#but i am still delighted by the outsider pov aspect | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tartagilicious · 3 years

Text

snezhnaya does not believe in broken hearts > childe

→ pov: there is no pov i’m in love with another fictional man. I’m a little rusty writing wise because of school, but someone said childe enemies to lovers and who i am i to say no to that 🥴 so, here’s his boss battle with a ✨twist✨

→ ib: this comic on twt, pls go support it i love it and cry whenever someone mentions it. also, like the comic, childe’s delusion form won’t have a mask just so it’s easier to write his expressions!

→ *there are a good amount of lines that are taken directly from his battle in the game, so beware of detailed spoilers!

You can trust him. But, don’t get too involved. The battle he pursues is dangerous; it’s not something a normal person can withstand.

Whether you realised it or not, every moment you had spent with him began to carve out a hole in your chest, bittersweetly wearing away every layer of protection you had unconsciously built up. It wasn’t a well-done job by any means; the edges it left were particularly jagged, but the softness Childe still managed to pull from them left you stunned every time it chose to peek its head out.

“Don’t be so on edge, we’re friends, aren’t we?”

It suddenly became a daily routine to expect him at some point, whether it entailed him coming upon you doing a commission in the middle of the mountains, or you crossing paths in Liyue while some type of street food balanced precariously in his grip.

Yet, what you failed to notice was that most times, he would take care to place another of the same delicacy into your hand, as if expecting to see you. Childe would meet you in the middle of the mountains not by chance, but rather by a sense of curious boredom, wherein your company was the only suitable way to pass the time.

Subsequently, the only question remaining in a scenario such as this, was what the other meant to each of them — were you truly able to push your obligations aside, or were you only getting close enough to have enough leverage to strike?

On any occasion a disarming laugh left his mouth, or he lent you his support without question, you failed to remember that you were pitched as enemies in the first place. You inevitably no longer felt the same wariness towards the harbinger over time, but it only made you that much more guilty to know just how easily you had begun to trust him.

Yet no matter the hopeful sentiments your sputtering heart provided you, you knew one thing to be true that would always remain so: you would never be on the same side.

“You’ve already fulfilled your task as guide, so why do you still linger here? Haven’t you already seen enough trouble for today?”

You had entered the Golden House apprehensively, perhaps hoping even over the Exuvia’s safety that you wouldn’t meet him there. But coming upon it and hearing the one voice you had been dreading, you begrudgingly came to terms with the fact that you would have to face reality eventually.

“Huh?” Paimon is startled by the sudden disembodied voice. “Who’s there?!”

Childe reveals himself by coming up the stairs you had just now ascended, his saunter maddeningly casual. “If you were Fatui, I imagine that you would be entitled to a generous reward from the Tsaritsa yourself.”

The way he tilts his head with such fake amiability grates across you like nails on a chalkboard. “But now you’re nothing but dross -- and you’re in my way.”

“It looks like I was just in time, then.”

Childe laughs. “Although I’m deeply grateful to you for helping me so effortlessly find this secret location… don’t you think that trying to stop me now would only be a wasted effort?”

“Stopping the mora mints, hiding away the Exuvia,” He laughs again, and your hand instinctively makes a small stretch for your weapon. “And sending you. The Qixing are really pulling out all the stops this time.”

“So you were planning to take the gnosis all along?” You ask flatly, your words swallowed by your own hesitation just after you’d barely gotten out the last word. Even though this mishap wasn’t very detectable, shame burns the back of your throat at the honesty of the reflex.

“As one of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers, it’s my duty to see the will of the Tsaritsa fulfilled. And she will get which she desires.”

You shake your head, fully grounding your hand and preparing to draw your sword. “Not if I don’t allow you to get near the Exuvia.”

“I’m not looking for your blessing, ___.” Childe narrows his eyes and takes note of this action, the implications of it drawing up a wanton sense of disappointment he had long been expecting. This varies little from your own dismay, unbeknownst to him. “There’s nothing you could do to stop me anyways.”

“The time for discussion and diplomacy has already long passed. I mean, if it were up to me, I would have skipped that stage to begin with… but, I’m willing to do as the Tsaritsa deems fit.”

“Either way,” An eyebrow arches as an equally intrigued smile pulls at the corner of his lips. “It seems we’re now coming upon my favourite part -- a simple pleasure, and one that I am oh-so delighted to be sharing with you.”

it’s as if a pin drops, and he grins. “The battle.”

You now stand at a fork. Two paths stare at you with expectant eyes, both equally enticing; but the drawbacks of the indulgent solution unfortunately long outweigh those of their obvious counterpart. It’s a decision that must be made on behalf of Liyue, not the hurt of a single heart.

Paimon scoffs, drawing you from your thoughts. “So you’re the type that goes looking for trouble, huh?”

Childe’s laughter rings out, and he throws his head back as if he had heard something particularly funny. “I guess you could say that!”

“When Signora offended the deities outside of the cathedral in Mondstadt, she swiftly left the scene once her mission was accomplished. Instead of confronting you directly, she chose to rely on the snow and ice to make an escape.”

“I would take that as far more than its face value. When she faces a worthy opponent, she will prioritise her mission, weigh the outcomes, and consider the consequences of her actions…” He explains, trailing off with an inexplicable smile. “But as for me, the greatest pleasure of being a harbinger lies in the opportunities I have to cross blades with such opponents.”

“That doesn’t mean we’ll let what happened in Mondstadt ever happen again.”

“Oh? So you do intend to fight me? Good.” Childe’s excitement baffles you and pumps adrenaline into your veins simultaneously. “I won’t kill you, ___, I’ll just play along. To feel the thrill of battle!”

“Besides,” He puts his hands out in an aimless gesture. “You could never defeat me, not even in your wildest dreams. But hey, try to relish in the fight anyways, because if you ask me… without that, what else is there?”

“I could never defeat you?!” His words get the better of you and you laugh in disbelief. “You’re completely delusional.”

He returns the laugh delightedly, igniting a fire of mixed emotions in your chest. “Fighting talk, I love it! Now, let’s see you live up to it.”

You draw your sword at the drop of his last word, taking a step back in preparation for what was to come. Childe, meanwhile, stands watching you with a brewing sensation of glee.

“This chance isn’t easy to come by, so show me all you’ve got.” Arrows infused with water begin to fly in your direction, though you avoid them in haste. “So very few ever get the chance to square off with a Fatui Harbinger, so come now, amuse me. And don’t you dare disappoint.”

You find yourself gritting your teeth at the arrogant words, taken aback at his challenging tone. “You say your colleague has found me praiseworthy, but tell me to only amuse you? That’s a disappointing downgrade.”

A lapse in the time Childe has to shoot gives you enough time to approach him, throwing out a strike of your sword that he catches with his own weapon moulded by water.

“It’s by no means an insult, ___, I’m merely proposing a challenge.” He looks at the way your blades grit against each other and grins. “And it seems you’ve accepted it.” You jump back with the force of his attack to propel yourself. A barrage of geo-aligned magic is summoned beneath your opponent with a stomp to the marble floor.

However, he sidesteps it in a similar fashion, and through a quick exchange of harsh blows, both of you stand back to scope things out. Still, the one aspect that continues to overshadow the rest of your thoughts is the way that Childe’s personality has changed under the scrutiny of battle.

The playful tone he normally sports is long gone, now replaced with a deeper and more realistic one; perhaps even slightly more menacing. It’s as if he’s been flipped into a completely different person.

He laughs maniacally as he uses his hydro vision to drive waves of water out towards you, fully intent on at least knocking you off your feet. The burst of elemental energy ends when Childe leaps back onto the ground. This gives you the leverage you need to go in with another geo attack, this time catching him off guard and launching him to the side.

Childe coughs at the force of the action, his lips curving up into a smile. “Good! No wonder signora was so wary of you.”

His body is encased in an impenetrable bubble of water in an instant, a flash of deep light lashing out from the centre before revealing Childe once again. His swords of water have since been infused by electro energy, and his clothes are darker -- the most noticeable difference, however, is the Fatui mask that had previously been slung over his hair now laid properly over his face.

“Well, that just means I can go all out! Brace yourself, this is about to get tough…” He takes a few preliminary steps. “Show me what you can do against the might of a Harbinger!”

The strikes do indeed get faster. Childe toughens up against seemingly every one of your attacks, dodging most if not all of with even more ease than before. you grit your teeth as you rush to keep up with the frequent blows thrown at you. But, in a panic and reflexive drawback, you retract your sword and desperately block with your arm instead.

Silence entraps the incredibly large room as your sword clatters noisily to the floor. Both the cloth running up the expanse of your arm and wrist piece are slashed considerably, all to reveal a shallow but long gash.

The sensation of electro wastes little time in taking effect, burning up your arm and inducing an inevitable cry of pain as both of you take a step back. Malleable emotion hangs in the heavy atmosphere, waiting to be addressed or otherwise plucked down from their higher place.

Though, his reaction in that split second shows that he might not be just as lost as you’d thought.

Childe has little courage to speak up on any of these topics, but in whatever way he chooses to ignore the berating voice in his head, he can’t push away the sensation of regret swimming in his chest. Watching your face briefly contort in pain you try so hard to hide, yet standing close and being unable to do anything about it -- it’s more real than any understating word his brain could ever feed him.

“What are you doing just standing there?” You suddenly taunt, your voice slightly hoarse as you turn to hide the blood that seeps into your clothing. “I thought you said that you were going to go all out.”

Childe knows that you're right. He had said that, but what would it mean for him to continue? Brawling with you brought the same drunkening high of adrenaline he’s been chasing since he escaped from the abyss all those years ago-- although hurting you wasn’t any sort of intention he’d ever had.

“...I’m only offering a moment to buffer, but I must say -- you’re not bad. Your swordsmanship is quite impressive.” Childe desperately swallows back anything extra that pops into his head and twirls his electrified staff. Personal desires are the last thing he can afford to pay attention to. “But, that’s about as far as you’ll get.”

You sloppily intercept a rough attack that threatens to send you flying backwards, gritting your teeth as you push back with the force of your Anemo power. It goes well for all but the way your arm begins to falter under the stress. Your head naturally follows your body’s trajectory, yet in your panic, the stroke your toed boot makes across the floor leaves a trail of blistering geo behind.

The elements present react immediately, resulting in a blinding explosion. You’re thrown off too quickly and land unsteadily, pain shooting up your arm as you exhale shakily -- you’d never had the misfortune of experiencing a hydro and electro vision working together before now.

“___, are you okay?” Paimon asks frantically, your tiny hands trying their best to locate the heart of the wound on your injured arm. “That cut looks deep, do you really think it’s a good idea to keep pushing yourself?”

You shake your head in dismissal as your eyes move with the clearing dust. “It’s fine, but my sword--?”

Once the haze disperses, you spot your sword almost instantly -- however, you also find Childe’s staff sticking haphazardly into the marble floor right next to it, its owner nowhere to be found.

A laugh sounds from behind you. “I really didn’t think you had that card hidden up your sleeve!”

Your heart drops into your stomach when you whip around to see Childe standing beside Rex Lapis’ corpse, his grin wide like he’d already won the match between you.

“You were just playing us to get close to the Exuvia!”

“Oh, quiet down. Don’t be so quick to judge. You’ve seen this world, you of all people should know...” Childe steadily gathers a ball of electro energy in his palm, the lightning fusing around his gloved hand before materialising. “That this should have been expected!”

The sound is deafening as Childe forces his hand into the Exuvia, opposing elements colliding and responding in turn. “I’ll be taking Morax’s gnosis now!”

Shockwaves come out like tides as the entire room shakes under the pressure of the single action. You’re quick to shield your injured arm from the battering wind, while Paimon latches onto the ornament covering your elbow.

Yet, much to everyone’s surprise, the hand that emerges and unfolds under the glaring light is very much empty.

Childe is taken aback by the particles of light that float from his gloved hand, laughing in frustration as well as bewilderment. “I see. Well, this is most unexpected.”

He turns to look at you through his mask, taking in the equally as surprised expression that moulds your features. But the detail that begins to surface ignites a different, and entirely real type of irritation in him, is the way that your eyes begin to change.

“Morax’s gnosis is far from another old antique,” Ningguang had prefaced this when you had visited her in the Jade Chamber, her words stable and forward. “It is a sign of Liyue’s reigning power, and also a symbol for the people to look towards; as not only a god, but also the keeper of peace. This is not something that would be hidden carelessly.”

“Many people throughout my years as a Qixing have tried to outsmart the layers close to the gnosis, however, none have succeeded. Its protector is someone of utmost secrecy whose identity I must not reveal, not even to you.”

She had sighed, placing a warm yet distant smile on her face. “But, I believe this method will continue to deter unwanted hands, along with you in their capable stead.”

Your eyes widen as you take an instinctual step back. You’d found it nearly impossible when tasked with feeding the Harbinger outdated details, though your heart feels heavy in realising that it had gone to show how much Childe truly did learn to trust you.

But, it had worked, hadn’t it? Because of this, the exuvia was somewhere far away -- in capable hands, as Ningguang had phrased it. Yet you feel little want to celebrate this small victory, immediately reminded of the situation it’s caused as Childe’s vision flares up around him, warping his figure in your eyes.

“You… You beat me to it, didn’t you?” Childe doesn’t miss your sense of victory being quickly replaced by fear, but in a fit of irritation, he takes no time in disregarding it.

He leaps haphazardly into the centre of the room, forcing you to careen out of the way as his electro vision fries the air around you. It becomes stuffy and unbearably hot in the enclosed space entirely too quickly. But, throughout the sudden drastic change in their atmosphere, you can’t help but notice the second transformation that Childe has gone through; yet rather this time, it’s much more drastic.

Once the air dissipates, Childe leaps back to the floor once again, his heavy military boots marking his step indefinitely. The attire he wears is fittingly close to armour -- presenting a deep blue and purple suit that fits like a second skin.

“Not a bad trick,” His spear of water that had since been lodged in the marble floor flies into his hand, twirling to rest on his shoulder as his voice stabilises. “But, this is going to cost you!”

The same weapon is pushed into the ground with overflowing destructive power. It quickly runs veins out like web beneath your feet, electro charge roughly and abruptly breaking the floor to reveal another space below.

You're dragged down indiscriminately amongst the falling debris, roughly colliding with the sharp edges before hitting the ground once again. Your arm, still slightly bleeding and swollen, screams at the harsh impact. Though having landed on your stomach meant that other parts of your body had absorbed most of the shock, natural reflexes had forced you to receive some of the heavier damage in your arm regardless.

There wasn’t a lot that you could do about this, however, other than pick yourself up again and hope that Childe was still too high up to see your pain clearly. Thankfully, lo and behold, a purple light just then begins to descend almost hauntingly through the smoke. It blinks out briefly before revealing Childe again as every messy part of the room is blown away by an incredible elemental power.

You hold up your uninjured arm to combat against the strong wind, wincing as your body is forced back.

“You got to the gnosis ahead of me, didn’t you?” Childe’s staff finally rests in his hand, however, the aura he gives off alone is enough to make you antsy. “Did you simply move faster? Or… did you leak the information regarding the Golden House to me on purpose?”

“...You’ve outsmarted me, ___. But that doesn’t mean the information won’t be in my hands by the time we’re done.” Another electric current fills the room as he moves to make an attack. “So, fight hard knowing there's something of such value on the line.”

Your eyes flicker around the room for your sword as you say, “How do you know that I have any of the information you need? That’s betting a lot on nothing.”

He laughs, the familiar sound chilling.

“You don’t have to be omnipotent to take a best guess. Besides, I’m confident enough in knowing that you’re smart enough to play me, so a battle between friends to determine that isn’t too much of a stretch, is it?”

You spot the sword and take a hesitant step towards it, attempting to return his words as a distraction. “It’s strange to call me a friend and threaten to put a knife in my chest in the same sentence. I thought you said that you weren’t going to kill me?”

Childe pauses, debating his next words carefully. “...Conditions are ever-changing.”

“If they were going to change so drastically, you should have told me earlier. Maybe then I could’ve figured out how to explain something I don’t know the answer to.”

“Don’t play dumb with me, ___.” His delusion’s deeper tone makes even the most playful of his words sound threatening. You stand your ground, though, knowing that no matter what your apprehension presents, nothing will change the fact that your weapon is only a mere step away.

“I know that you can tell me.”

You know I can? The supposedly comforting statement bounces around in your head, creating a ringing in your ears and a painful drumming against your temples. It’s not that simple, you think. There's little he wouldn’t be able to get from you if gone about the right way, however, as long as the information remained important, it would stay unattainable to even him.

You grit your teeth, feet twisting boldly into a position that’ll make it easier to leap in the direction you need. “I won’t tell you anything,” The leap is short and filled with almost too much strength, but you make up for any shortcomings by turning to block the incredibly close blow Childe had thrust out to stop you.

You push your sword against his with the force of all of your irritation, jaw clenched as your words come out in a single breath. “Because I know that I don’t have anything to say to the person that betrayed me.”

Unsurprisingly, words like those are some of the last that Childe wants to hear at that moment. No amount of guilt tripping or humiliation was typically enough to get to him, however, your simple declaration hits him in a spot that he’s long tried to bury.

Childe scoffs, pretending that he hadn’t blatantly hesitated. “You’re not fit to be here if you’re shaken by the betrayal of someone like me. Take it from me and give up while you’re ahead.”

You’re stunned by Childe’s brutal words for a brief moment, leaving him an important window to more easily knock your weapon away, out of your weakened hands. His blade meets your throat with little hesitation, the cool water stinging against your overheated skin.

Childe’s eyes wander to the way your body turns slightly to protect your injured arm, and disregarding the way his stomach twists, he shakes his head. “What’s wrong, ___? The way you are now won’t be able to defeat me.”

He looks at the way you hesitate and the already putrid feeling in his gut turns rotting. You make no more effort to fight back despite your strength, nor move the weapon lying firmly right over one of your weakest points.

“I might end up killing you if you don’t tell me where the gnosis is.” Childe tries to push you further, but is taken aback when your brows knit as if frustrated. You know very well that he’s someone with bad intentions, yet why do you continue to yearn to see the good in him? To see the carefree person you’d known before today?

You don’t respond, unmoving beneath his heavy gaze for all but the way your hands begin to slowly hover up towards the sword pressuring your neck.

Why can’t you stop?

Your shaking hands take the blade lightly in your grip, the vision-adjacent water searing your battered skin. A droplet of sweat slides down your cheek yet all you can focus on is the way Childe’s eyes instantly delve into panic.

“If you’re going to kill me, you should hurry up and save us both the suffering.”

The sudden powerful statement sounds unreal coming from such a weakened person, blood running down your fingers as you force his sword away.

“What makes you think that your death would cause me any harm?” Childe’s heart thumps wildly beneath his clothes as he lets his weapon be redirectioned, but his brows furrow. “I used you. Do you have yet to realise that?”

“You think I’m so inept that I would believe in someone so fast?” Your fingers go to nestle in the fabric of your skirt, the clothing acting as a temporary shield from the pain. “It was no secret that you weren’t someone to be trusted.”

“Then why lead me here if you’re so confident in yourself? Surely you don’t think that picking a fight with me was a sound idea?”

“You came here yourself. I was never looking to fight.” You mumble truthfully, taking your hand away from your skirt to reveal your palms stained with blood. “...I only said what I did because I don't like hurting those I care about.”

Childe stands paralysed in shock upon hearing such honest words, his mouth opening and closing as he rushes to process their meaning. What could he possibly say to that?

You hadn’t left a single mark on him despite believing that you were fighting for your life, whereas he had prioritised outside matters over listening to his internal backlash -- he had hurt you in a simple twisted warning.

“___, you--”

He’s barely able to get a sentence out before you sigh, going up to him with little hope before wrapping your arms around him.

Childe exhales unsteadily, his weapons then evaporating as his torso and arms instinctively straighten up. Moments of complete stillness go by unhindered. But, you wait patiently for any type of response from the man in your arms.

“...___.” He finally mumbles this from above your head, voice incredibly soft. “What do you think you’re doing?”

You’re at a loss as for how to respond, because truthfully -- the answer is mostly lost even to you. All you can do is drown in the silence that you’ve created, heart picking out the worst parts of the way his posture stays tense.

Childe groans abruptly, his delusion slowly beginning to break down to reveal his normal clothes. “Come on,”

As if something restricting him had suddenly been removed, he staggers and sinks to his knees, body going limp at the sudden lapse in support of his vision. Though fortunately, you follow him even while he goes down.

Your arms struggle to support the sudden weight as his chin lulls forward, colliding with your shoulder just as your knees hit the floor. He’s not entirely weak, you think, noticing the way he purposely tries to shift a lot of pressure off of you. Though you don’t know much about his delusion, it seems viable to assume that the form had just exhausted a decent amount of energy.

You feel the heat of his hands hesitantly coming upon your sides, but much to your disappointment, they quickly retract before he mumbles, “You’re a fool.”

“I know.” You whisper. “But, it’s too late. I can’t give up on you now.”

Childe scoffs, the sound muffled by your shoulder as he brings his arms up around you. He embraces you so tightly that it’s as if you’ve struck something inside him.

Those words are so unfair, they almost give me hope.

#hey I’m only like 75% satisfied with this but content is content baby #genshin impact #genshin impact childe #genshin impact tartaglia #genshin impact x reader #childe x reader #tartaglia x reader #chilumi #yall thought you got rid of me huh #I’m here to spam writings within the next week to the best of my ability and there’s nothing you can do to stop me >:D

143 notes · View notes

itsthegameilike · 3 years

Text

Best Books of 2020

Hi all! As always, I read some banger books this year and I like to do my best to get like everyone in the world to read them, because they’re deserving and being an author is hard. So, without further ado, here are the books that made my year! There Will Come a Darkness/As the Shadow Rises--Katy Rose Pool A pretty standard fantasy YA fare, but a step above in character and entertainment. There’s a world-ending prophecy, of course, and a collection of kids trying to save the day, but the world building is excellent and the plot develops from the characters and their relationships, not the other way around. I have characters I would die for and the second book in the series didn’t fall into the typical mid series lag. 8/10. The Lost Future of Pepperharrow--Natasha Pulley This was a follow up to The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, which is another of my personal favorites, and this did not disappoint. I, in fact, like it better than the first. Set in Japan in the late 1800s, it is part ghost story and mystery, as Thaniel’s--the main character--love interest goes missing, his past having caught up to him. Thaniel is so relatable and his devotion and relationship with Mori could carry me through like forty more books exactly like this. I don’t want to give it away, but it’s one of the most satisfying historical fiction queer relationships I’ve ever read. 10/10.

The Vanished Birds--Simon Jimenez A space odyssey story that hits closer to home for me than most do, as I’m not typically a science fiction fan. There are aspects of time and space travel, leaving the main character outside of normal space and time, meaning most of her friends have aged and died past her. Eventually, she meets a boy, lost and alone, and grudgingly takes him in. They form a bond, but he has a secret and it ends up wrecking her ship, her crew, etc. but she does her best to keep him safe anyway. The plot is incredible, lots of twists and turns--the good kind--and I’m more than a slut for found family stories, so here we are. 9/10.

Upstream--Mary Oliver This is an essay collection by Mary Oliver and like everything by her, it changed my life just a little. Before this year, I wasn’t reading her every day and now I am. She offers much needed perspective and the tools for self healing and this short essay collection is such a simple way to get started. I loved it to pieces, just as I love her. 10/10.

The Autobiography of Red--Anne Carson I read a fuckton of Anne Carson this year. I encountered her on this site and decided to read as much as I could and I have no regrets. This was my favorite by her, but they’re all so so so good. This is a modern retelling of a Greek myth starring Herakles and Geryon, centered on their relationship and Geryon’s journey to discovering his own power. There are times when it is incredibly harrowing, but I stopped like every two pages just to process her way with words. This is the most English major offering of the year, as it works heavily in metaphor and allegory--and is also poetry--but it is worth it. 10/10. P.S. If you’re looking for more Anne Carson, I also highly recommend The Beauty of the Husband.

This is How You Lose the Time War--Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone God, I loved this book. Maybe the surprise of the year for me. The writing is absolutely gorgeous and the tropes are some of my favorites. Two women on opposite sides of a war who fall in love with each other through hidden messages and a happy-ish ending. Though it is more vignettes than an actual plot--that being said, the ending comes through--it still affected me intensely. 9/10.

The House in the Cerulean Sea--T.J. Klune Read this book, please. Please, please, please. It is the comfort you need, I promise. It’s about a weary man, stuck in the hell cycle of capitalism, who is sent on a job to an old, rickety house owned by a man who takes care of magical creatures/children than no one else will take care of. They fall in love and the mc finds a family and begins to enjoy his life. The relationship is so healing and cute and I spent half my time screaming and the other half crying. 10/10.

Gideon the Ninth/Harrow the Ninth--Tamsyn Muir I do not even know where to begin talking about these. They’re weird, hilarious, morbid, and absolutely wonderful. I would die for both mc’s, who are definitely halfway through an incredible enemies-friends-lovers plot, and this book surprised me with plot twists more than once. There are necromancers and bones and sacrifices and threesomes with God and queer characters up the wazoo and old, dangerous ruins and space and ugh. I reread these almost the second I finished--both of them--and I know I’ll need to reread before the last book comes out. 10/10.

Tell the Wolves I’m Home--Carol Rifka Brunt I gave this to every member of my family to read, almost directly after I sobbed for like forty-five minutes at the end. It’s from the POV of a young girl whose uncle dies of AIDS and can’t find comfort in her own family, because they didn’t like him nearly as much as she did. She becomes friends with the boyfriend he left behind and they heal each other through their friendship. It wrecked me and put me back together. 10/10.

These Violent Delights--Chloe Gong This book is a retelling of Romeo & Juliet in Shanghai...loosely. But it’s such a good read. Shanghai is so visceral it’s practically it’s own character and the threat of the monster lose in the city is genuinely terrifying. Juliette and Roma were together at one point, then broke up after a betrayal, and when they come back together to save the city, it creates such an interesting character dynamic that never lost my interest. Lots and lots of props too to the relationship between the Benvolio & Mercutio counterparts. I cannot wait for the continuation of that in the next book. Just...so good. 9/10.

Honorable Mentions: A Deadly Education-Naomi Novak, The Only Good Indians-Stephen Graham Jones, The Memory of Babel-Christelle Dabos (only here because it’s the 3rd book in a series, it’s a 10/10), Black Leopard Red Wolf-Marlon James, The Eye of the Heron-Ursula K Le Guin, and Fifty Words for Rain-Asha Lemmie

#book rec #books #tell the wolves i'm home #these violent delights #the locked tomb #the house in the cerulean sea #this is how you lose the time war #the autobiography of red #upstream #the vanished birds #the lost future of pepperharrow #there will come a darkness #best of 2020

65 notes · View notes

kareofbears · 3 years

Text

persona 5 strikers thoughts and feelings

This is going to be a long post. Like, the type of post you’d only really have time to read when you’re trying to sleep but you’re not ready to be unconscious yet so you’re just looking for something to do to spend your time with minimal effort.

So in 2018, a masterpiece was born into the world: Into the Spider-verse was released and it was amazing—it’s honestly the best spiderman movie we have without a doubt, and it’ll be very far into the future before Spider-verse is beaten as the best spiderman movie. Them’s the facts. Then in 2019, Spider-man: Far From Home was dropped. It’s a great movie! Great characters, great continuation of who these characters are and works fantastic as a continuation of a story. It’s really hard trying to take the torch of a previous movie (or in Marvel’s case, juggling twenty something movies) and come up with a new movie that both works on its own, as well as being the next step in this series of films. Thus, with that idea in mind, I think it’s kind of unfair to judge into the spiderverse and far from home, because these are two movies with two completely different objectives in mind.

Okay, so this is still a persona 5 strikers post, I promise, but the idea is the same: Persona 5 could basically do whatever it wanted—new story, new characters, new everything, and it’s just plain old awesome. However, Persona 5 strikers did not have that sort of freedom. It was bound to the original game, and it had its own rules and stuff it had to keep intact, characters they had to work with, and on top of that, it had to justify its existence as a sequel (lets pretend money doesnt exist lmfao).

SO, the big question is: did it do that? Did it justify its existence?

And my answer: holy fuck did it ever do that

I came into this game knowing the extreme bare minimum. I knew there was someone named Sophia, and i knew there was roadtrip, and i knew there were Personas. That’s my knowledge of it before i played it on the Switch. I should also clarify like, early on, that i was not expecting anything from this game. At all. I was the world’s biggest cynic of this game—if you scroll down my p5s tag far enough, youll just see me complaining about a game that hasn’t even come out yet. I was fully expecting to have this be a Waifu show, and any male character that isn’t Akira to just be shoved aside like some kind of nerd in a high school hallway, and i have never been more pleased to be wrong. In fact, i actually owe it an apology, because of how fucking rude i was for no reason!!! Because this game deserves everything to be honest.

Persona 5 strikers is, frankly, insane. Insane in the sense that it got to pull shit off that just would never have existed in the original game, because the original game is scared. It had to be as impressive as possible and garner as much attention as possible. Strikers does not have that problem—every single person who bought that game does not need to be convinced that persona 5 is a good game. They already played it. That means Atlus can just fuck around and have a good time, and man did they have a good time. There’s still scenes that still shock me if i think about it too hard, because i’m used to atlus having to follow this sort of rule set when it comes to persona 5 (or any of the main games im assuming, but i havent played them.) And on top of that, there’s still shit that’s Atlus Trademarked Branded in a good way. The style of story of story telling, and revealing the mystery that is so integral to what p5 is, is still there.

So, to make this even a little bit comprehensible, i will make a list!

First of all, What is this game?

In short, this game is an OVA of an anime. It’s bonus side content that has one thing in mind: to showcase these lovable characters more by putting them in fun situations. That’s it, and it is just phenomenal. That was the main point of, i’d say, like forty hours of the game. It’s just fun times with fun characters.

But to get deeper of what i think is happening, or what they were thinking during the development, is that this is a second opportunity. Persona 5 (as we all know) had a lot of problems, and we were not quiet about those problems. We yelled it all out, made posts, made complaints on every social media platform ever. And Atlus heard all of them, and Strikers is a way to mitigate those mistakes. Aside from being a fun OVA, Strikers also works to be a deeper exploration of these characters—more specifically, the characters that did not receive much in the original game. Creating this sequel is having the ability to redo what they felt (or to be more specific, we felt) in the original game while adding new ones. I will get to that in a second.

The format of the game

Absolutely brilliant to throw them on a road trip. P5V already forced us to experience Shibuya for 200+ hours, and im so glad that they didn’t do that again. Going from town to town, making us experience these new places alongside our favorite characters is so good, and it just makes sense. It’s fun, it’s lighthearted, and it’s actually shockingly good. But one thing i do want to talk about early on is the way the story unfolds and the villains that they use, and what they do with it because it’s very interesting.

So as we explore japan and stuff, we encounter jails, and with those jails comes an antagonist. This antagonist works to be a parallel to one of our characters. That character will find it in their hearts to feel bad for the antagonist, because the antagonist could have been them had the original game not happen. At first I thought all of the thieves were gonna get an antagonist, and i was really hyped for the ryuji one. And then came to hour forty of the game where i realized “yeah that’s not gonna happen. There’s just not enough time.” And i was right, and the game ended. But i am not salty at all, honestly, because the people who got a direct antagonist were: Ann, Yusuke, and Haru. (we wont count zen and sophie).

Is there a trend??? Yes. these are all characters in the original game that have received the worst treatment by atlus. The three of them are basically cast aside the minute they finished their original arc, and its horrible! BUT that’s why this is the path that atlus chose for them—to give them more depth, and screentime, and a way to show their inner self. That isn’t to say that the ones who aren’t those three (makoto, futaba, mona, akira, ryuji) didn’t get anything. Futaba still has her thing at the end with ichinose, and she was very prevalent and animated during the rest of the game. Mona and Akira have to be a focal points, that’s just the nature of the game. The other two though, I will talk about in depth in a second.

Makoto

Y’all i poke fun at shumako fans sometimes cause its kind of easy and fun, but i honestly love makoto. In my very first playthrough of p5 (my first ever jrpg game, first persona game, i had no idea what i was doing), i had only maxed out two characters: ryuji and makoto. And i know she had a lot of screentime and love in the original game which is great, but i truly felt like she was dissed in this game. Her only roles were

A driver

Someone to tell them “we don’t have a choice. Let’s keep going and see where this takes us.” (seriously, if you replay this game, you will see how much she does this)

Idk, i just wish she had more to do, especially compared to how much love they gave the other characters.

But let’s talk about some of the new characters!

Zenkichi

Damn you atlus. Damn you and your insistence at bringing in cop characters. I was fully on board with hating zenkichi, i was fucking ready for it. I was convinced that there was nothing they could do convince to like zenkichi. I was immune to their copaganda.

And then i ended up loving him, which makes me sad a little bit. I didn’t realize how desperate i was to have an adult who has a persona. Someone who wants the world to change just as much as they do, while still having that aspect of them that makes them adult. Like??? As someone who is technically an adult, its a breath of fresh air. An adult. Who fights. For justice. Using a persona. And god i love akane so much, and her obsession with the thieves (that scene is probably in my top ten fave scenes of the game). Also what i loved about zenkichi is that he fucking hates the cops!! He hates the system of the cops!! And thats why i actually really started to love him!! Because i thought it was atlus saying that the systematic problem of the police cannot be solved by one person, and zenkichi threw away his badge. I actually cried at that part!!

But then he became a cop again, and i was just :/ but as a character, i really love him to bits and would love to do a study on him, or at least use him as an outside pov. But! i absolutely love his persona, since im a les miserables fan hehe

Sophia

she’s probably my favorite new aspect of the game. I was ready to not like her—again, i just suck like that, lmfao—and when i saw her, i was scared that she was just another waifu. I mean, she was very cute after all. But then as the game went on, i thought she was a little too cute. And even further into the game, i finally slapped myself in the face and realized oh my god shes not a waifu. Shes a sister.

That blew my mind, im ngl to you. A female character that isn’t supposed to be romanced? By jove, what a miracle!

And she…is an amazing character. Im sorry, i just love her so much. I love her so much that she probably ranks as my fifth or sixth favorite character which is surprising even to me. Everything about her is delightful and invigorating. She’s funny??? Her comedic timing is amazing, and she has such chemistry with the rest of the team. She’s actually useful to the plot, and while her character design is a little too on the nose for me in terms of cuteness (i mean, good god she’s wearing oversized sweater to show how cute and tiny she is, and her hair has literal hearts in it), she is absolutely lovable.

But what i actually really wanna gush about for a second is sophia at the last stage of the game. You get the idea, i dont really like to get excited over things, so at this point i figured that there was nothing this game could do to shock me.

And then sophia had a persona awakening.

Like. holy fuck did i yell. I didnt realize what was happening until the music had already kicked in. and its just so fucking smart!!! Sophia??? The ai?? With no heart?? gOT A PERSONA???? AWAKENING??? BECAUSE SHE LEARNED WHAT THE HEART IS AND THE PASSION THAT YOU NEED IN ORDER TO GET A PERSONA??? I started crying honestly, because it was just so smart. And looking back on it now, its obvious!! Of course it would lead to this, it only made sense that the culmination of her character arc leads to her getting a persona, nothing else would have been as good. Also, her voice actor is just amazing?? When she was talking to ichinose at the end, i actually got incredibly emotional because of the line reads. Its just so spot on and it really captures the essence of sophia.

Muah. five stars Atlus. You got me.

Ryuji <3!!!!

Oh man. Oh boy. Okay. so where do i start.

Yall know i love him. Hes probably my favorite fictional male character of all time, and he is the one i was the absolute most cynical about in this game. I was expecting literally nothing. Nothing. Like. nothing. I thought he was just gonna keep being used as a joke, or a gag, and he’s gonna be super horny all the time for the other girls and it was gonna make me mad and there was gonna be some insane homophobic/queerphobic jokes in every other scene and i know i was being unfair, but i cant help it.

And then i played the first two hours of the game, and i cried the entire time. Because ryuji has never been better than he is in this game. Its crazy.

The ryuji in persona 5 strikers is who ryuji should have been/how he should have been treated this entire time. From the actual funny jokes (for example, the gold bar joke + his reaction to it in the beginning of the game), defending his female friends instead of being the one people need to defend from (natsume arc), and the fact that he was the one to be there with morgana and akira in the very beginning of the game. Its such a small thing that they didnt even need to do, but it was such an integral part of the original game for me, that i just was convinced that nothing like this was going to happen. But then it happened. Its just small stuff like that that could have been overlooked but it wasn’t because this game? Persona 5 strikers? Fucking loves ryuji.

The actual respect they gave this boy is insane and i wasn't ready for it. Like, they gave the shujin trio lunch, they gave the little charm of the katana when they were in natsume’s jail, and, in my opinion this is the second-best thing that they could have given ryuji is sophia. Ryuji and sophia are the pinnacle of a brother & sister bonding relationship in the game that isn’t akira & futaba. And its really prevalent too?? Small stuff from the beginning of the game (pulling her out of a jail, calling her shorty), but then you have the iconic “shut the fuck up” scene, and that scene was so well characterized and written and voice acted, that somehow him saying “fuck” was the least exciting part of that scene to me. Ryuji is an older brother to her, like its undoubtable, and its only further cemented at the end of the game where Ryuji helps out ichinose because he knows how much sophia cares about her. This game. Love ryuji. And i love. This game.

You know what else i love? Akiryu.

Guys. i was fully prepared to starve in terms of akiryu. But theres just. So much of it. I wont get too deep into it, because i think this aspect of the game for me still needs marinate a little bit. Like, what was that last shot when EMMA died and Ryuji walked to approach Akira so they could relish in their victory together?? And the smile from both of them??? What the fuck. That was amazing. Also Joker being saved by Ryuji when he was about to fall from the cliff to save sophia??? WHAT. The LEADER AND HIS RIGHT HAND MAN? WHAT. anyway. If theres anything i want to keep for myself in my own brain, its the akiryu aspect of this game, so i wont talk too much about that part of things (instead, itll probably manifest in fic lmfaooo).

Sure, there’s tidbits of stuff i dont like that they gave ryuji: sexualizing ann in that one cut scene and making him touch the jails even though it hurts, and i recognize those and frown at them, but for the most part, i am blown away with how they treated him.

Basically, Ryuji has never been better. From the opening of the game with him being the first text message and the one to sling his arm around akira, to the very last cut scene where it was ryuji wordlessly leaving because he’s so confident that they would never be separated for long, this game adores Ryuji and i am so so happy to say that.

The Royal aspect of things

Yeah, i had to talk about this, but itll be a short thing i just wanted to point out. Because the last part of this game...is persona 5 royal. Which is curious. Like taking reality and giving that power to someone else so you dont have to experience suffering anymore? And even like, the final section just looked a lot like the top half of maruki’s palace?? And whats even crazier is that we had a boss fight with sophia, just like how we had a boss fight with sumire? Royal and Strikers have like, the same thesis statement. It’s kind of uncanny.It’s interesting, it’s like atlus came up with these two ideas, and then just decided they liked both of them so much that they just did it twice. I don’t mind though—actually, in terms of how the last Palace/Jails go, i probably like them both about equally.

Though i did love the final battle in this one more than i did in royal. Splitting into teams?? Thats cool as fuck, and really innovative and i didnt see it coming. It also kicked my ass. A lot.

Now for the last stretch: the small stuff!

The music — bomb as fuck. In my heart, Daredevil is ranked the same as Rivers. Axe to grind is also amazing, but Daredevil owns me

Akechi — i really debated whether or not to talk about him, but i figured a bullet point should be enough. Im really shocked that he wasnt in this at all. Like not even a name drop. If this is an OVA, and the point of the game is to please the fans, and akechi is arguably the fan favorite character, i was really ready for something. But there was nothing, except for the pancake hallway if that even counts as a reference. Thats it. Thats all i wanted to say about him.

The humour — FUCKING HILARIOUS im convinced that in my fifty hour playtime, five of that is dedicated to me laughing and unable to continue the game

Akira — so much personality! His lines of dialogue are crazy sometimes (like. Whats up with him saying Ryuji has ‘nice abs’ when they were in bath? Im crazy and even i dont know what the fuck that could mean)

Battle system — oh my god i almost forgot to talk about this. I love it! I kind of miss the turn based aspect just because i found it very comforting for some reason, but this hack and slash style of gameplay is so invigorating because i do feel like it justifies shit like the baton pass and huge attacks. This battle system fully encompases how the Phantom Thieves are supposed to fight, you know what i mean?

Anyway, thats my thoughts on strikers. Loved it. Amazing. 9.3/10, wouldve been higher but Konoe’s Jail almost bored me to death. Also im a monster and i didnt do any requests that isn’t a fun one, teehee. As if i play persona 5 for the persona aspect of things.

#cant believe im done #but you know what?#i was actually at peace when i finished it #so i consider that a good healty thing #p5s #alex plays p5s #mine #p5 #my moon and stars #the leader and his right hand man

20 notes · View notes

fremedon · 3 years

Text

Brickclub 2.8.8, “A Successful Interview,” and 2.8.9, “Cloistered”

I don’t really have anything to say about 2.8.8 that Bird didn’t say in his excellent writeup, so let’s move straight on to 2.8.9, “Cloistered.”

This is a long chapter and there’s just so much here. In the first sentence, we are told, “In the convent, Cosette continued to keep quiet.” She’s been trained to be quiet and small and had only just started to trust Valjean when he went away and left her again. But by the end of the chapter, Cosette is laughing, loudly enough and often enough for Valjean to pick out her laughter from the other girls’; and, “[t]hough still not pretty, Cosette, it must be said, was becoming delightful.”

Valjean came back for her. Her faith and trust were finally rewarded, and she gets to build on that. Cosette bounces back. Valjean… hoo boy.

He puts her mourning outfit aside in a suitcase full of camphor—which is to say, an embalming chemical. For Cosette, putting off mourning is a good thing. She starts laughing again. For Valjean—the clothing of a child that no longer fits (and mourning doesn’t fit beyond its term) was the first example given of the shades of the past making an invalid claim on the present. Cosette will dub the suitcase The Inseparable; Valjean will keep it always next to his bed with the key on his person—but his distance from Cosette herself starts growing, and will continue to grow.

When there are outside errands, the elder Fauchelevent runs them, and the nuns never notice that Valjean never leaves the convent cloister: “These four walls now constituted his world. Here, he saw enough of the sky for his own serenity and enough of Cosette to be happy.”

So, firstly, FOUR WALLS. As in FOUR, as in WALLS, and as in WAR BETWEEN—three levels on which this is not a good place and Valjean’s serenity and happiness do not mitigate that.

I do like the ambiguity of the nuns either being incapable of spying on Valjean, or too preoccupied with spying on each other to bother. It’s a nice transition into Valjean’s POV on the nuns, from the narrator’s.

And it’s a big shift. All through the heist sequence, the nuns have been really worldly—driven by ambition—right up through the end of 2.8.8 where they’re humblebragging about the heist in their confessions—and focused on worldly obstacles: public health regulations, bureaucracy, fines, and the physical challenges of moving and concealing a body. From Valjean’s POV, we don’t get any of that—he doesn’t perceive the reality and individualism of the nuns that Hugo has spent a very long digression building up. Some of his observations about the convent are probably true—I’ll come back to that—but he’s idealized it to a degree that Hugo has just spent a hundred pages telling us we shouldn’t.

Which, in conjunction with all the other things I’ve been noticing about the convent this time around, leaves me really not sure what to do with this:

God has his ways, after all. The convent contributed, like Cosette, to sustaining and completing in Jean Valjean the work of the bishop. It is certain that there is an aspect of virtue that leads to pride. There is a bridge there built by the devil. Jean Valjean was perhaps unwittingly quite close to that aspect and to that bridge when providence cast him into the Petit-Picpus convent. So long as he compared himself only with the bishop, he regarded himself as unworthy and remained humble, But for some time past he had been starting to compare himself with other men, and pride was germinating in him. Who knows? He might have ended up returning very slowly to hatred.

So, to start with. This is one of those paragraphs where there’s an awful lot that’s implied but not stated, and I am learning that Hugo is usually up to a lot of trickery when he does that. Parts of this paragraph make me want to read it as Hugo’s usual brand of irony or even sarcasm—that last line undercuts itself so many times I have a hard time reading it any other way.

And I have a very hard time seeing the pride Valjean has developed as a bad thing, or regarding himself as unworthy—a tendency that’s going to increase a hundredfold in the convent—as good. The constant repetition of fours and eights, Gothic death imagery, and all the comparisons to literal jails are driving home the ways that this is not a healthy place for Valjean.

But then there’s “sustaining and completing the work of the bishop.” There’s…definitely a reading to be made that the particular work of the bishop that’s being completed here is not Valjean’s salvation or his rescue from hate and despair, but the undermining of his sense of self-worth and righteous anger. I don’t know if that’s what we’re intended to take from this. I definitely think, this time through, that the bishop isn’t set up as perfect, that we are meant to critique his way of dealing with Valjean and the world—but tying him to this place and what it does to Valjean feels like a deeper acknowledgement of fault than I get the sense the book is ready to make.

After this comes the long, point-by-point comparison of the bagne and the convent, ending with

“And in these two places, so alike and so unalike, these two species of human being, so different from each other, were devoted to the same task: expiation.

Jean Valjean well understood the expiation of the former, personal expiation, expiation for oneself. But he did not understand that of the latter, that of these blameless creatures free from sin, and he wondered with a shudder: ‘Expiation of what? What expiation?’

A voice in his conscience replied: ’That most divine of human generosities, expiation for others.’

Here, all our own thinking is set aside. As narrator, we are simply putting ourselves in Jean Valjean’s position and conveying his impressions from his point of view.

Just as whenever Hugo insists that he’s digressing onto a completely irrelevant tangent, he’s making a central point, I’m pretty sure that right here he’s stressing that these are also the views of the book and of himself, Victor Hugo.

So we do get the bottom rungs of the ladder whose top is the barricade: another republic enclosed in four walls, expiating the sins of others, but doing it more effectively—a tollgate to the future. The nuns really are attempting a great good, even if everything about how they’re going about it is inside-out.

But Valjean is going to take exactly the wrong lessons from them:

Sometimes in the evening at twilight, a time when the garden was deserted, he could be seen kneeling in the middle of the path running alongside the chapel, in front of the window he had looked through on the night of his arrival, turned towards the spot where he knew the sister who was making reparation lay prostrate in prayer. And so he prayed, kneeling before the sister. It was as if he dared not kneel directly before God.

We’ve seen him kneel like this outside the bishop’s house; and we’ll see him prostrate himself in front of Cosette’s little mourning outfit. Throughout his life, we see him approach God through intermediaries because he feels unworthy of any other approach.

But I’m also feeling echoes here of Grantaire—someone else who recognizes the divine generosity of work that he doesn’t feel worthy or qualified to join in, and can only get as far as venerating the person doing the work.

Maybe that’s what we’re supposed to take from the promissory note from the Royal and Catholic army, pasted to the wall of Valjean’s room by an ex-Chouan gardener—a piece of scrip from the other side of the revolution, kept as a souvenir with no actual value, just as Grantaire will have an old assignat in a drawer.

#brickclub #lm 2.8.8 #lm 2.8.9

4 notes · View notes

kitt3n00 · 3 years

Text

Devils Don’t Cry Part 2

3RD PERSON: Katsuki's POV: Katsuki woke up that day with a low annoyed groan. He sat up looking around his fairly neat room before sighing and standing up stretching some till he heard his back pop. '6 AM?' he thought as he glanced over at his alarm clock on his desk. Katsuki made his way over to his closet grabbing his school uniform from the hanger. He laid it on his bed and made his way to the bathroom connected to his room. Katsuki started the shower setting it fairly cold as to both wake him up and not accidently activate his quirk. He stripped off his boxers and tank top before stepping into the shower feeling the cold water run over his hot skin. After about 30 minutes in the shower he slowly turned off the water, stepped out of the tub, and grabbed his towel wrapping it around his hips. Katsuki put his dirty clothes in his hamper before grabbing some clean boxers and socks. He began to get dressed before putting his homework in his binder and then in his bag. Katsuki made his way towards the kitchen making himself a small breakfast before he gathered his stuff and left for school. He knew they were doing some rescue training and it pissed him off. He wasn't very good at being a rescue type, he much preferred fighting and preferred the rush of hero work but, understood the importance of the recuing aspect so didn't put up to much of a fight when it came to practicing it. Today they were suppose to have some new teacher, All Might and Aizawa training them for rescue. Katsuki stepped out the front door and locked it behind him so his parents wouldn't be mad then started walking down the sidewalk towards the school. He thought about how today was going to go as he walked. He stopped walking outside of an apartment complex and looked at one apartment in particular. This apartment used to belong to his childhood friend and former object of torment, Izuku Midoriya. As far as he knew Midoriya had been kidnapped, that's all anyone knew. 1ST PERSON: STILL KATSUKI: 'I wonder if he's dead.....no that damn nerd is to smart to die.' I thought as I looked at the apartments gritting my teeth hard. 'Damn Deku...' I sighed a little turning away and continuing walking. I walked into a convenience store buying a bottle of water for the walk and training later. As I left the store I swear I saw something that made my heart stop. There across the street was a green haired boy, not just any boy but that damn nerd, Deku. I stared at the green haired boy as he stared back, but something seemed...different. He was taller then I remembered, more built too like he'd been training. His hair seemed more lifeless and his eyes....his eyes were like the damn Icyhot bastards. two different colors, one a dim green and the other a bright, almost shining, ruby red. They were defiantly not his normal emerald green, full of life, happy eyes. These eyes looked dull and lifeless which was contradicting with the large grin he seemed to have plastered on his face. I looked away for just a second to make sure no cars were coming, but when I looked back...he was gone. I stood there perplexed as I stared at the now empty sidewalk on the other side of the street. 'D-did I really just see what I think I did? Was THAT really Deku..?' I wondered as I slowly began walking towards UA once again. Soon the building came into my view cutting off my thoughts as a red haired teen around my age jumps on me shouting my name "BAKUGO! You were almost late! The bells gonna ring in a few minutes! You alright dude?" I looked at him and groaned slightly in annoyance "Hey Shitty Hair. I'm fine dammit. Lets go" I said with my usual dismissive tone to the red haired idiot. We made our way towards the class him going on and on about the training we were gonna do today. As we entered the class the bell rang and Dumb Hair went to his desk and I went to mine. We took our seats as our teacher, who I would have sworn on the first day was homeless, walked into the room. He vaguely explained that we were going to another building about 10 minutes off campus by bus and that All Might in fact wouldn't be joining us and the other pro hero joining us was the rescue hero Thirteen. This sentence made Pink Cheeks nearly lose her mind as she apparently adored Thirteen. God this was going to be a tedious day wasn't it? 3RD PERSON: IZUKUS POV: Izuku stood in his room in the hideout. He had left earlier to get a few things and was delighted to see his childhood bully, Katsuki, walking to UA in a school outfit. He couldn't help but stop and stare at the male with a sickening smirk and this seemed to make the blonde boy stop in his tracks when he saw Izuku. After that Izuku hurried back to the hideout a smirk plastered on his face. He rushed through the bar door and to his room before Tomura could say anything to him. Izuku laughed in happiness remembering the look on Katsuki's face when he had seen the green haired male. He hummed as he went to his closet grabbing an outfit from within before changing into the outfit. Izuku looked at himself in the mirror after getting dressed. He had to admit the tailor they had on hand did a wonderful job. Currently he had a form fitting long sleeved dark red dress shirt on with a black button up vest with red buttons. He also had black slacks and black dress shoes all together with black gloves. Izuku left his room looking at Tomura as he left the room. "Lets gather the others and go. I'm tired of waiting around." Tomura's voice came out annoyed and scratchy. The green haired boy nodded in agreement and turned to Kurogiri and Tomura. "Lets go start a war~" Izuku basically purred as he spoke before feeling the familiar feeling of Kurogiris warp gate and darkness surround him. As they came out on the other side they soon saw they were in a warehouse. Their other base. the one with their Nomus. They knew the plan by now, since they'd been planning it for a few months by now. The plan was to take a Nomu made to specifically combat All Might, kill him, and declare a war on the false heroes. And honestly Izuku couldn't wait to watch them fall apart. But for now he would play his part and be Haikyo, the ruined hero. 1ST PERSON: KATSUKI BAKUGO: I had had about enough of this useless training trip. We had been on this bus for all of 5 minutes and everyone wouldn't SHUT UP! None of the other extras in this class knew how to mind their own business. Shitty Hair and Dunce Face were each sitting on one of my sides talking to each other and trying to get my attention in the process. Racoon Eyes and Soy Sauce Face were playing on their phones in front of me, not really talking to anyone else or each other for that matter. Everything and everyone else on the bus seemed to just...fade as I let my mind wander. Wander back to this morning when I saw- thought I saw Deku. I looked out the window watching the scenery pass by as we got closer. I wasn't ready for trying to do something I knew I wasn't gonna be great at. We soon stopped at a large building and unloaded off the bus quickly. I barely heard the female hero, Thirteen, saying something about this place and what is was called. Something like USJ? like Universal Studios Japan or some dumb shit. We all walked in as she explained more before suddenly something strange started happening. Everything went dark few a second then lit up again then dark once more and normal again. A near by fountain stopped then started again and a large blackish-purple misty thing appeared in the middle of the building. The teachers each took a protective stance wondering what was happening as multiple people started stepping out. I took a step forwards watching closely to assess what was happening when we all heard our teachers dark words. "Those are real villains" and at those words all our bloods ran cold. But no ones blood could have ran colder then mine as I saw a teen with forest green hair and one blood red eyes staring back at me. "D-Deku..." I whispered as we stared at each other, him with a maddening smirk and me with an extremely confused and worried face.

More at https://www.wattpad.com/user/kitt3n0

#bnha bakugo katsuki #bnha bakugou #bakugou x midoriya #bakudeku #bakugo #katsudeku #katsukibakugou #midoriya izuku #villain deku #villain izuku #mha fanfiction #mha #bnha fanfiction #bnha #bnha au

10 notes · View notes

sxvethelastdance · 4 years

Text

Sleep When We’re Dead

Fire God Liu Kang/Johnny Cage

Broken Timeline

A direct sequel/companion piece to I’m on Fire Again by my lovely friend over @puttingfingerstokeys

Do be warned: This here fic is first-person POV and about as artful it gets for someone who embraces the ‘patching half formed thoughts together like it’s going out of fashion’ lifestyle.

I am me, and not. It is a paradox that would have given me a headache, were I still human. The experience, the being of godhood. It is a conundrum no more solved by this sudden ascension than it is, had I deliberated on it as the Liu Kang of past and present.

He does not hear me enter the room. Rather, he sees me touch down upon the ground with more grandeur than I’d thought I had any right to after the portal has closed.

Everyone has gone off to battle. War. That is what we must call it, because that is what the circumstances demand of us, sacrifice and retaliation. We are defined by our battles. The ones we win, the ones we lose, and the ones we cannot fight. I know that my friend feels confined by these definitions, forced to watch his daughter go off without him and let go of his love a second time. It burns at him like it burns at me, knowing that I cannot stop what comes next. Only that we must deal in the aftermath.

“Liu... You’re. Holy fu-” I put my finger to his lips and let out a ‘shhh’, noting the questions that fill his face. We must keep it down, lest the late Grandmaster’s students come running. My presence is intentional, but I would rather not deal with the effects of my interference outside of our reunion. He knows that I am here, and somehow… I think he knows that this is my final stop before I join the others. What I hope is left of them when all is said and done. One cannot predict Shang Tsung’s machinations, only the inevitability of his betrayal.

“I try to keep my promises when I can.” I look into his eyes and I see hurt and a fire that matches mine. I see his incomprehension and interest, and I find that the fire that envelops me is not in the literal.

“I’m uh. Diggin’ the mop-top.” Or it is, and the cause is Johnny himself. That is more likely. My hands are at his arms, the same way his had been on mine all those years ago. He jokes, something about a “role reversal” and Reptile having been some variation of a “demon scaly” and I laugh. I am not above that, I will never be above that. Nor do I see myself above him outside of the most literal of contexts here.

I want to make up for lost time, but with so few hours (minutes, moments. They are all one in the same) until my presence is required at the hourglass, I know that I cannot close the wound that I have opened. But there is time. Enough for one a last kiss. Because no matter what happens at the dawn of time, the things that have come to pass under my eye, they cannot stand.

I do not lie.

I did not lie.

I lied.

What else can I do, when faced with enemies who have lied and slaughtered their way through the best of us? Who fight tooth and nail for the undoing, even if it is their own? It is madness, and perhaps that is what is required this time. Madness.

I think no more on the subject when his lips are on mine, and that phantom flame ignites in my chest. I haven’t seen him in 25 years, and yet I saw him hours ago. Another paradox, another longing. He moves with purpose, as do I. We are both desperate and lonely in our own way. Our paths, crafted as they were by the mad titan were ours to walk. And walk we did until the time where we met again. I wrap my hand in his, still clutching the headband bestowed upon him by my other self, and he presses himself to me as if I’ll dissolve like the sands that dictate our lives.

“You know the deal, kicky longstockings.” Johnny says, a watery laugh escaping him. I find beauty in it the same way that I find beauty in the creases of his face, the mark of his survival. No longer am I bitter about this, that I died young, no longer do I mourn for the man I never got to be. I have made peace with that, I have let go. I do not let go of him, my other hand squeezing tight enough to deepen the bruises that color him from what I assume are the previous night’s encounters. I know the deal, so I seal his mouth with mine again, and we take what comfort we can from this, my fingers wiping away at what tears have gathered at the corner of his eyes.

He brushes the hair from my face (what I have left out in my ascension) and I feel sparks, both phantom and real dance upon my skin. The way that Johnny shakes out his hand gives me pause, but he’s having none of that.

“I’m good, I’m good- Just...Whoa.”

‘Whoa’ indeed. Fire is natural for me, but Lord Raiden’s gifts… I am unsure of how to describe it. They amplify the powers that I possess, but I am not completely unaware of the nature of these forces combined. This is another thought that loses itself in the hands that had found their way to my chest somewhere along my deliberation, a smirk planted firm on Johnny’s face. I may be a God, but the heat that washes over me is just as I felt it when I was alive. I am alive, death does not feel like this. My hands are hot on his skin, flushed red with delight. He knows what this does to me; and I know what I am going to do about it.

Some things never change.

This makes climbing atop him less an impulse and more an inevitability, though I am mindful of his leg. His current state of undress makes this endeavor a small undertaking, even if he is anything but. And much to my disappointment he has removed his hands from where they are in favor of my pants. Though I cannot stay mad for long with where his hands are. His neck is a sufficient target for my frustrations.

We try to take our time, but I have mourned him once and he has mourned me twice, all to prepare himself for the unanticipated third time around. I cannot help the way my hands pull him to me anymore than he can help the way that his fingernails dig into my shoulder blades, welts in their wake. Sinking into him ignites a flame that not even my hottest strikes can compare to, and kissing him is just as I remember it. Better in some ways, even. The value of time comes full circle here, and it makes my heart beat without mercy. I know he feels the same, if not for the rapid-fire teasing, then for the hitch of his breath when I bear down upon him.

“Still have it in you, old timer?” He breathes deep through his nose, sweat gathering on his skin. It’s more tantalizing than it has any right to be. But what is Johnny, if not someone known to break the rules of what he can and cannot have.

“If the ‘it’ is you, then sure thing, turbo.” He grins fiercely, and we are at odds again. If there’s anything else to be said here, it is that Johnny Cage has a talent for pushing just where he needs to for what he wants. I can also say that i shamelessly rise to the task, teeth and tongue to put that mouth to rest.

One of the most fearsome aspects of godhood is the idea that I could go on for what would be eternity to a human. There is a satisfying ache in my bones, but I feel no real exhaustion, tangled up in him. His scent, that insatiable wit, the sunglasses that catch what little light that enters the room, characterized by their lack of presence on his face. It’s strange to see the man without them. But I find that I do not mind, having spent more time than I could ever bring myself to admit peering behind them. Putting together the pieces of a man with a deceptive wit and a need to be understood for more than an image. A well-crafted one, but an image nonetheless.

This realization does not ‘hit’ me so much as it spreads. In my heart, in my lungs, in my veins. I see someone I understand. Someone I never had the chance to fully know, but someone I understand. That is what makes it so hard to part from him. Unlike my other self, it is daylight, and I cannot spare him the pain of watching me go. I can tell him that he has done well, that I am proud, and he can scold me for being so formal, something so uniquely Johnny to say. The air is tense, and I know what I must do. We both know that it’s time.

I had moved to open the portal when he stopped me, resistance keeping me from slipping forward through the time stream. He hasn’t let go of my hand. Nor I of his.

It seems we are both having trouble here.

“Liu?”

“Yes, Johnny?” He looked at me with a fondness that dissolved my tension and I squeezed his hand, my heart beating.

“Kick the old lizard’s ass for me. Maybe slap baldy on the dome if she’s still up and tickin.” There’s humor in his voice, but I am aware of what this communicates. He is saying “do not forget me.” And how could I ever do such a thing? Johnny Cage is unlike any man I have met, and for this I feel that the blessing was not the gifts which bring me above my mortality, but the chance to meet someone so bright and blinding. There is much room in my heart for him, I have missed him and I cannot find the words to tell him this, I wish I could. But I cannot. I can, however, bring his hand to my lips. His eyes, blue as the dawn of time (I have seen it, felt it. I know now.) are wide. He hadn’t expected that. But even I am known to have the element of surprise every now and again.

“I will tell them who it’s from.” And then we are laughing again. I cannot help but pull him into another kiss. There’s a certain delight in the way his stubble, what little of it there is, scratches my cheeks. This feels less like goodbye, and more like “until we meet again.”

In another time and place, I know that we will.

#Caged Heat #Liu Kang #Johnny Cage #Aged heat #Dance Break!#ficlets #( Will come up with a fic tag at a later date )#( Better bring your cobs cause there's some corn up in this shit #my fics

7 notes · View notes

the2020romanceproject · 4 years

Text

Review: Red, White, and Royal Blue

You guys. This book. This book is FREAKING AMAZING. This is basically everything I wanted from a romance novel. I am probably ruined for other romance novels now because this one is SO GREAT.

Not going to do a full summary of this one, because 1) lots of stuff happens (which is part of why it’s so great), and 2) I want everyone to read it and don’t want to completely spoil it. But the basic premise is that Alex is the son of the sitting U.S. president and Henry is a prince of England, and—according to Alex, anyway—they start out hating each other. Then they inadvertently cause an international incident and have to pretend to be friends for P.R. reasons, and feelings happen and so do lots and lots of other things and it is ADORABLE and ANGSTY and PLOTTY and all the characters are amazing and I can marry this book, yes? Thank you.

I was worried when I started reading romance novels. I was worried that the strength of the romance-focused plots found in fanfiction would be diluted by the need to include other aspects of plot. Then I read a couple of romance novels and was worried that the strength of the romance-focused plot would be diluted by romance-genre customs like having the characters sleep together halfway through even if that destroys all the tension. This book is proof that neither of those things has to be a problem. It had an excellent romance plot that was only enhanced by the very robust political and interpersonal subplots that happened around it. I am SO impressed.

Okay, the romance plot first. Here are some of the things I liked about it (spoilers, caution):

Alex didn’t realize he was attracted! He didn’t even realize he was bi!*

But he obviously was attracted to Henry

Henry was obviously into him (obvious to everyone except Alex, that is)

We were only in Alex’s POV and not Henry’s and so we got to enjoy the dramatic irony of the above

Alex is very stupid about his own sexual past and how normal best friends act together

Everyone else knew basically all of this before Alex did

Even after they got together, Alex lied to himself about how he was falling in love even those it was clear that he was

Henry had real reasons for backing off from the relationship and being scared

The characters had SO MUCH DEPTH omg

Their banter! It was so good

I really liked both of them and believed that they were better together

(*It’s super legit to write characters who do know they’re queer. I just personally love it when they don’t know, because it speaks to my didn’t-realize-she-was-bi-until-age-25 soul.)

These plot elements are not specific to fanfiction. There’s plenty of fanfiction that doesn’t do all or even any these things. But they’re also all very common in fic, and when you put them all together it felt very much like the kind of romance plot I might have come across on AO3. I hope these plot elements aren’t unusual in the romance genre, either, because I find them SO effective and satisfying.

Take Alex not realizing at first that he was attracted. This is something I was surprised by in the other romance novels I’ve read so far: that those characters saw each other and were immediately like, “Yup, that’s my type of person, super into that body!” And...that’s fine, I guess? A little alien to me, since I don’t tend to experience attraction that way, but I guess there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s a bit of a missed opportunity, though, because it jumps right over the potential tension of us watching and waiting for the character to realize they’re attracted.

Granted, it can be hard in a book with original characters to signal to the reader right away that yes, these two people are going to be into each other. I can see why many romance novels include that initial recognition of attraction. But this book is proof that you don’t need to do it that way. It’s completely clear to the reader that Alex is going to be into Henry—that he already is, and isn’t recognizing that attraction for what it is—and we still get to watch him go on the delightful journey from, “Ew, this guy is the worst” to “Oh crap I’m actually super into him.”

I think this is getting at a fundamental type of tension that was missing from the first two romance novels I read. I talked about the difference between sexual and romantic tension, and that stands, but each of those comes in a couple varieties: there’s the tension between what the characters want and what they have, and then there’s the tension between what the characters want and what they THINK they want. In The Soldier’s Scoundrel, those two things are pretty much the same: the two characters know they’re attracted to each other, and then, as they go through each step of falling in love, they acknowledge it openly in the narration. That’s fine but kind of boring, and it means that instead of waiting for the characters to catch up to their own feelings, we’re waiting for those feelings to form. It is just plain not as interesting to wait for a character to develop a feeling as it is to wait for them to acknowledge a feeling they’re hiding from themselves. Plus, people are bad at recognizing their own desires! It’s a thing! Especially when those desires are inconvenient or unexpected or would leave them vulnerable. There are plenty of good ways to introduce this tension without it feeling forced, and it can add so much.

(This is probably part of why I like characters who don’t recognize that they’re queer, actually—it adds another layer to the knowledge gap. But, again, that’s largely a personal preference, and I recognize the value of a variety of queer experiences in literature.)

The other thing this book did that I think strengthened the romantic plot in a major way was to stick to one point of view. I honestly don’t think I would have said a month ago that I felt so strongly about this. Most of the fic I’ve read is in one point of view, and I’ve never really thought about the alternative. But I’m starting to realize that switching points of view can take a reader out of the characters’ heads in really unfortunate ways. The human experience just never involves knowing absolutely what someone else is thinking. So if you’re living through a character’s eyes, experiencing the world as them...you shouldn’t know what a different character is thinking. Not every story has to immerse us in a character’s head to this degree—but romance should, I think. That’s the fun of it. And it just doesn’t work as well with two points of view. Plus, you lose the question of what exactly the other person is thinking, and even if you can pretty much guess—well, again, you’re going to be more fully in the main character’s head if you have to guess instead of knowing.

And the tension. Oh man. There isn’t one thing this book did to ensure continual tension in its romantic plot; it just did a fantastic job of transitioning between one kind of tension and the next. (Major spoilers ahead.) First Alex doesn’t think he’s into Henry, even though the reader can tell he has a crush. Then Henry kisses him and Alex realizes he’s attracted, but we get sexual tension because Henry’s not talking to him and then because it’s hard for them to end up in the same place at the same time (situational tension). Then we start to get romantic tension where Alex is in love but doesn’t recognize it, and then later when Alex knows he’s in love but isn’t saying it yet. Then more romantic tension when Alex finally confesses and Henry walks away (which, btw, major props to this book for succeeding at having someone walk away from a love confession and not having me think any less of their potential relationship). Then they finally get together for real but there’s the situational tension of them maybe doing serious damage their respective governments. Every single time one kind of tension gets resolved, there’s another kind waiting in the wings, ready to take over. It’s just...what a masterpiece.

So, yes, excellent romance plot, top marks. Everything surrounding the romance was fantastic, too, which just...that is SO HARD TO DO. One of my questions at the start of this year of reading was whether romance novels would feel more like novels than fanfiction does, and this one certainly does. There’s a phenomenon in fanfiction, and I noticed it in previous romance novels, too, where the outside world just sort of...dips into view where convenient, and then recedes from view without having real consequences or significant continuity. And that’s fine. It works better in fanfiction than in original works, I think, because fanfiction can draw on an independent canon or fanon. But in both places, it results (or can result) in a very strong romance where nothing else in the world matters much to the story, and that’s okay.

But this book. There was so much plot! So much world, and I cared about all of it! ALL the characters are extremely well-drawn, and I cared about their mini-arcs. The political situation interacted with and enhanced the romance plot but also mattered in its own right and had its own complexities. And none of it made the romance feel any less present or central or powerful. It was so well done.

Okay. I’m done gushing now. I’m moving on to what I hope will be a recurring new feature: fanfiction I’m going to recommend based on this book. These are all stories that I thought about while reading Red, White, and Royal Blue, and if you liked the book, you might want to explore these. (It’s worth noting that I regularly read fanfiction without knowing anything about the canon. I know that weirds some people out, but if you’re on the fence, I would encourage you to give it a try!)

Let Toretto Be Toretto (The Fast and the Furious political AU, by astolat)—oh man, astolat. Truly the best of us all. This one is much shorter and doesn’t have the prince aspect, but it’s a fanastic journey through gay pining and the presidency.

The Student Prince (Arthur/Merlin college AU, by fayjay)—this felt like the most obvious comparison story for me. Fanfiction boasts a plethora of modern-day prince AUs across many fandoms, but this is one I read recently and really enjoyed. The non-romance plot is less robust than in Red, White, and Royal Blue, but there are a lot of strong similarities.

Not Easily Conquered (Steve/Bucky, by dropdeaddreams and WhatAreFears)—Henry and Alex’s emails reminded me so strongly of this one. All-around gorgeous.

And now, on to the next romance novel that I will almost inevitably be disappointed in after this phenomenon. Someone tell me when Casey McQuiston publishes something else.

#reviews #romance novels #red white and royal blue #fanfic meta

43 notes · View notes

megalodont · 4 years

Note

11, 21, 34, 36, 47? <3

11. Books and/or authors who influenced you the most

gosh that is hard! ohh, i don’t know who influenced my style bc i don’t know what my style even is..i can’t see it from the outside. whichever author i read at a formative age who uses an unfortunate number of em dashes must be my biggest influence ^^;; but in terms of other aspects of writing....the kate daniels series by ilona andrews was the first series to make me really care about action scenes, from a writing stand point, and it is probably at least partially responsible for my obsession with dialogue. it’s not a specific author (although if i had to pick one, idk. loretta chase?) but i think i can still see the echoes of my youthful love affair with regency romance in my writing; when i am writing modern dialogue, or just anything that’s firmly entrenched in the pov of a modern character, i often find myself rewording my instinctual phrasing of things bc they are so old timey. so if you ever read a sentence that is a bit formal and archaic, that’s me being unfiltered! hahaha

21. Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write?

hmm, who is my favourite. well, my favourite to torture with horrible plot ideas while trying to sleep is jc, but actually writing him is tough bc everything i want to write about him involves Emotions and his Internal Experience and doing Character Study, and i am both lazy. and baby. wwx, on the other tentacle, is incredibly easy to write, i could write him all day, i could write 6k of him right now, but..ehhhh he doesn’t exactly fascinate me. not an indictment on him, there are just heaps of other characters who personally grab me more. nhs is pretty easy and ofc i love him. hmm, of the characters i’ve written i have to say....probably jingyi is my favourite to write! he’s got an easy “voice” and i’m rabid about him. but just for fun i’ll make a prediction; (for some unearthly reason even i cannot understand) i haven’t written any xue yang yet, but i suspect he will end up being a favourite. he seems like he would be easy to pick up the “voice” for, and we all know. that i am utter trash for him. to my chagrin and his delight, i am sure.

34. What was the hardest scene you ever had to write?

ooh, hmm. possibly the smut in i do it so it feels like hell? smut is always either super easy to write or super hard. also any action scene i’ve written, aside from the ones in The World Is Not Enough (i’ll save ya a click cap; it’s captain america fanfiction) which just worked for me and consequently are my best.

36. Last sentence you wrote

i’ll take this to mean the last sentence i wrote for fun haha, otherwise it would be VERY boring and also get me fired and/or sued. it...it might have been for Trick honestly, i have be so tired i haven’t done any writing this week, but i’ll take it to mean for a wip so that would be:

“They were for children.”

i wonder if you can guess the context? i suspect so

47. Best way to procrastinate

the boring answer is tumblr lol, but the answers get more interesting the more desperate i am to distracted myself (ie the closer my [even self-imposed] deadline is): watching fashion history videos, diving deep into my folders to find unpublished wips and story ideas from years ago, looking up increasingly specific peer reviewed literature on google scholar, falling into the rabbithole of wiki articles on obscure conlangs, going outside to take a breath of fresh air and feel the grass under my toes--i’m fucking with you this one isn’t real i haven’t been outside in eleven years

anyway thank you for messaging me this link on discord bc tumblr is nonfunctional tagging me, it was fun! now i’m going to go read your responses! <3

#ask meme #paris writes #captain-apostrophe

1 note · View note

vaguely-concerned · 4 years

Text

Mass Effect: Annihilation thoughts

TL;DR I fucking LOVED IT, a balm to my heart after struggling through Nexus Uprising! Also canonical lesbians! The sweetest quarian & his badass grandma! Elcor Hamlet except this time it’ll make you cry!!!

- Aaaaaah the audiobook reader is Tom Taylorson (so male Ryder)!! Fryda Wolf (female Ryder) read the two others and did a nice job, but man I’m soft for his voice in a way only rivaled by (...outside-of-Overwatch!)Jennifer Hale and Nicholas Boulton haha. He also has a much better handle on the pronunciations and voices for the different alien species -- delightful, I’m still cackling over his pitch perfect elcor impersonation. (Bioware please give him more Scott Ryder to voice I miss my son)

- I’m only about half an hour in and this is already SO much better than Nexus Uprising, it really does feel like a brave new galaxy haha. Very funny, very warm and smart and engaging in how it does its characterization and Valente clearly has affection for the setting and the universe, she and Jemisin both do incredible jobs with these.

- I’m fucking crying laughing at this cross-species near-brawl over a flower arrangement, god I love Mass Effect SO MUCH (what a neat idea though. something blooming quietly even when no one can see it. impractical as hell and hilariously including a high-nutrition celery now, but still neat)

Taylorson continues to wonderful things with the voices, that volus suit sound is so good. (he’s just generally really good at comedy) also a volus bellowing insults ‘moments before punching an anti-bouquet batarian in the groin’ sdafhjklsahfsjadkhfklajshdfkjlsadhf

- a high as a kite elcor... what a time to be alive, to get to read this book

I have already reached the ‘I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS BAR’ stage with these characters, hard boiled drell detective lady and sweet sweet quarian first officer and manically enthusiastic elcor doctor TOT I would die for any one of you!!!

- The quarian/multispecies ark was built for long-term habitation, potentially over multiple generations. So what you’re telling me is that the quarians are the only ones who fucking thought this through and the rest of the Initiative probably should have listened to the people who’ve essentially been living on arks for ages. Who’d’ve thunk huh lol. (I guess the in-universe explanation is that people like the mysterious benefactor just wanted those arks yeeted to Andromeda ASAP, no time to get fancy in case the Reapers changed up their schedule. Fair enough)

- ;n; petition to let senna have a SAM pls (also uh. how happy do you think the stringently anti-AI quarian pathfinder will be when he finds out about everyone else’s SAMs lol lol lol he’s going to PASS OUT FROM RAGE upon meeting ryder. well he sounds like an asshole, I hope he dies so senna gets a chance)

- I can’t BELIEVE yorrik is an anti-stratfordianist, i am betRAYED! disgraceful, how can I still love you knowing this (and yet I do he is extremely funny and sweet)!!! (at least his theory is that this so-called ‘shakespeare’ was actually an elcor, which makes it better somehow lol. anything so long as he’s not an oxfordian tbh)

senna and yorrik’s friendship is so good and wholesome

- I really love the consistent alien POVs in this book, mass effect should indulge in this more -- everyone loves this universe so much, bioware, stop making us squint through a human lense to look at it!!

- oh of course quarian ‘pirates’ exist, the people who’re thrown out of the fleet must be doing something huh.

- haven’t written that many notes in a while just because I’m enjoying myself so much, I keep forgetting

- lfsdkhfsajkldhfskadjhfsjakdfhsdkjfh communist volus!!!! this is not a drill, communist volus! I am completely and utterly charmed by this entire book

- the quarian ancestor VI is so interesting and weirdly touching. senna is adorable (and relatably neurotic lol)

grandma AI smoking T___________T I love everything about this, she’s so cool. the worldbuilding being done around pre-geth revolution rannoch here... exquisite

- way to make me cry about batarians cat valente ;_______;

- the voice acting is SO FUCKING GOOD! I keep forgetting it’s one dude reading all these characters haha, I caught myself wanting to look up who voiced this dying batarian. (special shoutout that he does so many wonderfully distinct and specific female voices!)

- haHA I KNEW the quarian VI was a full AI (or near enough that it makes little difference tbh)!!! this fabulous grandma was self aware the entire time b i t c h e s !!!!

- the running joke of borbala’s ‘you need ______? I can make _______ happen’ is SO satisfying hahaha

ooooooh serious femslash vibes!!!! initially I thought batarian ex-crime matriarch was too old for drell PI, but this is undeniable. (I don’t think we actually ever get to know how old annex is, anyway, come to think of it) I guess if asari get to be five times older than everyone else and still fuck freely this isn’t really that weird lol

- “don’t look! it’s not so bad if you don’t look!” ofhsdalfhskldlsfjas oh senna baby boy

hey qetsi? qetsi both senna and I love grandma liat more than you. stand the fuck down

- NOOOO GRANDMA LIAT ;______________________________________;

- do you think SAM could meet liat (either ship!liat or just grandma!liat).... and have... a friend ;_________; (a cool laidback friend who isn’t a murderous angaran ai who might very well go the murder suicide sort of friendship route lol)

anyway I miss SAM a lot and love him??

- yorrik noooooooooooo this is awful everything is bad and terrible I love all of them so much why must senna be sad and watch everything he loves fade away 😭😭😭

“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand?” He realized he’d forgotten to preface the words with an emotion. Now they wouldn’t understand what he meant.

Oh. Oh what a way to drive home the sadness and loneliness of this moment f u c k (and again the emotion taylorson brings to it jesus cHRIST)

I’m destroyed over how much senna and yorrik love each other, cross species found family out here wrecking my heart in true mass effect style

- yorrik is such a great character though. he’d be so easy to make a one-note joke character (like most elcor have been in canon lbr), but there’s nuance and depth and just enough satsifyingly believable alienness there. (I love the staunch elcor ‘you can’t call anything love that hasn’t lasted at least two centuries’ perspective haha) his memories of his childhood and disappointment with his profession and everything... goodnight sweet prince indeed :(

- they went and made elcor hamlet heartbreaking how dare they

(to be real for a second I think some of the human culture references are a little bit clunky, but the elcor hamlet stuff is perfect. contextualizing a throwaway joke from the original trilogy and giving it emotional depth, helping us see it from the elcor perspective and how frustrating and lonely it is to be so fundamentally not emotionally understood or seen on a level most of the other races are, despite their other differences, even though you have all these feelings and want to communicate... its very good.)

fun additional fact: both mordin and yorrik have played/wanted to play polonius in a production of hamlet! though I guess mordin is the slightly problematic fave in that duo and yorrik is a sweet melancholic angel who has never done anything wrong in his life, I would say protect him but I guess it’s too late for that D:

- qetsi giving off some real ophelia vibes here, I wish yorrik was here to see it, he’s the only one who’d properly appreciate it despite it all

- I. am. SO FUCKING HUNGRY for more mass effect after this (well even more so than usual) I’m so hyped!! I love this universe so much! I want a new andromeda game with senna as quarian pathfinder and grandma liat as the ship’s AI and see how they interact with ryder and SAM! (honestly though I feel like senna might be the one who’d translate the most cleanly into a game, I think there’s a lot of potential in him that’s barely being realized towards the end there with his deep righteous rage cutting through his uncertainty. also I just want nice things for him. is that so much to ask. he is a good boy, yorrik was so right.)

- aaaah not just femslash vibes, canonical lesbians, this is not a drill! I can’t wait until they propose... ‘we get shit done together, want to be in good cop/bad cop with me until the day we die y/n?’

- the ME universe doesn’t feel quite itself without all these ‘background’ species hanging around, I suddenly realize. I dream of an Andromeda sequel with all of them on the board and in play again Y-------Y

- potential Liat and SAM dynamics are so fucking interesting though! if she becomes/is confirmed as a full AI (all I hope and dream of), you’ll have two artificial intelligences with such different starting points but not that dissimilar goals? Liat was an organic person once who’s looking out for her family even now, and SAM is completely artificial but also intimately tied to and protecting His People. (and pulling a whole lot of symbolic weight re: the strength of familial/interpersonal relationships to boot; he’s the best way alec ryder managed to connect with his children. even though he was dead. because as established alec ryder was a disaster of a person)

- I enjoyed the loose murder mystery structure of this quite a lot, but that might also be because nexus uprising is so shapeless and meandering by comparison that I’d be relieved by anything else (sorry I’ll stop ragging on NU soon it just. took some hours of my life I can’t get back)

- jemisin did great stuff for characters already in andromeda (cora, SAM, alec ryder) and valente made me remember just why I love this universe so much and desperately want these aspects brought to andromeda too... and now I’ve exhausted all the fresh mass effect content I had available to me and will sit here consumed with lust for the rest of the time it takes for a new game to be announced thank you and goodbye

#mass effect #mass effect andromeda #mass effect annihilation #*vibrates silently with cravings for more mass effect all while knowing it's gonna be a good goddamn while yet*#thank you cat valente this was a very nice gift

19 notes · View notes

nicolasnelson · 4 years

Text

Sizzie fic - Wake from the Chaos [oneshot]

Title: Wake from the Chaos Relationship: Lizzie Saltzman/Sebastian Additional Tags: Sebastian's POV, Canon Compliant, Enemies to Lovers Words: 4,452

Summary: Everything changes when Sebastian meets Elizabeth Saltzman. He has a chance at life and love, even if it means sacrificing his freedom. But will he be able to win over Elizabeth after making her think she hallucinated him?

Requested by Anon // Prompt: The one-shot could be about Sebastian pov from the moment he woke up, what he thought about Lizzie, the school and etc.

[AO3 LINK]

Sebastian had never felt a connection quite like this. Elizabeth had called to him like a siren, but he’d been hesitant to heed the call. He’d been asleep for far too long, or something like sleep. A land of dreams, memories, unending agony over the loss of his beloved Cassandra.

But Elizabeth had awoken something in him. He knew not how his body came into contact with blood, only that the blood was rancid and inadequate. And yet, it was just enough for him to wander through this world again like a specter in the night.

He could feel a strong presence, a young lady, with the same fiery, passionate spirit as his great love. It had been impossible to ignore the call. Gazing upon her beauty after so many years of darkness had made him believe for just a minute that heaven could be real.

But no, that wasn’t the place for a man like him. He’d piled up the bodies higher than those on plague wagons. With his feast, he was a plague himself, tearing through whatever tasty piece of flesh crossed his path.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” the gorgeous siren said, and he had to laugh at the irony of it all. She could do nothing to harm him, even if she’d wanted to, and she really had no idea what he was capable of, what he’d done. What he could do. Even in this sad, miserable ghostlike state.

He could still hurt her. If he wanted to.

Sebastian should not have given his name when she asked. For it allowed her the opportunity to give hers, and that was the worst thing she could have done. It made her real, made her more than just a way out of this hellish nightmare. Elizabeth. He couldn’t help but see her as his savior, as beautiful as an angel, with the eyes of a devil. It awakened a desire in him he’d thought long dead.

And now was the moment to ask for her help, to finally be free. He had her exactly where he wanted as they sat by the lake. The question was halfway out of his mouth when Elizabeth noticed a figure holding a strange box in his hands.

Sebastian felt himself blinking away. It was hard to keep that form when Elizabeth was not focused on him.

And when he tried to reach for her again, he found the connection had broken. A familiar sadness settled inside him, a reminder that guys with pasts like his did not get happy endings. It had been foolish to think even for a moment that he might be able to have something with Elizabeth.

But he would not give up on his quest to restore his body. He was done festering in a box. So he found another way, another person he could reach. Not the right person, but it got him into the school. And once in there he found a willing ally, a lonely guy in desperate need of a friend.

Sebastian instructed the poor fool to give him just enough blood to wake his body. And once he could move freely, he arose from his box and bit into that lonely boy’s neck. And drank deep.

If it weren’t for Elizabeth, he would have killed the boy. He did not know the rules of this place. Therefore, he could not risk violating them, for fear he might never see Elizabeth again.

It was many days and many painful memories later before the idiotic vampires who managed to capture him let him see Elizabeth.

Her voice was music to his ears. “No more secrets.”

“That sounds reasonable,” he said sincerely. After all, it did sound reasonable, but he was careful not to word it as a promise. There were still a great many things he didn’t want Elizabeth to know.

She turned to look at him, but she didn’t greet him with the smile he was expecting. Elizabeth thought he was a hallucination, a sign that she was on the verge of another breakdown. He couldn’t blame her. That bumbling turnip had made her think she was imagining him. If it weren’t for Milton, he would have gotten Elizabeth to help revive him. He was certain she would have done it too. She’d played right into his hands like soft clay.

“You can see him?” Elizabeth asked the brunette girl beside her.

Milton stepped beside Sebastian. “Everyone can.”

Elizabeth’s eyes burned. “You two had better explain everything right now.”

“For hundreds of years I was trapped in a mere semblance of existence, a shadow of my former glory,” Sebastian began.

“The Spark Notes version,” Elizabeth said, cutting him off with a sharp glare.

“She means that you should get to the point,” Milton explained.

“Yes, I gathered as much. Just because I have been desiccated in a box for five hundred years does not mean my brain has rotted, you turnip.” Sebastian smacked the back of Milton’s head. “I have excellent deduction skills.”

“Well, your explanation skills are extremely lacking,” Elizabeth said, crossing her arms. “How can everyone see you now? You said you were desiccated.”

“Yes, the sparkling notes of it is that I was desiccated by a witch whom I loved very much. She did it to protect me from the Croatoan. That amulet your friend used to destroy that monster was given to me by her. Elizabeth, you must know that I never intended to hurt you.”

“You seduced me to, what, get me to restore your body?”

“Well, yes,” Sebastian admitted. “That is how it started at least. I felt drawn to you, as you were to me. I was able to reach your mind, to be seen by you, and—”

“You tried to take advantage of my feelings,” Elizabeth accused, fire on her tongue. “You let me think you were a real physical being. I told everyone about you. You didn’t think to mention to me, just once, that I was the only person who could see you? You can be as charming as you want, but I can see through you now, Saruman.”

“Lizzie, just let him speak,” Milton said.

She turned a fierce glare on him. “You’re just as bad as he is. How long have you known he was real? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Milton shrugged. “I didn’t think you’d handle it well.”

“How long, MG?”

“I don’t know. Four or five days. But I wasn’t sure if he was real. I thought I was hallucinating too, you know? And then I didn’t even agree to help him. He tricked Wes into reviving him.”

“You mean Wade?”

“Yeah, him. He’s alive. Don’t worry. He just used him to get enough blood to be revived. But I’m not defending him. What he did was wrong. He shouldn’t have lied to you, Lizzie.”

“And you shouldn’t have either, MG. I just can’t deal with you guys right now.” She grabbed the brunette girl’s arm. “Come on, Josie. Let’s let lying vampires lie.”

They stormed out of the gym.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Sebastian said.

Milton hung his head. “I should never have unchained you. Come on, I let you talk to Lizzie. You promised you’d come with me to the headmaster’s office.”

“Oh, yes, so he can decide whether to kill me or not. Lead the way, Milton, but you should be warned that I am prepared to take you hostage should the need arise.”

Milton rolled his eyes, looking resigned. “Let’s just see what Vardemus has to say.”

…

As it turned out, Vardemus was not in any rush to release Sebastian into the wild. He thought it would be better to punish Sebastian by enrolling him in the school.

Sebastian was very irked by this decision, but it wasn’t like he had anywhere else to go. So what if he had to attend a few dull classes? Besides, the closer he was to Elizabeth, the better chance he had at winning her back. She would be furious for a few days, but he knew how she felt about him. Waiting for Elizabeth would be nothing compared to the five hundred years he’d spent in that blasted box.

The headmaster provided him with a set of school uniforms, and he was allowed to spend a small amount of money at the bargain shop in town. With Milton and Kaleb’s supervision of course. They went at night since Sebastian did not have one of those fancy rings they wore that kept them from burning in the sun. It was remarkable how much technology had advanced in the time he’d been gone. He was fascinated by every aspect of it. All the flashing lights and startling sounds, the winds that blew out of air vents, the steel vessels that people steered through the streets.

But the townspeople he encountered were the worst. They all shot him suspicious glances and held their purses tightly against their chests. Even in ordinary clothes, he appeared as a threat. The human instinct was to avoid danger. Unless, of course, you were Elizabeth Saltzman.

She knocked on his door the morning of October the first with an unexpected gift for him.

“It’s a daylight ring, or it will be once I enchant it. I need you to come with me today.”

Sebastian smiled, thrilled at the invitation. He’d been waiting all week for Elizabeth to come to him, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so soon. “Why I would be delighted to accompany you, Elizabeth.”

She rolled her eyes and pushed past him. “Come on, let’s enchant this damn thing.”

“Will it protect me from the sun permanently?” Sebastian asked, curious.

“Not exactly. I have it in my power to undo the spell at any moment.” Elizabeth smirked, a hint of danger behind those eyes. “So I suggest you behave yourself.”

Elizabeth walked over to the window and pulled back the curtains enough to create a sliver of light across the wooden floorboards. Sebastian was surprised to see it was snowing outside, unusual weather for this time of year. Elizabeth explained that she needed sunlight for the spell to work. She claimed that the sunlight through the snow would be enough. Hopefully she was right.

Sebastian watched her while she worked. Her pale blond hair danced through the soft sunlight as she leaned over the ring she’d placed on the floor. She was kneeling beside it, muttering some incantation in a language Sebastian didn’t care to remember.

Her hair shifted, exposing her neck for a moment, and he remembered with startling clarity the hairstyle she had worn to the sports game. All of it pulled back in a fine braid, her neck completely visible for all to see. So beautiful. He’d always found a long elegant neck to be one of the most attractive features a woman could have. That and her sharp eyes, accentuated by those dark brows. It was enough to make his imagination run wild.

He’d felt an intimacy with her in that moment underground. He had revealed what he was to her, taking a calculated risk, sensing that the danger would draw her in. But she had laughed in his face, relieved rather than afraid. Now that he had seen the school she attended and the kind of vampires she interacted with on a day-to-day basis, he understood her reaction.

“Are you quite sure you know what you’re doing?” he asked her, watching as her brows pinched together. This could be some trick to get him to walk outside. Maybe he underestimated her fury.

“Be quiet. I’m trying to concentrate,” she snapped.

“As you wish.”

“Zip it.” She leveled a harsh glare on him. It sent a pleasant chill down Sebastian’s spine. He could watch Elizabeth glare at him all day. It was part of their dance. She would act like she hated him while repressing the desire she felt, and he would try to get her to admit to her feelings.

Elizabeth picked up the ring. It had a stunning blue stone in it, no doubt the source of its power. “Here, put it on. We’ve got to leave before we get snowed in.”

Sebastian was only too eager to follow her orders. That is, until they got to the door to the outside world. He feared the ring would do nothing to shield him.

Elizabeth grabbed his arm and forced him out into the snow. He waited for his skin to sizzle, for the pain to shoot through him, but all he felt was the cold. He reached out a hand to let the snowflakes fall onto his palm before Elizabeth yanked him to the side of the school.

So Elizabeth wasn’t on a mission of vengeance after all? She really wanted to spend time with him outside of the school. Sebastian couldn’t help but smirk. Today was an excellent chance for him to finally get her to admit she still had feelings for him. He remembered their kiss very well, despite not being in his real body at the time. He’d still felt everything, though her emotions had been amplified. His connection had been to her spirit after all.

Though he could no longer feel her emotions, he was getting particularly good at reading her. Today’s adventure was an invitation to get to know her better, and he quite liked that idea. He followed her towards what she called “their ride.”

The steel vessel she produced looked old and worn. He watched Elizabeth climb into it first and followed her movements, sitting in the seat next to her. It wasn’t so different from a carriage, though there were no horses to drive it. He wondered if it ran on magic. He’d seen some of these in the town when he went shopping with Kaleb and Milton, but he had too much pride to ask them about it.

Elizabeth put a key into the vessel and turned it. The vessel hummed to life. He could feel the whole thing vibrating like a violin string. Elizabeth fiddled with some more knobs and the vessel began moving.

Once they were on their way, Sebastian stared out the window, watching the town pass by. He’d only seen it at night, and he’d never seen it covered in snow. All the children looked so happy, building shapes out of snow and throwing balls of snow at each other. It looked fun. He wished he could join them. A nice game with the children, and then he’d have a lovely conversation with one of the parents about how sweet her kids were, and then he’d compel her to follow him, and he’d get a taste of that sweet motherly love. And by love he meant blood. Damn he was hungry.

The snow melted away as they headed farther down the winding streets. Open fields and trees flew past them. This vessel moved faster than any horse Sebastian had ever ridden, yet compared to his vampire speed running, it was incredibly slow. One of the oddities of being a vampire. Traveling by normal methods always felt like a leisurely stroll.

Elizabeth turned another knob and music poured forth from the vessel. Sebastian nearly jumped out of his seat, and Elizabeth laughed at him, a wicked smirk on her lips.

Sebastian started fiddling with all the buttons, partially because he was curious at what they all would do, but mostly because he wanted to get Elizabeth back for startling him.

“Would you literally stop pushing my buttons?”

“So, she finally speaks, eh? Sorry, but this modern machinery fascinates me.”

Elizabeth grabbed his hand to move it away from the buttons. That brief skin-to-skin contact felt like a blessing.

Sebastian used to opportunity to voice his hunger, but it was clear Elizabeth was not going to let him prey upon a human, even if he had no intention of killing them. He wouldn’t kill anyone around Elizabeth at the very least.

He steered the conversation back to how Elizabeth obviously fancied him, but she did not like that at all. Elizabeth made the vessel screech to a halt, and Sebastian barely caught himself on the dashboard.

“You command this vessel like a drunken pirate,” he complained.

Elizabeth said she’d just seen a deer. Sebastian perked up, his mind already on that sweet blood. Animal blood was not as good as human blood, of course, but he was hungry enough not to care. Besides, it had to be better than the rabbit blood they served at the Salvatore School. That atrocity was barely fit for consumption.

“Is this some kind of test?” Sebastian asked, certain that it was.

Elizabeth assured him it was.

He knew that getting out of the vessel and pursuing the deer would mean failing the test. In fact, he knew there likely was no deer. He had not smelled anything deer-like, but he could sense that Elizabeth needed time to calm down by herself. He stepped out of the vessel, and sure enough she sped away from him.

Sebastian laughed. She really thought she could out-drive a vampire? He could catch up to her in minutes. But first, he did want to settle the rumbling in his stomach.

He turned his head, sniffing the air for any sign of wildlife. There was a farm not too far from here with some cows. Adequate. But he was hoping when he got there, he’d find a farmer to snack on.

…

Sebastian caught up to Elizabeth after darkness had descended. His stomach was satisfied. He’d found a farmer and his wife to sate his hunger. But now he had another kind of hunger, one he hoped Elizabeth could help him fulfill.

He recognized the boy Elizabeth was talking to. It was the one from school who was neither a witch nor a vampire nor a werewolf. A phoenix. He wondered if it was true that he would resurrect from death. Sebastian was too curious not to test the theory. He snapped the boy’s neck with a satisfying crack.

“I say, you people talk entirely too much when action is required,” he told Elizabeth, shaking his head.

She glared at him. “You just killed my friend.”

“Your friend? Really, now? The way you talk about him I figured he was an unwanted puppy. Anyways, he will arise from the ashes in a couple of hours, yes?”

“Don’t you know how to think before you act?”

Sebastian couldn’t help but smile, though he felt a little pained at her words. “I do an excessive amount of thinking, I assure you, Elizabeth Saltzman. Just as I have already considered all the ways to rekindle our romance.” He ran a finger along her arm, a gentle touch, a silent request for permission to touch her more.

Elizabeth stepped out of his reach. “We need to hurry back to the school. Come on, we can load Landon in the truck.”

“Is that really the way to treat your friend?”

“Right now he’s just a sack of dead weight. Besides, we can’t very well put him in the back seat. If we get stopped by a police officer, we’ll be in big trouble.”

“No, we wouldn’t. I could just compel them.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “I'd rather not have to deal with the police. What are you just standing there for? Pick him up.”

Sebastian grinned. He liked when Elizabeth bossed him around. He picked up the dead phoenix like he weighed nothing and carried him over to the vessel. “You seem to have lost the top of your vessel,” he said, staring at it curiously.

“Ugh, the top folds down. Stop asking questions, you ringwraith. Just put him in the trunk.” Elizabeth fiddled around with the knobs until the trunk opened with a click. Sebastian set the body into the trunk and slammed it shut.

“Don’t phoenixes normally burst into flames when they’re reborn? Shouldn’t we be worried he’ll set the vessel on fire?”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Maybe you should have thought of that before you killed him. I’m not an idiot.” She held up a glowing box. “I set a timer. We’ll just need to stop when the timer goes off and take him out of the trunk so he can burst into flames and rise from the ashes.”

“This device counts a specified amount of time. Like a candlestick?”

Elizabeth didn’t even bother answering him. She walked over to the vessel and got into the driver’s seat. She turned the key, and the car bobbed up and down, but it didn’t move forward like it did before.

“Is something wrong?” Sebastian asked, leaning his arms on the windowsill of the vessel.

“It’s fine. Sometimes it just takes a little time for it to get moving. I told you, this car is ancient.” She tried again but to no avail. Huffing in frustration, she pulled a metal tool out of the glove compartment and tossed it towards him.

Sebastian barely caught it. “What’s this?”

“I don’t know. An axel or something? Use it to fix the car.”

Sebastian lifted an eyebrow. “You want me to attempt to fix your vessel? Elizabeth, I do not even know how it works. What do you expect me to do?”

“You said you were good at deducting, so deduct.” She motioned to the car.

Sebastian walked around it, studying it for any oddities. He got to the back of the car. “Ah, it seems one of your wheels is less round than the others.”

“A flat tire then. We should have a spare in the back.”

“Next to the dead phoenix. Fantastic. Can you, uh, command the trunk to open?”

Elizabeth huffed. “Whatever.”

The trunk clicked as it popped open. Sebastian reached inside for a rubber wheel, but he found none. However, he could smell that a wheel was in the trunk somewhere. He felt along until he found a groove right under the dead phoenix. “Excuse me, good sir.” He pushed the phoenix out of the way so he could pull open the secret compartment and extract the wheel. He also found a box full of many different tools. He pulled it out in case any of them proved useful.

He slammed the trunk shut, and Elizabeth jumped in the car.

Sebastian smirked to himself. Finally, some proper payback for the music earlier. He set the wheel down next to the car and studied the one still attached to the car. This didn’t make any sense to him. He picked up the axel thing, wondering if he was supposed to hit the wheel with it or something, when he noticed the end fit the outline of the spokes on the wheel.

After that, it was easy enough to figure it out, and by that he meant it was incredibly difficult. He first managed to pull off the hubcap, as Elizabeth called it, but not the wheel itself.

Elizabeth lay down on the front of the car while he worked. He doubted she was sleeping though. She definitely did not trust him enough to lower her guard in his presence.

Most of the tools in the kit proved useless. Finally, he tried to axel again and was able to get the wheel off. He traded it with the new one.

“Well, this settles the matter,” he said at last. “You are a terrible pilot.”

“I didn’t think that being with you could get any more miserable.”

Sebastian tossed the axel onto the ground. He was getting frustrated with Elizabeth. She clearly had feelings for them, but she was much more stubborn about fighting them than he had expected. “You are only angry because your plan to abandon me has failed.”

There was only one thing for it now. Things were moving too slow. He peeled off his shirt, ready to use his muscles to his advantage.

And that did the trick. Elizabeth could not look away from him. Their arguments turned into banter, and suddenly Sebastian knew what he had to do. He had figured out before when he was still without a working body that Elizabeth was drawn to danger. He only needed to remind her just how dangerous he was.

He gripped her throat, and time seemed to slow down as he looked into her eyes, searching for that familiar thrill. “And you are forgetting that I am dangerous.”

“Stop talking.” She moved his hand. “Action is required.”

Those were his words, and he couldn’t be more delighted to hear them thrown back at him. She pulled him into a fierce kiss, and Sebastian felt vindicated in his theory. Elizabeth Saltzman wanted him because he was dangerous, and she was giving him permission to show him just how dangerous he could be.

He didn’t want to hurt her too much, but a little pain might be just what she was craving. He lifted her up so she could wrap her legs around him, and he pushed her into a sitting position on the hood of the car, removing a layer of her clothes while the kissing intensified.

He felt like he’d been starved for hundreds of years as he pressed Elizabeth down onto the hood of the car. She wrapped her legs around him, running her fingers through his hair and tugging. A pleasant shiver ran down Sebastian’s spine. He felt welcome in her embrace.

He tightened his grip around her waist, pulling her closer to him. With his other hand he slipped her shirt over her head. It tangled in her hair, and she giggled, helping him get it over her head. He tossed it aside, and ran a hand down the middle of her chest.

Elizabeth reached behind her and fumbled around, biting her lip, until her bra popped off. She tossed it onto the car seat and propped herself up on her elbows.

Sebastian drank in the sight of her. Beautiful, flawless skin. Her silky hair draped across her chest. Those perfect nipples peeking out through the strands. Her eyes were like a flame drawing him in. Oh, he wanted all of her, but she was almost too precious to touch. He worried that if he went too far, if she didn’t really want this, he’d ruin any chance he had with this angel.

“Are you sure this is okay?” he asked. He felt like a tightly wound coil. If she said yes, he would spring into action, but if she said no, he would need to get far away from her, work out this energy in some other way.

“Yes, I’m sure. Now make me feel alive, Sebastian.”

He smirked. That he could do.

#legacies #legacies fanfiction #sizzie #lizzie saltzman #sebastian #*#my writing #rated m to be safe #sebastian is melodramatic #sizzie fanfiction

28 notes · View notes

aweirdkindofyellow · 4 years

Text

The Royal Invitation, Pt. 7

Aerowyn Matilde George Rothchester might seem like a very long name, but it definitely is not for a royal in the Kingdom of Dalewin.

After her grandfather, the beloved king, passed away, Aerowyn (also known as Winny) is called back from her art school in New York. She’s thrown back into her royal duties, expected to know what to do.

But with the Royal advisor on tour with the new king, Winny is left to figure things out with his stepson. The only problem, he has no idea what he’s doing, after all he’s only the lead singer in a band.

Co-written story with @scream-tears.

Chapter 7

Winny’s POV:

“Alright, Mr. Gaskarth, what’s up next,” I asked Alex as we walked back inside through the front doors to the castle. My heels clicked loudly against the marble.

He looked down at the clipboard in his hands. “Well, it seems your schedule is open until dinner, Miss. Rothchester.”

“Very delightful.” I clapped my hands together in satisfaction and gave him a forced smile. “But it is actually Her Royal Highness, Princess of Dalewin, or Princess Aerowyn.”

“Well I’ll be damned,” he shook his head and scanned his document as if he had missed an important point, “I’ve got a princess on my hands.”

“A princess with a shitload of free time all of a sudden,” I snorted. My dad was getting ready to go on his tour and slowly but surely I was getting all these responsibilities that I had to take over now. There was no time for myself.

“What will she be doing with this time? Maybe some sowing or playing the piano?” Alex suggested in a horrible posh accent.

“Hmm, no… she thinks she’ll go out in the sun and play some tennis.” My high heels continued to echo in the hall as I started towards the stairs. “Oh, and she requests your presence.”

“My presence?”

“Yes, your presence.” I stopped to turn around and nod at him before stepping up the stairs. “I’m done talking in third person. See you outside at the tennis court in fifteen minutes.”

“Wait! I don’t know where the tennis court is!” He shouted out.

“Outside!”

I went up to my bedroom to get changed. My feet were more than glad to leave the cage that was my heels. I used to be able to wear them for ages without feeling a thing. It was like I had trained them. But New York has softened me in that aspect. Sneakers were my go to there for everyday attire. Heels weren’t exactly the best to paint in either.

Usually, I had somebody who would lay out the clothes I needed to get changed into, even if it was just getting into pajamas or changing out of formal clothes. The thing was, for somebody to do that, they would have to know. I was assuming that Alex hadn’t notified anybody. I only gave him fifteen minutes to meet me. Given how panicked he was about not knowing where the tennis court was, I guessed he wasn’t going to waste any time.

Not that I minded. I had gotten very used to doing things all by myself and I really enjoyed it. Privacy, who knew it was a thing?

I had a very nice generic tennis outfit to wear. Pretty sexist, if you asked me. You know, the white skirt, white t-shirt, white long socks, and white shoes. Oh, and don’t forget the white visor cap. Although... I was pretty thankful for that one, it was quite sunny outside.

I brought two rackets with me to the court. Alex wasn’t there yet. Granted, I was two minutes early, and he probably had more than just changing to do beforehand, but I still didn’t know what to do. Everything was already set up to my surprise. Two towels, two bottles of water, and even a sunshade with two chairs available.

I wandered around the court aimlessly, only holding my racket. It was in the position you’d expect a guitar or ukulele to be. Although it obviously wasn’t an instrument, I still let my nails rake against the strings as if I was. It made some awkward scratching noise. Nothing like a nice melody.

“Wow, you’re good at playing the guitar,” Alex said behind me, catching me off guard.

I turned around and smirked at him. “I am the lead singer of the world-famous band All Time Low!” I ‘strung’ the strings again dramatically. “The crowd goes wild!”

“Well, aren’t you funny.”

“I know, I’m hilarious,” I agreed and started holding my racket normally, pointing towards the right side of the net. “Your racket’s over there.”

He walked over and picked it up, twirling it around. “Thanks, but I must warn you, I have no idea how to play tennis.”

“You at least know how to hold it, right?”

“Yeah?” He nodded and clumsily put his hands around the handle.

I took a peek at his grip and sighed. “It’s good enough, let’s just play. Rules don’t matter. Yet.”

Alex went over to the otherside of the net as I went to grab a ball. I bent over and bounced it a few times before I got to serving. It always helped me focus on the ball and track it easier. When I looked back up at Alex, I saw him staring right at my but with a hint of amusement on his face.

“Ay!” I called him out and pointed my racket at him aggressively. “Disrespectful!”

“What?” He quickly redirected his eyes back to my face and held his hands up in defense.

“I’ve worked hard for this ass, it deserves to be appreciated, but I’m a princess. That’s the highest level of insult!”

Alex whistled lowly. “Well, I apologise.”

“You better!”

I served the ball, making it wizz across to Alex’s side. He was unprepared and jumped out of its way to avoid getting hurt. The funniest part was the weird yelp he let out as he noticed the ball was zooming right towards him. I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

“I wasn’t prepared!” He whined.

“That’s what they all say.”

I went easier on him afterwards. There was a fine line between messing with him and it being funny and messing with him until it turned into borderline bullying. I actually did need a partner to play with, even if he had no idea what he was doing. The ball went out more often than not and I was racking up points like it was nobody’s business. It was so bad that we had to get rid of the entire point system.

Technically, the game would have gone forever like that, but Augustus interrupted us by simply showing up.

“Somebody told me a pathetic match was being played.” He opened the gate and came sauntering in.

“Umm, excuse me,” I scoffed, “we’re just playing for fun.”

“You’ve just gone soft.”

“You wish!”

“I am feeling a competition coming on.” Alex slowly backed away over to the shade, “so I’m just going to take a break now.”

Augustus and I did not turn down the offer of playing against each other. It was one steamy dramatic game. There was one sport we played avidly in our family and that was tennis. Why? I don’t know. It wasn’t some prestigious sport, but our parents got us started early on. Technically, I had a 4 year headstart on Augustus, but I didn’t play back in New York.

We were going head to head. I would get a point, then Augustus would. It was a constant battle between who would break the tie. There was a heightened suspense all the way up until match point. It was all or nothing.

I served the ball, throwing it up high into the sky. It managed to go back and forth between us for quite a while. We both tried to trick the other, making us run all over. My heart was pumping so quickly. The beat of the ball hitting the ground was drumming in my ears. And then Augustus was the last one to hit it.

“Yes!” He screamed out.

“That was out.” I shook my head.

“No it was not.”

“Umm, yes it was.”

“You’re just a sore loser,” he mocked.

I crossed my arms and gave him a disappointed look. “Am I? Am I really, Gus-Gus?”

“Yes.”

“Well, then, why don’t you just let me win if you’re the better loser?” I challenged, to which he looked at me with wide mad eyes. “Maybe you are the sorer loser.”

“No, no, no, you aren’t tricking me! I’d win this easily whether or not that point was given to me.”

“So you’d be down to ignore that point and redo?”

“Umm, yes.” He rolled his eyes as if it was the obvious answer.

I put my hands on my hips and turned to Alex in one swift jump. “You wanna play the winner?”

“I think I’m good,” Alex declined with a small wave of his hand. “Watching you is entertainment enough.”

“We’ll see about that.”

I reserved the ball and the game started again. Augustus was so focused, I could just see it. He kept his eyes on the ball. It was like a puppy following a treat. Part of me wanted to let him win. But what was the fun in that? I couldn’t simply do that. He was the one that agreed to a redo.

I swung harder than I had the entire game, causing the ball to zoom right past the end of Augustus’ racket. It loudly slammed into the metal fence behind him, stopping the ball from rolling down into the gardens, and bounced back towards us.

“What. The. Fuck.” Augustus panned his eyes from the ball to me with his mouth open wide.

I shrugged and gave him a smile. “I was holding back the entire time, sorry.”

“That’s unfair!” He whined and kicked the tennis ball. “You tricked me!”

“It’s all about making your opponent think they have a chance and then swooping in for the kill, Gus-Gus. You should know that by now.”

He repeated my last sentence in a high pitched mocking voice.

“Who’s the sore loser now.”

He glared at me. I had learned to deal with losing, Augustus hadn’t that much. He was more taught to deal with it the same way all kids were. Just told to get over it. I was drilled about it. You can’t have some butthurt queen, can you?

“It’s okay, though,” I decided to cheer him up a little, “you’ll always be better at sparring.”

“I fucking destroy you in that,” he emphasised.

“Okay, now don’t go murdering me in my sleep like some power hungry second born,” I told him sternly while simultaneously brushing him off. I had something much more important to ask Alex. “Wanna play again?”

“Umm,” he frowned with uncertainty.

“We can play as a team against Augustus.”

“I will most definitely make you lose.”

“Why do you think I just got myself a win?”

Alex couldn’t continue to argue with me. I knew he secretly liked playing, so he didn’t need that much convincing. He may have been trying to hide it, but I saw that he was having fun while it was just the two of us playing.

So, we started a new match. The plan was for me and Alex to switch position occasionally, while Augustus just did as he usually would do by himself. I started out in the front and Alex started in the back. Alex was right, we were losing by a lot. The ball would often hit in his zone, and he wouldn’t be able to reach it fast enough. But it didn’t matter.

The longer we played, though, the more focused I got. Good thing for a normal game, not so good when I wasn’t really properly playing in teams. Usually, it would work out perfectly. But, with Alex, it was just a bit all over the place. The ball was flying towards the other side of our half of the court. I rushed towards it, but rather than my racket colliding with the ball, it was my body that collided with Alex’s. I tripped over and found myself on the floor.

“Oh, shit, I’m sorry!” Alex quickly apologised.

I just laughed and rolled over on my back. “That was all me.”

“Everything good? No broken bones?” He immediately started worrying.

“I’m all good,” I continued to giggle and sat up, brushing off all the sand on me. “Calm your tits.”

“I’d love to, but if you get hurt, it’s on me.”

“Live a little, Gaskarth.” I slapped his leg and stood back up.

#all time low #all time low fanfiction #all time low imagines #Alex Gaskarth fanfiction #Alex Gaskarth #Alex Gaskarth imagines #fanfiction #The Royal Invitation

4 notes · View notes