROM Small Cuts to make it fit in. (You haven't gotten past CUF yet, but one of those flashbacks served as the basis for the final confrontation in that piece; same with IICT, which you have not gotten to yet, but that's where I expand that chess flashback.) Point is, all of those flashbacks were meant as a proto-OSSAS to fill in the gaps. Because let's be real, after Nya's captured, the camera pretty much stays on Jay. Which is ESPECIALLY prevalent when she dies.

And that's what I really wanted to play with. The grasslands sequence is probably the loosest I ever get with canon, because it's one of the biggest missed chances in Skybound, IMO. On one hand, I get it - working in a "Nya destroyed Djinjago and therefore is the most deserving target of Nadakhan's rage" angle, or anything similar, would have FUNDAMENTALLY changed the season, or at least made the chaos WAY worse. I love Skybound BECAUSE she's a hot mess, but that would have been one thing too many for the writers to handle, I think. Still, though, a compelling angle that I REALLY pray DR leans into. That would change SO many things about Skybound had they actually used it... But I digress: I wanted to stay closeish to canon here while still bringing that up.

Working off of canon: Nya didn't know she killed the Preeminent's sister realm, and I don't think anyone knew the Preeminent HAD a sister realm. I also don't believe anyone outside of the pirate crew knew about the fall of Djinjago, actually - unless I'm forgetting something MAJOR, I don't think it's ever brought up to the ninja at all. It's all very strange and vague, which influenced the tone I went for in the grasslands sequence. You were the first to figure it out and let me know, but for the uninitiated, the "thousands of eyes, some accusing, some sympathetic, and all thoroughly pained" that Nya feels on her were supposed to belong to the djinn killed in the collapse. (Side note: in hindsight, were I not committed to the Urie-Weekes lyrics titles for this, Afterlife Of The Party would have been a DELIGHTFULLY dark title for this scene.) But of course I don't say that! It was supposed to be as vague as all the ways the Hagemans COULD have woven that angle in.

Anyway, I'm just now realizing - this excerpt is the flashback sequence I have to build off of for OSSAS5. I don't actually think I want to deal with the grasslands sequence, because to be honest I think it's too good to riff on, but that means I get to go into the stuff I STILL skipped - Nya's actual experience under possession. I always feel weird when someone tells me they liked how I addressed both Lloyd and Nya's possession experiences in Small Cuts, because like.... did I? I really didn't go there as much as I should have. But that's a note for another day!!!

[canmom]

seasonal animes: tengoku daimakyou 05-07

caught up on Tengoku Daimakyou (to S01E07) and Oshi no Ko (S01E05).

Tengoku Daimakyou continues to be great, in all the ways it was at the outset. It’s kind of crazy. Gorgeously animated, and full of life and character. Like, it wouldn’t look bad in a movie and they’re somehow pulling it off for a full cour of TV.

Not only have Production I.G. still got it, but it even feels like an advancement - there’s none of the very reserved stiffness that I kind of associate with TV shows like GitS:SAC or Seirei no Moribito, it’s constantly lively. The lively way it moves, and the slightly rounded character design, puts me in mind of Dennou Coil, but with a strong dash of the old realist movement mixed in.

In many ways I have the same things to say about these three episodes as I did the first four. It’s beautiful. The background paintings wonderfully depict an overgrown post-apocalypse. The action is well-choreographed and weighty. The individual episode scenarios are strong, and the unfolding mystery is intriguing. Weilin Zhang’s OP is a treat.

Sexuality is a huge theme of this series, and it’s worth spending a minute on how they play it. I spoke previously about the MC who at first glance seems to be a trans man but is actually a wacky sci-fi brain transplant patient. They’re continuing to play up the sexual tension between the two MCs hard, mostly for antics and escapades (episode 6 in particular); this is in turn used as a symbol of Kiruko struggling to decide who to be, caught between male and female behaviour codes.

Which ends up being interesting; it’s not a 1:1 map to like, the Specific Trans Experience but it is full of resonances. You could read it as a trans guy thing (he’s literally a guy with a body that everyone reads as female) but there’s also aspects of a trans girl thing (renegotiating the whole complicated mess we call ‘socialisation’). A good scifi device is a probe to give us a different angle on the world... and while I don’t want to oversell it, it does lead a fun dynamic between the MCs once you calibrate yourself to what it’s going for. (The level of horniness is broadly comparable to Chainsaw Man - jokes about boners and boob touching, a few almost-sex scenes.)

And the portrayal of awkward intimacy generally feels quite warm and genuine - it’s a far cry from whatever the hell was happening in that one nurse scene in GitS:SAC S2. The current generation of animators at I.G. are really onto something. In general it does a very good job of conveying emotion - take for example the scene where Kiruko returns to the house and finds Maru missing in Episode 5, you can really feel her sense of rising panic.

It’s also delivering very well on the horror front. Episode 7, in which our MCs walk into a conflict between a group of primmies and a transhumanist cult, seamlessly slips into a hallucination sequence where Kiruko is bitten apart by monsters. At first I was wondering if they were really going to inflict a permanent injury on the MC, especially since the buildup had a lot of talk of prosthetic limbs. They didn’t go there in the end, but it’s good that they’re finding ways to still make the monsters threatening. It’s also very good at shifting registers; in episode 6 the MCs fight a bear, and it does a fine job of telling a small story arc within the battle, advancing the MCs’ relationship, and dancing between action and comedy (when it turns out not to be a bear monster but a regular bear).

Of course, there’s also the creepy school for psychic children, who are also dealing with the struggles of puberty and first relationships etc. This is mainly a B plot in the most recent episodes, although I’m sure the focus will swing back there soon. One thing I like about the approach taken here is that the adults running the facility appear to genuinely care for the children, and they don’t seem to know everything that’s going on either. When one of the children dies they’re hit with grief (and guilt!) as much as the kids; when they find a weird nonflammable organ inside them after cremation, they’re shocked, not going ‘all according to keikaku’. It feels like a situation that’s out of control despite all the fancy technology.

Evil experiments on children is a familiar subject for anime of course, and the parent-figure who does horrible experiments on their wards while still performing affection a familiar figure within that. But while the adults here are definitely up to no good, their attitudes and motivations seem a bit less out there than your average evil science dad. Even so, the storyboarding effectively accentuates the prison-like aspect of the school; particularly effective is a sequence (screenshotted above) where the dead child is solemnly wheeled away from the other children, and taken behind the doors where they are not allowed to go; the only one who can pass through that door is dead.

Of recent anime, Mappa’s Chainsaw Man seems like a relevant point of comparison, which also went for a constantly moving sense of cinematic realism, leaning on young webgen animators for the flashy scenes. I had a great time with Chainsaw Man but it was uneven - sometimes truly great, other times it felt like it was trying a little too hard to show off with technical flexes, and not every beat landed. Tengoku Daimakyou wasn’t so hyped, so it doesn’t have as much to live up to, but its style feels a bit better integrated overall.

I also have to praise the compositing! The colours are generally really well chosen, the right level of saturation and contrast, the digital effects (typically a subtle bloom) aren’t overbearing the way they were so often in the 2010s. (Incidentally, there seems to be minimal 3DCG in this show). The ‘look’ of 2020s anime is extremely varied of course, but in some ways it feels like a return of a lot of things I really liked in 90s anime.

All in all, this is really living up to the promise set when I first thought “damn that was a cool trailer”. I hope they get to continue it for more, but either way I think I’ll pick up the manga once the series is done, it’s got its hooks in me hehe

[guiltycorp]

jjk 236 manga spoilers !!! -

Extremely funny how the high school reunion party followed by Gojo's body reveal was framed in that way for the sole reason that this shocking resolution would have been boring as fuck if done straightforwardly hahaha... Honestly i still believe in the potential of Gojo turning into a cursed spirit (because that obvious aspect of the world-building hasn't been delivered on WHATSOEVER yet) or the next 6 eyes somehow being immediately ready to throw down, but i no longer believe that any of it will be written well.

A thing that has been bothering me for a while due to spending too much time on twitter is how shonen bros are very keen on praising the technical aspect of the magic system in jjk, how the fights are so good they balance out the lack of emotional weight. ...but was any of the fighting actually good on that technical shonen level? There are a lot of implications about how various Heian era sorcerers came up with techniques and items that are used today but none of it has any real elegance since every new technique and artifact just conveniently came up whenever characters needed to use them. Did Toji's possession of Inverted Spear make sense? Suuure, and maybe it has some ties to Angel whose technique maybe helped to make it. Doesn't change the fact that it was introduced purely to have a way to deal with Gojo's infinity and Geto's curses. And even the attempt to bring back Yuta-Rika bond in terms of Toji-Worm made no real sense since Rika was created by and bound to Yuta intrinsically while Toji just... tamed and trained the Worm off-screen somehow? Why would Geto's technique not work on it then, how is it different from some cursed spirits being loyal to themselves or the places they are guarding. His use of cursed spirits is clearly different from a regular 'taming' situation. And similar problems happen with techniques like Simple Domain or Falling Blossom, they were just ~invented~ in the past somehow so now people can use that. How do they actually work and why can't people come up with their own bullshit techniques then? Well don't worry about it, it might come up again or probably won't because there is no need for that pesky logic in our magic worldbuilding systems. You could even say that the absence of sense and balance is on purpose since the story on the whole is about how everything is Unfair, but it's not like that's communicated well either so? At this point it feels like anything can happen and not in a good way. Gojo got sealed in a poignant emotional way that im looking forward to in the anime but then... he got released by some convenient technique from a new character? Then didn't give much of a reaction to his plans falling apart in front of him, didn't acknowledge Megumi's situation beyond what it meant for the fight (nothing acknowledging how he both lost one of his strongest potential assets and how he participated in robbing both Megumi and Tsumiki of their youth - this at least might come up in a flashback alongside Nobara's situation, if Nobara is 100% dead then the writing is even shittier for not bringing her up properly), went to have a fun fight, had fun and died rip. Even his dying hallucinations were a generic pat-on-the-back 'u did well haha it's great that u had fun' rather than anything meaningful. You could say Gege is salty towards Gojo specifically but it's not like other main characters are faring any better so far... Yuji vs Sukuna is set up in a way where it's just too simple of a straightforward revenge battle with the side of getting Megumi back or killing him, the only thing we can look forward to really. And i can't be excited about Kenjaku vs anyone bc it's not like Yuji ever showed any interest in his parentage (and no mommy issues agh) or got to know Gojo's backstory or anything that would have given him a personal interest in going against Kenjaku at all and none of the other characters have personal beef with Kenjaku either... Like, Yuta a little, but much less so now that Kenjaku is just another big villain for everyone to defeat rather than 'need to kill him myself so that gojo doesn't have to'. Sukuna vs Kenjaku could also be fun if we learned about their past but a Heian flashback would probably just make the story even less engaging at this point. Plus any fight will still do a bunch of that 'actually i had THIS technique/item/skill all this time or i just came up with it even!!' Probably that's what's going to happen with unrevealed Sukuna techniques and Yuki's research. Yeahhh anyway...

[dragonsdomain]

Out of Office chapter 4

AO3

Chapter 3

"You got the flower?!" Joy's voice cried through the phone, making Luke wince and pull it away from his ear.

"Yeah, I did," Luke answered with a frown Joy couldn't see.

"Wow, you go! You're a credit to the EPS, Officer!"

"Joy..." Luke grumbled.

"Alright, alright. Sorry. Where are you? I could call Oliver and we can come find you."

"Right now?"

"Yes, right now. I mean, unless you're busy? It's a Saturday, so I thought..."

Luke sighed. "No, it's fine. Let's meet at your house again."

"Awesome! See you soon."

Luke hung up the phone. He touched the wilting flower in his pocket. This all felt so wrong. He'd never done things behind Eugene's back before. Obviously they didn't tell each other everything, but this was a whole new level of not okay. This didn't feel right. Somehow Luke couldn't imagine Eugene wouldn't eventually find out what he, Joy, and Oliver were doing, and the thought of his reaction made him feel sick. There was no guarantee he'd understand their reasons for doing this. Luke barely understood his reasons for doing this.

He was already walking towards Joy's house. Was that it? Was he just weak-willed, so he let himself be swept along with whatever Joy and Oliver wanted to do? What if... he stopped?

Luke paused in his tracks. He could tell them right now that he didn't feel good about this. He could give the flower back to Eugene. They'd understand his hesitance; it'd all be fine. Eugene might feel a little betrayed about him taking the flower, but he'd apologize, and they'd make up, and it would be over.

And then Eugene would keep doing whatever it was that he'd been doing. He'd still be depressed and distant and unable to tell Luke why. Luke clutched the flower's stem. It might be a childish thought, but Luke sometimes wondered if Eugene secretly wanted someone to talk to about what he was doing. If it was as hard for him to keep things from Luke as it was for Luke to be kept out of it. It still didn't feel like this was Luke's decision to make; it should be Eugene's. But... it had been years, and Eugene hadn't.

Luke sighed, sagging. Maybe the fact that Eugene hadn't told him about things was a sign that he didn't want him to know. That thought kind of hurt. Luke considered Eugene his best friend, but maybe Eugene didn't feel the same way. And... should Luke be upset about that? Shouldn't he let Eugene make his own decisions? Maybe none of this was Luke's choice to make.

Luke's phone buzzed with a text. "Oliver and I are here. You close?" Joy.

Luke shook his head. Had he really just been wondering if Eugene even wanted to be friends with him? Maybe he was just overthinking all of this. Maybe he was overreacting. He might as well just find out a little bit more with Joy and Oliver. Maybe they'd find out they had nothing to worry about all along.

...

Eugene's plan had been to go on patrol, but usually the goal on one was to make sure there weren't any evil ghosts in the area. According to Sean, Charlie had already found one for him, right near his apartment, so he might be able to just skip the first part of the patrol and go straight to... confronting a powerful evil spirit. Which had frightened Charlie enough that she was cowering in the flower shop.

Eugene put a hand to his chest as he walked down the street. It wasn't hurting anymore, and he felt fine. Mostly.

He still really didn't want to fight anyone. Now that he knew the truth, that every monster was just a spirit racked with guilt, Eugene couldn't help but feel that sealing any away was a sin. He wondered sometimes what would have happened to himself if, that day all those years ago, he'd chosen to take it upon himself to avenge Susan's death and kill her husband. He remembered considering it. Things could have gone very differently. Eventually he'd shaken off the idea since he didn't think he was strong enough alone.

Maybe he was projecting a little too much... but maybe he was right. Maybe this ghost could be reasoned with. Almost every one of his ghostly friends had struggled with some degree of dark guilt. It would be unfair to their memories not to try.

Eugene sat alone on the subway on its way towards Station 00. He always thought it was interesting how the ride looked. The farther down the track they went, the more people got off, the fewer got on, until gradually the train trickled into emptiness, leaving Eugene all alone. It was routine, just as usual. He wondered how many of these people even knew about what had happened at Station 00. Was the confrontation that had been so life-wrecking for him just the ghost of a thought for them?

The feelings of the ride were also familiar to Eugene. With people crowded around him, he always felt isolated, but the emptier the train became, the more that isolation dissipated. He'd assumed before that it was in anticipation of seeing his friends at the Underworld Office, but he felt the same this time. Maybe he just felt better being alone when there weren't others around at all. 

The train slowly pulled to a stop at Station 00. Eugene got off. Broken glass crunched under his shoes as the train rumbled away. It didn't look like much progress had been made with repairs. Maybe this station was low on the city's list of priorities.

Eugene made his way into the empty room that used to be the Underworld Office. He walked up to the lost and found closet. He'd be going to face this ghost alone again, but should he bring something to help? Hayden's hat might not be much help in combat, but it might come in handy for finding the ghost. Joan's gun... that didn't feel right to use. He grabbed Hayden's hat and the lock of River's hair, putting both with Boss's fan in his pocket.

Eugene brushed aside some debris with his foot then sat down against the wall of the room, pulling out Sean's flower to look at it. It felt like he was holding his breath. Going to face a powerful ghost felt wrong without anyone else. But what choice did he have?

Eugene bit down on the guardian flower, leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes.

...

Luke sat down in Joy’s basement. He pulled out the flower, and held it out towards Joy and Oliver.

“Wow… you really got it.” Oliver looked up at Luke in surprise.

Luke didn’t look at him. “Now what?”

Joy glanced down at the flower again. “I guess one of us should probably check on Eugene. See if he acts any different or mentions the flower.”

Luke sagged down. “This is stupid,” he grumbled. “We don’t even know what we’re doing.”

“No, no!” Oliver said. “One of us needs to put the flower in our mouth like he does.”

Luke raised an eyebrow at him. “What if something weird happens?”

Oliver clapped his hands. “I already ghost-proofed the basement.”

Luke gaped at him. “You what?”

Joy made a horrible grunting noise that sounded awfully like a stifled laugh. She coughed to cover it up, straightening her face. “He was bored. While we were waiting for you. So he started googling ghost wards and sticking every one he could find around this room.”

“I got holly, haint blue cloth, a weird crucifix from my great-grandmother,” Oliver listed the items off on his fingers. “Salt.”

Joy sniffed in what may have been another attempt to cover laughter. “Yeah, um. I maintain that there’s probably a bigger risk of, say, a surprise allergic reaction. But I guess it’s good to know we definitely won’t be getting possessed tonight.”

“Then who’s going to be putting the flower into their mouth?” Luke asked, staring down at it in his lap.

Joy and Oliver looked at each other. Joy raised an eyebrow. Oliver’s eyes widened, and he shook his head.

Joy looked back over at Luke. “I mean, I could do it, if neither of you want to.”

Luke looked up at her, then back down at the flower. “No. I’ll do it. If we’re right about this, I want to know what Eugene has been going through.”

Joy frowned. “I hope you won’t be too disappointed if it doesn’t do anything.”

“I’d rather it not, actually,” Luke said. That would mean their worries were for nothing. Or at least, nothing quite so strange as Luke was worried. He wasn’t afraid of being proven wrong. “I guess we’ll see.”

“Good luck,” Oliver said solemnly.

Joy was starting to look uncomfortable. “Okay, get it over with. This suspense is killing me.”

Luke put the flower in his mouth. He looked at Joy and Oliver.

Oliver stared. “Anything?”

“Mm’m,” Luke shook his head.

Joy sagged in relief.

“‘M’a try one m’r thing,” Luke mumbled past the flower. Then he lay down on his back in his beanbag chair, and closed his eyes.

...

Eugene sat up, his body slumping away from his spirit, then checked his pockets to ensure he was ready to go toe to toe with a dangerous spirit. He still had Boss' fan, as well as River's lock of hair and Hayden's hat. It felt strange to just take the artifacts without asking, but this was the reason they'd been left with him.

Eugene floated up through the ceiling, then flew quickly towards his apartment. His flight was slow compared to River's or Boss', but it was quick enough. Faster than the subway, anyhow. He reached his building within a few minutes and landed atop the roof, scanning the surrounding streets.

It was oddly peaceful. There were a couple of living people walking down the streets, one peaceful spirit he recognized who hung around his apartment complex. Nothing seemed wrong. Had the evil spirit Charlie ran into left?

Eugene hovered down to talk to the peaceful spirit, a woman with a melancholy face. "Ma'am? Have you seen any dangerous spirits around here?"

She looked at him hesitantly, tilting her head. "Hmmmm... I saw... a thin individual, pitch black... with scissors...?"

"Oh, that's just Charlie. She's harmless," Eugene said, frowning.

"Harmless...?" the woman muttered. Her eyes became visible under her long hair. "So dark for someone harmless... She... has done something terrible..."

Eugene coughed, avoiding her searching gaze. "She's good now. I'm looking for a different dark spirit. Have you seen another one?"

"Mmm... no..." the woman pondered. "But your dark friend... she was... running... Afraid..?"

"Which way?" Eugene asked.

The woman pointed. "From there."

"Thank you, Ma'am," Eugene said, giving her a nod.

"Be careful..." she said.

Eugene gulped, then nodded, walking away. He headed off down the street. What did she mean? Sure, Charlie had done something. There was something she felt awful for. But how bad could it have been if she'd never become a monster for it? Should Eugene ask her about it?

Wait... that man from Charlie's high school had come to Station 00, wanting to talk to her. He knew what had happened. So it couldn't have been so bad, if he still wanted to talk to her. Right?

Eugene came to an intersection, and wasn't sure which way to turn. He's seen no sign of Charlie's monster.

"Hello?" he called out tentatively.

Silence. Strange. How could Charlie have been the only one to notice a spirit so dangerous it left her spooked?

"Mrow."

Eugene jumped, whirling around. A cat. He let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Ah. Hey there," he said.

The cat gave another sharp meow, flicking its tail impatiently.

Eugene hurriedly pulled Eugene's hat out and put it on. "Sorry," he said, "I forgot."

The cat sniffed disdainfully. "If you want my help, act like it," it said, now understandable to Eugene.

"Sorry," Eugene said again, then winced at the redundancy.

"You're looking for an evil spirit who was chasing your friend, hm?" the cat said.

"Yes," responded Eugene. "So yo--"

"This way," the cat interrupted, turning and dashing off to the right.

"Ah! Wait!" Eugene jumped off of the ground and flew quickly after the cat.

The two of them zipped along the sidewalk, then the cat led Eugene down an alleyway. Buildings stretched tall on either side, and the place was dark and dirty, like it was rarely visited. The kind of place Eugene would never go as a human, for fear of being mugged.

“Keep walking along this path, human. I’m leaving,” the cat said.

Eugene nodded to it. “I’ll reward you later today.”

“As you should,” the cat scoffed, then turned and dashed away.

Eugene gulped, looking back at the alleyway. He felt the fan and lock of hair in his pocket. He was starting to wonder if he really should have brought along Joan’s gun.

Eugene shook his head. He wasn’t going to fight this ghost, not unless he had to. He’d find out what was wrong, and then help. He didn’t want to cause any more damage than he’d already helped cause.

There was a dark feeling hovering in the alleyway. Malice from the ghost. Eugene tried to focus. He took an unnecessary deep breath to calm himself.

“Hello?” he called out. His gut clenched with fear. It’s fine, it’s fine. The spirit was just in pain.

“ChaArlie…?”

Eugene froze. He turned around. And his eyes traveled up… and up. He met a set of wide, piercing eyes. It felt like they were looking into his soul, picking apart his every flaw.

Eugene’s mouth was dry. “Who are you?”

The creature stared down at him, where he stood far below its long, long limbs, and hands that could crush him. “Who ArE YOU?”

One of the hands reached down and grabbed Eugene by his collar, causing him to cry out, then yanking him up towards the face. Those massive eyes felt like they were burning him, roasting him for every sin.

“Ah‒” Eugene choked. “Stop… please…”

“Where is Charlie… Where is my daughter?” The eyes burned into him hatefully.

“Ah! Y‒ your what?” Eugene’s eyes widened as the long fingers curled around him. “Your daughter?!”

“You know where she is,” the monster’s eyes narrowed. Its voice was becoming clearer. “And you’re trying to avoid telling me. You awful boy.”

The fingers squeezed Eugene, and he whimpered. “Th-that hurts‒”

“Tell me where my foolish daughter is, and I’ll let you go, boy.” The creature pulled Eugene close up to its face.

Eugene desperately tried to breathe. He was fine, he was fine. It wasn’t like he had ribs to crush. He… he needed to get the ghost to calm down. “Why do you want her…?” Eugene gasped out.

“Because she’s in trouble, boy.” His hand squeezed tighter. “Now tell me.”

Eugene cried out. He felt himself starting to panic, unable to breathe. Great, calm down, calm down. Panicking wouldn’t help anyone. “I’m sure she’s… sorry…”

Something seemed to snap in the monster, and it crushed Eugene in its hand. Eugene gasped silently at the pain. Some part of his soul had ruptured.

“SORRY?” Charlie’s father slammed Eugene against a brick wall. “You think she’s sorry, for KILLING ME?!”

Eugene couldn’t respond. Killing… him…

Charlie had killed him?

Charlie had killed her father.

Charlie had killed her own father.

Something was dripping. The ghost tossed Eugene onto the ground, and Eugene drew in a painful breath.

The monster leaned down over Eugene. “Where. Is. She.”

It was him. He was dripping. His spirit had split again along the wounds from yesterday and was leaking. Eugene hurt. A lot. Maybe he should have used River’s hair earlier? Yeah, he should’ve… he was too weak now.

“...Flower shop,” Eugene panted.

The ground shook as Charlie’s dead father stood up. Eugene felt him walking away.

Eugene closed his eyes.

What had just happened…?

Charlie had killed her own father…?

And Eugene had just directed him right to her…

Chapter 5

[faelid]

Malignatas: Chapter V

Consider this my corpse being driven across the finish line in a hearse. Obviously I can't be trusted with multi-chapter fics...

Let's just pretend I posted this a year ago, yeah?

Malignatas, a KihyunxReader mini-series

Chapter 5: The Storm

WC: 2.2k

Summary: You and Kihyun thought you knew what you were getting into when you decided to make your relationship public. Neither of you were prepared for a curse from a spiteful fan, cast to keep you apart forever.

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4]

It’s a lot to take in, hearing it second hand.

It’s not the shock floors that you, leaves you stupefied. It’s that you didn’t see it coming. And somehow, it seems like you should have.

The recording continues, but you don’t hear anything else. Kihyun’s frozen face, a mirror to your own, looks like he still can’t believe what he’s telling you. It would be funny in a different lifetime. Today, it’s lost on you.

An avalanche of thought drowns out the silence, and you don’t notice the others coming back, voices talking amongst themselves.

Does the board know? It seems unlikely. They're usually more concerned about keeping the company profitable, and cutting into Kihyun’s practice time is unlikely to get them the results they desire. Which means it's personal?

But why? And why Kihyun? He can’t have been the first idol to date someone; in fact, you know for fact that he’s not the first to have a relationship, let alone a longer one.

Were you the target? Did you do something to offend someone, other than dating an idol? Hard to see how, when you were no one of any import.

Should you even stay? Is it worth pushing back against Starship of all people, when Kihyun is still under contract; when the others are still under contract? Will fighting back now just bring everyone else down with you?

It’s a torrent of agony; yes, I want this over with and but what about everyone else, pitting you against your compassion, your friends. What if confronting them isn’t enough? How can you possibly stop someone at that level, prevent them from lashing out again later?

It takes more than one knock at the door to startle you out of your reverie. Changkyun eventually has to stick his head in, carefully looking anywhere but at you, and it’s his voice that grounds you.

“Noona? Are you…okay?” He bites his lip, and you choke down your panic. The answer is “obviously not”, but it’s hard to know what else to say besides "yes".

You can’t blame him. “We brought you fried chicken. You can’t eat in here, though.” He doesn’t say alone, but you hear it anyway.

You fake optimism until your cheeks hurt and you’re sure the mask is fading, impatience crinkling in your eyes. They do their best to distract you, to fill you in on the details of their plan – none of them seem to share your concerns, not thinking past having an end in sight. You wish it could be that easy for you, and you know you’re being ungrateful because they’ve had a long night, and they’ve clearly been thinking things through – Jooheon and Minhyuk fall asleep against each other on the couch before you’re free to sneak away, when Hyungwon and Changkyun, too calm to drown out your thoughts, can’t keep the anxiety at bay any longer.

It calls for another round of poorly scrawled messages for Kihyun, a personal diary cum deeply emotional penpal letter. You outline drawbacks, potential solutions, things he maybe hadn't quite thought of, yet.

It’s not that the plan is lacking; between what you gathered earlier and replaying the end of Kihyun’s video message, the whole thing is rather sound. It has padding built-in, enough to support the most pressing outstanding question – how much time does you have during the eclipse?

Packing the go-bag is harder than it looks, but it makes for a nice distraction. The outfit you feel strongest in, the most put-together – no reason to show up slovenly; you don’t want to give Kim Ha Jun the satisfaction of even a minute victory.

***

When the day finally comes, they leave Kihyun to fend for himself. The backpack goes with Minhyuk to one of the nearer practice rooms, close enough to barrel down the hall if needed; secure enough to wait a few hours if she changes at the beginning of the eclipse.

Kihyun eyes the door before him, the gold lettering glinting at him like a challenge, and grits his teeth. He would be CEO one day. He would make Starship a better place for all idols, for anyone in the entertainment industry. A refuge. At the helm of Starship, he’d take the K-pop industry to a future they’d hardly dared to believe in.

Eventually.

But first things first. A calming breath, straighten the sweater – a knock at the door.

The appointment was scheduled; he’d been expected. But Kim Ha Jun feigned surprise at his presence, anyway. A joyous, imagine-seeing-you-here response to his knock, gesturing him in like they hadn’t seen each other in years, offering refreshments.

Kihyun perches uncomfortably on the edge of the leather sofa and tries to ignore it, just like he’d always politely ignored the man’s terrible taste in cologne, secure in the knowledge that he’d always have warning before Kim Ha Jun showed up.

“Kihyun!” The man bellows. “Have you seen your charts for this month? Streaming is still high – better than we expected, don’t you think?” The man who was CEO of Starship wasn’t endowed with a fatherly aura, but it didn’t stop him from trying. The result was a discomfiting dissonance of corporate interest and the misplaced boundaries of an overly-friendly uncle. “You have great things ahead of you, my boy, great things!”

Kihyun suppresses a shudder and smiles instead. “Only with your vision and guidance, sir. None of us would be here without you.” Ha Jun smiles, pleased with the compliment, and Kihyun glances surreptitiously at his watch. He’d prepared conversational topics – questions, ideas – in the event that he has to stall for up to an hour.

Except right now, he can’t remember any of them, and it’s been less than ten minutes.

He falls back on the safest, most surefire way to keep oneself out of a conversation with a narcissist:

He asks for Kim Ha Jun’s opinion.

---

When you walk through the door nineteen minutes and thirty-six seconds later, Kihyun could nearly melt with relief, and not just because he’s seeing you in person for the first time in over a year. That part feels too surreal to even put a thought to, like an apparition he’d caught out of the corner of his eye, except it was standing in front of him.

You were standing in front of him. In front of both of them.

Kim Ha Jun, though, looks more surprised than anything. Eyebrows raised to the sky, he frowns. “You’re still around?”

The way he says it scares you, a free admission of guilt. Confronted with a problem he thought resolved ages ago. As if you were meant to have vanished entirely, a speck of lint flicked carelessly off his lapel.

A lapel you only barely restrain yourself from grabbing, from shaking until the last oily strands of hair fell from his head.

“I don’t believe we’ve met in person.” You say, rigid with anger at his dismissal. Kihyun moves to your side, lends you the protection of his presence. “But yes, I am still here. I’m here and I’m pissed off, in case you were wondering. You took away six months out of my life, out of Kihyun’s career, which for all intents and purposes should be a major detriment to the company and for what? Because you didn’t like me? Because I wasn’t good enough for your idol?” With no attempt at moderation, your tone rises, and you find yourself trying not to lose your breath by the end.

Kim Ha Jun still looks unaffected. He doesn’t disrespect you further by refilling his glass, but he inspects it as if it were tempting.

“It wasn’t meant to last. You were a distraction. You would become more of a distraction. Kihyun is in the prime of his career. I can’t afford to have him moping about over a heartbreak – let the other companies lose their fortunes over women and relationships.”

“How was this not a distraction?!” Kihyun bursts. “Do you know what we’ve been through? How agonizing it has been? I wouldn’t have thrown away my career over a break-up – I’d have been sad and gotten over it, like anyone else. That’s normal. That’s life.”

The glass slams onto the table, and you both startle. Ha Jun braces himself on the desk. “It wasn’t meant to be a continued distraction.” He says, eyes flashing. “I was…expediting the matter. Once she was over you, once she decided that ‘idols were too much effort’ – “ he says it mockingly, and suddenly it’s very, very clear that this is about more than you and Kihyun – “then *poof*. You’d be all back to normal Kihyun, and she’d be out of your life for good; all problems solved.”

“And what about her? What would have happened? You think we just…wouldn’t see each other again, that I wouldn’t wonder what had happened to her?” Kihyun is bristling, his face bright red.

Ha Jun smiles a slow, nasty smile. “You’d have a new, one of kind watch, my young flexer.”

The enormity of his implication makes the silence stretch around it. Diabolical enough to forcibly separate you, but setting it up to make you disappear, to punish you for choosing yourself over the farce your life had become? Rather than murdering you outright?

A cold shiver runs down your spine, and your hairs stand on end. In a different world, you might wonder who hurt you? Instead, you fight the gaping maw of terror that's opening, the rapid realization of how horrible a person you face.

"That was not your decision to make!” Kihyun is angry; you both are. But he's also scared, and you can feel his body quivering where it brushes yours. "She had every right to leave me. She had more right to leave me because of you. And she didn't, and I'm grateful. But I never would have blamed her. I would have wanted her to be happy, just like she would have wanted for me." His hand slips into yours, maybe for show, maybe for solidarity. Maybe just for strength.

Neither of you has to do it alone.

"Do you know what that's like? To want someone else to be happy? Whoever she was, she didn't belong to you, Kim Ha Jun." Quieter this time, you're not asking so much as wondering aloud. "She deserved every chance to make her life better, and if being with you didn't improve her life, she had every right to leave."

"She chose me; it's true." Kihyun says, and it's hard to tell who is gripping who harder; both of your knuckles are white, like a storm may come and blow one of you away. "But I also chose her." He glances at you, and you see sorrow in his eyes. "I wish I could have chosen her more often."

It's a confession, but not one you weren't aware of. He'd always worried more about you than himself, would have had you spend your time working your career, your passion, rather than chasing traces of myths and magic.

When you respond, it's to him, and not to Ha Jun. "I love you."

Not "I would do it again"- you'd really, truly rather not. And not "you're worth it", either, because no one could be worth that total loss of self agency. But knowing you could be better? Working together towards that improvement?

That's the partner you want.

Who knows how it may have turned out, without the misdirected vengeance of Kim Ha Jun? Would you be the same people? Would you have become the same strong couple?

In the end, there is no storm. There's no whipping winds or flashes of lightning; just light. Painfully, impossibly bright, it floods the room, blinds you until the only tangible sense you have left is the deathgrip that connects you to Kihyun.

When it fades, Kim Ha Jun is gone.

Standing in the middle of the room, finally free, you find yourself alone with Kihyun at last, both of you human and heaving, emotions still running high. A blanket of silence hovers between you as you lock eyes, and it might have lasted an eternity if not for the alarm on Kihyun’s phone marking the end of the eclipse. 

All it takes is one ragged crook of the lips – it’s from one of your playlists, nothing he’d have ever picked for himself – and then you’re flinging yourself into his arms. You’re not sure who’s holding who, laughing and crying at once as you sink to the floor in a trembling heap.

Surely only a matter of minutes, it still feels like hours could have passed before the rest of the group bursts in, expecting the worst.

The ensuing chaos is a good excuse, but the reality is that neither of you was in any state to notice. It's not until Minhyuk starts to usher everyone back to the dorms for a proper celebration and privacy that someone finds Ha Jun's empty glass lying on the floor in front of the desk.

Next to it is a little analog clock, its little analog brain tick-ticking quietly away. It looks cheap for the room, black plastic and an acrylic cover, more at home in a garage sale from the 90's than in a CEO's office.

You're not sure what will become of it when the board appoints its new CEO, but you don't find it in yourself to care much, either. The door closes soundly behind you, and you don't spare it another thought.

You have the future to consider.

A/N: Epilogue coming tomorrow! Thanks for reading!!

[Epilogue}